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LEE 





Jewish Encyclopedia 





A DESCRIPTIVE RECORD OF 


THE HISTORY, RELIGION, LITERATURE, AND CUS- 
TOMS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE FROM THE 
EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY 





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 and the Jews of America), 


GorTrHaRD DeurscH, PH.D. (Department of 
History from 1492 torgoo). 


Louis GINZBERG, PH.D. (Department of Rad- 
binical Literature) . 


RICHARD GOTTHEIL, PH.D. (Departments of 
History from Ezrato 1492 and L1istory of Post- 
Talmudic Literature) . 


Emit G. Hrirscu, Px.D., LL.D. (Department of 
the Bible). 


ISAAC K. FUNK, D.D., LL.D. 
Chairman of the Board 


JosErPH JAcOBS, B.A. (Departments of the Jews 
of England and Anthropology; Revising Editor). 


Marcus JASTROW, PH.D. (Department of the 
Talmua ). 


KAUFMANN KOHLER, PH.D. 
Theology and Philosophy). 


(Depariments of 


HERMAN ROSENTHAL (Department of the Jews of 
Russia and Poland ). 


ISIDORE SINGER, PH.D, (Department of Modern 
Biography from 1750 to 19006). 


CRAWFORD H. Toy, D.D., LL.D. (Departments 
of Hebrew Philology and [Hellenistic Literature). 


FRANK H. VIZETELLY 
Secretary of the Board 


ISIDORE SINGER, Ph.D. 
Projector and Managing Editor 


ASSISTED BY AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BOARDS 


OF CONSULTING EDITORS 


COMPLETE IN TWELVE VOLUMES 


EMBELLISHED WITH MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND ILLUSTRATIONS 


FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 





Hosted by Google 


Hosted by Google 


Na WS ise 2O- “hyd se ey 


Pa VANS tel a 


AN huvdiuo? saydobozoyg utjuog fo uossiuesd Agr ‘ITI CIPEACTIOILT YSIMEL? BY ‘Gixwid WawwueEpuasy 





Hosted by Google 


Hosted by Google 


THE 


Jewish Encyclopedia 


A DESCRIPTIVE RECORD OF 


THE 


TOMS OF THE 


HISTORY, RELIGION, 
JEWISH 


LITERATURE, AND CUS- 
PEOPLE FROM THE 


EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY 


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 Antiguities and the Jews of America). 


GOTTHARD DeEutTscH, PH.D. 
History from 1492 to Lgoo). 


(Department of 


Louis GINZBERG, PH.D. (Department of Rab- 
binical Literature) . 


RICHARD GOTTHEIL, PH.D. (Departments of 
- History from Esra to 1g92 and [History of Post- 
Talmudic Literature) . 


Emi_ G. Hirscn, PH.D., LL.D. (Department of 
the Bible). 


ISAAC KH FUNK, D:D. LL.D; 
Chairman of the Board 


JoserH Jacoss, B.A. (Departments of the Jews 
of England and Anthropology; Revising Editor). 


Marcus JASTROW, PH.D. (Department of the 
Talmud). 


KAUFMANN KOHLER, PH.D. 
Theology and Philosophy). 


(Depariments of 


IIERMAN ROSENTHAL (Department of the Jews of 
Russia and Poland ). 


ISIDORE SINGER, PH.D. (Department of Modern 
Biography from 1750 to 1906). 


CRAWFORD H. Toy, D.D., LL.D. (Departments 
of Hebrew Philologyand Hellenistic Literature). 


FRANK H. VIZETELLY 
Secretary of the Board 


ISIDORE SINGER, Ph.D. 
Projector and Managing Editor 


ASSISTED BY AMERICAN 


AND FOREIGN BOARDS OF CONSULTING EDITORS 


VOLUME Ill 


BENCEMERO—CHAZANUTH 





FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY 


NEW YORK AND LONDON 





COPYRIGHT, 1903, I9IO, 1912, BY 
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 


All rights of translation reserved 


Registered at Stationers’ Hall, London, Wngland 


[ Printed in the United States of A mertca | 


LITERARY DIRECTORATE 


EDITORIAL BOARD 


CYRUS ADLER, Ph.D. 
Departments of Post-Biblical Antiquities and the Jews of 
a America.) 
president of the American Jewish Historical Society ; Libra- 
rian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 


GOTTHARD DEUTSCH, Ph.D. 


(Department of History from 1492 to 1902.) 
professor of Jewish History, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 
Ohio ; Editor of ‘* Deborah.” 


LOUIS GINZBERG, Ph.D. 


(Department of Rabbinical Literature.) 
professor of Talmud, J ewish Theological Seminary of America, 
New York; Author of ‘* Die Haggada bei den 
Kirchenvitern.”’ 


RICHARD GOTTHEIL, Ph.D. 


Departments of History from Ezra to 1.92 and History of 
Post-Talmudic Literature.) 
Professor of Semitic Languages, Columbia University, New York; 
Chief of the Oriental Department, New York Public Library ; 
President of the Federation of American Zionists. 


EMIL G. HIRSCH, Ph.D., LL.D. 


(Department of the Bible.) 
Rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chicago, [1.; Professor of 
Rabbinical Literature and Philosophy, University of 
Chicago; Editor of ** The Reform Advocate.” 


JOSEPH JACOBS, B.A. 


(Departments of the Jews of England and Anthropology $ 
Revising Editor.) 
Formerly President of the Jewish Historical Society of England 3 
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.” 


KAUFMANN KOHLER, Ph.D. 


(Departments of Theology and Philosophy.) 
Rabbi of Temple Beth-E1, New York ; ex-President of the Board 
of Jewish Ministers, New York. 


HERMAN ROSENTHAL. 


(Department of the Jews of Russia and Poland.) 
Chief of the Slavonic Department, New York Library. 


ISIDORE SINGER, Ph.D. 


MANAGING EDITOR. 
(Department of Modern Biography from 1750 to 1902.) 


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,” ete. 





I. K. FUNK, D.D., LL.D. 


(Chairman of the Board.) 
Editor-in-Chief of the STANDARD DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH 
LANGUAGE, ete. 


FRANK H. VIZETELLY. 


(Secretary of the Boara.) , 
Associate Editor of ‘‘The Columbian Cyclopedia,” and on the 
STANDARD DICTIONARY Editorial Staff, etc. 





AMERICAN BOARD OF CONSULTING EDITORS 


BERNARD DRACHMAN, Ph.D., 


Rabbi of the Congregation Zichron Ephraim ; Instructor in the 
Bible and in Hebrew Grammar, Jewish Theological Semi- 
nary of America, 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. 


HENRY HYVERNAT, D.D., 


Head of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Literatures, 
Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. 


MORRIS JASTROW, Jr., Ph.D., 


Professor of Semitic Languages and Librarian in the University 
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.; Author of “ Re- 
ligion of the Babylonians and Assyrians,” etc. 


J. FREDERIC McCURDY, Ph.D., LU.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 Board of Jewish 
Ministers, New York. 


MOSES MIELZINER, Ph.D., D.D., 
President of the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Obio: 
Author of ** Introduction to the Talmud.” 


vi LITERARY DIRECTORATE 
Eee are ae ere Oa eP pe re are eae ere a Ee a ee 


GEORGE F. MOORE, M.A., D.D., 
Professor of Biblical Literature and the History of Religions 
in Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.: Author of 
* A Commentary on the Book of Judges,” etc. 


DAVID PHILIPSON, D.D., 
rabbi of the Congregation B’ne Isracl; Professor of Homiletics, 
Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio: President of 
Hebrew Sabbath School Union of America. 


IRA MAURICE PRICE, B.D., Ph.D., 
Professor of Senutie Languages and Literatures. University of 
Chicago, M., Author of * The Monuments and 
the Old Testament,” ete. 


SOLOMON SCHECHTER, M.A., Litt.D., 


President of the Faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary gg 
America, New York: Autor o1 * Studies in Judaism.’ 


JOSEPH SILVERMAN, D.D., 


President of Central Conference of American Rabbis: Rabbi of 
Temovle Emanu-El, New York. 


JACOB VOORSANGER, D.D., 
Rabbi of the Congregation Emanu-El. San Francisco, Cal.; Pro. 
fessor of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Uni- 
versity of California, Berkeley, Cal. 


FOREIGN BOARD OF CONSULTING EDITORS 


ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, M.A., 


Coeditor of ** The Jewish Quarterly Review ”*; Author of “ Jew- 
ish Life in the Middle Ages,”’ etc.; Reader in Talmudic, 
Cambridge University, England. 


M. BRANN, Ph.D., 


Professor in the Jewish Theological Seminary, Breslau, Ger- 
many ; Editor of ** Monatsschrift fiir Geschichte und 
Wissenschaft des Judenthums.”’ 


H. BRODY, Ph.D., 
Rabbi, Nachod, Bohemia, Austria: Coeditor of ‘* Zeitschrift fir 
Hebriiische Bibliographie.” 


ABRAHAM DANON, 


Principal of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Constantinople, 
Turkey. 


HARTWIG DERENBOURG, Ph.D., 
Protessor of Literal Arabic at the Special Sehoo! of Oriental 
Languages, Paris; Member of the Institut de France. 


Ss. M. DUBNOW, 


Author of ** Istoriya Yevreyev,’’ Wilna, 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. DE 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 
Israélite Universelle: Officer of the Legion 
of Honor, Paris, France. 


M. KAYSERLING, Ph.D. 


(DECEASED), 
Late Rabbi, Budapest, Hungary ; Late Corresponding Member 
of the Royal Academy of History, Madrid, Spain. 


MORITZ LAZARUS, Ph.D. 
(DECEASED), 
Late Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Berlin: 
Meran, Austria. 
ANATOLE LEROY-BEAULIEU, 


Member of the Institut de France; Professor atthe Free Schoo) 
of Politicai Science, Paris, France; Author of 
** Israél chez les Nations.” 
ISRAEL LEVI, 


Professor in the Jewish Theological Seminary , Editor of 
** Revue des Etudes Juives,’’ Paris. France. 


EUDE LOLLI, D.D. 
(DECKASED), 
Late Chief Rabbi of Padua: Late Professor of Hebrew at the 
University, Padua, Italy. . 


IMMANUEL LOW, Ph.D., 
Chief Rabbi of Szegedin, Hungary; Author of “* Die Araméischen 
Pflanzennamen.” 
S. H. MARGULIES, Ph.D., 
Principal of the Jewish Theological Seminary: Chief Rabbi of 
Fiorence, Italy. 
H. OORT, D.D., 


Professor of Hebrew Language and Archeology at the State 
Tniversity, Leyden, Holland. 


ABBE PIETRO PERREAU, 
Formerly Librarian of the Reale Biblioteca Palatina, Parma, 
Italy. 

MARTIN PHILIPPSON, Ph.D., 


Formerly Professor of History at the Universities of Bonn and 
Brussels; President of the Deutsch-Israelitischer 
Gemeindebund, Berlin, Germany. 


SAMUEL POZNANSKI, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Warsaw, Russia. 

E. SCHWARZFELD, LL.D., 
Secretary-General of the Jewish Colonization Association, Paris, 
France. 

LUDWIG STEIN, Ph.D., 


Professor of Phitosophy, University of Bern, Switzerland ; Editor 
of ** Archiv fiir Geschichte der Philosophie,’ ete. 


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 “ewish Fathers,” etc. 


SYSTEMS OF TRANSLITERATION AND OF CITATION 
OF PROPER NAMES" 


A.—Rules for the Transliteration of Hebrew and Aramaic. 


1. All jmoportant names which occur in the Bible are cited as found in the authorized King James 
version ; ¢.g., Moses, not Mosheh; Jsaac, not Yizhak; Saul, not Sha’ul or Shatil; Solomon, not 
Shelomoh, etc. 

2, Names that have gained currency in English books on Jewish subjects, or that have become 
familiar to English readers, are always retained and cross-references given, though the topic 
be treated under the form transliterated according to the system tabulated below. 


3. Hebrew subject-headings are transcribed according to the scheme of transliteration ; cross-refer- 
ences are made as in the case of personal names. 


4, The following system of transliteration has been used for Hebrew and Aramaic: 


x Not noted at the beginning or the end of a word ; otherwise’ or by dieresis; e.g., pe’er or Meir. 


3b tT 2 Sl m with dagesh, p wy sh 
3 9 nk Dm 5 without dagesh, f ys 
3 a bf 17 ¥ 2 nt 
= h , Y Ds p & 
, w 3k y ° Es 


Note: The presence of dagesh lene is not noted except in the case of pe. Dagesh forte is indi- 
cated by doubling the letter. 


5, The vowels have been transcribed as follows: 


- a > u - @ = (e 4, o 
~~ @€@ = @€ = Oo 4 
- 7% ; @ =z a > wu 


Kamez hatuf is represented by o. 
The so-called ‘‘ Continental” pronunciation of the English vowels is implied. 


6, The Hebrew article is transcribed as ha, followed by a hyphen, without doubling the following 
letter. [Not hak-Kohen or hak-Cohen, nor Rosh ha-shshanah.] 


B.—Rules for the Transliteration of Arabic. 


I, All Arabic names and words except such as have become familiar to English readers in another 
form, as Mohammed, Koran, mosque, are transliterated according to the following system : 


* See & above < kh u sh rd gh WwW ” 
Kb oa us wil oh 
ct 3 ah we? J % ad 
wy th Jr L ¢ wk we? Y 
Ci j2 is z Ji 
Th LM s cS le 


2. Only the three vowels —a, i, u—are represented : 
- . = 9 =f 
+= aora 7 tori — wort 


No account has been taken of the ima@lah; 7 has not been written e, nor u written o. 


* In all other matters of orthography the spelling preferred by the STANDARD DICTIONARY has usually been followed. Typo- 
<raphical exigencies have rendered occasional deviations from these systems necessary. 


Vili SYSTEMS OF TRANSLITERATION AND OF CITATION OF PROPER NAMES 





3. The Arabic article is invariably written al; no account being taken of the assimilation of the 7 to 
the following letter; e.g., Abi al-Salt, not Abu-l-Salt; Nafis al-Daulah, not Nafis ad-Daulah, 
The article is joined by a hyphen to the following word. 

4, At the end of words the feminine termination is written ah; but, when followed by a genitive, 
at; eg., Risdlah dhat al-Kursiyy, but Hvat al-Afiak. 

%. No account is taken of the overhanging vowels which distinguish the cases; e.g., ‘Amr, not ‘Amru 
or ‘Amrun; Ya‘kib, not Ya‘kiibun; or ina title, Aviab al-Amanat wal-[‘tikadat. 


C.—Rules for the Transliteration of Russian. 


All Russian names and words, except such as have become familiar to English readers in another 
form, as Czar, Alexander, deciatine, Moscow, are transliterated according to the following system : 


Aa CG Il u n Tur shch 
B6 b Oo a) "bs mute 
BB Vv Il u bl w oy 
[r h,v, or g Pp r bs halfmute 
ix d Ce 8 Bb ye 
Ee eand ye Tr t a9 e 
ae 
at a zh Vy U 10 10 yu 
3 8 % P ip f fla Ya 
Muli é XX kh 06 F 
Kx k I ir tz Vy a2 
J a d Uy ch Ui iz j 
MM m UI m sh 


Rules for the Citation of Proper Names, Personal and Otherwise. 


A. Whenever possible, an author is cited under his most specific name; e.g., Moses Nigrin under 
Nigrin; Moses Zacuto under Zacuto; Moses Rieti under Rieti; all the Kimhis (or Kamhis) 
under /ftmhi; Israel ben Joseph Drohobiczer under Drohobiczer. Cross-references are freely 
made from any other form to the most specific one; e.g., to Moses Vidal from Moses Narbonzi ; to 
Solornon Nathan Vidal from Menahem Meiri; to Samuel Kansi from Samuel Astruc Dascola: 
to Jedaiah Penint from both Bedersi and En Bonet; to John of Avignon from Moses de 
Roquemaure. 


2, When a person is not referred to as above, he is cited under his own persona] name followed 
by his official or other title ; or, where he has borne no such title, by ‘‘of ” followed by the place 
of his birth or residence; e.g., Johanan ha-Sandlar ; Samuel ha-Nagid ; Judah ha-Hasid; Gershom 
of Metz; Iscac of Corbeil. 


*. Names containing the word a’, de, da, di, or van, von, y, are arranged under the letter of 
the name following this word; e.g., de Pomis under Pomis, de Barrios under Barrios, Jacob 
d’Illescas under Illescas. 


4, In arranging the alphabetical order of personal names ben, da, de, di, ha-, ibn*, of have not 
been taken into account. These names thus follow the order of the next succeeding capital letter : 


Abraham of Augsburg Abraham de Balnes Abraham ben Benjamin Aaron 
Abraham of Avila Abraham ben Baruch Abraham ben Benjamin Ze’eb 
Abraham ben Azriel Abraham of Beja Abraham Benveniste 


* When Ipn has come to be a specific part of a name, as Ipn Ezra, such name is treated in its alphabetical place under “I.” 


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 


[Self-evident abbreviaticnus, particularly those used in the bibliographies, are not included here. | 


aah ies Abdot, Pirke 
ADs N.. cee ages Abot de-Rabbi Natan 
Ab. I a a eee Abodah Zarah 
ye caren aeeteee at the place: to the passage cited 
re Ue ennes .in the year of the Hegira 


. Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums 
Aitg. lew. rie Soc. -Amerivan Jewish Historical ee 
ren Jour. Semit. 
Lan ; 
“jew. amie aéw ish Association 
se -J oa Mi gaahee Apocalypse 
A a Ft at hes paugen Apocrypha 
‘Cor .. Apostolical Constitutions 
‘Arakin (Talmud) 
Archives Israélites 


Pe ee 
ae 


‘ar 
Arch. 


Isto. +++ ; Aronius, Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden 
aronius, Regest€N ; in Deutschland 
Tosccuccoevecces Das Alte Testament 
ie ee Authorized Version 
. Pe) saaseraiecarace temeis ben or bar or born 


ae a a t Bacher, Agada der Palistinensischen Amo- 


A MOP ..ceeeeeee a5 ea ‘ARAL OREA 7 
: Ag. Tan....Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten 
Sate .. Baba Batra (Talmud) 


ere ee oeneeron® 


B B.. Sa cnacbenaveees before the Christian era 
Eo! asd deacten ere Bekorot (Talmud) ae 
inger, Arch.... Benzinger, Hebraische Archaologie 
Ben Ax ie weary semieees Berakot (Talmud) 
aed rf a Festschrift zum 70ten Geburtstag Berliners 
r bac oo . . 
Ber! iner’s ) Berliner’s Magazin fiir die Wissenschaft des 
Magaziu....--- § Judenthums 
Bibl. Rab...... eee Bibliotheca Rabbinica 
Bikicsss i sae edsee Bikkurim (Talmud) 
B. é re ee Baba Kamma (Talmud) 


B.N .- Baba Mezi* a (Talmud) 
Bonn Acne: Hist. . .Boletin de la Real Acadernia de la Historia 
Breslauer Jahres- | Jahresbericht des Jtidisch-Theologischen 
Hericht. ... cee. Seminars Frinkelscherstiftung 
Brit. MuUS.....--.085 British Museum 
7 Brill’s Jahrbiicher fiir Jiidische Geschichte 
Briill’s Jahrb.. und Litteratur 
Bullen All. Isr.... Bulletin of the Alliance Israélite Universelle 
a oie esha eo oa ewe about 


Cat in nglo-Jew. Catalogue of Angio-Jewish Historical Ex- 
Hist. Exh...... { hibition 
Cazés, Notes Bi-¢ Cazés, Notes Bibliographiques sur la Littéra- 
bliographiques.} ture Juive-Tunisienne 
OU Sioere bi eieateeeeen 56 common era 
7 | | eae re ere a rar chapter or chapters 


ee i ‘ i eed 
Eneyc. Bibl.... § Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Bibuce 
ecueil des Travaux Rédiges en Mémoire 


R 
Chwolsou J ubilee ; du Jubilé Scientitiquede M. Daniel Chwol- - 


Volume..... soe ( son, 1846-1896 

Col. Asse eee Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum 

Ce, Ue Aa ewer ne ace Corpus Inseriptionuin Greecarum 

Co le vs os dds idence Corpus Insertptionuin Hebraicarum 

OF Ol Pe eran een Corpus Inseriptionum Latinarum 

CDP eaves whet Corpus Inseriptionnm Peloponnesi 

Ce iSe'e<s easy .... Corpus Inseriptionum Semiticarum 

COMP sisesiceceecscns compare 

Curinier, Dict. LE. E. Curinier, Dictionnaire Natione' des 
Nal cv soweaureeds § Contemporains 
reaamart mites tates died 

D yon garth oe aed Deuteronomist 

De Gubernatis, (De Gubernatis, Dizionario Biografico cegli 
Diz. Biog.......§ Serittori Contemporanei 


De Gubernatis, (De Gubernatis, Dictionnaire International 
EcrivainsduJour( des Ecrivains du Jour 

De le Roi, acne le Roi, Geschichte der Evangelischen 
Mission ........ Juden- Mission 

Dem...... a wated erate Demai (Talmnua) ov 

D ; Derenbourg, Essai sur Histoire et la Géo- 
crenbourg, Hist. : graphie de la Palescine, ete. 

De Rossi, Dizio- Pe Rossi, Dizionario Storico degli Autori 
nario......, ee Ebrei e delle Loro Opere 

De _ Rossi - Ham - } De Rossi-Hamberger, Historisches Worter- 
berger, Hist.» buch der Jiidischen Schriftsteller und 


Worterb. ...... Ihrer Werke 
whe Introduce: is. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Liter- 
a pebra pater ee: duh ature of the Old Testament 
rz ee eee eee Elohist 
E el. Tteseseeeeeeees Ecclesiastes 
sda isirach).. . . Ecclesiasticus 
ek oahad .-. Eduyot (Talmud) 


Lexikon der Deutschen Biilhne im XIX. 
Jahrhundert 

..+-- Encyclopedia Britannica 

-o.- English 


Benner Biog. 1 Ludwig Eisenberg's Grosses Biographisches 


Encye. Brit.. 
Ene. Titycs% 


Serer cveee 


Epiphanius, Heres. Epiphanius, Adversus Hzereses 
TAGD chee cancun eseshk *Krubin (Talmud) 


Ersch and ( Ersch and Gruber, Allgemeine Encyklopaidie 
Gruber, Encyc..§ der Wissenschaften und Kinste 

Fed sib scugoeri eee Esdras 

Cl SEQ. s 42s eeu and following 

Eusebius, dist. Ecel. Eusebius, Historia Eeclesiastica 

Ewald, Gesch...... Ewald, Geschichte des Volkes Israel 

Frankel, Mebo..... Frankel, Mebo Yerushalmi 


First, Bibl. Jud.. 

First, Gesch. des 1 
Kariert. . 

Gaster, Hist. of 
Bevis Marks.... 


Geiger, Ursehrift. 


. First, Bibliotheca Judaica 
; Furst, Geschichte des Karierthums 


E Gaster, Bevis Marks Memorial Volume 


Geiger, Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der 
Bibel in Ihrer Abhangigkeit von der In- 

_heren Entwicklung des Judenthums 

Geiger’s Jiidische Zeitschrift fiir Wissen- 


Geiger’s Jud. Zeit. { schaft und Leben 


Geiger’s Wiss. ( Geiger’s Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fir 
Zeit. Jiid. Theol. { Jiidische Theologie 

GOSCD seca ein teed Geschichte 

Gesenius, Gr....... Gesenius, Grammar 

Gesenius, Th....... Gesenius, Thesaurus 


Gibbon, Decline PGinton. History of the Decline and Fall of 
and Fall........ § a Roman Empire 
< 5 Ane insburg’s New Massoretico-Critical Text 
Ginsburg’s Bible.. | of the Hebrew Bible 


Gib otse teed < ...--Gittin (Talmud) 

Graetz, Hist........ Graetz, History of the Jews 

Gratz, Gesch....... oe oe or gud 7 i 

Meas Gidemann, Geschichte des Erziehungs- 

Bate area | wesens und der Cultur der Abendlindi- 
i aie ica schen Judean 

| | ee ae Re ...Holiness Code 

TAG. 3 Go- ad waisetre eae Haggai 

HAG reiicnds eveeeen Hagigah (Talmud) 

Hal cess voseeeeeee Hahah (Talmud) 

Hamburge?, ger nnen Realencyclopadie fiir Bibel 

sce ores ee ere und Talmud 

eS es _{ Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible 

Heb.........6. ....- Lpistie to the Hebrews 

HED i606 sas oe san Masoretic Text 


Herzog-Plitt or Herzog-Hauck, Real-Ency- 
klopadie fir Protestantische Theologie und 
Kirehe (2d and 3d editions respectively) 


Herzog -Plitt or 
Herzog - Hauck, 
Real-Eneya@... 


los : § Hirsch, Biographisches Lexikon der Hervor- 
Hirsch, Biog. Lex. } ragenden Aerzte Aller Zeiten und Vélker 
PLOT cis w ase eaakates Horayot (Talmud) 
oA) peeerane ds geavaceais .Hullin (Talmud) 
(| a ee woe. Same place 
LOM wince eave eunees same author 


mel Lhicebode: . Israelitische Letterbode 

Dh cca dneces aoa ete . Jdabvist 

Jaarboeken........ J Taatvoeren yoor de ren in : ederlanad 
Jacobs, Inquiry into the Sourees of Spanish- 

Jacobs, aa Jewish History 

once hers a td acobs and Wolf, Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica 

Jabrb. Geseh, der) Jabrbuch fiir die Geschichte der Juden und 


Jil spessacacs .f des Judenthums ; . 
- Hh Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim, Tal: 

Jastrow, Dict..... , mudim, and Midrashim 
Jellinek, B. H...... Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash 
Jew. Chron.......ae Jewish Chronicle. London 
Jew. Ency¢......... The Jewish Encyclopedia 
Jew. Hist. Soc. Eng. Jewish Historical Society of England 
Jew. World ........ Jewish World, London 
Josepnus, Ant...... Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 


Josephus, B. J......Josephus, De Bello Judaico 
Josephus, Contra Ap. Josephus, Contra Apionem 


JOSD bsiaiideS Gove Joshua 

Jost’s Annalen.....- Jost’s Israelitische Annalen 

Jour. Bib. Lif...... Journal of Biblical Literature 

Dade. Watarciae tec Jewish Quarterly Review 

ae ee OL ee Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 

gee cum | y Justin, Dialogus cum Tryphone Judszeo 

Kaufmann G os Gedenkbuch zur Erinnerung an David Kauf- 
denkbuch...... mann 

Kautzsch, Apo- ! Kautzsch, Die Apokryphen und Pseudepi- 
kryphen....... ( graphen des Alten Testaments 

Kayserling, Bibl. een Espabola-Portugueza- 
Esp.-Port.-J oe Judaica 

Kayserting ie 

ae Kayserling, Die Jiidischen Frauen in der 

dtdisehen ee Geschichte, Literatur und Kunst 

Ker .csssswuunwss ... Keritot (Talmud) 

KCL c.ceeecwawks ... Ketubot (Talmud) 

K. H.C ere Hand-Commentar zum Alten Testa- 

ment, ed. Marti 
15 (6 Reger are gers re ..- Kiddushin (Talmud) 
Riles. 5 cae ee Kilayim (Talmud) 


Kin. .....ee0eeeeeeekinnim (Talmud) 


x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 





Kohut Memorial : Semitic Studies in Memory of A. Kohut 


Volume.. 

Krauss, Letin- ‘ Krauss, Griechische und Lateiniseche Lebn- 
worter . worter, etc. 

LAW) ougvencw eed . Lamentations 

Marte Dosis eed heiksdes Lamentations Rabbah 


$ Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel du 


Larousse, Dict.... 7 “x rxe sidcle 


WOT Sy Bohai tee es ed in the place cited 
Lev................. Leviticus 

TOV Reiaseeruee ts Leviticus Rabbah 
Levy, Chal 


t Levy, Chaldiiisches Worterbuch, ete. 


Worterb........ 
Levy, Neuhebr. ple Neuhebraisches und Chalddisches 
Worterb....... Waorterbuch, ete. 
rae Phan Rana Septuagint 
eared Mickel seat oa e married 
Ma SOS) cee oak oatertice Ma‘aserot (Talmud) 
Ma‘ = | Sener Ma‘aser Sheni (‘Talnuda) 
Mace.,. ee . Maccabees 
IME ini g cto arcakes ‘.Makkot (Talmud) 
Maksh ............. Makshirin (Talmud) 
MAN cane aa eee one es Malachi 
MAS sacra Ss 4hen eee Masorah 
Massek .......0.000- MasseKet 
Matt. acca ders ceds Matthew 


McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Bib- 


McClintock and yi Heal, » Theological, and Ecclesiastical Liter- 


Strong, Cyc.... 


MOO! poe 9 g-c0taeeaeenains: Megillab (Talmud) 

MO k sessceeeer aan yss Me‘ilah (Talmud) 

MOK ssh cctv aasdauewd Mekilta 

MON seat eacni cok: Menahot (Talmud) 

Midis vo4ck oes vee oe Middot (Talmud) 

MOT sicicccneeintes Midrash 

MiOh Raced ane acs Midrash Rabbah 

Midr. Teh.... ..... Midrash Tehillim (Psalms) 
MUS esse aticetcd iin Mikwaot (Talmud) 

Mi Kiseacciesess Mo‘ed Katan (Talmud) 


. . Monatssehrift fiir Geschichte und Wissen- 
Monatsschrift. .... } schaft des Judenthums 
Mortara, Indice....Mortara, Indice Alfabetico 
MS Hictiendancatseoie Manuscript 
Miller, Frag. Hist. aes Fragmenta Historicorum Greco- 


Gr... eee eee rum 
Na? easisctontemeass Nazir (Talmud) 
VD... cccceeeeeeee 10 Gate 
Ned... ..-ccaccccece Nedarim (Talmud) 
NOP cs ereiadecus eees Nega‘im 
NCDG tis eudedesace- Nehemiah 


Neubauer, Cat. (| Neubauer, Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. 
Bodl.Hebr.MSS. | in the Bodleian Library 
Neubauer, G. T....Neubauer, Géographie du Talmud 


Ne eeeiv dew wees New Testament 
NUD isewestesk aha ee Numbers 
Nin. Rossier Numbers Rabbah 
ODAG ic ccc ee iss eee’ Obadiah 
Oest.Wochenschrift.Oesterreichische Wochenschrift 
Mic cas staat cttamadiar's Ohalot (Talmud) 
(IYER en's! dais aed Fen eee Onkelos 
Orient, Lit.......... Literaturblatt des Orients 
0d bee a renee Old Testament 
FP ncieiaeeieiie ese Priestly code 
Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon Hervorra- 
Pagel, Biog. Lex. gone Aerzte des Neunzehnten Jahrhun- 
erts 


Pal. Explor. Fund..Palestine Exploration Fund 
Pauly-Wissowa, t Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie der Clas- 
Real-Encyc.....§ sischen Altertumswissenschaft 


PON ess iis Rees ..rentateuch 
PES ssa beeen Pesahim (Talmud) 
P@8liost wnat es ts Peshito, Peshitta 
POSIK w.025% phones Pesikta de-Rab Kahana 
Pesik. R..... . Pesikta Rabbati 
PUL svicrete ws eedeetes .) Philippians 
Pirke R. El......... Pirke Rabbi Eliezer 
Ploy oisdiasanciuess Proverbs 
PS res reeak 4 eee es ie Psalm or Psalms 
Escape, Aden teat case tacos Rabbi or Rab (before names) 
Rahmer’s Jud. | Rahmer’s Jiidisches Litteratur-Blatt 
Regesty ..........4. Regesty i Nadpisi 
Rev. AS.......000- Revue Asiatique 
Rev. Bib.........0> Revue Biblique 
Rey. Et. Juives..... Revue des Etudes Juives 
Rev. Sém.......... Revue Sémitique 
5 ene .-.«- Rosh ha-Shanah (Talmud) 


R. 
Rios (Amador de ! Estudios Histéricos, Politicos y Literarios, 
los), Estudios... { ete. 
Rios (Amador de t Historia ...de los Judios de Espafia y 
los), Hist....... cores ee eevee ee eer 
Ritter, Die unde im Verhialtnis zur 
Ritter, Erdkunde. ; Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen 


Roest, Cat. / Roest, Catalog der Hebraica und Judaica 
pa rosenthal. Bibl.} aus der L. Rosenthal’schen Bibliothek 
ee eee Romans 
i Vv Serer er ee Revised Version 
Salfeld, Martyro-¢ Salfeld, Das Martyrologiuin des Niirnberger 
togium nee Memorbuches 
TSA 6 oics nwa eee TY Samuel 
IDSA sy sesdwiet eee II Samuel 
SATIN cide shaeeacit-es Sanhedrin (Talmud) 
8. B.0. T ) (Sacred Books of the Old Testament) Poly. 
eerie e vie ee ( chrome Bible, ed. Paul Haupt 
See | Schaff-Herzog, A Religious Encyclopsedia 
Schrader, i Sehrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions and the 
Co L 0. Teac cs ‘ Old Testament, Eng. trans. 
Schrader, K. A. T. ee Keilinschriften und das Alte Tes. 
amen 


Schrader, K. B.....Schrader, Keilinscbriftliche Bibliothek 


Schrader, K. G. 4 JSchrader, Keilinschriften und Geschichts- 
: ) 


forschung 
Schtirer, Gesch..... Schirer, Geschichte des Judischen Volkes 
SOUle. Muu eens cou a Semahot (Talmud) 
Shab.....ccccceeees Shabbat (Talmud) 
SHED 2a tecitensGanicos Shebdi‘it (Talmud) 
SHEDU i246 eeiea ass Shebu‘ot (Talmud) 
She 4 ca eiidhads Shekalim (Talmud) 
Sibyllines.......... Sibylline Books 


Smith, Rel. of Sem..Smith, Lectures on Religion of the Semites 
\Stade’s Zeitschrift fiir die Alttestament- 


3 . | 
Stade’s Zeitschrift ) ~\iche Wissenschaft 
Steinschneider, } Steinschneider, Catalogue of the Hebrew 
; Cat. Bodl....... Books in the Bodleian Library 
oe oe | Steinschneider, Hebraische Bibliographie 
pecan cm __ ¢Steinschneider, Hebriiische Uebersetzungen 
BU 5 stew aoe leew areas Sukkah (‘Tatmud) 
WU cea os eu ire cee ate. under the word 
PACT ses cy-eeescocs . Ta’anit (Talmud) 
POM siier er nisendax Tanhuma 
TALS sh caok been dears Targumim 
Targ. Onk.......... Targum Onkelos 
Targ. Yer..... _.«..Targuin Yerushalmi or Targum Jonathan 
POW iaceinve tad aaa ae Temurah (Talmud) 
Ol toes ata teeta Terumot (Talmud) 
Thess ........ Gaieieses Thessalonians 
AE LW sb ie y-atd- ons SYN eae Timothy 
POM si sirens 2 tear wena Tohorot 
OSs sae 'ie endure ‘Tosafot 
WOSCL fp lcvereenireas Tosefta 
TADS) ioe os Sa se aha translation 
Tr. Soc. Bibl { Transactions of the Society of Biblical Ar- 
ATCD ...cceeceee f cheeology 
TNE sitet barat a eu Tebul Yom (Talmud) 
cl 0) aera erre eres es ‘Ukzin (Talmud) 
Univ. (Sf ixiaey es Univers Israélite 
VIG ea bixyween Shak Vulgate 
Weiss, Dor .. Weiss, Dor Dor we-Dorshaw 
Wellhausen, ( Wellhausen, Jsraelitische und Jiidische 
Tes Jai Gia ee oe ese , Geschichte 
Winer, B. R........ Winer, Biblisches Realwoérterbuch 
Wisdom selina) ewtdani ae Wisdom of Solomon 


.. Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraea 
j Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des 


Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. 


( Morgenlandes 
WAG ssh ayabaee sty, wk Yadayiin (Talmud) 
Pe NCE caidialy stan at chcchas Yad ha-Hazakah 
VaR iacnctan seas Yalkut 
VGN accor a sains .Yebamot (Talmud) 
MOP Gadetiaiek ookibe Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud) 
VHWH vic sasceese ces Jehovah 
LAND rises geht as ey Soa Zabim (Talmud) 
Z.D.M.G aaaeenty der Deutschen Morgenlindi- 
Sak oe See epee schen Gesellschaft 
ZOD savetoracurene. Zebahim (Talmud) 
ZOCses ioc a eres 24 Zechariah 


Zedner, Cat. Hebr. { Zedner, Catalogue of the Hebrew Books in 
Books Brit.Mus.§ the British Museum 

Zeit. fiir Assyr..... Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie 

ee _ Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins 

Zeit. fiir Hebr. Bibl.Zeitschrift fir Hebraische Bibliographie 

Zeitlin, Bibl. Post- | Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica Post-Mendels- 


Mendels........ { sohniana 
ZODNG ceiiteissasees Zephaniah 
ZunZ, GS... eee eee Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften 
Zunz. G. V..csseeee zunz, Gottesdienstliche Vortrige 
Zunz, Literatur- ae Literaturgeschichte der Synagogalen 
mesch .......... Poesie | ; 
zunz, Ritus...... pices Ritus des Synagogalen Gottes- 
Ziunz, S. P......... Zunz, Synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters 
MUNZs Ze Gis ivces Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur 


NOTE TO THE READER. 


Subjects on which further information is afforded elsewhere in this work are indicated by the 
use of capitals and small capitals in the text; as, ABBA ARIKA; PUMBEDITA; VOCALIZATION. 


CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME Ii 


Cyrus Adler, Ph.D., | 
President of the Ainerican Jewish Historical 
Society ; President of the Board of Trustees 
of the Jewish Theological Seminary of 
America; Librarian of the Smithsonian In- 
stitution, Washington, D.C. 


Brrcsocssvoser® 


A.A. G..... Amélie André Gedalge, 
Paris, France. 


A. Bi...---:- A. Biach, 
Rabbi at Briix, Bohemia, Austria. 


A. Bi....... Alexander Biichler, Ph.D., 
Rabbi, Keszthely, Comitat Zola, Hungary. 


Bi COer sini: A. Cowley, M.A., 
Oriental Sublibrarian, Bodleian Library, Ox- 
ford University, Oxford, England. 


A. F.........A. Freimann, Ph.D., 
Editor of the “ Zeitschrift ftir Hebraéische 
Bibliographie ’’?; Librarian of the Hebrew 
Department, Stadtbibliothek, Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, Germany. 


A. Fe........-Alfred Feilchenfeld, Ph.D., 
Principal of the Realschule, Firth, Bavaria, 
Germany. 


A. F.-G.....Adolph Frank1-Griin, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Kremsier, Moravia, Austria. 


Ay BL. ccc A. Fleischmann, 
New York City. 


A. H. V.....A. Henriques Valentine, 
London, England. 


.. Adolph Kamphausen, Ph.D., 
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at the 
University of Bonn, Germany. 


A. Ku.......A. Kurrein, Ph.D., 
Rabbi, Teplitz, Bohemia, Austria. 


..Axel Moth, LL.B., — 
New York Public Library, New York City. 


A. M. F.....Albert M. Friedenberg, B.S., 
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. R, @Ceoresae A. Rhine, 
Rabbi, Hot Springs, Ark. 


A.S.C......Alexander S. Chessin, 


A. Ka..... 


A. M...... 


Professor of Mathematics, Washington Uni- 


versity, St. Louis, Mo. 


A, Sz........ Adele Szold, 
Baitimore, Md. 


B. B.........Benuel H. Brumberg, 
Contributor to “* National Cyclopedia of Ameri 
can Biography,” New York City. 


B. D.........Bernard Drachman, Ph.D., 
Rabbi of the Congregation Zichron Ephraim 3; 
Instructor in the Bible and in Hebrew Gram- 
mar at the Jewish Theological Seminary of 
America, New York City. 


B. E.........B. Eerdmans, Ph.D., 
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis, Jewish 
Religious History, Babylonian and Assyrian 
Languages, Rijks University. Leyden, Hol- 
land. 


C. Br........C. Bruckman, 
New York City. 
C. F. K....,.Charles Foster Kent, Ph.D., 


Professor Of Biblica) Literature and History, 
Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 


C. H.B......C. H. Bjerregaard, 
Formerly Professor, Fredericia College, Frede-- 
ricia, Denmark; Librarian of the New York. 
Puolic Library, New York City. 


C. I. DeS....Clarence I. De Sola, 
Montreal, Canada. 


C.J. M......Charles J. Mendelsohn, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

C. L..........Caspar Levias, M.A., 
Instructor in Exegesis and Talmudic Are. 
maic, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 


C. T..........Charles Taylor, D.D., LL.D., 
Master, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Enge 
land. 


D....ce06---. Gotthard Deutsch, Ph.D., 
Professor of Jewish History, Hebrew Union 
College, Cincinnati, Ohio. 


D. B. M.....Duncan B. McDonald, B.D., 
Professor of Semitic Languages at Hartford 
Theological Seminary, Hartford, Conn. 


D. P.........David Philipson, D.D., 
Rabbi of the Congregation B’ne Israel; Pro- 
fessor of Homiletics, Hebrew Union College, 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 


D. W.A..... David Werner Amram, LL.B., 
Attorney at Law, Philadelphia, Pa. 
E.A.........Edward André, 


Paris, France. 


EB. C......... Executive Committee of the Editorial 
Board. 


E. G. H.....Emil G. Hirsch, Ph.D., LU.D., 
Rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chicago, 
Tl!.; Professor of Rabbinical Literature and: 
Philosophy in the University of Chicago. 


xii 


tiie # 8|©8€68383838€60UC~«S«*C! ©€CU ee mG ania. Ms........udgar Mels, 
New York City. 


Ba IN Gensvess Eduard Neumann, Ph.D., 
Chief Rabbi of Nagy-Kanisza, Hungary. 


..Bikan N. Adler, 
London, England. 


E.N.S...... Elvira N. Solis, 
New York City. 


..E. Schreiber, Ph.D., 
Rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El, Chicago, I). 


EB Sa iseicnes E. Schwarzfeld, Lu.D., 
Secretary of Jewish Colonization Association, 
Paris, France. 


E.N.A.. 


¥F. Bu........Frants Buhl, Ph.D., 
Professor of Semitic Philology at the Univer- 
sity of Copenhagen, Denmark. 

¥F. H. V..... Frank H. Vizetelly, 


Associate Editor of “*The Columbian Cyclope- 
dia,” and on STANDARD DICTIONARY Edito- 
rial Staff, New York City. 


F.L. C......Francis L. Cohen, 
Rabbi, Borough New Synagogue, London, 
England; Coeditor of *‘ Voice of Prayer and 
Praise.” 


F. de S. M..Frederick de Sola Mendes, Ph.D., 
Rabbi of the West End Synagogue, New York 


City. 

F. T. H......Frederick T. Hannemann, M.D., 
Brooklyn, N. ¥. 

 C Richard Gottheil, Ph.D., 


Professor of Semitic Lacineee Columbia 
University, New York; Chief of the Oriental 
Department, New York Publie Library ; Presi- 
dent of the Federaticn of American Zionists. 


G.A.B..... George A. Barton, Ph.D., 
Associate Professor in Biblical Literature and 
Semitic Languages at Bryn Mawr College, 
Bryn Mawr, Pa. 


G. A. EK..... George Alexander Kohut, Ph.D., 
Formerly Rabbi in Dallas, Texas; now New 
York City. 


G. B. L...... Gerson B. Levi, 
Philadelphia, Pa, 


G.L.........Goodman Lipkind, B.A., 
Rabbi in London, England. 


G. M.. .G@. Margoliouth, 
Assistant Custodian, Oriental Department, 
British Museum, London, England. 

G. Mo.......Godfrey Morse, 
Lawyer in Boston, Mass. 

G. Se........G. Selikovitch, 


New York City. 


H.B.........4. Brody, Ph.D., 
Coeditor of the ** Zeitschrift fiir Hebriische 
Bibliographie*’; Rabbi at Nachod, Bohemia, 
Austria. 


H. Be....... Henry Berkowitz, D.D., 
Chancellor Jewish Chautauqua Society, Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 


H. Bl........Heinrich Bloch, Ph.D., 
Professor of History at the Jewish Theological 
Seminary Budapest, Hungary. 


CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME III 


H.G.E..... H. G. Enelow, D.D., 
Rabbi of the Congregation Adath Israel, Louis. 
ville, ky. 


HE Guticess: H. Guttenstein, 
New York City. 


: SO = eer Henry Hyvernat, D.D., 
Professor of Oriental Languages and Arche. 
ology, Catholic University of America, Wash- 
ington, D.C. 


HH Bar oc Hartwig Hirschfeld, Ph.D., 
Professor in Jews’ College, London, England, 


hs as Ora eee Hermann L. Strack, Ph.D., 
Professor of Old ‘Testament Exegesis and Sem. 
itic Languages at the University of Berlin, 
Germany. 


H.M........ Henry Malter, Ph.D., 
Assistaut Professor, Hebrew Union College, 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 


BU : Riceccees Herman Rosenthal, 
Chief of the Slavonic Department of the New 
York Public Library, New York City. 


H. S......... Henrietta Szoid, 
Secretary of the Publication Committee of the 
Jewish Publication Society of America, Balti- 
more, Md. 

H. V......... Hermann Vogelstein, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in KOnigsberg, Germany. 

I. Aa.. . Israel Aaron, D.D., 


Rabbi in Buffalo, N. Y. 


Le Biveticccin Isaac Bloch, 
Chief Rabbi of Nancy, France. 


I. Be..... .... Lmmanuel Benzinger, Ph.D., 
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at the 
University of Berlin, Germany. 


I. Ber........Israel Berlin, 
Chemist, New York City. 
I. Br.........I. Broydé, 


Diplomé of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes; 
Formerly Librarian of Alliance Israélite Uni- 
verselle, Paris, France; now New York City. 


Israel Davidson, Ph.D., 
New York City. 


Ismar Elbogen, Ph.D., 
Instructor at the Lelianistate fiir die Wissen- 
schaft des Judenthumis, Berlin, Germany, 


I. D. Beoeoeeeteos 


I. @. D...... I. George Dobsevage, 
New York City. 


lsaac Husik, 
Tutor, Gratz ‘College, Philadelphia, Pa. 


I, A = Gb eer 


....lsrael Lévi, 

Professor in the Jewish Theological Seminary, 
Paris, France; Editor of “‘Revue des Etudes 
Juives.” 


Immanuel Low, 
Chief Rabbi of Szegedin, Hungary. 


...lra Maurice Price, B.D., Ph.D., 
Professor of Semitic Languages and Litera- 
tures in the University of Chicago, Ill. 


J. .ccccveeess. DOSCDh Jacobs, B.A., 
Formerly President of the Jewish Historica} 
Society of England; Corresponding Member 
of the Royal Academy of History, Madrid: 
New York City. 


I, LGeiiexee: 


I. M. P.. 


CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME III 


xiii 


a 


Josiah Cohen, 


eed judge of the Orphan’s Court of Allegheny 
County, Pa. 
D. B...--: J. D. Bravermann, Ph.D., 
ore New York City. 
_E......d. D. Eisenstein, 
Bem New York City. 
J. Buvceeere: Joseph Ezekiel, J.P., 


Bombay, India. 


J. F. McC...d. Frederic McCurdy, Ph.D., LL.D., 
aa Professor of Oriental Languages in the Uni- 
versity College, Toronto, Canada. 


J. G. Le... J.G. Lipman, 
° Assistant Agriculturist, New Jersey State Ex- 
periment Station, New Brunswick, N. J. 


J. Hf........ Josef Hoff, Ph.D., 
Rabbi at Bisenz, Moravia, Austria, 


J. H. G.....- Julius H. Greenstone, 
Rabbi in Philadelphia, Pa. 


jJ.H.M.C..J. H. M. Chumaceiro, 
Rabbi in New York City. 


J. Hy...--- J. Hyams, 
Bombay, India. 


Je TL. ccc evens Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D., 
Professor of Semitic Languages, University of 
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 


J. S0......05- Joseph Sohn, 
Contributor to “The New International Ency- 
clopedia”; formerly of ‘The Forum,’? New 
York City. 


J. Sri... Marcus Jastrow, Ph.D., 
Rabbi Emeritus of the Congregation Rodef 
Shalom, Philadelphia, Pa. 


Doo Le hee ses J. Theodor, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Bojanowo, Posen, Germany. 


SoM waver ncaa: Jacob Voorsanger, D.D., . 
Rabbi of the Congregation Emanu-El, San 
Francisco, Cal.; Professor of Semitic Lan- 
guages and Literatures in the University of 
California, Berkeley, Cal. 


J. W.........Julien Weill, 
Rabbi in Paris, France. 


K...........,.aaufmann Kohler, Ph.D., 
Rabbi of Temple Beth-El, New Yorks ex- 
President of Board of Jewish Ministers, New 
York City. 


K. H.C..... Karl Heinrich Cornill, Ph.D., 
Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exe- 
gesis at the University of Breslau, Germany. 


L. B.... * . Ludwig Blau, Ph.D., 
Professor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, 
Budapest, Hungary ; Editor of ‘** Magyar Zsid6- 
8zémle.” 
L. E.........L. Edelstein, 


New York City. 


L. G......... Louis Ginzberg, Ph.D., 
Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theolog- 
ical Seminary of America, New York City. 


L. Gr........ Louis Grossmann, 
Cincinnati, Obio. 
L. H. G.....Louis H. Gray, 


Instructor in Indo-Iranian at Princeton Uni- 
versity. 


L. Hii.......L. Hiihner, A.M., LL.B., 
Attorney at Law, New York City. 


Die Fi: Giacees Leopold J. Greenberg, 
Formerly Editor of “ Israel,”” London, Eng 
land. 


L. K. F.... .Lee K. Frankel, 
Manager of the United Hebrew Charities, 
New York City. 


L. N. D......Lewis N. Dembitz, 
Attorney at Law, Louisville, Ky. 


L.V......... Ludwig Venetianer, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Neupest, Hungary. 


M. B......... Moses Beer, 
London, England. 


M. Bl........ Maurice Bloch, 
Principal of the Bischoffsheim School at Paris, 
France. 


M. Br.......M. Brann, Ph.D., 
Professor in the Jewish Theological Semi- 
nary at Breslau, Germany. 


M. C......... M. Caimi, 
Corfu, Greece. 
M. Co}.ciex5 Max Cohen, 


Attorney at Law, New York City. 


M. E........M. Ellinger, 
Editor of ‘* The Menorah,”’ New York City. 


M. F......... Michael Friedlander, Ph.D., 
Principal of Jews’ College, London, England. 


M. Fi........ Maurice Fishberg, M.D., 
Surgeon to the Beth Israel Hospital Dispen- 
sary; Medical Examiner to the United He- 
brew Charities, New York City. 


M. Fr........M. Franco, 
Principal of the Alliance Israélite Universelle 
School, Shumla, Bulgaria. 


M. Gr........M. Grunwald, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Hamburg, Germany. 


M. J. K......Max J. Kohler, M.A., LL.D., 
Attorney at Law; Recording Secretary of the 
American Jewish Historical Society, New York 
City. 


M. K........ Moritz Kayserling, Ph.D., 
Rabbi, Budapest, Hungary. 


M. L. B......Moses L6b Bamberger, Ph.D., 
Rabbi at Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, Germany. 


M. L. M....Max L. Margolis, Ph.D., 
Associate Professor of Semitic Languages in 
the University of California, Berkeley, Cal, 


M. R........Max Rosenthal, M.D., 
Visiting Physician, German Dispensary, New 
York City. 

M. Ra.......Max Raisin, : 
Rabbi at Portsmouth, Ohio. 

M. S.........Moise Schwab, Ph.D., 


Librarian of the Hebrew Department at the 
Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, France. 


M. Sc........Max Schléssinger, Ph.D., 
Heidelberg, Germany. 


M. Schw....M. Schwarzfeld, M.D., 
Bucharest, Rumania. 


M. Se........M. Seiffert, 
New York City. 


xiv 


CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME III 





M. Sel......M. Seligsohn, 
Diplomé of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, 
Paris, France ; now New York City. 


M. Si........M. Silberstein, Ph.D., 
Rabbi of Wiesbaden, Germany. 


M.S. Z.....M. S. Zauckermandel, Ph.D., 
Professor at the Theological Seminary, Bres- 
lau, Germany. 


M. W. eoseve .Max Weisz, Ph.D. 9 
Rabbi in Budapest, Hungary. 


M. W.L....Martha Washington Levy, B.A., 
’ Contributor to “ The New International En- 
cyclopedia.” 


M. Z. oeeons .M. Zametkin, 
New York City. 


N. P.........N. Porges, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Leipsic, Germany. 


..Nathaniel Schmidt, Ph.D., 


Professor of Semitic Languages and Litera- 
tures, Cornell University, Fthaca, N. Y. 


0. S. S......Oscar S. Straus, 
Former Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
Plenipotentiary of the United States to Tur- 
key; Member of the Court of Arbitration at 
The Hague; New York City. 


P. B.........Philipp Bloch, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Posen, Germany. 


P. Co........P. Cowen, 
Publisher of ‘‘The American Hebrew,” New 
York City. 


P. Wi........Peter Wiernik, 
New York City. 


R. W. R....Robert W. Rogers, D.D., Ph.D , 
Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exe- 
gesis, Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, 


N. Sc...... 


NJ. 
Saaccevess ....Lsidore Singer, Ph.D., 
MANAGING EDITOR, New York City: 
= ae = eee Samuel Baeck, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Lissa, Germany. 
So duwistaan S. Janovsky, 
Lawyer, St, Petersburg, Russia. 
S. K.........5. Kahn, 


Rabbi in Nimes, France. 


». com. Krauss, Ph.D., 
Professor, Normal College, Budapest, Hungary. 


S. M........S. Mendelsohn, Ph.D., 
Rabbi in Wilmington, N. C. 


S. Kr.. 


S. Man.....S. Mannheimer, B.L., 
Instructor, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 


Odessa, Russia. 


s. R. @eceurse 5. Roubin, 
Rabbi, Woodbine, N. J. 


S. Sa........ Sigismund Salfeld, Ph.D., 
Rabbi, Mayence, Hesse, Germany. 

S. Sc......... S. Schulman, 
Associate Rabbi of Tempie Beth-E}, New 
York City. 

De cieenevauns , Crawford Howell Toy, D.D., LL.D., 


Professor of Hebrew in Harvard University. 
Cambridge, Mass. 


T.F.S...... Theodore F. Seward (Deceased), 
Late Editor of the ‘‘New York Musical 
Gazette,”> New York City. 


V. C.........Wietor Castiglioni, 


Professor, Triest, Austria. 


Neri. Vasili Rosenthal, 
Kremenchug, Russia. 


V. Ry....... Victor Ryssel, Ph.D., 
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis and 
Semitic Languages at the University of 
Zurich, Switzerland. 


...W. Bacher, Ph.D., 
Professor at the Jewish Theologicai Semi- 
nary, Budapest, Hungary. 


W.H.B..... William H. Bennett, M.A., 
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis, New 
College, London, England. 


.W. Max Mialler, Ph.D., 

Professor of Bible Exegesis in the Reformed 
Episcopal Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 
Pa. 


W.N........ William Nowack, Ph.D., 


Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at the 
University of Strasburg, Germany. 


.... William Popper, Ph.D., 
New York City. 


W. Rei......W. Reich, 
Rabbi in Vienna, Austria. 
Wi Sycccenesi William Salant, M.D., 
New York City. 
Z.K.........~Zadoc Kahn, 


Chief Rabbi of France; Honorary President of 
the Alliance Israélite Universelle ; Officer of 
the Legion of Honor, Paris, France. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME IU 


N. B.—In the following list subjects likely to be sought for under various headings are repeated 
under each heading. | 


PAGE. 
Agrippa II., Copper Coin of, Struck at Caoesarea...........04. aucune aes rod ead su daboonwecae aoe es 487 
Aleph as a Symbol of the Four Cabalistic Worlds ............... Sewanee ‘crema qb aaiae onus Gina 4 seats 476 
Almemar of the Old Synagogue at Charleston, 8. C. ..... gi aes Sran ccavaicarticnara led giles ate otsiessane aan tne ratestae . 678. 


__— gee also MosEs, CHAIR OF, 

America: see Mexrco; UNITED STATES. 

Amsterdam: see MEAH BERAKOT. 

Anthropology: see TYPEs. 

“ Arba‘ Turim,” A Censored Page from Jacob ben Asher’s. Printed by Soucino in 1516.............. 648 

Archeology: see BotNDARY-STONE; BRACELET; CAMEL; CANDLESTICK ; CAPTIVE; CATACOMBS; CHAINS; 
CHARIOT; COIN. 

Architecture: see C@SAREA, RUINS OF; CARPENTRAS; CEMETERY; HOUSE; SYNAGOGUES; see also 
CANDLESTICK. 

Ark of the Law: see BERLIN, INTERIOR OF THE OLD SYNAGOGUE AT. 

Art: see ARCHEOLOGY; ARCHITECTURE; BINDING; Boox-PLATE; BORDER; BOTTLES; EWER; TyPoe- 
RAPHY. 

Assyria: see BOUNDARY-STONE; CAMEL; CHAINS; CHARIOT. 

Assyrian Soldiers Guarding Jewish Captives. ..... 0... cece cece cece e eee teen ener eeeateeneas 562 

Auto da Fé: see CARABAJAL, MARIANA DE, EXECUTION OF. 

Autographs: see BENDEMANN, EpvuarD; BENFEY, THEODOR: BENJAMIN, JUDAH Puruip; BORNE, 
Karu Lupwie; Brtu, Ignaz; BuBER, SOLOMON. 





Babylonian Boundary-Stone, Dated 1120 B.c. ..... ee eee ee eee anes Pt EES Eicon eas Mean tare aes nae 343 
Bendavid, Lazarus, German Philosopher and Reformer....... anise eT er ea ee eee eee er 1 
Bendemann, Eduard, German Painter.............. 0.00008. eee Pe eT ee ee OT ee or ee 2 
— Painting of “ Jeremiah at the Fall of Jerusalem” by...... ee ee eee . Prontispiece 
Benedict, Marcus: see BENET, MorRDECAI. 

—— Sir Julius, Composer, Conductor, and Teacher of Music............. a ee ee eee dis 9 
Benedictions: Title-Page of “ Meah Berakot,” Amsterdam, 1787........... 0.00 cess cece eee eee eee 8 
Benedikt, Moriz, Austrian Neurologist,............. ee eT eee eae eee ee nae 12 
Benet, Mordecai, Moravian Rabbi and Talmudist ........... eer iusite re cbacute sweet ea errr 14 
Benfey, Theodor, German Sanskritist and Philologist ........... 0... cece eee e ence weet eee eaes Demdigs 16 
Beni-Israel Family at Bombay............20..00000: apa hows areakn au hetae aes eee Te er 19 
~~—— —— Group of, in Ancient Costume......... biskaG were wed ae eewar came a wen vee p teats Green a Dene aoe 18 
Sent OL OULD Ved oie, Gprcieia lant ire aveaid wile aa wenaadens tia ware eae ess Sienna Re essaceters eh ceca atatee 19 
~———— Second Synagogue of the, at Bombay, Erected 1848..... ee ee eee ee eta td witate Weare crane ere 20: 
——~ —— see also Bompay. 

Benjamin II., J. J., Rumanian Traveler............cecceecceceeecees abeare ee rere a 25 
Benjamin, Judah Philip, Statesman, Orator, and Lawyer.......... i tareeaat tate nani utde ces 2O0 
“Berah Dodi,” Music of...........0e0cccceececeeees rere Peer ee se eidioce Labs Om ccrucabaniad As ain% 48 
Berdychev, Great Synagogue at .......4.. 0.00046 sara tre Rae tie ues ati he ea ete hiatal nies we tree 8a aad 51 
Berlin, Exterior of the Old Synagogue at........ PA maea ide Soe Soe eal wea ies Homa e Abies .. 10 
~— Interior of the Old Synagogue at 0.0.0.0... ccc cee eee c eee eee eee ha ati riots sath ee Gh cegutetn secs nn fee. 71 


~— Plan of the Interior of the Synagogue on Lindenstrasse.........0..ccceseeeeceeceaeees esata 712 


xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME III 




















PAGE 
Berlin, Synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse............. 2000.00 ee eee’ pa a Aah eens tases ra Samaria a aaa 18 
Berlin, Moses, Scholar and Communal Worker. ...... 0.0.0.0... eee ec ce ce cee enc en wees eeeeeee 80 
Berliner, Abraham, Jewish Scholar and Historian .. 2.2.0... ce ce ec we ee ce cece eee renee 84 
Bernay s;Isaae; Chicl Rhabbinn, Lae mbure.ji6 nek can ei ee eu ee iay Bea oe 45 sa WOR eats eee 90 
Bernstein, Aaron, German Publicist, Scientist, and Reformer ....... 00.0.0. ce cc ce eee eens 97 
Bethe Vie WO! de octet eaten ha een ea ew ee hae eating waded: SHEER RSLS 120 
Betrothal Deed, Italian, Dated 5555 a.m. From the New York Public Library .... colored plate facing 128 
— Ring, Bearing Letter 1 for “Mazzal Tob”... . 00.0. eee eee eee rire ed detect tee hed Mee naa 128 
—— — with Box Containing Perfumes and Opening with a Key ...... 0.0... cc cece ee en 128 
—- Scene at Nuremberg, Early Eighteenth Century. ...............2-.00. ihe lg BivaSh eas eye el ed 127 
of German Jews, Eighteenth Century....... ee ee ee ee er ee eee 126 
Bevis Marks Synagogue, London, Interior of ........ 0. cece ce cen eect etree eee Ia cere tal 133 

Bible, Erfurt Manuscript of the Hebrew, with Targum on Alternate Lincs. Formerly belonging to 
Vie Te GUC EN 25 thoes karen oes a ecaie a eae oe Ree ole ued uteere es Ga a ele ns weer Meg eae eters 181 

—- First Page of Exodus. From an illuminated manuscript, formerly in the possession of the Duke 
ME SESS ON eae ees a8 totale aetna Page SPAN at cas Mca ar go sce ann Mes tae a tec Pa nae anh Mea eng gy de 188 

—~ First Page of Leviticus. From the first Rabbinic Bible, printed by Daniel Bomberg, Venice, 1517. 
In the collection of Hon. Mayer Sulzberger. ....... 0.0... c ce cece ee ee eee plate betiveen 160-161 
—— Illuminated Hebrew (Gen. i.), Spain, 1476. From the Bodleian Library, colored plate facing 178 
-—— Page from the Brescia Edition of the, 1494. Copy used by Luther.......................2..0. 158 
—— from the Complutensian Polyglot Edition of 1514. In the New York Public Library...... 159 

— from the First Hebrew Edition of Psalms, 1477, with David Kimhi’s Commentary. In the 
collection:.o€ Elon...May cr SUIZDerser vuGeias vis ca twee Haat Aake wer wetter eae owns 155 

—— —— from the First Hebrew Edition of the Pentateuch, Printed at Bologna, 1482. In the New 
Vor UONCCRI DIN pti wea eee ieee Pere NA Ew ACEO Renee ce eye eted een Sunes 157 
—— — from the Vatican Manuscript of the Septuagint Version of Exodus xix. 14-xx. 17.......... 187 
—— of the Hebrew, with Superlincar Punctuation. From the St. Petersburg Codex, 916 c.E.... 179 
Biedermann, Michael Lazar, Austrian Merchant.......0 000000. c ccc ccc ec ce eee eet ee en enees 208 


Binding, Leather, of “‘Or Ammim,” 1537, Tooled in Gold. In the collection of Hon. Mayer Sulzberger 218 
Silver, of a Hebrew Prayer-Book. In the collection of J. Kauffmann of Frankfort-on-the-Main. 214 





if kab AsOUANI = * NLUSIC Olen: nc cats cata ed ae be eg een ek aes oR bo en oes Oe ew tees 246, 247 

Bischitz de Heves, Johanna, Hungarian Philanthropist... 00.000... ce cc ce cc eee nent eeeees 226 

Black Death: Map of Central Europe Showing Chief Towns Where Outbreaks Against the Jews 
Occurred, During 1348-19, s.2c- cn cece tae esc eee eee ews eadaes bande qakaut iawets 235 


Blessing, Priestly, Music of: see BrirkaT KOHANIM. 
of Moon: see BENEDICTIONS. 

















Blioch, Ivan Stanislavovich, Russo-Polish Financier and Economist .............. 0 ccc cee cece ee ecees 250 
Bloch, Marcus Eliezer, German Ichthyologist and Physician .......... 0... cece cee e ene eenes 255 
Blumenthal, Oskar, German Author and Playwright ............. rat dich lg up. aaa Sue Ge Siete rang ane lanes 275 
bnanb rib Buildime, New YOrk coasts c0cud cy ac oew an asaeees Venue we Ke beatun so oees eheaunaeunee 276 
Deal Ol The OMIeCriOl wc x piace areca Oia eee iahieed Mee lo bw ewes aakaed Oe RM Ra A em NOOR Saha 276 

Bodleian Library, Ewer with Hebrew Inscription, in the ........ 00... ce cee cee ce eee een ee eeeas 282 
——- Illuminated Hebrew Bible (Gen. i.) from the, written in Spain 1476....... colored plate facing 178 
Bokhara, Interior of the Great Synagogue at 0.0.0... ccc ccc eet cece eee eee e ee eee beneeenes 295 
ao JOWeSS, TYPO Ol a) cisions io hawk tnwece sedans aha ec Sate daha a tones pea tes, Bah oem len as AA ec a arcs 294 
Jews Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles .........0cc cece cece eee e eee bees eeteesenseeeeaas 293 
Bologna, Page from the First Hebrew Edition of the Pentateuch, 1482, Printed at................06. 157 
— “Tefillot Latini,” 1538, Italian-Jewish Prayers in Hebrew Characters, Printed at................ 299 
Bombay. -pemilsimel Manly Ab: aici ne trcgched coeur a ewe oe eh SME ARS HONS CURE e eens eee enw ee es 19 
—— Beni-Israel of........0ss00cceesscees AN SI ee ee re ene nT eee oy DN ee ere 19 
-= Keneseth: Inlyabu Sy nasoSue al.cqicystes den detaanoeeenneaw ns pes ease ue edeseeeenhatwaw ees ees 20 
—— Magen David or Sha‘ar ha-Rahamim Synagogue at......... cee cece ce cece eee eee e enn eaees 21 
-——— Second Beni-Israel Synagogue at, Erected 1848 ....... 0... cece ee cece cee eee ree eens eter eeaes 20 
Bomberg, Daniel: First Page of Leviticus from First Rabbinic Bible, Venice, 1517, plate between 160-161 
—— —— Page from the Talmud of 1526, Printed by ........ 0.0... cee cece tere eee eee t eee cenes 301 
DON; OY UAL ORUC AL 42h iaaeoce cu gawmae tes ile ais aliis aan es wa awe ene eeoes Re he Dot en eee 308 
Book-Piate ot, David Priedlinder 24s. bist cas fete eee eee het aa ou ae eee eee Soeur hae eeinte 314 
——— OF 2) Me Ge CASIIO ee cen toes teaawoeaateee Gia oteteeaaieu deta a Min tacaueaseanteee cee 313 


—— OF De Pinto Pamly scwwcurceress ones cae oe haaee ns oo eis Wawel ue eet eeeeCsueeaigy sete neees 313 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME HI xvil 


<aaeeiall PAGE 
oo. Pil ounONSsOUsdetecesn sede tL WotelS poi ies end aed e buh sen ee keen ead seea eee ees 315 
‘Book: atone TROtNSCL Mees autecr erred alg era cha eri toe Gematol Saw CE ane Ae Boru aa Re nee a 314 
oof Ruben Brainin... 6... 1. ccc cece ee eect e ee teen tee e etre eee eens pea oe bene 315 
Bordeaux, Plan of the Northwest Section of the City of, About 1450, Showing the “ Rua Judaica” and : 
the Jewish Quarters Outside tie City: Was: .escceuieadh ar et dae who uiahsou eek anders end one 
Border, Soncino, fron the Vitle-Pageof “Sefer \ choshuar vc csscibscc mew gus adn ees dere eeuans a iues 
nore, Karl Ludwig, German Political and Literary Writer... 2.2.0... cece ee cee eee e ees o20 
Bottles, Goatskin, Mode of Filling Jars from ............. Se ee ee ee o40 
° a RG 1 seh EP aleSUINey casenGniumnsie ise San G eee es eG ca ewes eae esnuer eee es 341 
ee HOLAEL Cl aM NAMIY: ataate wc Vea mo taeew Siw cett a ocd Gai ogy athos beatae Suan ae eee 3-42 
Bours. oa Aisa, Dated W208 Cox cock cael tare o eur oeseanang eee panne asda he se Po haeames eee ee 343 
ae __ of Gezer, with the Inscription 433 onn (“Limit of Gezer”), Discovered by M. Clermont- 
SEC eee ee ee ere ee ee ey er ee eee 342 
Bracelet from Cyprus. In the Cesnola collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.......... 345 
Bragadini, Printers, Imprint of, on the Title-Page of the First Edition of Caro’s Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Venice, 1EGL 0. ccc ccc cece eee eet e cere eee e ene re eee renee erent teeter erent eae tenes eee O87 
Brabam, John, English Singer........ ssc sees ec eee eet e tee eee nee eee e een e et ee en ee neat nes 847 
Brainin, Ruben, Book-Plate OL ataconcal incline sous tauearn Sie eiake eu alteuniae omnes Ae aude eied aaa aus 315 
Brandes, Georg, Dans: Wun Orand Cris ac eos ated oe hate wanes ess eae Gate aus wee ee 351 
Brazen Sea of Solomon’s Temple, with View of Section. Restored according to Calmet............. 358 
Bréal, Michel, French Philologist... 0.0... 0. sce e cece ee eee eee eee eee ee renee e ene e teen n enone eens 365 
Breastplate of the High PPVNCS rab. tri ee etna 5 dane a ae eres Arman hy atvt ee Meee ae Oh ee Ue pant an adichin tikSaweve ees 366 
Breithaupt, John Frederick, Christian Hebraist ee re eee ee ee re eee 369 
Brescia, Page from the First Hebrew Bible, 1494, Printed at. Copy aged DY TAP .a5 sen ues te oS: 158 
Bricks, Captives Making, for the Temple of Ammon at Thebes in Egypt............ plate between 380-381 
Bride and Bridegroom, Costumes of, Among German Jews of the Eighteenth Century............... 128 
Bridegroom and Bridal Processions of German Jews, About 1700... .... 6.6.6 cece ce cee tence eee e nes 129 
___-of the Law, Procession of, on the Eve of the Rejoicing of the Law. After PiCatcckoe te teusines 383 
Bristol, Plan of City of, Showing Position of Jewry, About 1250 C.B...... 2. cc cece ec eee cece scenes 387 
Brody, The J ewish CCMVOL CIV BU. 5d woul sein ig Sau he BEE ne eee ead we aS aw ards Gs ROSES LaS Uses eS 640 
Bru, [ona7Z. Austral Composer shcn nas ieee tewe aces satus eee Chie apa Sau e ue tate aes eed cy 402 
—— Jakob, Austrian Talmudist and Author.... 0.0.00... ccc cc cece ccc ce cece eee cece enaceveceeues 402 
=== Nehemial.. Rabbrand SCholar.2a«ccaissse eee cadbs peuleetehieeasuawes seen ee wee Geta de caeken tes 408 
Brussels, Host Tragedy at, 1870. After the Tapestries in the Cathedral of St. Gudule, showing: 
Salecol: HOS 2; d0oseac awa wwlass cy he Ye ieue wae ma bay em ead eee Sead wrens ein tawes 407 
Jews Represented as Transfixing HOSts... 2.0.0... cece eae cree e ence erase eect et eneeteenesecs 408 
Jews Dragged to TPrisOn, fs4 cals bdo mus eee swduue Need DANS e eae atest eee wea debs cealeueens 407 
Matt yraGonOl lew Ss ui.wxendeanusn pa Geawhe Teed ad eeua aie aais Resa mes See weneeeeetas 5 A407 
Buber, Solomon, Galician Scholar ...... 2... ... cece eee ees cme hw were Ha Roan ww aan ded arene Raw ances A410 
Budapest, The Tabakgasse Synagogue at ..... cc cc cece e cece cece ce eterna tees te ea rn etareresesceces 417 
Budweis, Synagogue at (Pointed Style) ....... cc cece cece en cc cece eee ee ee ee eet sateneacetaenaseaee 421 
Bueno, Ephraim Hezekiah. From the painting by Rembrandt........... 0... cc ccc cece ccc eceecceenes 422 
Burial: Carrying a: Body 10 a Grave 3 .c-ciwad ta ed wosew doe dade dawendi swe oats wate Soecsarwelad 434 
~—— Moumers Throwing Grass Behind Them as They Leave the Cemetery ................00ce eee 437 
== Placing Body ina Com nec ois cassser ed veesiwu de dianiecswidalandlomddernseuesesctas Mie deslent 432 
—~ Sephardic Jews in Procession Round a Coffin ......... 0... ccc cece cece cece eaeanceeeacaseens 433 
== Throwing Bart nupond Comin ein onde cnsadnuuareune net aamde sie cae aad bat ae ern ale soe. 435 
“Burning Bush, Moses at the.” From the Sarajevo Haggadah of the fourteenth CONLUTY nes cu ngacee 439 
Buxtorf, Johannes, Christian Rabbinical Scholar............ccccecccecceecces ET ee ee eae Ee 445 
Byelostok, The Old PY MACOLUCO! oss ts ewes dee ay ee oes ieee et aataw doe ways Giada ead .--.. 448 
Cabala: Correct Order of Sefirot Arranged in a Circle....... peseweceseas Paes ran ica secaia a is Sete segs 476 
—— Relation of the Cabalistic Spheres. 2.0.0... ccccce cc cce cece ecccececeescceuccsevceeesseecesacs 474 
——~ Sefirot in the Form of a Menorah..........cccccccccuccucucececcceetesecesceerteeseeenees wee. 476 
~— The Aleph as a Symbol of the Four Cabalistic Worlds...... ee MEG Se wena es nts s Sa waewhee 476 
—— The Sefirot in Relation to One Another...........cccseccecceccesceesvececs Kae Ree eenawhanans AVS 
Cesarea, Copper Coin of Agrippa Tl, SUCK AV: dacewerdoce tase dees thee tene Carita detweseeseas 487 
See OMI OE ris ta Loa tire uaaiecti duane eia vad acta elacleasaiteaataeatasadad Gnunahtnausoaeleontiedenis 486 


xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME HI 


























PAGE 
Camel on a South Arabian: Monument <i: siisccee elas oo eases cae eine oh ee Oe wh aaa eae as 521 
Camels Led as Tribute to: Shalimaneser vss044 5 atie cesduiesdegeaddeee ane eecew. sae adas eee were es 520 
Candlestick, Earliest Known Representations of the Golden... 2... ccc ccc cece eee eect eee tunes 532 
— From a Gilt Glass Vase Found in the Jewish Catacombs at Rome............. 0 cece eee eee ee eens 532 
—~— a Graffito Found in the Jewish Catacomb at Venosa..... 2... 00. cece cee eet tree eeteee 5382 
——--—— a Lintel in the Ruins of the Ancient Synagogue of Nebratein............. 0.2.0... eee ee eee 532 
ee ROCK-Cub.bombuNcal sdllaskcadatamanteaned conker eadeue teeth oka eale hae ee eben 5382 
——. -—— the Bottom of a Glass Vase Now in the Museo Borgiano at Rome...........0.ecceeeeeeeeee 0382 
—- the Great Mosque at Gaza, Discovered by Clermont.Ganneau.............- 02020 e cee cece D982 
—— Hexagonal Arrangement of the Golden (Hypothetical)..... 0.0... 0 ee cece eee ee eee tenes 5382 
—On a Lamp Found Among the Ruins of Carthage by P. Delattre................ 0.2 ce cece eee ee 532 
—— Ona Lamp Found at Khirbat Sammaka, Near Carmel .... 0... cece cee eee eee a neces 032 
—~— On the Arch of Titus, as It Appeared in 1710. After Reland........ 000.2 ce ee ees 582 
— On the Entrance to a Tomb at Wadi al-Nahal... 0.2... 0 ccc cc ce ce ce ete ents ereeenees 532 

Representation of the Golden, on a Sarcophagus from the Vigna Randanini at Rome...,........ 614 
Canterbury, Map of, Showing Position of Jewry... 0.0... ccc cece cece cern ee eee tee eee e teen eeses 536 
Cantillation, Marks: see BIBLE, Brescia Epitron, 1494; PENTATEUCH, 1482; PoLyaetot, 1514; St. 

PETERSBURG CoDEX, 916. See also CANTILLATION, Music oF. 

Music of..... ance eee a wud ae 6a Oud Bains Cons mois he oe iG ee ed Rare eee eae ed wate 539-550 
Cantor, Moritz, German Historian of Mathematics ...... 0.0.0... cece ce eee ce cee tert e eee neeees 551 
CADLIVe, ASSy Tans i Cains, 54 uo 3d s hae oee yea orks aie Rohe Maras Ge AAA wea Shs bed bOeR Rowe eh ete eke 659 
Captives, Jewish, in Attitude of Supplication . 2.2.0... cece ect e ewe came e cee e eee eesaet 562 
—— Making Bricks for the Temple of Ammon at Thebes in Egypt.................. plate between 380-881 
Carabajal,. Franciseade,."Torture of, at Mexico, 1090). cc saris ac ceasedac newt hneeebesd «vee weaw eeu 569 

Mariana de, Execution of, at Mexico, 1601... 0... cc cc cece cee cece eee twee enee serene 568 
Carmel. Mott: From Tie Seas: sous 66 ort eae wows see Rae bee eee ie aa ae eee ae Stu ec Be 579 
Caro, Joseph: Title-Page of the First Edition of the Shulhan ‘Aruk, Printed at Venice, 18th of 

Kislew, 5825=1564. In the collection of Hon. Mayer Sulzberger...... ice chiles TeRs Ginet Sela we 587 
Carpentras, Norih- Gate of the Jewry Qtca stages ertdnd dea wetiesid ad tag ied CAR OE SE weeded Ewe Se 590 
Carregal, Raphael! Hayyim Isaac, Itinerant Rabbi and Preacher ....... 0... ccc cece cece eer en eens ences O92 
Cartography: see CHARTOGRAPHY. 

Case of the Law of the Great Synagogue at Bokhara 2,0... .. 0. cece cece cee eee te eee e eens eencaaece 295 
Cassel, David, German-Jewish Historian and Theologian ......... 0.0... cece e ence cet eens eeeeces 603 

Germany; eX terior ol Sy navORue ale. nc ede hawvas tae anaes eedns CaseS ba wee Mikel de ecw ensek 602 
Castro, (DG. ATms Of (ie, Family .0 can ca ean agtceweet hayes. cans we dual te eae eum ae cae ae eee 608 
2D) Pie de BOOK Pla erOk «5 ea Se aia oa ee hae eee Bas ee Ba GR OM AS Medes byeas 4 313 
Catacomb: Fragment of a Sarcophagus from the Vigna Randanini at Rome, Showing Jewish 

DY MINDOIS: oto ye cud e Sami ete gue ede ewe be Bea e ee ee eee ee ere ere ee eee 614 
— Greek Epitaph in Hebrew Characters on a Sarcophagus in the Vigna Cimarra at Rome.......... 616 
— Inscription on a Gravestone in the Vigna Cimarra at Rome ............eeee ee ees a Wea endcons 614 
—— —— Inscription on a Sarcophagus in the Vigna Cimarra at Rome..........cccecececeeecccseces 615 
Catacombs, Ground-Plan of the Jewish, at Venosa.... 0.0... ccc ccc ccc cee cece ee cee nee ebereceeees 617 

see also CANDLESTICK. 
Catalan Map, The, Drawn by Cresques Lo Juheu (The Jew) of Majorca, 1875....... Folder between 678-679 
Caucasus Jewess and Her Children... ...... 2... ccc eee eee ee Lee aoa Mee Gweae oe hewecG ede ,eee 628 

mMountai. J6ws (belo jugen = ).O8 (ie. c.cs catce wen suiaws, be mn dbed ond ous ere sees ye eeu aaees ad 629 
Cavailion, "The Old. Synagogue a0ii49 uc seeccwdatiaends eek Cee ee meee Oo eta wee eSweeeewSetewaees 6382 
Cedars-Of eDan0l caer ie ie ch ween e hee deeceesewn Lake anata ae Gare pa Mince Ral wicie beans bbs edhe oh Gaharg 635 
Cemetery;o CWIshy Wh DTOGVeuciiet co ooh scsidkibn Gu bean Nee setae. pepane wad daa MRSwhe Oe EeeD ees 640 
—— —— Between Langnau and Endingen........... cece cc cccsevccereeecceerace Se asarigh oreo ens 639 
—— Old, of the Community of Frankfort-on-the-Main...... 2... 0c ccc ccc ccc cece rece eneeesees 638 
— Part of the Emanu-El Congregation, at Salem Fields, New York........... ccc. ccccceceeccves 641 
—— see also BURIAL. . | 
Censorship: A Censored Page of Jacob ben Asher’s “ Arba‘ Turim.” Printed by Soncino in 1516..... 643 
——- A Censored Page of the Jewish Encyclopedia ......... 0. ccc ccc cee ee eect cece eee cnc canes 651 
—— An Expurgated Page from “Sefer Sha‘ar ha-Shamaym” of Gershon ben Solomon. Printed at 

Venice, 1547 ...........20-.. See Seis dealin FRVa Ya ane ae arene ene eh Sav da Wha aaa rae are ee a eee wal ie 645 


—— Holograph Approbation of the Censor Vincentius Mattellica on the Front Cover of Gershon ben 
Solomon’s “Sefer Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim,” Printed at Venice, 1547.............000. bie e aid teu ane 645 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME III xix 


a PAGE 


Censorship: Russian Censor’s Marks on the Title-Page of the Manuscript of A. B. Dobsevage’s “Lo 
en 


Dubbim Welo Ya‘ar cae ; Sidie rales Sing Demos Beene eee ee noes SS gine hears PRUE Raia aes Paes é .. 649 
Central Europe, Map of, Showing Chief Towns Where Outbreaks Against the Jews Occurred During 
the Black Death, 1348-49. 0.0.0.0... cece eee eee ee tte eee eee n etn een enna tees 235 
Ceremonial : see BETROTHAL; BLEssixnc OF Moon; BRIDEGROOM OF THE Law; BuriaL; CiRcUMCTI- 
sion; EWER: HaBpaban; SHOFAR-BLOWING ; TABERNACLES, FEAST OF. 
Chains, Assyrian Captive in Settee stone eee sere pad ete ida tne eh ae aero Sore w Soa eel eee tone fares 659 
Chajes, Zebi Eijrschis Pmiucise 3G Nas octave eer eeae alee ews ealenda oda ce tees eh ewak Suu ek x 660 
Chariot, ASSYTIAD 6. cee cece reece eee e ee eer e cen eee e tenet entree eee el eee e nent eee tee en en eee 667 
NS fag 0 eno 666 
ee i ee ee re ee ee ee ee eee cee eee 666 
Charleston, 8. C., Interior of the Old Synagogue at, Destroyed by Fire April 27, 1888 ............... 678 
Chartography : The Catalan Map Drawn by Cresques Lo Juheu of Majorea, 1375... folder between 678-679 
Chautauqua Society, Seal of the JOWIG yi 6s dati baad eh eared aeuwe ne enlace waieetiae 683 
Circumcision: see BENEDICTIONS. 
Cities, Plans of: see BorDEAUX; BrisToL; CANTERBURY. 
Coat of Arms of the De Castro Dany oa cacucie tse 358 ees eee eet aaws pecan a tysas eoEkeeeNs 608 
Coffin, Placing the Body im @.. 1... cece eee c eee eee tener cern rene rene sete e ee ee eect ence tenes 432 
_—— Sephardic Jews in Procession Round @ .........0e0. a Die oaeaineueeseeecaeeoaa mae Rte hake eee 433 
__~ Throwing Earth upon @ ....... ccc cece cence cece eect noes Pieeasedulen Cowes Mee emee tune sae ewer ee 435 
Coin, Copper, of Agrippa IT., Struck at Ceesarea .... 02... cece eee eee erent nee nes 487 
Columbia University Library: see AnBa‘ TURIM; GERSHON BEN SOLOMON’S SEFER SHA‘AR HA-SHA- 
MAYIM: MEAH BERAKOT; TEFILLOT LATINI. 
Complutensian Polyglot Edition of the Bible, 1514......... ccc cece ccc cece een e teeter et ne nc enees 159 
Costumes of Bride and Bridegroom Among the German Jews, Highteenth Century.................. 128 
__— of German Jews of the Eighteenth Century............. cee ee eee eee rake tee Bie WG wepae sete Sas 126 
scceGL JEWS OL IN UTEMIDELD Lo nutri asia a edilade total Dante Saha. e OO ed Bale aw eee game Westen 127 
__— see also BeNI-ISRAEL; BETROTHAL; BOKHARA; BRIDEGROOM OF THE LAw; BRUSSELS; BURIAL; 
CARREGAL, RAPHAEL Hayyim Isaac ; CAUCASUS. 
Covers of Books: see BINDING. 
Cresques Lo Juheu (The Jew) of Majorca: see CarALAN Map. 
Decalogue, Portion of Deuteronomy Containing the. From the first Hebrew edition of the Pen- 
tateuch, printed at Bologna, 1482.................. Paeatuiteaia Res leauae ever pets Saute wea anes ds ees 157 
Deed: see BETROTITAL. 
De. Pinte, Manitly4 00k Plate Ole siracaewd ans bis S056 ada Mewes whie-ba ew hk Cae tahoe HEE deen ereareneate 4 318 
Dobsevage, A. B., A Censor’s Marks on the Title-Page of the Manuscript of “Lo Dubbim Welo 
VG Al UO! 45 bse e tad we Rae RES Buea a eae one MRORG wae Ew Ose See See ata ape ed teen 649 
Editio Princeps: see First Ep1ttons. 
Egypt: see BouNDARY-STONE ; BrRIcKs; CHARIOT. 
Emanu-E} Congregation, Part of the Cemetery of the, at Salem Fields, New York................... 641 
Endingen, Jewish Cemetery Between Langnau and............. sal Ggiie aan eEe NGS Gis a eee eieale oe ee tae .« 639 
England: see BopLEIAN Liprary; BRIsroL; CANTERBURY; LONDON. 
Erfurt Manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, with Targum on Alternate Lines. Formerly belonging to 
JONAMM ROUCHI IM: 22:54 0 cei doo acu 8 geet ow Wie ae paolo ts, Saeere Pera ahs ae wa Samadi as uae eases 181 
Ethnology: see CAMELS; CAPTIVE; CHARIOT. 
Etrog, Representation of, on a Sarcophagus. From the Vigna Randanini at Rome.................. 614 
Europe: see BLack Deatu; Bropy; ENGLAND: GerMANY; Huneary; Iraty; Russta. 
Ewer with Hebrew Inscription, in the Bodleian Library... ... 0.0... cece cece eee e teen ree eeneeecees 282 
Execution of Mariana de Carabajal at Mexico, 1601 .........cccccccce cece eee ceececeencreeeseravene 568 
Ex Libris: see BooK-PLATE. 
First Editions: Page from the Hebrew Psalms, with David Kimhi’s Commentary, 1477............. 155 
~—— Page from the Hebrew Pentateuch, Bologna, 1482.......... 0. ccc ceececceeceeteeetceceseseeeees 157 
—~ —— from the Complutensian Polyglot, 1514...... .... ccc cc eee cece eee ee eneeeeeeeeee geeereaianars 159 
—— —— from the Rabbinic Bible, Printed by Daniel Bomberg, Venice, 1517........ plate between 160-161 
—— Title-Page of J oseph Caro’s Shulhan ‘Aruk, Venice, 1564. ...... ccc ce eee cece eee cence er ces 587 
Four Worlds, The Aleph as a Symbol of the Cabalistic.......... sebecies Katssen eae nwa nea teeenatnee 476 


XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME III 








Frank fort-on-the-Main, The Old Cemetery of the Community of. 0.2... ...0.. ccc cece cence eee eens 638 
Friediincder, David. Book-Plate Gf | oo s.i4o oschs Gide Shaw oe ou ao Maa eae ede Sew ee ee been wh 5 314 
Gate, North, to the Jewry at Carpentras... 0.0... cee eee cc cece teen eeeas ee ee 590 
Gaza, Great Mosque at, Representation of the Golden Candlestick on the ......... 0... cece eee eee eee 32 
Germany, Betrothal Scenes of Jews of, Eighteenth Century....... 0.0.0... ccc cee cee ec eee neers 126-127 
—— Costumes of Jews of, Eighteenth Century... ..... cc ccc ccc ce cee cece eee tent eeeneeen 129 
—— see also BERLIN; Bonn; BUDWEIS; CASSEL; FRANKFORT-ON-THE- MAIN. 
Gershon ben Solomon: An Expurgated Page from “Sefer Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim,” Venice, 1547....... 645. 
Gezer, Boundary-Stone of, with the Inscription 43) Onn (“Limit of Gezer”), Discovered by M. Cler- 
MOnt Ganneails.4:c-cadtscce sem eae wt baa eei sae we eta wan ee ba edad eu eital leone htuwan sek 342 
Goatskin Water-Bottles, Now in Use in Palestine......... Re ee ene ere erp aed sreee eeu eames 341 


Graves: see BURIAL; CEMETERY. 
Gravestone: see BURIAL; CEMETERY. 
Greek: see CANDLESTICK; CATACOMB; CoInN; PoLyGLor; VATICAN MANUSCRIPT. 


‘6 Habdalah’”’: see BENEDICTIONS. 

“Hakkafot”: Sephardic Jews in Procession Round a Coffin, ......... cece cece eee eee cece ee rececacs A433. 

“ Hatan Torah ”: see BRIDEGROOM OF THE Law. 

Hats: see COSTUMES, 

Hebrew: see BETROTHAL DEED; CABALA; CANDLESTICK; CATACOMBS; EWER; GEZER; GRAVE- 
STONE; TYPOGRAPHY. 





High Priest, Breastplate of the......... ee ee ere re re eats ee at ee aires Shea be aienenee toss 366 
PLittite: CHAO. ts Sivas eee esas Deas ete ee eee otudeeuael va easel weadeubananeieeas dune osned 666 
Host Tragedy at Brussels, 1370. After the Tapestries in the Cathedral of St. Gudule, showing: 
Sealer the: MOS science erate wees auee eas ee ee ee per ee een ee eee 407 
Jews Represented as Transfixing Hosts....... 0.0... ccc cece ccc cece teen ee eee ete enter eenees 408 
Jews Drasred 10: VncOMe ser eahinacoh cia eet ag wate esate eo adatnaina coe satan eee ee tose baa Shasebat 407 
Martyrdom of the Jews. ....... cece eee cece yee nh teats ot acne oe aan eV ORUe esata whe, wiste A407 
House, Interior of a German Jew’s, Highteenth Century...... 0.0... cee cee eee cee ce weer ee ee ween 126 
Interior of a Jew’s, at Nuremberg, About 1700..... Re ee CT re ee eee er ere coe 127 


Hungary: see BUDAPEST. 


Illuminated First Page of Exodus. From a manuscript formerly in the possession of the Duke of 





DUSSOX Janeen aioe tanceenens 1 eamewe aan sees Le re ee eee ee ee en ee eee 183 

Hebrew Bible (Gen. i.) Written in n Spain, TAT hates Ge oye enh a aye cide hae . colored plate facing 178 
Imprint of the Bragadini, Printers, on the Title-Page of the First Edition of Caro’s Shulhan ‘Aruk, 

Veomice; 1004 tics Se task Peewee eee ee eeAmuate ence te ee ee a ebay ames eee 587 


India: see Beni-ISRAEL; BOMBAY. 

Inquisition: see CARABAJAL, FRANCISCA DE, TORTURE OF; CARABAJAL, MARIANA DE, EXECUTION OF. 
Inscriptions: see BOUNDARY-STONE; CANDLESTICK; CATACOMRBS; CEMETERY; COIN. 

Italy: see BoLogna; KETuBAH; ROME; VENICE, 


Jars, Mode of Filling, from Water-Bottles. ...... 0... cece cece etc eet cece teen eee ess esen tee eenees 340 
“ Jeremiah at the Fall of Jerusalem.” Painting by Eduard Bendemann..............00..0006 Frontispiece 
Jewish Encyclopedia, Censored Page of the.. occ. cece cee ce ccc eee teeter e eer ee eect eee eeeserrans 651 
Jewries: see BORDEAUX; BRISTOL; CANTERBURY; CARPENTRAS. 

Keneset Eliyahu Synagogue at Bombay...........-ceceeees etic cau Waa iedhad ede: savmi eds s tuba 20 
Ketubah, Italian, or Betrothal Deed, Dated 5555 A.M... cece cece eee nee colored plate facing 128 


Kimhi, David: see BIBLE, First HEBREW EDITION OF. 


Lamp, with Representation of the Golden Candlestick, Found Among the Ruins of Carthage by 


Pe CIAL Ch hie 2 anoretee ceieeee ie 8 Se ead se SAO ok eh as BS ioe See eR ee ELEN Aeros tao 5382 
— with Representation of the Golden Candlestick. Found at Khirbat Sammaka, Near Carmel....... 532 
Langnau, Jewish Cemetery Between Endingen and... ... 1... cece cee cece eee e tence ee teen tenets 639 
Lepanon Cedars 0l 2 eccnade eed ewhcd hoe haaceaa a saws ead GS oy Raa ed Rae eure a ee ee . 635 
Leviticus, First Page of, from the First Rabbinic Bible, Venice, 1517............... plate ne “160-161 
Lilien, E. N.: see Booxk-PLatTEs OF RUBEN BRAININ and Dr. Emit SIMONSON......... Gn aeey eweees 815 


Liturgy: see MAH Berakot; TEFILLoT LATInI. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME III XXb 


oT PAGE 


L qaqectiterior Of te Bevis) SATS myRABOE UC eye eiee eeoeresve ose ee emer srseo reese eee veereteoeeee* eee 183 

on a 

M n David or Sha‘ar ha-Rahamim Synagogue at Bombay 4 ieatiuneaessag utedatenduse eke ees 21 
age : 


7 f Ly bd 4 ' 

Mab N ishtannan,” NUSICOl ven tunsatasueasie tees we ee ares Ee eke se an ee ere ear deena 590 

ae pts: see BETROTHAL DEED; BIBLE, ILLUMINATED; ERFURT; ST. PETERSBURG CODEX; VATICAN. 

; scr 28 
Sane seu BLACK DEaTH; BORDEAUX; BrIstoL; CANTERBURY; CATALAN. 
ee Berakot ” Title-Page of, Printed at Amsterdam, 1787. ...... 0... 0... ce eee eee eee eee nee ay. 10 
ef ea , r) ; : 
srenorah, Sesrot in the Form oh Bac. s2ci5% eenee ov evrrvre te evrwaneseveervvneens ss caves he ee Seohesoatt Bi apace aaa tien Asan dt Mec aang ee 
Mexico: see INQUISITION. : . 
“Moses at the Burning Bush.” From the Sarajevo Haggadah, fourteenth century............e.002+< 489 
Moses, Chair of: see BOKHARA, THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE AT. 
BLUSE» 


Mountain Jews of the Caucasus. ..... re ee er ee Gow iocecaweese roouguees 020 
Mount Carmel from the Sea...........0 ese, bese gee ese eca Pedic ut Siena 519 
Mourners Throwing Grass Behind Them as They Leave the Cemetery.........ceccceee acces ae: 
___— see also BURIAL. 

Music, “Bera Dodi”... .cssceeeeeeee eens eee eee e nee e nee eee ener eee e eee nes ihe EO 
___ “ Birkat Kohanim”.......66 ce eee eee renee Beneaitak ere puch Sina dbedednans sites knees 246, 247 
_— Cantillation.....+++-- isn chs seas aeeendence Chimes ane meee amuses inane ene tants eae . 589-550 
__- “Mah Nishtapnah.”........... saves uncncieind siete Pa taanieciaataceass cg uaueResCeeNAtedinaes so peaknitedsS, 2000 


New York: see Bonar B’RiTtTH; EMANU-EL CONGREGATION CEMETERY; see also COLUMBIA UNIVER- 
ary Lrrary; New York Pusriic Liprary. 

wins Public Library: see BErRrorHAL DEED; PENTATEUCH; POLYGLOT. 

Nuremberg, Betrothal Scene at, 1726........ ingen nova tose guid ee ee Sp eRe aR Ged waarmee kek 





-2 
ot 


Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue, Berlin........ cee ee sence scence cereeee SN ke, Sioa rate rpence etete 
Oxford: sce BoDLEIAN LIBRARY. 


Palestine: see BETH-EL; BorrLes; C@saREA; CANDLESTICK; CARMEL, Mount; CEDARS oF LEBA- 
NON; GEZER. 

Pentateuch, Page from the First Hebrew Edition of the, Printed at Bologna, 1482................... 157 

Persecutions: Map of Central Europe Showing Chief Towns Where Outbreaks Against the Jews 
Occurred During the Black Death, 1848-49... 0... ccc ccc eee cece eee ee eee eee e emer seen eere ees 230 

Picart, Bernhard: see BRIDEGROOM oF THE LAW; BuRIAL. 

Polyglot Edition of the Bible, 1514, Page from the Complutensian............ cece cceeeseeeeesreecee LF 

Portraits: see . 


BENDAVID, LAZARTS. BERNSTEIN, AARON. BRULL, IGNAZ. 

BENDEMANN, EDUARD. BIEDERMANN, MICHAEL LAZAR. BRULL, JAKOB. 

BENEDICT, SIR JULIUS. BISCHITZ DE HEVES, JOHANNA. BRULL, NEHEMIAH. 
BENEDIKT, MORITZ. BLIOCH, IVAN 8. BUBER, SOLOMON. 

BENET, MORDECAI. BLOCH, MARCUS ELIEZER. BUENO, EPHRAIM HEZEKIAH. 
BENFEY, THEODOR. BLUMENTHAL, OSKAR. BUXTORF, JOHANNES. 
BENJAMIN II., J. J. BORNE, KARL LUDWIG. CANTOR, MORITZ. 
BENJAMIN, JITDAH PHILIP. BRAHAM, JOHN. CARREGAL, RAPHAEL HAYYIM ISAAC, 
BERLIN, MOSES. BRANDES, GEORG. CASSEL, DAVID. 

BERLINER, ABRAHAM, BREAL, MICHEL. CHAJES, ZEBI HIRSCH. 
BERNAYS, ISAAC. BREITHAUPT, JOHN FREDERICK. 


Prayers, Italian-Jewish, Printed in Hebrew Characters, Bologna, 1588. ..........ccccceceeeeceeesees 299 
Printer’s Mark: see IMPRINT. 

Procession of Bridegroom of the Law on the Eve of the Rejoicing of the Law..........seceeseeeeees 883 
of Sephardic Jews Round a Coffin....... Sisialoriesh Bite tsarashve wlisiviers shaver wee eeee st tetsereseresesee 438 
Processions of Bridegroom and of Bride, About 1700.......... et bdinunewan dare gia waategwee Lee 





Rabbinic Bible: see BoMBERG, DANIEL, 

Rejoicing of the Law, Procession of Bridegroom of the Law on the Eve of the ............02 eeeeee. 383 
Reuchlin, Johann, The Erfurt Manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum, Formerly Belonging to. 181 
Ring, Betrothal, Bearing Letter » for “Mazzal Tob”................. sae: icicles tian eSe ear a eas ee aeaieee LOO. 


ee —— with Box Containing Perfumes and Opening with a Key.......ccceccececececcccecccseeses 128 


Rothschild, Lady, Book-Plate Of.......-0.0..ss0.0seeeeees Use aNeeeuaGeananmanisuateeneeensaueele 


St. Petersburg Codex of the Hebrew Bible, with Superlinear Punctuation...... Via deaaweran Geese ee 


xxil LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME III 








ee a 
PAG 

Sarcophagus, Fragment of a, from the Vigna Randanini at Rome, Showing Jewish Symbols.......... 8 
—— see also CATACOMB. 
Seal of the B’nai B’rith Order, .........eeee. eer ee ree re ee re ee ee otacer otal 276 
—— of the Jewish Chautauqua Society... ....cccce cece ccc cs ccc er cree ssee eee eensereeeanes ee ee a, 699 
Sefirot, Correct Order of, Arranged in a Circle............. eee ee cnes sate Oaeities Re een ey are ee 47 

in Relation to One Another..........ceeceeeee Sitar ahaneke A aisaaenee Sith aus Runa ee ee ese 475 
—— in the Form of a Menorah.......... cece eee cee Oe er ere re Soci Sconsera aaa ena eerneeis 76 
Sephardic Jews in Procession Round @ Coffin .... 2... ccc ccc cece eee cee e eee t eee e ree eeeseneees 499 
Septuagint Version of Exodus xix. 14-xx. 17. From a page of the Vatican mianuseript. chris acces eects eats 18} 
Shofar-Blowing: see BENEDICTIONS. 
Shulhan ‘Aruk, Title-Page of Caro’s, Printed at Venice, 18tii of Kislew, 5825=1564................. 587 
Signatures: sce AUTOGRAPHS. 
Simhat Torah: see REJOICING OF THE LAw. 
Simonson, Dr. Emil, Book-Plate of ......... 0... cc ees Ss eae Gea eal e aR ie. SEN EO OR RIO EE OE ENE ODER 315 
Soncino Border from the Title-Page of “Sefer Yehoshua‘ ” ......... ccc c ec ccc een e eect ent e ee eeaes 32] 
Spheres; -Relation-of the Canastie mics tacew cae etas weeesies ee ouua kore desea ee saves sew Nbitereeameeis 4%4 
Symbol, The Aleph as a, of the Four Cabalistic Worlds. ...... 60... cece eee ee eee cece teen asec stone 476 
Symbols, Jewish, on a Fragment of a Sarcophagus from the Vigna Randanini at Rome.............. 614 


Synagogues: see BErDYCHEV; BERLIN; Bevis MArxs; BokHara; Bombay; Bonn; Bupapest; Bup- 
WEIS; BYELOSTOK; CASSEL; CAVAILLON; CHARLESTON, 


Tabakgasse Synagogue at Budapest........ elaine AO eam aia cia aie Giusti ave Weaitndiels Ow area eee) Ganda’ At} 
Tabernacles, Feast of, as Celebrated by Bokhara Jews............000¢ bitte thoes as Gilead tuned haus 298 
Talmud, Page from Bomberg’s Edition of, 1526...... CSE bees ee Bedoaaes Soe akee ties ete bea yx 301 
Targum: see ErFurT; PoLyGLor, 

“Tefillot Latini”: Italian-Jewish Prayers Printed in Hebrew Characters, Boe TOSS ieee OSes 5 299 
Tell Arnamia, Boungary: DBLOUG Abies cericiccesaion witonse mieten eS be a asad bro ade einlanre winaaw wetanas 342 
Temple of Solomon, Brazen Sea of the, with View of Section. Restored according to Calmet........ 358 


Thebes: see Bricks. 
Title-Pages: see MEan BERAKOT; SHULHAN ‘ARUK; SoNcINO BORDER. 


Titus, The Golden Candlestick on the Arch of, as It Appeared in 1710. After Reland ............... 532 
Translations, Biblical: see PoLyaLot; SEPTUAGINT; TARGUM. 
Tribute, Camels Led to Shalmaneser Q8.........-.cccccccvcerecees s bok ehaue ee eva Bua Soul Stade asters. Seale es 520 


Types, Jewish: see BENI-iskAzL; BoKHARA; CAUCASUS. 
Typography: see BrsLE; BoLtoana; BoMBERG, DANIEL; CARO, JOSEPH; MEAH BERAKOT; SONCINO 
BORDER. 


United States: see CHARLESTON, 8. C.; CHauTauqua Society; NEw YORK. 


Vatican Manuscript of the Septuagint Version of Exodus xix. 14-xx. 17, Page of............ eters 187 
Venice: sce BoMBERG, DANIEL; SHULHAN ‘ ARUK; SONCINO BoRDER. 
Venosa, Ground-Plan of the Jewish Catacombs at... . ccc ccc cence ccc cece cent eee c eee eeeeecees . 617 


—— see also CANDLESTICK, 
Vincentius Mattellica, Holograph Approbation of, to “Sefer Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim” of Gershon ben 


Solomon, Printed at Venice, 1547... ........00008 Gi GA eeet Cet ie Ae mene isesdaresatemkeas 645 
‘Water-Bottles, Goatskin, Now in Use in Palestine. ...............e00% Et Gere ene ousted wanes 341 
Mode of Filling Jars from......... ....eeues Ee ee ee ee eee ee err er eee 340 








Writing, Cursive: see DopsrvaGE, A. B. 


THE 


JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


BENCEMERO, or BEN ZAMAIRA, ABRA- 
HAM: Mediator, in 1526, between the Moors and 
the governor of Saffee and Azamor, employed by the 
Portuguese. He lived at Azamor on the west coast 
of Africa. Abraham Cazan (Hazan), the most prom- 
inept Jew of that city, was also employed in the 
same capacity. 
Se a Ne 

serling, Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, p. 161. 

G. M. K. 

BENCEMERO, ISAAC: Relative of Abraham 
Bencemero of Azamor; the deliverer of Nuno Fer- 
nandes d’Atayde, commander-in-chief of Saffee. 
When in 1511 this latter city was besieged and sur- 
rounded by an army of more than 100,000 men and 
Atayde was exposed to the greatest danger, Bence- 
mero and a certain Ismael formed the bold plan of 
bringing assistance to the Portuguese. At theirown 
expense they fitted out two vessels, manned them 
with co-religionists, and sailed to Saffee. Eluding the 
sentinels on watch, they entered the city in the dark- 
ness of night, and thus saved Atayde and his men. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hieronymo de Mendoca, Jornada de Africa, 

p. 89a, Lisbon, 1667; Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Portu- 


gal, p. 159. 
G. M. K. 


BENDAVID, LAZARUS: German philoso- 


pher and reformer; born in Berlin Oct. 18, 1762; 
died there March 28, 1832. In his younger days he 





polishing glasses, and 
in his leisure time 
studied mathematics, 
in which he attained 
great proficiency. His 
earliest published work 
was on a geometrical 
subject, “Ueber die 
Parallellinien ” (Berlin, 
1786), and attracted 
much attention. Ben- 
david studied at the 
universities of Gdt- 
b tingen and Halle and 
ecame a stanch adherent of the Kantian philosophy. 
Read failing in his effort to enter the service of 

ra a in the Department of Jus- 


Lazarus Bendavid. 


supported himself by | Diogenes.” of philosophy. 


tice, Bendavid in 1793 went to Vienna and lectured 
on Kant’s philosophical system in one of the halls of 
the university. He was, however, soon compelled 
to terminate his lectures there, but continued themin 


the mansion of Count Harrach, where he attracted 


large and distinguished audiences. When, in 1797, 
foreign residents were forced to leave 
Vienna, Bendavid returned to Berlin, 
and was for several years editor of the 
“Spener’sche Zeitung,” which he di- 
rected with great ability and circumspection during 
the dangerous times of the French domination. 

In 1806 Bendavid became the director of the Frei- 
schule (Jewish Free School), which had been founded 
in 1778 by David Friedlander and Daniel Itzig. 
Bendavid brought the school to such a high stand 
ard that nearly a third of its pupils were non-Jews 
in 1819, when the attendance of Christian children 
at Jewish schools was prohibited by the government. 
He served without compensation until the school 
was closed in 1825. His services as an expert ac- 
countant were much sought after by commercial and 
financial institutions; and he was also employed in 
that capacity for many years by the directors of the 
Royal Fund for Widows (Kéonigliche Wittwenkasse). 
The extreme simplicity of his mode of living brought 
him the nickname of “ The Modern Diogenes”; while 
by his thrifty habits he succeeded in 
being as independent in worldly af- 
fairs as he strove to be in the domain 
He is called by Heine 

“a sage after the patternof antiquity.” 
He never married. 

In philosophy Bendavid remained a Kantian 
throughout his life. His published lectures, such 
as the “ Vorlesungen iiber die Kritik der Praktischen 
Vernunft” (Vienna, 1796), “ Vorlesungen tiber dic 
Kritik der Reinen Vernunft” (2b. 1796), and several 
similar works, are simply expositions of the philos- 
ophy of his great master. When new metaphysical 
leaders like Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel commenced 
to dominate the world of German thought, Bendavid 
offered no resistance and engaged in no polemics 
like other Kantians, but withdrew from the field of 
active philosophical studies and exercised his mind 
on other subjects. 

Bendavid’s influence on the development and pop- 
ularization of philosophy in his time is generally 


Lectures 
on Kant. 


‘¢The 
Modern 


Bendavid 
Bender 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 5 


SSS eg ee ee Pe Sa ge a ei, 


recognized. His “ Veber den Ursprung Unserer Er- 
kenntnisse” (Berlin, 1802) was crowned by the 
Academy of Berlin. This work and his other inde- 
pendent philosophical researches, like “ Beitrage zur 
Kritik des Geschmacks” (Vienna, 1797), “ Versuch 
einer Geschmackslehre ” (Berlin, 1798), and “ Versuch 
einer Rechtslehre” (Berlin, 1802), which are now 
almost forgotten, were of importance at the time of 
their appearance. The truths which they contain, 
now generally accepted, had to struggle hard for 
recognition in those days; and Bendavid’s lucid 
style contributed much to their popularization. He 
will always be remembered as one of the trio of 
Jewish philosophers (the other two being Marcus 
Herz and Solomon Maimon) who, as much as any 
other German thinkers, helped to spread the Kant- 
ian philosophy at the end of the eighteenth century. 

In the Jewish world Bendavid’s influence was also 
considerable, and by no means imperceptible, as is 
claimed by Griitz. In his “Etwas zur Charakter- 
istick der Juden” (Vienna-Leipsic, 17938; improved 
ed., Berlin, 1813) he pleaded boldly for abolition of 
ceremonial laws, and is thus among the first, if not 
actually the first, advocate of practical religious re- 
_ form in Judaism as the only means to stem the tide 
of conversions to Christianity which began to rise 
in those days with startling rapidity. In this work 
(pp. 38, 34) Bendavid pays high tribute to Moses 
Mendelssohn, who befriended and encouraged him 
in his early struggles. It is interesting to note that 
Bendavid was summoned before Cardinal Migazzi 
in Vienna to defend himself against the charge that 
he traduced Christianity in that work (see Schreiber, 
“Reformed Judaism,” pp. 28-31, Spokane, Wash., 
1892). 

Bendavid was one of the first radical Bible critics 
among the Jews of Germany. His “Ueber die Re- 
ligion der Ebrier vor Moses” (Berlin, 1812) and the 
essay “Ueber Geschriebenes und Miindliches Ge- 
setz,” which appeared in Zunz’s “Zeitschrift fir 
die Wissenschaft des Judenthums,” 1823, claim to 
be parts of a comprehensive critical study of the 
Pentateuch which was probably never finished. In 

the same periodical also appeared his 


A Radical “ Ueber den Glauben der Juden an einen 
Bible  Kiinftigen Messiah,” where he uses his 
Critic. knowledge of the Talmud and rab- 


binical literature to insist on the prin- 
ciple, first brought forward by Joseph Albo, that 
the belief in the coming of a Messiah is not essential 
to Judaism. His “Zur Berechnung und Geschichte 
des Jiidischen Kalenders” (Berlin, 1817) was also a 
radical departure from the usual treatment of the 
subject by Jewish writers, and called forth a vehe- 
ment rejoinder in the booklet, “ Dabar Be‘itto,” by 
Meir ben Moses Kornick (Breslau, 1817). The last 
work published by Bendavid, which appeared in 
Berlin in 1824, was a report on the condition of the 
Freischule. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bendavid wrote an autobiographical sketch 
which appeared in the Bildnisse Berliner Gelehrten, Berlin, 
806. His biography, written by Moritz Veit, appeared in the 
Blatter ftir Lit. Unterh. for 1882. Allgemeine Deutsche 

- Biographie, ti. 318-320; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, xii. 189; Jost, 
Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, iii. 318; L 


Geiger, Gesch. der Jiid. Gemeinde in Bertin, pp. 168 et seq.3 


Zeit. flr Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland, iv. 75-86 (his 
letters to Bellerman). | 


s. P. Wr. 


BENDEMANN, EDUARD JULIUsg 
FRIEDRICH: German painter; born Dec. 3, 1811 
in Berlin; died Dec. 27, 1889, at Dusseldorf. Hig 
father was a prominent banker of Berlin and assogj. 
ated with the intellec- 
tual circles of the cap- 
ital. His talented son 
was therefore at an 
early age brought into 
contact with such ce- 
lebrities as Gottfried .. 
Schadow and his two | "3% 
sons, as well as with 
Felix Mendelssohn and 
Werder. It was, how- 
ever, the intercourse 
with Julius Hiibner, 
who afterward be- _. : 
came his brother-in- EF3 
law and was then a Lod) ais cl 
pupil at the Berlin Academy, that induced Bende. 
mann to devote himself toart. Aftera short course of 
elementary study with W. Schadow at Berlin, Bende- 
mann accompanied him to Diisseldorf, where he be. 
camea member of that celebrated fraternity of art stu- 
dents afterward designated “the Diisseldorf School.” 

As early as 1828 Bendemann had attracted attention 
in Berlin by an excellent portrait of his grandmother, 
which had been exhibited in that city. His next 
picture, “Boaz and Ruth,” his first independent cre- 
ation, also met with recognition, without, however, 
giving evidence of the triumphs that the painter 
was soon to achieve. When, in 1830, Schadow went 
to Italy, Bendemann, Karl Sohn, Th. Hildebrandt, 
and Hiibner accompanied him, and remained there 
for an entire year, devoting themselves exclusively 
to the study of Raffael and Michelangelo. 

Upon his return in 1831, Bendemann began the 
work “Jews Mourning in the Babylonian Exile,” 

now exhibited (1901) in the Stadtisches 
His ‘‘ Jews Museum, Cologne. This work was 





in Baby- considered the masterpiece of the 1832 
lonian exhibition of the Berlin Academy, and 
Exile.” at once elevated the young artist to an 

equality with the leading painters of 
the day. The grandeur and majesty of the con- 


ception, the nobility and depth of the emotions 
portrayed, the simple and earnest rhythm of the 
composition, and the avoidance of the extremes of 
characterization, all combined to make this picture 
remarkable in the world of art, and one that was 
welcomed with the most intense satisfaction. 

From 1881 to 1835 Bendemann produced several 
of his best works. In the latter year the crown 
prince of Prussia, upon the recommendation of 
Schadow, renounced his intention to order a copy 
of “The Mourning Jews,” and commissioned Bende- 
mann to paint a picture on the subject “Jeremiah 
at the Fall of Jerusalem.” (See Frontispiece.) This 
work, now (1901) in the royal palace at Hanover, was 
first exhibited at the Berlin Academy of Art, where 
it attracted the greatest attention. About 1885 the 
artist married a daughter of Gottfried Schadow, and 
went to live in the house of his father-in-law at Ber- 
lin. There he executed the famous painting, “The 
Arts at the Fountain of Poetry.” 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA » 


3 


uccessful in his attempt to obtain an order for 

ae f monumental proportions in Berlin, Bende- 

a work © 4838 accepted a professorship at the Dres- 
mann 12 den Academy, and there, in the fol- 
lowing year, he was commissioned to 


ene decorate three rooms of the royal pal- 
sic t ace. Notwithstanding an affection of 
eeacden the eye, that in 1841 compelled him to 
go to Italy, Bendemann, throughout a 

‘od of sixteen years, actively prosecuted this 
ge coustitutes the greatest monu- 


- which to-day 
ae - poet Upon the resignation of Scha- 
ae in 1859, Bendemann accepted the directorship 
oe the Diisseldort Academy. This position he re- 
tained until 1867, when an affection of the throat 
compelled him to resign. Among his most distin- 
suished pupils may be mentioned his son Rudolf, 
Theodor Grosse, and Peter Janssen. 

Bendemann Was a knight of the Ordre Pour le 
Mérite, member or honorary member of the principal 
art academies of the world, and the recipient of 
numerous honors and decorations. 

Bendemann’s principal works on Biblical subjects 
are, besides those already mentioned: “The Three 
Wise Men of the East on Their Way to Bethlehem ” 
(1833); “Jeremiah At the Fall of Jerusalem # 
(original title, “The Jews Led into Captivity in 
Babylon”). The last-mentioned work — perhaps 
Bendemann’s greatest—was first exhibited in 1872, 
and in 1876 was in the National Gallery at Ber- 
lin. It is described in the official catalogue as 


follows: 

‘tn the foreground, the prophet Jeremiah is seated upon the 
ruins in speechless sorrow, attended by his faithful pupil, 
Baruch, who kneels beside him in prayer. The prophet is com- 
pelled to hear the curses of his countrymen, who, driven into 
exile, accuse him of conniving with the enemy. To the right is 
a group of despairing women and children, from whose midst a 

Babylonian warrior has just seized a boy. In 

‘‘ Jeremiah the center, Nebuchadnezzar, in royal attire, 
at the Fall of rides in a chariot drawn by two horses. He is 
Jerusalem.” accompanied by a group of jubilant women, 

and is preceded by the army, heavily laden with 
spoils. Following Nebuchadnezzar’s chariot is King Zedekiah, 
blind, and groping his way with a staff. The latter is accom- 
panied by his wives, and followed by the priests bearing the Ark 
of the Covenant, and by the camels and the baggage-train. In 
the background, and somewhat to the left, are the smoking 
rains of YHWH’s Temple.” 


In addition to paintings of Biblical subjects, 
Bendemann produced numerous other compositions, 
suchas “The Two Girls atthe Well” (1833); “Shep- 
herd and Shepherdess”: “Penelope” (now in the 
Antwerp Academy), and “Kaiser Lothar” (Imperial 
Gallery of the Romer, Frankfort-on-the-Main). He 
also drew the designs for the Cornelius Gallery in 
Berlin, and these were afterward executed in en- 
caustic by his pupils (see Rudolf BENDEMANN). 

Equally noteworthy was his genius as a portrait- 
painter, as evidenced by the numerous pictures of 
distinguished persons painted by him during a 
period of thirty years. Among these are life-size 

portraits of the following: Quandt 


' As a (1850); Droysen (1855); Karl Sohn 
Portrait- (1858); L. Richter (1859); Rietschel 
Painter. (1862): Joachim (1865); Cornelius 


(1870); Achenbach (1878); Clara Schu- 
Asan (1878) ; Du Bois-Reymond (1880); Langenbeck 
(1880); Niels W. Gade (1881); W. v. Schadow; the 


Bendavid 
Bender 


artist’s father; and First Anton v. Hohenzollern. 
Bendemann’s portrait of General Oberwitz and his 
wife is ranked by Pecht “among the best which has 
ever been produced in this genre”; and the same 
critic considers that the splendid picture of the art- 
ist’s Wife (first exhibited in 1847) would alone entitle 
Bendemann to enduring fame. Among the most 
popular illustrations by Bendemann are those to 
Lessing’s “ Nathan der Weise ” (1875). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Julius Meyer, Aligemeines Kitinstler-Lerxi- 

kon; Kohut, Berithmte Israelitische Miinner und Frauen, 

ix. 999; Katalog der Konigl. National Gallerie, ane 

8. , BO. 


BENDEMANN, RUDOLF CHRISTIAN 
EUGEN: German painter; born at Dresden Nov. 
11, 1851; died May, 1884, at Pegli, near Genoa, Italy : 
educated at the Diisseldorf Academy under the 
supervision of his father, Eduard Bendemann. 
From 1877 to 1879 he lived at Munich, and later 
made several visits to Egypt. The mural paintings 
in the Cornelius hall of the National Gallery at 
Berlin were executed by him in accordance with his 


‘father’s plans, and in collaboration with Réber and 


Wilhelm Beckmann (1876). Among his works the 
following are the most noteworthy: “Frithjof und 
Ingeborg als Kinder” (1874); “Nymphe” (1877); 
“ Bierausschank ” (1878); “Beerdigung des Frauen- 
lob”; “Ein Fest im 16ten Jahrhundert”; “ Lauten- 
schliger” (1879); “ Wirthshausscenen in Oberbaiern ” 
(1880); “Ausgang aus einer Moschee in Kairo”; 
“Schépfbrunnen in Oberigypten.” Bendemann 
has also achieved considerable success as a portrait- 
painter. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Meyer, Ktinstler-Lexikon: Kohut, Be- 
rihmte Israclitische Mdnner und Frauen. 


S. J. So. 


BENDER, ALFRED PHILIPP: Rabbi at 
Cape Town, South Africa; born at Dublin, Ireland, 
1868; educated by his father, Rev. Philipp Bender, 
for many years rabbi of the Dublin congregation. 
Bender finished his education at St. John’s College, 
Cambridge, Eng., and in 1891 was appointed rabbi 
of the Hebrew congregation at Cape Town, South 
Africa, where he continues to reside (1901). He is. 
professor of Hebrew at the South African College, 
and is a member of the council of the University of 
Good Hope. Bender is connected with many local 
philanthropic institutions besides those of his own 
congregation. He has contributed to the “Jewish 
Quarterly Review ” (vols. vi., vii.) a series of papers 
on the burial customs of the Jews. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, Jewish Year Book, 1899-1900. 


BENDER, JOHANN HEINRICH: German 
jurist; born at Frankfort May or Sept. 29, 1797; 
died there Sept. 6, 1859. He studied law at Giessen, 
where he was also lecturer from 1819 to 18238. In 
1831 he went to Frankfort to practise law, and five 
years later he was made a member of the executive 
committee of the tariff commission (Zolldirections- 
rath), a position he filled until his death. He was 
the author of “Grundriss der Deutschen Staats- und 
Rechtsgeschichte.” 1819; “Ueber das Mindliche 
und Oeffentliche Verfahren in Criminalsachen,” 1821 ; 
“Grundsitze des Deutschen Handelsrechts,” 2 vols., 


Bendery 
Benedetti 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 4 


ee BP ee ee ee 


1824-29; “Der Frithere und Jetzige Zustand der 
Israeliten zu Frankfurt, Nebst Verbesserungs-Vor- 
schligen,” 1838; and other works. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, ii. 321. 
8. EK. Ms. 


BENDERY: District town in the government 
of Bessarabia. In 1898 it had a Jewish population 
of 12,000 out of a total of 38,000 inhabitants. Com- 
merce is the main occupation of the Jews there, only 
1,061 of them being engaged in handicrafts (397 mas- 
ters, 515 journeymen, and 149 apprentices). Ten 
Jewish families, who own about sixty-eight acres 
of land within the city limits, are engaged in viti- 
culture. The most important among the Jewish 
benevolent institutions are the Jewish Hospital, 
which has an annual expenditure of 6,400 rubles, 
and the Talmud Torah. In special Jewish schools 
religious instruction is imparted to 325 children, 
while at the public schools 240 children receive such 


instruction. 
II. R. S. J. 


BENDETSOHN, MENAHEM MANUS: 
Russian pedagogue and Hebrew writer; born in 
Grodno 1817; died there March 20, 1888. After a 
careful Talmudic education in his native town he 
was sent, while still young, to Breslau, Germany, 
where his father-in-law, Reuben Liebling, the cantor 
of the Reformed synagogue, supported him during 
his studies. There he published in 1847 3x 5p197 
‘yes mms (The Denunciator”), a Polish tale, 
adapted from the German version of W. Tugend- 
hold. In 1853 he returned to Russia, and then 
taught for more than twenty years in the government 
school for Jewish children at Grodno, and for a 
short time in Volkovisk. In Grodno he also con- 
ducted a private school for many years. Among 
his pupils may be mentioned the Hebrew poet Kon- 
stantin Shapiro, the public-spirited Jawyer L. 
Kupernik of Kiev, and the jurist and writer D. 
‘Slonimski of Wilna. 

Besides Hebrew, he wrote fluently in Russian and 
German, and being possessed of an exceptionally 
retentive memory he knew by heart the Scriptures 
and many of the writings of Schiller and other 
German classics. 

As an esthetic writer and stylist, he could not 
approve of the Germanized Hebrew of the young 
gencration, and in his preface to “ Alluf Ne‘urim ” he 
‘severely criticized it. This called forth a reply from 
R. A. Brandes in an article entitled “ Ha-Safah Bike- 
wodah ube-‘Ozmah,” which appeared in “Gan Pera- 
him,” Wilna, 1881, pp. 12 e¢ seg. Besides the work 
mentioned above, Bendetsohn published: “Eben 
Bohan,” the principal rules of Hebrew grammar in 
the form of questions and answers (Wilna, 1856); 
“Higgayon la-‘Ittim,” a Hebrew adaptation of the 
“Stunden der Andacht fiir Israeliten,” by Samson 
Wolf Rosenfeld, rabbi of Bamberg (vol. i., Wilna, 
1856; vol. ii., 1862); “ Moda‘ le-Yalde Israel” 
(Friend of Jewish Children), instructive tales, anec- 
-dotes, etc., from the lives of noble men, partly de- 
rived from Wilhelm Oertel’s “ Practischer Unterricht 
in der Deutschen Sprache,” Hebrew and Russian 
(Warsaw, 1872); ‘‘Alluf Ne‘urim,” a collection of in- 
structive tales for youth and a manual of elementary 


instruction in the Hebrew tongue, translated from 
the Russian (Wilna, 1879). 

As a master of classical Hebrew he ranks amon 
the best Neo-Hebraic writers, his style being almog; 
equal to that of Mapu, who is considered the fore. 
most classical writer of the “ Maskilim.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ha-Zejfirah, 1888, Nos. 68,69; Gan Perahim, 

Wilna, 1881; private sources. 
H. R, A. Fu. 


BENDIG, MEIR, OF ARLES (= Maestro 
Bendig d’Arles): Talmudist at Arles, in the Pro. 
vence, probably in the second half of the fifteenth 
century. He wrote the following works: (1) An 
index of all the Biblical passages cited in the Baby. 
lonian Talmud, including the “ minor treatises,” and 
the Abot de-Rabbi Nathan, with a list of the pas. 
sages in which they are cited. <A later copyist gave 
the work the name “Em le-Mikra” (Scriptural 
Sources). It is manuscript No. 1637, 8, of Neu- 
bauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.,” and occurs also in 
a Verona manuscript. (2) A collection of the hag. 
gadic passages of the Talmud, erroneously entitled 
by the copyist “Em le-Masoret ” (Sources of Tradi- 
tion). It is contained in the same manuscripts as 
the preceding work. In his works Bendig carried 
out a plan of Isaac Nathan, author of “ Meir Netib,” 
who also lived at Arles, but before Bendig. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, in Monatsschrift, 1880, p. 523; idem, 
Gallia Judaica, p. 90; Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS, 


p- ovl. 
L. @. I. Ber. 
BENDIN. Same as ProTtrKow (Vol. x. p. 572), 


BENDIT. See BENEDICT. 


BENDIX, FRITS EMIL: Danish violoncellist 
and composer; born Jan. 12, 1847, at Copenhagen, 
He first studied with F. Rauch, and later with 
Friedrich Neruda and Friedrich Griitzmacher in 
Dresden. From 1866 to 1871 he lived in Germany, 
where he successively played in the orchestras at 
Meiningen and Cassel. He also appeared as a solo- 
ist and in chamber-music performances. On his re- 
turn to Denmark in 1871 he became a member of the 
royal orchestra at Copenhagen, and since 1887 he 
has been its leader. | 

Bendix has published a book of children’s songs, 
of which he composed both text and music. In 
1884 a one-act comedy of his was performed at the 
Royal Theater in Copenhagen. Another play, en- 
titled “En Hustru,” was published by him under 
the pseudonym “Carston Holst.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salmousen, Store Tilustrerede HKonversa- 
tionsleksikon; C. F. Bricka, Dansk Biografisk Lexikon. 


3. J. So. 


BENDIX, OTTO JULIUS EMANUEL: 
Danish oboist and pianist; born July 26, 1845, at 
Copenhagen; a brother of Frits Bendix. He first 
devoted himself to the study of the oboe, and re- 
ceived instruction on that instrument from Christian 
Schliemann. He was also a pupil of Gade and Rée. 
In 1868 he received an appointment as oboist in the 
royal orchestra; and he remained a member of that 
organization until 1880. In the mean time he had 
diligently devoted himself to the study of the piano, 
and in order to perfect himself as a pianist, he took 


THE JEWISiILT ENCYCLOPEDIA 


5 


Bendery 
Benedetti 





with Theodore eae at Berlin and with 
;mar (1872-74). 
Liszt at ies ee became his favorite in- 
The pian For a number of years he performed at 
strument. nd taught in Copenhagen; but in 1880 he 
concerts ae Gie for Boston, Mass., where he now 
left ae 1902) a distinguished position as a teacher 
eae In the latter capacity he has made 
an 


frequent tours, 0 


Francisco. 
- Salmonsen, Store Illustrerede Konversa- 
Br SiKON Cc. F. Sey fe B ogres Lerikon 
cer, Biographical Diet. of Musicians, New York, : 
i J. So. 


BENDIX, VICTOR EMANUEL: Danish 
violin virtuoso, pianist, and composer; born May 
17, 1851, at Copenhagen; brother of Frits Bendix. 
He early manifested a remarkable talent for music. 
From 1867 to 1869 he was a pupil at the newly 
founded conservatory of music at Copenhagen, 
where he studied the piano under August Winding 
and composition under Niels W. Gade, whose favor- 
ite pupil and protégé he became. In association 
with Axel Liebmann, he conducted from 1872 to 
1876 the concerts of the choral society founded by 
the latter. A few years later he became instructor 
of the chorus at the Royal Opera, and Gade’s assistant 
at the choral rehearsals of the Musical Society. He 
also at this time frequently appeared as soloist and 
in chamber-music recitals, and during the season of 
1893 conducted the popular concerts given at the 
Concert Palace. 

Bendix has occasionally visited Germany and other 
foreign countries, and his compositions reveal the 
influence of modern German romanticism. They 
are characterized by a consummate mastery of tech- 
nic, and embrace orchestral and chamber music, as 
well as numerous songs and minor compositions 
for the piano. The following is a list of his princi- 
pal works: “The Thirty-third Psalm,” for orchestra 
and chorus, op. 7; symphony in C, entitled “Fyaeld- 
stigning ” (German title “Zur Hédhe”), published in 
1891; symphony in D, entitled “Sommerklange 
fra Rusland”; symphony in <A (18952); “ Lystspil- 
ouverture,” op. 19; pianoforte concerto, op. 17; 
pianoforte trio, op. 11; ten songs, op. 18; “ Poésies 
de Victor Hugo,” op. 21; “Album,” ten pianoforte 
pieces. 


ne of which extended as far as San 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salmonsen, Store _ Illustrerede Konversa- 
tionslersikon ; C. F. Bricka, Dansk Biografisk Lexikon. 


8. J. LO. 

BENE-BERAK: A town assigned to Dan (Josh. 
xix. 45). It was situated on the seacoast plain 
southeast of Joppa, and is to be identified with 
the modern Ibn Ibrak (Buhl, “Geographie,” p. 196). 
The Danites, however, did not continue to hold the 
place, since Sennacherib (Rawlinson, “Cuneiform 
Tuscriptions of Western Asia,” i., plate 37, col. ii. 
66) mentions Banaibarka as belon ging to Zidka. Iu 
later times Bene-Berak became the seat of Akiba’s 
school (Sanh. 32h). 

J. JR, 


G. B. L. 
BENE BERITH. See Bxat B‘Riru. | 
BENE MIKRA. See KARAITES. 


BENEDETTI, SALVATORE DE: Italian 
scholar; born April 18, 1818, at Novara, a town in 
Piedmont; died Aug. 4, 1891, at Pisa. In his time the 
public schools of Italy were closed to Jews, and 
therefore Benedetti attended the only school of 
importance in Piedmont open to Hebrews—a col- 
lege founded in Vercelli by a certain Foa and 
intended more especially for the preparation of 
rabbis. After finishing his studies there and fecling 
no inclination for the ministry, Benedetti earned a 
livelihood by teaching, and by editorial work for 
some Piedmont and Milan papers. At this time also 
he translated, in abridged form, Adolph Franck’s 
book on the Cabala. In 1844 Benedetti was named 
superintendent of the Pie Scuole Israelitiche at Leg- 
horn. In 1848 he became one of the most militant. 
participants of the Mazzini faction, and took an 
active part in the publication of the “Corriere Li- 
vornese, ” 

When the Austrians invaded Leghorn, Benedetti 
left the city in order to return to his native province, 
Piedmont. He remained some time in Turin actively 


engaged as a journalist, and when Cesare Cor- 


renti founded the “ Progresso, ” Benedetti became a 
member of the editorial staff of that paper. After 
its cessation Benedetti went back to Novara, and 
after having delivered public lectures on history he 
founded and edited the paper “La Vedctta,” which 
served as intermediary between free Piedmont and 
Lombardy, then still under the Austrian yoke. 

In view of the changed political situation pro- 
voked by the policy of Victor Emmanuel and of his 
minister Cavour, Benedetti decided thenceforward 
to devote his life to science and literature. In 1862 
he became professor of Hebrew at the University of 
Pisa, and retained the position till his death. He 
also contributed from time to time to local papers of 
hisnew dwelling-place. He devoted the greater part 
of his energy to scientific publications; distin guish- 
ing himself by his exact knowledge of the bibliogra- 
phy of each subject he treated, by the severe method 
of research that he applied to every topic he dis- 
cussed, and, above all, by the choice language he em- 
ployed. : 

One of the most interesting of Benedetti’s works 
was his “ Vita e Morte di Mose,” 1879, wherein he 
gathered and translated the legends concerning the 
great Hebrew legislator. His “ Canzoniere Sacro di 
Giuda Levita,” 1871, a translation of the poems of 
Judah ha-Levi, helped largely to acquaint the Italian. 
public with the Hebrew poetry of the Middle Ages. 
Besides the above-mentioned works Benedetti pub- 
lished: “Jl Terzo Centenario di Galileo,” a historical 
tale, Pisa, 1864; “Del Metodo di Galileo nella Filo- 
logia,” Turin, 1864; “Della Educazione Rustica,” 
Florence, 1865; “Elisa Finocchietti Toscanelli,” 
Pisa, 1870; “I Teologi Naturali” (translated from 
the Hebrew), Pisa, 1871; “La Leggenda Ebraica def 
Dieci Martiri e la Perdonanza sullo Stesso Argo- 
mento,” in “ Annuario della Societa Italiana per gli 
Studj Orientale,” ii.; “Giuseppe Levi,” a biography 
of the famous Italian poet, Florence, 1876; “ Mari- 
anna Foa Uzielli,” biography, Leghorn, 1880; “ Dei 
Presenti Studj sul Talmud e Specialmente sull’ 
Aggada,” in “ Proceedings of the Fourth Congress 
of Orientalists,” held in Florence, 1878, Florence, 


Benedict VIII. 
Benedict, Moses 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA g 





1880; “L’ Antico Testamento e la Letteratura Ita- 

liana,” Pisa, 1885. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alessandro d’Ancona, Salvatore de Benedettt, 
Ra Sa del? Universita de Pisa per VAnno Acade- 
mico, -92. 


S. 


BENEDICT VIII.: Pope from 1012 to 1024. <A 
great persecution of the Jews took place during his 
pontificate. A terrible earthquake and hurricane 
visited the city of Rome on Good Friday, 1021, and 
the following day, in which many persons per- 
ished. According to the views of that time, this 
visitation was considered as a punishment sent by 
God; and the pope was persuaded, by one who pre- 
tended to have discovered the cause of the divine 
anger, that the Jews had insulted the host while 
the Christians were paying their adoration to the 
cross. An inquiry, conducted with all the partial- 
ity which characterized that epoch, having demon- 
strated the veracity of the alleged facts, Benedict 
ordered the execution of the guilty Jews. Accord- 
ing to Zunz, the selihah $37 IY ON, written by 
Simeon ben Isaac, refers to this persecution. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vogelstein and Rieger, Geschichte der Juden 
in Rom, i. 211, 218, 354; Berliner, Geschichte der Juden in 
Rom, ii. 7; Zunz, Literaturgeschichte, p. 235. 


G. I. Br. 


BENEDICT XII. (JACQUES DE NO- 
VELLES) : A monk of the Cistercian order; 
elected pope Dec. 30, 1884; died April 25, 1342. 
Although he displayed the greatest zeal for the ex- 
termination of the Albigenses and other heretics, he 
cherished kindly feelings toward the Jews and pro- 
tected them by every means inhis power. When, in 
1888, bloody persecutions of the Jews broke out in 
several placesin Germany because they had been ac- 
cused of profaning sacramental wafers, Benedict ad- 
dressed to Duke Albert of Austria a letter recom- 
mending him to take measures for the protection 
of the Jews. About the same time he wrote also 
to the bishop of Passau, in whose diocese many 
Jews had been slain on this accusation, directing 
him to investigate scrupulously the charge, which 
he, Benedict, did not believe, and to punish se- 
verely those who had invented such false accu- 
sations. | 


- BIBLIOGRAPHY: RBaronius, Annales Ecclestastici ad Annum 
MCCCXXXVITI.:; Revue Orientale, ii. 460; Gritz, Gesch. 
der Juden, 3d ed., vii. 327. 


G. I. Br. 


BENEDICT XIII. (PEDRO DE LUNA): 
Antipope; born at Aragon about 1334; elected Sept. 
28, 1394; died at Pefiiscola June 1 (according to 
some, Nov. 29), 1424. This “unfrocked and spuri- 
ous pope,” as he was termed by the Council of Con- 
stance which deposed him (1415), caused much suf- 
fering to the Jews. Zealous for their conversion, 
he shrank from no measures to bring about this re- 
sult. While he was still a cardinal he forced Shem- 
Tob ben Isaac Shaprut toappear at Pamplona before 
an assembly of bishops and high ecclesiastics in 
order to debate the question of original sin and 
salvation. 

This zeal for conversion and controversy was en- 
couraged by the baptized Jew, the unfrocked rabbi 
Salomon Levi Burgos (called by his Christian name 


Pablo de Santa Maria), and Benedict’s physician, 
Joshua Lorqui, whose Christian name was Geronimo 
de Santa Fé. They persuaded their master that they 
were able to demonstrate from the Bible and the 
Talmud that the Messiah had already come in the 

person of Jesus. 
Benedict, who had perjured himself in order to 
save his tiara, hoped to atone for his sin before 
Christendom by a splendid deed, such 


The as the conversion of the Jews en masse, 
Tortosa He therefore summoned the Jewish 
Con- notables to a controversy at Tortosa, 
troversy. Twenty-two of the chief Aragonese 


Jews answered the summons, and as. 
sembled at Tortosa Feb. 6, 14138. At first Benedict 
treated them with kindness; but seeing, in the course 
of the debates, that he could not hope to convert 
them by persuasion, he threw off his mask and 
vented his wrath on the Talmud. When all means 
of converting them were exhausted without bring. 
ing about the desired results, he dismissed them in 
anger. 

The consequence of this unprecedented contro- 
versy, Which extended over a year aud nine months 
(Feb. 6, 1413, to Nov. 12, 1414), was the issuance of 
an anti-Jewish bull containing eleven clauses, By 
the terms of this bull the Jews were prohibited from 
studying the Talmud and Talmud- 
ical literature. All copies of the Tal- 
mud were confiscated. The commu- 
nities were forbidden to build more 
than one synagogue poorly equipped. The Jews 
were not allowed to eat, bathe, or trade with Chris- 
tians. They were not to hold any public office; not 
to follow any handicrafts, nor even to practise medi- 
cine. They were compelled to wear a red or a yel- 
low badge, and three times a year, during Advent, 
at Easter, and in the summer, they were to attend 
Christian sermons. 

Benedict, being just then deposed by the Council 
of Constance, did not live to see his bull enforced, 
but it bore its fruits; and the sad end of the Jews 
of Spain was due to this schismatic pope and the 
schismatic rabbi Burgos. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Verga, Shebet Yehudah, ed. Wiener, pp. 
68-73; Halberstamm, in Jeschurun, vi. 45 et seq.; Basnage, 
Histoire des Juifs, vii. ch. xx. 5; Beugnot, Les Juifs 
@Occident, p. 108; Bédarride, Les Juifs en France, en 
Italie, et en Espagne, p. 276; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, viii. 


122 et seq. 
G. I. Br. 


BENEDICT XIV. (PROSPERO LAMBER- 
TINI): Two hundred and fifty-fourth pope; born 
at Bologna in 1675; elected pope Aug. 17, 1740; 
died May 3, 1758. This pope, who graciously ac- 
cepted a dedication from Voltaire and was full of 
amenity toward all heretics, thought it his duty to 
pursue by all means the conversion of the Jews. In 
1747 he issued.a bull regulating Jewish conversions. 
According to this bull all children above seven years 


Bull of 
1414. 


-of age could be baptized without the consent of 


their parents. A Christian nurse was allowed to 
baptize her Jewish charge against the will of the 
parents. One of the latter could baptize the child 
contrary to the wish of the other; and the grand- 
father could baptize his fatherless grandchild against 
the will of its mother. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Benedict VIII. 


7 


i : ed Sept. 16 of the same year, Ben- 
By : on pete matried Jews to divorce 
edict sie according to J ewish law. At the re- 
of the J ewish community of Rome (presented 
que, 1751) to allow its members to frequent 
He ae and to live outside the ghetto, Benedict 
ue ao the severe project elaborated by the Inqui- 
Jae a 1732, according to which a Jew was not 
Sr maitted to pass a single night away from the 
asta. ; e . 
” ~otwithstanding this, Benedict was far from be- 
‘ie nostile to the Jews. On all oceasions, except in 
he matter of conversion, he showed sympathy with 
aon When persecutions broke out in Poland he 
cpergetically defended the Jews and enjoined the 
Polish archbishop and primate to protect them, 

In Italy Benedict was especially hostile to Hebrew 
pooks. The censor Constanzi prepared in 1748 a 
new list of forbidden books. Benedict ordered all 
those enumerated therein to be seized and confis- 
cated; and on Sept. 15, 1751, this decree was en- 


forced. It having been rumored that the Jews 


smuggled prohibited books into the ghetto, Benedict 
ordered a strict search of the houses, with the result 
that a general confiscation ensued. Later he gave 
directions to Constanzi to revise the “Sefer ha-Zik- 
kuk” (Book of Expurgation) and to add to it an 
Index Expurgatorius, comprising a new series of 
books to be forbidden. 

In Holy Week of 1756 the body of a child was 
found at Jampol, Poland, and a blood accusation 
followed by persecutions ensued. To free them- 
selves and all other Jews from the oft-repeated ac- 
cusation, the Polish Jews sent Jacob Selek to Bene- 
dict to procure an official exposure of the falsehood 
of the charge. Benedict charged the counselor of 
the holy office, Lorenzo Ganganelli—iater Pope 
Clement XIV.—to report on this subject; and on 
March 21, 1758, the acquittal of the Jews was 
pronounced. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Literaturblatt des Orients, 1841, p. 259; Re- 
vue Orientale, iii. 157; Revue des Etudes Juives, iii. 107, 108 ; 
Berlmer, Censur und Confiscation, p. 25; Vogelstein and 
Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in. Rom, ii. 241-247; Popper, The 
Censorship of Hebrew Books, pp. 120, 126. 


rel I. Br. 


BENEDICT, SIR JULIUS: Composer, con- 
ductor, and teacher of music; born at Stuttgart 
Nov. 27, 1804; diedin London June 5, 1885. Show- 
ing considerable musical talent as a boy, he became, 
at the age of fifteen, the pupil of Hummel at Wei- 
mar, and was introduced by him to Beethoven. In 
1821 he went to Dresden to study musical composi- 
tion under Weber, who treated him like a son. 
Having filled conductors’ posts at Vienna from 1823 
to 1825, he went with Barbaja to Italy in the latter 
year, and obtained an appointment as conductor at 
Naples, where he produced two of his own operas, 
“Gracinta ed Ernesto” and “I Porthocesi in Goa.” 
In 1835 he went from Paris to London, where he re- 
sided till his death. He was conductor at the Ly- 
ceum in 1836 and at Drury Lane in 1888, where some 
of his own chief works for the operatic stage were 
produced. After visiting America with Jenny Lind 
in 1850, he became successively conductor at Her 
Majesty’s Theater and at Drury Lane. Sir Julius 
held a prominent position in the musical world for 


Benedict, Moses 


upward of forty years, as conductor and as teacher. 
He contributed much to the initial success of the 
Monday Popular Concerts at St. James’ Hall. He 
was knighted in 1871; and, among other distinctions, 
was decorated by the 
emperor of Austria in 
1874, and made knight 
commander of the Or- 
der of Frederick by the 
king of Wirttemberg. 
He was twice married. 
Among his composi- 
tions are: a one-act 
operetta, “Un Anno 
ed un Giorno,” pro- 
duced at the Lyceum 
in 1886; “The Gypsy’s 
Warning,” 1888; “The 
Bride of Venice,” 1843; 
“The Crusaders,” 1846, 
produced at Drury 
Lane; “ Undine,” a can- ae 
tata produced in 1860 Sir Julius Benedict. 
at the Norwich Festival, of which he was for many 
years conductor; “The Lily of Killarney,” 1862, 
his most suecessful opera, the libretto to which was 
founded upon Boucicault’s “Colleen Bawn”; an 
operetta, “The Bride of Song,” performed in 1864; 
“Richard Coeur de Lion,” 18638, and an oratorio, 
“St. Cecilia,” 1866, the last two composed for the 
Norwich Festival; “St. Peter,” 1870; and “Grazi- 
ella,” 1882, besides symphonies and pianoforte 
music. The recitatives for the Italian version of 
Weber’s “Oberon,” which was produced at Drury 
Lane in 1865, were also written by Sir Julius. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dictionary of National Biography; Grove, 


Thictionary of Music, s.v.; ‘London newspapers, June 6, 
1885; Hervey, Celebrated Musicians. 





J. , G. L. 
BENEDICT, MARCUS. See BENET, Mor- 
DECAI. 


BENEDICT, MOSES: German banker and art- 
ist; born in 1772 at Stuttgart, Germany ; died there 
July 8, 1852. He was destined for the profession of 
sculptor. With his brother Seligmann Lob he was 
sent in 1785 to the Karlsschule in Stuttgart. Later 
on the two conducted the banking business of Ben- 
edict Brothers. Moses showed considerable talent 
for art, and as a painter of miniatures was particu- 
larly clever. He was an intimate friend of the 
painter Christian Gottlicb Schick, with whom he 
corresponded for years. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schwéibische Chronik, Nov. 15, 1885. 


S, M. K. 


BENEDICT, NAPHTALI. See Benet, Napu- 
TALL 

BENEDICT OF YORK: Leading member of 
the Jewish community in York, England, at the end 
of the twelfth century; died in 1189. Together with 
Josce of York he attended the coronation of Richard 
J., and in the riot which took place on that occasion 
was forced to submit to baptism, when he took the 
name of “ William.” Afterward he appealed to 
the king, who permitted him to return to his 
religion, though this was against the canon laws. 


Benedict of York 
Benedictions 


Ilis death occurred soon after this at Northampton 
(Roger de Hoveden, “ Chronica,” ed. Stubbs, iii. 14), 
where he was the owner of houses. William of 
Newbury describes Benedict’s house at York as 
being like unto a royal palace in size and strength 
(* Historia,” ed. How- 
lett, i. 312). His 
widow and children 
were burned alive in 
it during the York 
riot of Easter, 1190. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, 


Jews of Angevin bng- 
tard, pp. 104, 119. 


BENEDICTIONS 
(Hebrew, “ Berakot”): 
Blessings, or prayers 
of thanksgiving and 
praise, recited either 
during divine service 
or on special occa- 
sions. They were, 
according to rabbin- 
ical tradition (Ber. 
33a), instituted and 
formulated by the 
founders of the syna- 
gogue, the “Anshe 
Keneset ha-Gedolah ” 
(Men of the Great 
Synagogue), “the 
hundred and twenty 
elders” at the head 
of the commonwealth 
in the time of Ezra 
(Meg. tva; Yer. Ber. 
ii. 4d; compare Yad 
ha-Hazakah, Tefillah 
u-Birkat Kohanim, 1. 
4; Ber. 1.5). Thanks- 
givings in the form 
of “Baruk Yuwu” 
(Blessed be the Lord) 
were occasionally of- 
fered in the time of 
the Patriarchs, the 
Judges, and the 
Kings (see Gen. xxiv. 
27; Ex, xviii. 10; 
Ruth iv. 14; I Sam. 
xxv. 82; Il Sam. xviii. 28; I Kings i. 48; v. 
21: vili. 15, 56; I Chron. xvi. 36; II Chron. ii. 
11, vi. 4) and by the Psalmists (Ps. xxviii. 6, xxxi. 
22 [A. V. 21], and elsewhere); and in the form of 
“Baruk Attah Yuwnu” (Blessed be thou, O Lord; 
I Chron. xxix. 10; Ps. exix. 12); also in the prayer 
of Azariah (Song of the Three Holy Children, verse 
3; Tobit fii. 11; viii. 5, 15; xi. 14). 

In the time of Ezra public worsbip was begun 
with the call, “Bareku et Adonay” (Bless ye the 
Lord! Neh. ix. 5), each thanksgiving being fol- 
lowed by the congregational response AMEN (Neh. 
viii. 6) ora longer doxology, “Baruk . . . Amen” 
(Ps. xli. 14; lxxii. 18, 19; evi. 48). Thenceforth the 
designation “ Berakah,” or benediction, became the 


TM RESO EE TE er ae sort SA ERES 
| Ga SP Geen 





Title-Page of ‘‘Meah Berakot,”’ Amsterdam, 1787. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 8 





standing name for each individual thanksgivin 
in the service. Accordingly, the ancient Mishnah, 
R. H. iv. 5, calls the service “Seder Berakot” 
(Order of Benedictions). Thus eight benedictiong 


‘are mentioned in Yoma vii. 1, which are recited by 


the high priest in the 
Temple service on 
the Day of Atone. 
ment, namely: (1) on 
the Law, (2) the 
‘Abodah, (8) the 
thanksgiving, (4) the 
forgiveness of sin, (5) 
the sanctuary, (6) Is. 
rael, (7) the priestly 
blessing, and (8) the 
closing prayers. 

The recitation of 
the SHEMA‘ every 
morning in the 
Temple was pre- 
ceded by one benedic- 
tion, and followed by 
three benedictions, 
which consisted of 
EMET WE- YAZZIB, 
the ‘ABODAH, and the 
Priestly BLESSING 
(closing with “Sha- 
lom ”=peace; Tamid 
iv. 1). In the syna- 
gogue the Shema‘ is 
preceded by two 
benedictions, one for 
the light of day: 
“Yozer-Or” (see 
Lirurey), closing 
with “Blessed be He 
who created the 
lights!” and one for 
the Law: AHABAH 
RABBAH, ending 
with “Blessed be He 
who loveth His 
people Israel!” and 
followed by one ben- 
ediction beginning 
with EMET WE- 
YAzZZIB and closing 
with “Ga’al Yisrael” 
(Blessed be He who 
hath redeemed Israel!), after which the eighteen (or 
seven) benedictions follow. The Shema‘ in the eve- 
ning is preceded by the benedictions “ Ma‘arib ‘Ara- 
bim,” concluding with “Blessed be He who bringeth 
on the twilight!” and AnaBaT ‘O1LAM, closing with 
“Blessed be He who loveth His people Israel!” 
and followed by two benedictions, namely: “ Ga’al 
Yisrael,” as in the morning, and “ Hashkibenu” 
(“Grant us peaceful rest in the night!”), ending 
with “Blessed be He who guardeth Israel!” or, on 
Sabbath and holy days, with “Blessed be He who 
spreadeth the tabernacle of His peace over Israel!” 
The prayer (SHEMONEH ‘ESREH) in the daily ritual 
of the synagogue consists of eighteen benedictions 
(Ber. 28b); the corresponding festival prayer, of 


fi 
Hee 


Rinyait 


i}; 


awe 


aad 
wa 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


9 


s, R. H. iv. 11); the one on fast-days, of 
vonty-four, six special benedictions being added 
ney jghteen of the daily prayer, each being fol- 
10 the sis the response “ Amen” (Ta‘an. ii. 2-5). 
lowed a penediction was also offered by Ezra be- 
f 7 A reaaine from the Book of the Law, the assem- 
Ore eanonding with “Amen! Amen!” (Neh. viii. 
bly Tee it ‘became the regular practise in both 
o) temple and the synagogue to recite a benedic- 
ad pefore reading the Law, with the introductory 
pee ku” (Bless ye the Lord), and after the reading 
aa the closing formula, “Blessed be He who gave 
he Law,” followed by the response “ Amen” (Yoma 
tne 6; “Masseket Soferim,” xiii. 8, ed. Maller, 
Bere | The benedictions recited at the reading 
ae th e Prophets, the HAFTARAH, one before and 
three or four benedictions after the reading on Sab- 
path and holy days, have the same character. They 
are thanksgivings for the words of comfort and of 
Messianic hope offered by the prophetic writings 
as interpreted by the Haggadah. Originally these 
also were accompanied by congregational responses 
(** Masseket Soferim,” xiii. 9-14, ed. Miller, pp. 181- 
185). Similarly the reading of the HALLEL Psalms 
on the New Moon and holy days is preceded and 
followed by a benediction; the latter 
Upon known in Mishnaic time as “ Birkat ha- 
Reading Shir” (Benediction of the Psalm, Pes. 
from x. 7). To the same category belong 
Scripture. the benediction BARUK SHE-AMAR, 
which precedes, and the YISHTABBAH 
(with or without the Niswmar), which follows, the 
reading of Psalms in the early morning service; the 
benediction in each case closing with “Blessed be 
Thou, O Lord, who art extolled by praises!” (Com- 
pare Ps. xxii. 4 [3] and Ex. xv. 11.) The corre- 
sponding evening benediction “ Baruk Je-‘Olam ” ap- 
pears originally te have been also a benediction on 
the Psalms (see S. Baer, “‘Abodat Yisrael,” p. 109; 
and Koliler, “ The Psalms and Their Place in the Lit- 
urgy,” Graetz College Publications, 1897, i. 31. 

The benedictions recited over the meals are of 
very ancient origin. As early as the Book of Sam- 
uel people would not eat before the blessing had 
been offered over the sacrifice (I Sam. ix. 13). Ac- 
cordingly, the words in Deut. viii. 10, “ When thou 
hast eaten and art full, thou shalt bless the Lord thy 
God for the good land which He hath given thee,” 
are referred by the Rabbis to the benediction over 
the meal, to both the grace before the meal and the 
threefold benediction after it (Ber. 21a, 48b; Tos. 
Ber. vii. 1: compare Sibyllines, iv. 25; Josephus, 
“B. J.” ii. 8, § 5; Letter of Aristeas, § 184; Matt. 
xiv. 19, xv. 36, xxvi. 26; Acts xxvii. 35). “Seeing 
thee eat without washing the hands and without 
saying the benediction, I took thee to be a heathen,” 
said an innkeeper to his brother Jew (Num. R. xx.). 

Whosoever eats or drinks or enjoys some pleasure 
of the senses without offering a bencdiction commits 
a sacrilegious theft against God ” (Ber. 85a, b). 

Especially solemn, because accompanied with re- 
Sponses in accordance with the number of the par- 
Uctpants, is the Grace at Mears, consisting of three 
benedictions, later increased to four. According to 
Ber. 48b, the first “ Ha-zan et ha-kol” (Blessed be 
He who giveth food to all') was instituted by 


sevell (To 


with 


Benedict of York 
Benedictions 


Moses; the second, “Nodeh leka” (closing with 
“Blessed be Thou for the land and for the food! ”), 
by Joshua, who led Israel into the land; 
Before and the third, “Rahem na ” (closing 
and After with “Blessed be He who rebuildeth 
Meals. [buildeth] Jerusalem”), by King Solo- 
mon; while the fourth, “ Ha-tob we-ha- 
Metib” (Blessed be He who is good and doeth good!) 
—recited as a rule whenever new wine is served to 
cheer the guests—is ascribed to the rabbis of Jamnia 
in Bar Kokba’s time. All meals having had a dis- 
tinctly social rather than a mere domestic character 
in olden times, the benedictions recited at the table 
were accordingly, like those in the synagogue, in- 
troduced by an exhortatory call, “Zimmun,” and 
accompanied by responses (Ber. vii. 1, 2; Geiger, 
“ Urschrift,” p. 123; Kohler, d.c. pp. 34, 35). 
Gladdening wine as a social element served on 
such occasions gave rise to benedictions connected 
with the Sabbath and the festival meals, the Kxp- 
pDusH (the sanctification of the day, Mek., Yitro, 
vii.; Pes. 106a) and Happauan (“the leave-taking 
from the holy day”), which formed originally the 
conclusion of the Sabbath meal (Ber. viii. 1; Geiger, 
“ Zeitschr.” vi, 116); the Passover Seder (Pes. x. 6); 
also to a benediction now no longer in use at the new- 
moon meal (“ Mas. Soferim,” xix. 9); to the seven 
benedictions recited at marriage festivities (Ket. 7b; 
compare Tobit viii. 6-17), which lasted a full week 
ortwo; the benedictions at circumcision (Shab, 137b; 
Tosef., Ber. vii. 12, 13); and the benedictions at the 
mourners’ meal, which were still in use in Europe in 
the eleventh century (“ Mas. Soferim,” xix. 11, ed. 
Miller, p. 276; Ber. 46b; Semahot xii., xiv.; “Sid- 
dur Rab Amram,” i. 55; Mahzor Vitry, No. 248). 
Every new enjoyment offered at the festal table, such 
as various kinds of fruits, or perfumes, gave rise to 
another benediction (Ber. vi. viii.; Tos. Ber. vi.). 
“To God belongs the earth and all its produce, ac- 
cording to Ps. xxiv. 1; but when consecrated by a 
benediction it becomes man’s privilege to enjoy it, 
according to Ps. cxv. 16,” says R. Levi (Ber. 36a). 
Besides these three forms of benediction, a fourth, 
bearing a more personal character, came into use 
in ancient times—a thanksgiving for the manifes- 
tation of divine goodness experienced in one’s life. 
The one hundred and seventh Psalm has been cor- 
rectly understood by rabbinical tradition to refer to 
four different kinds of thanksgiving for benefits re- 
ceived from God: (1) for escaping the dangers of a 
journey through the desert (verses 4-9); or (2) being 
rescued from prison (10-16); or (3) recovering from 
a grave illness (17-22); or (4) having gone safely 
through the perils of a sea voyage. All who have 
undergone any of these experiences are bidden to 
offer loud thanksgiving to the Lord in the midst of 
worshiping assemblies. Out of this developed the 
“Birkat ha-Gomel” (Blessed be the 


Thanks- Lord, who bestoweth benefits upon 
giving for the undeserving), the benediction re- 
Personal cited by men who are called up to the 
Benefits. Law the first time they appear in the 


synagogue after deliverance from dan- 
ger; the congregation responding: “May He who 
hath bestowed all good upon thee, further bestow 
good unto thee! Amen.” As a matter of course, 


Benedictions 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA | 19 


SSS SS ES SS Pe a ee a ee Re eT 


each miraculous escape or other joyous experience 
gave rise to another benediction. In fact, many 
Psalms are the outpouring of such thanksgiving (Ps. 
xxii, 26 [A. V. 25], xl 11 [A. V. 10], ciii. 1-5). 
Yet not only experiences of joy, but also severe 
trials, prompted the saints to offer thanksgiving, as 
in the case of Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord 
hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” 
(Job i, 21). 

Every manifestation of divine protection and help 
became an opportunity for the pious Israelite to 
offer up thanksgiving in the usual form of a bene- 
diction; thus, after the victory over Nicanor the 
people exclaimed: “Blessed be He who hath kept 
His holy place undefiled” (11 Macc. xv. 34). A 
similar benediction is given: “Blessed be Thou, the 
truthful Judge who disclosest the things hidden” 
(7b. xii. 41). Not only did the experience of mirac- 
ulous help from Providence give an opportunity for 
thanksgiving, as when Jethro exclaimed, “ Blessed 
be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand 
of the Egyptian ” (Ex. xviii. 10; Ber. 54a), but the 
very season or place which recalled the wondrous 
event to the memory of the people or of the indi- 
vidual gave rise to a benediction: “ Blessed be Thou 
who wroughtest a miracle unto me,” or “unto our 
fathers of old.” There is an instructive passage in 
the Book of Enoch: “ Each time Enoch beheld some 
of the wonders of nature, he blessed the Lord of 
Glory, who had made great and glorious wonders 
to show the greatness of His work to the angels and 
the souls of men, that they might praise His work 
and all His creation . . . and bless Him for ever.” 
Obviously, at the time Enoch was written, the Hasi- 

dim had already made it a custom to 


Develop-_ say a benediction at the sight of every 
ment of great phenomenon of nature, “‘Oseh 

Bene- ma‘aseh Bereshit” (Blessed be the 
dictions. Worker of Creation) (Ber. 54a; com- 


pare Ben Sira [Ecclus. ] xiii. 11, “ Look 

upon the rainbow and praise Him that made it”). 
In the course of time all these benedictions as- 
sumed a stereoty ped form; and the rule is given by 
Rab that, to be regarded as a regular benediction 
(Ber. 40b), every benediction must contain the name 
of God, and by R. Johanan that it must contain the 
attribute of God’s kingship. It was always the 
Name that called forth the response, since the verse 
Deut. xxxii. 38 (Hebr.), “ When I call upon the name 
of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God,” 
was interpreted in this sense by the Rabbis (see Sifre, 
Deut. 306). In view of this response in the syna- 
gogue, “Amen”; in the Temple, “ Baruk Adonay ” 
(Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from everlast- 
ing to everlasting), particular stress was always laid 
upon the closing formula (“hotem berakot”) (Mish- 
nah Ber. ix. 5; Ta‘anit ii. 3; Tosef., Ber. vii. 21, 22; 
Tosef., Ta‘anit i. 10-13); whereas full freedom as to 
the formof the main benediction was granted to the 
individual who offered the prayer or praise. It has 
been suggested that Psalms, suchas cxxxvi., cxlvii., 
exlviii., or other Biblical verses, originally formed 
the basis of each benediction (see Isidore Loeb, “ Li- 
terature des Pauvres,” p. 158; Miller, “ Masseket So- 
ferim,” p. 228; Kohler, 7.c. pp. 32-84). A specimen 
in the Apocry phon to an old benediction with choral] 


response is given in the Song of the Three Childrey 
(verses 29-34, 39-67). Outof the recitative benedie. 
tions spoken in assemblies, as seen in the prevalent 
use of the plural, developed at a much later 3tage the 
solitary prayer without the element of responses 

(Ber. viii. 8), which had previously been essential, 
Great importance was laid, however, on the exac; 
traditional form of the various benedictions. Only 
a recognized scholar (“Talmid hakam”) was pre. 
sumed to know them to a reliable degree; whereas 
those who compiled them for common use were, in 
Mishnaic time, regarded with suspicion. “Those 
who write down the benedictions are equal in mis. 
chief-doing to such as burn the Law ”—ostensibly 
because they infringed the rights of those authorized 
to offer the benediction (see Tosef., Ber. i. 8; Shab, 
xi. [xix.]4; Ber. 88a, 50a; Shab. 115b). Neverthe. 
less it was from such written collections of benedic. 
tions that compilations like those enumerated in 
Mishnah Berakot ix., Ta‘anit ii., Tosef., Ber. vii., 
and elsewhere were made. At any rate, by the 
second century they were already tixed as to form 
and number, since R. Meir declares it to be the duty 
of every one to say one hundred benedictions daily 
(Men. 43b); and R. Yose says: “He who alters the 
form of benedictions fixed by the wise has failed to 
fulfil his obligations” (Ber. 40b; Yer. 


One Ber. vi. 2, 10b). According to Num, 
Hundred R. xviii. (compare Tan., Korah, ed. 
Bene- Vienna, 1853), it was King David who 
dictions instituted the one hundred daily bene- 
Daily. dictions. These hundred benedictions 


required daily by R. Meir are shown 
by Abudrahim in gate iii. (“ Birkat ha-Mizwah ”) of 
his commentary to correspond with the benedic- 
tions given in the daily prayers. 

Maimonides (Yad ha-Hazakah, Berakot, i. 4) di- 
vides the benedictions into three classes: (1) for en- 
joyments; (2) for the privilege of the performance 
of areligious duty ; and (8) forms of liturgical thanks- 
giving and praise, Abudrahim, in Hilkot Berakot, 
divides them into four classes: (1) such as are com- 
prised in the daily prayer; (2) such as precede the 
performance of religious duties; (8) such as are of- 
fered for enjoyments; and (4) such as are offered on 
special occasions of thanksgiving and praise. 

The following is a list of benedictions prescribed 
in the Talmud and adopted in the liturgy; each of 
them beginning with the formula “ Blessed art Thou, 
O Lord, our God, King of the Universe! ” 


(1) Before retiring to rest at night: “*... who makes the 
bands of sleep fall upon mine eyes and slumber upon mine eye- 
lids. May it be Thy will, O Lord, to make me lie down in peace 
and rise up again in peace. Let not my thoughts nor evil 
dreams nor evil imaginations trouble me, but let my bed be 
spotless before Thee, and give light again to mine eyes leet I 
sleep the sleep of death”’ (Ps. xiii. 4 [A.V. 3]); “for it is Thou 
who givest light to the apple of the eye”’ (Ps. xvii. 8). °** Blessed 
art Thou who givest light to the whole world with Thy glory” 
(Ber. 60b). 

(2) In the morning, before reciting any benediction, one has 
to wash the hands and say: **... who hast sanctified us by 
Thy commandments and enjoined us to wash the hands” 
(“*Netilat Yadayim,” “lifting up the hands’); compare Targ. 
to Ps. cxxxiv. 2 (Ber. 53b). 

(3) After the performance of the functions of the body: 
“ . . . who has formed man in wisdom and created many ori- 
fices and vessels, upon the opening or closing of which life 
depends.’ ‘“.. . (who healest all flesh and) who hast made 
man wondrously ” (after Ps. cxxxix. 14). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


11 


akening from the night's sleep (which was re- 
eturning of the soul to the body) some rabbis 
prescribe the benediction: * ... Who revi- 


~ 


vest the dead” (Yer. Ber. iv. 2. 7d); but the 


(4) After aw 
garded as the r 


Morning form commonly adopted is: ‘My Lord, the 
Ber. ee soul which Thou hast given me is pure. Thou 
dictions. past created and formed it, and Thou didst 


it into me and preservest it within me and wilt one day 
brent ee me and restore it unto me bereafter. So long as 
rake It ania me, I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord my 
i alae of all works, Lord of all souls, . . . who restor- 
God, Sais ynto dead podies.”’ . . 
est the pearing the cock crow, one says: ”... who hast 
a. cock intelligence to distinguish between day and 
Se ob xxxviii. 36). Compare “ Apost. Const.” vili. 34. 
night opening the eyes in the morning: “s . . Who openest 
o eo of the blind ” (after Ps, exlvi. 8). 
thes. when sitting up and moving one’s limbs: ” . 
é 


; that are bound” (Ps. exlvi. 7). 
eaten dressing: “ ... Who clothest the naked” (Ps. 


exlvi. 8). ae Sasa seats 

standing erect: "... Who raisest up those tha 

ea down ” (eompare ** Halakot Gedolot,”’ ed. Hildeshei- 

He p. 17). When sitting up: ** Who liftest up those that are 
yr? iD.) . 

m0) Lae stepping upon the ground: “. on who spreadest 
forth the earth above the waters” (Ps. exxXXvi. &). 

(11) On stepping forth to walk: °°... Who hast made frm 


fman”’ (Ps. xxxvii. 23). . 
** ... who hath supplied me 


.. who 


the steps 0 ; 
(12) When patting on shoes: 


‘ith every Want.” . 
ss When girding the belt about oneself: ** . . . who gird- 


est Israel with might’ (Jer. xiii. 11; Ps. xv. 7). 
(14) When putting on a head-covering : se who crownest 

Israel with glory” (Isa. Ixi. 10; AN5 = “glory,” name for 

re te following alternative is not found in the Talmud, and is 

disaliowed in Sbhulhan ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, xlivi, 6: ° 

who givest strength to the weary.””) 

(15) When washing the face: ”... Who removest sleep 
from mine eyes and slumber from mine eyelids.” 

Here follows a prayer fora day free froin sin and temptation 
and graced by favor of God and man, which closes thus: “*... 
who bestowest loving-kindness”’ (late addition, **upon Thy 
people Israel ’’). ; 

(18) Every one must offer three benedictions daily, namely: 
* | | who hast made me an Israelite (or who hast not made 
me a heathenj’’; *... who hast not made me a woman”’; 
| | who hast not made me a slave for a boor}” (Tosef., 
Ber. vii. 18; Yer. Ber. ix. 2, p. 13b; Men. 43b; “* Halakot Gedo- 
jot,” p. 77. Persian and Greek parallels are given by Joél, “* Blicke 
in die Religionsgeschichte.’’ i. 119; Kaufmann, ‘‘ Monatsschrift,”’ 
pp. 14-18). For woman the benediction is substituted: “... 
who hast made me according to Thy will.”’ 

The folowing benediction adopted in the Prayer-Book is, ac- 
cording to Yer. Ber. ix. 2, preserved in full in Yalkut, Wa’etha- 
nan, 836, offered by the angels at the time when the Shema‘ is 
recited by Israel: ‘*Thou wast one ere the world was created; 
Thou hast been the same since the world hath been created. 
Thou art the same in this world and the same in the world to 
1893, come. Sanctify Thy name through those that sanctify it, 

- . who sanetifiest Thy name among the multitudes.” 

‘17) Before and after the reading of the Psalms in the morn- 
ing service: BARUK SHE-AMAR and YISHTABBAH. 

(18, 19) Before reading Shema‘ in the morning, “* Yozer Or” 
and AHABAH RABBAR. 

(20) After Shema‘, EMET WE-Y.AZZIB. 

“1-389) The ‘‘Amidah,” seven (or eighteen, increased later 
on to nineteen), benedictions, consisting of three principal 
benedictions of praise at the beginning, three at the close, and 
twelve or thirteen (on week-days; on Sabbath and holy days 
vnly one) inserted in the middle isee SHEMONEH “ESREH). In 
case of need one benediction, HABINENU, containing the con- 
tents of the twelve, is offered as substitute for week-days also 
(Ber. 29a), 

Pie Before the reading from the Law two different bene- 
Adio re were In use in the third century, and both have been 
pn ie ie the Prayer-Book ; one beginning, ** . . . who teach- 
basi _ aw to ‘Thy people Israel,”? and ending with,’ . .. who 
tae commanded us to occupy ourselves with the words of the 
ana ke po ores - . . who hast chosen us from all peoples 
Perio given us Thy Law,” and closing with, Pha who 
fe e Law.”” After the reading: **... who hast given 

€ Law of truth and hast planted everlasting life in our 





Benedictions 





midst; and closing with, “... who gavest the Law” (see 
Ber. 11b: ** Masseket Soferim,”’ xiii. 8). 

(41) The benediction “ Hashkibenu” in the evening prayer 
has been mentioned above; this is followed on week-days by: 

(42) “* Baruk Adonay ie-‘Olam,’? Psalm verses corresponding to 
the ** Baruk she-Amar,’’ which are coneluded with the bene- 
diction referring to the Messianic kingdom: **... the King 
who Will reign forever and aye over al) His creatures.” 

Rs Before and after the recitation of HALLEL as mentioned 
above. 

(44) ““Musaf’’ consists of seven benedictions, with the excep- 
tion of that of New-Year, which has three more. 

(45) The benedictions before and after the HAFTARAH, men- 
tioned above. 

(46) To the same category as the preceding belong the bene- 
diction before and that after the recitation of the Megillah or 
scroll of the Book of Esther on Purim (Meg. 21b). 

(47) The benediction over the reading of the four scrolls— 
Canticles, on Passover; Ruth, on Shabu‘ot; Ecclesiastes, on 
Sukkot; and Lamentations, on the Ninth of Ab, mentioned in 
** Masseket Soferim,”’ xiv. 3, has fallen into disuse, as has also 
the benediction over the reading of the Hagiographa (ih. 4). 

(48, 49) On putting on the tallit and the tefillin on the arm and 
the forehead respectively (Ber. 60b; Yer. Ber. ix. 2, lda; Tosef., 
Ber. vii. 10; and Men. 36a, 42b). 

(50) Benediction for the Aaronites when they offer the priestly 
benediction (Sotah 39a). 

(51) On kindling the lights on Sabbath and festival eve 
(“ Yad,” Shabbat, v. 1; Hagahot Maimuni referring to Yer. 
Ber. ix.); see BLESSING, PRIESTLY. 

(92) On kindling the Hanukkah lights, with the additional 
benediction: “ .. . who hast done wonders to our fathers in 
days of old at this season” (Shab. 23a). 

(53, 54) KIDDUSH and HABDALAH, q.v. 

(55-62) On afiixing a MEZUZANH to a doorpost: **... who 
hast sanctified us by Thy commandments and enjoined us to 
affix the Mezuzah.’ Similarly, on building the battlement for 
the roof prescribed in Deut. xxii. 8; on the consecration of the 
HALLAH, or Ternmah; on the ‘ERUsB; at the performance of 
the ritual slaughtering, and the covering of the blood, special 
blessings are said, as also at the removal of the leavened bread 
before Passover and the eating of the MazzaH3; at the counting 
of the days of ‘OMER; at the preparation for and first entering 
into the Sukkah: on the blowing of the SHOFAROn New-Year’s 
Day; at the performance of the rite of ablution of persons and 
vessels (Yer. Ber. ix. 2, p. Lfa; Tosef., Ber. vii. 9-10; ‘‘ Yad,” 
Berakot, xi.; Baer’s Prayer-Book, pp. 5/0-d71; Ber. dla). 

(63, 64) On betrothal and marriage, see BETROTHAL and 
MARRIAGE. 

(65) On circumcision, see CIRCUMCISION. 

(66) On redeeming the first-born, see PIDYON HA-BEN. 

(67) Over the mourners’ meal (Ket. 8b), see FUNERAL RITES, 

(68) On the arrival of a new season, or of any joyous event in 
one’s life: “* .. . who hast kept us in life and preserved us and 

permitted us to reach this season.” 

Thanks- (69) Blessing over the bread: **... who 

giving for hast brought forth bread from the earth” 
Enjoyments. (Ber. vi. 1, 38a, after Ps. civ. 14). 
(70) Over the wine: ** . . . who hast created 
the fruit of the vine’ (Ber, vi. 1). 

(71) Over food other than bread prepared of flour: “ .. 
hast created various kinds of food *? (Ber. 36b). 

(72) On eating fruit which grows on trees: “... who hast 
created the fruit of the tree’ (Ber. vi. 1). 

(73) On eating fruit which grows on the ground: “ . 
hast created the fruit of the ground” (Ber. vi. 1). 

(74) After having finished the meal, see GRACE AFTER MEAL. 

(75) A benediction containing in abridged form three of the 
usual graces after meals, after having eaten such fruits as the 
Holy Land is especially blessed with, such as grapes, dates, figs, 
and pomegranates, or after having taken wine or partaken of 
other food than bread. 

(76) On eating food that does not grow on the ground, or drink- 
ing water, or other liquor: “*... by whose word all things 
have been made to exist ** (Ber. vi. 3). 

(77) After partaking of any of these, or of fruit: “... who 
hast created beings and what they need. For al] that Thou 
hast created to sustain therewith the life of each living being, 
blessed be He who livest forever” (Ber. vi. 8; Tos. iv. 163 ac- 
cording to R. Tarfon, before the eating, Yer. Ber. 10b). In 
Yer. Ber. t.c., and Tosef. Ber. iv. 4 other benedictions over spe- 
vial kinds of food are given; but these were not adopted by the 


casuists. 
(78) On smelling: ‘‘ Blessed art Thou who hast created fra- 


. who 


.- + Who 


Benedictions 
Benedikt 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA lg 


— SS 0586080858580 SS ee ee ee ne cae 


grant woods,” ‘fragrant spices,’’ and “* fragrant oils,” “* odor- 
ous plants,’’ end “‘ odorous fruits’ (Ber. 43b). 

(79) On seeing lightuing, falling stars, lofty mountains, great 
deserts (also the sun at the beginning of a new cycle of twenty- 

eight years), or the sky in all its beauty: 
Upon Seeing *... who hast made Creation” (Ber, ix. 2; 

Natural = Tosef., Ber. vii. 6; Ber. 59b). 

Phenomena. (8&0) On hearing thunder, or witnessing an 
earthquake or hurricane: “. . . Whose might 
and power fill the world ” (Ber. ix. 2). 

(81) At the sight of the sea: **. . . who hast made the great 
sea’? (iD.). 

(82) On seeing blossoms budding for the first: tine in the 
spring: ‘*... who hast made Thy world lacking in naught, 
but hast produced goodly creatures and goodly trees Wherewith 
to give delight to the children of men” (Ber. 48b; R. H. 11a). 

(83) On seeing beautiful persons, trees, or animals: "... Who 
hast stich as these in the world’ (Ber. 58b; Tosef., Ber. vii. 4). 

(84) On seeing strangely formed beings such as giants and 
dwarfs, or elephants and apes: “. . . who variest the forms of 
Thy creatures” (Ber. l.¢.: Tos. vii. 5). 

(85) On seeing persons stricken witn blindness, lameness, or 
loathsome diseases, or holy places ina state of desolation, or on 
hearing evil tidings: “*... the true Judge” (Ber. ix. 2 
and l.c.). 

(86) On hearing good tidings or witnessing joy: “... who 
art good and dispensest good ”’ (Ber. Le.). 

(87) On seeing the rainbow: “... who rememberest the 
covenant, art faithful to Thy covenant, and Keepest Thy prom- 
ise” (Tosef., Ber. vii. 5; a composite prayer, see Ber. 59b). 

(88) On seeing holy places restored after long desolation : 
‘  . , who reestablishest the border of the widow ” (Ber. S8b, 
after Prov. xv. 25). 

(89) On seeing a friend after a year’s separation. “* .. . who 
revivest the dead” (Ber. 58b; compare Pirke R. El. xxxi.). 
When restored from a dangerous sickness: “. .. Blessed be 

the Merciful who gave Thee back to us and 

On Seeing not to the earth” (Ber. 54b). 

Remarkable = (%)) On seeing a scholar or sage of distinc- 
Persons. tion: *... who hast imparted of Thy wWis- 
dom to flesh and blood” (ib.). 

(91) On seeing a king or ruler of a country: °° 
imparted of 'Thy glory to flesh and blood”? (ib.). 

(#2) On seeing the myriads of Israel gathered together: 
** Blessed be He who knowest the secret thoughts of all these”’ 
(Ber. l.¢.). 

(938) After having escaped perils, see GOMEL BENSHEN. 

(94) On entering a burial-ground: ** Blessed be the Lord who 
hath formed you in judgment, and nourished and sustained you 
in judgment, and hath brought death on you in judgment. He 
knoweth the number of you in judgment and will hereafter re- 
store you to life in judgment, ... who revivest the dead” 
(Ber. 58D). 

(95) On seeing a place where a miracle happened to Israel of 
old: **... who hast performed miracies fur our fathers at 
this place ” (Ber. ix. 1). 

(96) On seeing a place from which idolatrous practises have 
been removed: “S... who hast removed idolatry from this 
place’ (ib.). On seeing a place where idolatry is practised: 
** .. . Who showest long-suffering to those who transgress Thy 
will? (Ber. 57b). 

(97) On the appearance of the new moon, see NEW Moon. 


-. « who hast 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Sefer Abucdrahim; Maimonides. Vad ha-Ha- 
zakah, Berakot; Baer, *“Abodat Yisrael; 8. Singer, Daily 
Prayer-Book, pp. 287-292; Landshuth, Hegyon Leb; M. 
Bloch, Institutionen des Judenthums, 1884; I. H. Weiss, in 
Kobak’s Jeschurun, 1864, ii. part 1, pp. 37-44. 

A. K. 


BENEDICTUS, COENRAAD: “Mohel” and 
surgeon at Surinam, Dutch Guiana, about 1880. 
Nothing is known of his life nor of his literary activ- 
ity other than the bare fact that he published at Para- 
maribo in 1830 (7) a tract describing the operation 
of circumcision, together with a series of questions 
and answers for use in examining candidates for 
the office of mohel. The book is extremely rare. 
The Hebrew quotations occurring in the text are 
filled in by the author in his own writing, as there 
was probably no Hebrew type to be had in Para- 
maribo at that time. The title of the book is 


“Examen voor den Nicuw aan te Nemen Moé] of 

Besnijder der Israé]. Kinderen. Hierbij Gedeeltg, 

lijk het Mannelijk lid Outleed, ook Leersame Be. 

schrijving der Besnijdenis en Crrewin Cisione Operg, 

tie... in Vragen en Antwoorden.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Roest, 15D M°3, p. 202, n. 280), Amster. 
dam, L868; G. A. Kohut, in Publications of the Americay 


~ 


Jewish Historical Society, ii. 131, iv. 7. 

G, G. A. K. 

BENEDIKT, EDMUND: Austrian jurist. 
born at Dobling, near Vienna, Oct. 6, 1851. He 
studied Jaw at the University of Vienna, and after 
graduation became the publisher of the “ Juristisehe 
Bliitter.” In addition to his editorial favors he wrote: 
“Reform des Schadenrechts bei Ehrenbeleidigun. 
gen,” 1885; “Reformation der Konkursordnung,” 
1887; “ Binfluss des Schwurgerichts auf das Mater. 
elle Strafrecht,” 1888; and “ Bemerkungen tiber dag 
Urheberrecht und den Gesetzentwurf der Oesterrej. 
chischen Regicrung,” 1893. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kirschner, Deutscher Literalur-Kalender, 

1898, p. 73; (901, p. 7S. 

S. KE. Ms. 

BENEDIKT, MORITZ: German journalist. 
publisher, and editor of the Vienna “Neue Freie 
Presse”; born at Gnatschitz, Moravia, May 27, 1849. 
On attaining his majority he chose journalism as 4 
profession, contributing with considerable success 
to various dailies and periodicals in Germany. In 
1872 he joined the staff of the “ Neue Freie Presse,” 
becoming editor of the economic section In 1879. The 
two years following he devoted to the publication 
of aseries of articles on economic, commercial, and 
financial subjects, which articles attracted consider. 
ableattention. In1880 he became chief editor. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Das Geistige Wien, p. 27; Kohut, Bertihimte 

[sraelitische Miner und Frauen, xii. p. 1389; Kirschner, 

Deutscher Lit. Kalendar, p. 7S. 

8. E. Ms. 

BENEDIKT, MORIZ: Austrian neurologist; 
born at Eisenstadt, Hungary, July 6, 1835. Upon 
his graduation from the University of Vienna, 
where he had prepared 
himself for his pro- 
fessional career under 
Hyrtl, Briicke, Skoda, 
Oppolzer, Arlt, and 
Rokitansky, he re- 
ceived, in 1859, the 
degree of doctor of 
medicine and surgery ; 
and immediately en- 
listed in the Austrian 
army—the war then 
going on with France 
and Italy demanding 
the services of surgeon- 
volunteers, At the 
close of the campaign that was so disastrous to 
Austria, Benedikt was appointed privat-docent at 
the University of Vienna, first delivering lectures 
on electrotherapeutics and later adding a course on 
neuropathy. 

In the mean time, in 1866, Austria became in- 
volved in another war, this time with Prussia and 
Italy, and Benedikt again volunteered his services 
to the army. At the conclusion of that short but 





Moriz Benedikt. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


13 


contest which resulted in the establishment 
dual state of Austria-Hungary, Benedikt, 
k an active part in the reorganization of the 
cr rty in Cisleithania (that is, Austria as 
Democratic Parny ne ee 1868. offered a chai 
sat from Hungary), was, in 1869, offered a chair 
distinct logy at the University of Vienna. He has 
of eee Sat position to the present time, serving 
See uiet of one of the departments of the poli- 
pee f the Austrian metropolis. 
cline © dikt’s professional work 
he greater part of Bene pro 

t sains undoubtedly to the domains of neurop- 
aed electrotherapeutics, but while his inves- 
: ee in this special field form an important ad- 
Lea the progress of medicine, and would alone 
re him toa prominent position in the medical 
an id, they in no way overshadow his researches in 
ie other lines, especially his important 
A Pioneer psychological and anthropological 

Crim- studies with regard to criminals. In- 
inologist. deed, it may be said that he is one of 
the pioneers of modern criminology, 
which seeks to base its theories directly on anthro- 
pological and psychological data. 
Among his contributions to the study and treat- 
ment of nervous diseases the following deserve first 
mention: “Electrotherapie,” Vienna, 1868; and 
“Nervenpathologie und Electrotherapie,” Leipsic, 
1874-75—two treatises embodying the lectures de- 
livered by Benedikt at the University of Vienna. 
In the field of psychology, both normal and patho- 
logical, two works from his pen have met with 
marked success; namely, “Seelenkunde des Men- 
schen” (also translated into Polish) and “ Hypno- 
tismus und Suggestion ” (also in Italian). 

Among his anthropological studies dealing for the 
greater part with craniometric and cranioscopic in- 
vestigations, especially with regard to criminals, 
may be mentioned “Kraniometrie und Kephalo- 
metrie” (also in French). Another important con- 
tribution to modern criminology—namely, his 
“Anatomische Studien an Verbrechergehirnen,” 
Vienna, 1876—has been translated into English un- 
der the title “Studies on the Brains of Criminals.” 

Besides the above-named larger works, Benedikt 
has contributed a great number of important pa- 

pers on anthropology; on normal, 

Wide comparative, and pathological anat- 

Range of omy; on physiology and neurology; 

Con- on normal, pathological, and criminal 

tributions. psychology; on ophthalmology and 

otiatrics. Among these contributions, 

scattered throughout various periodical publica- 
tions, the following are noteworthy: 

“Experimentelle Studien tiber die Wirkung von 
Jod, ete., auf’s Nervensystem,” in “ Jahrbuch der 
Gesellschaft der Aerzte,” Vienna, 1861; “Beitrige 
Zur Neuropathologischen Casuistik,” in “ Deutsches 
Archiv fiir Klinische Medicin,” ix. and xiii.; “Zur 
Pathologischen Anatomie der Lyssa,” in “ Virchow’s 
Archiv,” Ixiv., Ixxii, (and in the “ Wiener Medie. 
Presse,” 1874); “Ueber die Innervation des Plex. 
Choroid. Inf.,” ¢b., lix.; “Zur Lehre der Ent- 
Zlndlichen Kermwucherung,” in “Centralbl. fir 
Medic. Wissensch. ,” 1874; “ Zur Lehre des Raubthier- 
typus am Menschlichen Gehirne,” <b. 1876; “Der 
Hintethauptsty pus der S&ugethierc,” i. 1877; 


ploody 
of the 
who too 


Benedictions 
Benedikt 


“Zur Frage des Vierwindungstypus,” 7b. 1880; 
“Ueber Lymphorrhagie in Granulardesintegra- 
tion,” in “ Mittheilungen des Aerztlichen Vereins,” 
Vienna, 1874; “Ueber Katalepsie und Mesmeris- 
mus,” in “ Wiener Klinik,” 1880; “Zur Lehre von der 
Localisation der Gehirnfunctionen,” 7b. 1888; “ Die 
Elektricitét in der Medicin,” 7. 1884; Ueber Einige 
Grurdformela des Neuropathologischen Denkens,” 
7b. 1886. A number of important papers, which 
have appeared in the pages of the “ Wiener Medic. 
Presse,” between the years 1869 and 1882, deal with 
neuropathic cases observed by Benedikt, and with 

electrotherapeutic methods, either 


Ophthal- demonstrated or invented by him. 
mology, Among his contributions to ophthal- 
Otiatrics, mology and otiatrics should be men- 
Physics. tioned: “Studien tiber Augenmus- 


kellihmungen,” in “Grife’s Archiv,” 
vol. x.; “Der Daltonismus bei Sehnervenatrophie,” 
2b.; “Die Theorie der Neurotinotis,” in “Pester 
Medic. Presse,” 1867; “Hérnerven,” in “Wiener 
Medic. Presse,” 1870. 

Benedikt has also labored in the field of pure 
physics, and among the many papers that have 
appeared over his name in the “Sitzungsberichte 
der Wiener K. K. Akademie der Wissenschaften ” 
for 1857 are: “Ueber die Aenderung des Magnetis- 
mus Durch Reibungsclectricitit ” and “Ueber die 
Abhiingigkeit des Electrischen Leitungswider- 
standes von der Grésse und Dauer des Stromes.” 
In the second of these papers the author announces, 
for the first time, the fact discovered by him, that 
the resistance of a conductor is affected by the cur- 
rent itself. 

In the midst of his various professional duties and 
extensive scientific research, Benedikt found time to 
write on social and political questions of the day, 
and on moral philosophy and esthetics—his arti- 
cles appearing in French, Italian, and English, as 

well asin German. At the beginning 

Politics, of his professional career Benedikt 

Ethics, devoted himself to the study of mod- 
Literature. ern literature, and his first published 

work was one on dramatic art in Aus- 
tria, written while he was stil) a medical student 
at the university, entitled “Studien tiber Oester- 
reichische Dramatische Dichter,” Vienna, 1854. 
Benedikt is a champion of woman’s rights, and was 
the first male president of the Verein fiir Erwei- 
terte Frauenbildung in Vienna. His valuable pro- 
fessional services have been recognized by different 
governments as well as by numerous scientific 
bodies. <A recipient of the degree of LL.D. (honoris 
causa) from several prominent universities, he has 
also been decorated with various orders and crosses. 
He is corresponding member of the academies of 
medicine of Paris and of Rome, and member ofa 
great inany niedical and scientific societies in Europe 
and the United States. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Biographisches Lexikon der Hervorragen- 
den Aerzte Aller Zeiten und Volker, edited by Wernich and 
Hirsch, Vienna and Leipsic, 1884-88; Ludwig Eisenberg, in 
Das Geistige Wien, Vienna, 1893; and private sources. 


S, A. 8. C. 

BENEDIKT, RUDOLPH: Austrian chemist; 
born at Débling July 12, 1852; died in Vienna Feb. 
6, 1896. Hewas educated at the Polytechnic (High 


Benet 
Benfelden 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 14 


a ee ee ES ee ee 


School) of Vienna, where in 1872 he was appointed 
an assistant lecturer of technical chemistry. In 1876 
he was nominated to a similar post in connection 
with the studies in analytical chemistry, and in 1890 
was appointed full professor. His principal work 
is “Die Kiinstlichen Farbstoffe,” 1888. Among his 
articles in technical journals are: “Ueber Salze und 
Borsiure,” in “ Vortrag. Gegeben in der Deutschen 
Cheimischen Gesellschaft,” Berlin, 1874; and “ Halo- 
genderivate” in “Sitzung-Bericht der Kais. Akade- 
mie der Wissenschaften,” Vienna, 1884. 

pip Og haat Poggendorf, Biog.-Lit. Handworterbuch, 

, ii. 10%. 


S. E. Ms. 


BENET , MORDECAI B. ABRAHAM (MAR- 
CUS BENEDICT): Talmudist and chief rabbi 
of Moravia; born in 1753 at Csurg6, a small vil. 
lage in the county of Stuhlweissenburg, Hungary ; 
died at Carlsbad Aug. 12, 1829. As Benet’s parents 
were very poor and consequently unable to engage 
a teacher, they sent their son when only five years old 
to his grandmother at Nikolsburg. There Gabriel 
Markbreiter provided for the tuition of the gifted 
child for a period of six years, and then sent him to 
Ittingen, Alsace, the rabbi of which place was Mark- 
breiter’s brother-in-law. The latter became Benet’s 

. teacher, and took great delight in his 

A Gifted pupil’s wonderful development. At 

Child.  Benet’s “bar mizwah” (religious ma- 

jority) celebration his teacher showed 

the guests, to their great astonishment, three of the 

boy’s manuscripts—a commentary on the Penta- 

teuch, a commentary on the Passover Haggadah, 
and novelle on the Talmud. 

From hig thirteenth to his fifteenth year Benet de- 
voted himself exclu- 
sively to the study of 
the Bible, with the aid 
of the Jewish com- 
mentaries and of the 
Haggadah in Talmud 
and Midrash; and his 
strictly halakic studies 
he completed later in 
the yeshibah of Joseph 
Steinhard at Firth, 
where he remained 
three years. He then 
went as a “haber” to 
Prague, where Meir 
Karpeles started a pri- 
vate “klaus” for him; 
and though Ezekiel Landau conducted a large yeshi- 
bah in the same city, a number of able Talmudists 
came daily to hear Benet’s discourses. After stay- 
ing at Prague two years he married Sarah Finkel 
(died 1828), the daughter of a prominent well-to-do 
citizen of Nikolsburg. Here he settled in 1778, and 
within a year was made “ab bet din” (ecclesiastical 
assessor), Thirteen years later he accepted the rab- 
binate at Lundenburg in Moravia, which he held for 
six months, when he resigned to become rabbi at 
Schossberg, Hungary. His stay in his native coun- 
try was short; and in 1789 he was made rabbi of 
Nikolsburg and chief rabbi of Moravia. Later on 
he received offers also from Presburg and Cracow, 





Mordecai Benet. 


but yielding to the solicitations of his congregation 
he remained at Nikolsburg. Overstudy, howeve, 
had brought on a nervous affection in his youth 
which clung to him throughout life, and was th, 
cause of his death, which, as stated, took place 
Carlsbad, whither he had gone for treatment. Hj 
body was buried temporarily at Lichtenstadt, neg, 
Carlsbad, but seven months later was permanent] 
interred at Nikolsburg in accordance with his wil], 

Although Benet’s works are neither numerous no, 
exhaustive, they are among the classic productg of 
Talnrudic literature in the eighteenth century. The 
are (1) “Biur Mordecai” (The Commentary of Morde. 

cai), Vienna, 1818, a commentary oy 
His Works. Mordecai b. Hillel’s compendium, 

(2) “Magen Abot” (Shield of the Fa. 
thers), Zolkiev, 1835, a treatise on the forty-nine 
acts prohibited on the Sabbath; (8) “ Har ha-Mor® 
(Mountain of Myrrh), responsa, with allusion to the 
rabbinical explanation of the name “ Mordecai” by 
“Mara dakya” (= pure myrrh); (4) “ Parashat Mor. 
decai” (The Explanations of Mordecai), Szigeth, 
1889, responsa; and (5) “Tekelet Mordecai” (Mor. 
decai’s Purple Garment), Lemberg, 1892, halakic 
and haggadic discourses. 

All these works clearly show Benet’s keennessg, 
wide knowledge of rabbinical literature, and, what 
is still more important, his logical and strictly scien. 
tific method. Incontrast to his friends Moses Sofer 
and Akiba Eger, who were casuists, Benet avoided 
casuistry in discussing involved halakic questions; 
gaining his ends by means of a purely critical ex- 
planation and a systematic arrangeinent of the mat- 
ter. An excellent example of Benet’s criticism is 
his letter to the chief rabbi of Berlin, Zebi Hirsch 
Levin, whom he tries to convince of the spuriousness 
of the collection of responsa “ Besamim Rosh.” This 
collection was published by Saul BERLIN, Levin’s 
gon, as the work of Asher b. Jehiel (“ Parashat Mor- 
decai,” No. 5; “Literaturblatt des Orients,” v. 53, 
50, 140). A comparison of Benet’s criticism on the 
work with Zunz’s remarks on it(“ Ritus,” pp. 226-228) 
can not fail to excite admiration of Benet’s method. 

Benet’s works differ in other respects from those 
of his contemporaries, While his style is clear and 

elegant, and his language a pure He- 

Superiority brew, the style of his colleagues is 
of confused and barbarous, and their lan- 

His Style. guage an incorrect Hebrew mixed 
with the corrupt Aramaic found in 

rabbinical literature. Moreover, Benct’s attitude 
toward the strict orthodoxy of his friends and col- 
leagues was exceptional, and may be attributed to 
his knowledge of modern thought (compare his let- 


ter to Zebi Hirsch Levin in “Literaturblatt des Ori- 


ents,” v. 54). These characteristics gave him an 
independent position in the struggle between ortho- 
doxy and the so-called “spirit of enlightenment.” 
Though Benet’s course in this struggle was in ac- 
cordance with his early training and station in life, 
he was probably the only orthodox 
Benet and rabbi who thoroughly understood the 
the Reform new current of thought into which 
Movement. Jews as well as non-Jews were being 
drawn at that time. He knew the 
enemy that confronted him, and realized the futility 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


15 


4 efense the rusty weapons of the 
of employ Lior lie avoided the name of Men- 
Talmud. . his approbation (dated Nov. 8, 1816) to 
delssohn dition of the Pentateuch with Mendels- 
the ae nslation; but the very fact that he ap- 
soln = German translation of the Bible at all 
prover ae he ought not to be classed with men like 
shows nae os He opposed the attempted reforms of 
ae Chorin: but he did it quietly and temperately, 
sale himself with the remark that something 


contenting BI ied etadirae eeguircd Tordenia 
ore than philosophica study is required to decide 
m 


slogical questions. _ | 
eens Benet showed an insight lacking in 


- its. In his memorial to the government 
archaea of rabbis (printed in “ Toledot Mor- 
oe j " pp. 35-37), he remarked that if the course of 
a ais which the gymnasium demanded of candi- 
dates for all other professions were required of a 
rabbinical candidate, the latter would be fit for any- 
thing except the rabbinate. Still, far 

Views on from objecting toa secular education 
Education. for rabbis, as he was understood to do 

(see Low, “Gesammelte Schriften,” ii. 
190 ef seg.), he favored it; but he thought that a 
rabbi should first of all possess sufficient knowledge 
of rabbinical matters; and he proposed that a rab- 
pinical candidate should devote his time chiefly to 
Jewish subjects until his eighteenth year. His 
opinions concerning the duties of a rabbi, espe- 
cially in regard to the instruction of children, show 
the strong influence that modern views had upon 
him. Hewrote a catechism for religious instruction 
and submitted it in manuscript to the government. 
To judge from the letter accompanying it, Benet’s 
views on the education of the young were sensible 
and in accordance with the spirit of the time. 
Nevertheless, Benet, conscientiously opposing the 
new tendency, declared every reform in religious 
observance to be wrong and harmful. Thus, in a 
letter to the government concerning the introduction 
of German into divine service (22. pp. 38-42), he 
wrote in favor of the preservation of Hebrew. His 
attitude is significant in view of the fact that, many 
years later, Zacharias Frankel used the 


Opposes same arguments in the convention of 
Religious rabbisat Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1845; 
Reform. and events have proved the truth of 


the prophecy made by Benet, that if the 
prayers are said in another language few Jews will 
care to study Hebrew, and familiarity with the He- 
brew Scripture will gradually cease. 

Although Benet was independent in his attitude, 
his learning and high character gained for him many 
faithful friends among young and old. Even the Ha- 
sidim respected him; and Baer Schneiersohn, the so- 
called “middle rabbi,” speaks hi ghly of him in a 
letter now in the possession of J. L. Sossnitz of New 
York, Compare also Weiss, “ Zikronotai,” pp. 77-81. 

The communities of Lichtenstadt and Nikolsburg 
contended for the honor of interring his mortal re- 
mains; and the dispute which later arose over the 
exhumation of the body was fought with the weap- 


ons of learning, and figures in the responsa literature 
of the time. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : J. A. Benet, Toledot Mordecat Benet, Buda- 
» 1832; Berditschewsky, in Ha-Asif, 1887, iv. 61-65; 


Benet 
Benfelden 





Ebrentheil, Jitdixsche Charakterbilder, 1867; Kaufmann, in 

Ha-Asif, v. 129 et seq.; Firth, Sippurim, ii. 201-208. 

LL. G. 

BENET (BENEDICT), NAPHTALI BEN 
MORDECAI: Author and rabbi; born at the end 
of the eighteenth century; died October, 1857, at. 
Schafa, Moravia, where he was rabbi. He was the 
author of the following works: (1) “Berit Mclah” 
(Covenant of Salt), Prague, 1816, a collection and 
explanation of the precepts in regard to the laws 
of salting the meat, in order to remove the blood 
(Yoreh De‘ah, 69-78); (2) “Misped Gadol” (Great 
Mourning), Vienna, 1830, a eulogy on the death 
of his father, Mordecai Benct; (3) “ Emunat Yisrael ” 
(Israel’s Faith), Prague, 1832, a Jewish catechism in 
Hebrew and German; (4) “Imre Shefer” (Goodly 
Words, Gen. xlix. 21), Presburg, 1840, a funeral 
oration on Moses Sofer; (5) “Torat Dat Mosheh 
we- Yisrael” (Doctrine of the Law of Moses and 
Israel), Prague, 1826, on the principles of the Jew- 
ish religion. 

The catechism became very popular and passed 
through several editions. Though Benet's stand- 
point was strictly orthodox, he did not carry his 
orthodoxy to extremes, as can be seen from a corre- 
spondence with Isaac Samuel Reggio on the ques- 
tion of future punishment (“ Kerem Hemed,” i. 9), 
in which he shows himself vacillating on this point. 

Benet’s “Torat Dat Mosheh we-Yisrael” is also. 
written from a moderate orthodox point of view; 
but he accepted his father’s views in opposing the 
Reform movement, and assails Aaron Chorin as a 
man actuated by personal motives in advocating 
reform. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Flirst, Bibl. Jud. i, 103; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. 
Books Brit. Aus. p. 83. LG 


BENEVENTO: City in southern Italy; capital 
of the province of the same name; about 32 miles. 
northeast of the city of Naples. Benjamin of 
Tudela visited it about 1165, and found there 200 
Jewish families, having at their head three par- 
nasim: Kalonymus, Zerah, and Abraham (“ Mas‘ot 
Binyamin,” ed. Asher, p. 13). This unimportant 
community increased after the Spanish exile. When 
King Ferdinand conquered the kingdom of Naples 
(1504), he established the Inquisition at Benevento 
in order to exterminate the Spanish and Portuguese 
Maranos who had settled there in somewhat large 


numbers. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rerue Orientale, ii. 151; Gritz, Gesch. der 


quot dd ed., vi. 239: P. M. Lonardo, Gli Hbrei a Benevento, 

Dz I. Br. 

BENFELDEN : Town in Alsace, 17 miles from 
Strasburg. It was here, in the year 1348, when 
Europe was devastated by the Black Death (the 
spread of which was ascribed to the Jews), that a 
council was held of the representatives of the towns 
in Alsace to consider the proper course to be adopted 
with reference to the Jews. One of the leading 
spirits in the council was Bishop Berthold of Stras- 
burg, who firmly demanded that the Jews be entirely 
destroyed. The representatives from Strasburg 
maintained a gallant struggle against the supersti- 
tious bigotry that sought some scapegoat for the 
evil that had befallen the land, and against the cupid- 
ity and rapacity that scented a prospect for plunder. 


Benfe 
Beni-Israel 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


16 





The struggle was useless, and it was decided thatall 
the Jews should be banished from the cities of the 
upper Rhine. The results of this decision of the 
Council of Benfelden constitute one of the most 
tragic chapters in the gloomy history of the perse- 
cution of the Jews. G 


BENFEY, THEODOR: German Sanskritist 
and comparative pbilologist: born at Nérten, Han- 
over, Jan. 28, 1809; became aconvert to Christianity 
in 1848; died June 26, 1881. His father, who had 
seven children besides Theodor, was a Jewish mer- 
chant deeply versed in the Talmud. Theodor re- 
ceived his preliminary training at the gymnasium 
in Géttingen, which he left at the age of sixteen for 
the university of the same city. As a university 
student he devoted himself to classical philology, 





and remained in Gdttingen—with the exception of 
the year 1827, spentat Munich—until 1830. On Oct. 
24, 1828, he received the degree of Ph.D., and the 
year following became privat-docent. He left Got- 
tingen in 18380 and lived in Frankfort-on-the-Main 
for two years. Here he occupied himself with a 
translation of Terence, his only printed contribution 
to classics; and, what was of far more importance 
for his life-work, devoted himself seriously to San- 
skrit. 

In 18382 he left Frankfort for Heidelberg, where 
he contemplated teaching Sanskrit, but his love for 
his alma mater was too strong to permit him to be- 
come a member of the faculty of another university. 
Accordingly, in 1834, he returned to Géttingen, 
where he began his teaching rather in classical than 
in Oriental or comparative philology. Gradually, 


Se ea, 
however, he concentrated his energy on Sanskrit ang 
comparative linguistics. Benfey’s teaching covereg 
a large range within his chosen limits. In addition 
to his regular work he lectured oy 
His Wide Indian antiqnities, on the Avesta, and, 
Range. going farther afield, gave courses jy 
ethnography from the linguistic point 
of view (1848), and in Bengaii and Hindustani (1863. 
64). It is interesting to note that, in 1848, he 
lectured on the affinity of the Egyptian and Semitie 
groups of languages. This single series of lectures, 
together with the book which was the result of the 
course—‘“ Ueber das Verhiltniss der Aegyptischen 
Sprache zum Semitischen Sprachstamm,” 1844—jg 
his only important work that deals with Seinitic 
linguistics, 

Ilis literary activity began comparatively late, 
Before 1839 be published very little. Even his doe. 
torate dissertation, “De Liguris,” and his -disseita. 
tion to obtain the venia legendt, “ Observationes 
ad Anacreontis Fragmenta Genuina, ” remained un- 
printed. Besides the translation of Terence in 1837, 
already referred to, and a few reviews, his only 
work published prior to 1886 was one written in 
collaboration with Moritz A. Stern, “Ueber die 
Monatsnamen Ejiniger Alten Volker,” 1886. 

The silent years before 1839 had been a time of 
preparation, but after that period his contributions to 
linguistics were numerous. His “ Griechisches Wur- 

zellexikon,” 1839-42, won the Volney 


Semitic prize. The year 1840 saw the appear- 
and ance of hisarticleon “ India” in Ersch 
Sanskritic and Gruber's “ Encyklopidie der Wis- 
Works.  senschaften und Kiinste,” and_ his 


Semitic contribution, already noted, 
was published in 1844. In 1847 he brought out the 
tirst Gerinan edition of the Old Persian Inscriptions, 
basing his work mainly on Rawlinson’s results, 
which had appeared the previous year. The year 
1848 was the date of Benfey’s edition of the Sama 
Veda, with introduction, glossary, and translation. 
He published in 1852 his “ Vollstindige Grammatik 
der Sanskritsprache,” and followed this the next 
year with his valuable “ Chrestomathie aus Sanskrit- 
werken,” and in 1855 with his “Kurze Sanskrit- 
grammatik.” Ths two English books—the “Prac- 
tical Grammar of the Sanskrit Language ” (1863-66), 
and the “Sanskrit-English Dictionary,” 1866—were, 
as he himself recognized, less creditable to his schol- 
arship than were his earlier works, 

The results of his studiesin comparative literature 
were summed up in his translation and commentary 
on the Panchatantra, which appeared in 1859, and is 
still a standard. In the preface of this work, which 

comprises the entire first volume, he 

His Last traces the development of the various 
Important Indian tales through other Oriental 

Works. literature to European collections of 

beast fables and stories, partly through 
the intermediation of Jewish translators (see KALm All 
wWa-DIMNAH). His last great work was the “ Ge- 
schichte der Sprachwissenschaft und Orientalischen 
Philologie in Deutschland,” 1869. Here he traces 
the history of Oriental research in Germany, both in 
Semitics and in Indo-Iranian, down to his own time, 
with a thoroughness which makes the work still one 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


0 


After 1869 he published no books, al- 
h he continued to write reviews and maga- 
thoug jes. At his death he left material, which 
zine ae, gathering for years, for a grammar of 
he Taare This he had hoped to make tlie 
Vedic ction of his life. Unfortunately this 
chief Pe left in such a chaotic state that it is Im- 
w ies edit it or to know what the author’s con- 
Prasious were to have been. 
Benfey’s rise was by no means rapid, yet he never 
tience, even when those inferior to himself in 
aa ability were promoted over him. Beginning 
age ane at Gottingen in 1834 as privat- alocent, he 
his oo fourteen years before he became assistant 
oe professor w ithout salary, in 1848, after 
which a second period of fourteen 


of value. 


Silent 
Heroism years elapsed before he was appointed 
and professor in 1862. Under these cir- 
Influence. cumstances he made several efforts to 


gain a more profitable position clse- 
where, but all his endeavors in this direction were 
in vain. 

As a teacher Benfey was broad, and his interests 
were manifold. Few men have exercised an intlu- 
ence over more pupils, for he was a teacher as well 
asasavant. This breadth of view explains the rea 

on why he founded no school, and trained no papH 
Ww ‘ais can be said to have succeeded him to carry on, 
unchanged, his method and tradition. He estab- 
lished a periodical, “Orient und Occident,” in 1862, 
to defend his scientific principles, and both he and 
his students contributed to it numerous articles. 
Unfortunately the magazine had to be discontinued 
in 1866. 

He left the Jewish faith in 1848, and with his 
family joined the Evangelical Church, His change 
of religion was prompted solely by the social privi- 
leges that were then possessed by Christians alone. 
The result of his abandonment of Judaism was not 
what he had expected. It was a positive disad van- 
tage to him, and accounts in part for his slow rise to 
full professorship. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: A life of Benfey is given by his daughter Meta 
i the edition of his Kleinere Schriften, edited by Bezzen- 
reer. 


8. L. H. G. 


BENGAZI or BENGHAZY: City of Trip- 
oli, Africa, on the east coast of the Gulf of Sidra. 
Little is known of the first settlement of the Jews 
there; according to local traditions, they came orig- 
inally from Tripoli. 

The chief rabbis of the community in the nine- 
teenth century were: Moses Hakmon, Isaac Boharon, 
and Rahamim Farju of Tripoli; the last, installed 
in 1871, still holds office (1901). As rabbinical au- 
thor must be mentioned Elijah Labi, a centenarian 
(1783-1888). He wrote the “Sefer Ge’ullat Adonai” 
(Book of God's Deliverance) (Leghorn, 1864), in He- 
brew, and the “ Orah Yesharim” (The Path of the 
Upright) and “Menuhah le-Hayyim” (Rest for the 
Living) (Leghorn, 1872 and 1882), in Judeo-Arabic; 
¢.,in Rabbinic characters and in Arabic- Tripolitan 
dialect, 

- As : bit of history must be mentioned the kidnap- 

a OF a young Jewish girl by Arabs, in 1868, an 

alfair ps was only adjusted by the intervention of 
—2 


Benfe 
Beni-Israel 





the Alliance eT ae ie aaa aad dup siceis' | fis Aiianee omellt aélite Universelle and the European 
consuls. 

In 1901 the community numbered 2,000 Jews, ina 
total population of 38,000. It has two synagogues 
—the Low Synagogue, which is said to be very old; 
and the High Synagogue, of more recent date—and 
four Talmud Torahs, attended by 200 pupils. The 
cominunity is governed by a supreme judge (Abra- 
ham Habib in 1901), in addition to the rabbi and by 
three syndics (“gabbaim”), The salaries of these 
officials are paid from the incat-tax, amounting an- 
nually to 3,000 francs. There are two societies: 
the Hebra Kaddishah, a burial society, and the Bik- 
kur Holim, which furnishes medicine and physicians 
to the poor, 

The Jewsof Bengazi are prosperous. 
ity trade in wool, barley, and butter. Others follow 
trades, as jewelers, tinsmiths, carpenters, ctce. <A 
Jew, Hamus Romani, is one of the higher officials of 
the Serail, or administration of the department. The 
richest families are those of Tchuba, Youeli, and 
Hakmon. There are very few poor. Some of the 
Jews have very curious names; ¢.g., as “Schima,” 
“Touajir,” “Bedoussa,” ete. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bulletin of the Alliance Israélite Univer- 
xelle, 1885; private sources. 


Dz M. Fr. 
es an aati ARTHUR: Dramatic author; 
1875; died a Brighton, Eng., Sept. 8, 1895. He 
was a playwright of considerable promise, and 
was the author of two plays, “The County” and 
“The Awakening”—the latter produced for a short 
run at the Garrick, and the former at Terry’s Thea- 
ter—when he was only twenty years old. He died 
of consumption when scarcely past his twentieth 
year. His sister was the actress Estelle Burney, 
who collaborated in his plays, and was his tender 
nurse during his long illness. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle, Sept. 13, 1895; The Sketch, 
Sept. 18, 1895. 


a G. L. 

BENI-ISRAEL: Native Jews of India, dwell- 
ing mainly in the presidency of Bombay and known 
formerly by the name of Shanvar Telis (“Saturday 
Oil-Pressers ”) in allusion to their chief occupation 
and their Sabbath-day. The Beni-Israel avoided the 
use of the name “ Jew,” probably in deference to the 
prejudice of their Mohammedan neighbors, and pre- 
ferred the name Beni-Israel in reference to the favor- 
able use of the term in the Koran (sura fi. 110). Ac- 
cording to their own traditions, they are descended 
from the survivors of a band of Jews fleeing from 
persecution who were wrecked near the Henery and 
Kenery islands in the Indian ocean, fifteen miles 
from Cheul, former ly the chief emporium of the 
trade between Arabia and India, Seven men and 
seven women are stated to have been saved from 
drowning; and from them are descended the Beni- 
Jsrael. This is said to have been from sixteen hun- 
dred to eighteen hundred years ago. Benjamin of 
Tudela appears to have heard of them in the twelfth 
century, and Marco Polo in the thirteenth; but they 
were first brought to the knowledge of Europeans, 
simultaneously with the White and Black Jews of 
Cocutn on the Malabar ae by Christian mission- 
aries in India, like Drs. C. Buchanan and Wilson, 


The major- 


born 


Beni-Israel 


at the beginning of the nineteenth century. On 
the advent of the Sassoon family at Bombay, more 
direct interest was taken in the Beni-Israel by 
Western Jews, and much educational work las 
since been done among them. 

The Beni-Israel themselves refer to two religious 
revivals among them during their stay in India: the 
first, placed by them about 900 years ago, due to 
David Ranuapsi, and another, about the year 1796, 
due to Samuel DiveEKAr. According 
to tradition, Rahabi was a Cochin Jew, 
whose family had come from Egypt, 
and on visiting the Beni-Israel he 
found among them several customs similar to those 
current among Jews, and to test them he gave their 
women some fish to 
cook, including some 
that had neither fins 
nor scales. These 
they separated from 
the others, saying 
that they never ate 
them. Rahabi was 
thereupon — satisfied 
they were really 
Jews, and imparted 
instruction to them. 
After the attention 
of the European Jews 
had been called to 
the Beni-Israel, the 
rites and ceremonies 
of the latter were as- 
similated to those of 
the Sephardic Jews, 
and prayer-books in 
Mahrati, their vernac- 
ular, have been pro- 
vided forthem. Pre- 
viously, however, to 
this their festivals 
and customs differed 
considerably from the 
rest of the Jews both 
in name and in cere- 
monial. 

The festivals of the 
Beni-Israel, before 
they became ac- 
quainted with the 
ordinary religious 
calendar of modern 
Jews, had only 
native names, one set of which was in Mahrati and 
the other in Hindustani. The latter are attributed 
to the reforms of David Rahabi. Many of the names 
in the former end in “San,” meaning “holiday,” and 
among them are the following: 

Navyacha San (‘‘ New-Year holiday’), kept on the first 
day of Tishri, the second-day observance not being known 
among the Beni-Israel. 

Khiricha San (‘Pudding holiday’’), on the evening of 
the fourth of Tishri. This was celebrated by eating “ khir,”* a 
sort of pudding mace of new corn mixed with 
coconut-juice and sweets; a censer with burn- 


ing frankincense being placed near the dish, 
The khir was eaten by the family after saying the Shema’. 


Internal 
History. 


Festivals. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Group of Beni-Israel in Ancient Costume. 
(From a photograph.) 


1g 


oe SS 
tenth of Tishri, during which they fasted from five o'clock ; 
the evening until the next evening at seven. During it they 
did not stir out-of-doors, nor touch nor speak to people of othe, 
denominations. They dressed themselves in white, ang de. 
lieved that departed souls visited their habitations on the ppg, 
ceding day and left them on the following day, called Shila 
San (‘Stale holiday”), on which day they gave alms to the 
poor and visited their friends. 

Holicha San, on the thirteenth and fourteenth of Adar. 
the former kept as a fast, and the latter as a feast, on whig, 
they sent home-made sweetmeats to one another. This corre, 
sponds to Purim; but the Beni-Israel did not observe the Secon 
day or “Shushan Purim.” 

Anasi Dakacha San (‘Anas-closing holiday”), on the 
fourteenth and twenty-first of Nisan. This was celebrated p 
closing an earthen chatty or pot containing a sour liquid com. 
monly used as sauce. This festival corresponded to Passover. 
but, as the Hindus generally did not use any jeaven with thej 
rice, the object of the cereraony seems to have been [forgoutten, 

Birdiacha Say 
(** Birda-curry holiday ”), 
on the ninth of Ab, og 
which they ate nothing 
but rice with a curry of 
“birda’’ or pulse. This 
was served on plantain. 
leaves, During the pre. 
ceding eight days no meat 
was eaten. This corre. 
sponds to Tish‘a be-Ab, ip 
memory of the destruction 
of the Temple; but there 
does not seem to have beep 
any conscious recognition 
of that fact. 


The other festivals, 
chiefly known by the 
name of “ Roja” (fast- 
ing), appear to have 
been of tater intro- 
duction, and are con- 
nected with the 
reforms of David 
Rahabi. These are 
as follows: 


Ramzan, a fast held 
throughout the month of 
Elul; the name is doubt- 
less derived from the 
Mohammedan month of 
fasting, “*‘ Ramazan.”’ 

Navyacha Roja 
(** New-Year fast’), on 
the third of Tishri, cor- 
responding to the fast of 
Gedaliah, but not associ- 
ated with his murder. 

Elijah Hannabicha 
Oorus (“The fair of 
Elijah the Prophet’’), to 
celebrate the ascension 
of Elijah on that day at 
Khandalia in the Konkan. 
Various kinds of fruit 
were placed on plates, together with ‘‘malida’’ (pieces of rice 
bread besmeared with sirup), and a censer of burning frankin- 
cense. The fruit was eaten by the family. 

Sababi Roja, a fast on the seventeenth of Tammuz, a rem- 
iniscence of the siege of Jerusalem, but not known as such by 
the Beni-Israel. 


From this enumeration of the festivals it will ap- 
pear that the Beni-Israel retain from the earliest 
times (as indicated by their Mahrati names ending 
with “San”) the New-Year, Day of Atonement, 
Purim, Passover, Ninth of Ab, and in addition 4 
form of Tabernacles which has been transferred to 
the Fourth of Tishri. Later on they introduced, 


Darfalnicha San (‘‘Closing-of-doors holiday”), on the | doubtless under the influence of David Rahabi (as 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


19 


Beni-Israel 








Se 
shown by the Hindustani names), the fasts of 


edaliah, Tebet, and Tammuz, together with the 
f the trees, associated with the name of 


is 
G 


New- Year O 





Beni-Israe] of Bombay. 
(From Wilson, * Lands of the Bible.*’) 


Elijah the Prophet; while still later the custom of 
fasting throughout the whole month of Elul seems 
to have been borrowed from the Mohammedans. 
The feasts of Pentecost and Hanukkah seem to 
have dropped out of use. It would appear that be- 


fore the second revival under Samuel Divekar the 
only other remains of Judaism current among the 
Beni-Israe! were the strict observance of the Sabbath, 
circumcision, and the reading of the Shema’, which 
is the sole piece of Hebrew retained by them. The 
latter was said at every meal, at wedding-festivals, 
at burial-feasts, and indeed on all sacred occasions. 
The only animals considered fit for food were fowl, 
sheep, and goats. The Beni-Israel probably re- 
fratned from beef, in order not to offend their Hindu 
neighbors. 

It is difficult at this time to determine with any 
degree of accuracy the relative age of the customs 
they follow. Even before the religious revival of 
1796 the Beni-Israel customarily removed the sciatic 
nerve from animals used for food, and they salted 
the meat in order to abstract the blood from it ; 
otherwise they did not observe the 
law of shehitah and bedikah. They 
also left a@ morsel of bread or rice in a 
little dish after they had dined. Among them the 
birth of a girl was celebrated on the sixth night, 
and that of a boy on the sixth and eighth; and on 
the latter day the rite of circumcision was per- 
formed. Girls were usually betrothed some months 
before marriage; and until the wedding they wore 
the hair flowing from their shoulders. At the 
betrothal ceremony the intended bride and bride- 
groom sat face to face and dined together, sweetened 
rice being served to the assembly. On the day 
when the marriage ceremony was to take place the 
bridegroom, who had heen crowned with a wreath 
of flowers, was led in procession on_ horse- 
back to the bride’s house,’ and the ceremony 


Customs. 





BENI-JSRAEL FAMILY AT BOMBAY. 
(From a photograph.) 


Beni-Israel 
Benisch 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 20 





took place under a booth. At the feast held before 
the wedding took place a dish containing a piece of 
leaven cake, the liver of a goat, fried eggs, and a 
twig of “subja” was placed with burning frankin- 
cense on white cloth, and after the Shema‘ had been 


Keneseth Eliyahu Synagogue, Bombay. 
(From a photograph.) 


repeated the dish was taken inside and, with the ex- 
ception of five pieces of the cakes and liver, which 
were set aside for the person officiating as priest, the 
food was eaten. Polygamy is allowed, and in some 
cases divorce is given according to the civil law; 
but the Beni-Israel did not practise “get,” “yib- 
bum,” or “halizah.” An adulteress and her issue 
are regarded as “ Black Israel.” 

After burials the mourners wash both themselves 
and their clothes, and on the third day the house is 
cleansed; the ceremony being known as “ Tizova,” 
or the “ Third-Day Cleansing.” When a person died, 
all the water was emptied from the pots in the 
house, and the body was buried with the head 
toward the east. Grape-juice or milk was drunk by 
those visiting the mourners in the evening during the 
days of mourning. It was customary for relatives 
and friends to bring “meals of condolence” to the 
house of mourning. On the seventh day after burial 
there was & mourning ceremony known as _ the 
“Jaharuth,” in which a dish, containing cakes and 
picces of liver, and a glass of liquor, was placed on 
a white sheet. After repeating the Shema‘ about a 
dozen times, the contents of the glass were drunk 
in honor of the dead; and after the food was eaten, 
the chief mourner was presented with a new turban 
by arelative. Jaharuth was also observed on the first, 
sixth, and twelfth months. If a boy were born after 
a vow made by the mother, his hair was not shaved 
for six or seven years, after which period it was 
completely shaved and weighed against coins (gold 








or silver), to be given in charity. The shaved hair 
was thrown into the sea and not burned. A feast 
was held in the evening, at which the mother was 
informed that she was free from her vow. 

Formerly the Beni-Israel wore turbans, but now 
they use mainly the Turkish fez. The women 
adopt the Hindu dress, and are accustomed to wear 
anklets and nose-rings. Most of the Beni-Israel 
names have been changed from Hebrew to Hindu 


forms; thus, “Ezekiel” into “ Has. 

Costume § saji”; “Benjamin” into “Bunnajee”; 
and “ Abraham” into “ Abajee”; “Samuel” 
Names. into “Samajee”; “Elijah” into “ Ello- 


jee”; “Isaac” into “ Essajee”; “Jo- 
seph ” into “ Essoobjce ”; “ Moses ” into “ Moosajee ” ; 
“Rahamim” into “Ramajee”; “David” into “ Da- 
woodjee,” and “Jacob” into “Akhoobjee.” Their 
surnames are mostly derived from neighboring vil- 
lages; thus, those who resided at Kelim were called 
“ Kehimker,” and those who lived at Pen were named 
* Penker.” 

About 1795 Samuel Ezekiel DIVEKAR, a Beni- 
Israel soldier in the East India Company’s service, 
was captured by Tipu Sahib. He 
made a vow that if he escaped he 
would build a synagogue at Bombay. 
He succeeded in escaping, and built 
the synagogue Magen David, now called Sha‘ar Ha- 
Rahamim, at Bombay, and introduced the Sephardic 
ritual from Cochin. The Beni-Israel shortly after- 
ward attracted the attention of Christian mission- 
aries at Bombay, who about 1812 brought Michael 
SanGgon from Cochin, who, though a convert to 
Christianity, opened schools for the Beni-Israel in 
Bombay, Rebdanda, and Palle for over thirty years; 
explaining to the children parts of the Old Testa- 
ment, and rarely, if ever, speaking of Christianity 
to them. 

The chief instrument in introducing the full 
knowledge of Judaism to the Beni-Israel was Shel- 


Later 
History. 





Second Beni-Israel Synagogue, Bombay, Erected 1348. 
(From a photograph.) 


lomo (Solomon) SHuRRABI, Who was wrecked near 
Bombay about 1886, and for twenty years acted 
as religious instructor of the community. Owing 
to his influence several new synagogues were built 


21 


.. the vicinity of Bombay, and a general interest in 
zs ‘r religion Was shown by the Beni-Israel. The 
pee of the Sassoons at Bombay brought the Beni- 
ae ito connection with the real life of Israel; 
ma the family, as well as Christian missionaries, 
Serally supported religious, philanthropic, and 
ce eatoial establishments for the benefit of Beni- 
iauel A special school for them was established 
in July, 1875, which, owing to the support given 


py the Anglo-J ewish Association, was enlarged in 
1881, and now accommodates about 270 children. 
As their native name implies, the original Beni- 
Israel were mainly oilmen or oil-pressers; but during 
the existence of the East India Company many of 
them adopted the career of soldier and obtained the 





Magen David or Sha‘ar Ha-Rahamim Synagogue, Bombay. 
(From a photograph.) 


highest rank, that of sirdar bahadur. Owing to the 
spread of education among them several have gone 
into learned professions and become engineers, doc- 
tors, and teachers. 
The following are the chief places where Beni- 
Israel are to be found, with the popu- 
Statistics. lation as given by the last accessible 
census (1891): 


BoMBAY PRESIDENCY. 





Ahmadabad .............. 110) Pen..... Piles ew Geen Oe 
PDAS ont os oe cents p ten f- OO POIN GO a are nee ac eed See eas 49 
Ambepore........ ee re ep ON PRM iirc aaca eee ares 350 
than Te eterna ae 5,021 | Rahoon........ phe cadens .. 191 
Boal. Peaaesiek ene eens dl | Revadanda.................192 
ech Sag N aladdin .... 180! Roha Ashtami.............. De 
ANWE eee eee es BOL | 


_Of recent years many works suitable for instruc- 
tion have been translated into Mahrati for the ben- 
elit of the Beni-Israel, chiefly by the exertions of 
Joseph Ezekiel, whose works cover the whole cycle 
of Jewish ritual and liturgy, besides treatises on 


a 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA pe bd ael 





the Jewish religion and text-books of Hebrew 
grammar. In addition to these, sev- 

Mahrati eral newspapers in Mahrati were pub- 
Literature. lished, among them the “Bene Israel- 

ite” (Lamp of Judaism). 

The task of determining with any degree of ex- 
actness the amount of Jewish blood that at present 
pervades the Beni-Israel is a very difficult one. In 
appearance they differ but slightly from their neigh- 
bors. They themselves are proud of their purity of 


descent, and point to the care taken by Jews of 


Cochin to separate the Black Jews, or proselytes, 
from the White. The use of the word “Ramzan ” for 
the feast of the month of Elul might seem to indicate 
that they were originally Mohammedans, and were 
converted to Judaism by David Rahabi; but, on the 
other hand, it may have been the word only that was 
adopted, the custom of fasting during that month 
being derived from the Sephardic ritual, which is 
that current in Cochin. If originally Jews, the 
Beni-[srael retained very little of Jewish custom 
until the revival under Divekar, except the institu- 
tion of the Sabbath, the repetition of the Shema‘, 
and the rite of circumcision; but in this they re- 
semble the Jews in China, who appear to have 
kept their purity of descent almost up to the pres- 
ent time. For a full discussion of this question, 
see Cocirtin. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wilson, Appeal for the Christian Education 
of the Beni-Israel, 1806; idem, Lands of the Bible. ii. 667- 
6:6; Benjamin II., Hight Years in Asia, en. xviii-xix.; 
Ritter, Ardkunde, Asien IT., § v., i. 595-601; J. Sapphir, Ibn 
Safir, 1875, ti. Bombay Gazetteer, xviii. 506-536, Puna; E. 
Schlagintweit, in Westermann’s Juustrirte Deutsche Mo- 
nateschrift ; Jewish Chronicle, ee Sept. 7, Oct. 12, 1888 5 


H. Samuel, Sketch of Beni-Israelt, 1889; Jacobs, Jewish Year 
Book, 1900-1, pp. 506-360. 


J. J. E.—J. 


BENISCH, ABRAHAM: Journalist and theo- 
logian; born at Drosau, a small town eight miles. 
southwest of Klattau, Bohemia, in 1811; died at 
Hornsey Rise, a suburb of London, England, July 
31, 1878. Oe studied surgery in Prague about. 
1886—while a commentary on Ezekiel which he 
had written was being published—with a view to 
preparing himself for a journey to Palestine. To- 
gether with his fellow-students, Albert Lowy and 
Moritz Steinschneider, he was inspired by the lofty 
mission of restoring Jewish independence in the 
Holy Land; and while still a student at the Univer- 
sity of Vienna, he had attracted round hima large 
number of his coreligionists, to whom his scheme for 
the liberation of his Jewish fellow-countrymen com- 
mended itself. Largely through his efforts a secret 
society was formed, of which Benisch was ap- 
pointed to act as emissary and visit certain foreign 
Jands with a view to finding a suitable basis for the 
liberation and emigration scheme. The main reliance 
for support in the carrying out of the plans was 
placed on the English Jews. In 1841, in pursuance 
of his mission, Benisch came to London, where he 
submitted the essential part of his proposals to vari- 
ous persons, who opposed them unanimously. Al- 
though temporarily compelled to lay aside his plans, 
he never completely abandoned them. Soon after 
his arrival in London he devoted himself to Jewish 
journalism and literature, and acquired considerable 
influence in Jewish and Christian circles. 


Benjacob 
Benjamin 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 22 





When among Christians Benisch strenuously com- 
bated the once rampant conversion idea. In 1854 
he became editor of the “Jewish Chronicle,” which 
position he held till 1869, resuming the editorship 
again from 1875 till the year of his death. His 
editorial influence was exerted in favor of a mod- 
erate orthodoxy. He made quite a feature of the 
correspondence columns of the paper. Benisch took 
an active part in communal affairs, and helped 
to found several Jearned societies, including The 
Biblical Institute and its allies, The Syro-Egyp- 
tian and The Biblical Chronological societies. 
These three were afterward fused into the Society 
of Biblical Archeology. In 1860, when the Alli- 
ance Israélite was started, Benisch’s hopes and ideals 
were revived, and by suggesting and aiding the 
inauguration, in 1871, of the ANGLO-JEWISH ASsocI- 
ATION, he helped toward the realization of many of 
the hopes and aspirations of his youth. 

Benisch wrote numerous works in the domain of 
Bible studies, biography, travel, the defense of Juda- 
ism; and weekly articles contributed to the pages of 
the “Jewish Chronicle” during a period of nearly 
forty years. He left the copyright of the paper to 
the Anglo-Jewish Association, which, shortly after 
his death, sold it. His most important works were: 
(1) “Judaism Surveyed, Being a Sketch of the Rise 
and Development of Judaism from Moses to Our 
Days,” 1874; (2) “Why I Should Remain a Jew,” 
thirty-three letters contributed to the “ Jewish Chron- 
icle,” and published posthumously. He also wrote: 
“Two Lectures on the Life and Writings of Maimon- 
ides,” 1847; “A Translation of the Old Testament, 
Published with the Hebrew Text,” 1851; “ An Essay 
on Colenso’s Criticism of the Pentateuch and Joshua,” 
1863. Benisch also published an “Elementary He- 
brew Grammar,” in 1852; and a “Manual of Scrip- 
ture History,” in 1858. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jew. Chron. May, and July 31, 1879; Nov., 
Is9i (jubilee number) ; Dict. of Nat. Biog. 


as G. L. 


BENJACOB, ISAAC B, JACOB: Russian bib- 
liographer, author, and publisher; born in Ramgola, 
near Wilna, Jan. 10, 1801; died in Wilna July 2, 
1868. His parents moved to Wilna when he was 
still a child, and there he received instruction in 
Hebrew grammar and rabbinical lore. He began to 
write early, and composed short poems and epi- 
grams in pure Biblical Hebrew which are among 
the best of their kind in Neo-Hebraic literature. For 
several years he lived in Riga, where he was engaged 
in business, always studying and writing in his lei- 
sure hours. Later he became a publisher and book- 
seller and went to Leipsic, where he published his 
first work, “ Miktamim we-Shirim ” (Epigrams and 
Songs), which also contains an important essay on 
epigrammatic composition (Leipsic, 1842). Of the 
other works which he published there, his corrected 
edition of R, Bahya ibn Pakuda’s “ Hoebot ha-Leba- 
bot,” with an introduction, a short commentary, 
and a biography of the author, together with notes 
and fragments of Joseph Kimhi’s translation by H. 
Jellinek, is the most valuable (Leipsic, 1846; Konigs- 
berg, 1859, without the introduction), 

In 1848 Benjacob returned to Wilna, and for the 
next five years he and the poet Abraham Biir Leben- 


sohn were engaged in the publication of the Bible 
with a German translation (in Hebrew type) and the 
new “Biurim” (Wilna, 1848-538, 17 vols.), which did 
much good as a means of spreading the knowledge 
of German and a proper understanding of the He. 
brew text among the Jews in Russia. When this 
work was done he brought out his corrected and 
amended edition of Hayyim Joseph David Azulai’s 
“Shem ha-Gedolim” (Wilna, 1858; Vienna, 1862), 
which is still the standard edition of that important 
work. In 1862 Benjacob announced his intention 
to begin the publication of popular editions of clas- 
sical Hebrew works which had become rare or high- 
priced. He died soon after the appearance of the 
first volume of Azariah dei Rosst’s “ Meor ‘Ena- 
yim,” with which he started the series (Wilna, 
1863). 

In his later years Benjacob was one of the leaders 
and representatives of the Jewish community of 
Wilna, and took an active part in all communal af- 
fairs. In his correspondence with Isaac Bir Lewin- 
sohn, which is partly published in “Ha-Kerem” 
(pp. 41-62, Warsaw, 1888), Benjacob throws much 
light on the condition of the community in the be- 
ginning of the second half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, and especially on the lamentable condition of 
the Rabbiner Schule (Rabbinical Seminary) which 
the government established there and in Jitomir in 
1848, and closed in 1873. Benjacob himself was 
originally destined to be one of the teachers of the 
Wilna Seminary, but never filled the position; and 
later he became one of the severest critics of that 
institution. These letters are also interesting on ac- 
count of the idea they give of the perplexities of the 
old Maskilim of the Mendelssohnian school in Rus- 
sia, like Benjacob, who were being swept aside by 
the younger generation which had the advantage of a 
Russian training. He could not speak Russian, and 
most of the representatives of the community suf- 
fered from the same disability, excepting a few mer- 
chants who cared little for. the fate of the seminary ; 
and the older members were at a great disadvantage 
when pitted against the young students, who could 
gain whatever they desired from the authorities on 
account of their correct Russian accent. 

Benjacob corresponded with Jewish scholars in 
Western countries, and was known during his life- 
time for his great achievements as a bibliographer, 
aithough his monumental work, the “Ozar ha- 
Sefarim, Thesaurus Librorum Hebreorum tam Jm- 
pressorum quam Manuscriptorum,” did not appear 
till seventeen years after his death (Wilna, 1880). 
It was published by his son Jacob, and contains 
17,000 entries of Hebrew printed and manuscript 
works, with valuable notes by M. Steinschneider. 
An author-index to the work together with addi- 
tions has been promised by Steinschneider (“ Hebr. 
Bibl.” xx. 78; “ Festschrift,” p. vii.). Itis the great- 
est Jewish bibliographical work in the Hebrew lan- 
guage, and is still the standard bibliography of 
printed books down to 1868. 

Besides other minor works and articles published 
in various Hebrew periodicals and collections, Ben- 
jacob also commenced a German-Hebrew dictionary . 
and a Mishnaic-Talmudic dictionary with a German 
translation, both of which were left unfinished. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


23 


: First, Bibl. Jud, i. 108-104 (see also vol. iii., 
BIBLIOGRAY By): Briill’s Jahrblicher, v. 217; Monatsschrift, 
Preface M984 510-572; Kerem Hemed, v. 8; Fuenn, Keneset 
X. OOO 597-509; Ha-Magyid, vii. 284; Ha-Karmel, iti. 


x 
Yisrael, pP- 
PE P, Wr. 
G. 


BENJI AMIN.—Biblical Data: Youngest son 
of Jacob by Rachel, who died on the road between 
peth-el and Ephrath, while giving him birth. She 
named him “Ben-oni” (son of my sorrow) ; Dut sles 
cob, to avert the evil omen, called him “Ben Yamin,’ 
son of the right hand; that is, of good luck (Gen. 
xxxv. 1%, 18). ; ; 

Benjamin stayed with his father when his brothers 
ywent down to Egypt to buy corn during the famine, 
but Joseph insisted that he should come down with 
them on their second visit. Jacob being afraid to 
let him go from his side, as he was the only remain- 
ing son of Rachel, Judah vouched for his safety, and 
finally obtained his father’s permission to take him 
along (Gen. xIi., xliii, 8-10). Joseph received his 
younger brother with marks of special attention; 
put as the time came for the brothers to return to 
their father with the newly bought corn, he put 
them severely to test by laying a trap and bringing 
the charge against Benjamin of having stolen his 
silver cup, in punishment for which he wanted to 
keep himasaslave. Judah, faithful to his pledge, 
stepped before Joseph, begging to be taken as a 
slave instead of Benjamin, whose failure to return 
would cause his father to go down in sorrow to 
Sheol; whereupon Joseph, seeing that the brothers 
were not so cruel toward one of Rachel’s sons as 
they had been to him, made himself known to them 
(Gen. xliii., xlv.). Benjamin, until that time spoken 
of as “a child” (Gen. xlii. 13, xliv. 20), moved to 
Egypt with his father, Jacob, himself being the 
father of ten sons (Gen. xlvi. 21). 

The tribe of Benjamin is described in Jacob’s 
blessing (Gen. xlix. 27) as warlike: “Benjamin is a 
wolf that raveneth; in the morning he shall devour 
the prey, at evening he shall divide the spoil.” In 
the desert, where Benjamin formed part of the camp 
of the sons of Joseph, the tribe counted 35,400 war- 

riors, and later on 45,600 men (Num. 

The Tribe i. 36; ii, 22, 23; x. 22-24; xxvi, 41). 
of In I Chron. vii. 6-11, 59,484 men are 
Benjamin. given. The astute and pugnacious 
nature of the Benjamites is evidenced 

by the fact that they were drilled as left-handed 
warriors to attack the enemy unawares (Judges iii. 
15-21, xx. 16; I Chron. xii. 2). They were known 
as brave and skilled archers (I Chron. viii. 40, xii. 
2; TI Chron. xiv. 7). A cruel act of inhospitality 
by the men of Gibeah, reminding one of the Sodom- 
ites, brought the whole tribe under a ban (“herem”); 
and a war followed in which all the other tribes 
very nearly exterminated the little tribe; moreover, 
they took an oath not. to give to the Benjamites any 
of their daughters in marriage. Only at the last 
moment, when all but 600 men had been slain, a way 
was found to provide the survivors with wives in 
order to prevent the tribe from dying out (Judges 
XIX.~xxi.). Still the little tribe of Benjamin was 
destined toa prominent place in the history of Israel. 
It gave the nation its first king, in the person of 
Saul, son of Kish (I Sam. ix. 1); and when Saul died, 


Benjacob 
Benjamin 


his son, Ish-bosheth, reigned for two years over 
Benjamin and the other tribes, except Judah (1] Sam. 
ii. 8, 9). In fact, Benjamin considered himself the 
younger brother of Joseph long after David had uni- 
ted all other tribes with his own of Judah (II Sam. 
xix, 21 [20}). 

But the territory of Benjamin was so favorably 
situated as to give it prominence beyond its numer- 
ical proportions. Bordering on Joseph’s to the 
north and on Judah’s to the south, it touched on the 
Jordan; and, lying on the line leading from Jericho 
to the northern hills of Jerusalem, it included such 

cities as Gibeah, Gibeon, Bethel, and, 
The according to rabbinical tradition, a 
Territory. part of the Temple district (Josh. 
xvill. 11-21; Josephus, “Ant.” v. 1, 
§ 22; Sifre, Wezot ha-Berakah, 852). Reference is 
made to this excellent locality in the blessing of 
Moses: “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in 
safety by him; he covereth him all the day long, 
and he dwelleth between his shoulders” (Deut. x xxiii. 
12). At the secession of the northern tribes, Benja- 
min remained loyal to the house of David (1 Kings 
xii, 21), and therefore shared the destinies of Judah 
at the time of the restoration (Ezra iv. 1, x. 9). 
Mordecai, the loyal Jew, was a descendant of Saul 
of the tribe of Benjamin (Esth. ii. 5); and Paul, 
whose Hebrew name was Saul, also claimed to be a 
Benjamite (Rom. xi, 1; Phil. iii. 5). On the other 
hand, it is hardly admissible that Menelaus and Ly- 
simachus should have been allowed to officiate as 
high priests if they were descendants of the tribe of 
Benjamin, as I] Macc. iii. 4 (compare iv. 23, 29) 
scems to indicate; it is much more probable that the 
name “ Benjamin ” in this place is due to a copyist’s 
error, and the passage should read: “Simon was of 
the [priestly] tribe of Miniamin,” if “ Bilgah ” is not 
the proper reading. Compare Suk. 56a and art. 
BrreanH; also Herzfeld, “Gesch. des Volkes Jis- 
rael,” 1863, i. 218. 

G. K. 
—In Rabbinical Literature: The name “Ben- 
jamin” is given various meanings by the Rabbis. 
According to some, }79°33 is equivalent to n°" 43 
(“son of days”), because Benjamin was born to his 
father in his old age (Testament of the Twelve Patri- 
archs, Benjamin i. vidg quepov; Midrash Lekah-Tob; 
and Rashi, ed. Berliner, on Gen. xxxv. 18). Other 
rabbis interpret the name Benjamin as “son of the 
South,” since he was the only son born to Jacob in 
Palestine, the others having been born in Mesopo- 
tamia, north of Palestine (Rashi ad loc.; “Sefer ha- 
Yashar,” Wayishlah, ed. Leghorn, p. 56b). Benja- 
min was not granted to his parents until after Rachel 
had prayed and fasted for a second son a long time 
(Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, l.c.; Num. R. 
xiv. 8), and not until Jacob was one hundred years 
old (Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, 2b. ; “Sefer 
ha-Yashar,” Wayishlah, 7.; compare Heilprin, . 
“Seder ha-Dorot,” i. 52, ed. Warsaw). 

Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, took no part in the 
selling of Joseph (Sifre, Deut. 352); and in order to 
comfort Benjamin concerning his brother’s fate, God 
showed him, while awake, Joseph’s form and count- 
enance (Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Ben- 
jamin x.; compare Tan., ed. Buber, Wayesheb, 8). 


Benjamin 
Benjamin II. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 24 





When Benjamin was detained as the alleged thief 
of the cup, Joseph pretended that Benjamin had 
been instigated by his brothers. But Benjamin 
swore: “As truly as my brother Joseph is separated 
from me, as truly as he has been made a slave, [ have 
not touched the cup, aud my brothers did not want 
to make me steal.” When asked fora proof that his 
brother’s memory was so sacred that Joseph must 
believe this oath, Benjamin told Joseph how he bad 
given his ten sons (Gen. xlvi, 21) names which re- 
ferred to the loss of his brother. The first was called 
Selah (p52), because Joseph had disappeared (392, 
“swallow ”); the second, Becher (933), because Jo- 
seph was his mother’s first-born (9993); the third, 
Ashbel (S5y59), because Joseph was made a captive 
(maw, “capture”); the fourth, Gera (N59), because 
he lived in a foreign (99) land; the fifth, Naaman 
(woy9), on account of Joseph’s graceful speech (Dyy3, 
“rrace”); the sixth, Ehi Cny, “my only full broth- 
er”); the seventh, Rosh (wy, “the older”); the 
eighth, Muppim (p°59), because Joseph taught 
Benjamin the things he himself had learned from 
his father (p'piw,“ double mouth”); the ninth, Hup- 
pim, “ whose wedding (AH1Nn) [ have not seen”; and 
the tenth, Ard, because Joseph was like a rose (7)). 

Benjamin’s oath touched Joseph so deeply that 
le could no longer pretend to be a stranger, and so 
revealed himself to his brother (Tan., ed. Buber, 
Wayiggash, 7; the meanings of the names are also 
given in Sotah 86b; Gen. R. xciv. 8). According to 
another Haggadah (known to so early a work as the 
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Benjamin ii.), 
Joseph makes himself known to Benjamin before 
his reconciliation with the other brothers. The 
“Sefer ha-Yashar ” (Mikkez 89) narrates that Joseph 
caused a Kind of astrolabe to be brought, and asked 
Benjamin whether he could not discover by means 
of the instrument the whereabouts of his lost brother, 
To Joseph’s astonishment Benjamin declared that 
the man on the throne was his brother, and Joseph 
revealed himself to Benjamin, telling him what he 
meant to do with the brothers. His intention was 
to try them and thus to learn whether they would 
act in a brotherly manner toward Benjamin if he 
were in danger of losing his liberty. 


The Rabbis lay stress on the name, “ beloved of the - 


Lord,” by which Benjamin is distinguished (Deut. 
xxxiii. 12; Sifre, Z.¢.). Heis counted among the four 
men who died by the poison of the serpent in Para- 
dise; ¢.e., without sin of his own, the other three 
being Amram, the father of Moses; Jesse, the father 
of David; and Kileab, the son of David (Shab. 55b). 
His comparison to the ravening wolf (Cant. R. to 
viii. 1), “who devours his enemy ” (Gen. xlix. 27) is 
referred to the men of Shiloh who stole their wives 
(Judges xxi.) or to Ehud or to Saul. By others it 
is referred to Mordecai and Esther (Gen. R. xcix. 
and Tan., Wayehi, 14; so also in the original text of 
the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs [Benjamin 
ii]; whereas a Christian interpolation refers it to 
Pau). 

One interpretation refers the blessing to the early 
ripening of the fruits in the territory of Benjamin, 
and the great fertility of the region of Jericho and 
Beth-el, and another refers the expression “wolf” 
to the altar of the Temple, which devoured the sac- 


rifices in the morning and in the evening (Gen. R, 
l.c.; Targ. O. and Yer.). 

G, 

The erection of the Temple on Benjamitic ground 
is explained in several ways. It isrelated that Ben. 

jamin (Sifre, Deut. 352, ed. Friedmann, 
The Tribe 146a) was privileged to have the Snr. 
of KINAH dwell in his territory because 
Benjamin. all the other tribes (that is, fathers of 
the tribes) had taken part in the selling 
of Joseph. For God said: “If they—the Israelites 
—build me a Temple in some other place and seek my 
mercy, I can show them as little mercy as _ they 
showed their brother Joseph.” Origen (“In Gene- 
sim,” xlii. 6), gives another reason, probably based 
on Jewish tradition (compare Esther R. on iti. 4), 
viz.: Because Benjamin did not bow down before 
Esau as did his brothers and his father (Gen. Xx xiii, 
3-7), nor before Joseph (2b. xii. 6), his territory 
was reserved for the worship of God. 

The descendants of Benjamin, it is true, did not 
always show themselves worthy of their ancestor, 
especially in connection with the incident at Gibeah 
(Judges xix.). In spite of their wrong-doing the 
Benjamites were at first victorious (Judges xx. 21- 
25); but this was due to God's anger against all 
Israel because they had attacked aJl Benjamin on 
account of the crime of an individual, and at the 
same time quietly tolerated the idolatry which Micah 
(Judges xvii.) was spreading among them (Pirke R. 
El. xxxviii.). At first the intention of the other 
tribes was to efface Benjamin completely, since the 
number of twelve tribes could be preserved through 
Ephraimand Manasseh; but they remembered God’s 
promise to Jacob shortly before Benjamin’s birth 
(Gen, xxxv. 11), that “a nation and a company of 
nations shall be of him”; and they decided that the 
existence of the tribe of Benjamin was necessary 
(Yer. Ta‘anit iv. 69c; Lam. R., Introduction, 38), 
The day on which the reconciliation took place be- 
tween the tribes is said to have been the fifteenth of 
Ab, and for this reason it was made a festive day 
(¢6.; compare AB, FirrEENTH Day oF). On an- 
other occasion, however, the Benjamites showed 
themselves worthy of their pious ancestor. When, 
at the Red Sea, all the other tribes stood in despera- 
tion only the tribe of Benjamin trusted in God and 
leaped into the sea (Mekilta, Beshallah, Wayikra 5; 
Sotah 86b). 

J. sR. L. G.—K. 
In Mohammedan Literature: In the Koran, 
Benjamin is not mentioned by name. The story of 
Joseph is told in sura xii., and reference is made 
repeatedly toa particular brother of Joseph. ‘Thus, 
é.g., in v. 8, the other brothers say, “ Verily, Joseph 
and his brother are dearer to our father than we.” 
Baidawi explains that Benjamin is so specified 
because he was brother to Joseph on both sides. 
Again, in v. 69, “And when they entered to Joseph, 
he took his brother to him.” Baidawi explains this 
that he made him sit at meat with him or live with 
him in his dwelling. He adds, as a tradition, that 
Joseph made his brothers sit two by two; so Benja 
min remained alone and wept and said, “If my 
brother Joseph had been alive he would have sat 
with me.” Then Joseph made him sit at his table- 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


25 


Thereafter he assigned houses to his brothers, two 
py two, but took Benjamin to his own house. And 
> said to Benjamin, “Would you like if I were 
-our protherin the stead of the brother whois lost 2” 
‘And Benjamin replied, * Who can find a brother like 
em you? But Jacob did not beget you, nor Rachel 
ou.” 
ial D. BM. 
__Critical View: The story of Benjamin in Gen- 
esis is drawn from three different SOUTCES: The Elo- 
nist, Who wrote the story of Benjamin’s birth (Gen. 
xxxv. 16-22), makes Reuben vouch for Benjamin 
(Gen. xlii. 87); whereas the Jahvist assigns this act 
to Judah (xliii.~xliv. ). The latter makes Joseph 
give vent to his brotherly feeling at the first sight 
of his yourger brother Benjamin, and give him 
five times as many presents, without, however, 
petraying himself (xlill. 80~-84), and afterward, at 
the recognition scene, show his affection for him 
without reserve (xlv. 14); while the Elohist merely 
relates at the end that Benjamin was distinguished 
py receiving five times as many presents as the 
others (xlv. 22). The genealogical chapter which 
represents Benjamin as the father of a large family 
(xIvi. 21) is of a far later date than the rest. (In 
the older sources he appears to be a young child 
fxlii. 4, 15; xliv. 20].) The blessing of Jacob, in 
which Benjamin—who, after Joseph, was the last of 
the sons—is described as being warlike, as was the 
tribe in the time of Deborah (Judges v. 14), yet with- 
out any allusion to Saul’s kingdom, is best ascribed 
to the time of the Judges (Dillman, Commentary). 
The storv of the war at Gibeah (Judges xix.—xxi.), 
which bears evidences of very late composition and 
bas many legendary features, such as exaggeration 
of numbers and modes of warfare, bas been rather 
too rashly declared to be a late invention inserted 
with the intention of covering up atrocities perpe- 
trated by the tribe of Judah under King David 
against the kinsmen of Saul (Giidemann, “ Monats- 
schrift,” 1869, p. 857: Geiger, “Jiid. Zeit.” 1869, p. 
284; Griitz, “ Gesch. der Juden,” i. 851 ef seg.; Well- 
hausen, “Komposition des Hexateuchs,” p. 237; 
Kuenen, “ Historisch-Kritische Untersuchung iiber 
die Entstehung und Sammlung der Biicher des Alten 
Testaments,” ii. 168). Recent critics think it far 
more probable that it rests on a historical fact 
(Moore, Commentary on Judges, pp. 406-408; Hoge, 
in Cheyne and Black, “Encyc. Bibl.”; Nodldeke, 
quoted by the latter on p. 586, note 8). This indeed 
seems to account for the sudden change in the char- 
acter of the tribe (see GIBEAN). 

In the time of David the tribe of Benjamin fol- 
lowed the leadership of Joseph or Ephraim, consid- 
ering itself closely related to the latter, and there- 
fore jealous of Judal’s rising power (II Sani. xix. 
“1 [20]). The blessing of Moses (Deut. xxxiii. 12), 

which represents Benjamin as per- 

Moses’ _fectly identified with Judah’s interests, 

Blessing. is probably the product of the time of 

Jeroboam IJ. (Driver, Commentary, 

Dp. 3887 e¢ seg.). Stade (“Gesch. des Volkes Israel,” 
1. 161; ddem. “Zeitschrift,” i. 114) and Hogg 
( Encyc, Bibl.” s.c, “Benjamin ”) explain the name 
Benjamin” as a derivative of “Yemini” (compare 
Sam. ix. 1, “Ish Yemini,” and I Sam. ix. 4, “ Erez 


Benjamin 
Benjamin II. 


Yemini”), denoting the people living to the south 
or right of the Ephraimite highland; the story of 
Benjamin’s birth in Canaan being taken as reflecting 
in mythical form the fact of its having branched off 
from the tribe of Joseph after the other tribes had 
settled in their various territories (Judges i. 22, 28, 
35). The house of Joseph, according to Moore, in- 
cludes Benjamin. Stade (“Gesch. des Volkes Israel,” 
i. 188) thinks that the account of Benjamin was lost. 
The report that the large number of 280,000 archers, 
said to be the tribe of Benjamin, belonged to King 
Asa (II Chron. xiv. 7; compare xvii. 17) is re- 
garded as unhistorical. Regarding the list of Ben- 
jamite towns in Josh. xviii, 21-28, belonging to the 
late priestly writer (P) and the one in Neh. xi. 81-35, 
which belongs to the late chronicler, see PALESTINE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hastings, Dict. Bible; Cheyne and Black, 
Eneye. Bibl.; Winer, B. R.; Hamburger, R. B. T. s.v. Ben- 
jamin; Geiger, Jiid. Zeit. 1869, pp. 284-292; Stade, Gesch. 
des Votkes Israel, i. 160-168. 

G. K. 


BENJAMIN II., J. J. (real name, Joseph 
Israel): Rumanian traveler; born at Folticheni, 
Moldavia, in 1818; died at London May 3, 1864. 
Married young, he engrged in the lumber business, 
but losing his modest fortune, he gave up com- 
merce. Being of an adventurous disposition, he 
adopted the name of Benjamin of Tudela, the fa- 
mous Jewish traveler of the twelfth century, and 
toward the end of 1844 set out tosearch for the Lost 
Ten Tribes. He first 
went to Vienna, and in 
January, 1845, started 
for Constantinople, vis- 
iting several cities on 
the Mediterranean. He 
landed at Alexandria 
June, 1847, and pro- 
ceeded via Cairo to 
Palestine. He then 
traveled through Syria, 
Babylonia, Kurdistan, 
Persia, the Indies, 
Kabul, and Afghanis- 
tan, returning June, 
1851, to Constantinople, 
and thence to Vienna. After a short stay in the last- 
named city, he went to Italy, embarking there for 
Algeria and Morocco, On arriving in France, after 
having traveled for eight years, he prepared in He- 
brew his impressions of travel, and had the book 
translated into French. After suffering many trib- 
ulations in obtaining subscriptions for his book, he 
issued it in 1856, under the title “Cing Années en 
Orient” (1846-51). The same work, revised and 
enlarged, was subsequently published in German 
under the title “Acht Jahre in Asien und Afrika” 
(Hanover, 1858), with a preface by Kayserling. An 
English version has also been published. As the 
veracity of his accounts and the genuineness of 
his travels were attacked by some critics, he amply 
defended himself by producing letters and other 
tokens proving his journey to the various Oriental 
countries named. Benjamin relates only what he 
has seen; and, although some of his remarks show 
insufficient scholarship and lack of scientific method, 





Benjamin IT. 


Benjamin, R. | 
Benjamin b. Thi 


his truthful and simple narrative gained the ap- 
proval of eminent scholars like Humboldt, Peter- 
mann, and Ricliter. 

In 1859 Benjamin undertook another journey, 
this time to America, where he stayed three years. 
The result of his observations there he published on 
his return, under the title “Drei Jahre in Amerika ” 
(Hanover, 1863). The kings of Sweden and of 
Hanover now conferred distinctions upon him. En- 
couraged by the sympathy of several scientists, who 
drew up a plan anda series of suggestions for his 
guidance, he determined to go again to Asia and 
Africa, and went to London in order to raise funds 
for this journey—a journey which was not to be 
undertaken. Worn out by fatigues and privations, 
which had caused him to grow old before his time 
and gave him the appearance of age, he died poor 
in London; and his friends and admirers had to ar- 
range a public subscription in order to save his wife 
and daughter from misery. 

In addition to the works mentioned above, Benja- 
min published “Jawan Mezula, Schilderung des 
Polnisch-Kosakischen Krieges und der Leiden cer 
Juden in Poland Wihrend der Jahre 1648-53, Be- 
richt eines Zeitgenossen nach einer von L. Lelewel 
Durchgesehenen Franzésischen Ucbersetzung, Her- 
ausgegeben von J. J. Benjamin IT.,” Hanover, 1863, 
a German edition of Rabbi Nathan Nata Hanover’s 
work on the insurrection of the Cossacks in the sev- 
enteenth century, with a preface by Kayserling. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle, May 18, 1864. 


a. E. Sp. 


BENJAMIN, R.: A tanna of the second century, 
contemporary of R. Eleazar ben Shammu‘a, with 
whom he carried on some halakic controversy (Ket. 
84a). He is also mentioned in connection with Sym- 
‘machus (Niddah 21b); and elsewhere (Sem. ix.) he 
reports a Halakah in the name of R. Akiba. In one 
halakic controversy, the participants in which leave 
no doubt as to his identity, his name appears as 
“Minyamin” (Yer. Sotah i. 16c), “Polimo” (Pale- 
mon, Sotah 4a; Tan., Naso, 7), and “ Penimon” 
(Num. R. ix. 10). The last-mentioned form is also 
found in Yer. Ter, iii. 42b as “Abba Penimon,” 
where the context permits of the assumption that 
it is meant for “R. Benjamin.” (For the identity 
of Benjamin and Minyamin, see ABBA BAR BEN- 
JAMIN; “Pelimo” and “ Penimon” appear to be Hel- 
lenizations of “Benjamin.”) R. Benjamin may like- 
wise be identified with Abba Benjamin, who, in a 
group of homilies (Ber. 5b et seq.), remarks, “ Were 
the human eye permitted to perceive them no human 
being would be able to live because of the evil spirits 
which fill the universe.” He also teaches that no 
prayer is acceptable except that offered in the public 
house of worship. This he bases on I Kings viii. 28 
“ ... to hearken unto the song and unto the 
prayer”: where the song is heard there prayer will 
be heard (compare Tos. on ‘Ab. Zarah 4b, s.z. 7°). 

J. SR. 8S. M. 


BENJAMIN BEN AARON: Hasidic writer; 
lived toward the end of the eighteenth century. 
He was a pupil of Israel Ba‘al Shem-Tob, and 
of Baer of Meseritz. Later, in 1790, he was a 
preacher at Zlazitz. He was the author of the fol- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 26 





iowing works: (1) “Ture Zahab” (Golden Neck. 
laces), Mohilev, 1816, homilies on the Pentateuch, 
Lamentations, and Esther; (2) “Ahawat Dodim” 
(The Love of Friends), Lemberg, 1795, homilies on 
the Song of Songs; (38) “ Amtahat Binyamin” (Ben- 
jamin’s Sack), Minkowicz, 1769, on Ecclesiastes, 
(4) “Helkat Binyamin” (Benjamin’s Patrimony), 
Lemberg, 1793, a commentary on the Passover Hag- 
gacdot. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ozar ha-Scfarim, pp. 18, 44, 192, 675; Wal. 
den, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Hadash, s.v. 
I. BER. 


L. G. 

BENJAMIN AARON B. ABRAHAM. See 
SLONIK, BENJAMIN AARON B. ABRAIIAM. 

BENJAMIN B. ABRAHAM ANAV. See 
ANAW, BENJAMIN B. ABRAHAM. 

BENJAMIN ALESSANDRO KOHEN VI- 
TAL. See Coen, BENJAMIN ALESSANDRO VITALE, 

BENJAMIN B. ‘ASHTOR: A Palestinian 
halakist of the third amoraic generation, contem- 
porary of R. Hiyya b. Abba and senior to R. Heze- 
kiah (Yer. Bik. i. 64a). He is also cited as simply 
Bar ‘Ashtor, without his pranomen, 20, 

J. SR. : S. MM. 

BENJAMIN (or MINYOMI) ASYA (* Phy- 
sician ”): A Babylonian rabbinic scholar of the third 
and fourth amoraic generations (fourth century), 
contemporary of Rab Joseph and Raba, and founder 
of a school named after him, Debe Minyomi Asya. 
It is reported that the disciples of his school spoke 
disrespectfully of the Rabbis, saying, “ Of what ben- 
efit are the rabbis to us? They have never proved 
it to be lawful for us to eat the raven, or to be un- 
lawful to eat the pigeon!” (meaning to say that, 
in spite of their disputations and hair-splitting argu- 
ments, the Rabbis have no authority to alter or 
abrogate a Biblical precept [Sanh. 99b ez seg.]). Raba 
obtained from Benjamin some medical informa- 
tion; and when on one occasion he publicly lectured 
on the subject before the people of Mahuza, Benja- 
min’s sons or disciples, who seem to have formed a 
medical gild, resented this publication of their pro- 
fessional secrets (Shab. 138b; ‘Ab. Zarah 28b). Ben- 
jamin Asya is probably identical with Minyomi b. 
Nihumi, the contemporary of AmemarI. (Ket. 69a), 
to whom Abaye appealed from a decision of Rab 
Joseph (22. 81b). Brill identifies Benjamin Asya 
with Bar Nathan Asya, who once manifested his 
disregard for rabbinic enactments by traveling on 
the second day of the Feast of Weeks from Beram 
(some read “Be Rab” = school) to Pumbedita, on 
which account Rab Joseph excommunicated him 
(Pes. 52a; see Dikduke Soferim, ad loc.). Britll dis- 
covers in this school the origin of Karaism (“ Jahrb.” 
i, 225). 

J. 8k. S. M. 

BENJAMIN, SIR BENJAMIN: Mayor of 
Melbourne; born at London in 1836. At the age of 
nine he accompanied his parents to Victoria. Asso- 
ciating himself at first with the firm of Benjamin & 
Co., merchants, he subsequently entered into part- 
nership with the late Hon. Edward Cohen. In 1870 
he was elected member of the City Council; and in 
1881 became an alderman of the ward he had hitherto 
represented. Notwithstanding heavy municipal 
labors, Sir Benjamin always teok a lively interest 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


27 


Bie the growth of the Melbourne Hebrew Conugre- 
wl 


‘on and its various educational and charitable in- 
ee on the boards of which he was a most 
situ worker. He is a trustee of the Jewish Phil- 
see yic Society and the Ladies’ Hebrew Benevo- 
ant hr society ; a representative of the Melbourne 
jen ance in the Legislative Council; and a justice 
eae peace, both for Victoria and New South 
i Jes. He was elected mayor of Melbourne in 
7 ne 1887; and so admirably did he perform the 
Hae of his office that he was unanimously re- 
- ted. In May, 1889, the honor of knighthood was 
| pra on him in recognition of his distinguished 
municipal services. . 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Sewish Chronicle, May 31, 1889; People of 

the Period, 189%. 

J. G. L. 
BENJAMIN OF CANTERBURY or CAM- 
BRIDGE: English rabbi; disciple of Rabbi Tam; 
died at the beginning of the thirteenth century. 
He is mentioned in the list of medieval rabbis drawn 
up by Solomon Luria (see Gratz, : Gesch. der Juden,” 
yj, 365). Only one halakic decision of his is known; 
it forbids the purchase of milk froma Gentile unless 
a Jew be present when it is drawn (Mordecai, ‘Abo- 
dah Zarah, fi. 826). Buta certain number of notes 
by a Rabbi Benjamin on Joseph Kimhi’s “Sefer 
ha-Galuy” have been attributed by Matthews, 
the editor of Kimhi’s book, to Benjamin of Canter- 
bury (“Jewish Quarterly Review,” ii. 827). Benjamin 
seems to have been a member of the English school 
of Masorites and grammarians, including Moses ben 
Isaac, Moses ben Yom-Tob, Berechiah ha-Nakdan, 
and. Samuel ha-Nakdan, the last of whom he quotes. 
It is possible that he came from Cambridge rather 
than from Canterbury, the transliteration of the 
former (N72NP) being sufficiently near to that of 
ihe latter (N™IHIP). For while there is no Benja- 
min mentioned as living at Canterbury in the twelfth 
century, there is a rather distinguished “ Magister 
Benjamin” of Cambridge mentioned in the Pipe 
Rolls of the fifth year of John (1204). Berechiah 
ha-Nakdan, in his commentary on Job, refers to 
“my Uncle Benjamin,” who was probably the same 
individual. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, pp. 54, 
281, 282; Eppenstein, in Monatsschrift, xl. 178, xii. 222. 


J. 


BENJAMIN, DAVID: Communal worker; 
born in London in 1815; died there June 25, 1893. 
In 1835 he emigrated to Australia; and, while in 
Tasmania, assisted in founding a synagogue. Soon 
afterward he settled in Melbourne, joining his 
brother Solomon, who is justly regarded as the 
founder of the Melbourne Jewish community. The 
firm of Benjamin Bros. was among the early pio- 
heers of the British settlement in the colony of Vic- 
tora. The firm prospered greatly, buying crude gold 
direct from the aborigines, and making large pur- 
chases on which the banks were reluctant to venture. 
Benjamin had also a large interest in the Bank of 
New South Wales. He endeavored to maintain the 
Jewish Spirit of observance in the colony, and person- 
ally attended the Jewish sick in Melbourne. In 1854 

© returned to England, where he devoted him- 


Benjamin, R. 
Benjaxin b. Ihi 


mmunal affairs. He identitied himself largely | self entirely to the community, becoming connected 


with the Jewish Board of Guardians, the Bayswater 
Synagogue, and the Jews’ Hospital and Orphan 
Asylum. Benjamin was treasurer of the Bayswater 
Synagogue from 1865 to 1871, and warden from 
1871 to 1875. He was a life member of the council 
of the United Synagogue from its foundation, and 
was one of the seven elders of the United Syna- 
gogue. He was a prominent worker on behalf of 
the Jewish Board of Guardians, labored untiringly 
in its cause, and was very munificent in his dona- 
tions to charity. 

BLOCH EES Jewish Chronicle and Jewish Worid, June 


4 


J G. L. 


BENJAMIN B. DAVID CASES. Sce Casss, 
BENJAMIN B. DAVID. 

BENJAMIN B. ELIJAH BEER. Sec BEEr, 
BENJAMIN B. ELIJAH. 

BENJAMIN B. GIDDEL (or GIDDUL), R.: 
A Palestinian amora of the fourth generation (fourth 
century), contemporary of R. Aha IIL (Yer. Ma‘as. 
Sh. v.56b; Yer. Yeb.i. 2b). His name is but rarely 
met with in the Talmud, and then only in the Hala- 
kah (Yer. Ma‘as. i. 49a; Hul. 125a). It is probable 
that he was the son of Giddel b. Benjamin (Min- 
yomi) and therefore of Babylonian descent. 

J. SR. S. MM. 

BENJAMIN GINZAKAYAH (of Ginzak = 
Gazaka in Media Atropatene): A Babylonian scholar 
of the third century, contemporary of Mar Sam- 
uel. <All that is known of him is that death 
overtook him when he was on the point of de- 
ciding a ritual question in accordance with the views 
of Rab, as opposed to those of Samuel. Hearing of 
this circumstance, Samuel thanked God, who had 
prevented the promulgation of an erroneous deci- 
sion; and to the prime mover thereof, his friend 
Rab, he applied the Scriptural saying (Prov. xii. 
21), “There shall no mischief happen to the just” 
(Yer. Ber. ii. 5b). In Babli (Niddah 65a) the name 
appears as “ Minyamin Sakasnaah ” (of Sacassana, a 
province of Armenia). 

J. SR. S. M. 

BENJAMIN, HILLEL: Polish architect of 
the second half of the eighteenth century; born at 
Lasko. He was the builder of the synagogue at 
Lutomierz, which was constructed during the reign 
of the last king of Poland, Stanislaus AugustI. Ben- 
jamin seems to have studied in Germany. He en- 
joyed in his fatherland a certain reputation; for in 
the documents he is always called “architect.” After 
finishing the synagogue at Lutomierz, he was com- 
missioned to construct one at Zloczow, which, how- 
ever, he did not finish. In examining the roof he 
fell to the ground and died. He is buried in the 
cemetery of Zloczow. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mathias Bersohn, Kilka Slow, part ii., p. 21; 
Ost und West, 1901, No. 4, p. 286. 


S. 
BENJAMIN (or MINYAMIN) B. IHI: A 
Babylonian scholar of the second and third amoraic 
generations (third century); brother of Abbahu b. 
Thi, the disciple of Samuel. Both brothers, while 
intensely exclusive and diffident, so that they would 
have no dealings with Gentiles (Meg. 28a), were 


Benjamin b. Isaac 
Benjamin, Judah 





very considerate toward their servants. One of the 
brothers arranged that they should receive one dish 
from their master’s table; the other would have 
them partake of every dish. Legend states that the 
latter brother was therefore deemed worthy of re- 
ceiving visits from the prophet Elijah (Ket. 61a). 

J. SR. S. M. 

BENJAMIN B. ISAAC OF CARCAS- 
SONNE: This scholar is known only by his trans- 
lation from Latin into Hebrew, under the title of 
“*Ezer Eloah” (Divine Help), of the work of Jean 
de Bourgogne, of the province of Liége, on the cor- 
ruption of the air by the plague. This work, which 
contains in the appendix many empiric remedies 
against divers ills, is preserved in manuscript in the 
Bibliothéque Nationale of Paris (No. 1191, fol. 141b- 
194a); only one other manuscript copy being known 
to exist, and that is in the library of Baron D. de 
Ginzburg. Of the original, which was perhaps 
written in French, hardiy any traces are left; that 
is, of the treatise described as “On the Epidemic, in 
Prose,” No. 852 of the Library of the Louvre, or the 
private library of Charles V., king of France. This 
is undoubtedly the little book, says Leopold De- 
lisle (MSS. de la Bibliothéque Nationale, 1891, iii. 
158, note 1), of Which there is a copy at the end of 
MS. Frangais 12,328, under the title, “The Treatise 
Which the Masters of Medicine and the Astron- 
omers Of Paris Wrote of the Plague Which Physics 
Calls the Epidemic, in the Year of Our Lord, N. S. 
MCCCXLVIII.” or perhaps the little book written 
in 1865 by Master Jean de Bourgogne, surnamed 
“With the Beard,” professor of medicine, and citizen 
of Liége (Delisle, “Observations sur Plusicurs MSS, 
de la Collection Barrois,” p. 55). 

The date of the Hebrew work may therefore be 
fixed, at least approximately. The second book of 
Jean was written in 1365, and was translated by 
Benjamin a few years later, about 1870. Now, the 
author had said in the preface, as far as one can judge 
from the Hebrew version, that already in the “ year 
22,” when the plague broke out for the first time, 
he had written a similar treatise beginning with the 
words *Sy¢ *Sy¢ (“My God, my God ”) (Steinschncider, 
“Hebr. Uebers.” p. 804). With what does the num- 
ber 22 correspond? Steinschneider acutely remarks 
(“Hebr. Uebers.” Z.¢.): “The date 22 [p’nS] could 
only mean 122 [= 1862]”; but that does not tally 
with the first outbreak of the Black Death, in 1348, 
Doubtless a Jewish era was substituted in the trans- 
lation, probably through a copyist’s mistake. Could 
Jean have meant that he wrote this book twenty- 
two years before? Then this treatise was written 
in 1370, as stated by Amplon (“Autre Fonds de la 
Bibliothéque Bodleienne,” No. 192%). This tallies 
with the note cited by M. Delisle. The doubt as to 
the date detracts in no wise from the interest of this 
medical treatise, which was saved from oblivion by 
the version of Benjamin of Carcassonne. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, in Z. D. M. G. xxix. 165:- 


idem, in Magazin, xii. 183; idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 804; 
Eerivains Juifs, xxvii., 628, 752, and xxxi. 723; Gross, Gal- 
lia Judaica, p. 617. 

M. 8. 


G 
BENJAMIN B. JAPHET: A _ Palestinian 
scholar of the third amoraic generation (third cen- 


tury), disciple of R. Johanan and senior to R. Zeira 


_ (Meg. 16b; Sanh. 7a; compare Ex. R. xli.; Lev. R 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Q8 


SUE EERIE 


I. (Ber. 38a, 88b; Ket. 77a). He cultivated both the 


Halakah and the Haggadah; in his halakic delive, 
ances, however, he was not considered very reliabl, 
Thus when, on one occasion, Hiyya b. Abba and he 
differed on a traditional decision by their master, R 
Zeira remarked, “ What does R. Benjamin b. Japhe 
amouct to compared with R. Hiyya b. Abba?” (Bey 
38b; Yer. Ber. vi. 10a; Yer. Pes. ii. 29¢). Never. 
theless, this same R. Zeira had occasion to thanx 
Benjamin for communicating to him a Halakah jy 
the name of R. Johanan (Shab. 58a). In the Haggg. 
dah, Benjamin wasa follower of R. Eleazar b. Pedat 
whose expositionsand sayings he frequently reports 
x.).—[Yer. Ber. iii. 6d; Yoma 29a; Yer. Sanh. i. 189. 
Shebu. 18b; Hul. 52b (correctly quoted in MS. M). 
Pesik. vii. 68b, viii. 68b; Pesik. R. xvii.; Midr. Teh, 
xxil.; Gen. R. xlili.; Tan., ed. Buber, Lek Lekg 
11.] 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mehbo, p. 69a; Heilprin, Seder ha. 


Dorot, ed. Witna, ii. 85; Lunez, Jerusalem, i. 101, in whiey 
Benjamin’s grave is said to be at Safed. 
S. ML. 


J. SR, 

BENJAMIN B. JEHIEL HA-LEVI: Polish 
Talmudist; lived at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century. He was the author of “Gib‘at Benjamin” 
(Benjamin’s Height), Lublin, 1617, an alphabetical 
index to Jacob b. Asher’s four Turim. The book js 
very rare, never having been reprinted, although it 
is an excellent index to the Turim, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem hka-Gedolim, ed. Wilna, ii. 3: 
Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 591. 
L. G. 


BENJAMIN BEN JOAB (called also De Syn- 
agoga, according to Zunz): Payyetan; lived at 
Montalcino in the fourteenth century. His printed 
poems are: (1) A metrical introduction to the “ Nish- 
mat” for Passover, Every strophe of this poem has 
ten lines of seven syllables. (2) A selihah of five 
strophes, with a refrain ending with the words 
2 Am>yn (“ Oh, give us prosperity ”), 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 365; Landshuth, 
Amimude ha-_Abodah, p. 1%. 
I. Br. 


L. G. 


BENJAMIN B. JUDAH LOEB COHEN. 
See BENASCH, BENJAMIN. 


BENJAMIN, JUDAH PHILIP: American 
statesman and lawyer; born at St. Croix, West In- 
dies, in 1811; died in Paris, May 6, 1884. His parents 
were English, Jews who, some years before his birth, 
had removed from London to St. Croix, then a 
British island, in the hope of improving their fortune 
in the New World. <A few years after his birth, his 
family removed from St. Croix to reside in Wilming- 
ton, N. C., and young Benjamin soon afterward 
was sent to school at Fayetteville. Subsequently 
he spent three years at Yale College. His parents 
several times changed their residence, until they 
finally settled in New Orleans, Lu. There Benjamin 
served as a notary’s clerk for some time, taught 
school, studied law,and on Dec. 16, 1832, was ad- 
mitted to the Louisiana bar. 

Louisiana had been acquired by the United States 
from France but a short time previously, and its 
language and legal system were still largely thos¢ 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


29 


f France. ; 
0 essary mastery of different systems of law and 


a literature left their mark upon Benja- 


practises min, and can be traced in the breadth 
Law of grasp, philosophical reasoning, and 
in New wide readin g to which he subsequent. 
orleans. ly attained. Nor should notice be 


omitted of certain other formative in- 
which the London “Times” (May 9, 1884) 
commented upon In a sympathetically worded obit- 
vary: bis inheritance of “ that elastic resistance to 
evil fortune which preserved Mr. Benjamin's ances- 
tors through a succession of exiles and plunderings, 
aud reappeared in the Minister of the Confederate 
cause, together with the same refined apprehension 
of logical problems which informed the subtleties of 
the Talmud.” oa 

Benjamin’s success at the Louisiana bar was re- 
markably rapid. At first he had found time to pre- 
pare, for his own use, a “Digest of the Reported 
Decisions of the Supreme Court of the Late Territory 
of Orleans and of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, ” 
which was the earliest digest of Louisiana Jaw. 
Together with his friend Thomas Slidell, he edited 
and prepared this for publication in 1834. Soon, 
however, his law practise became more engrossing ; 
and, asone of the recognized leaders of the Louisiana 
par, he rapidly acyuired a competence which en- 
abled him to withdraw from the legal arena, pw- 
chase a sugar-plantation near New Orleans, and 
devote himself to sugar-planting and scientific ex po- 
sitions of the best methods of extracting saccharine 
matter from the cane. 

Politics also actively interested Benjamin, and 
from time to time he was elected to various local 

offices. Thus, he was one of the most 

Sugar- active and influential members of the 
Planter and Louisiana Constitutional Convention 
Politician. of 1844-45, and of that of 1852. In 

1849 he was a successful presidential 
elector at large for the stute of Louisiana, and as 
such cast his ballot for General Taylor as president 
of the United States. Originally a Whig, Benjamin 
became, during the change of party ties, a distin- 
guished Democratic leader. Meanwhile, however, 
the destruction of his property by inundations had 
driven him back to the active practise of law, where 
success once more awaited him, 

That the number of Benjamin’s famous legal cases 
was very large is evidenced by an examination of 
the law reports of the period. Particularly notable 
was his conduct of the cases which grew out of the 
attempt to recover insurance for a cargo of slaves 
lost by reason of an insurrection on board the “ Cre- 
ole,” and his connection with enormously valuable 
California land-title cases, in one of which his fee is 
said to have been $25,000, a very large sum for that 
day. During the October (1848) term of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States he was admitted 
to practise before that body, and soon became one 
of the leaders of the federal bar. Benjamin's legal 
talents Were so generally recognized that President 
Pierce tendered him the position of associate justice 
of the United States Supreme Court; but he pre- 
ferred his activitiesat the bar and in politics. Pre- 
Viously, when President Taylor’s cabinet was being 


fluences, 


Benjamin b. Isaac 
Benjamin, Judah 


The broadening influences of the | formed, Benjamin’s name had been under considera- 


tion for a cabinet portfolio. In 1852 he was elected 
to the United States Senate from Louisiana, and was 
reelected at the expiration of his term, six years later. 

In 1856 Benjamin was one of a small 


United group of senators that succeeded in 
States securing the nomination of Buchanan 
Senator. for president, as against Douglas, and 


he enjoyed great influence with the 

Buchanan administration until immediately before 
the outbreak of the Civil war. 

In the Senate he was soon recognized as one of the 

ablest debaters; and Charles Sumner considered bim 





the most brilliant orator in the United States. His 
readiness in debate was remarkable; and he gener- 
ally spoke on the spur of the moment without 
preparation. An examination of the “Congres- 
sional Globe” of the time shows that almost invari- 
ably friends and foes alike were so much impressed 
by his oratory as to feel obliged to pay tribute to him 
on the spot. Of his farewell address, upon leaving 
the Senate when his state, Louisiana, seceded from 
the Union, Sir George Cornewall Lewis said to Lord 
Sherbrooke: “Have you read Benjamin’s speech? 
It is better than our Benjamin [meaning Disraeli] 
could have done.” 

Benjamin was frequently called upon to deliver 
addresses and orations on national holidays and 
other non-political occasions; and competent judges 
declare that he was eveu happier at these times than 
in his political addresses and arguments. His right 
to be regarded as one of the greatest of the world’s 
orators is no longer open to dispute. It was recently 
forcibly evidenced by his inclusion, with appropriate 
examples of his style and comment, in the com- 
prehensive and judiciously edited series of “The 
World’s Best Orators” (x. 97-110) as well asin “The 
World’s Best Orations” (i. 398), the former edited by 
Prof. Guy Carleton Lee, and the latter by Justice 
David J. Brewer. Henry L. Dawes, surely no in- 


Benjamin, Judah 
Benjamin, Michael 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 89 


ee ne ee ee ee ee en 


different judge, has well classed Benjamin with 
Sumner and Beecher, Wendell Phillips, Yancey, and 
Breckinridge, as having “stirred multitudes, aroused 
passions, and fired the public heart in terms not less 
eloquent than the loftiest productions of Fox or Pitt, 
of Patrick Henry or John Adams.” 

In the Senate Benjamin’s constitutional and legal 
arguments ever attracted particular attention, and 
made him the leader par excellence in the defense of 
slavery and, later on, of secession. He never ac- 
tively identified himself with Jewish communal af- 
fairs; but his views and actions led to much unjus- 
tified identification of American Jews generally with 
the pro-slavery cause (see ANTI-SuAVERY Move- 
MENT IN AMERICA). Thus, one of his most power- 

ful pro-slavery outbursts provoked 


Pro- Senator Wade’s satirical reference in 
Slavery the Senate to “Israelites with Egyp- 
Advocate. tian principles”; and even more pro- 


nounced attacks in the Senate and in 
the Northern press generally, on the Jews as favoring 
slavery, followed, when Benjamin became so pronii- 
nently identified with the cause of the Confederacy. 

The late Isaac M. Wise, in his “ Reminiscences,” 
gives an account of an interesting discussion between 
Benjamin, Daniel Webster, Maury the scientist, and 
himself, relative to their religious faiths, in the course 
of which Benjamin declined to permit his Jewish 
religious views to be described as Unitarian, as 
Webster had claimed the faiths of all four were in 
their essence. In 1854 he presented to the Senate, on 
behalf of American Jewish citizens, a petition calling 
for governmental action against Swiss anti-Semitic 
discriminations recognized in a treaty with our gov- 
ernment; thusacting as spokesman for the American 
Jews. 

Upon the organization of the Confederate govern- 
ment, President Jefferson Davis immediately called 

Benjamin into his cabinet as attor- 

Jefferson ney-general (Feb. 25, 1861), to which 

Davis’ position was added that of acting sec- 

Right- retary of war (Sept. 17, 1861). On 

Hand Man. Nov. 21, 1861, he became secretary of 

war, resigning the portfolio of the De- 
partment of Justice; and he retained this position 
till March 17, 1862, when he became secretary of 
state, which office he retained till the collapse of the 
Confederacy in 1865. 

Throughout, Benjamin was Jefferson Davis’ most 
intimate and most influential adviser, and was gen- 
erally described as the “brains of the Confederacy.” 

James Schouler, in his “History of the United 
States ” (vi. 89), remarks: 

** Contemporaries had said at the outset that Toombs was the 
brain of the Confederacy; but that title, as events developed, be- 
longed rather to Attorney-General Benjamin, the ablest, most 
versatile, and most constant of all Davis’ civil counselors, who 
acted as secretary of war after Walker’s retirement in Septem- 
ber, and was then by the following March installed secretary of 
state, to remain premier until the bitter end, sanguine and 
serene in bearing, through all mutations of fortune and mis- 
fortune.” 

During much of this time, particularly during his 
incumbency of the secretaryship of war, Benjamin 
was extremely unpopular; but President Davis never 
fora moment lost confidencein him. He resigned the 
war portfolio on account of the Confederate reverses 


in connection with the Roanoke Island campaign jy 
1862. for which he was commonly held in a larg, 
degree responsible; but, in spite of censure from the 
Confederate Congress, President Davis promote 
him to the secretaryship of state. 

This circumstance has recently been cleared up 
through evidence that Benjamin was in no way ty 
blame for these mishaps, but patriotically sacrificeg 
himself, with President Davis’ knowledge, by intep. 
tionally withholding his justification from the Cop. 
gressional committee. Disclosure of the true facts 
would have involved an exposure of Confederate 
dearth of ammunition, which might, through gen. 
eral publication, have seriously jeopardized the 
Confederate cause at the time. 

Benjamin’s most important labors were, however, 
rendered in connection with the diplomatic activities 
of the Confederacy. Unfortunately, a thorough 
study of the diplomacy of the Confederacy has not 
yet been published, nor any adequate biography of 
Benjamin, of which that would be the principal 
chapter. But by such a publication it would be 
shown how near the Confederacy came to securing 
European intervention—particularly through the 
aid of Napoleon III.—by the tempting and states. 
manlike efforts of the Confederate state department 
under Benjamin’s direction, and to the probable 
transformation of an insurrection into a successful 
revolution in consequence. Even published data, 
however, not to mention oral reminiscences, justify 
the conclusion of the late I. M. Wise, who in an edi- 
torial in the “ American Israelite,” May 16, 1884, said 
that “he was undoubtedly the most distinguished 
statesman of the Jewish family in this (19th) century 
and country.” 

At the close of the Civil war Benjamin fled to the 
West Indies and then to England, losing his Ameri- 
can property by confiscation. Here, at the age of 
fifty-five, he had to commence bread-winning anew. 
Early in 1866 as a British subject he entered as a 

law student at Lincoln’s Inn, and in 

Begins Life June of that year was called to the 
Anew in English bar, the usual term being cur- 
England. tailed by reason of his past eminence 
and acumen, through the influence of 
distinguished English judges. In 1868 his work on 
“The Law of Sale of Personal Property ” appeared, 
and immediately had a marked success on both sides 
of the Atlantic. It has gone through edition after 
edition, and may well be described as the most suc- 
cessful and classical legal text-book of the latter half 
of the nineteenth century. ITis success at the Eng- 
lish bar, after a brief interval during which he had 
been compelled to take up editorial work on the 
London “ Daily Telegraph,” was remarkable, partic- 
ularly in connection with colonial appeals. His in- 
come for a number of years prior to his retirement 
from the bar (December, 1882) is said to have been 
upward of $200,000 per annum. In 1872 heattained 


the rank of Queen’s Couasel. 


A farewell dinner was given in Benjamin’s honor 
by the bench and bar of England in the hall of the 
Inner Temple, London, on June 30, 1888, under 
the presidency of the attorney-general, Sir Henry 
James. His standing as the unquestioned leader of 
the British bar had been generally recognized for 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


31 

ee 

come years prior to his retirement. He died at Paris 
wav §, 1884, his wife and a daughter—Ninette, wife 
=" of Capt. Henri de Bousignac of the 


Is Leader 117th regiment of the French line— 
of British surviving him. Benjamin married in 
Bar. New Orleans, at a time when there 


was no organized Jewish congregation 
there, a Catholic lady of the name of Natalie St. 
Martin. Investigation has failed to confirm the 
yumor that he abandoned the Jewish faith on his 


death-bed. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : H.C. Tompkins, Judah P. Benjamin (Ala- 
pama State Bar Assn, Report, 1896, pp. cxx.-Cxxxvii.); J. 
‘A. Hamilton, in Dict. of National Biography, iv. 223; Scott, 
Pistinguished American Lawyers, pp. 43-50; The Green 

ag, i. 365, 366; The Law Times, 1xxv. 188, lxxvii. 47 (obitu- 
ary from the London Pimes); Francis Lawley, in The Athe- 
noun, May 12, 1888, i. 599; I. M. Wise, editorial in American 
Jsraelite, May 16, 1884; idem, Reminiscences, 1901; Bigelow, 
France and the Confederate Navy; Bullock, Secret Service 
of the Confederacy ; Baron Pollock, Reminiscences in Fort- 
nightly Review, xix. 354; Sabin’s Dictionary of Books Re- 
lating to America, VOl. ii., 64; Bancroft’s Life of William 
H. Seward; B. H. Wise, Life of Henry A. Wise. Since the 
foregoing was written, J, M. Callahan’s valuable study, The 
Diplomatie History of the Southern Confederacy (Balti- 
more, 1901), has been published, throwing much light on 
certain phases of Benjamin’s career. 


‘K M. J. i. 
BENJAMIN B. JUDAH OF ROME. Sce 
BozECcCHI. 


BENJAMIN B. LEVI, R.: A Palestinian 
amora of the fourth century (third or fourth genera- 
tion), junior contemporary of R. Ammi and R. Isaac 
(Yer. Peah i. 15a), and senior to Abin II. (Yer. Pes. 
vii. 34c; Yer. Hor. i. 46a). His name is connected 
with several Halakot (Yer. Ter. i. 40b; Yer. Pes. ii. 
98d: Yer. ‘Ab. Zarah ii. 42a, where his patronymic 
reads “Levat”), but more frequently with homiletic 
remarks. On God’s message by Jeremiah (xxii. 24), 
“Can one hide himself in secret places that I shall 
not see him [“er’ennu”]?” he observes, “When one 
sitteth in a corner and occupieth himself with the 
study of the Law, I show him [“ar’ennu ”| to the pub- 
lic, or when he hides himself for sinful purposes of 


apostasy, Lexpose him to public gaze” (Ex. R. viii. ;. 


Tan., Wa’era, 9; compare Num. R. ix. 9). Accord- 
ing to him, when the time for Israel’s restoration shall 
come, there will be a change in the order of nature; 
at present when the north wind blows no south 
wind prevails, and when the south wind prevails 
there is no north wind; but when God shall restore 
the exiled, He shall produce an “argestes” (see Jas- 
trow, “ Dict.” p. 115b), when both winds shall do 
service, as it is written (Isa. xliii. 6), “I will say to 
the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back: 
bring my sons from far,” ete. (Esther R. to i. 8; 
Cant. R. to iv. 16; Lev. R. ix.; Num. R. xiii.).— 
[Gen. R. Ixxxvii.; Midr. Teh. Ixxxvii. 2; Pesik. 
xiii. 112a, xviii. 187a; Pesik. R. xviii.; Lev. R. 
XXvViil.; compare Eccl. R. to i. 3.] 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Frankel, Meho, 69d; Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. 

lil. G61 et seq. 

J. sR, S. M. 

BENJAMIN B. MATTITHIAH: Author of 
a large collection of responsa; flourished in Turkey 
In the first half of the sixteenth century. His oc- 
cupation was that of a merchant (“Benjamin Ze’eb,” 
P. 14b), but he also served as a member of the rab- 
binical college of Arta (vilayet Yanina). In rabbin- 


Benjamin, Judah 
Benjamin, Michael} 


ical literature he is known chiefly through his 
disputes with many of his contemporaries, which 
were caused by the great independence he very often 
displayed in his decisions on legal questions, an 
independence that greatly offended the rabbinical 
authorities. 

His collection of responsa, “Benjamin Ze’eb” 
(Venice, 1589), which he published partly in scif- 
justification, was not at all well received by the 
Italian and Polish rabbis of the time (compare Solo- 
mon b. Jehiel Luria, in “ Yam Shel Shelomoh,” 3b on 
B. K. viii., No. 72). The work, containing 450 re- 
sponsa on the most diverse subjects, throws an in- 
teresting light on the intellectual as well as the 
social status of the Jews of that time in European 
Turkey and in Asia Minor. For instance, Benja- 
min’s ordinance against men and women dancing 
together met with great resistance, many young 
people refusing to obey this puritanical precept 
(“Benjamin Ze’eb,” pp. 228b et seq.). It should be 
noted that “ Benjamin Ze’ecb ” is the title of the book, 
and not the appellation of the author, whose only 
name was Benjamin. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 86; Conforte, 
Kore ha-Dorot, ed. Cassel, pp. 34b, 40a; Michael, Or ha-. 
Hayyim, No. 601; Brith, in his Jahrbicher, i. 89. 

L. G. 

BENJAMIN BEN MEIR: Polish Talmudist 
and preacher; lived at Brody, Galicia, in the first 
half of the nineteenth century. He wrote “Imre 
Binyamin” (The Words of Benjamin), a homiletic 
commentary upon the first three books of the Penta- 
teuch (Tarnopol, 1814). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 42; Zedner, 
Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 86. 

L. G, I. Ber. 

BENJAMIN B. MEIR HA-LEVI OF NU- 
REMBERG: Rabbi at Salonicaat the beginning of 
the sixteenth century. Although German by birth, 
being a descendant of Jacob Monin, he was greatly 
esteemed by the Spanish-Portuguese Jews of Salo- 
nica, and was sent by the entire Jewish population of 
that city on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople. 
The contemporary responsa collections contain some 
of Benjamin’s decisions. He also wrote Jexical ex- 
planations on the Mahzor of the German rite, which 
were printed in the Salonica editions of 1526 and 
1555-56. The last-named edition also contains some 
of Benjamin’s elegics, among them one upon the 
occasion of the great fire at Salonica in 1553. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. D. Luzzatto, in G. I. Polak’s Dutch transla- 


tion of the Mahzor, 1850, p. 4; Michael. Or ha-Hayytm, No. 
594; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 370, 791. . 
. G. 


BENJAMIN, MICHAEL HENRY: South 
African politician; born in London in 1822; died 
June 11, 1879. 

Early in life Benjamin went to Cape Colony (about 
the year 1849), and for ten years resided at Graaff- 
Reinet, where he was the promoter of several useful 
institutions. Thenee heremoved to Port Elizabeth, 
which town he represented in the Cape Legislative 
Assembly from the year 1864; and he was also a jus- 
tice of the peace for the colony. He worked hard to. 
secure the passing of the Eastern District Courts’ 
Bill, and his extensive acquaintance with commercial 


Benjamin, Moses 
Benjamin b. Samuel 


matters made his opinions carry considerable author- 
ity inthe House. Benjamin successfully introduced 
the Stamp Act into the Legislative Assembly, and was 
one of the founders of the Standard Bank of British 
South Africa, Returning to England about 1869, he 
actively interested himself in a number of communal 
institutions, becoming a member of the committee 
of the United Synagogue, the Anglo-Jewish Associ- 
ation, and the Board of Deputies; and sitting on the 
committees of various London synagogues and pub- 
lic schools. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cape -trgus, June, 1879; Jew, Chron. June 

13; Aug. 15, 1879; Jew. World, June 13, 1879. 

J. G. L. 

BENJAMIN, MOSES: Beni-Isracl military 
ofticer; born in 1830; died at Bombay in December, 
1897. The son of a subedar (captain), he joined the 
Twelfth Bombay Native Infantry as a private. 
While a non-commissioned oflicer he was entrusted 
with the responsible duty of watching over the 
wives and children of European officers of the regi- 
ment left at Deesa during the Mutiny of 1857. He 
was present at the siege and capture of Kotah, the 
action of Burnass, and the battle of Meanee (1848). 
Rising by dint of industry, he was gazetted as a 
comiissioned officer (jeuridar) in 1861. In 1865 he 
was made a subedar, in which capacity he superin- 
tended the work of the regimental lines, then in 
course of erection at Dharwar. In February, 1878, 
he was promoted subedar-major; in November, 1878, 
he became bahadur. He was a very intelligent 
officer, remarkably versed in military minutie. As 
a reward for his services the governor of India 
appointed him sirdar-bahadur (June, 1881), and in- 
vested him with the Order of British India of the 
first class. After having served for over thirty-two 
years, he retired on a pension, and went to Bombay ; 
and the Beni-Israel Old Synagogue Congregation in 
that city, in appreciation of his capacities, appointed 
him their chief warden and treasurer. In February, 
1892, the governor of Bombay appointed him a jus- 
tice of the peace. 
BIBLiOGRAPHY : Jewish Chronicle, Dec. 10, 1897. 

J. G. L. 

BENJAMIN BEN MOSES: Italian scholar; 
lived at Rome at the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
tury. He took an active part in the administration 
of the Jewish community of Rome, and was one 
of the delegates to the assembly of the Italian Jew- 
ish communities held at Forli in 1426. Benjamin is 
the author of a polemical work entitled “Teshubot 
ha-Nozrim Mikol ha-Mikra ume-Re’iyyot ha-Da‘at” 
(Refutations of Christianity on Biblical and Logical 
Grounds). The work is still extant in manuscript 
(Neubauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No. 2,408, 3; 
Codex Halberstainm, 32). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Neubaner, as above; Vogelstein and Rieger, 

Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 452. 

G. I. Br. 

BENJAMIN BEN MOSES NAHAWENDI: 
Karaite scholar and philosopher; flourished at Naha- 
wend, Persia, at the end of the eighth century and 
the beginning of the ninth. According to the Ka- 
raite historian Solomon ben Jeroham—the contempo- 
rary of Saadia Gaon—Karaism began properly with 
Benjamin, who surpassed even Anan in learning 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 
Bs a, 


32 


(Solomon ben Jeroham’s commentary on Psalm lyj, 
1). But this assertion can not be verified. Benja. 
min’s work is, for the most part, known only ip 
quotations made by subsequent Karaite writers, 
But his personality must have been very important, 
since he was considered by all the Karaites to be 
as great an authority as the founder of Karaism, 
Anan. himself. 

As stated by Japhet ben Ali in the introduction 
to his commentary on the minor prophets, Benjamin 
wrote the following works, mostly in 
Arabic: (1) a commentary on the Pen- 
tateuch, in which he frequently refers 
to Oriental customis; (2) a commentary 
on Isaiah; (3) a commentary on Daniel, in which the 
word “yamim” (days)—in the verse “ Blessed is he 
that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hun. 
dred and five and thirty days ” (xii. 12)—is ex plained 
by “years,” pointing thus to the year 1010 as thie 
epoch of the arrival of the Messiah; (4) a commen- 
tary on Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, or, as Pin- 
sker thinks, on ali the Five Rolls; ©) “Sefer Miz- 
wot” (Book of Precepts); (6) “Sefer Dinim,” or 
“Mas’at Binyamin ” (Book of Laws, or Gift of Ben- 
jamin), written in Hebrew, and published at Kos- 
lov (Eupatoria) in 1834—containing civil and crimi- 
nal laws according to Holy Writ. 

In the last-named work Benjamin approached in 
many points the Rabbinites. He adopted many 

rabbinical ordinances, which, lhow- 

Adopts ever, he left to the free choice of the 
Rabbinical Karaites to reject or adopt. In order 

Or- to enforce obedience to the laws, Ben- 
dinances. jamin introduced a special form of in- 
terdict, differmg but slightly from 
the excommunication of the Rabbinites. When an. 
accused person refused to obey the summons served 
on him he was to be cursed on each of seven suc- 
cessive days, after which excommunication was to 
be pronounced on him. The interdict consisted 
in the prohibition of intercourse with all the mem- 
bers of the community, who were also forbidden to 
greet him, or to accept anything from him (“‘ Mas’at 
Binyamin,” 2a). 

Benjamin at times approached the Rabbinites in 

Biblical exegesis also, and combated Anan’s inter- 


His 
Works. 


pretations. Thus he maintained with 

His the Rabbinites, against Anan, that the 
Biblical obligation to marry the widow of a 
Exegesis. childless brother extended only to the 


brother of the deceased and not to his 
further relations. He adopted the Talmudical in- 
terpretation of the Biblical words concerning the 
Sabbath—* Abide ye every man in his place” (Ex. 
xvi, 29)—maintaining that the prohibition herein 
expressed has reference, not to the residence, but to 
a distance beyond 2,000 yards of the town (compare 
Elijah Bashvazi, “ Adderet,” p. 63). 
However, in spite of many concessions to Rab- 
binism, Benjamin adhered firmly to the principle, 
expressed by Avan, of penetrating 
Freedom in research of the Scripture. In Benja- 
Thought. min’s opinion one ought not to tie 
oneself down to ‘the authorities, but 
to follow one’s own convictions: the son may differ 
from the father, the disciple from the master, pro- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


33 


vided they have reasons for their different views. 

{nquiry is a duty, and errors occasioned by inquiry 

do not constitute a sin (compare Japhet’s commen- 

tary, cited in Dukes’s “ Beitriige,” it. 26). 

Benjamin seems to have written a work in which 

ne expounded the philosophical ideas contained in 

the Bible. Judging from the quotations made by 

Jater Karaite writers, such as Jacob al-Kirkisani, 

Japhet ben Ali, and Fiadassi, Benjamin betrayed the 

influence of Philonie ideas, while he adopted the 

Motazilite theories on the divine attributes, free-will, 

and other questions of a like character 
philosophy expounded before by Anan, God, 
ofthe he holds, is too sublime to mingle with 

Bible. the material world; and the idea that 

matter proceeded directly from God is 
inadmissible. God created first the Glory (“ Kabod”), 
then the Throne (“ Kisse”), and afterward an Angel. 

This Angel created the world, in which he is the rep- 

resentative of God. God Himself never came in 

contact with men, nor did He speak to Israel on 

Mt. Sinai. The Law and the communications to the 

Prophets proceeded from the Angel, to whom are 

referable all the anthropological expressions con- 

cerning God found in the Bible (Hadassi, “ Eshkol,” 
25b). The soul forms a part of the body, and is 
therefore perishable. The Biblical references to re- 
ward and punishment can be applied only to the 

body (Saadia, “ Emunot we ha-De‘ot,” vi. 4). 

This theory of an intermediary power, and the 
system of allegorizing all the Biblical passages con- 
cerning God, upon which Benjamin insists again 
and again in his commentaries on the Bible, were 
borrowed from the writings of the sect Magéari- 
yah (Men of the Caves). This sect, the establish- 
ment of which, in consequence of a confusion in the 
text of Shahrastani, has been wrongfully attributed 
to Benjamin, is identified with the Essenes by Har- 
kavy, who shows that they were called “The 
Men of the Caves,” because they lived in the desert 
(“Le-Korat ha-Kittot,” in the Hebrew translation 
of Griitz, iii. 497). Benjamin wrote his halakic 
works in Hebrew, his commentaries probably in 
Arabic. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Gesch. des Karderthums, i. 71-76; 
Pinsker, Likkute Kadmoniot, pp. 44, 72, 199; Jost, Gesch. 
des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, ii. 344; Gratz, Gesch. 
der Juden, v. 191-192; Neubauer, Aus der Petershburger 
Bibliothek, pp. 6, 107; Frankl, in Ersch and Gruber’s En- 
cuklopdidie, xxxiii. 14, 15; Steinschneider, Polemische und 
Apologetische Literatur, p.335; Shahrastani, German trans- 
Jation, i. 257; Dukes and Ewald, Beitrdge, ii. 26; Munk, in 
Jost’s Annatlen, 1841, p. 76. 

K, I. Br. 


BENJAMIN NABON, JERUSALEM. See 
Nason, BENJAMIN. A 

BENJAMIN ‘OZER B. MEIR: Polish Tal- 
mudist; died at Zolkiev May 25, 1810. He was 
rabbi in Clementow, and afterward head of the 
yeshibah at Zolkiev. He wrote “Eben Ozer” 
(Stone of Salvation), published by his grandson, 
Aaron b. Loeb of Pintschew (Zolkiev, 1792). It con- 
tains novelle toa large portion of the Talmud and of 
Alfasi, as also to Maimonides’ “Yad” and Asher b. 
Jehiel’s commentary. He also wrote novelle on the 
Shulhan ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, which, under the title 
of “Eben Ozer,” are appended to the Amster- 
dam oe of the Shulhan ‘Aruk, The later Russian 

38 


Benjamin, Moses 
Benjamin b. Samuel 


editions (Dubnow, 1820; Wilna, 1884, and others) 
also give these novelle. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Buhker, in Ha-Eshkol, ii. 178. 


L. G. 


BENJAMIN SALONICA. Sce Stonig, BeEN- 
JAMIN B. AARON ABRAHAM. 

BENJAMIN, SAMUEL: French soldier in the 
Carlist expedition against Madrid in 1887; distin- 
guished for bravery and remarkable devotion to 
Boulan de Brie, a lieutenant in the regiment in 
which he served. When De Brie was mortally 
wounded Benjamin carried him first from the field 
of battle, and afterward from the hospital where he 
had been left at the mercy of the enemy after the 
Carlists’ hurried departure from Huesca. De Brie 
died in Benjamin’s arms; and the faithful servant, 
gratefully remembering the kindness with which he 
had been treated by the lieutenant’s wealthy mother, 
was disconsolate, and exposed himself recklessly 
in the most dangerous engagements, performing 
remarkable acts of valor. Benjamin was a scrupu- 
lously religious Jew, and observed all the laws 
of his religion as far as was possible under the 
circumstances of the campaign. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sulamith, vol. il., No. 3, quoted from Col. L.'s 
article in Die Elegante Welt on the Carlists’ expedition 
against Madrid in 1837, 

Ss. P. WI. 


BENJAMIN B. SAMUEL OF COU- 
TANCES: Talmudist and French liturgical poet 
of the first half of the eleventh century. The name 
of the place of his residence, Coutances (department 
of the Manche, Normandy), was formerly Cou- 
stances, in Hebrew *3p1p; and Gritz (“Gesch. der 
Juden,” 3d ed., vi. 58) incorrectly transfers this Ben- 
jamin to Constance on the Lake of Constance. The 
old scholars conferred on Benjamin the honorable 
title “payyetan”; for he was one of the most prolific 
and most gifted of the payyetanim. In the various 
ritual collections thirty-one of his liturgical pieces 
are preserved. 

The fact that most of his poems occur in the 
French ritual, while the old German and Polish 
rituals contain each but one of his poems, suffices 
to show that Griitz’s conjecture is wrong. Benja- 
min wrote in the main for the three festivals and 
New-Year’s Day, and some few poems for the Day 
of Atonement. It is doubtful whether certain lit- 
urgies containing “ Benjamin” in acrostic are to be 
attributed to him or to his younger contemporary, 
Benjamin b. Zerah. 

Benjamin was considered, also, a great Talmudic 
authority; and one of his decisions, cited by Isaac 
ha-Levi, Rashi’s teacher, is of some importance. In 
this he shows the connection between Midrash and 
piyyut, explaining that both originated in public 
readings, and drawing the conclusion that the op- 
position to the insertion of piyyutim in the prayers is 
unfounded. Benjamin’s preference for Akiba’s 
“ Alphabet,” which he uses in his liturgical poems, 
reveals a certain inclination toward mysticism. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 174; Gross, Gatlia 
Judaica, p. 553; Kohn, Mordecai b. Hillel, pp. 103, 163, 
Breslau, 1878; Hayimee rattan eee p. ae 
Michael. Or ha~-Hayyim, p. ; Rapoport, in Bikkwre ha- 
‘Tttim, x. 121; Zunz, Literaturgeseh. pp. 115-120, 240. 

LL. 


Benjamin the Shepherd 
Benjamin Wolf 


who lived in Babylonia at the beginning of the third 
century. The Talmud has transmitted the formula 
of a blessing of which he was the author. Benja- 
min, who possessed no knowledge of Hebrew, and 
was therefore unable to recite the prescribed grace 
after meals (“birkat ha-mazon”), substituted the 
following brief ejaculation in Aramaic: “ Blessed be 
the <All-Merciful, the owner of this bread” (Ber. 
40b), This prayer is still taught little children who 
are unable to recite the “birkat ha-mazon.” Com: 
pare “Ba’er Heteb” to Shulhan ‘Aruk, Orah 
Hay yim, 187, 1; Bacher, in Brody’s “ Zeit. fiir Hebr. 
Bibl.” v, 154. In Yer. Ber. vi. 10b, bottom, the same 
story is related of “some Persian”; in both places 
Rab is cited as approving the plain man’s prayer. 

J. SR. L. G. 

BENJAMIN, SIMEON (also known as Benja- 
min, Levi): English Hebrew grammarian, who 
published in 1773 at London “ Da‘at Kedoshim ” 
(Knowledge of the Holy), a short Hebrew grammar. 
It deserves attention as one of the earliest works 
composed by an Ashkenazi in England. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zedner, Catalogue, p. 87; Jacobs and Wolf, 
Bibliotheca, No. 2078. J 


BENJAMIN OF TIBERIAS: A rich Jew 
who, when the emperor ,Heraclius in 628 went to 
Jerusalem during the Persian war, was accused of 
hostility toward the Christians. This accusation 
probably implied that he sided with the Persians, 
Notwithstanding this charge, however, the emperor 
became the guest of Benjamin, who provided both 
for him and for his army. Reproached by Hera- 
clius for his hostility toward the Christians, Benja- 
min frankly declared: “The Christians, also, are 
enemies of my religion.” When the emperor pun- 
ished the Jews after his victory, he spared Benjamin 
on condition that the latter would consent to bap- 
tism, and perhaps with the further understanding 
that he would emigrate to Egypt. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. Bonn, 1. 
504; Jost, Gesch. der Israeliten, v. 205; Gritz, Gesch. der 
Juden, 3d ed., v.27. A passage from Elia Rabba (819) has 
been recently referred to our Benjamin; see Friedmann, 
** Elia Rabba,’’ p. 101, Vienna, 1902. 

G. S. Kr. 
BENJAMIN OF TUDELA: <A celebrated trav- 
eler of the twelfth century. Beyond his journey, 
no facts of his lifeare known. In the preface to his 
itinerary, entitled “ Massa‘ot shel Rabbi Binyamin ” 
(Travels of Rabbi Benjamin), the information is fur- 
nished that he came from Tudela in Navarre, and 
that his father’s name was Jonah. This descriptive 
work, written inan easy, fluent Hebrew, is compiled, 
as the preface states, from notes made by the trav- 
eler on the spot and brought back by him in 1178 to 
Castile. The unknown author of the preface prob- 
ably compiled the account for Benjamin from these 
notes, retaining the traveler’s own words in the first 
person, but omitting much. Benjamin, for instance, 
claims to have noted down everything that he saw 
and all that he heard from the mouths of men of 
established reputation in Spain. His notes, there- 
fore, may have contained at the same time the 
names of his informants; but in the book as pub- 
lished only Abraham the Pious is mentioned by name 
as having given information in Jerusalem. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


BENJAMIN THE SHEPHERD: A shepherd 


34 


a a Ca 
Benjamin, who probably traveled as a merchant, 
evinced keen interest in all things, and possesseq 
a clear insight into the conditions and history of the 
countries he traversed. His journey occupied thir. 
teen years: setting out from Saragossa 


Travels in 1160, he was back again in Spain jy 
Occupy 1173. He made long stays every. 
Thirteen where, taking plenty of time to collect 
Years. his information and to verify or dis. 


prove accounts given him. Being ay 
intelligent Spanish Jew, he took an appreciative inter. 
est not only in Jewish affairs in the lands he visited, 
but also in the general conditions prevailing and in 
the various historical and educational facts related 
to him. His account contains numerous valuable 
details of the political history and internal develop- 
ment of countries and nations; and the history of 
commerce must always count Benjamin’s itinerary 
as one of its earliest and most valued sources. The 
commercial importance of Barcelona and Mont- 
pellier, of Constantinople and Alexandria, as centers 
of international trade is vividly depicted. The sit- 
uation of some cities—as, for instance, Amalti—ig 
described in terse but graphic words. He givesa 
clear picture of the peculiarities of the republics of 
Genoa and Pisa, in which every house was a fortress, 
His characterization of the Greeks is accurate: wa- 
ging war by means of mercenaries, he says, they had 
come to have no warlike spirit themselves and had 
become women. He is struck by the significance of 

the victorious progress in Europe of 


His the Seljuks, whom he calls Turks. 
Accuracy He treats of the Assassins and Druses 
and with great shrewdness, as well as of 
Shrewd- the Wallachiaus, who were invading 
ness. Greece by way of the Balkan passes. 


He made the intimate acquaintance 
of the most important functionaries of the Byzan- 
tine empire, and has much to say likewise about the 
calif in Bagdad, whom he compares to the Christian 
pope. Many more of these little details of infor- 
mation could be adduced to show Benjamin’s acute- 
ness of observation and critical understanding of 
affairs, both Jewish and non-Jewish. 

But Benjamin’s chief interest undoubtedly cen- 
tered in the conditions of the Jewish congregations 
of the countries he visited, and about which he 
has registered so many and such important and reli- 
able accounts that his “Travels” are considered a 
source of the first importance for the history of the 
Jews in the twelfth century. With the sole excep- 
tion of the “Sefer ha-Kabbalah,” written about the 
same time by Abraham ibn Daud of Toledo, there 
is no work which compares with Benjamin’s in 
value, His accounts, moreover, cover the majority 
of the countries then inhabited by Jews. In a spe- 
cies of panoramic view, he gives full descriptions of 
the Jews living in all those lands, with accurate 
data about them, their civil standing, their occupa- 
tions, their schools, and their leading men. 

Benjamin’s route to the East took him through 
Catalonia, southern France, Italy, Greece, the islands 
of the Levant, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, to 
Bagdad. Arrived at that city, which was ther 
again the residence of a Jewish exilarch, he gath- 
ered information concerning countries which lay 


35 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Benjamin the Shepherd 
Benjamin Woif 


Reser re ag ey ae ge ne a ee ee ee Se 


still farther east and north, and concerning the large 
Jewish congregations of Persia and of the countries 
peyond the Oxus. His homeward journey lay 
through Khuzistan, the Indian ocean, and Yemen, to 
Egypt. where he stayed a long time; thence by way 
of Sicily back to Spain. Some remarkable notes are 

iven at the end of the book concerning the Jews of 
Germany, as also those of the Slavonic lands east of 
prague. Likewise northern France, with its incom- 
parable scholars, hospitality, and fraternal feeling, 
‘g not forgotten. Benjamin did not himself visit 
these latter countries, and so was not personally ac- 
quainted with any of their leading men. In other 
places Benjamin—probably not a scholar himself, 
put possessing a profound respect for scholarship— 
always enumerates the principal men and the heads 
of the Jewish communities. His book thus contains 
the names of no less than 248 of those he knew, 
among them many well known to history. 

Of especial importance are his statistical data; 
and it is from his accounts that the first accurate 
representation of the density of the Jewish popula- 
tion in certain districts and cities is obtained. He 
furnishes also important and reliable accounts of the 

civil occupations of the Jews. From 

His him it is learned, for instance, that the 

Statistical Jews of Palestine and of some other 

Data. countries extensively practised the art 

of dyeing; that the large Jewish con- 

gregation of Thebes, in Greece, was employed in the 

manufacture of silk and purple; that there were 

Jewish glass-makers in Antioch and Tyre; that in 

the last-named town there were also Jewish ship- 

owners; that among the Drusesof Lebanon, Jewish 

workmen were domiciled; aud that in Crissa, at the 

foot of Parnassus, a large colony of Jewish peasants 
existed. 

Benjamin also gives valuable particulars concern- 
ing Jewish sects. He tells of the Karaites in Con- 
stantinople, Ashkelon, and Damascus: of a peculiar 
sect upon the island of Cyprus which fixed the begin- 
ning of the Sabbath not on Friday evening, but on 
Saturday morning: of the Samaritans in Cesarea, Se- 
baste, Ashkelon, Damascus, and espe 
cially in Nablus (Shechem). He calls 
the Samaritans “ Samaritan Jews,” and 
describes peculiarities of their worship 
and language. His accounts of the Jews in Bagdad 
and other cities of the East are very full; and most 
interesting is his description of the grave of Ezekiel 
the prophet, and the solemn ceremonies there. His 
account of the pseudo-Messiah, David Alroy, who 
appeared shortly before Benjamin’s journey, is the 
chief source of information conceruing that remark- 
able episode of Jewish history. 

The details mentioned above will suffice to give 
an idea of the rich contents of Beniamin’s book of 
travels, which, though perhaps not altogether free 
from fiction, is preponderatingly marked by sobriety 
and clearness of narrative and a concise style, avoid- 
ing mere verbiage. 

_ Benjamin’s itinerary, published in Constantinople 
in 1543, has been reprinted as follows: Ferrara, 1556; 
Freiburg in Breisgau, 1583; Leyden, 1688 (with 
Latin translation); Amsterdam, 1697; Altdorf, 1762; 
Sulzbach, 1783 ; Zolkiev, 1805; Lemberg, 1859; War- 


Jewish 
Sects. 


saw, 1884. The work was published in Latin by 

Arias Montanus (Antwerp, 1575), and by C. 1’Em- 

pereur (Leyden, 1683); in German, by Mordecai 

ben Moses Drucker (Amsterdam, 1691; Frankfort- 
on-the-Main, 1711, perhaps following the Latin of 

L’Empereur); in French by Bergeron (“Recueil des 

Voyages,” The Hague, 1735, following the trans- 

lation of Arias Montanus; also Paris, 1830), and by 

J. Ph. Baratier (Amsterdam, 1734); in English in 

1625 (London, from the Latin of Arias Montanus), 

1744 (S. Harris, “Collection of Voyages,” vol. i.), 

1784 (ed. R. Gerrons), 1808 (Pinckerton, “Genera! 

Collection,” vol. vii.); by A. Asher, London, 1840; 

and in part by M. N. Adler (“Pal, Explor. Fund 

Quarterly Statement,” October, 1894, pp. 288 ef seq., 

from a manuscript in the British Museum); and in 

Dutch by Jan Bara (Amsterdam, 1666). <A new 

edition has been prepared (1902) by Griinhut in 

Jerusalem, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Carmoly and L. Lelewel, Notice Historique 
sur Benjamin de Tudéle, Brussels, 1852 (also published as 
part of vol. iv. of Lelewel’s Géographie du Moyen-Age): R. 
Luria, Sull’ Itinerario di Beniamino da Tudeta,in Vessilio 
Israelitico, xxxvi. 56; Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften, i. 163; 


Steinschneider, Cat. Bodt. No. 4570; Gratz, Gesch. der’ Juden, 
vi. note 10. 


G. W. B. 

BENJAMIN, WILLIAM (commonly called 
‘¢ Bill Bainge’”’): English pugilist; bornat North- 
leach, Gloucestershire, England, in 1826. Benja- 
min’s first match was with Tom Sayers, the cham- 
pion of England from 1857 to 1860, for £200 a side, 
the battle taking place on the Isle of Grain, in Kent, 
Jan. 5, 1858. Sayers disposed of his opponent in 
three rounds. A second match, for the same stakes, 
was arranged, and took place at “Ashford, April 5, 
1858. On this occasion Benjamin made a strong 
defense, but was counted out in the eleventh round, 
despite his protest at being forced from the ring. 
This encounter somewhat retrieved Benjamin’s repu- 
tation, which had been lowered by his poor show- 
ingin the first battle. That he ultimately became 
a capable boxer is shown by the fact that on July 
29, 1861, at Home Circuit, he fought Dick James of 
Aberdare, against whom he had been matched for 
£100 a side, and beat him in two rounds, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Jews’ Annual for 5647 (1886-87), 


pp. 112-113. 
J F. H. V. 


BENJAMIN WOLF B. AARON. Sce Spiro. 


BENJAMIN, WOLF B. DANIEL: Rabbi in 
Chomsk, government of Grodno, Russia. He pub- 
lished “ Nahlat Binyamin ” (Benjamin’s Inheritance), 
festival sermons and a homiletic commentary on 
the Passover Haggadah (Cracow, 1642), 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodtl. p. 789; Michael, 

Or ha-Hayyim, No. 277. 

L. G. I. Ber. 

BENJAMIN WOLF ELEAZAR. Sce Low, 
BENJAMIN WOLF. 

BENJAMIN WOLF BEN ISAAC LEVI: 
Cabalist: lived at Leitmeritz, Bohemia, in the mid- 
die of the seventeenth century. He is the author of 
a work, “Amarot Tehorot” (Pure Words), explain- 
ing the difficult words of the Zohar, published by his 
son Saul, Lublin, 1745. Another work of Ben- 
jamin, entitled “Torat Mosheh” (The Teaching of 


Benjamin Wolf Rapoport 
Benoliel, Don Judah 


Moses), is still extant in manuscript (Oxford, No. 
1171). It contains explanations of the thirteen arti- 
cles of belief according to the Midrashim and Hagga- 
dot; theological and metaphysical articles extracted 
from the works of Spanish, French, and German 
scholars, with additions of his own; and historical 
sketches. 


BIBLIOGRAPRY: Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 581; Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. p. 790; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 169. 
K. I. Br. 


BENJAMIN WOLF RAPOPORT. Sce Rar- 
OPORT, BENJAMIN WOLF. 

BENJAMIN WOLF BEN ZEBI HIRSCH: 
Judeo-German writer; lived in the eighteenth cen- 
tury in Germany. He was the author of “Sefer 
ha-Heshek ” (Book of Desire), a Judzeo-German col- 
lection of medical prescriptions (Hanau, 1726). Com- 
pare NAPHTALI HA-KOHEN; JOEL HEILPRIN. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. iv. 797. 
LG. M. B. 


BENJAMIN YERUSHALMI: Exile from 
Jerusalem who lived at Bordeaux; said to have been 
one of the authors of WeHt RauvM, recited in the 
morning prayers on Mondays and Thursdays. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 17: Gross, Gallia 

Judaica, p. 73. 

K. J. Br, 

BENJAMIN HA-ZADDIE (“the pious”): A 
philanthropist of the tannaitic period. According 
to a Baraita, he was manager of certain charitable 
funds. Once there appeared before him a woman 
begging alms, but Benjamin protested that the treas- 
ury was exhausted. The poor, despairing woman 
thereupon exclaimed, “ Rabbi, if thou wilt not aid 
me, a woman and her seven children will perish of 
starvation!” Benjamin then undertook to support 
the family out of his own means. After the lapse 
of some time Benjamin became sick unto death. 
‘Then, legend says, the ministering angels addressed 
the Lord, saying, “ Master of the universe, Thou hast 
said, Whosoever preserves a single being in Israel 
is in Thy sight as if he had preserved the whole 
world: shall Benjamin, who has preserved a mother 
and her seven children, die at an early age?” 
Thereupon the decree of death was annulled, and 
two-and-twenty years were added to Benjamin’s 
‘allotted period of life (B. B. 11a). 

J. SR. S. M. 


BENJAMIN ZE’EB B. SAMUEL ROMA- 
NER. See RomManer, BENJAMIN ZE’EB B, SAMUEL, 

BENJAMIN ZE’EB OF SLONIM: Russian 
Talmudist; lived at the end of the eighteenth cen- 
tury; reputed pupil of Elijah b. Solomon of Wilna, 
and of the latter’s pupil, Hayyim b. Isaac of Volo- 
zhin. He wrote a number of letters, published under 
the title “Mazref ha-‘Abodah” (Purifier of the 
Ritual; K6énigsberg, 1858; Munkatsch, 1890), con- 
taining an alleged correspondence between Benjamin 
and the friend of his youth, Joseph of Nemerow, on 
the subject of Hasidism. In the first letter Benja- 
min asks his friend for information concerning the 
movement, his investigations not having enabled 
him to understand how Hasidism could presume to 
change the old laws, and to conform them to the 
‘rules of the Cabalists, particularly of Isaac Luria. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 36 








The friend’s “answer” follows with a detailed ac. 
count of the relation of the Cabala to the Talmud, 
and states how far the former may claim to be au- 
thoritative, even when in conflict with the Talmud, 
Benjamin’s next letter, a most interesting piece of 
work, gives in the form of a dialogue (“ wikkuah ”) 
between himself and a Hasid, the arguments for and 
against Hasidism, showing his thorough knowledge 
of the principles which distinguish the Hasidim and 
their opponents. Therein the opponent of Hasidism 
raises nineteen objections, which his anonymous 
Hasid meets, in almost every case satisfactorily. His 
friend Joseph of Nemerow then succeeds in convin- 
cing Benjamin completely of the truth of Hasidism, 

A very slight examination of the letters is suffi- 
cient to show their fictitious character and to de- 
monstrate that they are written for the purpose of 
illustrating the truths of Hasidism by an imaginary 
conversion of a pupil of Elijah of Wilna; an im- 
pression that is confirmed when, although alleged 
to have been written in 1787, they speak of Elijah 
as deceased (18b, etc.), whereas he died a decade 
later. Furthermore, a work of Elijah is cited (1%) 
which was not published until 1819. Whether the 
name “ Benjamin of Slonim” is also fictitious can not 
be ascertained, nor is there any clue that might give 
information concerning the author of this clever 
apologetic for Hasidism. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Deinhard, Miflagot be-Yisrael, p. 89; idem, 
Zemir “Arizim, Introduction, p. 15, considers Judah Bach- 
rach to be the author of the Mazref ha-’Abodah, but with- 
out sufficient evidence. LG 


BENJAMIN ZE’EB WOLF BEN SHAB.- 
BETHAI: Dayyan at Pinczow in the latter half 
of the seventeenth and at the beginning of the eight- 
eenthcentury. Heedited the Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen 
Mishpat, with notes that are a digest of the works 
of the rabbinical authorities of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, to which he occasionally adds his own views 
or those of his contemporaries. The book was pub- 
lished in Berlin in 1712 under the title “ Misgeret 
ha-Shulhan ” = “ Border of the Table” (see Ex. xxv. 
25), With a preface by his son Shabbethai, who lived 
in Halberstadt in the house of Judah Loeb, the son- 
in-law of the local rabbi, ABRAHAM REN JUDAH 
BERLIN, & patron of rabbinical studies, who seems 
to have defrayed the expenses of the printing of 
this work. Benjamin’s father, Shabbethai, was a 
brother of Samuel RoMANER, and Benjamin was 
therefore a cousin of Benjamin, the rabbi of Drssat 
and author of “Ir Binyamin.” In an appendix to 
the work are printed “Tekanot ha-Borehim,” the 
laws on bankrupts passed by the CoUNCIL OF THE 
Fotr LAnps. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 278, and the bibli- 

ographical works, s.v. 

L., G. D. 

BENJAMIN BEN ZERAH: Payyetan; lived 
in southeastern Europe in the middle of the eleventh 
century. He is called by the later payyetanim 
“the Great,” and also “ Ba‘al Shem” (Master of the 
Name), on account of the numerous names of God 
and angels used by him in his piyyutim. He wrote 
15 poems (“yozerot ”) for the Sabbaths preceding the 
feasts, and 40 selihot, published in the Mahzor of 
the German rite. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Benjamin Wolf Rapoport 
Benoliel, Don Juda 





RE ee eee, 

is piyyutim have an easy, elegant style. Paral- 
tels with Kalir are frequent. Judging from his 
celihah, PNT 7 NIN (“1 beseech thee, Lord God”)— 
in which he plays on the name of God—consisting of 
22 letters, and his “Ofan,” in which he gives the 
names of angels, Benjamin was inclined to mys- 
ticism. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Zunz, Literaturgeschichte, pp. 120, 189-143; 
G. p. 876; Landshuth, “Ammude ha-Abodah, p. 


i em, be we 

ie Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 208; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, 
, 16%. 

re I. Br. 


BENLOEW, LOUIS: French philologist; born 
at Erfurt Nov. 15, 1818; died at Dijon February, 
1900. He studied at the universities of Berlin, Leip- 
sic, and Gottingen, and went to France in 184t, 
where he taught modern languages at Nantes and 
Bourges successively. He became librarian at 
the Sorbonne; received the degree of “Docteur és 
Lettres” in 1847; was appointed professor of ancient 
literature at the University of Dijon in 1849; be- 
came dean of the faculty of that institution; and 
was pensioned in 1882. He was a knight of the 
Legion of Honor. Besides his graduation theses on 
the style of Sophocles compared with that of s- 
chylus and Euripides (“De Sophocles Dictionis 
Proprietate cum /Eschyli Euripidisque Dicendi 
Genere Comparata”) and the accentuation of the 
Indo-European languages (“De l’Accentuation des 
Langues Indo-Européennes ”), Benloew was the au- 
thor of the following works: “ Apercu Général de la 
Science Comparative des Langues,” 1858; “ Précis 
d'une Théorie des Rythines,” 1862; “Recherches 
sur l’Origine des Noms de Nombres Japhétiques et 
Sémitiques,” 1862; “Les Sémites 4 Tlion, ou la 
Vérité sur la Guerre de Troie,” 1868; “ Essai sur 
l’Esprit des Littératures,” 1870; “Un Dernier Mot 
sur les Prosateurs,” 1871; “La Gréce Avant les 
Grees,” 1877; “Analyse de la Langue Albanaise,” 
1879; “Les Lois de ]’ Histoire,” 1881. He also pub- 
lished an edition of Sophocles, and, in collaboration 
with H. Weil, “ Théorie Générale de 1’ Accentuation 
Latine,” 1885. 

8. J. W. 

BENMOHEL, NATHAN LAZARUS: The 
first conforming Jew obtaining a degree in a British 
university; born at Hamburg abont 1800; died in 
1869. He settled in Dublin in 1829 as teacher of 
languages; entered the university after a course of 
private study in 1882; obtained his degree of B.A. 
in 1836, and of M.A. in 1846. He held the position 
of deputy professor of German and French at the 
Dublin University from 1839 till 1842. 

Benmohel composed, but never published, the 
following works: (1) “Orthographia Hebreeo-An- 
glicana,” 1830—a new system of writing English in 
Hebrew current handwriting, after the usage pre- 
vailing in Germany; (2) “An Essay in Verse, To- 
ward a Comparison Between the History of the Chil- 
dren of Israel During their Journeys from Egypt to 
the Promised Land, and That of the Reformation”; 
(3) “Primitive Ethnology, Tending to Be a Guide, 
Basis, and 'Tributeto ‘Sammlun g Altdeutscber Eigen- 
namen’” (incomplete). He died in Dublin. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Anglo-Jewish Exhibition Catalogue, 1887, 
Pp. 22, 33, 62. y oe 
J. G. L. 


BENNETT, HENRY: Sergeant in the British 
army; bornin England 1868; killed inaction during 
the war with the Afridis, Nevember, 1897. He was 
a grandson of Solomon Bennett, the engraver, who 
translated the Hebrew Bible into English in 1841. 
Bennett was at first articled toa firm of solicitors; 
but in 1882 he enlisted in the British army—joining 
the first battalion of the Dorsetshire regiment—and 
went to Egypt, where be saw active service during 
the events occurring in connection with Arabi Pasha. 
He assisted in drilling some of the black troops up 
the country, and his knowledge of Arabic was con- 
sidered by the authorities to be of great value. He 
returned with his regiment to England, and when 
subsequently it was ordered to India he went out 
with it. After participating in the engagements at 
the front, he was killed on the retreat from Warren. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 26, 1897. 

J. G. L. 

BENNETT, SOLOMON: English theologian 
and engraver; born in Russia before 1780; died after 
1841. He wrote a considerable number of works 
on Biblical topics, among them “The Consistency 
of Israel,” 1812; “Discourses on Sacrifice,” 1815; 
“The Temple of Ezekiel,” 1824; “Critical Remarks 
on the Authorized Version,” 1834. 

Bennett began to publish a complete revised trans- 
lation of the English Bible in 1841; but only two 
numbers, containing Gen. i1.-xli., appeared, and the 
project was abandoned. His “Temple of Ezekiel” 
contains as a frontispiece a portrait of himself en- 
graved by Bennett after an original painting by Fra- 
zer. Bennett was in Berlin 1795-99, but spent the 
latter part of his life at Bristol. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs and Wolf, Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica, 
Nos. 908, 1896, 1897, 1906, 1914, 1928; Ben Chananja, iv. 1861, 
No.1; Nagler, Kiinstler-Lexikon, s.v. Bennett, Salomo; A. 
Wolf, in Kaufmann Gedenkbuch, 1901, p. 629. 

J. 


BENOLIEL, JOSEPH: Portuguese translator; 
lived at Lisbon. He wrote the small book, “ Porat 
Yosef ” (Joseph’s Fruitful Bough; see Gen. xlix. 22), 
containing Spanish translations of the sayings of 
the Fathers, the Pesah-Haggadah, the Song of Sol- 
omon, the Books of Ruth and of Esther, Lamenta- 
tions, and of some Haftarot (Lisbon, 1887). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. Eesp.-Port.-Jud., pp. 27 et 


aeq. 
L. G. M. K. 


BENOLIEL, DON JUDAH: Moroccan and 
Austrian consul at Gibraltar; president of the Jew- 
ish community there, and of the chamber of com- 
merce; died in 18389. When Sardinia sent a fleet 
against Morocco, Benolic] was enabled, in his consu- 
lar capacity, to settle the differences amicably. He 
earned special credit by his services to the Jewish 
community of Tangier. On account of a quarrel 
that had taken place between two Jews in a syna- 
gogue of that city, the governor, with the sultan’s 
consent, had all the synagogues of the city demol- 
ished. When the sultan Muley Abd al-Rahman vis- 
ited Tangier two years later, Benoliel, who was 
much respected by him, declining all honors for him- 
self, secured permission for the reerection of the 
synagogues. In memory of this noble self-denial. a. 
special memorial prayer is offered on every Day of 


Benschen 
Benveniste 





Atonement in the synagogues of Tangier. Judah 
Benolie! also possessed the full confidence of Cardi- 
nal Mastai-Ferretti, afterward Pope Pius IX. When 
the latter returned to Italy from Chile he entrusted 
Benoliel with large sums of money. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Report of the Anglo-Jewish Association, 
1877-78, p. 113. 
G. M. K. 


BENSCHEN: A Jud#o-German word meaning 
either to say a blessing or to bless a person. {It is 
derived from the Latin “benedicere”; German 
“ benedeien ”; old Spanish “beneicer”; Portuguese 
“benzer”; Provencal “benesir,” “beneir”; French 
“bénir.” Benschen is used specifically for the saying 
of grace after a mea). “Gomel Benschen” means to 
recite the benediction of thanksgiving after having 
escaped a great danger either in illness or in im- 
prisonment, or after some perilous trip by sea or 
through the desert, the benediction containing the 
word “ha-gomei”; “Blessed be thou, O Lord, who 
bestowest (ha-gomel) mercy upon the undeserving ” 
(Ber. 54b). See BENEDICTION, 

“ Benschen ” is used for the blessing of God—*“ Der 
Bore [Creator] wird dich benschen.” See “ Kaw ha- 
Yashar,” in Griinbaum’s “ Jiidisch- Deutsche Chresto- 
mathie,” 1882, p. 255, for the blessing of the children 
on Sabbath, festival days, and other solemn occa- 
sions. Benschen is also resorted to in cases of great 
sickness when there is little hope of recovery; the 
rabbi or saint is then requested to offer a prayer, 
often with a change of the name of the sufferer so 
as to avert his apparently impending fate. See 
NAME, CHANGE OF; and SUPERSTITION. “* Ben- 
schen ” is used also euphemistically for “slapping ” 
or “spanking.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tendlan, Sprichwoirter und Redensarten 
Deutsch-Jiidischer Vorzeit, 1860, pp. 485, 642, 743, 892, 1019; 
Griinbaum, Jiidisch-Deutsche Chrestomathie, 1882, p. 255. 


K. 


* 

BENSHEIM, SIMON: Mewber of the grand- 
ducal Oberrat (Upper House) of Baden; born at 
Mannheim Oct. 14, 1823; died there Oct. 26, 1898, 
Extremely active in congregational and _philan- 
thropic matters, he was annually elected by unan- 
imous vote a member of the synagogal council, 
and finally its president. The grand duke recognized 
his worth as a communal leader and as a public- 
spirited citizen by conferring upon him the Zih- 
ringer Léwen-Order of the second class. As a mem- 
ber of the grand ducal Oberrat he won for himself 
the respect and esteem of all classes of people. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Der Gemeindebote, p. 2, in Allgemeine Zei- 
tung des Judenthuins, 1898, No. 49. 


Ss. M. Co. 


BENTWICH, HERBERT: English lawyerand 
communal worker; born in London 1856; educated 
at University College and the University of London 
(LL.B.). One of the founders of the Hampstead 
Synagogue, he is also one of the chief pro- 
moters of the Chovevei Zion Association in Eng- 
land, and assisted in affiliating it with the Zionist 
movement under Dr. Herzl. In that capacity he 
attended the Basel Congress of 1898, in which he 
was a member of the presidential council. 

Later, when the somewhat diverse aims of the 
two associations became apparent, Bentwich severed 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 38 





his connection with the English Zionist Federation, 
He organized the Maccabean Pilgrimage to Pales- 
tine, 1897. Bentwich is an authority on copyright, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Harris, Jewish Year Book, 1901, p. 7A6. 


BENVENISTE (Hebrew, nw3332, in Catalan, 
Benvenist: The name of an old, rich, and schol. 
arly family of Narbonne, the numerous branches 
of which were found all over Spain and the Pro- 
vence, as well as at various places in the Orient. It 
is still borne by certain families in Bulgaria, Servia, 
and Vienna. It was also used as a prenomen (see 
Steinschneider, “Cat. Bodl.” No. 73848; Loeb, in 
“Rev. des Etudes Juives,” xxi, 158). 

1. Abraham Benveniste: Statesman and chief 
rabbi (or “court rabbi”) of Castile during the reign 
of Juan II., 1406-54. He was entrusted with the 
public finances. and, as he himself has stated, he 
controlled, in conjunction with the constable A1- 
varo de Luna, the entire administration of Castile. 
He wasrich and learned and an influcntial represent- 
ative of the Jews at court, being called thither by 
various events, of which the most important was 
the following: On the occasion of a malicious charge 
of ritual murder preferred against the Jews inacity 
near Ecija, Abraham Benveniste, together with Jo- 
seph ha-Nasi, the chief farmer of the taxes, and Abra- 
ham ibn Shushan, repaired to the palace in order to 
expose the falsity of the accusation and to prevent 
further danger to the Jews. In compliance with 
the desire of the Jewish scholars, and the petitions of 
allthe Jewish communities of Castile, the king, or, 
more strictly speaking, Alvaro de Luna, appointed 
Benveniste in 1482 chief judge of the Jews and 
court rabbi (Rab de la Corte). 

In order to consider the laws issued against the 
Jews, to further the neglected study of the Talmud, 
and to puta check upon the prevalent immorality and 
the practise of informing, Benveniste, immediately 
after his appointment, called a synod at Valladolid. 
It was composed of rabbis, scholars, and other prom- 
inent men, aud met, not as Graetz has it, in the 
royal palace, but in the chief synagogue, situated 
in the Jews’ quarter. Under the presidency of Ben- 
veniste the synod drew up a statute called the “ Te- 
kanah,” which was to serve asa basis for the admin- 
istration of the communities. It dealt with the divine 
service, with the glorification of the study of the 
Law, with state taxation, and with the welfare 
and progress of the communities. It is divided into 
tive sections; namely: (1) concerning the study of the 
Law: (2) the choice of jndges and other function- 
aries: (3) the practise of informing; (4) taxes and 
duties; and (5) apparel. The statute was to remain 
in force ten years. 

In 1869 M. Kayserling translated this statute into 
German froma manuscript in the national library 
in Paris; under the title “Das Castilianische Ge- 
meinde-Statut ” it appeared in the “Jahrbuch fir 
die Gesch. der Jud. und des Judenthums,” iv, 262- 
334, The Spanish edition by Francisco Fernandez 
y Gonsales is entitled, “Ordenamiento Formado por 
los Procuradores de las Aljamas Hebreas . . . en la 
Asemblea Celebrada en Valladolid en el Afic 1482,” 
Madrid, 1886 (see “Revue Etudes Juives,” xiii, 187 
él séq.). 


39 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Benschen 
Benveniste 


Steen ars Poe fag Se pO ef a ge eee eS ee ae Gag = yp pe Be ye a es Wah eee ee Ce eg OT ee ee 


Abraham is renowned for having reinstated the 
study of the Law and for having, by his liberality, 
kept many Jews from conversion. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shebet Fehudah, ed. Wiener, pp. 75, 116 
et seg.; Abrabam Zacuto, Yuhasin, ed. Filipowski, p. 226; 
Kayserling, l.c. pp. 283 et seq.; Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d 
ed., Vili. 141 et seq., 417 et seq. 
9g. Abraham Benveniste: A scholar known 

also as ‘‘Abrabam Benveniste the Elder,” to 

distinguish him from his grandson of the same name. 

He was born in 14838, in Soria, province of Caceres, 

Spain, and at his circumcision Joseph Albo made a 

eneech. Together with his elder brother Vidal, he 

furthered the study of the Law and encouraged Jew- 
ish scholars by his support. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abraham Zacuto, Vuhkasin, ed. Filipowski. p. 
ja, ed. Cracow, p. 131a; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., 
vill. 417 et seq. 

8. David Benveniste: Rabbi of Salonica in 
1550; mentioned as a rabbinical scholar by his con- 
temporaries (Conforte, “ Kore ha-Dorot,” p. 38a). 

4, Hayyim ben Israel Benveniste: Rabbin- 
ical authority; born 1608 at Constantinople; died 
Elul 17, 5438 (Sept., 1673). He was a pupil of J. 
Samego, but more particularly of Joseph Trani, 
who was much attached to him, and who eventual- 
ly brought about his marriage to the daughter 
of a wealthy man. Hayyim became rabbi at Con- 
stantinople, and later at Smyrna (1655), where he 
took a prominent part in the Shabbethai Zebi move- 
ment. Although his attitude toward the new Mes- 
sianic pretensions was at first somewhat skeptical, 
he soon became an adherent of Shabbethai Zebi—a 
step which later he deeply regretted and sought to 
efface from his memory b: penance. It is uncertain 
to what extent he was concerned in the dismis- 
salfrom office of his rabbinical colleague Aaron de 
Ja Papa, and whether he hindered the reinstatement 
of the latter. On his death, the funeral sermon was 
preached by Daniel Gerasi (see his “ Odeh Adonai,” 
No. 2, Venice, 1682). His hitherto unknown epitaph 
reads: 


Seayr mesa oym amp amos es Wn INE 
pads San mow dds mbyn by apeen Sang 


Benveniste was a man of astonishing learning. 
At the age of twenty-one he had already begun his 
commentary to the “Semazg ” (“Sefer ha-Mizwot”) of 
Moses de Coucy. This was followed by the notable 
work “ Keneset ha-Gedolah,” a commentary in eight 
parts on the four codes of the Law, of which the 
following were published during the lifetime of the 
author: “Orah Havyim” (Leghorn, 1657) and “She- 
yare” (= Addenda), 2b. 1671; 2d ed., Constantinople, 
1729; both included in 2d ed., Leghorn, 1791-92: 
“Hoshen Mishpat,” Smyrna, 1660; 2d ed. in two 
parts, 20, 1784). The remaining portions of the work 
were published, 1711, 1716, 1717, 1731, in Constanti- 
nople, where the “Dine de-Hayye” (Laws of the 
Living), or commentary on the work of Moses de 
Coucy, also appeared in two parts, 1742. The re- 
sponsa of Benveniste were published at Constantino- 
ple in 1748, and another collection of them, dealing 
with the “Yoreh De‘ah” and the “Eben ha-‘Ezer,” 
appeared in four parts under the title “Ba‘e Hayye ” 
(Necessaries of the Living) at Salonica, 1788-91. In 


addition to these there exist “ Pesah Me‘ubbin,” pray- | 

ers and rites for the first two evenings of Passover; 

an extract from the “ Keneset ha-Gedolah,” Venice, 

1692; and “ Hamra we-Hayye” (Wine and Life), on 

the Babylonian treatise Sanhedrin, Leghorn, 1802. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, p. 5la: Azulai, 
Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 54d; Zur Gesch. Shabbethai Zebi’s, 
in Kobez ‘al Yad, Sammelschrift des Vereins Me’ Kize 
Nirdamim, Berlin, 1899, pp. 4 et seq.; Gritz, Gesch. der 
Juden, 3d ed., x. 202; Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 862, 

5. Immanuel Benveniste: Noted printer and 
publisher in Amsterdam from 1640 to 1660. He 
published several rituals and larger works, among 
which may be mentioned “ ‘Aruk,” “Shulhan ‘Aruk,” 
“Sh’ne Luhot ha-Berit,” and a valuable complete 
and still popular edition of the Talmud. The last 
named, owing to a lack of purchasers, was offered 
for sale, soon after publication, at six imperials or 
less. From his workshop issued several well-known 
printers, notably the firm of Judah Gumpel and 
Samuel Levi, as well as Uri Phoebus Levi. Ina 
measure the fame of Amsterdam Hebrew printing 
can be traced back to Benveniste’s influence. Sev- 
eral works issued by him are known by the borders 
of his title-pages forming a doorway, or by his de- 
vice of star, lion, and castle. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ersch and Gruber, Encyklopddie, 2d section, 
xxviii. 65: Revue Etudes Juives, xiii, 272; Steinschneider, 
Cat. Bodl. No. 7893. 

6. Isaac Benveniste: Nephew of Aaron and 
of Phinehas 0. Joseph ha-Levi of Montpellier. 
He was perhaps the author of a ritual work entitled 
“Likkute ha-Dinim” (Collection of Laws), contain- 
ing 118 short decisions. It is still extant in manu- 
script. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Z. G. p. 474: Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. 
Hebr. MSS. p. 155, No. 786. 

7. Isaac Benveniste (Zag): Son of Joseph, 
(11); father of Sheshet Benveniste (No. 19). He was 
physician in ordinary to the king of Aragon in the 
early part of the thirteenth century, and lived at 
Barcelona; such was the esteem in which he was 
held that he was distinguished by the title of “ Nasi” 
(prince). In 1215 he summoned a mecting of dele- 
gates from all the Jewish communities of southern 
France, from Narbonne to Marseilles, to convene at 
St.-Gilles. The convention, of which the influential 
Levi b. Moses of Narbonne was chairman, met for 
the purpose of electing delegates to Rome in order 
to frustrate the plans of Pope Innocent TUJ., and to 
hinder any measures that the Lateran Council might 
devise against the Jews. The efforts of the depu- 
ties, however, were fruitless; for the Lateran Coun- 
cil decided that the Jews were to wear a special 
badge. It is due in large measure to the efforts of 
Benveniste that the provisions of this law were not 
strictly enforced in Aragon, On the recommenda- 
tion of Jaime I. and with the consent of the bishops 
of the land, Pope Honorius sent a diploma to Ben- 
veniste, exempting him, in recognition of his serv- 
ices, his abstention from usury, and his title of 
“catholicorum studiosus,” from every indignity. 
It was further stipulated that the Jews of Aragon 
were not to be forced to wear badges. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Verga, Shebet Yehudah, ed. Wiener; 
p. 114: Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, vi. 403; vii. 21, 26; Revue 
Etudes Juives, xvii. 92, xxxix. 63. 


Benveniste 
Benveniste b. Hiyyah 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 40 





8. Israel ben Eliezer Benveniste: Relative 
of Hayyim (No. 4) and of Josuva BEN IsRAEDL BEN- 
VENISTE (No. 18); aresident of Constantinople; died 
1677. He wrote “Bet Yisrael” (House of Israel), a 
collection of sermons and funeral orations, published 
by his son (Constantinople, 1678; Azulai, “Shem ha- 
Gedolim,” ii. 46). 

9. Joseph Benveniste: Son of the court rabbi 
Abraham Benveniste (No. 1); lived in Castile in 1400; 
and is said to have been wealthy, philanthropic, and 
a patron of Jewish science (Zacuto, “ Yuhasin,” p. 
226). 

10. Joseph Benveniste: Of Segovia; lived in 
Smyrna toward the end of the sixteenth century ; 
son of Moses Benveniste, and disciple of Elias Galigo 
and of Samuel Useda. Of his writings nothing re- 
mains but a fragment on the Talmudic treatise Git- 
tin, published by his grandson Solomon Algazi in 
the work entitled “ Dobeb Sifte Yeshenim ” (causing 
the lips of those that are asleep to speak, Cant, vii. 
10), Smyrna, 1671. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim. 1. 77, ii. 293 Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. Nos. 5888, 64387; Benjacob, Ozar ha- 
Sefarim, p. 108, No. 169. 

11. Joseph ben Benveniste: Grandson of Zera- 
hiah Gerundi, and grandfather of Aaron ben Joseph 
ha-Levi; lived about 1190 at Montpellier (Gross, 
“Gallia Judaica,” pp. 830 ef seg.). 

G. M. K, 

12. Joseph ben Ephraim ha-Levi Benve- 
niste: Castilian minister of finance, and councilor 
of Alfonso XI.; born at Ecija at the end of the thir- 
teenth century; died at Toledo in 1837, The Infante 
Don Philip being captivated by Beuveniste’s great 
abilities, pleasing manners, and talent for music, 
recominended him to his nephew Alfonso XI. The 
latter, not less charmed than his uncle, appointed 
Benveniste not only minister of finance (almozxarif), 
but also confidential councilor (privado). Ben- 
veniste’s position was a very influential one. He 
rode out in a state carriage, knights escorted him on 
his journeys, and grandees dined at his table. This 
greatness could not fail to excite envy; and Ben- 
veniste had to struggle against the plots of his ene- 
mies, under whose attacks he finally fell. 

As a token of his confidence, Alfonso sent him to 
Valladolid to bring his sister, Dofia Leonora, to 
Toledo (1828). When the Infante was about to set 
out, a mob, instigated by Benveniste’s enemies, at- 
tempted to kill him and his attendants. His life 
was saved by the princess. She asked the leaders 
to let him accompany her to the Alcazar of the city, 
where she promised to give him up, But, when 
there, she ordered the gates to be shut and refused to 
deliver him to the rioters. Alfonsoon learning what 
had happened marched against Valladolid, besieged 
it, burned many houses, and would have destroyed it 
entirely, had not more moderate persons dissuaded 
him. 

The plot having failed, Benveniste’s enemies had 
recourse to slander. Many complaints against his 
administration were made to the Cortes of Valladolid ; 
and the king, fatigued at last by these constant com- 
plaints, dismissed Benveniste from the council and 
the position of almoxarif. 


Benveniste’s downfall was, to some extent, due 
to himself. Samuel ibn Wakar, Alfonso’s physi- 
cian, stood high in the royal favor. Alfonso en. 
trusted him with the farming of the revenues derived 
from the importation of goods from the kingdom 
of Granada. Benveniste, jealous of his coreligion- 
ist’s influence, offered a higher sum for the right 
of farming the import taxes, Samuel, in order to 
avenge himself, privately persuaded the king tostop 
the exportations by the Moors, regardless of exist- 
ing treaties. This was followed by a war with the 
Moors, Alfonso’s treasury being exhausted, Gon- 
zalo Martinez, who had served under Benveniste 
and had become influential through his recommenda- 
tion, proposed to buy from the king ten of the prin- 
cipal Jews, for whom he would pay 800 Ib. of silver, 
The king, compelled by his need of money, con- 
sented; and Martinez hastened to seize his former 
benefactor and to throw him into prison, where he 
died. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Verga, Shehet Yehudah, ed. Wiener, 
pp. 30-33 ; Chronica de Alfonso XT. i. 88 et seq.; Lindo, His- 
tory of the Jews of Spain and Portugal, pp. 188 et scq.: 


Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., vii. 266 et seq. 
G. I. Br. 


18. Joshua ben Israel Benveniste: Rabbi in 
Constantinople toward the end of the seventeenth 
century; brother of Hayyim Benveniste (No. 4), and, 
like the latter, a disciple of Joseph Trani. He was 
a physician and rabbi at Constantinople in 1660, and 
was the author of the following works: “Ozne Ye- 
hoshua‘” (The Ears of Joshua), sermons for the Sab- 
bath and special occasions (Constantinople, 1677); 
“Sedeh Yehoshua‘” (Field of Joshua), a cominen- 
tary on several tracts of the Talmud Yerushalmi (2d. 
1662, 1749); “‘Abodah Tammah ” (Perfect Service), 
a commentary on the ‘Abodah for the Day of Atone- 
ment (2b. 1719-20); “Seder ha-Get,” on the formula 
for divorce, written at Brusa and published at Con- 
stantinople, 1719. Benveniste’s collection of re- 
sponsa,“ Sha‘ar Yehoshua‘” (Gate of Joshua), was 
destroyed by fire; but several of his responsa are 
included in the collections of Moses Benveniste and 
Joseph Trani. 

Benveniste prepared (1) “ Mishmeret ha-Mizwot ” 
(Observance of the Commandments), a metrical ver- 
sion of the Azharot, with commentary ; and (2) “ Le- 
bush Malkut ” (Royal Garment), a hymn in the style 
of Gabirol’s “Royal Crown,” of which medical sci- 
ence constitutes the foundation. Azulai claims to 
have seen both of these writings in manuscript at 
the house of a rabbi in Constantinople. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, dla; Azulai, Shem 

ha-Gedolim, i. 70. 

14. Judah Benveniste: Son of Abraham Ben- 
veniste (No. 2), and grandson of the court rabbi of 
the same name (No. 1). He immigrated to Salonica 
with Samuel Franco and the other Spanish exiles, 
and with them founded the Sephardic community in 
that city. He succeeded in preserving a share of his 
great patrimony sufficient for the purchase of a large 
collection of books. Several experienced scribes 
were always employed in copying the Mishnah, the 
Talmud, and other works at his home, which was 
the center of the scholarly Spanish exiles. Ben- 
veniste’s library was always at the disposal of 


41 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Benveniste 
Benveniste b. Hiyyah 


rep 


scholars; and many, among them Jacob ibn Habib, 

made good use of it. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Jacob ibn Habib, Introduction to ‘En Ya‘akob ; 
coronel. Quingite Decisiones, p. vii.; Michael, Or ha-Hay- 
yim, NO. Iie. 

15. Judah Benveniste: Disciple of Asher ha- 
Kohen ben <Ardot and contemporary of David 
Conforte; lived at Salonica, where he occupied the 
positior of rabbi. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 448, No. 973; 
conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, pp. 45a, 500. 

16. Meir ben Samuel Benveniste: Jived at 
Salonica, Where in November, 1059, he completed 
his work, “’Ot Emet ” (The Letter of Truth), contain- 
ing corrections of the text of the Sifra, Sifre, Mekilta, 
Midrash Rabbah, Yalkut, etc., as well as of the Se- 
phardic prayer-book (Salonica, 1564; Prague, 1624). 
In these books Benveniste modestly styles himself 
* corrector.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 6294; Wier 2r, 
Bibliotheca Friedlandiana, p. 69, No. 546, 

17. Moses ben Nissim Benveniste: Grandson 
of Abraham b. Hananiah, rabbi at Constantinople; 
was living in 1671. He corresponded with his rela- 
tives, Hayyim (No. 4) and Joshua Benveniste (No. 
13), and with others of his contemporaries. He pub- 
lished “ Pene Mosheh” (Face of Moses), a tripartite 
collection of responsa on the ritualistic codes (Con- 
stantinople, 1671; 3d part, 2b. 1719). His work 
“Rab Leshonot ” (Many Languages) has been lost. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azuwai, Shen ha-Gedolim, i. 1382; Steinschnei- 

der, Cat. Bodl. No. 6438, 

18. Samuel Benveniste: Dwelt in Tarragona 
in 1322, and was Hving in 1356, contemporaneously 
with Maestro Leon Medico, Maestro Mose Medico, 
and Maestro Yucef Avendagot (the last mentioned 
being identical with Joseph ha-Rofe ibn Abu-Ay- 
yub). Benveniste resided at the court of King Pedro 
of Aragon, as physician in ordinary to Don Manuel, 
the king’s brother. Hottingerand Benjacob say that 
he translated into Hebrew Boethius’ “ De Consolatione 
Philosophiz,” a work much read by the Christian 
scholars of the Middle Ages, but nothing is known 
about the manuscript. He also rendered into He- 
brew from Latin the work on asthma by Maimonides. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hebr. Bibl. viii. 85, 125; ix. 91; x. 84; Stein- 

schneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 466, 167 ; erroneously in Landau, 

Gesch. der Jiid. Aerzte, p. 39, who follows Carmoly, Méde- 

eins Juifs, p. 101. 

19. Sheshet ben Isaac ben Joseph Ben- 
veniste: Physician and writer; lived in the latter 
half of the twelfth century. Like Isaac (Zag) Ben- 
veniste (No. 7), who is supposed to have been his 
father, he was styled “ Nasi” (prince). He received 
his education at Narbonne, his probable birthplace ; 
afterward he lived at Barcelona, and later at Sara- 
gossa, in which city he died about 1209. It is said 
that he owed his high position to his knowledge of 
Arabic. He practised medicine, and was the author 
of a medical work, manuscript copies of which are 
still extant at Oxford and Munich. Such was his 
reputation as a physician that patients came long 
distances to consult him, and some are said to have 
journeyed even from Mayence (e.g., Solomon ben 
Hananel). Benveniste, whose generosity is praised 
by Al-Harizi, was poetically gifted and composed 
Several liturgical songs. Even in his old age he 


remained a friend of free investigation, as the fol- 
lowing epigram on Meir Abulatia shows: 
** You ask why ‘lustrous’ he is named, 
Though he the light so cheaply rated ; 
Because the dusk we ‘twilight’ name: 
By language-contrasts thoughts are mated.”* 


Benveniste directed a letter to the congregation of 
Lunel, in answer to the epistle of Abulafia to that 
congregation, in which he freely expresses himself 
upon the value of Maimonides’ “ Yad ha-Hazakah,” 
because it enabled the laity to control the judgments 
rendered by the Rabbis. He carried on a lively cor- 
respondence with Nasi Kalonymus b. Todros and 
with Levi b. Moses of Narbonne, where his brother 
Joseph also resided. He lost his three sons in their 
prime. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. xiii. 106 et seq.: 
Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, vi. 1, note 1; vii. 41; idem, Schechet 
Benveniste tiber Maimuni’s Wirksamkeit, in Moviats- 
schrift, xxv. 509 et seq. (the letter is reprinted in Gratz, 
Hebr. tr.v. Appendix, p. 11); Revue Etudes Juives, xxxix. 
62 et seq., 217 et seq. 


20. Solomon Benveniste (called the Elder): 
A prominent scholar and contemporary of MrfR BEN 
JOSEPH; lived at Narbonne about the middle of the 
twelfth century (Zacuto, “ Yuhasin,” 85a), 

21. Vidal Benveniste: Lived at Saragossa, 
Spain, in the fifteenth century. He was elected by 
the notables of the communities of Aragon chief 
speaker at the disputation of Tortosa (1414), because 
of his knowledge of Latin and his reputed wisdom. 
Benveniste wrote a refutation of the seeming evi- 
dences of Jesus as the Messiah, called “ Kodesh ha- 
Kodashim,” which is still extantin manuscript. He 
is not identical with Don Ferrer of Gerona or with 
Vidal b. Labi de la Caballeria, as claimed by some. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Verga, Shebet Yehudah, ed. Wiener, pp. 
68 et seqg.; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., viii. 414 et seq.; 
Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 804. 


22. Vidal Benveniste: Possibly a brother of 
the court rabbi Abraham Benveniste (No. 1); lived 
in Aragon at the beginning of the fifteenth century. 
He was the author of the poem, “ Melizat ‘Efer we- 
Dinah,” an allegory on pleasure (published, together 
with a number of Midrashim, at Constantinople, 
1516, and at Rimini, 1525) composed as a diversion. 
for the Purim festival (Steinschneider, “Cat. Bodl.” 
col. 2706). 

23. Vidal Benveniste: Elder son of Joseph 
Benveniste (No, 9) and grandson of the court rabbi 
Abraham Benveniste (No.1), Like the latter, Vidal 
was a promoter of Jewish science (Zacuto, “ Yuha- 
sin,” p. 226). 

G. M. K. 

BENVENISTE BEN HIYYAH BEN AL- 
DAYYAN (called also Al-Yasis [the Elder] or 
Ibn al-Yasis): Physician and religious poet of 
the thirteenth century, Zunz mentions three met- 
rical “bakkashahs” (supplications) written by him. 
At Benveniste’s request, Jacob ben Eleazar under- 
took the translation of “Kalilah wa-Dimnah” from 
the Arabic into Hebrew. To the preface of this 
translation Jacob prefixed a few verses laudatory of 
Benveniste. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Boal. col. 2708; idem, 
Hehr. Uebers. p. 879; Zunz, Literaturgeseh. p. 545; Lands-. 
huth, “Ammude ha--Abodah, p. 51; J. Derenbourg, Deux 
Versions Hehraiques du Livre de Kalilah et Dimndh, p. 
313, Paris, 1881. 

G. M. K. 


‘Benveniste b. Jacob 
Bequest 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 42 





BENVENISTE BEN JACOB: One of the offi- 
cers of the society Bikkur Holim of the Spanish syn- 
agogue in Venice toward the end of the seventeenth 
century. He was of Spanish descent, and is men- 
tioned together with Raphael ben Solomon Silva and 
Isaac ben Baruch Carvalho in the Sy TpMyptT AY 
wp) (“ Pulcherrima Inquisitio Anime ”), prayers for 
the sick and dying used by the members of the 
above-mentioned society (Venice, Bragadin, 1685). 
First wrongly attributes the partial authorship of 
these prayers to Benveniste (“ Bibl. Judaica,” i. 106; 
Benjacob, “Ozar ha-Sefarim,” p. 608, No. 1199); 
but see Steinschneider, “Cat. Bodl.” No. 83383. 

L. G. 


BENVENISTE B. LABI (y°25; also known 
as De la Caballeria): A Jewish Mecenas; son of 
“Prince” Solomon ibn Labi de la Caballeria; lived 
at Saragossa, later at Alcafiiz, where he died Nov. 30, 
1411. He was wealthy, learned, and greatly re- 
spected, and often took the part of his coreligionists. 
He corresponded with the most eminent men of his 
time; among others with Meir Alguadez, who, at 
Benveniste’s request, translated Aristotle’s “ Ethics ” 
into Hebrew; with Hasdai Crescas; with Isaac b. 
Sheshet; with Josepli Orabuena, chief rabbi of Na- 
varre; and with the physician Astruch Remoch 
Dios, or, as he called himself when he became a 
Christian, Francisco Dios Carne. 

Benveniste was a patron of science and of schol- 
ars. For him Zerahyah ha-Levi (Don Ferrer Sala- 
din) translated Gazzali’s “Tahafat al-Filasafah” 
into Hebrew; and at his request Joshua b. Joseph 
ibn Vivas Lorki wrote the work (probably now 
lost) on the virtues and function of foodstuffs, which 
was afterward translated into Hebrew by his son 
Joseph Vidal, Benveniste died at Alcafiiz and was 
buried with great honors. In memoriam services 
were held at Saragossa, Calatayud, Daroca, Soria, 
and other places. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jeschurun, ed. Kobak, ix. 6 et seq.; see Stein- 
schneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 211, 378, 762; Gratz, Gesch. der 
Juden, 3d ed. viii. 410 et seq. 

G. M. K. 


BENVENISTE DE PORTA or DE LA 
PORTA: Bailie (“bayle”) of Barcelona, Spain, and 
brother of Nahmanides (whose secular name was 
Bon <Astruc de Porta; see Griitz, “Gesch. der 
Juden,” vit. 38; “Jewish Quarterly Review,” viii. 
492, 710). Benveniste was an important capitalist 
of Barcelona and advanced money to King Jaime 
I. of Aragon, mainly on the security of the 
municipal dues owed to the king. Thus on Dec, 
17, 1257, he advanced 3,863 sueldos on the dues of 
his bailiwick (Jacobs, “ Sources,” No.1384); and on the 
15th of the following month he received the right 
to sell the dues of Barcelona and Gerona for two years 
(ib. No. 142). The total indebtedness of the king 
was no less than 199,483 sueldos (73. No. 144), 
which Benveniste was allowed to recover by taking 
the dues of Lerida and other places of his bailiwick 
(2b. 162). Part of the payment was made by the 
Jews of Barcelona themselves. who were ordered to 
hand over 12,000 sueldos to Benveniste (7). No. 168a). 

Meanwhile the king continued his applications to 
Benveniste for funds, drawing a check on him for 
5,000 sueldos June 12, 1260 (2b. No. 170a); while 


two years later the king acknowledged his indebted. 

ness to Benveniste of 15,221 sueldos for payment 

made on account of the Infanta Donna Juana, May 

21, 1262. In return for the advance, the dues of 

Villafranca (#0. No. 205), as well as 20 squares of 

land there (7. No. 232), and the dues of the Balearic 

islands (#2. No. 257) and of Perpignan (7b. No. 289), 

were granted to Benveniste. The latter continued to 

act as banker for the king, sincea record is found 
of acknowledgment of adebt of 15,000 sueldos, paid 
by Benveniste to the bishop of Barcelona when pro- 

ceeding on an embassy to France Jan. 1, 1254 (2. 

No. 855); and as late as Feb. 1, 1268, the dues of 

the Jews of Gerona were assigned to Benveniste (7d, 

No. 681). 

Altogether Benveniste stood high in favor with 
King Jaime—no doubt for value receitved—and 
when on May 29, 1364, his brother Nalimanides was 
pardoned, two-thirds of the fine he had incurred for 
the alleged crime of vituperating Jesus in the ccle- 
brated controversy of 1263 was remitted, the king 
expressly stating that the pardon was given “amore 
Benveniste de Porta, fratris tui” (“Sources,” Ap- 
pendix, No. 4, p. 180). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Jacobs, Inquiry into the Sources of Spanish- 
Jewish History, as above. 

G, | J. 

BENZION, BENEDIX: Russian physician and 
missionary to the Jews; born in a small town in the 
government of Kiev, Russia, in 1839. Tfe spent sev- 
eral years in Rumania, and was baptized in Berlin 
in 1863. Benzion studied medicine and was gradu- 
ated by the University of Wirzburg in 1867. He 
went to England, and having entered the service of 
the British Society for the Conversion of the Jews, 
was sent out to Rumania in 1874 as a medical mis- 
sionary tothe Jews. Transferred to Odessa, Russia, 
in 1876, he remained there for ten years, acquiring a 
considerable reputation asa medical practitioner and 
as a missionary. He left Odessa for Constantinople 
in 1886, but was not known as a missionary after 
1888. He now lives in the United States. 

Benzion is the author of “ Orah Zedakah,” a col- 
lection of proverbs and parables in the style of Ec- 
clesiasticus (Odessa, 1876); “ Kol Kore el Bet Israel” 
(translated from the English by Dr. Benzion, Lon- 
don, 1868); a translation into Judzeo-German of Jos. 
H. Ingraham’s “ Prince of the House of David,” 
under the title “ Tiferet Yisra’el” (Odessa, 1883-884); 
and a translation into Judeeo-German of Silvio Pel- 
lico’s drama, “Ester d’Engedi,” under the title 
“Der Falsche Kohengodel,” which has been played 
at the Jewish theaters of New York. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. F. A. de Le Roi, Geschichte der Evangelti- 
schen Judenmission, ii. 270-272, 281, Leipsic, 1899; Zeitlin, 
Bibl. Hebraica, p. 27; Van Straalen, Cat. Hebr. Books 
Brit. Mus. s.v. 

H.R. P. Wr. 

BENZION, BENJAMIN ZE°EB WOLF BEN 
JACOB HA-LEVI: Talmudist; lived probably 
in Galicia in the middle of the cighteenth century. 
He was the author of ““Et Razon ” (Time of Grace), 
containing essays on morals, intended for the first 
part of the Minhah prayer of Sabbath (Zolkiev, 
1777). In the introduction to this work, Benzion 
mentions two other works written by him; but these 
have not been published. 


43 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Benveniste b. Jacob 
Bequest 


Se ee Gag a By eee he ip Re ae emg PE aa EG ge iE a Sg ee 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, pp. 453, 454; 
First, Bibliotheca Judaica, i. 109. 
I. Br. 


L, G. 
BENZION, SAMUEL. See ENDLER, SAMUEL. 


BEOBACHTER, DER. See PERIODICALS. 


BEOR: 1. Father of Bela, king of Edon (Gen. 
xxxvi. 82; I Chron. i, 48). 2. Father of Balaam 
(Num. xxii. 5; xxiv. 8, 15; xxxi. 8; Deut. xxiii. 
4. Josh. xiii. 22; Micah vi. 5). I Peter ti. 15 gives 
the name as “ Bosor.” 

G. G. B. L. 


BEQUEST: A gift of personal property in a last 
will and testament. Modern English law and 
American law distinguish between a bequest and a 
devise; the former being a testamentary gift of 

ersonal property, and the latter one of real estate. 
This distinction, however, is based upon the feu- 
dallaw, and does not exist in Jewish law. Realestate 
and personal estate may be the subjects of a bequest 
in Jewish law; and although there is some distinc- 
tion recognized between these two classes of prop- 

erty by reason of the fact that one 
Definition. is movable and the other immovable, 

both of them may be bequeathed in 
the same manner. Subject to certain well-defined 
exceptions, modern law requires the bequest to be 
in writing. Jewish law has no such requirement; 
and an oral bequest may be entirely valid. 

The maxim of the law is, “The words of a sick 
man are like those written and delivered ” (Git. 18a; 
B. B. 151a); that isto say, the oral bequest of a sick 
man is in effect equivalent to a gift of immovable 
property by a deed in writing, or of movable prop- 
erty by delivery of the object. The absence of the 
usual formalitics required in the transfer of real and 
personal property does not invalidate a bequest. 
The Jewish law calls a bequest “the gift of one 
lying on a sick-bed” (“mattanat shekib mera‘ ”), 
and distinguishes it in several points from the gift 
of a person in good health (B. B. 158a; Maimonides, 
“Yad,” Zekiyah u-Mattanah, viii. 2; Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Hoshen Mishpat, 250, 5, 8). 

Inasmuch as the validity of a bequest may depend 
upon the condition of the testator’s health at the 
time when he made it, the law attempts to define 
the degrees of sickness. A blind, lame, or mutilated 
person, or one who is suffering pain in the head, 
eyes, hands, or feet, is for testamentary purposes the 
same as a person in good health; but if his entire 
body is weakened through sickness so that he can 
no longer walk about, and is obliged to take to his 
bed, he is technically a “sick man” (Maimonides, 
06. viti. 1, 2). 

The law considers a further distinction; namely, 
between one on his sick-bed and one on his death- 
bed; and this distinction also has certain important 
legal consequences. Some authorities are of the 
opinion that a person on his sick-bed isa “sick man ” 
during the first three days of his illness; and that if 
the illness be prolonged beyond that period, or if he 
be suddenly stricken with a dangerous illness, he is 
to be considered as a man on his death-bed, and his 
bequest under such circumstances will be subject 
to certain special regulations (Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Hoshen Mish pat, 250, 5). The law of bequests is in 


fact a subdivision of the law of gifts. a bequest 
being to all intents and purposes a gift, distin- 
guished, however, from an ordinary gift in that the 
strictness of the procedure is relaxed in favor of 
carrying out the intention of the testator. 

A distinction must be noted between a testament 
wherein the property is bequeathed by way of in- 

heritance and one wherein the prop- 

Bequest erty is bequeathed by way of gift. 
by Way of By the former, only those persons may 

Gift, etc. be made legatees who would naturally 

take the property as heirs of the de- 
ceased; under the latter, however, any person may 
be made a iegatee. 

The law of testamentary succession, as laid down 
in the Bible (Num. xxvii. 8-11; see AGNATEs), ig un- 
alterable; and any attempt made by the owner of 
property to bequeath it as an inheritance to those 
who would not naturally inherit it is null and void. 
No one can be made an heir except such persons as 
are mentioned in this Biblical law; nor can the prop- 
erty be lawfully diverted from the heirs by the sub- 
stitution, either orally or in writing, of some other 
person as heir (Mishnah B. B. vill. 5); but the owner 
of property has such control over it that he may dis- 
pose of it by sale or gift to any person, to the exclu- 
sion of his heirs. This important distinction, there- 
fore, must be noted, that a bequest by way of 
inheritance to persons other than the legal heirs is 
null and void, whereas a bequest by way of gift is 
valid. 

Although the testator can not makea stranger his 
heir, he may divide the inheritance among the heirs 
in shares different from those prescribed by the law. 
This right is deduced by inference from the text, 
“And on the day when he shall cause his sons to 
inherit ” (Deut. xxi. 16), implying the right on his 
part to divide the estate among them as he pleases. 
The heirs may not be excluded by the use of nega- 
tive phrases; for instance, if the testator says, “My 
first-born son shall not have a double share of my 
estate,” or “My son shall not inherit with his 
brothers,” such expression is null and void; but 
if he says, “My son A shall have half of my prop- 


erty and my other sons the other half,” this is valid 


(B. B. 180a et seg.; Hoshen Mishpat, 281, 1. 2). 

This rule applies only to bequests by way of in- 
heritance. .A person in a state of health can not af- 
fect the succession unless he does so by a gift with 
all proper formalities (Hoshen Mishpat, dc. 5, 7). 

If one bequeaths his property to a stranger under 
the belief that his son is dead, the bequest is invalid 
if the son afterward returns, because it is presumed 
that the bequest would not have been made to a 
stranger if the father had known that his son was 
living; but if the bequest is only of a portion of 
the property, it is valid, upon the presumption that 
it was intended to be a gift (B. B. 146b; Hoshen 
Mishpat, 246, 1). 

If a person bequeaths his entire property to one 
of his children, such one takes it as trustee for the 
benefit of all, and is entitled merely to an equal 
share with them; but if the father has bequeathed 
to him a portion only of the property, or if the in- 
strument on its face shows that it was intended to 
be an absolute gift, he holds it free from all trust, 


Bequests 
Berab, Jacob 





as his sole and exclusive property (B. B. 1381, 
150b; “Yad,” Zekiyah u-Mattanah, vi. 2; Hoshen 
Mishpat, 246, 4). 

The subject of bequests by way of inheritance 
is treated more fully under [NITERITANCE and WILLS. 
The present article is concerned more especially with 
bequests by way of gift. 

As above stated, by a bequest in the form of a 
gift the testator may practically disinherit his lawful 
heirs; hence, if a sick man in making a disposition 
of his property says distinctly, “I give this not as an 
inheritance, but asa gift,” it isa valid bequest, even 
though it excludes the lawful heirs (Hoshen Mish- 
pat, 248, 2). . 

Although the right of the owner of property to 
bequeath it to the exclusion of his heirs is recognized 

by the law, it is contrary to its spirit 
Dis- and is deemed a moral wrong. The 
inheriting Mishnah (B. B. viii. 5) says: “If one 
the Heir. deeds his goods to strangers and ex- 
chides his sons, his act is lawful, but 
the spirit of the sages takes no delight in him.” R. 
Simon ben Gamaliel said: “If, however, his sons 
were unworthy, his actis praiseworthy.” MarSam- 
uel went so far as to say that the father can not dis- 
inherit a wicked son in favor of a good one (B. B. 
133h). This, however, isnotthe law. The Shulhan 
‘Aruk, after citing the general opinion of the Mish- 
nah, says (20. 282, 1): “It is the practise of the very 
pious not to witness a will by which the inheritance 
is taken from the heirs, even though it is taken from 
an unworthy son and given to another son who is a 
learned and upright man”; and R. Moses Isserles 
(2). gloss) adds: “If one leaves general directions 
that his executors shall dispose of his property ac- 
cording to the best that can be done with it, they 
ought to give it to his heirs; for there is nothing 
better than this.” 

A bequest becomes valid only upon the death 
of the testator (B. B. 13%a; “Yad,” Zekiyah u- 
Mattanah, viii. 8; Hoshen Mishpat, 252, 1); hence, if 
the bequest is coupled with conditions which are 
impossible of fulfilment after the death of the testa- 
tor, itis invalid. Thus, if the testator’s bequest is 
in writing, and the instrument contains the usual 
formula that symbolic seizure (“kinyan”) has been 
made, but in fact this formality has not been com- 
plied with, such bequest is invalid; because it is im- 
possible that the legatee should perform the cere- 
mony of symbolic seizure with the testator after the 
latter’s death (B. B. 152a; Hoshen Mishpat, 250, 17). 

A distinetion, alluded to above, in cases of be- 
quests requires further amplification. The bequest 
mav be either one in which the testator makes no 
mention of his death, or one in which he does ex- 
pressly mention his death (B. B. 151b; “Yad,” Zeki- 
yah u-Mattanah, viii. 17-23; Hoshen Mishpat, @.¢. 7). 
In the latter case, the bequest, whether made orally 
or in writing, requires none of the formalities of a 

gift among living persons: all that 
Death-Bed is necessary is the simple declaration 
Bequests. of the dying man, which is carried 

into effect through the maxim, “The 
words of a sick man are like those written and 
delivered” (B. B. 147b; Hoshen Mishpat, J.c. 1; 
“Yad,” le.). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 44 





Where the testator makes no mention of his death, 
afurther distinction isto be noted; namely, whethey 
he has bequeathed his entire property or only a por- 
tion of it. If he has bequeathed his entire property 
without retaining anything for himself, the pre- 
sumption arises that he has given it on account of 
his anticipated death, and therefore it is a death. 
bed bequest; otherwise, it is presumed that the tes. 
tator would not have given away his entire prop. 
erty. If, on the other hand, he has not bequeathed 
all of his property, but has retained a portion of it, 
a contrary presumption arises; namely, that he does 
not expect to die of this sickness. Such a bequest, 
therefore, is treated like a giftamong living persons, 
and requires symbolic seizure in order to give it 
validity (B. B. 151b; “Yad,” Zekiyah u-Mattanah, 
xv. 16; Hoshen Mishpat, 250, 4-7). 

If a sick man uses such expressions as “ A shall 
have the whole of my property,” or “a part thereof,” 
or “shall acquire it,” or “shall enjoy it,” or “shall 
take possession of it,” each of these expressions in- 
dicates a bequest by way of gift. If, in making 
the bequest toan heir, he says, “ A shall be inscribed 
in my genealogical register,” or “shall inherit from 
me according to law,” it is valid as a bequest by 
way of inheritance according to the conditions 
above stated; but if he says, “ Let Aenjoy my prop- 
erty ” or “ Let him stand in it” or “rest in it,” A ac- 
quires no property rights in it. If hesays, “I leave 
my property to A,” thisis a gift: if he says, “My 
property shall fall to A.” this is an inheritance (B. 
B. 148b et seg.; “ Yad,” Zekiyah u-Mattanah, ix. 3, 4; 
Hoshen Mishpat, 253, 2). 

A bequest of “my movable property” includes 
everything with the exception of wheat, barley, and 
other grain. A bequest of “all my movable prop- 
erty” includes ail things except those which are 
fastened to the ground and not intended to be 
moved, such as the lower millstone. Technically 
these are fixtures, and go with the real estate. A 
bequest of “all my property that may be moved” 
is held to include even such fixtures (B. B. 150a; 
“Yad,” Zekiyalh u-Mattanah, xi. 12-14; Hoshen 
Mishpat, 248, 10). A bequest of “my goods” in- 
cludes all decedent’s movable and immovable goods 
(“ Yad,” Zc. xi. 15; Hoshen Mishpat, 248, 11). A 
bequest of “a piece of ground, and as incidental 
thereto, all my movable property, gold, silver, ves- 
sels, clothing”—in short, everything that may be de- 
nominated either money or goods—does not carry 
with it any other real estate, or slaves, or scrolls of 
the Law, because these are not acquired as an inci- 
dent to other things. The use of the phrase “inci- 
dental to” (“aggab”) is extremely technical. All 
sorts of personal property may be acquired without 
any special ceremony of symbolic seizure as inciden- 
tal to land; but land can not be acquired as inciden- 
tal to personal property (Hoshen Mishpat, 248, 12; 
see ALIENATION). 

Where a bequest is made to A for life, and after 
his death to B, the latter is entitled to take only 
What is in existence at the time of A’s death (B. B. 
13%a); but if Ais a lawful heir of the testator, B 
receives nothing, because a gift made to an heir is 
presumed to be given as an inheritance, and an in- 
heritapce can not be diverted fromm the lawful heir 


45 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bequest 
Berab, Jacob 


ne Tn ee 


apd his descendants (B. B. 129b; Hoshen Mish- 
pat, 248, 1). If the bequest is to A, and after him 
to B, and after B to C, they succeed 

Bequest for one another; but if B dies during the 
Life, and lifetime of A, the heirs of A inherit. 
‘con If B, however, is living at the time of 
Condition.” the death of A, he takes the property 
because A is entitled to its use for life 

only. If A has sold the property, he is guilty of a 
moral, but not of a legal, wrong; because, although 
he is only entitled to its use for life, B’s right in the 
remainder is not a vested right, but is contingent 
upon the existence of the property at the time of 
A’s death (Hoshen Mishpat, 248, 8). If, however, 
the gift is specifically to A for a definite period, 
and after that to B, a purchaser from A takes no title 
to it, and at the expiration of the fixed period, B may 
recover the property from such purchaser (2b. gloss). 

If a bequest is made “on condition,” the condition 
must be fulfilled before the legatee is entitled to the 
bequest. Jf the testator says, “A shall marry my 
daughter, and he shall be given two hundred dol- 
lars,” the condition is a condition precedent, and A 
can not receive the two hundred dollars before he 
marries the daughter (Hoshen Mishpat, 253, 12). 

A specific bequest may be given to an heir in ad- 
dition to that which he would otherwise inherit; if 
the sick man says, “Give my son A two hundred 
dollars that belongs to him,” he is entitled to this sum 
asa specific bequest in addition to any other rights 
he may have in his father’s estate (“ Yad,” Zekiyah u- 
Mattanah, xi. 16; Hoshen Mishpat, 253, 8), and he 
may reclaim it if it has been disposed of by the heirs 

(Hoshen Mishpat, 252, 2, gloss); but if 

Specific the legacy was not specific and the 

and heirs were merely charged with a 
Demonstra- moral obligation to carry out the will 
tive of the testator, their disposition of the 
Bequests. property is valid (2.). If the testator 
has given three legacies, and the estate 
is not sufficient to pay them all, they abate pro rata 
(B. B. 1388a; “Yad,” Zekiyah u-Mattanah, x. 13), 
unless he has indicated the order in which they 
shaliabate (Hoshen Mishpat, 253, 9). 

If one bequeaths a specific sum of money, to be 
paid to the legatee out of a certain claim which is to 
be collected from a debtor to the estate, the bequest 
need not be paid until the debt is collected: this is a 
demonstrative legacy payable out of a certain fund 
(ib. 11). A specific bequest of two hundred dollars to 
the poor, or a scroll of the Law to the synagogue, is 
presumed to be intended for the poor of the com- 
munity to which the testator belonged or for the syna- 
gogue which he was in the habit of attending (2. 23). 
A specific bequest of a “share” of the testator’s 
goods is generally taken to mean one-sixteenth, or, 
according to some authorities, one-fourth (2. 24). 

If one during his sickness has bequeathed his en- 
tire property to sacred or charitable uses, or has 
abandoned it all (see HEFYKER) and retained nothing 
for himself, and he afterward recovers, his acts are 
all voidable; but if he has retained anything for 
himself, his bequest is equivalent to, and subject. to 
the laws of, an ordinary gift and can not be revoked 
(“Yad,” Zekiyah u-Mattanah, ix. 19; Hoshen Mish- 
Dat, 250, 3, 4). 


A bequest of aclaim against another person, or of 
an instrument of indebtedness held against another 
person, is valid even though none of the formali- 
ties required in cases of assignment of claims has 
been performed; provided, however, that the be- 
quest Was made in contemplation of death, or the 
testator parted with all his estate (B. B. 147b; 
“Yad,” Zekiyah u-Mattanah, x. 2; Hoshen Mishpat, 
233, 20; see ASSIGNMENT), 

A bequest is revocable either by express words or 
by implication. Where the testator, after having 
bequeathed certain property to A, bequeaths the 
same property to B, the former bequest to A is im- 
pliedly revoked. If, however, the article bequeathed 
has been delivered, or symbolic seizure has been 
taken by the legatee, the bequest is irrevocable (B. 
B. 151la; Hoshen Mishpat, 250, 13). 

A bequest made by a testator under the belief 
that he was about to die is revocable, no matter how 
formally made (Hoshen Mishpat, 250, 14; “Yad,” 
Zekiyah u-Mattanah, viii. 23). But in 
some cases it has legal effect even 
though it isrevocable: thus, if the tes- 
tator bequeathed his entire property 
to his slave, he may, upon recovery, revoke the 
bequest; but the slave remains afree man, because 
through the gift he has become free,and freedom once 
acquired can not be lost (Git. 9a; “ Yad,” Zekiyah 
u-Mattanah, viii. 22; Hoshen Mishpat, 250, 15; see 
commentary, “Beer ha-Golah,” a@é@ loc.), In case, 
however, the slave takes the bequest under the fol- 
lowing form, “I bequeath my property to you from 
this day, in case I die,” and the testator afterward 
recovers, the slave has not acquired his freedom; 
because the bequest was made specifically on con- 
dition of death, and, the condition vot having been 
fulfilled, no property rights pass to the slave (“ Beer 
ha-Golah,” J.¢.). 

If a man is about to go on a sea voyage, or into 
the desert with a caravan, or is being led to a place 
of execution, or is suddenly stricken with a sickness 
that steadily grows worse, his bequests made under 
such circumstances are subject to the rules of death- 
bed bequests. If he dies, his bequest is valid; but 
if his life is preserved, it is revocable by him even 
though there has been “kinyan,” and even though 
he has not parted with all of his property (“ Yad,” 
Zekiyah u-Mattanah, viii. 24). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 8§ 250-258, 
281 et seqg.; Yad ha-Hazakah, Zekiyah u-Mattanah, vi.-xii.: 
ib. Nahalot, vi.; Saalschiitz, Das Mosaische Recht, pp. 826- 
829. Berlin, 1853; Bloch, Das Mosaisch-Talmudische Erb- 
recht, pp. 49-70, Budapest, 1890; Mayer, Die Rechte der 
Israeliten, Athener und Romer, ii. 478 et seq., Leipsic, 1866 ; 


Moses Mendelssohn, Ritualgeseize der Juden, iil., Berlin, 
1778; Bodenheimer, Das Testament, Crefeld, 1847. 


J. SR. D. W. A. 


BERA: King of Sodom; one of the five kings 
constituting the confederacy under Amraphel 
(Gen. xiv. 2). Ber. Rabbah 42 playfully inter- 
prets the name as though contracted from “ben ra‘ ” 
(evil son). 

G. G. B. L. 


BERAB, JACOB [B. MOSES?]: Talmudist 
and rabbi; born at Moqueda near Toledo, Spain, in 
1474; died at Safed April 3, 1546. He was a pupil 
of Isaac Aboab. When he fled from Spain to Tlem- 


Rev- 
ocation. 


Berab 
Berakot 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 46 





cen, then the chief town of the Barbary states, the 
Jewish community there, consisting of 5,000 fami- 
lies, chose him for their rabbi, though 
Chosen he was but a youth of eighteen (Levi 
Rabbi at ibn Habib, “ Responsa,” p. 298b). Evi- 
Eighteen. dence of the great respect there paid 
him is afforded by the following lines 

of Abraham Gavison (“‘ Omer ha-Shikhah ”): 
“ Say not that the Jamp of the Law no longer in Israel burneth! 


Jacob Berab hath come back—once more among us he sojourn- 
eth!” 


It is not known how long Berab remained in Al- 
geria; but before 1522 he was in Jerusalem. There, 
however, the social conditions were so oppressive 
that he did not stay long, but went with his pupils 
to Egypt (Palestine letter, dated 1522, in Luncz, 
“ Jerusalem,” iii. 98). Some years later (1527) Berab, 
now fairly well-to-do, resided in Damascus (Levi ibn 
Habib, “Responsa,” p. 117a); in 1583 he became 
rabbi at Cairo (7b. 38a); and several years after he 
seems to have finally settled in Safed, which then 
contained the largest Jewish community in Pales- 
tine. It was there that Berab conceived the bold 
idea which made him famous, that of establishing a 
central spiritual Jewish power. 

Berab’s undertaking, to be judged correctly, must 
be considered in connection with the whole current 

of thought of the younger generation 

Plan for of Spanish exiles. The overwhelm- 
Ordination. ing catastrophe of 1492, which, in view 

of the wretched condition of the Jews 
in Germany and Italy, had threatened the very ex- 
tinction of Judaism, produced phenomena which, 
while apparently opposite in character, were but 
natural consequences. IJinaginativeand sentimental 
persons thought that the promised Messianic time 
was approaching; they regarded their great suf- 
ferings as the process of purgation, as the $5n 
mv, the eschatologic “birth-throes,” of the Mes- 
sianic era. The main representative of this mystical 
tendency was Solomon MoLko, whose tragic fate 
by no means extinguished these fond hopes and the 
desire for martyrdom. But the delusion had quite 
a different effect upon more practical natures, Ac- 
cording to yet another view, the chief advocate of 
which was Maimonides, the Messiah would not ap- 
pear suddenly: the Jews would have to prepare for 
him; and the chief preparatory step needed was the 
establishment of a universally recognized Jewish 
tribunal as their spiritual center. 

Although the hopes of a Messiah, cherished espe- 
cially in Palestine, were fundamentally wild and ex- 
travagant, they afforded the right person an excel- 
lent opportunity to create for the Jews a recognized 
central authority, spiritual—and perhaps, in time, 
political—in character. There is no doubt that the 
man for the purpose was Berab; he was the most 
important and honored Talmudist in the Orient, and 
was endowed with perseverance amounting to ob- 
stinacy. His plan was the reintroduction of the 
old “Semikah” (ordination); and Safed he held 
to be the best field for his activity. The lack of 
unity in deciding and interpreting the Law must 
cease. No longer should each rabbi or each student 
of the Law be ailowed to decide upon the gravest 
matters of religion according to his own judgment. 


There should be oniy one court of appeal, to form 
the highest authority on subjects relating to the 
comprehension and interpretation of the Torah. 

Though this idea seemed new, it was not without ° 
precedent. The Sanhedrin in tannaitic times was, 
in a certain sense, Berab’s model. But the Sanhe. 
drin consisted of such men as could trace their ordi- 
nation back to Moses; yet for a thousand years no 
such men had existed. Berab, however, was equal 
to the difficulty. Maimonides, he was aware, had 
taught that if the sages in Palestine would agree to 
ordain one of themselves, they could do so, and that 
the man of their choice could then ordain others, 
Although Maimonides’ opinion had been strongly 
opposed by Nahmanides and others, and Maimonides 
himself had not been quite positive in the matter, 
Berab had so much self-reliance that he was not to 
be deterred from his great undertaking by petty 
considerations. Moreover, the scholars at Safed had 
confidence in him, and had no doubt that, froma 
rabbinical standpoint, no objection to his plan could 
be raised. Thus in 1538 twenty-five rabbis met in 
assembly at Safed and ordained Berab, giving him 
the right to ordain any number of others, who would 
then form a Sanhedrin. In a discourse in the syna- 
gogue at Safed, Berab defended the legality of his 
ordination from a Talmudic standpoint, and showed 
the nature of the rights conferred upon him. On 
hearing of this event most of the other Palestinian 
scholars expressed theiragreement, and the few who 
discountenanced the innovation had not the courage 
to oppose Berab and his following. 

To obtain the good-will of the Jews of the Holy 
City, the first use that Berab made of his new dig- 
nity was to ordain the chief rabbi at Jerusalem, Levi 

b. Jacob ibn Habib. Since the latter 

Dispute had for many years been a personal 

with Ibn opponent of Berab, and the two had 

Habib. had many disputes in regard to rab- 

binical decisions and approbations, 
Berab’s ordination of Ibn Habib shows that he 
placed general above personal interests. Moreover, 
the terms in which Berab officially announced Ibn 
Habib’s ordination were kindly ones. Berab, there- 
fore, expected no opposition from that quarter; but 
he was mistaken. Ibn Habib’s personal animus was 
not appeased, but rather stimulated, by his ordina- 
tion. He considered it an insult to his dignity and 
to the dignity of Jerusalem that so important a 
change should be effected without consultation of 
the Jerusalem scholars. He did not content him- 
self with an oral protest, but sent a communication 
to the scholars of Safed, in which he set forth the 
illegality of their proceeding and declared that the 
innovation involved a risk to rabbinical Judaism, 
since the Sanhedrin might use its sovereign author- 
ity to tamper with the calendar. 

Although Ibn Hahib’s tone was moderate, every 
one could read between the lines that he opposed the 
man Berab as well as his work. An illustration of 
this is afforded by the remarks made by Ibn Habib 
when he maintained at length that the scholars of 
Safed were not qualified to ordain, since they were 
not unprejudiced in the matter, and when he hinted 
that Berab was not worthy to transmit ordination. 
Berab was surprised by the peril in which his 


47 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


eee 

undertaking was now placed; and, embittered by Ibn 

Hlabib’s personal attacks, he could not adhere to a 

merely objective refutation, but indulged in person- 

glities. In answer to Ibn Habib’s observation, that 

a sacred ordination must not proceed from learning 

alone, but from holiness also, Berab replied: “I 

never changed my name: in the midst of want and 

despair I went in God’s way” (Ibn Habib, “ Re- 
sponsa,” p. 298b); thereby alluding to the fact that, 
when a youth, Ibn Habib had lived for a year in 

Portugal as a Christian under an assumed name. 
The strife between Berab and Ibn Habib now 

pecame wholly personal, and this had a bad effect on 

the plan; for Berab had many admirers but few 
friends. 

The ordination had been represented to the Turkish 

authorities as the first step toward the restoration of 

the Jewish state, and, since Berab was rich, the 

Turkish officials would have showed him scant 

mercy in order to lay hands on his wealth. Berab 

was forced to go to Egypt for a while, but though 
each moment’s delay might have cost him his life, 
he tarried long enough to ordain four rabbis, so that 
during his absence they might continue to exercise 
the function of ordination. In the mean time Ibn 

Habib’s following increased; and when Berab re- 

turned, he found his plan to be hopeless. His death 

some years later put an end to the dispute which 
had gradually arrayed most of the Palestinian schol- 
ars in hostile lines on the question of ordination. 

It is known positively that Joseph b. Ephraim 
Caro and Moses of Trani were two of the four men 
ordained by Berab. If the other two were Abraham 
Shalom and Israel de Curial, then Caro was the only 
one who used his privilege to ordain another, Moses 
Alsheik, who, in turn, ordained Hayyim Vital Cala- 
brese. Thus ordination might be traced for four 
generations. 

With the exception of some short contributions to 
the works of others, the only one of Berab’s numer- 
ous works ever published was his “ Sheélot u-Teshu- 
bot” (Questions and Answers), responsa, Venice, 1663; 
but the Amsterdam edition of the rabbinical Bible 
(1724-28) contains notes‘by Berab on Isaiah and 
Jeremiah. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Wilna, i. 86; 
Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, see Index in ed. Cassel; Frumkin, 
Eben Yerushalaim, pp. 34-40, Wilna, 1874; Fuenn, in Ha- 
Karmel, ii. 486-494, 576-580; idem, Keneset Yisrael, pp. 539, 
340; Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., ix. 12, 200-298; Jost, 
Geseh. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, tii, 128, 129; 
Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, p. 1069; Steinschneider, Cat. Boal. 
col. 1194; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 3073; Zunz, 
Z. G. pp. 250, 531. The most important source of information 
for the dispute about ordination is Levi b. Jacob ibn Habib, 


Responsa, pp. 277a, 328a, Venice, 1565; 8. P. Rabbinowitz, 
Mozavi Golah, see Index. L 4 


BERACHAH (“blessing”; A. V., Beracah): 
1. A Benjamite who came to David and joined his 
forces at Ziklag (I Chron. xii. 3). 2. A valley 
where Jehoshaphat and his men assembled after hav- 
ing despoiled the Ammonites and Moabites (II Chron. 
xx. 26). It is identical with the modern Berekut, 
west of Tekoa (Buhl, “Geographie des Alten Pali- 
Stina,” p. 97). 

G G. B. L. 


BERACHAH, ‘‘THE HERO”: A Polish 
Jewish soldier who was killed in the battle near 


Moreover, Berab’s life was endangered... 


Berab 
Berakot 


Moscow, in the Polish war against Russia in 1610. 
He was the son of Aaron ha-Kadosh (“ The Martyr”) 
of Tishovitz (probably Tyshovtzy, government of 
Lublin), and served in the cavalry, “on three horses.” 
In the responsa of Rabbi Metr of Lublin, and of Joel 
Sirkes (73), details are given concerning his bravery 
and daring, which gained for him the admiration of 
the Cossacks, who surnamed him “The Hero.” <A 
reckless rider, he made many attempts to break the 
enemy’s line, but was struck and killed by a bullet. 
The Cossacks much Jamented his death, afterward 
burning his body; when on the following day the 
Poles, aided by the Cossacks, won the battle against 
the Muscovites, they recaptured his horse and helmet 
and quarreled among themselves for the possession 
of his effects. 

These facts came to light through the testimony 
of Moses ben Joseph, who, in the name of eleven 
Jews who accompanied the army (probably as sut- 
lers), testified in the case of Berachah’s widow 
(“‘agunah ”) before the rabbis. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meir of Lublin, Responsa, No. 187: Joel 
Sarkes (7°32), Responsa No. 57. 
H. R. 


BERAH DODI (7 m3): Three piyyutim 
forming the GE’ULLAH in the morning service of the 
first two days of Passover, and of Saturday between 
the first and the last days of this feast (Syn nav’ 
syinn). Hach of these piyvutim begins with the in- 
itial phrase of Cant. vill. 14, having regard to the 
association of the Song of Solomon with the Festi- 
val (see MeqinuotT). Poems in this form were writ- 
ten in various epochs by Benjamin ben Samuel of 
Coutance, France, eleventh century ; Shabbethai ben 
Moses of Rome, 1050; Moses ha-Sofer ben Benjamin 
of Rome, thirteenth century; Menahem ben Abra- 
ham of Imola, fourteenth century; and Joab ben 
Nathan ben Daniel of Rome, fourteenth century. 

The melody to which the verses are recited in 
some German congregations is that of “‘Al ha-Ri- 
shonim ”; butin the more extended “ Polish ” use, the 
melody sung is one of the most effective of all the 
rhapsodies emanating from the wandering precen- 
tors of two centuries past. Although clearly of 
such comparatively late origin and undoubtedly 
coming from a Jew of northern Europe, it pre- 
sents that combination of the European minor mode 
with the second Byzantine ecclesiastical mode (often 
called the “Oriental chromatic”) frequently to be 
noticed in the finer folk-songs of the Levant, partic- 
ularly in those which bear the impress of an artistic 
influence (see Bourgault-Ducoudray, “Trente Mélo- 
dies Populaires de Gréce et d’Orient,” p. 84, note). 
The figuration, too, is the same as that in many 
Levantine, and also Arabic and Persian, songs (see 
music on p, 48). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Ba‘al Tefillah, No. 788; Israel, iv. 44. 


A. F. L. C. 
BERAKAH. Sec BENEDICTIONS; Music, Syna- 
GOGAL. 


BERAKOT (“blessings”): The name of the first 
treatise of Seder Zeraim, the first Order of the Tal- 
mud. By the term “Berakot” a special form of 
prayer is understood, that begins with the words 
“Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the 
Universe.” The treatise consists of Mishnah and 


Berakot 


Gemara; the latter in two forms, the Babylonian 
(Babli) and the Palestinian or Western (Di-Bene Ma- 
‘araba), better known by the name “ Yerushalmi.” 
The Mishnah, without any introductory remarks, 
without any previous statement that the Law de- 
mands the reading of the Shema‘ in the evening, be- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 48 








(ce) blessings (m1393). Of the nine chapters of the 
treatise the first three are devoted to the Shema‘, the 
next two to prayer, and the last four to blessings, ag 
follows: 


Chapter i.: Determines the time and the manner of the read. 
ing of Shema‘ (“ Keriat Shema*’’) in the evening and in the 


BERAH DODI 


Andame assai moderato. 





Be - rah do - di! 
Be - lov - ed!... haste; Do 


‘ad shet-teh - poz a - 
thou come back un - - to... 





klu-le - - 
Thine own;.......... 

















ke Ya - wan ha - re- sha - ‘ah sho-be-nu to-la - le - nu: ha - 
men of pow - er, with-out heart, how e- vil they en - treat US 2 des = 
mf 
——P = 9-9 rae ea Os 
—~— 2 
POS occas esses we - ka - ‘a - 
UVOY oo. cee eee and root them up....... from.. Of vvietnwtapeies weeds our.... 
I 
Z af = ——~ ars 
See ie So’ -£ oS ee 
| ee = = : og Og 
Ee o> es bee eae SAT A ES 
Se : . 
le - nu: ha - kem.... tu - re-ka hag - gen she-ti - le -  nu,... 
sa - cred site: raise up Thy _ strong hold, that we....... once more may sing,.. 
maestoso. a —_—_-_ — 
a —— =f 
: e ~~ ——_o-; 
saneeee Hin - neh ZED 65 ecucwews ‘o - med..... a - har kot - le - nu, 
dea ieia Bays “Be - hold, He........... doth — stand.... with - in our Fane” ....+ 


gins with the question, “ From what time is it alowed 


to read the evening Shema‘?” By adopting this 
method the author or compiler of the 

The Mishnah, Judah ha-Nasi, clearly re- 
Mishnah. flects the general opinion of the Tal- 
mudic teachers that the Torah with its 

traditional interpretation is the undisputed basis of 
the oral law. Another important principle is im- 
plied in this question; namely, that the religious 
day is reckoned by the Law from evening to eve- 
ning, and that the reading of the Shema‘ of the eve- 
ning is therefore the first religious duty of the day. 
The Mishnah Berakot treats of the three elements of 
the ritual: (2) Shema‘ (pow), (4) prayer (npn), and 


morning, and the number of blessings which precede and follow 
the reading. 

Chapter ii.: On “kawwanah” (intention and attention): in- 
tention to fulfil a divine command (** mizwah”’), and attention 
to the words read. 

Chapter iii. : On verses of total or partial exemption from this 
duty. 

Chapter iv.: On the prayer (** Tefillah,” °° ‘Amidah,”’ or ** She- 
moneh ‘Esreh’’?) of the daily and the additional services 
(““musaf”’), 

Chapter v.: On the necessity of preparing for prayer and 
guarding against error, especially with regard to additions to or 
deviations from the ordinary form of the prayer. 

Chapter vi.: Blessings before and after partaking of any kind 
of food. 

Chapter vii.: Form of grace for a company consisting of three 
members or more. 


4g THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berakot 


ee Ge Pa ee ee ee eS 


Chapter Vili.: On various differences between the schools of 
shammai and Hillel with regard to certain regulations at meals. 
Chapter ix.: Blessings relating to events which cause awe, 


In a few places, suchas 70. ii. 6, 7, and ix, 5, these 
subjects have been interrupted by apparently for- 
eign matter. In reality, however, there is always a 
certain relation between these interpolations and the 
principal theme of the chapter. The interpolations 
are original, like the rest of the Mish- 
nah, and do not necessarily belong to 
a later period. Z. Frankel, however, 
_is of the opinion that ii. 5-8 was added 
by later authorities; but his argument. 
ig not conclusive (see preface to Talmud Yerushalmi, 
ed. Z Frankel, Vienna, 1874, and his “* Darke ha- 
Mishnah,” p. 264). The treatise fitly concludes with 
the folowing two regulations: (1) the name of God 
to be employed in ordinary greetings, in order to 
emphasize the belief in the existence of God, the 
Creator and Ruler of the universe; (2) in the responses 
the phrase “from world to world” to be substituted 
for the phrase “from [the beginning] of the world,” 
in order to emphasize the belief in the existence of 
another world or life beyond the present one. The 
present division of the treatises into chapters and the 
order of the chapters seem to be the same as fixed 
by Judah ha-Nasi, since with few exceptions the 
Palestinian and the Babylonian recensions of the 
Talmud have the same division and order. Hence 
the rule, “there is a fixed order of the Mishnah ” 
(navn “1D vw), is a principle adopted in the Tal- 
mud. As regards the treatise Berakot, Rashi seems 
to have had in his copy of the Talmud the order of 
ch. iii. and iv. inverted (see Tos. to Bab. Tahn. 17b, 
beginning inDwv ). The subdivision of the chap- 
ters into paragraphs or Mishnahs does not seem to 
have ever been fixed (Z. Frankel, “ Darke ha-Mish- 
nah,” p. 265). 

The Mishnah contains but a few semi-haggadic 
elements (i. 5, ii. 2, v. 5, and ix. 5); and noteworthy 
are the midrashic remarks on Deut. vi. 5; Ps. cxix. 
126; and Prov. xxiii. 22. 

The Tosefta Berakot has the same order as the 
Mishnah. Following the division of chapters in the 
edition of Zuckermandel, ch. i. corresponds to ch. i. 
of the Mishnah; ch. ii. to ch. ti.-iii. ; ch. iil. to ch. iv.- 
v.; ch. iv. to ch. vi.-vii.; ch. vi. toch. viit.; ch. vii. 


Interpola- 
tions Are 
Original. 


toch. ix. There remains only ch. v., 
The which does not correspond to any chap- 
Tosefta. ter in the Mishnah; it contains regu- 


lations with regard to the “kiddush ” 
(sanctification) on Friday evening, in case the meal 
commences in the afternoon, and rules for the guid- 
ance of guests at a banquet. The Tosefta includes 
more haggadic elements than the Mishnah (com- 
pare end of ch. i. ; ch. iv. 14-16). The Palestinian Ge- 
mara seems to expound the Tosefta as well as the 
Mishnah, as is illustrated by the following instance: 
“In Mishnah i. 4, ‘in the morning two blessings are 
recited before the Shema‘, a long one anda short one 
-.. Where they [the sages] ordained a long one, 
it must not be shortened; and, vice versa, a short 
one must not be replaced by a long one. Where a 
blessing with a concluding formula has been or- 
dained, that formula must not be omitted; and 

Iil.—4 


where it has not been ordained it must not be added.” 
This Mishnah is duly expounded in both the Baby- 
Jonian and the Palestinian Gemaras. The Tosefta 
(i. 5) adds: “ Where they ordained to bow down, this 
inust not be neglected; and the bowing down must 
not take place where they have not ordained it.” 
This paragraph is not noticed in the Babylonian 
Gemara, but is fully discussed in the Palestinian 
(Yer. i. 8c et seg.). (See ADoration.) Another in- 
stance is the paragraph on the blessings before the 
performance of a divine command (mizwah) in ch. 
vii. of the Tosefta and the corresponding section on 
the same subject inch. ix. of the Palestinian Gemara 
(Yer. ix. 14a). 

The Gemara supplements and fully discusses the 
laws (Halakot) mentioned in the Mishnah, and em- 
ploys to a much wider extent the method of intro- 

ducing extraneous matter whenever 


The the subject under discussion gives oc- 
Gemara.  casion for such interruptions by a text 
quoted, a name mentioned, or a lesson 

taught. This characteristic of the Gemara is more 


apparent in the Babylonian than in the Palestinian 
recension. 

Of the haggadic topics thus interpolated in the 
Babylonian Geiara the following may be mentioned: 


(1) On the divine sympathy with Israel (p. 8a). 

(2) On sufferings, which are divided into those sent as pun- 
ishment, and undeserved sufferings sent as trials, termed * suf- 
ferings of love”’ (“*yesurin shel ahabah’’) (5a). 

(3) On invisible evil agents (“‘ mazzikin ’’) (6a). 

(4) On the method of divine retribution (7a). 

(5) On the relation between God and Israel, based on mutual 
love. Israel expresses this feeling by communing with God in 
prayer and by wearing the TEFILLIN containing the declaration 
of God’s unity and sovereignty. Accordingly the idea of God’s 
love toward Israe! is figuratively described in the dictum, ‘* God 
prays—desires to show merey—and lays tefillin, containing 
declarations of Israel’s distinction ’’ (6a, 7a). 

{6) On the status of the dead, and their intercourse with the 
living (18b). 

(7) The temporary deposition of the nasi Rabban Gamaliel in 
Jatonia (p. 27). 

(8) Midrashic account of the prayer of Hannah, and the inter- 
cession of Moses for Israel (3la, b). 

(9) King Alexander Jannéeus and Simon ben Shetah (482). 

(10) Midrashie account of Og, king of Bashan (54b). 

(11) A legendary illustration of the dictum, ‘* All dreams fol- 
low the interpretation given to them ”’ (S5a, b). 

(12) Death of R. Akiba (bib). 

(13) On hospitality (63b). 


With regard to the text of the Bible, remarks are 
met with on the dots over each letter of the word 
roby, Ps. xxvii. 13 (4a); on the absence of a verse 
beginning with the letter “nun” in Ps. exlv. (p. 4b); 
on the division of the Psalms (9b). Texts wrongly 
quoted are: Gen. vii. 23, ROAD TY) DIN, instead 
of Mond Ty OND (p. 61a); and inwe nN mapdse aby, 


instead of AnD m9poN —5%, I Sam. ii. 11. Here 
probably the words “to Ramab to his 


Books house” are taken as identical with the 
Citedin phrase “after bishouse.” Besides the 
Bab. Bible, other books are mentioned in the 
Gemara. Babylonian Gemara: A Book of Hag- 


gadot (NMTIN'T NHS), 28a; “ Ailkot 

Derek Erez” (Rules of Good Manners), 22a, and 
“Sefer Refu’ot ” (Book of Remedies), 10b. 

The Palestinian Gemara includes a short account 

of the temporary deposition of the nasi Rabban 

Gamaliel (iv. 7c et seg.; somewhat differently 


Berakot 
Berdyczewski 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


50 


ee SS, 


narrated in Bab. 27b); the legend of Menahem ben 
Hezekiah (the predestined Messiah) and his mother 
(ii. 5a); the meeting of King Janneeus and Simon 
ben Shetah (vii. 11b; paralleled in Bab. 48a), on 
Which incident the Palestinian Talmud (vii. 11b) 
quotes from the Book of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus), 
qVwin as poy qoorny asap (“exalt her, and 
she will raise thee and give thee a place between 
princes”), where Bab. (Ber. 48a) quotes from Prov- 
erbs (iv. &); the controversy between 
The R. Simlai and the Minim on the use of 
Palestinian the plural in the phrase “Let us make ” 
Gemara. (Gen. i. 26) (Yer. Ber, viii. 12d); and 
the death of R. Akiba (ix. 14b et seq., 

parallel to Bab. 61b). 

Both Gemaras include a goodly number of original 
prayers, most of which have found a place in the daily 
prayer-book. It is noteworthy that in the Yeru- 
shalmi the form for MYO Nid (blessings prece- 
ding the performance of divine precepts, “mizwot ”) 
is given, but is omitted in the Babylonian Gemara. 
The prayers do not differ essentially in the two 
Gemaras, either in form or in substance (compare 
Wiesner, “Gib’at Yerushalayim,” pp. 7 e¢ seq.). 
Each Gemara closes with the dictum, “Scholars in- 
crease peace in the world,” etc. 

As to the Halakah, the dictates of the Mishnah 
seem to have been followed in Palestine more rigidly 
thanin Babylonia. Thus with regard tothe reading 
of the evening Shema‘, which, according to the 
Mishnah (i. 1), must not take place before the com- 
mencement of actual night, if it have been read before 
that time, it must, according to the Yerushalmi, be re- 
peated at the proper time (Yer. Ber. i., beginning); 
no indication of this is given in the Babylonian Ge- 
mara (see Rashi on Ber., beginniug). 

There are no signs in the treatises of later inter- 
polations. Wiesner, however (“Gibeat Yerusha- 
layim,” p. 8, Vienna, 1871), suspects Karaite inter- 
polations in the Yerushalmi (il. 5a) for the purpose 
of revealing the Rabbinites in a bad light, as pray- 
ing without devotion. If hisargument be correct, a 
passage in the Babylonian Gemara (p. 6), in which 
certain pious acts seem to be ridiculed as resulting 
in no good, may likewise be suspected as of Karaite 
origin. See BENEDICTION. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z, Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah (Hodogetica 
in Mischnam), Leipsic, 1859; idem, so>wiasn soar (Intro- 


ductio in Talm. Hierosolymitanum), 1870; seber sy2br, 
ed. Z. Frankel, with commentary, 1874: J. E. Wiesner, ryaa 
cowin, 1871; The Mishnah: Eighteen Treatises, trans- 
lated by D. A. De Solaand M. J. Raphall, London, 1845; Bera- 
kot, with German translation and commentary by E. M. Pinner, 
Berlin, 1842 et seg.; Prospectus and Specimen of an Eng- 
lish Translation of the Mishnah, by 8. 8. Kohn, Cambridge, 
Mass., U.S. A.; Berakot, translated into German by I. J. 
Rabe, Halle, 107073 Mana rsDn (Litulus Talmudicus tr quo 
Agitur de Benedictiontbus, etc., Adjecta Versione Latina, 
Oxford, 1690); I. H. Weiss, m1992 ’on nv3wn, Vienna, 1864; 
Likkute Masektot, containing Berakot, Peah, and Ahot, 
Reggio, 1809: ssmSzyq9 sazsm misna , with commentary by 
Solomon Sirilio, ed. M. Lehman, Mayence, 1875; B. Ratner, 
Ahabat Zion we- Yerushalayim “Berakot,” Wilna, 1901. 


J. SR. M. F. 


BERCHIN, JONAH BORISOVICH: Writer 
on early Russian-Jewish history; born at Krichev, 
government of Mohilev, 1865; died at Moscow Aug., 
1889. Up to the age of fourteen he received a 
strictly Orthodox education in the house of his 
uncle, where he became familiar with the Hebrew 


P= P A -SS  P” S  reihS —  r—ee 
ts a SS ep ey re SPAS 


language and literature. He then entered the Agri. 
cultural School at Gorigorgetzk, and after gradua.- 
tion studied at the High School of Minsk and the 
Polytechnicum of Riga. In 1888 he became par. 
alytic, and was sent for treatment to Moscow, 
where he died. 

Berchin’s historical researches are valuable con- 
tributions to early Jewish-Russian history. He pub. 
lished: “Istoricheskaya Zamyetka,” dealing with the 
sect of Shabbethai Zebi and with Galiatovski’s book, 
“Messia Pravedny,” in “Voskhod” for May and 
June, 1883; “Iz Davno Minuvshavo,” in “ Voskhod” 
for July, Aug., Nov., Dec., 1883; “ Yevreiskj 
Dokument,” etc., in “Kievskaya Starina,” Dec., 
1884; “Sozhzhenie Lyudei v Rossii v XIII.-XVIII, 
Stolyetii,” in “ Russkaya Starina,” 1885, p. 45; “Izv- 
yestie o Yevreyakh v Kievye,” in Voskhod” for 
July and Aug., 1887; “D’va Vracha Yevrei pri 
Moskovskom Dvorye,” in “Voskhod” for March, 
1888. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : S. Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, 
iii., 8.v., St. Petersburg, 1892. IL Rk 


BERDYANSK: District town and seaport in 
the government of Taurida Crimea, Russia, on the 
northwestern coast of the Sea of Azof, at the Berdy- 
ansk estuary, near the mouth of the rivulet Berdy- 
anka. It was built by the efforts of Prince M. 8. 
Vorontzov in 1827, and soon became a lively little 
port, the trade to a considerable extent, especially 
the export of grain, being in the hands of the Jews. 
In 1892 the Jewish population of the town was 1,653 
and the Karaite population 248, of a general total 
of 21,959. In the district the Jews numbered 3,416 
in the general total of 227,780. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Entztklopedicheski Slovar, St. Petersburg, 


. H. R. 


BERDYCHEV (Polish, BERDYCZEW): A 
city In the government of Kiev, Russia; in histor- 
ical and ethnographical relations part of Volhynia. 
It has one of the largest Jewish commuuities 
in Russia, and is often called the “Jerusalem of 
Volbynia.” It is difficult to determine the time 
when Jews first settled there. From the sixteenth 
century till the end of the eighteenth, Berdychev 
was under the dominion of Poland; and the Polish 
family of Tishkewitz, the hereditary owners of that 
domain, ruled over it as they pleased. In 1598 it is 
stated that the owners of the “new town” of Berdy- 
chev farmed out to a certain Jew the mill- and 
bridge-taxes. In the eighteenth century the Jewish 
population increased considerably, and a Jewish 
“Kahal” (government of the community) was estab- 
lished, as in other Jarge cities of Poland. A trade- 
union of Jewish tailors was formed in 1732 with 
the permission of the lady of the domain, Tereza 
(Theresa) Zawisha, who granted them autonomy and 
exemption from the rule of the Kahal. In 1794 
Prince Radziwill permitted the Jews to elect their 
own civil judges in addition to the ecclesiastical 
court. 

In 1765 King Stanislaus of Poland decreea that 
some great fairs be held during each year at Berdy- 
chev; and from that time the city became a com- 
mercial center, attracting the Jews from all parts of 


51 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berakot 
Berdyczewski 





the country. At the government record office of 
Kiev some statistical data concerning the Jewish 
population of that period are preserved, according 
to which the numbers of Jews at Berdychev were: 
jo 1765, 1,220; in 1784, 1,819; in 1787, 1,504; in 
1789, 1,951. According to their occupations, 246 
were liquor-dealers, 452 house-owners, 184 mer- 
chants, 188 artisans, and 150 clerks, together with 
56idlers. These figures may be considered too low; 
the taxes of the Polish government being heavy, as 
many persons as could possibly do so avoided being 
placed on the registers. 

At the end of the eighteenth century, when the 
movement of the Hasidim among the Jews of Poland 
was at its height, Berdychev became the metropolis 
of the Hasidim of Volhynia, owing to the fact that 
about 1780 the celebrated “ Zaddik,” Levi-Isaac, the 
author of “Kedushat Levi” (The Holiness of Levi), 


Ss 


— 
Tr a es 


ae Fi 
WP LLL Laut Citta rttue wild SEB - —— 
——  ———— 
Z 
NG 


TTT 


of 62,288. There were seven synagogues and sixty- 
two houses of prayer. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Regesty + Nadpisi, No. 694, St. Petersburg, 
1899; Balinski i Lipinski, Starozytna Polska, it. 632-635; 
Arehiv Yugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, v. 35, 506, 608, Kiev, 1890; 
Bolshaya, Hriziklopedia Pod Redaktzieit Yuzhakova, iii. 
74, St. Petersburg, 1901. 


H.R. S. M. D. 
BERDYCZEW. See BERDYCHEY. 
BERDYCZEWSKI, MICAH JOSEPH: 


Hebrew author; born in 1865. He represents, to 
some extent, the Nietzsche school of philosophy in 
the Hebrew literature of the present day. The son 
of the rabbi of Bershad, Podolia, Berdyczewski re- 
ceived a Talmudical training at home and later at the 
yeshibah of Vo.ozHin, of which institution he 
wrote a short history (“Ha-Asif,” iii. 231-241) and a 
somewhat fantastic description (“ Ha-Kerem,” 1888, 


Aco 


“Ly 


Za 


MULE EC ee 
PLE LLIS IIE LAE PLADEG 1 | 
OMGLGT eee, 4 a 


6° OL SSS Jag VIPUL LS 


oe 





GREAT SYNAGOGUE AT BERDYCHEV. 
(From a photograph.) 


made it his headquarters. He created a great com- 
motion by his teachings and by his quarrels with the 
“Mitnagdim.” It is probable that the above-men- 
tioned permission for the election of separate judges, 
given by Prince Radziwill in 1791, was secured by 
the Hasidim, who sought to emancipate themselves 
from the jurisdiction of the Kahal and the rabbis of 
the Mitnagdim. Great masses of people then flocked 
to Berdychev to see Levi-Isaac, who ruled there 
until 1810. At this period a printing-establishment 
for Hebrew books was in existence in the city. 

In 1798, at the second division of Poland, Berdy- 
chev, with other cities of Volhynia, came under 
Russian domination. During the reign of Emperor 
Nicholas I., Berdychev was the largest commercial 
centerin the Jewish pale. Afterward commerce di- 
minished, and the poverty of the Jews there increased 
accordingly. Of all cities in the pale, Berdychev 
has the largest proportion of Jewish inhabitants, In 
1899 there were 50,460 Jews in a total population 


pp. 63 et seqg.). Hisacquaintance with modern litera- 
ture, which he formed clandestinely in his younger 
days, soon led him to abandon his former conserva- 
tism and to become a freethinker. Berdyczewski, 
who now resides at Charlottenburg, near Berlin, and 
is engaged mainly with literary labors, is a prolitic 
writer, whose productions, though not always clear, 
have exerted a certain influence among the young 
Hebrew nationalists. He is incensed against his 
former favorites, the Talmudical sages, because 
they thought more of the yeshibah or high school 
of Jamnia than of the fortress and citadel of 
Jerusalem. He thinks that King Herod was the real 
“Uebermensch,” the intellectual giant who could, 
by his aggressive and magnificent plans, have regen- 
erated Israel if he had not been thwarted by the 
dwarfed religious scruples of the rabbis of his time. 
Even the last Biblical liberators, Ezra and Nehe- 
miah, displease him, because they obtained the de- 
liverance of their nation by tears and fasting (see 


Berea 
Berechiah 





review of Berdyezewski’s latest works—which were 
published in Warsaw by a society of Berlin students 
—in “Allg. Zeit. d. Jud.” Nov. 9, 1900; also 
“Un Prophéte Neo-Hébreu,” in “L’Univers Israé- 
lite,” v. 56). 

Besides the works above mentioned and articles 
scattered throughout the Hebrew periodical litera- 
ture for the last twelve or fifteen years, Berdyczew- 
ski also wrote two novels, “ Mahanaim,”—in which 
he seems to have described himself; and “ Mibayit 
u-Mihuz”; both published by the Tushia Society 
in Warsaw, 1900. Hewas also for some time editor 
of the “Bet Midrash” a supplement to the “Bet 
Ozar ha-Sifrut,” which had several enlightened rab- 
bis among its contributors. 

Berdyczewski wrote in German a philosophical 
work, “Ueber den Zusammenhang Zwischen Ethik 
und Aesthetik” (in the series “Berner Studien zur 
Philosophie und Ihrer Geschichte,” published by 
Ludwig Stein, vol. ix.), Bern, 1897. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sefer Zikkaron, p. 8 Warsaw, 1890; Allg. 
Zeit. d. Jud. Nov. 9, 1900; L’Univers Israélite, vol. v., 


No. 12. 

H. R. P, Wt. 

BEREA: Place where Bacchides encamped (I 
Macc. ix. 4). From the context it would seem to be 
near Jerusalem, though some scholars have identified 
it on unsatisfactory evidence with Beeroth (Josh. ix. 
17; I Esd. v. 19). 

J. IR. G. B. L. 


BEREBI (‘a2 and 93°93; in Greek, BnpéB, “ Sit- 
zungsberichte der Akademie zu Berlin,” 1885, p. 681). 
Title of learning in the period of the Tannaim, con- 
ferred especially upou scholars who were the sons of 
scholars, or upon members of the family of the pa- 
triarch. The explanation of the word as a com- 
pound of ‘3 (“house ”) and "35 (“rabbi”), meaning 
“belonging to the school of an eminent teacher” 
(see Jastrow, “Dict.” s.v.), is not obvious; for one 
could not think of the patriarch Rabban Gamaliel 
as being addressed by the title “student,” which is 
what “Berebi” would thus really signify (Kid. 32b). 
It may be assumed that “ Berebi” is a compound of 
sya (“son”) in Palestinian Aramaic, and ‘34 
(“rabbi”), a formation analogous to “ben horin” 
{son of a free man) for “a free man.” In the same 
way “son of a scholar” is here used instead of 
“scholar.” One must distinguish from this word 
“Berebi,” as a title, the phrase occasionally used 
“Had Berebi” (a student). which actually does mean 
“one of the school.” It is found only in the time of 
the Amoraim; while Berebi as a title is tannaitic. 

Among the scholars who bore the title “Berebi,” 
Bar Kappara must be specially named. He is given 
the designation “Berebi” whenever mentioned by 
his first name, Eleazar, in order to distinguish him 
from his father, who bore the same name (Hul. 28b, 
56b, 84b, etc.). Yalkut Deut. 923 quotes from Hul. 
11b and Mak. 5b once “ Eleazar ha-Kappar,” and 
once *353 (so it must be read instead of °35, or 9°3, 
as ed. Salonica has it); whereas in the two Talmudic 
passages referred to the name of the tanna has 
dropped out, and only ‘3593 or '3%2 remains, which 
has misled some scholars to assume the existence of 
a tanna by the name of Berebi. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 52 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Chajes, in Zeitschrift fiir Wissenschaftliche 


Theologie, xiiii. 280, 281; Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ed, 
Wilna. ii. 86; Jastrow, Dictionary, p. 189 (the Talmud pas. 
sage quoted here—B. M. &a—does not speak of the bestowal 
of the title *’ Berebi,”? but of the common ordination of a 
rabbi; the letter 3 in °2%3 is dependent on the preceding 
verb V22D8); Kohut, in “Arueh Completum, ii. 188; Levy, 
Neuhebr. Worterbuch; idem, Chalddisches Wo6rterbuch, 


i. 260; Euting, in Sitzungsberichte, l.c., p. 680; J. Mendels- 
soba, in Ha-Eshkol, i. 158-160, 
J. SR. L. G. 


BERECHIAH I., R.: A Palestinian scholar of 
the second amoraic generation (third century), al- 
ways cited without the accompaniment of patro- 
nymic or cognomen, Once only (Lev. R. i. 4) is he 
quoted as Berechiah Saba (the Elder), by R. Abin 
1II., the contemporary of Berechiah I.; and in this 
instance the designation “Saba” is used to distin- 
guish between the namesakes. Nothing is known 
of Berechiah’s life, and comparatively little pre- 
served of his teachings, though it is quite probable 
that some of his sayings are attributed to his later = 
and more renowned namesake (compare Frankel, 
“Mebo,” 69b). A discussion of his with R. Wiyya of 
Kefar Tehumin is reported on the merit of the study 
of the Torah. One of them teaches that the whole 
of this world does not equal the value of a single 
passage of the Law; and the other argues, “ Even the 
discharge of all the Biblical commandments is not 
equal to the merit of mastering a single passage of 
the Law” (Yer. Peah i. 15d). Rabbah b. Nahman, a 
contemporary of Rabbah b. Huna, transmits in the 
name of Berechiah a homily on the continuance of 
the protective influence of patriarchal merit (“ zekut 
abot”; Yer. Sanh. x. 27d; compare Lev. R. xxxvi. 
6, where the names of the rabbis are badly cor- 
rupted). R. Tanhum b. Hanilai, the disciple of R. 
Joshua ben Levi (B. K. 55a), too, reports Haggadot 
in the name of Berechiah (Tan., Tazria‘, 9; Pesik. 
R. xxi. 110a). Bacher denies the existence of this 
Berechiah, and to sustain his opinion changes the 
chronological order in the passages quoted (“Ag. 
Pal, Amor.” fii. 851, 354, note 8; 628, note 7%). 

Ee OGRA TTS Frankel, Mebo, 69b:; Weiss, Dor, iii. 91, note 
ie 


J. SR, S. M. 


BERECHIAH II., R.: A Palestinian amora of 
the fourthcentury. In the Talmud he is invariably 
cited by his preenomen alone; but in the Midrashiim 
he is frequently cited with the addition of “ha- 
Kohen,” and sometimes with the further addition of 
the title “ Berebi” (compare Pesik. ii. 21a, xii. 107b; 
Pesik. 3 [ed. Friedmann, p. 8a]; Num. R. xiv. 3; 
Pesik. R. 3 [ed. Friedmann, p. 9a]; Num. R. dc.; 
Tan., Beha‘aloteka, 5; Num. R. xv. 7); and accord- 
ing to at least one Midrash (Lev. R. xxx. 1), his 
father’s name was Hiyya (sce also Tan., ed. Buber, 
Hayye Sarah, 6, note 35). 

While Palestine may justly claim him as a citizen, 
Berechiah is probably a Babylonian by birth, since 
he not only cites teachings of Babylonian scholars 
(“ Rabbanan de-Tamman,” Gen. R. lvi. 11, xeviii. 3; 
Esther R. i. 1; compare Gen. R. xxxvii. 3, where 
this expression is converted into “ Rabbi Hanin,” 
and Mid. Teh. ev., beginning, where “ de-Tamman ” is 
omitted), but also shows himself quite familiar with 
the private history of Babylonian families (Yer. Kid. 
iil. 64c: Lev. R. xxxii. 7). Judging, however, from 
the insignificant number of his sayings recorded 


53 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berea 
Berechiah 


gc FCT a, a, IC SD I IS CY CNC C—O LI A A FD TC END 


in the Babylonian Talmud as compared with his al- 
most innumerable teachings preserved in the Pales- 
tinian Talmud and the Palestinian Midrashim, and 
considering also that hbisacknowledged masters were 
Palestinians, it is safe to say that he was in Pales- 
tine at an early age. Berechiah’s acknowledged 
master in the Haggadah was R. Helbo (Yer. Kil. ix. 
82c; Lam. R. on iii. 28; Cant. R. on i. 2); but it 
seems that he personally knew R. Helbo’s predeces- 
sors, Levi and Abba b. Kahana, and witnessed a 
heated exegetical controversy between them (Gen. 
R. xivil. 9). If this be so, Berechiah must have lived 
to an advanced age, for he was in a legal contro- 
versy With R. Mana (the Younger) (Yer. Kid. iii. 
64d). Rapoport (“ Briefe,” ed. Griiber, p. 80) makes 
him a teacher of Jerome. 

Berechiah is cited in both the Babylonian Talmud 
(Ber. 55a; Yoma la; Ta‘anit 4a; Sotah 13b) and the 
Palestinian, in the field of the Halakah (Yer. Ber. 
vil. 11b; Yer. Peahi. 15a; Yer. Ma‘as. v. 52a; Yer. 
Suk. ii, 58a; Yer. Sotah vii. 21b; Yer. Kid. iii. 64d; 
Yer. Sanh. xi. 30b) and in that of the Haggadah; 
but it is the latter which he cultivated mainly. 
Few names appear in the Midrashic literature as fre- 
quently as does Berechiah’s. In Pesikta alone he 
is cited sixty-eight times, either as originator or as 
transmitter; in Pesikta Rabbati sixty-one times (see 
Friedmann, Introduction, p. 18), in Tan. (ed. Buber) 
seventy-three times (Buber’s Introduction, p. 46), in 
Mid. Teh. eighty-five times (Buber’s Introduction, p. 
28), and correspondingly numerous are his remarks 
preserved in the other Midrashim, Some specimens 
of his teachings are here subjoined. 

In accordance with the oneirological views of his 
days, he asserts that dreams, though realized partly, 
are never realized fully. “ Whence do we learn this? 
From Joseph, who dreamed (Gen. xxxvii. 9), ‘ Be- 
hold, the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars mace 
obeisance to me’; and at that time his mother, typi- 
fied in his vision by the moon (2). 10), was no more 
among the living” (Ber. 55a). He thus construes 
the Psalmist’s saying, “The Lord knoweth the way 
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly perish- 
eth” (Ps. i. 6): “When the Holy One—blessed be 
He!—came to create man, He foresaw that pious and 
impious men would descend from him, and He said, 
‘If I create him, the impious will descend from him; 
if I create him not, how will the pious descend from 
him?’ What did the Holy One—blessed be He!—do? 
He removed the ways of the impious out of His sight, 
and by means of His attribute of mercy [“middat 
ha-Rahamim”] He created man. This is the mean- 
ing of the Scripture, ‘God knoweth [“holdeth in 
view ”] the way of the righteous ’” (Mid. Teh. onZ.c. ; 
Gen. R. viii. 4). In commenting on Eccl. vii. 17, “ Be 
not overmuch wicked,” he says: “The Bible does not 
mean to teach that it is permitted tosin a little; but 
itmeans to say, if thou didst sin a little, say not, ‘I 
am under the wrath of God onaccount of this little, 
and can be no worse off for sinning more’ ” (Eccl. R. 
on f.c,; Mid. Teh. on i. 1; compare Shab. 31b). 
With reference to the Scriptural saying (Ps. xxxii. 
1), “Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven ” 
(literally, “who is lifted above transgression ”), he 
cites R. Simon [Samuel?] b. Ammi as remarking, 
“Happy is the man who is master over sin, that sin be 


not master over him” (Gen. R. xxii. 6). In the 
same strain is Berechiah’s remark on Solomon’s say- 
ing, “There is a time to be born, and a time to die” 
(Eccl. iii. 2): “Happy is he whose hour of death is 
like his hour of birth; who, as he was pure and 
innocent in the hour of his birth, is also innocent at 
the hour of hisdeath” (Yer. Ber. ii. 4d; Eccl. R. on 
é.c.; Deut. R.vil. 6). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bacher, Ag. Pal. Am. iii. 344-396. 

J. SR, S. M. 

BERECHIAH BERAK B. ELIAKIM 
GOETZEL: A grandson of Berechiah b. Isaac; 
rabbi and preacher of Klementow, Poland, and 
Jaworow, Galicia; lived toward the end of the sev- 
enteenth century and the beginning of the eight- 
eenth. Hewas a very sincere preacher and suffered 
much for his outspokenness. The government pro- 
hibited the publication of his sermons, only those 
covering the book of Genesis being published (Halle, 
Saxony, 1714), under the title, “Zera‘ Berak She- 
lishi” (third part of “Zera‘ Berak”); and “ Hiddu- 
shim,” novell on the first portions of Berakot, deal- 
ing especially with the Haggadot. Many contem- 
porary rabbis gave their approbation to this work. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 647, 

L. G, M. B. 

BERECHTIAH BERAK B. ISAAC EISIK: 
Galician preacher; died in 1664 at Constantinople. 
He was educated by Nathan Shapira, rabbi of Cra- 
cow, and was appointed preacher of that city, where 
he spent most of his life. He ultimately left for 
Jerusalem, but died at Constantinople. His sermons 
on the Pentateuch, the Megillot, and the Passover 
Haggadah were collected and published in two 
volumes under the titie, “Zera‘ Berak.” The first 
was published in 1646 at Cracow. Appended to it, 
was “‘Ateret Zebi,” by Zebi Hirsch ben Shalom 
Mebo, the brother-in-law of Berechiah and son-in- 
law of Lipmann Heller. The second volume was. 
published, together with a second edition of the first. 
one, in 1662, and itself went into a second edition, 
Amsterdam, 1780. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 646, 

L. G. M. B. 

BERECHIAH BEN ISAAC GERUNDI 
(called also YIZHAKTI): Payyetan; lived in the 
twelfth century, probably at Lunel. Although he 
wrote nothing on the Halakah, his brother Zerahiah. 
Gerundi, in his “Sefer ha-Maor,” cites him as an au- 
thority on the treatise Gittin (to 15b). Berechiah’s 
poems, the greater part of which are printed in the 
Mahzorim of diverse rites, are: (1) “Kerobah,” a 
form of piyyut for the Sabbath following the feast 
of Purim; (2) AzHAROT, for the feast of Tabernacles, 
in which all the precepts concerning this feast are 
enumerated; (8) introduction to Kaddish; (4) poems 
for Purim; (5) prayers for Atonement; (6) a poem 
on the Habdalah. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 463, 495; Lands- 

huth, ‘Ammude ha-"Abodah, pp. 56, 63, 117; Gross, Gallia 

Judaica, p. 255. 

L. G. I. Br. 

BERECHIAH BEN NATRONAIKRESPIA 
HA-NAKDAN: Fabulist, exegete, ethical wri- 
ter, grammarian, and translator; probably identical 
with Benedictus le Puncteur, an English Jew 


Berechiah 
Berek 


mentioned as contributing at Oxford to a donum 
to Richard J., in 1194. Much discussion has taken 
place concerning the date and native country of this 
writer, Zunz (“G. 58.” iii. 287) placing him about 
1260 in Provence, with which conclusion Renan- 
Neubauer (“Les Rabbins Francais,” p. 491) and 
Steinschneider (“Hebr. Bibl.” xiii. 88) agreed. 
Joseph Jacobs, during certain investigations on the 
medieval history of the fable, arrived at the conclu- 
sion that Berechiah should be located in England 
toward the end of the twelfth century (Jacobs, 
“Fables of Acsop,” i. 175), and this was confirmed 
by Neubauer’s discovery that, in the preface to 
his fables, Berechiah refers to the “turning of the 
wheels of fate to the island of the sea [= England] 
for one to die and the other to live” (“ Jewish Quart. 
Rev.” ii, 522), clearly a reference to the English 
massacre of 1190. The earlier view of Berechiah’s 
date was based on a misreading of a colophon of his 
son Elijah, which was shown to be dated Wednes- 
day, Oct. 22, 1283 (Jacobs, “ Athenzeum,” April 19, 
1890). Steinschneider, however, is still doubtful 
as to the identification (“Hebr. Uebers.” p. 961). 
The point is of some importance on account of Bere- 
chiah’s connection with the history of medieval 
fable. 

Berechiah is known chiefly as the author of a set of 
107 (118) fables, called “ Mishle Shu‘alim” (Suk, 28a), 
probably in imitation of the Talmudic “ Meshalot 
Shu‘alim.” Manuscripts exist at the Bodleian (Neu- 


bauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No. 
His Fox 1466, 7, originally belonging to Cotton, 
Fables. and 1421, 5, with six additional fables) 


and Munich (207 written before 1268). 

The first edition appeared in Mantua, in 1557; an- 

other with a Latin version by M. Hanel, Prague, 

1661; other editions at Berlin, 1706; Lemberg, 1809; 
Grodno, 1818; Sklov, n. d.; Warsaw, 1874. 

The fables themselves give in rimed prose most of 

the Beast Tales passing under the name of sop 


during the Middle Ages; but in addition to these, the . 


collection also contains fables conveying the same 
plots and morals as those of Marie de France, whose 
date has been placed only approximately toward the 
end of the twelfth century. It has been suggested 
that these additional fables were derived by Bere- 
chiah from Marie, but this is impossible, as Bere- 
chiah’s versions are closer to the original and in at 
least one case (No. 28) he did not make a mistake 
made by her. The following table exhibits the re- 
lationship between Berechiah’s fables and those of 
Marie, as well as their connection with the “Romu- 
lus,” the Latin prose translations of the medieval 
ZEsop. From this it will be seen that Berechiah has 
only one-half of the additional fables given by 
Marie, and that he has as many (about 30) which 
are not found in her collection. Some of these are 
from Avian, others from Oriental, sources; and it has 
been suggested with some reason that both col- 
lections are derived from an Arabic series con- 
taining 154 fables, most of which could be traced 
to classical antiquity, and others from the East. 
The question can not be said to be settled; but 
neither Neubauer nor Steinschneider will admit 
that Berechiah knew Arabic (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” 
xii. 607). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 54 





COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CORRESPONDING FABLES 
IN BERECHIAH, MARIE DE FRANCE, AND “ Row- 
ULUS.” 

ABBREVIATIONS: Ber.=Berechiah; Marie=Marie de France, 
‘**Fables’?; Rom.=‘*Romulus” (medieval prose ZEsop, ed, 
Oesterley, 1873); App. or A.= Appendix to Rom.; Av.=Avian, 
** Fabule,”’ ed. Ellis. Missing numbers have no parailels in 
Marie or ** Romulus.” 





Ber. | Marie. = Rom. “Ber. | Marie.! Rom. | 2 Ber | Marie.; Rom. 
1 15 15 50 74 A. 36 
2 3 3 jl - Ay. 18 
3 2 2 52 iT 
4 : ] a4 4% A. 18 
5 5) 30 ae Ay. 12 
6 Flatimndic Ber. 61b] 56 69 iv. 19 
7 4 4 58 AY. 29 
8 7 8 59 (same as 26) 
8) 8 9 | 61 34. iii. 14, 15 
10 9 12 62 iii. 13 
il 10 ii. 8 63 
12 12 6 65 67 iv. 30 
13 14 14 66 moles Pedigree) Halm 
14 16 16 
15 7 li 7 1 ‘ AV. 35 
16 18 19 68 (Man and Pit) Kalila, 
7 {| WW iv. 19 69 (Partridge, Monkey, and 
18 i 8 1¥, 21 Elephant) “ lataka,” tr. 
1 2] App. 60 by Rhys-Davids, 310, 
20 13 13 to, 9. a@ iv, oF 
21 90 ii, 10 ; VE 39 iii 
22 63 ii. 11 iD 2 iv 13 
23 88 iv. 12 76 6 7 
24 26 TT. ok 77 75 A. 37 
26 56 A. 8l 7 66 iv. 8 
20 A A. 18 "9 36 iii. 17 
28 64 A. 61 80 33 ii. 9 
2 58 ii. 16 81 38 A. 22 
32 (Chicken and Fox) Gu- &3 72 A. 35 
bernatis, ** Zool. Myth.” 84 1 A. 25 
ii, 13. 85 59 A. 82 
33 Av. ll 86 108 A. 71 
36 73 (88) A. 28 88 oe AV. 2 
a7 31 lil. 4 90 PF A. 138 
38 30 ii. 9 91 
39 29 A. 24 92 
40 2 ii. 4 93 (Lion’s Traces) Halm 
41 os Av. 15 94 98 | A.? 
42 23 iii. 14 95 (Man and Tool) Katila, 
43 28 i 2 102 (Fox and Fleas) Aristotle, 
44 27 li. 2 ‘apne ”? ji, 20. 
45 8] A. 27 104 Av. 7 
47 : Ay. 3d 107 AY. 22 
48 ii. 14 





As an example of his fables, the following may be 
given as one of those which has a parallel in Marie 
de France (No. 73), and is derived from an Oriental 
source, probably the “ Vaka Jataka ” (Folk-lore Jour- 
nal, iij, 359): 

THE WOLF AND THE ANIMALS. 

The Wolf, the Lion’s prince and peer, as the foe of all flesh 
did appear; greedy and grinding, he consumed all he was find- 
ing. Birds and beasts, wild and tame, by their families urged 
to the same, brought against bim before the Lion an accusation, 
as a monster worthy of detestation. Said His Majesty, “If he 
uses his teeth as you say, and causes scandal in this terrible 
way, Pll punish him in such a way as to save his neck, if I may, 
and yet prevent you becoming his prey.’ Said Lion to Wolf, 
** Attend me to-morrow, see that you come, or you'll come to 
much sorrow.’’ He came, sure enough, and the Lion spoke to 
him harsh and rough. ‘““What by doing this do you mean? 
Never more raven the living, or live by ravening. What you 
shall eat shall be only dead meat. The living you shall neither 
trap nor hunt. And that you may my words obey, swear me 
that you'll eat no flesh for two years from to-day, to atone for 
your sins, testiNed and seen: *tis my judgment, you had better 
fulfil it, I ween.’? Thereat the Wolf swore right away no flesh 
to eat for two years from that day. Off went Sir Wolf on his 
way, King Lion stopped at court on his throne so gay. Nothing 
that’s fleshy for some time did our Wolf eat, for like a gentle- 
man he knew how his word to keep. But then came a day 
when he was a hungered and he looked hither and thither for 
meat, and lo, a fat sheep fair to look on and goodly to eat (Gen. 
iii. 6). Then to himself he said, ‘* Who can keep every law?” 
and his thoughts were bewildered with what he saw. He said 
to himself, ‘It overcomes me the longing to eat, for two years 


Berechiah 


55 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Berek 





day by day must I fast from meat. This is my oath to the king 
that I swore, but I’ve thought how to fulfil it as never before. 
Three sixty-five are the days ina year. Night is when you close 
your eyes; open them, then the day is near.’’ His eyes he 
opened and closed straightway. Itwas evening and it was morn- 
ing, one day (Gen. i.6). Thus he winked until he had num- 
pered two years, and his greed returned and his sin disappears. 
His eyes fix the goat (sic) they had seen and he said, *‘See be- 
forehand I have atoned for my sin,” and he seized the neck of 
the goat, broke it to pieces, and filled up his throat as he was 
wont to do before, and as of yore his hand was stretched out to 
the beasts, his peers, as it had been in former days and years. 


This is nearer the original source than the version 
of Marie, which gives a Christian turn to the whole 
story. 

Berechiah was also the author of an ethical trea- 
tise entitled “Sefer Mazref” (MSS. at Munich and 
Parma). The treatise is divided into thirteen chap- 
ters: 1, Introduction, ii. Lust, tii, Affection, iv. Re- 
straint of the Will, v. Justice, vi. Misfortune, vii. 
Poverty, viii. Honor, ix. Position, x. Rank, xi. Soul, 
xii. Hope, xiii. Immortality. Init he quotes R. Abra- 
ham ibn Daud (died about 1198) without the formula 
for the dead, so that it is quite probable that the 
book was composed before 1180. Hedoes not quote 
Maimonides’ “Moreh,” finished in 1191, known in 
Provence shortly after that date and in north France 
about 1204. Prof. Golancz has published an edition 
of the “Sefer Mazret” (London, 1902). 

In addition to these, Berechiah wrote a commen- 
tary on Job (MS. in the Cambridge University Li- 
brary, 8; Schiller-Sezinessy, “Catalogue,” pp. 40-42, 

245). He was acquainted with most 

His Other ofthe grammarians of the eleventh and 

Works. twelfth centuries, and his “ Uncle Ben- 

jamin,” whom he quotes, has been 

identified with BENJAMIN OF CANTERBURY. The 

writer of the commentary on Job was also the author 

of acommentary on the whole Bible, passages from 
which are quoted in a Leyden manuscript. 

Berechiah was certainly a translator, his version 
being extant of Adelard of Bath’s “ Questiones Nat- 
urales” (MSS. at Munich, Leyden, Oxford, and Flor- 
ence), as well as of a “Lapidary ” containing a de- 
scription of 68 species of stones (MS. in Bodleian), 
Besides these works, Berechiah is also said by Zunz 
to have contributed to the Tosafot (Sanh. 20b), and, 
as his name implies, was probably an expert in He- 
brew grammar, for which reason he is quoted by 
Moses ben Isaac of England, in his “Sefer ha-Sho- 
ham.” As this work was probably written before 
1215, these references confirm the date and place 
suggested above. ) 

Berechiah was one of the most versatile writers of 
the Middle Ages, and if he can be claimed for Eng- 
land, it raises the literary position of that country, as 
tegards Jewish literature, to a considerable height. 

Formerly some confusion existed between Bere- 
chiah and another Krespia Nakdan, the copyist of 
‘certain manuscripts and supposed translator of Saa- 
dia’s “Emunot we-Deot” (see Krespra NAKDAN),. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, G. S. iii. 237,238, Renan-Neubauer, 

Les Rahbbins Francais, pp. 490499 (containing full previous 

bibliography); Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. xiii. 80 et seq.; 

Jacobs, Fables of Alsop, i. 168-178; idem, Jews of Angevin 

England, pp. 163-173, 196-199, 278-280; Neubauer and Jacobs, 

Jew. Quart. Rev. ii. 322-333, 520-526 (compare ibid. vi. 364, 

375); Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 958-962 ; Gross, Gallia 


Judaica, p. 180. 
G, J. 


BERECHIAH DE NICOLE (Lincoln; also 
known as Magister Benedict fil Mosse de Lon- 
dres): English Tosatist; died after 1256. He was 
of the well-known Haan family, and son of Rabbi 
Moses ben Yom-Tob of London. He was the rab 
or chief rabbi of Lincoln (the Norman-French name 
of which was “ Nicole”), and probably lived in the 
house now known as “the Jews’ house ” in that city ; 
for this was in the possession of a certain Belaset of 
Wallington in 1287, and there isa deed which speaks 
of Belaset, daughter of the rab Berechiah (Davis, 
“Shetaroth,” No. 156, p. 298). It has been conjec- 
tured that it was to attend the marriage of this Be- 
laset and to do Berechiah honor that the Jews of 
England assembled at Lincoln toward the end of 
August, 1255, when the body of Little Huan or 
LINCOLN was discovered, and all the Lincoln Jews 
were sent up to London for complicity in a so-called 
ritual murder. Berechiah was released earlier than 
the rest of the Jews, on Jan. 7, 1256 (Rymer, “ Foe- 
dera,” ed, 1816, i. 346). 

His subsequent fate is unknown; but there area 
number of decisions of his in the ritual literature of 
the time, which show that he was considered an au- 
thority in ritual matters. Thus, in Mordecai, Ber. 
iv. 90, he decided that the evening prayer might be 
said an hour and a quarter before the legal time of 
night. On another occasion he declared that nuts 
prepared by Gentiles might not be eaten by Jews 
(“Shilte ha-Gibborim ” on Mordecai, ‘Ab. Zarah ii. 
831). There is likewise an exegetic remark made 
by him in “ Minhat Yehudah,” 89b. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Zunz, Z. G. p. 97; Renan-Neubauer, Les Rab- 
bins Francais, p. 441; Jacobs, in Trans. Jew. Hist. Soc. 
England, i. 102-111. 

G. J. 


BERED: 1. Asonof Ephraim (I Chron. vii. 20). 
In the genealogy of Num. xxvi. 35 his place is taken 
by Becher. It may be that Bered and Becher are 
the same. See BECHER. 

2. A place given in the story of Hagar (Gen. xvi. 
14). Beer Lahai Roi is there located between Ka- 
desh and Bered. ‘Targumim Onkelos and Yeru- 
shalmi regard Bered as Shur; Onkelos rendering it 
“Hagra,” which is his usual equivalent for “Shur” 
(Gen. xvi. 7), while the Jerusalem Targum renders 
it “Haluza,” which is also “ Shur” (Ex. xv. 22). 


The site has not been identified. 
J. IR, G. B. L. 


BEREK, JOSELOVICH (called also Berko): 
Polish colonel under Kosciusko and Napoleon I; 
born at Kretingen, government of Kovno, Russia, 
in the second half of the eighteenth century; killed 
in the battle near Kotzk, government of Syedletz, 
Russian Poland, 1809. He was an agent of Prince 
Massalsky, the owner of Kretingen and bishop of 
Wilna, who often sent him with commissions abroad, 
where he learned the French language. In 1794 he 
was commissioned by Kosciusko to form a light- 
horse regiment from among the Jews of Warsaw. 
Berek revived the courage of his coreligionists in the 
struggle for the fatherland, and fought bravely with 
his 500 men, especially in the defense of Warsaw. 
In the siege of Praga (a suburb of Warsaw) by 
Suvarov he lost almost all his soldiers. He then 
served under Napoleon, in the Polish Legion 


Berendson 
Berenstein 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 56 





commanded by General Dombrowski, and was killed 

in an encounter with Austrian hussars near Kotzk, 

as before stated. There the people raised a mound to 
his memory; and until 1881 his widow and son re- 
ceived a pension. 

Berek was a knight of the Polish Gold Cross 
and the Virtuti Militari. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Voskhod, Oct. 1897, p. 87; Syn Berka Josie- 
loviea, Supplement to Swiat, Cracow, 1889; Bntziklopedi- 
cheski Slovar, tii., St. Petersburg, 1892, s.v.; S. Orgelbrand, 
Encyklopedia Powszechna, ti., Warsaw, 1898, 8.0. 


H. R. 


BERENDSON, MARTIN: German publisher; 
born at Hamburg in 1824; died June 24, 1899. He 
was the head of the well-known bookselling and 
publishing firm of his native city, “Gebrtider Be- 
rendson.” Berendson devoted much of lis leisure to 
Jewish communal affairs and filled several honorable 
offices in the Hamburg Reform congregation. He 
was also a prominent Freemason and held high posi- 
tion in the councils of that fraternity. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Jewish Chronicle, June 80, 1899. 


S. P. WY. 


BERENDT, GOTTLIEB MICHAEL: Ger- 
man geologist; born in Berlin Jan. 4, 1836. He 
studied the science of mining; and in his work, “ Die 
Diluvialablagerungen der Mark Brandenburg, Insbe- 
sondere der Umgebung von Potsdam,” Berlin, 1868, 
gave the first geological map of this province. He 
also prepared and issued maps of a part of the Harz 
mountain range aud of eastern and western Prussia. 
Having settled in Konigsberg, he was, in 1872, made 
there extraordinary professor; subsequently be- 
coming district geologist and chief of the depart- 
ment for the Lowland in the Prussian Geological 
Institute at Berlin. Being made professor at 
the Berlin University in 1875, Berendt distinguished 
himself by work on the geology of the North German 
Lowland; and was among the first to recognize the 
glacial theory in geology. He further issued a 
geological map of the vicinity of Berlin, and a 
geological plan of the city of Berlin. His work, 
“Die Theorie Darwins und die Geologie,” Giiters- 
loh, 1870, contains a repudiation of Darwinism. 
Among his other productions on geology, the more 
important are: “Geognostische Blicke in Alt-Preus- 
sens Urzeit,” Berlin, 1872; “ Die Umgegend Berlins,” 
derlin, 1877; “Spuren einer Vergletscherung des 
Riesengebirges,” Berlin, 1892; “Der Tiefere Unter- 
grund Berlins,” Berlin, 1899. He contributed a 
large number of essays on the same subject to 
the following periodical publications: “Zeitschrift 
der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft,” Berlin; 
“Neues Jahrbuch fiir Mineralogie, Geologie, und 
Paldontologie,” Stuttgart; “Schriften der Physisch- 
Oekonomische Gesellschaft,” Konigsberg, and others. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. C. Poggendorff’s Biographisch-Litera- 


risches Handworterbuch zur Gesch. der Exacten Wissen- 
schaften, iii., Leipsic, 1898; Meyer, Konversations-Lexikon. 


. B. B. 


BERENGER OF NARBONNE: Viscount of 
Narbonne in the eleventh century. In the midst 
of the important wars of that century waged for the 
assertion of their temporal power, the popes still 
found time to protect the Jews. Alexander IT. was 


their enlightened and zealous protector against any 


injustice. Animated by such sentiments, he praised 
the viscount Bérenger of Narbonne for having ener. 
getically interfered in their favor at a time when 
their persecution was threatened. At the same time 
Alexander wrote a letter to the bishop Wifred of 
Narbonne (1063), asking hin to protect the Jews no 
less actively in future than had Berenger, if similar 
circumstances should arise. 


pap OG RAL EY : Vogelstein and Rieger, Die Juden in Rom, i. 
6. 
G. M. §. 


BERENICE (formerly Hesperides): City of 
the Cyrenaic Pentapolis, at the eastern extremity of 
the great Syrtis, near the river Lathon. The settle- 
ment of the Jews in Berenice, as in the other towns 
of the Greek colony “Cyrenaica,” dates from Ptol- 
emy I. Although enjoying the rights of citizen- 
ship, they formed an independent municipal com- 
munity. But instead of having anethnarch at their 
head, as in other places, the Jews in Berenice formed 
a separate “ politeuma,” and were governed by their 
ownarchons. A Greek inscription found in Berenice, 
dating from the year 13 B.c., according to Béckh’s 
calculation, gives the names of the nine Jewish 
archons. These are: Cleanthropos, Stratonicos, Eu- 
phanides, Aristonos, Sozigenos, Sosippus, Androma. 
chus, Marcus, and Lailaos. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Josephus, Ant. xiv. 7,82; C.J. G. ed. Aug. 
Boéckh, No. 5361, p. 557: Schiirer, Gesch. iii. 25, 42, 43. 


G. I. Br. 


BERENICE: Daughter of Costobar and Salome, 
sister of Herod I. Her marriage with her cousin 
Aristobulus was unhappy. The husband, being 
proud of his Maccabean descent by his mother, Mari- 
amne, taunted his wife with her low birth. Berenice 
thereupon complained to her mother, and this fact 
intensified their mutual bitterness. When, shortly 
after the marriage (6 B.c.), Aristobulus was assas- 
sinated, Berenice was believed to have had a share 
in his death. 

Being now free, Berenice married Theudion, the 
maternal uncle of Antipater, son of Herod I. Her 
second husband was put to death for participation 
in a plot against the life of Herod; and Berenice 
then married Archelaus. With him she went to 
Rome to solicit of Augustus the carrying out of her 
father’s testament, and remained there until her 
death. During her sojourn at Rome she gained 
the favor of Augustus and the friendship of Antonia, 
wife of Drusus, who later paid the debtsof Agrippa 
J., the son of Berenice, owed by him to the treasury 
of the emperor Tiberius. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Schirer, Gesch. des Jtidischen Volkes, i. 456, 

ii. 151, 152; Brann, Agrippa IT., in Monatsschrift, 1870, pp. 


333-444, 530-548, and 1871, pp. 13-28; Gritz, Gesch. der 
Juden, 3d ed., iii. 232. 


G. I. Br. 


BERENICE: Daughter of Herod Agrippa I. 
and of Cypros, the daughter of Phasael; born in 28. 
She was first married to Marcus, son of the alabarch 
Alexander of Alexandria. Her husband dying within 
a short time, her father married her to his brother 
Herod of Chalcis (Josephus, “Ant.” xix. 5, § 1). 
Berenicianus and Hyrcanus were the children of 
this union (“ Ant.” xx. 5,$2; “B. J.” ii. 11, § 6). 
Again a widow in the year 48, Berenice went to her 


57 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berendson 
Berenstein 





prother Agrippa I., with whom it was whispered 

she lived in incestuous relations (“ Ant.” xx. 7, § 3; 

Juvenal, “Satires,” 6). These rumors may not have 

been unfounded, since Agrippa tried 

Her to stop them by betrothing Berenice 

Marriages. to Polemo, king of Cilicia. The lat- 

ter, won by her wealth as much as by 

her beauty, embraced the Jewish faith and was 
circumcised. 

Berenice, however, soon left her third husband to 
return to her brother, resuming apparently their old 
relations. In 60 she went to Cesarea with Agrippa 
Il. to welcome the new governor, Festus, and took 
part in the proceedings against Paul (Acts xxv, 18 
et seg., Xxvi.). When, in 66, the governor Florus 
had by his measures provoked a riot in Jerusalem, 
Berenice, who was then In the city to fulfil a Naza- 
rite vow, implored him on her knees to stop the blood- 
shed and to spare the tewn. But Florus was deaf 
to her prayers, and, being in danger of maltreat- 
ment, she had to seek refuge in her palace (“B. 

J.” ii. 14, 88 6-9; 15, 88 1, 2). Ber- 
Pleads for enice appeared with Agrippa before 
Jerusalem. the proconsul Cestius Gallus to com- 

plain of Florus. Later, when Agrippa 
in a speech tried to dissuade the people from going 
to war with the Romans, Berenice stood near him to 
protect him by her popularity (“B. J.” @¢.). Agrip- 
pa’s attempts to maintain peace were unsuccessful. 
In the ensuing conflict at Jerusalem between the war 
party and that advocating peace the latter suc- 
cumbed; and the palaces of Agrippa and Berenice 
were demolished by the infuriated populace (“B. J.” 
ii. 17, § 6). 

Berenice and Agrippa now openly went over to 
the Romans. After Vespasian had been made em- 
peror by the Egyptian and Syrian legions, Bere- 
nice, who was a strong supporter of the Flavian 
party, summoned her brother Agrippa to Palestine to 
take the oath of allegiance (Tacitus, “ Historia,” 
ii. 81). Vespasian seems to have held her in high 
esteem; for only her Intercession saved Justus of 
Tiberias from being beheaded. 

About this time Berenice entered into relations 
with Titus that lasted for many years, although she 

was much older than he—according to 

Beloved Wilcken, no less than thirteen years. 

by Her beauty, however, was still irresist- 
Titus. ible, and, perhapsin theeyes of Titus, 
her vast wealth was even more attract- 

ive (compare Tacitus, “ Histori#,” ii. 2). These 
relations continued at Rome, whither Berenice had 
gone with Agrippa in 75. Titus and Berenice lived 
on the Palatine Hill; and it was generally supposed 
that he would soon marry her (Suetonius, “Titus,” 
vii.). So jealous of her was Titus that he caused 
the Roman general Cecina, whom he suspected of a 
secret intrigue with Berenice, to be assassinated 
(Aurelius Victor, “Epitome,” x. 7). Fully expect- 
ing Titus to marry her, Berenice tried to hasten the 
event (Dio Cassius, Ixvi. 15, § 4); but when she pub- 
licly appeared as the wife of Titus he was com- 
pelled, much against his will, to separate from her, 
the hatred of the Jews by the Romans being too 
intense to tolerate such a union (Suetonius, /.c.; 
Dio Cassius, 7.c.). Still Berenice did not give up 


the hope of sharing with Titus the throne of the 
Roman empire. At the news of Vespasian’s death 
(June 23, 79) she hastened to Rome; but Titus sent 
her back (Dio Cassius, Ixvi. 18). 

Nothing is known of the later life of Berenice, 
It may be remarked that Berenice on her journeys 


- between Palestine and Rome seems to have formed 


connections at Athens, as may be gathered from the 

inscription published in “C. I. A.” iii. 1, No. 556. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wilcken, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyklo- 
pddie der Classischen Allerthumswissenschaft, iii. col. 287 5 


Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, tii. passim; Schirer, Gesch. i. 470, 
493, 503, 606, 


G. H. Bu. 

BERENSON, BERNHARD: Art critic and 
historian; born at Wilna, Russia, June 26, 1865. He 
was educated in America, and in 1887 was graduated 
at Harvard. For some time Berenson bas been in 
Italy investigating Italian art, and heisrcgarded as 
one of the leading authorities on its technic, follow- 
ing the methods of Morelli in testing the reputed 
authorship of early paintings, Bernhard Berenson 
is a contributor to the New York “ Nation” and 
to various French and German reviews of art and 
archeology. Among his publications in book form 
are: “Lorenzo Lotto,” an essay In constructive art 
criticism, 1895; “Central Italian Painters of the 
Renaissance,” 1897; and “The Study and Criticism 
of Italian Art,” 1901. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Who's Who in America, 1902. 


A. M. W. L. 


BERENSTEIN, ISSACHAR BAERB. SAM- 
UEL: Dutch rabbi; born in Leeuwarden, Holland, 
1808; died in The Hague Dec. 18, 1898. He was 
the son of Rabbi Samuel b. Berish BERENSTEIN, 
chief rabbi of Amsterdam, and was a dayyan of 
that town at the time of his father’s death in 1838, 
continuing in that position for the following ten 
years. In 1848 he became chief rabbi of The Hague, 
succeeding R. Joseph Asher Lehmans, who had died 
six years before. He held the latter position for 
forty-five years, during which time he contributed 
much to the building up of communal institutions, 
such as an orphan asylum and a Jewish hospital; 
he was also the organizer of a Jewish historical and 
literary society. Berenstein’s services were recog- 
nized by the government, and he was decorated with 
the insignia of the Order of the Golden Lion. He 
died at the ripe old age of cighty-five years, highly 
honored and respected, and was mourned by the 
entire population of the Dutch capital, irrespective 
of race or religion. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Israelit of Mayence, 1893, No. 108; FONTS m> 
(Ahiasaf Calendar) for the year 5655 (1894-95), p. 459, 


s. P. Wi. 


BERENSTEIN, SAMUEL BEN 
BERISH: Dutch rabbi; born in Hanover about 
1767; died in Amsterdam Dec. 21, 1888. He was 
the descendant of a long line of distinguished rabbis, 
his father and his grandfather, R. Aryel: Loeb~ who 
was the son of Rabbi Jacob Joshua of Cracow, 
Lemberg, and Frankfort (author of the “Pene Ye- 
hoshua ”)—having been rabbis of Hanover. Rabbi 
Samuel Berenstein was educated as a rabbi, and for 
many years held that office at Gréningen, Holland. 
He was probably the first rabbi of Holland to preach 


Berenstein 
Bererah 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 58 





in the Dutch language, and a speech which he 
delivered in 1805 to arouse sympathy for those 
who were ruined by the great fire that almost des- 
troyed the city of Leyden in that year is preserved 
in a Hebrew translation (* Ha-Meassef,” 1809, pp. 
291, 342; 1810, pp. 40 e seqg.). Later he became 
rabbi of Leeuwarden, Friesland, and remained 
there till 1815, when he was elected chief rabbi 
of the Ashkenazic community of Amsterdam, to 
succeed his father-in-law, Jacob Moses L6wenstamm, 
who had held that position since 1790. There isa tra- 
dition that R. Samuel was a trifle too liberal to 
suit the taste of his zealous father-in-law, and that 
there were many differences of opinion between them 
during the time of liberal innovation early in the 
nineteenth century. <A letter addressed by Samuel 
Berenstein to Israel Jacobsohn, whom he calls 
“friend of my youth,” against the introduction of 
German prayers in the synagogue(B. H. Auerbach, 
“Geschichte der Israelitischen Gemeinde Halber- 
stadt,” pp. 223-225), is couched in remarkably 
courteous and liberal terms. Still, neither his or- 
thodoxy nor his skill as a Talmudist is open to 
the slightest suspicion, as can be seen from a re- 
sponsum dated 1819, addressed to him by R. 
Moses Sofer of Presburg. That uncompromising 
opponent of progress in anv form calls R. Samuel 
“Geon Yisrael,” “Ner Yisrael,” “‘Ammud_ha- 
Yemoni,” “Patish ha-Hazak,” “Kebod Kadosh 
Shemo Tifarto” (see “Hatam Sofer”; “Eben ha- 
Ezer,” part fi., responsum 139); the last being an 
appellation which is used only in the case of the 
greatest and most pious rabbis. 

Berenstein is not known to have contributed any- 
thing to rabbinical literature; besides a few sermons 
in the Dutch language (“ Leerreden,” mentioned by 
Kayserling, in “Jiid. Literatur,” p. 108, where it is 
wrongly stated that he died in 1808)—one of which, 
delivered in Amsterdam, 1832, is preserved in the 
British Museum—and a Hebrew prayer against the 
cholera (Roest’s “Catalogue of the Rosenthal Li- 
brary ”), he left nothing for posterity. He willalways 
be remembered in Holland as one of the first rabbis to 
favor the spread of a knowledge of the Dutch lan- 
guage among the Jews of that country. In this re- 
gard he was a true follower of his great-grandfather, 
who also advised the Jews of his time to study the 
languages of the countries in which they live (see 
8S. Bloch’s preface to his translation of Menasseh b. 
Israel’s “Teshu‘at Yisrael,” Vienna, 1818). After 
the death of R. Samuel, his son R. Issachar Baer, 
who was a dayyan in Amsterdam, failed in the ef- 
fort to succeed him, and the office of chief rabbi re- 
mained vacant for a quarter of a century, until the 
election of the present incumbent, Dr. Diinner. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : L. Landshuth, Toledot Anshe ha-Shem, p. iii., 
Berlin, 1884; G. Falk, in Ha-Karmel, No. 40; M. L. Malbim, 
Arzot ha-Hayyim, Breslau, 1837 (approbation). 


8. P. Wt. 


BERERAH.—In Talmudic Law: The con- 
cept “Bererah,” known to the later Babylonian 
Amoraim, is adevelopment of the law of joint prop- 
erty, and, just as in Roman law, this branch of the 
law presents very great difficulties. Girtauner, in 
“ Jahrbiicher fiir Dogmatik,” iii.239 (edited by Gerben 
and Ihering), says, “Thering calls it the filigree of 


jurisprudence.” In his “ Die Rechtstellung der Sache 
und der Eigenthumsbegriff,” etc., p. 242, Girtauner 
further savs: “Joint property contains a contradic- 
tion to the concept of property. There is no object 
to which the right of property of the joint proprie- 
tor attaches, but it must be assumed as existing, al- 
though it is not actually existent.” A. Riimelin 
(“Die Theilung der Rechte,” p. 100) says: “The 
several dicta of the Roman law con- 
cerning joint property can not be 
brought together under a uniform 
principle, and they seem to exist inde- 
pendent of one another.” It is not, therefore, sur- 
prising that the Talmudists formed no clear idea of 
Bererah, by which they attempted to explain the 
texts of the Mishnah and Tosefta concerning joint 
property ; more especially because they did not limit 
this idea to joint property, but extended it so as to 
include other matters. Contradictions arose because 
the Tannaim and the Palestinian halakistsin general 
knew nothing of the concept of Bererah, which was 
a later development of the Babylonian Halakah and 
modified the stricter ideas of the Palestinian. 

In cases of joint property the question arises, Is 
the proprietor that is using the joint property to be 
considered for the time being as sole proprietor or 
merely as owner of part, and as exercising the right 
of use of the part owned by the other? Further- 
more, In cases of division of the joint property, do 
the joint proprietors receive their original property, 
or do they receive new property through exchange ? 

The various answers to these questions result in 
important differences both from the religious and 
from the juridical point of view. For instance: 
One vows not to enjoy the property of his partuer. 
If he, as joint proprietor using joint property, is 
looked upon as sole proprietor, this vow has no effect, 
because he is simply using his own property, and not 
that of his partner; but if he is considered, as to a 
part of it, simply as exercising the right of use of 
property belonging to the other, the joint proprie- 
torship must be dissolved, or he must assign his 
right to another person. In Ned. v. 1, acontroversy 
of the Tannaim is reported: If two joint proprietors 
vow not to enjoy the property of each other, accord- 
ing to the general view, neither of them may enter 
upon the estate which they own in common, whereas 
one of the Tannaim, R. Eliezer ben Jacob, main- 
tains that each of them may say, “I am entering 
upon my part.” Accordingly, therefore, the Baby- 
lonian Gemara (B. K. 51b), assuming that the joint 
property is indivisible, concludes that this contro- 
versy of the Tannaim can be explained only through 
the legal principles Yesh Bererah and En Bere- 
rah. The Gemara assumes that R. Eliezer applied 
the principle Yesh Bererah; namely, that each of 
the joint proprietors may choose to consider the joint 
property as his sole property during the time that 
he is using it. It is an implied legal condition (con- 
ditio juris) that “during the time in which I use the 
joint property, it is my property; during the time 
that you use it, it is your property,” or, as it might 
also be translated, “That which formerly was unde- 
termined is now—by the partner's act—looked upon 
as determined” (R. Nissim on Nedarim. J.¢.). The 
Gemara furthermore assumes that the opponents 


Its 
Concept. 


59 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berenstein 
Bererah 


ee ee Mee Pe eT GL ee PEE Sa ag Tg ee pen ee ta ge gs ee 


of R. Eliezer applied the principle En Bererah; 
namely, that the exercise of such choice is not to be 
presumed; or (according to Nissim) 


Yesh that which was undetermined before- 
Bererah hand is not considered as determined. 
and En What is said here concerning the use 
Bererah. of an indivisible estate is also ap- 


plicable to the use of any fruit-bearing 
property. Each takes of it what is then considered 
as having belonged to him according to the principle 
of Bererah, and therefore the Gemara applies to the 
use of a common well the argumenis in the above- 
mentioned controversy (B.K. U.c. ; Bezah 39b; against 
R. Nissim compare R. Solomon Luria, in “Yam Shel 
Shelomoh ”), Another example may be taken from 
the case of fruits. In Syria the fruits of the fields 
velonging to Jews were subject to tithes and heave- 
offerings, but fruits of a Gentile bought by a Jew 
were not. Now, in case a Jew and a Gentile are 
joint owners of a field in Syria, if each of them is 
considered the sole proprietor, then, upon division, 
each receives his original property, and the fruits of 
the Jew, therefore, are liable for tithe and heave, and 
those of the heathen are not; but if the division is 
considered as an exchange, then in the share of both 
the fruits of the Jew and of the Gentile are mixed. 
Concerning this case, there is a controversy be- 
tween Rabbi and R. Simon ben Gamaliel (Bab. Git. 
47a and b; Hul.135b). R. Simon ben Gamaliel per- 
mitted the division so that each received his sole 
property; Rabbi was of the opinion that each re- 
ceived mixed property; and from these opinions it 
is presumed that R. Simon ben Gamaliel maintained 
the principle Yesh Bererah, and Rabbi that of En 
Bererah. In this manner, the Babylonian Talmud 
(‘Er. 36b et seg.) explains the Mishnah Demai vii. 4. 
In the case of untithed fruit, a part of which is in- 
tended for tithes and heave-offerings, there is a min- 
gling of sacred portions and profane (“hullin”); the 
profane portions may be taken away and used, and 
the balance remains as tithes and heave-offerings. 
The aforesaid Mishnah as well as Mishnah Demai 
vii. 1 reflect the principle Yesh Bererah. According 
to the principle of En Bererah, both Mishnahs would 
be different, and would forbid the use of the fruit 
until after the tithe and heave had been removed. 
In the Babyloniin Talmud, Raba, who favored 
the concept “ Bererah” (see Tem. 30b), if indeed he 
was not its author, takes pains to prove that not 
coly R. Meir, but also R. Jose, R. Simon, and R. 
Judah accepted the principle Yesh 
Extension. Bererah (in ‘Er. 36b “Ritba” reads 
“Raba,” and not “Rab”; so also the 
Munich manuscript; see Rabbinowicz, “ Dikduke 
Soferim,” ad loc., and compare Rab’s opinion in 
Yer, ‘Er. iti. 21b) who does not accept the concept 
of “Bererah.” In the Babylonian Talmud itself 
Samuel ignores Bererah, B. K. 9a; while R. 
Nahman, the teacher of Raba, accepted En 
Bererah (Git. 48a; see R. Nissim to Ned. 45b). 
Raba explains the case in Mishnah ‘Er. iii. 
9 by means of Bererah. One may say, “If the 
instructor [hakam] comes to this side, my ‘erub 
[removal of residence on Sabbath for 2,000 ells] 
Shall be on this side; but if he goes to the other, the 
‘erub shall be on the other side; if one comes to this 


side and the other goes to the other side, then that 
‘erub shall be valid which I shall determine upon to- 
morrow.” From this passage Raba seeks to deduce 
the principle Yesh Bererah, because the locality of 
the residence (‘erub) was uncertain at the time when 
the condition according to which it was to be de- 
termined was made. If the decision is made on the 
Sabbath, it is retroactive to the period of the com- 
mencement of the Sabbath; just as in the case of 
the division of joint property where the presump- 
tion is that an actual division had already been made 
ab wnttio; hence this is a case of Yesh Bererah. 
Most of the commentators. take this view (treated 
later in this article), but there is a distinction be- 
tween these two cases. In ‘Erubin, there is an ex- 
press condition after the fulfilment of which the 
matter is absolutely decided; whereas in the case 
of the division there is no express condition made 
beforehand, and it is not absolutely determined even 
afterward, which part, from the beginning be- 
longed to the one joint owner, and which part to 
the other. 
This led the Tosafists to distinguish between dif- 
ferent kinds of Bererah. Some accepted Bererah 
where an express condition had been 
Kinds made, others where a doubt is resolved 
of Bererah. afterward (Tos. to Git. 48a); on the 
other hand, in the case of the division 
they adopted the principle En Bererah. Raba did 
not recognize these distinctions; he considered the 
division conditioned even if the condition was not 
expressed (conditio juris); see Schiirl (“ Theilbarkeit 
als Eigenschaft von Rechten,” p. 30), who also calls 
it conditioned. Abbayi, opposing Raba, calls atten- 
tion to another distinction. He says the condition 
“if it shall be my will” can be referred back to 
Bererah, but not the condition “if this will happen,” 
or “if it shall be the will of another” (nyt shin 
DNS Nyt min soxy, “dependent on his own will” 
and“ dependent on the will of others”; Git. 25a e¢ seq.). 
In the latter case the retroactive effect of the con- 
dition is generally accepted; the former cases are 
such instance of Bererah, concerning which thereis a 
controversy. According to Windscheid, i. § 93, the 
eondition, “if it shall be my will,” has no retroactive 
effect. Raba, however, takes pains to prove that 
the Tannaim who accept Bererah in the one case 
also maintain it in the other cases, and vice versa. 
He does not recognize any distinctions, therefore, in 
the concept Bererah. The commentators ask, “ What 
difference is there according to Raba between the 
concept Bererah and the retroactive force of acondi- 
tion?” Sucha difference must exist because the re- 
troactive force of the condition is generally accepted 
on the ground that he who says “on condition ” is 
like him who says “from now on.” Rashi (Git. 25b), 
who raises this question, is of the opinion that only 
conditions within man’s power to fulfil or not to ful- 
fil have retroactive effect according to 
Retroactive general opinion, hut not such condi- 
Force of tions asare in the power of him whois 
Conditions. master over life and death, as, for ex- 
ample, “if I die from this disease.” In 
these cases retroaction can only be adopted on the 
principle Yesh Bererah. But in this case Bererah 
contains the idea of predestination; that which has 


Bererah 


actually occurred has already been predetermined by 
Providence. But it is clear that such a view must 
be kept out of the field of law. Nahmanides sets up 
the following distinction between Bererah and the 
retroactive force of a condition: Simple conditions 
have retroactive force even according to the princi- 
ple En Bererah, whereas a double condition works 
retroactively only according to the principle of Yesh 
Bererah, The distinction is clear. If one makes a 
simple condition, his will is directed toward some- 
thing definite which merely requires the fulfilment 
of the condition; but if one makes a double condi- 
tion, he wants either one thing or another, he vacil- 
lates, and therefore the idea of Bererah must be 
brought into requisition in order to cause retroactive 
effect. This view of Nahmanides, however, is not 
satisfactory, aud therefore his distinction between 
“Bererah ” and the “retroactive force of the condi- 


tion” is rejected (see Luria, i.c.); but the idea of | 
Nahmanides is correct and merely requires amend-, 


ment; it is the only correct one, following the 
view of Raba. 
you on condition that your father consents,” the act 
is an alternative juridical act. If the condition is 
fulfilled, the marriage is valid; if the condition is 
not fulfilled, the union is unlawful; but it has cer- 
tain legal consequences, for Jewish law does not 

recognize the maxim “ Pater est quem 

Bererah nuptiz demonstrant.” In this case, 

and therefore, there is a double condition, 
Condition. and, nevertheless, after being fulfilled, 
it has retroactive force exactly as in 
the case in Mishnah Demai vii. 4, where one may 
eat only on condition that that which was last taken 
out is presumed to have been “ terumah” from the be- 
ginning. The opponents of this view who maintain 
that the marriage is valid in any event, even if the 
father does not give his consent, must assume the 
principle En Bererah, because it is possible to con- 
sent only to something definite. Ina like manner, 
there is a double condition in the case, “ Here is your 
bill of divorce, to take effect if I die from this dis- 
ease,” if the view is accepted that the wife remains 
a lawful wife up toa moment before the death of 
the husband. The conditions are first, “ You shall 
remain my wife up to a moment before my death,” 
and second, “ The bill of divorce shall be effective a 
moment before my death.” His will, therefore, is 
divided, and nevertheless there isa retroactive effect ; 
hence, the principle Yesh Bererah is in action. If 
his will were only directed toward the divorce, the 
effect would be that the marriage would be in sus- 
penso; and since that is not the case, it follows that 
the principle Yesh Bererahisinvoked. In this man- 
ner, it seems, Raba has distinguished “ Bererah ” from 
“the retroactive force of a condition,” and only in 
this manner can the etymology and translation of 
the word be fixed. 

Since the commentators joined in the views of 
Rashi concerning the discrimination between the 
personal and the elementary nature of the conditions, 
they necessarily must find nothing else in the word 
“ Bererah” than “ retroactive force of condition.” Be- 
rerah is, according to this view, a special form of the 
retroactive force of conditions which is accepted by 
some and rejected by others. The word, therefore, 


If one says to a woman, “I marry - 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 60 


Tae Eg Soa ee eat 


must be explained through the assistance of othep 
words: yoand astm win, “the matter has been 
made clear with regard to the past”; and the trang. 
lation of the word would imply its see. 

Etymology ondary meaning, because 72 means, 
and in the first place, “to choose,” “to 
Transla- select”; as for instance, Sous M3 
tion. ndiper 1nd, “to select the edible from 

the inedible.” In its derived meaning it 

also means “clear,” “clean,” “positive.” Bererah 
might be translated “certainty ”; 7.¢., that which was 
formerly doubtful is now certain; but this idea js 
also contained in the notion of the retroactive force of 
condition, and the word “ Bererah ” would not cover 
that special meaning which it was intended to ex. 
press. Inthe Jerusalem Talmud, there is a phrase 
which covers “retroactive force of condition ” (Demai. 


vi. 25d, and elsewhere), rywo 1S yoon ibn mp 


Miwe, “this, his share, was his from the first mo- 
ment.” According to Rashi, the word “Bererah” 
ought to be translated as predestination ; but this 
ideaisnotin the word. But, infact, “Bererah,” de- 


stived from 399, “to choose,” “to select,” means 


“choice.” “Yesh Bererah” means “he has the 
choice”; that is to say, one can make a double con- 
dition and afterward choose one or the other; or 
through the fulfilment of the condition, whichever 
it may-be, one thing or the other is determined. 
“En Bererah” means that one can not make a double 
condition, so that afterward one of the two may be 
determined. This was the view of the Babylonian 
Talmud asshown in Yoma (55b), where it is argued, 
“let him choose four zuzim,” etc, Likewise in an- 
other place (Tem. 30a; Bek. 57a), “let him take one 
out, and the others will be permitted.” It is true 
that Levy and, following him, Kohut explaino the 
word to mean “choice,” but this translation of the 
word will not be of help in the Gemara, unless the 
above-explained view of Nahmanides is borne in 
mind. Jastrow, therefore, gives a twofold transla- 
tion, “choosing or a subsequent selection”; “retro- 
spective designation.” According to the above- 
mentioned explanation, the word “choice” is suffi- 
cient. The fact that a condition is retroactive is 
assumed, and is not expressed in the word; since 
this is characteristic of all conditions. 
Undoubtedly, in practise, Raba has applied the 
concept of Bererah without distinction. Rabbi 
Isaac, the Tosafist, maintains that in 
Ap- every case a decision can be rendered 
plication in according to Raba ; namely, on the 
Practise. principle Yesh Bererah. R. Tam at 
first also decided in this manner, but 
later he departed from it (see Tosafot to Tem, 30a, 
and parallels in marginal notes). In the Gemara 
(Bezah 37b et seg.), Mar Zutra is of the opinion that in- 
asmuch as there is a difference of opinion concerning 
Bererah, the rule of decision should be “In Biblical 
commands, En Bererah ; in rabbinical commands, 
Yesh Bererah”; and in thismanner Maimonides also 
decided (Er. viii. 7), although many contradictions 
appear in his work that can not all be reconciled by 
his interpreters (see Luria, 7d. 36b; and “Sha’agat 
Aryeh,” No. 89). Rabbi Joseph Caro (Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
1.¢.) also notes this division ; namely, “In rabbinical 
commands, Yesh Bererah, and in Biblical commands, 


61 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bererah 





En Bererah.” One rather illogical exception is made 
jn the case of a Biblical command; namely, in the case 
mentioned in Ned. (é.¢.), because it is said to differ 
from other cases of Bererah (see R. Solomon Luria). 

The Palestinian Halakah is closer to Roman legal 
concepts than is the Babylonian, and in spite of all 

separation from that which was for- 

Unknown eign, Roman legal concepts current 

in among the people unconsciously forced 

Palestinian their way into the Palestinian Hala- 

Halakah. kah, although the rules of law of the 
two systems differed. 

In Roman Jaw, the difference between movable 
and immovable property shows itself in the concept 
of divisibility of property. Immovable property 
can be divided, and movable property can not (pcrs 
pro diciso, pars pro indiviso). In the case of immov- 
able property an actual division is possible; in the 
case of movable property only a@ theoretical or ideal 
division can be made. Actual division of quantities 
and genus is likewise possible (numero fit divisio), 
pecause the value of equal parts remains the same ; 
(see Waechter, “ Archiv fiir die Civilistische Praxis,” 
xxv. 155 et seq.); but this rule applies only to obli- 
gations and not to joint property. The division of 
joint property, is looked upon as an exchange ( per- 
mutatto). In place of the formerly undetermined 
property, each of the joint proprietors receives from 
the other, by exchange, certain determined property 
(see Savigny, “Obligationenrecht,” i. § 30, and 
likewise other wel]-known jurists quoted in “ Monats- 
schrift,” 1900, 7.c.). 

The Palestinian Halakah likewise distinguishes 
between joint property in divisible and in indivisi- 
dle things. This distinction is found in the above- 
mentioned controversy, in the case of a vow of ab- 
stinence by the joint proprietors from any enjoyment 
of each other’s property; and in the other contro- 
versy, concerning tithes and heave-offerings in the 
case of joint property of Jew and Gentile in Syria. 
The Babylonian Talmud uses these as its principal 
supports for the controversy concerning Yesh Bere- 
rah and En Bererah. In Yer. Demai vi. 25d the 
latter controversy is discussed, and the Halakah is as 
follows: In case of a division of heaps of sheaves or 
even the threshed grain, it is undisputed that in each 
stalk or each grain there is common property, but in 
the case of a division of growing grain, there isa 
controversy between Rabbiand R, Simon ben Gama- 
liel. The former maintains that in this case also 
the community of property exists in every single 
stalk, and the latter maintains that each joint pro- 
prietor obtains his separate property. 

R. Simon ben Gamaliel’s principle is the follow- 
ing: The field being divisible (pars pro diviso; (see 
JOINT OWNERS), there is an implied condition (condi- 
tio juris) among the joint proprietors that whichever 
of the two halves falls to the share of either one 
Shall be presumed to have been his from the begin- 
ning. This is an alternative condition with retro- 
active force, This is the meaning of the maxim: 
“This, hig share, was his from the first moment.” 
The Palestinian Halakah has not distinguished the 
condition “if it shall be my will” from other condi- 
tions. K®éppen (“Jahrbuch ftir Dogmatik,” xi. 280) 
maintains that according to Roman law such a con- 


dition has retroactive force: so also Derenbourg 


(“ Pandekten,” p. 258, § 108, Berlin, 1896). Thus 
(Yer. ‘Er, iii. 21b) the condition, “I may go whither- 
soever I may desire,” is considered a condition with 
retroactive force. In Yer. Git. ili. 44d, the case 
cited in the Mishnah—a bill of divorce written for 
one of two wives of the same name to be determined 
at the will of the husband—is considered invalid, 
because a bill of divorce may, under no circum- 
stances, be written conditionally, otherwise the 
maxim of the law would apply, “that it was written 
for her from the first moment”; to wit, the condi- 
tion has retroactive force. In the case of the divi- 
sion of a field, R. Simon ben Gamaliel held such 
condition to be necessanly implied. Rabbi does not 
consider such condition valid even if it is actually 
expressed, because, according to him, the joint prop- 
erty exists not only in that part which is divisible, 
but in each separate stalk, whereby division becomes 


impossible. KR. Simon ben Gamaliel 

Case of therefore had to admit that in case 
Joint a division of a heap of grain is at- 
Property. tempted, the joint property continues 


in every stalk or in every grain, 
whereby actual division becomes impossible. 

In Roman law, the rule is, [f the grain of two proprietors is 
mixed with their consent, ** communio”’ exists, and it cannot 
be divided. ‘‘ Quod si frumentum ‘Sitii frumento tuo mixtum 
fuerit, si quidem ex voluntate vestra commune est, quia singula 
corpora, id est singula grana, quz cujusque propria fuerunt ex 
eras vestro communicata sunt”; § 28 J. de rerum divisione, 

ee 

The same controversy would exist even if there 
was joint property in two separate equal heaps of 
grain, or two equal pieces of the same kind of prop- 
erty, because, in this case, we have partes pro diviso ; 
each part being a body for itself. R. Johanan and 
R. Eleazar dispute concerning this case (Yer. Kid- 
dushin i. 60d; compare Demai, /.c.). R. Johanan 
decided, like Rabbi, that, even in the case of divisible 
things, community remains in every single piece or 
heap. R. Eleazar decides like R. Simon ben Gama- 
liel, “ This, his share, was originally his.” But it is 
undisputed that if there is joint property in a stngle 
heap of grain, it is indivisible, because the joint 
property exists in every grain (compare Yer. Demai 
vi. 25d). The same relation exists in the case of a 
courtyard held incommon. Here, also, a distinction 
is made whether it is divisible or indivisible. Ac- 
cording to Yer. Ned. v. 39a, it is undisputed that if 
the courtyard is indivisible, the joint proprietors 
that have through vows mutually resolved to ab- 
stain from enjoyment of one another’s property may 
not step into the courtyard (Mishnah Ned. v. 1). 
The conflict between the general opinion and the 
view of R. Eliezer ben Jacob exists only if the prop- 
erty is divisible. According to the former view, 
every square inch of the courtyard is joint property, 
and therefore may not bedivided. In order that they 
may step into this courtyard, joint proprietors must 
transfer their right to a third person. R. Eliezer 
ben Jacob is of the opinion that each joint proprie- 
tor has an undetermined half-interest in the entire 
property, and, through conditio juris, each joint pro- 
prietor obtains, after the division, his original prop- 
erty. This controversy is exactly like that between 
Rabbi and R. Simon ben Gamaliel. 


Bererah 
Bereshit 


Mishnah Demai vii. 2 is explained in Yer. 26b 
without controversy on the principle that the condi- 
tion has retroactive force (ANWNYD> 3290). 

The Babylonian Halakah, by setting up the con- 
cept Bererah, went far beyond the Palestinian and 
read this concept into the controversy of the Tan- 
naim. According to the Jerusalem Talmud, the di- 
vision of indivisible things in the case of joint prop- 
erty is not permitted; according to the Babylonian, 
it is permitted in the case of rabbinical prohibitions 
(see an example in “Sha’agat Aryeh,” U.c.). Accord- 
ing to the Jerusalem Talmud, such a distinction can 


not be drawn because, following it, the division of” 


indivisible things contains a contradiction, which 
makes its application equally impossible for rabbin- 
ical and Biblical law. Moreover, the controversy 
between Rabbi and R. Simon ben Gamaliel actually 
refers to a rabbinical prohibition. 

But although the Babylonian Talmud’s interpre- 
tation of the controversy of the Tannaim must yield 


to that of the Jerusalem Talmud, the concept Bere- } 
rah, as such, is nevertheless juridically and logically 


justifiable. Roman law is not abstractly logical. 
The Roman law, it is true, establishes the proposi- 
tion “ Dominium plurium in solidum esse non potest,” 
and most of the jurists, starting out with this -propo- 
sition, take the stand that according to Roman law, 
in the case of joint property, the right is divided 
and the division is looked upon as emptio. Géppert 
explains this view clearly and con- 
Roman and vincingly (“Beitriige zur Lehre vom 
Modern Miteigenthum,” Halle, 1864). 
Law. 
ner, Windscheid, and Eiscle, explain 
joint property as separate property even according 
to Roman law. Without venturing to express an 
opinion on Roman law, the statement of Unger seems 
convincing that there was an evolution in the law. 
He writes (“Jahrbuch fiir Dogmatik,” xxii. 289): 

**A twofold point of view is possible: either theoretically 
divided property and divided security, or joint property and 
joint security. In the first case, it is assumed that there are 
several joint proprietors pro indiviso; in the latter case, that 
all together as one (wnius loco) have property in the thing. 
The first point of view was that of the older Roman law, the 
latter is that of the later Roman law and of modern law, so far 
as it recognizes suretyship in cases of joint property.” 

A similar evolution took place in Talmudic law. 
The Palestinian Halakah takes the point of view 
that the joint proprietor, particularly of indivisible 
things, has a theoretica] share in the article. It con- 
siders division as a purchase or an exchange. In 
the later Babylonian Halakah (through Raba) the 
joint proprietor is looked upon as sole proprietor 
who after the division receives his original property, 
It did not assume in joint property, consisting of 
mazny similar units, that each unit was joint prop- 
erty and had to be divided—division of the prop- 
erty and division of right are the same—but consid- 
ered that the one-half of the bulk belonged to the 
one, and the other half to the other, and each one 
while using the joint property was presumed to be 
using his own property, and on division received 
what was always his property (Tos. Git. 48a). 

The difference between the views of the deciders 
of the responsa and the older authorities is particu- 
larly noticeable because the former say that in the 


Other 
doctors of the law, such as Steinlech- 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 62 


ee 


case of indivisible joint estate, the vow of the joint 
proprietor has no force because they have assumeg 
the obligation that one may use the share of the 
other; but, according to the older conception, the 
partnership relation contains no such idea of obliga. 
tion and can be ended at any moment. This is the 
idea of the Jerusalem Talmud. 

The concept Bererah is known in French law, 
Géppert (7. pp. 64, 65) states: “In French law, the 
essence of the division of joint property did not con. 
sist in a mutual changeable contract, but rather ip 
an acte detérminatif, by which it was established 


-what portion of the joint property the joint heir 


really inherited, from which arose the legal presump- 
tion that the property which fell to his share at the 
division was deemed to have been his from the be- 
ginning. A remarkable coincidence! There being 
no inherent contradiction in the concept Bererah, 
the Babylonian Halakah, modifying the older view, 
established the compromise that in Biblical com- 


‘mands the principle En Bererah is followed, and 


in rabbinical commands Yesh Bererah. But the in- 
terpretation of the Babylonian Talmud of the dicta 
of the Tannaim contains innumerable contradictions, 
and is ashoreless ocean in which the commentator is 
lost. By distinguishing between the Palestinian 
Halakah and the Babylonian, it is believed that the 
matter has been made clear. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Nissim to Ned. 45b; Solomon Luria, in his 
work Yam Shel Shelomoh to B. K. 31, pp. 3440, Sdilkow, 
1836. At the end he enumerates thirty cases referring to 
Bererah and arranges them in fourclasses. R. Judah Benja- 
min Rapoport, in his work Simlat Benjamin, pp. 23-27, 
Dyhernfurth, 1750, criticizes Luria’s disquisition. R. Isaac Lam- 
pronti, in his work, Pahad Yizhak, Venice, 1749, s.v., enumer- 


; “ates most of the passages of the Babylonian Talmud, and also 


refers to the literature of the responsa. R. Baruch Benedict 
Goitein, in Kesef Nibhar, Lemberg, 1867, classifies and dis- 
cusses most of the passages together with the codes of Mai- 
monides and Shulhan ‘Aruk, and he finally distinguishes 
three classes of Bererah. R. Abraham Tiktin wrote a com- 
prehensive article on this subject in his book Petah ha-Bayit, 
pp. 16b-22a, Dyhernfurth, 820; be goes into cletailed discussion 
and attempts to solve numerous contradictions by pilpulistic 
methods of argument. R. Jacob Zebi Jollesch, in his book 
Melo ha-Ro‘im, Warsaw, 1880, has gathered all the material 
and has mentioned the various rabbis that adopted the princi- 
ple Yesh Bererah and those that adopted the principle 
En Bererah. Aryeh Low, the author of Sha’agat Aryeh, 
Briinn, 1797, treats of Bererah in numbers 89 to 93, pp. 67-70; 
finally R. Elijah Wilna, on Orah Hayyim, 418, 1, has an ex- 
cellent summary of the various views concerning Bererah. 
He is the only one of all the above-named commentators and 
authors of responsa who suggests the difference in the con- 
ception of Bererah between the Jerusalem and the Babylonian 
Talmnd (Yoreh De'ah, 331, 27); Monatsschrift, 1869, pp. 369- 
343 Auerbach, Das Jtidische Obligationenrecht, Berlin, 
1870, pp. 529 et seq., 1900, p. 50, note 1 (note 2, ib., must be 
corrected according to the above views). The lexicons of 
the Talmud (s.v.) of Levy, Kohut, and Jastrow. 
M. S. Z. 


J. SR, 
BERESHIT. See GENEsIs, 


BERESHIT RABBAH (called also by the an- 
cients Bereshit derabbi Osha‘yah [Hosha‘yah], 
Bereshit rabbah derabbi Oshaya [Hoshayiah], 
Bereshit derabbi Hosha‘yah rabba, Baraita 
derabbi Osha‘ya): Expository Midrash to the first 
book of the Pentateuch, assigned by tradition to the 
amora Hoshaiah, commonly Osha‘yah, who flourished 
in the third century in Palestine. The Midrash 
forms a haggadic commentary on the whole of Gen- 
esis, in keeping with the character of the Midrashic 
exegesis demanded by that age. In a continuous 
sequence, broken only toward the end, the Biblical 
text is expounded verse for verse, often word for 


63 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bererah 
Bereshit. 





word; only genealogic passages, and such as fur- 
nish no material for ex pusition (as the reiterated ac- 
count of Abraham’s servant in Gen. xxiv. 35-48), 
are omitted. 

The Bereshit Rabbah contains many simple ex- 
planations of words and sentences, often in the Ara- 
maic language, suitable for the instruction of youth; 
and also the most varied haggadic expositions popu- 

lar in the public lectures of the syna- 
Its gogues and schools. According to 
Simplicity the material or the sources at the dis- 
and posal of the editor of the Midrash, he 
Sublimity. has strung together various longer or 
shorter explanations and haggadic in- 
terpretations of the successive passages, sometimes 
anony mousiy, sometimes citing the author. Again, 
he adds to the running commentary longer haggadic 
disquisitions or narratives, connected in some way 
with the verse in question, or with one of the ex- 
planations of it—a method not unusual in the Tal- 
mud and in other Midrashim. The first chapters of 
Genesis, on the creation of the world and of man, 
naturally furnished especially rich material for this 
mode of exegesis. Whole sections are devoted to 
comments upon one or two verses of the text. Many 
references to contemporary philosophical thought 
are made with the purpose of refuting the opinions 
of the heretics. References to contemporaneous con- 
ditions and historical events also occur; indeed, it is 
characteristic of the Midrash to view the personages 
and conditions of the Bible by the light of con- 
temporary history. Though the stories embraced 
in Genesis furnished little occasion for comments on 
Jegal topics, Bereshit Rabbah contains a few short 
halakic sentences and gqttotations taken from the 
Mishnah and other sources. This Midrash is emi- 
nently rich in sublime thoughts and finely worded 
sentences, in all kinds of parables, in foreign words, 
especially Greek, used freely and intentionally for 
the sake of elegance of diction. Some Greek words, 
to be found nowhere else in Jewish literature, have 
been preserved in the Bereshit Rabbah (e.7., ror, 
cordvzec, section i. ju ‘Aruk and MSS. ; p*Syariny Sey, 
’Ezeviendrodcc, section xii. (xlii.) in ‘Aruk, corrupted 
in editions). 

This extensive and important Midrash, which 
forms a complete commentary on Genesis, and ex- 
emplifies all points of Midrashic exegesis, is divided 
into parashiyot (sections, chapters); 
and derives its peculiar character from 
the proems which head these sections; 
it is by these means distinguished from the tannaitic 
Midrashim to the other books of the Pentateuch, such 
as Mekilta, Sifra, and Sifre. Every chapter of the 
Bereshit Rabbah is headed by the first verse of the 
passage to be explained, and is introduced, with few 
exceptions, by one or more prefatory remarks starting 
froma verse taken from another Biblical passage as 
text—generally from the Hagiographa. By various 
explanations of these texts a transition is effected to 
the exposition of the particular verse of Genesis 
heading the parashah. There are in the Bereshit 
Rabbah (i.—xevi.) about two hundred and thirty of 
these passages. <A part of them—about seventy— 
are cited with the name of the haggadists with whom 
they originated or whose explanation of the verse in 


Form. 


question was used as an introduction to the para- 
shah of the Bereshit Rabbah: as in section i. the six 
prefatory passages of R. Osha‘yah, R. Huna in the 
name of Bar Kappara, R. Judah b. Simon, R. Isaac, 
R. Joshua of Siknin, in the name of R. Levi, and 
R. Tanhuma. 
The greater number of these passages are anony- 
mous and may perhaps be ascribed in part to the 
author of the Bereshit Rabbah; they 
In- begin with the verse of the text, which 
troductory very often stands at the head of the 
Passages. proem without any formula of intro- 
duction—more frequently so in the 
best manuscripts than in the editions. The struc- 
ture of the prefatory passages is as various as their 
execution and their extent. In some only the intro- 
ductory text is given, its application to the verse of 
Genesis to be expounded being self-evident or being 
left to a later working out. The single prefaces, of 
which there is a large number, contain explanations 
of their text which refer entirely or in its last part 
to the verse or passage of Genesis to be expounded 
in that parashah. The composite introductions con- 
sist of different expositions of the same Biblical 
verse, by different haggadists, strung together in 
various ways, but always arranged so that the last 
exposition—the last Imk of the introduction—leads 
to the exposition of the passage of Genesis, with the 
first verse of which the introductions often close. 
For these introductions, which are often quite 
lengthy, the material for the several ex positions was 
ready at hand. The original work on these passages 
consisted principally in the combining and grouping 
of the several sentences and expositions into a coor- 
dinate whole, always so arranged that the last mem- 
ber forms the actual introduction to the exposition 
of the parashah. Definitely characterized as they 
are in their beginning by these introductions, the 
parashiyot of the Bereshit Rabbah have no formal 
ending, although several show a transition to the 
Biblical passage that is expounded in the following 
parashah. 
In the manuscripts, as well as in the editions, the pa- 
rashiyot are consecutively numbered; in very many 
quotations in the ‘Aruk the passage of 
The the Bereshit Rabbah is mentioned by 
Principle the number of the parashah. The 
of Division. total number of the parashiyot, bothin 
the manuscripts and in the editions, va- 
ries from 97 to 101. Nearly all the manuscripts, how- 
ever, as wellas the editions, agree in counting 96 chap- 
ters, up to the exposition on Gen. xl vii. 28 et seg. 
inclusive (beginning of the pericope Wayehi); and to 
this point the best manuscripts, as well as the “Aruk 
and Yalkut, differ only in a few parashiyot from the 
division of the chapters in the editions. Hence the 
counting by chapters or sections is to be considered 
much older than has been assumed. The principle 
of division followed in the parashiyot of the Bereshit 
Rabbah was evidently that of the Biblical text itself 
as fixed at the time of the compilation of this Mid- 
rash, in accordance with the “open” (AYMNS) and 
“closed” (MAYDIND) paragraphs of Genesis. There are 
separate parashivot in the Midrash to almost all 
these sections as they are still found in Genesis, with 
the exception of the genealogical passages. But 


Bereshit 
Berg 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 64 





there are parashiyot that bear evidences of relation 
to the pericopes (“ sedarim ”) of the Palestinian trien- 
nial cycle, and a careful investigation of these may 
lead to the discovery of an arrangement of sedarim 
different from that heretofore known from old regis- 
ters. However, there are parashiyot, as mentioned 
above, especially in the beginning of the Midrash, 
in which only one or a few verses at a time are ex- 
pounded. The sedarim of the customary one-year 
cycle are not regarded at all in the divisions of the 
Bereshit Rabbah, neither are they marked in the best 
manuscripts or in the editio princeps of the Midrash ; 
the parashiyot, therefore, can not be regarded as mere 
subdivisions of the sedarim, as which they appear 
in later editions of this Midrash, 

Far more difficult than any question conccrring 
the outward form of the Bereshit Rabbah is that of 
deciding how much of its present con- 
tents is original material included in it, 
and how much of later addition. The 
parashiyot formed the framework that was to con- 
tain the exposition of a number of Biblical verses in 
continuous succession, 

But with the notoriously loose construction of the 
haggadic exegesis it became easy to string together, 
on every verse or part of a verse, a number of ram- 
bling comments; or to add longer or shorter hag- 
gadic passages, stories, etc., connected in some way 
with the exposition of the text. This process of 
accretion took place quite spontaneously in the 
Bereshit Rabbah, as in the other works of the Tal- 
mudic and Midrashic literature; between the begin- 
ning and the completion of these works—if ever they 
were completed—a long period elapsed during which 
there was much addition and collection. 

The tradition that R. Hosha‘iah is the author of 
the Bereshit Rabbah may be taken to mean that he 
began the work, in the form of the running com- 
mentary customary in tannuitic times, arranging the 
exposition on Genesis according to the sequence of 
the verses, and furnishing the necessary complement 
to the tannaitic Midrashim on the other books of the 
Pentateuch. The ascription of the Mekilta to R. 
Ishmael and of the Jerusalem Talmud to R. Johanan 
rests ona similar procedure. Perhaps the comments 
on Genesis were originally divided into parashiyot 
that corresponded with the above-mentioned sections 
of the text, and that contained the beginnings of the 
simplest introductions, as indeed the first traces of 
such introductions are found also in the tannaitic 
Midrash. But the embellishment of the parashiyot 
with numerous artistic introductions—which points 
toa combination of the form of the running commen- 
tary with the form of the finished homilies follow- 
ing the type of the Pesiktaand Tanhuma Midrashim 
—was certainly the result of the editing of the 
Bereshit Rabbah that is now extant, when the ma- 
terial found in collections and traditions of the hagga- 
dic exegesis of the period of the Amoraim was taken 
up in the Midrash, and the Bereshit Rabbah was 
given its present form, if not its present bulk. Per- 
haps the editor made use also of different collections 
on the several parts of Genesis. The present Ber- 
eshit Rabbah shows a singular disproportion between 
the length of the first sidra and that of the eleven 
others. The sidra Bereshit alone comprises twenty - 


Material, 


nine parashiyot, being more than one-fourth of the 
whole work. Is there not a possibility that the pres- 
ent Bereshit Rabbah is a combination of two Mid- 
rashim of unequal proportions; and that the twenty- 
nine parashiyot of the first sidra—several of which 
expound only one or a few verses—constitute the 
extant or incomplete material of a Bereshit Rabbah 
that was laid out on a much larger and more compre- 

hensive scale than the Midrash to the other sidrot? 
The work may have received its name, ‘‘ Bereshit 
Rabbah,’’ from that larger Midrash at the beginning 
of Genesis, unless that designation was 


Origin of originally used to distinguish this Mid- 
Name. rash from the shorter and older one, 


which was ascribed to R. Hoshayah, 
The opinion that the name of the Midrash finds its 
explanation in the first words, “R. Hosha‘yah rab- 
bah began,” cte., as if the word “rabbah ” belonged 
originally to the name of the amora, and that the 
name of the work, “ Bereshit Rabbah,” is an abbrevi- 
ation of “ Bereshit derabbi Hoshayah rabbah,” is un- 
tenable for the reason that in the best manuscripts— 
and in avery old quotation—the name “R. Hosha- 
vah” stands without the addition “rabbah” in the 
first preface at the beginning of the Midrash. It 
would be singular if the authorial designation had 
been lost and yet the attribute had remained in the 
title of the Midrash. 

It is difficult to ascertain the exact date of the 
actual editing of the Bereshit Rabbah: it was prob- 
ably undertaken not much later than 
that of the Jerusalem Talmud. But 
even then the text was probably not 
finally closed, for longer or shorter passages could 
always be added, the number of prefatory passages 
to a parashah be increased, and those existing be 
enlarged by accretion. Thus, beginning with the 
sidra Wayishlah, extensive passages are found that 
bear the marks of the later Haggadah, and have 
points of connection with the Tanhuma homilies. 
The passages were probably added at an early date, 
since they are not entirely missing in the older man- 
uscripts, which are free from many other additions 
and glosses that are found in the present editions. 
In the concluding chapters the Bereshit Rabbah 
seems to have remained defective. Jn the parashiy ot 
of the sidra Wayiggash the comment is no longer 
carried out verse by verse; the last parashah of this 
pericope, as wellas the first of the sidra Wayehi, 
is probably drawn from Tanhuma homilies; the 
comment to the whole 48th chapter of Genesis is 
missing in all the manuscripts (with one exception), 
and to verses 1-14 in the editions; the remaining por- 
tion of this sidra, the comment on Jacob’s blessing 
(Gen. xlix.), is found in all the manuscripts—with the 
above-mentioned exceptions—in a revision showing 
later additions, a revision that was also used by the 
compiler of the Tanhuma Midrash edited by Buber. 

The best manuscript of the Bereshit Rabbah is 
found in the Codex Add. 27,169 of the British Mu- 
seum, London; it was used for the critical edition 
issued by J. Theodor. 

On this and other manuscripts compare: J. Theo- 
dor, “Der Midrash Bereshit Rabbah,” in “Monats- 
schrift,” xxxvii. 169 et seg., 1b. 211 et seq., 452 et seq. ; 
XXXVill. 9 et seg.; xxxix. 106 et seq.; variants of the 


Date. 


65 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Bereshit Rabbah in ‘Aruk, Yalkut, and MSS. ; on the 
division into chapters, 2d. xxxix. 481. 

Oldest editions: Constantinople, 1512 (Midr. R. on 
Pentateuch) (Ber. Rabbah), Venice, 1567; collective 
editions on Pent. and Meg., Venice, 1545; Cracow, 
1587; Salonica (1544?%), 1594, 

Oldest commentarics: Commentary ascribed to 
Rashi (appeared first in the Venice ed., 1567; com- 
pare Epstein, in “ Magazin ftir die Wissenschaft des 
Judenthums,” 1887, pp. 1 et seg.); commentary by 
R. Naphtali Herz b. R. Menahem, Cracow, 1569; com- 
mentary by Ashkenazi Baerman b. Naphtali ha- 
Kohen (appeared first in the Cracow ed., 1587); com- 
mentary “ Yefeh To’ar,” by Samuel Yafe Ashkenazi, 
Venice, 1597; Prague, 1689; Firth, 1692; more recent 
valuable commentaries by Wolf Einhorn, David 
Luria, Sam. Straschun, and others in the Wilna ed. of 
the Midrash. Compare further, for editions and com- 
mentaries, Steinschneider, “Cat. Bodl.” No, 3753 et 
seqg.; Jellinek, “Kuntres ha-Maggid,” 1878, pp. 7 
et seg., 11 et seg.; “Kuntres Taryag,” 1878, pp. 47 e¢ 
seg.; “Kuntres ha-Rambam,;” 1878, pp. 23 et seq.; 
Benjacob, “ Ozar ha-Sefarim, ” 1880, pp. 801 ef seg. 

Translation: German ‘by Aug. Wiinsche, Leipsic, 
1881. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, G. V. Isted., 1832, pp. 178 et seqg., 254 et 
seq.; Rapoport, Ere Millian, 1552, pp. 171 ef seg.; Frankel, 
Mebo ha-Yerushalmi, 1870, pp. Sib et seq.; Friedmann, in 
introduction to his edition of Melciita, 1870, pp. xxv. et seq.; 
J. Theodor, Zur Composition der agacdischen Homilien, in 
Monatsschrift, 1879, pp. 112 et seq.; M. Joél, Blicke in die 
Religionsgeschichte, 1. 1880; Lerner, Anlage und Quellen 
des Bereshit. Rabbah, 1882: H. L. Strack, article Midrash, 
in Protestantische Real-Rincyhlopddie, 2d ed., ix. 748 et 
seq.; Weiss, Dor, 1883, iii. 252 et seq.; 1887, iv. 22, 208 et seq.; 
3. Theodor, Die Midraschim. zum Pentateuch und der 
Patliistinensisehe Dreijtéhrige Cyeclus, in Monatsschrift, 
1885-87; Ph. Bloch, Studien zur <Aggada, in Monats- 
schrift, 1885, pp. 166 et seqg.; Winter:and Winsche, Die Jitd. 
Litteratur seit Abscliluss des Kanons, 1894, 1. 485 et seg., 
488 et seq.; W. Bacher, Ay. Pal. Amor. 1899, iii, 502 et seq.; 
Immanuel Léw, in Krauss, Griechische und Lateinische 
Lehnworter, 1899, ii. 620 et seg; S. Maybanm, Die Aeltesten 
Phasen in der Entwickelung der Jud. Predigt, Berlin, 1901. 


J. SR. J. T. 

BEREZA (Cartuskaya Bereza): Town in the 
district of Pruszhany, government of Grodno, Rus- 
sia; situated on the river Jazelda, on the road be- 
tween Brest-Litovsk and Bobruisk. The Jewish 
population in 1890 was 850, out of a total of 2,625. 

Jews first settled in Bereza in 1629, as is evident 
from a document registered by Solomon Michaile- 
vich, superintendent of the Jewish congregation of 
Brest-Litovsk, at the city hall of that place, April 
18, 1680. In this document Grand Duke Sapieha 
(1557-1633), hetman and chancellor of Lithuania, 
declares to his officials of Bereza and to his heirs 
that, as he desires that Jews shall settle in Bereza, 
he grants them the privilege of building there a 
house of prayer where they can hold their divine serv- 
ice undisturbed. They shall have the right to 
build houses and ornament them according to their 
desire, and shall enjoy all the privileges granted to 
the Jewish inhabitants on his other estates, as Roz- 
hana and Kosov. All these rights are also to be 
granted by his heirs. After the signature of Leon 
Sapieha on the original document is added a confir- 
mation of the contents in the handwriting of his son, 
Cazimir Leo Sapieha (1609-56). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Akty Wilenskot Archeograficheskoit Kom- 
missii, v. 142; Regesty i Nadpisi, No. 781; Pamiatnaya 
Kniga Grodnenskot Guberntt na 1890, LR 


III.—5. 


Bereshi, 
Berg 





BEREZINO: Village of Russia, in the govern. 
ment of Minsk, having a population (1898) of 1,900, 
almost exclusively Jews (1,824). About 25 per cent 
of them are artisans and laborers, chiefly loaders. 
Twenty-four Jewish families are engaged in garden- 
ing. The general economic condition is bad. Upon 
the introduction (June 14, 1897) of the government 
monopoly in the wine trade, 99 Jewish families were 
left without means of subsistence; 155 families de- 
pended upon charity for fuel; 210 applied in 1898 
for charity during the Passover of that year; and 
the number of such applicants increases annually. 

H. R. S. J. 


BERG: An independent duchy until 1815; at 
present part of the Prussian Rhine province. Jews 
settled here at an early period. In 1298 Count Wil- 
helm of Berg protected them against the hordes led 
by RinDFLEIscy. At the time of the Black Death 
in 1849 many were killed by the Flagellants. Many 
of the Jews driven from Cologne settled in Berg. 
The rabbi of Cologne, “ Pruno Soeskind,” settled at 
Deutz, others went to Siegburg, and still others to 
Milheim-on-the-Ruhr. A synagogue was at that 
time organized at Deutz, the cemetery being outside 
of the “Severinthor” of Cologne until in 1629 the 
electoral government presented to the Jews a 
burial-place. 

Even in early times a community had existed at 
Siegburg, which paid to the abbot a certain sum as 
protection money ((eleitgeld), the Jews being also 
required to take part, like other citizens, in guarding 
the gates. The chief of the community acted as its 
judge, only criminal cases being brought before 
theabbot. The Jews of Siegburg were slain in 1287 
on the accusation of having killed a boy, Johiin- 
neken, who was afterward canonized by the Church. 
Often to their detriment the Jews of Siegburg aided 
the archbishop and the city of Cologne with money. 
In 1884 Archbishop Walram killed Meyer of Sieg- 
burg and his son Joelman, and confiscated their 
property. 

The ghetto and synagogue at Miilheim lay in the 
lower part of the city, on the Rhine; the Jews bury- 
ing their dead at firstin the cemetery at Cologne, and 
afterward at Deutz. Since 1774 they have had a ceme- 
tery of their own. The settlement at Kaisers- 
werth also dates back to an early period. During 
the “Soest quarrel” 1,445 horsemen from Cleves in- 
vaded Milheim and Deutz, plundering and carrying 
off the richest Jews. About 1,400 Jews of Siegburg 
barely escaped annihilation, a gipsy woman having 
accused them of a murder. In 1588 the community 
of Deutz suffered by fire. In 1583 they fled before 
the troops of Archbishop Truchsess von Waldenburg 
(who tried to regain his diocese, from which he had 
been deposed) to Cologne; again, in 1631, before the 
Swedes, and were temporarily received back on pay- 
ment of large sums of money. In 1665 some stu- 
dents plundered the Jewish housesin Deutz. In the 
seventeenth century the Jews of Siegburg were 
forced to entertain troopscontrary to the stipulations 
of their charter. A Jew, David, was compelled iu 
1668 to pay the regular taxes, in addition to the eight 
gold guldens, protection money, he was already pay- 
ing. Thecommunity of Deutz paid one-seventh of all 


Bergamo 
Bergson 


the taxes; that of Milheim, as much as any one 
who owned three “morgen” of land. Lazarus van 
Geldern became court factor at the court of the 
principality of Jiilich-Berg in1727, In 1754 the Jews 
suffered by a violent earthquake, and in 1784 by the 
floods of the Rhine, during which the synagogue 
was destroyed. A new synagogue at Deutz was 
consecrated in 1786, and one at Mitlheim two years 
later. On the advent of the French army all the 
restrictions placed upon the Jews, such as poll- 
tax and protection moncy, were abolished. In 1808 
there were 2,905 Jews at Diisseldorf, 1,264 at Co- 
logne, and 1,552 at Cleves. 

Rabbi Siisskind, mentioned above, was succeeded 
by Vivis, well known from his opposition to the 
resolutions of the synod of Bingen, under Seligmann 
Bing Oppenheim, at the beginning of the fifteenth 
century. Vivis was also physician to the duke of 
Berg. The seat of the district rabbinate was trans- 
ferred from Deutz to Bonn in the sixteenth century. 
At this time there also lived at Deutz the physicians 
Sander (who had permission to visit Cologne) and 
Solomon ben Isaac Joseph (1560-1631). The latter’s 
son, also a physician, died in 1657. 
teenth century the physicians Judah Loeb ben Na- 
than (died 1670), Jacob ben David (died 1688), Jere- 
miah ben Solomon of Coblenz (died 1688), and a 
woman physician named Végele (died 1781) lived at 
Deutz, as well as the scholars Kossmann Levi of 
Essen, and Moser. The latter was the son-in-law 
of Rabbi Judah Maehler of Cologne, and author of 
several works. 

Among the rabbis of Diisseldorf may be mentioned 
Samson Levi Fréhlich (1706-50), Mordecai Halber- 
stadt (1751-69), Jacob Brandeis (1769-74); and 
Judah Loeb Scheuer (1779-1821). Isaac Bonem 
Rappoport was district rabbi. Jacob Kopenhagen 
wrote a small book on the floods of the Rhine in 
1784. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brisch, in Israelit, 1879, Nos. 4,6-8; Wedel}, 


Gesch. der Juden in Diisseldorf, pp. & 

D. A. F. 

BERGAMO: City in northern Italy. Here, as in 
other cities subject to the government of the Vene- 
tian republic, the right of residence was granted to 
Jews, who were chiefly engaged in money-ilending. 
Documents relating to the Jews, and dating back 
to 1479, are preserved in the City Library and in the 
municipal archives. But Jews were certainly in 
Bergamo before that time. They are found in the 
large neighboring village, Martinengo, where they 
conld own land and houses (“Archivio di Stato 
Veneto, Senato, Terra,” reg. 16, carte 25). In 1507 a 
decree was issued compelling Jews to wear a yellow 
girdle ora red hat. Neither in Bergamo, in Marti- 
nengo, nor in any other of the surrounding places 
are they known to have formed a congregation. 
They may have had a synagogue and a cemetery, 
but no traces of these remain. There are no longer 
any Jews at Bergamo. 

D. Vo 

BERGEL, JOSEPH: Neo-Hebraic writer of the 
first part of the nineteenth century. He was a pri- 
vate teacher at Prossnitz, Moravia. In 1826 and 
1827, he published some articles and poems in the 
annual “Bikkure ha-‘Ittim ” (vi. 40, 50; vil. 3, 1238, 


In the seven- . 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 66 





183, 185). The best of these are the articles, “ Hash. 
‘arat ha-Nefesh” (The Immortality of the Soul) jn 
vii. 8-12, and the poem “‘Al Keber Abi” (On the 
Grave of My Father) in vii. 123. He translated g 
few of Confucius’ sayings into Hebrew from the 
French. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 197; Delitzsch, 
Zur Gesehichte der Jitdischen Poesie, p. 109. 
Ss. T. Ber. 
BERGEL, JOSEPH: Judeo-German writer, 
probably of the seventeenth century. He was the 
author of “Ein Schén Géttlich Lied,” a religious 
poem. It seems to have been printed at Prague in 
the seventeenth century as an addition to the poem 
“Jiidischer Stamm” by Joseph ben Judah Heil- 
bronn. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Boal. col. 563. 
G. I. Be. 
BERGEL (BERGL), JOSEPH: Hungarian 
physician and author; born Sept. 2, 1802, at Pross- 
nitz, died 1885 at Kaposvar. He was well versed in 
rabbinical and modern Hebrew literature, and at- 
tempted to introduce a new meter into Hebrew 
poetry in a work he published under the title “ Pirhe 
Leshon ‘Eber ” (Hebrew songs), Gross-Kanizsa, 1873. 
In the German language he wrote: “Studien tiber 
die Naturwissenschaftlichen Kenntnisse der Talmu- 
disten,” Leipsic, 1880 ; “ Die Eheverh&ltnisse der Al- 
ten Juden im Vergleich mit den Griechischen und R6- 
inischen,” 2d. 1881; “ Der Hinimel und Setne Wunder, 
eine Archiiologische Studie nach Alten Jiidischen 
Mythografien,” which was also published in Leipsic 
in the same year under the title “Mythologie der 
Alten Hebrier,” 1882. His most important work is 
* Die Medizin der Talmudisten ” (Leipsicand Berlin, 
1885), with an appendix on anthropology as it is 
found in ancient Hebrew writings. These works 
are not very profound, but they bring together a 
certain amount of useful information. Bergel also 
wrote “Geschichte der Juden in Ungarn,” published 
in 1879 in Hungarian and German. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon, v. 1,2: 
Kayserling, Jlidisehe Litteratur, p. 131; Revue Etudes 
Jiuives, x. 266, 267; Ha-Zefirah, 1885, No. 12. 
8. , P, W1. 
BERGEL, YOM-TOB: Merchant and com- 
munal worker of Gibraltar; born in 1812; died at 
Gibraltar Oct. 14, 1894. He was one of the wealth- 
iest and most respected merchants of the Gibraltar 
Jewish community, and for thirty years held the 
position of president of the Hebrew community. 
He rendered many communal services; reorganized 
the Hebrew Poor Fund when it was in a very pre- 
carious state; and as one of the trustees of the Jew- 
ish estates in Gibraltar acquired, by his efforts, val- 
uable possessions for the benefit of the poor among 
his coreligionists. Bergel wasone of the first mem- 
bers of the Board of Sanitary Commission, a mem. 
ber of the Exchange Committee, and took an active 
part In the management of the Relief Fund at the 
time of the cholera epidemic in 1865. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle, Oct. 26, 1894. 
J. 


BERGER, EMILE DE: Austrian oculist and 
medical author; born at Vienna Aug. 1, 1855. He 
received his education at the University of Vienna 


67 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bergamo 
Bergson 


a RN 


From 1882 to 1887 he was lecturer at the University 
of Gratz, and from 1890 to 1896 professor of oph- 
thalmology at Paris. Berger, who, in 1882, was the 
jnventor of an ophthalmoscope having an automatic 
action of two Rekoss disks, won the Prix Montyon 
in 1888, and the Prix Rémusat in 1892, for researches 
in this line of work. He was also the president of 
the ophthalmic congress held in Paris in 1894. 
Berger is the author of: “Gehirn und Retina der 
Anthropoiden,” 1878; “ Der Hornhautspiegel.” 1886; 
*Krankheiten der Weilbeinhélije und des Siebbein- 
labyrinthes,” 1886; “Beitrige zur Anatomie des 
Auges,” 1887; “Chirurgie des Sinus Sphenoidalis,” 
1890; “Les Maladies des Yeux dans Leurs Rapports 
avec la Pathologie Générale,” 1892. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revue Bibliographiques des 
Frangaises Contemporaines, iii. 
S, E. Ms. 
BERGER, ERNST: Austrian painter; brother 
of the oculist Baron Emile Berger; born at Vienna 
Jan. 8, 1857; educated at the gymnasium, the com- 
mercial high school, and in 1874 at the Academy of 
Arts of his native town, Though intended by his 
father for a commercial career, he soon turned to the 
study of painting. 
fessor Eisenmenger and the painter Hans Makart. 
Under the latter’s direction Berger painted the pic- 
tures “Fondaco de’ Turchi in Venedig,” exhibited 
at the Vienna Kiinstlerhaus in 1882; “Burial of 
Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah”; and “ Rebekah 
Leaving Her Father’s House.” Since 1882 Berger 
has lived and worked in Munich. His chief pro- 
ductions are “Traum vom Jungbrunnen,” 1886, 
which obtained the silver medal at the Melbourne 
Exhibition, and “ Altvenetianische Brunnenweihe,” 
1892. 
_ Berger is also the author of “ Beitrége zur Ent- 
wicklungs-Geschichte der Maltechnik,” 1893-97; 
“ Katechismus der Farbenlehre,” 1898; and the arti- 
cles “Van Eyck’s Technik,” in “Zeit. fiir Bildende 
Kunst,” 1895, and “ Pflege der Bilder in Gemiildegal- 
lerien,” in “ Kunst fiir Alle,” x., ete. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeines Ktinstlerlerikon, s.v. 


Notabilités 


S 


BERGER, OSCAR: German electrotherapist 
and medical author; born at Miinsterberg, Silesia, 
Nov. 24, 1844; died at Ober-Salzbrunn, Silesia, 
July 19, 1885. He was educated at the gymnasiwin 
of his native town and at the universities of Berlin, 
Vienna, and Breslau, receiving his degree as doctor 
of medicine in 1867. In 1869 he engaged in practise 
as a physicianin Breslau, making electrotherapy his 
specialty. In 1878 he became privat-docent at the 
University of Breslau, being the first at that institu- 
tion to lecture on nervous diseases. Five years later 
he was elected assistant professor. In 1877 he was 
appointed chief consulting physician and medical 
inspector of the Breslau poorhouse. 

Berger made a special study of neuralgia of the 
joints, of the relation of neuralgia to diabetes and 
hephritis, of neuralgia of the face and of the geni- 
‘ tals, of the relation of syphilis to tabes, and (with 
Heidenheim) of hypnotism. 

A very prolific writer, he contributed many articles 
on neurology and electrotherapy to technical jour- 
nals, and was one of the editors of the “ Neurolo- 


He became the pupil of Pro- 


gisches Centralblatt.” For Eulenburg’s * Encyklo- 
piidie der Gesammten Heilkunde” he also wrote 
many articles, including “Epilepsic,” “Beschiifti- 
gungsneurosen,” “Paralysis Agitaus,” “Tetanic,” 
etc. His best-known works are “Die Lihmung 
des Nervus Thoracicus Longus,” Breslau, 1873; and 
“Zur Lokalisation der Corticalen Sehsphiire beim 
Menschen,” Breslau, 1885. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Hirsch, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v.,Vienna, 
1884; Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 1901. 


g, F. T. H. 


BERGER, PHILIPPE: Christian professor of 
Hebrew ; member of the Académie des Inscriptions 
et Belles-Lettres; born at Beaucourt, Haut-Rhin, 
September, 1846; brother of Samuel Bergér. Grad- 
uating at the University of Strasburg. he settled in 
Paris, where he became professor of Hebrew in the 
Faculté de Théologie Protestaute (now a part of the 
University of Paris), and sublibrarian of the Insti- 
tut de France. 

Disciple and intimate friend of Renan, whom he 
succeeded in the chair of Hebrew at the Collége de 
France, Bergér devoted himself to the study of 
Semitic epigraphy, for which his friend and master 
had a predilection. He collaborated in the redaction 
of the “Corpus Inseriptionum Semiticarum,” pub- . 
lished by the Académie. 

Among Bergér’s numerous writings two are of 
special interest for Jewish scholars: (1) “L’Ecriture 
des Inscriptions Sémitiques,” Paris, 1880; and (2) 
“Essai sur la Signification Historique des Noms des 
Patriarches Hébreux,” Paris, 1887. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, vi. 306. 


T. I, Br. 


BERGER, SAMUEL: French professor of 
Protestant theology; secretary and librarian of the 
Faculté de Théologie Protestante, Paris; born at 
Beaucourt, Haut-Rhin, May 2, 1843; brother of 
Philippe Bergér. He attended the lectures on liter- 
ature at the Sorbonne, and studicd theology at the 
University of Strasburg, whence he graduated. 
Among Bergér’s writings the following are interest- 
ing for the study of the Bible: (1) “La Bible au 
XVI. Siécle; Etude sur l’Origine de la Critique,” 
Paris, 1879; (2) “De Glossariis Biblicis Quibusdam. 
Medii A‘vi,” Paris, 1879; (3) “La Bible Francaise 
au Moyen Age; Etudessur les Anciennes Versions de 
la Bible Ecrites en Prose de la Langue d’Oi%l,” Paris, 
1884: (4) “ Histoire de la Vulgate,” Paris, 1893. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, vi. 306. 

ui I, Br. 

BERGSON, MICHAEL: Musician; born in 
Warsaw 1818; died at London March 9, 1898. He 
was a member of an eminent Jewish family of War- 
saw, With which city he always preserved connec- 
tion. Early in life he became a pupil of Chopin, 
and afterward settled in Geneva, where he became 
professor and later on principal of the Conserva- 
toire de Musique. Professor Bergson resided for 
the greater part of his working life in Switzerland, 
and in the principal cities of France and Italy ; but the 
last twenty-five years of his life he spent in London. 
He was, as a pianist, one of the personal inheritors 
of the Chopin tradition; but he also attained to some 
distinction as a composer, many of his productions 


Bergtheil 
Berlin 


— 


exhibiting inventive power, taste, and charm. He 
wrote two operas: “ Louisa de Montfort” and “Sal- 
vator Rosa.” Among his many hundreds of songs, 
the “Two Hearts,” the “Better World,” and the 
“Sérénade Moresque,” as well as the clever piano- 
forte sketch, “A Storm on the Lagoons,” were very 
widely known and admired. His more technical 
productions, too, have received much commenda- 
tion, especially the “Douze Grandes Etudes,” op. 
62, and the “Ecoledu Mécanisme,” op. 65. Mention 
should also be made of his “ Flute Sonata,” of his 
“Concert Symphonique,” and his “Polonaise He- 
rotque.” One of his best-known picces is the “ Scena 
ed Aria” for clarinet, played by military bands 
throughout the world. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle and Jewish World, March 


4 


J. G. L. 


BERGTHEIL, JON AS: Pioneer of Natal, 
South Africa; born in England about 1815; died 
1902; emigrated to South Africa about 1844, at a time 
when the resources of the country were scarcely 
known, and the mode of living extremely primitive. 
Settling among ithe Boers as a farmer, Bergtheil 
was treated by them with religious tolerance. He 
served in their government as a member of the Leg- 
islative Council from 1855 for eleven years, being 
four times reelected and resigning office only on his 
return to England in 1866, During a visit to Eng- 
land in 1847, he advocated, unsuccessfully, emigra- 
tion to the Cape; then, passing to Germany, his 
arguments were more successful, and he took with 
him forty families, who founded a settlement in 
“New Germany,” which trained some excellent col- 
onists. Bergtheil was a large landowner in Cape 
Colony, possessing at one time nearly 200,000 acres, 
when land was estimated at the rate of threepence 
an acre. 

Returning to England in 1866, Bergtheil identified 
himself with the communal institutions in London, 
serving as warden of the Bayswater Synagogue and 
as president of the Bayswater Jewish schools, retir- 
ing from the latter in 1900. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle, Sept. 7, 1900. 
J. G. L. 


BERIAH: 1. A son of Asher, representing, 
however, not an individual, but a clan (Gen. xlvi. 
17; Num. xxvi. 44, 46). A member of the clan was 
called a Beriite (Num. xxvi. 44). The name is also 
found in the genealogical list, J Chron. vii. 30, 31. 

2. A clan of Benjamin (I Chron. viii. 138). 

3. A clan of Ephraim (I Chron. vii. 21-28). The 
chronicler here adds an explanation of the name, 
“because it went evil with his [father’s] house.” 
It has been supposed by some (Bertheau, Commen- 
tary, ad loc.) that Nos. 2 and 8 are identical, and that 
‘Beriah of Benjamin was associated with Ephraim 
because of its services to that tribe. 

4, A Levite of the Gershon line (I Chron. xxiii. 
10, 11). 

G. G. B. L. 

BERIAH, or ‘OLAM HA-BERIAH (the 
World of Creation): Cabalistic expression for the sec- 
ond of the four celestial worlds of the Cabala, inter- 
‘mediate between the World of Emanation (AZILUT) 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 68 


eee 


and the World of Formation (YEzZIRAH), the third 
world, that of the angels. It is, accordingly, of the 
purest essence and without admixture of matter. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Joel, Die Religionsphilosophie des Sohar, 
pp. 204, 278 ef sey. 
K. 


BERIT MILAH. See Circuncision, 


BERKAMANTI or BARKAMANT (‘sxppr3) 
IBN ABU AL-HASAN (called Al-Isra’ili al- 
Iskandari): Physician and author; lived prob. 
ably in the first half of the thirteenth century, and 
wrote foran emir (Mansur?) a treatise on hygiene 
in ten chapters, called in the preface: moxpndye 


moaby AnySy pan p mond. There is a copy 
of this medical work in manuscript iv the Imperial 
Library of Berlin, and Steinschneider has given an 
exhaustive description of it in his “Catalogue.” 
Steinschneider rejects the identification of Berkamanij 
with one Jefet b. Sa‘id of the twelfth century; 
though at one time he held him to be the probable 
author of a responsum (ADIWwNH) in Codex Peters- 
burg 625 (compare Neubauer, “ Aus der Petersburger 
BibHothek,” 1866, pp. 25, 118, note xxi.). In the 
preface to this work it is stated that the treatise was 
compiled at the request of an Alexandrian states- 
man, Whose name is conjectured to be either Al- 
Muhsin or Al-Mansur, and to whose personality ref- 
erence is made on page 91b of themanuscript. The 
fact that he mentions no earlier author than Maimon- 
ides, whom he calls sy poy ‘oD (Moses of Cor- 
dova), makes the tentative date, above given, all the 
more probable. It would seem from his familiarity 
with medical literature that he was a physician. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Polemische und Apologe- 
tische Literatur, pp. 90, 91, note 2, ¢., Leipsic, 1877; idem, 
Hebr. Bibl. xxi. 84, 85; idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 942, note 


264; Verzeichniss der Hebriiischen Handschriftei [der 
konigltichen Bibliothek zu Berlin], ii. 102-104, 1573 xiii, 
CS Fd 


NO. 250. 


G. G. A. K. 


BERKO, JOSSELEWICZ. 
SELOVICH. 

BERKOVITS, LAJOS: Hungarian violinist; 
born at Budapest in 1874. Here he passed through 
the schools and finished his musical education. He 
was graduated from the National Academy of 
Music, where his teachers were Jeno Hubay and 
David Popper. In 1895 he went to Paris, where he 
entered the celebrated Lamoureux orchestra as first 
violinist, in which capacity he made a tour through 
England. As asoloist hisappearances were frequent 
and invariably successful. In 1896 he received an 
engagement in the royal orchestra of the opera at 
Budapest, and he is still a member of that body as 
well as of the well-known Griwfeld quartet. 


See BEREK, Jo- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pallas Levikon; Pester Lloyd, 1896. 


S. M. W, 


BERKOWICZ, JOSEF: Officer in the Polish 
army; son of Colonel BEREK (Berko). Tle took part 
in the battle of Kock, in 1809, in which his father 
was killed. When he quitted the military service in 
1815, he was appointed forester of the government 
forests of Troki, and in 1826 chief forester of the 
district of Bielsk. 

During the Polish revolution of 1880 Berkowicz 
served under General Rozycky as chief of squadron 


69 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


pips Mtr es 
of the Fifth Regiment, and at the end of the war he 
removed to Besancon, France. Soon after he set- 
tled permanently in England, where he wrote his 
novel, “Stanislaus, or the Polish Lancer in the Suite 
of Napoleon from the Island of Elba,” which was 
published in 1846 by his family after his death. 
He left two sons, Leon and Josef, and his widow, 
who returned to France, where she died in poverty. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Kraushar, Bioyrafja Berka i Jego Syna, 
in Siwiec, 1889; 8. Orgelbrand, Hneyelopedja Powszech na, 
Warsaw, 1898, ii., s.v. 

FH. R. 


BERKOWITZ, BENZION JUDAH BEN 
ELIAHU: Russian Hebrew scholar; born July 28, 
1808; died at Wilna-May 11,1879. He isthe author 
of the following works devoted..to the study of the 
Targum Onkelos: (1) “‘Oteh Or,” Wilna, 1848; (2) 
“Lehem we-Simlah,” 2 vols., 76. 1850-55: (3) “ Hali- 
fot Semalot,” supplement to-vol. ii., 2. 1874; (4) 
“Abne Zion,” 2b. 1877, addenda to Nathan Adler’s 
commentary on Onkelos. 

Berkowitz’s contributions to the study of the 
Onkelos are very valuable, their merit being ac- 
knowledged by such scholars as Berliner and other 
specialistson the Targum. He also contributed to 
the Hebrew periodicals “Pirhe Zafon,” “Ha-Kar- 
mel,” “Ozar Hokmah,” and “ Ha-Maggid.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 174; Berliner, 
Targuin Onkelos, p. 197; H. N. Steinschneider, ‘Ir Wilna. 


LG: H. R. 


BERKOWITZ, HENRY: Russian-English 
educator; boru at Warsaw in 1816; died in Graves- 
end April 5, 1891. He came to London in 1841, and 
attracting the notice of Chief Rabbi Adler, he was 
made a member of the latter’s household. He after- 
ward opened a school at Gravesend, and by his en- 
ergy and zeal gradually obtained for it an established 
position and reputation. Among his scholars were 
numbered some of the most prominent men in the 
community. Berkowitz was held in high esteem in 
non-Jewish circles in Gravesend, made friends among 
all classes and creeds, and local honors were be- 
stowed on him in abundance, among them that of 
justice of the peace, until, in 1887, he was elected 
mayor of Gravesend. He was concerned in almost 
every philanthropic movement of the town. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle, April, 1891. 


de G. L. 


BERKOWITZ, HENRY: American rabbi; 
born at Pittsburg, Pa., March 18, 1857. He was 
educated at the Central High School of his native 
city, at Cornell University, and at the Hebrew Union 
College of Cincinnati, O. Berkowitz has held the 


position of rabbi of the Sha‘are Shamayim congrega- | 


tion in Mobile, Ala., 1883-88; of the B’nai Jehuda 
congregation in Kansas City, Mo., 1888-92; and of 
the Rodeph Shalom congregation, Philadelphia, Pa., 
since 1892, He is the founder and chancellor of the 
JEWISH CHAUTAUQUA SOCIETY since 1898, one of 
the board of governors of the Hebrew Union Col- 
lege, and a member of the publication committee of 
the Jewish Publication Society. He isa member of 
the first or pioneer class of Jewish ministers that 
graduated from the Hebrew Union College. The 
published works of Berkowitz are as follows: 


Bergtheil 
Berlin 





“Bible Ethics,” 1883; “First Union Hebrew Read- 
er” and “Second Union Hebrew Reader,” 18838; 
“Judaism and the Social Question,” 1888; “The 
Pulpit Message,” 1892; “The Open Bible,” 1896— 
a guide toa choice of reading from the Old Testa- 
ment, taking account of the critical standpoint; 
“Kiddush: Sabbath Sentiment in the Home,” illus- 
trated, 1898. Berkowitz has contributed many 
papers to various Jewish and secular journals. 

A. 8. 

BERLIJN, ANTON (ARON WOLF): Con- 
ductor and composer; born at Amsterdam May 21, 
1817; died there Jan. 16, 1870. He wrote nine 
operas, seven ballets, an oratorio (“Moses auf 
Nebo”), a symphony, @ cantata, a mass, several 
overtures, chamber-music, etc. Of these his sym- 
phony, performed by Spohr at Cassel, 1857, is un- 
doubtedly his best work. Berlijn was a skilful con- 
trapuntist, and his compositions are distinguished 
by grace and brilliancy, though their popularity 
was confined principally to Holland. 

During his long service as conductor at the Royal 


- Theater at Amsterdam, he was held in high regard 


by the king, who in 1860 bestowed upon him the 
decoration of the order of merit of the king of Hol- 
Jand. In addition to this he received the gold medal 
for merit of the king of the Belgians (1845), and simi- 
lar decorations from the kings of Denmark (1845), 
Greece (1846), and Sweden (1848), the emperor of 
Austria (1848), Prince Frederick of the Netherlands 
(1858), and the grand dukes of Saxe-Coburg (1864) 
and Nassau. Berlijn was also a member of the St. 
Cecilia Society of Rome, of the Archeological So- 
ciety of Athens, ete. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baker, Dict. of Afusicians, New York, 1900; 

Mendel, Musikalisches Keonversations-Lerthon, 

s. J. So. 

BERLIN: Capital of Prussia and of the German 
empire. Though mentioned as early as the year 
1225, it was an unimportant place during the whole 
of the Middle Ages. Not much is known of the Jews 
there during that period, yet there is enough to 
show that they shared the same fate as their core- 
ligionists of that time in other cities and countries. 
At the beginning of the fourteenth century the 
“ Reichsgriifin” (countess of the empire) Agnes 
presented the Jews of Berlin to the magistrate. 
They were expelled during the Black Death, and 
their synagogue was given to a Christian citizen 
(1350); but in accordance with the spirit of the Mid- 
dle Ages they were allowed to return in 1354. They 
were not, however, permitted to have a public syn- 
agogue, but had to content themselves fora number 
of years with worshiping in private houses. There 
is no further mention of the Jews until the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth century. In 1309 the Jews of 
the neighboring Bernau were accused of desecrating 
the host, and thirty-eight of them, alicged to have 
committed the crime, were publicly burned by order 
of the elector Joachim I. (July 19, 1510). Only two 
accepted baptism, and these were beheaded, the sen- 
tence of death at the stake having been commuted 
to this as “an act of grace.” As the usual conse- 
quence of such occurrences, the Jews generally were 
expelled: but they apparently were received again 
within a very short time, for in the fourth decade 


Berlin © 


of that century the magistrate again compiained of 
them. About the same time, the court Jew Lippold, 
favorite of the elector Joachim IT., became especially 
important, he having been entrusted by the latter 
with the superintendence of all Jewish affairs. 
When Joachim died suddenly (1571), his successor, 
Johann Georg, accused Lippold of having murdered 
the elector. Lippold’s admissions on the rack, and 
the books on magic found in his possession, furnished 
to his enemies sufficient evidence to procure his con- 
demnation and execution (Jan. 28, 1578). Again an 
expulsion of the Jews followed. 

The real history of the Jewish community of Ber- 
lin does not begin until the year 1671. When the 
Jews were expelled (1670) from Vienna, under Em- 
peror Leopold L., the great elector, who previously 
had shown his unprejudiced attitude toward the 
Jews by admitting two Jewish students to the Uni- 
versity of Frankfort-on-the-Oder (see under Coun, 
Topias), signi- 
tied his willing- 











THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 70 


— 


The fear of competition forced the new immigrants 
to protect themselves against the influx of other 
Jews, whom they attempted to keep away by 
threats of excommunication. Though they were 
forbidden to put this measure into force, the author. 
ities agreed to come to them for information con- 
cerning every new immigrant, the signers to such a 
reference being then held responsible for the person 
named. This measure did not prevent many “un- 
vergleitete Juden” (Jews having no “ Geleiisbrief,” 
or residence permit) from entering Berlin surrepti- 
tiously, thus furnishing cause for endless legislation 

in the electorate of Brandenburg; and 

Privileges the evil was not wholly remedied even 
Granted. by stringent measures. The great 
elector faithfully kept his promise to 

protect the Jews. On Jan. 3, 1676, a decree was 
issued in which occurred the following: “die Juden 
in Berlin in ihren Freyheiten und Privilegien nicht zu 


turbiren, noch 
2u kriiuken, son- 
dern sie viel- 


























ness to receive a 


























number of Jew- 
ish families into 
his dominions, 
and ordered his 
resident at Vi- 








2. 
> 
ek 


AG 











mehr dabey 
gebtirend zu 
sehtitzen” (not 
to disturb or 
worry the Jews 
of Berlinin their 






































enna, Andreas Ze 

Neumann, to betes, grants and priv- 
open negotia- ileges, but to 
tions with the TW protect them 
Jews of that properly). But 
city. The edict when, nine years 
of admission a later, an accuser, 
was published Pree Bendix Levi, 
May 21, 1671. Sask? rose out of the 

’ : Sse * 

The emigrants See midst of the 
could freely en- Jews them- 
gage in com- Exterior of the Old Synagogue, Berlin. selves, making 
merce, but (After an engraving.) the most violent 
usury was for- : accusations 
bidden. They were exempt from tolls in traveling, { against them, he gained the ear of the great elector, 


but had to pay a yearly protection tax of eight thalers 
per family, and one gold florin for every mar- 
riage. In civil cases they were to be 
The Great judged by the mayor, in criminal 
Elector. cases by the elector. They were 
not permitted to have a public syn- 
agogue. These privileges were at first granted for 
a period of twenty years. A few months later the 
Austrian fugitives arrived at Berlin and went to 
their quarters near the city walls. As the court 
Jew Jsrael Aaron was afraid of the competition of 
the immigrants, he succeeded in having a decree is- 
sued, Sept. 6, 1671, under which no Jews would be 
received in Berlin except after a careful investiga- 
tion into their financial condition. Instead of the 
anticipated number of letters of protection, one cam- 
mon writ of privileges was issued to the Veit and 
Riess families, in which they were expressly for- 
bidden to compete with Aaron. That day (Sept. 
10, 1671) is the birthday of the Jewish commu- 
nity of Berlin. In 1672 a cemetery was bought 
for the new community, aud in 1676 a burial 
society was founded under the name “Gemiluss 
Chassodini.” 


who ordered that every Jew should give bonds to 
the amount of 1,000 thalers (Sept. 8, 1685). 

The great elector died in 1688, and was succeeded 
by the elector Frederick III., who became king of 
Prussia Jan. 18, 1701. Even in swearing to the 
coronation oath the council brought up complaints 
against the Jews, As the twenty years for which 
the privileges of 1671 were granted were drawing to 
a close, Frederick instituted a commission to examine 
the letters of protection (May, 1688), before which 
every Jew had to appear, and to receive confirma- 
tion of his privileges on payment of a certain tax. 
Most stringent measures were taken against the 
“unvergleitete Juden,” but all to no avail. <A spe- 
cial commission was instituted to determine the 
rights of the Jews (Jan. 24, 1700). The number of 
Jewish families for the whole electorate was fixed 
at fifty. Instead of the personal protection-tax 
(eight thalers), the whole community was taxed in a 
yearly sum of 5,000 thalers; and a poll-tax was in- 
stituted. Another decree was issued (Dec. 7, 1700), 
which revoked the poll-tax, fixed the protection- 
money at 1.000 ducats, and placed some restrictions 
upon commerce. At the request of the shopkeepers’ 


71 





cild, for instance, Jews were forbidden to keep pub- 
lic shops and stalls. A report on the execution of 
this measure, however, says: “Ist leyder nicht cin 
Buchstabe von dieser heylsamen Verordnung in 
Acht genommen worden” (Unfortunately not a jot 
of this wholesome measure received any heed). 
Other restrictions followed. Peddling had been for- 
bidden (Aug. 17, 1692), and now also living in vil- 
lages (Oct. 16, 1706). 

Aversion to the Jews began to show itself also in 
other matters. Franz Wentzel brought forward the 
accusation that 
the Jews during 
the ‘ALENU 
prayer jumped up 
aud spat in deri- 
sion of Jesus. In 
consequence a se- 
vere edict was is- 
sued against the 
prayer in Septem- 
ber of the year 
1700. An investi- 
gation was iusti- 
tuted, to which 
delegates of the 
Jews were called, 
and as a result 
there was issued, 
Aug. 28, 17038, the 
* Edict wegen des 
Judengebeths 
‘AJlenu, und das 


NS 


: 


= o o + = 
sie einige Worte A 
auslassen, nicht EZ 
ausspeyen, noch 
darbey hinweg- A 


springen sollen” 
(Edict concerning 
the Jews’ prayer 
‘Alenu, and that 
they shall leave 


Zoot ROS ty, 
out some words, (Magara Sty 
. i) Reg! SB if 
shall not spit nor G7 | 

jump up during YZ 

its recital). This 


decree was often 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


| 


q 
ite, |) / 
! 





Berlin 





their own government. The “elders” — most of 
whom were chosen by the community for a period 
of three years, subject to confirmation by the gov- 
ernment, though some were nominated for life— 
supervised mainly the collection of the taxesand the 
eairying out of the regulations pertaining thereto. 
Among the elders at the beginning of the eighteenth 
century were Jost Liebmanon and Marcus Magnus. 
Personal enmity between these two grew into a 
communal quarrel which divided the Jews into two 
camps and was attended with dire results. Lieb- 
mann, who mar- 
ried the widow of 
Israel Aaron, suc- 
ceeded the latter 
in his position at 
court also, and ac- 
quired a large for- 
tune by furnish- 
ing diamonds, 
After Aaron’s 
death the appoint- 
ment was con- 
ferred upon his 
widow. She 





gained the favor 
of the king, who 
placed her in a 
position entirely 
independent of the 
Jewish commn-_ 
nity signifying his 
esteem by present- 
ing her with a 
gold chain. While, 
however, the Lieb- 
mann family en- 
joyed the favor of 
the king, Magnus 
was the special 
favorite of the 
crown prince, The 
latent clisharmony 
between the two 
families became 
apparent ata 
trifling occurrence 


a an YO eS i 
it ie Sahl a 
[i ten haalrahea 


= 
P= | 


renewed. Accord- Interior of the Old Synagogue, Berlin. during worship, 
ing to it the (After an engraving.) Marcus Magn us 
prayer was. al- insisting that Lieb- 


lowed only to be said in the synagogue and in a 
loud voice; and a Christian official was appointed 
to see that this injunction was carried out. It was 
only after many years that the degree 
was revoked, at the instance of Moses 
Mendelssohn, About the same time ap- 
peared Johann Andreas Eisenmenger's 
book, “Das Entdeckte Judenthum” (Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, 1700). Owing to the efforts of the Jews 
the book was forbidden by Emperor Leopold E., and 
continued under that ban, in spite of the repeated 
objections of the Prussian king Frederick I., who 
thereupon had it reprinted at Berlin in 1711. 

In 1708 a standing commission (which had charge 
of Jewish affairs until 1750) was instituted, the 
Jews themselves taking only a very small part in 


‘Alenu 
Prayer. 


mann had offended him. A bitter lawsuit re- 
sulted which lasted for two years, and was ended 
only by a royal order (May 7, 1710) commanding both 
parties, under pain of heavy punishment, to mect 
henceforth peacefully and quietly (“bey Vermeidung 
ernster Bestrafung hinfithro friedtlich und ruhig sich 
zu begegnen”), The quarrel, how- 
ever, soon became a communal matter, 
occasion for dispute being found in the 
conditions of worship. It has already 
been mentioned that the Jews had never been permit- 
ted to have a public synagogue, the services being 
held in private houses. One of these was in the house 
of Veit and Riess. But Liebmann also insisted on 
having a synagogue and a bet ha-midrash; and his 
nephew and son-in-law, Aaron Benjamin Wolf, was 


Family 
Quarrels. 


Berlin 





appointed rabbi. In 1684 Licbmann’s synagogue 
was declared to be the only official one. Neverthe- 
less, the synagogue of Veit and Riess continued, and 
in 1694 was even officially recognized. Jn order to 
prevent the undesirable consequences of sucha split, 
and more especially to injure Liecbmann’s widow, 
Marcus Maguus insisted on the necessity of a com- 
non public synagogue. The widow of course ob- 
jected; but, in spite of her protests and of all the 
quarrels and intrigues of both partics, it was resolved 
to build the synagogue; and the corner-stone—in a 
‘avity of which was placed a prayer for the royal 
family, enclosed in a small copper box—was laid 
Iyar 8, 5472 (May 9, 1712). On New-Year's Day, 
1714, the synagogue was solemnly dedicated in the 
presence of the king and his court; and for many 
years thereafter 
it was considered 
the most beauti- 
ful building of 
its kind in Hu- 
rope. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


| 


72 





sondern davon giinzlich ausgeschlossen sein und 
bleiben” (Since the merchant gild is composed of 
honest, upright people, therefore no Jew, punishable 
homicide, blasphemer, murderer, thief, adulterer, 
perjurer, or any one else who is otherwise spotted 
and stained with manifest heinous vices and sins, 
shall be suffered in our gild, but shall be and remain 
entirely excluded). In 1721 a curious occurrence 
roused the especial anger of the king against the 
Jews. In that year the purveyor for the royal mint, 
Levin Veit, who had been considered a very rich 
man, died, leaving not only no property whatever, 
but adebt of 100,000 thalers to the royal mint. The 
king held the whole Jewish community of Berlin 
responsible for the disappearance of the money, and 
revenged himself in a very peculiar way. On Aug. 
15 all the Jews 
of Berlin were 
summoncd tothe 
synagogue, 
which was sur- 
rounded by sol- 














Under the new 
king, Frederick 
William I[., in- 
ternal improve- 
ment in com- 
munal affairs 
kept pace with 
external better- 
ment. On May 
20, 1714, the king 














diers, and were 
placed under the 
ban by the offici- 
ating rabbi, Mi- 
chael Hasid, in 
presence of the 
court preacher 
Jablonsky. 

On March 16, 
1722 (and in a 
revised form on 

















issued a decree, 
for which the 
Jews paid 8,000 
thalers, revoking 
that of 1700. 
The Jews were 
again permitted 
to keep public 
shops and to ask 

















Feb. 18,1723), the 
new “ Aeltesten- 
reglement” (Con- 
stitution of the 
Jewish Com- 
munity) was is- 
sued, which was 
intended to do 




















a higher rate of 
interest; and it 
was made easier 
for them to en- 
gage in trade. 
Each privilege was extended to the first child; for 
the second and third a certain sum had to be paid 
according to the financial ability of the parents. The 
merchant gild protested as usual 

Under against the amelioration of the con- 
Frederick dition of the Jews. A new com- 
William I. mission, which was instituted Nov. 
29, 1717, tried to introduce some re- 

strictions, among them the prohibition against 
keeping public shops. Asthe Jews protested, these 
restrictions were not carried into effect, and the com- 
mission was dissolved. Thereupon the merchant 
gild of Berlin revenged itself by introducing into its 
by-laws of 1716 the following malicious paragraph: 
“ Alldieweil dic Kauffmannsgiilde ans ehrlichen und 
redlichen Leuten zusammengesetzet, also soll kein 
Jude, strafbarer Todtschliger, Gottesliisterer, Mér- 
der, Dieb, Ehebrecher, Meineidiger, oder der sonst 
mit 6ffentlichen groben Lastern und Siinden be- 
fiecket und behaftet, in unserer Gilde nicht gelitten, 





Plan of the Interior of the Synagogue in Lindenstrasse, Berlin. 





away with the 
evils that had be- 
come apparent in 
the administra- 
tion of the com- 
munity, and which, in order to be brought home more 
thoroughly, was to be read every year in the syna- 
gogue. Under this constitution the administration 
consisted of two permanent chief elders, five elders, 
four treasurers, and four superintendents of the poor, 
and assistants; new officers were to he elected every 
three years by seven men chosen by lot from among 
the community. The committee were to meet every 
week in the room of the elders, and to keep the min- 
utes of their proceedings; resolutions, passed by 
them, becoming law by a majority vote. The ex- 
clusion of a member of the community from the 
Passover was made dependent on the unanimous 
vote of the committee; the ban could be pronounced 
only with the consent of the rabbi; and both of 
these measures were to be subject to ratification by 
the Jews’ commission. The elders were held re- 
sponsible with their own money for the proper col- 
lection of the taxes, but could proceed against delin- 
quent payers. Every year the entire board had to 


73 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 








report to a committee of five chosen by the commu- 
nity. The college of rabbis was to consist of a chief 
rabbi, with the title p md aN. a vice-rabbi (WR5 
0 SD), and two or three assessors. Other taxes 
were soon added to the existing ones; ¢.g., on pawn- 
shops, and calendar money for the Royal Society 


of Science, and marriage licenses, The icome 
from the last was paid into the treasury from 
which enlisted men received their pay, and its 


amount (4,800 thalers a year) soon became a perma- 
nent tax upon the whole community. <A new decree 
was contemplated in 1727, to contain various re- 
strictions on trade and commerce; but as the Jews 
protested against it, it was abandoned. After 
lengthy discussions with them there appeared, Sept. 
29, 1730, the “Generalprivilegium und Reglement, 
wie es wegen der Juden in seiner Kéniglichen Maje- 
stiit Landen zu halten” (General privilege and regu- 
lations to be observed concerning the Jews in his Ma- 
jesty’s dominions). The number of Jewish families 

in Berlin was limited to 120, but 


‘¢General- they soon numbered 180. <A royal 
privi- order that appeared suddenly, April 
legium,”..26, 1737, commanded the families in 


1730. excess-to.d 


depart; the king insisting on 

the measure inspite of all the protests 

of the unfortunate ones and of some of the authori- 

ties. He even declared that he would rather lose 

the remaining Jewish families together with their 

yearly tax of 20,000 thalers than permit the ruinous 
oppression of his subjects. ‘oo 

The precarious condition of the Jews appeared 
also in other directions. When the soldiers com- 
plained of the filthy barracks that had been assigned 
to them, the Jews were forced to give up to them 
their own rented houses and to move into the bar- 
racks at a rental arbitrarily fixed by the authorities 
(Oct., 1787). In the same year the electoral cham- 
ber passed new regulations for the Jews of Berlin, 
which contained more stringent measures, having 
in view the gradual diminution and ultimate extinc- 
tion of the community; the death of Frederick Will- 
iam [. (Alay 31, 1740) prevented their being put into 
execution. 

The condition of the Jews was not improved under 
his successor, Frederick the Greac (1740-86); indeed, 
in many respects it grew worse. The “ philosopher 
on the throne” showed, even then, that a philosoph- 
ical and liberal view of the world is not a sufficient 
protection against prejudice, when Jewsare in ques- 
tion. In 1747 he limited the right of residence to 

one child of every family, and decreed 

Frederick that every Jew who became bankrupt 

the Great. should lose his right to protection. 

An attempt to determine the rights of 

the Jews in general was undertaken on the advice 
of the fiscal-general Uhden. The Jews were divided 
into “ordinary” and “extraordinary” Jews. The 
former after death could be succeeded in their rights 
and privileges by their first-born child (cither son or 
daughter); the remaining children, like the extraor- 
dinary Jews in general, enjoying the right of pro- 
tection for themselves only, and being prohibited 
from registering their children. A law was. passed 
embodying these conditions, but when it was about 
to go into effect (1750), the Jews, dissatisfied with 


i 
TE gt 


Berlin 








it, and fearing that the restrictions therein contained 
would ruin their credit with other countries, prayed 
that it might not be made public; and in fact it was 
not published until six years later. 

In order to stimulate manufacturing in his domin- 
ions, Frederick the Great tried by various and even 
forcible means to press the Jews into the industries, 
As he disliked any increase of the Jews, either by 
birth or by immigration, he decreed (Oct. 29, 1757) 
that uo Jews should receive new privileges, unless 
they promised to start factories. On the same con- 
dition they were each permitted to register an addi- 
tional child. In general, the king looked upon the 
Jews merely as a source of income, and imposed 
taxes in various ways. For instance, they had to 
furnish silver amounting. to 8,100 marks a year; 
and the protection-money was increased from 15,000 
to 25,000 thalers. More curious still was the so- 
called porcelain-tax, which obliged every Jew, when 
applying for any concession, to buy a certain amount 
of porcelain in the royal porcelain-factory, and to 
sell it beyond the frontier. As the cost of transpor- 
tation was very large compared with the value of 
the goods, such transactions involved considerable 
loss. The king was especially strict in carrying out 
the principle of communal responsibility, holding 
the elders pecuniarily liable for any theft committed 
by a member of the community. The first case of 
this kind occurred in 1769, when the King decided 
that the law must be upheld, in spite of the protests 
of the elders and the entreaty of the directory- 
general (“ Generaldirectorium ”). In 1784 this com- 
munal responsibility of the elders was extended to 
cases of bankruptcy of members of the community. 
Thus the philosophic king endeavored by extreme 
measurcs to turn the Jews of his country into 
pariahs. 

While these medieval measures sti!l fettered the 
Jews externally, a movement was in progress that 
in an incredibly short time was to change their 
whole life and characterand to prove once more that 
in the history of the Jews spiritual influences are 
more potent than brute force. Their regeneration 
came through German literature, which at that time 
began to flourishanew. In spite of its seclusion the 
Jewish ghetto also felt the breath of the fresh cur- 
rents that revivified the intellectual life of Germany. 
Even before Mendelssohn, Aaron Salomon Gum- 
pertz appeared, devoting himself to the sciences, 
and being one of the first Jews to receive a doctor’s 
degree. But the real representative of this period 
is Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86). He modestly sought 

admission at the gates of Berlin asa 


Moses poor “Talmud bahur,” and within a 
Mendels- short time counted the whole of the 
sohn. cultivated classes of Germany among 


his readers. His translation of the 

Bible, together with the regenerated Hebrew litera- 
ture, was pressed into the service of the new illu- 
mination. Actuated by the same spirit, David Fried- 
liinder and Isaac Daniel Itzig founded a free school, 
under the name Dy3 p3n, and, in connection with 
it, a Hebrew printing-establishment and book-store. 
German Judaism was entirely transformed as if 
by magic. Notso long before, a Jew who had dared 
to trim his beard had, at the instigation of an 


Berlin 





eminent member of the community, been commanded 
by a direct order of the cabinet to spare his locks; 
and the progenitor of the Bleichréder family had 
been driven from Berlin becausea German book had 
been found in his possession. Now, the Jews were 
in the front rank of the promoters of German cul- 
ture. The Berlin physician Markus HERZ was an 
eager apostle of the philosophy of lis teacher Kant, 
with whom he stood in close personal relations; and 
the lectures on physics, which he delivered at his 
house, were attended by the minister Zedlitz, and 
even by the crown prince. The salon of his wife, 
Henriette Herz, became the center of attraction for 
the most brilliant people of Germany, and for many 
of those of other continental countries. With the 
increase of enthusiasm for German culture, the indif- 
ference to and neglect of the religion of the Fathers 
increased also. While Mendelssohn himseif and his 
circle still clung to their Judaism, even in the midst 
of the new movement, the younger 
Relaxation generation tried to get rid of it as 
of quickly as possible. More than one- 
Discipline. half of the Berlin community is re- 
ported to have been baptized within a 
short time. The elders strove in vain to stem this 
flight from Judaism by a law, which they were in- 
strumental in having passed. to the effect that serv- 
ants and children could be baptized only after pro- 
ducing the certified permission of their masters and 
parents respectively, and that strangers must be 
taken to their native places for the ceremony. 

In 1792 the Geselischaft der Freunde, an associa- 
tion of “the high-thinking and liberal against ortho- 
doxy and immorality,” was formed. In 1799 ap- 
peared the circular letter addressed to the “ Very 
Reverend Chief Councilor of the Consistory and Pro- 
vost [Probst] Teller at Berlin by some heads of fan- 
ilies of the Jewish religion,” in which the anonymous 
author (David Friedliinder) signitied willingness, in 
his own name and that of others, to be baptized, if 
they would not be obliged thereby to believe in the 
specifically Christian dogmas. Teller emphatically 
refused hisrequest. Thenew generation was keenly 
sensitive to the lower civic status of the Jews. 
Hence all its efforts were united against the old 
general privilege, and in favor of emancipation, 
which had seemed to be more nearly within the reach 
of the Jews when Frederick William II. came to the 
throne (1786). The description of these efforts be- 
longs to the history of the Prussian Jews. Itis suf- 
ficient to mention here that the Jews of Berlin, with 
David Friedlander at their head, were among the 
pioneers in that movement; and they found a ready 
advocate of their efforts in the prime minister Har- 
denberg, who came into oftice June 6, 1810. The 
edict of March 11, 1812, conferred citizenship upon 
the Jews living in Prussia and enjoy- 
ing any concessions, and made them 
On March 


Edict 
of March subject to military service. 


11, 1812. 18 the Jews sent to the king a letter 
of thanks which was signed by the 
elders David Hirsch, Bendix, Friedlander, and 


Gumpertz. 

But this by no means ended the struggle; foreven 
the rights previously granted were cither curtailed 
or revoked, and new restrictions were introduced. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


74 





In spite of their sacrifices and the patriotism dis. 
plaved by them during the wars of liberation, the 
Jews were thwarted in various ways. A strong anti- 
Jewish movement appeared also in the literature of 
the time. In 1824 the newly instituted provincial 
estates convened and took up the question of the 
position of the Jews, the estates of Brandenburg and 
of some of the other provinces being in favor of 
restricting their rights. The memorial which the 
elders presented to the Ministry of the Interior re. 
ceived no answer. Thus all efforts had again to be 
united in the struggle to obtain justice. The battle 
was waged more or less successfully, and ended 
finally in favor of the Jews, when the year 1848 
brought the proclamation that all Prussians were 
equal before the law. 

During tnose years of conflict the intellectual life 
of the Jews was not neglected. In 1819 the Verein 
ftir Kulturund Wissenschaft der Juden was founded 
by Gans, Moser, and Zunz, Heine also belonging 
to it. The periodical of the society appeared in 
1823, edited by Zunz. But the society was dissolved 
in the following year, owing to the indifference of 
the members; and its founder, Gans, together with 
many members, soon thereafter renounced Judaism, 

The only remnant of this vain attempt | 


Striving was the “Science of Judaism,” which, 
After represented by Zunz, promised a rich 
Culture. harvest for the future. The edunea- 


tion of the Jewish youth in accordance 
with the new spirit received especial attention, 
Aside from the free school, of which Bendavid be- 
came the director in 1806, a private school, founded 
by Bock, was continued by Jost and 8. Stern. In 
1823 Zunz presented to the directors, in the name of 
the Verein ftir Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden, 
i memorial advocating a reform. A commission, 
including Zunz, Moser, and Bendavid, was insti- 
tuted for the purpose of organizing a communal 
school. On Oct. 8, 1825, was laid the corner-stone 
of a building which on Jan. 3 following was opened 
as a public school of four classes, under the direc- 
tion of Zunz. In 1835 a school for girls was organ- 
ized upon similar lines. In 1856 a religious school 
was founded. Training-schools for teachers were 
also organized. In1840a seminary for teachers was 
opened under the direction of Zunz; but it was 
closed nine years later by the elders. In 1858 a 
training-school for teachers was established under 
the rectorship of Horwitz. 

Philanthropy also received the attention of the 
community. In 1804 the Briiderverein, a society for 
the relief of unmarried merchants, was founded. 
Several of the older relief societies still existed, as 
that for dowries (since 1721; the new by-laws being 
drafted by Mendelssohn); for circumcision (1715); 
for sick relief (1703); for burial (1672; see above); 
also an asylum for the aged (1828). In 1838 the 
community instituted a commission for the purpose 
of supervising the relief given to the poor, who had 
greatly increased since 1812. In 1833 the Baruch- 
Auerbach orphan asylum for boys was founded; ten 
years later the asylum for girls; in 1836 the institute 
for orphans in memory of Moses Mendelssohn; and 
in 1858 the hospital. For other institutions see list 
below. 


75 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berlin 





The chief place in the inner development of the 
community is occupied by the struggle for ritual 
reform, in which both parties engaged with great 
pitterness. Shortly after the edict of 1812 Fried- 
liinder issued a pamphlet demanding reforms in the 
religious services, and sent it to the king, who gave 
apn unfavorable answer, although the prime minister 
Hardenberg advocated Friedliinder’s propositions. 
The reforms were soon carried into effect, however; 
for the wealthy Jacob Herz Beer (the father of 
Meyerbeer) organized private services according to 
the new principles, at which Zunz also officiated as 
preacher. Israc] Jacobsohn, the former president of 


the Westphalian consistory, imitating Beer’s exam- 


2. | ee eg rn 
i A 4 





Synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse, Berlin. 
(From a photograph.) 


ple, preached himself, and confirmed his son (Pente- 
cost, 1815). But in 1817 there appeared a royal 
order which, falling back on the old “ Generalprivi- 
legium,” commanded the closing of private syna- 
gogues. As the public synagogue 

Struggle was in need of repair, the temple of 
for Reform. Beer was designated as a temporary 
synagogue. The Orthodox members, 

headed by their rabbi, Meyer Simon Wey], protested 
against the order, and continued to worship in the 
half-completed synagogue. The government now 
decreed that the ancient Hebrew service should be 


followed by German prayers and a sermon in Ger- 


man; but at the instance of the Orthodox members 
& new royal order was issued, Dec. 9, 1823, to the 
effect “that the religious services of the Jews shal] 


| be held only in the present svnagogue, and only ac- 


| 


a a rg pn ee 





cording to the customary ritual, without the least 
innovation in the language or the ceremonial. the 
prayers and songs, entirely in accordance with the 
ancient custom.” This regulation was so strictly 
carried out that when Rabbi Oettinger, at the dedica- 
tion of the new cemetery in 1827, delivered an ad- 
dress in German, the police saw therein a forbidden 
innovation. 

Culture societies were organized in 1841 under the 
direction of Sigmund StrRx, whose lectures in 1845 
on the tasks of the Judaism of that time again stirred 
up the Reform movement. On Mareh 10, 1845, a 
meeting was held under the leadership of Stern and 
A. BERNSTEIN, which resolved “that rabbinic Ju- 
daism is on the whole and in its parts not in har- 
mony With our scientific convictions and the de- 
mands of the present life.” The Genossenschaft fir 
Reform des Judenthums, founded in 1846, organized 
services under the leadership of its rabbi, Samuel 
HouLpDHEIM. These were held on Saturdays and 
Sundays (afterward only on Sundays), and their 
chief feature was the total exclusion of the Hebrew 
language. <At present (1902) the chief community 
of Berlin supports, besides the above-mentioned 
Reform pulpit, five chief synagogues, two of which 
observe the old ritual and three a modernized one. 

The matter of securing suitable rabbis was an es- 
pecially difficult one, in view of the strong differ- 
ences of opinion obtaining in the community, This 
became apparent soon aftcr the death of Chief Rabbi 
Hirschel Levin in 1800; these differences then were 
so great that no chief rabbi could be agreed upon. 
A further attempt was made to fill the office, in 
1842, when Zacharias FRANKEL Was chosen. As 
he, however, declined the appointment, notwith- 
standing certain assurances from the minister Eich- 
horn, the oftice remained vacant. Hirschel Levin 
was succeeded by the assistant rabbi, Meyer Simon 
Weyl], who was given the title “ Vice-Oberlandes- 
Rabbiner.” After his death (1825) Jacob Joseph 
Oettinger (until 1860) and Elhanan Rosenstein (until 
1866) were the acting rabbis, Michael Sachs being 
associated with them as assistant rabbi after Frankel 
had refused the chief rabbinate. After Sachs’s death 
(1864) the controversy again broke out. Finally, in 
1866 Joseph Aub was chosen, who in the same year 
consecrated the new synagogue and introduced a 
new order of prayers. In 1869 Abraham Geiger was 
chosen, together with Ungerleider as assistant rabbi. 
For incumbents of the rabbinate in 1901 see below. 

It became necessary to change the administration 
of the community in accordance with the altered 
conditions. As early as1793a new constitution had 
been instituted, which, for the first time, did not 
proceed from the government, but was the result of 
the deliberations of a communal committee of fifteen. 
When the Jews’ taxes were revoked by the edict 
of 1812, the duties of the elders were materially 
changed. As the government was slow to offer 
suggestions, the elders themselves went to work and 
drafted a set of rules for choosing the representa- 
tives. These were adopted May 20, 1849, by a vote 
of the community, and the election in accordance 
with the new statute was held June 24. The gov- 
ernment, however, refused to recognize it, and 


Berlin 
Berlin Congress 





ordered a new election in accordance with the gen- 
eral regulations of 1750, which was held April 11, 
1851. It was not till 1854 that the government rec- 
ognized the new rules of 1849. On Feb. 23 of that 
year representatives were elected in accordance with 
those rules and were confirmed by the government. 
After much deliberation the “Statut ftir die Jii- 
dische Gemeinde in Berlin” was determined upon 
(Aug. 81, 1860), which is still in force (1902). Ac- 
cording to this statute the Jewish community of 
Berlin consists of all the Jews in that city and the 
neighboring places. The community is represented 
by a directorate and a college of representatives; the 
latter consisting of twenty-one members and fifteen 
substitutes, chosen every three years by a ballot of 
the whole community. The representatives choose 
the directorate, consisting of seven elders and three 
substitutes. The resolutions of the representatives 
are confirmed by the directorate. Differences are 
decided by a committee of the community or by the 
board of supervisors. Different branches of the ad- 
ininistration are in the hands of special commissions, 
with a member of the directorate in the chair. The 
ininisters, readers, and all officials who perform re- 
ligious functions are chosen by a two-thirds majority 
of the representatives. 

Non-Jewish sources mention (1) a certain Cain 
(meaning probably “ Wayyim”) as the first rabbi of 

the mark of Brandenburg, under whom 

The the Jews cnigrated from Vienna, His 

Rabbinate. privilege for the whole electorate was 

issued Feb. 20, 1672. He probably 

did not live at Berlin, but at some other town of the 
mark, perhaps at Landsberg-on-the- Warthe. 

(2) Isaac Benjamin Wolf Liebmann succeeded 
Hayyim May 11, 1685. He lhved at Landsberg-on- 
the-Warthe. 

(8) Shemaiah, called Simon Berend, appointed 
Aug. 28, 1687. He lived at first at Frankfort-on- 
the-Oder, then in Berlin; died on the last day of the 
Passover, 5469 (April 2, 1709). He was a high 
Talmudic authority. 

(4) Aaron Benjamin Wo rr, son of Isaac Benja- 
min Wolf Liebmann, nephew and son-in-law of Jost 
Liebmann, 1709-21. 

(5) Michael Hasid, appointed May 17, 1714, who 
also succeeded to the rabbinate of Frankfort after 
Aaron Benjamin Wolf’s death. (On the ban which 
Michael pronounced against the Jews of Berlin at 
the command of Frederick William I., see above.) 
His works have only partially been printed. He 
was considered a great Talmudist and also occupied 
himself with the Cabala, being called by the Jews 
the “great Cabalist.” One of his sons embraced 
Catholicism, and became professor of Oriental lan- 
guages at Vienna, under the name “ Aloys Wiener 
von Sonnenfels.” Michael Hasid diced Feb. 21, 1728. 
During his rabbinate Marcus Abraham was chosen 
(1726) as the first rosh bet-din (director of the school- 
house), Superintending assuch the Talmudic instruc- 
tion of the Jewish youths. 

(6) Moses Aaron of Lemberg, formerly rabbi in 
Leipnik. He was chosen contrary to the wishes of 
the community at the command of Frederick Will- 
iam I., who issued his order in spite of the protests 
of the elders. In consequence the new rabbi had 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 76 





violent quarrels with the community. The elders 
bought for the sum of 4,500 marks permission to 
choose another rabbi (May 27, 1780). Moses Aaron 
was forced to accept the rabbinate of Frankfort-on- 
the-Oder, with the condition to pay 300 marks a year 
to the rabbi of Berlin. From Frankfort he went to 
Nikolsburg, where he died, Tebet 17, 5518 (Dec. 28, 
1757). 

(7) Jacob Joshua of Cracow (born 1680), chosen in 
the fall of 1780; a high Talmudic authority; author 
of the celebrated Talmud commentary, “Pene Ye. 
hoshua‘.” He had previously been rabbi of Lemberg, 
as the successor of Hakam Zebi. Though he gained 
the love of the community by his independent and 
energetic character, he gave such oficnse by deciding 
a case against the influcntial and powerful Veitel 
Ephraim that he was forced to leave Berlin, 1785. 
He went to Metz, where he wrote his commentary, 
and thence to Frankfort-on-the-Main. He died 
Shebat 14, 5516 (Jan. 16, 1756). 

After Jacob Joshua’s resignation, the office was 
filled by the rosh bet-din Marcus Abraham (men- 
tioned under 5), with whom Naphtali Herz was as- 
sociated as assistant rabbi. After his death (1743) 
the community decided to call a younger man, and 
chose 

(8) David Frinkel, who, having been born (1704) 
at Berlin and educated there, was especially accept- 
able to the community. Previously he had been 
chief rabbi at Dessau and at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. 
As he had many relations in Berlin over whom he 
could not, according to the law, exercise his office 
as judge, his brother-in-law, Veitel, agreed to pay a 
yearly sum forasubstitute. Friinkelachieved fame 
by his commentary on Yerushalmi, and was the 
teacher of Moses Mendelssohn. He died suddenly 
Nisan 12, 5522 (April 5, 1762). | 

(9) Aaron Hirsch, chosen 1763. Author of the 
“Minhat Aharon.” He went from Berlin to Schwa- 
bach in 1772, and died in 1780. His name “ Aaron 
Mosessohn” was appended to the thanksgiving ser- 
nion written by Mendelssohn after the peace of Hu- 
bertusburg. 

(10) Hirschel Levin, called also Hirschel Libel; 
elected 1772; died Aug. 26, 1800 (see Hirschel 
Levin). By the time of Levin’s death the differ- 
ences of opinion in the community had grown to be 
so great that it became impossible to have one cen- 
tral administration. Thechangesin the rabbi ques- 
tion since then have been mentioned above, 

The various activities of the Berlin Jewish com- 
munity may best be summarized under the heads 
of (I.) worship, (IL.) education, (IIL) philanthropy, 
(1V.) miscellaneous. 

(I.) Worship: Berlin possesses the following 
synagogues and temples: (1) Alte Synagoge, Hei- 
dereutergasse; (2) Neue Synagoge, Oranienburger- 
strasse; (8) synagogues in the Kaiserstrasse, Linden- 
strasse, and Liitzowstrasse; (4) Adas Yisroel, 
Gipsstrasse (814 families), rabbi Dr. Esra Munk, 
preacher Dr. M. Hildesheimer; (5) Schéneberger- 
Ufer, rabbi Dr. Petuchowski; (6) Ahawas Reim, 
Prinzenstrasse (100 families), rabbi Dr. I. Bleichrode; 
(4) Beth Zion, Brunnenstrasse (150 families), rabbi 
L. Héxter: (8) Ahawas Scholom, Luisenstrasse, 
rabbi Dr. Stein; (9) Neweh Scholom, Lothringer- 


q7 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berlin 
Berlin Congress 





strasse (180 souls), rabbi H. Gruenfeld; (10) Westen, 
Passauerstrasse (144 members) rabbi Dr. Ph. Isroner: 
(11) Moabit, Lessingstrasse (500 families), rabbi Dr. 
Winkler; (12) Jewish Reform Congregation, Johan- 
nisstrasse (150 families), rabbis Dr. M. Levin, Dr. P. 
Klemperer, Dr. I. Oppenheimer, Dr, Jeiski; (13) 
Ohel Yizhak, Oranienburgerstrasse (150 families), 
Dr. Liebermann; (14) Lippmann-Tausz Synagoge, 
Golinowstrasse (180 families), Dr. D. Lipschiitz; (15) 
Wolff’sche Ez Hayyim, Landsbergerstrasse, Dr. 8. 
Grunfeld (80 families); (16) Ahawath Torah, Lausit- 
zerplatz (50 families), Dr. Janowitz; (17) Adat Jeschu- 
run, Alte Schénhauserstrasse, rabbi A. Ellenbogen. 

Rabbis of the Jewish community: Drs. 5. May- 
baum, A. Rosenzweig, J. Stier, 5. Weisse, Eschel- 
bacher, Blumenthal. i 

There is also a Union of Orthodox (“Traditions- 
gesetzestreue ”) rabbis. ; 

(II.) Education : Hochschule, now called Lehr- 
anstalt, fiir die Wissenschaft des Judenthums, 
founded by Dr. Abraham Geiger; teachers, Dr. 
E. Banet, Dr. Maybaum, Dr. Schreiner: Rabbinical 
Seminary, founded by Dr, I. Hildesheimer, 1878 ; 
rector, Dr. D. Hoffmann; teachers, Prof. J. Barth, 
Dr. A. Berliner, Dr. H. Hitdésheimer, Dr. I. Wohl- 
gemuth. Veitel-Heine Ephraim Lehranstalt; lec- 
turers, Pref.-M. Steinschneider, Prof. I. Barth. 

Schools for religious instruction are attached to 
all the various congregations, and register from 92 
up to 453 pupils of both sexes. The Gemeinde- 
Knabenschule has 603 boys, the Midchenschule 402 
girls. A training-school for teachers has 45 students. 
In addition the Zunz-Stiftung, founded 1864, is for 
Jewish teachers, and there are a “ Midchenheim” 
(Home for Girls) and a technical school (domestic 
arts), also for girls, 

(III.) Philanthropy: Homes for the Aged, 
Reichenheim Orphan Asylum, Baruch Auerbach 
Orphan Asylum, Moses Mendelssohn Asylum, Pan- 
kow Asylum; Deaf-Mute Asylum, Neu-Weissensee ; 
various local relief societies; and, in addition, numer- 
ous societies for aiding the respectable poor, furnish- 
ing Passover supplics and food to Jewish prisoners; 
for assisting travelers, furnishing clothing, for aid 
at circumcisions, lying-in relief, rent aid, fresh-air 
colonies for children, fuel association, marriage 
dowry, loan society (founded 1846); free burial so- 
ciety, Jewish nurses’ association, kosher meat soci- 
ety, people’s kitchen, Sabbath observance associa- 
tion, etc. . 

(IV.) Miscellaneous: Committee for Defense 
Against Anti-SemiticAttacks (Komitee zur Abwehr 
Anti-Semitischer Angriffe) ; Central Verein Deutscher 
Birger Jiidischen Glaubens; Zionists’ Society ; Ezra 
(for agricultural aidin Palestine); Palistina (for aid- 
ing Jewish farmers); B’nai B’rith, Grand Lodge of 
Germany, office Wilhelmstrasse 118; lodges, Ver- 
einigte Deutsche Reichs-Loge, Leopold Zunz, 
Berthold Auerbach, Montefiore; society for fos- 
tering trades and agriculture among Jews of Rus- 
sia, founded 1818; society for furthering agri- 
culture among Jews of Germany; inilitary society, 
Deutsches Vaterland; several students’ societies. 


. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Stern, Quellenkunde; Geiger, Geseh. der 
Juden in Berlin, Berlin, 1870; Landsbnt, Anshe Shem, 
Bertin, 1884. 

D. A. F. 


BERLIN CONGRESS: A mecting of the great 
European powers at Berlin between June 138 and 
July 13, 1878, to settle questions arising out of the 

vusso-Turkish war; by it many of the former prov- 

inces of Turkey were enfranchised and made inde- 
pendent. In several instances the congress made 
the grant of full civic and political rights to Jews a 
condition for the recognition of independence, and 
it has therefore an important bearing upon the his- 
tory of Jews in the southeast of Europe in recent 
times. 

Articles of identic form were inserted in the final 
treaty, requiring that religious conviction should 
form no cause of exclusion from any civic position 
in any of the countries liberated by the Congress of 
Berlin—sections v, (Bulgaria), xxvii. (Montenegro), 
XxXv. (Servia), xliv. (Rumania). 

The question was first raised at the sitting of June 
28, 1878, when Waddington, on behalf of France, 
required that religious equality should be made a 
condition of the independence of Servia. Gor- 
tschakoff, on behalf of Russia, protested against the 
question being introduced without previous notice 
to the congress, but Waddington was supported by 
Bismarck and De Launay (Italy) (British Blue Book, 
p. 128), and section xxxv. was inserted in the draft 
treaty. 

At the sitting of July 1 Messrs. Bratianu and 
Cogalniceanu presented a note claiming independ- 
ence for Rumania, without any reference to the 
Jewish question; but Waddington, on behalf of 
France, demanded that the same conditious be im- 
posed on Rumania as on Servia. He was supported 
by Andrassy (Austria-Hungary), Beaconsfield. De 
Launay, and even by Gortschakoff (Russia), not with- 
standing his protest three days before; and the fol- 
lowing clause was inserted in the final treaty (British 
Blue Book, p. 158): 


Article 44: In Rumania, difference in religious beliefs and 
confessions shall not be brought against any one as a ground 
for exclusion or unfitness as regards the enjoyment of civil and 
political rights, admission to public offices, functions, and honors, 
or the exercise of various professions and industries in any place 
whatever. Freedom in outward observance of all creeds will 
be assured to all subjects of the Rumanian state, as well as to 
strangers, and no obstacle will be raised either to the ecclesias- 
tical organization of different bodies, or to their intercourse 
with their spiritual heads. 

The citizens of all states, whether merchants or others, shall 
be dealt with, in Rumania, without distinction of religion, on 
the basis of perfect equality. 


Bulgaria and Servia loyally carried out the condi- 
tions of the treaty, but Rumania evaded it, claim- 
ing that a sudden emancipation of the Jews would 
be deleterious to the interests of the country. A 
convention was summoned by the Bratianu ministry 
to determine how far the constitution was to be 
revised, and this suggested the following clause 
vii. of the Rumanian constitution instead of sec- 
tion xliv. of the Berlin Treaty, which Lord Salis- 
bury had proposed to be inserted ew dloe into the 
Rumanian constitution: 


Article 7: Difference in religious beliefs and confessions does 
not constitute, in Rumania, an obstacle to the obtainment of 
civil and political rights, nor to the exercise of these rights. 

1. A foreigner, without distinction of religion, and whether a 
subject or not of a foreign government, can become naturalized 
under the following conditions : 

(a) He shall address to the government an application for 


Berlin Congress 
Berlin, Isaiah 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 78 


pe a a mr nl rR ne ne SS SS tg 


naturalization, in which he shall indicate the capital he pos- 
sesses, the profession or craft which he follows, aud his abode in 
Rumania, 

(b) He shall reside, after this application, ten years in the 
country, and prove, by action, that he is of service to it. 

2. The following may be exempted from the intermediary 
stages: 

(a) Those who have brought into the country industries, use- 
ful inventions, or talent, or who bave founded large establish- 
ments of commerce or industry. 

(b) Those who, born and bred in Rumania, of parents estab- 
lished in the country, have never been subjected, either them- 
selves or their pareuts, to any protection by a foreign power. 

(¢) Those who have served uuder the colors during the war 


of independence; these may be naturalized collectively by 
government decree, by a single resolution, and without any 


furtber formality. 
3. Naturalization can not be given except by law, and indi- 


viduailly. 

4. A special law sball determine the manner in which for- 
eigners may establish their home on Ruinanian territory. 

5. Only Rumanians, aud those who have been naturalized 
Rumanians, can buy rural estates in Rumania. 

Rights already acquired shall remain in force. 

Ynternational agreements at present existing shall remain in 
force in all the clauses and terms therein contained. 

In the summer of 1879 Borescu was sent on a dip- 
lomatic mission to the courts of western Europe to 
induce them to accept the new clause vii. of the 
constitution instead of the Berlin Treaty. Austria 
had no objection, since her own Jewish subjects 
were protected by a special treaty; Russia could 
scarcely object to restrictions, having in view her 
own attitude toward the Jews; and Turkey was not 
in a position to make any protest. Italy demanded 
full liberty of conscience for the Jews, but Wad- 
dington, on behalf of France, gave way on the 
assumption that gradual emancipation would be 
granted, and on Feb. 20, 1880, an identic note of 
Germany, France, and Great Britain agreed to the 
indepeudence of Rumania on coudition that clause 
vii. be made part of the constitution. For the 
manner in which Rumania has utilized the restric- 
tions of clause vii. to disfranchise the Jews of 
nearly all the rights of human beings, see RUMANTA. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Sincerus, Les Juifs de Roumanie, London, 
1901; A. @ Avril, Négociations Relatives aw Traité de Ber- 
lin, Paris, 1886; French Vellaw Book, Paris, 1879 (Affaires 
Etrangéres, Documents Diplomatiques, Questions de la 
Reconnaissance de la Rowumernie); English Blue Book 
(Parliamentary Papers, 1873; Treaty of Bertin); Anon., 
Aus dem Tagebuch Karls I. von Roumédnien, vol. iii. 


D. O. S. S. 


BERLIN, ABRAHAM. See ABRAIAM BEN 
JUDAH BERLIN, 

BERLIN | (sometimes called also Berliner), 
ARYEH LOB BEN ABRAHAM MEIR (in 
German, Low Mayer): German rabbi; born 1738 
at Fiirth, Bavaria; died at Cassel May 21, 1814. 
When quite young Berlin was dayyan in his 
native city, and at the same time rabbi of Baiers- 
dorf, Bavaria. In 1789 he was appointed chief 
rabbi of Bamberg, where he remained until 1794. 

During the time he remained in Bamberg, Berlin 
was involved in a lawsuit which threatened to ruin 
his reputation. In hiscapacity of civil judge of the 
Jews, he was entrusted with the division of an es- 
tate valued at 100,000 fl. (341,000), and was accused 
by one of the heirs of having utilized his judicial 
power for his personal interest. This was the more 
painful because the judicial procedure and practises 
of the rabbis had never before been assailed in the 
courts of Bamberg. The specific charges against 


the rabbi were that he accepted illegal fees and failed 
to account for certain small sums. In the mean time 
Berlin was elected to the chief rabbinate of Hesse- 
Cassel; and difficulties were placed by his opponents 
in the way of his leaving for the new post. How- 
ever, he was never put under arrest, and subse- 
quently was acquitted of all the charges of dishon- 
esty and was sentenced only to pay a certain sum as 
a fine, in settlement of an account which seems to 
have been more entangled than dishonest. The docu- 
ments relating to the trial are now published by 
Eckstein, showing that the charges against Berlin 
were groundless and that only personal hatred sup- 
plied the motives. In the summer of 1795 he left 
Bamberg for Cassel to enter upon his new functions, 

When the kingdom of Westphalia was founded, 
with Cassel ag its capital, Berlin gave proof of his 
loyalty to the new régime by a sermon which he 
delivered in Hebrew in the Great Synagogue of 
Cassel, welcoming the new king, Jerome Bonaparte; 
and by composing a Hebrew song for the same oc- 
casion. Both were published, with a German trans- 
lation, under the title “Dabar be-‘Itto Mah Tob” 
(“Redeam Freudenfeste,” . . . Cassel, 1807). This 
work is erroneously ascribed by Benjacob, in his 
“Ozar ha-Sefarim,” to Judah L6b Karlberg. When 
the Jewish consistory of Westphalia was organized 
on the model of the French consistory (October, 
1808), Berlin was made chief rabbi, and in 1809 was 
elevated to the dignity of “Consistorialrath.” Asa 
director of the consistory he was in accord with its 
president, Israel Jacobson, and assented to the dec- 
laration that it is permissible to use pulse, tea, and 
sugar on Passover, against which view the conserv- 
ative rabbis of the time vigorously protested (see 
Stern, “Gesch. des Judenthunis,” pp. 167, 168). 

Berlin wrote annotations to the Talmud which 
appeared in the edition of Fiirth, 1829-82, of which 
only the first three volumes were published, The 
Talmud, ed. Wilna, 1895, contains his marginal notes 
to the tractate Shebu‘ot, those to the sixteenth vol- 
ume of Rabbinowicz’s “Dikduke Soferim,” and to 
the treatise Hullin. Some of his novelle appeared 
as an appendix to the work “‘Aze Almuggim” 
(Sulzbach, 1779), by his brother, R. Noah Hayyim 
Zebi Berlin. The latter died when his work, “ Ma‘- 
yan ha-Hokmah” (Rédelheim, 1804), was in the 
hands of the printer; and Berlin superintended the 
publication of his brother’s work. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eckstein, Gesch. der Juden in... Bam- 
berg, 1898, pp. 176-179; idem, Nachtriige, 1899, pp. 3-44; 
Sulamith, iv. 480; Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, 2d ed., pp. 281, 
ore 3 Eliezer Kohn, Kinat Soferim, pp. 179, 180, Lemberg, 


92, 
L. G. P. WI. 


BERLIN, DAVID B. (JUDAH) LOEB: 
Rabbi of the three united congregations, Altona, 
Hamburg, and Wandsbeck; born probably at Eisen- 
stadt, Hungary, in the second half of the seventeenth 
century; died at Altona March 5, 1771. Very little 
is known of his life, although he doubtless was a 
great Talmudic authority, for otherwise he could 
not have been rabbi of these three congregations. 
His brother, Isaiah Berlin, and his brother-in-law, 
Joseph b. Menahem Steinhart, praise him particu- 
larly, and his epitaph also—communicated by Witt- 
kower, “Aggudat Perahim,” p. 288—mentions his 


79 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berlin Congress. 
Berlin, Isaiah 





scholarship and his great piety. The responsa col- 
jection, “ Zikron Yosef,” by J. Steinhart, contains two 
of Berlin's responsa (pp. 74d, 82a), and the Bodleian 
Library contains some of his homilies and novelle on 
the Talmud. Berlin was at first rabbiin Dessau, 
and from 1768 to his death rabbi of the three congre- 
gations mentioned above. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Berliner, Jesaja Berlin, 1878, p. 83 Fuenn, 
Keneset Yisrael, pp. 227, 228; Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. 
MSS. No, 526, 

L. G. 


BERLIN, FANNY. See Beriiy, Moses. 


BERLIN, ISATAH B. (JUDAH) LOEB 
(called also Isaiah Pick, after his father-in-law) : 
The most eminent critic among the German Tal- 
mudists of the eighteenth century; born in EHisen- 
stadt, Hungary, about October, 1725; died, while 
rabbi of Breslau, May 18, 1799. 

Berlin was the scion of a famous family of schol- 
ars Which counted among its members Yom-Tob 
Lipman Heller and Meir b. Jacob; Schiff. The 
father of Berlin also was a high Talmudic author- 
ity, and by him the son was initiated into rabbinical 
studies, which he later continued in Halberstadt 
with R. Hirsch Bialeh (also called Hirsch Harif), 
who exercised considerable inflnence on Berlin’s later 
methods of teaching. £- 

In 1750 Berlin occupied ar honorable position in 
the community of Breslau; and it may therefore be 
assumed that he had settled. there some time previ- 
ously. About five years later.he married Fromet 
(born 1736; died June 18, 1802), daughter of the rich 
and respected merchant, Wolf-Loebel Pick. Until 
1787 Berlin lived a comparatively private life, en- 
gaged in business with a Christian furrier; but in 
that vear he became a member of the. rabbinate, and 
on Nov. 17, 1793, was elected rabbi of Breslau, re- 
ceiving eighteen votes out of a total of twenty-one. 
His election was preceded by a bitter contest be- 
tween the few but rich liberals and the majority of 
the community. The former (as recorded in an offi- 
cial document) would have preferred to see Berlin 
appointed as a “rosh besen” (“rosh bet din,” or 
head of the court), so that he would be unable to act 
so strictly asa rabbi in regard to ceremonials, and 
would have asmaller stipend from the Breslau com- 
munity, while exercising less influence on the rural 
comnuunities, 

Berlin, in his humility and unpretentiousness, 
Jooked upon the titles and rights withheld from him 

as of no account, though his salary 
His was smaller than that of his predeces- 
Character. sor, from the fact that he had to divide 
the income from city and country with 
the assistant rabbi and the rabbi of Sulz. Wolf 
Ginsberg, his pupil during many years, relates, as 
evidence of Berlin’s ascetic mode of life, that the 
latter rested only during the nights of the Sabbath 
and on festivals, devoting all his other days and 
nights to study. His liberality is revealed in the 
fact that he wrote and printed one of his works, 
“She’elat Shalom” (Peaceful Greeting), forthe sole 
purpose of offering help to the publisher, an indigent 
Talmudic scholar. 

Berlin was greatly admired, even by persons who 

differed with him in religious views. Joel Brill, Aaron 


Wolfsohn, Judah Bensew, and many other Mas- 
kilim of Breslau often visited him to seek advice 
ou scientific questions. As the Maskilim always 
carefully avoided wounding Berlin’s religious feel- 
ings, he oa his part met them half-way in many 
things. On the occasion of the Peace cf Basel, for 
instance (May 17, 1795), he held a solemn service in 
the synagogue and exceptionally permitted the use 
of instrumental music, he himself delivering a 
discourse which was highly praised by the press 
(“Schlesische Zeitung.” 1795, No. 59). Thus Ber- 
lin, by his learning and his character, conciliated the 
hostile elements of his congregation, and his death 
was mourned equally by all. 

In order fully to appreciate Berlin’s literary activ- 
ity it must be mentioned that he had the habit of 
annotating almost every book he read; mentioning 
the sources, or noting parallel passages and variant 
readings. Such glosses by Berlin have been pub- 
lished on the following books: the Bible (Penta- 
teuch, Dyhernfurth, 1775; the other books, 7., 

1807); the prayer-book, ed. Tikkun 

His Shelomoh (7., 1806); Maimonides’ 
Literary Yad ha-Hazakah (¢b., 1809); Alfasi 
Activity. (Presburg, 1836); the “Hinnuk,” by 
aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona (Vienna, 

1827); Malachi b. Jacob's methodology, “Yad Mala- 
chi” (Berlin, 1825); Elijah b. Moses de Vidas’ book 
of morals, “Reshit Hokmah ” (Dyhernfurth, 1811), 
Although the terse yet clear notes contained in these 
volumes reveal the immense learning and critical 
insight of their author, yet Berlin’s lasting place of 
honor among the pioneers of Talmudic criticism 
rests on the following works, which treat principally 
of the Talmud: (1) “‘Omer ha-Shikhah ” (Forgotten 
Sheaf), Kénigsberg, 1860, containing a large num- 
ber of Halakot on the Talmud not noted by the 
codifiers; (2) “Ozar Balum” (Full Treasure), in the 
edition of Jacob ibn Habib’s “‘En Ya‘akob,” pub- 
lished at Wilna in 1899, tracing all the Talmudic 


passages quoted without sourees in the different 


commentaries on the haggadic elements of the Tal- 
mud; (8) “Haggahot ha-Shas” (Notes to the Tal- 
mud), textual corrections and notes on the origin of 
parallel passages (Dvhernfurth, 1800, and in nearly 
all the editions of the Talmud); (4) “ Hafla’ah She- 
ba-‘Arakin” (Detached Orders) (part i., Breslau, 1880: 
part ii., Vienna, 1859). containing, as the title indi- 
cates, explanations and glosses on the ‘Aruk; (5) 
“Widdushe ha-Shas,” novelle on the Talmud (K6- 
nigsberg, 1860, and in several editions of the Tal- 
mud); (6) “Miné Targuma” (Dessert Dishes), Bres- 
lau, 1831, remarks on the Targum Onkelos (the word 
“Targuma” signifving both “Targum” and “des- 
sert,” equivalent to the Greek tpd;7ua) and on the 
Palestinian Targum; (7) “Kashiyot Meyushab ” 
(Difficulties Answered), K6nigsberg, 1860, treating 
of the Talmudic passages which end with Nwp, and 
written by Berlin in fourteen days; (8) “Rishon le- 
Zion” (The First for Zion; Dyhernfurth, 1793; 
Vienna, 1798, and sevcral times reprinted, the title 
being a play on py, “ Zion,” and py, “ index”), a collec- 
tion of indexes and parallel passages in the Midrash; 
(9) “She’elat Shalom” (Greeting of Peace), Dyhern- 
furth, 1786, a commentary on Aha of Shubha’s 
“She’iltot.” Berlin’s responsa collection and his 


Berlin, Jacob 
Berlin, Naphtali 





commentary on the Tosefta deserve especial mention, 

though nothing is known of their fate. 

The first place among these works must be ac- 
corded to the remarks and expianations on the Tal- 
mud, Although they can not compare In acute- 

ness and power of combination with 

Character- the similar work of Elijah of Wilna, 

istics yet these two books of Berlin laid 
of Berlin’s the foundation for a critical study of 

Works. the text of the Talmud, in view both of 

the numerous textual corrections con- 
cerning the minutest details, and of the many paral- 
lel passages adduced either directly from the Talmud 
or from the old authors, in support of new readings. 

Berlin, furthermore, was the first—at least among 
the Germans—who showed an interest in the history 
of post-Talmudic literature; and it was he, also, 
who opened the Kalir question (compare his letter 
to his brother-in-law, Joseph b. Menahem Steinhart, 
in the latter’s “Zikron Yosef,” No, 15). Although 
Berlin’s historical remarks have been superseded 
by modern criticism, the immense material which he 
accumulated in all his works will always remain of 
inestimable service to the student. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Auerbach, Gesch. der Isr. Gemeinde Hal- 
berstadt, 1886, p. 71; A. Berliner, Tesaja Berlin, Berlin, 
1879; reprint from Berliner’s Magazin, vi.; Brann, in Jubel- 
schrift zum 70sten Geburtstage von Gritz, pp. 262-265 5 


Briill’s Jahrb. v. 225, 229: Carmoly, Rev. Orientale, iii. 310; 
Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. J1SS. 1016. 
L. G. 


BERLIN, JACOB (called Yokob): German 
Talmudist; born 1707, probably at Berlin; died 1749 
at Firth, Bavaria. He was a pupil of Jacob ha- 
Kohen, author of “Sheb Ya‘akob,” and later (ot 
after 1734) settled at Firth, where he lived asa well- 
to-do private citizen. Of his seven works the fol- 
lowing were published posthumously: “ Be’er Ya‘a- 
kob” (Well of Jacob), a selection of responsa, with 
an appendix, on the terminology of the Talmud, 
published by his brother Isaac and his son Abraham, 
and edited by Isaac b, Meir of Pfalzburg and Firth, 
1767; and “ Zikron Ya‘akob” (Memory of Jacob), a 
homiletic commentary on the Pentateuch (zd. 1769). 

Berlin is not related to the well-known Berlin 
family of Firth. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Literaturblatt des Orients, viii. 


420-422; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. p. 1195; Isaac b. Meir’s 
Introduction to Berlin’s Be’er Ya'akob. 
I. Brer. 


L. G. 


BERLIN, LEO: Russian lawyer; son of Moses 
Berlin; born at Vitebsk Nov. 22, 1854; received his 
education (1862-72) at a private school in St. 
Petersburg. He studied law at the University of 
Bern, Switzerland, whence he was graduated in 
1878. In1881 Berlin received the degree of doctor of 
criminal law from the University of Moscow. Soon 
afterward he became engaged to Amalie Hering, 
M.D., daughter of the physiologist Ewald Hering, 
who, on account of her (Roman Catholic) relig- 
ion, was refused a license by the Russian govern- 
ment to marry a Jew. She accordingly joined 
the Protestant Church; but even then it required 
the intervention of the poet Turgenef to secure the 
requisite permission. Berlin is (1902) the head of 
the law firm of Berlin Brothers in St. Petersburg, but 
resides in Brussels. He has published many trea- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 80 








tises on criminal law in the “Zhurnal Grazhdans- 
kavo i Ugolovnavo Prava” and other periodicals, 
A yare Torah scroll, which has been in the Berlin 
family for centuries, is now in bis possession. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Private sources. 

H.R. 

BERLIN, MOSES (MOISETI JOSIFO. 
VICH): Scholar, communal worker, and govern- 
ment official; born at Shklov, Russia, 1821; died in 
St. Petersburg March 25, 1888. He received a good 
home education and then was sent abroad, where he 
studied philosophy and philology at the universities 
of Kénigsberg and Bonn. In 1845, whileat Koénigs- 
berg, he published “ Metab [liggayon,” a philosoph- 
ical treatise in Hebrew with the Latin title “ Ars 
Logica,” with an introduction in Latin by Professor 
Freistadt. 

Returning to Russia in 1849, he received a position 
as teacherin the government Jewish school of Mohi- 
lev, and in 1853 was appointed by the minister of 
the interior as adviser 
on Jewish affairs to 
the governor-general 
of White Russia. 
Berlin was trans- 
ferred to St. Peters- 
burg in 1856 and 
attached to the de- 
partment of public 
worship as ad viser on 
foreign creeds, with 
the title “Uchony 
Yevrei” (A. Learned 
Jew). In this posi- 
tion Berlin was fre- 
quently called upon 
to participate in the 
framing of laws con- 
cerning the Jews, 
At the same time he 
assisted to a consider- 
able extent Count M. A. Korff in organizing and 
arranging the Imperial Public Library of St. Peters- 
burg. 

In 1859 Berlin published “ Byedstviya Vremion,” 
a Russian translation of DO Nyn pry, the work of 
Jeshua ben David of Samosc. This translation ap- 
peared in vol. i. of the “ Transactions” of the 
Moscow Society for the Study of the History and 
Antiquities of Russia (“Trudy Moskovskavo Ob- 
shchestva Istorii i Drevnostei Rossii”), and also in 
book form. In recognition of this work Berlin was 
elected corresponding member of the society. He 
published in 1861 “Ocherk Etnografii Yevreiskavo 
Naseleniya v Rossii.” This work on the ethnog- 
raphy of the Russian Jews was composed at the 
instance of the Imperial Russian Geographical So- 
ciety, Which elected him an active member. In 
1862, in reply to Aleksandr Aksakov’s attacks on 
the Talmud in the journal “Den,” Berlin published 
“Bugulminski Talmudist ” and other articles on the 
Jewish question. 

Berlin was very active in the Jewish community 
of St. Petersburg, and was a member of the two 
Jewish delegations to Alexander IJ. in 1868 and to 
Alexander III. in 1881 respectively. 





Moses Berlin. 


81 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





His son Leo BERLIN is a distinguished lawyer. 
His daughter Fanny Berlin Kaufmann (born at 
Vitebsk Nov. 8, 1850; died at St. Petersburg 1896) 
graduated from the women’s gymnasium of St. 
Petersburg, studied law at the University of Bern, 
and was graduated thence as doctor of law sume 
cum laude. She married Prof. Hilarion Kaufmann, 
and became prominent in the higher socicty of St. 
Petersburg. Her bust by Professor Zalello is exhib- 
ited in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at St. 
Petersburg. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Gordon, in Vengerov’s Kritiko-Biograji- 

cheshi Slovar, iii. s.v.; Khronika Voskhoda, 1888, No. 12, 

Wl. R. 

BERLIN, NAHMAN BEN SIMHAH: A 
polemical writer against reform; lived at Lissa, 
Germany, at the end of the eighteenth and the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century. His literary 
activity was wholly devoted to the cause of ortho- 
doxy, opposing steadfastly and systematically all 
the attempts at the reform of Judaism, which were 
so marked acharacteristic of his time. To this pur- 
pose he wrote the following polemical works: “‘En 
Mishpat” (The Critical Eye of Judgment), directed 
against the editors of the Hebrew periodical “ Ha- 
Meassef,” and especially against Aaron Wolfssohn 
(Berlin, 1796); “eter Torah” (The Crown of the 
Law), an introduction to the “Hawwot Da‘at” of 
Jacob b. Moses of Lissa (Dyhernfurth, 1810); “Ju- 
dah,” against the innovators (Berlin, 1818); “ Kad- 
dur Katan” (The Small Globe), against several 
works by different reform writers (Berlin, 1819); 
“Et le-Dabber” (Time to Speak Out), on the tradi- 
tions of oral law, as well as on the necessity of hav- 
ing the prayers in Hebrew (Berlin, 1819); “Simhah” 
(Joy), a call to unity in religious affairs (Berlin, 
1819), * 
BIBLIOGRAPHY ; First, Bibliotheca Judatea, i. 110. 

L. G. 4 M. B. 

BERLIN, NAPHTALI ZEBI JUDAH 
(known also as N. Z. J. B.): Head of the yeshi- 
bah of Volozhin, Russia; born at Mir, in the gov- 
ernment of Minsk, in 1817; died at Warsaw Aug. 10, 
1893. In 1881 Berlin, who was a descendant of a 
scholarly family, married the daughter of Isaac b. 
Hayyim, the head of the Volozhin yeshibah. After 
the death of Isaacin 1851 his elder son-in-law, Eliezer 
Isaac, became principal, and on the death of the lat- 
ter in 1854, Berlin succeeded him. He followed the 
path of learning laid out by Hayyim, the founder of 
the yeshibah, according to the plans of Elijah of 
Wilna ; viz., plain logical reasoning, instead of em- 
ploying the PILPUL. 

A minority of the yeshibah students who culti- 
vated a taste for pilpul seceded and elected as their 
principal Joseph Baer Soloweitchik, well known as 
an acute pilpulist and a grandson of Rabbi Isaac. 
This division created discord between the students 
of the two factions; and the Russian rabbis sent a 
delegation to Volozhin to investigate the matter. 
They quelled the disturbance and established a 
union headed by Berlin, who was installed as the 
one head of the yeshibah. 

Berlin’s whole life was devoted to the welfare 
of the yeshibah, and all his energy was directed 

III.—6 


Berlin, Jacob 
Berlin, Naphtali 


od 


toward increasing the number of the students, and 
caring for their support and ccmfort. He ap- 
pointed and sent authorized agents (“ meshullahim ”) 
to different parts of the world for voluntary con- 
tributions to assist in maintaining the yeshibah. 
A large share of the income came from America. 
Under his guidance the number of the students in. 
creased from 100 to over 400; and he also erected a 
three-story brick building with rooms for study and 
a library. 
However, the “Maskilim,” who then advocated 
the Semi-Reform movement in Russia, opposed the 
yeshibah on general principles, and 
His demanded the introduction of secular 
Opposition scicnce and modern method of teach- 
to Secular ing. In answer to their demand Ber- 
Sciences. lin wrote an open letter to the editor 
of “ Ha-Meliz” (No. ix., 1885), ex- 
plaining his standpoint. He called attention to 
the failure of the rabbinical seminaries in Germany, 
and even those of Russia, to produce a single 
Talmudic rabbi in the full sense of the term; while 
such rabbis from the Volozhin graduates were nu- 
merous. This reply did not satisfy the Maskilim, 
who advocated the abolition of the yeshibah as a 
dangerous institution and as being an obstacle in the 
way of general cducation to the rising generation. 
Many derogatory articles in the Hebrew and Rus- 
sian-Jewish press attracted the attention of the gov- 
ernment, which in 1879 decreed to close up the ye- 
shibah. In 1881, however, through diligent and 
extraordinary efforts, Berlin succeeded in obtaining 
the government’s permit to reopen the yeshibah, 
which he conducted with renewed energies til] 1891, 
when its doors were again closed by the government 
asa result of the false accusation that the students 
were connected with the Nihilistic movement. 
Berlin never ceased his endeavors by every means 
—even visiting Warsaw to obtain the necessary in- 
fluence—to induce the government to revoke the 
edict; but they were without avail, and his failure 
hastened his death. 
His contributions to rabbinical literature are of 
great value, particularly his commentary “ Ha‘amek 
She’alah” (Deep Research) on the 


His “Sheiltot” of Ana or Suapya. It 
Literary was left for Berlin to throw light on 
Activity. the complicated and obscure passages 


of this most important halakic work 
of the gaonic period, which was little known among 
the Talmudists. His commentary shows not only 
his phenomenal knowledge of the Talmudim and 
old rabbinic literature, but also a fine critical mind. 
Berlin did not occupy himself with the later rabbinic 
literature, but spent all his life in the study of the 
old authorities, devoting himself especially to the 
Yerushalmi and the halakic Midrashim. It is said 
that at the age of twenty-three he compiled a com- 
mentary on the Jerusalem Talmud. 

Berlin’s unselfishness is shown by the notice in 
his introduction (§ 5, part ii.): “ Whoever desires to 
reprint this book, either in this or in another coun- 
try, has my permission to do so without any money 
consideration, and is entirely welcome, as it is my 
wish to disseminate the teachings of our master 
(Aha of Shabha) of blessed memory. AJ] I request 


Berlin, Noah 
Berlin, Saul 


of the publisher, if he does so during the lifetime of 
myself, or my son Hayyim Berlin, is that he will 
notify either of us. in order that [or my son may 
add, amend, or correct the style or rearrange tlic 
matter.” 

Berlin’s commentary on the Pentateuch, “ Biur 
ha-‘Amek” (Deep Interpretation), was published 
with the text (Wilna, 1879-80). His commentary 
on the Song of Songs, “Metib ha-Shir Bekizzur” 
(The Essence of the Poem), with an extract from the 
same appeared at Warsaw 1888. His opinion on 
Ecclesiastes is that it summarizes the arguments of 
the naturalists and scientists of that age, and that 
only the conclusions were inspired (by the Holy 
Spirit), whereas the Song of Songs and the Proverbs 
were all inspired (preface to “Sheiltot,” parti., § 2). 
His exegetical works are of little value, although 
they claim to be PEswatT. 

The responsa of Berlin were numerous. Most of 
his letters end with paya pioy c39n (“I am 
burdened with work”), as if in haste to finish. 
Of his responsa, “Meshib Dabar” (Word of Re- 
sponse), (Warsaw, 1894), six are addressed to Amer- 
ican rabbis of New York, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and 
Charleston, on various religious questions (see pp. 
18, 15, 19, 98, 117, 136). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kreneset Yisrael, ii. 136-142, Warsaw, 1888, 
biography and portrait; Ahiasaf (Calendar) for 5655, pp. 
450, 451; Der Israelit, p. 1415, Mayence, 1898; N. Sokolow, 
Ha-Asif, 1887, pp. 231-242 ; M. Reines, Aksaniyot Shel Torah, 
i., Cracow, 1890. 

L. G. J. D. E. 


BERLIN, NOAH HAYYIM ZEBI 


HIRSCH B. ABRAHAM MEIR: German Tal- 
mudist and rabbi; born at Firth 1787; died at 
Altona March 5, 1802. He was the son of a well-to- 
do and learned merchant at Fiirth, who died Jan. 7, 
1780, and whom Jacob Berlin regarded as a Talmud- 
ist of some merit. The boy, together with his 
brother Loeb Berlin, received his education from 
his father, and became dayyan in Fiirth in 1765. 
He also was appointed rabbi of Marktbreit, Bavaria, 
and the surrounding villages; and in 1780 became 
rabbi at Mayence. When Raphael ha-Kohen, rabbi 
of the three communities of Altona, Hamburg, and 
Wandsbeck, resigned his position, Berlin received a 
call to be his successor (1799). Affairs in these com- 
munities were very unsettled at that time, and it 
required much skill and tact to reconcile the various 
elements struggling for leadership. Berlin satisfac- 
torily solved the problem; and being far removed 
from the fanaticism of his predecessor, he even suc- 
cessfully avoided wounding the susceptibilities of 
the latter, who continued to reside privately in 
Altona (compare Berlin’s letter to Hayyvim of Volo- 
zhin in the responsa collection “ Hut ha-Meshullash,” 
Wilna, 1880). 

Berlin was the author of the following works: (1) 
“*Aze Arazim” (Cedar-Trees), Firth, 1790, an ex 
haustive commentary on Joseph Caro’s Shujhan 
‘Aruk, Eben ha-‘Ezer, which, however, covers only 
one-third of the work; (2) “‘Aze Almuggim” (Al- 
mug-Trees), Sulzbach, 1779, a commentary on 
those precepts treated in the Shulhan ‘Aruk which 
are not of Biblical origin; namely, on the washing 
of the hands (“netilat yadayim”), Sabbath-limits 
(“‘erubin”), and the marriages forbidden by the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


82 





Soferim (“sheniyot la-‘arayot”); (3) “Ma‘yan ha- 
Hokmah ” (Source of Wisdom) (Rédelheim, 1804, and 
recdited several times), the six hundred and thirteen 
injunctions and prohibitions in metric form, and ex- 
haustive casuistic explanations on the individual] 
precepts; (4) “Tiferet Zebi” (Glory of Zebi), the 
first part published at Warsaw, 1807, the second at 
Warsaw, 1818, the third at Josephov, 1867; (5) mar- 
ginal glosses on the Talmud treatises Berakot, 
Shabbat (Firth, 1829-32), and Shebu‘ot (Wilna, 
1895). 

The chief characteristic of Berlin’s work is that 
he pays more regard than any other German Tal- 
mudist to Yerushalmi; and he gives many happy 
explanations of it. Moreover, he possessed numer- 
ous works by Sephardic scholars which were un- 
known to the German and Polish Talmudists; and 
his teachings were strongly influenced by the Seph- 
ardim. Although Berlin, in accordance with the 
spirit of the times, was a great master of “ pilpul,” 
and could represent the pilpulistic method skilfully 
and intelligibly, he had clear reasoning powers. 
In his responsa, especially, he separated sophistry 
from true logic. 

It is of interest to note that Berlin not only knew 
Azariah dei Rossi’s works (he cites them unfavora- 
bly in “‘Aze Almugeim,” 198b), but had also read 
the New Testament, which was a very remarkable 
thing in the circles to which Berlin belonged. Ina 
passage of “‘Aze Almuggim” (191a) he speaks of 
Paulas “hakam ehad mehakmehem” (one of their 
[non-Jewish] sages), and he displays ingenuity in 
trying toidentify him with acertain “ Min,” a neighi- 
bor of Gamaliel, spoken of by the Mishnah (‘Er. vi. 1). 

Many of Berlin’s explanations of the piyyutin are 
found in Wolf Heidenheim’s commentary on the 
Mahzor. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Furst, Bibl. Judaica, p. 397; Nepi-Ghirondi, 
Toledot Gedole Yisrael, pp. 1038, 104; Fuenn, Keineset 
Yisrael, p. 346; Eckstein, Nachtrdge zur Geschichte der 
Jucden in Bamberg, 1899, p. 5; Arba’ Kosot, a funeral 
sermon on Berlin, delivered by Abraham Isaac b. Joseph, 
Altona, 1802. Berlin’s epitaph is to be found in Wittkower, 
Agudat Perahim, p. 298, Altona, 1880; Zunz CWonatstaye, 
p. 12) should be corrected according to this. La 


BERLIN, RUDOLF: German oplithalmolo- 
gist; born May 2, 1833, at Friedland, Mecklenburg- 
Strelitz; died at Rostock Sept. 12, 1897. He re- 
ceived his education at the gymnasium of his native 
town and at the universities of Giéttingen, Wiirz- 
burg, Berlin, and Erlangen, and was graduated from 
the Jast-mentioned as doctor of medicine in 1858. 
For the following three years he was assistant to 
Pagenstecher at Wiesbaden, and in 1861 established 
himself as a specialist in ophthalmology in Stutt- 
gart, opening a private hospital there. 

In 1870 he became privat-docent in physiological 
optics at the technical high school at Stuttgart, and 
in 1875 was appointed professor of comparative 
ophthalmology at the veterinary college in that city. 
In 1889 he became professor of ophthalmology at the 
university at Rostock, assuccessor to Von Zehender; 
and under his supervision the new ophthalmological 
hospital was built and opened in 1897. 

Berlin was the first to treat ophthalmology sys- 
tematically in a comparative way. Among his nu- 
merous works may be mentioned: “ Veber den Gang 


83 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





der in den Glaskirperraum Eingedrungenen Fremd- 
korper,” in “ Archiv fiir Ophthalmologie,” vol. xiii. ; 
“Ueber Sehnervendurchschneidung,” in “ Mitthei- 
lungsblatt fir Augenheilkunde,” vol. ix.: “Krank- 
heiten der Orbita,” in Graefe-Siimisch, “ Handbuch 
der Augenheilkunde ” (1880); and jointly with Rem- 
bold, “ Untersuchungen iiber den Einfluss des Schrei- 
bens auf Auge und Korperhaltung der Schulkinder, ” 
Stuttgart, 1883. 

In 1882, together with Eversbusch, he founded the 
“Zeitschrift fiir Vergleichende Augenheilkunde,” in 
which he published many interesting articles; ¢.g., 
on the eye of the horse, about glaucoma, etc. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pagel, Bingraphisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 

1901; Meyer, Konversations-Lexrikon, s.v.;  Brockhaus, 

RKonversations-Levikon, s.v. 

8. : F. T. H. 

BERLIN, SAMUEL: German jurist; born at 
Bamberg Oct 11, 1807; died at Firth Dec. 21, 1896. 
He was a son of Léb Berlin, of Bamberg, afterward 
* Landesrabbiner ” at Cassel, and was educated at 
the University of Munich, where he obtained his 
LL.D. degree in 1834. Samuel was the first Jewish 
lawyer in that kingdom. In 1848 he commenced 
practising law in Gerolzhofen, where he became the 
intimate friend of another young attorney, Dr. Frei- 
herr von Lutz, who afterward was “ Nultusminis- 
ter” and “ Ministerpriisident.” Dr. Berlin himself 
became “Hofrath,” and was president of the 
“Gemeindecollegium” in Ansbach from 1860 to 
1869. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kohut, Bertihmte Isr. Manner, xvi, 2938. 
S. M. Co. 


BERLIN, SAUL (or HIRSCHEL, SAUL, 
after his father, Zebi Hirsch [Hirsche]] Levin): 
German Talmudist, and one of the most learned 
Jews of the Mendelssohnian period; born (at Glo- 
gau?) 1740; died in London Nov. 16, 1794. He 
received his general education principally from 
his father, who was chief rabbi of Berlin. and one 
of the few rabbis of the time who combined Tal- 
mudic learning with secular culture. Saul, the 
eldest son;-was_ consequently educated along the 
same lines. In Berlin and” Breslau (whither the 
young man frequently went to visit his father- 
in-law, R. Joseph Jonas Friinkel) he came into 
personal contact with the representatives of the 
movement for progress in Judaism, and became one 
of its most enthusiastic adherents. His antecedents, 
education, and calling, as rabbi in Frankfort-on-the- 
Oder, made it almost impossible for him openly to 
renounce the old rabbinism; and he consequently 
endeavored to advance his ideals anonymously or 
under a pseudonym. 

Berlin began his literary career with an anony- 
mous circular letter, “ Ketab Yosher” (An Epistle 
of Justice) (printed in Berlin, 1794, after the death 
of the author), which Hartwig Wessely warmly de- 
fended in his own contention with the rabbis while 
pleading for German education among the Jews. 
With delightful humor, and in a florid though racy 
style, Berlin describes the absurd methods of the 
Jewish schools, and points out how the rabbinic 
casuistry—which then constituted the greater part 
of the curriculum—injures the sound common sense 


Berlin, Noah 
Berlin, Saul 





of the pupils and deadens their noblest aspirations. 
In this work Berlin already betrays a morbid tend- 
ency to vilify those whom he dislikes for general 
or personal reasons, thereby injuring the cause which 
he desires to further. 

This tendency is still more evident in his pseu- 
donymous work, “Mizpeh Yoktel” (The Watch- 
Tower of Yoktel) (published by David Friedlander 
and his brother-in-law Itzig, Berlin. 1789), a polemic 
against the “Torat Yekutiel” of RapnarEL nHa- 
Konen. The latter, one of the most zealous advo- 
cates of rabbinic piety, was a rival candidate with 
Levin for the Berlin rabbinate, a circumstance which 
induced Levin’s son to represent ha-Kohen as a for- 
bidding example of rabbinism. Under the name 
“Obadiah b. Baruch of Poland,” Berlin attempted 
in this work to ridicule Talmudic science, and to 
stigmatize one of its foremost exponents not only 
asignorant, but alsoas dishonest. The publishers de- 

clared in the preface that they had re- 


Ridicules ceived the work from a traveling Po- 
Talmudic lish Talmudist, and had considered it 
Science. their duty to print it and submit it to 


the judgment of specialists. In order 
to secure the anonymity more thoroughly, Berlin 
and his father were named among those who were 
to pass upon it. 

Had Berlin been content to illustrate from Ra- 
phael’s work the senseless methods then current in 
Talmudic studies, he would have performed a meri- 
torious task, and one for which he was especially 
fitted by his very great Talmudic learning and 
his lucid style of exposition. But the entirely un- 
founded attack upon the honor and honesty of his 
opponent, whose incorruptibility and firmness of 
character were admired even by his enemies, only in- 
jured Berlin and his cause. As soon as it reached 
Altona and Hamburg, where Raphael was chief 
rabbi, the work as well as its author was placed 
under the ban. The dispute that thereupon arose 
concerning the validity of the ban turned entirely 
upop the question whether a personal element, like 
the attack upon the rabbi of Altona, justified such 
a punishment. 

With the exception of Ezekiel Landau, chief rabbi 
of Prague and a near relation of Berlin, only a few 
Polish rabbis declared the ban to be invalid; and 
even they censured the action of Berlin, who had 
been forced to acknowledge the authorship. 

Before the excitement over this affair had sub- 
sided, Berlin created a new sensation by another 
work. In 1798 he published at Berlin, under the 
title “Besamim Rosh” (Iucense of Spices), 392 re- 
sponsa purporting to be by ASHER 8B. JEHIED, With 
many glosses and comments which he called “ Kassa 
de-Harsna ” (Fish Fare). A few examples will illus- 
trate the true character of these responsa. Berlin 
says, for instance, that (No. 257) an insight into the 
principles of the Torah and its commands can not 
be gained directly from it or from tradition, but 
only by means of the philosophico-logical training 
derived from non-Jewish sources. This opinion is 
coolly ascribed to Asher b. Jehiel, who condemned 
the study of philosophy and even of the natural 
sciences as being un-Jewish and pernicious (com- 
pare No. 58 of Asher’s genuine responsa). The 


Berlin, Saul 
Bermann, Issachar 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 84 





following edifying opinions are ascribed to the neo- 
Talmudists of the thirteenth century: “ Articles of 
faith [creed] must be adapted to the times; and at 
present the most essential article is that we all are 
utterly worthless and depraved, and that our only 
duty consists in loving truth and peace and learning 
to know God and His works” (le¢.). R. Asher is 
also alleged to be the author of the two responsa 
concerning the modification of the ceremonial laws, 
especially of such as were burdensome to the Berlin 
youth. Thus, for instance, it should be permitted 
to shave (No. 38), to drink non-kosher wine, “ya- 
yin nesek” (No. 86), and to ride on Sabbath. Ber- 
lin aroused a storm of indignation by thus fraudu- 
lently using the name of one of the most famous 
rabbis of the Middle Ages to combat rabbinism. 

Mordecai Benet first attempted to prevent the 
printing of the book in Austria, and then mercilessly 
scourged the deception in a circular letter addressed 
to Berlin’s father, by critically analyzing the re- 
sponsa and proving them to be spurious. Levin 
tried in vain to defend his son. Berlin resigned his 
rabbinate, and, in order to end the dispute which he 
had aroused, betook himself to London, where he 
died a few months after his arrival. In a letter 
found in his pocket he warned everybody against 
looking into his papers, requesting that they be sent 
to his father. He expressed the curious wish to be 
buried not in a cemetery, but in some lonely spot, 
and in the same garments in which he should hap- 
pen to die. 

In order to do justice to this unique personality, 
it must be borne in mind, as a modern historian re- 
marks, that in Berlin were united as in a focus the 
rays of a sinking and of arising period in Jewish his- 
tory. Being areally great Talmudist, he knew better 

than any other person the weaknesses 

Berlin’s of rabbinism, and was filled with a 
Character. burning desire to lead his people to- 

ward intellectual freedom. Mendels- 
sohn’sand Wessely’s timid attempts to inaugurate 

a new era did not appeal to him. With his youth- 

ful ardor he could not understand that the develop- 

ment of the popular consciousness is a slow process. 

An open championship of his ideas, however, would 

have meant a breach with father, wife, and children— 

in short, with all his associates; it being after all 
doubtful whether his sacrifices would have helped 
his cause. His anonymous and pseudonymous au- 
thorship was a measure of policy and not of cow- 
ardice. He could not, however, escape the conse- 
quences of such a mode of warfare. It is debasing 
and embittering to attack secretly those whom one 
is forced to praise in public; hence Berlin became 
personal in his polemics, and nervous and dissatis- 
fied with himself and the world, because he knew 
himself to be misunderstood through his own fault. 

Besides the works mentioned above, Berlin is said 
to have written a large number of rabbinic works, 
including notes to the whole Talmud. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Wilma, ii. 
20, 21; Benet, in Literaturblatt des Orients, v._ 53-55, 140- 
141 (fragment of his above-mentioned letter to Levin); Brann, 
in the Grdtz Jubelschrift, 1887, pp. 245-257; Carmoly, Ha- 
‘Orebim u-Bene Yonah, pp. 39-41; Chajes, Minhat Kenavt, 
pp. 14, 21; Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, xi. 89, 151-153; Horwitz, 


in Kebod ha-Lebanon, X., part 4, pp. 2-9; Jost, Gesch. des 
Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, iti, 396-400 (curiously 


enough a defense of the authenticity of the responsa collection 
Besamim Rosh); Landshuth, Toledot Anshe ha-Shem, pp. 
84-106, 109; M. Straschun, in Fuenn, Kiryah Neemanah, 
pp. 295-298; Zunz, Ritus, pp. 226-228, who thinks that Isaac 
Satanow had a part in the fabrication of the responsa. 


L. G. 


BERLINER, ABRAHAM (ADOLF): Ger. 
man theologian; historian; born in Obersitzko, prov. 
ince of Posen, Prussia, May 2, 18388; received his 
first education under his father, who was teacher iu 
Obersitzko. Hecontinued his education under vari- 
ous rabbis, preparing himself at the same time for 
the University of Leipsic, where he received the 
degree of doctor of philosophy. 

After serving for some time as preacher and 
teacher in Arnswalde, Berliner was called (1865) to 
Berlin as superintendent of the religious school 
maintained oy the society for Talmudic studies 
(Hebrat Shas); and in 1873, when Israel Hildes- 
heimer opened the rab- 


binical seminary in 
Berlin, Berliner was 
elected professor of 


Jewish history and lit- 
erature. In this posi- 
tion, as well as in that 
of author, he has dis- 
played an untiring ac- 
tivity. His edition of 
Rashi’s commentary to 
the Pentateuch (1866) 
first made him Known 
as a scholar; and he 
added to his reputation 
by various historical 
works, the result of his 
studies in the archives 
and libraries of Italy, which country he frequently 
visited, subventioned by the German government. 
Berliner edited for two years (1874-75) the scien- 
tific periodical “Magazin fiir Jiidische Geschichte 
und Literatur,” which from 1876 to 1893 he, to- 
gether with his colleague, David Hoffmann, con- 
tinued under the title “ Magazin ftir die Wissenschaft 





Abraham Berliner. 


discontinued for several years, was revived in 1885; 
and since then Berliner has acted asits director. He 
further acted as the apologist of Judaism in a pam. 
phlet against Lagarde (“ Prof. Paul de Lagarde, nach 
Seiner Natur Gezeichnet,” 1887), who denounced all 
Jewish scholars as dilettanti; and when the blood 
accusation was revived, he republished (1888) the 
opinion of Cardinal Ganganelli—afterward Pope 
Clement XIV.—to prove the falsity of this charge. 

While orthodox in his religious views, Berliner 
was never a fanatic. He not only associated in his 
scientific work with the liberals, but also paid a 
high tribute to the merits of M. Steinschneider on 
the occasion of the latter’s seventieth birthday 
(1886), by compiling a bibliography of that eminent 
scholar’s works. 

The following is a list of Berliner’s works: (1) 
“Raschi, Commentar zum Pentateuch,” 1866; (2) 
“Aus dem Inneren Leben der Deutschen Juden im 
Mittelalter,” 1871; 2d ed., 1900; (8) “ Pletat Soferim: 


85 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Beitrage zur Jiidischen Scariftauslegung im Mittel- 
alter,” 1872; (4) “Yesod ‘Olam, das Aelteste Be- 
kannte Dramatische Gedicht in Hebr. Sprache, von 
Mose Sacut,” 1874; (5) “ Die Massorah zum Targum 
Onkeios,” 1875, 1877; (6) “ Migdal Hananel, Ueber 
Leben und Schriften R. Chananel’s in Kairuan.” 
1876; (7) ‘‘Ein Gang Durch die Bibliotheken Italiens,” 
1877; (8) “Rabbi Jesaja Berlin: Hine Biographische 
Skizze,” 1879; (9) “ Beitriige zur Hebriiischen Gram- 
matik im Talmud und Midrasch,” 1879; (10) “ He- 
briiische Grabschriften in Italien,” 1881; (11) “ Per- 
sonliche Bezielhungen Zwischen Juden und Christen 
im Mittelalter,” 1882; (12) “ Beitriige zur Geographie 
urd Ethnographie Babyloniens im Talmud und Mid- 
rasch,” 1884; (13) Targum Onkelos (now the standard 
edition), 1884; (14) “Aus den Letzten Tagen des 
Rémischen Ghetto,” 1886 ; (15) “ Censur und Confisca - 
tion Hebriiischer Biicher iin Kirchenstaate,” 1891: 
(16) “ Geschichte der Judenin Rom, von der Aecltesten 
Zeit bis zur Gegenwart (2050 Jabre),” 3 vols.. 1893; 
(17) “Ueber den Einfluss des Ersten Hebriischen 
Buchdrucks auf den Cultus und die Cultur der 
Juden,” 1896; (18) “Aus Meiner Bibliothek, 
Ein Beitrag zur Bibliographie und Typographic,” 
1898. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sokolow. Sefer Zikkaron, p. 18; Warsaw 

1889; Reines, Dor we-Hakamaw. 

S. D. 

BERLINER, EMIL: Americaninventor; born 
in Hanover, Germany May 20, 1851. He was edu- 
cated at the public schools of his native place and 
at the Samson Schule, Wolfenbiittel, whence he was 
graduated in 1865. In 1870 he emigrated to Amer- 
ica, settlmg in Washington, D. C., where he has 
lived since 1882. He invented the loose-contact tel- 
ephone transmitter, or microphone, known as “ The 
Berliner,” and now universally employed in the tel- 
ephone and of the utmost importance in its practi- 
cal use. He is also the inventor of the gramophone 
and other valuable devices. Berliner is a member 
of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 
and since 1879 has been a frequent contributor to 
- many.” Tle is, besides, the author of “Conclusions,” 
Philadelphia, 1899. In 1881 he married Cora Adler 
of Washington, D, C. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Who's Who in America, 1899-1900, and 
private sources. A 


BERMAN, JEKUTHIEL: Russian-Hebrew 
novelist: born in 1825; died in Moscow about 1889. 
He held for over thirty years a responsible position 
inthe employ of the Jewish railroad magnate Samuel 
Poliakov, and devoted part of his leisure to literary 
composition, Between 1870 and 1880 he lived in 
Tver and later in Moscow. A stroke of paralvsis in 
1887 rendered him incapable of continuing either 
his vocation or his favorite literary labors. 

The first novel by Berman, “Shenot Rainu Ra‘ah” 
(The Years Wherein We Have Seen Evil), which de- 
scribes the life and sufferings of the CANTONISTS or 
child-recruits in the time of Emperor Nicholas I., ap- 
peared in the first volume of “ Ha-Meliz” (1860). 
Another novel, “Pesel Mikah” (The Graven Image 
of Micah), appeared in vol. xx., Nos. 19-48 of the 
same periodical (1884). “Hashodedim hbe-Zahara- 


Berlin, Saul 
Bermann, Issachar 





yim” (The Noonday Robbers) was first published in 
vol. viii. of “Ha-Shahar” (1877) and afterward 
appeared in book form. The fate of his fourth 
novel, “ Ha-Yetomim” (The Orphans), is somewhat 
singular. The first instalment appeared in Zeder- 
baum’s monthly, “Ha-Mizrah,” of which only four 
numbers were published in St. Petersburg in 1886. 
Ten years later another part appeared in “Ner 
ha-Ma‘arabi,” a Hebrew monthly published in New 
York, which was also soon discontinued. 

Berman is one of the purists in modern Hebrew, 
who insist that no strange words or foreign idioms 
shall be used by the writers of what is supposed to 
be the language of the Bible. An eloquent letter 
from his pen on this subject, and a clever reply by 
R. A. Braudes of Wilna (now of Lemberg) favoring 
expansion and modification of the language. are 
published in Meisach’s “Gan Perahim” (Wilna, 
1881), pp. 9-21. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Helraica Post-Mendels- 


sohniiana,s.v.3 Lippe’s Bibtiographisches Lexikon, t.; Ha- 
Shahar, vi. 318. 
P. W1. 


H. R. 


BERMANN, ADOLF (pen-name. Kébor 
Tamas): Hungarian writer; born at Presburg in 
1867. After completing the study of law he became 
an employee of the Hungarian Credit Bank. Under 
the influence of his brother-in-law, Joseph Kiss, the 
well-known writer of ballads, he early began to 
develop his talent for belles-lettres, and to-day en- 
joys a wide celebrity in Hungarian literature. His 
novels and romances—all satires upon present social 
conditions—are extensively read. 

8, L. V. 


BERMANN, ISSACHAR HA-LEVI: Phi- 
lanthropist; born at Halberstadt Nisan 24, 1661; died 
there Tammuz 24, 1780; sonof Judah Lehmann. At 
an early age he displayed great commercial enter- 
prise. He afterward went to Hanover, and there 
became associated with the chief court agent Liep- 
mann, who, appreciating Bermann’s abilities and. 
integrity, gave him his confidence. In this way 
Bermann had access to many princes, and several of 
them, such as those of Dessau, of Brunswick, and of 
Saxony, soon addressed themselves directly to him 
in their financial transactions, Bermann was in es- 
pecial favor with Friedrich Augustus IT., elector of 
Saxony and, later, king of Poland, to whom he ren- . 
dered many services in the capacity of banker and 
as diplomatic agent in Poland. For these services 
he was rewarded with the title of “Resident” of 
Poland and Saxony, by which title he is mentioned 
in the Polish chronicles. 

Bermann used his prestige for the good of his 
coreligionists; and his intervention with the Polish 
lords saved many Jewish lives. The special protec- 
tion that Halberstadt enjoyed during the reigns of 
Freidrich I. and Friedrich Wilhelm I. was due to 
Bermann’s active influence. Generous by nature, 
it was his delight to foster Jewish learning. To 
this end he built a synagogue at Halberstadt, in 
which city many Jewish scholars found support, their 
works being printed at the sole expense of Bermann. 

In 1696 Bermann obtained the permission of Fried- 
rich Wilhelm to edit the Babylonian Talmud, copies 


Bermann, Moriz 
Bernal, Isaac 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 86 





of which had become very scarce. The expense of 

this edition (Frankfort-on-the-Oder), amounting to 

$50,000, was defrayed entirely by Bermann; and 
most of the 5,000 copies printed were presented to 
scholars. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Auerbach, Gesch. der Jtidischen Gemeinde 
Halhberstadt, pp. 43 et sey.; Ha-Maggid, ii. 75; Fuenn, Kene- 
set Yisrael, p. 184. 

G. I. Br. 

BERMANN, MORIZ (pseudonyms, Berthold 
Mormann, Moritz B. Zimmermann, Louis 
Miihlfeld, and Julius Marlott): Austrian au- 
thor; born at Vienna March 16, 1828; died there 
June 12, 1895. Bermann, who came of a family 
of publishers, was educated for a musical career ; 
but after the death of his father he devoted himself 
fora time to collecting autographs. He soon be- 
came known as the owner of one of the finest bio- 
graphical libraries in Europe. Shortly after the 
Hungarian Revolution he began (1851) what was 
intended to be a twenty-volume work, “ Oesterrei- 
chisches Biographisches Lexikon,” etc.; but, owmg 
to the condition of unrest in Austria, it proceeded 
no farther than the letter A. 

On Jan. 1, 1856, Bermann became editor of the 
“Wiener Courier” and developed into a remarkably 
prolific writer of sketches, historical novels, plays, 
and even dance-music; writing under the pseudo- 
nyms mentioned above. Among his works are: 
“Dunkle Geschichten,” 1868; “Maria Theresa und 
der Schwarze Papst,” 1870; “Das Schwarze Kabi- 
net”; “Schone Siinderin”; “ Die Kaisertéchter als 
Briiute,” 1890: and the historical comedies “ Ein 
Sttindchen auf der Karlsschule” and “ Die Entftih- 
rung aus dem Auge Gottes.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Das Geistige Wien, pp. 82, 33; Wurzbach, 
Biogr. Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, i. 322-3823. 


3. E. Ms. 


BERN: Capital of the Swiss Confederation. 
Jews resided within its territory as early as the sixth 
century, but the first documentary evidence of Jew- 
ish inhabitantsin Bern is for the year 1259. Though 
under the protection of the city, with the emperor 
as their real liege lord, they were usually in an un- 
protected state. In the separate Jews’ street in 
which they lived, near the present Casino, was also 
their cemetery, which, after their expulsion in 1294, 
became private property; andin the “ Inselgasse ”— 
as the Jews’ street was called after the convent built 
by the “ Inselschwestern ”—there was found in 1888, 
when the “Inselspital” was torn down, the tomb- 
stone of a Jew, dated 1293 (Studer, in “ Archiv des 
Historischen Vereins des Kantons Bern,” iv. 1, 38; 
iv. 2, 15; viii, 56, 212). 

The Jews of Bern devoted themselves exclusively 
to banking and pawnbroking. As in Base! and 
Zurich, the rate of interest fixed by the government 

was 48%, two pennies per week in the 


Jews pound; later it was reduced to 802. 
Bankers Allclasses—the clergy and the nobles, 
and Pawn- the burghers and the peasants, as 
brokers. well as the convents and the towns— 


regarded the Jews as their brokers; 
and in order to protect the Christians, the city coun- 
-cil decreed, at Easter in 1283, that the term set for 
repayment should be limited to one year. Through 


their money transactions the Jews earned the hatred 
of the populace, and as the citizens of Bern were 
deeply in debt to the Jews and, through various cir- 
cumstances, were reduced to financial straits, they 
cast about, shortly after the death of Emperor Ru- 
dolf, for means of acquittal. 

A pretext for action against the Jews was soon 
found. In 1294 they were accused of having kid- 
naped and killed a boy named Rudolf (Ruff), This 
accusation, which was also made at about the same 
time against the Jews of Coliar and Mayence, suf- 
ficed to start a persecution. The Jew Joel (F6li), 

who was regarded as the real offender, 
The Jews and all other Jews of Bern, women as 
Tortured well as men, were seized and mal- 
or treated, and either tortured or driven 
Expelled. from the town. This event has been 
wrongly assigned to the year 1287, 
during the reign of Emperor Rudolf (Stettler, 
“Schweizer Chronik,” i. 20; Justinger, “Berner 
hronik,” pp. 38 e¢ seg.; Ulrich, “Schweizer Ge- 
schichten,” pp. 144 e¢ seg.; “*‘Emek ha-Baka,” p. 56; 
Zunz, “8S. P.” p. 88, etc.; compare “ Annales Col- 
mariens.” 28, for the year 1294; “Judi Bernenses 
Puerum ut Dixerunt Occiderunt”; Tillier, “ Gesch, 
des Freistaates Bern,” i. 72; on the murder of the 
boy Rudolf, see Stammler, in “ Katholische Schweiz- 
erblitter,” 1888). 

King Adolf, perhaps appealed to by the Jews 
themselves, appointed a commission to investigate 
the matter, composed of the bishop Peter of Basel, 

the knight Gottfried von Merenberg, 


Their governor of the realm in Burgundy ; 
Claims Cuno von Bergheim, and Hartmann 
Forfeited. von Ratzenhausen. This commission 


decided, June 30, 1294, that the Jews, 
male and female, should forfeit all their claims 
against the mayor, the council, the community, and 
every one living in Bern up to the time of the de- 
cree; that they should give up all their securities 
and pledges; and that; in addition, they should pay 
to the community one thousand marks in silver, and 
to the mayor of Bern five hundred marks in silver 
—according to the standard of weightin Bern. King 
Adolf confirmed this enactment Aug. 1, 1294, in 
Frankfort-on-the-Main.” The Jews assigned to the 
mayor in paymentof his share their claims against 
the Knights of St. John, the monastery of Interlaken, 
Ulrich von Thor, and others. A characteristic ex- 
pression is found in the receipt of the mayor, Jakob 
von Kienberg: “Pro occasione pueri, videlicet b. 
Rudolfi quem dicti Judei, ut dicitur, occiserunt.” 
The same cautious phraseology, “ut dicitur,” was 
employed by King Albrecht six years Jater, when he 
confirmed the decree, April 29, 1300 (“ Solothurner 
Wochenblatt,” 1828, pp. 192 et seq.). The Bernese 
immediately attached the property of the Jews. A 
woman, Berchta von Habstetten, was forced to give 
up a chest filled with gold, silver, ornaments, veils, 
etc., that had been confided to her by the Jew Vivi- 
jin and his partner (document of Aug. 14, 1294, 
* Monatsschrift,” xiii. 49 ¢ seg.; Stobbe, “ Die Juden 
in Deutschland,” p. 283, which reads “1494” instead 
of “1294,” and “Bertha” instead of “ Berchta”). 
Expelled from Bern, the Jews returned before 
the middle of the fourteenth century ; and when the 


87 





Black Death swept the country in 1849, the people 
of Bern and of Zofingen gained the questionable 
reputation of fanning everywhere the 


Persecu- hatred against the Jews, burning or 
tion banishing them and destroying evi- 
Renewed. dences of indebtedness to them, as at 


the former persecution. 

Twenty-five years later there were again Jews at 
Bern. In 1379 Master Isaac von Tanne, who lived 
there, Joaned to the city of Freiburg 1,470 gold 
gulden. This “modest man,” probably from Thann 
in Alsace, was, like Master Mathys Eberlin and his 
wife, Esther Merlinon, a money-lender. 

At the end of the fourteenth century the Bernese 
showed a positively friendly feeling for the Jews, 
not only permitting them, for financial reasons, to 
settle in Bern, but naturalizing them for periods of 
six years, in consideration of a yearly tax of sixty 

schiltfranken in gold. They were not 

Natural- restricted in their worship; on their 

ized and festival days they were not to be called 
Patronized. into court; matters of dispute among 

themselves could either be decided 
according to Jewish law or be brought before the 
Bernese courts; butchers were enjoined to sell the 
meat killed according to Jewish ordinance, at the 
same price as other meat. About this time Chris- 
tians also engaged in the money-lending business 
in rivalry with the Jews. 

As soon as the Bernese were easier financially, the 
‘old hatred against the Jews revived, stimulated 
by Justinger, author of a Bernese chronicle, who 
was also a notary public, and as such carried on 
money transactions. His proposition to expel the 
Jews found no lack of support, for 
“the Council and the Two Hundred of 
the City” decided unanimously, May 
10, 1427, to drive the Jews forever from the city and 
the country. This decision was carried into. effect, 
and matters continued thus for several hundred years. 

Not until about 1820 did Jews again settle at 
Bern, and coming, as they did, mainly from Alsace 

as French citizens, they were given 

Readmis- absolute religious freedom. In 1865 
sionand Bern had twenty-seven Jewish fami- 
Freedom. lies, which, having had a synagogue 
since 1855, formed themselves into an 

association for worship (“Cultusverein”). En 1875 
the community numbered 286 persons; in 1897, 348. 
It had a religious teacher, a burial society (hebrah 
kaddishah), and a fund for sick women. The canton 
of Bern had in 1874 1,000 Jews; in 1897, 1,195. The 
University of Bern was the first to appoint Jews as 
professors. The well-known physiologist, G. Val- 
entin, who was the first Jew to be naturalized, ob- 
tained a position there as early as 1835. Later on 
the university numbered among its professors Laza- 
rus, Munk, the two Schiffs, Ludwig Stein, and 
ethers, In the federal offices J. Dreifus of En- 
dingen occupied, in 1901, a most respected position. 


Banished. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kopp, Geseh. der Eidgendssischen Biince, 
iii. 1, 148; Tobler, Zur Gesch. der Juden im Alten Bern, in 
Archiv des Historisechen Vereins, xii. 336 et seg.; Kayser- 
ling, Die Juden in Bern. in Monatssehrift, xiii. 46 et seq.; 
Statuten des Cultusvereins der Israeliten in der Stadt 
Bern, Bern, 1865 


G. M. K. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bermann, Moriz 
Bernal, Isaac 





BERN, MAXIMILIAN: German author; 
born at Kherson, South Russia, Nov. 18, 1849, where 
his father practised medicine. On the latter's death 
Bern and his mother went to Vienna that he might 
complete his education. The loss of his fortune 
forced him to abandon his studies at the university, 
and in 1873 he became private tutor to the appren- 
tices at an equestrian school. 

Bern soon tired of this occupation and turned to 
literature for a livelihood. His first novel, “ Auf 
Schwankem Grunde,” met with considerable suc- 
cess, though in this, as in fact. in most of his wri- 
tings, Bern is inclined to the gloomy despair of the 
majority of Slavonic writers. The success of his 
first novel enabled him to visit Berlin, Hamburg, 
Leipsic, Dresden, Frankfort, and Munich, at all of 
which places he studied assiduously. In 1886 he 
went to Paris, and a year later married a young 
Austrian actress, Olga Wohlbriick. In 1888 he 
settled in Berlin. Bern is the author of: “Gestripp,” 
1876; “Deutsche Lyrik seit Géthe’s Tode,” 1877; 
“Meine Geschiedene Frau,” 1878; “Sich Selbst im 
Wege,” a sketch of stage-life, 1877; “Ein Stummer 
Musikant,” 1879; “ Liliput,” 1879; “ Anthologie fiir 
die Kinderstube,” 1879; “ Tllustrirter Hausschatz fiir 
die Jugend,” 1880; “Aus der Gesellschaft,” an al- 
manac, 1881-82; “Am Higenen Herd,” 1886; “De- 
klamatorium,” anthology, 1887; “ Lustige Stunden,” 
1887; “Himmelan!” 1889; “Christliches Gedenk- 
buch,” 1893; “ Evangelisches Deklamatorium, ” 1895, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Das Geistige Berlin, pp. 21, 22; Kiirschner, 


Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, p. 89. 
S. E. Ms. 


BERN, OLGA (irée Wohlbrick): Austrian 
author; wife of Maximilian Bern; born at Vienna 
July 5, 1865. She went on the stage under her own 
name, Wohilbrtick, and while at the Odeon, Paris, 
in 1887, married the German author Bern. She 
abandoned the stage for literature in 1888, She is the 
author of “Aus Drei Liindern,” 1890, short stories; 
“Unausléschlich und Andere Novellen,” 1892; “ Car- 
ridre,” 1892; “Glick,” short stories, 1893; “ Das 
Recht auf Glick,” a drama, 1893; and “ Vater Chaim 
und Pater Benediktus,” a novel. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Das Geistige Berlin, pp. 22, 23. 

S. E. Ms. 

BERNAL, ABRAHAM NUNEZ: Spanish 
martyr; burned at the stake by the Inquisition of 
Cordova May 3, 1655. His martyrdom is celebrated 
ina work published by Jacob Bernal (Amsterdam, 
1655), entitled “Elogios que Zelozos Dedicaron 4 la 
Felice Memoria de Abraham Nufiez Bernal que fue 
Quemado Vivo, Santificando el Nombre de su Cria- 
dor,” etc., and dedicated to Sefior Elian Nufiez Ber- 
nal. The work contains, among other items, a ser- 
mon in Bernal’s honor preached by Isaac Aboab, and 
poems by Daniel 4 Ribera, Eliakim Castriel, Joseph 
Frances of Hamburg, Jonah Abravanel, Samuel de 
Castro, and Jacob de Pina. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, S. P. p. 345; Kayserling, Sephardim, 
pp. 260, 354; idem, Biblioteca EHspai.-Port.-Judatca, pp. 
aye ‘ 


2k, 43 
G. 


BERNAL, ISAAC (MARCUS) DE AL- 
MEYDA: Spanish martyr; born in Montilla 1633; 
burned at the stake in St. Iago de Compostella 


Bernal, Maestro 
Bernardinus of Feltre 





(Galicia, Spain), in the month of March, 1635, at the 
age of twenty-two. He was a nephew of Abraham 
Nuficz BERNAL. When only seventeen (1650) he 
had been thrown inte the prison of the Inquisition 
at Valladolid. Daniel Levi de Barrios mentions 
Bernal in his “Govierno Popular Judayco ” asa rela- 
tive. In the volume entitled “ Elogios” (see Abra- 
ham Nuficz BERNAL) there is a “ Relacion del felice 
martirio del invicto Ishack de Almeida Bernal que 
murio vivo en fuego santificando el nombre del 
Scfior ... ”; as well as poems in honor of Bernal 
by Daniel 4 Ribera, Jonah Abravanel, Jacob de 
Pina, Samuel de Castro, Abraham Castanho, Isaac 
Israel, Daniel Arango, and a sermon by Jacob 
Abendana. 
D. G. 


BERNAL, MAESTRO: A Marano, ship-phy- 
sieian on the first voyage of Columbus to America. 
He had lived in Tortosa and had undergone public 
penance in October, 1490, as an adherent of Juda- 
ism. Columbus, by his arrogant conduct, aroused 
the enmity of the physician, who instigated a con- 
spiracy against the admiral in Jamaica which seri- 
ously affected his destiny. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Kayserling, Christopher Columbus, pp. 90, 
123, New York, 1894; see also AMERICA, THE DISCOVERY OF. 


G., 


BERNAL, RALPH: Politician and art-col- 
lector; died in 1854. His ancestors were of Spanish- 
Jewish origin. His father was Jacob Israel Ber- 
nal, a West-Indian merchant, who in 1744 refused 
the office of gabay (treasurer) of the Portuguese con- 
gregation because he decided to marry Josebeth 
Baruh, a “Tudesca” or German Jewess, which he 
was only allowed to do under humiliating conditions 
(Picciotto, “Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History,” p. 
167). Ralph was entcred at Christ’s College, Cam- 
bridge, where he took his degrecs of B.A. and M.A. 
in 1806 and 1809 respectively. In 1810 he was called 
to the bar asa member of Lincoln’s Inn, but inherit- 
ing extensive property in the West Indies, he pre- 
ferred a parliamentary to a legal life. For thirty- 
four years (1818-52) he had a seat in the House of 
Commons, where he represented the city of London 
from 1818 to 1820, and Rochester from 1820 to 1841. 
During that period he spent £66,000 in election con- 
tests. In the Jatter year he contested the constitu- 
ency of Weymouth, and was seated on petition. 
After representing that borough from 1841 till 1847, 
he returned to Rochester, continuing to sit for it 
until his retirement from political life in 1852. His 
parliamentary career was uneventful, although 
throughout he was prominent in the ranks of the 
Whigs, and from 1880 till 1850 acted as chairman 
of committees. Though brought up as a Christian, 
he recognized the claims of his Jewish ancestry by 
supporting the bills for the removal of Jewish dis- 
abilities, introduced while he was in the House. He 
was known in his day chiefly as an art-collector in 
antique china and plate; and at his death an at- 
tempt was made to secure his collection for the na- 
tion, but it was unsuccessful, and the collection was 
sold in 1855. Two catalogues of his works of art 
were issued. Tle was twice married, and had issue by 
both wives. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





88 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dict. Nat. Biog.; Sir H. Cole, Biography: 
Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, pp. 289-291 ; 
Gentleman’s Magazine, 1823 and 1854. 


J. G. L. 


BERNARD, ABRAHAM: Russian physician ; 
born in 1762. He studied at London in 1789; 
practised medicine in Hasenpoth, Courland, Russia ; 
beeame district pbysician in Shawli, government 
of Wilna; was subsequently appointed inspector of 
various military hospitals in Lithuania; andin 1809 
was made chief surgeon of the hospital of Slonim. 
He also received the title of court councilor; prac- 
tised at Mitau in 1810-11; and then settled in Mos- 
cow. He has published: “ Griinde fiir die Inokula- 
tion: dem Lithauischen Landvolke Gewidmet,” 
Mitaun, 1799: “Observations sur l’Enterrement Pré- 
maturé des Juifs,” Mitau, 1799; and a German trans- 
lation of this last, under the title “Bemerkungen 
iiber das Frithe Beerdigen der Jiidischen Leichen,” 
Mitau, 1802; “Medicinisch-Chirurgische Beobacht- 
ungen in den Kricgshospitiilern zu Kobrin und 
Slonim Gesammelt,” n. d.; and “ Behandlung eines 
Epidemischen Wurmfiebers, das im Jahr 1796 in 
Kurland Herrschte,” in Hufeland’s “Journal fir 
Praktische Arzneikunde,” 1797, iv. 4, No. 5. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Reeke and Napierski, Allgemeines Schrift- 
stelier und Gelehrten-Lexikon der Provinzen Liev-, Esth- 
und Kurland, vol. i., 8.v., Mitau, 1827 3 R. Wunderbar, Gesch. 
der Juden in den Provinzen Liv-und Kurtand, pp. 66- 
67; ib. 1853, where ** Bernard ” is given as ** Bernhard.”’ 


H. R. 


BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX (generally 
known as St. Bernard): Church father; born 1091, 
near Dijon, France; died at Clairvaux Aug. 20, 
1153. He was originally a monk of the Cistercian 
order at Citeaux; but, on being appointed abbot 
of Clairvaux, he founded a branch order known by 
his name, 160 monasteries of which came into exist- 
ence during his life. He vigorously opposed Abe- 
lard in 1140, as well as the introduction of the dogma 
of the immaculate conception. 

St. Bernard is distinguished for his activity in 
forming the second crusade in 1145-46, during which 
he traveled through France and Germany, preach- 
ing the crusade. One of the consequences of this 
was a succession of massacres of the Jews through- 
out the Rhine valley. Thiscalled forth an energetic 
protest by St. Bernard, which was sent to England, 
eastern France, and Germany (Bouquet, “ Recueil,” 
xv. 606). In this Ictter he laid down the general 


lines of policy with regard to the Jews by whieh. 


the Roman Catholic Church has since béen guided ; 
and his arguments are those generally given, though 
without his name, in more recent pronouncements. 
According to St. Bernard, Jews are not to be dis- 
turbed or destroyed, because they are living symbols 
of the Passion; for which they are to be punished 
mainly by dispersion, so that they shall be witnesses. 
But they will ultimately be converted. How can 
this be if they are ground down? At the same time 
St. Bernard approves of the papal policy which de- 
clares that all usury on debts due by Crusaders 
shall lapse during their absence in the Holy Land. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Neander, Der Heilige Bernhard und Sein 
Zeitalter, Berlin, 1818; Cotter Morrison, Life and Times of 
St. Bernard, London, 1863: literature cited in Herzog- 
Hauck's Real-Ency. ii. 623; Gritz, Geschichte, vi. 148, a 
G. P 


i ee 


89 


BERNARD (also Domeier), ESTHER (née 
Gad): German poetess and authoress; born at Bres- 
lau. Silesia, about 1770; died about 1814. On her 
mother’s side Bernard was a granddaughter of Jona- 
than Eybeschiitz, the famous rabbi of Prague and 
Hamburg. 

At the age of about twenty she was married to 
a certain Bernard, with whom she removed to Berlin. 
She preferred the latter place to Breslau for the 
reason she herself gave ina letter to Jean Paul Rich- 
ter in the following words: “ Dort wird man tiber 
den Menschen nie den Juden vergessen ; und besisse 
ich die gréssten Verdienste, so wiirde ich doch in 
Eure besseren Zirkel nicht aufgenommen werden ” 
(There {in Breslau] the Jew is never forgotten in the 
man, and were I to possess the highest merit, I 
should never be admitted to your higher circles). Her 
marriage with Bernard must have been unhappy, for 
after a few years she obtained a divorce and married 
Dr. Domeier of London, with whom she went to live 
in Malta. 

Evenin her girlhood Esther Bernard showed great 
talent for poetry and literature. Before her mar- 
riage to Bernard she contributed many poems to 
“Plumken'’s Magazin” and Rausch’s “ Unterhalt- 
ungen.” To the latter she contributed also a short 
story in English, “Marcus and Monima,” 1795. 
While the wife of Bernard she wrote “ Beschreibung 
einer Wasserreise von Aussig Nach Dresden” (in 
“Deutsche Monatsschrift”); “Eine Nachricht tiber 
das Dresdener Museum ” (in “ Archiv der Zeit,” Nov., 
1799, p. 445). She was alsoa contributor to “ Der Cos- 
mopolit” (June, 1795, pp. 577-599), and “ Backer’s 
Erzihlungen” (1798, iv. 272) for which she wrote 
some poems. “Bicker’s Almanach” for 1800 con- 
tains two poems by Bernard, one of which has been 
set to music by Neuman, “Ueber Schiller’s Picco- 
lomini,” in “Merkwirdigkeiten der Mark Branden- 
burg,” March, 1800, p. 382. 

In Berlin, Bernard made the acquaintance of Com- 
tesse de Genlis, the authoress of “ Les Méres Rivales,” 
which she translated into German under the title 
“Die Beiden Miitter,” 2 vols., 1800. 

After her marriage to Dr. Domeier she wrote 
“Gesammelte Bitter,” Leipsic, 1805; “ Briefe Wiih- 
rend Meines Aufenthaltes in England und Portu- 
gal,” 2 vols., Hamburg, 1803; “ Kritische Auscin- 
andersetzungen Mehrerer Stellen in dem Buche 
der Frau von Staél tiber Deutschland,” Hanover, 
1814. : 

-.. At theerection of the Wilhelmsschule in Breslau, in 

1791, fof the instruction of Hebrew children, Esther 
Bernard celebrated the event iia poem in which she 
hailed the dawning of an era of freedom and equal- 
ity for the Jews of Silesia. 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sulamith, v. 252-258, 285; Schummel’s Bres- 
lauer Almanach, i., 1801; Kayser’s Biicher Lexikon, i. 125, 
li. 64. 


S, S. BR. 


BERNARD OF GORDON: Christian physi- 
cian; born probably at Gordon in Guienne, depart- 
ment of Lot, France; professor of medicine at Mont- 
pellier about the year 1300. His “ Lilium Medicine ” 
was much read by Jews, and several Hebrew. trans- 
lations of it are extant; ¢.g., that by Jekuthiel b. 
Solomon (Maestro Bonsenior) of Narbonne in 1887 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bernal, Maestro 
Bernardinus of Feltre 











(ANIEW jw); and another by Muses ben Samuel 
of Roguemaure (Gard), 1360 (ANDINA m4). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Hebi. Cebers. p. 785; Renan- 

Neubauer, Lerivains Juifs, p. 886. 

G. M. 8. 

BERNARD, HERMANN: Teacher of Hebrew 
in the University of Cambridge, England; born of 
Austrian parents at Uman, or Fluman, a small town 
in southern Russia (at that time Poland), in the year 

785. His father being a converted Jew, he was 
brought up as a Christian. He went to England in 
1825; settled in Cambridge as a private teacher in 
1880; and wasappointed “ Preeceptor Lingue Sacree ” 
in the university on Oct. 18, 1837, succeeding Jose- 
phus Crool. He died at Cambridge, aged seventy- 
two, on Nov, 15, 1857, after teaching there with 
marked success for twenty-seven years. 

Bernard published the following works: “The 
Creed and Ethics of the Jews Exhibited in Selec- 
tions from the Yad ha-Hazakah of Maimonides” 
(1832); and “Ha-Menahel” (The Guide of the He- 
brew Student), 1889. During Bernard’s blindness. 
in 1853 appeared “Me Menuhot” (Still Waters), an 
easy, practical Hebrew grammar, in two volumes, 
by the Rev. P. H. Mason (afterward fellow and pres- 
ident of St. John’s College) and Hermann Ber- 
nard. Bernard’s lectures on the Book of Job, edited 
by his former pupil, Frank Chance (afterward a 
member of the Old Testament Revision Committee), 
appeared in one volume in 1864, but the editor’s 


promised appendix was never published. 
J C. T. 


BERNARDINUS OF FELTRE: Franciscan 
friar; born at Feltre, Italy, in 1439; died Sept. 28, 
1494. Hewas one of the bitterest enemies the Jews 
ever had, and openly advocated their utter exter- 
niination. He traveled throughout Italy preaching 
a crusade against them, the burden of his sermons 
being: “Let Christian parents keep a watchful eye 
on their children, lest the Jews steal, il-treat, or 
crucify them.” Asa worthy disciple of Capistrano, 
whom he held up as the type and model of a true 

Christian, he knew that his eloquence 

His would be of no avail among the aris- 

Preaching. tocracy, the members of which, guided 

by their interests, protected the Jews. 

He therefore endeavored to inflame the lower classes 

and toarouse the ill-will of the populace against the 
Jews. 

Because certain Jewish capitalists had been suc- 
cessful, he depicted ail Jews as vampires and extor- 
tioners. In his sermons he was wont to say: “JT, 
who live on alms and eat the bread of the poor, shall 
I be a dumb dog and not howl when I see the Jews 
wringing their wealth from Christian poverty? Yea! 
shall I not cry aloud for Christ’s sake?” 

These sermons bore fruit. At Ravenna Bernardi- 
nus incited the populace to such a degree that he 
was enabled to expel the Jews with violence and to 
send deputies to Venice to solicit a legal sanction for 
the expulsion. The authorities of Florence were 
constrained to order Bernardinus to quit the coun- 
try, so that a rising which was imminent might be 
prevented (1487). At Campo San Pietro Bernardi- 
nus expelled a Jewish pawnbroker and established 
a gratuitous pawnbroking institution. 


Bernardinus of Feitre 
Bernays, Jacob 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 90 





All Jewish occupations and enterprises were 
equally the objects of Bernardinus’ reprobation. The 
inhabitants of Sienna engaged a Jewish physician. 
Bernardinus delivered a series of sermons in which 
he reproduced all the idle tales spread among the 
people respecting the hatred that the Jews nourished 
toward Christians. He related that a Jewish physi- 
cian of Avignon on his death-bed recalled with 
delight the fact of having killed thousands of Chiris- 
tians through his drugs. The consequence of these 
sermons was that the lower classes and the women 
abstained from having recourse to the Jewish physi- 
cian. 

These partial successes notwithstanding, the ef- 
forts of Bernardinus mostly failed of effect. The 
Italian people were actuated by good common sense, 
and the authorities sorely hindered Bernardinus in 
his Jew-baiting. It was in the Tyrol that he suc- 
ceeded in bringing about a bloody persecution. 

While Bernardinus preached in the city of Trent, 
some Christians called him to account for his hatred 
of Jews, remarking that the Jews of Trent were 
worthy people. “Ye knownot,” replied the monk, 
“what misfortune these folks will bring upon you. 
Before Easter Sunday is past they will give youa 
proof of their extraordinary goodness.” Chance 
favored him with a good opportunity. 

During Holy Week of the year 1475 a Christian 
child named Simon, who was three years old, was 
drowned in the Adige, and his body 
was caught ina grating near the house 
of a Jew. The Jew gave notice of 
this occurrence to Bishop Hinderbach. 
The body was removed to the church and exhibited, 
and Bernardinus and other hostile priests raised an 
outcry against the Jews, saying that they had put 
the child to torture and then slain him and flung 
him into the water. The bishop ordered the impris- 
onument of all the Jews, who, with one exception, 
when subjected to torture confessed. Thereupon 
all the Jews of Trent were burned, and it was deter- 
mined that thereafter no Jew should settle in the 
city (see SIMON OF TRENT), 

Bernardinus endeavored to make use of this occur- 
rence to bring about the ruin of the Jews. At his 
instigation the corpse was embalmed, and commended 
to the people asa sacred relic. Pilgrimages to the 
remains were made by thousands of persons, and be- 
fore many days several of them claimed they had 
seen a halo about the body. This new miracle was 
announced from every chancel, and fomented the 
excitement of the rabble against the Jews to such a 
degree that even in Italy they dared not go outside 
the towns, in spite of all that the doge and the 
Senate of Venice as well as Pope Sixtus did to stem 
the tide of hatred. Gregory XIII. canonized both 
—Bcrnardinus as a prophet, and Simon as a martyr. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Acta Sanctorum, vii. 28 Sept.; Revue Ori- 
entale, ii. 40, 41; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, viii. 255 et seq. 


G. I. Br. 


BERNAYS, ISAAC (known as Hakam Ber- 
nays): Chief rabbi in Hamburg; born 1792 at Ma- 
yence; died May 1, 1849,in Hamburg. Afterhaving 
finished his studies at the University of Wirzburg, 
in which city he had been also a disciple of the well- 
known Talmuadist R. Abraham Brixe, he went to 


Simon 
of Trent. 


Munich as private tutor in the house of Herr von 
Hirsch, and afterward lived at Mavence as a private 
scholar. In 1821 he was elected chief rabbi of the 
German-Jewish community In Hamburg, to till a 
position where a man of strictly Orthodox views but 
of modern education was wanted as head of the con- 
gregation. After personal negotiations with Lazarus 
Riesser (father of Gabriel RIEssER), Who went to see 
him in Mayence, Bernays accepted the office on 
characteristic terms; namely, that all the religious 
and educational institutions of the community were 
to be placed under his personal direction; he wanted 
to be responsible to the government only. Besides 
this he required a fixed salary, independent of inci- 
dental revenues, and wished to be called “clerical 





Isaac Bernays. 


functionary ” or “hakam,” as the usual titles, * moreh 
zedek” or “rabbi” did not seem to him highly es- 
teemed at that time. 

In 1822 he began the reform of the Talmud Torah 
school, where the poorer children of the community 
had till then been tayght Hebrew and arithmetic. 
He added lessons ia cenned natural science, geog- 
raphy, and history’as important parts of the curric- 
ulum, and by 1827 what had formerly been merely 
a religious class had been changed toa good elemen- 
tary public school, which could well prepare its 
pupils for life. In spite of this great progress the 
council of the community wanted to take a greater 
part in the supervision of the course of instruction, 
and in consequence of differences with the hakam 
resulting from these claims, they withdrew the sub- 
vention of the school in 1830; but through the inter- 
vention of the senate of Hamburg this was again 
granted in 1832, though Bernays was denied the 
presidential seat he had till then occupied in the 
council of the school and was made instead “ epho- 
rus” of the school. In 1849 he died suddenly of 
apoplexy, and was buried in the Grindel cemetery. 


91 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bernardinus of Feltre 
Bernays, Jacob 





Berrays possessed wide philosophical views, a 
rare knowledge of the Bible, Midrash, and Talmud, 
and an admirable flow of language: he was indeed a 
born orator. He was the first Orthodox German 
yabbi who introduced the German sermon into the 
service, and who tried to interpret the old Jewish 
feeling in modern form and to preserve the ancesira] 
creed even in cultured circles. His antagonists were 
therefore to be found in the ranks of the ascetic 
fanatics of the “ Klaus” as well as among the adher- 
ents of the “Temple,” a reform synagogue founded 
in 1819, against whose prayer-book Bernays had 
pronounced an anathema. By lectures on the 
Psalms, on Judah ha-Levi’s “Cuzari,” ete., he tried 
to strengthen and to deepen the religious life of the 
community, the institutions of which he supervised 
very carefully. His influence is still felt in the 
Hamburg community, where Jewish traditions and 
the study of Jewish literature are often found united 
with modern education, 

Bernays left no literary works. A small anony- 
mous essay, “Der Bibelsche Orient ”—of great lin- 
guistic learning and original and wide historical 
views on Judaism—was supposed to have been 
written by him in early years; but he denied the 
authorship, and never in later life showed any con- 
formity with the views of the little book. Of his 
sons the celebrated philologist Jacob Bernays, pro- 
fessor and chief librarian at the University of Bonn, 
kept faithful to the religious views of his father, 
while the well-known literary historian Michael 
Bernays, who was only fourteen years old on his 
father’s death, was converted to Christianity. Ber- 
nays’ best pupil was Samson Raphael Hirscu, the 
well-known Jeader of modern Orthodoxy. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Haarhleicher, Zwei Epochen aus der Ge- 

schichte der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde zu Hamburg, 

Hamburg, 1867; T. Goldschmidt, The Talmud Torah School 

fnder the Chacham Bernays (inedited). 

D. A. FE. 

BERNAYS, JACOB: German philologist ; born 
at Hamburg Sept. 18, 1824; died at Bonn May 26, 
1881, He was the eldest son of the hakam Isaac 
Bernays, who carefully guided his elementary edu- 
cation until he was sent, in 1844, to Bonn to attend 
the university. There he studied philology under 
G. Welcker and F. Ritschl, becoming particularly 
attached to the latter, His philosophical studies he 
pursued under Brandis. It was during his four 
years’ career at the university that in competition 
fora gold prize he submitted a treatise on Lucretius, 
which won for him bot only the prize, but also the 
admiration of RitschI, who strongly advised him to 
devote himself to a professional career. The work 
was afterward published under the title “ Die Aus- 
gabe des Lucretius” (Leipsic, 1852). Bernays grad- 
uated in 1848, and in the same year issued his * Her- 
aclitea” (Bonn, 1848). In the following year he 
became privat-docent at his alma mater, and in the 
same year published at Bonn his “ Florilegium 
Renascentes Latinitatis.” He was also engaged 
in editorial work on the “Rheinische Museum,” 
founded by Niebuhr, and conducted by Welcker 
and Ritschl. 

The serious work of organizing the Jewish Theo- 
logical Seminary at Breslau, the funds for the 
establishment of which had been provided by Jonas 


Friinkel, was actively begun in 1853, and the work 
was practically of a pioneer nature. Bernays was 
among the first to be called upon to 
be associated with Zacharias Frankel, 
Graetz, and Joéi in this task of out- 
lining the plan and method of study 
to be pursued in the new seat of learn- 
ing, Where rabbis were to be trained 
in accordance with the scientific edu- 
cational ideas of the time, instead of with the anti- 
quated methods of the yeshibah. Bernays was indeed 
peculiarly fitted to cooperate in such an undertaking ; 
for, besides his profound classical learning and his 
university experience, he was a thorough Hebrew 
scholar and, moreover, was intensely Jewish in 
thought, feeling, and mode of life. 

When the seminary was opened (Aug. 10, 1854) 
Bernays began his actual teaching; his subjects 
including not only regular courses in Greek and 
Latin, but special courses as well in the history of 
German literature, history of Hebrew poetry, the phi- 
losophy of religion, illustrated by the “Cuzari” and 
“Moreh Nebukim.” In addition he conducted ex- 
ercises in German style. The annual reports of the 
seminary were enriched each year with some treatise 
prepared by one or another of those connected with 
the institution. Bernays contributed three of these 
during the twelve vears of his association with the 
faculty: “Ueber das Phokylidische Gedicht ” (Ber- 
jin, 1856); “Die Chronik des Sulpicius Severus” 
(Berlin, 1861); and “Theophrastos’ Schrift tiber 
Frommigkeit” (Berlin, 1866). These were after- 
ward published separately. 

Bernays’ activity during his sojourn at Breslau 
was not, however, confined to his work at the semi- 
nary, as he had at once connected himself with the 
University of Breslau as privat-docent with re- 
markable success. AS a consequence his general 
literary productiveness was considerable and note- 
worthy. In 1855 there appeared in Berlin “ Die 
Lebensbeschreibung des Joseph J. Scaliger.” Two 
years later was produced the work upon which, 

probably more than on any other one 
His of his writings, his claim upon the 
Activity at notice of scholarly posterity will have 
Breslau. to rest, “Grundziige der Verlorenen 
Abhandlung des Aristoteles itber die 
Wirkung der Tragiédie” (Breslau, 1857). As late as 
1882, in his report on the Aristotelian literature in 
the “ Jahresbericht fiir die Alterthums- Wissenschaft,” 
Dr. Susemihi of Greifswald speaks of the deluge of 
writings called forth by the “Grundziige” as not 
having even then subsided. Another contribution 
to Aristotelian literature by Bernays during this 
period is “Die Dialoge des Aristotelesim Verhiiltniss 
zu Seinen Uebrigen Werken ” (Berlin, 1863). 

From his alma nuater there came at. last the recog- 

nition that was his due. Ritschl left lis position at 
Boun University in 1866; and the call 

Called to was sent to Bernays to fill the place 
Bonn of assistant professor and chief libra- 
University. rian. With the greater responsibilities 
now thrust upon him, however, he 

still found time for the production of some of 
the best and most scholarly of his writings. “Die 
Heraklitischen Briefe” was published at Berlin in 


Organizes 
Jewish 
Theo- 
logical 
Seminary. 


Bernays, Michael 
Bernhardt, Martin 





1869. In 1872 appeared his “ Vebersetzung der Drei 
Ersten Biicher von Aristoteles’ ‘ Politik.’” “Ueber 
die unter Philo’s Werken Stehende Schrift: ‘ Ueber 
die Unzerstérbarkeit des Weltalls’” was issued in 
1876, and “Lucian und die Cyniker” in 1879. In 
1880 there appeared “Zwei Abhandlungen ttber die 
Aristotelische Theorie des Dramas,” which is a 
republication of the “Grundziige” of 1857 and the 
“Erginzungen zu Aristoteles’ Poetik.” His last 
work was “Phokion und Scine Neuern Beurteiler ” 
(Berlin, 1881). 

Suddenly, amid this congenial activity, Bernays 
was stricken with sickness, which very soon and 
unexpectedly ended fatally. He was but fifty-seven 
years of age; and the grief felt at his early demise 
was profound and wide-spread, alike among profes- 
sors and students and his coreligionists. Though 
fifteen years away from the Jewish Seminary at 
Breslau, he still remained devoted to it, and be- 
queathed to it his Hebrew library. 

Bernays’ collected writings, edited by Usener, 
were published in two volumes, Berlin, 1880. 


BIBLIOGRAPUY: Brockhaus, Conversations-Levikon, s.v. 


S. M. Co. 


BERNAYS, MICHAEL: German historian of 
literature; born at Hamburg Nov. 27, 1884; died at 
Carlsruhe Feb. 25, 1897; son of Hakam and brother 
of Jacob Bernays. He attended the Johanneum in 
his native city, where, principally under the guid- 
ance of Adolph Kraft, he devoted himself to the 
study of theclassics. Ina performance of “ Antigo- 
ne,” arranged at the gymnasium by Topfer, Ber- 
nays appeared as Kreon, and is said already at this 
time to have excited admiration by the originality 
of conception revealed in his rendering of the lines. 
A few months later he entered the University of 
Bonn, where at first he devoted himsclf to the study 
of law, but soon abandoned it for that of classical 
philology, which, notwithstanding many unfavora- 
ble external circumstances, he thenceforth prose- 
cuted with unflagging perseverance. After com- 
pleting his course at Bonn he went to Heidelberg, 
where he became a pupil of Gervinus and Holtz- 
mann. Shortly after his arrival there Bernays, 
although then scarcely twenty-one years of age, lec- 
tured on Shakespeare before a literary student soci- 
ety which he had founded, and whose members had 
bestowed upon him the title of “master.” In 1855 
he received his doctorate and prepared to qualify 
himself for a professorship, while at the same time 
prosecuting his manifold literary labors. 

In 1859 Bernays published a festival play for the 
one hundredth anniversary of Schiller’s birthday, 
and in 1864 he composed verses on the 
tricentennial celebration of the birth 
of Shakespeare. Shortly afterward 
he wrote an explanatory text to Bee- 
thoven’s music to “Egmont,” which was not only 
frequently spoken, but produced so lasting an im- 
pression that, thirty years later, the directors of the 
Carlsruhe Theater ordered from Bernays a similar 
prologue for Mozart’s “Requiem.” Despite these 
occasional literary productions, however, Bernays 
steadily pursued his studies; and he even refused 
an offer from Treitschke to participate in the editor- 


Literary 
Labors. 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 99 





ship of the “Preussische Jahrbiicher,” fearing that 
the duties of such a position might divert him from 
his main purpose. In the same year, 1866, he pub. 
lished his first celebrated work, “Zur Kritik und 
Geschichte des Goetheschen-Textes,” in which he 
once forall established the necessity of applying the 
methods of classical philology in the criticism of the 
modern masters. 

Shortly after the Franco-Prussian war, which so 
powerfully stimulated the general interest in the 
national poetry, Bernays received a call to the Uni- 


versity of Leipsic, and such was his popularity as 


a lecturer there that within a very short time after 
his arrival the largest hall of the university was in- 
adequate to accommodate the audicuce. It was the 
enthusiasm thus aroused that now induced the art- 
loving king of Bavaria, Ludwig II., to found a spe- 
cial chair of German literature—the first to be estab- 
lished—at Munich, and to summon Bernays thither 
as extraordinary professor, who thus, at the age of 
thirty-nine, already beheld the fulfilment of his 
dearest wishes. After an activity of eighteen 
months Bernays received a regular professorship, 
and this position he held until his resignation in 
1889, when he removed to Carlsruhe, 

In striking contrast with many university pro- 
fessors, Bernays rarely confined himself to the writ- 
ten copy before him; for he was gifted, above all, 

with a marvelous memory. It is said 
Professor that he could recite lengthy poems 
of German and dramas, such as “Hermann und 
Literature. Dorothea” and “Tasso,” from begin- 
hing to end without faltering or be- 
traying any evidence of fatigue. With this faculty, 
which he had cultivated from early youth, Bernays 
united an unusually extensive yet accurate know]- 
edge of the literature of ancient and of modern times, 
Thus he constantly enriched his discourse with copi- 
ous and pertinent citations reflecting the inmost 
nature of the author under discussion. When to 
these qualifications are added a voice of exceptional 
flexibility and power, and a carefully studied elo- 
quence of gesture, the great popularity of the lec- 
turer can be readily understood. 

In his published works Bernays aimed to transfer 
the methods of classical philology to the domain of 

modern literary history and criticism, 
As Author. and endeavored to clevate these studies 

to anequality with the other academic 
sciences. Among his most popular writings, besides 
those mentioned, are: “Bricfe Goethe’s an F. A. 
Wolf,” Berlin, 1868; “Zur Entstehungsgeschichte 
des Schlegelschen Shakespeare,” Leipsic, 1872; “ Der 
Junge Goethe ”—a collection of the poems and let- 
ters of Goethe during the years 1764-76—3 vols., 
Leipsic, 1875; “Goethe und Gottsched ”—two biog- 
raphies—Leipsic, 1880; an introduction to a revised 
edition of Schlegel and Tieck’s translation of Shake- 
speare, Berlin, 1871-72; an introduction to a cen- 
tenary edition of Voss’s translation of Homer, Stutt- 
gart, 1881. 

Apart from his literary activity, Bernays was fre- 
quently called upon to officiate on public occasions; 
as, for example, in 1888, when he was requested by 
the city of Munich to preside at the public dinner 
given in celebration of the emperor’s birthday ; and 


93 THe JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





in 1892 at Carlsruhe, when he delivered the dedica- 
tory address at the unveiling of the Scheffel monu- 
nent (see Bettclheim, “ Biographische Blitter,” 1895). 
In contradistinction to his brother Jacob, who strictly 
observed the ordinances of Judaism, Michael Ber- 
nays early embraced Christianity. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bettelheim, Biographisches Jahrbuch und 
Deutscher Nekrolog, 1897; Mtinehener Allgemeine Zei- 
tung. Feb. 26, 1897; Brockhaus, Conversations-Levikon, s.¥V. 


Ss. J. So. 
BERNBURG. See ANHALT. 


BERND, JULIUS D.: American merchant and 
philanthropist; born in 1880; died at Pittsburg, Pa., 
Nov. 30, 1892. Bernd was a successful business 
man and highly esteemed by his mercantile associ- 
ates in Pittsburg. He was a member of the cham- 
ber of commerce. Being actively interested in phil- 
anthropic work, he was a director of the Gusky 
Orphanage and Home of Western Pennsylvania, an 
earnest worker for the Humane Society, and a mem- 
ber of the Rodef Sholem congregation. By his will 
he left a large amount to various charities, particu- 
larly to the Union of American Hebrew Congrega- 
tions, the Hebrew Union College, and the Gusky 
Orphanage. After giving to every charitable insti- 
tution in the county of Allegheny, without regard 
to creed or color, he bequeathed the residue of his 
estate, share and share alike, to the Hebrew Union 
College of Cincinnati, O., and to the city of Pitts- 
burg, Pa., the bequest to the city being conditioned 
on its creating a department or alcove in the Car- 
negie Library of Pittsburg, to be known as the “J. D. 
Bernd Alcove,” which was accordingly instituted. 

A J. Co, 


BERNFELD, SIMON: German publicist and 
rabbi; born in Stanislau, Galicia, Jan. 6, 1860. His 
father, who was a good rabbinical scholar and also 
well versed in secular knowledge, was his first in- 
structor. He took to writing Hebrew very early; 
and at the age of thirteen he translated a German 
novel into that tongue. His first article, “ About 
the Expulsion of the Jews from Nuremberg,” was 
published in “Ha-Maggid ” of 1879 (No, 22), as were 
various other contributions from his pen. 

In 1879 Bernfeld went to K6énigsberg, where he 
held for some time an editorial position on M. L. 
Rodkinson’s Hebrew weekly, “Ha-Kol.” In the 
fall of 1880 he left Konigsberg for Breslau, where he 
spent several months in great distress. Early in 1881 
he went to Lyck, Prussia, to become the assistant of 
David Gorpon, editor of “Ha-Maggid.” He re- 
mained there for nearly a year, and continued to con- 
tribute articles and editorials for that periodical for 
several years after leaving Lyck. He returned to 
Konigsberg late in 1881, and after a year’s prepara- 
tion entered the university of that city, where he re- 
mained until the summer of 1888. 

A brighter period in Bernfeld’s life began with 
his arrival in Berlin in the summer of 1883. He en- 
tered the university of the German capital, and at the 
same time attended the Hochschule fiir die Wissen- 
schaft des Judenthums. In 1885 he became a regu- 
lar contributor to “ Ha-Meliz” (St. Petersburg), and 
in the same year obtained his doctor’s degree. In 
March, 1886, he was elected chief rabbi of the Span- 
ish and Portuguese community of Belgrade, the cap- 


Bernays, Michael 
Bernhardt, Martin 


ital of Servia, and director of the Jewish school in 
that city. This position he held for about seven 
vears, 

Bernfeld now resides at Berlin, and occupies him- 
self mainly with writing in Hebrew and German. 
He is a German writer of varied and considerable at- 
tainments. His “Juden und Judenthum im Neun- 
zehnten Jahrhundert” (Berlin, 1898), which forms 
vol. ili. of the series “ Am Ende des Jahrhunderts,” 
edited by Dr. Paul Bornstein, is a work of merit, 
and the same can be said of his essay, “ Der Talmud, 
Sein. Wesen, Scine Bedeutung, und Seine Geschichte” 
(Berlin, 1900). His new translation of the Bible, 
now in course of publication, has also been highly 
praised (sce “ Allg. Zeit. des Judenthums,” 1901, No. 
13). Hischief significance, however, lies in the field 
of Neo-Hebraic literature. He belongs to the younger 
class of clear and forceful writers who have brought 
new life into modern Hebrew literature and have 
lifted the journalistic part of it to an eminence which 
it had not before attained. A clever journalist, 
Bernfeld writes on various subjects. In addition to 
innumerable articles in various periodicals, he has 
compiled popular works on history, philosophy, and 
kindred subjects; while in the field of the history 
of the Jews, of which he made a special study, he 
has done valuable original work. 

The most important of his works are: “Da‘at 
Elohim ” (Knowledge of God), a history of the relig- 
ious philosophy of the Jews from rudimentary phil- 
osophical systems of the Bible down to that of Asher 
Ginzberg, the thinker of modern national Judaism 
(Warsaw, 189%); “Dor Tahapukot,” a monograph 
on the Mendelssohnian period (72. 1896-98); and 
biographies of 8. L. Rapoport (1899), of Michael 
Sachs (Berlin, 1900), and of Gabriel Riesser (War- 
saw, 1901). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sefer Zikkaron, pp. 1381-133 (autobiographical 
sketch); Lippe, Bibliogr. Lexikon, li, iii., s.v.; Zeitlin, Bibli- 

otheca Hebraica, s.v. 


S. P. Wi. 


BERNHARDT, MARTIN: Germannevuropath 
and medical author; born at Potsdam April 10, 1844. 
He was educated at the gymnasium of his native 
place and at the University of Berlin, where he stud- 
ied under Virchow and Traube. After graduating 
as M.D. in 1867, he was appointed assistant to Ley- 
den at the Universitits-Klinik at Kénigsberg; and 
two years later, physician at the Charité (free dis- 
pensary and hospital) at Berlin under Westphal. 
The Franco-German war interrupted his clinical 
work, for he went to the front with the Landwehr, 
receiving a medal for bravery under fire. On his 
return in 1872, he was appointed privat-docent of 
medicine and as specialist for neuropathy at the 
University of Berlin, and, ten years later, assistant 
professor. 

Bernhardt, in addition to contributing numerous 
articles to medical publications, has been the editor- 
in-chief since 1885 of the “Centralblatt fiir die Medi- 
Zinischen Wissenschaften,” and the correspondent of 
neuropathy and electrotherapy for Virchow-Hirsch’s 
“ Jahresberichte.” He is also one of the collabora- 
tors of Eulenburg’s “Realencyklopidie der Me- 
dizin.” His principal works are: “Die Sensibili- 
tiitsverhiltnisse der Haut,” 1873; “Beitrige zur 


Bernhardt, Sarah 
Bernheim, Ernst 





Symptomatologie und Diagnostik der Hirnge- 
schwitlste,” 1881; “Electricitiitslehre fir Medizin.” 
1884, in collaboration with Professor Rosenthal; 
“Erkrankungen der Peripherischen Nerven,” 1895- 
1897. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hirsch, Biog. Lew., 884, i. 421; Pagel, Biog. 


1901, p. LL. 
S. EK. Ms. 


BERNHARDT, SARAH (ROSINE BER- 
NARD): French actress; born at Paris Oct, 22, 
1844, of Dutch Jewish parentage. She was received 
into the Roman Catholic Church at the request of her 
father. Her early years were spent at the Convent 
Grand-Champs, Versailles, where she remained until 
fourteen years old, when she was received into the 
Conservatoire, where she studied dramatic art under 
Prévost and Sanson. Though, like Rachel, natu- 
rally inclined to comedy, Bernhardt won a prize for 
her work in tragedy. On Aug. 11, 1862—four years 
after beginning her dramatic studies—she made her 
début at the Comédie Francaise in “Iphigénie.” Her 
success was but partial; and the experiment—for 
such it really was—resulted in further study and a 
short trip to Spain. On her return to Paris the 
young actress went to the Théaitre du Gymnase, the 
Porte-Saint-Martin, and the Odéon (1864), and, a 
year later, back again to the Porte-Saint-Martin. 
There she appeared as Armande in “Les Femmes 
Savantes,” as Cordelia in “King Lear,” and in her 
first male réle, Zanetio, in Francois Coppée’s “Le 
Passant ” (1869). 

The outbreak of the Franco-German war inter- 
rupted her career for a time, the interval being 
spent in study and nursing the wounded. Her next 
appearance was on Nov. 6, 1872, when she played 
Mile. de Betle-Isle at the Comédie Frangaise. For 
the next seven years Bernhardt remained a member 
of this famous institution, of which she became a 
“sociétaire ” in1875. Her greatest artistic triumphs 
were achieved there in “ Phédre”; “ Andromaque ” ; 
“Zaire”; “Aleméne”; “Ruy Blas” (Marie de Neu- 
hourg); “La Fille de Roland” (Berthe); “Rome 
Vaincuc” (Posthumia, the blind woman); “Le 
Sphinx”; “L’Etrangére”; and in the classic plays 
of Racine and Corneille. 

In 1879 Bernhardt’s eccentric behavior and temper 
led to a severance of her associations with the Comédie 
Francaise; and ona civil suit the actress was ordered 
to pay damages amounting to 100,000 francs. Aftera 
tour to London, Copenhagen, and America (1880-81) 
with a company of her own, Bernhardt returned to 
Paris, where she assumed the direction of the Théatre 
Ambigu (1882). The same year she was married to 
the actor Jacques Damala (died 1889), and played 
Pierrot at the Trocadéro in a pantomime written by 
Richepin. She afterward leased the Théditre Vaude- 
ville, which she opened Dec. 11, 1882, with “Fé- 
dora,” playing the title-rdle herself. Soon after, she 
returned tothe Porte-Saint-Martin, which she opened 
Sept. 17, 1888, with “Frou-Frou.” This was fol- 
lowed by “La Dame aux Camélias,” “Nana Saliib,” 
and “ Théodora.” During the season of 1886-87 she 
toured the United States, and on her return to the 
Porte-Saint-Martin appeared in “La Tosca.” She 
revisited America in 1888-89, and on her return 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 94. 








plaved at the Porte-Saint-Martin in “Jeanne d’Arc” 

and “ Cléopatre ” (1890). 

Then followed an interval during which the ac- 
tress toured Europe. Returning to Paris, she en- 
gaged in 1893 the Théatre de la Renaissance, pro- 
ducing “La Femme de Claude,” Lemaitre’s “Les 
Rois,” Bardé'’s “Médée,” “Magda,” Rostand’s “La 
Samaritaine” and his “La Princesse Lointaine” 
(1895), and Yzevl in D’Annunzio’s “La Ville Morte” 
(1898). While leasing this house, Bernhardt gave the 
use of it to Duse, who played the French actress’s 
role in “La Dame aux Camélias,” while Bernhardt 
played the title-r6éle in “Magda.” 

Her latest and most successful lease of a theater 
was when she took the Théatre de POpéra Comique, 
formerly known as the Théatre Municipal des Na- 
tions, and converted it at considerable cost into the 
Théatre de Sarah Bernhardt (Jan. 18, 1899). Here 
she first essayed Hamlet and later the Due de Reich- 
stadt in Rostand’s “L’Aiglon.” In 1900-01 sheagain 
toured the United States, with Coquelin. 

In addition to being an actress, Bernhardt is a 
dilettante sculptor and author. Her bust of Sardou 
attracted attention. Her writings consist of a book, 
“Dans les Nuages” (1878), and “L’Aveu,” a play 
produced at the Odéon in 1888. She has also written 
a rather frank autobiography, evoked by Marie 
Colombier’s attack on Bernhardt in her notorious 
pamphiet “Sarah Barnum.” 

As an actress, Sarah Bernhardt is the embodiment 
of the theatrical; every pose, every movement, 
every intonation of her voice being the result of 
careful, patient study. She belongs to the intellec- 
tual school of actors, splendidly intelligent, but 
rarely touching the heart. Bernhardt is always ad- 
nirable, but neveraught save Bernhardt. Her voice 
is remarkable for its flexibility and timbre, and her 
grace of movement is one of her chief attractions. 
Whether she plays the blind Posthumza, or Frou- 
Frou, or Hamlet, or the Duc de Retchstadt, her per- 
sonality isalways preponderant and she ever remains 
the French actress, Sarah Bernhardt. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Westminster Review, 1x. 301 et seq.: La 
Grande FEmeyclopédie, s.v.; The Critic, xxxv. 638-640; 
Fortnightly Review (new series), xlvi. 1138-122; Harper's 
Magazine, lii. 68-68; Nouveau Larousse Ilustré, ii. 35. 


g. E. Ms. 


BERNHARDY, GOTTFRIED: German phi- 
lologist and historian of literature; born at Lands- 
berg in the Neumark, province of Brandenburg, 
March 20, 1800; died at Halle May 14, 1875. His 
father was a merchant who had been successful and 
prosperous, but who in Gottfried’s childhood had a 
series of business reverses that left him in a position 
where he had to struggle for the bare necessities of 
life and with but little prospect for providing the 
boy witha liberaleducation. At this juncture when 
the lad was about nine years old, two well-to-do 
brothers of his father, living in St. Petersburg, ar- 
ranged to provide the means for his schooling, and 
he was entered at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium, 
Berlin, where he remained six years, being admitted 
to the Berlin University in 1817. Here in the pur- 
suit of his philological studies, to which he now es- 
pecially applied himself, he had the good fortune 
to study under F. A. Wolf—though the latter was 


95 | THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bernhardt, Sarah 
Bernheim, Ernst 





already in the declining years of his life—as well as 
under Béckhand Buttmann. He received his degree 
as ductor of philosophy on Oct. 30, 1822, and in the 
same year published his first work, “ Eratosthenica,” 
a collection of the widely scattered fragments of the 
early Alexandrian astronomer. 

In 1823 he became privat-docent in philology at 
his alma mater, and two years later was appointed 
associate professor. He received a call from Halle 
in 1829 to assume the position of full professorship 
in the university there, and that of director of the 
philological seminary. This call he accepted, and 
Halle was the sphere of his activity for the rest of 
his life. During the two years from 1841 to 1843 he 
officiated as prorector of the university, and in 1844 
he was appointed chief librarian, the duties of which 
position he fulfilled in addition to his work of in- 
struction—not in any perfunctory fashion, but by 
reorganizing the library of the university in a com- 
plete and systematic manner. 

From the very beginning of Bernhardy’s profes- 
sorial career he prosecuted his literary labors as 
well, During the first year of his advent to Halle, 
there appeared his “ Wissenschaftliche Syntax der 
Griechischen Sprache.” In 1830 the first edition of 
his “ Grundriss der R6mischen Litteratur ” was pub- 
lished. Of this successive revisions were issued in 
the years 1850, 1857, 1865, and 1872. The “ Grund- 
linien zur Encyklopiidie der Philologie” was issued 
in 1832. In the following year, work was begun on 
his version of Suidas, but the appearance of Gats- 
ford’s great edition at Oxford necessitated a change 
of plan, and the work was not completed until 1851. 
Upon its publication the king of Prussia conferred 
an order upon Bernhardy. The first part of the 
“Grundriss ”—comprising the prose literature—was 
published in 1836, subsequent editions being issued 
in 1861 and 1867-72. The poetical portion, consti- 
tuting the second part, was published in 1845. This 
went into a second edition in 1856, and was again 
republished in 1859 and 1867-72. Bernhardy began 
the editing of the “ Bibliotheca Scriptorum Latino- 
rum” in 1888; but the work was not continued be- 
yond the first volume, as his contributors resented 
his extraordinary methods of revision by voluminous 
additions and amendments. His last literary work 
was the collecting and editing of the minor writings, 
both Latin and German, of F. A. Wolf, which were 
issued in two volumes in 1869. 

Bernhardy had always manifested a deep interest 
in all the local educational work at Halle, and had 
frequently been active in supervising the examina- 
tions. In 1867 the city of Halle honored him by ap- 
pointing him a member of the Curatorium of the 
newly erected gymnasium. Five years before he 
had been appointed privy councilor (Gehetmer Re- 
gierungs-Rath). The fiftieth anniversary of his doc- 
torate was enthusiastically celebrated in Oct., 1872 
—professors, students, and civil authorities joining 
in making the event notable and worthy. His 
former students, in honor of the occasion, collected 
a fund of one thousand thalers to establish a Bern- 
hardy fund to aid students of philology. 

He was married in 1829 to Henrietta Meyer of 
Berlin (died 1853), It is said by Le Roi—who, how- 
ever, gives no data as to time or place—that Bern- 


hardy lived during the later period of his life asa 
Christian, and suggests that he was possibly con- 
verted during his student life. He attained the age 
of seventy-five years, dying in honoramid the scenes. 
of his great activity. Professor Beyschlag delivered 
the funeral oration. 

PE MCeR Anne : Eckstein, in Aligemeine Deutsche Biographie, 


s M. Co. 


BERNHEIM, ABRAM C.: American lawyer; 
born at New York city Feb. 1, 1866; died there 
July 24, 1895. Bernheim was educated in pub- 
lic schools of his native city and later in the Colum- 
bia College, subsequently taking a course of in- 
struction at the University of Berlin. During his 
attendance at Columbia College he was twice selected 
prize lecturer on the political history of the state of 
New York, and in 1894 was made permanent lec- 
turer in this branch. 

Bernheim contributed money and books to his 
alma mater, and took deep interest in free art exhib- 
its on the east side of New York and in the Univer- 
sity Settlement Society, of which latter he was one 
of the founders and the treasurer. He was also sec- 
retary of the Tenement House Building Company 
for the improvement of the dwellings of the poor. 
We was a member of the Stock Exchange and of 
the Chamber of Commerce. 

In addition to his philanthropic work, Bernheim 
wrote a number of articles on sociological and polit- 
ical subjects, amoug them being: “The Relations 
of the City and the State of New York,” in the 
“ Political Science Quarterly,” Sept., 1894; “A Chap- 
ter on Municipal Folly,” in the “Century Magazine,” 
May, 1895; “ Results of Picture Exhibitions in Lower 
New York,” in the “Forum,” July, 1898. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Critic, Aug. 3, 1895, p. 75; Jewish 

Chronicle, Aug. 16, 1895, p. 6. 

A. A. Sz. 


BERNHEIM, ERNST: German historian; 
born at Hamburg Feb. 19, 1850. On completing his 
elementary and preparatory studies, he attended the 
universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, Strasburg, and 
Gottingen. It was from Strasburg that he received 
his degree as doctor of philosophy, having offered 
as his thesis a study on “Lothar III. und das 
Wormser Konkordat.” This was published in that 
city in 1874, and though the production of a youth 
of but twenty-four years, which frankly stated the 
occasion of its preparation, it was at once received 
as something more important than an ordinary 
doctorate dissertation. It was in fact a scholarly 
pursuit along the line of research undertaken by 
Friedberg, whose demonstration of the historical 
errors based on the “Narratio de Electione Lo- 
tharii” Bernheim confirms by a mass of newly 
discovered evidence. He shows, too, that Lothar’s 
election was mainly the work of Archbishop Adeibert 
of Mayence. 

In the year after the appearance of “ Lothar IT.” 
he was appointed privat-docent at the University of 
Gottingen (1875). Here he produced “ Zur Geschichte 
des Wormser Konkordats” (G6ttingen, 1878), in which 
he pieces together from original sources a picture of 
the party struggles of 1122, the extremist tendencies 
of the papal and imperial factions, and the devel- 


Bernheim, Hippolyte 
Bernstein, Aaron 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 96 





opment of a compromise which was ultimately 
embodied in the Concordat. He shows, too, how 
Henry V. strove to free himself from the limitations 
of the Concordat. This production firmly fixed his 
place among the historical scholars of Germany. 
Two years later appeared his * Geschichtsforschung 
und Geschichtsphilosophie,” Gdttingen, 1880. In 
1882, while still at Gottingen, he joined Weizsicker 
and Quidde in the task of editing the “ Deutsche 
Reichstagsacten unter Ruprecht,” which was pub- 
lished under the supervision of the Historische Kom- 
mission in Munich, and the third volume of which 
was published at Gotha in 1888. The work is in- 
deed monumental, covering as it does only the first 
decade of the fifteenth century. Fully three-fourths 
of the material had never before been published, 

In the mean time, Bernheim had received a call to 
the University of Greifswald as assistant professor 
of history (1883). Upon his marriage (1885) he em- 
braced Christianity. Here, besides his work in the lec- 
ture-room, he continued his labor on the “ Reichstags- 
acten,” and wrote his “Lehrbuch der Historischen 
Methode,” Leipsic, 1889. In the same year he was 
promoted to be professor ordinary of history. Two 
years later, in conjunction with Wilhelm Altmann, 
he completed “ Ausgewahlte Urkunden zur Erliute- 
rung der Verfassungsgeschichte Deutschlands im 
Mittelalter,” Berlin, 1891. Considerable stir was oc- 
casioned in university and general pedagogic circles 
by the appearance of his eighty-page pamphlet, 
“Der Universitats-Unterricht und die Erfordernisse 
der Gegenwart,” Berlin, 1898. In this treatise he 
attacks the German system of university instruction, 
and insists that the lecture method should be modi- 
fied by providing some efficient system of exercises 
in connection with the lectures. 

In 1899 Bernheim was elected rector of the Uni- 
versity of Greifswald, and in the following year the 
Order of the Red Eagle was conferred upon him. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Meyer, Konversations-Lexrikon, 1897. 
8. M. Co. 


BERNHEIM, HIPPOLYTE: French physi- 
cian and neurologist; born at Milhausen, Alsace. 
He received his education in his native town and at 
the University of Strasburg, whence he was gradu- 
ated as doctor of medicine in 1867. ‘The same year 
he became a lecturer at the university and established 
himself as physician in the city. When, in 1871, 
after the Franco-Prussian war, Strasburg passed to 
Germany, Bernheim removed to Nancy, in the uni- 
versity of which town he became clinical professor. 
When the medical faculty took up hypnotism, about 
1880, Bernheim was very enthusiastic, and soon be- 
came one of the leaders of the investigation. He is 
a well-known authority in this new field of medicine. 

Bernheim has written many works, of which the 
following may be mentioned here: “ Des Fiévres Ty- 
phiques en Général,” Strasburg, 1868; “Lecon de 
Clinique Médicale,” Paris, 1877; “De la Suggestion 
dans l’Etat Hypnotique et dans 1’Etat de Veille,” 
Paris, 1884; “De la Suggestion et de son Applica- 
tion 4 la Thérapeutique,” Paris, 1887. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pagel, Biographischcs Lexikon, Vienna, 
IM, s.v.; La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v. 


8. F. T. H. 


BERNICH, SOLOMON (called also Berenicus 
and Beronicus): Scholar, poet, and adventurer of 
doubtful origin, who appeared in Holland about 
1670 and attracted much attention. Hespoke Greek, 
Latin, Italian, French, and Dutch with equal facil- 
ity, and was able to recite by heart whole classical 
works and to put into verse on the spot anything 
that was told to him in prose. He was thought by 
many to be an escaped monk from France, but 
Yung (“ Alphabetische Liste Aller Gelehrten Juden 
‘4 ,” Leipsic, 1817) states that he was a Jew, 
a native of Eger, in Bohemia, who was educated in 
Viennaand in Italy. Bernich, or Berenicus, despised 
conventional scholarship and all the restraints of 
cultured life, and chose to associate with the lower 
classes; working sometimes as a chimney-sweep, and 
somctimes as a grinder of Knives and scissors. He 
was found dead in a swamp, in the outskirts of Rot- 
terdam, into which he had probably fallen while in 
a state of intoxication. Two works from his pen— 
one a collection of Latin poetry with a Dutch trans- 
lation (Amsterdam, 1692; 2d ed., 2d. 1716), and the 
other called “Georgarchontmachia,” with a biog- 
rapby of the author by B. Borremansius—are in the 
British Museum general catalogue under the name 
“Beronicus, Petrus Joannes.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Larousse, Dictionnaire Universel, s.v. Be- 
renicus; G. D. J. Schotel, Biographisch Woordenboek der 
Nederlanden, pp. 136, 137, 

s. P. WI. 


BERNOT, JULIE. See Jupiti, MME. 


BERNSTAMM, LEOPOLD BERNARD: 
Russian sculptor; born at Riga April 20, 1859. At 
the age of thirteen he entered the studio of Prof. 
D. Jensen at Riga, and at fourteen the Imperial 
Academy of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, where he 
was awarded the highest prizes. In 1883 he made a 
number of busts of celebrated Russians, among them 
being those of Dostoyevski, Rubinstein, Fonvisin, 
and K. Brandt. This established his reputation as 
a portrait-sculptor, and within the next two years 
he made about thirty busts of various representa- 
tives of Russian art, science, and literature. 

After a sojourn in Rome (in 1884), where he sup- 
ported himself by making portraits from photo- 
graphs, Bernstamm went to Florence, and there 
continued his studies under Professor Rivalti. At 
this time he exhibited in Rome his “ Neapolitan 
Fisherman,” “David,” and “Head of a Monk,” all 
of which received high commendation. In 1885 he 
settled in Paris, where he won the friendship of Dr. 
Labadie-Lagrave. He soon became famous by his 
sculpture-portraits of eminent Frenchmen, such as 
Renan, Sardou, Flaubert, Halévy, Coppée, Dérou- 
léde, Zola, and many others. In 1890 Bernstamm 
exhibited his works at the galleries of George Petit. 
The exhibition attracted considerable notice, and was 
visited by President Carnot. It consisted of a col- 
lection of charming statuettes, reproducing in an as- 
tonishing variety of costumes all foreigners that had 
come to Paris during the Exposition of 1889. 

Since 1887 Bernstamm has exhibited every year at 
the salon of the Champs-Elysées, at which he has 
manifested his talent on a larger scale in such works 
as “Au Pilori,” “The First Arrow,” and “The Ex- 
ecutioner of Jolin the Baptist.” In 1889 he was 


97 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bernheim, Hippolyte 
Bernstein, Aaron 





awarded, by the jury of the Exposition, a silver 
medal for various groups and busts. He also pro- 
duced “Floquet,” «a plaster cast; “La Modestie,” a 
marble bust bought by Count Torelli, chamberlain 
of the King of Italy in 1891; “Christand the Woman 
Taken in Adultery” (1894); and “Jules Chéret,” 
bronze bust (1895). In 1896 he was called to Tzars- 
koe-Selo to make busts from life of the emperor 
Nicholas II. and the empress of Russia. For the 
Exposition of 1900 he finished a group intended for 
the czar: “ Peter the Great Embracing Louis XV.” 
In 1901 he produced the statue of Rubinstein ordered 
by the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Some of his 
works were bought by Czar Alexander III. and 
some by the Italian government. Bernstamm was 
made chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1891. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dictionnaire Biographique; Bulgakov, 
Nashi Khudozhniki, vol. i., St. Petersburg, 1890; private 


sources. 
H. R. J. G. L. 


BERNSTEIN, AARON (DAVID) (pseudo- 
nym, A. Rebenstein): German publicist, scientist, 
and reformer ; born April 6,1812, in Danzig; died Feb. 
12, 1884, in Berlin. His was one of the most versa- 
tile and productive Jewish minds of the nineteenth 
century. Intended by his parents for a rabbi, he 
received a thorough Talmudical education, which 
made him a formidable adversary in the controver- 
sies on religious reform in which he later partici- 
pated (Holdheim, “Gesch. der Entstehung ... der 
Jiidischen Reformgemeinde in Berlin,” p. 54, Berlin, 
1807). At anadvanced age, when he was recognized 
as one of the great political leaders of Germany, he 
could still write in the style and the spirit of an old- 
time Polish rabbi (“ Ha-Zefirah,” 1875, ii., No. 2). 

He went to Berlin at the age of twenty, and by 
his own efforts, without the help of school or uni- 
versity, familiarized himself with the German lan- 
guage and literature. He soon began to write on 
many and diverse subjects, and attracted attention 

by his graceful and lucid style as well 


Early as by his force and originality. For 
Debut asa some years he was an antiquarian book- 
Writer. seller in Berlin; but his literary labors 


absorbed most of his attention; and 
finally he took up writing as a profession. 

His earliest works, most of which appeared under 
his pseudonym, are: A translation of the Song of 
Songs, with critical notes and a bibliographical pref- 
ace by Zunz (Berlin, 1834); “Plan zu einer Neuen 
Grundlage fiir die Philosophie der Geschichte” (7b. 
1838); “Novellen und Lebensbilder” (2b. 1840); 
“Eine Abhandlung tiber die Rotation der Planeten ” 
(vb. 1843). In the same year appeared his anony- 
mous pamphlet, “Zahlen Frappieren,” a defense of 
the Prussian Ministry of Finance against the attack 
of Biilow-Cummerow. It created a sensation in 
political circles, and was thought by many to have 
been written by the minister of finance himself. 

His scientific and political studies did not prevent 
Bernstein from taking an interest in Jewish affairs; 
and he became the principal contributor to Wilhelm 
Freund’s monthly magazine, “Zur Judenfrage,” 
which appeared in Berlin from July, 1843, to June, 
1844, Bernstein was one of the leading spirits in 
the inception of the movement for religious reform 


IiI.—7 


in those days, and his great rabbinical knowledge 
and his conciliatory spirit made even the opposition 
respect him. One of the most acute and objective 
writers against the Reform movement said that of 
Rebenstein’s attacks on Judaism it might be said 

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend” ; 


Active while the remainder of the verse (Prov. 
in Jewish xxvii. 6), “but the kisses of an enemy 
Affairs. are profuse,” was appropriate to the 


defense of it advanced by some of his 
contemporaries (see Phineas M. Heilprin, “ Teshubot 
be-Anshe Awen,” Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1845, let- 
ter TD. 

Bernstein was one of the committee appointed 
March 10, 1845, to work out a plan fora line of prog- 
ress in Jewish religious affairs. A fragment of a 
remarkable speech which he delivered at the meeting 
which chose that com- 
mittee is preserved in 
Holdheim’s above- 
mentioned work, 
where, by the way, 
Bernstein is considered 
to have been the only 
“theologian” present. 
He agreed with Dr. 
Stern in recognizing 
the importance of the 
Talmud and in deplor- 
ing the arrest of its 
development along the 
lines of the exigencies 
of practical life. Bern- 
stein was chosen to edit and amend the “ Entwurf ” of 
the committee; and he is one of the principal authors 
of the famous “ Aufruf” for the organization of a re- 
ligious Reform movement among the Jews in Ger- 
many, whichappeared in the Berlin newspapers early 
in April, 1845. Heand Dr. Stern were the authors 
of the prayer-book for the newly organized Reform 
congregation of Berlin; and while Bernstein refused 
to become its rabbi, it seems that he often officiated 
in that capacity before a regular rabbi was engaged. 
He was also the editor of the monthly “ Reform- 
Zeitung: Organ fiirden Fortschritt im Judenthum,” 
which appeared in Berlin in 1847. 

In 1849 Bernstein founded the “ Urwiahlerzeitung,” 
a political monthly which advocated the principles 
of political reform in the same conciliatory but de- 
termined spirit that had characterized his advocacy 
of religious Reform in Judaism. It soon gained a 
large circulation and brought the editor much fame; 
but it also brought him into inevitable conflict with 
the authorities, which resulted in a sensational trial 

under the press law, with a sentence 
Imprisoned of four months’ imprisonment for the 
Under’ editor. In the same year when the 
Press Law. “ Urwihlerzeitung ” was suppressed 
(1858), Bernstein founded the Berlin 

daily “ Volkszeitung,” which soon attained a large 
circulation, and of which he remained the chief edi- 
torial writer for more than a quarter of a century. 
In that paper first appeared Bernstein’s valuable 
popular scientific essays, which later were published 
in book form as “Naturwissenschaftliche Volks- 
biicher” (4th ed., Berlin, 1880, 21 vols.), and were 





Aaron Bernstein. 


Bernstein, Aaron 
Bernstein, Hugo 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 98 





translated into the principal European languages. 
A Hebrew translation, entitled “ Yedi‘ot ha-Teba‘ ” 
(Knowledge of Nature), appeared in Warsaw, 1881- 
91. It was prepared partly by P. Rudermann (see 8. 
Bernfeld’s autobiographical sketch in “Sefer Zik- 
karon” (Book of Remembrance), but mostly by D. 
Frischmann. 

Bernstein also wrote two novels of Jewish life, 
“WVégele der Maggid” and “Mendel Gibbor,” which 
first appeared in Josef Wertheimer’s “ Jahrbuch fiir 
Israeliten ” and then in book form (Berlin, 1860; 7th 
edition, 20. 1892). They were translated into many 
languages, even into Russian (St. Petersburg, 1876), 
and place their author among the most important 
ghetto novelists, second only to Kompert (Kayser- 
ling, “Jiidische Litteratur,” p. 171, Treves, 1896). 
These novels were, unlike the ghetto stories of to- 
day, written for Jews only, and therefore employ 
the German-Jewish idiom to an extent that almost 
brings them into the class of dialect stories, Bern- 
stein’s “Ursprung der Sagen von Abraham, Isaak, 
und Jakob ” (Berlin, 1871) is a valuable contribution 
to Biblical criticism, although Weilhausen (“ Prole- 
gomena zur Geschichte Israels,” i. 31) objects to its 
political tendencies. The most important of Bern- 
stein’s political essays and articles appeared in book 
form under the title “Revolutions- und Reaktions- 
geschichte Preussens und Deutschlands, von den 
Marztagen bis zur Neuesten Zeit” (Berlin, 1888-84, 
3 vols.). He also wrote numerous other less impor- 
tant works on a great variety of subjects. 

The achievements of Bernstein asa practical scien- 
tist are also worthy of notice. As early as 1856 he 

patented an invention by which two 

A Practical distinct telegraph messages could be 

Scientist. sent over the same wire at the same 

time. He was one of the first to ad- 

vocate the laying of telegraph wires underground, 

and was also the inventor of anautomatically closing 

gate for railroad crossings. He was, besides, an ex- 

pert photographer; and he taught photograuhy free 

of charge to many striving young men, thus ena- 
bling them to earn their livelihood. 

Bernstein enjoyed great popularity in his later 
years, and when he died was mourned as one of the 
great popular teachers of the German nation. The 
degree of doctor of philosophy was conferred on 
him by the University of Tiibingen in 1876. Julius 
Bernstein, now professor at Halle, is his eldest son. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyer, Konversations-Lerikon; Brockhaus, 

Konversations-Lezikon, 13th edition; Stern, Geseh. des 

Judenthrwona, xvi. Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, pp. 15-76 ; Geiger, 

Jiidische Zeitschrift, 1869, vii. 223-226; (Mustrirte Zeitung, 

March 1, 1884 (with portrait). 

8. P. Wi. 


BERNSTEIN, BELA: Hungarian rabbi and 
author; born in Varpalota, Hungary, 1868; was 
graduated as Ph.D. at Leipsic, 1890, and as rabbi 
at the Budapest Seminary in 1893; since 1894 has offi- 
ciated as rabbi at Szombathely (Stein-am-Anger). He 
published “Die Schrifterklirung des Bachja ben 
Ascher,” Berlin, 1891, and collaborated in a Hun- 
garian translation of the Pentateuch, published by 
the Jewish Hungarian Literary Society, 1898. A 
monograph upon the Hungarian Revolution and the 
Jews was also published in Hungarian by the same 


association in 1898; “ Die Toleranztaxe der Juden in 
Ungarn,” Breslau, 1901. 
s. L. V. 
BERNSTEIN, BERNARD: Actor; born at 
Warsaw in 1861. He sang in the chorus of the Po- 
lish opera of that city, and appeared there asa come- 
dian (1882) in the réle of Grandmother Jachne in A. 
Goldfaden’s comedy, “ Die Zauberin.” He played in 
several Jewish theaters in Russia, and when the 
Jewish theater was forbidden in that country (Sept. 
14, 1883), he went to Galicia, in Austria, and then 
to Rumania, where he played in various rdéles, usu- 
ally comic. In 1892 he was engaged by Pool’s 
Theater of New York, where he appeared first as 
Zingitang in Goldfaden’s “Shulamith,” and Jater in 
many Other plays. He was especially successful in 
the rdle of Shamad in “ The Jewish King Lear,” by J. 
Gordin. Bernstein now (1902) resides in New York. 
H. R. M. SE. 
BERNSTEIN, EDUARD: Socialist leader, 
editor, and author; born in Berlin 1850. Begin- 
ning life as a clerk in a bank, Bernstein’s mind 
became early imbued with socialistic ideas. In 
1872 he joined the Social-Democratic party, and 
in 1878 gave up business to assist in editing, in 
Switzerland, the party organ, “ Die Zukunft,” which 
became afterward “ Das Jahrbuch der Sozialen Wis- 
senschaft.” When the anti-Socialist law of Bis- 
marck endangered the party’s existence, and it be- 
came necessary to establish abroad a socialist organ 
to sustain and direct the young movement, Bern- 
stein was entrusted with the editorship of the new 
organ, “ Der Sozialdemokrat,” published at that time 
in Zurich. Whenhe wasexpelled from Switzerland 
and removed to London, the publication of “Der 
Sozialdemokrat” was also transferred thither (1888), 
and continued till it became unnecessary, after the 
downfall of Bismarck and the revocation of the anti- 
Socialist law in 1890. Since then he has acted as 
London correspondent of the Berlin “ Vorwiirts,” 
and has written for the “ Neue Zeit,” “Sozialistische 
Monatshefte,” and other periodical publications. In 
England he contributed a number of essays to the 
“Progressive Review ” and “The New Age.” Bern- 
stein’s sketch of Lassalle—contributed to an edition 
of his speeches and writings—has been translated 
into English and edited by him (3 vols., Berlin, 1893) 
under the title, “Ferdinand Lassalle as a Social Re- 
former,” London, 1898. Bernstein is the author also 
of “ Communistische und Demokratisch-Sozialistische 
Strémungen Wahrend der Englischen Revolution 
des 17%. Jahrhunderts,” published in a collection of 
essays on the history of Socialism. eutitled “ Vor- 
laufer des Neueren Sozialismus,” Stuttgart, 1895. 
The latest of Bernstein’s productions, “ Die Vor- 
aussetzungen des Sozialismus und die Aufgaben der 
Sozialdemokratie,” Stuttgart, 1899, has roused gen- 
eral controversy throughout Europe. Professor 
Diehl, though not himself a Socialist, characterizes 
Bernstein as “ one of the most talented, most learned, 
and clearest adherents of scientific Socialism,” which 
opinion is shared by even the extreme Socialistic 
opponents of Bernstein—Kautsky and Mehring. 
Bourdeau regards this book as the most important 
that has appeared on Socialism since Marx’s “Das 
Kapital.” In this book, Bernstein, after having 


99 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





been for more than twenty years a champion of so- 
called “orthodox ” Marxism, comes to the conclusion 
that many of Marx’s views no longer correspond to 
the facts of modern social phenomena, and must be 
replaced by others more in consonance with modern 
society. Of the views peculiar to Marx, lie does not 
place so much value upon the purely economic con- 
ception of history; he minimizes the importance of 
the theory of value, and repudiates the Hegelian 
dialectic method, though at the same time he claims 
that he still adheres to the spirit and evolutionary 
principles of Marx. Bernstein further emphasizes 
the great importance of cooperative associations, 
and urges the Socialist party to free itself from revo- 
lutionary phraseology and illusory hopes of the im- 
mediate downfall of bourgeois society, and to work 
hand in hand with all the democratic elements that 
fight for social reforms. Bernstein even concedes 
that the Social Democracy is practically acting on 
the proposed lines; but he wants a more consistent 
policy, as it seems to him that the remains of former 
conceptions still prevail in the party and hamper the 
progress of Socialism and the gradual realization of 
its ideals. In 1901 Bernstein was allowed to return to 
Germany, and in March, 1902, he was elected to the 
Reichstag on the Socialist ticket from Breslau, to 


sueceed Dr. Schénlank, deceased. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: K. Kautsky, Bernstein und das Sozialdemo- 
kratische Programm, Stuttgart, 1899; Protokoll tiber die 
Verhandlungen des Parteitages der Sozialdemokratischen 
Partei Deutschlands, Abgehatten zu Hannover vom 9. his 
jh, Oktobrr, 1899, Berlin, 1899, pp. 91-244; F. Mehring, Ge- 
schichte der Deutschen Sozialdemokratie, Stuttgart, 1898, ii. 
309 et seq.; The Labor Annual. London, 1900, iy 150; J. 
Bourdeau, La Crise du Socialisme, in Revue des Deux 
Mondes, ely. 241-264; G. Sorel, Les Polémiques sur VInter- 
prétation du Marxrisme,in Revue Internationale de Soci- 
ologié, Paris, 1900, viii. 262-284, 348-369; A. Labriola, Bern- 
stein et le Socialisme, in La Revie Socialiste, Paris, 1899, 
xxix. 668-679; R. Diehl, in Jahrbticher flir Nationalékono- 
mie und Statistik, Jena, 1899, ixxili, 98-116; G. Maier, 
Eduard Bernstein und die Neueste Bewegung Innerhalb 
der Sozialdemokratie, in Die Gesellschaft, Leipsic, 1899, ii. 
358-361; Jew. Chron., Nov. 24, 1899, p. 21. , 
g, B. B. 


BERNSTEIN, ELSA (pseudonym, Ernst 
Rosmer): Germandramatist; daughter of Heinrich 
Porges, the friend of Richard Wagner; born at 
Vienna; educated at Munich; and, for a short time, 
on the stage. An affliction of the eyes forcing her 
to retire, she thenceforth devoted herself to dramatic 
literature. Shortly after her marriage in 1892 to 
Max Bernstein, she wrote her first play, “ Wir Drei,” 
which created considerable discussion. It was really 
a dramatized version of the matrimonial and sexual 
views of Taineand Zola. Her next plays fell rather 
flat: “D&mmerung,” 1898; “Die Mutter Maria,” 
1894; “Tedeum,” 1896; “ Themistokles,” 1897; and 
“Daguy Peters.” 
elicited by “Die Kénigskinder,” 1895—a dramatic 
fairy-tale. Though its plot was simple, the beauty 
of the theme and its poetry were such as to class it 
with Fulda’s “ Der Talisman.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Das Jiingste Deutschland, pp. 317-3820; 
Kirschner, Deutscher Litteratur-Kalender, 1901, p. 91; 
Lexikon Deutscher Frauen der Feder, i. 61; tb. ti. 203. 

8 E. Ms. 


BERNSTEIN, HERMANN: Russian-Ameri- 
can writer; born Sept. 2U, 1876, at Shirwindt, Russia. 
When he was seven years of age his parents moved 
to Mohilev on the Dnieper, and Hermann was edu- 


But unbounded admiration was | 


Bernstein, Aaron 
Bernstein, Hugo 


cated at the Jewish free school of that city. In 1893 
the family emigrated to America and settled in 
Chicago. At first Bernstein struggled hard to make 
a living. In 1897 he engaged in literary work in 
New York, and was soon successful. He has made 
translations from the Russian, among them “Foma 
Gordeyev,” by Gorki, New York, 1901; and has 
written “The Flight of Time, and Other Poems,” 
1899. A series of ghetto stories by Bernstein ap- 
peared in the New York “Evening Post,” in “ Ains- 
lee’s Magazine,” and in “The Scroll,” and these 
were reprinted in book form under the title “In 
the Gates of Israel,” New York, 1902. 
H. R. F. T. H. 


BERNSTEIN, HIRSCH: Russian-American 
editor and publisher; born in Vladislavov (Neu- 
stadt-Schirvint), government of Suvalki, near the 
Prussian frontier, March 25, 1846. He received the 
usual Jewish education and learned to write Hebrew 
fluently. He emigrated tothe United States in 1870, 
settling in New York, where he still (1902) resides. 
While following from the first commercial pursuits, 


‘he has continued his Hebrew studies in his leisure 


hours. In 1870 he started “The Post,” the first 
Judzo-German or Yiddish periodical in America; 
but, like many subsequent publications of that 
nature, it had but a short existence. In the same 
year he founded the “ Ha-Zofeh be‘ Erez ha-Hadas- 
hah,” the first publication in the Neo-Hebraic lan- 
guage in America. It appeared weekly for five 
years and contained many intcresting contributions, 
which throw light on local and contemporary Jew- 
ish history. Bernstein was at one time a constant 
contributor to “Ha-Maggid,” “Ha-Lebanon,” and 
“Ha-Karmel,” and, after Ch. G. Vidaver, was 
probably the first regular American correspondent to 
European Hebrew periodicals. He died Aug. 1, 1907. 
H.R. P. WY. 


BERNSTEIN, HUGO KARL (pseudonym, 
Karl Hugo): Hungarian dramatist; born in Buda- 
pest 1808; died at Milan 1877. He began the study 
of medicine, but lacking means sufficient to con- 
tinue it, he entered the army, where within twenty 
months he succeeded in laying by a sum that en- 
abled him to qualify himself for medical examina-. 
tion. In 1830 he served during the Polish insur- 
rection as army surgeon at Warsaw, whence he 
proceeded to Budapest, where he practised as homeo- 
path. In 1889 he went to Paris, whither he had. 
been called by Hahnemann. This was a turning- 
point in his career. The cosmopolitan French capi- 
tal with its numerous theaters reawakened his youth- 
ful inclination for the stage and for poetry. He. 
proceeded to Hamburg, where, in 1840, he published 
“Die Sehnsuchts-Klinge eines Hagestolzen.” It 
was here, also, that he wrote the plays “ Brutus und 
Lucretia,” “Das Schauspiel der Welt,” and “ Der 
Stein der Weisen.” In 1844 he returned to Buda- 
pest, where he resumed the study of the Hungarian. 
language, which by this time he had almost forgot- 
ten. Here he published his “Psalmen eines Armen 
Poeten,” “Egy Magyar Kiraély,” and the well- 
known “Bankier und Baron.” He also wrote two. 
French dramas, “La Comédie Infernale” and 
“L’Tliade Finie.” In Berlin he was arrested for 


Bernstein, Ignacy THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 100 


Bernstein, Max 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Voskhiod, Nov. 5, 1900, No. 62, p. 13; private 
sources, 
H. R. 


BERNSTEIN, ISRAEL: Russian Hebrew 
publicist; born about the middle of the nineteenth 
century at Velizh, government of Vitebsk; studied 
pharmacy at Moscow, and worked as a druggist in 
the colony Shchedrin, near Bobruisk. Bernstein's 
“Ha-‘Atudim ha-‘Olim ‘al ha-Zon” (The Goats 
Which Leaped upon the Flock), in “ Ha-Shahar ” (vi. 
366-582, 401-415), is a severe and vindictive attack on 
the misdeeds of the “ Melammedim,” the rabbis and 
the leaders of the Jewish communities (kahal), es- 
pecially in the smaller towns. His “Binyan Zeke- 
nim u-Setirat Yeladim ” (How the Old Build and the 
Young Destroy), which occupies over forty pages of 
vol. vil. in the above periodical, is written in the 
same spirit as the first; but here the author tries 
more to glorify the “ Haskalah,” or progress, and to 
point out the probability that the vivacious and 
active Hasidism of southern Russia will regenerate 
itself sooner than the dry scholarship and pedantry 
of the north or Lithuania. 

Tn his third important article, “ Le-maher Ge’ulah ” 
(To Bring About Speedy Redemption), tn “ Ha- 
Shahar,” x. 280-241, 288-297, Bernstein tries to prove 
that the great necessity of the timesis that the rabbis 
and the rich Jews shall cease to use unlawful and 
revolting means to save their sons from being drafted 
into military service. This last article was written 
late in 1880, shortly before the great changes which 
took place after the assassination of Emperor ALEX- 
ANDER II. in the following year. 

Like all progressists who did not join the new 
nationalistic movements, Bernstein remained silent 
for a long time, and in a “letter to the editor” 
(“ Keneset Yisrael,” i. 7, Warsaw, 1886), Bernstein ad- 
mits that the persecutions of the last five years have 
German proverbs. shattered all his former optimistic views and the 

ae , ; : hopes that the Jews of Russia by improving their 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Orgelbrand, Exncyklopedya Povwsiechna, : : : ; 
ii., Warsaw, 1898: and private sources. conduct will obtain equal rights and be recognized 
H. R. as men and brethren. He admits his mistakes, and 


BERNSTEIN, IGNATI ABRAMOVICH: is overwhelmed by the despair which has seized 
Russian railroad engineer: born in Kremenetz, gov- | Most of the advocates of progress and assimilation 
ernment of Volhynia, 1846; killed July 5, 1900, on | ™ these trying chauvinistic times. 
the steamship “Odessa,” between Harbin and Cha- bare ieee Eisenstadt, Rabbane Minsk, p. 61, Wiina, 
barovsk. He was educated at the high school of his H.R. P. WL 


native town, and at the St, Petersburg Institute for ' 
Engineers, from which he graduated. BERNSTEIN, JOSEPH (“ JO E”) , American 
pugilist; born in November, 1877, in New York city. 


In the eighties, while yet a student, he was re- oe : ; : : 
ceived by the czar as a delegate from many Jewish He first aPPEa? ed in the ring in 1894, during which 
: year he gained no less than five victories. In 1895 


families who petitioned fora restoration of their right oe 
: he won four fights and drew two, thus establishing 


of settlement outside the pale, of which they had 

been unlawfully deprived. Bernstein pleaded their himself as a featherweight of acknowledged prow- 

cause so earnestly that the ezar granted their request. | °°: he succeeding years he added greatly to his 
reputation. 


After serving as assistant district engineer on Probabl ere ae ; 
various railroads, Bernstein was in 1896 appointed robably no other adept in boxing of his age has 
appeared in the ring so often as Bernstein, who has 


first engineer at Vladivostok, and in the following ; 

year was sent to Tzitzikar, where he was given the | fought nearly 80 battles in seven years. Of these 
direction of the fifth district of the Eastern Chinese | he has won 44, drawn 26, and lost 7, and in one case 
Railway. On July 2 he sailed for Chabarovsk. there was no decision, He defeated Jack Connors, 
When the vessel was three days out it was attacked | James Larkins, William O’Donnell, and Solly Smith. 
by Chinese Boxers, who killed thirteen of the pas- sa PF. H. V. 
‘sengers, Bernstein being one of the victims. A BERNSTEIN, JOSEPH: Polish physician: 
memorial service was held Aug. 19 in the Great | born at Warsaw in 1797; died there in 1853. After 
Synagogue at St. Petersburg. | graduating from the Warsaw Lyceum in 1815, he 





lése-majesté, because of a book published by him 
under the title “Hugo Amber Bernstein, oder Das 
Verkannte Genie”; he was, however, released upon 
the plea of insanity. Though a genius, he was pos- 
sessed by the idea that he alone had been appointed 
to revolutionize art, science, and religion—in short, 
the entire intellectual life of man. 

Ss. L. Y. 

BERNSTEIN, IGNACY: Polish bibliophile 
and writer on proverbs; born at Vinnitza, govern- 
ment of Podolia, Jan. 80, 1836, where his father 
Samson had an important banking business. He 
was educated by the learned Moses Landau, son of 
Rabbi Samuel and grandson of R. Ezekiel Landau 
of Prague. In 1856 he married Eliza, the daughter 
of Metr Edler von Mises of Lemberg; and in 1858 
he removed with his parents to Warsaw, where he 
stil] resides, ranking among the prominent members 
of the Jewish community. In 1881, at his instance, 
a library of Jewish books was founded in connection 
with the Great Synagogue of Warsaw. Bernstein 
from the beginning took an active part in the man- 
agement of the library and is now its chairman. 
He did much useful work in collecting proverbs of 
alinations. In 1888-89 his “ Jiidische Sprichw6Grter ” 
—a collection of Judwo-German proverbs~were 
published in the “ Hausfreund,” Warsaw; and in 
1900 he published a remarkable illustrated catalogue 
of his library of about 4,800 works on proverbs, 
folk-lore, ethnography, etc., accompanying the list 
with valuable explanatory notes. This catalogue 
is unique in its way, being also a typographical art 
book. Many titles and ornaments of the more an- 
cient works are reproduced from the originals. The 
full title of the catalogue is “ Katalog Dziel Tresci 
Przyslowiowej Skladajacych Biblioteke Ignacego 
Bernsteina,” 2 vols., Warsaw. He is now (1902) 
preparing a new and enlarged edition of his Judzo- 





ne ee nn nn ir re i a neg | nye eres 


en re aE A i 


101 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bernstein, Ignacy 
Bernstein, Max 





studied medicine at the Berlin University, from 
which he was graduated in 1822. Afterhisreturn to 
Poland he was for a year assistant physician at the 
university ciinic of Warsaw; in 1829 he was ap- 
pointed house-physician of the Warsaw Jewish Hos- 
pital; and in 1834, chief physician. He isthe au- 
thor of “De Phthisi Pulmonum,” published in 1818. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Orgelbrane, Eineyklopedyua Pouwsiechna, 


H. R. 


ii., Warsaw, 1898. 

BERNSTEIN, JULIUS: German physiologist 
and medical writer: bornat Berlin Dec. 8, 1889: son 
of Aaron Bernstein (1822-84). He studied at the 
University of Berlin, whence he was graduated as 
doctor of medicine in 1862. In 1865 he was admitted 
as privat-docent to the medical faculty of Heidel- 
berg, and became in 1869 assistant professor of phys- 
tology. Two years later he obtained the appoint- 
ment of professor of physiology at the University 
of Halle, a position he still (1902) occupies. In 
1898 he received the title of “Geheimer Medizinal- 
rath,” 

Bernstein is one of the leading physiologists of 
the day. Besides contributing numerous articles 
regularly, since 1865, to technical journals (“ Archiv 
fir die Gesammte Physiologie des Menschen und der 
Thiere”; “Archiv fur Physiologic”; “Archiv fiir 
Anatomie und Physiologie”; “Archiv fiir Patholo- 
gische Anatomie und Physiologie und fiir Klinische 
Medizin,” etc.), he, since 1888, has edited the “Un- 
tersuchungen aus dem Physiologischen Institut in 
Halle.” He has written: “Untersuchungen iiber 
den Erregungsvorgang im Nerven- und Muskel- 
System,” Heidelberg, 1871; “Die Fiinf Sinne des 
Menschen,” Leipsic, 1875 and 1900; “Lehrbuch der 
Physiologie,” Stuttgart, 1894 and 1900. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Poggendorf, Biog.-Lit. Handworterbuch, 
1898, iii. 4: Pagel, Biog. Lex. Vienna, 1901, s.v.; Meyer, 
Konversations-Lerikon, 8.v.; private sources. 


Ss. F. T. #H. 


BERNSTEIN, KARL ILYICH: Russian 
jurist, professor of Romanlaw; born at Odessa Jan. 
13, 1842; died at Berlin in 1894. He belongs, on the 
maternal side, to a Jewish family that has produced 
several noted scholars. He graduated from the 
Odessa Gymnasium in 1857, and after studying the 
ancient languages in Dresden, he attended succes- 
sively the universities of Halle, Heidelberg, and 
Berlin, under Professors Vengerov and Gneist, who 
exercised great influence over him. In 1864 he ob- 
tained the degree of doctor of law from the Univer- 
sity of Berlin, being the first Jew to receive it from 
that institution. 

For two years Bernstein attended the sessions of 
the Halle circuit court, in order to familiarize him- 
self with the practise of law. Toward the end of 
1865 he returned to Russia with the intention of lec- 
turing on Roman law, but found that he was de- 
barred by his religion from holding a professorship 
in Russia. He thereupon applied himself to the 
study of Russian law, and subsequently practised 
it at Odessa and St. Petersburg successively. Bern- 
stein continued his theoretical studies, and in 1871 
presented at the University of St. Petersburg a thesis 
on Russian civil law, obtaining the degree of master 
of law. 


(So ey A, 


In 1872 Bernstein married Felice Leonovna, a 
daughter of the Russian banker Leon Rosenthal, 
and after a prolonged tour through Europe perma- 
nently settled in Berlin. For eight years (1878-86) 
he lectured on Roman law at the University of 
Berlin as a privat-docent; in 1886 he was appointed 
associate professor; and in 1887 professor. In the 
latter vear he renounced his allegiance to Russia and 
became a German subject. About this time there 
was established in connection with the university 
an institute for the instruction in Roman law of 
Russian students sent abroad by their government 
to prepare themselves for professorships, and Bern- 
stein was appointed one of its directors. 

Bernstein always took great interest in Jewish 
affairs. When the exodus of Russian Jews to the 
United States began, in 1881, he was an active mem- 
ber of the Berlin colonization committee, and for 
many years corresponded with Michael Heilprin 
on colonization matters. 

Most of Bernstein’s writings were published in 
various law periodicals; but some were issued in 
book form. His first published work was “ De Dele- 
gationis Nature,” Berlin, 1864. A Russian transla- 
tion, under the title “O Sushchestvye Delegatzi po 
Rimskomu Pravu,” was published in St. Petersburg 
in 1871. In this dissertation the author’s views re- 
lating to delegation and novation anticipated those 
expressed in the famous treatise of Salpius. Bern- 
stein’s “Ucheniye o Razdyelitelnykh Obyazatelst- 
vakh po Rimskomu Pravu i Noveishim Zakonam,” 
St. Petersburg, 1871, was the first attempt ever made 
to apply the principles of Roman and common law 
to Russian legislation. Its leading idea was further 
developed in “Zur Lehre von dem Alternativen 
Willen und den Alternativen Rechtsgeschiften, 
Abtheilung I.: der Alternative Wille und die Alter- 
native Obligation.” Bernstein was also the author 
of the following works: “Zur Lehre vom Legatum 
Optionis,” in “ Zeit. der Savigny-Stiftung,” 1880, pp. 
151 e¢ seg.; “Ueber die Subjectiven Alternativen 
Rechtsgeschifte von 'Todeswegen,” 7¢b. 1888, iv. ; 
“Die Alternative Obligatio im Rémischen und im 
Modernen Rechte,” in “Zeit. fir Vergleichende 
Rechtswissenschaft,” ii.; an analysts of Pescatore’s 
“Die Sogenannte Alternative Obligatio,” in “ Zeit. 
fiir Handelsrecht,” xxix.; “Zur Lehre von den Datis 
Dictis,” in “ Festgabe ftir Beseler,” Berlin, 1884. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, KAritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, 


iii., St. Petersburg, 1892; Hntziklopedicheski Slovan, iii, 
St. Petersburg, 1892; and private sources. 
H. R. 


BERNSTEIN, MAX (pseudonym, Silas Mar- 
ner): Germanauthor; born May 138, 1854, at Firth, 
Bavaria; now (1902) practising law at Munich. His 
literary activity is directed mainly tothe stage. The 
most noteworthy of Bernstein’s comedies are: 
“Cour-Dame,” “Mein Neuer Hut,” “ Ritter Blau- 
bart,” “Unbefangen,” “Alles in Ordnung,” “ Hin 
Guter Mensch,” and “Ein Dunkler Punkt.” Of his 
dramas may be mentioned: “ Dagmar,” “Ruth,” and 
“Gold.” He also wrote a collection of short stories: 
“Kleine Geschichten,” “Die Plauderei,” and “Ein 
Kuss,” as well as numerous miscellanies that have 
appeared either in newspapers or in book form. 
While Bernstein’s works are very popular among 


Pernstein, Naphtali 
Berr, Michel 





the general reading public, they are little noticed by 
the critics and the literary historians. His wife is 
the author Elsa Bernstein. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kirschner, Deutscher Litteratur-Kalender, 


S.V. 


g, I. Ber. 


BERNSTEIN, NAPHTALI HERZ: Au- 
thor; lived in Russia about the first half of the nine- 
teenth century. Being engaged in business, he de- 
voted his leisure hours to study; applying himself 
especially to Biblical subjects, and writing much 
thereon, without, however, publishing any of his 
work. His defense of the Talmud, under the title 
“Eder Hakamim ” (Mantle of the Wise), Odessa, 1868, 
was published after his death by his son, and edited 
by S. I. Abramowitsch. Bernstein wrote this little 
work in Londen (where he resided for several years), 
as areply to McCaul’s attack on the Talmud and 
rabbinical Judaism, and dedicated it to Solomon 
Herschel, the chief rabbi of England. In his de- 
fense lhe deals chiefly with the general principles 
underlying the Talmud, without touching upon the 
several points of McCaul’s work, a fact which 
greatly lessens the value of his apology. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Introduction to Eder Hakamim. 





L. G. 


BERNSTEIN, NATHAN OSIPOVICH: Rus- 
sian physiologist; born at Brody, Galicia, in 1886; 
died in Odessa Feb. 9, 1891. He received his 
first education from his grandfather, the eminent 
Solomon Eger, chief rabbi of the province of Posen; 
and, on the removal of his parents to Odessa in 1849, 
entered the gymnasium of that place, from which he 
graduated in 1853. Hestudied medicine at the Uni- 
versity of Moscow in 1853-58, where he was awarded 
a gold medal in 1857 for his treatise, “ Anatomia i 
Fiziologia Legochno-Zheludoch-navo Nerva.” In 
1861 he became consulting physician of the city 
hospital of Odessa, and associate editor of the Rus- 
sian-Jewish periodical “Sion,” until its suppression 
by the government in April, 1862. In 1865 he was 
appointed instructor of anatomy and physiology 
at the newly established New-Russia University at 
Odessa; and from 1871 lectured there on anatomy 
as assistant professor, but was not contirmed 
in this position by the government. He devoted 
much of his time to the Society of Physicians of 
Odessa, having been secretary of it for two years, 
vice-president for eight years, and president for four- 
teen years. He was an alderman of the Odessa city 
council, director of the Talmud Torah, director of 
the city hospital, and honorary justice of the peace. 
His works appeared in the following publications: 
the “Moskovskaya Meditzinskava Gazeta,” 1858; 
““Moskovskoe Obozryenie,” 1859; “ Biblioteka Medit- 
zinskikh Nauk,” 1859; “Sion,” 1861-62; “Medit- 
zinski Viestnik,” 1864; “Sovremennaya Meditzina,” 
1863; “Arkhiv Sudebnoi Meditziny,” 1864; “Ga- 
zette Médicale de Paris,” 1865; and many other 
medical periodicals. Of his manual on physiology, 
entitled “Rukovodstvo Chastnoi Fiziologii,” two 
parts were published at Odessa in 1868. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheskt Slovar, 
vol, iii., 1892; Voskhod, No. 5, 1891. 
H. R. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


102 


BERNSTEIN-SINAIEFF, LEOPOLD (usu- 
ally called Sinaieff): Russo-French sculptor; born 
at Wilna Nov. 22, 1868. He studied drawing in his 
native town, and at the age of fourteen settled in 
Paris. Asa student under Dalou, his first exhibited 
work was a bust at the salon of the Champs Elysées 
in 1890. Since then he has produced busts in bronze 
and marble of many distinguished persons, among 
whom were Count Waldeck, Rambaud, Nicholas de 
Giers, the Russian ambassador, and Léon Reynier, 
the violinist. One of his masterpieces is “Ezra 
Mourning.” This statue, in plaster, became the 
property of the state in 1892, and was given to the 
museum at Sens; in 1897 it was reproduced in 
marble. At the Paris Exhibition of 1900 this 
and other statues, portraits, groups, and mortuary 
monuments were exhibited; and they received a 
medal. Among other distinctions conferred upon 
him, Sinaieff was created a chevalier of the Legion 
of Honor in 1901. He is at present (1902) engaged 
upon a bust of Tolstoi. 

H, R, J. W. 


BERNSTORFF, CHRISTIAN GUNTHER, 
COUNT OF: Danish and Prussian statesman; born 
April 3, 1769, in Copenhagen; died March 28, 1835. 
As early as 1787 he entered the diplomatic service 
through the influence of his father, Count Andreas 
Bernstorff. From 1789 to 1794 he served in Berlin, 
first as secretary of legation, then as ambassador, 
and was finally sent to Stockholm in the same capac- 
ity. On the death of his father, in 1797, he was ap- 
pointed secretary of state, and in 1800 prime minis- 
ter, which position he held till 1810. He represented 
Denmark at the court of Austria from 1811 to 1815, 
and participated in the Congress of Vienna (Sept., 
1814, to June, 1815), where, in behalf of his govern- 
ment, he advocated the emancipation of the Jews of 
Holstein. From 1817 to 1818 he represented Den- 
mark at the court of Berlin. When, in Sept., 1818, 
Lewis Way presented his memorial in behalf of the 
Jews to Alexander of Russia, then at Aix, Bernstorff 
declared himself ready to give any information with 
regard to the question of the emancipation of the 
Jews. 

In 1818 Frederick William ILI. of Prussia ap- 
pointed Bernstorff Prussian minister of foreign af- 
fairs, in which capacity he served till his retirement 
in 1832. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie; Brock- 


haus, Konversations-Lexikon; Graetz, History of the Jews, 
v. 519, 527. 





D. A. R. 
BERODACH BALADAN. See MeERoDACH 
BALADAN. 


BERGA : Identified with the modern HALEs or 
ALEPPO, the scene of the death of Menelaus, who 
was killed by being smothered in ashes in one of its 
towers said to be 55 cubits in height (IT Macc. 
xiii. 4). 

J. IR. G. B. IL. 

BEROTHAH (BEROTHAI): A city of Hada- 
dezer, from which David obtained much brass sub- 
sequently used by Solomon in making the brazen 
sea, pillars, and vessels of brass (II Sam. viii. 8). In 
the parallel account of I Chron. xviii. 8 it is called 


103 


Chun, which Cheyne considers to be a corruption 
either of the first three letters of “Berothai” or of 
some other name, In Ezekiel’s ideal Israel (x}vii. 
16) it was located on the northern border. 

J. JR. G. B. L. 


BERR, EMILE: French journalist; born at 
Lunéville, France, June 6, 1855. Having finished 
his classical studies at the Lyceum of Vanves and 
afterward at the Louis-le-Grand Lyceum in Paris, 
he engaged in a commercial career from 1875 to 1880 
and attended to exchange transactions from 1880 to 
1886. During the latter period he made his début 
in journalism, writing for “La France du Nord,” 
and contributing essays on economic questions to the 
“Nouvelle Revue,” which was then just founded. 
In 1886 he gave up his business career altogether, 
and thenceforth devoted himself to journalism, 
working first on the “ Petite République Francaise,” 
then on the “Petit Parisien”»—on which latter he 
applied himself especially to economic questions— 
and in July, 1888, on the “ Figaro,” with which he 
has since been identified. He has contributed also 
to the following: “Figaro Ilustré,” “Illustration,” 
“NI Xme Siécle,” “Liberté,” “Revue Bleue,” “ Vie 
Parisienne,” In the last-mentioned weekly he pub- 
lished between the years 1892 and 1894 some notes of 
travel under the pseudonym “Guy,” and in 1898 a 
series of comments on topics of the day under the 
title “Confidential Letters,” which latter attracted 
much attention. He also published in this journal 
his notes on Norway, which appeared in book form 
under the title “Au Pays des Nuits Blanches,” 
Paris, 1900. 

Berr has done much work as foreign correspondent 
for his paper, interviewing personages of high polit- 
ical end social standing; and for this purpose under- 
took several trips to England, Switzerland, Belgium, 
Tunis, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Russia, and Alsace-Lor- 
raine. Herepresented the “Figaro” in Asia Minor at 
the opening of the railway from Mondania to Broussa ; 
and then, in 1891, he had an interview with Stam- 
buloff at Sofia, which was commented on by the 
European press, In 1894 he was appointed chief of 
the auxiliary service of the “ Figaro,” and in this ca- 
pacity edited its literary supplement. In 1896, when 
the “Figaro” was enlarged to six pages, Berr re- 
sumed his place in its editorial office, where (1902) he 
writes sometimes under his own signature and some- 
times under the pseudonym “Fabien.” Since 1885 
Berr has been a memher of the Société d’ Economie 
Politique, and also of the Société des Journalistes 


Parisiens. In 1900 he received the cross of the Le- 
gion of Honor. 
8. I. B. 


BERR, GEORGE: French actor and dramatist ; 
born at Paris July 31, 1867; brother of Emile Berr. 
Ile was educated at the lyceums of Vanves and 
Charlemagne, but, yielding to an irresistible love for 
the stage, he, at the age of sixteen, left his classical 
studies for the Conservatoire, and became the pupil 
of Got. In 1886 he won the first prize for comedy 
in a scene from “Les Plaideurs,” and joined the 
Comédie Francaise. In 1892 he was nominated a 
member (sociétazre), and since then has acted the 
comic parts in the classical and modern repertoires. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bernstein, Naphtali 
Berr, Michel 





Berr is equally excellent in purely lyrical works. 
He interprets the “ Romanesques” of Edmond Ros- 
tand with the same superiority as the “Gringoire ” 
of Théodore de Banville, in which he is considered 
to equal Coquelin, the creator of the réle, who 
has never been replaced since he left the Théatre 
Francais. It is in this wide range of characters 
that the originality of Berr’s talent manifests itself. 
In 1901 he succeeded M. Worms in the Conscrvatoire 
as professor of declamation. 

Asa dramatist Berr is known by the pseudonym 
“ Cohias,” which is an anagram of his mother’s name, 
“Ascoli.” It is therefore probable that the Berrs 
are connected with the family of Chief Rabbi Ascoli, 
and M,. Ascoli, who took part in the centennial com- 
memoration of the Institut de France. 

Berr is the author of: Two volumes of comedies, 
“ Pour Quand onest Deux ” and “ Pour Quand on est 
Trois”; (with Maurice Froyez) “ Plaiser d’Amour,” 
1899; “Phoebé,” a pantomime, 1900; (with Paul 
Gavault) “ Moins Cing,” comedy, 1901; (with P. De- 
courcelle) “ La Princesse Bébé,” a comic opera, 1902; 
(with Gavault) “L’Inconnue” and “ Madame Flirt,” 
1902; also many unpublished humoristic songs. 

s, i. B. 


BERR ISAAC BERR OF TURIQUE: 
French manufacturer; born at Nancy in 1744; died 
at Turique, near Nancy, Nov. 5, 1828. He came of 
avich and estimable family; received an excellent 
education, especially in Hebrew and rabbinical lit- 
crature—in the latter from Jacob Perle, chief rabbi of 
Nancy. Inheriting the title of syndic of the Jewish 
community of Nancy, bestowed upon his father in 
1753 by King Stanislaus, he took an active part in 
the direction of the affairs of the community. 

In 1789 he was elected by the Jews of Alsace dep- 
uty to the States-General, where he was admitted to 
plead for Jewish emancipation before the Assembly. 
At about that time he published a pamphlet in 
which he refuted the anti-Jewish discourse delivered 
by De la Farre, bishop of Nancy. Berr was ap- 
pointed successively member of the Assembly of 
Notables and member of the Sanhedrin; and he co- 
operated effectively in the organization of Jewish 
worship in France and in Italy. In his old age he 
retired, pensioned by the king, to one of his estates 
called “Turique”—the name of which he added 
to his own with the royal permission. 

Berr was the author of the following works: (1) 
“Discours des Députés des Juifs des Provinces des 
Evéchés d’Alsace et de Lorraine, Prononcés 4 la 
Barre de l’Assemblée Nationale,” Paris, 1789; (2) 
“Lettre du Sieur Berr Isaac Berr 4 Monseigneur 
VEvéque de Nancy,” Paris, 1790; (8) “Lettre d’un 
Citoyen,” Nancy, 1791; (4) “Réflexions sur la Ré. 
génération Compléte des Juifs en France,” Paris, 
1806; (5) “Lettre du Sieur Berr Isaac Berr 4 Gré- 
goire, Sénateur,” Nancy, 1806; (6) “Discours du 
Sieur Isaac Berr,” Paris, 1806. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revue Orientale, ii. 62-68: Gratz, Gesch. der 

Juden, xi. 184 et seq.; Kahn, Les Juifs de Paris Pendant 


la Révolution, p. 27; Tama, Recueil de Procés-Verbauz, pp. 
19 et seq. 


S. I. Br. 


BERR, MICHEL: Thi first Jew to practise in 
France as a barrister; born at Nancy 1780; died 


Berr, Michel 
Bershadsky 


——— 


there July 4, 1843. His father, Isaac BERR DE 
TURIQUE, who madc himself known by his great 
ability as a writer and as a champion of Jewish 
emancipation, intended his son to continue his work. 
With this end in view, he had him carefully educated 
by the most eminent masters. The poet Wessely 
recommended to him asa teacher a learned young 
man of Breslau, Benjamin Wolf, who in France 
assumed the name of “ Louis.” Under the direction 
of this Louis, Michel made rapid progress in the 
study of the Hebrew and German languages and 
literature. With no less success he attended the lec- 
turesof the central school of Nancy. At Strasburg, 
where he studied law, being at the time scarcely 

twenty years old, he began his career 
An Author as an author with a pamphlet entitled 
at Twenty. “ Appel a la Justice des Nations ct des 

Rois,” or “ Adresse d’un Citoyen Fran- 
cais au Congrés de Lunéville, an Nom de Tous Jes 
Habitants de l’Europe qui Professent la Religion 
Juive.” This was an eloquent protest against the 
oppressive anti-Jewish laws then existing In the 
greater part of Europe. 

On graduating from the university Berr returned 
to Nancy, where he pleaded brilliantly in several 
celebrated cases. At the same period he addressed 
to the minister of public worship observations on the 
speeches delivered by the latter on the law of Ger- 
minal 18, tenth year: he protested chiefly against 
the omission of any mention of Jewish worship in 
the Concordat. 

About 1803 Berr accompanied his father-in-law, 
Berr-Bing, to Paris, where he soon made himself 
known by several literary articles in the “Décade 
Philosophique.” Three years later he was elected 
deputy to the Assembly of Jewish Notables, and in 
the following year was appointed secretary of the 

Grand Sanhédrin. Through this hon- 
Secretary orable title and the French transla- 
of tion he made of the Hebrew poems 
Sanhedrin. of Kargan, Cologna, and Meyer in 
honor of the emperor, he gained the 
favor of the government and was called to the post 
of chief of division in the Ministry of the Interior in 
the new realm of Westphalia. There he made the 
acquaintance of the Swiss historian Johannes Miller, 
who, in his Jetters to his brother, speaks of Berr in 
most eulogistic terms. 

On his return home, in 1809, Berr was appointed 
head of the office at the prefecture of Meurthe. At 
this period he published his “ Essai sur la Vie et les 
Ouvrages de Bitaubé,” and many papers on various 
subjects mentioned in the memoirs of the Academy 
of Nancy. In1813he returned to Paris, and, giving 
up his practise at the bar, devoted himself to litera- 


ture. For three years he collaborated 

Leaves withthe “ Mercure de France,” “ Mer- 
Law for cure Etranger,” and “ Magasin Ency- 
Literature. clopédique.” In 1816 he lectured on 


German literature at the Athénée 
Royal of Paris, and translated into French the trag- 
edy “Luther” by Werner, accompanied by notes. 
His competence as a translator was much appreci- 
ated; and in 181% he was appointed translator of the 
German papers at the Forcign Office, a post which 
he occupied until it was abolished in 1823. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


104 





The great reputation that Berr enjoyed excited 
the hostility of the envious; and attacks in the 
press made by his adversaries affected him deeply. 
He was particularly disheartened by his unsuccess- 
ful candidature for membership of the Central Con- 
sistory, this position being one that he greatly 
coveted. In 1826 he went to Brussels, and devoted 
himself to politics, On his return he wrote on the 
works of Salvador, and contributed to the “ Gazette 
des Cultes.” In 1837 he left Paris and settled at 
Nancy, where he guietly worked until his death. 

Besides the above-mentioned works, Berr contrib- 
uted numerous articles to scientific journals. The 
most important for Judaism were: (1) “ Notice Lit- 
téraire et Historique sur le Livre de Job” (Paris, 
1807); (2) “Notice sur Maimonides” (Paris, 1816); 
(3) “Du Rabbinisme et des Traditions Juives” 
(Paris, 1822); (4) “De la Littérature Hébraique et 
de la Religion Juive” (Paris, 1829); (5) “De I’Im- 
mortalité de l?Ame chez les Juifs Anciens et Mo- 
dernes ” (Paris, 1822); (6) “Dela Fétedu Nouvel An 
et du Jetine des Expiations, ou Grand Pardon chez 
les Juifs” (Paris, 1829); (7) “Nouveau Précis Elé- 
mentaire d'Instruction Religieuse et Morale, a 
l’ Usage de la Jeunesse’ Francaise Israélite” (Nancy, 
18389); (8) “Riteet Réglement pour le Culte [sraélite 
de Metz” (Nancy, 1842). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revue Orientale, iii. 62 ef seq.; Gratz, Geseh. 

der Juden, xi. 220, 252, 278, 280, 323. 


8. I. Br. 


BERRUYER, JOSEPH ISAAC: French Jes- 
uit; born at Rouen Nov. 7, 1681; died at Paris Feb. 
1758. He was the author of a work entitled “ His- 
toire du Peuple de Dieu,” Paris, 1728, a history of 
the Jews from the earliest times to the birth of 
Jesus, according to the Bible, and a critical study 
of the Gospels and the Epistles. This work, writ- 
ten in a non-religious spirit, and interspersed with 
hazardous observations, provoked the indignation 
of the Church leaders. The discussions it called 
forth made it popular, and numerous editions and 
translations of it appeared. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v. 


1. I. Br. 


BERSHAD: Town in the district of Olgopol, 
province of Podolia, Russia, on the road between 
Olgopol and Balta, at the rivers Dakhna and Ber- 
shadka. In 1900 the Jewish population was 4,500, 
out of a total population of 7,000. The Jewish arti- 
sans numbered about 500. The community pos- 
sessed one synagogue and six houses of prayer. In 
June, 1648, during the uprising of the Cossacks 
under Chmielnicky, the most bloodthirsty of his 
leaders—Maksim Krivonos—conquered Bershad and 
slew all the Jews and Catholics. §S. A. Bershadski, 
the celebrated historian of the Russian Jews, de- 
scended from a Cossack family at Bershad, where 
his great-grandfather officiated asa Greek Orthodox 
priest, 

Bershad was famous in the middle of the nine- 
teenth century for its Jewish weavers of the “tallit ” 
(scarfs used by the Jews during prayer in the day- 
time). But at the end of the century the demand 
decreased, and the industry declined, leading many 
of the weavers to emigrate to America. 


105 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Entziklopedicheski Slovar, vol. iii., s.v.. pub- 
lished by Brockhaus and Efron, St. Petersburg, 1892; N. 
Kostomaroy, Bogdan Chmielnicky, i. 325: and private 


sources. 
H. R. 


BERSHADSKI, SERGEI ALEKSANDRO- 
VICH: Russian historian and jurist; born at Ber- 
dvausk March 80, 1850; died in St. Petersburg 1896. 
He graduated from the Gymnasium of Kerch in 
12868, and from the University of Odessa in 1872; lec- 
tured at the University of St. Petersburg on the his- 
tory of the philosophy of jurisprudence, from 1878 
to 1883; and was appointed in 1885 assistant pro- 
fessor, At the Lyceum he delivered lectures also on 
the history of Russian jurisprudence; and at the 
Military Law School of St. Petersburg, on general 
jurisprudence. His famous work on the Lithuanian 
Jews, “Litovskie Yevrei,” published in 1888, is the 
first attempt in this field of historical investigation. 

Bershadski’s father was a Greek Orthodox priest, 
while his great-grandfather on his mother’s side, 
Kovalevski, was a hetman of the Cossacks. The 
Cossack traditions of his family found expression in 
his violent prejudice against the Jews. He states, 
in his autobiographical notes, how in his childhood 
he learned of the horrors of the times of CHMIEL- 
NICKY in connection with the “homicidal Jews.” 
From the old blind bandore-player (bandurist) at 
the fairs, from the reaper in the field, and from the 
peasant girls at the spinning-wheel on long winter 
evenings, he had heard the same tale of the Jew as 
“the detiler of the sanctuary.” This incited him to 
make a study of the Jewish question. “I started,” 
he declares, “as a confirmed Jew-hater.” THis Jew- 
ish colleagues at the university remember how he 
used to threaten them, saying, “Wait, some day I 
will expose you!” He went to the Archives and 
there began to search for material for his threatened 
exposures. The result was his work, “Opyt Novoi 
Postanovki Nyekotorykh Voprosov po Istorii Yev- 
reistva v Polshyei Litvye,” an attempt to put into 
anew light some questions concerning the history 
of the Jews in Poland and Lithuania. To the sur- 
prise of some of his friends this appeared in the 
“ Yevreiskaya Biblioteka.” And their surprise grew 
when they read its important and on the whole 
favorable stateinents. The result of further re- 
searches appeared soon after in the “ Voskhod,” and 
in the “Russki Yevrei,” both of them Jewish pub- 
lications, and the name of Bershadski became so 
closely connected with Jewish topics, that most of 
the readers of these periodicals were firmly con- 
vineed that this so-called “Jew-hater” was a Jew 
himself. Soon afterward appeared his principal 
work, “Dokumenty i Regesty,” etc., containing 
about 700 original documents and records from the 
early period of Jewish settlement in Lithuania, 1388- 
1569. Russian historiography shows no other in- 
stance of an equal collection devoted to one special 
subject. About the same time he published his 
“History of the Lithuanian Jews.” Though this 
work covers a period of only two hundred years, it 
endeavors to depict the entire course of Lithuanian- 
Jewish history. 

Bershadski’s chief characteristics as a writer are a 
keen historical eye and truthfulness. He has the 
merit of having been the first impartial historiog- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Berr, Michel 
Bershadsky 


rapher of the Jews in Lithuania. His published 
works are: (1) “Litovskie Yevrei, Istoriya ikh 
Yuridicheskavo i Obshchestvennavo Polozheniya v 
Litvye,” St. Petersburg, 1883, being a history of 
the legal and social conditions of the Jews at Lith- 
uania in 1388-1569; (2) “Dokumenty i Regesty k 
Istorii Litovskikh Yevreyev,” St. Petersburg, 1882, 
bearing upon the history of the Jews in Lithuania; 
(3) “A. E. Rebiichkovich, Podskarbi Velikavo Knya- 
zhestva Litovskavo,” Kiev, 1888; (4) “ Yevrei Korol 
Polski,” St. Petersburg, 1890, concerning a Jew 
king of Poland. Many articles on Jewish-Polish 
and Jewish-Lithuanian history in the periodicals 
were contributed by him in “ Yevreiskaya Biblio- 
teka,” “ Voskhod,” “ Russki Yevrei,” and other peri- 
odicals. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, 
vol. iii., §.u., St. Petersburg, 1892; A. B., Bershadski Kak 
Istorik Russkikh Yevreyev, in Voskhod, 1896, iv. 10)-321, 
Xi.-xii. 99-116; M. Vinnaver, in Voskhod, 1897, v. 49 et seq. 


H. R. 


BERSHADSKY, ISAIAH (pseudonym for 
DOMOSHEVITZKY): Russian novelist; born in 


’ Saimoscha, near Slonim, government of Grodno, 


1874 ; now ateacher in Yekaterinoslav. Bershadsky 
was one of the youngest Neo-[]ebraic writers of fic- 
tion in Russia, and one of whom much was expected. 
His “ Zikronut Tugah ” (Sad Memories), in “ Ha-Shi- 
loah,” vi. 405-416, is the story of a Talmudist who 
went into business, imitated the vices and extrava- 
gances of the rich, and, after being ruined by living 
above his means (a fault common to old-style Russian 
merchants), is a mental and physical wreck at fifty- 
five, with adevoted wife who did not share his pleas- 
ures but comforts him in his despair. The author 
shows power and keen insight into human nature, 
and has the sympathy for his erring characters which 
denotes the true artist. In his silhouettes, “ Ma‘asim 
be-Kol Yom” (Every-Day Occurrences), which ap- 
peared in the “Ahiasaf” calendar for 1901, he 
places before the reader with a few masterly strokes 
types and incidents which are not easily forgotten. 
The best of them is probably “Ha-Shemu‘ah ” (The 
Report). This describes the agony of a liberal Jew 
when he Jearns from his sons, whom he has estab- 
lished in business in a great city, that they are com- 
pelled to embrace Christianity in order not to be 
ruined by expulsion. Theanomalies of religious life 
are presented in their most cruel phases; for the au- 
thor states that the old man was liberal and cared 
little about the religious conduct of his sons, some- 
times even encouraging transgression in small things, 
but that he is crushed by their conversion, which is 
to some extent the outcome of their.training under 
his supervision. 

In his novel, “Be’en Mattarah” (Without Aim), 
Bershadsky ably described the life of progressive 
Hebrew teachers in Russia, and the superiority of a 
Zionist idealist over a brilliant cynic, Adamovich, 
who is the hero of the novel, and who has no aim in 
life. These novels as well as two others, “ Defusim 
u-Zelalim” (Types and Shades) and “ Neged ha- 
Zerem” (Against the Current), were published by 
the “Tuschia” of Warsaw. Bershadsky also con- 
tributed several short sketches to “Ha-Dor.” He 
died March 11, 1908. 


H. R. P. WL. 


Bersohn 
Berthold 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


106 





BERSOHN, MATHIAS: Polish bibhographier, 
archeologist, and writer on fine arts: born at War- 
saw 1826. He is the owner of a choice library 
which contains a valuable coijlection of rare books 
and manuscripts. Among other works he wrote: 
(1) “W. Stosie,” 1870; (2) “ Tobias Kohn,” Cracow, 
1872, the biography of a Jewish physician of the 
seventeenth century, the author of “Ma‘ase To- 
bia” ; a supplement, taken from a work entitled 
“Metryka Koronna,” giving important documents 
on the history of the Jews of Poland, is added to 
“Tobias Koln”; (8) “Marcin Teofil Polak.” 1889; 
(4) “Studency Polacy na Universytecie Colonskim 
xvi i xvii, w”—a pamphlet on old South-Russian 
synagogues; and many articles in the Polish period- 
icals “Tygodnik Hlustrowany ” and “ Biblioteka 
Warszawska.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Orgelbrand, Enciilopedya Powsiechna, 
ji., s.u., Warsaw, 1898. 
H. R. 


BERTENSOHN, BERNARD: Russian 
teacher and translator; born at Odessa at the end of 
the eighteenth century; died there 1859. He re- 
ceived a careful education in the school of Basilius 
Stern, and for many years was a teacher of lan- 
guages in Odessa. Bertensohn contributed to the 
“Odesski Vyestnik” and other periodicals, and in 
1841 translated into Russian L. Philippson’s novel, 
“Die Marannen.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Voskhod, 1884, iv. 146, 
H. R. V. R. 


BERTENSOHBN, JOSEPH VASILIEVICH: 
Russian court-physician; born at Nikolaiev, govern- 
ment of Kherson, in 1885. He received his early edu- 
cation at the gymnasium of Odessa, whence he was 
graduated in 1849; studied at the Richelieu Lyceum 
in Odessa, at the University of Kharkov, and then 
at the University of Dorpat, from the latter of which 
he graduated in 1857 with the degree of doctor of 
medicine. In 1859 he was appointed physician of 
the city hospital at Vitebsk. He went abroad in 
1861 and attended the lectures of Virchow, Traube, 
Skoda, and Helmholtz. In1862 he became attached 
to the medical department of the Ministry of the In- 
terior, and soon after was appointed a member of the 
St. Petersburg board of health. He assumed the 
editorship of the “Arkhiv Sudebnoi Meditziny 
Obshchestvennoi Higieny ” in 1865. The municipal 
government of St. Petersburg entrusted him, in the 
following year, with the management of the Cholera 
Asylum, which in 1867 was transformed into the 
First City Hospital. To his efforts were due the 
establishment of a tield-hospital and a training-school 
for medical assistants. Bertensohn is still director 
of these institutions, the first of their kind in Russia. 
In 1875 he established a free dispensary, which was 
named in honor of Grand Duchess Maria Alexan- 
drovna. During the Franco-Prussian war he accom- 
panied the celebrated surgeon Pirogov to the battle- 
field. From there he senta series of valuable articles 
on military hygiene. He is a privy-councilor, an 
honorary physician to the Russian court, a member 
of many learned societies, and an honorary member 
of the medical associations of Vitebsk, Kiev, and St. 
Petersburg. His works on various questions of 
public hygiene and sanitary reform have been of 


great practical importance. Bertensohn was one of 
the most ardent propagators of Pirogov’s advanced 
ideas and has done a great deal toward their reali- 
zation. Besides numerous articles contributed to 
medical periodicals, he has published the following 
works: (1) “O Ghermafroditismye, etc., v Sudebno- 
Meditzinskom Otnoshenii”: (2) “Barachnye Laza- 
retz v Voyennoe i Mirnoe Vremya,” St. Petersburg, 
1871; (3) “Baraki St. Peterburgskavo Damskavo 
Lazaretnavo Komiteta,” St. Petersburg, 1872; (4) 
“JT, Hépital Baraque Etabli par le Comité des Dames 
de St. Pétersbourg, d’Ordre de S. M. )’Impératrice,” 
St. Petersburg, 1874. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, 
iii., St. Petersburg, 1892; Entziklopedicheskt Slovar, ixi., 
St. Petersburg, 1892. IL R 


BERTENSOHN, LEV BERNARDOVICH: 
Russian physician; born at Odessa Aug. 10, 1850; 
son of Bernard and nephew of Joseph Bertensohn, 
He graduated in 1867 from the Larin Gymnasium, 
St. Petersburg, and in 1872 from the St. Petersburg 
Medical Academy. He was assigned to duty in the 
clinical military hospital, under Eck and Eichwald. 
From 1876 to 1887 Bertensohn lectured at the Rozh- 
denstvenskaya Hospital on the diagnosis and treat- 
ment of diseases. In 1887 he was appointed, by the 
minister of crown domains, president of the com- 
mission for the improvement of the mineral springs 
system of the Caucasus, Bertensohn published his 
chief work on balneology in 1873, under the title 
“Mineralnye Vody, Gryazy, i Morskiva Kupanya v 
Rossii i Zagranitzei,” being assisted therein by Dr. 
Voronikhim. Among his other works may be men- 
tioned “Pseudoleukemia Prinyataya za Tif,” 1879 
(reprinted in German in “St. Petersburg Medicinische 
Wochenschrift,” 1879, No. 12). Bertensohn also 
published in the “ Meditzinski Vyestnik,” in 1888, 
an article on Turgenef, who, in his closing vears, 
was treated by Bertensohn. With Ivanov Berten- 
sohn translated Kuntz’s “ Lehrbuch der Praktischen 
Medicin,” and with Dr. Popov he issued a work on 
the Caucasian mineral waters, “K Voprosu ob Us- 
troistvye Kavkazskikh Mineralnikh Vod,” 1887. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, itt. 

a St. Petersburg, 1892; Bulshaya Entziklopediya, iii. ib. 


H. R. V. R. 


BERTENSOHN, VASILI ALEKSEYE. 
VICH: Russian agriculturist; born in Odessa Sept. 
12, 1860. He belongs to the hereditary nobility, his 
father, Dr. Aleksei Vasilievich Bertensohn, having 
been a state councilor and knight of the Order of St. 
Vladimir. Vasili graduated from the technical high 
school of Odessa in 1879, studied for a year at the 
Imperial New-Russian University at Odessa. and then 
at the Petrovsko-Razumovskoye Agricultural Acad- 
emy in Moscow, whence he graduated in 1884. 
From 1885 to 1894 Bertensohn was attached to the 
Department of State Domains, and was stationed at 
Odessa. as ad viser to the superintendent of the govern- 
ments of Kherson and Bessarabia. He was at the 
same time secretary to the Odessa committees on 
phylloxera and sericulture, and undertook several 
agricultural commissions for the department. 

In 1889 Bertensohn was commissioned to western 
Europe for the purpose of studying the conditions 


107 


of sericulture and viticulture. In 1893 he was ap- 
pointed agricultural expert to the southern govern- 
ments, and commissioned to investigate the needs of 
sericulture and other agricultural problems in those 
districts. The following year, Bertensohn was made 
an extra official in the Department of Agriculture and 
State Domains, in addition to his other appointments, 
In 1900 he became chief expert on agriculture to the 
goveruments of Podolia and Volhynia, and chief 
expert on sericulture in South Russia. He is the 
representative of the Department of Agriculture and 
State Domains in connection with the various agri- 
cultural institutions of Odessa; and was commis- 
sioned by his department to inspect the agricultural 
section of the Paris Exposition of 1900. 

Bertensohn is an aulic councilor and knight of 
the orders of St. Stanislav and St. Anne. He was 
also decorated by Emperor Alexander IIL. with his 
“commemoration ” medal; and Bertensohn’s depart- 
ment has awarded him a special medal for his serv- 
ices to agriculture. In connection with Jewish 
charitable institutions Bertensohn has been very 
active, The farm of the Odessa Hebrew Orphan 
Asylum was organized on lines proposed by him, 
and he superintended it for a considerable time. In 
1898, at the invitation of Baron de Hirsch, he visited 
Paris and London for the purpose of joining in the 
deliberations on the proposal to establish Jewish 
colonies in the Argentine Republic. He was offered 
the position of superintendent of the agricultural 
sections of these colonies, but did not accept it. 

Bertensobn has been a prolific contributor to the 
agricultural journals “Zemledyelcheskaya Gaz- 
eta,” “Zemledyelie,” and the “ Odesski Vyestnik,” as 
well as to several periodicals. On agricultural] edu- 
cation, in connection with the Jewish question, he 
has published essays in the “ Voskhod” and “ Odes- 
ski Vyestnik.” Many of these have been issued in 
pamphlet form; among them “ Vinogradarstvo na 
Peshchannoi Pochvye,” “Shelkovodstvo v Kherson- 
skoj, Bessarabskoi i Tavricheskoi Guberniakh,” and 
“Polskaya Pshenitza.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, 
iii., St. Petersburg, 1892; and private sources. IR 


BERTHEAU, ERNEST: Biblical and Oriental 
scholar; born Nov. 28, 1812, in Hamburg; died May 
17, 1888, in Gottingen. In 1843 he was appointed 


ordinary professor in the University of Géttingen, 


where he lectured on Oriental languages, Biblical 
exegesis, Hebrew archeology and history. Ber- 
theau was the author of the following works: (1) 
“Die Sieben Gruppen Mosaischer Gesetze,” Gét- 
tingen, 1840; “ Zur Gesch. der Israeliten,” Gottingen, 
1842; and (in the “ Kurzgefasstes Exegetisches Hand- 
buch zum Alten Testament”) commentaries on 
Judges and Ruth, Leipsic, 1845; Proverbs, Leipsic, 
1862; Chronicles, Leipsic, 1854; Ezra, Nehemiah, 
and Esther, Leipsic, 1862. Noteworthy also is his 
edition of the smaller Syriac grammar of Bar- 
Hebraeus, Gottingen, 18438. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brockhaus, Konversations - Lexikon; La 

Grande Encyclopédie. 

T. B. B. 

BERTHOLD OF REGENSBURG: Monk 
and itinerant preacher; born about 1220; died in 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bersohn 
Berthold 


Regensburg (Ratisbon) Dec. 14, 1272. This most 
celebrated popular preacher of the Middle Ages, 
known to the people as “Rusticanus,” traveled 
through Bavaria, the Rhine Provinces, Alsatia, Aus- 
tria, Moravia, Hungary, Silesia, and Bohemia, and 
exercised an enormous influence upon the populace 
by his fiery speech and his lofty mora] ideals. The 
last part of his life-work was spent in the interest of 
the Crusades. 

It is supposed that in his many journeys he came 
in contact with the Jews, though there are no direct 
data on this point. In his numerous sermons, how- 
ever, occasional references to the Jews show that he 
belonged to those ecclesiastics who, though good 
churchmen and brought up in the traditions of their 
church respecting the Jews, were liberal-minded 
enough to treat them as human beings to whom the 
state owed a certain amount of protection. Some 
qualities, which Berthold must have observed 
among the Jews who came under his notice, ap- 
pealed strongly to him; and on one occasion he 
warned his hearers to be constant in their morning 
and evening prayers, adding, “In this the Jews put 
you to shame.” Qn another occasion he used the 
same expression In regard to the holiness of family 
life. It is more surprising, however, to see how 
forcibiy he speaks against what in his time was be- 
coming the fashion of the day—the attempt to com- 
pel the Jews to become Christians. He declares it 
to be foolish to forcibly push the Jews into the 
water. He is also very decided in his'distaste for 
another method then growing common; namely, 
that of forcing the Jews to see the error of their 
ways. The many disputations, which from that 
time on were held, were regarded by Berthold as 
quite useless; for he says: “ You all desire to have 
a dispute with the Jews. You are ignorant; they 
are learned in Holy Writ. They know well how to 
out-talk you; and because of this you always 
emerge the weaker.” In regard to the position of 
the Jews before the law he has this to say: “ Kings 
ought to guard the Jews as they guard the Chris- 
tians in respect, of their persons and their chattels, if 
taken in during time of peace; and he who kills a 
Jew must stand for it as must a Christian, when the 
emperor has received them in time of peace.” He 
then quotes the usual reasons given by the Church 
for permitting Jews to live among Christians: 
“First, because they are witnesses that our Lord 
was by them crucified .. . ; secondly, because 
those of them who shall be living at the time of Anti- 
christ will all have become Christians before the last 
day.” 

There are, however, many indications that, despite 
these liberal expressions, Berthold was still the child 
of his day, and his ecclesiastical dislike of the Jews 
was increased by the great horror which he had of 
usury in any form; but it must be remembered that, 
like Bernhard of Clairvaux (1146) and the minne- 
singer Rumelant (thirteenth century), he is as vigor- 
ous against Christian usury as against Jewish. This 
popular prejudice is seen in his speaking of “des 
stinkenden Juden falschen Geschwiitz,” and men- 
tioning them in connection with thieves, robbers, 
heathens, heretics, and perjurers. On one occasion 
he did not scruple to say: “Mr. Jew, the devil had 


Bertinoro 
Beruriah 





long ago broken thy neck, had it not been for the 
angel that watches over thee.” 

Berthold is also of interest in the history of mys- 
ticism; for in him is seen the close connection be- 
tween Christian and Jewish mysticism of the thir- 
teenth century. He believed in a most elaborate 
angelology; and even the mystic value of the letters 
of the alphabet was not unknown to him. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The passages dealing with the Jews are auoted 

in Giidemann’s Geschichte des Erzichungswesens und der 

Cultur der Juden in Frankreich und Deutschland, Index, 

s.v. Berthold, Vienna, 1880. The literature on Berthoid will 


be found in Hauck’s Realencyklopddie ftir Protestantische 
Thenloyie und Kirche, ii. 649, Leipsic, 1897, G 


BERTINORO, OBADIAH (YAREH) B. 
ABRAHAM (called also Bartinoro): Celebrated 
rabbi and commentator on the Mishnah; lived in the 
second half of the fifteenth century in Italy; died in 
Jerusalem about 1500, He was a pupil of Joseph b. 
Solomon Colon (sec the latter’s Responsa, No. 70, ed. 
Venice, 62a), and became rabbi in Bertinoro, a town 
in the province of Flori, whence he derived his by- 
name, and in Castello. The desire to visit the Holy 
Land led him to Jerusalem; and he arrived there 
March 25, 1488, having commenced his journey Oct. 
29, 1486. His advent in Palestine marked a new 
epoch for the Jewish community there and indeed 
for the whole country. The administration of Jew- 
ish communal affairs in Jerusalem had fallen into 
the hands of iniquitous officials who tyrannized over 
great and small. The poor were pitilessly taxed for 
the Mohammedan government; the rich were simi- 
larly treated and driven from the city by exorbitant 
demands upon them, so that the Jewish community 
was on the brink of ruin (see JERUSALEM). 

Bertinoro’s strong personality, his eloquence, and 
great reputation as a scholar led to his being ac- 
cepted as the spiritual head of the community im- 
mediately upon his arrival. His first care was to 
raise the intellectual plane of the community, and 
for this purpose he interested the younger genera- 
tion in the study of the Talmud and rabbinical lore, 
and he delivered sermons every other Sabbath in 
Hebrew, although the vernacular language was 

Arabic, one which Bertinoro never 
Influence acquired. His connections in Italy 
in supplied him with money for the sup- 
Palestine. port of the poor, which also added nota 
little to hisinfluence. He succeeded in 
securing the abolition of the annual tax of 400 ducats, 
which had afforded such opportunity for oppression 
and injustice; in lieu a simple poll-tax payable di- 
rect to the government was instituted. When, on 
the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many 
of the exiles settled in Jerusalem, Bertinoro became 
their intellectual leader. These Spanish Jews, far 
superior in intelligence, culture, and learning to the 
Arabian Jews of Palestine, presented Bertinoro with 
a site for a yeshibah in Jerusalem, which he founded, 
more than a thousand years after the extinction of 
the last academy in Palestine (see ACADEMIES IN 
PALESTINE). Considerable support for the main- 
tenance of the veshibah was given by the Jews of 
Egypt and Turkey at Bertinoro’s written solicita- 
tion. Isaac b. Nathan ibn Shulal, nagg7d or prince of 
Egypt, was especially helpful. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


108 


=_~— 


In the decade during which Bertinoro thus con- 
trolled the best interests of the Jewish community 
at Jerusalem, a radical change for the better devel- 
oped. Shortly after his arrival he had actually 
been compelled upon one occasion to dig a grave 
because the community had provided no one to per- 
form that labor; a few years later there had come 
into existence such benevolent institutions as hospi- 
tals, charitable relief societies, and similar associa- 
tions, all under excellent management. His fame 
and reputation spread to all parts of the Orient, 
and he came to be looked upon asa rabbinical au- 
thority of highest eminence; even the Mohammedan 
population frequently called upon him to decide 
judicial cases. His scrupulous conscicentiousness 
and moral earnestness were especially recognized. 
For instance, he harshly reproved the rabbis for ex- 
acting fees for services at weddings and divorces, a 
custom then general in Germany, and did not hesi- 
tate to style them robbers (commentary on Bekorot, 
iv. 6). He believed it their duty to perform relig- 
ious ceremonies without monetary remuneration. 

Bertinoro is usually known as the best commenta- 
tor of the Mishnah; the importance of his commen- 
tary is illustrated by the fact that since its appear- 
ance (Venice, 1549) hardly an edition of the Mishnah 
has been printed without it; even Surenhuis in his 
Latin translation and commentary upon the Mish- 
nah (Amsterdam, 1698-1703) translated Bertinoro. 
Its excellence lies in the fact that he 
selected the best afforded by Rashi 
and Maimonidesand gave this in clear 
and easily comprehensible fashion; in 
the matter of originality, however, Bertinoro does not 
approach his distinguished predecessors, nor even 
his successor in this department, Yom-Tob Lipmann 
Heller. 

Bertinoro isalso the author of a supercommentary 
upon Rashi’s Pentateuch commentary (published 
under the title “‘Amar Naki” [Pure Wool], Pisa, 
1810; reprinted in the collective work “ Rabbotenu 
Ba‘ale ha-Tosafot,” Warsaw, 1889). His commen- 
tary upon Abot is, as Jellinek showed, only an ex- 
tract from Simon Duran’s work upon that book 
(“ Monatsschrift,” iv. 119, and an appendix added 
to a few copies of Jellinek’s edition of Duran’s 
Abot-commentary, Leipsic, 1855). Some liturgical 
productions by Bertinoro exist in manuscript in the 
Bodleian Library, Oxford (Nos. 1061; 2266, 6; in 
the first the name of his father is mentioned). He 
also wrote descriptions of his travels; and his letters 
to his relations in Italy, although intended only 
as private communications, are of great historical 
value. Most interesting in these letters (first pub- 
lished by 8. Sachs in the “Jahrbuch fiir Gesch. der 
Juden,” 18638, iii. 195-224) is the fund of informa- 
tion concerning the social and intellectual conditions 
of the Jews in Greece, Egypt, and Palestine. He 
shows himself therein not only a close observer, but 
a conscientious and unprejudiced chronicler. For 
example, he studied attentively the conditions of 
the Karaites in Alexandria, and did not hesitate to 
praise them for the possession of the very virtues 
which the Rabbinites denied to them, such as gen- 
erosity and liberality (Z.¢. p. 208; the text is to be 
emended according to the manuscript mentioned in 


Literary 
Activity. 


109 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bertinoro 
Beruriah 





Steinschneider, “ Hebr. Bibl.” vi. 181). His descrip- 

tion of the Samaritans in Egypt (.c. pp. 206-208) is 

one of the most valuable and reliable of medieval 
times. 

Ilis letters have been translated into German by 
Neubauer, “Jahrbuch,” /.c. pp. 225-270, and sep- 
arately, Leipsic, 1863; into French by M. Schwab, 
“Lettres d’Obadiah,” Paris, 1866; into English 
in the “Miscellany of Hebrew Literature,” i., 1872, 
No. %. All these translations, how- 
ever, are based upon a very imperfect 
manuscript (see Steinschneider, U.¢. vi. 
131, xiii, 124, who gives many emendatious from 
another manuscript). The Hebrew edition, pub- 
lished by M. T. Schwerdscharf, Kolomea, 1886, is 
simply a reprint of the same text. Collated pas- 
sages from another manuscript, as well asa short 
letter by Bertinoro, were published by Steinschnei- 
der in “ Yehudah we- Yerushalayim,” ii. 1878. The 
Almanzi library coutained Bertinoro’s novella upon 
Moses of Coucy’s work, “Sefer Mizwot ha-Gadol” 
(“Semag ”)—see Luzzatto, in “Hebr. Bibl.” v. 145; 
the work is now very probably in the British Mu- 
seum. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, j. 151-153, ed. Ben- 
jacob; Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, 19a, 24a, 28b, 30b, ed. 
Cassel: Lunez, Jerusalem, 1. 118: fi. 28-82; iii. 2, 3; Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. 2072-2073; Zunz, G. S. i. 177, LG 
BERTOLIO, ABBE: Frenchcleric; member of 

the Commune of Paris in 1790. The National Assem- 

bly conferred citizenship upon the Jews of Bordeaux, 

Bayonne, and Avignon Jan. 28, 1790; but deferred 

granting it to those of Alsace and Lorraine. Hence, 

when the Jews of France petitioned the Assem- 
bly, Dec. 24, 1789, delegates from Paris appeared 
before the General Assembly of the Commune 
with the request that it pledge itself to support 

the petition of the Jews. On Jan. 30, 1790, 

the latter Assembly listened to the report of Abbé 

Bertolio, who, while favoring the Jews’ request, pro- 

posed that the Assembly should take no steps in 

their behalf before consulting the districts and hav- 
ing obtained their approbation of the pledge re- 
quested. His proposition was adopted, and on Feb. 

28 a deputation from the Commune, with the Abbé 

Mulot as spokesman and Bertolio as a member, ap- 

peared before the National Assembly, requesting it 

to extend to the Jews of Paris the decree giving 
citizenship to those Jews known as Portuguese, 

Spanish, and Avignonese. As is well known, this 

intervention of the Commune was not immediately 


Letters. 


effective. 
S. I. L. 
BERTRAM, CORNEILLE BONAVEN- 


TURE: Protestant clergyman and Hebraist; born 
at Thouars, France, in 1531; died at Lausanne, 
Switzerland, 1594. He studied at Poitiers, Paris, 
Toulouse, and Cahors. Learning, in the last-men- 
tioned city, that the authorities had received an 
order to massacre all the Protestants, he fled to 
Geneva, where, in 1587, he became professor of Ori- 
ental languages in the university. Among many 
valuable works he wrote the following on Hebrew 
matters: (1) “Gal ‘Ed” (Heap of Testimony), “Com- 
paratio Grammatice Hebraice Aramaic,” Geneva, 
1574; (2) “De Politia Judaica tam Civili quam Ec- 


clesiastica,” Geneva, 1580, a work on Hebrew insti- 
tutions and history, which enjoyed great popularity, 
and passed through many editions; (8) “Gramma- 
tica Hebraica et Arabica,” Geneva, n. d.; (4) “ Lucu- 
brationes Frankentallenses, seu Specimen Exposi- 
tionuny in Difliciliora Utriusque Testamenti Loca,” 
Frankenthal, 1586. Bertram also published a trans- 
lation of the Bible very much appreciated at that 
time, Geneva, 1588. In this translation he followed 
Sebastian Munster and Tremelius; and very often 
he made use of rabbinic commentaries. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Haag, La France Protestante, ii. 229-281: 
Dreux du Radier, Notice de C. B. Bertram, in Bibliothéque 
Historique et Critique de Poitou, iii. 1 et seg. ; Steinschnei- 


der, Bibliographisches Handbuch, p. 22. 
i. | T. Br. 


BERURIAH (= probably Valeria): Daughter of 
the martyr R. Hananiah ben Teradion, and wife of R. 
Meir; born in the first quarter of the second cen- 
tury, she lived at Tiberias after the Hadrianic per- 
secutions. Her traits of character, gleaned from Tal- 
mudic passages, show her to have been a helpmate 
worthy of her great husband, and to have possessed 


a personality corresponding to the emergencies of 


the troublous times following upon the failure of 
Bar Kokba’s insurrection. They betray intellectual 
qualities and attainments as well as womanly ten- 
derness and stanch virtues. It is said that she 
studied three hundred Talmudic subjects daily (Pes. 
62b), and R. Judah endorsed a decision of hers, on a 
question about clean and unclean, in which she 
went counter to the view of “ the wise ” (“hakamim ”) 
(Tosef., Kelim, B. M. i. 6). 

Her womanly tenderness is shown by a Biblical 
interpretation (Ber. 10a): Her husband, grievously 
vexed by wicked neighbors, prayed for their exter- 
mination. Beruriah exclaimed: “What! do you 
dare pray thus because the Psalmist says: ‘Let 
hataim be consumed out of the earth’? (Ps. civ. 35) 
Observe that he does not say hoteim [“sinners ”], 
but hataim [“sins”]. And then look to the end of 
the verse: ‘And the wicked will be no more.’ Once 
sins are rooted out, there will be no more evil-doers.” 
Of her ready wit the following is a specimen (zd.): 
In a dispute between Beruriah and a sectary, the 
latter quoted Isa, liv. 1: “Sing, O barren, thou that 
didst not bear,” and mockingly asked whether bar- 
renness is cause for singing. Beruriah directed him 
to look to the end of the verse: “ More are the chil- 
dren of the desolate than the children of the married 
wife.” The principle upon which both interpreta- 
tions rest, “Look to the end of the verse” (Soy 
NPT a5rp5), became an exegetical rule current 
among the later Talmudical sages. 

In ‘Er, 58b et seg. there are other examples of 
her knowledge of Jewish Scriptures and her al- 

most coquettish playfulness, coexist- 

Her Wide ing in her with a capacity for right- 

Knowledge cous indignation, displayed when it 

of was proposed, for her father’s sake, 

Scriptures. to pay funeral honors to her scape- 

grace brother. Father, mother, and 

sister alike denounced his conduct, the last applying 

to him Prov. xx. 17 (R. V.), “ Bread of falsehood is 

sweet to a man; but afterward his mouth shall be 
filled with gravel” (Sem. xii.; Tam. R. iii. 16). 


Beruriah | 
Bessarabia 


Beruriah’s life fell in calamitous times. Not only 
did she lose her father through the Hadrianic perse- 
cutions, but her mother at the same time suffered a 
violent death, and her sister was carried off to Rome, 
or perhaps Antioch, to lead a life of shame under 
coercion. At Beruriah’s instance, R. Meir set out 
to save her sister’s honor, and succeeded (‘Ab. Zarah 
18a; Sifre, Deut. 307; Eecl. R. vii. 11). In conse- 
quence he had to flee to Babylonia, and Beruriah 
accompanied him. 

Beruriah is best known in connection with the 
touching story of the sudden death of her two sons 
on the Sabbath, while their father was at the house 
of study. On his return, at the conclusion of the 
Sabbath, he at once asked for them. Their mother 
replied that they had gone to the house of study, 
and, feigning to disregard her husband’s rejoinder, 
that he had looked for them there in vain, she handed 
him the cup of wine for the Habdalah service. His 
second inquiry for them was evaded by a similar 
subterfuge. After R. Meir had eaten his evening 
meal, Beruriah asked formally for permission to put 
a question to him. “Rabbi,” she then said, “some 
time ago a deposit was left with me for safe-keep- 
ing, and now the owner has come to claim it. Must 
IT return it?” “Can there be any question about the 
return of property to its owner?” said R. Meir, half 
astonished and half indignant that his wife should 

entertain a doubt. “I did not care to 


Sudden let it go out of my possession without 
Death of your knowledge,” replied Beruriah, 
Her Two seemingly in excuse, and, taking him 

Sons. by the hand, led him into the room in 


which the bodies of their two sons 
were lying on the bed. When she withdrew the 
cover, R. Meir broke out in tears and _ plaints. 
Gently Beruriah reminded him of his answer to her 
question about the return of a treasure entrusted to 
one for safe-keeping, adding the verse from Job (i. 
21): “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken 
away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” This 
story, which has found a home in all modern litera- 
tures, can be traced to no earlier source than the 
Yalkut (Prov. 964, quotation from a Midrash). 

With Beruriah’s death is connected a legend men- 
tioned by Rashi(‘Ab. Zarah 18b). To explain R. 
Meir’s flight to Babylonia, the commentator relates 
the following: 

**Once Beruriah scoffed at the rabbinical saying, * Women are 
light-minded’ (Kid. 80b), and her husband warned her that her 
own end might yet testify to the truth of the words. To put 
her virtue to the test, he charged one of his disciples to endeavor 
to seduce her. After repeated efforts she yielded, and then 
shame drove her to commit suicide. R. Meir, tortured by re- 
morse, fied from his home.” 

The historical kernel of this story can not be dis- 
engaged. As told, the narrative is wholly at vari- 
ance with what is known of Beruriah’s character and 
that of R. Meir. Beruriah probably died at an early 
age. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Adolf Blumenthal, Rabbi Meir, pp. 108-111; 

M. Kayserling, Die Jildischen Frauen in der Geschichte, 


Literatur und Kunst, pp. 120-124; Henry Zirndorf, Some 
Jewish Women, pp. 162-173; Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 400, fi. 5. 


J. SR. | H. S. 
BERUSH. See BAER or MESERITZ. 


BERYL (wwnin): A stone, ranging in color from 
blue to pale yellow and found all over the world; 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


110 





three kinds are to be distinguished—beryl, aqua- 
marine, and emerald. According to Ex. xxviii, 20 
and xxxix. 13, the beryl was the tirst on the fourth 
row of the breastplate of the high priest. It is also. 
mentioned frequently in the apocalyptic literature; 
é.g., Ezek, i. 16, x. 9, xxviii. 13; Dan. x. 6). 

J. IR. G. B. L. 


BERYTUS. See Berner. 


BESALYU (Latin, Bisuldum): City in Catalonia, 
Spain. Its small Jewish community had the same 
privileges as that of the neighboring Gerona, and 
was taxed together with it. A number of docu- 
ments dealing with taxes of the Jews of this place 
are preserved in the archives of Aragon at Barce- 
lona. Besalu is the birthplace of the family Caslar 
(called in Jewish documents Descaslars, axdwows), 
of Abraham b. David Caslar, Josephibn Zabara, and 
others. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, Sources of the History of the Jews 
in Spain, p. 246. 


G. M. K. 


BESANQON : City and county of France, in the 
department of Doubs. Although no mention is 
made of this city in Jewish sources, it is known that 
it had a prominent part in the history of the Jews 
and was also of some importance even from a liter- 
ary point of view. By his marriage with Jeanne of 
Burgundy, Philip the Tall, king of France, became 
ruler of this province in 1316. In a letter of Dec. 
14, 1821, he gave to the queen the spoils from the 
Jews, who he had driven from his territory. Some 
years afterward they were recalled, but when in 
1848 the Black Plague broke out, the inhabitants ac- 
cused the Jews of being the cause, persecuted them, 
and had many of them executed, and finally (1360) 
the wretched survivors who had escaped the massa- 
cres were exiled from the province by a decree of 
Princess Marguerite. 

There is no mention of Jews in the city of Besan- 
con (which is the capital of the county) before 13820, 
when, in the depth of winter, they were driven from 
the environs, and knocked at the gates of this free 
city, which was under the patronage of the emperor 
of Germany. Five of them, on account of previous 
commercial relations, having succeeded in entering 
the city, asked permission to remain at Icast until the 
end of the winter. The leading men of the city, 
in order to please the barons D’Arlay, who were 
favorably inclined toward the Jews, gave their con- 
sent that the fugitives should reside among them. 

The new inhabitants of Besancon, however, paid 
for their right to remain by many and burdensome 
obligations. They were required to pay a heavy 
poll-tax every month to the city treasury, were for- 
bidden to appearin the city without a white and red 
cloth attached to the breast, and were ordered to 
dwell in a specified street, the gates of which were 
closed every evening. The street which they inhab- 
ited is now called “Rue Richebourg”; and it is 
said the Jews’ sojourn there gave rise to this name. 
A piece of land, chosen by the Jeading men of the 
city, was assigned to them as a burial-place. The 
Jews acquired free access from the city and prov- 
ince only after the French Revolution. 

Asa matter of interest to the student of Jewish 


112 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Beruriah 
Bessarabia 





history, it may be mentioned that the library of the 
city containsa manuscript copy of the Hebrew Bible 
(2 vols. folio) with curious illuminations, showing 
that the manuscript, which is not dated, aud is writ- 
ten in square characters, emanates from the four- 
teenth century. Moreover, it appears froma Judxo- 
Arabic inscription on the initial page that the 
manuscript was sold in Yemen in Lyyar, 5262 (May, 
1492). After various transfers it came during the 
Revolution from the Benedictine abbey into the city 
library of Besancon. 
As regards administration, the Jewish community 
of Besancon belonged formerly to the jurisdiction 
of the consistorial district of Nancy, having as its 
spiritual head Solomon Wertheimer. Since 1858 it 
has been reattached tothe jurisdiction of the district 
of Lyons which in that year was made a consistorial 
department. Since the death of Wertheimer, in 
1865, J. Auscher has served as pastor, first with the 
title of rabbi, and later as consistorial chief rabbi; for 
in 1872, after the emigration of the Jews from Alsace 
and the redistribution of the districts following the 
Franco-German war, the community of Besancon 
became the seat of aconsistory. It now (1902) in- 
cludes the following Jewish communities: Déle 
Baume -les- Dames, L’Ile sur Doubs, and Mont- 
béliard. 
sae ari t pai te Alfred Lévy, Les Isr. de la Franche-Comté 
wu XIVe Siécle, in Arch. Isr. xxx. 182 et seq., 214, 345; 
A uscher. Les Isr. de Besangon, et de la Comté, ib. xxxi. 
440, 472, "502 Catal. Général des MSS. des Départements, 
Xxxii. 1; Rev. Ht. Juives, xiii. 111-118. 
D. M. 8. 
BESANT, SIR WALTER: English writer 
novelist; born at Portsmouth Aug. 14, 1886; edu- 
cated at King’s College, London, and at Christ’s Col- 
lege, Cambridge; died in London June 11, 1901. Be- 
sant was among those persons who helped the Russian 
and Polish Jews who flocked tothe East End of Lon- 
don. He lived to see at least one of his many novel 
views on social subjects and aspirations realized: 
the Palace of Delight,. which figured in his “All 
Sorts and Conditions of Men” (1882), having given 
rise to the People’s Palace in the East of London. 
While this was not meant exclusively, or even par- 
tially, to benefit Jews, yet it did so, owing to its sit- 
uation, which was in the center of a large Jewish 
population. 
From 1868 to 1885 Besant acted as secretary of the 
Palestine Exploration Fund. During this period he 
wrote in collaboration with E. H. Palmer, the Orien- 
talist, a “History of Jerusalem ” (1871), and acted as 
editor of “The Survey of Palestine.” In 1893 he 
published his novel, “The Rebel Queen,” in which 
the heroine and many of the minor characters were 
Jewish. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Men and Women of the Times, 1895, p. 72; 
Who's Who, 1901, p. 156. 
J. BE. Ms. 


BESCHAU. See MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 


BESCHREIEN (compare English “beshrew”): 
A Judwxo-German word for lauding a person or 
thing to such an extent as to cause him or it to be 
harmed by malevolent spirits, This superstitious 
belief is of eld German or Teutonic origin. Grimm 
(“Deutsche Mythologie,” ii. 864) enumerates various 
terms, such as “berufen,” “beschwatzen,” “ be- 


schw ren,” besides beschreien, comparing them 
Ww sae “incantare” (whence “enchanter”), “carmi- 
nare” (whence the English “charm ”), all of which 
denote the exertion of evil power by means of cer- 
tain words. Wuttke (“ Der Deutsche Volksglaube,” 
p. 105) casts more light on the subject; stating that 
what the evil eye is for the beautiful object exposed, 
evil speech is to persons or things lauded for some 
good quality. The superstition, he says, is rooted 
in the universal pagan fear of a deity begrudging 
man’s perfect happiness, rather than in that feeling 
of humbleness which restrains man from boasting 
of his health, wealth, or the like. Little children 
especially are exposed to the evil influence of loud 
praise; wherefore it iscustomary, when children are 
lauded for their beauty, strength, or intelligence, to 
add the word “unbeschrieen” or “ unberufen”— 
which means, “Let that not cause them to be be- 
witched.” There are special formulas in use against 
such beschreien (see Wuttke, é.c. pp. 168, 264). 
Some use as a prophylactic measure the formula: 
“God protect him!” “Behtit’s Gott!” The Jews 
adopted both the expression and the superstition from 
the Germans in the Middle Ages (see Gitidemann, 
“Gesch. d. Erziehungswesens und der Cultur der 
Juden in Deutschland,” p. 205). It has been claimed, 
however, that the ancient Hebrew greeting, “The 
Lord bless thee!” offered by the passer-by to the 
laborers in the cornfield at harvest time (Ps. cxxix. 8; 
Ruth ii. 4; Judges vi. 12) originated in a similar view, 
the blessing being intended to avert the evil in- 
fluence of a begrudging glance or speech. 

A. K. 

BESHT, ISRAEL OF MIEDZYBOZ (or 
MEDZHIBOZH). See BAAL SueEM-Tos, ISRAEL. 


BESOR: A wadi or river-bed where two hun- 
dred of the followers of David stopped while the 
rest of the force pursued the Amalekites (I Sam. 
xxx. 9, 10, 21). Guerin (“Judée,” ii. 213), identifies 
Besor with the modern Wadi el-Ghuzza, which has 
an outlet into the Mediterranean sea, southwest of 


Gaza. 
J. JR. G. B. L. 


BESSARABIA: Government in southwest Rus- 
sia; separated by the Pruth and Danube from Ru- 
mania on the west, by the Dniester from Podolia and 
Kherson on the north and east, and bordering on the 
Black Sea from the Sulina mouth of the Danube to 
the estuary of Ovidiopol. The population in 1889 
was 1,628,876, the Jews numbering 180,918. In 
1897 the population was 1,936,392. of whom 225,637, 
or 11.65 per cent, were Jews. According to statis- 
tics of the Jewish Colonization Association, the 
Jewish population in the cities in 1898 was 173,641. 
Official documents show that Jews first emigrated to 
Bessarabia from Poland and Germany in the six- 
teenth century. They settled there in great num- 
bers, not being permitted to live in the neighboring 
principality of Moldavia. At the present time a 
considerable part of Bessarabia is forbidden ground 
for the Jews, the May Laws of 1882 being adminis- 
tered in a hostile spirit by the local authorities, who 
have officially declared their towns to be “ villages ” 
in which no Jews may reside. Moreover. many 
places in Bessarabia are situated within a distance 


Bessarabia 
Bet 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





of fifty versts (83 English miles) from the frontier; 
and here only such Jews are permitted to live as were 
registered there before the issue of the edict of 1858. 

Bessarabia excels among the Russian governments 
in the culture of the vine; and in this, as in the cul- 
tivation of tobacco, large numbers of Jews are em- 
ployed. The chief articles of export are grain, 
fruit, and wine. 

Until the middie of the nineteenth century most 
of the local commerce was in the hands of the 
Jews. Many Jews also were engaged in agriculture 
on leased lands, while many were innkeepers and 
farmers of post-stations. The May Laws and the 
introduction of the liquor monopoly by the govern- 
ment reduced many Jewish families to a deplorable 
condition. Zashchuk, who endeavors to foster the 
view that Jewish commercial activity is harmful to 
the general population, admits that, owing to the 
indolence and incapacity of the Bessarabians, the 
Jews are indispensable to the development of all 
branches of trade, From statistics gathered by the 
Jewish Colonization Association, the artisan class in 
1898 comprised 20,976 persons; viz., 8,580 masters, 
7,075 journeymen, and 5,321 apprentices. A small 
number of the Bessarabian Jews live as agriculturists 
in colonies founded between 1836 and 1854. (See 
AGRICULTURAL COLONIES IN Russra.) The Bessara- 
bian colonies are established on parcels of land leased 
from private proprietors. There are six colonies in 
the districts of Soroki and Beltzy: Dombroveny, 
Bricheva, Valya-Lui-Vlad, Vertinzhany, Lublin, 
and Markuleshty. Their present condition is as 

















follows: 

| Land in | Number Number 

| Deciatines.| of Farms. |of Colonists. 
DOMDTOVENY sicavescueens | 1179 139 1,182 
Baty os, ccncccve we caaw 60a OE 23: 62 411 
Vertinzhany.........ceeee 890 47 | 397 
Valya-Lui-Vlad........... 346 &2 716 
BVich@vass <cswsadowernteas 289 83 2() 
Markuleshty ............. 504 123 | 820 

PAG Giccwotewnee ty ease | 2.942 536 4,296 





The following table shows the number of Jews in 
the district and the percentage of the total popula- 
tion: 
































GOVERNMENT OF BESSARABIA (CENSUS, 1897), 
JEWISH POPULATION. 

et Cent 

evita. (Of the To- 

Districts Males. | Females. | Total. tal Popu- 
lation. 

Kishinev.........++ 25,450 | 27,793 | 53,243 | 19.01 _ 
AKKerman ...esesees 6,016 6,266 12,282 4.64 
BOnGery siicccar sania 8,214 8,261 16,475 8.44 
Byelizy .eivesenvcos 13,493 | 13,768 | 27261 | 12/89 
SAUD si canksckpcaas 5,766 5,551 11,617 4.75 
OTEVCYVEV wo. ccc aee 13,004 13,284 26,288 12.20 
POLORE sin nt ee bade 15,233 15,749 30,982 14.19 
OU si-ca tae seen : 23,397 24,092 47,489 15.45 
Total for Govt...} 110.573 | 115,064 295,637 | 11.65 





BIBLIOGRAPHY : Statistics collected by the St. Petersburg branch 
of the Jewish Colonization Association: S. J. Zashchuk, 
Bessarabskaya Oblast de St. Petersburg, 1862: Russian 
Census, 1897 (by courtesy of Baron David Ginzburg). 


H. R. S. J. 


112 





In the year 1840 David Zelensky of Krementchug, 
Joseph Rabinovitch of Pavlograd, and Jacob Gold- 
enweiser of Uman presented a petition to Count 
M. 8. Vorontzov asking for his cooperation in the 
realization of their pjau for the founding and organ- 
ization of a Jewish agricultural colony in Bessarabia. 
The unsatisfactory condition of Jewish agricultural 
colonics established before that time was due, they 
said, to the social and religious conditions of the 
Jews, to the habits forced upon them by many cen- 
turies of artificial life, and to the deep-rooted preju 
dices against them. The petitioners did not ask for 
material aid, but for the moral support of the gov- 
ernment, and for the privilege of buying from the 
government 5,000 deciatines of land in Bessarabia 
suitable for the founding of a model Jewish agricul- 
tural colony, purposing “to awaken among other 
Jews the inclination to agricultural occupations; to 
pay due attention to the industries relating to agri- 
culture, such as cattle-breeding, gar- 
dening, and track-farming, as well as 
sheep-raising, bee-keeping, the breed- 
ing of horses, the development of the 
silkworm industry, and of wine-ma- 
king.” The number of the first settlers was to be 
limited to 50 families; each family was to possess at 
least 450 rubles for traveling expenses and estab- 
lishment, and was to promise to pay off in twenty 
years the price of the land assigned. Vorontzov 
enthusiastically seconded the efforts of the organi- 
zers, and called for expression on the subject from 
the military governor of Bessarabia. Lieutenant- 
General Feodorov, who was at that time acting in 
this capacity, replied that there was no single piece 
of unoccupied territory of 5,000 deciatines available 
for the purpose. Vorontzov, therefore, was obliged 
to inform the petitioners of his unsuccessful efforts, 
and the proposed plan was never realized. 

The more liberal spirit of the reign of Alexander 
II. brought with it the extension of the rights of his 

Jewish subjects, and the privilege of 


Proposed 
Colony of 
1840. 


Jewish purchasing landed property within the 
Agricul- paleofsettlement. Seventeen Jewish 
turists. colonies, which had been founded be- 


tween the years 1836 and 1854, covered 
an area of 9,305 deciatines. These colonies (Dom- 
broveny, Markuleshty, Vertinzhany-Rogojeni, Mere- 
shevka-Lankantzi, Bricheva, Nemewvka-Lublin, Ka- 
preshti, Novie Teleneshti, Zguritsa, Aleksandreni, 
Valya-Lui-Vlad, Lomitchanets, Konstantinovka, 
Jchenkar, Ivanos-Nikolacvka, Shibko, and Roma- 
nooka) were, under Alexander II., in a comparatively 
prosperous condition. Moreover, Bessarabia was at 
that time the only region complying with the re- 
quirements of the law prohibiting the Jews from 
acquiring other than unoccupied Jand, and many 
Jews were accordingly attracted to the Bessarabian 
lands. 

The first Jewish landowner in Bessarabia was 
“Honorary Citizen” Joseph [Jevzel] Gtinzburg, the 
progenitor of the present Baron Giinzburg. He pur- 
chased in the districts of Jassy, Soroki, Akerman, 
and Bendery 14,004 deciatines and 76,000 falechs 
of land for a sum of 287,209rubles. This led to the 
presentation of two different and opposing petitions 
to the government within the same year. On the 


113 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA. 


Bessarabia 
Bet 





one hand, a group of Jewish capitalists in St. Peters- 
burg petitioned for permission to purchase land oc- 
cupied by freedmen, and for all the privileges con- 
ferred upon non-Jews through the territory within 
the pale of settlement, with the provision that neither 
the Jewish owners nor any of their coreligionists 
should sell spirituous liquors. On the other hand, 
the nobles of Bessarabia petitioned the government 
to enforce the old laws prohibiting Jews from pur- 
chasing or owning auy land in Bessarabia. A. G. 
Stroganov at first decided the case against the Jew- 
ish petitioners, and the military governor, General 
Uyinski, also reported unfavorably. Notwithstand- 
ing this, however, the czar (March, 1859) decided in 
favor of the Jews, who showed that the land had in- 
creased in value. 

The timber trade, which, at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, was not an unimportant factor 

in the life of New Russia, owed its 

Foreign growth and prosperity to foreign 

Jews. Jews. Notwithstanding the decision 
of the government (1824) forbidding 
the settlement of foreign Jews in Russia and even 
ordering the expulsion of those that had already be- 
come Russian subjects, the government gave un- 
stinted support to the pioneers in this new branch 
of commerce, in the hope that the example of the 
foreign Jews would inspire their Russian coreligion- 
ists to give up their petty commercial transactions 
for those of a broader character and greater useful- 
ness to the community. 

At the beginning of 1840 the petition of eight 
Austrian Jews, for the privilege of retail trade in 
timber along the entire course of the Dniester river, 
was transmitted to the minister of finances, who 
called for a report on the matter by the governor- 
general of New Russia, M. 8. Vorontzov. Voront- 
zov answered that “since there was great need for 
timber all along the lowcr Dniester, and the supply 
from Austria insufficient, he thought it advisable to 
permit the petitioners, as well as all foreign dealers 
in timber floating their merchandise from Austria 
down the Dniester, to sell it unhindered all along 
the course of the river.” This expression led to 
the decision of the committee of ministers, indorsed 
by the emperor, to grant for three years (1840-48) the 
privileges solicited. The favorable result of this 
petition encouraged another group of Austrian Jews 
to ask for similar privileges along the river Pruth. 
These were granted as an experiment for two years, 
and in 1842 were extended for an additional four 
years. When the additional four years had come to 
an end (1847), the merchants petitioned for at least 
one year for the liquidation of their business, The 
matter was referred to Feodorov, governor-general 
of New Russia, and received his favorable comment; 
whereupon the government granted the petition of 
the Austrian Jews, and was so favorably impressed 
with the results of their enterprise that six years 
were granted them instead of the one year re- 
quested. See, also, KISHINEF. 

H. R. J. G. L. 

BESSELS, EMIL: German-American Arctic 
explorer and naturalist; born at Heidelberg June 2, 
1847; died at Stuttgart March 30, 1888. At the 
university of his native place he studied medicine 

Iii.—8 


and zoology. In 1869, under the encouragement of 

Petermann of Gotha, he made his first journey to the 

Arctic ocean, during which he traced the influence 

of the Gulf Stream to the east of Spitzbergen. 

In 1870 he joined the German army as a military 

surgeon, and received public commendation from 

the grand duke of Baden for his services. A year later 
he ‘ volunteered to go as a surgeon and naturalist 
with the Hall expedition, which sailed on the 

“Polaris” from the Brooklyn (N. Y.) navy-yard. 

Nothing of moment took place until the ship reached 

82° 9' north latitude, when Captain Hall, who had 

been on a short hunting expedition, returned to the 
ship, partook of a cup of coffee, and shortly after 
became violently ill (Oct. 24, 1871). Bessels treated 
him; but the patient several times disregarded the 
physician’s advice, About Nov. 2 Hall showed 
signs of insanity, refusing to partake of food, and 
having the idea that he was being poisoned. He 

died Nov. 8, 1871. 

Upon the return of the members of the expedition 
in 1878, after numerous mishaps and disasters, Mor- 
ton, second mate of the “ Polaris,” brought a charge 
of murder against Bessels, alleging that the latter 
had administered morphine instead of quinine to Cap- 
tain Hall. The secretary of the navy directed an 
inquiry, which was conducted by Surgeon-Gen- 
eral of the Army J. K. Barnes and Surgeon-General 
of the Navy J. Beale, who reported “that Captain 
Hall died from natural causes—viz., apoplex y—and 
that the treatment of the case by Dr. Bessels was 
the best practicable under the circumstances,” 

Besseis, after this, spent some years at the Smith- 
sonian Institution, Washington, in preparing for 
publication the scientific results of the voyage, the 
most striking of which was the proof of the insular- 
ity of Greenland deduced from tidal observations, 
His most important work was “Scientific Results of 
the United States Exploring Expedition Steamer 
‘ Polaris,’” Washington, 1876. He published numer- 
ous papers on general natural-history subjects (see 
“Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers,” vii. 
164; ix. 229, 230). Later Bessels joined an ethno- 
logical voyage on the U.S. 58S. “Saranac” to the 
northwest coast of America; but the vessel was 
wrecked in Seymour Narrows, B. C. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rear-Admiral C, H, Davis, U.S. N., Narra- 
tiveof the North Polar Hxpedition, U.S. Ship Polaris, 
Capt. Charles Francis Hall Commanding, Washington, 
1876; W. H. Dall, in Bulletin of the Philosophical Society 
of Washington, xi. 465 et seq.; New York Times, Oct. 18, 
1873, p. 1, col. 3; New York Herald, Oct. 1, p. 6, cols. 4-5; 
ib. Oct. 5, p. 5, cols. 1-4; Brockhaus, Konversations-Lexi- 
kon, 8.V. 

A. E. Ms. 

BET: The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 
Its numerical value is two, wherefore the bet in the 
word pny'a (Gen. xxi. 12) is interpreted as an allu- 
sion to the two worlds Isaac is destined to inherit— 
this world and the world to come (Yer. Ned. iii. 
38a), or in the existence of which Isaac and his de- 
scendants believe (Gen. R. liii.). According to Bar 
Kappara, the Torah begins with the letter bet in 
allusion to the present and the future worlds (Gen. 
R. i. 14); according to R. Levi, in order to suggest 
by its shape (3) that men should not pry into the 
secrets of what is above or beneath or behind, but 
simply inquire into the work of creation that lies 


Bet Beltin 
Bet Hillel 





open before them (2d, i. 13). 
JOSEPH, ALPHABET OF. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Buxtorf, Tiberias, xiv., xviii. On the origin 
of the letter, see I. Taylor, The Alphabet, 1883; A. J. Evans, 
Primitive Pietographs, 1894; Cretan Pictographs, 1895; 
Further Discoveries, etc., 1897, 1898; and the works named 
in Nos. 1 and 2 in the bibliography of ALPHABET, 

T. K. 
BET BELTIN (nba n°3) (called also Bati 

Baltan, Biltin, and in the Talmud Beram): A 

steep hill above the Euphrates, on which is built 

the modern town of Bir; lat. 37° 3’ N., long. 38° E. 

Travelers and caravans from Aleppo to Diarbekir, 

Bagdad, and Portia cross the Euphrates at this 

point. According to the Mishnah (R. H. ii. 4), Bet 

Beltin was the extreme point of Palestine to which 

messengers came from Jerusalem to announce the 

new moon. This they did by kindling fires on the 
summit of the hill. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schwarz, Das Heilige Land, p. 53; Ritter, 

Erdkunde, x. 925; Neubauer, G. T. pp. 242, 354. 

J. SR. I. Br. 

BET DIN (1 m3; pl. batte din): Rabbinical 
term for court-house or court. In view of the 
theocratic conception of the law, which pervades 
Biblical legislation and is strictly carried out by 
rabbinical Judaism, including both civil and relig- 
ious law, the bet din is not only a civil, but also a 
religious authority. 

The “Bet Din ha-Gadol,” or Great Sanhedrin at 
Jerusalem existing during the time of the Temple, 
was called also “Sanhedrin Gedolah” or, briefly, 
“Sanhedrin” (Sotah i. 4, ix. 11; Sanh. i. 6; Shebu. 
ii. 2.) According to the Talmud, this bet din rep- 
resented the supreme court of the country men- 
tioned in Scripture (Deut. xvii. 8-18), and acted 
chiefly as court of last instance in legal or ritual dis- 
putes, in which case its decisions had to be obeyed 
on pain of death (compare rebellious ELDER). It 
also had a certain voice in the affairs of the state— 
no war of offense (RIYA nondy) could be under- 
taken without its permission—and it was in charge 
of civil affairs to the extent of appointing the judges 
of the country. The principal passages regarding 
this bet din are: Sifre, Deut. 152-153; Sanh. i. 5, 6; 
Hor. i. 1-5. The president, who bore the title 
“Nasi,” was in a way the supervisor, but not 4 
member of the court, which consisted of seventy 
members, corresponding to the seventy “elders” 
appointed by Moses (Num. xi. 25). The most 
learned and important of these seventy members was 
called “Ab Bet Din,” a title similar to that of vice- 
president (see Zucor). It is highly improbable that 
there was a bet din of this class in Jerusalem before 
the destruction of the Temple (compare SANHE- 

DRIN). The detailed description of 

The Great such an authority found in the Tal- 
Bet Din. mudic works is probably theoretical 
even in its chief points, and may have 

had its origin in the fact that the bet din instituted 
after 70 was considered the ideal by the Rabbis, and 
that they were reluctant to omit it from the earlier 
periods of Jewish communal! life. Hence the Tel- 
mudic sources speak very freely of a bet din that 
existed from the time of Moses to that of the Rabbis 
(R. H. fi. 9), mentioning even the bet din of Gideon, 
Jephthah, Samuel (Tosef., R. EH. ii. [i.] 3), or those 


See also AKIBA BEN 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


114 





of Shem, of Samuel, and of Solomon (Mak. 28b), 
which they imagined similar to a later rabbinical 
court. And, furthermore, since the conditions in 
heaven were supposed to be analogous to those on 
earth, they likewise spoke of the heavenly bet din 
imbyry by ya oma) (Mak. ¢.¢.), calling it the “Great 
Ret Din” (ADI NIT °3) (Sotah 22b). 

The bet dinas the highest religious as well as civil 
authority of the Jews can only be proved to have ex- 
isted for the period between 70 and the end of the 
third century. It was Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai 
who made his bet din the intellectual center of the 
Jews when the destruction of Jerusalem deprived 
them of their bond of unity. He could not, of 
course, give his bet din the political importance of 
the old Sanhedrin; but, considering the new condi- 
tions under which the Jews were living, he suc- 
ceeded in investing it with greater powers than any 
authority had before possessed. It had entire charge 
of the calendar system, and hence became the relig- 
ious and national center not only of Palestine, but 
also of the Diaspora. Its power and influence in- 
creased under Rabban Johanan's successor, Rabban 

Gamaliel IT., culminating under Judah 

Bet Din ha-Nasi I., whose grandson, Judah 

at Jabneh. Nesia, may be regarded as the last 

person under whom the bet din was 
the real center of the Jews. Hence the Talmudic 
sources speak of Rabban Gamaliel and his bet din 
(Tosef., Ber. ii. 6), and of R. Judah ha-Nasi and his 
bet din (Ab. Zarah ii. 6), meaning thereby the cen- 
tral body representing the highest civil as well as 
religious authority of the Jews. 

On the death of Judah ha-Nasi the bet din of the 
Nasi lost its importance in consequence of the rise 
of Jewish scholarship in Babylonia toward the mid- 
dle of the third century, as well as the increasing 
oppression of the Palestinian Jews under the Roman 
rule, Although the dignity and, also, to some ex- 
tent, the power of the Nasi continued until the end 
of the fifth century (compare Origen, “Epist. ad 
Africanum,” xiv.), the bet din was no longer an in- 
tellectual center. According to Talmudic sources, 
decrees (TaKKANOT) binding for all Judaism were 
issued by the patriarchs before and during the time 
of Judah Nesia; but his successors had not such au- 
thority. In Babylonia no bet din was ever consid- 
ered a central authority, even for Babylonia alone, 
although, of course, the higher the reputation of 
a scholar, the greater was the authority of the bet 
din under him. Similar conditions obtained there 
even in the time of the Geonim, for no central bet 
din could exist on account of the rivalry of the two 
academics, From about 500 there was not even 
any formal and authoritative ordination, and mem- 
bers of an actual bet din must be ordained at least. 
Alfasi made an attempt to reestablish the former 
central bet din, considering his bet din the bighest 
ecclesiastical authority, and claiming for it preroga- 
tives which belonged to the Bet Din ha-Gadol (RK. 
H. iii., beginning; compare Nahmanides, “ Milhe- 
met,” on the passage). If Jacob Berab had suc- 
ceeded in reintroducing ordination, his bet din would 
have achieved the position of that of Rabban Jo- 
hanan ben Zakkai; but he encountered too much 
opposition. 


115 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bet Beltin 
Bet Hillel 





Aside from the Bet Din ha-Gadol and the simi- 
lar bet din of the Nasi, the term was applied to every 
court, consisting either of 23 mem- 

Other bers, who sat only in capital cases— 
Classes of niwb? ‘3°, or of three (according to 
Batte Din. some, tive), who decided in monetary 
affairs—rpiyy 9% (Sanh. i. 1-4; 

Tosef., 7. i. 1). Yet even in Talmudic times it was 
usual to have at least 11 scholars present at court 
(Sanh. 7b), a custom observed in later times also, 
at least in difficult cases. A scholar of standing 
(AMD) required no assistant for holding court 
(Sanh. 5a), so that, during the Middle Ages as well 
as in modern times, the local rabbi alone frequently 
represented the bet din. In larger communities, 
however, there is a bet din consisting of at least 
three members, which sits daily except on Sabbath 
and holidays, and decides ritual as well as legal 
questions. The local rabbi generally presides, but 
in large communities the direction of the bet din is 
an office in itself, the incumbent of which bears the 
title “rosh bet din.” The associate rabbi of a place 


has the same title, while among the Ashkenazim, 


and especially among the Polish-Russian Jews, the 
rabbi proper is designated as “ab bet din” and 
“resh mata.” Compare AUTHORITY, JUDGES, Ka- 
HAL, Nast. 

J. SR. L. G. 

BET HILLEL AND BET SHAMMATI: The 
“School (literally, “house”) of Hillel” and the 
“School of Shammai” are names by which are desig- 
nated the most famous antagonistic schools that 
flourished in Palestine during the first century (first 
tannaitic generation), and which more than others 
contributed to the development of the oral law. 

Down to the advent of Hillel and Shammai, who 
were the founders of the great schools bearing their 
names, there were but few casuistic differences 
among the schools. Between Hillel and Shammai 
themselves three (or, according to some authorities, 
five) disputes are mentioned in the Talmud (Shab. 
15a; Hag. ii. 2; ‘Eduy. i. 2,3; Niddahi. 1); but 
with the increase of their disciples disputations in- 
creased to such an extent as to give rise to the say- 
ing, “The one Law has become two laws” (Tosef., 
Hag. ii. 9; Sanh. 88b; Sotah 47b). 

The prevailing characteristics of the disputes are 
the restrictive tendency of the Shammaites and the 
moderation of the Hillelites. Three hundred and 
sixteen controversies between these two schools are 
preserved in the pages of the Talmud, affecting 221 

Halakot, 29 halakic interpretations, 


Dis- and 66 guard-laws (“gezerot”); and 
cussions out of the whole number only 55 (or 
Between about one-sixth) present the Sham- 

the maites on the sideof leniency. More- 
Schools. over, even where the characteristic 


tendencies appear to have changed 
masters, the practical result remains the same; being 
the logical and consistent resultants of some opinions 
expressed elsewhere, and in line with the natural 
tendencies of the respective schools; and some of 
their restrictive views the Hillelites subsequently 
rejected, adopting what were exceptionally the more 
moderate views of the Shammaites (‘Eduy. i. 12 et 
seg.; compare Weiss, .“ Dor,” i. 179 ef seg.). That 


the latter, as a school, ever receded from their stand- 
point to join the ranks of their more moderate an- 
tagonists is nowhere indicated; though individuals 
of that school, like Baba ben Buta, sometimes ac- 
knowledged the unreasonableness of their party by 
deserting its standard for that of Bet Hillel (Bezah 
20a; Yer. Hag. ii. 78a). Hence it is that the Mish- 
nah introduces some of their controversies with the 
remark, “These are of the lenient views of Bet 
Shammai and the restrictive views of Bet Hillel ” 
(‘Eduy. iv. 1; Tosef., ‘Eduy. ii. 2). 

The reason assigned for their respective tenden- 
cies isa psychological one. The Hillelites were, like 
the founder of their school (Ber. 60a; Shab. 31a; 
Ab. i. 12 et seg.), quiet, peace-loving men, accom- 
modating themselves to circumstances and times, 
and being determined only upon fostering the Law 
and bringing man nearer to his God and to his 
neighbor. The Shammaites, on the other hand, 
stern and unbending like the originator of their 
school, emulated and even exceeded his severity. 
To them it seemed impossible to be sufficiently 
stringent in religious prohibitions. The disciples of 
Hillel, “the pious and gentle follower of Ezra” 
(Sanh. 11a), evinced in all their public dealings 
the peacefulness, gentleness, and conciliatory spirit 
which had distinguished their great master; and by 
the same characteristic qualities they were guided 
during the political storms which convulsed their 
country. The Shammaites, on the contrary, were 
intensely patriotic, and would not bow to foreign 
rule. They advocated the interdiction of any and 

all intercourse with those who either 
Character- were Romans or in any way contrib- 
istics. uted toward the furtherance of Roman 
power or influences. Dispositions so 
heterogeneous and antagonistic can not usually en- 
dure side by side without provoking serious mis- 
understandings and feuds; and it was owing solely 
to the Hillelites’ forbearance that the parties did not 
come to blows, and that even friendly relations 
continued between them (Tosef., Yeb. i. 10; Yeb. 
14b; Yer. Yeb. i. 3b), for a time at least. But the 
vicissitudes of the period exerted a baneful influence 
alsoin that direction. 

When, after the banishment of Archelaus (6 c.r.), 
the Roman procurator Coponius attempted to tax 
the Jews, and ordered a strict census to be taken 
for that purpose, both schools protested, and the new 
measure was stigmatized as so outrageous as to 
justify all schemes by which it might be evaded. 
The general abhorrence for the system of Roman 
taxation manifested itself in looking with distrust 
upon every Jew who was officially concerned in 
carrying it out, whether as tax-collector (“ gabbai ”) 
or as customs-collector (“mokes”); these were 
shunned by the higher ranks of the community, and 
their testimony before Jewish courts had no weight 
(B. K. x. 1; 2). 118a; Sanh. iii. 8; 7b. 25d). About 
this time the malcontents held the ascendency. 
Under the guidance of Judas the Gaulonite (or Gali- 
lean) and of Zadok, a Shammaite (Tosef., ‘Eduy. ii. 
2; Yeb. 15b), a political league was called into ex- 
istence, whose object was to oppose by all means the 
practise of the Roman laws. Adopting as their 
organic principle the exhortation of the father of the 


Bet Hillel 
Bet ha-Midrash 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


116 





Maccabees (1 Macc. ii. 50), “Be ye zealous for the 
law, and give your lives for the covenant of your 
fathers,” these patriots called themselves “ Kan- 
na’im,” Zealots (Josephus, “B. J.” iv. 3, $9, and vii. 
8, $1; Raphall, “ Post-Biblical History,” ii. 864); and 
the Shammaites, whose principles were akin to those 
of the ZeaJots, found supportamong them. Their re- 
ligious austerity, combined with their hatred of the 
heathen Romans, naturally aroused the sympathies 
of the fanatic league, and as the Hillelites became 
powerless to stem the public indignation, the Sham- 
maites gained the upper hand in all disputes affect- 
ing their country’s oppressors. Bitter feclings were 
consequently engendered between the schools; and it 
appears that even in public worship they would 
no longer unite under one roof (Jost, “Gesch. des 
Judenthums und Seiner Sekten,” i. 261; Tosef., R. 
H., end). These feelings grew apace, until toward 
the last days of Jerusalem’s struggle they broke out 
with great fury. 

As all the nations around Judea made common 
cause with the Romans, the Zealots were naturally 
inflamed against every one of them; and therefore 
the Shammaites proposed to prevent all communica- 
tion between Jew and Gentile, by prohibiting the 

Jews from buying any article of food 

Relation or drink from their heathen neighbors. 
to External The Hillelites, still moderate in their 

World. religious and political views, would 

not agree to such sharply defined ex- 
clusiveness; but when the Sanhedrin was called to- 
gether to consider the propriety of such measures, 
the Shammaites, with the aid of the Zealots, gained 
the day. Eleazar ben Ananias invited the disciples 
of both schools to meet at his house. Armed men 
were stationed at the door, and instructed to permit 
every one to enter, but noone to leave. During the 
discussions that were carried on under these cireum- 
stances, many Hillelites are said to have been killed; 
and there and then the remainder adopted the re- 
strictive propositions of the Shammaites. known in 
the Talmud as “The Eighteen Articles.” On ac- 
count of the violence which attended those en- 
actments, and because of the radicalism of the 
enactments themselves, the day on which the 
Shammaites thus triumphed over the Hillelites 
was thereafter regarded as a day of misfortune 
(Tosef., Shab. i. 16 e¢ seg.; Shab. 18a, 1%a; Yer. 
Shab. i. 8c). 

Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel continued their dis- 
putes—probably interrupted during the war times 
—after the destruction of the Temple, or until after 
the reorganization of the Sanhedrin under the presi- 
dency of Gamaliel IT. (80 c.£.). By that time all 
political schemes and plans for the recovery of the 
lost liberty had become altogether foreign to the 
ideas of the spiritual leaders; and the characteristies 
of the Hillelites once more gained the ascendency. 
All disputed points were brought up for review 
(see ‘AKABIA); and in nearly every case the opinion 
of the Hillelites prevailed (Tosef., Yeb. i. 13; Yer. 
Ber. i. 3b; Gratz, “ Gesch. der Juden,” 2ded., iv. 424, 
note 4). Thenceforth it was said: “Where Bet 
Shammai is opposed to Bet Hillel, the opinion of 
Bet Shammai is considered as if not incorporated in 
the Mishnah ” (“Bet Shammai bimekom Bet Hillel 


enah Mishnah ”"—Ber. 36b; Bezah lib. Yeb. 9a); 

that is, null and void. 
Of the personne! of these schools there is no record, 
they being invariably cited collectively as “Bet 
Shammai” or “ Bet Hillel.” Nor can 


Constitu- their number be stated with exacti- 
ent tude. In round figures, the Baby- 
Members. lonian Talmud (Suk. 28a; B. B. 184a) 


gives the number of Hillel’s disciples 
as eighty, while the Palestinian Talmud (Yer. Ned. 
v. 39b) makes of them as many pairs. Both sources 
mention two of them by name, Jonathan ben Uzziel 
and Johanan ben Zakkai; and it is added that 
Jonathan was the greatest and Johanan the least 
among the whole number. No such traditions are 
recorded of the Shammaites, Of their school three 
are mentioned by name; viz., Baba ben Buta (Bezah 
20a), Dositai of Kefar Yetma (‘Orlah ii. 5), and Zadok 
(Tosef., ‘Eduy. ii. 2); but they are mentioned simply 
because, though Shammaites, they sometimes up- 
held the views of the Hillelites. See HitLEeL and 
SHAMMAL 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., iii. 275-278, 
500 et seq., ib. notes 23, 26; Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums 
und Seiner Sekten, i. 261-270; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, 
pp. 45-55; Weiss, Dor Dor we-Dorshaw, i. 177-187 ; idem, 
Introd. to Mek. v. et seq.; Brill, Mebo ha-Mishnah, pp. 
43-49; Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten, i. 14-25; Schwarz, 
Die Controversen der Shammaiten und Hittetiten, Carts- 
ruhe, 1898. 

J. sh. S. M. 


BET HA-MIDRASH: High school; literally, 
“house of study,” or place where the students of the 
Law gather to listen to the M1prasi, the discourse 
or exposition of the Law. It is used in contradis- 
tinction to the Bet ha-Sefer, the primary school 
which children under thirteen attended to learn the 
Scriptures. Thus itis said in Gen. R. |xiii. 10: “ Esau 
and Jacob went together to the bet ha-sefer until 
they had finished their thirteenth year, when they 
parted; the former entering the houses of idols, and 
the latter the batte ha-midrashot.” Elsewhere it is 
stated, “There were 480 synagogues (batte kene- 
siot) in Jerusalem, each containing a bet ha-sefer. 
(primary school for the Scriptures), anda bet Talmud 
(same as bet ha-midrash), for the study of the Law 
and the tradition; and Vespasian destroyed them 
all” (Yer. Meg. iii. 73d; Lam. R., Introduction 12, 
ii, 2; Pesik. xiv. 121b; Yer. Ket. xiii. 85c, where 
“460” is a clerical error). The same tra- 
dition is given somewhat differently in 
Bab. Ket. 105a: Three hundred and 
ninety-four courts of justice were in Jerusalem and 
as many synagogues, “batte ha-midrashot” (high 
schools), and “batte soferim” (primary schools). 
According to Yer. Ta‘anit iv. 7, p. 69a; Lam. R. ii. 
2, lil. 51, there were 500 primary schools in Betar, 
the smallest of which had no less than 3800 pupils 
(compare Sotah 49b, Git. 58a, which speak of 400 
schools, each with 400 pupils), The number of 
schools (480) in Jerusalem besides the one in the 
Temple isderived by gematria from the word snxdp 
= 481 (Lam. R. Z.¢.). 

The bet ha-midrash in the Temple hall (Luke ii. 
46, xx. 1, xxi. 87; Matt. xxi. 28, xxvi. 55; John 
Xviti. 20) is called the “bet ha-midrash ha-gadol,” 
the great high school (Tanna debe Eliyahu 2. ix. [x. ]. 
xvi., and elsewhere). It formed the center of learn- 


Meaning. 


117 


ing, and was, of course, the oldest one, standing in 
close relation to the “Bet Din ha-Gadol,” the high 
court of justice in the Temple. Its history can not 
well be traced. A “bet wa‘ad,” meeting-place of 
scholars, existed as early as the days of Jose ben 
Joezer of Zereda, the martyr of the Maccabean time, 
who teaches: “Let thy house be a bet wa/‘ad for 
the wise” (Ab. i. 4). The name “bet wa‘ad ” is met 
with also in Sotah ix. 15; Yer. Ber. iv. 7c; Yer. 
Ta‘anitiv. 67d, and elsewhere. The hearers or dis- 
ciples were seated on the ground at the feet of their 
teachers (Ab. /.c.; Luke x. 39; Acts 
xxii. 3). In the first century, schools 
existed everywhere at the side of the 
synagogues (Acts. xix. 9, “the school 
of one Tyrannus”). The primary school, bet ha- 
sefer, was, however, instituted at a later time, first 
by Simeon ben Shetah, about 100 B.c. at Jerusalem 
(Yer. Ket. viii. 32c), and later introduced generally, 
for the benefit of all children, by Joshua b. Gamlain 
the first century (B. B. 21a; see Epucation). The 
Haggadah reflects a later mode of life when speak- 
ing of a bet ha-midrash of Shem and Eber which was 
attended by Isaac, occasionally also by Rebekah, 
and regularly by Jacob (Targ. Yer. to Gen. xxii. 19, 
xxiv. 62, xxv. 22; Gen. R. lxiii. ; Tanna debe Eliyahu 
R. v.); of that of Jacob at Sukkot, which Joseph 
frequented (Targ. Yer. to Gen. xxxiil. 17, xxxvii. 
2; Num. xxiv. 5); of that which Judah was sent to 
build for Jacob in Egypt (Gen. R. xcv.; Tan., 
Wayiggush, xi.); or of that of Moses, where Moses 
and Aaron and his sons taught the Law (Targ. Yer. 
to Ex. xxxix. 38; compare Num. R. xxi.: “Joshua 
arranged the chairs for the scholars attending the bet 
wa‘ad of Moses”). Similarly the prophet Samuel had 
his “bet ulphana” (Aramaic for “ bet ha-midrash”) in 
Ramah (Targ. to I Sam. xix. 19). Solomon built 
synagogues and schoolhouses (Eccl. R. ii. 4). King 
Hezekiah furnished the oil for lamps to burn in the 
synagogues and schools, and threatened to have 
killed by the sword any one who would not study 
the Law ; so that soon there was no ‘AM HA-AREZ to 
be found in the land, nora child or woman unfamiliar 
with all the precepts on Levitical purity (Sanh. 94b). 
Especially those of the tribe of Issachar devoted 
their time to the study of the Law in the bet ha- 
midrash, Zebulun the merchant furnishing them the 
means of support (I Chron. xii. 38; Deut. xxxiii. 
18; Gen. R. lii., xcix.; Targ. Yer. @.¢.). 

Jethro was promised that his descendants would 
never see the schoolhouses (batte ha-midrashot) dis- 
appear from among them (Tanna debe Eliyahu R. v.; 
compare Mek., Yitro, ‘Amalek, 2). 

In Mishnaic times (Shab. xvi. 1) it appears that 
public discourses were held in the bet ha-midrash; 
but Targ. Yer. on Judges v. 9 indicates that it was 
used later for the study of the Law, and the popular 
discourses were delivered at the synagogue. 

The first bet ha-midrash of which there is authen- 
tic record is the one in which Shemaiah (Sameas) and 

Abtalion (Pollion) taught, and which 

Earliest Hillel, when a youth, could attend only 

Forms. after having paid admission-fee to the 
janitor (Yoma 35b). Whether or not 

this charge of a fee, so contradictory to the maxim of 
the men of the Great Synagogue (Abot i. 1), “ Raise 


Its 
History. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bet Hillel 
Bet ha-Midrash 


many disciples,” wasa political measure of the time, 
it seemingly stands in connection with a principle 
pronounced by the Shammaites (Ab. R. N., A, iii; 
B, iv., ed. Schechter, p. 14), that “only those who 
are Wise, humble, and of goodly, well-to-do parent- 
age should be taught the Law.” On the other 
hand, the Hillelites insisted that “all, without ex- 
ception, should partake of the privilege, inasmuch 
as many transgressors in Israel, when brought nigh 
to the Law, brought forth righteous, pious, and 
perfect men.” Against the Hillelite principle, R. 
Gamaliel wanted to exclude ail those who had not 
stood the test of inner fitness. He was outvoted, 
with the result that 400 (or, according to some au- 
thorities, 700) chairs were necessarily added in order 
to seat the newcomers (Ber. 28a). The customary 
seating of the pupils on chairs marks an improve- 
ment, and this new feature gave to the schoolhouse 
the name “yeshibah” (Abot ii. 7) or “metibta” (B. 
M., 85a, b). 

The bet ha-midrash of Jabneli was called “ vine- 
yard,” either because it stood ina vineyard (Schiirer, 
“Gesch.” 3d ed., ti. 325, note 49) or, as rabbinical 
tradition asserts, because it was built in semicircular 
shape, thus resembling a vineyard (Ket. iv. 6; 
‘Eduy. ii. 4; Yer. Ber. iv. 7d). At all events the 
name “vineyard” became the usual appellation for 
the bet ha-midrash; hence Song of Songs vii. 18 (A. 
VY. 12), “Let us get up early to the vineyards,” was 
applied to the bet ha-midrash (‘Er. 21b). 

It is frequently recommended as highly meritori- 
ous to be one of the first to come to the bet ha- 
midrash and the last to leave (Shab. 127a; Git. Ya; 
Meg. 15b; Suk. 28a; Sanh. 3b). 

It was believed to bring misfortune to sit at 
meals during the time that the discourse was being 
held in the bet ha-midrash (Git. 38b), It was for- 

bidden to sleep in the bet ha-midrash 

Rules of (Tanna debe Eliyahu R. xiii., xiv.). 
the Bet ha- In Babylonia, where scholars spent 

Midrash. their whole time in the school, ex- 

ception was made to this rule (Ber. 

25a; Meg. 28a). Mothers won special merit by 
training their children to go to the bet ha-sefer, and 
wives by waiting for the return of their husbands 
from the bet ha-midrash (Ber. 17a). Every session 
at the bet ha-midrash was expected to offer some 
new idea to the student; hence the frequent ques- 
tion: “What new thing was offered at the bet ha- 
midrash to-day?” (Tosef., Sotah, vii. 9; Hag. 3a; 
Yer. Git. v. 47d; and elsewhere). The bet ha- 
midrash ranks higher than the syna- 

Im- gogue; consequently a synagogue 
portance of may be transformed into a bet ha- 
the Bet ha- midrash; but the latter can not be 

Midrash. changed into a house of worship (Meg. 

26b, 27a). “He who goeth from the 
synagogue to the bet ha-midrash—that is, from the 
divine service to the study of the Law—will be 
privileged to greet the majesty of God; for so says 
Ps. Ixxxiv. 8 [A. V. 7]. ‘They go from strength 
to strength, every one of them appeareth before God 
in Zion’” (Ber. 64a), To the bet ha-keneset (syna- 
gogue) and the bet ha-midrash in Babylonia are re- 
ferred the words of Ezek. xi. 16, Hebr.: “I will be to 
them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they 


Bet ha-Midrash 
Beth-el 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


118 





shall come” (Meg. 29a). The Haggadah finds allusions 
to the bet ha-midrash in Ps. xc. 1: “Thou hast been 
our dwelling-place in all generations”; and Ps. 
Ixxxii. 1, Hebr.: “God standeth in the midst of the 
congregation of {those who seek] God” (d.; Gen. 
R. xlviit.); and also in Balaain’s words (Num. xxiv. 
do): “How lovely are thy tents, O Jacob, thy taber- 
nacles, O Israel” (Targ. Yer. to Num. é.¢c.; Sanh. 
105b); likewise in Cant. viii. 10: “I am a wall and 
my breasts like towers” (Pes. 87a), and Cant. ii, 8, 
9, refer to the synagogue and the schoolhouse: 
“ The voice of my beloved! behold he cometh leap- 
ing... ; my beloved js like a roe,” meaning that 
God proceeds from one synagogue to the other, and 
from one bet ha-midrash to the other, to bless Israel 
(Pesik. v, 48b). 

God also has His bet ha-midrash in heaven, and 
teaches the Law to the righteous (Tanna debe Eli- 
yahu R. i., iii, iv., v., viii., ix.); it is called the “ up- 
per yeshibah” or “metibta” (B. M. 86a; Ber. 18b; 

Ta‘anit 21b), “He who accustoms 
The himself to go to the bet ha-kenesct 
Heavenly and bet ha-midrash in this world shall 
Bet ha- also be admitted into the bet ha-kene- 
Midrash. set and bet ha-midrash of the world 
to come ” (Joshua b. Levi, in Deut. R. 

vii.; Midr. Teh. to Ps. Ixxxiv. 5 [A. V. 4]). 

The name “bet ha-midrash” recurs in the Arabic 
“madrasah,” for school; and Jews under the infln- 
ence of Arabic life called the bet ha-midrash also 
midrash (Giidemann, “ Gesch. des Erzichungswesens 
und der Kultur der Juden in Frankreich und 
Deutschland,” i. 92 e¢ seg., 265; “ Quellenschriften 
zur Gesch. des Unterrichis,” p. 99). <A > system- 
atic plan of education of the thirteenth century, 
published and translated by Giidemann, J.¢., pro- 
poses to impose on each member of a congrega- 
tion in the whole country or district the old half- 
shekel tax for the maintenance of the great bet 
ha-midrash or high school to be built in the capital 
near the synagogue, and for primary schools to be 
in cach town, where the disciples, together with the 
teachers, should live during the week, separated 
from their parents and removed from all contact 
with the outside world. During the Middle Ages 
the bet ha-midrash was open day and night for both 
public discourses and private studies. It contained 
usually a large library for the use of the students, 
and became an attractive center and meeting-place 
also for scholars of other cities. Inevitably this 
privilege was frequently abused, and the bet ha- 
midrash often became the resort of idlers and poor 
homeless strangers who spent their time in gossip 
rather than in study. The official name given by 
non-Jews tothe bet ha-midrash in Nuremberg (1406) 
is “ Judenschule ” (see Giidemann, “ Gesch. d. Erzie- 
hungswesens und der Kultur d. Abendliind. Juden,” 
p. 67, note 10). Whether the same name, “ Juden- 
schule,” for the synagogue, given to it by the Chris- 
tian population (Giidemann, l.c. p. 94, note 2), origi- 
nated from the use of the bet ha-midrash also as a 
place of worship by the students, customary as early 
as 'Talmudical times (Ber. 8a), or from other causes, 
the proverbial “noise of the Judenschule” seems to 
refer to the lively discussions which took place in 
the bet ha-midrash (though at times the synagogue 


was used also for Jearned disputations), and not 
to any disorder in connection with the divine 
service. 

The number of hearers or disciples at the bet ha- 
midrash was not limited as was the case in the 
HEDER, or primary school (Abrahams, “ Jewish Life 
in the Middle Ages,” p. 349). The rabbis or or- 
dained teachers, asa rule engaged by the community 
to take charge of the studies in the bet ha-midrash, 
often dwelt in the same house; thus in Germany 
where the bet ha-midrash received the Latin name 
Clausa (Claus = cloister), also called “Claus Rab- 
bis” or “Clausner.” The synagogue and bet ha- 
midrash were often in the same building or adjoin- 
ing cach other. For the course of studies and other 
regulations concerning the bet ha-midrash, see the 


articles EptucaTion; also ACADEMIES, BaAHUR, 
HEDER, and YESHIBAH. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Giidemann, Jlidisches Unterrichtswesen 


Wiihrend der Spaniseh-Arabischen Periode, 1873, p. 791 5 
idem, Gesch. des Erziehungswesens und der Kultur der 
Abendlind. Juden, I. 1880, II. 1888 (see Index); idem, 
Quellenschriften zur Gesch. des Unterrichts und der 
Erziehung bet den Deutschen Juden, 1891 (see Index); 
Abrahains, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, 1896, pp. 34, 349 
et sey.; Hamburger, R. B. T. ii, s.v. Lehrhaus; Weber, 
System der Altsynagegalen Theologie, 1880, pp. 34, 127- 
360; Schiirer, U.c.; Jacobs, Jews of Angevin Lngland, pp. 
243-251, 343-344, 

J. SR, K. 

BET-TALMUD: Hebrew monthly review, de- 
voted to Talmudical and rabbinical studies and liter- 
ature; founded in 1881 by Isaac Hirsch Weiss and 
Meir Friedmann, at Vienna, and published by the 
former until its discontinuance in 1886. 

Besides the editors, among the contributors to this 
monthly were such scholars as Buber, Brill, A. Ep- 
stein, Gtidemann, Reifmann, Schechter, and many 
others prominent in the domain of Jewish learning. 
Some of the articles published in “ Bet-Talmud ” 
were also printed separately. 

L. G. 

BETERA, BENE. Sce BATHyRa. 

BETH-ANATH: A Canaanite city in the terri- 
tory of Naphtali, the name of which contains, as one 
of its elements, the name of a god, ANATH. Though 
the Israelites did not succeed in conquering this 
city, the Canaanitish inhabitants became tributary 
to them (Josh. xix. 388; Judges i. 33). The city is 
mentioned several times in Egyptian inscriptions (W. 
Max Miller, “ Asien und Europa,” pp. 195, 220). The 
exact location can not be definitely ascertained. It 
is generally supposed to be on the site of the pres- 
ent village ‘Ainitha, ina fertile valley southeast of 
Tibnin in Galilee; but it is doubtful whether an im- 
pregnable fortress could have stood there. Since 
Rameses II. speaks of a mountain Beth-anath, W. 
Max Miller holds that the city itself lay in the valley. 

J. IR. F. Bu. 

BETH-ANOTH: City in the hills of Judah 
(Josh. xv. 59). It has been identified by both Con- 
der and Buhl (“ Geographie,” p. 158) with the mod- 
ern Beth Ainiin. 

J. SR. G. B. L. 

BETH-ARABAH (“house of Arabah”): A 
town situated, according to Josh. xv. 61, in the wil- 
derness of Judah. It was a border-town between 
Judah and Benjamin, and hence is credited to the 
former (Josh. 76.); while in Josh. xviii. 22 it is enu- 


I. Br. 


119 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bet ha-Midrash 
Beth-el 





merated among the towns of Benjamin. Lying to 
the south of Beth-hoglah in the Jericho plain, indi- 
cations point to its identification with the modern 
‘Ain al-Feshkha, as proposed by the late Robertson 


Smith. In Josh. xviii. 18 the name is given as 
“ Arabah.” 
J. IR. G. B. L. 


BETH-ARAM (Josh. xiii. 27) or BETH- 
HARAN (Num. xxxii. 36): A city east of the Jor- 
dan. The Talmud speaks of it as “ Bethramta ” 
(Ano 1N'3); Eusebius as “Bethramphta”; and Jose- 
phus as “ Betharamatha.” Herod the Great built a 
palace there which was destroyed after his death. 
The city was rebuilt by Herod Antipater and called 
“ Julias,” in honor of the wife of Augustus. As the 
original name of the empress was Livia, Eusebius 
and others called the town “Livias.” The site is 
indicated by the ruins on the hill Tell-er-Rameh, in 
a fertile part of the Jordan. 

J. IR. F. Br. 


BETH-ARBEL: Mentioned only once (Hosea x. 
14) as a city destroyed by Shalman. Opinions vary 
both as to the location of the place and as to the 
identification of Shalman. The most probable loca- 
tion is that of the modern Irbid on the east side of 
the Jordan (G. A. Smith, “ Historical Geography of 
the Holy Land”). As for Shalman, Schrader (“K. 
A. T.,” ii. 440-442) says heisa Moabite king, Shala- 
manu. Conder favors Shalmaneser III.; Wellhausen 
(“Kleine Propheten”) and Nowack (Commentary) 
Shalmaneser TV. A solution may be found in the 
Septuagint reading, “Beth-Jeroboam” fer “ Beth- 
arbel” and “Shallum” for “Shalman.” The pas- 
sage would then refer to the destruction of the house 
of Jeroboam by Shallum (II Kings xv. 10). 

J. IR. G. B. L. 


BETH-AVEN: A city on the border of Benja- 
min in the wilderness (Josh. xviii. 12), east of Bethel 
(Josh. vii. 2) and west of Michmash (I Sam. xiii. 5). 
It was the scene of a battle between Saul and the 
Philistines, in which the latter were defeated (I Sam. 
xiv. 23). 

In Hosea iv. 15, v. 8, x. 5, Beth-aven is probably a 
disguise for Beth-el, particularly in x. 5, where calves 
of Beth-aven as objects of idolatry are mentioned. 

J. IR. G. B. L. 


BETH-AZMAVETH. See AZMAVETH. 


BETH-DAGON: The name of several places 
apparently in ancient Palestine. The second ele- 
ment is the name of the Philistine god Dagon. In 
the Old Testament mention is made of a city called 
“Beth-dagon,” allotted to the tribe of Judah (Josh. 
xv, 41; compare Tosef., Oh. iii. 9); and within the 
territory of the tribe of Asher there was alsoa Beth- 
dagon (Josh. xix. 27; compare Tosef., Sheb. vii. 
13). Sennacherib also mentions a Bit-daganna on 
his inscriptions (see Schrader, “K. B.” ti. 92; De- 
litzsch, “Wo Lag das Paradies?” p. 289) which 
appears to be a third distinct locality. Beth-dagon 
occurs at the present day as the name of various 
places in Palestine; but it is doubtful whether 
any ancient cities can be associated with them. 
The Beth-dagon southeast of Jaffa is probably too 
far north for the Judean city mentioned in Josh. 


xv. 41; the Beth-dagon in the district of Acre, 
mentioned by Scholz, answers the required con- 
ditions. 

J. IR. F. Bu. 


BETH-DIBLATHAIM: City of Moab (Jer. 
x]vili. 22) identical with ALMON DIBLATAIM. 
J. IR. G. B. L. 


BETH-EL: <A city famous for its shrine, on the 
boundary between Ephraim and Judea—the site of 
the present little village of Béitin, on the southern 
slope of the Ephraimitic mountains. (See illustra- 
tion on page 120.) Originally the town was called 
Luz (Gen. xxviii. 19); but this name was displaced 
by that of the shrine, Beth-el (“house of God”). 
According to Gen. xii. 8, Abram erected an altar 
east of Beth-el; but the erection of the shrine—that 
is, of the holy stone—is ascribed to Jacob (Gen. 
xxviii. 18; compare Gen. xxxv. 6, 14). Since in 
these narratives (Gen. xxviii. 19, xxxv. 7) Beth-el, 
“the holy place,” is distinguished from the city Luz, 
the shrine must have been outside thecity. A suit- 
able place would be the hill to the east of Béitin, 
where now are the ruins of a small fort. But 
Schlatter (“Zur Topographie Palastina’s,” pp. 236 et 
seg.), Who thinks that the name Beth-aven in the Old 
Testament (Hosea iv. 15 et seg.) is merely a sarcastic 
disguise of “ Beth-el ” (so also the Talmud ; Neubauer, 
“G. T.” p. 155), concludes from Josh. vii. 2 (com- 
pare Gen. xii. 8) that the shrine must be sought 
somewhat more to the east at Deir Diwan. The 
statement in the text of Josh. vii. 2,and Josh. xvi. 
3, also, which places Beth-el, together with Luz, on 
the boundary-line of Ephraim, can not, for textual 
reasons (compare the Septuagint reading), be taken 
as a conclusive proof that tle shrine was at a great 
distance from the city. According to Judges xx. 
18, 26 ef seg., the shrine was of great importance in 
the days of the Judges; still more so after the divi- 
sion of the kingdoms, when Jeroboam made it the 
chief Ephraimitic shrine (I Kings xii. 29 ef seg.; com- 
pare II Kings x. 29), “the king’s chapel,” as it is 
called in Amos vii. 18. At the time of Elisha there 
was a community of prophets at Beth-el (II Kings 
ii. 3). The oldest prophets name Beth-el as one of 
the centers of degenerate Israelite cult (Amos iil. 
14, iv. 4, v. 5; compare Hosea iv. 15, v. 8, x. 5). 
Amos came into the city at a great feast, and raised 
a storm of indignation among the priesthood and 
the people by his merciless condemnation of Israel 
(Amos vii. 10 e¢ seq.). 

Even after the conquest of Ephraim the shrine of 
Beth-el retained its importance (II Kings xvii. 28). 
When Josiah took possession of this old part of the 
Ephraimitic dominions he uprooted the illegitimate 
cult (II Kings xxiii. 15). After the Exile, Beth-e) 
belonged to Judea (Ezra ii, 28). At the time of the 
Maccabees it is sometimes named as the seat of 
Syrian garrisons (I Macc. ix. 50). Otherwise, the 
place is only mentioned by the first Christian topog- 
rapher, the Pilgrim of Bordeaux, and by Eusebius, 
as a small country town. Jn Lam. R. ii. 3 it is 
stated that Hadrian placed a guard at Beth-el to 
capture Jewish fugitives. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Buhl, Geographie des Alten Paldstina, 


Index, s.v. Beth-el; G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of 
the Holy Landa, ete., pp. 250 et seq., 290 et seg.; A. von Gall, 


Beth-emek 
Beth-rehob 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


120 





Altisraclitische Cultstétten; Benzinger, Arch. pp. 372-391; 
commentaries of Dillmann, Delitzsch, Strack, Holzinger, and 
Gunkel on Gen. xxviii. and Xxxv. 

J. JR. F. Bu. 


BETH-EMEE: A town on the border between 
Asher and Zebulun, belonging to the latter (Josh. 
xix. 27). It lay to the east of Acco; but its exact 


location has not been determined. 
J. JR. G. B. L. 


BETH GUBRIN: Name of a city mentioned in 
the Talmud and in the Midrash (Neubauer, “G. T.” 
pp. 122 e¢ seg.), called “ Betogaboa” by Ptolemy and 
others. It does not occur in the Old Testament; 
but Reland shows that it was one of the [dumean 
forts captured by Vespasian (Josephus, “B. J.” iv. 
8,§1). It was also called “Eleutheropolis,” under 


coincides with the so-called “Mount of the Franks” 
(Jebel Furédis), a high peak south of Jerusalem, 
But since it was on this hill that Herod the Great 
built a fort called “ Herodion,” it could hardly have 
become a mere village in the daysof Jerome. If the 
statement of Jerome be true (and there is no sulli- 
cient reason to doubt it), Beth-haeccerem can not be 
the ‘Ain Karim, west of Jerusalem, as Cheyne 
(*“Encyc. Bibl.” i. 556) has it. This latter is rather 
to be identitied with the “ Kerem” mentioned in the 
Septuagint to Josh. xv. 59. However, the village 
Beth-Kerem, which, according to the Mishnah (Nid- 
dah ii. 7), had a reddish color, may be identical with 
the Biblical Beth-haccerem. 


J. IR. F. Bo. 


a ee A 








VIEW OF BETH-EL. 
(From a photograph by Bonfils.) 


which name it is often mentioned by Eusebius. 
In his time it was the capital of the province within 
which it lay. The site of the ancient city is deter- 
mined by the present village Bét Gibriin in south- 
western Judea, that contains some ruins. In the 
Vicinity are many natural caves, artificially en- 
larged; hence it is thought that the name “ Eleu- 
theropolis,” that is, “free city,” arose through a 
confusion between “hor” (cave) and “hor” (free). 
The original name, which was not supplanted by 
the Greek form, is found in even the oldest Moham- 
medan writers. 
J. IR. F. Br. 


BETH-HACCEREM: According to Neh. iii. 14, 
a Judean city; described in Jer. vi. 1 as a high place 
visible ata great distance. Jerome (on the passage) 
speaks of Beth-haccerem as a village still existing 
on the road between Jerusalem and Tekoa. This 


BETH-HILLEL, DAVID DE: Beni-Israel; 
author of a book of “Travels,” Madras, 1832, the 
first work by a Jew published in India. He de- 
scribes his travels through India, but is otherwise 
of little importance. _ 


at IOGRAEER Catalogue of Anglo-Jewish Exhibition, No. 
; 5. 


BETH-HORON: Name of two villages at the 
western end of the Ephraimite mountains, called re- 
spectively “upper Beth-horon” (Josh. xvi. 5) and 
“nether Beth-horon” (Josh. xvi. 8, xviii. 18; 1 Kings 
ix. 17), They are nowadays spoken of as the two 
villages “Bet ‘fr et-Tahta” (the lower) and “ Bet 
‘ar el-Foka” (the upper). They were situated on 
an old road leading from Gibeon to the plain on the 
coast; this is mentioned in the Old Testament as 
a difficult and steep road between the villages of 


121 


Beth-horon (Josh. x. 10; 7 dvaBaore BacBupov, I. Mace. 
iii 16), or Morad Beth-horon (Josh. x. 11; ¢v 7# xava- 
pace. BaiBupov, T. Mace. iti, 24). In ancient times 
the road was the principal highway between the 
mountains and the plain. Here the Canaanites fled 
from Joshua (Josh. x. 10 e¢ seg.); and by this road 
the Egyptian king Shishak probably invaded the 
country, since Beth-horon is mentioned in the 
inscription relating his victory (W. Max Miller, 
“ Asien und Europa,” p. 166). It was for strategic 
reasons that Solomon fortified the lower Beth-horon. 
In Grecian times the Syrian general Seron attempted 
to force an entrance by Beth-horon into the country, 
but was repulsed by Judas Maccabeus (I Mace. iii. 
13 et seg.). Nicanor afterward met with the same 
fate (I Macc. vii. 89 eé seg.). When Bacchides be- 
came master of the Jewish country he strongly for- 
tified this important point. It is again mentioned 
when the Romans under Cassius sustained heavy 
losses there (Josephus, “B. J.” ii. 19, § 8). It may 
also be gathered from the Old Testament that these 
two villages were built by the daughter of Ephraim 
(I Chron, vii, 24), and that Sanballat, the adversary 
of Nehemiah, came from there (Neh. ii. 10, 19; xiii. 
28). For the form “Horéni” compare ‘Qpwviv; 7.e., 
“Horonaim” in Septuagint of Josh. ix. 10 and 11; 
Sam. xiii, 24. Several of the Talmudic scholars 
came from Beth-horon (Neubauer, “G. T.” p. 154). 
J. IR, F. Bu. 


BETH-JAAZEK: According to the Mishnah 
(R. H. ii. 4), a large court in which the Sanhedrin 
awaited the announcement of the new moon. The 
Palestinian Talmud ascribes its name to the fact that 
the calculation of the calendar was settled (pty) there. 

J. IR. F. Bu. 


BETH-JESHIMOTH: Town in the district east 
of the Jordan, allotted to the tribe of Reuben ac- 
cording to Num, xxxiii. 49 and Josh. xii. 3, xiii. 20; 
but in Ezek. xxv. 9 it is mentioned as a Moabitish 
city. Josephus calls the city “Besimoth” (“B. J.” 
iv. 7, § 6). Eusebius speaks of it as “ Bethsimuth,” 
and states that it was situated on the Dead Sea, 10 
Roman miles southeast of Jericho. Its exact site is 
said to have been on a sandy hill southwest of 
Beth-haran. From this it appears that the Tal- 
mudic assertion that Beth-jeshimoth is 12 miles 
distant from Abel-shittim is not correct (Neubauer, 
“G. T.” p. 251). 

J. IR, F. Bu. 

BET HA-KENESET. See SYNAGOGUE. 


BETH-LEHEM-JUDAH (i Sam. xvii. 12; 
Judges xvii, 7, xix. 1): The modern Bait Lahm, sit- 
uated about 5 miles south of Jerusalem, some 15 
minutes’ walk east of the road to Hebron, ona range 
of hills surrounded by fertile and beautiful valleys. 
The city was also called “Ephratah” (Josh. xv. 60, 
LXX.; Micah v. 1 {A. V. 2]; Ruthi. 2, iv. 11; but 
hardly Gen. xxxv. 16, 19; xivili. 7). In I Chron. ii. 50 
et seq., iv. 4, Ephratah is the wife of Caleb from whom 
Beth-lehem descended. Beth-lehem is mentioned 
among the cities of Judah in Josh, xv. 60, in a pas- 
sage which is missing in the Hebrew text, but which 
has been preserved in the Septuagint. 

In the epic stories of the Book of Judges neither 
Beth-lehem nor any other city of Judah is mentioned. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Beth-emek 
Beth-rehob 


In the additions to this book it is named as the home 
of the Levite who migrated to Ephraim (Judges 
xvii. 7). Beth-lehem is also the scene of the idyl of 
Ruth. It was through David, whose family lived 
at Beth-lehem, that the little country town achieved 
an unexpected fame. The characteristic story told 
in IT Sam. xxiii. 18 e¢ seg. shows how much David 
was attached to his native city. But he did not re- 
main there. He chose a larger capital, and thus 
Beth-lehem could continue undisturbed in its quiet 
ways. According to II Chron. xi. 6, the town was 
fortified by Rehoboam. Micah (v. 1) predicted that 
Beth-lehem, Ephratah or (omitting “lehem”) Beth 
Ephratah would be the birthplace of a new Mes- 
sianic David. 

Nothing further is found in the Old Testament. 
concerning this country town, that was probably 
nothing more than an insignificant village, except 
that a number of its citizens returned to Judah after 
the Exile (Ezra ii. 21). It is not mentioned in the 
Book of Maccabees, nor in post-Biblical times by 
Josephus. But it became of world-historic impor- 
tance as the traditional birthplace of Jesus, and as 
such is still the goal of pious pilgrimages. Hadrian 
built here a shrine to Adonis, im order to irritate the 
Christians; this shows how important the town had 
become to the Christian world. As early as the 
second century astable in one of the grottos close by 
the town was pointed out as the birthplace of Jesus 
(Justin Martyr, “Dial. cum Tryph.” pp. 70, 78). 
Constantine built a splendid basilica in Beth-lehem, 
substantially the same church which is still admired 
by modern travelers. Below the church is the 
grotto regarded as the birthplace of Jesus. Jerome 
occupied a grotto near by when translating the 
Bible. During the Crusades Beth-lehem suffered 
greatly from Mohammedan violence. To-day it is 
a flourishing town, inhabited only by Christians. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. A. Sinith, Hist. Geography of Palestine, 
pp. 318 et seg.; Buhl, Geographie des Alten Paldstina, pp. 
19, 155-156; Tobler, Bethlehem; Palmer, Das Jetzige Beth- 
lehem, in Zeits. des Deutsch. Paldst. Vereins, xvii. 89 et seq. 


J. IR, F. Bu. 


BETH-PEOR: A place in the valley of the 
Jordan which, in Josh. xiii. 20, is apportioned to the 
Reubenites. In Deuteronomy (ii. 29, iv. 46, xxxiv. 
6) it is stated that the people were in the valley of 
the Jordan, opposite Beth-peor, when the Deutero- 
nomic law was promulgated. Hosea (ix. 10) probably 
means the same place when he speaks of Baal-peor. 
According to Eusebius (“ Onomastica,” ed. Lagarde, 
cexx xiii. 78; ccc. 2), the city was situated 6 Roman 
miles from Livias (or Beth-haran) near Mount Peor 
(compare Num. xxiii. 28). According to another 
statement of Eusebius (“Onomastica,” ccxtiii. 47), 
this mountain lay on the road from Livias to Hesh- 
bon; and according to Jerome (2). cxv. 1), it was 7 
miles distant from the latter. But no place corre- 
sponding to these descriptions has as yet been found. 
The references to Beth-peor in the Talmud, collected 
by Neubauer, “G. T.” pp. 252, 253, prove that the 
place survived the destruction of the Second Temple. 

J. IR. F. Bu. 


BETH-REHOB or REHOB: An Aramaic city 
which sent reenforcements to the Ammonites during 
the war with David (IJ Sam. x. 6, 8; compare 


Beth-Shan 
Bethar 


I Sam. 14, 47, LXX.). According to Judges xviii. 28, 
the city of Dan was built in the plain of Beth-rehob. 
The latter is also mentioned as the northern frontier 
place of Palestine (Num, xiii. 21). 

The exact site of Beth-rehobis uncertain, Robin- 
gon tried to identify it with the fort Hunén along 
the western border of the upper Jordan valley; but 
judging from the statements in the Old Testament, 
it must be a place east of the Jordan. It is possible 
that Beth-rehob is the ancient name of Banias, as- 
suming that this place is not to be identified with 
Hasar Enan (compare BAAL-GAD). 


J. JR. F. Bu. 


BETH-SHAN or BETH-SHEAN: Fortified 
townof Canaan. The Baisén of to-day, in the lower 
part of the Jalfid chasm, 120 meters below the level 

of the sea. The Israelites did not succeed in con- 
quering this city, which was strongly fortified by 
nature (Josh. xvii. 16; Judges i. 27). Whether it 
was conquered by the Philistines or whether the 
Canaanites opened their city to them is not clear 
from the stories of I Sam. xxxt. 10 and II Sam. xxi. 
12. But like all the other cities that had not been 
vanquished, Beth-shean had fallen into the hands 
.of the Israelites by the time of Solomon (J Kings 
iv. 12). In Greek times it was Hellenized and named 
Sky pthopolis (Judges i. 27, LXX.; II Mace. xii. 29; 
Judith iii. 10; Josephus, and elsewhere). But the 
Hebrew name is used not only in I Mace. v. 52, xii. 
AO et seg., but also in the Talmud (see Neubauer, “G. 
T.” pp. 174 et seg.), and has entirely supplanted the 
Greek name. At the time of Hyrcanus the city 
again fell into the hands of the Jews, but became 
free under Pompey and belonged to the league 
Decapouis, During the war for independence Beth- 
-shean was taken by the Jews, but it was soon recap- 
tured by the pagans, who took bloody vengeance on 
the Jews. Interesting ruins of temples, bridges, a 
theater, etc., bear witness to the flourishing condi- 
tion of the city in Greco-Roman times. The Tal- 
mud speaks of the fertile surroundings of this town, 
_and of the strictness with which the Jews living 
there fulfilled the Law (Neubauer, “G. T.” 73.). The 
forms Beth-shean and Beth-shan rest upon slightly 
variant spellings of the Hebrew form, “shan” 
representing a natural contraction of “shean.” 

J. dR. F. Bu. 


BETH-SHE‘ARIM: According to rabbinic ac- 
_counts, the Sanhedrin was destined to pass through 
ten exiles during the period 30-170, and to be com- 
pelled to wander from place to place. One of its 
stations was to be the city of Beth-she‘arim, in which 
R. Judah I. resided for a long time (R. H. 31b3 
Sanh. 32b; Ket. 103b). Asthenext place of sojourn 
was Sepphoris, Beth-she‘arim is identified with El- 
Shajerah (Al-Shajarah), south of Sepphoris (Neu- 
bauer, “G. T.” p. 200). From the etymology of the 
name, WWw=NIyN, Schwarz (“Das Heilige Land,” 
p. 138) identifies it with the modern village Turan at 
the Jebel Turan northeast of Sepphoris (Fischer and 
.Guthe’s Map of Palestine, c. 3). 
According to Tosef., Ter. vii. 14, Johanan b. Nuri 
- also dwelt in Beth-she‘arim; and, as the same place 


-is called *4y °3 in Yer. Ter. viii. 46a, the two names | 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


122 





must be identical. The latter name of the place is 
used also in Yer. Kil. ix. 32b and Yer. Ket. xii. 35a; 
thither was conveyed the coffin of R. Judah J., who 
died in Sepphoris. ‘"w n° is also mentioned as a 
place of burial in Yer. M. Kk. iii. 82c. Certain texts 
of the latter, however, substitute Bet-biri in the 
neighborhood of Cesarea. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kohut, Aruch Completum, fi. 87; Hildes- 
heimer, Beitrdige zur Geographie Paliistina’s, p. 33; Buhl, 
Geographie des Alten Paliistina, p. 21%. pret 
G. S. KR. 


BETH-SHEMESH (IR-SHEMESH in Josh. 
xix. 41).— Biblical Data: A city of the hill-country 
between Judea and the coast on the southern side 
of Wadi Sarfr, called to-day ‘Ain Shems.  Ac- 
cording to Josh. xix. 41, it was one of the cities 
of Dan, and according to Josh. xv. 10, it was 
on the boundary-line of Judea. In Josh. xxi. 
16 it is named as a Levitie city. The Ark of the 
Covenant of YHwH remained here fora time after it 
had been released by the Philistines (I Sam. vi. 9 e¢ 
seq.). At the time of Solomon, Beth-shemesh was 
the seat of one of the royal officers (I Kings iv. 9). 
Later on Amaziah, king of Judea, incurred a serious 
defeat there. Under Ahaz, Beth-shemesh was con- 
quered by the Philistines (II Chron. xxviii. 18). 
Nothing further is heard of the town, although it 
still existed at the time of Eusebius. Another Beth- 
shemesh was situated in the territory of the children 
of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 88; Judges i, 33). There 
seems to have been still another Beth-shemesh, men- 
tioned in Josh. xix. 22. Neither of these latter two 
has been identified. The Beth-shemesh of Jer. xhii. 
is generally supposed to be the Egyptian Heliopolis, 
which is called ON in the Old Testament. On ac- 
count of this discrepancy Winckler (“ Alttest. Un- 
tersuchungen,” p. 180) would strike out Beth, and 
translate shemesh “ pillars of the sun.” 

J. IR. F, Be. 


~—In Rabbinical Literature: Various explana- 
tions are offered for the disaster which, according to 
the Masoretic text, befell fifty thousand people in 
the very moment of their rejoicing over the return 
of the Holy Ark (I 8am. vi. 19). Josephus expiains 
(“ Ant.” vi. 1, § 4) that they sinned in presuming, 
not being priests, to lay their hands upon the Ark of 
the Law. The Talmud affirms that the inhabitants 
of Beth-shemesh were irreverent, greeting the ap- 
pearance of the Ark with the cry, “Who angered 
thee that thou wert wroth, and who then hath ap- 
peased thee that thou art kindly disposed toward 
us?” Another account is that these people perished 
because they were so sordid as not to pause in their 
work in the fields at the appearance of the Ark. 
The somewhat curious wording of the passage (1 
Sam. l.c.), “He smote of the people seventy men, 
fifty thousand men” (“and” does not appear in the 
Hebrew text), is explained by rabbinical authorities 
as indicating that this enumeration refers to two 
classes of people: the learned, whose number sev- 
enty represents the Sanhedrin, and the ordinary 
people, represented by the larger number. Other 
expounders, no doubt referring to the Septuagint 
reading which mentions only the seventy men, inter- 
pret this as meaning that only the members of the 
Sanhedrin perished, but that on account of their 


1238 





prominence their loss was equal to the loss of fifty 
thousand of the plain people (Sotah 35a, b; Yer. 
Sanh. ii. 20b; compare also the Targum and pseudo- 
Jerome, “ Quiestiones,” upon I Sam. vi. 19). 
L. G. 

BETH-SHITTAH (“ place of acacia-trees”): A 
place near Abel-meholah. To it the Midianites fled 
when pursued by Gideon (Judges vii. 22). The name 
occurs only here; the place has not been identified. 

J. IR. 


BETH-ZUR: A city in southern Judea (Josh. 
xv. 58; I Chron. ii, 45; Neh. iii. 16) which was for- 
tified by Rehoboam (II Chron. xi. 7). It was a 
strongly walled place, situated on the eastern bound- 
ary-line of Judea. The town was repeatedly be- 
sieged during the time of the Maccabees (I Macc. iv. 
28 et seg., vi. 50, ix. 52, x. 14, xi, 63). Its situa- 
tion is indicated by the ruins near a hill of Bét-sur, 
or Burj-sur. 

J. IR. F. Bu. 


BETHABARA: An unidentified place men- 
tioned in Johni. 28. According to Origen’s reading, 
the name is brought into connection with the He- 
brew “‘abarah” (crossing), and is supposed to refer 
to one of the many fords of the Jordan. Another 
reading is “Bethany” (BecGavia), but no place of this 
name east of the Jordan is known. Grove, Wilson, 
and Cheyne combine both readings into ByélavadBpa— 
thatis, “Beth-nimra” in the Jordan valley, northeast 
of the Dead Sea. 


J. JR. F. Bu. 


BETHANY (By@avia): A place referred to in the 
Gospels, and probably also in the Talmud, under 
the forms 9})713, IN NI, IN 3, and 97 3, but 
not mentioned in the Old Testament (Pes. 58a; Tosef., 
Shebi‘it, ed. Zuckermandel, 30, 71). According to 
John (xi. 18), it was “nigh unto Jerusalem, about fif- 
teen furlongs off”; according to Jerome (“ Onomas- 
ticon,” ccviil.), “in secundo ab Alia milliario ” (at the 
second mile-post from Jerusalem). This is the site of 
the village El-Azariych on the southeastern slopes of 
the Mount of Olives. The identification is estab- 
lished by the name “El-Azariyah,” which is the 
Arabic form for “ Lazarium,” as Bethany was some- 
times called by the Christians, The village, with its 
olive-, fig-, almond-, and carob-trees, is a little oasis 
in that barren region. The figs (Hebr., “te’enah ”), 
which are also mentioned in the Talmud, probably 
gave the place its name. 

J. IR. F. Bu. 


BETHAR: City in Palestine, scene of the war 
of Bar Kokba (182-135), and mentioned as such in 
Mishnah Ta‘anit iv. 6; Yer. Ta‘anit 69a; Babli 
Ta‘anit 26b, 29a; Lam. R. to chaps. ii. 2 and iv. 8; 
Yer. Ber. 3d; Tosef., Yeb. xiv. 8; Bab. Yeb. 122a; 
Sanh. 17b; R. H. 18b, as well as in many other pas- 
sages in Talmud and Midrash. The name is written 
in various ways: usually 4°3, but in the Cam- 
bridge and Hamburg MSS. (Ta‘anit iv. 6), nn'3: 
so also in “Halakot Gedolot,” ed. Hildesheimer, 
p. 189, and Sherira’s “ Letter,” ed. Neubauer (“ Medi- 
eval Jewish Chronicles,” i. 4, MSS.); but. 2d. ii. 109, 
“Nn nya, the reading in Kohut, “ Light of Shade,” p. 


41; Sn n'a, in Cant. R. to chap. ii. 17, but sn n°3, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Beth-Shan 
Bethar 


Neubauer, 73. i. 171. These sources indicate that 
Bethar was a town of importance as early as the time 
of the destruction of Jerusalem, and was, moreover, 
the seat of a Sanhedrin; its inhabitants, who fre- 
quently suffered at the hands of the Jerusalem pil- 
grims, are said to have rejoiced exceedingly over 
the fall of that city. Bar Kokba made Bethar the 
chief base of the uprising against the Romans; and 
upon its suppression, Bethar—within the walls of 
which large masses of Jews had sought refuge—was 
closely surrounded by the Romans under Julius 
Severus, and was besieged for two and a half years 
(182-135) ; see concluding part of Seder ‘Olam R. 
compared with Yer. Ta‘anit 69a, and Lam. R. ii. 2, 
according to which this period of time does not refer 
to the duration of the war, but to that of the siege 
of Bethar; the war itself, according to Jerome (on 
Dan. i. 9, end), lasting three years and six months. 
During the war Bethar afforded shelter to an enor- 
mous population, which fact gave rise to exagger- 
ated rabbinical accounts that Bethar had several 
hundred schools for children, and that the school 
youth boastingly declared that they could overthrow 
the enemy with their pen-reeds. When the stream, 
Yoredet ha-Zalman, ran dry in summer, the city 
began to suffer from want of water. The Samaritan 
Book of Joshua (ed. Juynboll, xivii.) relates that the 
provisions, which were secretly conveyed to the 
town, suddenly, as if by miracle, ceased to be sup- 
plied. It is said that there were two subterranean 
passages leading from the city to Jericho and Lydda; 
that the Jews made use of them for the transporta- 
tion of provisions; and that the Samaritans betrayed 
this secret to the Romans and thus brought about 
the fall of Bethar. Rabbinic sources (Yer. Ta‘anit 
68d; Lam. R. to chap. it. 2) also speak of a 
Samaritan’s treachery that, furthermore, caused 
the death of the pious R. Eleazar of Modin. 
Hence it may be concluded that Bethar was situated 
close to the Samaritan territory, and that the story 
of the underground passages to Jericho and Lydda 
can not be credited, for they are piainly features of 
the siege of Jerusalem, transferred to Bethar. Neu- 
bauer is therefore incorrect in locating Bethar in the 
vicinity of Beth-shemesh, basing his opinion on the 
Badp of the Septuagint on II Sam. xv. 24; for this 
place is not found in the Masoretic text, and thus 
no light is conveyed from that source as to its local- 
ity. Eusebius (“ Hist. Eccl.” iv. 6) calls the city 
Bib6npa (variant Bef, Byfyp)—which agrees with 
the above-cited spelling, snn‘’a; and he states that 
Bethar lay in the vicinity of Jerusalem. On this 
account Schiirer and others (Ritter, Tobler, Deren- 
bourg, Renan) identify Bethar with the modern Bit- 
tir, which is situated at a distance of three hours 
southwest from Jerusalem and contains the remains 
of an old fortification on a steep neck of land. The 
Byrapic of Josephus (“B. J.” iv. 8, § 1) is said to be 
different from this Bittir. If, however, Bethar had 
been situated near Jerusalem, it is inconceivable 
that Jerusalem should have taken no part in the 
war. Griitz (’ Gesch. der Juden,” 3d ed., iv. 144), on 
the other hand, declares the statement of Eusebius 
to be erroneous and locates Bethar north of Antipa- 
tris, four Roman miles south of Cesarea. This 
would put Bethar in the neighborhood of Samaria. 


Bethel 
Betrothal 


Lebrecht (in “ Magazin fiir die Wissensch. des Juden- 
thums,” ili. 1876) also places Bethar in this region— 
that is to say, ata great distance northward from 
Jerusalem—and endeavors to prove that Bethar is 
identical with the Roman Castra Vetera of Seppho- 
ris; 3) was said to be the equivalent of “ Vetera ” 
(compare Hoffmann, “ Magazin,” 1878, p. 188). This 
view is followed by Kohut, First, and Krauss in 
their Talmudic dictionaries. Nevertheless, the site 
of Bethar must still be considered doubtful. From 
the Talmud it can be determined only that the town 
was situated near the sea (Git. 57a; compare Yer. 
Ta‘anit 69a), for the blood of those killed is said to 
have flowed into the sea. Bethar was destroyed on 
the same day as Jerusalem, on the Ninth of Ab 
(Ta‘anit iv. 6; compare Jerome on Zech. viii., where 
instead of “Bethel” read “Bethar”); the killed 
(An 3) were left to decay in the open field; and 
only after the hatred of war had abated was it made 
possible to give them burial. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Herzfeld, in Monatsschrift, 1856, p. 105; Le- 
brecht, Die Stadt Bether, ein 15-hundertjdhriges Missver- 
stdndiiss, in Magazin, iii. 27 et seq. (also as a separate pam- 
phlet, Berlin, 1877) ; Neubauer, Géographie du Talmud, pp. 
j 14; Sehiirer, Gesch., 3d ed., i. 698 ef seq.; Gritz, Geseh. 
der Juden, iv., 3d ed., p. 144; Badeker, Paldstina und Sy- 
rien, 5th ed., p. 16. 


G. S. Kr. 


{In favor of the identification with Bittir, how- 
ever, it might be mentioned that in 1874 Clermont- 
Ganneau discovered there a Latin inscription men- 
tioning detachments of the fifth (Macedonica) and 
the tenth (Claudia) legions, the very ones which had 
been called from the Danube to put down the revolt 
of Bar Kokba. A Roman garrison was left at Bit- 
tir just because of its strategic importance. See 
Clermont-Ganneau, in “ Académie des Inscriptions, 
Comptes Rendus,” 1894, pp. 149 e¢ seg. ; Hanauer, in 
“Pal. Explor. Fund, Quart. Statements,” 1894, p. 
149; Buhl, “Geogr. des Alten Paliistina,” p. 165; 
Cheyne, in “Encyc. Bibl.” i. 555.—a. ] 


BETHEL, or DE SYNAGOGA (Sxn'2 3, “of 
the house of God”): An Italian-Jewish family, 
several members of which are known as liturgical 
poets and copyists. According to a family tra- 
dition, it was one of the four prominent Jewish 
families deported by Titus to Rome after the de- 
struction of the Temple. Thename “ Bethel,” how- 
ever, seems to be derived from Casadio (= house of 
God, “beth-el”), probably their place of origin. 

Traces of this family are found as early as the 
twelfth century. By the middle of the fifteenth 
century the name had almost disappeared, and 
the family had assumed the name of Anaw, of 
which family the Bethelides had always been a 
branch. 

The following members are best known to fame: 

Ismael ben Moses Bethel: Physician; lived 
in the middle of the sixteenth century. 

Jehiel ben Mattithiah Bethel: Physician; 
lived at Pisa in the fourteenth century (compare 
“ He-Haluz,” ix., part 2, p. 50). 

Jekuthiel Bethel: Son of the preceding; copy- 
ist; lived at Rome at the beginning of the fifteenth 
century. The library of Parma possesses a “ Mah- 
zor” written by him for Nethaneel ben Abraham 
(see Steinschneider, “ Hebr. Bibl.” vii. 115). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


124 


Joab b. Benjamin Bethel: Liturgical poet; 
lived at Rome at the end of the fourteenth century 
and the beginning of the fifteenth. He was the au- 
thor of a “Kaddish” in 8 strophes (compare Zunz, 
“ Literaturgeschichte,” p. 490; Landshut, “‘Am- 
mude ha-‘Abodah,” p. 80). He is mentioned by 
Rieti in his “ Paradiso,” p. 105. 

Joab ben Nadan ben Daniel Bethel: Litur- 
gical poet; lived at Rome in the fourteent century. 
He was the author of a “Reshut” on “ Nishmat” 
for the Feast of Pentecost (compare Luzzatto, 
“Mebo,” p. 28). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Zunz, Gesammeite Schriften, tii. 167 et seq. 3 

Mortara, Indice Alfahetico, P. 8; Nope lstous and Rieger, 


Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 299, 307, 3 
G. I. Br. 


BETHESDA: A poolin Jerusalem. According 
to John v, 2—the only passage wherein it is men- 
tioned—it was “by the sheep market,” hence on the 
north of the Temple-hill. Its exact location can not 
be definitely fixed. The Pilgrim of Bordeaux 
(about 333) and also Eusebius (“ Onomasticon,” 
cclx., ed. Lagarde) describe it as a double pond 
with reddish water, surrounded by five colonnades. 
Hence it might be identified with the two ponds be- 
low the convent of the Sisters of Zion. During the 
Middle Ages, Bethesda was supposed to be the pond 
on the western side of the French church of St. 
Anne (compare “ Pajestine Exploration Fund,” 1888, 
pp. 115 eé seg.). There is a later tradition, entirely 
without foundation, that identifies Bethesda with the 
Birket Israel, a large basin at the northeastern corner 
of the Temple-hill. 

J. JR. F. Bu. 


BETHPHAGE: Town mentioned in several pas- 
sages of the New Testament (Matt. xxi. 1; Mark 
xi. 1; Luke xix. 29), in all of which it is brought 
into connection with Bethany, or the Mount of 
Olives. It was, therefore, on the road to Jericho, 
near Jerusalem, and outside of the wall. This is 
known also from Talmudical references, where it is 
given as the Sabbath distance limit (Neubauer, “G. 
T.” p. 147). According to some passages of the 
Talmud, also, it would appear that Bethphage (Tos. 
Pes, viii.) was near, yet outside, Jerusalem ‘35 5°, 
Sotah 45a). Yet it is referred to as surrounded by 
a wall (Pes. 63b, 91a; Men. 78b), which description 
does not exactly correspond to any known locality 
in the immediate neighborhood of Jerusalem. The 
exact location, however, has not been determined 
(see Buhl, “Geographie des Alten Palistina,” p. 
155). 

J. JR. G. B. L. 


BETHSAIDA: <A town in northern Palestine 
not mentioned in the Old Testament, but referred to 
in the Gospels, and by Josephus, Pliny, and others. 
According to Josephus (“ Ant.” xviii, 2, § 1; 5, § 6; 
“B. J.” ii. 9,81; iii. 9,§ 7), Philip transformed the vil- 
lage Bethsaida—situated on the Jordan where it dis- 
charges into the Sea of Galilee—into a large, flour- 
ishing city, which he called Julias. The Gospels 
mention the village Bethsaida; Jesus. sometimes 
stayed there; and Philip, Andrew, and Peter came 
from there (Matt. xi. 21; Mark vi. 45; viii. 22, 26; 
Luke ix. 10; John i. 44, xii. 21). It has been falsely 


125 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bethel 
Betrothal 





assumed from some of these passages that there was 
a Bethsaida west of the Jordan. The statement of 
John (xii. 21) that Bethsaida lay in Galilee is not 
convincing, a8 Josephus and others sometimes con- 
sider portions of the eastern coast of the lake as be- 
longing to Galilee (compare Buhl, “ Geographie des 
Alten Paldstina,” p. 242). But one must probably 
make a distinction between Bethsaida-Julias and the 
fishing village Bethsaida mentioned in the Gospels. 
The latter was probably close by the lake, while the 
city of Philip lay higher up, near the little plain of 
Batiha. 
J. IR, F. Be. 


BETHUEL.—Biblical Data: 1. According to 
Gen. xxii. 22, a descendant of Arphaxad (compare 
Gen. xi. 18-22). He was the son of Nahor and 
Milcah, and father of Laban and Rebekah. Since 
in Gen. xxv. 20 and xxviii. 2, 5, Bethuel is 
called “the Syrian [Aramean] of Padan-aram,” 
he must have been, according to this source, a 
descendant of Aram, the brother of Arphaxad 
(Gen. x. 22; compare Budde, “ Urgeschichte,” pp. 
421-426). In the story of Rebekah’s marriage (Gen. 
xxiv.) he is only mentioned once, as taking anactive 
part in events (verse 50, “then Laban and Bethuel 
answered”). Some critics omit his name here, and 
assume that Bethuel was already dead at that time 
(Ball, “S. B. O. T.” ad loc.; Holzinger, Commen- 
tary to Gen. p. 170). Other critics (¢.g., Dillmann, ¢7 
loco) suppose that throughout Gen. xxiv. the name 
“Bethuel” isa later addition. Gunkel (Commen- 
tary to Gen. pp. 226, 229) finds here two traditions, 
and supposes the Bethuel of verse 50 to be a younger 
brother of Laban, Some critics think that Bethuel 
may have been the name of an Aramean tribe in 
Mesopotamia. 

2. Name of a town in the tribe of Simeon (Josh. 
xix. 4; I Chron. iv. 30), the site of which has not 
yet been identified. 


J. JR. B. E. 


——In Rabbinical Literature: Bethuel, being 
king of Haran, exercised the jus prime noctis in his 
dominions. The people consented, only on condi- 
tion that he should use this privilege also toward the 
members of his own family. God, therefore, let him 
die suddenly when Eliezer wooed Rebekah for Isaac, 
in order to spare her the dreadful ordeal. This 
explains why, in the Biblical account of Eliezer’s 
wooing (Gen. xxiv. 50), Bethuel is at first mentioned, 
but afterward only Rebekah’s mother and brother 
are referred to, Bethuei having diced during the night 
(Yalk. i. 109, probably from the lost Midrash 
Abkir). Another legend states that Bethuel intended 
to kill Eliezer when he saw the treasures which the 
latter brought with him, and, not being able to 
carry out his purpose, on account of Eliezer’s great 
strength (see ELIEZER, IN RABBINICAL LITERA- 
TURE), he mixed poison with his food. The angel 
who accompanied Eliezer changed the plates, 
however, so that Bethuel ate the poisoned portion 
which he had intended for Eliezer, and died there- 
from (Yalk. @.c., Midrash Aggadah, ed. Buber, 
Vienna, 1894, i. 58, 59). According to the old Mid- 
rashim, Bethuel refused to give his daughter in 
marriage, and for that reason God caused him to die 


suddenly, while Eliezer was staying in his house 
(Gen, R, 1x. 12). 
L. G. 

BETHULIA (Barrovacia, Barrovdia, Berviota, 
Batvazota; Vulgate, Bethulia): Name of the city 
which, according to the Book of Judith, was besieged 
by Holofernes; the home of Judith. In the shorter 
version of the legend published by Gaster (“Pro- 
ceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology,” 
1894, xvi. 156 et seq.), Jerusalem is the besieged 
city. The name “Bethulia” may, therefore, be 
assumed to be an allegorical one, meaning per- 
haps “ Beth-el” (house of God), or it may be a word 
compounded of “betulah” and “Jah” (“Yuwna’s 
virgin”). In the better-known longer version, 
however, the whole context points to the situation 
of the city as having been on the mountains to 
the south of the large plain of Jezreel. Bethulia is, 
moreover, spoken of in a way to distinguish it de- 
cidedly from Jerusalem. It may therefore be ac- 
cepted that in the longer version the story has been 
connected with a definite tradition current in that 
locality. The original allegorical name, however, 
may have been applied to a place in that region; 
but it has not yet been possible to find traces of the 
name in the region to the south of the large plain. 
The name “ Mataliye,” a place on a hill south of the 
small fertile plain Merj-el-Gharak, comes nearest to 
it; but this point is too far south to correspond to the 
details given in the Book of Judith. This objection 
applies even more strongly to the fort Sfnfir, which is 
still farther south, and to which, among others, 
Guerin refers it. Marta (“Intorno al Vero Sito de 
Betulia,” 1887) has tried to identify the city with 
El-Bared, west of Jennina, a location that, topo- 
graphically considered, is quite possible. According 
to Willrich (“ Judaica,” 1900), “ Bethulia” is a cor- 
ruption of “ Bethalagan.” 

J. SR. F. Be. 

BETROTHAL (poyeN in Talmudic Hebrew): 
The term “betrothal” in Jewish law must not be 
understood in its modern sense; that is, the agree- 
ment of a man and a woman to marry, by which the 
parties are not, however, definitely bound, but which 
may be broken or dissolved without formal divorce. 
Betrothal or engagement such as this is not known 
cither to the Bible or to the Talmud, and only crept 
inamong the medieval and modern Jews through the 
influence of the example of the Occidental nations 
among whom they dwelt, without securing a definite 
status in rabbinical law. 

Several Biblical passages refer to the negotiations 
requisite for the arranging of a marriage (Gen. xxiv. ; 

Song of Songs viii. 8; Judges xiv. 2-7), 

In which were conducted by members 

the Bible. of the two familics involved, or their 

deputies, and required usually the con- 

sent of the prospective bride Gif of age); but when 

the agreement had been entered into, it was definite 

and binding upon both groom and bride, who were 

considered as man and wifein all legal and religious 
aspects, except that of actual cohabitation. 

The root wrx (‘to betroth”), from which the 
Talmudic abstract PDN (“betrothal”) is derived, 
must be taken in this sense; ¢.e., to contract an ac- 
tual though incomplete marriage. In two of the 


Betrothal 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


126 





passages in which it occurs the betrothed woman is di- | was allowed to pass before the marriage was com. 


rectly designated as “ wife” (II Sam. ili. 14, “my wife 
whom I have betrothed ” (“erasti”), and Deut. xxii. 
24, where the betrothed is designated as “the wife 
of his neighbor”), In strict accordance with this 


pleted by the formal home-taking (“nissu’in,” “lik- 
kuhin”). In case the bride was a widow or the 
groom a widower, this interval was reduced to thirty 
days (Ket. v. 2; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Eben ha-‘Hzer, 56). 











HEU ae Ge EL ETT 






























































SCENE AT A BETROTHAL OF GERMAN JEWS, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
(From Bodenschatz, ‘ Kirchliche Verfassung.’’) 


sense the rabbinical law declares that the betrothal 
is equivalent to an actual marriage and only to be 
dissolved by a formal divorce. 

After the betrothal a period of twelve months 


After the dispersal of the Jews had brought them 
into contact with the Western peoples, this arrange- 
ment was felt to be inconvenient and out of harmony 
with the prevailing views. It therefore became 


127 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Betrothal. 








customary toe perform the entire marriage ceremony, There is now no legal duration of time between 
betrothal and home-taking (“erusin” and “nissu’in”), | betrothal and marriage, the length of the engage- 
at one time; and an affiancing or | ment being left entirely to the option of the parties 
Betrothal engagement similar to that prevail- | concerned, except that the marriage may not take 
and Home- ing among non-Jews was introduced. | place inless than seven days after the agreement 
Taking. This was not an entire innovation, as | to marry has been reached (Nid. 66a; Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
iis roots already existed in the cus- | Yoreh De‘ah, 192), 
tom of “shiddukin” or consent to marry, which ex- In Talmudic days, as in modern times, gifts 
isted in the days of the Talmud and probably also | formed an important feature of betrothal and mar- 
in the Biblicalage. It wasconsidered indispensable | riage customs, These were of several kinds. The 
by the rabbis that a man should gain the good-will | gifts which the groom sent to his bride were called 
and consent of his prospective bride before entering {| “siblonot” or “sablonot,” a term which Benja- 
upon a contract of marriage. Rab, the Babylonian | min Musafia and Kohut explain as derived from 


5 
CUA HUN and aA CURSES TALE 


PPR aTt sees PD 
(| 


Seis 























BETROTHAL SCENE AT NUREMBERG. 
(From Kirchner, ‘ Judisches Ceremoniell, *’ 1726.) 


amora, was accustomed to punish severely any one | the Greek cipBodov (“a gift or payment made as a 
who married without first having persuaded and | sign or a mark by which to infer something; a 


gained the consent of his wife (Kid. 18a; Yeb. 52a token ”) (“‘Aruk ha-Shalem,” vol. vi., 
et al.). Gifts. $., mindap). This derivation is cor- 
What was in the Talmudic age a mere personal |’ roborated by the fact that the Talmud 


matter became in later timesa formal custom, which | (Kid. 50b) debates the question whether the sending’ 
was celebrated with much pomp. Atthese occasions | of siblonot can be considered a proof of marriage 
it was customary to make out a formal contract to | or not. Jastrow, however (“ Dict.” 8.0. }12AD), de- 
marry and to stipulate that a penalty should be im- | rives the term from pap (“to carry”), corresponding’ 
posed upon either party who should fail to fulfil | tothe Biblical “massa” and “masset.” It was also 
his or her part of it. Such agreements were known | customary for the male friends of the groom to send 
as “shiddukin” (consent to marry), and also as “te- | gifts, which sometimes took the form of money 
naim ” (conditions), or among German-speaking Jews | donations and were useful in assisting the groom to 
“kenas-mah] ” (penalty-feast), because of these stip- | defray the expenses of the wedding. These presents 
ulations and penalties. They are still customary in | were termed “shoshbinut” (friendship-gifts), from 
many countries in modified form. | the Aramaic “shoshbina” (friend or neighbor), 


Betrothal 
Bettelheim 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


128 





supposed by Musafia and Kohut to be derived from 
the Greek ovoxyvog (“one living in one’s tent; mess- 
mate; but see Payne-Smith, 
“Thesaurus,” s. t.). Sachs 
(“Beitriige zur Sprach- und 
Alterthums -Forschung,” 
1852, pp. 82 et seq.) derives 
the word from Saopyrw, the 
myrtle - bearing companions 
of the bridegroom. 

Betrothal in its legal sense 
(“erusin”) is performed in 
the following manner: After 
the ordinary benediction over 
wine, the person performing 
the ceremony continues as 
foNows: “Blessed art Thou, 
O Lord, our God, King of 
the universe, who hast sanc- 
tified us with Thy command- 
ments and given us com- 
mandments concerning for- 
bidden connections, and hast forbidden unto us 
those who are merely betrothed, and permitted 





Silver-Gilt Betrothal Ring, 
Bearing Letter » for 
** Mazal Tob.” 


(From the Victoria and Albert 
Museum, London.) 


seven wedding benedictions forms the completion 
of the wedding ceremony. See WEDDING. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Per- Peres 
les, Die Jiidische (i Neg 
Hochzett in Nach- 2! NS 
biblischer Zeit, in f 
Frankel's Monats- 
schrift, ix. Leipsic, 
1860; the same in 
English; Jewish 
Marriage in Post- 
Biblical Times, in 
Hebrew Charac- 
teristics, New York, 
1875; Mielziner, The 


nag a0 yee trace 





Jewish Law of HRM 
Marriage and Di- hie ih da 
vorce, Cincinnati, AN Nt WN 
1884; Coypel, Le AA 
Judaisme, Mul- WSs 
house, 1876; Du- 


schak, Das Mosa- 
isch-Talmudische 
Bherecht, Vienna, 


hse : ae, Ale 

ams, Jewish Life 

inthe Middle ieee Betrothal Ring with Box Containing 
London, 1896. Perfumes and Opening with a Key. 
J. SR. B. D. (From the British Museum.) 


BETTELHEIM: Name of a Hungarian fam- 
ily. The tirst bearer of it is said to have lived 





COSTUMES OF BRIDE AND GROOM AMONG THE GERMAN JEWS, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
(After Kohut, ‘‘ Geschichte der Deutschen Juden.”’) 


unto us those lawfully married to us through 
‘canopy’ [“huppah”] and ‘betrothal’  {“kid- 
dushin”|. Blessed are Thou, O Lord, 

The Legal who sanctifiest Thy people Israel 
Ceremony. through huppah and_ kiddushin,” 
after which the groom hands to the 

bride a ring or some object of value (not less than 
a perutah, the smallest current coin), saying, “ Be 
thou betrothed unto me with this ring for object] in 
accordance with the laws of Moses and Israel” 
(“kedat Mosheh we-Yisrael ”). | 
As stated above, this act of betrothal is at present 
combined with the rite of home-taking ; and after the 
placing of the ring upon the finger of the bride, 
the marriage contract (KETUBAR) is read, to form 
an interval between the twoacts. The recitation of 
another benediction over wine and of the customary 


toward the second half of the eighteenth century, 
in Presburg. To account for its origin the follow- 
ing episode is related in the family records: 


There was a Jewish merchant in Presburg, whose modest de- 
meanor gained for him the esteem of his fellow-townsmen. He 
was popularly called ** Ein ehrlich Jud” (honest Jew). His wife 
Was a woman of surpassing beauty, and many magnates of the 
country, hearing of her charnis, traveled to Presburg to see her. 
Count Bethlen was particularly persistent, and, failing to 
attract her attention, he decided to abduct her. Mounted on his 
charger, he appeared one day in the open market, where the 
virtuous Jewess was making purchases, and, in the sight of hun- 
dreds of spectators, lifted her on his horse, and, heedless of her 
cries of entreaty, Was about to gallop off with her, when her 
husband appeared on the scene and, after a fierce personal com- 
bat, succeeded in rescuing her, 


That a Jew should engage in a hand-to-hand en- 


counter with a nobleman of the rank of Count Beth- 
len was so unprecedented, and the deed itself was 


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THE JEWISH ENCYLLOPEO A VOLE, 


ITALIAN KETUBAHor BETROTHAL DEED, dated 3353 AM. 


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129 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Betrothal 
Bettelheim 





so daring in view of the social status of the Jews of 
those times (which remained unchanged until the 
liberal laws of Emperor Joseph II. were promul- 
gated), that the populace thenceforth styled the hero 
of the story “Bethlen-Jude.” This name clung to 
him until the royal edict, bidding Jews to assume 
family names, went into force, and then the name was 
changed to “ Bettelheim.” Among the family relics 
preserved by a scion of the house in Freystadtel, on 
the Waga, is an oil-painting which depicts the daring 
rescue of the Jewess from the hands of her abductor. 

Of the descendants bearing the name of Bettel- 
heim the following are the most prominent: 

1. Albert (Aaron) Siegfried Bettelheim: 
Rabbi and Hebraist; born in Hungary April 4, 1880; 
died at sea Aug. 21, 1890. At the age of eleven he 


(= 


7 











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if LE 





of London journals, and acted as private tutor 
(“ Hofmeister ”) to Count Forgacs, then governor of 
Bohemia, and afterward Hungarian court-chancellor, 
In the early fifties Bettelheim removed to Temesvar, 
Hungary, where he was director of the Jewish 
schools and editor of a political weekly called 
“Elére” (Forward). In 1856 he became the “ offi- 
cial translator of Oriental languages and censor of 

Hebrew books” at Czernowitz, where, 


Becomes’ jn 1858, he married Henrietta Wein- 
Censor of traub, the first female Jewish public- 
Hebrew = school teacher in Hungary. In 1860 
Books. he became rabbi at Komorn, Hungary, 


where he was appointed superintend- 
ent of all the schools—the first Jew to gain such a 
distinction. Thence he went to Kaschau, where he 








PROCESSIONS OF BRIDEGROOM AND OF BRIDE, CIRCA I700. 
(From Kirchner, “ Jadisches Ceremoniell,” 1726.) 


entered the yeshibah of Presburg, and afterward ! officiated as rabbi until 1862. While at Kaschau he 


studied in the Talmudical schools at Leipnik, Mora- 
via, and Prague; enjoying the tutelage of 8. L. 
Rapoport, from whom, at the age of eighteen, he 
obtained his rabbinical diploma. Bettelheim offici- 
ated for a short time as rabbi and religious teacher 
at Minchengratz, and then returned to Prague to 
enter the university, whence he graduated with the 
degree of Ph.D. 

In 1850, and for several years thereafter, Bettel- 
heim was the Austrian correspondent of a number 


Ilt.—9 


edited a Jewish weekly, “Der Jude” (jargon), to 
combat the views of the Jewish Congress, then 
holding animated conventions at Budapest. There, 
too, he edited a political weekly, whose progressive 
ideas were discountenanced by his congregation and 
held to be prejudicial to Judaism. The fanaticism 
of his people became so pronounced that, being 
threatened with excommunication by one of the col- 
leagues of his former domicile in Komorn, he decided 
to emigrate to America with his family. 


Bettelheim 


In 1867 Bettelheim was elected rabbi of the Crown 
street congregation (now Beth Israel) of Philadel- 
phia, and became a professor at the Maimonides 
College. In 1869 he became rabbi of congre- 
gation Beth Ahabah, of Richmond, Va., where 
he established and edited a German weekly, “ Der 

Patriot” (afterward changed into a 
Emigrates daily, with the title “The State Ga- 
to zette”). While in Richmond he en- 

America. tered the Medical College, and was 

graduated with the degree of M.D. 
He intended to write a work on Jewish medicine, and 
has left behind a number of monographs and other 
documentary material not yet published. 

Though assured of a remunerative practise as a 
physician, Bettelheim, at the solicitation of his con- 
gregation and of clergymen of other denominations, 
whose honored associate he was, did not forsake 
the pulpit. In 1875 he was elected rabbi of the 
Ohabai Shalom congregation of San Francisco, 
Cal., where he became chairman of the Society for 
the Study of Hebrew, composed entirely of Chris- 
tian clergymen, and director of the Society for the 
Suppression of Vice. He held other public offices, 
and delivered the baccalaureate sermon at various 
high schools and colleges. He occupied the pulpits 
of the Unitarian and Baptist churches in San Fran- 
cisco, and afterward in Baltimore, where, in 1887, he 
became rabbi of the First Baltimore Hebrew Con- 
gregation, an office he held till his death. In Bal- 
timore he became identified with a number of public 
institutions and charitable organizations, and in- 
structed some non-Jews in the elements of the He- 
brew language. 

While on the homeward voyage from a visit to 
Europe, he died on board ship, and was buried Aug. 
21, 1900. Two Catholic priests, whose acquaint- 
ance Bettelheim had made on the voyage, read the 
Jewish burial service and recited the “ Kaddish” as 
the body was lowered into the sea. 

Bettelheim’s literary activity was of the most 
varied kind. Besides the items enumerated above, 
it may be noted that he was the art critic of a prom- 
inent San Francisco journal; coeditor of the “Jew- 
ish Times” (now the “ Jewish Times and Observer ”) 
of San Francisco, from 1880 to 1886; a regular con- 
tributor to the “ Argonaut” of that city; a frequent 
contributor to the “Jewish Exponent” of Philadel- 

phia, and the “Menorah Monthly ” in 
His New York. He was the author of some 
Literary charming ghetto tales and stories of 
Activity. Jewish life, twoof which—“ Yentil the 
Milk-Carrier” and “The Baal-Milha- 
mah-Rabbi ”"—were translated into German, Hun- 
garian, and Hebrew. He was at work for over 
twenty years on a Revised English Bible, about 
three-fourths of which he had completed in manu- 
script at the time of his death. Many of his 
suggestions and scholarly notes are incerporated 
in the last two volumes of Kohut’s “ Aruch Com- 
pletum.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baltimore American and Baltimore Sun of 
Aug. and Sept., 1890; George Alexander Kohut, Rev. Dr. 
Aaron Siegfried Bettetheim: a Biographicat Sketch, in 


Jewish Exponent. Philadelphia, 1890; idem, in Jewish 
Comment, Baltimore, Aug. 17, 1900. 


8. G. A. K. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


130 


2. Anton Bettelheim: Austrian critic and jour- 
nalist; born at Vienna Nov. 18, 1851. He studied 
law, and for some time was cugaged in active prac- 
tise, but abandoned the profession for a literary 
career, Although he bad received his degree of 
“doctor of law,” he attended the lectures of 
Giesebrecht and M. Bernays at Munich on literary 
subjects. Fired by the cloquence and enthusiasm 
of the latter, he undertook the study of Beau- 
marchais’ life and writings, and, to this end, resolved 
to make original investigations in the libraries of 
London, Paris, The Hague, Carlsruhe, and Spain. 
After an extended tour through Germany, France, 
England, and Spain, Bettelheim became, in 1880, 
the feuilleton editor of the Vienna “Presse.” He 
retained this position until 1884, when he became 
editor of the “Deutsche Wochenschrift.” In 1886 
he joined the editorial staff of the “Deutsche Zei- 
tung,” which position he resigned shortly after to 
publish the “ Biographischen Blatter,” subsequently 
issued as “ Biographisches Jahrbuch und Deutscher 
Nekrolog.” 

Bettelheim’s works are: “ Beaumarchais,” a biog- 
raphy, 1886; atranslation of Littré’s “ Wie Ich Mein 
Worterbuch der Franzésischen Sprache zu Stande 
Gebracht Habe,” 1887; “ Volkstheater und Lokal- 
bithne,” 1887; “Ludwig Anzengruber, der Mann; 
Sein Werk, Seine Weltanschauung,” 1891 (2d ed. 
1898); “Die Zukunft Unseres Volkstheaters,” 1892; 
“Deutsche und Franzosen,” 1895; and “ Acta Di- 
urna, Gesammelte Aufsitze,” 1899. 

Bettelheim edited “Fihrende Geistel,” 1890-97, 
and was also one of the editors of Anzengruber’s 
complete works, published by Cotta, 1890. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kirschner, Deutscher Literafur-Kalender, 
1901, pp. 98, 99; Das Geistige Wien. 1893, p. 34. 


S. EK. Ms. 


8. Caroline von Gomperz-Bettelheim : Court 
singer and member of the Royal Opera, Vienna; 
born June 1, 1845, at Pesth. 

She studied pianoforte with Karl Goldmark, and 
singing with Laufer. At the age of fourteen she 
made her début as a pianist, and two years later ap- 
peared for the first time in opera at Vienna. She 
eventually obtained a permanent engagement at the 
Royal Opera in that city. She has occasionally 
starred in her favorite réles in other cities of Ger- 
many as well as in London, She is the wife of 
Julius Ritter von Gomperz, president of the Aus- 
trian chamber of commerce and member of the 
Upper House. 

g, J. So. 


4, Felix Albert Bettelheim: Physician and 
surgeon of Panama; born in Freystadtel, on the 
Waag, Hungary, Sept. 2, 1861; died in Baltimore, 
Md., April 4, 1890. He was the son of the rabbi 
Aaron Siegfried BETTELHEIM, and emigrated to the 
United States in the sixties. In hisseventeenth year 
he was graduated from the University of California 
with high honors, and three years later from the 
Medical College in San Francisco. From 1880 to 
1881 he was resident physician of the San Quentin 
state prison; from 1881 to 1888, ship’s surgeon of 
the Pacific Mail steamship “Colima”; 1883-89, sur- 
geon-general of the Panama Railroad and Canal 


131 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bettelheim 


i tr A Nn te 


Company. Through his efforts the first hospital in 
Panama was built; and he became one of its staff of 
physicians. He held several high offices and re- 
ceived a number of medals and testimonials from 
the government in recognition of his services. 
Bettelheim was the discoverer of a new germ 
peculiar to tropical countries, an account of which 
ig given in medical records. In 1889 he studied 
clinical methods in the great European cities. On 
his return to America he died from a tropical liver 
complaint which was held by American authorities 
to be unique and was described by Professor Osler, 
of Johns Hopkins University, in a London medical 
journal. He was a frequent contributor to the 
“Lancet” and other periodicals, and left a posthu- 
mous work, “On the Contagious Diseases of Trop- 
ical Countries,” still unpublished. A text-book by 
Dr. Thorington of Philadelphia, on the diseases of 
the eye, is dedicated to Bettelheim’s memory. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : The periodical Jewish press of April and May, 
1890; Baltimore American, April 5 and 7, 1890; San Fran- 
cisco Examiner, Aprit 8, 1890. 


. G. A. K. 


5. Jacob Bettelheim (pseudonym, Karl Tell- 
heim): German dramatist; born at Vienna Oct, 26, 
1841. He attained considerable prominence by his 
first attempt in the field of literature, “ Elena Tace- 
ano,” a romance. This he followed with “ Intinie 
Yeschichten ” (novelettes) and a drama, “ Nero,” 
written in collaboration with Von Schénthan in 1889. 
After “Die Praktische Frau,” a farce, came “ Gift- 
mischer” and “Vater Morin,” two popular plays: 
two dramas, “ Eheliige ” and “Sein Bester Freund”; 
“Madame Kukuk,” a farce; “Syrenen,” a popular 
play; “Seine Gewesenc,” farce; “Aus der Elite,” 
farce, 1894; “ Der Millionenbauer,” drama, in collabo- 
ration with M. Kretzer; “ Verklérung,” drama, 1897; 
“Verklairung,” farce, 1898; “Der Retter,” comedy, 
1898, 

Among other works by Bettelheim may be men- 
tioned: “Onkel Jonas,” a popular drama, in collabo- 
ration with O. Klein, 1898; “ Victorinen’s Hochzeit ” 
(translated from George Sand’s play), 1879; “ Mar- 
guerite” (from Sardon), 1886; “Der Erbe” (from 
De Maupassant), 1894; and “Im Verdacht” (from 
Labiche). He died July 13, 1909. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kirschner, Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, 

1901, p. 98. 

S. E. Ms. 

6. Karl Bettelheim: Austrian physician; born 
at Presburg, Hungary, Sept. 28, 1840; died July 27, 
1895. He received his medical education at the 
University of Vienna, where he studied under Hyrtl, 
Briicke, Rokitansky, and Skoda. In 1868, two years 
after obtaining his doctorate, he was appointed as- 
sistant to Oppolzer, and served in that capacity 
until 1870. Three years later he became docent of 
medicine (Innere Medizin) at the University of 
Vienna. From 1870 to 1878 he was editor of the 
“ Medicinisch-Chirurgische Rundschau,” and for sev- 
eral years was chief of the department of in- 
ternal diseases at the Polyclinic, and physician-in- 
chief of the Rudolfinerhaus at Unterdobling, near 
Vienna. | 

The scientific investigations of Bettelheim are 
chiefly on the pathology of the heart and blood- 


vessels. His experimental researches on mitral insuf- 
ficiency and on the mechanics of the heart following 
compression of the coronary arterics are considered 
of great value. 

Bettelheim’s writings comprise a number of 
papers on diseases of the blood and circulatory 
organs, on certain affections of the alimentary canal, 
and reports of interesting clinical cases, which he 
published in the leading medical journals. His 
most important contributions are: “Ueber Beweg- 
liche Kérperchen im Blute,” and “ Ueber einen Fall 
von Phosphorvergiftung,” in the “ Wiener Medici- 
nische Presse,” 1868; “Ein Fail von Echinococcus 
Cerebri,” “Stenose eines Astes der Pulmonalar- 
terie,” and “ Bemerkungen zur Diagnose des Magen- 
carcinoms,” in “ Vierteljahrschrift fiir Psychiatrie ” ; 
“Die Sichtbare Pulsation der Arteria Brachialis, ein 
Beitrag zur Symptomatologie Einiger Erkrankungen 
der Circulationsorgane,” in the “ Deutsches Archiv 
fiir Klinische Medicin,” 1878; “Die Bandwiirmer 
beim Menschen,” in the “Sammlung Klinischer Vor- 
trige,” 1879. He translated from the French R. 
Lépine’s “ Pueumonia Lobvin,” Vienna, 1883; and 
“Diseases of the Spinal Cord,” by the English neu- 
rologist Gowers. Bettetheim also described the 
origin of the second sound in the carotid artery 
(“Entstehung des Zweiten Tones in der Carotis,” in 
“ Zeitschrift fiir Klinische Medicin,” 1883). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, ii. 26; Hirsch, 

Bingraphisches Lexikon, i. 440; Pagel, Biographisches 

Lexikon, p. 161. 

5. W.S. 

7. Leopold (Meyer Leb) Bettelheim: Hun- 
garian physician; born Feb. 28, 1777; died April 9, 
1888. He was not only eminent in his profession, 
but was considered a Hebraist of some importance. 
He lived in Freystéidtel, on the Waag, and there held 
the responsible office of physician-in-ordinary to 
Count Joseph Erdédy, the influential court chan- 
cellor of Hungary, in whose private residence are 
still preserved the surgical instruments used by 
Bettelheim in saving the lives of the count and his 
family, together with documents recording some 
remarkable cures effected by him. 

In 1830 Bettelbeim was the recipient of a gold 
medal of honor from the emperor Franz I. for distin- 
guished services to the royal family and to the 
nobility. 


8. Samuel (Shemuel Zebi) Bettelheim: Son 
of Leopold (No. 7); physician, merchant, and polit- 
ical leader during the troublous years preceding 
the Revolution of 1848. He was also an eminent 
Hebraist. His wife, Eva, was a woman of unusual 
scholarly attainments, and an earnest student of the 
Bible and its commentaries. She was an excellent 
Talmudist and wrote a number of disquisitions on 
learned rabbinical questions. The famous reformer 
Hodza, an evangelical pastor and organizer of a vio- 
lent Slavonic movement in northern Hungary in 
1848, was her instructor in classical and modern 
literature. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grof Erdidy Jézsef Kronikdja (printed for 
private circulation only), pp. 84-86; Pozsonyi Kdztény, 1863, 
p. 6; a transcript from old family records supplied for this 
biography by Dr. Joseph Bettelheim in Budapest. 


s. G. A. K. 


Bettin 


Bevis Marks 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


132 





BETTING: The mutual agreement of two par- 
ties as to gain and loss upon a certain contingency. 
It seems to have been unknown in Biblical times. 
There is no mention of it in the Scriptures, unless an 
allusion to this kind of easy gain is intended in such 
proverbs as the following: 


‘*He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread, but he 
that followeth after vain things [A. V. ‘* vain persons’’] is void 
of understanding” (Prov. xii. 11). ‘* Wealth 

Possibly gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he 

Alluded to that gathereth by lubor shall have increase ”’ 

in Proverbs. (ib. xiii. 1J, A. V.). “* He that maketh haste to 

be rich shall not be unpunished ” (ib. xxviii. 20, 

A. V.). ‘He that hasteth after riches hath an evil eye, and 

knoweth not that want {or disgrace] shall overcome him”? (éb. 
xxviii. 22, Hebr.). 

An interesting case of betting is related in Ab. R. 
N. xv. and Shab. 30d e¢ seg.: “'T'wo men (A and B) 
bet whether it was possible to provoke Hillel to 
anger. One of them (A) said, ‘I can doit.’ They 
agrecd that, if he did provoke Hillel to anger he 
should receive from the other (B) 400 zuz [the alter- 
native of the bet, that in case of failure he was to 
pay to B the same amount, is not mentioned]. He 
tried his best, but failed. Then he exclaimed: ‘If 
thou art Hillel, the prince of Israel, [hope that there 
are not many in Israel like thee; for through thee I 
lose 400 zuz.’ Hillelreplied: ‘ Learn to control thy- 
self; the lesson learnt by Hillel’s paticnce is worth 
even twice the stake.’ ” 

If two parties have bound themselves by a bet, 
however blamable the act of betting may be, they 
have to act in accordance with the moral precept, 
“That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt ob- 
serve and do” (Deut. xxiii. 24 [R. V. 23]). They 
are at least morally bound; but it is not certain 
whether the loser is also forced by law to abide by 
the agreement. In the Mishnah (R. H. i. 8; Sanh. 
ili. 3) betting seems to be among the vices that dis- 
qualify those addicted to them from giving evidence. 
The passage runs thus: “The following are disqual- 
ified from giving evidence: He who plays at dice 
[“mezahek be-kubia ”] or lends on interest, or bets 
on pigeons.” The original for the last expression is 
“mafrihe yonim” (literally, “causing pigeons to 
fly ”) and is thus explained in the Gemara (Sanh. 25a): 
“If thy pigeon comes before the other” [supply] 
“then I pay thee so and so much.” Another ex- 
planation is offered by Hama, who can not adopt 
the first definition of “mafrihe yonim,” because the 
principle of betting is already mentioned in the 
phrase “ playing at dice.” 

Two reasons are given why a betting man can not 
be heard as witness: (1) Rami b. Hama says: “The 

winner has no right to take the money 

Bettors of the loser; and if he takes it, he is 

Dis- guilty of robbery.” (2) Rab Sheshet 
qualified as says: “A person addicted to betting 
Witnesses. wastes his time in idleness, and does 

not fulfil his duty as a human being 
of contributing by his work his share to the welfare 
of mankind” (“eno ‘osek beyishshubo shel ‘olam ”]. 
Both agree that betting disqualifies a person from 
giving evidence, but with this difference: Rami b. 
Hama declares a betting man guilty of robbery, 
and therefore disqualified even if he bets only oc- 
casionally; while Rab Sheshet would not declare 


him disqualitied, unless betting is his sole occupa. 
tion (Sanh, 24b). 

Whether a betting man is guilty of robbery or 
not depends on the legal value of the betting trans- 
action. Two parties frequently agree to certain 
conditions, because either party hopes to gain by 
them, and thinks only of the one eventuality that is 
favorable to him. The reverse seems to him to be 
out of question; and neither party is actually pre- 
pared for the loss, Such a transaction is called 
“asmakta” (see ASMAKTA). Rab Sheshet denies that 
the rule of asmakta applies to the case of mezahek 
be-kubia, or playing at dice. The Tosafot, in dis- 
cussing this subject, come to the conclusion that 
when a certain sum of money is laid on the table 
with the understanding that the winner shall take 
it, the transaction is legally valid; but that games 
which are played on credit are asmakta, and the 
stake is not recoverable by law. 

Maimonides, in his commentary on the Mishnah, 
speaks of the immorality of the above-named games 

as follows: “He who indulges in this 


Mai- game spends his time in things which 
monides’ do not contribute to the well-being of 
Views. his fellow-man; and it is one of the 


principles of our religion that man 
ought to occupy himself in this world either with 
the study of the Torah, in order to perfect his soul 
in the wisdom of the Torah, or in some useful work 
or handicraft or trade; but so that he finds some 
time for the study of the Law.” In the same sense he 
speaks, in his Yad ha-Hazakah, Gezelah we-Abedah, 
vi. 11: “Our sages declare many things as forbidden 
because they involve robbery ; viz., playing at dice, 
and the like, and even where the term ‘robbery’ 
does not apply, it is forbidden as a useless occupa- 
tion ” (“‘oseck bi-debarim betelim ”). There are some 
authorities who consider a game at dice less serious, 
and allow it as harmless (compare Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Hoshen Mishpat, 207, 13, note). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Besides the authorities quoted in the article, 
Maimonides, Yad ha-Hazakah, ‘Edut, xi.4; Shulthan *Aruk, 
Hoshen Mishpat, 34, 16; Pahad Yizhak, s.v. nn3n0N. 

J. SR. M. 
BETURIA, PAULINA: Roman proselyte to 

Judaism (about the year 50), known under the name 

“Sarah,” who, according to her Latin epitaph, was 

eighty-six years and six months old at the time of 

her death. For sixteen years she was a Jewess, a 

mother of the synagogues (“mater synagogarum ”) 

of the Campesian and Volumnian communities in 

Rome. A proselyte variously mentioned in Talmudic 

sources as Beluryah, Berurvah, Belurit, and Beruzia, 

who was learned in the Jewish law, and who in- 

duced her slaves to become proselytes (Mek., Bo, 15; 

R. H.17b; Yeb. 46a; Gerim ii. 4), is perhaps iden- 

tical with Beturia. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., iv. 102; Vo-« 
gelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ‘f . K 
G ; R. 


BEUGNOT, AUGUSTE ARTHUR, COUNT: 
French statesman and scholar; born at Bar-sur- 
Aube March, 1797; died at Paris March 15, 1865. 
Originally he adopted the profession of advocate, 
but soon abandoned it in order to devote himself en- 
tirely to the study of history, and especially the his- 
tory of the Crusades. He was scarcely thirty-five 


133 





years old when he was elected member of the Aca- 
démie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 

Among many valuable works he wrote, “Les 
Juifs d’Occident, ou Recherches sur I’ Etat Civil, le 
Commerce, et la Littérature des Juifs en France, en 
Espagne, et en Italie Pendant la Durée du Moyen- 
Age,” Paris, 1824. This essay is not free from errors 
such as are common to those that obtain their infor- 
mation from secondary sources. In the preface, 
in which he passes in review the period of the strug- 
gies of the Jews with the Romans, and the state of 
the Jews exiled under the Roman emperors, Beu- 
gnot betrays scant knowledge of ancient Jewish his- 
tory. Thus he asserts, contrary to the most au- 
thentic documents, that Julian the Apostate never 
granted to the Jews permission for the rebuilding of 
the Temple. Nevertheless, the work contains much 
information on the history of the Jews of France, 
Spain, and Italy, which has proved valuable to later 
historians. The author, who was a Catholic, does 
not attempt to extenuate the horrors of the persecu- 
tion of the Jews in the Middle Ages. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Wallon, Eloges Académiques, Paris, 1882, 


i. 1-58; Daru, Le Comte Beugnot, in the Correspondant, 
April, 1865; La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v. LB 
: R. 


s. 

BEUTHEN : City of Prussian Silesia. No pre- 
cise information is forthcoming as to when Jews 
first settled in 


the city. The te SS 
mention of §F = LMM zee 

e q id nm a 
Beuthen in the ? 
Mainzer Memor- 


buch (year 1231) 
is uncertain; 
but it is known 
that Jews lived 
there as early as 
1421. The first 
documentary 
evidence _ rela- 
ting to the Jews 
of Beuthendates 
from the year 
1612. In 1617 
there was one 
Jew there, 
Mauth Arenda- 
tor by name; 
and in 1639 two 
more Jews were 
admitted to 
residence. In 1640 a Jew named Kretscham re- 
ceived from Count Gabriel Hentzel the privilege of 
establishing an inn, and in 1653 another received the 
right to scli liquor. In 1656 a court Jew resided 
here; and in the following year an investigation as 
to the number of Jews was made for the purpose of 
increasing the taxes. The responsa of Menahem 
Krochmal in 1657 mention the rabbinate of Beuthen. 
The Jews were often ill-treated and sought protec- 
tion from the count, who, in 1688, wrote in their 
behalf to the city authorities. 

In 1715 there were only four families in Beuthen; 
in 1732 the Jews received a plot for a cemetery, the 
oldest tombstone still in existence dating from the 


f 


Interior of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, London. 
(After a photograph.) 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Ah ober a. 
Th 





Bettin 


Bevis Marks 





year 1748. The number of families had in 1782 

increased to twenty-three; and in the same year the 

first prayer-meetings were held in the house of the 

Boehm family. These were followed by the first 

synagogue in 1809; the second being inaugurated 

in 1869, when also the first reader and shohet were 
appointed. 

In 1808 a Jew had been elected member of the 
common council. The community, which in 1811 
consisted of 255 persons, had increased in 1855 
to 1,110, in 1885 to 2,290, and in 1901 to 3,026 
persons. 

The first rabbi, Moses Israel Freund, officiated 
from 1790 to 1813; the second, Mendel Cohen, until 
1829; the third, Israel Deutsch, author of several 
writings, until 1858; the fourth, Jacob Ezekiel 
Levy, until 1864; while the fifth, Ferdinand Rosen- 
thal, served from 1867 to 1887, being succeeded in 
1889 by M. Kopfstein. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kopfstein, Gesch. der Synagogen-Gemeinde 
in Beuthen, Beuthen, 1891; Salfeld, Martyrologium des 
Niirnberger Memorbuches, p, 282; Brann, Gesch. der Juden 
in Schlesten, i. 27 
G. A. F. 
BEVIS MARKS GAZETTE. See Perropic- 

ALS. 


BEVIS MARKS SYNAGOGUE (known offi- 
cially as the Synagogue Saar ha-Samayim): 
The oldest Jew- 
ish house of 
worship in Lon- 
don; established 
by the Sephar- 
dic Jews in 1698, 
when Rabbi Da- 
vid Nieto took 
spiritual charge 
of the congrega- 
tion. At that 
time the wor- 
shipers met ina 
small syna- 
gogue in Cree 
Church lane; 
but the consid- 
erable influx of 
Jews made it 
necessary to ob- 
tain other and 
commodious 
quarters.  <Ac- 
cordingly a 
committee was appointed, consisting of Antonio 
Gomes Serra, Menasseh Mendes, Alfonso Rodrigues, 
Manuel Nunez Miranda, Andrea Lopez, and Ponta- 
leao Rodriguez. It investigated matters for nearly 
a year, and on Feb. 12, 1699, signed a contract with 
Joseph Avis, a Quaker, for the construction of a 
building to cost £2,750 ($13,835). On June 24 of 
the same year, the committce leased from Lady Ann 
Pointz (alias Littleton) and Sir Thomas Poiatz (alias 
Littleton) a tract of land at Plough Yard, in Bevis 
Marks, for sixty-one years, with the option of re- 
newal for another thirty-eight years, at £120 a year. 

Avis began building at once, incorporating in the 
roof a beam from a royal ship presented by Queen 


h THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


B 
Bezalel 


Anne herself. The structure was completed and 
dedicated in 1702, and, with the exception of the 
roof, which was destroyed by fire in 1788, and re- 
paired in 1749, is to-day as it was 200 years ago. In 
the interior decorations and arrangement the influ- 
ence of the great Amsterdam synagogue of 1677 
is apparent. In 1747 Benjamin Mendes da Costa 
bought the lease of the ground on which the build- 
ing stood, and presented it to the congregation, 
vesting the deeds in the names of a committee con- 
sisting of Gabriel Lopez de Britto, David Aboab 
Ozorio, Moses Gomes Serra, David Franco, Joseph 
Jessurun Rodriguez, and Moses Mendes da Costa, 

The Bevis Marks Synagogue was for more than a 
century the religious center of the Anglo-Jewish 
world, and served as a clearing-house for congrega- 
tional and individual troubles all the world over; 
e.g., theappeal of the Jamaican Jews fora reduction 
in taxation (1736); the internecine quarrel among 
the Barbados Jews (1758); and the aiding of seven. 
year-old Moses de Paz, who escaped from Gibraltar 
in 1777 to avoid an enforced conversion. 

The synagogue formed the center of the Sephardic 
community of London till the foundation of the 
Bryanstone Street Synagogue, in 1866, after which 
the attendance at the functions declined so much 
that in 1886 the “ yehidim ” contemplated selling the 
ground and the building; but a Bevis Marks Anti- 
Demolition League was founded, under the aus- 
pices of H. Guedalla and A. H. Newman, and the pro- 
posed demolition was givenup. Thesynagogue held 
its bicentenary celebration with great pomp in 1901. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Piceciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History ; 

A. H. Newman, 4A Chapter of Anglo-Jewish History, 1886: 

Jacobs and Wolf, Bihliotheca Anglo-Judaica, No. 780, p. 

16; No. 1382, p. 135; Jew. Chron, May 31 and June 7, 1901; 

Gaster, History of the Ancient Synagogue of the Spanish 

and Portuguese Jews, 1901. 

J. E. Ms.—J. 

BEZAH (“Egg”): Name of a Talmudic treatise 
of Seder Mo‘ed, the second of the six “sedarim ” or 
orders of the’Talmud. Its place in the Seder is not 
fixed. In the Babylonian Talmud it occupies the 
fourth place and follows immediately after Pesa- 
him, This arrangement coincides with that of the 
Pentateuch, where the law concerning the holy days 
is directly connected with the description of Pass- 
over (Ex. xit. 16). 

In the Mishnah and Talmud Yerushalmi another 
method is followed, and the treatise occupies the 
seventh and the eighth place respectively. The 
name “Bezah” has its origin in the fact that the 
treatise begins with this word; a solitary instance 
among the treatises of the Talmud, it has a parallel 
in the name “Kykah” for Lamentations, in the He- 
brew names of the five books of the Pentateuch, 
and in the names of the chapters of each treatise of 
the Talmud. Instead of “ Bezah” the treatise is fre- 
quently called “Yom-Tob” (Holy Day), in accord- 

ance with its contents. The general 
Frequently rule laid down in the Bible in the 
Called 
‘*'Yom- 
Tob.” 


in them, save that which every man 
must eat, that alone may be done of 
you” (Ex. /.c.), is assumed as clear 
and known; and this rule was held to constitute the 
difference between “all servile work ” (nosy b5 


words “ No servile work shall be done: 


134 


MTNay), prohibited on holy days, and “all manner of 
work” (72x59 53), prohibited onthe Sabbath. But 
certain problems resulting from these principles had 
to be solved; and these are discussed in the five 
chapters of this treatise. 

Chapter i.: The main theme of this chapter is the 
law of “mukzeh,” “a thing laid aside” so as not to 
be used for the present. ‘The opposite of mukzeh is 
“mukan,” “a thing kept ready ” for use. This dis- 
tinction is based on the divine command (Ex. xvi. 
5), “And they shall keep ready [:5m)] what they 
bring in”—in reference to the manna, which had to 
be kept ready for the Sabbath from the sixth day. 
Traditional interpretation generalized the idca ex- 
pressed in this conmandment as follows: A thing 
which before the commencement of the Sabbath or 
holy day was not intended for use on these days is 
mukzeh, and must not be used or handled on these 
days, There are various degrees of mukzeh; e.9., 
“mukzeh mehamat issur”—mukzeh on account of 
some forbidden act which its use would necessitate; 
“nolad” (born), that which has not existed on the 
eve of the Sabbath or holy day, and is therefore 
mukzeh. There is a difference of opinion between 
the schools of Shammai and Hillel as to the force of 
the above Jaw of mukzeh. The preparation of food 
permitted on holy days sometimes necessitates the 
carrying of things out of the house, or fetching of 
things from outside into the house—an act forbidden 
on the Sabbath, under the title of “hozaah” (taking 
out) (Mishnah Shab. vii. 2), as “taking out,” one of 
the thirty-nine kinds of work included in the precept 
“Thou shalt do no manner of work.” The applica- 
tion of this prohibition to holy days formsa point of 
difference between the aforenamed schools. 

Chapter ii.: The permission to prepare food on 
holy days is restricted to food required for those 
days; but if a holy day is closely followed by the 
Sabbath, the food for the Sabbath may be prepared 
on that holy day, provided such preparation has 
commenced on the eve of the festival. This first in- 
stalment of the preparation for the Sabbath on the 
eve of a holy day is called “‘erub tabshilin,” “the 
link that unites the cooking ” forthe Sabbath on the 
eve of the holy day with that done on the holy day, 
and causes the latter to be permitted. Tle next 
point discussed in the chapter is the question 
whether things other than the preparing of food, if 
required for the celebration of the festival, or for the 
well-being of man—such as slaying certain sacrificial 
animals, or warming water for a foot-bath—may be 
done on a holy day. 

Chapters iii,, iv.: The permission to prepare on a 
holy day the food wanted for the day does not in- 
clude hunting, fishing, or the purchase or fitting of 
implements required for the preparation of food (e.@., 
whetting the slaughtering-knife, burning charcoal, 
etc. ). 

Chapter v.: On certain acts which are prohibited, 
not as “servile work,” but as a preventive (“ geze- 
rah”) against breaking any of the divine laws con- 
cerning the holy day. Such prohibitions are termed 
“shebut” (abstention from doing), commanded by 
the Talmudic sages. 

The Tosefta calls the treatise “Yom-Tob,” and 
has four chapters, contracting chapters ii. and iii. 


135 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bezgah 
Bezalel 





into one. The treatise occupies the place between 
Sukkah and Rosh ha-Shanah, asin the Mishnah. The 
Gemara, both Palestinian and Babylonian, discusses 
the laws contained in the Mishnah with but a few 
short digressions, such as those in Bab. 4b; remarks 
on Yom-Tob Sheni, or the second days of festivals; 
(tb. 15b) Rabbi Eliezer’s censure on those who left 
before his lecture was concluded; (16a) how Sham.- 
maiand Hillel, each in his own way, showed their 
gratitude to God for the enjoyment of good food; 
(5b) on good manners in taking food; and others. 

Of special commentaries on the treatise of Bezah 
the following two are noteworthy: “Shittah Me- 
kubbezet,” by Rabbi Bezalel Ashkenazi, and the 
commentary of Rabbi Menahem Meiri. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z. Frankel, Hodogetica in Mishnam, Leipsic, 
1867 ; Wallerstein, Letter of Rabbenu Sherira, Krotoschin, 


1861; Hiddushe ha-Rab ha-Mciri on Bezah, Berlin, 1888 ; 


Ashkenazi, Shittah Mekubbezet, special ed. on Bezah, Buda- 
pest, 1820; Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, _iii.; Zemanim, 
Hilkot Yom-Tob; Shuthan ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 495-627, 
J. SR. M. F. 
BEZAI: A family, 324 of whose members re- 
turned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 17, and the par- 
allel account, Neh. vii, 23). The name also occurs 
in the list of those who signed the covenant with 
Nehemiah, and may there be identified with the 
leader of the clan (Neh. x. 19); who in I Esd. 
v.16 is called Bassai. It is interesting to note that 
the name “ Besai” occurs on a clay tablet found at 
Nippur (Hilprecht, “ Pal. Explor. Fund, Quarterly 
Statenient,” Jan., 1898, p. 55). 
J. IR. G. B. L. 
BEZALEL (A. V., Bezaleel).—Biblical Data: 
In Ex. xxxi. 1-6, the chief architect of the Taber- 
nacle. Elsewhere in the Bible the name occurs 
only in the genealogical lists of the Book of Chron- 
icles, but according to cuneiform inscriptions a vari- 
ant form of the same, “ Zil-Bél,” was borne by a 
king of Gaza who was a contemporary of Heze- 
kiah and Manasseh. Apparently it means “in the 
shadow [protection] of El.” Bezalel is described 
in the genealogical lists as the son of Uri, the son of 
Har, of the tribe of Judah (f Chron. ii. 18, 19, 20, 
50). He was said to be highly gifted as a work- 
man, showing great skill and originality in engra- 
‘ ving precious metals and stones and in wood-carving. 
He was also a master-workman, having many ap- 
prentices under him whom he instructed in the arts 
(Ex. xxxv. 30-35). According to the narrative in 
Exodus, he was definitely called and endowed to di- 
rect the construction of the tent of meeting and its sa- 
cred furniture, and also to prepare the priests’ gar- 
ments and the oil and incense req uired for the service. 
J. IR. . FL. K. 
——In Rabbinical Literature: The rabbinical 
tradition relates that when God determined to ap- 
point Bezalel architect of the desert Tabernacle, 
He asked Moses whether the choice were agreeable 
to him, and received the reply: “ Lord, if he is ac- 
ceptable to Thee, surely he must be so tome!” At 
God’s command, however, the choice was referred 
to the people for approval and was indorsed by 
them. Moses thereupon commanded Bezalel to set 
about making the Tabernacle, the holy Ark, and 
the sacred utensils. It is to be noted, however, that 
Moses mentioned these in somewhat inverted order, 
putting the Tabernacle last (compare Ex. xxv. 10, 


xxvi. 1 e¢ seg., with Ex. xxxi, 1-10). Bezalel sagely 
suggested to him that men usually build the house 
first and afterward provide the furnishings; but 
that, inasmuch as Moses had ordered the Tabernacle 
to be built last, there was probably some mistake and 
God’s command must have run differently. Moses 
was so pleased with this acuteness that he com- 
plimented Bezalel by saying that, true to his name, 
he must have dwelt “in the very shadow of God” 
(Hebr., “bezel El”). Compare also Philo, “ Leg. 
Alleg.” iii, 31. 

Bezalel possessed such great wisdom that he could 
combine those letters of the alphabet with which 
heaven and earth were created; this being the mean- 
ing of the statement (Ex, xxxi. 3): “I have filled 
him . . . with wisdom and knowledge,” which were 
the implements by means of which God created the 
world, as stated in Prov. iii. 19, 20 (Ber. 55a). By 
virtue of his profound wisdom, Bezalel succeeded 
in erecting a sanctuary which seemed a fit abiding- 
place for God, who is so exalted in time and space 
(Ex. R. xxxiv. 1; Num. R. xii. 3; Midr. Teh. xci.). 
The candlestick of the sanctuary was of so compli- 
cated a nature that Moses could not comprehend it, 
although God twice showed him a heavenly model; 
but when he described it to Bezalel, the lutter un- 
derstood immediately, and made it at once; where- 
upon Moses expressed his admiration for the quick 
wisdom of Bezalel, saying again that he must have 
been “in the shadow of God” (Hebr., “bezel El”) 
when the heavenly models were shown him (Num. R. 
xv. 10; compare Ex. R. 1. 2; Ber. l.c.). Bezalel is said 
to have been only thirteen years of age when he 
accomplished his great work (Sanh. 69b); he owed 
his wisdom to the merits of pious parents; his grand- 
father being Hur and his grandmother Miriam, he 
was thusa grand-nephew of Moses (Ex. R. xviii. 3, 
4). Compare ARK IN RABBINICAL LITERATURE, 

L. G. 

BEZALEL: Palestinian amora of the fourth cen- 
tury, who is known in Midrashic literature only as the 
author of haggadistic sentences. Twoof these have 
been handed down by Berechiah, the well-known 
haggadist and transmitter of haggadistic traditions. 
In Pesik. xxi, 145b (where the name is corrupted, 
but easily recuguizable) Bezalel interprets the pecul- 
iar form “ kehahallonot ” (madras) (Ezek. xt. 25) by 
saying, “The windows of the Temple were ‘ kehot’ 
[dull] (mins); they were opaque, narrow within, and 
widening toward the exterior, in order to send light 
forth to the world.” The second saying reported 
by Berechiah in the name of Bezalel is a simile re- 
ferring to Ex. xxv. 40 (Cant. R. iii. 11; in Pesik. i. 
4b, and in other parallel passages the name is mis- 
written or has dropped out). Athird sentence con- 
tains anallegoric explanation of Hosea ii. 7[A. V. 5]. 
“Her ‘mother’ is the Torah, which, likea harlot, be- 
comes an object of contempt among the ignorant, 
when those who are engaged in its study make the 
Law contemptible by their conduct.” Bezalel gave 
this explanation in answer to a question which the 
above-mentioned Berechiah asked him (Ruth R. i. 1 
fparashah 1], where the name of Berechiah has been 
omitted by mistake). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. ili. 666. 


J. SR. W. B. 


Bezalel 
Bhorupkar 


BEZALEL B. JOSEPH (YOSEL): Russian 
Talmudist and rabbi at Orlo, government of Grodno, 
at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He is 
the author of a collection of responsa, which he pub- 
lished in 1807 at Byelostok. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benjacob, Ozgar ha-Sefarim, p. 555; Zedner, 

Cat. Hebr. Books British Afuseum, p. 9d. 

L. G. I. Ber. 

BEZALEL B. JUDAH HA-LEVI OF ZOL- 
KIEV: Polish Talmudist of the second half of the 
eighteenth century. He wrote 2 commentary to the 
sayings of the fathers (Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1781), 
entitled “ Bezalel.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books British Museum, 

p. 93; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 88. 

L. G. I. Brr. 

BEZALEL B. MOSES HA-KOHEN: Tal- 
mudist; born at Wilna, Russia, Jan. 14, 1820, where 
he died April 18, 1878. He was a competent Tal- 
mudist at the age of eighteen, and felt himself qual- 
ified to criticize the “ Mishkenot Ya‘akob” of Jacob 
b. Aaron of Karlin, one of the chief Talmudists of 
the time, in a letter addressed to him. In 1840 
Bezalel became ecclesiastical assistant in Wilna, 
and held the position until hisdeath. Although the 
title was a subordinate one, Bezalel was in reality — 
at least from 1860 to 1878—the spiritual head of the 
large community at Wilna. Moreover, he not only 
cared for this community, but answered religious 
questions directed to him from far and near. Con- 
sequently many of Bezalel’s answers to the ques- 
tions, which were theoretical as well as practical in 
their bearing, are to be found in the responsa litera- 
ture of the time. Equally numerous were Bezalel’s 
contributions to the works of others, especially those 
printed in Wilna. His independent work, longer 
than the others, is “Reshit Bikkurim ” (Firstlings), 
Wilna, 1869, responsa and treatises on Talmudic 
topics. The Romm edition of the Talmud contains 
marginal glosses on many of Bezalel’s treatises. 

Bezalel differed from his more narrow-minded col- 
leagues in showing an inclination for secular sciences. 
He had, also, a fine historical and critical feeling for 
rabbinical literature, and some of his historical and 
critical notes possess considerable value. His wide 
reading iu modern Talmudic literature is remarkable, 
eveu if conditions in Russia be taken into account, 
religious study there being limited almost entirely 
to the Talmud. SBezalel’s extraordinary modesty 
and active goodness are still frequently praised. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 190. L@ 

BEZALEL BEN SOLOMON OF KOBRYN: 
Preacher at Slutzk, government of Minsk, Russia; 
later at Boskowitz, Moravia; died before 1659. He 
was the author of the following works: (1) “*‘Amu- 
deah Shib‘ah ” (Her Columns Are Seven), containing 
homilies on the Bible; divided into seven parts, each 
of which bears the title of a Biblical expression con- 
nected with the name of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
Moses, Aaron, David, or Solomon (Lublin, 1666). 
This work was published by the order of the 
Council of the Four Lands and of the Lithuanian 
Rabbinical Assembly, held at Lublin in 1666. (2) 
“Korban Shabbat ” (Sacrifice of Sabbath), on some 
ritual laws and religious customs concerning Sab- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


136 


bath ; divided into thirty-nine chapters (Dyhernfurth, 
1691). (8) “Pelah ha Rimmon” (The Piece of the 
Pomegranate), containing twenty explanations of 
the forty-nine which had been written by Bezalel on 
a difficult Midrashic passage (Amsterdam, 1659). (4) 
“Habazelet ha-Sharon” (Rose of Sharon), com- 
mentary on Psalm cxix., mentioned in the introduc- 
tion to the preceding work. (5) “Zayit Ra‘anan” 
(Green Olive-Tree), homilies on the Pentateuch. (6) 
“*Emek ha-Baka” (Vale of Tears), commentary on 
Lamentations. The last two works are still extant 
in manuscript. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 19, ii. 118 ; Fuenn, 
Keneset Yisrael, p. 191; Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 613; 
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 799; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. 
Books Brit. Mus. p. 95; S. Dubnov, in Voskhod, 1896, vii. 2. 


Ht. R. I. Br. 


BEZEK: 1. The scene of battle between the 
tribes of Judah and Simeon, and the Canaanites and 
Perizzites (Judges i. 4-6). 2. Place where Saul col- 
lected his forces for the fight against the Ammonites 
(I Sain. xi. 8). Identified with the modern Khirbet 
Ibzig, 14 miles southwest of Beisan (Moore, com- 


mentary to Judges i. 5). 
J, IR. G. B. L. 


BEZER: A city of refuge in the territory of 
Reuben (Deut. iv. 48; Josh. xx. 8). It was also 
one of the cities allotted the Levites by the tribe of 
Reuben (Josh, xxi, 86, Septuagint; I Chron. vi. 63 
[A. V. 78]). In the Mesha inscription it is a Moabite 
city, probably the same as the Bozrah of Moab men- 
tioned in Jer. xlviii. 24. Bezer has not yet been 
identified with any of the cities whose ruins are 
found in the plateau of Moab. It must be distin- 


guished from Bosor or BosorRa. 
J. IR. F. Bu. 


BEZETHA: According to Josephus, the name 
of a hill north of the Temple-mound, and separated 
from the latter by a valley. After the erection of 
the third wall it became part of the city of Jerusa- 
lem. Josephus (“B. J.” ti. 15, § 5; ii. 19, § 4; v. 4, 
§ 2; v. 5, § 8) gives the meaning of the name 
as “New City,” according to which “ Bezetha” is a 
strange transcription of NnIn ma. A more correct 
rendering is “house of olives” (RAY AND) It is not 
certain whether this place is identical with “ Bezeth” 
in I Macc. vii. 19, where Bacchides pitched his tents 
after leaving Jerusalem. In “ Ant.” xii. 10, $ 2 it is 
called Byof7#w (variant reading, By$270e), and is re- 
ferred to as a village. 

J- JR. F. Bu. 

BEZIERS (formerly Bediers, Beders, Besers, 
and Bezares; Hebr., wa, yt. wasta. wot, 
Bow, Wow, BANTWI, WIdT, wind, wna): Town of 
France in the department of Hérault. The date of 
the settlement of the Jewsin Béziers is lost in antiq- 
uity. Twoletters of Sidonius Apolonarius and the 
canons of the council held at Agde in 506 establish 
the existence at that time of numerous and prosper- 
ous Jewish communities in the province of Langue- 

doc (Vaisséte, i. 248; Sidonius Apolo- 

Earliest narius, iii., epistle 4;iv., epistle 5). The 

Mention. Jewsof Béziers did not escape the fate 
of the other Jewish communities in 

this province, which had to endure the most violent 
persecutions during the reign of the Visigoths. After 


137 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bezalel 
Bhorupkar 





the defeat of the Saracens by Charles Martel in 782, 
the condition of the Jews of Béziers, as that of those 
of other towns, became more favorable; and this 
state lasted during the reign of the Carlovingians. 
In the eleventh century the Jews of Bézicers were 
affected by the persecutions that broke out in west- 
ern France. 

But the Jews of Béziers were fortunate in com- 
parison with those of other towns. The viscounts 
cherished the most kindly feelings for them, and the 
greater part of the Christian inhabitants, being Albi- 

genses, lived on friendly terms with 
Albigenses. their Jewish fellow-citizens. Even the 

restrictions gradually disappeared and 
were transformed into taxes imposed for the bene- 
fit of the princes or of the bishops, which they 
bad to pay in addition to the poll-tax common to all 
the inhabitants. Thus, through the intervention of 
the viscount Raymond Trencaval, the bishop Guil- 
laume abolished, in 1160, the custom of throwing 
stones at the Jews during Holy Week, and substi- 
tuted a yearly payment of two hundred melgorian 
sousand a yearly tax of four livres of the same coin- 
age. The good-will of the viscounts of Béziers dis- 
played itself far beyond mere toleration; they even 
entrusted the Jews with important public offices. 
The Jews, on their side, were attached by bonds of 
gratitude to the viscounts and did not participate in 
the plot which, in 1167, brought about the assas- 
sination of Raymond Trencaval. They were there- 
fore excluded from the massacre of the inhabit- 
ants that Roger If., with the help of his Aragonian 
allies, perpetrated in order to avenge this crime. 

Roger II. gave the Jews numerous tokens of 
his confidence and favor. He took the notables 
among them under his personal protection. Thusin 
1172 he interceded in behalf of the Talmudist Abra- 
ham ben David (RABaD), and, having taken him 
from the prison into which the lord of Posquiéres 
had thrown him, granted him shelter in Carcas- 
sonne. The functions of bailiff, under his govern- 
ment, were often entrusted to Jews. <A. Jew called 
Nathan figures with the title of bailiff as a witness 
to a deed of Roger I. Raymond Roger, the suc- 
cessor of Roger IT., followed the example given by 
his father and assigned for his Jewish bailiffs a dis- 
tinguished rank among the barons of his court. A 
Jew of Béziers, called Samuel, figures, together with 
the barons, on a deed by which Raymond Roger 
granted the bishop. many rights. 

The prospects of the Jews of Béziers darkened in 
the thirteenth century. In the bloody crusade that 

the pope undertook against the Albi- 

Inthe  genses, the Jews had their share of 
Thirteenth suffering. The ambitious Count Simon 
Century. de Montfort marched against Ray- 
mond Roger, who was doubly hated 

by the pope for his secret friendship with the Albi- 
genses and his protection of the Jews. On July 22, 
1209, Béziers was stormed and the inhabitants mas- 
sacred. Two hundred Jews lost their lives in this 
massacre, and a large number were driven into cap- 
tivity. In consequence of the victory over Ray- 
mond Roger, the Church acquired asupremacy which 
it often used to molest the Jews. The council of 
Avignon (1209) and the Lateran council (1215) had 


prescribed various restrictions upon the Jews; and 
the council held at Béziers in 1246 prohibited them 
from practising medicine. But these restrictive miecas- 
ures were not always carried out, and the Jews of 
Béziers could evade them more easily than those of 
other towns, since the Christian inhabitants of Béziers 
were more accustomed to tolerance; but as that eva- 
sion required heavy pecuniary sacrifices, this for- 
merly flourishing community became gradually im- 
poverished, and Philip le Bel in banishing them, 
Sept., 1366, in order to get hold of their property, 
must have been disappointed. 

Béziers was a focus of Jewish learning. Abra- 
ham ibn Ezra visited it, and about 1155 wrote there 
his work, “Sefer ha-Shem” (Book of 
the Name), in which he mentions the 
names of the scholars Abraham ben 
Hayyim and Isaac ben Judah, to the 
latter of whom he gives the title “Prince.” Ben- 
jamin of Tudela, who visited Béziers in 1165, praises 
the scholars Solomon Halafta and Joseph Nathan. 
The Talmudist Meshullam ben Moses, the author of 
“Sefer ha-Hashlamah” (Book of Completeness), lived 
in Béziers in the first half of the thirteenth century. 
In aresponsum drawn up at Béziers, Solomon ben 
Asher and Joseph ben Gerton are mentioned as col- 
leagues of Meshullam. Solomon ben Joseph ibn 
Ayub settled at Béziers at the request of several 
notables of the town, and translated from Arabic 
into Hebrew many philosophical works. The caba- 
list Jacob Cohen of Segovia stayed at Béziers at the 
end of the thirteenth century. Poetry was repre- 
sented there in the persons of Abraham ben BEeEDERSTI, 
who derived his name from the town, his son Jedaiah, 
Don Astruc Eleazar Azobi, and Meshullam Azobi. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vaisséte, Hist. Gen. de Languedoc, i. 274, 
350, 360, 522; ii. 151, 418; iii. 119, Paris, 17380-1745; Saige, Les 
Juifs du Languedoc, pp. 77 et seq.3; Gratz, Gesch. der 
Juden, vi. 175, 201, vii. 9, 37,48; Ibn Verga, Shehet Yehu- 
dah, ed. Hanover, p. 112; Gross, Galtia Judaica, pp. 96-105. 
G I. Br. 


BHORUPKAR, SAMUEL BAPUJI: Beni- 
Israel soldier; born near Bombay, India, about 1790, 
He entered the Fourth Bombay Regiment on Feb. 
2,1811. In 1813 he served with the Poona Brigade 
under Colonel Cooke, and in 1814 was engaged in 
Katyawar and on the banks of the Runn against the 
Waghurs; in 1815 in Guzerat, at Bhuj, in Katyawar 
and Ookamundul; was present at the capture of the 
forts of Anjor, Kunkote, Dhingkce, and Joonkee; in 
1816 was at Jamnuggur and Dwarka, and at the 
taking of Deesa, Palampur, Veerumpur, and Kur- 
runjah; in 1817-18 served in the whole of the cam- 
paignin Malwa in pursuit of Holkar, and in 1819 was 
at the capture of the forts of Newtee and Raree in 
the southern Konkan. From 1821 to 1827 he was 
employed on various field services in Guzerat, at the 
taking of the fort Limbuj, and at Dongerpur, and 
subsequently in the southern Konkan on several 
occasions. 

Bhorupkar was promoted to the rank of a jemi- 
dar Jan. 9, 1828, and to that of subedar on Dec. 28, 
1833; was appointed subedar-major on Jan. 1, 1839; 
was admitted to the Second-Class Order of British 
India, with the title of bahadur, on March 24, 1841; 


and retired from service Feb. 3, 1847. 
J. J. Hy. 


Jewish 
Scholars. 


Biach 
Bibel’sche 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


138 





BIACH, ALOIS: Austrian physician and med- 
ical writer; born in Lettowitz, Moravia, Austria, May 
1, 1849. He was educated at the gymnasium at 
Briinn and at the University of Vienna. After grad- 
uating as M.D. in 1873, he established himself in 
Vienna, where he was appointed a member of the 
board of health. In 1883 he became privat-docent 
of medicine (dnnere Medicin) at the university in 
that city. Biach has occupied the position of secre- 
tary to the society of physicians of Lower Austria. 

In addition to his work on * Die Neueren Antipy- 
retica,” Vienna, 1889, he is the author of many es- 
says, of which the following may be mentioned: 
“Ueber Aneurysmen an den Herzklappen,” in 
“ Jahbrbiicher der Gesellschaft der Aerzte in Wien,” 
1878: “Ueber Jaborundi und Seine Alkaloide,” in 
“Mittheilungen des Vereins der Aerzte in Nieder- 
Osterreich,” 1879; “Versuche tiber die Physiolo- 
gische Wirkung des Chinolins,” in Virchow’s “ Ar- 
chiv ftir Pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie 
und fiir Klinische Medizin,” 1881 ; “ Cirrhosis Hepatis 
mit Wandstindiger Thrombose der Vena Porte und 
Vena Meseraica Superior,” in “ Mittheilungen des 
Vereins der Aerzte in Niederésterreich,” 1884; “Ent- 
wicklung von Krebs des Magens auf der Basis eines 
Runden Magengeschwiirs,” in “ Wiener Medizinische 
Presse,” 1890. 

S. F. T. H. 

BIAL, RUDOLF: Violinist, conductor, com- 
poser, and manager; born at Habelschwerdt, Silesia, 
Aug. 26, 1834; died at New York Nov. 18, 1881. 
He began his career as a Violinist in an orchestra at 
Breslau, and then made a tour of Australia and 
Africa with his brother Karl, a pianist of distinction. 
On his return to Germany, Bial settled in Berlin, 
where he successively became orchestral director at 
Kroll’s Theater; the Wallner Theater (1864), where 
many of his operettas, etc., were given; of Kroll’s 
Opera House, where, for several years, the most 
distinguished artists of Europe sang under his man- 
agement, Later, Bial was a concert agent in New 
York. 

Bial was a prolific composer of operettas, farces, 
orchestral pieces, and dances; and several of his 
compositions enjoyed considerable popularity. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baker, Biographical. Dict. of Musicians, 

ET a Berithmte Israelitische Minner und 


S. J. So. 
BIALA. See Russra. 


BIALEH, ZEBI HIRSCH BEN NAPH- 
TALI HERZ (called Harif, “the keen”): Rabbi 
and Talmudist; born about 1670 at Lemberg, Gali- 
cia; died Sept. 25, 1748, at Halberstadt, Prussia. 
He conducted a Talmudic high school in his native 
city until 1718, when he received a call as chief rabbi 
to the rich community at Halberstadt. His buman- 
ity, gentleness, and unselfishness won him the love 
and admiration of the people as well as of his col- 


leagues; and he became known asa Talmudic au-. 


thority throughout Germany. Bialeh was particu- 
larty fond of teaching, and when he left: Lemberg 
to go to Halberstadt eighteen of his pupils went 
with him. His attitude toward them was that of a 
brother; and he possessed a certain tolerance for 
the secular sciences, the study of which was then 


beginning to make headway among the young Jews 
of Germany. Among his numerous pupils were 
Elhanan Ashkenazi, Isaiah Berlin, and Meir Barbi. 

Bialeh was restrained by modesty from publishing 
any works; but he left several manuscripts, which 
are in the possession of some private persons in 
Halberstadt; and someof his approbations appeared 
in the works of his pupils and colleagues. Both in 
his writings and orally he denounced the prevalent 
exaggeration of the pilpulistic method; as, for in- 
stance, in hisapprobation to Jehiel Michael's “ Nezer 
ha-Kodesh.” In general he seems to have followed 
the logical method, and to have preferred the simple 
interpretation of the Talmud (see his responsum in 
Samuel ben Elkanah’s “ Mekom Shemuel,” No. 5). 

His sons were: Solomon Dob Berush, rabbi at 
Glogau; Naphtali Herz, rabbi at Dubno; Abra- 
ham, rabbi at Rawitsch; Samuel, assistant rabbi 
at Halberstadt; and Simhah, rabbi at Dessau. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Auerbach, Gesch. der Jtidischen Gemeinde 
Haiberstadt, pp. 64-76, Halberstadt, 1866; Walden, Shem 
ha-Gedolim he-Hadash, p. 37; Eleazar ba-Kohen, Kinat 
Soferim, fol. 738, Lemberg, 1892. 

I. Ber. 


IL. G. 


BIALLOBLOTZKY, CHRISTIAN HER- 
MANN FRIEDRICH: Jewish convert to Chris- 
tianity ; born April 9, 1799, at Pattensen, near Han- 
over; died March 28, 1868, at Ahlden-on the-Aller. 
Bialloblotzky studied Christian theology and philos- 
ophy, and received the degree of D.D. at the Uni- 
versity of Géttingen in 1824, the subject of his 
thesis being “De Legis Mosaice Abrogatione.” He 
wrote several works on Christian theology, and pub- 
lished the following on Jewish subjects: (1) “The 
Chronicles of R. Joseph ben Joshua Meir, the Seph- 
ardi,” a translation of Joseph ha-Kohen’s “ Dibre 
Hayamim,” published by the Oriental Translation 
Fund, in two volumes, London, 1884-36; (2) “ Ozar 
ha-Shorashim, Lexicon Radicum Hebraicarum,” in 
Hebrew and Latin, London, 1843; (8) “Sefer ha- 
Shorashim,” a lexicon of the Hebrew roots, in He- 
brew and English, 2d. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Winer, Handbuch der Theologischen Li- 
teratur, i. 499; McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, XI. Sup- 
plement, p. 484; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 
95; idem, Auswahl Historischer Stilckhe aus Hebrijischen 
Schriftstellern, p. 55, note; First, Bibl. Jud. i. i}. B 
J. P R. 


BIALYSTOK, LITHUANIA. 
TOK, 

BIBAGO, ABRAHAM BEN SHEM-TOB 
(Bibaz and Bibas-Vivas are corruptions of the 
name): Spanish religious philosopher and preacher; 
born at Saragossa; resided in 1446 at Huesca, and 
was still living in 1489. At the court of John IT. of 
Aragon, he was, as he himself relates, engaged in 
controversy when only a young man with “a re- 
nowned Christian sage” on the dogma of the Trin- 
ity. Like Joseph ben Shem-Tob, his older country- 
man, he was familiar not merely with the entire 
Arabo-Judean philosophy, but also with Christian 
theology as presented in Latin. He studied the 
latter so as to be able to defend the Jewish faith 
in a scholarly manner. Bibago was not “a mere 
preacher who wrote philosophical homilies,” as 
Griitz says (“Gesch. der Juden,” viii. 227), nor “an 
opponent of philosophy,” as Renan represents him 


See BYELOs- 


139 


to be in his “ Averroés et l’Averroisme” (8ded., p. 
198), but a rational believer censuring in unsparing 
language those zealots that “cling only to the shell 
but reject the kernel, and pose as pious while vilify- 
ing a thinker such as Maimonides.” 

The writings of Bibago include: (1) “ Derek Emu- 
nah” (The Path of Faith), his chief work, written 
toward the close of his life, and printed in 1521 at 
Constantinople. Like all his writings, it has, ac- 
cording to Steinschneider, not received the full rec- 
ognition it deserves, It is, as the title suggests, a 

presentation and, at the same time, a 
His defense of the Jewish religion as lead- 
Defense of ing man to the highest knowledge of 
Judaism. God and to eternal happiness. It is 
divided into three treatises, which are 
subdivided into divisions or parts (called “ gates”) 
and chapters. The first treatise deals with: (gate 
1) the doings of God; (gate 2) His knowledge; and 
(gate 8) His providence. The second treatise deals 
with: (gate 1) the intellect; (gate 2) its nature 
and object; (gate 8) man’s highest object; (gate 4) 
the blending of faith and knowledge—which topic 
is but slightly touched; (gate 5)-the problem of 
matter and sin; (gate 6) the question whether Moses 
sinned; and (gate 7) the true faith. The third trea- 
tise deals with: (gate 1) the fundamentals of faith; 
(gate 2) miracles; (gate 8) creation of the world: 
gate 4) ethics; and (gate 5) the special articles of 
faith. In the fifth part he warmly defends the creed 
of Maimonides against his antagonists; and his argu- 
ments were subsequently literally reproduced by 
Abravanel in his “Rosh Amanah.” In this work, in 
which many Biblical and rabbinical passages are ex- 
plained, he takes cognizance of Christian and Mo- 
hammedan theology. He quotes Greek philosophers 
like Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras; also Enclid 
and Ptolemeus, Galen and Themistius, as well as 
Arabie thinkers like Averroes, Avicenna, Alfarabi, 
and Gazzali, and even the fable-book “Kealila we- 
Dimna.” Of Christian writers he quotes Eusebius; 
and of Jewish writers often not only Maimonides, 
Nahmanides, and other philosophers, but also cab- 
alistic works like the “Buahir,” the “Zohar,” “Sefer 
Yezirah,” and the “ Hekalot.” He indorses a saying 
of a sage that “ Reason and Religion are the world’s 
two luminaries”; and he strongly opposes prayers 
“addressed to angels or to the departed, a practise 
customary among the Christians.” 

Tsaac Arama, Bibago’s contemporary, used the 
book freely. Joseph Solomon del Medigo, the well- 
known physician and writer, speaks with warm 
praise of the work, though he complains that the 
Cabala had crept intoit. But the fact must be taken 
into consideration that, as Steinschneider says, “the 
cabalists at the close of the thirteenth century bad 
made philosophy the handmaid of the Cabala, and 
this caused the philosophers on their part to take 
into consideration the writings and the ideas of the 
Cabala that had grown into prominence.” It is true 
that Jacob ibn Habib, in his “‘En Ya‘akob” at 
the close of Berakot, censures Bibago for putting 
constructions upon the Biblical texts that they 
could not bear; nevertheless he praises “the beauty 
of these interpretations, which insinuate themselves 
into our hearts.” 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Biach 
Bibel’sche 


(2) “Ez Hayyim” (Tree of Life) deals with crea- 
tion, and has for its object the refutation of the 
arguments advanced by Aristotle, Averroes, and 
others in favor of the eternity of the world. The 
author quotes this treatise three times 
in the “Derek Emunah” and gives a 
fair insight into it. (8) A homily on 
Gen. v. 29, “Zeh Yenahamenu,” pub- 
lished at Salonica in 1522, treats also of crcation and 
the Sabbath; but is uot, as is stated by Michael 
(“Or ha-Hayyim”), partof “Ez Hayyim ” (see Stein- 
schneider, “ Monatsschrift,” 1888, p. 95). (4) From 
quotations in the “Derek Emunah” it appears that 
Bibago wrote a work under the title of “Mahazeh 
Shaddai,” treating of the belief in resurrection. 
(5) A work on sacrifice as means of communion 
with God. (6) A refutation of the objections raised 
by Nahmanides against Maimonides. (7) “ Ma’amar 
‘al Ribbui ha-Zurot,” a treatise on “The Plurality of 
Forms, Particularly in Man”—Paris manuscript 
1004, though without his name. (8) Two philo- 
sophical letters to Moses Arondi. (9) A compen- 
dium of therapeutics after Galen; besides a number 
of philosophical works in the form of commentaries 
to Averroes, (10) Acommentary on Averroes’ work 
on logic, “ Demonstration ” (AHw), written at Huesca 
in 1446, exists in manuscript, Vatican and Paris. 
In this work Bibago defends Averroes against Levi 
ben Gerson. (11) A commentary on Averroes’ 
“ Physics,” referred to in (12) a commentary on 
Averroes’ “Metaphysics” — still extant in manu- 
script at Munich. In the introduction he deplores 
the lack of philosophical research among his core- 
ligionists, who are unable to defend their faith 
against Christian scholars that study philosophy and 
science in their schools; and in view of this defi- 
ciency he undertook the explanation of Aristotelian 

metaphysics, however much opposed 


Other 
Works. 


En- it was to the pure and sacred ancestral 
courages faith. This work shows familiarity 
Philo- _—_ not only with all Arabic philosophers, 
sophical butalso with Boethius, withthe works 
Study. of Duns Scotus and Occam, known to 


hin probably through the translation 

of Elijah Habillo, and with Nicholas Bonettus, a 

Spanish monk who lived in 1486. Without origi- 

nality of thought, Bibago nevertheless represents, 

says Steinschneider, “that class of learned and pro- 
ductive writers which Spanish Judaism produced at 
the close of a brilliant epoch.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, in Monatsschrift, 1883, pp. 
79-96, 125-144: idem, Hebr. Uebers. 1893, pp. 89 et seq... 168 
et seq.: Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 255; Munk, Philoso- 
phie und Philozsophische Schriftsteller der Juden (German 
transl. by Beer), 1852, pp. 36, 83, 117; Gritz, Gesch. der 
Juden, viii. 219-227, . 


K. S. B.—K. 


BIBEL’SCHE ORIENT, DER: A magazine 
of which only two numbers appeared (Munich, 
1&21), these being supposed to be edited by Isaac 
Bernays. Its object, as stated in the first announce- 
ment. April 24 (the second bears date of Aug. 12, 
1812 [1821]), was “to exhibit the spirit of the sacred 
hooks in all their purity and clearness, but without 
any learned verbosity, and to determine the rank 


| of these fiery utterances from olden times as well- 


defined expressions of the human soul, aside from 


Bibikov 
Bible Canon 


their strongly marked peculiarities and their value 
as important historical documents.” 

“Der Bibel’sche Orient,” whose style is dark, 
mystical, and confused to a degree, carries mythol- 
ogy into the Scriptures: it betrays the influence of 
Schelling’s quaint philosophy. While regarding the 
Bible and the development of the Jews from a 
world-historical point of view, its editor comes to 
the conclusion that all religions can manifest them- 
selves only by exerting reformatory influences. 
Though looking with contempt upon Mendels- 
sohn and his disciples, the author was even more 
in favor of the Reform movement than were the 
latter. 

“Der Bibel’sche Orient” attracted considerable 
attention upon its first appearance, but was soon 
forgotten. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Zeitschrift fiir die Wissenschaft des 
Judenthums, pp. 177-196; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, ii. 428. 
a. M. K. 


BIBIKOV, DMITRI GAVRILOVICH: 
Russian soldier, administrator, and statesman; born 
1792; died 1870. In 1837 Bibikov was appointed 
military governor of Kiev, and governor-general of 
Volhynia and Podolia. During the fifteen years of 
his administration of the southwestern provinces, 
he more than once resorted to harsh measures with 
regard to the Jews who were directly or indirectly 
involved in the Polish agitation, for the suppression 
of which he was responsible. Hence his marked 
animosity, especially toward the Jews of Berdy- 
chev, which city was at that time one of the centers 
of Polish revolutionary intrigues, and in which a 
secret branch of the Polish national bank was es- 
tablished. While attacking abuses, Bibikov nev- 
ertheless manifested on many occasions a spirit of 
consideration for the educated Jews. It was due 
to his remonstrations with the government of Nich- 
olas I. that several severe restrictive laws were re- 
laxed in behalf of the Jews. Such were the meas- 
ures allow'ng Jewish residents of the government of 
Kiev to vis'.. that city for business purposes; that 
annulling the order of the Jitomir authorities which 
prohibited the Jewish blacksmiths in Jitomir from 
following their trade; that permitting the Jews of 
Starokonstantinov, Zaslav, Ostrog, and Kovno to 
obtain passports and gild certificates from the 
local district treasuries instead of procuring them 
from Novogradvolynsk; that granting to Jewish 
merchants of the first gild the right to farm inns 
in crown dominions of the western provinces; and 
that permitting the Jews to elect from their own 
number city brokers and notaries public in places 
where the population consisted of both Jews and 
Christians. 

In 1852 Bibikov was made minister of the interior, 
which post he filled until 1855. It seems that in 
this capacity he became more than ever imbued with 
the prevailing anti-Jewish spirit of Nicholas’ régime. 
In one case, at least, his name is mentioned in con- 
nection with a measure prohibiting the Jews from 
living in certain parts of Jitomir, the restriction 
being promulgated in compliance with Bibikov’s 
proposition. His brother, Ilia Gavrilovich Bibikov, 
governor-general of Wilna, was favorably disposed 
toward the Jews. and was interested particularly in 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


140 


their educational affairs. The Hebrew poet Abra- 

ham Baer LEBENSOHN composed a poem, “kol 

Ne‘urim,” commemorating his visit to the Wilna 

Talmud Torah, which was published in his “Shire 

Sefat Kodesh,” ii. 85, Wilna, 1869. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Complete Russian Code, 2d ed., xviii., No. 
17,855, xxi. No. 20,021, xxiv. No. 23,409, xxv. No. 24,677, xxvi. 
No. 25,559, Xxix. No. 28,079; V. O. Levanda, Polny & hronolo- 
ghicheski Sbornik Zakonov i Polozhent Kasayushehikhsya 
Yevreyev, Nos. 481, 540, 608, 684, 650, 715, St. Petersburg, 
1874; I. G. Orshanski. Russkoe Zakonodatelstvo o Yevre- 
yakh, p. 193, St. Petersburg, 1877; Russkaya Starina, April, 
1901, pp. 119-121; V. Kashpirev, Pamyatniki Novot Russkot 
Tstorii, i. 112-122, St. Petersburg, 1871. 

H. R. B23: 


BIBLE CANON: §1. The Greek word xavov, 
meaning primarily a straight rod, and derivatively 
a norm or law, was first applied by the church 
fathers (not earlier than 360) to the collection of 
Holy Scriptures, and primarily to those of the so- 
called Old Testament (Credner, “Zur Gesch. des 
Canons,” pp. 58-68). But although the older Jew- 
ish literature has no such designation for the Bib- 
lical books, and itis doubtful whether the word was 

ever Included in the rabbinical vocab- 

Meaning ulary, it is quite certain that the idea 
and Scope. expressed by the designation “ canon- 

ical writings ” (ypadai xavovixai), both 
as including and as excluding certain books, is of 
Jewish origin. The designation “Apocrypha” af- 
fords a parallel instance: the word is Greek; the 
conception is Jewish (compare the words “ Genu- 
zim,” “Genizah ”). 

The idea of canonicity can only have been sug- 
gested at a period when the national literature had 
progressed far enough to possess a 
large number of works from which a 
selection might be made. And the 
need for such selection was all the 
more urgent, since the Jewish mind occupied itself 
in producing exclusively writings of religious im- 
port, in which category, however, were also in- 
cluded various historical and didactic works. Which 
writings were included in the recognized collection, 
and in what manner such collection was made, are 
questions belonging to the history of the canon, and 
are discussed in this article: the origin and com- 
position of the separate books come under the his- 
tory of Biblical literature. 

§ 2. The oldest and most frequent designation for 
the whole collection of Biblical writings is o™pp, 

“Books.” ‘This word, which in Dan. 

Des- ix. 2 means all the sacred writings, 
ignations. occurs frequently in the Mishnah, as 
well as in traditional literature, with- 

out closer definition, The expression ppm “SD 
(“Holy Books”) belongs to later authors. It is em- 
ployed first by the medieval exegetes; for instance, 
Ibn Ezra, introduction to “Yesod Morah” and 
“™M’ozne Lashon ha-Kodesh”; see also Neubauer, 
“Book of Tobit,” 43b, Oxford, 1878; Griitz, “Gesch. 
der Juden,” 3d ed., vii. 3884; Margoliouth, “Cat. 
Hebr. and Samaritan MSS. Brit Mus.,” Nos. 181, 
198; and elsewhere infrequently, but never in Tal- 
mud or Midrash. This fact goes to show that the 
ancients regarded the whole mass of the national 
religious writings as equally holy. The Greek 
translation of the term is ra @¢8Ale, which (as may 


Origin of 
Idea. 


141 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bibikov 
Bible Canon 





be seen from the expressions kai Td Aoizd Tav BiBriov 
and Kat 7Ov aGzAwv ratpiuv Bi:Briwv) is used by the 
grandson of Sirach in the introduction to Ecclesias- 
ticus (Sirach) to designate the whole of the Scrip- 
tures. 

The canonical books, therefore, needed no special 
designation, since originally all were holy. A new 
term had to be coined for the new idea of non-holy 
books. The latter were accordingly called DED 
DN (“ outside” or “extraneous books”); that is, 
books not included in the established collection 
(Mishnah Sanh. x. 1)~—a distinction analogous to 
that afterward made, with reference to the oral law 

itself, between “ Mishnah” and “ Out- 
‘¢ Qutside” side-Mishnah” (ApwrHand Ayn AWD, 
Books. or its Aramaic equivalent S7A")3, 
“ Baraita”). Possibly this designation 
was due to the fact that the Apocrypha, which in 
popular estimation ranked nevertheless with relig- 
ious works, were not included in the libraries of the 
Temple and synagogues (for illustration of this see 
Books, and Blau, “Zur Ejinleitung in die Heilige 
Schrift,” i. e¢ seg.). Another designation, spp 
(“that which is read”), applied to the whole of 
Scripture, is founded upon the custom of reading 
the Holy Scriptures to the people on Sabbaths and 
holidays: it isa term frequently opposed to 7DyYH 
and wy, which designate oral teaching (Ned. iv. 
3; Kid. i., end; Abot v., end). <A third designation 
is yap tans (“Holy Scriptures,” Shab. xvi. 1; B. 
B. i., end, and elsewhere), the Greek equivalents of 
which are ypadat aytat (Rom. i. 2) and ispa ypdupara 
(Ii Tim. iii. 15), This term indicates, not the wri- 
tings belonging to the sanctuary, nor of Israel 
(Geiger, “ Nachgelassene Schriften,” iv, 12), but 
holy writings in contradistinction to profane works 
(wIpT wana and pysA sans. Tosef., Yom-Tob, iv. ; 
ed. Zuckermandel, p. 207, 12), perhaps works in- 
spired by the Holy Spirit. This interpretation is also 
favored by the expression tdoa ypad? Gedxvevatoc (IT 
Tim. iii. 16; compare Eusebius, “ Eclogee Propheti- 
ce,” ed. Gaisford, p. 106). 

A fourth designation for the entire Bible is 771n 
(“Law”) (Mek., Beshallah, 9; ed. Friedmann, pp. 
34b, 40b; Pesik. R., ed. Friedmann, 9a, and else- 
where), also found in the New Testament under the 
form véuog (John x. 84; Il Esdras xix. 
21). This designation owes its origin 
to the opinion that the entire Holy 
Writ is the Word of God, and that the Prophets and 
the Hagiographa are included in the Torah (see be- 
low). It is also possible that, since “Torah” was 
the title of the first and principal part of the Bib- 
lical writings, it was transferred to the entire col- 
lection. 

The fifth designation, 33n5 (literally, “it is writ- 
ten”), frequently found personified (as, for instance, 
“ON 9|NDN, etc. = “the ‘ Katub’ saith”; compare 
Bacher, “ AcltesteTerminologie derJ tidischen Schrift- 
auslegung,” p. 90), is, strictly speaking, an abbrevi- 
ation, and should be supplemented with the name 
of the book in which “it is written.” The Greek 
equivalent is ypad7; aca yoady (II Tim. iii. 16), a 
translation of S\n5N 93, which, strange to say, is 
found in the works of Profiat Duran, though cer- 
tainly it is very old. Thesixth designation is d:a@jxy 


‘¢Torah.” 


(“covenant”), from which the term radaia dabinn 
(Vetus Testamentum = Old Testament) in the Chris- 

tian Church has been derived. Even 
Testament. in Ecclus, (Sirach) xxiv. 23 the Pen- 

tateuch is called BiB2Ao¢ diabijxne, and 
the term Man 7DD (“Book of the Covenant,” 
Ex. xxiv. 7; II Kings xxiii. 2, 21) is similarly trans- 
lated in the Septuagint. Though “diathéké,” like 
“Torah,” came to be applied to Holy Writ (first by 
Paul, II Cor. iii. 14; compare Matt. xxvi. 28), the 
expression p73 WDD (“Book of the Covenant”) is 
never found with this significance in Jewish tradi- 
tion, except in an apparently polemic utterance of 
Simon ben Yohai (about 150), where a reference to 
the name “diathéké” for the Torah occurs (Yer. 
Sanh. 20c; Lev. R. xix.). In all probability this 
designation, which, like the term “Old Testament,” 
involves a Christian point of view, was used very 
rarely. In post-Talmudic times other designations 
were employed; ¢g., BAD AYIIN oO wy (“The 
Twenty-four Books”) (see G. Margoliouth, “Cat. 
Hebr. and Samaritan MSS. Brit. Mus.” i. 22b, 25a, 
27a, 30a); WMD (“the cycle,” in the Masorah; in a 
codex of the year 1309; and in Ginsburg, “ Introduc- 
tion,” p. 564); S'w4NpD AwIpY (Ginsburg, Je. p. 
748), Medieval authors cailed the Holy Writ also 

piIDAa, which originally meant “ verse ” 
Other Ex- (Bacher, “Rev. Etudes Juives,” xvi. 
pressions. 278). Another very common designa- 

tion is ‘q'7'N, the initials of D°N) AN 
osins (“Law, Prophets, and Holy Writings”), an 
expression frequently occurring in Talmud and Mid- 
rash. A similar acrostic name is 7’), an abbrevia- 
tion of the words ‘AD O'N’aI NNN. In the Middle 
Ages these mnemonic terms were conveniently re- 
garded as real words, and received translations; 
namely, “ear-tips” and “ plumb-line ” respectively. 

In the Mishnah (compare Yad. iii. 5) the canonic- 
ity of the Holy Books is expressed indirectly by the 
doctrine that those writings which are canonical 
“render the hands unclean.” The term connoting 
this quality, OUTTA AN pPNowd, thus comes very 
near to the technical equivalent for the word “ canon- 
ical.” The nature of the underlying conceit is not 
altogether clear. It is most likely that it was meant 
to insure greater caution against the profanation of 
holy scrolls by careless handling or irreverent uses 
(Yad. iv. 6; Zab. v. 12; Shab. 18a, 14a). Itisan open 
question whether this capacity to render “the hands 
unclean ” inhered in the scroll kept in the Temple. 
It appears that originally the scroll in the Temple 
rendered food unclean; while only outside the Tem- 
ple were hands made unclean (Kelim xv. 6; R. 
Akiba, Pes. 19a). At all events, the term AX NODDY 
p71 was extended to all the writings included in 
the canon, and designated ultimately their canonical 
character or its effects as distinguished from non- 
canonical books (Yad. iii. 2-5; iv. 5,6; Tosef., Yad. 
ii. 19; Blau, Zc. pp. 21, 69 e¢ seg.; Friedmann, “ Ha- 
Goren,” ii. 168, but mcorrect). 

§ 3. The Jewish canon comprises twenty-four 
books, the five of the Pentateuch, eight books of the 
Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Minor Prophets), and eleven 
Hagiographa (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solo- 
mon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, 


Bible Canon 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


142 





Daniel, Ezra, and Chronicles), Samuel and Kings 
form but a single book each, as is seen in Aquila’s 
Greek translation. The “twelve” 


Contents prophets were known to Ecclus. (Si- 
and rach) as one book (xlix. 10), and the 
Divisions. separation of Ezra from Nehemiah is 


not indicated in either the Talmud or 
the Masorah. <A Bible codex written in Spain in 
1448 divides Samuel, Kings, and Ezra into two 
books each (Ginsburg, f.c. p. 586). These books are 
classified and arranged into three subdivisions, 
“Torah,” “Prophets,” and “ Hagiographa”; Greek, 
vonog Kal Tpogyrat Kai GAAa BeBAia (Ecclus. [Sirach)). 
In Yalk. ii. 702 they are styled as abstracts, “ Law, 
Prophecy, and Wisdom,” A3N ANID ANN; com- 
pare Yer. Mak. 31d, below, and Blau, J.c¢. p. 21, note. 
The division of the Prophets into D°}wx 7 DO'N'3) 
(“Earlier Prophets”) and D'IINN D'N'DS (“Later 
Prophets) was introduced by the Masorah. By the 

former expression the Talmud under- 

Earlier stands the older Prophets, such as 

and Later Isaiah, as distinguished from the later 
Prophets. Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Mal- 
achi (see Sifre, Deut. 27, 357; Yer, 
Ber. 8d, 23, etc.). In contradistinction to the last 
three, Samuel, David, and Solomon are sometimes 
called the old Prophets (Sotah 48b, top). The en- 
tire Holy Writ is also designated by the term “Torah 
and Prophets” (R. H. iv. 6; compare Meg. iv. 5; 
Tosef., B. B. viii. 14; Sifre, Deut. 218), and the 
same usage is found in the New Testament (Matt. 
v.17, vii. 12, xxii. 40; Luke xvi. 16, 29, 81). The 
abstract terms “Law and Prophecy ” are found once 
in Pesik., ed. Buber, 111a. 

Another division is that into “Torah and Kabba- 
lah” found in Ta‘an. ii. 1; Tosef., Niddah, iv. 10; 
Sifre, Num, 112, 189; “Kabbalah” signifying tradi- 
tion, which is regarded as having been carried on by 
the Prophets. The Aramaic equivalent for map 
is xnpowe, the Masoretic name for the Prophetical 
Books, and Hebraized into p\pw by Ben Asher 
(“ Dikduke ha-Te‘amim,” p. 2). 

Still another division is “Torah” and “ Mikra.” 
In Sifre, Deut. 317 “Mikra” is used as a general 
term for the Prophets and the Hagiographa—a 
usage which may also underlie Gen. R. xvi. (ed. 
Wilna, 75b) and Cant. R. xvi. 6, below (see, how- 
ever, Bacher,“ Aelteste Terminologie,” p. 118, note 
7). The Midrash on “plena et defectiva” opposes 
“Torah” to “Mikra” (Berliner, “ Peletat Soferim,” 
p. 36), as does also Ben Asher (Blau, “ Masor. Unter- 
suchungen,” p. 50). The Masorah and Spanish au- 
thors use the word in the same sense (Bacher, l.c. pp. 
118 et seg.; alsoin “ Hukke ha-Torah,” in Gidemann, 
“Gesch. der Cultur der Juden in Deutschland,” p. 
268), and it probably came to have this meaning 
because it is abbreviated from the expression ww 
Npp, “the remaining Mikra.” 

The third division, “the Holy Writings,” may 
have received itsname inasimilar way. Originally, 
the whole Bible was called “Holy 
Writings,” but subsequently men per- 
haps spoke of the “ Law and the Proph- 
ets,” and the “other holy writings,” 
and finally briefly of the “Holy Writings.” Simi- 
larly, the current name “Ketubim” (Writings) is 


The Hagi- 
ographa. 


probably also an abbreviation of the fuller expres- 
sion, “the other writings,” or the “ Holy Writings.” 
This etymology is supported by the usage of 
Sirach’s grandson, who calls the Hagiographa ra 
Aone tov BiBdAiwy, and of Ben Ashera thousand years 
later, who speaks of “the Law, the Prophets, and 
the other books ” (/.¢. 44; emended text in Blau, “Zur 
Kinleitung,” p. 29, note 3). This is not the only in- 
stance of Asher’s fidelity to older traditions. Char- 
acteristic evidence of the threefold division may be 
noted in the following citations: 

‘**In the New-Year’s prayers, ten passages of the Bible (from 
the Torah, Prophets, and Hagiographa) must be introduced at 
least three times’ (Tosef., R. H. iv. 6). ‘‘Ben Azzai connected 
the words of the Torah with those of the Prophets, and the 
latter with those of the Hagiographa” (Lev. R. xvi. 3), ** This 
is the progressive method of studying: first, a primer (passages 
of the Pentateuch) is read; then the Buok (50, Torah), then 
the Prophets, and finally the Hagiographa. After completing 
the study of the entire Bible, one took up the Talmud, Hala- 
kah, and Haggadah”’ (Deut. R. viii. 3). ** To be consideréd con- 
versant with the Bible one had to be able to read accurately the 
Torah, Prophets, and Hagiographa”’ (Kid. 49a). ** Just as the 
Torah is threefold, so Israel is threefold, consisting of priests, 
Levites, and Israelites *’ (Pesik., ed. Buber, 105a). ‘** Blessed be 
God, who gave the threefold teachings to the threefold nation, 
by three persons on the third day of the third month’ (Shab. 
88a). In answer to the question of the Sadducee, concerning the 
Biblical basis for the belief that God causes the dead to rise, 
the patriarch Gamaliel sought proof “‘ in Torah, Prophets, and 
Holy Writings”? (Sanh. 90b). ‘* This doctrine is written in the 
Torah, repeated in the Prophets, and a third time in the Hagi- 
ographa”’’ (Meg. 3la; compare Mak. 10b, 15). Hanina set up 
the rule that “ kesef’’ (silver) means simply a ‘“‘selah”” in the 
Torah, a “‘litra’’ in the Prophets, and a ‘**talent”’ in the Holy 
Writings (Bek. 50a; Yer. Kid. 59d; see also M. K. 21a; Ta‘an. 
30a; Sanh. 10a). 


For passages of similar import from the Jerusalem 
Talmud and from the Midrash, see Blau, p. 22, note 
3; p. 23, note 1. 

§ 4. Tannaite literature makes no mention any- 
where of the number of the Biblical books, and it 
does not scem to have been usual to 
pay attention to their number. This 
was felt to be of importance only 
when the Holy Writings were to be 
distinguished from others, or when their entire range 
was to be explained to non-Jews. The earliest two 
estimates (about 100 c.5.) differ. II Esdras xiv. 
44-46 gives the number as 24; all variant readings 
of the passage (94, 204, 84, 974 books) agree in the 
unit figure, 4. 

Epiphanius’ division of the number 94 into 72-- 


Number 
of Books. 


22 (“De Ponderibus et Mensuris Liber,” in Lagarde, 


“Symmicta,” ii. 163) is artificial, Josephus ex- 
pressly puts the number at 22, as does Origen 
(Eusebius, “ Hist. Eccl.” vi. 25); while Jerome (Pref- 
ace to Samuel and Kings) mentions 22, but never- 
theless counts 24. Since both of these church 
fathers studied under Jewish teachers, it is probable 
that some authorities within the synagogue favored 
counting 22 books; and the hesitation between 22 
and 24 can be explained by a Baraita (B. B. 138b), 
according to which each bock of the latter two divi- 


-sions (Prophets and Hagiographa) had to be written 


separately as one roll. Since Ruth with Judges or 
with Psalms (Jerome, and Baraita B. B. 14b) might 
form one roll, and Lamentations with Jeremiah an- 
other, the rolls would be counted as 22, while the 
books were actually 24. That there were 24 books 
will be apparent from the classical Baraita on the 


143 





question (see §5 of this article). But in more 
than ten passages of the Midrash 24 books are ex- 
pressly mentioned; and the authorities adduced are 
exclusively amoraim. Simeon ben Lakish (about 
250) compares the books with the 24 ornaments of a 
bride (Isa. iii. 18-24); saying that just as the bride 
must be decorated with 24 ornaments, so the scholar 
must be adorned with the knowledge of all the 24 
books (Ex. R. xli. 5; Tan., Ki Tissa, xi., ed. Buber, 
p. 111; Cant. R. iv. 11). R. Berechiah compares 
them with the 24 divisions of the priestsand Levites 
and with the 24 nails driven into sandals (Num. R. 
xiv. 4, xv. 22; Eccl. R. xii. 11; Pesik. R. ix. a, ed. 
Friedmann); while, according to Phineas ben Jair 
(beginning of third century), the 24 books (Num. 
R. xiv. 18) correspond to the 24 sacrificial animals 
(Num. vii.). The fact that the 24 books of the writ- 
ten Law and the 80o0f the oral tradition make up 104 
(Num. R. xiii. 16) recalls the number of the books 
mentioned in II Esdras. Counting the Minor Proph- 
ets as 12, the number 35 is obtained (23-4 12), 
as in Num. R. xviii. 21 and Tan., Korah, ed. 
Stettin, 552. 

For the understanding of the concept of a canon, 
the following passages, literally rendered, are espe- 
cially important: 

Eccl. xii. 12 teaches: “* And further, my son, be admonished by 
these [understood as reading “against more than these, my son, 
be cautioned against confusion’’; the Hebrew “‘mehemah” 
(more than these) being read ‘“mehumah” (confusion)] that 
he who brings more than twenty-fonr books into his house 
brings confusion. Thus, the books of Ben Sira or Ben Tigla 
may be read, but not to the degree of ‘ weariness of the flesh’ ”’ 
(Eccl. R. on the passage). 

** and further, by these, my son, be admonished,” saith God; 

‘Twenty-four books have I written for you; take heed to add 
none thereto.’ Wherefore ? Because of making many books there 
isnoend. He who reads one verse not written in the twenty-four 
books is as though he had read in the ‘outside books’; he will 
find nosalvation there. Behold herein the punishment assigned 
to him who adds one book to the twenty-four. How do we know 
that he who reads them wearies himself in vain? Because it 
says, “much study isa weariness of the flesh’ (Eccl. xii. 12), 
from which follows, that the body of such a one shall not 
arise from the dust, as is said in the Mishnah (Sanh. x. 1), 
‘They who read in the outside books have no share in the future 
life?” (Num. R. xiv. 4; ed. Wilna, p. iva; compare also Pesik. 
RK. ix.a and Yer. Sanh. xxviii. a). 
The chief difference between these two passages is 
that in the first only the “weariness of the flesh,” 
that is, the deep study (but not the reading) of other 
than the Holy Writings, which were learned by 
heart, is forbidden; while in the second passage the 
mere reading is also forbidden. The older point of 
view is undoubtedly the milder, as the history of 
the book of Ecclus. (Sirach) teaches. The Babylo- 
nian tcachers represented the more liberal view (com- 
pare Sanh. 100a and Yer. Sanh. xxviii. a, 18). 

There is probably an allusion to twenty-four 
books in Yer. Sanh. xx. d, 4and Gen. R. Ixxx., be- 
ginning. The Babylonian Talmud (Ta‘an. 8a) men- 
tions 24; Targ. to the Song of Solomon v. 10 does 


the same. Dosa ben Eliezer, in a 

The very old Masoretic note; Ben Asher 
‘*Twenty- (“Dikduke,” pp.5 [line 12], 56); Nissim 
four ” of Kairwan (Steinschneider “Fest- 
Books.  schrift,” Hebrew section, p. 20, be- 


low); and many medieval writers and 
codices count twenty-four books. The number 24 
was also known in ancient times in non-Jewish 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Bible Canon 


circles (Strack, in Herzog, “Real-Encyc. fiir Protes- 
tantische Theologie und Kirche,” ix.? 757). 

§ 5. The classical passage for the sequence of the 
books is the Baraitain B. B. 14b. With 
the exclusion of interjected remarks 
chronicled there, it runs as follows: 


Sequence. 


“The sequence of the Prophets is Joshua, Judges, Samuel, 
Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, the 12 [minor] prophets; that 
of the Hagiographa is Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Chron- 
icles. Who wrote the books? Moses wrote his book, the 
section of Balaam and Job; Joshua wrote his book, and the last 
eight verses of the Torah; Samuel wrote his book, Judges, and 
Ruth; David wrote the Psalms, by the hand of the ten Ancients: 
namely, through Adam (Psalm cxxxix. 16, perhaps also xcii.). 
through Melchizedek, Ps. cx.: through Abraham, Ps. Ixxxix. 
COVNG PON explained to = Abraham); through Moses, Ps. x¢.- 
c.; through Heman, Ps, 1xxxviii.; through Jeduthun, Ps. Lxit.: 
perhaps Ixxvii.; through Asaph, Ps. 1., lxxiii-Ixxxiii.; and 
through the three sons of Korah, Ps. xlii. xlix., Ixxviii., Ixxxiv., 
Ixxxv., [xxxviii. [The question whether Solomon should be 
included among the Psaimists is discussed in Tosafot L5a.J 
Jeremiah wrote his book, the Book of Kings, and Lamentations: 
King Hezekiah, and his council that survived him, wrote 
Isaiah, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes; the men 
of the Great Synagogues wrote Ezekiel, the Twelve Prophets, 
Daniel, and Esther Ezra wrote his book and the genealogy of 
Chronicles down to himself.” 

From the fact that in this account of the authors 
Moses is mentioned as the author of the Torah, 
it may be inferred that in the collection from 
which the Baraita is cited the sequence also 
of the five books of the Torah was _ probably 
given. But it is also possible that the Pentateuch, 
from its liturgical use in the synagogue, was so 
familiar as to be regarded almost as a single book, 
of the separate parts of which no enumeration was 
necessary. 

The most striking sequence in this passage is 
that of the Prophets, given as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
and Isaiah, a sequence commented on 
in the Talmud. There it is explained 
that this is because the Book of Kings 
ends with destruction, Jeremiah begins and closes 
with destruction, Ezekiel begins with destruction 
and ends with consolation, while all of Isaiah con- 
sists of consolation. Thus, destruction appropri- 
ately follows upon destruction, and consolation upon 
consolation. The artificiality of this interpretation 
needs no explanation; but it must be remarked that 
such sequence is not chronological. The clearest 
explanation is that of Strack, who claims that the 
Baraita evidently arranged the prophetical books 
according to their size, a principle apparently fol- 
lowed also in the arrangement of the Mishnah trea- 
tises. According to their length, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
Tsaiah, and the twelve Prophets stand to one another 
in the ratio of 41, 36, 32, and 30. The same princi- 
ple is apparent in the sequence of the older Hagiog- 
rapha, where the insertion of Job between the Psalms 
and Proverbs (the works of father, David, and son, 
Solomon) is particularly noticeable. Since the Baraita 
regarded Moses as the author of Job, this book might 
quite appropriately have been placed at the head 
of the Hagiographa, as was indeed recommended by 
the Talmud. Now, according to their lengths, the 
Psalms (with Ruth), Job, and Proverbs stand to 
one another in the ratio of 39, 15, and 18; and Job, 
therefore, follows Psalms. The sequence of the 
three Solomonic books, wherein the placing of 


Prophets. 


Bible Canon 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


144 





Ecclesiastes before the Song of Solomon is especially 
remarkable, illustrates the same principle of arrange- 
ment, the largest being placed first. 

The author of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) has the chron- 
ological order of the modern Bible: Isaiah, Jere- 
miah, Ezekiel, and the twelve (Minor) Prophets (see 


miah, and Ezekiel; three manuscripts agree with 
the Talmud, while two have the following pecul- 
iar order, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel (Ginsburg, 
ic. p. 6). 

Ginsburg (/.c. p. 7) has collected, in the following 
table, eight varying sequences of the Hagiographa: 


VARYING SEQUENCES OF THE HAGIOGRAPHA. 








I II ITI 
Talmud and ae Add. 15252 Scbeun and 
six MSS. and London three MSS. 
1 | Ruth Ruth Ruth Chronicles 
2 | Psalms Psalms Psalms Psalms 
3 | Job Job Job Job 
4 | Proverbs Proverbs Proverbs Proverbs 
5 | Ecclesiastes Song of Sol. Song of Sol. | Ruth 
6 | Song of Sol. Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes Song of Sol. 
7 | Lamentations | Lamentations | Lamentations | Ecclesiastes 
8 | Daniel Esther Daniel Lamentations 
9 | Esther Daniel Esther Esther 
10 | Ezra-Neh. Ezra-Neb. Ezra-Neh. Daniel 
11 } Chronicles Chronicles Chronicles Ezra-Neh. 





— ~~ —— 


Ecclus. [Sirach] xiviii. 22; xlix. 6, 8). Since the 
Baraita does not enumerate the books according to 
the succession of their origin and their age (even 
within the divisions of Prophets and Hagiographa), 
it must have considered only the order of Biblical 
writings so far as they belonged to the same section 
and were therefore to be written in one roll. Since 
(as is apparent from B. B. 18) the question which 
books were permitted to be included in one roll, or 
whether each book had to be written separately in 
one roll, was much discussed in the second century, 
the above-mentioned Baraita, which was also cur- 
rent in Palestine (see Yer. Talmud, Sotah v., end), 
may well be assigned to the second century; and 
there is no justification for considering it of older 
date. But this much is surely ascertainable from 
this Baraita, that the first half of the prophetical 
canon (Joshua-Kings) had a fixed sequence dating 
from preceding times, and concerning which there 
was no doubt. That is to say, these four books 

follow one another and, continuing the 


The story of the Pentateuch, form a con- 
Earlier secutive narrative of Jewish history. 
Prophets. This is seen from II Macc. ii. 18, 


where, in mentioning the books “con- 
cerning the Kings and Prophets,” the prophetical 
canon is divided into two parts. In post-Talmudic 
times, also, there is no variation in relation to the 
sequence of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; 
- while the order of the Greater Prophets is irregular, 
the only uniformity preserved being in placing the 
Minor Prophets invariably at the end. Most of the 
manuscripts (including the St. Petersburg codices, 
which, dating from the years 916 and 1009, are the 
oldest known), and the oldest five editions, have the 
generally adopted chronological order, Isaiah, Jere- 

















































v. VIII. 

Ar, Or.16 | Or. 2626-28. | Or. 2201 heck 
Chronicles Chronicles Psalms Psalms 
Ruth Psalms Job Proverbs 
Psalms Proverbs Proverbs Job 
Job Job Ruth Song of Sol. 
Proverbs Daniel Song of Sol. Ruth 
Song of Sol. Ruth Ecclesiastes Lamentations 
Ecclesiastes | Song of Sol. Lamentations | Ecclesiastes 
Lamentations | Lamentations | Esther Esther 
Esther Ecclesiastes Daniel Daniel 
Daniel Esther | Ezra-Neh. Ezra-Neh. 
Ezra-Neh. Ezra-Neh. | Chronicles Chronicles 





— ——_—$<—$—<=— 








A closer examination of the table reveals that actu- 
ally three arrangements only are given; for Nos. 1., 
ii., i., and vii. differ only in regard to the position as- 
signed tothe Five Rolls, and represent the Talmudic 
arrangement; the five carly editions also follow this 
sequence, but have the Five Rolls in 
the order followed in the liturgy, and 
put after the Psalms, instead of Job, 
Proverbs; Nos. iv. and v. vary only 
in regard to Ruth. No. vi., however, is entirely 
unique, apparently arranging the books according 
to their size, if Ezra and Nehemiah be considered 
as two books. 

The Five Rolls, however, form a class by them- 
selves, and follow the order, in which they are em- 
ployed on successive festivals, in the liturgy, Leav- 
ing out of account this last-mentioned sequence, 
two types remain: the Talmudic and the Masoretic. 
The most striking point of difference is the position 
assigned to the books of Chronicles, which are placed 
in the Talmud at the end, but in the Masoretic text 
at the beginning. The Talmudic sequence is chron- 
ological; the Masoretic considers the size of the 

books. In regard to the Five Rolls 

The (midad won; of which Ginsburg [/.c, 
Five Rolls. p. 4] gives a table showing five lists 
of varying order), it should be noted 

that, in reality, they show only two sequences: one 
following the chronology of the authors; the other, 
the liturgical custom of the synagogue (“Jew. 
Quart. Rev.” xii. 223). These variations in the order 
of the last Prophets and of the Hagiographa—par- 
ticularly the latter—are significant for the history of 
the canon; for they show that these writings ac- 
quired canonical importance at a later period than 
the first Prophets and the Law. Owing to the 


Hagiog- 
rapha. 


145 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Canon 





earlier canonization of these latter, their sequence 
was so firmly established as never to give rise to 
question. 

§ 6. The most radical criticism agrees that the 
Torah is the first and oldest part of the canon. The 
narrative of Neh. viii.-x., which describes an actual 
canonization, is of prime importance for the history 

of the collection of the Holy Writings. 
Collection. It is thus generally agreed that in the 

middle of the fifth century B.c. the 
first part of the canon was extant. There is no 
foundation for the belief that, according to Neh. 
viii.-x., the Pentateuch was not fully completed 
until that date. The opinions of the synagogue will 
be discussed later; here only external testimony 
concerning the canonization will be considered. 
Perhaps the last three verses of the Book of Malachi, 
the last prophet, are to be considered as a kind of 
canonization. The warning concerning the teach- 
ings Of Moses, and the unusually solemn words of 
comfort, make it seem probable that herein is in- 
tended a peroration not only to the speeches of the 
last prophets, but also to the whole twofold canon, 
the Law and the Prophets. These verses could not 
have come from Malachi; but they may very prob- 
ably have been added by another anonymous 
prophet, or by some appropriate authority, in order 
to let the words of the Holy Scriptures conclude 
with a Divine reminder of the Torah, and with a 
promise of great comfort. Another example of 
what may be called “canonical ending ” for the en- 
tire Holy Writ may be seen (N. Krochmal, “ Moreh 
Nebuke ha-Zeman,” viii., No. 11) in the last three 
verses of the Book of Ecclesiastes. This declama- 
tion against the makers of books sounds like a canon- 
ical closing; and it was really considered such by 
the oldest Jewish exegetes (see above, § 4). The 
admonition to keep the Commandments, and the 
threat of divine punishment, may be compared to 
the reminder of the Torah and the idea of punish- 
ment in Malachi. 

While there are no other evidences in Holy Writ 
itself of a collection of the Holy Writings, there are 

some outside of it, which, in part, may 


Evidences now be mentioned in chronoiogical 
of order. The author of the apocryphal 
the Canon. book Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) was a con- 


temporary of the high priest Simon 
—either the first or the second of that name—who 
lived at the beginning orat the end of the third cen- 
tury B.c. He knew the Law and Prophets in their 
present form and sequence; for he glorifies (ch. 
xliv.—xlix.) the great men of antiquity in the order 
in which they successively follow in Holy Writ. 
He not only knew the name D°S'295 wy Dow 
(“The Twelve Prophets”), but cites Malachi iii. 23, 
and is acquainted with by far the greatest part of 
the Hagiographa, as is certain from the Hebrew 

original of his writings recently dis- 
Evidences covered. He knew the Psalms, which 
of Sirach. he ascribes to David (Ecclus. [Sirach] 

xI vii. 8, 9), and the Proverbs: “There 
were those who found out musical harmonies, and 
set forth proverbs [A. V., “poetical compositions ”] 
in writing” (xliv. 5). An allusion to Proverbs and 
probably to the Song of Solomon is contained in his 

TII.—10 


words on King Solomon: “The countries marveled 
at thee for thy songs, and proverbs, and parables 
[or “dark sayings”]}, and interpretations” (xlvii.17); 
the last three words being taken from Prov. i. 6, 
while the Song of Solomon is alluded to in “songs.” 
He would have had no authority to speak of “songs” 
at all from I Kings v. 12; he must have known 
them. While he had no knowledge of Ecclesiastes, 
his didactic style proves that he used- Job, as is also 
indicated by the words OMAN. Vw wn (xliv. 4, 
and afterward, ode). Ecclesiastes, Esther, and 
Daniel are not included in his canon (see Halévy, 
“Etude sur la Partie du Texte Hébreux de l’Ecclé- 
siastique,” pp. 67 e¢ seg., Paris, 1897); he considers 
Chronicles and Ezra~Nehemiah as Holy Scripture 
(xlix, 12 = Ezra iii. 2; xlix. 18 = Neh. iii. and vi.; 
compare Neh, vi. 12); he mentions distinctly “the 
laws and prophets” (xxxix. 1); in the following 
sentences there are allusions to other writings; and 
verse 6 of the same chapter leads to the supposition 
that in his time only wisdom-writings and prayers 
were being written. 

The grandson of Sirach (132 B.c.), who translated 
his ancestor’s wisdom from Hebrew into Greek, tells 
in his preface no more about the canon than is ap- 
parent from the book itself; but he tells it more 
clearly. He mentions three times the Torah, Proph- 
ets, and “other writings;” he knew no “terminus 
technicus ” for the canon’s third part, as one was not 
coined until two hundred years later. In the origi- 
nal these passages are respectively as follows: dia 
Tov vduov Kai TOV TpogNTOY Kai TAV GAAwv TOv Kat’ avTod¢ 
qKohouvthyndtuv dedouévov . . . eig TE THY Tot véyov Kai 
TOY TpogATOY Kal TOV GAAwy Tatpiov BiBAioy . . . 6 véuog 
kai ai tpopyreiat kai Ta Aoiwa TOV BiBAiwn, 

Inthe Second Book of Maccabees (124 B.c. ; Niese, 
“ Kritik der Beiden Makkabiierbticher ”), written only 
a few years later than the Greek Sirach, the follow- 
ing is stated: “The same things also were reported 
in the records, namely, the memoirs of Neemias: and 
how he, founding a library, gathered 
together the books concerning the 
kings, and the prophets, and those of 
David, and the epistles of the kings 
concerning holy gifts. And in like manner also 
Judas gathered together all those books that had 
been scattered by reason of the war we had, and 
they are with us. If now possibly ye have need 
thereof, send such as will bring them unto you” (II 
Mace, ii. 18-15). The Torah is not mentioned; its 
general circulation rendered ite “collection ” unnec- 
essary. The second part of the canon is unmista- 
kably intended by “books concerning the kings” 
(Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) and by 
“prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 
Minor Prophets). Since the Hagiographa had not 
yet received a definite name, they are mentioned as 
“those of David ” (the Psalms), as the first and most 
important book—a custom followed in the New 
Testament even at a time when there was no doubt 
concerning the existence of collected Hagiographa. 
The expression, “the books of the kings concerning 
holy gifts,” seems to refer to the royal letters men- 
tioned in Ezra and Nehemiah, and if this be so, 
then the Hagiographa do find mention; viz., Psalms 
and Chronicles, their first and last books. 


II Mac- 
cabees. 


Bible Canon 


It should also be noted that Nehemiah and not 
Ezra is named: a circumstance which indicates the 
age of these statements; since the son of Sirach like- 
wise glorified Nehemiah and made no mention of 
Ezra, whereas even the oldest rabbinical authorities 
consider Ezra as a writer far superior to Nehemiah, 
the aristocrat. 

Philo, in his extant works, makes no mention of 
Ezekiel, Daniel, or the Five Rolls. Since, however, 
even Sirach mentions Ezekiel, Philo’s 
silence about him is undoubtedly ac- 
cidental ; consequently, his failure to 
name the other books can not be taken as a proof 
that they were not in his canon. Moreover, the 
Laws, Prophets, Psalms, and other books are re- 
ferred to by title in his “De Vita Contemplativa,” 
$3. It is true, Lucius (“ Die Therapeuten,” Stras- 
burg, 1880) doubts the genuineness of this work; but 
Leopold Cohn, an authority on Philo (“ Hinleitung 
und Chronologie der Schriften Philo’s,” p. 37, Leip- 
sic, 1899; “ Philologus,” vii., suppl. volume, p. 421), 
maintains that there is no reason to do so. Conse- 
quently, Siegfried’s opinion (“ Philo,” p. 61, Jena, 
1875) that Philo’s canon was essentially the same 
as that of to-day, is probably correct (H. E. Ryle, 
“Philo and Holy Scripture,” London, 1895). 

The New Testament shows that its canon was 
none Other than that which exists to-day. None of 

the Apocrypha or Pseudepigrapha is 
New ever quoted by name, while Daniel is 
Testament. expressly cited in Matt. xxiv. 15. 
Matt. xiii. 35 (= Luke xi. 51) proves 
that Chronicles was the last canonical book. The 
statement, “That upon you may come all the rieht- 
eous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of 
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias,” con- 
tains a reference to IL Chron. xxiv. 20. The three 
chief divisions are enumerated in Luke xxiv. 44— 
“Law,” “ Prophets,” and “ Psalms ”—~as they are in 
Philo. Usually, however, only the Law and the 
Prophets are mentioned (Matt. v. 17; Luke xvi.. 16); 
but by them the three divisions are intended just 
as the Talmudic teachers include the Hagiographa 
under Prophets (see § 3). This usage is to be at- 
tributed, on the one hand, to the lack of a current 
technical term for the Hagiographa, and on the 
other to the opinion that the collected books of the 
Holy Writings were written by the Prophets. In 
view of these facts, the silence of the writers of the 
New Testament concerning Canticles, Ecclesiastes, 
Esther, and Ezra has no bearing on the question 
whether these writings were or were not included 
in the canon (see Strack, @.c. p. 750). 

Josephus (¢, 88-95) enumerates 22 books, which 
he divides as follows: 5 books of Moses; 13. his- 
tories, containing the history of Israel from Moses’ 
death down to Artaxerxes L, written by the Proph- 
ets; and 4 remaining books consisting of hymns 
and admonitions. “It is true our history hath been 
written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath 
not been esteemed of the like authority with the 
former by our forefathers, because there hath not 
been an exact succession of prophets since that time: 
and how firmly we have given credit to these books 
of our own nation is evident by what we do; for 
during so many ages as have already passed, no one 


Philo. 


THE JEWISIL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


146 





hath been so bold as either to add anything to them, 
to take anything from them, or to make any change 
in them” (“Contra Ap.” i 8). It is evident that 
Josephus, instead of counting Ruth and Lamenta- 
tions as separate books, combined them with Judges 
and Jeremiah, respectively. As historical books he 
considered all that narrated anything historical, and 
thus included Job. He considered Psalms, Prov- 
erbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes non-histor- 
ical. No other arrangement would have been pos- 
sible for Josephus; for itis known from Talmudic 
and Midrashic literature that in bis time, when the 
Tannaites tlourished most, all the now familiar books 
were considered canonical. For various interpreta- 
tions of Josephus’ narrative, see Strack, @.¢. p. 752. 
The evidence of the church fathers, such as 
Melito of Sardis (about 170; in Eusebius, “ Hist. 
Eccl.” iv. 26) and Origen (died 258; in 
Church = Eusebius, @.c. vi. 25), both of whom 
Fathers. count 22 books, but mention 24, is un- 
important; since they invoke the au- 
thority of their Jewish teachers, whose canon is 
known from the tannaite literature. Of still less 
weight is the evidence of Jerome (died 420), who 
also had Jewish instruction, and simply repeats what 
was current opinion among the Amoraim (“ Prologus 
Galeatus ” and preface to Daniel). 
§ ‘7. In addition to the written evidence mentioned 
above, the circumstance that the Samaritans (who 
considered themselves Jews) accepted 


The Pro- only the Pentateuch and part of 
phetical Joshua is of great importance in de- 
Canon. termining the historical development 


of the canon. It brings out the mo- 
mentous fact that a recognized canon of the Prophets 
did not exist in the middle of the fifth century B.C. ; 
while, on the other hand, it is certain from Sirach 
(see § 6 of this article) that the prophetical canon 
was completed by 200 B.c. at the very latest. Since 
Sirach considered prophecy as long since silenced, 
and had no recollection of any authoritative close of 
this canon, the view that the list of the Prophets 
was compicted at least one hundred years before his 
time is very plausible. Consequently, the prophet- 
ical canon must have been closed, at the very latest, 
at the beginning of the era of the Seleucids (312). 
Zunz (“G, V.” ed.i., p. 14) says with reason: “The 
holy books, containing the Law and the Prophets, 
must have been collected a few generations after 
Nehemiah. Theirageextends back far beyond that 
epoch. Thedecided predilection shown toward this 
part of the Biblical books, still visible in later times 
and in all religious institutions, must be explained 
by the fact that it had long been honored as the only 
surviving monument of the Jewish state at a time 
when the latter no longer existed, and other national 
writings, whether of earlier or later time, were at- 
tracting attention” (compare also 2. p. 33), Ryle 


(“Canon of the Old Testament,” p. 128) assumes 


that the prophetical canon was completed during 
the high-priesthood of Simon IT. (219-199 s.c.). He 
adduces in proof the prophetical books themselves, 
which, according to him, contain many additions of 
alate date, showing that previous to this period they 
had not been canonized; K. Marti (commentary on 
Isaiah, in “ Kurzgefasstes Handbuch ”) even argues 


147 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Canon 





that in Hillel’s time the canon was not yet closed. 
However, the fact that Daniel is not included in the 
Prophets is of importance, and clemonstrates that 
the prophetical canon must have been closed before 
165 B.c.; for the best of criticism is agreed that 
Daniel belongs to the Maccabean era; it would have 
been included in the Prophets had at that time the 
canon still been open. 

§ 8. While Sirach (sec § 6) knew and made use of 
most of the books of the Hagiographa, his chapters 
contain no allusion whatever to Ecclesiastes, Esther, 
or Daniel. It does not follow from this that he did 

not know these books, but that he 
Determina- simply did not consider them Holy 
tion of Writings; moreover, it is certain that 
the Hagiog- in 200 B.c. the canon of the Hagiog- 
rapha. rapha did not exist in its present 
form. A second foundation for this 
theory would be the date of the Book of Daniel, 
which in its present form, and with its allusion to 
Antiochus Epiphanes, was not known before 165. 
A third argument is deduced from the fact that 
while the translator of Sirach in 1382 knew no tech- 
nical name for the Hagiographa, he nevertheless 
speaks plainly of a third part of Holy Writ. <Ac- 
cordingly, there is no sound reason to doubt the 
statement in II Mace. ii. 14 (see § 6 of this article) 
that Judas Maccabee coliccted the books scattered 
during the wars. 

No doubt, the Syrians in their persecutions had 
diligently searched for scrolls of the Torah, and 
(since they knew no difference between the various 
Hebrew writings) for other Biblical books (I Mace. iii. 
48). Under the circumstances, it is quite compre- 
hensible that the warlike Maccabean and his pious 
followers took special care to collect the Holy 
Books. On the other band, under the rule of 
the princes who folowed Simon, most of whom 
sided with the Sadducees, circumstances were un- 
favorable for determining a canon for the third por- 
tion of Scripture by agreement as to which books 
should be included and whichexcluded. It was im- 
possible to determine the canon in the post-Macca- 
bean period, because then the various schools of 
tradition began to flourish. So important a matter 
as the canon would not have been easily settled, as 
the controversies of 65 and 90 c.E. show (see § 11), and 
indeed there are no traces of a discussion of the sub- 
ject. In view of all these circumstances, one is 
warranted in assuming as most probable that not 
long after the Maccabean wars of freedom the Jew- 
ish community had reached an agreement as to the 
books of the third canon. 

Everything poiuts to the correctness of the opin- 
lon of Zunz (i.c. p. 34) “that long before the de- 
struction of the Temple, and not long after Sirach 
was translated, the Holy Writings comprised the 
present cycle.” Ryle (.c. pp. 184 et seq.), also, be- 
lieves that the Hagiographa were completed before 
the death of John Hyrcanus (106 B.c.). To be sure, 
he distinguishes two periods: that from 160-105 B.c. 
for the admission, and that from 90-110 c.x. for the 
final ratification of the complete canon. But this 


distinction makes no difference as to the principal | 


matter in issue, 
§ 9. Jewish tradition adopts the view that every 


word of Holy Writ was inspired by the Divine 
Spirit. This Spirit is believed, in every case, to 
have rested upon a prophet; and, consequently, 
every Biblical book was said to have been written 
bya prophet. The chronicler attributes the author- 

ship of the Book of Samuel, which he 


Principle designates as “the acts of David” (I 
of Canoni- Chron. xxix, 29) to Samuel, Nathan, 
zation. and Gad. The oldest Baraita (see 


above, $3; B. B. 14b), dealing with 
the sequence and authors of the Biblical writings, 
assumes the author of every book to have been a 
prophet, and finds him either in the titles or the 
sequence of the books themselves. Moses, Joshua, 
Samuel, Ezra, and the Prophets wrote their own 
books; Moses wrote Job, the hero of which was his 
contemporary ; Joshua wrote the last eight verses of 
the Pentateuch (“so Moses, the servant of the Lord, 
died,” ete.); Samuel wrote Judges and Ruth; Jere- 
miah the Books of Kings, which preceded his own 
book, and Ezra the Chronicles (see Blau, é.c. p. 33). 
There is thus an unbroken chain of prophets from 
Moses to Malachi; the chain of tradition in Abot i. 
1 mentions prophets but no priests: ‘‘ Forty-eight 
prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied for 
Israel. None of them took from or added anything 
to the Law, except the reading of the roll of Esther” 
(Baraita Meg. 14a; compare “Seder ‘Olam,” xx., 
XXi.). 

Not only the Patriarchs, but David and Solomon 
also were considered prophets. Thus the Psalms, 
written by David; Proverbs, Canticles, and Ecclesi- 
astes, written by Solomon (“Seder ‘Olam.” xv.: 
compare Cant. R. i. 85; Lam, R. xi. 1:and B. B. 15a); 
Ruth, by Samuel; Lamentations, by Jeremiah; Dan- 
iel, by Daniel; and Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah, 
by Ezra (who is identified with Malachi, Mcg. 15a), 
are all of prophetic origin. Esther.alone apparently 
is without a prophetic author. For this reason, “ Se- 
der ‘Olam ” (end of ch. xx.) considers that Mordecai 
was a prophet who, contemporary with Haggai, 
Zechariah, and Malachi, prophesied at the time of 
Darius; while Daniel (who in Esther R. iv. 3 is 
identified with Hatach), according to his own book, 
lived as carly as the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. 
Josephus—who believes that prophecy ceased in the 
time of Artaxerxes J.—considers as divine only the 
books written by prophets (see the passage. “ Contra 
Ap.” i. 8, quoted above; compare Griitz, * Monats- 
schrift,” xxxv. 281 et seg.). Thus only works re- 
garded as having been inspired by the Holv Spirit 
were included in the canon. Neither the Talmud 
nor Midrash knew the difference between prophecy 
and the Holy Spirit, as drawn in the Middje Ages. 
Take the following examples: 

Esther was a prophetess; for it is said (Fsther ix. 29): 
“Esther wrote ’’ (°° Seder “Olam,” Le.). Chajes (*° Torat Nebiim,” 
last page, Zolkiev, 1836) has rightly inferred froin this passage 
that, according to tradition, every written word was of prophetic 
origin. Rabbi Levi says: “* Formerly, if man did anything of 
importance, a prophet came and wrote it down; but now... ”’ 
(Lev. R. xxxiv. 8). David praysin Psalm xix. 15 (A.V. 14): * Let 
the words of my mouth be acceptable’: that is, ‘° may they be 
transcribed for later generations, and may the latter not read 
them as Homer is read, but let them meditate upon them and be 
rewarded for doing so, as they are for studying Nega‘im and 
Ohalot (Midrash Tehillim, i. 8, ed. Buber, p. 5a). Of Ps. xlii. 


5 itissaid (Lam. R. Introduction, p. 24): ‘* There were 600,000 or 
even 1,200,000 prophets. Every prophecy which was of impor- 


Bible Canon 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


148 





tance for its own time or later generations was published ; but, | the future life, but also he who reads the outside books as 


on the other hand, those prophecies having significance for their 
own, but not for future times, were not published’ (Cant. R. vi. 
11). ‘*God said to Moses, ‘copy the Torah, Prophets, and Hagiog- 
Tapha, that you may havethem in writing’; HalaKot, Midrash, 
Haggadot, and Talmud, however, are to be preserved only ver- 
bally’? (Ex. R. xlvii. 154a). BR. Isaac considered that **all that 
the prophets foretell in every generation, they learned on Mt. 
Sinai” (i. xxviii. 100a). “* The entire Holy Writ is really the 
word of God, so that the authors are to be considered merely as 
media.” ‘* When Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi died, the Holy 
Spirit left Israel’ (Tosef., Sotah, xiii. 2; Yer. Sotah, end; Sanh. 
lla). 

Therefore, whatever is in the Holy Writ must 
have been written, at the very latest, during the 
time of these last three prophets, frequently men- 
tioned in Talmud and Midrash. The Great Syna- 
gogue had many prophets among its members, and 
therefore had the right to have the Esther scroll 
written down (Shab. 104a; Meg. 2a; Yoma 80a; 
Tem. 15b). 

§ 10. It was due to the principle referred to in 
the preceding section that the Wisdom of Sirach 

(Kcclesiasticus), which was used as a 


Ben Sira_ school-book many certuries after the 
and Other completion of the canon (hence called 
Apoc- Waidaywysc, whence the Jewish “ Al- 
rypha.  phabets” of Ben Sira), either found no 


place in the canon, or was excluded 
from it. Since, in his work, the author names him- 
self and the high priest Simon, the post-prophetic 
origin of the work was evident: 


In the Tosefta it is stated (Yad. ii. 13, ed. Zuckermandel, p. 
683): “*Neither the books of Ben Sira nor any of the books 
written thereafter [that is, in post-prophetie times] render the 
hands unclean, ’ (that is, are canonical]. The Mishnah (Sanh. 
x. i) adduces this dictum in the name of R. Akiba: ‘** He who 
reads the outside books (0°J1S°F D°°DD) shall have no share 
in the life tocome.” To this the Palestinian Talmud adds: ‘* for 
example, the books of Ben Sira and Ben lLa‘ana.”” But the 
reading of Homer and all other books written thereafter shail 
be accounted as the reading of a letter. On what ground? 
They may be read, but not to weariness’? (Sanh. 28a). This 
passage is usually considered incomprehensible. In the first 
place, its severity against Ben Sira is not intelligible ; secondly, 
it is not clear why the books of Homer should be preferred to 
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach); thirdly, in one of the Baraitot (Sanh. 
100a) it is said that the books of heretics are meant (D°J{D Hd), 
and only Joseph, a Babylonian amora of the beginning of the 
fourth century, states: ‘*The book of Ben Sira also is not to be 
read.’ This prohibition is indeed contradicted by historical facts ; 
for since Sirach’s wisdom is frequently cited by the Talmudists 
(compare the latest compilation of citations in Cowley and Neu- 
bauer, ** The Original Hebrew of a Portion of Ecclesiasticus,” 
Oxford, 1897), the reading of his work can not have been forbid- 
den. Moreover, as the context clearly shows, passages of Ben 
Sira are twice cited as though they were part of the Hagiographa 
(Er. 65a, by Rab from Sirach vii, 10, and B. K. 92b by Rabba bar 
Mari; see also “ Jew. Quart. Rev.” x. 241). Even if it be supposed 
that these two cases arose from a confusion due to lack of mem- 
ory, the two Talmudic teachers thinking the verses quoted by 
them to be from a Biblical book, withal it clearly follows that 
Sirach was read, and so high an authority as Akiba could not pus- 
sibly have declared that whoever read in Ben Sira would destroy 
his future salvation. Asa result of these difficulties it has been 
decided to amend the passages of the Jerusalem Talmud in 
question (Joel, *“*Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte,” i. 71 et 
seq.: Gritz, ** Monatsschrift,” xxxv. 287). It would seem that 
all these difficulties might be obviated by keeping clearly in mind 
the fact that the Talmudic teachers distinguished two kinds of 
reading: (1) reading in public and aloud, or zealous study, and 
(2) private reading. The Midrash on Ecel. xii. 12 (see above, § 4) 
forbids adding another book such as that of Ben Sira or Ben 
Tigla to the twenty-four books; but says they may be read, 
expressing this opinion in the same way as does the Talmudic 
passage under discussion. The whole passage therefore bears out 
the following construction: Akiba maiatains that not only he 
who denies the divine origin of the Torah forfeits his share in 


though they were Holy Writings; that is, who treats them as 
such either by reading them aloud or by interpreting them 
before the community. This ora similar penalty is not threat- 
ened in the case of apocryphal works in general, but only in 
connection with a well-known and highly prized book ; conse- 
quently Akiba’s statement must have been directed exclusively 
against Ben Sira’s collection of proverbs, concerning which, 
Epiphanius also states (l.c. in Lagarde, ** Symmicta,” ii. 157) that 
it does not belong to the Holy Writings. ‘The Talmud adds: “ but 
the on8N4 s45S0 and other works written in post-proplietic times 
may be read [that is, read privately]; for, according to Ecclesi- 
astes xii, 2, they may be read, but not to the extent and in the 
manner of wearying the flesh.” 

From these passages it is evident that no attempt was made 
to stamp out the Apocrypha; on the contrary, an influence 
was certainly exerted which was not altogether unfavorable to 
them (see above, § 4). In conclusion, be it remarked that 
Maimonides (** Hilkot ‘Ab. Zarah,”’ ii. 2) holds Akiba’s expres- 
sion, ** outside books,”’ to refer to idolatrous, non-Jewish, extra- 
canonical writings, and that in the fourth century, in the 
passage in Sanh. 100a, a reason was sought for forbidding the 
reading of Sirach. Accordingly, the prohibition against read- 
ing non-canonical works generally can not have been old. 


§ 11. There were controversies concerning the 
admission into the canon of the Book of Ezekiel, 
Solomon’s three books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song 

of Solomon), and Esther. But nocon- 


Con- troversy arose concerning the Apocry- 
troversies pha: all were agreed that they were 
About non-canonical. The opposition to 
Separate Ezekiel was only temporary; owing 
Books. to its contradictions of the Penta- 


teuch, many wished to hide it away 
(that is, to prevent its use); but “Hananiah ben 
Hezekiah ben Garon spent three hundred jars of oil 
to release it.” Others wished to prohibit its use 
because a child in school, having read the first chap- 
ter, made a picture of the “hashmal” (A. Y., “color 
of amber”) which then emitted flames; nevertheless, 
Hananiah championed it (Hag. 18a; Shab. 138b; 
Men. 45a). The opposition to Proverbs, because 
they contained contradictions, was very slight. 
For the same reason, it was contended that Eccle- 
siastes ought not to be read (Shab. 30b). Appar- 
ently the opponents belonged to the strict school of 
the Shammaites (Bacher, “ Ag. Tan.” i. 21). Others 
wished to prohibit the reading of Ecclesiastes on 
the ground that it expressed heretical ideas (Lev. R. 
Xxvili., beginning, and elsewhere). 

A longer struggle raged around the question 
whether Ecclesiastes “rendered the hands unclean ” 
that touched it, necessitating their washing. The 
passages bearing on these controversies (see also 
above under § 2) read as follows: 

* All books, except that of the Temple-court, defile the 
bands” (Kelim xv. 6). [By this expression all Biblical books 
are meant, as is clear from the Tosefta (ib. ii. 5, 8, p. 584). 
*“The hands are defiled not only by the book of the Temple- 
court (Nyy TDD, read Atp 45D) that was taken thence, but also 
by the prophets, by the separate books of the Pentateuch, and 
by another book (79S 25=Hagiographa; see Blau, Uc. p. 21) 
that is put there.”] ‘*The heave-offering is defiled by the 
book.” (Mishnah Zabim v.12; Shab. 14a, Rashi: ‘all thesacred 
writings.”) ‘“*The holy writings defile the hands”; “‘ the thongs 
of the phylacteries defile the hands” ; ** the upper and Jower edges 
of the book, as Well as those at the end, defile them.’ ‘*Even 
though a book be so blurred that only 85 letters (as many as in 
Num. x. 35, 36) remain, it willdefile.” ‘*All holy writings (*an5 
esp) defile’; so also the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes, as 
R. Judah said: ‘* The Song deflles; Ecelesiastes is in dispute.” 
R. Simon said: ‘Ecclesiastes belonged to the few cases in 
which the Shammaites were lenient in their decision and the 


Hillelites severe.” R. Simon b. Azzaisaid: “*I have a state- 
ment, from the seventy-two elders and dating from the day 


149 





when R. Eliezer ben Azariah became head of the school, that the 
Song and Ecclesiastes defile.” R. Akiba replied: ‘* God forbid! 
No Jew has ever contended that the Song defiled ; for the whole 
world is not worth so much as the day when the Song was 
given to Israel. Thus while all the Hagiographa (o°3)"5) are 
holy, the Song is most holy; if there was any dispute, it was 
only concerning Ecclesiastes.”” R. Johanan b. Joshua, son of R. 
Akiba’s father-in-law, said: ‘“‘The controversy was as Ben 
Azzai states, and so it was decided.”’ The Aramaic passages 
in Ezra and Daniel defile, but if the Aramaic be written in He- 
brew, or the Hebrew in Aramaic, or ancient Hebrew characters, 
it would not be so. “ A book defiles only if it is written in Assyr- 
ian (modern Hebrew characters) on animal skin, and with ink” 
(compare Blau, le. pp. 69 ef seg.). The Sadducees said: “* We 
complain of you, Pharisees, for you say,* The Holy Writings, 
but not the books of Homer (a777 s4pz), defile.’ Then said 
R. Johunan ben Zakkai: ‘‘Have we only this against the 
Pharisees that they say the bones of an ass do not defile, but 
those of the high priest Johanan do?”’? The Sadducees replied 
that they believed bones were declared impure lest wicked 
people should make use of the bones of their parents (Niddah 
55a: “that people might not make saddlery out of their parents’ 
skins’). Johanan answered, that according to them, there was 
also impurity in the Holy Writings, but that the books of 
Homer, which were not honored, did not defile (Tosef., Yad. ii. 
19: *‘in order that no covering for an animal might be made 
out of the books *’). 


The chief passages to the same effect in the Mish- 
nah Yadayim are iii. 2-5; iv. 5,6. The Tosefta 
Yadayim takes the same general view, but makes 
the important addition that the Evangels (Gospels) 
and the books of heretics (D'*{»N “5D Oya) or 
Ben Sira and all books written “thereafter ” (post- 
prophetic times) did not defile (ii, 18, 683; compare 
129, 2, and Shab. 116a). It should also be noted that, 
according to R. Simon ben Menasya, while “The 
Song defiles, since it was inspired by the Holy Spirit, 
Ecclesiastes does not, because it was produced solely 
by the wisdom of Solomon” (ii. 14; compare ‘Eduy. 
ii. 7, and Mishnah v. 3; Meg. 7a). The following 
passage, however, as will be apparent from its con- 
tents, dates from a later period: 

** Formerly the Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and Ecclesi- 
astes, because they contained only proverbs, and did not be- 
long to the Hagiographa, were hidden (2°1\3: = declared non- 
canonical), until the men of the Great Synagogue explained 
them” (Ab. R. N., A, i, B, i, pp. %, 3, ed. Schechter; compare 
Midr. on Prov. xxv. 1}. R. Akiba said: *He who, for the sake 
of entertainment, sings the Song as though it were a profane 
song, will have no share in the future world”? (Tosef., Sanh. xii. 
10, p. 433; Sanh. 10a). 

These passages show that the struggle concerning 
Ezekiel and Solomon’s three books had arisen even 

before the destruction of the Temple, 


Canticles and that the contention conccrning 
and Ec- the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes 
clesiastes. lad attained such considerable magni- 


tude that Akiba was compelled (about 
100) to threaten the forfeiture of future life, in order 
tosave Canticles. Since, immediately before the de- 
struction of the Temple, the Sadducees and Phari- 
sees were disputing concerning the defilement of 
hands by the Holy Writings, the law which de- 
clared that the latter did render hands unclean can 
not have been anterior to this time. In fact, it can 
not have been made much earlier than one hundred 
years after the Temple’s destruction. 

Gritz (“Kohelet,” p. 149) argues that there was 
about 65 c.E. an assembly of the Hilleliteand Sham- 
maite schools in Jerusalem, and that in the year 90, 
on the day that Gamaliel IT. was dismissed, the teach- 
ers of the Law decided which books were to be hon- 
ored as canonical. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Canon 


The Tannaites of the second century attempted 
to show that the Esther scroll might be written 
down; and they based their decision upon Ex, xvii. 
14 (Mek., Beshallah, 6; Meg. 7a; Yer. Meg. 1xx. a). 
This eagerness proves that there was at least some 
question as to its admissibility. The inquiry 
whether Esther was revealed, and was therefore to 
be reckoned as Scripture, was by no means discour- 
aged (Yoma 29a). Many sages, Akiba 
among others, tried to prove from 
separate sentences (as, for instance, 
“Haman spoke in his heart”) that it was dictated 
by the Holy Spirit (Meg. 7a). According to the 
eminent rabbi Samuel (after 200), Esther “does not 
defile.” Simeon (150) states that only Ecclesiastes 
is doubtful; while Ruth, the Song of Solomon, and 
Esther “defile the hands.” It is evident from many 
sources (compare Sanh. 100a; Yer. Ber. xiv, 15; 
Meg. 19b) that the canonicity of this book was not 
certain. Thecontroversiesin the Church are merely 
echoes of the voices raised (but suppressed) in the 
synagogue against the canonical respect paid to va- 
rious writings. | 

$12. It is almost impossible to-day to form an 

adequate conception of the love and 

Inspiration admiration felt by the Talmudists 

and for the Torah. Of the many passages 

Its Degrees. illustrating this the following are, in 
many respects, characteristic: 


‘** The Torah is one of the seven things that existed before the 
Creation. According to Simeon ben Lakish, it is 2,000 years 
older (Pes. 54a; Gen. R. viii. 2; Cant. R. v.11). Even Abrahain 
obeyed all its laws (Mishnah Kid., end), and when Moses 
ascended to heaven, he found God with the Torah in His hand 
and reading the passage about the Red Heifer, Num. xix. 1-10 
(Pesik. R. 68b). It was given to Israel unconditionally (Mek. 
60b) by Moses, who made one copy each for every tribe and 
corrected them all from the copy of Levi (Pesik. 197a). He 
gave it closed up, according to others, in a roll (Git. 68a). He 
wrote the last eight verses aiso; for not a single letter emanates 
from any one else. According to a more liberal opinion, how- 
ever, Joshua was supposed to have written these verses (B. B. 
15a). Before him who denies its divine origin the doors of 
hell shall never close, and he shall be condemned to stay therein 
eternally ’’ (Akiba‘in ** Seder ‘Olam,” iii., end; Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 
5: compare Sifre, Num, 112, 116; ib., Deut, 102; Sanh. 99a; Yer. 
Sanh. 27d and elsewhere). ‘‘The Law will endure forever” 
(Mek. 19a). “ Any prophet who attempts te annul one of its laws 
will be punished by death ” (Tosef., Sanh. xiv. 13). °** Though alt 
mankind should combine, they could not abolish one yod (the 
smallest letter) of it (compare Matt. v. 18). When Solomon 
took unto himself many wives, the yod of Aa" (‘he shall muiti- 
ply’; Deut. xvii. 17) cast itself down before God, and de- 
nounced the king (according to others, this was done by Deut- 
eronomy). Then spake God: ‘Solomon and hundreds like 
him shall be destroyed, but not one of your letters shall ever be 
annihilated’ (Cant. R. vy. 11; Gen. R. xlvii.; Num. R. xviii.; 
Tan., Korah, No. xii; for the accusing letters, compare Pes. 109a). 
“The whole world is but a thirty-two-hundredth part of the 
Torah” (‘Er. 23b). **‘ When a copy of the Law was burned, peo- 
ple rent their clothes as though one of their dearest relatives 
had died, and such rents were never to be sewed up (Yer. 
M. K. 83b, and elsewhere); but a copy written by a heretic 
(y»2) might be burned, and one written by a non-Jew had to be 
buried” (Git. 45b). ** Before the Torah the people had to stand 
up in the synagogue; and while it lay unrolled on the reader’s 
desk, speaking (even about Halakah) and leaving the synagogue 
were forbidden ” (Ket. 33b; Pesik. 118a). At least one copy had 
to be in every town (B. B. 48a; Tosef., ib. xi. 28). Scholars 
would even take one with them when on a journey (Mishnah 
Yeb., end). Evenif a copy were inherited, it was considered 
proper to write oneself another copy ; and if possibile this had to 
be a beautiful copy (Sanh. 21b; Nazir, 2b). Before birth each 
one is taught the Torah; but when he sees the light of day 
an angel touches his mouth, and makes him forget it all (Nid- 
dah, 380b). 


Esther. 


Bible Canon 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


150 





In those days the knowledge of the Bible was 
astounding: many scholars were able tc write it 
entire from memory (Yer. Meg. 74d). Instruc- 
tion in it was gratuitous (Ned. 37, and _ else- 
where). Even to its last letters the Torah comes 
from Moses, through whom God gave it to Israel, 
for only the Decalogue was revealed from the mouth 
of God Himself, in ten utterances (Sifre, Deut. 
305, 857; Mek. 46a). Moses is therefore called the 
“great writer of Israel,” “the great sage, father of 
the wise men and of the prophets” (Sotah 18a; Sifre 
i. 184, ii. 306). In countries other than Palestine, 
the Word of God was revealed only in a clean place 
or near a river (Meck. 106a, pote 14). 

Just as all prophecy came from Moses, so all Holy 
Writings began in the Torah; for there is nothing 

in the Prophets or the Hagiographa 

Relation that is not at least suggested in the 
of Torah to Torah (Num. R. x. 6). Ilence the 


Prophets, question: “Is there anything that was 
etc. not suggested in the Torah?” The 


answer is given: “ Like the latter, the 
Prophets and the Hagiographa came from God 
Hirnself.” In Sifre, Deut. 306, to an utterance 
of Jeremiah is applied: “QLord of the Universe! 
Thou wrotest [it}”; and of every book it is said 
either that God wrote it, or that [le caused it to be 
written. For Talmudic scholars the twenty-four 
books form one book, known to the Patriarchs, and 
even to the primeval generations; and accordingly 
every favorite verse is attributed to some Biblical 
hero: “Solomon said”; “ David declared”; “ Daniel 
stated”; “Moses, too, affirmed it” (Tosef., Yoma, 
li. 1). 

Nevertheless, a distinction was made between the 
Torah, on the one hand, and the Prophets and the 
Hagiographa, on the other; for, while the study of 
the latter books would bring the same reward as 
would that of the Torah (Lam. R. i. 13, iii, 10), the 
Prophets and the Hagiographba were not of equal 
importance with the Torah. ‘Thus, the transgression 
of a commandment in the Prophets or the Hagiog- 
rapha was not punishable by scourging (Yer. Yeb. 
iv. 19a; Pesik. R. Gib). Any inference drawn from 
the Prophets or the Hagiographa had to be authenti- 
cated inthe Torah (Yer. Kid. 66a). Simeon b, Lakish 
said outright, “ What need have Tof the Psalms? It is 
stated in the Torah” (Pesik. R. 21b; compare 22a, 
below; 146a, 10; 174a, below). The Prophets and 
the Ilagiographa are only transmitted mSap (Naz. 
58a: M. K. da), so that no legal (Torah) deductions 
are to be drawn from the prophecies (AN 735 
wad) xb moap aN, B. K. 2b, etc.). 

As the first and actual revelation of God, the Torah 
stood far above the Prophets and the Hagiographa; 
while in the future the latter will cease to be, the 
existence of the Torah will be an unending one. 
Tradition thus distinguished, as to rank, between 
Moses and the other prophets; but it knew noth- 
ing of a difference between the prophetical gift 
(ANi23 mo) and the Holy Spirit (wspn ny), as de- 
fined by Maimonides: such distinction rests upen 
verbal expressions for “ prophets” and “ Holy Wri- 
tings.” In the treatise Soferim, and elsewhere, the 
Hagiographa are called Awip (“holiness”) in dis- 
tinction from the Prophets, which are styled ndap 


(“revelation”), The older terminology, however, 
apphied map, also, to the Hagiographa; and there 
is no mention of any alleged difference in degree 
of inspiration between the two. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Gottesdienstliche Vortrtge, Berlin, 
1832: N. Krochmal, Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, vii., viii., Xi. 3 
J. First, Kanon des Alten Testaments nach den Ueberliefe- 
rungen in Talmud und Midrasch, Leipsic, 1868; Gratz, 
Wohetet, ib. 1871, Appendix i.; idem, MWonatsschrift, 1886, pp. 
241-298; A. Geiger, Nachgelassene Schriften, iv., Berlin, 
1876; S. Davidson, The Canon of the Bible, its Formation, 
History. and Fluctuations, 3d ed., London, 180; 'T. Schiffer, 
Das Buch Hohelet, Leipsic, 1882; G. Marx, Z'raditio Rabbi- 
norum Veterrima de Librorum V.T. Ordine atque Origine, 
ib. 1884; G. Wildeboer, Het Onistaan van den Kanon des 
Ouden Verbonds, 24 ed., Groningen, 1391; F. Buhl, Kao 
und Tert des Alten Testaments, Leipsic, 891; R. W. Smith, 
The Old Testament in the Jewish Chireh, London, 1892; L. 
Blau, Zur Einleitung in die Heilige Schrift, Strasburg, 1894 ; 
H. E. Ryle, The Canon of the Old. Testament, London, 1898; 
M. Friedmann, Ha-Goren, ed. Horodetsky, ii. 66-74, Berdy- 
chev, 1900. On “ Defiling the Hands,” ete.; kK. Budde, Der Aa- 
non des Alten Testaments, Giessen, 1900; the various intro- 
ductions to the Bible by Fichhorn (4th ed., Géttingen, 1823-25), 
De Wette-Sechrader (Sth ed., Berlin, 1869), Bleek-Wellhausen, 
konig, and others; H. L. Strack, Kanon des Alten Testa- 
ments, in Realencyklopddte fiir Pratestantische Theologie 
und Kirche, 3d ed., ix., Leipsic, 1901, which gives also the 
earlier literature. 

L. B. 


E. G. H. 

——Untraditional View: The word “canon,” 
borrowed probably from the Phenicians (xavav, xavy, 
from Asp = “rod,” “carpenter's rule”; compare 73p 
Mon, Ezck. xl. 8). but which is found in Homer 
(“Lliad.” viii. 198, xiii. 407, xxiii, 761), seems to 
have been used among the rhetoricians of Alexandria 
to denote a collection of literary models or standard 
works, and a list of such classics (Quintilian, “Inst. 
Or.” x. 1, 54, where “ordo” and “numerus” are 
translations of kavev; compare, Jerome, “Ep. lilt, 
ad Paulinum ” and “ Prologus Galeatus in II Regg.”). 
In this sense it is used also by Aristeas (¢. 85 C.E.) 
(“Ep. ad Philocratem,” clxiii., ed. Wendland). In 
Gnostic circles the authority of the sayings of Jesus 
was characterized by this term (Ptolemy [c. 200c.r. ], 
“Ep. ad Florum,” in Epiphanius, “Heres.” xxxiii. 
37). As thename of a catalogue of sacred books, the 
term is used by Athanasius (“ Ep. Festalis,” xxxix. 1, 
168) in 867 c.k., in the spurious canon 60 of the Coun- 
cil of Laodicea (after 364), and in the possibly gen- 
uine “Tambi ad Seleucum” by Amphilochius (d. 
395). Books that were regarded as sacred (ypdgar 
aytat) and God-inspired (Geé7vevarazjand had been gen- 
erally adopted for public reading (dedjuootevpévac), in 
distinction from esoteric or heretical writings with- 
drawn from public use (avéxpugat), were designated 
“canonical” (KavoviKai). 

In Palestine such sacred writings were declared 
by the Pharisees to be objects “making the hands 
unclean” (AsTANN Pow, Yad. iil. 2,5; iv. 5, 6), 
apparently necessitating a ritual ablution after con- 
tact with them. While protesting against this in- 
novation, the Sadducees (7d. iv, 6) seem to have been 
agreed in recognizing a body of sacred Scriptures 
(yop '3n3) and in cherishing these above certain 
other books. The introduction of this custom 
would naturally tend to fix the limits of the canon. 


Only contact with books that were actually used 


or regarded as fit for use in the synagogue would 
demand such a washing of the hands. It was their 
employment in the cult that rendered them sacred. 
What was, or might be, read in public worship 
(Np) constituted the canon. Therefore the ques- 
tion could arise whether the Aramaic targums 


151 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Canon 





made the hands unclean. The new ritual, by accen- 
tuating the sanctity of the books publicly read, nec- 
essarily abridged the liberty of introducing new 
works, and raised doubts concerning the fitness of 
some that had been used. The finally established 
canon must be looked uponas the result of a critical 
process reducing the number of books approved for 
public reading. 

Among the works eliminated by this process were, 
undoubtedly, on the one hand, many of the writings 
that maintained their place in the Alexandrian canon, 
having been brought to Egypt and translated from 
the original Hebrew or Aramaic, such as Baruch, 
Ecclus(Sirach), I Maccabees, Tobit and Judith; and, 
on the other hand, books like Jubilees, Psalms of Solo- 
mon, Assumption of Moses, and the Apocalypses of 
Enoch, Noah, Baruch, Ezra, and others, In some 
eases the critical tendency may have led only to the 

removal of what was rightly deemed 


Inclusion to be later accretions, such as the ad- 
and ditions to Daniel and Esther, while 
Exclusion in regard to disputed writings, such 
of Apoc- as Canticles, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Eze- 
rypha.  kiel (and probably Daniel), the more 


liberal policy finally prevailed. 

While this criticism still continued in the second 
century of the common era, its main results appear 
to have been reached as early as the end of the first. 
Josephus (“Contra Ap.” i. 8), about the year 100, 
counted twenty-two sacred books. The Greek Bible 
he used had evidently been brought down to the 
number required in Pharisaic circles. It is not 
known with certainty what books were included. 
It is probable, however, that Lamentations and 
Baruch formed one book with Jeremiah, and that 
Ruth was an appendix to Judges. Esther still 
seems to have had its additions, Among Josephus’ 
thirteen prophets none was included that he re- 
garded as Jater than Artaxerxes Longimanus. It 
may perhaps be doubted whether he could have 
described Canticles as a work laying down princi- 
ples of conduct (v7ofjKa¢g zor Siov repléxovew), This 
would better suit Ben Sira. But the consideration 
of supposed greater age and Solomonic authorship 
may have decided in favor of Canticles. That the 
number may be the same and yet the constituent 
books to some extent differ, is evident from the fact 
that Melito in Palestinian synagogues found a canon 
containing twenty-two books in which Esther was 
lacking and Ruth separate (Eusebius, “ Hist. Eccl.” 
iv. 26), while Origen reports the twenty-two books 
with their Hebrew titles as including Esther and 
with Ruth joined to Judges as Baruch and Lamen- 
tations to Jeremiah (7. vi. 25). Again, in Athana- 
Sius, é.¢c., Esther is wanting among the twenty- 
two canonical books, whereas in Canon 60 of 
the Laodicean Council, dependent on Athanasius, 
Esther occurs, as also among the twenty-two canon- 
ical books enumerated by Jerome in his “Prologus 
Galeatus.” It is scarcely by accident that this num- 
ber coincides with that of the letters of the Hebrew 
alphabet. The same tendency that led poets to 
write alphabetic psalms prompted scribes to arrange 
the canon so as to make the total twenty-two. 

According to the Apocalypse of Ezra xiv. 44, 45 


books: first twenty-four for the worthy and the un- 
worthy to read, and then seventy to be withheld 
and to be given only to the wise. This legend 

shows that twenty-four books were 


Twenty- looked upon by this author as intended 
twoor for public reading. Although the 
Twenty- books are not enumerated, there is no 


four Books. reason to doubt that this canon was 

substantially identical with that of 
Josephus. The difference may be simply due to the 
fact that, in some circles, Ruth and Lamentations 
were copied on separate rolls for convenience in 
public reading on Shabuot and on the Ninth of Ab. 
This may have involved the rejection of Baruch, and 
the removal of the threnody on Josiah from Lamcn- 
tations. If an additional reason for counting twenty- 
four books were needed, the twenty-four priestly 
families (I Clon. xxiv.), or the twenty-four celes- 
tial representatives of Israel (Rev. iv. 4), would 
readily supply it Gif not the twenty-four letters of 
the Greek alphabet). This number, given in the 
Baraita preserved in B. B. 14b, coexisted with the 
other (Jerome, (.¢.), and ultimately prevailed. 

It is manifest that to Pseudo-Ezra the seventy 
books were more Important than the twenty-four. 
They had been hidden, preserved as treasures, until 
they should be made known to the wise. This idea 
had already been used by Daniel to explain the 
late appearance of his prophecies (Dan. xii. 4, 9). 
These apocaly pses were too precious to be read to 
“the unworthy.” Possibly this conceit was designed 
to serve a double purpose: accounting for their re- 
cent discovery, and also making a virtue of their 
rejection from use in the synagogue, With pride 
and affection their friends called them p‘t\35 (a76- 
kpvga); to those who rightly saw in this literature a 
danger to the supremacy of the Law, the term 793 
came to mean the removal of a book from synagogue 
use, as in the case of rolls that had been worn out, 
or of rolls not thought to render the hands unclean 
(see, however, APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE). 

If some critics continued to urge the exclusion of 
this or that book from the canon of twenty-two or 
twenty-four rolls (see below), there are not lacking, 
on the other hand, signs of a readiness to include 
one or another of the “hizonim” (outside books). 
Thus Sirach is occasionally quoted (B. K. 92b) 
as arepresentative of the Hagiographa; and Baruch 
was still read on Yom Kippur in some synagogues 
in Origen’s time (Eusebius, “ Hist. Eecl.” vi. 25). 
Outside of Pharisaic circles the earlier and less rigid 
conception of the canon maintained itself, as 1s evi- 
dent from the extent of the Greek Bible used by 
Christian apologists for controversial purposes, and 
a number of works quoted or used as authorities by 
New Testament writers, not found even in this Bible, 
such as “Jeremiah the Prophet” (Matt. xxvii. 9). 
“he Wisdom of God” (Luke xi. 49), Enoch (Jude 
14-16), Assumption of Moses (Jude 9), the Apoca- 
lypse of Elijah (Eph. v. 14; I Cor. ii. 9), the Martyr- 
dom of Isaiah (Heb. xi. 37). 

In B. B. 14b the canon is divided into three parts; 
viz., (1) the Law, comprising the five books ascribed 
to Moses; (2) the Prophets, including Joshua, 
Judges, Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, 


(¢. 95 B.c.), this prophet wrote ninety-four sacred | and the Minor Prophets; and (8) the Writings, 


Bible Canon 


Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, 
Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Chron- 
icles. The passage indicates what 
Rabbinical was regarded, on the basis of a tra- 
Canon. dition preserved in the school of 
Hoshaya b. Hama (c. 230 C.E.), as the 
proper manner of arranging the component parts 
of the canon when larger volumes were prepared. 
This tripartition no doubt implied an estimate of 
relative value. The Law, being the first to acquire 
authority, remained at all times the highest author- 
ity. All non-Mosaic books were called mbap (“ tra- 
dition”), whether Prophets or Hagiographa, and 
considered in the light of a commentary on the Law, 
as it were, another expression of the oral law 
(compare Zunz, “G. V.” 1882, p. 44). This is 
suggested also by the use of the term véuo¢ for 
the entire canon (II Esdras xiv. 21, iv. 28; I Cor. 
xiv, 21; John x. 84, xii. 34, xv. 25), by the ab- 
sence of the Torah in the description of the 
library of religious books in II Macc. ii. 18, and 
by the fact that the Samaritans limited their 
canon to the Torah. The veneration for the Law 
long antedated the completion of the Pentateuch, 
naturally increasing with the growth of this work. 
The so-called Covenant Code, Ex. xx. 23-xxiii. 33, 
must have enjoyed wide recognition in the eighth 
and seventh centuries, probably because emanating 
from some sanctuary whose priesthood traced its 
descent to Moses, since the Deuteronomic code 
apparently was intended at the outset to take its 
place. This law-book was enjoined on the people 
by Josiah in 621 B.c, (II Kings xxii. 8-xxiii.). 
It isan exaggeration to say that Judaism became 
a book religion, or that the canon was born, in that 
year. While its humanitarian spirit commended 
this law to many, and some found in its ordinances 
a source of knowledge concerning the will of 
YuwH (Jer. viii. 8), written oracles and royal 
decrees had existed before; and prophets like 
Jeremiah were not misled by its Mosaic guise 
(7.c.). During the Chaldean and Persian periods 
it naturally grew in importance as the common 
law of the people. Yet it did not suppress the 
Jahvistic and Elohistic records with their earlicr 
codes and narratives reflecting quite different re- 
ligious conceptions. These, with the annals of 
the kings, were subjected to a Deuteronomistic 
redaction. As theocracy developed, the attention 
centered upon the cult. Regulations touching sac- 
rifices and other rites, etiological legends, cosmo- 
gonic myths, and genealogical traditions were added. 
These priestly additions are now gener- 
Develop- ally regarded as a separate work com- 
ment of the piled in Babylonia, brought to Pales- 
Pentateu- tine by Ezra, and promulgated at the 
chal Law. great assembly described in Neh. viii.- 
x.in4448.c. Itis more natural, how- 
ever, to suppose that they gradually grew up at the 
sanctuary in priestly circles reenforced from time to 
time by returned exiles. Recent investigations tend 
to show that the Artahshashta under whom Nehemiah 
lived was Artaxerxes IT. Mnemon (404-358), that his 
governorship extended from 885 to 373, and that 
Ezra came after him, probably in the seventh year of 
Artaxerxes III. Ochus (852). The story of Ezra 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


152 


is evidently overlaid with a later tradition. Yet 
it is possible that his zeal for the law of Moses led 
this “scribe” to write in one book all the material 
recognized as Mosaic —leaving out Joshua-Kings— 
and to inculcate obedience to this law. When Ma- 
nasse at length secured from Alexander the permis- 
sion to build a temple to Yuawu on Gerizim, which 
Ochus and Darius had good reasons for refusing, in 
view of the effect upon Jerusalem of rebuilt walls 
and a well-regulated cult (Josephus, “ Ant.” ii. 7, § 8), 
he had precisely the same interest as his relatives in 
Jerusalem to possess the law of YHwH in its com- 
pletest form containing the most explicit directions 
as regards the cult. At the time when the necessary 
Aramaic Targum took the form of a version on the 
Alexandrian model, the same motive was again op- 
erative. According to some critics, additions were 
made to the Law as late as the second century. 
Then “ there arose a certain reluctance to write down 
the further developments of the law.” 

Zech. i. 4-6 shows that the pre-exilic prophets 
were held in high honor as early as 519. But their 
words naturally came to be read in the light of con- 
temporaneous prophecy, which was exhortation to 
observance of religious ceremonies enjoined by the 
Law. Such exhortations could not have as great 
authority as the Law itself. Dan. ix. 2 shows that 
the author was acquainted with works ascribed to 
Jeremiah in which an exile of seventy years was pre- 
dicted; the sections Jer. xxv. 1-18, xlvi., x] vii., xlix. 
and Jer. xxvii.-xxix. were probably known to him. 
Daniel took his place with the other prophets, as is 
evident from the Greek versions, and from Matt. xxiv. 
15and Josephus, “ Contra Ap.” 1. 8; Job (Ecclus. [Si- 
rach] xlix. 9), Ezra, and Mordecai were still counted 
as prophets by Josephus (/.c.). In the reaction 
against the “Genuzim ” (Apocrypha), 
probably occasioned by their use by 
Essenes and Christians, Danicl had 
maintained a place among the books 
that made the hands unclean, and as a prophet. 
The critical movement, however, had not spent its 
force at the end of the first century; a hundred 
years later Daniel was no longer accorded a place 
among the Prophets (B. B. 14b).. On the other hand, 
the effort to remove Ezekiel had proved unsuccess- 
ful. The limitation of the prophetic canon to eight 
books was consequently later than the redaction of 
the canon as @ whole to twenty-two or twenty-four 
books. How many books were counted as prophets 
by the grandson of Sirach, who wrote his preface 
after 132 B.c., by the author of JI Mace. ii. 13 e¢ 
seg., or by the New Testament writers, can not be 
determined. Josephus numbered thirteen. That 
Sirach had before him a volume of twelve prophets 
is not certain. The presence of xlix, 10 in the He- 
brew text does not prove that he wrote this verse. 
Between 180 and 132 the manuscript may have been 
retouched, as is suggested by the descriptions of 
Phinehasand Simon. Noconclusions can, therefore, 
be drawn from this passage as to the date of Jonah 
or of Zech. ix.-xiv., or the title “Malachi.” 

Sirach’s grandson speaks of “other books” in 
addition to the Law and the Prophets. ITI Macc. ii. 
13 mentions the Psalter (7a tov Aavid) and “letters of 
kings concerning temple gifts.” Philo, if he is the 


The 
Prophets. 


153 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Canon 





author of “De Vita Contemplativa,” refers to 
“hymns” as well as “laws” and “inspired words of 
the prophets” (ii. 475, ed. Mangey). Josephusadds 
to the thirteen Prophets four books containing 
“hymns to God and precepts for the conduct of 
human life” (“Contra Ap.” i. 8). In Luke xxiv. 44 
“the Psalms” are mentioned as also furnishing pre- 
dictions of the resurrection. These passages, while 
indicating a special class of books, containing 
hymns, moral precepts, and temple history, do not 
suggest eitheracompleted prophetic canon ora defi- 
nite number of additional works. The finally pre- 
vailing number and estimate of the “ writings” can 
only have been the result of the critical process by 
which the extent of the canon and the number of 
the prophets were determined. The attempts to 
make such books as Ezekiel (Shab. 18b; Men. 45a, 

b; Hag. 18a), Proverbs (Shab. 30b), 


The Canticles (Yad. iii.5; Meg. 7a), Eccle- 
Hagiog- siastes (Yad. l.c.; ‘Eduy. v. 3; Shab. 
rapha. 30a, b), Esther (Meg. 7a; Sanh. 100a), 


and probably the books of Daniel, 
Job, and Ezra, share the fate of the Genuzim, 
were only temporary. The use of Canticles, Eccle- 
siastes, and Esther on certain feast days gave needed 
support to their canonicity. In the course of the 
second century of the common era a fixed group of 
hagiographa, to which relatively less importance 
was ascribed than to the Prophets, was constituted. 
The earliest testimony as to the contents of this 
group is B. B. 14b. 

The order of the Prophets and the Hagiographa in 
this Baraita presents neither the original sequence 
nor the finally adopted arrangement. In earlier 
times the reader no doubt was quite free in the 
choice of his selections. As Jong as each book 
formed aseparate roll the order could not have been 
regarded asof much consequence. This apparently 
was still the case in the year 100 (compare Luke iv. 
17; B. B. 18b).. It was when larger volumes were 
produced that the question would arise as to the 
order in which their constituent parts should be 
copied. Practical considerations no doubt counter- 
acted the more obvious chronological principle that 
seems to have been followed in Alexandria. <A val- 
uable intimation of this is found in the Baraita 
quoted. It declares that Isaiah was placed after 
Jeremiah and Ezekiel because “the Book of Kings 
ends in desolation, Jeremiah is all desolation, Eze- 
kiel begins with desolation and ends with consola- 
tion, and Isaiah is all consolation.” This is not to 
be set aside as amere rabbinic fancy. For the prin- 
ciple of making the beginning of a book attractive 
and the end encouraging is even characteristic of 
editorial activity in the arrangement of the smaller 
collections out of which the larger volumes grew, 
and is based on a due regard for the effect upon the 
reader. The transfer of Isaiah to the first place 
may have been due to external considerations of 
size. The idea that the twelve Minor Prophets 
were written by “the men of the Great Synagogue ” 
(nds NodsD wo) was determining. Kuenen as- 
Serts that “the Great Synagogue” is only an un- 
historical reflection of the assembly described in Neh. 
vili.-x. Even if it could be proved that the name was 
used in the Persian period to denote a regularly con- 


stituted authority, the functions ascribed to it would 
still remain projections into the past of much later 
conditions. When it issaid that “the men of Heze- 
kiah” or “the men of the Great Synagogue” wrote 
certain books, it is probably meant that by divine 
inspiration they produced authoritative texts from 
material already extant in oral or written form. 

The Psalter furnished the natural starting-point for 
the differentiated group of Hagiographa. But when 
Ruth was detached from Judges, and Lamentations 
from Jeremiah, the former was recognized as an 
auspicious and suitable introduction to the Psalms, 
and the latter was assigned to its chronological posi- 
tion between the three Solomonic writings and Daniel 
(B. B. 15b). As the custom developed of arranging 
the five Megillot by themselves (Masorah and Spanish 
MSS.), and subsequently in the order of the feasts— 
viz., Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, 
Esther (German and French MSS.), Chronicles was 
transferred from the end to take the place of Ruth 
(Masorah and Spanish MSS.). 

That Chronicles concluded the collection in the 
time of Jesus can not be proved from Matt. xxiii. 
do (Luke xi. 51); for this passage drawn from “The 
Wisdom of God” contains no word of Jesus, and 
does not refer to Zechariah b. Jehoiada mentioned 
in II Chron. xxiv. 20, but to Zechariah, the son of 
Baruch, mentioned in Josephus (“B. J.” iv. 6, § 4). 
The connection of Chronicles with Ezra was original 
and ultimately prevailed; as did also the chronolog- 
ical order of the erstwhile prophetic books, Daniel, 
Esther, and Ezra. 

Two tendencies are visible in the history of the 
canon: the one, critical, inclining to reduce the num- 
ber of sacred books by applying rigid standards of 
doctrinal consistency; the other, conservative of an 
earlier and truer estimate, and on this account more 
liberal to new works of the same general character. 
Both have rendered great service. The former has 
issued in a recognition of divergent types of teach- 
ing and different degrees of credibility in the canon, 
and of the rights of private judgment to appraise its 
contents; while the latter has resulted in the pres- 
ervation of many precious monuments of man’s re- 
ligious life, and the sense of historic continuity and 
collective growth. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Introductions by Hottinger, 1649; Simon, 1678 ; 
Carpzov, 1714-21; Eichhorn, 1780-83; Michaelis, 1787; Ber- 
tholdt, 1812-19; Jahn, 1812; DeWette, 1817 (7th ed., 1852); 
Horne, 1818 (9th ed., 1846); Havernick, 1839-46; Herbst, 1840- 
44: Keil, 1843 (8d ed., 1871) : Bleek, 1860; Kuenen, 1861-65 (2d 
ed., 1885-93); Davidson, 1862; DeWette-Schrader, 1869; Kan- 
len, 1876 (34 ed., 1892); Bleek-Wellhausen, 1878: Strack, 1883 
(5th ed., 1898); Cornely, 1885-87; Cornill, 1891 (8d ed., 1896) ; 
Driver, 1891 (6th ed., 1896); Kénig, 1893; Green, 1898; Briggs, 
1899; and to N. T. especially by Hilgenfeld, 1875; Holtzmann, 
18923 Jtilicher, 1894. Caristadt, Libellus de Canonicis Serip- 
turis, 1520; Elijah Levita, Masoret ha-Masoret, 1538 Bux- 
torf, Tiberias, 1618; Morin, Exvercitationes_de_ Hebraici 
Greecique Textus Sinceritate, 1633; Cappel, Critica Sacra, 
1650: Walton, Prolegomena, 1657; Spinoza, Tractatus Theo- 
logico-Politicus, 1600; Hody, De Bibliorum Textibus Origi- 
nalibus, 1705; Zunz, G. V. 1832; Frankel, Vorstudien zur 
Septuaginta, 1841; Geiger, Urschrift, 1857 ; Low, Die Grosse 
Synode, 1858; Diestel, Das_A. T.in der Christlichen Kirche, 
1868; First, Der Kanon des A. T. 1868; Gratz, Kohelet, 
1871; I. S. Bloch, Studien zur Gesch. der Sammlung der Alt- 
hebriiischen Literatur, 1876; Kuenen, Over de Mannen der 
Grooten Synagoge, 1876; Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1877, pp. 
237 et seq.: Weber, System der Altsynagoyalen Palistinen- 
sischen Theologie, 1880; Marx, Traditio Rabbinorum 
Veterrima, 1884: Wildeboer, Het Ontstaan van den Kanon 
des Ouden Verbonds, 1889; idem, De véor-T haimudische 


Joodsche Kanon, in Theotogische Studién, 1897, p. 159; 
1898, p. 19 4; 1899, p. 185; Buhl, Kanon und Text des Alten 


Bible Concordances 
Bible Editions 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


154 





Testaments, 1890: Loisy, Histoire du Canon del Ancien 
Testament, 1890; Reuss. Gesch. der Heiligen Schriften des 
A. T, 20 ed., 1890; Ryle, The Canon of the Old Testament, 
1892: Philo and the Holy Scriptures, 1895; Dum, Das 
Buch Jesaia, 1892; idem, Die Entstehung des A. T. 189; 
W.R. Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, 2d 
ed., 1892: Magnier, Etude sur la Canonicité des Seciutes 
Ecritures, 1892; Mullen, The Canon of the Old Teatame nt, 
1898; Konig, Assai sur la Formation du Canon de UAncéien 
Testament, 1894; Van Kasteren, De Joodsche Canon, 1895; 
Beecher, The Alleged Triple Canon of the O. T. in Jour, 
Bil), Lit. 1896; Strack, Kanon, in Prot. Real-Eney. 3d ed.: 
Schmiedel, Kanon, in Ersch and Gruber, Allyemeitne Ein- 
cyklopddie; Krauss, The Great Synod, in Jew. Quart. 
Rev, 1898, p, 347; Rothstein, Tert, Kanon und Uebersetzun- 
gen, in Theologisehe Rundschau, 1898, p. 547; idem, Kanon, 
Tert und Sprache, ib. 1900, p. 499; Rahlfs, Alter wnd Hetnat 
der Vatikanischen Handschrift in Gottingische Gelehrte 
Nachrichten, 1899, i. 72; Porter, Apocrypha, in Bible Dic- 
tionary, 1900; Sehmidt, The Book of Jeremiah, in New 
World, 1900; idem, Jeremiah, in Fine. Bib.; and the 
articles on the canon in the various Bible dictionaries of 
Schenkel, Smith, Hastings, and Cheyne. 
K. N. Sc. 

BIBLE CONCORDANCES. Sce Coxcorp- 


ANCE; DICTIONARIES. 
BIBLE DICTIONARY. S&ce DICTIONARIES. 


BIBLE EDITIONS: The advantages of the 
newly discovercd art of printing were quickly rec- 
ognized by the Jews. While for the synagogue 
service written scrolls only were (and are still) used, 
the printing-press was very soon called into service 
to provide copies of the Bible for private use. All 
the editions published before the Complutensian 
Polyglot were edited by Jews; but afterward, and 
because of the increased interest excited in the He- 
brew Bible by the Reformation, the work was taken 
up by Christian scholars and printers; and the edi- 
tions published by Jews after this time were largely 
influenced by these Christian publications. It is 
not possible in the present article to enumerate all 
the editions, whole or partial, of the Hebrew text. 
This account is devoted mainly to the incunabula 
(many of which were used as manuscripts by Kenni- 
cott in gathering his variants; see his Report for 
1766, p. 103). 

The first to establish a Hebrew printing- press and 
to cut Hebrew type (according to Ginsburg, in the 
Chwolson Memorial Volume, p. 62) was Abraham b. 
Havyim dei Tintori, or Dei Pinti, in 1473. He 
printed the first Hebrew book in 1474 (Tur Yoreh 
De‘ah). In 1477 there appeared the first printed 
part of the Bible in an edition of 300 copics. — It 
is not really an edition of a Biblical book, but a 
reprint of Kimhi’s commentary on Psalms, to which 
the Biblical text of each verse is added; the text 
being in square, the commentary in Rabbinic, char- 
acters. Each verse is divided off by a “sof-pasuk.” 


The first four Psalms have the vowel-points; but. 


the difficulty of printing them seems to have been 
too great, and they were discontinued. The 
“ketib” is replaced by the “keri”; but the text is 
badly printed and contains many errors. The 
Psalms are not numbered, but simply divided, as in 
the manuscripts, into five books. From the type 
used it is conjectured that the printing was done at 
Bologna. The printers were Maestro Joseph, Baria, 
Havvim Mordecai, and Hezekiah of Ventura. A 
facsimile of a page is given iu Simonsen, “ Hebraisk 
Bogtryk,” p. 9 (see also De Rossi, “ De Hebr. Typ.” 
p.10; zdem, * Annales Hebrieo-Typographici,” p. 14). 
The Psalms alone seem to have been reprinted be- 
fore 1480, in Rabbinic characters similar to those 


used in the 1477 edition; and a third time together 
with an index of the Psalms and the text of the 
Birkat ha-Mazon. It is supposed that these two re- 
prints were issued at Rome (Simonsen, in “ Stein- 
schneider Festschrift,” p. 166; compare De [ossi, 
“ Annales,” p. 128). 

The first edition of the Pentateuch appeared at 

Bologna Jan. 26, 1482, with vowel-signs and accents. 
The raphe-sign is liberally employed 
First in the first folios, but later on is dis- 
Edition of carded. The Targum (along the side) 
Pentateuch. and the commentary of Rashi (at the 
top and the bottom of the page) are 
printed with the text. The cost of publication was 
borne by Joseph ben Abraham Caravita. The pub- 
lisher was Maestro Abraham b. Hayyim dei Tintori 
(Dei Pintt) of Pesaro; the correetor, Joseph Hayyim 
ben Aaron Strassburg, a Frenchman. According to 
De Rossi (“ Origine,” p. 16; “ Annales,” p. 22), the 
editor made use of a Spanish manuscript; but Gins- 
burg (“Introduction,” p. 799) believes that German 
and Franco-German manuscripts were used. <A fae- 
simile is given by Simonsen (p. 10). About the same 
time, and at Bologna, there appeared an edition of 
the Five Scrolls, with Rashi above and below the 
text and with the commentary of Ibn Ezra on 
Esther (“ Annales,” p. 130). This was followed, 
Oct. 15, 1485, by an edition of the Former Prophets 
(without vowels), together with Kimhi’s commen- 
tary, brought out at Soncino in the duchy of Milan 
by Joshua Solomon Israel Nathan Soncino, That 
this edition was very carefully printed is attested 
upon the fly-leaf. The Divine Name is printed 
mi? and ody (5. p. 40). In the following year 
the Later Prophets appeared at the same place; 
though neither date nor printing-office is mentioned 
in the book itself. The passages in Kimlhi dealing 
with Christianity are not omitted, as is the case in 
later editions (2). p. 131). It wasthis same printing- 
house that brought out, Feb. 28, 1488, the first com- 
plete edition of the Bible, the text provided with 
vowels and accents, in two columns to the page. 
The Pentateuch in this edition is followed by the 
Five Scrolls. Soncino was aided in the printing by 
Abraham ben Hayyim dei Tintori, mentioned above. 
According to De Rossi (7b. p. 56), German codices 
were at the basis of this edition. 

Prior to this, portions of the Bible were printed 
at Naples: Proverbs, with a commentary of Im- 
manuel ben Solomon, by Hayyim ben Isaac ha-Levi 

the German (1486); and in the same 
Portions of year (Sept. 8) Job with the commen- 
the Bible. tary of Levi ben Gerson, Lamentations 

with that of Joseph Kara, and the rest 
of the Hagiographa with Rashi. The editor of this 
last edition was Samuel ben Samuel Romano (2. p. 
52). This edition was completed with the Psalms 
(March 28, 1487) with Kimhi’s commentary, edited 
by Joseph ben Jacob the German, and corrected by 
Jacob Baruch b. Judah Landau (23. p. 48). In 1487 
(June 80) an edition of the Pentateuch without com- 
mentary appeared at Faro in Portugal, upon the 
basis of Spanish manuscripts, in Spanish-Hebrew 
characters, with vowel-points—at times incorrectly 
applied—and with no accents. The expenses for 
the edition were paid by Don Samuel Gacon (Stein- 


eaeaieala eh: ys 
: € 2a eM 9 DMNA vba o 





PAGE FROM THE FIRST HEBREW EDITION OF PSALMS, WITH DAVID KIMHY’S COMMENTARY, PRINTED 1477. 
(In the collection of Hon, Mayer Sulzberger.) 


Bible Editions 


schneider, “Cat. Bodl.” No. 1072). 
known js printed on vellum. 

In 1490 an edition of the Pentateuch without 
vowel-points or accents was published by Abraham 
ben Isaac b. David at Ixar (Hijar) in Spain, together 
with the Targum Onkelos in small square type and 
Rashi in Spanish-Rabbinic type (De Rossi, “ An- 
nales,” p. 73); and one of the Psalms was issued at 
Naples (Dec. 12), together with Proverbs and Job 
(ib. p. 79). Another copy of the Pentateuch seems 
to have been issued at Ixar between 1490 and 1495, 
together with the Haftarot and the Five Scrolls. 
It is said by De Rossi to contain the printer’s mark 
of a lion rampant, such as is seen in the other Ixar 
prints. The printer was Eliezer b. Abraham Alan- 
tansi, and if is spoken of as “elegantissima editio ” 
(tb. p. 148; “Cat. Bodl.” No. 101i1a). In the year 
1491 two editions of the Pentateuch left the press: 
one at Naples (Soncino), with vowel-points and ac- 
cents together with Rashi, the Five Scrolls, and the 
scroll of Antiochus (“ Annales,” p. 82); the other at 
Lisbon (July-Aug.), with Onkelos and Rashi. The 
Lisbon copy was edited by David b. Joseph ibn 
Yahya and Joseph Calphon. It is declared by Le 
Long and De Rossi, (dd. p. 81) to be the most cele- 
brated and beautiful Hebrew print of the fifteenth 
century. The elegant characters are provided with 
vowels and accents even in the Onkelos, and the 
raphe-signs are used threughout (facsimile in Simon- 
sen, U.c. p. 12). It was published in two volumes, 
probably at the same press from which came the 
editions of Isaiah and Jeremiah with Kimhi’s com- 
mentary (1492) and Proverbs with the commentary 
of David b. Solomon ibn Yahya (c. 1492; see “ An- 
nales,” pp. 92, 143). From another press in Portugal, 
at Leira, were issued, July 25, 1492, Proverbs with 
Targum and the commentaries of Levi ben Gerson 
and Menahem Meiri (printed by Samuel d’Ortas), and 
in 1494 the Former Prophets with Targum and com- 
mentaries of Kimhi and Levi b. Gerson (2b, pp. 92, 104). 

Gerson b. Moses Soncino established a printing- 
press also in Brescia, from which there issued a 
Pentateuch with the Five Scrolls and the Haftarot, 
Jan. 23, 1492; a second edition of this 
Pentateuch, Nov. 24, 1498; Psalms, 
Dec. 16, 1483; and a complete Bible, 
May 24-31, 1494 (2b. pp. 88, 98, 102; 
Baer-Delitzsch, “Liber Psalmorum,” p. iv.). This 
last edition is in most copies merely a reprint of the 
1493 edition as regards the Pentateuch; and it is of 
especial interest as being the one used by Luther in 
making his translation into German. Luther’s copy 
is preserved in the Berlin Royal Library (Kennicott, 
Reports, pp. 81, 85; Bachmann, “ Alttestament- 
Untersuchungen,” p. 101, with facsimile). It is in- 
teresting to note that Gerson seems to ignore most 
of the peculiarities of the Masoretic text as laid down; 
e.g., by Jacob b. Hayyim(KSnig, “ Hinleitung,” p. 52). 

As none of the polyglot Bibles were the work of 
Jewish printers or editors a short account only of 
them need be given here. The idea 
seems to have originated with Origen 
(185[ ?]-253), who drew up in parallel 
columns the Hebrew text, its translit- 
eration into Greek, and various other Greek recen- 
sions in fifty scrolls or books which were then de- 


The only copy 


Soncino 
Bibles. 


Polyglot 
Bibles. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


156 


posited in the library of Pamphilus at Cesarea (this 
Hexapla was preceded by a Tetrapla). The idea 
was not revived until the sixteenth century, when 
the first edition of the Hebrew text by Christians 
appeared in the Complutensian Polyglot (Alcalé de 
Henares, 1514-17, 6 vols.). Renouard believes that 
the plan originated with Aldus Manutius, who, in 
the preface to the Psalter of 1497, speaks of the 
probability of his publishing a Hebrew-Greek and 
Latin Bible in one. Only the first sheet, however, 
of this was printed. The honor of being first in the 
field belongs to Cardinal Ximenes; though among 
those who helped him were the Maranos Alfonso of 
Zamora and Paul Nufiez Coronel. The three col- 
umns on each page contain the Hebrew, the Septu- 
agint, and the Vulgate. The Targum of Onkelos is 
added, of which Alfonso made the Latin translation. 
Ximenes had to cast his own Hebrew type for this 
work: “hatefs” are sparingly used; of the accents, 
only “athnah” and “sof-pasuk.” The Masorctic 
divisions are discarded; and the text for the first 
time is arranged after the model of the Vulgate, the 
chapter-numbering of which is printed in the mar- 
gin. By means of a letter, reference is made from 
each Hebrew word to its Latin equivalent; and the 
Hebrew roots are also placed on the margin. 

The Hebrew text of the Complutensian was re- 
peated in the Antwerp Polyglot (1569-72, 8 vols.), 
the editor of which was Arias Montanus, and the 
printer Christopher Plantin. Itis known alsoas the 
“Biblia Regia,” because Philip II. defrayed the ex- 
penses. In addition to the texts in the Compluten- 
sian, it contains an additional Targum and a num- 
ber of tracts on lexicographical and grammatical 
subjects. Only 500 copies were printed, most of 
which were lost at sea on their way to Spain. The 
polyglot of Elijah Hutter (Nuremberg, 1599-1601). 
contains, besides the older versions, a number in 
modern European languages; and itis peculiar from 
the fact that the radical letters of the Hebrew text 
are printed in full characters, and the servile jetters 
in hollow ones. A decided advance is made in the 
Paris Polyglot (1629-45, 10 vols.), done at the ex- 
pense of Michel le Jay. Here the Complutensian 
and Antwerp polyglots are repeated; but there are 
added the Syriac and Arabic as well as the Samari- 
tan, Hebrew, and Aramaic versions, and a Latin 
translation of all the versions. It is also highly 
prized for its typographical excellence. 

Still more ambitious than the Paris was the Lon- 
don Polyglot edited by Brian Walton (1654-57, 6 
vols., and “Lexicon Heptaglotton,” 1669, 2 vols.). 

The first four volumes contain the Old 

London ‘Testament, where, in addition to the 

Polyglot. Hebrew, the following texts are to be 

found: Samaritan-Hebrew, Samaritan- 

Aramaic, Septuagint with readings of the Codex 
Alexandrinus, Old Latin, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, 
Targum Onkelos, Pseudo-Jonathan and Jerusalem 
Targums, Targum Jonathan and Targum of the 
Hagiographa, Ethiopic and Persian in varying com- 
pleteness. Atl of these were accompanied by Latin 
translations. This polyglot was the second book in 
England to be published by subscription. It was 
originally dedicated to Cromwell; but as he died 
during the printing, it was finally dedicated to 


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PacE FROM THE FIRST HEBREW EDITION OF THE PENTATEUCH, PRINTED AT BOLOGNA, 1482. 


(In the New York Public Library.) 


Bible Editions 


Charles II. A few copies, however, left the press 
before the change was made; and these are called 
“Republican ” copies, to distinguish them from the 
“Royal” ones. 

The polyglot of Christian Reineccius (Leipsic, 
1750, 8 vols.), which contains the Hebrew (with 
Masoretic notes), the Greek, Latin, and Luther’s 
German version; that of E. Hutter (Hamburg, 1599), 
of which only the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and 
Ruth were pub- 
lished; and that 
of 8. Bagster 7 ae 
(London, 1821), | ore ag 
in which the He- @ tions! 
brew text is that & : 






THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





* ye orate my Da ma abs nt rat “ay ; vie e a 


158 





tensis. It contains the Pentateuch with Onkelos 
and Rashi, the Former and Later Prophets with 
Targum Jonathan and Kimhi’s comments (the anti- 
Christian passages omitted): Psalms 

Rabbinic with Targum and Kimhi; Proverbs 
Bibles. with the commentary knownas “Kaw 
we-Naki”; Job with the commen- 

taries of Nahmanides and Abraham Farrisol; the 
Five Scrolls with the commentary of Levi b. Ger- 
son; Ezra and 
Chronicles with 
the commenta- 
ries of Rashi and 
Simon — ba-Dar- 
shan. To these 





of Van der Pe ee were added the 
Hooght, the  |~ aT Ee Ne my2gp syeyy ys iby yan isa | Jerusalem Tar- 
Samaritan that Pe ed 7 Ae, es 4 gum to the Pen- 
of kann coke. . P oe Raa “we ADR THIN prev in B23 Ny eee cay tateuch; Tar- 


need no further 
~mention. The 
Heidelberg or 
Bertram’s poly- 
glot (ex-officina 
Sanct-Andreana, 
1586; Commeli- 
ana, 1599, 1616, 
3vols.), Hebrew, 
Greek, and 
Latin, is based 
on the Complu- 


et “pas mi 


tensian text. Pol- AK 
yglot Psalters * "34 nin on im 
containing the penta pyar < r 





Hebrew text 
were published 
at St. Germain 
des Prés in 1509 





ere t Ti sO ones my patti» 4 
a aes aw wane ives bia ent nye ors sl 


“oN any t3 roe exp i 
tis or bya nis rhe nian ina - 


D a ! “Hit-n ON ny bsg Not ime 
| “nN on ten? 2 ora Tig om) "03 oyan PR MBN wae 3 






gum Sheni_ to 
Esther; the vari- 
ant readings of 
Ben Asher and 
Ben Naphtali; 
the thirteen “ ar- 
ticles of faith” 
of Maimonides; 
the 613 precepts 
according to 
Aaron Jacob Ha- 
san; and a table 
of the parashiyot 
and Haftarot ac- 
cording to the 
Spauish and 
German rites. 
This edition is 
the first in which 


“OR 
ny ores Suan ' 3 10 onow : 
sy) xo 2 ION ry | 





sndyabn NaI e 


MB ae 


and 1513 by the ‘ Samuel, Kings, 
elder Henry : > pow wih base won i: 3A t re naa ine A and Chronicles 
Stephen, at bs ‘ are divided into 
Genoa in 1516 f : ayn a3 sina) yu rom “yn yr ows y t awa On two books, ancl 
by Agostino Jus- ; y by) shy ain RBY | rah Bu "289 voi TENA FOUN. Nehemiah is sep- 
tinian, and at oe : Pon it ye arated from 
Cologne in 1518 i ‘3 ‘yo pmo 2 pat wD rie TWN CONTIN nxt ) Ezra. It is the 


by Potken. Two | paws Rv DAI 
Jewish poly- |? 

glots of the Pen- 
tlateuch were is- 
sued at Constan- 
tinople in 1546 
and 1547. 
side the text and 
the Targum the 
first contained 
translations in 
Persian and Ara- 
bic, the second, in Neo-Greek and Spanish. The 
most recent polyglots are those of Stier and Thiele 
(Leipsic, 1847-63; 3d ed., 1854-64) with Hebrew, 
Septuagint, and Vulgate, and of R. de Levante 
(London, 1876, 6 vols.), 

Another class of Bibles, and these distinctively 
Jewish, are those that are known as Rabbinic Bibles, 
or Mikra’ot Gedolot. The first of these was pub- 
lished at Venice 1517-18; the editor was Felix Pra- 





atts VINa AWAD pnyn Tit ny spa SUN sare 

' pyayansan orybon Pas maw Sras" oho sn) ° 323 
3 vay3 Trey syria Sy ny aim oa : ptybnas bast , 

Pte ai apn micenee on oo wy) oi 7 Tee i) ae 


Puge from the Brescia Edition of the Bible, 1494. 
(Copy used by Luther.) 


| Elijah Levita, in his “ Masoret ha-Masoret,” 


first also to indi- 
cate In the mar: 
4 gin the numbers 
x of the chapters 








a7) | in’ Hebrew let- 
ters (Ginsburg, 
“Introduc- 
tion,” p. 26). 
The keri con- 
sonants are also 
given in the 
margin. 

The edition was not, however, pleasing to the 
Jews, perhaps because its editor was a convert. 
severely 
criticizes the Masoretic notes. This edition was re- 
placed in 1525 by the second Bomberg text, which 
was edited by Jacob b. Hayyim of Tunis under the 
title papa mn’ apy. This text, more than any 
other, has influenced all later ones; though readings 
from the Complutensian and from the Soncino edi- 





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PAGE FROM THE COMPLUTENSIAN POLYGLOT EDITION OF THE BIBLE, 1514. 


Bible Editions 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


160 





tion of 1488 have occasionally found their way in. 
It is peculiar as being the first to insert the letters 
5 and o for the purpose of indicating the open and 
closed sections, and to designate the keri by the 
letter p. Here also the first attempt is made, though 
incompletely, to collect the Masorah, both “ Magna” 
and “Parva.” As in the best manuscripts, the 
larger Masorah is printed above and below the text 
(Hebrew and Targum in parallel columns); while 
the lesser Masorah is printed between the columns. 
Besides the elaborate introduction to the Masorah by 
Jacob b. Hayyim himself, an index to the Masorah, 
Ibn Ezra’s introduction to the Pentateuch, Moses 
ha-Nakdan’s treatise on accents, the variations be- 
tween the Easterns and the Westerns and between 
Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, it contains the Penta- 
teuch with Targum, Rashi, and Ibn Ezra; the Former 
Prophets with Rashi, Kimhi, and Levi b. Gershon; 
Isaiah with Rashi and Ibn Ezra; Jeremiah and Eze- 
kiel with Rashi and Kimhi; the Minor Prophets with 
Rashiand Ibn Ezra; Psalms with Rashiand Ibn Ezra; 
Proverbs with Ibn Ezra, Moses Kimhi, and Levi ben 
Gershon; Job with Ibn Ezra and Levi ben Gershon: 
Daniel with Ibn Ezra and Saadia; Ezra with [bn Ezra, 
Moses Kimhi, and Rashi; Chronicles with Pseudo- 
Rashi; and the Five Scrolls with Rashiand Ibn Ezra. 
This Bible was reprinted, with readings inserted from 
the edition of Felix Pratensis (Venice, 1525-28). 

The third edition of the Bomberg Rabbinic Bible 
(1546-48) was edited by Cornelius Adelkind. It was 
practically a reprint of the second, except that the 
commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah was omitted; 
while that of Jacob ben Asher on the Pentateuch 
and that of Isaiah di Trani on Judges and Samuel 
were inserted. This third Bomberg edition was re- 
peated in the fourth edition by Isaac b. Joseph 
Salam and Isaac ben Gershon (Treves). Part of the 
Masoreh omitted in the third edition has here been 
reinserted. The fifth edition was a reprint of De 
Gara’s (Venice, 1617-19, by Pietro Lorenzo Braga- 
dini, and revised by Leo di Modena). It was, how- 
ever, expurgated by the Inquisition. The sixth 
edition, by Johannes Buxtorf (Basel, 1618-19, 2 
vols.), was a reprint of the 1546-48 copy. To this 
was added the editor’s “ Tiberias,” a Masoretic work. 
The seventh Biblia Rabbinica was published at Am- 
sterdam, 1724-28 (4 vols., fol. 1), under the title 
“Kehillot Mosheh.” It contains, besides the Hebrew 
text, the Targum on the whole Bible; Rashi, Ibn 
Ezra, Levi sen Gershon, Obadiah Sforno, Jacob b. 
Asher, Hizkuni, and "Imre No‘am on the Penta- 
teuch; David Kimhion the Prophets and the Chron- 
icles; Isaiah di Trani on Judges and Samuel; 
“Keli Yakar” on the Former Prophets, and “ Keli- 
Paz,” by Samuel Laniado, on the Later Prophets; 
Mcir Arama on Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Song of 
Solomon; Jacob Berab on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
and some other Later Prophets; Samuel Almosnino 
on the Later Prophets; Isaac Gershon on Malachi; 
“Torat Hesed” by Isaac ben Solomon; Ya‘bez on 
Psalms, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Eccle- 
siastes, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles: 
Joseph ibn Yahya on the Hagiographa; “ Mizmor 
le-Todah,” by Samuel Arepol, on Psalm cxix. ; “Kaw 
we-Naki” on Proverbs; Menahem Meiri on Prov- 
erbs; Moses Kimhi on Proverbs, Ezra, Nehemiah; 


Nahmanides, Farissol, and Simon ben Zemséh Duran 
on Job; Saadia Gaon on Daniel; YaJkut Shim‘oni 
on Chronicles; Moses of Frankfurt’s annotations, 
entitled “Komaz Minhah,” on the Pentateuch; 
“Minhah Ketannah” on the Former Prophets; 
“ Minhah Gedolah” on the Later Prophets, “ Minhat 
‘Ereb” on the Hagiographa; the introduction of 
Jacob b. Hayyim of Tunis; and the tract on the 

accents by Moses ha-Nakdan. 
The Jatest Biblia Rabbinica, with thirty-two com- 
mentaries, is that published at Warsaw by Leven- 
sohn (1860-68, 12 vols., small fol.). It 


The contains, besides the original Hebrew, 
Warsaw = the Targums Onkelos and Yerushalmi 
Rabbinic on the Pentateuch, the Targum On- 

Bible. kelos on the Prophets and Hagiogra- 


pha, and the Targum Shenion Esther. 

Of commentaries it contains that of Rashi on the 
whole Bible; Aaron Pesaro’s “Toledot Aharon”: 
Asheri’s commentary and Norzi’s notes on the 
Bible; Ibn Ezra on the Pentateuch, the Five Megil- 
lot, the Minor Prophets, the Psalms, Job, and Daniel; 
Moses Kimhi on the Proverbs; Nalimanides on the 
Pentateuch; Obadiah Sforno on the Pentateuch, the 
Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes; Elijah Wilna on 
the Pentateuch, Joshua, Isaiah, and Ezekiel; S. E. 
Lenezyz and 8. Edelson the Pentateuch; J. H. Alt- 
schuler on the Prophets and Hagiographa; David 
Kimhi on the Later Prophets; Levi ben Gershon no 
Joshua, Kings, Proverbs, and Job; Isaiah di Trani 
on Judges and Samuel; S. Oceda on Ruth and La- 
mentations; Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi on Esther; 
Saadia on Danicl. It also contains the Masorah 
Magna and Parva, tracts on the vowels and accents, 
the various readings of Ben Asherand Ben Naphtali, 
and the introduction of Jacob ben Hayyim of Tunis. 
Several editions were published at Venice by 
Daniel Bomberg, 1517, 1521, 1525-28. Of later edi- 
tions, only a few of the more impor- 
tant can be mentioned here. Joseph 
Athias (Amsterdam, 1661) edited the 
text, using Buxtorf’s edition and the 
traditional one, that had come down from Soncino 
(1488), witha comparison of twomanuscripts. This 
was reprinted by Leusden in 1667. <A third edition 
was brought out by Daniel Ernest Jablonski (Ber- 
lin, 1690), but with a comparison of all the earlier 
editions (other editions 1712, and, without vowels, 
1711). Jablonski’s, in turn, became the foundation 
of that of J. H. Michaelis (Halle, 1720), for which 
the latter compared five Erfurt manuscripts and 
nineteen printed editions. The Mantuan Bible of 
1742-44, edited by Rafael Hayyim b. Abiad Shalom 
Basilea and Felice (Masliah) Marini, was in a meas- 
ure only a reprint of Michaelis; Raphael in his edi- 
tion of the excellent text, as corrected by Norzi 
(“Minhat Shai,” Mantua, 1732-44), tried to unify 
the text and not simply to reprint the older editions. 
The basis of all the modern editions of the Bible 
ig that of E. van der Hooght (Amsterdam and 
Utrecht, 1705). It is practically a re- 
print of the Athias-Leusden edition; 
but at the end it has variants taken 
from a humber of printed editions. It 
has been much prized because of its excellent and 
clear type; but no manuscripts were used in its prep- 


Various 
Editions. 


Van der 
Hooght. 


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SRF “OULMOS 


Bible Exegesis 





aration. This text was followed, even when vari- 
ants were added, by Proops, Houbigant, Simon, 
Kennicott, Hahn, ete. The text of D. H. Opitz 
(Kiel, 1709) seems to be a mixed one; three manu- 
scripts, a number of the earlier editions, and the 
polyglots having been laid under contribution. But 
still the Van der Hooght was considered to be a 
sort of “textus receptus,” the edition of M. Letteris 
‘Vienna, 1852) showing very few changes, This last 
edition was reprinted with clear-cut type by the 
British and Foreign Bible Society (Berlin, 1866, etc.), 
and in New York by Wiley & Son (1872-75). The 
first Hebrew Bible in America, published by William 
Fry at Philadelphia in 1814, was from the text of 
Van der Hooght, and it was reprinted in Phila- 
delphia by Isaac Lesser in 1849. 

No serious attempt was made to issue a text of 
the Bible after the best manuscripts and the Maso- 
rah until 8. BAER commenced his pub- 
lications with the help of Franz De- 
litzsch (1861 e¢ seg.). His edition, un- 
fortunately not completed, has become 
the standard. Based upon a much fuller comparison 
of manuscripts is the edition of the Masoretic Bible of 
Chr. D. Ginsburg (London, 1895), which may be con- 
sidered to represent the truest Masoretic tradition. 
Of quite a different character is the polychrome cedi- 
tion of the Bible, now (1902) nearly completed, pub- 
lished by Paul Haupt (Leipsic and Baltimore, 1898 
et seq.) with the aid of the foremost Biblical scholars. 
Under the title “The Sacred Booksof the Old Testa- 
ment,” it endeavors to give a critical edition of the 
Hebrew text on the basis of the versions and the 
results of modern critical inquiry. The supposed 
sources are distinguished by various colors. 


Recent 
Editions. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. passim ; De Wette- 
Schrader, Lehrbuch der Hist.-Crit. Einleitung, p. 217, Ber- 
lin, 1869; Dibdin, Introduction to Greek and Latin Classics, 
Together with an Aecount of Polyglot Bibles, ete., vol. i., 
passim, London, 1827; Buhl, Kanon und Text des A. T. p. 
82; B. Pick, Hist. of Printed Editions of the O. T. in He- 
braica, ix. 47 et seq.; Ginsburg, Introduction to a Critical 
Edition of the Bible, London, 1895 (contains very full ac- 
counts of every edition). 

T. G. 

BIBLE EXEGESIS.—Jewish: 1. Israel has 
been called “the People of the Book ”; it may as fitly 
be called “the people of Scripture exegesis,” for ex- 
egesis in the largest sense of the word is in a way 
the one indigenous science which Israel has created 
and developed, after having produced, during the 
first long period of its history, the actual subject of 
this science, the Bible itself. During the thousand 
years following the collection of the different books 
of the Scripture, the intellectual activity of Judaism 
was directed almost exclusively to the exegetic treat- 
ment of the Bible and the systematic development 
of the Law derived from it. When, through contact 
with Hellenic and Arabic learning, the Jewish intel- 
lect was led into new channels, Bible exegesis still 
retained its position of chief interest; it was the first 
to feel the influence of the new thought: and it 
gave birth to auxiliary Hebrew philology, the only 

science which originated in the Judaism of the Mid- 

die Ages. That other great production of medieval 

Judaism, the philosophy of religion, likewise devel- 

oped into Bible exegesis in order to take ona Jewish 

character, although it substantially reproduced alien 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


162 





views. Finally, the younger sister of the philoso- 
phy of religion, the mysticism of the Cabala, also 
assumed the form and character of Bible exegesis. 

During the centuries of decadence and increasing 
ignorance the exposition of the Bible in its various 
aspects still remained the most popular and assidu- 
ously cultivated occupation of the Jewish mind. 
The epoch known as the Mendelssohnian beging 
with a renaissance in the field of Bible exegesis, 
And modern Judaisin is especially characterized by 
two reforms founded on the study and exposition of 
the Bible; viz., the reinstatement of the Bible in its 
legitimate place in the instruction of the young, 
where it had long been secondary to the study of 
the Talmud ; and the sermon in the synagogue, based 
as it ison the Biblical text. Corresponding with this 
importance of Bible exegesis in the intellectual life 
of Israel, sketched here in a few words, is the mag- 
uitude of the exegetical literature, which will now 
be briefly reviewed in its chief phases and products. 

2. The beginnings of Jewish Bible exegesis go 
back to a period when a part of the books collected 

later on into the Biblical canon did not 
Beginning: yet exist. The original designation 
of Jewish for the expositor’s function, the verb 
Exegesis. “darash” (tv), from which the orig- 
inal name of Scriptural exegesis, the 
noun “midrash ” (w 94919), was formcd, is used in the 
well-known reference to Ezra (Ezra vii. 10) that he 
“prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord.” 
The verb denotes “to investigate,” “to seek,” and, 
in connection with the Bible, meant, therefore, to 
examine the text, to search into what it means. 
This reference to Ezra is the earliest mention of 
Scriptural exegesis, and its history dates from his 
activity. Ezra, who by his endeavors placed the 
Pentateuch on the pinnacle of its importance for the 
new Jewish community of the Second Temple, and 
hence for the subsequent ages of Judaism, may also 
be regarded as the founder of Scriptural exegesis, 
which latter was confined at first to the Pentateuch 
as representing the entire sacred writings. Two in- 
stitutions that originated in this period, the syna- 
gogue and the academy, assured a lasting home to 
the inteHectual activity concentrated npon the ex- 
amination and exposition of the Bible. In the syn- 
agogue the sacred text of the Pentateuch. and later 
that of the Prophets, were read and expounded; in 
the academies and schoolhouses the same texts were 
used for teaching the young and for investigation 
and in the instruction of adults. Thus, in har- 
mony with its origin and the character of these two 
institutions, exegesis became a matter of oral in- 
struction and oral tradition: hence any written exe- . 
getical literature of the Bible during those first form- 
ative centuries is out of the question. 

3. There are no contemporary accounts of the 
development of the academy and the method of in- 
struction among the Palestinian Jews during the 
time of the Second Temple: the historic records speak 
of them only after they had been firmly established 
and recognized. Frequent references in traditional 
literature, traceable down to the decades immedi- 
ately preceding the Christian era, show that the na- 
tional science, as developed by the Pharisees since 
the time of the Maccabees, was divided into two 


163 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Exegesis 





groups, Bible and tradition (“Mikra” and “ Mish- 
nah.”), anc that the latter comprised three branches, 
in which the work of traditional liter- 


Midrash, atureoriginated. These three branches 
Halakah, were: (1) Midrashot (in the singular, 
and “ Midrash ”); (2) Halakot (or Halakah); 


Haggadah. (3) Haggadot (or Haggadah). This 

order of the constituentsof Mishnah 
in its most comprehensive sense corresponds with 
the historical development of these branches. 
First in ‘ime was the MIpRasna, 7.e., the expo- 
sition of the Scripture, especially of the Penta- 
teuch and more particularly of its Iegal portions. 
From this branched off, on the one hand, the Hala- 
kot—the statutes derived exegetically from the 
written lew, to which were added other statutes, 
which had been transmitted orally, and which the 
teachers endeavored to connect exegetically with 
the Biblical 1cxt—and, on the other, the Haggadot, 
which included the exegesis not connected with 
the Law, with its manifold material derived from 
the sacred writings. Through this differentiation the 
branch designated as “ Midrash” was specialized into 
expositior of the Law or halakic exegesis. The 
derivation of the Halakah from the Biblical text 
was also called “Talmud,” so that “Talmud ” orig- 
inally mesnt the same as “ Midrash” in the above- 
mentioned stricter sense. 

The Mixra, the fundamental part of the national 
science, was the subject of the primary instruction, 
and was also divided into three parts; 
namely, the three historic groups of 
the books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, 
the Propiets, and the Hagiographa. The intelli- 
gent reading and comprehension of the text, arrived 
at by acarect division of the sentences and words, 
formed tke course of instruction in the Bible. The 
scribes were also required to know the Tareum, the 
Aramuic translation of the text. The Targum made 
possible an immediate comprehension of the text, 
but was continuously influenced by the exegesis 
taught ir the schools. The synagogues were pre- 
eminently the centers for instruction in the Bible 
and its exegesis. The reading of the Biblical text, 
which was combined with that of the Targum, 
served to widen the knowledge of the scholars 
learned in the first division of the national science. 
The scrites found the material for their discourses, 
which fomed a part of the synagogue service, in 
the second division, the several branches of the tra- 
dition; the Haggadah, the third of these branches, 
especiall” furnished the material for the sermon. 

4. The tannaitic traditional literature is derived 
from the three original branches of the traditional 
science, is taught in the schools of both Palestine 
and Babylonia. Although part of this literature 
has been lost, its most important products are still 

extant. The Mishnah, in its strict 
Traditional sense, and its supplement, the Tosefta, 
Literature. as well as a mass of other Halakic sen- 

tences (Baraitas, see BARrattra), pre- 
served in the two Talmuds, are derived from the 
second of those branches. This part of the tannaitic 
literatur: retains many traces of its descent from the 
Midrash, in the many Biblical exegetical details 
which itcontains. The branch of the Midrash pre- 


Mikra. 


served as its documents the Midrashim to the last 
four books of the Pentateuch; viz., Mekilta, on Ex- 
odus; Torat Kohanim, or Sifra, on Leviticus; and 
Sifre, on Numbers and Deuteronomy. These works, 
which are running commentaries on the Biblical 
text, and as such the earliest of their kind, contain 
also the exegetics belonging to the third branch. 

But there are also tannaitic Haggadah collections, 
such as were produced in great number in the post- 
tannaitic period, preserving those haggadic tradi- 
tions of the tannaitic time which continued in exist- 
ence. One of these Haggadot, for instance, is the 
“Seder “Olam.” a chronology of Bible history based 
on haggadic exegesis. In the period of the Amo- 
raim, beginning with the redaction of the Mishnah, 
the method of instruction was changed in that the 
Mishnah became the text-book for lectures and dis- 
cussions in Palestine as well asin Babylonia. The 
two Talmuds, which drew their material chiefly 
from the Halakah and halakic exegesis (the Midrash 
in the exact sense), but gave a considerable place 
also to the Haggadah, are the result of these lectures 
and discussions. The haggadic exegesis was culti- 
vated especially in Palestine, leading to the hag- 
gadic Midrash collections on the Pentateuch, the 
pericopes (“ Pesiktas”; see PEsik Ta), and other Bib- 
lical books, which were based principally on the 
sermons. The final editing of these collections be- 
longs to the post-amoraic time, though they repre- 
sent chiefly the exegesis of the Amoraim. Side by 
side with the writings here sketched, which were al- 
ways connected in some way with Biblical exegetics, 
there came to maturity during the time of the Tan- 
naimand Amoraim the Targum literature, originating 
in the institution of reading the Targum at divine 
service. This Targum was extended to the whole 
Bible, as wasalso the Masorah, which latter is the 
determination of the rules and principles governing 
the text of the Bible. These were the two branches 
of study which transmitted to later gencrations the 
knowledge and correct reading of the Bible text. 

5. The products of the traditional literature de- 
scribed above have this trait in common, that they 
are not the exclusive work of certain writers, but 
are the outcome of a long series of oral traditions, 
that were finally given a certain form in a written 
work. Therefore the exegesis found in these works 
does not belong to one single epoch, but to different 
epochs extending overa number of centuries. From 
the days of Hillel (80 n.c.) the names of the com- 

pilers of the traditional exegesis were 


Tannaitic also handed down; so that the origi- 


and nators of a large part of that early 
Amoraic Bible exegesis and many of the Tan- 
Exegesis. naim and Amoraim are known as more 


or less important exegetes. An old 
tradition reports of Hillel’s teachers, Shemaiah and 
Abtalion, that they were great exegetes (“darsha- 
nim”). Hillel himself marks an epoch in halakic 
exegesis, Since he formulated the seven rules ac- 
cording to which the Bible text must be explained. 
Hillel’s pupil, Johanan b. Zakkai, followed a kind 
of symbolic exegesis. 
The period between the destruction of Jerusalem 
and the Hadrianic war was the most fruitful and 
important epoch for early exegesis, and its repre- 


Bible Exegesis 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


164 





sentatives were Johanan b. Zakkai’s pupils and their 
disciples. Chief among these in the field of halakic 
exegesis are Ishmael b. Elisha and AKIBA BEN Jo- 
SEPH, between whose teachings there existed a fun- 
damental opposition which extended to the Hag- 
gadah. Ishmael expanded Hillel’s rules into the 
well-known thirteen rules for exegesis, and postu- 
lated, besides others, that of the human mode of 
expression in Scripture, a thesis that was to have an 
important influence on later Jewish exegesis. Akiba, 
imbued with the incomparable importance of the 
Biblical text, successfully defended the opinion he 
derived from his teacher, Nahum of Gimzo, that not 
even what might seem to be the most insignificant 
word of the text was without its especial meaning; 
hence everything contained in the text must be- 
come the subject of interpretation. Akiba’s work 
was continued by his pupils, the leaders in the post- 
Hadrianic time, who were voluminous exegetes. 
One of them, Eliezer, son of the Galilean Jose, for- 
mulated thirty-two rules for haggadic exegesis. 
The great teachers of the Law (halakists) of the tan- 
naitic period were also eminent Biblical exegetes, 
although there were also some tannaites whose pre- 
eminence lay solely in the domain of exegesis; as, 
for instance, Eleazar of Modiim in the pre-Hadri- 
anic period, and the above-mentioned Eliezer b. 
Jose in the post-Hadrianic period. 

The Halakists and Haggadists were more sharply 
distinguished during the time of the Palestinian 
Amoraim. Althougheven then some eminent heads 
of academies were at the same time masters of the 
Haggadah, e.g., Jobanan, Simeon b. Lakish, Eleazar 
b. Pedat. The most important Bible exegetes were 
mostly haggadists by profession, as Samuel b. Nah- 
man, Simlai, Isaac, Levi, Judah b. Simon, Huna, 
Judan, Judah b. Shalom, Tanhuma. These stu- 
dents of the Haggadah, as they were called, pre- 
served also the old exegetic traditions, and produced 
in the post-amoraic times the above-mentioned Mid- 
rash collections. In Babylonia the haggadic exege- 
sis was cultivated in a less independent spirit, be- 
ing mostly under the influence of the Palestinian 
schools. There were, however, eminent haggadists 
among the great teachers, as Rab in the third and 
Raba in the fourth century. 

The exegetics of the traditional literature that 
was not transmitted with the names of the authors, 
especially the anonymous portions of the tannaitic 
Midrash, originated in part at a very early date. It 
is a noteworthy fact that the exegetic phraseology 
of the tannaites, and consequently the earliest ter- 
minology of Bible exegetics asa whole, were already 
in existence when the historic period of Jewish Bible 
exegesis began with Hillel; that terminology may 
therefore be considered asa monument of the period 
before Hillel. 

6. These sources of Jewish Bible exegesis, be- 
longing to the first period, which ended with the 

final redaction of the Talmud (500 
Early Bible ¢.£.), were supplemented by others 

Trans- of an entirely different nature. These 

lations. complete the account that has to be 

given of the exegesis of that period. 
First in order are the old translations of the Bible; 
they, like the Aramaic Targum, were intended to 


spread the knowledge of the Bible and naturally re- 
flected the exegesis of the school from which they 
proceeded. The Septuagint demands especial at- 
tention, being the earliest literary translation as well 
as a source for early exegesis. Aquila’s translation 
represents the school of Jabneh, especially Akiba’s, 
But the other Greek versions are also based on Jew- 
ish exegesis, and so is, in great part, the Peshitta. 
Jerome in turn endeavored to establish the “ Hebrew 
truth” in his Latin version, on the basis of oral in- 
struction received from Jewish exegetes of Pales- 
tine. Philo, the great representative of the Alexan- 
drian exegesis, takes a foremost place; his writings 
are, in part, comprehensive and explanatory para- 
phrases of the stories and ordinances 
of the Pentateuch, and, in part, a run- 
ning allegorical commentary on the 
Bible text. Philo’sallegorical exegesis was the first 
and most consistent attempt to prove by means of 
Biblical exegesis that Greek philosophy undcrlay 
the superficial meaning of the words of the Bible. 
In Palestine, too,—indeed as early as the time of 
Philo—opinions and speculations on God and the 
Creation, in part of extraneous origin, were con- 
nected with two chapters of the Bible (Gen. i. and 
Ezek. i.); and their exegesis was the real subject 
of the esoteric doctrine called after those sections, 
“Ma‘ase Bereshit” and “Ma‘ase Merkabah.” The 
chief work of the historian Josephus may also be 
considered asa source of the Bible ex- 
Josephus. egesis of this time; the first part of 
his “ Antiquities” being a running 
commentary on the narrative portions of the Scrip- 
ture. Finally, the Bible exegesis contained in the 
books of the New Testament must be mentioned. 
It proceeded from the exegesis current at the time, 
and belongs to the same class as the other products 
of the early Haggadah. It became the actual foun- 
dation for the new faith, just as the Biblical exege- 
sis, the Midrash of the Palestinian schools, may be 
considered the basis for the reshaping of Judaism 
after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second 
Temple. 
7. The Bible exegesis of the Tannaim and the 
Amoraim, which may be best designated as exegesis 
of the Midrash, was a product of nat- 


Philo. 


Midrash: ural growth and of great freedom in 
Peshat; the treatment of the words of the 
Masorah. Bible. But if proved an obstacle to 


further development when, endowed 
with the authority of a sacred tradition in the Tal- 
mud and in the Midrash collections edited subse- 
quently to the Talmud, it became the sole source for 
the interpretation of the Bible among later genera- 
tions. The traditional literature contains, indeed, 
an abundance of correct explanations that are in 
harmony with the wording and the context; and 
it bears everywhere evidence of a fine linguistic 
sense, good judgment, and an acute insight into 
the peculiarities and difficulties of the Bible text. 
But side by side with these elements of a natural 
and simple Bible exegesis, of value even to-day, the 
traditional literature contains an even larger mass of - 
expositions far removed from the actual meaning of 
the text. In the halakic as well as in the haggadic 
exegesis the expounder endeavored not so much to 


165 


seck the original meaning of the text as to find au- 
thority in some Bible passage for the concepts and 
ideas, the rules of conduct and teachings, for which 
he wished to have a Biblical foundation. To this 
were added, on the one hand, the belief that the 
words of the Bible had many meanings, and, on 
the other, the importance attached to the smallest 
portion, the slightest peculiarity of the text; hence 
the exegesis of the Midrash strayed further and fur- 
ther away from a natural and common-sense inter- 
pretation. 

Again, it must be remembered that the Midrash 
exegesis was largely in the nature of homiletics, ex- 
pounding the Bible not in order to investigate its 
actual meaning and to understand the documents 
of the past, but in order to find religious edification, 
moral instruction, and sustenance for the thoughts 
and feelings of the present. The contrast between 
the simple natural explanation of the literal sense 
and the Midrash, that did not feel bound to follow 
the mere words, was recognized even by the Tan- 
naim and the Amoraim, although their idea of the 
literal meaning of a Biblical passage may not be 
allowed by more modern standards. The above- 
mentioned tanna, Ishmael b. Elisha, even said once, 
rejecting an exposition of Eliezer b. Hyrcanus: 
“Truly, you say to Scripture, ‘Be silent while I 
am expounding!’” (Sifra on Lev. xiii. 49). The 
tannaitic exegesis distinguishes principally between 
the actual deduction of a thesis froma Bible passage 
asa means of proving a point, and the use of such 
a passage aS a mere mnemonic device, a distinc- 
tion that was also made in a different form later in 
the Babylonian schools. The Babylonian Amoraim 
were the first to use the expression “ Peshat” (pw5) 
to designate the primary sense, contrasting it with the 
“Derash,” the Midrashic exegesis. These two terms 
were later on destined to become important features 
in the history of Jewish Bible exegesis. And, again, 
in Babylonia was formulated the important principle 
that the Midrashic exegesis could not annul the pri- 
mary sense. This principle subsequently became 
the watchword of the common-sense Bible exegesis; 
but how little it was known or recognized may be seen 
from the admission of Kahana, a Babylonian amora 
of the fourth century, that while at eighteen years 
of age he had already learned the whole Mishnah, 
he had only heard of that principle a great many 
years later (Shab. 68a). Kahana’s admission is 
characteristic of the centuries following the final 
redaction of the Talmud. The primary meaning is 
no longer considered, but it becomes more and more 
the fashion to interpret the text according to the 
meaning given to it in traditional literature. The 
ability and even the desire for original investigation 
of the text succumbed to the overwhelming author- 
ity of the Midrash. It was, therefore, providential 
that, just at the time when the Midrash was para- 
mount, the close study of the text of the Bible, at 
least in one direction, was pursued with rare energy 
and perseverance by the careful Masorites, who set 
themselves the task of preserving and transmitting 
the pronunciation and correct reading of the text. 
By introducing punctuation (vowel-points and ac- 
cents) into the Biblical text, in the seventh century, 
they supplied that protecting hedge which, accord- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Exegesis 


ing to Akiba’s saying, the Masorah was to be for the 
words of the Bible. Punctuation, on the one hand, 
protected the tradition from being forgotten, and, 
on the other, was the precursor of an independent 
Bible science to be developed in a later age. 

8. Karaism gave the first impulse toward an inde- 
pendent investigation of the Bible and a denial of 
the autocratic authority of the Mid- 
rash. The “Bene Mikra” (Sons of the 
Scripture), as the sect founded by 
Anan (eighth century) called itself, 
rejecting the Talmudic tradition, posited as first 
principles the duty to investigate the Bible itself 
and to draw from it the foundations for religious 
knowledge and rules of conduct by means of an ex- 
egesis independent of tradition. But Karaism ex- 
erted a lasting influence onthe further development 
of Jewish Bible exegesis not so much by its own 
achievements as by its reaction on the large majority 
of the Jews who remained faithful to tradition. For 
undoubtedly Saadia, the great originator of the new 
Jewish knowledge, was stimulated by the Karaitic 
movement to enter upon bis pioneer activity. He 
proved his genius as a Bible exegete in the first in- 
stance in polemics against the Karaites; and they, 
in turn, were stimulated by Saadia and his partly 
polemic, partly positive work, to a richer and more 
signiticant activity in their own field than that which 
obtained before hisappearance. The Karaite leaders 
in exegesis and Hebrew philology were accord- 
ingly either Saadia’s contemporaries or belonged 
to the post-Saadian times. 

In the century and a half between Anan and 
Saadia, Karaism produced no exegete of lasting im- 
portance. But the numerous exegetes and founders 
of sects mentioned in clear and unmistakable terms 
by the Karaites themselves, though they often disap- 
proved of them, demonstrate the vigorous intellectual 
activity of Eastern Judaism after Anan. Not long 
after him Benjamin of Nahawendi, one of the fa- 
thers of Karaism, applied the allegoric method of 
exposition in a way reminding one of Philo. Yud- 
ghan of Hamadan (Judah the Persian) laid down the 
principle that the Torah had an exoteric as well as 
an esoteric significance. Hivi of Balkh, of the mid- 
dle of the ninth century, proposed a rational criti- 
cism of the subject-matter of the Bible, at the same 
time finding two hundred reasons against the authen- 
ticity of the Pentateuch, mainly on historical, but 
also on legal grounds. Most of the Karaite exe- 
getes, either Saadia’s contemporaries or follow- 
ing immediately after him, wrote commentaries on 
the Pentateuch and on other Biblical books, under 
Saadia’s influence and controverting him. Among 
these may be mentioned Solomon b. Yeroham, Sahal 
b. Mazliah, Abu Yusuf Ya‘kub al-Kirkisani, and 
the prolific Karaite exegete, Japheth b. Ali, fre- 
guently cited by Abraham ibn Ezra, 

As the exposition of the sacred text was not pos- 
sible without philological explanations, the com- 
mentaries of the Karaite exegetes contain, of course, 
many grammatical and lexical explanations. But 
even here they were not originators, and were only 
stimulated by Saadia’s example and instruction to 
more penetrating philological research into Hebrew. 
The earliest Karaite grammarians of whom anything 


Karaite 
Exegesis. 


Bible Exegesis 


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166 





definite is known, as well as David ben Abraham, 
the earliest Karaite lexicographer, were all subse- 
quent to Saadia. The earlier Karaites contributed 
to the development neither of Hebrew philology nor 
of exegesis, which began to flourish about the tenth 
century among the Eastern and Western Jews still 
clinging to tradition. But contemporaneously with 
the later golden age of Rabbinitic exegesis, and in- 
fluenced by it, exegetic literature flourished among 
the Karaites, its chief representatives being Abu al- 
Fara‘i Harun (at the beginning of the eleventh cen- 
tury), Jeshua b. Judah (at the end of the eleventh 
century), Jacob b. Reuben, Levi b. Japheth, Japh- 
eth b. Sa‘id, and Judah Hadassi (contemporary of 
Ibn Ezra). At the end of the thirteenth century 
Aaron b. Joseph wrote a commentary on the Penta- 
teuch (“Sefer ha-Mibhar ”), in imitation of Ibn Ezra 
and using Nahmanides; and not long after Aaron 
b. Elijah, the younger, who was influenced by Mai- 
monides, wrote his commentary on the Pentateuch 
(“Keter Torah ”), a work that worthily ends the ex- 
egetic literature of the Karaites. 

9. The new epoch in the history of Jewish Bible 
excvesis beginning with Saadia may fitly be charac- 
terized as “the period of the Peshat.” As already 
mentioned, this phrase signified among the Baby- 
lonian Amoraim the primary sense of the Bible text, 

in contradistinction to its interpreta- 

Period of tion as found in the Midrash. Now 
the Peshat. the phrase became the watchword for 
the exegetes who broke away from 

the authority of the Midrash and went direct to the 
Bible text without regard to traditional exegesis. 
The authors writing in Arabic also use the phrase 
in this sense; and Ibn Janah calls Saadia the repre- 
sentative of the Peshat. It was a matter of no little 
importance for the new method of exegesis that its 
founder held the highest position in the gift of the 
tradition-loving Jews of his age; for the fact that 
it was the “Gaon of Sura” who opened up new 
paths for exegesis facilitated the recognition and 
further development of this method among the large 
majority of the Jews who still held by tradition. 
But the genuine merit of Saadia’s labors also assured 
their success. His most important work in the field 
of Bible exegesis is his Arabic translation of the 
Bible, which chiefly aimed to bring about a right 
understanding of the original text by means of the 
Arabic reproduction. In his version Saadia leaves 
nothing obscure. Although he does not paraphrase, 
he translates freely; disregarding the syntactical 
character of the original, and connecting the verses 
and parts of the verses in a way to make them at 
once comprehensible. Saadia’s translation shows 
the same characteristic as his Bible exegesis, as far 
as it is known from the extant frag- 
ments of his commentaries, and from 
his chief religio-philosophical work. 
This characteristic is his rationalism: reason is for 
him the basis even in Scriptural exegesis; and in 
accordance with it the exposition of the text must 
contain nothing that is obscure or that contradicts 
logical thought. He does not confine himself to 
reproducing the exact. meaning of the single words 
and sentences, but he takes a general view of the 
context, the whole chapter, the whole book, and 


Saadia. 


rt rc i 


explains their interrelation. Saadia’s rationalism, 
which became the standard for the following cen- 
turies, accorded with his belief in the divine origin 
of the Bible and in the Biblical miracles; these, he 
thinks, serve as witnesses to the veracity of the 
Prephets and of Scripture. Saadia’s rationalistic 
exegesis is systematized in his book on religious 
doctrines and beliefs, “Emunot we-De‘ot.” This is 
largely exegetic, and harmonizes the anthropomor- 
phic figures of speech employed in Scripture pas- 
sages referring to God and His works with philo- 
sophic speculation in a way that has become the 
pattern for later exegetes (see ANTITROPOMORPHISM), 

In addition to the authority of reason, Saadia rec- 
ognizes also the colateral authority of the Scripture 
itself as a source for exegesis; and as he is familiar 
with the Bible, he makes copious use of its contents 
for the purposes of illustration and exposition. 

Saadia’s third authority is tradition. This he uses 
in his Bible exegesis as tar as he finds necessary and 
practicable; and he recognizes its influence on exe- 
gesis, pioneer of an independent exegesis though he 
was. 

Saadia created Hebrew philology, the most im- 
portant prerequisite for a sound exegesis. His gram- 
matical and lexical works were as epoch-making 
for a scientific knowledge of the Hebrew language 
as his Bible exegesis for the exposition of Scripture, 
and his religio-philosophic works for ali philosophic 
speculation on the doctrines of Judaism. In these 
three branches, which all belong in the larger sense 
to Bible exegesis, Saadia was a pioneer; and his 
labors were of lasting influence because of the great 
authority which he rightly enjoyed. 

10. The work of Saadia as the originator of He- 
brew philology and of rational Bible exegesis was 
not carried toward completion in the Orient, where 
he himself had been active; the leadership in this 
field passed, soon after Saadia’s death, into the hands 
of Western Judaism, the Diaspora of North Africa 
and Spain. In the East, as noted above, Saadia’s 
literary activity stimulated in the first instance his 
Karaite opponents; but he found no successors for 
his work among the Rabbinite Jews at the academies. 
It was not until many years after his death that a 
worthy successor to Saadia was found in Samuel b. 
Hophni (died 1034), another gaon of 
Sura, whose Arabic version and com- 
mentary on the Pentateuch, as well as 
his exegesis, closely followed Saadia 
both in its comprehensiveness and in details. Har 
BEN SHERIRA, Samuel b. Hophni’s son-in law (died 
1038), the last famous gaon of Pumbedita, devoted 
himself to Bible exegesis in his lexicon, and also 
in his commentary on Job. It is characteristic of 
Hai, who was also a great Talmudist, that he con- 
sulted the Koran in order to explain Biblical pas- 
sages; and once he sent to ask the Syrian Catholicos 

how a certain difficult passage in the 

School of Psalms was explained in the Syriac 

Kairwan. translation of the Bible. Long before 
the splendor of the Gaonate faded after 

Hai’s death, Kairwan (in Tunis) had become a seat 
of Jewish scholarship. The physician and philos- 
opher Tsaac Israevt, the elder contemporary of 
Saadia, wasactive here; he wrote asomewhat diffuse 


The 
Geonim. 


167 





commentary on the first chapter of Genesis. His 
pupil, Dunash ibn Tamim, was one of the first to 
introduce the comparative study of Hebrew and 
Arabic as a fruitful source for Bible exegesis, Al- 
ready before him another North African, Judah 
ibn Koreish, had written a work in which he system- 
atically carried out a comparison of Biblical He- 
brew with Arabic, Aramaic, and Neo-Hebrew, and 
warmly recommended, for linguistic reasons, the 
study of the Targum, that had been neglected. In 
this curious piece of work, which is still extant, there 
is also a long excursus on the anthropomorphisms 
and the anthropopathisms of the Bible, in which for 
the first time the important tannaite postulate, that 
the Torah speaks in human language, uses human 
forms of speech, is applied in a sense which devi- 
ated from the postulate’s original meaning, but 
which thereafter became paramount. The oldest 
representative of Jewish learning in Italy, Shab- 
bethai Donolo, also interpreted this adage (which 
is not found in Saadia) in the same way; his com- 
mentary on the book Yezirah (written in 946) was 
prefaced by an exegetic treatise on the Biblical ac- 
count of the creation of man. Another eminent ex- 
egete, who was honored by posterity as the repre- 
sentative of the Peshat, was the great Talmud 
commentator Hanancel b. Hushiel in Kairwan, a 
contemporary of Hai. Only fragments of his com- 
mentary on the Pentateuch and on Ezekiel are ex- 
tant: he, however, largely admitted Midrashic ele- 
ments into his exegesis. 

11. The most solid foundations of Jewish Bible 
exegesis were laid in Spain through the develop- 
ment of Hebrew philology, which reached its high- 
est point in this new home of Jewish Jearning, from 
the middle of the tenth to the beginning of the 
twelfth century; although its products belong pri- 

marily to the domains of grammar and 

Philology lexicography, they yet can be included 
in Spain. in exegcetic literature. It was only 

after philologic literature had reached 

its culminating point in the works of ABULWALID ibn 
Ganah, that the classic Hterature which marks the 
golden age of medieval literary activity was en- 
riched by Bible commentaries. In the beginning of 
this period a commentary on the Psalms by the cele- 
brated Joseph ibn Abitur (ibn Satanas) is mentioned ; 
but the existing fragments of this commentary show 
its method to have been that of the Midrash, and 
reveal nothing clse concerning the method of exege- 
sis (see ABITUR). The Bible exegesis of the Spanish 
Jews, Which was pursued with unusual ardor, was 
directed, in the first instance. to the investigation of 
the Biblical language. From the time of Hasdai 
ibn Shaprut to that of Samuel ibn Nagdela (second 
half of the tenth to first half of the eleventh cen- 
tury}, eminent and gifted scholars vied with one an- 
other in placing the science of Hebrew grammar on 
a firm basis—a basis that has not been overthrown 
even by the philology of the nineteenth century. 
They also developed Hebrew lexicography to a point 
far in advance of all preceding endeavors. Mena- 
hem ben Saruk’s dictionary; Dunash ibn Labrat’s 
critical work; the polemics of the pupils of Menahem 
and Dunash; Judah b. David Hayyuj’s work, that 
came like a revelation; Abulwalid’s critical work; 


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Bible Exegesis 





the literary controversy between him and Samuelibn 
Nagdela;and the writings of both as well as of others 
belonging to their circle; and finally Abulwalid’s 
chief work, composed of a grammatical and a lexical 
part—all these works mark the development of the 
philologic literaturein Spain. Those of Hayyuj and 
Abulwalid especially furnished a firm basis for a 
Bible exegesis that, on its linguistic side at least, 
was free from gross errors and mere guesswork. 
But all these compositions contain more than simple 
grammatical and lexicographical contributions to 

Bible exegesis; and especially Abul- 


Abulwalid walid’s chief work—which is gener- 
ibn ally designated by its separate parts, 
Janah. “Luma‘” (Hebr., “Rikmah”) and the 


“Book of Roots ”—is so rich in multi- 
farious exegetic material that these works may be 
considered as equivalent to a continuous Bible com- 
mentary. 

Abulwalid’s exegesis draws largely upon rhetoric, 
and regards the Biblical expressions from the point 
of view of the metaphors and other tropes familiar 
to him from Arabic Hterature. Many textual diffi- 
culties he cleared away hermeneutically, being led 
by his method to the same results as are obtained by 
modern textual criticism, although he accepted the 
authority of the Masorah without question. He as- 
sumes a sweeping transposition and interchange of 
letters, and procceds in many Biblical passages on 
the theory that the Biblical author himself by mis- 
take put one word for another that he really had in- 
tended. He recognizes traditional exegesis as the 
true and authoritative criterion in much that is un- 
ascertainable or doubtful in Scripture; but he does 
not hesitate to contradict tradition if the natural and 
literal sense requires it. 

12. Nothing has been preserved of Bible exegesis 
proper in the form of commentaries from the period 
preceding Abulwalid. His younger contemporary, 
the poet and philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol, per- 
haps embodied in a special work his allegorical ex- 
position of individual Biblical passages; for the ex- 
amples of his exposition quoted by Abraham ibn 

Ezra would seem to have been taken 

Exegetics from such a work. Ibn Ezra is also 
in Spain. the only source of information con- 
cerning a curious example of early 

Pentateuch criticism by one of the grammarians of 
the eleventh century, Isaac ibn Yashush, who as- 
serted that Gen. xxxvi. 81-43 was written at the time 
of King Jehoshaphat. Ibn Ezra also controverted 
another unnamed critic of the same period, who, | 
applying Abulwalid’s above-mentioned method, 
explained almost two hundred Scriptural passages 
by substituting other words for those that seemed to 
him incorrect. In the golden age of Jewish culture 
in Spain two eminent philologists also directed their 
attention to Bible exegesis proper, parts of whose 
commentaries, written in Arabic, have been pre- 
served — namely, Moses ibn Gikatilla of Cordova 
and Judah ibn Balaam of Toledo. Moses ibu Gika- 
tilla endeavored to explain the Biblical miracles 
rationalistically; while Ibn Balaam attacked these 
attempts, and otherwise bitterly criticized Ibn Gika- 
tilla’s exegesis. Ibn Gikatilla’s commentary on 
Isaiah and on the Psalms, from which Ibn Ezra copi- 


Bible Exegesis 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


168 





ously quoted, was the first sustained attempt to ex- 
plain those books historically. Thus, he refers the 
predictions of the second part of Isaiah to the time 
of the Second Temple, and in the same way he as- 
sumes that some psalms are exilic. Judah ibn Ba- 
laam’s commentary on Isaiah is extant in full, and a 
comparison of this work with Saadia’s translation 
shows the advance made by Bible exegesis during 
the century lying between them. 

In addition to Hebrew philology, so closely re- 
lated to exegesis, two special fields of intellectual 
activity, Hebrew poetry and philosophic speculation, 
were likewise influenced, and in turn promoted the 
advance of Bible exegesis during this golden age of 
Jewish-Spanish culture. Through the introduction 
of Arabic prosody, poetry had indeed been Jed into 

forms foreign to the genius of the old 

Poetry; Biblical poetry; but in consequence of 
Philosophy the definite knowledge of the forms of 

of speech and the better comprehension 
Religion. of the words of the Bible, the new He- 
brew poetry that blossomed into un- 
expected luxuriance on Spanish soil was marked by 
a certain classical perfection and finish. Love of 
poetry and the practise of riming likewise sharpened 
the perception for the poetic beauties and other lit- 
erary qualities of Scripture. One of the most re- 
nowned poets of this period, Moses ibn Ezra, de- 
voted a long chapter of his work on rhetoric and 
poetics to Biblical rhetoric; applying to it, in a 
much more specific way than Abulwalid had done, 
the terminology and definitions of Arabic rhetoric. 
As for the relation of the philosophy of religion to 
Bible exegesis, it is sufficient to mention the names 
of Bahya ibn Pakuda, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Abra- 
ham ibn Hiyya, Moses ibn Ezra, Joseph ibn Zaddik, 
Judah ha-Levi, and Abrahamibn Daud. The works 
of these thinkers embody the principle, first logically 
enunciated by Saadia, that on the supreme questions 
of religious knowledge the Scriptures teach nothing 
beyond human reason. Allegory was used only to 
a limited extent. Asaresult of this conviction of 
the necessity for agreement between the postulates 
of reason and the Bible, a high-handed freedom of 
treatment of the Biblical word became current, that 
was often imposing in its daring. In consequence 
the elements of a new form of Midrash found their 
way into Bible exegesis, made subservient to philo- 
sophic speculation. The Peshat exegesis, which had 
been freed from the fetters of the early Midrash con- 
tained in the traditional literature, found itself 
now confronted by a new enemy—the philosophic 
Midrash. 

18. While the system of the Peshat was nearing 
its complete development in the countries influenced 
by Arabian culture, the Midrashic exegesis had re- 
mained paramount among the Jews of Christian 
countries. The Midrash ltcrature was enriched by 

new compilations; and the exegetes 


The ‘‘ Dar- also, striving for a certain independ-. 


ence, found the material for their com- 
mentaries mostly in the traditional lit- 
erature. These exegetes are called “ Darshanim” in 
the history of Jewish literature. To them belong 
Moses ha-Darshan in Narbonne (middle of eleventh 
century), Tobiah b. Eliezer in Castoria, Bulgaria 


shanim.” 


(end of eleventh century),and Menahem b.Solomon in 
Rome (first half of twelfth century). Here must also 
be named the compiler of the “ Yalkut Shime‘oni,” 
the most complete Midrash compilation on the whole 
Scripture, dating perhaps from the beginning of 
the thirteenth century. In this field represented 
by the Darshanim there arose quite unexpectedly in 
northern France a school of Bible exegesis, which, 
in entire independence of the Spanish-Arabian school, 
endeavored to search into the Peshat, the simple, 
natural, primary sense, in avowed contrast to the 
Midrash, without, however, severing its connection 
with the latter. The founder of this school was 
Solomon ben Isaac (Rabbi Solomon Yizhaki), com- 
monly called Rasni (died 1105); his commentary on 
the Talmud is for all time an indispensable aid to 
the study of that work; and his commentary on the 
Bible, especially on the Pentateuch, has never been 
surpassed in enduring popularity and 
large circulation. Rashi’s commen- 
tary has in many respects the charac- 
ter of a compilation of Midrash collections; but he 
takes from the traditional literature chiefly those ex- 
planations that he can best harmonize with the word- 
ing and the connection of the Biblical text; and he 
expressly rejects those that he can not bring into 
such agreement. Besides this, he endeavors to ar- 
rive independently at the meaning of the Scriptural 
words, guided by the Talmudic principle, every- 
where emphasized, that no Biblical verse may be de- 
prived of its plain, self-evident meaning, no matter 
what varied interpretations are put upon it by the 
Midrash. In addition, he paysconstant attention to 
the linguistic side of exegesis; showing an acute and 
often intuitive sense of language, and supplement- 
ing by these means, aS well as by his complete com- 
mand of diction, the inadequacy of his sources. 
Joseph Kara and Samuel b. Meir were still more 
pronounced representatives of the Peshat. Joseph 
Kara was a nephew of Menahem b. Helbo (an elder 
contemporary of Rashi, who even before him had fol- 
lowed the same tendency); the title “ Kara” (compare 
“Mikra,” Scripture), found already in the Talmud, 
marks him as a Bible exegetc. He was a prolific 
writer, and more independent in his exegesis than 
Rashi. He was given to postulating general rules 
of interpretation, and to explaining the chapters of 
the Bible asa whole. Nor did he hesitate to differ 
from tradition in regard to the time of composition 
of the Biblical books; ascribing, for instance, the 
Book of Samuel, on account of I Sam. ix. 9, to a 
later period than that to which it was generally 
assigned. He nosited the principle that Scripture 
must be interpreted by itself, without the help of the 
traditional literature. This principle was especially 
applied by Rashi’s learned grandson, Samuel b, Meir, 
whose commentary on the Pentateuch 
Exegesis in may be regarded as the foremost pro- 
Northern duction of the exegetic school of 
France. northern France. His brother, Jacob 
Tam, wrote no Bible commentary, 
but showed interest and aptitude for linguistic 
research in Hebrew in his Responsa, in which he 
defends Menahem ben Saruk against Dunash ibn 
Labrat. Jacob Tam’s pupil, Joseph Bekor Shor, 
was the last important representative of the Peshat 


Rashi. 


169 


of northern France. Sliscommentary on the Penta- 
teuch is marked by acumen and deep insight into 
the continuity of its meaning. Anticipating later 
Biblical criticism, he assumed duplicate accounts in 
the Pentateuch. The Bible exegesis of the school of 
northern France, which was supplemented neither 
by scientific research into the Hebrew language nor 
by mental training in philosophical or other scientific 
studies, may be designated as the exegesis of plain, 
clear common sense; its products are in many ways 
equal to those of the Spanish-Arabian school. 

14. All Biblical lore in the countries of the Mo- 
hammedan culture, which developed in such fulness 
after Saadia, was confined, on account of the lan- 
guage in which it was written, to those circles where 
Arabic was spoken. Abraham ibn Ezra was the 
first one to disseminate it on a large scale in the 

Christian countries of Europe. A ma- 
Abraham ture man, who had absorbed the whole 
ibn Ezra. culture and leaming of Spanish Juda- 
ism in the flower of its intellectual de- 
velopment, he left his home and spent nearly three 
decades (1140-67) in different cities of Italy, Pro- 
vence, northern France, and England ; every where, as 
he says, “ writing books and revealing the secrets of 
knowledge.” The chief products of his astonishing 
many-sided activity are his exegetic works, His 
commentaries, although written faraway from Spain, 
are the most important product, in the field of Bible 
exegesis, of the golden age of Spanish Judaism, not 
only on account of the opinions of many representa- 
tives of this period, which are therein cited and dis- 
seminated, but because their whole spirit, import, 
and material are the outcome of the extraordinary 
learning and insight that he took from home with 
him. These commentaries, written in Hebrew, also 
display throughout Ibn Ezra’s originality and his 
mastery over both subject and material; and they 
are especially attractive not only on account of their 
form—combining clearness and vivacity, wit and 
profundity—but also because of the author’s con- 
summate handling of the Hebrew language, which 
had already been abundantly displayed in his clas- 
sical poems. 

Ibn Ezra’s Pentateuch commentary has always 
been, side by side with Rashi’s, one of the most 
popular works of Jewish exegetical literature, and 
both in their turn became the subjects of numerous 
supercommentaries. Ibn Ezra explained his own 
exegetical method in his introduction to the Penta- 

teuch commentary by characterizing 


His and criticizing the various methods 
Exegetic employed hitherto by the exegetes, 
Method. such as the exegesis of the Geonim, 


the exegesis prevalent in Christian 
countries depending on the Midrash, the exegesis of 
the Karaites, hostile to tradition, and the typologic- 
al-allegorical exegesis customary among Christians. 
As regards Ibn Ezra’s conception of the relation be- 
tween the traditional and the Peshat exegesis, he sees 
in the traditional exegesis—derived by the oral teach- 
ing (Halakah) from the words of the Biblical text, and 
Which so often contradicts the natural literal sense 
—not an actual exegesis of the Bible text, but only 
a “suggestion,” a “reminder” (mnemonic device). 
In the same way he distinguishes between the “word 


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Bible Exegesis 





of the Derash,” the homiletic manner of haggadic 
exegesis, and the Peshat, by which only the literal 
signification of the Biblical text is arrived at. He 
knows nothing of the principle of the multiplicity 
of meanings of Scriptural words, which the leaders 
of the exegetic school of northern France acknowl- 
edged in order to justify the haggadic Midrash. 
Through this clear separation of the Peshat from the 
Derash he accords only a limited place in his exege- 
sis to the new Midrash, which introduces philosophy 
into the Bible text. He connects his philosophic 
speculations, either in longer passages or in brief 
allusions, with the explanation of the names of God 
(especially the Tcetragrammaton), of the divine at- 
tributes and the Biblical precepts, and with single 
suitable passages. Ibn Ezra’s endeavors to defend 
the Biblical text against everything that might in- 
jure its integrity, may also find mention here. But 
he is nevertheless regarded, since Spinoza wrote his 
“Tractatus Theologico-Politicus,” as the precursor 
of the literary Pentateuch criticism of to-day. To 
judge from certain allusions, rather than from posi- 
tive statements, he seems to have held that the Pen- 
tateuch, although undoubtedly composed by Moses, 
received in later times a few minor additions. He 
also obscurely alludes to the later origin of Isaiah, 
ch. x1.-Ixvi. 

Ibn Ezra’s contemporary, Joseph Kimut, was sim- 
ilarly active in Narbonne as propagator of the Span- 
ish-Jewish science; he also was of Spanish origin 
and knew Arabic. He wrote a Hebrew grammar in 
Hebrew, and also commentaries on different Biblical 
books. His work was continued by his sons Moses. 
and David (see Kimiys, David). The fame of the 
latter very soon eclipsed that of the father and 
brother. In the introduction to his chief exegetical 
work, the commentary on the Prophets, he based 
the privilege, or rather the duty, of exegetic re- 
search on religious motives. The Kimhis do not 
differ from Ezra in their search for the natural 
meaning of Scripture; and they, too, consider gram- 
mar aud rationalism to be essential in exegesis. 
David Kimhi, whose didactic talents 
appear in his grammar as well as in 
his Bible commentary, recognizes also: 
the Midrash exegesis, as well as Mai- 
monides’ philosophic opinions; and, like the latter, 
he does not hesitate to pronounce certain Biblical 
stories to be visionary accounts. His commentary 
on the Psalms is especially interesting by reason of 
its polemics against Christian exegesis. 

15. It fell to the lot of Moses Maimonides, Ibn 
Ezra’s younger contemporary, to represent, like him, 
the high intellectual culture of the Spanish Jews. 
outside of Spain, and to bring it to a fuller develop- 
ment than [bn Ezra. Living in the midst of the 
Arabian culture in North Africa and in Egypt, his 
activity was a natural continuation of the Jewish 
intellectual impulse which was so highly developed 
in Moorish Spain. But his influence extended far 
beyond the boundaries of the Arabic language; and 
he became a teacher for the whole Diaspora, as no 
one had been since the days of the Geonim. Mai- 
monides’ activity marked an epoch not only in the 
history of Judaism, but also in that of Jewish Bible 
exegesis. He enriched exegetic literature by no- 


The 
Kimhis. 


Bible Exegesis 


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170 





commentary, but his chief philosophical work, writ- 
ten in Arabic, the “Moreh Nebukim ” (Guide of the 
Perplexed), contains much exegetic material. The 
“nerplexed” for whom the work was to be a 
“guide” are those readers of Scripture who are 

harassed by doubts because of the 


Moses contradictions between the Biblical 
Mai- text and the postulates of rational 
monides. speculation. The “Moreh Nebukim ” 


strives to clear away such contradic- 
tions by a correct explanation of the text. The au- 
thor, therefore, places at the head of his work a 
number of explanations of Biblical expressions to 
serve asa key for ascertaining the true meaning of 
Scripture. 

A fundamental principle of Maimonides’ Bible 
exegesis is that the Bible makes use of all the re- 
sources of language that have been invented by 
the human mind, in order to reveal or to conceal 
thought; and in his expositions he almost devotes 
more space to what the language of the Bible con- 
ceals than to what it has undisguisedly made known. 
He holds that the metaphoric and the figurative 
modes of speech, as forms of expression, are founded 
in the very nature of prophecy, and that to this fact 
is duc their important placcin Scripture. In regard 
to the statements of Scripture concerning the Deity, 
the old postulate of the human mode of speech of 
the Bible becomes with Maimonides an important 
canon, by which everything unsatisfactory and ob- 
scure is removed from the idea of God. The ruling 
principle of his exegesis is the assumption of the 
exoteric and the esoteric sense. The “secrets of the 
Law ” hidden in the Biblical words are found by inves- 
tigation into the esoteric meaning. Butsuch secrets, 
as sought by Maimonides, have nothing to do with 
mysticism ; he undertakes the investigation with ab- 
solute rationalism, as may be seen particularly in 
his explanation of certain Bible stories and his ex- 
position of the reasons for the Law. Te finds the 
teachings of the Aristotelian physics and metaphys- 
ics in the chapters on Creation (Gen. i.) and in that 
of the Heavenly Chariot (Ezek.i.). His rationalism, 
however, halts at the facts of prophecy and of the 
Bible miracles, though here, too, rational investi- 
gation comes into play. One of his most origi- 
nal and daring aids to exegesis is evolved by his 
doctrine concerning prophecy—namely, the theory 
of visions—whereby he transfers a number of Bible 
stories from the realm of fact into the realm of 
psychic experience. The principle of the exoteric 
and the esoteric sense of Scripture leads him to alle- 
gorical exegesis, with the theory of which he pref- 
aces his “Guide”; but his allegory remains within 
the bounds prescribed to it by his rationalism on 
the one hand, and by his faith in tradition on the 
other. Yet there appear certain traces of that ex- 
tensive allegorization that not long after him appears 
among his disciples, as, for instance, in his exposition 


of Canticles, of the adulterous woman in Proverbs, | 


and of the prologue to Job. 

16. Through Maimonides’ “Guide of the Per- 
plexed,” which, even during his life, was circulated 
in Hebrew translations, Aristotelian philosophy 
found an abiding-place in Jewish thought, and be- 
came a chief factor also in Bible exegesis. During 


the following three centuries many Bible commenta. 
tors were primarily concerned with finding the tenets 
of philosophy in Scripture. Especially the Biblical 
Wisdom books—Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job— 
lent themselves to such study; so also did the Song 
of Solomon, an ancient and a most fruitful field for 
allegorization. Philosophic allegory had already 
been applied to the last-mentioned book, and re- 
jected by Abraham ibn Ezra. Maimonides’ pupil, 
Joseph ibn Aknin, now wrote a philosophico-alle- 
goric commentary on it; Samuel ibn Tibbon, the 

translator of Maimonides’ work, com- 


Philo- mented on Ecclesiastes; hisson Moses, 
sophical onthe Song of Solomon. Samuel ibn 
Exegesis. Tibbon’s son-in-law, Jacob b. Abba 


Mari Anatolio, collected his sermons 
on the pericopes of the Pentateuch in a work en- 
titled “Malmad ha-Talmidim,” which is the most 
important monument of the philosophic Scriptural 
exegesis current in Provence in the century follow- 
ing Maimonides—an exegesis that allegorized even 
Biblical personages in the manner of Philo. This 
allegorization, which detected abstract philosophic 
concepts and postulates in the personages and oc- 
currences of the Pentateuch stories, and which even 
forced itself into the Sabbath sermons of the preach- 
ers, led at the beginning of the fourteenth century 
to the second great controversy between the Mai- 
monists and anti-Maimonists in Provence and north- 
ern Spain. This controversy, suddenly terminated 
by an external event, did not bring philosophic Bible 
exegesis toanend. Its most eminent representative 
was LEVI BEN GERSHON (died 1844), a strict Aris- 
totelian, who wrote commentaries on most of the 
Biblical books. In those on the Pentateuch and 
the historical books he exhaustively summed up the 
ethical and other maxims (practical applications) de- 
ducible from the Bible narrative. The philosophic 
commentary on the Pentateuch by Nissim b. Moses 
of Marseilles, written at the beginning of the four- 
teenth century, was less well known. A_ similar 
commentary was written by Samuel Zarza of Valen- 
cia in the fourteenth century. The last great exe- 
getic work written in Spain before the expulsion 
was the “ ‘Akedat Yizhak” (Offering of Isaac) by 
Isaac Arama, consisting of sermons in a philosophic 
setting and partly philosophical in nature. The 
commentaries of Isaac Abravanel also givea large 
place to religio-philosophic discussion. 

17. Side by side with the philosophical mode of 
exegesis another was developed, from the beginning 
of the thirteenth century, that was based, like it, on 
the fundamental conception that there must be a 
deeper meaning in the Scriptural word than is im- 
plied in the literal sense. This conception, together 
with the assumption that all truths about God and 
creation, the universe and man, which are cogniza- 
ble by the human mind, and which have been so 
cognized, must be found in Scripture, was most 
clearly laid down in the introduction prefixed by 
Moses Nahmanides to his thoughtful commentary 
on the Pentateuch (written about 1268). Although 
the mystical exegesisis here secondary, and confined 
to a small number of guarded allusions, the new 
esoteric doctrine is here first openly promulgated. 
and powerfully supported by the authority of the 


171 





writer, who was one of the foremost personalities of 
his time. This doctrine, “Hokmah Nistarah” (Se- 
cret Wisdom), was first formulated in Gerona, Nah- 
manides’ home. It was also called “Cabala” (Z.e., 


tradition). Inits chief tenets, consist- 
Mystic ing of originally formulated philo- 
Exegesis. sophic theorems, such as the neo- 


Platonic doctrine of emanation, it 
connected with the remnants and reminiscences of 
a much earlier mysticism. 
Contemporaneously with these beginnings of the 
Cabala in northern Spain, another kind of mysticism 
connected with Scripture arose in Germany, in the 
writings of Eleazar b. Judah of Worms, his exe- 
getic method consisting in the interchange and com- 
bination of the letters of the Scriptural text, and in 
computing their numerical value (see GEMATRIA). 
The exegetic method of the Cabala is founded on 
the foregoing, combined with the allegoric (and also 
typologic) exegesis. Cabalistic exegesis is given 
full recognition, together with the other methods of 
exegesis, in the Pentateuch commentary of Bahya 
ben Asher of Saragossa (1291), which became one of 
the most popular exegetic works. Four methods of 
exegesis are enumerated in the introduction to this 
commentary, each of which is to be applied to Scrip- 
tural passages: (1) the way of the Peshat, (2) the 
way of the Midrash, (3) the way of Reason (i.e, 
philosophic exegesis), and (4) the way of the Cabala, 
“on which the light dwells—a path for the soul that 
refuses to be illumined by the light of life.” Contem- 
poraneously with Bahya’s Pentateuch commentary 
there also appeared in Spain a book which was 
destined to become the basic work of the Cabala, and 
which owed its unprecedented success to the fact 
that it purported to be a relic of the earliest mysti- 
cism and a work of the same school of sages that 
had produced the old traditional works, the Mishb- 
nal, the Talmud, and the Midrash. This book is 
the ZouHAR, in its form a running Midrashic com- 
mentary on the Pentateuch, but interrupted by 
many and various digressions, and supplemented by 
original additions. Like Bahyab. Asher’s book, but 
on a different basis, the Zohar also assumes four 
kinds of exegesis, or rather a. fourfold 
‘‘Pardes.”? meaning: Peshat, Remez (allusion, 

typological sense, allegory), Derash, 
and Sod (secret, mystical sense). In formulating 
this doctrine of a fourfold meaning, the Christian 
mode of exegesis (which was well known to the 
Spanish Jews) probably served as a model; in this 
the fourfold sense (historical or literal, tropological 
or moral, allegorical, and anagogical) had long since 
been formulated (by the Venerable Bede in the 
eighth, and by Rhabanus Maurus in the ninth cen- 
tury). The initial letters of the words Peshat, Re- 
mez, Derash, Sod, forming together the word “ Par- 
des” (p’3’9'5), became the designation for the four- 
fold meaning, in which the mystical sense given in 
the Cabala was the highest point. The tenet of the 
fourfold meaning and its designation, “ Pardes,” 
have been erroneously ascribed to the beginning of 
the Jewish Bible exegesis, the Tannaite time, on 
account of the expression “Pardes” (pleasure gar- 
den), which is used metaphorically in an account of 
the mysticism of the Tannaites (Hag. 14h); but in 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Exegesis 


Pl 


point of fact the designation “ Pardes” marks the 
arrest, fora long time, of the development of the 
Jewish Bible exegesis, 
18. The four methods of Scriptural exposition, 
as applied side by side by Bahya b. Asher in his 
Pentateuch commentary, character- 
From the ize all the numerous works in the 
Thirteenth field of Jewish Bible exegesis during 


tothe the threecenturies following Maimon- 
Fifteenth ides. The Peshat was more or less 
Century. recognized and appreciated above the 


other methods, and even the Zohar 
borrowed much from Rashi and Ibn Ezra, both of 
whom were more and more regarded as the greatest 
exegetes, their Pentateuch commentaries being fre- 
quently commented upon. But new commentaries 
in harmony with the Peshat were also written. The 
Peshat did not supplant the Midrash; and side by 
side with it the ancient sources of the traditional 
exegesis were held in high estimation and employed. 
The extent to which the philosophic mode of exe- 
gesis was used has already been stated; hencefor- 
ward the mystical exegesis also gained in favor. 
An Italian, Menahem of Recanate (beginning of the 
fourteenth century), wrote a cabalistic commentary 
on the Pentateuch, in which the Zohar was freely 
dvawnupon. Thechief personalities of the exegetic 
literature of this period (which ended with the expul- 
sion of the Jews from the Pyrenean peninsula), that 
have not been mentioned above, are as follows: In 
the East, Tanhum Yerushalmi (thirteenth century) 
wrote acommentary in Arabic on the greater part of 
the Scripture, prefixing to it a general and pithy 
introduction. Eleazar Ashkenazi, otherwise un- 
known, who calls himself a son of the Babylonian 
(“Bagdados”) Nathan, wrote in 13864 a commentary 
in Hebrew on the Pentateuch, that contains original 
views, and rationalistically cxplains away many 
miracles. Exegetic writings of this period, both 
from southern Arabia and by the Persian Jews of 
Central Asia, have recently come to light. Simon b. 
Zemah Duran (1361-1444) of North Africa wrote a 
commentary on Job. Jacob b. Asher (1280-1340) of 
Spain wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch, of 
which the interpretations of letters and numbers are 
well known. Samuel b. Nissim wrote at the sane 
time in Toledo commentaries on Job and on other 
books, which he himself called “Midrash.” The 
prolific and many-sided Joseph Caspi (d. 1840) of 
southern France must also be mentioned, who ex- 
plained many of the Hagiographa, as also Isaac 
Nathan b. Kalonymus, author of the first Hebrew 
Bible concordance (c. 1440). In northern France a 
lively interest in Bible exegesis was sustained, espe- 
cially by the polemics against the Christian manner 
of exegesis. The TosarFists, so-called, who contin- 
ued the labors of Rashi and his grandsons in the 
field of Talmudic study, contributed isolated re- 
marks also to Bible exegesis, especially to the Penta- 
teuch, which were collected in different compilations. 
Hezekiah b. Manoah and Eliezer of Beaugency 
wrote special commentaries. In Germany may be 
mentioned Menahem b. Meir of Speyer, author of 
a cabalistic commentary on the Pentateuch (fif- 
teenth century), and Lipmann of Mihlhausen in 
Prague (about 1400), author of the “ Nizzahon.” In 


Bible Exegesis 


Italy a voluminous exegetic literature was developed 
in the second half of the thirteenth and the early 
decades of the fourteenth century, its representatives 
being Isaiah of Trani the Younger, Benjamin b. 
Judah, Zerahiah b. Isaac b. Shealtiel, and especially 
the poet Immanuel b. Solomon of Rome. The 
last-named wrote commentaries on the greater part 
of the Scriptures, mostly of a grammatical and 
rationalistic nature, but also philosophic or mystico- 
allegoric. He also wrote an interesting text-book 
on Biblical hermeneutics. From the fifteenth cen- 
tury may be mentioned: Aaron b. Gerson Abulrabi 
of Catania in Sicily, who, in a supercommentary on 
Rashi, propounded very original and often daring 
expositions; Johanan Alemanno, author of a philo- 
sophic-cabalistic commentary on the Song of Solo- 
mon; and Judah Messer Leon, who applied Cicero’s 
and Quintilian’s rhetoric to the Bible. 

19. The days of the Epigoni, as the centurics 
after Maimonides may be called, were followed by 
an epoch of stagnation and degeneracy which ended 
with the appearance of Moses Mendelssohn (middle 
of the eighteenth century). This epoch was charac- 
terized by a decline in general culture and science, 
by a one-sided study of the Talmud that became 
more and more involved inan extravagant dialectic, 
by a minute and servile development of the ritual 
law, and by the increasing authority of the Cabala. 
Although many Bible commentaries were added to 
the exegetic literature, nothing of real importance 
and lasting influence was produced. Isaac Abrava- 
nel, standing on the threshold of this epoch, still 
belonged to the preceding period. He was a Bible 
exegete on an extensive scale, who prefaced his 
commentaries on the several books with introduc- 
tory remarks, made use of his experience as a states- 
man in explaining the historical books, and also 
drew upon Christian exegesis. In Italy, where 
Abravanel completed his commentary, Elijah 
Levita also wrote his epoch-making work on the 
Masorah, “ Masoret ha-Masoret.” There, too, Solo- 
mon Norzi wrote his important Masoretic commen- 
tary on the Bible, and Menahem Lonsano also dis- 

played activity in the same direction. 

Sixteenth Italy was the home of Azariah dei 
Century to Rossi, who treated of questions of 
Middle of Biblical chronology in his critical 
Eighteenth work, “ Me’or ‘Enayim,” and of Abra- 
Century. ham de Portaleone, the first Biblical 
archeologist in Jewish literature. 
Commentaries were written in Italy by Obadiah 
Sforno; Reuchlin’s teacher; Joseph b. David ibn 
Yahya; and Moses Hefez (Gentile), whose interest- 
ing Pentateuch commentary draws also upon the 
principles of secular science. New centers of Jew- 
ish learning were formed in the East through the 
numerous settlements of the exiles from Spain: 
Solomon b. Melek of Constantinople 


Moses’ was here the representative of the 
Alsheik Peshat, though his work, “ Miklal- 
of Yofi” (Perfection of Beauty), contains 
Safed. mostly extracts from Kimhi. Moses 


Alsheik of Safed (sixteenth century) 
was the most prolific exegetical author, writing ex- 
haustive commentaries—partly homiletic in char- 
acter—on most of the Biblical books. Other 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


172 


Eastern Bible commentators of the sixteenth century 
are: Joseph Taitazak, Isaac b. Solomon Kohen, Ba- 
ruch ibn Yaish, Samuel Laniado. In Holland in the 
seventeenth century Manasseh ben Israel wrote a 
work in Spanish, “ El Conciliador,” to reconcile the 
contradictions in the Scriptures. Isaac Aboab wrote 
a Spanish commentary on the Torah, Isaac Akosta 
(1722) one on the Former Prophets. Baruch Spinoza 
had already passed beyond the pale of Judaism when 
he laid down in his “ Tractatus Theologico-Politicus ” 
his opinions on prophecy and on the origin of the 
Biblical books, opinions that became momentous in 
Biblical learning (see BIBLE EXEGESIS, MODERN AND 
Non-JEWISID). 

Among Jews using the German language those of 
Poland were the leaders during this period. The 
study of the Talmud was pursued by them with 
renewed ardor, and gradually supplanted the study 
of the Bible itself. Abraham b. Judah Kremnitz 
(end of sixteenth century) wrote a commentary on 
the Prophets and the Hagiographa. The physician 
Eliezer Ashkenasi (died 1586 in Cracow), a man of . 
philosophic attainments, explained the Pentateuch 
narrative in a special work (“ Ma‘ase Adonai”). The 
extravagant attempts to find a multiplicity of inter- 
pretations for one Biblical passage are characteristic 
of this Polish exegesis, Nathan Spira (1630) ex- 
plained the words of Deut. iii. 24 e¢ seg. in two hun- 
dred and fifty ways; Elijah Oettinger, in three hun- 

dred and forty-five ways. The mania 

Hiddushim for finding the new and unexpected, 

and fostered by the pilpulistic methods of 

Peshatim. Talmudic study, thusdominated Bible 

exegesis and produced the literature 

of the “hiddushim ” (novelle) and “ peshatim ” (ex- 

planations) on the Pentateuch, that flourished espe- 
cially in the eighteenth century. 

The picture of the exegetic literature of this period 
would be incomplete without a reference to the 
Bible translations that it produced. Mention may 
be accordingly made of Abraham Usque’s Spanish 
version (Ferrara, 1553), Jekuthiel Blitz’s Judeo- 
German version (1676-78), revised by Jose] Witzen- 
hausen. The picture is completed in another direc- 
tion by the literature of the “‘derashot” (sermon), 
that flourished especially in this period, The chief 
material for them was taken from the haggadic or 
cabalistic literature, the Bible text being used only 
in connection with it. 

20. The new intellectual epoch in the history of 
Judaism inaugurated by Moses Mendelssohn marks 
also an epoch for Jewish Bible exegesis. Men- 
delssohn exerted his great and reshaping influ- 
ence on his German coreligionists and on the German- 
speaking Jews of other countries in the first instance 
through his translation of the Pentateuch, that acted 
as a mighty and enduring leaven for culture. But 
this influence was equaled by his importance as an 
exegete. The Hebrew commentaries on the Penta- 
teuch written by him and his collaborators mark the 
return to the simple, natural Bible exposition, the 
restitution of the Peshat to its rights. Mendelssohn 
himself referred to the classic writers of the Peshat, 
Rashi, Samuel b. Meir, Ibn Ezra, and Nahmanides, 
as models for true Bible exegesis. Hand in hand 
with this exegesis went the renewed study of He. 


173 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Exegesis 





brew grammar and the formulation of anew Hebrew 
style aiming at correctness and simplicity. Men- 
delssolin, who combined in his person Judaism and 
Jewish scholarship with the intellectual culture— 
the literary, esthetic, and philosophic learning—of 
his time, combined in his Bible interpretation the 
traditions of Jewish exegesis with the elements of 
that developing in new directions outside of Jewish 


circles. The Biblical science of Protestant Germany 
that became paramount in the second 

Men- half of the eighteenth century strongly 
delssohn influenced this reawakening Jewish 
and His exegesis even in Mendelssohn; and 
School. subsequent generations could not es- 


cape its influence. 

The work of Mendelssohn, who had issued (1773) 
a Hebrew commentary on Ecclesiastes even before 
the appearance of his version of the Pentateuch 
(17838), and who had published also a German ver- 
sion of the Psalms, was sedulously continued after 
his death. His collaborators on his Pentateuch com- 
mentary (written in Hebrew) were the eminent gram- 
marian Solomon Dubno, the linguist and poet 
Naphtali Hartwig Wessely, Aaron Jaroslaw, and 
Herz Homberg. From its name, “Bi’ur” (exposi- 
tion), the authors who similarly translated and an- 
notated the other books of the Bible were called 


BiuRists. These men were in a way the rediscov- 
erers and reconquerors of the Bible; 

The for large sections of European Juda- 
Biurists. ism that had become estranged from 


the Bible, through a one-sided study 
of the Talmud and through the decline of culture, 
had lost the perception for its simple meaning and 
its literary beauties. The first Biurists were, like 
the above-mentioned collaborators on the Pentateuch 
commentary, pupils and personal followers of Men- 
delssohn, and they were joined by other enthusiastic 
disciples in the early decades of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Next to Germany, Austria was the home of 
the Biurists’ activity. The most complete editions 
of the whole Bible, with German translation printed 
in Hebrew characters, and Hebrew commentary by 
different Biurists, appeared in Vienna and (in a dif- 
ferent arrangement) in Prague, and were frequently 
reprinted with new additions by later authors, 
These Biurist Bibles, that perpetuated Mendels- 
sohn’s work on the Pentateuch, were important fac- 
tors in the process of intellectual transformation 
taking place among a large section of European 
Judaism in the first half of the nineteenth century. 
The activity of the Biurists prepared the soil for 
the new science of Judaism as the most important 
fruit of that transformation. 

21. Moses Mendelssohn and the Biurists had pro- 
vided for students and teachers, as means for the 
revived study of the Bible, translations printed in 
Hebrew characters, and commentaries, written in 
Hebrew, on the Biblical books; to these were added 
in the course of the nineteenth century similar works 
on the Bible, with the substitution, however, of 
German type in the translations, and with German 
annotations in conformity with the progressing con- 
ditions of the time. These works, consisting of the 
mere translation, or sometimes offering longer or 
Shorter comments, were primarily intended not for 


specialists, but for general students of the Bible, for 
the school, and for the congregation. But they were 
compiled chiefly by specialists, who continued the 
activity of the Biurists, while paying due regard to 
the advancesin Biblical science. Oneof these trans- 
lations is known by the name of Leopold Zunz, who 
edited the versions of the several books by H. Arn- 
heim, Michael Sachs, and J. Fiirst; translating him- 
self one book only, that of Chronicles. Besides this, 
similar works by Herxheimer, Philipp- 
Nineteenth son, and J. First were widely circu- 
Century. lated. Aside from these works, dealing 
with the entire Scriptures, single por- 
tions also were thus treated; and commentaries were 
also written in Hebrew after the manner of the Bi- 
urists, the latter especially in eastern Europe. 

Similar aims were pursued outside of Germany; 
and translations of the Bible by Jews and for Jews 
were produced in the different European languages. 
The French, English, Italian, Dutch, Hungarian, 
Polish, and Russian Jews thus received their own 
translations of the Bible; the necessity for these in- 
creasing toward the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
tury with the growing number of the Jews unable 
to read the Bible in the original text. Among the 
non-German versions the Italian one by 8. D. Luz- 
zatto deserves especial mention, as well as the French 
work of Samuel Cahen, which contains, in addition 
to the translation, a commentary and valuable liter- 
ary notes. 

Although the endeavors sketched above were in- 
tended primarily for the unlettered, Bible exegesis 
as a scientific study was included in the science of 
Judaism, which rapidly advanced from the second 
decade of the nineteenth century. It reached, how- 
ever, no important independent development. The 
leaders of Jewish science contributed little to that 
great progress in Bible exegesis and its auxiliary 
studies which was one of the signal achievements 
of the last century. Various causes contributed to 
this. In the first place, the history and literature of 
the Judaism of the post-Biblical and ensuing periods 
engaged the creative and pioneer activity of Jewish 
scholars; since in this department there was little 
collaboration to be expected from other quarters. 
Moreover, during the last period Jewish science 
suffered from the lack of that organization which 
the universities and learned societies offered to the 
development and steady pursuit of the various 
branches of human knowledge, and by means of 
which Biblical science attained to its eminent posi- 
tion and flourished so richly in German Protestant- 
ism. The founding of the rabbinical seminaries was 
an insufficient substitute; and the lack of organiza- 
tion referred to above was acutely felt in the whole 
field of Jewish science, and stood in the way of a 
methodical and continuous cultivation of the corre- 
lated branches of Bible study. At the same time 
the number of Jewish scholars who devoted them- 
selves to study voluntarily dwindled, for well- 
known reasons; while the rabbis of the communities, 
who by virtue of their position were naturally stu- 
dents, were increasingly diverted from Jewish studies 
by the changing conditions and the various duties 
imposed by their office. 

Finally, many Jewish scholars hesitated to apply 


Bible Exegesis 





ruthlessly the higher criticism to the Scriptures, 
especially to the Pentateuch, lest they should of- 
fend the traditions that formed part and parcel of 
the whole religious life of Judaism. Although the 
Jewish contributions to Bible study during the nine- 
teenth century were limited in number, for the 
reasons mentioned above, yet some of the founders 
aud leaders of the new Jewish science turned their 
attention also to Bible exegesis and tothe multiform 
Biblical problems. Zunz, Rapoport, and Nachman 
Krochmal dealt with various questions of Biblical 
criticism with much acumen. Geiger, in his chief 
work, “Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel,” 
is extremely radical. In his lectures he left an in- 
troduction to the Scriptures, which, however, is but 
asketch. Graetz, after finishing his history, which 
included also Biblical times, devoted himself entirely 
to Bible exegesis, especially to textual criticism. 
Luzzatto was a highly gifted Bible exegete, with a 
rare insight into the niceties of the Hebrew lan- 
guage. Many other scholars could be mentioned 
who contributed important works to Biblical isa- 
gogics, Biblical archeology, textual explanations, 
and criticisms. It is primarily due to Jewish schol- 
ars that the works of the early Bible exegetes were 
recovered from obscurity and appreciated .as aids 
to modern exegesis. Indications are not lacking 
that Jewish scholars increasingly devote their atten- 
tion to Biblical science; leading to the hope that the 
sons of Jacob will duly take part in the researches 
into the sacred documents of Israc!}. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Leopold Low, 1959, Praktische Fintleitung 
in die Heilige Schrift und Gesch. der Schriftauslegung, 
part i.; Allyemeine Kinleitung und Gesch. der Schriftaus- 
leguny, Nagy-Kanisza, 1855; L. Wogue, Histoire de la Bible 
et de VExegése Bihlique Jusqwa nos Jours, Paris, 1881; 
Steinsehneider, Jewish Literature, 817, London, 1857. To 
83 1-7: W. Bacher, Die Aelteste Terminologie der Stidisehen 
Schriftauslegung: Ein Worterbuch der Bibelexegetischen 
Kunstsprache dcr Tannaiten, Leipsic, 1899; L. Dobschttz, 
Die Einfache Bihelexregese der Tannaiten, Bresiau. 1893 ; 
H.S8. Hirschfeld, Halachische Exvegese, Berlin, 1840; idem, 
Die Hagadische Exegese, Berlin, 1847. For literature on 
Talmud and Midrash, see Strack, Einleitaung in den Talmud, 
3d ed., 1890. To 8 8-18: W. Bacher, Die Jlidische Bibel- 
ervegese vom Anfange des Zehnien bis zum Ande des Fiinf- 
zehnten Jehrhunderts, Treves, 1892; reprint from Winter 
and Wiusche, Die Jtidische CLitteratur seit Abschluss des 
Kanons, ii. 239-339, containing also a bibliography on the 
whole period. To 88 20-21: Kayserling, Die Jiicische Lit- 
oe seit’ Mendelssohn, in Winter and Wiinsche, ib. iii. 


41-751. 
W. B. 


E. C. 
~——Modern and Non-Jewish: The history of 
modern bible interpretation divides itself best into: 
(1) the Reformation period, to the end of the six- 
teenth century; (2) the Confessional or Dogmatic 
period, to the middle of the eighteenth century; and 
(3) the Critical period, to the present time. 

The influences that have chiefly promoted modern 
exegesis are: broadening culture; the art of print- 
ing; theological discussion; philological progress; 
historical research; discoveries in Bible lands; phil- 

osophical conceptions of the order of 

Impulses, revelation; the doctrine of human de- 
Principles, velopment, or evolution. 
and notes of the progress of modern exe- 

Results. gesis are: changes in methods of Bib- 

lical study, in principles of interpre- 
tation, and in theories of the degree and nature 
of Scriptural authority. The main practical results 
are seen in: a redivision of the contents of the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


The chief: 


174 





Bible; changed opinions as to the authorship of 
many of the books; altered views as to their unity 
or literary form; a rearrangement of the books or 
their contents in the true order of their composition ; 
and a comparative treatment of the Biblical in- 
stitutions in the order given by the rearranged texts. 

1. Period of the Reformation: The chief pre-rey- 
uisite to a progressive study of the Old Testa- 
ment was a general knowledge of the language in 
which it was written. The impulse to the study of 
Hebrew in the influential centers in Europe came in 
part from a deeper interest in religious questions. 
The study of Greek, as the classical idiom of science 
and philosophy, scemed to involve the study of 
Hebrew as the ancient language of the true religion, 
in which, moreover, the greater portion of the cur- 
rent Christian Scriptures was originally written. It 
was naturally from Jewish scholars that most help 
could be obtained: Reuchlin (1455-1522), the founder 
of modern Hebrew science, though not the earliest 


Christian Hebraist, was as a humanist second ouly 


to Erasmus in influence. He obtained nearly all his 
knowledge of the language from his Jewish teach- 
ers, and the grammar contained in his epoch-making 
“Rudimenta Lingue Hebraice” (1506) was _ basecl 
chiefly on David Kimhi. His friend and (in these 
matters) his disciple, Martin Luther, was the first 
great. Christian exegete: his University of Witten- 
berg had been founded in 1502 partly for the pur- 
pose of promoting the new learning. 

What distinguished Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, 
and the other reformed expositors was their funda- 
menial exegetical principle that Scripture is to be 

taken in its literal sense. Thus, Lu- 
Exegetical ther’s “Observationcs in Psalmos” 
Merits of (1519) has, on this ground, been called 
the the first scientifically exegetical book 
Reformers. of the Reformation. In hiscomments 
on Gen. iii., xv., and xxx. he deals 
severely with the time-honored allegorizing method. 
In Calvin’s: commentaries on Isaiah (1551) and the 
Psalins (1564) the high-water mark of the exege- 
sis of the sixteenth century is reached; the advance 
being shown chiefly in anincreased regard for philo- 
logical accuracy and for the historical setting of the 
sacred writings. Thus, though the Reformers were 
themselves no great Hebraists, their expositions are 
the most enduring mark of the revival of Hebrew 
and Biblical learning in their time. 

A surer grammatical and historical exegesis was 
made possible in this age by the publication of the 
original texts of Scripture. From the earliest days 
of the art of printing the text of the Old Testament 
had been circulated under Jewish auspices; and soon 
the current Vulgate version was compared with the 
original, the first simple step in that process of tex- 
tual criticism which has been the surest foundation 
of modern interpretation. Two great undertakings 
are the monuments of this era of text publication. 
One was the Complutensian Polyglot of Cardinal! 
Nimenes (1514-17) in six volumes, four of them de- 
voted to the Old Testament, the Septuagint, the 
Targums, and the Vulgate appearing side by side 
with the originai. The other was the Hebrew and 
Rabbinical Bibles of Bomberg (Venice, 1518-26), in 
which the chief help was given by R. Jacob ben 


175 


Hayyim of Tunis. Finally, the publication of texts 
facilitated the translation of the Bible into the ver- 
naculars of the various countries of western Europe, 
upon the basis of the Hebrew and not of the long 
dominant Latin Vulgate—a process which was itself 
an exercise in the exegetical art. 

2. Period of Confessionalism or Dogmatism: It 
can not be said that any great advance was made 
in the understanding of the Bible during the fol- 
lowing century and a half. It is true that neither 
the study of Hebrew nor that of the sacred text 
was neglected; but the ends sought were mainly 

theological, or rather confessional, in 

Effect of the narrowest sense, There is only 
Dogmatics. here and there a trace of any desire to 

find out the inner connection of the 
parts of Scripture and the progress of its teaching 
from step to step in the development of revelation. 
In Germany, especially, little advance is to be noted 
until the middle of the eighteenth century. There 
theological controversy and the framing of sectarian 
symbols were most assiduously practised; and it is 
a melancholy indication of the barrenness of such 
pursuits that there is no evidence in the whole his- 
tory of exegesis that the larger understanding of 
the Bible has ever been promoted by dogmatic dis- 
cussion. 

Probably the most valuable work of these later 
“Middle Ages” of Christianity was the labor that 
went to the making of the great polyglots. That 
of Cardinai Ximenes, referred to above, had already 
in the sixteenth century been followed by the Ant- 
werp Polyglot (1569-72), four of whose eight vol- 
umes were devoted to the Olid Testament. This 
work, executed under the auspices of Philip IL. of 
Spain, was superintended by the learned Spaniard 
Arias Montanus. Its improvement upon the Com- 
plutensian is shown partly in its greater accuracy 
and partly inits fuller reproduction of the Targums. 

An essential advance is shown in the 

The Paris Polyglot (1629-45), published 

Polyglots. under the auspices of the advocate Le 

Jay, in which were given the Syriac 

and Arabic versions and the Samaritan Pentateuch 

and Targum. The London Polyglot (1654-57) 

was further enriched by the Ethiopic version and 

valuable prolegomena by the chief editor, Brian 
Walton. 

Many of the contributors to these monumental 
works were among the foremost scholars of their 
time. Thus, Edmund Castell (Castellus), who wrote 
the “Lexicon Heptaglotton ” (1669), was the chief 
linguistic authority in the making of the last-named 
polyglot, and his dictionary has scarcely ever been 
surpassed as an effort of independent scholarship. 
It served as the basis of most of the lexicons of the 
individual languages until the nineteenth century. 
The Buxtorfs, father and son (died 1629 and 1664, 
respectively), in Basel, by their lexicons and hand- 
books, were largely instrumental in bringing the 
treasures of rabbinical and Talmudical literature 
Within the reach of the Christian world. It was 
also no slight service that was performed by the 
Arabists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
Edward Pocock (1604-91), another contributor to 
the London Polyglot, and Albert ScHULTENS (1686- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Exegesis 


1750) employed their Arabic erudition in the work 
of Scripture exposition and illustration. Nor must 
the achievements of Job Ludolf (1624- 

Semitic 1704) in the more remote sphere of 

Scholars the Ethiopic be overlooked. Allistudy 
and Arche- of the Semitic languages and _litera- 

Ologists. turesin the days before the rise of com- 

parative linguistic and historical sci- 
ence was made directly in the interest of the Bible 
and Biblical literature. 

Help scarcely less important was afforded by 
those scholars who devoted themselves to Biblical 
and Oriental archeology. The works of Samuel 
Bochart. (1599-1667) on sacred geography and zool- 
ogy (“Phaleg et Canaan,” 1646, and “ Hierozoicon,” 
1675) are replete with knowledge not yet antiquated. 
John SELDEN (1084-1654), “the Coryphseus of an- 
tiquaries,” left in his “Syntagmata de Dis Syris” 
(1617) a work of enduring value, as did John 
Spencer of Cambridge in his great work, “De 
Legibus Hebreorum Ritualibus ” (1685), and Adrian 
Reland also in his “ Palestina” (1716). These proved 
to be hasic works in their respective spheres of 
research. 

But in the more specific work of interpreting the 
sacred text in detail the Christian Church, taken as 
a whole, had forgotten the spirit and maxims of 
Luther and Calvin, and was hopelessly fettered by 
the dogma of the plenary inspiration of the Serip- 
tures. Inasmuchas this doctrine necessarily implies 
the absence of any inner development in the Bible, 
it paralyzed the search for historic truth. Stagna- 

tion reached its climax when the 
Ob- “ Formula Ecelesiarum Helveticarum ” 
structive (1675) declared, as the doctrine of the 

Dogma- Church, that the Masoretic vowel- 

tism. points and accents were divinely in- 
spired. Elias Levita (1472-1549) had 
made it plain to intelligent Jewsand Christians alike 
that the points were introduced about the sixth cen- 
tury of the common era; and when Louis Cappel 
(Cappellus), “Reformed” professor at Saumur 
(1585-1658), vindicated the same opinion in his 
“ Critica Sacra ” (1650), the orthodoxy of the time was 
left without excuse or defense, and the error gradu- 
ally died out of itself. This book was the real be- 
ginning of textual criticism in the Christian Church. 
Moreover, the mysticism of Béhme (1575-1624) and 
the pietism of Spener (1635-1705) had an effect far 
beyond the spheres of religious sentiment and of 
philosophy, in liberating the minds of many from 
the tyranny of formalism. 

Also, the original and independent John Koch 
(CoccEIts, 1603-69), in pointing out the progressive- 

ness of the divine revelation, gave, not- 

Harbingers withstanding his extravagances as a 
of ty pologist, a lasting impulse to earnest 
Progress. inquiry into the essential meaning of 
the Bible. His legitimate successor 

was VITRINGA (1659-1722), the famous commentator 
on Isaiah, a striking combination of the grammarian 
and the allegorist, whose diligence in seeking first of 
all the primary sense of the text was stimulated by 
the example of the common-sense literalist GROTIUS 
(1583-1645) and of the ingenious but cautious philol- 
ogist De Dieu (1590-1642). All of these were of 


Bible Exegesis 


the Reformed Church in Holland, where almost the 
only great commentators of the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries were trained and labored. 

3. Period of Criticism: The ideas that were most 
germinal and potential in interpretation came, how- 
ever, not from Holland (concerning Spinoza, see 
later on), but from England and, above all, from 
Germany. They can be traced succinctly along the 
lines of esthetic appreciation, literary criticism, 
philological research, and philosophical constructive- 
ness. It is with the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury that the unbroken advance begins. Up to that 

time the theologians, by their unsym- 

Esthetic pathetic treatment, had done their best 

Apprecia- to consign the Bible to the rubbish- 
tion. heap of creeds and confessions; and 
they seem to have almost succeeded. 

The first essential to a correct estimate was to 
observe the form and structure of the sacred wri- 
tings. Robert Lowth (1710-87), an Englishman, has 
the distinction of having pointed this out. His “ De 
Sacra Poesi Hebreeorum ” (1753) and his translation 
of Isaiah (1778) set forth and illustrated the several 
forms of PARALLELISM in Hebrew poetry, and 
showed how they could be traced out in the original, 
and how they could be reproduced in any properly 
made version. In this exposition he rightly pro- 
fesses to have applied largely the principles of Aza- 
riah dei Rossi (1513-77). This was the opening of 
a new world to Christian readers, who were now 

enabled to discern the poetic structure 
Lowth and of a large part of the Old Testament. 
Herder. Lowth’s esthetic taste and spirit were 
more than matched by the German 
HERDER (1744-1803), whose enthusiasm for Oriental 
antiquity had been in large measure kindled by 
Hamann (1780-88). Herder’s “ Geist der Hebraischen 
Poesie ” (1782) did most to imbue his age with ad- 
miration for Hebrew literature. But the Bible was 
the main inspiration of his literary and philosoph- 
ical writings, in all of which he strove mightily 
for the uplifting and enlarging of the spirit of 
humanity. What has been gained since Herder’s 
time in the literary appreciation of the Bible is 
due in the main to a more accurate knowledge of 
details. 

Bible exegesis came to its rights when scientific 
literary criticism was combined with accurate philo- 
logical methods and more complete historical and 
archeological knowledge. The year 1753 is the natal 

year of what, in distinction from tex- 

Beginnings tual] criticism, is called “higher criti- 
of Higher cisin.” Then appeared along with 
Criticism. Lowth’s “Sacred Poetry of the He- 
brews” a still more epoch-making 

book by Jean Astruc (1684-1766), physician to 
Louis ATV. of France, entitled “Conjectures sur les 
Mémoires Originaux dont il Paroit que Moyse s’est 
Servi pour Composer le Livre de la Génése.” The 
book was published with an apologetic aim—to save 
the consistency of the sacred writers—and nobly 
has this purpose been justified in the final result of 
the critical inquiry thus begun. It had long been 
maintained by some of the more daring spirits, as by 
Abraham ibn Ezra (1098-1168) and the philosophers 
Hobbes (1588-1679) and Spinoza (1632-77), that there 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





‘dependent documents. 


176 


—_— 


were many portions of the Pentateuch which could 
not have been written by Moses, on the ground that 
their statements refer to events which occurred after 
his time. Of these Spinoza advanced furthest, fol- 
lowing up the dicta of Ibn Ezra and Isaac de la 
Peyrére (1592-1676). In his “Tractatus Theolog- 
ico-Politicus ” (1670) Spinoza not only disputed the 
Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch, but 

Precursors asserted that in the historical books as 
of the far as Kings much of the contents 

Higher pointed toa late authorship. His sa- 

Criticism. gacity was further shown by his put- 
ting Chronicles long after the time of 
Ezra and in perceiving the composite character of 
several of the prophetical books. Richard Simon, a 
father of the Oratory in Paris (1688-1712), the most 
acute critic of his day, while denying that the Pen- 
tateuch in its final form could have come from 
Moses, propounded the theory that the Old Testa- 
ment was compiled with considerable freedom from 
the works of inspired historiographers. 

Astruc made the beginning of progressive criticism 
by observing the distinction in usage of the two 
names for God, Elohim and Yuwu. It had already 
been conjectured by Vitringa and others that Moses 
made use of earlier documents. Astruc hit upon the 
thought that these two names, running through 

separate sections of Genesis, marked a 


Chief distinction of authorship. Heassumed 
Points in also nine smaller documents distin- 
the Lineof guished by other marks. J. G. Eich- 


horn, along with other hypotheses, 
showed in 1779 that this distinction 
was further justitied by peculiarities of linguistic 
usage. In 1798 K. D. Itgen declared his belief that 
the Elohim sections in Genesis were not the produc- 
tions of a single author. De Wette demonstrated 
in 1805 that Deuteronomy differed in essential char- 
acter from the other books of the Pentateuch. Fried- 
rich Bleek in 1822 pointed out that the Book of 
Joshua was a direct continuation of the Penta- 
teuchal narrative, and therefore must have been in- 
cluded in the same historical framework now known 
as the Hexateuch, including the Pentateuch and 
Joshua. Ewald in 1831 showed that the Elohim 
document and the Jehovah document were separately 
traceable throughout the Pentateuch. In 1853 Hup- 
feld developed the happy conjecture of Ilgen, nade 
more than half a century before, into a demonstra- 
tion that there were two independent Elohistic 
sources, one of which was very closely related to 
the Jal vistic. 
Thus, in a round century after 1753, the funda- 
mental analysis of the first six books of the Old Tes- 
tament wascompleted. The few facts 
Summary just given indicate merely the general 
of Theories. linc of assured progress, leading to 
the establishment of the hypothesis 
that the Hexateuch was made up of a series of in- 
Other theories, such as that 
the Pentateuch wasa late composition made up of a 
collection of fragments (the “ Fragmentary ” hy poth- 
esis), or that it consisted of one fundamental (Elo- 
histic) work, others having been attached for the 
purpose of completing it (the “Supplementary ” 
hy pothesis), grew out of the original impulse toward 


Progress. 


177 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Exegesis 





analysisand construction. They were long defended 
by able scholars, but have now practically disap- 
peared from the arena of discussion. 

Meanwhile a great awakening of what may be 
summarily called the historic interest had taken 
place in the world of criticism, and Bible study has 
been perhaps the principal gainer by the whole 
movement to which that awakening has given vital- 
ity and permanence. The dominant influences are, 
moreover, still operative a century and a half after 
the date of Lowth and Astruc. 

Comparative philology has been influential in two 
main directions. It has called attention to the con- 
trasts as well as to the resemblances of distinct fam- 
ilies of mankind, and has compelled men to find out 
characteristic types of thought and modes of ex- 
pression in their literary monuments. It has also 
provoked a rational and scientific study of words 

and sentences, so that the modifica- 
Com- tions of their usages from age to age 
parative are made a key to unlock the meaning, 
Philology. orshades of meaning, which they have 
expressed. Hence, on the one hand, 
the impulse to the literary study of the Bible given 
by Lowth and Herder was continued by highly en- 
dowed men of various schools, of whom it may suf- 
fice to name Eichhorn, De Wette, Goethe, Ewald, 
Coleridge, and Matthew Arnold. On the other hand, 
the grammatical and lexical study of Hebrew was 
placed upon a new and ascending grade. Witness 
the successive productions of GESENIUS (whose prac- 
tical linguistic work is the most vital and persistent 
known to modern times), EWALD, OLSHAUSEN, 
STADE, and K6nIc. 

To the demand for verbal accuracy, as well as to 
the search after the form of the original text, are due 

the many attempts that have been 


Textual made to amend the Masoretic text. 
Emenda- That emendation is often needed was 
tion. long ago felt by independent inquirers. 


But no great advance was made in 
method from the days of Cappellus and Lowth to 
those of Ewald and Hitzig, except in connection 
with a critical study of the ancient versions and a 
wider collation of manuscripts. This was resumed 
with better efforts in the monumental works of 
Holmes and Parsons, of Field and Lagarde, who en- 
forced stricter principles of textual correction. 

But all these influences combined will not account 
for the tremendous revolution which Bible criticism 
and exegesis have undergone since 

New the middle of the eighteenth century. 
Vitalizing Two new forces have been applied to 
Con- Biblical study which may fairly be 
ceptions. called vitalizing and regenerative. 

The one has come from the now ruling 
conceptions of the history of human thought and ex- 
perience; the other, from the prevalent views as to the 
actual growth of human society. The one is chiefly 
philosophical; the other, mainly empirical. The 
practical result of the cooperant workings of the 
two conceptions is a rearrangement of the Old Tes- 
tament books in the order of the natural develop- 


ment of their ideas, and in accordance with the’ 


growing capacity of ancient Israel for apprehending 
or receiving them. 
TIT.—12 


The chief points on which the representatives of 

modern Biblical exegesis are agreed are: 
1. In the Hexateuch four authors at least were 
concerned, besides a redactor or redactors. Of these 
Moses is not one, though it is not 


Results proved that he contributed no mate- 
of the New rials. One of the sources appears in 
Exegesis. Deuteronomy (D); another (P) in Le- 


viticus and in large portions of the 
other books; while two others (J and E) often insep- 
arably combined (J E) form the remainder. J (Jah- 
vist) and Ei (formerly called the second Elohist) give 
a sort of historical résumé of the early history of 
Israel from the standpoints of southern and northern 
Israel respectively, and are dominated by the pro- 
phetic movement. They were completed in the 
ninth and eighth centuries B.c. The groundwork 
of D was the “ Book of Instructions” found by Hil- 
kiah in the Temple in 621 8.c. It ministered both 
to the prophetic spirit and to the cultus, and served 
as directive for the reformation of Josiah. P was 
composed for the promotion of the ceremonial code 
which it contains, and treats besides of the early 
history from the point of view of the priesthood. 
While including earlier elements, it was essentially 
the work of writers that were concerned with the 
ritual of the Second Temple, being substantially the 
law-book of Ezra. J E therefore precedes D, and 
D precedes P. The mode and time of the redaction 
are not so clear. 

2. The aims or tendencies of these several produc- 
tions—prophetic, deuteronomic, and _ priestly—do 
not stop with the Book of Joshua, but run through 
all the historical literature. In brief, while Judges, 
Samuel, and Kings are mostly of the prophetic or 
deuteronomic spirit, Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehe- 
miah, all of which three came from one hand near 
the close of the canon, are controlled by the priestly 
tendency, so prominent in P of the Hexateuch. 

3. The prophetical books have also been rear- 
ranged and readjusted in accordance with their 
ascertained historical order. Moreover, many of 
them have been found to contain prophecies which 
did not proceed from the principal authors, The por- 
tions thus separated are usually Jater than the genu- 
ine prophecies. Isaiah and Zechariah, for example, 
have each been credited with more than one impor- 
tant work in addition to their own proper utterances. 

4. The titles of the Psalms are not original or re- 
liable. Psalm-composition with a high spiritual in- 
tent and content began after the time of David, and, 
like hymn-writing in every age, flourished chiefly in 
times of religious and social stress and trial. 

5. The writings ascribed to Solomon are, in their 
present form, of very late date. Ecclesiastes is 
wholly, and Proverbs largely, the product of the 
Persian or Grecian period. The Book of Daniel be- 
longs to the time of the Maccabees. 

6. Not only have the history of Israel and its his- 
torical records been arranged anew, but the whole 
career of Israel in Palestine now appears, in the 
light of the archeological disclosures of the last half- 
century, to have been, in its external incidents, but 
an incident in North-semitic history, which began 
several thousand years before the Hebrews became 
a nation. 


Bible Inspiration 
Bible Manuscripts 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


178 





%. The development of the religious conceptions 
and institutions of ancient Israel can be traced in a 
rational order and illustrated by similar phenomena 
elsewhere. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: History of Modern Exegesis: G. W. Meyer, 
Gesch. der Schrifterkitirung seit der Wiederherstellung 
der Wissenschaften, 1802-409; Diestel. Gesch. des Alten 
Test. in der Christlichen Kirche, Jena, 1868; F. W. Far- 
rar, History of Interpretation (Bampton Lectures, 1885). 
Generali views, partial sketches, or bibliographical out- 
lines may be found in many writings, among them Horne, 
Introduction to the Holy Scriptures (st ed., 1818: 7th ed., 
1834), vol. ii., part 2; Reuss, Gesch. der Heiligen Schriften, 
1890; Bleek-Wellhausen, Hinleitung in das Alte Test., best 
in the 4th ed., 1878; Strack, in Zéckler’s Handbuch der 
Theologischen Wissenschaften in Encyklopddischer Dar- 
stellung, vol. i., part 2; Driver, Introduction to the Litera- 
ture of the QO. FT. 1891 e€ seq.; Cornill, Hinleitung in das A. 
T. 4th ed., 1896; W. R. Smith, The O. T. in the Jewish 
Church, lst ed. 1881; Briggs, Methods of Biblical Study, 
1883: Cheyne, Founders of O. T. Criticism, 1893; idem, 
Prophecies of Isaiah, Appendix, Essay x., 4th ed., 1886; 
Franz Delitzsch, Commentar zum Psalter, 4th ed., 1888, In- 
troduction, p. ix.; Carpenter and Harford-Battersby, The 
Hexateuch, vol. i., London, 1900. 


K, J. F. McC. 
BIBLE INSPIRATION. See INSPIRATION. 


BIBLE MANUSCRIPTS: By this term are 
designated handwritten copies and codices of the 
Hebrew Bible as a whole, or of several books ar- 
ranged in groups according to a certain order (see 
BIBLE CANON), or of single books. Sometimes, 
though not often, they contain collections of de- 
tached prophetic selections (see HAFTARAH), gen- 
erally in connection with the Pentateuch (see Strack, 
“Zeitschrift fiir die Gesammte Lutherische Theologie 
und Kirche,” 1875, p. 594). A distinction is made 
between manuscripts intended for use in the syna- 
gogue and in public reading and those for private 
purposes. Originally both the sacred or public 
copies and the private or profane were in the shape 
of scrolis, this being the only style of book-making 
known toantiquity. After the leaved form of books 
came into vogue (from the fourth century of the 
common era), adherence to the ancestral model was 
insisted on in the case of those reserved for holy uses 
at public worship. While demanded only for the 
Pentateuch and the Book of Esther, this conformity 
must, as the name indicates, have been at one time 
exacted also for the four remaining Megillot, read as 
lessons on certain festivals. Why they and the col- 
lections of the Haftarot ceased to conform to the 
historical model can not be ascertained. 

The Pentateuch and Esther, when designated for 
synagogal use, are required to be written with scru- 
pulous attention to rules laid down in the Law (see 
SorerimM). They must be written in square char- 
acters (yand ans, also known as "WN ANS; see 
ALPHABET), without vowel-points and accents, on 

parchment made from the hides of 

Rules for “clean” animals, which, when duly 

Writing. prepared, aresewn together by threads 

of the same origin. If four mistakes 
are found in one column, or a single error is discov- 
ered in the “open” and “closed” sections of the 
Law, or in the arrangements of the metrical por- 
tions, the whole copy is rendered unfit for use dip») 
and must be buried. Great age—through long use, 
and exposure toclimatic and other influences involv- 
ing decay and other imperfections—is among the 
causes which render a copy unserviceable; and this 


circumstance explains why very old copies are not 
found. 

The manuscripts intended for private use vary 
considerably in size, material, and character. They 
are in rolls, and in book form—folio, quarto, octavo, 
and duodecimo. Some are written on parchment, 
some on leather, others on paper; some in square 
characters, others in rabbinical (the latter only in 
modern times). They are usually provided with 
vowel-points, written in a different color from the 
consonants, which are always in black. Initial 
words or letters are often in gold and silver; some, 
indeed, are artistically illuminated. Sometimes on 
the inner margins of the columns are given Maso- 
retic notes; the outer ones are reserved for scholia 
and, in more modern manuscripts, for rabbinical 
commentaries. Yemenite manuscripts have usually 
no columns; and each verse is accompanied by the 
corresponding verse from the Targum Onkelos and 
the Arabic translation by Saadia. The space at the 
bottom of the pages is sometimes occupied by the 
commentary of Rashi. 

Generally, the manuscripts are provided with in- 
scriptions giving the name of the copyist and the 

dates of writing. Several eras are 

Colophons used inthe computation of these dates: 

and In- that of the creation of the world; that 

scriptions. of the Seleucids; that of the destruc- 

tion of the Temple; and, finally, that 

of the Babylonian exile (see ERA). The age of un- 

dated manuscripts is approximatively determined 

by the ink, the quality of the parchment, the pres- 

ence or absence of Masoretic notes, and by paleo- 
graphic signs (see PALEOGRAPHY). 

As indicated above, extant manuscripts are not of 
very great antiquity. In addition to the explana- 
tion already given, this phenomenon, all the more 
curious because, according to Jewish law, every 
Jew ought to have at least one copy in his house, is 
very plausibly accounted for on the theory advanced 
by Brian Walton; namely, that with the definitive 
settlement of the Masorah in the seventh century, 
many copies must have been discarded because of 
their infractions of the established Masoretic rules, 

If Talmud Yerushalmi (Ta‘anit Ixviii. 1) is to be 
credited, while the Temple was still standing, stand- 
ard codices of the Pentateuch were officially recog- 
nized. These were deposited in the court of the 
Temple and served asmodels for accuracy. Accord- 
ing to the passage quoted, three were known by the 
following names respectively: “Sefer Me‘on,” so 
called on account of its readin £ yd instead of MID 
(Deut. xxxiii. 27); “Sefer Za‘atute,” because of its 
reading "Mwy? instead of My (Ex. xxiv. 5); and 
“Sefer Hi,” because of its reading xR with a yod 
in nine passages instead of eleven. The Masorites, 
too, seem to have consulted standard manuscripts 
celebrated for their accuracy in the redaction of the 
text and in the compilation of the Masoretic glosses. 
Though none of these has been preserved, the fol- 
lowing are referred to as authorities in almost every 
manuscript of importance: 

Codex Mug geh, 7.¢., the corrected Codex: Quot- 
ed by the Masorites either by its full t'tle (ay p23) 
or simply as “Muggeh” (394%). 

Codex Hilleli (°5$5 ap): The origin of its name 


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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


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Bible Inspiration 
Bible Manuscripts 








is not known. According to Zacuto, this codex was 
written by a certain Hillel at about 600 of the com- 
mon era. In his Chronicle, compiled about 1500, 
Zacuto expresses himself as follows: 


** In the year 4957, on the twenty-eighth of Ab (Aug. 14, 1197). 
there was a great persecution of the Jewsin the kingdom of 


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erae puch earoyhyaxras wae Gyan rie a Nae al ied 


remaining two parts of if, containing the Former and Latter 
Prophets, written in large and beautiful characters; these had 
been brought by the exiles to Portugal and sold at Bugiain 
Africa, where they still are. having been written about 990 years 
ago. Kimbhiin his grammar on Num. x.4 says that the Penta- 
teuch of the Hillel Codex was extant in Toleco.” 


Codex Sanbuki: Frequently quoted in the 


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+-ypivsden ywparvany: YON b_Y FoI ond 


PAGE OF THE HEBREW BIBLE, WITH SUPERLINEAR PUNCTUATION, FROM THE ST. PETERSBURG CODEX. 


Leon at the hand of the two Kingdoms that came to besiege it. 
At that time they removed thence the twenty-four sacred books 
which were written about 600 years before. They were written 
by R. Hillel ben Moses ben Hillel, and hence his name was given 
to the codex, which was called ‘Hilleli.” It was exceedingly 
correct ; and all other codices were revised after it. I saw the 


Masorah Parva, and highly praised for its accuracy 
by Menahem de Lonzano in his “Or Torah.” Ac- 
cording to Christian D. Ginsburg, the name of this 
codex is derived from “ Zambuki” on the Tigris, to 
which community it belonged. 


Bible Manuscripts 


Codex Yerushalmi: As attested by Kimhi 
(“ Miklol,” ed. Firth, 1798, p. 184b), the codex was 
for many vears in Saragossa, and was extensively 
used by the grammarian and lexicographer Ibn 
Janah. It is often quoted in the Masorah as exhib- 
iting a different orthography from that of the Codex 
Hilleli. 

Codex Jericho, also called Jericho Pentateuch 
Gm win): ‘The name seems to imply that the man- 
uscript embraced only the Pentateuch. It is men- 
tioned by Elijah Levita, in “Shibre Luhot,” as most 
reliable for the accents. 

Codex Sinai (*3'D "Bp): Many opinions exist as 
to the derivation of its name. The most plausible 
is that it was derived from “ Mount Sinai,” just as 
the codices Jerichoand Yerushalmi denote the places 
of their origin. It is mentioned in the Masorah, and 
is also cited by Elijah Levita in his work quoted 
above. | 

Codex Great Mahzor (7475 KIND): This prob- 
ably contained the annual or triennial cycle (“ Mah- 
zor”) of lessons to be read on week-days, Sabbaths, 
feasts, and fasts; hence its name. 

Codex Ezra: Quoted in the Masorah Parva. A 
manuscript professing to be a copy of this codex is 
in the possession of Christian D. Ginsburg. 

Codex Babylon 0595 "8D): Differences (orpidn, 
“hillutin”) existed between the Western schools 
CN), the chief seat of which was Tiberias, and 
the Eastern (NMI), the principal centers of which 
were Nehardea and Sura, in the reading of many 
passages; this codex gives the Eastern recension 
(see MAsoRAH), 

Another standard codex which served as a model 
at the time of Maimonides was that written in the 
tenth century by the renowned Masorite AARon 
BEN Mosks BEN ASHER of Tiberias (compare Mai- 
monides, “ Yad,” Sefer Torah, viii. 4). This codex 
was fora long time believed to be identical with that 
preserved in the synagogue at Aleppo (Jacob Sap- 
hir, PAD TIN, i. 12b; Grittz, in “ Monatsschrift,” 1871, 
p.6; 1887, p. 80; Strack, “ Prolegomena Critica,” pp. 
44-46), [E. N. Adler (“Kaufmann Gedenkbuch,” 
p. 180) argues that the Aleppo Codex is a copy, not 
the original; but Wickes (“ Hebrew Accentuation,” 
Preface, p. vii., Oxford, 1887) makes it clear that 
“the statement assigning the codex to (Aaron ben 
Moses) Ben-Asher is a fabrication.” —~—E. G. 1. ] 

Two celebrated manuscripts believed to be very 
ancient are still extant in Syria. One of these, the 
Damascus Codex, which, according to the inscription 
on its title-page (added, however, by a later hand), 
was written in the third century of the common era, 
belongs to a Jewish family of Damascus named 
Parhi, and is exhibited to the inhabitants on feast- 
days. The other is kept in a grotto by the inhabit- 
ants of Jobar. near Damascus. 

The number of Hebrew Bible manuscripts found 
in European libraries is considerable. The oldest 

collection is that in the Imperial Li- 

Number of brary, St. Petersburg, formerly in the 
MSS. Odessa Biblical Society’s library. A 
description of some of these manu- 

scripts was given by Ephraim Moses Pinner in 
a pamphlet entitled “Prospectus der Alten Hebrii- 
ischen und Rabbinischen Manuscripte,” etc., Odessa, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


180 


1845. <A full description by Strack and Harkavy is 
given in their catalogue. The oldest manuscript of 
this valuable collection isa Pentateuch brought from 
Derband (Daghestan), written before 604 of the com- 
monera. It consists of forty-five skins having 226 
columns, and is composed of six pieces: (1) Gen. 
i.-xlvi, 25, end (9 skins, 52 columns, 51 lines; 
TaGein by a later hand). (2) Gen. xlvi. 26-Num- 
bers (24 skins, 184 columns, 50 lines, without 
Taggin). (3) Deut. i.-xvii. (4 skins, 21 columns, 
ol lines, without Taggin). (4) Deut. xvii.-xxi. 4 
(1 skin, 3 columns, 51 lines). (5) Deut. xxi. 5—-xxiii. 
23 (1 skin, 3 columns, 51 lines). (6) Deut. xxiii. 24- 
end of Deut. (4 skins, 13 columns, 51 lines). 

The oldest manuscript in book form at the library 
of St. Petersburg dates from 916. It consists of 225 
folios, each folio divided lengthwise into two col- 
umns with 21 lines to the column, with the excep- 
tion of folio la and folio 224a—b, which exhibit epi- 
graphs. It contains the Latter Prophets. Two lines 
of Masorah Magna appear in the lower margin of — 
each page; while the Masorah Parva occupies the 
center space between the columns. The vowel- 
points are superlinear in the so-called Babylonian 
system. The total number of the Bible manuscripts 
in the St. Petersburg library is 146. 

The British Museum possesses 165 Bible manu- 
scripts, the oldest of which is the Masoretic Bible 
written about 820-850. This contains the Penta- 
teuch and consists of 186 folios, 55 of which were at 
one time missing, but have been added by a later 
hand. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, possesses 146 
Bible manuscripts, the oldest of which dates from 
1104. Cambridge counts 32, the oldest believed to 
be of the tenth century. Bible manuscripts in 
goodly numbers are also to be found in private 
libraries in England, the most important collection 
being that of E. N. Adler. This contains about 100 
codices, the oldest dating from the ninth century. 
The Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, has 132 Bible 
manuscripts, the oldest with the date 1286. The 
number of Bible manuscripts in the Vienna Library 
is 24. The oldest (given by Kennicott under No. 
126) contains the Latter Prophets and the Hagiog- 
rapha, written inthe tenth century. Steinschneider 

describes 14 Bible manuscripts in the 
In Royal library of Berlin; none of them 
Libraries. is very old. De Rossi describes 848 
manuscripts (now at Parma), the old- 
est of which is No. 634, containing Lev. xxi. 19-Num. 
i. 50, written in the eighth century. The Vatican 
Library possesses 39 Bible manuscripts, which have 
been described by Joseph Simon Assemani and 
Stephen Ephodius Assemani. Several Bible manu- 
scripts are in the libraries of Leipsic, Munich, and 
Leyden. 

Some Bible manuscripts have been brought from 
China. They are partly synagogue rolls, partly pri- 
vate copies, whose text does not differ from the 
Masoretic Bibles. A Pentateuch of the Malabar 
Jews is now in England. It resembles, on the 
whole, the usual synagogue rolls, except that it is 
written on red skin. 

Samaritan manuscripts of the Pentateuch are to 
be found in the British Museum, the Bodleian, St. 
Petersburg, Parma, and the Vatican libraries; fora 


*NITHOOMY NNVHOL MO ALUAAOUd AML ATHAKYOY {SASUTA ALVNUALTY NT WALDUYL OXTMONS ‘(@ ‘II-"] VAHSOL) WIdid MAUGIH AHL dO LdTHOSANVW LuNdug AHL NOUT 


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Bible in Mohammedan Litera- 
ture 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


182 





description of them, the respective catalogues may 

be consulted. 

As curiosities may be mentioned a Hebrew Penta- 
teuch in Arabic characters, now in the British Mu- 
seum; the Pentateuch in Latin characters in the Bod- 
leian Library; and, finally, the fragments of the 
Pentateuch written in inverted alphabet discovered 
lately in the Cairo genizah. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kennicott, Dissertatio Generalis; Walton, 
Prolegomena to the Polyglot: 8. Davidson, Treatise on 
Biblical Criticism, Strack, Prolegomena Critica in Vetus 
Testamentum Hebraicum: Christian D. Ginsburg, Intro- 


duction to the Masoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew 
Bible, pp. 421 et seq. 
I. Br. 


E. G. H. 

BIBLE IN MOHAMMEDAN LITERA- 
TURE: Through intercourse at Mecca, at Medina, 
and on his various journeys in the secthing, germi- 
nant Arabia of his day, Mohammed learned to distin- 
guish between idol-worshipers and such people as 
he termed “the People of the Book”: holders and 
followers of a written revelation. Most prominent 
among these were the Jews and Christians; thrice 
mention is made in the Koran of the Sabeans as being 
in the same class as, and once of, the Magi. As 
to the nature and contents of their books, Moham- 
med had only one fixed idea: These taught the same 
doctrine exactly as he taught; could, in fact, teach 
no other, as all doctrines came from the one Lord. 

There are vague references to certain 

Moham- “leaves” being delivered to Abraham ; 
med’s View but what eventually became of them 

of Jewish Mohammed does not say. The later 
Scriptures. Moslem theory is that they were taken 

back into heaven, and that whatever 
light the Sabeans and Magi enjoy is derived from 
them. One practical result is that Islam does not 
reckon Zoroastrians and worshipers of the host of 
heaven as idolaters, but consents to enter into treaty 
with them. But the books of the Jews and Chris- 
tians were clearly there; they had remained unto 
Mohammed’s day. To Moses, the “Tawrat” had 
been revealed; to David, the “Zubur” (Psalms); 
and to Jesus, the “Injil” (Evangelium). Thus, the 
Torah, the Psalms, and the “Gospel” represented 
for Mohammed the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments. How vague his idea was and how 
both Jews and Christians must for him have melted 
together into one is evident from his belief that 
Miriam, the sister of Moses, was the same as Mary, 
the mother of Jesus. 

To the series of prophets involved in this scheme 
of religious history Mohammed claimed to be heir, 
In the providence of God the time had now come 
when the Arabs, in their turn, were to have a 
prophet sent to them, speaking in their tongue, 
sprung from their blood, and calling them to repent- 
ance and to the acceptance of the one God and His 
doctrine as the other prophets had done with their 
respective peoples. Mohammed seems to have been 
quite satisfied that what he taught stood clearly 
written already in the Tawrat, the Zubur, and the 
Injil. The Jewsand Christians, he felt, must recog- 
nize that he was exactly such a prophet as those 
who had come before; that he fulfilled all the condi- 
tions called for in the Books. This, evidently, was 
rocted in his self-consciousness, and, with his scheme 


ce rene ate ef CT sf A I te 
a 


of religious policy, was all the basis he had. Of 
direct knowledge of the sacred books, as then in the 
hands of the Jewsand Christians, he appears to have 
had none. He felt no need of it. When, therefore, 
the Jews and Christians refused to recognize his 
doctrine and to accept his prophethood, he could 
only ascribe their conduct to perverse obstinacy. 
They concealed passages in their books; they misin-. 
terpreted others, “twisting their tongues in them” 
(Koran fii. 72). 

In time he gave up the attempt to secure such 
support, and fell back on the simple weight of his 
own authority. Traditions, which may have taken 
form later, indicate, in their substance at least, the 
attitude to which he came. ‘“ Have nothing to do,” 
he is reported to have said, “with the People of the 
Book and their books; say unto them, ‘ We believe 
in that which has been revealed to both of us; your 

God and our God is the same.’” Es- 
The God of sentially he meant, “My revelation is 
Islam and the same as that which stands in your 
Yhwh pooks. You misinterpret, conceal, and 
Identical. pervert; my revelation is certain and 
is enough.” Such, apparently, was 
the attitude of Mohammed himself to the Scriptures. 
In illustration, reference may be made to the fol- 
lowing passages in the Koran, suras ii. 85, 129, 209; 
iii. 60, 72, 179, 184; iv. 161, 169; v. 47, 85, 109; xix. 
28; xxvi. 192; xxix. 45; xlii. 11; Ivii. 25; Ixi. 6; 
Ixii. 5; Ixvi. 10. 

But such a position could only be maintained by 
Mohammed himself with his intense consciousness 
of the truth of his mission. After his death came 
rapid changes which were natural in themselves, 
but the definite origin of which is mostly obscure to 
us. The only means of access which the earliest 
Moslems had to the sacred books of the Jews and 
Christians was through proselytes; and these prose- 
lytes, from a vaviety of causes, misled much more 
than they instructed their new corcligionists. For 
one thing, the Moslems regarded them as authorities 
on the history of the past. They asked innumerable 
questions, and expected answers. The more mar- 
velous the answer, the better they seem to have been 
pleased. Only on one point these converts had to 
be wary: Their replies must square generally with 
the Moslem scheme of thought and theology; other- 
wise their heads were in danger. Under these con- 
ditions of risk, marvelous tales sprouted freely. 
The Midrashimun doubtedly helped; but the imagi- 
nations of the converts, thus stimulated, probably 
accomplished more. Of the latter, two names are 
worthy of mention as romancers of quite astonish- 
ing capacity; viz., Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 728) and 
Ka‘ab al-Alibar (d. 652). 

To the labors of these men, then, to the Oriental 
horror of a vacuum, and to the Oriental indifference 
as to how a vacuum is filled, is due the overwhelm- 
ing mass of misinformation on the Old and New 
Testaments that still oppresses the Moslem world. 
First, the Torah is confused with the Tables of the 
Law, and the latter are increased in number. 
Again, the Torah is enormously increased in bulk: 
it is alleged to contain a varying number of parts, 
up to 1,000, and to make seventy camel-loads. Each 
single part takes a yearto read through. Only four 






| 
& 


Ai eraratieate 
i 


FIRST PAGE OF EXODUS. 


(Frem an illuminated manuscript, formerly in the possession of the Duke of Sussez.) 


Bible in Mohammedan Litera- 
Bible Translations [ture 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


184 





men—Moses, Joshua, Ezra, and Jesus—have studied 
itall. Clear statements, all imaginative, are given as 
to how it begins and ends. Quotations of the wild- 

est character are introduced as from 


False it; and the quoter will say calmly, “I 
Citations have read them in the Torah.” The 
from same exactly holds good in regard to 
Torah. the Gospel and the Psalter. Asto the 


Psalter, there exists in Arabic one of 
one hundred and fifty chapters, only the first two of 
which agree with the Psalms; the rest being a free 
imitation of the Koran. Possibly the Torah and the 
Gospel may at one time have been similarly per- 
verted, but of such corruptions no traces now exist. 
The Torah was said to begin like sura vi. of the 
Koran and to end like sura xi. In it was an exact 
description of Mohammed and of some other persons 
associated with the beginning of Islam. For the 
Gospel, the following statement by an early author- 
ity will probably suffice: “I found in the Gospel 
that the keys of the treasure of Karun [Korah] were 
a load for sixty mules; no one of them was larger 
than a finger, and each Key served for a separate 
treasury.” 

Besides these three books which Mohammed rec- 
ognized, there are also given references to the Wis- 
dom literature; and in this case a much closer ap- 
proximation is made to the truth. There are 
quotations from the Wisdom of Solomon, the Testa- 
ment of Solomon (apparently part of Proverbs), and 
the Wisdom of the Family of David, and these have 
usually at least a possible source, Further, it must 
not be thought that all this characterized only the 
earliest times and the most ignorant and careless 
minds. Al-Gazzali(d. 1111), the greatest theologian 
of Islam, and a man of the intellectual rank of Au- 
gustine or Thomas Aquinas, quotes almost as cred- 
ulously and rashly as any. Nor does he ever dream 
of verifying a quotation. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi 
(d. 1209), another theologian of eminence, boasted 
that he knew the Torah and the Gospel by heart; 
and yet in his commentary on the Koran the most 
incredible things are cited as being contained in 
these. The best we can say for him is that either 
there were a pseudo-Torah and a pseudo-Gospel, 
which deceived him, or else that he lied. Such 
were the results of the mendacity of the carly prose- 
lytes to Islam and of the credulity and carelessness 
of the Moslems. As some excuse for the last may 
serve the feeling which grew up that there was sin 
as well as danger in reading the books of Jews or 
Christians. Even Ibn Khaidun (d. 1405), the first 
philosophical historian of Islam, disapproved of such 
study: Mohammedans had certainty in the Koran, 
he held, and should be content with that. 


Among the various gencral statements in the. 


Koran that Mohammed had been foretold in the 
earlier books, only one gives the impression that 
Mohammed had had a specific passage in mind. It 
is in sura lxi. 6, where Jesus says, “O Sons of 
Tsrael, lo, [am a messenger of God toyou ... giv- 
ing you good tidings of a messenger who will come 
after me, whose name will be Ahmad.” This seems 
a tolerably clear reference to the promise of the par- 
aclete in John’s Gospel, ch. xiv. e¢ seg., and a very 
early Moslem tradition so takes it, quoting an Ara- 


bized form of the Greek wapdxAynrog. Another passage 
is Deut. xviii. 18 et seq.: “Iwill raise them up a 
Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee.” 
This, it is explained, could only refer to a prophet 
of the line of Ishmael; for he was the brother of 
Isaac, and there was no prophet of the line of Esau; 
and “their brethren” excludes the line of Jacob, 
In Isa. xxi. 6-9 the rider on the ass is Jesus and the 
rider on the camcl is Mohammed. The details in 
Isa, lx. 4-7 are regarded as applying very exactly to 
Mohammed. Also, in Deut. xxxiii.2 “Sinai” refers 
to the Mosaic revelation; “Seir” is a mountain in 
Syria where Jesus served his Lord; and “ Paran” is 
either a mountain of the Banu Hashim, where Mo- 
hammed similarly worshiped, or Mecca itself. These 
are accepted as good proofs by the great scientist 
AJ-Beruni (d. 1048). 

But meanwhile, and alongside of this mass of tra- 
ditional ignorance, a beginning had been made in 
Islam of the direct study of the older sacred books. 
It belonged to the brief period of scientific life and 
liberty under the first Abbassids and especially 

under Al-Maniun. Through the Per- 


Islamic sian Aristotelians and physicians, the 
Study of Syrian monasteries, and the heathen 
Original of Harran, Greek civilization and its 
Sources. methods began to affect Islam. So 


the historians of the time show a com- 
mendable desire to go back to original sources and 
to test and examine for themselves. Ibn Wadah, 
who wrote about 880, had an excellent knowledge 
of the Scriptures, as also, of parts at least, had Ibn 
Kutaibah, who died in 889. Yet in the works of 
both of these writers are included wild legends that. 
had come down from the earlier times, which the 
Moslem “kugsag” or story-tellers had delighted to 
retouch and expand, side by side with sober transla- 
tions from the Hebrew and Greek. And, justas the 
flourishing time of science under the Abbassids was 
short, so, too, with this branch of it. Tabari (d. 
921) is already less affected by it; and Mas‘udi (d. 
957), although a free-thinking theologian, seems to 
have gone back to traditionalism. The result was 
simply that another set of assertions, much more 
trustworthy, was added to the contradictory jumble 
which was being passed on from writer to writer. 

With Ibn Hazm, the Zahirite (d. 1064, however, 
a uew development was reached, with results lasting 
to the present day. Ibn Hazm is distinguished in 
Moslem history for having applied to theology the 
principles of literal interpretation already used by 
the Zahirites in canon law, and for the remorseless 
vigor and rigor with which he carried on his polem- 
ics. He now marked a similar era in treating the 
doctrine of the older Scriptures, declaring them to be 
forgeries. Modern education in India and elsewhere 
has spread a more exact knowledge of the Jewish 
and Christian Scriptures. 

For the present-day position of more orthodox 
Islam, reference may be made to Pfander’s “ Mizan 
al-Hak,” a translation of which appeared in London 
in 1867, and to the reply to it by Rahmat Allah, 
“Tzhar al-Hak,” a translation of which by Carletti 
was published in Paris in 1880. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, pp. 61, 211, 433, 
439, 629,and elsewhere; this must, however, be used with 


185 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


caution. The principal monograph is by Goldziher, in Z. D. 
M. G. xxxii. 841 et seq.; Steinschneider, Polemische und 
Apologetische Litteratur_in Arabischer Sprache, 1877; 
Schreiner, in Z. D. M. G. xiii. 591 et seq.; Goldziher, in 
Stade’s Zeitschrift, xiii. 35 et seq.: Brockelmann, ibid. xv. 
138, 312; Bacher, ibid. xv. 309; idem, in Kobak’s Jeschurun, 
viii, 1-29 et seg.; Hirschfeld, in Jew. Quart. Rev. Jan. 1901; 
a Moslem controversial treatise (in Arabic) has been poorly 
edited by Van der Dam, under the title Disputatio pro Re- 
ligione Mohammedanorum, Leyden, 1890, 


K, D. B. M. 
BIBLE, POLYGLOT. Sce Bisie Epirions,. 
BIBLE TEXTS. Sec MAsoran. 


BIBLE TRANSLATIONS: Jewish transla- 
tions of the Old Testament were made from time to 
time by Jews, in order to satisfy the needs, both in 
public service and in private life, of those that had 
gradually lost the knowledge of the ancient national 
tongue. In Palestine itself, Hebrew was driven 
out first by Aramaic, then by Greek, and finally by 
Arabic. Portions of the Bible itself (in Daniel and 
Ezra) are written in Aramaic; and there is no con- 
sensus of opinion among scholars as to whether these 
parts were originally written in that tongue or were 
translated from the Hebrew. Though Hebrew re- 
mained the sacred and the literary language, the 
knowledge of it must have faded to sucha degree in 
the second century preceding the common era that 
it became necessary fora “meturgeman ” to translate 
the weekly Pentateuch and prophetic lessons as 
read in the synagogue (Berliner, “Onkelos,” p. 7; 
Friedmann, “Akylos und Onkelos,” p. 58). The 
assertion made by the two scholars just cited, that 
the Targums date from the time of Ezra, is unwar- 
ranted; since they are written in a West-Aramaic 
dialect, The authorities of the synagogue did not 
willingly allow such translations to be written down. 
They felt that this would be putting a premium 
upon ignorance of the text, and that the Biblical 
word would be in danger of being badly interpreted 
or even misunderstood. They sought to minimize 
the danger by permitting only one verse to be read 
and translated at a time in the case of the Law, and 
three in the case of the Prophets (Meg. iv. 4). Cer- 
tain passages were never to be translated publicly; 

e.g., Gen. Xxxv. 22; Ex. xxxii. 21-25; 

The Num. vi. 23-26; Lev. xviii. 21 (Meg. 
Targums. iv. 10; see Berliner, d.c. p. 217; Gins- 
burger, “Monatsschrift,” xliv. 1). 

These passages are to be found in Pseudo-Jonathan 
and in the Midrashim for private use. It is distinctly 
stated that no written copy of the Targum was to be 
used in the public service (Yer. Meg. iv. 1); though 
for private purposes copies were allowed to be made. 
The Talmud, it is true, mentions a written Targum 
to the Book of Job which was in the possession of 
Rabban Gamaliel I. during the Second Temple, about 
20-40 c. «. (Tosef., Shab. xiv. 2; Bab. Shab. 115a; 
Soferim xv. 2; compare Berliner, é.c. p. 90), and 
which was then buried by order of Gamaliel. In 
Yer. Shab. xvi. 1 a variant tradition tells of such a 
Targum having been in the hands of both the elder 
and the younger Gamaliel. Though this tradition is 
accepted even by Bacher (see ARAMAIC LANGUAGE), 
there are no means of verifying this statement, the 
existing Targum to that book being of a much later 
date. The tradition certainly can not refer to a 
Greek translation, as Gritz (“ Monatsschrift,” xxvi. 


Bible in Mohammedan Litera- 
Bible Translations {ture 


87) holds. According to Blau (“ Einleitung,” p. 79) 
the reference is to a copy written in the Old Hebrew 
script. The Targum is largely a paraphrase, repro- 
ducing the rabbinical tradition as regards the mean- 
ing of the text. For a history of this Targum see 
TARGUM. 

In passing a word should be said about the Samar- 
itan version of the Pentateuch in the West-Aramaic 
dialect, which the Samaritans at one time spoke. It 
is as yet not possible to say in which century this 
version was made. Even though the citations under 
the caption 76 Savepectexdy, Which are found in the 
scholia to Origen’s Hexapla, refer to it, Kohn be- 
lieves that they are drawn from a Greek translation 
of the Samaritan madein Egypt. The text has been 
edited in Samaritan characters by H. Petermann and 
K. Vollers (Berlin, 1872-91), and in Hebrew charac- 
ters by A. Brill (1878-75), from the London Poly- 
glot. M. Heidenheim’s edition in Hebrew characters, 
of which Genesis only has appeared (“ Bibliotheca 
Samaritana,” i., Leipsic, 1884), has been very severely 
criticized (see Nestle, “ UVebersetzungen der Bibel,” 
p. 205). 

The settlement of large numbers of Jews in vari- 
ous parts of the Greek world, the Hellenization of 
Palestine, and the presence in Jerusalem of Jews 
from all countries, especially from those under 
Greek influence, in course of time forced the Rabbis 
to treat the question more liberally. According to 
Meg. ii. 1, it was forbidden to read the Megillah in 
Aramaic or in any other non-Hebrew language, ex- 
cept for the foreign Jews (miny>d) in Jerusalem (com- 
pare the Baraitain Bab. Meg. 18a; Shab. 115b); and 
that such foreign Jews were in the city in large 
numbers is seen from Acts ii. 5-11. So, also, it is 
found, according to another tradition (Meg. i. 8), 
that it was permitted to write the Biblical books in 
any language (nw) ; though R. Simon ben Gamaliel 
would restrict this permission to Greek (Yer. Meg. 
i. 1): “After careful examination it was found that 
the Pentateuch could be adequately translated only 

into Greek”). Evidence exists of the 

Influence fact thatin the synagogue of the minyp> 

of Greek was freely used (Tosef., Meg. 
Hellenism. iv. 13). There is evena tradition that 
Greek letters were engraven upon the 
chest in the Temple in which the shekels were kept 
(Shek. iii. 2); and there is also Christian testimony 
to this effect (Justin, “Cohortatio ad Greecos,” xiii. ; 
Tertullian, “Apologia,” xviii.; Frankel, “ Vorstu- 
dien,” p. 56). It is reported that in Asia Minor R. 
Meir was unable to finda Megillah written in He- 
brew (Tosef., Meg. ii. 4); and the weekly lessons 
both from the Law and the Prophets were at an 
early date read in Greek in Alexandria (“Jew. 
Quart. Rev.” ix. 780). This makes comprehensible 
the statement that “the Law can be read in any lan- 
guage” (Sotah 38a; Meg. 17b), The well-known 
passage in the Mishnah (Yad. iv. 5) which mentions 
the Levitical impurity occasioned by touching Bib- 
lical books, and which especially excepts the Targum 
from these provisions, has been very properly ex- 
plained by Blau as referring to different degrees of 
sanctity only: no translation could, of course, be put 
upon the same level with the original Hebrew. 
At a later time—perhaps in the second century of 


Bible Translations 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


186 





the present era—a different view seems to have 
prevailed; and it was said that the day on which the 
Law was translated into Greek was as unfortunate 
for the Jews as that on which the Golden Calf was 
made (Soferim i. 8, 9). Even to teach children 
Greek was forbidden (Sotah ix. 14); though it was 
still permitted to teach a girl Greek, as a knowledge 
of that language was considered to be an accomplish- 
ment. Evidently this change of view was occa- 
sioned by the rise of the Christian Church, which 
used the Bible only in the Septuagint Version. It 
will be seen that in the Middle Ages the desire to 
please the women during the service and to instruct 
them led to the introduction of the vernacular, espe- 
cially for the prophetical lessons. The treatise So- 
ferim even makes it a duty “to translate, for the 
women, the weekly readings from the Pentateuch 
and the Prophets before the close of the service. The 
translation was not read verse by verse after the 
Hebrew, but as one continuous passage ” (Abrahams, 
“Jewish Life in the Middle Ages,” p. 345). 

The oldest and most important of all the versions 
made by Jews is that called “ The Septuagint ” (“In- 
terpretatio septuaginta virorum” or “seniorum”), 
It is a monument of the Greek spoken by the large 
and important Jewish community of Alexandria; 
not of classic Greek, nor even of the Hellenistic style 
affected by Alexandrian writers. If the account 
given by Aristeas be true, some traces of Palestinian 
influence should be found; but a study of the Egyp- 
tian papyri, which are abundant for this particular 
period, is said by both Mahaffy and Deissmann to 
show a very close similarity between the language 
they represent and that of the Septuagint, not to 
mention the Egyptian words already recognized by 
both Hody and Hichhorn. These papyri have ina 
measure reinstated Aristeas (about 200 B.c.) in the 
opinion of scholars. Upon his “ Letter:to Philoc- 
rates” the tradition as to the origin of the Septua- 


gint rests. It is now believed that 
The Sep- even though he may have been mis- 
tuagint. taken in some points, his facts in gen- 


eral are worthy of credence (Abrahams, 
in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiv. 821). According to 
Aristeas, the Pentateuch was translated at the time 
of Philadelphus, the second Ptolemy (285-247 3z.c.), 
which translation was encouraged by the king 
and welcomed by the Jews of Alexandria. Griitz 
(“Gesch. der Juden,” 3d ed., iti. 615) stands alone in 
assigning it tothe reign of Philometor (181-146 B.c. ). 
Whatever share the king may have had in the work, 
it evidently satisfied a pressing need felt by the Jew- 
ish community, among whom a knowledge of He- 
brew was rapidly waning before the demands of 
every-day life. 

It is not known when the other books of the Bible 
were rendered into Greek. The grandson of Ben 
Sira (182 B.c.), in the prologue to his translation of 
his grandfather’s work, speaks of the “Law, Proph- 
ets, and the rest of the books” as being already cur- 
rent in his day. A Greek Chronicles is mentioned 
by Eupolemus (middle of second century B.c.); 
Aristeas, the historian, quotes Job; a foot-note to the 
Greek Esther seems to show that that book was in 
circulation before the end of the second century B.¢. ; 
and the Septuagint Psalter is quoted in I Macc. vii. 


17. It is therefore more than probable that the 
whole of the Bible was translated into Greek before 
the beginning of the Christian era (Swete, “ An In- 
troduction to the O. T.in Greek,” ch. i.). The 
large number of Greck-speaking Jewish communities 
in Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and 
northern Africa must have facilitated its spread in 
all these regions. The quotations from the Old 
Testament found in the New are in the main taken 
from the Septuagint; and even where the citation 
is indirect the influence of this version is clearly 
seen, This will also explain in a measure the un- 
doubted intluence of the Septuagint upon the Syriac 
translation called the “ Peshitta.” 

Being a composite work, the translation varies in 
the different books. In the Pentateuch, naturally, 
it adheres most closely to the original; in Job it 
varies therefrom most widely. In some books (¢.9., 
Daniel) the influence of the Jewish Midrash is more 
apparent than in others. Where it is literal it is 
“intolerable as a literary work” (Swete, 2d. p. 22). 
The translation, which shows at times a peculiar 
ignorance of Hebrew usage, was evidently made 
from a codex which differed widely in places from the 
text crystallized by the Masorah. Itsinfluence upon 
the Greek-speaking Jews must have been great. In 
course of time it came to be the canonical Greek 
Bible, as Luther’s translation became the German, 
and the Authorized Version the English. It is the 
version used by the Jewish Hellenistic writers, De- 
metrius, Eupolemus, Artabanus, Aristeas, Ezekiel, 
and Aristobulus, as well as in the Book of Wisdom, 
the translation of Ben Sira, and the Jewish Sibyl- 
lines. Hornemann, Siegfried, and Ryle have shown 
that Philo bases his citations from the Bible on the 
Septuagint Version, though he has no scruple about 
modifying them or citing them with much freedom. 
Josephus follows this translation closely (Freuden- 
thal, “ Hellenistische Studien,” ii. 171; Siegfried, in 
Stade’s “Zeitschrift,” iii. 82). It became part of 
the Bible of the Christian Church. 

Two things, however, rendered the Septuagint 
unwelcome in the long run to the Jews. Its diver- 
gence from the accepted text (afterward called the 
Masoretic) was too evident; and it therefore could 
not serve as a basis for theological discussion or for 
homiletic interpretation. This distrust was accen- 
tuated by the fact that it had been adopted as Sacred 
Scripture by the new faith. A revision in the sense 
of the canonical Jewish text was necessary. This 
revision was made by a proselyte, Aquinas, who lived 
during the reign of Hadrian (117-188). 
He is reported to have been a pupil of 
R. Akiba and to have embodied in his 
revision the principles of the strictest literal inter- 
pretation of the text; certainly his translation is 
pedantic, and its Greek is uncouth. It strove only 
to reproduce the text word for word, and for this 
reason it grew rapidly in favor in strictly Jewish 
circles where Hebrew was yet understood. Notonly 
in the days of Origen was it thus popular, but, ac- 
cording to the testimony of Jerome and Augustine, 
down to the fourth and fifth centuries. Of this 
translation a few fragments have come down to us, 
together with many citations made by Christian 
writers from Origen’s Hexapla. In the middle of 


Aquila. 


187 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Translations 


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the sixth century a certain section of the Jews in 
Byzantium wished to read the Sabbath lections in 
Greek as well as in Hebrew; but the Rabbis and 
authorities desired that only Hebrew should be read. 
The discussion came before the emperor, Justinian, 
who in the year 553 issued a novella in which it was 
expressly stated that “the Hebrews are allowed to 
read the Holy Writ in their synagogues in the Greek 
language”; and the emperor advised them to use 


words. Strange tosay, his version of Daniel entirely 
displaced that of the Septuagint; and in other por- 
tions his translations are occasionally found in ordi- 
nary Septuagint manuscripts. For this fact no suf- 
ficient reason has yet been given. Fragments of his 
work are also found in the remains of Origen’s 
Hexapla. <A third translator, Symmachus, whose 
date is not known, tried to smooth down Aquila’s 
un-Grecian Greek by the use of both the Septuagint 


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PAGE FROM THE VATICAN MANUSCRIPT OF THE SEPTUAGINT VERSION OF EXODUS XIX. 14-xx. 17. 


and Theodotion. 


either the Septuagint or the version of Aquila (Gritz, 
“Gesch. der Juden,” v. 485). 

A second revision of the Septuagint was made 
by one Theodotion, perhaps a native of Ephesus, 
who may have lived toward the end of the second 
century. He is sometimes said to have been a 
convert to Judaism. His revision, also, is in the na- 
ture of a recurrence to the Hebrew text, but he 
avoids entirely the pedantry of Aquila, and his Greek 
gives a readable text; the only evidences of ped- 
antry are his transliterations of anumber of Hebrew 


He seems to be the best stylist of 
all. According to Epiphanius, he was a Samaritan 
convert to Judaism; but Eusebius and 

Theodotion Jerome make him out an Ebionite. 
and Sym- Of the three other fragmentary trans- 


machus. lations into Greek used by Origen 
in compiling his Hexapla, very little 
is known. It is not even certain that they are the 


work of Jews. 
Toward the end of the fourtcenth century or at 
the beginning of the fifteenth another translation of 


Bible Translations 





the Bible into Greek was made, of which the por- 
tion covering the Pentateuch, Ruth, Proverbs, Can- 
ticles, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Daniel is still 
preserved in manuscript (MS. Gr., No. vii.) in the 
library of St. Mark’s, Venice. It has been edited in 
a final form by Oscar von Gebhardt (“Grecus Vene- 
tus,” Leipsic, 1875), with a preface by Franz De- 
litzsch. According to Von Gebhardt, Delitzsch, and 
Freudenthal (“Hellenistische Studien,” p. 129), the 
author was a Jew, who for some reason or other pre- 
ferred the commentary of David Kimhi to that of 
Rashi. The author has also used the former Greek 
versions. The body of the work is done into Attic 
Greek; the Aramaic portions of Daniel are rendered 
into Doric. Delitzsch has tried to identify the 
author with a certain Eliseus, a learned Jew at the 
court of Murad J. (see “Theol. Lit. Zeit.” i. 107; 
Swete, /.c. p. 56; Nestle, d.c. p. 84). On the other 
hand, P. Frankl has tried to show that the translator 
was a Christian and not a Jew (“ Monatsschrift,” 
xxiv. 3872). According to Gritz (“Gesch. der 
Juden,” vii. 318), Shemariah of Negroponte (1328- 
46) rendered the Book of Genesis into Greek, in an 
attempt to bridge over the cleft separating Karaites 
from Rabbinites. But Shemariah’s work was a 
commentary and not a translation (Steinschneider, 
“Hebr. Bibl.” xv. 39). On translations of the Haf- 
tarot into Greek see “ Magazin,” ii. 5. 

The first attempt to translate the Bible into mod- 
ern Greek was made by a monk of the island of 
Crete, Agapiou by name. In 1543 he published a 
rendering of the Psalms which followed closely the 
Septuagint translation. This preceded 
the first Jewish translation by only a 
few years. One column of the Poly- 
glot Pentateuch (Constantinople, 1547) 
contained a Neo-Greek version in Hebrew characters. 
The dialect used is that of Epirus; and no single 
word of Turkish is to be found init. Though full 
of Hebraisms, it is said to be of importance for the 
study of Greek linguistics. The few copies of this 
edition which are now known to exist do not agree; 
and it has been suggested that corrections were 
made in the text during printing. In the “Revue 
des Etudes Grecques” (iii. 288 e¢ seg.) Belleli has re- 
printed the first four chapters of Genesis; and a 
facsimile of the whole has been published by D. C. 
Hesseling, “Les Cing Livres de la Loi” (Leyden, 
1897; compare the discussion in “Rev. Etudes 
Juives,” xxxv. 132, 314). A translation of Jonah 
into modern Greek is found in a manuscript volume 
of prayers in the library of the University of Bo- 
logna; and it is known, from R. Meir Katzenellen- 
bogen, that in his day (1470-1565) it was customary 
in Padua to read the Haftarah of the Atonement Day 
in the vernacular; this was aiso the case in Candia 
(Kapsali, ed. Lattes, p. 22). LL. Modena has shown 
(“Cataloghi dei Codici Orientali,” p. 335, Florence, 
1876) that this thirteenth-century manuscript, which 


Modern 
Greek. 


came originally from Canea, is similar to MS. No. 


1144 in the Bodleian collection (Neubauer, “Cat. 
Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” col. 338; “Rev. Etudes Juives,” 
xxiii. 185). In 1576 Moses ben Elijah Phobian, or 
Popian, published at Constantinople a Neo-Greek 
translation of Job for the express purpose of facili- 
tating the teaching of Hebrew (Belleli, in “Rev. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


188 


Etudes Juives,” xxii, 250; compare 7). xxiii. 1386, 
xxiv. 160, and Giidemann, “ Quellen‘” pp. 289-289). 

The Syriac translation of the Old Testament was 
undoubtedly made directly from the Hebrew; 
though at Antioch, during the third century of the 
present era and at later periods, it was revised so as 
to make it conform to the Septuagint. 
The history of its origin is obscure; 
but it was probably made in Mesopo- 
tamia during the first century. As 
with most of the older translations, various hands 
have been at work here. Perles (“Meletemata 
Peschittoniana,” Breslau, 1859), Prager (“ De Veteris 
Testamenti Versione Peschitto,” Géttingen, 1875), 
and Bacher (sce ARAMAIC LANGUAGE) believe it is the 
work of Jews: but this has not yet been proved; 
and the view of Dathe, Eichhorn, Hitzig, Nodldeke, 
and Renan, that it owes its origin to Judeo-Chris- 
tians, seems more probable. Perles, however, has 
shown that there are unmistakable evidences in the 
Peshitta of the influence of the Targum, especially 
in Genesis. This has been confirmed for Ezekiel 
by Cornill (“ Das Buch Ezekiel,” p. 154), for Chron- 
icles by S. Frinkel (in “Jahrb. fiir Protestantische 
Theologie,” 1879), and for Job by Stenig (“ De Syri- 
aca Libri Jobi Interp.” Helsingfors, 1887), Mandl 
(“Peschitto zu Hiob,” Leipsic, 1892), and Hauman 
(in Stade’s “ Zeitschrift,” xix. 29). The closest agree- 
ment between the two versions is found in the Book 
of Proverbs; butit is now generally held that in this 
case the Targum reflects the Peshitta and not vice 
versa, as Maybaum contends (Merx, “ Archiv,” vol. 
ii.). This view is upheld by a consideration of the 
general character of the translation (Pinkuss, in 
Stade’s “Zeitschrift,” xiv. 101; see also Duval, 
“Littérature Syriaque,” 1899, pp. 31 ef seq.). 

It is impossible to tell at how early a time the 
Jews commenced to translate the Bible into Arabic. 
After the early victories of the Mohammedans, Ara- 
bic civilization and Arabic surroundings brought 
the Jews into very close connection 
with the Arabic language. Even 
where Hebrew was still kept-up, the 
Hebrew alphabet must at times have 
gone out of fashion; for there exist some Karaite 
manuscripts of the tenth century, giving the Hebrew 
text in Arabic characters and with the letters used 
as vowel-signs (R. Horning, “British Museum Ka- 
raite MSS.” London, 1889; Margoliouth, “Cat. 
Hebr. and Samaritan MSS. Brit. Mus.” i., Nos. 108, 
104). That the Jews had little scruple in reading 
the Bible in Arabic may be seen from Judah ibn 
Tibbon’s advice to his son to read the Sabbath lec- 
tions in that tongue (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” xii. 484). 
There are no facts, however, which prove that the 
early Jews of Arabia possessed any Arabic trans- 
lation of the Bible. There is a tradition, going back 
to Abu Huraya, a contemporary of Mohammed, that 
“The People of the Book used to read the Taurah 
[Torah] in Hebrew and interpret it in Arabic to the 
followers of Islam”; which tradition is the basis of 
the polemics of Abu Mohammed ibn Hazm (d. 1064). 
Another tradition says that “ Ka‘ab the rabbi brought 
a book [“sifr”] to Omar the calif and said, ‘ Here 
is the Torah, read it’” (Goldziher, in “Z, D. M. G.” 
xxxli, 844), The evidence is insufficient; and there 


The 
Peshitta. 


Arabic 
Versions. 


189 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Translations 





is even less warrant for Sprenger’s idea that 
apocryphal writings were current in Arabia dur- 
ing Mohammed’s days (see Knenen, “ Volksreligion,” 
p. 297). Ata later time, however, such translations 
must have existed, even though little credence can 
be placed upon the assurances of the polemical 
writers that they had “read this in the Torah” or 
“in the Zabur [Psalms]” (2), p. 851; compare Stade’s 
“Zeitschrift,” xii, 315). The Fihrist (ed. Fliigel, i. 
22) of Al-Nadim mentions an Ahmad ibn Abd Allah 
ibn Salam who translated the Bible into Arabic, at 
the time of Harun al-Rashid. Fahr al-Din al-Razi 
mentions a translation of Habbakuk by the son of 
Rabban al-Tabari (“Z. D. M. G.” xiii. 645). Many 
of the Arabic historians, as Al-Tabari, Mas‘udi, 
Hamza, and Biruni, cite passages and recount the 
eatly history of the Jews ina most circumstantial 
manner. Ibn Kutaibah, the historian (d. 889), says 
that he read the Bible; and he even made a col- 
lection of Biblical passages in a work which has 
been preserved by Ibn Jauzi of the twelfth cen- 
tury (see Haupt and Delitzsch, “Beitrige zur 
Assvriologie,” iii. 46; Stade’s* Zeitschrift,” xv. 138). 
The first important Arabic translation is that of 
Saadia Gaon (892-942). Theinfluence of this trans- 
lation was in its way as great as that of the gaon’s 
philosophical work. It has remained to this day 
the version for the Jews in Arabic-speaking coun- 
tries: it is dignified by the name “Targum”; and in 
many of the South Arabian Bible manuscripts it 
follows the Aramaic verse by verse, as the Aramaic 
follows the Hebrew. Saadia in the main takes the 
Targum as his guide, especially in doing away with 
all anthropomorphisms. His chief 


Saadia thought, however, is to produce a 
Gaon. readable and intelligible translation. 


In this sense his translation may be 
called free; he was evidently working for a general 
reading public, both Jewish and Mohammedan, and 
not for scholars. Jbn Ezra blames him for the ap- 
parent ease with which he passes over difficulties. 
But, in calling this translation a “tafsir” (explana- 
tion), he meant to indicate that he aimed to present 
the simple sense (“ basit ”=“ peshat ”) of the Biblical 
text; and Abual-Walid looks upon him as the chief 
representative of this method. His fervent belief in 
the verbal inspiration of the Biblical text kept him 
free, on the one hand, from the influence of his ra- 
tionalistic philosophy and, on the other, from the 
allegorical method of the Talmud (Editio Deren- 
bourg, v. x.; Bacher in Winter and Wiinsche, “ Jt- 
dische Litteratur,” iii. 244). When no wordin Arabic 
willexactly express his meaning, he uses the Hebrew 
word or adopts the Hebrew construction. In addi- 
tion, he attempts to reproduce Hebrew words by 
Arabic words with a similar sound (Munk, in Cahen’s 
“ Bible,” ix. 127). Saadia, in the introduction to the 
commentary on the Pentateuch, states that he trans- 
lated it twice: once with a diffuse commentary; the 
second time without the commentary. Of the first 
translation only a few fragments and citations by 
Abraham ibn Ezra, Bahya ben Asher, Abraham 
Maimonides, etc., have been preserved (Derenbourg’s 
ed. of the Pentateuch, Hebrew part, p. vii.; “Mo- 
natsschrift,” xli. 205; “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xii. 536). 
Of this work, at one time complete, only the Penta- 


teuch, Isaiah, Minor Prophets, portions of Judges, 
Psalms, Job, Proverbs, and Daniel are now extant. 

Saadia’s translation was first printed in the Poly- 
glot Pentateuch, Constantinople, 1546. Jt was re- 
produced in Arabic characters in the Paris and Lon- 
don Polyglots (1645-57). From time to time more 
or less critical editions of various portions have been 
published; a complete list of these editions as well 
as of the extant manuscripts is given by Stein- 
schneider in the “Kaufmann Gedenkbuch,” pp. 
153 et seg. (see also “Monatsschrift,” xli. 124, and 
Engelkemper, “De Saadiz Gaonis Vita, Bibliorum 
Versione, etc.,” Miinster, 1897). A definite edition 
of the translation and commentaries was commenced 
by the late Joseph Derenbourg, “(uvres Com- 
plétes de R. Saadia,” Paris, 1893 et seg., and is being 
carried on by Hartwig Derenbourg and Mayer Lam- 
bert; the Pentateuch, Isaiah, Proverbs, and Job have 
appeared (1902). 

A number of other translations into Arabic must 
haveexisted. Abual-Walid mentions some of them, 
though it can hardly be determined to-day to which 
translations he refers (Bacher, “Leben und Werke 
des Abulwalid,” p. 99). Some of them, though bear- 
ing no direct relation to that of Saadia, show evident 
traces of his influence. This is true at least of a 
translation of the Minor Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
and Ezekiel, found in Codex Huntington (No. 206 
in the Bodleian Library, Oxford). From this manu- 
script Hosea was published by R. Schroter in Merx, 

“ Archiv,” i. 28 e¢ seg. M. Peritz has 


Other edited “Zwei Alte Uebersetzungen 
Arabic des Buches Ruth,” Berlin, 1900 (“ Mo- 
_ Versions. natsschrift,” 1899, pp. 49 et seg.). The 


second of these, from a manuscript in 
the British Museum, though it shows most of the 
peculiarities of Saadia’s translation, is not by him 
(see also Poznanski, in “Zeit. fiir Hebr, Bibl.” iv. 
167). Nothing is known of the fragments of the 
Arabic version of the Pentateuch found in the 
twelfth-century manuscript, St. Petersburg, Nos. 
137 and 188 (Harkavy-Strack, “Catalog,” p. 164). 
Another translation of the Five Scrolls is found in 
British Museum MSS., Nos. 146, 147 (Poznanski, in 
“Rev. Etudes Juives,” xli. 302). A rimed version 
of the Psalms was made by one Hafz al-Kuti (tenth 
century), which is contained in a manuscript of the 
Ambrosian Library in Milan (Hamimer-Purgstall in 
“Bibl. Ital. di Letteratura,” civ. 86), copied in 1625 
from a manuscript in the Escurial, which has since 
been Jost. It is cited by Moses ibn Ezra in his 
“Poetics”; but it is evident that this translation was 
made by one who was not even, as has been sup- 
posed, a baptized Jew (“Hebr. Bibl.” x. 26). Neu- 
bauer has pointed out (“ Rev. Etudes Juives,” xxx, 
65) that it contains Christian quotations; and the 
term “the Goth” (2d. p. 818) would sufficiently indi- 
cate that the author was a Christian. <A version of 
Ecclesiastes by Judah ibn Ghayyat has been pub- 
lished by J. Lowy, Leyden, 1884 (see Rahmer’s 
“ Jidisches Litteratur-Blatt,” May 29, 1884, p. 88). 
In the thirteenth century a translation of the Pen- 
tateuch was made by an African Jew, who also 
based his work on that of Saadia. It is known as 
the “ Arabs Erpenii” (“ Pent. Mosis Arabice,” Lug. - 
Bat. MS., No. 1622). (On a supposed translation of 


Bible Translations 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


190 





the Psalms by Saadia ben Levi Azankot see Stein- 
schneider, “Cat. Bodl.” col. 2227.) In modern times 
several Arabic translations of the Bible have been 
published in India; e.g., by Ezekiel Shem-Tob David, 
Bombay, 1889, and the Apocrypha by Joseph David, 
Bombay, 1895. 

It was natural that the Karaites should refuse to 
make use of the version in Arabic made by their 
arch-enemy, Saadia. Only two or three of their at- 
tempts to replace it have come down; and even 
these have been preserved in a most fragmentary 
formoniy. Oneof the earliest of these 
attempts was that made by Joshua 
b. Ari, or, to give him the name by 
which he is better known, Abu al- 
Faraj Furkan ibn Asad, alearned Jerusalem Karaite 
of the middle of the eleventhcentury. A portion of 
his Arabic translation of the Pentateuch is to be 
found in MS. Or. 2491 of the British Museum. It 
shows occasionally a decided rationalistic tendency, 
explanatory glosses being introduced here and there 
into the text (G. Margoliouth, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” 
xi, 190). Whether Japheth ha-Levi (Ibn Ali al- 
Basri) really translated any parts of the Bible (Mar- 
goliouth, “ Descriptive List,” pp. 25 et seg.), is unde- 
termined ; but it is known that he had the ambitious 
desire to write an extensive commentary upon the 
whole Bible (Steinschneider, “Hebr. Uebers.” p. 
941). According to Margoliouth (“ Cat. Hebr. aud 
Samaritan MSS. Brit. Mus.” p. 71), MS. Brit. Mus. 
101 (Or. 2481) contains an Arabic translation of the 
Pentateuch based upon that of Japheth. 

The translation of Saadia, as is said above, had 
become a standard work in Egypt, Palestine, and 
Syria. But to the Samaritans it was as distasteful 
(Harkavy, “Hadashim,” No. 7, p. 22) as it no doubt 
had been to the Karaites, because of the rabbinical 

interpretations which it represented. 

Samaritan At some time, perhaps during the 
Revision thirteenth century, it was revised by 
of Saadia. a Samaritan with the express pur- 
pose of adapting it to the use of his 
coreligionists. This revision is usually held to have 
been made by Abu Sa‘id ibn abu al-Husain ibn abu 
Sa‘id, and bas claimed the attention of European 
scholars such as De Sacy (“Mémoires de lI’ Acadé- 
mie,” 1808, xlix. 1 et seg.), Gesenius (“De Penta- 
teuchi Samaritani Origine, Indole et Auctoritate,” 
p. 120, Halle, 1815), and Juynboll (“Commentatio 
de Versione Arabico-Samaritana,” Amsterdam, 1846). 
Of it Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus have been 
edited by A. Kuenen (Leyden, 1851-54; see Kohn, 
“Zur Sprache der Samaritaner,” p. 184; Nestle, Zc. 
p. 153). Abu Sa‘id was supposed to have lived 
about the year 1070; but Wreschner (“Samarita- 
nische Tradition,” 1888, p. xix.) has shown that he 
flourished in the thirteenth century. According to 
Joseph Bloch, “Die Samaritanisch-Arabische Pen- 
tateuch Uebersetzung,” p. 16, Berlin, 1901, the real 


Karaite 
Versions. 


translator is perhaps the Tyrian, Abu al-Hasan, and - 


Abu Sa‘id is only a scholiast. If this be true, it 
was not the first translation: for one was made in the 
twelfth century by Sadaka ibn Munajja of Damas- 
cus, a physician in the service of Sultan Malik al- 
Ashraf (Haji Khalifah, ii. 402; Neubauer, “Chro- 
nique Samaritaine,” p. 112). 


It is not known at what time the first translations 
of the Bible were made into Persian, From quota- 
tions in the “ Dinkard” and the “Shikand Gumanik 
Vijar” (theological works of the Sassanian period), 
James Darmesteter has supposed that one existed in 
Pahlavi (“ Rev. Etudes Juives,” xviii. 5); but the 
supposition is unsupported by any real 
evidence. Blau also (“ Einleitung,” p. 
95) seems to incline to this opinion, be- 
cause Bab. Meg. 18a speaks of a scroll 
of Esther in the Elamite and Median languages. 
According to Maimonides, the Pentateuch was trans- 
lated into Persian many hundred years previous to 
Mohammed (Zunz, “G. V.” 2d ed., p. 9). This state- 
ment also can not be further substantiated. The 
ealliest version of which we have any knowledge is 
that made by Jacob ben Joseph Tawus, and printed 
in Hebrew characters in the Polyglot Pentateuch, 
Constantinople, 1546. This was transcribed into 
Persian characters and translated into Latin by 
Thomas Hyde, in which form it was published in 
the London Polyglot. Kohut (“Beleuchtung der 
Persischen Pentateuch-Uebersetzung,” 1871) places 
Tawus in the first half of the sixteenth century 
(compare also Zunz, “G. 8.” iii. 186). According to 
Steinschneider (“Jewish Literature,” p. 321), Tawus 
made use of an earlier translation made in the thir- 
teenth century (see Munk, in Cahen’s “ Bible,” vol. 
ix.), which followed the Targum and the commen- 
tary of David Kimhi. A number of translations 
into Persian are to be found in the various collec- 
tions of manuscript, of which the following is a 
partial list: 


Persian 
Versions. 


Pentateuch: Vatican MS. 61 (Guidi, in ‘‘ Rendiconti . . . dei 
Lincei,’’ 1885, p. 347). 

Codex Adler B. 63, written in 1776 (Jew. Quart. Rev.” 
x. 596). 

Codex St. Petersburg 141 (not by Tawus; Harkavy-Strack, 
**Cat.’? p. 166). 

Psalms: Vatican MS. 37; Bodleian MS. 1830. 

Vatican MS. 42; Bodleian MS. 1827 (Jewish? Horn, in 
*Z.D. M. G.” Li. 7). 

Codex Adler B. 27 (" Jew. Quart. Rev.” x. 592). 

Brit. Mus. MSS. 159, 160 (transl. about 1740 by Baba b. 
Nuriel of Ispahan; Margoliouth, “Cat. of Hebr. and 
Samaritan MSS. Brit. Mus.” p. 120). 

Brit. Mus. MS. Or. 4729 (dated 1822 ; 
vii. 119). 

Proverbs, Canticles, Ruth, Ecclesiastes : Paris MS. 116 (‘ Cat. des 
MSS. Héb. de la Bibl. Nat.’’). 
Proverbs, Canticles, Eeclesiastes: Codex Adler B. 46 (Jew. 
Quart. Rev.” x. 595). 
Paris MS. 117 (‘* Cat. des MSS. Héb. de la Bibl. Nat.°’). 
Proverbs; On a translation now Jost, see Lagarde, ** Symmicta,” 
ii. 14. ; 
Job and Lamentations: Codex de Rossi 1093 (Zunz, *’G. 8S.” fii, 
135). 
Paris MS. 118 (Cat. des MSS. Hébreux de la Bibl. Nat.”’), 
Job : Codex St. Petersburg 142 (Harkavy-Strack, p. 167). 

Paris MSS. 120, 121 (‘* Catalogue,”’ ete.). 

Song of Songs: Codex Adler B. 12 (** Jew. Quart. Rev.”’ x. 589), 

Daniel: Paris MSS. 128, 129 (“‘ Cataiogue,”’ ete.). 

Esther : Codex Adler T. 16 and 27 (‘‘ Jew. Quart. Rev." x, 598, 
599). 

Paris MS. 127 (** Catalogue,” ete.). 

Tobit, Judith, Be] and Dragon, Antiochus : Codex Bodieijan 130, 

Minor Prophets; Codex St. Petersburg 189 and Codex B. 18 
(Harkavy-Strack, pp. 165, 262). 

Haftarot: Codex St. Petersburg 140 (Harkavy-Strack, p. 166). 


There are also some quite modern translations 
into Persian, as "D535 pW IN oF ponn ‘Dp, Vienna, 
1883 (transl. by Benjamin Cohen of Bokhara: see 
“ Lit.-Blatt fir Or. Phil.” 4. 186); own oy ‘$wo 


‘* Jew. Quart. Rev.” 


191 


MW “DIN, Jerusalem, 1885; Job, 2b.; the latter 
two also translated by Benjamin Cohen. 

For the use of the Karaites in the Crimea and 
Turkey, @ translation has been made into the T’sha- 
gatai-Tatar dialect. The Pentateuch was printed 
(text and Tshagatai in Hebrew characters) by “Jrab 
Ozilu & Sons, Constantinople, 1836, with the title 
an Seppe nda mbon wp py mn wra 4p; on 
the margin are the MYND psd; and 
acrostic poems are added by Abraham 
ben Samucl, Simhah ben Joseph psx 
(Chages?), Isaac Cohen, and Isaac ben 
Samuel Cohen of Jerusalem. The whole Bible was 
printed in Tshagatai by Mordecai Trishkin (4 vols., 
Goslov, 1841-42; see “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xii. 686). 
Extracts are also to be found in the 39 437 of Musa- 
fia, printed at Ortakéi (Constantinople), 1825, and 
published by the same firm that edited the Penta- 
teuch of 1836 (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. 549). Man- 
uscripts of such translations exist also in the Im- 
perial Library at St. Petersburg (Nos. 1438-146; 
Harkavy-Strack, “Cat.” pp. 167-170). 

Talmud tradition expressly speaks of a Coptic 
translation of the Bible (Meg. 18a; Shabbat 115a), 
Cornill, in his examination of the Coptic text of 

Ezekiel, finds the one published by 
Coptic Tattam to be of composite character 
and Hun- and not simply a translation of the 
garian. Septuagint. Blau believes that it was 
made directly from the Hebrew text 

(“ Einleitung,” p. 91; “Jew. Quart. Rev.” ix. 728). 

No Jewish translation into Hungarian was made 
until quite recently, the Jews of Hungary making 
use Of the Catholic and Protestant versions of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. About the 
middle of the nineteenth century M. Bloch (Ballaghi) 
attempted such arendering; but he was not success- 
ful. His plan has recently (1902) been carried out; 
and the Pentateuch (by M. Bernstein and M. Blau), 
Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (by Julius 
Fischer, Banéczi, Bacher, and Krauss) have ap- 
peared (see “ Rev. Etudes Juives,” xlii. 158). 

The translation of the Bible into the German dia- 
lect spoken by the Jews of middle Europe was com- 
menced at an early date, A manuscript in the col- 
lection of De Rossi, dated Mantua, 1421, contains a 
Judso-German translation of Joshua, Judges, Jonah, 
and four of the Megillot. De Rossi 
supposed them to be written in Polish 
because they were brought to Italy by 
Polish Jews (Neubauer, in “Jew. 
Quart. Rev.” iv. 708). Such translations were tech- 
nically known as “Teutsch-Hummash.” A printer 
had innocently placed the words FU NV AYKXY (Cant. 
iii. 11) on the title-page of such a translation made 
by Jacob ben Isaac of Janow (Lublin, 17th century ?), 
from which they became familiarly called “Ze’e- 
nah U-re’ennah”; and down to the time of Mendels- 
sohn’s translation they were popular reading-books, 
especially for women on Saturdays. They were em- 
bellished with all manner of explanations, legends, 
and moral sayings, which were inserted into the text 
(Steinschneider, “ Volkslitteratur der Juden,” p. 17). 
The first rendering of this kind was made by a 
convert, Michael Adam, the translator of Yosippon 
into Judwo-German. Jt was published by Paulus 


Tatar 
Versions. 


Judzseo- 
German. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Translations 


Fagius, Constance, 1543-44 (Steinschneider, “Cat. 
Bodi.” Nos. 1187, 4333; Perles, in “Monatsschrift,” 
xxv. 361; ¢d. “ Aramidische Studien,” p. 167; “Rev. 
Etudes Juives,” v. 148, 315), and was reprinted at 
Basel in 1583 and 1607. It has nothing in common 
with Luther’s translation, as Wolf (“ Bibl. Hebr.”. 
iv, 198) supposes. This Pentateuch was reprinted 
at Cremona, 1560 (ed. Judah ben Moses Naphtali); 
Basel, 1583; 2. 1608; Prague, 1608, 1610; Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, 1687. A rimed version of it 
appeared at Furth, 1692, and Wilmersdorf, 1718; 
and a second rimed version of Genesis was made by 
a certain Aaron of Prague during the seventeenth 
century. In 1543-44 Paulus Aimilius published a 
similar translation of the Pentateuch (Augsburg, 
1544). It is uncertain whether Aimilius simply 
copied the edition of Adam or not (Steinschneider, 
in “Zeit. fir Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland,” i. 
286). d£milius also edited at Ingolstadt (1562) the 
Judxo-German rimed translation of Samuel in Ger- 
man characters. This was a mere copy of the edi- 
tion in Hebrew characters by Hayyim ben David 
Schwartz, Augsburg, 1544 (2b. i. 285). It was called 
the 13 Sxvow (“Samuel Book”). This was re- 
printed at Mantua about 1562; Cracow, 1593; 
Prague, 1609; Basel, 1612. Schwartz also published 
a rimed translation of Kings, Ns p95 "BD ws 
qNy aww, Augsburg, 1548; Prague, 1607. A 
translation of Judges (rimed) appeared at Mantua 
in 1561; one of Joshua, “ derneut in teutscher Sprach, 
wol gereimt . . . hitbsch mit Midraschim,” at Cra- 
cow in 1588 or 1594; one of Canticles, by Isaac Sulkes, 
at Cracow in 1579; another by Moses Sirtels, Prague, 
1604; one of Jeremiah, 2. 1602; one of Ezekiel 
(rimed), 2. 1602; and one of Jonah, “A 350 mit 
viel bwin und alle Midraschim ” (rimed), Prague, 
before 1686, 

The first Judeeo-German translation of the Psalms 
was that of Elijah Levita (Venice, 1545; Zurich, 1558, 
ctc.); it was arranged in the order of the psalms said 
on each day of the week. A rimed 3 oSan by 
Moses Stendal appeared at Cracow in 1586, Prov- 
erbs was translated by Mordecai ben (Isaac) Jacob 
Toéplitz, Cracow, 1582 (a version also appeared at 
Amsterdam, 1735); and Job by the same (?), Prague, 
1597. <A translation of Kings appeared at Cracow 
in 1588 (Neubauer, in “Rev. Etudes Juives,” v. 
144); one of Esther, 7b. 1596; and one of Daniel, 
“3 Sy in teutscher Sprach hiibsch und bescheid- 
lich, gar kurzweilig darin zu leien Weiber und Meid- 
lich,” Cracow, 1588. These editions of Cracow came 
from the press of Isaac ben Aaron Prossnitz, whose 
intention it was to publish the whole. Bible in 
Judzo-German in order that “women and children 
might be able to read without the help of a teacher ” 
(Perles, in “ Monatsschrift,” xxv. 853). 

The first complete Bible in Judzeo-German was 
that of Isaac Blitz, Amsterdam, 1676-78. It was 
for the use of the Polish Jews who had fled thither 

a few years previously because of the 


Isaac Choiielnicki persecutions. It must 
Blitz’s have been the intention of the transla- 
Bible. tor to push its sale in Poland also; for 


letters patent were granted for it by 
John Sobieski III. This translation exercised very 
little influence, as the Judeo-German in which it 


Bible Translations 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


192 





was written contained many Dutch words and ex- 
pressions (Wiener, “ Yiddish Literature,” p. 19). A 
second translation, in opposition to that of Blitz, 
was published in Amsterdam in 1679 by Joseph 
Witzenhausen, formerly a compositor in the employ 
of Uri Phoebus, the printer of the former edition. 
Witzenhausen was able to secure the approbation of 
the Council of the Four Lands, and his attempt to 
make the Athias edition supersede that of Phoebus 
occasioned much bad blood (see Joseph ATHIAS). 
A second edition of this last translation was pub- 
lished at Amsterdam in 1687, and a third, in German 
characters, at Wandsbeck in 1711. A third transla- 
tion, by Stissman Rédelheim and Menahem Man Levi, 
under the title AMID ws, appeared at Amsterdam 
in 1725-29. At the same place in 1735 there was 
published an edition of Proverbs (“Cat. Rosenthal. 
Bibl.” i. 207). It was more than one hundred years 
before another complete German translation was 
published, namely, at Prague, 1833-37; but this was 
of a composite character, as its editor, W. Meyer, 
made use of various translations (in general, com- 
pare Griinbaum, “Jiidisch-Deutsche Chrestoma- 
thie,” Leipsic, 1882). 

The growing acquaintance of the Jews with Ger- 
man literature soon produced a marked discontent 
with these Judseo-German translations. This dis- 
content was voiced by the rabbis of Berlin, Mecklen- 
burg, and Courland (Zunz, “G. V.” 2d ed., p. 467). 
To meet, this want Mendelssohn stepped into the 


breach; and his translation of the 

German  Pentateuch is worthy of more thana 
Transla- passing notice. It had a special im- 
tion— portance in that it not only aroused an 
Mendels- esthetic interest in literature on the 
sohn. part of those who read it, but also 


paved the way for a more general use 
of High German among the Jews of Germany, among 
whom it may be said to have introduced a new lit- 
erary era (Kayserling, “ Moses Mendelssohn,” p. 286; 
“Literaturblatt des Orients,” 1840, p. 820; Auer- 
bach, in “Zeitschrift fir Gesch. der Juden in 
Deutschland,” i. 25; Wogue, “ Hist. de la Bible et 
de l’Exégése,” p. 329). Mendelssohn undertook the 
work for the instruction of his own children; but 
upon the advice of Solomon Dubno, consented to 
its publication on condition that Dubno should 
write a commentary explaining the reasons why 
‘Mendelssohn chose his various renderings. <A spec- 
imen, “‘Alim 1li-Trufah,” was edited by Dubno 
(Amsterdam, 1778), and aroused the liveliest inter- 
est on the part of Christians as well as of Jews. It 
was natural that it should also evoke strenuous op- 
position, especially on the part of those Jews who 
feared that the reading of High German would cause 
the Jewish youth to neglect their Hebrew studies. 
Foremost in this opposition were the rabbis Eze- 
kiel Landau (d. 1798) of Prague, Raphael ha-Kohen 
(1722-1803), of Hamburg, Altona, and Wandsbeck, 
Hirsch Janow (1750-85) of Firth, and Phineas Levi 
Horwitz (1740-1803) of Frankfort-on-the- Main. 

In June, 1799, the proposed translation was put 
under the ban at Firth. It was also forbidden in 
some cities of Poland, and is said even to have been 
publicly burned. An additional ban was laid upon 
it by Raphael ha-Kohen (July 17, 1781; see Gritz, 


“Gesch. der Juden,” xi. 585, note 1). Work on 
it was, however, continued with the assistance of 
Solomon Dubno, Hertz Homberg, and Aaron Jaro- 
slav. Dubno became frightened at the continued 
opposition, and retired, forcing Mendelssohn himself 
to do an additional share of the work. Though the 
translation was in High German, it was printed in 
Hebrew characters under the title obwn Mans ‘D, 
with a Hebrew commentary or “biur,” the com- 
mentaries of Rashi, etc., and an introduction by 
Naphtali Hertz Wessely. It appeared in parts— 
Genesis, Berlin, 1780; Exodus, 2. 1781; Leviticus, 
ib. 1782; Numbers and Deuteronomy, 2d, 1783—and 
has often been republished both in German and in 
Hebrew characters. 

An attempt was made in Mendelssohn’s time to 
issue an edition in German characters; but the Ger- 
man Jews at that time looked upon the work as so 
exceptionally strange that its publication had to be 
suspended (Bernfeld, “Juden im 19 Jahrhundert,” 
p. 9). Mendelssohn also published (Berlin, 1783) a 
translation of the Psalms (which, however, follows 
closely that of Luther ; “ Literaturblatt des Orients,” 
1840, p. 820) and one of the Song of Solomon (2d, 
1788). These translations attempted a conscientious 
reproduction of the text, and sought to make the 
pathos of the original felt in the German; and they 
were followed by a large school of translators (see 
Brurists). C. E. J. Bunsen (“ Volistindiges Bibel- 
werk,” I. xvii.) calls these and similar translations 
“Synagogenbibeln.” He says “they do not speak 
in the historical German language, but in the He- 
breo-rabbinical Judzeo-German ”; a verdict which {s 
wholly one-sided, if one excepts the proper names, 
where an attempt was made to reproduce the He- 
brew originals (“ Monatsschrift,” ix. 156). 

Only a few of Mendelssohn’s followers can be 
mentioned here. His translation of the Song of Sol- 
omon was published after his death by Joel Léwe 
and Aaron Wolfson. The first of these also pub- 
lished a translation of Jonah (Berlin, 1788); while 
the second translated Lamentations, Esther, and 
Ruth (Berlin, 1788), Job (26. 1788; Prague, 1791; 
Vienna, 1806), and Kings (Breslau, 1809). Isaac 
Euchel translated Proverbs (Berlin, 1790; Dessau, 
1804), introducing, however, philosophical expres- 
sions into the text, thereby often clouding the mean- 
ing. David Friedlinder, who translated Ecclesiastes 
(in German characters, Berlin, 1788), wrote in a bel- 
letristic style. Meir Obernik translated Joshua, 
Judges, and Samuel, and, together with Samuel 
Detmold, the Second Book of Samuel (RWINh ANI), 
Vienna, 1792). M. Philippson, Joseph Wolf, Gott- 
hold Salomon, Israel Neumann, and J. L6we were the 
translators of the Minor Prophets published in Des- 
sau, 1805, under the title FAY ANI (stereotyped 
as early as 1837). Wolf also published a translation 
of Daniel (Dessau, 1808); David Ottensosser one of 
Job (Offenbach, 1807), Isaiah (Firth, 1807), and 
Lamentations (26. 1811), and together with 8. J. 
Kohn, of Jeremiah (2, 1810). A translation of 
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekicl, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 
and Chronicles by Ottensosser, Kohn, and Schwa- 
bacher appeared at Fiirth, 1807-23. Isaiah was 
also translated by Isaiah Hochstetter (Winter and 
Wiinsche, “Die Jiidische Litteratur,” iii. 744), Jere- 


193 





tiiah by Heinemann (Berlin, 1842), Job by Beer 
Blumenfeld (Vienna, 1826), and Psalms by Shalom 
Kohn (Hamburg, 1827), The period of the Men- 
delssohnian biurists may be fittingly said to end with 
the Bible published by Moses Landau (20 parts, 
Prague, 1833-37, mentioned above. Of this work 
the translations of the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Five 
Scrolls were those of Mendelssohn; the translations 
of the other books were contributed by Moses Lan- 
dau, J. Weisse, S. Sachs, A. Benisch, and W. Mayer; 
and the Minor Prophets were reprinted from the 
edition of Dessau, 1805 (Steinsclineider, “ Cat. Bodl.” 
No. 972). It may also be added here that an edition 
of Proverbs, Job, and the Five Scrolls, with transla- 
tions by Obernik. Euchel, Wolfson, Mendelssohn, 
and Friedlinder, had already appeared at Vienna in 
1817-18; and in Flebrew characters at Basel in 
1822-27. 

The translation of Mendelssohn threatened to be- 
come canonical: but the German Jews had tasted of 
modern learning; and toward the latter end of the 
first half of the nineteenth century various individ- 
ual attempts were made to provide better transla- 
tions for the general public, which should reflect the 

progress then already made in Biblical 


Other science. The first in the field was 
German Joseph Johlson (Asher ben Joseph of 
Versions. Fulda), whoseattempt, though worthy 


of notice here, was not successful, not- 
withstanding the fact that the text was accom panied 
by learned philological notes (Minor Prophets, 
Carlsruhe, 1827; Pentateuch, 2d. 1881; the historical 
pooks, 7). 1836). Bunsen (/.¢c. p. xvii.) even declares 
his work to be “ geistreich und scharfsinnig ” (coim- 
pare Geiger'’s “Zeitschrift,” 1836, p. 442; 1887, p. 
121). Mention may also be made of A. A. Wolff’s 
double translation (word for word and metrical) of 
Habakkuk; Phoebus Philippsohn’s “ Hosea, Joel, 
Jonah, Obadiah und Nahum in Metrisch-Deutscher 
Uebersetzung,” Halle, 1827; A. Rebenstein’s (Bern- 
stein’s) sentimental translation of the Song of Solo- 
mon (Berlin, 1834; compare “JLiteraturblatt des 
Orients,” 1840, p. 824); 8. H. Auerbach’s Ecclesi- 
astes (Breslau, 1837), into which he reads his own 
philosophy; and Michael Sachs’s Psalms (Berlin, 
1835). The last was a clear protest against previous 
attempts, which reflected too much the individuality 
of the translators. Sachs tried to give “a purely 
scientific and philological” rendering of the origi- 
nal, taking Rickert as his guide, whose translation 
of Ps. lx viii. he inserted bodily (see Zunz, in Geiger’s 
“Wiss. Zeit. Jiid. Theol.” ii. 499, and in “G. 8.” iii. 
116, who characterizes the work as “somewhat stiff 
andawkward”). It wasreprinted in the edition of the 
Prophets and the Hagiographa mbar 371, Furth, 
1842-47 (Zedner, “Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus.” p. 
119), and was revised for Zunz’s Bible (“* Monats- 
schrift,” xxxviii. 507). This protest was carried to 
excess by Gotthold Salomon, who, in addition to his 
work on the Dessau edition of the Minor Propliets 
{see above), translated the Pentateuch (Krotoschin, 
1848-49; see the criticism of Hess in “ Allg. Zeit. des 
Jud.” 1839, p. 80, and of L. Skreinka in “ Litera- 
turblatt des Orients,” 1840, pp. 468 ef seq.). The 
translations of Job (Glogau, 1886) and of the Penta- 
teuch (75. 1840) by Heimann Arnheim, though in 

Iil.—13 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Translations 





Hebrew characters and intended chiefly for use as 
part of the ritual, show good judgment and philo- 
logical schooling (“ Literaturblatt des Orients,” 1840, 
p. 641). Only a mere mention can be made of I. 
Herzberg’s Ecclesiastes (Brunswick, 18388; see Zunz, 
in Jost’s “Annalen,” 1889, p. 102) and of L. H. 
Léwenstein’s metrical translation of Proverbs and 
Lamentations (Frankfort - on-the-Main, 1887-88), 
Gotthold Salomon’s “Deutsche Volks- und Schul- 
Bibel” (Altona, 1887) was the first translation of the 
entire Old Testament in German characters made by 
aJew. It was stereotyped and was intended to be 
sold so cheaply that every one could afford to buy 
it (see the correspondence in Jost’s “ Annalen,” 1889, 
Nos. 12 ef seq.). 

More important was the attempt made by L. Zunz 
to provide a Bible for school and home. As editor, 
he translated only the books of Chronicles, the rest 
of the work being done by H. Arnheim, Julius 
Fiirst, and M. Sachs (Berlin, 1888). Zunz succeeded 
in a large measure in producing a 
translation which, while it kept strictly 
to the Masoretic text, was abreast of 
the scholarship of his day and free 
from the circumlocutions and idiotisms of previous 
translators, though it still preserved the translitera- 
tion of the Hebrew names (Nestle, “ Bibel-Ceberset- 
zungen,” p. 142). Mendelssohn had translated nei- 
ther Prophets nor Hagiogywapha,; and it is therefore no 
wonder that the Zunz Bible passed through at least 
six editions up to 1855 and twelve up to 1889 (see 
Rosin, in “ Monatsschrift,” xxxviii. 512). Only a few 
years later another popular translation was produced 
by Solomon Herxheimer (Berlin, 1841-48; 38d ed. of 
the Pentateuch, 1865), to which an explanatory and 
homiletic commentary was added. Though evidently 
meant to take the place of Mendelssohn’s biur, Herx- 
heimer expressly states that his work was done “for 
Jews and Christians” (Jost’s “ Annalen,” 18389, pp. 
312 et seq.; “Literaturblatt des Orients,” 1840, p. 
518). 

A still more ambitious attempt was that of Lud- 
wig Philippson. He translated the text anew, aim- 
ing to include the latest assured results of criticism 
and to produce what in every sense might be called 
a family Bible. For this reason for the first time 
illustrations were added, together with introductions 
and an extensive commentary intended for the intel- 
ligent layman. This work occupied Philippson for 
eighteen years, and was published at Leipsic, 1839- 
56; 2d ed., 1858-59; 38d ed., 1862. His transla- 
tion was then published, together with the Doré 
illustrations, by the Israelitische Bibel-Anstalt, re- 
vised by W. Landau and 8. I. Kimpf (Stuttgart, 
1875). Of this translation separate editions of the 
Pentateuch, the Psalms, and of the Pentateuch to- 
gether with Isaiah, were published (see M. Philipp- 
son, in “Rev. Etudes Juives,” xlii. 30). But even 
the slight concessions made in these translations to 
the modern exegetical spirit gave offense in some 
quarters; a. rival Bible-house, the Orthodoxe Israe- 
littsche Bibel-Anstalt, was established, which, on the 
basis of J. Z. Mecklenburg’s “Ha-Ketab we-ha- 
Kabbalah” (Leipsic, 1839), produced a translation 
of the Bible strictly on the lines of Jewish traditional 
exegesis (7d. 1865). The Pentateuch translation by 


ZuUnz’s 
Bible. 


Bible Translations 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA — 


194 





J. Kosmann (Konigsberg, 1847-52) had a similar end 
in view. Still further in this direction, and in 
evident protest against modern Christian radical 
exegesis, which he entirely ignores, went Samuel 
Raphael Hirsch. In his translation of the Penta- 
teuch (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1867; 38d ed., 1899) 
and of the Psalms (1882), as well as in the transla- 
tion of the Minor Prophets by his son, M. Hirsch (¢. 
1900), a return is seen to the “derash,” from which 
the whole school of Mendelssohn and his followers 
had tried to free themselves (see “Zeit. fiir Heb. 
Bibl.” v. 78). Of L. J. Mandelstamin’s * Die Bibel} 
Neu Uebersetzt,” partly with the assistance of M. 
Kirchstein, only Genesis and the Song of Solomon 
seem to have appeared (Berlin, 1862-64). In 1901 a 
new translation by 8. Bernfeld was commenced. 
It keeps strictly to the Masorah and preserves the 
Hebrew form of the proper names. 

During all this time many translations of individ- 
ual books appeared, of which the following is a 
partial list, cited under the names of their respective 
authors: 


Jsrae] ben Abraham, Job, in Hebrew characters, Prague, 1791. 

Shalom Kohn, Psalms, Hamburg, 1827. 

Mendel Stern, Proverbs, in Hebrew characters, Presburg, 1833. 

J. Wolfson, “Das Buch Hiob. ... Neu Uebersetzt.. .,” 
Breslau-Leipsic, 1845. 

E. J. Bliicher, ** Ruth, mit Deutscher Uebersetzung,”’ Lem- 
berg, 1843. 

M. TOwenthal, “SaVN . . 
fort-on-the-Main, 1846. 

** Das Hohe Lied . . . Neue Deutsche Uebersetzung,”’ Vienna, 
1847. 

Samuel Aschkenazi, 71)25n AND ‘D (Song of Solomon, in He- 
brew characters), Presburg, 1847. 

39 °D7T NDWIN (A new translation of the Pentateuch, in He- 
brew characters), Kénigsberg, 1858. 

‘** Odiosus,’’ ‘‘Das Buch Ijob im Engeren Anschluss an den 
Mass. Urtext” (see ** Hebr. Bibl.” vi. 101). 

8. Horwitz, ‘*“Das Hohe-Lied, das Aelteste Dramatische 
Gedicht,”’ Vienna, 1863 (see ib. vi. 62). 

Adolph Brecher, ** Die Psalmen Nebst Uebersetzung,’’ Vienna, 
1864. 

Israel Schwarz, *‘Tikwat Enosh” (Job, in German eharac- 
ters), Berlin, 1868. 

Singer, Maleachi, 1868. 

Benjamin Hollander, Das Hohelied, Budapest, 1871. 

Hermann Tietz, Das Hohelied, 1871. 

M. Levin, noap ’d (with Judseo-German translation), Odessa, 
1873. 

H. Gritz, “ Krit. Commentar zu den Psalmen, Nebst... 
Uebersetzung,’’ Breslau, 1882 (compare his Kohelet, 1871, and 
Song of Songs, 1871). 

S. I. Kampf, Das Hohelied, Prague, 1877; 3d ed., 1884. 

K. Kohler, Das Hohelied, Chicago, 1878. 

Hermann Tietz, “Das Buch der Elegien Metrisch Uebersetzt.”’ 
Schrimm, 1881. 

J. Landsberger, Das Buch Hiob, Darmstadt, 1882. 

D. Leimdoérfer, ‘‘ Kohelet ... Nebst Uebersetzung,”’ Ham- 
burg, 1892, 

Hermau Rosenthal, ‘‘Worte des Sammlers (Kohelet) .. . in 
Deutsche Reime Gebracht,’” New York, 1885; 2d ed., 1893. Ident, 
**Das Lied der Lieder, in Neue Deutsche Reime Gebracht,”’ 
New York, 1893. 

M. Jastrow, ‘‘Der Neunzigste Psalm; Uebersetzt,’’ Leipsic, 
1893. 

Salemon Plessner (transl. of Nahum, in his ‘ Biblisches und 
Rabbinisches,”’ pp. 29 et seq.), Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1897. 


. Nebst Cebersetzung ...,°° Frank- 


It was not before the forties of the nineteenth cen- 
tury that the desire made itself really felt among the 
English Jews for a Bible translation of their own 
in the vernacular, though David Levi had in 1787 
(London) produced an English version of the Pen- 
tateuch (Steinschneider, “Cat. Bodl.” No. 926). 
Wherever an English Bible was needed by them, 


they had freely used the King James Version; as is 
seen in the Pentateuch (including Haftarot and 
Scrolls) which was published in London, 1824, under 
the title DEI pn. But the impropriety of the 
use of this version, with its Christian headings and 
its Messianic interpretations, did in the end impress 

itself upon the English Jews (see, for 


English example, 8S. Bennett, “Critical Re- 
Trans- marks on the Authorized Version,” 
lation. London, 1884; Seelig Newman, 


“Emendations of the Authorized Ver- 
sion of the O. T.” London, 1889; Benjamin Marcus, 
“pyr 1p (Fountain of Life): Mistranslations and 
Difficult Passages of the O. T. Corrected and Ex- 
plained,” Dublin, 1854). 

The veneration for this masterpiece of English lit- 
erature had impressed itself upon the Jews also. 
When the Revised Version was published (May 17, 
1881) it was eagerly seized upon as being much more 
suitable for Jewish readers, since in it the headings 
had been removed and the Christology of many pa- 
sages toned down. The Revised Version is used as 
a basis for such books as C. G. Montefiore’s “ Bible 
for Home Reading,” London, 1896, 1901. That the 
revision is not complete from the Jewish point of 
view can be seen from the leaflet issued by the Jew- 
ish Religious Education Board, “ Appendix to the 
Revised Version ” (London, 1896), which sets forth 
the “alterations deemed necessary with a view to 
placing the Revised Version in the hands of mem- 
bers of the Jewish faith.” These alterations were 
limited to the following sets of cases: viz., “where 
the R. V. departs from the Masoretic text,” and 
“where the R. V. is opposed to Jewish traditional 
interpretation or dogmatic teaching.” Isa, li. 13- 
iii. 12 is there reprinted in full. 

The first to attempt to produce an independent 
Jewish translation was D. A. de Sola of London, who 
in 1840 issued a “ Prospectus of a New Edition of the 
Sacred Scriptures, with Notes Critical and Explana- 
tory.” Morris J. Raphall and J. L. Lindenthal were 
associated with him in the work. Only one volume, 
Genesis, appeared (London, 1841; 2d ed., 1848). 
Of a similar attempt by 8S. Bennett, “The Hebrew 
and English Holy Bible.” only Gen. i.-xli. appeared 
(1841); though in the same year Francis Barham 
published “The Hebrew and English Holy Bible,” 
which contained Bennett’s revision of the English 
and a revision of the Hebrew by H. A. Henry. An- 
other translation was published by A. Benisch, 
“Jewish School and Family Bible” (1851-56); and 
still another by M. Friedlander, “yspnm ‘ans, The 
Jewish Family Bible” (1884). This last has had the 
sanction of the chief rabbi of the British Jews. A. 
Eizas bas published translations of Proverbs (Leeds 
and London, 1871), Job (1872), Hosea and Joel (1873), 
in an attempt “to put the English reader, at least in 
some degree, in the position of one able to read the 
Hebrew text.” None of these versions, however, 
can be said to have replaced either the Authorized 
or the Revised Version in the esteem of the Jewish 
Bible-reading public. 

In the United States the same feeling as in Eng- 
land had been engendered against the headings of 
the Authorized Version. Isaac Leeser attempted to 
rectify this and at the same time so to translate 


195 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Translations 





the Bible as to make it represent the best results 
of modern study. The Prophets, Psalms, and Job 
are practically new versions. In the 


The other parts, the Authorized Version is 
United very closely followed; and though in 
States. most cases the changes Leeser made 


bring the translation nearer to the 
Masoretic text, the beauty of the English was 
often sacrificed. A quarto edition was published in 
1854, and a duodecimo edition in 1856. Despite its 
insufficiencies, the smaller edition has had a wide 
circulation, due especially to the development of 
Jewish religious school instruction in the United 
States, The inadequacy of Leeser’s translation has, 
however, been felt; and the Jewish Publication So- 
ciety of America in 1898 tock in hand the prepara- 
tion of a complete revision. This is now (1902) 
being made by a number of scholars, with M. Jas- 
trow, Sr., as editor-in-chief, and Ix. Kohler and F. 
de Sola Mendes as associate editors (see Reports of 
the Jewish Publication Society of America, 1898 e¢ 
geq.). 

Nowhere in Europe is the history of the transla- 
tion of the Bible into the vernacular so interesting 
as it is in Spain. ‘Translations were here made as 
early as the thirteenth century, despite the fact that 
in 1234 Jaime I., by means of secular 
legislation, prohibited their use (Lea, 
“History of the Inquisition in the 
Middle Ages,” i. 824). As Berger has 
shown, the carliest Castilian renderings, even when 
made by Christians, stand much closer to the He- 
brew original than do those of any other country. 
This seems to have been due to the early and intense 
influence of the Jews in the peninsula and to the Ori- 
ental] coloring of its whole culture. This similarity 
is seen even in the outward form. The Spanish 
translations follow the Hebrew division of the Bible 
into three great parts; and it is significant that the 
first polyglot (Complutensian) saw the light of day 
in Spain. In the production of these translations 
both Jews and converts took a laudable part. One 
of the earliest of such Castilian translations is found 
in the Aragonese MS. i. j, 8 in the Escurial Library, 
Madrid. The Psalms in this manuscript are dis- 
tinctly said to be the translation “que fizo Herman 
el Aleman, segund cnemoesta en cl ebraygo.” Her- 
man must undoubtedly have known Hebrew, though 
Berger thinks that he made use of Jerome’s “ Psalte- 
rium Hebraicum ” and not of the “ Psalterium Galli- 
cum.” This Herman the German is the well-known 
Latin translator of Aristotle, and lived between 1240 
and 1256, 

In the fifteenth century several revisions of these 
older translations were made, but always according 
to the Hebrew text. Such a revision is represented 
by MSS. i. j, 5 and i. j, 3 in the Escurial and MS. 
CXXiv. 1. 2 (dated 1429) in the Library of Evora. In 
a number of places these translations ostentatiously 
follow the Hebrew original and ran counter to the 
usual Church tradition. MS. i. j, 3 of the Eseurtal 
is richly illuminated with miniatures, which may 
perhaps have been the work of Hebrew miniaturists. 
In this manuscript not only is the order of. the books 
in the Canon the same as in the Hebrew, but the 
Pentateuch is divided into sections which agree with 


Spanish 
Versions. 


the parashiyot and sedarim. The proper names also 
follow the Hebrew and not the ordinary Latin ver- 
sion. Berger thinks that this manuscript may be 
the work of the baptized Jew, Juan Alfonso de 
Buena, who was in the service of Jaime II. (1416~ 
54). An additional interest attaches to these revi- 
sions, as they formed the basis for the Spanish of 
the Constantinople Pentateuch of 1547 anid for the 
Ferrara Bible; the Ferrara Bible, in its turn, was the 
basis for the Protestant Bible translation by Cassi- 
doro de Reina (1569); for the revision by Cyprian de 
Valera (1602), the “ Psalterio de David Conforme a 
la Verdad Hebraica” (Lyons, 1550), and the Psalter 
of Juan Perez (Venice, 1557; see Samuel Berger, in 
* Romania,” xx viil.). 

A still further revision, again upon the basis of 
the Hebrew, was made by Rabbi Moses ARRAGEL 
(1430) for Don Luis de Guzman, master of the Order 
of Calatrava. According to Berger, this revision 
was made on MS. Escurial i. j, 8. It is provided 
with a commentary, and profusely illustrated, per- 
haps by Jewish artists. A manuscript of the Proph- 
ets, in two languages, in the library of the Academy 
of History in Lisbon follows Arragel’s translation so 
closely that it may possibly represent the first at- 
tempt of Arragel. 

This Castilian translation (or revision) was carried 
by the Spanish exiles into Italy and Turkey. It 
also became the Bible of the Spanish Jews in the 
Netherlands. It appears first in Hebrew characters 
in the Polyglot Pentateuch (Hebrew, Onkelos, Rashi, 
Neo-Greek, and Spanish), published at Constanti- 
nople by Eliezer Bekor Gerson Soncino (see Belleli, 
in “Rev. Etudes Juives,” xxii. 250; Grinbaum, 
“ Jiid.-Span. Chrestomathie,” p. 6). The Neo-Greek: 
represents a different translation from that of the 
Spanish. . From this polyglot it found its way into 
the celebrated Ferrara Bible of 1558, which bears the 
title “ Biblia en Lengua Espafiola, Traduzida Palabra 
por Palabra de Ja Verdad Hebrayca por Muy Excel- 
lentes Letrados, Vista y Examinada por el Oficio de 
la Inquisicion. Con Privilegio del Ylustrissimo 
Sefior Duque de Ferrara.” Two editions seem to 
have been published; one, for Jews, signed by Abra- 
ham Usque; the other. for Christians, signed by 
Jerome of Vargas (De los Rios, “ Juifs d’ Espagne,” 
p. 482). 

De los Rios (2.c. p. 486) thinks that the author of 
*Retratos o Tablas de las Historias del Testamento 
Viejo,” Lyons, 1548, a popular exposition of the 
Bible, was a Marano; but this does not seem to have 
been proved. 

The Ferrara Bible of 1553 became the basis for the 
Spanish and Ladino translations which were pub- 
lished at Salonica and Amsterdam. This is seen 
also in the title, which usually runs “ Biblia en Len- 
gua Espafiola, Traduzida Palabra por Palabra de la. 
Verdad Hebraycea.” This is also true of the “por 
DW) APAINAN swebyn con Ladino y Agora Nos a 
Parecedo Comenzar de los BUIGX Dw'),” etc., 
published by Joseph b. Isaac b. Joseph Jabez in 
1568, as Kayserling (/.¢. p. 28) has clearly shown. 
In Amsterdani the translation remained substantially 
the same, though it was often revised (“reformada ”): 
1611; 1630 and 1646, Gillis Joost; corrected by Sam- 
uel de Caceres and printed by Joseph Athias (1661); 


Bible Translations 
Biblical Ethnology 


corrected by Isaac de Abraham Dias and printed by 
David Fernandes (1726): “con las annotaciones de 
Or Torah,” Proops, 1762. This translation also ap- 
peared in Venice, 1780; Constantinople, 1739-43; 
idem, 1745; Vienna (ed. by Israel Bahor Haim and 
Aaron Pollak), 1818-16; and Smyrna, 1888. A 
Ladino translation, in Rashi script, was published at 
Vienna, 1841 (2d ed., 1853), by W. S. Schauffler for 
the American Bible Society (see Twenty-sixth An. 
nual Report of the society, 1842, p. 120). Accord- 
ing to Griinbauin, it bears many points of resem- 
blance to the Pentateuch of 1547 and to the Ferrara 
Bible. 

Various portions of this translation appeared sep- 
arately, an edition of the Pentatcuch appearing in 
the same year (1553) and at Ferrara. To this may 
be added the following: 

**Humas de Parasioth y Aftharoth,”’ ed. Manasseh ben Israel, 
Amsterdam, 1627; ed. Ymanuel Benveniste, (4. 1643; another 
edition was published by Manasseh himself, i. 1655 (though he 
says of it, “Obra nueva y de mucha utilidad”’); “ Parafrasis 
Comentada sobre el Pentateucho,” ed. Isaac da Fonseca Abuah, 
ib. 1681; * Cinco Libros de la Ley Divina . . . de Nuevo Corrigi- 
dos,” by David Tartas, th, 1691; ‘Los Cinco Libros . . . Inter- 
mretados en Lengua Espafiola,” ed. Joseph Franeo Serrano, ib. 
"1695; 1705 and 1724 (Isaac de Cordova); ‘Cinco Libros,”’ cor- 
rected by David de Elisha Pereyra, ib. 1183; °*El Libro de la 
Ley,’ published in Constantinople in 1873, is, according to 
Grimbaum (1.¢. 12), a different translation. 

The Psalms were reprinted: Ferrara, 1553; Salo- 
‘nica, 1582; Aimsterdam, 1628, 1780; Vienna, 1822; 
‘Constantinople, 1886. Several other translations of 
the Psalins were produced during the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries. David Abenatar Melo, a 
Marano who escaped the Inguisition at Madrid and 
‘became a Jew again in 1611, published in 1626 (“ En 
Franquaforte”) “Los Ci Psalmos de David, en 
Lengua Espafiola, en Varias Rimnas.” In these 
‘Psalms he has inserted, when appropriate, an ac- 
count of his own and his people’s sufferings (De los 
Rios, /.c. pp. 468 et seqg.; Kayscrling, “ Bibl. Esp.- 
Port.-Jud.” pp. 67, 68). A prose translation was 
made by Ephraim Bueno and Jonah Abravanel 
(Amsterdam, 1650; 2d edition, 1723; see Delos Rios, 
Zc. p. 498), <A third translation was made by Jacob 
Judah Leon Templo (nsdn wap, “Las Alabancas 
de Santidad,” Amsterdam, 1671)—a verbatim prose 
translation of the original (De los Rios, tc. p. 570; 
Kayserling, é.¢. p. 58). 

Of all the Biblical books, Canticles was most fre- 
quently reprinted. <A translation was published In 
Hamburg, 1631, by David Cohen Carlos “de len- 
gua Caldayca”; but the favorite rendering was that 
of Abraham de Isaac Lafiado, published in Hebrew 
characters at Venice, 1619, 1654, 1655, 1672, 1716, 
1721, 1739, 1805; Leghorn, 1769, 1787; Vienna, 
1820, The Venice edition was published in Roman 
characters by Moses Belmonte, Amsterdam, 1644, 
and was reprinted at Amsterdam, 1664, 1683, 1701, 
1712, 1724, and 1766. An edition of the Megillot 
appeared at Constantinople in 1813 (see Kayserling, 
i.c. p. 80); a Megillah in Spanish, dating from the 
early part of the eighteenth century, exists in the 
British Museum (“Jewish Chron.” March 21, 1902, 
p. 24); but the provenience of the translation is un- 
known (on such Megillot see Abrahams, “Jewish 
Life in the Middle Ages,” p. 845). A Portuguese 
translation of the Psalms, under the title “ Espejo 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





196 





Fiel de Vidas,” by Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna, ap- 
peared in London, 1720 (IKayserling, é.¢. p. 58). 
Both Zunz (“G. V.” 2d ed.. p. 457) and Gitidemann 
(“ Erziehungswesen in Italien,” p. 206) refer to early 
translations of the Bible into Italian; the latter even 
speaks of their existence in the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries. Steinschneider has shown (“ Mo- 
natsschrift,” xi. 117) that thisisanerror. Itis true 
that some of the authorities (such as Zedekiah ben 
Abraham and Isaiah de Trani, the younger) laid 
stress upon the necessity of translating the Bible into 
the speech of the country; but Judah ‘Azahel del 
Bene (Ferrara, ¢. 1650) advised against the practise 
of teaching girls Italian, as he feared they would 
conceive a love for amorous poetry (Vogelstein and 
Rieger, “Juden in Rom,” it. 800). 1t was not before 
the sixteenth century that attempts were made to 
produce versions of portions of the Bible in Italian. 
Steinschneider (Z.c. p. 818) has given a list of the 
existing manuscript translations. It was toward the 
end of that century that the first translations were 
published. David de Pomis (died after 1598) brought 
out an edition of Ecclesiastes with Italian translation 
at Venice in 1571. It was dedicated to Cardinal Gri- 
mani of Aquileja (Steinschneider, “Cat. Bodl.” No. 


218). He also translated Job and Psalms, but never 
published them (“ Monatsschrift, ” x lili. 

Italian 32). Hezekiah Rieti published (Ven- 
Versions. ice, 1617) the text of Proverbs with 
Italian translation (“Cat. Bod.” No. 

418): but no reliable account can be found of a 


translation of Job (Rome, 1778) mentioned by 
ZuUnz. 

The translations made in the nincteenth century 
were all more or less under the influence of Men- 
delssohn’s biur. In 1818 I. 8. Reggio published at 
Vienna, as a specimen, ten verses of Genesis. He 
then brought out the whole Pentateuch (MIN (Db 
ody “colla Traduzione Italiana”), Vienna, 1821; 
and ten years later “I Libro d’Isaia, Versione Po- 
etica” (Udine, 1831). Severe criticism was passed 
upon this version, because it seemed to weaken the 
force of many of the Messianic prophecies (see, First, 
“Bibl. Jud.” iii. 140). In 1844 there appeared at 
Leghorn (nyoyn won) an Italian translation of Job 
(First, “Bibl. Jud.” ii. 282, says it is by Luzzatto); 
and in 1872 a “Pentateuch, rev. von Letteris, mit 
Ital. Uebersetzung von Diodati” (Vienna; perhaps 
also London, 1886, 1864). Lelio della Torre of 
Padua translated the Psalms (Vienna, 1845). But 
these were completely overshadowed by the exact 
and careful versions of S. D. Luzzatto, whose poct- 
ical and literary judgment made him an excellent 
stylist (see “Hebr, Bibl.” vi. 99; Elbogen, in “ Mo- 
natsschrift,” xliv. 460). He translated the greater 
part of the Old Testament: Isaiah (“ I! Profeta Isaia 
Volgarizzato”), Padua, 1855-63; Pentateuch, Ro- 
vigo, 1860, Padua, 1876; Prophets, Rovigo, 1868; 
Isaiah, Padua, 1867; Job, Triest, 1858; generally 
witha valuable Hebrew commentary. Other Italian 
translations were produced: by Giuseppe Bayrzilai, 
“El Cantico dei Cantici” (Triest, 1865) in dramatic 
form, following Mandelstamm’s and Horowitz's 
German translations; Lamentations (Trieste, 1867); 
by David Castelli, Ecclesiastes (Pisa, 1866); by Ben- 
jamin Consolo, Lamentations, Job, and Psalms (Flor 


197 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bible Translations 
Biblical Ethnology 





ence’); by Gino Morpurgo, Ecclesiastes (Padua, 
1898), and Esther (1899). 

Translations of the Old Testament into French were 
not made by Jews prior to the first half of the nine- 
teenth century. In 1831 Samuel Cahen began a 
monumental work, “ La Bible, Traduction Nouvelle ” 

(Paris, 1833-46, in 18 volumes), to which 


French were added many essays by Munk, 
Transla- Zunz, Dukes, and others, and also a 
tions. somewhat rationalistic commentary. 


This work was somewhat severely 
criticized (Abbé B. M. B., “Quelques Mots sur la 
Traduction Nouvelle,” etc., Paris, 1835; “ Allg. Zeit. 
des Jud.” 1889, p. 30; “Literaturblatt des Orients,” 
1840, pp. 868 et seg.; Wogue, “ Hist. de la Bible,” p. 
342); but it held the field for many years, A more 
faithful version of the Pentateuch was published in 
1860 by Lazare Wogue. Among other translators 
may be mentioned A. ben Baruch Créhange (Psalms), 
and B. Mossé of Avignon (Psalms). Buta popular 
and cheap Bible in French was sorely needed by the 
French Jews. Such a work has been taken in hand 
by the present chief rabbi of France, Zadok Kahn, 
and the other members of the French rabbinate. 
Wogue’s translation was employed as the basis for 
the Pentateuch. The author himself made the nec- 
essary corrections; and before his death he was able 
to finish the translation of the prophetical books 
down to the First Book ot Kings (vol. 1., Paris, 1899), 
At the same time and under the same auspices, a 
children’s Bible (“Bible de Ja Jeunesse”) is being 
brought out. 

Few translations have been attempted by the 
Dutch Jews into their vernacular: the Spanish and 
Portuguese Jews in Holland made use 


Dutch of Spanish; the Ashkenazic Jews, of 
Transla- the Judswo-German version. The ver- 
tions. sion of the Psalms in Dutch printed 
by Joseph Athias was made by Johann 

Leusden. During the nineteenth century transla- 


tions were made by Samuel J. Mulder (see his “Tets 
overde Vertalingen der Heilige Schrift,” Amsterdam, 
1859): Pentateuch, 1826-42; Major Prophets, 1827; 
Five Scrolls, 18385, 3d ed. 1859; Proverbs, 1836: 
Psalms, 1888; all published in Amsterdam. Tealso 
published a “ Bijbel voor de Isracl. Jeugd,” Leyden, 
1848-54. In 1844 Gabriel J. and M. 8. Polak pub- 
lished a Dutch translation of Job, which was to have 
been followed by a translation of the Prophets and 
the Hagiographa. This seems never to have been 
completed. A translation of Isaiah by G. A. Parsen 
aiso exists; while a new translation of the Penta- 
teuch, ee with Targum and Rashi, was brought 
out by ALS _ Ondervijser 1 in 1901. 

Jewish tr anslations into Russian are of very recent 
date. The writer knows only of L. I. Mandel- 
Sstamm’s Psalms (Berlin, 1864; 8d ed. 1872), Penta- 
teuch (CDN Own py min, 38d ed., Berlin, 1872); 
Aaron Pumpiansky’s Psalms (Warsaw, 1871); 
Cylkow’s Psalms (1883); and a version of Esther in 
German (Hebrew characters) and Russian (Warsaw, 
1889). A Polish translation has been published by 
D. Neufeld. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : See especially Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 
1-198: idem, Jewish Literature, pp. 232 et seq.; Jost, Neuere 
Gesch. der Israeliten, iii. 37, 139, 161; Kayserling, in Winter 
and Winsche, Die Jtidische Literatur, ii. 151 et seq.; Jacobs 


and Wolf, Bibl. Anglo-Jud. pp. 199 et seq.3; Urtert und 
Ucher. xetzungyen. der Bihel, in Real-Eneykt. fiir Protest. 
Theologie und Kirche, vol. iii., Leipsic, 1897 


T. G. 


BIBLEITZY (BIBLISTS), called also Bible- 
iskoe Bratstvo (Bible Brotherhood): Name 
given to a body of religious reformers, organized in 
the spring of 1882among the Jewish working classes 
of Elizabethgrad, South Russia, subsequent to the 
riots against the Jews. The founders of the broth- 
erhood, believing that Talmudism in that region was 
chicfiv to blame for the false accusations of the anti- 
Semitic press, decided to do away with dogmatic 
theology and ail religious ceremonies, including even 
prayer. As one of their leaders, E. Ben Sion, ex- 
pressed their views: “Our morality is our religion. 

. God, the acme of highest reason, of surest. 
truth, and of the most sublime justice, does not de- 
mad any useless external forms and ceremonies. ” 

Several of the members of the new brotherhood 
were among the first of the Russian Jewish immi- 
grants who came to the United States in 1882, and 
who were incorporated into the “First Jewish A gri- 
cultural Colony,” established by H. Rosenthal at 
Sicily Island, near Bayou Louis, Catahoula parish, 
Louisiana. Theair of freedom and cosmopolitanism 
that they found on reaching the United States has 
left them without a legitimate ground for their 
propaganda. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dubnov. Kakaya Samoemansipatziya 

Nuzhna Yeoreyam, in Voskhod, v.-viii., 1883; Morgulis, in 

Ferreiskoe Obozrycnic, v. 1884; E. Ben Sion, Yevrei-Re- 


Me matory, St. Petersburg, 1882 ; Voskhoa, 1882, July-Aug., p. 
; Russki-Vyestnik, Feb., 1883. 
H.R. 


BIBLICAL ETHNOLOGY: The view of race- 
relationship expressed in the Bible. It is customary 
to designate the tenth chapter of Genesis as the old- 
est ethnological division of mankind, LEarlier than 
this, however, the Egyptians, as known from their 
pictorial representations, distinguished between four 
principal types (races) of mankind; viz., the brown 
Egyptians, the negroes (in the south), the light- 
complexioned Libyans (in the west), and the light- 
brown Asiatics (in the east). These races were dis- 
tinguished from one another also by their hair-dress- 
ing ancl their costume. 

It is natural that as soon as a people has a history 
and has, through intercourse with other nations, be- 

come conscious of its individuality, it 
Ethnology should reflect whether it be related to 
in these nations. Jn the earliest times 

Genesis. the Hebrews occupied themselves with 

such questions. A great part of the 
tales of primeval and patriarchal history recorded 
in Genesis is ethnological in its bearing; that is, 
these stories were given to elucidate the question of 
interracial relationship. Therefore the more clearly 
the people of Israel became conscious of their inde- 
pendent position among the nations, the livelier be- 
came their interest in Israel’s special position among 
the nations, and in the questions regarding the origin 
of neighboring peoples. The consciousness of an 


| especial relation to God must necessarily have re- 


acted to strengthen the conviction that their posi- 
tion among the nations must bea very distinguished 
one when regarded also in the light of descent. 


Biblical Ethnology 
Bibliography 





In order to understand what is narrated in these 
accounts of Genesis and of other sources, regarding 
the relation of the several nations and tribes to 
Israel, it is necessary to consider for a moment the 
form in which these statements are always made. 
The relations between the peoples are invariably 
represented in the form of gencalogical tables show- 
ing the descent from remote progenitors. The 
fdomites and the Israclites are the most closely re- 
lated. This is expressed in the form of a statement 
that Esau and Jacob, the progenitors of the two 
peoples, are brothers. The genealogical tables of 
the nations, in Gen, x., reveal at a glance that a 
great number of the names are not used to designate 
persons, but peoples, and even whole lands; as, for 
instance, Cush, Mizraim, Asshur, Aram, ete. The 
relations between these persons must therefore be 
understood as explaining the relations between the 
peoples in question. 

This mode of representing the international rela- 
tion is by no means, however, based upon a poetic 
personification of the tribes. The Hebrew writer 
does not interpret such a form of expression figura- 

tively; on the contrary, it is based by 


Early him upoua definite conception regard- 
Attempts ing the origin of nations, a conception 


at which assumes that the tribes and peo- 
Ethnology. ples are in reality a development of 
the family, and may thus be traced to 
one progenitor. By means of marriages and births 
the family grows to the clan, and the clan to the 
tribe; this again ramifies into various tribes, which, 
under certain conditions, unite to form a people, as 
in the case of the twelve tribes of Israel; or they 
may separate, as did Moab and Ammon, constitu- 
ting two distinct tribes. This theory, again, gocs 
back to the view shared by all Semites, according 
to which blood-relationship alone can constitute a 
strong and permanent bond ina group of people, 
and impose binding obligations. 

The ancient form of genealogy is well adapted for 
the representation nof only of purely ethnological, 
but also of ethnographical. geographical, and histor- 
ical relations. In this regard antiquity makes no 
close discrimination, When, for example, one na- 
tion is to be characterized as more powerful than an- 
other, the former is represented as a first-born son, 
the other as a younger brother; or the former is the 
son of a favorite wife, the other the son of a concu- 
bine. Esau is a hunter; Jacob, a herdsman, a dis- 
tinction serving to characterize the respective peo- 
ples. Similarly, geographical proximity converts 
Sidon and Heth into sons of Canaan. 

The interest of antiquity was naturally directed 
more closely to the neighboring nations with which 
Israel, from the beginning, cultivated close relations. 

To Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the 


Based Arabian tribes, Israel felt closely re- 
on Sym- lated: hence, Edom (Esau) is the 
pathies brother of Jacob; Ishmael, the brother 
and An- of Isaac; and Ammon and Moab are 

tipathies. sonsof Abraham’snephew, Lot. Their 


relationship to the Arameans is also 
close: Jacob’s wives are daughters of the Aramean 
Laban. Thereverse, however, is true of the inhabit- 
ants of the land west of the Jordan, the Canaanites, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOVEDIA 


198 





with whom Isracl will have nothing in common; 
for which reason, according to the old accounts 
of Noah, these tribes are held to belong to an entirely 
different branch of the human family. This is com- 
prehensible in view of the mutual hatred growing: 
out of the historical situation, the conflicts for the 
land, and other opposing elements. The concep- 
tion, however, can not endure before modern inves- 
tivation. It has been shown beyond a doubt that 
the Canaanites, both as regards language and de- 
scent, were very closely related to the Hebrews, and 
that they are to be classed, not among the Llamites, 
but among the Semites. 

With the extension of the political horizon of the 
Israclites, and the continual absorption of new peo- 
ples, these ethnological views were inevitably ex- 
tended. Based upon the ancient accounts of the 
patriarchs, a theory gradually developed, assuming 
a homogeneity and relation between the several peo- 
ples; and itis this theory which has been perpetu- 
ated in Gen. x., the so-called genealogy of the na- 
tions. In connection with the accounts of Noah 
(Gen. ix. 18 e¢ seg.), the whole race of man, which is 
descended from his sons, is divided into three great 
classes; Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In the original 
narrative of Noah the three sons are named Shem, 
Canaan (not Ham), and Japheth. The reason for 
this division into three sons, or three races, is not 
known. The Egyptians, as already stated, distin- 
guished fourraces; nor cana parallel to the Hebrew 
classification be found among the Babylonians. Ac- 
cording to Winckler, the ternary division is probably 
associated with the great importance attached to the 
figure “3” In the old system of cosmography (com- 
pare Stade, “Geschichte Israels,” fi. 275 et seq.). 
Others (¢.g., Stade, 7.1, 109 e¢ seg.), basing their as- 
sumption upon the above statement that Ilam was 
originally called “Canaan,” believe that a purely 
Palestinian triad was meant, consisting of the He- 
brews, Philistines, and Canaanites (Shem, Japheth, 
and Ham), and that this triad was afterward ex- 
tended to incinde all mankind. The most recent 
commentary by Gunkel declares that the ternary 
division indicates the conditions of a very ancient 
pre-Israelitish period, when Canaan, in the widest 
sense of the name—that is, the land between the 
Taurus and Egyvypt—was subjugated from the east by 
nomad Semitic tribes, while at the same time the 
Hittite migrations brought down Japheth from the 
north to spread over the land of Canaan. But this 
is uncertain; and no definite reason has hitherto been 
assigned for the tripartite ethnological division. 

The scope of this genealogical table of the nations 
is, of course, narrow from the modern point of view. 
The nations mentioned in it are the peoples known 
to the Israelites, either through actual contact or by 
report, and grouped principally about the Mediter- 
ranean in Asia Minor and eastern Palestine. In the 
ethnological phraseology of the present they would 
be classed among the Caucasian nations. Even from 
the standpoint of the Israelites, the ethnological list 
given in Genesis has no claim to completeness, inas- 
much as not only the negroes, who were undoubt- 
edly known to the Israelites of a later period, but 
also the Persians are omitted from it. As the last- 
mentioned people were well Known to the post-exilic 


199 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Biblical Ethnology 
Bibluography 





Jews, their omission from the genealogical table is 
perhaps to be explained by the fact that they were 
not numbered among those ancient nations whose 
origin dates from the Flood. 

As regards the division of the individual peoples 
juto these three great classes, the considerations of 
complexion, linguistic differences, historical condi- 
tions, etc., obtaining at the present day were cer- 
tainly not determinative at that time. Indeed, it 
appears that the fundamental distinction was purely 
geographical. To the Japhetic race belonged the 
peoples of the northern zone, of Asia Minor, and of 
the islands and coastlands of the northern Mediter- 
ranean, The Semites dwelt in the middle zone, and 
included the Hebrews and the nations to the east of 
Palestine. The nations in the south were the sons 
of Ham, who lived in northern Africa and southern 
Arabia, and who, as represented by the ancients, 
constituted a homogeneous people. There is only 
one exception to this genealogical arrangement: 
Canaan with his sons, the Phenicians, Hittites, and 
others, dwelt in the middle zone, but were consid- 
ered as belonging to Ham. The reasons for this 
have been given above. 

For details bearing on the foregoing explanation 
of the genealogical tables, see the commentaries on 
Genesis, particularly those of Dillmann. For the 
other data, compare the articles on Ham, JAPHETH, 
RACES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, and SHEM. 

G. I. Be. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The science that deals with 
the description and classification of books. As ap- 
plied to books of Jewish interest, i¢ includes () 
Hebraica, or books written or printed in Hebrew 
characters; and (2) Judaica, or books in other lau- 
guages, written by or about Jews. Strictly speak- 
ing, the whole of Biblical and Apocryphal literature 
and the vast array of commentaries thereon would 
belong to Jewish bibliography; but this is so fully 
treated elsewhere, that Jewish bibliographers as a 
rule have not paid so much attention to it. Even 
with this limitation, the extent of the subject is wide 
enough, a conservative estimate giving 30,000 as the 
number of Hebrew works in existence; and the same 
number of works in modern languages on Jewish 
topics have been published during the past forty 
years alone in the special journals devoted to this 
subject. Any person desiring to keep himself fully 
acquainted with Jewish literature in its wider sense 
would probably have to take account of over 3,000 
(800 Biblical) publications per annum. Many of 
these still remain undescribed; and for others search 
must be made in various quarters. 

The materials from which a description of the ex- 
tent of Jewish literature can be set forth consist, in 

the first instance, of the collections of 
Materials. books and manuscripts made by vari- 

ous Book-COLLECTORS in the past, es- 
pecially of those collections of collections which go 
to make up public LiBrRaArRries. The earliest ac- 
counts of Jewish literature were based in large meas- 
ure upon such collections; as Bartolocci’s on that of 
the Vatican, and Wolf’s on the Oppenheimer collec- 
tion. Later. with the growth of knowledge about 
the extent of the literature, any description of it 
would depend in large measure upon published 


accounts, or CATALOGUES, which have naturally been 
devoted largely to manuscripts. With the growth 
of interest in the bistory of printing in general, spe- 
cial attention began to be paid to the earliest Hebrew 
printed books, especially those printed before 1540, 
and known as INCUNABULA. 

Ifaving in view the fact that the majority of early 
Hebrew printed books were produced in Italy, it is 
not surprising that the earliest account of Hebrew 
literature in its rabbinic phases should have been 
made by an Italian; though it is a matter for some 

surprise to find that he was a Chris- 


Earliest tian. Bartolocci, in his “ Bibliotheca 
Bibli- Magna Rabbinica” (Rome, 1675-94), 
ographies. arranged the books under the names 


of 1,960 rabbis; and his work was sup- 
plemented by Imbonato, whose “ Bibliotheca Latino- 
Hebraica” gives, under 1,819 numbers, 2,166 works 
written tn Latin on rabbinic subjects. These were 
followed by the first Jewish bibliographer, Shab- 
bethai Bass, who, in his “Sifte Yeshenim ” (Amster- 
dam, 1680), mainly used the books of the Bet ha- 
Midrash and the library of Aguilar. Bass adopted 
the method of arranging the books according to their 
titles, giving an index of authors and subjects at the 
end. This plan is specially applicable to Hebrew 
books, the titles of which rarely indicate their con- 
tents (see TITLES OF Books). Bass’s work forms the 
main foundation of Jewish bibliography of Hebrew 
books; his method having been continued and sup- 
plemented by J. Heilprin and Benjacob, whose “ Ozar 
ha-Sefarim” is the most complete title-list of He- 
brew booksin existence, §. Wiener, in his elaborate 
catalogue of the Friedland collection at the Asiatic 
Museum, St. Petersburg, also adopts the title-list as 
the most suitable in dealing with Hebrew books. 
These attempts of Bartolocci and Bass were, how- 
ever, entirely superseded by the great work of John 
Christian Wolf, whoin his “Bibliotheca Hebrsea ” (4 
parts, Hamburg, 1715-83) brought together almost 
all the accessible information relating to Jewish 
authors and their works, as well as to 
J.C. Wolf. the writings of Christians on Jewish 
subjects. The first part gives a cata- 
logue of authors with the names in Hebrew, which 
leads at times to somewhat curious results; the 
second is more of a subject classification of the whole 
of early Jewish literature, including a fair account 
of the Talmud and of the Targumim, from which 
later writers have frequently drawn; and the re- 
Inaiping two parts are supplements containing the 
additional knowledge acquired by Wolf in the later 
years of his life. In the main, Wolf’s materials con- 
sisted of the remarkable Oppenheimer collection, 
which ultimately went to the Bodleian Library, Ox- 
ford; and for this reason Steinschneider’s great cat- 
alogue of the Bodleian collection repeats in improved 
form much of Wolf’s information. Considering his 
opportunities, Wolf shows remarkable acumen and 
accuracy; and in some respects his work still re- 
mainsof value. Asort of supplement was provided 
by Kocher in his “Nova Bibliotheca Hebraica” 
(Jena, 1783-84). 
The next name of importance is that of Hayyim 
Joseph David Azulai, whose “Shem ha-Gedolim ” 
(Leghorn, 1786-96) added considerably to Shabbethai 


Bibliography 


Bass, mainly from works printed at Leghorn. He 
was supplemented by the joint labors of Nepi and 
Ghirondi (Triest, 1858), who gave an account of the 
Italian rabbis and their voluminous but not very 
important productions. Azulai’s work was consoli- 
dated and rearranged by Benjacob in the Wilna edi- 
tion, 1852. 

By a fortunate chance the attention of an Italian 
professor, G. B. de Rossi, was drawn to the subject 
of early Hebrew printing in Italy; and in a number 
of monographs on that subject (“De Typographia 
Hebr.-Ferrar. Comment. Historicus,” Parma, 1780; 
“ Annali Ebreo-Tipografici di Sabionetta,” Erlangen, 
1783; “Annales Hebreo-Typographici,” sec. xv., 
1795; “Annales Hebreo-Typographici ab Anno 
1501 ad 1540,” Parma, 1799) he laid a firm founda- 
tion for a description of all Hebrew 
books printed up to 1540. The few 
additions that have been made in simi- 
lar lists by Cassel and Steinschneider, 
Schwab and Chwolson, have only served to show 
the comparative completeness with which De Rossi 
did his work. Renewed attention has been paid to 
the subject of early Hebrew printed books during 
the last decade. 

With the rise of Jewish science under Rapoport 
and Zunz, bibliography entered upon a new era. 
The same accuracy, thoroughness, and critical acu- 
men which were being devoted to the contents of 
books were also exercised in the description of their 
external characteristics. Zunz himself devoted con- 
siderable attention to the subject, especially to an 
enumeration of the productions of the printing- 
presses of Mantua and Prague; and he also gave a 
summary account of the Italian libraries. Among 
the workers in the field of Jewish bibliography in 
the early part of the nineteenth century may be 
mentioned Dukes and Carmoly; while Michael of- 
fered all the treasures of his library—full of the 
rarest books—to anybody interested in the subject, 
though an account of them appeared only after his 
death. The “Literaturblatt des Orients,” founded 
by Julius First, also helped to revive the study of 
Jewish literature; while its review columns kept 
Jewish scholars acquainted with contemporary pro- 
ductions. 

All these various activities were summed up in 
the ambitious attempt of Julius Fiirst in his “ Bibli- 
otheca Judaica,” Leipsic, 1848-63. This work gave 
short titles of about 18,500 (Ftirst says 18,000) He- 
brew books, and of perhaps twice that number of 

Judaica. The latter contained many, if 


In- 
cunabula. 


Julius not most,of Wolf’s useless Latin disser- 
Fiirst. tations by Christian writers, as well as 


a considerable amount of merely Bib- 
lical exegesis and criticism by Christian theologians. 
Notwithstanding its errors of omission and commis- 
sion, Fiirst’s work still retains considerable value as 
the first attempt to cover the whole field of Jewish 
bibliography. The names of many writers and 
books are to be found only in its pages; and the 
clearness of print and the shortened form of titles 
make it easy to consult. On the other hand, its 
dates, and indeed data generally, are far from trust- 
worthy; and more than four-fifths of his informa- 
tion was confessedly from second-hand sources. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


200 


The only possibility of improvement in regard 
to accuracy was seen to be in more careful cata- 
loguing; and the epoch after First is characterized 
by a succession of masterpieces in this direction, 
mainly executed by Moritz Steinschneider (b. 1816), 
by whose gigantic labors Jewish bibliography has 
been organized and made an adequate 
instrument for the study of Jewish lit- 
erature and history. As the result of 
thirteen years’ continuous labor, he 
produced his colossal catalogue of the Hebrew 
books in the Bodleian Library (“Catalogus Libro- 
rum Hebrorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana ”), inclu- 
ding all works not in the library, but published up 
to 1732. Besides accurate descriptions of each book 
from personal examination, Steinschneider gencrally 
gives notes upon the author and his works. In 
addition to this, he has described the manuscripts 
in the libraries at Hamburg, Leyden, Munich, and 
Berlin, besides some private collections, and in every 
way has given a model of conciseness and accuracy 
in the description of Hebrew works. The sarae 
qualities are shown, perhaps in an even higher de- 
gree, in the “ Catalogue of the Hebrew Books in the 
Library of the British Museum,” by J. Zedner (Lon- 
don, 1867), whose punctilious accuracy and pains- 
taking determination of names and dates leave 
nothing to be desired. The example of the latter 
authority has been followed by Roest in his cat- 
alogue of the Rosenthal collection at Amsterdam 
(“Catalog der Hebraica und Judaica aus der L. 
Rosenthal’schen Bibliothek,” Amsterdam, 1875). 
Steinschneider’s work with regard to manuscripts 
has been supplemented by the careful but somewhat 
Sparse account of the Hebrew manuscripts in the 
Bodleian Library by A. Neubauer (Oxford, 18886). 

Besides devoting so much attention to the bibli- 
ography of the past. Steinschneider founded an 
organ, “ Hebriiische Bibliographie,” in 1858 for the 
actual description of the Jewish literature of the 
present. The“ Literaturblatt des Orients,” and even 

the general] Jewish press, had sporadic- 
Periodical ally reviewed publications of Jewish 
Literature. interest as they appeared; but Stein- 

schneider was the first to attempt a 
systematic, continuous, and complete account of 
Judaica and Hebraica, accompanied by short critical 
notices by himself and friends. This has been con- 
tinued in the “Zeitschrift fiir Hebriiische Biblio- 
graphie” (1898, in progress). In addition to these 
may be mentioned N. Briill’s elaborate reviews in 
his “Jahrbiicher” (1874-89); the lists given in the 
“ Orientalische Bibliographie ”; the periodical biblio- 
graphical notices which appeared in the “ Revue 
Etudes Juives” (especially the careful ones of the 
late I. Loeb); besides the series of special bibliogra- 
phies such as the Biblical ones in Stade’s “ Zeit- 
schrift” and the “Theologischer Jahresbericht,” 
and the historical in the “ Jahresberichte fiir Gesch. 
Wissenschaft.” Mr. Israel Abrahams gives in the 
“Jewish Chronicle” a summary account of current 
Jewish bibliography which is at once up-to-date 
and trustworthy. M. Schwab has compiled (1899- 
1900) a useful author and subject-index to Jewish 
periodical literature. The only subject-index that 
has hitherto been published, including both books 


Cata- 
logues. 


201 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bibliography 





and periodicals, is the careful one, compiled by Rev. 
A. Léwy, of the small collection of Hebraica and 
v udaica in the Guildhall Library, London. A much 
more ambitious attempt is being made by A. 8. 
Freidus to compile a card catalogue (author, sub- 
ject, and title) of the 12,000 volumes and pam- 
phiets of the New York Public Library, which 
already (1902) runs to about 25,000 entries, in- 
cluding articles in periodicals, and even refer- 
ences to Jewish topics found in the works of the 
general library. That collection has been minutely 
arranged on the shelves according to a comprehen- 
sive plan containing about 500 subdivisions, which 
may be considered the first elaborate scheme for 
classifving Jewish literature for library purposes 
(see LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION). No attempt has 
been made since First to compile a complete author 
bibliography; but his work has been supplemented 
by a bookseller, C. D. Lippe of Vienna, who, in three 
successive issues of a “ Bibliographisches Lexicon” 
(1881-99), gives a tolerably full but inaccurate ac- 
count of contemporary Jewish writers GQnainly con- 
tributed by themselves); while William Zeitlin has 
made an attempt to enumerate modern Hebrew 
works (1789-1890) in his “ Bibliotheca Hebraica Post- 
Mendelssohniana ” (Leipsic, 1891-95). 

The present phase of Jewish bibliography is tend- 
ing toward the compilation of lists of works relating 
to special subjects. Here, again, Steinschneider 
has been the pioneer. Most of his works, while 
professedly dealing with special topics, concentrate 

attention upon the bibliography of the 


Subject subject; and among other topics which 
Bibli- he has thus bibhographized may be 
ographies. mentioned the polemical literature of 


Jews and Mohammedans, mathemat- 
ical writers among the Jews, Hebrew translations, 
chess, etc. Besides these, his treatises on Jewish liter- 
ature in Ersch and Gruber’s “* Allg. Encye. der Wis- 
senschaft und Kiinste ” (English translation, London, 
1857, and on Italian Jewish literature in the “ Mo- 
natsschrift,” 1898-99) are in large measure biblio- 
graphical guides. While an immense debt of grati- 
tude is due to Steinschneider for the facilities he has 
thus afforded, it must be confessed that the style in 
which he has presented his results is sometimes un- 
clear owing to excessive conciseness; and he has 
the unfortunate habit of piling up notices which 
turn out, on inquiry, to be perfectly useless. 

Having in view the present tendency of Jewish 
bibliography, it may be suitable and useful to con- 
clude this rough account with a short bibliography 
of the special bibliographies that have more recently 
been made. Lists made by Wolf and repeated by 
First are of no value for practical purposes. 
Anthropology: Billings, ** Index-Catalogue of the Surgeon-Gen- 

eral’s Library,” s.v. “Jews”; W. Z. Ripley, ° The Races of 

Europe,’ New York, 1900. 

Anti-Christiana: De Rossi, “ Bibliotheca Judaica-Anti-Christi- 

ana,’’ Parma, 1800. 

ArabicWriters ; Steinschneider, in ‘‘ Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. 483- 

486 (also reprint). 

tood Accusation: Strack, ‘* Das Blut,’? Munich, 1900. 

Cabala: Wiinsche, in Herzog-Hauck, “* Real-Encye.” s.v. ** Kab- 
bala.” 

Calendar: Zeitlin, in Guriand, * Luah.” 

Catechisms: Strassburger, in his ‘*Gesch. des Unterrichtswe- 
sens.” pp. 277-281, Stuttgart, 1885; Schreiber, in ‘* Reform 

Advocate,” Chicago, 1901-2. 


Ceremonies and Customs: A.S. Freidus (printed but not pub- 
lished). 

Chess: Steinschneider, in Van der Linde, ‘t Gesch. des Schach- 
spiels,’’ Leyden, 1873 (also separate). 

Circumcision: **Congrés d’Anthropologie 4 Lisbonne,” pp. 598 
et seq., Lisbon, 1884; Tomés, ** Della Circoncisione,” pp. 67-71, 
Florence, 1895. 

Classical Writers: Reinach, ‘* Textes ’’ ; idem, in Daremberg and. 
Saglio, ** Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines,’? 
sv. “* Judsei’’; Mayor, in Notes to Juvenal, x. 100 et seg. 

Conversionism (Early): Wolf, ** Bibl. Heb.” ii. pp. 1053-88, 
1067-72. (Later) De Le Roi, ‘Die Evangelische Christenheit 
und die Juden,’’Leipsic, 1884-92. 

Drama, Hebrew: Berliner, in Moses Zacuto, ‘* Yesod ‘Olam,” 
Introduction, Berlin, 1874. 

Education : Strassburger, ‘‘Gesch. des Unterrichtswesens,”’ pp. 
213-310, Stuttgart, 1885, 

England: Jacobs and Wolf, “* Bibl. Anglo-Jud.*? London, 1886. 

Epitaphs: De Castro, *‘Keur von Grafsteenen,” pp. 125-126, 
Leyden, 1883. 

Ethics: 8. Stein, ‘* Materialien zur Ethik des Talmuds,”’ pp. 45-185, 
Frankfort, 1894. 

Frankel: Brann, in “* Monatsschrift,”’ xlv. 886-852. 

Future Life: E. Abbot, ** Literature of a Future Life,’ Nos. 
1734-1962, 1891. 

Geography: Zunz, in “°G. §.”’ i. 146-216. 

Germany: M. Stern, “ Queilenkunde zur Gesch. der Juden in 
Deutschland, Berlin, 1892. Early History: Aronius, * Re- 
gesten,”’ Berlin, 1902. 

Graetz: Abrahams, in * Jew. Quart. Rev.” iv. 194-203. 

Haggadah (Passover): Steinsehneider, in Landshuth, *‘ Maggid 
me-Reshit,” Berlin, 1856; Wiener, ‘“‘ Bibliotheca Friedlan- 
diana,’ letter 4 (in preparation). 

Hebraists, Christian : Steinschneider, in * Zeit. fiir Hebr. Bibl.” 
i-v.; Darling, ** Cyc. Bibliograpbica,” London, 1854-59, 

Hebrew Language: Steinschneider, * Bibliographisches Hand- 
buch,’ Leipsic, 1859: idem, “* Zusitze,’? 1896. 

Incunabula: G.B. de Rossi, as above; Schwab, “‘Les Incuna- 
bles Hébreux,” Paris, 1881; Sencinos Sacchi, “1 Tipograti 
Ebrei,”’ Cremona, 1877 ; Manzoni, “* Annali Tipografici dei Son- 
cino,’’ Bologna, 1883. 

Inguisition: E. N. Adler, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. 423-482. 

Italian Writers: Mortara, ** Indice’; Nepi-Ghirondi, ** Toledot. 
Gedole Yisrael °'; Steinschneider, in ** Monatssehrift,”’ xii, xiii. 

Jesus in Jewish Literature: Fiirst, ** Bibl. Jud.” if. 63-64. 

Jewish Question: Jacobs, ‘“‘ Jewish Question,” 1875-84, London, 
1885. 

Karaites: Frankl, in Ersch and Gruber, ** Eneye.”* 2a ser., XXxXiii. 
s.u. ‘‘Karaiten; Ryssel, in Herzog-Hauck, ** Real-Encye.” s.r. 

Kaufmann, David: ‘*Gedenkbuch zur Erinnerung an David 
Kaufmann,” Breslau, 1900. 

Ladino: Kayserling, in Ersch and Gruber, * Encye.”’ s.v. 

Loeb: “Rev. Et. Juives,’’ xxiv, 184-195, 

Luzzatto: “Catalogo Razionato degli Scritti di S. D. L.,’’ Padua, 
1881. 

Maimonides: Steinschneider, in **Cat. Bodl.’? cols. 1937-1942. 
Mishneh Torah: Jellinek, "* Kontres Rambam,” Vienna, 1893. 

Mathematicians: A. Goldberg, * Die Jiidischen Mathematiker,”’ 
Berlin, 1891 (an index to Steinschneider’s ** Die Mathematik 
und die Juden*’). 

Midrash: Zungz, * G. V.’’ 2d ed., 1892; Strack, in Herzog-Hauck, 
** Real-Encye.”’ s.v. °' Midrasch °°; Jellinek, ** Kontres Maggid,”’ 
Vienna, 1878. 

Music: “Cat. Anglo-Jew. Hist. Exh.”? London, 1587; M. W. 
Kaufmann, Katalog No. 5. 

Names: Jellinek, “* Kontres ba-Mazkir,’’ Vienna, 1893, 

Numismatics: Madden, ‘‘ Coins of the Jews,’ London, 1881. 

Oath (*' More Judaico’’): Steinsehneider, in ‘‘ Zeit. Hebr. Bib.”’ i. 

Paleography: Steinschneider, ** Vorlesungen iiber die Kunde 
der Hebraischen Handschriften,” in “ Centralblatt fiir Bibli- 
othekswesen *’ (also separate, Berlin, 1892). , 

Palestine: Steinschneider, in Rébricht and Meissner, ** Deutsche 
Pilgrimweiser,” pp. 548-648, 1892; idem, in Lunez," Jeru- 
salem,” 1892, iii., iv: ROhricht, “ Bibliotheca Geographica 
Palestine,’ Berlin, 1890. 

Periodicals, General: Harkavy, in ‘‘ Yevreskaya Biblioteka,” 
vii., vili.; A. S. Freidus, in “* Bulletin New York Public Li- 
brary,’ July, 1902. Hebrew: Van Straalen, “Cat. Hebrew 
Books Brit. Mus.” pp. 188-192, 294, 295; Sablotzki, in ‘* Ozar 
ha-Sifrut,” v. 270-283. American: A. S. Freidus, in “ Am. 
Jewish Year Book,” i, 271-282. 

Philo: Schiirer, “ Gesch.” 

Piyyutim : Writers on: Zunz, “ Ritus,” i. Writers of: Zunz, 
* Litteraturgesch.” Berlin, 1865: idem, ‘* Nachtrag,”’ 1867. 
First Words: Gestettner, ** Mafteah,”’ Berlin, 1889. 


Bibliomancy 





Polemies, Islamite : Steinschneider, ‘* Polemische Litteratur.”’ 

Portugal: Remedios, ‘* Os Judeus em Portugal,’ Coimbra, 1895, 
repeated by E. N. Adler, in “* Jew. Quart, Rev.” xiii. 

Precepts, The 613: Jellinek, ** Kontres Taryag,’* Vienna, 1878. 

Proverbs; Bernstein, ‘* Catalogue des Livres Parémiologiques,”’ 
Index, pp. 625-027, Warsaw, 1900. 

Purim and Parodies: Steinsclmeider, in ** Isr. Letterbode,” vii. 
1-13, ix. 45-58; idem, in ** Monatsehrift.” 

Rapoport: Bernfeld, *'Toledot Shir.” Warsaw, 1900; ‘* Das 
Centennarium §S. J. L. Rapoports,” 1900, pp. 414-416. 

Responsa: British Museum Catalogues; Rabbinowicz, ** Ohel 
Abraham,” s.v. Maw) MYON, 

Russia: ** Sistematicheski UKazatel,’’ St. Petersburg, 1893. His- 
tory: **Regesty,”” i. 

Sermons: Maybaum, “Jiidische Hoiiletik’’ (arranged by 
texts), Berlin, 1890. Funeral: Jellinek, ** Kontres ha-Maspid,”’ 
Vienna, 1884. 

Shuihan “Aruk: Steinschneider, in “Cat. Bodl.” 

Spain: Jacobs, ** Sources,” pp. 213-244, London, 1894. 

Spanish Writers: Kayserling, ‘* Bib!. Esp.-Port.-Jud.”” 1890. 

Spanish Poets: Idem, * Sepharditn,’”” Leipsic, 1859. 

Spinoza: Van der Linde, ** Spinoza, Bibliografie,” 1871. 

Steinschneider: Kohut, in * Steinschueider Festschrift.” 

Talmud: Mielziner, ‘* Introduction to the Talmud,” pp. 61-102, 
Cincinnati, 1894; 8. Stein, *‘ Materialien zur Ethik,’’ 1894, pp. 
64-179. Editions: Rabbinowicz, ** Ma‘amar ‘al Hadfasat ha- 
Talmud,’? Munich, 18¢6. Translations: Bischoff, °° Kritische 
Geseh. der Thalmud Uebersetzungen.” Methodology: Jeli- 
nek, “ Kontres Kelalim,” Vienna, 1878. Commentaries: ident, 
‘**Kontres ha-Mefaresh,’’ Vienna, 1877. Indexes: idem, 
* kontres ha-Mafteah,”’ Vienna, 1831], 

Ten Tribes: Bancroft, ‘* Native Races of Pacific,’ vol. t. 

Tobacco: Steinschneider, in *' Deborah,” ix. 3-4, Cincinnati, 
1894. 

Translators: Steinsehneider, “* Hebr. Uebers.” Berlin, 18938. 

Tunis : Cazes, “‘ Notes Bibliographiques sur la Littérature Juive- 
Tunisienne,’ Paris, 1893. 

Wandering Jew: Heivig, in “*Centralblatt fiir Bibliotheks- 
Wesen.”” 

Wis, Ethical: Abrahains, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” iii. 481-484, 

iv. 343-844. 

Woman: Steinschneider, ** Heb. Bibl,’’i., ii., xix. 

Yiddish; Early Literature, Printed: Steinschneider, in ‘ Sera- 
peum,’ ix.,X. Manuscripts; i). Xxv., XXvi., xxx. Later Litera- 
ture: L. Wiener, in “* History of Yiddish Literature,” pp. 335- 
382, New York, 1899. Philology: Landau, in ** Deutsche Mund- 
arten,”’ ii, 126-182, Vienna, 1896; Sainean,in °* Revue de la 
Société Linguistique,”’ 1902. 

Zunz: Steinschneider, ** Die Schriften von Dr. L. Zunz,”’ Ber- 
lin, 1874. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Bibliographisches, in Z. G. pp. 214-308 ; 
First, Bubl. Jud. iii., Preface. 

lL. G, J. 

BIBLIOMANCY:* The use of the Bible for 
magic or superstitious purposes. The practise of 
emploving sacred books, or words and verses there- 
of, for divination or for magic cures is universal 
alike among pagans and believers in God. What 
the Vedas were to the Hindus (Stenzler, “ Abhand- 

lunyen fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes,” vol. vi., 

Leipsic, 1878), Homer to the Greeks (Heim, pp. 496, 

514), and Ovid and Virgil to the Romans (Lamprid- 

ius, “Alexander Severus,” p. 14; “Sortes Virgili- 

ane ”), the Old Testament was to the Jews, the Old 
and New Testaments to the Christians (Kraus, s.¢. 

“ Loos,” ii. 344; “Sortes Sanctorum”; compare i. 

153, “Evangeliorum”), and the Koran and Hafiz to 

the Mohammedans (Lane, “An Account of the Man- 

ners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians,” vol. 

xi.) The desire of man to discern the hidden 

future, or toobtain the mastery over nature in hours 

of great anxiety, by some superstitious resort to su- 
perhuman forces. is never altogether extinct in the 

multitude. Deut. vi. 8, 9; xi. 18; and Prov. iii. 22- 


* For the titles of works cited under abbreviations, see bibliog- 
raphy at the end of the article. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


202 - 


—_ 


26, vil. 8, admonishing the people to bind them (the 
words of God) as a sign upon the hand, and have 
them as frontlets between the eyes, and to write 
them upon the posts of the house and upon the gate, 
certainly induced the Jews to use the Bible, or parts 
of it, for protective or talismanic pnrposes (Targ. to 
Cant. viii. 3; Ber. 23b; Yer. Peah 1. 15d). Like- 
wise are the sixty letters of the Priestly BLEsstnG 
(Num. vi. 24-26) called sixty guardian 
For powers of Israel against the terrors of 
Protective the night (Cant. R. to ii, 7; Tan. 
Purposes. Num. 16; compare Pesik. R. 5 and 
Num. R. xii.), “a talisman against the 
evil eye.” So was Ps. xci., perhaps originally com- 
pesed as an incantation psalm (see PsauMs) and 
known in rabbinical literature as “Shir shel Pe- 
ga‘im,” or “Song against Demons,” employed as a 
protective (Midr. Teh. to Ps. xci. ; Yer. Shab. vi. 8b), 
found also in a tomb at Kertch, Crimea (Blau, “ Das 
Alt. Jiidische Zauberwesen,” p. 95). Ps. iii. was em- 
pleved for that purpose (Shebu. 15b); Ex. xv. 26 
was used for healing purposes, according to Mish- 
nah Sanh. x. 1; as was also Lev. i. 1, according to 
Sanh. 10la. To ward off evil dreams, the Rabbis pre- 
scribe the recitation of corresponding Bible verses 
(Ber, 55b, 56b); in order to escape the danger befall- 
ing one who drinks uncovered water on Wedunes- 
day and Saturday nights, the recitation of Ps. xxiv. 
is prescribed (Pes. 112a). Tos., Shab. xili. 4; Shab. 
115b, writings containing Biblical matter used for 
mnuiets, are mentioned, which Blau (/.c. p. 96) com- 
pares with two magic papyri of the second or third 
century showing a Jewish origin; the one published 
by Deissmann (pp. 21-48), the other by Dieterich, 
“ Abraxas,” pp. 188 et seg., both of which prove the 
use of Biblical passages for magic purposes. 

It was common in Talmudical times to accept the 
verse selected at random and recited by the school- 
children as a good or a bad omen (Hag. 15a, b; Git. 
58a; Hul. 95b), and this was observed through the 
Middle Ages (Tur Yoreh De‘ah, 179). This same cus- 
tom was observed by the Christians at the close of 
the seventh century (Kayser, “Die Canones Jacob's 
von Edessa,” 1886, pp. 22, 126, 186; and “Gebrauch 
von Psalmen zur Zauberei,” in “Z. D. M. G.” xlii. 
456-462). In the last-named article a prescription 
of the use of the various Psalms for magic purposes, 
written in Syriac and taken from Sachau’s collection 

of Syriac manuscripts, No. 218, is 

Good or published and translated. Whether 
Bad Omens. this served as a model for Jewish wri- 

ters or followers of the “Shimmush 
Tehillim ” (the magic use cof the Psalms), or origi- 
nated with the Jews, is rather difficult to say. Cer- 
tain it is that both the authorities of the synagogue 
(Maimonides, “ Yad,” ‘Akkum, xi. 12; Tur Yoreh 
De‘ah, 179, according to Shebu. 15b) and of the 
Church prohibited the use of the Bible either as a 
whole or in part for magical cures (Kayser, /.c., p. 
126; Hefele, “Conciliengeschichte,” ii. 274); yet 
both failed to eradicate the custom. According to 
“Sefer Hasidim ” (ed. Lemberg, 1870; Jitomir, 1879, 
§1140; not in the Berlin edition), the Book of Leviticus 
was placed under the head of a child when first put 
into the cradle. Sometimes the Toral-scroll was 
brought into the lying-in room in order to facilitate 


203 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bibliomancy 





the birth (“ Pithe Teshubah” on Yoreh De‘ah, 179), 
or laid upon the sick babe (“ Yad,” d.¢.; Tur Yoreh 
De‘ah,; @.¢.), or on the head of the new-born child, or 
during the eight days following the circumcision 
(* Mitteilungen,” i. 83, 85). Also in the curious 
womb-blessing, the Torah-scroll was used for pro- 
tection, the words spelled being: “ Baermutter 
[womb], lie down: with these words I adjure thee: 
with nine Torahs, with nine pure Sefer Toralis!” 
(Giidemann, in “ Monatsschrift,” v.57), Whena per- 
son was dangerously ill, tie Pentateuch was opened, 
and the name which first met the eye was added to 
the patient’s name, in order toavert the evil destiny 
(see SHINNUY HA-SHEM). The words found at the 
beginning of a page of the Bible when 
Use of the it was opened at random, or touched 
Pen- by the tbumb at the opening, were also 
tateuch. frequently used as an oracle (Berliner, 
“Aus dem Leben,” p. 24). The Pen- 
tateuch in the form of a book, not a scroll, was em- 
ployed also in the Farr Booxs (“Loos Biicher”). 
Genesis was opened as a protection against thunder- 
and hail-storms (Kayser, é.¢.). 
The following single verses may be 


Use mentioned as having been used both 
of Bible in the original Hebrew and in transla- 
Verses. tion (pronounced over wounds, Rashi 


on Sanh. 101a; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh 
Devah, 179, 8): 


Geu. i.1: To make oneself invisible (S.Z. 82a). 
i. 1-5: (The last letters only.) To confuse a person’s 


mind (M.V. 25); as preservative against pol-- 


lution (8.Z. 11b); and for other purposes 
("Cat. Anglo-Jew. Hist. Exh.” No. 1844; 
Schwab). 
xxi. 1: To lighten childbirth (M.V. 59). 
xxiv. 2: On using a divining-rod (M.V. 80). 
xxv. 14: Against the crying of children (M.V. 64). 

Xxxii. 81: Against danger on a journey (M.V. 34). 

xlix. 18: To shorten one’s way Ona journey (M.Y. 23); in 
the lying-in room (M. V. 80). 

*; For protection against a fierce dog. (For greater 
security, the traveler is advised to carry a 
stout stick as well, which gave rise to the 
saying. “* He has both a verse L* posuk *) and a 
stick [‘stecken*] with him.’* applied to one 
well fortified on every side.) 

xi. 8: To lighten childbirth (M.V. 59). 
xv. 2: To shorten one’s way (M.V. 24). 
xy. 16: To shorten the way (M.V. 23); to insure safety 
in a court of law (M.V.32); against fear (M.Y. 
85). 
xvii. 16: Against bleeding (M.V. 45). 
xxii. 17: Im the lving-in room (M.V. 91). 
xxxiii. 23: Against witehcraft (M.V. 41). 
xxxiv. 6: To shorten the way (M.Y. 23). 
Ley. i. 1: The same (M.V. 28). 
Num. xi. 2: Against fire (M.V. 10, 113 8.2. 27). 
xi. 12: Against the evil eve (M.V. 41). 
xxiii. 23: In lying-in rooms (M.YV. 91). 
Deut. vi. 4-9: Against fever (M.V. 50). 
xxxiii. 4: On taking children to school (8.2. 30b). 

In addition to verses from the Pentateuch, the 
following from other books are cited as being effi- 
cient in the cases indicated: 

Josh. i. 4: To awaken understanding: “"Shimmush Tehil- 

lim,.”’ exix. 
Isa. xxvi. 1: ‘To strengthen memory (S Z. 30b). 
xlii. 4; xliii. 2: Against a storm at sea (M.V. 35). 
Xliii. 14: Atsea (8.Z. 51b). 
1. 4: On taking children to school (8.Z. 30b). 
Jer. xxxi. 15: Against the crying of children (M.V. 64). 
Ezek. iii. 3: On taking children to school (compare Berliner, 
**Aus dem Leben,” p. 27). 


EX. xi. 


Prov. xvi. 1: To strengthen one's memory (S.Z. 30b;. 
xviii. 106; ‘fo gain favor (M.V. 28). 
Job xxxii. 9: To strengthen one’s memory (S8.Z. 30b). 

The Psalter especially was employed, an entire 
chapter at a time, for all manner of 
incidents, serious or trivial. An ex- 
tract may here be given from the 
above-mentioned “Shimmush Tehil- 
lim” (frequently reprinted), which indicates the 
various uses made: 


Ps. i.: Against miscarriage. Verse 3, against trees 
shedding their fruit (Heim, 520). 

ii.: Against a storm at sea. 

iii.: Against headache and pain in the shoulders 
(Griinw., to drive out demons). 

iv.: To find favor. 

v.: Against evil spirits (Kayser, on appearing before 
a judge}. Verse 8 may be said to have been 
used in a certain sense to avert the evil eye: 
for in the time of the Geonim, the ten words 
of this verse were employed to ascertain if 
the requisite quorum, called “minyan,”? were 
present before beginning divine service: thus 
avoiding the necessity of pointing with tbe 
finger, or using numerals, both of which 
were considered harmful (Harkavy, ‘* Re- 
sponsen der Geonim,” p. 157). In the same 
way the ten words of Ps. xviii. 51 are em- 
ployed to-day ; so that when the tenth man 
arrives, it is said not “* The tenth man is here,”’ 
but “The ‘‘Olam’ [the tenth word of the 
Hebrew verse] is here.” 

vi.: Against diseases of the eye and danger on land 
or water, 

vii.: Against enemies; in a law-court (against rob- 
bers. M.V. 36). 

viii.: Against crying children. 

ix.: Against the same and enemies. 

x.: Against obsession by evil spirits. 

Xi.: Against evil spirits and wicked men; against 
various perils (Grimw., to drive out demons}. 

xii.: Against temptation and evil counsel. 

xiii. : Against unnatura) death and diseases of the eye 
(Griinw., to drive out demons). 

xiy.: Against defamation, and when one’s veracity is 
doubted. 

xv.: Against obsession. 

xvi.: To discover a thief, and against enemies, and to 
awaken intelligence. Employed by Christians 
to discover thieves; Ménnling, “ Denkw. Ku- 
riosititen,”? in Rubin, “*Gesch. des Aberglau- 
bens,”’ p. 111. 

xvii.: On a journey. 

XViii.: Against robbers and all manner of sickness. 

xix.: Against evil spirits; difficult labor; and to 
awaken intelligence. 

XX.: Ina court of law. 

xxi.: To maintain oneself before a spiritual or tem- 
poral authority. 

xxii.: To ford a river, against wild animals, and to 

sharpen intelligence. 

xxiii. : In interpretation of dreams. 

xxiv.: In a storm at sea, 

xxv.: In distress. 

XxXvi.: In distress and imprisonment. 

XXVii.: To conquer a city; as a vermifuge. 
xxviii.: To appease an eneiny. 

XxXix.: Against an evil spirit. 

Xxx.: Against every evil. 


Use 
of Psalms. 


xxxi.: Against the evi] eve. 

xxxii.: The same. 

XXxili.: For a woman whose children die young, 
and against epidemics (Kayser, in time of 
war). 

xxxiv.: To secure the favor of princes and govern- 


ments (Kayser, against witchcraft. Heim, 
xxxiv. 9, to preserve wine until the ensuing 
autumn). 
xxxv.: Against mischievous busybodies (Grinw., to 
expel demons). 
xxxvi.: Against evil tidings. 
xxxvii.: Against drunkenness. 





Bibliomancy 
Bibliothéque 
Ps. xxxviii.: Against defamation. 
XXXix.: Against evil design on the part of the king. 
xl.: Against evil spirits. 
xli.: When one’s position has been given to an- 
other, 
Xlii. : In interpretation of dreams. 
xiiii.: In a storm at sea (M.V. 35). 
Xliv.: To escape from an enemy. 
Xlv.: Against a wicked woman. 

xIlvi.: When one tires of bis wife. 

xIivil.: To win favor. 

xIviii.: To frighten one’s enemies. 

xlix.; Against fever. Verse 6, against pollution (M.V. 
62). 

l: Against enemies and robbers (Griinw., against 
noxious animals). 
li. : When one feels guilty. Verse 3, against loss of 
blood (Heim, 520). 
lii.: To keep off slander. 
liii.: To frighten one’s foes. 
liv. and Iv.: To be avenged on one’s foes. 
lvi.: When in chains; also against evil inctina- 
tion. 
Ivii.; To have good fortune, 
Ivili.: Against vicious dogs. 
lix.: Against evil inclination. 
Ix.: Before a battle. 
Ixi.: Upon entering a house where one has cause for 
apprehension. 
ixii.: For forgiveness of sins. 

Ixtii.: On accounting with one’s business partner, and 
to have good fortune in trade. 

lxiv.: On fording a river. 

Ixv.: To exert influence over anybody. 

Ixvi.: Against evi] spirits. 

lxvii.: Against continuous fever; also for a prisoner. 
This psalm, written upon parchment in the 
form of a ‘“‘menorah” (branched candle- 
stick), and surrounded by moral sentences, is 
frequently found printed in prayer-books. It 
is claimed that the psalin was engraved upon 
Davie’s shield in this form. Withont the 
superscription, it contains seven verses and 
forty-nine words; the fifth verse, counting 
the dageshed 7 as two, contains forty-nine 
letters, It is owing to the first fact that this 
psalm is used together with Ps. cxliv. in the 
ritua] at the departure of the Sabbath. For 
the connection of David with the departure of 
Sabbath, see *‘ Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft 
fiir Jiidische VolKskunde,”’ i. 76. On the second 

. fact is based the reading of this psalm in the 
forty-nine days of ‘Omer {see ‘OMER), be- 
tween Passover and Pentecost. The Catholic 
Chureh also designates a special psalm for 
daily recital between Easter and Pentecost 
(see Griinw. 109). 

lxviii.: Against evil spirits (Griinw., as an exorcism for 
travelers’ use). 

|xix.: Against evil longing. 

1xx.: Before a battle (Griimw., to appease an enemy). 
1xxi.: In prison. 

xxii. : To win grace and favor. 

Ixxlii.: Against compulsory baptism. 

Ixxiv.: Against a mob, whether of men or spirits. 

Ixxv.: For forgiveness of sins. 

Ixxvi.: Against flood and fire. 

Ixxviil.: Against all manner of distress. 
Ixxvili.: To win grace and favor at court. 
Ixxix.: To be rid of one’s foes. 


Ixxx.-IXXxi.: 
Ixxxil.: 
Ixxxiii.: 


IXxXxXiv.: 
IXXXV.: 
IXXXVI1.: 
IXXXVIi.: 
IXXXVIiil.: 
iXXXIX.: 
Keys 


Against idolatry. 

When on an important mission. 

In time of war. Grinw. connects the expression 
in verse 14 (A.V. 18), ‘‘make them like a 
wheel,’ with the Jews’ badge, which was 
sometimes in the form of a@ wheel. 

Against sickness. 

To win favor. 

Against an evil spirit. 

To deliver one froin prison. 

To save a city or a community. 

Against the effects of sickness. 

Against lions or evil spirits. Verse 17, against 
fever (M.V. 50): shortening a journey (M.V. 
23); general protection (M.V. 31). 


Ps. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


X¢i.: 


xc¢ii. 
xciii. 
xciv. 
xev. 
xevi. 
xevii. 
xevill. 
XCIX. : 
C.3 

Cie: 
Cii.-Cill. : 
civ. : 
cV.: 
evi. : 
cvii.: 
cviii.: 
cix.: 
CX. 


ea 88 06 oe 08 oe 08 


CX. 
exil. : 
cxiil. : 
CNIV.S 
CXV.! 
CX¥1.: 
exvil.: 
exvill.: 


oe 


cxix.: 


CXX, 


ee 


CXX.-CXXXiV. : 


exxi.: 
exxiil.: 
exxiili.: 
CXXiv.: 
CXXV,? 


CXXVI1.: 
CXXVIt.: 
Cxxviill.: 
CXxixX.: 


CXXX. 
CXXXI. 
CXXxii. 
exxxiii. 
CXXXIV. 
CXXXV. 
CXXXVvi. 
exxxvii. 
CXXXVili. 
CXXXIX.-CXl. : 
exli.: 
exlil.: 
eXliil. : 
exliv.: 


CO 60 08 eo we 88 88 oe 6 


exiv.: 
exlvi.: 
exlvii. : 


204 





The same; and against all kinds of evil ; to make 
oneself invisible (M.V. 36); verses 5 and 10, 
against epilepsy (M.V. 52); molding wax for 
a sick child, see Kubin, ic. p. 184. For the 
connection between traveling and archangels, 
and the employment of this psalm by both 
Jews and Christians, see Griinw. 99. 

Before waiting upon high dignitaries. 

For support in a lawsuit. 

Against enemies. 

Against being betrayed into baptism. 

To give happiness to one’s family. 

The same. Verse 2, against theft (M.V. 16). 

To make peace between enemies. 

To become pious. 

To gain a victory. 

Against an evil spirit. 

Against childlessness. 

To be rid of one’s enemies. 

Against a quartan ague. 

Against a tertian ague. 

Against continuous fever. 

To have happiness in one’s house. 

Against enemies. 

To make peace. Verse 6, against an evil spiri¢ 

(M.V. 31): verse 7, at Sea (S8.Z. 31b). 

To gain new friends. 

To increase one’s strength. 

To secure the removal of idolatry. 

To be iortunate in business. 

To be victorious in debate. 

Against au unnatural or sudden death. 

Against slander. 

In medicine (Grimw. 118); against scoffers to 
answer (an epikores), and to maintain oneself 
in law. 

On the performance of a religious precept; to 
sharpen the intellect; for disease of the eye; 
when one isin deep perplexity ; valuable for 
preachers; against sin; wholesome for the 
spleen and kidneys; against temptation ; to 
win favor; against weakness in the hands; 
upon a journey; against catarrh; against 
weakness in the feet; against earache ; against 
dizziness; on taking children to s¢hoo) (Ber- 
liner, l.c. p. 7). Verse 49, before study (S.Z. 
30b); verses 33-40, against temptation (M.V. 
65). 

On seeing a snake or a scorpion; in the lying-in 
rooin (M.V. 91). 

On the dedication of a house which has been in- 
habited by evil spirits (Griinw.). 

When traveling alone at night. 

On appearing before a high potentate. 

When a slave has run away. 

On fording a river. 

Against enemies; on a journey (M.V. 34; §.Z. 
dla). 

For a woman whose children die. 

For protection. 

For an expectant mother. 

On the performance of a religious act; at sea 
(8.Z. 31b). 

To escape arrest by the night watchman. 

Against undue presumption. 

On fulfilling a rash yow. 

For friendship and love. 

Before studying. 

For repentance and amendment. 

To confess one’s sin. 

To remove enmity. 

For Jove. 

To awaken love between a man and a woman, 

Against heart-disease. 

Against lumbago. 

Against pain in the arm. 

To heal a fractured or dislocated hand; against 
demons. Verse 2, at sea (M.V. 35); by Chris- 
tians against fever (Griinw. in M.A.). 

Against sudden fright. 

Against sword wounds. 

Against the bite of serpents. 


cxlvili.-cxlix.: Against a fire. 


exlix. 6: 


eh. 


Against pollution (M.V. 62). 
Thanking God for all His works. 


205 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bibliomancy 
Bibliothéque 


LT CL a a ty 


For single words or names taken from the Bible 
and used for mantic purposes, see 


Use Gop, Names or, and ANGELOLOGY, 
of Biblical The namesof the following individ- 
Names. ual personages of the Bible have been 


employed in bibliomancy : 


Adam and Eve: For use in amulets, see AMULETS. 

The Serpent: Offel, Samael in Schwab. Concerning the human 
figure with serpentine feet, see ** Sefer Hasidim,” ed. Lemberg, 
5 1166, “the serpent went upon two feet and had partly a 
human form.’’ On Samael together with Serafiel, M.V. 21; 
Targ. Yer. on Gen. iii. 6 interprets the serpent as Samael, and 
“ Yalkut Hadash’’ makes the serpent identical with Samael 
and Satan; see also ABRAXAS. 

Enoch: To influence trade, §.Z. 22. See Steinsechneider, * Zur 
Pseudepigraphischen Literatur,” pp. 53 et sey.; Harkavy, 
**Responsen der Gaonim,” p. 344. 

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: In amulets for the lying-in room, 
M. V. 91. 

Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel}, and Leah: The same. 

Joseph; Against pollution, M.V. 62; against the evil eye, com- 
pare Lerakot 55b; see Blau, p. 155: in the ceremony of 
* Tashlih,” with reference to Gen. xlix. 22. 

Moses: Against fire (after Ex. ii. 8), M.V. 58; for hard labor, 
M.V. 10; to awaken intellect (** Pseudepigrapha ’’), M.V. 66; 
against gangrene, M.V. 48. 

RKorah: Korhin=evil spirits, M.V. 17. 

Joshua: To arouse intelligence (‘* Pseudepigrapha ’’), M.V. 66. 

David: See Davib, SHIELD OF. 

Doeg: See under Ahithophel (compare Mishnah, Sanh. x. 2). 

Ahithophel: Name of the author of a fate-book (Steinsehneider, 
* Hebr. Bibl.” vi. 120). Regarded as a colleague, as it were, 
of Balaam, and as a species’ of Mephistopheles (idem, *S Zur 
Pseudepigraphischen Literatur,” p. 80). 

Absalom: In the preparation of divining-rods, M.V. 80. 

Solomon: In conjunction with Ashmedai, M.Y. 56; concerning 
his shield and seal-rings, see M.V. 39. 

Queen of Sheba: See below, under Lilith, M.V. 11, 17, 29. 

Elijah : See MS. 1863, pp. 286, 288, 298: also S.Z. 22: M.V. 47. 

Job: Against tooth-ache (** Pseudepigrapha’’), M.V. 47, 

Satan; For amulets in lying-in room, M. 71. 

Boaz: Against pollution, M.V. 62. 

Daniel: Against wild beasis, M.V. 33; Hananiah, Mishael, and 
Azariah; in a conjuration against fever, Shab. 67a. 

Lilith: Identical with the Queen of Sheba, MS. 1870, 187; also 
Kelifa, MS. 1880, p. 556; Klippe, M.V. 62. For a masculine 
Lili, and a plural Liliyot, see M.V. 62. 

The creatures around the throne (Ezek. i. 15): To shorten one’s 
journey, M.V. 24. 

Names of riyers: The rivers of Eden, M.V. 69; Kidron, Wohl- 
stein, 17. 

Other single names or words are rarely employed. 
Only the following can be mentioned: pgp (“the 
bush”), Ex. ili. 2 e¢ seg. For a magical cure of a 
burning fever, the bush is mentioned in Shab. 67a, 
and is addressed as the tree “upon which God al- 
lowed His Shekinah to dwell.” 

The words }319 (“shield”) and jx (“so may it be”) 
are sometimes found interwoven with other words 
or with each other so that each of their three letters 

is made the initial of a magic word; 


Single thus eps, wesps. wap (AL. V. 50), Jax. 
Biblical 933, y319, (¢0.; compare 88). The last 
Words. letter, “ N,” serves as the last letter in 


the name of the good angels (M. V. 61). 

“ Ezel” brag = “the stone Ezel’’), I Sam. xx. 19, is 
interpreted as consisting of the initials of the words 
pyty5 yoy WS (“light is sown for the righteous,” 
Ps. xevii. 11) and is sometimes found: see M. V. 55. 
Concerning the mode of application of these Bible 
passages and words, it is only necessary to state 
here that they were written in various places and 
on numerous objects; ¢g., paper (M. V. 40, 64); 
clean (“kosher”) parchment (M. V. 28, 31, 35, 57, 60 
et seqg.); stag parchment (8. 1.); the wall QL. V. 30); 


walking-cane (B. B. 78a); on bread (M. V. 48): a 
human skull (ML. V. 49); cheese (M. V. 28); an apple 
(M. V. 20); clay (Sh. 2 M. V. 56, 60); [see “Sefer 
Raziel,” in Wohlstein, 182]); especially on new clay 
vessels (M. V. 24, 25); an egg (Sh. 119, S. Z. 80b, 
M. V. 48); aud on a cake (S. Z. 30b). 

In addition, they were pronounced or whispered 
(Sh. 10, 29, 81; compare M. V. 56, 59) over olive-oil 
(Sh. 3, 5, 38, 45, $9), dust (Sh. 7 e¢ seg.), especially 
over well-water (Sh. 7, 10, 20, 87, 69, 119), water 
upon which the sun had never shone (Sh. 29, 84), on 
plucking vegetables or herbs (Sh. 18). over oil of 
sesame (Sh. 51), oil of roses (Sh. 20, 21), salt (dd.), 
willow branches (Sh, 29), leaves of a palm-tree that 
had not yet blossomed (Sh. 29), wine (Sh. 111); and 
over all of these only at certain fixed times (Sh. 29, 
62, 119; M. V. 80). Sometimes they were not ut- 
tered at all, but were dwelt on in thought (M. V. 37). 

The formulas are recited once only, or several 
times in succession (M. VY. 28, 81, 82, 34, 65, 80); at 
times backward, at times forward (M. V. 65, 68); in 
combinations or in permutations (M. V. 380); some- 
times in gematria (compare Kircher, “ Arithmolo- 
gia,” Rome, 1665; M. V. 628); sometimes abbrevi- 
ated (M. V. 23); on other occasions with one letter 
left off at a time. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fiir Jiidische 
Voliskunde [quoted in the above article as M.V.]; Zechariah 
Plongian b. Jacob Simoner, Sefer Zekirah we-Inyane 
Seguilot, Hamburg, 1709 [S.Z.]; {ssachar (Baer) Teller Rofe 
b. Judah L6b Satan, Sefer Seguilot wu-Refuot, (Cat. Bodl. 
col. 1066), Prague, 1694; Ephraim Reischer, Sha‘ar Efrayim 
(Cat. Bodl. col. 907, Firth, 1728; Toledot Adam (ib. col. 646)’ 
Zolkiey, 1720; David (Teble) b. Jacob Ashkenasi, Seqgullot 
we-Refuot (Appendix to Bet David), Wilna, 1734 (ib. 866) ; 
Mordecai Gumpel b. Eleazar Hendels, Segullot u-Refuot 
(Appendix to Mesammehe Leb), Amsterdam. 1717, 1718; 
Abraham Wallich, Sefer Refuot, 1700; Refuot-Buch, Amster- 
dam, ivth to 18th century (Cat. Bodl. col. 641); Refwot we- 
Segullot, Amsterdam, 17th century (@.); L. Blau, Das Alt- 
Jiidische Zaubcrwesen, in the Jahresbericht der Laiudes- 
rabbiner-Schule in Budapest, 1898; Deissmann, Bihelstu- 
dien, Marburg, 1895; M. Griinwald, Ueher den Einfluss der 
Psalmen auf die Entstehung der Katholischen Liturgie, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1890, 1893 [Griinw.]: R. Heim, Incan- 
tamenta Magica, in Fleckeisen’s Jahrbiicher, 1898, xix. 
supplementary volume; C. Kayser, Der Gebrauch von 
Psalinen zur Zauberei, in Z, DM. G. 1888, xlii. 456: F. 
Kraus, Realencyklopedie der Christlichen Altertiimer, Frei- 
burg, 1882, 1886; [Monatsschrift fiir die Geschichte und 
Wissenschaft des Judenthums (M.S.1; M. Schwab, Voeabu- 
laire de V Angélologie, Paris, 1894; J. Wohlstein, Deéimonen- 
heschworungen aus Nachtalmudischer Zeit, Berlin, 1894; 
Shimmush Tehillim [Sh.] 


K. M. Gr.—K. 
BIBLIOPHILES, JEWISH. Sce Book Cot- 
LECTORS. 


BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS: 
National library of France, founded in 1354. The 
Hebrew manuscripts in this library have always 
stood at the head of the Oriental collections, their 
number now amounting to 1,390. In importance 
and number of volumes, this library is second only 
to the Bodleian at Oxford. 

The foundation of the Bibliothéque Nationale 
dates from the time of Charles V. of France, about 
the middle of the fourteenth century; though it is 
not known whether any Hebrew manuscripts were 
contained in the libraries of Charles V. and Charles 
VI. It is not even certain that manuscript No. 715, 
said to be “ written in the letters of the Jews.” was 
really a Hebrew book (Delisle, “Le Cabinet des Ma- 
nuscrits,” i. 48, note 1). A number of Hebrew books 
might have been expected to be found in these two 


Bibliothéque 
Bie 


collections. Charles V. ordered a selection to be 
made among the Hebrew manuscripts at the Trésor 
des Chartes, and in 1872 these manuscripts were 
brought to the Louvre. A second collection of He- 
brew books was delivered to Gilles Mallet about 
1397. It comprised 44 volumes, 4 rolls, and por- 
tions of the Bible and the Talmud which had been 
found in the house of a Jew living in the Faubourg 
St. Denis after the Jews were expelled from Paris 
(V. H. Sauval, “ Histoire et Récherche des Antiqui- 
tés de la Ville de Paris,” ii. 520). From this source 
have probably come the two French rituals confis- 
cated during the reign of Philippe-le-Bel, and for- 
merly preserved in the treasury (now Hebrew MSS. 
634, 637). The Renaissance largely enriched the 
Hebrew stores of the library. Guillaume Pellicier, 
bishop of Montpellier and ambassador of France to 
Venice, says in a letter addressed to King Francis 
I., Aug. 29, 1540, “Sire, it will please you to learn 
that since [have been in this city by your command, 
I have, up to the present time, kept a force of copy- 
ists at work, and now I still have eight of them, in- 
cluding the Hebrew, who write for me the rarest 
works I am able to find in this language ” (Delisle, 
ib, i, 155). These are, without doubt, the books in 
the library the bindings of which bear the arms of 
Henry II. 

In an inventory of the library of Blois, which in 
1544 was united with that of Fontainebleau, there 
are only 3 Hebrew volumes. Henry II. had in all 
only 30 Hebrew manuscripts, to which 20 volumes 
were added in 1599 from the library of Catherine de 
Médici. These volumes came originally from the 
collection of Gilles de Viterbe (see the report of M. 
Taschereau, published at the head of the catalogue 
of this collection). On Jan. 12, 1668, Louis XIV. 
ordered an exchange of printed books and manu- 
scripts between the library of the College Mazarin 
and that of the king. In this way 200 manuscripts 
were added to the king’s collection. 

On May 18, 1673, Dupont, consul of France at 
Aleppo, announced to Minister Colbert that Father 
Besson had procured about 50 volumes from private 
libraries in the country, and from some of the syna- 
gogues. Under the librarianship of Baluze no less 
than 60 Hebrew manuscripts were added (Delisle, 
ib, p. 446). One hundred and twenty-seven Hebrew 
manuscripts were in the collection of Gilbert Gaul- 
min, 14 in that of the archbishop cof Reims (1700), 
and 12 in that of Thevenot. The Colbert collection 
enriched the library by 171, so that in 1789 the total 
number of manuscripts was 516. 

It is worthy of note that the general centralization 
of books by the French republic has brought to 
the library a considerable number of Hebrew manu- 
scripts: 207 from the Paris churches of the Oratory, 
34 from the churches of St. Germain. At the same 
period as many as 258 came to the library from the 
Sorbonne, Hebrew books having been a part of the 
library there as early as 1414 (Delisle, 2. ii, 41, 
note), and the collection of Oriental manuscripts 
having been enriched by those of the Marquis de 
Briéres, which came into the Sorbonne collection with 
the library of Cardinal Richelieu. These can be 
recognized by the cardinal’s arms on their covers. 
In modern times important gifts have enriched the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


206 





collection. In 1862, 8 Hebrew manuscripts were 
added from the Trésor des Chartes, and in 1867 the 
Empress Eugénie presented to the library a Bible, 
for which, because of its illustrations and supposed 
antiquity, she had paid 20,000 francs (“Rev. Et. 
Juives,” xxxvi. 112). About 1872 two further addi- 
tions were made by Baron James Edouard de Roths- 
child (Nos, 1822, 1823). All departments of Jew- 
ish literature are represented in this collection, 
besides works in Aramaic, in Arabic (Hebrew char- 
acters), and in Judwo-Spanish. 

The most ancient Bible is dated 1286; others are of 
the fourteenth century (“ Archives Israélites,” 1894, 
lv. 897). A number of these volumes 
coming from Jtaly and the Orient are 
of the fifteenth or sixteenth century. 
Others are of more recent date. A few volumes 
contain miniatures : e.g., No. 584, Sefer ha-Mizwot, 
in Arabic: No. 586, Minhagim in Judseo-German; 
Nos. 592, 598, 617, Catalan and Italian rituals; Nos. 
643, 644, 646, and especially No, 1,333, containing a 
curious Passover Haggadah according to the Oriental 
rite, and dating from the beginning of the fifteenth 
century (“Jour Asiatique,” 1892, 1. 172-185). 

In addition to the manuscripts already mentioned, 
fragments of others have been found bound within 
printed volumes, among these being an elegy on 
Joseph Caro (“ Rev, Et. Juives,” ix. 804); and He- 
brew manuscripts found in non-Hebrew books, such 
as the three autograph letters of David Cohen de 
Lara, incorporated in the French manuscript 19,213 
(2b. xi. 95); or some business memoranda in semi- 
cursive Hebrew of the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies, found in Latin manuscript No. 5097. 

As regards the cataloguing of this collection, the 
beginnings were made by a converted Jew, Louis 
de Compiégne, in 1689, by order of Louis XIV. 
(Franklin, “Les Anciennes Bibliothéques de Paris,” 
ii. 190). This work, revised by the Abbé Renaudot, 
served as a basis for the Hebrew part of the cata- 
logue of Oriental manuscripts, printed in 1739. The 
deficiencies of this latter work were soon noticed; 
and a Jew of the Comtat Venaissin, Bernard de Va- 

labrégue, examined the manuscripts, 
Cata- while Richard Simon gave an account 
loguing of of the Hebrew manuscripts of the Ora- 
the tory (at this period this latter collec- 
Collection. tion was not yet incorporated with the 
Bibliotheque Nationale). It was, how- 
ever, found necessary to have the catalogue com- 
pletely revised. From 1838 to 1850 this work was 
done by 8. Munk. When in 1850 his eyesight failed, 
he was superseded by Joseph Derenbourg. The cata- 
logue published in 1865 contained 1,318 manuscripts 
and 16 Samaritan works. Since that time the collec- 
tion has been increased by about 75 manuscripts 
(“Rev. Et. Juives,” xxxvii. 249), The work of cata- 
loguing the collection was completed by M. Zoten- 
berg, who added a description of the Samaritan 
manuscripts. 

In regard to the printed books a different system 
of grouping has been followed. Inthe Bibliothéque 
Nationale printed books are distributed according to 
subject-matter. The number of books in the Bibh- 
othéque Nationale in 1897 was 2,048,898; and as the 
Hebrew works are distributed among these, it is nce 


Bibles. 


207 





easy task to ascertain their existence in the library. 
Thus almost all the incunabula enumerated by De 
‘ossi may, it is true, be found there, but in order 
to discover them, they must be laboriously sought 
in the numerous subject-divisions. 

From a collection of valuable objects of ancient, 
medieval, and modern times, Louis XIV. constituted 
the Cabinet de France, or, as it is called, the “ Cabi- 
net des Médailles et Antiques.” The Hebraica in 
this collection are to be found in the three main sec- 

tions denominated: (@) ancient med- 
Cabinet des als; (#) early Middle Ages; (c) mod- 
Médailles ern specimens. The series of ancient 
et Jewish coins includes 28 from Galilee, 
Antiques. 204 from Samaria, and 417 from Judea. 
The last number, the greater part of 
which are Greek or Roman coins, includes also the 
coins of Simon Maccabee (9 in silver and 11 in 
bronze), as well as the coins minted during the in- 
surrection of Bar Kokba. SS. Munk, in his “ Pales- 
tine,” has reproduced, on plate 21, 6 of these Macca- 
bean coins (Reinach, in “Rev. Et. Juives,” xv. 56, 
Xvil. 42, xviii. 304), 

After the medals come in chronological order the 
cups with magic inscriptions in Judseo-Aramean. 
Of these the Cabinet contains several specimens (sce 
Bows, Macic). 

In addition to these, there are specimens with texts 
in square characters of comparatively modern date. 
Some are in the shape of coins, upon which are 
Hebrew inscriptions. These date from the sixteenth 
or seventeenth century (“Rev. Et. Juives,” xxv. 
132, xxvii. 317). There are about forty specimens 
in this class. They comprise: (@) inscriptions with 
historic names recalling the rabbinical traditions of 
coins referring to Abraham and Sarah, to Isaac and 
Rebekah (B. K. 97b); some of these referring to 
Moses, others to Aaron, David, and Solomon; (4) 
amulets and talismans; (¢) magic squares and astro- 
logical symbols; (d) Christian documents with He. 
brew and Latin words taken from the Bible. There 
is also a medal said to have come from Lyons (J. 
Derenbourg, in “Revue Israélite,” i. 4-8), a cameo 
with the name of Gracia Nassi (“ L’Officiel,” Nov. 
7, 1877), and a Jewish seal of the fourteenth century 
(A. Blanchet, in “Revue Numismatique, ” 1889, p. 
483). Finally, there area number of talismans called 
Abraxas (“Rev. Et. Juives,” xxxi. 149; Catalogue 
by E. Babelon, No. 27). 

The department of engravings in the Biblio- 
théque Nationale comprises 2,300,000 pieces, pre- 

served in 145,000 volumes and 4,000 
Depart- portfolios (Delaborde, “Le Departe- 
mentofEn- ment des Estampes 4 la Bibliothéque 
gravings. Nationale,” p.6). This collection was 
originally made by the Abbé de Ma- 
rolles in 1667. The Jewish subjects can be found 
by means of the catalogues and alphabetical lists of 
engravings. Among these may be mentioned the 
engraving of a medieval anti-Jewish statue, called 
the “Truie de Wittenberg” (Kaufmann, in “Rev. 
Et. Juives,” xx. 269, xxiii. 3138), and an engraving 
of the so-called martyrdom of St. Simon of Trent 
in 1472, a xylograph of some interest and one fre- 
quently described. . 
G M. 8. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bibliothéque 
Bie 


BICK, JACOB SAMUEL: Austrian author; 
born in the eighteenth century ; died in Brody, 1881. 
He was a satirical writer of force and ability, and 
one of the ablest pioneers of the “ haskalah” (culture) 
movement among the Jews of Galicia. His contribu- 
tions to the “ Bikkure ha-‘Ittim,” “ Kerem Hemed,” 
and other Hebrew publications of his time contain 
strong pleas for the spread of secular knowledge 
and industry among the Galician Hebrews; and, like 
all his contemporaries among the Maskilim or pro- 
gressionists, he was strongly in favor of agricultural 
pursuits by Jews. Ife died of cholera in 1831 and 
left several manuscript works, both in prose and 
poetry, which were burned in the great conflagra- 
tion in Brody in the spring of 1885, when the house 
of his son-in-law, Isaac Rothenberg, was totally des- 
troyed. Bick was highly respected for his piety, 
learning, and ability; and the destruction of bis lit- 
erary remains was at the time deplored as a great 
loss. | 


‘BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kerem Hemed, i., Vienna, 1833, note to Let- 


ter 22: th. ii. 131. 

s. P. WL. 

BICKELL, GUSTAV WILHELM HUGO: 
Christian Hebraist and professor in the University 
of Vienna; born July 7, 1838, at Cassel. After grad- 
uating at Marburg, where he studied Semitic lan- 
guages, he renounced Protestantism and entered the 
Roman Catholic Church, becoming two years Jater 
(1867) professor of Christian archeology and Semitic 
languages in the University of Innsbruck. In 1892 
he was called to the University of Vienna. Bickell’s 
works include the following on Hebrew subjects: 
“Grundriss der Hebriiischen Grammatik,” in two 
vols., Leipsic, 1869-70 (English translation by 8. I. 
Curtiss, Leipsic, 1877); “ Dichtungen der Hebriier,” 
in three vols., according to the versification of the 
original text, Innsbruck, 1882-84; “Kohelet’s Un- 
tersuchung tiber den Wert des Daseins,” 7d., 1886; 
“Kalilag und Damnag,” Leipsic, 1876; ‘‘Der Pre- 
diger,” 1884; “ Krit. Bearbeitung der Proverbien,” 
in “W. Z WK. M.” 1891; “Kritische Bearbeitung 
des Jobdialogs,” in “W. Z. K. M.” 1898, and “Das 
Buch Job” (metrical translation), 1894. His can- 
struction of Job and Kohelet is given in popular 
form in Dillon’s “Sceptics of the Old Test.” 1895. 
He has published also the “Carmina Nisibena” of 
Ephraem Syrus, 1866. and, from Syrian Fathers, 
“Ausgewihlte Gedichte,” 1872, and “ Ausgewiihlte 
Schriften,” 1874. For his critical studies of Ben 
Sira, see “Zeitschrift fir Theologie und Kirche,” 
1882, and “W. Z. K. M.” vol. xiii. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyer, Konversations-Levikon, ii. 986. 

a: I, Br. 

BIDKAR: A captain under Jehu, by whom he 
was ordered to cast the body of Jehoram into the 
field of Naboth (I Kings ix. 25). 

J. aR. G. B. L. 

BIDPAI FABLES IN HEBREW. ‘see 
KALILAH WA-DIMN AH. 

BIE, OSKAR: German archeologist and profes- 
sorat the Technische Hochschule at Charlottenburg, 
near Berlin; born at Breslau Feb. 9, 1864. He 
studied at the gymnasium and university of his 
native town. Besides his position at the Tech- 
nische Hochschule, he oceupies at present (1902) that 


Biedermann 
Biesenthal 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


208 





of editor-in-chief of the “Neue Deutsche Rund- 
schau.” Bie is the author of the following works: 
“Die Musen in der Antiken Kunst,” 1886; “ Kampf- 
gruppe und Kimpfertypen in der Antike.” 1890; 
“Zwischen den Kiinsten,” 1895; and “ Das Klavier,” 
1898. He is a convert to Christianity. é 


BIEDERMANN, MICHAEL LAZAR: Aus- 
trian jewelerand merchant; bornat Presburg, MHun- 
gary, Aug. 18, 1769; died at Vienna Aug. 24, 1843. 
When fifteen years old he went to Vienna and was 
apprenticed to an engraver. In 1787 he gained a 
prize for modeling in wax, and in 1789 one for en- 
graving. Prior to 1792 he was known as Michael 
Lazar, but in that year he received permission to live 
in Vienna as a seal-engraver, and to adopt the name 
Biedermann. He was entrusted with the engraving 
of the imperial seals. Thus he at once became 
prominent in his trade, and by 1800 was enabled to 
open a jeweler’s store, 

Visiting the fair at Leipsic, Biedermann became 
interested in the wool trade, and in 1802 commenced 


business as a wool 
merchant. Here, as 


in the jewelry busi- 
ness, he was emi- 
nently successful. In 
1807 an English firm 
bought wool from 
him at the Leipsic 
fair to the amount of 
=300,000. In 1808 he 
received from the 
Austro-ILungarian 
government a permit 
to trade as a whole- 
sale merchant, and 
through his energy a 
wide field was opened 
to Austrian agriculture, and to the manufacture of 
woolen goods, the nethods of which he greatly im- 
proved, He succeeded in making his firm one of 
the leading houses of Austria. 

Biedermann took great interest in the welfare of 
the Jewish community of Vienna, of which he was 
the representative from 1806 till his death. In 1807 
he instituted a fund for the sick, and in 1839 a pen- 
sion fund for officers of the community. 

In 1880 Biedermann received the title of “ Jeweler 
to the Emperor of Austria.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: [Ignatz Reich, Beth-el, Ehrentempel Ver- 
dienter Ungarischer Juden, i. 60 et sey., Budapest, 1856; 
G. Wolf, Geschichte der Israelitischen Cultusgemetnde in 
Wien, pp. 57 et seq., Vienna, 1861; David Lowy, Gallerie der 
Verdienstvollen Juden des XTX. Jahrhunderts, Zundchst 
ans Oesterretch-Ungarn, part i., p. 9. Vienna, 1882; Kohut, 
Bertihimte Israelitische Manner und Fraaen, p. 807, Leip- 


sic, 1900. 
: F. T. Fi. 


S. 

BIEGELEISEN, HENRY: Polish critic and 
author; born 1850 in Galicia. He studied at the 
universities of Lemberg, Munich, and Leipsic, re- 
ceiving from the last named the degree of doctor of 
philology for his treatise, “Characteristik Trem- 
becki’s, ein Beitrag zur Slavischen Litteratur-Ge- 
schichte ” (Leipsic, 1882). He is now (1902) director 
of the Hebrew school at Lemberg. 

Biegeleisen has published: “ Franciszek Bohomol- 





Michael Lazar Biedermann. 


tax of fifty pfennigs each. 


> 


nik,” 1879; “Tymon Zalorowsky,” in the “ Athe. 
neum,” 1883; “Pan Tadeush Mickiewicz,” a study 
of literary esthetics, Warsaw, 1884; “Julius Slo- 
matzky,” 2 vols., Lemberg, 1895; and “ Posthumous 
Letters of Slomatzky ” (“Genezis z Ducha”), etc., 
1886. He has also contributed to various period- 
icals, among other articles, the following: “ Karol 
Dickens”; “Fiziognomika w Smietle Nojnomszych 
Badan”; “ Ewolucia Piskno Przyroda ”; and “ Henry 
Tbsen.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Orgelbrand, Eineyklop. Powsjechna, Warsaw, 


1898. 
H.R. GE. 


BIEL (BIENNE): Town in the canton of Bern, 
Switzerland. It had Jewish inhabitants as early as 
the city of Bern itself. In 1305 a few Jewish fam- 
ilies were naturalized in consideration of a yearly 
According to the patent 
or “Jew-letter” granted them (see Ulrich, “Samm- 
hing Jtidischer Geschichten in der Schweiz,” p. 482, 
Basel, 1768), they were not to be hindered in any 
way in their trade or traffic. A pledge left in pawn 
by a Christian could be sold by them after the lapse 
of a year and forty days. Curiously enough, weap- 
ons were allowed to be taken in pawn. In case of 
emergency these had to be delivered, even on the 
Sabbath, against adequate security, to the mayor in 
presence of two or three councilors; when the dan- 
ger was past, they were to be returned as quickly 
as possible to the Jews. Nothing further is known 
concerning the Jews of Biel; even the date of their 
expulsion is unnoted. At present (1902) there are at 
Biel about forty-five Jewish families, who hire their 
svnagoguc, maintain a teacher, and provide a fund 


for the poor and the sick. 
D, M. Is. 


BIELGORAJ: A district town in the govern- 
ment of Lublin, Russian Poland. According to the 
“Zuk ha-‘Ittim,” during the uprising of the Cos- 
sacks under Chmielnicki (1648-49), all the Jews of 
Bielgoraj were killed, among them Rabbi Hirsch, 
brother-in-law of the author of that work, and his 
brother Rabbi David. Its Jewish population in 1890 
was 3,430, in a total population of 7,812. In the 
district there were 6,811 Jews in a total population 
of 88,667. The Jews possess one synagogue and 
three prayer-houses, a Hebrew school, and a hospi- 
tal. A large number of the Jews of Bielgoraj are 
artisans. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zul ha-‘TIttim, Venice, 1556; Regesty i Nad- 
pisi, No. 924, St. Petersburg, 1899; Entziklopedicheshi Slo- 
var, V., St. Petersburg, 1896, 

H. R. 


BIELTZY: District town of the government of 
Bessarabia, Russia. At the census of 1897 the pop- 
ulation was 18,526, including over ten thousand 
Jews, most of them engaged in handicrafts, but 
some in agriculture and commerce. There were at 
the same date 1,188 Jewish artisans (25 per cent of 
them tailors or tailoresses). In the neighborhood of 
Bieltzy there are many Jewish farmers, cultivating 
their own or rented land: 50 of them raise tobacco 
on rented farms covering about 405 acres of land. 
The economic condition of the Jews has grown worse 
since the government monopolized the liquor trade 
(1896), in which 300 Jewish families were engaged. 


209 


In 1898, 200 Jewish families petitioned for charity at 
Passover, anc also for coal during the winter. There 
is a Jewish hospital, a poor-house (maintained at an 
annual expense of 38,700 rubles), and a Talmud 
Torah, attended by 185 pupils. The statistical in- 
formation given here was supplied by the Jewish 
Colonization Association of St. Petersburg, Russia. 
U.K. S. J. 


BIEN, JULIUS: American lithographer; son 
of Emanuel M., hazan, lecturer, and lithographer; 
born at Naumburg, near Cassel, Hesse-Nassau, Sept. 
27,1826. He was educated at the Academy of Fine 
Arts, Cassel, and at Stiidel’s Institute, Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, and studied under Prof. M. Oppenheim of 
the latter place. Bien came to New York, estab- 
lished a lithographic business there in 1850, and was 
successful in scientific production, issuing many 
geographical and scientific works, such as atlases 
and geological and hydrographic charts. He re- 
ceived medals and diplomas at various exhibitions: 
Philadelphia, 1876; Paris, 1878; Chicago, 1898; and 
Paris, 1900. He was president of the National Lith- 
ographers’ Association from 1886 to 1896, and a 
member of numerous scientific societies. Bien was 
president of the order B’nat B’rrvn (1854-57 and 
1868-1900), and instrumental in giving it an inter- 
national character. He died December 21, 1909. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: TWho’s Who in America, 1901-02. 


BIENSTOK, LEV MOISEIEVICH: Russian 
writer, educationist, and communal worker: born 
April 6, 1836, at Lukachi, government of Volhynia; 
died Oct, 22, 1894, at Jaffa, Palestine. He received 
his first education in the heder and in the Rus- 
sian public school at Turin, district of Kovel; in 
1847 entered the gymnasium at Jitomir, and in 1848 
the Hebrew Theological Seminary at the same place, 
graduating from the latter in 1808. He was ap- 
pointed teacher at the Jewish school of Starokon- 
stantinov, and acted as rabbi of the Jitomir com- 
munity from 1859 to 1862. From 1863 to 1867 he 
was instructor in the Jewish religion at various 
gymnasia in Jitomir. 

In 1867 Bienstok was appointed assistant editor 
of the “ Volynskiya Gubernskiya Vyedomosty,” the 
official newspaper of the government of Volhynia, 
and from 1867 to 1882 was adviser on Jewish matters 
(“uchony yevrei”) to the governor of Volhynia. 
In 1880 Bienstok settled at St. Petersburg as secre- 
tary of the Jewish community there; but after the 
anti-Jewish riots he returned to Jitomir, and in 1892 
the Russian-Jewish Aid Society for Agriculturists 
aud Artisans of Odessa appointed him as ifs repre- 
sentative in Jaffa. There he brought order into the 
affairs of the society, and reported on the condition 
of the agricultural colonies of Palestine. 

Bienstok was one of the pioneer collaborators of 
the first Russian-Jewish periodicals, “Razsvyet ” 
and “Sion.” He also contributed to the Russian 
periodicals: “Moskovskiya Vyedomosti,” “ Russki 
Vvestnik,” “Sovremennaya Lyetopis,” and others. 

Bienstok wasthe author of: (1) “Otzy i Dyety ” 
(Fathers and Sons), a translation of the Hebrew 
novel, “Abot u-Banim,” by 8. Abramovich; (2) 
“Yevreiskiya Zemledyelcheskiya Kolonii Yekateri- 
noslavskoi Gubernii 1890” (On the Jewish Agricul- 

III.—i4 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Biedermann 
Biesenthal 


tural Colonies of the Province of Yekaterinoslav in 
1890, (St. Petersburg, 1890), Among his magazine 
articles on Jewish topics were: “Vopros ob Yévrei- 
skikh Uchilishchach,” a paper on Jewish schools, in 
“Russki Vyestnik” for 1866, Nos. 11, 12; “ Yevrei 
Volynskoi Gubernii,” a series of articles on the Jews 
of the government of Volhynia, and containing val- 
uable information on the ethnography of the Russian 
Jews (published in the “ Volhynskiya Gubernskiya 
Vyedomosti” for 1867; “Iz Nedavnavo Proshlavo,” 
in the same periodical 1867; “Otkrytoe Pismo U. 
Aksakovu” in “ Voskhod,” 1882, No. 4; “ Vtoroe 
Otkrytoe Pismo Aksakovu,” in “Russki Kurier,” 
1883, No. 251, and “Vospominanie o Finlyandii,” 
reminiscences of Finland, in-“Odesski Listok ” for 
1883, Nos. 187, 189, 201, 202. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: A hiasaf, 1894; Vengerov, Kritiko-Biogra- 
ficheski Sltovar, St. Petersburg, 1892. 
H. R. 


BIESENTHAL, JOACHIM HEINRICH 
(RAPHAEL HIRSCH; pseudonym, Karl Ig- 
naz Corvé): Theologian and author; born at Lob- 


sens, Posen, 1800; died in Berlin, 1886. He was 


destined for the rabbinate; but while attending the 
University of Berlin (1827-85) he made the acquaint- 
ance of the Oriental] scholar Wilhelm Vatke, with 
whom he studied Christian theology. In 1887 he 
published “Ausziige aus dem Buche Sohar, mit 
Deutscher Uebersetzung,” in which he tried to prove 
from Jewish literature the doctrine of the Trinity 
and other Christian dogmas. 

The following year he wasconverted to Christian- 
ity, joined the Evangelical Church, and entered the 
service of the Jewish Mission of Berlin. In 1844 he 
became a member of the London Missionary Society, 
and engaged in missionary work among the Jews. 
His literary activity continued unabated. 

Biesenthal’s works, which give evidence of an ex- 
tensive knowledge of rabbinical literature, and a 
thorough command of the Hebrew language, in- 
clude: “ Hebriiisches und Chaldiisches Schulwdérter- 
buch fiber das A. T.” (1886-87); David Kimhi's 
Oyaw Io (in conjunction with F. 8. Lebrecht), 
Berlin, 18388; “The Book of Psalms; Hebrew Text, 
with a Commentary,” Berlin, 1841; “The Book of 
Isaiah; Hebrew Text and Commentary,” Berlin, 
1841; “Chrestomathia Rabbinica sive Libri Quatuor, 
Complectens Analectae Rerum Scriptoribus, Cosmo- 
graphis, Grammaticis, Exegetis, Philosophis, Caba- 
listis et Poetis, Partim e Codicibus Sumta, cum 
Versione Latina ct Vitis Scriptorum,” part i., Ber- 
lin, 1844: “Zur Geschichte der Christlichen Kirche 
in Ihrer Ersten Entwickelungsperiode bis zum An- 
fange des 4ten Jahrhunderts,” In which he makes 
much use of Talmudical material, and endeavors to 
prove that the Jews stood in close connection with 
the early Christian Church; and a Hebrew transla- 
tion of the Epistles to the Hebrews and the Romans, 
with a commentary based on rabbinical lore, and a 
biography of Paul, 1857-58. 

In 1840, at the time of the blood accusation at 
Damascus, Biesenthal, under the name “ Karl Ignaz 
Corvé,” defended the Jews in his interesting work, 
“Ueber den Ursprung der Wider die Juden Erho- 
benen Beschuldigung bei der Feier Ihrer Ostern sich 
des Blutes zu Bedienen, Nebst Kurzer Darsteilung 


Bigamy 
Bildad 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


210 





des Jiidischen Rituals in Beziehung auf den Ge- 

nuss des Blutes,” Berlin, 1840. Biesenthal received 

the degree of doctor of theology from the Univer- 
sity of Giessen. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Le Roi, Gesch. der Evangelischen Juden- 
Mission, i. 90, 156; Furst, Bibl. Jud. i. 115; Zeitlin, Bibl. 
Post-Mendels. p. 31. 

P. S. R. 

BIGAMY.—Biblical Data. See Pouyeamy. 

— In Rabbinical Literature: According to 

Merrill’s “Eneyclopedia of Law,” iti. 192, bigamy 

consists in “going through the ceremony of mar- 

riage with another while a former husband or wife 
is still aliveand not divorced.” This definition finds 
no place in rabbinical law, according to which, in 
order to constitute bigamy, the second marriage 
must be a lawful union. Hence it follows that 

bigamy can be committed only by a man, since a 

woman who is neither divorced nor widowed can 

not enter at all into marriage with another, and any 
cohabitation is considered adultery. 

In Biblical as in Talmudical times polygamy was 
a recognized institution; hence there could be no 
question of bigamy. The singular opinion in the 
Talmud, that a wife can compel a divorce from her 
husband if he take a second wife, seems to have re- 
mained without following. So long asa man could 
support them, he was free to have as many wives 
as he chose, even against the wish of his first wife 
(Yeb. 65a, below; Maimonides, “ Yad,” Ishut, xiv. 3). 
The rabbinical prohibition against bigamy dates 
from the beginning of the eleventh century; Rabbi 
Gershon b. Judah of Metz forbade it under penalty 
of excommunication. Ilis decree was accepted with- 

out opposition by the French and Ger- 

Rabbinical man Jews; though not in the Orient 

Pro- and in Spain and Portugal, where his 
hibition. authority was questioned. Polygamy 
is still actually to be found among the 

Jews in Oriental countries where it is permitted by 

the law of the land. 

Among the Jews of Europe, bigamy is now a 
crime in the eyes cf religion, because of the prohibi- 
bition of Rabbi Gershon, and because custom sanc- 
tions monogamy; he who transgresses is excommu- 
nicated. A curious suggestion that R. Gershon’s 
prohibition was intended to hold only until the year 
1240, the beginning of the fifth millennium of the 
Jewish calendar (Joseph Colon, Responsa, No. 
101), was never recognized; the great majority of 
the “ Poskim” agree that the prohibition is in per- 
petuity. 

The following cases are not to be considered as 
constituting bigamy. In localities where the levi- 
rate marriage (see LEVIRATE MARRIAGE) is prac- 
tised, a married man is allowed to marry his broth- 
er’s widow under certain circumstances as prescribed. 
But this view is steadily opposed by the majority of 

German rabbis (Shulhan ‘Aruk, Eben 


Per- ha-‘Ezer, 1. 10). The same difference 
missible of opinion rules also in the case of 
Ex- a barren marriage; many authorities 
ceptions. permit the husband to take a second 


wife when a union has continued child- 
less for ten years. Whena wife becomes hopelessly 
insane, the husband may take a second wife only 


when the case has been investigated by 100 rabbig 
from three different countries, and permission given 
by them. According to most authorities a maa may 
take a second wife when lis first one, of openly im- 
moral character, or one who has without reason aban- 
doned her husband, refuses to go through the usual 
form of divorce. When a Jewish wife embraces an- 
other religion, thus, according to rabbinical senti- 
ment, making it impossible for her husband to live 
happily with her, the latter may marry again with- 
out formality in some localities. In other places, how- 
ever, the bet din appoints some person to receive a 
letter of divorce on behalf of the wife (Shulhan 
‘Aruk, @.¢.). If a Jew commit bigamy, all the re- 
sources of Jewish justice are invoked to compel him 
to divorce his second wife, and the first wife can not 
be compelled to live with a bigamist. Compare 
Divorcr, POLYGAMY. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shahan “Aruk, l.c.; compare especially the 
commentaries Bet Shemuel by Samuel b. Uri Phoebus, Beér 
Heteb by Judah Ashkenazi, and Pithe Teshubah by Z. H. 
Eisenstadt, on the passage; Abrahams, Jewish Life in the 
Middle Ages, pp. 116-120. 7 


BIGTHAN: A eunuch of Ahasuerus, who, with 
Teresh, conspired against the king (Esther ii. 21, vi. 
2). The conspiracy was discovered by Mordecai, 
and on his information the eunuchs were put to 
death (Esther ii. 23). In vi. 2 the name is given as 
Bigthana. 

J. JR. G. B. I. 


BIKAYIM, MEIR BEN HALIFAH: Cabal- 
ist; lived in Turkey in the eighteenth century. He 
is the author of the following works: (1) “Golel Or” 
(Who Evolved Light), on metempsychosis, according 
to the teachings of Isaac Luria, Hayyim Vital, and 
Azariah of Fano (Smyrna, 1737); (2) “Meore Or” 
(The Iluminators), a cabalistic commentary on the 
Pentateuch (Salonica. 1751); (3) “ Meir Bat ‘Ayin” 
(Who Gives Light to the Apple of the Eye), ex- 
planations of the first volume of the “ ‘En Ya‘akob ” 
(Smyrna, 1755); (4) “Mefr la-Arez wela-Dorim ” 
(Who Iiluminates the Earth and Its Inhabitants), on 
the order of the Sabbatic sections (Salonica, 1747); 
(5) “Magen Abot” (The Shield of the Fathers), a 
cabalistic commentary on Pirke Abot (Salonica, 
1748); (6) “ Karah Mikrah ” (An Accident Happened), 
on atonement for sexual impurities (Salonica, 1752). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zedner, Cat. Hehr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 151. 

K, I. Br, 

BIKHAKHANIM: Reigning princess of the 
Taman peninsula, Crimea. She was married in 1419 
to the Genoese Jew Simeone de Guizolfi, who 
through this marriage became possessor of that 
country, where one of his heirs, Zacharias de Gui- 
zolfi, was still reigning in 1482. The Russian his- 
torian F. K. Brun, in “Trudy Pervavo Archcolo- 
gickeskavo Syezda v Moskvye,” 1869, ii.386, suggests 
that the name of the princess might not have been 
“Bikhakhanim,” but “ Bikhakhatun,” and that, if so, 
she was the daughter of the Georgian prince Bek II. 
(d. 1891), the ruler of Samtzke and Clarzhet (Bros- 
set, “Hist. dela Géorgie,” ii. 206). See Gutzouri, 
ZACHARIAH DE. 7 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Richard Léwe, Die Reste der Germanen am 
Schwarzen Meere, p. 42, Halle, 1896. 
H. R. 


211 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bigamy 
Bildad 





BIKKURE HA-‘ITTIM (“First-Fruits of the 
Times ”): An annual edited and published in Vienna, 
1820-31, by 8. J. Cohen, It first appeared as a sup- 
plement to the Hebrew calendar D219 ONY, and 
was intended for young people only. In 1822 it 
ceased to be a mere supplement, and became an in- 
dependent magazine. It was adopted by the Gali- 
cian MAaskILIM as their organ for the purpose of 
fostering culture and education among the Galician 
Jews. According to Delitzsch, the “Bikkure ha- 
‘Ittim” became the organ of the New-German school 
of poetry in Austria, the influence of Schiller being 
ius apparent in this magazine as was that of Lessing 
in the “ Meassef” (see Ha-MEASSEP), 

The influence of the “ Bikkure ha-‘Ittim ” on the 
European Jews of the first half of the nineteenth 
century was inestimable. The magazine became a 
kind of college of Jewish learning for the Israelites 
of those days. Its success was largely due to the 
energy and indefatigable labor of its editor, who 
was «& man of considerable literary ability and an 
ardent Jover of Jewish literature. The first num- 
bers, with their curious mixture of Hebrew and 
German articles (the latter being in Hebrew charac- 
ters), and with their many reprints of articles from 
the “ Meassef ”—which had ceased to exist—proved 
to be rather inferior literary fare. Gradually, how- 
ever, the magazine improved both in style and in 
matter, and finally became the literary resort of the 
greatest Hebrew scholars of the age, men like 8. D. 
Luzzatto, S. L. Rapoport, and I. 8. Regyio centrib- 
uting toitfor many years. The“ Bikkure ha-‘Ittim,” 
in fact, stimulated the powers of many promising 
young Hebrew writers. Thus the great Hebrew 
stylist, Isaac Erter, published therein some of those 
papers which are now so greatly admired for their 
elegant composition and stinging wit (see ERTER, 
[sa ac). 

As the name of the magazine signifies, if was one 
of the forerunners of modern Hebrew journalism ; 
and it was undoubtedly one of the factors in the re- 
vival of modern Hebrew. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. der_Jtidischen Poesie, 

pp. 101, 102; Winter and Wiinsche, Jiid. Literatur, iii. 862; 

Weissberg, in anyoinvron, pp. 39-44. 


G. M. Ra. 

BIKKURIM (“ First-Fruits”): Name of the last 
treatise of Seder Zera‘im. It treats of the way of 
carrving out the commandment concerning first- 
fruits mentioned in. Deut. xxvi. 1-11. The com- 
mandment includes two things: (1) the bringing of 
the first-fruit, and (2} a declaration to be made by 
him who brings it, that he owes everything to the 
kindness of God toward the Israelites, from the times 
of the Patriarchs up to the present day. The trea- 
tise deals with this subject in three chapters. 

Chapter i. deals with the conditions that necessi- 
tate the bringing of the first-fruits. The Mishnah 
enumerates three classes of landowners: («) Those 
that can not bring the first-fruits, either because the 
fruit is not entirely the product of their land, ¢.g., 
when part of the root is outside their land; or be- 
cause they are not the real or the legitimate owners 
of the land; or because the produce of their land in- 
cludes none of the seven kinds enumerated in Deut. 
Vili. 8, or is only of inferior quality unfit for bik- 


kurim. (4) Those that bring the first-fruits but 
do not make the declaration; viz., proselytes, freed 
slaves, guardians who manage the property of 
orphans, delegates, females, half-males, and unde- 
veloped persons (ANDKOGYNOS). (c) Those that 
gather and bring the first-fruit and make the decla- 
ration; viz., the owners of land (including those wha 
have bought three trees growing in another man’s 
land) producing some of the seven kinds, of aver- 
age or superior quality; provided they bring the 
first-fruit between the Feast of Weeks and the Feast 
of Tabernacles. When brought after the festival, 
the declaration must not be made. 

In chapter ji. a comparison, as to legal classifica- 
tion; is made between “terumah” (given to the 
priest), “ma‘aser” (the second tithe, which had te 
be brought to Jerusalem and consumed there), and 
“bikkurim” (to be brought to the Temple and given 
there to the priests). Other similar legal compari- 
sons are given: between citron, trees, and vegeta- 
bles; between the biood of human beings and that 
of cattle and creeping things; and between beast, 
cattle, and “koy ” (3), an intermediate between cat- 
tle and beast. 

Chapter iii. contains a full account of the way the 
first-fruits were brought to the Temple. 

A fourth chapter, containing a comparison be- 
tween the laws referring to man, woman, and androg- 
ynos (intermediate between man and woman), has 
been added by some of the editors of the Mishnayot. 
It is part of the Tosefta Bikkurim. The Tosefta by 
this pame contains two chapters on a line with the 
Mishnah. 

There is no Gemara in the Babylonian Talmud. 

he Palestinian Talmud has Gemara on Bikkurim, in 
which the laws of the Mishnah are discussed in the 
usual way, with a few digressions, noteworthy 
among Which is that on Lev. xix. 32, “Thou shalt rise 
before the hoary head and honor the face of an old 
man,” and on the value of the title “zaken” (elder) 
conferred on scholars in Palestine and outside Pales- 
tine (Yer. ii. 65c). 

J. SR. M. F. 

BIKKURIM: A Hebrew annual that appeared 
in Vienna for two years (1864, 1865), Naphtali Keller 
being its editor and publisher. The greatest He- 
brew scholars of the age, as J. H. Weiss, Jellinek, 
Reifmann, Lewisohn, Gottlober, Meyer Friedmann, 
Letteris, and others. were among its contributors. 
Before Keller had time to prepare the second volume 
for publication, he died, and Jellinek, together with 
Meyer Friedmann, took up the work of arranging all 
the material Keller had amassed ; and with the pub- 
lication of this volume the issue was discontinued. 
The two volumes published contain little poctry or 
fiction, and are almost exclusively devoted to ques- 
tions of Jewish scholarship, history, and literature. 

G. M. Ra. 

BILDAD (LXX., Batdéd): One of the three 
friends of Job (Job ii. 11). The meaning of the 
name is not clear; opinions of scholars vacillate be- 
tween rendering “ Bel has loved” (compare “ Eldad,” 
Num. xi. 26 e seg., and “Elidad,” Num. xxxiv. 21; 
Noldeke, “Z. D. M. G.” xlii. 479) and regarding it as 
a softened pronunciation of “ Birdad,” which would 
then be identical with “ Bir-dadda” that appears in 


Bileam 
Bilshan 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


212 





Assyrian inscriptions. Delitzsch (“ Wo Lag das Para- 
dies?” p. 298) mentions also Bedad, the father of the 
Idumean king Hadad. Bildad was descended from 
Shuah, a son of Abraham and Keturah, mentioned 
in Gen, xxv. 2, and now generally associated with 
the place Sfihu on the Euphrates, south of Car- 
chemish (compare Delitzsch, lc. pp. 297 e¢ segq.; 
- Zeitschrift fiir Keilinschriften,” ii. 91 e¢ seg. ; Glaser, 
“Skizze,” ii. 446). Bildad appears three times in the 
dialogue with Job; in the first speech (Job viii.) he 
dwells chiefly on the wisdom of the fathers, who 
preach the destruction of the wicked; in the second 
speech (2b. xviii.) he pictures this destruction; and 
in the third speech (7). xxv.) he confines himself 
to a few words, because he has in reality nothing 
more to say. He speaks of God’s “dominion and 
fear... in His high places” only to emphasize 
man’s impurities and imperfections, and leaves it to 
Job to apply the doctrine to his own case. All at- 
tempts to lengthen this last short speech by addi- 
tions from other parts of the book have proved fail- 
ures, and are indeed unnecessary (compare Budde, 
“Das Buch Hiob,” pp. 142 e¢ seq.). 
J. IR. 


BILEAM. See BaLaam. 


BILGAH.—Biblical Data: One of the twenty- 
four divisions of the priests who officiated in the 
Temple. According to I Chron. xxiv. 14, Bilgah is 
the fifteenth in order, and is immediately preceded 
by that of Jeshebeab. Among the Babylonian exiles 
who returned, there was also a priest, Bilgai (Neh. x. 
9 [A. V. 10}) or Bilgah (7d. xii. 5) by name, whose 
descendant, Shammua, became the head of a priestly 
house (2b. xii. 18). Inthe Septuagint the names read 
Be/ya, Beayai, and Baayac; and Josephus mentions a 
certain Meirus as a son of Belgas (“B. J.” vi. 5, § 1). 
The traditional meaning given the name is “reju- 
venation.” Modern lexicographers explain it as 
“ cheerfulness.” 

——In Rabbinical Literature: According to a 
Talmudic tradition preserved in “ Halakot Gedolot ” 
(ed. Hildesheimer, p. 631), Bilgah was assigned to 
the group which officiated on the second and sixth 
days of the Feast of Tabernacles. The priests, when 
entering upon their duties, received their share in 
the northern part of the Tabernacle, because this 
was near the seat of their activity. The section as- 
signed to each division of the priesthood was fur- 
nished with an iron ring fastened to the floor, for 
the purpose of securing the animal designed for 
slaughter, and there were accordingly twenty- 
four openings in the wall where the knives used for 
slaughtering were kept. Bilgah alone received his 
share in the south, his ring being nailed down, and 
his wall-closet tightly sealed, as a punishment for 
the apostasy of a woman of that house by the name 
of Miriam, who, during the Greek dominion under 


W. ON. 


Antiochus Epiphanes, had denied her faith and mar-_ 


ried a hipparch (Tos., Suk. iv. 28; Suk. 56b; Yer. 
Suk., end; “Rev. Et. Juives,” xxxix. 54). It is 
further related that when the Greeks forced their 
way into the Temple, this woman beat her sandals 
upon the altar, crying: “Wolf, wolf [Av«oc, Abxoc], 
thou hast swallowed the substance of Israel, but 
hast deserted us in the day of our need!” 


According to another opinion, the priests of Bilgah 
delayed too long in entering upon the performance 
of their functions; so that those of the division 
Jeshebeab were compelled to act in their place, and 
consequently received the prerogatives of Bilgah 
(Tos., d.c.; Yer. Suk., end); to which the Jerusalem 
Talmud adds that in this instance the division Bilgah 
was neither abolished nor amalgamated with the 
other twenty-three divisions, because this would 
have interfered with the ancient institution. The 
opinion of Buxtorf, that Miriam, daughter of Bil- 
gah, was a member of a sacred order of virgins, 
deserves mention only as acuriosity. Kalir’s dirge, 
Sov" ADS, which, on the basis of the Midrash, men- 
tions the divisions of the priesthood, contains no 
reference to Bilgah; sce art. BENJAMIN. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hastings, Dict. Bibl. s.v.; Cheyne and Black, 
Einecye. Bibl. s.v.; Buxtorf, Lexicon, p. 306: Kohut, Aruech 
Completum, ti. 94; Krauss, in Rev. Bt. Juives, xxxix. 54; 
Rahmer, Die Hebritischen Traditionen in den Werken dea 
Hieronymus, p. 58; Gratz, Gesch. der Jude, il. 484, note 1. 


kK. S. Kr. 

BILHAH: A Jocality in southern Judea (I 
Chron. iv. 29), evidently the same as “ Balah ” (m5, 
Josh. xix. 3) and “Ba‘alah ” (Aby3, Josh. xv. 29). 

G. W.N. 

BILHAH (nnba; LXX. BesAd; but in I Chron, 
vii. 18 Batay or Bazadu).—Biblical Data: Rachel's 
handmaid, given by Rachel as a concubine to Jacob, 
to whom, according to Gen. xxx. 8 (compare Gen. 
XXix. 29, xxxvii. 2), she bore Danand Naphtali upon 
Rachel's knees. The expression signifies that Rachel, 
who is also represented as choosing the names 
“Dan” and “ Naphtali,” regarded them as her own 
children or actually adopted them, In Gen. xxxv. 
22 (1 Chron. v. 1) there isa reference to an incestuous 
intercourse between Billhah and Reuben. 

J. IR. W.N. 
——In Rabbinical Literature: According to 
Gen. R. Ixxiv. 14, Bilhah was one of the daughters 
of Laban. When Rachel died she was replaced by 
LBilhah in Jacob’s affections, and he took up his resi- 
dence in her tent. This displeased Reuben, who 
saw in Bilhah a new and favored rival of his mother 
Leah; he therefore removed Jacob’s couch from 
Bilhah’s tent. It was to this episode that the Rabbis 
considered Jacob to allude in the farewell to his 
children (Gen. xlix. 4); “Because thou wentest up 
to thy father’s bed” (Gen. R. xevili. 4; somewhat 
different in Shab. 55b). After Jacob’s death Bilhah 
was the “messenger” sent by the brothers to Joseph 
to crave his mercy (Gen. t. 16). They told her she 
had been deputed to relate to Joseph all the words 
of the parting blessing conferred by Jacob upon his 
favoriteson; which untruth was regarded by them as 
permissible for the sake of peace (Tan., ed. Buber, iii. 
18). This legend seems to have been contained in the 
passage, Gen. R. 1. 16, as read by the ancients, Rashi, 
and Yalkut, although not found in modern editions. 

K, L. G. 
Critical View: It is no longer disputed that 
in this and in every other genealogical] account, 
tribal and not personal relations are designated. Mar- 
riage symbolizes in these early traditions the fusion 
of two tribes originally distinct. The husband rep- 
resented the stronger tribe and gave his name to 
both; and the wife represented the weaker which 





213 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bileam 
Bilshan 





merged in the stronger. 


power, it was represented as a concubine (compare 


Stade, “Gesch. des Volkes Israel,” 2d ed., i. 30). | 


Consequently Bilhah (like Hagar, Keturah, and 
others) is to be 
regarded as the 
name of 4 tribe; 
even though 
there are no fur- 
ther indications 
of the fact, and 
the meaning of 
the name has 
not been deter- 
mined. Tlicreis 
no proof of the 
accuracy of 
Ball’s conjec- 
ture (“S. B. O. 
T.” on Gen. 
xxx. 3) that 
“ Bilhah ” is con- 
pected with the 
Arabic “ baliha ” 
(simple, artless, 
easily misled). 
Since Dan and 
Naphtali appear 
as the sons of 
the handmaid of 
Rachel, the 
mother of the 
tribe of Joseph, 
they are thus 
characterized as 
tribes of the 
second rank 
subordinate to 
Joseph, Thisis 
confirmed = by 
such historic 
evidence  con- 
cerning the 
tribes as has 
been preserved. 
It has not been 
determined 
whether Naph- 
tali was always joined to Dan or was added at | 
the period when the latter was driven from its 
settlement and forced to move to the north. It 
is possible that at first Dan was only a clan of 
the tribe of Joseph, like Benjamin, unsuccessfully 
trying to establish itself outside the original tribe; 
and it is not improbable that the portion of Dan which 
settled in the north came into intimate relations with 
the adjacent tribe of Naphtali. Such circumstances as 
these are reflected in the genealogical accounts. 
According to Gen, xxxv. 22a, Reuben committed 
adultery with Bilhah; and according to Gen. xlix. 
4, his downfall was due to his defiling his father’s 
couch. The meaning of this story is doubtful. 
Dillmann, in his commentary on the passage, and 
Stade, ¢. i. 151, think that reproach is attached to | 
Reuben for adhering to the old custom by which the | 


If the weaker tribe was | 
greatly the inferior of the stronger in authority and | 





LEATHER BINDING OF “OR AMIM,” 1537, TOOLED IN GOLD. 


(In the coilection of Hon, Mayer Sulzberger.) 


son inherits his father’s concubines, at a time when 
the other Israelitish tribes had adopted different cus- 
toms. <A point against this assumption is that there 
are proofs of the existence of the custom in the land 
west of the Jordan as late as the time of the kings 
(compare IT 
Sam, xvi. 21; 
I Kings ii, 13- 
25). The follow- 
ing explanation, 
suggested by 
Holzinger in his 
commentary on 
Gen. xxxv. 22, 
seems more 
likely: Reuben’s 
position as first- 
born designates 
his greater 
power, which, 
however, was 
soon lost in one 
way or another. 
In the time of 
his strength he 
had tried to 
extend his 
power westward 
through the 
tribes descended 
from Bilhah;: 
and later genera~ 
tions regarded 
this as a_ sin. 
against Jacob. 
An analogy to 
this interpreta- 
tion is to be 
found in the dis- 
approval ex- 
pressed in Gen. 
xxxiv. 30 of the 
treacherous  at- 
tack on  She- 
chem made by 
Simeon and 
Levi. 
J.gR. WN, 


BILL OF DIVORCE. See DIVORCE. 
BILL OF EXCHANGE. See EXcHANGE. 
BILL OF MANUMISSION. See SLAvEs. 


BILSHAN.—Biblical Data: Oneof the impor- 
tant men who came to Jerusalem from Babylon with 
Zerubbabel (Ezra ii 2; Neh. vil. 7). In I Esd. v. 8 
he is called “Beelsarus,” which points to the form 
Belshar (= “Belshar-ussur”=O Bel, protect the 
king); while “Bilshan” points to “Belshunu” (His 
Lord). J. Halévy (“Revue Etudes Juives,” x 3) 
translates the name “ pére de la langue” (}}w> 3%). 

G. G. B. L. 
In Rabbinical Literature: According tothe 
Rabbis, Bilshan is not a proper name, but a surname 
to the preceding name, Mordecai. The latter was. 
given this epithet because of his linguistic attain- 





Bina ben David 
Bing, Albert 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


214 





ments, Bilshan meaning “man of language” ya 
nw). He not only spoke many jJanguages—the sev- 
enty corresponding tothe number of nations accord- 
ing to the Rabbis—but also understood the language 
of the dumb (Men. 64b, 65a). L. G. 


BINA BEN DAVID: Cabaiist, and rabbi at 
Lockacze, Poland, in the middle of the seventeenth 
century. Bina was the author of “Zer Zahab” 
(Crown of Gold), Cracow, 1647, an alphabetical index 
to, and extracts and explanations from, the Zohar 
and Midrash. At the end are novelle on many Tal- 
mudical passages. A considerable portion of the 


point, a kind of three-cornered flap, to which rib. 
bons or straps are sewed to tic the volume together, 
Such bindings are still largely used among the Jews 
of Yemen. Another kind of binding with overlap. 
ping parchment or leather was intended to protect 
the free edge, and on it the name of the book or the 
titles of parts of it were often marked. The stitching- 
thread often goes entirely through the book, making 
it difficult to open. 

After the invention of printing rich owners fre- 
quently ornamented Bibles and praver-books with 
clasps and mountings of gold and silver, this being 
especially the case with the prayer-books given by 





SILVER BINDING OF A HEBREW PRAYER-BOOK. 


(In the collection of J. Kauffmann of Frankfort-on-the-Main.) 


work was translated into Latin by Knorr von Rosen- 
rothin “ Cabbala Denudata.” Steinschneider (* Cat. 
Bod.” col. 545) incorrectly cites Bina as “ Baruch ” 
(see Zedner, “Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus.” p. 162). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 545; Zedner, 
as above; First, Bibl. Judaica, i. 200; Benjacob, Ozar ha- 
Sefarim, p. 161. 
K. I. Br. 
BINDING: The art of fastening together sheets 
of paper, jeaves of parchment, or folios, and of cov- 
ering them with parchment, leather, linen, or paste- 
boards. It was originally practised by the writer 
of the book. When books were written on scrolls, 
these were joined together by bands and protected 
from dust by mantles (see ScroLu oF THE Law). 
The carliest extant book-covers—those of the Cairo 
Genizah—are of parchment ou both = sides, long 
«cnough to overlap each other, The back euds in a 


the bridegroom tothe bride. To-day the book takes 
the place of the medieval SrpLonos-girdle, presented 
by the bride to the bridegroom, Pressed Jeather 
bindings are often decorated with flowers and gar- 
lands. The entire issue of a book is usually in the 
same binding, but occasionally it is issued in two dif- 
ferent kinds of binding, as in the case of Simon Du- 
ran’s Responsa, Amsterdam, 1738. Clasps of precious 
metal are found, often finely chased, and in the 
shape of a hand or representing the figures of Moses 
and Aaron. Bindings entirely of silver, intended as 
gifts for eminent persons, were used chiefly in Italy. 
Jewish binders were to be found at Prague and in 
almost every ghetto. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Vorlesungen tiber die Kunde 
Hebr. Handschriften, deren Sammlungen und Verzeich- 
nisse, p, 38, Leipsic, 1897, 

A. F. 


J. 


215 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bina ben David 
Bing, Albert 


a a I mm a EC 


BINDING AND LOOSING (Hebrew, “asar 
we-hittir”; Aramean, “asar we-shera ee Rabbinical 
term for “forbidding and permitting.” The expres- 
sion “asar” (to bind herself by a bond) is used in the 
Bible (Num. xxx. 3 et seg.) for a vow which prevents 

one from usingathing. Itimplies binding an object 
by a pow erful spell in order to prey ent its use (see 
Targ. to Ps. Iviii. 6; Shab. 8tb, for ‘ “magic spell”), 
The ~ corresponding Aramean “shera” and Hebrew 
*hittir” (for loosing the prohibitive spell) have no 
parallel iu the Bible. 

The power of binding and loosing was always 
claimed by the Pharisees. Under Queen Alexandra, 
the Pharisees, says Josephus (“B J.” i. 5, § 2), “be- 
came the administrators of all public affairs so as to 
be empowcred to banish and readmit whom they 
pleased, as well as to loose and to bind.” This does 
not mean that, as the learned men, they merely de- 
cided what, according to the Law, was forbidden or 
allowed, but that they possessed and exercised the 
power of tying or untying a thing by the spell of 
their divine authority, just as they could, by the 
power vested in them, pronounce and revoke an 
anathema upon a person. The various schools had 
the power “to bind and to loose”; that is, to for- 
bid and to permit (Hag. 3b); and they could bind 
any day by declaring it a fast-day (Meg. Ta‘an. 
xxii.; Ta‘an. 12a; Yer. Ned. i. 86c, d). This 
power and authority, vested in the rabbinical body 
of each age or in the Sanhedrin (see AUTHORITY), 
received its ratification and final sanction from 
ee celestial court of justice (Bifra, Emor, ix.:Mak. 

23b). 

In this sense J esus, When appointing his disciples 
to be his successors, used the familiar formula (Matt. 

xvi. 19, xviii. 18). By these words he 
In the New virtually invested them with the same 
Testament. authority as that which he found he- 

longing to the scribes and Pharisees 
who “bind heavy burdens and lay then: on men’s 
shoulders, but will not move them with one of their 
fingers”; that is, “loose them,” as they have the 
power to do (Matt. xxiii. 2-4). In the same sense, 
in the second epistle of Clement to James IL. 
(“Clementine Homilies,” Introduction), Peter is rep- 
resented as having appointed Clement as his suc- 
cessor, saving: “IT communicate to him the power of 
binding and loosing so that, with respect to every- 
thing which he shalf ordain in the earth, it shall be 
decreed in the heavens; for he shall bind what ought 
to be bound and loose what ought to be loosed as 
knowing the rule of the church.” Quite different 
from this Judaic and ancient view of the apostolic 
power of binding and loosing is the one expressed in 
John xx, 28, where Jesus is represcnted as having 
said to his disciples after they had received the Holy 
Spirit: “ Whosesoeversins ye remit, they are remitted 
unto them; and wnosesoever sins ye retain, they are 
retained.” It is this view which, adopted by Tertul- 
lian and all the church fathers, invested the head of 
the Christian Church with the power to forgive sins, 
the “ clavis ordinis,” “the key-power of the Church.” 
in Eneye. Bibl. s.v.; Schenkel’s 


i Hamburger. R. B. 
greye. s.V. Schliis- 


K. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cheyne. 
Bibel-Lexikon, s.v. Binden und Lésen: 
T. iii. 27 et sey.: Herzog-Hauck, Real-E 
selgewalt ; see also Vows, LOOSING OF. 


BING, ABRAHAM: German rabbi and Tal- 
mudist; born in 1752 at Frankfort-on-the-Main; died 
in 1841 at Wirzburg, Bavaria, where he had been 
chief rabbi until his resignation at the beginning of 
1889. Before officiating at Wiirzburg, he was rabbi 
at Heidingsfeld, Bavaria. Bing was a pupil of 
Nathan Adler of Frankfort, and belonged to the old 
orthodox school which admitted no innovations in 
religious matters, even in externals. A decided op- 
ponent of the reform movement, he declared it to be 
the duty of every orthodox Jew to refuse to go to 
the temples of the reformers. He was director of a 
large yeshibah and had a great reputation as a Tal- 
mudist. Among the Talmudic works which he left 
at his death, only the glosses on the Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Orah Hayyim, have been printed, these bearing the 
title, “ Zikron Abraham ” (Presburg, 1892, edited by 
Isaac Bamberger). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Winter and Wiinsche, Jiidische Litteratur, 
iii. 762; Geiger, Wiss. Zeit. Jitd. Theol. 3885, p. 125, 1836, 
[ 411; Jost, dAnnalen, 1841, p. 96; Alig. Zeit. des Jud. 1839, 

a Monatsschrift, 1898, p- 437: compare <All. Zeit. des 


wd. 1841, p. 88, and Nathan Bamberger, Rabbiner Seliy- 
MAIN Bar Bamberger, p. 8. 
T. Ber. 


L. G. 


BING, ALBERT: Austrian physician; born at 
Nikoisburg, Moravia, Sept. 20, 1844. He attended 
the gyninasium in his native city, and studied med- 
icine at the University of Vienna, where he com- 
pleted his course in 1870, The following year he 
received the degree of doctor of medicine, and one 
year later that of doctor of surgery, both conferred 
by the University of Vienna. In 1871 he was ap- 
pointed on the staff of the Vienna General Hospital 
with the title of adjunct physician. Bing held this 
position until 1873, when he became assistant to the 
famous ofologists Politzer and Gruber in the newly 
erected clinic for diseases of the ear, remaining in 
this position three years. After a lapse of five years 
he was made privat-docent of otology at the Uni- 
versity of Vienna. Bing has held clinics for the dis- 
eases of the ear since 1878, at the hospital of the sis- 
ters of charity at Gumpendorf, near Vienna, and has 
been otologist to the royal guard. He has been a 
frequent contributor to a number of medical papers, 
and is the author of over twenty-four monographs 
on otology, Which he published in that “ Allgemeine 
Wiener Medizinische Zeitung”; “ Monatsschrift ftir 
Ohrenheilkunde ”; “ Wiener Medizinische Blitter” : 
“ Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift”; “ Zeitschrift 
fiir Diagnostik und Therapie”; “ Centralblatt fiir die 
Ohrenheilkunde”; “Centralblatt fiir die Gesammte 
Therapie”; “ Wiener Medizinische Presse”; and the 
transactions of various scientific bodies. His wri- 
tings treat chiefly of the pathology, symptoms, and 
treatment of the diseases of the ear; a few papers, 
however, being devoted to the technique of the ex- 
amination of the ear. The most important of Bing’s 
publications include: “ Vorlesungen tiber Ohren- 
heilkunde,” with twenty-seven wood-cuts and one 
double plate, Vienna, 1890; “Die Entotische An- 
wendung des Hoérrohres. Ein Neues Diagnostisches 
Hilfsmittel bei der Untersuchung Schwerhdriger,” 
in “Monatsschrift fiir Ohrenheilkunde,” 1876; 
“Neue Behandlungsweise der Sclerosirenden Mit 
telohrentziindung,” in “ Wiener Medizinische Blat- 

er,” 1879; “Ein Neuer Stimmgabelversuch; Bei- 


Bing, Meyer 
Birds 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


216 





trag zur Differential Diagnostik der Krankheiten 

des Mechanischen Schallleitungs und des Nervésen 

Hérapparates,” in “Wiener Medizinische blitter,” 

1891, iv. 41; “Zur Analyse des Weberischen Ver- 

suches,” in “Wiener Medizinische Presse,” 1891, 

Nos. 9 and 10. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ludwig Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, ii. 33 ; 
A. Wernich and August Hirsch, Bioyraphisches Lexikon 
Hervorragender Aerzte Aller Zeiten und Volker: J. Pagel, 
Biographisches Lexikon Hervorragender Aerzte des 19ten 
Jahrhunderts, p. 177 

8. W. 8. 
BING, MEYER HERMANN: Danish art 
publisher and manufacturer; born at Copenhagen 

June 4, 1807; died there Sept. 15, 1888. As a boy 

he was employed in his father’s book- and station- 

ery-store, assuming charge of it with his younger 
brother at their father’s death. In 1846 he set up for 
himself and became the publisher of many important 
art periodicals and books, and founded, together 
with the engraver W. Terslev, a lithographic estab- 
lishment. Bing also founded a china factory in 
company with his brother and Frederick Gréndahl, 
which gained a reputation almost as great as the 

Royal Danish china factory. In 1863 he trans- 

ferred his publishing-house to his son and son-in- 

law. Bing was elected president of the first con- 
gress of Scandinavian booksellers in 1856. From 

1858 to 1871 he was town councilor in Copenhagen; 

in 1868-71 president of “Industriforeningen”; and 

up to his death director of the two Jewish free schools 
in Copenhagen. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Salmonsen, Store [llustrerede Konversations- 
Lexikon. 


8. A. M. 

BING, SOLOMON: German physician; son of 
Dr. Abraham Bing of Bingen, and son-in-law of the 
well-known physician and scholar Joseph Solomon 
del Medigo; born about the year 1615. In his boy- 
hood he attended the colleges of the Jesuits in Ma- 
yence and Prague to learn Latin and other languages ; 
and then devoted himself to the study of medicine, 
first under the tutorship of Del Medigo, and finally 
in the University of Padua, where he received the 
degrees of doctor of philosophy and of medicine. 
Upon the departure of his father-in-law, Del Medigo, 
from Frankfort-on-the-Main for Prague, in 16435, 
Bing applied to the authorities of Frankfort for per- 
mission to succeed him as physician of the Jewish 
quarters. After considerable trouble—being a grad- 
uate from the University of Padua he refused to be 
reexamined as requested by the authorities—he ob- 
tained the necessary permission, and practised med- 
icine among both Jews and Christians. But, like 
the other Jewish physicians, he suffered from the ill 
will of his rivals. In 1653 he was accused of hav- 
ing caused the death of one of his Christian patients 
by injurious drugs. In consequence of this accusa- 
tion the practise of Jewish physicians was limited 
to the Jewish quarter. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : R. Landau, Geschichte der Jtidischen Aerzte, — 


p. 116; M. Horovitz, Jiidische Aerzte in Frankfurt-am- 
Main, pp. 25-29; Aaron Friedenwald, Jewish Physicians, 
in Publications of Gratz College, Philadelphia, 1897, p. 168. 
G. A. R. 
BINGEN: City of Hesse, situated on the Rhine. 
Jews lived there from the earliest times, for they are 
mentioned by the traveler Benjamin of Tudela, who 


visited Bingen toward the middle of the twelfth 
century. In May, 1254, Bingen joined the union of 
Rhenish cities which, for financial reasons, protected 
the Jews. But this favorable condition of things 
was soon changed, for at the time of the Black 
Death (1348-49) the Jews of Bingen, in common 
with the other Jews in Germany, suffered severe 
persecutions. The community, however, was never 
quite extinguished. In the first half of the fifteenth 
century a rabbinical synod assembled there. Dur- 
ing the time of the Reuchlin and Pfefferkorn con- 
troversy, Pfefferkorn went to Bingen, where, with 
the help of the authorities, he confiscated a number 
of Hebrew books. Thecelebrated rabbiof medieval 
times, Seligman Bing Oppenheim, was a native of 
Bingen. 

At the present day the Jewish community num- 
bers 685, of whom 122 are house-owners. There are 
a number of charitable societies for the dowering of 
Jewish brides and the care of the poor, sick, and 
dead. Bingen is a grand-ducal rabbimate, Dr. R. 
Griinfeld being the rabbi. His predecessor was M. 
Lebrecht. For further particulars see HESSE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salfeld, Martyrologium: Kohut, Gesch. der 
Deutschen Juden, passim; Jahrbuch des Deutsch-Israeli- 
tischen Gemeindebundes. 


K. A. M. F. 


BINNUI: 1. A Levite (Ezra viii. 38). 2. One 
of the Bene Pahath Moab who had taken foreign 
wives (Ezra x. 30). 3. One of the Bene Bani, also 
found in the list of those who had taken foreign 
wives (Ezra x. 38). 4. Son of Henadad, who built 
part of the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. iii. 24) and sealed 
the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x. 10 [A. V. 9}). 
5. Head of a family who returned with Zerubbabel 
(Neh. vii. 15). 

J. IR, 


BIRAH. Sce AcraA. 

BIRCH-HIRSCHFELD, FELIX VICTOR: 
German pathologist and medical author; born at 
Kluvensiek, near Rendsburg, in the province of 
Holstein, Prussia, May 2, 1842; died at Leipsic Nov. 
19, 1899. He received his education at Kiel and 
Leipsic, graduating from the latter university as 
doctor of medicine. He was then appointed as- 
sistant at the pathological laboratory, and later at 
the university hospital. In 1869 he filled the position 
of assistant physician at the asylums for the insane 
at Sonnenstein and Kolditz, Saxony, successively. 

During the Franco-German war, in 1870, he was 
surgeon at the Reservelazareth at Uebigau, near 
Dresden. At the close of the war, in 1871, he be- 
came prosector at the municipal hospital in Dresden, 
of which institution he was appointed chief physi- 
cian in 1882, From 1871 to 1875 Birch-Hirschfeld 
was lecturer on pathology at the postgraduate 
courses for military surgeons at Dresden. In 1875 
he was appointed a member of the Sachsische Me- 
dicinische Kollegium. In 1885, when but forty-three 
years old, Birch-Hirschfeld succeeded Cohnheim as 
professor of pathology at the University of Leipsic, 
one of the leading medical institutes of Germany, 
and in 1891 he represented the university in the up- 
per house of the Sichsische Stindekammer. 

Among his prominent works are: “Lehrbuch der 
Pathologischen Anatomie,” Leipsic, 1877; “Die 


G. B. L. 


217 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bing, Meyer 
Birds 





Bedeutung der Muskeltibung fiir die Gesundheit, 
Besonders der Deutschen Jugend,” Leipsic, 1883; 
“Grundriss der Allgemeinen Pathologie,” Leipsic, 
1892; and of his numerous essays the following are 
the more important: 

“Hoden-Krebs,” “Geschwulstembolie,” “Cylin- 
dromfrage,” “ Ceber Akuten Milztumor,” “ Pyimie,” 
« Syphilis Neugeborener,” in “ Archiv fir Hygiene,” 
vols. ix.-xvi.; “Die Entstehung der Gelbsucht Neu- 
geborener Kinder,” in “ Virchow’s Archiv fiir Pa- 
thologische Anatomie und Physiologie und fiir Kli- 
nische Medizin,” vol. Ixxxviii.; “Uebcrgang von 
Tuberkelbazillen aus dem Miitterlichen Blut auf 
den Fotus,” in Ziegler’s “ Beitriige zur Allgemeinen 
Pathologie und zur Pathologischen Anatomie,” Jena, 
1890; “Ueber Sarkomatése Driisengeschwulst der 
Niere im Kindesalter,” 23. 1898; “Skrofulose und 
Krankheiten der Lymphdriisen,” in Ziemssen’s 
“Handbuch der Speciellen Pathologie,” xiii., part 
2; “Ueber die Krankheiten der Leber und Milz,” in 
Gerhardt’s “Handbuch der Kinder-Krankheiten,” 
iv., part 2. 

Birch-Hirschfeld’s knowledge in his special branch 
of medicine was very extensive; and he was self- 
sacrificing in the practise of his profession. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hirsch, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vi- 
ue 1884; Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 


BIRDS.—Biblical Data: The general desig- 
nation for winged animals is “‘of” (iy, Hosea ix. 
11; Isa. xvi. 2) or “‘of kanaf” (}35 A\y, Gen. i. 21), 
“zippor” (BY, Gen. xv. 10), or “zippor kanaf” 
(RID WEY, Deut. iv. 17; Ps. cxlviii. 10), or “ba‘al ka- 
naf ” (35 by, Prov. i. 17). The expression “ zippor, ” 
however, denotes an individual bird in distinction 
from “‘of,” the generic term. “‘Ayit” (~o*y, Isa. 
xviii. 6; Gen. xv. 11) denotes birds of prey; com- 
pare “ayyah” (73°, Lev. xi. 14; Deut. xiv. 18). 

The frequent mention of birds in the Bible shows 
that they abounded in Palestine, in which country 
many birds are found at the present time. Theonly 
domesticated birds among the Israelites were the 

dove (“yonah,” 3)°) and the turtle- 


Domes- dove (“tor,” Wn). Endeavors were 
ticated probably made to lure the shy rock- 
Birds. pigeon to the neighborhood of dwell- 


ings and tame it by providing suitable 
nesting-places. Neither the Hebrews nor the Egyp- 
tians knew of poultry until the contact with the 
Medes and Persians, who in their advance toward 
the west introduced the breeding of chickens. At 
the time of Jesus chicken-breeding was quite com- 
mon in Palestine (compare Matt. xxiii. 37, xxvi. 75; 
Luke xiii. 34). 

Though representations of ducks are found on 
Egyptian monuments, it is doubtful whether the 
Israelites knew of them; and the meaning of “bar- 
burim abusim” (p’DpIaN onan, I Kings v. 3 [A. 
V. iv. 23]), “fatted fowl,” which is sometimes ex- 
plained as “ducks,” may be questioned. Sparrows 
evidently were as numerous in olden times as to- 
day, although the term “zippor,” by which they 
were designated, also means small birds in general 
(compare ozpovfiev, Tobit ii. 10). Then, as now, the 
sparrow was used as food (Matt. x. 29; Luke xii, 6). 


The partridge (“kore” [Np], I Sam. xxvi. 20; Jer. 
Xvil. 11) also abounded, or, to be more exact, the 
ptarmigan, a species of the red-legged partridge 
which lives in mountains and waste places. 

The following migratory birds are mentioned: (1) 
The swallow (“sus,” pip, perhaps 7\3y pip, Isa. 
XxXvili. 14, for which Jer. viii. 7 has way Dib. 
Since in the Septuagint yay is missing in both pas- 
sages, the word is perhaps only an explanatory gloss. 
It may also be questioned whether “deror” (4495, 
Ps. Ixxxiv. 4; Prov. xxvi. 2) means the swallow. 
Whenever the latter is mentioned as a migratory 
bird, the swift is probably meant. (2) The quail 
(“selaw,” $70), which in September and October 
gathered in immense flocks on the shores of the 
Mediterranean, in order to migrate to the warmer 
regions of Asia and Africa. In early spring it re- 
turned northward, flying mostly with the wind (Ex. 
xvi. 18; Num. xi. 81; Ps. ev. 40). (8) The stork 
(“hasidah,” ADM), mentioned as a migratory bird 
(Jer. vili. 7) which nests on the cypress-tree (Ps. civ. 
17; compare Job xxxix. 13 et seg.; Zech. v. 9). (4) 
“Anata” ("boN, Lev. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18), which 
means perhaps a heron, or is a generic naine for the 
different species of heron. 

The following birds of prey (“‘ayit”) are men- 
tioned: (1) “Shahatf” (mw, Deut. xiv. 15), according 
to the Septuagint and the Vulgate, the gull (Za72708), 
which abounded in different species. 
But perhaps a kind of hawk or falcon is 
meant, which the Arabians call “ sa‘af.” 
(2) The eagle (“ nesher,” 4w9), which is. 
often mentioned because of the lightning-like rapid- 
ity with which it pounces upon its prey (Hosea viii. 
1; Hab. i. 8). Sometimes the word “ nesher ” includes 
also the vulture, which is as large as an eagle, and 
which in the East is found much oftener than the 
eagle. Micahi. 16 refers probably to the vulture, per- 
haps to the carrion kite ( Vultur perenopterus ; com- 
pare Matt. xxiv. 28; Luke xvii. 37), distinguished 
from the eagle by its bald head and neck. The 
lammergeier is perhaps meant by (8) “peres” (p75, 
Deut. xiv. 12, compare Tristram, “The Fauna and 
Flora of Palestine,” p. 94). Some take it to signify 
the sea-eagle, which the Septuagint and the Vulgate 
identify with (4) “‘azniyyah (A ‘ory, 7b. 12), also a 
species of eagle or vulture. (5) “ Raham” (orn, Lev. 
xi, 18), “rahamah” (An, Deut. xiv. 17), which is 
certainly the carrion-kite (Vudtur perenopterus). (6) 
“Da’ah "(AN Lev. xi. 14)or “dayyah (4), which 
is possibly the kite, chiefly the black kite (Miles 
migrans). (7) “ Ayyah” (Ds, Job xxviii 7) which de- 
notes probably the falcon. (8) “Nez” (3, Lev. xi. 
16), perhaps a name for a hawk, including probably 
some species of falcon (compare Job xxxix. 26). (9) 
“‘Oreb” (aay, Gen. viii. 7), the raven or birds of 
that order, as the hooded crow, roller, daw, magpie, 
ete. (10) “ Yanshuf” (iw, Lev. xi. 17; Deut. xiv. 
16), probably a species of owl, perhaps the eagle- 
owl. (11) “Tinshemet” (mowon, Lev. xi. 18; 
Deut. xiv. 16), probably also a species of owl. (12) 
“Kus” (pip, Lev. xi. 17; Deut. xiv. 16), which 
likewise belongs to the owl order; it is perhaps 
the wood-owl or the little ow], which lives among 
ruins. (138) “Shalak ” (abe, Lev. xi. 17; Deut. xiv. 
17), probably the cormorant, which pounces upon its 


Birds 
of Prey. 


Birds 
Birmingham, Ala. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


218 


i Cee 


prey from cliffs or rocks or from a height in air. 
(14) “Kat” (nyp, Lev. xi. 18; Deut. xiv. 17), which, 
according to the translators, is the pelican; but this 
is doubtful (see Isa. xxxiv. 11; Zeph. it. 14). Among 
the birds was also included the “ ‘atalef” (boy), the 
bat, of which several species are found in Pales- 
tine. where it abounds, as it does generally in the 
south. 

Since some of these birds were eaten, the Law 
naturally separated them into clean and unclean 
(compare Lev. xi. 13 e¢ seg.; Deut. xiv. 20 et seg.). 
For the sacrifice the dove (“ yonah” or “tor”) only 
was used (compare Lev. v. 7; xii. 8; xv. 14, 29). 
Whether, however, the Israelites, like the Chaldeans, 
practised AUGURY, We have no means of knowing. 

Birds were caught in two ways: either by (1) a 
spring-trap (“pah”) or by (2) a sling with a wooden 
or stone projectile, by which the bird was brought 

down (compare Amos iii. 5; Hosea vii. 

Mode of 12, ix. 8). Seven different kinds of 

Capture. bird-snares are referred to in the 

Old Testament, the chief of which are 
the throw-stick, springe, clap-net, the trap, aud 
the decoy-bird. All are used at the present day. 

The people had a genuine fellow-fecling for 
birds ag well as for the domestic quadrupeds (Dent. 
xii. 6 e¢ seg.); and the mony references to bird-life 
testify to the interest taken in it. The eagle that 
“stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her 
young,” becomes the prototype of Yrowa’s protect- 
ing love of Isracl (Deut. xxxii. 11; Ex. xix. 4; com. 
pare Isa. xxxi. 5). In Prov. xxvii. 8 the homeless 
wanderer is compared to the “bird that wandereth 
from her nest” (compare Isa. xvi. 2). In Hosea xi. 
11, people returning from Egypt and Assyria are 
compared to the doves returning to their dove-cates. 
Jeremiah vii. 7 contrasts the people that “ know not 
the judgment of the Lord” with the birds that “ob- 
serve the time of their coming.” Proverbs xxvi. 2 
compares the unjust curse to the birds flying away. 
Jsracl’s enemies are often compared to the birds 
pouncing upon their prey with lightning-like rapid- 
itv (Deut. xxvili. 49; Isa. xlvi. 11; Hosea viii. 1; 
compare Jer. xii. 9). The complete annihilation of 
man is often metaphorically expressed by the idea 
of giving his flesh up to the birds; compare Gen. x1. 
19; Deut. xxviii. 26; [Sam. xvii 44, 46; I Kings 
xiv. 11, xvi. 4, xxi. 24; Jer. vil. 38, xvi. 4, ete. 
These and similar references show how numerous 
and manifest the birds must have been; in fact, pas- 
sages like Job xli. Sand Bar. iii. 17 display their 
intimate connection with the life of the people. 

J. SR. W.N. 





In Rabbinical Literature: The general name 
for birds in rabbinical literature is MMp\y. They are 
said to have been created from water mixed with 
sand, being thus intermediate between mammalia 
(mnn3), created from earth, and fishes, created from 
water (Hul. 27b). The eagle (Hag. 18b) is the 
king of birds, while the rooster is the most obstinate 
(Bezah 25b). 

The numerous species are divided into the clean 
and the unclean, both minutely described by the 
Talmud (compare CLEAN AND UNCLEAN): but it 
should be noticed that while there are only twenty- 


nine classes of unclean birds, the number of the clean 
is unlimited (Hul. 68a, b). It happens, however, 
that the unclean birds sometimes hatch the eggs 
of the clean, and vice versa. Among partridges 
the male sonietimes sets on the nest (Hul. xii. 2, 
138b). Some of the eggs are not fertile; such are 
those produced by the hen when sie sits in the 
warm sun, these being, however, better for food 
(Bezah 7a). The formation of the chick begins at 
the broad, flat end of the egg (Hul. 64b; compare 
Rashi on the passage). In addition to their produc- 
tion of eggs (referring only to those of the clean 
species, Hul. Z.¢c.), birds are useful for other pur- 
poses. The meat, though less desirable than beef 
(Me‘i. 20b), is esteemed as a delicacy among the rich, 
while the poor seldom eat it (Bek. 10a; Ket. 5a), the 
fiesh of poultry being considered particularly good 
for old people (Yer. Peah vii. 21a). 

The wings (Kelim xvi. 19), claws (Hul. 2ob; com- 
pare Rashi on the passage), and eggs of birds are 
put to various uses, the last being sometimes cov- 
ered with a glaze (Kelim d.c.). Blown egg-shells are 
used to hold oil for lamps (Shab. ii. 11, 29b); and 
even as early as Talmudic times the strength of an 
egg-shell placed on end was recognized, for some- 
times an egg is placed under the foot of a bedstead to 
make the latter stand even (Bezah 4a). The use of 
quills for writing was unknown in Talmudic times, 
and in the twelfth century the casuists questioned 
whether it was lawful to use them for the writing of 
Torah serolis (Léw, “ Ha-Mafteah,” p. 349; Lewy- 
sohn, “Die Zoologie des Talmuds,” p. 161). 

The Talmud names about one hundred classes and 
varieties of birds, but it is extremely difficult to iden- 

tify them. For example, it mentions 
Classes of two varicties of the bird W328 NDD 
Birds. (probably a Persian term; Koliut, “ Ar- 
uch Completum,” s.z7., suggests “dar- 
pash” = finch), one of which bears the roval by-name 
“Shapur” and was clean, while the other, also called 
after a Persian king, the “ Firuz,” is unclean (Mul, 
62b). Mention isalso madeof a bird O93 (= ypouc, 
color), found in the neighborhood of Babylonia, 
which becomes iridescent at sunrise (Ber. 6b; Lewy- 
sohn [7b. p. 183] refers to the pajaro del sol, “sun- 
bird”). A similar many-colored bird is the pyay 
(“many-colored ”), which shows not jess than three 
hundred and sixty-five hues (Gen. R. vii. 4), “za- 
bua‘ ” being the Hebrew name for peacock, which 
in rabbinical litcrature is usually designated by its 
freek name DY, Tawc, as shown trom a parallel 
passage in the Midrash cited (Tan., Tazria‘, ed. 
Buber, iii. 33). 

The Talmud describes many birds, giving details of 
their naturesand uses. The falcon (Q™7 43) is used 
in the chase. The hunter, seated on his horse, has 
the falcon at his side, releasing it at sight of an- 
other bird (Shab. 94a; Sanh. 95a). The keen sight 
of the vulture (7%) is indicated in the following 


passage: “Tt can be in Babylon and see a corpse in 


Palestine ” (Hul. 68b). The strong, piercing cry of 
the crane (793993) originated the saying: “Cry like 
a crane” (Kid. 49a). The heron (MB3N, “ quarreler ”) 
in the Bible is a cruel bird that quarrels (}3§) con- 
stantly with its companions, as its name suggests. 
It belongs to the family of vultures, its real name 


219 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Birds 
Birmingham, Ala. 





being M3 m4 “angry dayah”). Anothermember 
of this family is the stork, or white dayah, called 
also “the pious one” (“hasidah ”), because it shares 
its food with its mates (Hul. 68a, b). The stork’s 
gall is anantidote for the sting of the scorpion (Ket. 
50a). In addition to the dayah family, of which 
there are said to be no less than ove hundred varie. 
ties (Hul, Z.c.), the Talmud mentions the numerous 
varicties of the raven family (see RAVEN IN Ran. 
BINICAL LITERATURE). Hens, geese, and doves are 
considered domestic poultry, and the wild varictics 
are also named. Some birds, particularly song. 
birds, and those of beautiful plumage, are kept as 
pets by the wealthy, and there is an allegory about 
a free bird which envies a friend ina cage its rich 
food, forgetting that the friend has paid for the food 
with its freedom (Pesik.. ed. Buber, xxv. 164a, b). 
The social life of birds originated the proverb: 
“Every bird dwelleth according to his kind, and so 
doth man according to his like” (B. B. 92b; the pas- 
sage quotes verses from Ecclus. [Sirach] xiii. 16, 
xxvii. 9, as if they were from the Scripture). 
Among Jews, as among most nations (Guberna- 
tis, “Zoological Mythology,” on Birds), birds were 
thought to possess supernatural knowledge, because 
they soarcd in the air. Thus in rab- 
In Jewish binical literature, both Babylonian and 
Folk-Lore. Palestinian, there are numerous refer- 
ences to the folk-lore on birds (see Av- 
Gury; Zohar, “ Balak,” ili. 148b et seg.). In Noah's 
Ark only the clean onesdwelt in the part with Noah 
and his family; the others dwelt elsewhere (Sanh. 
108b). King Solomon knew the bird language (see 
SOLOMON IN RABBINCAL LITERATURE AND LEGEND). 
Parts of the body of some birds were used as reme- 
lies (Joel Heilprin, “ Mifa‘lut Elohim”; David Tevel 
Ashkenazi, “Bet David”). Compare Bar Yoxnt, 
Cock, Dove, EaGLe, Goosk, Pigeon, RAVEN, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lewysohn, Die Zoologie des Talmucds, pp. 15- 
"16, 159-218. 
L. G. 


Birds as Souls: In Psalm xi. 1 the soul is 
compared toa bird: “Flee as a bird to your moun- 
tain.” Asliving beings which move and fly through 
the air, birds have suggested themselves at all times 
and in all lands to primitive man as images of the 
sonl, the name for which in most languages is taken 
from breathing (“nefesh,” “neshamah,” =“ anima,” 
or psyche ”); the soul was represented in the form of 
a butterfly, as illustrated by the tombs of the early 
Christians (Aringhi, “Roma Subterranea Novis- 
sima,” ii. 824). The soul of the king of Egypt was 
pictured on the monuments asa bird; and the genius 
(“frawashi”) of the kings of Assyria and Persia re- 
tained the wings of the bird (Rawlinson, “ Hero- 
dotus,” ii. 105, note 1; ¢dem, “ Ancient Monarchies,” 
it. 28, ili. 853; compare also Simrock, “ Handbuch 
der Deutschen Mythologie,” p. 461). 

The Arabs also regarded the soul as a bird, and 
believed that after death it hovered at times around 
the body, screeching like an owl (Mas‘udi, “ Les 
Prairies d’Or,” iii. 810, Paris, 1864; Sprenger, “ Das 
Leben Mohammeds,” i. 858, note; Kremer, “ Gesch. 
der Herrschenden [deen des Islams,” 1868, pp. 166 
et seg.). This view was shared by the Jews. They 


SS ee I RL A et ere 8m 


or treasure-house in heaven, a columbarium, called 
“Gut”; and so Rabbi Assi teaches that the Messiah. 
the son of David, can not come until all the souls 
have been taken out of the Guf, and have gone 
through human bodies (Yeb. 62a, 68b; Niddah 138b; 
and elsewhere). In the Greek Baruch Apocalypse 
(ch. x.), Baruch sees in the fourth heaven a lake full 
of birds, and is told that these are the souls of the 
righteous, who continually sing the praise of God. 
These stories are repeated by Christian saints who 
affirm having scen the souls of the righteous in 
the shape of doves in paradise (M. R. James, in 
“Texts and Studies,” v., lxix.; ¢dem, in “ Aneedota 
Greco-Byzantina,” p. 181, quoted in Kautzsch, 
“Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten 
Testaments,” p. 455). 

The souls of the righteous which dwell in the 
Acherusian Jake were consulted as God's counselors 
at the creation of man, according to Gen. R. 8, 
having their parallel in the Zendavesta (“Bunda- 
hish,” ii. 10; Mihir Yast xxv. in “Sacred Books of 
the East,” xxiii. 145). 

In the Zohar the sparrow and the swallow, spoken 
of in Ps. Ixxxiv. 8, are compared to the souls of the 
righteous which dwell in paradise, exactly as are 
those mentioned in the Baruch Apocalypse. Three 
times a year, in Nisan and Tishri, they rise upon 
the walls of paradise and sing the praise of the 
Master of the universe; whereupon they are ushered 
into the palace where the Messiah is hidden, called 
the great “Souls’ Nest.” They are adorned with 
crowns in his honor when he appears to them, and 
from beneath the altar of heaven, where dwell the 
souls of the rightcous, they prepare the erection of 
the Temple of the future (Zohar ti. 7b, itt. 196b). 
Griitz (*“Gesch. der Juden,” vii. 9) failed to see that 
this rests on an old tradition. 

{t is customary among German Jews, when a death 
occurs, fo open a window in order that the soul may 
fly away like a bird (compare Liebrecht, “Zur Volks- 
kunde,” 1879, p. &71). On birds around God’s 
throne see MERKABAIT. 


K, 
BIRKAT KOHANIM. Sec BueEssine, 
PRIESTLY, 
BIRKAT HA-MINIM. See SuHEMONER ‘Es- 
REI. 


BIRMINGHAM, ALA.: Capital of Jefferson 
county, Alabama, founded in 1871. The first con- 
gregation, Emanu-l], was organized in 1882; the 
corner-stone of its building being laid in July, 1886, 
and the building dedicated in 1889. The rabbis of 
the congregation have been: Alexander Rosenspitz, 
1885; Maurice Eisenberg, 1886-90; Samuel Ullman, 
1891-94; David Marx, 1894-95; Morris Newfield, 
1895-. A second congregation, Knesses Israel, was 
founded in 1899. Birmingham has a Hebrew Ladies’ 
Benevolent Relief Association, founded 18838; a 
social club, the Pheenix, established in the same 
year; and a Hebrew Aid Association, founded 1898. 
A lodge of the B’nai B’rith was organized 1884; a 
Youths’ Auxilary, 1897; a branch of the Council of 
Jewish Women, 1898; and a lodge of the B'rith 
Abraham, 1900. 

Among the prominent citizens of Birmingham are: 


believed that all souls are gathered ina great cage | Samuel Uflman, alderman of the city, 1895-97, mem 


Birmingham, England 
Birthday 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


220 





ber of the board of education since 1884, and its 
president since 1893; Benjamin M. Mayer, editor of 
the “Age Herald”; Emil Lecser, police commis- 
sioner, 1897-99, and editor of the Birmingham 
“Courier” (German); and Simon Klotz, French 
consul. 

Birmingham has about 1,400 Jews in a total pop- 
ulation of 38,415. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Jewish Year Book, 5661 (1900-01). 
See also article ALABAMA, i, 314, 315 of this Encyclopedia. 


BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND: Chief town of 
Warwickshire. The Jewish community consists 
(1902) of a population of about 4,000, having grown 
to this number from 140 families (700 souls) in 1851. 
The first Jewish settlement is believed to have taken 
place about the year 1700; but the earliest records 
of the community are lost. Jews were probably 
attracted to Birmingham by the facilities which the 
chief productions of the town, hardware and jew- 
elry, afforded for peddling and hawking. It was 
their custom to leave the town every Monday with 
a box of cheap jewelry and hardware, and to return 
on Friday for the Sabbath. 

The first synagogue of which any record exists 
was erected as early as 1780 in a part of the town 
called “ The Froggery,” which has since been demol- 
ished. A Jewish cemetery existed in thesame quar- 
ter of the town in 1780; but meetings for prayer 
were at that time held in a private residence. The 
present cemetery, in the suburb of Witton, was 
consecrated Feb. 14, 1871, prior to which, in addi- 
tion to the burial-place in Granville street, there was 
another in a thoroughfare turning out of Bath row, 
which came to be known as Betholom row. 

It was at Birmingham that Lord George Gordon 
was circumcised and received into the synagogue. 
In 1791 the synagogue in the Froggery was suc- 
ceeded by one in Hurst street; and in 1810 another 
synagogue was established in Severn street, which 
is now used as.a Masonic hall. A Hebrew philan- 
thropic society was established on a modest scale as 
early as 1838, and it still exists. The present syn- 
agogue on Singer’s Hill was consecrated in 1856; 
it accommodates upward of 600 seat-holders in the 
body of the building. The more modern Board of 
Guardians was founded in connection with this in 
1870, after the model of the London body. 

The earliest name of any official connected with 
the synagogue is that of Rabbi Isaiah Phillips, who 
was minister between 1785 and 1835. Other minis- 
ters have been Dr, M. J. Raphall and the Rev. A. P. 
Mendes, 1851-58. The present minister, the Rev. 
G. J. Emanuel, was appointed in 1864. 

Schools connected with the synagogue have been 
in existence since 1840: and in 1843 Sir Moses 
Montefiore laid the foundation-stone of a new school 
in Hurst street. Of recent years a considerable 
number of societies and associations have been 
formed in Birmingham to meet the influx of Rus- 
sian Jews, such as the Naturalization Society and 
Workingmen’s Club. 

Zionism is in considerable favor among the Birm- 
ingham Jews, a branch of the Chovevei Zion and a 
B‘nai Zion Association having been recently founded 
among them. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Margoliouth, Jews of Great Britain, iii. 105 
et seq., London, 1851; Jewish World, 1877; Harris, Jewish 
Year Book, 5662 (1902), 

J. L. J: G.— J. 


BIRTH, NEW: Renewal of a man’s nature by 
casting aside the impurity of sin which cleaves to 
him from his former life, thus turning him into 
a pious and righteous child of God. The idea 
of man’s regeneration was first expressed by the 
prophet Ezekiel (xxxvi. 25 et seg.; compare xi. 19, 
xviii, 81; Ps. li. 12): “I will sprinkle clean water 
upon you; fromail your filthiness and from all your 
idols will I cleanse you, and I will give you a new 
heart, and a new spirit will lL put within you.” It 
was probably suggested by the rite of ablution, 
which was connected with every conversion (see 
Zech. xiii. 1 e¢ seg. and Isa. iv. 4; compare “Shib- 
bole ha-Leket,” p. 145a, quoted by Schechter, in 
“Jew. Quart. Rev.” xii. 421) and signified a change 
of the whole man; exactly as Naaman the proselyte, 
after bathing in the Jordan seven times, became 
clean “and his flesh like that of a little child” 
(II Kings v. 14). The expression used by the Rabbis 
for the person who underwent a change of heart 


‘through repentance and conversion is, therefore, 


“beriah hadashah” (a new creature). The verse, 
“The people which shail be created shall praise the 
Lord” (Ps. cii. 19 [18]), is explained in Midr. Teh. on 
the passage (compare Pesik. d. R.K. xxviii, 181) thus: 
“The people who shall be reborn through repentance 
of their sins shall praise the Lord”; and it is either 
referred to the Messianic future, “the generation 
to come,” or to the annual regeneration on the 
Day of Atonement, which, by blotting out the old 
year’s sins, renders Sukkot “the first day ” “of the 
reckoning of sins” (Tana. and Lev, R. to Lev. 
xxiii, 40). 
The proselyte who casts off the tmpurity of idola- 
try and turns to the God of life becomes a “new 
creature ” (Gen. R. xxxix.; Sotah12b; 
The compare ASENATH, PRAYER OF). “He 
Proselyte. who turns away from uncircumcision 
and becomes a Jew is like one who 
turns away from the grave and requires cleansing,” 
was the maxim of the Hillelites (Pes. viii. 8). Hence 
arose the halakic rule that “a proselyte is likea new- 
born child whose family relations are no longer the 
same as before his conversion ” (Yeb. 22a, 48b, 97b; 
Maimonides, “Yad,” Issure Biah, xiv. 11). It is 
therefore more than improbable that NicopEMUs, a 
member of the Sanhedrin (John vii. 50) and a leader 
in the synagogue (ili. 10), should not have under- 
stood the words of Jesus: “Except aman be born 
again he can not see the kingdom of God” (John iii. 
3-10). On thecontrary, this idea of a new birth and 
the term, “a new creature,” used by Paul (Gal. vi. 
15; If Cor. v. 17; I Peter i, 8, 23; ii. 2; Clementine 
“ Homilies,” xi. 26; “Recognitiones,” vi. 9; Barna- 
bas xv. 7) with reference to Christian baptism, are 


. directly borrowed from the rabbinical schools, as is 


also the expression, “Except ye be converted and 
become as little children ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven” (Matt. xviii. 3), which has the 
same meaning as the saying in John iii. 8 (compare 
Yer. Bik. ili. 65d; Midr. Sam. xvii. 1). Accordingly 
the fundamental doctrine of Paul’s preaching, that 


221 


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Birmingham, England 
Birthday 





in baptizing in the name of Jesus, the sinful man 
should die through the death of Jesus and rise again 
to a new life through the resurrection 
A of Jesus (Rom. vi. 8-10, vii. 6, xii. 3; 
Rabbinical Titus iii. 5; and elsewhere), is not 
Notion. original with him. Paul merely gave 
to the Jewish idea of the new birth an 
antinomian character. The original story in the 
New Testament of Jesus’ baptism was regarded as 
signifying his rebirth as the Son of God; the heav- 
enly voice is said to have cried in the words of Ps. 
ii. 7: “Thou art my son; to-day have I begotten 
thee” (compare Heb. i. 5, v. 5; Acts xiii. 33, with 
Matt. iii. 17; Mark i. 11; Usener, “ Religionsge- 
schichtliche Untersuchungen,” 1889, i. 47 e¢ seq.). 

The new birth through the water and the spirit, 
of which Jesus speaks (John iii. 5), has its parallel 
in the passage Mek., Yitro 5: “Israel received the 
law in the desert amid fire and water” (compare 
Sanh. 39a: “True baptism is by fire”). James i. 18 
speaks of rebirth through the word of truth: “Of 
his own will begat he us by his word of truth that 
we should be the firstlings of his creatures.” . 

BIRTHDAY: There are no positive data in the 
Bible or in rabbinical literature concerning birthday 
festivals among the ancient Jews. This silence on 
the subject is, however, no warrant for the conclu- 
sion that the Jews altogether abstained from follow- 
ing a custom which was general among the Egyp- 
tians (Gen. xl. 20), Persians (Herodotus i. 183), 
Syrians, and Greeks, Even if not common among 
the people, yet kings and princes probably prac- 
tised it, following the custom of their heathen con- 
temporaries. Birthday festivals were not considered 
by the Rabbisas “hukkot ha-goyim ” (customs of the 
heathen; see Maimonides, Yad ha-Hazakah, ‘Ak- 
kum we-Hukotehem, xi. 12), although Lightfoot 
held a contrary opinion (“Hore Hebr.” on Matt. 
xiv. 6). 

A close study of the Biblical text shows that the 
Bible is not altogether wanting in references to the 

subject; for, while it lacks positive 

Biblical accounts, it contains passages from 
References. which it may be inferred that the cus- 

tom of remembering birthday anni- 
versaries was not wholly unknown among the Jews. 
“The day of our king” (Hosea vii. 5), on which the 
princes made the king sick with bottles of wine, and 
the king himself “stretched out his hand with 
scorners,” alludes more probably to a birthday fes- 
tival than toa solernn occasion, such as the anni- 
versary of his installation, which would have been 
observed with more decorum (see Josephus, “ Ant.” 
xv. 9, § 6). 

Birthdays might not have been celebrated by the 
common people with great solemnity, yet they did 
not pass wholly unnoticed, and were remembered by 
congratulations, as in modern times. Jeremiah not 
only cursed the day of his birth, but wished that it 
should not be blessed (Jer. xx. 14), as though such 
had been the custom. 

It is said of Job, “and he cursed his day” (Job iii. 
1). The emphatic and determining expression “his 
day ” implies the idea that he, like everybody else, 
had a certain day of the year singled out for a cer- 


tain purpose, which we learn further was the anni- 
versary of his birth. 

The second or third birthday of a child whose 
coming into the world was very much desired by his 
parents was usually made the occasion of a feast, 
because the child was then weaned, and had conse- 
quently passed the dangerous and uncertain stage of 
infancy. Abraham made a great feast on the day 
[saac was weaned (Gen. xxi. 8). This occurred, ac- 

cording to Rashi, at the expiration of 
Weaning twenty-four months. Bishop Ely 
on Second (“Holy Bible Com.” /.¢. on the pas- 
Birthday. sage) says: “By comparing I Sam. it 
would scem that this was very proba- 
bly a religious feast.” Hannah postponed the yearly 
family feast at Shiloh until she had weaned Samuel, 
in order to celebrate his birthday at the same time 
(I Sam. i. 28, 24). According to Rashi and Midr. 
R. Samuel, Z.c., this also oceurred at the end of 
twenty-four months. Yet from II Chron, xxxi. 16 
it may be inferred that Samuel was weaned at the 
end of his third year; for only from that age were 
chiidren admitted to the service of the Temple. 

Two instances of birthday celebrations are men- 
tioned in post-Biblical literature, from which it may 
be assumed that this was customary in the Herodian 
family. They used to celebrate birthdays with 
great pomp, and in the same manner as the Egyp- 

tian kings had done more than 2,000 


In Post- years earlier (Gen. xl. 20), by exten- 
Biblical sive public entertainments, which were 
Times. made the occasions of granting favors 
to friends and pardons to those in dis- 

grace. Agrippa I. solemnized his birthday anni- 


versary by entertaining his subjects with a festival, 
and decreed the recall of his banished general Silas, 
which recall, by the way, the latter stubbornly de- 
clined (Josephus, “ Ant.” xix. 7, 8 1). Herod the 
Tetrarch celebrated his birthday with a great feast, 
at which the daughter of Herodias danced before 
the guests, the king promising “to give her what- 
soever she would ask ” (Matt. xiv. 6). 

The Jewish people in general may have had rea- 
sons to avoid feasting on birthdays in the times of 
the Tannaim and Amoraim: first, because they had 
been at one time grievously offended on such festi- 
vals (according to If Macc. vi. %, the Jews were 
forced, in the time of Antiochus, to eat of the sacri- 
fices which were offered “in the day of the king’s 
birth every month”); secondly, because no “Tal- 
mid hakam” would attend as a guest at such a 
feast, since the Rabbis condemn the Talmid hakam 
who partakes of a meal or feast which is not a 
“se‘udat mizwah” (commendable meal). And to 
the son of him who frequented feasts were applied 
opprobrious epithets, such as “son of an oven- 
heater,” “son of a market-dancer,” ete. 
Since the fifteenth century (Low, “ Le- 
bensalter,” p. 210) the thirteenth birth- 
day of a boy has been made the occa- 
sion of a family feast because it coincides with his 
religious majority (Bar Mizwan). 

In modern times the widely spread custom of cele- 
brating some particular birthday of a great man by 
a banquet or by some literary production has enriched 
Jewish literature with many gems of Hebrew learn- 


The Bar 
Mizwah. 


Birthday 
Birthright 


ing and poetry. 
have become the recipients of marks of deference and 
homage on the part of their friends and admirers on 
their seventieth or eightieth or ninetieth birthday 
by the publication of a jubilee-book, to which schol- 
ars from far and near have contributed some of their 

best work. Of these publications are: 

Special (1) “Jubelschrift zum Neunzigsten 

Birthdays Geburtstag des Dr. L. Zunz,” Berlin, 

of Scholars. 1884, produced on the occasion of Dr. 

Zunz’s ninetieth birthday ; (2) “ Jubel- 
schrift zum Siebenzigsten Geburtstag des Prof. Dr. 
H. Gractz.” Breslau, 1887, in celebration of Graetz’s 
seventieth anniversary; (8) “Festschrift zum Acht- 
zigsten Geburtstag des Dr. Moritz Steinschneider,” 
Leipsic, 1890, on the eightieth birthday of Dr. Stein- 
schneider; and (4) “Shay Ja-Moreh” (A Present to 
the Teacher), Berlin, 1890, dedicated to Dr. Israel 
Hildesheimer by his friends and students on his sev- 
entieth birthday. 

Some have confined themselves to the sending of 
a letter of homage ora poem. Smolenskin remem- 
bered Dr. Zunz on his ninetieth birthday with a 
letter of congratulation, “ Miktab Shaloin” (“ Ha- 
Shahar,” xii. 327). H. 8. Slonimski was greeted on 
his seventieth birthday by a letter of homage, “Ig- 
geret Hen,” signed by twenty-eight of his friends, 
all poets and “maskilim” (“Ha-Zefirah,” vii). S, 
Scherschewski wrote a magnificent poem on the 
same oceasion (7.). There is a poem by A. Gott- 
lober dedicated to the famous hazan and musical 
composer, Solomon Sulzer, on his seventieth birth- 
day (“Kol Shire ALlahallal,” vii, 29). Gottlober also 
wrote six poems on several birthdays of his own (7. 
pp. 31-40). There are several birthday poems in 
the “Shire Sefat Kodesh,” by A. Lebensohn ha- 
Kohen, most of them dedicated to his son Michael 
Joseph (7. i. 220; ii. 162, 168-184), 

The birthday anniversuries of heathen kings. 
Spa Oy, are considered by the rabbis of the Talmud 
as legal heathen holidays, which count among those 
holidays on the three days preceding which Jews are 
by Talmudic law required to abstain from concluding 
any business with a heathen (Mishnah ‘Ab. Zarah i. 3), 

About the meaning of x*p}9°9 DY of the Mishnah, 
which seems to correspond with quépa yereceac 
(LXX., Gen. x1. 20), some doubts have been raised be- 
cause, by the side of osby Gey NDI OY Co birthday 
of the king”) mention is also made of DY3 A397 AY 
nnn (“the day of birth and the day of death”). 
In the Babylonian Talmud (‘Ab. Zarah 10a) tlic 
decision is reached in favor of SEDI py as 
meaning “the day of coronation.” It is accepted 
by Maimonides (see Commentary to the Mishnah, 
and Yad ha-Hazakah, ‘Akkum we-Hukotehem, ix. 
5). The glossary “Kesef Mishneh.” ad lve., thinks 
that Maimonides may have read N*D)3"2 (“assembly”) 
for ~'p)3. Rashi explains XDD) as equivalent to 
“the birthday of the king”; while the Talmud Yeru- 
shalmi (‘Ab. Zarah i. 89) explains &'p49°3 as “ birth- 
day.” This agrees with the use made of the word 
in many instances (Gen. R. Ixxxviii.; Ex. R. xv.: 
Yer. R. H. iii. 8; Yalk., Job. 584; Compare Rashi, 
Gen. xl. 20). Graetz (in “M. G. Y.” 280) is of the 
opinion that X’p}3°3 means the day of death of the 
king. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


| 
Jewish scholars of great renown ! 


222 





All these ditticulties and differences may be obvi- 


| ated if abn oy amen |v be explained as indi- 


cating Christian festivals of the early Church. By 
aon oi may be understood the Nativity, or Christ- 
mas, and by mn wn DY Easter. or the Resurrection. 
Cave (in “Primitive Christianity,” part 1, vii. 194. 
cited in McClintock and Strong’s “ Cyclopedia,” «.¢. 
“Christmas ”) traces the observance of Christmas to 
the second century, about the time of the emperor 
Commodus. According to David Ganz (“Zemah 
David,” i., year 8881), Commodus reigned 183-185. at 
the time of Rabbi Meir of the Mishnah, who counted 
those days as legal holidays. 
A. Ss. R. 


BIRTHRIGHT.—Biblical Data: The right 
of possession into which the eldest son is born. The 
first son born to the father occupied a prominent 
place in the Hebrew family (Gen. xxvii. 19, Xxxv, 
23) xli. 51, xlix. 8; IL Sam. iii. 2). Such a one is 
the “first-born ” in the proper sense, and is to be dis- 
tinguished from sons who are “first-born” mercly 
in the sense of being the first child born to one 
of the several wives that men might have (Ex. 
xiii. 2, 12, xxii. 28; xxxiv. 19; Num. xviii. 15). 

The tirst-born son took rank before his brothers 
and sisters (Gen, xxvi. 81, 82; xl. 338). Usually 
the father bequeathed to him the greater part of the 
inheritance, except when a favored wife succecded 
in obtaining it for one of her sons (Gen. XXViL; 
I Kings xi. 11-18). In early days the will of the 
father fixed the part of the chief heir, but the law of 
Deuteronomy demands for him a double portion of 
all the possessions and forbids favor being shown 
to ayounger son (Deut. xxi. 15-17). After the death 
of the father the first-born son was the head of 
the family: he had to provide for the widows of his 
father and for his unmarried sisters, since they ordi- 
narily did not haveany hereditary rights. The later 
rabbinical law (Ket. 68a) obliges him to give a 
dowry when one of them was to be married. The 
old law claims all the first-born sons (in the larger 
seuse, “ whatever opens the womb”) for Yuwu (Ey, 
xiii. 2, xxii. 29). Some explain this by ascribing 
a certain sacredness to the first-born (Benzinger, 
“Arch.” p. 470); others suppose that the elders 
were obliged to consecrate them as “nazir” (Smend, 
“A.-T. Religionsgesch.” p. 276). But from Ex. 
xiii. 12, xxit. 29; Ezek. xx. 25, 26, it is evident that 
they were to be sct aside as an offering for the Deity. 
It is possible that such offerings were brought in the 
oldest times, but very soon it became customary to 
offer an animal instead of the child (Gen. xxii.); and 
the later law obliges the father to redeem the child 
(Ex. xiii. 13; xxxiv. 20) for tive shekels (Num. iii. 
47; xviii. 15). See Faminy; Frrst-Born, Repenre- 
TION OF; JUNIOR RIGHT; PRIMOGENITURE. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, Stucties tn Biblical Archeology, iii.; 

Benzinger, Hehr. Archdologie, pp. 354-355; Nowack, Hehr. 

Archdlologie, i. 348-3850. 

J. IR. B. E. 
In Rabbinical Literature: The Talmud rec- 
ommends, as a rule of education, that a father 
should never show any preference for one of his chil- 
dren over the others, and points to the unhappy 
relations between Joseph and his brothers as illus- 
trating the disastrous consequences that may follow 





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THE JEWISIT ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Birthday 
Birthright 


RR 


if one child is privileged (Shab. 10b). The prerog- 
atives of the first-born, as the real head of the fam- 
ily after the father’s death, were, however, so deeply 
rooted in the domestic life of the Jews that the 
Rabbis could not attempt to make any changes here. 
Tn connection with inheritance the ex pression “ first- 
porn” refers only to the IND Wa (“the first-born 
son of the father”), and not to the BND D3 (“the 
first-born of the mother”); although the latter had 
many advantages in ritual matters (compare Firsr- 
Born) which the former could not claim (Bek. viii. 
1: B. B. 126b). The 389 W533 always had the 
rights of the first-born, whether he were a legitimate 
or an illegitimate son, and even if he werea BAsTarD 
(Yeb. ii. 5; Gem. 7b. 28a; Sifre, Deut. 215), although 
the Roman law, on the contrary, distinguished be- 
tween legitimate and illegitimate children in connec- 
tion with the law of inheritance (Képpen, “System 
des Heutigen Rémischen Erbrechts,” p. 171). The 
right of the first-born was also possessed by the 
child that was preceded by a miscarriage, either of 
a fully developed but still-born infant or one dying 
just after birth (Bek. viil. 1; Gem. 46b), whereas a 
child born under such conditions could not be con- 
sidered a “mother’s first-born” (Bek. ¢.c.). In order 
to enjoy the primogeniture, the first-born had to be 
born naturally; hence, that child was excluded at 
whose birth artificial means were employed; e.g., the 
Ceesarean operation (Bek. viii. 2). A son, however, 
whose father had previously had children by a slave 
or anon-Jewess, had the full rights of the first-born: 
for, according te Talmudic law, these children were 
in no wise related to their father (Bek. vill. 1; coin- 
pare “Maggid Mishnah” on Maimonides, “ Yad,” 
Nahalot, ii. 12). 

In doubtful cases, especially with twins, where 

the primogeniture was not certain, the three follow- 
ing persons were entitled to determine 

Identi- it; viz., the midwife, the mother, and 
fication of the father, who, however, were not 
the First- equally privileged as regards the term 

Born. of the availability of their testimony. 

The midwife could testify only imme- 
diately after the delivery; the mother, only during 
the first seven days after the birth; while the father 
was entitled to do so from the eighth day after the 
birth—z.e., the day of the circumcision--onward 
(Kid. 74a). 

The father’s identification of the first-born was 
most important; for, incase there were no witnesses, 
only he was the first-born whom the father recog- 
nized as such, even should it be contrary to the gen- 
eral presumption (ptm) (B. B. 127b; Sifre, Deut. 
216), Even if the father merely by an incidental 
remark indicated that such a one was his first-born, 
the latter had the primogeniture (B. B. 126b).. Any 
doubt as to priority of birth debarred from rights of 
primogeniture, the rule spoin PADI PN ND 
(“moneys of doubtful ownership must be divided 
between the claimants”) not bein'g observed here 
(B. B. 127%a). The birthright belonged not only to 
the first-born, but also to his descendants; so that 
if A, the first-born of B, died during B’s lifetime 
leaving a daughter, C, this daughter entered upon 
the full rights of A at B’s death (B. B. 117a). A 
posthumous child, however, is excluded from the 


primogeniture, although a son so born has a part 
in the heritage. Thus, if two sons of the same 
mother or of two wives were born after the father’s 
death, the estate is divided between them in equal 
shares. Ifthereare five sons besides the posthumous 
one, the first-born receives as his birthright nbn 
Mmya3, 4, and for his ordinary share DIWS oon—like 
the other brothers—,%,, making 34 of the property 
(B. B. 142). 

The first-born receives a double share of the real 

and personal estate (B. B. 122b, below; Sifre, Deut. 
217). In the division of the real es- 
Division of tate by lots, the first-born has the right 
Property. to claim as the second share the lot 
adjoining the first share that fell to 
him (Hoshen Mishpat, 277, 2; 174, 2; compare B. 
B. 12b). The birthright includes only the property 
the father had in his possession at his death, and not 
that added later to the estate. either by inheritance 
or by the collection of debts (B. B. 124a, b; Tosef., 
Bek. vi. 15). 

In recent times the question has often been raised as to 

whether government bonds should be considered as outstanding 
debts in regard to the birthright. Ezekiel Landau regarded 
stocks and bonds as ordinary promissory notes, since they were 
subject to the fluctuations In the market; but compare Isaac 
Elhanan Spector’s responsum in M. Horwitz, “ Matteh Lewi,”’ 
p. 48, Frankfort-on-the Main, 1891. Itis alsoa matter of dis- 
cussion whether, in case a father left assets and liabilities and 
also ready money sufficient to cover his debts, these should be 
paid out of his assets or out of the ready money; in the first 
case, the eldest son would receive a double share of the ready 
money; in the second, he would receive none of the assets. 
Most of the authorities have decided this case against the 
tirst-born (Lampronti, “Pahad Yizhak,”’ letter &, p. 25e). 
Nor does the first-born receive a double share of any 
improvements (maw) of the estate if the heirs have 
contributed to it with their own labor or cost (B. B. 
124a). (if the father stipulated before his death that 
the heritage should remain intact for a certain 
period, then the “bekor” receives also a double share 
of the protits that have accrued in the business, be- 
cause he has been obliged to assist in maintaining it 
(Lampronti, Z.¢.). The birthright extends only to 
the estate of the father, and not to that of the mother 
or of the brothers or sisters (B. B. viii. 4). 

Although the father can not directly deprive his 
first son of the right of primogeniture, he is at lib- 
erty to divide his whole property during his life- 
time; thus making the share of the first-born equal 
to that of the other sons, or passing him over entirely 
(B. B. viii. 5; Gem. 7. 126b). According to Nah- 
manides on Deut. xxi. 16, a father violates a relig- 
ious law if he does not make provision for his first- 
born tocome into hisrights. In accordance with this 
opinion in countries where the law does not recog- 
nize the rights of primogeniture, it is a father’s re- 
ligious duty to make special provision on this point 
(see Spector, in M. Horwitz, 7b.). When the first-born 
enters upon his inheritance, it is his duty to con- 
tribute a double share to the payment of his father’s 
private debts; he may, however, renounce his birth- 
right, and thus be free of the obligation (B. B. 124a). 
Compare First-Born, INHERITANCE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 277-288 ; 
Kirsch, Der Erstgeborene nach Mosaisch-Talmud._ Recht, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1901; Maimonides. Yad, Nahalot, 
i-iii.; Saadia, Sefer ha-Yerushot, ed. Milller, vol. ix. of 
Ceuvres Completes de Saadia. 

J. 8R. L. G. 


Births 





BIRTHS.—Statistical: The number of births 
among the Jewish populations of the world is gen- 
erally found to vary from that of the surrounding 
population in a manner showing the influence of 
some cause common in its operations to al! Jews. 

Frequency: The following table, giving the 
birth-rate per thousand, seems, at first sight, to show 
a lower proportion of births among Jews than among 
the general population of the lands in which they 
dwell. 

Brrte-RaTE PER THOUSAND. 




















Place. |Epoch.| Jews.} Chris- Authority. 
tians. 
45.8 | 36.8 |Legoyt, ** Immunités,”’ p. 72 


Algeria ....| 1844 
seawall Lore, | oest. |) Base 
Austria ....)1851-57) 26.5 | 38.5 
aa .|1861-70| 28.0 | 30.7 


‘** Ann. Stat.”’ 1881, p. 580 

Legoyt, p. 53 

Schimmer, ** Juden in Oester- 
reich.” p, 5 


Berlin....../ 1898 | 16.8] .... | Statist. Jaurb.”’ p. 73 
Bucharest ..| 1878 | 29.8 | 30.7 1° Orasului Bucaresci, 1878 
Budapest...| 18738 | 37.9 | 42.8 |° Statist. Jahrb.” p. 55 
7x ..| 1896 | 36.4 | 40.5 |*Magyar Stat. Evkényv," 
iy. 65 
France..... 1855-59} 24.9 | 26.5 |Legoyt, p. 58 
Hungary...| 1874 | 46.9 | 39.7 Lagneau, ** Denombrement,”* 
p. @ 
Prague.....! 1880 | 26.1 | 21.9 |** Statist. Handb.” p. 25 
Prussia ....|1824-73] 34.7 | 40.4 |‘* Zeit. Preuss. Stat.’’ 1879 
ed. {L878-82] 80.3 | 88.5 |Ruppin, ** Jahrbicher fiir Na- 
tionaldkonomie,’’ March, 
1902, p. 377 
fe 1888-92] 24.5) 38.4 |Ib. 
iy 1898-97] 22.2 | 88.1 |Ib. 
Russia......| 1867 | 382.6 | 50.1 |* Mouvement ”’ 
sw... (1868-70) 82.0 | 49.5 |Bergmann, “ Beitrige,’’ p, 75 
‘Tuscany ...] 1861 | 27.2 | 39.0 |Legoyt, p. 60 
Vienna.....| 1899 | 22.38] .... [ Statist. Jahrb.” p. 48 
Westphalia |1824-73) 30.1 | 36.7 |Bergmann, ib. 


This result is surprising in view of the fact that 
the increase of the Jewish population is almost every- 
where greater than that of the general population. 
It is probably due to the smaller number of deaths 
under five years among Jews, in consequence of 
which the non-nubile portion of the population is 
greater among them than among Christians, and 
any percentage is less when reckoned on the whole 
population than it would be if reckoned upon the 
number of adults only. Thus, according to Kérési 
(“Die Hauptstadt Budapest im Jahre 1881”), the 
percentage of Budapest’s Jewish population under 
twenty years was 45, while that of the Christian 
population was about 34; and it was approximately 
the same in 1871. Now, if the same proportion held 
good in 1873, the birth-rate, instead of being 38 per 
1,000 for Jews and 48 for Christians, reckoned on 
the whole population, would be 69 for Jews and 65 
for Christians, reckoned on the adult population 
only. Hence, it is probable that the birth-rate of 
Jews is only apparently lower, and would actually 
be higher, if applied only to adults. Ruppin, how- 
ever, in a recent study of Prussian Jews in Conrad’s 
“ Jahrbitcher,” March, 1902, shows that for Prussia 
the lower rate is justified, and is due to a change 
in the social condition and marital habits of the 
Jews. 


number of children to a marriage by dividing the 
number of births in a year by that of the marriages. 
As is evident from the following table, investigation 
shows that a Jewish marriage is almost invariably 
more fruitful than a Christian one: 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Fecundity: Statisticians ascertain the average 


224 





Birrus TO A MARRIAGE. 








| 











. Chris ar 
Place. |Epoch.| Jews.) tang. Authority. 
Algeria ....{ 1878 | 5.0 | 4.4. | Ann, Stat, de France,” 1881 
Austria ..../1851-75! 8.8 | 4.4 |Legoyt, p. oo 
* |... {1861-70} 8.8 | 3.8 |Bergmann, p. 10 
Baden ..... 1857-63} 5.0 | 4.1 YD. | ’ 
Berlin ..... 1881 | 8.9 | 3.9 |" VeroneMt Stat. Amts,” p, 
4 
Bucharest ../1870-74/ 2.6 | 2.4 {Kdrosi, ares Villes,” pp, 
France..... 1855-59] 3.9 | 3.0 |Legoyt,p.68 ,~ 
Hungary...| 1896 4.6 : “Magyar Stat. Evkon.” iv, 
5x, 60 
Prague.....{1865-74; 2.6 | 4.1 {Kordsi, pp. 34-35 
Prussia, E..}1819-73] 4.3 4,2 |Bergmann, ib. | 
Prussia .....|1873-99] 4.0 4.4 |Ruppin, *’ Jahrbiicher,”’ May, 
| 1902, p. 373 
Russia...., 1852-95} 4.3 4.9 |Legoyt, p. 52 
e s....| 1867 | 3.8 | 5.0 [* Mouvement” 
Tuseany ...| 1861 3.9 4.0 ‘Legoyt, p. 60 
Vienna...../ 1864-74) 5.2 3.9 (kordsi, pp. 18-22 
ae cashep LOOr 3.4 ... |" Stat. Jahrb.” 1899 
Westphalia Cle 4,4 4,1 |Bergmann, tb. 





According to Professor Tait, who has deduced the 
law that the younger the age at marriage the greater 
the number of children, this fertility is due to the 
indisputable fact that Jewesses marry earlier than 
others. A striking confirmation of this explanation 
is given by the case of Russia, which forms an ex- 
ception as regards both the earlier age of Jewish 
marriages and their greater productivity. Other 
causes of this fertility may be the lower rate of still- 
births among Jewesses, and the greater proportion 
of first-cousin marriages among the race. Joseph 
Jacobs (“Studies in Jewish Statistics,” London, 
1891) states that in investigating forty-five such 
marriages, he found an average of 4.7 children living 
per family. 

Mixed marriages, however, are very infertile. 


CHILDREN TO A MrIrxeED MARRIAGE. 








Place. Epoch. |Pure. Mixed. | 


Bavaria .. 1876-80) 4. 
gece arnd 1898 2, 
Hungary.! 1896 4, 
Prussia ..) 1875-83) 4.4 


Authority. 











7 Li = Zeit. Bayr. Stat.’ 1881, pp. 


} 118, 213 
0.9 Statist. Jahrb.” 1900, pp. 29, 





co oO 


i3 

0.3 " Magyar Stat. Fvkon.” ir. 
Oi, 1D 

1.7 | Zeit. Preuss. Stat.’’ 1883, p. 
239 





But Ruppin points out that mixed marriages are 
increasing, and the usual method of reckoning fec- 
undity by dividing marriages by births is delusive, 
since there are fewer marriages of early date to con- 
tribute their quota. 

Plural Births: So far as the scanty materials 
that are obtainable go, there appear to be fewer 
twins among Jews than among the general popula- 
tion. Thus, while in Russia in 1867 there were 2.5 
per cent of twins to all births, the percentage of 
Jewish twins was only 1.1 (“ Mouvement de la Popu- 
lation en Russie,” p. 11), and only 25 out of 100,000 
would earn “the ezar’s bounty” for triplets as 
against 30 of the general population. In Galicia 
between the years 1870-75, Jewish twins showed 0.9 
per cent, Christian 1.2 per cent, of all births (“Sta- 
tist. Monatschrift,” 1877, p. 178). In Wieselburg 
(Mosony), Hungary, 1833-55, there was one case of 


225 





Jewish twin-birth in 174 births; while among the 
Hungarians the proportion was 1 in 102, and 
among the Croats 1 in 75 (Glatter “ Lebenschancen,” 
p. 18). In Budapest during 1897 40 Jewish twins 
were born, and this number was less than 1 per cent 
of the total number, 4,514 (“Stat. Evkényv,” pp. 
98, 110, Budapest, 1901). 

Sex: The following table, giving the proportion 
of boys to 100 girls born alive in the places cited, 
shows a remarkable predominance of boys among 
Jewish children: 


PROPORTION OF Boys To 100 GIRLS. 














Ch ris- 
tians. 


Place. | Epoch. varie. Authority. 





7 


Algeria ..| 1873 103 104 
Austria...{ 1861-71 | 128 106 
Budapest. 1868-75 | 114 107 
. 1878-82} 103 104 
z 1898 104 104 
France...} 1854-59] Lil 105 
Hungary .| 1876-78; 114 105 
- 1896 104 ae 
Posen....| 1819-73] 108 | 105 
Prague...| 1865-74] J11 105 | KGrési, p. 35 
*  4..| 1879-80] 105 163 |** Stat. Handbueh,’’ 1881, p. 25 
Prussia. | 1830-34 | IU] 106 |Lagneau, p. 25 





** Ann. Stat. de France,’’ 1881 
‘Schimmer, p. 6 

KorGési, p. 5 

** Statist. Monats.’’ 1884, p. 185 
“Stat. Evkin.” 1901, p. 98 
Bergmann, p. 118 

* Statist. Monats.’’ viii. 478 

** Magyar Statist.” iv. 65 
Bergmann, p. 110 





1859-61 | 105 106 | Th. 
1875-81} 108 106 | “Zeit. Preuss. Stat.’ 1883, p. 232 
1852-59} 118 105 |Lagneau, p. 25 
1867-70) 129 105 =|‘* Journ. Stat. Soe.’’ 1880, p. 858 
Sweden ..) 1841-55 | 107 100 (| Wappiius, ** Allg. Ber.’’ p. 199 
St. Peters- 

: 1866-72 


eee 
be 


Russia.... 
ab 





burg.... 147 106 Kérési, p. 174 
Vienna .. ‘ 1865-74 | 11 106 TD. pp. 21-22 
es ‘4 1897 108 ‘Statist. Jahrb.”’ 1899 








——————_. 


The fact was noticed by Burdach at the com- 
mencement of the nineteenth century, by Hofacker 
(“ Eigenschaften,” 1838), and by Darwin (“ Descent 
of Man,” 2d ed., p. 243); but while numerous sug- 
gestions have been made, the cause of the predomi- 
nance has not been determined. The best-known 
suggestion is that of Sadler and Hofacker, accord- 

ing to which boys are peculiarly the 

Prepon- offspring of early marriages. This is 
derance of to some extent confirmed by Jewish 

Boys. statistics; but the predominance of 

boys among the Jews is equally 

marked in Russia, where early marriage is the cus- 
tom with the general population. 

It is established that boys are more likely to be 
born in towns than in the country; and Jews live 
mostly in towns. Lagneau suggests that the greater 
number of boys is due to the observance of the 
laws of Niddah (Lev. xv. 19); while E. Nagel (“ Der 
Hohe Knabentiberschuss der Neugeborenen der 
Jiidinnen,” in “Stat. Monatsschrift,” 1884, pp. 183- 
186) attributes it to (1) the greater care which Jew- 
ish wives take of their health, and (2) the smaller 
number of illegitimate births. The suggestion is 
that fewer boys die in still-birth among Jews be- 
cause there are fewer illegitimate births among 
them, 

It is probable, however, that the predominance is 
not so great as it would seem from the table; and, 
as Lagneau suggests, the abnormal figures for Aus- 
tria, Russia, and St. Petersburg are probably due to 
some error in the registration of Jewish female 
children. The later and presumably more accurate 


Iif.—15 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Births 





statistics for Hungary and Vienna do not show any 
marked Jewish superiority. 

Illegitimacy: The rate of illegitimate births is 
lower among the Jews than almost any other sect 
or nation. This is evident from the following 
table, giving the percentage of illegitimate births 
to total births at the places cited: 


PERCENTAGE OF ILLEGITIMATE TO ToTAL BIRTHS. 


—_—--__. 








Epoch. eae, Chris- 




















Place. ) Tins. Authority. 
Austria ..| 1861-70; 12.7 | 14.7 |Schimmer, p. 6 
Baden ...| 1857-73) 1.6 | 14.2 |Bergmann 
Bavaria..| 1876 1.0 | 18.0 [Th. p. 131 
Budapest | 1868-75 6.7 | 29.9 Tb. p. 5 
be 1874-98 11.7 | 29.3 |** Statist. Evk6n.”’ v. 1901, p. 88 
* 1878-82 10.7 | 23.9 | Statist. Monats.’’ 1884, p. 285 
France ...| 1887-89 3.5 7.5 |Lagneau, p. 28 
Hungary.| 1866-73 1.3 6.5 |Schwicker, ** Ungarn,” p. 187 
+ 1896 | 6.4 8.9 |** Mag. Stat. Eyk6n.” iv. 65 
Moscow..| 1868-72) 0.0 | 29.9 |Kordési. p.181 
Posen,.,..| 1819-78) 2.7 d.9 jBergmann, p. 121 
Prague ..| 1869-74; 6.6 | 43.9 |KGrési, p. 35 
Prussia...| 1822-40, 1.8] 7.0 |* Jour, Stat. Soc.” ix. 81 
eee | 1879-80} 2.7 7.6 pegis Preuss. Stat.’’ 1881, p. 
Riga..... 1366-70 0.1 | 1.1 |* Russ. Revue,” vy. 427 
Russia....| 1867 | 0.2 3.3 |Lagneau, p. 28 
asa | 1868-707 0.8 | 2.9 |“ Jour. Stat. Soc.’’ 1880, p. 357 
St. Peters-| . 
burg...) 1866-72) 0.1 | 30.0 |Kérdési, p. 174 
Turin....) 1865 | 0.0 | 13.2 |Ib., p. 102 
Verona...) 1855-64; 1.0 20.0 ‘Lagneau, ib. 
Vienna ...| 1865-74) 8.7 | 44.9 |Kordsi, pp. 21-22 
of Abels OME | 13.4 | i Stat. Jahrb. fiir 1897” 


| 








—w 


The high figure for Austria is almost certainly 
due to the practise of omitting civil registration of 
marriage among the poorer class of Jews; thus 
causing their offspring to be reckoned as illegitimate. 
Thus, at Storozynee, the percentage of Jewish ille- 
gitimate childrenis put at the absurd figure of 99.61, 
which simply means that the Storozynee Jews never 
register their marriages. 

It should be noted, however, that where the isola- 
tion of the Jews is being modified, their illegitimacy 
rate is increasing. Bergmann (“Beitriige,” pp. 129- 
130) shows that there has been a perceptible rise in 
this rate in most of the eastern districts of Prussia; 
and where a diminution has occurred as in West- 
phalia, it has been less than that in the general pop- 
ulation. 

The few facts available do not confirm Nagel’s 
theory that the low rate of illegitimacy (where male 
births are rarer) causes a more decisive predomi- 
nance of the male sex among Jewish births in gen- 
eral; for the following table—based on the same 
authorities as before—giving the number of viable 
boys to 100 girls in illegitimate births, shows the 
same predominance: 


NUMBER OF VIABLE Boys To 100 GrrRis IN ILLE- 
GITIMATE BIRTHS. 


Pesth. | Prague. | Prussia. | Vienna. 
VOWSeie ab cceetadind 106 114 101 0 


Christians........06. 104 104 108 104 





Still-Births: It is usually asserted that there is 
a lower rate of still-births among the Jews than 
among non-Jews; and this might be expected, 


Birzhi 
Bischoffsheim 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


226 





considering their lower infant mortality in general. 
The following table, giving the percentage of still- 
born to viable children, makes the percentage quite 
evenly balanced; but the trustworthiness of the 
Prussian statistics confirms the general impression: 


PERCENTAGE OF VIABLE TO STILL-BORN CHILDREN. 














rect 
Place. | Epoch. eee ee | Authority. 
Baden ...] 1857-70} 4.0 | 8.1 |Bergmann, p. 178 
Berlin ...| 1880 38.9 | 3.9 |‘ Statist. Jahrb.’ 1891, p. 28 
meee eo A Ls, 2.5 | .., | Statist. Jahrb.’’ 1900, p. 73 
Budapest. 1876-78 | 6.5 7.3 |Ib, 
, 1890 24 ) B.S aes: Evkon.” 1901, pp. 98, 
1 4 
France .. | 1855-59! 5.2 4.3 |Lagnean, p. 36 
Hungary. | 1876-78 | 1.3 1.6 |** Stat. Monats.”’’ 1884, p. 154 
Posen....; 1819-49 | 2.9 2.4 |Bergmann, p. 19] 
of ene FROST di 3.3 |2b, 
Prague... 1865-74| 5.0 | 4.4 |Kérdsi, p.36 
Prussia ..| 1820-75} 2.1 | 3.7 |** Zeit. Preuss. Stat.’’ 1877, p. 40 
** (1875-81) 3.4 | 4.1 [Zb. 1888, p. 282 
St. Peters- 
burg....| 1866-72} 5.4 | 3.4 |K6rdési, p. 175 
Vienna .. |1865~74| 3.1 | 4.5 |Ib. p. 2 
‘ ; 1899 5.3 eats 





* Statist. Jahrb.” 1901, pp. 48, 


The difference is attributed to the more favorable 
age at which Jewesses marry, or to the greater care 
the latter take of themselves. This superiority, 
however, is by no means proved. And though 
Nagel maintains that the smaller number of still- 
births is the cause of the preponderance of Jewish 
boys, Jacobs (/.c.) points out that in Budapest, 1876- 
78, the proportion of boys in still-births was 122 to 
100 girls among Jews, and 116 to 100 girls among 
Christians; while the figures for St. Petersburg 
would seem to indicate 185 for the former against. 
126 for the latter, but this is probably due to some 
fault of enumeration. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Legoyt, De Certaines Tmmunités Biosta- 
tiques de la Race Juive, Paris, 1868; Lagneau, Du Dé 
nombrement de la Poputation, Paris, 1882: Jacobs, Studies 
in Jewish Statistics, London, 1891. J 


BIRZHI (Polish, Birze): District of Poniwiezh, 
government of Kovno. The population of 1,500 in- 
cludes 600 Jews, the majority of whom are engaged 
in handicrafts. The traditional Jewish charity is 
here developed in the highest degree; the plhilan- 
thropic institutions including a hospital, and the fol- 
lowing societies: Malbish ‘Arummim (for distribu- 
ting clothes among the poor), Po‘ale-Zedek (for 
mutual help), Gemilat Hesed (for advancing loans 
without interest), and a Talmud Torah, attended by 
eighty-eight children. The Jews in the neighbor- 
hood of Birzhi are engaged in agriculture on rented 
land, either cultivating it themselves, or with the 
help of others. For the history of the Jewish com- 
munity of Birzhi, see the articles Kovno and Lira- 
DANIA, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : KE. Tyszkiewicz, Monoyrafije Birze, 1869. 

H. R. S. J. 

BISCHITZ DE HEVES, JOHANNA (née 
Fischer): Hungarian philanthropist; born in Tata 
in 1827; died in Budapest March 28, 1898; daugh- 
ter of a porcelain manufacturer and wife of David 
Bischitz. She was the founder and president of 
the Jewish Women’s Association, and the Jewish 
People’s Kitchen, of Budapest; vice-president of 


Immense wealth. 


the Christian “Maria Dorothea Charitable Union”: 
member of the committee of the Red Cross So. 
ciety; and honorary member and honorary presi- 
dent of more than 
100 philanthropic so- 
cieties of the prov- 
ince. In 1867 Baron 
Moritz de Hirsch 
founded at her in- 
stance and gave into 
her charge a relief 
bureau in Buda- 
pest, as a center for 
Hungary, placing at 
her disposal a yearly 
sum of 120,000 gul- 
den for distribution 
among the poor. 
During her presi- 
dency more than 
3,000,000 gulden 
were distributed. 
Her philanthropic 
labors were not only recognized by Emperor Francis 
Joseph I., who twice decorated her, but were ac- 
knowledged by King Leopold I. of Belgium. 
Ss. Jy. V. 





Johanna Bischitz de Heves. 


BISCHOFFSHEIM, LOUIS RAPHAEL: 
French bankerand philanthropist; bornin Mayence, 
Germany, in 1800; diedin Paris, Nov. 14, 1873. His 
father’s sudden death, combined with the general 
upheaval of public affairs that followed the events 
of 1815, compelled Bischoffsheimn to abandon the 
studies he was pursuing at the gymnasium of 
his native city and to enter commerce. He found 
employment as clerk in a banking-house at Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, and mastered his business so rap- 
idly that at the age of twenty he was director of a 
bank which he himself had founded in Amsterdam. 
Ten years later, on the separation of Belgium from 
Holland, he was appointed consul-general of the 
former state at Amsterdam. . 

His business grew so rapidly that. he established 
branch houses in Antwerp (1827), London (1836), . 
and Paris (1846). In 1850 he left Holland, and set- 
tled inthe French metropolis, where his son Raphael 
Louis was pursuing his studies at the Ecole Centrale 
(see Raphael Louis Biscuorrsaeim). Paris thus 
became the headquarters of his large banking firm, 
Bischoffsheim himself undertaking the personal di- 
rection of the business. | 

Interested in every commercial enterprise of im- 
portance, and taking part in all the great financial 
operations of his time, Bischoffsheim soon acquired 
He financed the great southern 
railway company, the Compagnie du Chemin de 
Fer du Midi, and was the founder of the Société 
Générale, of the Banque des Pays-Bas, of the Crédit 
Foncier Colonial, of the Franco-Egyptian Bank, and 
of the Société du Prince Impérial. 

A large portion of Bischoffsheim’s fortune was 
devoted to charitable and educational purposes. 
He was president of the Association Philotechnique 
and founder of the Athénée. At the latter it was 
his intention to have entertainments for charitable 


227 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Birzhi 
Bischoffsheim 





objects; but the enterprise failed, and the Athénée | he had lived, was changed to that of “Boulevard 


finally became an ordinary theater. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, s.V.; Paul Guérin, 
in Dictionnaire des Dictionnaires, 3.v. 


S. A. 8. C. 


BISCHOFFSHEIM, RAPHAEL JONA- 
THAN: Belgian iinancierand philanthropist; born 
at Mayence in 1808; dicd at Brussels Feb. 6, 1883, 
He left his native town when quite young and went 
to Belgium. Endowed with good judgment, being 
a tireless worker, and having early become familiar 
with business operations, he was soon engaged in 
important financial transactions, in which his mere 
name and his experience inspired the public with 
confidence. He opened a bank at Antwerp and an- 
other at Brussels, both of which rapidly succeeded. 
Bischoffsheim was one of the most active founders 


Bischoffsheim”; and the community of Watermael- 
Boitfort placed his bust in the hall where the sessions 
of the Communal Council were held. 

8. : M. Bu. 

BISCHOFFSHEIM, RAPHAEL LOUIS: 
French banker; member of the Institute of France; 
son of Louis Raphael Bischoffsheim; born July 22, 
1823, in Amsterdam. He received his early educa- 
tion in his native city, and was then sent by his 
father to Paris to take a special course preparatory 
to entering the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufac- 
tures, where he was admitted in 1842. On gradua- 
ting from that school he was appointed inspector of 
one of the southern railway lines belonging to the 
system controlled by his father, and remained in that 
position until 1878, when he succeeded his father in 
the banking firm. 


GENEALOGY OF THE BISCHOFFSHEIM FAMILY. 


Raphael (Nathan) Bischoffsheim (b. I778 at Bisehofsheim-on-the-Tauber; d. Jan. 22, 1814, at Mayences; 
m. Helene, dau. Herz Moses Cassel of Mayence). 


Amalie (b. March 27, 
1802; m. 1818 Aug. 
Bamberger, Mayence) 


Louis (Ludwig) b. June 
22, 1800, at Mayence ; 
d. Nov. 14, 1873, at 
Paris; m. dau. Hay- 
yim Sal. Goldschmidt, 
Frankfort-on-the- 
Main) 


schmidt) 


Jonathan (b. April 26, 
1808, Mayence ;d. Feb. 
6, 1883, at Brussels; 
m. 1832 Jette Gold- 


Clara (b. 1809; m. Cahen 
d’Anvers, Paris) 


Henriette (b. 1896: m. 
Belmont-Alzey 18238) 


Raphael L. (deputy at 
Paris) 

Regine (m. Jules Beer) 

Henri L. (London) »b. 
1828; d. March II, 
1907. 


Rudolf (Mayence) 
Ludwig (Berlin) 
Heinrich (Paris) 

Jenny (m. Levy, Paris) 
Henriette (m. Bréal) 
Clara (m. Landsberg, 


Anna (m. Ludwig Bam- 
berger) 


Clara (m. Baron Maur- Eduard 
ice de Hirsch) Emma 
Regine (m. Gold- Raphael 


schmidt, Paris) 
Ferdinand (Paris) 
Hortense (m. Monte- 


Louis (Paris) 
Albert (Paris) 


Bonn) 


of the Union du Crédit, instituted in the hard times 
of 1848, and which since then has been specially 
serviceable to small traders; of the Comptoir de 
Préts sur Marchandises at Antwerp: of the Union 
du Crédit at Liége; and of the National Bank, of 
which he was successively examiner and director, 
and which he saved from iinminent failure in 1841, 
receiving for his services on that occasion the Cross 
of the Order of Leopold. Bischoffsheim had a high 
standing in political as well as in financial circles. 
He was a member of the communal council of Brus- 
sels, and for twenty years represented the arron- 
dissement of that name in the Senate, often advising 
the ministers of finance. 

Bischoffsheim founded several philanthropic in- 
stitutions; among them, at Brussels, two profes- 
sional schools for girls, two normal schools, a model 
school, courscs of lectures for women, an association 
for encouraging study among women, the Educa- 
tional League, and committees for supplying food 
and clothing to needy school-children, and a chair 
of Arabic at the university. He was also actively 
interested in Jewish philanthropy, and for many 
years was a member of the Central Consistory. 

He received special naturalization papers in 1859 
for exceptional services rendered to the state, and 
he was decorated with many foreign orders. His 
funeral was attended by all classes of the whole city; 
the name of the Boulevard de |’Observatoire, where 


fiore, Brussels) 


Bischoffsheim ina short time acquired the reputa- 
tion of a public-spirited man; and his munificent 
gifts to charitable and scientific institutions won for 
him the exceptional honor of “ grande naturaliza- 
tion,” by which, on April 24, 1880, he became a citi- 
zen Of the French republic. 

Attracted by the marvelous advance of astronomy, 
and deeply interested in that science, Bischoffsheim 
spared no expense in aiding astronomical institutions 
and enterprises. The observatories of Paris and of 
Montsouris owe to him in great measure the excel- 
lency of their modern equipment. Hehasalso given 
his financial support to the observatcery established 
by General Nansouty on the summit of the Pic du 
Midi. 

Bischoffsheim’s most valuable contribution to the 
progress of astronomy, however, was the observa- 
tory of Mont-Gras near Nice, one of the Jargest and 
best-equipped institutions of the kind in Europe, 
which he founded with an endowment of 1,500,000 
francs. This observatory was formally inaugurated 
Oct., 1887, and was selected for the meeting-place of 
the international geodetic congress of that year. 
The Académie des Sciences sent its most illustrious 
representatives on the occasion, and later recog- 
nized the valuable nature of Bischoffsheim’s services 
to astronomy by electing him member (membre libre) 
of the Institut de France; while the French govern- 
ment bestowed upon him the Cross of the Legion of 





Bee THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 228 
Honor. He received two gold medals at the Paris | poll-tax of the Jews amounted to 20 kreutzer in 1724, 


Universal Exposition of 1889: one for his observa- 
tory at Nice, the other for his professional school on 
the Boulevard Bourdon, Paris. 

In 1881 Bischoffsheim was chosen to represent the 
electoral district of Nice in the Chamber of Deputies; 
but he insisted upon preserving the independence 
of his political opinions, and as he would attach 
himself permanently to no political faction, he was 
not reelected in 1885. He died May 20, 1906, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie; Paul Guérin, 

Dictionnaire des Dictionnaires. 


S, J. W. 


BISCHOFFSHEIM, RAPHAEL (NA- 
THAN): Merchant and prominent philanthropist; 
born at Bischofsheim-on-the-Tauber, 1773; died at 
Mayence Jan. 22,1814. He went to Mayence during 
the French Revolution, and from a small merchant 
becamea purveyor to thearmy. Bischoffsheim was 
president of the Jewish community of Mayence. 
Jn a list dated April 21, 1808, he is included in the 
twenty-five foremost Jews of that city, from among 
whom the authorities were to choose notables for 
the great Sanhedrin of Paris. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Family records in the register’s office, Ma- 
yence, Nos. 55 and 499; record of deaths, ib., for the year 1814, 
No. 1089; Le Guide de la Ville de Mayence, year ix. of the 
republic; Weainzer Memorbuch, 1583-1837, No. 1239; Allg. 
Zeit. des Jud. 1888, No. 8: Isr. Woehenschrift, No. 15, Magde- 
burg, 1883; Israetit, xxiv. 13, Mayence, 1883: Rev. Etudes 
Juives, 1831, vi. 156; Moniteur Beige, Feb. 9, 1888; Kayser- 
ling, Gedenkbliitter, Leipsic, 1892; G. Vapereau, Dict. Uni- 
versel des Contemporains, Paris, 18938; Hrinnerungen von 
Ludwig Bamberger, Berlin, 1899; Etat de la Ville de Ma- 
yence ; MS, in the municipal archives of Mayence. 


s. S. Sa. 


BISCHOFSHEIM-ON-THE-TAUBER: City 
in the district of Mosbach, Baden. At Landa and 
the neighboring Tauber-Bischofsheim seven promi- 
nent Jews were tortured and burned, Jan. 1 and 2, 
1285, on the accusation of having murdered a Chris- 
tian. Nearly the whole community was annihilated 
by the hordes under Rindfleisch July 24, 1298, and 
again by those under Armleder’s leadership June 
10, 1837. Another persecution took place in 1348; 
and on the appearance of the Black Death in 1848 
many Jews were martyred. Jacobof Bischofsheim, 
with his wife and son, is mentioned at Nuremberg 
in 1829. 1n1586 the brothers Johann and Eberhard 
Vorvte ratified an agreement that of the yearly tax 
on the Jews of Bischofsheim one-half should thence- 
forth go to Otto, bishop of Wiirzburg, and the other 
half to themselves until the chapter should have 
bought back the city from them. On Dec. 23 of the 
same year they agreed to turn over their share to 
the town council. Jn 1388 Archbishop Heinrich of 
Mayence released the knight Johann von Rieden and 
his family from all the claims of the Jews of Bisch- 
ofsheim on account of the Jews that had been 
slain in that city. In 13843 Archbishop Adolf of 
Mayence promised to cease taxing the Jews in the 
nine cities of the archbishopric to which Bischofs- 
heim belonged. On June 27, 1400, the burgrave 
Friedrich addressed a letter to Isaac of Bischofsheim. 
In 1710 the houses of two Jews, near the church, 
were exchanged for others. In 1781 and 1746 the 
electoral government issued decrees forbidding the 
desecration of Sundaysand holidays by Jews. The 


From early times the city belonged to the electorate 
of Mayence, and the Jews were included in the rab- 
binate of Aschaffenburg, or Mayence; representa- 
tives of Bischofsheim are mentioned in all transac- 
tions of the electorate. When Baden became 
independent Bischofshein: came under the rabbinical] 
jurisdiction of Wertheim. The first and the last 
rabbi of Bischofsheim-on-the-Tauber was Jacob 

Lowenstein (1851-69); while his learned son, Leopold 

Lowenstein, rabbi at Morbach, had charge of the 

rabbinate in 1870-71. At present (1902) the com- 

munity numbers 40 families, and is included in the 
rabbinate of Morbach. 

Jacob ben Eliezer Brandeis, who died in 1768, is 
mentioned as rabbi of Neckar-Bischofsheim. A Rabbi 
Hellmann, of the family of Chief Rabbi Lob of 
Prague, was the author of a commentary on the 
Shulhan ‘Aruk, Eben ha-‘Ezer. He died at an 
early age, and was succeeded by Rabbi Moses Bam- 
berger, who died in old age in 1820. The latter’s 
only son, Koppel Bamberger, rabbi of Worms, died 
in 1864. The Jew Joseph, baptized in 1705, was a 
native of this place. 

Jews are also mentioned as living at Rhein- 
Bischofsheim. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salfeld, Martyrologium, pp. 124, 209, 238, 281 ; 
Menken, Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, Iii. 338; Sal- 
feld and Stern, Ntirnberg im Mittelalter, p. 210; Wiener, 
Regesten, p. 119, No. 126, p. 119, No. 127, p. 121, No. 187; 
Zeit. fiir Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland, iii. 325, v. 190; 
Bamherrer, Juden in Aschaffenburg, 1900, p. 3; Steinschnei- 
der, Cat. Bodl. No. 9189. For Neckar-Bischofsheim, see 


Wibel, Hohenlohische Kirchenhistorie, p. 757: Lowenstein, 
Gesch. der Juden in der Kurpfaiz, p. 273. 


G. A. F. 


BISENZ: Town in Moravia, Austria. About 
the earliest history of its Jews nothing is known, 
Pesina, whose “ Mars Moravicus” was published in 
1677, calls it “nidus Judeeorum.” 

In the time of the margraves (up to the fifteenth 
century) the Bisenz Jews must have enjoyed great 
privileges; for, according to the oldest “mountain- 
laws,” they were permitted to own vineyards, it being 
a matter of great importance to the margraves to 
market their wine through the agency of Jewish 
traders. In the wars between George Podiebrad of 
Bohemia and Matthias of Hungary (c. 1458), Bisenz, 
and with it the Jewish quarter, was entirely devas- 
tated and came under constantly changing feudal 
proprietors. 

According to the feudal “ Urbarium ” of 1604, the 
Jews even then possessed thirty-two houses, a hos- 
pital, and seventeen smaller buildings, called “ Hoferi 
Zidovisti.” But only a year later (May 2, 1605) the 
Jewish community was totally destroyed by Stephen 
Bocskai; so that in 1655, when the new edition of 
the land-register was made out, twenty-five Jewish 
holdings stiil lay in ruins. 

In the first Silesian war (Feb., 1742) the Jewish 
community suffered severely from the Prussian in- 
vasion, especially as its inhabitants had to bear their 
share of the general levies, At the close of this war 
the empress Maria Theresa in 1758 issued the so- 
called “ Familien-Verordnung ” (Family Ordinance), 
according to which only 5,442 Jewish families were 
allowed to live in Moravia; and of these 187 were 
allotted to Bisenz. On May 17, 1777, almost the 


229 





entire Jewish ghetto, in which there were ninety-three 
houses, was burned. Up to 1782 the Jewish com- 
munity was subject to the feudal lord; but in crim- 
inal matters they were under the jurisdiction of the 
city authorities. 

Of recent events may be mentioned the organiza- 
tion of the Jewish congregation into a political com- 
munity in 1852, and the building of anew synagogue 
in 1863. 

D. J. Hr. 

BISHKA, NAHMAN BEN BENJAMIN 
COHEN ZEDEEK: Russian Talmudist; lived in 
the second half of theeighteenth century. Together 
with his brother, Shabbetai Bishka, he wrote the 
“Shebet Ahim” (The Brothers’ Sitting), essays on 
different passages of the Talmud, with an appendix 
entitled “Shem ‘Olam ” (Eternal Name), being com- 
ments on different passages of the Haggadah and the 
Bible. The work was published (Wilna-Grodno, 
1833) by his grandson, Joshua ben Kalonymus Cohen 
Zedek, who added an appendix of hisown Talmudic 
essays under the title “ Nahal Yabbok.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Bibliotheca Judaica, i. 120; Benjacob, 
Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 567 
Lice: I. Ber. 


BISHOP OF THE JEWS (Episcopus Jude- 
orum): Title given to an official of the Jews in the 
Rhine country and in England in the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries. At Cologneit appears to have 
been used as an equivalent to “ parnas,” or warden of 
the synagogue. In England the parnas is mentioned 
under that name, and there appear to have been in 
each large community three, and three only, of these 
“episcopi” (for example, in the communities of 
London and Lincoln); and it has therefore been in- 
ferred that they were equivalent to the three day- 
yanim or ecclesiastical assessors who constitute the 
bet din in the Jewish community, known in the Eng- 
lish records as a “chapter of the Jews” (capitulum 
Judeorum). Originally an official title, the name 
became afterward a cognomen; and in French- 
speaking countries several Jews are found with the 
name “Evesque” or “Levese.” Some TALuiies of 
the English Exchequer have lately been discovered 
in which the Latin name is given as “ Levesc,” but is 
signed in Hebrew as “Cohen”; and it has been sug- 
gested that the name when used as a family name is 
simply equivalent to “ Cohen.” 

Besides the bishops, there was in England a PREs- 
BYTER, Who appears to have been a kind of chief 
rabbi, associated chiefly with the treasury: he would 
correspond to the ab bet din. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Honiger, Judenschreinsbuch der Laurenz- 
pfarre in Koln, Nos. 233, et passim; Jacobs, Jews of 
Angevin England, pp. 372, 373. J 


BISLICHES or BISSELICHES, MORDE- 
CAI LOEB: Editor of some valuable Hebrew works 
of medieval authors; born at Brody, Austria, at the 
end of the eighteenth century ; died about 1851. He 
was married at the age of thirteen (a fact of which 
he bitterly complains), ultimately divorced his wife, 
and, after the death of his children, went to Paris. 
There he was very prosperous in business, devoting 
his leisure to the study and publication of Hebrew 
manuscripts in the Paris Library. Later he went to 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bischoffsheim 
Bismarck 


Holland and Italy, where he collected a number of 
Hebrew manuscripts. Returning to his birthplace, 
he prepared for publication, with the aid of his 
brother Ephraim, the following works: 

(1) ““Yeshu‘ot Meshiho,”? of Isaac b. Judah Abravanel, 
Carlsruhe, 1828; (2) ** Sefer ha-Nefesh,” of Shem-Tob Palquera, 
Lemberg, 1835; (3) ‘* Moreh ha-Moreh,” of Shem-Tob Palquera, 
Presburg, 1887; (4) ‘* Ma’amar Yikkavu ha-Mayim,”’ of Samuel b. 
Judah Tibbon, Presburg, 18387; (5) Moses Nahmanides’ Hiddu- 
shim on “ Shabbat,” under the title, “*Ozar Nehmad,”’ Presburg, 
18387; (6) “ Minhat Kena’ot,” of Abba Mari b. Moses of Lunel, 
Presburg, 1838; (7) ‘“‘Sefat Yeter,” of Abraham ibn Ezra (edited 
with preface by Meir Letteris), Presburg, 1838; (8) ‘* Ha-Palit,” 
a catalogue of eighty vajuable Hebrew manuscripts in the posses- 
sion of Bisliches (described by L. Zunz, with additional critical 
remarks by Senior Sachs), Berlin, 1850. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: His prefaces to the books Ma‘amar YVikkavu 
ha-Mayim, and Ha-Palit; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 
800, 992, 1959; Farsi, Bibl. Jud. i. 129; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. 
Books Brit. Mus. s.v.; Geiger, Jiid. Zeit. iii. 282. 


D. H. M. 


BISMARCK, PRINCE OTTO EDUARD 
LEOPOLD: Prussian statesman; born at Schon- 
hausen April 1, 1815; died at Friedrichsruh July 
30, 1898; member of the Prussian Diet (Vereinigter 
Landtag), 1847-51; representative of Prussia at the 
Bundestag at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1851-59; Prus- 
sian ambassador at St. Petersburg from March, 1859, 
to May, 1862, and at Paris from May to Sept., 1862; 
secretary of state and premier from Sept., 1862, to 
Aug., 1866; then chancellor of the North German 
Federation until 1870, and of the German empire 
from Dec., 1870, to March 20, 1890. 

As a delegate to the first Prussian Diet, convened 
in 1847, Bismarck, a strong adherent of the feudal 
party (“ Junkerpartei ”), opposed the new law which 
favored the emancipation of the Jews. He elo- 
quently advocated the idea of a Christian state in 
which Jews might have all personal liberties, but 
should not be accorded the right of serving as mag- 
istrates. He evinced the same spirit of religious or, 
rather, racial prejudice when Eduard Simson was 
elected speaker of the Erfurt parliament and him- 
self one of the secretaries: “My late father,” he said, 
“would thrice turn in his grave should he hear that 
I had become the secretary of a Jewish savant” 
(Simson had been baptized). In 1881 Bismarck 
praised Simson as one of the most distinguished and 
patriotic representatives of the national idea. 

Time and experience wrought a change in Bis- 
marck’s views. Many years later (1870), at Ver- 
sailles, he confessed that he had heard and had de- 
livered “many a stupid speech at this Diet.” 

As Prussian minister of state, he acquiesced in the 
full emancipation which had come to the Jews 
through the revolution of 1848; and under his chan- 
cellorship the North German Federation passed the 
law of July 3, 1869: “All existing restrictions of 
civil and political rights, restrictions derived from 
the difference of religion, are hereby abolished. Es- 
pecially the right of participating in the representa- 
tion of the municipality and of the state, and of 
holding public office, shall be independent of the 
religious creed.” In words and deeds Bismarck 
proved himself a stanch defender of these principles, 
which were embodied in article 3 of the constitution 
of the empire. “I shall never consent to any attempt 
at curtailing the constitutional rights of the Jews” 
(Poschinger, “First Bismarck,” p. 227). With the 


Bismarck 
Bittoon 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


230 





same embhasis he declared his opposition to the 
anti-Semitic movement: “I decidedly disapprove of 
this agitation against the Jews, be it on religious or 
on racial grounds.” 

In 1868, when the agitation began against the 
Jews in Rumania, he took the part of the persecuted, 
and tried to influence Prince (afterward King) Karl 
in their favor, as is seen from a letter addressed to 
Crémieux by Count von der Goltz, Prussian ambas- 
sador to the French court (April 2): “From the letter 
of the president of the cabinet of Feb. 22 you may 
have learned already of the deep interest which the 
royal government takes in this affair. The readi- 
ness with which Count Bismarck has complied with 
your wish expressed in your letter of March 26 is 
a new proof thereof. His Excellency authorizes me 
to inform you that the Prussian consul-general at 
Bucharest has been ordered by telegraph to remon- 
strate with Prince Karl against the proposed law 
concerning the Israelites, which has just been suo- 
mitted to the Rumanian legislature.” 

At the Berlin Congress of 1878, Bismarck, plead- 
ing for the rights of the Rumanian Jews, remarked 
to Prince Gortschakoff that perhaps the sad condi- 
tion of the Jews in Russia was due to the fact that 


they were deprived of civil and political equality. | 


That no political considerations but the sentiments 
of justice and humanity dictated his actions is shown 
in the answer made by his coadjutor, Von Bilow, 
secretary of state for foreign affairs, to the represent- 
atives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, who, 
desiring the chancellor’s intercession in behalf of 
the Jews of the Balkan districts, had pleaded for 
toleration: “Gentlemen,” said Von Bilow, “‘ toler- 
ation’ is an incorrect word; not toleration, but un- 
restricted exercise of all their rights shall we de- 
mand, at the congress, for your coreligionists.” 
And yet the “iron chancellor,” who had it in his 
power to crush the anti-Semitic movement at its be- 
ginning, was led by political reasons to foster it for 
some time. ‘Having changed the liberal policy 
which he had followed since 1867, and in which he 
had had the support of the prominent Jewish states- 
men Lasker and Bamberger, he sought the alliance 
of the Conservative party, which in 1878 had gained 
the ascendency in the Reichstag. The court chap- 
lain, Adolf Stécker, founder of the Christian-Social- 
ist party and of its offspring, anti-Semitism. was not 
hampered in his reactionary agitations. Bismarck 
considered this new movement an efficient auxiliary 
in combating liberalism and democracy. But this 
strange fellowship, which, especially in Berlin, had 
pernicious consequences, was not of long duration. 

Bismarck never yielded to the demands of the agita- 

tors, and strenuously checked their attempts to de- 

prive the Jews of the rights guaranteed to them by 
the fundamental laws of the empire. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: <Antisemitenkatechismus, Danzig, 1901; 
Mittheilungen aus dem Vereine zur Bekdmpfurng ces 
Antisemitismus since 1891 ; ANTI-SEMITISM, and bibliography 
at the end of that article. 


D. S. Man. 


BISNA, BISINAH, BISNI (BIZNA): Pal- 
estinian scholar of the fourth amoraic generation 
(fourth century); contemporary of BEREcuTAH IT, 
with whom he appears in a halakic discussion (Yer. 


Ma‘as. v. 52a—“ Bisinah”; Yer. Ned. iii. 87d; Yer 
Shebu, iii, 34d, where “ Yosnah ” is to be corrected), 
His name is connected with several Halakot, for the 
most part, however, as transmitting opinions of his 
predecessors and contemporaries (Yer. Pes. iv. 31a; 
Yer. M. K. i. 80a; Yer. Yeb. ili. 5a). In homiletic 
literature he also transmitted remarks in the names 
of others (Tan., Shemini, 8 [ed. Buber, xii.]; Gen. 
R. xiv. 9, “Bisni”; Deut. R. iv. 6). 

In hisown name but few Haggadot are preserved ; 
of these, the following interpretation of a Biblicat 
verse may serve as a specimen: 


“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and 
teachest out of thy law ” (Ps. xciv. 12}. ‘*No man on earth is 
entirely exempt from pain. If his eye hurts him, he can not 
sleep; a toothache keeps him wakeful all night. But here is a 
scholar engaged in the study of the Law, and he spends a whole 
night in thoughtful meditations. The former is awake through 
pain, the latter voluntarily ; blessed is he who chasteneth him- 
self with wakefulness over the study of the Law ” (Tan., Mikkez, 
ed. Buber, xvi.; Yalkut 850 reads ‘‘ Bizna’’). 


BiTioe eens: Frankel, Mebo, 68b; Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor, 
ili. 669. 

J. SR. S. M. 

BISTRITZ, KALMAN KOHN: Hungarian 
Neo-Hebraic poet; lived at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century. He was the author of the Purim 
drama “Goral ha-Zaddikim ” (The Lot of the Right- 
eous), Which appeared in Vienna, 1821. He be- 
longed to the same family as Meir Kohn Bistritz, 
and is considered a good epigrammatist. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Biblietheca Judaica, i. 120; Kayser- 
ling, in Winter and Wiinsche, Jiidische Litteratur, iii. 896 
(both mistakenly cite Bistritz’s work as Gemul ha-Zaddikim 
{The Reward of the Righteous]); Berliner, Beitrtige zur 
Gesch. des Jtidischen Drama, appended to his edition of R. 
Moses Zacuto’s Yesod ‘Olam, p. xviii., Berlin, 1874. 


L. G, P. Wt. 


BISTRITZ,. MEIR KOHN: Hungarian Neo- 
Hebraic poet and author; born in Vag-Bistritz, 
Hungary, 1820; died in Vienna Sept. 7, 1892. He 
lived the greater part of his life in Vienna, where he 
published most of his works. The first of these 
was his notes and German translation of Mordecai b. 
Meir Kalman’s didactic poem, “Tabnit ha-Bayit ” 
(The Shape of the House) (1858). In the following 
year he published “Kol Rinnah” (The Voice of Re- 
joicing), a Hebrew poem with a German translation, 
both composed by him on the occasion of the dedi- 
cation of the new temple in Budapest. In 1863 he 
produced a new and improved edition of the anony- 
mous “ ‘Aruk ha-Kazer” (Abridged Dictionary), A 
year later he edited and published “ Ziyyun le-Zikron 
‘Olam ” (Sign of Eternal Remembrance), a work in 
honor of the seventieth birthday of Isaac Noah 
Mannheimer, containing addresses, songs, essays, 
etc.,in Hebrew and German. He wrote other minor 
poems, and a humorous essay on the proverb 
“Wenn die Chassidim reisen, regnet es” [“ Jiidisch- 
Deutsches oder Deutsch Jitidisches Sprichwort,” 
Vienna, 1880]. He was also the author of a lengthy 
article in the Hebrew periodical “Bet Talmud ” (iv. 
140, 177, 206), to explain the difficult passages in 
Midrash Tanhuma, which were pointed out by Ja- 
cob Reifman. 

Bistritz’s last and largest work was the “Bi‘ur 
Tit ha-Yawen ” (The Cleaning up of the Mire; Pres- 
burg, 1888), a vindictive attack on the radical criti- 
cism of Osias H. Schorr in explaining the Talmud. 


231 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bismarck 
Bittoon 





The book is full of diatribes against Schorr’s per- 
sonality, and is written in abusive and bombastic 
style. Schorr’s pupils or followers, and all Polish 
Jews who have adopted modern dress or modern 
views, come in for their share of abuse. The work, 
which is, however, not without merit as a contri- 
bution to the lexicography of the Talmud, closes 
with sixteen epigrams aimed at another alleged fol- 
lower of the liberal editor of “ He-Haluz,” Asher 
Simhah W erssmMann,author of “Kedushat ha-Tanak.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon, 1. 243, 621 ; 


Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica, pp. 178, 179; Kayserling, in 
Winter and Wiinsche, Jiidische Litteratur, tii. 896. 


L. G. P. Wt. 


BITHIAH.—Biblical Data: Daughter of Pha- 
raoh, whom Mered of the tribe of Judah married 
(I Chron. iv. 18). In the Midrash (Lev. R. § 1) she 
is called the foster-mother of Moses. 


J. JR, G. B. L. 


——In Rabbinical Literature: Daughter of 
Pharaoh; identified in the Midrash with Moses’ 
foster-mother. The name is explained as follows: 
God said to her, “ You have called Moses your son, 
although he was not your son, therefore I will call 
you my daughter [“ Bithiah” = “bat,” dauglhiter; 
“Yah,” God], although you are not my daughter” 
(Lev. R. i. 38; Meg. 18a; and elsewhere). Bithiah 
is also identified with “his wife Jehudijah,” men- 
tioned in the same verse (I Chron. iv. 18), and the 
name is interpreted as signifying that she became a 
Jewess, giving up the idolatry of her father, The 
names of the men whom “she bare,” which are enu- 
merated in that verse, are taken to be different des- 
ignations for Moses (compare Mosks IN RABBINICAL 
LITERATURE), Bithiah being represented as Moses’ 
mother in the passage, because the person who rears 
an orphan is regarded as the veritable parent. 
Mered, whom Bithiah subsequently “took,” was 
Caleb, who was called Mered (“rebellion”) because, 
as she rebelled against her father and her family, so 
did Caleb “rebel” when he refused to follow the evil 
counsels of the spies (/.c.; Sanh. p. 19b; Targ. on 
the passage; compare also the pseudo-Jerome com- 
mentary on the passage), 

Bithiah bathed in the Nile, because, having a skin- 
disease, she could bathe only in cold water; yet she 
had hardly touched the casket in which Moses lay, 
when her disease left her, and she then Knew that 
the boy was destined for great things (Pirke R. E). 
xlviii.; Ex. R. i. 23). When her attendants sug- 
gested to her that it was unseemly that Pharaoh’s 
daughter should act against her father’s commands, 
the angel Gabriel appeared and slew them; and 
Bithiah herself took the casket out of the water. 
As it was a considerable distance from the bank, her 
arm was miraculously lengthened so as to enable her 
toreach it (Sotah, p.12b; Meg. p. 15b). Bithiah was 
the first-born of her parents, but, through Moses’ 
prayer, was spared at the time of the death of the 
first-born (Pesik., ed. Buber, vii. 65a). She is num- 
bered among the persons who entered paradise alive ; 
having saved Moses, she was forever freed from death 


(“Derek Erez Zutta,” i.; Yalk. i. 42, ii. 367). Com- 
pare Moses in RasBsrnicaL LITERATURE. 
K, L. G. 


BITHYNIA: A province in the northwest of 
Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian 
Bosporus, and the Euxine. A Jewish colony ex- 
isted there as early as the first century of the com- 
mon era. In his address to Caius, the Judean 
Agrippa speaks of the Jews of Bithynia (Philo, 
“Legatio ad Cajum,” § 36; ed. Mangey, 587). A 
Greek tumulary inscription bearing all the charac- 
teristics of its Jewish origin was discovered in 1891 
at Arnaut-Keni in Bithynia, It runs as follows: 
"EvOdde xataxeitat LavBarec, vidg Tepovriov rp[eoBurepov], 
ypaypatete Kai émiotaryg tov madadav Eipyvy (“Here 
lies Sanbatis [= Shabbethai], son of Gerontios, pres- 
byter, scribe, and president of the elders. Peace!”). 
It is thus evident that organized Jewish communi- 
ties existed not only in the important cities, like 
Nicwa and Nicomedia, but also in the small towns. 
These communities, like all those of the Byzantine 
empire, underwent many persecutions during the 
Middle Ages, In 1326 Bithynia was conquered by 
the sultan Orkhan, and the condition of the Jews 
was greatly improved. 

At present Bithynia forms a part of the vilayet 
of Brusa, which contains about 5,800 Jews. They 
are chiefly engaged in the sale of textile materials 
and undressed silk, in brokerage, money-changing, 
and various handicrafts. The Alliance Israélite Uni- 
verselle has establisbed several schools for children. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Theodore Reinach, in Revue Etudes Juives, 
xxvi. 167; Schtirer, Gesch. der Juden tm Zeitalter Jesu 
Christi, p. 18; Cuinet, La Turquie d’ Asie, iv. 11. 

G. I. Br. 


BITTER HERBS. See PASSOVER. 


BITTERN (“kippod”): From an examination 
of the passages in which “kippod ” occurs it would 
seem that a bird is meant by the word. In Isa. 
xxxiv. 11, “But the cormorant and the kippod shall 
possess it; the owl also, and the raven shall dwell in 
it,” any meaning for “kippod” other than the name 
of a bird would be decidedly out of place. In Zeph. 
ii. 14 it is again mentioned by the side of the cormo- 
rant, and is spoken of as singing “in the upper lin- 
tels.” From Isa. xiv. 28 it is clear that the kippod 
was one of the wading birds. Hence there seems to 
be good ground for translating the term by “ bittern,” 
as the bittern is a nocturnal bird, dwells alone, and 
belongs to the wading class. The ancient versions 
have “ porcupine ” instead of “ bittern,” and the later 
usage of Hebrew and the Arabic “kunfud ” support 
this translation; but the difficulties aroused by the 
reading “porcupine” in the Biblical passages are 


formidable. 
J. IR. G. B. L. 


BITTOON, ISAAC (sometimes called Pittoon): 
English pugilist, fencing master, and teacher of 
“the nobie art of self-defense”; born in 1778; died 
in Feb., 1838. His first encounter was with Tom 
Jones of Paddington, whom he met and defeated 
at Wimbledon, Surrey, July 31, 1801. This victory 
was followed by a drawn battle with George Mad- 
dox, which took place Dec. 13, 1802, on the same 
spot, and was called off after seventy-four rounds. 
On July 16, 1804, on Willesden Green, near London, 
Bittoon fought a drawn battle with William Wood, 
a London coachman, interrupted in the thirty-sixth 
round by the appearance of officers from Bow street. 


Bitumen 
Black Death 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


232 





Subsequently he appeared in the ring only as a sec- 
ond; and on Nov. 16, 1812, assisted Jack Carter in 
his match against Jack Power. 

Soon after his last appearance as a principal, Bit- 
toon retired from the prize-ring, and established an 
athletic school in Gou)ston street, Whitechapel, Lon- 
don, where he gave instruction in boxing and fen- 
cing. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery near 
Bethnal Green. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Miles, Pugilistica, vol. i. 


J. F, H. VY. 


BITUMEN: A substance said (in Gen. xi. 3) to 
have been used for mortar. It belongs to the class 
of hydrocarbons, and is a resultant from petroleum, 
after having gradually undergone evaporation and 
oxidation. The continuation of this process upon 
this mineral tar produces the asphalt so abundant at 
the southern end of the Dead Sea. Indeed, this 
materia! gave that sea the name of the asphaltic lake 
(Asphaltites Lacus). Deposits of this substance are 
found in many parts of the world, and almost al- 
ways in close proximity to bitumen springs. The 
best known among those in the East to-day are at 
Hit, not far from the site of ancient Babylon. This 
bitumen was used in coating and thus in increasing 
the durability of sun-dried bricks, and for various 
other useful purposes. Hull thinks that the bitu- 
men in the basin of the Dead Sea is probably derived 
from the bituminous limestones of the Cretaceous 
series, and that it reaches the surface through fissures 
in the rock. Of slight commercial importance, the 
springs of Hit are still used by the native boat- 
builders. 

J. IR. I. M. P. 


BIURISTS (from 78°35, “commentary ”): A class 
of exegetes of the school of Mendelssohn. Not con- 
tent with giving a simple meaning, most of the Bib- 
lical commentators immediately preceding Mendels- 
sohn had interpreted the Biblical passages from an 
individual point of view, and had so distorted the 
literal sense of the words that they failed completely 
to make clear the actual meaning. Mendelssohn 

compiled for his children a literal Ger- 


Transla- mantranslation of the Pentateuch; and 
tion of the to this Solomon Dubno, a grammarian 
Pen- and excellent Hebraist, undertook to 
tateuch. write a “biur” or commentary. As 


soon, however, as a portion of the | 


translation was published, it was criticized by rabbis 
of the old school, including Raphael ha-Kohen of 
Hamburg, Ezekiel Landau of Prague, Hirsch Janow 
of Posen, and Phineas Levi Horwitz of Frank fort-on- 
the-Main. Fearing that the charm of the German 
language would lead the Jewish youth to study the 
translation rather than the Torah itself, and believing 
that they would thus be led away from orthodox 
Judaism, the rabbis united forces, and in June, 1779, 
issued a ban against “the German Pentateuch of 
Moses of Dessau.” 
give up his work after having finished Genesis; but, 
in order that the undertaking might be completed, 
Mendelssohn himself undertook the commentary. 
Finding, however, that the work was beyond his 
strength, he committed to Naphtali Herz Wesel 
(Hartwig Wessely) the biur to Leviticus, to Aaron 


This act led Solomon Dubno to - 


Jaroslav that to Numbers, and to Hertz Homberg 
that to twenty-two of the middle chapters of Deu- 
teronomy. 

Thus the work that was to revolutionize Bible-study 
among the Jews was completed in March, 1788, under 
the title “ Netibot ha-Shalom ” (The Paths of Peace), 
It is preceded by an introduction in Hebrew, written 
by Mendelssohn, in which he discusses the history 
of the work and the rules of idiom and syntax fol- 
lowed in his translation. Mendelssohn wrote, also, a 
German translation of the Psalms, with a Hebrew in- 
troduction (“mebo”) on Biblical poetry, for which 

Joel Lowe (Jocl Bril, $42 = the initials 

Men- of So ae 5 13), conjointly with 
delssohn’s Aaron Wolfsohn (Aaron of Halle, a 
Works. translator of the Song of Solomon), 
wrote the biur. The biur to Kaplan 

Rabe’s translation of Ecclesiastes was written by 
Mendelssohn. The work begun by Mendelssohn 
was continued by his followers, the Biurists, whose 
writings are given in the following columns: 


——. 








Biur to | Author. 














Author. Biur to 
Aaron Wolfsohn | Esther Moses Philippson | Daniel 
(Moses Arns-| Hosea 
walde) Joel 
M. Obernik Joshua Habakkuk 
Judges 
Israe] Neumann | Amos 
M. Obernik and) Samuel Nahum 
Samuel Detmold Haggai 
Malachi 
Isaac Euchel Proverbs ||Joseph Wolf Micah 
Obadiah 
Zephaniah 
David Ottensosser| Isaiah Minhah 
of Furth Job Tehorah 
(12 minor 
; | prophets) 
David Ottensosser, } | 7, 2 
Heiman Schwa ae '|Joel Lowe Jonah 
Toe ines zekiel =|} 
bacher (Firth), Basiogric| 
8. J. Kohn (Woll- Ne Solomon Levy of | Zechariah 
stein) P Sandersleben 


In the nature of the biurist movement was the 
undertaking of Moses Landau, who in 1806 pub- 
lished a biuristic Bible, in which the above-men- 
tioned biurim were superseded as follows: 





ee 














Author. Biurim. Author. | Biurim. 

Wolf Mayer Joshua 
Il Kings 

Samuel Ben Ze’eb Minor Proph- 

Isaiah | ets and in- 

Solomon Sachs Jeremiah trodue- 

tion to the 

Abraham Benisch alia prophet- 

{ Ezekiel ical books, 


Marcus Goldman 1 





Mendelssohn’s biuristic school extended from Po- 
land to Alsace, from Italy to Amsterdam, London, 
and Copenhagen; and it called forth many imita- 
tors, such as Samuel J. Mulder, who translated 
into Dutch the Pentateuch, five Megillot, and the 
former Prophets; G. A. Parsen, who translated and 
commented in Hebrew on the Book of Isaiah; I. 
Neufeld, who translated the Bible into Polish; and 
J. L. Mandelstamm, who translated the Bible into 
Russian. Isaac Samuel Reggio also followed in the 
footsteps of the Biurists with an Italian translation 
and Hebrew commentary to the Pentateuch, and an 


233 








Italian translation of Isaiah; Samuel David Luzzatto 
translated the Bible into Italian, and wrote biurim 
to Job, Isaiah, and the Pentateuch, and some glosses 
to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Proverbs, and Job; and M. 
Rosenthal, J. Mannheimer, and M. Stern translated 
the Psalms into Hungarian. The movement later 
crossed the Atlantic, and Isaac Leeser of Philadel- 
phia translated the Bible into English according to 
the interpretations of the Biurists; while in Europe 
steps were taken toward the perpetuation of the 
movement, in the foundation of the Hebra Doreshe 
Leshon ‘Eber (Society of Investigators of the He- 
brew Language) by Isaac Abraham Euchel and 
Mendel Breslau, and in the establishment of the 
periodical “ Ha-Meassef” (‘The Gleaner). 

The Biurists laid the foundation of a critical his- 
torical study of the Bible among the modern Jews, 
the first-fruits of which may be seen in Philippson’s 
German Commentary, 1827. The commentator 
groups and examines critically the most important 
exegetical explanations of the Bible expounders; 
penetrating into the actual import of the Holy 
Scripture and searching the spiritual context, so as 
to explain the Bible by the Bible itself. As regards 
grammar and lexicography, Philippson touches these 
only in so far as is necessary to the comprehension 
of the text. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Winter and Wiinsche, Die Jtidische Littera- 
tur, iti. 724-751; A. Goldschmidt, in Lessing-Mendelssohn- 
Gedenkbuch, Leipsic, 1879; Allg. Zeit. des Jud. i. 324; 

Graetz, History of the Jews, iii. 288, 370, 607; v. 328-335, 395. 

8. R. 


G. 

BIZTHA: One of the seven eunuchs of Ahasue- 
rus, who was commanded to bring Vashti to the 
king (Esther i. 10). 

J. IR. G. B. L. 

BLACK DEATH: A violent pestilence which 
ravaged Europe between March, 1348, and the 
spring of 1851, and is said to have carried off nearly 
half the population. It was brought by sailors to 
Genoa from south Russia, whither it had come from 
central Asia. During March and April, 1348, it 
spread through Italy, Spain, and southern France; 
and by May of that year it had reached southwest 
England. Though the Jewsappear to have suffered 
quite as much as their Christian neighbors (Héniger, 
“Der Schwarze Tod in Deutschland,” 1882; Hiser, 
“QLehrbuch der Gesch. der Medizin,” iii. 156), a myth 
arose, especially in Germany, that the spread of the 
disease was due to a plot of the Jews to destroy 
Christians by poisoning the wells from which they 
obtained water for drinking purposes. This absurd 

theory had been started in 1819 in 

Myth of Franconia (Pertz, “Monumenta Ger- 

Well- manie,” xii. 416), On that oceasion 

Poisoning. punishment had fallen upon the lepers, 

by whose means the Jews, it was 

alleged, had poisoned the wells. Two years later, 

in the Dauphiné, the same charge had been brought 
against the Jews. 

In 1348, once the accusation was raised, it was 
spread with amazing rapidity from town to town; 
and official reports were sent by the mayors of vari- 
ous cities containing alleged confessions of Jews 
who had been seized under the accusation and put 
to torture (see Schilter, in “Kénigshoven Chronik,” 
pp. 1021 et seq.). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bitumen 
Black Death 


The first outbreak seems to have occurred in north- 
ern Spain, in Barcelona, Cervera, and Tarrega, in 
the months of June and July; but the actual myth 
of well-poisoning in connection with the Black Death 
seems to have arisen in Switzerland in the autumn 
of that year, though Clement VI. had issued in July 
a bull declaring its falsity (Baronius, “ Annales,” 
1348, No. xxxili.), When the pestilence reached 
Chillon, Jews of that place were arrested and put 
to the torture. <A certain Balavignus “confessed ” 
that an elaborate plot had been concocted by some 
Jews in a town in the south of France—Jacob 4 
Paskate from Toledo, Peyret of Chambéry, and one 
Aboget. These had compounded a poison the in- 
gredients of which were Christians’ hearts, spi- 
ders, frogs, lizards, human flesh, and sacred hosts, 
and had distributed the powder made out of this 
concoction to be deposited in the wells whence 
Christians drew water. The report spread to 
Chatel, Chatelard, and Bern; and from the last- 
named place special messengers were sent to all the 
Swiss and Upper Rhine towns, which soon produced 
the natural effect. At Zurich, where the new charge 
was combined with the old blood accusation, sevcral 
Jews were burned (Sept. 21, 1848), while the rest 
were expelled (Schudt, “Jiidische Merkwiirdig- 
keiten,” i. 823). During the month of November 
the rumor reached Augsburg (Nov. 22), Wirz- 
burg, and Munich, and spread through eighty 
towns of Bavaria, where massacres of the Jews oc- 
curred. In the following month the great epidemic 
reached the Upper Rhine with the same results. At 
Freiburg in Breisgau, Jan. 30, 1349, all of the Jews, 
except twelve of the richest, were slain, the latter 
being reserved solely that their riches might be ap- 
propriated. Here it was reported that four Jews of 
Breisach had been sent to Freiburg with the poison, 
which they had obtained at Basel, and that all of 
the Jews of Strasburg, Basel, Freiburg, and Breisach 
were in the conspiracy. On Jan. 22 the Jews of 
Speyer fell victims, several being slain, and several 
killing themselves to escape baptism, while others, 
less firm-spirited, accepted baptism as the sole 
refuge from death. 

Meanwhile correspondence had been carried on 
between the town councils of Basel, Cologne, Chil- 
lon, and Strasburg, containing the substance of the 
so-called confessions. At Strasburg the mayor re- 
fused credence to the rumors, and declared his in- 
tention of sustaining the Jews; whereupon he was 

removed from his post, and more than 

Outbreak 2,000 Jews of the city were put to 
at Stras- death (Feb. 16, 1849). The deeds be- 
burg. longing to the latter were seized and 
destroyed (showing the real motive of 

the act); and the debtors of the Jews gave assur- 
ances to the citizens of protection from the conse- 
quences of the massacre (Stobbe, “ Juden in: Deutsch- 
land,” p. 189). The Jews of Worms were the next 
victims, and no less than 400 of them were burned 
March 1; while on July 24 the Jews of Frankfort 
preferred to offer themselves up as a holocaust, and 
in so doing burned part of the city. The largest 
number of victims is recorded at Mayence, where no 
less than 6,000 are said to have been slain Aug. 22, 
1349. Here the Jews for the first time took active 


234 





Black Death THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 
measures against their oppressors, and killed 200 of | Buchen _ Hals Miinster (Gregori- 
the populace; but finding the task of freeing them- | Buren (dist. Min- Hammelburg enthal) 
> harended 1h 1 ance Were ster) Hanau Miinster (West- 
selves hopeless, they barricaded themselves in their | gurgeort Harbure phalia) 
dwellings, and when the alternative of starvation or | Burghausen Haslach Minster (village) 
baptism faced them, set fire to their houses and per- | Butzbach Hassfurt Munstereifel 
‘ 7 din-the al 4 Two davs afterward th Aiea Camp (Kamp) Heideck Munster-Mayfeld 
TEE TG STORES ae OL Sure eae Ie Sat Carden Heidelberg Naumburg 
fate befell the Jews of Cologne; and, seemingly in | Cassel (Hesse) Heilbronn Neisse 
the same month (though other records assign March | Caub Heiligenstadt Neuenburg 
21as the date), the Jewish inhabitants of Erfurt, | Coblenz Heimbach ese 
é fell victims t6: th Aula hates: Coburg Heppenheim eumagen 
3,000 in area ictims to the popwar sup Cochem Herford Neumarkt 
stition and hatred. Colmar Herlisheim Neuss 
Meanwhile the protection of the duke of Austria | Cracow — Sahai gee obama 
ere ; : . ee) eidesheim e a 
had prevented the madness from reaching his domin Deute Hildburghausen Neustadt ons the: 
ions; but at last, on Sept. 29, the passions of the | peventer Hildesheim Saale 
mob at Krems overcame the authority of the sol- | Dieburg Hohebach Neuweiler 
diery, and all the Jews of that town were burned. | Diessenhofen Holeweler. Nordhauren 
Diez (Dietz) Homberg Nérdlingen 
The last month of the year 1849 saw attacks at Dillingen Horstdorpe Nossen 
Nuremberg (Dec. 6), Hanover, and Brussels. With | Dinkelsbith) Ilmenau Nuremberg 
this the popular fury died out; and the rulers of eee ne eee 
7 2 * rae o,e 2 ortmun nn 
German principalities and cities had to determine | pinen Iphofen Odermhein 
what punishment was to be meted out to the slayers | piiren Kaiserslautern Oehringen 
of the Jews, and what disposal should be made of ee see ae a 
Ve . , urlae empen enbac 
the rich possessions the Jews had left behind them. aca Kenzingéd Offenburg 
Very little was done in the former direction: the | ppern Keppel Oppeln 
whole social fabric had been overturned by the ter- { Echternach Kerpen Osuabriick 
rible pestilence; and even with the best will, if they | Eger Reennole Dstervury 
had alee Ah ] ld not Ehingen Kirn Paskau (Patschkau) 
TAT DOSS ESSEC, ys MEK PUES COUN DO): mhnhein Kitzingen Passau 
Punish- haveincreased the devastation by ade- | Kisenach Kobern Pfirt 
ment quate punishment of the murderers. ee ie Diissel- Sarena se 
. ' : or bnigsberg ajey 
of Rioters. The emperor, DOME 7c aed the Hiirich Kenigshofen ons. “Prague 
huge fine of 20,000 marks in silver Ellwangen the-Saale Rain 
from the inhabitants of Frankfort for the loss he had | Eltville (Elfeld) Kosel Rappersweil 
sustained by the killing of the Jews; and other fines | Endingen eyaiishem Rappolswetler 
Siflicted be the onicersof thei tal t ; Ensisheim (Ens- Krems beauville) 
were inflicted by the officers of the imperial treasury. heim) Kreuznach Regensburg 
But the chief punishment took the form of claiming | Eppingen La Bresse Reichweiler 
the inheritance of the Jews’ debts, which, by the | Erbach Ladenburg Remagen (Rheinma- 
imperial law, belonged to the emperor; so that, ex- oe eae er cunees 
cept in cases where the records of their debts had | rschwege Landau Rheinau 
disappeared, the debtors of the Jews gained little by | Esslingen Landsberg Rheinfelden 
these murders Ettenheim Landshut Rockenhausen 
tthe panes aj t iv tl hiet-outt Ettenheinweiler Lauda Rédingen 
n the preceding account, only the chief out oursts Ettling Laufen Rosheim 
have been specially referred to. The following list | Ettlingen Lauterburg Rothenburg - on - 
contains the names of all towns where the Jews were aha naar Be pees 
Ye Hy alkenstein einingen othendurg ~ on = 
attacked on account of the Black Death, according Feldsperg (Velts- Leipheim theTauber 
to the records given in the Nuremberg “ Memor- purg) Lindau Rutach 
buch.” It is of importance not alone for its testi- | Fetlendorf Linz (dist. Neu- Sackingen 
mony to the wide area of the attacks upon the Jews, | Feuchtwangen Co). pastes 
but also as recording almost every town in Germany, | "t@2ken oe See etek 
ve 8 every Lown 1p Germany, | Prankenhausen Luxemburg Salzungen 
outside the Austrian dominions, in which Jews | Fratting Magdeburg Sangerhausen 
dwelt in the middle of the fourteenth century : Friedberg Marburg Schleusingen 
Friedrichshafen Mark (Branden- Schmalkalden 
Fulda burg) Schriesheim 
Aarau Babenhausen Bingen Gebweiler Markolsheim Schiittorf 
Aarburg Bacharach Bischofsheim - on - Geislingen Marls Schweidnitz 
Achenheim Baden in Aargau the-Tauber Gelnhausen Maursminster Schweinfurt 
Abr ‘Altenahr) Bamberg Bisch weiler Germersheim Mayen Seeland 
Abrweiler Basel Blankenberg Gerolstein Mechlin Seligenstadt 
Aichbach Beilstein Bodensee-Bezirk Giessen Mecklenburg Seltz 
Ailingen Benfeld Bonn Gladbach Meiningen Sennheim 
Aldenhoven Bensheim Bopfingen Goéppingen Meissen Siegberg 
Alken Bentheim Boppard Gotha Mergentheim Sinsheim 
Alzey Berching Bourgogne Graisbach Merseburg (Prus- Sinzig 
Amorbach Berg Brabant Greding sian Saxony) Sobernheim 
Andernach Bergheim Brandenburg Guben Miltenberg Soest (Zoest) 
Angermiinde Berk Braubach Gundelfingen Minden Sooden 
Ansbach (town) Berlin Breisach Gunzenhausen Monheim Spandau 
Ansbach (village) Bernkastel Bretten Hachenburg Montabaur Steiermark 
Antwerp Beuel Bretzenheim Hagenau Mosbach (Baden) Steinheim 
Arnheim Beuthen Broech (Broek) Hah (Swabia) Miiden Stendal 
Arnstadt Biberach Broich Halle -on - the- Mihldorf Stolberg 
Aschaffenburg Bielefeld Bruchsal Saale Mihlhausen Stommelen 


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Biack Death 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


236 





Blasphemy 

Straubing Vaibingen Widdern 
Sulm Villach Wiesbach 
Sulz Wachenheim Wimpfen 
Sursee Waldkirch Windsheim 
Thann Waldshut Winterthur 
Trarbach Waldiirn Wissembourg 
Trent W asserburg Wittlich 
Treuchtlingen Wattwiller Worth 
Treves Weil-die-Stadt Xanten 
Triidingen Weilbeim Zabern 
Tiirkheim Weimar Zeii 
Lerdingen Weinheim Zellenberg 
Ulm Weissensee Znaim 
Usseln Wertheim Ziilz (Biala) 
Utrecht Wertingen Zutphen 
Vacha Wetzlar Zwolle 


It is somewhat difficult to account for the com- 
plete helplessness of the authorities against these 
outbursts of popular fury. It was fully recognized 
at the time—as, for example, by the town council of 
Cologne—that an outbreak against the Jews might 
imperil the social order generally. The loss to the 
imperial and princely treasuries was immense. Yet, 
so far from taking any steps to prevent the outbreaks, 
the emperor in several instances gave 
beforehand practical immunity to the 
perpetrators of the crime, by making 
arrangements as to what should be done with the 
houses and goods of the Jews in the event of a riot. 
This happened at Nuremberg, Regensburg, Augs- 
burg, and Frankfort, and, doubtless, in other towns. 
There can be little doubt that the authorities shared 
the prejudices of the mob, and, with few excep- 
tions, believed in the dread rumor of well-poisoning. 

The effects on the Jews of Germany were little 
less than disastrous. The loss of life resulting from 
the massacres was terrible. Many of the Jews’ 
debtors died from the pestilence; while others re- 
fused acknowledgment of their debts. The Jews 
of Bavaria, for example, were so impoverished, ow- 
ing to their losses, that the margrave granted them 
freedom from all taxes for two years (Scherer, 
“Rechtsverhiltnisse,” p. 577). 

From this-time onward the Jews in all German 
towns lived in perpetual dread of similar attacks; 
and the civil authorities adopted the plan of expul- 
sion as the only means of getting rid of the Jewish 
question in the towns. By the end of the fifteenth 
century there were only three considerable commu- 
nities left in the whole of Germany. 


Results. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, vol. vii.; Salfeld, 
Martyrologium, passim: Stobbe, Juden in Deutschland, 
pp. 188-189, 284-287; Hecker, Black Death; Creighton, His- 
tory of Epidemics, vol. i.; Tbn Verga, Shebet Jehudah, ed. 
Wiener, passim; Joseph ha-Kohen, mek ha-Baka, transl. 
Wiener, pp. 52-54, 184-193. 


G. J. 


BLANC, PIOTR: Polish financier of the eight- 
eenth century; court banker under King Stanislaus 
Augustus Poniatowski (1764-95); date and place of 
birth unknown; died at Warsaw in1797. Together 
with the bankers Dekert and RarraLowrrsH he 
formed the tobacco monopoly in 1776 and the gov- 
ernment lottery in 1781. With Tepper he negotiated 
the Holland loan. In 1790 he was raised to the 
nobility, and in the following year became the owner 
of a palace near Senatorska street, Warsaw, and of 
a villa in the suburb of Fawory. When Ignacy 
Potozky and Piatoli in 1792 worked outa plan to 
improve the condition of the Polish Jews, Blanc and 


his influential friends guaranteed the payment of 
five million rubles, which the Jews of Poland pledged 
themselves to contribute, instead of the usual taxes, 
for the amortization of the king’s debts. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Korzon, Wewnetrzne Dzieje Polski za 
Stanislawa- Augusta (publ. by the Cracow Academy of 
Science), 1897; Em. S—n, Iz Istorit Yevreyev v Polshye, in 
Voskhod for Oct., 1897; S. Orgelbrand, Encyclopedia Povw- 
séchna, ii., 8.v., Warsaw, 1890. 

Il. R. 


BLAND (iée Romanzini), MARIA 
THERESA: English actress and singer; born in 
1769 of Italian-Jewish parents; died at London Jan. 
15, 1888. When only four years old she took a part 
ina performance at Hughes’ Riding School, London. 
After studying for some years she made her reentry 
at Drury Lane Oct. 24, 1786, where she was so suc- 
cessful that she became leading lady in succession 
to Mrs. Wrighten. Her best role at this time was 
that of Andento in Grétry’s “Richard Cceur-de- 
Lion.” In 1789 Maria Theresa played in Liverpool, 
returning to London a year later, when (Oct. 21, 
1790) she was married to Mr. Bland, brother of Mrs. 
Jordan of Drury Lane. The following year she 
sang at the Haymarket in “Inkle and Yarico.” 
Subsequently she appeared as Miss Notable in 
“Lady’s Last Stake”; Mena in “The Prisoner”; 
Mary Ann in “School for Guardians”; Afadelon in 
“Surrender of Calais,” and Sally in “The Ship- 
wreck.” Her mind began to fail in 1824, and she 
was forced to retire, her last appearance being at 
her benefit at Drury Lane July 5, 1824. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Anglo-Jewish Exhibition Catalogue, p. 56, 
1887; British Theatrical Gallery; Thespian Dictionary, 
S.V 


J E. Ms. 


BLASER, ISAAC B. SOLOMON: Russiaa 
rabbiand educator; bornin Wilna about 1840, Edu- 
cated to be a rabbi, he is recognized as the foremost 
pupil of Israel Lipkin and the best exponent of his 
moral teachings and methods of study. Blaser be- 
came the rabbi of the Jewish community of St. 
Petersburg about 1864, and held the position for six- 
teen years. He left the Russian capital and settled 
in Kovno, where he still resides as head of the so- 
called PERUSHIM (men who separate themselves for 
study) of Kovno. A considerable sum (about 100,000 
marks) was donated in aid of the Perushim by Cas- 
par Lachman of Berlin, an ardent admirer of the 
above-mentioned Lipkin. The income from this 
endowment being insufficient, Blaser sends out 
emissaries or “meshullahim ” to all Orthodox Jews 
to collect money for these zealous students, to whom 
the Russian Jewry now looks for its rabbis, just as 
it formerly looked to the graduates of veshibot. 
Blaser, or, as he is familiarly called, “Reb Itzele 
Peterburger,” is known and trusted among Russian 
Jews everywhere, and the emissaries from Kovno, 
who frequently visit the United States, are always 
well received and generously assisted. 

Blaser is also identified with another movement, in 
which he continues the work of his teacher Lipkin. 
He is the head of the so-called MUSSAR’NIKEs (“ Moral- 
ists”). The Jewish world is not so much interested 
in the “mussar” movement—which seeks no pub- 
licity and no outside financial assistance—as in the 
Perushim, but the personality and the position of 


237 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Black Death 
Blasphemy 





Blaser have influenced many of the latter to join 
the Mussar’nikes, 

Blaser is the author of “Peri Yizhak ” (The Fruit 
of Isaac), responsa, and various rabbinic researches 
(Wilna, 1881). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ozar ha-Sifrut, tii, 5-35; Keneset Yisrael, 
1888, ii. 106, 163; Peikes, Eben Israel, New York, 1902, 


L. G,. P. WI. 
BLASOM, VIDAL. Sec Moses NARBONNE, 


BLASPHEMY: Evil or profane speaking of 
God. The essence of the crime consists in the im- 
pious purpose in using the words, and does not nec- 
essarily include the performance of any desecrating 
act. 

The Jewish law is based on the case of the blas- 
phemer, one of the mixed multitude that went out 
of Egypt with the children of Israel (Lev. xxiv. 
10-23). He blasphemed the name of the Lord and 
cursed; was sentenced to be taken without the 
camp; and it was decreed that all who heard him 
should lay their hands upon his head, and that all 
the congregation should stone him. The judgment 
in his case was formulated in a general lawin verses 
15 and 16. 

The term “we-nokeb shem Yuwu,” used in verse 
16 (“And he that blasphemeth the name of the 
Lord,” A. V.), does not seem to signify that the 
mere pronunciation of the Ineffable Name was cen- 
sidered blasphemy, but that it was blasphemous to 
curse or revile the same. The later law, however, 
took the word “nokeb” in the sense of “ pronounc- 
ing,” and declared that the Ineffable Name must have 
been pronounced before the offender could be sub- 
jected to the punishment provided by the Law. 

Both the lawgiver and the prophets speak of the 
blasphemer of God and of the king. To revile the 
king, who was God’s representative, was apparently 
considered a species of blasphemy (Ex. xxii. 27; 
Isa. vill. 21). This is furthermore shown in the 
ease of Naboth, the indictment against him being: 
“Thou didst blaspheme God and the king” (I Kings 
xxi. 10). Bevond the reference to cursing in the 
text of Leviticus, there is nothing in the Biblical 
laws to indicate what constitutes the crime, and 
nothing to show that, to prove blasphemy, it was 
required to prove that the blasphemer had uttered 
the name of God. The Mishnah, however, laying 
stress on the term “nokeb,” declares that the blas- 
phemer is not guilty untess he pronounce the name 
ef God (Mishnah Sanh. vii. 5). The Gemara goes 
further and extends the crime to an impious use of 
any words which indicate the sacred attributes of 
God, such as “The Holy One” or “The Merciful 
One.” As Jong as the Jewish courts exercised crim- 
inal jurisdiction, the death penalty was inflicted 
only upon the blasphemer who used the Ineffable 
Name; but the blasphemer of God’s attributes was 
subjected to corporal punishment (Sanh. 56a). Ac- 
cording to Talmudie tradition, the Sacred Name was 
in early times known to all; but later its use was 
restricted (Kid. Tla; see ADoNaI; Gop, NAMES OF). 

Even in taking testimony during the trial of a 
blasphemer, the witnesses who heard the blasphemy 
were not permitted to repeat the very words, but 
an arbitrary phrase was adopted to indicate the 


blasphemy. Thus, R. Joshua ben Karhah said: 
“Throughout the examination of the witnesses, 
‘Yosé’ should be used for YHwH, and they should say, 
‘ Yosé shall strike Yosé,’ to indicate the blasphemy ” 
(Mishnah Sanh. 7d.). At the conclusion of the trial 
sentence of death could not be passed by such testi- 
mony only, and it thus became necessary for one of 
the witnesses to use once the very words which they 
had heard. The court directed all persons not imme- 
diately concerned in the trial to be removed, and the 
chief witness was then addressed thus: “State liter- 
ally what you heard”; and when he repeated the 
blasphemous words the judges stood up and rent 
their garments, that being the common sign of 
mourning. And the rents were notsewed up again, 
indicating the profound degree of the mourning. 
After the first witness had thus testified, the second 
and the following witnesses were not called on to 
repeat the identical words; but were obliged to say, 
“T also heard it thus” (Mishnah Sanh. 7d.). 

The text of the law in Leviticus provides that the 
stranger, as well as the native born, is liable to pun- 
ishment for blasphemy. Talmudic tradition states 
that blasphemy was one of the seven crimes prohib- 
ited to the Noahides (Sanh. 56a), ¢.e., according to 
natural law. Although, according to Jewish law, 
a Jew who blasphemed a heathen deity was not 
guilty of the crime of blasphemy, Josephus (“ Ant.” 
iv. 8, § 10, after Philo, ‘“‘Vita Mosis,’’ 26; ed. 
Mangey, ii. 166) to the contrary notwithstanding, yet 
a heathen might be guilty if he blasphemed the name 
of the Lord (Baraita Sanh. 56a). The crime of the 
heathen blasphemer, though subjecting him to the 
penalty of death, did not oblige the Jewish by- 
standers to rend their garments. The Talmud bases 
the custom of rending the garments in such cases 
upon the Biblical precedent in II Kings xviii. 37), 
where Eliakim and others rent their garments when 
they heard the blasphemy of Rab-shakeh; and in 
order to bring this view into harmony with the prac- 
tise requiring the rending of garments only on hear- 
ing a blasphemy by a Jew, the Talmud states that 
Rab-shakeh was an apostate Jew (Sanh. 60a). 

According to R. Hiyya, the rending of garments 
was no longer required after the fall of the Temple 
(“He who hears blasphemy nowadays is not obliged 
to rend his garments, because otherwise his gar- 
ments would be nothing but tatters,” Sanh. 7.); for 
the criminal jurisdiction of the Jewish courts had 
ceased, and the fear of death no longer deterred the 
blasphemers. The later law, however, restored the 
practise of rending the garments. In an opinion 
rendered by Gaon Rab Amram (“Teshubot Geone 
Mizrah Uma‘arab,” collected by Joel Miller, No. 
103) he says, “ He who hears his neighbor blaspheme 
must excommunicate him in these days, no matter 
what language was used. This is the practise of 
the pious. It is not necessary that the blasphemy 
be in Hebrew, and it makes no difference whether 
the Ineffable Name or the attributes of God be men- 
tioned, whether the offender be a Jew or a non-Jew, 
whether the language be Hebrew or any other. 
These distinctions were made to distinguish the cap- 
ital crime from the lesser offense; but for purposes 
of excommunication, it makes no difference whether 
the blasphemer be a heathen or a Jew, whether he 


Blau 
Bleeding 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


238 





use the Sacred Name or the attributes, nor what lan- 
guage he uses; he must be excommunicated.” And 
this opinion is, with slight modification, repeated in 
the Yoreh De‘ah (340, 87) as follows: “ He who hears 
the Name blasphemed, or even an attribute of God, 
such as ‘The Forgiving One,’ ‘The Merciful One,’ 
etc., even if pronounced ina foreign language, must 
reod his garments, provided he hear it from an 
Israelite (and an apostate is in these days considered 
a heathen); and even if he hear it from the mouth 
of the witness stating how the blasphemer Dlas- 
phemed. But the witnesses testifying in court need 
not rend their garments again, having once done so 
when they first heard the blasphemy.” 

The excommunication of the blasphemer was sub- 
stituted as a punishment for the death penalty (see 
EXCOMMUNICATION), rendering it unnecessary for the 
witnesses to repeat the identical words of the blas- 
phemy, as this was required only when the death 
penalty was inflicted (Pithe Teshubah to Yoreh 
De‘ah, 340, 37). Abba Saul was of the opinion that, 
in addition to the punishment inflicted by human 
power, the blasphemer is also excluded from the life 
in the world to come (‘Ab. Zarah 18a). See Sacrt- 
LEGE; SHEM HA-MEFORASH; UNBELIEF., 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mayer, Die Rechte der Israetiten, Athener 

und Romer, iii. 415; Saalschtitz, Das Mosaische Recht, pp. 


494 et seq. 
K. D. W. A. 


BLAU, FRITZ: Austrian chemist; born at 
Vienna April 5, 1865. He received his education at 
the gymnasium and university of his native city, 
and was graduated as doctor of philosophy in 1886, 
becoming a member of the university of the Aus- 
trian capital as privat-docent in chemistry in 1890. 

Blau has contributed essays to the “ Monatshefte 
fiir Chemie der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissen- 
schaften” (“Studien tiber Pyridinabkémmlinge,” 
‘‘ Neuerungen beim Gebraéuchlichen Verbrennungs- 
Verfahren”); the “Berichte der Deutschen Che- 
mischen Gesellschaft in Berlin” (“Zur Constitution 
des Nicotin ”), etc. 


PE okay Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien,s.v., Vienna, 


Ss. F,. T. H. 


BLAU, HEINRICH: German journalist and 
playwright; born in Neu-Stettin, Pomerania, Sept. 
21, 1858. He received his education at the Jewish 
school and the Sophien Realschulein Berlin, whither 
his parents had removed when he was a small child. 
When only thirteen years of age he wrote a metric 
translation of the Psalms. Blau in 1878 went to 
London, where he found employment on the “ Lon- 
doner Journal,” a German paper, whose chief editor 
he became Jater. Since then he has been engaged 
on the staffs of various German publications in the 
English capital. 

Blau soon became a proficient journalist, writing 
both in English and in German; acting as corre- 
spondent of papers in Germany, and contributing 
to such English reviews as the “Nineteenth Cen- 
tury ” and the “Contemporary.” Healso translated 
literary works from and into English and German, 
besides writing feuilletons. During all this time he 
studied Sanskrit and Oriental literature; and the 


result was shown in “ Gautama,” a dramatic poem in 

German in four acts. 

Blau is the author of a drama in German blank 
verse, “Thomas Chatterton,” and of “Some Notes 
on the Stage and Its Influence upon the Education 
of the Masses,” and “Some More Notes” on the same 
subject, for which essays he received a gold medal 
from a London society. He also wrote libretti for 
light operas—“San Lin” and others—and the texts 
of the opera “Das Erbe Judas” and the oratorio 
“Samuel,” as well as the dramas “Scherben,” “ Bi- 
anca Capello,” “ Die Prophezeiung,” and “Gétzen.” 

In 1893 Blau came on a visit to the United States, 
but remained only a short time. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : The Jewish World, March 8, 1901 (portrait), 
S. F. T. i. 
BLAU, LUDWIG: Hungarian scholar and 

publicist; born April 29, 1861, at Putnok, Hungary ; 

educated at three different yeshibot, among them 
that of Presburg, and at the Landesrabbinerschule 
in Budapest (1880-88); studied philosophy and 

Orientalia at the Budapest University ; received there 

the degree of Ph. D. cum laude in 1887, and the rab- 

binical diploma in 1888. 

In 1887 Blau became teacher of the Talmud at the 
Landesrabbinerschule, in 1888 substitute, and in 
1889 professor of the Bible, the Hebrew and Ara- 
maic languages, and the Talmud. Since 1899 he has 
also been librarian and tutor in Jewish history. He 
is (1902) president of the folk-lore section of the 
Jewish-Hungarian Literary Society, and (since 1891) 
editor of the“ Magyar Zsido Szemle.” Blau’sscientitic 
publications have dealt chiefly with the Nterature 
and life of the Jews in the Talmudic and early post- 
Talmudic periods (¢.g., “ Beitrige zur Erklirung der 
Mechilta und des Sifre,” in the Steinschneider “ Fest- 
schrift,” 1896; “Quelques Notes sur Jésus ben 
Sirach,” in “Revue Etudes Juives,” xxxv. 19-47; 
“Das Altjiidische Zauberwesen,” Strasburg, 1898), 
with the Jewish traditions regarding the Masorah 
(“ Massoretische Untersuchungen,” Strasburg, 1891; 
“ Masoretic Studies,” in “ Jewish Quarterly Review,” 
viii., ix.), and the canon of Scripture (“ Zur Einlei- 
tung in die Heilige Schrift,” Strasburg, 1894). This 
latter work is especially valuable for the light it 
throws upon the history of the Bible text in the 
early synagogue. Blau has also published “Der 
Concursus Vitiorum nach Talmudischem Recht,” 
Budapest, 1887; and “Die Erwihlung Isracl’s” 
(in Hungarian), 2b. 1890; and has contributed to 
the “Monatsschrift,” “Zeitschrift fiir Hebriiische 
Bibliographie,” “Jahrbuch des Ungarischen Lit- 
teraturvereines,” “Jahrbuch der Deutschen Littera- 
turvercines,” etc. 

8. G. 

BLAUSTEIN, DAVID: Educator; born May 
5, 1866, at Lida, near Wilna, Russia. He received 
his first education in Hebrew in the heder and 
yeshibah of his native town; went at the age of 
eighteen to Prussia, where he studied Hebrew and 
rabbinical literature under Israel Lipkin; subse- 
quently, on his removal to Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 
he studied Jewish history and philosophy under Dr. 
Feilchenfeld. Being still a Russian subject, he was 
ordered to Jeave Germany, and in 1886 came to 
the United States and settled in Boston, where he 


239 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blau 
Bleeding 





opened a private school. He actively engaged in 
educational and communal work, being one of the 
founders of the Sheltering Home for Immigrants. 
About 1890 he entered Harvard University, but left 
it after three years to devote himself entirely to con- 
gregational work at Providence, R. I., where from 
1892 to 1896 he acted as rabbi, and became a mem- 
ber of the executive board of the Society for Organ- 
izing Charity. In 1896 he was appointed lecturer 
on Semitic languages at Brown University. and in 
1898 became connected with the Educational Alli- 
ance of New York, where he fills the office of super- 
intendent. Blaustein went to study the conditions 
of the Rumanian Jews in the summer of 1900, visit- 
ing for this purpose Bucharest and other cities, ac- 
companying Mr. Wachthorn, delegated by the United 
States government to study the Jewish question. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jew. Chron, Sept. 21, 1900. 

A. B. B. 

BLAUSTEIN, OZER: Russian teacher, and 
writer in Russian and Judeo-German; born at Diina- 
burg in 1840; died in Warsaw April 27, 1899. His 
Russian grammar was recommended for Jewish pub- 
lie schools by the Ministry of Public Instruction. 
He is the author also of a “German Method” anda 
“Manual for the Study of Hebrew ”; and has trans- 
lated into Russian the Hebrew prayer-book and the 
Mahzor. Of his numerous novels, published in 
the Judzeo-German dialect, may be mentioned: “ Der 
Armer Gvir,” Wilna, 1898; “ Die Gvald-Shiduchim,” 
Wilna, 1880; “Der Suhn als Schadhan,” 2d ed., 
Wilna, 1898; “Der Bitterer Tropfen,” Wilna, 1894; 
“Die Waisse mit die Schwarze,” Wilna, 1894; “Der 
Baal Tove,” Wilna, 1895, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ahiasaf, 1900, p. 378. 
H. R. 


BLAYNEY, BENJAMIN: English divine and 
Hebraist; born 1728; died Sept. 20, 1801. He was 
educated at Oxford, took the master’s degree in 
1735, and became fellow and vice-principal of Hert- 
ford College in 1768. He was employed by the 
Clarendon Press to prepare a corrected edition of the 
Authorized Version, This appeared in t769, but 
niost of it was destroyed by fire in the Bible ware- 
house, Paternoster Row, London. Blayney then 
studied Hebrew, and in 1787 took his degree as 
doctor of divinity. 

His principal works are: “ A Dissertation by Way 
of Inquiry into the True Import . . . of Dan. ix. 24 
to the End,” etc., 1775-97, which was translated into 
German by J. D. Michaelis; a new translation of 
Jeremiah and Lamentations, 1784; an edition of the 
Samaritan Pentateuch in Hebrew characters, 1790; 
a new translation of Zechariah, 1797. He was a 
good scholar and a useful writer. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gentleman's Magazine, 1xxi. 10543 Ixxiii. 


08; Dict. Nat. Biog. v. 208. 
p, E. Ms. 


BLAZON. See Coat oF ARMS. 


BLEEDING: In accordance with the pathology 
of its epoch, the Talmud declares, “ At the head of 
the list of human ailments stands plethora (B. B. 
58b). The Rabbis say elsewhere (Bek. 44b), “ Where 
there is an abundance of blood, there is also an abun- 


dance of eczema.” Bloodletting is therefore consid- 
ered of great importance; and the scholar is forbid- 
den to reside at a place where no _ bloodletter 
(“uman,” surgeon) is at hand (Sanh. 17b; Maimon- 
ides, “ Yad,” De‘ot, iv. 23). The following are the 
rules, partly pathological and partly astrological 
or demonological, which the Rabbis recommend for 
the operation. 

A man ought to be bled once every month, but 
with advancing years the intervals must be extended. 
The first, fourth, and sixth days of the week are the 
most appropriate for the operation. On the fourth 
day of the week, which falls on the fourth, four- 

teenth, or twenty-fourth of the month, 
Necessity or after which remain less than four 
and Time of days till the new moon, there must be 
Operation. no bloodletting, since at such times it 
is dangerous. On the first and second 
days of the month the operation is enervating, and 
on the third day dangerous. The operation is not 
permitted on the eve of a Biblical festival; neither 
must it be performed on a cloudy or a stormy day, 
or soon after eating a hearty meal, after partaking 
of cress, or while suffering with fever, while having 
sore eyes, or while exposed to a draft (Shab. 
129a; Yeb. 72a; Ned. 54b; ‘Ab. Zarah 29a). On 
entering the operating-room, the patient must offer 
the following prayer: “ May it please Thee, O Lord 
my God! that this my project effect healing unto 
me; and do Thou heal me, for Thou, O God! art 
the true Physician, and Thy healing istrue.” After 
the operation one should say, “Blessed be the gra- 
tuitous Healer” (Ber. 60a; Maimonides.“ Yad,” Ber. 
x. 21; Orah Hayyim, 230, 4). 

Immediately after the operaticn one should drink 
one-fourth of a log of red wine, as a substitute for 
the red blood lost. This is of so niuch importance 
that the very poor patient who can not buy the 
wine is permitted to obtain the prescribed quantity 
by calling at shops and tasting the wine, on pretense 
of intending to purchase a large supply. Or, fail- 
ing in this, he must eat seven black dates, anoint 
his temples with oil, and then sun himself, in order - 
to become thoroughly heated. Under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, however, eating is to be deferred until 
such time has elapsed after which one can walk halfa 
mile. A little rest after the operation is heartily rec- 
ommended. Washing the hands is considered to be of 
almost equal importance, the omission of which will 
render the patient nervous for seven days (Shab. 
129a; Pes. 112a; Orah Hayyim, 4, 19). One must 
eat a good meal after the operation. So urgent are 
the Rabbis concerning this particular injunction that, 
although they have laid down the rule that a man 
should sell the roof of his house to buy himself 
shoes in case of necessity, they also prescribe that, 
if necessary, a man should sell his shoes in order to 
procure a good meal after bloodletting. Further- 

more, they assert that the one who 

Dietary makes light of the meal on such an 
Rules After occasion will receive but slight sus- 
Operation. tenance from Heaven; if he does not 

prize his life, why should Heaven prize 
it? For this meal meat is recommended, or a dish of 
milt; but the flesh of fowls will produce palpitation 
of the heart. Fish is said to be beneficial when eaten 


Bleek 
Blemish 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


240 





a day before or a day after bleeding; but on the 
third day it is to be avoided as dangerous. Milk, 
cheese, onions, and cress are dangerous after the 
operation, and he who is imprudent enough to par- 
take of them must drink a mixture made of one- 
fourth of a log of wine and the same quantity of 
vinegar (Shab. 129a; Ned. 54a; ‘Ab. Zarah 29a). 
Nearly all of these rules emanate from Rab and 
Samuel, who were among the earliest and most prom- 
inent Babylonian amoraim (third century), But not 
all of them met with general approval. A century 
later it was said of them, “Now that many trample 
these precepts under foot, and yet escape serious 
hurt, one can realize the truth of the psalmist’s say- 
ing (Ps. cxvi. 6), ‘ The Lord preserveth the simple ’” 
(Shab. 129b; Yeb. 72a). See Brecher, “Das Trans- 
cendentale im Talmud,” § 57, and ABBA TUE SuR- 


GEON (UMANA). 
G. S. M. 


BLEEK, FRIEDRICH: Christian theologian; 
born July 4, 17938, at Ahrensbiéck. Holstein; died at 
Bonn in 1859. After a preparatory course at the 
gymnasium of Liibeck and two years of philosoph- 
ical study at Kiel, he entered the University of 
Berlin, where he studied under Sehleiermacher, De 
Wette, and Neander; becoming tutor at the univer- 
sity in 1818, and assistant professor in 1823. In 1829 
he was appointed professor of theology at Bonn, 
which position he held until his death. 

The researches of Bleek were devoted principally 
to the Old and New Testaments. His work in the 
former field only will be considered here. Bleek 
first became known through his series of investiga- 
tions on the origin and compilation of the Sibylline 
Books (“Ueber die Entstehung und Zusammensct- 
zung der Sibyllinischen Orakel,” in “Berliner Theo- 
logische Zeitschrift,” 1819-20), which work, as the 
first systematic endeavor to illuminate this obscure 
field, must be regarded asepoch-making. Next fol- 
lowed the two treatises, “ Ueber Verfasser und Zweck 
des Buches Daniel” (“Berliner Theologische Zeit- 
schrift,” 1822) and “Einige. Aphoristische Beitrige 
zu den Untersuchungen tiber den Pentateuch” 
(Rosenmitiller, “Repertorium,” 1822), In 1881 ap- 
peared in the “Theologische Studien und Kritiken ” 
his “ Beitrége zu den Forschungen tiber den Penta- 
teuch,” an endeavor to point out such portions of 
the Pentateuchal legislation as may be traced to the 
authorship of Moses. 

Bleek also made an important contribution to the 
history of the criticism of the Pentateuch in his pro- 
gram forthe University of Bonn (1886), entitled “De 
Libri Geneseos Origine atque Indole Historica Ob- 
servationes Quedam contra Bohlenium,” in which 
he vigorously defends the supplementary hy pothe- 
sis of Von Bohlen, although sharply controverting 
the late epoch assigned by the latter to the various 
portions. In 1852 he published in the “Studien und 


Kritiken ” the dissertation “ Ueber das Zeitalter von: 


Sacharja Cap, 9-14, Nebst Gelegentlichen Beitrigen 
zur Auslegung Dieser Ausspriiche.” 

In 1860, shortly after the death of Bleek, his son 
Johannes, and his foremost pupil and subsequent 
successor, Adolf Kamphausen, edited, from the 
manuscript of his class-room lectures, the “ Einlei- 


tung in das Alte Testament” (4th ed., 1878; edited 
by Wellhausen). The lucidity, thoroughness, and 
thoughtfulness with which all the results of the so- 
called “ Vermittlungstheologie” are combined in 
this work, have served to make it highly popular 
and useful. The eminently reliable scientific works 
of Bleek are characterized by extensive learning, 
thoroughness, ingenuity, and incorruptible veracity, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Kamphausen, in Herzog-Hauck, Real-En- 

ha ora iii. 254-257; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 


T. K. H. C.—A. Ka. 


BLEIBTREUVU, PHILIP JOHANN: Jewish 
convert to Christianity; born at Frankfort-on-the- 
Main in the middle of the seventeenth century; died 
there in 1702. He published a German work en- 
titled “Meir Naor” (The Enlightened Meir, from 
his Jewish name, Meir), Frankfort, 1787, giving an 
account of his conversion, notices on the Jewish fes- 
tivals, and on some Jewish prayers. 


aha Wolf, Bibt. Hebr, iti. No. 18343; First, Bibl. 
Jud. 1. 120. 


K. I. Br. 


BLEICHRODER, GERSON, BARON VON: 
German banker; born Dec. 22, 1822; died Feb. 
19, 1893, in Berlin. At theage of sixteen he entered 
the banking firm founded by his father, and on the 
death of the latter, in 1855, assumed its manage- 
ment. It was due to his large experience and prac- 
tical ability that the firm acquired a world-wide 
reputation. 

Bleichréder enjoyed the full confidence of Prince 
Bismarck, and is said to have been a close friend of 
the emperor William I., who often consulted him 
on important financial operations. In 1865 he went, 
at the invitation of King William, to Carlsbad, and, 
to extricate the government from a financial em- 
barrassment, proposed the cessation of its participa- 
tion in the KéIn-Minden railroad interests. In 1867 
he was made commercial privy councilor (Gehketmer 
Commerzienrath). It was owing to these circum- 
stances and to his connections with the Rothschilds 
that after the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) Bleich- 
réder was sumioned to Versailles as financial ad- 
viser on the question of the war indemnity. For 
the services thus rendered in the peace negotiations 
the Prussian government conferred upon him the 
Tron Cross. In 1872 he was created a hereditary 
nobleman in recognition of his financial services to 
Rumania, which helped to consolidate the Hohen- 
zollern dynasty in that country. 

Bleichréder took much interest in the fortunes of 
his coreligionists, and his high position in the finan- 
cial and political world was of great value to the 
representatives delegated by the Alliance Israélite 
Universelle to follow, in the interests of the perse- 
cuted Jews of the eastern states, the proceedings of 
the Berlin Congress. Many decorations were con- 
ferred upon him by various European governments; 
and for nearly a quarter of a century he filled the 
position of British consul-general in Berlin. He left 
a fortune estimated at 70,000,000 to 100,000,000 
marks. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyer, Konversations-Lezikon; Jewish 
Chronicle, Feb. 24, 1893, p. 11. 
8. B. B. 


241 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bleek 
Blemish 





BLEMISH: The Hebrew term for “ blemish ” 
(Di or DIN) seems to have originally meant a “ black 
spot ” (compare Gesenius-Buhl, “ Handworterbuch,” 
s.v.). It denotes anything abnormal or deviating 
from a given standard, whether physical, moral, or 
ritualistic. Biblical legislation makes certain kinds 
of blemishes a ground of disqualification of animals 
for sacrifice, and of priests for the performance of 
the priestly functions. It moreover prescribes qual- 

ifications for certain inanimate things 

Blemishes that come upon the altar, the absence 

Disqualify of which qualifications constitutes a 

for blemish, or disqualification. Some of 

Sacrifice. the blemishes are constitutional; others 

are transitory. All the physical blem- 

ishes in animals and priests are external bedily 
defects. | 

The later Halakah, however, considers blemishes 
in priests with regard also to the priestly blessing 
pronounced in temple and synagogue; in Levites 
with regard to their service in the Temple; in per- 
sons in general with regard to the vitiating effect of 
such blemishes on the marriage-contract ; and, finally, 
internal ones in animals. 

Blemishes in Animals. (a) Bodily Blemishes : 
The bodily defects disqualifying an animal from 
being offered as sacrifice are enumerated in Lev. 
xxii. 20-25. The Halakah has extended them to 
seventy-three, of which number fifty are blemishes 
also in priests (Bek. v.; Maimonides, “ Yad,” Issure 
ha-Mizbeah, ii.). Inaddition to these external defects 
the Halakah adds such internal defects as cause the 
animal to be unlawful for food (see TEREFAH); and 
the absence of any internal organ. The reason for the 
requirement of faultlessness in sacrificial animals is 
given in Mal. i. 8: “If ye offer the blind for sacri- 
fice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, 
is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will 
he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith 
the Lord of hosts.” 

The laws of “terefah” are alsoapplicable to fowl]; 
but the seventy-three blemishes are not. If, how- 
ever, the fowl! have a marked defect— 
as a blind eye, an atrophied wing, the 
loss of a leg— it is disqualified on the 
general principle that a sacrifice must 
be “ perfect ” (Maimonides, 7d. iii.). 

(6) Ritualistic Blemishes: The disqualifications 
under this head are: unnatural birth; hybridity, 
actual orsuspected; indefinability of sex ; carnal] use 
by man or woman; having been worshiped asa deity, 
or set aside for idolatrous practises; if acquired as 
harlot’s wages, orin exchange fora dog (Deut. xxiii. 
19 is taken by the Halakah in its literal sense), or by 
stealth or robbery; if it have killed a man; if it be 
younger than seven full days; if it be not of the best 
kind obtainable (Maimonides, 2d.). 

(c) In the case of first-born animals, all the blem- 
ishes that disqualify sacrifices are also disqualifica- 
tions in first-born, with this difference, that the 
blemishes in the latter must be constitutional, and 
the fact of its being first-born must be established 
beyond a doubt (“ Yad,” Bekorot, ii.). 

The disqualifications in meal-offerings, oblations, 
incense, and altar-wood are: Levitical uncleanness, 
which in this case extends even to incense and wood ; 


IT].—16 


Laws of 
Terefah. 


spoiled condition, or change from natural state; lack 
of prescribed ingredients, or presence of leaven and 
honey; lack of required fineness in 
Blemishes materials; wine left uncovered; prod- 
in uce of the first three years (nday), 
Sacrificial or of the new harvest before the first 
Materials. fruitsare offered; produce grewn in a 
field with mixed seed (od), or un- 

tithed (“ Yad,” Issure ha-Mizbeah, v., vi.). 

Expert examiners were appointed to investigate 
blemishes, who were paid out of the Temple funds 
(Ket. 106a), but for the inspection of first-born ani- 
mals they took a fee also from their owners (“ Yad,” 
Bekorot). 

Biemishes in Priests. (a) Bodily Blemishes: 
The twelve blemishes enumerated in the Bible (Lev. 
xxi. 17-23) were extended by the Halakah to 142 
(Bek. vii.; “Yad,” Biat ha-Mikdash, vii., viii.). 
Besides, persons suftering from mental debility 
(AMI) Were not tolerated as priests. 

In the Second Temple a special chamber was set 
apart in the court in which the Great Sanhedrin ex- 
amined all priests. Those who were declared to be 

unfit for the sacred office put on black 
In garments, wrapped themselves in a 
the Second black cloak, and went away in silence, 


Temple. to be subsequently employed for such 
services as selecting wood for the 
altar. Those found perfectly qualified put on white 


garments and a white cloak, and at once joined their 
brethren to assist in the sacred functions. They 
gave to their friends a feast, which they opened with 
this benediction: “Blessed be the Lord because no 
blemish has been found in the seed of Aaron the 
priest, and blessed be He because He has chosen 
Aaron and his sons to stand and to serve before the 
Lord in His most holy sanctuary ” (Mid. ii. 5, v. 4). 

(b) Ritualistic Blemishes: The disqualifications 
under this head are: Levitical uncleanness; birth in 
unlawful wedlock (Sbn), or in an unnatural way 
(QYT NYY); uncertainty as to sex (DWINDN= 
opi, see ANDROGYNOs); state of mourning; or 
of inebriety; disheveled hair, and rent garments 
(“ Yad,” Biat ha-Mikdash). 

In this connection may be mentioned the incident 
with King John Hyrcanus, to whom a Pharisee re- 
marked that he should be satisfied with royal power 
and give the high-priesthood to some one else, since, 
as rumor had it, his mother had been once a captive 
in Modin; the purity of his birth, therefore, was not 
beyond cavil, and he was not entitled to hold the 
sacred office (Kid. 66a). 

(c) Moral Blemishes: The Pentateuch makes no 
mention of moral blemishes; butit is known that 
priests convicted of idolatry, homicide, or any other 
great offense were not permitted to officiate (see II 
Kings xxiii. 20; Ezek. xliv. 18). 

(d) Blemishes in Regard to Priestly Blessing: The 
following six blemishes disqualify a priest from pro- 
nouncing the blessing in temple or synagogue: De- 
fective articulation of speech; malformation of face, 
hands or feet, or unusual appearance of hands 
(when, for instance, they are discolored with dye, for 
thus they attract the attention of the audience) ; moral 
delinquency, as idolatry or murder; imsufficiency 
of age (his beard must be fully grown); state of 


Blemish 
Blessing 





inebriety ; and not having washed his hands. A bb, 
an offspring of an unlawful marriage, is debarred 
from the pronunciation of the blessing, because he 
is not considered a priest at all (Maimonides, “ Nesiat 
Kappayim,” xv.). 

(ce) Reason for Disqualification: According to Philo 
(“De Monarchia,” ii. 5) and others, the faultlessness 
of the body was meant to be a symbol of the per- 
fection of the soul. Maimonides (“ Moreh,” iii. 45) 
explained it as being designed to make the Temple 
honored and respected by all: for the multitude 
does not appreciate a man for his true worth, but 
for the perfection of his limbs and the beauty of his 
garments. The correctness of such views has been 
disproved by Bahr (“Symbolik des Mosaischen Cul- 
tus,” fi. 55) and Kalisch (commentary on Lev. ii. 
465; compare also Philippson, “ Der Pentateuch,” p. 
639). According to Kalisch, everything associated 
with the perfect God was to be perfect, and above 
all His ministers, who approached His altars to pre- 
sent faultless offerings, and “came near” the curtain 
which shrouded His mysterious presence. They 
were to be perfect not only in their lives, but also in 
their persons, which were to be the fit abodes of 
pure souls, and reflect the divine similitude and holi- 
ness. They were to be distinguished by health and 
harmony, vigor and freshness. 

Blemishes in Levites. The blem- 
Other ishes disqualifying Levites from per- 
Blemishes. forming their official functions were 
only two: transgression of the pre- 

scribed age limits and loss of voice (Hul. 24a). 

With reference to blemishes invalidating the 
marriage-contract, or yielding a sufficient ground for 
divorce, man and woman are treated unequally. In 
regard to woman, all the bodily defects considered 
blemishes in priests apply also to her, and, besides, 
several other blemishes are added, such as make 
intercourse with her unbearable to the husband. 
In the case of man, however, only a few blemishes 
are mentioned (Ket. vii. 7-10, 75a-77; “Yad,” Ishut, 
Vii. ; compare “Eben ha-‘Ezer, ” 89). 

K. C. L. 

{Blemish, or “mum,” in rabbinical literature as- 
sumed also a spiritual meaning. ‘“ Whosoever is 
proud has a blemish,” says R. Ashi with reference 
to Bar Kappara’s homily on Ps. lxviii. 17 [16]. He 
explains the passage, “ Why leap ye, ye high hills?” 
as follows: “Why do you enter into a dispute with 
the hill God desireth to dwell on? Since you are 
all swollen with pride” (the word “ gabnunim” 
being taken as identical with “gibben” {“ crook- 
backed,” Lev. xxi. 20]), “that is, since you have a 
blemish which unfits you to be God’s mount, while 
Mount Sinai is humble and has therefore been chosen 
by God as His seat of revelation ” (Meg. 29a). Abra- 
ham before his circumcision was not altogether with- 
out blemish. Circumcision fitted him for his high 
mission as father of the priest-people (Gen. R. x1vi.). 

Hence the ethical maxim (B. M. 59b), “Mum she- 
bak al tomar le-habrak” (Do not accuse thy fellow- 
men of the blemish that you have). Another maxim 
is, “ Do not cast a blemish on thyself” (Pes. 112b). 

The court of justice must be free from physical 
as well as from moral blemish, for it is said (Song of 
Songs iv. 7): “Thou art fair, my love; there is no 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


242 





blemish [“spot,” A. V.] in thee” (Yeb. 101b). A 
commmon Hebrew adage is: “Kol haposel bemumo 
posel” (He who finds faults in others is influenced 
by the blemish in himself, Kid. T0b).—x. ] 

BLES, DAVID S.: Communal worker at Man- 
chester; born at The Hague, Holland, in 1834; dieq 
at Vienna on Oct. 14, 1899. He was senior partner 
in the firm of Messrs. 8. D. Bles & Sons, mer- 
chants and shippers of Manchester; from which firm 
he retired in 1897 in order to devote himself to phil- 
anthropic pursuits. Bles was a city magistrate for 
thirteen years, being elected in 1886; and for many 
years he held the office of vice-consul of the Nether- 
lands. 

In the year 1897 the queen of Holland conferred on 
Bles the Order of Orange and Nassau. He was 
president of the Manchester Jewish Board of Guar- 
dians; manager of the Manchester Jews’ School; a 
trustee and member of the Council of Founders of 
the Manchester Reform Synagogue; a member of 
the Hospital Sunday Committee and of many other 
charitable organizations. He founded at the Vic- 
toria University a Bles Hebrew scholarship. 
Pee : Jewish Chronicle and Jewish World, Oct. 20, 


J. G. L. 


BLESSING OF CHILDREN: In the domes- 
tic life of the ancient Hebrews the mutual respect 
existing between parents and children wasa marked 
feature. While prominent among other Semitic 
peoples (Smith, “Rel. of Sem.” p. 60), it was of 
first importance with the Hebrews, as is evident 
from the frequent mention of the duties toward 
parents (x. xx. 12, xxi. 15; Lev. xix. 3, xx. 9; 
Num. xxvii. 4; Deut. xxvii. 16; I Sam. ii. 25; II 
Sam. xix. 20; Jer. xxxv. 18; Mal. i. 6; Prov. i. 8, 
ili. 12, x. 1, xxix. 3, xxx. 11; I. Chron. xvii. 18). The 
natural accompaniment of this was the value placed 
on the favor of parents, and notably on their blessing 
pronounced upon the children. The words spoken 
by parents were supposed to be fraught with power 
to bring good or ill, blessing or curse. Happy was 
he who was so fortunate as to receive the father’s 

blessing; wretched he upon whom 
Among the rested the father’scurse. These state- 
Ancient ments are based particularly upon in- 
Hebrews. cidents in the lives of the Patriarchs, 
as set forth in the Book of Genesis. 
Noah (Gen. ix. 26) blesses Shem and Japheth, the 
sons who had covered his nakedness, and curses 
Ham, the disrespectful son; and that blessing and 
curse were looked upon as determining the future 
superiority of the descendants of the two first-men- 
tioned sons and the eternal servitude of the offspring 
of Ham, In the story of the blessing of Isaac (2. 
xXvil. 7 et seq.), Rebekah makes every effort to se- 
cure the paternal benediction for her favorite son, 
Jacob. The importance attached to the blessing 
appears also from Esau’s heartrending cry, “Hast 
thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even 
me, also, O my father” (Gen. xxvii. 88). The bless- 
ing. even though obtained by deceit, could not be 
recalled. The father’s voice was the instrument 
through which God spoke; and the words, once 
pronounced, were regarded as the declaration of the 
Deity. 


2438 





The paternal blessing was the most valuable heri- 
tage that parents could bequeath to children. In 
recognition of all the good that he had 


High enjoyed at Joseph’s hands and of all 
Value of the honors received during his sojourn 
Paternal in Egypt, Jacob bestowed a particu- 


Blessing. lar blessing upon Joseph’s sons: 
“Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, 
and I will bless them” (Gen. xviii. 9). Especial im- 
portance attaches to this blessing of Ephraim and 
Manasseh by Jacob, because it became the formula 
by which, in later days throughout Israel, the chil- 
dren were blessed by their parents, in accordance 
with the word of the patriarch, “In thee shall Israel 
bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as 
Manasseh ” (26. 20). And the favorite son Joseph 
was given the assurance, “The blessings of thy 
father have prevailed above the blessings of my 
progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting 
hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on 
the crown of the head of him that was separate 
from his brethren” (Gen. xlix. 26). It is thus evi- 
dent from the whole spirit of Biblical ethics that the 
parents’ good-will and blessing were regarded as 
the greatest happiness that could come to children, 
and it is well known to those who are at all familiar 
with Jewish domestic life that this sentiment contin- 
ues to the present day. 

The customs of a people do not always find ex- 
pression in its literature. The most prevalent senti- 
ments are frequently not set down in words, for the 
very reason that, being so commonly held, they do 
not call for cominent. Fortunately, however, there 
are several expressions in later Jewish literature 
showing the value attached to the parents’ blessing. 
The author of Ecclesiasticus undoubtedly voices the 
belief of his generation when he declares, “The 
biessing of the father builds houses to the sons, the 


curse of the mother destroys them ” (Ecclus, (Sirach] _ 


iii. 9); and the Rabbis indicate their attitude by the 
remarkable statement, “Scripture ranks the curs- 
ing of father and mother with the cursing of 

God” (Kid. 80b). The feeling of rev- 

In Later erence and awe for the parental bene- 

Jewish diction well expresses the sentiment 
Literature. that has always prevailed in most 

Jewish communities. One of the 
most beautiful of Jewish customs is the blessing of 
the children by the father on all important occa- 
sions, notably on the Sabbath eve, on the holidays, 
on the setting forth on a journey, etc. Ludwig 
Philippson, in his memoirs (“ Allg. Zeit. des Jud.” 
1837, p. 750), mentions that his grandfather blessed 
him on Sabbath morning after divine service. This 
blessing as pronounced upon the boys is, “ May God 
make thee like Ephraim and Manasseh ” (Gen. x1 viii. 
20), and upon the girls, “May God make thee like 
Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah ” (compare Ruth 
iv. 12); and, in addition to this regular formula, any 
special blessing may be added according to the de- 
sire of the one bestowing the benediction. 

There is no means of knowing how old this beau- 
tiful custom may be. The earliest mention of it is 
found in a passage in the “ Brautspiegel,” a popular 
treatise on morals, written by Moses Henochs; the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blemish 
Blessing 


chapter, which is devoted to advice on the training 
of children, the writer says, “Before the children 
can walk they should be carried on Sabbath and 
holidays to the father and mother to be blessed; 
after they are able to walk they shall go of their 
own accord with bowed body and shall incline their 
heads and receive the blessing (Giidemann, “ Quel- 
lenschriften zur Geschichte des Unterrichts und der 
Erziehung bei den Deutschen Juden,” p. 167). Bux- 
torf, in “Synagoga Judaica,” which was first pub- 
lished in 1604, writes in the fifteenth chapter of the 
book entitled “How the Jews Prepare for the Sab- 

bath and Begin It,” the following: 


Occasions “After the service [on Sabbath eve in 
for the the synagogue] is finished, they seek 
Blessing. their home; in parting from one an- 


other they wish each other not good- 
day nor good-night, but a happy Sabbath: the 
parents bless their children, the teachers their 
pupils.” At the beginning of the seventeenth cen- 
tury the custom was general. Another mention of 
it, ata much later date, occurs in the prayer-book 
of Rabbi Jacob Emden, printed first in Altona, 1748. 
A long passage in this book begins with the words: 
“Tt is the custom in Israel to bless the children on 
Sabbath eve after service or upon entering the 
house.” He says further that this blessing brings 
God’s spirit upon the children who are not yet old 
enough to secure it by their own deeds. This indi- 
cates that as in early Biblical days, so in later times, 
the parental blessing was believed to be invested 
with a certain higher power, and to be efficacious 
for good. To this day this blessing is prized highly 
by the children. 

The value thus laid upon the benediction spoken 
by the father and mother represents the constancy 
in Jewish life of the working of forces that make 
for righteousness; and it is one of the constituent 
factors of what Lazarus has so well termed the 
“continuity of the Jewish spirit” (“Ethics of Juda- 
ism,” pt. ii., p. 215). 

K. D. P. 


BLESSING AND CURSING: The Hebrew 
verb for “bless” is “berek” (743). Since in Assyr- 
ian and Minzean the corresponding verb appears to 
be “karabu,” it is not likely that the Hebrew is con- 
nected with its homonym “ berek ” (qa), which 
means “knee.” The substantive “ blessing ” is * bera- 
kah” (AD 2). “To curse” is “arar” (A948); sub- 
stantives are “kelalah ” (n55p), “me’erah” (MAND). 
Synonyms are 33), D; abe: and it is note- 
worthy that the word “curse” should have 
numerous synonyms, whereas for “bless” we 
have only one word. Both “blessing” and “curs- 
ing” were founded upon the belicf that the 
individual, the tribe, or the nation could use its 
relation to the Deity or to the supernatural world for 

the benefit or the injury of others. It 
Efficacy of is readily understood that special effi- 


Blessing cacy attached to the blessing and curs- 
and ing by sacred persons in close relations 
Cursing. with the Deity —by the Patriarchs, 


by Moses, and by Aaron, by the priests 
and the Prophets in general, and also by a father; 


book appeared in Basel in 1602. In the forty-third | for not only was the father the priest of the family, 


Blessing and Cursing 
Blessing, Priestly 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


244 





but it was he who introduced his son to the Deity; 
and naturally it was supposed that he could influ- 
ence the Deity to his son’s benefit or injury. 

Such blessing or cursing did not involve the use 
of empty words, but implied the exercise of a real 
power; the word once pronounced was no more 
under the control of the speaker (Gen. xxvii, 35), 
and must perforce accomplish its mission. On this 
conception is founded not only the possibility but 
also the whole structure of Jacob’s deceit, as well 
as the story of Balaam. Even in later times the 
possibility seemed dreadful that Balaam, instead of 
blessing, might have cursed (Micah vi. 5; Neh. xiii. 
2). At the same time the story of Jacob proves that 
blessing and cursing did not always rest on moral 
grounds. Noah (Gen. ix. 22 et seg.)and Jacob (Gen. 
xlix. 2 e¢ seg.), it is true, were guided by the moral 
conduct of their sons; but Isaac was governed by 
caprice in his blessings. He was moved by the 
venison which Esau was to bring him and by his 
son’s affectionate manner (Gen. xxvii. 26 ef seq.). 

Since cursing was considered a material power the 
unknown thief was cursed; and the mother of the 
Ephraimite Micah hastened to render the curse in- 
effective by a blessing after her son had confessed his 
sin (Judges xvii. 2). For this reason every alliance 
and every oath was accompanied by a curse directed 
against the person who should break the alliance or 
violate the oath; and the laws of Israel, and the 
treaties of the Assyrian and the Babylonians (com- 
pare Schrader, “K. B.” vols. ii, and ili. passim), 
derived particular strength from the addition of a 
blessing and a curse (Lev. xxvi.; Deut. xi. 29 [com- 
pare 28]; Josh. viii. 34). Goliath cursed David 
“by his gods” (Sam. xvii. 48), and Balak desired 
Balaam to curse the Israelites, the enemies of Moab 
(Num. xxii. 6), because cursing was supposed to 
move the divine power for the injury of the enemy. 
Hence severe punishment was inflicted on those 
who cursed their parents (Ex. xxi. 17; Lev. xx. 
9; compare Deut. xxvii. 16) or the authorities 
(Ex. xxii. 28). 

However, with the gradual development of pure 
monotheism the conception of blessing and cursing 
came to be modified. While in early times it was 
the belief that a father by his blessings or his curses 
determined the fate of his son (Gen. xlix. 4, 7; Prov. 
xxx. 11), in later times the father became a secr 
(Gen. xlix. 1, xlviii. 17 e¢ seg.). In fact, Prov. 
xxvi. 2, distinctly declares that “the causeless 
curse ” will not be fulfilled. 

J. JR. W.N., 

BLESSING, JACOB’S. See Jacon, BLESSING 
OF. 

BLESSING, MOSES’. See Moses, BLESSING 
OF. 
BLESSING, PRIESTLY (called, R. H. iv. 5, 
Birkat Kohanim; now Dukan): One of the 
most impressive and characteristic features of the 
service both in the Temple of Jerusalem and in 
the synagogue, having its origin in the blessing pro- 
nounced by the Aaronites in accordance with the 
command and the formula ordained in Num. vi. 
22-27: “And God spake unto Moses saying. Speak 
unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise 


shall ye bless the children of Israel, saying unto 
them: The Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord 
make his face shine upon thee and be gracious 
unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon 
thee, and give thee peace! And they shall put my 
name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless 
them.” Thrice in the Pentateuch the priestly bless- 
ing is mentioned: once in speaking of Aaron (Ley, 
ix. 22; compare Sifra, Shemini, and Sotah 38a), and 
twice in referring to the priests (Deut. x. 8, xxi. 5), 
In the historical books of the Bible there are two 
references to the blessing of the people by the priests 
(Josh. viii. 838; IL Chron. xxx. 27). 

Many rules were observed by the priests when 
pronouncing the blessing. These rules made some 
distinctions between the service in the Temple of 
Jerusalem and the services elsewhere. Thus, in the 
Temple the blessing was spoken after the sacrifice 
of the daily offering (Sotah vii. 6; Tamid v. 1, vii. 
2; Meg. 18a); elsewhere it was pronounced during 
the daily morning service and on Sabbath and holi- 
days at every service, with the exception of that in 
the afternoon, because this followed shortly after 

the midday meal, at which the priests 
In Temple were permitted to drink wine; and it 
and Syna- was feared that this might unfit them 
gogue. toperform the function properly. On 
fast-days, however, the blessing was 
pronounced also at the afternoon service (Ta‘anit 
26a, b; Maimonides, “ Yad,” Tefillah, xiv. 14; Shul- 
han ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 39, 1). In the Temple 
the priests used the Tetragrammaton, YHwH, pro- 
nouncing it distinctly in uttering the blessing; else- 
where the pronunciation ADONAI was substituted 
(Sotah, 38a; Num. R. xi. 4; Sifre, Naso, 39; 
“Yad,” .c.10). According to one report, the priests 
discontinued using the Tetragrammaton, even in the 
Temple, after the death of Simon the Just, in order 
that no man who was not respected and worthy 
might learn it (Yoma 39b). In the Temple the 
three portions of the blessing were spoken with- 
out pause, and at the close the people responded: 
“Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel from 
eternity to eternity” (see DoxoLocy). Elsewhere 
the priests paused after each sentence, and the peo- 
ple responded with an “ Amen.” 

The blessing was given with uplifted hands. In 
the Temple service the priests raised their hands 
above their heads, while in other places they lifted 
them only to their shoulders. Any Aaronite who 
had attained manhood’s estate was enjoined to per- 
form the function; there were, however, certain dis- 
qualifications due to physical, moral, or ritualistic 
defects (Meg. 24b; Ber. 82b; “Yad,” Tefillah, xv. 
1-6; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 128, 30-41; see 
BLEMISH); viz., if a priest had ever killed a human 
being (even though unintentionally), committed idol- 

atry, violated any of the Levitical 


Re- purity or marriage laws pertaining to 
strictions the priests, committed any crime with- 
and Reg- out having repented, or had indulged 
ulations. unduly in drinking wine (this is based 


upon the juxtaposition of the chapter 
on the Nazarite, Num. vi. 1-21, and the priestly 
blessing, Ta‘anit 26b, 22-27); if he were crippled, 
a hunchback, or blind even in one eye, or had any 


245 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blessing and Cursing 
Blessing, Priestly 





defect on his hands, or if his speech were not dis- 
tinct; and, finally, without ablution of the hands, 
be was disqualified. (Compare BLEMIsH.) Should 
any priests who were thus incapacitated, or who 
considered themselves unworthy, be present at the 
service, they were compelled to leave before the 
reader in his prayer gave the signal to the priests; 
for otherwise they would violate the command, 
“Thus shall ye bless the children of Israel.” 

The blessing was to be spoken standing, as were 
the blessings in Deut. xxvii. (Sotah 38a; Sifre, lc. ; 
Num. R. l.c.). The priests faced the congregation 
out of respect for the people; but the latter were 
not allowed to look at the priests while the blessing 
was spoken, lest their attention should be distracted 
and their devotions disturbed (“ Yad,” l.c. xiv. 7). 
In al! motions connected with the blessing, such as 
advancing to the platform, or turning toward the 
Ark or the congregation, the priest was always to go 
to the right (“ Yad,” Z.c. xiv. 13 after Sotah 15b). 

The blessing was to be spoken in Hebrew because 
of the command “thus”; that is, only in the pre- 
scribed words and language. It was to be pro- 
nounced in a loud voice so that all the congregation 
could hear. The priests were required to discard 
their leather foot-wear (sandals) when they ascended 
the platform to pronounce the blessing (Sotah 40a). 
They were required to wash their hands before pro- 
ceeding to the performance of the function (Sotah 
39a). 

Originally the priestly blessing was a function 
performed every morning at the regular service, 

provided the necessary number of ten 


Its Place persons were present (Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
inthe Orah Hayyim, 128, 1). But in the 
Liturgy. course of time, as the daily business 


became too pressing to allow the peo- 
ple to spend so much time on their devotion, the 
blessing was merely recited by the reader and intro- 
duced by a brief prayer such as is inserted in the 
common daily ritual; and the priestly blessing was 
reserved for Sabbath and holy days (Kol Bo, 128). 
Finally, in view of the fact that on the festival days 
people are better disposed, both in body and in soul, 
for the reception of the divine blessing, owing to 
the purifying ablutions of the previous day and to 
their greater cheerfulness of spirit, the festival day 
alone was retained for the imparting of the priestly 
blessing, and not the “Shaharit,” but the “Musaf” 
service was selected, on which occasion the attend- 
ance is large (see Bet Josef, Tur Orah Hayyim, l.c. ; 
Moses Isserles, to Shulhan ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 
i. 44, and the commentators; also Magen Abraham. 
for the reason why the blessing is not imparted when 
the holy day falls on the Sabbath). In Amsterdam 
and other places the blessing is recited every Sab- 
bath. 

The main idea pervading the whole function of 
the priestly blessing rests upon the Name of God 
(Shem ha-Meforash), which is to be “put upon the 
children of Israel.” While originally every greet- 
ing or blessing was accompanied by the pronuncia- 
tion of the Name to make it efficient (see Ber. ix. 4; 
compare Ps. cxviii. 26), it became later only the 
privilege of the priests to use the Name in blessing 
the people; and the reverential sanctity attached to 


the Name lent to the priestly function a mystical 
and almost magical power. Hence the belief pre- 
vailed that during the lifting up of the hands by 
the priests, the Shekinah was hovering over their 
heads and its rays streamed through their open fin- 
gers, the people not being allowed to look on lest, 
like those who gazed at the sacred Ark in ancient 
times, they might be hurt, struck with dimness of 
the eyes and other misfortunes (Hag. 16a; Sotah 
389b; Yer. Meg. iv. 75e; Cant. R.ii. 9; Num. R. xi; 
“*Aruk,” s.v. Jy; see, however, Tosef., Hag. 16a; 
and Yer. Meg. l.c., for more rationalistic views re- 
garding the time when the Name was no longer pro- 
nounced). That great magical powers were long 
afterward ascribed to the priestly blessing may be 
learned from the advice given in the time of Rab 
Ashi to those troubled by bad dreams; viz., to offer 
a prayer that God might turn every curse into bless- 
ing (Ber. 55b)—a prayer which has been embodied 
in the common ritual, and is still recited during the 
singing of the blessing; the medieval mystics having 
added strange, fantastic, angelic conjurations to 
make it still more efficacious. 

Another opinion (Cant. R. on ili. 7; Num. R. xi. 
9) is that the mere listening to the priestly blessing 
is a charm against every malign influence, the sixty 
letters of the blessing being “the threescore valiant 
men, each his sword upon his thigh because of the 
fear in the night” (Song of Songs iii. 8). 

Even the haggadic comments and the Scripture 
parallels given in Sotah 39b-40a, Sifre and Num. R. 
l.e., to the priestly blessing have been embodied in 
the ritual; and they are, partly on the recommenda 
tion and partly with the disapproval of the Rabbis, 
recited during the singing of the blessing by the 
priests (see Tos. Sotah 40a; Kol Bo, é.c., and ABu- 
DARHAM). 

After the “Modim,” the reader introduces the 
priestly blessing with the words: “Our God and 
God of our fathers, bless us with the threefold bless- 
ing which is in the Torah, written by Moses, Thy 
servant, spoken by Aaron and his sons, the priests, 
Thy holy people.” Then the Aaronites proceed to 
the platform and offer the following invocation 
silently: “May it be Thy will, O Eternal our God, 
that this blessing wherewith Thou hast commanded 
us to bless Thy people Israel may be a perfect bless- 
ing; may it be imparted without stumbling and error 
now and ever” (Sotah 39a). The benediction is also 
prescribed which the priests recite before giving the 
blessing. 

In the Reform ritual the priestly blessing is usu- 
ally recited by the rabbi at the close of each service 
before the dismissal of the congregation; the as- 
sumption being that the Aaronites have ceased to 
possess special claims and obligations as priests, 
since with the destruction of the Temple the people 
of Israel became the priest-nation (see CONFERENCES, 
RABBINICAL). 

The great danger in all blessings by priests lies in 
the possibility that the people may believe such 
blessings to have mediatoria] power. This idea has 
always been foreign to the spirit of Judaism. The 
priest is not a mediator. The blessing which he 
utters has no magical power for good or ill. Itis 
merely a portion of the prescribed ritual. Not the 


Blessing, Priestly 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


246 





priest, but God, blesses (see Sifre, d.¢.): “I (Ged) will 
bless them.” These words are used so that the 
Israelites may not say that their welfare depends 
upon the blessing by the priests; God alone can 
bless. Furthermore, these words are used that the 
priests may not say, “ We will bless Israel.” From 
God alone do blessings flow: no man has power to 
bestow them (Sifre, ¢.c.; Hul. 49a, where, in oppo- 
sition to R. Ishmael (the priest), R. Akiba interprets 
the words “And I will bless them” as referring to 
Israel and not to the priests, since these could merely 
pronounce the blessing, while the real blessing comes 
from God). 

Each word of the priestly blessing was a fruitful 
theme of comment and interpretation. 

“May God bless thee” with wealth, and “keep 
thee” in health. 

“May He let His countenance shine toward thee”; 
7.é., “ May He give thee the light of the eyes” ; or, ac- 
cording to Rabbi Nathan, “ the light of the Shekinah.” 

“May He be gracious to thee” with knowledge 
and understanding, with learning, instruction, and 
wisdom. 

“May He lift up His countenance toward thee”; 
z.€., “ May Ilis anger pass away from thee.” 

“May He grant thee peace” in thy going out and 
in thy coming in, with all men, in thy house, and 
without end. 

“Great is peace, for through it alone is blessing 
secured.” 

“Great is peace, because it seals all the blessings ” 
(Num. R. xi. 7; Sifre, Naso, 40-42). 

K. D. P.—K. 
—Music: The ceremony of pronouncing the 
benediction is termed in the Talmud (Hul. 132b; 
Meg. 24b ef passim) “nesiat kappayim” (raising of 
the hands), from Lev. ix. 22. It is also familiarly 
called “dukan” (platform), from the position of the 
priests during the ceremony. These stand on a dais 
or platform, such as that upon which the Levitical 
choir in the Temple was placed. Hence the Judeo- 
German verb in common usage, “duchanen.” 

The hands as upraised during the priestly blessing, 


tical art. imprints of books, etc., and is still so used, 
being frequently surmounted by a crown (“keter 
kehunah”) (see ConENn). The fear that the people 
might gaze at the priest during the blessing, which 
was regarded asa perilous irreverence, guve rise 
to the custom of covering the head (and usually the 
hands as well!) with the tallit during the recital of the 
benedictions. As the reader commences to intone 
the first of the three passages which form the 
conclusion of every “‘Amidah,” those Aaronites 
who desire to be released from the performance of 
the Biblical command withdraw from the syna- 
gogue, in order that they may not hear the reader 
call upon the Kohanim to carry out theirduty. With 
them withdraw any Aaronites who may be mourn- 
ers, or under the age of puberty, defective in person 
or speech, accidental manslayers, cr married to di- 
vorced women—all these being excluded from par- 
ticipation. Those remaining remove their leather 
boots, after which water is poured over their hands 
by the Levites. The priests then assemble on the 
steps of the Ark with their faces toward it, each 
covering his head with his tallit; and when, during 
the service, the reader calls out to them, * Kohanim,” 
they face right about, spread their hands horizon- 
tally above their heads, palms downward, in the 
manner indicated, and chant together: “ Blessed be 
Thou, Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast 
sanctified us with the holiness appertaining to Aaron, 
and commanded us to bless Thy people Israel in 
love.” Word by word the three verses are then 
dictated by the reader, the priests swinging north 
and south at suitable words in order to include the 
congregants standing right and left as well as those 
in front of them. At the close of each verse the re- 
sponse “amen” is given; and after the third verse 
they face about again, remaining before the Ark 
until the reader concludes the ‘Amidah with the 
next paragraph. 

From the first the benedictions appear to have 
been uttered with the singing rather than the speak- 
ing voice (compare Maimonides,“ Yad,” Tefillah, xiv. 
i4). Even in Talmudical times the singing seems 


BIRKAT KOHANIM 








6 
ey seen come ats tae as SS = 
g-S-sae ll = ae ; 

- - ba _ a - . ie = a 


with the thumb and first finger and the middle and 
ring-fingers so separated as to form little spaces 
through which the rays of the Shekinah streamed 
upon the assembled worshipers, in accordance with 
Cant. ii. 9 (see Sotah 39b; Num. R. xi.; ‘Aruk, s.2. 
s\5n), were adopted as the family badge of a Cohen. 
It is found thus on gravestones, objects of ecclesias- 












a 
—a_ | 
a 
yp o- "0-5 
ee 





' to have been so protracted that Biblical texts suita- 


bie to each word were suggested to the congregation 
to meditate upon during the chanting. But the 
recital of these verses by the worshipers, or the 
introduction of more than one melody by the Koha- 
nim, was rather deprecated by the Rabbis. The 
tunes of the chanting on each of the holy days differ 


247 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Blessing, Priestly 





from one another, some appearing to be of very an- | ists in several variants, and is in most instances 
cient origin. One of these is preserved in the tradi- | reserved for the concluding days of the festivals 
tions of the Sephardim, to which each of the fifteen | (“Hazkarat Neshamot, Matnat Yad ”), when departed 
words of the benediction is sung at length; and this | relatives are called to mind. From this it has come 


has been seriously claimed to be the identical melody to be widely known as “ Niggun Me- 
sung by the priests in the Temple. But while obvi- ‘* The tim” or “ The Chant of the Dead.” Its 
ously antique, being practically melismatic psalmody Chant of recent history is of particular interest. 
in the sixth ecclesiastical mode, yet | the Dead.” Developed with insight and feeling 

The its structure, particularly its coda, is by Cantor Natmbpoure of Paris, 


Spanish so close a reproduction of many an- | an instrumental arrangement was published in E. 

Chant. other strain in the music of the south- | Pauer and F. L. Cohen’s “Traditional Hebrew Mel- 

ern Jews, of acknowledged peninsular | odies,” London, 1896, which attracted the attention 

origin by them, that no claim could be allowed to | of the Iate Queen Victoria, and was played as the 

an origin more remote than Moresque Spain, even | introductory voluntary at several memorial services 

were not the resemblance to some of the later Moza- | of the British royal family. In its original simple 
rabic intonations so unmistakable. (See p. 246.) form this chant is as follows: 


BIRKAT KOHANIM 





Andante. 
4-2 —— cD Ct 
—. a aes 
e 
Bp ce er ea 
Be icin Gigante waa tre aor Rte ta Ak a oda e tathtel Aad Wh cS line nda ahh. endian vc AAate aoa eaten ahaa: ance turk neue Bing 
cae a (al Ra 
| a _ eee es ra 
ne 
Ye - ba - 
May He bless thee. : De DOP vs osied a acaios 
We - yish - me-re - ka. 
And keep......... thee. (AMEN follows.) 


The Ashkenazim havea large number of melodies The other old northern chant is of Polish origin, 


to which the words of the benediction aresung. Al- | probably of the seventeenth century, and is perhaps 
most every congregation, indeed every family of | even more extensively known. At 
Kohanim, has its own tradition. Often, however, | The Polish once beautiful in itself and very char- 

| 

| 

| 





these airs are but distinctive melodies of a particular Melody. acteristic, itis to many lovers of music 
festival, or echoes of seventeenth- and eighteenth- atypical example of Hebrew melody. 
century German folk-song. Only two have any In most British synagogues the whole ceremony is 
claim to antiquity like that of the Spanish chant. | performed to its melodious phrases. 

The older is a medieval German melody, which ex- K. F. L. C. 


BIRKAT KOHANIM 











CANTOR. 
Moderato. PRIESTS. CANTOR, 

— Te a 
—4——S eg 2 

gnu aoe 
Ye - ba - re - ke - ka: Ye - ba - re - ke - ka: A - do - nai:.... 
PRIESTS. CaNTOR. , PRIESTS. 

Saper es Sarre Sa “Sd RR ees nes RERRTTES IC aes I a 
Ngee ng SS ee | | 
a os SITES o- = A Le 

A - do = nai:..... We - yish - me- re - ka, All ceussaeewueouas 





Blin 
Blindness 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


248 





BLIN D’ELBCUF: French manufacturer who 
introduced into France woolen cloth for ladies’ use. 
It was soon considered the best in Europe, and ob- 
tained the prize at the Vienna Exhibition of 1870. 
Blin in presenting a sample of his cloth to President 
Carnot said: “We are all the more proud of it, for 
it reminds us of a victory gained by French indus- 
try over foreign.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bloch, in Revue Etudes Juives, xxxviii. 28. 
Ss. I. Br. 


BLIND, THE, IN LAW AND LITERA- 
TURE: The ancient nations regarded blindness as 
the lowest degradation that could be inflicted upon 
man; hence gouging out the eyes of an enemy was 
a form of national retaliation. The Philistines bored 
out the eyes of Samson, and the king of Babylon 
blinded Zedekiah. Nahash the Ammonite demanded 
as a condition of surrender that he should thrust 
out the right eye of every man of Jabesh-gilead, as 
a reproach upon all Israel (I Sam. xi. 2). 

The blind, together with cripples and lepers, were 
outcasts of society and kept quarantined outside the 
town limits; they became paupers and a menace to 


passers-by. When David besieged the Jebusites at 
Jerusalem, the blind and crippled men- 

Inthe  dicants were so numerous that he was 
Bible. compelled to take stringent measures 


against them (II Sam. v. 6). In the 
eyes of the ancient Hebrews the maimed, and espe- 
cially the blind, were thought to possess a debased 
character. Balaam, the prophet of the Gentiles, 
according to Talmudic tradition, was lame and blind 
of one eye (Sanh. 105a). The blindness of Isaac is 
said to have been the cause of Rebekah’s action in 
transferring the blessing from Esau to Jacob, as she 
considered herself better able to judge the merits 
and demerits of her two sons (Yalk.). Jacob would 
not marry Leah because she had “tender eyes.” On 
this account the Talmud says that a bride whose 
eyes are beautiful needs no further examination 
(Ta‘an. 24a). 

To counteract the prevailing notion that bodily 
ailments and defects are the punishment of sin, spe- 
cial legislation was provided for the protection of 
the blind and afflicted: “Thou shalt not... puta 
stumblingblock before the blind” (Lev. xix. 14). 
“Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out 
of the way” (Deut. xxvii. 17). 

The Talmud compares the blind, the leper, the 
childless, and the pauper to the dead (Ned. 64b), 
quoting from Lamentations (iii. 6): “He hath set 
me in dark places as they that be dead of old.” 

Judah ha-Nasi is the first person mentioned in 
rabbinic literature who helped to remove the stigma 
of the blind. Itis related that he and R. Hiyya, 
while traveling, came to a certain town and inquired 
whether there were any learned man whom they could 

honor by a visit. The townsmen di- 


Respect rected them to a biind scholar. R. 
forthe Hiyya said to the prince, “Do not dis- 
Blind. grace thy excellence. Let me visit 


him.” Judah insisted, however, and 
went with him. When they were about to leave, the 
blind man gratefully acknowledged the visit, saying: 
“Ye have honored by your audience one who is seen 


butsees not. Yeshall be blessed and acceptable before 
One who sees but is invisible” (Hag. 5b). R. Abba 
b. Jacob offered a high seat in his house to a blind 
visitor, which action caused the people to believe the 
latter a great man and secured for him an honorable 
position. He bestowed the above-mentioned bless- 
ing upon R. Abba (Yer. Peah, end, ch. viii.). R. 
Hoshaiah the Great, engaged for his son a blind 
teacher with whom he dined daily. On one occa- 
sion, when visitors were at the house, the teacher 
was not invited to the table. R. Hoshaiah apolo- 
gized afterward for the omission, saying he did not 
wish to embarrass or disgrace him before the assem- 
bly; whereupon the blind teacher rejoined, “May 
thy apology be acceptable before the Invisible ” (¢d.), 
For euphemistic reasons the Talmud calls a blind 
man 49 "3D (“a man of abundant light”). 

The blind are exempt from all religious duties, 
They may perform any religious service for them- 
selves, but can not be a proxy for others. Thusa 
blind man when saying the eighteen benedictions 
need not face the Temple of Jerusalem (the east), be- 
ing unable to distinguish the points of the compass, 
but he shall direct his heart toward his Father in 
heaven (Ber. 29a). Yet he must not utter His name 
in vain. R, Judah would not permit him to say the 
benediction before the Shema‘: “ Blessed be the Lord 
who formed light and created darkness,” inasmuch 
aS the blind derives no benefit from light. The 
“wise men” differ, however, claiming that the light 
indirectly benefits the blind. R. Yosé (the tannaite) 
could not understand an apparently illogical pas- 
sage in Deuteronomy: “And thou shalt grope at 
noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness” (xxviii. 
29); until he chanced to meet a blind man who 
was walking at night with a Jantern in hand, 
and who explained that the lantern was of great 
service to him, to enable passers-by to guide and 
protect him from obstacles and pitfalls (Meg. 24b). 

R. Joseph, who was blind, said that at one time 
he would have welcomed one who could assure him 
that R. Judah was right in the statement that the 
blind were exempt from the performance of relig- 
ious duties; for in that case he (R. Joseph), who, 
although blind, performed these duties, would de- 
serve a greater recompense than one who was not 
blind. Hearing R. Johanan, however, assert that 
“one who performs his prescribed duties is greater 
than a volunteer,” Joseph said that he would offer 
a banquet to the rabbis if they could assure him 
that R. Judah was wrong in his statement. 

R. Joseph, and R. Sheshet, another blind Talmud- 
ist, hold the opinion that the blind are under obliga- 
tions to perform all religious duties, and accordingly 
they recited the Haggadah on Passover eve before 
the assembled family (Pes. 116b), which was con- 
trary to the decision of R. Aha b. Jacob, who ex- 
cused a blind man from saying the Haggadah 
(2d.). 

Interesting stories are related of the totally blind 
R. Sheshet, showing his exquisite and instinctive 
knowledge of his surroundings while the guest of the 
Chief of the Captivity (Git. 67b), and his remarkable 
discernment of the approaching Persian king among 
many legions (Ber. 58a). A blind rabbi was accus- 
tomed to cite Mishnaic traditions before Mar Samuel, 


249 


and on one occasion forgot to provide for the cooking 
of food on a holiday preceding Saturday (Bezah 16b), 
an instance showing that the blind were not entirely 
free from religious duties. 

The authorities differ as to the extent of the ex- 
emption, whether from a Mosaic or rabbinic point of 

view, whether from mandates, or even 
Obligations from prohibitions (“not todo”). The 
and Ex- development of customs and laws reg- 
emptions. culating the blind has abrogated many 
distinctions, and the tendency of the 
recent authorities is to remove all disabilities and to 
give the blind equal religious and civil rights. The 
gradual emancipation or, rather, the participation of 
the blind in all matters of religion and law, is shown 
by the following quotations ranging from the 
Mosaic law to the latest codesand responsa: A blind 
priest was not permitted to offer sacrifices on the 
altar (Lev. xxi. 17), and he was exempt from a pil- 
grimage to Jerusalem on holidays, this applying 
even if he were blind only of one eye, for R. Johanan 
says: “One must see as he is seen” (Mishnah Hag. 
ch. 1,81). A blind man who committed unpremed- 
itated homicide was exempt from banishment to a 
city of refuge, according to R. Judah, who inter- 
prets literally the verse, “Sceing him not” (Num. 
Xxxv. 28; see Mak. 9b). Maimonides concurs in this 
decision, holding that homicide was in this case an 
unavoidable accident (“ Yad,” Rozeah, vi. 14). 

The Mishnah prohibits the ordination of a blind 
justice, although a blind witness is permitted to 
testify. An exception is noted of a blind justice 
who was allowed to practise without protest (Sanh. 
84b). The Shulhan ‘Aruk prohibits the appointment 
and practise of a totally blind man as a judge, but 
tolerates one who is blind only of one eye (Hoshen 
Mishpat, 7, 2). R. Jerucham permits even a totally 
blind judge to render decisions (Bet Yos. 2d.), R. 
Isaac Lampronti rules that the defendant can claim 
the right to submit his case before a resident blind 
justice, on the ground that some authorities raise no 
objection to such a proceeding. R. Ben Sasson and 
R. Ben Nehemiah, two blind justices, practised at 
Venice (“Pahad Yizhak,” Letter Samek, 24b, ed. 
Lyck, 1866). Llampronti gives as his reason for this 
decision that nowadays the judge merely follows 
the precedents established in the various books, and 
does not render new decisions. 

The public reading of the Pentateuch by a blind 
man is prohibited, as the “ words of Holy Writ may 
not be recited orally ” (Meg. 24a). This decision in 
Shulhan ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 53, 14, is reversed by 

later authorities (Magen Abraham, 7d. 

Reciting 139, 104) on the ground that to-day 

the the person who is called up to read 
Scriptures. the Torah merely repeats mentally the 
words dictated by the reader. R. 
Moses Zacuto relates that the rabbis of Poland did 
not permit a blind man toread the Scriptures. Nev- 
ertheless he agreed with other rabbis at Mantua 
(1678) to allow the blind R. Benjamin Ashkenazi of 
Prague to read; while at Ferrara such permission 
was refused to a blind man named Norzi, though an 
exception was allowed in the case of R. Jacob 
Lianna, on account of his superior Biblical and Tal- 
mudic learning (“ Pahad Yizhak,” 20.). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blin 
Blindness 





Among blind scholars after Talmudic times may 
be mentioned R. Judah gaon, of Pumbedita (Sherira’s 
letter in Neubauer, “Med. Jewish Chronicles,” ii. 
3), the accredited author of “Halakot Gedolot”; 
Isaac Sagi Nahor ben David, 9365, “the father of 
the cabala” (end of twelfth century); and R. Abra- 
ham Judah Zafig, born blind at Tunis and lived at 
Jerusalem, author of O773N ‘yp (“The Eyes of 
Abraham”), Amsterdam, 1784, The blind R. Jo- 
seph b, Azriel ha-Levi Schnitzler is the author of an 
illustrated commentary on the last nine chapters of 
Ezekiel explaining the whole plan of the Temple, 
courts, gates, etc., which he dictated to R. Zarah 
ha-Levi, the reader of the Hamburg congregation in 
London (London, 1825). Of modern authors who 
lost their sight are Salomon Munk, Adolph Neu- 
bauer, Joseph Derenbourg, and Abraham M. Lunez. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Friedman, Das Blinden-Institute auf der 

Hohen Warte bei Wien: Geiger, Der Blinde in dem Bibli- 

schen und Rabbinischen Schriftthume, in bis Jtidische Zeit- 

schrift, xi, 205, Breslau, 1875; Adolph Rosenzweig, Das Auge 
in Bibel und Talmud, Berlin, 1892; Zangwill, They That. 

Walk in Darkness, ch. v. 


G. J. D. E. 


BLIND-COHEN, FERDINAND: German 
student who made an attempt on the life of Prince 
Bismarck May 7, 1866, and on the following day 
committed suicide in prison. He was a stepson of 
the well-known radical Karl Blind, whose name 
he assumed. Blind-Cohen left a letter in which he 
stated that he had no accomplices. He declared 
Bismarck to be the worst enemy of German liberty, 
and expressed the hope that his own self-sacrifice 
might promote the welfare of Germany, as Or- 
sini’s attempt on the life of Napoleon III. had led 
to the liberation of Italy. Blind-Cohen was known 
asa young man of considerable talent. He spent 
the last few years of his life at an agricultural acad- 
emy in Hohenheim, Wirttemberg. He was buried 
at the expense of his stepfather. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Times, London, May 16, 1866; North 

American Review, Dec. 1889, 


S. P. Wi. 


BLINDNESS: Statistics, wherever obtainable, 
show that the proportion of blindness is greater 
among modern Jews than among their non-Jewish 
neighbors. Thus, according to Dr. Gcorg Mayr 
(“Die Verbreitung der Blindheit, der Taubstummen, 
des Blédsinns, und des [rrsinns in Bayern,” p. 11), 
in Bavaria the proportion of blindness was as fol- 
lows: among Protestants (per 10,000), 7.84; among 
Catholics, 8.27, among Jews, 13.81, the Jews thus 
showing arate of blindness about double that of the 
Protestants. In Bavariaat the censuses of 1840 and 
1858 the Protestants also showed relatively the 
least number of blind, and the Jews again the 
largest proportion. 

For Prussia, Dr. Cohn (in Eulenburg, “ Rea)- 
Encyc. der Gesammt. Heilkunde,” iii. 189) presents 
the following figures for 1880: Among 10,000 Prot- 
estants, 8.2; among 10,000 Catholics, 8.4; among 
10,000 Jews, 11.0; showing a considerable excess of 
blindnessamong the Jews, Thesamecensus showed 
that there was also a larger proportion of congenital 
blindness among Jews (about 8 per cent) thanamong 
non-Jews (only 4.7 per cent). The absolute num- 
bers are given in “Zeit. des Statist. Bureaus fir 


Blioch 


TIIE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


250 





Preussen,” 1882, pp. 190 e¢ seg., and the percentages 
in a special article by A. Guttstadt in the follow- 
ing year. 

Blindness is not found very frequently among the 
Jews of the United States of America, probably be- 
cause the stringent immigration laws prevent 
the entrance of defective classes, including the 
blind. 

Judging from the etiology of blindness, it might 
have been expected that the number of blind should 
be less among Jews than among non-Jews. The 
most important cause of blindness in the new-born 
is in from 30 to 50 per cent of cases due to gonor- 
rlieal infection fromthe mother. Itisa well-known 
fact that gonorrhea is comparatively infrequent in 
Jewish women. This granted, it would be reason- 
able to expect that Jews would have at least 25 per 
cent less blindness than non-Jews. 

To account for the great prevalence of blindness 
among the Jews, some authors have adduced the 
greater frequency of consanguineous marriages 
among them. But all those who have carefully in- 
vestigated the subject, as G. Darwin Lancry, Huth, 
Trousseau, and many others, have reached the con- 
clusion that, apart from heredity, consanguinity is 
not a factor in the production of blindness. 

Any explanation of the frequency of blindness 
among the Jews must also account for the great fre- 
quency of ecye-diseases among them. Trachoma, 
glaucoma, and various diseases of the cornea and of 
the uveal tract are found among the Jews ina 
greater proportion than among non-Jews. All these 
diseases often lead to blindness. Heredity, again, 
shows itself in eye-disease with great frequency; 
and in this manner the disease is perpetuated. 

J. M. Ft. 


BLIOCH (BLOCH), IVAN STANISLAVO- 
VICH: Russo-Polish financier, economist, and rail- 
way contractor; distinguished as an advocate of uni- 
versal peace; born at 
Radom, Poland, July 
24, 1836; died at War- 
saw Dec. 25,1901. Te 
attended the Industrial 
‘High School of War- 
saw, and then entered 
upon a few years of 
commercial activity, 
first with the banking 
house of Teplitz at 
Warsaw. and later un- 
der the patronage of 
General Tiesenhaus at 
St. Petersburg. There 
he adopted Christianity 
in the form of Calvin- 
ism. With the banker 





Ivan S. Blioch. 


Kronenberg of War-. 


saw, whose sister he married, Blioch participated in 
the construction of the railroads of the Great. Rus- 
sian Company; and, observing the faults of foreign 
methods, he published a monograph in 1864, show- 
ing how these could be improved, making particular 
application to Russian conditions. With the view 
of putting on a precise scientific basis the general 


system of railroad management, he wrote a volu- 
minous work, published in 1875 at St. Petersburg, 


with double text in Russian and 

Receives French, under the title “Russkiya 
Public Zhelyeznyya Dorogi, Otnositelno Dok- 

Recog- — hodov, Raskhodov Eksploatatzii, Stoi- 

nition. mosti Provoza i Dvizheniya Gruzov” 


—treating Russian railroads with re- 
spect to their revenues and running expenses, freight 
rates, and the movement of freight. For this work 
he was awarded a medal of the first class at the 
geographical exhibition of Paris, and was heartily 
indorsed by the Imperial Russian Geographical 
Society. | 

_ Another problem of considerable importance which 
attracted Blioch’s attention was the question of 
pensions for railroad employees. 'The subject was 
in a chaotic state, there being no general rules or 
regulations. At his suggestion a committee was 
appointed by the general assembly of representatives 
of the Russian railroads to draw up, under Blioch’s 
supervision, a plan for the establishment of a system 
of pension funds. In 1875 Blioch, conjointly with 
Vishnegradski, published the results of the com- 
mittee’s labors, in a treatise that was received as an 
authoritative statement of the pension problem. On 
the same question he wrote in French 
“Calculs Servants des Bases pour des 
Caisses des Retraites ” (Warsaw, 1875), 
and published an edition of the same 
in Polish. At the request of the Min- 
istry of the Interior, he wrote a detailed monograph, 
published in 1876 under the title “Izslyedovanie 
po Voprosam Otnosyashchimsya k Proizvodstvu, 
Torgovlye i Peredvizheniyu Skota i Skotskikh 
Produktov v Rossii i Zagranitzei "—an inquiry into 
the subject of the breeding, sale, and transportation 
of cattle and cattle-produce in Russia and abroad. 

In 1877 Blioch published, in “ Vyestnik Yevropy ” 
(Sept.—Dec.), a series of essays on the economic con- 
dition of Russia, past and present, under the title 
“Hkonomicheskoe Sostoyanie Rossii v Proshlom i 
Nastoyashchem.” The object of these essays was 
to calm the public apprehensions with regard to the 
financial embarrassments of Russia at that time. 
The rapid construction of railroads had absorbed 
enormous capital; and the public at large was in- 
clined to see in this the chief cause of all financial 
trouble. Blioch endeavored to show that these en- 
terprises were an absolute necessity, and that, al- 
though they made the financial crisis more acute for 
the time being, they would ultimately raise the pro- 
ductive power of the country, increase 

Results of profits, and revive trade. The same 

Railroad subject is more extensively treated by 
Enterprise. Blioch in a massive five-volume work, 

published at St. Petersburg in 1878, 
entitled “Vliyanie Zhelyeznykh Dorog na Ekono- 
micheskoe Sostoyanie Rossii,” which states more 
particularly the effect of railroads upon the eco- 
nomic conditions of Russia. This work, translated 
into French and Polish, was awarded a gold medal 
at the Paris Exposition of 1878. The above-named 
writings gained for him a membership in the so- 
called “committee of scholars” (Uchony Komitet) 
of the Ministry of Finances. 


Pension 
and Cattle 
Problems. 


251 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blioch 





With the view of refuting the unjust attacks upon 
the financial policy of the government in the seven- 
ties, Blioch published in 1882 a work on the finances 
of Russia in the nineteenth century, entitled “ Fi- 
nansy Rossii xix Stolyetiya,” in which he demon- 
strated the improvement in the condition of the 
country’s finances as compared with those of the 
epoch of Nicholas I. This treatise contains interest- 
ing memoirs of the former ministers of finance, Reu- 
ternand Greigh. It has been translated into German, 
Polish, and French. In Polish, Blioch published 
“Przemysl Fabryczuy Krolestwa Polskiego,” on the 
industries of the kingdom of Poland; “Statistics of 
the Kingdom of Poland”; and, on financial and rail- 
road topics, a series of articles in the periodicals 
“Biblioteka Warzawska” and “Ateneum.” At the 

invitation of the president of the com- 

Other mission on agriculture, he composed 

Economic a treatise on the policy, adopted by 

Works. Russia and other countries, of giving 

governmental aid to agriculture by 

means of Joans. It was published at St. Petersburg 

in 1892 under the title “O Selskokhozaistvennom 

Melioratzionnom Kreditye v Rossii 1 Inostrannykh 
Gosudarstvakh.” 

When the Russian press took up the discussion of 
the rights of the Jews, Blioch published a work 
presenting a comparison of the material and moral 
welfare of the Western Great Russian and the Vis- 
tula provinces. This was entitled “Sravnenie 
MateriaInavo i Nravstvennavo Blagosostoyaniya 
Guberni Zapadnykh, Veliko Rossiskikhi Privislyan- 
skikh,” and in its five volumes (with an atlas) are 
presented the results of an investigation into the 
conditions of lifeand industry of the divers regions. 
Tt contains a historical view of the fortunes of the 
Jews in Europe, as well as a sketch of the origin of 
anti-Semitism. In this painstaking publication (an 
abstract of which is given in his pamphlet: “ Les 
Ouvrages Statistico-Economiques,” pp. 22-41) the 
author adduces a mass of statistical evidence expo- 
sing the hollowness of the charges that had been 
brought against the Jews of Russia for the purpose 
of justifying the atrocities perpetrated upon them 
in the early part of the reignof Alexander III. The 
cruel measures adopted by the imperial government 
—measures that formed a sequel to the other atroci- 
ties—are also adduced. We sets forth the manner 
in which the cause of the Jews was invariably pre- 

judged in the numerous official inves- 


Exposure tigations that were conducted with the 
of Anti- ostensible purpose of ascertaining the 
Semitic conditions and motives leading to 

Charges. theoutbreaks. The modus operandiof 


these inquiries, Blioch contends, was 
regularly so framed as to invite testimony hostile to 
the Jews, and the very fact that such massacres had 
occurred was taken as evidence that the provocation 
for the measures existed. The notion, sedulously 
propagated, that the atrocities represented an up- 
rising of the people against Jewish exploitation, is 
pronounced baseless, in view of the fact that the 
worst outbreaks originated not in the rural districts 
but in the cities. The charge that in those prov- 
inces where the Jews have resided in numbers, they 
have impoverished and brutalized the peasantry 


through liquor traffic, is met by Blioch with statis- 
tical evidence to the effect that the provinces closed 
to the Jews are in a worse condition as regards the 
evil effects of drink. He points out the gross man- 
ner in Which the criminal statistics of the empire 
have been manipulated to arouse prejudice against 
the Jews in order to justify their expulsion from 
the villages. In like manner he exposes the unfair- 
ness of the statistical data adduced to show that the 
Russian Jew had shirked his military duties. Blioch 
arraigns the supineness, amounting to connivance, 
of thu imperial government in the matter of the anti- 
Semitic massacres of 1881-82; and argues that a 
resolute attitude against them would soon have put 
an end to the outbreaks, as was evinced by their 
speedy suppression when Count Dmitri Tolstoi was 
entrusted with the Ministry of the Interior. 

Concerning the Jews, Blioch makes the following 
statements: The value of land in the Pale of Settle- 
ment is 19 per cent higher than in the governments 
where Jews are not allowed to reside. Prostitution 
and crime are far less prevalent, there being 1 
Jew criminal to 2,170 individuals, whereas among 
non-Jews the proportion is 1 to 715. In the Pale 
the arrears of taxes are less than in governments 
which have no Jews; and in the 25 govern- 
ments of the Pale 8,000,000 rubles less are spent 
every year in drink, a saving whick enables the 
peasants to improve their land and pay their taxes. 
The Jews in the Pale who carry on business form 
more than half of the trading population, but the 
total value of their income is 486 million rubles, 
against that of 489 million rubles of the Christian 
minority. The great majority of Jews are small 
retail dealers and artisans, who earn from 20 to 60 
copecks a day; and in order to make even this small 
profit they must carry on their business from 12 to 
16 hours daily. 

In 1898 Blioch produced his famous work, in six 
volumes with atlas, on war in the future, “ Budush- 
chaya Voina,” which has been translated into Ger- 
man and French and also into English. This is 

said tohaveinspired Czar Nicholas II. 
War to issue his famous “ peace” declara- 
and Its tion, which resulted in The Hague 

Solution. Conference in 1899. The leading idea 

of the book is that the development 
aud improvement of military art practically tend to 
make war altogether impossible or at least improba- 
ble. The destructive power of modern firearms and 
the radical dislocation of the economic and political 
fabric produced by war on a large scale are certain 
to make it such a calamity for the nations concerned 
that even the greatest success would not in the least 
compensate them for the desolation caused. Bloch 
then sets fortha scheme for the solution of all inter- 
national conflicts by arbitration. Considered from 
a scientific standpoint, the work is not without 
grave faults. Itrepresentsa collection of uncritical, 
not always well-digested, material, striking in the 
manner of its presentation, but abounding in details 
that obscure the paramount problem. It contains a 
great mass of facts concerning the art of war, as 
well as political, economic, and financial reflections, 
and a discussion of means for preventing war. Un- 
fortunately. in Blioch’s consideration of the great 


Blitz 
Bloch 


problem he does not possess that tempered regard 
for expediency which is indispensable to the real 
efficacy of any reform. However, the work must 
not be underrated by applying to it a scientifically 
exacting criterion. 

Blioch, who participated, as stated above, in the 
construction of the lines laid by the Great Company 
of Russian Railroads, built also the Landvarovo- 
Romny and [vangorod-Donibrova roads, and organ- 
ized the Company of the Southwestern Railroads. 
He has been president of various railroads, and has 
taken part in the work of railroad legislation. 
Shortly before his death he retired from business life 
and devoted himself exclusively to science and liter- 
ature. The family testament left by Blioch begins 
with the words: “I was my whole life a Jew and I 
die as a Jew.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: 8S. Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, 
vol. iii, St. Petersburg, 1892; Entziklopedicheski Slovar, 
vol. iv., St. Petersburg, 1895; Hans Delbruck, in Preussische 
Jahrbiticher, May, 1899, pp. 203-230; D. Slonimski, in Vyest- 
nik Yevropy, May, 1898, pp. 778-782; Jean de Bloch, Les 
Ouvrages Statistico-Economiques, 1875-1900, Paris, 1900; N. 
Sokolov, in Jewish Chronicle, Jan. 24, 1902. 


H. R. 

BLITZ, JEKUTHIEL BEN ISAAC: Cor- 
rector of the press in the Hebrew printing-oflice of Uri 
Phoebus at Amsterdam; lived there in the second 
half of the seventeenth century. He translated the 
Bible into Judeo-German (Amsterdam, 1679). The 
translation, which was the first of its kind of the 
entire Old Testament, has three introductions, one 
in Hebrew and one in German, written by Blitz, and 
the third in Judzeo-German by the printer, together 
with a letter-patent of the king of Poland, Johann 
III. Sobieski, and approbations by various rabbis. 
[On the opposition translation of Witzenhausen, 
which was printed by Joseph Athias, see vol. ii., p. 
268]. Blitz also translated into Judwo-German Levi 
ben Gerson’s “To‘aliyyot” on Joshua, Judges, and 
Samuel, published together with the preceding work. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Bibl. Jud. i. 120; Steinschneider, Cat. 
Boal. cols. 175, 1381; Griinbaum, Jiidiseh-Deutsche Chresto- 
mathie, pp. 18, 102. 

I. Br. 


G. 

BLOCH, ANDRE: French musician; son of a 
rabbi at Wissembourg, Alsace; born in that city in 
1873. At the age of seven Bloch began to compose 
music, writing a waltz for the piano, for four hands, 
which pleased a publisher so much that he printed 
it. In order to procure for their gifted son the best 
musical advantages, the parents removed to Paris 
and entered him at the Conservatory. 

The young musician made rapid progress. In 
1884 he received the first prize for solfeggio; in 
1889, the first prize for piano; in 1890, the first prize 
for harmony; finally, in 1893, by a unanimous vote, 
the first prize of Rome. He was trained by Masse- 
net and André Gedalge. 

Bloch’s work is full of charm, originality, and dis- 
tinction. Besides the cantata that obtained for him 
the “prix de Rome,” his best works are: “ Poéme 
Nomade,” for chorus and orchestra, words by J. 
Richepin; and several pleasing songs and pieces for 
the piano, for two and for four hands. Bloch is not 
merely a musician, being interested also in astron- 
omy and magnetism, which he studies with his friend 


Camille Flammarion. 
8. A. A. G. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


252 





BLOCH [ISSACHAR] BAER B. SAMSON 
HASID: Austrian rabbi of the eighteenth century, 
a native of Hamburg, and son of the author of the 
Tosafot Hadashim on the Mishnah. Bloch was rabbj 
of Eiwanowitz, Moravia, when, in 1767, he was 
called to the rabbinate of Kojetein, in the same prov- 
ince, to succeed Ephraim Ziilz. About 1787 he be- 
came rabbi of Semnitz, Hungary, and later occu- 
pied a similar position in Boscowitch, Moravia. He 
was also forsome time rabbiof Dolitschau. He was 
the author of “ Binat Yissakar ” (Issachar’s Wisdom), 
a collection of sermons, published in Prague, 1785, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Monatsschrift, xxxvii. 379; Steinschneider, 
Cat. Bodl. No. 2576; Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Hadash, 


8.V. 
L. G. P. Wr. 


BLOCH, BIANCA (pscudonym, B. Waldow): 
German authoress; born at Lauban, Silesia, Jan. 19, 
1848, where her father was attendant at a local 
court. Owing to the reduced circumstances of the 
family, she was restricted to merely a rudimentary 
education, but subsequently made up for the defi- 
ciency by extensive reading. In this, as in her lit- 
erary work, she was encouraged by Dr. Bernhard 
Stavenow of Gorlitz, who recognized her talent and 
developed it. In collaboration with C. von Breck- 
heyde (Aline Neumann) she wrote two plays, “ Ein 
Heisser Tag ”—a farce, 1881; and “Vor dem Fest” 
—a comedy, 1889. Her other works are: “Blaue 
Augen ”—a farce, 1891; “ In Ernster Zeit ”—a drama; 
“Lieutenant und Assessor, oder Maiwein ”—a com- 
edy; and “Strohwittwer ”—a farce, 1892. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Lexikon Deutscher Frauen der Feder, i. 77, 
ii. pri Kirschner, Deutscher Littcratur-Kalender, 1898, 
p. 


s E. Ms. 
BLOCH, ELISA: French sculptress; born at 
Breslau Jan. 25, 1848. After receiving a thorough 
education at Paris, whither her parents had removed, 
Elisa Bloch’ devoted herself to sculpture. In 1878 
she first exhibited in the Salon. Encouraged by 
the praises of the critics and the exhortations of the 
great sculptor Chapu, she persevered in her efforts, 
and continued to exhibit numerous productions in 
subsequent Salons, among which may be mentioned: 
“The Golden Age” (Salon, 1885); “The Tribune 
Virginius Swearing to Avenge His Daughter Vir- 
ginia ” (Salon, 1889); and “Moses.” The last-named 
work obtained honorable mention in the Salon of 
1896, and was reproduced in bronze and exhibited 
at the centenary of French art (French Exhibition, 
1900). Many monuments erected in various French 
towns by national subscription are the product of 
the chisel of Elisa Bloch. She distinguished herself 
also as a statuary, having reproduced busts of a 
great number of modern celebrities, among whom 
were Jules Oppert and Zadoc Kahn. 
S. Bi. 2k 


BLOCH, EMIL: German otologist; born at 
Emmendingen, Baden, Dec. 11, 1847. He was edu- 
cated at the universities of Heidelberg, Wirzburg, 
Vienna, and Freiburg in Baden; being graduated 
from the last-named as doctor of medicine in 1871. 
After a postgraduate course at the University of 
Berlin and in hospitals in London, he established 
himself asa physician in Freiburg. In 1886 he took 


253 


up the study of laryngology and rhinology under 
Hack, and of otology under Thiry at the University 
of Freiburg. In the following vear he became as- 
sistant to Thiry, which position he held till 1892, 
when, on the death of the latter, he became his suc- 
cessor as Chief physician at the otological dispensary 
and privat-docent at the university. In 1894 Bloch 
was appointed assistant professor of otology; and 
under his supervision the clinic for this branch of 
medicine was opened in 1899. 
Bloch is the author of the following works and 
papers: “Untersuchungen zur Physiologie der 
vasenatmung,” Wiesbaden, 1888; “Pathologie und 
Therapie der Mundatmung,” 7b. 1889; “Sprachge- 
brechen,” 7. 1891; “Ueber das Biaurale Héren,” in 
“ Zeitschrift fiir Ohrenheilkunde,” 1898; “Die Me- 
thode der Centripetalen Pressionen und die Diagnose 
der Stapesfixation,” 2b. 1894; “ Einheitliche Bezeich- 
nung der Otologischen Punktionspriifungsmethode 
und Ihre Ergebnisse,” Wiesbaden, 1898. 


bir ae a Page), Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 
S. F. T. 


BLOCH, GUSTAVE: French historian and 
archeologist; born at Fegersheim, Alsace, July 21, 
1848. After passing through the Ecole Normale 
Supérieure he became professor of rhetoric at the 
lveée of Besancon. Subsequently he was a member 
of the French schools at Rome and Athens, and pro- 
fessor of Greek and Roman archeology at the Uni- 
versity of Lyons. He is now (1902) in charge of 
the courses in ancient history at the Ecole Normale 
Supérieure. 

Bloch’s works include: “Les Origines du Sénat 
Romain,” 1883; “De Decretis Functorum Magistra- 
tuum Ornamentis,” 1883: “La Gaule Celtique et 
Romaine,” being the first volume of the “ History of 
France,” published under the direction of M. Lavisse 
(1900). 
des Antiquités” of Daremberg and Saglio, as well 
as to many critical and historical reviews. 

S. 

BLOCH, HEINRICH: Austrian philologist; 
born Feb. 4, 1854, at Herman-Mestec, Bohemia; son 
of Moses Bloch, president of the Jewish Theolog- 
ical Seminary in Budapest. He received his educa- 
tion at the gymnasium at Teschen, Silesia, and at 
the University of Vienna, whence he was graduated 
as doctor of philosophy in 1878. In 1881 be was 
appointed professor of history and classical philol- 
ogy at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Buda- 
pest, where he has since lived. 

Bloch is the author of: “Die Quellen des Flavius 
Josephus in Seiner Archaeologie,” Leipsic, 1879, 
and is a contributor to many European newspapers 
and journals; ¢e.g., “Mittheilungen aus der Histo- 
rischen Litteratur,” Berlin, vols. xi.-xxx., 1883-1901 
(historical essays); “Vom Fels zum Meer,” Stutt- 
gart: “Le Moyen Age,” Paris; “Allgemeine Zei- 
tung” of Munich, 1884-96; “ Frankfurter Zeitung,” 
1884-1901; “Pester Lloyd,” 1885-1901; “ Vienna 
Fremdenblatt,” 1894-99; “Breslauer Zeitung”; 
“Jiidisches Litteraturblatt”; “Allgemeine Zeitung 
des Judenthums”; “Magyar Zsidé Szemle”; “Ev- 
kénejo,” ete. 

8. F. T. H. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


He has also contributed to the “ Dictionnaire 


Blitz 
Bloch 





BLOCH, HERMANN (HAYYIM): German 
author; born at Breslau April 26, 1826; died Nov. 
19, 1896. He was a grandson on his mother’s side 
of the learned Abraham Tiktin, chief rabbi in Bres- 
lau and author of numerous learned works, and in 
his early years received halakic instruction from his 
uncle Solomon Tiktin, also chief rabbi in that city. 
His studies were completed in Hamburg, and at the 
age of twenty-seven le issued the first part of his 
“Mebo ha-Talmud ” (Introduction to the Talmud), in 
which he endeavored with astonishing learning to 
trace a new theory of the development of the Hala- 
kah. But to perfect this new theory—a consumma- 
tion which was never vouchsafed to him—he found 
it necessary to accumulate vast stores of learned 
material; thus he devoted extraordinary industry 
and acumen to the endeavor to formulate the princi- 
ples upon which the 618 precepts of Judaism re- 
posed. He gave samples of his work to the world 
in the shape of four parts of his book “Hirhure 
Torah” (The Torah's Thoughts), published 1887 to 
1893, which treated of the “law of the majority” 
(Ex. xxiii. 2) according to Mosaic and Talmudic 
conceptions, and consisted of 519 quarto pages. 
Connected with these studies was also an attempt to 
reproduce the plan of the Temple of Herod (“ Zurat 
ha-Bayyit ”) (The Form of the House), published in 
1883, a book which was supplemented with a model. 
Private misfortunes bore heavily upon him, and he 
found consolation in the Wisdom Jiterature of the 
Bible and Talmud, publishing a poetical elaboration 
of 107 Oriental proverbs and maxims under the title 
of “Omri Inshi” (Men Say) (1884). He lived asa 
merchant in Rawitsch and Breslau, and ended his 
days as resident scholar in the Mora Leipziger Bet 
ha-Midrash in Breslau, leaving voluminous literary 
material awaiting publication. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon, new se- 
ries, i. 45; Ignatz Bernstein, Katalog, s.v.; M. Brann, Mo- 
natsschrift, xlii. 529. 

M. Br. 


BLOCH, ISAAC: French rabbi; born at Sultz, 
Alsace, July 17,1848. He received his education at 
the lyceuin at Strasburg and at the Jewish Seminary 
in Paris. During the Prussian siege of Paris (1870- 
71) he served as assistant chaplain. In 1873 he was 
employed in the office of the Alliance Israélite Uni- 
verselle. Two years later he was elected rabbi at 
Remiremont; in 1878 he was appointed chief rabbi 
of Oran; in 1882 he became chief rabbi of Algiers; 
and in 1890 was appointed to the chief rabbinate of 
Nancy, which position he still (1902) holds. 

Besides a great number of sermons, Bloch has 
published a novel, “ Les Fils de Samson,” 1887; and 
“Inscriptions Tumulaires des Anciens Cimetiéres 
Israélites d’ Alger,” 1888. In 1877 he translated from 
the German into French 8. Kohn’s novel entitled 
“Gabriel.” He has been a frequent contributor, 
both in prose and in verse, to “L’ Univers Israélite,” 
“ Archives Israélites,” “Revue des Etudes Juives,” 


etc. 
B. F. T. H. 


BLOCH, IVAN. See Buiocn, Ivan STANisLa- 
VOVICH. 


Bloch, Josef 
Bloch, Marcus 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


254 





BLOCH, JOSEF: Violin virtuoso and com- 
poser; born at Budapest Jan. 5, 1862. He made 
his first appearance in public at the age of twelve, 
and attended the National Academy of Music and 
the National Conservatory. His teachers were R. 
Volkmann (composition), A. Gobbi, and K. Huber. 
Bloch is said to have been one of the most distin- 
guished pupils of Huber. When barely sixteen 
years old he became assistant teacher at the National 
Conservatory; but his eagerness to learn more im- 
pelled him to attend the Paris Conservatoire, where 
for seven years he participated in public concerts. 
On his return to Budapest he became a member of 
the Hubay-Popper String Quartet until its dissolu- 
tion in 1892. In 1889 he became professor at the 
National Conservatory at Budapest and also at the 
National Academy of Music, but since 1899 has been 
connected solely with the latter institution. Bloch 
composed short pieces for the violin, two orchestral 
suites, exercises for the violin—all of which are 
published in three volumes. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pallas Lexikon; Sagh Zeneészeti Lexicon. 
Ss. 


BLOCH, JOSEF SAMUEL: Austrian rabbi 
and deputy; born at Dukla, a small city in Galicia, 
Nov. 20, 1850. His parents, who were poor, des- 
tined him for the rabbinical career, and he devoted 
himself to the exclusive study of the Talmud. He 
frequented the yeshibot, especially that of the cele- 
brated Rabbi Josef Saul Nathanson at Lemberg, 
who, in his responsa, mentions Bloch, when he was 
only fifteen years old, as one of his most intelligent 
pupils. After having finished his studies at the 
colleges (gymnasia) of Magdeburg and Licgnitz, 
he went to the University of Munich. Thence he 
went to the University of Zurich, where he obtained 

his degree of doctor of philosophy. 

Leaves He wasappointed rabbi in Rendsburg, 
Rabbinical Holstein, afterward in Kobvlin, Posen, 


for and Briix, Bohemia; and finally he 
Political ended his rabbinical career in Florids- 
Career. dorf, ncar Vienna. The anti-Semitic _ 


movement had at that time (about 
1880) almost reached its climax in Austria. 

During the Tisza-Eszlir trial Professor Robling, 
of the Catholic theological faculty of the Prague 
University, made a written offer to substantiate 
under oath the blood-ritual of the Jews. Blochthen 
came to the front with a series of articles in which 
he openly accused Rohling of having offered to com- 
mit wilful perjury; denouncing him, moreover, as 
a person utterly ignorant in Talmudic learning. 
After several successful attempts to delay the pro- 
ceedings, Rohling preferred to withdraw, thus 
tacitly acknowledging defeat (see BLoop Accv- 
SATION). 

At this time, 1883, Bloch founded a periodical, 
“ Qesterreichische Wochenschrift,” with the aim 
to defend the political rights of the Jews, to refute 
unjust attacks, and to inspire its readers with cour- 
age and faith in the conflict that had been forced 
upon them. Bloch also attended several meetings 
held by workingmen, and lectured with some suc- 
cess on the Talmudic principles of labor and on the 
laboring classes in the Old Testament. 


After the death, at Cracow, in 1884, of the chief 
rabbi 8. Schreiber, who had been deputy for Kolo. 
mea in parliament, Bloch was elected as his successor; 
in 1885 he was reelected, and after a hard struggle 
with Dr. Byk, in 1891 he was elected 
for the third time. Asa member of the 
Chamber of Deputies he withdrew 
from his rabbinical post in order to 
devote himself entirely to his public functions and 
journalistic labors. 

In 1893, instigated by one Deckert, an anti-Semitic 
pastor in Vienna, a baptized Jew named Paulus 
Meyer declared in the “ Vaterland” of May 11 that 
a number of Russian rabbis from Lentschna had 
performed a ritual murder in his presence. In the 
name of the children of these rabbis, Bloch at once 
instituted criminal proceedings against Deckert, 
Meyer, and the publisher of the paper, and on trial, 
Sept. 15, a conspiracy was unmasked and the three 
defendants were sentenced to heavy punishment. 

When in 1896 Christian socialism had gained a 
strong footing in parliament, and the government 
had commenced to recognize the Socialist party, 
Bloch was sacrificed and everything imaginable 
was done to prevent his reelection. Through the 
combined efforts of the government, the Christian- 
Socialist party, and the Polish club (party of Polish 
deputies), all of whom supported the election of the 
Jewish burgomaster of Kolomea, Bloch failed of re- 
election. Since that time he has devoted himself 
exclusively to journalism. Bloch published the fol- 
lowing works: “Ursprung und Entstehung des 
Buches Kohelet,” Bamberg, 1872; “Studien zur Ge- 
schichte der Sammlung der Alt-Testa- 
mentlichen Litteratur,” Leipsic, 1875; 
“ Die Juden in Spanien,” Leipsic, 1876; 
“Hellenistische Bestandtheile im Bib- 
lischen Kanon,” 2d ed., Vienna, 1880; “ Quellen und 
Parallelen zu Lessing’s Nathan,” 2d ed., Vienna, 
1881; “ Jean Bodin, ein Vorliufer Lessing’s,” Vienna, 
1882; “ Drei Streitschriften Gegen Prof. Rohling,” 
Vienna, 1882-83: “Die Arbeiter bei Griechen, 
Romern, und Palestinensern,” Vienna, 1882: “Ele- 
inentarschule, oder Erzichungswesen bei den Alten 
Voélkern,” Vienna, 1888; “ Armenpflege und Heimats- 
recht, eine Social-Talmud. Studie,” Vienna, 1884; 
“Kinblicke in die Geschichte der Entstehung der 
Talmudischen Literatur,” Vienna, 1884; “Aus der 
Vergangenheit ftir die Gegenwart,” Vienna, 1886; 
“ Acten und Gutachten im Processe Rohling-Bloch,” 
Vienna, 1892; “Open Letter to My Esteemed Col- 
leagues of the Italian Parliament,” London, 1895 
(published also in Italian and German); “Talmud 
und Judenthum in der Oesterreichischen Volksver- 
trebung,” Vienna, 1900 (parliamentary speeches). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, s.v. 

s. W. REI. 


BLOCH, JULIENNE: French educator and 
writer; died Nov. 12, 1868. She was the eldest and 
most distinguished daughter of Simon Bloch, 
founder and director of the journal “J’Univers 
Israélite”; the other three daughters being Pauline, 
Jenny, and Héléne. When only sixteen years of 
age Julienne received a license to teach, and hav- 
ing a natural gift for instructing, she devoted 


Becomes 
Deputy. 


His 
Works. 


255 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bloch, Josef 
Bloch, Marcus 





herself to the education of her young coreligionists. | Frankfort-on-the-Oder in 1747, he settled in Berlin 


For two years, when she was about twenty-five years 
of age, she directed the institution for young girls 
at Lyons, founded in 1857 by the Jewish community 
of thatcity. Afterward she taught in the establish- 
ment of her sister, Mme. Pereira, at Passy. 

Under the title “ Lettres Parisiennes,” Mlle. Bloch 
published, from June, 1854, to Aug., 1861, a series 
of articles in her father’s paper (“ L’Univers,” vols. 
ix.-xvii.). “Nothing could be more suitable,” says 
her panegyrist, M. Maurice Bloch (2d. 1895, part i., 
li. 32), “than the title of these letters, for they show 
true French wit, and, moreover, wit of the best 
quality. They remind me of the letters of Mme. 


Emile de Girardin.” 
8. M. S. 


BLOCH, LOUIS, or LEO: Swiss educator; 
born in 1864; since 1896 privat-docent in archeol- 
ogy and mythology at the University of Zurich. 
Bloch has written extensively on classical life and 
literature, Latin and Greek mythology, archeology, 
and on religious customs. His more important 
works are: “Der Kult und die Mysterien von Eleu- 
sis,” Hamburg, 1896, and “ Rémische Altertums- 
kunde,” Leipsic, 1898. The latter manual presents 
a complete history of the ancient Roman political 
institutions and customs of the people, and an ac- 
count of the private life, religion, and culture of the 
Romans. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Kohut, Bertihmte Isractitische Manner und 
Frauen, part xiii, p. 170, Leipsic, 1900. 
s. A. M. F. 


BLOCH, LUDWIG: German dramatist; born 
at Berlin Dec. 6, 1859; son of the theatrical pub- 
lisher Eduard. Bloch was educated at the Fric- 
drich-Wilhelm Gymnasium, entering his father’s 
business in 1875. Six years later he traveled through 
Great Britain, France, and the United States, resu- 
ming work with his father in 1883. He is the au- 
thor of: (1) “Dekorirt,” a comedy; (2) “Am 
Stammtisch,” a farce under the pseudonym R. 
Elbe; (8) “Frisch Durch die Welt,” a musical com- 
position; (4) “Am Wickeltisch,” a musical composi- 
tion; (5) “Werther und Lotte.” for piano. In his 
capacity as editor of his father’s publications, Bloch 
has produced various popular works relating to the 
Stage. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Das Geistige Bertin, 1897, p: 32. 
8. E. Ms. 


BLOCH, MARCUS ELIEZER: German ich- 
thyologist and physician, born at Ansbach in 1723; 
died in Carlsbad Aug. 6, 1799. His parents, being 
very poor, gave him hardly any education, so that 
on arriving at manhood he was almost illiterate, and 
till the age of nineteen could not even read German. 
Some knowledge of Hebrew and rabbinical litera- 
ture enabled him, however, to obtain a teacher’s 
position in the house of a Jewish surgeon in Ham- 
burg. Here he learned German thoroughly and 
mastered some Latin, taking up also the study of 
anatomy. Scientific enthusiasm being thus aroused, 
Bloch went to Berlin, where, with remarkable zeal, 
he devoted himself to the study of all branches of 
natural science and medicine, being supported by 
some relatives. After taking the degree of M.D. at 


and practised his profession for many years. 

In 1774 Bloch published a volume of medical 
treatises, “ Medicinische Bemerkungen, Nebst einer 
Abhandlung vom Pyrmonter Sanerbrunnen,” Berlin, 
1774; but after that he devoted himself almost ex. 
clusively to research in 
natural science, espe- 
cially in ichthyology. 
Travel increased his 
knowledge, and he 
made a fine collection 
of specimens of fishes, 
which, upon his death, 
was acquired by the 
Prussian government 
and presented to the 
Academy of Science, 
now to be seen in the 
Berlin Zoological Mu- 
scum. In 1781 Bloch 
published “ Die Oeko- 
nomische Naturgeschichte der Fische Deutschlands, 
Besonders des Preussischen Staates,” followed in 
1782-84 by “Ockonomische Naturgeschichte der 
Fische Deutschlands”; and during 1785-95 these 
works were completed by his “ Naturgeschichte 
Auslindischer Fische.” These series of publica- 
tions, under the general title “ Allgemeine Natur- 
geschichte der Fische,” Berlin, 1781-95, 12 vols., 
provided with 482 excellent plate-illustrations, 
formed the principal work on ichthyology in the 
eighteenth century. But this great work, which 
Bloch began to publish at his own expense, would 
not have been finished were it not for the enthusiasm 
that the enterprise roused throughout Germany, it 
being regarded as almost a national affair; so much 
so indeed that all the princes and patrons of science 
participated in the publication expenses of the last 
six volumes, each plate bearing the name of the per- 
son at whose cost it had been prepared. Notwith- 
standing the fact that the science of ichthyology 
has since been altogether modified, and that, al- 
though splendidly characterizing the fishes of Ger- 
many, the work is not always precise in the descrip- 
tion of fishes inhabiting waters outside that country, 
it still possesses great value, particularly on account 
of the illustrations. The “Allgemeine Naturge- 
schichte der Fische” was translated by Lavaux into 
French, Berlin, 1785. In a prize-cssay on the gen- 
eration of intestinal worms and the means of their 
extermination, entitled “Abhandlung von der Er- 
zeugung der Eingeweidewtirmer und den Mitteln- 
Wider Dieselben,” published in Berlin, 1782, and in 
Strasburg, 1788—a problem proposed by the Copen- 
hagen Royal Academy of Sciences—Bloch proved 
that these worms were hereditary. He left an in- 
complete scheme of an ichthyological system, pub- 
lished after his death by I. G. Schneider under the 
title “Systema Ichthyologie Iconibus CX. [lus- 
tratum,” Berlin, 1801. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Der Orient, 1840, pp. 214, 215; Allgemeine 
Deutsche Biographie, Leipsic, 1875; Brockhaus, Konversa- 
tions-Lexikon; M. Michaud, Biographie Universelle, Paris, 
1843; D’Hoefer, Nouvelle Biographie Universeile; Max 
So tae in Hirsch, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 


S. B. B. 





Marcus E. Bioch. 


Bloch, Mattithiah 
Bloch, Philip 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


256 





BLOCH, MATTITHIAH ASHKENAZI: 
Cabalist; lived at Jerusalem in the seventeenth cen- 
tury. <A blind adherent and indefatigable apostle of 
Shabbethai Zebi, he was appointed by him one of 
his prophets charged with the announcement of the 
Redemption. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sasportas, Zizat Nobel Zebi, p. 138; Kahana, 
‘Ehen ha-To‘im, p. 14; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, x. 199, 202. 


K. I. Br. 

BLOCH, MAURICE: French educator and 
writer; born at Colmar, Alsace, Ang. 5, 1853. He 
received his first education at the Jewish communal 
school of his native city, of which his father, Jo- 
seph Bloch, was director. Thence he passed to 
the lyceum, and after the Franco-Prussian war fin- 
ished his studies at Paris. He became “agrégé des 
lettres” in 1881. After teaching at the Ecole 
Monge, he became director of the Ecole Bischoffs- 
heim in 18838. He has acted as director and juror 
at several international expositions. Heisa laureate 
of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, 
and an officer of public instruction. 

Bloch has written numerous reports, and lectured 
especially for the Société des Etudes Juives, which 
has published his addresses, including “La Femme 
Juive dans le Roman et dans le Théatre”; “ L’Chuvre 
- Scolaire des Juifs Francais”; “Les Vertus Militaires 
des Juifs”; “Les Juifs et la Prospérité Publique.” 
Among his books for young people are “Les Méres 
des Grands Hommes” and “Epouses et Sceurs,” 
which have been very well received and have passed 
through several editions (Paris, Delagrave). He is 
aiso the author of “Femmes d’ Alsace” (Paris, Fisch- 
bacher), and has contributed to various Jewish and 
non-Jewish journals and reviews. 

Bloch has been a member of a number of bodies 
interested in the education of the young. S. 


BLOCH (BALLAGI), MORITZ: Hungarian 
Christian theologian and lexicographer; born March 
18, 1815, at Indédcz, Zemplén, Hungary; died Sept. 1, 
1891, at Budapest. He was the son of a tenant- 
farmer, from whom he received his first instruction 
in the Bible and the Talmud. After continuing his 
Talmudic studies at Nagyvarad and Papa, Bloch 
taught at Modér and Surany, where he became ac- 
quainted with the Greek and Roman classics. Dur- 
ing 1837 and 1838 he attended lectures in geometry 
and higher mathematics at the University of Pest, 
and at the same time began his literary activity by 
contributing articles to the “ Pester Tageblatt ” and 
by his “ Hasznos Mulatsigok ” (Useful Talks), which 
_ were favorably received. The talented author was 

recognized as a new champion of the Hungarian 
national cause. Bloch as Jew could, however, 
not obtain a diploma; he therefore, in the fall 
of 1889, went to Paris, to continue his studies. 
In his absence a memorable agitation in favor of 
the emancipation of the Jews was brought forward 
in the Hungarian Parliament (1840), and Bloch was 
by men in authority considered as the man fit to 
awaken interest for the cause in Jewish circles. 
Thereupon he wrote his pamphlet, “A Zsidé6krél” 
(On the Jews), and, at the instance of Baron Joseph 
Edtvos, returned to Hungary in order to devote him- 
self to religious literature and the Magyarizing of 
the Jews. In 1840-41 Bloch published his Hun- 


garian translation of the Pentateuch with philolog- 
ical and explaantory notes. After the appearance 
of the first book of the Pentateuch, Sept. 5, 1840, he 


was appointed corresponding member of the Hun- 


garian Academy of Science in recognition of his 
patriotic and scientific endeavors. His “ Nyelvé. 
szeti Nyomozasok ” (Philologic Investigations) ap- 
peared in 1841, and was followed in quick succession 
by “Ungarischer Unterricht in der Kleinkinder- 
schule,” Ofen, 1841; “Jiszrael Konyérgései Egész 
Evre,” i. Rész (Israel’s Prayers for the Whole Year, 
Ist part), Buda, 1841; “Elsé Jésok” (The First 
Prophets); the Book of Joshua, Hungarian transla- 
tion with commentary, Buda, 1842; “ Ausfithrliche 
Theoretisch-Praktische Grammatik der Ungarischen 
Sprache,” Pest, 1842. 

In addition to his literary work, Bloch devoted his 
attention to the establishment of a Hungarian rab- 
binical seminary, in which he interested, among 
others, Count Stefan Széchenyi, and which he advo- 
cated in the “ Pesti Hirlap,” the then most influen- 
tial organ of liberal Hungary. As the plan miscar- 
ried, Bloch again left Hungary; going to Tibingen 
to study theology under Ewald, Baur, and others, 
He was baptized in Notzingen May 11, 1843, and 
from that time to the end of his life associated with 
Josef Szekics and others. Bloch worked for the 
cause of Protestantism. In 1844 he accepted a call 
to the Protestant college of Szarvas. He remained 
in this position until the Revolution of 1848, when 
he became secretary to Gérgei; later on he occupied 
a similar post in the Ministry of War. 

Bloch’s literary activity embraced religion, theol- 
ogy, politics, and philology. In 1851 he became 
professor of theology in Budapest; in 1858 he 
founded in that city the “Protestantische Kirchen- 
und Schulzeitung,” which soon became the principal 
organ of liberal Protestantism in Hungary. His 
books, “Die Protestantenfrage in Ungarn und die 
Politik Oesterreichs,” Hamburg, 1860; “Tajéko- 
zas” (Expositor), 1863; and “The Struggle of Prot- 
estantism Against Ultramontanism ” (in Hungarian, 
1869), advocated the same liberal policy. He founded 
many institutions of Hungarian Protestantism, and 
as professor, writer, and editor contributed largely 
to the material and intellectual growth of that 
Church, which regarded him as one of its most emi- 
nent supporters and representatives. Bloch’s chief 
services, however, were rendered to the Hungarian 
language, which he cultivated throughout his life. 
His grammars, readers, and lexicons were for a long 
time important factors of Hungarian culture, and 
have materially aided the Magyarizing of Hungary. 
Although superseded in part by more recent works, 
his “Ausfiihrliche Theoretisch-Praktische Gram- 
matik der Ungarischen und Deutschen Sprache” 
(8th ed., Budapest, 1880); “ Vollstindiges Waorter- 
buch der Ungarischen und Deutschen Sprache” (5th 
ed., 22. 1882); “Collection of Hungarian Proverbs 
and Sayings” (Hungarian, 2 vols., 2 ed., 7b. 1855) 
are still of value. 


Bip Cer sray : Pallas Lexikon; Meyer, Konversations-Lex- 
ikon. 


S E. N. 


BLOCH, MOSES: French rabbi; born at Wint- 
zenheim, Upper Alsace, Jan. 2, 1854; died Nov.. 


257 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bloch, Mattithiah 
Bloch, Philip 





1901; educated at the Lycée Colmar, the Paris Rab- 
binical Seminary, and the Ecole des Hautes-Etudes, 
where he studied Arabic. He wasrabbi of Remire- 
mont (Vosges) from 1878 to 1883; assistant secretary 
of the Alliance Israélite Universelle; assistant pro- 
fessor of Arabic at the Paris Rabbinical Seminary 
from 1886 to 1888. In that year he was appointed 
rabbi at Versailles, which position he held until his 
death. He prepared a French translation in four 
volumes of the Mahzor (“Traduction Francaise du 
Mahzor Sejon le Rite du Temple de la Rue de la Vie- 
toire & Paris, pour Toute Année”). Blochalso trans- 
lated into French the third, fourth, and fifth volumes 
of the “ History of the Jews” by Graetz, 1888-97, as 
well as Gross’s “Gallia Judaica,” 1897. In 1888 he 
published the Arabic text, with Hebrew annotations, 
of Maimonides’ “Sefer ha-Mizwot”; and he was 
a contributor to the “Revue des Etudes Juives” 
(vols. i. and v.) and to “L’ Univers Israélite.” 5S. 


BLOCH, MOSES: German rabbi; born at Gai- 
lingen, Baden, in 1805; died at Buchau March 3, 
1841. He pursued his Talmudical studies at En- 
dingen, Manheim, and Carlsruhe, and then entered 
the University of Heidelberg. After passing his 
examination for the rabbinate, he first became as- 
sistant rabbi at Oberdorf, Wiirttemberg (1829), and 
then rabbi at Buchau (1834), Bloch belonged to the 
liberal religious party. In addition to a few ser- 
mons, he published an essay upon Jewish fasts in 
Geiger’s “ Jiidische Zeitschrift” (iv. 176 et seq.). 

S. M. K. 


BLOCH, MOSES LOB: Rector of the rabbin- 
ical seminary at Budapest; born at Ronsperg (Bohe- 
mnia) Feb. 15, 1815, Among his ancestors were Isaac, 
rabbi at Cracow, the grandson of the latter, Phine- 
has Selig, author of the “‘Ateret Paz”; and the 
latter's son, Aryeh Low, a well-known Talmudist, 
who was the father of Eleazar Léw, the author of 
“Shemen Rokeah.” 

After studying under Philipp Kohner, a pupil of 
Ezekiel Landau, district rabbi of Pilsen, Bloch was 
entrusted to the care of his uncle, Wolf Low, author 
of the “Sha‘are Torah.” Léw, who guided the 
boy’s studies for seven years (1827-34) in his house 
at Gross-Tapolcsiny (Hungary), is often quoted in 
hisnephew’s lectures. On graduating from the gym- 
nasium at Pilsen, he went in 1840 to the University 
of Prague, and was appointed a rabbi at Wotitz in 
1841, when he married Auna Weishut (died 1886). 
He was called as rabbi to Hermanmiestec, Bohe- 
mia, in 1852, and to Leipnik, Moravia, in 1856, where 
he remained until Oct., 1877. In that year he was 
called as professor and rector to the Rabbinical Sem- 
inary at Budapest. 

Bloch published the following works: (1) “Sha- 
‘are Torat ha-Tekanot” (“Die Institutionen des 
Judenthums nach der in den Quellen Augegebenen 
Geschichtlichen Rethenfolge Geordnet und Entwick- 
elt”), 4 vols., Vienna and Cracow, 1879-1902, 3 
vols., Budapest, 1902; (2) “Das Mosaisch-Talmu- 
dische Polizeirecht ” (special print from the “ Annual 
Report” of the Rabbinical Seminary), Budapest, 
1879; (8) “Die Ethik in der Halacha” (also in Hun- 
garian; appeared in the “Annual Report” of the 

lil. —17 


Seminary for 1885), Leipsic, 1886; (4) “ Das Mosaisch- 
Talmudische Erbrecht ” (in the “ Annual Report ” for 
1889) ; (5) “Sefer Sha‘are Teshubot Maharam” (“ Die 
Bisher Unedirten Responsa des R. Meir von Rothen- 
burg”), Berlin, 1891 (“Mekize Nirdamim ” publica- 
tions); (6) “Der Vertrag nach Mosaisch-Talmu- 
dischem Rechte” (from the “Annual Report” for 
1893), Budapest, 1893; (7) “Das Mosaisch-Talmu- 
dische Besitzrecht” (from the “ Annual Report” for 
1897). The works published in the reports of the 
Landes-Rabbinerschule (National Rabbinical School) 
have all appeared also in the Hungarian language. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Block Mozes, Rabbi (Festschrift zu Ehren 
Sr. Ehrwtirden des Herrn Rabbiners Moses Bloch Antdss- 
lich Seines 80. Geburtstages), edited by the professors of 
the Rabbinical Seminary, 1895. 

A. F.-G. 


S. 
BLOCH, PHILIP: Rabbiand author; born in 
Prussia May 380, 1841. He studied at the Univer- 
sity of Breslau, and under Frankel, Gritz, and Jacob 
Bernays at the Jewish Theological Seminary; grad- 
uated as Ph.D. in 1864; and received his rabbinical 
degree in 1867. He organized a Jewish congrega- 
tional school at Munich in 1869; and became rabbi 
of the Israehtische Briidergemeinde at Posen in 
1871. Interested at first in religio-philosophic and 
haggadic studies, he devoted himself later to his- 
toric researches on the Jews of Poland. 

Bloch is the author of the following works: 
“Glauben und Wissen,” a translation of the intro- 
duction and first book of Saadia’s “Emunot we- 
De‘ot,” 1879; “Die Willensfreiheit von Chasdai 
Kreskas,” which is chap. v. of the second treatise 
of the “Or Adonai” translated and explained, 1879; 
“Die Generalprivilegien der Polnischen Juden- 
schaft,” 1892; “Geschichte der Entwickelung der 
Kabbalah und der Jiidischen Religionsphilosophie,” 
1894; “ Heinrich Griitz, a Memoir,” 1898—prefatory 
to the index volume (vi.) of the American edition of 
Griitz’s history. Among the numerous essays which 
he contributed to the various magazines may be 
mentioned: “Studien zur Haggadah,” contributed to 
“ Monatsschrift,” 1885, pp. 166 ef seg.; “ Die Piskoth 


fiir die Drei Trauersabbathe, gw, Uebersetzt 
und Erliutert,” in “Festschrift zum Achtzigsten 
Geburtstage Moritz Steinschneider’s,” 1896, pp. 41 e¢ 
seq.; “Die Sage von Saul Wahl, dem Eintagskoénig 
von Polen,” in “ Zeitschrift der Historischen Gesell- 
schaft ftir die Provinz Posen,” 1889, p. 233; “ Juden- 
wesen, Jahr 1793,” in “Das Urkunden und Akten- 
stiicke zur Organisation Siidpreussens,” 1895, p. 591. 

The following sketch-pedigree gives the descent 
of Dr. Philip Bloch: 

Jacob Bloch (died about 1680) 


Jonathan (died 5th of Iyyar, 1722) 


Zebi Hirz (died 27th of Adar, 1769) 


Solomon Jacob Jonathan (died Feiwel (died 4th of 
(died in (died in &thofSiwan, 1801) Kislew, 1804) 
London) Philadel- = Gittel Gratz, 

phia) _— sister of Michael Jacob Koppel (died 


ben Salman 
Gratz (see 
GRATZ COLLEGE) 


10th of Adar, 1842) 


Jekuthiel Salman 
(died 16th of She- 
bat, 1846) 


Phitip Bloch 


Bloch 
Blood 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


258 


ee nnn OO ea, 


All of these were Talmudists, but the most im- 
portant was 

Jonathan Bloch: Founder of the Congregation 
Langendorf in Russia; bought a cemetery, and had 
a Talmudic school from which were graduated some 
well-known rabbis. 

8. Pb; 

BLOCH, ROSINE: French singer; born in 
Paris in 1844; daughter of a merchant. She was 
very beautiful and had a magnificent mezzo- 
soprano voice. She studied at the Conservatoire, 
and received in 1865 the first prize for singing and 
the first prize for opera. Finding an engagement 
soon after at the Opera in Paris, she made a brilliant 
début in the réle of Azucena in “TI] Trovatore.” In 
1867 she created the réle of Chloris, in “La Fiancée 
de Corinthe,” by Duprato; and in 1873 that of Cla- 
ribet in “La Coupe du Roi de Thule,” by Diaz. 
When, in 1880, “ Aida” was put on the stage, Bloch 
undertook with great success the rédle of Amneris. 
For fifteen years she was a member of the Opera 
at Paris. 

She might have attained to the foremost rank in 
grand opera had her magnificent voice been sup- 
plemented by a temperament less cold and by a 
more pronounced dramatic instinct. 

S. A, A. G. 

BLOCH, SAMSON (SIMSON) B. ISAAC 
HA-LEVI: Galician author; born in Kulikow, near 
Lemberg, 1782; died there Oct. 7, 1845. He received 
the usual Talmudical education, but was also suffi- 
ciently instructed in the Bible and Hebrew grammar, 
thing's uncommon in the Galician curriculum of those 
times. In the house of his uncle, Baruch Zebi Neu, 
Bloch made the acquaintance of his uncle’s illustrious 
pupil, Nachman Krochmal, who was three years his 
junior, and their friendship, which ripened as the 
years went on, lasted till Krochmal’s death in 1840. 
Bloch married while very young, and engaged in 
business without any training or knowledge of the 
world, Success under such circumstances was almost 
impossible; and he was thrown or drifted from one 
occupation into another, remaining poor all his life. 
But his thirst for Knowledge and his firm resolve to 
make a name for himself in literature helped him 
to bear with fortitude all the vicissitudes of fortune. 
He studied in his leisure time and familiarized him- 
self with German and other languages, also with 
many Jewish and non-Jewish commentaries on the 
Bible. 

Bloch early became an enthusiastic devotee of the 
“Waskalah.” His first literary attempt was the 
publication of the epistle which Solomon b. Adret 
wrote against the study of philosophy, especially by 
young men, and the famous response by the poet 
Jedaiah Penini or Bedersi, which is known as 
“ Hitnazlut ha-Bedarshi ” (Bedersi’s Defense of Philo- 
sophical Studies), Lemberg, 1809. The letters are 
preceded by a long introduction in which Bloch 
throws much light on the controversy which shook 
Judaism to its foundations early in the fourteenth 
century. 

In 1812 Bloch was called to Vienna to fill the 
place of corrector in the Hebrew printing-establish- 
ment of Anton Schmid, made vacant by the death 
of the grammarian Ben Ze’eb. There he translated 


into Hebrew Manasseh b. Israel's “ Vindicia Jy- 

dzeorum” from the German translation of it by 

Dr. Marcus Herz, and published it with an intro- 

duction and a biographical sketch of the author 

(Vienna, 18138). He was compelled by family affairg 

to return to Kulikow, and, after several years of 

continual struggle with poverty, he listened to the 
advice of his friencs Krochmal and Rapoport, ang 
took up the writing of Hebrew books as a profession, 

In 1822 appeared the first volume of his important 

work, “Shebile ‘Olam ” (Paths of the World), a de- 

scription of the geography and the nations of Asig 

(Zolkiev). It still has a literary if not a scientific 

value on account of its incomparable style and of 

the attacks on the folly and superstition of the East- 
ern nations contained therein, which were really in- 
tended for fools and deluded people nearer home, 

The second volume (Africa) is even better than the 

first, and is interspersed with biographies of Alfasi, 

Maimonides, and other famous Jews who were born 

or lived in Africa (Zolkiev, 1827). 

Bloch made a journey through Hungary, Bohe- 
mia, Moravia, and Austria, in order to obtain sub- 
scriptions for his work. He was honored and as- 
sisted by the enlightened wherever he came; but the 
treatment accorded to Hebrew authors by the gen- 
eral public, especially by the ignorant among the 
wealthy classes, so disgusted him that he never 
finished the volume on Europe, although the divi- 
sions coutaining descriptions of Spain, Portugal, 
and part of France were already written. His last. 
years were Spent in poverty and disappointment, 
the dreariness and lonesomeness of his native city 
being rather accentuated than relieved by his occa- 
sional visits to the neighboring cities of Lemberg 
and Zolkiev. He died in Kulikow, leaving his nine- 
year-old daughter to the guardianship of his inti- 
mate friend R. Hirsch Chajes of Zolkiev. 

Besides the above-mentioned works, Bloch also 
translated into Hebrew Zunz’s biography of Rashi, 
to which he wrote an introduction and many uotes 
(Lemberg, 1840). This work bears unmistakable 
traces of decadence, both in style and virility. He 
also wrote many letters on literature which appeared 
in various Hebrew periodicals and collections. The 
most important of them is probably the one about 
philosophy and on Kant, in “Kerem Hemed,” v. 1, 
letter 24. The unfinished part of his geography of 
Europe was published under the title “Zehab 
Sheba” (The Gold of Sheba) (SBH.= Samson Bloch 
ha-Levi, Lemberg, 1855). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Meller, in Kokebe Yizhak, vy. 7, 8, 93 H. 
Hirsch Chajes, in Alig. Zeit. des Judenthums, v. 9, No. 475 
Taviov, Mibhar ha-Sifrut, p. 63, Piotrkov, 1899; Zunz, On 
the Geographicat Literature of the Jews, English transla- 
tion in vol. ii. ef Asher’s edition of The Itinerary of Rabhi 
Benjamin of Tudela, pp. 295, 296; Bader, Zer Perahim, pp. 


15-20, Warsaw, 1896. 
S. P. WI. 


BLOEMFONTEIN. See SoutH AFRICA. 


BLOGG or BLOCH, SOLOMON BEN 
EPHRAIM: Germanauthor; native of Neuwégen 
in Hanover; died Feb. 11, 1858. He was a teacher 
of the Hebrew language, and founded Telgener’s 
printing-press at Hanover in 1827. At the time of 
his death he was nearly cighty ycars old, and had 
been engaged in literary labors for forty-five years. 


259 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bioch 
Blood 





His printing-press was noted for the scientific accu- 
racy of its productions. Many of his works are im- 
portant for the history of the Hebrew language and 
literature. Blogg wrote: “ Abrégé de la Grammaire 
Hebraique,” Berlin, 1810; “ Erster Unterricht in der 
Englischen Sprache,” Hanover, 1818; “ Moses, der 
Vertraute der Gottheit,” 7b. 1824; “ Hebriische 
Grammatik fir Anfanger,” 2b. 1825; “Griindliche 
Beweise, wie der Jude bei einer Hidesleistung Ge- 
gonnen Ist,” 2, 1826; “Geschichte der Hebriischen 
Sprache und Literatur Nebst einem Anhange, die 
Targumim Betreffend,” 2d ed., 2b. 1826. 

He edited “Sammlung Aller Gebrauche, Obser- 
vanzen und Gebetformeln der Heutigen Polnischen 
und Deutschen Israeliten fiir das Ganze Jahr, Ur- 
spriinglich Verfasst von Salm. London, aber Be- 
reichert und Vielfach Verdeutscht,” ¢). 1830. This 
work of London appeared in Hebrew at Amsterdam 
in 1744, and was published in Jiidisch-Deutsch at 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder, in 1799. Blogg’s “ Binyan 
Shelomoh, A<dificium Salomonis” (76. 1881), treats 
of the Hebrew language and the Talmud in their 
historical aspects. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fiirst, Bihl. Jud. i. 122 et seq.; Zeitlin, Bibl. 
Post-Mendels. 2d ed., pp. 33 ct seg., tbh. 1891-55; Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 802: idem, Bibl. Handbuch, 
p. 23, ib. 1859; idem, Hebr. Bibl. i. 16, Berlin, 1858; idem, in 
fsraclitische Letterbode, 1883, ix. 48; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. 
Books Brit. Mus. 1867, p. 153; Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl. i, 282, 
Amsterdam, 1875. 

G. : A. M. F. 

BLOIS (orwrdaa, esrdinra, wardara, oa, wba 
p59): Capital of the department of Loir-et-Cher, 
France. Although of small importance itself, Blois 
occupies a prominent place in Jewish history through 
the somber drama of which it was, in 1171, the 
theater. 

On the testimony of a Christian servant of the 
mayor, a Judeophobe, the Jews of Blois were ac- 
cused of having crucified a Christian child for the 
Passover, and of having then thrown the body into 
the river. Count Theobald thereupon commanded 
that all the Jews should be cast into prison, with the 
exception of a woman named Pulcelina, for whom 
he entertained a particular affection. At first the 
accused hoped to escape by paying heavy ransom. 
Indeed, the count sent a Jew of Chartres to nego- 
tiate concerning the price of their acquittal, Buta 
priest intervened, beseeching the count to punish 
the Jews severely should the accusation be well 
founded. As the accused could not be easily con- 
victed, the authorities determined to submit the 
witness to the water test. The mayor’s servant was 
conveyed to the river and there placed in a boat 
filled with water. As he did not sink, the count and 
the populace were convinced that his statement was 
true; and consequently all the members of the Jew- 
ish congregation were condemned to death by fire. 
When they were brought to the auto da fé, a priest 
begged them to embrace Christianity and thus pre- 
serve their lives; but, with very few exceptions, 
they refused, and died (May 26, 1171) in the flames 
while chanting the prayer “‘Alenu,” containing the 
profession of faith in one God (Pulcclina died with 
the others). 

This was the first time in France that the Jews 
had been accused of using blood in their Passover. 


The anniversary of this martyrdom was decreed by 
R. Tam us a fast-day. Four dirges, composed by 
Hillel ben Jacob, Ephraim ben Jacob of Bonn, Ger- 
shom ben Isaac, and Menahem ben Jacob of Worms, 
and inserted in the selihot, perpetuated the memory 
of this sad event. The “Memorbuch” of Mayence 
has preserved the names of the martyrs; 

Baruch; Baruch ben Menahem; Isaac ben Eliezer; Jehiel 
ben Isaac ha-Kohen ; a pious rabbi, disciple of R. Samuel, prob- 
ably Rasbbam (compare “ Gallia Judaica,” p. 117) ; Jekuthiel 
ben Judah ; a rabbi, disciple of R. Samuel; Judah ben Aaron 
(brother of Isaac of Treves); Judah ben Meir: Judah ben Sam- 
uel; Moses ben Nun; Samuel ben Menabem: the young Pan- 
yan; Bona (wife of Samuel the hazan); Eiguelina; Hanna 
(daughter of R. Samuel); Hanna (with her little daughter born 
in the auto da fé); Leah (wife of R. Samuel), and her two 
daughters, Miriain and Miriam (wife of R. Judah); Rachel; 
Sarah; Zephora:; Zephora, 

The same “ Memorbuch ” mentions another auto da 
fé of Blois which took place in 1298, during the Rind- 
fleisch persecutions. It is, however, difficult to be- 
lieve that Jews ever settled there after this event. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bourquet, Recueil des Historiens de Gaule 

et de la France, xiii. 315; Ephraim ben Jacob of Bonn, in 

Stern’s Quellen zur Gesch. der Judenin Deutsehland, ii. 

58-78; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 117; Neubauer, in Rev. Et. 

Juives, iv. 12; Salfeld, Martyrologium, pp. 16, 17, 67; 

Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, vi. 183 et seq. 

G. I. Br. 

BLOOD.—Biblical Data: The importance of 
blood for the continuance of life must have been 
recognized even in most remote antiquity and 
under the most primitive conditions. Any one 
could see that the death of wild animals during the 
chase and of slaughtered domestic animals was due 
to loss of blood. Almost every one had occasion, 
more or less frequently, to notice that wounded men 
became unconscious after having lost a certain 
amount of blood, and that they died if the bleeding 
did not cease. “Toshed blood” is therefore synony- 
mous with “to kill,” “to murder,” and guilt for a 
person’s death is expressed by “damim,” plural of 
“dam” (blood). For instance, in Josh. ii. 19 the 
spies say to Rahab: “ And it shall be that whosoever 
shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, 
his blood shall be upon his head [{wye3 you, and 
we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with 
thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head 
Powe wou, if any hand be upon him.” So long 
as the blood circulates, the man or the animal lives; 
hence the assertion: “The life [Hebr., “soul”] of 
the flesh is in the blood [1A DI3 Wwan wps}” (Lev. 
xvii. 11), and (verse 14), “it is the life [Hebr., “soul | 
of allflesh ”; R. V., “the blood thereof is all one with 
the life thereof.” Even of animals it is said, “the 
life [Hebr., “soul”] of all flesh is the blood thereof 


Init owt ows S32 wa] (.), and “the blood is the 
life [we gin osn]” (Deut. xii. 283; compare Gen. 
ix. 4). The blood, then, is the seat of life or of the 
soul. All life originates in the breath of a being 
which God Himself sends forth: “ Thou sendest forth 
thy spirit, they are created” (Ps. civ. 

Blood an 30); “Thou takest away their breath, 
Object they die” (zb. 29). It is therefore easy 
of Awe. to understand how blood became an 
object of sacred awe; noris it difficult 

to explain the origin of the prohibition against the 
partaking of the blood of beasts or birds, or of meat 
that is still full of blood—a prohibition repeatedly 


Blood 
Blood Accusation 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


260 





and explicitly emphasized in the Old Testament 
(Gen. ix. 4; Lev. iii. 17, vii. 26, xvii. 10, xix. 26; 
Deut. xii. 16, 28; xv. 23). That this law was really 
observed, and that its transgression was regarded as 
a sin, is proved by I Sam. xiv. 32 et seg.; Ezek. 
xxxili. 25; Judith xi. 12. The apostle (Acts xv. 29; 
compare xv. 20, xxi. 25) exhorts the Gentiles to “ab- 
stain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, 
and from things strangled.” The ordinances refer- 
ring to blood, “azéyeoGar aiuatog Kai viKrov,” were 
obeyed by the Judseo-Christians from the very first 
(compare Clementine, ‘‘ Homilies,” vii. 4; Sibyllines, 
ii. 96), but by the Gentiles only after the historic 
books of the New Testament, and especially the 
Acts, were declared to be canonical. In J. G. 
Sommer’s “Das Aposteldekret” (ii. 46, 60 et seg., 
Kénigsberg, 1889) it is shown how the decree in 
Acts xv. 29, under the influence of the Torah and of 
the Jews that were consulted, led to a new cere- 
monial law, the import of which may be gathered 
from the penitential ordinances, “Libri Poeniten- 
tiales.” It may be incidentally remarked that the 
Koran also forbids the eating of blood (sura v. 4; 
compare ii. 175, xvi. 115). 

In addition to their natural aversion to the tasting 

of blood, the Jews had another reason for abstaining 
from it, which is indicated in Lev. xvii. 11, where 
God says: “I have given it [the blood] to you upon 
the altar to make an atonement for your souls.” 
God, in His mercy, ordained that blood should be 
a means of atonement; for which reason its place 
is upon the altar, and man shall not taste of it 
(compare also K. C. W. F. Bihr, “Symbolik des 
Mositischen Cultus, “ii. 200 et seg., Heidelberg, 1839). 
-—-In Rabbinical Literature: In conformity 
with the general development of Judaism after 
Ezra, the Jews of iater times multiplied and inten- 
sified the commands against partaking of blood 
{compare especially Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 
65-68). There are explicit directions regarding the 
elimination of blood from food, such as the soaking 
and salting of meat to be prepared for the table 
(compare ELEAZAR BEN JUDAH OF Worms, in 
“Rokeah”; Naphtali Benet, in “Sefer Berit 
Melah,” Prague, 1816; Ludwig Stern, “Die Vor- 
schriften der Thora,” § 18, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
1882; compare also DiETARY Laws). In the med- 
icine of the Talmud blood plays a purely negative 
part. Compare the sentence in B. B. 58b: “ At the 
head of death stand I, the blood; at the head of all 
remedies stand I, the wine,” In other words, most 
diseases arise In the blood. Blood is therefore not 
considered a remedy; but, on the contrary, bleeding 
and cupping (that is, the removal of blood) are rec- 
ommended as modes of treatment (compare Leopold 
LOw, “Gesammelte Schriften,” iii. 875-879, Szeg- 
edin, 1898). 
——In Folk-Lore: The supreme importance of 
blood for human and animal life explains its promi- 
nence in folk-lore, where it is employed for the con- 
firmation of compacts, for remedial, superstitious, 
and criminal purposes (compare Paulus Cassel, “ Die 
Symbolik des Blutes und ‘ Der Arme Heinrich,’ von 
Hartmann von Aue,” p. 265, Berlin, 1882; H. C. 
‘Trumbull, “The Blood Covenant,” p. 390, Philadel- 
phia, 1898). 


Owing to thecommand against tasting blood, and 
also to the Talmudic law forbidding any use to be 
made of a corpse (ANIA WON Ad). practises of this 
kind were abhorred by the Jews at all times. Sce 
BLoop ACCUSATION, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hermann L. Strack, Das Blut im Glauben 
und <Aberglauhen der Menschheit, mit Besonderer 
Berticksichtigung der Volksmedizin und des Jtidischen 
Blutritus, 8th ed., pp. 1-102, Munich, 1900; and the bibliog- 
raphy there given. 

J. SR. : H. L. §. 

BLOOD ACCUSATION: A term now usually 
understood to denote the accusation that the Jews— 
if not all of them, at all events certain Jewish sects—. 
require and employ Christian blood for purposes 
which stand in close relation to the ritual, and that, 
in order to obtain such blood, they commit assault 
and even murder. 

In the polemic of Josephus against the Alexan- 
drian grammarian Apion (“Contra Ap.,” ed. Niese, 
ii. 8, § 95), the latter is charged with having accused 
the Jews of annually fattening a Greck in the Tem- 
ple, killing him, offering his body as a sacrifice, eat- 
ing of his internal organs, and swearing an oath of en- 
mity against all Greeks (according to the ancient 
Latin translation, “Ejus corpus sac- 
rificare secundum suas solemnitates 
et gustare ex ejus visceribus et jus- 
jurandum facere in immolatione Greci, ut inimi- 
citias contra Griecos haberent”; the Greek text of 
the passage is unfortunately lost). Similar in im- 
port is the following statement of a certain Democri- 
tus, which the Greek Jexicographer Suidas (tenth 
century) has preserved: “Every seven years the 
Jews catcha stranger, whom they offer asa sacrifice, 
killing him by tearing his flesh into shreds” (67 xara 
éxtactiav Sévov aypetovtec mpooédepoy Kai Kata Anza Tac 
capKacg Jtéarvov kai oitw¢e avypovy). Nothing further 
is known of Democritus. Perhaps he drew his in- 
formation from Apion’s book. 

In Socrates’ “ Hist. Eccles.” there is an account of 
some drunken Jews who accidentally killed a Chris- 
tian lad whom they had hung up in derision of 
Haman at Purim, but it is doubtful whether this 
could have given rise to the myth. 

During all antiquity and far into medieval times 
there is no trace of any similar accusation against 
the Jews, not even in the Occident, although the 
work of Josephus was, upon the recommendation of 
Cassiodorius Senator, translated into Latin in the 
sixth century, and of this translation there are still 
more than twenty-four copiesextant. Neither by that 
bitter cnemy of the Jews, Agobard, bishop of Lyons 
(ninth century)—the statement to the contrary 
by August Rohling 1s a falsehood—nor by the monk 
Rudolph von Mainz, who inveighed against the 
Jews in 1146, and called them enemies of the Chris- 
tian religion, nor by Bernard of Clairvaux (1091- 
11538), was the accusation repeated. 

The first case in which Jews were actually ac- 
cused of having killed a Christian child for ritual 
purposes was that of St. William of Norwich in 
1144. According to an account recently discovered 
(Jessopp and James, “St. William of Norwich,” 
Cambridge, 1899), the disappearance of the boy was 
explained by a Jewish convert, one Theobald of 
Cambridge, as due to a universal conspiracy of the 


History. 


261 





European Jews, who every year cast lots where the 
annual sacrifice of a Christian child at Passover 
should take place. In the preceding year the lot had 
been cast at Narbonne and had fallen on Norwich. 
Absolutely no evidence was adduced that a murder 
had been committed; it seems indeed that the lad 
had been merely in a cataleptic fit when found, and 
was buried alive by his own relatives. None of the 
Jews Were tried or punished for the alleged crime, 
yet the mere statement of the Cambridge convert 
Jed to the bringing of similar charges at Gloucester 
in 1168, at Bury St. Edmunds in 1181, and at Win- 
chester in 1192. In none of these cases was there 
any trial; but popular rumor was considered suf- 
ficient to establish the martyrdom of the lads, and 
this proved a considerable source of attraction to 
the cathedrals and abbeys of these towns, 

In Dec., 1235, five children of a miller residing in 
the vicinity of the city of Fulda, Hesse-Nassau, 
were murdered, in consequence of which thirty-four 
Jews and Jewesses were slaughtered by the Cru- 
saders. The Jews were accused of the deed, and 
those put to the torture are said to have confessed 
that they murdered the children, in order to procure 
their Dlood for purposes of healing (“ut ex eis san- 
guinem ad suum remedium elicerent”). It is nec- 
essary to note here (1) that the reports say nothing 
of the presence of witnesses; (2) that the confessions 
were elicited through torture, and were consequently 
worthless; (8) that these confessions speak only of 
the intention to procure a remedy (“remedium ”), 
and contain no reference to ritualistic ceremonies; 
(4) that the German emperor, Frederick IT., in order 
to sift the matter thoroughly, invited a large num- 
ber of scholarsand distinguished Jewish converts to 
Christianity from all parts of Europe, who, in an- 
swer to the question whether the Jews required 
Christian blood for their Passover ceremonies 
(“Judei Christianum sanguinem in parasceve neces- 
sarium haberent”), replied: “ Neither the Old nor 
the New Testament states that the Jews lust for 
human blood: on the contrary, it is expressly stated 
in the Bible, in the laws of Moses, and in the Jewish 
ordinances designated in Hebrew as the * Talmud,’ 
that they should not defile themselves with blood. 
Those to whom even the tasting of animal blood is 
prohibited surely can not thirst for that of human 
beings, (1) because of the horror of the thing; (2) 
because if is forbidden by nature; (8) because of the 
human tie that also binds the Jews to Christians; 
and (4) because they would not wilfully imperil 
their lives and property.” The judgment of the 
emperor reads: “ For these reasons we have decided, 
with the general consent of the governing princes, 
to exonerate the Jews of the district from the grave 
crime with which they have been charged, and to de- 
clare the remainder of the Jews in Germany free 
from all suspicion.” 

This judgment did not suffice to clear the Jews of 
Germany from the general suspicion aroused by the 
Fulda incident. 

The affair may, however, have been a symptom, 
not a cause; since the accusation soon after became 
still more frequent in other countries. As early as 
1247 a trial. conducted in the little town of Valréas 
(Vaucluse, France), showed that the judges of the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blood 
Blood Accusation 





Inquisition there liad heard of the blood ac- 
cusation against the Jews. On the Wednesday 
before Easter (March 27) a two-year-old girl was 
found dead in the town moat, with wounds upon 
her forehead, hands, and feet. The fact that the 
child had been previously seen in the ghetto sufficed 
to fasten the suspicion of guilt upon the Jews. 
They were brought to trial, and, after being tor- 
tured, confessed even to the most absurd charges. 
One Bendig, for example, declared that the Jews 
had desired to celebrate communion on Easter Sat- 
urday, in accordance with a custom observed annu- 
aily in large Jewish communities and particularly in 
Spain, where a Saracen was bought for this purpose 
whenever a Christian could not be obtained. This 
confession appears to have been based on the rumor 
set afloat by the renegade Theobald of Cambridge 
in connection with St. William of Norwich. Bendig 
further declared that, fearing detection, the Jews of 
Valréas had poured the blood of the child into the 
cesspool. In the same year (1247) the Jews of Ger- 
many and France complained to Pope Innocent IV. 
that they were accused of employing the heart of a 
Christian child in the celebration of communion dur- 
ing the Passover festival. 

According to present information, the biood accu- 
sation against the Jews dates from the middle of the 
thirteenth century. ‘The first literary reference to itis 
made about this time in the following passage from 
the writing, “Bonum Universale de Apibus,” ii. 29, 
§ 23, by Thomas of Cantimpré (a monastery near 

Cambray): “It is quite certain that 


Earliest the Jews of every province annually 
Mention. decide by lot which congregation or 


city is to send Christian blood to the 
other congregations.” Thomas also believes that since 
the time when the Jews called out to Pilate, “ His 
blood be on us, and on our children ” (Matt. xxvii. 
20), they have been afflicted with hemorrhages: “A 
very learned Jew, who in our day has been converted 
to the [Christian] faith, informs us that one enjoying 
the reputation of a prophet among them, toward 
the close of his life, made the following prediction: 
‘Be assured that relief from this secret ailment, to 
which you are exposed, can only be obtained through 
Christian blood [** solo sanguine Christiano ’’].’ This 
suggestion was followed by the ever-blind and im- 
pious Jews, who instituted the custom of annually 
shedding Christian blood in every province, in order 
that they might recover from their malady.” Upon 
the basis of the information furnished by this con- 
vert, Thomas adds that the Jews had misunderstood 
the words of their prophet, who by his expression 
“solo sanguine Christiano” had meant not the blood 
of any Christian, but that of Jesus—the only true 
remedy for all physical and spiritual suffering. It 
is a pity that Thomas does not mention the name of 
the “ very learned” proselyte. Possibly it was Nich- 
olas Donin of La Rochelle, who in 1240 had a dispu- 
tation on the Talmud with Jehiel of Paris, and who 
in 1242 caused the burning of numerous Talmudic 
manuscripts in Paris. It is known that Thomas 
was personally acquainted with this Nicholas. 
Of the alarmingly large number of ritual trials 
only a few of the more important and instructive 
can here be mentioned: 


Blood Accusation 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


262 





The case of Little St. Hugh of Lincoln is men- 
tioned by Chaucer, and has thus become well known. 
A little lad of eight years, named Hugh, son of a 
woman named Beatrice, disappeared at Lincoln on 
the 8ist of July, 1255. His body was discovered 
on the 29th of August, covered with filth, in a pit 
or well belonging toa Jewnamed Jopin. On being 
promised by John of Lexington, a judge, who hap- 
pened to be present, that his life should be spared, 
Jopin is said to have confessed that the boy had 
been crucified by the Jews, who had assembled at 
Lincoln for that purpose. King Nenry III, on 
reaching Lincoln some five weeks afterward, at the 
beginning of October, refused to carry out the 
promise of John of Lexington, and had Jopin exe- 
cuted and ninety-one of the Jews of Lincoln seized 
and sent up to London, where eighteen of them 
were executed. The rest were pardoned at the in- 
tercession of the Franciscans (Jacobs, ‘‘ Jewish 
Ideals,’’ pp. 192-224). 

In 1267, at Pforzheim, Baden, the corpse of a 
seven-year-old girl was found in the river by fisher- 
men, The Jews were suspected, and when they 
were led to the corpse, blood began to flow from 
the wounds; led to it a second time, the face of the 
child became flushed, and both arms were raised. 
In addition to these miracles, there was the testi- 
mony of the daughter of the wicked woman who 
had sold the child to the Jews. A regular judicial 
examination did not take place; and it is probable 
that the above-mentioned “wicked woman” was the 
murderess. That a judicial murder was then and 
there committed against the Jews in consequence of 
the accusation is evident from the manner in which 
the Nuremberg “ Memorbuch” and the synagogal 
poems refer to the incident (Salfeld, “Martyrolo- 
gium,” pp. 15, 128~180). 

At Weissenburg, Alsace, in 1270, a miracle 
alone decided the charge against the Jews. Al- 
though, according to the accusation, the Jews had 
suspended a child (whose body was found in the 
Lauter river) by the feet, and bad opened every 
artery in its body zn order to obtain all the blood, its 
wounds were said to have bled for five days after- 
ward (!). 

In 1286, at Oberwesel, miracles again constituted 
the only evidence against the Jews. The corpse of 
the eleven-year-old Werner is said to have floated up 
the Rhine (against the current) as far as Bacharach, 

emitting a radiance, and being invested 

Thirteenth with healing powers. In consequence, 

Century. the Jewsof Oberwesel and many other 

adjacent localities were severely per- 

secuted during the years 1286-89. Emperor Ru- 

dolph I., to whom the Jews had appealed for pro- 

tection, issued a public proclamation to the effect 

that great wrong had been done to the Jews, and 

that the corpse of Werner was to be burned and the 
ashes scattered to the winds. 

The statement was made, in the “Chronicle” of 
Conrad Justinger (d. 1426), that at Bern in 1294 
the Jews had shockingly tortured and murdered the 
boy Rudolph. The historical impossibility of this 
widely credited story was demonstrated by Stamm- 
ler, the pastor of Bern (see “ Katholische Schweizer- 
Blatter,” Lucerne, 1888). 


In 1462, at Rinn, near Innsbruck, a boy named An- 
dreas Oxner was said to have been bought by Jew. 
ish merchants and cruelly murdered by them in a 
forest near the city, his blood being carefully col. 
lected in vessels. The accusation of drawing off the 
blood (without murder) was not made until the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth century. The older in- 
scription in the church of Rinn, dating from 1575, 
is distorted by fabulous embellishments; as, for ex- 
ample, that the money which had been paid for the 
boy to his godfather was found to have turned into 
leaves, and that a lily blossomed upon his grave. 

In 1475 occurred the case of the boy Simon of 
Trent. The confessions elicited by torture here 
themselves preclude the possibility of a ritual mur- 
der. The Feast of Passover in 1475 began on the 
evening of March 22, that is, on Wednesday. Ac- 
cording to the charge, however, the boy did not dis- 
appear before Thursday, and he was murdered on Fri- 
day. The Jewscould, therefore, have employed the 
blood neither for their unleavened bread (“ mazzot ”) 
nor for the four cups (“arba‘ kosot”). Nevertheless, 
they are alleged to have admitted that they required 
“fresh Christian blood” for this particular year, as 
being a Jubilee year. But, in truth, the Jews have 
not counted or celebrated the Jubilee year (Lev. 
XxXv.) since the destruction of the Temple by Nebu- 
chadnezzar. The year 1475, however, was a Jubilee 
year of the Catholic Church; and the ignorant tor- 
turers, believing that the Jews also 
celebrated it as a jubilee, forced their 
victims to confess accordingly. The 
publication of the documents in the 
case of the boy Simon (collected and 
copied by Moritz Stern, Berlin) is 
much to be desired (compare the extracts in Her- 
mann Strack, “Das Blut,” pp. 126-131). 

At La Guardia, near Toledo, Spain, the accusa- 
tion recurred in 1490. Here no inquiry was made 
as to the remains, the clothes of the child, the in- 
struments of the murder, or the time and place of 
its commission. Modern historians even deny that 
a child had disappeared at all (Loeb, “Rev. Etudes 
Juives,” xv. 208-282; Lea, in “English Historical 
Review,” iv. 289-250). Nevertheless, Lope de Vega 
employed this supposititious incident as the plot of 
a play. 

In a case at Tyrnau, Hungary, in 1494, the absurd- 
ity, even the impossibility, of the statements forced 
by torture from women and children shows that the 
accused preferred death as a means of escape from 
the torture, and admitted everything that was asked 
of them. They even said that Jewish men men- 
struated, and that the latter therefore practised the 
drinking of Christian blood as a remedy. 

At Bazin (= Bosing), Hungary, in 1529, it was 
charged that a nine-year-old boy had been bled to 
death, suffering cruel torture; and thirty Jews con- 
fessed to the crime and were publicly burned. The 
true facts of the case were disclosed later, when the 
child was found alivein Vienna. He had been stolen 
by the accuser, Count Wolf of Bazin, as an easy but 
fiendish means of ridding himself of his Jewish 
creditors at Bazin. 

In Feb., 1840, at Damascus, Syria, Father Thomas, 
a Capuchin, and his servant were murdered. In 


Fifteenth 
and 
Sixteenth 
Centuries. 


283 





this instance, also, confessions were obtained only 
after the infliction of barbarous tortures. <A trust- 
worthy witness of the proceedings was the converted 
Jew G. W. Pieritz, who said of himself that he was 
no friend or defendant of rabbinism (* Persecution 
of the Jews at Damascus,” London, 1840). See 
Damascus AFFAIR, 

In 1882, at Tisza-Eszlar, the victim was Esther Soly- 
mosi (compare Paul Nathan, “ Der Prozess von Tisza- 
Eszlar,” Berlin, 1892). See Trsza-EszLArR AFFAIR. 

At Corfu, during the night of April 12, 1891, an 
eight-year-old girl was murdered. It was com- 
monly reported that the child had been a Christian, 
Maria Desylla by name, and that Jews had murdered 
her and then taken her blood. Her teacher, how- 
ever, declared, ina document attested by the French 
consul at Corfu, that the child’s name was Rubina 
Sarda, and that she was a Jewess. 

In 1891, at Xanten, Rhenish Prussia, a butcher, 
Adolph Buschhoff, was accused of murdering the 

boy Johann Hegmann, five and one- 

Nineteenth half years of age, and of drawing and 

Century. concealing his blood. The two public 

prosecutors, after carefully collecting 

all the evidence, declared that the accused could not 

have committed the deed, and that there was no 

evidence showing that blood had been concealed (see 
Strack, @.¢. pp. 153-156). 

On April 1, 1899, at Pola, Bohemia, there was 
found in the forest near the town the body of Agnes 
Hruza, a seamstress, nineteen years old, with a gash 
iu the throat. A Jew, Leopold Hilsner, an idler, 
twenty-three years of age, was accused of the deed, 
and in the same year was sentenced to death by the 
court at Kuttenberg for complicity in the murder. 
The public prosecutor, Schneider-Swobeda, and the 
advocate, Dr. Baxa, averred (the former indirectly, 
the latter openly) that a ritual murder was involved. 
But the medical faculty of the Czech University of 
Prague have demonstrated that the obtaining of 
blood must be excluded as a motive for the deed. 
No blood was missing: a quantity proportionate to 
the size of the body was found in the saturated gar- 
ments, in the hair (which was caked with blood), in 
the pool of blood near the body, and in the body 
itself. After the Court of Cassation at Vienna had 
set aside the first verdict, Hilsner, in Oct., 1900, was 
condemned a second time by the court at Pisek, and 
again upon the charge of complicity, although there 
was no evidence that more than one person had been 
engaged in the murder. This decision was again 
attacked, but was upheld, May, 1901, by the Court 
of Cassationat Vienna. Whether Hilsneris the sole 
murderer, an accomplice, or entirely innocent, in no 
case is a ritual murder here involved, or a murder of 
which the object was the obtaining of blood. See 
PoLNA AFFAIR. 

Despite the strenuous efforts of the police, the 
murderer of Ernst Winter, a nineteen-year-old pupil 
at the gymnasium at Konitz, West Prussia, has not. 
yet been discovered. There is no trace of a ritual 
murder, or of a desire on the part of the murderer to 
appropriate any of the blood. The dismembertnent 
of the body is fully explained as having been done 
for the purpose of safely removing the remains from 
the scene of the murder. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Blood Accusation 





ae 


The origin of the blood accusation has not yet 
been discovered. The annals of Erfurt state that 
the Jews used waxed sacks (“in saccis cera linitis ”) 
for collecting the blood of the children killed at 
Fulda in Dec., 1235. According to the Marbach 
annals (also contemporaneous with the event) the 
Jews confessed that they wished to utilize the blood 
for remedial purposes. The annals also state that 
the emperor Frederick II. (as mentioned above) con- 
sulted a number of distinguished converted Jews in 
order to ascertain whether the Jews required Chris- 
tian blood on Parasceve—a term fre- 
quently used to designate Good Fri- 
day. As early as the twelfth century 
it was several times reported that the 
Jews had crucified Christian children 
during Easter (e.g., William of Norwich, 1144, see 
above; Gloucester, 1171; Blois, 1179; Richard of 
Paris, in Pontoise). Whether all or part of these 
reports agree with the facts, or are alike unworthy 
of credence, the theory of a ritual murder is in no 
case justified ; and, if theaccounts are historical, it can 
only be assumed that the Jews in one instance or on 
several occasions put Christians to death. A ritual- 
istic feature was imparted to these real or supposed 
crucifixions or other murders of Christians, and es- 
pecially of Christian children, by the suggestions: (1) 
that the murders involved the acquisition of blood; 
and (2) that the crimes were related to the Passover 
festival. The emperor had probably already heard 
that Christians had been crucified or otherwise mur- 
dered by Jews at the period of the Christian Easter: 
he now heard of the bleeding of the victims, and 
asked (if the expression “in Parasceve” is correct) 
whether the Jews did at that time actually require 
Christian blood. This explains why the Jews of 
Valréas in 1247 were forced to confess that they 
wanted the blood of the murdered child in order to 
celebrate communion on Easter Saturday. The ab- 

surdity of such a confession on the 
Connection part of Jews was so obvious that even 
with the most stupid inquisitors could not. 

Easter. afford to have it often repeated. The 

most dangerous consequences, on the 
other hand, followed from the establishment of a 
connection between the blood accusation and the 
period of the Jewish Passover festival. A state- 
ment to this effect appears to have been first made 
by Richer of Sens in the “Gesta Senoniensis Eccle- 
sie,” published between 1239 and 1270. He men- 
tions the event at Fulda as occurring on the day 
before Passover (“quarta decima luna ”)—that is, 
March 22, 1236—whereas both the “ Memorbuch ” 
of Nuremberg and the annals of Erfurt irrefutably 
establish the date as Dec. 28, 1285 (Salfeld, “ Marty- 
rologium,” pp. 18, 122). The false statement of 
Richer is probably traceable to the fact that he 
could find no connection between the bleeding and 
the Christian Easter. The untrustworthiness of 
Richer’s chronology is evident also from the fact 
that he places the scene of the murder at Hagenau, 
Alsace, instead of at Fulda, although it is firmly es- 
tablished that the corpses of the children were 
brought to Hagenau. Reference has already been 
made to the petition presented by the Jews of Ger- 
many and France to Pope Innocent IV., to the effect 


Origin of 
Biood Ac- 
cusation. 


Blood Accusation 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


264 





that they had been accused of celebrating the Feast 
of Passover with the heart of a murdered Christian 
boy, in answer to which the pope issued a bull July 
5) decreeing that the Jews should not be persecuted 
because of this false accusation. Examples of the 
association of ritual murders with the Feast of Pass- 
over are found as follows: at Weissensee, Thuringia, 
1308; Savoy, 1329; Trent, 1475; Boleslaw, Galicia, 
1829: Tarnow, Galicia, 1844; Ostrovo, in the Rus- 
sian government of Lublin, 1875; Eisleben, 1892; 
Bakau, Rumania, 1892 (see Strack, t.¢. ch. x viii.). 

Several circumstances conduced to spread the be- 
lief that the use of human blood among the Jews 
was directly associated with the Feast of Passover. 
The mazzot, for example, were, to secure purity 
and absolute absence of leaven, prepared with pecul- 
jar ceremonies incomprehensible to Christians, and 
were, therefore, invested with an element of mys- 
tery—a circumstance enhanced by the great and 
somewhat superstitious value then (and even to- 
day) placed by many Jewish people upon the Pass- 
over bread. It was natural to compare it to the 
wafers used at the Christian communion, when, by 
eating the wafer, the pious Christian believed that 
he partook of the body and blood of Christ; the 
blood purifying from all sin, and working miracles. 
“Without blood, no atonement ” was both Old Tes- 
tament and Christian doctrine. Since the destruction 
of the Second Temple, however, the blood sacri- 
fices of the Jews had, as stated above, ceased; and 
the assumption would naturally arise that the Jews 
had endeavored to find a substitute. The blood of 
Christ was visible neither in the bread nor in the 
wine of the holy communion; was it not possible 
that the mazzot contained a similar invisible ingre- 
dient, operating as amysteriousagency? The Jews 
also preferably used red wine for the four cups 
which they were commanded to drink on the first 
two evenings of the Passover festival: the red color 
of the wine, according to the legend, being reminis- 
cent not only of the blood of the Israelitish children 
(Ex. R. ii. 28) shed to prepare a bath for the leprous 
Pharaoh, but also of the numerous Jews who had 
died for their faith. This red wine has been inter- 
preted by the enemies of the Jews as being actual 
blood; and consequently David ha-Levi b. Samuel, 
in his commentary “Ture Zahab” to the Shulhan 
‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 472, 8, has warned against its 
use. So much for a real or imaginary association 
between the blood accusation and the Feast of Pass- 
over. It but remains to mention one other circum- 
stance, For the healing of the wound caused by 
circumcision the Jews frequently used the so-called 
“dragon’s blood,” a dark or blood-red gum of a 
species of palm (Calamus Draco, Pterocarpus Draco, 
Dracena Draco), Whoever held this gum to be 
blood unjustly accused the Jews of employing blood 
for ritual purposes. 

But all this does not suffice to explain that the 
accusation of employing blood for ritual purposes 
has, during six and one-half centuries and through- 
out a large part of Europe, rested heavily on the 
Jews. The Christians have never had more than a 
very imperfect knowledge of the language, religion, 
and customs of the Jews dwelling among them; 
whereas the Jews, as a whole, had far better informa- 


tion, at least as regards the language and customs 
of the nation among which their lot was cast. This 
circumstance also accounts for the 


Anti- superstitious and distrustful attitude 
Jewish toward the Jews. Just as the Roman 
Prejudice Catholic clergyman in specifically 
the Real Protestant districts was frequently in- 
Basis. vested with wonder and mystery, the 


Jews in Christian lands frequently be- 
came the subjects of superstitious misconceptions on 
the part of the Christian population. In the strife, 
waged at Bern in 1507, between the Dominicans and 
Franciscans, the assertion was made that the Domin- 
icans had used the blood and eyebrows of a Jewish 
child for secret purposes (Grénneirus, “ Berner 
Chronik,” 1585, p. 622). In 1890 the magician 
Wawrzek Marut was sentenced in Galicia for steal- 
ing the corpses of two Jewish children from the 
cemetery, in order to fumigate a peasant’s hut after 
typhoid fever. He declared that there were two 
kinds of typhoid: one a Catholic type, banishable 
through the Lord’s Prayer; the other a Jewish type, 
removable only by means of Jewish bones (compare 
A. Wuttke, “Der Deutsche Volksaberglaube der 
Gegenwart,” Berlin, 1869, Index). 

Furthermore, the belief in the miraculous proper- 
ties of blood may be traced farinto antiquity, andits 
high importance to vitality must ever have been 
obvious (see BLoop). A severe loss of blood causes 
faintness, syncope, and even death: “ For the life of 
the flesh is in the blood” (Lev. xvii, 11), Hence, ¢ 
sanguinary sacrifice, and particularly a human sac- 
rifice, is regarded by the ignorant as the most pre- 
cious. Hence, also, the custom of using blood to 
symbolize important actions; friendship was pledged 
and alliances were formed by intermingling the blood 
of both parties. At this very day blood-brotherhood 
is cemented in this way in Africa, as, for example, 
in Madagascar and Kamerun. These circumstances, 
in their turn, account for the belief that blood, hu- 

manas wellasanimal, isinvested with 

General extraordinary properties. Even inan- 

Beliefin cient times human blood was consid- 
Efficacy of ered a remedy for epilepsy (see Pliny, 

Blood. “Naturalis Historia,” xxviii. 1, § 2; 

4,810); and this belief has survived 
to the present day, the blood of newly executed per- 
sons being regarded asa particularly powerful reme- 
dialagency. Asa specific against leprosy, bathing 
in human blood was recommended both im ancient 
and in medieval times. Pliny (d.¢. xxvi. 1, § 5) re- 
lates that when the Egyptian kings were stricken 
with elephantiasis they took such baths; and this 
statement is in singular accord with the passage 
from Exodus Rabbah (i., end), which states that the 
leprous Pharaohs, upon the advice of their sages, 
commanded that 150 Jewish children should be 
slaughtered every morning and every evening, in 
order that the monarchs might bathe in blood. For 
other medicinal and folk-lore uses, see BLoop. 

Blood has a deep signification in the religion of 
the Old Testament. God Himself has designated 
blood asa means of atonement (Lev. xvii. 11). In 
no other religion is the specific import of blood so 
clearly enunciated. Hence the oft-repeated and em- 
phatic prohibition (existing among no other nation 


265 


jn such form) against the partaking of blood as food 
(Lev. iti. 17, vii. 26, xix. 26; Deut. xii. 16; I Sam. 
xiv. 82, 338; Ezek. xxxiii. 25; compare 


Similar also Acts xv. 29). When with the de- 
Jewish © struction of the Second Temple the sac- 
Belief. _rifices ceased, the sprinkling of the 


altar with blood ceased also. But the 
abhorrence of the tasting of blood remained ; indeed, 
the later Jewish legislation went even further in this 
respect than that of the Old Testament (see Shulhan 
‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 65, 1; 67, 1, 39; Eleazar of 
Worins, in “ Rokeah”; Naphtali Benedict, in “Sefer 
Berith Melah,” Prague, 1816; S. B. Bamberger, 
“Amirah Lebet Ya‘akob,” 2d ed., Firth, 1864). 
Another important principle of the Jewish law reads: 
MIND NON MY (any utilization of a dead body is 
forbidden; ‘Abodah Zarah 29b; compare J. Rabbi- 
nowicz, “Der Todtencultus bei den Juden,” Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, 1889, §§ 21-28). 

Both these sets of laws have constituted and still 
constitute a serious impediment to the inception and 
furtherance among the Jews of those ideas on 
blood and its applications that are found among 
other nations. Superstition, it is true, exists among 
the Jews; and there are also superstitions Jewish in 
origin. Furthermore, popular conceptions on med- 
icine also were not lacking among the Jews (see the 
works cited in Hermann Strack, “ Das Blut,” p. 98; M. 
Grunwald, “Aus Hausapotheke und Hexenkiiche,” 
in “Mittheilungen der Gesellschaft ftir Jtidische 
Volkskunde,” i. 1-87, Hamburg, 1900). But many 
of these ideas did not originate among them; and 
references to the blood and its employment are rare. 
Occasionally a Jew uses his own blood—that is, ex- 
ternally—tfor the purpose of stopping a hemorrhage 
(forming a clot). Nowhere, so far as the present 
writer is aware, is there any reference whatever to 
the drinking of human or animal blood for medic- 
inal or superstitious purposes, or to the swallowing 
of it when dried. Finally, there is no instance of a 
Jew having committed murder in order to drink 
blood. There is always, of course, the possibility 
that a Jew—like one of any other race—may com- 
init a murder. But, even if such a murder should be 
proved againsta Jew, the only justifiable conclusion 
would be that the culprit committed the crime, not 
asa Jew, but merely as a superstitious person; just 
as in the case of Hundssattler and Bliefernicht, who 
devoured the flesh of their victims, the Christian re- 
ligion could not be held accountable for the crimes 
committed. 

It may be positively asserted that there isno Jew- 
ish ritual which prescribes the use of the blood of 
any human being. Were there such a ritual, or 
were such a procedure even tolerated, there would 
certainly be some reference to it in the colossal mass 
of halakic literature which enters into every detail 
of ritualistic observance and of domestic life. But 
neither the well-informed among Christian theolo- 

gians nor the inimical among con- 


No Jewish verted Jews have ever been able to cite 
Blood- a passage from these sources showing 
Ritual. that such prescription exists. The 


statements to the contrary by the Aus- 
trian professor, August Rohling, have served only 
to demonstrate the ignorance and malice of the man. 


THE JEWISIE ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blood Accusation 





In consequence of the undeniable weightiness of 
these reasons, the assertion is now frequentiy made 
that while the traditions concerning a sanguinary 
rite do not obtain among Judaism as a whole, they 
are, nevertheless, accepted by one or several sects. 
But this opinion, also, is untenable; for if the Tal- 
mudic Jews, collectively or in individual cases, had 
cultivated sanguinary rites, the Karaites would cer- 
tainly not have failed to emphasize that fact again 
and again. Nor would the Talmudic Jews have 
been silent had it been possible for them to accuse 
the Karaites of such a ceremony. Nothing of the 
kind has ever been asserted by either side. 

In order to increase the plausibility of a blood 
ritual among the Jews, it has become customary to 
speak of the “slaughterer’s cut,” and the application 
of the slaughterer’s knife: it is the communal 
slaughterer (“shohet”), too, who is preferably ac- 
cused of the murder of Christian children. It is 
noteworthy, therefore, that Joseph Teomim, in his 
commentary (“Peri Megadim”) to the Shulhan 
‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 8, should relate the following: 
“A slaughterer bought, for use in slaughtering, 
a knife which an executioner had employed. R. 
Joseph declares this to be prohibited; for human 

flesh is prohibited, and in consequence 
Connection of the former close contact of the knife 
with the with it, the flesh of the animals slaugh- 
“‘Slaugh- tered withit would also be prohibited.” 
terer’s Whoever accepts, therefore, the ritual 
Cut.” killing of Christian children by Jews, 
must assume that the slaughterers are 
equipped with two sets of knives, one set for ani- 
mals, and the other for Christian children! It is 
noteworthy, also, in this connection that in the very 
cases in which the “slaughterer’s cut” was most 
vigorously discussed—as, for example, at Xanten in 
1891—a close inspection of the wound demonstrated 
beyond a doubt that such a cut had not been made. 
Finally, it should be mentioned that those who 
charge an intentional secreting of the blood for ritual 
purposes have an entirely erroneous conception of 
the actual quantity of blood in the body. The 
weight of the blood constitutes only one-fourteenth to 
one-thirteenth (7.17-7.7 percent) of the total weight 
of the body. The total quantity of blood lost iu 
the case of death through wounds is only about one- 
half of this blood-content of the body, or, in the case 
of decapitation (where the loss of blood is heaviest), 
about 72 per cent of it. Thus, the quantity of blood 
that can possibly be found on the spot and on the 
clothing of the victim is much smaller than most 
persons suppose (compare “Der Xantener Kna- 
benmord vor dem Schwurgericht zu Cleve,” July 
4-14, 1892, Berlin, 1898, pp. 54 et seg., 61 et seq., 481 
et seqg.; J. Marcus, “ Etude Médico-Légale du Mcurtre 
Rituel,” Paris, 1900). 

The proselytes who have confirmed the blood ac- 
cusation against the Jews have always been mali- 
cious and ignorant enemies of their people; and 
upou their testimony, devoid as it is of proof, no re- 
liance can be placed. Among these proscly tes were: 
Samuel Friedrich Brenz, author of the book “Jii- 
discher Abgestreifter Schlangen-Balg,” Nuremberg, 
1614; Paul Christian Kirchner, author of “ Jiidisches 
Ceremoniel,” Frankfort, 1720; and Paulus Meyer (see 


Blood Accusation 
Blood-Money 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


266 





Strack, 7.c. pp. 105-160 e¢ seg.). It is very note- 
worthy, however, that such pronounced anti-Jewish 
proselytes as J. Pfefferkorn (“Speculum Adhorta- 
tionis Judaice ad Christum,” 1507) and 
Accusation Julius Morosini (“ Via della Fede Mos- 
Pronounced trata agli Ebrei,” 1688) have pro- 
False. nounced the accusation false. Jn re- 
cent times August Rohling of Prague 
has become widely recognized as the principal au- 
thority for such anti-Jewish statements; but Strack, 
in “Das Blut” (ch. xvii.), furnishes unassailable 
proof that, beth from a scientific and from a moral 
point of view, Rohling’s assertions are utterly un- 
reliable. 

Among the large nuniber of observant Jews and 
Christians who have refuted the blood accusation 
are the following; viz., Jews: Manasseh b. Israel, 
author of “ Vindicie Judzorum,” London, 1656, who 
took a solemn oath that the Jews were guiltless of 
this charge, an oath which was repeated at London 
June 80, 1840, by the rabbis Solomon Hirschell and 
David Meldola. Other Jews who protested were 
Jacob Emden and Jonathan Eybeschitz. Protests 
have also been expressed in poetry and “ Memor- 
biicher ” designed only for Jewish readers. Prose- 
lytes: Johann Emanuel Veith, the eminent preacher 
in the Cathedral of St. Stephen, Vienna; and Alex- 
ander McCaul, who, in “ Reasons for Believing that 
the Charge Lately Revived Against the Jewish Peo- 
ple Is a Baseless Falsehood,” London, 1840, pub- 
lished a protest signed by fifty-eight converts, 
of whom the first was M. 8. ALEXANDER. bishop of 
the Anglican Church at Jcrusalem (d. 1845). It 
runs as follows: “We, the undersigned, by nation 
Jews, and having lived to years of maturity in the 
faith and practise of modern Judaism, but now, by 
the grace of God, members of the Church of Christ, 
do solemnly protest that we have never directly nor 
indirectly heard, much Jess known, among the Jews, 
of the practise of killing Christians or using Chris- 
tian blood, and that we believe this charge, so often 
brought against them formerly, and now lately re- 
vived, to be a foul and Satanic falsehood.” Popes: 
See “Die Papstlichen Bullen titber die Blutbeschul- 
digung,” Berlin, 1898, and Munich (Aug. Schupp), 
1900, contains the bulls of Innocent IV., Gregory X., 
Martin V., Paul IIL, and the opinion of Lorenzo 
Ganganelli (later Clement XIV.). Many popes have 
either directly or indirectly condemned the blood 
accusation; no pope has ever sanctioned it. Mon- 
archs: The German emperors Frederick II. (1236); 
Rudolph of Habsburg (1275); Frederick III. (1470); 
Charles V. (1544); the Bohemian kings Ottocar IT. 
(1254), ete.; the Polish kings Boleslaw YV. Pius 
(1264); Casimir TIT. (1884); Casimir IV. (1453); 
Stephen Bathori (1576); and others. For Hungary 
sce the constitution of 1791; for Turkey, ‘Abd al- 
Majid (1840). Christian scholars and divines: Jo- 
hann Christoph Wagenseil (1633-1705); Johann 
Jakob Schudt, author of “Jiidische Merkwirdig- 
keiten” (1714); Johann Salomo Semler (1725-91); 
Alex. McCaul; Franz Delitzsch (1818-90); J. J. I. 
von Déllinger (1799-1890); and many others, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.L Strack, Das Blut im Glauben und Aber- 


glauben der Mensehheit, mit Besonderer Berlicksichti- 
gunugy der Valksmedizin wid des Jtt@ischen Blutritus, 8th 


ed., Munich, 1900; I. B. Levinsohn, Eifes Damim, Wilna, 1837 ; 
Corvé, Ueber den Ursprung der Wider die Juden 
Erhohenen Beschuldigung, ete., Berlin, 1840; Christliche 
Zeugnisse Gegen die Blutbeschuldigung der Jucden, Berlin, 
1882; Berliner, Gutaehten. Ganganelli’s, Berlin, 1888; Blut- 
Aberglaube, Sonder-Ahdruck aus der Oester. Wochen- 
schrift, Vienna, 1891 ; Franz Delitzsch. Schachmatt den Blut. 
lignern Rohling und Justus, Erlangen, 1883; Chwolson, 
Blutanklage, Frankfort-on-tbe-Main, 1901. 

G. H. L. S. 


The following list of cases. where the blood accu- 
sation has been raised, with short indications of the 
results and of theauthorities for the statements, may 
be found useful for reference. Some of the more 
frequently quoted authorities are referred to by ab- 
breviations as follows: 


A. R. = Amador de los Rios, ** Historia de los Judios en Es- 
paha”’; A.J. Y. B. = “American Jewish Year Book,” 1901-2; 
Csl. = Cassel, article ** Juden,” in Ersch and Gruber, ** Encye.”’ 
ser. 2, part Xxvii.; Sch. = Scherer. *’ Rechtsverhaltnisse der 
Juden in Oesterreich,”’ 1901; St. = Stobbe. “Die Juden in 
Deutschland ’’; Str. = Strack, ** Das Blut’: Jb. = Jahres- 
berichte der (Geschichtswissenschaft’’; Zz. = Zunz, “ Syna- 
gogale Poesie des Mittelalters.” 


1144 Norwich (St. William): James and Jessopp, ‘* St. William 
of Norwich”; Jacobs,’ Jews of Angevin England,” pp. 
19-256. 

1168 Gloucester (Harold): *‘ Gloucester Chronicle,’ ed. Hart, 
i. 20; Jacobs, l.c., p. 45. 

1171 Blois (31 burned; 17 Jewesses, singing “Alenu): Zz. p. 24. 

1181 Bury St. Edmunds (St. Robert) : Jacobs, l.c., p. 7d. 

1192 Winchester (boy): Richard of Devizes, ed. Howlett, p. 
435; Jacobs, l.c., pp. 146-148. 

1199 (?) Erfurt (8 Jews hanged, 3 burned [2 women]) : Zz. p. 26. 

1235 Wolfsheim (18 Jews killed): ‘*Monumenta Germaniz,” 
XVi. 31; St. p. 281. 

1247 (Mar. 26) Valréas: ** Rev. Etudes Juives,” vii. 304. 

255 Lincoln (Littie St. Hugh): Matthew Paris, ‘ Historia 
Major,” ed. Luard, v. 516-518, 522, 548; Jacobs, ** Jewish 
Ideals,” pp. 192 ef seq. 

1267 Pforzheim: Alonzo 4 Spina, ** Fortalitum Fidei,’ 5th crn- 
elty; I. Loeb, ** Josef Haccohen,”’ p. 40. 

1270 (June 29) Weissenburg, Alsace: ** Mon. Germ.” xvii. 191; 
St. p. 282, 

1283 Mayence (10 Jews killed) : ‘** Mon. Germ.” xvii. 210; St. p. 
282. 

1285 Munich (90 Jews killed): Zz. p. 33; “Mon. Germ.” xi. 
210, 872; xvii. 415; St. p. 282. 

1286 Friesland: Csi, p. 79a; Zz. p. 33. 

1286 (June 28) Oberwesel and Boppard (St. Werner, 40 Jews 
killed): Gritz, ** Gesch. der Juden,”’ vii. 201, 478; ‘* Mon. 
Germ.” xvii. 77; St. p. 282. 

1287 (May 2) Salzburg: CsI. p. 79a. 

1288 (April 24) Troyes : Auto da fé (13 burnt), ** Rev. Et. Juives,” 
ii., 199 et seg. 

1290 Laibach : Sch. p. 528. 

1292 Colmar: Béhmer, *‘ Fontes Rerum Germanicarum,”’ ii. 
30; St. p. 283. 

1292 Krems (2 Jews broken on wheel): “Mon, Germ.” xi. 
658; St. p. 283; Sch. p. 348 (who gives the date as 1293). 

1294 Bern (Rudolf): Béhmer, l.c., ii. 32; ** Arch. Oester. Ge- 
schichtsquellen,” fii. 148; St. p. 283. 

1302 Remken: BOhmer, (.c., ii. 89; St. p. 283. 

1303 Weissensee (boy found hanged): Zz. p. 36; St. p. 288; Csl. 
p. 79b. 

1305 Prague and Vienna: Zz. p, 36; CsI. p. 79b. 

1308 Thuringia: Csl. p. 79b. 

1317 Chinon: Str. p. 144. 

1829 Savoy, Geneva, Romilly, Annecy, ete.: Str. ib. 

13831 Ueberlingen: Csl. p. 79b; Zz. p. 38. 

1387 Strasburg: ‘‘ Urkundenbuech der Stadt Strassburg,” vi. 

207; JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, f. 457b. 

1345 Munieh (Heinrich): Str. p. 145. 

XIV.cent. (end of) Vialana: ** Rev. Etudes Juives,”’ x. 232-236; 
Jb. viii. 

1401 Diessenhofen: Zz. p. 47; Ulrich, **Sammlung Jiid. Geseh. 
in der Schweiz,”’ p. 248; St. p. 288; Lowenstein, ‘* Bo- 
densee,”’ p. 82. 

1407 (Oct. 26, 83a day of Easter) Cracow: Zz. p. 473 Csl. p. 
133b; Diugoss, ** Historia Polonise,”’ i, 186; Jost, ** Gesch. 
der Israeliten,”* vii. 279. 

1428 Regensburg (Ratisbon): Zz. p. 48; CsI. p. 79b. 

1430 Ravensburg, Ueberlingen, Lindau: Zz. p. 48, 


267 





1435 Palina: A. R. ii. 85-87; Mut, ** Mallorea,”’ vii. xv. 

1442 Lienz, Tyrol: Borrelli, ‘* Dissertazione,” p. 243b 3 Sch. pp. 
589-591. 

1453 Arles: Zz. p. 50. 

1462 Rinn (Andreas): Str. p. 145; Seh. pp. 592-596 (denies). 

1468 (Dec. 25) Sepniveda: A. R. iii. 166. 

1470 Endingen: Sch. p. 430; Schreiber, “* Urkundenbuch,”’ ii. 
D2; St. p. 291. 

1473 Regensburg: Zz. p. 51; Csl. p. T9b. 

1475 Trent (Simon): Seb, pp. 596-614, 643-647, and the note to 
pp. 598-599 giving bibliography. 

1476 Regensburg (through the apostate Wolfram); Zz. p. 51; St. 
pp. 77, 292; Seh. p. 618. 

1480 (July 4) Venice (Sebastian of Porto Buffole; 3 Jews 
burned): “ Jiidische Merkwiirdigkeiten,” ii. 256; Sch. p. 
615. 

1490 La Guardia: Isidore Loeb, in ‘* Rev. Etudes Juives,” xv. 

1494 Tyrnau (12 Jews and 2 Jewesses burned; the remainder 
expelled): Zz. p. 52; Schudt, Z.¢c., 1.115; Berg), ** Gesch. 
der Juden in Ungarn,” p. 51. 

1504 Frankfort-on-the-Main: Jb. xv. 21. 

1505 Budweis (child murder accusation; 138 Jews drowned 
themselves): Oefele, ‘* Seriptores,” i. 185; St. p. 292. 

1518 Geisingen: L6wenstein, in ‘“ Zeitschrift f. d. Gesch. der 
Juden in Deutschland,” iii. 383; JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, 


i. 1. 

1529 Poesing (30 Jews burned): Zz. p. 55; Némethy, in ‘* Neu- 
zeit,” xxviii.; Jb. xi.; D. Kaufmann, in ** Monatsschrift,”’ 
XXXViii. 

1540 Neuburg: Zz. p. 57: Csl. p. T9b. 

1345 Amasia, Asia Minor (many hanged; Dr. Joseph Abiob 
burned ): ‘‘Shebet Yehudah,”’ iii.; Zz. p. 58: I. Loeb, 
“Joseph Haccohen,” p. 432 (who gives the date as 1542). 

1558 Asti (Jews imprisoned on murder charge): Zz. p. 336. 

1354 Rome (accusation threatens through Hananel Foligno, 
averted by Alexander Farnese): Vogelstein and Rieger, 
** Gesch. der Juden in Rom,” ii, 151. 

1564 Byelsk: ** Regesti,’’? sub anno. 

1570 Brandenburg (case of Lippold): Zz. p. 388, Jost, U.c., viii. 
213-214; Csl. p. 98a, b (gives the date as 1573). 

1571 Hellerspring: CsI. p. 79b. 

1593 (Dec.) Frankfort-on-the-Main (blood accusation suggested 
ina trial of a Jew): ** Rev. Etudes Juives,’’ xiv. 282~289. 

1598 Luck (3 Jews executed): Zz. p. 340. 

1623 Ragusa (Isaac Jeshurun martyred): Zz. p. 342. 

1650 Razinai: Jb. xvi. 

1654 Gt. Poland: D. Kaufmann, in ‘* Monatsschrift,’’ xxxvili. 
89-96; Vogelstein and Rieger, t.c., ii, 211. 

1668 Vienna: Zz. p. 346. 

1670 (Jan. 17) Metz (Raphael Levi burned): Zz. p. 346; Csl. p.79 b. 

1691 Wilna (4 Jews executed for child-murder): Steinschneider, 
“Cat. Bodl.”? Nos. 3691, 4028, 4080; Zz. p. 348. 

1696 (June 8-July 4) Posen (false murder charge): Zz. pp. 348-349, 

1698 Kaidan and Zausmer: Wolf, ‘** Bibl. Hebr.”’ iii. 880; Zz. p- 
349. 

1705 Viterbo: Vogelstein and Rieger, l.c., ii. 283; Roest, “* Cat. 
Rosenthal. Bibl.”’ i. 55. 

1710 (April 5) Neamtz, Moldavia: ‘** Rey. Etudes Juives,”’ xiii. 
187; A. J. Y. B. p. 37. 

1710 Orlinghausen : Csl. p. 79b. 

1712 Frankfort-on-the-Main: Csl. p. 79b. 

1714 Roman, Rumania: A. J. Y. B. p. 87. 

72) Danzig and Sinigaglia (child murder): Zz. p. 352. 

1736 Posen (asted four years): Zz. p. 358. 

1743 Jasiau (Jew quartered): Zz. p. 364. 

1745 Firth (synagogue closed through false charge by apostate): 
Zz. p. do4. 

1746 (Passover) Jampol, Poland: Vogelstein and Rieger, l.c., ii. 
246. 

1764 Oreuta, Hungary: Str. p. 148. 

1783 Botoshani, Rumania: A. J. Y. B. p. 43. 

1788 Totiz: Jb. x. 45. 

1791 Tasnd4d,Transyivania (Hungary): Str. p. 148. 

1797 Galatz, Rumania (4 killed; synagogue burned): A. J. Y. B. 
p. 45. 

1801 (Apri! 8) Bucharest (128 Jews killed by soldiers and popn- 
lace): 1b. p. 48. 

1803 Neamtz, Moldavia (4 Jews imprisoned): Ib. p. 48. 

1811 Talowitza: Ib. p. 49. 

1816 Piatra, Moldavia: ID. p. 30. 

1823 Velizh, Vitebsk (lasted twelve years): St. p. 186; Jost, L.c., 
xi. 341. 

1824 Bakau: Psantir, ‘* Korot,”’ 1878, ii. 142; Loeb, ** La Situation 
des Israélites en Turquie, en Serbie, et en Roumanie,”’ p. 
143. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blood Accusation 
Blood-Money 





1829 Boleslaw-on-the-Weichsel: Str. p. 149. 

1829 Babowno: Jb. xviii. 65. 

1834 (July 18) Nevenhoven, near Diisseldorf : Str. 149. 

1838 Ferrara: Jost. L.e., xi, 285, note. 

1839 Niezdow: Str. p. 150. 

1840 Near Aix-la-Chapelle: Jost, l.c., xi. 345, note. 

1840 (Feb. 5) Damascus (disappearance of Father Thomas; 18 
Jews arrested and tortured: 4 died): Jost, U.c., xi. 346, 

1840 Trianda, Rhodes: Jost, U.c., xi. 851-338. 

1843 (Oct.) Marmora: Jost, U.c., xi. 379. 

1844 Stobikowka: Str. p. 150. 

1837 to 1847 Fiorenzola, Buffeto, 
Jost, l.c., xi. 265, note. 

1857 Saratov: Chwolson. 

1859 (Apr. 14) Galatz, Rumania: Loeb, Lc., p. 145. 

1861 Chaviian : id. 261, 262. 

1863 (March) Smyrna: Ellenberger, ‘* Die Leidender Juden.” 

1867 (Oct. 3) Galatz (90 Jews injured; 4 synagogues destroyed): 
Loeb, l.c., p. 171. 

1867 (Dec. 22) Calarash, Rumania: Loeb, l.c., p. 166. 

1877 Kutais, Transcaucasia: Chwolson, xii. 

1882 (Apr. 1) Tisza-Eszldr (disappearance of Esther Solymosi). 

1891 Corfu: Str. p. 151. 

1891 (June 29) Xanten: JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, i. 645b. 

1891 (June) Nagy-Szokol: Str. p. 148. 

1892 Kisleben: Str. p. 156. 

1892 Ingrandes, France: Str. p. 157. 

1892 Bakau, Rumania: Str. p. 158. 

1893 (March) Kolin, Bohemia: Str. p. 158. 

1893 (June 9) Holleschau: Str. p. 159. 

1893 Prague: Str. p. 160. 

1894 Berent, Prussia: Str. p. 162. 

1898 Skaisgirren: Str. p. 168. 

1899 (Mar. 29) Poina, Bohemia. 

1900 (Jan. 7) Nachod, Bohemia. 

1900 (Mar. 28) Konitz, W. Prussia. 


G. J. 

BLOOD-MONEY: Ransom paid by a murderer 
to the avenging kinsmen of a murdered man, in sat- 
isfaction for the crime. Among the Anglo-Saxons 
and other Germanic peoples blood-money or “ wer- 
geld” was commonly paid, and a regular scale of 
prices fixing the value of lives was established by 
law (Kemble, “The Anglo-Saxons in England,” ii. 
276 et seqg.). Blood-money was unknown in Roman 
law. All crimes except murder could be satisfied by 
payment of a fine; but for murder the death penalty 
was invariably inflicted (see “ The Law of the Twelve 
Tables,” Table VIII.). 

The Jewish law went. further than the Roman law 
in this respect. The code of the Twelve Tables 
simply states that for murder the death penalty shall 
be inflicted, and for lesser crimes the money com- 
pensation may be received in satisfaction, thus in- 
ferentially prohibiting the taking of blood-money 
for murder. The Biblical law (Num. xxxv. 31, 32), 
however, expressly prohibits it. 1t forbids (1) the 
taking of blood-money for the life of a murderer, 
allowing him to escape; and (2) the taking of it for 
a murderer who has fled to acity of refuge, allowing 
him to return to his home. The crime of taking 
human life was the most heinous known to the Jew- 
ish law (2). xxxv. 84). 

According to another Biblical code (Ex. xxi. 28- 
32), the owner of a goring ox who, knowing the 
dangerous nature of the animal, still did not keep it 
in subjection, was put to death if the ox killed a 
human being. But as the death in this case was not 
directly caused by the owner of the ox, a concession 
was made in his favor, and he was permitted to ran- 
som his life. The Talmud modifies the severity 
of the law through the following process of rea- 
soning: If the owner of the ox committed the mur- 
der, he was forced to die according to the law (Num. 


Monticelli, Cortemaggiore : 


Blood-Money 
Blood-Relationship 





xxxv. 31); but if his ox killed a person, the ox was 
slain, and the owner paid blood-money. If the ox 
were not slain, then the owner was put to death; 
hence R. Hizkiyah said, “The law in Naum. xxxv. 
31 requires only the actual murdcrer to be killed; 
and you can not puta man to death because of a 
death caused by his ox” (Sanh. 15b). 

The murderer who had come to the city of refuge, 
if guilty of wilful murder, was given into the hands 
of the avenger to be executed; but if guilty of acci- 
dental homicide, remained in the city of refuge until 
the death of the high priest (Num. xxxv. 25). It 
appears, therefore, that even one guilty of acciden- 
tal homicide could not expiate the offense by the 
payment of blood-money, but must serve his full 
term in the city of refuge (Ket. 37b). The strict 
application of this law led the rabbinical authoritics 
to the conclusion that the death penalty was an ab- 
solute satisfaction for the crime and its consequences, 
and that therefore the relatives of the murdered per- 
son had no claim in damages against the murderer. 
The law in Ex. xxi. 22 was thus explained: “If 
there is no danger to life from the injury, the mur- 
erer is punished by fine; but if death results, he is 
not punished by fine, because he is subjected to the 
death penalty ” (Mishnah Ket. ii. 2). 

Maimonides states the matter as follows: “The 
court must take care that no blood-money be taken 
from the murderer even if he would give all the 
money in the world, and even if the avenger would 
be willing to release him; because the life of the 
murdered man is not the property of the avenger, 
but the property of God, and God has said, ‘ Ye 
shall take no blood-money for the life of a murderer ’ 
(Num. xxxv. 31); and ‘There is no sin so great as 
that of murder, for blood defileth the land’? (Num. 
xxxv. 88)”; (Maimonides, “ Yad,” Rozeah, i. 4; see 
articles DAMAGES, HomicIDE, Ransom). 

G. D. W. A. 

BLOOD-MONEY IN RUMANIA: According 
to the common law of Moldavia and Wallachia, the 
murder of a person entailed not only the execution of 
the murderer, but also the imposition upon him, or if 
he were unknown upon the village nearest to the 
spot where the murder had been committed, of a 
heavy fine (“prezul sangelui” = blood-money), 
which fell to the relations of the victim. Villages 
that could not pay the fine were depopulated. 

This legislation applied to Jews in common with 
the other inhabitants, and the communities were 
made collectively responsible for the fines. As 
commercial travelers and pedlers, the Jews jour- 
neyed constantly, and while the Rumanians were 
hospitable to every traveler, they considered it 
hardly a mortal crime to murder a Turk, a Tatar, 
or a Jew (Cantemir, “Descriptio Moldavie,” Ru- 
manian ed., p. 260, Jassy, 1851). The fine imposed 
for the murder of a Jew was very heavy; a decree 
of Prince Petrashcu of Wallachia, in 1558, mentions 
that Mircea the Great (1882-1409) amerced the 
village of Vianul, beyond the Olt, in the sum of 
40,000 aspers, upon the complaint of the wife 
and the mother of a Jew who had been murdered 
in that vicinity. The villagers, being unable to raise 
such a sum. implored the clemency of the prince, 
who paid the amount out of his own treasury. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


268 





In order to evade payment of blood-money, vil- 
lagers, on finding a corpse, would often throw it 
into a river or pond, or perhaps inter it, to avoid 
notice by the authorities. This practise caused 
great hardship to Jewish wives who, in addition to 
the loss of their husbands, saw themselves doomed 
to perpetual widowhood by the Jewish law concern- 
ing disappearances (see ‘AGUNAI). 

The institution of blood-money was abolished 
by the law of 1831, but the murders of Jewish 
travelers and Jewish tavern-keepers (especially nu- 
merous on the main highways) continued unabated. 
A singular consequence of these frequent murders 
among Rumanian Jews, more especially in Moldavia, 
is the custom of regarding Jewish tavern-kKeepers 
who have thus been foully dealt with, as martyrs in 
a religious cause, for the reason that they have lost 
their lives in the endeavor to provide “kosher” 
food for their traveling corcligionists. The sons of 
such are called to the Torah by the proud title “ Ben 
ha-Kedoshim” (Son of the Saints). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jifrdtzirea, Bucharest, Dec. 21, 1886; Co- 
drescu. Uricarul, Sau Colectziune de Diferite Acte Carc Pot 
Servila Istoria Romdnilor, xxiii. 22-23 (the date 1707 given 
by Uricarul is correct; Infrdtzirea has 1708); ib. xix. 48-49; 
Revista Israetita, i. 410, Bucharest, 1886 ; Barasch, Etwas tiber 
die Gegenwdrtigen Verhidilinisse der Juden in den Beiden 
Donaufiirstenthitimern, in Alig. Zeit. des Jud. 1844, p. 633 
Rumanian translation in Anwarul Pentru Israetiti, iv. 8). 
D. E. Sp. 


BLOOD-RELATIONSHIP.—Biblical Data: 
Family connection between persons otherwise than 
by marriage. To the casual reader of the Old Tes- 
tament, blood-relationship seems always to have 
been reckoned by the Hebrews from father to son. 
The genealogies are all drawn up on this basis 
(compare Gen. iv., v., X., xxii. 20-24, xIvi.; I Chron. 
i.-ix., ete.). These genealogies, however, are not 
uniform. Someof them give the name of the mother 
(as Gen. xxii. 20, 24), while many of them give the 
names of father and son merely. Another interest- 
ing variation is that one set of passages represents 
the mother as naming the children (see, for example, 
Gen. iv. 1, 25; xxix. 82-35), while another set of 
passages attributes that function to the father (¢.7., 
Gen. xvii. 19; xli. 51, 52). For further light on the 
ideas of relationship see the CriricaL Vimw. 

Blood-relationship was interpreted broadly as a 
brotherhood which bound together by peculiar ties 
all who were descended from a common father. In 
II Sam. v. 1 all the tribes of Israel are said to be 
bone of David’s bone and flesh of his flesh; 7.e., to 
be his brethren. Similarly, in Lev. xxv. 39-46 all 
Israelites are considered brethren, as opposed to the 
people of other nations. This idea of brotherhood 

was founded on a belief that they 

Historical were all sharers in a common blood. 
Survey. While these broad conceptions of 
brotherhood prevailed, they did not 

obscure in the Hebrew mind the fact that in every 
generation men of one father (7.e., brothers in a nar- 
rower sense) were under more peculiar obligations 
to one another than others of the same nation. 
Thus, in certain cases restitution had to be made to 
the nearest of kin (Num. v. 7, 8), and in other cases 
peculiar duties devolved on the nearest kinsman 
(compare Ruth ii. 20, iii. and iv. passim; see GOEL). 
Other evidence that in the later time degrees of 


269 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blood-Money 
Blood-Relationship 





relationship were recognized is shown by Tobit vi. 

10 and Luke ii. 86. 
The recognition of certain differences in the de- 
grecs of kinship belongs to an early period; for 
marriages within certain degrees of 


Marriage kinship were prohibited from very 
Pro- ancient times. In Lev. xviii. marriage 


with a father or mother, son or daugh- 
ter, grandson or granddaughter, or 
with a consort of any of these, is prohibited, as is the 
marriage of a man to a woman and her daughter, or 
to two sisters at the same time. There is involved 
in some of these prohibitions a recognition of an 
artificial relationship; but even these are based on 
the strong feeling of kinship with those of one fam- 
ily. Notall the prohibitions of this law are, how- 
ever, primitive; for it defines a sister (verse 9) as 
“the daughter of thy father or the daughter of thy 
mother”; though in ancient times marriages seem to 
have been permitted between children of the same 
father, if they had different mothers; cases in point 
are the marriages of Abraham and Sarah (Gen. xx. 
12), and Amnon and Tamar (II Sam. xiii. 18). 

As among the Arabs, it was regarded by the He- 
brews a duty to avenge the blood of a murdered 
relative; and if this were not done, 


hibitions. 


Blood YHWH was thought to be displeased. 
‘Avenger. Thus Joabavenged his brother Asahel 


(If Sam. iii. 27); and Yrwe sent a 
amine because the Gibeonites were not avenged of 
the house of Saul (II Sam. xxi. 1 et seg.). It was in 
consequence of this custom that the Crriks or REF- 
UGE were founded. See also AVENGER OF BLOop. 
——-Critical View: It is a feature of primitive 
culture to form clans artificial in organization though 
not necessarily of different. stocks, which select some 
totem as theiremblem (compare Giddings, “ Principles 
of Sociology,” pp. 270-272; and Keasby, in “Inter- 
national Monthly,” i, 393 eé seg.). These clans in the 
course of time regard all their members as brethren 
descended from the common totem. In order to ac- 
count for the growth of the clan it has been supposed 
by some scholars that clans meeting others who have 
for some reason chosen the same totem will natu- 
rally regard one another as brethren too. In this 
way an enlarged and artificial brotherhood is formed, 
which is, however, conceived as real. The existence 
of “Leah,” “Rachel,” and “Caleb” (denoting wild 
cow, ewe, and dog) as clan names among the He- 
brews, taken in connection with the evidence from 
other parts of the Semitic world, makes it probable 
that relationships originally artificial were by the He- 
brews counted as blood-relationships (compare W. R. 
Smith, “Animal Worship and Animal Tribes Among 
the Arabs and in the Old Testament,” in “ Journal of 
Philology,” ix.; tdem, “Kinship and Marriage in 
Early Arabia,” ch. vii.; Jacobs, “Studies in Biblical 
Archeology,” iv. ; and Barton, “ Semitic Origins,” ii.). 
Among the Semites also kinship was originally 
reckoned, as among many other primitive nations, 
through the mother (see W. R. Smith, 
Ma- **Kinship,” ete., pp. 145-165, 246-253 ; 
triarchate. Barton, op. cit. ii.). This seems to 
have been also the case among the 
Hebrews. In the earlier Jahvistic document the 
mother names the child, which, as Wellhausen points 


out, isa relic of maternal kinship (compare “ Nach- 
richten der Kéniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissen- 
schaften zu Gottingen,” 1898, p. 478, note 2). By 
the time of the production of the Priestly Code, re- 
lationship was reckoned through the father; so that 
the mother’s name was then suppressed, and the 
father named the child. In accordance with the 
system of maternal kinship, the children of Jacob 
are said (Gen. xxxi. 43) to belong to their mother’s 
clan. The marriage of Abraham and Sarah and that 
of Amnon and Tamar—though in each case be- 
tween children of the same father—are ex plained by 
the fact that blood-relationship was counted only 
through the mother. 

Some further instances of the artificial assumption 
of blood-relationship, which differ in character from 

the primitive totemic system, remain 

Adoption to be considered. Adoption, in the 

and sense of the legal transfer of filial 
Blood-Re-~ rights from one person to another, 
lationship. seems not to have been known in 
Israel as it was among the Romans. 
There are three possible instances of it in the Old 
Testament: (1) the adoption of Moses by Pharaoh’s 
daughter (Ex. ii. 10), which does not seem to have 
made the blood-bond to his own people less binding ; 
(2) the adoption of Genubath by the Egyptian queen. 
(i Kings xi. 20), which seems to have been a sur- 
vival of kinship through the mother; and (38) the 
adoption of Esther by Mordecai (Esther ii. 7), which 
was done under foreign influence. Adoption in the 
modern sense of the word played no important part 
in Israel’s system of relationship (see ADOPTION). 

Closely related to adoption was the system of the 
levirate, whereby when a man died without issue 
his brother or nearest Kinsman was required to 
marry the widow, and the first son born of such levi- 
rate marriage was counted as the son of the dead 
brother (Gen. xxxvili.; Deut. xxv. 5-10; Ruth pas- 
stunt; Matt. xxii. 25 e¢ seg.). A similar custom pre- 
vailed among the Arabs (compare W. R. Smith, 
“Kinship,” etc., p. 87) and among the Abyssinians 
(compare Letourneau, “Evolution of Marriage,” p. 
265), as well as among many non- 
Semitic peoples (compare Starcke, 
“ Primitive Family,” pp. 157, 158; “ In- 
ternational Journal of Ethies,” iii. 465: and Wester- 
marck, “History of Human Marriage,” pp. 510-514). 
(For the origin and meaning of the custom see LEvVI- 
RATE.) It is enough to note here that it introduced 
a system of blood-relationship in part artificial. 

In Lev. xviii., where the degrees of kinship in 
which marriage is prohibited are enumerated (com- 
pare also Lev. xx.), the consort of a near kinsman 
or kinswoman is counted as within the prohibited 
degrees, thus recognizing acertain artificial kinship. 
Some writers hold that Lev. xviii. 16 and xx. 21, by 
prohibiting marriage with a deceased brother’s wife, 
abolished the levirate (so Nowack, “ Hebrifische 
Archiaologie,” i. 846; and Benzinger, “ Hebriische 
Archivlogie,” p. 346): and a confirmation of this is 
found in Num. xxvii. 1 e¢ seg., which provides for 
the succession of daughters in case a man dies with- 
out male issue. Others hold that Leviticus gives 
the general prohibition, while Deut. xxv. 5-10 con- 
tains the one exception (so Driver, “Deuteronomy,” 


Levirate. 


Bloomfield 
Blum, Ernest 





p. 285). At all events, the levirate seems to have 
survived till the first century of the common era. 

In ancient Semitic society, blood-relationship 
rested not only upon the basis of common blood, 
but upon the fact that kinsmen constantly ate to- 
gether and renewed the physical bond (compare W. 
R. Smith, “ Religion of the Semites,” 2d ed., pp. 269 
et seq.). Covenants of brotherhood were made be- 
tween those who were really not related to one an- 
other, by opening the veins of the covenanters and 
tasting each other’s blood, as well as by eating to- 
gether (compare Trumbull, “Blood Covenant,” and 
W. R. Smith, op. c¢é. pp. 315, 479). Such artificial 
brotherhoods seem to have been recognized in Israel 
(compare Amos i. 9). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : In addition to the literature already cited, see 
_G. A. Wilken, Het Matriarchaat bij de Oude Arabieren 
{also Germar translation, Das Matriarchat bet den Ara- 
bern); Wellhausen, Die Hhe bei den Arabern, in Nach- 
richten der Kéniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften 
zu Gottingen, 1893, pp. 431-481; and Bubl, Die Socialen 
Verhiiltnisse der Israeliten, Berlin, 1899 
G. A. B. 


J. JR. 


BLOOMFIELD, MAURICE: Professor of San- 
skrit and comparative philology in Johns Hopkins 
University, Baltimore, Md.; born at Bielitz, Aus- 
trian Silesia, February 23, 1855; emigrated to Amer- 
ica in 1867. He studied at Chicago and Furman, 
(S. C.) universities, and at Yale, Berlin, and Leipsic, 
and received the degree of doctor of philosophy 
from Johns Hopkins in 1879, while Princeton con- 
ferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws 
in 1896, 

Bloomfield is one of the most prominent Sanskrit 
scholars in America, and is recognized as the chief 
living authority on the Atharva Véda. Besides San- 
skrit, Bloomfield has made contributions to compar- 
ative grammar, Greek, Latin, and Balto-Slavic, and 
has treated various problems of the science of relig- 
ion, especially in relation to India and its literature. 
He isa member of the American and German Ori- 
ental societies, American Philological Association, 
Royal Bohemian Society of Prague, and other learned 
bodies. 

Among Bloomfield’s chief works are: an edition 
of the “ Kaucika-Sutra,” New Haven, 1890; a volume 
of selected hymns from the Atharva Véda, with ex- 
tracts from the ritual and commentary, forming vol. 
xlii. of Max Miller’s “Sacred Books of the East,” 
Oxford, 1897; and “Atharva Véda,” Strasburg, 
1899, forming a portion of the “ Grundriss der Indo- 
Arischen Philologie” of Bithler and Kielhorn. His 
latest contribution, in which he has been assisted 
by Richard Garbe of Tiibingen, is a magnificent 
photographic edition of the Paippalada recension of 
the Atharva Véda, 3 vols., Baltimore, 1901. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: National Cyclopedia of American Biog- 

raphy, x. Johnson’s Universal Cyclopedia, i. Lamb, 

Biographical Dictionary of the United States, i. A dibli- 

ography of his writings up to 1891 is published in Biblio- 

graphia Hopkinsiensis, pt. i. 


As L. H. G. 


BLOOMFIELD-ZEISLER, FANNY: Amer- 


ican pianist; sister of Maurice Bloomfield; born at 
Bielitz, Austrian Silesia, July 16, 1866. In 1868 
her parents settled in Chicago, Tl, and there she 
received her first instruction in piano from Bern- 
‘hard Ziehn and Carl Wolfsohn. At the age of 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 
TT a, 


270 


ten she played at a public concert in Chicago, and 

two years later went to Vienna to study with Les- 

chetizky. At the expiration of five years she re. 
turned to the United States, where, from 1888 to 

1898, she repeatedly gave recitals, playing with all 

the leading orchestras throughout the country, 

In 1893 Bloomfield-Zeisler made a tour through 
Europe; and such was her success at Berlin, Leip- 
sic, Frankfort, Vienna, and elsewhere, that she pro- 
longed her stay abroad until 1895. During the sea- 
son 1895-96 she gave upward of fifty concerts in 
America, and in 1897 made a tour of the Pacific 
states. In 1898 she again went abroad, and gave a 
series of concerts in Great Britain and France, She 
now (1902) resides at Chicago. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baker, Biographical Dictionary of Muzst- 
cians, 1900; Musical Courier, Feb. 27, 1895, Feb. 20, 1901. 

A. J. So. 

BLOSZ, KARL: German painter; born at 
Mannheim Nov. 24, 1860. He studied at the art 
school in Carlsruhe from 1880 to 18838, and was a 
pupil of K. Hoff and of Von Lindenschmid of the 
Munich Academy from 1883 to 1887. Since 1887 he 
has worked actively in Munich. One of his paint- 
ings, entitled “ Vor dem Diner,” is now in the Dres- 
den gallery. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. W. Singer, Allgemeines Ktinstler-Lexi- 
kon, 3d ed., v. 176, Frankfort-on-the-Main. 1901; Kohut, Be- 
rihmte Israelitische Mdinuner und Frauen, part vii., p. 
302, Leipsic, 1900. 

S. A. M. F. 

BLOWITZ, HENRI GEORGES STEPHAN 
ADOLPHE OPPER DE: Special correspondent 
at Paris of the London “Times”; born at Blowitz, 
Bohemia, Dec. 28, 1825; died in Paris Jan. 18, 1908. 
At theage of sixteen he went to France, where he was 
appointed professor of German at the Lycée, Tours. 
Upon leaving that institution he visited Limoges, 
Poitiers, and Marseilles. He then took a course at 
the university until 1860, and on May 6 of that year 
received permission to assume the present form of 
his name. At this time he occupied himself with 
the invention of a machine for wool-carding by 
steam, but soon devoted himsclf to the study of 
foreign politics, contributing to several periodicals, 
such as the “Gazette du Midi” and “ La Décentrali- 
sation” of Lyons. In this capacity of journalist he 
revealed the history of Ismail Pasha’s special train, 
which caused the defeat of De Lesseps in the elec- 
tion of 1869; he was not prosecuted, however, 
owing to the efforts of M. Thiers in his behalf. 

At the close of the Franco-Prussian war Blowitz 
rendered valuable assistance to General Espirent de — 
la Villeboisnet in facilitating the suppression of the 
Commune at Marseilles, by establishing telegraphic 
communication with M. Thiers at Versailles by 
means of a private wire when all other means of 
communication had been destroyed by the insur- 
gents. In recognition of this achievement Blowitz, 
in June, 1871, received the medal of the Legion of 
Honor. Inthe following month he became corre- 
spondent of the London “Times,” and in 1874 was 
appointed special Paris correspondent of that paper, 
in which capacity he, on May 9, 1874, secured per- 
mission to communicate with the London office daily 
from 9 A.M. to 8 P.M. by special wire. 

In 1875 he revealed certain alleged German plans 


271 


——— ae 


which it was said bad for their aim a second in- | 


vasion of France; and hesecured the full text of the 

Treaty of Berlin forthe London “ Times” before the 

signatures of the plenipotentiaries had been affixed 

to the document, 

It is, however, as an interviewer that Blowitz is 
best known, and among the numerous celebrities in- 
terviewed by him may be mentioned: Bismarck, the 
Sultan of Turkey, Abd al-Hamid, Alfonso XII., 
Charles, King of Rumania, Pope Leo XIII, Thiers, 
Gambctta, Prince Lobanoff, Comte de Chambord, 
Marquis Tseng, Cardinal Jacobini and the French 
statesmen Duclerc and Jules Ferry. Blowitz is a 
doctor of philosophy and ofticier de ’ Académie, and 
on July 30, 1878, he was elevated to the rank of offi- 
cer of the Legion of Honor. Tle has been a contrib- 
utor to the “Contemporary Review,” ‘ Harper’s 
Magazine,” and “Paris Vivant,” and he is the au- 
thor of the following works: “Feuilles Volantes,” 
1858; the comedy, “Midi 4 Quatorze Heures”; 
“L’ Allemagne et la Provence,” 1878; “Le Mariage 
Royal d’ Espagne,” 1878; “Une Course a Constanti- 
nople,” 1884. Blowitz, however, is more especially 
renowned for his journalistic activity, and he is said 
to have contributed more than 4,000 columns to the 
London “ Times.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Men and Women of the Time, 1899; W ho’s 
W ho, 1901; Harper's Magazine, 1891; Contemporary Re- 
view, 1893. 

S. J. So. 

BLUCHER, EPHRAIM ISRAEL: Austrian 
rabbi and author; born Oct. 2, 1813, at Glocksdorf, 
Moravia; died at Budapest April 6, 1882. For 
some years he was tutorin Hebrew at the University 
of Lemberg; then officiated as rabbi at Osviecin, 
Galicia, and Kosten, Moravia; afterward he went 
to Vienna, where he founded a real-gymnuasium, 
which had but a bricf existence. Later he lived 
for a time at Neuhdusel, Hungary, and finally at 
Budapest. 

Bliicher is the author of a Hebrew grammar, 
“Marpeh Lashon Arami” (Healing of the Aramaic 
Tongue), treating of the Biblical, Targumic, and 
Talmudic Aramaic in eighteen sections; preceded by 
“Maggid me-Reshit,” a Hebrew translation of a por- 
tion of Julius First’s “Lehrgebaude der Aramié- 
ischen Sprache” (Vienna, 1839). He also issued 
“The Book of Ruth,” with German translation and 
Hebrew commeutary, Lemberg, 1848; and “Die 
Synagogenfrage fiir Deutsche Israeliten,” Vienna, 
1860. In the last years of his life, driven by stress 
of circumstances, he issued several periodicals under 
different titles; but in each case only a few num- 
bers appeared. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Litteraturblatt des Orients, 1841, No. 1; 


Steinschneicer, Cat. Bodl. col. 801; Lippe, Bibliographisches 


Lexicon, 1. 46; Zeitlin, Bibtiotheca Hebraica, p. 34; Fuenn, 

Keneset Yisrael, p. 151. 

S. M. K. 

BLUM, ABRAHAM: French major; born in 
1828; died at Boulogne, France, in 1894. He dis- 
tinguished himself in the Crimean war in 1854, hav- 
ing been wounded in the shoulder, and received from 
the sultan the Order of Medidje. Upon his return 
to France, where he had been counted among the 
fallen on the battle-field, he was accorded the cross 
of the Legion of Honor. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bloomfield 
Blum, Ernest 





In 1859 Blum left for Italy to participate in the 
war with Austria; was again wounded at the battle 
of Solferino, and then promoted on the field to the 
rank of captain. Having retired in 1870 as chief of 
battalion, he was appointed, at the outbreak of the 
Franco-Prussian war, adjutant-major of the National 
Guard of Paris. In 1875 he received an appoint- 
ment in the newly organized territorial army. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Jewish Chronicle, Feb. 9, 1894, p. 9. 

8, 


BLUM, DAVID: German Talmudist of the 
middle of the sixteenth century; rabbi at Sulzbure, 
near Freiburg in Baden [7]. He was classed among 
the best Talmudic authorities in Germany. Among 
his pupils Joseph B. Isaac ha-Levi ASUKENAZI was 
proud to have had Blum for his master (see his 
epistle against Meir b. Gedaliah reprinted in Zunz, 
““Tr ha-Zedek,” note 85). Blum copied and com- 
piled various works. The city library of Hamburg 
contains a copy of the “ Nizzahon” and a collection 
of “shetarot ” (documents) marked as copied by him. 

It is uncertain whether Blum is identical with 
David b. Moses Blumes (w9153), a friend of Solomon 
b. Jehiel Luria, in whose collection of responsa (No. 
ov, ed. Firth, p. 24a) is included a responsum of 
Blumes. If he is identical, he was at one time in 
Palestine, as Luria’s friend wrote from that coun- 
try. Blum is probably identical with David of 
Sulzburg, whom Joseph b. Gershon ha-Kohen of 
Cracow in his responsa (No. 31) calls “mehuttan ” 
(relative by marriage). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Wilna, p. 43; 
Brill, in Ha-Karmel, iv. 661; Kaufmann, in Rev. Et. 
Juives, xxii. 95; Steinschneider, Cat. d. Hebr. Hand- 
schriften in d. Stadtbibliothek zu Hamburg, pp. 71, 88, 89; 
I. Zunz, ‘Ir ha-Zedek, p. 24 and note 38, 

L. G. 


BLUM, ERNEST: French dramatist; born in 
Paris Aug, 15, 1836. The son of an actor, he began 
at an early age to work forthe theater. At cighteen 
he produced his first piece, for the Variétés, 
entitled “Femme Qui Mord.” His subsequent 
works for various theaters included the following: 
for the Délassements Comiques: “ L’Escarcelle 
d’Or” (in collaboration with Al. Flan), “Suivez le 
Monde,” “Les Délassements en Vacances” (1860), 
“TL’Aimanach Comique” (1860), “A Vos Souhaits ” 
(1860), “Paris Journal,” “Le Plat du Jour,” “La 
Tour de Nesle pour Rire” (1861), “En Zigzag” 
(1861), “Les Jolies Farceurs ” (1862), “ Les Noces du 
Diable ” (1868), etc.; for the Gaité: “La Petite Po- 
logne ” (with Lambert Thiboust, 1861); for the Vari- 
étés: “Crockbéte et Ses Lions” (with Clairville, 
1863), “Montjoie Fait Peur” (with Giraudin, 1863), 
“La Revue au Cinquiéme Etage” (with Giraudin 
and Clairville, 18638); forthe Ambigu: “ Rocambole” 
(with Anicet Bourgeois, and Ponson du Terrail, 
1864), “Rose Michel” (1875), “L’Espion du Roi” 
(1876); for the Chatelet: “La Lanterne Magique” 
(with Clairville and Monnier, 1865), “Cendrillon ” 
(with the same, 1866), “Le Diable Boiteux ” (with 
Clairville and Flan, 1866), “Les Voyages de Gulli- 
ver” (with Clairville and Monnier, 1867), “Le Ven- — 
geur” (with F. Brisebarre, 1868); for the Renais- 
sance: “La Jolie Parfumeuse” (with H. Crémieux, 
1874). He also wrote “Une Avant-Scéne” (1876), 


Blum, Isaac 
Blumenfeld 


with Toché, “La Revue des Variétés ” (1879), “ Belle 
Lurette ” (1880), “La Noce d’ Ambroise ” (1881), “ Le 
Chateau de Tire-Larigot ” (1884), “ Le Petit Chaperon 
Rouge” (1885), “Mademoiselle Gavroche” (1885), 
*“Le Parfum” (1888), “Les Femmes Nerveuses ” 
(1888), “Le Cadenas” (1889), “Paris Fin de Siécle ” 
(1890), “Madam Mongodin” (with Toché), at the 
Vaudeville (1890) ; “ Madame |’ Amira] ” (1892), “ Mon- 
sieur Coulisset” (1892). “La Maison Tamponin ” 
(1893), “La Rieuse ” (1894), “Le Carnet du Diable” 
(1895), “Le Carillon” (1897). 

In book form he published “Entre Bicétre et 
Charenton” (1866), “Journal d’un Vaudevilliste ” 
(1891), and “ Les Mémoires d’un Vieux Beau ” (1896). 
He is also the author of a “Biographie Compléte 
d’Henri Rochefort ” (Brussels, 1868). 

Blum was for several years on the editorial staff 
of the “ Charivari,” and he was associated with “ Le 
Rappel” from 1869. He died Oct. 21, 1907. 

S. J. W. 

BLUM, ISAAC AUGUST: French mathema- 
tician; born at Paris in 18381: died there Jan. 5, 
1877. He entered in 1831 the Ecole Polytechnique 
and was graduated licutenant of marine, but resigned 
in 1883 and devoted himself to teaching. Involved 
in the events of 1848, he was connected editorially 
with the “Journal des Travailleurs,” and was ap- 
pointed vice-president of the commission of Luxem- 
bourg. Blum was arrested for having taken part in 
the publication of an injurious libel addressed to the 
president of the Assemblée Constituante, but was 
soon released. He then took up his scientific occu- 
pation, 

Blum is the author of: (1) “Résumé d’Algébre 
Elémentaire ”; (2) “ Résumé d’ Arithmétique,” Paris, 
1843, both of which are comprised in the “ Collection 
des Tableaux Polytechniques”; (8) “Cours Complet 
de Mathématiques,” in two volumes, Paris, 1843- 
45. In 1844 he founded a scientific review, “ Bulle- 
tin Polytechnique,” which, however, he soon dis- 
continued; and in 1855 a daily paper treating of 
mathematics, “ La Science,” which is still published 
as a weekly. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v.; Larousse, 
Dictionnaire, s.v. 
3 I. Br. 


S. 
BLUM, JULIUS also known as Blum 
Pasha): Austro-Egyptian financier; born at Buda- 
pest, Hungary, in 1843. In 1869 he became director 
of the Austro-Egyptian bank at Alexandria; in 1877 
he was appointed state secretary in the Egyptian 
Ministry of Finance, by the khedive; and two years 
later, pasha and minister of finance. He retained 
this position until 1890, when he accepted the ap- 
pointment of director of the Austrian Credit-Anstalt 
at Vienna. Blum has received many decorations: he 
is K.C.B., C.M.G., commander of the French Legion 
of Honor, grand officer of the Italian Order of the 
Crown, knight of the Rother Adler Orden, ete. 

8. : M. K.. 

BLUMENBERG, LEOPOLD: Amcrican sol- 
dier; born in the province of Brandenburg, Prussia, 
Sept. 28, 1827; died at Baltimore Aug. 12, 1876. 
He was the son of Abraham and Sophia Blumen- 
berg, and the twenty-first of a family of twenty- 
two children. Soon after his birth Blumenberg’s 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


272 


parents moved to Frankfort-on the-Oder, and at an 

early age he was graduated from the gymnasium of 

that city. He served in the Prussian army in the 

Danish war of 1848, enlisting as a private and being 

promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He was 

decorated for his services, but the anti-Semitism 
prevalent deprived him of his medal; and, resenting 
such treatment, he left for America in 1854, settling 
in Baltimore, where he was engaged in mercantile 

pursuits until 1861. 

When Fort Sumter was attacked Blumenberg as- 
sisted in organizing the fifth Maryland infantry reg- 
iment, of which he was commissioned major. His 
efforts for the Union cause won for him the hatred 
of the Secessionists, forcing him to be guarded con- 
stantly to prevent their attacking and hanging him. 
He first served near Hampton Roads, was later at- 
tached to Mansfield’s corps in the peninsular cam- 
paign, and commanded his regiment as colonel at 
Antietam, where he was severely wounded in the 
thigh by a sharpshooter. This ultimately causea 
his death. He returned home, and was confined te 
his bed for several months. 

President Lincoln appointed Blumenberg provost 
marshal of the third Maryland district, with head- 
quarters at Baltimore. IIe held this office from 
1863 to 1865, making himself very unpopular by a 
strict enforcement of the laws. President Johnsor 
appointed him to a position in the revenue depart- 
ment, and commissioned him _ brigadier-general 
United States volunteers, by brevet. For a long 
time resident in Baltimore, he was extremely popular 
with the German and the Hebrew element of that city. 
He held the office of president of the National 
Schuetzen- Verein of America, and was an active 
member of Har Sinai congregation and of the He- 
brew orphan asylum. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative 
Men of Maryland and the District of Columbia, p. 477, 
Baltimore, 1879; Simon Wolf, The American Jew as Pa- 
triot, Soldier, and Citizen, pp. 199, 200, Philadelphia, 1895 ; 
Isaac Markens, The Hebrews in America, pp. 181, 182, New 
York, 1888; Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia, i. 613, new 
series, New York, 1877, for 1876. 

A. A. M. F. 

BLUMENBERG, MARC A.: American musi- 
cal critic and editor; born at Baltimore, Md., May 
21, 1851; educated in the public schools of that city, 
and later at the Coilege of Loyola. After a thor- 
ough course in the various branches of music, he 
became musical critic of the Baltimore “ American,” 
and subsequently was associated with the Baltimore 
“Sun” in a similar capacity. In 1879 he removed 
to New York, where, in the following year, he estab- 
lished the “ Musical Courier,” one of the most intlu- 
ential musical weekly papers in existence, with 
branch offices in Germany, France, England, and 
Italy. Blumenberg is president of the Blumenberg 
Press Corporation, and a member of the Social 
Science Association of New York. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Who's Whe in America. 


A. J. So. 

BLUMENFELD, ARON WOLFF: German 
composer; born at Kurnik, Posen, Feb. 29, 1828. 
In 1846 he went to Berlin, where he studied with 
Rungenhagen, and afterward established himself as 
ateacher and composer. His more important works 
are an opera entitled “ Kiinstlerleben,” and a can- 


273 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blum, Isaac 
Blumenfeld 





tata first performed in 1851. Among his pianoforte 
compositions — mostly morceauv de saton—are the 
following: “La Fée Dansante,” op. 9; “ L’Espé- 
rance,” waltz, op. 20; “Les Adieux de Berlin,” op. 
22; “Deutscher Triumphmarsch”; “ Hochzeits- 
marsch,” op. 32; “ Aldeutschlands Klage,” funeral 
march, op. 40. An interesting compilation is the 
“ Blumenilese,” concert-music for 6 to 20 instruments 
arranged in a series of 96 separate books, many 
of them consisting of several numbers, and contain- 
ing arrangements of German, Russian, Norwegian, 
American, English, French, and other songs, and 
transcriptions of dances, marches, operatic pieces, 
and various other selections from the works of Schu- 
mann, Lindblad, Seifert, Blomquist, and many other 


com posers. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mendel, Musik-Lerikon; Sehirmer’s Cata- 
logue. 
S. J. So. 


BLUMENFELD, BERISH: Galician Hebra- 
jst; flourished in the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. He was one of the wealthy Hebrew scholars 
of that part of Poland who contributed much to the 
spread of knowledge among their brethren, and 
whose work in the ficld of Neo-Hebraic literature 
was a true labor of love. Blumenfeld is the author 
of a German translation of the Book of Job, which 
he published with a Hebrew commentary (Vienna, 
1826). His views on the authorship and date of Job 
were the subject of an interesting correspondence 
with $8. D. Luzzatto, who insisted that Job was one 
of the oldest books of the canon. Blumenfeld also 
corresponded with Isaac Beer Levinsohn and as- 
sisted in the spread of the latter’s works. He was 
an intimate friend of Simson Bloch ha-Levi, who 
dedicated to him his Hebrew frauslation of Manasseh 
b. Israel’s “ Vindicie Judworum.” A poem, “ Mo- 
tar ha-Adam” (Superiority of Man), by Blumenfeld, 
is published in “ Bikkure ha-‘Ittim,” iv. 150-158. 
RIBLIOGRAPHY: Kerem Hemed, i. 53-58; ib. ji. 123-125; 

Sefer ha-Zikronot, pp. 71, 72; First, Bibl. Jud. i. 123. 

s. P, Wt. 

BLUMENFELD, FEITEL (FADEI): Rus- 
sian rabbi; born in 1826; died at Kherson Dee. 4, 
1896. He graduated from the rabbinical college at 
Jitomir, and for about forty years officiated as 
rabbi in Kherson and in the Jewish agricultural 
colonies of Kherson and Bessarabia, in whose devel- 
opment he always took an active part. He intro- 
duced many useful reforms in the Jewish community 
of Kherson, and, being familiar with the Jewish 
question in Russia, was repeatedly summoned by 
the government to the conferences of Jewish rabbis 
at St. Petersburg. He contributed largely to the 
Jewish-Russian periodicals “Russki Yevrei” and 
“Razsvyet,” especially on the Russian-Jewish agri- 
cultural colonies. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Luah Ahiasaf, 1897. 
H. R. 

BLUMENFELD, HERMANN FADEYE- 
VICH: Russian lawyer, son of Feitel (Fadei); born 
in Kherson Sept. 2, 1861; received his education at 
the high school of his birthplace. He was gradu- 
ated in 1883 from the New-Russian University of 
Odessa, which awarded him a gold medal and a 
prize for his treatise on the various kinds of landed 


ITT.—18 


property in Old Russia, entitled “O Formakh Zem. 
levladyeniya v Drevnei Rossii,” Odessa, 1883. 
Blumenfeld has published an article on Crimean- 
Tatar landed property, entitled “ Krimsko-Tatar- 
skoe Zemlevladyenie,” Odessa, 1888. He has been 
an extensive contributor to the Russian-Jewish 
periodicals “ Voskhod,” “ Yevreiskoe Obozryenie,” 
and others. His articles deal especially with the 
economic, industrial, and commercial activity of the 
Jews in South Russia. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, Kritiko-Biograficheski Slovar, 
iii., St. Petersburg, 1592. HR 


BLUMENFELD, IGNATZ (ISAAC): <Aus- 
trian publisher and merchant; born March 25, 1812, 
at Brody, Galicia; died Oct. 2, 1890, at Geneva, 
Switzerland. He was one of the wealthy Galicians 
who took delight in encouraging and spreading the 
new Hebrew literature. He visited Switzerland and 
Italy on a pleasure trip in the summer of 18384, and 
in the latter country met 8. D. Luzzatto and J. 8S. 
Reggio, with both of whom he corresponded on 
literary subjects. He lived for several years in 
Odessa, between 1840 and 1850, and afterward re- 
turned to Vienna, where he remained until] 1885, from 
which year until his death he lived in Switzerland. 

Blumenfeld deserved well of modern Hebrew lit- 
erature by his publication of four volumes of the 
“Ozar Nehmad,” Vienna, 1856-638, a collection of 
literary letters on various subjects relating to the 
science of Judaism, which were thus made accessi- 
ble to the average Hebrew scholar. These publica- 
tions are to some extent a continuation of Golden- 
berg’s “Kerem Hemed” and of the “Bikkure 
ha-‘Ittim” ; but they are more scientific and historical, 
giving less space to translations and to the feeble 
attempts at belles-lettres which filled so largea part 
of the former collections. Blumenfeld himself con- 
tributed very little to the “Ozar Nehmad,” but 
Rapoport. Luzzatto, Geiger, and other learned con- 
tributors recognized the great service which he was 
rendering Jewish science by giving currency to 
works which, but for his generosity, would have 
remained unpublished. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ozar Nehmad, i. 181; ii., Preface and p. 17; 

Letteris, Miktebe Bene Kedem, p. 104, Vienna, 1866. 

8. P. Wi. 

BLUMENFELD, J. C.: Polish litterateur and 
revolutionist; born about 1810; died before 1840. 
Blumenfeld was one of the leaders of a band of 
young Poles concerned in the Polish revolution of 
1831. The rising having proved a failure, Blumen- 
feld fled to London, where he produced a fantastic 
work, “Ecce Homo im Process mit dem Kénig und 
dem Priester, oder Die Selbsterl6sung der Menschen, 
ein Evangelium vom Jtiingsten Gerichte,” 1885. An 
English edition, under the title “The New Ecce 
Homo at Issue with King and Priest,” appeared in 
London in 18389. The work contains dialogues in 
prose alternating with verses, the main subject. of 
which is the scheme of kings and priests to enslave 
humanity, including a compact between Rome and 
the Church to degrade Israel. The book shows 
some power, but is wild and wandering. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, xi. 468-470; Cas. 
British Museum, s.v. 
U. R. J. 


Blumenfeldt 
B'nai B’rith 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


274 





BLUMENFELDT, SIMON (called also Si- 
mon Sofer): Russian calligrapher; born in Mi- 
tau, Courland, 1770; died at the same place 1826. 
He possessed the gift of writing in characters so 
small that they could be read only by the aid of a 
microscope. The Lord’s Prayer was thus written 
by him nine times on a piece of paper the size of a 
square inch. Ife could write readable letters and 
words even on the very edge of ordinary vellum 
paper. He was also a skilful draftsman, and he 
used to embellish his excellent pencil sketches with 
all kind of verses and sentences. He traveled ex- 
tensively through Europe, and received rewards 
from many sovereigns. Blumenfeldt presented nu- 
nicrous script portraits to Emperor Alexander I. of 
Russia, and a Pentateuch in Hebrew, of the size of 
a finger, to Pope Pius VII. He left in manuscript: 
“Diaries of Travel”; “Pene Shim‘on,” a com- 
mentary on the Bible, published by his son Moses 
in his work, “Magid Mesharim,” Hanover, 1851; 
“Tenaim u-Ketubah le-Shew‘uot we-Purim,” a hu- 
moristic poem. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Wunderbar, Gesch. der Juden in Liv- und 
Courland, Mitau, 1853; idem, Gesch. der Juden in Cour- 
land, in Literaturblatt des Orients, 1849, No. 38, where the 
year of his birth is given as 1760; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefr- 
rim, p. 289. 

H. R. 


BLUMENSTOCK VON HALBAN, LEO: 
Austrian physician; born at Cracow March 11, 
1888; died there Feb. 28, 1897. Edueated at the 
gymnasium and university of his native town and 
at the university at Vienna, he was graduated as 
doctor of medicine in 1862. He engaged in practise 
as a physician tn Cracow, and became privat-docent 
in 1864.and in 1869 assistant professor in the faculty 
of law in the university of that city. In 1881 he 
was appointed to the chair of forensic medicine in 
the same university by the medical faculty. He 
held also the position of “ Landesgerichtsarzt” 
(medical expert at the judicial court), and was raised 
to the nobility with the name “von Halban ” in 1891. 
Blumenstock is the author of: “Zur Lehre von der 
Vergiftung Durch Cloakengas,” in “ Vierteljahres- 
schrift fir Gerichtliche Medizin,” Ilviii., 2d part; 
“Die Wreden-Wendtsche Ohrenprobe und Deren 
Bedeutung in Foro,” in “Wiener Medizinische 
Wochenschrift,” 1875; “Tod Durch Dynamit,” in 
Friedreich’s “Blatter fir Gerichtliche Medizin,” 
1876, 1877; “Ueber Aphasie,” 7). 1878. He has also 
contributed many essays on forensic medicine to the 
Polish journals of Cracow, Lemberg, and Warsaw. 
From 1877 until his death he was editor of the 
Polish medical weekly “Przeglad Lekarski.” 


SET OGAEEES Pagel, Biogruphisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 
8. F. T. H. 


BLUMENTHAL, HEINRICH: German man- 
ufacturer and philanthropist; born at Darmstadt, 
Hesse, March 12, 1824; died there March 27, 1901. 
Even as a boy his love for technical work was 
noticeable, in consequence of which his father sent 
him to the technical high school of his native town. 
On being graduated thence he went to Vienna, Nurem- 
berg, and Paris, working in those cities as an or- 
dinary mechanic, and thus acquiring extensive 
knowledge. 


Returning to Darmstadt, Blumenthal started a fac- 
tory for the manufacture of agricultural implements, 
which became one of the largest factories of steam 
threshing-machines in southern Germany. He took 
great interest in the improvement of the condition 
of the farmers, and urged the passage of laws for 
their benefit. He also organized and took a lead- 
ing part in agricultural societies. During the 
Franco-Prussian war he was very active in sending 
relief to the Hessian troops at the front, and sup- 
ported from his own means a hospital on his estate 
in Darmstadt. 

Blumenthal did much for the beautifying of his 
native city and toward ameliorating the condition 
of the laboring classes. In acknowledgment of his 
services in this respect, one of the leading thorongh- 
fares in Darmstadt was named after him. 

It was his influence with the Grand Duke of Hesse, 
during the anti-Semitic movement in Germany, 
which caused the government of Hesse to take a 
decided stand against the agitators and to protect 
the Jews. Fora quarter of a century Blumenthal 
was a member of the city council, and for more 
than two decades the president of the Jewish com- 
munity of Darmstadt. . 

Blumenthal was an active philanthropist, support- 
ing many benevolent societies of different creeds, 
and assisting the worthy poor. In appreciation of 
his services to city and state he received the title of 
“Kommerzienrath,” and was decorated with the 
Hessian Ludwig cross, the Prussian Order of the 
Crown, the Hessian cross for merit, and the medal 
for non-combatants. 

8. F. T. #H. 

BLUMENTHAL, JOSEPH: American com- 
munal worker; born in Munich, Germany, Dec. 1, 
1884; died in New York March 2, 1901. In 1839 
he went to the United States with his parents, and 
in 1854 entered business at Mariposa, Cal., remaining 
there for five years. He then moved to New York, 
where he remained for the rest of his life. 

Soon after his return from California Blumenthat 
interested himself in military matters, and was for a 
time a staff officer of the third regiment of cavalry 
of the National Guard of the State of New York. 

Blumenthal soon became deeply interested in 
political, social, and Jewish communal affairs. He, 
together with W. M. Evarts and Joseph H. Choate, 
was a member of the famous Committee of Seventy 
which was instrumental in the overthrow of the 
notorious Tweed ring. In 1873-74 and 1888-91 he 
served as member of the New York Assembly, in 
which he was appointed to important committees, 
and he was for several years head of the Bureau of 
Incumbrances. From 1893 to 1895 he was commis- 
sioner of taxes and assessments. 

In Jewish communal affairs he displayed the 
greatest interest. As member, trustee, and presi- 
dent of the Congregation Shearith Israel he labored 
indefatigably. He was also affiliated with various 
orders, such as the B‘nai B‘rith and the Masonic 
fraternity, attaining to honors in their ranks. But 
the achievement to which he devoted the last fifteen 
years of his life was the establishment and main- 
tenance, in conjunction with the Rev. Dr. Sabato 
Morais and other workers, of the Jewish Theological 


275 





Seminary, of which institution he was president 
from its foundation in 1886 until bis death. 
A. B. D. 


BLUMENTHAL, MARE: American physi- 
eian; born July 11, 1831, at Altenstadt-on-the-Iller, 
Bavaria. 

He came to America with his parents in Aug., 
1839, attended the academy at Chambersburg, Pa., 
the public and high schools at Philadelphia, Pa., 
and graduated as doctor of medicine from the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia Uni- 
versity, New York, in 1852, He was assistant phy- 
sician at Blackwell’s Island Hospital during 1851- 
52; deputy coroner of New York city in 18538; and 
visited Europe in 1854, attending hospitals in Lon- 
don, Paris, and Munich. On his return he was ap- 
pointed resident and attending physician to Mount 
Sinai Hospital (then called Jews’ Hospital), New 
York, from 1855 to 1859, organizing its medical ad- 
ministration and formulating its records and monthly 
reports as in use to this day. From 1862 to 1894 
he was president of and physician to the Institu- 
tion for the Improved Instruction of Deaf Mutes, 
founded and supported by Jews for the benefit of 
Jewish and other children. 

The special features of the system of teaching 
adopted by Blumenthal, and which was then almost 
unknown in this country, were: (1) reading from 
the lips of the speaker; and (2) the use of articulate 
speech, instead of the finger and sign language 
(dactylology) then and still generally employed in 
most of the state institutions. 

During the Civil war Blumenthal was surgeon- 
major in the Third Regiment, National Guard. Be- 
sides many professional offices. such as president of 
the Medical Union, of the Northwestern Medical and 
Surgical Society, and of the Medical Board of the 
United Hebrew Charities, Blumenthal was one of 
the founders of the Young Men’s Hebrew Associa- 
tion, founder and president of the Sabbath Observ- 
ance Society of New York, and president of the 
Jewish Chautauqua (1901-02). J. 


BLUMENTHAL, NISSEN: Russian hazan; 
born in Jassy, Rumania, 1805; died in Odessa Feb. 
9, 1902. Though educated for the rabbinate, his 
excellent voice and musical ability fitted him for a 
hazan. He emigrated to Russia, became cantor of Ber- 
dychev and also of Yekaterinoslav, and in 1841 was 
made chief cantor of the Brody congregation of 
Odessa, which position he held for fifty-five years, 
when old age forced him to retire. His son Leon- 
hard, a singer in the Kharkov operahouse, died be- 
fore him. Blumenthal! was confined to his home by 
paralysis for the last six years of his life. His for- 
tune was left to the choir of the temple which he 
made famous. He was the model “chorhazan” of 
Russia, and did much to introduce systematic singing 
and the use of musical notes in Russian synagogues. 
P, Mrnxovsky declares his compositions more char- 
acteristically Jewish than those of the great cantors 
of Western couniries. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1891, No. 24, and 1902, 

No. 14; P. Minkovsky, in Ha-Shiloah, viii., Nos. 4 and 5; Ha- 

Meliz, x\., No. 39; Ha-Zefirah, xxix., No. 50; Der Jud, Sup- 


plement, Nos. 13 and 14, Cracow, 1902. 
H. R. P. Wt. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Blumenfeldt 
B'nai B'rith 





BLUMENTHAL, OSKAR: German author 
and playwright; born at Berlin March 18, 1852. 
He was educated at the gyimpasium and the univer- 
sity of his native town, and at the university at Leip- 
sic, where, in 1872, he received the degree of doctor 
of philosophy. After having been editor of the 
“Deutsche Dichterhalle” in Leipsic, he founded in 
1878 the “Neuen Mo- 
natshefte fiir Dicht- 
kunst und Kritix.” In 
1875 Blumenthal 
moved to Berlin, 
where he became the- 
atrical critic of the 
“Berliner Tageblatt,” 
holding this position 
until 1887, when he 
opened the Lessing 
Theater, of which he 
was director till 1898. 
From 1894 to 1895 he 
was also director of 
the Berliner Theater. 
Since 1898 he has 
been engaged exclu- 
sively in literary work. 

Blumenthal is well- | 
known as a critic and playwright. His critiques in 
the feuilletons of the newspapers sparkle with hu- 
mor, at the same time doing justice to authors and 
actors. His plays have had merited success, and 
many of them have been well received at the leading 
German theaters. As a theatrical manager he was 
very successful. 

Blumenthal is the author of many plays and 
novels, amoung which may be mentioned: “ Aller- 
hand Ungezogenheiten,” Leipsic, 1874, 5th ed., 1877; 
“Fir Alle Wagen- und Menschenklassen,” 7. 1875; 
“Bummelbriefe,” Danzig, 1880; and the comedies 
“ Der Probepfeil,” 1882; “Die Grosse Glocke,” 1887; 
“Der Zaungast,” 1889; “Grossstadtluft,” 1891; 
“ Hans Huckebein,” 1897; “Im Weissen Rdssl,” 1898, 
the last three together with G. Kadelburg; “ Merk- 
zettel,” 1898; and “ Verbotene Stiicke,” 1900. He 
slso edited “Grabbe’s Werke und Handschriftlicher 
Nachilass,” ib. 1878. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyers, Konversations-Lexikan, s.v.; Brock- 

haus, Konversations-Lexrikon, s.v. 

8, ¥. T. HA. 

B’NAI B’RITH, or SONS OF THE COVE- 
NANT: The largest and oldest Jewish fraternal 
organization. It has (1902) a membership of about 
30,000, divided into more than 3830 lodges and 
10 grand lodges, distributed over the United States, 
Germany, Rumania, Austria-Hungary, Egypt, and 
Palestine. It was founded at New York in 1848 by a 
number of German Jews, headed by Henry Jones, for 
the purpose of instilling the principles of morality 
among the followers of the Mosaic faith—uniting 
them on a platform upon which all could stand re- 
gardless of dogma and ceremonial custom—and of 
inculcating charity, benevolence, and brotherly love 
as the highest virtues. Political and religious dis- 
cussions were to be barred forever in order that har- 
mony and peace might be preserved in the delibera- 
tions of the Order. 





Oskar Blumenthal. 


B'nai B’rith 
Boas, Imar 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


276 





A constitution was adopted for the adininistration 
of the affairs of the Order; and in 1851, a sufficient 
number of lodges having been organized, the first 
grand lodge was established in the city of New 
York, and in the same year District Grand Lodge 
No. 2 was founded in the city of Cincinnati. The 
Order spread rapidly. Lodges were formed in nearly 
all of the Eastern and Western states; so that in 
1856 District Grand Lodge No. 8 was instituted, 
with its seat in Philadelphia, Pa. The supreme 
authority was placed in a central body, which met 
annually and was composed of one representative 
from each lodge. At the meeting of the supreme 
body in 1857 a membership of 2,889, with an accu- 
mulated capital of $78,000, was reported. At the 
same session the constitution was remodeled, giving 





B’nai B’rith Building, New York. 
(From a photograph.) 


it amore democratic and representative character. 
A new ritual, the work of Dr. David Einhorn, was 
also introduced in keeping with the progressive 
spirit of the age. 

A new era of development began in 1868, when, 
at a convention held in the city of New York, com- 
posed of representatives from each lodge, the pres- 
ent constitution was adopted. Meanwhile, three 
new grand lodges had been instituted: No. 4 in San 
Francisco, Cal. ; No. 5 in Baltimore, Md.; and No. 6 
in Chicago, Hl. The Order at that time numbered 
more than 20,000 members. Under the new consti- 
tution the supreme authority was placed in a presi- 
dent, to hold office for five years, and in an execu- 
tive committee andacourt of appeals, each of which 
was composed of one representative from each dis- 
trict, elected for five vears. The first president was 
Julius Bien of New York, who had been the master- 
mind of the new constitution. He heid the office 
until 1900, when he declined reelection on account 


of his advanced years; and Leo N. Levi of New 
York was unanimously chosen as his successor. 

In 1873 another new grand lodge, No. 7, was ad- 
ded, which held jurisdiction over the Southern states, 
A new sphere opened for the Order in 1882, when 
Moritz Ellinger, as the deputy of the executive com- 
mittee, instituted the first lodge in Berlin, Germany. 

Meanwhile a number of institutions had arisen in 
the United States, founded and supported by the 
Order, such as the Orphan Asylum in Cleveland, 
housing nearly 1,000 inmates, supported by Districts 
2, 6, and 7. Its erection was due to Benjamin F. 
Perxorro, Another institution is the Home for the 
Aged and Infirm at Yonkers, N. Y. The Atlanta 
Hebrew Orphan Asylum was established by Dis- 
trict No. 5, through the influence of Simon WoL¥r 
of Washington, D. C. The Jewish Widows’ and 
Orphans’ Home of New Orleans and the Touro In- 
firmary at the same place are supported by District 
No. 7. Finally, the Denver National Jewish Hos- 
pital for Consumptives was established by District 
No. 2. The Order also established a public library, 
known as the Maimonides Library, in New York 
city; the B’nai B’rith Manual Training School at 
Philadelphia, and other educational institutions 
throughout the country. The Order presented to 
the United States a statue of Liberty, chiseled by 
Moses Ezekiel, a native of Cincinnati. At the 
suggestion of the Order, Benjamin F. Peixotto was 
commissioned to represent the United States as con- 
sulin Rumania, in order to influence the Rumanian 
government on the question of affording protec- 
tion to its Jewish subjects. As there was no 





Seal of the B’nai B’rith Order. 


provision in the American budget for the mainte- 
nance of aconsulate in Rumania, the Order provided 
the necessary funds. 

When, in 1885, a sufficient number of lodges had 
been founded to warrant the establishment of a 
grand lodge for Germany, Julius Bien visited that 
country to inaugurate it. Meanwhile 
the growth of the Order in Rumania 
and Austria-Hungary had Iced to the 
institution of grand lodges with seats 
at Bucharest and Prague, and to the establishment 
of many useful benevolent institutions. 

In America the Order established the MENoRAH, 
a monthly magazine, edited first by Benjamin F. 
Peixotto, afterward by Moritz Ellinger, and for a time 


Extension 
to Europe. 


277 





by F. deSola Mendes. In Vienna the Order publishes 


a quarterly review; in Berlin, a monthly report. 
With the spread of the Order its usefulness as an 
international medium for the relief of the persecuted 
in various parts of the world has been established ; 
and the principle of self-help has been inculcated in 
communities which had always looked to others for 
protectionandaid. Of late the Order has established 
working relations with the great educational and 
relief associations of Europe, such as the Alliance 
Israélite Universelle of Paris, the Jewish Coloniza- 
tion Asseciation of London, and the Israelitische 
Allianz of Vienna. At the Quinquennial Conven- 
tion of the Order, held in Chicago (April 29 to May 
3, 1900), a commission was appointed to invite the 
cooperation of all European and American kindred 
associations in instituting measures for the introduc- 
tion of industries, agricultural employments, and 
modern education among the Jews of Galicia. The 
Order has also been active in finding employment 
for the Rumanian Jews, who through religious in- 
tolerance were compelled to leave their native coun- 
try. This it does through the district lodges, which 
organize means whereby many individuals may, 
from time to time, obtain a livelihood by manual 
labor. Numbers of Rumanian Jews, on arriving in 
New York, are distributed among the district lodges. 
During its existence the Order has expended mil- 
lions of dollars in aiding the distressed among its 
members by means of donations to the sick, by 
loans, and by endowments to widows and orphans. 
Immediately after the great storm at Galveston, 
Texas, Sept. 8, 1900, a fund of over $27,000 was 
contributed by the various lodges and members, 
and through the president, Leo N. Levi, it was em- 
ployed to give a new start in life to Jewish suffer- 
ers by the storm. The fund was raised by telegrams 
in a few days, and the relief was almost immediate. 
Following is alist of the district grand lodges, 
showing the jurisdiction of each, and the number of 
members: 





Nuinber of 














District oe daca 
Grand Lodges. Jurisdiction. Members. 
| 
ah ead suena | Massachusetts, New York, Rhode 
| Island, Connecticut, Canada. . 3,140 
oder ee ae Colorado, Indiana, Kunsas, Ken- 
tucky, Missouri, New Mexico, 
OIG saveee ov dasa ven ¥ueeceenes 3,100 
MY Boitaseeees Delaware, New Jersey, Penn- 
— sylvania, West Virginia....... 1,450 
OS Mar oats Were Arizona, California, Idaho, Mon- 
tana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, 
Washington, Britisb Columbia, 2,400 
he | CEP og District of Columbia, Georgia, 
Maryland, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Virginia...... 753 
n Gebsconkens Dlinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minne- 
sota, Nebraska, South Dakota, 
ie WISCONSIN 05 iccinasses rere 1,965 
LES ER Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennes- 
B66. "TENGS: 2543 iorkanceda ees 2,950 
Be Bab AF GEPMBDY Ss eonyiciad Sess im es eke 4,800 
kk See eee TRIS TNAS ae asie a eatese er eeeaes 900 
Mc a6. Re hac | AUST 4 Saaniiongs Ae oas ene Rais 1,000 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish. Times, 1869-75: Menorah Monthly 


since its establishment to the present dav; Reports of the exec- 


utive committee of the Order, of grand lodges, and of lodges ; 
the Monatsherichte of the German grand lodge; the Viertel- 
jahrsehrift of the Anstrian Humanitaéts Vereine; and the 
American Jewish Year Book (1900-01); Stevens, Cyclo- 
pedia of Fraternities, p. 207. 

A. M. E. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


B’nai B'rith 
Boas, Imar 





B’NAI BRITH MESSENGER. 
ODICALS. 


BNEI ZION. See FRATERNITIES. 


See PERI- 


BOAR, WILD (distinguished from the swine 
merely by the designation as “swine of the forest,” 
sy tn [Hebr., “hazir’”]): In Psalm lxxx. 14 the 
wild boar is introduced in a metaphor and described 
as coming out of the wood to root up the vine. 
Wild hogs have always been known in Palestine. 

Richard Coeur de Lion is said to have had an en- 
counter with a boar when crusading in that country, 
and the animal is still found in the morasses of the 
Jordan, around the Sea of Galilee, around Mount 
Tabor, and on the River ‘Aujeh, north of Joppa 
(compare Thomson, “The Land and the Book,” p. 
49). See Swine, 

J. IR. G. A. B. 


BOAS, EDUARD: German author and trav- 
eler; born at Landsberg-on-the-Warthe Jan. 1, 1815; 
died there June, 1853. He was destined for a com- 
mercial career by his parents; and, for the purpose 
of acquiring a knowledge of international trade 
methods, was sent through southern Europe. In- 
stead of turning the voyage to this account, Boas 
utilized the experience and knowledge gained in 
writing sketches, novels, and other literary produc- 
tions. His first effort in this direction, “Deutsche 
Dichter,” was published in 1837, followed three 
years later by “ Nachtrige zu Schiller’s Simmtlichen 
Werken.” The next year he published a similar 
work on Goethe, and followed this in a few months 
by “Des Kriegscommissiir Pipitz Reisen nach Ita. 
lien ”—a comic romance revealing considerable tal- 
ent. In 1842 he wrote “Spriitche und Lieder eines 
Indischen Brahmanen”; and in 1844 “ Pepita,” a 
novel, and “In Skandinavien.” His other works 
are: “Reiseblithen aus der Oberwelt”; “ Reise- 
blithen aus der Sternenwelt”; and “Schiller und 
Goethe im Xenienkampf,” 1852. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, ti. 757; 

Meyers, Konversations-Lexikon, iii. 149. 


8. E. Ms. 


BOAS, IMAR: German physician and medical 
author; born at Exin, province of Posen, Prussia, 
March 28, 1858. After having completed his studies 
at the gymnasium, he attended the medical courses 
at the universities of Berlin, Halle, and Leipsic, 
graduating as doctor of medicine in 1880. In 1882 
he established a practise in Berlin, studying espe- 
cially the diseases of the digestive tract, and open- 
ing a dispensary and hospital for the diseases of the 


| abdominal section of the alimentary canal. the first 


of its kind in Germany. Since then Boas has be- 
come a specialist in this branch of medicine. 

Boas is the author of numerous essays and of the 
following works: “Diagnostik und Therapie der 
Magen-Krankheiten,” Leipsic, 1890; “ Diagnostik 
und Therapie der Darmkrankhciten,” Leipsic, 1899. 
Since 1895 he has been editor of the “ Archiv ftir 
Verdauungs-Krankheiten.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon, 8.v., Vienna, 
1 


8. FE. T. H. 


Boat 
Bochart 
BOAT. Sce NAVIGATION. 


BOAZ.—Biblical Data: One of the relatives of 
Elimelech, husband of Naomi; a wealthy Judean, 
living at Bethlehem in Judah (Ruth ii. 1). He was 
one of the kinsmen of Ruth; as such he had the privi- 
lege of redeeming the family estate sold by Naomi 
after Elimelech’s death. Therefore when Ruth ap- 
pealed to his Kinship, he redeemed the property 
(Ruth iii. 9, iv. 3). In consequence of this he had 
to marry Ruth, in order “to raise up the name of 
the dead” (Ruth iv. 5, 10). Their son Obed was, 
according to tradition, the grandfather of David 
(Ruth iv. 22). 

J. IR. B. E. 


——In Rabbinical Literature: Boaz is identified 
by some rabbis with the judge I[bzan of Bethlehem 
(Judges xii. 8). It is further said that he lost all 
his sixty children during his lifetime because he did 
not invite Manoah, Samson’s father, to any of the 
marriage festivitiesin his house. For, since Manoah 
was at that time without children, Boaz thought 
that he need not consider on such occasions a child- 
less man who could not pay him back in kind (B. B. 
91a). According to Josephus, “Ant.” v. 9, § 1, 
Boaz lived at the time of Eli. Boaz was a just, 
pious, and learned judge, and the cus- 

His tom of using the Divine Name in 

Conduct = greeting one’s fellow-man (Ruth ii. 4) 

Approved. formulated by him and his bet din re- 

ceived the approval of even the heav- 
enly bet din (Mak. 28b; Yer. Ber. ix. 14c; Ruth R. 
to li. 4). 

Being a pious man, Boaz on his first meeting with 
Ruth perceived her conscientiousness in picking up 
the grain, as she strictly observed the rules prescribed 
by the Law (compare GLEANING OF THE FIELDS). 
This, as well as her grace and her chaste conduct 
during work, induced Boaz to inquire about the 
stranger, although he was not in the habit of inquir- 
ing after women (Ruth R. to ii. 5; Shab. 113b). In 
the conversation that followed between Boaz and 
Ruth, the pious proselyte said that, being a Moabite, 
she was excluded from association with the commu- 
nity of God (Deut. xxiii. 4). Boaz, however, re- 
plied that the prohibition in Scripture applied only 
to the men of Moab, and not to the women. He 
furthermore told her that he had heard from the 
Prophets that she was destined to become the ances- 
tress of kingsand prophets; and he blessed her with 
the words: “May God, who rewards the pious, also 
reward you” (Targ. Ruth ii. 10, 11; Pesik., ed. 
Buber, xvi. 124a). Boaz was especially friendly 
toward the poor stranger during the meal, when he 
indicated to her by various symbolic courtesies that 
she would become the ancestress of the Davidic 
royal house, including the Messiah (Ruth R. to ii. 
14; Shab. 118b). As toward Ruth, Boaz had also 
been kind toward his kinsmen, Naomi’s sons, on 
hearing of their death, taking care that they had an 
honorable burial (Ruth R. to ii. 20). 

Although Boaz was the prince of the people, he 
himself supervised the threshing of the grain in his 
barn, in order to circumvent any immorality or theft, 
both of which were rife in his days (Tan., Behar, ed. 
Buber, viii.; Ruth R. to iii. 7). Glad in his heart 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


278 


that the famine was over in Israel, he sought rest 
after having thanked God and studied for a while 
in the Torah (Tan., Zc; Targ. Ruth ni. 7; and Ruth 
R. 2.). Avoused out of bis first sleep by Ruth, he 
was greatly frightened, as he thought that she was 
a devil; and he was convinced of the contrary only 
after touching the hair of her head, 
Boaz since devils are bald (Tan., /.c.). When 
and Ruth. he perceived the pure and holy inten- 
tions of Ruth he not only did not 
reprove her for her unusual behavior, but he 
blessed her, and gave her six measures of barley, 
indicating thereby that six pions men should spring 
from her, who would be gifted by God with six ex- 
cellences (compare Isa. xi. 2; Sanh. 98b; Num. R. 
xiii, 11; Ruth R. and Targ. to Ruth iii. 15; the 
names of the six men differ in these passages, but 
David and the Messiah are always among them). 
Boaz fulfilled the promises he had given to Ruth, 
and when his kinsman (the sources differ as to the 
precise relationship existing between them) would 
not marry her because he did not know the Halakah 
which decreed that Moabite women were not ex- 
cluded from the Israelitic community, Boaz himself 
married her (Ruth R. to iv. 1). Boaz was eighty 
and Ruth forty years old (¢dem to iii. 10), but their 
marriage did not remain childless, though Boaz died 
the day after his wedding (Midrash Zutta, ed. Buber, 
55, below). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Hartmann, Das Buch Ruth in der Mi- 

drasch-Litteratur, 1901. 

J. SR. L. G. 
——Critical View: The historical value of the 
genealogy (Ruthiv. 18-22) is denied by Welihausen, 
Cornill, and modern critics generally. They sup- 
pose it to be the product of a tendency that existed 
at one period in post-exilic times, of finding a for- 
eign origin for the most renowned families. But 
others are of the opinion that David’s flight into 
Moab (I Sam. xxii. 3) is a circumstance that lends 
historical plausibility to the Moabitic origin of Rutu 
(so Kuenen, “ Historisch-Critisch Onderzoek,” ete., 
i., $ 36. g.; Nowack, “Ruth,” p. 184. 


J. IR. B. E. 
BOAZ, ISRAEL MICHAEL. Sce CrEsson, 
W ARDER. 


BOBOVNIA. See Minsk. 


BOBRUISE: City in a district of the same 
name, in the government of Minsk, Russia; situated 
on the right bank of the River Berezina. It is men- 
tioned the first time in official documents concern- 
ing Jews, issued in 1511. The inhabitants of Bob- 
ruisk, with those of other towns, petitioned King 
Sigismund to allow them to pay their taxes directly 
to the crown instead of the secretary of the treasury, 
Abraham Yesofovich. In a list of duties paid at 
the custom-house of Brest-Litovsk for the year 1588, 
a Jew named Ilya Lipshitz is mentioned as having 
sent merchandise to Bobruisk. 

Bobruisk was of little importance until the early 
part of the nineteenth century, when, under Alex- 
ander I., it began to increase rapidly in population, 
on account of the important fortress he had erected 
there. It had (1898) 19,125 Jewish inhabitants in a 
total population of 35,177; and the district (inclu- 


279 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Boat 
Bochart 








ding the city) has 49,858 Jews in a total of 256,095, 
It isa prosperous city. The commerce, consisting 
chiefly of dry-goods, grain, and wood, is mainly in 
Jewish hands. 

The community is divided into Hasidim and Mit- 
nagdim, who live harmoniously together. The pres- 
ent rabbi (1902) of the Hasidim is Shemariah Noah 
Shuneierson, a descendant of the rabbis of Lyubavich. 
Raphael Shapiro, an excellent Talmudic scholar, is 
the rabbi of the Mitnagdim. Bobruisk possesses 
four official synagogues and many charitable and 
social institutions, among which the most noteworthy 
isa refuge for old men, which was founded by the 
philanthropist, Hayyim Boaz Rabbinowicz. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Semenov, i. 273; Regesty, Nos. 242, 642; 
Keneset ha-Gedolah, ii. 95 et seq. LB 
e R, 


In the district of Bobruisk there are at least 500 
persons who depend for their subsistence mainly 
upon the cultivation of several deciatines of the soil. 
Most of the dairies are in the hands of Jews (110 
families), who have lost all other resources for a 
livelihood since the introduction of the government 
monopoly of the liquor trade. In the vicinity of 
Bobruisk there are plantations, upon which about 100 
Jewish girls work in the summer. Jn the town are 
20 small factories which employ 120 Jews. The 
manufacture of leather goods is considerable, many 
of the large workshops producing uppers for shoes 
for export to the neighboring towns and villages. 
Brick-making is also well developed. There are 
about 3,139 Jewish artisans, 285 tailoring establish- 
ments (employing 367 hands), and 275 shoe- and 
boot-making establishments (employing 165 hands). 
There are 444 Jewish laborers, employed chiefly in 
caring (1902). The following charitable institu- 
tions have been established: a Jewish hospital, a 
cheap kitchen, an institution for the aged, a society 
for the aid of the sick poor at their homes, and a 
“Tmilat-Khasodim,” which lends money without 
interest. Besides the general schools, attended by 
comparatively few Jewish children, there are also 
schools for Jews exclusively: two private schools 
for girls (300 pupils), a female technical school (160 
girls), a primary public school (160 boys), and the 
Jewish People’s Technical School (60 boys). 

On May 38, 1902, a fire destroyed the greatest part of 
the city, and thousands of Jewish families were ren- 
dered homeless (“Budushchnost,” 1902, No. 1%). 

H. R. | 8. J. 


BOCARA, ABRAHAM B. MOSES: Rabbi 
of the community of Leghorn Jews at Tunis, where 
he died in 1879. He was the author of “Ben Abra- 
ham,” a work treating of difficult problems in relig- 
ious law, and published at Leghorn, 1882, by his 
relative, Jacob Bocara. Several other writings of 
his are extant in manuscript form. 


‘BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Cazés, Notes Bibliographiques sur la Lit- 
térature Juive-Tunisienne, pp. 29 et seq. MK 


L. G. 

BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI, IN JEWISH 
LITERATURE: Among the translations into 
Judxo-German of popular books and legends, such 


as Bevis of Hampton, the Arthur legend, and Till- 


Eulenspiegel, there is one of seven stories from the 
“ Decameron” of Boccaccio (1813-75). The transla- 
tor, Joseph (of) Maarsen, published several Judzo. 
German works. The little volume of 36 folios ap- 
peared in Amsterdam in 1710 under the title “Schone 
Artliche Geschichten,” and contains, according to 
Steinschneider, the following tales: “Andrew of 
Perugia,” “ Beritola,” “ Gilford,” “The Three Broth- 
ers,” “QLandolf,” “The Daughter of the Sultan of 
Babylon,” and “The Count of Anguerra.” It may 
have been taken from the Dutch version of Boccac- 
cio published in 1644, On the title-page the trans- 
lator has printed a rimed account of the merits of 
the book, and speaks of editing parts ii. to v., in ad- 
dition to parti. In the preface he says: 

“The book out of which I have copied these Ma‘asim was over 
100 years old; and at that time the Dutch language was much 
harsher than itis now. The kind and gentle reader will there- 
fore excuse me, if my language here and there is not quite 
proper. I have tried to make it so that any one can understand 
me. I might have translated it into pure German (Sauber 
Deutsch) ; but then it would have been unintelligible in Hol- 
land. I could also have translated it into Dutch (Hollandsch- 
Deutsch). But then the *‘Hoch-Deutsche Yehudim’ would not 
have understood it. I have, therefore, Written it in neither too 
high nor too low German.” 

He says, also, that he was careful not to introduce 
Hebrew words, as he holds it to be a sin to mingle 
the holy tongue with a strange one. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1507; idem, 

Jewish Literature, p. 250. On the influence of Boccaccio, see 


the remarks of Jost, printed in Brann’s Jahrbuch, x}. 19, 
and Steinschneider, in Monatssehrift, xiii. 471. G 


BOCHART, SAMUEL: One of the greatest 
scholars of the seventeenth century, and an illustri- 
ous representative of the science and theology of the 
French Reformed Church; born at Rouen in 1599; 
died in Caen, May 16, 1667. His parents were per- 
sons of note. After a thorough study of theology 
and the Oriental languages in France, England, and 
Holland, he was called as pastor to Caen in Nor- 
mandy, where he died on the day that his only 
grandson had made a three hours’ brilliant defense 
of certain philosophical theses at the Academy of 
Caen. He first attracted general admiration by en- 
gaging ina nine-days’ debate with the Jesuit Véron, 
who was deputed by the government to travel 
through France with a view to the conversion of 
the Huguenots. The report of this debate was 
printed in 1630 at Saumur. Out of his scholarly 
preparation for sermons on Genesis came the two 
monumental works by which Bochart’s name is still 
known: “Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Chanaan,” 
1646, the first part of which, “ Phaleg,” treats of the 
names contained in the Table of Nations in Gen. x., 
while the second part, “Chanaan,” is devoted to the 
colonies and the language of the Phenicians; and 
“Hierozoicon sive Bipartitum Opus de Animalibus 
Sacre Scripture,” 1663, a marvelously erudite col- 
lection of everything contained in Biblical, classical, 
and Oriental literature on the animals mentioned 
in the Bible. [Much of the material of these two 
works is still of value.—T. ] 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyklopddie, s.v.: Step~ 


hanus Morinus, De Clarissimo Bochatvo et Omnibus ejus 
Scriptis, reprinted in the Leyden edition of Bochart’s works. 


T. K. H. C. 


Bochim 
Bodleian 


BOCHIM: Name of a place near Beth-el. The 
Septuagint reads in Judges ii. 1, “ The place of weep- 
ing to Beth-el and to all Israel.” It may be identi- 
cal with Beth-el itself (see Moore, Judges, ad loc.). 

J. IR. G. B. L. 


BOCHNER, HAYYIM B. BENJAMIN 
ZE’EB: Cabalist, Talmudist, and grammarian; 
born at Cracow, Galicia, in the first quarter of the 
seventeenth century; died at Ftirth, Bavaria, Feb. 
2, 1684. He was the son of one of the wealthiest 
Jews of Cracow, who owned a stone mansion and 
two adjoining stores on Casimir place, astreet other- 
wise uninhabited by Jews. 

Bochner received both a rabbinical and a liberal 
education, and was a pupil of Israel Ganz—whose 
daughter he afterward married—and of the cabalist 
and grammarian Jacob Temerls. On the death of 
his father (1647) Bochner became heir to a portion 
of his father’s business and other properties; but he 
sold his share to his three brothers and one sister, 
receiving in lieu a weekly allowance in order to be 
able to pursue his studies. He established at his 
own house a free rabbinical school, and enjoyed the 
friendship of Lipmann Heller and other renowned 
scholars. Having received a call to Ebenfurth, and 
afterward to Lackenbach, as rabbi and head of the 
bet din, he continued to keep up a yeshibah in both 
places. For reasons he himself gives in the 
introduction to his book, “Or Hadash” (New Light), 
he removed to Vienna, where he stayed until the 
expulsion of the Jews from that city in 1670. 

Bochner, who combined a spirit of observation 
with his extensive Talmudical knowledge, and who 
while traveling had seen a great deal of the world, 
spent the rest of his life in writing and publishing 
books and in editing other valuable works. He 
wrote: (1) The above-mentioned “ Or Hadash,” a com- 
pilation of laws concerning the ritualistic benedic- 
tions, in which he embodied the “Or Yisrael” of his 
teacher Israel Ganz, and selections from some works 
of hisown; ¢.g., “ Birkat ha-Nehenin ” (Benedictions 
for Enjoyments), which formed part of another work, 
“Orhot Hayyim” (The Ways of Life), a commentary 
on Isaac Tyrnau’s “Minhagim.” These works he 
published, first separately with approbations by 
Lipmann Heller and Isaac Eulenburg in 1659, and 
then as a whole, Amsterdam, 1671. (2) “Patora di 
Dahaba” (Table of Gold), a compendium of the 
Shulhan ‘Aruk, which remained unpublished. (8) 
“ Mayim Hayyim” (Living Waters), containing hom- 
ilies and comments on Bible and Talmud accord- 
ing to the four methods: (69795) Peshat, Remez, 
Derush, and Sod. (4) “Tlana di Hayye” (The Tree 
of Life). (3) “Tozeot Hayyim” (The Issues of 
Life), on grammar, Hamburg, 1710. (6) mban no 
(“The House of Prayer”), a grammatical and mystical 
commentary on the prayer-book, together with all 
the laws concerning prayers; also under the title 
“Arba‘ah Roshim” (Four Divisions), on account of 
the four different treatises it contains. (7) “Luah 
Hayyim” (Tablet of Life), a work on dietetics, 
Cracow, 1669, erroneously ascribed to a certain Ra- 
phael, and translated into Latin by Wagenseil, 1687. 

Bochner also edited the “ Midrash Konen,” Am- 
sterdam, 1669; the “Sefer ha-Nikkud” (Book of 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


280 


Vocalization), on Hebrew grammar, and “Sod ha- 
Hashmal,” a cabalistic work, both by Moses Gika- 
tilla, Cracow, 1648; and “ ‘Iyyun Tefillah” (Book on 

Meditation of Prayer), by Hayyim Rashpitz, Am- 

sterdam, 1671. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ; Steinschneider, Cat. Boudl. col. 825; Benjacob, 
Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 487; Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 861 ; 
Dembitzer, Keliiat Yofi, ii. 112; David Kaufmann. Die Letzte 
Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien, 1889, pp. 192, 198; Wolf, 
Bibliotheca Hebreoca, iv. 1190. 

K. S. R. 


BOCHNIA, AUSTRIA. See GALicia. 


BOCK, ALFRED: German novelist; born at 
Giessen, Hesse-Darmstadt, Oct. 14, 1859. He re- 
ceived his education at the gymnasium and the uni- 
versity of his native town, and traveled through 
Denmark, Italy, Turkey, and Greece. He now 
(1902) lives in Giessen. 

Bock is the author of: “Gedichte,” Dresden, 1889; 
“Aus einer Kieinen Universititsstadt,” Giessen, 
1896; “Wo die Strassen Enger Werden,” Berlin, 
1898; “Die Pflastermeisterin,” 7b. 1899; “ Bodo Sik- 
kenberg,” 7b. 1900; “Der Flurschiitz,” 26. 1901; 
“Kinder des Volkes,” 2d. 1902. He has also written 
some dramas, of which may be mentioned: “Die 
Alte Jungfer,” “Die Prinzessin von Sestri,” and 
“ Der Gymnasialdirektor.” 

Ss. F. T. fi. 


BOCK, M. H.: German educator; born at Mag- 
deburg, 1784; died at Leipsic April 10, 1816, while 
on a journey. He was one of the ablest modern 
Jewish teachers in Germany at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century; and the fashionable private 
school (Lehr- und Bildungsanstalt) which he founded 
in 1807 at Berlin, and to which Christian as well as 
Jewish pupils were admitted, enjoyed a great repu- 
tation. He was also for some time tutor at the K6l- 
nisches Gymnasium in Berlin. After bis death his 
school was conducted by I. M. Jost. 

He wrote the following essays and works: (1) 
“Nachrichten von der Lehr- und Bildungsanstalt 
Jiidischer Familien,” Berlin, 1807 (part of this is 
reprinted in “Sulamith,” ii. 2, 39 e¢ seqg.); (2) “He- 
briisches A BC Buch,” Berlin, 1812; (8) “ Kate- 
chismus der Israelitischen Religion,” Berlin, 1814; 
(4) “ Moda‘ l’Yalde B‘ne Israel: Israelitischer Kin- 
derfreund,” a manual of the rudiments of knowl- 
edge, in Hebrew, German, and French, for the in- 
struction of Jewish children at home and at school, 
3 vols., Berlin, 1811-12; (5) in collaboration with 
David Frankel, “ Die Finf Biicher Mosis, mit Moses. 
Mendelssohn’s Uebersetzung in Deutschen Lettern,” 
Berlin, 1815; (6) “Predigt am Sabbath nach der 
Erscheinung des Kéniglichen Ediktes: die Birger- 
lichen Verhaltnisse der Juden in den Preussischen 
Staaten Betreffend in Erbauungen,” ed. by Kley 
and Ginsburg, i. 448 et seg.; (7) “Predigten zur 
Kirchlichen und Hauslichen Erbauung,” Berlin, 
1824, published by his brother, A. Bock, a convert 
to Christianity. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sulamith. iv. 2, 358 et seq.; First, Bibliotheca 


Judaica, i. 124; Kayserling, Bibliothek Jiidischer Kanzel- 
redner, i. 411. 


8. MK. 
BODEK. See Beprgau. 


281 


BODEK, HERMAN: Galician Hebraist; born 
in Brody Sept. 27, 1820; died at Leipsic Aug. 19, 
1880. He was descended from a highly respected 
family, and was the son-in-law of 8. L. Rapoport. 
For a long time he lived in Leipsic, where he was 
translator of Hebrew at the courts of law, and was 
also engaged in business. 

Bodek was well acquainted with rabbinical and 
Neo-Hebraic literature, and contributed articles on 
various subjects to the Jewish periodical press of 
several countries. He was the author of “Eleh 
Dibre ha-Berit” (These Are the Words of the Cove- 
nant), Leipsic, 1880, a catechism of the ritual signs, 
allegories, and objects of Freemasonry. It was based 
on the works of O. Marbach and R. Fischer on 
that subject, and was intended mainly for Jewish 
Masons in the Orient, or for those in Europe who 
could not read any language other than Hebrew. 
Bodek was himself a member of the Apollo Lodge 
of the Masonic Order in Leipsic. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeine Handbuch der Freimaurerei, 
p. 18, Brockhaus, Leipsic, 1879 ; Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica, 
p. 36 ; Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon, i. 577-578. 

L. G. P. Wi. 
BODEK, JACOB, OF LEMBERG: Galician 

Hebraist; died at Lemberg 1856. He published 

“Ha-Ro’eh v-Mebakker Sifre Mehabre Zemanenu” 

(Spectator and Critic of Contemporary Works), 

which contains long articles from his own pen, from 

that of his brother-in-law, A. M. Mohr, and others, 
against the works of 8. L. Rapoport, §. D. Luz- 

zatto, and 8. J. Reggio (part i, Lemberg, 1837; 

part ii., Ofen, 1839). Later he published, in con- 

junction with Mohr, a periodical entitled “Jerusa- 

lem,” which appeared at irregular intervals (vol. i., 

Zolkiev, 1844; ii., Lemberg, 1845; iii., Prague, 1845). 

He republished with notes the chronicles of Abra- 

ham Trebitsch, “ Korot ha-‘Ittim,” which cover the 

period from 1741 to 1801, and “Korot Nosafot,” a 

continuation until the year 1850 (Lemberg, 1851). 

His biography of his friend, R. Zebi Hirsch Chajes 

of Zolkiev, appeared in “ Ha-Maggid,” i., Nos. 8-11. 

BIBEIOGRAPAY:: Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. pp. 35-36, Leipsic, 

8 P. Wr. 


BODENHEIMER, LEVI: Consistorial rabbi 
at Krefeld, in the Rhine province; born Dec. 18, 
1807, at Carlsruhe; died Aug. 25, 1867, at Krefeld. 
He occupied the position of rabbi at Hildesheim in 
1837. Bodenheimer published: (1) “ Das Testament 
Unter Benennung einer Schenkung, nach Rabbi- 
nischen Quellen” (Krefeld, 1848); (2) “Das Para- 
phrastische der Arabischen Uebersetzung des R. 
Saadja Gaon”; (8) #D5Sm nxt (the Blessing of 
Moses); and (4) 433NA (the Song of Moses), the last 
two being scientific comparisons of the translations 
contained in Walton’s Polyglot, with a special ref- 
erence to the Greek and Arabic variants. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon; Winter 

and Winsche, Die Jiidische Litteratur, iii. 


8. J. D. B. 


BODENSCHATZ, JOHANN CHRISTIAN 
GEORG: German Protestant theologian; born at 
Hof, Germany, May 25, 1717; died Oct. 4, 1797, at 
Baiersdorf near Erlangen, In his early education 
at the gymnasium of Gera he became interested in 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bochim 
Bodleian 


Oriental and Biblical subjects through his teacher, 
Schleusner; and later (17838), at the Jena University, 
he took up Oriental languages as a special study. 
Bodenschatz entered the Church, and was vicar 
of Uttenreuth, ultimately (1780) becoming superin- 
tendent at Baiersdorf. He devoted his life to Jew- 
ish antiquities, and is said to have made elaborate 
models of the Ark of Noah and of the Tabernacle in 
the wilderness, In 1748 he summarized the results 
of his researches in his “ Kirchliche Verfassung der 
Heutigen Juden, Sonderlich Derer in Deutschland ” 
(in four parts, Erlangen). This important work 
gives, besides a short history of the Jews, which is 
derived mainly from Schudt and Basnage, a full 
account of Jewish ceremonial, drawn by the author 
from both written and oral sources and illustrated 
with engravings. Of these engravings some are 
imitated from Picart, but most of them were espe- 
cially designed and engraved for the work; several 
have been reproduced in the Jewish ENCYCLOPEDIA, 
Bodenschatz generally gives an accurate account 
of Jewish ceremonial and custom, and without bias; 
his work is consequently an original source for the 
actual practise of Jewish ceremonial in mid-Germany 
in the first half of the eighteenth century. A second 
edition appeared at Frankfort in 1756 under the 
title “Aufrichtig Deutschredende Hebrier, oder 
Die Gebriuche und Ceremonien der Juden.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allg. Deutsche Biographie, s.v. 


T. 
BODENSEE. See Consrance, LAKE OF. 


BODENSTEIN, JULIUS: German landscape- 
painter; born in Berlin Aug. 4, 1847. He studied 
at the Berlin Academy under Schiitze and Hermann 
Schnee, and in 1873 went to Munich, where he be- 
came a pupil of Ad. Lier. He is prominent as a 
painter of subjects from nature, his “Twenty-five 
Views in the High Alps” (1879) being very artistic 
productions. In 1883 he exhibited “Isle of Syit” at 
Munich. Among his other works are: “ Approach- 
ing Storm in the Jura Mountains,” “ View Near Irafoi 
with Glaciers,” “Oyster-Fishing on the North Sea,” 
and “Twilight on the Isle of Sylt.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, i. 172, 
New York, 1887; H. A. Miller, Aligemeines Ktinstler-Lexi- 
kon, s.¥.; Kohut, Bertihmte Israelitisehe Mtinner und 
Frauen, part vii., 298, Leipsic, 1900. 

S. A. M. F. 


BODLEIAN LIBRARY: The _ well-known 
University Library at Oxford, England. The build- 
ing which at present forms the reading-room of the 
Bodleian Library was begun in 1444 by Humfrey, 
duke of Gloucester, and received continual acces- 
sions of books, Its life as a library, however, lasted 
little more than a century; for in the troubles that 
followed the Reformation it suffered the same fate 
as other abodes of religion and learning. Its man- 
uscripts were burned or sold as waste paper, and 
its fittings treated as so much timber. The history 
of the present collections, therefore, begins with 
the refoundation by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1598. 
Whether any Hebrew works were included among 
Bodley’s own gifts is uncertain. The earliest re- 
corded donation of the kind is a Hebrew lexicon 
presented by John Savile in 1601, which was fol- 
lowed by Hebrew manuscripts from Dr, John Lhuid 
in 1602. 


J. 


Bodleian 
Body 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


282 











Tt was not till 1640 that the Hebrew collection be- 
gan to assume any importance. In that year about 
forty-eight manuscripts were received 
Early from Sir Kenelm Digby and Arch- 
Donations bishop Laud; and in 1654 John Selden 
and bequeathed to the university such of his 
Purchases. Talmudical and rabbinical books as 
were not already to be found in the 
library. But by far the greatest part of the present 
treasures of the Bodleian was acquired by purchase. 
Thus in 1693 Pococke’s library of 420 manuscripts 
(including a number in Hebrew) was bought for 
£600, and 600 manuscripts of Huntingdon’s for £700. 
In the eighteenth century very few acquisitions 
were made; 
but in 1817 the ; 
great, Canonici | p 
collection, in- | 
cluding 135 
manuscripts on 
vellum, chiefly 
in Hebrew, 
was bought for 
£5,444, and 
twelve years 
later the still 
more impor- 
tant library of 
R. David Op- 
penheimer (of 
Prague) was 
acquired at a 
eost of £2,080. 
The impor- 
tance of this 
addition may 
be estimated 
from the fact 
that it con- 
sisted of 780 
manuscripts 
and over 4,000 
printed books, 
embracing 
every depart- 
ment of Jewish 
literature and 
learning. The 
collection is 
still called by 
the name of 
the original 
owner, and 
subsequent acquisitions were till recently referenced 
as Oppenheimer additions, the whole being housed 
together in the “ Hebrew Room,” where an engraved 
portrait of the rabbi may be seen presiding over this 
monument of his learned industry. 

The Bodleian thus rose at once into the front rank 
of Hebrew libraries, But its value was still further 
increased soon afterwards. In 1845 about 483 printed 
volumes from the library of Gesenius were pur- 
chased, as well as 820 books from a Berlin bookseller. 
In 1848 the manuscripts (862 volumes) belonging to 
H. J. Michael were bought for £1,030, but his large 
collection of 5,471 printed volumes went to the 





EWER WITH HEBREW INSCRIPTION, IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY. 
(From a photograph specially taken for the “ Jewish Encyclopedia.”’) 


British Museum. Two years later considerable ad- 
ditions were again made by the purchase of sixty-two 

manuscripts and numerous printed 
The Oppen- volumes from various sources. The 
heimer and last two collections bought thus en 

Michael bloc were seventy-two Reggio manu- 
Collections. scripts in 18538, and a number of 

volumes in 1864. 

During the last thirty years the Hebrew collection 
has steadily increased in value, chiefly through the 
watchfulness and discrimination of the late Oriental 
sub-librarian, Adolph Neubauer. Besides other 
manuscripts, he was the means of acquiring a num- 
ber of Karaite and Yemen manuscripts, as well as a 
great quantity 
of fragments 
from the Cairo 
“genizah,” 
which are now 
bound up in 
about 180 vol- 
umes. It is to 
be feared, how- 
ever, that the 
time for start- 
ling purchases 
is past. The 
important pri- 
vate collections 
have mostly 
gravitated to 
the large li- 
braries; the 
competition 
between buy- 
ers is keener 
than ever be- 
fore: while 
lack of funds 
and the serious 
demands made 
by other 
branches’ of 
learning on the 
resources of 
the Bodleian 
and of the Uni- 
versity alike 
threaten to hin- 
der further de- 
velopment on 
any large 
scale. 

In the above account only the more striking ac- 
quisitions have been noticed, and these very briefly. 
Further information will be found in the various 
catalogues. The Pococke and Huntingdon manu- 
scripts, with others, are described in John Uri’s cat- 
alogue, published in 1787. For the Oppenheimer 
manuscripts a catalogue was issued, in 
Hebrew and Latin, at Hamburg in 
1826. For the Michael collection a cata- 
logue was published by Steinschneider 
and Zunz, Hamburg, 1848. <A conspectus of all 
the Hebrew manuscripts in the library is appended 
by Steinschneider to his great catalogue, or rather 


Cata- 
logues. 


283 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bodleian 
Body 





bibliography, of the printed books. All these, how- 
ever, are now superseded by Neubauer’s “ Cata- 
logue of Hebrew Manuscripts,” published in 1886, 
containing 2,602 numbers, to which a supplement is 
in course of preparation, dealing with subsequent 
additions, about 300 volumes up to the present time. 
For the printed books the indispensable and only 
guide is Steinschneider’s “Catalogus Librorum He- 
breorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana,” published in 
1860, of which an interleaved copy in the library is 
kept up to date by manuscript additions. 

Outside the Hebrew manuscripts and books, the 
chief object of Jewish interest at the Bodleian is a 
bronze ewer 92 inches high, and 30 inches at great- 
est circumference, found in a Suffolk brook in 1698. 
It bears a Hebrew inscription showing it to have 
been presented by “Joseph, son of the martyred 
Rabbi Yehiel.” The precise object for which it 
was used is doubtful; some think as a “ charity box,” 
others as a laver for washing the dead. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Boat. cols. xlv.-li.; Neu- 

bauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr, MSS. pp. v., vi; Catalogue Anglo- 

Jewtsh Historical Exhibition, No. 1; Macray, Annals of the 

Bodleian Library, 2d ed., Oxford, 1890. 

J. A. Co. 

BODO: Bishop and chaplain of Emperor Louis 
the Pious. After a dissolute life at court, he made 
(838) a pilgrimage to Rome, was converted to Juda- 
ism, assuming the name of Eleazar, and married a 
Jewess. He then went into military service at 
Saragossa. Bodo incited the Moorish government 
and the people to oppose the Spanish Christians, 
who asked aid of the king of the Franks. In 840 
he corresponded with the knight Pablo Alvaro of 
Cordova, a baptized Jew; each convert endeavoring 
in vain to lead the other back to his old faith. 
Many of their letters have been preserved. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Florez, Espafia Sagrada, vol. xi., ep. xiv.- 
Xx.; compare pp. 19 et seqg.; Kayserling, in Monatsschrift, 
1860, pp. 244 et seq.; Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden 
in Rom, i. 136 et seq. 


G. H. V. 

BODY IN JEWISH THEOLOGY: In He- 
brew the idea of “ body ” is expressed by the term “ ba- 
sar” (Assyrian, “bishru”), which, commonly trans- 
lated “flesh,” ortginally denoted blood-relation, clan 
(see Gen. ii. 23, 24), the physical appearance being 
regarded as the evidence of consanguinity, and only 
secondarily the “body,” and hence the general state 
or condition of man, or manasa creature of flesh, and 
finally mankind, “all flesh” (Isa. Ixvi. 23). <A less 
frequently employed term is “ gewiyah,” which with 
rare exceptions is used to designate not the living 
body, but the corpse. The Greek translators em- 
ploy odpé, or, rarely, s@ua, the former, in accord- 
ance with Greek usage, generally in the plural. In 
Jater Hebrew the words “ geshem,” “ gushma,” and 
“cuph” were used, or the combination “basar wa 
dam” (cdp§ xaiaiza), This latter phrase implies the 
distinction between God and man, as, for instance, 
in contexts contrasting “the Holy One, blessed be 
He!” with “the king of flesh and blood,” which con- 
trast is rooted neither in the thought of man’s sin- 
fulness over and against the perfection of the Cre- 
ator nor in the opposition of the material to the 
Spiritual—the antithesis posited by Philo between 
the yuyq7 or the voic on the one hand, and the caza, 
the “dead nature of ours,” on the other—but in the 


conception of man as a weak, dependent, and mortal 
creature. 

According to Gen. ii. 7 the body is formed of dust 
and is, therefore, frail and mortal. It will return 
to dust, whence it was taken (7b. iii. 19). It lives 
because the spirit of life was breathed into it (2. ii. 
7; Ezek. xxxvii. 8). 

The defiling character of the dead or the dis- 
eased body, which is so prominently referred to in 
the purity laws in the Levitical code, has, by the mod- 
ern critical school, been recognized as belonging toa 
range of ideas universally found in all religions at a 
certain stage of their development, and as being an 
adaptation of observances pertaining to an anterior 
phase of religious thought and practise. Specula- 
tions on the nature of sin, and its seat in the body of 
man, do not lic within the plane of the unreflected 
religious consciousness which is characteristic of Old 
Testament literature and life. 

The following may be accepted as representing 
the rabbinical views on the nature, the function, 
and the destiny of the body. ' 

In accordance with the Book of Genesis, man is 
considered to be created of two originally uncom- 

bined elements, soul and body; the 

Rabbinic former coming from the higher world, 

Conception. and the latter taken from the lower 

(Gen. R. viit. 14; Hag. 16a). The des- 

tiny of the latter is to serve the former, and it is 

organized to fulfil the Torah. The dust of which 

the body of man (Adam) was formed was composed 

of contributions from all the regions of the earth 
(Sanh. 38a; Rashi to Gen. ii. 7). 

A shapeless body (“ golem”) came from the hand 
of the Creator (Gen. R. xiv.), and filled the whole 
earth, or, according to another version, reached from 
earth to the sky. Bisexed, this creature had also 
two faces until, through the later differentiation ac- 
cording to sex, man found tn woman his counter- 
part. This (ultimate) body of man retains (in the 
nails) traces of an original coat of light (Rashi on 
Gen. ii, 21), but as now constructed it consists of 
248 members (bones) and 865 nerves (compare Tar- 
gum Yer. to Gen. i. 27), which numbers are assumed 
to correspond to the number of the mandatory and 
prohibitive commandments of the Law (see ANat- 
OMY). 

The psychology of the times connecting certain 
functions of the soul with certain organs of the body 
is recognized in the rabbinical writings; while sym- 
bolism in reference to the various purposes of the 
organs and the processes of physical life also holds 
a place in the anatomical science of the Talmudical 
teachers. As to the relation which the body holds 
to the soul, and the questions when the soul enters 
the body, whether the soul is preexistent, and 
whether for every newly created body there is also 
a newly created soul, opinions differ; though the 
majority are in favor of the preexistence of the soul. 

The body is not regarded as impure. The adjec- 
tive “tamé” (impure), used of the body in contrast 
to the pure soul (Mek., Beshallah, Shirah, 2; com- 
pare Sanh. 91a, b), refers rather to the physica] proc- 
ess through which the body is produced from a 
“malodorous” drop (Abot iii. 1). To strain the 
meaning of the word “saruhah,” used to convey 


Body , 
Bogolyubski 


this idea, as does Weber (“ Alt-Synagogale Theolo- 
gie,” p. 229), is inadmissible. The body is the seat 
of the “yezer hara‘” (evil inclination). This latter 
is natural and necessary; it is not in itself a mani- 
festation of congenital sinful depravity (Gen. R. ix.). 
Body and soul are alike responsible 
for deeds committed (Tan., Wayikra, 
6) (see YEZER HA-Ra‘). Aaron ben 
Elijah, the Karaite (“Ez Hayyim,” 
cxii.), bases upon this responsibility of the body an 
argument in favor of resurrection (compare the par- 
able of the blind and the lame in Rabbi Judah ha- 
Nasi’s argument before the emperor Antoninus, 
Sanh. 91b). 

To provide food and drink and dress in proper 
quantity and becoming style is a religious duty 
(Maimonides, “Yad,” De‘ot, v.). Mutilations of 
the body are prohibited (Lev. xix. 27, 28; Deut. 
xxiii. 3). 

Even after death the body was regarded as de- 
manding respectful treatment. Once the “temple” 
(tabernacle) of the soul and its servant, the cere- 
ment of dust was to be guarded against sacrilegious 
dissection (IIul. 11b). Hence the Levitical laws 
rendering impure the persons touching the dead 
body, according to the explanation of R. Johanan 
ben Zakkai (Yad. iv. 6; Num. R. xix.; see also Ein- 
horn, “Ner Tamid,” pp. 83 eé seg., Philadelphia, 
1866). 

The body decays; but it will rise again at the 
time of the resurrection. The bodies of the risen 
are reproductions of those which they tenanted while 
living: cripples and the deformed will rise with the 
old deformities (Gen. R. xiv., xcv.) (see Luz and 
RESURRECTION). Early Talmudic conceits ascribe 
feeling to the body even after death (Shab. 152b; see 
HippuT HA-KEBER; Wolff, “Muhamed. Eschatolo- 
gie,” p. 62, Leipsic, 1872). 

Post-Talmudic Judaism virtually accepts the 
foregoing views, as does, for instance, Saadia, “ Emu- 
not we-De‘ot,” vi., where he controverts the idea 
that the soul is abused by being made to reside in 
the body. The latter is the soul’s necessary agent, 
and this body is the one best suited for the ends of 


Body 
and Soul. 


man. The body isnotimpure. The 
Later Law declares certain secretions of the 
Views. body to be unclean, but only after 


they have left, not while they are in, 
the body (Bahya ben Joseph, “ Hobot ha-Lebabot ”). 
The human body evidences the Creator’s wisdom 
(see BAHYA BEN JOSEPH). 

Like a red thread through the speculations of the 
medieval Jewish and Arabic thinkers runs the doc- 
trine of the four elements, Man being the micro- 
cosm, and the world the macrocosm, the effort is 
made to establish a correspondence between the 
body of the former and that of the latter. The four 
elements are discovered in the four humors of man’s 
body. Israeli’s work on the elements, based upon 
the “Sefer Yezirah,” influenced all subsequent 
thinkers in this direction. In Donolo and in Ibn 
Gabirol there is the theory that the blood in man 
corresponds to the air; the white humor, to the 
water; the black humor, to the earth; and the red 
bile, to the fire. The five senses of man are also 
very prominent in the symbolic and allegorical inter- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


284 





pretation of the Biblical texts. Ethics and poetry 
as Well borrowed instruction and inspiration from the 
five senses (Kaufmann, “Die Sinne,” Leipsic, 1884) 
(see ADAM). The body of man was thus studied 
from many points of view, but was always regarded 
as a marvelous construction witnessing to the wis- 
dom of the Creator, whose praise was sung in 
benediction (Ber. 60a). The latter, after dwelling 
on the wonderful adaptability of the bodily organs 
to their functions, names God as “the Healer of all 
flesh and the wonderful Artificer.” 

It may be noticed that Reform Judaism has relin- 
quished the belief in the resurrection of the body. 
The catechisms and prayer-books of the modern 
synagogues, however, teach that “the body is in- 
tended by the Creator to be the servant of the im- 
mortal soul, and as such is not congenitally de- 
praved.” “This very body—woven of dust—Thou 
hast dignified to be a dwelling-place of Thine, a 
minister unto Thy spirit. Even it issued pure from 
Thine hand. Thou hast implanted in it the capac- 
ity for sin, but not sin itself” (David Einhorn’s 
“ Prayer-Book,” 2d Eng. ed., Chicago, 1896, part: ii. 
207). 

K,. kK. G. H. 


BOESCHENSTAIN, JOHANNES (sometimes 
spelled Boeschenstein): German Hebraist; born 
at Eslingen in 1472; said to have been of Jewish 
parentage, this statement, however, being denied 
by himself. He was among the earliest to revive 
the study of Hebrew in Germany, having been a 
pupil of Moses MOdllin and a teacher of Hebrew at 
Ingolstadt in 1505, at Augsburg in 1518, and at 
Wittenberg in 1518. He produced an elementary 
grammar at Augsburg in 1014, unother at Witten- 
burg, 1518 (second edition, Cologne, 1521), and in 
1520 edited Moses Kimhi’s abn at Augsburg, 
whither he had returned. During a wandering life 
he taught Hebrew at Nuremberg, Antwerp, and 
Zurich; at the last-named place having the reformer 
Zwingli among his pupils. 

Boeschenstain gave particular attention to the 
Jewish prayers; publishing a German translation of 
some, in 1525, under the title “payn nibpn, Vil 
Guter Mabnungen,” and, in the same year, at the end 
of his edition of Ruth, the prayers for the dead. The 
Jewish grace before and after meals he translated 
in 15380. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Geiger, Das Studium der Hebrdiischen 
Sprache in Deutschland, 1870, pp. 54, 1385; Allg. Deutsche 
Biographie, iii. 184; J. Perles, Beitrtige zur Gesch. der 
Hebrdischen und Aramdischen Studien, pp. 27 et. seq., 212; 
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodt. col. 803 and Add.; idem, Handbuch, 
p. 23; Zusdtze, p. 358; Zeit. fiir Hebr. Bibl. ii. 54 (with 
full bibliography). 

T. J. 


BOETHUSIANS (p'pin'a): <A Jewish sect 
closely related to, if not a development of, the Sad- 
ducees. ‘The origin of this schism is recounted as 
follows by the Midrash: Antigonus of Soko having 
taught the maxim, “Be not like the servants who 
serve their masters for the sake of the wages, but 
be rather like those who serve without thought of 
receiving wages,” his two pupils, Zadok and Boe- 
thus, repeated this maxim to their pupils. In the 
course of time they were understood to express 
thereby the belief that there was neither a future 


285 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Body 
Bogolyubeki 





a 


world nor a resurrection of the dead: and the con- 
sequence was that these pupils of Zadok and Boe- 
thus renounced the Torah and founded the sects of 
the Sadducees and the Boethusians. They lived in 
Juxurious splendor; using silver and golden vessels 
all their lives, not because they were haughty, but 
pecause (as they claimed) the Pharisees led a hard 
life on earth and yet would have noth- 
ing in the world to come (Ab. R. N. 
v., ed. Schechter, p. 26. The text is 
corrupt. According to one version, 
Zadok and Boethus were themselves the founders of 
the sects), 

Historical in this story is the statement that these 
two sects denied the immortality of the soul and 
resurrection, Again, the Midrash is on the whole 
correct in saying that the sects found their followers 
chietly among the wealthy; but the origin of the 
sects is legendary. The Mishnah, as well as the 
Baraita, mentions the Boethusians as opposing the 
Pharisees in saying that the sheaf due at the Pass- 
over (compare OMER) must be offered not on the 
second feast-day, but on the day after the actual 
Sabbath of the festival week, and, accordingly, that 
Pentecost, which comes seven weeks and one day 
later, Should always be celebrated on the Sabbath 
(Men. x. 3; compare also Hag. 1. 4). In another 
passage it is narrated that the Boethusians hired 
false witnesses in order to lead the Pharisees astray 
in their calculations of the new moon (Tosef., R. H. 
i. 15; Bab. 2b. 22b; Yer. 26. il. 57d, below; compare 
Geiger, “ Urschrift,” pp. 187, 138). Another point of 
dispute between the Boethusians and the Pharisees 
was whether the high priest should prepare the in- 
cense inside or outside the Holy of Holies on the 
Dav of Atonement (Tosef., Yoma, i. 8; Yer. 7. i. 
39a). The parallel to the last-named passage (Yoma 
19b) has “Sadducees” instead of “ Boethusians” ; 
and in other passages the Talmud undoubtedly 
uses these two terms indifferently in designating 
thesame sect. Graetz’s assumption, therefore, that 
the Sadducees were the political and the Boethu- 
sians the religious opponents of the Pharisees, is 
untenable. 

The prevailing opinion now is that the Boethu- 
sians were cnly a variety of the Sadducees, deriving 
their name from the priest Boethus. Simon, son of 
Boethus from Alexandria, or, according to other 
sources, Boethus himself, was made a high priest 
about 25 or 24 8.c. by Herod the Great, in order that 
Bocthus’ marriage with the latter’s daughter Mari- 
amne might not be regarded as a mésalliance (Jose- 

phus, “ Ant.” xv. 9,68; xix. 6, § 2. 


Origin 
of Name. 


A High- This Mariamne II. must be distin- 
Priestly guished from the first of the Hasmo- 
Family. nean Mariamnes). Furthermore, to 


the family of Boethus belonged the 
following high priests: Joezer, who filled the office 
twice (2b. xviii. 1,§1); Eleazar (2). xvii. 18, § 1); 
Simon Cantheras (¢d. xix. 6, § 2); his son Elioneus 
(7b. xix. 8, $1); and the high priest Joshua b. Gamla, 
who must also be included, since his wife Martha 
(Miriam) belonged to the house (Yeb. vi. 4). The 
hatred of the Pharisees toward this high-priestly 
family is shown by the words of the tanna Abba 
Saul b. Batnit, who lived about the year 40 of the 


Ee a a 


common era at Jerusalem (Pes. 57a; Tosef., Men. 
xii. 23). It must be especially noticed that “the 
house of Boethus” heads the list of the wicked and 
sinful priestly families enumerated by Abba. It is, 
however, only an assumption—although a highly 
probable one—that the Boethusians were the fol- 
lowers of this Boethus and members of his family; 
for the assumption is not proved, as there may have 
been another Boethus who really was the founder of 
the sect. As the beginnings of this sect are 
shrouded in obscurity, so also is the length of its 
duration. The Talmud mentions a Boethusian in a 
dispute with a pupil of Akiba (Shab. 108a; Soferim 
i. 2); yet it is probable that the word here means 
simply a sectarian, a heretic, just as the term “Sad- 
ducee” was used in a much wider sense later on. 
A Boethus, son of Zonim, and nearly contempora- 
neous with Akiba (compare Yer. é.c. 10b), is men- 
tioned in the Mishnah (B. M. v. 3); he was not, 
however, a Boethusian, but a pious merchant. A 
Palestinian amora, ¢. 300 C.E., was also called “ Boc- 
thus.” Compare Hien Priests, PHARISEES AND 
SADDUCEES, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: On the origin of the Sadducees and the Boe- 
thusians, see E. Baneth, Ueber den Ursprung der Sadokder 
und Boethus der in Berliner-Hoffmann, Magazin, ix. 1-37,61- 
95 (also printed separately, Dessau, 1882): Geiger, Ur, schrift, 
1857, pp. 103 et seq.; Griitz, Gesch. der Juden, iii. 89, 223, 4th 
ed.; ‘Schirer, Gesch. ii. 217-218, 409-419. Fora complete ‘pib- 
liography see PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. 


Kk. L. G. 


BOGNAR, FREDERIKE: German actress; 
born at Gotha Feb. 16, 1840. Her father was a 
singer, and Frederike was destined for a musical 
career, After appearing a few times in children’s 
parts in Budapest, she was sent to Munich to study 
music under Mme. Belirend-Brandt, who was her 
aunt. She sang for some time on the concert plat- 
form, but finally decided to become an actress. 
After studying under Denker, and later under Laube, 
she made her début at Zurich in 1856. In the fol- 
lowing year Bognar went to the Hamburg Stadt- 
theater, where she remained until 1858, when she 
went to the Hofburgtheater, Vienna, with which she 
was associated until 1870, In that year she began 
a starring tour that lasted for several years. Bognar 
then went to the Deutsches Landestheater in Prague, 
and in 1892 joined the Dentsches Volkstheater in 
Vienna. 

In her younger days Bognar played the parts of 
Gretchen, Clarchen, Thekta, Desdemona, Eimitia Ga- 
lottt, Marie in “Herz und Welt,” Ophelia, Loutse 
Miller, Lady Tartuffe, and Marguerite in “La Dame 
aux Cameélias.” Later in life she portrayed Medea, 
Maria Stuart, Frau Aloing in “Die Gespenster,” 
Judith, and Pompadour. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Das Geistige Wien, p, 44; Brockhaus, Kon- 
versations-Lexikon, iii. 241, Appendix, p. 1%6; Fiiggen, 
Biihnen-Levikon, p. 31. 


Sg, E. Ms. 


BOGOLYUBSKI, ANDREI: First grand duke 
of Russia (1169-74). He conquered Kiev after the 
death of Vladimir Monomakh (1169), but selected 
the northern city of Vladimir as the capital of the 
kingdom. At that time Kiev was an important 
commercial center with a considerable Jewish popu- 
lation, the Jews controlling the trade between west- 
ern Europe and the Far East. The Jewish travelers 


Bogrov 
Bohemia 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


286 





Benjamin of Tudela (1160-73) and Pethahiah of 
Regensburg (1175-85) visited the city. Admission 
to service in the prince’s militia (“druzhina”) of 
old Russia was not confined to any nationality or 
creed, and the soldiers enjoyed many liberties. 
Bogolyubski was the first Russian autocrat, and he 
curtailed many of these privileges of the druzhina. 
Besides this, Christianity had made considerable 
progress in Russia, so that the religious freedom of 
the militia was also attacked. Bogolyubski, who 
surrounded himself with foreigners from alli coun- 
tries, both Christian and non-Christian, took pride 
in showing them the splendid church of the Virgin 
in Vladimir, in order that those of a different religion 
might be attracted to the Greek Orthodox Church 
and be baptized. The chronicler of Kiev praises 
Bogolyubski especially for his Christian deeds and 
his conversion of many Bulgars and Jews. It was 
probably two of these converts, ANBAL THE JASSIN, 
and Ephraim Moisich, who took part in the success- 
ful conspiracy against the life of Bogolyubski. The 
latter, having banished his brothers and all the 
boyars who would not implicitly obey him, had be- 
come gradually more tyrannical, forgetting that he 
had been elected by the people. He burdened the 
latter with heavy taxes, and at his pleasure sen- 
tenced them to death. Thus it is not strange that 
Jews, even though his confidential servants, took 
part in the conspiracy. The terrible cruelties per- 
petrated by Bogolyubski’s favorite, the bishop 
Fiodor, cast a deep shadow upon the reign. Never- 
theless, he must have had many devoted subjects 
among the Jews, as isevident from the lamentations 
of his servant Kuzmishev after the assassination: 
“Hiven the Bulgars and the Jews and the pagans 
weep for you.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bestuzhev-Ryumin, [storia Rossti, i., part ii. 
p. 114: Zabyelin, [storia Russkoi Zhizni, ti. 421; Karamsin, 
Istoria, 2d ed., ii. 316; Kostomarov, Russkaya Istoriya, i. 
87; Ipatyevskaya Lyetopis, pp. 164, 165; Sofiskaya Lyetopis, 
pp. 164, 165; Regesty, Nos. 174,175; Pethahiah of Regensburg, 
Sebub, p. 2, Jerusalem, 1872; Benjamin of Tudela, Masaot, 

i 3, London, 1841; Harkavy, Bogolyubski, in Ha-Karmel, 


864 
H. R. M. R. 


BOGROV, GRIGORI ISAACOVICH: Rus- 
sian writer; born March 18, 1825, in Poltava: died 
May 10, 1885, at Derevki, government of Minsk. 
He received his early education from his father, 
who was a Hebrew scholar and who left in manu- 
script a Hebrew work on astronomy. Grigori de- 
voted himself exclusively to the study of the Talmud 
and rabbinical literature until his marriage at the 
age of seventeen. He then without a teacher stud- 
ied Russian, German, and French, and also learned 
to play the violin with a certain amount of skill. 
Being unhappy in his family life, he separated from 
his wife. 

In his first work, “Zapiski Yevreya” (Memoirs 
of a Jew), Bogrov portrays the vicissitudes of 
his life and his surroundings. This was published 
in the “Ote Chestvennyya Zapiski,” 1871-78, and in 
book form in 1874. Although by reason of its style 
and its descriptions of Russian and Russo-Jewish 
life his work is considered a valuable contribution 
to Russian literature, yet the author’s undignified 
revelations of his family affairs called forth severe 
criticism. 


Having established his reputation as a writer, 
Bogrov moved from South Russia to St, Petersburg, 
where he occupied himself entirely with literature, 
In the last years of his life Bogrov joined the Greek 
Orthodox Church, and married again. 

Besides the above-mentioned work he published: 
“Yevreiski Manuskript,” St. Petersburg, 1876; 
“Nyezhny Bratetz,” St. Petersburg, 1878; “ Zhit’ 
ili ne Zhit’ Yevreyam: Povsemyestno v Rossii,” in 
“Slovo,” 1872, No. 2; “Lassall’s Tovo Svyeta,” in 
the same journal; and many other novels and 
sketches from Russo-Jewish life, which appeared in 
the periodicals “ Razsvyet,” “ Yevreiskaya Biblio- 


teka,” “Russki Yevrei,” and “Voskhod,” from 

1879 to 1888. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vengerov, AKritiko-Biograficheskit Slovar, 
lii., s.v., St. Petersburg, 1895. 


H. R. 


BOGUSLAV: Town in the government of Kiev, 
Russia. It is mentioned in official documents dated 
1195. Nothing is known of the date of the Jewish 
settlement there. Russian and Polish historians re- 
cord that Boguslav was one of the cities which 
suffered most severely from the uprising of Chmiel- 
nicki; Jewish sources, however, do not mention it 
among the communities destroyed. The town has 
a population of about 12,000, of which 10,000 are 
Jews. In 1809a Jewish printing-office was estab- 
lished in Boguslav, and the first work published 
there was “ Besamim Rosh,” by Joseph Katz. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Semenov, i. 288: Spisok Yevreiskikh Izda- 

nit, p. 3, St. Petersburg, 1894, 

H. R. I. Br. 

BOHEMIA: * Crown land in the northernmost 
part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The history 
of the first settlement of Jewsin Bohemia is wrapped 
in legend. The oldest Jewish sources designate 
Bohemia as “ Erez Kena‘an,” that is, “Slavonia” (so 
called because those districts plied a vigorous trade 
in slaves, in which traffic Jews themselves took 
part), under which term, however, in a larger sense 
the countries eastward as far as Kiev are to be un- 
derstood (Zunz, “ Ritus,” p. 72; Ar. pp. 54, 131, 989; 
Salf. p. 151; Vitas. Alberti, in Gratz, “Gesch. der 
Juden,” vi. 68). In Ar. p. 29, an archbishop asks 
for a Jewish or a Slavonic physician, and in 7d. p. 
50 Ibrahim ibn Ya‘akub speaks of “ailments of the 
Slaves ” (see “ Reisebericht tiber die Slavischen Lin- 
der” published by F. Westberg in the publica- 
tion of the St. Petersburg Academy, Nov., 1899). 
Jews resident there are called “Bene Het” (Chil- 
dren of Heth). Inasmuch as intercourse with the 
East was always very active (Ar. p. 50; M. pp. 
81, 363, [“ Erez Yawan”]; Giidemann, “Gesch, des 
Erziehungswesens,” i. 114), and in view of the fact 
that there are Byzantine resemblances in the older 
ritual of the Prague Altschul, it is supposed that 
the earliest Jewish settlers in Bohemia came from 
the East. In the train of the Germans at the time 
of the Black Death, Jews also found their way into 
Bohemia from Germany (Pod. pp. 10 et seqg.), and 
they were joined by coreligionists from France 
(Rapoport, “Introduction to Gal ‘Ed”), Poland, 
Austria (Kisch, M. p. 25) and Hungary. Their 

*¥For the full titles of works cited under abbreviations, see 
Bibliography at the end of the article. 


287 


THE JEWISIL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bogrov. 
Bohemia 





vernacular was Slavonic, as appears from the ex- 
planations of words given by Jewish writers and 
from proper names current in the Middle Ages (M. 
pp. 26, 31, 318, 872; Sp. Ur. pp. 24 et seg.; Pod. 

p. 21; Griin, p. 14). 
The first accredited statement concerning the res- 
idence of Jews in Bohemia comes from Leitmeritz, 
where they, as well as others who 


Early brought salt or other goods into the 
Settle- town, had to pay a toll to the Stephan’s 
ments. Church (1067) (Ar. p. 66). But the 


first actual settlement was in PRAaGugE, 
which is described in Jewish divorce papers as 
“the city called Mezigrade (RtM3"11)), situated on the 
river Vitava andy), and on the Bottich (71913) 
stream.” This specitication points to the oldest por- 
tion of the city, called Vysehrad, as the scene of the 
first Jewish settlement. There and in the Prague 
Vorstadt (probably the present Altstadt), closely ad- 
joining the former ghetto (now the Josephsstadt), 
lived alongside of other merchants and immigrant 
Germans (1091) “many Jews very rich in gold and 
silver” (b. p. 77). They held the same legal stand- 
ing as tho Germans and French (2b. p. 78; compare 
pp. 106, 198, 200, 254). The first Crusade and the 
attendant persecutions of the Jews found the Israel- 
ites of Prague prepared for a brave defense of their 
lives, supported by Duke Vratislav II., as wellas by 
the bishop Cosmas; but the temporary absence of 
the duke in 1096 at once caused excesses to break 
out in Prague, Vysehrad, and Bubenium (7d. p. 92; 
Salf. p. 151). Jews who had been compulsorily 
baptized in 1096, sought to emigrate in 1098 to Po- 
iand or Hungary with their possessions; but the 
duke, who had been apprised of their intention, 
stripped them of their property, leaving them only 
the barest necessities of life (Ar. p. 95). In spite of 
these sufferings, the beginnings of scholarship are 
exhibited in a ritual question addressed by the 
Jews of Prague to Moses B. Jekuthiel in Mayence 
(Grin, p. 9). 

They seem to have gradually recovered some of 
their former favor. In 1124 the Jew Jacob, who 
after his baptism had become a favorite of Vratislav 
I., and had risen to be vice-dominus at his court, 
returned to Judaism and removed the Christian 
altar and holy relics from a synagogue. He was 
immediately arrested by his royal master and thrown 
into prison. The Jewsare said to have offered three 
thousand pounds of silver and a hundred pounds of 
gold for his ransom (Ar. p. 101). ° 

The prohibition against holding Christian slaves 
was in all probability disregarded in Bohemia as it 

wasin Moravia, and that by the Chris- 
Toleration. tian “slaves” themselves, who enjoyed 

kindly treatment at the hands of their 
Jewish masters (Fr.-Gr. p. 10). The attitude of the 
Church toward the Jews was on the whole benevo- 
lent (Ar. p. 101). The community, which in 1142 
suffered the loss of its synagogue and many houses 
by fire, probably during the siege of Prague by 
Conrad II. of Znaim (2b. p. 106), displayed a lively 
interest in theological studies, which led to close 
relations with the neighboring congregation of Re- 
gensburg, and even with the scholars of northern 
France. In Prague there lived the Tosafist Isaac 


b. Mordecai, known as R. Isaac of Prague; in Bohe- 
mia lived also Moses b, Jacob and Eliezer b. Isaak, 
mentioned in the Tosafot. Isaac ben Jacob ha- 
Laban (from “ Albis,” the Elbe, Bohemian “ Laba ”) 
was a rabbinical teacher in Prague, and the brother 
of Pethahiah of Regensburg, who set out on his trav- 
els from Prague (7b. p. 181; Griin, p. 10). 

In the thirteenth century the circumstances of the 
Jews were even more favorable. On leaving the 
country for a journey they had to pay a lighter tax 
even than the Christian clergy (Ar. p. 186). In 1235 
they extended their settlements into the plains of 
Bohemia (Pod. p. 6). Though it is true that in that 
year the Jews contemplated leaving Bohemia in 
expectation of the Messiah’s coming (Ar. p. 211), 
this was not due in any way to oppression. All 
their old privileges were secured to them; the 
friendly bull of Inuocent TV. (1254) was confirmed 
by Ottocar II., and, in expressed opposition to the 
hostile resolutions of the Vienna council, was again 
confirmed in 1267 (2b. pp. 255, 257; Wertheimer, p. 
172). The following regulations applied to the Jews 
in Bohemia as well as to the king’s other Jewish 
subjects: a Christian might testify against a Jew 
only in conjunction with another Christian and a 
Jew; aJew was to be tried only in the synagogue 
(with “coram suis scolis,” in Ar. p. 255). In disputes 
between Jews the decision was not to rest with the 
municipal judges, but with the lord of the manor 
or the chief chamberlain; the Jewish judge had 
jurisdiction in such cases only if the charge had been 
brought originally before him. Desecration of the 
Jewish cemetery was punishable with death, the 
offender’s property escheating to the head of the 
state. A Jew could not be compelled to deliver 
upon a Jewish festival a pledge upon which he had 
lent money. In loan transactions with the Church 
the Jew was advised for his own good—as also by 
the municipal laws of Iglau, 1249 (7. p. 244)—to 
exercise especial caution. 

Jews werealso found in Tachau, among them being 
Moses ben Hisdai, “oue of the grays of Bohemia.” 
His contemporaries were Jacob, son of the above- 
mentioned Isaac ha-Laban, and Abraham ben Azriel 
called Isaac Or-Zarua, whose history seems to have 
been intimately associated with Prague, and whose 
teachers were counted among the scholars of that 
city. A Pentateuch commentary was written by a 
disciple of Judah the Pious, who lived probably in 
Bohemia. In the second half of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, a grammarian, Jekuthiel b. Judah ha-Kohen 
or Solomon ha-Nakdan, lived in Prague. Thus 
Saadia, Hayyug, Ibn Ezra, and Maimonides, to- 
gether with the exegetes of northern France, may 
be said to have found anew home in Bohemia (M. 
pp. 31, 816, 360; Griin, ii. 13). 

A fitting prelude to the horrors of the fourteenth 
century was afforded by the massacre of the Prague 
community, which, it would appear, had its own 

quarter, the “Vicus Judzorum,” as 

The early as 1273 (Griin, p. 24). In 1290 
Fourteenth (Wertheimer, p. 175) and 1298 Rind- 
Century. fleisch’s robber-band (Griin, p. 16), fell 
upon the ghetto there, to avenge an al- 

leged insult to the host. As early in the century as 
1305 the charges of ritual murder which sprang up 


Bohemia 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


288 





in so many German towns found victims in Prague 
(Kohut, “Gesch. der Deutsch. Jud.” p. 162). In 
1321 seventy-five Jews were burned at the stake 
there (“Jahrb. Gesch. der Jud.” iv. 147). John of 
Luxemburg in 1336 plundered the synagogues be- 
cause by the newly introduced customs duty he 
could not quickly attain his end (Griin, p. 1%). 
In the same year 53 Jews were burned in Prague 
(“ Jahrb. Gesch. der Jud.” iv. 147). At the instiga- 
tion of the Armleders and their like the Jews in Bud- 
weis (Wertheimer, p. 177), where there were in 134 
three families, had increased considerably in num- 
bers; those in Czasiau, Prichowitz, and Neuhaus 
were plundered and murdered (Salf. p. 240). The 
archbishop of Prague, Arnest I., in 1847 made new 
charges against them (Wertheimer, p. 178); but they 
were shielded by the utterance of the emperor Charles 
IV. in that year, who said that the Jews were his 
“serfs” (“ Kammerknechte ”), and that his rights in 
them must be respected (M. 1894, p. 3871). His 
representative in 1389 likewise protected certain 
Jews, who had been baptized and had reverted to 
Judaism again, from the vengeance of the Church; 
for his humane interference he was promptly excom- 
municated (Wertheimer, p. 175). Onthe other hand, 
however, Charles IV. felt himself justified in con- 
sidering all the property of his “serfs” as quite his 
own, and at his pleasure released debtors to the Jews 
from their obligations. He divided with his nobles 
the possessions of the Jews massacred in the fearful 
outbreaks of 1848 and 1849 which accompanied the 
Black Death in Prague and Eger (¢b. p. 174; Salf. 
pp. 250, 268; Kohut, 2.; concerning the Jews in 
Ever, see Wertheimer, p. 176; for those in Kolin: M. 
1894, p. 220). <All these bloody scenes of the century 
were brought to a fitting close with the repeated 
massacres excited in 1388 by the charge of ritual 
murder (Wertheimer, p. 74); in 1389, by the charge 
of insulting the host (Salf. p. 806; Zunz, “ Ritus,”p. 
127), during which latter outbreak even the grave- 
stones in the Jewish cemetery were broken, the 
Altschul synagogue burned, and the walls of the Alt- 
Neuschul synagogue streaked with the blood of Jew- 
ish martyrs (Pod. p. 84; see Abigdor Kara’s elegy). 
Finally, in 1891 the charge of poisoning the wells was 
made, on which occasion Lipmann of Mihlhausen 
was among the sufferers (Kohut, 2d. p. 818). 

Such an unbroken period of suffering could not 
but result in the most terrible conditions, but the 
worst feature, particularly in Prague, was a system 

of shameful espionage and denuncia- 


The tion of the authorities which raged for 
Fifteenth more than two centuries, and which 
Century. sometimes involved rabbis and ward- 


ens of the congregations. As lords 
of their “serfs,” Wenzel and Sigismund frequently 
exacted scrupulous compliance with their alleged 
“rights” over the Jews (Wertheimer, p. 177; “ Zeit. 
fir die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland,” ii, 1738; 
on the relations between Wenzel and Abigdor 
Kara, and between the Jewsand Hussites, see Gtide- 
mann, “ Gesch. des Erziehungswesens,” iii. 154, and 
Berliner, “Aus dem Leben,” etc., p. 55). The Jews 
were no longer, together with the trade-gilds, con- 
sidered privileged traders. The fifteenth century 
witnessed a constant succession of massacres and pil- 


lagings (Wertheimer, p. 175), 1422, 1448, 1476 (com- 
pare “Gal ‘Ed,” Nos. 5, 50), etc., which, in part, 
were no doubt to be ascribed to the turmoil of the 
Hussite wars, but also to the blood accusation in 
Trient, 1476. The congregation in Eger alone shows 
satisfactory development; with it, especially with 
its teacher Nathan, Isserlein b. Pethahiah kept in 
touch (M. pp. 18, 134; compare pp. 316, 322). 

The pretentious resolution of the imperial Diet in 
1501 (Wertheimer, p. 178), never again to expel Jews 
from Germany, was very quickly belied by the ex- 
pulsions of 1508, 1504, 1506, 1507, 1512, and 1516. A 
similar decree of 1520 was revoked in consideration 
of a very heavy money contribution 
(ib. pp. 175, 177; Pod. p. 40; “Jahr- 
buch,” d.c. p. 147). Systematic perse- 
cutions took place under the fanatical 
Ferdinand I. ; in 1527 he confirmed that high-sound- 
ing resolution which had been agreed to by Ladislaus 
II., but in 1541 he negotiated with the Bohemian 
nobles for the expulsion of the Jews. For the first 
time acharge of high treason was made against them; 
they were charged with intriguing with the Turks; 
and Ferdinand was most zealous in the restoration 
of the almost forgotten regulations concerning the 
distinctive Jewish garb (1541, 1544, 1551 [“ Zeit. fur 
die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland,” i. 251], 
1571). In 1540 (Kohut, 7. p. 534; formerly every 
scholar had to pay two pfennig for his writing 
materials; Wertheimer, p. 181) he imposed a special 
property tax upon the Jews, compelling cach one ta 
swear upon the Decalogue as to the value of his 
possessions. In 1341 (2d. p. 179) the Jews, with the 
exception of fifteen families, were expelled from 
Prague, greatly to the satisfaction of Luther (Griitz, 
“Gesch. der Juden,” ix. 313), Ferdinand’s bitterest 
enemy. In 1554 they were welcomed back again, 
in return for heavy financial considerations; in 1559 
they were again expelled, to be readmitted two years 
later (“Gal ‘Ed,” p. 22; Pod. p. 42). Again, in 1562- 
64 the edict of expulsion was launched against them 
(Wolf, Th. p. 61, note), but the warmth with which 
the empress (Pod. p. 42) and archdukes pleaded the 
part of the Jews was at least a gratifying incident 
of the decree. In 1568 they were expelled from 
Kolin and Kuttenberg, and in 1571 from Matters- 
dorf (“ Hebr. Bibl.” iv. 149). 

The internal development of the community 
meanwhile had progressed satisfactorily. In 1512 
the first Hebrew book was printed in Prague; the 
Jewish printing business founded there by the Ger- 
sonides reinained the distinguishing feature of the 
community until the eighteenth century. In 1547 
the censorship made itself felt (“Gal ‘Ed,” p. 20), 
and in 1559 suspicions professed concerning the 
Jewish prayer-book led to an examination in Vienna 
of all Hebrew books that could be seized in Prague. 
Even matters of internal management were not free 
from the interference of the authorities; e.g., the 
confirmation of the rabbi Abraham b. Abigdor, 
called “Abraham of Prague” (Kohut, 7. pp. 361, 
082; compare “Gal ‘Ed,” p. 121). Unfortunate con- 
tentions in the congregation resulted in 1567 in the 
transfer of the superintendence of Jewish affairs to 
the Bohemian chambers (“Zeit. ftw die Gesch. der 
Juden in Deutschland.” i. 310). 


Ex- 
pulsions. 


289 





But in the last third of the sixteenth century the 
circumstances of the congregation changed for the 
better and were brighter than ever before. Trade 
with the interior of Austria, and with Bavaria and 
Saxony, which the Jews controlled, and the financial 
transactions of the imperial house enriched Mordecai 
Meisel, the well-known benefactor of the congrega- 
tion. He built the synagogue named 
after him, half a century after Aaron 
Meshullam b. Isaiah Horwitz had 
established the Pinkus synagogue 
(“Gal ‘Ed,” p. 24). Conjoined with Meisel we find 
as friend and counselor Léw b. Bezaleel, “the chief 
Rabbi Léw ” (founded, in 1654, in conjunction with 
Eliezer Ashkenazi, the burial society; on his cele- 
brated audience with Rudolph ITI. see Pod. pp. 1, 
2, 8). The historian, geographer, and astronomer, 
David Gans, and Lipmann Heller of Wallerstein, au- 
thor of the “ Tosafot Yom-Tob,” were their contem- 
poraries and fellow-countrymen. 

Maximilian IT. and Rudolph II., in whose time the 
Prague congregation attained its highest develop- 
ment (in 1609 the first rabbi is recorded in Jung-Buntz- 
lau; see Gritinwald, “Jungbunzlauer Rabbiner ”), 
were followed by Ferdinand II., who distributed all 
manner of favors to the Jewsin the hope of securing 
theirconversion. His court-steward, Jacob Bassev 
(Bathsheba) Schmieles, was raised by him to the 
nobility as “ Von Treuenberg.” The first step here- 
unto was taken by the institution of the Jesuits’ 
sermons, to which the Jews were compelled to listen 
(1623 and 1630). But the Passau expedition of 1611 
(Zunz, “ Ritus,” p. 129; “Gal “Ed,” p. 18); the Thirty 
Years’ war (Kisch, Pr. pp. 7, 10), in which the 
Jews of Bohemia remained loyal to the emperor, 
receiving in return the protection of his generals (for 
a letter by Torstenson protecting Jung-Buntzlau 
see “ Zeit, fiir die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland,” 
ij. 288), and being especially rewarded by the em- 
peror for their defense of Prague against the Swedes; 
the conflagrations (“ Jahrbuch,” @.c. p. 147) of 1654, 
1679, and 1689; the invasion by the French in 1680 
(Kohut, 7b. p. 654)—all brought severe sufferings to 
the Jews of Prague. Their numbers were increased 
by emigration from Vienna and in 1659 from Poland 
(at the head of the latter being Ephraim Cohen of 
Wilna; see K. Of. pp. 14, 18), in compensation, as it 
were, for those who at the expulsion of 1542 left 
Bohemia with Jacob Pollack and Solomon Shechna 
b. Joseph to settle in Poland. In 1636 the congre- 
gation contained 7,815 souls, in 1679 only 7,118 
(“Zeit. fiir die Gesch. der Juden in Deutschland,” 
i. 817). The Prague community attended to the as- 
sessment and collection of the taxes from the provin- 
cial congregations, and the rabbi was appointed upon 
the city-tax commission, a circumstance which in 
1625 subjected Lipmann Heller to the machinations 
of Jewish informers (Wolf, Ferd. p. 17). The 
“Prague Purim,” on Heshwan 14 (Kisch, Pr. p. 12), 
and the “ Vorhang Purim,” on Tebet 22, are memo- 
rials to-day of events happening in the seventeenth 
century. In 1627 the Prague Jewish quarter was in- 
dependent of municipal authority, governing itself. 
Celebrated teachers at that time were Salomon Eph- 
raim Lenezyz and Isaiah Horwitz, while Joseph Salo- 
mon del Medigo ended his checkered career here. 


I{I.—19 


Mordecai 
Meisel. 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bohemia 


The eighteenth century, which in its last quarter 
was to see the gates of the ghetto flung wide open, 
was marked by a blot upon the reign 

The of Maria Theresa, which all the formal 
Eighteenth edicts of toleration could never remove. 
Century. The confiscation of their books in 1715 
had reminded the Jews of their utterly 

defenseless condition (M. pp. 41, 359). They may 
have hoped to recover grace by their conspicuous 
loyalty, shown first in 1741 on the occasion of the 
birth of Joseph II. and the empress’ first visit to 
the church (Kohut, 2d. p. 655), and again particularly 
at the walls of Praguein 1742 and 1748, where with 
permission of theirrabbi, Jonathan Eybeschiitz, they 
stanchly fought against the French even on the Day 
of Atonement (“Jahrbuch,” d.e. p. 151). Theirloyalty 
was rewarded by an edict in 1745 which, without any 
reason, at one stroke banished them, 60,000 souls 
strong, from Bohemia, after their payment of a fine 
of 160,000 gulden. Representations by Venice, Hol- 
land, England, Hamburg, and other liberal powers 
were of noavail. Jonathan Eybeschiitz wrote to the 
French congregations, and even to the pope (Kohut, 
2b. p. 658). Embittered to the extreme by the treach- 
ery of the nobles, the authorities desired to make 
an example of the Jews, especially as the opposition 
emperor, Charles VII., had shown himself well dis- 
posed toward them, and as Frederick the Great was 
considered by the people as a “father of the Jews” 
(K. Bur. p. 8). That the authorities did not them. 
selves believe in the accusation of treachery made 
against them is shown by the fact that it is nowhere 
alleged as the reason for the expulsion, and that later, 
in 1771, the Bohemians themselves defended the Jews 
from a similar accusation (Wolf, Th. p. 69); on the 
excommunication of Jewish traitors, issued in 1756 
by Ezekiel Landau, see H., 1894, p. 416; Wolf, Th. 
p. 64. The sad results of this outrage affecting the 
whole country, the stagnation of all business, and 
the outspoken complaints of the people induced the 
authorities finally to readmit the Jews. From the 
edict of recall, it appears that before the expulsion 
the Jews had been permitted to live in Kaurzim, 
Tabor, Neuhaus, Pisek, Schuettenhofen, Wodnian, 
Pilsen, Miess, Klattau, Rokizan, and Laun. They 
were still to be excluded from the following cities 
where they had formerly lived: Czaslau, Budweis, 
Eger, and Leitmeritz (“Jahrbuch,” @.c. p. 188; in 
memory of the bloody rule of the Croatians in 1746, 
to which R. Jonah, among others, fell a victim, a 
fast-day is still observed in Bélmisch Leipa, on 
Tebet 4; see Kohut, 2b. p. 658), After this expulsion 
Maria Theresa treated the Jews on the whole more 
favorably than before (Wolf, Th. p. 60). But such 
laws as the FAMILIANTEN GESETz (Fr. Gr. p. 171), 
limiting the number of married persons in a com- 
munity, the restrictions imposed upon Jewish trade 
(Wolf, Th. p. 77), rigorous insistence upon the wear- 
ing of the Jew badge (yellow collar on the coat; 
abolished in 1781; “ Zeit. fiir die Gesch. der Juden in 
Deutschland,” i. 27), and the limitations imposed 
upon Jewish physicians (Wolf, Th. pp. 75-77; the 
first doctor was graduated in 1778), still showed the 
same intolerance. All of these, however, were 
wiped away at one stroke by the edict of tolerance 
issued by Joseph II. in 1782. The Prague Jewish 


Bohemia 
Bohmer, Israel 





quarter was incorporated (1784); Jewish physicians 
were allowed to treat Christian patients in 1785 (Lie- 
ben, “ Gal ‘Ed,” p. 18), and Jews were drawn for mili- 
tary service (Kohut, 7b. p. 707). The home condi- 
tions of the Prague Jews likewise improved. On the 
great fire of 1754 see K. Heine, p. 48; Pod. p, 92. 
David Oppenheimer, the book-collector, laid the 
‘foundation for Jewish bibliography. Jonathan 
Eybeschiitz, a living exemplar of the destructive in- 
fluence wrought by the Shabbethai Zebi imposition 
(Kohut, 2b. p. 680), and Ezekiel Landau, his oppo- 
nent, were the chief scholars of this period. Upon 
the other side, Peter Beerand Herz Homberg sought 
to introduce reforms in the Jewish ritual, but met 
with determined resistance, particularly as Joseph 
II. himself would have nothing to do with Mendels- 
sohn and his “enlightenment.” 
The nineteenth century must be said to evidence 
retrogression in the condition of the Jewsin Bohemia, 
since, in spite of the example of Joseph II., the 
Jews were treated throughout in the 
The spirit of his predecessors. The Fa- 
Nineteenth milianten Gesetz and its evils, and the 
Century. various imposts levied, were not abol- 
ished until the adeption of the consti- 
tution, March 4, 1849. The fact that a few individ- 
ual Jews have occasionally been raised to the ranks 
of the nobility has exerted no influence upon the 
general circumstances of the Jews. Nevertheless, 
Prague has flourished under the inspiriting breath 
of modern times, and has become a focus of Jew- 
ish learning. Zacharias Frankel was born here: 
Rapoport, Zunz, and Michael Sachs labored here. 
The Slavonicizing of Bohemia makes itself evident 
here and there among the Jews in the adoption of 
the Czech language at general meetings and occa- 
sionally in the pulpit. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Periodical literature is given in the second 
volume of the Zeitschrift ftir die Gesch. der Juden in 
Deutschland. Copia Hines Schreibens, Welches ein Jude 
aus Praag an Binen Seiner Guten Freunde in 
furt Abgelassen, die Ursache [hrer Emigration Betref- 
fend, translated from the Hebrew original into the High Ger- 
man tongue, 1745, signed Mausche Israel. Appended to it 


isan anti-Jewish poem, Zufdllige Gedanken tiber die Emi- . 


gration der Judenschaft in Prag, two leaves, in the Ham- 
burg Stadt-Bibliothek, Realcatalog, Q. ii. 2. Sehaller, Keurz- 
gefasste Beschreibung der Koéniglichen Haupt-und Resi- 
denzstadt Prag, Prague, 1798; Wolf, Ferdinand IT. und die 
Juden, Vienna, 1859 [cited in the above article as Wolf, Ferd. ]; 
idem, Aus der Zeit der Kaiserin Maria Theresa, Vienna, 
188 (Wolf, Th.]; [Wertheimer], Die Juden in Oesterreich, 
Leipsic, 1842; Spitzer, Urheimisch in Slavischen Leindern, 
Esseg, 1880 (Sp. Ur.]: Kaufmann, Barthold Dowe Burma- 
nia und die Vertreibung der Juden aus Bohmen und 
Mihren, in Gritz-Jubelschrift (K. Bur.}; idem, Die Hr- 
sttirmung Ofens, Treves, 1895 [K. Of.]: idem, Aus Hein- 
rich Heine’s Alhnensaal, Breslau, 1896 [K. Heine]: Griin, 
Sage und Gesch. aus der Vergangenheit der Israel. Ge- 
meinde in Prag, Prague, 1888 [Griin}; Kisch. Die Prager 
Judenstadt Wiihrend der Nehlacht am Weissen Berge, in 
Alig. Zeit. des Judenthums, 1884 [Kisch, Pr.]; idem, Das 
Testament Mardochai Meysels, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1893; 
idem, Vorhang Purim, in Griitz-Jubelschrift: Yrank]-Griin, 
Gesch. der Juden in Kremsier, Breslau, 1896 [Fr.-Gr.]: Ber- 
liner, Aus dem Leben der Deutschen Judenim Mittelalter. 
2d ed., Berlin, 1900; Podiebrad .nd Foges, Alterthtimer der 
Prager Josefstadt, 3d ed. [Pod.}; Lieben, Gal ‘ Ed, Prague, 
1856; idem, Statistik Sdimmtlicher auf dem Alten, Ersten 
Wolschauer Friedhofe Stadtgehabten Beerdigun gen, printed 
in Lieben’s Die Hréffnuny des Neuen Zweiten Wolschauer 
FPriedhofes, in 5650 (1890); Epstein and Halberstamm, Dibre 
Bikkoret, Cracow, 1896 (Hebrew); Weber, Die Leidensgesch. 
der Juden in Bohmen, in Brandeis’ Jiidische Universal- 
Bibliothek, No. 22; Aronius, Regesten zur Gesch. der Juden 
in Deutschland, Berlin, 1887-92 [Ar.]; Salfeld, Das Mar- 
tyrologium des Niirnberger Memorbuchs, Berlin, 1898 
[Salf.] Monatschrift f. Geschichte und Wissenschaft des 

udenthums; Kohut, Gesch. der Deutschen Juden, 1898; 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Franck- — 


290 


~ 


Shapira, 2°30) TN, _A Story of the Vicissitudes af the Jews 
in Bohemia in the Sixteenth Century, 1873: Wolf, Die Ver. 
treibung der Juden aus Bohmen i. J. 1744, etc., in Jahr- 
buch fiir die Gesch. der Juden, iv.; Griinwald. Gesch. der 
Juden in Bobhmen, 1885: Hobmger-Stern, Das Judens. 


schreinsbuch. 
G. M. Gr. 
COMMUNITIES IN BOHEMIA. 
A. = Almshouse. 
Figures in parentheses Cc. = Cemetery, 
give number of ad- H. = Hebrah. 
joining villages in- R. = Religious School. 
cluded. S. = Synagogue. 
W. = Women’s Benevolent Society, 


Population | 
of Whole | 
Com- 


munity. 












Community. Institutions. 








Adler-Kosteletz (14}...... 
Aurinowes(Boéh misch 

BOG MU cick eeatcounanea® 283 i 
ATIROD OUT 4 ie veesncewa eas 217 CLR Sg Es 
AMSA A IG) si.c0y. 05s ae vows s aig H., S., W. 
BACH awaocaia dea ewecns 145 C., Bea Sig Ws 
Beneschau (27)........00. 786 Gs 
Reraun: (8) \. sscerescs cas 638 H., W. 
Bergreichenstein (7)...... 112 
Bernaditz (9)...... vane ede 151 H. 

PALA xcacassavacniane: 206 H., C 

Bischof-Teinitz (6)....... 104 S. 

Biante: reeks eheceweses 183 Hz, Ray Ss 

BIO WIA. GD): goes swies sinus eine ves 

Bodenbach (Tetschen) (9) 282 C.; He, We 

Bohmisch Leipa (18)...... 668 A., Aid Socy.,C.. Hey 
| Bhag- Bin WS 

Bohmisch Neustadt] (Ma- 

uti). ClO) veasee cade neces 12 | 8. R. 
Brandeis-on-the-F, (19)... 433 | H., W. 
Brennporitschen (Blow- 

1157) On od Pa ee i neg or re 162 35 Pay Sey Ws 
Bye PLAT Ss cocanancaieuen 748 C., H., S., W. 
BYrZesrie (2) si,6 asa kins 208 C., H., R., 8. 
Budweils (19).0.5 .iccekasée 1263. 1... 84 We 
Budyn (Libochowitz) (11) 176 | CH RaSh 
Crasiaiy (86) ic sc avenues 536 iy Se 
Chotebor (387) .........005. B19 | C., 
Choustnik ‘(Sobieslaw) (3) 55 | R., &, C. 
Ckyn (Wallern) (10)...... 154 | C., 8. 

Dawle (8) .é50066 ce cae cwees 97 8 

Dereisen (lechnitz) (6)... 213 C., H., 8. 
‘Deutschbrod (22).........! 45] 

Diwischau (16)........... 276 C., R., 8. 

Dobra (Unhost) (11)...... 125 

DORTIS: (Oa) sh cute wave whos 526 C., H.R. S.. W. 
Dobruschka (10).......... 209 Ces. Hay Se 
Dbrrmisil (iiss suave eadae 140 | C., H., R., 8. 
HEAT Ol isasa dea cubs o8e ses 508 | C., S., H., W. 
Elbekosteletz (20)......... 213 

Falkenau (20)............. 434 ES » Se. Nes 
Fiéhaw (9)..6. cvs ae 226 R., 8., W. 
Franzensbad (13).,....... 184 C., Jew. Hospital, §. 
Frauenberg (7) .........2,. 148 C., R., S. 
Gablonz-on-the-Neisse (14) 659 H.,5., W. 
Goltsech-Jenikau (20) ..... 524 C., H., R., 8., W. 
Habern (11) beet ere ce eee ve 222 C., R., S., H. 
Hartmanitz (8)........... 200 H. 
Hermanmiestetz (Chru- 

dim) (47) mb) eralin tance ee to ae 1,185 C 4 H ' R * S ¢ W. 
Maite 4S sc oan nce dsceia 142 
Horazdiowitz (10)........ 393 Cy dy a 8 
HOvOtz TP) scsces hxecans 73 C., H., 8. 
Horie (0V,662tc..csses een 820 C., H., R. 
HoruwitaZ (44)... ssecscseve 692 C., H., 8. 
Hosta TEL) o3 nesses cae 155 C., H., 8. 
HYrishoy (1h) wicdse ceed sen 172 C., H., RAS 
HumpoletzZ (23)........065 609 C., R., 8., W. 
JOCHNUZ (1B) sick ccue acess 228 
Jesehiite (9)... sccwue saa va we 75 
Ficith (Vs sons osner veeve. 526 C., H., R., 8. 
Jistebnity 07. 45.656s<es 6 be 151 C. 
Jung-Bunzlau (24)........ 955 C., H., S., W. 
Jung-Woschicz (21)...... 686 C., H., 8. 
Kaaden (16).........cceees 238 C., S. 
Kaladei (9).......00cs000- 288 C., HS. 
Kamenitz a.-d.-Linde (19). 568 C., S., H. 
Kardasch-Rzetschitz (9)... 148 ©.,:8; 
Karlsbad (12)..........08. 1,192 C., Jew. Hosp., S.. We 
Karolinenthal............. 1,241 H.. 8. 
Kassegowitz (12)......... 266 C., H., R., 8., W. 
Kaurzim (35)........ rere 432 8. 

Kladno LON ear otecebaaaelwe 430 C., R., oe W. 


291 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Behimer tasael 





Population 
Community. eee Institutions. 
munity. 
ee ee eae er eee, 
Klattau (14)........ Daria. C., H., B., $., W. 
Klucenitaz (14)........0.-. C., R., 8. 
Kohljanowitz (81)........ C., H., S., W. 
KOI: (20 )evacciviese conde C., H., S., We 
Kolinetz (Planitz) (12).... H. 
Kommotau (14)........66. Hey We 
poniggriitz (24).......... H. 
KOniginhof (14)...-....... C., H., R., 8. 
Konigsaal (11).......0606- H., R. 
KOnigsberg (6).........-- C., H., 8. 
KoOnigstadt] (J8).......... 
Konigswart (5)..... witeutlaners C., H., 8. 
Konigliche Weinberge.... 2,040 A., Hosp., S.. We 
Koschir (9).....-.eeeeeees 230 
Kozolup (6).........00000- 169 C., H., 8. 
Kralup 9).......--sceeeee 182 C., H., 8. 
Krumau (18)..........+6.. 216 ., H. 
Kriwsoudov (17).......... 352 
Kunratitg (21)............. 242 H. 
Kuttenberg (32) ......... 528 
Kuttenplan (10)........... 255 H. 
Lan (18)cacces cawasasuw as 666 C., H., 8., W. 
Ledec (15)..........0.08. 286 x., R., 8., W. 
Leitmeritz (12)........... 691 H., W. 
Leitomiseh] (21).......... 438 C., R., 8., H, 
Liban (19)..... Ont, Reedises 1%5 c., 8. 
Libochowitz (5)........... 231 C., H.,8., W. 
Lichtenstadt (9).......... 222 A., C., R., 8. 
Lieben (24) ........eeeeees 694. H. 
Lobositz (11)............. 3381 H., W. 
Luditz (81)......... One 882 C., H., 8 
Luze (22)....... Paemseeetee 429 H., W. 
Marienbad (5)..... d wetedias 282 c., 8. 
Maschaul (2)....0.s.eeeees 146 C., S. 
Melnik (40)......... ree 519 C., H., 8. 
Michle (6)........... sence 331 H., S., W. 
Mies(25) s vawex ceased a4 554 H., S., C. 
Mirowitz (20)....... ee at C., H., R., 8. 
Miskowitz (2)...... aaiaces 92 C., S. 
Mnisek (6)....... fae euemae’s 149 R., 8., W. 
Miihlhausen (9)......+-+.. 289 H., W. 
Miinchengratz (17) ....... 182 WwW. 
Muttersdorf (2)........... 87 C., 8. 
Nachod (22) ....ccceeesees 903 C., H., R., 8... W. 
Nepomuk (11)-....... sacks 161 H., R., 8., W. 
Netschetin (5)........ sear 94 C., H., 8. 
Neu-Benatek (21)......06. 312 H., S. 
Neu-Bistritz (4).......0008 166 C., R., S., H. 
Neu-Bidschow (35)....... 808 H., Hosp., R., W. 
Neuern (1U).......-.20006 44] C., H., 8., W. 
Neugedein (20) .....eeeeee 335 H. 
Neuhaus (4)..-+..... stats 339 C. (2), H., R., S.. W. 
Neustadt] (6)........sse006 193 
Neustraschitz (8)......... 175 C. (2), H., 8. 
Neu-Zedlisch (11)......... 158 C., H.,8. 
Neveklau (21).....-ece0ees 256 C., 8. 
Nimburg (18)......0eee0e 369 H., S. 
Niirschau (8)......... Apa 181 s. 
Onwal (P)acsaiscaeeenes 124 Ss. 
Pardubity (27) ....e.eeeeas 599 C., EL, S., We 
Patzau (29)....-cse0e- ee 509 C., H., R.. 8. 
Plauten (6)....-....eeeeee 80 
Petschau (2).......ee0e0e. 129 C., H., 8. 
Pilgram (28)........ re 575 H. 
Pilsen (6)......-.0.4- ore 2,556 C., H., R., S., We 
Pisek (7)......008. see weees 461 C., H., R., 8., W. 
Podiebrad (23).......6e.8. 416 C., H., 8. 
Podersam (12)......0000.- 431 C., H.. 8. 
PolicZka (20)... ..eeeeerees 228 C., H., R., 8. 
Poliia. (2) sicaceeeeses ead 400 C., H., 8., W. 
Postpelberg (7)....-.... ae 237 C., H..S. 
Postrizin (16).......0.00-- 163 Ss. 
Prague (city proper). See 
PRAGUE. 

Preitz (17) eeneveer eeecvene 334 C., H., R., 8. 
Prelautsch (17)...-..-.05 179 C., H., R., S. 
Pribram (24).....cceceenes 689 A., C., H., R.,8., W. 
Pristoupim (22)...0..scee- 314 H., 8. 
Radenin (8)......+- sisal 183 C., H., R., 8. 
Radnitz (14)....c.ccccenee 325 C., H., 8. 
Radoun (20)......+6 ere 296 C., H., R., 8. 
Rakonitz (39) eceeee eeevces 712 H., W., S., R., C 
Raudnitz (17).......065 nee 448 C., H., S., W. 
Reichenau (4).....0+-.00: 232 H., W. 
Reichenberg (22)......... 1,189 C., H.,58., W. 
Rokitzan (18) .......s00008 317 
Ronspberg (5)......+s000 137 C., H., R., 8., W. 
Rosenberg (16).....+..005 224 C. (2), S. 





Population | 
Community. es Institutions. 
munity. 
Rozdialowitz (12)......... 164 S. 
Roztok (10)....... eee waes 118 Ss. 
Rumburg (10)...........- 220 
SaAtZ: (27 esac sis tox daees = L74h C., H., S., W. 
Schlan (25)........ ctgaaacis Boe H., W. 
Schiittenhofen (13)........ 340 C. (2), S. (2) H. 
Schwarz-Kosteletz (16).... 202 H., S. 
Selean (22)....... Puackwan 691 R., 8. 
Senftenberg (19).......... 310 H. 
SMICHOW (5) ..-eeeseeecees 987 
Sobieslau (6).....eeescees 171 
Soborten (]7)......0.66. Me 376 C., H., S., W. 
Staab (T)......seeeee db cetats 147 
Stalec (6)..... nas bns nee 138 C., H,, 8. 
Stankau (6).......-+- preees 12 H. 
Stenowitz (8).........65 is 122 
StrakonitZ (7)......-....6- 398 H., R., W. 
StranschitZ (17)... .00- ee. 238 R., 8. 
Swetia (10)...........0005 187 H. W. 
TAbOk 2 )accaiuaeeeecsdes 683 C.,8., W. 
Tacha (7)....ccceeeenees 422 H. 
Tauss (5)........ ieuisl caret 207 
Teplitz (6)....... sci cass ie ata 2,099 A., C., H., R., S.. W. 
Theusing (2)............- 91 C., H. 
Trautenau (24)......... ae 688 C., 8. 
Triblitz (10)...........00% 144 C., 8. 
Tucap (6).........cececees 98 C., H., 8. 
Turnau (14).........c00ee 286 H., Hosp., W. 
Unter-Kralowitz (18)..... 432 C., H., R., 8.. W. 
Unter-Lukawitz (21)...... 303 
Wallisgriin (10)........... 220 H., 8. 
Wallisch-Birken (3)....... 109 
Weiten-Trebetitsch (6).... 146 H. 
Welwar»n (9).,.ccesasseces 115 
Weseritz. (14). ...5008.. ise 322 C., H., R., 8. 
Wittingau (11)....++...... 233 
Wlaschim (28).........0.- 566 H., W. 
Wodnian (13)............. 340 H., W. 
WGI Gi V2cc chdcauenees oes 176 C., H., R., 8., We 
WotltZ C12) & ives ik cance é 560 C., R., 8., W. 
Wscherau (10).........66: 177 C., H. 
ZIZKOV (2) ocsaesens aa veds ' 577 
G. A. Ku. 


BOHM, MOSES: German physician; flourished 
in the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1740 
he was engaged by the Jewish community of Hal- 
berstadt to attend to the medical needs of its poor 
members; and his salary, 175 thalers per annum, 
was paid to him regularly, according to the com- 
muna! records, until 1747. He soon became very 
popular with Gentiles as well as with Jews, and was 
consulted professionally by the nobility and high 
dignitaries. It is supposed that Béhm remained in 
the service of the community after 1747, but his in- 
creased prosperity enabled him to dispense with his 
salary, which wasa heavy charge on the community. 
Various anecdotes of his skill as a physician and his 
generosity are preserved among the Jews of Halber- 
stadt, from which it is evident that he must have 
occupied an important position in that city. There 
are extant Hebrew letters written by him against 
the use of amulets, and against the early and hur- 
ried burials of the dead, which were common among 
the Jews of his time. In these epistles he proves 
himself a good Hebraist, an excellent reasoner, and 
well versed in rabbinical literature. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Auerbach, Gesch. der Israelitischen Ge- 


meinde Halberstadt, pp. 111-116, Halberstadt, 1866. 
S. P. WI. 


BOHMER, ISRAEL B. JOSEPH: Russian 
Neo-Hebraist and lexicographer; born about 1820; 
died in Slutzk, government of Minsk, Apr. 4, 1860. 
His father, R. Joseph Béhmer (1796-1864), was a 
prominent Talmudical authority, one of the first 


Béhmer, Joseph 
Bokhara 


———_—-. 


graduates from the yeshibah of R. Hayyim of Volo- 
zhin, and rabbi of Slutzk for thirty-five years. 
Israel traveled in western countries and knew sev- 
eral European languages. His works abound with 
Latin, German, and French quotations, and show a 
familiarity with scientific methods of investigation. 
His chief work is “ Kitbe Israel B6hmer’”? (The Wri- 
tings of Israel B6hmer), part i. or letter i., Warsaw, 
1849, a treatise on the Essenes, containing many 
etymological explanations of Hebrew and Talmud- 
ical terms. His “Kezad Ma‘arikin” (How to 
Arrange) is a contribution to Talmudical or rab- 
binical lexicography, and was published as a 
specimen of a large work on the subject (Berlin, 
1855). Bohmer edited, in conjunction with G. 
Polak of Amsterdam, “Ezba‘ Elohim” (The Finger 
of God), a sketch of the life of R. Isaac Tirnau, 
with notes and appendix (Koénigsberg, 1857). He 
also published, together with E. L. Silberman, for 
whose “ Ha-Maggid” he worked about nine months, 
a new and annotated edition of Samuel Shullam’s 
Hebrew translation of Josephus’ work, “Contra 
Ap.” (Lyck, 1858). His lexicographical articles ap- 
peared in “Kerem Hemed,” iii. 18-22, 116-149 (of 
which the above “ Kezad Ma‘arikin” is practically a 
reprint). ‘There also appeared from his pen “ Lexi- 
calische Beitriige zum Talmud,” in “ Literaturblatt 
des Orients,” 1850, ii., Nos. 25, 27, 39. His Hebrew 
is far from being pure or classical, and contains 
many curious Germanisms (“Reformer and Jewish 
Times,” New York, vol. x., No. 20). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ha-Maggid, iv., No. 15; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post- 
Mendels, p. 36; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 498. 
P. Wi. 


. R, 

BOHMER (“yn"5), JOSEPH B. MEIR: 
Lithuanian rabbi and Talmudist; born at Skudy in 
1796; dicd May 7, 1864, at Slutsk. One of the most 
eminent pupils of R. Hayyim of Volozhin, Bohmer 
attained such a reputation as Talmudist that legal 
questions were sent to him even from Palestine and 
Babylon. Following the methods of his teacher, he 
was especially remarkable for his strictly logical 
treatment of the Talmud and rabbinical literature, 
being a decided opponent of the pilpul. Bohmer 
was greatly beloved and respected in his community 
for his personal qualities as well as for his scholar- 
ship. He officiated as rabbi for thirty-five years, 
and left a large collection of responsa, and scholia 
to the Yad ha-Hazakah and the Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
which are still extant in manuscript. Béhmer was 
succeeded in the rabbinate of Slutzk by hisson Meir. 
rr aa >; Ha-Karmel, iv. 278; Fuenn, Keneset Visrael, 


LL. G. 


BOIL: The rendering, in the English versions of 
the Scriptures, of the Hebrew word “shehin,” which 
comes from a root meaning “to warm,” and indi- 
cates an inflamed spot. In the Bible it is used to 
describe two distinct forms of disease, each charac- 
terized by a local swelling, exceedingly painful and 
accompanied by a discharge of pus: (1) the simple 
boil, limited to one spot and not contagious (Lev. 
xill. 28); and (2) the loathsome eruptions char- 
acteristic of endemic elephantiasis, a form of leprosy 
so called because the feet of the victim swell to a 
great size and resemble the fect of an elephant. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


292 





This seems to have been the form of disease with 
which Job was afflicted (Job ii. 7), although the 
suddenness with which he was “smitten with sore 
boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown” is 
more suggestive of plague. 

That the Jews distinguished between the first and 
the second type—which latter seems to have been 
known as the “botch [or boil] of Egypt” (Deut. 
XXVili. 27)—is clearly demonstrated by the law set 
forth in Lev. xiii. 18-23. Doubtful cases were 
brought before the priests. If the scar left by a boil 
was lower than the skin, and the hair upon it was 
white, the case was pronounced one of leprosy. 
In the absence of these signs the afflicted one was 
shut up for seven days. If at the end of that time 
the disease had spread it was a case of leprosy; if 
not, the scar was recognized as that of asimple boil, 
and the man was declared clean. See LEPROsy. 

J. JR. C.F. K. 


BOJANOWO: A town in the district of Rav- 
ditsch, province of Posen, Germany. A Jewish 
community of one hundred and forty-four souls 
dwelt in Bojanowo as carly as 1793. They were 
under the protection of the Boyanowskis, the lords of 
the manor, who had founded the town in 1638. They 
received from the lords the privilege of free trade, 
the right to buy houses, and the right to pursue all 
handicrafts, for which they had to pay in per capita 
taxes twelve full-weight groschen to the king, eight 
thalers and ten silver groschen to the lord of the 
manor, and eight silver groschen to the city, for 
permission to reside init. In the beginning of the 
nineteenth century Samuel Samwel Munk, “who 
knew how to read and write German, and was in 
the habit of reading German books and even jour- 
nals in the hours that are neither day nor night,” 
held the position of rabbi at Bojanowo, whence he 
was called to Wollstein (Graetz, “History of the 
Jews,” index volume, p. 7, Philadelphia, 1898). The 
synagogue, built as early as 1793, was burned down 
during the great fire in 1857, but was rebuilt the 
following year. The Jewish cemetery was opened 
in 1817. In 1900 Bojanowo counted a Jewish pop- 
ulation of only fifty-eight out of a total of 2,200. 

D. M, L. B.—T. R. 


BOKHARA : Capital of the khanate of the same 
name in Central Asia; a principal seat of Islam and, 
with Samarecand, a center of Mohammedan culture 
in Central Asia since early times. The city proba- 
bly had a Jewish population even at the beginning 
of the Mohammedan rule. The Jews of Bokhara, 
whose mother-tongue points to their Persian origin, 
consider themselves descendants of the Ten Tribes, 
and identify the Biblical “Habor” (II Kings xvii. 6) 
with the name “Bokhara.” In support of this the- 
ory, their chief rabbi in 1832 pointed out the identity 
of the consonants in the two names to the well- 
known missionary Wolff (“Narrative of the Mis- 
sion of Dr. Wolff to Bokhara,” p. 30, New York, 
1845). According to the same informant, the docu- 
ments relating to the earliest history of the Jews 
under Genghis Khan’s rule (1218-26) have been lost. 

Half a century before the conquest of Bokhara 
by the Mongols, Benjamin of Tudela, during his 
sojourn in Persia, gathered information relating to 


293 


THE JEWISIT ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Béhmer, Joseph 
Bokhara 





the Jews living on the Oxus, especially concerning , (referring to the seven martyrs and their mother; 
one independent Jewish tribe that claimed to derive ; see I1 Maccabees vii. 1), a poem still popular among 


its descent from the Ten Tribes, and was in friendly 
relations with the Turkish nomadic tribes of Trans- 
oxiana. Benjamin does not mention Bokhara, but 
he speaks of Samarcand, where, according to his 
statement, there were 50,000 Jews, among them men 
eminent for wealth and learning. Bokhara, no 
doubt, had its Jewish population also at that time 

(compare Vambéry, “Gesch. Bocha- 


Under ras,” i. 156); but the Jewish historical 
Mongol sources for many centuries mention 
Rule. neither Bokhara nor the other cities of 


Transoxiana. The only monument of 
the intellectual activity that may be presupposed 
among the Jews of that region is the curious dic- 
tionary of Solo- 
mon b. Samuel 
(see Bacher, 
“ Ein Hebritisch- 
Persisches W ér- 
terbuch aus dem 
14. Jahrhun- 
dert,” Stras- 
burg, 1900), a 
work completed 
in 1338 in Oorg- 
henj (Gurgang), 
hence in the 
country border- 
ing Bokhara on 
the west. The 
conclusions that 
may be drawn 
from this work 
regarding the 
intellectual 
status of the 
Jews in the 
countries _bor- 
dering on the 
Oxus may cer- 
tainly also be 
applied to Bo- 
khara. 

More than 
three centuries 
separate Solo- 
mon b. Samuel 
from the next 
name from Cen- 
tral Asia re- 
corded by Jew- 
ish literary his- 
tory. This was 
the poet, known 





Jews of Bokhara Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. 
(From a photograph by the American Colony, Jerusalem.) 


the Jews of Bokhara. He died in 1755 
at an advanced age. Yusuf Yehudi 
and his fellow-poets, who were gen- 
erally called “ Mollah” (from the Mo- 
hammedan word for “scholar ”), used Jewish mate- 
rial in their Persian poems, but also assiduously 
cultivated Persian poetry. As their own poems 
were written in the Hebrew script, they transcribed 
the Persian classics, Nizami, Hafiz, etc., into this 
script for the benefit of the Jews of Bokhara; and 
also translated Hebrew poems, such as those of 
Israel Najjara, into Persian verse. The Persian 
translation of the Pentateuch, which is now used by 
the Jews of Bokhara, seems to date from a much 
earlier time, and 
is probably the 
earliest literary 
monument of 
the Jews of 
Bokhara (on 
Yusuf Yehudi 
and the circle 
of poets of 
Bokhara, see 
Bacher, in “Z. 
D. M. G.” iii, 
309-427;  ddem, 
in “Jew. Quart. 
Rev.” xiv. 116- 
128). 

The next 
name to be men- 
tioned from 
Bokhara is that 
of the poet 
Ibrahim ibn 
Abu al- Khair 
in the beginning 
of the nine- 
teenth century, 
author of an ac- 
count of a 
contem porane- 
ous event; 
namely, the 
martyrdom of 
Khudaidad (¢.e., 
El-Nathan) at 
Bokhara in the 
reign of the 
fanatical Emir 
Mas‘um (d. 
1802). In addi- 
tion to the pic- 


Poetical 
Efforts. 


in non-Jewish circles under the name of Yusuf | ture of Mohammedan fanaticism under which the 


Yehudi (Joseph the Jew), who flourished in Bo- 
khara at the end of the seventeenth and in the first 
half of the eighteenth century. With the excep- 
tion of the names and a few dates no biograph- 
ical notices have been preserved, either of him or of 
the other members of the Jud#o-Persian poetic cir- 
cles that flourished contemporaneously at Bokhara. 
In 1688 Yusuf Yehudi, whose full name was Mollah 
Joseph b. Isaac, completed the “Seven Brothers” 


Jews of Bokhara had to suffer, this poem, 
based on fact (see Bacher, in “Zeit. fiir Hebr. 
Bibl.” iii. 19-25; ¢dem, in “Z. D. M. G.” lii. 190- 
212; Gottheil, in “Amer. Jour. Semit. Lang.” xv. 
124), gives an insight into their inner life and 
their domestic aud social conditions. Hoja of 
Bokhara, who in 1816 wrote a Book of Daniel in 
the Persian language, was perhaps a brother of the 
martyr (see “Jew. Quart. Rev.” vii. 119). 


Bokhara 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


294 





In 1832, some decades after Khudaidad’s martyr- 
dom, the first European came to Bokhara, and after 
having visited the city again in 1844, 
gave some detailed information con- 
cerning the Jews there. This was the 
missionary Wolff, mentioned above, 
who recounts the following ix his book (.¢. ii. 8): 

‘In Bokhara there are 10,000 Jews, who are mostly dyers and 
silk merchants; they wear a small cap, and a girdle around the 
chest, in order to be distinguished from the Mohammedans. 
Their synagogue is a verv old building, although excellently 
preserved. During my sojourn there the emir [Nasrullah Khan, 
who reigned 1826-60 (see Vambéry, t c. ii. 165)] gave them per- 
mission to repair but not to enlarge the building.” 

Wolff says that the same enir frequently went to 
the house of the rabbi Simhih during the Feast of 
‘Tabernacles to witness the clebration and to par- 
take of the feast. 


Wolff's 
Visit. 










SS 


ne ON 






A Jewess of Bekhara. 
(After a photegraph.,) 


In 1849 the traveler J. J. Benjamin II. (“Hight 
Years in Asia and Africa,” 9. 178, Hanover, 1859) 
met at Bombay a Bokhara coreligionist, Messias 
(Mashiah) by name, who gave the following infor- 
mation concerning the Jews cf his city: 

* He told me that nearly 2,500 Jewish families live at Bokhara 
and in the neighborhood who suport themselves by trade, 
agricultural labor, and mechanica employment. They are 
obliged to wear on their garments apiece of old stuff, by which 
they can be distinguished from the “atars.” 

In view of the great oppression that the Jews of 
Bokhara suffered, it is not strange that, as Wolff 
recounts, an African Jew, Rabbi Joseph Moghrabi, 
who came to Bokhara in tle first quarter of the 
nineteenth century, was wont to say: “O Lord! 
when will the time come that the followers of Jesus 
shall take possession of this muntry?” (de. i. 14). 





Bokhara was opened up to Europeans in 1868. 
Soon afterward Russian aggression commenced in 
central Asia. Tashkent was annexed by Russia in 
1866; in 1868 Samarcand was seized, and a large part 
of the khanate of Bokhara was added to the govern- 
ment of Russian Turkestan. Bokhara itself remained 
the capital of the emir, who, however, became more 

and more a dependent of Russia. At 


Under __ present he is hardly more than a Rus- 
Russian = sian governor. The Russian occupa- 
Rule. tion of the territory of Bokhara brought 


comparative freedom to the Jews. In 
his work entitled “ Russia in Central Asia in 1889 
and the Anglo-Russian Question,” p. 172, London, 
1889, Lord Curzon, at present viceroy of India, who 
visited those regions in 1888, has the following to 
say concerning the Jews of Bokhara: 


‘The Jews are here a singularly handsome people, of mild 
feature and benign aspect. Confined to an Oriental ghetto and 
for long cruelly persecuted in Bokhara, they still exhibit in 
their prescribed dress and appearance the stamp of a peculiar 
people. The head is shaven save for two long locks hanging in 
a curl on either temple; they wear a square black calico bonnet 
trimmed with Astrakhan border, and a girdle round the waist. 
To my astonishment, I met with one who could speak a little 
French.”’ 

Franz von Schwarz, who from 1874 to 1890 was 
astronomer of the observatory of Tashkent and di- 
rector of the meteorologic institute of Turkestan, 
gives valuable information on the Jews of Bokhara 
in his suggestive book, “Turkestan, die Wiege der 
Indogermanischen V6lker” (Freiburg in Baden, 
1990), from which the following passages (pp. 441- 
445) may be quoted: 

** Just as in Turkestan usury is almost exclusiveiy in the 
hands of the Indians, so the Jews of Bokhara devote themselves 


to commerce and industry. . . . Nearly all the dyers, especially 
the dyers of silk, are Jews [compare p. 384: 


Occupa- ‘The dyeing of silk is done chiefly by the 
tions, Jews, their occupation being easily recognized 

by their hands, which are always blue’’; p. 

43t: ‘“*The Jews of Bokhara have in a way monopolized the 


commerce with dyed raw silk ’]; the native apothecaries and 
physicians are also Jews. The Bokbarian Jews are as cleanly 
as the Sarts, eminently modest and polite, and produce on the 
whole a more pleasing impression than the Sarts and Uzbegs. 
It is impossible to describe how the Jews of Bokhara have hith- 
erto been treated in all the Central Asiatic khanates, and in part 
even to-day in the independent states. . . . Like lepers, they are 
obliged to live in their own quarters. In Bokhara no Jew is 
permitted to wear a turban or belt . he must gird himself instead 
with a rope. and must wear a fur cap of a prescribed shape [com- 
pare Curzon, l.c.]. . .. Asfar asthe restrictive regulations will 
permit them, the Jews prefer to dress like the Sarts, Uzbegs, and 
Tajiks. They also shave the head like the Mohammedans, 
leaving, however, two long curls on the temples... . They sre 
monogamous, and are remarkable for their large families. Not- 
withstanding all oppression, they are on the whole wealthy and 
have already acquired ownership of a number of houses, built 
in the European style, in the Russian city of 
Tashkent. The Jews enjoy full religious lib- 
erty in the Russian provinces of Central Asia, 
and bave the same political as well as social 
status as the other iuhabitants. Hence they everywhere look 
upon the Russians as their rescuers and liberators, and on 
every occasion assiduously further the Russian advances.” 


Social 
Position. 


What Schwarz says here of the leaning toward 
the Russians is substantiated in an interesting way 
in the Russifving of Jewish names, for apparently 
they now prefer to add the Russian endings “of.” 
“uf,” to their names. Thus, the young interpreter 
who rendered invaluable services to Elkan N. Adler 
during his stay at Bokhara, in the summer or 1897, 


295 





was celled Abo Chachmanof (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” 
x. 584). The author of the “ Ritual Compendium.” 
the Persian translation of which appeared at Jeru- 


salem in 1901 (see “* Zeit. fir Hebr. Bibl.” v. 147- | 


15+), is named Abraham Aminof; and names like 
Nathanael Davidof, Mattath Suleimanof, Benjamin 
Abrahamof, are found among the subscribers to the 
edition of the Pentateuch with Persian translation 
now appearing in Jerusalem for the benefit of the 
Jews of Bokhbara. 

The prosperity mentioued by Schwarz is also sub- 
stantiated by the settlement that the Jews of Bo- 
khara founded at Jerusalem in 1898. Only five years 
later this settlement included 179 houses, among 


- 


a | on) . “a 
Dy ka BHF 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Zz : ad 
oo > 
% 1 aos te et ars 


a +} 
7 H' it :/ 





Bokhara 





previously printed a Persian translation of the 
Psalms (Vienna, 1888) and of the Proverbs (Jerusa- 
lem, 1885). . 

The Persian dialect spoken by the Jews of Bo- 
khara, as may be gathered from the literary docu- 
ments mentioned and from others, shows many lexi- 
cal and some grammatical peculiarities; being 
remarkable for many Turkish. particularly eastern 
Turkish, words, as appears especially in the above- 
mentioned “Ritual Compendium” (see Bacher, 
“ Jiidisch-Persisches aus Buchara.” in “Z. D. M. G.” 
vols. lv., Ivi.; tdem, “Tiirkische Lelnwoérter und 
Unbekannte Vokabeln im Persischen Dialekte der 
Juden Buchara’s ”; “ Kelchi Szemle ” in “ Rev. Orien- 


eve: 
a 
‘ 


oe 


SS = Sasa, M 
SAAN AK 
. ~~ x . 
Woe A 
INS, 
SO) tes th \\ 
a ee 8 
SRO A SO Me 
4 


& 


NN 
Ww 


wer 


SN 
Neh 
SS 
: a = Sy 
»”, 
4 


QV 

AM 

**,* 
Ree 


e SQ 
MON 
¥ vr 
& 
@* 
Ss 


Rh tee 

Se NR 

SS. 
oe 


‘, 
\ 
\ 
Son nee ten ETE ENTIRE Tt 
SS "ee Sen 
SOc SOS 
Sy Sy 
. ae 


~~ 

SS 
SS 
KK 

~ 


ete eee 
4 SN a 
AAV 


WESSSSSS 


we on _ ‘ 
RS ADE AR 


Le 


tt 
AK 


( 
> | Ge 


a 


ee 


t 
ad 


4 


INTERIOR OF THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE AT BOKHARA. 
(After a photograph by E, N. Adler, London.) 


them two synagogues and two schools. It became 
a kind of intellectual center for the Jews that had 
remained at Bokhara, for in the last few years dif- 
ferent works were printed at Jerusalem to supply 
the religious and literary needs of the Jews of Bo- 
khara, Amony these were the above-mentioned Pen- 
tateuch edition and Abraham Amiuof’s “ Ritual 
Compendium.” both of which were translated into 
Persian by Simeon Hakam, a man remarkable for 
his activity, his knowledge of Jewish lore, and his 
thorough acquaintance with Persian. In his preface 
to the Pentateuch edition there are interesting re- 
marks on the traditional Persian Pentateuch transla- 
tion used by the Jews of Bokhara and their pronunci- 
ation of Persian, Benjamin Kohen of Bokhara had 


tale,” 1902, iii.). For further information concern- 
ing the literary activity of the Jews of Bokhara see 
JUDMO-PERSIAN LITERATURE. 
G. W. B. 
There are perhaps 20,000 Jews in the khanate, 
most of whom live in the towns. Jews have for 
centuries been resident in both coun- 
Present- try and capital. Like their neighbors, 
Day the Afghans, the Bokharians in gen- 
Conditions. eral, and especially the Turkomans, 
are by many believed to be descended 
from the Ten Tribes; but the Jews of Bokhara are 
Talmud Jews, and are probably descended from the 
Babylonian Jews who migrated eastward after the 
conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans. Their family 


Bokhara 
Boleslaw Pobozny 


names prove that many came from Persia via Merv 
and some from Khiva. 

The Chinese Jews of Kai-Fung-Fu (see Cyrna) 
are probably originally from Bokhara, the Persian 
rubrics in their Hturgies being in the Bokharian 
dialect. The Bokhara Jews themselves have a tra- 
dition that their ancestors settled in various parts 
of Persia, and especially at Sabzawar, two days’ 
journey from Meshed; that they were removed 
thence under the conqueror Genghis Khan (1220) to 
Balkh and Samarcand; and that when Samarcand 
fell into ruin, under Babi Mehemet Khan, the con- 
queror of Shah Abbas (1598), they went to Bokhara, 
where there wasa Jewish colony; and some of them 
emigrated thence to Tsheen Patsheen (China), but 
soon ceased to have communication with their 
mother-country, though they “carried their geneal- 
ogies with them.” 

The present writer visited Bokhara in 1897, and 
found four or five thousand Jews there, inhabiting 

a special quarter and wearing a special 


Statistics badgeontheirclothing. They seemed 
and Oc- intelligent and hospitable. Many of 
cupations. them were great travelers: one man 


had been to China; while several had 
visited India by way of Afghanistan and the Khai- 
bar Pass. At least two hundred had made the pil- 
grimage to Jerusalem; and there are at tle present 
time (1902) at least that number of Bokharians set- 
tled in Jerusalem with the pious purpose of living 
and dying there. 

Most of the traveled Jews of Bokhara had been 
to Moscow, many to Paris, and some to London. 
One old man had been five times to Moscow. His 
first journey there, forty years ago, had been by 
caravan by way of Astrakhan and the Volga, occu- 
pying eighty days and costing 500 rubles. 

None of the Bokharian Jews were rich, but most 
of them seemed to earn a livelihood. Some were 
cotton-growers; some grew grapes, some cultivated 
tobacco; while many were merchants trading with 
Moscow, where they exchanged carpets for manu- 
factured goods, and importing Indian tea from 
Bombay via Batum and Baku, The greater part of 
the cotton trade of the Khanate is in the hands of 
the Jews, and 500,000 poods (about 18,000,000 Ibs.) 
of cotton are annually exported from Bokhara. 

The largest synagogue of Bcekhara is some 500 or 
600 years old, with modern additions that resemble 
chapels ina cathedral, divine service being held sep- 
arately ineach. It has a genizah, or hidden cham- 
ber, in the roof, for the preservation of disused 
sacred writings. 

The present chief rabbi is MoHah Hezekiah ha- 
Kohen, whose father was rabbi before him. In 1882, 
when the missionary Wolff, mentioned above, visited 
Bokhara, MoNah Pinchas, the elder, was chief rabbi, 
and there were four synagogues in the city. Wolff 
estimated the number of Jews at 10,000, and states 
that they paid only $300 per annum by way of 
tax to Bahadur Khan. He also states that there 
were 300 Jewish families, converts to Moham- 
medanism, who were scorned by the general popu- 
Jation, and who intermarried with the Gholoom or 
slaves of Persia and not with the Uzbegs. Crypto- 
Jews from Meshed are still found in Bokhara. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


296 


Toward the end of the eighteenth century one 
Joseph ben Moses Mainion, a native of Tetuan, and 
therefore called “Mughrebi,” came to Bokhara 
via Jerusalem and Bagdad. He found the Jews 
ignorant and unobservant, and revolutionized their 
ritual and practise, sending to Europe for Hebrew 
books. The Jews have now forgotten their old 
Persian liturgy and have adopted that of the Sephar- 

dim of Italy, in the belief that they 


Liturgy are descended, as Maimon was, from 
and the Spanish refugees of 1492. Rabbi 
Rabbis. Joseph Maimon had an unsuccessful 


rival ina learned Yemenite Jew, Rabbi 

Zachariah ben Maziliah. 

The present writer brought back with him about 
seventy Hebrew and Hebrew-Persian manuscripts 
from Bokhara and its neighborhood, one of which 
was written in Herat, many of them being trans- 
literations into Hebrew of the great Persian poets, 
such as Sadi, Jami, and Nizami, and lesser local 
celebrities, ike Tutil, Zeribu of Samarcand, and 
Musahfiki. 

In 1490 there flourished Uzziel Moses ben David, 
who wrote poems in Hebrew and Persian. Other 
poets were Yusuf Yehudi ben Isaac (1688-1755), 
mentioned above, and his friends, Uzbek, Elisha, 
and Solomon Mollah. Somewhat later were David 
ben Abraham ben 9M, Uzziel, Benjamin Siman- 
Tob, and Eleazar ha-Kohen, and, in the beginning 
of the nineteenth century Ibrahim ibn Abu al- Khair, 
author of the “ Khudaidad” (ed. Salemann, St. Peters- 
burg, 18977). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Joseph Wolff, Researches and Missionary 
Lahors Among the Jews, ete. 2d ed., London, 1835; C. Sale- 
mann, Judao-Persica I. Chudaidat, St. Petersburg. 1897 ; 
E. N. Adler, The Persian Jews: Their Books and Ritual, 
in Jew. Quart. Rev. x. 584; reprint, London, 1898; idem, .A 
Bird’s-Eye View of the Transcaspian, in Contemporary 
Review, May, 1898; Bacher, Das Jitdisch-Bucharisehe Ge- 
dicht Chudaidad, in Z. D. M. G. lii. 197; idem, Der Dichter 
Jusuf Jehudi und Sein Lob Moses’, ib. lili. 389; idem, Die 
Jiidisch-Persische Dichterschule von Buchara, tb. pp. 421, 
693; idem, Jiidisch-Persisches aus Buchara, tb. lv. 241; 
idem, Ein Hebriiiseh-Persisches Worterbuch aus dem i,ten 
Jahrhundert, Budapest, 1900; Vambéry, Geschichte Bo- 
charas, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1872. 


G. E. N. A. 


BOLAFFIO, LEONE: Italian jurist; born at 
Padua July 5, 1848. He was educated at Padua; 
attended the public schools, the Talmudic college 
—where 8. D. Luzzatto was his teacher—and the 
University of Padua. Bolaffio afterward practised 
law at Venice for fifteen years, at the same time 
acting as professor in the Istituto Tecnico. Then 
he became professor in the law department of the 
University of Parma and that of Bologna. He is a 
member of the Royal Commission for the Reform 
of the Commercial Code, commander of the organ- 
ization known as the Crown of Italy, and a cheva- 
lier of the Orders of SS. Maurizio and Lazzaro. 
Bolaffio was the first to advocate the introduction of 
Gabelsberger’s system of stenography into the pub- 
lic schools of Italy, and he himself wrote a manual 
for this system. He was also the founder, at Padua 
and Milan, of the Society for Stenography. Since 
1876 he has been the editor of the judicial paper 
“Temi Veneta,” founded by himself. Bolaffio’s 
principal work is his “Commento al Codice di Com- 
mercio,” 2d ed., 18569. He has also advocated the 


297 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bokhara 
Boleslaw Pobozny 





abolition of bankruptcy proceedings in the case of 
business men of small means. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Boccardo, Nuova Enciclopedia Italiana, 
vol. ii,, Supplement, 1891. g 


BOLAFFI0O, LUIGI FILIPPO: Italian jour- 
nalist and publisher; born in Venice 1846, died at 
Milan 1901. While he was still a youth his parents 
moved to Genoa, and there Bolaffio founded “La 
Favilla,” a literary magazine. He returned to Ven- 
ice in 1866 and became a contributor to the “ Rinno- 
vamento” and “Venezia.” In 1880 he went to 
Milan, where he edited the political newspaper 
“L’Italia.”. Owing to differences with the publish- 
ers, he abandoned this, and founded the “Caffé, 
Gazzetta Nazionale,” which he afterward disposed 
of to a syndicate holding monarchic but liberal 
views. The “Gazzetta Nazionale” reflected the 
opinions of the Lombard aristocracy. Bolaffio’s 
political utterances involved him in many duels, in 
one of which, with Marin, the socialist and member 
of the Italian Parliament, he wounded his opponent 
almost mortally. 

On the death of one of his little sons, Bolaffio re- 
tired from politics and founded the well-known 
Milan publishing-house, the Casa Editrice Verri, 
which issues “ I] Mondo Umoristico” and many other 
popular journals. 

During the past twenty years Bolaffio, in conjunc- 
tion with his wife (Sulamith, the daughter of Baer 
Jolles of Berlin), wrote sixteen volumes of guide- 
books on Italy, Switzerland, and Paris, issued by 
Treves Brothers, Turin. Many of them have been 
translated into French, English, and German. Bo- 
laffio was also the author of “Il 14 Giugno, 1859,” a 
historical memoir, Venice, 1867, and “ Augusta,” a 
novel, Milan, 1888. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Boecardo, Nuova Enciclopedia Italiana, 


vol. ii. Supplement, 1891. 
g A. P. 


BOLAT. See BuLtatT, ABRAHAM IBN. 


BOLECHOW: Town in the district of Dolina, 
Galicia, Austria, the population of which in 1890 
was 4,402, of whom half were Jews. The Jewish 
community dates from the day of the foundation of 
the place in 1612 by Nicholas Giedzinsky. According 
to the privileges granted the Jews by the founder 
and confirmed by King Sigismund III. of Poland, 
they enjoyed equal freedom and rights with the 
Christians. They were released from all burden- 
some taxes and from the compulsory supply of 
relays. They had the right to build in any part of 
the town, and were granted a plot of ground fora 
garden to each house. Both were their exclusive 
property, subject only to the payment of a small 
tax to the lord of the manor. A place to build a 
synagogue and land for a cemetery were granted 
them gratis and were free from taxes forever, as were 
also the other communal buildings that might be 
erected on the grounds of the synagogue. Charges 
by Christians against the Jews were under jurisdic- 
tion of the Jord of the manor or of the judge ap- 
pointed by him, in accordance with the existing 
statutes and the privileges granted the Jews by the 
king. The Giedzinskys were always favorably dis- 
posed toward the Jews, who had the right to be 


elected as jurymen and even as mayors. When, in 
1660, the first city mayor was sworn in, he made 
oath as follows: “I solemnly swear to live in har- 
mony and to defend the rights of the Roman Catho- 
lics, the Greek Catholics, and the Jews; of the rich 
and of the poor alike.” 

That the Jews of Bolechow were greatly esteemed 
by their Christian neighbors is evinced by the fact 
that when the Cossacks, in 1669, burned down the 
castle of Zydaczow with all the official documents 
and privileges, the town of Bolechow elected two 
Jewish delegates—Leib Ilkowitz and Lipman Laza- 
rowitz—to enter the privileges of the town in the 
new books of that place. When the Tatars in- 
vaded Bolechow in 1670 and destroyed and burned 
down many houses, and the Jewish population was 
impoverished, the lord of the manor, George de 
Giednie Giedzinsky, bishop of Lemberg, furnished 
many loans to the Jews. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allg. Zeitung des Jud. 1879, pp. 283-285. 
D. H. R. 


BOLESLAW I. CHROBRY (“the Brave”): 
King of Poland from 992 to 1025. According to 
the Polish preacher Matheusz Bembo, a contempo- 
rary of Sigismund ITT. (beginning of the seventeenth 
century), the first Jews settled in Poland in the 
reign of Boleslaw Chrobry; and the historian 
Maciejowski (“Zydzi w Polsce na Rusi i Litwie”) 
states that this king treated the Jews with the ut- 
most kindness. There are traditions, however, to 
the effect that the Jews had livedin Poland as early 
as the ninth century, enjoying considerable privi- 
leges granted by the earlier Polish princes, and that 
during the war that Boleslaw waged against the 
German emperor, Henry II., all their manuscripts 
were destroyed by fire, among which were the 
parchments containing records of those privileges. 
Some historians assert that Boleslaw, fearing that 
too much reading might enervate his subjects, or- 
dered the burning of the manuscripts. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. A. Maciejowski, Zydzt w Polsce na Rust 
4 Litwie, Warsaw, 1878; A. Kraushar, Historya Zydow w 
Polsee, vol, 1. 

H. R. 


BOLESLAW III. KERZYWOUSTY (‘‘the 
Wry-Mouthed’’): King of Poland from 1102 to 
1189. In his time, according to Naruschewicz, 
the Jews spread through Poland and Lithuania as 
far as Kiev, where they carried on a lively trade, 
especially in salt with Holics and Przemysl, and 
probably also in slaves. Being, as Dlugosc as- 
serts, a brave soldier and a magnanimous ruler and 
conqueror, it is safe to assume that the Jews during 
his reign enjoyed considerable freedom. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Kraushar, Historya Zydow w ee in 62. 


BOLESLAW POBOZNY (“the Pious”): Duke 
of Kalisz; died 1278. He was distinguished for his 
courage and administrative ability. Boleslaw aimed 
at furthering the welfare of his subjects rather than 
at the enlargement of his domains by wars. Emi- 
gration from the neighboring countries had greatly 
increased the number of Jews in the duchy. This 
made it imperative to issue special regulations for 
their government, and in 1264 Boleslaw issued an 
edict granting them many privileges. This edict 


Boleslaw V. 
Bomberg 





consists of thirty-six articles, which display a spirit 
of toleration farinadvanceof theage. In1334 these 
privileges were extended by Casimir the Great to 
the Jews of the whole of Poland. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Kraushar, Historya Zydow w Polsce, i. 69 
et seq., Warsaw, 1868. 


H. R. 
BOLESLAW V. WSTYDLIWY § (‘‘the 
Bashful’’): King of Poland (1228-79). During 


his reign (1240) the Mongols under Batu-Khan, the 
grandson of Genghis Khan, invaded Poland and 
carried away many thousand Jews as slaves to Asia. 
His reign is memorable also for the fact that he en- 
couraged the immigration of German artisans into 
Poland and introduced the Magdeburg law (Jus 
Teutontcum). This influx of Germans evoked 
against the Jews the hatred that had already taken 
root in western Europe during the Crusades. This 
period forms the beginning of the persecutions of the 
gews in Poland, which lasted until BoLEsLaw Po- 
BOZNY inaugurated (in 1264) his beneficial legislation. 
BIBLIOGRAPITY : A. Kraushar, Historya Zydow w roe 1. 68. 


BOLESO. See HuNGARY. 


BOLOGNA: Capital of the province of Bologna 
and of the division of Emilia, in northern Italy. As 
early as the beginning of the fourth century there 
were Jews in Bologna, but it is difficult to ascertain 
the exact date of their settlement. In 302 they had 
a cemetery, where, from malicious motives, two 
Christian martyrs were buried (“ Ambrose,” v. 302, 
ed. Rome, 1579). Nothing further is recorded of 
the Jews until 1171, when they were expelled from 
the city for unknown reasons. By the end of the 
thirteenth century Jews had again settled at Bo- 
logna, for they called from Forli the celebrated 
Rabbi Hillel of Verona. In 1308 they 
presented to Fra Aymerico, prior of 
the Dominicans, a Pentateuch writ- 
ten on vellum, and made in the form 
of ascroll like the copies used in the synagogue. 
Only the portions of this manuscript containing 
Numbers and Deuteronomy are now extant, and 
these are preserved in the university library. In 
1700 it was still complete, with a Hebrew inscrip- 
tion erroneously asserting the manuscript to have 
been written by Ezra. 

In 1866 the Jews were enclosed in a ghetto; but 
by the end of the fourteenth century they owned 
houses in all parts of the city and also held real 
estate. The two brothers Moses and Elia, of the 
Ne‘arim family, came in 1894 from Rome to Bo- 
logna, bought houses, and founded one of the most 
beautiful synagogues of Italy. This family claimed 
to be descended from one of the four noble families 
carried captive by Titus to Rome. The two broth- 
ers were buried in a cemetery bought by themselves; 
the famous rabbi of Imola, Gedaltia Yahia, mentions 
that he had seen their tombstones. In 1417 Alber- 
gati, bishop of Bologna, persecuted the Jews, and 
ordered them to wear the distinctive yellow badge; 
this command was withdrawn after a time, but re- 
newed in 1458, In the same year a congress of 
rabbis was held at Bologna to consider the interests 
and security of the Jews, and it reassembled in the 
following year at Forli. (its conclusions and ordi- 


Early 
Records. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


298 





nances, MPN, have been published by Halberstamm ; 
see the “Gritz Jubelschrift.”) In 1419 a delega- 
tion was sent to Pope Martin V., who afterward 
issued a bull favorable tothe Jews. Fra Bernardino 
da Feltre preached against them at Bologna in 1478, 
but without effect. 

A series of persecutions began in the second half 


_of thesixteenth century; in Sept., 1553, the Talmud, 


together with a multitude of other 


Per- Hebrew books and even copies of the 
secutions Bible, was publicly burned by order 
in the of Pope JuliusIII. In May, 1556, the 
Sixteenth Jews were again enclosed in a ghetto 
Century. by orderof PaullV. A respite came 


under Pius IV. (1559-66). At that 
time the community of Bologna had eleven syna- 
gogues. In 1569, when Pius VY. banished the Jews 
from the pontifical dominions excepting Rome and 
Ancona, 800 of them left Bologna. The Jewish 
cemetery was given to the monks of St. Peter, with 
the permission to disinter and burn the bodies 
(“ Archivio Domaniale, Monache di §. Pietro,” No. 
XXVi.); consequently some interesting sepulchral 
stones are preserved in the museum of Bologna. In 
1586 Sixtus V. permitted the Jews to return, and in 
1593 there were already more than 900 in the city. 
But in that year Clement VIII again drove them 
out, and they departed, carrying with them the 
bones of their dead, which they buried in the small 
Jewish settlement of Pieve di Cento. 
From 1593 to 1796 the Jews were forbidden to es- 
tablish themselves at Bologna; a few ata time being 


| allowed to stop in the city for two or three days by 


special permission. On Sept. 5, 1796, General Sali- 
cetti, the commissioner of the French Directory, is- 
sued a decree which accorded to Jews the same 
rights that were given to other citizens. The num- 
ber of them in Bologna now steadily increased. 
When the city was restored to the popes in 1814, 
Pius VIL. showed himself very friendly to them. 
Leo XII. made an effort to revive the oppressive 
laws, but did not cause much suffering at Bologna. 
Pius IX., liberal at first, afterward grew intolerant, 
and the Jews were made painfully conscious of this 
by the abduction of the boy Edgar Morrara, who 
had been secretly baptized by a servant during an 
illness, and four years later, in 1858, was forcibly 
taken from his family and carried to Rome. The 
offense created a great sensation throughout the 
civilized world. On Aug. 10, 1859, a decree of the 
governor of the Romagna (which had been united 
with the kingdom of Italy under Victor Emmanuel) 
proclaimed the civil and political equality of all citi- 
zens. The number of Jews in Bologna now in- 
creased rapidly, growing from 229 in 1861 to 350 in 
1871. Formerly the dead were buried in the ceme- 
tery of the neighboring community, but later the 
municipality permitted their interment in the com- 
munal burying-place. 

At the beginning of the twentieth century there 
were about 1,200 Jews in Bologna, these having 
come in part from the territory of Mantua, Modena, 
and other places. They have a synagogue and a 
chief rabbi. The ritual used in the synagogue is the 
so-called Roman (Zunz, “ Ritus,” p. 78). 

G. VG; 


299 


The Hebrew printing-press was introduced at a 
very early time into Bologna, though the exact date 
is not known. Some bibliographers ascribe the first 
edition of the Psalms with the commentary of David 
Kimhi (published Aug. 29, 1477, by Joseph Hayyim 
Mordecai, and Hezekiah of Ventura) to this city 
(Rabbinowicz in Merzbacher’s “Ohel Abraham,” No. 
4041; compare De Rossi, “ Annales,” i. 14, and Stein- 
schneider, “Cat. Bodl.” col. i.). In 1482 Joseph b. 
Abraham Caravita (or Crovetta) set up a printing- 
press in his own house; and at this press Abraham 
ben Hayyim de 
Tintori printed 
the first edition 
of the Pepta- 
teuch, with On- 
kelos and Rashi, 
which was fin- 
ished Jan. 26 of 
the same year 
{Zunz, in Gei- 
ger’s “Wiss. 
Zeit. ftir Jtid. 
Theol.” v. 388; 
Steinschneider, 
7b. col. i.), Itis 
supposed that 
the edition of 
the Five Scrolls 
with Rashi to 
the whole, and 
{bn Ezra to Es- 
ther, was issued 
from Caravita’s 
press, and in the 
same year (De 
Rossi, 2b. i. 180; 
Steinschneider, 
ab, No. 10381). 
Again, in the 
sixteenth cen- 
tury a Hebrew 
printing-press 
was active, no- 
tably between 
the years 1587 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


as ae dE 
4 78) yx DPD % < ePDIET 


: pba a aed " foe v 





Boleslaw V. 
Bomberg 





ee eee ay 


For more detailed information, see De Rossi, “Annales Hebr:eo- 
Typographic i,’ § xv.. passim ; idem,**De Hebraicee Typographise 
Origine,” passim ; M. Schwab, * Incunables Orientaux,”’ Nos. 5, 
23, 24, 467, 472, 478, 476, 484, 489, 495, 514; Freimann, in ‘‘ Cen- 
tralbl. fiir Bibliothekswesen,’’ xix., part 3. In the university 
library of Bologna is a collection of about twenty-eight volumes 
of Hebrew MSS. which have been described by Leonello Modono 
in ‘ Cataloghi Codici Orientali di Aleume Biblioteche d@’Italia,” 
Florence, 1878, pp. 323 et seq. G ] 


BOMBAY, INDIA. See Benr-Israe., INDIA. 


BOMBERG, DANIEL: Christian printer and 
publisher of He- 
brew works; 
born at Ant- 
werp; died at 
Venice in 1549. 
After having 
learned from his 
father, Corne- 
linus, the art of 
printing and of 
ty pe- founding, 
he went to Ven- 
ice, where, from 
1517 to 1849, 
he published 
many editions of 
Hebrew works, 
including the 
following: The 
editio princeps 
of the “Biblia 
Rabbinica” 
(mbyta map). 
the Iicbrew 
Bible with com- 
mentaries and 
three Chaldaic 
versions or Tar- 
gumim; the first 
Hebrew Bibles; 
editions of and 
commentaries 
on the Penta- 
teuch and other 
Biblical books; 


and1540, whena many grammat- 
company ofsilk- ical and lexico- 
weavers fur- | graphical 
nished themeans works; _ philo- 
for this work. sophical and 
The following is ethical treatises ; 
a partial list of rituals; Me- 
the publications en aie ; ee kilta; Sifra; 
during this Tefillot Latini.”” Italian Jewish Prayers ee es Sifre; parts of 
neriod: Bologna, 1588. (In the Library of Columbia University.) the Mishnah; 


in 1537, Joseph ben David ibn Yahya’s (the younger) “ Torah 
Or’ (Steinschneider, ib. co). 1477); Obadiah of Sforno’s (the el- 
der) * Or.°Ammim”* (ib. col. 2076); (May 15), ** Roman Ritual,”’ 
together with Elijah Zaken’s “Seder Ma‘areket ” (ib. No. 2074); in 
1538, Joseph ben David ibn Yahya’s (the younger) commentary to 
the Five Serollsand the Hagiographa (ib. col. 1476); Menahem de 
Recanati’s *‘ Piske’ Halakot” (ib. col. 1737); Judah he-Hasid’s 
“Sefer ha-Hasidim”’; ed. Abraham ben Moses Cohen (ib. col. 
1321); ‘ Tefillot Latini,” Italian in Hebrew characters, the text 
vocalized (ib. No. 2436); in 15389, Solomon ben Adret’s ** Teshu- 
bot”? (ib. col. 2273); in 1540 (Oct.), ** Mahzor,” Italian rite, 
with the commentary of Johanan ben Joseph Tréves to the 
whole and that of Obadiah Sforno to Pirke Abot (ib. No. 2579). 


| several Midrashim; and, under the auspices of Pope 
Leo X., the first complete editions of the Babylonian 
Talmud (with the commentaries of 

List of Rashi, Tosafot, and R. Asher b. Je- 
Bomberg’s hiel) and the Jerusalem Talmud. In 
Hebrew the selection and editing of works to 
Works. be printed he was assisted by Hiyya 

b. Meir (for Isserlein), Baruch Adel- 

kind (for Colon), and Jacob b. Hayyim (for the 
Talmud), and others. The following is an approxi- 


Bomberg 
Bonafos 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


300 





mately complete list of the Hebrew works issued by 
Bomberg, in chronologica\ order: 


Biblia Rabbinica, ed. i., Mishnah Sukkah....... 1526 
4 ParisSs sa hatbsenade 1516-17 | Mishnah Huliin........1526 
Haftarot .......0eeeees 151648 | Babylonian Talmud, 15 
Bible, ed. i.........6. 1517 parts, second ed.....1526-48 
Psalms, ed. i.......... 1518 Pentateuch, Megillot, 
Prayer-Book of Roman Haftarot, ed. ii...... 1527 
Rita cede seaneeins 1519 Mishnah Shekalim..... 1527 
Joseph Colon’s Re- Job and Daniel, ed. i. .1527 
SPOMNSR,...- seas .-- 1519 Elijah Mizrahi, Com- 
Israel] Isserlein, D'podD mentary on Rashi, i.1527 
rabbe)g)>) eee heer rege 1519 Mishnah Kodashim 
* Likkute Pardes’? (ex- and Toharot......... 1528 
tracts from various Prayer-Book (Karaitic 
AULNOTS)......eeeeees 1519 Til@) cat tesend cee cue 1528-29 
Babylonian Talmud, Tefillah coe rit- 
ed. i., 15 vols. (first tal)... Pe ree Fi 
complete edition)... .1520-23 David Kimhi, ** Sefer- 
Kiddushin............. 1520 ha-Shorashim ”’...... 1529 
Pesahim..... between 1520-23 | R. Nathan ben Jehiel, 
Bible, ed. ii..........- 1521 ATU ooh ane ah san 1531-32 
Alfasi’s “* Halakot’’....1521-22 | Pentateuch, ed. ii..... 1533 
Psalms, ed. ii.......... 1521 Psalms, ed. iv......... 1537 
Abot, Cd. L......eceeee 1521 Job and Daniel, ed. ii..1538 
Megillat Setarim (Par- Psalms, ed. V......e05- 1538 
ody on Purim), ed. 1.1522 Proverbs, Song, and 
Pentateuch.........0.. 1522 Ecclesiastes, ed. iii. .1538 


Moses de Couey, ** Se- 
fer Mizwot,” ed. i... 1522 
Jacob ben Asher, ‘* Tu- 


Proverbs, Song of 
Songs and Ecclesi- 
astes, ed. i.......... 1522 

Moses b. Nahman,Com- 
mentary, “Baba 
Batra bcs ces eeee as 1523 

Isaac Nathan b. Ka- 
lonymus, “ Meir Ne- 
UD oe ee aes 1523 

Aaron ha-Levi of Bar- 
ecelona, ‘Sefer ha- 
Hinnuk’’......... »» L523 

Mikweh Abraham..... 1523 

Abraham Saba, 37% 
yan (Novellae)...... 1523 

Recanati on the Penta- 
teuch. 


Pentateuch, Megillot, 
Haftarot, ed. i....... 1523 
Baruch b. Isaac of 
Worms, “Sefer ha- 
Terumah *’.......... 1523 
Solomon b. Adret, No- 
vellze on Berakot 
and Hullin.......... 15238 
Psalms, ed. iii,........ 1524 
Proverbs, Song of Songs 
and Ecclesiastes, ed. 
Lig.asitladacrate sage ans L524 
Maimonides, ** Yad ha- 
Hazakah ” (2 vols.) ..1524 
Tefillah (Spanish ritual)1524 
Biblia Rabbinica, ed. 


ii., 4 parts........... 1524-2, 
Bible, ed. iii........... 1525-28 
Abot, ed. ii............ 1526 


Elias Levita, “‘ Masoret 
ha-Masorah”’........ 1538 
Elias Levita, 


Benjamin Ze’eb’s Re- 
sponsa..... Rene re 1539 
Mishnah Mo‘ed Katan 1539 
Pentateuch, Megillot, 
Haftarot, eds. lii.-v...1543 
Bible, ed. iv........... 1544 
Elijah Mizrahi, Com- 
mentary on Rashi, ii.1545 
Mekilta....... eae Saks 1545 


Hai Gaon, OW’... .....1546 
Pestkitnei5 25 Suceienek 1546 
Sifre and Sifra........ 1546 
Yelamdenu, i. e., Tan- 
NAM Bis: 63 phon satan 1546 
Shoher Tob on the 
Psalms......ccee--e- 1546 


Moses ibn Habib, ‘‘Mar- 
pe Lashon”’,,,....... 1546 
Abraham ibn Ezra, 


Abraham ibn Ezra, 
“Moznayim”.......1546 

Isaac Arama, Com- 
mentary on the Pen- — 


Levi b. Gershon, com- 
mentary on the Pen- 
tateuch ............. 1547 

Moses de Couey, “ Se- 
fer Mizwot,” ed. ii. .1547 

Pentateuch, Megillot, 


Haftarot, ed. v.......1548 
Bahya, ‘Hobot ha- 
Lebabot’............ 1548 


Jacob Weil’s Responsa. 1549 


Though not actually the father of Jewish typog- 
raphy, as he is sometimes called, Bomberg began a 
new epoch in that art, and during the latter part of 

his life had many rivals and imitators 
His even at Venice; these including Fran- 


Typog- cesco Brucello, the two Dei Farri 
raphy. brothers, Marco Antonio Giustiniani, 
the Bragadini, Jean de Gara, and Za- 

netto. Some of these having won from Bomberg 


his ablest assistant, Cornelius Adelkind, acquired 


considerable wealth in their profession; but Bomberg 
himself expended so much money on the paper, en- 
gravings, and types for which his works were noted, 
that before his death he had lost almost his whole 
fortune. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Geiger, Jtid. Zeit. v. 37 et seqg.; Stein- 
schneider, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. article Jd. Typo- 
graphie, xxviii. 48b. 

J. M. 8S. 


BONA SFORZA: Polish queen; born 1498; 
died 1557; second wife of King Sigismund I. She © 
was remarkable for her beauty and energy, but 
thoroughly hated in Poland for her intrigues and 
avarice. She sold high government offices, and her 
courtiers and “voyevod’s” were bribe-takers, Her 
favorite, the influential crown marshal, Peter 
Kmita, obtained bribes simultaneously from both 
Jewish and Christian merchants, promising either 
party to protect its interests at the Diet or before 
the king. During the last years of Sigismund’s 
reign Queen Bona not only assumed equal sovereign 
power with him, but often exercised absolute rule. 

There are many documents extant granting privi- 
leges to the Jews in Bona’s name, which privileges 
were confirmed by subsequent rulers of Poland 
(see SIGISMUND; S1@31sMUND II. and PoLaxp under 
Russtra, vol. x. pp. 561-575). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vita Petri Kmithae de Wisnieze Palatini 
Cracoviensis, p. 200, Posen, 1854; Czacki, Rosprava o 
Zydach, pp. 81, 82, Wilna, 1807 ; Solomon LURIA (Rashal), 
Shaalot Pteshubot, 1547, No. 35; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 
ix. 4433 A. Kraushar, Historya "Zydow Ww FO 2 vols., 
p. 181, Warsaw, 1866; Regesty i Nadpisi, Nos. 223, 255, 46), 
463, 494, St. Petersburg, 1899. i1R 


BONAFOS, or EN BONAFOS, ALFAQUIN : 
French physician; lived in the second half of the 
fourteenth century at Perpignan, where he was 
president of the community. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nissim Gerondi, Responsa, No. 65; Gross, 
Gallia Judaica, p. 474. 
G. I. BER. 


BONAFOS, ASTRUC AZARIAH B. JO- 
SEPH. See AZARIA B. JOSEPH, 

BONAFOS, MENAHEM BEN ABRAHAM 
(called also Bonafoux, Abraham of Perpi- 
gnan): French philosopher; flourished at the end 
of the fourteenth century and at the beginning 
of the fifteenth. He was the author of a work en- 
titled “Sefer ha-Gedarim ” (Book of the Definitions), 
or, as it is also called, “ Miklal Yofi” (Perfection of 
Beauty), a dictionary of technical expressions in 
Hebrew works on philosophy, ethics, and medicine, 
especially the terms found in the “Guide of Per- 
plexed.” The author aimed rather to give a clear 
explanation of the terms than their etymology, 
though drawing sometimes upon Arabic and Greek 
for help in his explanations. The work was pub- 
lished with some notes by Isaac 418 (probably 
“ Arroyo”) at Salonica in 1567, and at Berlin in 
1798, with a Hebrew commentary by Isaac Satanow. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: De Rossi, Dizionario Storico, p. 75: Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1719; Gross, Gallia J udaica, 


p. 476. 
K, I. Br. 


BONAFOS (p}52)3), or BONIFAS (px5)13), 
VIDAL: Talmudist of Barcelona, at the end of the 
thirteenth century. Bonafos took a very active part 
in the anti-Maimonistic controversy, and tried also 


ee prone as OF: Do ALE 
oo aphaad opt plot pi omboa is 
ae Hore oeiso0 8 SSspores 





PAGE FROM BOMBERG’S EDITION OF THE TALMUD, 1526. 
(In the Union Theological Seminary, New York.) 


Bonafoux, Daniel 
Bondi, Abraham 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


302 





to influence his brother, Crescas Vidal of Perpi- 
gnan, against the study of philosophy. Bonafos’ 
two letters to his brother are printed in the collec- 
tion “ Minhat Kena’ot ” (pp. 45, 491, Presburg, 1838). 
To Moise-Nathan, author of the ethical poem enti- 
tled o'N MRyin (printed in the ni smw of Mena- 
hem Lonzano, pp. 142-150, Venice, 1638) (MSS. 
Paris, No. 1284, 1), were addressed some pieces of 
verse on the subject of his writing, and one of these 
was composed by Bonafos Vidal. . Neubauer, how- 
ever, doubts whether this is the same rabbi who was 
connected with the disputes of Abba Mari. The 
identity of Bonafos with Bonafos Vidal of Salon, 
whose name is given as the owner of a manuscript 
now in Rome (Vatican, No. 107, 7), isnotclear. This 
manuscript contains a prayer for the Feast of Purim, 
composed by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Parma, MSS. De Rossi, No. 194: Neubauer, 
Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. No. 2182; Turin, v. 30; Paris, No. 970, 
6; Renan-Neubauer, Rabbings Francais, pp. 600, 658, 660, 688, 
727, compare Xxxi. 766; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 464. 


L. G, M. 8. 


BONAFOUX, DANIEL ISRAEL: Anactive 
adherent of Shabbethai Zebi; lived at Smyrna in the 
seventeenth century. He was not disappointed 
when the apostasy of the latter was announced. 
At Shabbethai’s death he pretended to have had 
visions and to have received the gift of prophecy. 
He maintained that Shabbethai was not dead, but 
hidden, and that he would reappear after forty-five 
years. 

People at that time were so excited that every 
charlatan found followers. Realizing the danger 
of such a state of things, the rabbinate of Smyrna 
addressed itself to the cadi and obtained the banish- 
ment of Bonafoux. He then settled with his fol- 
lowers at the small town of Kasaba, near Smyrna, 
where he continued his preaching. At the same 
epoch, Abraham Michael Cardoso, the founder of 
eabalistic dualism, who had been banished from 
Tripoli for-misconduct, arrived at Smyrna and found 
in Bonafoux a warm friend. The agitation begun 
by Bonafoux lasted for several years, until he, like 
his master, Shabbethai Zebi, embraced Islam. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Emden, Torat ha-Kenaot, ed. Lemberg, p. 
5d: David Kahana, Eben ha-To‘im, p. 55; Gritz, Gesch. 
der Juden, X. 301. 


D. I. Br. 


BONAFOUX, MENAHEM B. ABRAHAM. 
See Bonaros, MENAHEM B. ABRAHAM. 


BONALD, LOUIS-GABRIEL-AMBROISE : 
Freuch philosopher, politician, and anti-Jewish wri- 
ter; born Oct. 2, 1774; died at Nomma Nov. 23, 
1840. Being opposed to the Revolution of 1789, he 
emigrated in 1791 and settled at Heidelberg, where 
le wrote his first important work, “Théorie du Pou- 
voir Politique et Réligieux dans la Société Civile,” 
which was condemned by the Directorate. Later 
he returned to France, and became the leader of 
the political and ecclesiastical reaction. He endeav- 
ored to reduce the Jews to their former degraded 
position. 

In an article, “Sur les Juifs,” in the “ Mercure de 
France,” Feb. 8, 1806, Bonald repeated the usual 
anti-Semitic accusations. The burden of his tirade 
was that the Jews were at war with morality, that 


they formed an “imperium in imperio.” and that 
the majority of them were parasites. Before Jews 
could be emancipated they must be uplifted morally 
and religiously: in other words, they must embrace 
Catholicism. The French Jews, not realizing the 
full import of Bonald’s attacks, did not defend them- 
selves energetically enough; only Moses Pinado of 
Berdeaux replying to his diatribes. 

After the Restoration, Bonald became a member 
of the council of public instruction, and from 1815 to 
1822 he satin the Chamberasadeputy. His speeches 
and votes were invariably on the extreme conserva- 
tive side. From 1816 onward he was a member of 
the Academy; and in 18380 he retired to his country 
seat, where he remained till his death. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eneyc. Brit.; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, Xi. 
Ha et aks La Grande Eneyclopédie; P. Larousse, Dict. 
nvversel. 


D. A. R. 


BONAN, DAVID: Rabbi of the Livornian 
community of Tunis; died in that city tn 1850. 
After his death his family defrayed the expenses 
of the publication of his works, ‘“ Nishal David,” 
“Ohel David,” both containing responsa (Leghorn, 
1857); “ Mo‘ed David,” « commentary on “‘ Abodat 
ha-Kodesh”” of Solomon Adret (Jerusalem, 1887); 
“Mahaneh David,” and various treatises on ritual 
divorce (¢), 1889). In collaboration with Judah 
Levy of Gibraltar he wrote “ Dai Hashab”—responsa 
on the command to women not to show their hair 
(Leghorn, 1846); and “ Dai Heshib”—a commentary 
on the treatise Sanhedrin (z+. 1846). He also edited 
some works of his father and of others. 

L. G. M. Ix. 


BONAN, ISAAC: Author; father of David 
Bonan; lived in Tunis at the end of the eighteenth 
century. After his death the following works of his 
were published: “Ohole Yizhak” (Isuac’s Tents) 
—-commentaries on several treatises of the Baby- 
Jonian Talmud and on the Yad ha-Hazakah, Leg- 
horn, 1821;° “Ohel Yesharim” (The Tent of the 
Righteous)—Talmudic novellg in alphabetic order, 
Leghorn, 1846; and, added to this latter work, 
“Berit Abraham ” (Abraham’s Covenant)—commen- 
taries on the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Proverbs, 
and other books, as well as on the Passover Hag- 
gadah. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Cazes, Notes Bibliographiques sur la. Litté- 
rature Juive-Tunisienne, op. 36 et seq. 


Ta: G: M. K. 
BONAPARTE, NAPOLEON. See Napo- 
LEON I. 


BONASTRUC DESMAESTRE ( pnvx07) 
(called also Astruc Maestre or R. Astrug): Span- 
ish controversialist at the disputation at Tortosa 
1418-14. Bonastruc was a prominent citizen in 
Gerona. When, under a penalty of 1,000 florins, he 
was summoned to appear with his fourteen-year-old 
son and his little granddaughter before the queen 
dowager of Aragon in order to defend himself against 
a charge brought against his family, the lawyers of 
the town interceded in his behalf (April 21, 1411) 
before the council of the queen dowager, secking to 
excuse his absence, and saying that it would be im- 
possible for him to obey the royal summons, since 


303 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bonafoux, Danie] 
Bondi, Abraham 





the hostility against the Jews rendered the jour- 
ney dangerous (see Girbal, “Los Judios en Ge- 
rona,” p. 35). 

In February of the same year Bonastruc wrote to 
Zerahiah ha-Levi, called Don Ferrer Saladin, con- 
cerning a lawsuit which he was prosecuting, In con- 
sequence of the betrothal of his son Bonastruc with 
a young orphan already affianced to another (“ Rev. 
Et. Juives,” xv. 84). Whether the summons to the 
presence of the queen was in any way connected 
with the lawsuit, or whether the letter of Bonastruc 
to Zerahiah ha-Levi was wrongly dated, has not been 
determined. 

On Dec. 8, 1412, at the request of Pope Benedict 
XTII., Bishop Ramon de Castellar of Gerona, through 
a notary, invited Bonastruc, Azay (not Azag) Toros 
(Todros), Nissim Ferrer, Jaffuda (Judah) Alfaquim, 
and Bonastruc Joseph (the last-named not a physi- 
cian) members of the Jewish community of Gerona, 
in order to communicate to them the letter from the 
pope requesting the city to send four, or at least two, 
of its most learned men to the disputation at Tor- 
tosa, adding, “et quia Bonastruch maestre eruditus 
in talibus asseritur, ipsum volumus inter ceteros 
priucipaliter transmittatis, ministrando eis expensas 
seu Salaria in similibus assueta ” (Girbal, 2b. pp. 35, 
83). Hence Bonastruc, together with the rabbis 
Todros and Ferrer, was sent as a delegate from 
Gerona. Bonastruc, who disputed with Geronimo 
de Santa Fé on Feb. 10, 11, and 15, on one occasion 
aroused the anger of the pope (who was present) to 
such au extent that his fellow-delegates became 
frightened, and on their return bitterly reproached 
him, saying: “ We had not agreed among ourselves 
to speak as you have done.” It is noteworthy that 
Bonastruc, together with the rabbis Todros anu Fer- 
rer, the delegates from Gerona, conducted the dis- 
pute. The report sent as a circular letter to the 
community at Gerona was probably not written by 
Bonastruc. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Verga, Shebet Yehudah, pp. 74, 76; 

Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., viii. 497. 

G. M. K. 

BONASTRUC, ISAAC: Rabbi at Palma in 
Majorcaat the end of the fourteenth century; prob- 
ably born in Barcelona. After the loss of his entire 
fortune during the persecutions of 1391, he went to 
Algiers and forced his services as rabbi upon the 
Jewish community there, stipulating for an annual 
salary of thirty doubloons. Bonastruc had shown 
himself quarrelsome in Palma; and after his advent 
in Algiers he opposed Isaac ben Sheshet, who had 
been installed as rabbi by the Jewish community. 
Bonastruc even tried through slander to drive the 
latter from his position. Together with Simon 
Duran and Isaac ben Sheshet, he officiated for a 
number of vears in the rabbinate. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Isaac b. Sheshet, Responsa, Nos. 60, 61. 


G. M. K. 
BONASTRUC DA PORTA. See MOSEs B. 
NanHMAN. 


BONAVENTURA, FORTUNATO DE 5.: 
Member of the Royal Academy of Science of Lisbon 
about the beginning of the nineteenth century. He 
attempted a history of the literature of the Jewish 


authorsin Portugal, under the title “Memoria Sobre 
o Comeco, Progresso e Decadencia da Litteratura 
Hebraica entre os Portuguezes Catholicos Romanos,” 
which appeared in the ninth volume of the Acad- 


emy's memoirs, but is of little value. 
G M. K. 


BONAVOGLIO (HEFEZ), MOSES, OF 
MESSINA : Sicilian physician; born at the end of 
the fourteenth century; died 1447. Renowned for 
his learning and eloquence, he was deputed in 1428 
by seventeen Jewish communities of Sicily to wait 
on King Alfonso V. for the purpose of obtaining the 
abrogation of anti-Jewish laws enacted in that year. 
Bonavoglio succeeded in his mission, and gained the 
favor of Alfonso, who appointed him his physician 
and counselor. At thedeath of Joseph Nesia, Bona- 
voglio was elected chief rabbi (“naggid ”) of Sicily. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Z. G. pp. 517, 518, 519: Gtiidemann, 
Gesch. des Erzichungswesens, ii. 275; Bartolomeo e Giuseppe 
Lagumina, Codice Diplomatico dei Giudei di Sicilia, pp. 123 
et seq. 


dD. I. Br. 
BONDAGE. See SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 


BONDAVI (EN): Translator; brother of Sam- 
uel of Marseilles; lived at Tarascon in the first half 
of the fourteenth century. Bondavi assisted his 
brother in revising the Hebrew translation, by Jacob 
ben Machir, of Abu Mohammed Jabir ibn Aflah’s 
abridgment of Ptolemy’s “ Almagest.” His brother 
speaks of him in the colophon as well versed in such 
subjects, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Hebr. Uehers. p. 444; Renan- 
Neubauer, Ecrivains Juifs Francais, p. 61; Gross, Gallia 
Judaica, p. 381. 

G. M. 8. 

BONDAVIN, BONJUDES: Physician; lived 
at the end of the fourteenth century and the begin- 
ning of the fifteenth. He practised medicine at 
Marseilles from 1881 to 1889, and in 1890 went to 
Sardinia, settling at Alghero. In addition to his 
medical skill, Bondavin possessed great knowledge 
of Talmudical literature; and the Jewish community 
of Cagliari elected him rabbi. The king confirmed 
this election and extended Bondavin’s jurisdiction 
over all the Jews of Sardinia. This official post 
gave him much influence, and he was admitted 
among the high dignitaries who attended King 
Martin IT. when the latter sojourned at Cagliari. 
Bondavin carried ona scientific correspondence with 
Isaac ben Sheshet Barfat (Ribash), who answered 
the question propounded to him in his Responsa, No. 
171. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Barthélemy, es Médecins & Marseille, p. 27; 
Isaac Bloch, in Rev. Et. Juives, viii. 280. 

Ga. I. Br. 

BONDI, ABRAHAM BEN YOM-TOB: Bo- 
hemian Talmudist; died 1787 at Prague. His pos- 
thumous work, “Zera‘ Abraham” (Seed of Abraham), 
essays on various treatises of the Talmud and on the 
post-Talmudic writers who treat of marital ques- 
tions, was published by his son Nehemiah Feiwel 
Bondi, who added an appendix (Prague, 1808). 
Another work of Abraham’s, “‘Iyyun Mishpat” 
(Investigation of the Law), is still in manuscript. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fiirst, Bibliotheca Judaica, i. 125; Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 4195. 
I. Bsr. 


L. G. 


Bondi, Elijah 
Bonet de Lunel 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


304 





BONDI, ELIJAH BEN SELIG: Austrian 
preacher; born at Prague at the end of the eight- 
eenth century; died there about 1860. He studied 
Talmud at Presburg under the direction of Meshul- 
lam Tismenitz, and later at Alt-Ofen with Moses 
Miinz. In 1826 he was appointed preacher in his 
native town, a position which he held until his 
death. 

Bondi was the author of two series of sermons, 
published at Prague, 1832-56: (1) “Sefer ha-She‘a- 
rim” (Book of Gates), containing philosophical hom- 
ilies on various ethical subjects, collected from 
Bahya, Judah ha-Levi, Albo, and others; (2) “Tife- 
ret Adam” (The Beauty of Man), forming the second 
part of “Sefer ha-She‘arim,” and containing extracts 
from religious philosophical works. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Introduction to Sefer ha-She‘arim; First, 
Bihl, Jud. i. 125; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. p. 37. 


S. I. Br. 


BONDI, JONAS: American rabbi; born at 
Dresden, Saxony, July 9, 1804; died at New York 
March 11, 1874. He was educated at the Univer- 
sity of Prague and in the theological circles of that 
city. He was president of the synagogue of his 
native city, and in 1859 came to America, where he 
accepted the position of rabbi-preacher in the Nor- 
folk street (“ Anshe Chesed ”) congregation of New 
York city. He served there but one year, when he 
became the proprietor and editor of a Jewish paper, 
“The Hebrew Leader,” published in English and 


German. One of his daughters, Selma, became the 
wife of Isaac M. Wise of Cincinnati. 
A. 
BONDI, MORDECAI (Marcus): German 


author; lived at Dresden in the first quarter of the 
nineteenth century. He wrote, together with his 
brother Simon Bondi, the “Or Ester,” a Hebrew 
dictionary of the Latin words occurring in the Tal- 
mud, Targumimand Midrashim. Some of his essays 
ale also extant in the periodical “Jedidja” (i. 117- 
125; iii. 72, 196; iv. 35). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 125; Zunz, Die Monats- 
tage des Kalenderjahres, p. 67; Karpeles, Gesch. der. Jiid. 
Lit. p. 1083. 

I. Ber. 


L. G. 
BONDI, NEHEMIAH. See Bonpt, ApBra- 
HAM B. Yom-Tos. 


BONDI, PHILIP (Jacob Koppel): Austrian 
rabbi; born at Jinoschitz, Bohemia, Feb. 26, 18380. 
After having received a good education at home 
under the.care of his father (Samuel), Bondi entered 
the gymnasium at Prague in 1844, and studied Tal- 
mud and Rabbinica under Raphael Schulhof and 
Solomon J. Rapoport, who in 1852 conferred upon 
him the title of Morenu. Continuing his philo- 
sophical studies, Bondi in 1857 received his doctor’s 
degree from the University of Prague and his rab- 
binical diploma from Aaron Kornfeld and Daniel 
Frank, whose yeshibah he had attended. 

In the same year he taught at Budweis, and from 
1859 to 1868 at Kassejovic. From 1868 to 1876 he 
was rabbi at Brandeis. Being a strong partizan in 
the Bohemian movement, he wasappointed preacher 
in the vernacular by the newly founded Jewish- 
Bohemian society, Or Tamid (Continual Light), 
at Prague, after whose collapse he became a teacher 


of religion at the Bohemian Jewish schools, and 
rabbi at the synagogue founded by Porges. 

In 1886 he published five Bohemian sermons under 
the title “Kol Ya‘akob” (Voice of Jacob). He also 
began to publish a Bohemian translation of the 
Pentateuch. He died Dec. 12, 1907. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Sokolow, Sefer Zikkaron, s.v., Warsaw, 1889, 
D. S. Man. 


BONDI, SIMON: Lexicographer of the Tal- 
mud; lived at Dresden; died there Dec. 20, 1816. 
He wrote, together with his brother Mordecai, the 
“Or Ester” (Light of Esther), a Hebrew dictionary 
of the Latin words occurring in the Talmud, Targu- 
mim and Midrashim (Dessau, 1812). They also 
wrote a similar work on the Greek words, which has 
never been printed. The periodical “Jedidja” (i. 
117-125) contains a biography of Simon by his 
brother Mordecai. | 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Bibl. Jud. p. 188; Zunz, Die Monats- 


taye des Kalenderjahres, p. 67. 
L. G, I. BER. 


BONDMAID. See SLAVES AND SLAVERY 
BONDMAN. See SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 
BONDOA. Sce ToprRos B. Moses Yom-Tos. 
BONDS. See DEEDS. 


BONE (BONA) [Arabic, Beled el-‘Anab): 
Town in the province of Constantine, Algeria, called 
by the Romans “Hippo Regius.” It had many 
Jewish inhabitants as early as the first centuries of 
the common era, as is attested by several epitaphs 
found in the environs of the place. Like the Jews 
of other communities in Mauritania, those of Bone 
suffered many vicissitudes. Under the dominion of 
pagan Rome they enjoyed complete freedom, even 
making many proselytes among the Kabyles, their 
neighbors; but in the fourth century, when the city 
became the see of Augustine, they began to suffer 
persecution. In 431 Béne was destroyed by the 
Vandals, and was not rebuilt until the seventh cen- 
tury, this being done by the Arabs. 

There are no records concerning the date of settle- 
ment of Jews at Bone after its reconstruction; but 
it may be supposed that the city, which, according 
to Ibn Haukal, was very prosperous in the tenth 
century, attracted many of them. The second half 
of the twelfth century brought disaster to all the 
Jewish communities in the Maghreb, particularly 
that of Béne. The fair treatment of the Jews dur- 
ing the dynasties of the Aghlabites and Almoravides 
was followed by the terrible persecutions by the 
fanatical Almohades; and many of them were com- 
pelled either to immigrate to the East or to embrace 
Islamism. In 1152 Roger of Sicily led away captive 
all the inhabitants of Béne. During the fifteenth 
century, in consequence of the exile of the Jews 
from Spain, the Jewish community of Béne greatly 
increased; but at the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury the city fell into the hands of the Spaniards, 
and the Jews underwent many sufferings. In 1541, 
however, the defeat of Charles V. before Algiers 
freed the community of Béne, and during the Turk- 
ish domination it enjoyed a fair amount of religious 
freedom. 


305 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bondi, Elijah 
Bonet de Lunel 





Like all Algerian communities, Béne was gov- 
erned by a “ mukaddam,” assisted by a council (“ Tobe 
ha-‘Ir”). Since the French conquest of Algeria the 
system of consistories has been introduced, and 
Bone belongs to that of Constantine, having at its 
head a rabbi and a president. The Jewish commu- 
pity of the city contains 1,000 souls. It possesses 
an old synagogue called “ Al-Gharibah” (The Won- 
derful), which is held in great veneration even by 
the Arabs, on account of a scroll of the Law which 
is said to have been miraculously preserved there. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bulletin Archéologique du Comité des Tra- 

vaux Historiques, No. 1, xiii. 64; Elle dela Primandaie, Le 

Commerce et la Navigation de UAlgérie Avant la Con- 

quéte, p. 71; Abraham Cahen. in Recueil de la Société 

Arehénlogique, de Constantine, 1867, p. 104; Cahen, Les 


Juifs et P Algérie au Moment de la Conquéte, pp. 25 et seq. 
See ALGERIA. 


G. : J. Br. 


BONENFANTE OF MILHAUD, or HEZE- 
KIAH HA-MILIABI: French physician; lived 
in the fourteenth century. He was the author of a 
medical treatise entitled “Gabriel,” still extant in 
manuscript (Ginzburg, No. 316). Bonenfante trans- 
lated also into Hebrew Arnold de Villeneuve’s work, 
“Tabula Super Vita Brevis.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rev. Et. Juives, ix. 215; xiii. 301, 303: Stein- 
schneider, Hebr. Uebers. p. 848; Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecri- 
vains Juifs Francais, p. 416. 

G. L. Br. 

BONET, ABIGDOR B. MESHULLAM. See 
ABIGDOR, ABRAHAM, 


BONET, ABRAHAM PROPHIAT. 
BEDERSI, JEDATIAH B. ABRAHAN, 


BONET, JACOB BEN DAVID BEN YOM- 
TOB (BONJORN): Spanish astronomer; lived 
probably at Perpignan in the fourteenthcentury. He 
was the author of astronomical tables prepared at 
Perpignan in 1861. These tables, still extant in 
manuscript (Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, MS. 
No. 10,901; Neubauer, “ Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No. 
2072, 2), enjoyed a ereat reputation. They were 
translated into Latin in the fifteenth century, and 
were the subject of many Hebrew commentaries, 
among which was one written by Joseph ben Saul 
Kimhi (Vatican MSS. Nos. i., v., 1, 7). Many man- 
uscripts of these tables were retranslated from Latin 
into Hebrew. 

BIBLIGGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. p. 615; Ber- 
liner’s Magazin, ae 49; Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecrivains 
Juifs Francais, p 
G, I. Br. 
BONET DE LATES or LATTES (known in 

Hebrew as Jacob ben Immanuel Provinciale) : 

Physician and astrologer; known chiefly as the in- 

ventor of an astronomical ring-dial by means of 

which solar and stellar altitudes can be measured 
and the time determined with great precision by 
night as well as by day; lived in the latter part of 
the fifteenth century and the beginning of the six- 
teenth. Originally from Provence, and belonging 
to a family that had its origin in Lattes near Mont- 
peilier, he was forced to leave Provence with the 
rest of his brethren and settled in Carpentras. 

Thence he went to Rome, where he became physi- 

cian to Pope Alexander VI. (1480-1503), and later 

to Pope Leo X. (1503-18). At this time he became 
IIT.—20 


See 


rabbi of the Jewish community, to which he was 
able to render much assistance. He married the 
daughter of the physician Comprat Mossé of Aix. 
Bonet described the use of his instrument in a trea- 
tise written in Carpentras, the fuil title of which is: 
“Boneti de Latis, Medici Provenzalis, Annuli per 
eum Composti Super Astrologie Utilitate.” It ap- 
peared asa supplement to the “Calculatio Composta 
in Rima de Juliano de Dati,” Rome, 1498, and was 
dedicated to Pope Alexander VI. At the end Bonet 
craves pardon for his bad Latin, on the score of 
being a Hebrew. The treatise was republished by 
Jacob Faber of Etaples, together with his own com- 
mentary on John Sacrobosco’s “ De Spheera Mundi” 
and Euclid’s “Geometry,” Paris, 1500. Editions 
were also published in 1507, 1521, and 15384. Two 
editions appeared later at Marburg, in 1587 and 
1557. In bad Latin, Bonet wrote a treatise entitled 
“Prognosticum,” published at Rome in 1498, and 
dedicated to cardinals Valentiniani and De Borgia, 
in which he predicted the coming of the Messiah in 
the year 1505. A full account of the book is to be 
found in Abraham F[arrisol’s manuscript, “ Magen 
Abraham,” or “Wikuah ha-Dat.” 

A pupil of the above-mentioned Jacob Faber, 
Charles Bovillus, 1470-15538, relates in the preface to 
his “Dialogi de Trinitate” that he met Bonet de 
Lates in the Roman ghetto in 1507, and went to his 
house in order to see the ring that he bad invented. 
The top part of the house was a synagogue contain- 
ing the ark, hidden by a curtain, and books, lamps, 
and praying-scarfs. Here, also, Bonet’s thirty-two- 
year-old son was discovered deeply immersed in the 
study of philosophy. Toward the end of the nine- 
teenth century, in dredging the Tiber a long marble 
slab was found with the inscription O°3)3 YD) 357 
‘8°, which had probably been affixed to this house 
of Bonet’s. Bovillus refers, also, to a lengthy theo- 
logical argument that he had with Bonet, and he 
seems to imply that the son wasin the end convinced 
of the truth of the Christian faith. | 

It is evidence of the position held by Bonet at 
the papal court that on Oct. 18, 1518, Reuchlin 
begged him to use his influence in order that the ex- 
amination of the “ Augenspiegel” should not be 
given into the hands of a commission made up of 
strangers, atall eventsnotof Dominicans. Further, 
Bonet’s intercession seems to have been successful. 

Bonet is known to have had two sons. One, Jo- 
seph, continued to remain in the papal favor; the 
other, Immanuel, was also in the service of the pope, 
from whom he received a regular salary. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carmoly, Histoire des Médecins Juifs, 
p. 141: Sleinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. p. 607, note 84; idem, 
Cat. Bod; Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 560; Gross, Gallia 
Judaica, D. 266 ; Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in 
Rom, ti. 83; J. Guttmann, in Monatsschrift, xliii. 258 et 
seq.; Gratz, 'Gesch. der Juden, ix. -xvii.; Berliner, Gesch. der 
Juden in Rom, ii. 88. For description of the ring-dial and its 
use, see Rudolf Wolf, Handbuch der Astronomie, Ihrer 
Geschichte und Literatur, ii. 196b, Zurich, 1891. 


BONET DE LUNEL, SEN (i.c., “Senior”): 
French author of the Middle Ages. He wrote a 
supercommentary on Ibn Ezra’s Bible commentary, 
which is mentioned by Nathaniel Caspi in his com- 
mentary on the “Cuzari,” written in 1387, and is still 
extant in manuscripts (among others, in “Cat. 
Bodl.” No. 1229). 


Bonet b. Meshullam 
Boniface IX. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


306 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dukes, in Litteraturblatt des Orients, ix. 5¢1 ; 
Renan, Les Herivains Juifs a eae du X1IVe S’ iécle, Pp. 5d; 
Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 289. 

I. Ber. 


L, G. 


BONET B. MESHULLAM B. SOLOMON. 
See ABIGDOR, ABRAIIAM. 


BONFED, SOLOMON BEN REUBEN: 
Rabbi at Saragossa, and poct: lived at the end of 
the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fif- 
teenth. His diwan, still extant in manuscript (Neu- 
bauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No. 1984), is inter- 
esting intrinsically, as well as for the historical in- 
formation contained in it. Bonfed was present at 
the controversy of Tortosa (1413-14); and many of 
his poems are addressed to those who took part in it. 

The diwan contains alsoan answer, in rimed prose, 
to a letter of the converted Jew, Astruc Raimuch of 
Fraga, in which the neophyte enthusiastically pro- 
pounds the dogmas of Christianity, and endeavors 
to demonstrate the Trinity, Original Sin, and Re- 
demption, from the Bible. Apologizing for discuss- 
ing the contents of a letter not addressed to him, 
Bonfed minutely examines the Christian dogmas, and 
proceeds to show how irrational and untenable they 
are. He says: “You twist and distort the Bible 
text to establish the Trinity. Had you a quaternity 
to prove, you would demonstrate it quite as stri- 
kingly and convincingly from the Old Testament.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 438; Gratz, Gesch. 
der Juden, viii. 79, note 3. 
G. I. Br. 


BONFILS, IMMANUEL BEN JACOB: 
Physician, mathematician, and astronomer; lived at 
Orange, France, and later at Tarascon, in the four- 
teenth century. He was the contemporary of the 
astronomer Levi ben Gerson of Bagnols. At one 
time Bonfils taught astronomy and mathematics at 
Orange. He was the author of the following 
works: (1) a treatise on the relation between the 
diameter_and the circumference, followed by rules 
for extracting the square root, and with an explana- 
tion of a passage of the “ Book of Creation,” dealing 
with arithmetic (Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, MS. 
No. 1290, 5); (2) arithmetical propositions respect- 
ing division, and extraction of the square root, and 
notes on astronomy (26. No. 1081, 1, 2); (3) “ Derek 
Hilluk ” (Way of Division), notes on the decimal 
numbers (26. No, 1054, 6); (4) “Bitur me-Luhot,” 
treatise on the middle course of the planets (7b. No. 
1054, 6); (5) table for the calculation of the declina- 
tion of the sun; (6) “Luah Mattanah Tobah” (Table 
of Good Gift), on the determination of the planet 
Venus from 1800 to 1357; (7) “Bitur Asiyat ha- 
Istrolab,” on the construction of the astrolabe (2. 
Nos. 1050, 6; 1054, 2); (8) note on the cycles (Neu- 
bauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No, 1488, 4); (9) 
“Kanfe Nesharim” (Wings of Eagies), or “Shesh 
Kenafayim ” (Six Wings), a treatise on conjunctions, 
appositions, cclipses, etc, (this work enjoyed great 
popularity in the Middle Ages, being translated into 
Latin in 1406, commented upon by Chrysocea, and 
the Hebrew text published by Nahmu Bibowitz, 
Jitomir, 1872); (10) “Ma’amar ‘Erek ha-Hilluf” 
(Treatise on the Value of Inequalities), dealing with 
the inequalities of the course of the sun and the 
moon, and the necessity of taking into consideration 


these inequalities in calculating conjunctions, appo- 
sitions, eclipses, etc. (Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, 
MS. No. 1054, 18); (11) astrological treatise on the 
seven constellations (#6, No. 1048, 4); (12) acommen. 
tary on a passage of Ibn Ezra’s commentary on Ex, 
xxx. 2, relative to the Tetragrammaton (¢b. No. 825, 
8; MSS. Munich, Nos. 348, 386); (18) “Bi-ur ‘al 
M’ozene Hanok,” commentary on the balances of 
Enoch and Hermes, mentioned in Abraham ibn 
Ezra’s “Sefer ha-Moladot ” (#. No. 908, 1); (14) note 
onthe nine comets, attributed to Ptolemy, but be 
lieved to belong to Bonfils; (15) “Toledot Alexan- 
der,” the legend of Alexander, translated from the 
“Historia de Preeliis” of Leon. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Isidore Lb, in Rev. Et. Juives, i. 77; Stein. 
sehneider, in Zeit. fiir Hebr. Bibl. xv. 39, 40; idem, geet: 
Uebers. p. 904; Israel Lévi, in Rev. Et. Juives, lii, 245 e 


seq.; Renan-N eubauer, Les Ecrivains Juifs Francais, on 
346 et seq.; Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 19, 250, 625. 


G. . I. Br. 


BONFILS, JOSEPH B. SAMUEL (Hebrew, 
Tob ‘Elem = “Good Child”; called also ha-Gadol 
= “the Great”): French Talmudist, Bible commenta- 
tor, and “payyetan”; lived in the middle of the 
eleventh century. Of his life nothing is known but 
that he came from Narbonne, and was rabbi of Li- 
moges in the province of Anjou (see Jacob Tam’s 
“Sefer ha-Yashar,” ed. Rosenthal, p. 90, and ed. 
Vienna, p. 74b; the passage is badly corrupted). 

The activity of Bonfils was manysided, A num- 
ber of his decisions which earned the high esteem of 
his contemporaries and of posterity are to be found 
in the “ Mordecai.” These passages are enumerated 
in Kohn’s “Mordecai b. Hillel,” p. 187; in Mahzor 
Vitry, and in many other codices and compendiums. 
Among his numerous legal decisions one deserving 
mention is that pronouncing money won in play 
an illegal possession, and compelling the winner to 
return it (“ HWaggahot Mordecai,” upon Sanh, pp. 722, 
723). Another important decision ordered a lighter 
tax on the Jewish farmer than on the merchant, for 
the reason that agriculture was less profitable than 
trade (“ Mordecai,” B. B. i. 481). Little is known of 
the collections of his responsa mentioned in Moses 
Alashkar’s Responsa (ed. Sabbionetta, No. 60, p. 
121a; No. 100, p. 162a), or of his collection of the 
responsa of the Geonim. His Bible commentaries, 
mentioned by some of the old writers, have also dis- 
appeared. 

Bonfils devoted himself to restoring the correct 
texts of older works, especially the Masorah—works 
of the Geonim. His critical notes upon Judah’s 
“Halakot Gedolot” and the “Seder Tannaim we- 
Amoraim ” show marked departures from the cur- 
rent text. 

The ability and activity of Bonfils are best judged 
from his contributions to the poetry of the syna- 
gogue, no less than sixty-two of his piyyutim occu- 
pying prominent places in the French, German, and 
Polish liturgies. These compositions 
show that he was more than an ordi- 
nary poet (Zunz) among the Franco- 
German pavyetanim of histime. Few 
equaled him in beauty of imagery and facility of 
expression. The poetry of the synagogue is fur- 
thermore deeply indebted to Bonfils for the introduc- 


As a 
Payyetan. 


307 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bonet b. Meshullam 
Boniface IX. 





tion of the piyyutim into the prayers, in face of 

great opposition. Of his many piyyutim, the best- 

known is that written for the “Great Sabbath” 

(Sabbath before Passover), beginning with the 

words “ Elohei ha-ruhot,” and containing the rules 

for tle Passover-cleaning (“bi‘ur”) and the narra- 
tive service for the evening. The importance of 

Bonfils is shown by the fact that the Tosafists in 

many places occupy themselves with the explana- 

tion of obscure points in this piyyut. Samuel b. 

Solomon of Falaise, a French Tosafist, composed a 

commentary upon it. 

Joseph Bonfils must not be confused, as he is by 
Azulai, with another scholar of the same name, who 
lived in 1200 and corresponded with Simhah of 
Speyer (Responsa of Meir b. Baruch of Rottenburg, 
ed. Cremona, No. 148). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Skent ha-Gedolim, i. 40a: Fuenn, 
Keneset Yisrael, pp. 472, 473; Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 308, 
309; Landshuth, “Ammude ha-Abodah, pp. 96-98 ; Luzzatto, 
Bet ha- Ozar, pp. 46b, 55b ; Rapoport, Introduction to Cassell’s 
ed. of the "Reaponsa of the Geonim, pp. 6a, 7b; Zunz, Lite- 
raturgesch. pp. 129-188; idem, 7. G. 61; idem, G.V., 2a 
ed., p. 408; idem, S. P. pp. 179-180 @fanslation of a selihah); 
Schorr, in "He-Haluz, viii. 189; Neubauer, Cat. Boal. Hebr. 


MSS. No. 1208, 3, containing a halakic treatise by Joseph Tob- 
‘Elem, who is probably identical with this Bonfils. LG 


BONGODAS CASLARI. See Casnart. 


BONGODAS COHEN: Provencal physician; 
flourished in 13853. No details of his life can be as- 
certained. He was the author of a Latin work on 
obstetrics, still extantin a Turin manuscript (Pasini, 
cod. 80, 3). If Steinschneider is right, and “Cohen ” 
(313) isa mistake for “ Nathan” Qn9), Bongodas may 
be identical with Judah NATHAN, a Provencal writer 
on medicine and translator, between the years 1352 
and 1358. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Jewish Literature, p. 368; 
idem, ta wenere: p. 306; Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. 
MSS. col. 7 Gg 


BONGODAS, MEIR BEN SOLOMON: 
Provencal poet; lived at the end of the thirteenth 
century. He is quoted in the diwan of Abraham 
Bedersi, who was chosen arbitrator between Bon- 
godas and Don Solomon in. a controversy on the 
value of their Aramaic poems. According to Neu- 
bauer (in “ Zunz Jubelschrift,” p. 189), Meir Bongo- 
das is identical with Meir ben Solomon Dels-Enfantz, 
to whom Jedatah Beder si dedicated his work, “ Oheb 
Nashim. ” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Renan-Neubauer, Les Rabbins gay ae p. 
713; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 159; Zunz, Z. G. p. 5 


G. I. Br. 


BONGORON or BONJORN, DAVID BEN 


YOM-TOB: Astronomer; lived at Perpignan in the 
middle of the fourteenth century. The name “Bon- 
gorn” or “ Bonjorn” is the Provencal equivalent of 
the Hebrew name “ Yom-Tob,” the Provencal Jews 
often prefixing to their own names those of their 
fathers. Judah Mosconi, in his supercommentary 
on Ibn Ezra, mentions Bongoron as one of the great- 
est astronomers of that time. Steinschneider con- 
nects the name of Bongoron with that of P32 4, 
who was implicated in the divorce case of Bona 
Dona, daughter of En Astrug Caravida of Gerona, 
mentioned by Isaac de Lattes (Responsa, pp. 127- 


1389) and by Hisdai Crescas (“ Zikkaron Yehudah,” p. 
28b), Steinschneider further supposes that Bongo- 
ron is identical with the astrologer and philosopher 
David ben Yom-Tob ibn Bilia, father of the astron- 
omer Jacob Poel. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Hehr. 


Berliner’s Magazin, iii., Hebrew part, pp. 8, 41; 
Bodl. col. 2118; Gross, Gaitia Judaica, p. 496. 


G, I. Br. 


BONIFACE VIII. (BENEDICT GAETAN): 
One hundred and ninety-eighth pope; born at Ana- 
gui, Italy; elected pope Dec. 24, 1294; died 1808. 
He succeeded Celestin V., who resigned six months 
after his election. Boniface cherished kindly fee}- 
ings toward the Jews, and gave them many tokens 
of his solicitude for their welfare. The Roman Jews 
owed him much for having delivered them from a 
threatening danger. The Inquisition issued (Nov. 
18, 129%) a bull according to which an accuser or 
witness could remain unrevealed to the accused 
when the latter was a person of influence. The 
Jews were naturally classed among the powerful 
persons; and a simple denunciation sufficed to con- 
demn them. They appealed to Boniface; and the 
latter, by a bull dated June 18, 1299, declared all 
the Jews “unimportant” except those who were of 
recognized influence. 

Boniface had for his physician a Jew named Isaac, 
to whom he was much attached. 


Bibl. vii. 66: idem, in 
idem, Cat. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revue Orientale, ii. 214; Vogelstein and Rieger, 
Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 285 et seq. 


G. T. Br. 

BONIFACE IX. (PIETRO TOMACELLI): 
Two hundred and eighth pope; born at Naples; 
elected pope Nov. 2, 1389; died at Rome in 1404. 
His pontificate was very favorable for the Jews in 
general and for the Roman Jews in particular. At 
the request of the latter, Boniface issued a bull in 
which he ordered the senators, the conservators, and 
all other functionaries of the city of Rome to protect 
the Jews from every kind of drudgery, overreach- 
ing, and violence, under the penalty of excommuni- 
cation and a fine of 1,000 gold florins. The wearing 
of the badge by Jews was repealed. No Jew could 
be molested on asimple writ of an inquisitor, unless 
by a sealed order of a collateral of the curia; for, 
according to the bull, “all Jews and Jewesses resi- 
ding in the city, and sojourning there with their fam- 
ilies, must be treated as Roman citizens.” 

Boniface showed especial favor to the Jewish 
physicians Angelo di Manuele and Solomone de 
Sabalduchio of Perugia. The Senate had in 1376 
exempted from all taxes the physicians Manuele and 
his son Angelo, and their families, residents of Ripne 
Trastevere, for services they had rendered as physi- 
cians to the Roman citizens, and chiefly to the poor. 
This favor was enforced on Aug. 8, 1385, by the 
Senate, which accorded the Jewish community of 
Rome a yearly reduction of 80 florins for the taxes 
of Manuele and Angelo. July 1, 1892, Boniface ap- 
pointed Angelo his “ familiaris” and physician, and 
confirmed, by a bull issued April, 1899, the special 
diplomas of Roman citizenship delivered by the Sen- 
ate to Angelo and his father. On Oct. 23, 1892, he ap- 
pointed the physician Solomone de Sabalduchio his 
“familiaris,” and bestowed upon him many favors. 


Bonihominis 
Bonsenyor 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


308 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: The bulls are published in Stern. Urkundl. 
Beitrdge zur Stellung der Plipste, pp. 17, 18; Revue Orien- 
tale, ii. 461; Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i, 62; Vogel- 
stein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden tn Rom, 1. 317 et seq. 


G. J. Br. 


BONIHOMINIS, ALPHONSUS. See At- 
FONSUS BONIHOMINIS. 
BONIRAC (perhaps = Bon Isaac), SOLO- 


MON: Spanish translator; lived at Barcelona in 
the middle of the fourteenth century. He trans- 
lated from the Arabic into Hebrew Galen’s medical 
work on the crisis, under the title, “Sefer Buhran ” 
(Book on Vapors). The translator probably pos- 
sessed no Hebrew expression for “crisis,” and so 
preserved the Arabic word “buhran” used by the 
Arabic translator, Honein ibn Ishak. The “Sefer 
Buhran” is still extant in manuscript at Leyden 
(Scaliger, 2, 15). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loeb, in Rev. Et. Jiives, iv. 64; Steinschneider, 

Hebr. Uebers. p. 652, 

G. I. Br. 

BONN: City in Rhenish Prussia. It had a Jew- 
ish community at an early date. Ephraim ben 
Jacob of Bonn (b. 1133), as a boy of thirteen, was 
among the Jews who, in September, 1146, sought 
refuge from the Crusaders in the fortress Wolken- 
berg near Kénigswinter. He has lett a graphic de- 
scription of the persecutions under the Crusades. 
He is also known as a Talmudic and liturgic writer. 
The Tosafist Joel ben Isaac of Bonn, author of sev- 
eral selihot, also lived about this time. Jews of 
Bonn are often mentioned in the Jewish congrega- 
tional archives of Cologne during the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries. In June, 1288, calamity fell 
upon the community, and many Jews, including 
Rabbi Meir ben Alexander, who had formerly been 
rabbi at Cologne, were slain. New sorrows came 
with the persecutions during the Black Death, Bonn 
being one of the places of martyrdom in the year 
1349. The Jews of Bonn were further oppressed by 
taxes, as the emperor Frederick I. compelled them 
to pay 400 marks to the archbishop of Cologne. 

The community, which was not an unimportant 
one in the Middle Ages, was considerably increased 
by the Jews expelled from Cologne in 1426; it was 
estimated to number 200 persons, and had to pay a 
yearly assessment of 1,500 reichsgulden. Documents 
show that the present “ Judenauergasse ” was called 
“ Judengasse ” in 1578. 

In 1587 Martin Schenk, whom Queen Elizabeth of 
England had sent to aid the party of the lord high 
steward, took possession of Bonn, murdered and 
plundered in the Jews’ quarter, and made many 
prisoners, who subsequently had to be ransomed 
for large sums. Among the prisoners was Rabbi 
Reuben Fulda, the teacher of the historiographer 
David Gans. The baptized butcher Kraus, who 
has become proverbial through his denunciations, 
was also a native of Bonn. In the first half of the 
seventeenth century he kept the Jews on the Rhine in 
a continuous state of terror. Another 
native of Bonn was Abraham Breitin- 
gen, father-in-law of the Frankfort 
scholar Juspa Hahn; he as syndic suc- 
cessfully opposed Kraus. 

The Jews fared better during the Thirty Years’ 
war. The above-mentioned Hahn narrates that the 


Persecu- 
tions. 


Protestants of Bonn hid their property in the ghetto, 
Later, however, the Jews were subjected tc many 
annoyances. In 1651 their cattle trade was restricted, 
all Jews not under the protection of the government 
were expelled, and the maximum rate of interest 
which they were permitted to take was fixed at 19 
per cent. In 1747 and 1750 electoral ordinances had 
to be issued prohibiting Christians from insulting and 
threatening Jews. In 1755, when severe earthquakes 
terrified the people of the Lower Rhine and Bonn, 
Rabbi Samuel Ashkenazi and Mordecai Halberstadt, 





Synagogue at Bonn. 
(From a photograph.) 


rabbi at Diisseldorf, designated several psalms for a 
service of prayer, and wrote a penitential invocation 
(“tehinnah”) for the occasion. On Feb. 27, 1784, 
all the Jews fled from the ghetto, which was almost 
entirely destroyed by an overflow of the Rhine. In 
this time of distress Moses Wolf (died 1802), physi- 
cian to the elector, and the president of the commu- 
nity, Baruch ben Simon, were especially conspicu- 
ous for their unselfish activity. Simon Kopenhagen 
of Bonn has described these occurrences in a Hebrew 
book entitled “Beki Naharot,” Amsterdam, 1786. 
The French Revolution saved the Jews of Bonn. 

In 1798 the great procession of the “Cisrhenanes,” 
proceeding by way of the Vierecksplatz, went to 
the Judengasse, where they determined upon an es- 
pecially solemn act, intended. as an announcement 
to the Jews, by a memorable sign, that they would 
henceforth be citizens with equal rights. For this 
purpose several carpenters had been included in the 


309 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bonthominis 
Bonsenyor 


— 








procession, who cut down the gate of the Jewry; 
Jewish girls were then taken into the procession and 
led triumphantly through the city. In 1808 the 
Jews were compelled to take personal names and 
surnames. The city of Bonn became the seat of 
a consistory founded by Napoleon. In 1865 a Jew- 
ish congregation was formed in conformity with the 
law of 1847: the new synagogue on the banks of 
the Rhine was dedicated in 1879. In 1902 the com- 
munity numbered 900 persons. 

In the twelfth century the Tosafist Samuel ben 
Natronai, the halakist and liturgic poet Joel ben 
Isaac ha-Levi, and his friend Ephraim ben Jacob, 
also known as liturgic poet, lived at Bonn. In the 
fifteenth century the scholar Solomon of Bonn, and 
a teacher, Mordecai Sachs, were there. Reuben 
Fulda, as stated above, was rabbi there in the six- 
teenth century, and was succeeded by Hayyim 
Treves, son of Johanan Treves, known as a Mahzor 

commentator, who died at Alirweiler 


Scholars in1598. Joseph Ashkenazi, who later 
and was rabbi at Metz; Moscs Birgel; 
Rabbis. Naphtali ben Kalonymus; and Judah 


Ashkenazi, who was buried at Bonn in 
1688, were among the rabbis of the seventeenth 
century. In the eighteenth century several physi- 
cians, including Moses ben Abraham Wolf (men- 
tioned above), lived at Bonn. Among the rabbis 
was Judah Mehler, formerly rabbi at Cleve (born 
1661 at Bingen; died at Bonn 1750). He was suc- 
ceeded by Samuel Ashkenazi (d. 1766), formerly at 
Peine near Hildesheim; then came Isaac Rupoport, 
who died 1788. The first rabbi of the consistory 
was Simhah Bunem Rapoport, appointed in 1788, 
died 1816; he was the author of several halakie 
works. He was followed by Abraham Auerbach, 
who, in 1887, resigned ostensibly on account of his 
great age, but really in order that his son might suc- 
ceed him. In fact, he contrived to have his son 
elected as soon as he announced his resignation, 
without giving time to candidates to present them- 
selves. This election caused much agitation in the 
community, and a protest against its illegality was 
brought before the president of the province of 
Cologne. <A new election was ordered by the gov- 
ernment, and Auerbach’s son was elected for the 
second time. He wassucceeded in 1877 by Emanuel 
Schreiber, and by Falk Colin (1882-1902). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Salfeld, Martyrologium, pp. 160, 287; Brisch, 
Gesch der Juden in Céln und Umgebung, Cologne, 1879; 


Schreiber, Die Jiidische Gemeinde, Bonn, 1879; Tésten, Zur 
Gesch. der Hexen und Juden in Bonn, Bonn, 1900 


G. A. F. 


BONN, JONAS BEN MOSES: Physician; 
lived in Frankfort-on-the-Main in the seventeenth 
century. Though not in the employ of the commu- 
nity, his name is subscribed to the articles of agree- 
ment drawn up In 1656 between the congregation of 
Frankfort and its physicians, Solomon Bing and 
Abraham Hein. According to these articles, the 
Jewish physicians pledged themselves not to attend 
patients who were not members of the congregation 
without the permission of two elders of the syna- 
gogue. They also promised to visit the poor gratis; 
to respond to calls day and night; not to attend to 
any patient outside of the Jewish quarters; and not 


to accept the presidency of the congregation before 
the age of sixty. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY Horowitz, Jiidische Aerzte in Frankfurt 
am-Main, p. 30; Landau, Gesch. der Jiidische Aerzte, p. 
116. 


D. A. R. 
BONNET. Sce Costume. 
BONOSUS. See ANTIOCH, 


BONSENIOR GRACIAN. Sce Gracian. 


BONSENIOR, SOLOMON. See JEKUTHIEL 3B. 
SOLOMON. 

BONSENIOR, IBN YAHYA: Chess expert. 
No details of his life can be obtained. The name is 
probably Provencal, and he lived certainly not later 
than the fifteenth century. Bonsenior was the au- 
thor of an interesting work on chess, entitled “ Meli- 
zat Sehok ha-Ishkaki” (Essay on Chess-Playing), 
first published at Mantua in 1557. It was translated 
into French by Leon Hollaenderski, and published, 
together with Ibn Ezra’s “Ma‘adane Melek” on the 
same subject, under the title “Délices Royales ou 
le Jeu des Echecs, ... par Aben Ezra et Aben 
Ye’hia, Rabbins du XIT° Siécle” (Paris, 1864). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 804; idem, 
Schach het den Juden, in Anton van der Linde, Gesch. des 
ReLachspies, 1.168; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 


G. I. Br. 


BONSENYOR, ASTRUC (in Spanish chroni- 
cles, Struch or Nastruch = En Astruc): From 
1259, if not earlier, dragoman and Arabic secretary 
to Jaime I. of Aragon; died 1280. He was a native 
of Barcelona. Heaccompanied the king on his cam- 
paigns, acting as interpreter, and in that capacity 
rendered valuable services. In 1265 the king sent 
him as one of a commission to Murcia, to deal with 
the besieged Saracens. 

Bonsenyor stood in special favor with the king, 
who gave him permission toadd doors and windows 
to his house, which was in the Jewish quarter and 
adjacent to the Plaza del Rey and the Monastery of 
San Domingo. He was also allowed to make other 
architectural changes. He is mentioned in a Barce- 
Ilona document of the year 1258 (Jacobs, “Sources 
of Spanish-Jewish History,” No. 159), 

G. M. K. 


BONSENYOR, ASTRUC: Grandson of Astruc 
Bonsenyor, the dragoman of Jaime I. of Aragon; 
father of Judah Bonsenyor. He was a physician 
in Barcelona, and in the year 1334 was accorded the 
privileges which had been enjoyed by his grand- 


futher. 
G. M. K, 


BONSENYOR, ISAAC: Son or grandson of 
Judah Bonsenyor; lived in Barcelona; in 1391 be- 
came a Christian, and took the name Ferrario Gracia 
de Gualbis. 

G. M. K. 


BONSENYOR, JUDAH (Jaffuda): Notary- 
general of Aragon, and translator from the Arabic; 
son of the elder Astruc, and, like his father, inter- 
preter, first to Alfonso III. and then to Jaime IL; 
died about 1334, In 1287 he accompanied Alfonso 
III. on his war of conquest against Minorca; and 


Bonsenyor 
Book-Collectors 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


310 





seven years later (1294) Jaime II. appointed him 
notary-general for the kingdom sad the royal de- 
pendencies. By virtue of this appointment all mer- 
ehants doing business in the country who were 
acquainted only with the Arabic language, and who 
desired to have documents translated from the Ara- 
bic into Spanish, or duplicated, or acknowledged, 
were forced to appear before Bonsenyor or his rep- 
resentative. 

In 1805 Jaime IT. granted him a passport to enable 
him to visit Provence, probably in the interests of 
Jewish studies, which at that time were proscribed. 
On Nov. 4, 1810, as a sign of royal favor, and by the 
influence of the king’s body-physician, John Amely, 
Bonsenycr was exempted from all taxes, whether 
personal or public,to which the Aljama of Barcelona 
was subject. The king also ordered that neither 
Bonsenyor nor his children should be molested on 
account of unpaid taxes, and that he should be at 
liberty to enter or leave the “Juderia,” or Jewish 
quarter, at will. Bonsenyor was especially lonored 
when the king ordered him to gather Arabic maxims 
and translate them into Catalan for the use of the 
princes. This collection, which for centuries re- 
mained in manuscript, was published in part in 
“ Documentos Ineditos de la Corona de Aragon,” vol. 
xiii., and in the “Revista Catalana” (1889). The 
same year this work, copied from a manuscript in 
Palma, appeared complete under this title: “Jehuda 
Bonsenyor, Libre de Paraules e Dits de Savis e Filo- 
sofs, Los Proverbis de Salomo, .. . per Gabriel 
Liabrés y Quintana” (“Biblioteca d’Escriptors 
Catalans”; Palma, Majorca, 1889). Jacob Zadik de 
Ucles undertook a Spanish translation of this work 
in 1402 under the title “Libro de Sabios é Philoso- 
phos.” 

The sayings gathered by Bonsenyor are 753 in 
number and are divided into 67 chapters. Because 
of their terseness and their bearing upen local con- 
ditions, they are used to this day by the people 
in Majorca and Catalonia. Some of them are ex- 
ceedingly pithy and to the point, such as: “ Who- 
ever answers quickly, errs easily”; “ Whoever hears 
‘badly, answers badly”; “ Wealth has its own nobil- 
‘ity ”; “Too many sailors will sink the ship,” which 
<orresponds to the English proverb, “Too many 
cooks spoil the broth.” Bonsenyor took most of this 
collection from Hebrew adaptations of Arabic orig- 
inals; a part is taken bodily from a similar collec- 
tion, the “Mibhar ha-Peninim,” by Solomon ibn 
- Gabirol. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gabr. Liabrés, as quoted, on Introduction and 
Appendix, with several original documents; Kayserling, 
Gesch. der Juden in Spanien, i. 161; idem, in Jewish 
Quarterly Review, viii. 682; Steinschneider, Hebr. Ueber- 
setzungen, pp. 977-979 ; Revue Etudes Jwives, iv. 58. 


G. M. K. 


BONVIVA, or French BONNEVIE (Hebrew 
Aw'2015), BEN ISAAC: French ‘Tosafist; flour- 
ished probably early in the thirteenth century at 
Chiteau-Thierry. He and his father are mentioned 
in the manuscript Tosafot to the treatise Bezah 6a, 
owned by R. N. Rabbinovicz. Since these Tosafot 
are presumably older than those printed, the Bon- 
nevie father and son are believed to have lived at 
the beginning of the thirteenth century. “Bonne- 


Vie” is probably another name for Hayyim ben 


Isaak, one of whose important juristic decisions ig 
cited in “ Mordecai” (B. B, ix. 626), “ Hayyim” being 
the Hebrew term for the French “ Bonne- Vie.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, in Magazin, iv. 209; idem, Gallia 
Judaica, pp. 258, 239. 
L. G. 


BOOK-CLASPS. See BINDING. 


BOOK-COLLECTORS: The ideal of learning 
being so characteristically Jewish, it is natural that 
many Jews should have collected materials of learn- 
ing for their own and others’ use. The Talmud in- 
terprets Ps. cxii. 3 as applying to those who buy 
books and lend them out, since by this means “ their 
righteousness [charity ] endureth always ” (Ket. 50a). 
Judaism is probably the only religion in which it 
becomes a duty to collect books. Each Jew ought 
either to write a scroll of the Law himself, or if he 
does not do so, must have it written for him. This he 
must not se]l except in order to marry, to study the 
Torah, or to redeem captives (Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh 
De‘ah, 270). References are met withincarly ethical 
wills like that of Judah ibn Tibbon, showing that a 
great deal of care was taken both to collect and to 
preserve books. At the same time the continual ex- 
pulsions of the Jews rendered it difficult to keep li- 
braries together, as they could rarely be transported; 
accordingly, it is not until the sixteenth century 
that traces arefound of any very considerable col- 
lections, the earliest of these occurring, as might have 
been expected, mainly in Italy, at Mantua and Fer- 
rara. From Italy, after a time, the fashion spread 
to the Turkish empire, where Jacob ben Isaac Ro- 
man and Joseph del Medigo collected valuable manu- 
scripts, many of which can still be traced. 

But it was with the growth of the community of 
Amsterdam that the taste for book-collecting among 
the Jews rose to dimensions worth men- 
tioning. Here only in all Europe had 
they sufficient wealth and liberty to 
collect private libraries; those of Ma- 
nasseh ben Israel, Moses Raphael de Aguilar, Isaac 
Aboab, and Samuel b. Isaac Abbas being all of the 
seventeenth century. The Amsterdam Jews have 
continued their interest in Jewish books up to the 
present day, the libraries of Isaac da Costa and Sal- 
omon de Mesa in the eighteenth and those of Ro- 
drigues de Castro and David Montezinos in the nine- 
teenth century keeping up the tradition; while the 
great Rosenthal collection, originally founded at 
Hanover, has reached a final home in the Dutch 
capital. 

But the book-loving propensities of the Dutch Jews 
were far exceeded by those of a German Jew, amem- 
ber of a distinguished Viennese family—the Oppen- 
heimers—who, in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, brought together what un- 
til recently was the largest collection 
of Hebrew books ever made by one 
man, aggregating about 7,000 printed 
volumes and 1,000 manuscripts, almost 
entirely Hebraica. It was originally founded by 
Samuel Oppenheimer with the aid of Prince Eugene, 
whose court Jew he was. His son, David Oppen- 
heimer, increased the collection; but, although 


Am- 
sterdam. 


The Op- 
penheimer 
Collection. 


311 


he was stationed in Prague, he dared not have his 
books there for fear of the censor; he accordingly 
placed them in the house of his father-in-law, Lip- 
mann Cohen, at Hanover. Hirschl Oppenheimer suc- 
ceeded to the library, which, however, was pledged 
for 50,000 marks; and on this account it passed into 
the possession of Isaac Cohen of Hamburg, nephew 
of the former holder. After futile attempts at a 
sale, at Which Mendelssohn’s help as appraiser was 
called in, it was sold (1829) to the Bodleian Library, 
Oxford, for the absurdly small sum of 9,000 thalers. 
Only second in importance to this was the collec- 
tion made by H. I. Michael of Hamburg, about 
six or seven thousand volumes, the printed books of 
which ultimately came into the possession of the 
British Museum, and the manuscripts into that of 
the Bodleian Library. By these accessions, England 
became the most important center in the world for 
rare Jewish books and manuscripts during the latter 
part of the nineteenth century. The recent acquisi- 
tion of the Halberstamm manuscripts by Jews’ Col- 
lege and the private collections of Dr. Gaster and E. 
N. Adler have further increased the importance of 
England in this regard. Recently, however, stren- 
uous attempts have been made in Russia, the bome 
of the largest Jewish population of the world, to 
make collections of the national literature. The col- 
lections of Fuenn and Straschun now adorn the 
communal library of Wilna. Dr. Chazanowicz, a 
physician of Bialystok, brought together an excellent 
library which he presented to the Abarbanel Library 
of Jerusalem. But the greatest col- 
lection in Russia is that formed by M. 
A. L. FRIEDLAND (born 1826), who ac- 
quired a number of other collections which had been 
made, suchas that of Bam piof Minsk, which formed 
the foundation of the whole library, and of E. L. 
Rabbinowicz, also of Minsk, a shohet, who had col- 
lected a fine library, a thousand books from which 
were acquired by Friedland. Friedland also gath- 
ered into his net the collections of 8. Zuckermann 
of Mohilev, of Joseph Masal of Viazona, and of M. 
Landsberg. In 1892 Friedland presented the whole 
collection, then amounting to 300 volumes of man- 
uscripis and 14,000 printed books, to the Asiatic 
Museum of St. Petersburg. Next in value to his 
collection is that of Baron David von Giinsburg of 

St. Petersburg; this is very rich in Hebrew MSS. 
Still more recently, Jewish students in the United 
States have turned their attention, with gratifying 
results, to the collection of Hebrew books. The 
Sutro collection at San Francisco is said to con- 
tain 185 manuscripts—some of great rarity—and 
many thousands of Hebrew books. A. M. Bank 
of New York has made one collec- 


Russia. 


The tion which he has sold to the New 
United York Public Library, and he is form- 
States. ing another. Of particular distinc- 


tion is the coliection made by Judge 
Mayer Sulzberger of Philadelphia, which contains 
over 220 incunabula before 1540—probably the 
largest number in the possession of any private 
individual. 
The fate of the Oppenheimer and Friedland col- 
lections points to the natural history and ultimate 
destination of large aggregations of books. Com 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bonsenyor 
Bock-Collectors 





paratively small collections of books are first made. 
These are often sold intact to larger collectors, form- 
ing rills which go to feed the streams, and ultimately 
these debouch into some great lake, represented by 
a public library. But it invariably requires the 
zealous enthusiasm of the book-collector to bring 
together any special set of works; and this must al- 
ways be the case with Hebrew literature. 

As a rule, collectors of books of Jewish interest 
have been mainly Jews; but a few Christian Hebra- 

ists interested in Jewish learning have 
Christian also from time to time collected manu- 
Collectors. scriptsand books. The Buxtorfscon- 
ducted quite a lively correspondence 
with booksellers of the eust of Europe in order to 
acquire rare books. Widmanstadt collected the 
most valuable set of manuscripts now at Munich; 
while the Bodleian Library contains many valuable 
manuscripts from the collections of Selden, Pococke, 
and Hyde. By far the most distinguished of these 
Christian Hebraists was J. B. de Rossi, whose library 
of manuscripts, which exceeded 1,000 volumes, is 
now in the Grand-Ducal Library of Parma. Bishop 
Kennicott was interested in cari lectiones of the 
Bible, and brought together a number of Biblical 
manuscripts. 

The following list gives the names of the chief 
book-collectors that can be traced, either from the 
catalogues of their works (indicated by a star) or 
from the accounts given by Zunz (“Z. G.” pp. 230- 
249) and Furst (“B. J.” Preface to vol. iii.). When- 
ever the place is known to which a library went, in 
whole or in part, this is given in parentheses at the 
end of the statement. When the number of books 
or manuscripts is known, this also is given in paren- 
theses, after the name. The dates are sometimes 
those of the deaths of the owners, sometimes of 
publication of catalogues or other year of importance 


for the library in question. 


The names of Christian 


collectors are printed in italics. 


* Abbas, Samuel b. Isaac; d. 
1693; Amsterdam. 

* Aboab, Isaac da Fonseca ; 
died 1693 (18 MSS., 3738 
books); Amsterdam. 

Adler, E. N.; London. 

Adler, 8.; New York (Hebrew 
Union College, Cincinnati), 

*Aguilar, Moses Raphael de; 
ad. 1680 (50 MSS.); Amster- 
dam. 


*Almanzi, Joseph; Padua 
(Columbia University, New 
York). 

Altschuler, E. P.; 1616. 

*Aron, Nathan; d. 1780; 
Schwerin. 


Assur, Marx; 1755; Halle. 

* Azulai, Hayyim Joseph Day- 
id; d. 1807. 

Bampi, I. D. B.; Minsk (Fried- 
land; Asiatic Museum). 

Bank, A. M.; New York (New 
York Public Library). 

*Bargés, Abhé; Paris, 

*Beer, Bernhard: Dresden 
(Breslan Seminary). 

Beit, Simon ; Hamburg. 

Berliner, A.: Berlin (Frank- 
fort, Stadt-Bibliothek). 

Biema, Van: Amsterdam. 

* Bondi, Simon; d, 1816: Dres- 
den (& HY books). 


Bresslau, Meir ben Israel; d. 
1889; Hamburg (12 MSS., 
820 books). 

Brill, N.; (Frankfort Stadt- 
Bibliothek). 

Bucxtorf, John I.; Basel. 

* Carmoly, E.: Brussels. 

Cases, Samuel, sixteenth cen- 
tury; Mantua. 

Cassel, D.; Berlin (5000 books; 
New York Seminary). 

*Castro, Rodrigues de; 4d. 
1900; Amsterdam (auction). 

Chazanowicz. J.; Byelostok 
(National Library, Jerusa- 
lem). 

*Chwolson, D.; St. Peters- 
burg. 

Cohen, Albert; Paris (Sémi- 
naire Israélite). 

* Cohen, Joshua I; Baltimore. 

Cohn, Abraham (550 books); 
Posen. 

* Costa, Isaac de; d. 1860; 
Amsterdam. 

Da Costa, Solomon ben Isaac; 
1759 (180 books); London 
(British Museum). 

De Rossi. See Rossi, J.B. de. 

*Dubno, Solomon; d. 1813; 
Amsterdam (106 MSS., 2,076 
books). 

Eger, Akiba; Altona. 


Book-Collectors 
Book-Plates 





* Eger, Samuel ; d. 1842; Han- 
over (24 MSS., 500 books). 
Elias Levita; 1527; Rome 

(lost in siege). 

Elijah Wilna (Zuckermann— 
part Friedland - Asiatic Mu- 
seum); nineteenth century. 

*Emden, Jacob (Columbia 
University, New York). 

Epstein, A.; Vienna. 

* Essen, Man van; 1839; Ham- 
bure (720 books). 

Fano, Azariah di; sixteenth 
century ; Mantua. 

Fano, Isaac de; sixteenth cen- 
tury ; Ferrara. 

Fidalgo; Altona. 

* Firkowitz, A.; Crimea (St. 
Petersburg Imperial  Li- 
brary). 

Fliess, Moses; d. 1776; Ber- 
lin. 

Foa, Moses Benjamin; eight- 
eenth century ; Reggio (in- 
cunabula). 

*Friedenthal, M. B.; 1861; 
Breslau (Communal Li- 
brary). 

* Friedland, M. A. L. (Asiatic 
Museum, St. Petersburg). 
Fuenn, S. J.; Wilna (Commu- 

nal Library, Wilna). 

Gagnier, John: d. 1740; Ox- 
ford (Bodleian). 

Gaster, M.; London. 

Geiger, A.; Berlin (12 MSS., 
Hoehschule, Berlin). 

Ghirondi; Triest. 


Ginsburg, C. D.; Virginia 
Water, Surrey. 
Graziano, Abraham Joseph 


Solomon (Bodleian, Oxford). 

Green, A. L.; London (Jews’ 
College). 

Grunwald, M.; Hamburg. 

Guedalla, H.; London. 

* Giinsburg, K.8.; 1861; Bres- 
lau (Communal Library). 
Gtinzburg, Baron David de; 
St. Petersburg (900 MSS.). 

* Halberstamm, S.;  Bielitz 
(London Jews’ College). 
Hazak, Joseph ; sixteenth cen- 

tury: Mantua. 

* Heidenheim, Wolf: a. 1832; 
Rédelheim (72 MSS., 800 
books). 

Herford, Spanjer: nineteenth 
century ; Detmold (Breslau 
Seminary). 

Herzberg, H.; . Berlin (762 
books). 

*Hirschel, Solomon; d. 1842; 
London (120 MSS., Bet ha- 
Midrash, London), 

Huntington, Bishop; 1676- 
93: Oxford (Bodleian). 

Hyde, Thomas ; Oxford (Bod- 
leian). 

Ibn Tibbon, Judah. 

Itzig, Daniel; ad. 1799; Ber- 
lin. - 

* Jacobson, Meir. 

Jellinek, A.; Vienna. 

Joseph, Michael ; d. 1849; Lon- 
don (Jews’ College). 

Jost, M. J.; d. 1861 (Frank- 
fort). 

Kaempf, 8.; Prague (Prague 
Library). 

Kahn, Zadoc; Paris. 

Kaufmann, David; Budapest. 

*Kkennicott, Bishop; Oxford. 

Kohut, Alexander; New York. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Landsberg, Mendel; Kremen- 
itz (Friedland; Asiatic Mu- 
seum). 


*Leeser, I.3 Philadelphia 
(Touro Hall). 

*Lehren, Akiba; Amster- 
dam. 

*Lehren, M.; Amsterdam 
(auction). 

Levi, Simon Moses; 1769; 


Nice (Mantua Community). 
Levy, H. B.; Hamburg. 
*Lewarden, Jacob: d. 1797 

(1,641 books); Rotterdam. 
Lewinstein, M. J.: Paramaribo 

(Columbia University, New 

York). 

* Lima, Anschel Norden de; 
18380; Amsterdam (23 MSS., 
338 books). 

*Lima, Moses de; Amster- 
dam. 

* Loeb, Isidore ; d. 1892; Paris 
(auction). 

*LGewe, L.; nineteenth cen- 
tury ; Ramsgate. 

* Luzzatto, S. D.; Padua (Sem- 
inary Library). 

Medigo, Joseph del; six- 
teenth century ; Candia (60 
MSS.). 

Meldola, Rafael Emanuel ; 
1767; Mantua (Communal 
Library). 

Menasseh ben Israel; d. 1658 
(valued at 10,000 gulden). 

* Merzbacher : Munieh. 
*Mesa, Solomon de; 1743 
(1,052 books); Amsterdam. 
Minz, Moses; fifteenth cen- 
tury: Mayence (lost in 

siege). 

Modena, Abtalion de; six- 
teenth century; Ferrara. 
Montesinos, David; Amster- 

dam. 

Mortara, M.; Mantua. 

* Moser, Isaac; d. 1840; Ber- 
lin (11 MSS., 860 books ; Roy- 
a) Library, Berlin). 

Munk, 8.; Paris (Alliance 
Israélite). 

Naim, Samuel; sixteenth cen- 
tury; Gallipoli. 

*Oppenheimer, David; Han- 
over (746 MSS., 3,476 books); 
Bodleian. 

Pinsker, &.; Odessa, 

Poecocke, Edward; 
teenth century ; 
(Bodleian). 

Porges, N.; Leipsic. 

Prins, L.; Amsterdam and 
Frankfort. 

* Quatremére, E.; 
Paris (Munich). 
Rabbinowicz, E. L..;. shohet; 

Minsk (Friedland; Asiatic 

Museum). 

Rapoport, S. L.; Prague. 


seven- 
Oxford 


1858; 


Reggio, Isaac Samuel, d. 
1855; Gérz (156 MSS.). 
Rieser, Lazarus; d. 1828: 
Hamburg. 


Roman, Jacob ben Isaac; sev- 
enteenth century ; Constan- 
tinople (corresponded with 
Buxtorf). 

Rosenmtiller, J.:  Leipsic 
(University Library). 

* Rosenthal ; Hamburg. 

Rosenthal, Elia; Budapest. 

*Rosenthal, L.; Hanover 
(Amsterdam). 


| Rosenthal, Solomon; Buda- 


pest. 
Rossi, Azariah de. 
Rossi, J. B. de; 1742-1881; 


Parma (1,100 MSS.; Ducal 
Library). 

Rothschild, Baron Willy; 
Frankfort (Stadt - Biblio- 
thek). 


*Rubens, Solomon Barend: 
1857 (47 MSS., 3,348 books); 
Amsterdam (auction). 

Sachs, 8.; Paris (Consistoire). 

* Salomon, G.; d. 1862; Ham- 
burg (526 Nos.). 

Saraval, Jacob; d.1782; Man- 
tua (Karaitica). 

*Suraval, L. V.; d. 1852 (1,490 
Nos., 23 MSS.); Triest (auc- 
tion); Breslau Seminary. 

* Scaliger, Joseph Justus: d. 
1609 (20 MSS.); Leyden (Cni- 
versity Library). 

Schorr, 0.; Brody. 

Selden, John: 1659; London 
(Bodleian, Oxford). 

Sinzheim, Joseph David ben 
Isaac ; Strasburg. 

*Spinoza, Benedictus de; 
1677. 

Steinschneider, M.; Berlin. 

* Stern, 8. G. (112 MSS.) ; Par- 
ma, 

* Straschun, M.; Wilna (Com- 
minal Library). 

*Sulzberger, M.; 
phia. 

* Sussex, Duke of; London 
(British Museum). 

Sutro, A.; San Francisco. 


Philadel- 


BOOK OF LIFEH.—Traditional View: 


312 


* Tengnagel, Sebastian: Vis 
enna. 

* Torres, David Nunes; d, 
1728; The Hague. 

Treves, Eleasar; sixteenth 
century; Frankfort-on-the- 
Main. 

* Trigland, Jacob: 
Leyden (auction). 
Viasin, Joseph Mazai of; Wil- 
na (5,000-6,000 books ; Fried- 
land; Asiatic Museum, St. 

Petersburg). 

Vida, Samuel della; 
teenth century ; 
(Soare). 

Vital, David; 
(lost in siege). 

Voiterra, Menahem ben Aaron 
Urbino (26 MSS.); (Vatican). 


1706; 


nine- 
Venice 


1532; Patras 


* Wagenseil, John Chris. 
tian; Leipsice (Town Li- 
brary). 

* Warner, Levin; d. 1665 
(64 MSS.); Leyden (Uni- 
versity Library). 

* Wicel, George: 1552; Co- 
logne. 

* Widmanstadt, John  Al- 


hert; 1533 (8385 MSS., 500 
books); Munich (Royal Li- 
brary). 

Witlmett, Jan; d. 1885; Am- 


sterdam (University Li. 
brary). 

Yahya, Gedalyah. 
Zuckermann, 8.; Mohilev 


(Friedland; Asiatic Mu- 
sellm). 
Zunz, L. (Gemeinde, Berlin). 
sl 


The 


book, or muster-roll, of God in which all the worthy 
are recorded for life. God has such a book, and to 
be blotted out of it signifies death (Ex. xxxii. 32, 33). 

It is with reference to the Book of Life that the 
holy remnant is spoken of as being written unto life 
(A. V., “among the living”) in Jerusalem (Isa. iv. 
3; compare also Ezek. ix. 4, where one of the six 
heavenly envoys “who had the scribe’s inkhorn 
upon his loins” is told to mark the righteous for 
life, while the remainder of the inhabitants of Jeru- 
salem are doomed). The Psalmist likewise speaks 
of the Book of Life in which only the names 
of the righteous are written “and from which the 
unrighteous are blotted out” (Ps. lxix. 28; compare 


Ps. exxxix. 16). 


Even the tears of men are recorded 
in this Book of God (Ps. lvi. 9 [8]). 
shall be found written in the book ... 
to everlasting life” (Dan. xii. 1 et seq.). 


“Every one that 
shall awake 
This beok is 


probably identical with the “Book of Remem- 
brance” in which are recorded the deeds of those 
that fear the Lord (Mal. iii. 16). 

The Book of Jubilees (xxx. 20-22) speaks of two 
heavenly tablets or books: a Book of Life for the 
righteous, and a Book of Death for those that walk 
in the paths of impurity and are written down on 


the heavenly tablets as adversaries (of God). 


Al SO, 


according to 7b. xxxvi. 10, one who contrives evil 
against his neighbor will be blotted out of the Book 
of Remembrance of men, and will not be written in 
the Book of Life, but in the Book of Perdition. In 
Dan. vii. 10 and Enoch x! vii. 3 “the Ancient of days” 
is described as seated upon His throne of glory with 


313 





“the Book ” or “ the Books of Life” (“ of the Living ”) 
opened before Him. So are, according to Enoch civ. 
1, the righteous “ written before the glory of the Great 
One,” and, according to Enoch evili. 8, the trans- 
gressors “ blotted out of the Book of Life and out of 
the books of the holy ones.” To this Book of Life 
reference is made also in Hermas (Vision i. 3; Man- 
date viii. ; Similitudeii.); in Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xvii. 
8, xx, 12-15, where “two Books” are spoken of as 
being “opened before the throne, the Book of Life, 
and the Book of Death, in which latter the unright- 
eous are recorded together with their evil deeds, in 
order to be cast into the lake of fire.” It is the Book 
of uife in which the apostles’ names are “ written in 
heaven” (Luke x. 20), or “the fellow-workers” of 
Paul (Phil. iv. 3), and “the assembly of the first- 
born” (Heb. xii. 23; compare I Clem. xlv.). To 
these Books of Records allusion is made also in 
Enoch I[xxxi. 4, ixxxix. 61-77, xc. 17-20, xeviii. 76, 
civ, 7; Apoc. Baruch, xxiv. 1; Ascensio Isa. ix. 20. 

While the prevailing tendeucy among apocryphal 
writers of the Hasidean school was to give the Book 
of Life an eschatological meaning— 
and to this inclines also Targ. Jon. to 
Isa. iv. 8 and Ezek. xiii. 9 (compare 
Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxxii. 32)—the 
Jewish liturgy and the tradition rela- 
ting to the New-Year’s and Atone- 
ment days adhered to the ancient view 
which took the Book of Life in its natural meaning, 
preferring, from a sound practical point of view, the 
this-worldliness of Judaism to the heavenliness 
of the Essenes. Instead of transferring, as is done in 
the Book of Enoch, the Testament of Abraham, and 
elsewhere, the great Judgment Day to the hereafter, 
the Pharisaic school taught that on the first day of 
each year (Rosh ha-Shanah) God sits in judgment 
over His creatures and has the Books of Life and 
Death opened, together with the books containing 
the records of the righteous and the unrighteous. 
And out of the middle state of the future judgment 
(see Testament of Abraham, A, xiv.) there arose the 
idea of a third class of men who are held in suspense 
(“Benonim,” the middle), and of a corresponding 
third book for this middle class (R. H. 15b). In 
Tos. Sanh. xiii. 3, however, the annual (Rosh ha- 
Shanah) judgment (Yom ha-Din) is not yet recog- 
nized (compare Tos. R. H. i. 18, R. Jose’s opinion 
in opposition to that of R. Akiba and R. Meir, which 
has become the universally accepted one). 

The origin of the heavenly Book of Life must be 
sought in Babylonia, whereas the idea of the au- 
nual Judgment Day seems to have been adopted by 
the Jews under Babylonian influence in post-exilic 
times. The Babylonian legends (see “ Creation Tab.” 
iv. 121, and the “ Zu” legend, ii. 7, quoted in Harper’s 
“Babylonische Legenden,” in “Beitr. z. Assyriolo- 
gie” by Delitzsch and Haupt, 1892, ii. 2, p. 412) speak 
of the Tablets of Destiny; also of the tablets of the 
transgressions, sins, and wrong-doings, of the curses 
and execrations, of a person which should be “ cast 
into the water”; that is, to be blotted out (compare 
Micah vii. 19 and the art. Tasnii). As to the 
resemblance of the Babylonian Zagmuku or New- 
Year to the Jewish New- Yearsee the art. Rosy na- 
SHANAR. K. 


The 
Eschato- 
logical 
or Annual 
Roll-Call. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Book-Collsctors 
Book-Plates 





a 


pn pp (Ps. Ixix. 29, “book of the living’; so 
LXX., Vulg., R.V. [margin]). The living are the 
righteous (second half of the verse), who aione are 
admitted to citizenship in the theocracy. The 
wicked are denied membership therein: thev are 
blotted out of God’s book (Ex. xxxii, 32 et seq.). 
The figure is derived from the citizens’ regis- 
ters (Ezek. xii. 9; Jer. xxii. 80; and Ex, xxxil. 
30-34, accordingly assigned by Holzinger to a late 
stratum; see his commentary). The Jife which the 
righteous participate in is to be understood in a 
temporal sense. In Dan. xii. 1, however, those 
who are found written in the book and who shall 
escape the troubles preparatory to the coming of the 
Messianic kingdom are they who, together with the 
risen martyrs, are destined to share in the everlasting 
life referred to in verse 2. The eternal life is cer- 
tainly meant in Enoch x\lvii. 8, civ. 1, eviii. 3, and 
frequently in the New Testament (especially in Reve- 
lation). The Targum (Isa. iv. 3; Ezek. xiii. 9) 
speaks of the “ Book of Eternal Life.” Temporal life 
is apparently prayed for in the liturgical formula: 
“TInscribe us in the Book of Life” (see ATONEMENT, 
Day OF). The Mishnah tells us that the deeds 
of every human being are recorded in a book (Abot, 
ii. 1; see iii, 16). The “Sefer Hasidim” (xxxiii.) 
pointedly adds that God is in no need of a book of 
records; “the Torah speaks the language of man ”; 
z.€., figuratively. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY ? Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 131-183; Dal- 
M. L. M. 


man, Worte Jesu, p. 171. 
K. 


BOOK-PLATES (Ex-Libris): Labels with 
emblematic designs, with references to the names 
of the owners of the 
books in which they 
are inserted. Book- , 
platescame inalmost { “SUI 
aseuies as the art of i oS ee 
printing, but one of § a: 
theearliest knownin- 4 : com 
stances of their adop- ' 
tion by Jews is the 
book-plate of David 
Friedlander, given on 
page 314. So far as 
is known, none of 
the great Jewish 





a “y's Book-Plate of De Pinto Fansiy. 


book-collectors had 
any special sign by 
which their books 
could be identified, 
ae most of them 
contented themselves 
with inserting their 
initials. 

With the revival 
of the fashion of 
book-plates in 
recent times manv 
Jews of means adopted the custom, but few of 
their book-plates have any specific Jewish interest. 





Book-Plate of D. H de Castro. 


Book-Trade 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


314 





Of recent years the artist L1LteN has designed book- 
plates of distinctly Jewish character, two of which 
are reproduced in this volume. Sce p. 315). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ost wu. West. i. 521, 522, 821-824; A. Wolf, in 
Monatschrift, xiii. 522 et seq. ; 





Book-Plate of Lady Rothschild. 
(Etched by C. W. Eherborn.) 


BOOK-TRADE: The trade in books was carried 
on by Jews long before the invention of printing. 
A catalogue of a bookseller of the twelfth century 
was unearthed a few years ago in the Fostat Geni- 
zah (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. 52). The poet Im- 
manuel of Rome (about 1800) relates that a book- 
seller named Aaron of Toledo traveled to Rome 
with 180 Hebrew manuscripts, which, however, he 
sold at Perugia. 

With the introduction of printing, the book-trade 
centered in Italy, where Hebrew printed books 
were first produced. Itinerant booksellers, after 
providing themselves with their merchandise at the 
depots of Venice, Mantua, Padua, Cremona, etc., 
traveled from place to place, offering their goods 
wherever Jews were to be found. Thus, Benjamin 
Ze’eb of Arta (1500) says that there were many itin- 
erant booksellers who greatly aided the propagation 
of Jewish books (Responsa, 68a). In the sixteenth 
century, with the increase of printing-offices in Ger- 
many, Bohemia, and Moravia, Italy gradually ceased 
to be the headquarters of the book-trade; so that in 
the middle of the seventeenth century De la Grange 
writes to Buxtorf the elder, who traded in Hebrew 
books, that he is unable to find a bookstore in Venice 
(“Rev. Etudes Juives,” viii. 75). About this time 
Frankfort-on-the-Main became the center; all books 

published in Germany, Bohemia, and 

Frankfort Poland being exhibited at the fair in 

a Center. that city. Two booksellers of Frank- 

fort, Gabriel Luria and Jacob Hamel, 

were in correspondence with Buxtorf in reference to 
the book-trade (7A. ). 


Bookselling—the only part of the book-trade with 
which this article deals—lacked organization in the 
seventeenth century, and collectors had great diffi- 
culty in obtaining Hebrew books, as is attested by 
the correspondence of Buxtorf and the high prices 
the latter charged for not very rare books. Thus, 
the commentary of Nahmanides on the Pentateuch 
with the text was sold for 9 reichsthalers; “ Obadiah 
Bartenora” for 9; Shulhan ‘Aruk for 8; “ Keli 
Hemdah” for 5; “Ralbag” for 10; Colon and Ro- 
keah for 6; and Perush on Megillot for 38. 

The organization of bookselling as a trade is first 
met with in Amsterdam, which city was the center 
of the Hebrew book-trade from the middle of the 
seventeenth century to the beginning of the nine- 
teenth. The name of Solomon ben Joseph Proops 
appeared on Hebrew books with the description 
DDD DID. the technical term for “bookseller.” In 
1730 he published, under the title “Apiryon Shelo- 
moh,” a catalogue of his stock of books. Proops’s 

firm supplied Hebrew books to small 


Amster- booksellers throughout the world. 
dam a __ Another important firm in Amsterdam 
Center. was that of Isaac Fundam, and, at the 


end of the eighteenth century, that of 
Johanan Levi Rofe. In the first half of the nine- 
teenth century the Hebrew book-trade of Aunster- 





Book-Plate of David Friedlander. 
(Designed by Daniel Chodowieckt.) 


dam, although it had lost its former importance on 
account of the relaxation of Hebrew studies in 
Europe, was still of considerable proportions. Great 
collections of books were sold through the firms of 
Herz van Embden, David Proops, Levison, Miller, 


315 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Book-Trade 





and many others. At present there are only two 
bookselling firms of any importance in Amsterdam; 
namely, those of Joachimsthal, and Levison, the suc- 
cessor of Proops. 

From the middle of the seventeenth century to the 
first half of the eighteenth Frank fort-on-the-Main 


Book-Plate of R. Brainin. 
(Designed by E. N. Lilien.) 


was the center of the Hebrew book-trade in Ger- 
many. The leading booksellers of the seventeenth 
century were: Isaac and Seligmann Reis, Joseph 
Trier Cohen, Simon Trier, and Solomon Hanau; in 
the eighteenth, Solomon ben Raphael London, Eli- 
jah ben Azriel of Wilna, Lob Schnapper, Simon Wolf 
ben Abraham Mainz, David ben Nathan Griinhut of 
Heimerdingen, and Moses ben Kalman Speier. From 
the middle of the eighteenth century the book-trade 
in Frankfort gradually declined. At present (1902) 
there are but three Hebrew booksellers of importance 
in that city; namely, J. Kauffmann, Joseph Baer, and 
Hofmann, who deal mainly in second-hand books. 
Among the other places in Germany where the 
Hebrew book-trade was carried on in the eighteenth 
century may be mentioned Altona, Dyhernfurth, 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Ftirth, and Berlin. The 
leading booksellers in Germany in the nineteenth 
century, besides those mentioned above, were: Adolf 
& Co., Asher & Co., Benzian, Bislicher Brothers, 
Calvary, and Poppelauer, at Berlin; Jacobsohn at 
Breslau; J. G. Miller at Gotha; H. W. Schmidt at 
Halle; Goldschmidt at Hamburg; Baer, Otto Har- 


| found to-day at Paris; 





rasowitz, Kohler, and Richter, at Leipsic; R. N. Rab- 
binowitz and L. Rosenthal at Mitnich; J. J. Hecken- 
bauer at Tiibingen; and Jollowicz at Posen. 

From the second half of the eighteenth century to 
the middle of the nineteenth the Hebrew book-trade 
of Alsace-Lorraine was carried on at 
Strasburg, Metz, and Lunéville by the 
printers Moses May, Ephraim Hada- 
mar, and Joseph Meir Samuel. At 
present the trade there is quite unimportant. France 
has never been a congenial ficld for the trade. Only 
three firms—and these are of no importance—can be 
namely, those of Durlacher, 


Alsace- 
Lorraine. 


Lipschitz, and Blum. 

In London two important firms, Abrahams and 
Valentine, have existed for at least a century anda 
half. 

Italy, which, as stated above, was the cradle of 
the Hebrew book-trade, had in the nincteenth cen- 


_ tury only a few firms at Leghorn, Turin, and Flor- 


ence. At the beginning of the sixteenth century 


| Prague and Cracow were important centers; the 
| trade being carried on by the Gersonides family of 


printers in the former city, and by Wedekind, Kur- 
zins, Isaac ben Aaron of Proctiz, and others in the 
latter. Later several other places, such as Brody, 


<i U 
ens TT a i 
‘ry MA fs ahs aes i Ses 


Sao TWO We 


Book-Plate of Dr. Emil Simonson. 
(Designed by E, N. Lilien.) 





Lemberg, and Vienna, became conspicuous in the 
trade. The leading booksellers in the nineteenth 
century in Austria were: Jnoepfimacher, Lippe- 
Liwy, Schlesinger, Schmid, at Vienna; Landau and 
Pascheles at Prague; Schénblum at Lemberg; 
Faust at Cracow. 

SmaJl and unimportant as was the book-trade in 
Poland and Lithuania, it developed in course of the 


Bookbindgers 
Bordeaux 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


316 





nineteenth century to such an extent that it now 
practically controls that of all other countries. 

The voluminous productions of the 
Poland and numerous printing-offices of Wilna 
Lithuania. and Warsaw reach the remotest parts 

of the world, Every city of impor- 
tance in Russia has its Hebrew booksellers; and the 
smaller towns are frequently visited by itinerant 
booksellers, who exhibit their goods in the syna- 
gogues. The leading bookselling firms in Russia 
are: Tikaschinsky, Lipschitz, Juditzky, at Byclo- 
stok; Sheftel at Berdychev; Jacob Ginzburg at Bo- 
bruisk; $. Dezenzel at Brest-Litovsk; J. D. Miller at 
Grodno; Krassik at Kiev; Hirsch Perlah at. Lodz; 
Dychna, Ulrich, and Nitzsche (Christian firm), at 
Odessa; H. Shereschewski at Rostov; Sirokin at 
Pinsk; Achiasaf, A. 8. Shapiro, Tushiyah, Zucker- 
mann, at Warsaw; Katzenellenbogen, Matz, Romm, 
Funk, at Wilna;: and Sirkin at Wolozhin. 

In the East the Hebrew book-trade was actively 
carried on in Constantinople, Salonica and Smyrna, in 
the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries ; 
but it gradually declined, and at present is insigniti- 
cant. The only place which shows any revival of 
activity is Jerusalem, where the following firms are 
established: Wertheimer, Hirschensohn, Frumkin, 
and Lunez, 

Consequent upon the increasing immigration of 
Russian Jews tothe United States, the Hebrew book- 

trade in America has developed con- 
In siderably. There are now many well- 
the United known bookselling firms, of which the 

States. following may be mentioned: Chin- 

sky, Deinard, Druckermann, Freed- 
man, Germansky, Katzenellenbogen, Rabinowitz, 
Wasserman, Werbelowski, Jewish Publishing Com- 
pany, at New York; Shidinsky and W. Schur at 
Chicago. 

J. I. 

BOOKBINDERS. See Brnpina. 

BOOT. See SHOE. 


BOOTH: A rendering, in the English versions 
of the Bible, of the Hebrew word “sukkah”: also 
occasionally translated “pavilion” or “cottage.” 
The ordinary habitation of the nomad is the tent, 
a rough textile fabric of goat’s hair. stretched on 
poles (see TENT). This tent is distinguished in the 
Old Testament from the booths, or habitations 
formed of branches, foliage, etc., occasionally con- 
structed with the aid of clay, examples of which 
may still be found among the Arabs of the Sinaitic 
peninsula. According to the law as given in Lev. 
XXxiil. 42 et seqg., the custom of dwelling in booths 
during the Feast of Tabernacles was instituted for 
the purpose of reminding the Israelites that, in the 
journey across the desert, their forefathers had also 
dwelt in booths. But the term here is undoubtedly 
employed in a general and not in a specific sense, 
and probably signifies every species of this form of 
habitation. 

The passage Gen. xxxiii. 17 proves that the 
nomads also used their tents as shelters for their 
cattle, and it is probable that the peasant of fixed 
habitation did likewise. These huts were also 
erected for the watchmen in the field (Isa. i. 8), as 


Br. 


well as for the soldiers encamped before the city 

(I Sam. xi, 11). But they served above all as a 

protection against the sun; and the prophet Jonah 

before Nineveh) seeks shade under a booth (Jonah 

iv. 5). Even to-day it is customary in certain parts 

of Palestine to erect arbors of leafy branches upon 

the housetops as a protection against the heat; and 
during the harvests of the orchards and the vintage, 
for the villagers to go into their gardens, and dwell 
there for days in their leafy cottages. The Feast of 

Tabernacles, therefore, commemorates a very ancient 

custom; for it is the great harvest and thanksgiv- 

ing festival. See TABERNACLES, FEAST oF, and 

FEASTs. I. Ber. 
J. IR. 

BOOTHS. See TABERNACLE. 

BOOTY. See War. 

BOPPARD, GERMANY. See Buioop Accv- 
SATION. 

BORCHARD, MARC: German physician and 
author; born in Mecklenburg, 1808; died at Paris 
June 21,1872. He graduated as M.D. at Halle, later 
going to France, where he became hospital and fo- 
rensic physician at Bordeaux. In that city he wasa 
member of several societies for the promotion of the 
public good. The last years of his life were spent 
at Paris. Borchard’s published works are: “Com- 
mentaires [istoriques, Critiques et Pratiques sur la 
Suette,” Paris, 1856; “L’Hygiéne Publique chez les 
Juifs, son [Importance et sa Signification dans I’ His- 
toire Générale de la Civilisation,” 7. 1865; “Etude 
sur le Mecklenbourg et sur la Question Allemande,” 
ib, 1867; “Intolérance et Persécutions Religicuses,” 
tb, 1868. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Archives Israélites, 33d year, p. 412. 

8. —  M. Rk. 

BORCHARDT, BRUNO: German physicist 
and author; born at Bromberg Nov. 17,1859. Edu- 
cated at Berlin, where he graduated as Ph.D., he 
was appointed high-school teacher; but on account 
of his socialistic convictions was compelled to resign 
his position. He then turned to journalism and be- 
came a prolific contributor to the daily press, popu- 
larizing physical and chemical problems, and report- 
ing on discoveries, inventions, and the general 
progress of science. He has published three scien- 
tific treatises: “ Das Héhenmessen mit der Barome- 
ter,” “ Wahrscheinlichkeitslehre,” 1889; “Grundriss 
der Physik,” 1892, second ed., 1900. 

a Kirschner, Deutscher Literatur-Kalenader, 
S. M. B. 
BORCHARDT, FELIX: German painter; 

born in Berlin March 7, 1857; studied at the Berlin 

Academy and with Max Michael; traveled exten- 

sively in Italy, France, Holland, and Spain, remain- 

ing five years in Spain. He is now (1902) a resident 
of Dresden in Saxony. 

Borchardt has been very successful in portrait- 
painting and in depicting scenes from nature. His 
best-known work is “Die These,” a painting of 
colossal size which represents several Neapolitan 
monks engaged in theological controversy. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ktinstler der Gegenwart, in Spemann’s 
Goldenes Buch der Kunst, No. 1140, Berlin, 1901. MF 
S. A. M. F. 


317 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bookbinders 
Bordeaux 





BORCHARDT, KARL WILHELM: German 
mathematician; born Feb. 22, 1817, at Berlin; died 
there June 27,1889. He studied from 1889 to 1848 at 
Kénigsberg, where Jacobi exerted a great influence 
on him. He passed the winter of 1846-47 at Paris, 
where he continued his mathematical studies under 
Lionville; and in 1848 he became privat-docent at 
the University of Berlin. In 1856 the Berlin Acad- 
emy of Sciences elected him amember. After the 
death of Crelles, Borchardt became editor of the 
“Journal fir die Reine und Angewandte Mathe- 
matik.” A complete edition of his works was pub- 
Hshed by the Berlin Academy of Sciences under 
the direction of G. Hettner, Berlin, 1888. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyer, Konversations-Lexiion, 1897. 


S. 


BORDEAUX: In medieval times capital of 
Guienne; to-day, of the department of La Gironde, 
France. It derives its name from Bourdelois, the 
district in which it is situated. 

According to a legend, the Jews settled at Bor- 
deaux shortly after the destruction of the Second 
Temple, and it 
is also said that 
a considerable 
number of them 
settled there in 
the sixth and 
seventh centu- 
ries, because of 
the commercial 
advantages of 
the city. Under 
Louis le Débon- 
naire they were 
allowed to trade 
freely (828). 
They had their 
own administra- 
tive and judi- 
cial systems and 
officials. The 
siave traffic, 
however, in 
which many 
Jews were con- 
cerned, was in- 











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ate 


ue dexurlla a 


TR 





R. aent’ Christo y | 


“Purge deJN.D. 
' de la Planea 


if Porta Bassa kt “a Judaic BS 


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> “' 
aut j 


te Mala 


rAd! 
(Rua dex Temp 


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oie 





Rua 





The first definite evidence of Jews in Bordeaux is 
found in a deed of 1077, where mention is made of 
the “Montemque Judaicum,” residence of the Jews 
in the suburb of Saint-Seurin, with the church of 
Saint Martin as center. There was also a “ Porta 
Judaica,” a “Rue du Petit Judas,” or “ Puits des 
Juifs,” anda“ Rue Judaique,” the last still existing. 
The dwellings of the Jews were extra muros at this 
period. Achronicle of the year 1273 mentions them 
as continuing their residence in Saint-Seurin. “Rue 
Caphernam” was then the main street in the Jewish 
quarter. 

In this early period the Jews enjoyed comparative 
freedom, though the practise of usury was on sev- 
eral occasions (1214, 1219) forbidden. The city of 
Bordeaux was under English (Ange- 
vin) dominion; hence the decree of ex- 
pulsion promulgated by the king of 
France in 1082, and the permission ac- 
corded Christians to repudiate debts due to the Jew- 
ish merchants (1182), did not affect the Jews of Bor- 
deaux. Certain taxes were imposed. Thus, about, 
1150 the Jews paid the archbishop of Bordeaux a 
poll-tax of eight 
livres, being 
considered an 
estate in mort- 
main. The 
English kings 
sought to con- 
firm the Jews in 
their ancient 
privileges; but 
the persecutions 
instituted by 


Early 
Traces. 


gost ay . : 


royal agents 
were indeed 
neat cruel, 


Persecution of 
the Jews was In- 
terdicted by Ed- 
ward J. of Eng- 
land May 23, 
1275, but broke 
out anew under 
Edward Il. The 
repressive meas- 
ures of Philip 


Chana 
A, 


~ 3 
+2 
S 
Ps 


?, 
de Cumpauriad © 


terdicted by Augustus of 
royal decree in France (1198) 
829: and from had, of course, 
3 a a Phe Porta Medaca : 
this period the ae | no application 
baptismal — rec- A a‘ to the Jews of 
a Santa ho Plan of the Northwest Section of the City of Bordeaux, About 1450, Showing the Bordeaux. leis 
‘ **Rua Judaica’ and the Jewish Quarters Outside the City Walls. : es 
entriesofconver- claimed that the 


sions to Christi- 

anity made among the slaves of the Jews. In 848 the 
Jews were accused of having delivered Bordeaux to 
the Normans to be piliaged and destroyed. The 
Normans were said to have entered the city by 
means of the “Rue Juifve,” a street which was not 
in the Jewish quarter. Again the bigoted populace 
opposed the Jews, and accused them of appealing 
to the Saracens for the purpose of laying waste the 
cities and Jands of the south. There is no proof to 
sustain either of these charges. 


(After Leo Drouyn’s ‘* Plan de Bordeaux.’’) 


persecutions at- 
tempted in 1816 and 13818 aroused the Pastouraux, 
who committed outrages all over southern France 
and northern Spain. Edward II. granted the 
Jews complete freedom of travel and trade in 
the beginning of his reign. Several Jewish mer- 
chants, however, were banished at this time ow- 
ing to the jealousy and hatred displayed by Chris- 
tian merchants toward their Jewish competitors. 
The Jewish community was recognized as such 
and had been incorporated as “Communitas Jude- 


Bordeaux 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


318 





orum Vasconie.” When the edict of Charles VI. 
was promulgated (Sept. 17, 1394), expelling all 
Jews from France, the Bordelais were not yet 
under French dominion; and when these came 
within the purview of Charles VII.’s enactments 
(1454), their position remained unchanged, al- 
though the Jews completely lost their identity as 
such. They were legally accepted as residents of 
Bordeaux, but not as Jews. Louis XI. (1462), rec- 
ognizing the value of Jewish enterprise, but disre- 
garding what was an open violation of the decree 
of expulsion, ameliorated the condition of the Jew- 
ish merchants. 

When the Jews were banished from Spain (1492) 
and Portugal (1496), the Jewish population at Bor- 
_deaux increased, for the refugees fled to the cities 
of southern France. No taxes had been paid by 
Jews as foreigners for some years, by virtue of their 
position as “Christian” residents. They continued 
to reside at Saint-Seurin, and the cemetery was 
known from early times as “Plantey deus Judius.” 
The Maranos, or New Christians, who came at vari- 
ous times from the Iberian peninsula (1496 to 1525), 
did not, as at Amsterdam, discard the forms of Chris- 
tianity at once and return to Judaism. Ancient 

statutes and more recent decrees forced 

the Portuguese Jews of Bordeaux into 
_ananomalous position, As strangers, 

they had the right to settle and reside 
inthe city. They lived as Christians, were baptized, 
married, and buried in accordance with the rites of 
the Catholic Church, and were Jewish only within 
the four walls of their homes. Among the Jewish 
families (“Portuguese merchants,” as they were 
officially designated) who settled at Bordeaux at 
this time were those of Granolhas, Ram, Tarrégua, 
Milanges, Lisana, and Lopés, or Louppes. As physi- 
cians, Jawyers, and scholars these settlers exerted 
such an influence on the life of the community that 
the “jurats” and Parliament advocated enrolling 
them as residents and often defended them from at- 
tack. They also influenced French life and letters; 
the mother of the celebrated Michel de Montaigne 
was a member of the J.upés family. 

From the beginning of the sixtcenth century the 
Jews of Bordeaux were in reality a Marano commu- 
nity, the leaders of which were the members of the 
Govea family, so often mentioned in the annals of 
the city. Until the middle of the century the exist- 
ence of the colony was dependent on the king’s will. 
The letters patent granted by Henry II. of France 
Aug., 1550, established the community on a firm 

basis. The Portuguese of Bordeaux, 


Secret 
Jews. 


Letters called “New Christians,” were given 
Patent of rights of residence and naturalization, 
1550. of property and traffic, in tine with 


similar grants to other foreigners in 
the kingdom. In this connection the rich and 
learned Goveas rendered eminent services to their 
coreligionists. However, the Maranos aroused the 
envy of the Christians, and the populace treated 
them as secret Jews (“ Juifs déguisés ”), threatening 
to procure the withdrawal of their privileges and 
to have them banished from France. 
Despite these manifestations of ill will, the Mara- 
nos secured, Nov. 12, 1574, a confirmation of the 


privileges of 1550 from Henry JII. This decree, 
registered April 19, 1580, was procured through the 
instrumentality of the Marano merchants Diego. 
Mendes Dias and Simon (Meir) Lameira. Notwith- 
standing these safeguards, the Parliament of Bor- 
deaux often came to the assistance of the Maranos, 
who were accused of Judaizing, to prevent their 
trading ventures from being restricted and their 
privileges from being curtailed. 

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the 
well-known Gradis family came to Bordeaux, and 
within one hundred years from that time the 
Marano community comprised fifty to sixty families. 
The merchants, however, continued to molest the 
Jews, and in 1604 the earlier letters patent were. 
again confirmed and royal protection of Jewish 
rights and liberties (7.¢., of the Spanish and Portu- 
guese settled at Bordeaux) decreed. This measure 
proved to be of no avail, and by chance only did the 
Jews at Bordeaux escape the effects of the decree of 
expulsion of Louis XIII. (May 238, 1615), ordering 
all Jews to leave France within one month. The 
Bordelais Parliament came to the rescue of the Jews 
in 1625, when an embargo had been laid on all ves- 
sels in port. The Jews of this period enjoyed not 
only the protection of the Parliament and “ jurats,” 
but the favor of the queen, whose Italian physician, 
De Montalte, was professedly a Jew and interested 
particularly in the welfare of the Maranos at Bor- 
deaux. 

On Dec. 4, 1636, 2 census was taken at Bordeaux, 
which enumerated 36 families and 167 individuals, 
together with 93 paupers, resident in the Portuguese 
community and “faithful Catholics at the time.” 
Of the heads of families five had been born in 
France and six naturalized. By an order of the 
council, Aug. 9, 1662, many of these were admitted 
to fuil rights as citizens of Bordeaux. The most 
prominent Portuguese families were those of Alvares, 
Cardozo, De Cisneros, Da Costa, Dias, Lacoste- 
Furtado, Lopés, Machado, Mendes, De Moura, Oli- 
veira, and Sasportas. 

In 1675, in consequence of the hatred of the other 
merchants, the Portuguese sought to leave Bor- 
deaux, and Nov. 20, 1684, many poor Jews (com- 
prising twenty-one families, the Lombresso, Cam- 
pos, and Monsanto, among others) were expelled 

from Bordeaux on the ground of trea- 

Under  sontothe king. This decree was an- 
Louis XIV. nulled Jan. 11, 1686, and from that 
date the French government tacitly 

accepted the Jews as residents of Bordeaux. The 
Jews of Bordeaux could not avoid paying the tax 
levied by the government of Louis XIV., and hence 
from 1686 were recognized as Jews. In 1656 there 
was one family of professing Jews there; in 1666, 
two; in 1676, nine; and in 1686, seventeen. They 
continued to live outwardly as Catholics. In 1710 
the Jews were interred in the cemetery of the 
Franciscans. Although numbering one hundred 
families, they had no public synagogues. The bap- 
tism of Jewish children ceased in 1727, as the rabbis 
openly performed the rite of circumcision,celebrated 
the Jewish festivals, etc. After 1730, the Jews 
were not considered as “ New Christians,” but were 
permitted to live openly as Jews, to own their ceme- 


319 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bordeaux 





tery, and to proselytize. In 1734 there were about 
350 Jewish (Portuguese and Avignonese) families at 
Bordeaux, numbering nearly two thousand individ- 
uals. In1731 David Gradis had been made a citizen, 
Louis XV. granted the Jews new letters patent 
(June, 1723), and shortly thereafter seven syna- 
gogues existed (the public, the Avignonese, and five 
private; e.g., those of the Gradis and the Peixotto). 
Many of the Jews, however, were converted to 
Christianity, and whenever privileges were granted, 
a heavy tax had to be paid. On various occasions 
the patriotic Jews lent largesumstothecity. About 
1735 Falcon and Attias were rabbis of the commu- 
nity. Jews from Avignon had settled at Bordeaux 
as early as 1722. The letters patent of 1723 did uot 
apply to them, and the Portuguese Jews looked upon 
the Avignonese as enemies whom they accordingly 
felt bound to suppress, They procured a decree of 
expulsion from the king in 1734, order- 


Avignon ing the Jews of Avignon to leave the 
Jews city within three days. Many pro- 
Expelled. cured a respite and were permitted 


to return. Certain occupations were 
closed to them; their position and commerce were 
regulated by enactments in 1739, 1740, and 1749, and 
the Dalpuget, Astruc, and Lange families were 
granted rights of residence. In 1752 another census 
of the Jews of Bordeaux showed that 1,598 Portu- 
guese Jews (827 families with 5 Jewish servants 
and 147 Catholic servants) and 848 Avignonese Jews 
(81 families with 11 Catholic servants) had set- 
tled there. The Jews from Avignon were simply 
“tolerated.” The Portuguese Jews taxed all the 
Bordeaux wines used in the ritual, and, in order to 
extend the sale of wines, established many agencies 
in foreign cities. In Germany this tax was strenu- 
ously resisted, and in 1751 Rabbi Jonathan Eybe- 
schiitz, who had come to Hainburg from Metz in 
1750, declared the Bordeaux “kosher” wines to be 
ritually impure. The tax had amounted to four 
francs per barrel; in consequence of the rabbi’s opin- 
ion this very profitable source of revenue to the 
Jews of Bordeaux was cut off, much bitter feeling 
between Germans and Portuguese was engendered, 
and the foreign agencies were discontinued. 
Meanwhile the trouble with the Jews from Avi- 
gnon continued, and the various measures adopted 
by them to secure their rights and to regulate their 
commerce were opposed by the Portuguese Jews. 
The Avignonese Jews sought to gain representation 
on the council of elders; this was strongly combated 
by the Portuguese majority ; and Isaac Pinto, who 
replied to Voltaire’s anti-Jewish pamphlets and opin- 
ions, and Jacob Rodrigues Pereire, the first scientific 
instructor of deaf-mutes in France, were deputed to 
lay the grievances of the Portuguese Jews before 
the king. In 1760 a congregational order decreed 
the expulsion of the German and Avignonese Jews 
from Bordeaux, since by the act of 1894 no Jews could 
settle in France, the Portuguese still bemg desig- 
nated as New Christians. The foreign Jews were 
reduced to beggary and ordered to leave within three 
days. Theroyal assent to this measure was obtained 
by Pereire May 13, 1763, although its provisions 
were never executed. The control of the commu- 
nity was vested exclusively in the Portuguese, the 


most prominent of the syndics of this period being 
members of the Peixotto, Gradis, Brandon, Furtado, 
and Pereire families. 

At various times during the period from 1720 to 
1773, the Jews of Bordeaux gave abundant proofs 
of their loyalty to the ruling house. Whenever the 
king or queen was sick the Jews publicly prayed 
for his or her speedy restoration to health. Money 
was often subscribed for public use. In 1766 the 
Jews gave 1,000 livres for the rescue of the French 
Christians enslaved in Morocco, and in 1773 they 
served as soldiers on the Sabbath, by the special dis- 
pensation of two rabbis from Jerusalem. to quell 
riots in the city. In June, 1776, Jacob Rodrigues 
Pereire received letters patent from Louis XVI. for 

the Jews of Bordeaux, giving them 


Letters the right to settle not only in Guienne, 
Patent of but inany part of France, and to trade 
1776. throughout the kingdom. Moreover, 


all previous grants were confirmed. 
At this time the difficulties existing between the 
French and the Jewish laws of divorce and inherit- 
ance were obliterated by an adjudication reconci- 
ling divergent views. On June 9, 1782, the Jews of 
Bordeaux subscribed 60,140 livres for a ship of the 
line, which they presented to the king. They also 
paid 100,000 livres into the royal treasury for each 
series of letters patent granted them from 1550 to 
1776. . 

At the time of the French Revolution five hun- 
dred Portuguese Jews resided at Bordeaux. These 
sought to be free and equal politically and socially. 
They asked for the recognition by the state of the 
Jewish religion, rites, and usages; and their dep- 
uties to the National Assembly, Lopés-Dubec, Fur- 
tado, Rodrigues, and David Gradis, labored actively 
in behalf of these petitions. Louis XVI. had re- 
pealed (1787) the Edict of Nantes; the National As- 
sembly drew up Aug. 4, 1789, an elaborate program 
of equal rights for all, which, however, refused to 
extend social and political equality to Jews, vouch- 
safing such only to non-Catholics “other than Jews” 
(Dec. 24, 1789). The Portuguese of Bordeaux pro- 
tested; they sought to unite all Jews in France in 
a firm union in order to obtain equal rights and 
privileges. This concert did not subsist for any 
length of time, and the Jews of Bordeaux appealed 
to the Christian deputies of the city to retain the 
privileges accorded them as New Christians. They 
pointed to the protracted duration of their residence 
in France, to the privileges of 1550, etc. Talley- 
rand, before whom they appeared, reported their 
cause favorably to the Assembly, which decided that 
the rights of the Jews as New Christians and as 
Frenchmen should not be curtailed (Jan. 28, 1790). 
The Jews of Bordeaux were thus the first to be 
admitted by law to the rights of French citizenship. 
From the privileges granted by the decree, the 
German and other French Jews were particularly 
excluded. 

From this time many Jews were elected to na- 
tional or municipal positions. David Gradis was a 
member of the third estate from Bordeaux. During 
the Reign of Terror the Jews fared well, though 
many of their number, notably members of the 
Astruc, Azevedo, Errera, Lange, Lopés, Pereire, 


Bordeaux 
Borek 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


320 





Perpignan, Peixotto, and Raba families, were heavily 
fined and amerced of their goods. At Bordeaux only 
a single Jew, Jean Mendes, was guil- 
Under the lotined, and Abraham Furtado was 
Revolution the only one proscribed. In 1806 the 
and number of Jews at Bordeaux was 
Napoleon. 2,131, and the Bordelais took an active 
part in the several councils and the 
Grand Sanhedrin of Napoleon. There were nine 
synagogues at this time, the chief families of the 
community being those of Gradis, Furtado, Raba, 
Fonseca, Peynado, and Cardozo. Abraham Furtado 
and Isaac Rodrigues represented the Jews of Bor- 
deaux at the Sanhedrin. 

Napoleon promulgated several restrictive meas- 
ures (March 17, 1808), but the Jews of Bordeaux 
were especially exempted, as there had been no 
complaints concerning them. In 1809, by the new 
laws relating to the Jews, Abraham Furtado was 
made chicf rabbi of Bordeaux, and in 1814 Abra- 
ham Andrade succeeded him. The new synagogue, 
consecrated In 1812, was destroyed in 1872, and the 
present synagogue was erected, being inaugurated 
Sept. 9, 1882. The community numbcred such men 
of letters as Jacob Rodrigues Monsantoand Furtado 
among its citizens. Many of its members have been 
active in public life, in commerce, and in industry. 
The brothers Emile and Isaac Pereire were well- 
known financiers during the second empire. David 
Marx was chief rabbi from 1837 to 1864; he was fol- 
lowed by Simon Lévy and Isaac Lévy, the present 
incumbent. The following charitable societies are 
to be found to-day (1902): Société de Guémilhouth- 
Hassadim, Société de Bienfaisance, Société des 
Dames de PHumanité, Société des Dames de la Lar- 
gesse, and Ecole Consistoriale de Garcons. The 
community now (1902) numbers about three thou- 
sand individuals. Henri Gradis is president of the 
local consistory, and Baron Alphonse de Rothschild 
delegate to the central consistory in Paris. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Detcheverry, L’Histoire des Juifs de Bor- 

deaux, 1850; Théophile Malvezin, Histoire des Juifs ad Bor- 

deaux, Bordeaux, 1875; Arch. Isr. de France, Paris, ii. 659, 

vi. 598, xxxvi. 757; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, vols. ix. and xi.; 

Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 111; E. Gaullieur, in Rev. Et. 

Juives, xi. 78; L. Cardozo de Bethencourt, ib. xx. 2873; xxv. 
97, 235; A. Mary F. Robinson, in Fortnightly Review, 
1892, lvii. 869; Michel, Histoire du Commerce a Bordeaux, 
ii, 409 et seq., Bordeaux, 1867-70; Drouyn, Bordeaux Vers 
1450, Bordeaux, 1874 (Archives Municipales, tome complé- 
mentaire), giving an elaborate map showing the residence 
of the early Jews at Saint-Seurin:; Livre des Bourgeois, in 
Archives Historiques du Département de la Gironde, vol. 

XXXili., Bordeaux, 1898, which gives the names of many Jew- 

ish residents of Bordeaux in the seventeenth and eighteenth 

centuries J. Baurein, Variétés Bordeloises, ii. 27, iv, 52, 

Bordeaux, 1876; J. Rodrigues-Monsanto, Calendrier Heébra- 
ique (for fifty years), Bordeaux, 1814; Henry Lucien-Brun, La 

Condition des Juifs en France, pp. 16 et seq., Lyons, 1900; 

Gritz, in Monatsschrift, xxiv. 447 et seq., 500 et seq., 556 et 
seq. 


G. A. M. F. 


BORDERS: Ornamental designs surrounding 
printed pages. The first ornaments for title-pages 
consisted of arabesque borders with white fig- 
ures. They are found in books printed at Lisbon, 
1489-92, the plates of which, together with Elie- 
zer Toledano’s types, were subsequently taken to 
Salonica, where they were used in the printing- 
establishment of Don Judah Gedaliah, who had pre- 
viously worked in Lisbon. A border of flowers and 
animals, similar to the border used in many of the 


Naples prints, is found as early as the Tur Orah 
Hayyim published at Leiria, 1495. The borders in 
some editions of the Soncino press are artistically 
executed, as are those produced by the Gersonideg 
at Prague; those of the prayer-book, Prague, 1527, 
and of the Pentateuch, Prague, 1530, are remarka- 
ble for their beauty. On the top of the title-page 
of the Tur Orah Hayyim, Prague, 1540, Moses is 
represented with the tablets of the Law; below are 
two lions, a crown over a city gate (the coat of arms 
of Prague), and to the right and left winged men 
with shields; in addition, a “ David’s shield” on the 
right side and a ewer on the left. The same design 
is found in the Prague editions of the seventeenth 
century. 

The style of printing current at Prague was taken 
as 2 model by the wandering printer Hayyim 
Schwarz in his editions made at Augsburg, 1583-43, 
and Heddernheim, 1546. Thus, the title-page of 
the Heddernheim Selihah is similar to the border of 
the Prague Haggadah of 1526; Adam and Eve sug- 
gest Diirer’s female figures, but are not nearly so 
well modeled. Theinfluence of this Haggadah may 
also be seen in some editions printed at Cracow by 
Halicz in 1534. The title-page of Isserlein’s “Sha- 
‘are Dura” has a white arabesque border, and two 
angels with flute and drum at the top. Portals are 
most frequently used, being found on the first Bom- 
berg editions at Venice, and occurring as late as the 
nineteenth century, sometimes with straight, some- 
times with twisted, pillars. Hans Holbein, the 
younger, cut the title-border for Miinster’s Chaldean 
Lexicon, Basel, 1527, which resembles the border of 
the “ Abkat Rokel,” Augsburg, 1540. The border to 
Boeschenstein’s Hebrew grammar, Augsburg, 1514, 
was formerly erroneously ascribed to Direr. The 
title-borders of the Midrash Tanhuma (Verona, 1595) 
and of some of Foa’s publications at Sabbionetta—for 
example, “Mirkebet ha-Mishneh ”—deserve special 
mention among those produced in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Some editions made at Amsterdam, Frank- 
fort-on-the-Oder, and Prague during the seventeenth 
century have as an ornament on the title-page an 
eagle, on the wings of which Jacob’s entry into 
Egypt and his meeting with Joseph are represented. 
The book “Bet Levi” and some others printed at 
Zolkiev in 1732 have a border surprisingly elaborate 
for that establishment. Sulzbach editions of the 
Mahzor frequently have rich title-page ornaments. 
Moses and Aaron with two angels above them are 
seen in the editions of Zolkiev, 1764, and in many 
from Frankfort-on-the-Oder and Amsterdam. 

Borders from non-Hebraic books were frequently 
borrowed for editions produced at Frankfort-on-the- 
Main in the eighteenth as well as in the nineteenth 
century and at the present time. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider and Cassel, in Ersch and Gru- 

ber, Encyc. ii, 25 et seqg., 28, 

J. A. F. 

BOREK: Town in the district of Koschimin, 
province of Posen, Germany. So long as the city 
was under the domination of the Church, Jews were 
not permitted to settle there; but they were granted 
this right by the Polish proprietor Von Nyeswas- 
dowski when it came under his administration dur- 
ing the middle of the eighteenth century. In the 


iV AARR Een Mec ie 


ocean aay 
PEED. 





SONCINO BORDER. 
(rom the title-page of “ Sefer Yehoshua,” printed by Soncino. In the collection of Hon. Maver Sulzberger.) 


Borerim 
Bérne 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


322 





year 1798, when Prussia took possession of Borek, 
there were already 448 Jews there, who maintained 
a synagogue—which was replaced by a new one in 
1857—as well as a cemetery. At the present time 
(1902) the Jewish population of Borek numbers only 
150 souls, out of a total population of 2,000. 

Borek is the birthplace of Elias Guttmacher, 
known by the name “ Gritzer Raw.” 

D. M. L. B. 


BORERIM: Name of electors of a congregation, 
and applied particularly to the five distinguished 
representatives of the community in the old “ Kahals ” 
(governing boards) of the Jews in Poland and Lith- 
uania. The borerim were chosen by nine sworn 
mandatories, who were elected by ballot from among 
the tax-paying members of the community. The 
function of the borerim was to elect and appoint 
the aldermen of the kahal. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Dubnov, Istoricheskiya Soobshchentya, in 
Voskhod, 1897, iv. 98. 
H. R. 


BORGER or BURGER, SOLOMON BEN 
DAVID COHEN: Cabalist; lived at Ziilz, Prus- 
sia, in the seventeenth century; corrector of the 
press in the printing-house of Shabbethai Bass at 
Dyhernfurth. He published (Amsterdam, 1688), 
with additions of his own, the cabalistic commen- 
taries on the Pentateuch, “Pa‘aneah Raza” (The 
Revealer of the Secret), compiled in the thirteenth 
century by Isaac ha-Levi ben Judah. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1127; First, 

Bibl. Jud. i. 137. 

K, I. Br. 

BORIS, MOSES: French colonel; born in the 
department of Meurthe in 1808; died in Paris June 
13, 1884. At the age of twenty-six he entered the 
military school of Saint-Cyr, and upon his gradua- 
tion was appointed tutor, gradually rising to the 
rank of captain. He so distinguished himself in the 
suppression of the Paris riots, June, 1848, that he 
was appointed chief of battalion. In the Crimean 
and Italian wars he took an active part, and was 
promoted to the rank of colonel in 1861. He later 
became officer of the Legion of Honor, and was 
placed on the retired list in 1868. Boris always 
took a lively interest in everything relating "to 
Judaism. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Archives Israclites, July 24, 1884, p. Felt 

s. : 


BORISOV: Town and district in the government 
of Minsk, Russia; situated ona peninsula on the left 
bank of the Beresina, about fifty miles from the cap- 
ital. The Jewish population (1900) of the town was 
over 10,000 in a total of 18,348; of the district it was 
14,802 in a total of 158,662. 

The Jewish community of Borisov dates from the 
sixteentk: century, and was at one time considered 
one of the important communities of Lithuania. 
The Jewish merchants of the city carried on a large 
trade with Riga in grain and lumber by way of 
the Dina river, and with South Russia by the 
Dnieper. In 1812, during the disastrous passage of 
the Beresina by the French army, the Jews showed 
their patriotism toward the Russian government 
by voluntarily building a bridge, which was of great 


service to the Russian army, and by erecting at their 
own expense a hospital for wounded and sick sol- 
diers. For this they received the grateful acknowl- 
edgment of Emperor Alexander I. Since the con- 
struction of the Moscow-Brest railroad the business 
of Borisov has declined rapidly, and the Jewish 
community is becoming impoverished. The city 
contains nine houses of prayer, two for Mitnagdim 
and seven for Hasidim; two public and seven private 

Hebrew schools, a Talmud Torah, a free loan asso- 

ciation, a hospital, a home for the poor, and an ele- 

mentary trade-school. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Entziklopedicheski Slovar, s. v.; Eeneset 
ha-Gedolah, i. 26-82, Warsaw, 1890; Bogdanovich, Istoria 
Aleksandra I. iii., passim, St. Petersburg, 1869; Mandelkern, 
Dibre Jeme Russia, iii. 88, Warsaw, 1875. 

H, R. M. R. 


BORISPOL: A village in the district of Pereya- 
slav, government of Poltawa. Its population of 
10,000 embraces about 1,000 Jews. Of the latter, 
157 are artisans. Instruction in the Talmud Torah 
is imparted to 114 Jewish children, the remainder 
attending five elementary schools. From 1648 to 
1649 many Jewish families were killed in Borispol 
by the Cossacks under Chimielnicki. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Statistics gathered by the Jewish Colonization 

Association ; Regesty + Nadpisi, etc., No. 924. gy 

H. R. Ja, 


BORKUM, KALMAN BEN PHINEAS 
SELIGMAN: Court Jew of Duke Peter Biron of 
Courland; born in the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury; died at Mitau in 1828, on the same day that his 
brother Simson died. Owing to the influence of the 
Borkum brothers, Jews were permitted to settle 
permanently in Mitau, to organize themselves into 
a community, and to engage in trade and bandi- 
crafts within the dukedom of Courland. im 1775 
the Jews of Mitau were permitted to send their chil- 
dren to a gymnasium called the Academic High 
School. In 1784 Kalman Borkum erected, at his 
own expense, a synagogue and all the other build- 
ings necessary for the Jewish community. See 
CoURLAND; MITAUD. 


BIRBLIOGRAPHY: R. Wunderbar, Gesch. der Juden in Liv- 
und Kurland, p. 26, Mitau, 1858. 
H. R. 


BORN, GUSTAV JACOB: German histologist 
and medical author; born at Kempen, province of 
Posen, Prussia, April 22, 1851. Hereceived his edu- 
cation first at the gymnasium of GOrlitz, Prussian 
Silesia—where his father practised as a physician 
and held the position of Kreisphysieus (district phy- 
sician)—and afterward at the universities of Breslau, 
Bonn, Strasburg, and Berlin, graduating as physi- 
cian from Breslau in 1876. In the same year he was 
appointed assistant prosector and privat-docent at 
the University of Breslau, and in 1877 prosector. 
In 1886 he was elected assistant professor, and in 
1898 professor of histology and comparative anat- 
omy, at the same university, receiving the Prussian 
Order of the Red Eagle of the fourth class in the 
latter year. 

Several technical inventions, as well as new meth- 
ods in the field of microscopy and embryology, have 
made Born’s name prominent. Well known among 
these is a method for reproducing and plastically 


323 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Borerim 
Borne 





enlarging small anatomical and embryological ob- 
jects, which was described in “Zeitschrift fir Wis- 
senschaftliche Mikroscopie,” vol. v. 

Born has written about fifty essays and works 
pertaining to his specialty, among which are: 
“Ueber das Extremititenskelett der Amphibien und 
Reptilien ” ; “ Weber die Nasenhéhle und den Thranen- 
nasengang bei Allen Wirbelthieren von den Am- 
phibien Aufwarts” (this series of articles is pub- 
lished in Gegenbauer’s “ Morphologisches Jahrbuch,” 
vols. ii~vii.); “ Beitrige zur Entwicklungsgeschichte 
des Siugethierherzens,” in “ Archiv fiir Mikrosco- 
pische Anatomie,” vol. xxxii.; “Ueber die Derivate 
der Embryologischen Schlundbégen und Schlund- 
spalten bei Sd&ugethieren,” 7b, 1888; “ Beitriige zur 
Bastardirung Zwischen den Einheimischen Amei- 
senarten,” in Pfliger’s “Archiv fiir die Gesammte 
Physiologie,” 1883; “ Biologische Untersuchungen,” 
part 1: “Ueber den Einfluss der Schwere auf das 
Froschei,” in “Archiv fiir Mikroscopische Ana- 
tomie,” 1885; “Biologische Untersuchungen,” part 
2; “Weitere Beitrige zur Bastardirung Zwischen 
den Einheimischen Ameisen,” 7. 1886; “ Ueber 
- Druckversuche an Froscheiern,” in “ Anatomischer 
Anzeiger,” 1898, viii,. Nos. 18,19. His most impor- 
tant work, however, is “Ueber Verwachsungs- Ver- 
suche mit Amphibienlarven,” Leipsic, 1897. 

8. ee eG 


BORNE, KARL LUDWIG: German political 
and literary writer; born May 6, 1786, at Frank fort- 
on-the-Main; died in Paris Feb. 12, 1887. The 
family name was Baruch, and he received the name 
of Loeb, both of which he afterward changed. Both 
his grandfather and his father, Jacob Baruch, were 
engaged in business, and employed as fiscal and 
purchasing agents for the government. Loeb and 
his two brothers were taught at home by a private 
tutor, one Jacob Sachs. When Sachs had done 
what he could for young Borne, the latter came 
directly under the private tuition of Rector Mosche 
of the gymnasium. 

At fourteen years of age Bérne went to the newly 
established institute of Professor Hetzel in Giessen, 
with the idea of preparing for a med- 
ical course, and remained there about 
ayear. His father arranged with Dr. 
Marcus Herz, the celebrated physician 
in Berlin, whose home was an intellectual center 
that attracted such men as Humboldt and Schlegel, 
to receive Borne as a resident pupil, and to guide 
him in his studies at the clinics. The youth of 
sixteen fell in love with Henriette Herz, then in her 
thirty-eighth year, in the fulness of her beauty and 
the ripeness of her intellectual power. When her 
husband, the doctor, died in 1808, Borne told her the 
story of his love; but, with the wisdom that was 
characteristic of her, she quieted his passion and 
soothed his anguish, and soon after he went to the 
University of Halle, where she secured for him a 
home in the household of Professor Reil, whose lec- 
tures he attended, as well as those of F. A. Wolf, 
Steffens, and notably Schleiermacher. The letters 
which Bérne wrote from Halle to Henriette Herz, 
together with selections from his diary relating to 
his association with her, were published as “ Briefe 


Early 
Years. 


des Jungen Borne an Henriette Herz,” 1861. The 
insight into the higher intellectual life of Berlin and 
Halle diverted him from his medical studies, and 
as the loss of its rights as a free city by Frankfort 
and its domination by the French had resulted in 
securing civil rights for the Jews, Borne announced 
(1807) his intention to follow a public career. 
Therefore he entered upon a course of legal, 
political, financial, and administrative studies at the 
University of Heidelberg. The result of his labors 
was that he secured in 1811 a cierical position in the 





Dr. Borvwnr 


police bureau in his native city, but not before he 
had gone once again to Giessen to secure his degree 
as doctor of philosophy (Aug. 8, 1809); his disser- 
tation, “Ueber die Geometrische Vertheilung dcr 
Staatsgebiete,” being published shortly afterward 
in Professor Crome’s “Germanien” (vol. fii.). In 
Hart's periodical, “Der Cameral-Correspondent,” 
there appeared in 1809 an article by Borne, entitled 


~“Von dem Gelde.” 


During the period of his service in the ducal 
police bureau, he delivered a course of lectures in 
the Jewish lodge of Freemasons at Frankfort, under 
the title “Zur Aufgehenden Morgenréthe,” and be- 
gan his journalistic career, in its political phase, by 
contributing a series of short anonymous articles to 
the “Frankfurter Journal,” in which he sought to 
arouse the Germans to a sense of the ignominy of 
submitting to the French invasion, and by this 
means helped in awakening the old Teutonic spirit. 
In 1815, after the downfall of Napoleon, there set in 
that long night of political reaction in Germany, 


Borne 
Borodavka 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


324 





which continued until dawn began to break in 1848— 
that epochal year ushered iu by “ Young Germany ” 
which was the fruit of the toils of Borne and Heine. 

These thirty-three years were indeed years of 
political torpor and of domination of bureaucratic 

tyranny. Patriots like Moritz Arndt 

‘Young and Otto Jahn were indicted for high 
Germany.” treason; those who had most capably 

labored for the reorganization of Prus- 
sia were no longer heeded or needed in the service 
of the state: university students were imprisoned en 
masse for the most trivial offenses; all of the wri- 
tings of Heine were interdicted; scholars like the 
brothers Grimm, Gervinus, and Dahlmann were dis- 
missed from their chairs in the university; and the 
censor was the most potent influence in literature. 

When the Jews of Frankfort were relegated to 
the “Judengasse,” the difficult problem was pre- 
sented of what was to be done with Borne, the only 
Jewish official in the service. Every trick and de- 
vice was resorted to in order to induce him to resign, 
but he refused; so at last but one course remained 
oper, and he was dismissed. What Borne felt at 
this time can be well discerned froma perusal of the 
satirical sketch “Jews in the Free City of Frank- 
fort” in “Fragmente und Aphorismen” (“Gesam- 
meite Schriften,” ed. 1840, vol. iii.). At the request 
of the Frankfort congregation he prepared a mono- 
graph entitled “Aktenmiassige Darstellung des 
Biirgerrechts der Israeliten in Frankfurt,” and two 
pamphlets, “Fir die Juden” and “Die Juden und 
Ihre Gegner,” the latter of which was written at the 
suggestion of his father, by whom, however, it was 
suppressed on account of its bitterness. 

And yet on June 5, 1818, Loeb Baruch went to 
Roédellieim and was baptized by Pastor Bertuch as 
a convert to the Lutheran Church; assuming the 
name of “Karl Ludwig Borne.” That he had be- 
come estranged from the ceremonial 
observance of Judaism was generally 
known, but nothing of his previous 
career, nor indeed anything in Nis life 
after baptism, would have led any one to believe 
that he had become a Christian. 

In 1818 he began the publication of the periodical 
“Die Wage,” which at once elicited wide-spread at- 
tention and admiration. He contributed articles of 
the most diversified character on literature, art, soci- 
ety, the drama, and, of course, politics. His dra- 
matic criticisms, however, created the greatest sen- 
sation. An echo of the consideration given to the 
magazine by the learned circles is recorded in a 
letter by Rachel, in which the writer can hardly 
find adequate terms in which to express her appre- 
ciation. She afterward became a contributor to 
“Die Waage.” In 1819 Borne also assumed editorial 
charge of the “Zeitung der Freien Stadt Frankfurt.” 
His experiences with the censor were, however, of 
such a constantly unpleasant nature that he gave 
up the struggie after fonr months of endurance. 
He took his revenge, however, on his antagonist by 
writing his “Denkwiirdigkeiten der Frankfurter 
Censur.” 

It was about this period that there began the 
platonic relations of Bérne with Madame Wot, with 
whom he had become acquainted several years 


His 
Baptism. 


before, which continued until his death. Sheaided, 
encouraged, and inspired him in his work; nursed 
and tended him during the years preceding hig 

death. 
In 1840 Heine, in his post-mortem criticism “ Ueber 
Ludwig Borne,” referred insinuatingly to the rela- 
tions that subsisted between the de. 


Relations parted and Madame Wohl, who in the 
with mean time had married one Solomon 
Jeanne Strauss. The latter challenged the 
Wohl. poet, and after the duel Heine sent a 


letter to Dr. Wertheim, which was 
published in the “ Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung,” 
in which he retracted the insinuations and declared 
them to be based on erroneous and groundless as- 
sumptions. This letter is to be found as a prefatory 
note to the Borne monograph in Heine’s works. 

Before leaving Frankfort for Paris in 1821, Borne 
wrote his celebrated “Monographie der: Deutschen 
Postschnecke.” This is one of the finest specimens 
of sustained humor in the German language, and 
with bis “Esskitinstler” indicates the high-water 
mark of his work in this direction. The letters 
which he wrote during this period (1819 to 1822) 
constitute the bulk of the publication “ Nachge- 
lassene Schriften,” Mannheim, 1844-50. 

It was at about this time that his father, solicitous 
as ever for his son’s welfare, used his influence with 
the high officials in Vienna to secure for Borne the 
appointment as imperial councilor, a sinecure with- 
out conditions or obligations, but with reasonable 
emoluments. Borne, however, would not accept 
the position. It is probable that tle unpleasantness 
occasioned by this refusal led to his trip to Paris, 
where he remained but a short time, leaving there 
in the summer of 1822 to go to Heidelberg. At the 
latter place occurred the first of the hemorrhages 
that marked the beginning of the disease that was 
so soon to cut short his career. 

It was not until 1826 that be was actively at 
work again in Frankfort. He was now a regular 

contributor to Menzel’s “ Literatur- 


His Blatt” and Berty’s “Iris.” To this 
Peregri- time belongs his splendid eulogium 
nations. upon Henriette Sontag, the great opera 


singer, and the magnificent memorial 
address on Jean Paul Richter, delivered by Bérne 
in the Museum in Frankfort Dec. 2, 1825, and which 
is considered by many to be his masterpiece: it is 
certainly the ablest of his contributions to serious 
literary criticism. 

The winter of 1827 was spent in Berlin. In the 
following year Bérne went to Hamburg, and while 
there arranged with Campe for the publication of 
a collected edition of his writings, which thercafter 
appeared in eight volumes (1829-34), 

All this time, however, Bérne was gradually get- 
ting worse in health. Trying one after another of 
the various resorts, he finally spent the summer of 
1830 in Bad Soden, where there came to him the 
tidings from Paris of the Revolution of July. This 
fired his heart, and nothing would do but he must 
go to Paris himself to witness the realization of his 
dreams of liberty and republicanism, 

Here, besides his articles in French contributed to 
the “ Reformateur,” edited by Raspail, and editing 


325 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Borne 
Borodavka 





a periodical of his own, “Ia Balance,” he began the 
publication of his famous “ Briefe aus Paris.” Like 
almost everything that Bérne wrote, these letters 
are still of vital interest, even though they are al- 
most exclusively political, They are dominated, 
however, by the main object of preaching the doc- 
trine of human liberty, the theory of human equal- 
ity before the law, and the divine right of the 

republican form of government. Jn 


‘‘Briefe these letters, though they bristle with 
aus wit and teem with humorous touches, 
Paris.” his powers of invective, of pathos, of 


persuasion, are at their very highest. 
He lays bare with unsparing skill the manifold stu- 
pidities and tyrannies of the governing classes in the 
German fatherland that is so dear to him, and revels 
in the delights of the freedom to be enjoyed in 
France, The ideal that he strives for is a united 
Germany, freed from the bonds and shackles of 
medieval kingships, princeships, and lordships, liv- 
ing in close bonds of amity with France; and he 
vindicates violent revolution to secure the rights of 
the people. . 

It is easy to understand, considering conditions in 
Germany even to-day, seventy years later, what a 
furor these letters created. Periodicals were filled 
with controversial writings, and pamphlets and 
works were issued in quick succession controverting 
or defending the ideas of Bérne; the most important 
being those of Meyer and Wurms of Hamburg, and 
Willibald Alexis, the novelist of Berlin. 

One of the bitterest of Borne’s critics, however, 
was the historian Menzel, who appealed to the baser 
sentiments of his readers by denouncing Bérne as 
unpatriotic, as being more of a Frenchman than a 
German, and as loving France better than Germany. 
To bim Borne addressed the last work that he pro- 
duced, the virulent controversial treatise “ Menzel, 
der Franzosen-Fresser, Paris, 1836.” 

The long and severe illness of which he was the 
victim at last overcame him, and he died, as stated, 
on Feb. 12, 1887. He was buried at Pére Lachaise, 
Wenedey and Raspail pronouncing the last words 
over his grave. The spot is marked by a statue ex- 
ecuted by the sculptor David, which, besides the 
head of Borne, bears a relicf representing France 
and Germany extending their hands to each other 
under the blessing of Freedom. The best portrait 
of him is that by Moritz Oppenheim. The house in 
which he was born bore, until it was demolished, a 
memorial tablet. In 1842 there appeared in Paris 
“Fragments Politiques et Littéraires” from Bérne’s 
writings, with a prefatory note by M. de Cormenin. 
As late as 1862 there was published at Hamburg 
a new complete edition of his works in twelve 
volumes. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gutzkow, Birne’s Leben, 1840: Heine, Veber 
Borne, 1840; Riesser, Borne und die Juden, Altenburg, 
1831; Holzmann, L. B. (1888); Joh. Proelsz, Das Junge 
Deutschland, 1892. 

g, M. Co. 


BORNSTEIN, ARTHUR: German author; 
born at Breslau March 23, 1867; studied at Breslau, 
Berlin, and Bern; and passed the state examination 
in Berlin in 1888. He adopted the profession of 
dental surgery, but devoted himself as well to liter- 
ature. A volume of his short stories was published 


under the title “ Klippen,” at Berlin in 1894. Inthe 
following year appeared his drama, “Der Theater- 
arzt.” He has since published a number of short 
stories, humorous sketches, learned articles, and 
poems. His “Vergniigte Geschichten” was pub- 
lished in 1900 (Hinrichs, “ Bticher-Verzeichnis ”), 
He is a member of the Deutsche Schriftsteller- 
Genossenschaft. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Das Geistige Berlin. 

Ss, M. Co. 

BORNSTEIN, PAUL: German author; born 
in Berlin April 8, 1868; educated in and graduated 
from the university in that city, receiving the degree 
of doctor of philosophy. He has since lived in the 
German capital. His first published work was the 
“Memoiren des Cagliostro,” Berlin, 1892, which was 
one of the volumes of the “ Memoiren-Bibliothek ” 
(in 15 vols.). This was reprinted separately in 1894 
under the title “Abenteuer des Geistes.” In 1896 
his novel, “Aus Dimmerung und Nacht,” was pub- 
lished. In the same year he founded the “Monats- 
schrift fiir Neuere Litteratur und Kunst,” which he 
edited and to which he contributed, besides a num- 
ber of literary reviews and poems, the following 
essays: “Vom Weibe,” “ Boulevard-Hellenismus,” 
“in Satirisches Capriccio,” “Die Eheim Modernen 
Roman,” “ Maurice Maeterlinck,” “ Yvette Guilbert.” 
The first number of the “Monatsschrift ” appeared 
in Oct., 1896; and with the issue for Sept., 1898, the 
publication was discontinued. 

In 1899 appeared his critical work, “Die Dichter 
des Todes in der Modernen Litteratur,” and his “ Ge- 
sammelte Essays”; and in the following year his 
monograph on Maeterlinck was republished. He 
has also translated a number of works from the 
French; among others, from Jeanne Marni: “ Pariser 
Droschken,” “So Sind Nun die Kinder,” “ Gross- 
stadtpflinzchen,” and “Die Memoiren des Herzogs 
von Lauzun.” 

The most important work with which Bornstein 
is identified is the encyclopedic review of achieve- 
ments in every sphere of activity and thought in 
Germany during the nineteenth century, the pub- 
lication of which, under the title “Am Ende des 
Jahrhunderts,” was begun in 1898; Bornstein, as 
editor, being aided by a large staff of young and 
enthusiastic scholars notable in their respective 
fields of learning and research. To date (1902) there 
have appeared twenty-three volumes, the third of 
which, entitled “Juden und Judentum im Neun- 
zehnten Jahrhundert,” is a substantial contribution 
to Jewish literature and history, by S. Bernfeld. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kiursehbner, Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, 
1901; Hinrichs, Bitcher-Verzeichnis. 


S. M. Co. 


BORODAVKEKA, or BRODAVKA, ISAAC: 
Lithuanian farmer of taxes and distillery privi- 
leges; lived in the sixteenth century at Brest- 
Litovsk. He is first mentioned in a grant issued by 
King Sigismund August, Jan. 1, 1560, to David 
Shmerlevich of Brest-Litovsk, and his partners, 
Isaac Borodavka and Abraham Dlugach, entitling 
them, for the term of seven years, to collcct the duties 
on goods and merchandise passing through Minsk, 
Wilna, Novgorod, Brest, and Grodno. For this they 


Borodavka 
Borrower 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


326 





were required to pay into the royal treasury 6,808 
copes annually. During Easter of the following 
year Borodavka, among others, was granted the salt 
monopoly for seven years, and several weeks later, 
on Saint Margaret’s day (June 27), the king signed 
an edict permitting Borodavkaand Jacob Dilukgach 
to build breweries in Byelsk, Narva, and Klescht- 
scheli. They were to be sole brewers for these towns 
until Jan. 1, 1566, when the breweries built by 
them were to be delivered to the king. They were 
also to pay into the royal treasury 60 copes each year. 

Borodavka and his partners were unpopular 
among their Polish competitors, who were covetous 
of the same “ privileges”; and this enmity, fed and 
encouraged by race prejudice, was not slow in mani- 
festing itself in acts injurious to the Jews. On 
Sept. 10, 1565, David Schmerlevich and Isaac Boro- 
davka succeeded in wresting the lease holdings in 
Volhynia from the Christian farmers Borzobogaty by 
offering to the crown 600 copes a year in excess of 
the amount paid by the latter. One of the Borzo- 
bogatys and a certain Zagorovski appear as the 
principal witnesses in a claim preferred by Prince 
Yanush Andrushovich, bishop of Lutzk and Brest, 
against Schmerlevich and Borodavka for unlawfully 
collecting taxes from his subjects, the commoners of 
Torchin, Volhynia. 

Decrees were repeatedly issued by the crown ur- 
ging the subjects of the king to assist in every way 
the royal farmers of taxes and their “servants” in 
the collection of duties on goods and of royalties on 
distilleries. These decrees, or “universals,” were 
invariably the reply of the erown to the complaints 
of Isaac Borodavka and other Jewish leaseholders 
that “ goods were carried up and down thie rivers 
Bug, Mukhavetz, Bobyer, and Narew,” past the 
established custom-houses, and no duty paid. This 
mutual animosity led even to acts of violence. 
Abraham Dlukgach was mercilessly beaten and 
robbed by the “servants ” of the widow of Ivan Bogo- 
vitonovich.Kozirutski. David Schlomich, “servant” 
of Schmerlevich and Borodavka, was cruelly beaten 
and robbed by the “servants” of Peter Chekhoski, 
another farmer of taxes. 

Very soon there were accusations of shedding in- 
nocent Christian blood. In Narva, Byelsk, and 
Rosokhi, “servants” of the tax-collectors were 
accused of murder. The most rigid investigation 
proved these accusations to be groundless; not, how- 
ever, before one of the accused had paid for them 
with his life. 

In the records for July 13, 1564, it is stated that 
the royal chamberlain, Andrei Rozhnovski, an eye- 
witness of the hanging of Bernat Abramovich at 
Byelsk, deposes that he had heard the doomed 
man solemnly declare (on the gallows), before the 
face of his God, that he had not killed any little girl 
at Narva, nor received any orders for assassination 
from his master, Isaac Borodavka; and that Yezoph, 
his comrade and companion in misfortune, then under 
arrest in the castle, was not guilty of the crime, but 
had made a confession of guilt to the authorities in 
the prison because he could not endure the torture 
of being burned with candies. He furthermore as- 
serted that their accusers desired thus to revenge 
themselves upon Borodavka. Thereupon King 


Sigismund August, by special decree (1564), ordered 
that in the future all such accusations against the 
Jews should be laid before him for his persona] 
examination, the accused in the mean time to be ex- 
empt from torture. 

Two years later Nakhim, another “servant” of 
Isaac Borodavka, and the subcollector of taxes in 
Rosokhi, or Rososhi, was accused of the murder of 
a Christian child. A second decree of the king 
(1566), entered on the records, required that all 
Jews accused of murdering Christians or of defiling 
the Eucharist should be brought to him for trial, 
and the accused were to suffer the penalty of the 
crime, in the event of their failure to prove the 
accused guilty, according to the accepted practise 
of legal procedure. Ten years later (1576) King 
Stephen Bathori confirmed the Jews, his subjects 
(“who tarry in our dominions, the great duke- 
dom of Lithuania”), in the rights and privileges 
granted them by Sigismund August. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Russko-Yevreiskt Arkhiv. ii., Nos. 72, 92, 140, 
etc.; Regesty, Nos. 514, 523, ete. 
H. R. M. Z. 


BOROFSKY, SAMUEL HYMAN: Born at 
Wolkovyshki, government of Suvalki, Russian Po- 
land, April, 1865. He was educated in the schools 
of his native place, and afterward in the Jews’ Free 
School at Manchester, England, to which place he 
had been taken in 1874. In 1876 he was apprenticed 
to a cabinet-maker, and in 1879 removed to Boston, 
Mass., where his mother and the rest of his family 
had preceded him. 

Borofsky has been a justice of the peace since 
Sept. 15, 1891, a notary public since April 10, 1894, 
and was a member of the Boston city council in 
1898, and captain of the sixth company infantry, 
Massachusetts provisional militia, in 1898 and 1899. 
In 1900 he was elected a member of the Massachu- 
setts house of representatives. He drafted and as- 
sisted in the enactment of what is known as the 
“Five-Cent Ice Bil,” which compels ice-dealers, 
under penalty of $100 fine, to sell ice in five-cent 
pieces to all desiring such, thus conferring a great 
boon upon the poor in summer, 

In 1901 Borofsky presented a bill to exempt per- 
sons observing the seventh day of the week as the 
Sabbath from any penalty for keeping shops open 
or for performing secular business and labor on the 
first day of the week. The bill was defeated in the 
house of representatives on April 12, but three 
days later it was reconsidered and passed. On being 
referred to the committee on judiciary of the senate 
it encountered great opposition, and on May 29 the 
Senate rejected it by a vote of 21 to 6 (see “Boston 
Herald,” April 15, 1901; “Boston Globe,” April 26, 
1901; “Jewish Comment,” May 10, 1901). 

Borofsky in 1899 organized and successfully es- 
tablished The Helping Hand Temporary Home 
for Destitute Jewish Children. He is a contributor 
on social and Jewish questions to several Boston 
newspapers. 

A. 

BOROWSKEI, ISIDOR: Soldier under Bolivar 
y Ponte, and, later, a Persian general; born at War- 
saw, Poland, 1803; killed at the siege of Herat in 


327 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Borodavka 
Borrower 





1887. This military adventurer in Persia and Af- 
ghanistan was 2 Polish Jew who was reared in the 
United States, and who sometimes claimed to be the 
illegitimate son of Prince Radziwill by a Jewish 
mother, and at other times professed to be simply 
a Polish nobleman. Ue served under Bolivar, then 
ubder Mehemet Ali in Egypt, where in 1829 he 
supported himself by giving lessons in mathematics 
and in English. Jn 1881 he was in Bushire, Persia; 
and was afterward recommended by Sir John Camp- 
bell, the British minister, to Prince Abbas Mirza, 
the son of Shah Fath Ali, as a useful and talented 
man. Borowski developed great military abilities 
in the service of that warlike prince, and took for 
him the strong town of Cochan in Khorassan. Later 
he took the castle of Sarakhs and made prisoner the 
leader of the Turkomans. After the death of Abbas 
in 1838, Borowski gave most essential assistance to 

Abbas’ son, Mohamed Mirza, and enabled him to as- 

cend the throne of his grandfather. The English 

were behind most of the military undertakings of the 

Persians in those days, and Borowski was looked 

upon as an English general, and even wore the uni- 

form. But he forsook the interests of the British 
government and joined the Russian party in Persia, 

and was shot at the siege of Herat. His wife, a 

Georgian captive of war, received a pension from 

Mohamed Shah on account of her husband’s dis- 

tinguished services. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos. Wolff, Narrative of a Mission to Bo- 
khara, pp. 138-140, New York, 1845: S. Orgelbrand, Encyklo- 
pedyua Powstechna, ii., &.v., Warsaw, 1898 

H.R. P. W1. 


BORROW. See COMMERCE AND TRADE. 


BORROWER ew) >: One who receives, at his 
own request, the property of another, for free use, 
upon the agreement that it shall be returned to 
the owner (Kid. 47b). He is distinguished from the 
borrower of money, the “loweh” cay), in that the 
latter need not return the property which he has 
received, but may return it in kind. 

The Biblical law concerning the liability of the 
borrower (Ex. xxii. 18, 14; R. V., 14, 15) holds such 
person to the strictest accountability 
for the property borrowed. Inasmuch 
as it is given him at his request for 
use without pay, the law requires of 
him not merely the ordinary care that must be given 
to property in the hands of a bailee, but it holds him 
absolutely responsible for its return to the owner; 
and if it is lost by him or stolen from him, or if it 
consist in cattle which die while in his possession, 
he is not permitted to offer any defense to the claim 
of the owner, but must make absolute restitution. 

The Biblical law cites one exception to this gen- 
eral rule; namely, if the owner accompanies the 
property into the possession of the borrower, the lat- 
ter is not obliged to make restitution. Thus the 
Mishnah says, “If one borrows a cow and borrows 
or hires the owner with her, or if he borrows or 
hires the owner, and then borrows the cow and the 
latter dies, he is not liable: but if he borrows the 
cow, afterward either borrowing or hiring the owner, 
and the cow dies, he is liable” (Mishnah B. M. viii.). 
In the former case the decision is based on the fact 


Biblical 
Law. 


that the owner is with her at the time that she goes 
into the borrower’s possession; in the latter case 
the owner is not with her at such time. 

The Talmudic law established several other ex- 
ceptions, based upon a proper interpretation of the 

Biblical text. Inasmuch as the prop- 
Talmudic erty was borrowed to be used, the bor- 
Ex- rower ought not to be held responsi- 
ceptions. ble for any depreciation in value, or 
for any damages which result to the 
property, from the legitimate use for which it was 
borrowed. Rab therefore decided that the borrower 
of the cow was not responsible for what in modern 
law would be called “reasonable wear and tear,” or, 
as the Talmudic phrase more tersely expresses it, 
nm nbn nond many, “if she died from work.” “Not 
only if she is wasted in flesh through labor, is he not 
liable, but if she dies from the labor, he is not liable, 
for the borrower may say, ‘I did not borrow her to 
seat her on a chair’” (B. M. 96b); and in a case 
where a man borrowed an ax which was broken 
whilein use, Rab decided that if the borrower could 
prove that he did not put it to any extraordinary 
use, he was not liable (B. M. 2d.). 

Other exceptions whereby the borrower ts released 
from making restitution are the following: If he 
borrows thearticle fora specific time, he is not liable 
for a casualty after the time has expired (B. M. 81a), 
although ordinarily he is responsible for the article 
until it has actually been returned to the owner 
(Mishnah B. M. vii. 3). If he borrows an article 
and at the same time the other borrows an article 
from him, his responsibility is changed to that of a 
bailee for hire (B. M. 81b). Finally, hemay make a 
special agreement with the owner of the article, re- 
leasing himself from Hability (Mishnah B. M. vii. 
10). Unless a specific time has been fixed between 
the borrower and the owner, the borrower must re- 
turn the article as soon as he has ceased to use it 
(Maimonides, “ Yad,” She’elah, i. 5; Hoshen Mishpat, 
841, 1); and he has no right to loan the borrowed 
article to another (2d. 242, 1). 

The rights and liabilities of the borrower begin, 
first, when the object is actually taken into his pos- 
session by “drawing” it toward him, 
according to R. Eleazar: “As they de- 
creed ‘ drawing’ for purchaser, so also 
they decreed ‘drawing’ for bailees”; 
and, second, when he has begun to use 
it. R. Huna said, “If one borrows 
an ax and splits wood with it, he has acquired it, 
and, if he does not split, he does not acquire it” (B. 
M. 99a). The liability of the borrower is limited 
only to the value of the injured property (B. M. 
94b); hence when a man borrowed an ax and through 
carelessness broke it, R. Kahana and R. Assi decided 
that he must return the pieces to the owner after 
they have been valued, paying an additional sum 
sufficient to cover the full value of the ax as he re- 
ceived it (B. M. 97a). 

As the borrower is one of the four classes of bailees 
mentioned in Ex. xx. 7-15, the subject will be fur- 
ther elucidated by reference to articles BAITLMENT, 
Hiring axpb Letrinc. For borrower of money 
see Loans and Usury. For borrower giving 
pledge see PLEDGE and MORTGAGE. 


Beginning 
and 
Extent of 
Liability. 


Boshal 
Bosporus 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


328 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Yad, She’elah, ch. i.-iii.; Moshen Mishpat, 
ch. ceexl.-ccexIvii. 
B.C: D. W. A. 


BOSHAL (BOSTAL), MOSES BEN SOLO- 
MON DE: Turkish Talmudist and preacher of the 
seventeenth century. He wrote “ Yismah Mosheh” 
(Moses Rejoices), a homiletic commentary on the 
Pentateuch (Smyrna, 1675), which is now very rare. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, G. V. p. 445; Steinschneider, Cat. Boal. 
No. 6440. 


Le: I, Ber. 


BOSHETH (“shame,” “disgrace”): Used con- 
cretely by the Prophets as “the shameful thing ” to 
designate the BAALIM and theirimages. (See Hosea 
ix. 10 and Jer. iii. 24, xi. 18, where the word is par- 
allel with “the Baal” [compare Jer. iii. 24]). Later 
usage adopted the epithet to such an extent that 
“Bosheth” became a sort of euphemism for “ Baal,” 
as is learned from the proper names “ Ish-bosheth ” 
(with which Jastrow [see Bibliography] compares a 
Babylonian name, “ Mati-bashti”) and “ Mephibo- 
sheth,” the former being written “ Esh-baal” in I 
Chron. viii. 38, ix. 89, and the latter occurring as 
“Meri-baal” in J Chron. viii. 84 and ix. 40, The 
manuscript of the Septuagint, known as 93 Holmes, 
has cicGaad, and the old Latin version has “ Isbalem ” 
for “Ish-bosheth.” Soalso in II Sam. xi, 21, “Jerub- 
be[o]sheth ” is given for “Jerubbaal.” 

The opinion now so prevalent that the name of the 
god Molech was changed from “ Melek ” in imitation 
of the vowels of “ Bosheth” is not altogether accept- 
able. Itis possible to regard “ Molech” as the reg- 
ularly formed Hebrew equivalent of “Malik,” the 
name of an <Assyro-Babylonian god (Rawlinson, 
“Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia,” ili. 7, 
18), which is also a common epithet (“ Decider ”) of 
several divinities. From this point of view the 
word is really a survival of the oldest form of 
“™Malk” (* Melek”), king. Another explanation of 
“Bosheth,” proposed by Jastrow, makes the name 
the distortion of a deity who bore the name “ Basht ” 
or “ Bashta.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Geiger, Urschrift, pp. 259433; idem, in 
Z. D. M. G. xv. 128-732; Wellhausen, Text der Bticher 
Samuelis, 1871, pp. 80 et seq., 153 et seq.; Stade, Geschichte, 
i. 260; E. Nestle, Israelitische Higennamen, p. 120; Driver, 
Text of Samuel, pp. 186, 195, 279. The hypothesis as to the 
form “*Molech” is given in W. R. Smith, Reliyion of the 
Semites, 2d ed.. p. 8/2, note. Compare on the whole subject, 


Jastrow, The Rlement Bosheth tr Hehrew Proper Names, 
in Journal of the Soc. of Bibl. Lit. xi. 30. 


J. JR. J. F. McC. 
BOSKO, AGRON MACHIMOVITSCH. See 
LIrHUANTA. 


BOSKOVITZ, WOLF: The first rabbi of the 
congregation of Budapest; died 1818, In 1787 the 
Jewish community at Pest was sufficiently large to 
rent a hall where divine services could be held, 
though all religious questions were at this time still 
submitted to Moses Miinz in Buda. <As Pest and 
Buda were not, however, at that time connected by 
a bridze, and as it became rather irksome, more par- 
ticularly during the winter, to cross the river to 
Buda whenever the rabbi there had to be consulted, 
the announcement that Boskovitz, who was well 
known as a Talmudist, was to settle in Pest in 
1793 as rabbi was eagerly welcomed by the Jewish 
community of that city. But as Moses Miinz vig- 


orously objected to the arrangement, Boskovitz was 
compelled to leave Budapest in 1796. He also left 
Hungary, but returned in 1809 to Bonyhad, acting 
as rabbi there until his death. Boskovitz, who en- 
joyed great popularity as a rabbi, was the author 
of the following works, all of which were published 
posthumously: “Seder Mishnah” (on Maimonides, 
Yad ha-Hazakah); “Ma’amar Esther” (sermons); 
and “Notes on the Talmud” (published in the 
Vienna edition of the Talmud, 18380). Compare also 
“Ozar ha-Sifrut,” part 2, iii. 22. 
S. L. V. 


BOSKOWITZ: Town in Moravia, about 21 miles 
to the north of Brinn. It has one of the oldest and 
most important communities in the province, though 
in numbers it had dwindled to 1,967 Jewish inhabit- 
ants in 1880. Even in early times there was at 
Boskowitz a systematically organized mode] school, 
many pupils of which became famous, _ 

The most eminent person of Boskowitz was Sam- 
uel Levi Kolin, who wrote a commentary to the 
ritual codex “Magen Abraham,” and is generally 
known by the name of his work, “ Mahzit ha-She- 
kel.” The cabalist R. Nathan Adler must also be 
mentioned: he was elected rabbi of Boskowitz in 
1783. He was followed, later, by his pupil, Moses 
Sofer of Frankfort, who subsequently became rabbi 
at Presburg. Adler introduced the Sephardic ritual, 
abolished the piyyutim, and as a “Cohen” himself 
pronounced the “priestly benediction” (“ birkat 
kohanim”) daily during the service. He was ar- 
raigned before the government by a farmer of the 
excise on account of his undue severity in insisting 
upon the minutest details of ritual observance in 
slaughtering animals for food, and had to leave 
Boskowitz, where his ideals were not acceptable. 
The scholars trained along the lines of the “ Mahzit 
ha-Shekel” were too practical to follow his religious 
extravagances, and they embarrassed him by their 
acumen. J.B. Bloch of Hamburg, the author of 
the “Binat Yissakar,” was also rabbit in Boskowitz; 
he likewise came in conflict with them. During a 
halakic discourse he was once pressed so hard by the 
turbu-ent arguments of the laymen that he angrily 
resigned his office in the midst of his discourse. 

Bloch was succeeded by Moses Priiger-Karpeles, 
the great-grandfather of A. Schmied] and of Gus- 
tav KARPELES. He resigned the rabbinate in Krem- 
sier on account of a dispute with Raphael Kohn re- 
garding the pronunciation of the priestly blessing 
on the Day of Atonement. L. R. Beneth criticizes 
in a responsum the novella of Moses Karpcles, 
“Torat Mosheh Emet” (The Law of Moses Is 
Truth). Karpeles was succeeded by Abraham Plac- 
zek, who was appointed provisional district rabbi 
by the government. Placzek enjoyed universal es- 
teem on account of his kindness and peaceful dispo- 
sition. He died Dec. 10, 1884. The present in- 
cumbent is Dr. 8, Funk. 

Boskowitz possesses several richly endowed foun- 
dations instituted by the family L6w-Beer. 

D. A. F.-G. 


BOSKOWITZ, HAYYIM BEN JACOB: 
Palestinian author; lived about the middle of the 
eighteenth century. He wrote the “Toze’ot Hay- 


329 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Boshal 
Bosporus 





yim” (Life’s Issues), a commentary on the Penta- 
teuch (Amsterdam, 1764, printed with the text), 
which deals chiefly with the moral precepts that may 
be drawn from the Bible stories, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 344; Zedner, 
Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 111. 
I. BER. 


G. 

BOSLANSKI (or BASLANSKI), YOM-TOB 
LIPMAN HA-KOHEN (R. Lipele Mirer): Rus- 
sianrabbi; born 1824; died in Mir, government of 
Grodno, Dec. 26, 1892. In his younger days he was 
rabbi in Khaslavich and other communities; but for 
the last eighteen years of his life he stood at the 
head of the Jewish community in Mir, and was rec- 
ognized as one of the greatest rabbinical authorities 
in Russia. He visited St. Petersburg several times as 
representative of the Jews. He was one of the first 
“Hobebe Zion,” and sided with the rabbis who per- 
mitted the colonists in Palestine to work in “shemit- 
tah” (fallow year) and who prohibited the use of 
citrons (“etrogim”) from Corfu in Russia for the 
Sukkot festival. In 1889 Boslanski attempted to 
organize a society for the purchase of land and the 
foundation of a new colcny in Palestine, and visited 
Paris to enlist the assistance of Baron Edmund Roth- 
schild in the project. 

Boslanski is the author of a collection of responsa 
entitled “Malbushe Yom-Tob,” Wilna, 1881, with an 
appendix on the laws of contracts and of arbitration. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ha-Asif, vi. 163; Ahiasaf for 5654, p. 
Likkute Shoshanim (Straschun Cat.), p. 249, Berlin, 1888, 


L. G. P. Wi. 

BOSNIA: Province of the Balkan peninsula, on 
the frontier of Austria and of Montenegro. For- 
merly under Turkish rule, it came under the protec- 
tion of Austria by the Treaty of Berlin, 1878. 

According to some historians, the first Jews set- 
tled in Bosnia in 1575; Don Joseph Nasi and his 
aunt, Dona Gracia, using their influence with the 
sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to that effect. The 
inscriptions on some tombstones at Sarajevo, how- 
ever, bear the Jewish date of 5811, or 1551 c.E.; 
hence Jews were living in Bosnia thirty-five years 
befere the date mentioned above. 

From a manuscript in the Mohammedan library 
at Sarajevo, written in Turkish, it is evident that 
thirty or forty Jews engaged m business at Bosna- 
Serai (the present Sarajevo) under the governor, 
Hadim-Ali-Bey, in the year 958 of the Hegira (1541 
c.£.). These merchants entered the country with- 
out their families and lived ina sort of caravansary, 
the majority being natives of Salonica. During the 
great religious festivals they returned home. When 
their number increased, the governor, Ghazi-Hassan- 
Pasha, ordered them to settle definitely in that region 
or to leave the country. Fearing the fanaticism of 
the populace, they sought refuge at Ragusa and in 
Hungary, which latter was thena Turkish province. 
Thence they sent representatives to Bosnia, with 
letters to the governor, in order to collect their out- 
standing credits. In 1614, when the ex-grand vizier 
of Constantinople, Baltaji-Mehmed-Pasha, was ap- 
pointed governor, he brought in his suite Naphtali 
Mandjor (Maggioro?), a rich Jewish banker of Con- 
stantinople. The latter successfully interceded for 
the return of the Jews. Thirty families returned 


wary 
4s 


\ 


immediately, but these lived scattered in various 
streets in Sarajevo. 

After much trouble the Jews in 1645 obtained 
permission from the governor, Siavous Pasha (ex- 
grand vizier), to reside in a special quarter, abcut 
~,000 square meters in extent; and thereupon they 
erected houses. In the center of this quarter, which 
was named after the governor, a well was dug. 
Each Jew received a deed of ownership. A small 
annual tax of a few aspers (one asper = 4, of acent) 
was imposed upon them, to be paid to ancighboring 
mosque—a custom that still prevails. At the same 
time Suleiman the Magnificent granted them by 
firman the permission to establish a cemetery on a 
hill named Verbania, the Jews being also required 
to pay for this privilege a tax for the benefit of an- 
other mosque of the city. In this way the Jews 
definitely established themselves in Bosnia; and in 
time they settled in other localities besides Sarajevo. 

In 1901, in a total population of 1,357,000, there 
were in the province about 7,500 Jews. Of these, 
4,000 lived at Sarajevo, 250 at Bosna-Brod, a similar 
number at Mostar (Herzegovina), and the remainder 
in small communities. The Jews of Bosnia, to 
which those of Herzegovina must be added, have an 
official representative at Sarajevo. They have also 
an Official organ, “La Alborada,” written in Judxo- 
Spanish and in rabbinic characters, published 
at Sarajevo since 1901 under the direction of a 
committee of editors. See Mostar, SaraJeEvo, 


TURKEY. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dezobry and Bachelet. Dict. Francais @ His- 
toire et de Géographie; La Alborada, May, 1901, Nos. 16, 


17, 18, 


D. M. FR. 

BOSOR: 1. A city of Gilead, which Judas Mac- 
cabeus conquered (If Macc. v. 26, 36). It may be 
identified with the modern “ Busr el-Bariri ” (Buhl, 
“ Geographie des Alten Paliistina,” p. 258). 2. The 
Septuagint reading for Besor (I Sam. xxx. 9). 

J. dR, G. B. L. 

BOSORA. Sce Bozrau. 

BOSPORUS, CIMMERIAN: Name of the 
ancients for the strait of Yenikale or of Theo- 
dosia; on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. The 
country on both sides of the Cimmerian Bosporus 
formed in ancient times the kingdom of Bosporus, 
the latter nanic being the reading of the Vulgate for 
Sepharad (73D). Jerome adopted it from his Jewish 
teacher, who considered it to be the place to which 
Hadrian had transported the captives from Jerusa- 
lem, But Jewish communities existed in Bosporus 
long before the destruction of the Temple. King 
Agrippa I., ina letter addressed to Caius Caligula, 
speaks of the Jews established in the Greek colonies 
of Pontus (Philo, “Legatio ad Cajum”), Among 
many Greek inscriptions unearthed in 1830 on the 
banks of the Bosporus, two are of especial interest 
for the history of the Jewish settlement in that 
Greek colony. Oneof these, found at Pantikaprum 
(the modern Kertch) and dated 377 of the Bosporian 
(81 of the common) era, is a declaration of the liber- 
ation by a Jewess named Creste of her slave Hera- 
clius. The deed is said to have been drawn up 
in the synagogue of Pantikapwum. The second, 
unearthed in Gorgippia and dating from 338 of the 
Bosporian (41 of the common) era, is indeed a pagan 


Bosporus 
Boston 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


330 





inscription; but the Biblical name of God used at 
the head of it shows the influence exercised by the 
Jews upon their fellow-citizens. 

A quite recent discovery of Jewish Greek inscrip- 
tions was announced Jan. 12, 1901, to the Imperial 
Russian Geographical Society. A young explorer, 
A. L. Pogodin, discovered and deciphered new in- 
scriptions in Kertch and other places in South Rus- 
sia, from which it is clearly evident that Jews set- 
tled in the Bosporus as early as the fourth century 
nu.c., and were an important section of the Greek 
colony. They had their cemeteries, synagogues, 
and other communal institutions. In trade as well 
as in social life they mingled freely with the Greeks, 
as is evidenced by the fact that the language of the 
inscriptions is Greek. Other inscriptions show that, 
in the first century B.c., the Jews founded in the 
Bosporus a colony of theirown. In the inscriptions 
of the third century of the common era Jewish re- 
ligious symbols and sepulchral inscriptions are 
found. In the same century the Jews even took part 
in religious persecutions (“Budushclhiunost,” 1901, 
No. 3, p. 46). 

There are no records describing the condition of 
the Jewish communities before the occupation of 
Kertch by Russia under Peter the Great in 1771. 
It may be supposed that they escaped many mis- 
fortunes that befell their coreligionists in other Euro- 
pean countries where Christianity had established 
its dominion. At the beginning of the eighth cen- 
tury the Jewish communities in the Bosporus were 
greatly increased by the arrival of many Jews from 
the Byzantine empire, who sought refuge from the 
persecutions of Emperor Leo. Toward the middle 
of the same century the Jews became practically the 
rulers of the country by the conversion to Judaism 
of Bulan, the king of the Chazars. Concerning the 
history of the Jews of Bosporus from the time of its 
occupation by the Russians, see CHAZARS, CRIMEA, 
PALEOGRAPHY. 


BIBI.IOGRAPHY : Jerome, Opera, vi. 148; Latyschew, Inscrip- 
tiones Antique Ore Septentrionalis Ponti Euxini Greeew 
et Latina, 1890, ti., No. 52; Asbik, Bosforskoe Tzarstvo, i. 
92-93; Harkavy, Ob Yazykye Yevreyev, ete., pp. 51-53 ; idem, 
in Ha-Karmel, iv., Nos. 31, 43; v., Nos. 2, 3, 9, 10; Schiirer, Die 
Juden im Bosporanischen Reiche, in Silzwngsberichte der 


Berliner Akademie, 1897, pp. 200-223; idem, Gesch. 3d ed.., 


iii, 18; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3a ed., v. 188, 189. 
H. R. I. Br.—H. R. 


BOSTANAI or BUSTANAT (*~5n0)3): First 
exilarch under Arabian rule; flourished about the 
middle of the seventh century. The name is Ara- 
maized from the Persian “ bustan” or “bostan” (as 
proper name see Justi, “TIranisches Namenbuch,” 
p. 74). Almost the only exilarch of whom anything 
more than the name is known, he is frequently made 
the subject of legends. He was the son of the ex- 
ilarch Hananiah (compare ExtLarcn). Hai Gaon, 
in “Sha‘are Zedek,” p. 3a, seems to identify Bostanai 
with Haninai, and tells that he was given for wife a 
daughter of the Persian king Chosroes II. (died 628), 
by the calif Omar (died 644). (See Rapoport, in 
“Bikkure ha-‘Ittim,” x. 83; B. Goldberg, in “Ha- 
Maggid,” xiii. 8363). Abraham ibn Daud, however, 
in his “Sefer ha-Kabbalah ” (Neubauer’s “ Medieval 
Jewish Chronicles,” i. 64), says that it was the last 
Sassanid king, Yezdegerd (born 624; died 651-652; 
see Néldeke, “Tabari,” pp. 397 et seq.), who gave his 


daughter to Bostanai. But in that case it could 
have been only Calif Ali (656-661), and not Omar, 
who thus honored the exilarch (see “ Ma‘aseh Bet 
David”). It is known also that Ali gave a friendly 
reception to the contemporary Gaon Isaac (Sherirg 
IL.’s “Letter,” ed. Neubauer, 7. p. 83; Abraham 
ibn Daud, 2. p. 62); and it is highly probable, there. 
fore, that he honored the exilarch in certain ways as 
the official representative of the Jews. The office 
of the exilarch, with its duties and privileges, as 
it existed for some centuries under the Arabian rule, 
may be considered to begin with Bostanai. 

The relation of Bostanai to the Persian princess 
(called “ Dara” in “ Ma‘aseh Bet David,” or “ Azdad- 

war” (Néldeke, “Isdundad ”), accord- 
The ing to a recently discovered genizah 

Dispute fragment, had an unpleasant sequel. 
Among His The exilarch lived with her without 

Heirs. having married her, and according to 

the rabbinical law she should previous- 
ly have received her “letter of freedom,” for, being 
a prisoner of war, she had become an Arabian slave, 
and as such had been presented to Bostanai. After the 
death of Bostanai his sons insisted that the princess, 
as well as her son, was still a sluve, and, as such, 
was their property. The judges were divided in 
opinion, but finally decided that the legitimate sons 
of the exilarch should grant letters of manumission 
to the princess and her son in order to testify to 
their emancipation. This decision was based on the 
ground that Bostanai had probably lived in legiti- 
mate marriage with this woman, and, although there 
were no proofs, had presumably first emancipated 
and then married her. Nevertheless, the descend- 
ants of the princess were not recognized as legiti- 
mate 300 years afterward (Hai Gaon, @.c.). The 
statement in the genizah specimen (see bibliog- 
raphy below) is doubtless dictated by enmity to the 
exilarch; Abraham ibn Daud’s statement (2.c.) is 
contrariwise prejudiced in favor of the exilarch ; but 
compare genizah fragment published by Schechter 
in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiv. 242-246. 

The name “ Bostanai” gave rise to the following 
legend: The last Persian king (Hormuzd), inimical 
to the Jews, decided to extinguish the royal house 
of David, no one being left of that 
house but a voung woman whose hus- 
band had been killed shortly after his 
marriage, and who was about to give birth to a 
child. Then the king dreamed that he was in a 
beautiful garden (“bostan ”), where he uprooted the 
trees and broke the branches, and, as he was lifting 
up his ax against a little root, an old man snatched 
the ax away from him and gave him a blow that 
almost killed him, saying: “Are you not satisfied 
with having destroved the beautiful trees of my 
garden, that you now try to destroy also the last 
root? Truly, you deserve that your memory perish 
from the earth.” The king thereupon promised to 
guard the last plant of the garden carefully. No 
one but an old Jewish sage was able to interpret the 
dream, and he said: “The garden represents the 
house of David, all of whose descendants you have 
destroyed except a woman with her unborn boy. 
The old man whom you saw was David, to whom 
you promised that you would take care that his 


Legends. 


331 


house should be renewed by this boy.” The Jewish 
sage, who was the father of the young woman, 
brought her to the king, and she was assigned to 
rooms fitted up with princely splendor, where she 
gave birth toa boy, who received the name “ Bos- 
tanai,” from the garden (“bostan”) which the king 

had seen in his dream. 
The figure of the wasp in the escutcheon of the 
exilarch was made the subject of another legend. 
The king had taken delight in the 


Bostanai clever boy, and, spending one day with 

at the him, saw, as he stood before him, a 
Court of wasp sting him onthe temple. The 
the King. blood trickled down the boy’s face, 


yet he made no motion to chase the 
insect away. The king, upon expressing astonish- 
ment at this, was told by the youth that in the 
house of David, of which he had come, they were 
taught, since they themselves had lost their throne, 
neither to laugh nor to lift up the hand before a 
king, but to stand in motionless respect (Sanh. 93b). 
The king, moved thereby, showered favors upon 
him, made him an exilarch, and gave him the power 
to appoint judges of the Jews and the heads of the 
three academies, Nehardea, Sura, and Pumbedita. 
In memory of this Bostanai introduced a wasp into 
the escutcheon of the exilarchate. The genizah 
fragment says that the incident with the wasp oc- 
curred in the presence of the calif Omar, before 
whom Bostanai as a youth of sixteen had brought a 
dispute with a sheikh, who filled his office during the 
exilarch’s minority, and then refused to give it up. 
Bostanai was exilarch when Persia fell into the 
hands of the Arabians, and when Ali came to Baby- 
Jon Bostanai went to meet him witha splendid re- 
tinue, whereby the calif was so greatly pleased that 
he asked for Bostanai’s blessing. The calif, on learn- 
ing that Bostanai was not married, gave him Dara, 
the daughter of the Persian king, as wife; and the 
exilarch was permitted to make her a Jewess and to 
marry her legitimately. She bore him many chil- 
dren, but their legitimacy was assailed after their 
father’s death by the exilarch’s other sons (“ Ma‘aseh 
Bostanai,” several times printed under different 
titles; see “Benjacob,”s.z.), This legend was made 
known only in the sixteenth century (compare Isaac 
AxkrisH), but the Seder ‘Olam Zutta, composed in 
the beginning of the ninth century, drew upon the 
legends of the garden and the wasp (see Mar 
ZcuTRA IT.), 

The name “Dara” for the Persian princess in 
Christian sources occurs also as that of Chosroes’ 
daughter (Richter, “ Arsaciden,” p. 554, Leipsie, 
1804). The legend glorifying Bostanai probably 
originated in Babylon, while the genizah fragment, 
branding all the descendants of Bostanai as illegiti- 
mate, being descendants of a slave and unworthy to 
fill high office, comes from Palestine. This latter 
view is of course erroneous, as may be gathered 
from Hai’s remark, above mentioned, for the post- 
Bostanaite house of exilarchs was not descended 
from the princess. It is true, however, that the 
Bostanaites were hated by the scholars and the 
pious men, probably in part because ANAN, founder 
of the Karaite sect, was a descendant of Bostanai 
(see Sherira’s “Letter,” ed. Neubauer, i. 33). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bosporus 
Boston 


Benjamin of Tudela says that he was shown the 

grave of Bostanai near Pumbedita. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brill’s Jahrb. ii. 102-112; Gratz, Gesch. der 
Juden, 3d ed., pp. 113, 114, 347, 379-384 ; Halevi, Dorot ha-Ris- 
honim, pp. 314, 315; Jost, Gesch. der Israeliten, v. 228, 316- 
319; Lazarus, Die Hiiupter der Vertriebenen, in Briill’s 
Jahrb. x. 24-25, 174: Margoliouth, in Jew. Quart. Rev. xiv. 
303-307, giving a genizah fragment concerning Bostanai; Leh- 
mann, Bostenai (fiction), in his Aus Vergangenheit und Ge- 
genmvart, ii. 1; translated into Hebrew under the same title 
by S. J. F. (Fuenn, Wilna, 1881); First, in Orient. Lit. xii. 
51; Steinschueider, Cat. Bodl. col. 610, 1083, 1086. 

G. 

BOSTON: Capital and chief city of the state of 
Massachusetts in the United States. 

Nothing definite is known of Jews in Boston prior 
to 1842. In that year there was established the first 
congregation, whose founder and first president was 
William Goldsmith. In 1848 this congregation pur- 
chased the first cemetery for Jews in East Boston. 
The second congregation, now known asthe Temple 
Adath Israel, was organized in 1853. 

The first election of any Jew to public office was 
in 1875 when Godfrey Morse was elected to the 
school committee of the city of Boston. Leopold 
Morse was elected a member of the United States 
House of Representatives in 1876. The first Jew in 
the common council was Isaac Rosnosky, elected in 
1878, who was also the first Jew to be elected (1883) 
to the Massachusetts legislature. Godfrey Morse 
was elected president of the common council in 1888. 

Bunker Hill Monument, the most notable memo- 
rial in Boston, owes its erection in part to the gener- 
osity of Judah Touro, who donated for the pur- 
pose the sum of $10,000, nearly one-fifth of the 
entire amount received from private sources (“ Pub. 
Am. Jew. Hist. Soc.,” No. 8, pp. 98-100). 

The principal congregations are the twe men- 
tioned above and Beth Isracl, Beth Jacob, and 
Mishkan ‘Tefilah. The leading charitable  as- 
sociations are the United Hebrew Benevolent 
Association, founded 1864; the Hebrew Women’s 
Sewing Society, founded 1869; the Leopold 
Morse Home for Infirm Hebrews and Orphan- 
age, founded 1888; the Free Burial Association ; 
and the Free Employment Bureau, which five 
societies constitute the Federation of Jewish Chari- 
ties of Boston. There are also the Benoth Israel 
Sheltering Home, the B’nai Zion Educational Soci- 
ety, the Hebrew Industrial School, the Helping 
Hand Temporary Home for Destitute Jewish Chil- 
dren, the Talmud Torah Hebrew Free School, the 
Young Men’s Hebrew Association, the Young 
Women’s Hebrew Charitable Association, and the 
Louisa Alcott Home. 

The principal social organizations are the Elysium 
Club, Harmony Club, Progress Club, Purim Asso- 
ciation, and the Utopian Club. 

The principal rabbis have been Revs. Nathan, 
Aaron Ginsberg, Falk Vidaver, Raphael Lasker, 
and Samuel Hirschberg of Congregation Ohabei 
Shalom; the Revs. Joseph Sachs, Joseph Shonin- 
ger, Solomon Schindler, and Charles Fleischer of 
Temple Adath Israel. Other notable rabbis are M. 
Z. Margolis and Hyman S. Shoher. 

In the total population (500,000) there are about 
40,000 Jews, mostly Russian, who have made their 
homes in Boston within the last ten years. There is 
a small percentage of German, Polish, English, and 


Botany 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


332 





Portuguese Jews. There are also many native-born 
American Jews in the city. Many of the Boston 
Jews are engaged in mercantile and manufacturing 
pursuits; there are several physicians, musicians, 
and lawyers; but the majority are carpenters, paint- 
ers, builders, masons, plumbers, ete. 

A. G. Mo. 


BOTANY: The science that treats of plants. 
Like grammar and other sciences based on logical 
thought, scientific botany originated with the 
Grecks, and from them found its way to the Jews. 
Agriculture, gardening, and popular medicine natu- 
rally led to a knowledge of the plant world and of 
the most remarkable phenomena of plant life; and 
the natural impulse toward nomenclature led to 
naive classifications of the plant world. Biblical 
language is not poor in designations for plants (39, 
moy) and their various parts. In illustration may 
be mentioued the different expressions, yw, “py, 
for “root”; 38,73, yr. mos, mr, win, poy, 


mp, Awa, I¥2, Wo, nSpSp, ov2D3D. AyD. MayD, - 


Ry, TNS, mpy, yp, Snw. aw, mindy, nday, 
for “stem,” “slip,” “stalk,” “shoot,” and “twigs”; 
as well as 4}, miay, aby, ONDY, for “leaves” and 
“foliage”; p32, A¥I, WWD, Mp. py, for “bud,” 
“blossom,” and “blossom-stalk”; Sse, "D3, 
ANDI. WI, TT. ya, NIN, aay. map, ndaw, for 
“fruit,” “fruit-stalk,” and “seed”; many of which 
designations were in reality only used by the farmer 
and gardener as technical terms. The Biblical classi- 
fication of plants—with which life on earth begins 
(Delitzsch on Gen. i. 11)—is contained in the passage 
which tells of their creation: “And God said, Let 
the earth bring forth grass [Rw], the 
Early herb yielding seed [wy], and the 
Classifica- fruit-tree [py] yielding fruit . 
tion. whose seed is in itself upon the earth: 
and it was so” (Gen. i.11). The term 
Nw Is explained as embracing, besides the grasses, 
the cryptogamous plants, In contrast to awy; al- 
though the Bible never mentions the cryptogamia 
elsewhere (Keil on Gen. Z.c.). But this is a forced 
use of the word somewhat similar to the limita- 
tion of fruit-bearing trees to fruit-trees by Jewish 
exegetes, according to whom the forest-trees, with 
“thorns and thistles,” were created only after the 
fall of man and the cursing of the earth. They also 
claim, according to Gen. R. v. 9, that the earth had 
previously brought forth only fruits and wood be- 
reft of any fruit-taste, in place of fruit-like wood 
(in Mishnaic diction py had come to mean “wood”; 
ON was the word for “tree”). Herewith ended 
the classification of plants. Language had desig- 
nated certain groups, like grain-plants (93, 33); 
and only when the study of the Law was taken up 
in post-Biblical times did it become necessary to es- 
tablish some uniformity regarding correlated groups, 
although the method of classification was not a par- 
ticularly happy one. Herein also Maimonides acted 
as asystematizer (L. Low, “ Graphische Requisiten,” 
i. 93), deducing the following division from Tal- 
mudical writings (“ Yad,” Kil. i. 8, 9): “Plants are 
classified as : (1) nox (‘ trees’); (2) may (‘ vege- 
tables’). The former consist of: >3ND 19599 (‘fruit- 
trees’) and pup s95ey (‘barren trees’). To vegeta- 


bles belong: (@) ANIDN (‘ grain’), comprising the 
five familiar species; (2) mp ( small grain’) and 
all seeds that are eaten, with the exception of large 
grain, as, for instance, the leguminous plants, beans, 
peas, lentils, rice, sesame, poppy [MMaimonides, 
ps]; (©) Aa yy C garden-plants’) (Kil. ii. 2; 
Tosef. i. 74), the seeds of which are not edible, but 
which bear edible fruits; for example, the onion, 
garlic, leek, nutmeg, turnip, etc.; flax also belongs 
to this group. Some of these garden-sceds are 
grown in fields on a large scale, and are then called 
opr 3 ( seed species’), as, for example, flax and 
mustard; others, grown only in small beds, as tur- 
nips, radishes, beets, onions, coriander, celery, let- 
tuce, are called mips (‘ herbs ’).” 

Maimonides’ classification is repeated later on by 
others; for example, in “ Kaftor wa-Ferah,” ed. 

Berlin, lvi. 119b; Caleb Afendopolo, 
Later in “ Adderet Eliyahu,” Appendix, 14a, 
Classifica- Afendopolo adds to the above, “ fruits 
tions. of the ground,” as cucumbers, water- 
melons, the castor-oil plant, and those 

medicinal plants which are not used for foods. 

For purposes of the ritual blessing there is but 
one classification; namely, fruit of the tree and fruit 
of the soil, in addition to which mushrooms and 
truffles form a group by themselves, as, according 
to Jewish belief, they are nourished by the air (Mai- 
monides, “ Yad,” Ber. viii. and the ritual codices). 
As a curiosity of more modern times, the fact may 
be mentioned that Azulai speaks of fifty-five kinds of 
“fruits of the soil,” for which reason, he says, the 
Hebrew benediction reads: AMINA (“of the earth”), 
the numerical value of the letters in this word being. 
55! (“Birke Yosef, Shiyyure Berakah, Orah Hay- 
yim,” 203.) This classification was not easily ar- 
rived at, as is shown by Ber. 6, as in Tosef., Ber, vi. 
8, 27, Oya, ONwT, and mip (“ grains,” “ grasses,” 
and “herbs ”) are distinguished (Israel Lewy, “ Frag- 
mente der Mischna des Abba Sanl,” p. 10). For the 
classification ANN, Asp, nabs, pi, see Sifra 87b 
and parallels, and compare Rey. viii. 7, ix. 4, where 
LOPTOC = RW, yAwpde = 9, and dévdpov = sone. 

From the standpoint of the value of the soil’s 
products, those used for maintaining life (for exam- 
ple, wine, oi], flour, fruit) are distinguished from 
others less important, as caraway-seeds and spices 
(‘Ab. Zarah iv. 465, 25 e¢seg.; “Sheiltot,” No. 32). 
Israel is compared with wheat, and not with nut- 
meg or pepper; for the world could well exist with- 
out the latter, but could not do so without the former 
(Pesik, R. 10 (ed. Friedmann, p. 35a] and parallel 
passages). Separate categories are formed of the 
seven plants characteristic of Palestine (see PaLes- 
TINE) and of those used for incense, medicine, and 
dyestuffs (D'S%D). 

Besides the plants of Palestine and Egypt the 
Bible only mentions spices and condiments, coming 
from southern Asia and its groupsof islands. These 
found their way, partly by land, partly by sea, to 
the peoples of foreign countries, and were used es- 
pecially in their sacrificial offerings (Gildemeister 
and Hoffmann, “Die Aetherischen Ocle,” pp. 4 e 
seg., Berlin, 1899). 

The entire plant world is called in the Mishnah 
ADIN MOY Sifre, Num. 84 fed. Friedmann, p. 28a]; 


333 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Botany 





Deut. 11 fed. Friedmann, p. 67b]); Targum, DNDY 
1°, NPINT NXODY Ci. i. 5); the young nursery 
or Vineyard is Ap pg (Sheb. i.8; Tosef. i. 61); yp is 
“to plant” (Tosef., Bek. vi. 541: Tosef., B. B. vii. 
408; Yer. Meg. 1. T0b.). my") psopis “to fell planta- 
tions” (Ned. iii. 5; Tosef. ii. 277; B. K. viii. 6; 

Tosef. iii. 849; Tosef., Sanh. iv. 423; 


Post- in an applied sense Tosef., Hag. ii. 
Biblical 23+). The term Ayws is opposed to 
Period. mAusnd in Mek., Beshallah, 10 (ed. 


Friedmann, p. 48b); opposed to Aap 
in Tosef., Sheb. i. 61; Ay WIP MYT is “ grapes” 
(Tosef., Shab. viii. 121; Gen. R. xxxi. 14); but in 
the Targum BY) is used also for “ plant.” 

For the different parts of the plant the language 
of the Mishnah is so rich in synonyms as to make it 
impossible to reproduce them here. Some of the 
designations are for particular products, as \\m° for 
“branch of a fig-tree”; mp3 for “branch of the 
olive and sycamore”; A yD7 for “branch of a vine” 
(Gen. R. xxxi. 14). All the different parts of the 
plant are enumerated by the Zohar, which proceeds 
to mention the seven parts—root, bark, pith, twig, 
leaf, blossom, and fruit—in order to draw parallels 
to the seven different ways of interpreting the Bible 
(iii. 202a). ; 

The rich flora and the fertility of Palestine (see 
PALESTINE, FLORA OF) are lauded as highly by the 
Talmud and the Bible asin secular literature. “The 
vegetation of Palestine was always a very rich one; 
its fruits were the finest and most easily cultivated. 
But on two occasions its productivity reached the 
highest pitch: at the time when our fathers took pos- 
session of the country, and at the time of their going 
into exile” (Sifre, Deut. 37 [ed. Friedmann, p. 76b]; 
316, 817 [ed. Friedmann, p. 185b]; Pesik. R. 182a; 
Yalk., Yer. 828). Still greater shall be its fertility 
at the time of the Messiah: “On the day of sowing, 
the fruit will ripen as at Creation, vea, even the 
wood of the fruit-trees will become edible.” Won- 
derful was also the harvest at the time of Queen 
Salome: the wheat-kKernels grew to the size of kid- 
neys; barley was as large as olives; peas were as 
large as golden dinars; and, accordingly, samples 
of them all were preserved for later generations, to 
show what would be the deteriorating consequences 
of sin! (Sifra, Behukkotai, ed. Weiss, p. 110d, and 
parallel passages). “Unseemly, yea, even insolent, 
it is of the land which has been manured and 
cultivated by its owners, not to deny its harvest to 
the conquerors after the destruction of Jerusalem ” 
(Yer. Ta‘an. iv. 69b; Lam. R., Introduction, end). 

The total number of plant-names found in the 
Bible (100) does not correspond with the excessively 
rich vegetation of Palestine. But this will not be a 
inatter for surprise, considering that the legislative 
part of the Bible is, on account of the food restric- 
tions contained therein, very copious in names of 
animals, and that there is little occasion to consider 
plants in such connection, these being only occa- 
sionally mentioned in poetical and prophetical wri- 
lings. The literature of the Mishnah enriches the 
Biblical list of plant-names to the extent of about 
180 good Hebrew words; so that it may be inferred 
that a very large proportion of the Hebrew botan- 
ical vocabulary has been preserved. 


Halakic writers often had occasion to mention 
plants. The establishment of the ritual blessings 
for the various kinds of vegetable food and for the 
first-fruits of the season (smn); 
agrarian legislation on the rights of 
the poor to participate in the harvest; 
the rules for tithes, for the priest’s portion, and for 
the “hallah” (offering of dough); the regulations 
concerning the mixture of heterogeneous plants; the 
rules for the Sabbatical year; the law forbidding the 
fruit during the first three vears of the tree’s 
growth; the establishment of the particular kinds 
of grain to be used for the making of unleavened 
bread; the salads to be used with the Passover roast: 
the components of the festal garland for Taber- 
nacles; the covering of the Tabernacle itself; the 
use of botanical words in vows; the proper material 
on which to write letters of divorce; sacrifices from 
the plant world; the ingredients for incense; the 
kinds of hyssop to be used in the sacrifice of the Red 
Heifer; the laws of Levitical impurity in relation to 
plants—all] these are far from exhaustive of the oc- 
casions where plants are concerned. Custom and 
usage demanded certain vegetable foods on certain 
days, and created new relations to the plant world, 
as life constantly raised new halakic botanical ques- 
tions, of which rabbinical literature treats. The 
throwing of burs on the fast-day of the Ninth of 
Ab; the custom of plucking up grass after a funeral, 
believed to be a symbol of the resurrection (“Shib- 
bole ha-Leket,” p. 878a; Responsa of MaBIT, i. 250; 
Lewysohn, “Mekore Minhagim,” p. 134); Iotion- 
plants from which a kind of milk runs (Responsa of 
RaSHA, No. 248); the chewing of mastic on Pass- 
over (RaDBaZ, ed. Firth, No. 582); beans which 
may be washed with soap (Responsa of YaBeZ, No. 
156); oats for stuffing geese (“Zemah Zedek,” p. 
17); the feeding of silkworms with mulberry-leaves 
on Sabbath (“ Yakin u-Boaz,” ii. 18; “Bet Yosef” 
and Shulhan ‘Aruk, Orah Havyim, 824, 12, and 
other sources), are only a few topics taken at random 
from the later casuistic literature, in which reference 
to new plant products, such as sugar-cane, lemons, 
coffee, tea, chocolate, Indian meal, eggplant, pota- 
toes, tobacco, camphor, an“ spices, may be traced. 

Europe received most of its cultivated plants from 
the Orient, Some plant-names, like that of the bal- 
sam, it returned to the East later; but the Orient also 

owes many new terms to the Greeks 


Halakah. 


Foreign and Romans. The preponderating 
Plant- culture of the former, and the com- 
Names. merce and luxury of Roman life, led 


the Jews to adopt the names of many 
plants long before they were known in Palestine. 
Through the Greeks podded “ grains” (pulse) came 
to the East: the words tépuoc, 7631a, ddonAoc, Tisor, 
became familiar to the Jews and other Semites, 
while many fine sorts of fruit were known by the 
names which the Roman consumer gave them, as, 
for example, “ plums of Damascus ” (Aauacayva), two 
sorts of dates (vK6Z.a0¢c, kapvw7dc), a celebrated brand 
of figs, called ¢c3d2eue, the fine eating olive (coAvy Sac), 
ete. The names of the peach (reporxa), the quince 
(uchinnaa), the kind of pear known as Crustuminum 
plrum, the cembra-nut (orpéfiAoc), and the fruit of 
the Cordia myzxa (Linneeus) indicate the influence of 


Botany 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


334 





the Greeks on the fruit-trees and fruit-markets of 
Palestine. The cabbage, kale, and mustard (Acwavy) 
came from Europe; the turnip, carrot (yoyyuAidia), 
parsnip, leek (xegaswrdv), parsley, artichoke, and 
sugar-melon are known by Greek designations. The 
ash (uwedia), of which three kinds are now found in 
Palestine, bears a Greek name; even for the indig- 
enous cedar the word «édpoc¢ maintains itself; while 
the wood of the native box-tree is also designated by 
the Greek word wi'S«vov. 

Passages indicating where various plants were es- 
pecially cultivated abound in the Mishnaic and Tal- 
mudic literature; but these belong rather to a de- 
scription of the agriculture of Palestine than to 
botany. R. Simon b. Gamailiel, however, shows an 
accurate knowledge of the special habitats of plants 
when he says: “Of mountains, the ash is character- 
istic; of ravines [“ ghor”], the date-palms; of water- 
courses [“ wadis ”], the reeds; and of lowlands [{“ she- 
felah ”], the sycamore ” (sce Tosef., Sheb. vii.; Yer. 
ix. 88d; Pes. 18a; Bacher, “ Ag. Tan.” ii. 827; and 
“Kaftor wa-Perah,” p. 107a; Vogelstein, “ Land wirt- 
schaft in Palastina,” i. 7; Kaplan, “ Erez Kedumim,” 
p. 34). 

In other passagesalso R. Simon b. Gamaliel shows 
an interest in botanical questions (Frankel, “ Darke 
ha-Mishnah,” p. 184); and the interpretation of the 
Biblical y as the resin of the balsam-dropping trees 
(“ katof ”) is said to have originated with him. He de- 
termines the length of time between the leafing of 
the fig-tree and the ripening of its fruit (Tosef., Sheb. 
xiv. 67; Yer. 7b. 35d); describes minutely a certain 

kind of onion (Tosef., Ma‘as. R. iii. 85; 
Ritual Yer. 7b. 52a); declares that rice is not 
Mention of grain (Tosef., Hal. ii. 98); allows only 
Plants. the fruit of the palms of Jericho to 
be offered in the Temple as first-fruits 
(Tosef., Bik. i. 100); and maintains that there is noth- 
ing square in nature, in opposition to which state- 
ment it is pointed out that mint, like all labiate 
flowers, has a four-edged stem (Low, “ Aramiische 
Pflanzennamen,” p. 260). He mentionsalso (Tosef., 
Tebul Yom, i. 684) a peculiar kind of bean (xigelta), 
the leek, and senna (M'13v’?). 

R. Johanan ben Nuri, acontemporary of R. Akiba, 
mentions an otherwise unknown inferior and prob- 
ably only wild grain, the nop; and the “kurram” 
or “kurreim,” still found ip Palestine, makes it 
probable that this was the [ordeum bulbosum (Lin- 
neus) (Post, “Flore cf Syria,” etc., p. 902: “found 
in grassy places”). According to Johanan, this 
mip makes a dough which is subject to the law 
of HaLan, and may be leavened; but with this 
view other teachers disagree, each claiming that his 
opinion is founded on experience (Tosef., Hal. i. 97; 
Yer. 7b. i. 57a; Tosef., Pes. 1. 157; 7b. Yer. 29a). 
Rice, too, he tried, though unsuccessfully, to clas- 
sify as a grain; and this difference of opinion leads to 
the inference that Indian rice—which was unknown 
to the Bible, and appeared only after Alexander the 
Great—was not naturalized in Palestine much be- 
fore his time (Pes. 35a, 114b; Ber. 37a; see also 
Rice). Saffron-seed cakes (yan nin), usually taken 
as delicacies before the meal, Johanan would not 
class as food; consequently they were not to be 
bought with money from the second tithe, which 


was reserved for food. Hisopposition to Akiba ex. 
tended to still other kinds of spices (Tosef., Ma’as, 
Sh. i. 87). 

Nor was the appreciation of the beauty of nature 
entirely lacking in the time of the Mishnah teachers, 
for the latter, although engrossed in study, and prob- 
ably immersed in the explanation of details of sacri- 
ficial rites, were so astounded at the wonders of 
nature—as, for instance, trees, in all their majesty— 

that they would exclaim: “How mag- 

Artistic nificent this treeis!” Such direct ap- 

Apprecia- preciation of nature had probably be- 

tion. come so foreign to that period and its 

manner of feeling that it was con- 

demned as an interruption of the study of the Law 
(Ab. iii. 7). 

On the other hand, on reviewing the splendors of 
creation, the Jew is to praise not creation but the 
Creator; at sight of beautiful human beings or trees 
he is to extol God, who permits these creatures to 
exist in the world (Tosef., Ber. vii. 15; Talmud 
Bab. 7). 58b), and who created them (Yer, ix. 13b). 

By R. Judah b. Ezekiel of Pumbedita this 
thought was condensed into the command: “He 


who walks abroad in Nisan and sees the blossoming 


trees shall repeat the blessing: ‘ Praised be He who 
allows nothing to be wanting in His world: who 
created beautiful beings and trees, to delight men’ ” 
(Ber. 48b and parallels; Tur and Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Orah Hayyim, 226). Closer casuistic details are 
given by Azulai, who, with a perfect absence of all . 
feeling for nature, adds that this blessing should be 
pronounced with especially impressive reverence for 
the benefit of those souls which may be wandering 
through trees and plants, and that God's mercy 
should be begged for them (“Moreh be-Ezba‘,” Nos. 
198, 199; Palaggi, “ Mo‘ed le-Kol Hai,” i. 6-9). 

The same command is extended to flowers (“ Lekah 
Tob,” in “Pahad Yizhak,” 1, 58a). Instead of choos- 
ing the early-blooming almond-tree as the occasion 
for saying this blessing, one is commanded to wait 
until other trees are in bloom. The question as to 
whether this blessing may be pronounced as early 
as Adar and as late as lyyar is the subject of casu- 
istic debate (Alkalai, “Zekor le-Abraham,” Orah 
Hayyim, 21a; Responsa of Joel Zebi Roth Huszt, 
“ Bet ha-Yozer” on Orah Hayyim, No. 18). 

The miserable condition of the roads of the Holy 
Land, when pilgrims discontinued their annual 
journey to Jerusalem, was shown in the briers that 
overgrew the paths (Lam. R., Introduction, 26; [ed. 
Buber, p. 30]; Yalk., Isa. 802; “Lekah Tob” on 
Lam, i. 4); and it was a pathetic sight to behold 
weeds growing in forsaken synagogues (Tosef., 
Meg. iii. 225; Talmud Yer. and Bab. J.c.). 

The Biblical idea that just as man extols God for 
the wonder of His creation, so, too, creation itself 
praises its Maker, is not lost even in later times. 
Thus the month of Shebat is said to boast that dur- 
ing its duration “the trees grow higher, open their 

mouths, and with their leaves praise 
Hagegadah. the living God” (Targ. Yer. Ex. xii. 
31). This same poetical thought is 
reflected also in the “Perek Shirah,” where it is 
applied to the individual phenomena and parts 
of the creation: “The trees rejoice over Israel’s 


335 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Botany 





redemption ” (Isa, xliv. 23), applied haggadically in 
Mek., Beshallah, ed. Friedmann, p. 40b. King Og 
was rude enough to designate Abraham and Sarah 
as beautiful trees growing by the waterside but bear- 
ing no fruit; therefore he was punished by being 
conquered by the great nation descended from them 
(Targ. Yer. on Num. xxi. 34). By fruits are meant 
the Patriarchs; by blossoms, the tribes of Israel 
(Lam. R., Introduction, 2 [ed. Buber, p. 3]). David, 
like Moses, a faithful shepherd, reserved the young 
and tender pasture for the lambs of his flock; the 
older growth was given to the older sheep, the roots 
to the fully grown animals, thereby showing his 
fitness to be a shepherd of Israel (Midr. Teh. on 
Ixxvill, 21 [ed. Buber, p. 857]).. God and the Torah 
are compared to plants; thus the Torah is likened to 
the fig, the vine, flax, and wheat, while Israel (Ex. 
R. Xxxvi. 1) is compared to all the nobler trees (the 
vine, fig, walnut, myrtle, olive, apple, palm, wil- 
low, and cedar). 

There was a dispute as to which of the trees thus 
compared with Israel furnished the wood for Haman’s 
gallows (Abba Gorion and “Lekah Tob,” on Esth. 
vii. 10 [ed. Buber, pp. 41, 48]). Just as the entire 
Song of Solomon is symbolical of God and Israel, so, 
too, are the individual plants mentioned in it, such as 
meadow-saffrons and lilies. Israel and the peoples 
of Canaan suggest a vineyard wherein both cedars 
and briers grow: the former are uprooted, while the 
latter remain to protect the vineyard (Yalk., Judges 
xli. 8a). 

The significance attributed in Ber. 56-57 to vari- 
ous plants (citron, fig, barley, pomegranate, pump- 
kin, olive, palm, date, reeds, and vines) in interpret- 
ing dreams is made to rest on Biblical verses or on a 
play upon words. Solomon Almoli’s collection in 
his dream-book, “ Pitron Halomot,” rests partly on 
Talmudic passages, partly on foreign folk-lore and 
his own imagination. Thus to dream of spinach 
is said to signify happiness, riches, and honor; of 
ginger, honor and renown (see Steinschneider, “Cat. 
Bodl.” No. 6896, 3). : 

In a figurative sense the names of certain plants, 

or, more specifically, fruit-trees, are 


Figurative used to designate similar objects 
Uses = (xnpiby, ney, man, mw Sw nd); 
of Plant- see Liéw, l.c. p. 375; Steinschneider, 
Names. ‘“Hebr. Uebers.” pp. 319, 395; Gen. 


R. xxviii. 3; “ Monatsschrift,” xxxviii. 

25; Tan., Hayye Sarah, ed. Buber, pp. 7, 51. 
Metaphors and comparisons from the plant world 
appear in Talmudic literature continually, and many 
pass into the most diverse languages and literatures. 
In man—as the microcosm—the hair is said to repre- 
sent the woods, while the bones correspond to the 
trees (Ab. R. N. xxxi., 3pw = both “hair” and “ foli- 
age”; see also Peah ii. 3; Theocritus, “Idyls,” i. 
131). According to Nahmanides (“Terumah,” 71b), 
“the holy language always compares all forms 
with man. That which is at the top is called the 
head ; that below, the feet.” Nevertheless, the words 
“roots,” “branches,” “stems,” and “fruit” are fre- 
quently used metaphorically. The human body is 
likened to the earth; the bones, to the mountains; 
the hair, to plants (Dieterici, “Die Anthropologie 
der Araber,” 1871, p. 15). “The roots are the soul, 


the stem is the body,” is a Mishnaic saying (Tosef., 
Sanh. xiii. 484). On the other hand, Arabic philas- 
ophy is reflected in Ibn Ezra’s dictum on Ps. i. 3 
(see “ Monatsschrift,” xliii. 239), that the most per- 
fectly formed soul is that fruit of the body which is 
picked at the time of maturity. 

The words 3py (“root ”) and )3y (“ branch”), as des- 
ignating fundamental law and deduced ordinances, 
are found in Sherira (Neubauer, “Chronique Sama- 
ritaine,” 1, 19), but earlier also in the Mishnaic usage 
of "py, meaning the chicf matter, as opposed to Sap, 
that of secondary nature (Sifre, Num. 89 [ed. Weiss, 
p. 24b]); rat Sy apy opposed to xnbot sap 
(Yer. Ber. ix. 18c). “Man is an inverted tree, and 
a tree is an inverted man,” said Aristotle (“ De Part. 
An.” iv. 10), and after him all writers of the Middle 
Ages—Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians. Judah 
Muskato (“ Nefuzot Yehudah,” sermon 15) and Sam- 
uel Yafe Ashkenazi (“ Yefeh Mareh” on Ber. i. 4), 
both of the sixteenth century, were familiar with 
this comparison; but so also was Gershom b. Solo- 
mon (see below). The simile is worked out in de- 
tail in “Aggadat ‘Olam Katon” (Jellinek, “B. H.” 
v. 58; see also “ Monatsschrift,” xiii. 227). “At the 
time of the resurrection the bones will be drawn 
from the earth; the hair from trees; the power of 
life from fire, as was the case at the time of the origi- 
nal Creation” (“ Bundehesh,” in Spiegel, “ Die Tradit. 
Literatur der Parsen,” p. 116). Joseph ibn Zaddik 
(“‘Olam Katon,” p. 22) and Clément Mullet (Intro- 
duction to his translation of Ibn Awwam, p. 22) also 
say: “ Assyrian agriculture sees in man an inverted 
tree, while, on the other hand, the tree is an inverted 
man.” Of Mohammedans, Kazwini may be men- 
tioned; of Christians, the following passage: “ Phys- 
icists say man is an inverted tree” (Migne, “ Patro- 
logia Cursus Completus,” Latin series, p. 185, col. 
107; Guerricus Abbas, “Sermo,” ii.). 

Steinschneider was the first to collect the Hebrew 
typology of botany (Kobak, “Jeschurun,” German 
ed., vill. 65). To this belong such state- 
ments as that mustard-seed grains 
sn, 373) represent. the smallest of 
things in contrast to the largest qvdyn Wi5, “Zunz 
Jubelschrift,” p. 107), or to ostriches’ eggs (Stein- 
schneider, “ Hebr. Uebers.” p. 16, note 107; ¢dem, in 
“Jeschurun,” @.¢.), or to the ocean (“ Monatsschrift,” 
1879, p. 354, note). Steinschneider understands 
sesame-seed as representing something very small. 
Similar usage to represent “nothing,” figuratively, 
is found in many other languages (Hoefer, “ Ger- 
mania,” 1873, xviii. 19). Comparisons of cedars and 
reeds, and instances of the use of the latter as illus- 
trations of weakness, are also found (see REED).. 

Expressions to the effect that the soul is the tree, 
and wisdom its fruit; that wisdom is the tree, and 
deeds are its fruit; that intelligence without moral- 
ity is a tree without fruit (Gabirol), and similar 
quotations (“Nahal Kedumim,” p. 384; see Stein- 
schneider, “ Hebr. Vebers.” p. 882), all come from the 
Arabic (concerning the “fruit of wisdom” see 
Steinschneider, in “Zunz Jubelschrift,” p. 1, note, 
and idem, “ Hebr. Uebers.” p. 156). 

Of the scientific expressions of the Arabic pericd 
of civilization mention may be made of *3}38 OD13 
for “cone” (“Hebr. Bibl.” vii. 90 e¢ seqg.), mY 


Types. 


Botany 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


336 


mmc nT ei, 


moanwyy, Judah Tibbon (Steinschneider, “Hebr. 
Uebers.” p. 445, note, where also al sanubri = D'S 
= way SIWWYN; see Barzillai, “ Yezirah,” pp. 222, 347). 
The haggadic pictures drawn from the plant 
world are chiefly types taken froin the Bible, such 
as cedar and reeds, cedar and hyssops, etc. (see the 

articles under these respective captions). 
The tree as an emblem of human life is a favorite 
metaphor in the Bible, and is frequently so used in 
later literature (L. Low, “ Gesammelte 


Man. Schriften,” i. 67). The upright man 
Compared is compared in the Bible to the palm 
to Trees. and totrees in general. The just man 


is likened to a tree in a clean place 
with a branch overhanging an unclean spot; the 
wicked man, to the reverse (Ab. R. N. xxxix. 119). 
“Plant” (my) is a Biblical word for the Messiah 
(Heilprin, “‘Erke ha-Kinnuyim,” s.v.); salvation is 
a quickening anew of all that is green (Cant. R. on 
ii. 2; Targ. Yer. on Isa. vi. 18); the plant springing 
from the seed, a picture of resurrection (Num. R. 
Xviil.). The seed is confided to the earth naked: 
but the latter returns it to man clothed in fruit 
(Sanh. 90b; Eccl. R. v.; Pirke R. Ek xxxiii.). 

Of fables, the following may be mentioned: 
“The Trees and the Iron” (Gen. R. v., end; Sachs, 
“Stimmen vom Jordan und Euphrat,” ii. 111), and 
“Hadrian and the Old Man Planting Trees” (Lev. 
R. xxv. 3). 

The beginnings of scientific botany, preserved in 
the Jewish literature of the Middle Ages, consist 
chiefly of echoes of Avistotle, with now and then in- 
formation derived from Theophrastus; all of them 
transmitted through Arabic channels, and especially 
either directly or indirectly from Averroes (concern- 
ing Dioscorides, on whom Asaf relies, see Stein- 
schneider, “ Hebr. Uebers.” pp. 289, 650). Any one 
familiar with the fragments of Aristotelian botany 
contained in Meyer (“Gesch. der Botanik,” i. 94 et 
seq.) will in exceptional cases only find 
anything new in Jewish botanical 
treatises. The questions of the rela- 
tionship between animalsand plants, of 
the life of the plant, its soul, its own heat, its nour- 
ishment and propagation, occupied the thought of 
the entire Middle Ages, and are answered inan Aris- 
totelian style. True, in general botany the Arabs 
did not greatly surpass Aristotle; but in speaking 
of the Arabian and late Greco-Roman literature, 
Meyer (é.¢. ii. 326) rightly says: “The sum of spe- 
cial knowledge concerning plants considerably de- 
creased among the Greeks and Romans, but in- 
creased among the Arabians, The Arabs sought in 
nature itself the plants commended by the ancients, 
and expended much energy on the criticism of syn- 
onyms.” In this, Jewish literature made the Arabic 
its model (see PLANts); but the literature of synon- 
ymy belongs rather to Jewish pharmacology than 
to botany. In 1197 Pseudo-Galen’s “De Plantis ” 
was translated into Hebrew by an anonymous writer 
from Orange (Steinschneider, “Tebr. Uebers.” pp. 
142, 972). The book of Pseudo-Aristoteles, “De 
Plantis,” demonstrated by Meyer to have been writ- 
ten by Nicolaus Damascenus, was translated into 
Hebrew (Steinschneider, 73. p. 141). In 1814 Kalony- 
mus ben Kalonymus translated a book on plants 


Scientific 
Botany... 


containing undoubtedly the entire text of Pseudo. 
Aristoteles and the commentary of Averroes, with 
probably the supercommentary by Levi b. Gerson 
(Steinschneider, 76. p. 142; Rtenan-Neubauer, “ Les 
Ecrivains Juifs Francais,” p. 88). According to 

Steinschneider (2). p. 886), a book on 


Early herbs in the Vatican consists of an 
Books on alphabetical list of remedies. <A. go. 
Botany. calicd “Book on Plants” is also men. 


tioned by this scholar (7b. pp. 359, 748), 
Macer Floridus’ book on botany (about 1161) wag 
also translated into Hebrew (zd. p. 809). 

The article on botany in the encyclopedia “Sha‘ar 
ha-Shamayim,” by Gershom b. Solomon of Arles 
(Gross, in “ Monatsschrift,” xx viii. 126; ¢dem, “ Gallia 
Judaica,” p. 82; Renan-Neubauer, “Les Rabbins 
Francais,” p. 589; Steinschneider, “ Webr. Ucbers.” 
p. 9), is probably taken from Averroes’ commentary 
on the Pseudo-Aristotelian book. It treats of the 
soul of the plant; passes on to consider its nourish- 
ment, growth, blossoming, and fructification; and 
then takes up the influence upon it of the sun’s heat, 
of exposure, and of climate. The hot spices—pep- 
per, calamus, and ginger—grow only under the 
“second” climate, that is, where it is hot and dry; 
the sugar-cane under the “ fourth,” the moderate cli- 
mate. In France the tropical fruits—figs, olives, 
and pomegranates— will not grow toward the limits 
of the “sixth” climate: only the grape endures, for 
the coldness of this zone can not overcome this 
plant’s natural heat. In England even the grape- 
vine does not survive the “seventh” climate. The 
herbs, too, are not every where the same, each having 
its particular locality or habitat. Plants are heavy, 
light, or medium. The lightest and weakest are 
those of the pulse family, which, therefore, ripen ear- 
liest, just as weaker woman matures before stronger 
man, Barley ripens later, and wheat later still. 

According to Aristotle, the plant’s development 
keeps pace with the course of the sun, and reaches 

its highest point when the sun is in 


Medieval Cancer. Averroes distinguishes be- 
Con- tween perfect and imperfect plants. 
ceptions. Some of the imperfect ones are con- 


trolled by one or other of the elements; 
thus, aquatic plants by water, and sponges by the 
earth. He says also that most plants live longer 
than animals, for they are more nearly allied to the 
minerals, and their composition docs not contain the 
great antagonisms found in the animal world. <Ac- 
cording to gardeners the moon, according fo “mod- 
em” teachers the stars, exercise a great influence 
over growing plants. Plants consist of the four 
elements, but principally of air, as is evident from 
the small quantity of ashes remaining afier they 
are burned. According to Averroes, however, the 
earthy constituents outweigh the water in some 
plants which sink in water, such as ebony, Then 
follow the division of fruits (based upon the edibil- 
ity of their interiors or exteriors), a passage on ever- 
green trees, and one on the colors of plants. 
Gershom also contends that plants are green either 
because standing water assumes that color or because 
water and black earth combine to form green. Like 
man, plants, except the upright palm, stand in- 
verted. Therefore, the palm dies if its head, its pin- 


337 


nacle, be cut off. Only palm-trees show a distinc- 
tion in sex, but there are other fruit-trees that bear 
no fruit unless other trees of their kind are in their 
vicinity. Some botanical notes to be found in Ger- 
shom are: a short description of the balsam-tree 
(*Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim,” p. 20b); of the sunflower 
(selsega); the pumpkin is said to cry out as it grows 
in the moonlight; the growth of cucumbers should 
be furthered by blowing the shofar at the time of 
the setting of the fruit (Duran, “ Magen Abot,” 36a). 
Gershom also says that from one tree 
come cinnamon (the rind), mace (the 
blossom), and nutmeg (the fruit); 
cloves also are said to be buds of 
the same tree. 

Only two original botanical remarks are found in 
Gershom: First, that seedless fruit-treesand grapes 
may be cultivated, just as “in our city” (Arles) 
there is a tree called Ova ny (“sorbier”), the fruit of 
which has no seeds. Gershom alludes to either a defi- 
nite tree in Arles or to the so-called beam-tree (So7- 
dus torminalis), Secondly, he says: “Not far from 
us there grows a tree the fruit of which is as large 
as half a bean and as hard when ripe asa stone, so 
that it can not be softened by cooking. This fruit 
seems to mark the transition from the plant kingdom 
to the mineral kingdom, as do corals, mushrooms, 
and truffles.” Mention, of course, is made of the Bar- 
NACLE-GOosE. The work closes with a description of 
the various savors of plants and of their admixture. 

Simon b. Zemah Duran (1444) wrote an exhaustive 
treatise on the relations between plants and animals 
(“Magen Abot,” 35d, Leghorn). In spite of the 

poetical passages in the Holy Scrip- 


Uses 
of Plants. 


Duran’s tures speaking of the rejoicing, ex- 
Botanical ultation, or sadness of plants, they 
Work. have no feeling—possessing, according 

to Aristotle, only a self-nourishing 

power, Earth, water, sun, and air contribute to 


their growth. Differences in plants are due to the 
varying combinations of the four elements, to heat 
and cold, to dampness and dryness. They grow 
(1) from seeds; (2) from the decay of other materials 
(Anatoli, “Malmad,” 5a), as the saprophytes; (3) 
from water; (4) from ships; (5) or parasitically, ¢.e., 
on other plants. In addition to the fable that birds 
grow on trees, Duran states that in India a woman 
grows on a tree, falls with a loud cry when she is 
ripe, and dies. Duran also compares the parts of 
plants to the organs of animal bodies; classifies them 
as trees, bushes, herbs, and grasses, as wild and cul- 
tivated trees, and as fruit- and forest-trees; and 
treats of their varying longevity, of sex (the artifi- 
cial fertilization of palm- and fig-trees, sometimes, 
however, effected by the wind), of the value of 
plants as means of nourishment and as remedies, poi- 
sons, and odors, and of various plant-juices and their 
different tastes. The only specifically Jewish refer- 
euce is the statement that, according to Jewish 
scholars, there are 1,290 kinds of plants, since every 
herb has its own particular star, and 

Number of there are 1,290 stars, not 1,022 as the 
Species. astronomers maintain (Abravanel on 
Gen. xv. 5). In the commentary on 

the “Sefer Yezirah” the number of the varieties of 
plants was estimated at 2,100, corresponding to the 

TIT. —22 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Botany 


numerical value of oR: & =1,000; 5 =200; y =900. 
The statement introduced by Maimonides (“Moreh 
Nebukim,” ii. 10), “There is no herb on earth with- 
out a constellation in heaven that governs it, fosters 
it, and calls to it, ‘Grow on,’ ” comes from R. Simon 
b. Pazzi (see Gen. R. x. 6; Bacher, “ Ag. Pal. Amor.” 
ii. 473; Low, lc. p. 6). It is found also in the 
Midrash Konen; but there an angel is substituted 
for the constellation (Jellinek, “B. H.” ii. 27; “Sefer 
Raziel,” ed. Schwarz; “Tikwat Enosh” on Job 
XxXxvili. 81). Chwolson (“Ssabier,” ii. 467) also 
states: “Every plant has its demon.” Such opin- 
ions resulted in statements that the number of plant 
varieties equals that of the stars (so Gerson b. 
Solomon, and Duran with more detail). 
Nahmanides relies on Simon’s statement to estab- 
lish a better foundation for the Biblical prohibition 
against mixing heterogeneous plants (commentary 
on Gen. i. p. 4c; on Lev. xix. p. 100b; see Low, Le. 
p. 6). R. Simon’s idea was far too welcome to the 
spirit of the Cabala not to be continued further. 
Thus, to mention two extremes: the Zohar repro- 
duces it repeatedly, sometimes in combination with 
the prohibition of mixed seeds (ii. 15b, 171b; ii. 
86a); and Azulai interprets it as follows: “Every- 
thing in the world is dependent upon things of a 
higher scale: evena little blade of grass is related to 
higher leaves, developed roots, stems, seeds, blos- 
soms, and petals, to height, breadth, length, form; in 
fact, to everything of higher significance. Even its 
connection with its angel, and the connection of this 
angel with his own sefirah, and of this sefirah with 
the Infinite [#2 Sof], illustrate the fact. So that he 
who partakes of anything without a benediction, 
wantonly tears it from its ultimate connection with 
the Deity” (“ Midbar Kedemot,” letter 3, No. 20; 
compare letter y, No, 18). The thought has also 
penetrated into non-Jewish circles. Thus Paracel- 
sus says: “ Every starin heaven isaspiritual growth 
to which some herb on earth corresponds, and by its 
attractive power, the star draws on the herb on earth 
corresponding to it; so that every herb is an earthly 
star, just as every star is a spiritualized herb” 
(Friedreich, “Die Symbolik und Mythologie der 
Natur,” p. 193, Wirzburg, 1859; Meyer, “Gesch. 
der Botanik,” iv. 480). An Oxford manuscript men- 
tions herbs corresponding to single planets (Stein- 
schneider, in “ Monatsschrift,” pp. 42, 864). 
Aristotle’s idea of the vegetative soul (whom 
nnmown) governs almost the entire Arabian and Jew- 
ish philosophy (Dieterici, “Die An- 
The thropologie der Araber,” 1871, pp. 8, 
Vegetative 58, 146 e¢ seg.). It is met with in 
Soul. Isaac b. Solomon Israeli (middle ot 
the tenth century; Steinschneider, 
“Hebr. Uebers.” p. 888); in the “Book of Defini- 
tions ” (Steinschneider, “Zunz Jubelschrift,” p. 187); 
in Batalyusi, whose influence on Jewish philosophy 
is pointed out by Kaufmann (“ Al-Batalyusi,” p. 
10 and gate iv. 51); and in Gabirol (8. Horovitz, 
“Die Psychologie ibn Gabirol’s,” p. 115, Breslau, 
1900), who states in his allegorical exegesis: “ Adam 
signifies the reasoning or human soul; Eve, the liv- 
ing or animal soul; the snake, the desiring or vege- 
tative soul, the lowest grade in animated nature.” 
The seed of Eve is to crush the head of the serpent, 


Botany 
Boton 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


338 





while the latter is to smite the beel of the former, 
illustrating the close and unbroken interconnection 
between the natural and psychical worlds. Where 
the animal soul ceases, the plant soul begins: the 
serpent, typifving the plant soul, gets its nourish- 
ment from the dust (Kaufmann, “Studien tiber Salo- 
mon ibn Gabirol,” p. 70, Budapest, 1899). Abraham 
ibn Daud’'s teachings (Steinschneider, “ Hebr. 
Uebers.” p. 869) on plant and animal souls have 
been concisely presented by Rosin (“ Die Ethik des 
Maimonides,” p. 48, note, Breslau, 1876), and ex- 
haustively treated by Guttmann (“ Monatsschrift,” 
xxvii. 164). “In plants, as in sleeping bodies,” says 
Ibn Daud, “ there is life” (“ Emunah Ramah,” p. 15). 
“According to Aristotle, the coral shows the transi- 
tion from plants to animals” (24. p. 81). He makes 
special mention of opium and the aloe. Similarly 
Ibn Ezra speaks of the plant’s soul as its nourishing 
principle for growth and propagation (Rosin, in 
“ Monatsschrift,” xlit. 448). Ibn Ezra devotes con- 
siderable care to elaborating Gabirol’s allegory men- 
tioned above (see Rosin and Kaufmann, l.c.). Mai- 
monides characterizes the nutrient function of the 
soul as corresponding to the plant soul, but does 
not mention the latter in the first of the “ Eight 
Chapters” (Scheyer, “Das Psychologische System 
des Maimuni,” p. 10; Rosin, “Die Ethik des Mai- 
monides,” p. 47). Mose de Leon (thirteenth century) 
knew of the plant sou! (Jellinek, “ Mose de Leon,” 
p. 18, note), as did Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa, 
who says: “The soul of reason is immortal, but the 
animal soul isnot, and the plant soul is even farther 
removed from immortality. The latter is the lowest ; 
therefore Holy Scripture says that earth brought 
forth the plants, while of animals if says that God 
created them” (commentary on Gen, i. 12; Bern. 
stein, “Die Schrifterkliirung des Bahya,” 1891, p. 
638; Arama, “ Akedat Yizhak,” iii. 1, 29b). In com. 
paring man and trees, Aaron b. Joseph, the Karuaite, 
says: “All thison account of the plant soul” (“ Mib- 
har,” 18a).- See also Shem-Tob ibn Falaquera of 
the thirteenth century (Venetianer, “A Fokozatok 
Koeny ve,” p. 58, Szegedin, 1890; idem, “Das Buch 
der Grade von Shem-Tob ben Josef ibn Falaqucra,” 
Berlin, 1894); Hayyim Vital of the seventeenth cen- 
tury (“Sha‘are Kedushah,” i. 2); Steinschneider, in 
“Z. D. M. G.” xxvii. 557, note; and ¢dem, “Hebr. 
Uebers.” p. 908, note. 
Among general references to plants may be men- 
tioned those by Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda: 
“Plants created for the perfection and 
General use of man area testimony of divine 
References. wisdom. The love of God caused man 
to come forth from an original nothing 
composed of the elements; then to become plant- 
material, then sustenance which is converted into 
seed and blood, and finally into life and a living man ” 
(“ Hobot ha-Lebabot,” ii. 4 [ed. Baumgarten, p. 7]; 
7b. ii, 5 fed. Baumgarten, p. 8a]). Jeshua b. Ju- 
dah, the Karaite, of Jerusalem (middle of eleventh 
century), has the following: “The Jews said that if 
it had not been written in the Holy Scriptures: ‘And 
God said: Behold, I have given you every herb that 
bears seed, as food,’ they would not have been al- 
lowed to use herbs and plants for food.” Jeshua, 
however, thinks this opinion untenable, since “ plants 


feel no pain” (Schreiner, “Studien tber Jeshua b, 
Jehuda”). Finally, Judah ha-Levi remarks: 


*“ Sinee minerals originated solely through commixture, they 
do not need the God-granted form necessary to plants and ani. 
mals, to Which a soni bas been assigned. The finer the com. 
mixture is made, the nobler is its form, revealing more and 
more of divine Wisdom, until it becomesa plant, Whica possesses 
a certain degree of feeling and perception. Forthwith it pene- 
trates into the earth, and, nourished by good, damp soil and 
sweet water, and avoiding their opposites, it grows, and re. 
mains standing after having brought forth its kind and produced 
seed. This seed devotes itseif to a similar activity, In aceord 
ance with its wonderful intuitive wisdom, called by the philogo- 
phers Nature itself—meaning the powers that care for the 
preservation of the species; for a body that is a composite of 
various substances can hot be preserved indefinitely in its indi- 
viduality. Nothing possessing only the powers of growth, 
reproduction, and nourishment has any motion. According to 
philosophers, these powers are directed by Nature; but in real- 
ity, whether ascribed to Nature or soul, force or angel, these 
successive stages are directed by God. If the commixture is 
still more refined, and capable of divine wisdom, it will be fit 
to adopt a higher form than one possessing mere natural power, 
That is to say, it will be able to obtain nourishment from a dis- 
tance; in other words, it will possess organic limbs, moving 
according to its own volition. It will command its members 
more than plants are able to do, which latter can not protect 
themseives from harm or seek what is useful, and are played 
with by the wind. Thus, the animal possesses limbs by which 
he is transported. The form granted him in addition to the 
natural life is called a soul” (“Cuzari,” v. J9 (ed. Hirsehfeld 
p. 246]). 


On the necessity of a knowledge of botany, Judah 
ha-Levi (¢d. ii. 64 [ed. Cassel, p. 169; ed. Hirschfeld, 
p. 94]) says: “When a member of the Sanhedrin 
died, another of equal birth could succeed him, for 

the sciences were familiar among the 
Knowledge peuple.” This was necessarily so, 
of Botany. since one needed a knowledge of all 

the sciences for the complete observ- 
ance of the Law; of the physical ones, for instance, 
for the agricultural laws, as in distinguishing 
mixed seeds, in avoiding the products of the Sab- 
batical vear and of new orchards, and in separating 
various plants from one another, so that each might 
be kept with its original species, and that one class 
might not be confused with another. It is ex- 
tremely difficult to determine whether Greek barley 
(yovdn0¢; see Léw, l.c. pp. 104, 164; B. Bahlul, 878; 
accoru.ng to Ibn Awwim, a variety of spelt) is a 
form of barley, or spelt a variety of wheat, or cauli- 
flower (Low, @.c. p. 214) a variety of cabbage. To 
do so one must know the qualities and the ineas- 
ure of the spread of the roots in the earth, as well 
as what does and does not remain over for the next 
year, in order that one may know how much room 
and interval of time are to be left between one crop 
and another. 

In a list of foods Meir Aldabi of Toledo mentions 
sixty-five plants, only one of which, nppdp (“egg- 
plant”), has a grammatical interest. None of these 
lists has more than a slight value. For years they 
were ascribed to Galen and Avicenna, 

Neither Todros nor Cavaillon wrote on botany 
(Steinschneider, “ Jiidische Literatur,” p. 446 [p. 305 
of Hebrew edition]; dem, “Hebr. Uebers.” p. 783; 
Gross, “Gallia Judaica,” p. 539). In his medical 
work, “Ma‘aseh Tobiyah,” printed in 1697, Tobia 
Cohen of Metz (Zunz, “G. 8.” i. 198) also touches on 
cures, and in one appendix treats of forty plants as 
foods and remedies; while in another he gives a 


339 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Botany 
Boton 





glossary of simple remedies written in several lan- 
guages. In the first he mentions the following trees 
and plants: apple, birch, pear, box, citron, cypress, 
date, oak, ivy, ash, fig, pine, oak-apple, elder, lin- 
den, laure], mulberry, pomegranate, walnut, olive, 
poplar, brook-willow, peach, plum, rose, rosemary, 
elm, sandalwood, tamarisk, tir, willow, vine, PONY 
youn (“juniper”), plane, O23 pomp (Pino saleate- 
cum, pine-tree). 

Tobia Cohen also deserves mention among Jewish 
botanists because he illustrated a variety of the 
orchid in his work (p. 148a). 

The superficiality of the barren period between 
Mendelssohn’s death and the appearance of Rapo- 
port is shown in the chapter on botany, said to be 

written, according to some German 


Later text-book on natural history, by Ba- 
Develop- ruch Lindau for his encyclopedia 
ments. “Reshit Limmudim,” Berlin, 1738. 


He gives a short article on botany in 
forty pages, and, owing to his lack of Jewish learn- 
ing, makes mistakes in the Hebrew nomenclature of 
plants. 

Phineas Elijah b. Meir of Wilna (Steinschneider, 
“Cat. Bodl.” No. 67538; Zunz, “G. 8.” i. 196) was 
more intimately acquainted with the Jewish knowl- 
edge of the Middle Ages. He derives his natural 
philosophy from Hayyim Vital, and describes the 
three powers of the plant soul; viz., those that 
nourish, those that promote growth, and those that 
propagate. He knows that modern botany regards 
all plants as growing out of the seed, though in 
many cases this is microscopic in size. He also 
mentious that plants have male and female organs 
of reproduction that are sometimes united in the 
same individual, and sometimes divided between 
two, in which latter case the wind carrics the pollen 
to the female part, though bees also, in collecting 
the pollen on their feet, assist in the fertihzation of 
the blossoms they afterward visit. 

The microscope discloses the wonders of God in 
nature, and one sees—as Phineas repeatedly asserts 
—the whole plant pictured in the seed. Not only is 
the next generation represented, but, according to 
some modern botanists, all the later generations lie 
folded up in the seed from the time of its creation. 
This, however, has not been proved, and is only a 
hypothesis. It may be, he says, that each genera- 
tion produces only the seed of the next. Phineas 
adopts the latter view, since experience shows that 
the unripe seed is not capable of propagation, 
though, in view of the minute wonders disclosed by 
the microscope, the former can not be called impos- 
sible. As he learns from botany that there are 
20,000 known plants, while Jewish tradition counts 
only 2,100, he considers these latter asso many plant 
families, and subdivides these into many classes. 
Then follow some remarks on plants turning toward 
the sun. Among the plants mentioned are the sun- 
flowers (nib yo) and quite correctly the Talmudic 
‘INTN (should be ‘"&) or “mallow.” Of the brant- 
goose he treats earlier in speaking of moving plants, 
such as the °3 yin Oy (“touch-me-not” or “Impa- 
tiens”). But the most striking botanical reference 
is the following (xi. 4f, 68a): “In 1744 it was dis- 
covered that when flying insects touch the plant 


pyp on (“ polyps”), growing in Europe in pools 
among reeds and rushes, it folds its leaves together, 
seizes the insect, and, crushing it into dust, feeds on 
it.” Phineas adds: “How great are the wonders of 
our God!” For further information on botany, see 
Foik-LoreE, MEASURES, NAMES, PLANTS. 

E. ¢. I. Lo. 

BOTAREL (BOTERELLO, BOTRIL, BO- 
TRELLI), MOSES. See Moses BotaRe.. 


BOTON: Spanish family, which immigrated to 
Salonica, Turkey, in 1492, and which has produced 
many eminent rabbis and Talmudists. Jews bear- 
ing the name are still to be found in Constantinople, 
Salonica, Safed, and other cities of the East. The 
following genealogical chart gives the more impor- 
tant members of the family, the figures in parenthe- 
ses corresponding to the numbers of the biograph- 
ical notices in the text: 

Moses 


(8) Abrahain rae (c. 1560-1609) 


| | 
(9) Meir (6) Jacob (1) Aaron 
(2) Abraham (4) Abraham Hiyya 
(7) Jacob (d. 1687) 
Judah 


(5) Abraham (xviii. cent.) 


(8) Judah 

1. Aaron de Boton: Talmudic scholar; rabbi 
at Gallipoli, European Turkey, in the latter part of 
the sixteenth century and at the beginning of the 
seventeenth; son of Abraham Hiyya (No. 3). 

2. Abraham de Boton: Rabbi at Salonica in 
the seventeenth century; son of Jacob (No. 6) and 
grandson of Abraham Hiyya (No. 3). 

3. Abraham Hiyya de Boton: Talmudist and 


rabbi; born about 1560; died between 1603 and 1609. 


The name “ Hiyya” was given him during a danger- 
ous sickness (Hiyya = “life”; “may helive!”). He 
was a pupil of Samuel de Medina, and later dwelt 
for the most part at Salonica as rabbi and leader of 
a Talmudic academy. For a time he was rabbi 
at Polia (Michael, “Or ba-Hayyim,” p. 95); in 1601 
he lived in Palestine (Conforte, “Kore ha-Dorot,” 
pp. 47b, 5la); and in 1603 was at Constantinople 
(Michael, 2b.). 

Even during his lifetime Boton was distinguished 
as a Talmudist of wide learning and acumen, 
though he himself did not havea work printed. His 
chief work is “ Lehem Mishneh ” (Double Bread; also 
Dispute of the Mishnah), Venice, 1609: it bears 
also the title “ Mishneh Torah.” It isa commentary 
on Maimonides’ Yad ha-Hazakah, or Mishneh Torah, 
especially on those passages which apparently con- 
tradict the Talmud. He not only refers tosuch pas- 
sages as had been previously noticed, but discovers a 
large number of others. At the same time Boton 
endeavors to establish harmony between the seeming 
discrepancies by every possible method of interpre- 
tation. “Lehem Mishneh” also contains many re- 
marks on “ Maggid Mishneh,” Don Vidal de Tolosa’s 
commentary on the Yad ha-Hazakah. The work is 
now widely spread, and is incorporated with most 


Boton | 
Boundaries 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


340 





editions of the Yad ha-Hazakah that have appeared 
in the last two centuries. Conforte relates (b. p. 
45a) that his teacher Mordecai Kalai told him and 
other pupils that the “Lehem Mishneh” was the 
joint work of Kalai and Boton, who were fellow- 
students; and Kalai is even reported to have said 
that most of the observations in “Lehem Mishneh ” 
were his own. This aspersion loses force through 
the fact that though Kalai lived in the same city, 
he never made this claim against Beton publicly. 
Another work of Boton’s was “ Lebem Rab” (Great 
Meal, or Great Dispute), responsa, published by his 
grandson Abraham (No. 4), Smyrna, 1660. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, pp. 37b, 48a, 48b, 
44a, 45a, 48a, 50b, 5la; Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Ben- 
jacob, i. 7 5 Michael, Or ‘ha-Hayyim, No. 182; Benjacob, Ozar 
ha-Sefarim, p. 260; idem, Lehem Mishneh, Amsterdam, 
17038. The novell on Baba Kamma in Abraham Akra’s Me- 
harere Nemerim must be the work of another and earlier 
Abraham de Boton. 


4. Abraham MHiyya de Boton: Eminent 
rabbi; born about 1626 at Gallipoli, province of 
Adrianop:e; died about 1700 at Jerusalem; son of 
Aaron (No, 1) and grandson of Abraham Hiyya (No. 
3). Heat one time lived at Smyrna, where he was 
a member of Joseph Eskapa’s college of rabbis, and 
in which city he published (1660) his grandfather’s 
“Lehem Rab.” ‘Toward the end of his life he settled 
in Jerusalem, accepting the post of rabbi in the di- 
vorce court. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or hia-Hayyim, No. 40, 


5. Abraham ben Judah de Boton: Talmudist 
of the eighteenth century. He wrote “Mahazeh 
Abraham” (The Vision of Abraham), Salonica, 1796, 
comprising responsa and Talmudic discussions. 
The work contains some additions by his son Judah 
(No. 8). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ii. 79. 


6. Jacob de Boton: Rabbi at Salonica in the 
latter part of the sixteenth century or at the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth; son of Abraham Hiyya 
(No, 3). 


7. Jacob de Boton: Tualmudist, and rabbi at 
Salonica, where his father, Abraham (No, 2), and 
grandfather, Jacob (No. 6), had held the same posit- 
tion; died there 1687. 

Jacob was the author of “‘Edut be-Ya‘akob ” 
(Witness in Jacob), responsa, published in Salonica, 
1720, with a supplement entitled “ Likkutim ” (Frag- 
- ments), containing Talmudic collectanea and frag- 
tinents of his lost work on the “Sefer ha-‘Ittur” of 
Isaac ben Abba Mart. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha- Gedolim, ed. Benjacob, i. 

86; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 5513. 

8. Judah de Boton: Talmudist of the second 
half of the eighteenth century. He wrotesome Tal- 
mudic essays as an appendix to “Mahazeh Abra- 
ham” (Salonica, 1796), a work of his father, Abra- 
ham (No. 5). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ti. 78. 


9. Meir de Boton: Talmudist of the seven- 
teenth century; son of Abraham Hiyya (No. 8). 
Meir was rabbi at Gailipoli, and wrote a number of 
works, of which only his responsa were published 
(Smyrna, 1660), together with some novelle on the 


A 


Talmud. Other responsa by Meir were included in 
the works of his contemporaries. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, pp. 48a, 44b, 48b, 
5ib; Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Benjacob, i. 118; Stein’ 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 6295; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, 


p. 359, 

L. G, I. Ber.—A. P. 

BOTTLE: The Authorized Version (partly after 
the example of the Vulgate, which uses “lagena,” 
I Sam. x. 8; “laguncula,” Lam. iv, 2) introduced 
the incorrect translation “bottle” for various words 
thatin reality signify 
“skins for holding 
liquids” (“hemet,” 
Gen. xxi. 14 ¢é€ seq., 
for water; “nod,” 
Judges iv. 19, for 
milk; I Sam. xvi. 20, 
Josh. ix. 4, 138, for 
wine; Ps. lvi. 8 
[iebr. 9], for water; 
“ob,” Job xxxii. 19, 
for wine; “nebel,” [I 
Sam. i. 24, x. 3, ete., 
for wine). The R. V. 
corrects this only 
sporadically; com- 
pare I Sam. x. 8, mar- 
gin; Ps. cxix. 88; 
while in Jer. xiii. 12 
the marginal reading 
substitutes “ jar.” 

The various words 
in all these passages 
have reference to the 
skin, usually of a 
goat, sometimes of a 
sheep, in exceptional cases of an ox. The animal is 
skinned without making a hole in the body; the 
four holes where the lower legs have been cut off 
are closed by being sewn together, while the hole 
caused by the cutting of the head is bound together 
and serves as an aperture. The hairy side is fre- 
quently the inside, though in other cases it is left 
outside. To keep the skin tight it is greased or 
smeared with pitch. (On the habit of smoking it 
(Ps. cxix. 88) see Wink.) The mending, patching, 
and tying up, necessary with bursting skins, are re- 
ferred to in Josh. ix. 4, 18: “bottles old. and rent, 
and bound up.” The easy bursting ascribed to new 
skins with wine (Job xxxif. 19) is, evidently, due to 
an error of the text (compare the N. T. saying, Matt. 
ix. 17 et seg.). The further reading is: “like skins 
filled with new wine, it is about to burst” (sce 
Budde’s commentary, ad loc.). 

The skin is the most practical vessel for wander- 
ing nomads, who were probably the first to use it. 
However, it was in very general use among the 
classical nations. Its employment still survives to 
some extent in Spain and Greece, while the custom 
in the Mohammedan world has in nowise diminished. 

It is questionable whether the translation of the 
Authorized Version is correct in the case of the 
“bottle [margin for “ vessel”] of potters” (Isa, xxx. 
14). The expression “nebel” (rendered “ [earthen] 
pitcher,” Lam.iv. 2) seeins to refer in this passage to 





MODE OF FILLING JARS FROM 
WATER-BOTTLES. 
(From a photograph by Bonfils.) 


341 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Boton 
Boundaries 





a large earthen jar holding perhaps as much as an 
ordinary skin. From the present knowledge of the 
vessels for storing wine among the various ancient 
nations the form of a bottle is certainly excluded. 
In Jer. xix. 1 (compare 10), “a potter’s earthen bot- 
tle,” the word “bakbuk” (Syriac, dagbug, perhaps 
from arootsignifying “to gurgle ”) seems to mean a 
vessel with a narrow neck. In I Kings xiv. 8 (A. V., 
“cruse,” margin “ bottle”) it isused forhoney. The 
Septuagint renders this word, however, by #ixo¢ (a 
proad jar with handies and narrow neck) and by 


orauveg (jar). On the other hand, the Greck and | 


hence also oy dy3, Bovdeurge = “senator”; Git. 
37a; Sem. viii., “the boules or senates of Judea”). 
According to Yer, Ned. iii. 2; Shab. iii. 8; Pesik. 
R. xli.; Ab. R. N. xx. (ed. Schechter, p. 72), there 
were twenty-four boulés in the south of Judea, 
which passed out of existence on account of the 
general disregard of the sanctity of the oath. Com- 
pare SANHEDRIN and PRosBuwL. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Briill's Jahrb. i. 41; Levy, Neuhebr. Wor- 
terb.; Jastrow, Dict. s.v. xoos, 1793, and DwI272: Schiirer, 
Gesch., od ed., ii. 211; Biichler, Das Synedrion in Jerusa- 
lem, p. 18 (compure pp. 57, 232 et seg.), Vienna, 1902. K 
T. ” 





GOATSKIN WATER-BOTTLES, NOW IN USE IN PALESTINE. 
(From a photograph by the Palestine Exploration Fund.) 


Latin words for bottle (Aay7voc, lagena, etc.) seem 
to be of Semitic origin. Moreover, the bottle-form, 
for which glass is specially suitable, was never 
much used in antiquity, least of all in the Oricnt. 
The specimens of Egyptian and Phenician glass bot- 
tles that have been found seem, on account of the 
costliness of glass (compare Job xxvill. 17; “crys- 
tal,” A. V., parallel with “ gold”), all to have been 
intended for perfumes. No Biblical mention of them 
is known, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nowaeck, Hebr. Archdtiologie, pp. 145, 282; 
Benzinger, Arch. p. 94. 
3. IR. W. M. M. 


BOULE chs, plural nindy and mss; Greek, 


Bovry = “council”): Court of justice, or Sanhedrin; 
alsc the seat of the senate (Josephus, “B. J.” v. 4, § 2; 


BOUNDARIES: Limits of a tract of land. 
When the Hebrew tribes gave up their nomadic life 
and settled in Palestine in agricultural communities, 
the most important matter was the fixing of definite 
boundary-lines to separate the lands of the different 
tribes and of the families within the tribes. The 
importance of this is sufficiently shown in the Book 
of Joshua (xv.—xxi.), where a careful record is made 
of the boundarics of the tribes and their families 
(B. B. 56a). 

The Biblical law does not enter upon the details 
of the law concerning boundaries, contenting itself 
with expressing in general terms its disapproval 
of the crime of removing the boundary-marks. Of 
the important branch of the law dealing with the 


| details of boundary-lines, party lincs and walls, 


Boundaries THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 342 


Bourges 








fences, and the like, the Bible apparently knows | to take care that no landmark be removed (* Bar 
nothing, These form an important part of Tal- | Mahwanita,” B. B. 68; “Meshoha’ah,” B. M. 107)). 
mudic law. The law was likewise inculcated by moral injunc- 

The Biblical law solemnly prohibited any tamper- | tion. Sifre (Deut. 188) after quoting the text, Deut, 
ing with the landmarks: “Thou shalt not remove | xix. 10, says: “Has the Bible not already said, ‘ Thou 

thy neighbor’s landmark, which they | shalt not rob’ (Lev. xix. 18)? Why does it now 

Biblical of old time have set in thine inherit- | say, ‘Thou shalt not remove’? It is to teach that 

Law. ance, which thou shalt inherit in the | he who uproots the boundary-mark of his neighbor 
land that the Lord thy God giveth thee | is guilty of two crimes, robbery and removal of the 

to possess it” (Deut. xix. 14); and this law became | landmark.” Inasimilar strain Maimonides (“ Yad,” 
proverbial (Prov. xxii, 28, xxiii. 10). Genebah, vii. 11) and the Hoshen Mish- 

Removal pat (876, 1) say: “He who removes 

Equal his neighbor’s landmark, and thus ap- 
to Theft. propriates a portion of his neighbor’s 
property, be it even a finger’s breadth, 
if he does it with violence is a robber, and if he does 
it {secretly is a thief.” Solomon ben Adret decided 
that a trespasser building on the jand of his neigh- 
bor may have his house razed because the owner of 
the ground is not obliged to part with it or “to take 
money for his inheritance,” but may insist upon re- 
possession of his ground (Beér Hagolah to Hoshen 
Mishpat, 20.). 

The greatest care was, therefore, taken to insnre 
accuracy of measurement in fixing the boundary- 
lines, especially when a field was about to be sold. 
The form of conveyance of the field of Makpelah 
(Gen. xxiii. 17) shows great care in the formal 
terms, and refers to the “ gebul,” the boundary-lines 
of the estate. In Talmudic times, as stated above, 
official surveyors were appointed. In measuring 
two fields the surveyor was not permitted to meas- 
ure the one in summer and the other in winter, be- 
cause the measuring-line shrinks in summer (B. M. 
61b; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 231, 18). In 
measuring the lines of land to be divided among 
brothers or tenants in common, the law enjoins great 
care, because in measuring Jands the space of a 
finger’s breadth is as valuable as if it were sown 
with crocus (B. M. 107b; Hoshen Mishpat, @.¢. 16). 
The linesand angles of the field had to be described, 
and in the deed the names of the owners of the ad- 
joining land were given (Hoshen Mishpat, 219, 1-5, 

Boundary-Stone at Tell Arnamia. | based on B. B, 82a et seq.). 
(From Steindorff, “ Blitezeit des Pharaonenreiches,”) When a division of dwelling grounds held by ten- 
ants in common was made, a dividing-wall had to be 

During the time of the Kings the primitive no- | built of such material as the local custom prescribed. 
tions concerning the sacredness of the boundary- | Each of the parties had to contribute one-half of the 
mark disappeared. The princes were among the ! strip on which the wall was built (B. B.i.1). When 








BOUNDARY-STONE OF GEZER, DISCOVERED BY M. CLERMONT-GANNEAU. 
With the inscription 3 OM (% Limit of Gezer.*’) 


first to set at naught the ancient law (Hosea v. 10; | the owners of two adjoining fields desired to build a 
Job xxiv. 2). The rabbinical authorities, however, | dividing-fence, they built it on the party line, and 
reestablished and enforced it. They appointed sur- | each erected asign on his side to indicate his owner- 
veyors familiar with the boundaries of each estate, | ship up to that point (7b. 2). If only one of them 


343 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Boundaries 
Bourges 





wished to build the fence, he had to build it entirely 
on his own ground (7.). The owners of fields were 
not compelled by Jaw to build bound- 

Dividing- ary-fences except where local custom 
Walls so prescribed, but the owners of gar- 
or -Fences. dens were compelled to do so (#6. ; Ho- 
shen Mishpat, 158, 1). The prescribed 


height of such fences was ten handbreadths, or four 
ells Hoshen Mish pat, 7.¢. 3; “ Yad,” Shekenim, ii. 16), 





Babylonian Boundary Stone, dated 1120 B. c. 
(From J. de Morgan, “ Recherches Archeologiques.’’) 


and the width was determined by the local custom 
(Hoshen Mishpat, 157, 4). Sucha fence might not 
have any opening in it; it must be a dead wall (2.). 

Where the boundary-fence was built to separate 
the lands of tenants in common, which laws had been 
partitioned, both parties shared the expense; and 
if the wall or fence fell, the materials were divided 
between them (24. 3, 5). 





The law of party walls in cities was quite well 
developed, its principles being substantially those 
prevailing in modern law. <A party wall between 
two houses might be used by both owners: each 
might dig on his side, and put joists into the wall; 
but he must take care not to overload it. The 
weight of the material laid upon it was determined 
by local regulations (B. B. 6a; Hoshen Mishpat, 158, 
14, and gloss). If the wall was owned by one of 
the adjoining owners, the other had not the right to 
use it (B. B. d.c.; Hoshen Mishpat, @.c. 15); but if he 
did use it, he might acquire a legal right by pre- 
scription (B. B. U.¢.; Hoshen Mishpat, @.e. 16). 

If the wall was owned by one of the adjoiners, 
and in building it he had made holes in it on his 
neighbor’s side, this did not give his neighbor the 
right to use them without the owner’s consent. 
They might have been made as a matter of conve- 
nience simply ; so that, if the neighbor was permitted 
to use the wall, he need not cut into it, and thus 
weaken it (B. B. @.c.; Hoshen Mishpat, ?7.¢. 19). See 
EASEMENT, NEIGHBORS. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: The subject is developed in detail in Shulhan 

“Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 147, 148. 

J. SR. D. W. A. 

BOURGAS: City of eastern Rumelia (southern 
Bulgaria) and port on the Black Sea; six hours dis- 
tant from Constantinople. The Jews of Bourgas 
came originally from Yambol and Carnabat, the first 
family settling in 1879. There are asynagogue, a 
Talmud Torah, and a school for girls, with about 80 
pupils, under the management of the Alliance Israé- 
lite Universelle. The Presente family of Bourgas is 
the richest in Bulgaria. In 1901, in a total popula- 
tion of 5,000, there were 530 Jews, mostly Greek. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bulletin of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, 

886, 1892. 

D, M. Fr. 

BOURGES: Capital of the department of Cher, 
France. From the beginning of the Middle Ages 
Jews dwelt in Bourges. Itis recorded that in 568, 
and again in 624, attempts were made to convert 
them to Christianity (“Gallia Christiana,” ii. 18, 
folio ed., 1716; “Vita Sulpicii,” ii., ch. 8). After an 
interval of more than five centuries, during which 
little or no trace has been left of. their presence in 
the city, it is chronicled that the French king, 
Philip Augustus, delivered over to Grand Master 
Matthew the house of the Jew Isaac Uradis at 
Bourges (Leopold Delisle, “Cat. des Actes de 
Philippe-Auguste,” No, 121; “Hebr. Bibl.” xx. 14). 
A short time afterward (1204), in a list of the Jews 
authorized to reside at Chatelet, near Paris, occurs 
the name of Benedictus Bituricensis, a native of 
Bourges, as his name implies (Delisle, 7b. No. 890). 
Toward the end of the same century the Jews of 
Bourges had become somewhat numerous, judging 
from the many entries against their names on the 
royal tax-list (Lazard, in “Rev. Et. Juives,” xv. 
[not xiv. as given by Gross, s.v. | 240, 246, 248, 258), 
and were in a prosperous condition. 

A decree of Philip V. (“the Fair”), issued to the 
magistrates of the province Jan. 24, 1810, regulated 
the procedure for the recovery of debts due to Jews 
within the bailiwick of Bourges (Siméon Luce, 
“Cat. des Documents du Trésor de Chartres,” in 


Bovo Buch 
Bracelets 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


344 





“Rev. Et. Juives,” ii. 62) as follows: (1) Suit by a 
Jew for the recovery of a debt outstanding twenty 
years or more was prohibited, unless it was estab- 
lished that before the expulsion of the Jews legal 
steps had been taken for enforcing payment; (2) 
any record of payment was taken as proof of dis- 
charge of the debt; (8) the simple oath of a debtor 
attested by a single witness, was a sufficient answer 
before the court from a debtor to his creditor in all 
cases wherein the debtor was of good repute and 
the debt did not exceed ten pounds; (4) no Christian 
debtors of Jews were to be imprisoned if they were 
willing to mortgage their property for a sum equiv- 
alent to their debts; and lastly (5) magistrates were 
to deal leniently with debtors of Jews appealing 
from adverse decisions, and were to receive their 
appeals. We have no record of learned Jews at 
Bourges. Mention is made of a certain Tosafist 
glossarist of the Talmud) (R. H. 24b), Elia b. 
Solomon of wing, which word may possibly be a 
mistake for wygni3, according to the reading of the 
“Kore ha-Dorot,” folio 15b, 

G, M. 8. 

BOVO BUCH. See Basa BUcH. 

BOW. See ARCHER. 

BOWL. See DRINKING- VESSELS. 


BOX-TREE (Hebrew, "wwen): Judging by Isa. 
Ix. 18, the box-tree (A. V. “box” ) is a tree of 
the Lebanon, promised for the rebuilding of the 
Temple, together with the “fir-tree and pine.” 
In Isa. xli. 19 there is a prophecy that the fir-tree, 
the pine, and the box-tree (R. V., margin, “cypress ”) 
would flourish in what was then the desert. Jn 
Ezek. xxvii. 6 the Revised Version, adopting a bet- 
ter division of the consonants, translates “boxwood 
from the isles of Kittim” as parallel to fir, cedar, 
and oak, used for ship-building. In Ezek. xxxi. 3 
Ewald emends “the Assyrian” (“iwy) to read “a 
box-tree” (wen) (“ Behold a box-tree was in Leb- 
anon”), Compare Cornill’s Ezekiel, ad loc. 

The tree in question is called “te’ashshur,” a word 
occurring only in Hebrew. That Aquila and Theo- 
dotion simply transliterate the word throws a suspi- 
cion on the tradition; likewise that the Septuagint 
(“cedar,” Isa. 1x.) evidently makes a poor guess. 
Symmachus, as well as the Vulgate, wavers be- 
tween the renderings “box-tree” (Isa. xli.) and 
“pine” (Isa. lx.). Peshitta (sherbinta) and Saadia 
understand that the sharbin-tree of modern Arabic 
is meant. This seems to be the shurmenw of the 
Assyrians, which, according to a geographical list 
(Delitzsch, “Wo Lag das Paradies?” p. 101), was 
the characteristic tree of the Lebanon. At present 
the sharbin of the Lebanon (called a cypress by 
some, & kind of juniper by others) is a pine-tree, 
extending its branches widely at a small angle with 
the stem, and bearing very smal! fruit-cones (Seetzen, 
“Reisen,” i. 167). I. Low (“ Aramaische Pflanzen- 
namen,” pp. 387-388) distinguishes this Juniperus 
oxycedrus or Phenicea from Syriac sharwaina, Cu- 
pressus sempervirens (Targumic shurbina, Syriac 
shurbinta, a differentiation which is followed at pres- 
ent by few writers). Hoffmann (“ Ueber Einige Phi- 
nikische Inschriften,” p. 21) tries to assimilate the 


Hebrew “te’ashshur” with the word “shurbin” bya 
seriesofemendations. But forthe testimony in form 
of the traditional view furnished by the Hexaplar, 
this identification would be acceptable. The iden- 
tification with the box-tree, on the other hand, is 
supported by Theodotion and the Targumic esh.- 
kero‘a, which, after the Syriac eshkar‘a, is the 
Buxus sempercirens (LOw, tb. p. 68); not the Buaus 
longifoliu, which, besides being too low, is a shrub, 
and does not occur in Phenicia. The fact that it 
came from Kittim (Cyprus) does not help toward 
the solution of the difficulties involved. Possibly 
both branches of the tradition rest only on the 
graphic similarity; but with the scanty material at 
disposal no decision between the two explanations 


is possible. See Cypress. 
J. JR. W. M. M. 


BOZECCHI or BUZECCHI (‘p'yi3n): Promi- 
nent Italian family, the members of which when 
settling at Rome called themselves after their native 
place, Buzecchio, in the province Forli, Traces of 
the family may be found as far back as the thir- 
teenth century. A synagogue built by members of 
a family of this name existed as early as 1240. By 
the end of the fourteenth century the name had dis- 
appeared and had become incorporated with that of 
Anaw, of which family the Bozecchis were an 
offshoot. Four members of this family deserve 
mention: 

1. Benjamin ben Judah: Excgete, gramma- 
rian, and philosopher; born at Rome about 1295; died 
there about 1885. He was the disciple of Joab ben 
Benjamin ben Solomon. Although his activity lay 
in the fields of exegesis and grammar, the poet Im- 
manuel of Rome represents him as an accomplished 
scientist and philosopher. He was the author of 
the following works: (1) a commentary on Chron- 
iclesand Proverbs, still extant in manuscript (Codex 
de Rossi, 808 ', 691, 7282; Paris, 2142; Oxford, 221?, 
864'!, 714°), in which he endeavors to avoid all hag- 
gadic explanations, condemning them and adhering 
to the literal interpretation based upon grammar 
and lexicography (he freguently quotes Ibn Gannah, 
Ibn Ezra, and Kimhi, who served him as models); (2) 
a supplement to Isaiah Trani’s unfinished commen- 
tary on Kings (Codex Angel 1); (8) glosses to the 
greater part of the Bible (compare Berliner, in 
“Hebr. Bibl.” xiv. 69); (4) “ Mebo,” an introduction 
toa Hebrew grammar which, published with Kim- 
hi’s “ Mohalak,” Pesaro, 1560, enjoyed great success, 
and was often reprinted. 

2. Judah ben Benjamin: Physician, probably 
son of the former; lived at Rome in the fourteenth 
century. He was the friend of Immanuel, who 
praises him in his “ Mahberot ” (xxii. 94). 

3. Menahem: Probably an uncle of Benjamin; 
mentioned by the latter in the glosses to Isa. xxxiii. 

4, Shabbethai ben Menahem: Praised, to- 
gether with his father, by Immanuel (/.¢. x xviii.). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. xviii. 106 et seq.; 

Zunz, Analekten, iv. 193 et seq.; Berliner, Peletat Sofe- 

rim, pp. 11 et seg.: Giidemann, Gesch. des Erziehungswesens 

und der Cultur der Juden in Italien, pp. 183 et seg.; Bacher, 
in Rev. Et, Juives, x. 123 et seq.; Berger, in Berliner’s 

Magazin, 1889, pp. 207 et seq.; Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. 

der Juden in Rom, i. 886-388. 


qa. I. Br. 


345 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bovo 
Bracelets 





BOZRAH (LXX., Boooppa and Booop, translated 
“wall”; Vulgate, “ Bosra ”).—Biblical Data: 1. 
According to Isa. xxxiv. 6, Ixiii. 1; Amos i. 12; 
Jer. xlix. 18, 22, one of the principal cities, or per- 
haps the capital, of Edom. Gen. xxxvi. 33 (=I 
Chron. i. 44) states that the Edomite king Jobab, 
son of Zerah, came from Bozrah; and in accord 
ance With Gen, xxxvi. 42, “Mibzar” is perhaps to 
be read “from Bozrah.” In Micah ii. 12 “the sheep 
of Bozrah” has been understood as a proverbial 
expression for a great multitude; but the term 
admits of other and more plausible interpretations. 
Most modern translators understand “ Bozrah ” here 
as “sheepfold,” while the Septuagint (“in [their] 
crowd”) and the Vulgate (“in the fold”) inter- 
pret the word as a common noun with a preposition 
prefixed. Eusebius (“Onomasticon”) locates Boz- 
rah “in the mountains of Idumxa.” Most prob- 
ably, therefore, it is the modern village Buséra 
(Buseireh), .on the road between Tufile (ancient 
Tophel?) and Shdbek, with fifty houses and some 
insignificant ruins (Baedeker-Socin, “Palestine and 
Syria,” 2d ed., p. 151). 

2. Jer. xlviii. 24 mentions another Bozrah, by the 
side of Kerioth in Moab, from which it would ap- 
pear that the place usually known as BezeER is 
meant, 

Care must be taken not to confound with these, 
as has often been done, the great city Bosra (Greek 
Boorpa) in the Hauran, the capital of that region dur- 
ing Roman supremacy (when it was called “Bosra 
Nova Trajana”), and even under Arab dominion. 
This place now shows considerable Roman ruins. It 
is mentioned (I Mace. v. 26, 28)as “ Bosora,” a strong 
and great city of Gilead, captured by Judas Macca- 
beus, evidently with the help of the Nabateans 
ib. V. 25), who at a Jater period possessed the place. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Buhl, Edomiter, 37; idem, Geographie des 


Alien Palistina, pp. 231 et seg.; Benzinger, in Pauly-Wis- 
sowa, Real- Fencyclopddte der Classischen Altertumswissen- 


schaft, v. 789. 
W. M. M. 


J. IR. 
——In Rabbinical Literature: According to 
some scholars, there was only one Bozrah; and the 
contradiction in the statements that the city belonged 
both to Edom and to Moab is explained as follows: 
The Moabite Bozrah was the birthplace of the Edom- 
itish king (Gen. xxxvi. 33) when Edom no longer 
produced men fit to be rulers. For this reason also, 
the Prophets included Bozrah in their prophecies 
against Edom because that city furnished kings to 
Edom (Gen. R. Ixxxiii. 8), Other scholars, how- 
ever, among them the Syrian Aphraates (“ Homilies,” 
ed. Wright, p. 212), distinguish two cities by the 
name of “ Bozrah,” the birthplace of King Jobab thus 
being Edomitish (Num. R. xiv. 8). Bozrah is Job’s 
legendary birthplace or residence (compare JoB IN 
RABBINICAL LITERATURE). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ginzberg, Die Haggada bei den Kirchen- 
vdtern, 1900, pp. 124, 125, Lc 


BOZZOLO, HAYYIM OBADIAH BEN 
JACOB OBADIAH DI: Talmudist and cabalist; 
lived at Salonica in the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury; probably a native of Bozzolo in Italy, where- 
fore Conforte (“Kore ha-Dorot,” ed. Cassel, p. 39a) 
calls him “ Di Bozzolo,” while Nepi-Ghirondi (“ Tole- 


dot Gedole Yisrael,” m No. 15) has the name in the 
corrupt form of pay (“ Dukes” or “ Rukes”), from 
Sunas. 

Bozzolo was a prolific writer. Many of his ha- 
lakic decisions are scattered throughout the later re- 
sponsa. A more extensive work in two volumes, 
entitled “Beer Mayim Hayyim” (Well of Living 
Water), the first having the separate title “Ez 
Hayyim,” the second “Mekor Hayyim,” contains 
cabalistic explanations of the ritual laws (Salonica, 
1546). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. iii., No. 618; Steinschneider, 
Cat. Bodl. col. 8382; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. 


p. 177. 
K J. Br. 


BRACELETS: Ornaments in the form of rings 
for the arm, worn by the Hebrews, as well as by all 
ancient peoples. Besides serving as ornaments they 
were also worn, like earrings and amulets, as a pro- 
tection against demons (W. R. Smith, “ Religion of 
the Semites,” 2d ed., p. 453), and intended to protect 
the upper arm and the wrist, on which they were usu- 
ally worn, from wounds. The women commonly 
adorned themselves thus; but Num. xxxi. 50 and 





Gold Bracelet from Cyprus. 
(From the Cesnola collection in the Metropolitan Museutn of Art, New York.) 


YI Sam. i. 10 show that men, especially men of rank, 
also wore such ornaments. An illustration printed 
in Layard’s “Nineveh and its Remains” (p. 125, 
ed, 1849) shows that both arms were decorated, 
as is occasionally the custom with the Arabians 
to-day (Niebuhr, “Travels in Arabia and the Sur- 
rounding Countries,” 1778, p. 164). The styles 
probably varied; and the bracelets may often 
have been coiled, like a snake (Wilkinson, “ An- 
cient Egyptians,” ii. 342; Riehm, “ Handwéorter- 
buch,” i, 115). Three words for “bracelet” oc- 
cur in the Bible: (1) “ez‘adah” (Num, xxxi. 50; 
II Sam. i. 10), for which Wellhausen proposes to 
read “hazze‘adah”; but compare Nestle, “ Mar- 
ginalien,” p. 15, who defends the Masoretic text 
(in II Kings xi. 12 probably “hazze‘adot” must 
be read instead of “ha‘edut”); (2) “zamid” (Gen. 
xxiv. 22, xxx. 47; Num. xxxi. 50; Ezek. xvi. 11, 
xxiii. 42; compare “samadu”—to join, to tie to- 
gether—which seems to denote the bracelet worn 


Hrafmann 
Braham 


Til JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


346 





around the wrist; while “ez‘adah” or “ze‘fadah ” 
was worn on the upper arm; compare Gen. XXiv. 
30, 47; Num. xxxi. 50); (38) “sherah” (Isa. ili. 19; 
compare Targum, “shere yadayya,” which does not 
mean “necklaces” but “bracelet,” like the Arabic 
“siwar”). “Sher” in the Mishnah denotes not only 
the bracelet worn by men and women, but also the 
chain around the neck of a horse. To these may 
perhaps be added “rumaz” (Ex. xxxv, 22; Num, 
xxxi. 50); compare Arabic “kunizat” = little ball, 
and often meaning little golden balls strung together, 
which, according to Diodorus Siculus, the Arabs 
were in the habit of wearing around the wrist. 
Others take it to mean a kind of necklace, which 
Diodorus also mentions. 
J. SR, 


BRAFMANN, JACOB: Jewish convert to 
Christianity; bornin Russia; died in the last quarter 
of the nineteenth century. After having tried 
many professions, among them photography, tui- 
tion, and cemmerce, he embraced Christianity. 
Supplied with his certificate of baptism, which en- 
titled him to an official position, he was appointed 
professor of Ilebrew in the seminary at Minsk, and 
at the same time was charged by the Holy Synod 
to devise incans of spreading Christianity among 
the Jews. 

In 1866 Brafmann made his first appearance as a 
publicist, and at once exhibited the characteristics 
which made him notorious among the Russian anti- 
Semites. “In the last years,” he says in the “ Wi- 
lenski Vyestnik” (1866, No. 149), “there is among 
the Jews of Minsk a great religious movement fa- 
vorable to Christianity.” This remarkable state- 
ment at once brought forth many polemics in the 
Russian press. Anticipating a conversion en masse 
of the Jews of Minsk, the press investigated the 
reasons for such an unexpected triumph of Chris- 
tianity among the Jews. Brafmann, encouraged by 
this brillant début, thereupon undertook a system- 
atic campaign of slander against his former corelig- 
ionists. He published a series of articles entitled 
“ Yevreiskiya Bratstva v Gorodakh Zapadnoi Rossii,” 
in which he endeavored to convince the reader that 
there existed inevery town of western Russia a 
Jewish confraternity having forits object the acquis- 
ition and exploitation of power over the non-Jews, 
and possessing unlimited means to carry out this 
object (“ Wilenski Vyestnik,” 1867, Nos. 135, 137; re- 
printed in book form, Wilna, 1869). Thisseries was 
soon followed by a work entitled “Kniga Kahala” 
(Wilna, 1869). It is divided into four parts: (1) The 
transactions of the kahal of Minsk (“kahal,” derived 
from the Hebrew 5p = “community,” assumed in 
Russian the significance of “board of the com- 
munity ”). The documents, which Brafmann claimed 
to have found in the archives of the board of educa- 
tion of Wilna, extended from 1794 to 1808. (2) An- 
notations on the transactions, in which the author 
interpreted them arbitrarily, asserting that all the 
illegalities contained therein are in constant vogue 
among the kahals, and are in consonance with the 
very principles of the Jewish religion. (8) Ex- 
ploitation de jure. (4) Exploitation de facto. 

As its author expected, the “Kniga Kahala” 


W. N. 


created a great sensation; and the Russian press de. 
voted many columns to it. But impartial critics 
dissected the book and cdliscovered that the “ transac. 
tions ” were simple forgeries. Among many proofs 
of their falsity the most interesting is that given 
by Shereshevski, who pointed out that a third of 
the transactions were dated on Saturdays or feast- 
days, when writing is prohibited. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Sheresheyski, O Knigye Kahala, St. Peters. 
burg, 1872; Brashin, Kniga Kahala, Wilna, 1870; Vyestriik 
Yevropt, 1872, pp. 11 et seg.; Orschanski, Yevreiv Rossii, pp, 
343-368; Seiberling, Geygen Brafmann’s Buch des Kaha, 
Vienna, 1881; Ha-Shahar, iv. 621, xi. 242. 

Th. R. I. Br. 
BRAGADINI: Family of printers at Venice, 
After the decline of the BOMBERG printing-press a 
fierce rivalry grew up at Venice among the patri- 
cian families who wished to profit by printing Hebrew 
books. Among these, two distinguished themselves 
by the bitterness of their struggles, the Bragadini 
and the Giustiniani. The first of the Bragadini 
to engage in the trade was AloisioI. Among the 
consequences of their rivalries were the denuncia- 
tion of the Talmud and the confiscation of many 

Hebrew books in 1558. As Giustiniani ceased to 

print in 1552, Bragadini remained master of the field; 

even in the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

Hebrew books could be printed at Venice only under 

the name and authority of the Venetian nobleman 

Bragadini (“Stamperia Bragadina”), who received 

payment in return for his patronage. The first He- 

brew book issued by Bragadini was Maimonides’ 

“Mishneh Torah ” (Venice, 1550), with notes by Meir 

Katzenellenbogenof Padua. When Giustinianialso 

issued an edition of this work in 1550-51, Katzenel- 

lenbogen, who at that time was associated with 

Bragadini, appealed for protection to Moses Isserles 

of Cracow, who decided in favor of Bragadini’s edi- 


tion. Aloisio Bragadini continued to print until 
1575, his last work being the “Mishnch Torah,” 


published in 1574-75. The first work of his son 
Juan was Abarbanel’s Pentateuch commentary, 
1579; in 1614 he issued an edition of the Bible. 
Pietro Bragadini printed an edition of the Mish- 
nah in 1614 and another work as late as 1649. The 
presses were idle from 1631 until 1638, but after 1639 
his brothers were associated with Pietro. The fol- 
lowing members of the Bragadini family were also 
printers at Venice: Lorenzio, 1615-30, 1689-50; 
Aloisio IT., 1624-30, 1689-50; VicenzioI., 1639-49; 
Nicolaus, 1639-50; Giacomo, 1639-50; Girolamo, 
1639-67; Vicenzio II., 1697-98, and his brother 
Aloisio III., who worked alone as late as 1710. 
The Christian printers in whose establishments work 
was done for the Bragadini, or the “Stamperia 
Bragadina” itself printed, were: Gara, Zanetti, 
Cajon, Pradoto, Vedelago, Doriguzzi, Ambrosini, 
Bona, and Paoli. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider and Cassel, in Ersch and Gru- 
ber, Fincyc. section ii. part 28, pp. 59 et seg.; Steinschneider, 
Cat. Bodt. Nos. 9351-93863; Perles, Beitrdge zur Gesch. der 
a und Aramidischen Studien, pp. 225-231, Mu- 
n Cc 9 é 


J. A. F. 

BRAGANGA: City of Portugal, in the province 
of Tras-os-Montes. In 1250 nineteen of the Jews liv- 
ing there were accused of usury. . They increased to 
such an extent that a few years before their expul- 
sion they paid 30,000 reis in taxes. Many of the 


347 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brafmann 
Braham 





Jews that were expelled from Spain went to Bra- 
ganca, Which afterward became the home of a large 
number of Maranos. Manuel de Pina, Jacob de 
CASTRO SARMENTO. and others were vorn here, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kavserling, Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, 

Index, &.t. 

G. M. K. 

BRAGIN: Viliage of Russia, in the government 
of Minsk, having a population (1898) of 4,520, in- 
cluding 2,248 Jews, of whom 256 were artisans and 
31 laborers. The Jews maintain three charitable 
institutions and a Talmud Torah with 45 pupils. 
During the rebellion of Chinielnicki (1648-49) the 
Cossacks massacred many Jews of this locality. 
JIBLIOGRAPHY : Regesty i Madpisi, 1. 421. 

H.R. S. J. 

BRAHAM, JOHN (stace nameof John Abra- 
ham): English tenor singer; bern in London 1774; 
died there Feb. 17, 1856. His parents dying in his 
childhood, he became a chorister at the Duke’s Place 
Synagogue, till one of 
his former companions 


in the choir, named 
Leoni, adopted him. 
Under him Braham 


studied and made such 
progress that on April 
21, 1787, he made his 
début at Covent Gar- 
den Theater. Two 
years later Leoni be- 
came bankrupt, and 
Braham was thrown 
on his own resources 
until he met Abra- 
ham Goldsmid, a man of wealth who became his 
patron. Next he went to Bath, where he sang 
under Rauzzini till 1796, when he was engaged 
by Storace at Drury Lane Theater to sing in his 
new opera, “Mahmoud” (April 380, 1796). Here 
Braham was so successful that he was at once en- 
gaged for the Royai Italian Opera House, as well as 
for the annual oratorios and at the Festival of the 
Three Choirs at Gloucester. 

In 1797 Braham determined to go to Italy to study 
singing. Onarriving at Paris he and Nancy Storace 
gave aseries of successful concerts under the patron- 
age of Josephine Beauharnais, which delayed their 
arrival in Italy till the following year. There they 
sang at all the chief cities, including Florence, 
Milan, Genoa (where Braham studied under Isola, 
and sang with Marchesi), Leghorn, and Venice, 
whence they proceeded to Triest, Vienna, and Ham- 
burg. 

In 1801 Braham reappeared at Covent Garden, and 
from this point his career was an unbroken succes- 
sion of triumphs. On Feb. 9, 1802, was produced 
“The Cabinet,” the libretto of which was written by 
Thomas Dibdin, and the music by Braham. Then 
came “The Siege of Belgrade” (March 15) and 
“Family Quarrels” (Dec. 18, 1802), the work of 
Dibdin, with the music of Braham, Moorhead, and 
Reeve, in both of which Braham appeared. On 
Dec. 18, 1803, he sang in “The English Fleet,” the 
entire music of which was Braham’s own composi- 
tion; in this opera he introduced the duet “All’s 





John Braham. 


Well,” which has become one of his best-known 
works. He wrote also the score of “ The Paragraph,” 
and on Dec. 10, 1804, sang in “ Thirty Thousand,” in 
the production of which he collaborated with Reeve 
and Davy. On March 27, 1806, he appeared at the 
King’s Theater as Sesto, in Mozart’s opera “Cle- 
menza di Tito,” the first performance of any of 
Mozart’s operas in England. 

Braham seceded to Drury Lane in 1805, and pro- 
duced there most of his operas. Among these were 
“False Alarms,” on the score of which he was as- 
sisted by King (Jan. 3, 1807); “ Kais,” jointly with 
Reeve (Feb. 11, 1808); “The Devil’s Bridge” (Oct. 
10, 1812); “ Narensky,” with the assistance of Reeve 
(Jan. 11, 1814); “Zuma,” in conjunction with Bishop. 
Of other operas may be mentioned “ The Americans,” 
by Braham and King, produced at the Lyceum April 
27, 1811, and in which occurred his famous song, 
“The Death of Nelson”; “Isidore de Merida” (1827), 
and “ The Taming of the Shrew,” both in conjunction 
with T, B. Cooke as librettist, in the following year. 

In 1810 he joined Mrs. Billington in a tour of the 
provinces, and on his return the next year he ap- 
peared at the Lyceum. For two years Braham was 
engaged with Reeve in composing; and in 1816 he 
reappeared in Italian opera at the King’s Theater 
in Mozart’s “Clemenza di Tito,” singing his old 
part, Sesto. This opera was followed by “Cosi fan 
Tutte,” by the same composer, in which Braham 
sang Guglielmo. In the same year he married Miss 
Bolton of Ardwick, in Lancashire. 

Braham published, in concert with I. Nathan, “A 
Selection of Hebrew Melodies, Ancient and Modern,” 
in 1815, for which Lord Byron wrote his famous 
“Hebrew Melodies.” 

When Weber’s “ Freischiitz ” was first produced 
in England (at the Lyceum July 20, 1824), Braham 
created the partof Maz ; and in the same composer’s 
“Oberon,” presented at Covent Garden Theater 
April 12, 1826, he interpreted the part of Sir Huon, 
and was especially strong in the scena “O ’tis a 
glorious sight to see!” written expressly for him. 

Braham was also actively engaged at concerts, 
oratorios, and provincial festivals, and for more than 
a generation was regarded as the national singer. 
His voice was of extraordinary power, sweetness, 
and compass (19 notes in natural tone, with a fal- 
setto ranging from D to A in alto). Though he could 
sing in faultless style and taste, rarely did he resist 
the opportunity for sensational] effects. 

Braham amassed a large fortune during his forty 
years of professional life; but he subsequently lost 
it by disastrous speculation. In 1831 he bought the 
Colosseum in Regent’s Park, London, and four years 
later he built the St. James’s Theater. Both ven- 
tures proved ruinous; and in 1839 Braham found 
himself compelled to return to the stage and concert- 
room. In 1840he went to America on a tour which 
proved unsuccessful. For several years Braham 
continued to sing at concerts and provincial festi- 
vals, and he did not retire until March, 1882. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dict. National Biography, s.v.; Grove, Dict. 
of Music and Musicians, s.v.; Daily Chronicle, July 7, 1887, 
London; Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition Catalogue, 
1887, p. 57; Hervey, Celebrated Musicians, s.v; | Transac- 
tions of Jew. Hist. Soc. of Eng. 

J. G. L.—F. H. V. 


Brahe | 
Brandeis 





BRAHE, TYCHO. See Gans, Davin. 


BRAHM, OTTO (Abrahamsohn): German 
dramatic critic and manager; born in Hamburg 
Feb. 5, 1856. He studied philosophy, German phi- 
lology, and the history of art, at Berlin, Heidel- 
berg, and Strasburg, and was a pupil of Wilhelm 
Scherer, the historian of literature. Among his 
writings are “Das Deutsche Ritterdrama des Acht- 
zehnten Jahrhunderts ” (1880), and biographies of 
Gottfried Keller (1883), Hl. von Kleist (1884, 3d ed., 
1892), Ibsen (1887), and Schiller (1888-92). Interested 
in the modern so-called “naturalistic” school, he, 
in conjunction with several others, established Die 
Freie Bihne, a society designed to promote the 
production of the works of Ibsen and his associ- 
ates. 

In connection with this society, Brahm published 
a periodical also entitled “Die Freie Biihne,” in 
which he defended the views of the modern natu- 
ralistic school. Upon the retirement of L’ Arronge 
from the directorship of the Deutsches Theater 
it was leased to Brahm, who, with a very good 
cast, began to produce the works of Ibsen, Gerhard 
Hanptmann, Sudermann, Halbe, and Hirschfeld. 
Gerhard Hauptmann’s “ Die Weber” was performed 
more than one hundred times at this theater. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyers, Konversations-Lextkon. 


S, J. So. 
BRAILA. See Rumania. 


BRAILOV: Town in the district of Vinitza, 
government of Podolia. The population at the cen- 
sus of 1897 was 8,972, including 3,924 Jews. Of the 
latter a few are engaged in agriculture, the pursuit 
of which was nearly closed to them by the laws of 
1882. Three hundred and eighty-nine Jews are 
engaged in manufacturing peasants’ shoes, which 
are sold at the markets of the Kherson and Bessara- 
bian governments, Theeconomic condition of these 
Jews is getting worse every year, as may be seen 
by the increasing number of families asking for 
charity at Passover (120 families in 1898). Fifty 
children attend the Talmud-Torah. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Statistics gathered by the St. Petersburg branch 
of the Jewish Colonization Association. 


S. S. J. 


BRAININ, RUBEN: Hebrew publicist and 
biographer; born in Russia in the last half of the nine- 
teenth century; is now (1902) living in Berlin. At 
different times Brainin contributed to “ Ha-Meliz,” 
“Ha-Zefirah,” “Ha-Maggid,” and “ Ha-Shiloah.” In 
1895 he issued a periodical under the title “ Mi- 
Mizrah u-Mi-Ma-arab” (From East and West), of 
which only four numbers appeared. 

Brainin is the author of several pamphlets, the most 
important of which are his sketch of Perez Smo- 
lenskin’s life and works, Warsaw, 1896; and a trans- 
lation of M. Lazarus’ essay on Jeremiah, Warsaw, 
1897. He has also written about one hundred bio- 
graphical sketches of modern Jewish scholars and 
writers. 

To “ Ahiasaf” Brainin has contributed the follow- 
ing articles: “Jlane Srak ” (Barren Trees) (i. 82); 
“Bar Halafta” (i. 71); “Dappim Mekutta‘im” 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





(Loose Leaves) (v. 120). 


848 
——eey 
He has aiso contribute@ 
to the same periodical the following biographica} 
sketches: M. Lazarus (iv. 214); M. Giidemann (iv, 
219); Theodore Herz] (v. 222); Israel Zangwill (v, 
233); and Max Nordau (v. 247). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon, s.v.: M, 
Schwab, Répertoire, part i., s.v. 
H. R. I. G. D. 


BRAININ, SIMON : Russian physician; born at 
Riga, Livonia, July 15, 1854. He graduated from the 
gymnasium of his birthplace; studied medicine at the 
universities of Dorpat and Berlin; held the position 
of physician of the Jewish community of Riga; and 
was one of the directors of the community, the last 
independent Jewish * kahal” in Russia, until this in- 
stitution was abolished by the government. He was 
a member of the committee of the government to 
investigate the rights of the Jews of the city of 
Riga, 1885; delegate from the government of Pol- 
tava to the rabbinical conference at St. Petersburg, 
1892; and a member of the Society for the Promotion 
of Culture Among the Jews of Russia. In 1895 he 
emigrated to New York, where he is now (1902) a 
practising physician, and member of the county 
medical and German medical societies, of the Harlem 
Medical Association, and of the New York Histor- 
ical Society. Brainin is the author of: “ Orah la- 
Hayyim,” a work on popular medicine, in Hebrew, 
Wilna, 1883; “Der Aerztliche Fithrer,” Riga, 1885; 
“Ueber Kefyr,” Vienna, 1886; and many articles in 
various periodicals. TL. R. 


BRAMBLE: A pricklyshrub. The word serves 
as a translation for two Hebrew terms and a Greek 
one, all of which, however, should receive other 
renderings. 

(1) “Atad” (WMS = the Assyrian “etidu ”) figures 
inthe parable of Jotham. It is the last tree to which 
the other trees came in quest of a king for them- 
selves (Judges ix. 14, 15). In Ps. lvili. 10 “atad” 
is translated “thorns” (compare Gen. I. 11, “ goren 
ha-atad”), The plant isone of the rhamnus group. 

(2) “Hoah” (myn) is only once translated “ bram- 
ble”; elsewhere it is rendered “thorns.” 

(3) Baroc, out of twelve times that it occurs, 


is once translated “bramble” (Luke vi. 44). See 
THORNS AND THISTLES. 
BE. C. G. B. L. 


BRAMSON, LEO: Russian jurist and writer; 
born at Kovno April 17, 1869; graduated from the 
Moscow University as a “candidatus juris.” Heisa 
member of the St. Petersburg Pedagogical Socicty, 
secretary of the Jewish Colonization Association 
(St. Petersburg branch), initiator and member 5f the 
school committee of the Society for the Promotion of 
Culture Among the Jews of Russia, of the St. Peters- 
burg Jewish industrial schools, member of the Edu- 
cational Census, 1895-1900, and of the Imperial Free 
Economic Society. He was also the delegate of the 
Soeicty for the Promotion of Culture Among the 
Jews to the Pan-Russian Exhibition of 1896, and one 
of the directors of the reorganized Jewish industrial . 
schools of St. Petersburg. 

He wrote: “O Razvitii Russkoi Indusitrii,” Mos- 
cow, 1896; “V Yuzhnykh Yevreiskikh Koloniakh,” 


349 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brahe 
Brandeis 





St. Petersburg, 1894; “K Istorii Pervonachalnavo 
Obrazovaniya Russkikh Yevreyev,” St. Petersburg, 
1896; as well as many articles in “ Voskhod ” ({891- 
1900) on education and Jewish colonization. He was 
one of the editors of the “Sistematicheski Ukazatel 
Russkoi Literatury o Yevreyakh, 1708-1889,” St. 
Petersburg, 1892. H. R. 


BRANDAM, FERNANDO ALVAREZ: 
Marano and physician at Lisbon in the seventeenth 
century; contemporary of Manuel Fernandez de 
Villa-Real, who characterizes him as “insigne y 
illustre ingenio.” Atthe instance of his friend Isaac 
Fernando Cardoso, he wrote his “Tratado em De- 
fensa del Color Azul,” still extant in manuscript, 
which shows wide scholarship. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Barbosa Machado, Biblioteca Lusitania, ii. 
dis 

J. M. K. 


BRANDEIS, BARUCH JUDAH (HA- 
LEVI): Bohemian rabbi and author; lived in the 
second half of the eighteenth and the beginning of 
the nineteenth century at Prague, where he was 
assistant rabbi(dayyan). He wastheson of Bezaleel 
Brandeis, rabbi in Jung-Bunzlau, whose work, 
“Zedah-Baruk,” he published. Brandeis wrote 
“Teshon Hakamim,” Prague, 1815, in two parts, a 
work intended as a reference-book on regulations 
governing the reading of the Torah, kaddish, burial 
of the dead, and mourning observances. The book, 
however, is incomplete and fragmentary, and is writ- 
tcn in a heavy, ambiguous style. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Bibl. Jud. p. 129; Steinschneider, Cat. 


Boal. col. 799. 
I. G. I. Ber. 


BRANDEIS, BEZALEEL BEN MOSES 
(HA-LEVI): Bohemian rabbi and author; diced 
about 1750 at Jung-Bunzlau, where he was district 
rabbi and director of a Talmudic academy. His 
father, who was styled “ Harif” by his contempo- 
raries, was rabbi at Mayence, Germany. Bezaleel 
wrote a collection of festival sermons and homiletic 
explanations on the Pentateuch, a work published 
at Prague in 1786 by his son, Baruch Judah Bran- 
deis, and entitled “ Zedah-Baruk.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 4590; Ben- 
jacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 506; First, Bibl. Jud. i, 129; 
Baruch Judah Brandeis, Leshon Hakamim, Preface. 

DG, I. Ber. 


BRANDEIS, FREDERICK: Musician; born 
at Vienna July 5, 1832; died at New York May 
14, 1899. He studied at the University of Vienna, 
and received instruction in the piano from Fischhof, 
Czemy, and Pyrkert, and in composition from 
Rufinatscha. During the Revolution of 1848 Fred- 
erick’s father, Emanuel Brandeis (afterward a 
prominent teacher in New York; died 1873), lost 
his fortune and emigrated to America. There the 
son was at once thrown upon his own resources. 
His talents, however, secured for him the recogni- 
tion of artists; and he soon received engagements 
as a pianist, in which capacity he made several tours 
throughout the country, notably one with William 
Vincent Wallace, the famous violinist, in 1849. 

In about the year 1850 Brandeis settled for a 


short time in Cleveland, Ohio, but a few years 
later removed to New York, where he devoted 
himself assiduously to composition. There, also, he 
formed the friendship of Julius Schuberth, the well- 
known publisher, who gave him great encourage- 
ment, and sent some of his earlier efforts to Schu- 
mann and Spohr, both of whom expressed themselves 
in highly laudatory terins in regard to the young 
composer. About this time he played a sonata of 
his own composition at one of the chamber concerts 
given by Theodore Thomas. In 1860 he received 
the appointment of organist at the Church of St. 
John the Evangelist, and, upon the destruction of 
that church by fire in 1872, a similar position was 
offered to him at St. James’s Roman Catholic 
Church, which he held until 1886, from which time 
until his death he was identified with the Church of 
St. Peter and St. Paul. Brandeis was also organist 
of the synagogue Shaaray Tefila (West 44th St.) 
from 1879 to 1892, and composed six hymns for the 
synagogal service. He was a member of the Mann- 
script Society from its inception; and several) of his 
productions were performed under its auspices, 
among which the song, “Fly Not Thus, My Brow of 
Snow ” (words by Heine), received the prize offered 
by the society for the best composition. 

Brandeis produced 104 works in all, of which the 
following are generally considered the most popular: 
song, “My Love [s Like the Red, Red Rose” 
(words by Burns), a beautiful composition which 
immediately became popular upon its publication in 
the early fifties; trio for violin, piano, and cello; 
funeral march, “Humpty Dumpty,” for orchestia 
(also arranged for piano); “Danse Hérofque,” for 
orchestra; polonaise for piano, op. 52; gavot for 
piano, op. 53; “The Ring,” op. 58, ballad for soli, 
chorus, and orchestra; the quartets “Sunken Clois- 
ter” and “Echoes,” op. 64; song, “ Wunsch,” op. 
86; “Observe When Mother Earth Is Dry,” drink- 
ing-song from “ Anacreon,” 

The religious music composed by Brandeis in- 
cludes the above-mentioned “Six Hymn-Anthems,” 
op. 85 (quartet or chorus); “Vespers,” op. 92, for 
soli, chorus, and organ; and “Tantum Ergo,” op. 
63. Among his other works may be mentioned: 
“Prelude to Maria Stuart,” for orchestra (performed 
by the Manuscript Society); suite for string orches- 
tra; “Sechs Klavierstiicke”; and “ The Bards,” duet 
for tenor and bass, with orchestral accompaniment. 
In conjunction with F. de Sola Mendes as librettist, 
le was writing an oratorio, “ Moses in Egypt,” when 
he died. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Riemann, Musik-Lexvikon, 1900. 


g. J. So. 


BRANDEIS, MOSES (surnamed Harif =“ The 
Keen Talmudist”): German rabbi and Talmudic 
teacher: born about 1685; died June 24, 1761, in 
Mayence. As his surname indicates, he was famous 
in his time as a Talmudic dialectician, but he left 
no writings. His father, Jacob Brandeis, was rabbi 
in Zorek, Russia Minor (perhaps Zaryechye in the 
province of Poltava ; see Walden, “Shem ha-Gedolim 
he-Hadash,” i. 61). Moses studied at the yeshibah 
of Abraham Broda in Prague, and then directed a 
yeshibah in Firth, Bavaria, which was supported 


Brandenburg 
Brandes, Georg 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


350 


SSS SS ee 


by his father-in-law, Gabriel ha-Levi, a rich philan- 
thropist of that place. At the same time he per- 
formed the functions of a rabbi at Schnittach, a 
small place near Firth. In 1717 he went to Jung- 
Bunzlau, Bohemia, as chief rabbi, and in 1733 
became rabbi of Mayence. Moses was also a caba- 
list, observing strictly the rules of life laid down by 
Isaac Luria. 

His sons were: Bezaleel Brandeis; Gabriel Bran- 
deis, rabbi in Prague; and Jacob Brandeis, rabbi in 
Diisseldorf. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kaufmann, in Monatsschrift, xxxvii. 385 ct 
seq.; Baruch Judah Brandeis, Leshon Hakamim, Preface. 


L. G. I. BER. 


BRANDENBURG: Province of Prussia. In 
documents of the thirteenth century Jews are men- 
tioned as living in the mark of Brandenburg and 
carrying on commerce there. In Belitz they were 
accused of having desecrated the host in 1248; and 
a similar charge caused a persecution at Pritzwalk 
in 1287. In1294the magistrate of Frankfort-on-the- 
Oder issued an agreement between the butchers and 
Jews of that city. So many Jews were living at 
Stendal by 1297 that a special Jews’ regulation was 
issued. The Jews of Spandau are first mentioned 
in 1307, in a regulation regarding slaughtering is- 
sued by the margrave Herrmann; and Jews are 
similarly mentioned at Brandenburg and Eberswalde 
in 13815. In 1820 the margravine Agnes transferred 
to Berlin and Cologne her rights over the Jews in 
those cities, and in the same year the dukes of Pom- 
erania did the same in regard to Prenzlau. The 
Jews’ tax was regulated at Neu-Ruppin in 1323. 

The Jews of the mark were highly favored, and 
their number was greatly increased under the rule 

of the Bavarian margraves, especially 
Early Set- under Ludwig (1823-51). The latter 
tlements. gave letters of protection to the Jews 
at Havelberg, Arneburg, Pritzwalk, 
Seehausen, Werben, and Kyritz in 1384, to those at 
Salzwedel.in 1344, and to those at Perleberg in 1345. 
In 1846 he granted to the butchers of Strausberg cer- 
tain privileges in regard to slaughtering among the 
Jews. In 1348 the margrave enfeoffed a citizen of 
Luckau with the Jews of Guben, and pledged the 
Jews of Luckau with him for 150 marks silver. In 
1349 the Jews of Berlin, Stendal, Angermiinde, and 
Spandau were severely persecuted by the Flagel- 
lants, among whose victims were the rabbis Joseph 
and Solomon, sons of Rabbi Jacob. The Jews were 
driven from K6nigsberg in 1851. Margrave Lud- 
wig pledged the Jews of Miincheberg with the city 
in 1358; in 1856 he permitted the city of Mittelwalde 
to receive four Jews; Margrave Otto allowed the 
city of Rathenow to keep two in 1371. <A Jews’ 
street is mentioned at Stendal as early as 1369; Jobst 
of Moravia presented the site of the former Jews’ 
school at Salzwedel to the Georgeshospital of that 
city in 1401. 

The privileges that Margrave Ludwig had granted 
were confirmed in 1420 by Friedrich I., the first 
prince of the house of Hohenzollern, at Branden- 
burg. Conditions changed under his successors. 
In 1446 all the Jews of the mark were suddenly im- 
prisoned at the command of the elector Friedrich ITI., 
and their property was confiscated. In 1509 thirty- 


eight Jews of Spandau, Brandenburg, and Stenda] 
were accused of having bought a host from a thief 
of Bernan, and were burned at Berlin. 
Under the the remainder were expelled from 
Hohen- the country. The elector Joachim 
zOllerns. II. again admitted several Jews in 
consideration of 400 marks, and 3,000 
marks silver paid annually to the mints at Berlin 
and Stendal respectively for protection. He espe- 
cially favored the Jew Lipro._p; but his successor 
had Lippold executed on the pretense of having 
poisoned the elector, and again expelled the Jews, 
In 1671 fifty Jewish families, who were among the 
emigrants from Wiener-Neustadt, were granted per- 
mission to reside in the mark for a space of twenty 
years by the great elector Friedrich Wilhelm. They 
were exempted from the poll-tax on the payment of 
400 thalers in 1684, In 1685 they numbered cighty- 
six families; there were 116 famihes in 1690; and 
in 1692 they had increased to 177. In 1714 King 
Friedrich I. issued new regulations for his protected 
Jews, who by that time had obtained permanent 
residence, 

In the beginning of the eighteenth century (1703) 
they were much harassed on the accusation of hav- 
ing reviled the founder of the Christian religion 
in their prayers. The General Regulations for the 
Jews (“General Juden-Reglement ”) of the year 1750 
contained a clause to the effect that every protected 
Jew should take the oath of allegiance. In 1765 
the question of increasing the payment for protec- 
tion was considered. Toward the end of the Seven 
Years’ war, and later, a number of influential and 
wealthy Jews were granted, frec of charges, the same 
rights as Christian merchants, on account of their 
services to the state. Frederick the Great used the 
Jews arbitrarily for his purposes. In 1779 the Jews 
living in the mark numbered 5,782, of whom 3,409 
came from Berlin. In 1899 they numbered 18,3894, 
See also BERLIN; PRussta. | 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bresslau, in Steinsehneider, Hebr. Bibl. xii. 

lL; Landsberg, ib. xxi. 22; idem. in Monatsschritt, xxxi. 

34; Konig, Annaten der Juden in den Preussischen Staaten, 

Besondersin der Mark Brandenburg, Berlin, 1790: S:lfeld, 

Martyrologium, p. 287; Auerbach, Das Judenthum und 

Seine Bekenner, pp. 18 et seq.; Kaufmann, in Verliner’s 

Magazin, xviii. 48 et seq. 


G. A. F. 


BRANDES, CARL EDUARD COHEN (gen- 
erally known as EDUARD BRANDES): Da- 
nish author and politician; born at Copenhagen, Oct. 
21, 1847; brother of George Brandes. At the age 
of eighteen he entered the university of his na- 
tive city, and at first diligently followed courses in 
Oriental and comparative philology, devoting him- 
self especially to the study of Persian and Sanskrit. 
His taste for dramatic art, however, soon got the 
better of his philological pursuits, and upon gradu- 
ation from the university he gave himself over en- 
tirely to writing, beginning his new career by the 
translation of twodramas from the Sanskrit. Grad- 
ually he developed an intense interest in politics, 
and while he continued to devote himself with un- 
diminished enthusiasm to dramatic art and criticism, 
he plunged into an active political life, which re- 
sulted in his election in 1880 to the Folkething by 
the Democrats of Rudkjébing. About this time 


351 


appeared his volume of character-sketches and stud- 
ies on Danish dramatic art, “Dansk Skuespilkiinst,” 
Copenhagen, 1880, followed by a series on foreign 
dramatic art, “Fremmed Skuespilkiinst,” 76. 1881. 

Brandes wrote a number of excellent plays, the 
chief merit of which lies in the psychological analy- 
sis and clever delineation of the characters involved, 
The following were the most successful of his 
productions that were performed on the Danish 
stage: “Legemidler.” 1880; “Gnygende Grund,” 
1882; “Et Beség,” 1882 (2 second edition of this 
play was publisned in 1854, and was later translated 
into German by Hoffery, Berlin, 1889); “in Forlo- 
velse,” 1884; “ Et Brud,” 1885; “ Kh jzrlighed,” 1887; 
“Overmagt,” 188s; “ Under Loven,” 1891; “ Asgerd ” 
and “ Mohammed,” 1895; “ Primadonna,” 1901; be- 
sides liis dramatization, in 1888, of the Norwegian 
novel “Garman and Worse” by A. L. Kjeliand. 

Brandes is also the author of a novel, “En Poli- 
tiker,” 18389, and of a political review, “Fra ’85 til 
91,” 1891, both of them reflecting the same ultrarad- 
ical opinions that he asa member of the extreme left 
(opposition) was accustomed to express in the Cham- 
ber of Deputies. His openly professed atheism gave 
rise to a much-discussed incident. Upon the elec- 
tion of Brandes to the Folkething the president of 
the Chamber deemed it proper to address the new 
member through the channels of a newspaper, ask- 
ing him if his religious views stood in the way of 
his taking the customary oath. Brandes, while in- 
dignantly protesting against this intrusion upon the 
privacy of his personal views, expressed a willing- 
ness to comply with the custom. Until December, 
1883, he published, in collaboration with Hérup and 
Berg, the “Morgenbladet,” the organ of the demo- 
cratic party. He was also connected with the pub- 
lication of the “ Nineteenth Century,” a review of 
which his brother Georg was the editor-in-chief 
from 1874 till 1875. Since Feb. 1902 he has been 
sole editor of the daily “ Politiken.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Vapereau: Dictionnaire Universel des 
Contemporains, Paris, 1893; A. de Gubernatis, Diction- 
naire International des Eerivains du Jour, Florence, 
1888; C. F. Bricka, Dansk Biografisk Lexikon, Copenhagen. 
s. A. 8. C, 


BRANDES, ERNST IMMANUEL COHEN: 
Danish economist; born at Copenhagen Feb. 1, 
1844; died there Aug. 6, 1892. He was a brother 
of the critic Georg Brandes and of the author Edu- 
ard Brandes. His.avocation was that of banker, 
but be retired soon from that pursuit and devoted 
himself to journalistic work. Articles on banking 
were written by him in “ Politiken,” “Tilskueren,” 
and, during the last years of his life, in “ Bérstid- 
ningen,” of which last he was the editor. In 1885 
he published an extensive work on social questions, 
entitled, “Samfundsspérgsmaal,” published in two 
parts, of which the first part treats of Malthus’ 
“Essay on Population,” and the second of the theory 
of value and other economic and social questions. 
This latter part especially is characterized not only 
by its clear and elegant style, but also by views dif- 
fering from the current economic ideas and bearing 
the impress of the author’s individuality. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Salmonsen, Store Illustrede Konversations- 
leksikon. 


8. A. M. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brandenburg 
Brandes, Georg 


BRANDES, GEORG MORRIS COHEN: 
Danish author and critic; born in Copenhagen, Den- 
mark, Feb. 4, 1842. He graduated in 1859, and for 
a short time studied law, but soon deterimiued to de- 
vote his life to hterature and philosophy. Brandes 
gained the university gold medal for his essay “ The 
Idea of Fate Among the Ancients,” in 1868; and the 
next year he took the 
degree of “candita- 
tus magisterii.” He 
spent the years 1866-67 
in Paris, and was in 
Germany during 1868. 
From 1865 onward he 
had been in the midst 
of the conflict that 
raged around the burn- 
ing questions of the 
day raised by Séren 
Kierkegaard and the 
Neo-Hegelians. Bran- 
des entered into a 
three-cornered con- 
troversy between 
Bishop Martensen rep- 
resenting orthodoxy as 
against Rasmus Nielsen with his attempted har- 
monization of science and faith, and Bréchner on the 
side of science and philosophy. Brandes sided with 
Bréchner, whom he called his master, and expressed 

himself in a pamphlet entitled “The 





Georg Brandes. 


The Mar- Dualism in Modern Philosophy” 
tensen- (1866). The authorship is Brandes’, 
Nielsen- but the ideas in it are not his own 
Brochner only, but also those of a group of 
Contro- younger men, who had chosen him as 
versy. their spokesman. The pamphlet re- 


veals Brandes as a declared advocate 
of free thought and as a radical opponent of the 
current thoughts of the day; it maintains the im- 
possibility of squaring orthodoxy with science and 
philosophy, and shows the trend of Brandes’ future 
work. 

In esthetics he did not attain self-consciousness so 
quickly. For many years he could not liberate him- 
self from the ruling esthetic ideas of the day—those 
of F. W. Hegel and P. A. Heiberg, H. Hertz, and 
Hostrup. Here it was French poetry and criticism 
that brought him freedom and clearness of thought. 
His practical philosophy, which was utilitarian and 
naturalistic, came from John Stuart Mill, whom he 
knew personally and greatly admired, and from 
positivism. His method of literary criticism he got 
from Hippolyte Taine; but its color is a reflex from 
Musset, Merimée, and St. Beuve. 

Studies, controversies, and natural growth brought 
Brandes maturity; and in 1870 he took his Ph.D. 
degree, his thesis being “The French Esthetics of 
Our Day—An Essay on Taine.” He left Denmark 
immediately after and spent 1870-71 abroad, visit- 
ing Taine, Mill, and Renan. When he returned in 
the fall of 1871 he was a mature thinker, a realist, 
and a literary revolutionist, entirely free from theo- 
logical ethics, metaphysics, and romantic notions in 
esthetics. But Brandes was and is more than a 
radical. That he is a reformer in the best sense is 


Brandes, Georg 
Brandon, Jacob 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


352 





proved by his constant demand for truth, by the 
evolution of his genius, and by his strong person- 
ality. His history has proved the need of just such 
a person in the Dauish community and in the north 
in general. 

In the autumn of 1871 he began his famous series 
of lectures, “Main Currents in Nineteenth-Century 
Literature.” Brandes talks much about foreign lit- 
erature, but aims always at the Danish; charging it 
justly as being childish, insigniticant, and discon- 
nected with universal literature. As reasons for the 

decay, he points frequently to the 


His political degradation of the country, 
‘Main and shows how it has stood still out- 
Currents.” side the main currents of civilization 


and has failed in originality. The 
charge of lack of originality is not quite correct. 
Brandes fails altogether to recognize the value of 
the revival of the Old Norse, as that, for instance, was 
brought about by Ohlenschliger and Grundtvig. 
He ridicules the prevailing German and Thorvald- 
sen ideas of antiquity, the northern family life and 
sex prudery, the state church, and he defines all 
things as mere products of climate, time, and race. 
But he also shows how completely modern life bas 
broken with orthodoxy and romanticism. He fights 
for “free thought in research. and full sway of the 
human in art,” 

Altogether, the lectures were a bold presentation 
of French radical realism in all its strength and 
weakness. They aroused an enormous opposition 
from among the orthodox and reactionary, but gave 
Brandes a large following, especially of younger 
students and academic citizens, who understood the 
necessity of turning their thoughts into the univer- 
sul currents. Brandes defended himself brilliantly 
in special pamphlets and in “Nyt Dansk Maaned- 
skrift,” which he edited together with Vilhelm 
Moller, and later in “Det Nittende Aarhundrede,” 
which he, together with his brother Eduard, edited 
from 1874 to 1877. Brandes represents the intro- 
duction of the scientific method into the study of 
literature, and the exclusion of the then current so- 
called moral and esthetic standards represented by 
the Church, narrow-minded lawgivers, social con- 
ventionality, and political trammels. Though the 
lectures suffered considerably from loose state- 
ments, false views, and misrepresentations of his- 
toric facts, and though Brandes was not always true 
to his own genius, they nevertheless made him the 
father of modern Danish literary and art criticism, 
and carried his influence throughout the entire north. 

In 1877 Brandes published a literary characteris- 
tic of “Séren Kierkegaard ” and a masterly psycho- 
logical treatise on “Danish Poets.” In the same 
year he left Denmark and settled in Berlin. For the 
time: being he had become tired of polemics, and was 
-chagrined because the university had refused him 

_ the chair in esthetics, left vacant by 
Considered the death of Hauch. Tis farewell was 
‘‘a German an ovation and atriumph. In Berlin 

of the Brandes was considered “a German of 
Germans.” the Germans,” and he put. himself in 
perfect rapport with German “ Kul- 


tur.” He contributed to the magazines, wrote 


“ Disraeli” (1880), and edited a German edition of 
his “ Main Currents.” 

In 1882 he returned to Denmark on the invitation 
of friends who had provided funds for a professor- 
ship for him. Conditions proved favorable, and he 
saw the seed he had sown in literature, art, and 
politics bearing good fruit. In fact, Danish politics 
had assumed a character in perfect harmony with 
his teachings, which result must be ascribed largely 
to his own influence and to that of his brother Ed- 
uard. But Brandes himself was a different person, 
He was as fiery and many-sided as before, but he 
paid more attention to the personality of his sub- 
jects than formerly, and tried less to represent them 
as results of the natural environment. The new 
views appear in lectures delivered at the university 
and published under the title “Young Germany ” 
(1890); in books like “ Modern Representative Men” 
(1883); “Ludvig Holberg ” (1884); “Impressions of 
Russia” (1888); “Impressions of Poland” (1888); 
and several collections of essays of the same period. 
In all these studies can be seen how the influence of 
Mill and Taine has vanished, and how Brandes’ 
independent study of Lassalle, Renan, Goncourt, 
Nietzsche, and others has transformed him and 
created in his mind an appreciation of personality 
previously entirely lacking. In opposition to the 

- views of the day, he proclaims himself 
an aristocrat, and he reveals a wider 
and sounder view of esthetics. The 
natural result of these changed views 
was a conflict with several of his 
former adherents and friends. Thus, in 1885 he be- 
came involved, on the question of marriage, in a 
polemical fight with the author of “ A View of Life 
Founded on Love,” a pupil of Mill and Spencer. 
In 1887 he was engaged in a similar conflict with 
Bjérnson; and in 1889 he disputed with Hoffding 
about Nietzsche. 

Brandes has written a large work on Shake- 
speare, Which is translated into many languages, 
and is still (1902) a contributor to the magazines, 
and his subjects are most varied. In all his ar- 
ticles he presents new and genial views. He is 
more careful than in younger days, when he often 
gave his enemies opportunity to attack him on ac- 
count of second-hand information and defective 
memory. 

The best estimate of Brandes can be formed from 
the numerous congratulations that came to him on 
his sixtieth birthday (Feb. 4, 1902), in which he was 
characterized as “a genial polemic,” an “ insurrec- 
tionist par excellence,” and one who had “ given us 
freedom to build upon, fresh courage to breathe, 
and a light to lighten for us.” 

By the will of the late Consul Albert Berendsen a 
fund was bequeathed for a prize essay on “ The Sig- 
nificance of Georg Brandes in Danish Social aud 
Spiritual Life.” By royal “ patent conferring rank ” 
of May 7, 1902, Brandes was made professor, a title 
which gives him precedence and is a victory for him 
of unusual importance. | 

S, C. H. B. 


Proclaims 
Himself an 
Aristocrat. 


BRANDES, LUDVIG ISRAEL: Danish phy- 


several monographs, such as “ Lassalle” (1877) and | sician; born in Copenhagen Oct. 26, 1821; died 


353 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brandes, Georg 
Branaon, Jacob 





there Sept. 17, 1894. In 1839 he entered the Uni- 
versity of Copenhagen, and was graduated in medi- 
cine in 1845. After having spent some time in for- 
eign countries, he studied for two years at the 
hospitals of Copenhagen, chiefly at the Almindelig 
Hospital, and in 1848 became assistant surgeon dur- 
ing the insurrection in Sleswick-Holstein. Thesame 
year he took the degree of licentiate, and in 1850 that 
of M.D. at the University of Copenhagen. Subse- 
quently he became assistant physician at the Almin- 
delig Hospital, and later at the Frederiks Hospital, 
and for some years practised medicine in Copen- 
hagen, being also district physician. In 1863 he 
was appointed chief physician in the first division 
of the Almindelig Hospital, and in 1869 received the 
title of professor. 

Brandes showed the greatest energy in philan- 
thropic work, He was especially instrumental in 
founding, in 1859, the Kjébenhavns Syzelijem, a 
home for incurables and the aged of both sexes in 
Copenhagen, and was its medical director fora num- 
ber of years. He also founded a society for seam- 
stresses, which, in addition to giving relief, provided 
for the intellectual improvement of its members. 
He was for five years trustee of the Jewish congre- 
gation of Copenhagen. 

From 1873 Brandes endeavored, by means of 
classes and lectures, to improve nursing both in the 
hospitals and privately. Whereas formerly only 
women inthe lowerranks of life had been employed 
as hospital nurses, Brandes induced those of the 
upper classes to take up the work. His paper on 
the use and abuse of alecholic beverages, published 
in 1877, has made the restriction of their abuse a 
leading question. 

The most important of Brandes’ scientific works 
is his handbook on internal diseases, “Haandbog i 
Sygdomsloren,” 4 vols., Copenhagen, 1859-66. 
BIBLIGGRAPHY: Bricka, Dansk Biografisk mae aa 

8. : 


BRAN DES, MARTHE (Marthe-Joséphine 
Brunschwig): French actress; born in Paris Jan. 
31, 1862. She first studied design, sculpture, and 
music, and, finally, the drama. Successful in pri- 
vate theatricals, she entered the Paris Conservatoire 
and studied under Gustave Worms. In 1882-83 she 
won prizes; and Alexandre Dumas fils was so struck 
by her histrionic talent that he engaged her for the 
Théatre du Vaudeville. From the first (1884), 
through her interpretation of Diane de Lys, Brandés 
became a favorite actress with the Parisian public. 
As Georgette in Sardou’s play, in the “ Renée” of M. 
W. Busnach (1887), and in Moreau’s “Gerfant,” 
she obtained distinguished successes as a comé- 
dienne. 

Brandés’ first appearance at the Comédie Fran- 
caise (Sept. 27, 1887) was in the part of Francine de 
Riverolles in Dumas the younger’s “Francillon.” 
She excelled also in classical parts, such as in “ An- 
dromaque” and “Iphigénie en Aulide,” and espe- 
cially in “Princesse Georges” (Feb. 27, 1888), Fr. 
Coppée’s “ Passant,” and Dumas the elder’s “ Henri 
IIT. et sa Cour” (Jan. 5, 1889). 

Returning to the Vaudeville in 1890, Brandés re- 
created many parts, and gained splendid triumphs 

IIT.—23 


in “Liliane” (Feb. 24, 1891), in Jules Lemaitre’s 
“ Révoltée” (April, 1891), as Héléne Rousseau in Ib- 
sen’s “ Hedda Gabler,” and in Paul Hervieu’s “ Les 
Paroles Restent.” On Nov. 17, 1892, she went back 
to the Théatre Francais. 

Henceforth Miss Brandés became the interpreter 
par excellence of the plays of Dumas the younger 
and Paul Hervieu. She excelled in the portrayal 
of the modern woman of the world, self-willed and 
nervous. De Curel’s “L’Amour Brode” and Paro- 
di’s “ Reine Juana” (1898) won for her an individual 
position as an actress. Her great successes were in 
Pailleron’s “Cabotins” (1894) and Hervieu’s “es 
Tenailles” (Sept. 28, 1895). She was elected a “soci- 
étaire ” in 1896, despite some slight opposition. Her 
powers as an actress were further developed in these 
years. She played in Meilhac’s “Grosse Fortune,” 
Lavedan’s “Catherine” (1898), and in most of the 
stock plays of the Comédie (e.g., Hugo’s “ Ruy Blas” 
and “ Hernani,” Moliére’s “ Tartuffe,” Emile Augier’s 
“T’Aventuriére,” and Beaumarchais’s “Le Mariage 
de Figaro ”). 

s. E. A. 


BRANDES, MORDECAI BEN ELIEZER: 
German Talmudist; lived at Frankfort-on the-Main 
in the middle of the eighteenth century. Engaged 
by the Jewish community as “porsher” (yw 5, one 
who extracts from a slaughtered beast those sinews 
that are proscribed as food), he published on this 
subject a valuable work (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
1750); and was also the author of the works: “ Zik- 
ron Ma‘aseh” (A Memento of the Affair), recon- 
ciliatory advice to dissenting parties in the congre- 
gation of Frankfort-on-the-Main (7b. 17538); and 
“Zikron Teru‘ah ” (Memorial of the Trumpet), direc- 
tions in regard to blowing the shofar. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 1573 
Roest, Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl. i. 238. LB 
BK, é R. 


BRANDON, BENJAMIN RAPHAEL 
DIAS: Dutch Talmudist and Hebrew author; died 
about 1750 at Amsterdam, where he was cantor, 
He wrote: “Orot ha-Mizwot” (Lights of the Pre- 
cepts), on the purpose of the Biblical and the Tal- 
mudic precepts (Amsterdam, 1753); and “ ‘Emek Bin- 
yamin” (Valley of Benjamin), on halakic problems 
suggested by his friends in Amsterdam (éb. 1758). 
In very sharp contrast to the pure and simple lan- 
guage of his works is their content. For instance, 
the use of wine at “kiddush” and “habdalah ” is to 
Brandon a proof that, as wine is a product of much 
skilled labor, so the world is not an original essence, 
but the work of a master (“Orot ha-Miz wot,” 9b). 
Brandon wrote also “ Keter Torah” (Crown of the 
Torah), a poem on the marriage of the Hebrew poet 
David Franco-Mendez of Amsterdam. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 4547; First, 
Bibl. Jud. i. 129. 
L. G. I. Bur. 


BRANDON, JACOB EMILE EDOUARD: 
French genre painter; born at Paris July 3, 1881. 
A pupil of Picot, Montfort, and Corot, he entered 
the Ecole des Beaux Arts in that city April 5, 1849, 
Upon his graduation from that institution he at once 
assiduously devoted himself to the practise of his 
art. 


Brandon 
Bratzlav 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


354 





Among the principal works exhibited by Bran- 
don in the Salon have been: “La Canonisation de 
Sainte Brigitte ” (1861); “La Jettatura di Borgo San 
Spirito” (1861); “Ya Dernitre Messe de Sainte Bri- 
gitte ” (1868); “ La Charité de Sainte Brigitte ” (1868), 
a design in encaustic for the oratory of the Church 
of St. Bridget at Rome; “Le Dimanche de la Plébe 
Romaine au Transtévére” (1865; medal), a water- 
color; “Le Baiser de la Mére de Moise ” (1866); “Le 
Sermon du Daian Cardozo & la Synagogue d’Am- 
sterdam, le 22 Juil. 1866 ” (1867; medal); “Les Fils de 
M. Octave Feuillet,” portraits (1869); “La Lecon de 
Talmud ” (1869); “Le Sabbat” (1870). 

Brandon, who did not exhibit so frequently after 
1870, is represented at the Museum of Lille by the 
pictures “The Improviser” and “A Scene in the 
Campagna.” These, in common with his other genre 
pictures, are characterized by great fidelity to na- 
ture, and a powerful, vivid, though somewhat heavy 
coloring. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bellier de la Chavignerie, Dictionnaire Géné- 


ral des Artistes de ! Ecole Francaise; Seubert, Aligemeines 
Kiinstler Lexikon; La Grande Encyclopédie. 


8. J. So. 


BRANDON, JULES BENJAMIN: French 
officer and scion of an ancient Sephardic family that 
went to France from Spain after the exodus of 
1492; born Sept. 24, 1833, at Paris, died May 22, 
1871. After studying at the Collége St. Barbe, he 
went to the Ecole Polytechnique in 1853, and en- 
tered the artillery. He married, in Aug., 1866, the 
eldest daughter of Colonel Salvador, nephew of the 
Jewish historian Joseph Salvador. At the out- 
break of the Franco-Prussian war (1870) Brandon, 
who was then instructor (with the rank of captain) 
at the Ecole Polytechnique, immediately requested 
to be transferred to active service. He joined the 
army, was made a prisoner at Sedan, and was sent 
to Germany, his wife following him. As soon as 
the armistice was signed, and he received news of 
the events of the eighteenth of March and of the 
proclamation of the Commune, Brandon was one of 
the first to avail himself of the permission granted 
to the officers to return to France. He hastened to 
offer his services to the leaders of the army of Ver- 
sailles, Though the troops at that time were dis- 
organized, he rapidly reformed his battery; but on 
entering Paris, May 22, 1871, he was killed by a 
stray ball fired froma window. General Berkheim 
placed the name of Brandon, as one of the best and 
bravest officers of the second army corps, at the 
head of the list of captains to be read at daily roll- 
call, in order that this tribute should be “a title of 
glory that will be preserved in his family.” 

8. M. Bu. 


BRANDSTADTER, MORDECAI DAVID: 
Galician novelist; born Feb. 14, 1844, in Brzesko, 
Galicia. He received a good Talmudical education,. 
and after his marriage (at the early age of fourteen) 
settled in the home of his wife’s parents in Tarnow, 
pursuing his rabbinical studies for about six years 
longer. During that time he also became acquainted 
with Neo-Hebraic and German literature. At the 
age of twenty he established himself in business in 


Tarnow, and is now (1902) one of the most prominent 
manufacturers in the district. 

Brandstiidter’s first attempt at literature was the 
translation into Hebrew of L. Philippson’s pamphlet, 
“Haben die Juden Wirklich Jesum Gekreuzigt?” 
(Berlin, 1865), which was published in the Hebrew 
periodical “Ha-Ibri” in Brody. Buthisreal literary 
activity began at the time he visited Vienna in 1869 
and there made the acquaintance of P. Smolenskin, 
who had just started his monthly, “Ha-Shahar.” 
Smolenskin recognized Brandstidter's talent and 
encouraged him to write novels. The first sketch 
from his pen, “Eliyahu ha-Nabi” (The Prophet 
Elijah), appeared in No. 1 of “ Ha-Shahar,” and was 
soon after translated into Polish and published in 
the “Israelita” of Warsaw. “Mordecai Kisovitz ” 
(the story of the life of a Galician Jew) appeared 
in the second issue of the same paper, and was Is- 
ter translated into Russian and English.  “ Reshit 
Madon ” (The Beginning of a Quarrel), describing the 
life of the quasi-enlightened Jews of Galicia, ap- 
peared the same year, and “Ha-Niflaot me-‘Ir Zi- 
dutschub ” (The Wonders of the City of Zidutschub, 
came out in No. 3 of the same periodical. About half 
a dozen more short stories were subsequently pub- 
lished in “Ha-Shahar” and “Ha-Meliz.” Some of 
them went through several editions in book form, 
and several were translated into German and other 
languages. His collected novels, “Kol Sippure,” iu 
two volumes, containing ten short stories in prose 
and three in verse, were published in Cracow, 1890- 
91. He has also written several short stories since 
that time. 

Brandstidter displays remarkable skill in telling 
simple humorous stories, and in mercilessly exposing 
the weaknesses of the fanatical Hasidim. on the one 
hand, and of the conceited progressive aristocracy, 
on the other. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos, Klausner, Novo-Yevreiskaya Literatura 
xix. Vycka, p. 49, Warsaw, 1900; Sefer Zikkaron (Book of 
Memorial), p. 10, Warsaw, 1890; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Men- 
dels., p. 38. 

Ss. P. Wr. 


BRANN, MARCUS: German historian; born 
in Rawitsch July 9, 1849; son of Rabbi Solomon 
Brann. He studied at the University of Breslau, 
attending at the same time the rabbinical seminary 
of that city, and was graduated from the university 
in 1873 and from the seminary in 1875. Subse- 
quently he acted as rabbi and teacher in various 
places until 1891, when, on the death of Professor 
Graetz, he was called to the chair of history and 
Biblical exegesis in the Breslau Jewish theological 
seminary. 

Brann has written: “De Herodis Magni Filiis, 
Patrem in Imperio Secutis” (part i., Breslau, 1878) 
—his doctoral dissertation, of which the second part 
appeared in German under thie title, “ Die Séhne des 
Herodes” (1878); “Geschichte der Gesellschaft der 
Briider [Hesra KappisHa] in Breslau,” 1880; 
“Geschichte der Juden und Ihrer Literatur,” a text- 
book of Jewish history (vol. i, 1898, 2d ed. 1896; vol. 
ii. 1894, 2d ed. 1899); “Geschichte des Rabbinats in 
Schneidemiilil,” 1894; “Ein Kurzer Gang Durch die 
Jiidische Geschichte,” 1895; “Hin Kurzer Gang 
Durch die Geschichte der Jiidischen Literatur,” 1896; 
“ Lehrbuch dcr Jiidischen Geschichte ” (vol. i. 1900; 


355 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brandom 
Bratzlav 





vol. ii. 1901; vol. iii, 1902); “ Geschichte der Juden 
in Schlesien,” 8 parts, 1895-1901. 

Since 1890 Brann has edited a Jewish almanac, 
“Jahrbuch zur Belehrung und Unterhaltung,” and 
from 1892 until the death of David Kaufmann was 
joint editor with him of the “ Monatsschrift ftir Ge- 
schichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums,” which 
had been discontinued for several years; since 1899 
he is sole editor. In 1900 Brann edited, with F. 
Rosenthal, a memorial volume in honor of his coi- 
league, “Gedenkbuch zur Erinnerung an David 
Kaufmann,” Breslau, 1900. 

8. D. 

BRANN, SOLOMON: German rabbi; born in 
Rawitsch, Nov. 3, 1814. He attended for several 
years the yeshibah in Lissa, and continued his stud- 
ics in the Berlin University. In 1839 he was elected 
a member of the rabbinical board of his native city, 
where he wasa picneer of German preaching. Since 
1853 he has been rabbi at Schneidemiihl. Brann has 
contributed largely to scientific German periodicals, 
such as “Orient,” “Monatsschrift,” and “ Jiidisches 
Literaturblatt.” His notes on the Talmud Yeru- 
shalmi are to be found in the Krotoschin edition of 
1866. 

8. D. 


BRASCH, MORITZ: German philosopher and 
litterateur; born at Zempelburg, West Prussia, Aug. 
18, 1848; died at Leipzig Sept. 14, 1895. He was 
educated at the universities of Berlin, Greifswald, 
and Jena, settling at the first-mentioned place on 
the completion of his studies. Finally he went to 
Leipsic, where he became (1874-79) the chief editor 
of Brockhaus’ “ Konversations-Lexikon.” 

Brasch ranked high among the modern philosoph- 
ical essayists of Germany. He published the fol- 
Jowing works: “Benedictus von Spinoza’s System 
der Philosophie,” 1870; “ Lichtstrahlen aus Mendels- 
sohn’s Schriften nach der Ethica Dargestellt,” 1875; 
“Die Klassiker der Philosophie,” 3 vols. 1883-86: 
“ Gesammelte Essays und Charakterképfe zur Neuern 
Philosophie und Litteratur,” 2 vols. 1885-86; “ Phi- 
Josophie der Gegenwart” (vol. iv. of “ Klassiker der 
Philosophie ”), 1887; “ Welt- und Lebensanschauung 
Friedrich Uberwegs,” 1888; “Philosophie und Poli- 
tik: Studien tiber Lassalle und Johann Jacoby,” 
1890; “Gesch. der Leipziger Universitit von ihrem 
Ursprung bis zur Gegenwart,” 1890; “Lehrbuch der 
Gesch. der Philosophie,” 2d ed. 1893; “Wesen und 
Ziele der Ethischen Bewegung,” 1894; “ Leipziger 
Philosophen im 19. Jahrhundert—Portriits und Stu- 
dien,” 1894; “Die Facultitenfrage und die Stellung 
der Philosophie,” 1895. He edited: Moses Mendels- 
sohin’s “Werke zur Metaphysik, Religionsphiloso- 
phie und Aesthetik,” 2 vols. 1880, 2d ed. 1881; Uber- 
weg’s “Schillerals Philosoph und Historiker,” 1885; 
Schopenhauer’s works, 2 vols., 1891; Aristotle’s “ Po- 
liteia ” (German transl, with introduction and notes), 
1894. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Leipziger Illustrirte Zeitung, Aug. 16, 1890; 
Kohut, Bertthmte [sraelitische Mtinner und Frauen, part 
14, p. 212; De Gubernatis, Diz, Biug. 


B. . E. Ms. 


BRASLAW. NAHMAN. 
SIMHAH OF BRATZLAV. 


See NAHMAN BB. 


ag Pe a ph ft A SP pss SPS SSS SSS P= SSP SSS gS SSS SS Ss ra arr PU = RS 7 St 


BRASS: A composition of copper and zinc. 
The application of the word in the Bible is uncer- 
tain, as instruments of copper and bronze were often. 
used where brass is mentioned. Copper, bronze, 
and other metals were known to the Egyptians be- 
fore the Exodus. In the Old Testament brass is re- 
ferred to both actually and symbolically. In Ex. 
XXXvili. 2-8 the altar of burnt offering is overlaid 
with brass. All the vessels of the altar are made 
of brass. In Num. xxi. 9 Moses makes a serpent of 
brass. In I Sam. xvii. 5 Goliath is clad in an armor 
of brass. In II Sam. viii. 8 King David takes “ex- 
ceeding much brass” from Betah and Berothai. In 
I Kings vii. 7 is the reference to Hiram, king of 
Tyre, “a worker in brass.” In II Kings xxv. 18, 14; 
Jer, lii. 17, brazen vessels and pillars are carried away 
by the Chaldeans; and in I Chron. xv. 19 the sing- 
ers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, are appointed to 
sound with “cymbals of brass.” - 

Brass is often referred to symbolically in Hebrew 
Scripture: Deut, xxviii. 23, “ Thy heaven that is over 
thee shall be brass” (without clouds and rain); Job 
vi. 12, “Is my flesh brass?” (enduring, insensible); 
Dan. ii. 82, “ Belly and thighs of brass” (expressing 
brilliancy); Dan. x. 6, “His feet like in color to 
burnished brass.” 


E. G. H. T.F.S. 


BRATZLAV or BRASLAVL: A town in the 
government of Podolia, Russia, situated on the right 
bank of the southern Bug. It was founded in the 
fourteenth century. It was at different times sub- 
ject to Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and the Tatars. 
In 1479, when the Tatars conquered and destroyed. 
Bratzlav, more than 600 inhabitants, among them. 
400 Jews, were slain in one day. In 1551, when it. 
was besieged by the Crimean khan Devlyet Girei, 
and the entire garrison and a large part of the pop- 
ulation fled, the Jews heroically defended the town. 
against the enemy. In 1569, at the time of a relig- 
ious uprising of the Cossacks, the hetmans Nalivaiko 
and Kossinski repeatedly attacked the city, plunder- 
ing and murdering without mercy; the Jews, of 
course, not being exempted. 

But the most terrible year for the Jews was 1648, 
when the alderman Martin Kalinovski delivered 
Bratzlav into the hands of Chmielnicki, who seized 
the town and massacred all the Jews, In 1664 the 
Russians slaughtered the Poles and Jews of Kame- 
netz-Podolsk, Miedzybodz, and Bratzlav. When 
the hetmans Voinaravski and Orlik plotted with the 
Tatars against Peter the Great, Bratzlav became 
the scene of horrible cruelties perpetrated upon the 
Jews. The town has been a place of shelter for the 
followers of Shabbethai Zebi and other sects, espe- 
cially the Frankists and the Hasidim. 

In the town of Bratzlav in 1895 the Jews num- 
bered 2,460, or 39.2 per cent of the total population ; 
and in the district of that name there were 31,000, or 
about 15 per cent of the total population. They 
have a synagogue and six houses of prayer in the 
town, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shalom-‘Alekem, in Yiddische Volksbiblio- 

thek, i. 416-418, Kiev, 1888; Entziklopedicheski Slovar, iv., 


St. Petersburg, 1895; Regesty i Nadpist, i. 464, St. Peters- 
burg, 1899 


Tre 


it. 


™T 
g. 


Braudes, Reuben 
Brazen Sea 


BRAUDES, REUBEN ASHER: Hebrew 
novelist and journalist; born at Wilna, Russia, 1851; 
died in Vienna Oct. 18,1902. Educated on the usual 
Talmudical lines, le came early under the influence 
of the MASKILIM, 

In 1868 Braudes became a contributor to “ Ha- 
Lebanon ” (n325n), a Hebrew weekly published by 
Brill in Mayence, and for several years he devoted 
his pen to topics of the day and to criticism. 

it was as a novelist, however, that he was to make 
a mark in Hebrew literature. In 1874 he published 
in “The Dawn” (3hwn), a monthly edited by Smo- 
lenskin at Vienna, his first story, entitled “The Mys- 
teries of the Zephaniah Family” (A3s5y n'a “ND»D), 
a tale of great promise from its style and vivid de- 
scriptions. The next year appeared his second 
novel, “The Repentant ” (Any) AI), which was fol- 
lowed by one entitled “Religion and Life” nF 
Oovnm), treating of Jewish ‘life. This remarkable 
work was published in “The Morning Light” pan 
WN), issued by Gottlober at Lemberg in 1875. 

Another novel of great merit, “The Two Ex- 
‘tremes” (MNpn nw), appeared in Lemberg in 1885. 
In this book Brandes pictures in vivid colors the 
Orthodox and Reformed camps in modern Israel. 

In 1882, at the time of the anti-Semitic riots in 
Russia, Braudes plunged into the Zionist move- 
ment and became one of its feremostadvocates. To 
foster this idea he went to Rumania, and began the 
publication at Bucharest of “ Yehudit,” a weekly 
wn Judeo-German, At the end of two years, how- 
ever, Braudes was expelled from the country. 

in 1891 he went to Cracow, Galicia, and started a 
weekly in Hebrew, “The Time” (jo}m). This paper 
existed for nine months, when, for lack of funds, 
its publication was suspended. Nothing of impor- 
tance from Braudes’ pen appeared in recent years. 

L. @. M. Ra. 


BRAUDO, ALEXANDER: Russian author; 
born in 1864. From 1889 until 1892 he was reviewer 
of literature on Russian history for the “ Jahresbe- 
richt der Geschichtswissenschaft” and the “ Istori- 
cheskoye Obozrenie,” published by the University of 
“St. Petersburg; he translated sources for Russian 
-history, as Grevenbruch’s “ Tragoedia Moscovitica,” 
1606 (history of the false Dmitri); and Neuville’s 
“Relation Curieuse,” 1689 (history of the riot of 
the Stryeltzy). He wrote a number of articles in 
“Russki Bibliograficheski Slovar,” published by the 
Historical Society of the University of St. Peters- 
burg, and a series of reviews in the “Zhurnal Min- 
isterstva Naroduavo Prosvyeshcheniya.” In the 
“ Voskhod ” for 1896 there appeared his reviews of 
ithe works of Bershadski on the history of the Jews. 
While secretary of the Society for the Promotion of 
‘Education Among the Jews of Russia, he succeeded 
‘in directing the activity of that organization toward 
the encouragement and development of elementary 
education among the Jews. At present he is a 
member of the advisory board of the Jewish Colo- 
nization Association. 

H. R. 8. J. 


BRAUN, JOSEF: Austrian journalist, drama- 
tist, and librettist; born at Budapest, May 5, 1840. 
‘Braun was educated for the profession of medicine 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


356 





at the University of Vienna, but abandoned his med- 
ical studies in 1860 to join the editorial staff of Isidor 
Heller’s “ Fortschritt,” on which he was trusted with 
Hungarian affairs. Next he joined the staffs of the 
“ Wanderer,” “ Morgenpost ” (as editor-in-chief), “ De- 
batte,” and in 1869 the “Tagespresse.” From 1869 
to 1870 he managed the humoristic illustrated paper 
“Der Floh”; in 1871 he founded the “ Bombe,” which 
he sold to establish, in 1881, the “ Wiener Caricatu- 
ren.” Among his works are: “Emporkémmlinge,” 
a romance, published in 1874 in the “Bombe”; “ Lus- 
tige Weiber von Wien,” 1881; and the following 
plays and libretti: “Flotte Bursche,” 1861 (musie 
by Suppé); “ Die Pagen von Versailles,” 1862; “Die 
Keusche Diana,” 1864 (the first opera composed by 
Millécker); “Carneval in Rom,” 1877 (music by 
Johann Strauss); “ Hector in der Tinte”; “Bibiana 
und Leodegar”; “In den Flitterwochen”; and 
“ Wihrend der Quadrille.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, p. 51. 

S. E. Ms. 

BRAUN, SOLOMON: French lieutenant of 
artillery; born at Paris, 1868; died in Togbao, 
Sudan, in 1899. His father, a poor pedler, observ- 
ing Solomon’s capacity for learning, made the great- 
est sacrifices to give him a good education. Solo- 
mon successfully passed the competitive examination 
for the Ecole Polytechnique, whence he graduated 
as lieutenant of artillery. In 1897 he obtained per- 
mission from the minister of war to join the perilous 
expedition for the exploration of Lake Tchad under 
Major Bretonnet. The expedition was surprised, 
and every member slaughtered by the Tuaregs. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Archives Israélites, Feb. 18, 1899. 


S, I. Br. 


BRAUNSCHWEIG (BRUNSCHWIG), 
ABRAHAM B. ELIEZER: Reviser of the rab- 
binical Bible published by the printer Konig of 
Basel in 1619; and assistant to Johannes Buxtorf, 
both the father and the son. At the request of 
Buxtorf, senior, Braunschweig was permitted to 
settle at Basel. Upon the circumcision of a son, 
in 1619, at which several Jews were present, he was 
fined 400 fs., K6nig and Buxtorf 100 fs. each, and 
all the Jews who had been present at the celebration 
were imprisoned for some days. Braunschweig 
lived Jater at Lengnau (Aargau) and in Zurich, and 
attended the fair at Zurzach. He traded in Hebrew 
books, which he obtained on his journeys through 
Alsace. In the correspondence between Johannes 
Hottinger of Zurich and Johannes Buxtorf of Basel, 
Braunschweig took an important part. He was still 
living in 1644. Whether he was related to Joseph 
ben Jacob Braunschweig, whose name appears on 
the title-page of “Sod ha-Neshamah,” printed at Ba- 
sel in 1608, is not known. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Preface and colophon to Braunschweig’s rab- 
binical Bible; Rev. Et. Juives, viii. 77 et seq.; Zunz, S. P. 


p. 341. 

G. M. K. 

BRAUNSCHWEIG, JACOB ELIEZER: 
German rabbi and Talmudic author of the seven- 
teenth and the eighteenth century; died in Vienna 
April 16, 1729. Of his life very little is known. 
He was rabbiat first in Kanitz, province of Moravia, 
Austria, and subsequently in Vienna, where he 


357 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Braude.. Reuben 
Brazen Sea 





found a Mecenas in Samson Wertheimer, who 
engaged him as his chaplain, because the Jews of 
Vienna were not permitted to engage a rabbi. 
Braunschweig wrote: “Siah ‘Abde Abot” (The 
Language of the Servants of the Fathers), a con- 
cordance to the Talmud and the Midrashim; “Ta- 
‘ame ha-Torah” (The Reasons of the Law), an ex- 
egetical work on the Pentateuch; “Sefer Sekar 
we-‘Onesh ” (The Book of Reward and Punishment), 
which seems to have been an index of ali Talmudic 
passages bearing on divine retribution; “Gematriot 
u-Periferaot la-Hokmah ” (The Gematria and Periph- 
eries of Wisdom), a cabalistic work on the Penta- 
teuch; and Gematriot on the Torah, both exegetical 
and cabalistic, being an index of all Talmudic rab- 
binical interpretations of the Pentateuch. None of 
his works was published, and, as far as known, only 
the first-mentioned is extant in manuscript. It is in 
the Berlin Library, and has been wrongly ascribed 
by Steinschneider to Lazar Fried, rabbi at Kanitz. 
Braunschweig’s family later adopted the name 
“Deutsch”; and one of his descendants is Gotthard 
Deutsch of Cincinnati. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kaufmann, Samson Wertheimer, Vienna, 
1888 ; Steinschneider, Kataloy der Berliner Handschriften: 
Graeber, Ozar ha-Sifrut, ii. 88; Deborah, 1902, pp. 68 et seq. 

D. 


BRAUNSCHWEIG, MOSES BEN MOR- 
DECAT: Polish Talmudist; lived about the middle 
of the sixteenth century at Cracow. He wrote a 
commentary on Jacob Weil’s widely known codex 
on the slaughtering of animalsand the inspection of 
slaughtered animals (“ Hilkot Shehitot u-Bedikot ”). 
The commentary, which was printed with Weil's 
text under the title “Tikkune Zebah” (Prague, 
1604), consists of several sections having special 
subtitles. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 1260, 1785 
lL. G. I. Ber. 


BRAVERY. See CouRAGE. 


BRAVO, ABRAHAM: A financier living in 
London in 1710. He wasa descendant of a Spanish- 
Portuguese family, and one of the earliest Anglo- 
Jewish poets. Bravo eulogized in English verse the 
work, “Espejo Fiel de Vidas” (London, 1720), writ- 
ten by his friend Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna, the 
Spanish-Jewish translator of psalms. 

Another Abraham Bravo, undoubtedly a kinsman 
of the foregoing, lived in Jamaica in 1773. Benja- 
min and David Bravo, who went from London to Ja- 
maica, were naturalized there in 1740. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Publications of American Jew. Hist. Soc. 
v. 3, ILL; vi. 155; Jewish Quarterly Review, xi. 572 et seq. 


J. M. K. 

BRAY-SUR-SEINE: Smal! town situated be- 
tween Provins and Montereau, in the department of 
Seine-et-Marne; belonged formerly to Champagne. 
In the twelfth century it had an important Jewish 
community, including such rabbis as Jacob the 
Tosafist, and R. Isaac. Several commentators were 
born here: R. Matathia, Phineas, and Menahem (it 
is possible that the latter two are identica}) ; and there 
were also some very rich Jews in the city. 

An Israelite having been assassinated in 1191 by a 
subject of the king of France, his coreligionists ob- 
tained permission of the countess Blanche of Cham- 


pagne to hang the murderer, and in commemoration 
of the hanging of Haman they selected the day of 
Purim. According to Christian reports, they tied 
the hands of the murderer behind his back, and after 
having placed a crown of thorns upon his head, led 
him through the city, beating him with a stick. 
Philip Augustus, king of France, taking advantage, 
perhaps, of the fact that the Christian was his sub- 
ject invaded the domain of the countess of Cham- 
pagne, placed guards at the gates of the castle of 
Bray, and seized the Jews and burned more than 
eighty of them at the stake, among whom were 
the rabbis Jacob and Isaac afurementioned. <Ac- 
cording to a contemporary, R. Ephraim of Bonn, the 
attempt had first been made to convert them to 
Christianity. Only children under thirteen years 
old escaped the persecution. 

This massacre did not put an end to the commu- 
nity, however, for documents show that there were 
still some Jews in the city in the twelfth century. 
Among the best known may be mentioned Matathia. 
or Eliab, son of R. Isaac, who died in 1191; Deo- 
datus or (Dieudonné) and Hély, bankers, who were 
at the Petit Chatelet in Paris in 1204-6, and in 1221 
at Provins. In that year Thibaut IV., count of 
Champagne, was in their debt. All traces of this 
community have been lost since the fourteenth cen- 
tury. No Jews live there to-day. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rigord, Histoire de Philip pe-Auguste; Eph- 
raim of Bonn, in Hebréische Berichte Uber die Judenver- 


folgungen Wiihrend der Kreuzztige, p. 70; Gross, Gallia 
Judaica, p. 123. 
G. I. L. 


BRAZEN SEA.—Biblical Data: The brazen 
laver of the Mosaic ritual; made by Solomon out of 
bronze captured by David at Tibhath and Chun, 
cities of Hadarezer (I Chron. xviii. 8), It served 
the same purpose for the officiating priests of Solo- 
mon’s Temple as did the laver for those officers at 
the tabernacle. The dimensions of the sea (I Kings 
vii. 23-26) were as follows: height, 5 cubits; cir- 
cumference, 80 cubits (consequently it was about 10 
cubits in diameter); anda handbreadth in thickness. 
It was capable of holding 2,000 “baths”; on the 
smallest calculation, about 17,000 gallons. “Under 
the brim of it round about there were knops which 
did compass it, for ten cubits compassing the sea 
round about; the knops were in two rows, cast when 
it was cast” (¢b. 24). This great brazen vessel was 
set on the backs of twelve brazen oxen; three of 
them facing each cardinal point, and all of them 
facing outward ; see illustration, p. 358. 

The humiliation of Ahaz before Tiglath-pileser 
III. and his desecration of the Temple and all sacred 
things led him to take this sea down from its posi- 
tion on the oxen, and to set it upon a pavement of 
stone (IJ Kings xvi. 17). It was finally (II Kings 
xxv. 18) broken into pieces at the capture of Jeru- 
salem by the Chaldeans, and the material was car- 
ried to Babylon. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Nowack, Lehrbuch der Hebriiischen Archd- 
ologie, 1894, ii. 42; Benzinger, Arch. 1894, p. 252, 
I. M. P. 


J. JR. 
——In Rabbinical Literature: The laver con- 
tained water sufficient for 150 ritual baths (“mik- 
waot”), if forty seahs be taken as the legal measure 


Brazen Sca 
Brazil 





of such bath. The laver was not entirely round, 
as might be inferred from Scripture (1 Kings 
vij. 23): the upper two-fifths were round; but the 
lower three were square (‘Er. 14a, b). The symbol- 
ism of the brazen sea is described in detail in the 
MIpRASH TADSHE. The sea represented the world; 
the ten ells of diameter corresponded to the ten Sefi- 
rot: and jit was round at 
the top (according to the 
Talmud passage above 
cited) as the heavens are 
round. The depth of the 
sea was five ells, corre- 
sponding to the distance 
of five hundred years’ 
journey between heaven 
and carth (compare Hag. 
18a). The band of thirty 
ells around it corresponded 
tothe Ten Commandments, 
to the ten words of God 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 

















358 





were sent against them, and very many died of their 
poisonous bites. On their showing repentance Moses 
was bidden to put upon a lofty pole an image in 
bronze of such a serpent, which, according to 
If Kings xviii. 4, was known as “nehushtan.” The 
sufferers, when they looked upon the image from 
any part of the camp, were healed of their sickness 
(Num. xxi. 4-9). This 
“brazen serpent” became 
an object of adoration to 
Israel, and so remained 
until Hezekiah destroyed 
it by breaking it into 
fragments {II Kings 
Xviil. 4). 

In Rabbinical Lit- 
erature: Inasmuchas the 
serpent in the Talmud 
stands for such. evils ag 
talebearin gand defamation 
of character (Gen. iii. 4, 5), 





THE BRAZEN SEA OF SOLOMON’S TEMPLE.—WITH VIEW OF SECTION. 
(Restored according to Calmet.) 


at the creation of the world, and to the ten Sefirot: 
for the world can exist only when the Ten Com- 
mandments are observed; and the ten Sefirot as well 
as the ten words of God were the instruments of the 
Creation, The two rows of colocynths (knops) be- 
low the rim were symbolic of the sun and the moon, 
while the twelve oxen on which the sea rested repre- 
sented the zodiac (“mazzalot”). It contained 2,000 
vaths (cubic measures), for the world will sustain him 
who keeps the Torah, which was created 2,000 years 
before the world (Midrash Tadshe ii., ed. Epstein, in 
“Mi-Kadmoniyot ha-Yehudim,” xvi., xvii.; Yalk., 
Kings, 185). 

J. SR. L. G. 

BRAZEN SERPENT (jnwn)). — Biblical 
Data: 
have healed those who looked upon it. When the 
people of Israel, near the close of the desert wan- 
derings. were marching southward to go around 
Fdom to the east of Palestine, they murmured against 
God and against Moses. Asa punishment “ fiery ser- 
pents” (compare Isa. xiv. 29; xxx. 6) of the region 


tion with the manna. 
‘to have had any taste desired by the person eating 
‘it, to the serpent all things had the taste of dust, in 


An image set up by Moses which is said to. 


the Midrash finds in the plague of the fiery serpents 


-a punishment for sins of the evil tongue (Num. xxi. 


5). God said: “Let the serpent who was the first 


_ to offend by ‘evil tongue’ inflict punishment on those 
who were guilty of the same sin and did not profit 
‘by the serpent’s example.” . 


One of the complaints in this case was dissatisfac- 
Whereas the manna is believed 


accordance with the words: “ And dust shalt thou eat 


‘all the days of thy life” (Gen. iii. 14). It was very 


appropriate, therefore, that they who loathed. the 
food which had given any taste desired, should be 
punished by means of that creature to which every- 
thing has the same taste (Tan., ed. Buber, Hukkat, 
xiv. [887]; Midrash R. Num. xix. 22). 

The Mishnah does not take literally the words 
“Every one who was bitten by a serpent would look 
at the serpent and live,” but interprets them sym- 
bolically. ‘The peopie should look up to the God 
of heaven, for it is not the serpent that either 
brings to life or puts to death, but it is God (Mish- 


359 


nah R. H. 29a). In the course of time, however, the 
people lost sight of the symbolical meaning and re- 
garded the serpent itself as the seat of the healing 
power, and they made it an object of worship, 
so that Hezekiah found it necessary to destroy it 
(II Kings xviii. 4; see also Ber. 10a). 

K. I. He. 


——Critical View: It is not necessary to discuss 
here the nature of the serpents (see SERAPHIM) that 
attacked the pilgrims in the desert; for it is not 
specifically said that one of these, but merely a 
“serpent,” not further defined, was represented in 
bronze. 

The question of the form of representation is, 
however, of importance as a matter of religious his- 
tory. In this narrative ascribed to J and E modern 
criticism sees an account of the way in which the 
serpent-worship, surviving till the days of Heze- 
kiah, tookitsrise. What wasitsmotive? Evidently 
the serpent in this special cult was regarded as 
beneficent, as wes frequently the casc among the 
Semites generally (compare ANIMAL WoRrsHIP). 
But at the same time the serpent was becoming 
odious, asa type of subtlety and seductiveness (Gen. 
jii.), and the two conceptions were felt to be incon- 
sistent. The wilderness narrative does justice his- 
torically to both of these aspects of serpent nature 
and the corresponding beliefs. Add to this, that all 
sorts of image-worship were being discouraged by 
prophetic influence. In this special instance it was 
particularly obnoxious to the reforming party in 
Judah; because Isaiah, who was its main inspiration, 
had already spiritualized the idea of the “flying 
serpent” (Isa. vi.), seeing in the “seraphim,” or 
swiftly changing lightning and cloud-shapes of the 
sky, a mode of the divine self-manifestation similar 
to that of the CurErtBs. The name “nehushtan” 
suggests some interesting questions. Tojudge from 
the form, the name belongs to an old period of the 
language, but the explanation of it as a “brazen” 
object appears to be due toaspecies of popular ety- 
mology, “nahash” signifying in Hebrew “brass” 
as well as “serpent.” It is likely that nehushtan 
as an object used in the ancient Semitic cult was a 
species of totem-pole, surmounted by the reproduc- 
tion—perhaps in wood—of a serpent, and was 
placed before tents or rude dwellings as a means of 
driving off evil spirits, who were supposed to be 
lurking everywhere. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Smend, Alttestamentliche Religion, p. 470; 
Baudissin, Studien zur Semit. Religionsgeschichte, i. 288 
et seq.; Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heidenthums, pp. 
137 et seq.; Kremer, Kulturgesch. des Orients, ii. 257; W. R. 
Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 133; Nowack, 
Hebr. Archdologie, ii. 24; Benzinger, Arch. p. 383; Gunkel, 
Schipfung und Chaos, pp. 81 et seq., 111 et seq., deals with 
the serpent-myths generally, as also does Baudissin, op. cit. 
i. 257 et seq. See also the commentaries of Cheyne, Delitzsch, 
Duhm on the passages quoted from Isaiah, and the com- 
mentaries of Dillmann and Strack. 

J. JR. J. F. McC. 


BRAZIER. See Coat. 


BRAZIL: The largest of the South American 
states, extending from lat. 5° N. to 33° 45’ S., long. 
85° to 74° W., with an area of 3,209,878 square 
miles. It was discovered by Vincente Yanez Pinzon 
in 1499, and independently in 1500 by Pedro Alvarez 
de Cabral, a Portuguese, whose country claimed the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brazen Sea 
Brazil 


southeastern coast by right of discovery, and made 
the first permanent settlement in 1531. 

The history of the Jews in Brazil begins almost 
simultaneously with the history of the country itself. 
As early as 1548 Jews were banished by the Portu- 
guese Inquisition to Brazil, and in the same year it 
is stated that Portuguese Jews transplanted the 
sugar-cane from the island of Madeira to Brazil. 

The Inquisition was never officially established in 
Brazil, but it had its agents there from the very 
start. At an early date mention is made of Neo- 
Christians or Maranos being sent back from Brazil 
to Europe to stand trial before the Holy Office. 
This practise became more frequent after 1580, when 
Portugal itself came under the dominion of Spain, 
and the Inquisition became supreme in both coun- 
tries. The Maranos of the New World were there- 
fore compelled to wear the mask just as they had 
in the Old. 

As early as 1610 mention is made of the physi- 
cians of Bahia in Brazil, who are described as being 
mainly Neo-Christians, and who prescribed pork to 
lessen the suspicion of the charge of Judaism. 
Pyrard, the historian, who visited the place in 1610, 
says that a rumor was then afloat that “the king of 
Spain desires to establish the Inquisition here, on 
which account the Jews are greatly frightened.” 
Certain it is, however, that these persons did not 
openly profess their faith. 

These secret Jews, besides acquiring wealth, be- 
came very numerous at the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century. They were then among the wealth- 
jest inhabitants, some being worth from 60,000 to 
100,000 crusados. “But they were despised by their 
narrow-minded countrymen, and were in. constant 
danger of losing their property through the agents 
of the. Holy Office ” (Southey’s “ Brazil”). . 

In the second decade of the seventeenth century 
the Dutch commenced their ambitious schemes for 
the conquest of Brazil. In connection with some of 
the earliest intrigues, special mention is made of one 
Francisco Ribiero, a Portuguese captain who is de- 
scribed as having Jewish relatives in Holland. 

The secret Jews welcomed and assisted the Dutch 
in 1618, particularly as at that time they had good 
reason to dread the introduction of the Inquisition, 
which had recently arrested in Oporto almost all 
merchants of Jewish extraction. Many of the vic- 
tims were engaged in the Brazilian trade, and the 
inquisitor-general applied to the government to as- 
sist the Holy Office to recover such part of their 
effects as might be in the hands of their agents 
in Brazil. Accordingly Don Luiz de Sousa was 
charged tosend home a list of all the Neo-Christians 
in Brazil. “with the most precise information that 
can be obtained of their property and places of 
abode.” It was the Dutch war alone that prevented 
the introduction of the Holy Office. Jt was at this 
period particularly that the Neo-Christians of Brazil 
threw off the mask and appeared as distinctive mem- 
bers of the Jewish faith. 

The Dutch relied upon this large Jewish popula- 
tion for assistance when they prepared their plans 
for the conquest of the country. The Dutch West 
India Company was formed in 1622 in furtherance of 
the project, and it is significant that one of the 


Brazil 
Breach of Promise 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


360 





arguments in favor of the organization was “that 

the Portuguese themselves—some from their hatred 

of Castile, others because of their inter- 

The Dutch marriages with Neo-Christians, and 

and their consequent dread of the Inquisi- 

the Jews. tion—would either willingly join or 

feebly oppose an invasion, and all that 

was needful was to treat them well and give them 
liberty of conscience.” 

The Dutch were not mistaken. When their fleet 
was sent against Bahia all necessary information 
was obtained from the Jews. The city was cap- 
tured in 1624; and true to the policy mentioned, 
Willekens, the Dutch commander, at once issued a 
proclamation offering liberty, free possession of their 
property, and free enjoyment of their religion to all 
who would submit, This brought over about 200 
Jews, “who exerted themselves to make others fol- 
low their example.” Unfortunately for the Jews, 
Bahia was recaptured by the Portuguese in 1625; 
and though the treaty provided for the safety of 
other inhabitants, the Neo-Christians who had placed 
such trust in the Hollanders were abandoned, and five 
of them were put to death. Many of the Maranos 
seem to have remained, however; for they are men- 
tioned again in 1630. See Banta. 

The Dutch soon gained another foothold and 
spread their conquests. The Portuguese city of 
Recife, or Pernambuco, was captured by the Dutch 
in 1631; and immediately most of the Jewsand Neo- 
Christians from Bahia and elsewhere removed to that 
city, although it had a large Jewish population of 
its own, as it had been principally settled by Jews. 
The Dutch endeavored to secure colonists, and ap- 
pealed to Hoiland for craftsmen of all kinds. Many 
Portuguese Jews of Holland came to Brazil in re- 
sponse to the call; for now that the country offered 
them full religious liberty, it also gave them the 
additional advantage of dwelling among a popula- 
tion where they could speak their own language. 
Southey asserts that these Jews made excellent 
subjects. 

“Some of the Portuguese Brazilians gladly threw 
off the mask which they had so long been compelled 
to wear, and joined their brethren of the synagogue. 
The open joy with which they now celebrated their 
ceremonies attracted too much notice: it excited the 
horror of the Catholics; and even the Dutch them- 
selves, less liberal than their own laws, pretended 
that the toleration of Holland did not extend to 
Brazil.” The result wasan edict by which the Jews 
were ordered to perform their rites more privately. 

At this period the Jews in Recife alone were 
numbered by thousands; and one of them, Gaspar 
Diaz Ferreira, was considered one of the richest 
mep in the country. Nor was the Jewish popula- 
tion confined to Pernambuco. Great numbers of 
Jews resided throughout Brazil, particularly at Ta- 
marico, Itamaraca, Rio de Janeiro, and Parahiba. 

Recife, however, was the great center of Jewish 
population, and soon became famous not only in the 
New World, but also in the Old, for its important 
congregation and the distinguished scholars num- 
bered among its inhabitants. An evidence of this is 
found in the fact that the author Manasseh ben Israel 
of Amsterdam dedicated the second part of his “Con- 


ciliador ” to the prominent men of the congregation 
of Recife. Manasseh ben Israel himself at one time 

intended going there. 
In 1642 about 600 Portuguese Jews left Amster- 
dam for Brazil; with them were two distinguished 
scholars, Isaac Aboab da Fonseca and 


Recife | Moses Raphael de Aguilar. The for- 
Center of mer soon became the hakam, and the 
Jewish latter the hazan, or reader, for the 
Popu- congregation at Recife. The congre- 
lation. gation at Tamarico had at its head 


Jacob Lagarto; while one Jacob de 
Aguilar is also mentioned as a Brazilian rabbi at 
this period. 

Among the Jewish writers born in Brazil may be 
mentioned Elijah Machorro and Jacob de Andrade 
Velosino. 

“Among the free inhabitants of Brazil in 1640,” 
writes Nieuhoff, “the Jews were the most consider- 
able in number. They had a vast traffic beyond all 
the rest ; they purchased sugar-mills, and built stately 
houses in the Recife.” 

At Bahia, on the other hand, and in that portion 
of Brazil retained by the Portuguese, the most in- 
tense bigotry prevailed. After 1631, Jews are met 
with at Bahia in isolated cases only, and then in- 
variably in connection with their transportation for 
trial by the Inquisition at Lisbon. The most famous 
instance of thisis the case of Isaac de Castro Tartas, 
who left Dutch territory to visit Bahia in 1646. He 
was at once seized and transported for Judaizing, 
and was burned at an auto da fé at Lisbon. 

When in 1645 Joam Fernandes Vieyra was inciting 
the Portuguese to reconquer Brazil, he potnted par- 
ticularly to Pernambuco, or Recife, expressly calling 
attention to the fact that “that city is chiefly in- 
habited by Jews, most of whom were originally fu- 
gitives from Portugal. They have their open syna- 
gogues there, to the scandal of Christianity. For 
the honor of the faith, therefore, the Portuguese 
ought to risk their lives and property in putting 
down such an abomination.” 

When the conspiracy was in its infancy the Dutch 
authorities were slow to realize what was happen 
ing; “but the Jews of Recife were loud in their ex- 
pressions of alarm.” “They had more at stake than 

the Dutch; they were sure to be laas- 
Attempt to sacred without mercy during the insur- 
Seize rection, or roasted without inercy if 
Recife. the insurgents should prove suecess- 
ful.” They therefore besieged the 

council with warnings and accusations. 

Vieyra, too, recognized the importance of the 
Jewish element, for at the very beginning of the in- 
surrection he promised the Jews protection provided 
they remained peaceably in their houses. 

The Jews, however, were loyal to the Dutch: and 
in 1646, when the war was raging, they raised large 
donations for the service of the state. So influen- 
tial were they that, when in 1648 the Portuguese 
contemplated the purchase of Pernambuco, they 
considered the advisability of making the clause con- 
cerning the Jewsa secret article, before even broach- 
ing the subject to Holland. 

The war continued unabated; and after a desper- 
ate struggle of several years the Dutch régime was 


361 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brazil 
Breach of Promise 





doomed. The story of the sufferings and fortitude 
of the Jews of Recife during its terrible siege, when 
general famine prevailed, has been told in a poem 
written by Isaac Aboab, an eye-witness. 

Though the first siege was unsuccessful, Recife 
was again besieged, and when tt became evident 
that the city could not hold out, the Jews clamored 
for a capitulation, knowing that otherwise no mercy 
would be shown them. By the terms of the capit- 
ulation the Jews were especially mentioned; and an 
amnesty was promised them by the Portuguese “in 
all wherein they could promise it.” 

More than 5,000 Jews were in Recife at the time 
of the capitulation. Many of these removed to Su- 
rinam; while many others, under the leadership of 
Aboab and Aguilar, returned to Amsterdam. Some 
went to Guadeloupe and other West Indian islands; 
while a few of the refugees reached New Amster- 
dam, as New York was then called. 

Despite the ending of the Dutch régime, some 
Neo-Christians continued to reside in Brazil. Their 
number was largely increased toward the end of the 
seventeenth century, when Portugal again banished 
to Brazil the Marauos who had become reconciled. 
These transportations continued from 1682 to 1707; 
and the Jews again came to be known as a distinct 
class. They were closely watched, however, and 
many were sent back to Lisbon from time to time, 
to be tried by the Inquisition. Many Jews from 
Rio were burned at an auto da fé at Lisbon in 1728. 
Several of these martyrs were men of great repute, 
the most prominent being the famous Portuguese 
poet and dramatist Antonio José da Silva, a native 
of Rio de Janeiro, who was burned as a Jew at Lis- 
bon in 17389. In 1734, Jews appear to have been 
influential in controlling the price of diamonds in 
Brazil. 

Toward the middle of the eighteenth century, Jews 
or Neo-Christians were again a numerous class in 
Brazil, and transportation to Lisbon for Judaizing 
had again become so common and was carried on 
to such an extent that, as the historian relates, “so 
wide a ruin was produced that many sugar-mills at 
the Rio stopped in consequence.” The influential 
Marquis de Pombal, with all his power, did not 
venture to proclaim toleration for the Jews; but he 
succeeded in having laws enacted making it penal 
for any person to reproach another for his Jewish 
origin, and removing all disabilities of Jewish blood, 
even from the descendants of those who had suffered 
under the Inquisition. He prohibited public autos 
da fé, and required all lists of families of Jewish ex- 
traction to be delivered up, making it penal to keep 
such lists. These statutes deprived the Inquisition 
of its most important means of accusation; and as a 
result the Maranos were ultimately absorbed in the 
Catholic population of Brazil. 

Since then the Jews have not been known asa 
distinctive class in Brazil. Those living there to- 
day are not descended from the Neo-Christians, but 
are mainly recent immigrants from Germany, Rus- 
sia, Rumania, and other European countries. Many 
are settled in Rio Grande do Sul. 

In 1900 a number of Rumanian Hebrews went to 
Brazil, but effected no permanent settlement. 

The Bureau of American Republics has recently 


published a list of the leading merchants of the vari- 
ous cities in Brazil; and these lists disclose a large 
number of Jewish names, though most of them seem 
to be of German origin. 

The constitution of Brazil guarantees to the in- 
habitants liberty both of conscience and of worship; 
but in spite of these liberal provisions there are no 
Jewish congregations of consequence in the country. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Robert Southey, History of Brazil, 3 vols., 

London, 1822; Robert Grant Watson, Spanish and Portu- 

guese South America, 2 vols., London, 1884; Nieuboft’s Voy- 

ages and Travels in Brazil, in Pinkerton’s Collection of 

Travels, vol. xiv., also in Churchill’s Collection of Voyages 

and Travels, part ii; Francois Pyrard, Voyage to the East 

Indies, the Maldives, the Moluccas, and Brazil, from the 

French edition of 1619, edited with notes by A. Gray and H. 

C. P. Bell, London, 1887-90, in Hakluyt Society Publications, 

vol. 8. 76, 77, 8U; Thomas Southey, History of the West In- 

dies, vol. 1., London, 1827; A. H. Heeren, Histury of the Po- 
litical System of Europe and Its Colonies, 2 vols., North- 
ampton, Mass., 1829; Alphonse de Beauchamp, Histoire du 

Bré sil, vol. iii., Paris, 1815; J. B. du Tertre, Histoire Géné- 

rale des Antilles Habitées par les Francois, vol. i., Paris, 

1667; D. P. Kidder and J. C. Fletcher, Brazil and the Bra- 

zilians, Phila., 1857; M. Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in 

Portugal, also in Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. Publications, Nos. 2 

and 3; Leon Hithner in ib. No. 9; M. J. Kohler, in ib. No. 2. 

and George A. Kohut, in ib. No.4; Bulletins of the Bureau 

of American Republics, vols. 7 and 9. 


A. L. Ht. 


BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE 
(p3p): The refusal of either party to a contract of 
marriage to fulfil it. In order that there may be a 
breach of promise, there must be a contract cogni- 
zable by the law. Unlike the law in many modern 
systems of jurisprudence, mere mutual promises of 
& man and a woman to marry do not constitute such 
a contract in Jewish law, which requires a written 
agreement embodying the terms of the contract and 
specifying the amount of damages (“kenas”) paya- 

ble by either party to the other upon 

Nature its breach. Such contracts are com- 
of Contract monly called “shiddukin” or “tenaim 

to Marry. rishonim” (frst stipulations), and con- 

tain explicitly a statement of the 

amount of damages payable by either party to the 
other in case of breach of the contract. 

For the purpose of insuring greater security, 
promissory notes are deposited by both parties with 
a third person. These notes are drawn for a specific 
sum, to become due and payable upon the non-ful- 
filment of the contract, and are coupled with the 
condition that upon the consummation of the mar- 
riage the notes shall ipso facto become null and 
void. Incase the promise of marriage is made se- 
cretly it is necessary that all these provisions be 
fully complied with in order to entitle the innocent 
party to a right of action against the party guilty of 
the breach; but if the contract is publicly entered 
into, damages may be claimed for the breach even 
though all the formalities have not been complied 
with, because an additional consideration enters into 
the contract by reason of its publicity. In such 
cases breach of the contract would resujt in shame 
and disgrace to the innocent party; and this is suf- 
ficient consideration for the recovery of the damages. 

If, after the execution of the contract, the parties 
mutually agree to rescind it, there is no breach of 
promise, and the parties are released from all ob- 
ligations to each other: all gifts must be returned 
unless there has been a specific agreement to the 
contrary; and the parties stand in the same relation 


Breach 
Bread 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


363 





to each other as though no contract had been en- 
tered into. In case it becomes impossible for one 
of the parties to fulfil the contract, 


Contract the other is released. For instance, if 
May Be oneof the parties has agreed to give 
Mutually a certain amount of dowry, and is un- 
Rescinded. able to fulfil this condition because of 


having become impoverished, the other 
party, if not choosing to do so, is not bound to fulfil 
the contract. Where one of the parties is obliged 
to remove from the place where they had intended 
to take up their residence, the other is not obliged 
to follow, but may declare the contract annulled. 

If the near relations of either of the parties, by 
reason of misconduct or improper life, bring dis- 
grace upon the family, or if one of the contracting 
parties is guilty of such fault, the other party is 
released; and if either party becomes insane, or 
apostatizes, a like result follows. 

The obligations assumed by the respective parties 
to the contract are binding upon their heirs. 

If the father of the prospective bride has entered 
into the contract with the prospective groom, and 
the girl then refuses to be married, her father is re- 
leased from his obligation by reason of the impossi- 
bility of fulfilling the contract, provided, of course, 
there is no fraud or collusion between himself and 
his daughter. 

Itis generally decided by the rabbinical authorities 
that specific performance of the contract to marry 
can not be enforced after the party guilty of the 
breach of promise has paid the pecuniary damages 
specified in the contract. 

In case a pledge is given by either party to the 
other at the time when the promise to marry is made, 

as security for the payment of the 

When damages that may be recovered for 

a Pledge Is the breach of contract, it is necessary 
Given. that the delivery of the pledge be ac- 
companied by an express ayreement 

specifying that, in case the contract is broken, the 
pledgee shall be entitled to a specific sum out of the 
proceeds of the sale of the pledge. If the party 
guilty of the breach of promise can not pay the pen- 
alty, recourse may be had to the surety, and if the 
latter is obliged to pay the damages, he may have re- 
course against his principal at any time in the future. 

As stated at the beginning of this article, all these 
provisions are applicable only in case the promise 
of marriage has been reduced to writing, and the 
proper formalities have been complied with. If 


there have been merely oral promises with the un- - 


derstanding that the agreement in writing shall be 


executed, the parties are at liberty to retract at any - 


time before the written agreement has been signed 
by the witnesses; and, in case of such retraction, no 


breach of promise in the technical sense occurs; the | 


parties are not bound in any way, and are free from 
all the obligations and responsibilities of the contract. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Shiulhan *‘Aruk, Eben ha-‘Ezer, 88 50, 51; 
Mendelssohn, Ritual-Gesetze der Juden, iv. 3, 4: Duschak, 
Das Mosaisch-Talmudisches Fherecht, 1. 8. 
J. SR. D. W. A. 


BREACH OF TRUST: Violation by fraud or 
omission of any duty lawfully imposed upon a 
trustee, executor, or other person in a position of 





trust. It is thus a branch of criminal law, and 
under this aspect will be considered in the present 
article. 

Moral basis for the laws against breaches of trust 
may be found in such texts as: “ Ye shall not steal, 
neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another ” (Lev. 
xix. 11); “Thou shalt not withhold anything from 
[A. V., “defraud”; R. V., “oppress ”] 
thy neighbor, neither rob him ” (7d, 13); 
“Ye shall not afflict any widow, or 
fatherless child” (x. xxii. 21 [22]); 
“Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or hissheep go 
astray, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt in 
any case bring them again to thy brother. ... In 
like manner shalt thou do with his ass... and 
with any lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath 
lost and thou hast found” (Deut. xxii. 1, 3). In 
these texts may be found the germs of the law rela- 
ting to the duties of bailees, trustees, and guardians; 
and in the law of trusts, the later Talmudic and rab- 
binical law was somewhat hampered in its logical 
development by the dominance of these ethical 
views. For instance, instead of compelling the 
guardian to render an account at the end of the term 
of his administration of the orphans’ estate, the law 
required nothing of him except the delivery to the 
orphans of the balance of the estate in his hands. If 
they doubted the integrity of their guardian they 
could not compel him to account,.but appealed to 
his religious sentiment. In such cases, instead of 
giving a legal account, he was required to take 
the rabbinical oath of purgation “that he had not 
stretched forth his hand unto the goods.” And with 
this oath he was discharged (Maimonides, “ Yad,” 
Sheluhin, ix. 1; Nahalot, xi. 5, 12; Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Hoshen Mishpat, 98 1; 290, 17). There ig no doubt 
that this appeal to the good faith of the guardian 
has resulted in the conscientious administration of 
orphans’ estates under the Jewish law (Frankel, 
“Der Gerichtliche Beweis,” pp. 64, 65). 

The only Biblical laws on the subject of breach 
of trust are those in relation to bailees (see Bat- 


Moral 
Basis. 


MENTS). 


As stated above, the trustee, at the end of the term 
of his administration, is not obliged to account. 
When orphans attain their majority, they are enti- 
tled to receive their inheritance; and the guardian, 
without accounting, gives them the balance of their 
estate left in his hands after his maintenance of them 
during their minority. If the guardian was ap- 
pointed by the court, and the heirs have reason to 
suspect that he has been guilty of a breach of trust, 
he must take the oath of purgation. If he was ap- 
pointed by the father of the orphans and is what in 
modern law would be called a testamentary guar- 
dian, he can not, in case of mere suspicion of mal- 
feasance, be compelled to swear (Mishnah Git. v. 4; 
“Yad,” Nahalot, xi. 5; Hoshen Mishpat, 290, 16). 
Later authorities are of the opinion that, inasmuch 
as the testamentary guardian need not take the oath, 
he may be compelled to render an account (gloss 
to Hoshen Mishpat, 7d.); and if the guardian is 
appointed by the non-Jewish court, he must ren- 
der an account of his trust “because that is their 
law ” (2b. 17). 

By analogy with the case of the guardian, all other 


363 


persons in positions of trust are obliged, at the end 
of their administration of the trust estate, to take 
the oath of purgation if suspected of having been 
guilty of a breach of trust. Thisapplies to partners 
(at dissolution of the partnership); to those who rent 
farms, paving the rent with a portion of the products: 
to women having charge of their husbands’ business; 
to a “sonof the house” who manages the father’s 
affairs (Mishnah Shebu. vii. 8; “ Yad,” Sheluhin, ix. 1; 
Hoshen Mishpat, 93,1); to agents ap- 
Oath of pointed to buy or to sell for their prin- 
Purgation. cipals (7d. 98,4; “Yad,” Sheluhin, ix. 
5); and to the committee of an idiot or 
a deaf-mute (Ket. 48a; Yeb. 118a; “ Yad,” Mekirah, 
xxxix. 4; Nahalot, x. 8; Hoshen Mishpat, 290, 27). 
A son of the house, unless he really manages the 
father’s estate, can not be compelled to take the oath 
to clear himself of a suspicion of breach of trust. 
(Shebu. 48b), nor a guardian appointed by the father 
{see above), nor a woman who was not a guardian 
during her husband’s lifetime and who had no charge 
of his business after his death (Mishnah Ket. ix. 6; 
“Yad,” Shelubin, ix. 4). 
Biblical sanction foremploying the oath of purga- 
tion to clear the trustee of the charge of breach of 
trust is found in the text: “If a man deliver unto 
his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any 
beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven 
away, no man seeing it: an oath of the Lord shall 
be between them both that he hath not put his hand 
unto his neighbor’s goods” (Ex. xxii. 9 [10] e¢ seq.). 
The rabbinical reason for extending the oath to other 


persons standing in a fiduciary position is stated by — 


Maimonides (/.c. 1) as follows: “ Because these [vari- 
ous kinds of trustees] excuse themselves [for their 
breach of trust by the plea] that what they take of 
the property of the owner is due to them because 
they were doing business for him and were put to 
much trouble, hence the sages ordained that they 
were liable to take an oath to mect a charge of doubt 
[as to whether they had faithfully accounted for the 
property in their possession] so that they should per- 
form all their duties in righteousness and good faith.” 
The oath of purgation was not administered un- 
less the amount with which the trustee was charged 
exceeded the value of twosilver meahs (Shebu. 48b). 
The predecessors of Maimonides decided that the 
heirs of a dead partner could not compel the sur- 
viving partner to take the oath, because they could 
not be certain as to the amount which the deceased 
suspected his partner of misappropriating. But 
Maimonides himself was of the opinion, following 
other authorities, that in such cases of doubt the 
heirs could compel the surviving partner to take the 
oath (“ Yad,” Sheluhin, @.c. 3; followed in Hoshen 
Mishpat, 98, 3). 
The punishment for breach of trust on the part of 
a bailee guilty of theft is thus stated in the Bible: 
“Whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay 
double to his neighbor” (Ex. xxii. 8 [9]). If he is 
guilty of lying or deceit concerning 


Punish- the bailment and swears falsely con- 
ment. cerning it, “he shall restore it in the 
principal and add the fifth part more 

thereto . . . and shall bring his trespass-offering 


unto the Lord” (Lev. v, 24, 25 [vi. 5, 6]). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Breach 
Bread 


— 


The distinction between the two cases is thus 
stated in the Mishnah (B. K. ix. 7, 8): If the bailee, 
upon being asked to account for the property en- 
trusted to him, pleads that it is lost, and swears to 
it, and witnesses then prove that he himself con- 
sumed it, he must pay the value of the principal 
only; but if there are no witnesses and he admits 
that his oath was false, he is obliged to pay the prin- 
cipal plus one-fifth, and to bring a trespass-offering. 
If he pleads that it was stolen from him and swears 
to it, and it is then proven that he himself stole it, 
he must double its value. If there are no witnesses, 
and he admits that his oath was false, he is obliged 
to pay the principal plus one-fifth, and to bring the 
trespass-offering (for further details see BAILMENTS). 

In those cases in which an oath of purgation can- 
not be imposed in spite of suspicious circumstances, 
the court may try to bring pressure to bear upon the 
bailee’s conscience by proclaiming a general ban of 
excommunication on all persons who may be guilty 
of unlawful conduct in connection with the estate 
under consideration. This isimplied in the Talmud 
where R. Ashi says, concerning the appointment of 
a guardian for orphans: “The court selects a man 
whose property is not under dispute, and who is of 
good repute and law-abiding, and who fears the ban 
of rabbinical excommunication, and gives him the 
money of the orphans to administer it” (B. M. 70a) 
It is ciearly expressed by Alfasi (in Shebu. vii., 
end), Maimonides (“ Yad,” Sheluhin, ix. 9), and Bet 
Joseph, citing R. Simon ben Adret (gloss to Hoshen 
Mishpat, 290, 16). 

If a bailee having the bailment in his possession, 
denies having it, and his deccit is proven, he is ren- 
derecl incompetent to act as witness and to take an 
oath (B. K. 105b e¢ seg.; Hoshen Mishpat, 92; 294, 1). 
See BAILMENTS, EXECUTORS, FINDER OF PROPERTY, 
GUARDIAN AND WARD, Oarmn, Trusrs AND Trus- 
TEES. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Maimonides, Yad, Genebah, iv.; Gezelah, 


iii.; Sheluhin, ix.; Nahalot, x., xi. B. K. pp. 105-107; Shul- 
han ‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 88 290, 292. 


J. SR. D. W. A. 


BREAD (Hebrew, “lehem,” occasionally “ pat” 
(piece], from “pat lehem” = piece of bread; Ara- 
mean, “rifta”): Bread was the principal article of 
food among the Hebrews, while meat, vegetables, 
or liquids served only to supplement the meal (Gen. 
xxv. 84, xxvii. 17; Ruth it. 14; [ Sam. xxviii. 24; 
Gen, xviil. 7), Originaily the ears of barley or 

wheat were simply roasted, and this 


Prepara- primitive custom of using “kali” 
tion (parched corn, Ruth ii. 14; I Sam. 

of Bread. xvii. 17) was retained for the offering 

of the firstlings (Lev. ii. 14, xxiii. 14; 

_ Josh. v.11). The primitive bread of the Hebrew, as 


with all Bedouins, was unleavened and was called 
“mazzot” (unleavened cakes, Judges vi. 29; Gen. 
xix. 3); hence it was retained for the ancient Passover 
ritual as “ the bread of affliction ” (Deut. xvi. 3). The 
ordinary bread consisted of dough (“bazek ”) mixed 
with fermented dough(“ se’or”), which raised themass 
into “hamez ” (soured bread), while in the “ misheret ” 
(kneading-trough, Ex. xii. 34, 39). The shape of 
the bread was round—therefore “kikkar lehem,” a 
circular loaf of bread (Ex. xxix. 238; Judges viii. 5), 


Bread 
Bréal 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


364 





also “‘uggah” (cake, Gen. xviii. 6; I Kings xix. 
6); while “hallah” (Lev. viii. 26; Num. xv. 20) is 
probably a perforated or punctured cake, and “ lebi- 
bah” (II Sam. xiii. 6) a folded or rolled cake. The 
bread was baked by women. It could be taken as 
food on a journey (Gen. xxi. 14; I Sam. ix. 7%); 
when kept too long it became dry and moldy (Josh. 
ix. 5). The SHowsBREAD was kept for a whole week 
and then eaten by the priests, while the fresh bread 
was offered anew every Sabbath (Lev. xxiv. 8, 9; 
I Sam. xxi. 7). 

In the time of Herod, bakers furnished the people 
with bread (Josephus, “Ant.” xv. 9, § 2), if such 
did not already exist in the time of Jeremiah and 
Nehemiah (Jer. xxxvii. 21; Neh. iii. 19, xii. 38). 
The priests of Bet Garmo possessed special skill in 
baking the showbread, but were blamed for keeping 
their secret to themselves (Yoma iii. 11). In Tal- 
mudical times the housewife baked the bread for 
the week every Friday (Ta‘an. 24b, last line; see 
BAKING). 

“ Bread ” is often used in the Bible for food in gen- 
eral, as in Gen. iii. 19: “In the sweat of thy face 
shalt thou eat bread” (compare Gen. xxxix. 6, xlvii. 
12; Ex. xxiii. 25; Lev. xxi. 8; Num. xix. 9; Job 
xxiv. 5; Ps. cxlvii. 9 [A. V. “food”]; I Sam. xx. 
24 et seg.; Prov. vi.8; Isa. lxv. 25 [A. V. “meat ”]); 
but as arule “lehem” denotes bread, while in the 
Arabic it signifies meat. In Ex. xvi. 8 and J Kings 
xvii. 6 if is contrasted with “basar” = flesh. It is 
the “food” which comes forth from the earth (Ps. 

civ. 14: Job xxviii. 5; Isa, xxx, 23, 
Figurative lv. 10), and, being solid, sustains(A. V. 
Use of “strengtheneth ”) man’s heart (Ps. civ. 
‘‘ Bread.” 15; Judges xix. 5[A. V. “comfort ”]), 
thus becoming a “staff of bread” 
(Lev. xxvi. 26; Ezek. iv. 16) or “stay of bread” 
(Isa, iii. 1), the “breaking” of which means famine. 
On the other hand, “fulness of bread” (Ezek. xvi. 
49), or “fatness of bread” (Gen. xlix. 20) is plenty. 
Giving or breaking bread to the hungry (Isa. lviii. 
7; Ezek. xviii. 7; Prov, xxii. 9) is charity; to with- 
hold it from the hungry (Job xxii. 8) is inhuman, To 
invite the stranger to eat bread and to prepare it for 
him quickly is hospitality (Ex. ii. 20; Gen. xviii. 5), 
the lack of which meets with due punishment (Deut. 
xxili.4; Judges viii. 15). The seed of the righteous 
shall not “beg bread” nor “be in want of bread” 
(Ps. xxxvii. 25, exxxii. 15; Isa. li. 14), whereas 
the children of the wicked “shall not be satisfied 
with bread” (Job xxvii. 14; compare I Sam. ii. 36; 
II Sam. iii. 29). Abstinence from “bread ” signifies 
fasting (II Sam. ili. 35). 

A special benediction was instituted for bread: 
“Blessed be He who bringeth forth food out of 
the earth,” after Ps. xiv. 14 (Ber. vi. 1). The one 
who presided at the table broke the bread and 
said the blessing (Ber. 46a; Matt. xiv. 19, xv. 36, 
xxvi. 26 et seg.: Acts xxvii. 85); and where three 
ate together, grace was also said in common (Ber. 
50a). Divine blessing rested on the bread which 
Sarah baked, for she was careful to guard the dough 
against Levitical impurity (Gen. R. 1x.). There is, 
however, a mark of divine favor in every piece, for 
when Adam heard the words: “Thou shalt eat the 
herbs of the field” (Gen. iii. 18), he shed tears and 


said: “O Lord of the Universe, must I and my ass 
eat out of the same manger?”; but when God said: 

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
Blessing of eat bread” (Gen. iii. 19), he felt re- 
the Daily lieved (Pes. 118a). The manna, or 

Bread. “the bread from heaven,” was typical 

of the daily bread received by man 
from the hand of God; even the sweat of labor was 
not wanting in the former (Mek., Beshallah, Wa- 
yassa‘, 2 and 8). “He who, having bread in his bas- 
ket, still says, ‘What shall we eat to-morrow?’ ig 
one of those of little faith,” says R. Eliezer of the 
first century (Sotah 48b), a saying corresponding 
with that of Jesus: “Take no thought for your life 
what yeshall eat” (Matt. vi. 25-30), and the prayer: 
“Give us this day our daily bread” (vi. 11; compare 
Ber. 29b). 

Simeon ben Yohai said: “A loaf of bread and 
a rod were handed down from heaven tied together 
as if to say: If ye observe the Law, there will be 
the loaf of bread for you to eat; if not, there will be 
the rod for you to be punished with” (Ber. 29b). 
Bread with salt, the poor man’s food (Ber. 2b), should 
be sufficient for the student of the Law (Abot vi. 4); 
of him it is said, “The Lord will bless thy bread ” 
(Ex. xxiii. 25; B. K. 92b). He should be satisfied 
even with barley-bread (Shab. 140b). However, 
bran-bread is not so nourishing as fine wheat-bread 
(Pes. 42a), which feeds the intellect. “The tree of 
knowledge Adam ate of was wheat,” says R. Judah 
(Sanh. 70b). It is best eaten with some other kind 
of food. “The Babylonians who eat bread together 
with pastry are fools” (Bezah 16a). “Herbs to- 
gether with bread promote the appetite” (‘Er. 140b). 
Bread should be treated with special regard. Raw 

meat should not be placed upon it, nor 
Treatment an overflowing wine-cup be allowed 
of Bread. to spoil it; it should not be thrown 
across the table nor used to hold up 
any other thing (Ber. 50b; Mas. Derek Erez. viii.). 
There is an evil spirit of poverty by the name of 
Nibbul ( “ bread-spoiler” ), who has power over him 
who spoils bread; and there is a good spirit by the 
name of Nakid (“cleanliness”), who blesses him 
with plenty who lets not crums of bread lic on the 
ground (Pes. 111b; Hul. 105b). 

It was considered improper to hang up bread 
ina basket. “lie who hangs his bread-basket hangs 
his support,” was the common saying (Pes. 111b); 
however, to have bread in his bread-basket lessened 
one’s hunger (Yoma 74b). “Eat thou not the 
bread of him that hath an evil eye ’(Prov. xxiii. 6). 

Whenever Rab Huna broke (or folded) bread for 
the meal, he first opened his door and said, “ Let 
every one in need come and eat” (Ta‘an, 20b), The 
virtuous woman of the Bible does not eat “ the bread 
of idleness” (Prov. xxxi. 27), and in Talmudical 
times she broke her bread to the poor (Ta‘an. 28b). 
Micah, the idolater (Judges xvii.), provided the poor 
on the road with bread, and was therefore not 
counted among those who have no share in the 
world to come (Sanh. 103b), The men of Sodom 
passed a law not to give bread to the needy, and 
when one maiden, moved to compassion, handed 
some ina jar to the poor, her countrymen on dis- 
covering it besmeared her body with honey, and 


365 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bread 
Bréal 





placed her thus upon the roof, where bees came and 
stung her to death, and her cry “made the sin of 
Sodom and Gomorrah very grievous before the Lord ” 
(Sanh. 109b, after Gen. xviii. 20). “He who does 
not leave some crums of bread for the poor deprives 
himself of God’s blessing; but he must not leave 
them to a ‘ guardian spirit,’ after the fashion of the 
heathen” (Sanh. 92a). During the Middle Ages the 
Jew took an oath by “the bread from God ” (Tend- 
lau, “Sprichwoérter und Redensarten Deutsch-Jii- 
discher Vorzeit,” p. 105). 

“Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt 
find it after many days” (Eccl. xi, 1), is illustrated 
in Ab. R. N. iii., ed. Schechter, p. 17, and in Eccl. 
R., by the story of a man who suffered shipwreck 
and was saved by a spirit appearing to him person- 
ifying his charities; other similar stories are given 
in Eccl, R. A more drastic illustration is given by a 
story reproduced by Dukes’ “ Rabbinische Blumen- 
lesc,” 1844, p. 73, from Diez, “Denkwirdigkeiten 
von Asien,” i. 106, quoting Cabus. A man, in order 
to test the truth of this verse, cast each day into the 
water several hundred loaves with his name printed 
thereon. They reached the son of Calif Mutawakkil 
of Bagdad, who, while bathing, had become impris- 
oned beneath a rock and remained there for seven 
days, feeding on these loaves, no one knowing where 
he was until he was discovered byadiver. Of ccurse, 
the man who had thus saved the prince from star- 
vation was richly rewarded. 

E.G Wi. K. 

BREAL, MICHEL JULES ALFRED: 
French philologist; born of French parentage at 
Landau, Rhenish Bavaria, March 26, 1882. He re- 
ceived his education at Weissenburg, Metz, and 
Paris. In the last-named city, after his studies at 
the Lycée Louis-le-Grand were completed, he en- 
tered the Ecole Normale. He continued his studies 
at Berlin under Albrecht Weber and Franz Bopp, 
the founder of the science of comparative grammar. 
Returning to France in 1859, Bréal became professor 
at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and afterward an as- 
sistant in the department of Oriental manuscripts at 
the Bibliothégue Impériele, Paris, where he suc- 
ceeded Ernest Renan and remained until chosen in 
1866 to fill the chair of comparative grammar at 
the Collége de France, the duties of which he had 
already discharged for two years. In 1863 he had 
presented two theses to the Faculté des Lettres of 
Paris, “ Hercule et Cacus” and De Nominibus Per- 
sicus apud Scriptores Grecos,” to obtain the title of 
Docteur et Lettres. When the Ecole Pratique des 
Hautes Etudes was founded in 1868, Bréal became 
director of the section of comparative grammar, and 
seven years later (1875) was elected a member of 
the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-iettres. 
From 1879 to 1888 he was inspector-general of 
higher education; and the rank of officer of the 
Legion of Honor was conferred on him in 1881. He 
has been commander since 1888. 

Bréal did not confine his energy to comparative 
linguistics, but has written (in the “Revue des Deux 
Mondes ”) on comparative mythology and pedagogy, 
as well as on subjects of more general interest. As 
a linguist he follows his old teacher Bopp, whose 
comparative grammar he translated under the title 


“Grammaire Comparée des Langues Indo-Europé- 
ennes,” 5 vols., Paris, 1867-78. This work, to which 
the translator added valuable introductions and notes, 
is somewhat remarkable as being one of the few in- 
stances in which a translation, rather than the orig- 
inal text, is generally regarded as the standard of 
reference. Like many scholars of Latin Europe, 
Bréal has devoted his attention rather to the psy- 
chological than to the mechanical side of linguistics. 
This trend of his thought is clearly shown by his 
articles, “Les Lois 
Intellectuelles du 
Langage, Fragment 
de Sémantique,” in 
“ Annuaire de l’ Asso- 
ciation des Etudes 
Grecqucs,” 1883; 
“Comment Ies Mots 
Sont Classés dans 
Notre Esprit” 
(“Comptes Rendus 
de la Séance Annuelle 
de l'Institut,” 1884) ; 
and most of all by 
his last important 
work, the “Essai de 
Sémantique” (Paris, 
1897; 2d ed., 1899; 
also translated into 
English by Mrs. Henry Cust, London, 1900), in 
which he sets forth the science of the development 
of different significations possessed by a word. 

In the individual languages of the Indo-Germanic 
group Bréal’s work has been more particularly in 
the Greek and Italic dialects. It will suffice to men- 
tion his paper “Sur le Déchiffrement des Inscrip- 
tions Cypriotes,” in the “Journal des Savants,” 
1877; his work on the Euguvine Tablets, published 
with texts, translations, and notes as a volume of 
the “Bibliothéque de 1’Ecole des Hautes Etudes” 
(Paris, 1877); and his “ Dictionnaire Etymologique 
Latin” (Paris, 1885), written in cooperation with 
Anatole Bailly, who was also joint author with him 
in his “ Lecons de Mots: les Mots Latins” (1881-82); 
while L. Person assisted him in the preparation of 
“Les Mots Grecs” (1882). He has done little work 
in languages outside the Indo-Germanic group; his 
brief note on an “Inscription Etrusque Trouvée & 
Carthage,” in the “Journal des Savants,” 1899, 
being almost his only study in this category. 

Bréal has also contributed much to comparative 
religion. In 1862 he published a memoir, “Etude 
des Origines de la Religion Zoroastrienne,” which 
was crowned by the French Institute; and in his 
“Hercule et Cacus,” which first appeared in the fol- 
lowing year, he sought to show the value of linguis- 
tics in the solution of problems of comparative myth- 
ology. His study, “Sur le Mythe d’Cdipe,” in the 
“Revue Archéologique,” 1863, was an attack on the 
symbolic mythologists by an adherent of the analog- 
ical school. 

Of Bréal’s contributions to pedagogics, his essays, 
“Quelle Place Doit Tenir la Grammaire Comparée 
dans l’Enseignement Classique?” (1872), “De 1’En- 
seignement des Langues Anciennes” (1890), “La 
Réforme de ]’Orthographie Francaise ” (1890), and 





Michel Bréal. 


Breastplate 
Brecher, Adolph 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


366 


—_——— ee OO OE nn, 


“Quelques Mots sur l’Instruction Publique en 
France ” (1872; 8d ed., 1881), as well as his “ Excur- 
sions Pédagogiques” (1882), are especially note- 
worthy. Bréal’s briefer contributions on linguistic 
subjects have appeared chiefly in the “Mémoires de 
Ja Société de Linguistique,” of which he has been 
the seerctary since 1867. He has published but 
one paper outside of France, a contribution “On 
the Canons of Etymological Investigation,” in the 
“Transactions of the American Philological Associa- 
tion,” 1893. Twelve of his briefer essays have been 
reprinted in his “ Mélangesde Mythologie et de Lin- 
guistique ” (Paris, 1877; 2d ed., 1882). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : De Gubernatis, Diz. Biog. s.v.; Vapereau, Dict. 

Univ. des Contemporains, s.v¥. 


S, L. H. G. 


BREASTPLATE: A rendering of the Hebrew 
“shiryon” or “siryon,” which would be more cor- 
rectly translated “coat of mail” or “cuirass.” The 
kings of Isracl used in warfare (I Kings xxii. 34) 
such body-protectors as were in vogue among their 
neighbors (compare Goliath’s “coat of mail,” [ Sam. 
xvii. 5). The character of this piece of armor, as 
seen on the monuments of Egypt, Assyria, and later 
in Rome, would indicate that it was a coat of vari- 
ous lengths, often, if not always, made of overlap- 
ping plates of metal (compare I Sam. xvii. 5; Deut. 
xiv. 9). It protected the breast and the back, and in 
some cases reached as far down asthe knees. In cer- 
tain passages (for example, IL Chron. xxii. 14; Neh. 
iv, 16) the exact character of the armor specified can 
not be determined. It may be that some such piece 
of armor served the illustrative purpose of the 
Prophet Isaiah (lix. 17) and of the apostle Paul 
(Eph. vi. 14). 

J. IR. TAP; 


BREASTPLATE OF THE HIGH PRIEST 
“hoshen ”).—Biblical Data: A species of pouch, 
adorned with precious stones, worn by the high 
priest on his breast when he presented in the Holy 
Place the names of the children of Israel. The ety- 
mological significance of the Hebrew word is un- 
certain, but the directions for the making of the 
breastplate, in Ex. xxviit. 18-80 and xxxix. 8-21, 
are sufficiently clear. 

This breast piece was to be made in part of the 
same material asthe Epnop. The directions specify 
that it was to be made “of gold, of blue, and of 
purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen” 
(Ex. xxviii. 15). “Foursquare it shall be, being 
doubled; aspan shall be the length thereof, and a 
span shall be the breadth thereof” (7b. xxviii. 16); 
thus before it was doubled it was a cubit Jong and 
a half-cubit wide. On the front face of this square 
were set, in four rows, twelve precious stones, on 
each of which was engraved the name of one of the 
twelve tribes of Israel. These jewels in gold set- 
tings were (Ex. xxviii. 17-19): in the first row, “a 
sardius [margin, “ruby ”], a topaz, and a carbuncle 
[margin, “emerald ”]”; in the second row, “an em- 
erald [margin, “carbuncle”], a sapphire, and a dia- 
mond [margin, “sardonyx”]”; in the third row, “a 
jacinth [R. V.: margin, “amber”], an agate, and 
an amethyst”; and in the fourth row, “a beryl 
[margin, “chaleedony”], and an onyx [margin, 


“bervl”], and a jasper.” The exact identificatiog 
and the order of these stones, as well as the tribe 
represented by each, are matters of speculation, 
The breastplate was worn over and fastened to the 
ephod. It hung over the breast of the wearer, and 
was secured to the shoulders of the ephod by gold 
cords (or chains). These cords of “ wreathen work,” 
tied in the gold rings at the top corners of the outer 
square of the breastplate, were fastened to ouches 


hae 


SSS 


G 
~~ 


\ 


ae \ i; 
m Es NG Af 
UO 





Breastplate of the High Priest. 


on the shoulder-pieces of theephod. The lower part 
of the breastplate was fastened to the ephod at some 
point below the shoulders by a blue ribbon, which 
passed through gold rings at the lower corners of 
the inner square. As well as being a means of se- 
curing in its place this most important portion of the 
dress of the high priest, these fastenings formed a 
brilliant decoration. The term “breastplate of judg- 
ment” (Ex. xxvill. 15, 29, 30) indicates that the 
name was given to this portion of the priestly dress 
because of its use in connection with the mysterious 
URiM AND THUMMIM. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Commentaries on Axodus: Neumann, Die 
Stiftshittte, 1861, pp. 150-159 ; Ewaid, Antiquities, p. 390; No- 
wack, Archdologie, ii. 119. 

I. M. P. 


J. IR. 
——In Rabbinical Literature: The Rabbis ex- 
plain that the breastplate of the high priest is called 
in Scripture pawy jwn (“breastplate of judgment ”) 
because it was intended to work atonement for errors 
in pronouncing judgment (Zeb. 88b; Yer. Yoma vii. 


367 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Breastplate 
Brecher, Adolph 


te nO Sg ee Set eg ae ge 


44b; compare also Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxviii. 15; 
Philo and the Septuagint have instead of ppv the 
Greek 26y:ov or Aoyeiov, which example Rashi follows 
in the passage to Ex. lc., translating paw by 
“raisonnement”; similarly also Tobiah b. Eliezer, in 
Lekah Tob on the passage). Aaron and his succes- 
sors wore the breastplate on the heart (Ex. xxviii. 
29) as a reward, because Aaron was “glad in his 
heart” (Ex. iv. 14) when Moses returned to Egypt, 
and was not envious because his younger brother 
was chosen by God to deliver Israel (Shab. 139; 
Ex. R. iii., end). 

According to the Talmud, the breastplate was 
made of the same material as the ephod and in the 
following manner: The gold was beaten into a leaf 
and cut into threads; then one golden thread was 
woven with six azure (ndsn) threads, and another 
golden thread with six purple (}939N) threads, and 
similarly with the scarlet wool (aw nydin) and the 
byssus. Thus there were four combinations of six- 
fold threads, with one golden thread woven through 
each; and, when these were twisted together the 
strand consisted of twenty-eight threads (Yoma 
7ib). The breastplate was fastened to the ouches 
(mysvawy) of the ephod by means of threads of woven 
gold, passed through rings attached to the right and 
left of the upper part of the ephod. Furthermore, 
two rings were attached to the lower ends of the 
breastplate, from which azure cords passed through 
two rings at the lower points of the two shoulder- 
bands of the ephod, where they joined the girdle; 
so that the lower part of the breastplate was con- 
nected with the girdle of the ephod, and could 
neither slide up nor down, nor be detached (Rashi to 
Ex. xxviii. 6, in many editions also at the end of 
Ex. : Maimonides, “ Yad,” Kele ha-Mikdash, ix. 6-9). 

The twelve precious stones with which the breast- 
plate was decorated contained the names of the 
twelve tribes; each name being fully engraved on 
one stone, in order that, when the high priest came 

before Him, God might be mindful of 
The Stones the picty of the patriarchs (Ex. R. 


of the xxxviii. 8; Lev. R. xxi. 6). No chisel 
Breast- was to touch the stones, nor was if, 
plate. permitted to mark the names of the 


twelve patriarchs on the stones by 
means of paint orink. The engraving was done by 
means of the SHamrir, which was placed on the 
stone, and had the marvelous power of cutting it 
along the lines of the letters of the proper names, 
which were first traced with ink (Sotah 48b). In 
addition to the names of the twelve tribes, the 
stones also contained, at the head, the names Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, and at the end the words: 


yn wlaw rade 65] “fall these are] the tribes of 
Jeshurun ” (Yoma 78b, where the first two words are 
not found, while Yer. Yoma vii., end, 44c has them, 
and also Cregeen instead of Nw; Maimonides, U.c. 7, 
seems to have used a source differing both from 
Bab. and Yer., as his version has the words 7° ‘3 
=“tribes of God”). These words could not be 
omitted from the breastplate, since the whole He- 
brew alphabet had to be included, in order that, on 
consulting the Urim and Thummin, the high priest 
might be enabled to form words from the different 


i TY A et = 


colors of the individual letters on the stones of the 
breastplate, and hence might be able to answer 
questions put to him (Yoma, l.c.). 

Even in early times there were various opinions 
on the order of the names of the twelve patriarchs 
on the stones; and Baraitas existed that discussed 

the matter. The latter, however, 

Order of have evidently been lost; for the opin- 
the Names ions therein contained are known only 

onthe through quotations found in the early 

Stones. authors. A Baraita, quoted by Tobias 

b. Eliezer in his work “Lekah Tob” 
on Ex. xxviii. 10, says that the order corresponded 
to that given in Ex. i. 2-4, except that Zebulun was 
followed by Dan, not by Benjamin, and that the 
last two names were Joseph and Benjamin (compare 
Sotah 86a, b). This corresponds in part with the 
order in Num. R. ii. 7, except that there Gad pre- 
cedes Naphtali; while Ex. R. xxxviii. 8 and Targ. 
on Cant. v. 14 correspond with the above-mentioned 
Baraita. According to the Targ. Yer. on Num. ii. 
2 et seg., however, the names on the stones of the 
breastplate followed in the same sequence as that 
observed by the tribes when marching in the wilder- 
ness (Num. ii. 2-21). Targ. Yer. on Ex, xxviii. 17 et 
seg. agrees with Josephus (“ Ant.” iii. 7, § 5) in say- 
ing that the names of the twelve patriarchs followed 
in the sequence of their ages, while Maimonides 
(7.c.)and Tobias b. Eliezer (/.c.) assert that the names 
of the patriarchs were engraved on the first stone 
and the words 33 75x $55 on the last, Bahya b. Asher 
and Hezeki:h b. Manoah say, in their commentaries 
on Ex. 2.c¢., that each stone contained only six letters. 
selected from the name of the respective tribal- 
patriarch, together with one or more letters of the 
names of the three national patriarchs or of the 
words ji" DIY. Hence the letters on the whole 
of the stones numbered seventy-two, corresponding 
with the number of letters in the Summ HA-MEFo- 
RasH. Compare EPHOD, GEMS, and UriIM AND 
THUMMIM. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Beér ha-Golah (anonymous work, Mayence, 
wit, pp. 93-102; A. Epstein, Mi-Kadmontyot ha-Yehu- 
dim, pp. 83-90; Abraham Portaleone, Shilte ha-Gibborim, 


. 44a-d9b. 

RR L. G. 
BREATH. See Hory Spirit; Sout. 
BRECHER, ADOLPH: Austrian physician; 

porn at Prossnitz, Moravia, in 1881; died at Olmiitz 

April 18, 1894. He was the son of the physician 

Gideon Brecher. Adolph Brecher, after attending 

the gymnasia at Presburg and Prague, studied in 

Nikolsburg and at the University of Prague, where 

he devoted himself first to Jewish studies, then to 

the study of medicine. In 1859 he took up his rest- 
dence at Olmiitz, and practised as a physician there 
until his death. 

Brecher was popular and respected as a general 
practitioner and as a consummate master of diag- 
nosis. He was physician for all railroads with 
terminals at Olmtitz. Moreover, he took an active 
and useful part in the public affairs of the city, serv- 
ing for twenty years as director of the German 
Association (Deutscher Verein), and sharing in the 
management of the musical society. The Jewish 
community at Olmittz chose him as their vice-presi- 


Brecher, Gideon 
Breithaupt 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


368 





dent for more than a quarter of a century, and the 
Jewish community at Prossnitz made him an hon- 
orary member in recognition of his many services. 

Brecher had a noble and richly endowed temper- 
ament; he was aclear thinker, a brilliant speaker, 
and asympathetic poet full of sparkling humor and 
deep earnestness. He spoke and wrote in several 
languages, and developed a prolific and many-sided 
literary activity. Among his publications are: a book 
of riddles, “Sphynx,” signed “A. B.”; and later 
some collections of humorous poems, of which the 
following met with greatest favor: “ Bunter Kram”; 
“In Miissigen Stunden,” Berlin, 1890; and “Im 
Schaukelstuhle,” Berlin, 1891. He contributed 
largely to the “Fliegende Blitter” of Munich. In 
his later years he was permanent collaborator of 
“YWumoristische Deutschland,” edited by Julius 
Stettenheim; “Berliner Wespen,” edited by the 
same; and “An der Blauen Donau,” Vienna. In 
addition to his contribution of poems to these three 
publications he made a number of translations into 
German. From the Hungarian he translated Petéfi’s 
poems; from the Czech, Vrchlicky’s; and he en- 
riched Jewish literature by an excellent poetical ren- 
dition of the Psalms into German, “Die Psalmen 
Metrisch Uebersetzt,” Vienna, 1862. He also re- 
vised and published the book his father left un- 
finished on the proper names found in the Bible, 
“Eleh ha-Ketubim be-Shemot,” Frankfort, 1877. 

S. FE. oN. 


BRECHER, GIDEON (GEDALIAH BB. 
ELIEZER): Austrian physician and author; born 
at Prossnitz, Moravia, Jan. 12, 1797; died there May 
14, 1878. 

Brecher, who was the first Jew of Prossnitz to 
study for the medical or any other profession, at- 
tained the degree of master of surgery and obstet- 
rics in Budapest in 1824, and the doctor’s degree from 
the University of Erlangen in 1849, with the thesis 
“Das Transcendentale, Magie und Magische Heil- 
arten im Talmud,” Vienna, 1850. FHlis fame in Jew- 
ish literature rests principally on this work and upon 
his lucid commentary on the “ Cuzari” of Judah ha- 
Levi, which appeared with the text in four parts 
(Prague, 1838-1840). Brecher’s correspondence with 
8. D. Luzzatto about this commentary is published 
in part in the second volume of the work itself, and 
in part in Mendel Stern’s “Kokebe Yizhak ” (v. 28- 
34, vi. 95-100, vii. 77-80). The commentary is 
modern in its tone; and in the preface the author 
openly states that he attempts to explain metaphys- 
ical questions in the light of modern philosophy, 
and he is not afraid to criticize axioms or formulas 
which were accepted at the time of the author of 
the “Cuzari,” but were shaken or rejected by later 
researches. He also utters the opinion, bold for his 
time, that philosophy is the best check to religion, 
preventing it from degenerating into superstition 
and idolatry. 

In addition to many contributions to scientific and 
literary periodicals and collections, and some impor- 
tant “Gutachten” (expert opinions) on social and 
religious questions submitted to him by imperial and 
local government officials, Brecher is the author of a 
monograph on circumcision, “ Die Beschneidung der 


Israeliten,” etc., Vienna, 1845, with an introduction 
by R. Hirsch Fassel of Prossnitz, and an appendix 
on “Circumcision Among the Semitic Nations,” by 
M. Steinschneider, who is a nephew of Brecher, 
Brecher also wrote “Die Unsterblichkeitslehre deg 
Tsraelitischen Volkes,” Vienna, 1857, of which a 
French translation appeared in the same year by 
Isidore Cahen; and “ Eleh ha-Ketubim be-Shemot,” 
a concordance of Biblical proper names, part of which 
was revised and published after his death by his son 
Adolph Brecher. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Duschak, Gideon Brecher, eine Biogra. 
Diieehe Skizze, Prossnitz, 1865; Allg. Zeit. des Jud. xxxvit, 
0. 253; Der Orient, 1840, pp. 45 et seq.; Briill’s Jahrb. iii, 
1, 193; Bodek, Jeschurun, Zolkiev, 1844 
s. P. Wi. 


BREGENZ. See Tyrotu. 


BREGMAN, ELIEZER B. MOSES: Russian 
financier and philanthropist; born in Indura (com- 
monly called by Russian Jews “ Amdur”), govern- 
ment of Grodno, in 1826; died in Teplitz, Bohemia, 
Sept. 3, 1896. He was a prominent business man of 
Grodno, where he settled early in life, and was 
known over Russia as the farmer of the KoropKka 
(meat-tax) in many of the large cities of the empire. 
The government rewarded him for his various busi- 
ness enterprises and charities with a gold medal 
and with the title of hereditary honorary citizen. 
He spent more than 100,000 rubles for charitable 
institutions. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Luah Ahiasaf, 5658 (1897-98), Pe. 317-318 ; 
Ephrati, Dor we-Dorshaw, Wilna, 1889, pp. 58-59. 
P. WI. 


H, R. 


BREIDENBACH, MORITZ WILHELM 
AUGUST: German jurist; born at Offenbach-on- 
the-Main Nov. 18, 1796; died at Darmstadt April 
2, 1857. He first attended the gymnasium at Frank- 
fort, and then the University of Heidelberg, from 
which he was graduated in 1817as LL.D. Aftera 
supplementary course at Gdéttingen he began the 
practise of law at Darmstadt in 1820. In 1831 he 
became counselor of the treasury in the Ministry of 
the Interior, and in 1886 counselor of the cabinet, 
in which capacity he officiated as commissioner of 
the Hessian government in the Landtag. He be- 
came a member of the council of state in 1848, but 
was compelled to resign this office upon the out- 
break of the Revolution. He was recalled, however, 
in 1849 as chief counselor of education, which posi- 
tion he held until his death. Breidenbach displayed 
exceptional ability in every capacity, whether as a 
jurist, official, or popular representative. But he 
was frequently opposed by those who admired his 
learning, because of his pronounced monarchical 
views. He was the principal author of the penal 
code of Hesse, and actively participated in framing 
the “Allgemeine Deutsche Wechsel- und Handels- 
recht.” His principal literary work is his commen- 
tary on the Hessian legal code. He was the son of 
Wolf BREIDENBACH. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie; Le Roi, 

Evangelische Judenmission, p. 229. 

g. J. So. 

BREIDENBACH, WOLF: German court 
agent and champion of Jewish emancipation; born 
in the village of Breidenbach, Hesse-Cassel, 1751; 


369 


died in Offenbach Feb. 28, 1829. He went to Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main as a poor boy, and for a time was 
a bahur, being supported by others while he studied 
Talmud and rabbinical literature. He also secretly 
acquired the knowledge of Neo-Hebrew, German, 
and some scientific subjects, besides being the best 
chess-player in the town. This accomplishment at- 
tracted the attention of a wealthy nobleman, who 
was SO impressed by the young Talmudist’s intelli- 
gence and honesty that he entrusted him with the 
management of his financial affairs. Breidenbach 
proving himself astute and trustworthy, his em- 
ployer lent hima large sum of money, with which he 
embarked in the banking and in the jewelry busi- 
ness. He prospered, and gained the confidence of 
the small German princely courts with which he had 
business, becoming “ Hoffaktor” of the elector of 
Cassel, and “Kammeragent” of the prince of Isen- 
burg, besides holding similar positions under the 
rulers of various other principalities. 

Breidenbach used his wealth and influence to ben- 
efit his oppressed coreligionists. His untiring efforts 
to abolish the Jewish “ Leibzoll ”—an obnoxious toll 
which Jews had to pay on entering towns where 
they did not dwell or had no special privileges— 
place him among the foremost champions of Jewish 
emancipation. He effected its abolition in Isenburg 
April 25, 1803, and in Homburg Nov. 1 of the same 
year. Aschaffenburg, Schénberg, and finally Frank- 
fort itself (Aug. 24, 1804) abolished the toll through 
his exertions; and the princely courts of Nassau- 
Usingen, Nassau-Weilberg, Lowenstein, Wertheim, 
Leiningen, as well as the court of Ehrbach, followed 
their example. In some cases Breidenbach acted as 
the syndic or attorney for various Jewish communi- 
ties. He made an unsuccessful effort to induce the 
Diet of Ratisbon to abolish by a single act the 
“Leibzoll” in all the German states, and only suc- 
ceeded in having it abrogated in that city itself and 
in Darmstadt (Jan. 19, 1805). 

Breidenbach was the friend and protector of the 
grammarian and publisher Wolf Heidenheim of 
Rédelheim, and is said to have translated several 
hymns for Heidenheim’s German edition of the 
Mahzor. 

He had three children: one daughter, Sarah, who 
married Abraham Gans of Cassel, and two sons, 
Moritz and Isaac (Julius), both of whom embraced 
Christianity after his death. The first was a grand- 
ducal “ Ministerialrath,” the second became ambas- 
sador in Stuttgart. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, xi. 280 et seq. and 
note 5; M. Silberstein, in Zeitschrift fiir Gesch. der Juden 
in Deutschland, v. 126, 335; Ersch and Gruber, Hncye. s.v. 
Juden, é; 92, and Judenemancipation, p. 269; M. Fried- 
Mander, Geschichtsbilder aus der Nachtalmudischen Zeit, 
iv. 25 et seq., Briinn, 1887. 


8. P. Wu. 


BREIER, EDUARD: Austrian writer; born at 
Warasdin in Croatia Nov. 8, 1811; died at Zaiwitz 
near Znaim, Moravia, June 3, 1886. His first novel, 
“Der Fluch des Rabbi,” published in 1840, was writ- 
ten in eleven days, during his furlough while an 
artilleryman. This work at once brought him into 
prominence and caused him to decide to become a 
journalist and a writer of fiction. He assumed charge 
of the “ Prager Zeitung,” which he continued to edit 


IIY.—24 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brecher, Gideon 
Breithaupt 


until the paper was suppressed in 1848. He then 
settled in Vienna, where he soon became a popular 
writer of Jewish and Austrian tales. His Jewish 
novels, in addition to the one mentioned, were: 
“Die Sendung des Rabbi,” “ Die Sabbathianer,” and 
“ Alt- und Jung-Israel.” He wrote many tales deal- 
ing with Austrian history, which are strikingly 
national] in sentiment, the most characteristic among 
them being perhaps “ Wien und Rom” and “ Kaiser 
Joseph.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jiidisches Athenceum, p. 30, Leipsic, 1851. 
S. A. M. F. 


BREITENSTEIN, MAX: Austrian writer 
and translator; born at Iglau, Moravia, Nov. 10, 
1855. He attended the gymnasium of his native 
city and the University of Vienna. In 1876 he 
turned to journalism and founded the weekly 
“ Alma Mater,” which he conducted till 1881. Brei- 
tenstein compiled: “Akademischer Kalender der 
Oesterreichischen Hochschulen”; ° Kommersbuch 
der Wiener Studenten,” 1880, 3d ed. 1890; “Samm- 
lung der Bedeutendsten Reden des Oesterreichischen 
Parlaments.” He is also the author of several pam- 
phlets, essays, humoristic sketches, aud of trans- 
lations from the English, and was the editor of the 
“Wiener Correspondenz” and the “ Allgemeine Ju- 
risten-Zeitung.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, i. 52. 


S. M. B. 


BREITHAUPT, JOHN FREDERICK: 
Christian Hebraist and rabbinical scholar at the be- 
ginning of the eighteenth century; anlic councilor 





John Frederick Breithaupt. 
(From Breithaupt’s ‘ Rashi,”’) 


to the emperor and to the duke of Gotha. He pro- 
duced an elaborate edition of Yosippon with a Latin 
version, under the title “Josephus Gorionides ” 
(Gotha, 1707). The detailed subject-index at the 
end still renders it of value for reference. A still 


Bremen 
Breslau 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


370 





greater exploit was his Latin translation of the com- 
mentary to the whole Bible of Rashi, whom he 
calls “ Jarchi,” which work appeared in three thick 
volumes (Gotha, 1710-13). Breithaupt takes note of 
the various readings of Rashi’s text; and, on the 
whole, produced a version of considerable accuracy, 
considering the circumstances under which he wrote. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i. 1096 (who declares his 

ignorance of any details of this writer); Steinschneider, Cat. 


Bodl, No. 4625. 
T. d. 


BREMEN: Free city of the German empire; 
remarkable as one of the places where few Jews 
have ever dwelt. A baptized Jew, Paulus, is said 
to have taught alehemy there to Archbishop Adal- 
bert about the middle of the eleventh century. 
Reference is also made to the Jew Ludbert in 1324. 
Even the Jews traveling through Bremen were ham- 
pered in their movements. They could remain in 
the city only one night, and had to report to the 
burgomaster, and to pay the Jews’ tax. Only dur- 
ing the “Freimarkt” were they allowed to stay 
longer and to do business; and for this privilege they 
had to pay a special tariff. From the sixteenth cen- 
tnry, when many of their coreligionists were sct- 
tling in the districts of Hanover, the Jews made 
frequent attempts to obtain permission to live in 
Bremen. Individual Jews were often expelled. 

In the beginning of the nineteenth century 
Bremen, and also certain villages, received some 
Jewish inhabitants; but they, too, were expelled in 
1803 on complaints of the merchant gild of the city. 
About thirty families settled in the city during the 
French occupation (1811-13), a period most favora- 
ble to the Jews. But these also were banished after 
the year 1814 in consequence of the Vienna conven- 
tion, though their expulsion was not totally effected 
until six vears later. 

The citizens became more tolerant after 1848, in 
which yearasmall Jewish community was founded. 
In 1564 it numbered only 179 persons in the city and 
295 11 the whole district of Bremen, or 2 per cent of 
the entire population. At present (1902) there are 
9147 Jews in the city and 1,057 in the district. MM. 
Levinger is preacher of the community. The syna- 
gogue Was inaugurated Sept. 18, 1876. Dr. Leopold 
Rosenak was chosen rabbi in 1896. 


BrBpuiocRrapny : Zeit. fiir Deutsche Culturgeseh, new series, 
is72, pp. T+ ef sey. 


K. A. F. 


BRENZ, SAMUEL FRIEDRICH: Anti-Jew- 
ish writer; born at Osterburg, Bavaria, in the latter 
half of the sixteenth century; date and place of death 
unknown. He was converted to Christianity in 
1610 at Feuchtwangen, and wrote “Jiidischer Abge- 
streifter Schlangenbalg ” (The Jewish Serpent’s Skin 
Stripped), in which he bitterly attacked his former 
coreligionists, whom he accused of hating “the most 
pious and innocent Jew, Jesus Christ,” and in which 
he denounced their religious literature. This book, 
divided into seven chapters, appeared at Nuremberg 
in 1614, 1680, and 1715. 

Against him Solomon Zebi Hirsch of Aufhausen 
(not Offenhausen nor Ufkausen) wrote “Der Jii- 
dische Theriak” (The Jewish Theriak or Antidote), 
Hanau, 1615. For the use of Christians as well as 


former Jewish 


Jews he had it printed in German and in Hebrew, ang 
the work was successful in refuting the false ac- 
cusations of Brenz. A new edition of the “ Theriak ” 
appeared at Altorf in 1680, and a Latin translation 
by Johann Wilfer, together with the Schlaugen- 
balg, was published at Nuremberg in 1681. 

Wilfer strongly defended the Jews against Brenz, 
whose crass ignorance, hatred, falsehood, and per- 
nicious fanaticism, as well as his plagiarism of Pfef.- 
ferkorn, he exposed. A Hebrew translation tunder 
the title “ Ha-Yehudim,” by Alexander ben Samuel, 
is extant in manuscript in the library of the Univer- 
sity of Leyden. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1846, pp. 340-342 ; Flirst, 
Bibl. Jud. i. 131, tii. 46, 5375 Steinschnetder, Cat. Bacal. 
cols. 805, 2379, 2734; Wolf, Bibl. Hebr.i., Nos. 576, 2451. 

D. S. MAN. 


BRESCH or BRES, JUDAH LOW BEN 
MOSES NAPHTALI (Paulus #Emilius?): 
Translator of the Pentateuch into Judeeo-German; 
lived in Germany in the sixteenth century. Le is 
known only from De Rossi (s.v. “Guide Figlio di 
Mose Naftali Bres”; Hamberger, s.v. “ Bress”), who 
credits him with the translation which first appeared 
in Cremona in 1560 and was reprinted in Basel in 1588, 
and which, besides the Pentateuch, contains a trans- 
lation of the Haftarot and the five Megillot with ex- 
tracts from Rashi’s commentary. But the preface 
to the translation states plainly that it is the work 
of Paulus -Emilius, a converted Jew residing in 
Rome; it scems probable therefore that this was the 
name assumed by Bresch after his conversion, al- 
though Steinschneider (* Sitzungsherichte der Phil - 
Philol. K. der K. Bayerischen Akademie der Wis- 
senschaften,” 1875, part 2, p. 185) says that the 
name of Paulus .Emilins is not 
Known. First, who probably had no other source 
than De Rossi, knows only of Bresch, but the nore 
critical Benjacob expresses some doubt on the mat- 
ter. According to some authorities. the translation 
was reprinted in Basel in 1608, and in Prague in 
1610, and there is also a quarto edition without 
date, which appearedin Augsburg. The translation 
is said to follow closely that of Elias Levitu, which. 
first appeared in 1544. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 131, ii. 81: Benjacob, 

Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 685; Monatssehrift, xxv. 302 ef seq. 

Grinbaum, Jiidisch-Deutsche Chrestomathie, pp. 10-15, Leip- 


sic, 1882, 
G. P. Wr. 


BRESCIA (Hebrew, Mya): City and province 
of Lombardy, Italy. The Jews first settled there 
during Roman times. <A commemorative stone, da- 
ting from the fifth century, probably comes from 
asynagogue. In the Middle Ages definite informa- 
tion concerning the settlement of the Jewsin Brescia 
dates from the period of the Venetian rule over the 
cities of Lombardy, beginning in 1426. 

As in all its other possessions, Venice permitted 
the Jews to live under the same conditions in the 
communities around the Garda lake. In 1454a Jew 
was solemnly baptized in Brescia. The population, 
however, already unfavorably disposed toward the 
Jews, was incited against them by fanatic monks; 
and the Senate of the republic was repeatedly called 
upon to protect the Jews, especially during the 


371 








disturbances after the alleged murder of Simon of 
Trent in 1475. They were required to weara badge. 
The old statutes of the town refer to them in the col- 
umn “ Maleficiorum Crimipalium,” “Statuti Vivili,” 
Brescia, 1557. They gained their living by money 
transactions, and, as the Christians complained 
about their dealings, it was left to Brescia, in 
1481, by the authority of Venice, to permit the 
Jews to remain or toexpel them. During the short 
time of the French rule, 1509-12. the Jews were 
plundered and then expelled. In 1516 they were 
again admitted by Venice; but after the battle of 
Lepanto in 1571 the Senate determined to expel them, 
and since that time if seems that Jews have lived 
at Brescia only occasionally, and chiefly as money- 
lenders. They are mentioned in doctunents of 1596, 
1680, and 1787. Heinrich Meine, in 1844, saw a syna- 
gogue there (“ [talicnische Reise,” vol. 1., end). 

The city has no Jewish community at present 
(1902). In the province of Brescia there are Jews 
in the Riviera of Lago di Garda. There was an old 
settlement at Sal6, and Jews were also living at 
Iseo, Gavardo, Palazzuolo, Gottolengo, Lazzaro, and 
Barco. 

Brescia is famous for the printing establishment 
which Gershon b, Moses Soncino conducted at that 
eity and at Barco in the same province (1491-96), 
publishing especially celebrated editions of the Bible 
(De Rossi, * Annales,” i. 39, 41, 46-48, 51: ii, 30. 31). 
The Cod. Turin 45 was sold at Brescia in 1509, 
shortly before the expulsion. Among the places in 
the province, Salo deserves especial mention as the 
birthplace of Moses Sefardi b. Abraham of Salo, 
1820, and of Nathan da Sald, 1487. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Glissenti, Gli Ebrei nel Bresciano Sotto il 

Dominio Veneto, Brescia, 1890; Soave M. Dei, Soneino, 1878. 

G. I. E. 

BRESLAU. See SILEsra. 

BRESLAU, ARYEH LOB BEN HAYYIM: 
German Talmudist and rabbi; born in 1741 at Bres- 
Jau, Prussia; died April 22, 1809, at Rotterdam, Hol- 
land. He lived at Lissa, Posen, and later at Berlin, 
where he was an inmate of the bet ha-midrash of the 
philanthropist Daniel Jafe. From Berlin he went 
to Emden, Prussia, as city and district rabbi. In 1781 
he was called as chief rabbi to Rotterdam. Breslau 
was highly reputed as Talmudist, as is shown by his 
many responsa, and by the fact that such eelebrated 
men as Phineas Hurwitz, Isaiah Berlin, and David 
Tevele Schiff referred Talmudic questions to him. 
He was also distinguished by his knowledge of the 
secular sciences. He enjoyed great popularity in 
Holland, and his reputation was not confined to Jew- 
ish circles, but many Christian scholars and theolo- 
gians were also among his friends. He was buried 
with great ccremony, many dclegates from the vari- 
ous Jewish communities attending Ins funeral. His 
memory is still revered among the Dutch Jews, 

Breslau is the author of a volume of responsa, 
“Pene Aryeh” (Lion's Face), Amsterdam, 1790, 
which is distinguished by its logical method and 
reveals a thorough knowledgeof the Talmud. Rec- 
ognizing the latter work as the highest authority, he 
always applied common sense to the elucidation of 
Biblical and Talmudic precepts. While respecting 
the post-Talmudic authors, he wrote entirely inde- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bremen 
Breslau. 


pendently of them and without prejudice -(Nos. 14, 
63). Aside from Talmudic questions, the “ Pene 
Aryeh” also contains answers to other matters, 
which bring out the author's thorough knowledge 
of Tebrew linguistics. The style of the responsa ig 
simple and clear, the language being that of the 
Mishnah with an admixture of pure Hebrew plrase- 
ology, without rhetorical flourishes. The work on 
the whole reveals a serious scholarly mind. 

When the French revolutionary army came into 
Holjand, in 1493, Breslau wrote a series of prayers 
for the synagogue, which were translated into Dutch, 
and were published with a detailed preface by the 
Christian minister Jan Karp. Some fragments of 
Breslau’s posthumous works are still preserved in 
the bet ha-midrash of Rotterdam. A poem that can 
hardly be characterized as successful, “ Mizmor le 
Shabbat ” (Psalkn on the Sabbath), has recently been 
published by Dr. Ritter, chief rabbi in Rotterdam. 
Breslau’s three sons, who took the family name 
L6wenstammn, were Abraham, rabbi in Meseritz, and 
later in Emden; Hayvim, rabbi at Leeuwarden; and 
Mordecai, assistant rabbi in Rotterdam, all known 
as Talmudistsand Neo-Hebraic writers. His grand- 
son, Menahem Mendele ben Havyim, was chief rabbi 
at Rotterdam. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ritter in Ozar ha-Stfrut, v. 265 et seq.; 
Roest’s Israelitische Letterbocde, iv. 109; Ha-Meassef, 1809, p. 
209; Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1857, p. 448; Steinsehneider, Cat. 
Bodt. No, 4432. 

L. G. l. Ber. 


BRESLAU, JOSEPH B. DAVID: German 
Talmudist and rabbi; born (probably at Breslau) in 
1691; died Jan. 22, 1752. at Bamberg. He was at 
first a rabbi at Grabfeld near Fulda, then rabbi of 
Bamberg, 1743-52, where his brother-in-law, Moses 
b. Abraham Broda, had officiated, 1718-83. Bres- 
lau wrote the following works: (1) “Shoresh Yosef ” 
(Joseph's Root), Amsterdam, 1730, on the legal term 
Mraco; (2) “Hok Yosef Goseph’s Law), 7. 1730. 
a partial commentary on Joseph Caro’s Shuthan 
‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim. on the passages treating of 
the Passover; (8) “ Ketouet Yosef” (Joseph's Robe), 
Firth, 1769, pilpulistic HTaggadah, arranged accord- 
ing to the weekly lessons of the vear. Breslau was 
anapt pupil of his father-in-law, Abraham Broda, 
like whom be is distinguished for the great acute-- 
ness and wit shown in lis writings. is tirst work, 
which especially shows these characteristics, may be 
considered as the most important Talmudic work 
that was predueed by the school of Abraham Broda. 

One of Breslan’s sons. Abraham, was a Jearned 
merchant of Miilthansen in Alsace. He issued the 
posthumous work of his father, to which he added 
his grandfather’s work, “ Toledot Abraham.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eekstein, Geseh, der Juden in Bamberg, pp- 
71-173 (contains also Breslau’s epitaph). 
L. G. 


BRESLAU, MARCUS HEYMANN: Author 
and journalist; born at Breslau, Germany; died in 
London May 14, 1864. He went to London asa youth, 
and fora time taught Hebrew and was attached to 
asynagogue. He then became connected with the 
“Hebrew Review,” edited by Dr. M. J. Raphall. 
A few years later, when the “ Jewish Chronicle ” was 
started, he conducted that periodical for a number 


Breslauer 
Brest-Litovsk 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


372 





of years, in conjunction with the proprietor, and on 
the death of the latter became sole proprietor and 
editor, though he sold it a few months afterward. 
Being well versed in Hebrew and possessed of con- 
siderable energy and activity, he had a share in 
nearly every movement of the Anglo-Jewish period- 
ical press and in several other literary undertakings 
started by foreign Hebraists in England. Some 
years later he tried to revive the “ Hebrew Review,” 
but failed, and he then retired from active work. 
Breslau was the author of a Hebrew grammar and 
dictionary. From the German he translated devo- 
tional exercises for women, and copied various He- 
brew manuscripts in the collection at Oxford. He 
helped to translate into English the two volumes 
of “Miscellanea” from the Bodleian, edited by H. 
Edelmann. Breslau stood forth as the ready scribe 
and, to some extent also, the Hebrew poet of the 
community. A public subscription and testimonial 
were presented him during his later years, in rec- 
ognition of a thirty-year literary activity. 
a eae Jewish Chronicle and Jewish Worid, May 


20, . 
J. G. L. 


BRESLAUER, HERMANN: Austrian neuro- 
path; born at Duschnik, Bohemia, Nov. 10, 1835. 
He was educated at the gymnasium at Pilsen and 
the University of Vienna, graduating from the latter 
as doctor of medicine in 1860. Establishing himself 
asa physician in the Austrian capital in the same 
year, he was assistant to Professor Leidersdorf from 
1861 to 1872, when he, with Dr. Fries, founded a 
private hospital for mental and nervous diseases at 


Inzersdorf, near Vienna. 
S. F. T. H. 


BRESLAUER, MAX: German chemist; born 
at Trebnitz, Prussian Silesia, June 19, 1856. He 
received his education at the universities of Leip- 
sic, Heidelberg, and Breslau, graduating with the 
degree of doctor of philosophy. In 1880 he was ap- 
pointed judicial and police chemist in Lissa, Prussia, 
and in 1882 chief of the experimental bureau of 
the board of health in Brandenburg-on-the-Havel. 
Four years later he was called to Berlin to fill the 
same position on the board of health of the German 
capital, which he holds at present (1902). 

Breslauer has written many essays and reports in 
the professional journals of Germany. Among his 
works may be mentioned: “ Einfache Methoden zur 
Trinkwasser-Untersuchung,” 1884; “ Chemische Un- 
tersuchung der Luft fiir Hy gienische Zwecke,” 1885; 
“Die Anwendung des Lactodensimeters zur Milch- 
kontrolle,” 1886; “ Practische Anleitung zur Unter- 
suchung der Frauenmilch,” 1892; and “ Chemische 
Beschaffenheit der Luft in Charlottenburg und Ber- 
lin,” 1894, 


Ss ela Lee Kirschner, Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, 
$ S8.V. 


. KT. I 


BRESLAUR, EMIL: German musician and 
writer on musical pedagogics; born at Kottbus 


May 29, 1836. He first attended the gymnasium in | 


his native city, and later the seminary at Neuzelle. 
Upon his graduation from that institution he became 
preacher and religious instructor in the Jewish con- 


gregation of Kottbus. In 1863 he removed to Ber. 
lin in order to take a four-year course in music at 
Stern’s Conservatory, studying with Jean Vogt and 
H. Ehrlich (piano), Fl. Geyer, Fr. Kiel (composition), 
H. Schwantzer (organ), and J. Stern (score-reading 
and conducting). 

For eleven years (1868-79) Breslaur was teacher at 
Prof. Th. Kullak’s “ Neue Akademie der Tonkunst,” 
his special department being the pedagogics of 
pianoforte-playing. Shortly after leaving the acad- 
emy he formed a society among the music-teachers 
of Berlin, which in 1886 developed into the “ Deut- 
scher Musiklehrer-Verband.” Breslaur is also the 
founder and director of a piano-teachers’ seminary. 

A work published by Breslaur in 1874, entitled 
“Die Technische Grundlage des Klavierspieis,” ob- 
tained for him <he title of professor. In 1883 he 
was appointed choirmaster of the Reformed Syna- 
gogue of Berlin, which position he still (1902) holds. 
In addition to his contributions as musical critic of 
the “Spenersche Zeitung ” and the “ Fremdenblatt,” 
Breslaur has published the following theoretical and 
pedagogical works: “Die Technische Grundlage der 
Klavierspiels”” (1874); “Fuhrer Durch die Klavier- 
unterrichts-Litteratur” ; “ Zur Methodischen Uebung 
des Klavierspiels”; “Der Entwickelnde Unterricht 
in der Harmonielehre”; “Ueber die Schidlichen 
Folgen des Unrichtigen Uebens” ; “ Klavierschule,” 3 
vols., 18th ed., 1898; a compilation entitled “ Me- 
thodik des Klavierunterrichts in Einzelsitzen” 
(1887); “Melodiebildungslehre auf Grundlage des 
Harmonischen und Rhythmischen Elements” (1896) ; 
“Sind Originale Synagogen- und Volksmelodien bei 
den Juden Geschichtlich Nachweisbar” (Breitkopf 
and Hartel)—a pamphlet devoted to the discussion 
of the melodies of the Jewish liturgy. 

Since 1878 Breslaur has published a pedagogical 
periodical entitled “ Der Klavierlchrer.” He edited 
the eleventh edition of Schubert’s “ Musikalisches 
Konversations-Lexikon ” (1892), and he is the author 
of a number of choruses (several of them for the syn- 
agogue service), songs, and pianoforte pieces. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Riemann, Mustk-Lexikon; Baker, Diction- 

ary of Music and Musicians. 

8. J. So. 

BRESNER, ISAAC BEN ELIJAH LEVI 
(called ‘*‘ Melammed” [teacher]): Austrian educa- 
tor; lived at Prague in the second half of the seven- 
teenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth. 
In 1795 Bresner published at Prague, under the title 
“Toegeret Yizhak” (The Letter of Isaac), an order 
of confession, compiled fron Gerundi’s “Sefer ha- 
Yirah” and from Isaiah Hurwitz’s “Shene Luhot 
ha-Berit,” and now inserted in many rituals. He 
also published in Judao-German a compilation of 
maxims entitled “Dibre Musar” (The Words of 
Ethics), Prague, 1812. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. iti., No. 1172; Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1097; Furst, Bibl. Jud. i. 131. 
S. I. Br. 

BRESNITZ, HEINRICH: Austrian author 
and journalist; born at Czernowitz, Bukowina, 
Austria-Hungary, 1844. In 1867 he established in 
Vienna a periodical, “Der Osten,” and in 1869 a polit- 
ical journal, “ Der Patriot.” From 1879 to 1886 he 
was the proprietor and chief editor of the “ Morgen- 


373 





Post.” He is the author of the following political 
pamphlets: “Die Verfassungspartei und das Mini- 
sterium Hohenwart,” and “ Betrachtungen tiber den 
Ausgleich.” In 1893 Bresnitz went to Bulgaria. 

S. M. Co. 


BRESSELAU, MEIR ISRAEL: German 
notary and secretary of the Reform congregation of 
Hamburg; born 1785 (?); died in Hamburg Dec. 
25, 1889. He was identified with the Reform move- 
ment in Hamburg from its beginning, and when 
the Orthodox party attacked the Hamburger Tem- 
pelverein in the pamphict “Elch Dibre ha-Berit ” 
(These Are the Words of the Covenant; Altona, 
1819), Bresselau wrote as a reply his polemical work, 
“Hered Nokemet Nekam Berit” (A Sword That 
Revengeth the Quarrel of the Covenant; Dessau, 
1819). The magnificent Hebrew style of the latter 
publication is praised even by Gritz (“Gesch. xi. 
385), aud it ranks among the ablest literary produc- 
tions of the controversy between the orthodox and 
reform parties. Bresselau was also joint author with 
Jsaac Sickel Friinkel of “Seder ha-‘ Abodah ” (Ritual 
of the Service), the Hebrew-German prayer-book of 
the Hamburg Reform Temple, Hamburg, 1819. But 
First (“ Bibliotheca Judaica,” i. 131) errs in ascrib- 
ing to him the allegorical drama “ Yaldut u-Baharut ” 
(Childhood and Youth; Berlin, 1786), which was 
written by Mendel BrEssLAt, who died in 1829. Bres- 
selau’s successor as secretary of the Temple congre- 
gation was Gabriel Riesser. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jost’s Annatlen, 1840, p. 18; Gratz, Gesch. 
der Juden, 2d ed., xi. 385; Steinschneider, Catalog der Hebr. 
Hanadschriften in der Stadtbibtiothek zu Hamburg, p. 8; 
Zeitlin, Bib. Post-Mendels. s.v. Sulamith, viii., parts 7, 8, p. 
216; Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, 1840. 

s. P. WI. 


BRESSLAU, HARRY: German _ historian; 
born in Dannenberg, Hanover, March 22, 1848. He 
studied history in Géttingen from 1866 to 1869; be- 
came teacher of the real-school in Frankfort-on-the- 
Main; afterward occupied a similar position in Ber- 
lin, and at the same time began bis academic career 
as privat-docent in the university in that city. In 
1877 he was appointed assistant professor at the 
same university, and in 1890 professor at the Uni- 
versity of Strasburg, which position he still (1902) oc- 
cupies. In 1887 he became corresponding member of 
the Munich Academy of Sciences. In 1888 he was 
elected a member of the board of editors of the 
*Monumenta Germanie Historica,” a publication 
which has for its object the collection of all the an- 
cient sources of German history. For this series he 
edits the periodical devoted to its interests, the 
“ Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fiir Acltere Deutsche 
Geschichtskunde.” 

Bresslau also took a very important part in the 
foundation of the society for the investigation of the 
sources of the history of the Jews in Germany 
(Historische Commission fiir Geschichte der Juden 
in Deutschland), whose president he is (1902); and 
its magazine, “Zeit, fir die Gesch. der Juden in 
Deutschland,” contains a number of valuable essays 
from his pen. The most important are those prov- 
ing that the story according to which Charlemagne 
called Rabbi Kalonymus from Lucca to Germany as 
chief rabbi of all the Jews, wasa fabrication, and that 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Breslauer 
Brest-Litovsk 


the charter of Henry LY. given to the Jews of Speyer 
was spurious. A number of valuable works on Ger- 
man history have been written by Bresslau, among 
which are: “Die Kanziei Kaiser Konrads II.” (Ber- 
lin, 1869); “Diplomatas Centum ” (7d. 1872); “ Jahr- 
bicher Kaiser Heinrich II.” (@. 1875); “Der Sturz 
Zweier Preussischer Minister” (¢b. 1879); “Jahr- 
biicher des Deutschen Reiches Unter Konrad IT.” 
(Leipsic, 1879-84); “Handbuch der Urkundenlehre 
fir Deutschland and Italien” (7b. 1889). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mever, Konversations-Lecikon; Kirschner, 
Deutscher Literatur-Kalender, s.v. 


g, D. 


BRESSLAUV (ulso BRESSLAVER or BRES- 
LAUER), MENDEL BEN HAYYIM 
JUDAH: Bookseller at Breslau (died 1829); author 
of articlesin the periodical “ Ha-Meassef,” and of an 
allegorical ethical dialogue, “ Yaldut u-Baharut” 
(Childhood and Youth), Breslau, 1786. He also 
wrote “Gelilot Erez Israel,” a geography of Pales- 
tine with two maps (Breslau, 1819), and “ Reshit ha- 
Keriah,” a Hebrew reader and grammar with the 
phonetic method (Breslau, 1834). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Bibl. Jud. i. 1381: Steinschneider, Cat. 
Boal. col. 1743; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. pp. 40, 41: 
Zunz, G. S. i. 198. 


D. S. MAN, 


BREST-LITOVSK (in Polish, Brzesec; in Rus- 
sian documents, Brestye, and, later, Berestov ; 
and in Jewish writings, Brisk [pp] or Brisk 
de-Lita — “Brisk of Lithuania”): A fortified town 
in the government of Grodno, Russia, at the junction 
of the Mukhovetz river with the western Bug; capi- 
tal of the district of the same name. The Jewish: 
population of the city in 1897 was 30,252, in a total 
population of 46,542; that of the district (including 
the city) was in the same year 45,902, in a total of 
218,366, or 21.02 per cent. 

Brest was the largest and the most important of 
the first five Jewish settlements in Lithuania, dating 
froin the second half of the fourteenth century, and 
continued in that leading position till the rise of 
Wilna in the seventeenth century. According to 
Bershadski, the well-known charter of Grand Duke 
Vitold, dated July 2, 1888, was originally granted 
to the Jews of Brest only, and was extended subse- 
quently to the other Jewish communities of Lith- 
uania and Volhynia. Brest-Litovsk soon became 
the center of trade and commerce, as well as of 
rabbinical learning, and the seat of the administra- 
tion of the Jewish communities of Lithuania and 
Volbynia. 

The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries must be re- 
garded as the golden age in the history of the Jewish 
community of Brest. In the charter of Casimir 
Jagellon, granted Aug. 14, 1447, to all Jews in Lith- 
uania and Poland, Brest is mentioned, among other 
important provincial towns, as controlling many ter- 


ritories. In 1463 the same king pre- 
Early sented a Jew named Levan Shalomich 
_ History. with several estates in the district of 


Brest, and leased to him certain vil- 

lages (“ Russko- Yevreiski Archiv,” i., No. 5). 
When, in 1472, merchandise belonging to Itzek 
(Isaac) of Brest, collector of taxes, was arbitrarily 
seized in Prussia, the bishop of Wilna and six secular 


Brest-Litovsk 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


374 





councilors of the king interceded in his behalf before 
the grand master Henry Richtenberg (db. No. 6). 
From the edicts of King Casimir IV., dated May 30, 
1487, and May 12, 1489, and of Grand Duke ALEXAN- 
DER JAGELLON, Oct. 14, 1494, it appears that the cus- 
toms duties of Brest and its districts were farmed by 
Jews of Brest and Lutzk (7b. Nos, 14-25). During the 
reigu of Casimir all the important commercial and 
financial operations of Lithuania were concentrated 
in the hands of the Jews, especially of those of Brest, 
among thein the brothers Danke, Pesah, and Lazar 
Enkovich (¢. Nos. 34, 46). In 1495 Alexander ban- 
ished the Jews of Brest and other Lithuanian cities 
to Poland, whence they were permitted by him to 
return in 1508. During the banishment the syna- 
gogue of Brest was presented by Alexander to the 
Christian inhabitants of Brest to be used as a hos- 
pital (‘Slownik Geographiczny,” s.v.); but when 
the Jews returnedit was given back to them. 

In 1507 the community of Brest was the object of 
the special attention of Sigismund I.; and its history 
of that period is intimately connected with the 
brothers JEsorovicu. The eldest of these, ABRA- 
HAM JESOFOVICH, Who embraced Christianity, filled 
several high offices aud was secretary of the treasury 
under Sigismund during 1510-19. His two brothers, 
Miehael and Isaac, who remained true to the faith 
of their fathers, also received important favors, In 
1513 they were farmers of the customs duties of 
Brest, Lutzk, and Viadimir, and afterward held 
leases of the taxes on salt and wax, fumage (chim- 
ney-money), taverns (Mohilev and Vitebsk), and 
many other objects of revenue. An event of the 
highest importance in the life of the brothers Jesofo- 
vich, us well as for the community of Brest and for 

the Jews of Lithuania, was the ap- 
‘$Senior”? pointment (Feb. 27, 1514) of Michael 
of Brest. Jesofovich as the “senior” of all the 
Lithuanian Jews (R. Y. A. i., No. 60). 
The power of a “senior” was, as Harkavy aud Ber- 
shadski have shown, of a purely temporal nature; the 
appointment having been actuated by economic and 
utilitarian motives, as the king considered it to be 
the best means of securing from the Jews prompt 
and regular payment of taxes (Gratz, “Gesch. der 
Juden,” Hebrew transl.. vii. 813, note 1). In 1519 
a certain Aaron the Blind was tried for the murder 
of Ivan Pralevich by the Brest city court, because 
the Jews of Brest refused to have anything to do 
with the accused, who was described as a “tramp 
and murderer, who had lost his eyesight through 
stealing grapes.” They even would not offer bail 
for him when bail was allowed. Aaron was accord- 
ingly tried by the city authorities. After the trial 
Michael Jesofovich and the Brest Jews, realizing the 
danger of creating a precedent in relinquishing the 
power of jurisdiction granted them by the king, 
brought suit against the magistrate and other au- 
thorities of Brest for interference ina matter pertain- 
ing to their jurisdiction. In 1525 the king raised 
Michael to the hereditary nobility—an unprece- 
dented honor for a Jew in the sixteenth century. 

In 1576 (Dec. 6) King Stephen Bathori relieved 
the Jews of Brest from all taxes on account of seri- 
ous losses sustained by them through fires (“ Akty 
Wilenskoi Archeograficheskoi Kommissii,” v. 139). 


About half a century after the death of Michael 
Jesofovich there lived in Brest-Litovsk another re- 
markable personage, named Sau! Wah! or Wol, con- 
cerning whom authentic information is so scanty 
that it is difficult to separate legends from historical 
facts. The identity of Saul Judich, “ the king’s serv- 
ant ”—a most influential Jew under Stephen Bathori 
and Sigismund III.—with Saul Wahl, the legend- 
ary king of Poland who reigned for one night, has, 
however, been satisfactorily proved by Bershadski 
in his article, “ Yevrei Koro] Polski” (in “ Yoskhod,” 
1889, Nos. i.-v.). In 1580 the Jewish community of 
Brest entrusted him with the conduct of the very 
important and complicated case, before the commis- 
sioners of the king, against the Christian merchants 
of Brest, who would not allow the community the 
proportion (one-quarter) of city revenues which had 
been granted to the community by charter. Fora 
detailed account of his activity in the Brest commu- 
nity see Saul WALL. 

From records of the custom-house of Brest-Litovsk 
(published in “ Archeograficheski Sbornik,” i, 289- 

322, iv, °252-260) it is evident that 


Com- the greatest part of tle merchandise 
mercial imported from Germany and Austria 
Activity. via Lublin, or exported from Slutzk 


via Lublin to Gnesen, in 1583 and the 
following years, belonged to the Jews of Brest. 
They imported, among othcr merchandise, wax, 
furs, leather, olives, hats and caps, paper, nails, iron, 
paint, locks, knives, mirrors, mohair-yarn, cinna- 
mon, muscatel, neckties, and wire; from Hungary, 
linen; from Glogau, nuts, plums, lead, needles, pins, 
ribbons, wine, velvet, black silk, pepper, cards, 
bells, sugar, raisins; and from Moravia, cloth. The 
exports consisted of Moscow mittens, soap, furs, 
bridles and harness (both black and mounted in 
brass), copper belts, lumber, and grain. 

From a document dated Dec. 14, 1584, it is evi- 
dent that Isaac (Isaiko) Shachovich, a Jew of Brest, 
visited Moscow on business in 1581, not withstanding 
the prohibition of Ivan the Terrible, and en route 
stopped in Mohilev at the house of his friend, the 
tax-collector Isaac Jacobovich. 

Of the importance of the Jewish community of 
Brest, there are many proofs in the official documents 
of Lithuania; thus in 1567, when the Lithuanian 
Jews were taxed by King Sigismund Augustus with 
a special “loan” of 4,000 “kop groschen,” the share 
that Brest was required to furnish was 1,300 kop 
groschen, almost a third of the loan (“ Aktovaya 
Kniga Metriki Litovskoi: Publichnyya Dyela,” No. 
7, p. 168; “Russko-Yevreiski Archiv,” ii., No. 265). 
However, on the appeal of Jacob Jugilovich and 
Rubin Agronovich of Brest, acting in the name of 
all the Jewish communities of Lithuania, the total 
loan was reduced to 3,000 kop groschen (“ Aktovaya 
Kniga Metriki Litovskoi: Zapisei,” No. 48, p. 112; 


-“Russko-Yevreiski Archiv,” ii. No. 266). 


From the “ Pinkes ” (Jewish Archives) of Lithuania 
it appears that the Jewish communities of the grand 
duchy at that time were indebted to the Jewish 
community of Brest to the amount of 2,148 kop 
groschen (in 1655 the indebtedness had increased to 
82,912 kop groschen, not including interest to the 
amount of 14,015 kop groschen). In 1566 Brest- 


375 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brest-Litovek 





Litovsk had 106 Jewish house-owners, out of a total 
of 852 (* Aktovaya Kniga Metriki Litovskoi: Pere- 
pisei,” No. 5A; ° Russko-Yevreiski Archiv,” ii., No. 


231). The houses were small, insignificant frame 
buildings, although they were inhab- 
Number ited by some families that consisted 


of Houses. of fourteen persons (“Litovskie Yev- 

rei,” p. 885). The only synagogue 
was alsoa frame building. In 1569 a brick syna- 
gogue and brick houses were built, as appears from 
a lawsuit of the contractor against the Jews for not 
paving him in time (“ Russko- Yevreiski Archiv,” ii., 
No. 805). Wealthy farmers of customs, like the 
brothers Enkovich, had more commodious residences 
on their estates out of town (“Litovskie Yevrei,” 
p. 404). 

But Brest was the leading city, not as regards 
wealth alone, but also in learning and refinement; 
so that none of the rabbis or representatives of the 
other Lithuanian communities would render any 
decision of importance without the consent of the 
Brest community. According to tradition, the as- 
cendency of Brest-Litovsk extended as far as the 
Baltic sea and the German frontier. Students 
came from Germany and Italy to the yeshibah of 
Brest. The government held the Jews of Brest in 
special favor. Thus, under Sigismund Augustus 
the wealthiest farmers of taxes and other revenues, 
Isaac Boropavka, Abraham Dlukgach, David and 
Lipman Shmerlevich, were Jews of Brest; while 
Joseph Shalomich was the contractor of the mint, 
and the Isaacovich family was favored with special 
privileges by the king. 

Among the prominent scholars of Brest in the six- 
teenth century who were not rabbis, the following 
may be mentioned: David Drucker, son-in-law of 
Saul Wahl: Phoebus, the teacher of Joel Sirkes 
(“Bah”); Fishel of Brest, author of notes on the 
“Turim”; Joseph of Brest, brother of Moses Is- 
SERLES; Moses ben Hillel, grandfather of Hillel ben 
Naphtali, the author of “Bet Hillel”; and Samuel 
Heller. 

The Jewish merchants of Brest, like those of the 
rest of Lithuania, had Russian names and spoke and 
wrote the Russian language. They had friendly 
intercourse with their Christian fellow-citizens, and 
did not need a “speaker” before the courts, as the 
German merchants did (2b. p. 395). 

With the beginning of the seventeenth century 
Brest lost some of its importance as the center of 
wealthy farmers of taxes and other government 
leases. Prominent persons like Michael Jesofovich 
aud Saul Wahl were unknown; they were succeeded 

in the arrangement of Jewish affairs 

Decline of by the LITHUANIAN CounciL (“ Waad 
Brest. ha-Medinah be-Lita”). There were 
eminent rabbis, Talmudists, and other 

scholars, such as Moses, grandson of Rabbi Heshel ; 
Elijah Lipschitz, father-in-law of Rabbi Abraham 
ha-Darshan; Abraham ben Benjamin Ze’eb Brisker; 
Elijah ben Samuel of Lublin, author of “ Yad Eli- 
jahu”; Jacob ben Joel, author of “ She’erit Ya‘akob” ; 
Zebi-Hirsch ben Eliezer Levi, mentioned in the 
“Teshubot Bah.” But there were no communal 
workers of the type of those named above, to act as 
mediators between the Jews and the government, and 


having the power to protect them in cases of emer- 
gency. The leaders of the Lithuanian Jews seemed 
to be more occupied with religious laws and with 
the preservation of the inner life of their com- 
munity than with general politics. The collect- 
ing of taxes and the customs duties was leased to 
the secretary of the treasury of the grand duchy of 
Lithuania, who, in turn, sublet it for a term of 
two years to the Jew Getzko Meerovich (“ Akty 
Wilenskoi Archivnoi Kommissii,” vi. 808). 

In 1688 a lease of the city hall place was granted 
by the municipal government of Brest to Nachman 
Shlomovich (2). p. 312). In 1641 the municipal gov- 
ernment leased the cellar under the city hall to Simon 
Shlomich for three years at an annual rental of thirty 
florins (2). p. 395). 

Of the forty-two Jewish Lithuanian councils held 
from 1623 to 1761, nineteen met at Brest or at one 
of the cities in its district. 

That the Jews were still protected by the king 
is evident from the privileges granted them by Sigis- 
mund IIL. (March 9, 1615), under which they were 
exempt from quartering the Polish nobility and re- 
tainers at their houses (2. v. 141); by John Casimir 
(Feb. 17, 1649), confirming privileges granted by 
King Viadislaw IV. (Feb. 15, 1683, and Dec. 31, 
1646); and by Sigismund III. (Oct. 10, 1592) (2b. p. 
144). By an order issued June 23, 1655, King John 
Casimir forbade his subjects to build roadside inns or 
mills or to sell liquors, on the ground that tne in- 
terests of the Brest leaseholders of the king were in- 
jured by such practises; and he warned them that all 
such establishments would be confiscated (7b. p. 158), 
By an order dated July 30, 1661, the same king re- 
lieved the Jews of Brest from all military duties; 
giving as his reason that the city of Brest and the 
Jews of that place were ruined by the invasion of 
the Moscovites (zd. p. 161). By a second edict (Aug. 
8, 1661) he proclaimed that the Jews of Brest were re- 
leased from all obligations for four years. He also 
released them from paying rent for the monopoly 
of the sale of liquors (#5. p. 162). In the same edict 
the king notified the Voyevoda of Polotzk that, on 
account of the losses inflicted on them by the inva- 
sion of “the enemy” (the Moscovites), the Jews of 
Brest were not able to pay their creditors, and that 
the king gave the Jews an “iron” or irrevocable 
charter freeing them from the payment of their debts 
for three years (75. p. 168). 

That even the factor of King John Casimir, Jonas 
Moizheshovich, was not very wealthy, and had to 
pawn his jewelsand other property to the Christian 
merchant Vasili Proskurnich, is evident from an 
order issued by the king May 22, 1662, from which 
it appears that, having paid half of the debt, Jonas 
wished to pay the balance and to receive back his 
pledge, but that Proskurnich could not be found. 
The king considered that Proskurnich was trying to 
avoid the return of the pledge; he, therefore ordered 
all the clerical and other authorities to arrest Pros- 
kurnich wherever found, that he give satisfaction to 
Moizheshovich (2d. p. 164). 

During the uprising of the Cossacks under 
CHMIELNICKI, 2,000 Jews were killed in Brest- 
Litovsk in 1649; the others escaped to Great Poland 
and Danzig (Kostomarov, “Bogdan Chmieinitzky,” 


Brest-Litovsk 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


376 





i. 341; Hanover, “Yaven Mezulah”). Froma report 
of Gregory Kunakov, a courier of the czar, it ap- 
pears that in this year Brest was ut- 

Persecu- terly destroyed by the Cossacks and 
tion Under Tatars, that the Poles and Jews with 

Chmiel- their wives and children were all slain, 

nicki. and that all the palacesand stone walls 

were destroyed, the wooden buildings 

burned, and the city razed to the ground (“ Regesty,” 
No. 847). 

From the instructions given to the delegates to 
the congress of the nobility of Volhynia, held at 
Brest in 1688, it is evident that taxes could not be 
collected from the Jews for the reasons above stated, 
and because some Jews had become victims of the 
pestilence, while others had fled to other countries 
(2b. No. 941). During the invasion of Brest by the 
Muscovites in 1660, al! the deeds relating to tho privi- 
leges and contracts of the Jews were lost (7b. No. 
975). 

That their relations with their Christian neighbors 
were not as friendly as formerly may be seen from 
a quarrel between the Christian citizens and the 
Jews over property lost by the latter during a fire 
at Brest in 1637. The case was, however amicably 
settled on the following conditions: (1) The city gov- 
ernment ordered the citizens to return to the Jews 
their lost property wherever found, and to declare 
the amounts of debts due to the Jews. (2) There- 
after all lawsuits relating to property or documents 
destroyed by the fire, to cease; the Jews to have the 
right to take away all of their property wherever 
found. (3) The citizens to assist the Jews in cap- 
turing escaped criminals. (4) Both Jews and Chris- 
tians to have the right to rebuild their stores and 
houses, but only on the old sites and according to 
the original plans. (5) To preserve order in the 
future, a guard to be organized consisting of Jews 
and Christians in equal numbers. (6) Steps to be 
taken by the city authorities to quell any future 
disorders (“ Akty Wilenskoi Archivnoi Kommissii,” 
vi. 289), 

Another case is cited in 1621, viz., where the Chris- 
tian murderer of a Jew was released from prison by a 
priest in consideration of the present of a casket of 
money taken by him from the house of the mur- 
derer. The authorities, by removing the guards 
from the prison, allowed the murderer to escape; 
and the many citizens who saw him break away did 
not help the Jews to capture him (7). v. 14). 

Lawsuits between Jews and Christians on account 
of property are of frequent occurrence, as is evident 

from the case (in 1689) of Joseph 
Lawsuits. Zelmanovich of Brest against the mer- 

chant Friedrich of Thorn (2d. vi. 324); 
of the merchant Matvei Strepkovich against the 
deputy of Brest, accusing him of bribery for taking 
the part of Jacob Josephovich, a Jew of Brest (2d. 
p. 326); and of one Kornilovich against the same 
deputy, for declining to register in the city records 
his complaint of slander against the Jews of Brest— 
among them Zalaman, the agent of the Kauan (2b. 
p. 3386). 

Of a more serious nature were the conflicts be- 
tween the Jews and the Catholic and the Greek Ortho- 
dox clergy. Theeducation of the Lithuanian Cath- 


olic youth at that time was practically under the 
control of the Jesuits, as had been the case in Poland 
for a century. As a result of the encouragement 
among the pupils of a spirit of mischief directed 
against the Jews, the latter were constantly sub- 
jected to annoyances by the students from the so 
called “Schilergelauf.” The Jews at times retal- 
iated upon the students. On one occasion the rector 
and the superintendent of the Jesuit college of Brest. 
asked that a formal protest might be recorded against 
the unbelieving Jews of the city of Brest, who, it 
was stated, had, “in their hatred of Christian blood,” 
insulted and beaten the students on many occasions. 
In 1648 it was alleged that they “had attacked little 
children of the officials of the Brest voeyvodeship 
with a heavy club, still preserved in the college as 
a proof of their insolence.” On March 8, 1644, a 
student named Nesetzki asserted that he had been 
attacked by Jews when passing the house of Pinkes 
Samuclovich in the Jewish street, and narrowly es- 
caped with his life (7d. v. 17). 

Hrom a document dated Feb. 10, 1662, it appears 
that the general commissioner of the monastic order 
of the Augustines directed the return 
to the Brest Jews of six yards of 
ground taken from them by the father 
superior of the monastery (2d. v. 24). 
In 1656 the Russian bishop Petei writes to Trotz- 
covich, priest of Brest, requesting him to make an 
effort to build a church on the ground whereon the 
church of Kozmo-Demyan had stood in former 
years, and whereon Jewish houses were then located ; 
and to give notice to the Jews forthwith to clear 
the ground (2d. iii. 55). But from a document ad- 
dressed to the kahal of Brest by the alderman of the 
city, it is evident that from ancient times the Jews 
had had a lease, at an annual rent of 20 florins, of 
the site of the Kozmo-Demyaz church, on the Rus- 
sian street, with the right to build houses (20. p. 68). 
Notwithstanding this, the matter was not settled 
until 1679, when Bishop Zalenski issued a document 
stating that “the Jews had the right to build on that 
place.” 

On Aug. 21, 1669, the priest of the Russian church 
made a complaint against the Jews of Brest for 

reconverting to Judaism a baptized 
A Re- Jewess of the name of Judith, whose 
conversion. baptismal name was Anastasia, a 
daughter of Shemuel, at one time 
leaseholder of taxes (7b. v. 44). From a case be- 
tween the kahal of Brest and some Russian priests 
of the city (Dec. 30, 1669) it appears that the latter 
caused much damage to the Jews of Brest, and that 
during the religious processions riots took place in 
which Jewish property was stolen and Jews were 
murdered or wounded by priests as well as by others 
(tb. p. 41). 

Cases of outrages on the part of the Polish nobil- 
ity are not wanting. On Feb. 10, 1665, a case was 
tried in the city court of Brest between the kahal 
and Vespasian and Chrysostom Kostiusko and 
Voitech Orinovich, the charge being that the de- 
fendants rode on horseback into the synagogue with 
their retainers, followed by a mob with drawn 
swords; that they cut almost to pieces the Jew 
Jovskei Aronovich, and severely wounded the agent 


Church 
Dispute. 


377 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brest-Litovsk 





of the kahal, Leib Itzkovich. Thecourt condemned 
the Kostiuskos to death and to a payment of 200 
kops for the murdered Jew. Chrysostom did not 
appear in court, but sent notice that he was called 
to the war. There is no account of his having been 
punished (70. v. 28, 31). 
In 1669 the nobility of Brest instructed their dele- 
gates to the Diet to bring in a law 
Relations prohibiting Jews from employing 
with Christian servants, “as the working 
Nobility. classes, who like easy work, prefer to 
be employed by the Jews” (zd. iv. 49). 

The hetman of the grand duchy of Lithuania had 
to warn his subordinates repeatedly that the Jews 
of Brest must be freed from all military duties and 
must not be blackmailed (2b. v. 180). It appears 
from another order of the hetman (Aug. 7, 1669) 
that the city of Brest was charged with the duty of 
supplying the army with provisions (7. iv. ‘70). 
The city authorities of Brest also forced the Jews to 
pay extra taxes and local contributions “in violation 
of their privileges and agreements,” as is evident 
from an edict issued by King Michael Nov. 5, 1669 
(20. v. 249). 

From a safe-conduct given to the Jews of Brest 
by the aldermen of Brest (April 2, 1668), it is appar- 
ent that they were often annoyed, attacked, mobbed, 
and robbed. The officials are warned, under a pen- 
alty of 10,000 kops, not to do any further harm to 
the Jews (7b. p. 183). 

From a list of the year 1662 of the Jewish merchants 
of Brest for the apportionment of subsidiary taxes 
instituted by the Diet of Warsaw it appears that the 
highest valuation of goods in the fifteen stores of 
the Jews of Brest was 650 florins; the lowest, 30 
florins. The collection from the pedlers is assessed 
at the sum of 150 florins. 

From the beginning of the seventeenth century 
the Jewish community of Brest, like all the other 
communities of Lithuania, was obliged to contract 
debts; borrowing money from various religious in- 
stitutions, such as churches, colleges, monasterics, 
and religious orders. The loans were mostly per- 
petual, and were secured by the real estate of the 
kahal. In this way most of the property of the 
community was under continuous mortgage. 

In the middle of the eighteenth century the kahals 
of Lithuania became insolvent. When the com- 
mittee of the Diet began to liquidate the Jewish 
debts in 1766, it appeared that the kahal of Brest 
then consisted of 3,175 persons; it had a debt of 
122,723 florins (Bershadski, “Litovskie Yevrei,” 
p. 8). The chief creditors were: the Jesuit college of 
Brest, 26,233 florins; the college of Neswizh, 2,800; 
the mission of Koden, 9,600; the provost of Kobrin, 
400; Alter Shereshveski, 4,000; the Trinitarians of 

Brest, 1,000; the Dominicans of Brest, 


Debts 11,516 florins, 14 groschen; the Augus- 
of Com- _ tinians of Brest, 32,300; the Bridget 
munity. nuns of Brest, 7,700; the communist 


priests of Lomaza, 8,000; the Cister- 
cians of Wislitzy, 1,000; the Paulinists, 7,200; the 
Bernardines of Brest, 2,300; the Greek Orthodox 
Dizunites, 1,000; the Carthusians of Bereza, 3,200; 
the provost Chernovitzki, 2,000; in all, 122,723 flor- 
ins (2b. p. 170). 


The total income of the kahal of Brest was then 
31,200 florins. It was derived from taxes on salt, 
tobacco, herrings, tar, mills, taverns, breweries, etc. ; 
licenses of Jewish artisans; a certain percentage on 
dowries, and from the meat monopoly (zd. p. 9). 
The expenses were: salary of the superintendent or 
agent, who received, in addition, certain articles in 
kind, such as meat, fish, sweets, etc.; salaries of the 
rabbi and judges; supplies for the army during its. 
movements through the district of Brest, consisting 
of candles, oil, paper, sealing-wax, meat, fish, etc. 

When the nuncio of the pope visited the city, the 
kahal presented him with a hogshead of sugar. The 
officiating priest received a pound of sugar; the 
clerk, a flask of liquor. 

With the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom 
the decline of Brest was hastened. Frequent fires, 
wars, and the plunder of the armies utterly des- 
troyed the city. With the second partition of 
Poland, Brest, which had been rebuilt, came into 
the possession of Russia, and in 1796 was made a 
district town of the government of Slonim. In 1797 
it was annexed to the Lithuanian provinces, and in 
1801 was made a district town of the government of 
Grodno. In1802 a fire destroyed a large part of the 
Jewish quarter. In 1828 fire also destroyed a great 
number of the Jewish buildings of Brest, among 
them five houses of prayer. 

In the first half of the nineteenth century Brest 
had not improved, owing tothe competition of other 
Jewish communities of Lithuania which had devel- 

opedrapidly. By order of Nicholas 1., 
Nineteenth Brest, in 18382, was made a first-class 
Century. fortress, in consequence of which 
many historical buildings in the Jew- 
ish quarter and the ancient synagogue had to be 
demolished, others being erected on new sites, the 
government making partial compensation. By order 
of Rabbi Jacob Meir Padua, a descendant of Saul 
Wahl, the architect Ferdinand Schafir made a sketch 
of the old synagogue, which was presented to Den- 
nis Samuel of London, also a descendant of Wahl. 
In the course of work on the fortress the cemetery 
was dlestroyed; and the monuments, when removed 
to the new cemetery, could not be deciphered. 

In 18388 the Jewish Hospital, with forty beds and 
a pharmacy, was erected. It then had an income of 
five hundred rubles from the meat-tax and from vol- 
untary contributions. In 1851-61 the new syna- 
gogue was built; and in 1866 an asylum for widows 
was founded by Rabbi Orenstein. In 1877 a dis- 
pensary, poorhouse, and lodgings for the poor were 
built; also a Talmud-Torah for 500 pupils. All 
these institutions are still (1902) maintained by vol- 
untary contributions. 

Notwithstanding numerous confiagrations, Brest, 
in 1860, contained 812 houses and 19,342 inhabitants. 
In 1889 there were 2,063 buildings and 41,615 in- 
habitants, of whom 27,005 were Jews; of the latter, 
4,364 were artisans, 1,285 licensed merchants, and 
1,000 employed in manufacturing. 

At present the Jews control most of the trade and 
industries of Brest. There are four tobacco factories. 
The main articles of export (mostly to Danzig) are 
grain, flax and flaxseed, tar, lumber, and cattle. 

On May 17, 1895, on the occurrence of another 


Brest-Litovsk 
‘Bribery 


large fire, the Jewish working classes were in great 
distress; and the minister of ways and communica- 
tions permitced them free passage on the railroads 
for twelve days, to seek employment. 

On May 11, 1901, another disastrous fire took place, 
resulting in a serious loss of life and property. In 
consequence the number of Jewish poor was largely 
increased. 

Among prominent Jews of Brest, besides rabbis, 
may be mentioned: in thecighteenth century, Jacob 
Levi, author of * Hiddushe-Mahari” ; JEKUTHIEL OF 
Wibna, physician, pupil of Rabbi Moses Hayyim 

Luzzatto; Mordecai, author of “May- 
Prominent vim-‘Ammukkim”; Joe], grandson of 
Per- Joel Sirkes, and pupil of Lipman 
sonalities. [cller; in the nineteenth century, 
Aaron ben Metr, author of “ Minhat- 
Abaron”; Meir ben Aaron, author of “ Tebuat She- 
mesh”; on Maimonides, Abraham Isaac ben Joseph, 
author of “ Pesher Dabar”; Abraham Isaac, author of 
“<Arba’ Kosot”; Samuel Pusitz (died 1838); Iser-Ju- 
del ben Nehemiah, author of “ Nchamat-Yehudah,” 
chief dayyan with Jacob Meir Padua (died in Jeru- 
salen); Isaac ben Hayyim of Kamenetz, chicf day- 
yan with Zebi Ornstein (died 1888); Isaac ben Aba, 
author of “ Me’ore bet- Yizhak ”; Lipman ben David, 
author of “ Ma‘agalot Or”; Zebi-Hirsch Berls, author 
of “Or ha-Zebi”; Judah Epstein, author of “ Isina- 
mon-Bosem”; Meir Jonah, chief dayyan, author 
of “Sha‘ar he Hadash,” on Isaac b. Abba Mari’s 
“Tttur.” 

The following is a list. of the rabbis who officiated 
in Brest-Litovsk: 

Jehiel, son of Aaron Luria, said to have officiated about 1470, 
but probably was only a private scholar then. 

Moses Raskovich, about 15143; wanted to marry his daughter 
to the son of a rabbi of Craeow, but King Sigismund prohibited 
the mateh because the prospective bridegroom was under suspi- 
cion of having been mixed up in political affairs, and the latter 
was banished from Poland. 

Mendel Frank, 1529. 

Joseph ben Moses, 1546. 

Rabbi Kalonyinus, about 1560; mentioned in the Responsa of 
Solomon Luria, No. 36. Mor lecai Reiss and Rabbi Simon were 
at the head of the yeshibah at the same time. 

Solomon Luria (d. 1574). 

Naphtali Hertz, called ‘* Hirtz der Brisker’ (compare Naph- 
tali SHOR). 

Judah Liwa ben Obadiah Eilenburg, 1570, 

Loeb, rabbi of Brest and of all Lithuania. 

Moses Lipschiitz, author of “* Zikkaron Mosheh” (Lublin, 
1611), about 1559, 

Beinush Lipsehiitz, son-in-law of Saul Wahl (possibly he was 
the son of Moses Lipschitz). 

Hirsh Shor (or Hirsh Elsasser). 

Ephraim Solomon Shor. 

Joel Sirkes. In 1618 he left Brest for Cracow. 

Ze'eb-Wolf, son-in-law of Saul Wahi; previously rabbi of 
Lomaz. , 

Joseph Casas, son-in-law of Wahl. 

Abraham (Abrashky), son of Saul Wahl; was president of 
the yeshibah. 

Meir Wah!, son of Saul Wahl; officiated till 1631. He founded 
the Lithuanian Council in 1628, by permission of Sigismund III., 
of whom his father was a favorite. 

Jacov ven Fviraim Naphtali Hertz. 

Abraham hen Mvcir Epstein, 1637. 

Abraham ben Benjamin Aaron Solnik, 1639. 

Joshua ben Joseph, author of “* Magine Shelomeh.” 

Solomon Zalman, son of Jeremiah Jacob. His last signature 
in the Lithuanian Pinkes occurs under date of 1646. 

Jacob Kahana, president of the yeshibah. 

Jacob ben Ephraim Solomon Shor; last signature in the 
Pinkes under 1655, 

Moses ben Judah Lima. Died before 1657. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


378 


Aaron Samuel Kaidanover (about 1657-60). 

Joshua Heshel ben Jacob. 

Zebi Hirsch ben Moses Jacob; last signature in the Pinkes 
under 1664, 

Judah of Tropau; his signature in the Lithuanian Pinkes 
under 1664. 

Mordecai Ginzburg ; officiated at Brest until 1685. 

Mordeeai Siisskind ben Moses Rothenburg ; his last signature 
in the Pinkes, 1691. 

Saul ben Heshel, from 1691; last signature in the Pinkes, 
1695. 

Saul ben Moses of Cholm, grandson of Meir Wahl; formerly 
rabbi at Pinezov. 

Moses ben Pesah ben Tanhum of Cracow, grandson of the 
author of ** She’erit Joseph,” and son-in-law of Meir Wahl. 

Moses ben Mordecai Siisskind Rothenburg. 

Menahem ben Benjamin Katz. 

David Oppenheim; accepted the rabbinate of Brest in 1698, 
but did not officiate there. 

Judah-L6b, grandson of Joel Sarkes. 

Abraham ben Solomon, 1711. 

Samuel Zebi Hirsch ben Aryeh Loeb, about 1714. 

Nahman ben Samuel Zebi Hertz, Sirkin, 1718-53. 

Israel Isser ben Moses, 1757-60. 

Abrahain ben David Katzenellenbogen of Kaidan ; was rabbi 
at Slutzk, 1752. In Brest he officiated for forty-four years 
(1760-1804). 

Joseph ben Abraham Katzenellenbogen, 1&0. 

Nahman Heilprin. 

Aryeb Lob ben Joseph Katzenellenbogen, 1798-1837, 

Isaac ben Israel of Pinsk, 1837-40. 

Jacob Meir Padua, 1840-55. 

Zebi Hirsch Orenstein, 1865-74. Was expelled from Russia as 
a foreign Jew, he having been born at Lemberg. 

Joshua Léb Diskin, 1874-77, 

Joseph Bar Soloveitschik, 1869-92. 

Hayyim Soloveitschik, son of Joseph Bar; is now (1902) offici- 
ating as rabbi. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bershadski, Litovskie Yevrei, 8t. Petersburg, 
1883: Bershadski, Hussko-Yevreiskt Archiv, ib.; Feinstein, 
‘Ir Tehillah, Warsaw, 1886: Gratz, Gesch. der Juder, He- 
brew transl., vii., vili., passim. 

H. R. 


BRESTOVITZA: Town in the district and gov 
ernment of Grodno, Russia, about forty miles south 
of the capital. From a record of a lawsuit between 
Paul Moskovich, parson of Brestovitza (Berestovec), 
and the Jew Moisei Isaacovich Khoroshenki of 
Grodno, brought before the court on Feb. 24, 1541, 
it is evident that Jews lived there before that date. 
The Jewish population in 1890 was 665. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Akty Wilenskot Archeograficheskot Kom- 
missti, xvii. 284; Entziklopedicheski Slovar, vol. iv., St. 
Petersburg, 1895. 

H. R. 


BREUER, JOSEPH: Austrian puysician; born 
Jan. 15, 1842, at Vienna. He studied medicine at 
the University of Vienna, whence in 1863 he grad- 
uated with the degree of doctor of medicine and 
surgery. The same year he entered the service of 
the Vienna General Hospital (Allgemeines Kranken- 
Aaus); remaining there until 1866, when he was ap- 
pointed assistant to Oppolzer. Five years later he 
resigned that position, and soon after became privat- 
docent at the University of Vienna. 

In 1890 Breuer gave up his docentship to devote 
himself entirely to the practise of his profession and 
to writing on medicine. He has been a frequent 
contributor to the medical and physiological jour- 
nals of Austria and Germany; his special subject of 
study having been the physiology and pathology of 
the nervous system. Jointly with Hering he wrote 
“Die Selbststeuerung der Athmung Durch den Ner. 
vus Vagus” (in the “Sitzungsberichte der Wiener 
Akademie der Wissenschaften,” 1868, lviii.). In 1878 


379 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





his monograph on the function of the semicircular 
eanals in the labyrinth, “Ueber die Function der 
Bogengiinge des Ohrlabyrinthes,” appeared in the 
“Wiener Medicinische Jahrbiicher.” In this mono- 
graph he broached acomplete theory of equilibrium: 
maintaining that the peripheral apparatus of the 
sense of equilibrium has its scat in the semicircular 
canals. He has contributed to the literature of the 
static sense, in “ Beitriige zur Lehre vom Statischen 
Sinue.” Breuer has also written a number of arti- 
cles that have appeared chiefly in “ Pfliger’s Archiv ” 
and other medical papers, and jointly with Sigmund 
Freud he published “Studien itiber Hysteric,” Leip- 
sic and Vienna, 1899. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ludwig Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, ii. 52. 


“ W. 8. 


BRIBERY: The offer or receipt of anything of 
value in corrupt payment for an official act done or 
‘to be done. 

The moral basis for the Jewish law against bribery 
is clearly expressed in Deut. xvi. 19-20; see also 
Ex. xxiii, 8. Divine sanction for the injunction 
against bribery is found in another passage in Deu- 
teronomy, wherein God is described as the perfect 
Judge who regardeth not persons, nor taketh re- 
ward, and who executes the judgment of the orphan 
and the widow (x. 17-18). 

These general statements are applied clearly and 
forcivly by King Jehoshaphat in his charge to the 

new judges whom he appointed to 


In the _ preside in the courts of the various 
Bible. cities of Judah: “Take heed what ye 


do, for ye judge not for man but for 
the Lord who is with you in the judgment; where- 
fore, now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; 
take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with 
the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking 
of bribes” (IT Chron. xix. 6,7); and in a similar 
spirit he charged the Levites and the priests and the 
chief of the fathers of Israel (2. 9). These admo- 
nitions seem to be a reflection of the words of Jethro 
in the plan which he offered to Moses for the consti- 
tution of courts, to assist the latter in judging the 
people. He sumsup the qualifications of the judges 
in these words: “Thou shalt provide out of all the 
people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, 
hating gain” (Ex, xviii. 21). 

The Biblical law nowhere provides a penalty for 
this crime. It is mentioned among the crimes for 
which the curse was pronounced on Mount Ebal 
(Deut. xxvii. 25). According to the later law it 
was punished by the infliction of thirty-nine stripes, 
following the general maxim that wherever the 
punishment for @ crime is not specifically men- 
tioned in the Bible, corporal punishment is to be 
inflicted. 

It is well known that the temptation to bribery is 
especially strong in Oriental countries, where public 
opinion is not well organized and where great, al- 
most irresponsible, power is lodged in the hands of 
the judges; and it appears from numerous passages 
‘n the Bible that the judges and the princes of Israel, 
especially during the period of kingship, freely sold 
judgment for money. It needs but one quotation 
to illustrate this condition of things: “Thy princes 


Brest-Litovsk 
Bribery 





are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every 
enue loveth bribes and followeth after rewards; they 
judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of 
the widow come unto them” (Isa. i, 28, v. 28, xx xiii. 
15). Other prophets accuse them of taking bribes 
even to shed blood (Ezek. xxii. 12; Amos v. 12; 
Micah iit. 1, vii, 3). The bribe-taker is condemned 
not only by the Law and the Prophets, but also by 
the Psalmist (Ps. xv. 5) and the proverbial wisdom 
of the people (Prov. xvii. 28). 

The only case of actual bribe-taking recorded in 
the Bible is that of the sons of Samuel, of whom it 
is said: “ His sons walked not in his ways, but turned 
aside after lucre and took bribes, and perverted 
judgment” (I Sam. vill. 8); and it appears that this 
condition of things was the cause of the gathering 
of the elders of Israel for the purpose of electing a 
king who, the people fondly hoped, would put an 
end to this and other evils existing in the common 
wealth (20, Iv. 22). 

The Talmudic law went beyond the Biblical law 
in its condemnation of bribery and inits regulations 

concerning it. The case of Karna, a 

Talmudic criminal judge of Babylonia (contem- 

Law. porary of Rab and Samuel), appears 

to have been the leading case on the 

question of the right of a judge to be paid for his 

services. Karna took a stater from each of the par- 

ties before he tried a case, to pay him for his loss of 

time; and the Talmud, after considerable argument 

for and against, justifies his action on that ground 

(Ket. 105a). Rab Huna similarly would not try a 

case until the tigants had furnished a substitute to 
do his work while he was acting as judge (¢d.). 

The Mishnah lays down the broad rule that if 
a judge takes pay for rendering a judgment, the 
judgment is void (Mishnah Bekorot iv. 6). This, 
according to the reasoning in Karna’s case, seems 
to mean that if pay is taken after the judgment is — 
rendered, or if it is taken from only one of the par- 
ties litigant, the judgment is void; and such a view 
may be harmonized with the view of the Talmud, 
that the judge is entitled to be paid for his loss of 
time, provided that both of the parties contribute, 
and provided the money is paid to him before he 
tries the case. 

The moral sense of Talmudists is illustrated by 
the following statement in the Sifre to Deut. xvi. 
19; “‘ Thou shalt not take a bribe’ is not an injunc- 
tion against taking it for the purpose of clearing 
the guilty and convicting the innocent; this wrong 
is covered by the prohibition ‘Thou shalt not wrest 
judgment,’ but even to convict the guilty and acquit 
the innocent, thou shalt not take a bribe” (see also 
Mek., Mishpatim, 20; Maimonides, “Yad,” Sanh. 
xxiii. 1). Rabaasked, “Why is it forbidden to take 
a bribe to free the innocent?” and he answers the 
question himself, saying: “As soon as one accepts a 
bribe, he inclines to favor the donor and considers 
himself ‘one with him’; and no man will find him- 
self guilty ” (Ket. 105b). As it is impossible to de- 
termine judicially who is innocent and whois guilty, 
before the trial has taken place, the acceptance of 
the bribe before the trial, for the purpose of acquit- 
ting the innocent, is in itself tantamount to declar- 
ing who is innocent without going through the 


Bribery 
Bride 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


380 





formality of atrial. This would seem to be the mean- 
ing of Raba’s answer. 

Raba’s statement that the person accepting the 
bribe considers himself as one with the briber, leads 
the Talmud to a fanciful interpretation of the word 
samy (“bribe”). ‘Ww iscompounded of two words, 
wn xinw (“he is one”; that is, he, the judge, “is 
one” with the litigant, Ket. 7d.). Rab Papa ex- 
presses this thought in other words: “A judge 
should not try the case of one whom he loves or 
hates, because he will find no guilt in his friend and 
no innocence in his foe” (Ket. 2b.). The Talmud 
cites a number of instances where judges refused to 
try cases in which the parties litigant were persons 
who had befriended them. There was no question 
of bribery in the form of money involved in such 
cases, but the judges refused to try them upon the 
broad ground that one might be bribed, by kind 

words or by feelings of friendship, to 
Cases _incline thescales of justice in favor of 
Cited in the oneof the parties; and that therefore, 
Talmud. in order to preserve absolute impar- 
tiality, the judge should not stand on 

intimate footing with either of the parties litigant. 

Abba Arika refused to try a case in which the inn- 
keeper at whose inn he usually lodged was a party, 
and appointed another to try it (Sanh. 7b); Mar Sam- 
uel declined the case of a man wo gave him his 
hand to assist him in landing from a ferry. Ame- 
mar refused to act as judge for a man who had 
picked a feather from his hair that had been lodged 
there by the wind; and Mar ‘Ukba, for a man who 
had trodden his spittle in the dust. The Talmud 
justifies their views upon strictiy legal grounds. 
The law is, “Thou shalt not takea bride,” not, “Thou 
shalt not take gain or money”; hence one may be 
bribed even by kind words. 

The most interesting case is that of R. Ismael bar 
Jose. It was his custom to receive every Friday 
from his own garden a basket of fruit, which his 
gardener carried to him. On one occasion the gar- 
dener brought the fruit on Thursday, that being 
court day. When R. Ismael asked him why he 
brought it on Thursday instead of the accustomed 
day, the gardener replied, “I have a lawsuit to-day, 
and I thought I would bring the fruit with me,” 
presumably as a matter of convenience to save him 
the journey on the following day. But R. Ismael 
refused to act as judge in his case, appointing two 
other rabbis to try it. During the progress of the 
case he thought, “If my gardener will only say 
thus and so, he will win his case,” whereupon he 
said, “May the souls of those who take bribes be 
destroyed. If I, who did not even take the busket 
of fruit, and who would after all only have been 
taking my own property, am so prejudiced in favor 
of this man, how much more partial must be the 
judge who really accepts a bribe” (Ket. 105b). 

Maimonides states the matter broadly in these 
words: “A judge may not sit to try the case of one 
to whom he is favorably inclined, even though such 
person may not be a relative or an intimate friend, 
nor may he try the case of one whom he dislikes, 
even though such person may not be his enemy nor 
does not. seek to do him harm; for both litigants 
must stand equal before the judge, and must be 


considered equal in heart” (“ Yad,” Sanh. xxiii. 6). 
An offensive practise of the judges, of conducting 
their business so that the fees of the court attend- 
ants and scribes were unduly increased, was consid. 
ered a species of bribe-taking, and was condemned 
as such (Shab. 56a; “ Yad,” Sanh. xxiii. 3; Shulhan. 
‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 9, 4). 

If the judge nevertheless tries the case of a person. 
who has sent him a gift before the summons issued, 
the other party can not attack the jurisdiction of the 
court on this account, for the judge is not legally 
disqualified from acting in sucha case. It is, how- 
ever, his duty, under the opinions expressed by the 
authorities, to refuse to try the case because of a 
possible prejudice in favor of the person who sent. 
him the gift (dd. 9, 2). If a judge has borrowed 
something from a person who afterward appears be- 
fore him as a litigant, he is not permitted to try 
the case, unless it appears that he isa man of means 
or has property which the lender may borrow from 
him (“ Yad,” Sanh. xxiii. 4; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen 
Mishpat, 9, 1). 

The bribe-giver and the bribe-taker are equally 
guilty before the law (¢.; “ Yad,” Sanh. xxiii. 2); 
and the bribe must be returned if the donor demands 
it (ib. xxiii. 1; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 
wb.). The difficulty which formerly existed by rea- 
son of the fact that judges were not paid for their 

services, was removed under the later 
Under the law. Anannual tax was levied on the 
Later Law. community for the purpose of paying 
the judges a proper salary for their 
services; and the moneys given or bequeathed for 
sacred uses were likewise appropriated to this pur- 
pose (2b. 9, 8). R. Moses Isserles thought it was best. 
to levy these taxes for payment of the judges’ sala- 
ries at the beginning of the year, in order that they 
might be assured of their support for the entire pe- 
riod, and that they need not be beholden to any per- 
son (gloss, @.). 

The frequent allusion in the Law to the fact that 
bribe-taking has the effect of blinding the eves of 
the wise, did not escape the attention of the hag- 
gadists, who said: “ Every judge who takes a bribe 
and perverts judgment will not die before his eves 
have grown dim, as it is written: Fora bribe blind- 
eth the eyes of those who can see” (Mishnah Peah 
viii. 9; see also Midrash Tan., Shofetim, 8). 

Maimonides summarizes the question of bribery 
most impressively in the following words: “The 
judge must conduct himself as though asword were 
lying on his throat and Gehinnom open at his feet; 
he must know whom he is judging, before whom he 
is judging, and who will demand an account from 
him as to the justice of the judgment” (“ Yad,” 
Sanh, xxiii. 8). See JupGE; JusTicE anp Equity, 
PRINCIPLES OF. 

E. C. D. W. A. 

[The following example is given in the Talmud of 
the venality of the non-Jewish judges: ImmaShalom, 
R. Gamaliel’s sister, wishing to expose a judge (prob- 
ably a Christian) who had the reputation of being 
proof against bribes, presented him with a golden 
candlestick, with the request to award to her a por- 
tion of her parents’ estate. His decision was: “ Since 
you [the Jews] have been banished from vour coun 


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381 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bribery 
Bride 


Da ee 


try, the law of Moses is no longer applicable, but 
another law has been given that says: ‘The son and 
the daughter sha}l inherit equally.’” On the fol- 
lowing day, however, after R. Gamaliel had pre- 
sented the judge with a Libyan ass, the judge said: 
“TI have been looking over the conclusion of the 
new law, where it says: ‘I am not come to destroy 
the law of Moses, but to complete it’ [see Matt. v. 
17], and there it is said, ‘A daughter shall not in- 
herit with the son.’” Imma Shalom then said to 
the judge: “Let your light shine likea candlestick,” 
reminding him of her present; but R. Gamaliel an- 
swered, “An ass came and overthrew the candle- 
stick ” (Shab. 116a, b; see also Pesik. xv. 122b et seq., 
and parallels in Buber’s notes). In one passage of 
the Talmud it is said that the Persians, especially 
the Ghebers, took bribes and relented in the execu- 
tion of discriminating laws against the Jews if they 
were paid for it (Yeb. 63b; compare also B. K. 
11%a). 

The Halakah with reference to not taking fees 
frequently gave rise to violent controversies iu the 
Middle Ages, when the communities began to ap- 
point permanent rabbis with salaries; since it was 
considered unlawful to pay a rabbi who was also 
judge. SceFrrs; see also Gtidemann, “ Religions- 
geschichtliche Studien,” pp. 65-88. | sed 


J. SR. 

BRICHANY: Town in the government of Bes- 
sarabia, Russia, with (in 1898) 7,303 Jewish inhabit- 
ants in a total population of 8,094. The Jewish 
artisans number 972, most of whom are furriers who 
export fur overcoats and caps to the extent of 25,000 
per annum. About twenty-five families are occu- 
pied in the culture of tobacco and in gardening. 
About 700 Jews are day laborers, earning from 10 to 


30 copecks per day. 
i. R. 5. J. 


BRICK: The expression “brick” (rons; trans- 
lated once “tile” in A. V., Ezek. iv. 1) designates 
both the burnt and the sun-dried brick. However, 
there is only one certain passage in which the first 
kind is referred to—viz., Gen. xi. 8—and there the 
Babylonian custom of “burning brick thoroughly ” 
(thus A. V.; “thoroughly ” should be omitted) seems 
to be treated as not less foreign to Palestine than is 
the use of bitumen (R. V.) formortar. Apparently, 
all other passages mean the unburnt mud-brick, 
dried solely by the sun. This practise is current 
in the ancient Orient and in the modern East 
likewise, which still has in general a great pref- 
erence for unbaked clay as building material. The 
A. V. in II Sam. xii. 81; Nahum iii. 14; Jer. xlifi. 
9, speaks of the brick-kiln, but the rendering is not 
correct. The first passage—which was formerly 
considered asastrong proof of the barbarous cruelty 
of David’s time—is most likely to be translated, 
“David made them [the captives] labor with the 
brick-mold” (compare R. V. margin on this slight 
emendation). Similarly, R. V. margin in Nahum, 
in accordance with the Peshitta. In Jer. xliii. 9 the 
R. V. substitutes “ brickwork” (margin, “ pavement 
or square”; so also the Pesh. and Hoffmann; the 
former translation was defended by Hitzig and 
others). No version offers any support to the idea 


of a kiln in these passages (see G. Hoffmann, in 
Stade’s “ Zeitschrift,” 1882, ii. 53 e¢ seq.). 

Indeed, burnt bricks in Oriental ruins seem to 
date from Roman times. Egypt—in which the sun- 
dried brick from Nile mud formed the material for 
all secular buildings and even for many tombs (in 
earliest time, for all the royal tombs and pyramids) 
seems to furnish the best analogue. The only 
means employed by the Egyptians to give greater 
durability to this material was the admixture of 
straw and stubble with the clay: mentioned in Ex. 
v. 7. This seems to have been a purely Egyptian 
custom. On Egyptian monuments there are found 
scenes representing brickmaking; and among these 
some showing captive Semites at work with the 
brick-mold, who have often erroneously been taken 
for Israelites. 

In Babylonia (see above on Gen. xi.) burnt bricks 
were often employed for the outer layers of impor- 
tant public constructions, because of the copious 
winter rains of the country. This led to a high de- 
velopment of the ornamentation of buildings with 
glazed and painted bricks and tiles: so, for example, 
Nebuchadnezzar’s palace at Babylon. In Egypt 
only a few instances of the employment of such 
methods can be found (Tell el-Amarna, Tell el- 
Yehudiye); while the Persians still used such bricks 
in the Babylonian manner, for instance, in the palace 
of Susa. But, by the side of this, the unburnt 
brick always played the greater part. It may be 
mentioned that the size of Babylonian and Egyptian 
bricks was larger than that of the modern brick, often 
enormous. In both countries the brick-mold—that 
is, the open box with a handle—often furnished a 
royal or official stamp for the bricks, stating the 
date, and the building for which the bricks were 
determined, etc. Of none of these higher develop- 
ments of brick-manufacturing have examples been 
found in Palestine, which country offered rich ma- 
terial in stones for public buildings. The unburnt 
bricks of which the Palestinian mounds exhibit nu- 
merous examples seem to have formed the principal 
building material for private houses, except for a 
few of the most wealthy (Isa. ix. 9; Amos v. 11). 
For constituents of bricks, tablets, or tiles see CLay; 
and on the use of a tablet or tile see ALPHABET and 
PALEOGRAPHY. 

J. IR. W. M. M. 

BRIDE.—In Mystic Lore: The allegorical 
use of the name “Bride” for “Israel” is based upon 
Hosea ii. 19-20: “I will betroth thee forever,” and, 
in conjunction with Ezek. xvi. 8, gave rise to the 
allegorical interpretation of the Song of Solomon as 
ty pifying the espousal of God as the King of Peace 
(Solomon) and Israel (the Shulamite), at the redemp- 
tion from Egypt and the erection of the tabernacle 
(see Pesik. 1a, 6a; Pesik. R., ed. Friedmann, v. 
17%b, 21b; Cant. R. to lv. 8-12, where the expression 
“kallah” [bride] is referred to Israel). However, 
according to Origen(“ Cantic. Canticor.” Homily iv. ; 
compare also “Tehilat Perush Shir ha-Shirim” in 
“Steinschneider Festschrift” and ALLEGorIcAL IN- 
TERPRETATION), the Palestinian Jews gave the Song 
of Solomon a mystical interpretation, allowing it to 
be studied only by men of mature age. This would 
indicate that, tike the “merkabah” of Ezekiel and 


Bridegroom 
Bridle 





the Creation story, the Song of Solomon served asa 
basis for Gnostic mysteries such as Paul suggests in 
Eph. v. 32, where he finds in the union of husband 
and wife “a sacred mystery,” obviously of cosmo- 
logical character. Accordingly, the bride and bride- 
groom were important in the Gnostic mysteries. See 
Irenseus, “ Adversus Heereses.” i. vii. 1: “ Hakamot 
(Sophia), the mother, after all her seed had been per- 
fected, enters the pleroma as bride and receives the 
Savior or Demiurge as her spouse.” which “ mystery 
of conjunction ” these heretics dramatically imitated 
in their illicit marriages. 

Yet these mysteries borrowed the anthropomor- 
phic form of the Deity from the Song of Solomon 
(Schmidt, “Gnostische Schriften in  Woptischer 
Sprache,” 1892, pp. 279-281, where Cant. ill. 11 is 
quoted), exactly as did the Jewish cabalists when 
measuring the dimensions of the Deity in the *Shi‘ne 
Komah” (Gaster, “ Monatsschrift,” 1893, p. 216). 

In conformity with this idea Malkut, “the King- 
dom,” the lowest of the Ten Sefirot, is called the 
bride, because she desires, but has not attained, the 
union with Ze‘er Anpin, the creative power or 
“Microprosopus ” (the Lesser Countenance); where- 
as Binah (“the Intelligence ”), as the Mother Super- 
nu, isactually united with the Father, “the Ancient 
One,” the Erek Anpin (“the Vast Countena:.ce,” or 
“Macroprosopus ”) in the Upper Sphere of the Ten 
Sefirot (Zohar, in Idra Zutta, pp. 267-279). See 
SEFIROT. 

The union therefore of the bride or matron 
(“matronita ”) with her celestial spouse, that is to lift 
the created world into the sphere of the supreme 
fulness of glory (the pleroma of Paul in Eph. iii. 
19). by doing works of goodness and holiness, is the 
object of life, according to the cabalists—a truly 
spiritual view in itself, yet one which led the erring 
to all sorts of abuse, exactly as the ancient Gnostic 
mystery of Stiuon Maevus and many Christian here- 
tics bad done im the second and third centuries. 
Shabbethai Zehi and his followers in the seventeenth 
century were entangled in sensualism of the worst 
character. Compare SABBATH, See also BETROTITAL. 

Is. 

BRIDEGROOM AND BRIDEGROOWS 

FRIENDS. See Berrotuans; MarrtaGE, 


BRIDEGROOM OF GENESIS (Hatan 
Bereshit). See Brurpecroom or rik Law. 


BRIDEGROOM OF THE LAW (Hatan 
Torah): The somewhat poetic designation of Bride- 
grooms of the Law and of Genesis are given to the 
persons called up in the synagogue to the reading of 
the chapters ending and beginning the Pentateuch re- 
spectively (Deut. XX XTi. 37-xxxiv. 12; Gen. i. 1-ii. 3). 
This takes piace on Simhat Torah, or the Rejoicing 
of the Law festival, which is the second day of the 
Shemini ‘Azeret, or Eighth Dav of Solemn Assembly, 
in those communities in which the second-day fes- 
tival is observed. It is considered a privilege to be 
the one to whom the concluding or the opening por- 
tion of the Law is read ; and those persons upon whom 
the choice of the congregation falls are esteemed as 
specially honored. The honor of the bridegroom 
of the Law is greater than that of the bridegroom 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


382 


of Genesis, Other privileges are conferred upon the 
recipients of these dignities in order to increase the 
distinction of their station. They are not called te 
the Law by the ordinary formula. “ Ya‘amod ” (Let 
N. N. arise)—which is otherwise uscd—but by a 
special, poetic invocation, beginning Gn the Ashke- 
nazic ritual) with the words 33) byn seer TLS 
NWI CC by permission of the erent, ainewhty. are 
tremendous God ”) for the Hatan Torah; and AywsYD 
myer mois $5 by pany (“by permission of Him 
who is exalted above ali blessing and song”) for 
the Hatan Bereshit. The bridegroons of the Law 
and of Genesis usnally make large money offerings 
to the synagogue, in recognition of the honor con- 
ferred upon them, and. entertain the congregation at 
a more or less elaborate banquet, cither in the meet- 
ing-room or the basement of the synagogue or at 
their private residences. See TABERNACLEsS, and 
SiuHat Torau. For the origin of the name and 
the custom see CROWN OF THE LAW, 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Midrash Shir ha-Shirim, i. 9: Sefer ha- 
Minhagim, m7 pany Sw oamse: Shidhan “Aruk, Orah 
Hayyim, § 669; Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle 
Ages, p. 29; Dembitz, Services tv Synagogue and Home, 


p. 283. 
A. B. D. 
BRIDEGROOM OF THE TORAH. See 


BRIDEGROOM OF THE LAW. 


BRIDLE: A term used in the English versions 
of the Bibie interchangeably with bit to represent 
the three Hebrew words }D5. im. and Opry. which, 
however, do not as a rule denote the usual head- 
gear of a horse or other beast of burden, consisting 
of a head-stall, a bit, and reins. Inmany passages 
“halter ”"—7.e., asimple rope or ieatheru strap where- 
with to hold the animal in check—would seem to be 
the more appropriate rendering. 

No description of the head-harness is found in the 
Hebrew Bible. As horses came into use only ata 
late period, and then more for purposes of luxury 
than utility, the pictures of steeds with elaborate 
head-gear found on the Assyrian monuments (see 
Layard, “Nineveh”) can not be held to throw any 
light on the contrivances employed by the Hebrews, 
though thearrangement with bells mentioned iu Zech. 
xiv. 20 was in all probability adopted in imitation 
of Assyrian fashion. The ox, the ass, as well as the 
mule, and to 4 less extent the camel. took the place 
of the horse. To guide and control the first-men- 
tioned animal the goad sufficed; and, if Arabic cus- 
tom may be supposed to retain the primitive habits 
of the ancient Hebrews, the camel was led by arope 
attached to a ring of either copper (“ burrah ”), or 
hair (“hizamah ”), which was passed through one of 
the nostrils. 

Still, bridles were not altogether unknown, as 
distinct names for them were employed according 
as they were used for the horse orthecame!. These 
bridles were very simple affairs, often mace of mere 
twine; while the bits were, at least in pre-Moham- 
medan days. of wood (“sajarah ”). Even among the 
modern Arabs the iron bit passes underneath the 
chin (jaws) of the horse, or is in front of the mouth 
(see Socin, “Diwan aus Central-Arabien,” i. 288). 
This arrangement explains some passages in which 
the usual translation by “bridle” has produced 


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Brieg 
Brill 


confusion. Job xxx. 11, R. V., “they have cast off 
the bridle,” refers to the slipping of the halter. Isa. 
xxx. 28, “bridle in the jaws” should be rendered 
“halter (or bridle with iron) on the jaws.” <A bridle 
with a ring arrangement through the nose is meant 
in II Kings xix. 28 by the Hebrew word ®nnm (“in 
thy nose”), to which ‘sn (“over thy lips”) is a 
parallel. See also Prov. xxvi. 3; Isa. xxxvii. 29, 
A. V.; Ps. xxxii. 9, R. V., “bit and bridle”; more 
accurately, “bridle and halter.” | 

In Ps. xxxix. 2 (A. V., 1) DION is properly trans- 
lated in the Revised Version by “muzzle.” The 
allusion there is to the use of a basket-like network 
which was passed over the head of the animal and 
fastened behind the ears and around the neck; en- 
veloping the mouth as with a bag, to prevent the 
bearer biting the yoke-mate or other animals in the 
caravan, In the psalm itis the tongue which thereby 
is hindered from “biting.” As this “muzzle” also 
interfered with the taking of food, the humane law 
of Deut. xxv. 4 forbade its being put over the 
mouth of the ox while on the threshing-floor. 

E. G. H. 


BRIEG: Town in Silesia; formerly the capital 
of the duchy of the same name. Jews settled there 
about 1324, chiefly because it was situated on the 
commercial route to Breslau, in which place a col- 
ony of Jews had long resided. The Jewish commu- 
nitv of Brieg had its separate place of worship 
from early times. In the fourteenth century the 
Jews of Brieg were persecuted on account of their 
usurious practises; and in 1392 it was clatmed that 
all debts of the duke had been discharged by the 
payments to Jacob, the son of Moses, a Jew of 
Brieg, of acertificate of indebtedness. In 1398 the 
Brieg Jews bought a letter of protection from the 
duke, whereby they were guaranteed the peaceful 
possession of their privileges. But in 1401 they 
were driven from the city, except Jacob and Se- 
man von Reichenbach, who had received a patent 
of protection from the duke’s council for six years 
from May 1, 13899. Selomo, a capitalist, lent large 
sums of money to royal houses in the fifteenth 
century. 

With the decline of Breslau as a trade center, the 
Jews of Brieg became little more than an isolated 
community ; and in modern times they shared the lot 
of the other Silesian Jews. They carried on insig- 
nificant trade operations as arule. The conquest of 
Silesia by Frederick the Great wrought but slight 
change in their condition. 

At the present time (1902) Brieg has a Jewish com- 
munity of 310 souls, of whom 55 are house-owners. 
Three charitable societies exist, for the care of the 
poor, for burying paupers, and a woman’s league. 
Brieg is included in the union of congregations of 
the districts of Breslau and Liegnitz. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brann, Gesch. der Juden in Schlesien; 
Jahrb. des Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeindebundes. 


D. A. M. F. 

BRIEGER, LUDWIG: German physician and 
medical writer; born at Glatz, in Prussian Silesia, 
July 26, 1849. He received his education at the 
gymnasium of his native town and at the univer- 
sities of Breslau and Strasburg. From the latter 
he was graduated as M.D. in 1875. After a post- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


384 


graduate course at Vienna and Berlin, he became 
assistant at the private ophthalmic hospital of Cohn 
at Breslau, at the same time studying under Cohn- 
heim at the pathological institute of the university. 
Leaving Breslau in 1876, he went to Bern as assist- 
ant to Quincke at the medical hospital of the 
university. 

From Bern, Brieger removed in 1878 to Berlin, 
attending the physiological laboratory. In 1879 he 
became assistant to Frerichs, and later to Leyden at 
the First Medical Hospital, Berlin. From 1881 he 
was privat-docent, and from 1887 titular professor 
in the University of Berlin. In 1890 he opened a 
private dispensary and hospital. The same year he 
was elected assistant professor, and in 1891 was ap- 
pointed chief physician of the university hospital 
and dispensary for contagious diseases. In 1897 he 
occupied the chair of pathology and therapeutics 
as substitute for Professor Ehrlich. Since 1899 he 
has occupied the chair of general therapeutics. The 
following year he received the title of “Geheimer 
Medizinalrath.” 

Brieger is a contributor to numerous medical 
journals, and has written many essays and books 
dealing with pharmacology, pharmaceutical chem- 
istry, bacteriology, pathology, and therapeutics, and 
is considered an authority on each of these subjects. 

Of his many essays and books the following may 
be mentioned: (1) “Zur Physiologischen Wirkung 
der Abfiihrmittel,” in “ Archiv fiir Experimentale Pa- 
thologie und Therapie,” 1877; (2) “ Ueber die Aroma- 
tischen Producte der Faulniss im Eiweiss,” in “ Zeit- 
schrift fiir Physikalische Chemie,” 1879; (3) “Zur 
Kenntnissnahme des Physiologischen Verhaltnisses 
des Brenzcatechin, Hydrochinon, und Resorcin” 
in Du Bois-Reymond’s “ Archiv fir Physiologie,” 
1879; (4) “ Beitriige zur Lehre von der Fibrésen Hepa- 
titis,” in Virchow’s “ Archiv fiir Pathologische Ana- 
tomie und Physiologie und fiir Klinische Medizin,” 
1879; (5) “ Ueber Einige Bestandthceile des Jauchigen 
Eiters des Menschen,” in “Zeitschrift fiir Physika- 
lische Chemie,” 1881; (6) “Beitrag zur Schreckliih- 
mung,” in “ Zeitschrift fir Klinische Medizin,” 1881, 
pp. 121 et seg.; (7) “ Ueber Febris Recurrens,” in the 
“Charité Annalen,” 1881, pp. 136-150; (8) “ Ueber 
Spaltungs Producte der Bacterien,” in “ Zeitschrift 
fiir Physikalische Chemie,” 1884; (9) “Ueber Pto- 
maine,” Berlin, 1885-86 (in this work, consisting of 
three volumes, the author proves that the bacteria 
develop their injurious qualities through a specific 
poisonous product of the toxins and toxalbumins); 
(10) “ Ueber das Vorkommen von Tetanie bei einem 
am Wundstarrkrampf Erkrankten Individuum,” in 
“Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift,” 1888, pp. 829 et 
seg. ; (11) with Stadthagen, “ Ueber Cystinurie, Nebst 
Bemerkungen iiber einen Fall von Morbus Macu- 
losus Werlhofii,” 2d. 1889, pp. 844 et seg., 455 et seq. ; 
(12) with C. Frankel, “Untersuchungen tiber Bak- 
teriengifte,” 7b. 1890, pp. 241 et seg., 268 et seg.; (13) 
with Ehrlich, “Ueber die Uebertragung der Immu- 
nitiit Durch Milch,” in “Deutsche Medizinische 
Wochenschrift.” 1892, pp. 393 et seg.; (14) “ Ueber 
die Klinische Bedeutung des Elsnerischen Typhus- 
Nachweises,” 7b. 1895, No. 50; (15) “ Klinische Beob- 
achtungen an Zwei Leprésen,” in “Berliner Kli- 
nische Wochenschrift,” 1896, pp. 1105 e¢ seg. ; and (16) 


385 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brie 
Briit 





“Ueber Versuche der Ucbertragung der Syphilis auf 
Thiere und tiber Serumtherapie bei Syphilis,” in 
“Klinisches Jahrbuch,” 1899. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hirsch, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 

1881; Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 1901. 

8. FE. T. H. 

BRIELI or BRIEL (ssn), JUDAH LEON 
BEN ELIEZER (also known in rabbinical litera- 
ture under the contraction MaHaRIL): Rabbi in 
Mantua; born about 1648: died in 1722. 

Brieli, besides being a high Talmudical authority, 
as is shown in the responsa of his contemporaries 
Ishmael Coen, Morpurgo, and others who asked his 
opinion on halakic questions, was well versed in 
the secular sciences, which he zealously cultivated. 
Being highly esteemed by the Sephardic community 
of Amsterdam on account of his learning, his char- 
acter, and his great age, he was asked by Zebi Ash- 
kenazi (Hakam Zebi) and his followers for his sup- 
port in their campaign against HayytNn and his 
cabalistic vagaries. Brieli, who was opposed to the 
Cabala in general, could have but little sympathy 
with Hayyun. He accordingly addressed two let- 
ters to Hakam Zebi (the first was published in 
“Milhamot Adonai”), three to AyHon, two to the 
board of the Amsterdam community, and one to 
Benjamin Finzi, in all of which he condemned Hay- 
yun and approved the suppression of his book. 
Hayyun in his pamphlet against Hakam Zebi, enti- 
tled “Ha-Zad Zebi,” says that Brieli isa Latinist and 
philosopher, but knows nothing about the Cabala; 
that he (Brieli) denies to Simeon ben Yohai the au- 
thorship of the Zohar; that he (Brieli), contrary to 
the Jewish Jaw, has never married, and wears no 
beard. 

Brieli was the author of the following works: (1) 
“Shefer Kelale ha-Dikduk” (The Beauty of the 
Grammatical Rules), a Hebrew grammar; (2) 
“Hassagot ‘al Sifre ha-Sheluhim ” (Criticisms on the 
Books of the Apostles); (3) “La Sinagoga Disin- 
gannata dagli Inganni del Padre Pinamonti”; (4) 
“ Esame delle Riflessioni Teologiche,” on the miracles. 
Of these only the first-named was published (Man- 
tua, 1724); the others are still extant in manuscript 
(Dei Rossi, Nos. 22, 23; Neubauer, “ Cat. Bodl. Hebr. 
MSS.” s.0.). Brieli also translated into Hebrew the 
letters of Seneca (“Kerem Hemed,” ii. 119). 

An elegy on Brieli was published by his pupil 
Cohen Modon, under the title “Zir ha-Zirim,” in 
which Brieli’s knowledge of mathematics, logic, 
and natural history is highly praised. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 33; Nepi-Ghi- 
rondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p. 127; Dei Rossi, Diztonario 
Storico, p. 75; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, x. 487, 488; Stein- 
schneider, Cat. Bodt. col. 1299; Mortara, in Corriere Israe- 
litico, i. 161 et seq. 

Tec: I. Br. 

BRIER. Sve BRAMBLE. 

BRIGHT, JOHN: English statesman and ora- 
tor: born at Greenbank, Nov, 16, 1811; died in 
Rochdale March 27, 1889. It has been stated that 
his mother, Martha Jacobs, was a Jewess; but this 
statement is erroneous, such Biblical names being 
not uncommon among the English peasantry. Dur- 
ing his long public career he more than once distin- 
cuished himself as an unflinching advocate of the 
political emancipation of the Jews of England, on 

TIE.—25 


A a Ty a ve 


the ground of what he designated “justice to the 
Jewish population of the country.” On May 14, 
1849, on the introduction of the . Parliamentary 
Oaths’ Bill—which dealt with the question of the 
light of Jews to sit in Parliament—Bright delivered 
a powerful speech in the House of Commons, fer- 
vently advocating the claims of the Jewish race and 
declaring that he “should vote for the bill, as far as 
it goes, because it admitted Jews into Parliament.” 
On many other occasions he took the same position, 
as, for instance, in 1851, when the question of Jew- 
ish disabilities was raised in Parliament by the action 
of Alderman Salomons. But in his speech deliv- 
ered in the House of Commons on April 15, 1858, 
during the debate on the Jewish DrsaBrLiries 
Bill, Bright gave the most vigorous expression to 
his principles of religious equality as applied to the 
Jews. His attitude toward the Jews was independ- 
ent of any personal feeling, and was a direct out- 
come of his religious and political principles. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle, March 29, 1889, p.9; April 
d, 1889, p. 8; Bright’s Speeches on Questions of Public 
AE pee by James E. Thorold Rogers, ii. 487-495, Lon- 


J. B. B. 


BRILL, AZRIEL: Hungarian rabbi and author; 
lived in the first half of the nineteenth century; 
assistant rabbi (dayyan) at Pest, Hungary. He 
wrote: “Hadrat Kodesh ”” (Beauty of Holiness), con- 
taining the Mishnah treatises, Rosh ha-Shanah, and 
Yoma, with a commentary and German translation; 
a collection of the prescriptions and prayers for the 
ten penitential days; also an essay on the Temple 
ritual for the Day of Atonement, and a Jewish cal- 
endar up to 6000 (Ofen, 1827). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 4469; First, 


Bibl. Jud. i. 182; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 184. 
L. G, I. Ber. 


BRILL, JEHIEL: Russian journalist. Ac- 
cording to Zeitlin he was born in 1836 in Tult- 
schin, Russian Poland; but Fuenn, who knew him 
well, states that he was born in British India. He 
died in London Nov. 12, 1886. Taken to Constan- 
tinople when quite young, and later brought to 
Jerusalem, he grew up in the latter city and there 
received a Talmudical education and the strictly 
Orthodox training common to natives of Russia liv- 
ing in Palestine. In 1863, with the assistance of his 
father-in-law, the traveler Jacob Safir, he estab- 
lished the Hebrew monthly “Ha-Lebanon,” which, 
after the appearance of the twelfth number, was 
suppressed by the Turkish government. After 
many tribulations Brill went to Paris, where he 
again commenced to publish the “ Lebanon,” first as 
a semi-monthly (1865-68), and later as a weekly 
(1868-70). The Franco-Prussian war and the siege 
of Paris, by cutting off communication with his 
readers—practically all of whom were outside of 
France—forced him to suspend the publication of his 
journal for the second time. He went to Mayence, 
where he established a Hebrew printing-office and 
renewed the publication of the weekly “ Lebanon,” 
this timeas a Hebrew edition of the “ Mainzer Israei- 
ite,” edited by M. Lehmann, who occupied in Ger- 
man Jewry 4 position corresponding to the one oc- 
cupied by Brill among the Jews of eastern Europe. 


Brill 
Bristol 


” 


In Mayence the publication of the “ Lebanon” was 
continued from 1872 to 1881. This journal became 
the acknowledged organ of ultra-conservative Jews; 
and many pious rabbis contributed to and took an 
interest in its Talmudical literary department, the 
“Yarkete Lebanon.” During part of this time Brill 
also edited and published a Yiddish or Jud&o-Ger- 
man weekly entitled “ Ha-Yisrael,” which, like his 
Hebrew publication, circulated mainly in Russia. 
The Orthodox class, however, never evinced sufti- 
cient interest in journalism in general to make its 
organ a financial success; and the “ Lebanon” had 
for the third time to be discontinued. 

When the movement to establish colonies in Pales- 
tine or its vicinity was inaugurated, after the out- 
break of persecutions in Russia, Brill, who was well 
acquainted with the Holy Land and with the lan- 
guages spoken there, was, through the reeommenda- 
tion of Rabbi Samuel Mohilever, chosen by the Alli- 
ance Israélite Universelle and by Baron Edmond 
de Rothschild to conduct from Russia to Palestine a 
small group of experienced farmers, who were to be 
established in or near the Alliance colony, Mikweh 
Israel. He started from Rosinoi, Russian Poland. 
with eleven men—ten farmers and a “melamed” 
(teacher)—Nov. 21, 1882, and arrived at Palestine 
the following month. The story of his journey and 
of its results is given in detail in his work, 
“Yesod ha-Ma‘aleh ” (The Base of the Slope), which 
Brill published in 1883 in Mayence, whither he had 
returned a sadly disappointed man. In 1884 Brill 
settled in London, and there established a new Yid- 
dish weekly newspaper, the “Sulamith.” In 1886 
he started, for the fourth time, to publish the “ Leb- 
anon,” but was forced to announce its suspension 
after the publication of a few numbers. He died 
suddenly in London the same year. 

“Yesod ha-Ma‘alah” is the only book written by 
Brill. He published, while in Paris, three works 
containing inedited manuscripts from the library of 
Baron Giinzburg, which are described in Zeitlin, 
“Bibliotheca Hebraica Post-Mendelssohniana,” p. 42. 
He also published, with an introduction, an old 
anonymous manuscript, “ Be’er ha-Golah,” on Jew- 
ish archeology (Mayence, 1877), with notes by Jacob 
Tarpower and Reuben Rapoport. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, pp. 520, 521; idem, 
in Ha-Zetira, 1886, No. 172; Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica 
Post-Mendelssohniana, pp. 41, 42. 


8. P. Wi. 
BRILL, JOEL. See Lowe, Jogt. 


BRILL, JOSEPH (also known under the 
pseudonym of “Ayob” [AYN contracted from Ani 
Joseph Brill]): Russian teacher and Hebrew writer; 
born at Gorki, near Mohilev, on the Dnieper, 1839. 
He studied Talmud at the yeshibot of Shklov and 
Vitebsk, and later settled in Minsk, where he opened 
a school for Jewish boys, and in which town he is 
still active as teacher and writer. 

Brill’s first articles appeared in the early sixties in 
the Hebrew periodicals “Ha-Maggid,” “Ha-Meliz,” 
and “Ha-Karmel.” An excellent Hebrew style and 
a fine humor are the chief characteristics of his wri- 
tings. Besides numerous articles in Hebrew year- 
books and periodicals, he has published: “Ish 
Jehudi” (The Jew), a translation from the English 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


386 


of the five-act drama by Richard Cumberland, 
Wilna, 1884; “Kizzur Shulhan ‘Aruk” (Satirical! 
Instructions for Teachers and Pedagogues), in the 
collection “Ozar ha-Sifrut,” Cracow, 1890; “ Mid- 
rash Soferim,” satirical characteristics of contempo- 
rary Hebrew writers, in “ Ha-Shahar,” Vienna, 1879; 
“Lefanim” (In Times of Old), a sketch in “ Ozar 
ha-Sifrut,” 1892, iv. He has prepared for publica- 
tion a volume of poems, a volume of aphorisms, 
proverbs, and a volume of stories. Some of his 
correspondence with Hebrew writers is published 
in H. Rosenberg’s “Ozar Miktabim we-Sippurim,” 
St. Petersburg, 1882. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ozar ha-Sifrut, iv. 643-650, eee 


BRILL, SAMUEL LOW: Hungarian rabbi 
and Talmudical scholar; born Sept. 14, 1814, in 
Budapest; died April 8, 1897. He was carefully 
educated by his father, Azriel Brill (1778-1853), who 
was teacher and associate rabbi at Pest, and the 
author of several works in the Hebrew language. 
After having been carefully grounded at home in 
Hebrew studies, and graduating with honors from 
the Protestant Lyceum of his native city, he attended 
the Talmud schools at Eisenstadt (1882) [under M. 
J. Peris], Presburg (1834-35) [under Moses Sofer], 
and Prague (1836), where he obtained, at the age of 
twenty-two, his rabbinical degree. In 1842-43 he 
was registered in the University of Berlin, where he 
attended the courses of famous teachers, such as 
Boeckh, the classical philologist; Ritter, the geog- 
rapher; Leopold Ranke, the historian ; Schelling, and 
others, and associated with Leopold Zunz and 
Michael Sachs. 

Returning to his native city, he was appointed 
assistant rabbi in 1843, and associate. rabbi in 1850. 
Although he did not come before the public at large 
either in print (his only publication was an anony- 
mous necrology of his teacher Moses Sofer, in the 
“Allg. Zeit. des Judenthums,” 1838) or on the plat- 
form, he soon became widely known by his Tal- 
mudic lectures, which he enlivened with material 
drawn from Hebrew and general literature. Among 
his earliest pupils were W. Bacher and I. Goldziher. 

Brill was highly esteemed not only by his corelig- 
ionists, but also by the Hungarian government, and 
was its first counselor when it was preparing to 
institute a rabbinical seminary (see Moritz BLocu 
[BaLuaei]). He was also one of the founders of 
the Jewish Theological Seminary (“ Landesrabbiner- 
schule ”), inaugurated in 1877, in which institution 
he held the position of teacher of Talmud from 1877 
till 1887, having previously (since 1872) been presi- 
dent of the rabbinical college of Budapest. He 
also took part in the Israelitic county-congress of 
1868-69. During Brill’s lifetime a number of subtle 
extracts from his Talmudic glosses were published in 
the “Monatsschrift,” 1896-97, and the “Magyar 
Zsidd Szémle,” of the same years, by Ludwig Blau. 
A few sermons have also been printed in the last- 
named periodical. 

Brill’s valuable Hebrew library became the prop- 
erty of the seminary at Budapest. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Blau, Samuel Low Brill: His Life ana 
Character, in Hungarian, with portrait, Budapest, 1902. 


8. T.. B. 


387 





BRIMSTONE: Sulfurin a solid state. It is 
found in Palestine, in the region along the banks of 
the Jordan and around the Dead Sea, both in com- 
bination with other elements and in its pure state. 
In the latter condition it is still employed medici- 
nally for skin-diseases by the wandering Arab tribes, 
who make further use of it in the preparation of 
gunpowder. Brimstone is also found in the hot 
springs that line both shores of the Dead Sea. In 
one of these springs (at Callirrhoe), Herod took baths 
in the hope of finding a cure for his ailment (Jose- 
phus, “ Ant.” xvii. 6). Besides these two sources 
there was still a third which was known in Bible 
times. The two passagesin Isaiah (xxx. 38, xxxiv. 
9) point clearly to sulfur produced by volcanic 
eruptions. Sulfur is very inflammable; and this 
accounts for the fact that it is nearly always men- 
tioned in connection with fire (Gen. xix. 24; Deut. 
xxix. 23; Ps. xi. 6; Ez. xxxvili. 22). 

Biblical writers do not refer to the useful qualities 
of brimstone; whenever it is mentioned it is always 
as an instrument of God in exacting the penalty 
from the wicked (besides the above passages see Job 
xviii, 15); and this idea is continued in the New 
Testament (Rev. xiv. 10, xix. 20, xx. 10). This 
may be due in a measure to the recollection of the 
traditions of the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah; the large quantities of brimstone found in the 
region suggesting it as the agent of destruction. 

J. IR. G. B. L. 


BRINDISI (Hebrew, O'p'3375): Seaport on the 
coast of Calabria, Italy, whence the ancient Romans 
embarked for the East. Jews undoubtedly settled 
there at a very early period. In the Talmud (‘Er. 
iv. 1) itis recounted that four illustrious Mishnaic 
doctors (tannaim), among whom was R. Gamaliel, 
returned from this city to their home. Benjamin 
of Tudela says that at his time ten Jewish families 
were living there, all engaged in the art of dyeing. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hebrew inscriptions explained by Graziado 
Ascoli in reports of the congress of Orientalists of Florence, 
1894; Guerrieri, Gli Ebrei a Brindisi e a Lecce, Turin, 1901. 


G. 
BRISK. See Brest-LitTovsk. 


BRISKER, AARON B. MEIR. See AARON 
B. Meir oF BREST. 


BRISTOL: Commercial seaport city in the coun- 
ties of Gloucester and Somerset, England. Jews 
settled very early at Bristol, which was the center 
of the slave-trade between England and Ireland, 
until its discontinuance, under the influence of St. 
Winibald, (?) in 1172, after the conquest of Ireland by 
Henry II. The names are known of no fewer than 
eighteen Jews of the twelfth century who lived in 


Bristol. Of these the most important was Moses of 
Bristol, father of Yom-Tob, the author 

Early of “Sefer ha-Tannaim,” and grandson 
History. of Rabbi Simon of Trier (Treves), a 


martyr of the Second Crusade. In 
Richard of Devizes’ account of English cities, as 
given by a French Jew, Bristol is described as a 
city of soap-boilers (Jacobs, “Jewsof Angevin Eng- 
land,” p. 149). After the decline of the slave-trade 
in Bristol, many Jews left the town; Moses going 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brill 
Bristol 


to Oxford, others to Nottingham and London. 
When, however, John imprisoned and fined all the 
Jews of England in 1210, it was from a Jew cf Bris- 
tol, Abraham, that he extorted no less than 10,000 
marks by extracting the victim’s teeth successively 
til! he consented to give up his wealth (Matthew 
Paris, “Chronica Majora,” ed. Luard, ii. 528). 

The Jewry was situated on the quay between 
Broad street and Small street, outside the inner but 
within the outer wall of the city. The synagogue 






















SW S 
ASAE 
wr SVS Sass = 
WOW 

GSS . 
Ww 






7 (aie Cc ASTLE 


——— 
4 “S hy ns 
ih 





Plan of City of Bristo!, Showing Position of Jewry, About 1256 C.r. 
7 (After William Hunt, © Bristol.”) 


was in Small street, under the building which was 
afterward St. Giles’s Church. As far as can be as- 
certained, no Jews were in Bristol at the time of the 
Expulsion, no houses of Jews falling into the king’s 
power at that time. On the other hand, Jews re- 
sided there during a considerable portion of the thir-. 
teenth century, as an ARCHA was retained there to. 
hold their deeds. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, p. 3743, 
Hunt, Bristol, pp. 27-380; Seyer, Bristol, i. 527-529; Pryce, 
Bristol, pp. 72-73. 


There is no record of congregational life earlier: 
than about the middle of the eighteenth century. 
At that time the congregation, which included not. 
a few familics which since then have become most 
eminent in the English Jewry—that of Jessel, for- 

instance—was able to build. a syna- 

Since the gogue which was regarded as one of 
Highteenth the ornaments of the old town. It 

Century. was situated in the very center of the. 

present city, in the main thorough- 
fare, Temple street. A local topographical descrip- 
tion, dated 1794, states that “the Jews’ synagogue: 
is very well fitted up, painted, and furnished with 
altar-piece, branches, candlesticks, etc., in such a 
style that though it is not one of the largest, it is. 
one of the handsomest places of worship in Bristol.” 
The present synagogue is situated in Park row, 


and is a commodious and well-fitted building. It 


was opened in 1870. 

In the middle of the nineteenth century Bristol 
was one of the foremost provincial congregations in 
the British Isles, and it has been served by a succes- 
sion of able ministers, many of whom have since: 


Bristol 
British Museum 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


388 





achieved distinction in larger spheresof work. The 
earliest known of these were the Rev. David M. 
Isaacs (afterward minister and pro- 
fessor at Liverpool and Manchester) 
and the Rev. Abraham Barnett (after- 
ward of the New Synagogue, London). 

The Rev. Aaron Levy Green, afterward cminent 
as minister of the Central Synagogue, London, was 
stationed at Bristol from 1888 to 1851, taking locally 
a share in the emancipation struggle which attracted 
the notice of Sir Moses Montefiore, and preaching 
occasional English sermons, at that time a very rare 
feature of Anglo-Jewish «devotions. Among other 
Jewish divines attached to the congregation may be 
mentioned the Rev. Isaac Samuel (now minister of 
the Bayswater Synagogue, London); the Rev. 
Meyer Mendelssohn (afterward minister at Kim- 
berly, Cape Colony); the Rev. Burman Berliner 
(afterward minister of the St. John’s Wood Syna- 
gogue, London); the Rev. Joseph Leonard Levy, 
B.A. (lately attached to Congregation Keneseth 
Israel, Philadelphia, and now rabbi of Congrega- 
tion Rodeph Shalom, Pittsburg); the Rev. Moses 
Hyamson, b.A., LL.B. (afterward minister of the 
Dalston Synagogue, and now dayyan of the United 
Synagogue, London); the Rev. Lewis Mendelssohn, 
B.A. (afterward of Dublin); and the Rev. Joseph 
Abelson, B.A., the present minister. 

Of recent years, and concurrently with the revival 
of the West-Indian trade and the enterprising en- 
largement of the port, an increase of the Jewish 
population has become evident, and much activity 
is again being brought to bear on communal work. 
In addition to the Ladies’ Benevolent Society, dating 
from about 1860, there exist a board of guardians 
(founded 1894); a Hebrew school (founded 1890), 
the classes of which are attended by seventy chil- 
dren; a literary and social society (founded 1894), 
with fifty-one members; and a Zionist association 
(1899). Jewish organization is not confined to the 
residents in the city itself. At the great public 
school, Clifton College, situated in the suburbs, 
there has been for some years a Jewish house—that 
‘is, one of the residences forming part of the colle- 
giate buildings—the domestic life of which is carried 
out in accordance with Jewish custom. The master 
presiding over this house is the Rev. Joseph Polack, 
B.A., previously minister of the Liverpool (Old) 
congregation. It has existed long enough to form 
a tradition in the college; and its first generation of 
students has already taken a leading position in 
Anglo-Jewish communal life. 


‘BIBLIOGRAPHY: Margoliouth, Jews of Great Britain, iii, 182- 
134; Jew. Chron. Mareh 18, 1883; Jacobs, Jewish Year 
Book, 5660, p. 90; Harris, Jewish Year Book, 5662, p. 121. 


J. F,. L. C. 


BRITISH MUSEUM, London: Chief library 
and museum of the United Kingdom. It contains 
many books and objects of Jewish interest. 

The Hebrew MSS.: The Hebrew manuscripts 
in the British Museum already fully catalogued or 
briefly described number about 1,200. This total 
includes fifty recently assigned to fragments belong- 
ing to the collection brought from Cairo. Between 
‘eighty and a lnindred additional ones are likely to 
‘be obtained from the remainder of the same interest- 


Rabbis. 


ing collection. There are also thirty Hebrew char- 
ters (business deeds of the Anglo-Norman period) in 
the Museum; and if the seventy-one Samaritan 
manuscripts and the very ancient Aramaic papyrus 
Qnarked cvi.*, 2d century B.c.) be treated as part of 
the Hebrew collection, the entire library may be 
estimated to contain close upon 1,400 numbers. 

Of these over 1,050 are briefly described in the 
“Descriptive List of Hebrew and Samaritan MSS. in 
the British ABuseum,” which appeared in 1898. A 
rough classification into subjects shows that in the 
total just mentioned Biblical texts are represented 
by 165 numbers; Biblical commentaries by 175; 
Midrashim and Midrashic discourses by 45; Talmud 
and Halakah by 190; liturgies by 115; cabalistic 

manuscripts by 130; ethics, philoso- 


Classi- phy, and poetry by an aggregate ol 
fication of 84; philology, mathematics, and as- 
MSS. tronomy by 73; medicine by 20; mis- 


cellaneous manuscripts by 73; char- 
ters by 80; and Samaritan literature by 64. The 
later acquisitions may be assumed to show a similar 
proportion of subjects, with the very notable addi- 
tions, however, of a large number of letters and 
other historical documents forming part of the col- 
lection brought from the Cairo GENIZAH. 

The distribution of Hebrew manuscripts among 
the earlier Museum collections is as follows: The 
Sloane and Harley collections, which formed the 
nucleus of the British Museum at its opening in 
1758. respectively contained twelve and ninety-five 
Hebrew manuscript volumes. The Old Royal Li- 
brary, presented to the Museum by King George 
JI. in 1757, included seven Hebrew numbers. A 
like contingent was contributed by the great library 
collected by Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel, Sur- 
rey, and Norfolk. Three Hebrew manuscripts 
were presented (together with a much larger num- 

ber of printed books; see below) by 


Sources Solomon da Costa in 1759, and two 
of the other numbers of the collection have 
Collection. been filled up with his own catalogue 


of the printed books and manuscripts 
thus presented. The Lansdowne collection (pur- 
chased in 1807) and the library formed by King 
George III. (presented to the nation by King George 
LTV. in 1828) contained one Hebrew volume each; 
and the Egerton collection (bequeathed in 1829) in- 
cluded three Hebrew numbers. 

Of the 520 Hebrew volumes embodied in what is 
known as the Additional Series of manuscripts, no 
less than 323 came from the famous collection of 
Joseph Almanzi; and the few Hebrew manuscripts 
which form part of the Rich collection (acquired in 
1829) are also included in the total of 520 just men- 
tioned. The series which followed the Additional, 
and into which fresh acquisitions are now constantly 
being incorporated, is the Oriental. The latter now 
contains about 550 Hebrew numbers. A large pro- 
portion of these (not iess than 260 volumes) was 
purchased from M. W. Sapiro between the years 
1877 and 1883. The rest came to the Museum in 
smaller consignments through the agency of the 
late Fischel Hirsch and other booksellers. 

The sources from which the Museum collection 
became from time to time enriched also include man- 


389 


ae 


uscripts purchased at the duke of Sussex’s sale in 
1844; the collection of ten important Biblical manu- 
scripts which were in the possession of the families 
of Schultens, John van der Hagen, and Dr. Adam 
Clarke successively ; four Megillah scrolls once the 
property of Sir Moses Montetiore; and several num- 
bers formerly owned by Dr, Adolf Neubauer, Dr. 
C.D. Giusburg, F. D. Mocatta, and. J. A. Church- 
ill (British consul at Teheran). 

lt will now be useful to note some of the more 
important features of the collection, and in doing so 
the classified order adopted in the “ Descriptive 
List” publisbed in 1893 will be followed. 

I. Biblical Texts.—(«) Scrvils: None of these is, 
unfortunately, of any great antiquity, the oldest 
(MIS. Harley, 7619} probably belonging to the four- 
teenth century. Mention should, however, be made 
of anumber of Yemenite Pentateuch rolls exhibit- 
ing what are technically called “dry points,” em- 
ployed to mark pauses, and to distinguish some 
words of equal spelling but dissimilar pronuncia- 
tion. As the writing of synagogue scrolls is strictly 
limited to the consonantal text, this device of im- 
pressing a small inkless circle was adopted (with the 
permission of the Yemenite rabbis?) as a help to the 
reader. Oneroll of the collection (Add. 19,250) was 
written (probably in the eighteenth century) for the 
use of the Jews at Kai-Fung-Fu in China. 

(0) Biblicul Teris tn Book Form: Special mention 
may be made of MS. Or, 4445, which was brought 
from Teheran, and probably belongs to the ninth 
century. It is at any rate not later than the 
famous codex of the Prophets preserved at St. 
Petersburg, which is dated 916 c.E. This Museum 
manuscript contains, however, only the Pentateuch, 
The oldest dated copy of the entire Bible in the 
Museum (Ors 2201) belongs to a.m. 5006 (1246 c.E.), 
and was written at Toledo. A very fine specimen 
of Spanish calligraphy and marginal illumination is 
the Bible in three volumes, numbered Or. 2626-28, 
It was written in 1483. Of very considerable inter- 
est and importance are a number of codices (mostly 
Yemenite) exhibiting what is known as the super- 
linear, or Babylonian, punctuation. The collection 
generally contains excellent specimens of almost all 
styles of writing and all Masoretic schools (Spanish, 
Italian, German, North African, etc.). One codex 
of the Pentatench (Or. 2451) was written at Kum in 
Persia a. Gk. 1794 (1483 c.E.). Of the Karaite cod- 
ices special attention should be directed to Or. 2840, 
belonging to the tenth century. The Hebrew text 
is there written in an archaic form of the Arabic 
character, the Hebrew vowel-points and accents 
being added in colored ink. This manuscript is also 
provided with ancient Oriental ornamentations. 

II. Biblical Commentaries: In this section a great 
wealth oi material for the study of early Karaite 
literature will be found. Special mention may be 
made of commentaries on the Pentateuch and other 
Biblical books by Abu Yusuf Ya‘akub al-Kirkisani, 
Salmon b, Jeroham, David b. Boaz, and Abu al-Faraj 
Furkan ibn Asad. Japheth is most amply repre- 
sented. Noteworthy is the fact that a copy of his 
commentaries on Ruth and the Song of Songs (Or. 
2554) is dated Ramlah, a.u. 395 (1004-5 c.£.), and 
that the reference to Japheth in the colophon shows 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bristol 
British Museum 


clearly that the manuscript was written in the au- 
thor’s lifetime. 

The collection of Rabbinite commentaries is also 
a very good one. The principal unique texts are: 
(1) the commentary on the Second Book of Samuel 
by Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefardi (cleventh to twelfth 
century); (2) a commentary on the Pentateuch by 
Rabbi Meyuhas b. Elijah (probably a Greck writer 
of the twelfth century); and (8) fragments of a 
Persian commeitary (Hebrew character) on a portion 
of the Prophets. 

III, Micrashim and Midrashic Discourses : These in- 
clude copies of the three important Yemenite Mid- 
rashic compilations known as the “Midrash ha- 
Gadol,” “Midrash ha-Hefez,” and “ Nur al-Zulum.” 
Unique are the texts contained in Add. 27,292, and 
probably also Harley 5704 (containing a Midrash on 
the Minor Prophets in the style of the Yalkut ha- 
Makiri), One may notice, besides, Midrashic dis- 
courses by David b. Abraham Maimuni and Sa‘id 
ibn Da’ud al-‘Adani. 

IV. Talmud and Halakah: In the older British 
Museum collections ouly one volume of Talmudic 
texts of the twelfth and another of the fourteenth 
century are contained; but by the latest acquisi- 
tious from the Cairo Genizah three other important 
fragmentary numbers have bcen added to the 
library. Of the Jerusalem Talmud the Museum 
possesses three volumes of the sixteenth century, 
with the commentary of Joseph Syrillo. Note- 
worthy for its antiquity is a volume containing 
Rashi’s commentary on Baba Mezi‘a, dated 1190 c.x. 

The Halakah portion of this section is very rich 
in interesting and valuable codices, including five 
copies of the Yad ha-Hazakah of Maimonides, im- 
portant copies of the 39D, the pop. Alfasi, and vari- 
ousresponsa. AS unique may be noted the additions 
of Samuel b. Meir (RaSHBaM) to Alfasi, contained 
in Add. 17,049-50 GQnistaken by Leopold Dukes for 
notes by Samuel Schietstatt). <A fine specimen of 
richly illuminated title-pages and headings is pre- 
sented by Harley 5698-99 (Maimonides, “ Mishneh 
Torah ”). 

Karaite Halakah is also represented; eg., by 
Yusuf al-Basri’s “Questions and Answers,” Kirki- 
sani’s “Book of Commandments,” and Samuel al- 
Maghrebi’s “ Al-Murshid,” not to mention several 
other works which still await a thorough investi- 
gation. 

V. Liturgy: This section ts also a very rich and 
important one. It includes very fine specimens of 
almost all important rites. Margoliouth’s study of 
a number of these manuscripts has revealed inany 
features that were unknown to the great liturgiolo- 
gist Leopold Zunz. Very many hymns will have to 
be added to the known list when these manuscripts. 
are fully catalogued. Special mention may here be 
made of several fine copies of the illustrated Hag- 
gadah, belonging to the Spanish school of the four- 
teenth century. It may also be noted that a fine 


‘copy of the North African Liturgy (Or. 5600) was 


recently acquired by the trustees at the sale held at 
Amsterdam of the late D. H. de Castro’s library. 
The Karaite ritual is also fairly well represented. 
VI. Cabala: It has already been stated that this 
section contains no less than 180 numbers, It in- 


British Museum 
Brociner 


cludes Abraham Abulafia’s commentary on the 
“Moreh Nebukim ” (perhaps unique), and works by 
Joseph Gikatilla, Moses b. Shem-Tob of Leon, 
Moses Cordovero, and Moses Hayyim Luzzatto (Add. 
27,110 being his autograph). Some _ interesting 
additions to the section are supplied by the Cairo 
Genizah. 

VII.-IX. Ethics, Philosophy, and Poetry: These sec- 
tions are small; but specialists will no doubt find 
in them a number of interesting codices for collation. 
The most noteworthy manuscripts are: in ethics, the 
unique “Ge’ Hizzayon” of Abraham b. Jacob, and 
two copies of a Persian version in Hebrew characters 
of Abraham b. Hasdai, “ Ben ha-Melek we-ha-Nazir ” 
(Balaam and Josaphat); in philosophy, four manu- 
scripts of early Karaite speculations, besides some 
important codices of well-known Rabbinite works; 
in poetry, a copy of Al-Harizi’s “ Tahkemoni,” dated 
1282 C.E., a unique volume of poems by Joseph b. 
Tanhum Yerushalmi, and Bible stories in Persian 
verse (Hebrew characters) by Mollah Shahin. 

X. Philology: This section contains fifty-three 
numbers. Noteworthy are a fine early copy of Abu 
al-Walid’s “ Kitab al-Usul” (which came from Ye- 
men), several good though fragmentary copies of 
Nathan b. Jehiel’s “Sefer ha-‘ Aruk,” two early copies 
of the “ Mahberet” of Menahem b. Saruk (1091 and 
1189 c.z.), and the “ Mushtamil” of the early Karaite 
grammarian Abu al-Faraj Harun. 

XJ.—XJII. Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine: 
These sections can, of course, be properly appre- 
ciated by specialists only. On account of the lan- 
guage in which it was written, Add. 7701 may be 
noted here, containing works on astronomy and the 
calendar in Persian (Hebrew characters). 

AIV. Miscellaneous MSS.: This section is full of 
interesting matter of various kinds. Special men- 
tion should, perhaps, be made of the controversial 
works (Jews and Christians, Rabbinites and Ka- 
Taites). But the gem of the section is nodoubt Add. 
11,689, containing a great variety of works written 
partly in the body of the page and partly on the 
margin. It is accompanied by fine pictorial illu- 
minations of the French school of the thirteenth 
century (latter half). 

Of the charters it need only be said that they 
nearly all belong to the thirteenth century (some 
few being earlier), and that besides throwing some 
light on the circumstances of the time immediately 
preceding the expulsion of the Jews from England 
in 1290, they give a good idea of Anglo-Hebrew 
caligraphy of the time. 

The latest noteworthy addition to the interesting 
and important Samaritan collection is a fine copy of 
the Samaritan liturgy, dated 1258 c.5. 

The Printed Books: The collection of He- 
brew printed books in the Museum now consists of 
about 15,000 volumes. Of these upward of 10,100 
are described in Zedner’s “Catalogue of the Hebrew 
Books in the Library of the British Museum,” pub- 
lished in 1867, and the greater part of the remainder 
are entered in 8. Van Straalen’s “Catalogue of 
Hebrew Booksin the British Museum Acquired Dur- 
ing the Years 1868-92.” 

The distribution of volumes among the more im- 
portant classes of books described in Zedner’s cata- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


390 


logue isas follows: Bibles, 1,200 volumes; commen. 
taries on the Bible, 510; Talmud, 730; commentaries 
on the Talmud, 700; codes of law, 1,260; grammars 
and dictionaries, 450; poetry and criticism, 770. 

Of the 4,650 volumes described in Van Straalen’s 
catalogue the greater part was published within the 
last fifty years. This large contingent is rich in 
specimens of works in the Judwo-German dialect, 
and in modern Hebrew belles-lettres, such as the 
publications of Mapu, Smolenskin, Gordon, and 
Lebensolhn, and also Hebrew translations of works 
by Shakespeare, Milton, Schiller, Lessing, and other 
European writers. The numbers of volumes to be 
assigned to the classes mentioned above must, there- 
fore, necessarily be smaller in proportion than those 
given in connection with Zedner’s catalogue. 

The history of the acquisition of the printed 
books is naturally not so varied as that of the man- 


uscripts. In 17538, when the Museum 

Printed was first opened to the public, the 
Books, — editio princeps of the Talmud was the 
Whence only Hebrew work in the collection, 
Acquired. forming part of the royal library pre- 


sented by King George IT. But Solo- 
mon da Costa, a Jewish merchant who had immi- 
grated from Holland, and whose name has already 
been mentioned above in the account of the manu- 
scripts, presented to the Museum in the same year a 
collection of no less than 180 volumes, containing 
some of the most valuable works of Rabbinic litera- 
ture. From the preface to Zedner’s catalogue we 
further learn that “during the succeeding eighty- 
nine years the Hebrew books increased to about 
600.” But the great importance of the Hebrew 
library dates from the year 1848; for it was then 
enriched by the addition of 4,420 volumes purchased 
from the famous collection of H. J. Michael of Ham- 
burg. “This acquisition gave,” to use the words of 
the preface of 1867 just mentioned, “an impetus to 
this branch of the library, which has been constantly 
maintained ” eversince, “and has resulted in making 
the national collection of Hebrew books the largest 
in the world.” 

The next notable addition to the library came 
from the collection of the late Joseph Almanzi, 
which had first passed into the hands of Asher of 
Berlin, and from which the trustees of the British 
Museum were able to select such works as were not 
already inthe Museum library. The books acquired 
since that time came to the Museum gradually 
through the ordinary medium of booksellers, among 
whom the late Fischel Hirsch of Berlin was one of 
the most frequently employed. 

The list of early printed books and other rare 
works in the collection is a pretty large one. The 
following statement relates to the books described 
in Mr. Zedner’s catalogue: 

1. Of works of the fifteenth century, mentioned by De Rossi, 
there were then 65 in the Museum. 

2, Of works printed from 1500 to 1540, mentioned by De Rossi, 
there were 237. 

3. Of works printed from 1480 to 1540, not mentioned by De 
Rossi, 32. 

4, Of books of which no other copy, or only one or two copies, 
was known to exist, 38. 

It has already been stated that the greater number 
of books described in Van Straalen’s catalogue were 


391 


printed in recent times. The proportion of early 

books must, therefore, be necessarily small There 

are, however, to be noticed such works as Jacob b. 

Asher’s code, printed at Mantua in 1476 (with MS. 

notes by G. B. de Rossi); the Pentateuch, printed 

at Bologna in 1482 (also with MS. notes by De 

Rossi); the Talmudical tractate Bezah, printed at 

Soncino in 1483; the Pentateuch, printed at Faro in 

1487; the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, printed at 

Lisbon in 1492, 

It may finally be mentioned that the trustees re- 
cently acquired a rather curious copy of the Tal- 
mudical tractate Ketubot which probably belongs to 
the sixteenth ceniury, and appears to have been 
printed at Salonica. It is specially noteworthy that 
the foliation of this copy differs from the uniform 
arrangement adopted in the editions generally. 

The antiquities contained in the Museum also in- 
clude many objects of Jewish interest, notably a 
fine series of ancient Jewish coins in the department 
of coins and medals. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : For the printed books, Zedner, Cat. Hebrew 
Books British Museum, Preface, 1867; 8. Van Straalen, Cat. 
Hebrew Books British Museum, Preface, 1901; for the man- 
useripts, G. Margoliouth, Descriptive List of the Hebrew 
and Samaritan MSS. Preserved at the British Museum, 


London, 1893; idem, Catalogue, vol. i.; C. D. Ginsburg, In- 
troduction to the Hebrew Bible, London, 1897, 


J. G. M. 


BRITTANY (French, Bretagne): Ancient 
province of France corresponding to the present de- 
partments of Finistére, Cétes-du-Nord, Morbihan, 
Ile et Vilaine, and Loire-Inférieure. The name 
occurs in Hebrew writings under various forms, 
such as AYIOVI, MINOW, MW INNII. Little in- 
formation can be gathered concerning the epoch of 
the settlement of Jews in Brittany, where they were 
never numerous. The first official documents re- 
ferring to the Jews there date from the beginning of 
the thirteenth century. These are two charters, 
one dated April, 1209, and the other March, 1235. 
In the first the Jews are indirectly mentioned as 
creditors of Guillaume de Mareil; the second is 
a receipt delivered to the prior of Donege dischar- 
ging him from all debts to the Jews Creisson and 
Bonastru of Guérande. 

There were Jews also at Clisson, Aucenis (where 
a street still exists called “Rue de la Juiverie”), 
Segré, and Nantes, the last-named place being, ac- 
cording to Michael Guimar, the center of the Jews of 
Brittany. There they possessed a large synagogue in 
the street above-mentioned, and their own tribunal, 
where disputes among themselves were adjusted 
according to the Mosaic law. The chief occupation 
of the Jews of Brittany was money-broking, and 
many interested parties eagerly sought a pretext to 
rid themselves of their creditors. This pretext soon 
presented itself in the new crusade preached by 
Gregory IX. in 1235. In order to win believers, 
Gregory granted the crusaders and the promoters of 
the crusade full indulgence, and forbade their cred- 
itors, both Jews and Christians, to take any interest 
from them. The crusaders of Brittany, however, 
not willing to pay even the principal, demanded the 
banishment of the Jews. They not only forbade 
them to claim what was due, but forced them to 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


British Museum 
Brociner 


make sure of their complete riddance of these cred- 
itors, they massacred most of the Jews in 1236, soon 
after Easter. Three years later, at the request of 
the barons and prelates, Duke Jean le Roux issued 
a decree enacting the following: (1) the banish- 
ment of the Jews from Brittany, and prohibition of 
their entering his lands or those of his subjects; (2) 
the abolition of all debts, of whatever nature, con- 
tracted with Jews; (8) the return to the debtors or 
their heirs of both personal property and real estate 
given in pledge; (4) the interdiction of commitment 
for trial on the charge of having murdered a Jew; 
(5) the confirmation of this decree by the king of 
France. The duke engaged himself by an oath to 
observe the provisions of this decree during his life, 
and bound his successors to a similar fulfilment. 
Some years later, however, it seems that Jews 
again settled in Brittany, and were banished thence 
only in 1391, when Brittany became a definite French 
province. In the early part of the seventeenth 
century, Jews, and especially Portuguese Maranos, 
sojourned there notwithstanding the decree of their 
banishment issued April 23, 1615, by Louis XIII. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Depping, Histoire des Juifs aw Moyen Age, 
p- 200; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, vii. 308; Brunswig, in Rev. 
Sie Juives, xiv. 80 et seq., xvii. 125 et 8eq., xix. 294 et seq.; 
Gross, Gailia Judaica, pp. 126-128. 
G. I. Br. 


BRIVIESCA (not Birviesca or Briviasca): The 
ancient Virovesca; city in Old Castile, not far from 
Burgos. A Jewish community dwelt there, which 
in 1290 was taxed 11,700 maravedis. At the request 
of his sister, the Infanta Dofia Berenguella, Don 
Ferdinand III. of Castile presented to the convent 
San Maria la Real of Burgos, in perpetuity, the taxes 
of several Jews living in the quarter San Cecilia in 
Briviesca, including those of Abraham del Bao, 
Judah Mocaniz, and Moses, his son in-law, and 
others, and their descendants. In the internecine 
war between Don Pedro and Henry of Trastamare 
the Jews valorously defended the walls of the city, 
until they were attacked in the rear by the troops of 
Bertrand du Guesclin, and were either killed or taken 
prisoners. According to Samuel Zarza’s account 
not a single one of the two hundred heads of families 
that had lived there remained alive; “ their corpses 
became food for the birds of heaven and the beasts 
of the field.” In 1455 Don Mosse was living at 
Briviesca as farmer of taxes. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Amador de los Rios, Historia de los Jud. 
en Espatia, i. 485, iii. 132; Histoire de Bertrand du 
Guesclin, p. 101 Paris, 1666; Samuel Zarza, in Appendix to 
Shebet Jehudah, ed. Wiener, p. 131. 

G. M. K, 

BROCINER, JOSEF B.: President of the 
Union of Hebrew Congregations of Rumania; born 
in Jassy, Rumania, Oct., 1846. From 1864 to 1866 
he studicd law at the university of his native city, 
and during that time cooperated with Dr. Landes- 
berg and others in founding the Unimea Israelita, 
a Jewish defensive publication society. In 1867 
Brociner settled at Galatz as a merchant. He joined 
(1868) the Galatz Lodge of the Masonic Order 
(Grand Orient de France), and asa Freemason was 
active in bringing about a modification of rituals, 
finally obtaining for himself the thirty- third degree. 


return the goods given in pledge; then, in order to | Up to the present time (1902) he is the only Jew 


Brociner 
Brody 





among the eighty-four Freemasons of the Grand 
Orient who has attained this degree. 
In 1873 Brociner was chosen president of the 
local committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. 
Together with Dr. Leopold Stern of Bucharest, 
he was delegated in 1876 to represent Rumania 
at the conference of the Alliance Israélite Univer- 
selle for the defense of Jews in the Orient, held 
under the chairmanship of Adolphe Crémieux at 
Paris. During the war of Russia and Rumania 
against Turkey in 1877, Brociner was secretary of 
the committee for maintaining ambulances on the 
battle-field; and in April and May, 1878, he accom- 
panied Dr. Adoiph Stern to Budapest, Vienna, and 
Berlin to obtain the cooperation of their coreli- 
gionists in championing the cause of the Rumanian 
Jews at the Berlin Congress. In June he was a 
member of the commission sent to Berlin to fur- 
nish the congress of the European powers with in- 
formation on the Rumanian question. In August, 
1878, with the late Benjamin F. Peixotto, Ameri- 
can consul-general at Lyons, he represented the 
Rumanian Jews at the second conference of the 
Alliance Israélite Universelle, held at Paris. 
Brociner accompanied his brother, Dr. Marco 
Brociner (another brother, Maurice, is secretary to 
King Charles of Rumania), to Vienna, Berlin, and 
Paris (1879), in order to further the interests of the 
Rumanian Jews in these cities. At that time he ob- 
tained from Professor Bluntschli of Heidelberg the 
famous juristic brochure “L’Etat Roumain,” in fa- 
vor of the Rumanian Israclites. He was president 
of the Jewish community of Galatz in 1874, 1878, 
1884, and 1898. In 1884 he was vice-president of the 
Galatz committee for establishing the colonies in 
Palestine which were afterward taken under the 
protection of Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Paris, 
The Union of Rumanian Jewish Congregations 
was due to Brociner’s initiative, and in recognition 
of his services he was unanimously elected first presi- 
dent. In addition to many articles on the Jewish ques- 
tion, and various reports published by the B’naiB’rith 
Lodge, Brociner wrote a pamphlet entitled “ Law of 
Moadim” (Days of Meeting), for the Independent 
Order of B’nai B’rith, which was well received. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Menorah Monthly, Oct.. 1893 ; Bloch, Oester- 
reichische Wochenschrift, March 21, 1902, 
S. M. W. L. 


BRODA, ABRAHAM BEN SAUL: Bohe- 
mian Talmudist; born about 1640 at Bunzlau; died 
April 11, 1717, at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Saul 
Broda sent his son to Cracow to pursue his Talmudic 
studies with Rabbi Isaac ben Ze’eb Harif of that 
city, in order to withdraw him from the evil influ- 
ences of Shabbethaism, at that time spreading 
throughout Bohemia. After receiving his rabbin- 
ical diploma, Broda returned to his native city, but 
was soon called as rabbi to Lichtenstadt, and thence 
to Raudnitz. Even then hisreputation was so great 
that Shabbethai Bass asked for his approbation to a 
book that Bass had written. Hence, when the office 
of chief rabbi of Prague became vacant about 1693, 
it was offered to Broda, who accepted it, although 
it was probably not very remunerative in conse- 
quence of the great fire of 1689, which impoverished 
many members of the congregation. This office, 


THE JEWISIT ENCYCLOPEDIA 


392 


from which he had doubtless expected much pleas- 
ure, involved him, on the contrary, in many difficul- 
ties; for when a difference arose between Broda and 
Zebi Ashkenazi in regard to a ritual question, all 
the rabbis of Prague took sides against the former. 

It was probably this that induced Broda, who 
disliked quarrels, to seek another position. He was 
called to Metz. The documents available are con- 
flicting as to the date of his entry into office; but the 
contract of the community of Metz with Broda, dated 
Oct. 30, 1708, has been discovered by Kaufmann, from 
which it is evident that Broda went to Metz in 1709, 
as claimed by Carmoly, and not in 1703, as Cahen 
assumed. Here, asat Raudnitz and Prague, Broda’s 
chief activity consisted in founding and directing a 
yeshibah; it is said that he had an excellent method 
of initiating into the style of the Talmud those who 
had never before pursued such study. His stay 
at Metz was of short duration; for in 1718 he 
was called to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where, also, he 
founded a yeshibah. This had a large attendance, 
many of his pupils becoming eminent rabbis, 

Broda’‘s collected works appeared after his death. 
They include: (1) “Hiddushe Geonim ” (Offenbach, 
1728), consisting of scholia to the treatises Baba 
Kamma, Baba Mezi‘a, and Sanhedrin: (2) “ Hid- 
dushe Halakot,” on Gittin, Wandsbeck, 1781; (8) 
“Shema ‘ta Hadta,” on Ketubotand Gittin, Frankfort- 
on-the-Main, 1722; (4) “Eshel Abraham,” on Pesa- 
him, Hullin, Baba Batra, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
1747; (5) “Toledot Abraham,” on Kiddushin and 
Ketubot, Firth, 1764; (6) “Halikot ‘Olam,” the 
Jewish laws in the German language, Budapest. 

Aside from these works written by him, many of 
his explanations of different questions are found 
in the works of other scholars, asin Nathaniel Weil’s 
“Korban Netanel,” Carlsruhe, 1755; and Zebi Ash- 
kenazi’s “Hakam Zebi,” e¢ seq. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ab. Cahen, in Rev. Etudes Juives, viit. 260; 
David Kaufmann, ib. xix. 120; idem, Die Memoiren der 
Gliickel von Hameln, p. 267, Frankfort, 1896; Bernhard 
Friedberg, Luhot Zikkaron, p. 21, Drohobicz, 1897; idem, 
Hashkafah Ab. Broda (Hebrew biography), tb. 1892. 

L. G. A, Pr. 


BRODA, ABRAHAM B. SHALOM: Rus- 
sian rabbinical author; born in Wilna about the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century; died there after 
1860. His father, R. Shalom b. Aaron, who was 
quite young at the time of his death (1805), was one 
of tle leaders of the community (see R. Israel Ginz- 
burg’s approbation to “Bet Wa‘ad”). KR. Abra- 
ham is known as the author of two works: “Bet 
Wa‘ad,” a collection of regulations which refer to 
sitting down and standing up during various relig- 
ious exercises, with an appendix relating to weights 
and measures, Wilna, 1832; “Bayit ha-Gadol,” a 
commentary on Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, which is pub- 
lished with the text, Wilna, 1888. At the end 
of the work the author states that he has also writ- 
ten a commentary on the Mekilta, but does not pos- 
sess the means to publish it. The commentary has 
no distinguishing feature except the numerous cor- 
rections made in the original text, which had beer 
corrupted by various copyists and printers. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuenn, Kiryah Ne’emanah, p. 230; Zedner, 
Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 159; Wiener, Bibliotheca 
Fricdlandiana, p. 163, St. Petersburg, 1895. 

L. G. - P. WI. 


393 


BRODA, BENJAMIN B. AARON: Lithua- 
nian rabbi and Talmudist; died Sept. 1, 1818, at 
Grodno, He was the best-known Talmudist of the 
five sons of Aaron Broda, an eminent Talmudist and 
rabbi of the old Polish community of Kalvarien. 
Owing to his wealth and family connections—be 
was a direct descendant of the famous Abraham b. 
Saul Bropia—Benjamin, in 1791, secured appoint- 
ment to the rabbinate of Grodno, one of the oldest 
and most important communities of Lithuania, as 
successor of N. Eliezer b. Zebi, who had recently died. 
Although the letters of appointment had been 
signed by the king Poniatowski himself, Broda’s 
nomination gave rise toa warm dispute in the com- 
munity; many members having favored the ap- 
pointment of R. Tanhum, son of the late Rabbi 
Eliezer, who had officiated as “rosh bet-din” (head 
of the court) even during his father’s lifetime, The 
quarrel, which lasted until almost the end of Broda’s 
incumbency, was so bitter that at lis death it was 
decided, in order to avoid a recurrence of similar 
quarrels, to leave the office of the chief rabbi forever 
vacant. Among Broda’s sons, Hayyim Broda 
may be mentioned, the author of the work “Torah 
Or we-Derek ha-Hayyim ” (Grodno, 1828), a detailed 
commentary to the sixty chapters of Caro’s “ Yoreh 
De‘ah.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Friedenstein, ‘Ir Gibborim, pp. 55, *. ie 


BRODSKI: A family which has produced many 
rabbis and notable men in the last three hundred 
years. It isa branch of the ScHor family. Meir 
Schor of Brody, Galicia, marricd and settled in 
Zlatopol, government of Kiev, Russia, where he as- 
sumed the name “ Brodski” (from Brody). His 
father, Alexander Hayyim Schor, was a son of 
Deborah Babad, daughter of R. Alexander Schor, 
author of “Similah Hadashah,” who lived in Zolkiev 
in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Meir 
had five sons, all of whom became very wealthy; 
and the Brodskis are now considered the richest 
Jewish family in Russia. Israel (b. 1823; d. 1889), 
who surpassed his brothers in wealth and philan- 
thropy, settled in Kiev, where his sons, Lazar and 
Leon, who are practically at the head of the sugar 
industry in Russia, now reside. They own 22 sugar 
factories, including 3refineries. They are both coun- 
cilors of commerce, and have been decorated by the 
Russian goverument and by the French government 
with the order of the Legion of Honor. 

The best known of the other sons of Meir was 
Abraham, who was born in 1816 and settled in 
Odessa in 1858. He, too, was prominently identi- 
ficd with the sugar industry and other large enter- 
prises, and was for many years the most influential 
member of the city council of Odessa, occupying for 
a long time the position of vice-mayor. He, like 
his brother Israel, distributed large sums for various 
charitable and educational purposes, and founded 
important benevolent institutions in Odessa and in 
Zlotopol, where he died Oct. 28, 1884. His son 
Samuel (b. 1846; d. Dec. 28, 1896) married a daugh- 
ter of the journalist and author Ossip (Joseph) 
Rabinovitch. He was also a member of the Odessa 
city council (by appointment, for no Jew can be 
elected to that position). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brociner 
Brody 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. D. Friedberg, Toledot Mishpakat Schor, 
pp. 19-20, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1901; Ahiasaf, 5658; Ozar 
ha-Sifrut, v. 827-328; Ha-Asis, ii. 18, 755; Ha-Metiz, xiv. 
No. 9, xx. No. 8£; Efrati, Dor we-Dorshaw, p. 45, Wilna, 
1889; Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1878, p. 297; Jewish Messenger, 
March 14, 1902. A genealogy of the family is presented by 
Wolf Kratusehinsky in his “Ateret Tiferet Israel, Vienna, 
18883 but it deals only with Israel, not even mentioning the 
other brothers. The work is imperfectly done. 

H. R&. P. W1. 

BRODSKY, ADOLPH: Russian violinist; born 
in Taganrog March 21, 1851. At the age of nine 
he played in a concert at Odessa, attracting much 
attention. He received his musical education from 

Professor Helmesberger in Vienna, where he played 

in his teacher’s quartets and in the Vienna court 

orchestra. After a concert tour in Russia he was 
appointed (1875) professor at the Moscow Conserva- 
tory of Music. In 1879 he directed the symphony 
concerts in Kiev; and since 1882 has been professor 
at the Conservatory of Leipsic. The quartet com- 
posed of Brodsky, Hans Becker, Novacek, and 

Julius Klengel has a wide reputation. In 1891 

Brodsky went to the United States, where he toured 

for three seasons. Returning to Germany, he ac- 

cepted the position of head teacher at the Manchester 

Royal College of Music and leader of the Hallé con- 

certs. After Sir Charles Hallé’s death in 1895, 

Brodsky was appointed his successor as _princi- 

pal of that college. The quartet arranged by 

him, and comprising himself, Rawson Briggs, 8. 

Speelman, and Carl Fuchs, has become well known 

in England. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Entziklopedicheskt Slovar, vol. iv., &.v., St. 
Petersburg, 1895; Ehrlich-Legge, Celebrated Violinists, s.v., 
London, 1897, 

H. R. 


BRODY. See GALICIA. 


BRODY, HEINRICH: Austrian rabbi; born 
May 21, 1868, at Ungvar, Hungary; descendant of 
Abraham Broda. Educated in the public schools 
of his native town, and at the rabbinical colleges 
of Tolesva and Presburg, Hungary, Brody also 
studied at the Hildesheimer Theological Seminary 
and at the University of Berlin, being an enthu- 
siastic scholar of the Hebrew language and Hht- 
erature. 

He was for some time secretary of the literary 
society Mekize Nirdamim, and in 1896 founded 
the “Zeitschrift ftir Hebriiische Bibliographie,” of 
which he is coeditor with A. Freiman. 

Brody is now (1902) rabbi of the congregation of 
Nachod, Bohemia. He has taken great interest in 
the Zionist movement. 

Brody is author or editor of the following works: 
“onsy pmo, Hebriiische Prosodie von Imm. Fran- 
ces, mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen,” Cracow, 
1892; “ snow ‘ps, Haschlamah zum Tali. Tractat 
Berachot, von R. Meschullam b. Mose,’’ Berlin, 18938; 
+ soseasst npby ‘5, Beitriige zu Salomo da-Piera’s 
Leben und Wirken,” Berlin, 1898; “1°5 nytdin 
SDNp, David Cassel’s Biographie,” Cracow, 1893; 


“wy 995 mii, Ein Dialog von Imm. Frances,” 


Cracow, 1898; “Offener Brief an Herrn Prof. M. 
Hartmann,” Berlin, 1894; “p*3non ppp, Literar- 
histor. Mitteilungen,” No. 1, Cracow, 1894; “Stu- 
dien zu den Dichtungen Yehuda ha-Levi’s,” i: 
“Ueber die Metra der Versgedichte,” Berlin, 1895: 


Brédy 
Brokers 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


394 


EO 


“yap “pwn nrpy awy, Zeln Gedichte aus dem 
Diwan Moses ibn Esra,” Leipsic, 1896; “jr, Der 
Diw4n des Yehuda ha-Levi,” vols. i. and ii. 1, 1894- 
1901: “nswnr aw, Weltliche Gedichte des Abu’ 
Ajjub Soleiman b. Yahja (Solomon) ibn Gabirol,” 
No. 1-2, Berlin, 1897-98; “wap xipp, Arnold B. 
Ebrlichs, Mikra ki-Peschuto Kritisch Beleuchtet,” 
Cracow, 1902; “Mikra Kodesch,” 1902. 

He has also published, under the assumed name of 
Dr. H. Salomonsohn, “ Widerspricht der Zionismus 
Unserer Religion?” 1898, and is a contributor to 
“Ha-Maggid,” “Israelitische Monatsschrift,” “ Ma- 
gazin fiir die Wissenschaft des Judenthums,” “ Mo- 
natssehrift fiir Geschichte und Literatur des Juden- 
thums,” “Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums,” 
“Evkényv,” “ Ha-Eshkol,” “Ha-Shiloah,” ete. 

s. KF. T. OH. 


BRODY, sANDOR: Hungarian author and 
journalist; born at Erlau in 1868. After attend- 
ing the schools of that city he devoted himself en- 
tirely to literature. From 1888 to 1890 he was editor 
of the “Erdélyi Hirad6,” published at Klausenburg, 
and was also connected with the “Erdélyi Képes 
Ujsig ” and the political daily “ Magyarsag.” Since 
1890 he has been a member of the “ Magyar Hirlap,” 
and since 1882 a prolific contributor of articles, 
feuilletons, stories, and novels to the leading literary 
publications of Hungary. In his works he depicts 
the dark side of life, and is a disciple of the modern 
French realistic school. 

The following are his principal works: “Regény- 
tirgyak,” tales, 1892; “ A Kétlelkii Asszony,” novel, 
1898; “Az Egri Didkok,” 1894; “Nyomor,” stories, 
1884; “ Faust Orvos,” novel, 1888-90; “ Don Quixote 
Kisasszony,” novel, 1888; “ Emberek,” stories, 1888; 
“Szinészvér,” stories, 1891; “Héfehérke,” novel, 
1894; “Apré Regények,” 1895; “Két Széke Asz- 
szny,” novel, 1895; “ Ejszaka,” stories, 1895; “ Rej- 
telmek,” stories, 1895; “Az Asszonyi Szépség,” 
1897; “Tiiudér Ilona,” novel, 1898; “Az Eziist 
Kecske,” de luxe edition, 1898; “Egy Férfi Val- 
lomasai,” 1899; “Fehér Konyv,” 1900-01. Brédy 
justly enjoysa wide popularity. All his works have 
been translaied into German, and many of his shorter 
productions have also appeared in French, English, 
Danish, Croatian, Rumanian, and Servian news- 
papers and other periodicals. His contributions to 
the “Magyar Hirlap” are mostly of a political or 
‘critical nature. In 1901 he essayed the drama in his 
preparation of a play founded upon his novel * H6- 
féhérke”; this has been frequently performed with 
marked success at the National Theater at Budapest. 


BIBLIOGRAPY: Szinnyei Magyar Lrok Tira; Pallas Nagy 
Lexicond, s.v. 


§ M. W. 


BRODY, SIGMUND: Hungarian journalist, 
and member of the Upper House of the Hungarian 
Parliament; born Nov. 15, 1840. at Miskolez. He 
attended the gymnasium at Budapest, and late 
‘studied law at the university. He began his jour- 
nalistic activity early in life, and in 1859 published 
his first leader. As early as 1860 he occupied the 
post of editor of the “ Pesti Hélgydivatlap,” and in 
‘conjunction with Karoly Grosz founded the German 
‘periodical “ Pannonia,” whose purpose was the pub- 


lication of Hungarian literature in the form of crit- 
ical studies and translations. In 1859-60 he wrote 
some poems, as well asa number of hymus for the 
Jewish congregation which are still in use. As col- 
laborator on the “Magyar Sajt6,” he became very 
widely known as a journalist of the first rank. 

After the compromise with Austria (1867), Brédy 
was associated with Sigmund Kemény as editorial 
writer on the “ Pesti Naplé”; and this was the most 
brilliant. period of his career as publicist, his sound 
logic and comprehensive views .being especially 
noticeable. In 1872 he became secretary at the Min- 
istry of the Interior, but voluntarily resigned this 
position; a year later he purchased the “Neues 
Pester Journal,” which paper under his management 
attained an unprecedented circulation throughout 
the country. 

Brédy is also a distinguished philanthropist, and 
on the anniversary of his fiftieth birthday he donated 
100,000 gulden to journalistic institutions. Further 
donations to the amount of 250,000 guiden were 
made in memory of his wife. In 1896 he was ap- 
pointed a lifemmember of the Hungarian Upper 
House. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Szinnyei, Magyar Irék Tara; Pallas Nagy 
Lexicona,s.v. 


S. M. W. 

BROGLIE, VICTOR-CLAUDE, PRINCE 
DE: French statesman; opponent of Jewish eman- 
cipation; born at Paris, 1757; beheaded in 1794 for 
intriguing against the French Revolution. He 
wrote “Opinion sur l’Admission des Juifs 4 l’Etat 
Civil” (Paris, 1791), in which he argues against the 
admission of the Jewsinto French citizenship simply 
because the reformed Jewish oath is sufficient proof 
of the complete renunciation of the rights of citizen- 
ship. De Broglie found a vigorous and bitter oppo- 
nent in the representative Prugnan, who signally 
defeated his exclusion bill Sept. 27, 1791). 

Prugnan’s chief argument against his opponent 
was that the civil laws of the Jews were identified 
with their religious laws, and, consequently, that 
their reformed oath had absointely nothing to do 
with the conditions necessary for French citizenship, 
which were fixed by the constitution. After De 
Broglie’s death a legend circulated among the Jews 
of Avignon, Dijon, and Carpentras to the effect that 
De Broglie had been beheaded soon after having is- 
sued his book against the Jews, and that, in the last 
moments of agony, he had asked forgiveness for his 
anti-Jewish sentiments. There is no historical basis 
for this legend, which the present writer heard for 
the first time in 1881 from Lazare Isidor, the 
grand rabbi of France, and from Michel Erlanger. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Drumont, La France Juive, ii., Index; Uni- 

vers Israélite, Jan., 1882. 

G. G. SE. 

BROKER: One who acts as middleman between 
seller and buyer, or makes it his business to bring 
buyer and seller together; also one who acts as 
agent for hire. The Neo-Hebrew word for broker is 
“sirsur.” Itoccurs with the former and more proper 
meaning in the Mishnah (B. B. v. 8, very briefly 
commented onin the Babylonian Gemara 87a), where 
the case is put of a package of oil or wine breaking 
while being measured, and “if a broker stands be- 


395 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brédy 
Brokers 





tween the parties the loss falls on bim,” by reason 
of the doubt whether title to the goods has passed 
from the seller to the buyer. In the codes the word 
is defined in the latter sense—that of one who 
acts as agent for hire; and illustrations are given 
as well of purchasing agents as of men employed 
to sell. This occupation of a paid agent was rather 
infrequent, in Palestine and Babylonia, in the time 
when the Mishnah and Gemara were evolved, as 
_ the nation was still mainly engaged in farming and 
grazing; hence the references to the Talmud made 
by the codes on this subject are rather far-fetched. 

The broker (says Maimonides in Hilkot Sheluhin 
ii. 6) is a paid agent; hence, if he deviates from the 
intent of the owner, he must make good the loss 
caused. Thus, if A gives an article to 6, the broker, 
and says, “Sell this for me for not Jess than a hun- 
dred zuz,” and B sells it for fifty, he must make up 
the other fifty from his own pocket; but if he sells 
it for two hundred, the whole belongs to A (see also 
Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 185, 1 e¢ seg.). 
According to R. Moses Isserles (gloss to 2).), a mere 
present sent to a buying or a selling agent turns him 
into a broker. 

When a dispute arises about the instructions, there 
being no witnesses, and the broker insisting that he 
was permitted to sell at the price which he realized, he 
may clear himself by his oath. On the question when 
the “oath of the Torah” or when the rabbinic oath 
is required see OATH. 

The broker can not sell to himself, thus gaining 
the ownership of the article entrusted to him; but 
when he is limited to a price at which he may sell, 
and he pays that price to the principal, who accepts 
it, the latter can not afterward object to the broker’s 
keeping the article. If the owner offers to the broker 
the surplus overa named price as the reward for his 
trouble, the mere silence of the broker is deemed 
an acceptance of these terms; and he may upon a 
sale retain such surplus accordingly (#5. 125, 5). 

When an article entrusted to a broker is lost or 
stolen from him, even on the way, being a hired 
keeper (see BAILMENTS), he is bound to make it good. 
Should he lose a precious stone out of a ring or 
other jewel, he should swear that he has it not in 
his possession, and what it is worth, and make good 
its value (#b. 8). Where a broker is entrusted with 
goods for the purpose of pawning them, and he 
claims not to know to whom he has pawned them, 
this is an act of faithlessness, and he is answerable 
at once. If he has pawned the goods as directed 
and discloses the pawnee, and the latter denies hav- 
ing received them, the broker, in the opinion of 
Joseph Caro (7.¢., the text of the Hoshen Mishpat, 
2b. 9), goes free; but other authorities (dating back 
to Alfasi) hold him liable, as it was his duty to have 
proof by witnesses or otherwise to the act of pawn- 
ing (see “Beer ha-Golah,” ad loc.). If the broker 
gives an article to a purchaser on trial, and it is not 
returned, or if he sells it on credit and can not collect 
the price, he must answer to the owner, unless he has 
acted as he did with the lJatter’s assent (2b. 10). 

It may be noticed that R. Moses Isserles, in his 
note on Hoshen Mishpat, /.c., mentions the “shad- 
kan” or match-maker as a lawful species of broker, 
and refers to the customs of different countries, in 


some of which the fee is due as soon as the terms as 
to dowry, etc., are made (see BETROTHAL), while in 
othersit becomes due only upon the marriage. The 
absence of older authorities indicates that the trade 
of the Jewish match-maker is comparatively modern. 

The rights of third parties growing out of the acts 
of a broker or paid agent are the same as if he were 
acting without compensation. These are defined 
under AGENCY. 

The word “safsar” or “safsira ” also occurs (B. M. 
42b, 5la, 63b): once in the sense of a purchasing 
agent, and once in that of a commission merchant. 

J. SR. L. N. D. 


BROKERS, JEW: A term used to indicate the 
Jewish merchants who had the right of trading at 
the Royal Exchange, London. The word “ brokers” 
was first applied to traders, merchants, and middle- 
men in the time of Edward III. ; but it was not until 
the resettlement of the Jews in England (1656) that 
the term was used in connection with the Jews resi- 
dent in London and doing business there. Much 
opposition to the Jews was then manifested, espe- 
cially concerning the privilege of trading as bro- 
kers; but the important position occupied by them 
through their manifold connections in the East and 
West Indies, made them too powerful to be ignored. 

At that time wholesale trade was carried on 
mainly through the Royal Exchange, from which 
Jews were excluded. This proved so troublesome 
to the traders that in 1657 Solomon Dormido, a 
nephew of Manassel ben Israel, applied for mem- 

bership in the Exchange. His appli- 
Jews cation was favorably considered by 
Admitted the court of aldermen, who purposely 
to Royal refrained from asking questions and 
Exchange. from forcing him to take the oath, be- 
cause of its doctrinal character. ‘There 
were in England at this time a number of influential 
Jews, trading as brokers under assumed names. 
Don Antonio Fernandez CarvasJaL, or Antonio 
Fernandez, was for some years a contractor for corn 
for the English government. In 1650 he and Don 
Rodrigues sued a Captain Peters in the Admiralty 
Court for a shipment of goods that had not been 
delivered; and in the same year, under the name 
“Don Antonio Fernandez Carvagall,” he petitioned 
the Admiralty committee to consider his claim for 
the seizure of certain shipments to Francisco Botelio 
Chacone and Botelio Silveria in Portugal, which, 
because of the unrest in the country, had been 
ordered shipped to Holland instead. Al] the names 
mentioned in these suits were those of founders of 
the Bevis Marks congregation. 

The first documentary mention of Jew brokers, 
so far as is known, is in the Rawlinsonian manuscripts 

of the Bodleian Library, and occurs in 

First Jew arough slip similar to that used at the 
Brokers. present day by the brokers and under- 
writers at Lloyd’s. Particulars are 

given of the risk accepted on the cargo of “ Augus- 
tin Coronell, the Littell Jue, in the Yonge Tobias, 
the 6th June, 1655, from London to Lixbo,” the pre- 
mium being 24 per cent, and the policy being un- 
derwritten in “Thridnedel Stret” (Threadneedle 
Street). Another risk was effected upon the cargoes 


Brokers 
Brotherly Love 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


396 





of the *Dominego Vass and de breto, the 9th May, 
1655, from London to Barbadoes in the Jno. Cli. at 
34.” Coronel and De Brito (whose names are incor- 
rectly spelled in the premium slip) were also Jews. 
Probably the first judicial mention of a Jew acting 
as a bill-broker at the period of the Commonwealth 
is in the year 1656, when Lady Hall gave evidence 
before the commissioners of the protectorate respect- 
ing a sum of £4,000 lent to Charles Stewart on a 
bill of exchange. According to the Thurlow state 
papers, Lady Hall declared “that there is a Jew 
named Da Costa, a great merchant in London, who 
hath, and is presently to receive, the sum of £4,000 
for the use of Charles Stewart,” which sum was to 
be returned to Da Costa by Mr. Leger of New- 
castle. 

The admission of Solomon Dormido to membership 
in the Royal Exchange, as mentioned above, led to 
a suspension of the law excluding Jews; and soon 

they entered in such numbers that 

‘‘Jews’ a special space, known as the JEws’ 
Walk” in WALK, was allotted to them. As the 

the Royal law had been abrogated for the Jews, 
Exchange. a similar suspension as regards the 
taking of the oath had to be generally 
adopted; and in consequence the Exchange was 
soon overrun with doubtful characters. Abuses 
grew so rapidly that public clamor resulted in a re- 
organization of the Exchange and its laws in 1697. 
The “Post Boy” of April 27 of that year records 
that “the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen have been 
busy this week in receiving petitions from a great 
number of persons, who put in to be Exchange 
brokers: they are to be 100 in number, 80 of whom 
are to be Englishmen and the rest foreigners and 
Jews, each of whom is to carry a medal in his pocket 
with his name on it, the King’s efligy on one side 
and the city arms on the other, and they are to show 
it on the making of any bargains.” 

According to the archives contained in the Guild- 
hall Library, London, the number of Jew brokers or 
alien brokers was limited to twelve, the election 
being the prerogative of the lord mayor and the 
court of aldermen. An entrance-fee of forty shil- 
lings was charged, with an annual payment of asimi- 
lar amount. In addition, the broker had to give 

surety in two bonds of £500 each, as 


The a guaranty of the faithful perform- 
Brokers’ ance of his duties. When these con- 
Medals. ditions had been complied with, the 


applicant received his medal, which, 

in the case of a Jew broker, was transferable. The 
purchase of brokers’ medals caused much competi- 
tion, the usual purchase price ranging from £1,000 
to £1,500. In the event of a Jew broker dying be- 
fore a transfer could be made, the privileges accruing 
from the sale became perquisites of the lord mayor. 
The last recorded sale of a broker’s medal took place 
in 1826, when Joseph Barrow Montefiore paid 1,500 
guineas to Sir William Maguay, the then lord mayor, 
for a medal which had lapsed through the death 
of its owner. In 1828 the corporation removed the 
limit on the number of Jews admitted to the Ex- 
change, and abolished the purchase of the medal and 
the heavy entrance fee. Under an old charter of 
Edward IIT. English brokers were forced to be free- 


men, but it was not until 1882 that the freedom of 
the city was extended to the Jews. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Young Israel, i. 

J 


BROMBERG. See POsEN. 


BROOCH or BUCKLE: A term which occurs 
in I. Mace. x. 89, xi. 58, xiv. 44, as the translation of 
the Greek répry; Latin, fibula, This was a ring 
made of metal (often gold) and set with precious 
stones, through which passed a pin. It was used, 
in the manner of the modern safety-pin, to fasten 
the overgarment to the shoulder. By the Romans 
brooches were often given as presents; and in the 
army they were bestowed as marks of distinction or 
rewards for meritorious service, like modern orders 
and decorations. When of gold, they resembled the 
epaulets now worn by the higher military officers. 
From the passages quoted above it is evident that in 
the East kings or high dignitaries (priests) were ex- 
clusively the recipients; something of the ancient 
Taboo apparently surviving in this restricted use. 
In Ex. xxxv. 22, R. V., “brooch” is the rendering 
of the Hebrew mn, which, however, was a nose-ring 
(see BRIDLE; compare II Kings xix. 28). 


E. G. H. 

BROOKLYN. See New York. 

BROTHER: Son of the same father and mother 
(or of either), but principally son of the same father 
and mother (see Gen. xlii. 3, 4, 5, 18; xliv. 11, 23, 29; 
II Sam. xiii. 4 et seg.; Judges ix. 3). The brother 
was expected to give his consent to his sister’s mar- 
riage (Gen. xxiv. 50-55, xxxiv. 11 e¢ seq.). The 
Mosaic law declares the marriage of brother and sis- 
ter, whether the latter be the daughter of the same 
father or of the same mother, to be incestuous (Lev. 
xviii. 9, xx. 17); whereas in the patriarchal time, and 
even later, it was not considered unlawful to marry 
the daughter of the same father (Gen. xx. 12; II 
Sam. xiii. 13). To marry the brother’s wife was 
incest (Lev. xviii. 16, xx. 21); but if a brother died 
childless, then the surviving brother was enjoined 
to marry the widow, and the first-born son of this 
marriage bore the dead brother’s name and was his 
legal heir. In case of the refusal of the brother-in- 
law to marry her, the widow was required to sum- 
mon him before the city elders and loose his shoe 
from off his foot, saying: “So shall be done unto 
that man that will not build up his brother’s house ” 
(Deut. xxv. 5-9; see Hatizau and LEVIRATE). 

The nearest relative occasionally took the place of 
the brother (Ruth iv. 13; v. 3, 4). The brother was 
the first, as GOEL, to redeem the property sold by an 
impoverished man, and to avenge the murder of 
a brother (Lev. xxv. 48; Ps. xlix.). It is probably 
due to this primitive idea of kinship that the name 
“brother ” came to have the following significations: 

(a) A kinsman. Thus, Lot, the nephew of Abra- 
ham, and Jacob, the nephew of Laban, are each called 
“brother” (Gen. xiii. 8, xiv. 14, xxxix. 15). Fur- 
thermore, inasmuch as the whole tribe formed in this 
sense one family, the name “brother” became also 
the designation for 

(0) A tribesman (Lev. xxi. 10; Deut. xviii. 7; IT 
Sam. xix. 18 [12]) or one belonging to the same 
nation (Ex. li. 11, iv. 18; Num. xxxii. 6; Deut. 
x. 9, xvii. 20, xxiii. 19, xxiv. 7; Jer. xxxiv. 14). 


A. H. V. 


397 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brokers 
Brotherly Love 





(c) Kindred tribesmen, who are also called “ broth- | 


ers” (Num. xx. 14; Deut. li. 4,3; xxii. 7; Amos 
i. 11). 

(¢) Friends by concluding a covenant become 
actual brothers (II Sam. i. 26; Amos i. 9—“ berit 
ahim” {covenant of brothers]; compare “ahuvah” 
[brotherhood], Zech, xi. 14); although, according to 
Prov. xviii. 24, “there is a friend that sticketh closer 
than a brother.” 

(ec) The name “brother” has a higher meaning, 
and implies brotherly sentiment, in such verses as: 
“Open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy 
poor” (Deut. xv. 11); “ Lest by exceeding the num- 
ber of stripes thy brother should be vilified unto 
thee” (Deut. xxv. 8, Hebr.); “Fear thy God that 
thy brother may live with thee” (Lev. xxv. 36). 
Indeed, proverbial wisdom states as an experience 
of life among the Jewish people that “a brother is 
born for adversity ” (Prov. xvii. 17); that is to say, 
mere sight of distress rouses brotherly compassion. 

(f) Finally, the word “brother” means a fellow- 
man as son of the same God and Father: “At the 
hand of every man’s brother will I require life” 
(Gen. ix. 5). “Have we not all one father? hath 
not one God created us? Why do we deal treacher- 
ously every man against his brother ” (Mal, ii. 10). 
“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart” 
(Lev. xix.17). The feeling of brotherly union which 
gave rise to Ps. exxxiii., “ How good and how pleas- 
ant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” 
prompted also the prayer recited in the Temple every 
morning: “May He who dwelleth in this house 
plant brotherliness and love, peace and friendship, 
amongst you” (Yer. Ber. i. 8c; compare iv. 7d, a 
similar prayer by R. Johanan). “Years of plenty 
and prosperity make of the creatures brothers to 
each other” (Gen. R. 1xxxix.; Midrashic explana- 
tion of INN, Gen. xli. 2). In a far higher sense 
Abraham by his piety and philanthropy “made 
brothers” of the whoie world (Gen. R. xxxix.; see 
BROTHERLY LOVE). 

(y) “Brother” is also used in the sense of “ friend ” 
asa form of politeness (Gen. xix. 7), and (zh) figura- 
tively in the sense of “companion”: “ He that is 
slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great 
waster” (Prov. xviii. 9); “I ama brother to dragons, 
a companion to owls” (Job xxx. 29). 

E, C. K. 


BROTHERHOODS. See FRATERNITIES. 


BROTHER-IN-LAW. See LEVIRATE. 


BROTHERLY LOVE: The love for one’s fel- 
low-man asa brother. The expression is taken from 
the Greek word ¢cAadeAdgia (“love of brothers ”), which 
trait distinguished the early Christian communities, 
Rom. xii. 10; I Thess. iv. 9; John xiii. 85; 1 John 
ii. 9, iti. 12, iv. 7, v. 1; and I Peter iii. 8, v. 9 ex- 
press the idea of Christian fellowship and fraternity. 
It originated among the Essene brotherhoods, who 
practised brotherly love as a special virtue (Jose- 
phus, “B. J.” ii. 8, § 2; Philo, “Quod Omnis Liber 
Probus,” § 12). Brotherly love is commanded as a 
universal principle in Lev. xix. 18: “Thou shalt 


love thy neighbor as thyself,” the preceding verse | 


containing the words: “Thou shalt not hate thy 
brother in thine heart.” This commandment of 








love, with the preceding sentence, “Thou shalt not 
avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of 
thy people,” may originally have referred, and has 
by some scholars (Stade, “ Gesch. des Volkes Israel,” 

i, 510a) been exclusively referred, to 
A Biblical the Israelitish neighbor; but in verse 
Command. 34 of the same chapter it is extended 

to “the stranger that dwelleth with 
you... and thou shalt love him as thyself.” In 
Job xxxi, 18-15 it is declared unjust to wrong the 
servant in his cause: “Did not he that made me in 
the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in 
the wom)?” 

The principle of brotherly love, including all men, 
is plainly stated in the Book of Wisdom i. 6, vii. 28, 
xii. 19: “ Wisdom is man-loving ” (@:Adv@pwrov) ; “ the 
righteous must be man-loving.” The Testaments of 
the Patriarchs (Issachar v., vii.) teach the love of 
God and love of all men “as [Tfis?] children.” Com- 
menting upon the command to love the neighbor 
(Lev. é.c.) is a discussion recorded (Sifra, Kedoshim, 
iv.; compare Gen. R. xxiv. 5) between Akiba, who 
declared this verse in Leviticus to contain the great 
principle of the Law (“ Kelal gadol ba-Torah ”), and 
Ben Azzai, who pointed to Gen. v. 1 (“This is the 
book of the generations of Adam; in the day that 
God created man, in the Jikeness of God made he 
him”), as the verse expressing the leading principle 
of the Law, obviously because the first verse gives 
to the term “neighbor” its unmistakable meaning 
as including all men as being sons of Adam, made 
in the image of God. Tanhuia, in Gen. R. lc., ex- 
plains it thus: “If thou despisest any man, thou 
despisest God who made man in His image.” 

Hillel also took the Biblical command in this uni- 
versal spirit when he responded to the heathen who 
requested him to tell the Law while standing before 
him on one foot: “What is hateful to thee, thou 
shait not do unto thy neighbor. Thisis the whole 
of the Law, the rest is only commentary ” (Shab. 


31a). The negative form was the accepted Targum 
interpretation of Lev. xix. 18, known 

The alike to the author of Tobit iv. 15 and 
Golden to Philo, in the fragment preserved by 
Rule. Eusebius, “Preparatio Evangelica,” 


vill. 7 (Bernays’ “Gesammelte Ab- 
handlungen,” 1885, i. 274 e¢ seg.); to the Didache, i. 
1; Didascalia or Apostolic Constitutions, i. 1, iii. 15; 
Clementine Homilies, ii. 6; and other ancient patristic 
writings (Resch, “ Agrapha,” pp. 95, 185, 272). That 
this so-called golden rule, given also in James ii. 8, 
was recognized by the Jews in the time of Jesus, 
may be learned from Mark xii. 28-34; Luke x. 25- 
28; Matt. vii. 12, xix. 19, xxii. 34-40; Rom. xiii. 
9; and Gal. v. 14, where the Pharisaic scribe asks 
Jesus in the same words that were used by Akiba, 
“What isthe great commandment of the Law?” and 
the answer given by Jesus declares the first and 
great commandment to be the love of God, and the 
second the love of “thy neighbor as thyself.” To 
include all men, Hillel used the term “beriot ” 
(creatures [compare xriotc]; Mark xvi. 15; Rom. viii. 
19) when inculcating the teaching of love: “Love 
the fellow-creatures ” (Aboti. 12). Hatred of fellow- 
creatures (“sinat ha-beriyot”) is similarly declared 
by R. Joshua b. Hananiah to be one of the three 


Love 
saac 


Brotherl 
Broydé, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


398 





things that drive man out of the world (Abot ii. 11; 
compare I John iii. 15). 

That brotherly love as a universal principle of 
humanity has been taught by the Jewish rabbis of 
old, is disputed by Christian theologians, who refer 
to the saying attributed to Jesus in Matt. v. 43: 
“Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say unto you, 
Love your enemies,” etc. This statement, however, 
lacks all foundation in Jewish literature (see Gritz, 
“Gesch. der Juden,” iii. 312, note). Giidemann 

thinks that Jesus’ words had a special 
Hate Thy political meaning, and that they refer 

Enemy, toa view expressed by the zealots who 

Un-Jewish. wanted to exclude dissenters from the 

cominand of love by such teaching as 
is found in Abot R. N. xvi., ed. Schechter, p. 64: 
“Thou shalt not say, I love the sages but hate the 
disciples, or I love the students of the Law but hate 
the ‘am ha-arez [ignoramuses]; thou shalt love all, but 
hate the heretics {“ minim ”], the apostates, and the 
informers. So does the command, ‘ Thou shait love 
thy neighbor as thyself,’ refer only to those that act 
as one of thy people; but if they act not accord- 
ingly, thou needst not love them.” Against this 
exclusive principle, Jesus asserted the principle of 
brotherly love as applied by the liberal school of 
Hillel to all men. Indeed, the Talmud insists, with 
reference to Lev. xix. 18, that even the criminal at 
the time of execution should be treated with ten- 
der love (Sanh. 45a). As Schechter in “J. Q. R.” 
x. 11, shows, the expression “ Ye have heard , , .” is 
an inexact translation of the rabbinical formula 
IN pow, which is only a formal logical interro- 
gation introducing the opposite view as the only 
correct one: “Ye might deduce from this verse 
that thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine 
enemy, but E say to you the only correct interpre- 
tation is, Love all men, even thine enemies.” 

The story of the good Samaritan, in the Pauline 
Gospel of Luke x. 25-87, related to illustrate the 
meaning of the word “neighbor,” possesses a fea- 
ture which puzzles the student of rabbinical lore. 
The kind Samaritan who comes to the rescue of the 
men that had fallen among the robbers, is contrasted 
with the unkind priest and Levite; whereas the third 
class of Jews—i.e., the ordinary Israelites who, as a 

rule, follow the Cohen and the Levite— 

The Good are omitted; and therefore suspicion 

Samaritan. is aroused regarding the original form 

ofthestory. If“ Samaritan ” has been 

substituted by the anti-Judean gospel-writer for the 

original “Israelite,” no reflection was intended by 

Jesus upon Jewish teaching concerning the meaning 

of neighbor; and the lesson implied is that he who 
is in need must be the object of our love. 

The term “neighbor” has at all times been thus 
understood by Jewish teachers. In Tanna debe 
Eliyahu R. xv. it is said: “Blessed be the Lord who 
is impartial toward all. He says: ‘Thou shalt not 
defraud thy neighbor. Thy neighbor is like thy 
brother, and thy brother is like thy neighbor.’ ” 
Likewise in xxviii.: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God”: that is, thou. shalt make the name of God 
beloved to the creatures by a righteous conduct 
toward Gentiles as well as Jews (compare Sifre, 


Deut. 82). Aaron b. Abraham ibn Hayyim of the 
sixteenth century, in his commentary to Sifre, é.c. ; 
Hayyim Vital, the cabalist, in his “Sha‘are Kedu- 
shah,” i. 5; and Moses Hagis of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, in his work on the 613 commandments, while 


commenting on Deut, xxiii. 7, teach alike that the 


law of love of the neighbor includes the non-Israel- 
ite as well as the Israelite. There is nowhere a 
dissenting opinion expressed by Jewish writers. 
For modern times, see among others the conserva- 
tive opinion of Plessner’s religious catechism, “ Dat 
Mosheh we-Yehudit,” p. 258. 

Accordingly the synod at Leipsic in 1869, and the 
German-lsraelitish Union of Congregations in 1885, 
stood on old historical ground when declaring (Laza- 
rus, “Ethics of Judaism,” i. 234, 302) that “‘ Love 
thy neighbor as thyself’ is a command of all- 
embracing love, and is a fundamental principle of 
the Jewish religion ”; and Stade, when charging with 
imposture the rabbis who made this declaration, is en- 
tirely in error (see his “ Gesch. des Volkes Israel,” /.c.). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gtidemann, Nidchstenliebe, 1890; Hastings, 
Dict. Bible, s.v. i: 


BROTHERS, RICHARD: English visionary 
and founder of Anglo-Israelism; born Dec. 25, 1757, 
at Placentia, Newfoundland; died at London Jan. 
25, 1824. He entered the British navy in 1771, but 
was discharged as a half-pay lieutenant in 1783. In 
1790 he refused to draw his pension on account of 
the oath which he was required to take; and two 
years later he began his prophetic career by declar- 
ing he had a divine mission to announce the fulfil- 
ment of Dan. vii. Brothers described himself as the 
“nephew of the Almighty,” because he considered 
that he was descended from one of the brothers of 
Jesus, and claimed that on Nov. 17, 1795, he would 
be revealed as the prince of the Hebrews and ruler 
of the world. Before that date, however, he had 
been removed to a lunatic asylum, where he wrote 
his “ Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies ” (1794), 
“A Description of the New Jerusalem ” (1801), and 
“The New Covenant Between God and His People ” 
(a posthumous work, 1830). 

Brothers seems to have been the first person to 
claim that the English are descendants of the Lost 
Ten Tribes; and his views are still referred to with 
respect by the adherents of Anglo-Israelism. His 
“Description of the New Jerusalem” contains a 
series of plates of the various officials of the new 
kingdom which was to be restored in Palestine under 
his leadership. These officials are all dressed in the 
court costume of George III. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dictionary of National Biography, s.v. 


BROUGHTON, HUGH: English Christian di- 
vine and rabbinical scholar; born 1549 at Oldbury, 
Shropshire; died at Tottenham, near London, Aug. 
4, 1612. Broughton was entered at Magdalene Col- 
lege, Cambridge, where he began his Hebrew studies 
under the French scholar Chevalier. He graduated 
as B. A. in 1570, and subsequently went to London, 
where he distinguished himself in the pulpit as a rep- 
representative of Puritan sentiment. In his first 
work, “A Concent of Scripture,” which appeared in 
1588, he made an effort to determine the Biblical 


399 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brotherly Love. 
Broydé, Isaac 





chronology, as well as to correct the profane writers 
by it. 

Broughton seems to have been anxious to convert 
the Jews to Christianity. In the course of his 
travels in Germany (he probably started at the end 
of 1589 or at the beginning of 1590) he engaged in 
religious discussions with several Jews. In Frank- 
fort, early in 1590, he disputed in the synagogue 
with “Rabbi Klas.” This dispute resulted in a Jet- 
ter from a certain Rabbi Abraham Reuben, written 
in 1096 at Constantinople and transmitted to Brough- 
ton in Germany by his (Broughton’s) disciple “ Top.” 
Broughton anticipated good results from his discus- 
sions with Jews; and often referred to his disputa- 
tions with Rabbi David Farrar. He was desirous 
of translating the New Testament into Hebrew; 
but, receiving no encouragement, he translated the 
Revelation only. 

Broughton was one of the chief instruments in 
bringing about the Authorized Version of King 
James; but, keenly disappointed at being overlooked 
by the king when the latter appointed the fifty-four 
learned men to undertake the revision (J uly 22, 1604), 
Broughton attacked vigorously the new translation. 
His own versions of the Prophets, while marked 
by all his peculiarities, have a majesty of expres- 
sion which entitles them to be better known. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dict. National Biography; General Bio- 
graphic Dict. vii, McClintock and Strong, Cye.; Hncye. 
Brit.; P. Larousse, Dict. Universel. 


T, A. R. 


BROVARY: Small town in the government of 
Chernigov, Russia. In 1898 it had 1,344 Jewish in- 
habitants in a population of 5,166. Most of them 
were engaged in mercantile pursuits; while 258 fol- 
lowed various handicrafts. The prevailing trade is 
tailoring, in which 102 Jews are engaged. Besides, 
there are 22 Jewish day-laborers and 75 persons who 
earn their livelihood in the local cigarette, tar, and 
chair factories. 

The Jewish charitable institutions consist of a 
hospital for the poor, a home for the aged, and a 
few similar establishments. The educational needs 
of the Jewish community are supplied by 12 “he- 
darim ” (186 pupils) and a Talmud-Torah (28 pupils). 

H. R. S. J. 

BROWN, SAUL. See under New Yorks. 


BROWN, WILLIAM: Scottish clergyman; 
born 1766; died 1835; for forty-three years minister 
of Eskdalemuir, Scotland. He is the author of 
“ Antiquities of the Jews Carefully Compiled from 
Authentic Sources, and Their Customs IHustrated 
from Modern Travels,” in two volumes, with a map 
showing the ground-plan of the Temple (London, 
1820; 2d edition, Edinburgh, 1826). The work is 
compiled mostly from Latin, French, and English 
sources, suchas Arius Montanus’ “ Aaron,” Calmet’s 
dictionary, Goodwin’s “Moses and Aaron,” Owen’s 
“Exercitation on the Hebrews,” Buxtorf’s “De 
Synagoga Judaica,” and Basnage’s history. He 
borrowed much from Dr. Lightfoot’s “ Prospect of 
the Temple” and “Temple Services,” but states in 
the preface of his work that he takes “a wider range 
than Dr. Lightfoot, who professes to despise rabbin- 
ical learning.” 


For the improvemeuts in the second edition Brown 
used Surenhusius’ Latin translation of the Mishnah 
and several additional treatises by Maimonides and 
Abravanel, also from Latin translations: for his. 
familiarity with Hebrew seems to have been very 
limited. The work is of more interest to the bibli- 
ographer than to the student. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dictionary of National Biography, vii. 36. 


T. P. Wt. 


BROWNING, ROBERT: English poet; born 
in Clerkenwell, London, 1812; died at Venice Dec. 
12, 1889. From his somewhat Jewish appearance, 
knowledge of Hebrew, and sympathy with Jews, it 
was for a long time thought that Browning was of 
Jewish descent, but this has been disproved by the 
tracing of his genealogy by Dr. Furnivall. His in- 
terest in Jews may to some extent be due to the fact 
that his father obtained a position in the Bank of 
England through the influence of the Rothschilds, 
with whom the poet was personally acquainted 
throughout his life. Several of Browning’s poems 
deal with Jewish subjects. “Holy Cross Day” 
gives the soliloquy of a Jew of the Roman ghetto 
who was unwilling to attend the sermons of a 
Dominican friar. The concluding lines state the 
ease forcibly of the Jew against Christian persecu- 
tion: 

* By the torture, prolonged from age to age, 
By the infamy, Israel's heritage, 
By the Ghetto’s plague, by the garb’s disgrace, 
By the badge of shame, by the felon's place, 
By the branding tool, the bloody whip, 
And the summons to Christian fellowship— 
We boast our proof that at least the Jew 
Would wrest Christ’s name from the Devil’s crew,” 

His principal Jewish poems were “Rabbi Ben 
Ezra” and “Jochanan Hakkadosh,” the former giv- 
ing the life-philosophy of a Jewish sage, who may 
perhaps be identified with Abraham ibn Ezra; it is 
full of true Jewish optimism. “Jochanan Hakka- 
dosh” is an account of a great rabbi who obtains the 
privilege of additional months of life given up 
to him by his pupils, through whose experience he 
passes. He declares that all is vanity, after three 
months’ experience of the life of a married lover, of 
a warrior, of a poet, and of a statesman. But by 
accident he has also obtained the gift of three 
months from the life of a little child, and this expe- 
rience harmonizes all the discrepancies, and enables 
the sage to feel that life is not altogether in vain. 

Other poems of Jewish interest are: “Filippo 
Baldunecci on the Privilege of Burial” and “Ben 
Karshook’s Wisdom”—the latter an extension of the 
saying in Pirke Abot, “Repent the day before your 
death.” 

Besides his poems, Browning showed his sympathy 
with Jews by signing, in 1881, the memorial to the 
lord mayor to summon a meeting to protest against 
the persecution of the Jews of Russia; and by join- 
ing the Council of the Anglo-Jewish Exhibition in 
1887. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Joseph Jacobs, Jewish. Ideals, pp. 84-95. 


BROYDS, ISAAC: Russian Orientalist; born 
at Porozowo, government of Grodno, Russia, Feb. 
23, 1867. Afterattending the gymnasium at Grodno 


Bruchsal 
Brull, Adolph 





he went in 1888 to Paris. There he studied at the 
Sorbonne, receiving his diploma from the Ecole des 
Langues Orieutales in 1892, and from the Ecole des 
Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Historiques et 
Philologigues, in 1894. From 1890 to 1895 he was 
secretary to Joseph Derenbourg, and on the death 
of the latter, in 1895, was appointed by the publica- 
tion committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle 
one of the collaborators to continue the publication 
of Saadia’s works, which Derenbourg had com- 
menced. In 1895 Broydé was appointed librarian to 
the Alliance Israélite Universelle, which position he 
resigned in 1900. He then went to London, and 
during his short stay there catalogued the library of 
Elkan Adler. The same year he went to New York 
and joined the editorial staff of the JEwisH ENxcy- 
CLOPEDIA. 

Broydé is the author of the following works: 
“Résumé des Reéflexions sur Ame de Bahya ben 
Joseph ibn Pakuda,” Paris, 1894; “Torat ha- 
Nefesh”: “Réflexions sur l’Ame de Bahya ben 
Joseph ibn Pakuda,” translated from the Arabic 
into Hebrew, with notes and an introduction, Paris, 
1894; “La Prise de Jérusalem par les Perses, sous 
Heraclius,” Orléans, 1896, translated from an old 
Arabic manuscript in Count Couret’s collection of 
documents relating to the Crusades. He has also 
contributed several articles on Jewish subjects to 
“The Jewish Quarterly Review” and the “Revue 
des Etudes Juives.” 

S. F. T. H. 

BRUCHSAL: City in the grand duchy of 
Baden. Jews resided here as early as the beginning 
of the twelfth century. In 1337 the Jews of Bruch- 
sal joined with those of a number of other places in 
paying an annual tribute of 700 marks (in leu of 
the taxes levied) to the bishop of Speyer. They 
also lent various sums to the bishop, which money 
was credited against the tribute due. At the time 
of the Black Death (1848-49) many Jews of Bruch- 
sal were martyred. During the Middle Ages and 
the Reformation the Jews of Bruchsal suffered in 
common with their coreligionists throughout Ger- 
many. Untilthe French Revolution the Jewish com- 
munity numbered only one or two hundred persons; 
and there were never so many as at the present 
time (1902), when about 100 families are to be found 
in the place. 

The most famous of the rabbis was David Fried- 
berg of Mosbach, who officiated in Bruchsal from 
1857 to 1871. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salfeld, Martyrologium, passim. 

D. A. M. F. 

BRUCK, ABRAHAM JACOB: Russian edu- 
eator; author of works in Hebrew and in Russian; 
born in the district of Rossienny 1820; died in 
Yekaterinoslav i898. He received his education at 
the yeshibah of Volozhin, but studied Hebrew 
grammar and the Russian, German, French, and 
English languages without the aid of a teacher. 
For many years he was instructor in Hebrew at the 
government school for Jewish boys in Kherson. 
and later established a private school for Jewish 
girls, which the government subsidized. For his 
zeal as an educator he was awarded a medal by the 
government. He contributed extensively to Jewish 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


400 


periodicals, Russian and Hebrew. A Hebrew trans- 
lation of a French novel by L. Z ski—which had 
been published im the “ Archives Israélites ”—was 
made by him under the title of “Hatan Damim,” 
Lemberg, 1878. The novel portrays the life of the 
Jews in Russia. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ahiasaf, 1898-94; on his articles in Russki 
Yevrei and other periodicals see Sistematicheski Uka- 
zatel, ete. 

H. R. 


BRUCK, JACOB: Hungarian physician and 
author; born at Papa Oct. 20, 1845; died at Buda- 
pest 1901; brother of Lajos Bruck. He studied at 
the gymnasium and at the University of Budapest; 
and graduated as doctor of medicine in 1870. He 
began to practise at Budapest in 1874, and in 1875 
became consulting physician at the Erzsébet salt- 
water baths of the city, which position he held till 
his death in 1901. He was one of the judges at the 
National Exposition of 1885, and notary of the sani- 
tary department; subsequently he was appointed 
a member of the National Sanitary Council. He 
was also a member of the committee of arrange- 
ments for the Millennial Exposition of 1896. His 
literary works, principally on the treatment of fe- 
male diseases and hydropathy. appeared in the 
medical journals “Gydégvaszat,” “Fiirdéi Lapok,” 
and “Pester Medicinische Presse,” of which last- 
mentioned publication Bruck was for a time editor. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pallas Nayy Lexricona. 


S. M. W. 


BRUCK, JULIUS: German dentist and writer 
on dentistry; born at Breslau Oct. 6, 1840; dicd 
there, April 20, 1902. He studied dentistry and 
medicine at the universities of Breslau, Berlin, Bonn, 
and Paris; receiving his diploma as dentist from 
Berlin in 1858, and as doctor of medicine from Breslau 
University in 1866. In 1859 he became assistant 
to his father, Dr. Jonas Bruck, a dentist in Bres- 
lau, and succeeded him in his practise. In 1871 
he was admitted to the medical faculty of the Bres- 
lau University as privat-docent, receiving the hon- 
orary title of professor in 1891. 

Bruck is the author of: “Die Krankheiten des 
Zahnfleisches”; “ Beitriige zur Pathologie und His- 
tologie der Zahnpulpa”; “Ueber Angeborene und 
Erworbene Defekte des Gesichts und des Kiefers” ; 
“Das Urethroscop und Stomatoscop Durch Galva- 
nisches Glihlicht.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pagel, Biog. Lez. s.v., Vienna, 1901; Ally. 
Zeit. des Jud. May 2, 1902. 
S. F. T. H. 


BRUCK, LAJOS: Hungarian painter: born 
at Papa, county of Veszprim, Nov., 1846. Though 
his father intended him for commercial life, he early 
showed a liking for drawing and painting, and 
resolved to become an artist. He frequented the 
Academy of Art in Vienna, and made portraits in 
private; this latter occupation absorbing his time to 
such an extent that often he had to miss the lectures 
and go to Budapest and Erjlau in order to complete 
the portraits which had been ordered. In 1871, 
after having received a stipend from the govern- 
ment, he went to Italy to study the masterpieces of 
art. He remained two years in Venice, and then 





401 


proceeded to Rome and Naples, everywhere pro- 
ducing a large number of sketches and studies. An 
outcome of this journey was the picture with which in 
1873 he first came before the public, “The Rialto at 
Venice.” On his return from Italy he completed his 
sketches, but succeeded in finding only a single 
patron, General Ttirr, who purchased three of his 
pictures. Asa consequence he undertook another 
pilgrimage, visiting the cities of Salzburg, Munich, 
Augsburg, Heidelberg, Cologne, Rotterdam, Am- 
sterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Ostend, and London. 
In 1874 he went to Paris, where he was subjected 
to many struggles, his German style not appealing 
to the French taste. Hitherto his style had inclined 
to idealism and sentimentalism, while Paris demanded 
the forceful representation of actual life. His first 
notable painting, “On the Edge of the Wood,” was 
exhibited in the Salon in 1876. This was followed 
by “The Departure for the City ”—exhibited at the 
Salon, 1877—which made him widely known. From 
that time he became a regular annual exhibitor of 
pictures treating of Hungarian folk-life, such as 
“The Letter from the Absent One,” “Deserted,” 
“The Emigrant,” and “In the Forge.” These pic- 
tures have become widely known through engra- 
vings and photographs, which have found many pur- 
ehasers in America. Later Bruck removed from 
Paris to London, where he ranked among the most 
popular painters. He died December 9, 1910. 
BiBLIOGRAPHY : Pallas Nagy Lexicona: Figaro, 1817; lilus- 
trated News, 1899. 


S. M. W. 


BRUCK, MAX (Miksa): Hungarian painter; 
born at Budapest 1863; a brother of Lajos Bruck. 
He graduated from the schools of his native city, 
and when still a pupil at the Realschule showed a 
predilection for drawing. He continued his studies 
at the National Academy of Design, where he ocecu- 
pied himself with wood-carving. In 1880 he accom- 
panied his brother to Paris, where he remained for 
several years. He alsospent three years in Munich. 
On his return to Budapest le entered Beneztir’s 
Schoo] of Arts, and is to-day professor at the Acad- 
emy of Painting. His best-known pictures are 
“Zwei Liebespaare,” “Nach Hause,” “Im Walde” 
(which are at the imperial castle at Vienna); “ Bis 
Wir Alt Werden” (in the imperial castle at Puda- 
pest); “Am Rande der Theiss,” “Das Ginse- 
Miidchen.” . 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Selbstbiographte; Pester Lloyd, a 

8. ‘ 


BRUCK, MOSES: Hungarian theological wri- 
ter; born about 1812 in Prerau, Moravia; died in 
1849. He studied at Prague, and, as he could find 
no position as tutor in Moravia, went to Hungary. 
On the outbreak of the Revolution of 1848 he en- 
listed in Gross-Becskerek on the side of Hungarian 
independence, became a Honvéd officer, died at Héd- 
Mezé-Vasarhely, and was buried with full military 
honors in the Jewish cemetery there. 

Bruck was one of the most enthusiastic supporters 
of the Reform movement, and wasamong the pioneers 
of modern Jewish theological literature. He wrote 
“Die Reform des Judenthums”; but especially his 
“Rabbinische Ceremonialgebr&uche” and “ Phari- 

ITT.—26 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bruchsal 
Brull, Adolph 





siiische Volkssitten und Ritualien” are of great 
value to the student of Jewish customs and prac- 
tises, and were favorably criticized by Geiger (“ Wis- 
senschaftliche Zeitschrift,” iii. 426) and First (“ Allg. 
Zeit. des Judenthums,” i. 824), and were widely 
read. 

s. L. V. 


BRUCK, SOLOMON B. HAYYIM: Aus- 
trian Hebraist; born in the latter part of the eight- 
eenth century ; died about 1846. He is the author 
of “ Hakirat ha-Emet ” (Altona, 1839; 2d ed., Vienna, 
1842), a volume of collectanea, including in the first 
edition a sermon which he delivered in England in 
the English language, and which was excluded by 
the Austrian censor from the second edition. His 
other work, “ Hezyone Layil,” was published posthu- 


_mously by his son, Isaac Levi Briick (born 1817), a 


veteran of the Italian wars under Radetzky. Ina 
German preface which he appended to his father’s 
work, Isaac Levi tells hisown interesting biography 
and his experiences with Samuel David Luzzatto 
while he was stationed at Padua. The work con- 
sists of a series of imaginary dream-visits to the other 
world, in which the manners and conduct of certain 
classes are severely criticized. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Bibl. Jud. i. 184; Benjacob, Ozgar ha- 
Sefarim, p. 200; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. p. 43. 
g, P. WI. 


BRUCKMAN, HENRIETTA (née Kahn): 
Founder of the first Jewish women’s lodge in Amer- 
ica; born in Bohemia April, 1810; died in New York 
city April, 1888. She married Dr. Philip Bruckman, 
and, about the year 1842, came with him to the 
United States, settling in New York city. Dr. 
Bruckman and his wife did much to assist their 
fellow-countrymen who emigrated to New York, 
the former winning the sobriquet of “Der Bdoh- 
mische Vater.” 

Mrs. Bruckman conceived the idea of organizing a 
women’s lodge and broached the subject to several 
ladies of the Congregation Emanu-E]. An informal 
meeting was held at her house in 1846, resulting in 
the foundation, on April 21 of that year, of the 
“Unabhingiger Orden Treuer Schwestern” (Inde- 
pendent Order of True Sisters), a secret benevolent 
society. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Buch des Goldenen Jubiliums (U. 0. T.S.), 
New York, 1896. 
A. C. Br. 


BRUOHL, LUCIEN LEVY. See Levy-Brumu. 
BRUUHL, L. 8. See LEvy-Bruau. 


BRULL, ADOLF: German writer and theolo- 
gian; born in Kojetein, Moravia, April 27, 1846; 
son of Rabbi Jakob BriLty. He was educated at 
Kremsier and at the universities of Vienna, Prague, 
and Breslau, and received his theological training at 
the Jewish Theological Seminary at the last-named 
city. In 1871 he received a call as teacher at the 
Philanthropin in Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here he 
founded (1879) the Mendelssohu Society and edited 
the “ Populir-Wissenschaftliche Monatsblitter.” 

He was the author of “ Fremdsprachliche Redensar- 
ten und Ausdriicklich als Fremdsprachlich Bezeich- 


Brtll, lgnaz 
Brunetti 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


402 





nete Worter in den Talmuden und Midraschim,” 
Leipsic, 1869; “Trachten der Juden im Nachbib- 
lischen Alterthume,” part i., Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
1878; “Das Samaritanische Targum zum Penta- 
teuch, zum Ersten Male in Hebriischer Quadrat- 
schrift Nebst cinem Anhange Textkritischen Jn- 
haltes Herausgegeben,” 7b. 1875; “Zur Geschichte 
und Literatur der Samaritaner,” 7. 1876; “Bei- 
trige zur Kenntniss der Jiidisch-Deutschen Litera- 
tur,” in Brill’s “Jahrbiicher,” 1877, iii. He died 
October 2. 190%, S. 
BRULL, IGNAZ: Austrian composer; born 
at Prossnitz, Moravia, Nov. 7, 1846. In 1848 his 
parents removed to Vienna. where he became a pupil 
of Epstein (piano- 
forte), Rufinatscha 
(composition), and 
Dessoff (instrumen- 
tation). In 1861 
Epstein played 
With great success 
a pianoforte - con- 
certo composed by 
his youthful pupil. 
After giving piano- 
forte-recitals at 
Vienna, at which 
he played  princi- 
; Bek pally his own com- 
: : positions, Brall 
made extensive 
tours through 


WA ys Germany and Eng- 
hi Att land. An orchestral 





eed 


serenade of his, per- 

formed at Stuttgart 
in 1864, served to spread his fame, and in 1872 he 
was appointed professor at the Horak Institute, 
Vienna. 

Briill’s first opera, “Der Bettler von Samarkand ” 
(1864), was never played; but the second, “Das 
Goldene Kreuz” (Berlin, 1875), rapidly became 
very popular in Germany and abroad. At its first 
performance at the Imperial Opera House in Berlin, 
the emperor, William J., personally complimented 
the composer on his success. The opera was also 
given in English by the Carl Rosa Company, and 
was very favorably received in London. It was 
followed by “Der Landfriede” (Vienna, 1877); 
“Bianca” (Dresden, 1879); “Kénigin Mariette” 
(Munich, 1883); “Das Steinerne Herz” (Prague, 
1883) ; “ Gringoire ” (one act, Munich, 1892); “Schach 
dem K6nig” (Munich, 1893); and a two-act comic 
opera, “Der Hussar” (Vienna, March 2, 1898), a 
work which has met with great success. The other 
compositions of Briillinclude: “Im Walde” ; “Jagd- 
Ouverture fiir Orchester”; 3 orchestral serenades; 
overture to “Macbeth”; a dance-suite for orchestra; 
2 pianoforte-concertos; a violin-concerto; a suite 
and 3 sonatas for piano and violin; a trio; a so- 
nata for violoncello and pianoforte; a sonata for 
two pianos; songs, part-songs, and pianoforte 
pieces. 

Brill was one of the ablest and most diligent com- 
posers of his time; he exercised a most wholesome 
and fruitful influence upon every department of 


composition in which he was active. In his cham- 
ber-music he reveals the influence of Schumaun and 
Mendelssohn, but finds in the field of opera a wider 
scope for his inventive powers. “Das Goldene 
Kreuz” to-day occupies a position unapproached 
by any other modern ‘production in the tield of 
popular German opera, not excepting Nessler's 
“Trompeter von Sikkingen.” Brill was an excel- 
lent pianist, and especially distinguished himself 
as an interpreter of the compositions of Brahms, 
with whom he was on terms of intimate friendship. 
He died Oct. 18, 1907. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baker, Biographical Diet. of Musicians; 
i aa Afusik-Lexikon; Hanslick, Die Moderne Oper, 
8. J. So. 


BRULL, JAKOB: Austrian Talmudist and au- 
thor; born at Neu-Raussnitz, Moravia, Nov. 16, 1812; 
died at Kojetein Nov. 29,1889. He attended the 
yeshibot of Bonyhad, Presburg, and Budapest. After 
serving as assistant rabbi in his native city, he was 
elected rabbi at Kojetein (1848), where he remained 
till his death. Among | 
his pupils were his 
two sons, Nehemiah 
and Adolf Brill, as 
well as David Kauf- 
mann. 

Brill wrote “ For- 
schungen tiber Tar- 
gumim und = Mid- 
raschim” (1852); 
“Die Mnemonik des 
Talmud” (1864); 
“Mebo ha-Mishnah ” 
(2 vols., 1876, 1885); 
ard a week before 
his death he pub- 
lished “Ben Zeku- 
nim ” (A Child of Old 
Age). He contrik- 
uted to Liw’s “Ben 
Chananja” and 
Weiss’s “Bet-Talmud.” His writings are char- 
acterized by extensive learning and critical insight. 

S. 


BRULL, NEHEMIAH: Rabbi and scholar of 
varied attainments; born March 16, 1848, at Neu- 
Raussnitz, Moravia; died Feb. 5, 1891, at Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main. Brill received his rabbinic-Tal- 
mudiec education from his father, Jakob, who com- 
bined wide Talmudic knowledge with acute historical 
perception. He then studied classical and Oriental 
languages and history at the University of Vienna, 
having at the same timea good opportunity to con- 
tinue his Talmudic studies at the Vienna bet ha- 
Midrash, then under the direction of men like I. H. 
Weiss, M. Friedmann, and Adolf Jellinek. Here, 
too, Brill, the son of a conservative rabbi, and the 
grandson of the arch-Orthodox chief rabbi of Mo- 
ravia, Nahum Trebitsch, developed into a decided 
Reformer and a disciple of Geiger. 

Brill was called asrabbi to Bisenz, one of the Re- 
form communities of Moravia, an office that be re- 
signed in1870 in order to take charge of the rabbinate 





gakob Brit. 


403 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bruil, Ignaz 
Brunetti 





of Frankfort-on-the-Main. He owed this appoint- 
ment to Abraham Geiger, who drew the attention of 
his native community to the young Moravian rabbi. 
Brill) remained with this ancient community until 
his death, although his position was fraught with 
disappointment, As a result of the movement in- 
augurated by S. R. Hirsch at Frankfort, even the 
circles that were not Orthodox tended gradually 
toward the conservative party. Brill cared as little 
for compromise as did his opponent Hirsch. An 
enthusiastic represent- 
ative of the Reform 
movement, for relig- 
ious as well as scien- 
tific reasons, he was 
decidedly opposed to 
any attempts at recon- 
ciliation between Re- 
form and Orthodoxy. 
Yet he was not the 
miiun to influence the 
masses: his sermons, 
less effective from the 
pulpit, had to be read 
in order to be appreci- 
ated. Not until he 
saw that all his efforts 
were In vain, and he 
had been personally attacked (compare FRANKFORT- 
ON-THE-MAIN), did he retire to devote himself to his 
studies, greatly to the honor and advantage of Jew- 
ish learning. 

Brtill’s researches ranged over almost all the 
brauches ot Jewish science, including Bible exege- 
sis and grammar, Jewish history and literature, the 
Apocrypha, Biblical Halakah, casuistics, responsa, 
general history, philology, poetry, 
Jewish-German literature; and he 
contributed toall these by original in- 
vestigation. Nolessaman than Adolf 
Jellinek says of Brill: “ His range of 
reading in Jewish literature was hardly 
paralleled, and he evinced a peculiar acumen found 
in no other scholar of modern times” (in Adolf 
Brill’s “Monatsblitter,” xi. 50). Brill collected the 
results of his scholarship in the ten volumes of his 
“ Jahrbticher” (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1874~90). He 
contributed almost the entire material to these 
“ Jahrbiicher”—the longer and shorter essays as 
well as the numerous criticisms on new books. 
Many of these essays have also been printed sepa- 
rately. Following is a list of the more important of 
them, arranged according to subjects—Bible: “ Bei- 
trige zur Erklarung des Buches Hosea” (“ Jahrb.” 
v.-vi. 1-62); “Historische Basis des Buches Ruth” 
(v.-vi. 63-70); “Das Apokryphische Susannabuch ” 
(iii. 1-69); “Die Epistolischen Apokryphen und die 
Apokryphischen Zusitze zum Buche Daniel.” Tal- 
mud: “Dic Talmudischen Tractate tiiber Trauer um 
Verstorbene ” (i. 1-57); “Fremdsprachliche Worter 
in den Talmuden und Midraschim ” (i. 123-210); “ Die 
Entstehungsgeschichte des Babylonischen Talmuds 
als Schriftwerkes ” (ii. 1-128); “ Verschollene Barai- 
tas und Midraschim ” (ii. 124-133) ;.“ Entstehung und 
Urspriinglicher Inhalt des Tractates Abot” (vii. 
1-17); “Eingeschaltete Partien im Babylonischen 





Nehemiah Briill. 


Britill’s 
Scientific 
Im- 
portance. 


Talmud ” (viii. 59-60). History: “ Adiabene ” (i. 58- 
86); “ Das Geschlecht der Treves ” (i. 87-122); “Die 
Polemik fiir und gegen Maimuni im Dreizehnten 
Jahrhundert” (iv. 1-388); “Zur Gesch. der Jtidisch- 
Ethischen Literatur des Mittelalters” (v.—vi. 71-98); 
“Spriichworter in der Nachtalmudischen Literatur 
des Judenthums” (vii. 18-380). 

Brill’s extraordinary range of reading and critical 
insight constituted him an almost unexcelled re- 
viewer of new books in the field of Jewish science. 
His “ Jahrbiicher ” contain 183 reviews, all of which 
illuminate more or less the subjects with which they 
deal. In 1890 Brill undertook a continuation of the 
“ Hebriische Bibliographie,” edited by Steinschnei- 

der, under the title “ Central-Anzeiger 
Biblio- fiir Jiidische Literatur”; but only one 
graphical volume appeared (Frank fort-on-the- 
Works. Main, 1891), as the undertaking was 
cut short by Briill’s death. At the 
instance of Steinschneider, the Zunz-Stiftung had 
commissioned Brill to add a supplement to Zunz’s 
“Gottesdienstliche Vortriige,” the basic work of 
modern Jewish science. Steinschneider remarked in 
his preface to the second edition of the work in 
question (xvi.): “Dr, Brill appeared to me to pos- 
sess the rare combination of ability and leisure, 
zeal and perseverance, requisite for editing sucha 
supplement.” Brill had intended to devote his 
whole scholarship to this undertaking. The scat- 
tered notes that were found in his papers after 
his death were in part incorporated in the second 
edition of the “Gottesdienstliche Vortriige” (2d. 
1892). Brill was among the few German scholars 
who also wrote in Hebrew, as may be seen by his 
many contributions to the Hebrew periodicals “ Bet- 
Talmud,” “Bet ha-Midrash,” “ Ha-Karmel,” and 
“Ozar ha-Sifrut.” Of these, “Toledot Shabbethai 
Zebi” (Wilna, 1879) and “Ner la-Maor,” a biogra- 
phy of Aaron Worms, in “ Ozar ha-Sifrut,” ii. 20-81, 
deserve special mention. Brill also printed his 
sermons (1869) and addresses (1878). “ Grabreden” 
(Frank fort-on-the-Main, 1895) and “ Trauungsreden” 
(40. 1891) were published posthumously. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Adolf Brill, Monatsblitter, xi. 50-52a, 148~ 
151; Ha-Asif, vi. 142; Kayserling, Gedenkblidtter, y ma 
8. ‘ 


BRUNA, ISRAEL. See IsrkarEL BRUNA BEN 
HAyyYIM. 


BRUNETTI, ANGELO (better known as Ci- 
ciruacchio): Popular Roman leader, and advocate 
of the emancipation of the Jews; born in Rome 1800; 
died there Aug. 10, 1849. Inspired by the patriot 
Mazzini, Brunetti labored not only for the deliver- 
ance of his native city, but also for the unhappy 
inhabitants of the Roman ghetto. He utilized the 
great influence he had gained during the prerevolu- 
tionary epoch, in effecting a reconciliation between 
the Jews and their Christian fellow-citizens. On 
July 8, 1847, he won over the inhabitants of Re- 
gola, a suburb of Rome, and a week later an im- 
mense mass-meeting in favor of the Jews was held 
in the capital itself. On the evening of that meeting 
(July 15) 6,000 Roman citizens went to the ghetto 
and fraternized enthusiastically with its inhabitants. 
When on April 17, 1848 (the first day of Pesah), the 


Brinn 
Brusa 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


404 





order of Pius TX. to tear down the walls of the ghetto 
was made public, Cicitruacchio hastened thither with 
a large number of his friends, and they were the 
first to begin the work of demolition. In the fol- 
lowing year Ciciruacchio, together with two of 
his sons, was killed in a riot in the streets of Rome. 
The Jewish congregation of Rome erected in its 
council-room a tablet to his memory, with an in- 
scription recording his great services in thc emanci- 
pation of the Jews of Rome. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Boni, La Conjura di Roma e Pio IX., Lau- 


sanne, 1847; Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ii. 149; 
aorouvels and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ii. 370, 
(4. 


s. I. E. 


BRUNN: Capital of Moravia. It possessed a 
Jewish community as early as the twelfth century. 
At the instigation of Capistrano, the Jews were ex- 
peHed from Brtinn July 27, 1451, by King Ladislaus, 
the posthumous son of the fanatical Albrecht II. 
Among the exiles was Israel Bruna, author of a 
well-known set of responsa. Not until the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century did the Jews attempt 
to found a new community. In obedience to a 
royal decree of Sept. 5, 1811, they paid 50 florins a 


year, and 12 florins into the poor fund, for permis-: 


sion to have a small Torah (law-scroll) in their pos- 
session. David Ashkenazi, whose son, Joel Deutsch, 
was director of the institute for deaf-mutes, offici- 
ated as rabbi, although he was only allowed to as- 
sume the title of meat-inspector. In 1852 the Jews 
were permitted to lay out a cemetery, and in 1853 
to build a synagogue. The statutes of a religious 
society formed in 1853 were provisionally confirmed 
Sept. 1 of that year; but not. until Feb. 7, 1859, did 
the ministry give permission to organize a provi- 
sional religious community. On March 15, 1860, 
ali the Jews living at Briinn were released from pay- 
ing the communal dues of their several communities, 
and on Nov. 7 of the same year the protest of the 
district community against this decree, that injured 
it in its finances, was refused. Dr. B. Placzek, who 
was chosen rabbi in the same year, was appointed 
district rabbi by the ministry May 5, 1885. 

The Jewish-Moravian orphan asylum and the pro- 
seminary are at Briinn; the city is the center for the 
Moravian general fund (“ Landesmassenfonds ”) de- 
rived from the excise. This fund, which had been 
used for Jewish educational purposes since the time 
of Joseph IJ., was handed over to the management of 
the Jews of Moravia by Emperor Francis Joseph I. 
Sept. 28, 1869. At present (1902) Briinn has about 
8,000 Jews. A. F.-G. 


BRUNNER, ARNOLD WILLIAM: Ameri- 
can architect; the sen of William Brunner and Isa- 
belle Solomon; was born in New York city Sept. 
25,1857. He was educated in Manchester, England, 
and in New York, and isa graduate of the special 
architectural course in the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology. Brunner was one of the founders 
of the Architectural League of New York (1881), is 
a member and vice-president (1898) of the New 
York Chapter of the American Institute of Archi- 
tects, a fellow of the Institute, and (1902) a member 
of the Board of Education of New York city. He 


has designed and crected many buildings, notably 
the new United States post-office. custom-house, 
and court-house at Cleveland, Ohio, won in com- 
petition. He was also the architect of the Tem- 
ple Beth-El, the synagogues of the congregations 
Shearith Israc] and Shaaray Tefila, the Educational 
Alliance Building, the Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Clara 
de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, the Jewish 
Theological Seminary of America, all in New York, 
and of the Temple Mishkan Israel at New Haven, 
Conn., and the Frank Memorial Synagogue at Phil- 
adel phia. 

Brunner has written a work on “Cottages,” an- 
other on “Interior Decoration,” and is a contributor 
to the “Encyclopedia of Architecture,” edited by 
Russell Sturgis. A. 


BRUNNER, SEBASTIAN: Austrian Catholic 
theologian, editor, and anti-Jewish writer; born 
Dec. 10, 1814, in Vienna; died in Wihring, near 
Vienna, Nov. 26, 1898. He was ordained as priest 
in 1838, and after officiating in various parts of the 
diocese of Vienna, was employed by Metternich 
(1848-48) in arranging all reports on religious and 
political movements that came into the minister’s 
office. In 1846 he was sent by the chancellor to 
France and Germany to report the situation in those 
countries, 

Brunner founded in 1848 the “ Wiener Katholische 
Kirchenzeitung,” which he edited until 1865, ma- 
king himself notorious by his rabid attacks in its 
columns on Jews and Judaism. Citing the actions 
of David and Elijah, he insisted that the Old Testa- 
ment was permeated by a spirit of vindictiveness, 
and for this reason he maintained that the Jewish 
morals endangered those of the Christian neighbors 
of Jews (“Kirchenzeitung,” 1860, p. 12). For a 
long time the Jews ignored his denunciations; but 
finally, in 1860, Ignaz Kuranda, editor and publisher 
of the “ Ostdeutsche Post,” took up the cause of his 
coreligionists, calling attention to the fact (Jan. 28, 
1860) that Brunner’s attacks were for the most part 
mere repetitious of the charges made by Eisenmenger 
and Pfefferkorn, and that, moreover, they were under- 
taken by Brunner not in a spirit of zeal for the 
Church, but in the hope of increasing the circulation 
of his paper. 

Brunner sued Kuranda for libel April 27, 1860: 
but on trial the latter was acquitted as having 
sustained every item of his charges against Brunner, 
who in addition was severely rebuked by the pre- 
siding judge for conduct unbecoming a priest. The 
importance which the Jews attached to the result 
of the trial may be seen from the fact that a steno- 
graphic account of its proceedings was printed in 
pamphlet form in both Hebrew and German for the 
purpose of commemorating Kuranda’s victory over 
Brunner. 

Brunner held several high offices in the Catholic 
Church. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyer, Konversations-Lexikon, 5th ed., vol. 
lii: La Grande Eneyclopédie, vol. viii. David Gordon, 
Mithemet ha-Hoshek we-ha-Or. AR 
D. ‘ : 


BRUNSWICH, LEON LEVY (known as 
Lhérie): French dramatist; born at Paris April 
20, 1805; died at Havre Apri) 29, 1859. Favorite 


405 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Briinn 
Brusa 





collaborator of Ad. de Leuven, he wrote together 
with him, as well as with Dumersan, Dupeuty de 
Beauplan, etc., many vaudevilles and comic operas, 
among which were: “Gothon du Passage Delorme,” 
1831, a parody on Victor Hugo’s “ Marion Delorme”; 
“ Faublas,” 1888; “Le Postillon de Longjumeau,” 
1837; “Le Brasseur de Preston,” 1888, the last 
two set to music by Adolphe Adam; “Le Mariage 
du Tambour,” 1843; “Gibby la Cornemuse,” 1847, 
to the music of Clapisson; “La Foire aux Idées,” 
1849; “Le Roi des Halles,” 1853; “Dans les Vignes,” 
1856. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v. 


S. J. W. 


BRUNSWICK (German, Braunschweig): 
Duchy of Germany, the capital of which has the 
same name. The first settlement of Jews in the 
duchy was at Blankenburg; for a record states that 
in 1241 the abbess of Quedlinburg owed Jacob, a 
Jew, probably the first one in Brunswick, 218 pounds 
of silver; some of the lands of the nunnery were 
sold to extinguish this debt. At another time a 
payment of eighty pounds of silver between the 
same parties is mentioned. In 1247, Jews were set- 
tled at Helmstedt. The abbot of Verden was their 
lord. At the time of the Black Death in 1349, the 
Jews of Brunswick were persecuted; and in 1540, 
by reason of Martin Luther’s polemics, anti-Jewish 
outbreaks occurred. In the eighteenth century 
Israel Jacobson, a noted Jewish tinancier, lived in 
Brunswick. Mendelssohn often visited the ducal 
family, with which he was on intimate terms. 

The Jews at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury were barely tolerated in Brunswick. However, 
their condition was gradually ameliorated; for, by 
the laws of Oct. 29, 1821, Jews were permitted to 
become apprentices in all trades. On dissolving the 
Chambers July 11, 1828, the duke of Brunswick 
announced that steps to relieve Jews of their dis- 
abilities were contemplated. Again, in 1881, the 
Jews petitioned Duke William of Brunswick to 
change the laws affecting them. As the Jews had 
always fulfilled their duties as citizens, they de- 
manded to be admitted to full privileges as such. 
This petition was unsuccessful. 

On Oct. 12, 1832, measures for the reliefof the Jews 
were passed. It was enacted that those who had 
the legal right to reside in Brunswick were to be 
regarded as inhabitants and native residents. It was 
ordained that right of residence did not depend on 
religious convictions, but rather on the possession 
of some means, or of freedom from criminal acts, 
The Jews were allowed to vote for and act as depu- 
ties and as minor officials. As late as 1820 these 
rights were exclusively enjoyed by the Christians. 
It is to be noted that in 1833 the director of the 
Samson Free School in Wolfenbiittel was a candi- 
date for the office of deputy and was defeated by 
one vote. The Jews had, however, no extensive 
property rights; for they could buy land only with 
the permission of the government. They were per- 
mitted to act as attorneys, but not as procurators or 
notaries. 


In 1848 and 1844, through the “Allg. Zeit. des — 


Judenthums,” Ludwig Philippson summoned a rab- 


binical conference for the discussion of questions 

affecting Judaism, to meet at Brunswick early in 

1844. The sessions lasted from June 12 to June 19, 

and were attended by twenty-two, and later by 

twenty-five rabbis, who worked to improve the 

Jewish ritual and to preserve the religious instinct 

in the Jews themselves. One of the results of the 

conference, which drew attention to the position of 
the Jews, was the repeal of the Jews’ oath, “More 

Judaico,” May 16, 1845. In 1850 permission was 

granted to Jews to become officers in the army and 

to marry Christians without first being baptized. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century 8. L. 
Eger was rabbi in Brunswick. In 1840 Dr. Herz- 
feld was the rabbi, the government having full 
power to appoint. 

In the duchy two famous institutions now flour- 
ish: (1) the Samson Free School at Wolfenbittel, 
mentioned above, founded in 1733 by Gumpel Moses 
(also Known as Marcus Gumpel Moses Fulda), the 
tirst Jewish resident of Wolfenbiittel; and (2) the 
Jacobson Free School and Asylum at Seesen, of 
which Immanuel Wohlwill was superintendent in 
1838. 

In 1840 the Jews of Brunswick numbered 1,300. 
The latest figures give 2,000 Jewish residents in the 
duchy. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bresslau, in Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. 1872, 
p. 10; Salfela, Martyrologium, p. 269. For the Jater period, 
Jost, Neuere Gesch. der Israeliten von 1815 bis. 1845, Berlin, 
1846, passim. For the conference, Protokolle der Ersten 


Rabbiner-Versammlung, Brunswick, 1844. For the Samson 
Free School, Orient, Lit. 1844, Nos. 5-8. 


Dd, A. M. F. 


BRUSA: City of Anatolia, 54 miles from Con- 
stantinople and 21 miles from the port of Moudania. 
According to some chroniclers, the Jews of Brusa 
were the first to enter into relations with the Ot- 
toman Turks and to come nnder their dominion. 
According to others, Sultan Urkhan, on capturing 
Brusa (1326), drove out all the inhabitants, and, in 
order to repeople it, imported Jews from Damascus, 
Aleppo, and other places in the Byzantine empire. 
Hence Brusa was the first Jewish community of 
Turkey. Sultan Urkhan, in consideration of a poll- 
tax called “kKharaj,” granted to the Jews a fir- 
man authorizing them to Jive in a special quarter 
(Yahudi-Mahalesi), to build a synagogue there 
(that of ‘Ez Hayyim), and to have a chief rabbi. 
The Jewish magistrates (“memunnim”), popularly 
called “kharajros,” receivers of the kharaj or tax, 
collected this tax and delivered it to the governor, 
under oath upon the roll of the Law. 

According to the historian Ubicini, persecutions 
obliged Spanish Jews to leave their country in 1415. 

“When they arrived at Brusa, the 

Historical beauty of this Oriental city, the fresh- 

Data. ness of its waters, the multitude of its 

palaces and gardens that reminded 

them of Granada and Andalusia, induced them to 

settle here.” Upon the great expulsion of 1492 other 

Spanish Jews settled in Brusa, and founded two new 

synagogues named, respectively, “Kahal Kadosh 
Mayor” and “ Kahal Kadosh Gerushah.” 

Toward the end of the sixteenth century and at 
the beginning of the seventeenth there existed in 


Brusa 
Brussels 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


406 





Brusa an important yeshibah, from which pro- 
ceeded the well-known family of rabbis ALGAzt 
or Al-Gazi. At this time Solomon AlgaziL., “the 
Elder,” author of thirteen rabbinical works; his 
brother Moses Algazi, also an author; and Joseph 
Gansou (1628), teacher of the Algazis, flourished here. 
As one of the remarkable events of the period 1600- 
18UU a conflagration is reported toward the end 
of the eighteenth century that destroyed half the 
city as well as the Jewish quarter. The rabbis of 
Brusa during the nineteenth century have been, in 
chronological order: Abraham Shilton; his son Eli- 
jah Shilton; David Carasso from Salonica; Abra- 
ham Habib from Bosnia; Rab Shabbethai Halévy, 
brother of the grand rabbi Moses Halévy of Con- 
stantinople; a rabbi from Ismid; and R. Uzziel 
from Constantinople. 

The older Jews of Brusa tell the following legend: 
At the end of the eighteenth century a learned rabbi 
came incognito to that city from Sa- 
lonica. He fell ill and died almost 
immediately upon his arrival, and was 
buried like any ordinary man. Buta strange light 
was seen to hover over his grave for several nights 
in succession, which greatly excited the community. 
Upon inquiry it was learned that the stranger was a 
very pious and learned rabbi, Rab Segalia by name; 
and the people then decided to render him the last 
honors due to his position, by erecting a fine tomb- 
stone over his grave. The stone, accordingly, was 
placed on the mound. The next morning, how- 
ever, it was found thrown down some distance 
away. It was restored, but again mysteriously re- 
moved overnight, and now the people no longer 
dared to replace it. At this tomb of Rab Segalia 
the people were wont to pray for rain in times of 
drought. Every trace of the tomb has now disap- 
peared, owing to the construction of a road to the 
railway station. 

In 1901 the Jewish population of Brusa num- 
bered 3,500 in a total of 100,000 inhabitants. The 
community possesses three very handsome syna- 
gogues, belonging to the congregations ‘Ez Hay- 
yim, Mayor, and Gerushah. Of Jewish antiquities, 
there is in the synagogue ‘Ez Hayyim a scroll of 

the Law more than 160 years old; and 
Population in that of the Gerushah congregation 
and In- auniqueold “rimmon” (asilver pome- 
stitutions. granate forming part of the ornaments 
of the Torah scroll; the mate of this 
rimmon was stolen), dating back to the first half of 
the eighteenth century; and the Shilton family pos- 
sesses some old manuscripts written by rabbis of 
that name. The notable families of Brusa are: 
Baraza, Caraco, Shilton, Franco, Saban, and Sé- 
villa. 

The Brusa community has the following philan- 
thropic societies: Haknasat Orahim, ‘Ozer Dallim, 
Bikkur Holim, ‘Ose Hesed. The Jews of Brusa are 
very benevolent, and visit the poor in their own 
homes. There is not a single beggar in the city. 

In 1901 there were four hundred Jewish pupils— 
namely, one hundred and twenty-eight boys and 
seventy-two girls—in the two schools supported by 
the Alliance Israélite UniverscHe, and two hundred 
in the Talmud Torah. 


Legend. 


The chief rabbiof Brusa in 1901 was David Pappo 
of Constantinople. This official presides at the com- 
munal council elected by the notables 
Communal of the city. The revenues of this 
Admin- council consist of taxes upon meat and 
istration. wine and the rent of some real estate 
(a bath, an oven, and some shops). As 
formerly, the Jews still pay to the government a tax 
for exemption from military duty, called “ bédéle.” 
When the notables are short of funds and unable to 
pay this tax, the communal council draws upon the 
treasury of the three synagogues. These are gov- 
erned by syndics (“ gabba’im ”). 

Asa matter of fact the majority of the Jews are 
generally poor. Among them are two or three mer- 
chants, about fifteen money-changers, and a large 
number of smal] shopkeepers, pediers, and dealers 
intinware. Although the silk industry isaspecialty 
there, no Jews are engaged in it, beyond some two 
hundred Jewish women working as operatives in 
the mills. The Alliance Israélite maintains at Brusa 
a system for apprenticing boys as carpenters, black- 
smiths, tinsmiths, compositors, and for teaching 
girls to weave. Some young Jews occupy subordi- 
nate positions in European business houses and 
banks established at Brusa. No Jews are employed 
by the government, nor are any engaged in the pro- 
fessions. 

In the neighborhood of Brusa there are some 
places containing a small number of Jews originally 
from Brusa, as Climasti-Cassaba, Yeni-Yol, Yeni- 
Shehir, Eski-Shehir, and Yeumlek. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim; Bulletin dev Al- 
liance Israélite Universelle, 1899; Ubicini (reported in El 


Dia, a Jewish journal of Philippopolis). 
D, M. Fr. 


BRUSILOV: Town in the government of Kiev, 
Russia, with a Jewish population (1898) of 2,800, in 
a total of 6,500. Of the 541 Jewish artisans, 112 are 
tailors and 206 tanners. About eighty families re- 
ceive alms at Passover. There is a Talmud Torah, 
attended by more than one hundred children. Bru- 
silov has also twenty-two private schools, a hospital, 
a poorhouse, and a “Gemilut Hesed” (society for 


lending money without interest). 
nh. R. S. J. 


BRUSSELS (French, Bruxelles): Capital of 
Belgium. There are no records as to the date when 
Jews first settled in Brussels; but as many of them 
were scattered over the province of Brabant at the 
time of the Romans, it may be assumed that they 
established themselves at Brussels as soon as it was 
founded by St. Gery, bishop of Cambray, in the sev- 
enth century. The Jews of Brusscls underwent all 
the vicissitudes of their Belgian coreligionists. The 
Crusaders left many sanguinary traces of their pas- 
sage at Brussels, During the thirteenth century 
and at the beginning of the fourteenth the Jews of 
Brussels, protected by the subsequent rulers, at- 
tained, in common with those of other communities 
of Brabant, a high degree of prosperity. Thecalam- 
ities which culminated in the massacre and banish- 
ment of the Jews of Brussels in 1370 began with the 
spreading of the Black Death throughout Europe. 
A chronicler of that time, Li Muisis, gives an ac- 
count of this tragedy, for which see BELGIUM. 


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Brussels 
Buber 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


408 





This catastrophe, which took place in 1349, was 
followed twenty-two years later by a similar one. 
A banker of Enghien, distinguished by his wealth as 


well as by his 
philanthropy, 
was assassinated 
in his own gar- 
den. His wife 
and son took ref- 
uge in Brussels. 
The assassins 
spread the re- 
port that the 
Jews had stolen 
from a church 
consecrated wa- 
fers in order to 
pierce them with 
poniards. This 
brought about 
the burning of 
hundreds of 
Jews at Brussels 
(May 22, 1870) 
and a= general 
banishmentfrom 
Belgium. The 
event is known 
locally as the 
miracle of St. 
Gudule, and was 
commemorated 
by an annual 
festival. Hight- 
een __ tableaux, 
which repre- 
sented the pier- 
cing of the host 
and the miracle 
of the spurting 
of the blood, 
were painted; 
and these paint- 
ings are. still 
preserved in the 
Church of St. 
Gudule. On 
the Jewish side, 
the martyrs of 
Brussels were 
commemora- 
ted in the 


“Memorbuch ” of Mayence and in a Hebrew elegy. 
From 1370 till the end of the Spanish domination 
over Belgium, there is no trace of Jews at Brussels. 
Their reappearance there dated probably from the 
Peace of Utrecht (April 11, 1718), when Belgium 
A decree banishing Jews 
from Brussels was issued July 18, 1716; 

After the but it was not enforced: a gift to the 


became part of Austria. 





Jews Represented as Transfixing Hosts. 
(After the Gobelin Tapestries in the Cathedral of St. Gudule, Brussels.) 


cemetery for the Jews; the old one, situated near 
the Porte de Namur, having disappeared in conse- 
quence of the dismantling of the fortress. 


Many families 
of position from 
Germany and 
Holland, suchas 
the Landaus, the 
Lipmanns, the 
Firths, the 
Hirschs, and the 
Simons, settled 
in Brussels. The 
Jews were still 
subjected to 
special imposts. 
It was only 
after 1794, when 
the French 
became masters 
of Belgium, that 
Jews could 
settle freely in 
Brussels and en- 
joy the rights of 
citizenship. An 
imperial edict 
dated March 17, 
1808, divided the 
Jews living in 
French coun- 
tries into consis- 
tories. Brussels 
was included in 
the consistory of 
Crefeld. Onthe 
overthrow of 
Napoleon, Bel- 
gium was uni- 
ted with Hol- 
land; and the 
Jewish com- 
munity of Brus- 
sels became the 
head of the 
fourteenth relig- 
ious district of 
Holland. After 
the revolution of 
1830 Brusscls be- 
caine the head 
of the Belgian 


consistories, and a chief rabbi was nominated. The 
chief rabbis have been: E. Carmoly, Henri Loeb, 
Aristide Astruc, Abraham Dreyfus, and the present 
(1902) rabbi, Armand Bloch. 
tributes largely to the support of Jewish worship. 
In 1890, according to the official statistics, Brussels 
had 150 registered Jewish households. 

Brussels hasthe following Jewish communal insti- 


The government con- 


Peace of crownovercameall difficulties. Asim- | tutions: Société de Bienfaisance Israélite, Société des 


Utrecht. ilar decree issued forty years later had 
the same result. 


them was one named Philip Nathan, who, in 1783, 
requested the government to assign a place for a new 


Secours Efficaces (Dames), Société des Méres Israélites 


Several Jews re- | et Ecole Gardicnne, Orphelinat, Comité d’ Apprentis- 
ceived the right of citizenship in Brussels. Among | sage de Ja Jeunesse Israélite, Maison de Retraite pour 


les Vieillards, Hakeneset Kallah, Cercle des Amis Isra- 
élites,  Egalité (mutual aid), and Ménahem Abélim. 


409 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Brussels 
puber 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: For the earlier period: Carmoly, Revue QOri- 
entale, i. 42 et seq.: Emile Ouverleaux, Notes et Documeits 
sur les Juifs de Belyique, in Rev. Et Juives, vii. 110 et seq., 
202 et seq., Vili. 206, ix. 246 ef seq. For modern times: [H. 
Sommerhausen)], Briefe aus Belgien, in Monatsschrift, 1. 
499, 541 et seq.: idem, Briefe aus Briissel, in Monatsschrift, 
ii. 270 et seq.; Verurdeningen voor het Israetitisch Kerkge- 
nootschap binnen het Koningrik der Nederlanden, The 
Hague, 1822, 

G. I. Br. 


BRUTISH (ny2): A term applied by the Bib- 
lical writers to men whose disposition or spirit was 
like that of beasts. It is used in close conjunction 
with “foolish” (Jer. x.8; Ps. xlix. 10, xciv. 8), and, 
as indicated in the Hebrew, may mean “stupid.” 
In a few instances it seems to indicate that the per- 
sons under consideration are both ignorant and reck- 
less (Jer. x. 14, 11.17; Ps. ixiii. 22, xcii. 6). Again, 
brutishness, or beastlikeness, implies not a passive 
but an actively dangerous quality of character 
(Ezek. xxi. 81). The man who is persistently igno- 
rant is also called “brutish” (Prov. xii. 1). The 
prophets who did not call upon the Lord, to inquire 
of Him, were included in the same category (com- 
pare Jer. x. 21). To sum up, “brutishness” in the 
Oid Testament is descriptive of a foolish, stupid, 
recklessly and persistently ignorant, and dangerous 


man, 
J. JR. I. M. P. 


BRUTZKUS, JUDAH LOEB BEN DAVID: 
Russian writer; born 1870 at Polangen, in the gov- 
ernment of Courland; studied at the gymnasium and 
University of Moscow, from which city his family 
was expelled in 1892. He received his diploma 
as physician in 1894. Brutzkus took part in the 
Russo-Jewish bibliographical work, “ Sistimaticheski 
Ukazatel Literatury o Yevreyakh.” Since 1895 
he has contributed to the Russo-Jewish periodical 
“Voskhod”; and in 1899 he was appointed assistant 
editor on that periodical. 


H. R. V. R. 


BRUX: Town of Bohemia, 14 miles north of 
Saaz. Documents prove that, as early as the four- 
teenth century, Jews were living at Britx. In 1893 
Borso the Younger, of Riesenburg and Petschau, 
gave his note for fifty schock of Prague groschen 
to the Jews Isaac and Asher of Briix; and simi- 
lar notes were given in 1394, 1413, and 1419 to the 
Jews Eberleyn and his wife Esther, Michael and 
Heyneman, Michael the Larger, and Michael the 
Smaller. In a document dated Feb. 17, 1456, a 
Jewish cemetery of Briix is mentioned, which Fred- 
erick, duke of Saxony and margrave of Meissen, 
gave to a certain Hans Wickart. According to a 
Latin document, dated June 20, 1464, the king of 
Bohemia, George Podiebrad, forbade the Jews to 
reside at Brtix or within a mile of it, for which the 
city had to pay an annual tribute of six shocks of 
Prague groschen to indemnify the king for his loss 
of the Jews’ annual toleration tax (Schutzgeld). For 
four hundred years there was no Jewish community 
at Briix; in fact, since the sixteenth century Jews 
were not permitted to live in the mining towns of 
Bohemia. 

Jewish congregations existed in Harreth and Lisch- 
nicz (about one hour’s distance from Brix), and these 
became parents of the congregation of Brix, which 


was founded in 1868. A synagogue was built in 
1873, and the cemetery was dedicated in 1878. The 
prosperity, harmony, and high standing of the con- 
gregation are due primarily to its able and pub- 
lic-spirited leader, Joseph Spitz, who took charge in 
1885. The following associations may be mentioned: 
The Hebrah Kaddishah, the Hebrew Women’s Be- 
nevolent Society, and the Kronprinz Rudolf Stiftung 
for poor wayfarers. There are, besides, the Kaiser 
Franz Joseph Jubiliums-Stiftung, for poor Hebrew 
artisans, and a Ludwig Bloch Stiftung. A pension 
fund for the Jewish clergy is to be founded. Adam 
Sattler, for many years religious instructor in the 
public schools and at the gymnasium, on being 
pensioned was decorated with the Golden Cross of 
Merit. Among the rabbis and religious teachers at 
the public schools and the gymnasium may be men- 
tioned: Alexander Kisch, 1874-1877; I. S. Bloch, 
1877-80, editor of the “Oesterreichische Wochen- 
schrift,” and at one time a member of the Reichs- 
tag; Jacob Tauber, 1880-86; Gotthard Deutsch, 
1887-91, later professor in Cincinnati; and, since 
1891, Adolf Biach. 

The Jewish population of about 1,000—one-twen- 
tieth of the entire population—speak German. There 
are among them 10 lawyers, 5 physicians, and 2 
clerks of the court; but the larger number are 
merchants. 

D. A. Br. 


BRYANSKE: Town in the government of Grodno, 
Russia, with a Jewish population (1898) of 2,365, in 
a total population of 6,342. Of the Jews 525 are 
artisans and 85 gardeners and farmers. 

H.R. S. J. 


BUBER, SOLOMON: Galician scholar and ed- 
itor of Hebrew works; born at Lemberg Feb. 2, 
1827. His father, Isaiah Abraham Buber, was 
versed in Talmudic literature and Jewish philoso- 
phy, and was Solomon's teacher in the latter sub- 
ject; but for his son’s Biblical and Talmudic studies 
he carefully selected competent professional teach. 
ers. The desire was soon aroused in Solomon to 
make independent research and to put the result of 
his work into literary form—a disposition which 
proved of the utmost value to Jewish literature. 

At twenty years of age Buber married and entered 
commercial pursuits. He rose by rapid degrees 
until he became “ Handelskammerrath,” and auditor 
of the Austro-Hungarian bank, the national bank, 
and the Galician savings-bank. This last position 
he still (1902) retains. Buber isalso president of the 
“ Geschiftshalle,” vice-president of the free kitchen, 

and honorary member of a working 

Bio- men’s union. For more than a quar- 

graphical ter of a century he has been one of the 

Data. directors of the Lemberg congrega- 

tion; he is on the committee of the 

Bernstein foundation, aud takes a leading part in 
various philanthropic associations. 

While active in public life, Buber has also devoted 
himself to learned research. The Midrash literature 
had special attractions for him; and his activity in 
this field has been remarkable in extent. Its first 
result was an edition of the so-called “ Pesikta de- 
Rab Kahana,” with an claborate commentary and 


Buber 
Bucharest 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


410 





an introduction which exhaustively discuss all 
questions pertaining to the history of this old Hag- 
gadah collection. The book appeared 

Midrash asa publication of the society known 

Editions. under the name of “ Mekize Nirda- 

mim,” Lyck, 1868. Buber’s method 
of dealing with the difficult undertaking was new 
to scientific literature; and both introduction and 
commentary received the unstinted praise of the 
scholarly world. The introduction was translated 
into German by Aug. Wiinsche, and published 
by him with his translation of the Midrash, Leipsic, 
1884, 

Other Midrashic works edited on a similar method 
and scale by Buber are: collectanea from Midrash 
Abkir, Vienna, 1888; Tobiah b. Eliezer’s Midrash 
Lekah Tob, Wilna, 1884; the original Midrash Tan- 
huma, Wilna, 1885; collectanea from Midrash Eleh 
ha-Debarim Zutta, Vienna, 1885; Sifre d’Agadta, 
short Midrashim on the Book of Esther, Wilna, 1886; 
Midrash Tehitlim, 
Wilna, 1891; Mid- 
rash Mishle, Wilna, 
1893; Midrash She- 
muel, Cracow, 1893; 
Midrash Agada, an 
anonymous haggadic 
commentary on the 
Pentateuch, Vienna, 
1894; Midrash Zutta, 
on the Song of Solo- 
mon, Ruth, Lamen- 
tations, and Ecclesi- 
astes, Berlin, 1894; 
Aggadat Esther, hag- 
gadic treatises on the 
Book of Esther, anon- 
ymous, Cracow, 
1897; Midrash Ekah 


a 

fy 
wi : Rabbati, Wilna, 1899: 
wee Lobe. Yalk. Makiri, on the 
Psalms, Berdychev, 
1899; Menahem b. 
Solomon’s Midrash Sekel Tob, on the Books of 
Genesis and Exodus, ii. vol. 2, Berlin, 1900-02. This 
last work is also published by the society Mekize 

Nirdamim. 

As this array of publications shows, Buber is a 
prolific writer; yet the scientific quality of his work 
does not suffer on this account. At the outset he 
adopted a certain system to which he has consist- 

ently adhered. For a determination 

Method as of the reading of the text he avails 
Editor. himself of all accessible manuscripts 
and printed works—and everything 

is accessible to him, as he spares no expense in ob- 
taining copies of manuscripts and the rarest printed 
editions ; he conscientiously records the various 
readings in foot-notes, and he bestows special care, 
chiefly in the older Midrashim, on the correction and 
explanation of words in the text borrowed from the 
Greek and the Latin. In the introductions, which 
almost assume the proportions of independent works 
(the introduction to the Tanhuma embraces 212 pages 
octavo), everything that bears upon the history of 
the work under consideration is discussed, and a 





compilation is given of the authors or works cited 
by the Midrash or serving as sources for it, and 
those which In turn have drawn upon the Midrash, 
His work is distinguished by thoronghness, and re- 
veals his synthetic ability as well as the vast extent 
of his reading. The only serious opposition to the 
views encountered by Buber has been in regard to 
his theory concerning the Tanhuma. 

Buber distinguished himself in other departments 
of literature. His first work was a biography of 
the grammarian Elias Levita, published at Leip- 
sic in 1856. After this he edited the following: “De 
Lates’ Gelehrtengeschichte Sha‘are Zion,” Jaros- 
law, 1885; Zedekiah b. Abraham’s liturgic work, 
“Shibbole ha-Leket,” Wilna, 1886; “ Pesher Dabar,” 
Saadia’s treatise on the Hapax Legomena of the Bible, 
Przemyst, 1888; Samuel b. Jacob Jam‘a’s “ Agur,” 
introduction and additions to the ‘Aruk, Breslau, 
1888 (in “ Gritz Jubelschrift”); Samuel b. Nissim’s 
commentary on Job, “Ma‘yan Gannim,” Berlin, 
1889; Biurim: Jedaiah Penini’s explanations of 
Midrash Tehillim, Cracow, 1891, and a commentary 
on Lamentations by Joseph Caro, Breslau, 1901 
(in the Kaufmann Gedenkbuch); “ Anshe Shem,” 
biographies and epitaphs of the rabbis and heads 
of academies who lived and worked at Lemberg, 
covering a period of nearly four hundred years 
(1500-1890), Cracow, 1895. In these works Buber 
appears as a philologist and as a carefui writer of 
biographies of scholars, especially of the Jewish 
scholars of Poland. 

Buber’s extensive knowledge of Jewish history 
and literature is also displayed in additions to the 
works of others and in numerous contributions to 
Hebrew magazines, suchas: “Meged Yerahin,” Ko- 
bak’s “Jeschurun,” “Ha-Lebanon,” “ Ha-Maggid,” 
“Maggid Mishneh,” “ Ha-‘Ibri,” “Ha-Meliz,” “ Ha- 
Habazelet,” “Ha-Karmel,” Joseph Kohn’s “ Ozar 
Hokmah,” “ Bet Talmud,” “ Ha-Shahar,” “ Ha-Asif,” 
“ Keneset Yisrael,” “ Zion,” “ Ozar ha-Sifrut,” “ Ha- 
Eshkol.” 

Among the works of his more recent years the 
following may be mentioned: “ Yeri‘ot Shelomoh,” 
a supplement to Abraham b. Elijah Wilna’s “Rab 
Po‘alim,” Warsaw, 1894; a criticism of Yalkut 
Makhiri, on Isaiah, ed. Schapira, Cracow, 1825; a 
criticism of the Pesikta, with an introduction by 
David Luria (ed. Warsaw, 1893), Cracow, 1895; 
“Kiryah Nisgabah,” on the rabbis in Zolkiev up 
to the letter 4, published in “Ha-Eshkol,” i.-iii., 
1898-1900; and his contribution tothe “ Steinschnei- 
der Festschrift,” wherein he propounds a new theory 
concerning the “ Petihtot” (Introductions) in Mid- 
rash Ekah Rabbati. He died Dec. 28, 1906. 

Buber corresponded on learned subjects with 
many well-known Jewish scholars. He proved him- 
self a veritable Mecenas of learning. The cost in- 
volved in the publication of his works was usually 
borne by himself, and he presented gratuitous 
copies to libraries and indigent scholars. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : M. Reines, Dor wa-Hakamaw, i. 28-40; Sefer 

Zikkaron, p. 7, Warsaw, 1889. 

L. G. H B. 

BUCHHEIM, CHARLES ADOLPHUS: Pro- 
fessor of the German language and German litera- 
ture at King’s College, London: born in Moravia 


411 


1828; died at London June 4, 1900. He was edu- 
cated at the University of Vienna. whence he re- 
ceived the degree of Ph.D.; settled in Paris; but 
after 1852 removed to London, where he Jived till 
his death. In 1863 Buchheim became professor in 
King’s College. He was also examiner in German 
to the universities of London (1875-90), Oxford, and 
Cambridge, and at one time was German tutor to 
the children of the Prince of Wales (afterward King 
Edward VILI.). 

Buchheim was the author of several critical works 
on German writers. He translated several of Dick- 
ens’s novels into German, and published, through 
the Clarendon Press, annotated editions of a large 
number of German classics. Inthe “Golden Treas- 
ury Series” he published the popular “Deutsche 
Lyrik,” 1875; “Balladen und Romanzen,” 1891; and 
Yieine’s “Lieder und Gedichte,” 1897. Of a more 
scholarly nature is his work “First Principles of 
the Reformation,” which he published, conjointly 
with the Rev. Dr. Wace, in 1883. 

In recognition of his learning and services the 
University of Oxford in 1898 bestowed on Buchheim 
the honorary degree of M.A. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Athenwum, June 18, 1900, p. 753; The Inter- 
national Year Book, 1900; The Annual Register, 1900. 


J A. R. 


BUCHAREST: Ancient capital of Wallachia, 
and the present capital of Rumania. The oldest 
Jewish tombstone is dated 1682; but Jews settled in 
the city much earlier. In 1573 a Jew, Isaiah b. 
Joseph, was secretary to Prince Alexander Mircea. 
When Michael the Brave rose against Turkey in 
1594, all the Jews of Bucharest were massacred. 
Not much is known of Jews resident here during the 
seventeenth century, except that they were engaged 
in commerce and in the manufacture and sale of 
liquor, while a few practised medicine. Under Con- 
stantin Brancovan (1689-1714) a Jew surnamed “ Sali- 
trariul” (maker of saltpeter) furnished that prince 
with the gunpowder needed in thearmy. The Jews 
formed a corporation of their own with a“ staroste ” 
(provost) at their head, and were restricted to one 
suburb, as were also the Armenians. In addition to 
their personal taxes, special assessments were levied 
upon them as a corporate body, out of all proportion 
to those imposed on other organizations of the city. 
In 1695 they were assesscd 150 thalers to support the 
Turkish army in the war against Austria, and 100 
thalers for boats. 

In 1715 Stephen Cantacuzene ordered the syna- 
gogue to be demolished. This led to a riot, during 
which the Jewish provost was killed. Upon pay- 
ment of a heavy sum the Jews were permitted to 
rebuild their synagogue and resume worship. Bet- 
ter times came with the enlightened Prince Nicholas 

Mavrocordato, Thisruler maintained 

The most friendly relations with the phy- 
Eighteenth sician Tobias Cohen of Constantinople, 
Century. and with Daniel de Fonseca who was 
physician to the sultan as well as to 

the French ambassadors at Constantinople, with 
whom he was on terms of intimate friendship. 
Nicholas in 1719 established De Fonseca at his 
court in Bucharest, and lent him his influence. 
Nicholas also favored Mentech Bally, banker of the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Buber 
Bucharest 





grand vizier, upon whom he conferred valuable 
privileges. 

Under the successors of Mavrocordato the Jews 
were again more or less persecuted. Michael Raco- 
vitza (1730-31 and 1741-44), taught by the loss of his 
Moldavian throne in consequence of his difficulties 
with the Jews, did not oppress them more than he 
did his other subjects. His son Constantine even 
renewed the privileges of the “haham bashi” of 
Moldavia, recognizing the latter’s authority over the 
Jews of Wallachia, and granting them the right to 
have a deputy at Bucharest (1764). 

The number of Jews increased after the Austro- 
Turkish wars, so that it became necessary to open 
a second synagogue in a central part of the city. 
Alexander Ghika (1764-66) demolished it upon the 
advice of the patriarch Ephraim of Jerusalem, who 
was passing through Bucharest. The Jews opened 
a new synagogue during the Russian occupation 
(1769-74). but this also was destroyed by Alexander 
Ypsilanti (1774-82). Not until 1787 did they receive 
permission from Peter Mavroyeni (1786-89) to have 
a new synagogue, on condition that it was located 
inadistant suburb. During the Russo-Turkish war 
(1769-74) the Jews suffered from the violence and 
spoliation of the janizaries. In 1770 they were un- 
expectedly attacked by the populace; many per- 
ished, but the greater number were saved by the 
boyars. Urged by the need of money, Mavrogyeni, 
though not unfavorably disposed toward the Jews, 
pressed them hard. On pretense of taxing them, he 
made the Jewish tailors, furriers, and jewelers of 
Bucharest work for the Turks, who were then at 
war with Austria. The plague, which broke out in 
1792, under Michel Sutzu, brought disaster to the 
merchants already ruined by the Austrian occupa- 
tion (1789-91). The distilleries, which were mostly 
owned by the Jews, were also closed. 

Alexander Moruzi (1793-96) closed the synagogue 
which had been opened in 1790 in the center of the 
city, and punished the Jews who had defended them- 
selves against their oppressors. Encouraged by the 
attitude of their prince, the populace heaped indig- 
nities upon the Jews; so that Moruzi found him- 
self obliged— fora consideration in money—to direct 
the authorities to defend them: he even had to con- 
demn to the bastinado and to exile a Christian 
tailor who had forcibly baptized a Jewish child. 
Under pretext of sumptuary laws, Moruzi forbade 
the Jews to sell cosmetics. At the same time the 
reappearance of the plague crippled the business of 
the second-hand dealers, pedlers, retailers, and even 
of the artisans. Constantine Hangerli (1797-99) 
treated the Jews somewhat better; giving thema 
tract of land on which to erect distilleries, granting 
privileges to artisans, and exempting them from 
taxation. But the plague, that had become en- 
demic, paralyzed all business. 

In spite of the obstacles put in the way of the 
Jews at Bucharest, the artisan class especially de- 
veloped during the eighteenth century ; its members 
often occupied exceptional positions, owing to their 
skill and the services which they rendered to the 
princes, the boyars, and even the people. The provost 
of the Jews occupied under several princes the posi- 
tion of “kuyunju pasha” (grand provost of silver- 


Bucharest 
Buchholz 





smiths). In 1787 he gave way to a Christian; but 
six years later the position was again held by a Jew, 
Eleazar, who bore the title of “jeva- 


Develop-_hirji-pasha” (grand provost of jew- 
ment elers). There were also among the 
of Artisan Jews manufacturers of pipes, potash, 
Class. and rackets; also excellent engravers, 


lace-makers, and bookbinders. Cer- 
tain Jews attached to the court obtained privileges 
and were exempt from taxes; and they acquired in- 
fluence with the princes, the high dignitaries, and 
the boyars. 

The populace was still hostile to them, and the 
nineteenth ceutury opened with a bloody massacre. 
The Jews were accused of espionage and of ritual 
murder; and on April 8, 1801, the rabble, aided by 
some soldiers, pretending to possess orders from the 
authorities, fell upon them, maltreated them, pil- 

laged their houses, and massacred 128. 

Massacre Alexander Moruzi, who in 1799 had 

of 1801. again come into power, being fright- 

ened by the massacre and his respon- 
sibility to the Porte, condemned the ringleaders to 
the salt-mines for life. 

The Jews had hardly recovered from this terrible 
blow, when they were obliged to leave Bucharest 
hastily, together with the rest of the population, on 
account of the invasion of Pasvan Oglu, the rebel 
pasha of Rustchuk (1802). When they returned to 
their homes the specter of ritual murder again con- 
fronted them, so that Constantine Ypsilanti was 
obliged to request the metropolitan to instruct the 
priests to proclaim from their pulpits the falsehood 
of the accusation, which had been spread by per- 
sons whose only purposes were riot and pillage 
(1804). Nevertheless, the populace had their way 
two years later (Dec., 1806). When the Russo- 
Turkish war recommenced Ypsilanti abdicated just 
as the Russians were approaching Bucharest. The 
populace drove out the Turks, and, taking advan- 
tage of the disorder. fell upon the Jews, pillaged 
them, massacred a considerable number, and penned 
up the remainder in a certain locality, giving them 
a few days in which to choose between baptism and 
massacre. The entrance of the Russians rescued the 
Jews from this terrible plight. 

Their fate during the Russian occupation (1806- 
1812) was not an enviable one. The well-to-do fami- 
lies removed to Transylvania; and the less for- 
tunate ones who remained behind were subjected 
to heavy taxes, in which, however, they were not 
treated differently from the Christian merchants. 
Jews were forbidden to open their shops on the 
Christian festivals, and even to work at home dur- 
ing these days. Certain manufacturers of potash 
were driven from their factories, and pedling was 
interdicted. The Jews lived in continual fear of 
being accused of ritual murder, and finally, in order 
to extort money from them, their provost was im- 
prisoned, and his office given to a German Catholic. 
Later the provost was liberated and restored to of- 
fice. The Russian Jews residing at Bucharest only 
received @ certain amount of liberty and a few 
privileges. 

The impecunious prince Jean Caradja (1812-18), 
in order to extract money from the Jews, revived the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


412 


order forbidding them to employ Christian minors 
as servants, or to rent or buy shops in the vicinity 
of churches. <A fresh and violent out- 
Position at break of the plague furnished a pre- 
Beginning text to Caradja, who accused the Jews 
of of living in filth and of thus spread- 
Nineteenth ing the pestilence. Various measures 
Century. taken by the authorities completely 
paralyzed the business of the mer- 
chants, pediers, brokers, and others. In order to 
increase his revenues and to tax foreign Jews who 
should have been exempt, Caradja granted to the 
native Jews the exclusive privilege of establishing 
Jewish butcher-shops. Alexander Sutzu (1818-1821) 
confirmed this privilege. 

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century 
the situation of the Jews of Bucharest was not en- 
viable, in spite of the considerable influence which 
some of them enjoyed. They were treated worse 
than the gipsies, and were continually exposed to 
the insults of the populace. They could not venture 
into certain streets without risking theirlives. Their 
domestic life was exemplary; but the communal life 
was filled with quarrels, originating with Polish or 
Russian rabbis of mediocre attainments, who did not 
know much more than their flocks, and who were 
driven from office as soon as the opposing party 
gained the upper hand. 

The death of Alexander Sutzu precipitated the 
Hetwxria (Greek insurrection) and the rising of Theo- 
dore Viladimirescu. Panic reigned at Bucharest. 
The well-to-do Jews fled to Cronstadt, while others 
sought refuge in the neighboring monasteries, where 
they camped in the courtyards in tents or on mats. 
Business was suspended, and the workmen were en- 
tirely out of work. The Jews suffered untohl mis- 
ery, for the entry of the Heterists into Bucharest 
was marked by the pillage of the Jewish quarter. 
The Turkish occupation that followed was a period 
of unlimited oppression. For a Jew to venture into 
the streets meant almost certain death. The mer- 
chants closed their shops and left the country. On 
March 7, 1822, the Turkish soldiers, after a quarrel, 
charged upon the people, killed and wounded fifteen 
Christians and sixty Jews and Armenians, and looted 
the shops. 

In the second year of the reign of Gregory Ghika 
(1822-28) a fire destroyed the Jewish synagogue and 
one hundred and fifty houses inhabited mainly by 
Jews, many of whom lost all their possessions, In 
the same year the populace fell upon the Austrian 
Jews, who, on repelling the attack, were arrested by 
the police. The plague again offered an opportu- 

nity for extortion; the Jews, being 


Further declared infected, were driven from 
Diffi- the city, and allowed to return only 
culties. on payment of asumof money. The 


anti-Semitic feeling also showed itself 
in the decree forbidding Moldavian Jews to settle 
at Bucharest (1827). The decree became a dead let- 
ter when the Russians again occupied those princi- 
palities (1828-34), bringing with them a number of 
Russian and Moldavian Jewish traders. During this 
occupation the Jews of Bucharest experienced bet- 
ter times. 
The cominunal quarrels in the mean time continued 


413 


among the followers of the German and the Portu- 
guese ritual, and among the native Russian, Aus- 
trian, and Prussian Jews, not abating even after the 
reorganization of the community, which was granted 
by the authorities in 1832. Rabbis were installed 
and deposed by the different parties, thus causing 
embarrassment to the government, the all-power- 
ful consuls, and the boyars, each of whom had a 
favorite Jew. Further, the populace here and there 
brought up the accusation of ritual murder (1884). 
Nevertheless, the importance and the influence of 
the Jews increased; their provost was numed grand 
provost of the gild of tinmen; and their artisans and 
merchants were sought and honored by the boyars. 
Some among them were appointed to remunerative 
and honorable positions, The cashier of the Bucha- 
rest prefecture of police from 1839 to 1848 was a 
Jew. The banker Hillel Manoah, on being knighted, 
was made a member of the commission appointed 
by the prince in 1847 to aid the suffering Jews, 
and in the following year he was elected to the 
municipal council. The physician Barasch was ap- 
pointed a professor at the college in 1852. The Jews 
owned houses, vineyards, and estates. They were 
readily permitted to build synagogues, and in order 
to reduce the number of these they decided in 1845 
to build a large one. 

The Jews of German origin especially took an act- 
ive part in the revolution of 1848, sacrificing them- 
selves for it. The painter Daniel Rosenthal was 
naturalized and devoted himself heart and soul to 
his country. This epoch marks the beginning of 
the real regeneration of the Jews of Bucharest. The 
native Jews as well as the Austrian and Prussian 
subjects founded modern schools (1852), and took 
the initiative in reforming divine worship; erecting 
a temple with modernized service in 1857, Physi- 
cians increased in number; and young men turned 
to the higher studies. This progress did not cease 
even when the anti-Semitic spirit began to show 
itself, about 1866. 

The Sephardim, who are called “Spaniards” in 
Rumania, were at first united with the rest of the 
Jews; but as early as 1818 they built their own 
synagogue and were subsequently recruited in num- 
bers by Turkish immigrants. During the reign of 
Alexander Ghika (1834-48) they completely sepa- 
rated themselves from the other congregations, even 
having their special cemetery. This separation, 
however, while profitable to them materially, injured 
them morally, retarding their spiritual progress. 
After 1866 the two communities were no longer offi- 
cially recognized. Yet the Sephardim, although 
less numerous, were able to maintain their organiza- 
tion; while that of the Ashkenazim was dissolved. 
All the educational and philanthropic institutions 
and agencies have been supported solely by societies 
or committees appointed for raising funds, since the 
salt-tax, which was a protitable source of income, 
was abolished. 

The Jewish population of Bucharest, numbering 
between 4,000 and 5,000 at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, had risen to 43,274 in 1899, ac- 
cording to the census of that year. The Sephardim 
have two synagogues; the Ashkenazim, a large 
number in addition to the Temple. The only con- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bucharest 
Buckholz 





gregation organized by the Ashkenazim is that of 
the Temple using the western ritual, with M. Beck 
at its head as rabbi and preacher. 
Since the law of 1893 practically ex- 
cluding their children from the public 
; schools, the Jews of Bucharest have 
maintained six primary schools for boys and two for 
girls, a professional school for boys and one for girls, 
a business school, anda gymnasium. They also have 
a hospital, two homes for theaged, two burial so- 
cieties (hebrah kaddishah), and a large number of 
philanthropic societies and institutions. See also 
RUMANIA. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: See RUMANIA. 


D. E. Sp. 


BUCHBINDER, BERNHARD (pen-name, 
Gustav Klinger): Austrian journalist; born July 
6, 1854, in Budapest, where he received his educa- 
tion, being destined for a mercantile career. <A one- 
act comedy, which he wrote after he left school, and 
which was played successfully iu Budapest, decided 
his future. Both of his parents having died when 
he was very young, and his father having been but 
a poor pediler, Buchbinder had to care for his 
younger brothers and sisters. Under great hard- 
ships and privations he adopted the profession of 
journalist and became very successful as a novelist 
and dramatic writer. 

Among his numerous works may be mentioned 
the novels, “ Vergessen im Armenhause,” 1882; 

“Viter und Sdhne,” 1885; “ Bettelstudent,” 1886; 
“Freimann,” 1891; “Eine Wiener Theaterprinzes- 
sin,” 1894, and the dramas “ Herrgotts Morder,” 
“Vater Deak,” “ Wer Ist der Herr im Hause,” “ Griafin 
von der Strasse,” “Die Fliichtlinge,” “Heirat auf 
Probe,” “ Heiratsschwindler,” “ Der Schmetterling,” 
“ Gottin der Vernunft,” “ Verlogenes Volk,” “ Leute 
von Heute,” “Die Diva,” Rother Schnabel,” “Die 
Dritte Eskadron,” “Grubers Nachfolger,” and “ Er 


und Seine Schwester.” 


BUCHHOLZ, CARL AUGUST: German 
Christian lawyer and author; born in the latter half 
of the eighteenth century; died at Liibeck Nov. 15, 
1843. He was a doctor of laws and of philosophy, 
and, at the time of his death, occupied the position 
of second “Stadt-Syndicus” of Libeck. Although 
that city was notorious for its hostility to the Jews, 
both before and after the Napoleonic wars, Buch- 
holz, who was one of its leading citizens, volunta- 
rily undertook to champion their cause in a work 
entitled “ Ceber die Aufnahme der Jiidischen Glau- 
bensgenossen zum Biirgerrecht.” (Liibeck, 1814; 2d 
ed., Leipsic, 1816). This led to lis being selected by 
the Jewish communities of the three Hanse towns 
(Liibeck, Hamburg, and Bremen) as their represent- 
ative at the Congress of Vicnna (1815), where he ren- 
dered valuable service. He was also sent as repre- 
sentative of the foregoing Jewish communities to the 
German Diet at Frankfort. At that time appeared 
his“ Actenstiicke, die Verbesserung des Biirgerlichen 
Zustandes der Israeliten Betreffend” (Stuttgart and 
Tibingen, 1815), a collection of laws and decrees 
concerning the Jews, issued by various princes and 
commonwealths of Germany. It is preceded by an 


Present 
Condition. 


Buchholz 
Buda 


introduction of about 73 pages, which forms one of 
the best aud most comprehensive pleas for Jewish 
emancipation advanced bya Christian in that period 
of reaction. This work, which may be considered 
as a brief, showing his capacity as defender of the 
rights of the Jews of Germany, is alike creditable to 
his erudition, to his logical mind, and to his love of 
justice. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sulamith, ix. i. 92: Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, 

y. 468-472 ; Furst, Bibl. Jud. xi. 134, 

s. P. W1. 

BUCHHOLZ, P.: German rabbi; born Oct. 2, 
1837; dicd in Emden, Hanover, Sept. 20, 1892. He 
became rabbi of Miirkisch-Friedland in 1868, where 
he remained til] 1867, in which year he was called to 
the rabbinate of Stargard, Pomerania. In 1875 he 
became chief rabbi of Friesland, which position he 
filled with ability and distinction until his death. 
He was a good Talmudical scholar and well versed 
in modern philosophy. 

Buchholz was the author of a small work on the 
legal and moral relations of the family according to 
Jewish law, “Die Familie in Rechtlicher und Mo- 
ralischer Beziehung nach Mosaisch-Talmudischer 
Lehre” (Breslau, 1867); and some of his more im- 
portant speeches and lectures were published by 
him or by his friends. He has also written a num- 
ber of articles on historical and other scientific sub- 
jects in the Jewish periodicals of Germany, of which 
his “ Historischer Ueberblick tiber die Mannigfachen 
Codificationen des Halachastoffes ” (“ Monatsschrift,” 
1864, pp. 201-241) and “R. Azaria Figo und Seine 
Predigtsammlung Binah la-‘Ittim” (Beilage zur 
“Tsr. Wochenschrift,” 1872, Nos. 4-9) are probably 
the most important. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lippe, Bibliographisches Lexicon, pp. 58, 
59: Der Israelit (Mayence), 1892, Nos. 79, 80; Winter and 
Winscthe, Jiidische Literatur, tii. 769. 


8. P. WI. 


BUCHLER, ADOLF: Austrian historian and 
theologian; born Oct. 18, 1867, at Prickopa, Hun- 
gary. In 1887 he began his theological studies at 
the Budapest Seminary, and at the same time stud- 
ied in the department of philosophy of the university 
under Goldziher and Karman. Biichler continued 
his studies at the Breslau Seminary, and in 1890 was 
graduated as Ph.D. at Leipsic University, his dis- 
sertation being “Zur Entstehung der Hebriischen 
Accente,” which was afterward published in the 
“Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie der Wis- 
senschaften ” of 1891. 

Biichler returned to Budapest to finish his theo- 
logical studies, and was graduated as rabbi in 1892. 
He then went to Oxford for one year, where he 
worked under the direction of his uncle, Dr. Adolf 
Neubauer, and published an essay, “The Reading 
of the Law and Prophets in a Triennial Cycle” 
(in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” April, 1898). The same 
year he accepted a call as instructor at the Vienna 
Jewish Theological Seniinary, where he still (1902) 
teaches Jewish history, Bible, and Talmud. 

Bichler has published the following works: “ Die 
Priester und der Cultus im Letzten Jahrzehnt des 
Tempelbestandes,” Vienna, 1895; “Die Tobiaden 
und die Oniaden,” 7b. 1899; “Das Grosse Synedrion 
in Jerusalem und das Beth-Din in der Quaderkam- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


| mer des Jerusalemischen Tempels,” 7b. 1902. 


414 


He 
has also contributed some essays to the “Jewish 
Quarterly Review,” the “ Monatsschrift,” the “ Re- 
vue des Etudes Juives,” and other periodicals, main- 
ly on the last days of the Second Temple, which 
essays have attracted much attention on account of 
their originality. S. 
BUCHLER, ALEXANDER: Born in Filek, 
Hungary, in 1869; son of the Talmudist rabbi 
Phineas Biichler of Moér. He was educated at the 
gymouasium in Székesfehérvar and at the university 
and the seminary of Budapest; he received the de- 
gree of Ph.D. in 1893, and was ordained as rabbi in 
1895. In 1897 he was called to Keszthely. 
Bichler’s works include essays on the history of 
the Jews in Hungary, published in the “Magyar 
Zsid6 Szemle” and the “Oesterreichische Wo- 
chenschrift,” and the following books: “ Niederlas- 
sungen der Juden in Europa im XVI. und XVII. 
Jahrhundert, mit Besonderer Riicksichtauf Ungarn,” 
Budapest, 1893 (in Hungarian); “Schay Lamoreh,” 
“Kolel Miktebe Hakme Yisrael,” Budapest, 1895 (in 
Hebrew); and “History of the Jews in Budapest,” 
1901 (in Hungarian). 
s. L. V. 


BUCHNER, WOLF B. DAVID HA- 
KOHEN: Hebrew stylist; born at Brody in the 
latter half of the eighteenth century and lived into 
the nineteenth. In his boyhood Buchner enjoyed 
the hospitality which every Talmud student found 
in those days in the bet ha-midrash, and during 
his manhood he traveled with Hebrew books 
through Germany, Galicia, Poland, and Lithuania 
(Letter 83). | 

At times he earned his livelihood by writing letters 
for illiterate people. His own publications were 
another source of income to him (2).). He corre- 
sponded with Baruch Jeiteles (Letter 72); Jacob 
Landau, son of Ezekicl Landau (Letter 81); and 
Beer Ginzburg, the Galician poet and friend of 
Nahman Kroechmal (Letters 8, 82, 83). He suffered 
very much in his travels through foreign countries, 
and in Berlin he sustained an injury which cost 
him the sight of his right eye (Letters 19, 20). As 
he never speaks in his letters of wife or child, it is 
impossible to tell whether he was married. 

His works are: (1) “ Zebed ha-Melizah,” an imita- 
tion of Al-Harizi’s “Tahkemoni,” written in 1770, 
but published (Prague, n.d.) not earlier than 1794, 
the date of the censor’s approbation; (2) “Zebed 
Tob” (z.), a collection of poems; (8) “Keter Mal- 
kut” (Lemberg, 1794), a hymn in imitation of Gabi- 
rol’s; (4) “Shire Tehillah ” (Berlin, 1797), hymns and 
parodies; (5) “Zahut ha-Melizah” (Prague, 1805), 
a collection of his private letters. The “Shir Nifla” 
(Frank fort-on-the-Oder, 1802) and “Shir Yedidut” 
(#6. 1810) are to all appearance partial reprints from 
the “Shire Tehillah.” His parodies of the marriage 
and betrothal contracts were later abridged and pub- 
lished separately (“Seder Tenaim Rishonim me-Hag 
ha-Pesah,” Lemberg, 1878) and wrongly ascribed to 
Israel Nagara. 

Buchner is one of the modern representatives of 
the medieval school of artificial poetry. His prose 
is flowery and full of conceits; while his poetry 


415 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Buchholz 
Buda 





devotes more attention to the number of letters in 
the words than to the sense which the words are 
supposed to convey. He endeavored to imitate 
Gabirol, Al-Harizi, and Bedersi ; but he had not the 
depth of the first, the invention of the second, or the 
force of expression of the third. He showed a pre- 
dilection for similitudes (Sen); but his arguments 
are generally encumbered rather than strengthened 
by these. Though his works had considerable vogue 
in his day, and went through several editions, they 
have fallen into oblivion. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: His letters (mysonm mmx); Zeitlin, Bibl. 
Post-Mendels. s.v.; Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. p. 86; Fuenn, 
Keneset Yisrael, p. 301. 

Li; 6; I. D. 


BUCHSBAUM: Family of Jewish physicians of 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, whose activity extended over 
acentury. Its prominent members were: 

1. Amschel Gutman Buchsbaum: Son of 
Gutman Wolf (No.3). He graduated from the Uni- 
versity of Giessen in 1729; died t'743. 

2. Benjamin Levi or Wolfgang SBuchs- 
baum: Born at Frankfort 1645; died June 26, 1715. 
He devoted many years to the study of medicine 
and philosophy at the universities of Heidelberg, 
Vienna, Pisa, and Padua, and graduated from the 
last-named in 1669, The same year he returned to 
his native town, where he was given permission to 
practise medicine, and enjoyed a high reputation 
among both Jews and Christians. 

3. Gutman Wolf Buchsbaum: Born 1678; 
died 1770; ason of Wolfgang (No. 2). He gradu- 
ated from the University of Leyden in 1697, and re- 
turned to Frankfort to practise. He held a respected 
position in the community. 

4, Lipman Buchsbaum: Brother of Gutman 
Wolf (No. 8); born 1677; date of death unknown. 
With his brother he graduated from the University 
of Leyden in 1697, and returned to Frankfort to 
practise medicine. He also held a high position in 
the community. Confined for a time in the tower 
of Bornheim on account of false accusations brought 
against him, he utilized his imprisonment by writing 
a long treatise on medicine. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Kaufmann, Kin Jahrhundert Einer 
Frankfurter Aerztefamilie, in Monatsschrift, xli. 128-138 ; 
Horovitz, Jiid. Aerzte in Frankfurt-am-Main, pp. 33, 343 
Landau, Geschichte der Jiidischen Aerzte, p. 124. 

D. A. R. 


BUCKLER. See SHIELD. 


BUCURESTEANU (BUCURESHTEAND), 
ABRAHAM COHEN: Rumanian publicist; born 
at Bucharest 1840; died there Jan. 24, 1877. From 
his earliest youth he was passionately fond of the 
theater, and obtained some success on the stage; 
but by the advice of his family he devoted himself 
to commerce. At the same time, being gifted with 
spirited wit and having an inordinate fondness for 
puns and repartee, he composed a number of satir- 
ical poems and epigrams, love-songs, theatrical skits, 
and anecdotes, which were most favorably received 
by the public (1860-74). His songs were favorites 
alike in the parlors of the wealthy and the hovels of 
the poor, and, although mediocre, are still (1902) to 
be heard in Bucharest. The best known among 
them are: “S’o vezi Mama n’o maiuitt”; “Gandul 
meu la tine sboara”; “Cu Chimir.” 


Bucuresteanu’s life was a wild one; insatiable 
love and furious jealousy soon deprived him of his 
wife, and brought him to the grave, a victim of 
physical suffering and remorse. His songs are to be 
found in numerous popular collections; but he him- 
self published only “ Urdubelea si Norocul,” Bucha- 
rest, 1873, and “Buchetul, Culegere de Anecdote,” 
Bucharest, 1874. 

As Jew and philanthropist, he has to his credit 
the foundation of the Zion Society, which assumed 
large dimensions, and became an integral part of 
the American B’nai B’rith in Rumania, under the 
name “Zion Grand Lodge.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Schwargfeld, Abram Cohen Bucures- 
teanu, in the Anuarul Pentru Tsraclitzi, yol. x. 


8. M. Scuw. 


BUCZACZ, ABRAHAM DAVID B. ASHER 
ANSHEL: Galician Talmudist: born 1770 at Nad- 
worna; died 1840 at Buczacz. Even as a boy he at- 
tracted, by his acuteness in Talmudic knowledge, 
the attention of the leading Talmudists to sucha 
degree that Zebi Hirsch, the author of “ Neta‘ Sha‘- 
shu‘im,” chose him in his tenth year as a son-in-law. 
At the age of twenty he was ready to accept the 
office of rabbi at Goslowitz. 

The chief event of his life was the struggle awa- 
kened in him by the opposition between the Talmud 
and the Cabala. Unacquainted with the tendencies 
and modes of life of the Hasidim, Buczacz did not 
believe in the miracles of their rabbis; and his wife 
and friends had great difficulty in persuading him 
to take his sick son to a Hasidic rabbi, Levi Isaac 
of Berdychev. The latter, however, influenced him 
to take up the study of the Cabala; but in trying to 
reconcile these new views—so utterly antagonistic 
to those of the extreme Talmudists, which he him- 
self had hitherto held—he nearly became insane. 
The Hasidic rabbi Levi Isaac of Berdychev helped 
him through this struggle and won him over, to the 
great. joy of the Hasidim, who feared his wide 
Talmudic learning. Buczacz adopted the Hasidic 
mode of living; but in his decision of halakic ques- 
tions was guided, not by cabalistic, but by purely 
Talmudie, principles. In 1813 he succeeded his late 
father-in-law as rabbi of Buczacz, and remained in 
office until his death. 

Bucezacz is the author of the following works: (1) 
“Da‘at Kedoshim,” to the Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh 
De‘ah, Lemberg, 1870; 2d ed., 7b. 1879; (2) “ Dibre 
Abot,” commentary on Abot, 7d. 1879; (38) “ Eshel 
Abraham,” annotations to the Shulhan ‘Aruk, Orah 
Hayyim, 72. 1885; (4) “Birkat David,” cabalistic- 
haggadic commentary on Genesis, Zolkiev (date 
1766, given on title-page, wrong); (5) “Mahazeh 
Abraham,” commentary on the Pentateuch, and 
“Hozeh David,” on the other Biblical books, Lem- 
berg, 1871; (6) “ Amarot Tehorot,” on the purifica- 
tion of Niddah and vessels, in Judeeo-German, 20. 
1878; (7) “Tefillah le-David,” on benediction and 
prayer, 7b. 1886; Kolomea, 1887; (8) “Tehillah le- 
David,” on the Psalnis, 26. 1872. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: KE. Z. Shmerler, Toledot ha-RABD, Lem- 
berg, 1890. 
L. G. A. Ps. 


BUDA. See BUDAPEST. 


Buda, Purim of 
Budapest 





BUDA, PURIM OF: [In 1684 the Christian 
armies laid siege to Buda (Ofen) to drive out the 
Turks, who had held possession of the city from 
1541; their design was, however, frustrated by the 
stout resistance of the Turks and Jews. The par- 
ticipation of the latter in this opposition to Christian 
forces was followed by great embitterment against 
the Jews, particularly in Italy, where in Rome they 
could not venture into the street without a guard 
from the pope’s troops; any not thus protected 
being sure of immediate assault and possibly mur- 
der. The towns of Moncellis, Montaniana, Castel- 
Franco, und Citadella followed the example of 
Rome; and in Padua, where Jews and Christians 
had lived side by side for many cencuries, a sharp 
outbreak of anti-Jewish feeling was felt in 1670. 
The outbreak in that city was the outcome of com- 
mercial jealousy, brought to a head by acalumnious 
publication which was widely circulated among the 
people. Although the publication was interdicted 
by the authorities, it nevertheless implanted deep 
animosity against the Jews; and when the news 
came of the part which they had taken in the de- 
fense of Buda, the latent hatred broke into flame. 
The Capuchin Mareo d’Aviano, who had _ passed 
two months with the besieging armies outside Buda, 
when asked concerning the part which the Jews 
had taken in bringing disgrace upon the Christian 
armies, replied truthfully that the Jews of Buda 
were not blameworthy. The populace, however, 
refused to accept this generous estimate, and pic- 
tures of Buda in which the ghetto was over-promi- 
nent were widely circulated, greatly increasing the 
popular resentment. 

On the Ninth of Ab the Jews of Padua gathered 
as usual to celebrate their annual fast-day commem- 
orating the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple; 

but no explanation would convince 


Jews of the people that the object of the fast 
Padua was other than to implore divine as- 
Besieged. sistance in behalf of the Turks and 


Jews then besieged in Buda, and to 
offer prayers for the defeat of the imperial troops. 
Although the Jews notified the authorities of this 
cruel misconception on the part of their Christian 
fellow-citizens, no weight was attributed to their 
statement. On Sunday, Aug. 20, 1684, the news 
was passed from mouth to mouth that Buda had 
at last been captured. Jt appears that a special 
messenger had arrived at Venice from Buda the day 
before, and the people had erroneously taken him to 
be the bearer of tidings of victory. The Padua 
populace, joined presently by armed men, gathered 
in the vicinity of the ghetto, and, in exultation over 
the supposed victory, bombarded the Jewish dwell- 
ings with stones and attempted to break down the 
barred gates of the ghetto. The authorities who tried 
to pacify the mob were silenced with volleys of stones; 
wil who endeavored to make peace were assailed with 
reproaches of having been bought by the Jews. 
The Jews themselves attempted to pacify the raging 
people with gifts of money and food; but to no 


purpose. The magistrates threatened the severest 


punishment to any who should assault or despoil. 


Jews, but their warnings availed only for the mo- 
inent. The Jews decided tosend an appeal for help 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


416 


to the doge of Venice, but when the ghetto-gate 
was opened to vive egress to the messenger, the 
mob poured in by thousands, broke open ware- 
houses, and destroyed the windows of the syna- 
gogue. The besicged barricaded the doors of their 
dwellingsand awaited their fate. Finally a detach- 
ment of Italian and German cuirassicrs cleared the 
ghetto of the rioters, wounding several of them. 
This still further incensed the populace, and two 
cuirassiers were slain by the mob. When a wicked 
woman, with a terrible outcry, announced that the 
Jews had stolen her only child to use its blood, pop- 
ular fury knew no bounds, The riotous mob rushed 
with the woman to the city hall, demanding the 
heaviest punishment for the offenders. In vain did 
tiie educated and respectable element of the city 
government endeavor to pacify them. It was only 
by the lavish use of gold that any impression was 
made upon the mob, which presently dispersed. 
When, some time later, the Jews offered to repay the 
sum thus disbursed by the burgomaster, he refused 
to accept it. 

At the request of the people the military was 
withdrawn from the ghetto. No sooner had this 
taken place, however, than the fury of the people 
broke out afresh; the ghetto was again assailed and 
its massive doors attacked with fire and sledge- 
hammers. The Jews passed the night in consum- 
mate terror; distrusting the guards who had been 
assigned for their protection, some crawled on lad- 
ders into the houses of their Christian friends out- 
side the ghetto. Deliberate attack was prevented 
by the proclamation of the authorities that death 
awaited any man who harmed the Jews, and the 
next day stringent orders came from Venice com- 
manding immediate cessation of the riot. Popular 
indignation therefore was forced to content itself 
with burning Jews in effigy at the stake. 

These anxious days are still commemorated by 
the Jews of Padua, who on Elul the 10th annually 
celebrate a festival called the Buda (Ofen) Purim, 
in memory of the valiant deeds of their ancestors in 
that city, the sufferings brought by it upon the 
Jews of Padua, and their deliverance therefrom. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. H. Cantarini, Pahad YVizhak, Amsterdam, 

1685; Dr. A. Bichler, A Szidék Tirténete Budapesten; 

Dr. Samuel Kohn, Héber Kutforrdsok ; Antonio Ciscato, Gli 

Ebrei in Padova, pp. 202 et seq., Padua, 1901; Gratz, Gesch. 


der Juden, 3d ed., x. 257 et seq. 
D. A. Bt. 


BUDAPEST: Thecapitalof Hungary. Of the 
several congregations within this tripartite city, 
Buda (Ofen), O-Buda (Alt-Ofen), and Pesth, that at 
Buda is the oldest (see ALT-O¥FEN) ; Jewish population 
in 1900 was 166,198. The first mention of the Jewsof 
Pesth dates back to 1406, in which year Sau! of Pesth 
and Saul of Ofen obtained from Béla IV. certain 
privileges which were countersigned by the chapter 
of Stuhlweissenburg, when they settled in the last- 
named city. In 1504, Jewsowned houses and Jands 
at Pesth. At the time of the Turkish rule their 
cemetery Was situated in the present Leopoldstadt. 
After 1686, in which vear the Turks were driven 
from Pesth, no Jews were allowed to live there for 
nearly a century; and the magistrate of Pesth col- 
lected a tax of thirty kreutzers from every Jew 
traveling through the city, and one thaler from 


417 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Buda, Purim of 
Budapest 





every Jew remaining in it overnight—a right that 
Pesth claimed by virtue of the letter of privileges 
granted by King Leopold I. Oct. 23, 1708, according 
10 which it was left in the hands of the municipal 
council to admit Jews or to refuse them admission. 
When the governor enrolled the Jews of Hungary 
in 1735, the city of Pesth decreed that neither a 
heretic nor a Jew could live or settle there in future; 
but they were allowed to visit the markets of the 
city from the sixth decade of the eighteenth century. 
In endeavoring to gain a permanent residence in 
the city, the Jews were always frustrated by the 
magistracy. The latter in 1762 even begged the 
prince primate, Count Franz Barkéczy, who had be- 
come the protector of the city, to ex- 
clude the Jews. This resistance of 
the city authorities was finally over- 
come by the emperor, Joseph IT., after 
whose decree of March 31, 1783, Jews slowly began 
to settle at Pesth. The first arrivals came from Alt- 
Ofen and settled generally in the Theresienstadt, 
which at the present time (1902) is most thickly 
populated by Jews. The city of Pesth would 
not allow them to live elsewhere, and would have 
transformed the Theresienstadt into a ghetto, but 
failed to do so when Israel Abraham Offenheim, 
with the permission of the authorities, rented a 
house and a store in the inner city itself in 1786. 
Jews were allowed to live in the city only with the 
permission of the king, and those who bought this 
right for large sums were called “tolerated Jews”; 
those who were only temporarily recetved by the 
city were called “Commoranten” (Sojourners). In 
1787 fourteen tolerated Jews were living at Pesth; 
the settlement numbering 114, including servauts. 
At first they were not allowed to have their own 
butcher-shop, the kosher meat being cut up twice a 
week by the municipal butcher. Jewsstaying tem- 
porarily in the city or those traveling through it had 
to obtain their food and drink at the public cook- 
shop, the high rent paid for the same being a large 
source of income for the city. At first travelers 
were allowed no lodging except in this cook-shop. 
When Joseph II., on his death-bed (Jan. 28, 1790), 
revoked all his decrees, the citizens of Pesth deter- 
mined to expel the Jews, who competed with them 
in business; and the magistracy had al- 
After ready fixed upon the first of May as the 
Joseph II. day of expulsion, when the Diet inter- 
fered. Being compelled to endure 
the presence of the Jews, the city endeavored to 
make their residence unpleasant. The Commoranten 
were often expelled; and only those were allowed 
to stay in the city who had a toleration-permit. 
The city forbade them to organize a community or 
to use a seal. In 1804 it attempted several times 
to drive them from various parts of the city and to 
concentrate them in the Theresienstadt. The Jews, 
stung by this animosity and conscious of the com- 
mercial services they were rendering to the commu- 
nity, pointed out that the creation of a ghetto would 
be the surest means of injuring the commerce of Hun- 
gary, which was then in itsinfancy. They claimed 
that nowhere else had Jews been so-instrumental in 
developing trade as in Pesth; and that they did not 
deserve insult as a reward, They declared that 


IIl.—27 


Under 
Joseph IT. 


Jews lived amicably with Christians in every port 
and emporium of Europe, and that in those cities in 
which they were influential in commerce, such as 
Triest, Hamburg, Dresden, and Berlin, they even 
owned their houses; while in places where a special 
Jewry was assigned, the more prominent merchants 
were allowed to live in open places outside of the 
ghetto. The Jews warned the city not to carry out 
its intentions, pointing out the damage that the 
Leopoldstadt would suffer if they were expelled 
from it, and directing attention also to the formid- 
able increase which would ensue in rents if the 





The Tabakeasse Synagocue at Budapest. 


(From: a photograph.) 


owners of the houses in the Theresienstadt had the 
monopoly of renting to Jews. 
A most severe decree against the Jews of Pesth 
was issued in 1808: it forbade any foreign Jew to 
settle at Pesth, even though he mar- 
Foreign ried the daughter of a tolerated Jew. 
Jews The parent’s right to trade and to 
Forbidden be tolerated passed by inheritance 
Entrance, only to one male descendant; while 
1808. all the other children were regarded 
merely as Commoranten and as assist- 
ants in their father’s business. In 1828 the Jews 
addressed a petition to the king requesting the abro- 
gation of this decree. “Outof love to our children,” 
thus wrote the community, “we wish to die with 
the assurance that we may leave to our descendants 
at least an assured home, the honest means of gain- 
ing a livelihood, and independence, if not wealth.” 


Budapest 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


418 





If the father died all the children who had been 
working with him as “assistants” had to emigrate, 
with the sole exception of the tolerated son. It hap- 
pened often that the only available husbands for 
their daughters were shiftless and undesirable Jews, 
whose sole merit was that they possessed the right 
of toleration. Honest and industrious strangers were 
out of the question because they were forbidden to 
remain at Pesth or to engage in commerce. 

That all these endeavors to place difficulties in 
the way of Jews intending to settle at Pesth were 
futile may be seen by the fact that of 1,846 Jewish 

families living there in 1888, only 530 

Progress had the right of toleration or were 

of Com- Commoranten. The community of 

munity. Pesth, increasing in numbers, wealth, 

. and education, thus became from 1839 
the foremost of the Tungarian-Jewish communities; 
working as such for the emancipation of Hungarian 
Judaism, and often convoking gatherings of repre- 
sentative Hungarian Jews for that purpose. 

It was due to the energetic interposition of the 
community of Pesth that King Ferdinand V. (1835- 
1848) abrogated the toleration-tax by which the 
Jews had been branded for a century. The Jews of 
Pesth sympathized with the nation at the time of the 
Hungarian struggles for liberty. Although the pop- 
ulace attacked and plundered the Jews on the sec- 
ond day of Passover, April, 1848, and the intol- 
erance of the people excluded them from the national 
guard, the Jews were not long discouraged. The 
rabbi Schwab stirred up their patriotism, for which 
he was arrested after the uprising had been quelled. 
The Jews were so enthusiastic in the cause of Hun- 
gary that they even offered to sacrifice the silver 
paraphernalia of the temple and of the Hebrah Kad- 
dishah; and all Jews entering the revolutionary army 
received their full equipment from the community. 
Haynau punished them for this patriotism with a 
heavy. war-tax, part of which, however, King Francis 
Joseph I. remitted. 

Emperor Joseph sought to forbid the Jews to en- 
gage in retail business and in pedling, for which 

reason in 1788 he decreed that tolerated 
Oc- Jews should be received in Pesth only 
cupations. when they established a wholesale 
house or some manufacture. Within 
the community they were allowed to deal only in 
such goods as the Christian population lacked or in 
which they could not compete with Christian dealers. 
Only wholesale merchants were allowed to keep an 
openshop. Many Jews, therefore, who did not wish 
to engage in pedling, petitioned for the rights of 
a wholesale dealer, although they had neither the 
money nor the capacity for such business. Their 
profits were curtailed by visiting dealers, who came 
from near and far to the markets; there were heavy 
taxes and living expenses; and the shops had to be 
closed not only on the Jewish, but also on the Chris- 
tian, holidays. | 

Yet with all these drawbacks the Jewish business 
men of Pesth materially aided the development of 
the city. Noteworthy among the many eminent mer- 
chants is the UJmann family, a member of which, 
the apostate Moritz, who was ennobled, was the first 
to propose the organization of the Commercial Bank 


of Pesth; he also originated the plans for the railroad 
from the Austrian frontier to Pesth and thence to 
Debreczen. Not only Jewish merchants, but artisans 
also settled at Pesth, among them the lace-maker 
Joel Berkovits, a descendant of Rabbi Heilmann of 
Metz, who had learned his trade with a relative, 
Ephraim Kossmanon, at Berlin, Berkovits was also 
skilful in making Turkish fancy boxes. 

Although the gilds largely interfered with the de- 
velopment of Jewish industry, the Jewish commu- 
nity of Pesth encouraged many young men to learn 
trades, It instituted a fund to aid Jewish youths 
who followed laborious handicrafts, and with the 
assistance of Jacob Kern it was instrumental in 
founding in 1842 the Hungarian Israclitish Trades 
and Economic Association, which had benefited many 
Jews. Thus induce time the Jews contributed to the 
industrial development of the city, as well as to its 
culture, through the many teachers and university 
professors, judges, physiciaus, lawyers, and engi- 
neers they furnished to the community. 

Immediately after their settlement the Jews or- 
ganized a place of worship in the Hausler homestead 
in the Kénigsgasse, paying a reut of 200 gulden for 
their synagogue. The necessary Torah-rolls were 
lent to them by the community at Alt-Ofen. On 
Aug. 17, 1787, the government gave them a permit 
to continue worshiping quietly in pri- 
vate houses of prayer without a rabbi. 
In 1796 they rented a room for a new 
synagogue in the house owned by Baron Orezy, an 
immense building that is still called the “Judenhof.” 
In the year 1800 there were, in addition to the Orezy 
temple (called the “large temple”), a Polish temple, 
and a separate house of prayer belonging to the 
Sephardim. The first place to adopt an improved 
(moderate Reform) manner of worship was the tem- 
ple of the Hesed Ne‘urim association, in the house 
of the “ White Goose” (“Fehér Lud”). It was con- 
sidered merely as a private synagogue; but when 
all privateand association temples were dissolved in 
1830, the community included this temple among its 
institutions, and transferred it also to the Orezy 
house, adjoining the “large temple.” The com- 
munal temple was transferred in 1859 to the present 
magnificent building in the Tabaksgasse, In the 
seventies a synagogue was organized for the Con- 
servatives in the Rombachgasse, while their temple 
in the Orezy house was rented by the Orthodox con- 
gregation, which still worships there (1902). The 
temple of the Reform Society was from 1848 to 1852 
in the Valero house in the Kénigsgasse. 

The Jews of Pesth at first buried their dead in 
ALT-OFEN. The city in 1788 assigned to them a 
free cemetery, which was situated on the plot now 

occupied by the Westbahnhof. A 
Cemeteries. new cemetery was given to them in 

1808 behind the city dike, in the Weitz- 
nerstrasse, and they transferred thither in 18389 their 
dead and their tombstones. Gravestones with sculp- 
tured images of men and women were erected in 
this cemetery as early as 1832, a practise against 
which Moses Sofer, rabbi of Presburg, vigorously 
protested. Asthis cemetery proved to be too small, 
a new one was assigned to them near the Kere- 
peserstrasse. [Lately the community bought for 


Worship. 


419 





burial purposes a large plot of ground behind K6- 
banya. 

The Hebrah Kaddishah was founded in 1790. It 
is one of the largest benevolent societies, its budget 
for 1902 being 511.671 crowns. In 1800 Israel Wahr- 
mann founded the Shi‘yur society. The hospital 
was organized in 1805. There are also the follow- 
ing associations: Hesed Ne‘urim, Bikkur Holim, 

Menahem Abelim, and Tomke Yeto- 
Phil- mim; the Women’s Socicty, founded 
anthropic in 1866, which owes its success largely 
As- to the noble Johanna Bischitz de 
sociations. Heves; the People’s Kitchen, the hos- 
pital, the Adela Brody Children’s Hos- 
pital, named after its founder; an orphan asylum for 
girls, and one for boys, which was founded by a phi- 
Janthropist named Fochs: the new building of the 
Jast-named, inaugurated in 1901, is a nionument to 
the labors of Jacob Deutsch. Many Jews have per- 
petuated their names by large foundations, among 
them Wolf Holitscher, Solomon Taub, Alexander 
Wahrmanun, Philip Kunewalder, and Moses Ehriich. 
The Jews of Pesth have always been public-spirited 
and philanthropic. During the cholera epidemic of 
1831 they not only reheved Jews, but also furnished 
daily rations to cighty-two Christian families, earn- 
ing the gratitude of the count palatine Joseph. 
They are, in addition, liberal contributors to the 
general philanthropic institutions of the country. 

The religious life of the community was at first 
under the supervision of the rabbinical council of 
Alt-Ofen, and, beginning with 1789, under Moses 
Miinz, rabbi of that city. When Rabbi Wolf Bos- 
kovitz settled at Pesth in 1798, the 
community elected bim rabbi. The 
government, however, deprived him 
of his office Dec. 27, 1796, in con- 
sequence of the intrigues of Moses Miinz, and or- 
dered the community to elect any one it chose to 
conduct its religious affairs, with the exception of 
Miinz. Inthe spring of 1799 it electcd Israel ben 
Solomon Wahrmann, rabbi at Bodrogh-Keresztur, 
against whom Miinz again began to plot. In the fol- 
lowing year the government ended these intrigues, 
and theenlightened Wahrmann was able peacefully 
to conduct the affairs of the community. He died 
June 24, 1826 at the age of seventy. His dayyvanim 
were Simon, Oppenheimer, Azriel Brill, and Moses 
Kunitzer. After Wahrmann’s death certain educated 
and wealthy members of the community, delighted 
with the organization of thenew Vienna temple and 
the sermons of its preacher, Noah Mannheimer, pro- 
ceeded to introduce Reforined worship at Pesth and 
toelect a preacher. They chose Joseph Bach of Alt- 
Ofen as preacher, and Edward Karl Denhof, also of 
Alt-Ofen anda pupil of Sulzer of Vienna, as precen- 
tor. This temple, or “choir synagogue,” as it was 
also called, was for a timea bone of contention in the 
community. Attempts were made to prohibit wor- 
ship in it; and only the endeavors of the president. 
of the community, Gabriel Ullmann, preserved it 
from the fanatics. 

These changes in the life of the community made 
it imperative that a man should officiate as rabbi 
Who could meet the demands of the Conservatives 
as well as of the Reform party. In 1829 the com- 


Earlier 
Rabbis. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Budapest 


munity elected David Joseph Wahrmann, son of 
the deceased rabbi; but as he delayed his coming, 
Léw Schwab, rabbi at Prossnitz, was called instead. 
Entering upon office in Jan., 1886, Schwab’s incum- 
beney was a blessing not only to the community of 
Pesth, but also to the entire Ilungarian Jewry. He 
fostered the development of all cultureand religious 
institutions, acting always with tact and avoiding 
dissensions. His rabbinical council included the 
scholarly Samuel Liw Brill (b. 1814; d. 1897), later 
professor of the Talmud at the rabbinical semi- 
nary at Budapest, and Judah Walhrmann, author 
of the “Ma‘areket Ia-Ha‘takot” (Ofen, 1881), on 
Hebrew punctuation (“trop”), and cf an ethical 
book, “Dat Yehudah.” Schwab's literary activity 
included sermons, and works in which he defended 
Judaism against the slanders of Gasparich Kilit, 
translated into Hungarian by Moritz Bloch, a con- 
vert; a religious book, “Erinnerung an den Er- 
haltenen Religionsunterricht ” (Pesth, 1846), in Ger- 
man and Hungarian; and a responsum directed 
against the Jewish Reform Association at Pesth. 
This association had been called into life by the 
Hungarian struggles for liberty in 1848. Its first 
rabbi was Ignatz Einhorn, who subsequently be- 
came secretary of state in the Hungarian ministry 
under the name of Eduard Horn. When Horn fled 
from Hungary, after the Revolution had been put 
down, his place was taken in 1852 by Dr. David 
Einhorn, district rabbi of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. 
However, he officiated for only a short time, as the 
government dissolved the Reform Association in 
1852 in consequence of the remonstrances of Rabbi 
Schwab, the members going back to the original 
congregation. 

After Schwab’s death, April 8, 1857, the commu- 
nity extended an invitation to Dr. Michael Sachs of 

Berlin; but as he refused the call, Dr. 
Successors WW. Alois Meisel was chosen May 11, 
of Schwab. 1859. This preacher was much ham- 

pered in his activities not only by the 
president of the community, Dr, Ignatz Hirschler, 
but also by the rivalry between the Wungarian and 
the German element. It was in consequence of the 
strenethening of the Hungarian element that the of- 
fice ofa preacher in the Tlungarian language was cre- 
ated, Dr. Samuel Kohn being called to fill it. His 
researches contributed largely to the systematization 
of the history of the Hungarian Jews. After Mei- 
sel’s death (Nov. 80, 1867), the position of chief rabbi 
remained vacant, and the office of a German preacher 
was created, Dr. M. Kavserling being chosen to fill 
it. Rabbi 1. Pollak was called to the temple in the 
Rombacbgasse. Dr. Julius Weissburge has been as- 
sistant rabbi since 1895. After Brill’s death the 
position of chief of the “bet din” was filled in 
1901 by Moses Feldmann, rabbi at Galantha. The 
first rabbi of the Orthodox congregation founded 
in the seventies was Joachim Schreiber, after whose 
death Koppel Reich was elected (still officiating ip 
1902). 

The education of Jewish children was at first in 
the hands of private teachers. In Aug., 1787, the 
government decreed that all the Jewish children of 
Pesth should attend the Christian schools, and tha’, 
there should be no private instruction except that 


Budapest 
Budushchnost 


of one religious teacher. Some of these private 
teachers contributed to Hebrew literature, among 

others I. L. Léwinger, Joseph Rotten- 
Education. bauer, Adolf Pevani, L. Moses Fochs, 

Filipp Weil, Leopold Breuer, and 
Karl Kohlmann, who, after renouncing Judaism, 
was appointed censor of the Hebrew books printed 
at Ofen. A public school was opened through 
the endeavors of Rabbi Israel Wahrmann, through 
whose influence the pupils of the gymnasium re- 
ceived religious instruction. Rabbi Schwab pro- 
cured royal protection for the school, and also 
induced the community to organize an infant- 
school. After the Revolution, during the German- 
izing régime of Bach, the school became the nur- 
sery of the Hungarian national spirit. Ignatz 
Reich, the enthusiastic Hungarian teacher, was 
active at this time. He is the author of “ Bet 
El,” a work containing the biographies of eminent 
Hungarian Jews. The community of Pesth did 
much for its schools. In addition to the elementary 
schools for boys and for girls, it has a secondary 
school for them, with capable instructors. The re- 
ligious instruction in the municipal schools, as well 
as in all the intermediate schools (Mittelschulen), is 
provided by the congregation, and consists of a staff 
of religious teachers, some of whom are graduate 
rabbis. The supervision of all the schools at pres- 
ent isin the hands of B. Munkacsi, appointed by 
the congregation. 

Ever since the Jews settled at Pesth their govern- 
ing board has consisted of the seven members of the 
so-called “ Deputation,” which originally regulated 
the rents derived from Jewish taverns. The arbi- 
trary proceedings of this board were restricted by 

the statutes of 1800, according to which 


Internal twelve members in addition to the 
Gov- seven directors supervised the affairs of 
ernment. the community. New by-laws were 


imposed upon the community by the 
city in 1816 and 1828. It had noconstitution con- 
firmed by the government until 1883. Since this date 
the Jews of Pesth have formed an officially recognized 
community. It drew up new by-laws in 1861, when 
Dr. Ignatz Hirschler was chosen as president, by 
whom the institutions of the community were re- 
organized. He was succeeded as president by 
Mornz Wahrmann, who was the first Jewish deputy 
in the Hungarian House of Representatives. The 
present president of the congregation is Sigmund 
Kohner; its secretary (since 1874), the well-known 
Orientalist Ignaz Goldziher. See ALT-OFEN. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dr. Alexander Biichler, 4 Zsidék Férténete 
Budapesten, Budapest, 1901. cs 
D. A. Bu. 


BUDEK: Polish Catholic priest; canon of Wis- 
lica at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and 
one of the most vigorous Jew-baiters of his time. 
It was he who instigated the attack on the Jews of 
Cracow on the third day of Easter (March 27), 1407; 
charging them with the murder of a Christian boy 
and with having attacked a priest who was carrying 
the sacrament (see CRACOW). H. R. 

BUDINGER, MAX: Austrian historian; born 
April 1, 1828, at Cassel, Germany; died at Vienna 
Feb. 23, 1902; son of Moses Mordecai BtpINGER. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





420 


omen. 


Bidinger devoted himself from 1847 to 1851 to the 
study of history at the universities of Marburg, 
Bonn, and Berlin. In 1857 he became privat-docent 
of history at the University of Marburg; but seeing 
no prospect of attaining a professorship, on account 
of his Jewish faith, he soon left this position and 
went to Vienna. In 1861 he received a call to the Uni- 
versity of Zurich as professor of history. From 1872 
until his death in 1902 he occupied the chair of his- 
tory at the University of Vienna. In 1887 he was 
elected a member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. 

Biidinger was the editor of two series of historic 
essays written by his pupils under his direction: (1) 
“Untersuchungen zur Rémischen Kaisergeschichte,” 
in 3 vols., Leipsic, 1868-70; and (2) “ Untersuchungen 
zur Mittleren Geschichte,” in 2 vols., 2b. 1871. He 
is the author of the following works: (1) “Zur 
Kritik Altbayrischer Geschichte,” Vienna, 1857; (2) 
“Zur Kritik Altbéhmischer Geschichte,” 7b. 1857; 
(3) “Oesterreichische Geschichte bis zum Ausgang 
des 13. Jahrhunderts,” Leipsic, 1858; (4) “Konig 
Richard IIJ. von England,” Vienna, 1858; (5) “ Die 
K6niginhofer Handschrift und Ihr Neuester Vertei- 
diger,” 26. 1859, where he proved the spuriousness 
of this pretended Old-Bohemian literary monument; 
(6) “Nachrichten aus Altrussischen Jahrbiichern,” 
16. 1859; (7) “Ein Buch Ungarischer Geschichte, 
1058-1100,” Leipsic, 1866; (8) “ Wellington,” 2d. 1869; 
(9) “ Lafayette,” 7b. 1870; (10) “ Aegyptische Einwir- 
kungen auf Hebraische Kulte,” Vienna, 1872-74; 
(11) “Zur Aegyptischen Forschung Herodots,” 2d, 
1873; (12) “Lafayette in Oesterreich,” 7b. 1878; 
(18) “ Vorlesungen iiber Englische Verfassungsge- 
schichte,” 2b. 1880; (14) “Cicero und das Patriziat,” 
vw, 1881; (15) “Poesie und Urkunde bei Thuky- 
dides,” in 2 vols., 2, 1890-91; (6) “Don Carlos’ 
Haft und Tod,” 7. 1891. He embraced Protes- 
tantism. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, viii. 355; Meyers, 
Konversations-Lexikon, iii. 649. 


8. T. Br. 


BUDINGER, MOSES ISRAEL BEN 
ISAAC: Teacher at Metz at the end of the eight- 
eenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. 
He devoted himself to Hebrew grammar and litera- 
ture and trained a large number of grammarians 
and writers of elegant Hebrew. Bidinger was the 
author of the following works, all published at 
Metz: “Em le-Mikra” (Mother of Reading), a man- 
ual of the Hebrew language, compiled from various 
elementary books, 1816; “Hanok le-Na‘ar” (Train 
up the Child), an extract of the preceding work, 
1816; “Iggeret Purim” (Essay on Purim), the ritual 
laws concerning the Feast of Purim, together with 
the roll of Esther, 1816; “Mahzor,” a commentary 
on the festival prayers, together with the text 
and a German translation by Prosper d’Alsace, 
in 9 vols., 1817; “Derush le-Bar Mizwah” (Lec- 
ture for a Confirmee), with a German translation 
by Prosper d’Alsace, 1819; “Selihot,” a commen- 
tary on the penitential prayers, together with the 
text, 1822. 

In addition, Bidinger reedited the ethical work 
of Isaac Aboab, “Menorah ha-Maor,” with the 
Hebrew commentary, “Nefesh Yehudah,” and a 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Budapest 


421 Budushchnost 
Judzo-German translation by Moses Frankfurter, | BUDNY, SIMON: Calvinist priest of Lithuania 
Metz, 1769. in the sixteenth century; founder of the Polish sect 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allg. Zeit. des Jud. Supplement, 1839, No. 2; 
First, Bibl. Jud. i, 1835; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. p. 48. 


8 I. Br. 


BUDINGER, MOSES MORDECAI: German 
educator; born at Maidorf, a village in Hessen, 
Jan., 1788; died at Cassel Jan. 31, 1841. At theage 
of twenty he became a servant in the house of a 
petty Jewish merchant, and later, by dint of inde- 
fatigable zeal, became shohet, hazan, and religious 
teacher in a 
small congrega- 
tion. After 
making the nec- 
essary prepara- 
tory studies dur- 
ing his four 
years’ residence 
in Naumburg, 
where he was 
private teacher, 
he went to the 
University of 
Marburg. In 
1820 he became 
tutor in the fam- 
ily of the court 
banker Kaulla, 
in Stuttgart. 
From 1824 he 
occupied with 
great distinction 
the position of 
principal teach- 
er of the Jewish 
pedagogical 
seminary at Cas- 
sel. Btdinger 
was also a prom- 
inent’ preacher, 
and very often 
delivered lec- 
tures in the little 
synagogue at- 
tached to the 
seminary, on 
moral] and relig- 
ious subjects. In 
1880 the philo- 





of the Budnians. who were surnamed “ Half-Jews” 
(“Semi-Judaizantes”). He studied at the Academy 
of Cracow, where he became acquainted with some of 
the disciples of Socinus, Blandrata, and other Unita- 
rians, who, being outlawed by Catholics and Reform- 
ers alike, had found shelter in Poland, where they 
could live and speak freely. Budny was invited by 
Prince Nicholas Radziwill in 1562 to take the place 
of pastor in the newly built Calvinist church at 
Kleck. Here he 
began his Polish 
translation of 
the Bible, which 
was published 
in Nieswicz in 
1572. He then 
turned to the 
Socinians, and 
was one of their 
most ardent mis- 
sionaries in 
Lithuania. 
Budny associ- 
ated much with 
Jewish scholars, 
and was a great 
friend of the 
Jews. He was 
somew hat famil- 
jar with the He- 
brew language 
and  Jiterature. 
Hezekiah David 
Abulafia men- 
tions him in his 
work “Ben Ze- 
kunim” in 
the following 
words: “There 
is another wise 
man, by the 
name of Simon 
Budny, who 
praises the Tal- 
mud very much 
and considers it 
to be the best 
work of all lit- 


HB Raistman — 


sophical faculty Synagogue at Budweis (Pointed Style). eratures.” 
of the University (After a photograph.) The exact date 
of Marburg gave of Budny’s 


him the degree Ph.D. for his “ Leitfaden beim Unter- 
richte der Religion.” The government rewarded 
him by appointing him member of the “ Landrabbi- 
nat.” His only son was the historian Max Biidinger. 

Biidinger’s first work was “ Derek Emunah, oder 
die Kleine Bibel” (1828), which was introduced as 
a text-book in many schools. Of his numerous ser- 
mons and addresses may be mentioned “ Zehn Geist- 
liche Reden ” (Stuttgart, 1821). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinheim, Moses Mordecai Blidinger: Le- 
pers peee eng eines Israelitischen Schulmannes, Al- 
ona, : 


8. M. St. 


death is unknown; but he died before Faustus So- 
cinus—according to Gratz in 1584. His works are 
very rare, the Catholics having collected and 
burned all that they could obtain. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bock, Historia Antitrinitariorum , Hoefer, 
Nouvelle Biographie Universelle, vii. 729, Paris, 1853; Kra- 
sinski, Historical Sietch of the Reformation in Poland, ii.; 
A. Harkavy, Note in S. P. Rabbinowicz’s Hebrew translation 
of Gritz’s Gesch. der Juden, vii. 356, Warsaw, 1899. 


H. R. 


BUDUSHCHNOST (“The Future”): Russo- 
Jewish weekly, estabiished (1900) and edited by 8S. 
O. Gruzenberg. Like the “ Voskhod,” it gives val- 


Budweis 
Buffalo 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


422 





uable information concerning the history of the Jews 
and their social life and institutions; but while the 
former periodical is in favor of assimilation, the 
latter is of a Zionistic tendency. Most of the lead- 
ing Zionist writers of Russia are among its contribu- 
tors. The “Budushchnost” publishes a “sbornik,” 


or literary annual, as a supplement. 
H. R. M. R. 


BUDWEIS: City of Bohemia. Jews were set- 
tled there in the first half of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, possibly earlier. In 18387 tle community was 
destroyed by the Flagellants. Jn 1841 King John I. 
of Bohemia again admitted two Jews, who were 
granted remission of taxes for a period of ten years. 
They were compelled, however, to pay an impost to 
the city, which was set epart to cancel its debts to 
foreign Jews. They also erected a synagogue, 
which fact shows that many other Jews joined 
them. In 13890 a Jews’ quarter (“vicus Judxo- 
rum”) is mentioned; it was situated close to the 
parsonage, because the Jews, on account of their 
financial and commercial importance, had to be 
near the authorities. | 

A responsum concerning the Jews of Budweis is 
recorded in the fifteenth century. In 1506, Jews 
were expelled from Budweis, and were not per- 
mitted even to visit the annual fairs. Hence the 
“ persecutions in Budweis” in 1505, during which 
thirteen Jewish women drowned themselves, and 
those of 1564, which are mentioned in the Nachod 
“Memorbuch,” can not refer to the Bohemian city 
of Budweis. 

Since 1848, Jews have again lived at Budweis, and 
they have had an incorporated congregation since 
1859. The cemetery was laid out in 1866; the syna- 
gogue(see p. 421), a building in the pointed style of 
architecture, was built by Max Fleischer of Vienna. 
There is also an organization of Jewish artisans in 
the city. The district rabbi is (1902) Adam Wunder. 
The nineteen communities of the district of Budweis 
include 252 families, numbering 1,263 persons. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salfeld, Martyrologitum, p. 241; Mitthei- 

lungen des Vereins fiir Gesch. der Deutschen in Bobhmen, 

xviii. 201 ; xxii. 266, 269; Wertheimer, Juden in Oesterreich, 

Leipsic, 1842, p. 177; Rechtsgutachten, Nos. 79-81; L6w, in 


Buseh’s Kalender, 1847, pp. 81, 84; Schudt, Jtidische Merk- 
wiirdigkeiten, i. 222; Poznanski, in Jtid. Chronik, ed. Kur- 


rein, i. 
D. A. F. 


BUENA ESPERANZA, LA (“The Good 
Hope”): Title of a Jewish weekly, published in 
Judo-Spanish and in rabbinic characters at Smyrna 
since 1874. It first appeared under the name “ La 


Esperanza.” Aaron de Joseph Hazan has been its 
editor from the beginning. 
G. M. Fr. 


BUENO (BONUS): Family of Spanish origin, 
members of which, including many physicians and 
scholars, have settled in southern France, Italy, 
Holland, England, and America, as well as in the 
Orient. | 

Abraham Bueno: 
where he died in 1633. 

Benjamin Bueno de Mesquita: Died in New 
York, Nov., 16838. The monument erected to his 
memory is one of the oldest in that city (“ Publica- 
ticns Am. Jew, Hist. Soc.” i. 91 e¢ seq.). 


Physician in Amsterdam, 
































David Bueno: Lived at Leghorn in the seven. 
teenth century. He was wealthy and fostered Jew- 
ish science. He directed that Solomon Adret’s col- 
lection of responsa (“ Toledot Adam ”) be printed at 
his own expense at Leghorn in 1657, but died at an 
advanced age before the work was completed. 

David Bueno de Mesquita: Lived in Amster. 
dam jn the seventeenth century. He was the hus. 
band of a granddaughter of Francisco Fernaudez de 
Mora. He was the “resident” of Duke Christian 
Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and in 1684 served 
as agent-gencral of the dukes of Brunswick-Liine- 
burg (De Barrios, “ Aumento de Isracl,” p. 172). 

David ben Raphael Hayyim Bueno: Editor 
in Venice from 1704 to 1782. 

Ephraim Hezekiah Bueno: Died at Amster- 
dam Nov. 8, 1665; son of Joseph Bueno. Accord- 
ing to the inscription placed beneath a portrait of 
him painted by Rembrandt about 1647 and engraved 
by Lyrius, he was “ Alter Avenzoar, magnus in medi- 


Ephraim Hezekiah Bueno. 
(From Rembrandt’s painting of the ‘' Jewish Doctor”) 


cis, magni discipulus patris” (a second Avenzoar, 
a distinguished physician and pupil of his celebrated 
father). In 1650, in conjunction with Jonah ABRa- 
VANEL, he published several liturgical works, among 
which were a Spanish translation of the Psalms, 
entitled “Psalterio de David, en Hebrayco Dicho 
Thehylim, Transladado con Toda Fidelidad Verbo de 
Verbo del Hebrayco,” Amsterdam, 1650, and “ Pene 
Rabbah” (1628), the first work of Manasseh ben 


423 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Budweis 
Buttalo 





Israel, with whom he, as well as his father, was on 
terms of intimate friendship. 

In 1656 Bueno, together with the pious and char- 
itable Abraham Pereira, founded the scientific soci- 
ety “Torah Or” in Amsterdam. 

Isaac Bueno: Hakam in Jerusalem about 1685. 
He was the author of dialectal notes on the codes 
Orah Hayyim and Yoreh De‘ah, entitled “Shul- 
han Melakim” (The Kings’ Table; Azulai, “Shem 
ha-Gedolim,” s.¢.). 

Jacob Bueno: Physician; died at Amsterdam in 
1661; probably a son of Abraham Bueno. 

Joseph Bueno: Physician; died at Amsterdam 
Aug. 8, 1641; fatherof Ephraim Bueno. After hav- 
ing received his degree of doctor of medicine in 
Bordeaux, he went to Amsterdam some time before 
1625. In that year this “new Jewish physician,” as 
the French ambassador D’Espesses states, was sum- 
moned to the sick-bed of Prince Maurice of Orange. 
“The Jewish physician,” he continues, “Joseph 
Bueno, has made the prince of Orange take some 
vowders, and will not allow any one to despair of his 
life.” But Bueno had been deceived in his hopes, for 
the prince died April 28, 1625. 

According to Daniel Levi de Barrios, Bueno was 
also a poet, and celebrated the “ Conciliador ” of his 
friend Manasseh ben Israel in a Spanish sonnet. 
Sarah, Bueno’s wife, died May 15 (not 25), 1654. 

Joseph Bueno: Poet; lived in Amsterdam in the 
seventeenth century. In the martyrology entitled 
* Elogios que Zelosos Dedicaron,” etc., he celebrated 
the martyr Bernal, who was burned at Cordova May 
8, 1655. From the fact that this composition was of 
the kind known as a “silva,” Wolf (“ Bibl. Hebr.” 
iii. 885) and Steinschneider (“Hebr. Bibl.” iv. 91) 
have erroneously called him “ Bueno Silva.” 

Joseph Bueno: Went, probably from London, 
to New York about 1680. In the latter city he be- 
came a highly respected merchant, and in 1681 pur- 
chased land for a Jewish cemetery (“ Publications of 
the Am. Jew. Hist. Soc.” i. 91, ii. 81 ef seg., 85 et seq.). 

Joseph Bueno de Mesquita: Rabbi in the 
Orient; mentioned by Samuel Zarfati in his “ Ni- 
muke Shemuel” (Nepi-Ghirondi, “Toledot Gedole 
Yisrael,” p. 168). 

Joseph Morenu Bueno: Physician in Amster- 
dam. He possessed extraordinary talent, and died 
at the early age of twenty, Sept. 16, 1669. 

Samuel Bueno: A contemporary of Solomon 
Alkabez, and, like him, devoted to the study of 
mysticism ; lived in Safed, Palestine, about 1550. 

Solomon Bueno: Physician in Amsterdam, 
where he died 1681. 

Solomon ben Jacob Bueno: Editor in Cremona, 
Italy, in 1576. . 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. H. De Castro, Keur v. Grafsteenen, pp. T7 

et seq., 87 et seq.; Koenen, Gesch. der Joden in Nederiana, 


pp. 208, 483; Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. pp. 31 et seq. 
D M. K. 


BUENOS AYRES. See SoutH AMERICA. 


BUFFALO: A name common to different species 
of Bovide. The best known is the Bubalus buffetus, 
or Bos bubalus, generally called in Eastern countries 
jamoos or chamoosh, a word of Persian origin, mean- 
ing “ram-cow.” From India, its native home, the 
buffalo has been gradually introduced into western 


Asia, Greece, southern Jtaly, and northern Africa. 
Some writers have tried to identify the buffalo with 
the “re’em ” (ON) of the Bible, and Gesenius (* The- 
saurus,” p. 1249) was one of them. This theory of 
identity, however, isnow generally abandoned. The 
re’em appears to have been a mich wilder animal, 
an animal utterly impossible to domesticate (Job 
Xxxix. 9-12). Besides it seems established that the 
buffalo was not introduced into western Asia until 
shortly before the common era. Hence the re’em, 
identical with the Assyrian “rimu,” is now generally 
regarded as the wild ox of the mountain. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hommel, Die Namen der Sdugethiere, p. 

w29; Lydekker, Wild Oren, Sheep, and Goats, _p. 123; 

Wood, Animas of the Bible, p. 55; Tristram, The Natural 

History of the Bible, pp. 36 and 72. 

J. IR. H. i. 

BUFFALO: The second city in New York state. 
Its first connection with the history of the Jews oc- 
curred in 1825, when Mordecai M. Noah laid the 
corner-stone of his projected city of ARARAT in one 
of its churches. 

Though a flourishing city of over 15,000 inhabit- 
ants, Buffalo in 1835 contained but one Jew, named 
Mersheim, from Frankfort-on-the-Main; he gave pri- 
vate instruction in German. 

The earliest Jewish arrivals were German, and one 
Englishman. The firstattempt at a religious organ- 
ization was the holding of the Passover services, in 
the spring of 1847, in Concert Hall, on the south- 
west corner of Main and Swan streets. On Oct. 3, 
in the same year, the Jacobsohn Society was organ- 
ized; it disbanded five years later. Thesociety pur- 
chased a piece of land for burial purposes on Fill- 
more avenue, which has been unused since 1861. 

In 1847 the first congregation, Beth-El, was estab- 
lished, under the presidency of Mark Moritz, and 
had as its reader the Rev. Isaac M. Slatky. Services 

were held for more than two years on 

First the third floor of the Hoyt Building, 

Congrega- atthecornerof Main and Eagle streets. 

tion, In 1850 this congregation bought a 

Beth-El. schoolhouse on Pearlstreet, near Kagle, 

which it converted into a synagogue, 

and dedicated July 22 of the same year. In 1874 

this congregation, which uses the Polish liturgy, 
built its own synagogue, which it still occupies. 

The German elenientin Buffalo organized in Nov., 
1850, the Beth Zion congregation, which found great 
difficulty in maintaining itself, but continued to 
exist until 1864, when it merged into the newly 
established Reform congregation. In 1863 a num- 
ber of Jews requested the Rev. Isaac M. Wise of 
Cincinnati to send them a minister to conduct the 
services of the New- Year and the Day of Atonement 
according to the Reformed liturgy. These services 
were held in Kremlin Hall. The following year, at 
a mecting held (Oct. 9)in Kremlin Hall, at which 
Leopold Kaiser presided, the congregation Temple 
Beth Zion was organized. <A year after its organi- 
zation the congregation purchased for its place of 
worship a Methodist church in Niagara 
street. This building was dedicated 
May 25, 1865, and the Rev. I. N. Cohn 
was elected minister. He was suc- 
eceded in 1866 by the Rev. Samson Falk, who con- 
tinued his ministration until his death, Dec. 24, 1886. 


New 
Temple. 


Buk 
Bulgaria 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


424 





The congregation called as his successor Rabbi Israel 
Aaron, D.D., then at Fort Wayne, Ind., who was in- 
stalled May 1, 1887. During his incumbency a new 
and more commodious temple was erected on Dela- 
ware avenue. 

The influence of this congregation in promoting 
fellowship among the religious bodies of Buffalo has 
been very great. Upon the walls of the temple are 
tablets recording the sentiments of Episcopalians 
and Baptists. Its minister has been invited to preach 
in most of the principal churches of the city. 

The educational and social-settlement work of the 
congregation is managed by the Sisterhood of Zion, 
founded in April, 1891, by Dr. J. Aaron. This body 
of women owns, free of debt, Zion House, a busy 
center in the heart of that section of the city inhab- 
ited by Russian Jews. 

There is a large colony of Russian Jews in Buffalo, 

who own five synagogues. Among 

Russian = their rabbis have been several Hebrew 

Jews scholars and writers of note; ¢.g., Rev. 
at Buffalo. Harry Singer, author of “Sefer Zik- 
karon basefer,” published in Wilna. 

There are a number of benevolent societies in 
Buffalo, but the chief work is under the efficient 
supervision of the Hebrew Board of Charities, which 
represents several organizations, and receives into 
its treasury nearly all funds for the relief of the 
poor. 

Buffalo is associated with Rochester and Syracuse 
in the support of the Jewish Orphan Asylum of 
western New York, situated at Rochester. 

The Union of American Hebrew Congregations 
held its second council in Buffalo in 1875, at which 
it was finally determined to open a Hebrew Union 
College. In 1900 the Central Conference of Ameri- 
can Rabbis met in Buffalo. 

The present (1902) Jewish population is estimated 
at 7,000. Among the Jews of Buffalo who have 
held public positions are R. Wolfsohn, United States 
consul at Mannheim; Hon. Louis W. Marcus, judge 
of the surrogate court; and Simon Fleischmann, 


president of the common council. 
A. J. AA. 


BUK: Town in Prussia, province of Posen, 
which, after the second partition of Poland, in 1793, 
passed under Prussian rule. Jews then began to 
settle in the place, which, as an old episcopal town, 
had hitherto excluded them. By 1820 many Jews 
were living there. The Hebrah Kaddishah Gomle 
Hasidim, an association for nursing and burial which 
is still flourishing, was founded in that year, The 
synagogue was built in 1846-47. 

The year 1848 was disastrous to the Jews of Buk. 
Their synagogue was almost completely demolished 
during an uprising of the Poles, and several Jews 
were killed. After order was restored, the synagogue 
was renovated, and in 1894 it was entirely rebuilt. 

At present (1902) there are about 250 Jews in Buk. 

D. M. L. B. 


BUKKI: 1. Son of Jogli, prince of the tribe of 
Dan, who represented his tribe in the division of the 
land (Num. xxxiv. 22). 2. Son of Abishua‘ and 
father of Uzzi, a priest, the fourth in line from 


Aaron (I Chron. v. 31), and ancestor of Ezra (Ezra 
vii. 4). In the Apocrypha his name is given as 
Boceas (I Esd. viii. 2) and Borith (II Esd. i. 2). 

J. IR. G. B. L. 

BUKOWINA. An eastern province of the 
Austro-Hungarian Empire for the history of which 
see CZERNOWITZ, 

BUL: The name of the month in which the 
building of Solomon’s Temple was completed, as 
mentioned in I Kings vi, 88. It would seem that at 
the time of the writing of that passage the name 
was obsolete; for the writer found it necessary to 
define “Bul” as the eighth month. The name is 
Canaanitish, occurring in the Phenician inscriptions, 
on the Eshmunazar tablet (“C. I. 8.”i. 3, line 1), onan 
inscription from Cyprus (zd. i. 10, line 1), and on one 
from Idalium (2d. 1. 90, line 2). It was adopted by the 
Israelites on their entrance into Canaan, and was 
retained by them during preexilic days. Iu post- 
exilic times y3, along with the names of three other 
months, “Ziv” (I Kings vi. 37), “ Abib” (Ex, xiii. 4, 
xxiii. 15; Deut. xvi. 1), and “Etanim” (I Kings 
viii. 2), was supplanted by the names current in 
Babylonia, and “Bul” became “Heshwan.” This 
could only have been an approximation, however; 
for the old calendar of the Canaanites was solar and 
was adapted to an agricultural people, whereas the 
Assyrian calendar was lunar, with compensations to 
harmonize with the solar year. 

The etymology of the word is stillin doubt. The 
Septuagint simply transliterates BadA. The Targum 
attempts an etymology in its translation N°338 ADD 
(“destroying the crops”), pointing clearly to the 
root. b35 (“to destroy”). This derivation is also 
given by the Rabbis (Yer. R. H. i. 56d): “The 
month in which the leaf is destroyed and the earth 
becomes full of clods,” referring to the great rains 
in that month. A somewhat fanciful explanation 
fastens on b5 (“to provide”; Judges xix. 21). 
“It is the month in which they provide food for 
the cattle from the house” (Tan., Noah, 11), the 
fields being waste. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jastrow, Dict. s.v.; Lidzbarski, Handbuch. 
der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik, pp. 417, 420, 421: No- 
wack, Areh. p. 215; Benzinger, Arch. p. 201. 

G. B. I. 


E. G. H. 


BULAH, RAPHAEL MOSES BEN JOSEPH 
DE: Palestinian Talmudist and rabbi; died at Jeru- 
saiem March 23, 1778, where he had been rabbi, and 
had conducted a Talmudic school. He wrote the 
“Get Mekushshar” on the divorce laws, Constanti- 
nople, 1767; “Hayye ‘Olam” (Eternal Life), homi- 
letic essays on the first and second books of the 
Pentateuch, 2b. 1752; and “ Zekut Mosheh,” method- 
ology of the Talmud and divorce laws. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 132, ii. 52; First, 
Bibl. Jud. i. 100; Hazan, Hama‘alot U-Shelomoh, p. 53b; 
Lunez, Jerusalem, i. 129. 

T. Ber. 


L. G, 


BULAH, SOLOMON BEN RAPHAEL 
MOSES DE: Turkish Talmudist; born at Jerusa- 
lem, where his father, Raphael Moses ben Joseph de 
BuLan, was rabbi; died 1786 at Salonica. Solomon 
settled at Salonica. He was the author of “Lehem 
Shelomoh” (The Bread of Solomon), a halakic work 
in three divisions, referring to the laws on acquisi- 


425 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cuk 
Bulgaria 





tion by purchase, on real estate, and on divorce (Sa- 
lonica, 1795). The other works of Bulah, among 
them a commentary on Jacob ben Asher’s “Tur,” 
have not been printed. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hazan, Hama‘alot li-Shelomoh, p. 58b. 
L. G. I. Ben. 


BULAN: King of the Chazars, who in 620 em- 
braced Judaism. Joseph, “Chaghan” (king) of the 
Chazars, in answer to a letter from Hasdai ibn 
Shaprut (960), informs him that 840 years earlier 
one of his ancestors, Bulan, became ruler of the 
Chazars. To him the Lord appeared in a dream, 
promising him might and glory. Bulan went by 
the Daralan road (Caucasus) to Aradavil (Ardebil), 
the capital of Adherbaijan in Armenia, and gained 
great victories. He then determined to adopt the 
Jewish religion. The Byzantine emperor and the 
calif of Ismael each sent to him deputations with 
valuable presents and wise men versed in religious 
matters to convert him to their respective religions. 
Bulan summoned wise men of Israel also, and ex- 
amined them al]. As both the representatives of the 
religion of the Nazarene and those of Islam referred 
to Judaism as the foundation of their faiths, Bulan 
declared that they, the opponents of Judaism, had 
themselves made an impartial avowal of the excel- 
lence of the Jewish religion; and he therefore ac- 
cepted it. See Cuazars. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Harkavy, Soobshcheniya a Chazarakh, in 
Yevretskaya Biblioteka, vii. 156-159: idem, Der Name Bu- 
lan, in Geiger’s Jtid. Zeitschrift, iii. 207; idem, in Russische 
Revue, 1874. 

H. &. 


BULAT (px512), ABRAHAM IBN: Tal- 
mudic scholar; lived in Spain in the fifteenth cen- 
tury. He was the disciple of Isaac de Leon, and in 
a vigorous dispute of the latter with Isaac Gayyal 
concerning a halakic decision, Balat took the part of 
his master and wrote a booklet demonstrating that 
Gayyal’s decision was against thelaw. This booklet 
was published, together with the arguments of Isaac 
de Leon and Isaac Gayyal, in the miscellany “Shib‘a 
‘Enayim” by Jacob London and Abraham Meldola 
(Leghorn, 1745). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem a ii. 138; Stein- 


schneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 643 and 671. 
TG: J. Br. 


BULAT (pxb}2), JUDAH BEN JOSEPH 
IBN: Spanish Talmudist and rabbi; born at the 
end of the fifteenth century at Estella, Navarre; 
died probably at Constantinople about 1550. He 
was the author of “ Kelal Kazer mi-Kol ha-Rashum 
Beketab ” (Short Abstract of All That Has Been Pub- 
lished), containing a short compendium of rabbinic 
theology, Halakah, morals, ethics, jurisprudence, 
and political science. The book appeared in manu- 
script at Constantinople in 1530, and could be ob- 
tained from the author only for a limited time, on 
the payment of one florin asa fee for perusal. At 
present, also, the work is rare. Besides, Bulat pub- 
lished the Talmud methodology “ Halikot ‘Olam ” 
of Joshua ben Joseph (Constantinople, 1510). Tam 
ibn Yahyah, in his work “Tummat Yesharim,” and 
Elijah Mizrahi, in his responsa, both colleagues of 
Bulat at Constantinople, cite some of his responsa. 


Bulat, possessing a thorough knowledge of the 
Talmud, depth of thought, and excellent judgment, 
opened up new methods in Talmudic study. He 
became aware of the fact that the method of Talmud 
interpretation practised by some of his contempo- 
raries was contradictory to the real meaning of the 
Talmud. Jt was their custom to regard every opin- 
ion, even every sentence, in the Talmud as a binding 
rule; and they went so far as to look upon every 
“ posek ” (post-Talmudic Halakah) in the same way. 


Consequently, a vast number of new “humrot” 


(intensifications of the Law) continued to be intro- 

duced; and it was considered a duty of the pious to 

refrain from acts tabooed by their predecessors, 
though only by a few of them. 

Similarly, the theoretical opinions of earlier Tal- 
mud commentators were studied in a receptive, un- 
critical spirit. Bulat, however, returned to the Tal- 
mud itself. Hedistinguished between the decisions 
arrived at in the Talmud, that should be regarded 
as standard, and the opinions of individuals, which 
might be disregarded. He sought for the true 
meaning, the motives and aims of the Talmudic con- 
troversies and Halakot; and he considered needless 
intensitications of the Law, especially in marital and 
juridical questions, as criminal. He maintained that 
whoever was unable to find in the Talmud a true 
solution of new circumstances, by means of logic 
and analogy, was not worthy to work in the prov- 
ince of Halakah; and that investigations into the 
meaning of “poskim” as a rule lead to nothing. 
“Many times,” said Bulat, “the reader is perplexed 
because of the disagreement between the various 
writers; and often the different parts of a posek 
contradict one another, thus perplexing and com- 
pletely bewildering the reader. For this reason the 
true rendering of the text must be sought in the 
original source” yndnnn pea3 (“'Tummat Yesh- 
arim,” No. 34). 

It was natural that in his endeavor to carry his 
views into practise he should meet with the oppost- 
tion of his colleagues at Constantinople (7b. No, 39). 
Nevertheless, even his opponents respected him; 
and one of them, Tam ibn Yahyah, used to address 
him with the most flattering epithets (2. Nos. 35, 
38), 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, pp. 38a, 34a; Azu- 
lai, Shem ha-Gedolim, p. 64; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. 
cols. 1299, 1893; Dukes, Nahkal Kedumim, i. 61; Tam ibn 
Yahyah, Tummat Yesharim, part i., Venice, 1622; Ohole 
Tam, Nos. 7, 34-39, 46-49 (in No. 34 is given one of Ibn Bulat’s 
responsa, which dates from 1525, containing an exposition 
of Bulat’s principles). 

L. G. I. BER. 


BULGARIA: Principality of southeastern Eu- 
rope, under the suzerainty of Turkey. According 
to Josephus (“Ant.” xxii.) and Belloguet (“Les 
Cimérieux,” p. 24) the Jews knew of Mesia (old 
name for the Balkan peninsula) at a very early age. 
But the first Jewish community of Bulgaria was 
founded at Nicopolis under Trajan, after the vic- 
tories gained over the Dacians. The Bulgarian czar 
Krum brought some Jews among the 30,000 pris- 
oners carried away from Thessaly in 811. <A large 
number of Byzantine Jews established themselves 
in Bulgaria in 967, at Nicopolis, Widdin, Silistria, 
and Sofia (compare Solomon Abraham Cohen, 


Bulgaria 
Bulrush 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


426 





Responsa, Leghorn, 1592). The rabbinical authors 
called them Romanim Jews. They preserved their 
Greek customs, one of these being to 


Early chooseachief rabbi from without their 
Jewish own city, and another to close their 
Set- shops on the day of a burial; this lat- 
tlements. ter custom having been observed un- 


til the year 1720 (“Mayim Rabbim,” 
Amsterdam, 1637). 

In 1189 the two brothers Assen and Peter founded 
the Bulgarian kingdom, this being the second 
foundation. They entered into relations with 
Venice, Ragusa, and Geneva. As the majority of 
the merchants in these cities were Jews, offices were 
established by them (according to Ubicini, “ Pro- 
vinces Danubiennes”) in the ports of Bulgaria on 
the Danube, especially at Widdin. Under the czar 
Assen IT. (1218-41), the successor of Assen J., the 
number of Jews increased. The pope in a letter to 
Bela IV., king of Hungary (12388), complains that 
the above-mentioned czar received heretics into his 
dominions (Gh. Sincat, “Cronica Romanilou,” p. 
262, Jassy, 1853). The Tatars invaded Bulgaria 
about 1290, under their chief, Khan Tchoca, who 
was killed bya Jew at the siege of Tirnova. Muralt 
(ii. 402) places this event in 1293, other historians, as 
Hammer-Purgstall (“Goldene Horde”), in 1299. 
An anonymous work, printed by R. Jonah of Con- 
stantinople in 1743, mentions the communities at 
Philippopolis (1844), at Zagora (1844), and at Nicop- 
olis and Silistria (1377), as existing at the time 
when Bulgaria fell into the hands of the Turks. 
When Czar Ivan Alexander came to the throne, in 
1380, he was a widower, and father of two children, 
Michel-Assen and Dobritch. The following year he 
married his second wife, the daughter of a woyewode, 

by whom he had one son, Ivan Strach- 


The enir. Aftera time he repudiated this 
Jewish wife, and married in 1335 a beautiful 
Czarina. Jewessof Tirnova, Sara by name, who 


was converted to Christianity (Jirecek, 
“Gesch. der Bulgaren,” p. 312, Prague, 1876). 

The new czarina received the name of Theodora 
or “Newly Enlightened Czarina and Sole Support 
of all the Bulgarians and Greeks.” Gifted with a 
remarkable intclligence, according to the historians, 
she aided the czar in all affairs of state. But when 
Ivan Alexander grew old, Theodora, wishing to 
secure the future of her children, Ivan Chichman 
and Tamar (or Mara or Marie), divided the kingdom 
in 13850, Ivan Chichman receiving one part, with 
Tirnova as the capital, Dobritch receiving the Do- 
broudja, and Strachenir the province of Badin or 
Widdin. Thus Theodora, moved by maternal sen- 
timent, made the mistake of enfeebling the land by 
dividing it. Ivan Chichman, the son of the Jewess, 
succeeded his father in 1346, and in 1867 he hospi- 
tably received the Jews who had been driven from 
Hungary and had settled at Nicopolis, Plevna, and 
Widdin. Mention is made of R. Shalom of Neu- 
stadt, who settled at Widdin. The community of 
Sofia, formerly called Stredetz, and founded by 
Byzantine Jews at the end of the tenth century, 
erected a synagogue, which is still known under the 
name “ Kahal de los Gregos.” Ashkenazic Jews es- 
tablished themselves at Sofia in 13860. The Bulga- 


rian Jews were then divided into the following four 
rituals: (1) Bulgarian Jews properly so called; (2) 
Italian Jews from Venice; (8) Roman or Byzantine 
Jews; and (4) Ashkenazim, of German origin, 

It appears that after the death of Ivan Chichman 
a reaction was felt against the Jews of Tirnova, 
which led to their emigration to Nicopolis. The 
Spanish Jews who arrived in that city in 1492 found 
there a Jewish community, having at its head Hay- 
yim b. Albalgui or Albalgri (the Bulgarian). Among 
the immigravts were Ephraim Caro and his son 
Joseph, from Toledo; the latter married the daugh- 
ter of this rabbi, and later became famous by his 
work, the Shulhan ‘Aruk. Widdin is also an 
ancient settlement, judging from a manuscript of 
the beginning of the fifteenth century, entitled 
“ Perush we-Tosafot,” by R. Dossa b. Moses of Wid- 
din. Bazarjik, or Tatar Bazarjik, received its first, 
Jewish settlement about 1500, with the arrival of 
some Spanish refugees, Aobi being its first rabbi. 

Under Turkish rule the Jews of Bulgaria were 
little known; all Jewish life seems to have centered 
in the communities of Constantinople, Salonica, 
Smyrna, and Adrianople. All that is known is that 
from time to time they were severely oppressed by 
rapacious Turkish oilicials as well as by the Greeks. 
During the next three centuries and a half (1500- 
1876) the only distinguished Jewish name is that of 
Joseph Caro. It was not until the Russo-Turkish 
war of 1877-78 that the Jews of Bulgaria came into 
notice. Goaded by the insolence of the peasantry 

who were in rebellion against the sul- 
The Russo- tan, they did not know whether to fa- 
Turkish vor the movement for the emancipa- 
War. tion of Bulgaria or to remain faithful to 
the Turks. Their hesitation cost them 
much suffering. As soon as the Russian forces 
appeared before a town, the Bulgarians would de- 
nounce the Jews as hostile, and would set about to 
punish them. They were expelled in a body from 
Kezanlik, Zagora, Widdin, Shipka, and elsewhere, 
plundered of all their property, and forced to take 
to the road under miserable conditions. Their suf- 
ferings aroused a cry of horror throughout Europe, 
reaching even to America (see “Bulletins” of the 
Alliance Israélite Universelle) ; thousands took refuge 
in Constantinople, where their needs were looked 
after through the munificence of Baron Maurice de 
Hirsch. 

Upon the close of the war the Jews of Bulgaria 
enjoyed comparative repose for the space of four- 
teen years (1878-92). In 1877, when the Turks set 
fire to the city of Sofia, it was the Jews and Jew- 
esses, according to Bianconi (“Carte Commerciale 
de la Bulgarie,” p. 12, published by Chaix, Paris), 
who fought the flames, and, armed with whatever 
weapon came to hand, beat off the soldiers employed 
in setting fire tothe buildings. Thus the Bulgarian 
capital owed its preservation to its Jewish inhabit- 
ants, and, in recognition of their bravery, Prince 
Alexander decreed in 1879 that the fire-brigade 
should be chosen exclusively from Jewish citizens; 
and on all occasions of reviews, processions, etc., 
the Jewish firemen have the place of honor next to 
the picked troops of the Bulgarian army. When, 
in 1885, Bulgaria was waging war against Servia, 


427 


the Bulgarian Jews distinguished themselves so 
highly in the battles of Pirot and Slivnitza that 
Prince Alexander publicly thanked them, calling 
them “true descendants of the ancient Maccabees. ” 

The Bulgarian constitution accords all civil rights 
to Jews, in obedience to the Treaty of Berlin (1878). 

They are electors, are eligible to office, 

Present and are to be represented in every 

Condition. municipality by one or two members. 

They may become members of the 
Sobranje (Chamber of Deputies). They are subject 
to military service and have the right of military 
promotion. Each Jewish community is governed 
by its ““synagogal committee,” which levies a tax 
upon each individual. From this revenue, together 
with the voluntary offerings of the faithful, the 
committee, whose members serve three years and 
are officially recognized by the prince, provide for 
‘all the communal expenses as well as for the main- 
tenance of Jewish schools. The liberality of the 
new constitution was at once received with enthu- 
siasm by the Jews. Three graduates of the mili- 
tary school of Sofia attained the rank of major. 
They are Mochonoff Garté of Philippopolis, Mo- 
réno Graziani of Shumla, and Behdjet, or Behd- 
jetoff, of Rustchuk; the last has recently resigned 
his commission. 

Since 1890, however, anti-Semitism has made its 
‘appearance in Bulgaria, so that both elementary and 
high schools have become almost closed to Jews by 
reason of the hostility of the Christian students. M. 
Gabbé, a certain large landed proprietor, was elected 
to the Chamber of Deputies, whereupon his Chris- 
tian colleagues made their utmost endeavors to in- 
validate the election because of his Jewish race. 
An accusation of murder for ritual purposes was 
made against the Jews of Wratza in 1891, but the 
jurist Stoiioff (later minister), proved their innocence 
(“ Bulletins” of the Alliance Israélite Universelle). 
Anti-Semitism has developed to such an extent in 
Bulgaria that the Jews are now emigrating in large 
numbers to Turkey in Asia. 

The Jews of Bulgaria have not contributed to the 
national literature; they have written nothing in 

the Bulgarian language up to the 
Literature. present time (1902). They have four 

journals: one, which might be called 
peripatetic, “El Amigo del Pueblo,” is published 
alternately at Sofia and at Rustchuk; the others 
are: “El Eko Judaico,” “La Verdad,” and “Ha- 
Shofar.” A Judeeo-Spanish journal, “El Dia,” 
was published at Philippopolis in 1897, and a 
Judeo-Spanish review, “La Alborada,” at Rust- 
chuk in the same year. A Jewish journal in the 
Bulgarian language appeared for the first time at 
Philippopolis for some months in 1899, under the 
name “ Tcheweschky-Prava” (The Rights of Man). 
The Alliance Israélite Universelle has fifteen schools 
in Bulgaria, nine for boys, with 2,235 pupils, and 
six for girls, with 1,760. From the year 1886 the 
Jews of Sofia evinced the desire to be worthily rep- 
resented in the person of their chief rabbi, and, no 
longer content with a simple Talmudist, more or 
less learned in rabbinical matters, they called Dr. 
Dankowitz that year to be their spiritual head, a 
widely read scholar, linguist, and possessor of 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bulgaria 
Bulrush 


administrative capacity. He warmly defended the 

interests of his constituents with word and pen, par- 

ticularly in the Wratza affair; but, owing to the 

machinations of some of his flock, he resigned in 1889. 

In 1891 Dr. Moritz Griinwald was called from Jung- 

Bunzlau in Bohemia, and remained until 1895, when 

he died while on a visit to London. Griinwald in- 

stituted pastoral tours, visiting the Jewish commu- 

nities in turn over the entire country. Since 1890 

the Jews of Bulgaria, on account of communal dis- 

sensions, political troubles, and possibly the Zion- 
istic agitation, have been without any chief rabbi or 
official defender, until quite recently, when Dr. 

Ehrenprcis was appointed to the position. 

Until 1880 the Jews of Bulgaria, like those of 
other portions of Turkey, occupied themselves ex- 
clusively with trading; but since the foundation of 

trade-schools by the Alliance Israélite, 

Industries. there have been among them carpen- 

ters, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, type- 
setters, leather-workers, and furriers. The most 
prominent Jewish families of Bulgaria are those of 

Présénté at Bourgas, Davitchon Levi at Sofia, and 

Canété at Rustchuk. 

In a total population of three and a half million 
inhabitants there are 30,000 Jews, and these are di- 
vided into thirty-five communities, nearly all of 
which observe the Sephardic ritual. Some cities, 
among them Sofia, Rustchuk, Philippopolis, Varna, 
Widdin, and Bourgas, have, in addition to the 
Sephardic community, also a small 
group of Ashkenazic Jews. Follow- 
ing is an exact list of the places in Bul- 
garia inhabited by Jews, and the Jew- 
ish population of each: Aithos, 45 Jews; Bercootza, 
250; Bourgas, 550; Bazarjik (Tatar), 1,700; Carlova, 
200: Carnabat, 400; Dobritz, 200; Dubnitza, 1,100; 
Ferdinand, 160; Haskovo, 465; Kustendil, 1,000; 
Kezanlik, 200; Lom-Palanka, 325; Nova-Zagora, 
180; Novi-Bazar, 20; Nicopolis, 150; Philippopo- 
lis, 8,075; Pleven or Plevna, 405; Pravady, 250; 
Rasgrad, 200; Rustchuk, 3,000; Shumla, 1,000; Sis- 
tov (Svitchov), 135; Silistria, 280; Slivno, 225; Sa- 
makoff, 1,350; Stanimaka, 140; Sofia, 8,000; Stara- 
Zagora, 520; Tchirpan, 200; Tozztrakan, 50; Varna, 
1,050; Widdin, 1,950; Wratza, 75; Yambol}, 1,010. 
Total, 29,860. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jirecek, Das Flirstenthum Bulgarien, Leip- 
sic, Vienna, 1880; Bianconi, Géographie Commerciale de la 
Thrace, Paris; Bulletins of the Alliance Israélite Univer- 
setle; Schwarzfeld, in Anuarul Pentrul Israelitzi, 1888; 
M. Franco, Histoire des Israélite. 


D. M. FR. 


BULL. See Ox. 


BULL WORSHIP AMONG ANCIENT HE- 
BREWS. See Car, GOLDEN. 


BULLOCK. Sec CATITLe. 


BULLS, PAPAL, CONCERNING JEWS. 
See Popes. 


. BULRUSH: A rush or reed. The term “bul- 
rush ” in the Bible occurs once as a translation for 
“agmon ” (Isa. lviii. 5) and twice for “ gome” (Ex. 
ii. 3; Isa. xviii. 15). Both of these words occur else- 
where in the Bible, where they are translated “rush.” 
Both in Hebrew and in English the words “ bulrush ” 


Pop- 
ulation. 


Bulwark 
Burgel, Elijah 


and “rush” seem to be used interchangeably. <Ac- 
cording to Isa. lviii. 5, bulrushes grew quite high 
and had a large flower that, because of its weight, 
drooped over. The plant was peculiar to swampy 
places (Isa. xxxv. 7; Job viii. 11). By this descrip- 
tion any one of the water-rushes might be meant, but 
the Typha eephantina comes nearest to it. The an- 
cients put bulrushes to various uses. They made 
boxes (Ex. ii. 3) and even boats of them (Isa. xviii. 
2). The bulrush was naturally used as fuel (Job xli. 
12); and it would appear that it was used as a pier- 
cing-tool (Job xl. 26). See Reb, 
J. FR. 


BULWARK. See War. 


BUN: As a personal prenomen this name is a 
dialectic abridgment of “ Abun” (“ Abin,” “Rabin”; 
see Jastrow, “Dictionary,” 147a; compare Pesik. 
xxx. 192b; Yer. Hag. i. 76c; Yer. Suk. v. 55d), and 
appears exclusively in Palestinian literary sources 
(Yer. Ter. viii. 45c; Yer. Pes. iii. 29d; Yer. Shek. iv. 
48b; Yer. Yeb. iii. 4c). Several amoraim so cited 
are mentioned under the full name as it appears in 
the Babylonian Talmud (see, for example, ABIN B. 
Hiyya, ABrn B. KAHANA); anda Palestinian scholar 
of the fourth century is cited once under the name 
of “Bun b. Bisna” (Yer. Yeb. iv. 7b), and once (72d. 
i. 2d) under that of “ Abun b. Bizna.” 

J. SR. S. M. 


BUNNEY, EDMUND: English preacher and 
Hebrew scholar; born at Vache, near Chalfont, St. 
Giles, Buckinghamshire, in 1540; died at Carwood, 
Yorkshire, Feb, 26, 1618 or 1619. He was made 
prebendary of Oxgate, St. Paul’s, London, in 1564; 
and in 1565 master of arts of Oxford, and in the 
same year a fellow of Merton College. At Bolton 
Percy Rectory he was made subdean; but after 1579 
he turned itinerant preacher. His principal works 
are: “The Whole Summe of Christian Religion,” 
1576; “The Scepter of Judah; or, What Manner of 
Government It Was That unto the Commonwealth or 
Church of Israel Was by the Will of God Appointed,” 
1584; “The Coronation of David: Wherein Out of 
That Part of the Historie of David That Showeth 
How He Came to the Kingdome Wee Have Set 
Forth unto Us What Is Like to Be the End of These 
Troubles That Daylie Arise for the Gospel’s Sake,” 
etc,, 1588. Bunney’s work on the Hebrew polity 
was an indication of the Puritan tendencies toward 
a commonwealth, which were afterward to be put 
into practise. 


G. B. L. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dict. National Biography, vii. 271-272; 
Willis, Survey of the Cathedrals, ii. 89, 180, 308, 1742; 
Calamy, Abridgment, vi. 1718. 

A E. Ms. 


BUNZLAUV. See JuNnNG-BUNZLAU. 


BUNZLAU (BUMSLO), ME[R BEN 
EPHRAIM FISHEL (called also Meir Fishels 
and Meir Fisheles): Bohemian rabbi and Tal- 
mudist; born at Bunzlau (Jewish-German, “Bum- 
slo”); died Nov. 23, 1770. at Prague, where he had 
been for forty years “rosh bet din” and director of 
a Talmudic academy. His works were never pub- 
lished, since all the manuscripts were destroyed by 
fire in 1754. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


428 


The epitaph of Bunzlau testifies to the unbounded 
love and admiration which he enjoyed among his 
contemporaries. In addition to his study of the 
Talmud he devoed himself to the Cabala, and, it is 
said, was also well versed in secular sciences. He 
was reputed to be an eminent preacher, his popu- 
larity not being confined to his own community, 
since his fame és a Talmudist had spread abroad. 
A very important decision of Bunzlau concernug 
the treatment of a first-born animal has been pre- 
served in Ezeker! Landau’s “ Noda‘ be- Yehudal ” 
(Yoreh De‘ah, § 82 and 83). Two of his responsa 
in the “ Noda‘ be-Yehudah” Jc. (§§ 72 and 89) 
testify to his humane disposition and true scholar- 
ship. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Litben, Gal ‘Ed, pp. 60-61; Walden, Shem ha- 
Gedolim he-Hadesh, s.v. Meir. 
I. BEr. 


L. G. 
BUOL -SCHAUENSTEIN, JOHN RWU- 
DOLPH, COUNT VON: Austrian diplomat; born 
Nov, 21, 1768; died Feb. 12, 1834, in Vienna. He 
entered the dipbmatie service, and was sent as am- 
bassador to The Hague in 1790, to Basel in 1792, and 
finally to Dresden, In 1816 he was elected president 
of the Bundesrith which convened in Frankfort on 
Nov. 5 of that year, and evinced his liberalism by 
embracing the sause of the Patriots. At the out- 
break of the rbts against the Jews of Frankfort, 
Aug. 9 and 10, 1819, Buol summoned a conference of 
the members of the council, and called out the fed- 
eral troops to drotect the Jews, as the city militia 
could not be reled upon. Asa result of his liberal 
views the count came in conflict with Metternich, 

and was recalled March 20, 1823. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allg. Deutsche Biographie, iii. 553; Brock- 
haus, Konversations-Lexikon, iii. 743; Graetz, History of 
the Jews, v. 530: Gervinus, Geschichte des 19ten Jahrhuir- 
derts, ii. 501; vii 184, 144. 

D. A. R. 


BURDEN 0F PROOF: In law, the obligation 
resting upon one or other of the parties to a suit to 
bring proof of a fact when the opposite party al- 
leges the contrery. The Talmudic phrase is “ ‘alaw 
ha-rayah” (on him is the proof). Of course, the 
plaintiff who seeks to make out a case for relief 
states his side first; and whatever the defendant 
admits need not be proved. But in the jurispru- 
dence of the Tslmud there is a broad exception; for 
everything in the nature of a penalty (“kenas”)— 
é.g., the twofod, fourfold, and fivefold compensa- 
tion in case of theft—can only be adjudged upon the 
testimony of witnesses. An acknowledgment by 
the defendant may be of no use, or may even result 
in averting th: penalty. In an ordinary suit for 
debt, the plairtiff would first prove by witnesses, 
or by the prodiction of a bond, that the defendant 
owes him a given sum for a loan or on a credit-sale; 
and the defendant would then have to produce his 
acquittance in writing (“shober”), or the witnesses 
in whose presence either the debt was repaid or the 
creditor acknowledged its discharge. 

So far there is no difficulty. But some cases are 
more complex; and to these two maxims are ap- 
plied: (1) “bammozi me-habero ‘alaw ha-rayah” 
(he who takesaway from his neighbor [that is, who 
asks a judgment for money or property], on him is 


429 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bulwark 
Burgel, Elijah 





the proof), and (2) “nekasim be-hezkatan” (prop- 
erty [abides] in its status); that is, no change in 
rights is presumed unless proved. 

The first maxim is illustrated in a case where two 
of the defendant’s oxen, one “forewarned” and the 
other “innocent,” have pursued the plaintiff’s ox, 
and one of them has killed the latter, but the wit- 
nesses can not say which of the two caused the 
death. It will be presumed that the “innocent” ox 
did it; and the plaintiff will recover only half-dam- 
ages, As half-damages are paid only out of the 
price of the injuring animal, if both the defendant’s 
oxen were “innocent,” it will be presumed that the 
injury was committed by the less valuable of the 
two (B. K. iti, 11, where other instances of the same 
rule are aiso found). 

The other maxim is illustrated where a man and 
his father are killed by one and the same accident, 
and it can not be shown who died first. The father’s 
heirs say the son died first; the son’s creditors say 
the father died first. According to the opinion of 
the school of Hillel, which prevails, the property 
goes to the heirs upon the ground that “ property 
abides in its status”; though here the other maxim 
would lead to the like result. If a man and his 
wife die together, the maxim of the abiding status 
gives the property brought into the marriage by the 
wife, not assumed by the husband at a fixed value 
and which is still on hand, to the wife’s heirs, but 
frees the husband’s heirs from paying her jointure 
(B. B. ix. 8, 9). 

In cases of doubt which can not be solved by these 
rules—for instance, where husband and wife die to- 
gether, as to the disposal of the “iron flock property ” 
(that is, such part of the dowry as the husband has 
converted to his own use and is personally bound 
for)—the only rule is, divide into halves. In sucha 
case the husband’s heirs would take one-half, and 
the wife’s heirs one-half (see Gemara on last-cited 
section, 158b et seq.). 

It will be seen that no allowance is made for cir- 
cumstances that would raise a greater likelihood on 
behalf of one of the alternatives—e.g., that the “ fore- 
warned” ox rather than the “innocent” one had 
done the mischief, the larger ox rather than the 
smaller one. And where two persons die through 
one and the same accident, no presumption is in- 
dulged, as in the Roman law, that the one who by 
age or sex had the greater power of resistance lived 
the longer. © 

Another maxim may be mentioned here. When 
A has no proof but B’s admission for one fact, he 
must give B credit for such other fact as the latter 
chooses to couple with it. For instance (Ket. ii. 2), 
B says to A, “This field in my possession belonged 
to your father, but J bought it from him.” If A 
has no other proof of his father’s title, he must ad- 
mit the purchase; for “the mouth which bound is 
the mouth that loosed.” But if A has witnesses of 
his father’s title, then B must bring proof of his 
purchase. 

J. SR. L. N. D. 

BURG, MENO: German military officer; was 
born in Berlin Oct. 9, 1789; died there Aug. 26, 
1853. His father was in very poor circumstances, 


but his cousin, 8. Sachs, had secured an official posi- 
tion as government building inspector, and received 
the boy as apprentice. In 1807 Burg was advanced 
to the position of field-surveyor. 

At the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars, Burg 
wished to join the army; but his application at 
Breslau to serve in the Guards was refused on ac- 
count of his being a Jew. His acquaintance with 
Prince August, however, secured for him admission 
to the artillery; but his desire to go to the front was 
not fulfilled, and he had to be content with service 
in the fortresses. At the end of the war he was ap- 
pointed instructor at the provisional military school 
at Danzig; and when the school at Berlin was es- 
tablished, in 1817, he was transferred thither. Burg’s 
principal subject of instruction was geometry, on 
which science he wrote a text-book that attained 
great popularity, being frequently republished and 
translated into many modern languages. He was 
promoted to a first Jieutenanucy, and in due course 
became eligible for a captaincy; but the appoint- 
ment was withheld by the king, who expressed the 
wish that Burg should first adopt Christianity. 
Burg, who was supported by Prince August, de- 
murred, and defended his course with such courage 
and vigor that the king finally conceded the point 
and sanctioned the promotion. 

Burg was honored with the Medal for Merit, the 
Gold Medal for Art and Science, and the Order of 
the Red Eagle. In 1847 he became a major. Dur- 
ing the years 1847-49 Burg was engaged in writing 
his autobiography, which was published in 1854 in 
Berlin under the title “Geschichte Meines Dienst- 
lebens.” 

For a year Burg was one of the elders of the Jew- 
ish congregation in Berlin, and was active on vari- 
ous committees. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Geiger, Gesch. der Juden in Berlin, p. 197, 
8. M. Co. 


BURGDORF: Town in the canton of Bern, 
Switzerland. It contained a few Jewish inhabitants 
in the fourteenth century. In 1347 Simon, a Jew 
living there, loaned to the cathedral provost Ulrich 
forty pounds of pennies. On Feb. 16, 1349, the 
poverty-stricken Eberhard von Kiburg drove all the 
Jews out of Burgdorf in the night. After effecting 
this, “ because of their wrong-doing,” as he professed, 
he seized their possessions. In 19004 few Jews still 
lived at Burgdorf, though not forming a congrega- 
tion. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hiiber, Schweizergeschichte, p. 167; Archiv 

des Historischen Vereins, xii. 348, 359. 


G. M. K. 


BURGEL (BURGIL), ELIJAH HAI VITA: 
Rabbi of Tunis; son of Nathan Burgel. He is the 
author of “Migdanot Natan,” a work in two parts. 
The first part, printed with a literary production by 
his father (Leghorn, 1778), contains a commentary 
on the tractate Baba Mezi‘a and notes on several 
tracts of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds and 
on the Yad ha-Hazakah. The second part (Leg- 
horn, 1785) contains novelle on various treatises and 
a funeral oration. 

L. G, M. K. 


Burgel, Joseph 
Burgos 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


430 





BURGEL, JOSEPH: Rabbi of Tunis; son of 
Elijah Hai Burgel; born in 1791; died at Tunis in 
1857. He was the author of “Zar‘a de-Yosef,” on 
the Tosafot (Leghorn, 1849), and of “ Wa-Yiken 
Yosef,” various responsa (Leghorn, 1852). 

L. G, M. K. 


BURGEL, NATHAN BEN ABRAHAM: 
Rabbi at Tunis about 1750; pupil of Isaac Lum- 
Broso. Considered a rabbinical authority, people 
from far and near brought him cases difficult to 
decide. When he was an old man he went to Jeru- 
salem, where he died soon after his arrival, in Dec., 
1791. He is the author of In) pn. containing no- 
velle, explanations on the Mishnaic order Ko- 

ashim, of the treatise Horayot, etc. (Leghorn, 
1776-78). This was reprinted in the edition of the 
Talmud, Wilna, 1895-97, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Cazés, Notes Bibliographiques sur la 


Littérature Juive-Tunisienne, pp. 42, 60, 65, ete., Tunis, 
]8v3; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books British Mus. p. 162. 


I, G. M. K. 


BURGER, HUGO (pen-name of Hugo Lub- 
liner): German dramatist; born in Breslau April 
22, 1846; now (1902) living at Berlin. He came to Ber- 
linat the age of twelve, and at seventeen began to 
produce short dramatic works, one of which, a one- 
act comedy entitled “ Nur Nicht Romantisch ” (1865), 
was well received. He became the proprietor of a tex- 
tile establishment, and traveled in Belgium, France, 
and Italy, in the interest of his business. But the 
great success of his three-act comedy “ Der Frauen- 
advokat ” (1878) induced him to devote himself en- 
tirely to the theater. That comedy, presented on 
all the German stages, and the following four-act 
comedy, “Die Modelle des Sheridan,” were pub- 
lished together under the title “Theater” (Berlin, 
1876). 

Between the years 1876 and 1891 Lubliner wrote 
about fifteen comedies and dramas, and was also 
joint author with G. v, Moser of the comedy “ Gliick 
bei Frauen” (1884), and with P. Lindau of the 
drama “Susanne” (1885), A collection of his dra- 
matic works appeared in four volumes in Berlin, 
1881-82. He also published two novels, under the 
collective title “Berlin im Kaiserreich,” of which 
the first, “ Die Gliubiger des Gliicks,” went through 
numerous editions (6th *ed., Breslau, 1886), and the 
second, “Die Frau von Neunzehn Jahren,” also ap- 
peared in Breslau (1887). Some of his best-known 
dramatic works are: “ Die Florentiner ” (1876), “ Die 
Adoptierten ” (1877), “Gabriele” (1878), “Der Jour- 
fix” (1882), and “Die Mitbiirger” (1884). Of his 
later productions, “Griitin Lambach,” “Gold und 
Eisen,” “Im Spiegel,” and “ Der Kommende Tag” 
have attracted considerable attention. Lubliner’s 
mastery of stage effects makes his plays almost uni- 
formly successful, while his knowledge of the world, 
and the ability with which he exposes the weak- 
nesses of modern social life, have added several 
works of lasting value to the German repertoire, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Meyers, Kouversations-Lexikon, s.v. Lubli- 
ner; La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v. Btirger. 


8, P. W1. 


BURGER, SOLOMON BEN DAVID. Sce 
BorGER, SOLOMON BEN DAVID. 


BURGER, THEODOR (pen-name of Daniel 
Pillitz): Rabbi and preacher in Szegedin, Hun- 
gary, 1843-47. Two years after entering upon his 
office he published a book, “Der Talmud und die 
Perfectibilitit des Mosaismus vom Standpunkte der 
Reform,” in which he completely denied the author- 
ity of the Talmud. The theme of this work caused 
some sensation. In spite of the pen-name the auth- 
orship was at once traced to him, and he was forced 
to resign his office of rabbi. He left his congrega- 
tion and retired to private life, after first holding 
memorial services for Archduke Joseph Feb. 7, 1847. 
In 1849 he published a prayer-book, “ Andachtsstun- 
den fiir israeliten Beiderlei Geschlechtes.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Immanuel Léw and Sig. Kulinyi, A Szgedi 
Zaidok, p. 168. 
Ss. L. Vv. 


BURGLARY.—Biblical Data: In English and 
American law burglary is the offense of breaking 
into a dwelling-house at night, with the intent to 
commit a felony, generally with the intent to steal. 
The Biblical passage on the subject (Ex. xxii, 1-2 
[A. V. 2-3]) reads thus: “If the thief be found break- 
ing in [“be-Mahteret,” literally, “in the breach”] 
and be smitten that he die, there shall be no blood- 
guiltiness for him, If the sun be risen upon him, 
there shall be blood-guiltiness for him: he should 
make restitution; if he have nothing, he shall be 
sold for his theft.” 

The offense of breaking into a honse at night is 
deemed graver than simple theft only in so far as 
the offender exposes himself to death at the hands of 
the inmates; but no greater punishment can be 
inflicted by the judges. Of the old Jewish ver- 
sions the Septuagint renders the first half of the 
second verse thus: “If the sun rise upon him, he is 
guilty and should die in return.” But Onkelos, in 
the spirit of the tradition, says: “Tf the eye of the 
witnesses has fallen upon him, there is blood-guilti- 
ness.” Among the commentators, Rashi, as is his 
usage, gives to the verse a construction found in 
the Mekilta and in the Talmud; but Ibn Ezra holds 
to the literal meaning of the text, and maintains that 
the word (“ mahteret” ) used for “ breaking in,” like 
the English word “burglary,” implies breaking in 
at night. 

The word “mahteret” also occurs in Jer. ii. 34, 
where the prophet complains that he found at Jeru- 
salem the blood of innocent poor men, killed, but 
not in the act of housebreaking—an indication that 
violent death to the housebreaker had become a 
common occurrence. 

In Rabbinical Law: The Mekilta on the pas- 
sage in Exodus (Mishpatim xiii.) treats the shining of 
the sun as a mere figure of specch, signifying that it 
was clear as the sun that the housebreaker meant to 
do no harm to the inmates. The Mishnah treats of 
burglary among capital offenses (Sanh. viii. 6): “He 
who comes through the breach is judged on account 
of his latter end [2.e., on account of 
what he is expected to do in the end]. 
If one has come through the breach 
and broken a jar, if there is blood- 
guiltiness for him, he is bound to pay damages: if 
not, he is free from paying them.” This is ruled on 





A Capital 
Offense. 


431 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Burgel, Joseph 
Burgos 





the principle that where au act is punishable with 
death (though only with death at the hands of the 
injured party), the actor does not pay damages. 

ln the discussion of this Mishnah some of the 
Babylonian sages (Sanh, 72a) go so far as to claim 
that even when the burglar has carried the goods 
away, he can not be held to double restitution, ex- 
cept in the cases where the figurative light of the 
sunu—that is, the certainty of his not intending harm 
to the person in the house—would raise blood-guilti- 
ness for his death. The apparent result of the dis- 
cussion is that single restitution is to be made even 
by the burglar, who has taken his life in his hands; 
that he has not “with his life” acquired the stolen 
goods; but at any rate he seems not to be liable to 
double restitution like the ordinary thief. 

As to estimating the intent of the burglar, the 
Gemara, by way of illustration, pris the case of the 

father breaking into the house of the 

Proof of son, where it may be taken for cer- 

Intent. tain that the housebreaker would not 
kill the owner, even if the latter should 
stand up for the retention of his goods (Sanh. 72d et 
seqg.). One argument for this figurative meaning of 
the text is drawn from the words: “If the sun rise 
upon him,” as though the sun shone on him alone 
and not on all alike; hence the light cast upon him 
by the circumstances must be meant (Mek. l.c.; 
Sanh. 72d; Yer. Ket. iv. 28c). 

The question is also raised (Sanh. 72b) whether 
any one other than the master of the house is justi- 
fied in killing the burglar; and it is solved in the 
affirmative, as the text says, “and be smitten,” in 
the passive, not defining who smote him. Also, 
whether there must be a breaking into the house 
proper, or whether coming into another man’s Ccourt- 
yard or stable, or upon his roof, would constitute 
burglary ; and the decision is that it would (Sanh. ¢.¢. ; 
Yer. Sanh, viii. 26c; Maimonides, “ Yad,” Genebah, 
ix. 7-12). Except Maimonides, the codifiers have 
taken but little trouble to clear up these points or 
to decide what the true Halakah is, as questions of 
criminal law had long ceased to be of practical val- 
ue (Tur. Hoshen Mishpat. 351, 2; Shulhan ‘Aruk, 
Hoshen Mishpat, 425, 1, gloss). 

J. SR. L. N. D. 

BURGOS (y"s713): City of Old Castile, having a 
long-established, large, wealthy, and cultured Jew- 
ish community up to the time of the expulsion of 
the Jews from Spain in 1492, It is reported that 
the Jews of Burgos, who as early as 1070 had made 
a loan to the Crp, organized a large squadron in 
1123, and fought bravely against Sancho Aznar, as 
faithful subjects of the king of Castile (Sandoval, 
“Historia de los Reyes de Castilla,” p. 182a, Pam- 
plona, 1684). 

The Jews of the city, “in sustentatione paupe- 
rum,” were compelled to make an annual donation 
of two solidos and one denar to the hospice pre- 
sented by the king of Castile to the church there 
(Florez, “Espafia Sagrada,” xxvi. 472). Special 
privileges, and immunities against the arbitrary 
acts of officials, were granted to the Jewish residents 
by Ferdinand III. and Alfonso X. (the Wisc), and 
were again confirmed by D. Sancho el Bravo on 


April 28, 1295. The era of greatest prosperity ex- 
tended from the close of the thirteenth century to 
the middle of the fourteenth; the taxes in 1290 
amounting to 87,760, and the various other imposts 
to 22,161, maravedis. The Cortes assembled in this 
ancient diocese in 1801, 1815, and 1345 gave consid- 
erable attention to the charges of usury brought 
against the Jews, who were occupied as merchants, 
tradesmen, and mechanics. 

In the civil war between King Pedro the Cruel 
and Henry de Trastamare, the Jews of Burgos re- 
mained faithful to the king. The story goes that 
when the archbishop proposed to surrender Pedro 
on the ground of the latter’s devotion to Judaism, 
the Jews of the city agreed, declaring that the in- 
clination of a Christian for Judaism is as mucha 
defection as is the conversion of a Jew to Christian- 
ity. This story, however, is a pure invention. In 
reality they offered obstinate resistance to Henry de 
Trastamare; fortifying themselves in their quarters 
(Juderia), and replying to Henry, when summoned 
to surrender, that they could recognize no ruler 
other than their legitimate sovereign, for whom they 
were Willing to saerifice their lives (Aboab, “ Nomo- 
logia,” p. 290). This fidelity to the vanquished 
ruler met with the frank admiration of the victor 
Henry, who nevertheless, according to the reports 
of both Jewish and Christian chroniclers (Ayala, 
“Cronica,” year 18, ch. xxxv.; Samuel Zarza in “ She- 
bet Yehudah,” ed. Wiener, p. 181), imposed a fine 
of 50,000 doubloons, or 1,000,000 maravecis, which 
reduced the Jews to such extremity that they were 
compelled to sell the crowns and ornaments of the 
scrolls of the Law. Those unable to pay their con- 
tribution were sold into slavery, and all debts pay- 
able to Jews were ordered to be canceled. 

On the day of the coronation of Juan I. (1879), 
Yusaph Pichon, the clief tax-collector of Henry IL, 
was executed by the Jews as a “ malshin ” (slanderer). 
The king, whose authorization had been surrepti- 
tiously obtained, was incensed at this act, and or- 
dered the death of the Jewish executioners, Zu- 
lema and Zag, as well as of the “Merino Rabbi 
Mayor [chief rabbi] de la Juderia Burgalesa.” This 
unauthorized act on the part of the Jews produced 
a very bad impression over all Castile, and was used 
to good effect by Ferrand Martinez, archbishop of 
Ecija. In the same year the king ordered that, on 
payment of a stipulated sum, the Jews of Bur- 
gos were to be relieved from the obligation of gra- 
tuitously furnishing raiment and bedding to the 
court. 

During the great persecution of 1891 the Jews of 
Burgos were subjected to much suffering; among 
those who accepted baptism on that occasion was 
the rich and scholarly Solomo ha-Levi, who, as Paul 
de Burgos, or de 8. Maria, became primate of Spain 
and an arch-enemy of the Jews. Burgos was the 
birthplace of Abner de Valladolid, or de Burgos. 
The community, once so rich and great, sank into 
ever greater poverty, so that In 1474 it was capa- 
ble of paying only 700 maravedis in taxes: the 
wealthiest resident at that time being R. Ephraim, 
who left the country in 1492. There was a famous 
scroll of the Law at Burgos, to which pilgrimages 
were made (“ Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. 207). 


Burgundy 
Burial 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


432 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Amador de los Rios, Historia de los Juding, 
ii. 250 et seq., 383 et seq., 297; Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, vii. 
424 et seq.: Kayserling, Christopher Columbus, p. 107; idem, 
in Rev. Bt. Juives, xxxviii. 258. 


G. M. K. 
BURGUNDY. Sce FRANCE. 


BURIAL: Placing the corpse in the earth or in 
caves of the rock, the chief modes adhered to by the 
Jewish people of disposing of the dead (Gen. xxiii. 
19, xxv. 9, xxxv. 8, xlix. 29 et seg.: Deut. xxxiv. 
6; Josh. xxiv. 80; Judges viii. 32; I Sam. xxv. 1, 
and elsewhere). The burning of the bodies of Saul 
and his sons was exceptional, and is explained in 
different ways (see 1 Sam. xxxi. 12, and the com- 
mentaries; also Schwally, ““Das Leben nach dem 
Tode,” p. 48); the same is the case with the allusion 
to burning in Amos vi. 10 (see commentaries, and 
Schwally, 7.¢.). The burning of the body so that 
even the bones were consumed was considered a dis- 
grace (Amos ii. 1); and was inflicted as a punish- 
ment (Josh. vii. 25. Compare Tacitus, “Hist.” v.5: 
“They {the Jews] bury rather than burn their 
dead.” See, also, CREMATION, 

To be denied burial was the most humiliating in- 
dignity that could be offered to the deceased, for it 








Placing the Body in the Coffin, 
(From Bodensvhatz, “‘ Kirchliche Verfassung.’’) 


meant “to become food for beasts of prey” (Deut. 
xxviii. 26; I Kings xiii. 22, xiv. 11, xxi. 24; II Kings 
ix. 34-87; Jer. vii. 33; vill. 1, 2; ix. 21 [22]; xiv. 16; 
Ezek. xxix. 5; Ps. Ixxix. 2, 3). 

The law, therefore, requires even the criminal to 
be buried who has been put to death (Deut. xxi. 23). 
So, too, the slain enemy was buried 
(I Kings xi. 15; Ezek. xxxix. 15), not 
merely because the dead body defiled 
the land, but from a feeling of com- 
passion, as is seen in the case of Rizpah (II Sam. 
xxi. 10; compare Josephus, “B. J.” iv. 5, § 2). 

While it was incumbent upon the relatives to bury 
their dead (Gen. xxiii. 3, xxv. 9, 1. 7; I Macc. ii. 
70; Tobit vi. 15, xiv. 11), it was regarded as one of 
the laws of humanity “not to let any one lie un- 
buried ” (Josephus, “ Contra Ap.” ii. 29 [80]; Philo, 


Duty 
of Burial. 


“Hypothetica,” ed. Mangey, ii. 629; Bernays, 
“ Gesammelte Schriften,” i. 277 e¢ seg., who shows this 
to have been also an old Athenian law of Buzyges). 
The Rabbis call it MYM NY (“an obligation to the 
dead claiming the service of the finder”) (Massek. 
Sem. iv. 29; Sifra, Emor, Introduction; Sifre, Num. 
26; Meg. 3b; Naz. 48b, 47b, and elsewhere). 
Tobit devoted himself entirely to the task of bury- 
ing the unclaimed bodies of the slain (Tobit i. 17, ii. 
7). According to Josephus, “B. J.” iii. 8, § 5, a sui- 
cide was not buried before sunset; but Ahithophel, 
who committed suicide, was placed in his grave in 
the usual manner (II Sam. xvii. 23; see Shulhan 
‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 345, and “Sifte Kohen,” 
thereon; see SUICIDE). 

In Sanb. 46b the law of burial is derived from 
Deut. xxi. 23, “Thou shalt bury him on that day,” 
which is construed as a law affect- 
ing all men. Still in the Talmudic 
passage the question is discussed 
whether burial is to prevent disgrace 
of the body, or is a means of atonement for the 
soul for sins committed during lifetime—that is to 
say, a means of reconciliation of the shade, which 
finds no rest before being united with the body 
under the earth (see Schwally, /.c. pp. 52, 53). The 
process of decay in the grave was believed to be 
painful to the body, and therefore to be the means 
of atonement (compare Ber. 18b; Tosef., Sanh. 
46b; Sanh. 47b). Atoning power of the ground per 
se (Ket. 111a) was attributed to Palestine exclu- 
sively (compare Tosef., Sanh. 46b; Sanh. 47b). 
This view concerning the atoning effect of the de- 
caying process induced some to bring the body into 
close contact with the earth by either having the 
coffin perforated or by dispensing with the coffin 
altogether (Yer. Kil. vii. 82b, top; R. Nissim to 
Sanh. 46b; Tur, Yoreh De‘ah, 362). Earth of the 
Holy Land, as based upon Deut. xxxii. 48, 455) 
Wy INDIN = “the earth shall atone for his people,” 
is therefore often put under the body in the coffin 
to accelerate the dissolution and the ceasing of the 
pain (see Isserles to Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 
363, 1), if not on account of the Resurrection (see 
Yer. Kil. ix. 32c). 

According to Pirke R. El. xxi., Adam and Eve 
learned the art of burial from a raven whom they 
saw bury one of its kin in the sand (Tan., Bereshit, 
10, has “two clean birds” instead; Gen. R. xxii., 
“clean birdsand beasts buried Abel,” is probably in- 
correct; see ABEL). 

Although the law in Deut. xxi. 23 refers only to 
the culprit exposed on the gallows, the rabbinical 
interpretation derives from it that “no corpse is to 
remain unburied overnight” (Sanh. 
vi. 4, 46a, b; Maimonides, “ Abel,” iv. 
8; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah. 
307, 1). With reference to Num. xx. 1, 
it is even urged that burial should follow death 
closely (M. K. 28a; compare Acts v. 6-10; and see 
Tobler, “ Denkblitter aus Jerusalem,” 1853, p. 825, 
as to the present usage: “The burial takes place 
within as few hours after death as possible”). “To 
keep the dead overnight was not permitted in the 
city of Jerusalem” (Tosef., Neg. vi. 2; B. K. 82b; 
Ab. R. N. xxxv.). Whether this was due to the 


Object 
of Burial. 


Time 
of Burial. 


Cosi ‘1801 MOLT) 
"NIZZOD VY GNOOW NOISSHIOUd NI SMA OIGUVHATS 





Burial 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


434 


a — 


climate, which causes decomposition to ensue rap- 
idly—compare Abraham’s words: “Let me bury 
my dead out of my sight” (Gen. xxiii. 4)—or to the 
defiling nature of the corpse (Num, six. 11-14), the 
generally accepted view was that the acceleration 
of the burial was a praiseworthy act unless prepara- 
tions for the honor of the dead made delay desirable 
(M. K. 22a; Maimonides and Yoreh De‘ah, d.¢.). 
The tomb, however, was not immediately closed 
over the dead. During the first three days it was 
customary for the relatives to visit the 
grave to see whether the dead had 
come to life again (Massck. Sem. viii. ; 
see Perles, “ Leichenfeierlichkeiten,” 
p. 10, and Brill, “Jahrb.” i. 51). In the course of 
time the Mishnaic law was insisted upon, notwith- 
standing the altered conditions, and quick burials 
involved the danger of entombing persons alive. 


Early 
Burials. 


been adopted by all modern rabbinical authorities, 
though the Eastern Jews still adhere to the old cus- 
tom with its abuses (see Altschul, “ Kritisches Send- 
schreiben tber das Bisherige Verfahren mit den 
Sterbenden,” 1846, and David Einhorn, “ Ueber die 
Nothwendigkeit der Einrichtung von  Leichen- 
hausern,” in “Sinai,” 1862, pp. 218 e¢ seq., 248). 
Embalming, practised in Egypt (Gen. |. 2, 26) and 
in the case of Aristobulusin Rome (Josephus, “ Ant.” 
xiv. 7, $4), was unknown, or at least 
Spices and exceedingly rare, in Judea. But—un- 


Plants doubtedly with the view of removing 
atthe  theodor—spices were put on the coffin 
Burial. or otherwise used at funerals (Ber, viii, 


6; John xii. 7, xix. 39), and myrtles 
and aloes (in liquid state) were carried in the proces- 
sion (Bezah 6a; John xix. 89). In honor of dead 
kings “sweet odors and diverse kinds of spices” 




































































VOSGES 
SSSA Q 
SASS 


CARRYING A BODY TO A GRAVE. 
(From Bodenschatz, *‘ Kirchliche Verfassung,’’ 1748.) 


When, therefore, in 1772, the Mecklenburg govern- 
ment, in prohibiting such burials and insisting that 
three days should intervene between death and in- 
terment, provoked great opposition on the part of 
the rabbis, who considered it an infringement upon 
Jewish law and custom, Moses Mendelssohn, who 
was asked to intercede, justified the governmental 
measure, declaring the Jewish custom to be in con- 
flict with the ancient view and practise (see Kayser- 
ling, “ Moses Mendelssohn,” 1862, pp. 276 et seq., and 
the “Meassef” of the year 1772). This view has 


were burned (Jer. xxxiv. 5; II Chron. xvi. 14, xxi. 
19), together with the bier and the armor (see “Ab. 
Zarah 11a), or carried along in the procession (Jose- 
phus, “Ant.” xv. 3, § 4; xvii. 83; dem, “B. J.” 1. 
88, $9). Onkelos (Aquila), the proselyte, burned 
80 manehs of balsam in honor of R. Gamaliel the 
Elder (Sem. viii.; ‘Ab. Zarah 11a). Later practise 
added an infusion of the spices to the water with 
which the dead was washed (see TAHARAH). 

As soon as the last breath was drawn, the eyes of 
the dead were closed by the oldest or the most dis- 


Ceset “1avo1g wos) 
W400 V NOdQ HIUVY] ONIMOUIMLL 





ide 


Bi og 





Burial P 
Burial Society 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


436 





tinguished son or next relative (Gen. xlvi. 4), the 
mouth was shut, and kept in position by a band on 
the cheek-bones, and the body placed 

Prepara- upon sand or sait on the floor to retard 

tion decomposition, metal or glass being 
for Burial. put upon the navel to prevent swell- 
ing. Then the body was washed and 
anointed with aromatic unguents, and wrapped in 
lincn clothes (Shab. xxiii. 5; Sem. i. 2, 8; Acts ix. 
37; John xi. 44, xii. 7, xix. 39 ef seg., Xx. 6 et seq.; 
Matt. xxvii. 59; Mark xv. 46 ef seg.; Luke xxiii. 58 
et seg.; Testament of Abraham, xx.). 

In Biblical times persons, especially of high rank, 
were arrayed at burial in the garments, ornaments, 
and weapons which they had worn in life (I Sam. 
xxviii. 14; Isa. xiv. 11; Ezek. xxxii. 27; compare 
Josephus, “ Ant.” xv. 38, § 4; xvii. 8, $8; “Bi JL" i. 
33, § 9; and “Ant.” xii. 8, $4; xvi. 7, $1). To be 
buried without garments was considered a disgrace 
(Shab. 14a; compare Spiegel, “ Avesta,” ii., Intro- 
duction, p. xli.). Asa token of honor, it was custom- 
ary to cast the most costly garments and ornaments 
upon the bier of a dear relative or friend, and as 
such objects could no longer be used for other pur- 
poses, TNINA Worx, the Rabbis deprecated such prac- 
tise (Sem. ix.; Sanh. 48a e¢ seg.). In fact, since 
funeral expenses became common extravagances and 
an object of alarm to the relatives, R. Gamaliel IT. 
set the example by the order he gave for his own 
funeral, and thus introduced the custom of burying 
the dead in simple linen garments (Ket. 8b; M. K. 
27b). In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 
Judah enjoins his sons “not to bury him in costly 
garments nor to cut open his body ” (for embalm- 
ing), as is done to kings (Judah xxvi.; compare 
Josephus, “Contra Ap.” ii. 27). 

In R. Papa’s time cheap clothes became the rule 
(Ket. 8b). White garments, which were the robes 
of state (Yer. R. H. i. 57b; Eccl. ix. 8), were at all 
times preferred. RR. Jannai, however—some ver- 
sions have “R. Johanan ”—wished to be buried in 

colored garments, saying: “Not in 

Simplicity black, lest I appear as a mourner 
of among the righteous who are clad in 
Funerals. white in paradise, norin white, lest I be 
clad in festal garments when I should 

bewail my sad lot” (Yer. Kil. ix. 82b; Shab. 114a; 
Gen. R. xcvi., and elsewhere). R. Jeremiah said (Yer. 
Kil. Z.c.; Gen. R. ¢.): “Dress me in white garments 
with sleeves, put on my slippers, and place a cane in 
my hand anda my sandals by my feet, and sct me by 
the high road so that I may be ready when the Res- 
urrection call comes.” The use of the shroud, or 
SARGENES, is a later custom. Objects used or 
favored by the dead, such as a writing-tablet, a pen 
or inkstand, a key or bracelet, were often put into 
the coffin or grave (Sem. viii.). Formerly the face 
was covered only in case of disfigurement; in course 
of time, when long privation caused the poor to 
look disfigured and the rich only seemed to enjoy 
the privilege of having their faces uncovered, it be- 
came the rule to cover the faces of all; the bride- 
groom alone, whose death appealed to universal 
sympathy, being excepted (Sem. U.¢c.; M. K. 27a). 
Brides had their hair loosened (Sem. @.¢.). As a 
rule, the hair was cut (M. K. 8b). The body was 


placed in the coffin face upward, the hands folded 
across the breast, and the feet stretched out; g 
curved or bent-over position was deprecated (Yer, 
Naz. ix. 57d; Bab. Naz. 65a; B. B. 74a, 10la, b: 
Tur, Yoreh De‘ah, 562). 

Coffins, though used in Egypt (Gen. 1, 26), were not 
in general use in Biblical times; in most cases the dead 
were carried out to the burial-place 
upon a bed or bier (“ mittah,” I Sam. 
iii, 81; Ber. iii. 1; Josephus, “ Ant,” 
xvii. 8, § 8, kAv7; compare IL Kings 
xii, 21, and the story of the sham funeral of Jo. 
hanan ben Zakkai, Git. 56a). Occasionally coffins 
were used, either of wood or of stone (MW. K. 8b; Yer, 
M. K. i. 80d), those of wood suggestive of the tree 
which brought death to man (Gen. R. xix.); cedar- 
wood, “which does not decay,” being preferred 
(Test. Patr., Simeon, 8; compare Levi, 19; Zebulon, 
10). In France it became customary to use for the 
coffin- boards the table upon which food for the poor 
had been served (Bahya b. Asher, commentary to 
Ex. xXv.). 

At first the bier used for the rich was more elabo- 
rate than that used for the poor; later, simplicity 
and equality became the rule (M. K. 27b). 

The bearers, who carried the bier on their shoul- 
ders (hence their name, “kattafim” [shoulderers]), 

walked barefooted, one set of bearers 

Funeral changing with another from time to 
Procession. time to give as many as possible an 

opportunity to honor the dead (Ber. iii. 
1; Yer. Naz. vii. 56a). In the case of a child under 
twelve months, the coffin was carried by the handles 
(Sem. iii. 2; M. K. 24b). The women went, as a 
rule, in front of the bier, the reason given (Yer. 
Sanh, ii. 20b; Gen. R. xvii.) being that “woman 
brought death upon the world”; in reality because 
the mourning women singing the dirge and beating 
the drum led the funeral procession, as they still do 
in the East (Jer. ix. 16; M. KK. iii. 8-9; Kelim xv. 
6; Schwarz, “Das Heilige Land,” p. 342), though at 
times they follow the bier (Lane, “Customs of the 
Egyptians,” ch, xxviii.) 

Besides the relatives and friends (Gen. 1. 7), any 
stranger was also expected to follow when he saw 
the dead carried to the grave, lest it be said of him 
“the one who mocketh the poor reproacheth his 
Maker” (Ber. 18a, after Prov. xvii. 5). A teacher 
of the Law was honored by having a scroll of the 
Law placed upon the bier, or carried alongside of 
it, and placed in the tomb (B. K. 1%a). 

The burial-place received its chief sanctity from 
the fact that it was the resting-place of the mem- 

bers of the family. To the ancient 
The Hebrew, to die was “to be gathered 

Family unto his people” and “to lie with his 

Sepulcher. fathers” (Gen. xlix. 29; Num. xxvii. 

13; Judges fi. 10, and elsewhere); to 
be buried in the grave of his father and mother was 
his fondest wish (II Sam. xix. 38, xxi. 14; Tobit iv. 
3-4, xiv. 10-12). Thus the cave of Makpelah be- 
came the family sepulcher of the Patriarchs (Gen. 
Xxili., xlix. 29-31). The kings were buried in 4 
family sepulcher (II Kings xxi. 18, 26; xxiii. 30). 
These sepulchers were either dug in the ground in 
the neighborhood of the family dwelling (I Kings 


Coffins 
or Biers. 


oh Rm ak ee a on rape pe ce ct 


lee eee ey 


ii et ein er Oe ee ae = 





437 





ii. 8-4; T Sam. xxv. 1, xxviii. 8) or hewn out of the 
rock, often during one’s lifetime (Isa. xxii. 16; II 
Chron. xvi. 14; see also for the thirteenth ceutury 
Isaac b. Sheshet, Responsa, No. 114, quoted by 
Perles, /. ¢. p. 29). In the one case, stone buildings in 
the shape of houses or cupolas, after Phenician cus- 
tom cailed wp 3 (“the soul or” “ bird-house ”) (Er. v. 1; 
Shek. ii. 5), were erected over the graves; in the 
other case, either caves (ANY) (B. M. 85b; M. K. 17a; 
Judith xvi. 23) were selected, or the rocks were so ex- 
cavated as to furnish compartmerts or galleries with 
asmany vaults (“kokim,” O93}3) at the three sides as 
the family required. Into these vaults the corpse 
could be horizontally moved, the stove rolled upon 
the entrance forming the cover or door, while the 
porch on the fourth side was large enough to afford 
room for the bier and the visitors (b. B. vi. 8; Yer. 
B. B. iii. 18d; Ket. 84a; M. K. 8b). While the kings 
claimed the privilege of being buried in the Holy 











Mourners Throwing Grass Behind Them as They Leave 
the Cemetery. 
(From Bodenschatz, ‘‘ Kirchliche Verfassung.’’) 


City and so near the Temple as to provoke the pro- 
test of the prophet (Ezek. xliii. 7-9), the rule was 
that the burial-place should be at least fifty cubits 
distant from the city (B. B. ii. 9; Luke vii. 12); but 
it was often placed in a garden (John xix. 41), with 
flowers planted around (Toh. iii. 7). In those old 
family sepulchers of Palestine the interment did not 
take place immediately, but the body was left in the 
sepulchral chamber for some time until it was re- 
duced to a mere skeleton, and then the bones were 
collected anew, wrapped in linen clothes, tied 
closely together like mummies, and then solemnly 
interred (Yer. M. K. i. 80d; Sem. xii., xiii.). 

To disturb the rest of the dead by removing the 
body or the bone-remnants from one place to another 
was considered a great wrong; but it was allowed for 
the benefit of the dead in the case of a transfer of 
the body to the family plot, or when the place of 
burial had become unsafe from desecration or ele- 
Mentary ruin (Sem. xiii.; Yer. M. K. ii. 81b; Shulhan 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


| 
| 


Burial 
Burial Society 


‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 862, 1). See also CEMETERIES, 
DISINTERMENT, FUNERAL RITES, MOURNING, To- 
HARAH, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hastings, Dict. Bihle, s.v. Burial; Biblical 
dictionaries of Winer, Riehmer, Hauck, respectively, s.v. Be- 
grdbniss; Hamburger, R. B. T. s.v. Beerdigung ; Schwally, 
Das Leben nach dem Tode ; Benzinger, Hebr. Archdolo- 
gie, pp. 23, 163 et seq.; Nowack, Hebr. Archdologie, i. 32, 
192 et seg.; Perles, Die Leichenfeierlichkeiten des Nachbtb- 
lischen Judenthums, reprint from Monatsschrift. 1860; L. 
Geiger, Zeit. fitr die Gesch. der Jucden in Deutschland, 
iii. 211 et seq., iv. 315, v. 375; Bender, Beliefs, Rites, and 
Customs of the Jews Connected with Death, Burial, and 
Mourning, in Jewish Quarterly Review, 1894 and 1895; 
Wiesner, Die Leichenhestattung in Thalmudischer und 


” 


Nachthaltmudischer Zeit, in Ben Chananja, 1861, pp. 277- 
K. 


BURIAL SOCIETY: Organization for provi- 
ding proper burial rites. There is hardly a congrega 
tion of Jewsin the world without an association spe- 
cially organized for the following purposes: to con- 
duct the burial service without charge; to be present 
at the death of a member; to watch over the corpse, 
to cleanse and shroud it, and to accompany it with 
funeral procession; and to bury the body with re- 
ligious ceremonies. The members are called mpyoynn 
(“mit‘askim” = attendants, undertakers; (M. K. 
24b). The society is known as SwSp AINA (“holy 
association ”), also as D“IDN moby nian society 
for mutual benevolence”), or AX Cys son “s "nCof 
true mutual benevolence”), derived from the last 
words of Jacob to Joseph: “I pray thee . . . deal 
kindly and truly [mpi Jon] .. . and bury me,” 
ete. (Gen. xlvii. 29, 30). The members are also 
called ovtpnm ‘Sota (“interchangers of kindness,” 
Ket. 8b). A burial society bearing this name is 
quoted in the Responsa of Simon b. Zemah Duran, 
lit., No. 13 (pawn, 1861-1444). The existence of 2. 
burial society is mentioned in the Talmud. R. 
Judah commanded that all citizens suspend work in 
order to honor and bury the dead. When R. Ham- 
nuna went to Daromta and observed that some of 
the people attended to their usual vocations in the 
event of a death, he wanted to excommunicate 
them, but accepted the excuse that there was a soci- 
ety in the town to render such services (M. K. 27b). 
It seems that the people were divided into two sec- 
tions; the one attending the burial duties on certain 


days, while the other was relieved (Tur and Shul- 


han ‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, Abelim, 348), 

Burial has always been considered by the Jews as. 
the greatest act of benevolence. R. Hama b. Ha- 

nina said: “ ‘ Walk after the Lord your 

Sanctity God’ [Deut. xiii. 5} means ‘Follow 

of Burial. the path of God ...and... bury 
the dead, even as He did bury Moses 

in the valley of Moab’ ” (4b. xxxiv. 6; Sotah 14a), 

The object of the burial societies in the Middle 
Ages is thus described in the responsa of R. Asher 
b. Jehiel (w’N17): to be with the mourner on the 
night of the death; to accompany the funeral; to 
assist in the burial: to furnish consolation meals. 
(IIA MNypD) to the mourners; to pray in the 
house of mourning (Responsa, Rule 18, No. 12). The 
membership was apparently limited, and a deceased 
member could be replaced by a son over thirteen. 
years of age (#0. Rule 18, No. 18). 

The first burial society of later times was organ- 
ized by R. Eliezer Ashkenazi in 1564 at Prague, 


Burial Society 
Burnt Offering 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


438 


Se ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eee ee 


with rules, regulations, and amendments by R. Moses 
MdIn (Son) in 1573. It received the sanction of 
the Austrian government on June 1, 1742 (Preface to 
INN oS yist, Prague, 1828). Some of the soci- 
eties, however, exercised arbitrary power in the 


communities. They virtually owned 

Early the cemeteries and usurped the right 
Burial to dispose of the plots as they pleased. 
Societies. When the ground became expensive 


and government taxes burdensome, it 
was customary for the rich to pay for their burial- 
plots, the income so derived being employed to de- 
fray the burial expenses of the poor. 

Often the societies exacted exorbitant sums from 
the rich, and even from the middle classes. To 
remedy this abuse a conference of the Council of 
Four Lands (MI84& ys wN) assembled at Gramnitz in 
1683, and passed resolutions to nullify the practise 
of the societies in dealing unjustly both with the 
dead and the living by delaying burial till the 
payment of a compulsory compensation was set- 
tled. The conference passed a decree excommu- 
bicating and imposing a fine of fifty ducats upon the 
leaders of any congregation which permitted the 
members of a burial society to extort more than 150 
gulden for the burial of a rich man; and the ap- 
probation of the leaders and the chief rabbi was to 
be obtained before payment was made of the mini- 
mum sum of 80 gulden, or upward. This decree 
was renewed and promulgated on market-day in 
every congregation at Bieroslav in 1698, and was 
registered in the congregational record (Dp35). The 
society, in order to prevent abuses, appointed one 
day in the year asa fast-day, to be devoted to prayer 
and to visiting the cemetery, to attend to necessary 
Tepairs of the graves and headstones, and to be fol- 
Jowed at night by a sacred feast, to which every 
member was invited (see in G. Wolf, “ Die Jiidischen 
Friedhéfe und die Chewra-Kadischain Wien,” an in- 
vitation from the seven Jewish town councilors to 
the members of the holy association to partake of 
the sacred banquet on Tuesday in the week of the 
sidra Shemini, in the year 5080 = 1320). 

On May 5, 1764, the Vienna burial society was 
reorganized by R. David Wertheim; and among the 
rules adopted was one fixing the annual fast-day for 
Adar V7. A proviso was inserted that the feast after 
the fast must not be too costly. 

One of the largest Hebrah Kaddishahs is the one 
in Budapest, which includes several societies. It 
has a yearly budget of half a million crowns. 

A burial society was organized in 1793 at Kiev, 
Russia. The burial charge for members and de- 
pendent persons was ten guiden, The members 
were granted certain privileges in the synagogue, 
such as leading in prayer and reading the Torah on 
Hoshanah Rabbah and Shemini ‘Azeret in the Taber- 
nacle festival. On the former day the election of 
the officers took place. The annual fast and feast 
were held on Kislew 15, which is the day observed 
by most of the societies. On reorganizing the He- 
brah Kaddishah of Odessa in 1878, the maximum 
price for a rich burial was 60 rubles, the minimum 
for middle classes 12 rubles, and free burials for the 
poor (“ Ha-Zefirah,” 1878, v., No. 48). 

In New York the oldest burial society, Hebrah 


Hesed ve-Emet (“loving kindness and truth”), wag 
established by the Portuguese-Jewish congregations 
in 1802. The society recently celebrated its one 
hundredth anniversary at the Shearith Isracl syna- 
gogue. The German-Jewish communities all through 
America organized free burial soci- 
In eties, following the example of their 
America. brethren in Europe; and these were, 
or are being, in the course of time 
merged into the united Hebrew relief societies of 
each town. The Hebrah Kaddishah of the Russian- 
American congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol 
was organized in 1859. The Agudat Ahim Hesed 
Shel Emet (“Society of Friends for True Benevol- 
ence”), managed by Russian Jews on the East Side 
of New York and incorporated in 1889, has 2,200 
members, and up to Jan. 1, 1901, had given free 
burials on 8,263 occasions. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Moses Wolf, 008 OV 31731, Preface, Prague, 
1828; I. B. Levensohn, 717° 3, i. ch. cxxxix.; idem, 
49197 Siws, p. 50; G. Wolf, Die Jildischen Friedhife und 
die Chewra-Kadischa in Wien, Vienna, 1879; Adolph 
Schmidel, Zur Entstehungsyeschichte der Allerersten Chew- 
ra-Kadischa, in Oest. Wochenschrift, 1893, 1. No. 8, ix. Nos. 
46, 48: A. Kupernick, ayp2 bxaw> 33 mip>, Berdychey, 
1891; Isaac Eben, mao; yor Awsps jaan, in Ha-Metiz, 
1891, xxxvi., Nos, 179, 184; Israel N. Dorewski, in Zalpiot, 1. 
33-36. Criticisms: P. Smolenskin, in Ha-Shahar, 1869, i., 
No.2; L. J. Weissberg, oonnn moxw, in Ha-Boker Or, 1880, 
iv., Nos. ll and 12; A. Zederbaum, in Ha-Meliz, 1890, xxxv., 
No. 254; D. Cohana, 92327 89p., in Ha-Shiloah, ii. 570. 

K. J. D. #H, 


BURMANIA, BARTHOLD DOWE: Dutch 
statesman and ambassador to the court of Vienna; 
lived in the eighteenth century. He was a man of 
broad humanitarian sympathies and an especiaily 
stanch friend of the Jews. When, on Dee. 18, 1744, 
Maria Theresa ordered the expulsion of the Jews 
from Prague (to take place before the end of Jan., 
1745) and from all Bohemia (before the end of June, 
1745) Burmania, at the request of the Jewish com- 
munitiesof Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, 
exerted all his influence at the court to have the 
edict revoked. He was assisted by the English 
minister, Sir Thomas Robinson. The result of his 
efforts was the postponement of the date of exile to 
the last day of Feb., 1745. Again the Jewish com- 
munities of Holland appealed to Burmania, and 
again he pleaded, urged, and remonstrated with the 
Austrian Reichskanzler, that “sovereigns, more than 
other persons, are responsible to God and man for 
their deeds.” Another month of grace was granted, 
but on March 31, 1745, the Jews of Prague were 
exiled. Thereupon, Burmania, upheld by the am- 
bassadors of England, Poland, and Turkey, directed 
his energies toward averting a still greater impend- 
ing catastrophe—the expulsion of the Jews from the 
whole of Bohemia, which was to take place in June. 

A royal edict was issued April 8, 1745, ordering 
all Jews of Moravia also to emigrate within a short 
time. Again Burmania pleaded for the unfortunate 
people, and the edicts were modified (May 15, 1745), 
the Jews being allowed to remain in Bohemia and 
Moravia “until further orders.” Burmania endeav- 
ored to have the edict repealed which was issued 
June 25, 1746, prohibiting all Jews from coming 
within two hours’ distance of Prague; but he was 
not successful. For two years the condition of the 
Bohemian Jews was miserable. Finally, however 


439 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Burial Society 
Burnt Offering 





(July 14, 1748), Maria Theresa revoked the edict of | ——Critical View: The word rendered “bush” 


Dec. 18, 1744, “on account of the pressure from the 
foreign ambassadors,” and the Jews were allowed to 
return to Prague. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kaufmann, in Grdtz Jubelschrift, pp. 279- 
313; Krengel, Die Englische Intervention zu Gunsten der 
Bohmischen Juden,in Monatsschrift, xliv. 177 et seq. For 
an account of the expulsion of the Jews from Prague, Wolf, 
Die Vertreibung der Juden aus Bohmen, in Jahrbuch ftir 
Gesch, der Juden, iv, 145-261. 


G. A. R. 


BURNING BUSH.~—Biblical Data: The name 
commonly given to the tree from which the angel of 
Jehovah manifested himself to Moses in a flame of 
fire; the distinctive feature of the revelation being 
that the tree was not consumed (Ex, iii. 2-4). 

In Rabbinical Literature: The discrepancy 
between Ex. iii. 2, where it is said that an angel ap- 
peared to Moses in the burning bush, and verse 4, 
where it is stated that God spoke to Moses out of 
the bush, is answered in various ways by the Mid- 
rash. According to one opinion, an angel appeared 
first and after him the Shekinah; while according to 
others the appearance of the angel merely indicated 
to Moses that the Shekinah was near, and this angel 








‘* Moses at the Burning Bush.” 
(From the Sarajevo Haggadah, 14th century.) 


was Michael (or, as some say, Gabriel), the constant 
attendant of the Shekinah. When Moses beheld this 
heavenly apparition other persons were with him, 
who did not, however, perceive anything. Accord- 
ing to Joshua b. Karhah (Rabban Gamaliel, Num. R. 
xii. 4) God revealed Himself to Moses for the first 
time inathorn-bush to prove to him that “nothing ” 
—not even such an insignificant plant as the thorn- 
bush—“is void of the Shekinah.” The thorn-bush 
itself receives various symbolic interpretations. 
Thus, as this shrub is among the least of the plants, 
so Israel occupied a lowly and despised position in 
Egypt. <As the thorn-bush is used for a hedge, so 
Israel is a fence and protection for the other nations. 
The burning but not consuming fire of the bush in- 
dicated to Moses that Israel would successfully en- 
dure all the sorrows and pains inflicted upon it by 
the Egyptians. It was “heavenly fire” (compare 
Darmesteter, in “ Rev. Etudes Juives,” i. 186 e¢ seg. ), 
that burns and consumes not (Ex. R. ii. 5). 


J. SR. L. G. 


(73D) is found only in this passage and in Deut. 
XXxili. 16, where, however, it is possible that the 
right reading is “Sinai.” It is generally held that a 
thorn-bush of some sort is meant; but the exact 
species has not been determined. The ground about 
the bush was holy (verse 5), showing that the place 
was a residence of the Deity. 

The main purpose of the theophany is made plain 
by the context. Yiwu, whose seat was in Mt. 
Sinai, was about to take the Israelites as a people 
under His direct protection and to deliver them from 
bondage; and after their deliverance they were to 
enter into a covenant with Him at this sacred spot 
(iii. 7-12), The motive of the special mode and form 
of the apparition may bearrived at as follows: God’s 
self-manifestation in fire is a familiar episode in 
ancient Israel. Indeed, this appearance to Moses 
has its counterpart in the greater display of light- 
ningsand thunderings in the same region in the pres- 
ence of the whole of Israel, when the covenant was 
actually made. On the latter occasion, and in the 
other theophanies (Ps. x viii. 8, 12 et seg. ; 1.3; Micah 
i. 4; Hab. iii. 3 e¢ seg.; compare Deut. iv. 24; Heb. 
xii. 29), the fire is destructive; whereas here it is 
shown to be harmless by the preservation of the tree 
that was enveloped in its flames. 

The explanation is found in the particular design 
of the revelation. Fire isan emblem of the purity 


| or holiness of God; while, ordinarily, this attribute 


is represcnted as being visibly displayed when God 

intervenes in the way of judgment and retribution, 

the object here is to show that Yuawu brings Israel . 

into a sure relation to Himself, which means preser- 

vation or salvation, 

The sacred tree has not an equal significance. 
The burning bush is not to be compared with the 
sacred terebinths and other trees which play so large 
a role in the earlier history of Israel, and which have 
a permanent sanctity of their own. It was, how- 
ever, a living thing, the only object on Sinai that had 
life in it; and it belonged, moreover, to a class of 
objects often made the abode of divinity. The ex- 
planation often given, that the bush symbolized the 
people of Israel unconsumed by the oppression of 
Egypt, can not have been the primary meaning of 
the phenomenon. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, pp. 198 
et seq.; Baudissin, Studien zur Semitischen Retigions- 
geschichte, ii. 223; Georg Jacob, Altarabische Parallelen 
zum Alten Testament, Berlin, 1897; Liw, Araméische 


Phanzennamen, Nos. 219, 275; and the commentaries on 
Exodus of Dillmann, Keil, Holzinger, and Strack. 


J. IR. J. F. McC. 


BURNING OF THE DEAD. Sec Crema- 
TION, 


BURNT OFFERING.—Biblical Data: The 
ordinary translation in modern versions of the He- 


brew “ ‘olah” (953). This term does not mean literally 


“burnt offering,” but “what is brought up” or pre- 
sented to the Deity. The name is a translation of 
the Septuagint rendering, whichis itself based upon 
the descriptive phrase often attached to “ ‘olah” in 
the ritual prescriptions: “an offering made by fire 
unto the Lord” (Lev. i. 9 et seg.). A synonym is 


Burnt Offering 


Sib5, which defines the offering as complete; ¢.e., 


when it is placed upon the altar, to distinguish it 
from the other forms of animal sacrifice (see I Sam. 
vii. 9; compare Ps. li. 21). The burnt offering was 
the highest order of sacrifice in the Old Testament 
ritual. The bloodless offerings were made only in 
connection with it. 

The following is a concise statement of the Levit- 
ical law concerning burnt offerings: 

The Offerings: These were wholly animal, and 
the victims were wholly consumed. They might 
be from the herd or the flock, or in cases of poverty 
birds might be substituted. The offerings accepta- 
ble were: (@) young bullocks; (4) rams or goats of 
the first year; (c) turtle-doves or young pigeons. 
These animals were to be free from all disease or 
blemish. They were to be brought to the door of 
the tabernacle, and the offerer was to kill them on 
the north side of the altar (if a burnt offering), ex- 
cept in the public sacrifices, when the priest put the 
victims to death, being assisted on oc- 
easion by the Levites (IJ Chron. xxix. 
34). The blood was then sprinkled 
around the altar. The victim, if a 
large animal, was flayed and divided; the pieces 
being placed above the wood on the altar, the skin 
only being left to the priest. If the offering was a 
bird a similar operation was performed, except that 
the victim was not entirely divided. The fire which 
consumed the offerings was never allowed to go out, 
since they were slowly consumed; and the several 
kinds of sacrifice furnished constant material for the 
flames. Every morning the ashes were conveyed by 
the priest toa clean place outside the camp (Ex. xxix. 
88-42; Lev. i., vi. 8-18, ix. 12-14; Num. xv.). 

Kinds and Occasions of Burnt Offering: () 
Stated Offerings were: (1) The Daily Burnt Offering, 
presented at the time of the morning and the evening 
prayer (the third and ninth hours), The victim was 
a lamb or kid a year old. This was always accom- 
panied by a vegetable offering (“minhah”) and a 
libation of wine (Ex. xxix. 38-42; Num. xxviii. 3-8). 

(2) The Sabbath Burnt Offering, which 

Stated and included double the amount of all the 

Occasional elements of the ordinary daily sacrifice 

Offerings. (Num. xxviii. 9, 10). (8) The Festal 

Burnt Offerings, celebrated at the new 

moon, the Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Trum- 

pets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Taber- 

nacles. On these occasions, especially on the last- 

named, the number of victims was increased (Num. 
Xxviii, 11-xxix. 39). 

(6) Occasional Offerings: (1) When a priest was 
consecrated (Ex. xxix. 15; Lev. viii. 18, ix. 12); 
(2) at the purification of women (Lev. xii. 6-8); (3) 
at the cleansing of lepers (Lev. xiv, 19, 20); (4) at 
the purgation of ceremonial detilement (Lev. xv. 15, 
30); (5) in connection with the vow of a Nazarite 
(Num, vi. 11, 16). 

These sacrifices were prescriptive and obligatory ; 

but voluntary burnt offerings might 
Voluntary also be made. Some of them are re- 
Offerings. corded which involved the immola- 
tion of a large number of victims 

(Num. vii.; I Kings viii. 64). 
These were the regulations of the Levitical ritual. 


Mode of 
Sacrifice. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


440 


All of the sacrifices were to be made under priestly 
auspices; and even when a private offerer killed the 
victim the main parts of the ceremony were per- 
formed by the priests. Yet both before and after 
the time of Moses the ‘olah was offered by laymen 
without distinction of persons and without restric- 
tion as to mode or measure—e.g., Gen. vili. 20, xxil. 
2 et seg. (compare xv. 17); I Sam. vi. 14; Amos v. 
22; Isa. i. 11; Hosea vi. 6; Job i. 45, xhi. 8—not to 
speak of the more or less heathenish oftering of 
human victims (Judges xi. 31; II Kings iii. 27; Jer. 
Xix. 8). 

J. IR. J. FL. Mc. 
——In Rabbinical Literature: The name aby 
for burnt offering is explained in various ways. 
Some scholars take it to be an offering of atonement 
for the evil thoughts that steal over one, {m9 by MAY, 
(“ascend in his mind,” Tan., Lek Leka, ed. Buber, 
i. 71; Lev. R. vii. 3); others derive the name from 
by (“to the Highest”), because it is entirely in- 
tended for God, the Most High, men taking no part 
therein (Tan., ed. Buber, iii. 18). 

The ‘olah is the only offering which may be ac- 
cepted inthe Temple from non-Jews, the drink-offer- 
ing appertaining to it being in such cases furnished 
at the cost of the community (Men. 75b; Tem. 2b; 
compare Maimonides, “ Yad,” Ma‘ase ha-Korbanot, 
iii. 2, 5). The ‘olah was laid entire upon the altar, 
even the horns of the animal and the beard of the 
goat not being removed (Zeb. 1x. 3, 85a; “ Yad,” de. 
vi. 2). Before being offered upon the altar the 
carcass was cut into pieces, not at haphazard, but 
according to the detailed directions given in the 
Talmud (Tamid 31). The several pieces were then 
laid upon the altar, the number of priests officiating 
being eight, eleven, or twenty-four, according as the 
animal was a sheep, ram, or ox (Yoma 26b). This, 
however, applies only to the ‘olah offered by the 
whole congregation, not to the individual ‘olot, 
which could be cut up into any number of pieces, 
and be offered by any number of priests (¢.¢.). The 
skins of these animals belonged to the priests, who 
divided them among themselves cvery Friday, pro- 
vided the offering had not proved unfit (S1D5) he- 
fore skinning (Zeb. xii. 3; Tosef., Men. xiii. 18). As 
the more prominent priests forcibly took possession 
of the skins, it was decreed that the latter should be 
sold and the proceeds be given to the Temple (Tosef., 
Lc. 19). 

BIB LOGRAEUY Maimonides, Yad, Ma‘ase ha-Korbanot, vi. 


K. L. G. 


——Critical View: What most obviously requires 
explanation is the fact that while the Levitical law 
insists on the observance of minute prescriptions 
relating to the burnt offerings and other bloody 
sacrifices, defines the several occasions, and provides 
a special ritual for cach, these were not conformed 
to during the greater portion of the history of [srael. 
This is a matter of too general a character to be 
treated here. Suffice it to say that the difficulty is 
satisfactorily met by the hypothesis, now accepted 
by most modern scholars that the prescriptions them- 
selves were of late origin, and formed part of a rigor- 
ous and comprehensive system of worship designed 
for the community of Israel under the Second Temple. 


441 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Burnt Offering 





Only by cutting loose this final ceremonial Jaw from 
the tribal and monarchica] history of the Hebrews 
can one gain any rational conception of their sacrifi- 
cial usages. With this general principle in view one 
is in a position to answer the two questions of most 
immediate concern: (1) What was the origin of 
burnt offerings in Israel? and (2) What were the 
historical occasions and modes of these sacrifices? 

There seem to be three stages or phases in the de- 
velopment of sacrifice as representing the relations 

between the worshipersand the Deity. 

Aspects In the first, communion is prominent; 
of Sacrifice. in the second, homage or devotion; in 

the third, expiation. The most prim- 
itive notion was that of communion with the object 
of worship, held to be akin to his votaries, who par- 
took of his life. The Deity, however, was also a 
benefactor. It was from Him that the various kinds 
of offerings, animal and vegetable, as the produce of 
the land, came to the offerers. Hence, on the one 
hand, a sacrifice was a part of a social feast—a fam- 
ily meal in a wider aud deeper sense. On the other 
hand, it was the giving back to the beneficent Deity 
of a part of what He had bestowed: it was in fact 
the most tangible and obvious mode of rendering 
homage to one’s God. 

Only a part of the whole was at first offered ; other- 
wise there would have. been no sacrificial feast, no 
communion with the Divinity. But what should be 
chosen as the offering? and how should it be ren- 
dered? The Deity, being invisible, would be most 
suitably entertained by a more ethereal form of 
nourishment than solid food. Hence arose the cus- 

tom of burning certain portions of the 

Origin of animal offerings or materials of the 

Burnt feast. The most appropriate of all 

Sacrifices. were the fatty parts of the animal, 

which in gencral among ancient peo- 

ples, as among the Hebrews, were consumed by 

fire, while the remainder of the flesh was eaten by 

the human participants. This was the “ zebah,” the 
fundamental animal offering. 

From this universal type of sacrifice the ‘olah 
was differentiated. The “wholeness” of the obla- 

tion was what distinguished it from 
Character- other fire-offerings, at least in outward 
istics of form. But this wholeness was not 
the an exclusive mark of burnt offerings 

Oblation. among sacrifices in general; for it 

merely implied that no part of the obla- 
tion was to be consumed by any one except the Deity, 
to whom it was wholly surrendered. Among vari- 
ous peoples it may be observed that offerings of any 
sort of vegetables were given unconsumed by the 
offerers; and among the Hebrews even some forms 
of the fire-offerings were wholly consumed on the 
altar. Thus the “minhah,” or cereal-offering, when 
offered by a priest, was to be entirely burned (Lev. 
vi. 20 et seg.). Also the bullock of the sin-offering, 
when the offense had been committed either by a 
priest or by the whole people, was burned entire 
outside the camp (Lev. iv. 3-21), even the skin being 
consumed, which was not the case with the burnt 
offering. 

What, then, is the distinctive meaning of the whole 
burnt offering? It is plain that it was not of a sac- 


ramental character, implying a communion with the 
object of devotion; for it is expressly distinguished 
from those in which the elements were 

Distinctive portioned out between the Deity and 
Character the worshipers. Nor was it, in any 


of Burnt sense or degree, a festal ceremony. 
Offerings. Was, it then, piacular or expiatory? 


Not distinctively so, according to 
the Levitical ritual, though it must be borne in mind 
that the idea of expiation was probably never wholly 
absent from the stated order of animal sacrifice in 
the final legislation. From the special occasions of 
its celebration as given above, it may be inferred 
that it was honorific and devotional, implying hom- 
age to Yuwirand a complete surrender to His service. 
Was this always the case in Israel? Some light may 
be thrown upon this question from the Biblicai 
statements as to the occasions of such sacrifices in 
the earlier history, and from the details which are 
added to some of the accounts. 

Piacular sacrifice seems historically to have begun 
With human immolations. This is the view taken 
by the writer of Gen. xxii. (E), where the burnt offer- 

ing of Isaac by Abraham is commuted 


Piacular by the sacrifice of aram. The sacri- 
Human fice by Mesha, king of Moab, of his 
Sacrifice. eldest son (II Kings iii. 27) was expia- 


tory; for, in the view of the narrator, 
the “wrath” of the offended deity was diverted upon 
Israel. Such were also the horrible sacrifices made 
to Moloch in the later days of the kingdom. These 
practises are amply illustrated from other ancient 
nations. But not all Old Testament human sacri- 
fices were burnt offerings. Agag was not burned 
(1 Sam. xv. 33); nor were the seven sons and grand- 
sons of King Saul (IJ Sam. xxi. 8,9). Both of these 
executions were made “before Yuwu,” and were 
therefore real sacrifices, the latter being expressly 
stated to be expiatory. 
When animals took the place of human offerings 
a motive for the immolation of the whole victim was 
not present, or at least not urgent. 


Animal When the sacrifice was representative 
Offerings the shedding of the blood of the vic- 
of Various tim was in general a sufficient ex pres- 
Motives. sion of a sense of guilt, and as animal! 


oblations were already made from 
other motives, burnt offerings also, of which the 
sprinkling of blood formed in any case an essential 
part, naturally came to have a varied use and sig- 
nificance. Accordingly, while, on the whole, animal 
burnt offerings were mainly honorific and devo- 
tional in the latter legislation, they were often piac- 
ular in the earlier history (e.g., 1 Sam. vi. 14; vii. 9 
et 8eq.). 
There are some interesting passages which seem 
to show the development of the principle and prac- 
tise of whole burnt offerings. They 


Develop- were written in the eighth and seventh 
ment of centuries B.c. In Judges vi. 19 et seg. 
the Whole Gideon’s sacrifice of a kid and unleav- 
- Burnt — ened cakes is wholly consumed by fire 
Offering. from heaven (compare vs. 26 et seq.). 


Still more significant is Judges xii. 15 
et seg., Where Manoah, who had intended to presen: 
a kid for food to the angel of Jehovah, is com- 


Bury St. Edmunds 
Busnash 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


442 





manded to make of it a burnt offering. Thus we 
may observe the development of the zebah into the 
‘olah. Jeremiah, when he says: “ Add your burnt of- 
ferings to your [ordinary] sacrifices ” (vii. 21), seems 
to have in mind the ritual tendency just indicated. 
It may be observed, finally, that by the very na- 
ture of the case private offerings, which were an 
essential part of the every-day life of the normal 
Israelite, were very seldom holocausts, and that the 
more fixed and statutory the public ritual became, 
the larger was the place given to the burnt offering. 
As early as the time of Ahaz, in 732 e.c. (II Kings 
xvi. 15), a morning burnt offering was part of the 
stated ritual. See SACRIFICE. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Besides the commmentaries on the relevant 
. passages, the following may be consulted: Outram, De Sacri- 
ficiis, 1588; Spencer, De Legibus Hehreeorum, 1686; Heng- 
stenberg, Die Opfer der Heiligen Schrift, 1859; Kurtz, Der 
Alttestamentische Opfercultus, 1862; Ewald, Alterthtimer 
des Volkes Israel, pp. 11. et seg.; De Wette, Hebrdisch-Jti- 
dische Archdologie, ed. Raebiger, 1864, pp. 286 et seq.; Ben- 
zinger, Hebr. Archdologie, pp. 431 et seq.; Nowack, Hebr. 
Archdolagie, ii. 208 et seq.; F. W. Schultz, in Zockler’s Hand- 
buch der Theol. Wissenschaften, i. 316 et seq.; Smend, Alt- 
test. Religion, pp. 122 et seq.; W. R. Smith, Religion of the 
Semites, 2d ed., pp. 269 et seq. (see Index), and Sacrifice, in 
Eneye. Brit. 9th ed.; compare Wellhausen, Reste <Ara- 
dischen Heidentumes, pp. 110 et seg.; Goodspeed, in Biblical 
World (art. Atonement in Non-Christian Religions), Jan.— 
April, 1901; Frazer’s Golden Bough, 2d ed., 1901. 
J. JR. J. F. McC. 


BURY ST. EDMUNDS: Town of Suffolk, 
England, and seat of a monastery the ruins of which 
still exist. Under the rule of Abbot Hugh (1173-80) 
the monastery fell deeply into debt to the Jews, 
especially to Isaac Fil Joce, Benedict of Norwich, 
and Jurnet of Norwich, to an amount exceeding 
£3,025. The Jews were accordingly favored by the 
sacristan William, who used to take charge of their 
deeds and money in times of war (Jocelin de Brake- 
lond, “Cronicon,” pp. 1, 2, 4,8). The town was 
the site of a case of blood accusation in 1181, when 
a boy named Robert was said to have been martyred 
(ib. pp. 12, 114). No details are extant as to this 
alleged martyrdom. Abbot Samson, who was the 
rival candidate for the position of abbot with Will- 
jam, the sacristan, on succeeding Abbot Hugh in 
1182, found great difficulty in freeing theabbey from 
indebtedness to the Jews, but succeeded in doing so 
within twelve years of his accession. On March 18, 
1190, fifty-seven Jews were slaughtered at Bury, 
and almost immediately afterward Abbot Samson ob- 
tained their expulsion from the town on the ground 
that a man of the town had to be a “man ”—7.e., vas- 
sal—of St. Edmund (26. p. 38). 

There still exists at Bury a building which is 
known as Moyse Hall and is supposed to have been 
a former synagogue of the Jews. It is of late 
Norman or Transition character, and therefore its 
date is probable; but no continuous evidence of 
a tradition associating it with Jews can be ob- 
tained, and a careful inquiry made by the Jewish 
Historical Society of England negatives its identifi- 
cation. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carlyle, Past and Present, ii. ix, x.; Jacobs, 
Jews of Angevin England, pp. 59-61, 75, 78, 141, 385: Trans- 
actions Jewish Historical Society of England, ti. 116-122. 


J. 
BUSH. See Burnine Busu. 


BUSH (BUSCH), ISIDOR: Litterateur, pub- 
licist, and viticulturalist; born in Prague, Bohemia, 
Jan. 15, 1822; died in St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 5, 1898. 
His maternal great-grandfather was Israel Honig, 
Edler von Hénigsberg, the first Jew raised to nobility 
in Austria (sec Kompert. “Oesterreichische Adels- 
halle fiir Israeliten”). Whenseven years old Bush 
was seriously burned at a conflagration, suffering all 
his life from the effects, but rising superior to the 
consequent physical infirmities through an iron will 
and a naturally strong constitution. Bush received 
his education from private teachers, and owed his 
literary bent to the cultured circles and rare minds 
(such as Leopold Zunz and Michael Sachs) with 
which he came in contact from boyhood. 

When fifteen years of age, he entered Schmid’s 
Oriental printing establishment in Vienna, which 
his father had acquired. The Talmud published 
with the imprint of Von Schmid and Bush is still 
prized for its exactness. For six years (1842-47) 
Bush edited and published the “ Kalender und Jahr- 
buch ftir Israeliten” (Vienna). Its plan was the 
presentation in the same book of the productions of 

leading Jewish scholars of divergent 
His ‘‘Jahr- views. Among these were Leopold 


bticher.” Zunz. 8. L. Rapoport, 8. D. Luzzatto, 
Gotthold Salomon, Ludwig Philipp- 
son, Michael Sachs, Noah Mannheimer, Joseph 


Wertheimer, Leopold Stern, Theodor Creizenach, 
Ludwig August Frankl, Leopold Kompert, Leopold 
Léw, and Simon Szanto. Some of these made their 
first appearance as writers in the pages of the 
“Jabrbiicher.” In 1844 he edited “ Mesillat ha- 
Limmud” (Way of Instruction), which was pub- 
lished by his father after Bush had left for America. 
Liberal in politics, he edited the “ Organ fiir Glau- 
bensfreiheit,” and other revolutionary papers issued 
from his press. When the Revolution of 1848 failed 
he had to flee to New York, where he arrived Jan. 8, 
1849. There Bush opened a store for the sale of news- 
papers and stationery, and on March 30, 1849, pub- 
lished the initial number of “Israel’s Herold,” the 
first Jewish weekly in the United States, which, how- 
ever, lived only three months. He was assisted in 
producing it by leading members of the Order 
Bnai B’rith, In the summer of 1849 Bush went to 
St. Louis, where he conducted a general store for 
six years. In 1857 Bush was made president of the 
People’s Savings Bank. When the Missouri Con- 
vention was called to determine whether the state 
should join in the secession movement, Bush was 
chosen a member on the Unconditional Union ticket, 
and was made a member of the Committee of Nine, 
to which most important matters were referred. 
When Fremont took command in 1861, with head- 
quarters in St. Louis, Bush was made his aide-de- 
camp, with the rank of captain. He 
Military submitted to Secretary of the Treasury 
Career. Chase a plan for a government loan 
of one hundred million dollars, similar 
to the famous Rothschild premium loans of Austria. 
Mr. Chase feared its rejection by Congress, but was 
impressed with Bush’s financial genius, and offered 
him a Treasury clerkship. Bush returned shortly 
afterward to St. Louis, and became for six years 
general freight and passenger agent of the St. Louis 


443 





and Iron Mountain Railroad Company. He assisted 
in forming Congregation B‘ne El in St. Louis and 
in establishing the Independent Order B’nai )’ritn 
in the West, and was henceforth prominently iden- 
tified with the Order, rendering invaluable service, 
especially in connection with its endowment or in- 
surance feature, and in forming the Cleveland Jew- 
ish Orphan Asylum. His interest in the society led 
him to become an insurance actuary. 

Bush was chosen member of the state convention 
called to abolish slavery and to form a new con- 
stitution. He was elected a member of the Mis- 
souri state board of immigration to repair losses in 
population resulting from the war, which post he 
retained for twelve years. Later in life Bush be- 
came interested in viticulture. He purchased a tract 
of land (named by him “Bushberg”) outside the 
city, which became noted for its products; and he 
even sent large quantities of cuttings from his vine- 
yards to France to replace ravages by phylloxera. 
Bush, after years of preparation, published a cata- 
logue of grapes, “The Bushberg Catalogue,” which 
has gone through several editions and has been 
translated into several languages. 

A. | P. Co. 


BUSH, LEWIS: American soldier; born in 
Philadelphia; died 1777; member of the well-known 
Bush family, Jewish merchants of Philadelphia. 
He received the commission of first lieutenant of the 
Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion Jan. 9, 1776, and was 
made captain of the same June 24, 1776. He was 
transferred on Jan. 18, 1777, to Col. Thomas Hart- 
ley’s additional continental regiment. Of this troop 
Bush was commissioned major March 12, 1777. He 
was a brave soldier, serving with distinction during 
inany engagements, At the battle of Brandywine, 
Sept. 11, 1777, he received a fatal wound and died 
shortly after. | 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.S. Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia, p. 458, 

Philadelphia, 1894; Publications of the Am. Jew. Hist. 

Soc. iii. 39; Linn and Egle, Pennsylvania Archives, second 

series, x. 8, 185, 780, Harrisburg, 1880; Wolf, The American 

Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen, pp. 45-47, Philadel- 


phia, 1895. 
A. A. M. F. 


BUSH, SOLOMON: American soldier; born in 
Philadelphia; son of Matthias Bush, one of the 
signers of the non-importation agreement (Oct, 25, 
1765). 

Solomon Bush was an officer in the Pennsylvania 
militia, 1777-87. On July 5, 1777, he was appointed 
deputy adjutant-general of the state militia by the 
supreme council of Pennsylvania. In Sept., 1777, 
he was dangerously wounded in the thigh during 
a skirmish, and had to be taken to Philadelphia. 
When the British captured the city in Dec., 1777, he 
was taken prisoner, but released on parole. As he 
could not earn his living, being kept, on account of 
his wound, at bis father’s home (Chestnut Hill, Phil- 
adelphia), the council passed a series of resolutions, 
Oct. 20, 1779, respecting him, and on Oct. 27 of that 
year he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, with 
pay in accordance with the rank. Bush was in des- 
titute circumstances in later years, and on Nov. 5, 
1785, the council of Pennsylvania, under the presi- 
dency of Benjamin Franklin, ordered that a pen- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


- ship of Ragusa. 


Bury St. Edmunds 
Busnash 


———_—_— 


sion be paid him for his meritorious services. His 

brother, Jonas Bush, was on the roll of Revolution- 

ary soldiers. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. 8S. Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia, 1894, 
pp. 22, 4535-457 ; Publications of the Am. Jew. Hist. Soe. vy, 
202; Pennsylvania Colonial Records, xi. 240; xii. 140, 151; 
xiv. 910, 571; Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, 
and Citizen, pp. 43-47, Philadelphia, 1895. 

A. A. M. F, 

BUSNACH, WILLIAM BERTRAND: 
French dramatist; born in Paris March 7, 1832; 
nephew of the composer Fromental Halévy. His 
father was associated with Bakrr, to whom France 
was indebted to the amount of some twenty-odd 
million francs for provisions furnished to Bonaparte 
in Egypt. The lawsuit lasted for more than fifty 
years, and Busnach and his partner were not paid in 
full at the end. The elder Busnach, an Algerian 
Jew, became a naturalized Italian in the time of the 
deys, and was the first interpreter of the French 
army. He established himself at Paris in 1835. 
William—an Italian Jew born in France of an Alge- 
rian father, with a German surname and an English 
given name—was at first employed in the customs 
department. He subsequently devoted himself to 
dramatic work, writing many plays, a number of 
which have been successful. The following may be 
mentioned here: “Les Virtuoses du Pavé,” 1864; 
“ Premiére Fraicheur, Paris-Revue,” 1869; “ Héloise 
et Abélard,” with music by Litolff, 1872; “Forte en 
Gueule,” “La Liqueur d’Or,” in collaboration with 
A. Liorat, music by Laurent de Rillé, 1878; “Ko- 
siki,” with Liorat, music by Lecocg, 1876. 

In 1867 Busnach assumed the direction of the 
Athénée, where several of his operettas (“Fleur de 
Thé,” etc.) were performed. His greatest successes 
he achieved, however, with his adaptation of cele- 
brated novels for the stage; for example, “L’As- 
sommoir,” 1881; “ Nana,” 1882; “ Pot-Bouille,” 1883, 
all by Emile Zola; “Le Petit Jacques,” by Jules 
Claretie, 1885; “La Marchande des Quatre Saisons,” 
etc. 

Busnach is also the author of the following novels: 
“La Fille de M. Lecoq,” 1886; “Le Petit Gosse,” 
1889; “Cyprienne Guérard,” 1895, etc. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lermina, Dictionnaire Biographique Illus- 

tré; La Grande Encyclopédie. 

S. J. W. 

BUSNASH, NAPHTALI: Chief of the Alge- 
rian Jews and statesman; born at Algiers in the 
middle of the eighteenth century; assassinated June 
28, 1805. He was engaged—first alone, and later 
with Bakri Brothers—in the grain trade, of which 
the dey Hasan, with whom Busnash was on friendly 
terms, granted hima monopoly. The firm of Bakri 
& Busnash soon attained a wide reputation, and 
Busnash became the most influential man in Algeria. 

In 1800 he was appointed by the dey Mustapha— 
whom he had helped to attain to power—chief of the 
Algerian Jews, a post to which was attached the 
office of broker to the dey, and the consul-general- 
In this position Busnash displayed 
so much ability that he won the entire confidence of 
the dey, who practically left the government in his 
hands. It was he who received the consuls and 
settled differences between Algeria and foreign 
countries. 


Bustani 
Buxtorf 





His power did not, however, last. The janizaries 
and the fanatical Moslems reluctantly submitted to 
the domination of a Jew; and Busnash, after having 
escaped several attempts on his life, was at last 
shot dead by a janizary at the gate of the dey’s 
palace. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bloch, Inseriptions Tumulaires, pp. 90 et 
seq. 


D. I. Br. 
BUSTANI. See BosTANAI. 


BUTCHERS. See SHEHITAH. 


BUTRYMOWICZ, MATHEUS: Polish states- 
man and landlord of the eighteenth century; a de- 
scendant of one of the oldest families of Lithuania 
and Samogitia, and one of the most enlightened 
members of the Diet assembled in Warsaw from 
1788 to 1792. 

He took a special interest in the development of 
the industry and commerce of Poland and Lithuania, 
and to this end considered it of the utmost impor- 
tance to utilize the energy and the abilities of the 
Jewish inhabitants, Together with Castellan Yezier- 
ski and other Liberal members of the “last” Polish 
Diet, he endeavored to prove to the Polish represent- 
atives how harmful to the welfare of the country was 
the abnormal position of the Jews, and urged the 
taking of measures leading toward their emancipa- 
tion. In1789 he elaborated a plan for transforming 
the Jews into useful citizens, which he set forth in 
a pamphlet entitled “Sposdb Uformowania Zydéw 
Polskich w Pozytecznych Krajowi Obywatelow ” 
(Warsaw), and which he submitted to Stanislaus 
Poniatowsky at the session of the Diet of Dec. 4, 
asking the king to favor it with his support. In 
this pamphlet he pcints out that the Polish law does 
not include the Jews in the three estates of the realm 
(the nobility, country gentry, and burgesses); that 
the Polish legislation had always regarded the Jews 
as a foreign element, and, though burdening them 
with exceptional taxes, had not granted them the 
rights of citizens, while Polish society had treated 
them with contempt, defamed their religion, and 
would not tolerate the notion that a Jew could be a 
son of his fatherland. He adds: 


‘** And after all this, you demand from the Jew that he shall 
be useful to the country which does not profess to be his father- 
land, that he shall be faithful and devoted to those who con- 
stantly oppress him! The Jew did not take to agriculture, be- 
cause he did not care to exchange one kind of misery for an- 
other; the law would not permit him to own land, and he had 
no desire to become a serf and to work for others. He showed 
strong inclinations to trade and industry; but the towns either 
would not admit him at all to these pursuits, or at best alowed 
him to be only a haberdasher. It was a constant struggle be- 
tween the Jews and the Christian merchants: and therein lies 
the cause of the decay of trade and the impoverishment of the 
towns.”’ 


When the Diet appointed, in June, 1790, a com- 
mittee “to reform the condition of the Jews,” But- 
rymowicz was one of its most active members. He 
pleaded in behalf of the inviolability of the Jewish 
faith, and of the union of “the peoples” (the Chris- 
tians and the Jews) by the reception of the latter into 
the national organism through mutual concessions, 
through the abolition or the reorganization of the 
KAHAL, and even through the influence of the courts 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


444 





in the propagation of education and culture among 

the Jewish youths. See Czackr and POLAND, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Korzon, Wewnetrzne Dzicje Polski za 
Stanislawa Augusta, vol. i, Warsaw, 1897; Pisma History- 
ezne, vol. ii., 1901; Em. S———n, iz Istorii Fevreyev v 
Polshye, in Voskhod, 1897, x. 82; S. M. Dubnow, Yevreishaya 
Tstoriya (after Brann and Bick), ii. 418; S. Orgelbrand, 
Eneyclopedja Powszechna, ii., s.v., Warsaw, 1898. 


il. R. 
BUTTE, MONTANA. Sce MONTANA. 


BUTTEN WIESER, LAEMMLEIN: German 
Talmudist and linguist; born in Wassertriidingen, 
Bavaria, Jan. 16, 1823; died in New York city Sept. 
93, 1901. He was descended from a well-known 
family of German rabbis, his father being rabbi of 
Wassertriidingen, and his grandfather and great- 
grandfather having been rabbis at Buttenwiesen, 
Germany. Buttenwieser received his education at 
the gymnasium at Aschaffenburg, where he studied 
Talmud under Rabbi Adler, and at the universities 
of Wirzburg and Prague. While attending the 
universities he also studied for the rabbinate; and he 
received his diploma as rabbi from Judah Lob 
Seligman Bir Bamberger of Wirzburg, from Rapo- 
port and Samuel Freund of Prague. 

In 1854 Buttenwieser emigrated to America, and, 
not liking the conditions of the ministry, became a 
teacher of languages. He taught in the Talmud 
Yelodim School in Cincinnati, and in 1867 became 
instructor in the Hebrew Education Society of 
Philadelphia and in the Maimonides College at that 
place. He went to New York (1878) as a private 
tutor in Hebrew and Talmudic studies, The same 
year Buttenwieser was appointed teacher of lan- 
guages in the New York public schools, which posi- 
tion he held until 1886, when he resigned. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The New York Times, Sept. 24, 1901, and The 


Jewish Messenger, Sept. 27, 1901. 
8. F, T. H. 


BUXTORF (BUXTORFF), JOHANNES 
(usually called “ Father,” or “the Elder”): The prin- 
cipal founder of rabbinical study among Christian 
scholars; born Dec. 25, 1564, at Kamen, Westphalia; 
died Sept. 18, 1629, at Basel. He studied at Marburg 
and afterward at Herborn, where Johann Piscator 
persuaded him to study Hebrew. He continued his 
studies at Basel in 1584, where he became the close 
friend and tutor of the children of Leo Curio, whose 

daughter Margaret he afterward mar- 
Appointed ried. In Aug., 1590, he graduated as 
Professor doctor of philosophy, and in the fol- 
of Hebrew. lowing year was appointed professor 
of Hebrew at the University of Bascl, 

which position he continued to fill until his death. 

Buxtorf displayed remarkable enthusiasm and 
diligence in the investigation of Jewish science. In 
order to obtain a thorough knowledge of the Bible 
—which book he chose as his basis of inquiry—he 
was led to the study of the Masorah, the Talmud, 
and the Targum; and as many books were requisite 
to thisend, he gradually acquired a valuable Hebrew 
library, and, unconsciously, obtained a knowledge 
of bibliography which eventually carried him to the 
threshold of post-Biblical Hebrew literature. By the 
publication of a catalogue of his Hebrew books, he 


445 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bustani 
Buxtorf 





made one of the first attempts in the wide ficld of 
Jewish bibliography. For the correction of his edi- 
tion of the Bible, as well as for his personal instruc- 
tion, he employed from 1617 onward the services of 
two Jews, one of whom was the learned Abraham 
ben Eliezer BRAtNscuweEIG, These men naturally 
were compelled to live in the neighborhood of Bux- 
torf’s house. As, however, since the year 1557 “the 
Jews had been absolutely forbidden to enter Basel 
during the merchants’ fair and at other times,” 
Buxtorf was compelled to secure a special permit 
for them from the municipal authorities. When, in 
1619, a son was born to Abraham Braunschweig, 
curiosity and zeal for investigation induced Bux- 
torf, accompanied by his son-in-law, the printer 
Konig, and the sergeant of the com- 

Fined for mon council, to attend the circum- 
Attending cision. For this offense Buxtorf and 
@ Cir- KGnig were fined each 100 gulden. 
cumcision. Though Buxtorf was not a. friend of 
the Jews, as is evident from his “Syna- 

goga Judaica,” he nevertheless maintained a corre- 
spondence with a number of Jews in Germany, Am- 
sterdam, and even in Constantinople. His eulogists 
declare that his writings were welcomed and extolled 
in synagogues in every part of the world, and that 
Jews everywhere were accustomed to regard him as 
their leading oracle even on the most subtle ques- 
tions of their belief. But this statement is undoubt- 
edly an exaggeration. The mainspring of his ac- 
tivity in the domain of Jewish literature was his 
polemical zeal against Judaism, the ultimate object 
of which was the conversion of the Hebrews. Hence 
it comes that his first work was the above-mentioned 
“Synagoga Judaica,” which, under the title of 
“ Juden-Schiil” (Basel, 1603), appeared 


His Zeal in severai editions (with additions, 
Against 1664), and was translated into Flemish 
Judaism. and Latin. Even Buxtorf’s contem- 


poraries condemned the superficial 
and malicious character of the book and its numer- 
ous intentional distortions of fact. Moréri criticizes 
the work as “trés peu judicieux, et il s’y est trop 
attaché a des bagatelles, et a ce qui peut rendre les 
Juifs trop ridicules.” Buxtorf’s attention was con- 
stantly directed toward the conversion of the Jews; 
and from 1615 on he entertained the design of edit- 
ing again the notorious “ Pugio Fidei Contra Mauros 
et Judeos” (“ Judendolch ”), or “Dagger [Defense] 
of the Faith,” of the Dominican Raymund Mar- 
TIN, a manuscript copy of which had been sent 
to Buxtorf by Philipp Mornay-Plessis of Saumur. 
This design was defeated by his death. 

The most noteworthy of Buxtorf’s publications is 
his rabbinical Bible, containing the Hebrew text, 
the Masorah, and various commentaries, published 
in two folio volumes (Basel, 1618-19), together with 
a supplement entitled “Tiberias, Commentarius 
Masorethicus” (1620), which for a long time was 
the best work of its kind. The best grammatical 


work of Buxtorf was the “ Preceptiones Gram- - 


matice de Lingua Hebrea” (Basel, 1605), later pub- 
lished under tlie title “Epitome Grammatice He- 
breve,” and afterward successively edited about 
sixteen times by Buxtorf’s son and others, and trans- 
lated into English by John Davis (London, 1656). 


Buxtorf’s work as a lexicographer began with the 
“Epitome Radicum Tfebraicarum et Chaldaica- 
rum” (Basel, 1607, not 1600), afterward published 
in numerous editions at Basel (1615-1735), Amster- 
dam (1645), London (1646), and Francker (1653-54), 

under the title “ Lexicon Hebraicum et 


Lexico- Chaldaicum.” An extract from it also 
graphical appeared at Basel (1612; 6th ed., 1658), 
Works. under the title, “ Manuale Hebraicum 


et Chaldaicum.” As especially impor- 
tant may be mentioned his “Concordance,” based 
upon the older work of Isaac Nathan ben Kalory- 
mus, and published after Buxtorf’s death by his son; 
and his “ Lexicon Chaldaicum Talmudicum,” begun 


SOR > 


A? 


nmi ’ 


OFE. 


mT 
a 


j 
i 


one emaentiatenttinn Seta po 














Johannes Buxtort I. 


by Buxtorf in 1609, and completed by his son in 
1639, after nine years of indefatigable labor. This 
lexicon, despite its numerous imperfections and 
errors, became an indispensable guide to specialists; 
a new but very imperfect edition was published as 
late as 1866. As the “Bibliotheca Rabbinica ”"— 
containing about 324 rabbinical writings arranged 
according to the Hebrew alphabet—was the first 
serious endeavor toward a compilation of a Jewish 
bibliography, so the “De Abbreviaturis Hebraicis,” 
which was first published about the same time 
(Basel, 1618, 1640; Franeker, 1696; Herborn, 1708), 
and is still useful, furnished the basis for a knowl- 
edge of the Hebrew abbreviations. Finally, it is 
necessary to mention Buxtorf’s “Institutio Episto- 
laris Hebraica, sive de Conscribendis Epistolis He- 
braicis Liber, cum Epistolarum Hebraicarum Cen- 
turia” (Basel, 1610; “Cum Append. Variarum 
Epistolarum R. Maiemonis et Aliorum .. . Excell. 
Rabbinorum,” Basei, 1629), a work containing over 
one hundred family and other letters, partly sup- 
plied with vowels, and partly translated into Latin 
and furnished with explanations of words; the 
letters being taken from the epistolary guide, 


Buxtorf, Johannes 
Byelostok 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


446. 





“ Megillat Sefer” (Venice, 1552), the “Iggarot Shelo- 
mim” (Augsburg, 1603), and the “ Ma‘ayan Gannim ” 
of Archevolti (Venice, 1558). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Buxtorf-Falkeisen, Joh. Buztorf, Vater, Er- 
kannt aus Setnem Briefwechsel, Basel, 1860; E. Kautzsch, 
Joh. Buxtorf der <Aeltere, Rectorats-Rede, Basel, 1879; 
Steinschneider, Bibliograph. Handbuch iber die Theor. 
und Prakt. Literatur der Hebr. Sprache, pp. 28 et seq., 
Leipsic, 1859; Furst, Bibliotheca Judaica (containing many 
inaccuracies), 8.v. 


T, M. K, 


BUXTORF, JOHANNES: Johannes Buxtorf, 
the son of the elder; known as Johannes Buxtorf 
II.; Christian Hebraist; born at Basel Aug. 13, 
1599; died there Aug. 16, 1664. Before the age of 
thirteen he matriculated at the University of Bascl, 
and in Dec., 1615, graduated as master of arts from 
that institution. He then went to Heidelberg, where 
he continued his studies under David Pyrius, Abra- 
ham Scultetus, Alting, and others. In 1618 he at- 
tended the synod at Dordrecht [Dort|, where he 
formed a friendship with Simon Episcoptus, Ludwig 
Crocius, and others. He succeeded his father, after 
the death of the latter, in the chair of Hebrew at the 

university ; and so closely did he follow 

Becomes inhis father’s footsteps that it became 
Professor of proverbial to say, “Non ovum ovo 

Hebrew.  similius quam Buxtorf pater et filius.” 

He gained an almost equal reputation 
in the same domain as his father. Although he re- 
ceived offers from Groningen, Leyden, and various 
other places, he preferred to retain his position at 
Basel. He was four times married, and in his latter 
years experienced many sorrows. 

Like his father, Buxtorf maintained relations with 
several learned Jews. He employed Abraham 
Braunschweig (see Johannes BuxToRF) to purchase 
Hebrew books for him; and for many years he cor- 
responded with the scholarly Jacob Roman of Con- 
stantinople regarding the acquisition of certain He- 
brew manuscripts and rare printed works. For 
Buxtorf was also engaged in the sale of Hebrew 
books; among his purchasers being the commercial 
representative of Cardinal Richelieu, Stella de Tery 
et Morimont, who occasionally sojourned at Basel, 
and Joh. Heinrich HortincEr, a professor of Zurich, 
with whom Buxtorf was on terms of close friend- 
ship. He also frequently furnished Hebrew books 
to the Zurich library. Buxtorf corresponded not 
only with Jacob Roman and Leon Siau of Constanti- 
nople (the latter of whom afterward embraced Chris- 
tianity and became physician-in-ordinary to a Tran- 
sylvanian prince), but with the teacher Solomon GAr, 
and with the friend of the latter, Florio Porto of 
Mantua, both of whom were commissioned by Bux- 
torf to purchase Hebrew books in [taly; with the 
learned rabbi Menahem Zion Porto Conen of Padua, 

whom Buxtorf did not treat in a very 


His friendly manner; with MANAsseEu B. Is- 
Eminent RakrL; David Cohen de Lara of Ham- 
Corre- burg; Jacob ABENDANA of Amster- 
spondents. dam, for whose “ Miklol Yofi” he wrote 


an approbation; Isaac ABENDANA, 

brother of the foregoing; JOSEPH DELMEDIGO, with 

whom he was personally acquainted; and many 
others. 

Buxtorf prepared new editions of several of his 


father’s works [especially the “Tiberias ”]; and, as. 
in the case of the “Concordance ” and the “ Talmudic- 
Rabbinical Lexicon,” completed and prepared for 
publication those that had been left unfinished. 
Nineteen years after the death of his father he be- 
came involved in a controversy with Louis Cappel- 
lus regarding the antiquity of the Hebrew vowel- 
signs; and although the question was one purely his- 
torical, it nevertheless contained a substratum of 
dogma, and ina number of polemical writings was 
conducted with great intensity and bitterness on both 
sides. The following original works of Buxtorf 
were published. “De Lingtwe Hebraice Origine et 
Antiquitate” (Basel, 1644; not as Herzog, 1648); 
“Florilegium Hebraicum Continens Elegantes Sen- 
tencias, Proverbia, Apophthegmata: ex Optimis. 
Quibusque Maxime vero Priscis Hebreorum Scrip- 
toribus Collectumet .. . Alphabetice Dispositum” 
(Basel, 1648). Especially noteworthy also are Bux- 

torf’s Latin translations of the “ Moreh” 


His of Maimonides, “Doctor Perplexo- 
Original rum” (Basel, 1629), and the “Cuzari” 
Works. of Judah ha-Levi, “ Liber Cosri” (Ba- 


sel, 1660). Buxtorf also wrote a long 
series of dissertations on the writings of Abravanel, 
among which may be mentioned “De mA 3 Sive de 
Excitii Poena,” “De Longa Vita Primorum Paren- 
tum,” “De Statu et Jure Regio,” “De Mosis No- 
mine.” All these first appeared singly, and then 
either as “Dissertaciones Philologo-Theologice ” 
(Basel, 1662), or in Ugolino’s “Thesaurus” (xxv.); 
while several others, such as “De Lepra Vestimen- 
torum et Aidium,” “De Poesi Veteri Hebraica in 
Libris Sacris Usitata,” “De Principio Anni,” etc., 
were appended to the translation of the “ Cuzari.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revue Etudes Juives, viii. 74-95, xiii. 260- 
276. Rich biographical material on Buxtorf the Younger may 
be found in his unpublished correspondeuce, and also in that. 
addressed by him to Hottinger (which is preserved in the pub- 
lic libraries at Basel and Zurich). 


PK M. K. 


BUXTORF, JOHANNES B.: Nephew of Jo- 
hannes Jakob Buxtorf; born Jan. 8, 1663; died June 
19, 1782. He was professor of Hebrew at Basel, and 
published “Specimen Phraseologie V. T. Hebr.” 
(Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1717). 

r. M. K. 


BUXTORF, JOHANNES JAKOB: Professor 
of Hebrew at Basel; son of Johannes Buxtorf IZ. by 
his fourth wife; born Sept. 4, 1645; died April 4, 
1705, According to a letter written by his father to 
Coccejus (“Op. Anecd.” ti. 738) in 1663, he was able 
at eighteen to read the Hebrew text of the Bible and 
of the Targums; and heis said also to have had some 
acquaintance with the Rabbinic and the Syriac. 
After his death the library collected by the three 
Buxtorfs (I., I., and IIf.), and valued at 300 Iouis 
d’or, was secured for 1,000 thalers by the public 
library at Basel, where it still forms a separate 
department. 

T. M. K. 


BUXTORF, JOHANNES RUDOLPHUS: 
Great-grandson of Johannes Buxtorf I.; born at 
Basel Oct. 24, 1747; died 1815. After completing 
his studies in his native city, he became private tutor 


447 


in the family of the count of Schaumburg-Lippe. 
On his return to Basel he became professor of rhet- 
oric and theology at the university (1793). He also 
lectured and wrote on Biblical archeology. 

T. M. K. 


BUZ: Second son of Nahor (Gen. xxii. 21). From 
‘he language of the genealogical lists, however, it 
a8 to be inferred that the name applics to a tribe; 
and from Jer, xxv. 23 it is clear that it was an Ara- 


bic one. It is probable that Elihu, the friend of Job 
(Job xxxii. 2, 6), was of this tribe. 
J. JR, G. B. L. 
BUZAGLIO, BUZAGLI, or BUSAGLO, 


SHALOM BEN MOSES: Cabalist; born in Mo- 
rocco (where his father was “rosh yeshibah ”) at the 
beginning of the eighteenth century; died in 1780. 
He was a disciple of the cabalist Abraham Azulai, 
rabbi of Morocco, and filled the position of dayyan. 
Owing to voyages in the Orient made in his capac- 
ity of collector of alms for the relief of the poor 
in Palestine, he became acquainted with the chief 
cabalists of the period. He also visited Eurepe, and 
sojourned some time in London. 

Buzaglio published the following works: (1) 
“Mikdash Melek” (The Sanctuary of the King), a 
commentary on the Zohar, published by Meldola (4 
vols., Amsterdam, 1750); (2) “ Hadrat Melek ” (The 
Beauty of the King), a commentary on the Zohar, 
compiled from Isaac Luria and Hayyim Vital (2 
vols., Amsterdam, 1766; London, 1772); (3) “ Kisse 
Melek” (The Throne of the King), annotations on 
the Tikkune Zohar (Amsterdam, 1769); (4) “Hod 
Melek” (The Majesty of the King), commentary on 
the book Zeni‘uta of the Zohar (London, no date); 
(5) “Sefer ha-Zohar,” notes on the Zohar, published 
together with the text (London, 1772); (6) “ Kebod 
Melek” (The Honor of the King), a collection of 
cabalistic derashot (London, no date); (7) “ Ma‘aseh 
she-Hayah Kak-Hayah” (What Happened Was in 
This Fashion), report of the proceedings of a law- 
suit (London, 1774); (8) “Kuntras Ma‘aseh Adonai 
Ki Nora Hu” (Fascicle on the Work of God, Which 
Is Majestic), an appeal to the public concerning 
the authority of Buzaglio’s judgment in a lawsuit, 
in Hebrew and Judeo-German (London, 1774); 
(9) “ Tokahat le-Shobabim we-Takkanah le-Shabim ” 
(Admonition for Transgressors and Rehabilitation 
for the Repentant), consisting of two letters to Israel 
Meshullam Solomon, also concerning Buzaglio’s 
lawsuit (London, 1774). 

Although these cabalistic works bear his name on 
the title-page, they are merely compilations of teach- 
ings attributed by Azulai, his teacher, to Luria and 
Hayyim Vital. Buzaglio took part in the discussion 
that arose among many cabalists, whether Jews 
should be allowed to undergo vaccination, discov- 
ered shortly before that day. Buzagtio pronounced 
himself in favor of vaccination, but disputed the 
priority of Jenner in regard to its discovery. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Hadash, letter, 

Shin 16; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2511; Benjacob, Ozar 

ha-Sefarim, gee 245; Schechter, Studies in Judaism, 


ud. i. 127-128 ; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books 
us. p. 163; Jacobs and Wolf, Bibi. Anglo-Jud. pp. 


K. I. Br. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Buxtorf, Johannes 
Byelostok 


BUZAGLO, WILLIAM: English inventor and 
empiric; died at London in 1788. His first claim to 
distinction was his introduction of stoves made on @ 
new plan, and intended for the heating of large pub- 
lic buildings. He afterward practised medicine and 
professed to be able to cure the gout without drugs, 
by muscular exercise alone. Whatever may have 
been the real efficacy of his method—which secms 
analogous to the modern massage—he was generally 
regarded as an empiric because of the nature of his 
advertisement, abounding, as it did, in self-lauda- 
tion. His manifesto was humorously parodied by 
Captain Grose in a handbill, given with a caricature, 
entitled “Patent Exercise, or Les Caprices de la 
Goutte.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Lysons, Environs of London, iii. 479. 


J. G. L. 
BUZECCHI. See Bozeccatr. 


BYELAYA TZEREOV (called in Hebrew 
on mw): Town in the government of Kiev, Russia. 
Its Jewish settlement must have been formed after 
1550, when the waywode of Kiev, having built there 
a castle, attracted many inhabitants to the town by 
granting them numerous privileges, 

The Jewish community of Byelaya Tzerkov is 
mentioned in the list of those given by Nathan Nata 
of Hanover as having been destroyed by the hordes 
of Chmielnicki in 1650 (“Yawen Mezulah,” ed. Dy- 
hernfurth, p. 3b). As the town, however, was the 
stronghold of the Cossacks before 1648 (Kostomarov, 
“ Bogdan Chmielnicki,” i. 24 et seq.), it is hardly prob- 
able that the Jews could have remained until the 
arrival of Chmielnicki. Samuel Phoebusof Vienna, 
however, in his acount of the Chmielnicki persecu- 
tions (“ Tit ha-Yawen”), mentions that 600 Jewish 
families were slain at Byelaya Tzerkov, which 
proves that the Jewish community in the town was 
important. From 1651 till occupied by the Rus- 
sians in 1793, Byelaya Tzerkov was dominated 
alternately by the Cossacks and by the Poles, and 
could scarcely have had a large Jewish population. 

Its importance as a Jewish community dates from 
the end of the eighteenth century, when it numbered 
about 12,000 Jews in a population of 20,700. In 
1817 a Hebrew printing-oflice was established there, 
from which many Hebrew books were issued. The 
first work published was a book of sermons for 
Hanukkah and Purim, entitled “Or he-Hadash.” 
Byelaya Tzerkov now (1902) has a synagogue and 
seven houses of prayer, the greater part of its Jews 
belonging to the Hasidic sect. The Jewish popula- 
tion in 1898 was about 9,000 out of a total of 22,703. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gurland, Le-korot ha-Gezerot he-Yisrael, 
in Ozar ha-Sifrut, vols. iii. iv., v.; Regesty, 1648, No. 875; 
Harkavy, in Sbornik, 1898, p. 105; Semenov, s.v. 

I. Br. 


H. R. 
BYELAYA VEZH. See CuHazars. 


BYELOSTOK (Polish, Bialystok): Town in 
the government of Grodno, Russia; by rail 52 
miles southwest of Grodno; one of the youngest in 
Lithuania. Little is known of the history of its 
Jewish community. There is a tradition (see “ Ha- 
Kol,” i., Nos. 41 et seg.) that its last owner before 
its incorporation into Russia, the waywode Count 
Branitzky—at whose instance in 1749 King Augus- 


Byelostok 
Byk 





tus JJI. of Poland raised the proprietary village to | 


the dignity of a town—invited Jews to settle there 
in houses and stores which he built for 
them at his own expense. He also 
erected for them a synagogue —a 
wooden structure which is to-day one 
of the curiosities of the city. There is no record of 
the effect which the transition from Polish to Prus- 
sian dominion in 1793, and later from Prussian to 
Russian rule after the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, had 
on the Jewish community, which must have been 
cousicderable in those times. But there is reason to 
believe that the short-lived German rulc helped to 
stimulate commerce and industry and was the cause 
of German predominance in the business affairs 
of Byelostok at the beginning of the ninetcenth 
century. 

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Lichtenstein, brother 
of R. Abraham Yekutiel, author of “Zer‘a Abra- 
ham” on Sifre 
(Dyhernfurth, 
1811), who, in 
the work of his 
grandson, Rabbi 
Abraham of 
Prossnitz, enti- 
tled “ Ha-Torah- 
we-ha-Mizwah” 
(Wilna, 1820), is 
referred to as 
rabbi of Byelos- 
tok, is probably 
the first rabbi of 
the community 
of whom there is 
any record, In 
the “Shem ha- 
Gedolim he-Ha- 
dash” mention 
is also made of 
Rabbi Solomon 
of Byelostok 
(second half of 
the cightcenth 
century), and of 
his successor, R. 
Aryeh Loeb b. 
Baruch Bendet, 
author of the 
work “Shaagat Aryeh,” on the tractate Makkot 
of the Babylonian Talmud (Byelostok, 1805). Then 
probably came Rabbi Nehemia, whose responsum 
upon the reading of the “ketubah,” or marriage 
contract, at weddings, written by him in 18353, was 
published by Benzion Zechnilopovitch of Russia, in 
Vienna (printed by Adalbert della Torre, 1859). The 
existence of this Rabbi Nehemia is known only 
through that responsum, and is doubted by both 
Benjacob and Zedner, who seem to believe that Zech- 
nilopovitch printed it under an assumed name. 
This would agree with Fuenn’s statement (“ Keneset 
Yisrael,” p. 801) that Rabbi Moses Ze’eb became rabbi 
of Byclostok in 1824. Moses Ze’eb was the author 
of “Mareot ha-Zobeot,” a work on «abandonment 
(Byclostok, 1810), and of “ Aggudat Ezob,” sermons 
(4b. 1824), and formerly rabbi of Tiktin. 


Early 
Tradition, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 








The Old Synagogue of Byelostok. 
(From a photograph.) 


448 





After Ze’cb’s death there was an interregnum, 
during which R. Eliakim Getzel acted as rabbi with- 
out having the title, until about 1860, when R. Yom- 
Tob Lipman Heilprin of Mesecritz was called to 
Byelostok. Weilprin, who in lis former community 
had had mary quarrels with the Hasidim about his 
crusade against smoking in the synagogue, encoun- 
tered many difficulties In his new position. Tis 
refusal to officiate at a wedding ceremony in the 
“chorschul,” or quasi-Reform synagogue, caused 
him to be imprisoned at Grodno; and he was freed 
only after a long and expensive struggle. After his 

death in 1878, hisson, Rk. Hayyim Herz 


Eminent (born 1850), who edited his father’s 
Rabbis. voluminous work of responsa, “‘Oueg 


Yom-Tob,” wasacting rabbi for about 
five years, until R. Samuel Mohilever of Radom 
was elected to the rabbinate in 1888 (see Samuel 
MouILEVER). After the death of Mohilever in 
1898, R. Hayvim 
Herz Yeilprin 
again became 
acting rabbi. 
Meir Marcus, a 
graduate of the 
rabbinical sem- 
inary of Wilna, 
has been the gov. 
ernment rabbi 
of Byelostok for 
more than thirty 
years (dad, Dec. 
1900). 

Byelostok was 
always an indus- 
trial city; and 
the material con- 
dition of its 
inhabitants is 
therefore supe- 
rior to that of 
the population 
of other cities in 
poverty-stricken 
Lithuania. Its 
chief industry, 
the manufacture 
of cloth, was up 
to the middle of 
the nineteenth century mostly in the hands of Ger- 
mans, who, however, relied largely on Jewish capital. 
Nahum Mintz and Sender Bloch were the first Jews 

to engage in the manufacture of cloth 


Jewish (1850); Mintz being also the first to 
Manu- employ the steam-engine in that in- 
facturers. dustry at Byelostok. Among the other 


pioneer Jewish manufacturers were J. 

S. Barish, Breinin & Zabludovsky, and A. Halber- 
stamm; thelast-named being the father of the prom- 
inent banker Henry Halberstamm, who went to 
Germany to study the system of manufacturing in 
western countries. At present the Jews equal, in 
some points even excel, the Germans in cloth-makinz. 
The growth of the population and the prosperity 
of Byelostok for the last forty years must be attrib- 
uted almost entirely to the Jews. There does not 


449 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Byelostok 
Byk 





seem to have been any increase of the Gentile popu- 
lation during that period. Semenov, “ Geographical 
aud Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire ” 
(i. 872), gives the Jewish population of Byelostok in 
1860 as 11,288 ina total population of 16,544. In 
1889, according to “Entziklopedicheski Slovar,” 
1896 (the latest official authority available), it was 
48,552 in a total population of 56,629. 8S. R. Lan- 
dau, in his excellent description of the Jewish com- 
munity of Byelostok at the present 
Vital time says, in his “ Unter Jiidischen Pro- 
Statistics. letariern” (Vienna, 1898), pp. 45-58, 
that there are hardly 5,000 Chris- 
tians among its 65,000 inhabitants. Semenov men- 
tions only 8 cloth-factories in Byelostok in 1860; the 
yresent number, according to Leonty Soloweitschik 
<“Un Prolétariat Méconnu,” p. 100, Brussels, 1898), 
is 60, besides about 20 establishments of allied indus- 
tries. The number of Jewish weavers, according to 
Landau, is in round numbers 2,000. Almost all 
other industries and trades, as well as commercial 
cuterprises, are in Jewish hands. The tobacco in- 
dustry, which in Byelostok is second in importance 
only to the cloth industry, is entirely in the hands 
of Jews. Jn the earlier part of the nineteenth cen- 
tury Byelostok had a Hebrew printing-office, from 
which the first book known to have been printed 
‘was issued in 1805 and the last in 1824. 

The Jewish community of Byelostok is the most 
prosperous in Lithuania, and its communal institu- 
tions are models of their kind. The KoropKa (meat- 
tax) and the yearly quota of conscripts to the army, 
which are the cause of much trouble in most Russo- 
Jewish communities, are dealt with here in a spirit 
of justice which satisfies all parties concerned. Byel- 
ostok has one large synagogue, or “schul,” one 
“chorschul,” four or five large “batte midrashim,” 
and about twice as many small ones, or “minya- 
nim.” It has also one of the finest Jewish hospitals 
in the empire, a home for the aged, two “ gemilut 
hasadim,” or free loan institutions, a Talmud-Torah 
with about 500 pupils, and many other benevolent 
societies, 

The number of distinguished Jews born or who 
have made their home in Byelostok is considerable. 
Isaac Zabludovs«y, tne ancestor of the most influen- 
tial family in Byelostok, is said to have been the first 
Jewish millionairein Russia. Michacl Zabludovsky 
(1803-69), author of a work, “Mish‘an Mayim,” on 
the rational interpretation of the Haggadah, and 
. Professor Zabludovsky, specialist in 
massage at the University of Berlin, 
belong to the same family. Eliezer 
I[alberstamm, the wealthy scholar and 
author, was connected with them by marriage. 
Jacob Bacharach, who corresponded with Rapoport, 
Zunz, Luzzatto, and other great scholars of the cen- 
tury, and wrote on the Hebrew alphabet and other 
subjects, lived in Byelostok. The Nestor of mod- 
ern Hebrew literature in Russia, A. B. GorrLoBER, 
spent his last years in Byelostok, and is buried there. 
The poet M. M. Dotirzx1; Arthur Freeman, son of 
the Hebrew writer; A. D. LIEBERMAN; and Leo 
WikENER of Harvard University, Massachusetts, U. 
S. A., were born there. J. CHAZANOWICZ, the noted 
Zionist, who devotes his energy and almost his entire 


IIT.—29 


Notable 
Jews. 


income to the national library which he founded in 

Jerusalem, is one of the interesting characters of 

Byelostok. Lazar Atlas, the critic, and formerly 

editor of the “ Ha-Kerem,” has been a bank official 

in the city since 1895. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: In addition to the works cited in the article, 
Ch. J. Kremer, Massa Byelostok, Keneset Israel, v. 1, War- 


saw, 1886. 
H. R. P. Wt. 


BYELSE: Town in the government of Grodno, 
Russia, It is impossible to name the exact date 
when Jews first sectled here. In the sixteenth cen- 
tury, during the reign of Sigismund Augustus, the 
Byelsk Jews were accused of ritual murder, but 
were acquitted. This trial, together with a similar 
one at Narva, resulted in the promulgation of a 
royal edict, termed “ Privilegia,” forbidding the tor- 
ture of Jews accused of using Christian blood for 
their ritual. The king himself was to try these 
cases; and the accusation had to be proved in the - 
manner mentioned in the “ Privilegia.” 

Byelsk has a total population of 7,461, including 
(in 1898) 5,500 Jews. The economic conditions of 
the latter are generally poor. There is fierce com- 
petition among the petty shopkeepers, constituting 
about 75 per cent of the Jewish population. About 
440 Jews are engaged in tailoring, baking, shoe- 
making, etc., while 60 are laborers. The increase 
of poverty is manifested by the number of appli- 
cants for charity at the Passover. These increased 
from 95 in 1894 to 195 in 1898. The committee of 
charities, numbering 800 members, collects annu- 
ally about 2,000 rubles for the poor. There is a 
Talmud-Torah with 113 pupils, and an elementary 
public school having two classes, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Regesty, i. 240, 247. 
H. R. S. J. 


BYESHENKOVICHI: Town in the district of 
Lepelsk, government of Vitebsk, Russia. In 1898, in 
a total population of 5,000, about 4,000 were Jews, 
of whom 576 wereartisans. They had a synagogue, 
many houses of prayer, three benevolent societies, 


and numerous religious schools. 
8. 8. J. 


BYK, EMIL: Austrian lawyer and deputy; 
born Jan. 14, 1845, at Janow, near Trembowla, in 
Galicia. 

In 1885 Byk was chosen chairman of the charity 
committee of the Cultusrath of Lemberg, and is now 
(1902) president of the Jewish community there; in 
1890 he was a “Stadtverordneter” and president of 
the Shomer Israel Society ; in 1891 he was elected to 
represent Brody and Zloczow in the Reichsrath; and 
he was reclected at every subsequent election. Byk 
has served on several important committees of the 
Reichsrath, such as the Volkswirthschaftsausschuss 
and Justizausschuss. Some of his more important 
speechesin that body are: an address in 1898 against 
Prince Lichtenstein on the establishment of a Jew- 
ish theological seminary; an address, May 4, 1898, 
against the proposition that the sittings of the com- 
mittee to consider the charges against ex-Prime Min- 
ister Badenishould be public; and a stirring address, 
Nov. 24, 1898, on the “ Ausnahmszustand” in Ga- 
licia, Which was very wel] received. Byk was promi- 


Bykhov 
Byzantine Empire 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


450 








nent in the legal profession, and took a leading part 
in Jewish affairs not only in Lemberg but in Galicia 
generally. He died June 23, 1906. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bloch, Oest. Wochenschrift, 1886, No. 1; 1894, 
No. 37 ; 1900, No. 48; Stenographische Protokolle des Abge- 
ordnetenhauses, 1898, 1899, Index. 


B. P. Wr. 


BYKHOV: District town in the government of 
Mohilev, Russia. At the ceusus of 1898 the total pop- 
ulation was 6,536, including 3,172 Jews, of whom 
587 were artisans. Most of the Jews are extremely 
poor, and at times they lack the simple necessities 
of life. One hundred and twenty-seven families 
had to apply for relief at the Passover. There are 
a “bikkur holim” society (for the visitation of the 
sick), a “linat ha-zedek” (poorhouse), and a “ kib- 
bud yom-tob ” society (an organization for providing 
help during holidays). In the vicinity of Bykhov 
are situated Sapezhinka (a village where 44 Jewish 
families own 857 deciatines of land) and an agricul- 
tural colony, Vynn (with 20 Jewish families who 
own a tract of 200 deciatines). 

H.R. S. J. 


-——Historical Data: During the uprising of the 
Cossacks under Bogdan Chmielnicki, 1648-49, the 
greater part of the Jews of Bykhov, who did not 
embrace Christianity, were killed. From a report 
of the Polish agent Voisha to King Jan Cazimir 
(dated Mohilev on the Dnieper, Aug. 25, 1662) it is 
evident that the Jews of Bykhov who were forcibly 
baptized did not become true adherents of the Greek 
Orthodox Church, and that they gave their support 
to the Polish commander Grochowski, who had been 
captured by the Russians on the Bykhov road and 
imprisoned. At the same time Major Jacob Shtreg, 
an engineer from Moscow, who was dissatisfied on 
account of the humiliation he received from the Rus- 
sians during the siege of Smolensk and Bykhov, re- 
ported that he would soon come to Mohilev in the 
service of the Polish king, together with the Jews 
of Bykhov, with whom he had made arrangements 
for the occasion. 

The Russian archimandrite, Vasilevich of Slutzk 
(Lithuania), in a letter addressed to Prince Radziwill, 
lord of the manor, complained of the great losses he 
had sustained by the Jews—not the old settlers of 
Slutzk, but those who emigrated from Bykhov and 
from the Ukraina, among whom there were many 
who had been converted to the Greek Orthodox re- 
ligion and had now turned back to Judaism. Thus, 
for instance, a Jewess from Russia who had been 
converted to Christianity more than ten years before, 
and who had married a Muscovite Christian, per- 
suaded him to remove to SJutzk, where she and 
the sister and children of her husband, as well as her 
own children, changed their faith to Judaisin. 

Owing to an application of Abraham Wolfovich, 
a Jew from Bykhov,a copy of a document of the 
city records of Orsha, given to Isaash and Abraham 
Wolfovich of Bykhov, was entered Aug. 18, 1671, 
in the city records of Brest-Litovsk. It contained a 
privilege granted by King Michael to the city of 
Old Bykhov, Oct. 20, 1669, releasing the commu- 
nity from the payment of taxes for twenty years on 


account of the deplorable condition of its inhabit- 

ants, who had been utterly ruined by the attacks of 

the Cossacks and the Muscovites. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zuk ha-‘Ittim; Regesty t Nadpisi, Nos. 
924, 1008, 1065, 1081; .Archeologicheski Shornik, vii. 142; 


Akty Wilenskot Archeologicheskot Kommissti, iv. 46; Kos- 
tomarov, Bogdan Chinielnitzy, ii. 33, ii, 302. 
H. R. 


BYRON, GEORGE GORDON, LORD: Eng- 
lish poet; born in Halles street, London, Jan. 22, 
1788; died at Missolonghi, Greece, April 19, 1824. 
The only one of his works which has any relation 
to Jewish topics is his “ Hebrew Melodies,” some of 
which have proved as popular as any of his }yrics. 
These melodies were written to oblige Byron’s friend 
Douglas Kinnaird. Their meter lacks spontaneity ; 
the subject-matter has often nothing whatsoever to 
do with anything Hebraic; and their imagery is 
often conventional and unpicturesque. “She Walks 
in Beauty,” for example, might be Irish as well as 
Hebrew. It was written on Byron’s return from 
a ball, where he had seen and admired Mrs. (later 
Lady) Wilmot Horton, wife of the poet’s relative, 
the governor of Ceylon. She appeared at the ball, 
dressed in black and covered with spangles. 

Much the same may be said of “It Is the Hour 
When from the Boughs.” On the other hand, “Oh 
Weep for Those” is essentially Jewish in its subject- 
matter, and is written in a strain worthy of its 
author. The last verse is well known: 

** Fribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, 
How shall ye flee away and be at rest ? 
The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave, 
Mankind their country—-Israel, the grave.”’ 

Another poem, symbolic of Judaic history, “The 
Assyrian Came Down Like a Wolf on the Fold,” is 
not written, however, in Byron’s usual smooth and 
euphonious style. 

The “Hebrew Melodies” never satisfied their au- 
thor. Twitted on the subject by Moore, he ex- 
claimed : 

“Sunburn Nathan! [the composer who had set them to 
music} Why do you always twit me with his Ebrew nasalities ? 
Have I not already told you it was all Kinnaird’s doing and my 
own exquisite facility of temper? "’ 

The poems constituting the “ Melodies ” were writ- 
ten in 1814 for music composed by Isaac NaTHAN, 
who had been introduced to Byron two years previ- 
ously. Themusic was mainly “aselection from the 
favorite airs suny in the religious ceremonies of the 
Jews” (“ Nathan’s Fugitive Pieces,” p. ix., ed. 1829, 
p. 144); and Kinnaird, who was a dilettante, induced 
Byron to supply the words. Subsequently Jobn 
BranaM arranged and sang the songs, but did not 
assist in composing them. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Gentleman’s Magazine, 1830, vol. ¢., pt. i.. p- 
465; Christiana Observer, 1815, xiv. 542-549; Analectic 
Magazine, 1815, vi. 292-204; Nofes and Queries, 1884, 6th 
series, ix. 71; Dict. National Biography, viii. 132-155, x1. 
121-122; Letters from Byrou to Moore, in the latter’s Life 
of Byron, Feb, 22, 1815. 

J. E. Ms. 


BYZANTINE EMPIRE: Name given to the 
eastern division of the Roman empire. On May 11, 
330, Constantinople became the capital of the Roman 
empire, and the Greek Orient thereafter develcped 
independently. In these countries of the Eastern 
empire, including Palestine, the Jews lived in great 


451 





masses, so that the fate of the Jewish people was 
decided in Constantinople. 

The association of “navicularii” (ship- and cargo- 
owners) of Constantinople had attempted to force 
the Jews and the Samaritans to join them and to 
share in the burdens of the society; but a decree 
dated Feb. 20, 390, bearing the names of the em- 
perors Valentinian If., Theodosius, and Arcadius, 
decided that the communities of the Jews and the 
Samaritans could not legally be forced to join the 
navicularii, and that at most their wealthy mem- 
bers only could be taxed (“Codex Theodosianus,” 
xiii. 5, 18). This decree was most important to the 
Jews, formany of them were ship-owners, and more 
than one-half of the shipping in Alexandria was 
controlied by Jews (Synesius, “Epist.” iv.). While 

in- the Western empire the Jews were 
Privileged compelled to fill civic oftices, the East- 
Position. ernempire accorded certain privileges 
at least to the elders (“viri specta- 
biles”) and to the patriarchs of the community 
(*“Cod. Theod.” xvi. 8, 14). The rule of ARcaApIUs 
was on the whole favorable to the Jews, and these 
privileges of the patriarchs were renewed Feb, 3, 404. 
In 412, disturbances of the Jewish service and the 
confiscation of Jewish synagogues were forbidden 
(ib. xvi. 8, 21). In 488 Theodosius IT. had all laws 
codified and published relating to the Jews (“No- 
vellee Theod.” title iii.). 

In the mean time several events had occurred to 
disturb the relations between Jews and Christians. 
In 848 a riot is said to have broken out among the 
Jews of Palestine, during which they killed many 
Greeks and Samaritans (Theophanes, “Chrono- 
graphia,” ed. Migne, cviii. 139); and similar events 
arereported in the “Chronicon” of Jerome (com- 
pare Theodoret, iv. 6) as occurring in the fifteenth 
year of Constantius’ reign (852). In fact, even Tal- 
mudic sources speak of the hardships inflicted upon 
the Jews under Cesar Gallus at the hands of his 
general, Ursicinus. The Roman army captured Di- 
ocesarea (Sepphoris), the stronghold of the up- 
rising, and, among other cities, Lydda and Tiberias, 
which were completely destroyed. The leader of 
the rebellion is called by the Romans “ Patricius,” 
and in Jewish sources “ Natrona”; the latter, how- 
ever, seems to be an assumed Messianic name, like 
that of Nehemiah ben Hushiel, who, according to 
an obscure passage of the Midrash (on Ps, Ix. 3), 
died before the gates of Jerusalem in the war 
against Constantinople. Among other severe penal- 
ties, Constantius renewed the law which forbade 
the Jews to enter Jerusalem (Sozomen, ii. 9, tii. 17). 
The severe measures against them were somewhat 
relaxed during the short reign. of JULIAN THE 
APOSTATE, but as early as the reign of Theodo- 

sius I. outrages were committed upon 
Til-Feeling them, the bishop of Callinicus burn- 

Between ing the synagogue in Osrhoene (Am- 

Jews and brosius, “Epist.” xxix.; see AM- 
Christians. BROSE). Though in 402 Atticus, 

bishop of Constantinople, cured a 
paralytic Jew bv baptizing him (Theophanes, /.¢. p. 
223), Arcadius did not encourage such baptisms, and 
issued a decree “de his quiad ecclesias confugiunt ” 
(“Cod. Theod.” L. 2). 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Bykhov ; 
Byzantine Empire 


But under the bigoted Theodosius IJ. the clergy 
had a free hand in Jew-baiting. In Alexandria, 
through the fanatic bishop Cyril, open hostility 
broke out between the Jews and the Christians, and 
Cyril succeeded in cruelly expelling the Jews from 
the city in 415 (Socrates, “ Hist. Eecl.” vii. 15; The- 
ophanes, /.c. p. 223), The prefect of the city com- 
plained, but at Constantinople the bishop was sup- 
ported; nor did the authorities there interfere when 
the Jews were driven from Crete. On the other 
hand, Theodosius II., with perfect justice, threat- 
ened punishment to the Jews for insulting the Chris- 
tian religion by some Purim joke (“ Cod. Theod.” 
xvi. 8, 18, 21). 

According toa report falsely ascribed to Athana- 
sius, the Jews of Beirut are said to haveinsulted the 
image of Jesus (Leo Diaconus, “Hist.” x. 5, ed. 
Migne, cxvii. 896). In Imnestar or Immum, a little 
town between Antioch and Chalcis, a similar occur- 
rence is said to have caused the death of a Christian 
boy; and the perpetrators of the joke were of course 
severely punished (Socrates, /.¢c. vii. 16; Theophanes, 
l.c. p. 227). In consequence of this event the Chris- 
tians of Antioch took away from the Jews their 
synagogues (423). The emperor himself did not re- 
spect the property of the Jews, for in 429, after the 
extinction of the patriarchate, he seized its tax, which 
formerly went to the patriarch, for the imperial 
treasury (“ Cod. Theod.” xvi. 8, 29). 

It was Theodosius, also, who expelled the Jews 
from Ccnstantinople proper, assigning them to a 
district on the other side of the Golden Horn above 
Galata, called Stenum (Zrevdv), Stanor, or Stanayre 

(but now changed to Juderia or Ju- 
In deca), in which was also their ceme- 
Constanti- tery. Hitherto they had occupied in 
nople. the city itself a special quarter, the 
copper market (yaAsorpdarera), contain- 
ing their synagogue, which was turned later into a 
Christian church. They were now under the juris- 
diction of a special strategus; but Manuel Comnenus 
again put them under the municipal authorities (Du 
Fresne, “Histoire Byzantine,” ii. 167, Paris, 1680). 
Benjamin of Tudela, also, did not find the Jews in 
the city itself, but across the inlet. <A staircase, 
which probably led to the Jewish cemetery, was 
called ‘EZpaxy oxaza (Ducange, “ Note in Alexia- 
dem,” ad 161 D.). Jews and Samaritans here held 
such large manufacturing interests that merchants 
in general were called “Samaritans” (Schwarz, * Sa- 
marit. Pentat.” p. 42). 

The feeling of Emperor Zeno (474-491) against the 
Jews is illustrated by a remark at the races of An- 
tioch. The “ Party of the Green” murdered many 
Jews, threw their corpses into the fire, and burned 
their synagogue. “They should have burned the liv- 
ing ones also.” said the emperor (Malalas, “Chrono- 
graphia,” ed. Bonn, p. 889). The charioteer Kalli- 
opas, Who had coive to Antioch from Constantinople, 
also caused a massacre of the Jews, July 9. 507 
(Malalas, 7). p. 396). Small wonder that there was 
a baptized Jew, Bassus, even in the Palestinian city 
Paneas (tdem, p. 289). Palestine suffered much in 
those days; Acre and Ptolemais were destroyed by 
earthquakes; and in Beirut the synagogue fell 
(Joshua Stylites, ch. xlvii.). In 523 Justin renewed 


Byzantine Empire 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


452 





the decree of Theodosius the Younger, forbidding 
the Jews and the Samaritans to hold positions of 
honor (“Codex Justinianus,” i. 5, 12). Although 
nominally no difference was made be- 
tween Jews and Samaritans, the latter 
were even more oppressed, since they 
could not act as witnesses, nor will 
away their property. During the reign of Zeno, 
in 490, at Pentecost, the Samaritans of Nablus fell 
upon the Christians, maltreated their bishop, and 
desecrated their church; as a punishment the em- 
peror took away their holy mountain, Gerizim, pre- 
sented it to the Christians, and built a church 
there, 

Under Justinian (527-567) the Samaritans rose 
again, chose Julian b. Sahar for their king (June, 
530), fell upon the Christians, and burned their 
churches. The emperor’s troops suppressed the 
riots, killed 20,000 Samaritans, and executed the 
leaders. Many Samaritans thereupon were con- 
verted; the others remained at Nablus and in the 
vicinity of Mt. Gerizim (Theophanes, f.c. p. 411; 
Procopius, “Historia Arcana,” ch. ii; “Chron. 
Paschale,” ed. Boun, p. 619). The Jews did not 
take part in this riot (Malalas, f.¢. p. 445), the imme- 
diate cause of which was a quarrel at an athletic 
game. It is known that Jews and Samaritans were 
employed as charioteers (¢). p. 446). During a race 
at Cesarea in Palestine both the Jews and the 
Samaritans engaged in a riot (Theophanes, /.c. ad 
annum 555) against the Christians, pulled down 
their churches, and kiJled Stephen, the prefect of 
the city. The emperor had the rioters severely 
punished by Amantius, or Adamantins (Procopius, 
Z.c. ed. Bonn, pp. 150-152). It was perhaps in mock- 
ery of the Jews that there was in the circus of Cen- 
stantinople the inscription Ta/aarvapyy¢ (“ Ruler of 
Palestine”) as the name of a horse (Kumanudes, 
Devaywy? "AéSewv AGyaarpiozwr, p, 248, Athens, 1883). 
On the other hand, the Jewish era (“vera mundi”) 
ig found on an inscription from the year 858, at 
Nicea in Bithynia (* Byzantinische Zeitschrift,” i. 
77). The Jews had always defended the Persians. 
When Tellain Mesopotamia was besieged by Kobad 
in 505, the Jews, through treachery, fell into the 
hands of the Greeks, and were all massacred by the 
Greek general Leontius (Joshua Stylites, ed. Wright, 
ch. tviii.). 

Justinian was the first emperor who not only cur- 
tailed the civic rights of the Jews, but interfered 
also in their religious customs and traditious. He 
forbade the celebration of the Passover if it fell be- 
fore the Christian Easter (Procopius, ¢.¢. ch. xxviii. ), 
because a Christian sect, the Quartodecimani, still 
celebrated this festival together with the Jews. 
Av anonymous writer violently attacks both the Jews 
and thé Quartodecimani for this (Photius, “ Myrio- 
biblon,” ed. Migne, ciii. 390). The ancient com- 
munity of Barion in northern Africa was even forced 
into baptism by Justinian (Procopius, “De AXdifi- 
ciis,” vi. 2), perhaps because it had resisted Belisa- 
rius in his expedition against the Vandals. After 
Belisarius had conquered the empire of the Vandals 
he carried to Constantinople the venerated treasures 
of the Temple, which they had taken from Rome; 
but. on the advice of a Jew, Justinian sent them to 


Samari- 
tans. 


Jerusalem (Procopius, “Bellum Vand.” ii. 9). The 
Jews, having good reason to stand by the Goths, 
heroically defended Naples in southern Italy against 
Belisarius in 586 (Procopius, “ Bellum Goth.” i. 8), 
It was an evil day for the Jews of Italy when they 
too came under Byzantine rule. Under Mauritius, 
in 584, a church in Jerusalem fell; the emperor sent 
Jews from Constantinople to restore it. 

Under Phocas occurred the bloody uprising of the 
Jews of Anriocu. Phocas himself was murdered, 
but his successor, Heraclius (610-642), also waded 
in the blood of the Jews. During his reign impor- 
tant events took place in Palestine, which are differ- 
ently reported in the various chronicles. In the 
fourth year of Heraclius’ reign, according to a 
Syrian source (“ Rheinisches Museum fiir Classische 
Philologie,” xIviii, 164), Sahrparz, general of Chos- 
roes IT. of Persia, conquered Damascus, in the fol- 
lowing year Galilee, and in the year after Jerusa- 
lem, killing 90,000 persons there. “The Jews 
bought the captive Cliristians for a small sum, and 
in their wickedness put them to death”; but the 
source of this remarkable statement, Bar Hebreeus 
Abulfaraj, is careful to qualify it by adding that 

“most of the Christians were killed by 
War the Persians and only a small number 
Between by the Jews.” Eutychius (fbn Bat- 
Rome and rik), however, asserts that the Jews 
Persia. helped the Persians in this massacre 
of countless Christians, and George 
the Monk speaks of myriads of Christians mur- 
dered by the Jews at the bidding of the Persians, 
which statement is corroborated by Theophanes 
(“ Byzantinische Zeitschrift,” iii. 343). Atall events 
the Jews dealt cruelly with the Christians, thereby 
hoping to induce the Persians to cede Jerusalem to 
them. According to the Syriac source the hope was 
not realized; on the contrary, all Jews from that 
city and the vicmity were exiled to Persia. When, 
after fourteen vears, Heraclius came as victor into 
Palestine, the Jews of Tiberias and of Nazareth, 
under the leadership of Benjamin of Tiberias, joined 
him as allies; the emperor would have kept peace 
with them had not fanatic monks instigated him to 
a massacre. Only a few Jews escaped into Egypt 
or sought refuge in caves and in forests (Futychius, 
ii. 241). 

In atonement for the violation of an oath to the 
Jews, the monks pledged themselves toa fast, which 
the Copts still observe; while the Syrians and the 
Melchite Greeks ceased to keep it after the death of 
Heraclius; Elijah of Nisibis (“ Beweis der Wahrheit 
des Glaubens,” translation by Horst, p. 108, Colmar, 
1886) mocks at the observance. Heraclius is said to 
have dreamed that destruction threatened the By- 
zantine empire through a circumcised people. He 
therefore proposed to destroy all Jews who would 
not become Christians; and he is reported to have 
counseled Dagobert, king of the Franks, to do the 

same (Pertz, “Monumenta Germaniae 
Heraclius. Historica,” i. 286, vi. 25; compare 

Joseph ha-Kohen, “ ‘Emek ha-Baka,” 
tr. Wiener, p. 5). The saying of the Tiburtine sibyl 
(Sackur, “Sibyilinische Texte,” p. 146, Halle, 1898), 
that the Jews of the Byzantine empire would be 
converted in one hundred and twenty years, seems 


453 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Byzantine Empire 





to refer to these occurrenees, since about one hun- 
dred and twenty years elapsed from the time of the 
Persian war under Anastasius, in 505, to the victory 
of Heraclius in 628. It has been thought that a 
Jewish apocalypse also refers to this expedition 
of Heraclius against the Persians (Buttenwieser, 
“Elias-Apokalypse,” Leipsic, 1897; see Apoca- 
LYPTIC LITERATURE, NEo-HEBRAIC; see, however, 
“Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiv. 359). No further persecu- 
tions of the Jews under Heraclius arereported. But 
the Jews again showed their warlike spirit when, as 
Nicephorus narrates, they stormed the Church of 
St. Sophia at Constantinople, which at that time 
was protected by the empress Martina and her son 
Heracleonas. Heraclius’ dream was fulfilled in an 
unexpected way. Judea, Syria, and Egypt fell into 
the hands of the circumcised Arabs and ceased to 
exist for the Byzantine empire; and the Jews were 
no longer excluded from Jerusalem. 

The Byzantine empire was now considerably 
smaller, but all the more bitter were the persecutions 
originating there. It is said that Leo the Isaurian 
(18-741) as an itinerant pedler met some Jewish 
fortune-tellers, who predicted that he would win the 
Roman empire if he abolished idolatry (Glycas, “ An- 
nal.” 3. 280; Gibbon, “ Decline and Fall,” v. 185). The 
iconoclasts, of whom Leo was the first, were nick- 
named “Jews,” as the pure Jewish religion forbade 
image-worship. The sentence of a wise man was 
frequently quoted: “ You have often heard that the 
Hebrews and Samaritans condemn images, hence all 
those who condemn them are Jews” (Mansi, “ Sacro- 
rum Conciliorum,” ete., xiii. 167). The reading of 

Isa. xl. 18, at Christmas, 814, so af- 
The Icono- fected Emperor Leo V., the Armenian, 
clasts. that he turned iconcclast. The same 
may be supposed of the Isaurian, who 
wasacquainted with Jews and Arabs. Nevertheless 
he forced the Jews of his empire to be baptized (723), 
many submitting, but at the first opportunity re- 
turning to their ancient faith. Others fled to freer 
countries, a number of Greek Jews going to the 
Crimea, to the Caucasian districts, or to the king- 
dom of the Chazars, where they effectively planted 
the seeds of Judaism. 

The former comrade inarms of Leothe Armenian, 
Emperor Michael ITI., stood in peculiar relations to 
Judaism. Many Jews were living in Amorion, a 
city in upper Phrygia. The Greek inhabitants be- 
longed to asect which, while believing in baptism, 
lived according to the Mosaic law in all things ex- 
cept circumcision. In spiritual as well as in tem- 
poral affairs it had as its leader a man or a woman 
who must have been born a Hebrew. Michael the 
Phrygian in his youth had belonged to this sect. 
Thus he had been ruled by Jews before he in turn 
ruled them (Additions to Theophanes, ed. Migne, 
cix. 56). The so-called “ Attinganes” also may be 
regarded as Jews (Basnage, “ Histoire des Juifs,” v. 
1482). Basil I., the Macedonian (867-886), third 
ruler after Michael, affected the lot of the Jews as 
no other Greek emperor had done. Knowing well 
that the religious disputations which he convoked 
between Jews and Christians led to no results, he 
promised relief from the burdensome taxation, and 
honors and offices to all Jews who should elect to 


be baptized. Perhaps by threats rather than by 
promises, he induced many Jews to be converted, al- 
though, as the source e#pressly adds, they returned 
to Judaism immediately after the em- 
peror’s death (@. p. 841; Simeon 
Magister, 7. p. 690; Georgius Mcna- 
chos, 72. p. 842; Cedrenus, in the “Compendium,” 
p. 241). The Chronicle of Ahimaaz (Neubauer, 
“Medieval Jewish Chronicles,” vol. ii.) shows the 
far-reaching consequences of the emperor’s edict. 
From Otranto the terrible news spread even to the 
Byzantine provinces of southern Italy, and it was 
only through a miracle, when Shephatiah b. Amittai 
cured the insane daughter of the emperor, that five 
Jewish communities there were saved; while more 
than one thousand communities were forced to sub- 
mit to baptism. Shephatiah expressed his sorrow in 
touching penitential songs; and this characteristic- 
ally Byzantine act became the subject of Mahzor 
commentaries. The Chronicle of Ahimaaz says that 
Basil’s son, Leo VI., the Philosopher, restored relig- 
ious freedom to the Jews; this agrees with the statc- 
ments found in the continuation of Theophanes. 
Tlowever, the “ Basilica,” that “corpus juris ” which 
was begun by Basil and continued and completed 
by Leo VI. and Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus, 
contains some stringent measures in regard to the 
Jews. But more rigidly than these imperial edicts 
were the edicts of the Church enforced. 

The heretical patriarch of Constantinople, Photius, 
who had for his teacher a Jewish necromancer, and 
who was himself the tutor of the imperial philoso- 
pher, collected the ecclesiastical laws into the no- 
mocanon. The sixth ecumenical council (680-681), 
which was the third convened at Constantinople, 
prescribed in Tit. iv., canon 78, that the Samaritans, 
with whom there had been trouble, should not be 
admitted too hastily to baptism. The seventh ecu- 
menical council, the second held at Nicsa, in 787, 
dealt in the eighth canon with the same subject; 
this time, however, in regard to the Jews, who, it 
said, ought to remain Jews rather than mock at 
Christianity under the mask of Christians. Emperor 
Constantine VIII., in 1026, added to these laws a 
regulation for a special Jew’s oath. 

Soon afterward the Byzantine Jews were stirred 
by events of world-historic importance. At the 
time of the first crusade (1096), Messianic hopes 
tilled both the Germanic and the Greek Jews, who 
expected no less than that Palestine would be re- 
stored to the Jews. A letter found in the genizah 
of Cairo (“ Jew. Quart. Rev.” ix. 27-29), which was 
sent from Tripolis to Constantinople, seems to indi- 

cate that Emperor Alexius Comnenus 

Messianic and the Patriarch (this is the interpre- 
Hopes. tation of the “great Hegemon”) ex- 
empted the Jews, perhaps only those 

of Salonica, from taxation, either because they were 
unable to pay taxes on account of the stress of the 
time, or because the emperor, fearing lest they 
should sympathize with the Latin crusaders. tried 
to secure their loyalty. Signs were reported from 
Salonica which were taken to announce the advent 
of the Messiah. These hopes, however, were decep- 
tive: the Jews suffered untold misery at the hands 
of the crusaders, and Palestine, wrested from the 


Basil I. 


Byzantine Empire 


Mohammedans, was not even allowed to be the sanc- 
tuary of Jewish piety (2b. x. 189-151). 

About the year 1000 Elijah of Nisibis (“ Beweis 
der Wahrheit,” p. 42) gave the following description 
of the Byzantine Jews: “The Romans tolerate many 
Jewish inhabitants within their borders, protect 
them, permit them to worship in public, and to 
build synagogues. The Jew in his country openly 
declares: ‘lama Jew.’ He cherishes his religion, 
prays in public, is not called to account for it, nor is 
he prevented from observing it, and no difficulties 
are put in his way.” The Nestorian metropolitan 
here shows how much better was the condition 
of the Jews than that of the Christian heretics. 
Moreover, it appears that the Greek Jews were more 
favorably circumstanced than their brethren in most 
of the other countries of Europe; the Greeks found 
the conduct of the Latins toward the Jews unjust 
and abhorrent (Basnage, “Histoire des Juifs,” v. 
1749). Therefore it is an error on the part of the 
traveler Pethahiah to speak of the bondage of the 
Jews in Greece. He himself testifies at the end of his 
work that there were a great many Jewish commu- 
nities in Greece; consequently they could not have 
been so badly treated. The traveler Benjamin of 
Tudela (about 1170) also testifies to the peace and 
prosperity enjoyed by the Greek Jews. In Otranto, 

the last town in southern Italy that 
In remained under Byzantine rule, there 


Eleventh were 500 Jews, but in Corfu only one 
and Sicilian Jew; in Arta (or Larta), 100 
Twelfth families, whose leader was_ signiti- 


Centuries. cantly called “Rabbi Heracles”; in 
Achelaos were 2 Jews; in Patras, 50; 
in Lepanto, 100; in Krisso near Mt. Parnassus, 200 
Jews, engaged in agriculture; in Corinth, 300; in 
Thebes, 2,000. A Jew from Thebes is mentioned in 
the Messianic letter from Tripolis, and Judah al-Ha- 
rizi also mentions this city. Its Jewish scholars 
stood second only to those of Constantinople, and 
the best silks and purple stuffs of the whole Byzan- 
tine empire were manufactured by its Jews. Silk- 
culture had been quickly learned by the Byzantine 
Jews, Who became masters of the art, some of them 
being transported to Sicily by Roger, king of Naples. 
In Eubcea there were 200 Jews; in Taburtrissa, 100; 
in Rovinaca, 100; in Armiros, a great commercial 
city, 400; in Vissena, 100; in Salonica, 500; in Mit- 
vizzi, 20; in Drama, 140; in Christopolis, 20; in Ro- 
dosto, 400; in Gallipoli, 200; in IKilia, 50. In Zei- 
tum, on the borders of Wallachia, Benjamin found 
50 Jews. The Wallachians pillaged the Greeks, but 
did not molest the Jews; they even gave to their 
children Jewish names, and called themselves broth- 
ers to the Jews. In Constantinople—that is, across 
the inlet—lived 2,000 Rabbinite and 500 Karaite 
Jews, separated by a wall. In addition to celebrated 
teachers, there were sitlk-workers, merchants, and 
bankers; they were often disturbed by the tanners 
near whom they lived. On the Greek islands also 
were many Jews: on Mitylene were 10 communities, 
on Chios 400 families, on Samos 800, on Rhodes 400, 
and on Cyprus several communities, among whom 
were some heretics. 
Benjamin of Tudela, and Justinian in his one 
hundred aud forty-sixth noveila, describe quite 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


454 





accurately the communal affairs of the Jews of the 
Eastern empire. Since the extinction of the patri- 
archate they had no central authority. In the sev- 
eral communities the heads of the academies (“ reshe 
pirke,” apyiepexira) managed the affairs, assisted by 
the elders (tpecSirepot) or masters (““magistri”). In 

Palestine the rabbis were designated 


Internal by the Greek expression “ wise men” 
Con- (sopoi), a title that survived in the 
stitution. Sicilian communities during the whole 


Middle Ages (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” vi. 
The delegates to the communities were called 
axéotodo, The “Cod. Theod.” xvi. 8, 10 also imen- 
tions the primates of the Jews. When Benjamin of 
Tudela visited the Jews at Salonica, they had their 
own mayor (égepo¢), This was during the reign of 
Manuel Comnenus (1143-80), who, as has been said, 
put the Jews of Constantinople under the jurisdic- 
tion of the common courts. He permitted his phy- 
sician, Solomon the Egyptian, to ridea horse. At 
Corfu, where the Jews were increasing, the Jewish 
syndics dressed like the Christian syndics, but were 
not permitted to carry a sword. Here the Jews 
retained their old constitution even under Venetian 
rule (Romanos, in “ Hestia,” Athens, 1891; “Rev. Et, 
Juives,” xxiii. 69-74; concerning the Jewish com- 
munity of Corfu see Romanos, /.c.). 

The once powerful Byzantine empire grew ever 
weaker, Arabs, Bulgarians, Venetians, and Turks 
despoiling it of its most beautiful provinces. There 
came a time when Jewish funds helped to sustain 
the weakened realm. In 1287 the pope, Gregory 
IX., permitted the King of France to send money 
obtained from the Jews to the Byzantine empire 
(Stern, “Stellung der Pépste zu den Juden,” Nos. 
198-200, Kiel, 1895). Under the Bulgarian czar, Jo- 
annes Alexander (1881-65), who married a Jewess 
called after baptism “Theodora,” the Jews are said 
to have made themselves obnoxious and to have cre- 
ated disturbances (Jirecek, “Gesch. der Bulgaren,” 
p. 312, Prague, 1876). In Bulgaria the Jews were 
employed as executioners (7. p. 380). This wasa 
Byzantine custom, as may be learned froma letter of 
R. Jacob de Venice to Fra Pablo Christiani (Kobak, 
in “Ginze Nistaroth,” 1868, pp. 1-81; compare “ Mo- 
natsschrift,” 1870, p. 117). The spirit of intolerance 
still permeated the polemical work of Emperor Joan- 
nes Cantacuzenus (1847-55), which was, however, 
directed against the Mohammedans rather than the 
Jews (ed. Migne, cliii., cliv.): a century later this 
spirit entirely disappeared. One often meets polem- 
ical writings against the Jews (Jahn, “ Anecdota 
Greca Theologica,”’ p. xvi., Leipsic, 1893), and the 
Greek opponent declares that he uses the Jewish 
language (2b. p. 1). 

The beautiful city of Constantinople fell into the 
hands of the Turks in 1458, and, curiously enough, 

the Greeks mourned with songs pat- 


239). 


Jewish terned after the Hebrew Threni. 
Relics at Countless monuments of art, many 
Constanti- pcrtaining to Judaism, were destroyed. 
nople. Nearly all the personages of the Old 


Testament had statues here, which 
were reverenced by the Jews, even though they 
served Christian purposes. The staff of Moses, and 
the cross, both brought by Constantine the Great 


455 


from Jerusalem, were considered the most precious 
treasures of the empire. Until 1204 the statue ofa 
rider with winged feet stood in the cattle market 
(“forum tauri”), representing Bellerophon, though 
the people regarded it as Joshua when he bade the 
sun stand still. Abraham Zacuto held the charac- 
teristic if erroneous opinion that Job was buried in 
Constantinople “ (Yuhasin,” ed. London, p. 6). The 
Midrash books, most of which received their final 
form in the Byzantine empire, often speak of the 
new Rome, or Babel, as it is also called, especially 
in regard to the size of this city (Midr. Teh. xlviii. 4; 
B. B. 75b; see also Berliner’s “ Magazin,” xix. 239). 
In a late Midrash the throne and circus of Constan- 
tinople are discussed, and Benjamin of Tudela de- 
scribes the throne. Under the name “ Kostantine ” 
the city is often mentioned in the later Midrash and 
Targum, and even more frequently in the Jewish 
literature of the later Middle Ages. Aside from its 
figurative names, such as “‘Uz,” “ Buz,” “Magdiel,” 
etc., the Byzantine empire is usually called “ Ro- 
mania,” for the Byzantines always considered them- 
selves Romans. The name is especially applied to 
the ritual, and mention is frequently made of a 
Roman or Grecian ritual (Zunz, “ Ritus,” p. 79) and 

of a Roman Mahzor (ed. princeps, 

Liturgy. Constantinople, 1510). Affinity to the 

Greck ritual is shown not only by those 
of Corfu and of Kaffa (a city of the Crimea, which 
like many others.was influenced by Constantinople), 
but also by those of Germany, France, and Italy, 
into each of which, the Byzantine empire being the 
medium, the Palestinian ritual was introduced; 
while Spain and the farther Orient were guided by 
the Babylonian ritual. Technical terms for the 
liturgical poetry in Hebrew (as “ keroba”) and espe- 
cially in Greek (as “piyyut,” from mocyri¢, moinorc, 
sp from Aezovpyia, PI3D from oivdcnog or aivTeKvoc, 
Por from wadudc) spread from here to the European 
countries. The influence of the Byzantine Jews on 
Judaism in general is in fact much greater than has 
heretofore been acknowledged. 

As long as the academies of Babylonia flourished 
they were much frequented by Greek Jews, espe- 
cially by Jews from Constantinople, whose knowl- 
edge of the Greek language was often of advantage 
to the Geonim (Harkavy, “’Teshubot ha-Geonin,” 
pp. 24, 105). Har Gaon learned Greek from them 
for his lexicographic work. Even Nahmanides in 
Spain studied under a Greek scholar (on B. B. 8a). 
Matthew of Edessa (1136) mentions in his chronicle 
a great Hebrew scholar of Cyprus, named Moses, 
who even in matters of religion judged between 
Greeks and Armenians (Wiener, in “ Hebr. Bibl.” 
vi. 116). Ibn Ezra mentions “the wise men of Israel 
in the land of Javan” (on Jonah i. 2). In his intro- 
duction to the commentary on the Pentateuch he 
speaks of the Greeks as forming a special school 
of Bible exegesis. Their method is the so-called 
“Derush,” though they held it superfluous to com- 
pile older Midrash works. 
atives of this method, both from Castoria in Bul- 
garia, are Tobiah b. Eliezer, author of “ Lekah Tob” 
(edited by §. Bnber), and his. pupil Meir, author of 
“Or ‘Enayim.” Tobiah also took part in the Mes- 
sianic movement of 1096, mentioned above, and both 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Two eminent represent- - 


Byzantine Empire 


are cited by their countryman Judah (Leon) Mos- 
coni of Ochrida in Bulgaria (about 1860; Berliner’s 
“ Magazin,’’ iii. 95), who in recent times 
became known as the owner of a val- 
uable library (“Rev. Et. Juives,” xl. 
63). The work “Kebod Elohim” of 
R, Abraham Cohen of Patras is preserved in manu- 
script. Joseph “the Greek” is known as a transla- 
tor. In the sphere of this Greek learning were also 
the Jews of southern Italy and of Sicily, prominent 
among whom was Shabbethai Donnolo (about 970) 
of Oria, physician to the Byzantine viceroy Euprax- 
ius, The well-known Isaiah di Trani also lived in 
Greece, and from his responsa may be gleaned the 
fact that some rabbinical observances were neglected 
by the Greek Jews (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” iv. 99), 
Whether Hillel b. Eliakim, the Midrash commen- 
tator, lived in Greece or in southern Ftaly is not 
known. The Mishnah commentator Isaac Siponto 
also deserves mention, and a certain R. Baruch from 
the Jand of Javan isnamed asa Talmudic authority. 
Shemariah b. Elijah Cretensis, in Spain called simply 
“the Greek,” a philosopher and grammarian, was 
prominent inthe fourteenth century. The “Greek” 
Zerahiah (fourteenth century) is the author of “Sefer 
ha-Yashar.” Besides these there were in Greece 
several liturgic poets; but they were unfavorably 
criticized by the competent judge Judah al-Harizi, 
who singles out for commendation only the poet 
Michael b. Kaleb of Thebes. Since Abraham ibn 
Ezraand Maimonides (“ Nit‘e Na‘amanim,” 17b) also - 
pass adverse judgment on the scholars of Greece, 
the intellectual endowments of the latter must have 
been mediocre. 

But the Byzantine empire was and remained the 
classic land of the Samaritans and the Karaites, 
The frequent uprisings of the former have already 
been mentioned. The literary activity of the Ka- 
raites is most noteworthy. They seem to have had 
a systematic organization, for Aaron b. Judah Kus- 
dini (about 1120) is named as the leader of the Ka- 
raite communities of the Byzantine 
empire (First, “Gesch. des Karier- 
thums,” i. 211). Distinction was at- 
tained by the “Jew” Assaf, probably a Karaite 
(time uncertain), and by the polyhistor Caleb Afen- 
dopolo (fifteenth century), a distinguished botanist, 
this being a rare attainment among the Jews of the 
Middle Ages. In Constantinople lived also Judah 
Hadassi (twelfth century), the greatest Karaite 
scholar. Most of the Karaite books were destroyed 
in the frequent conflagrations at Constantinople 
(Wulfer, in “ Theriaca Judaica,” p. 289). 

In the writings of the Rabbinite as well as in those 
of the Karaite Jews, Greek. the mother tongue. 
often has the ascendency, to the extent of entire 
Greek glosses (Perles, in “ Byzantinische Zeitschrift,” 
ii. 570-584). Butsuch words as p39 for “ Roman,” 
and "yo30wvIp for “Byzantine coin,” are also found 
in Western authors; the Jews also used Greek money 
in Turkish times (year-book “Jerusalem,” v. 167). 
Jeralimeel, who, probably in the eleventh century, 
made an epitome of the Yosirpron, also gives evi- 
dence of the thoroughly Greek culture of the By- 
zantine Jews. “It is certain that in Magna Greca, 
as in Constantinople, Greek was the vernacular 


Jewish 
Authors. 


Karaites. 


Cabala 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


456 





language, and would therefore be used by the Jews ” 
(Neubauer, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xi. 367). Two 
facts, both relating to the religious service, especially 
illustrate how deeply the Jews were steeped in Greek 
culture. Emperor Justinian was requested by a 
party of the Jews to have the weekly portions from 
the Torah translated into Greek. He willingly con- 
sented, hoping that thereby the Jews might be con- 
verted; he issued, in 553, a decree ordering the Jews 
to use either the Septuagint translation or that of 
Aquila. But the Jews reconsidered the matter be- 
times and retained their old custom. Even more 
remarkable is the fact that in Candia the Haftarah 
for the afternoon of the Day of Atonement—the 
Prophet Jonah—was recited in Greek (Elijah Kap- 


! 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 


sali, ed. Lattes, p. 22). This text, dating from the 
twelfth or the thirteenth century, is considered by 
many to be the oldest extant specimen of the Greek 
vernacular. <A complete translation of the Bible into 
Greek, for the use of Jews, exists in several manu- 
scripts. Such a translation, together with an Ara- 
maic and Spanish translation, was first printed at 
Constantinople in 1547. 

As Greek culture had well-nigh disappeared be- 
fore the invention of printing, the intellectual prod- 
ucts of the Byzantine Jews are to a great extent 
unknown; here, as well as in the political history 
of the time, new investigations may lead to fresh 


discoveries. 
G. S. Kr. 





C 


CABALA.—Name and Origin (Hebrew form 
Kabbalah [ndap, from Sap = “toreceive”; literally, 
“the received or traditional lore” |): The specific term 
for the esoteric or mystic doctrine concerning God and 
the universe, asserted to have come down as a revela- 
tion to elect saints from a remote past, and preserved 
only by a privileged few. At first consisting only of 
empirical lore, itassumed, under the influence of Neo- 
platonic and Neopythagorean philosophy, a specu- 
lative character. In the geonic period it is connected 
with a Mishnah-like text-book, the “Sefer Yezirah,” 
and forms the object of the systematic study of the 
elect, called “mekubbalim ” or “ ba‘ale ha-kabbalah” 
(possessors of, or adcpts in, the Cabala). These re- 
ceive afterward the name of “ maskilim” (the wise), 
after Dan. xii. 10: and because the Cabala is called 
mano? mon (hokmah onistarah” = the hidden 
wisdom), the initials of which are jn, they receive 
also the name of }'m ‘yay (“adepts in grace”) (ccl. 
ix. 11, Hebr.). From the thirteenth century onward 
the Cabala branched out into an extensive literature, 
alongside of and in opposition to the Talmud. It 
was written in a peculiar Aramaic dialect, and was 
grouped as commentaries on the Torah, around the 
Zohar as its holy book, which suddenly made its 
appearance. 

The Cabala is divided into a theosophical or the- 
oretical system, Kabbaiah ‘Iyyunit (n's\y nbap) 
and a theurgic or practical Cabala, mwyy mbap. 
In view of the fact that the name “Cabala” does not 
occur in literature before the eleventh century (see 
Landauer, “Orient. Lit.” vi. 206; compare Zunz, 
“G. V.” p. 415), and because of the pseudepigraphic 
character of the Zohar and of almost all the caba- 
listic writings, most modern scholars, among whom 
are Zunz, Gritz, Luzzatto, Jost, Steinschneider, and 
Munk (see bibliography below), have treated.the 
Cabala with a certain bias and from a rationalistic 
rather than from a psychologico-historical point of 
view; applying the name of “Cabala” only to the 
speculative systems which appeared since the thir- 
teenth century, under pretentious titles and with 
fictitious claims, but not to the mrystie lore of the 


zeonic and Talmudic times. Such distinction and 
partiality, however, prevent a deeper understanding 
of the nature and progress of the Cabala, which, on 
closer observation, shows a continuous line of de- 
velopment from the same roots and elements. 
Cabala comprised originally the entire traditional 
Jore, in contradistinction to the written law (Torah), 
and therefore included the prophetic and hagio- 
graphic books of the Bible, which were supposed to 
have been “received” by the power of the Holy 
Spirit rather than as writings from God’s hand (see 
Ta‘an. ii. 1; R. H. Va. 19a, and elsewhere in the Tal- 
mud ; compare Zunz, “G. V.” 2d ed., pp. 46, 366, 415, 
and Taylor, “ Early Sayings of the Jewish Fathers,” 
1899, pp. 106 et seg., 175 ef seg.). Each “received” 
doctrine was claimed as tradition from the Fathers 
—“masoret me-Abotenu” (Josephus, 
Meaning “Ant.” xiii. 10, §6; 16, § 2; Meg. 
of the Word 10b: Shek. vi. 1)—to be traced back 
‘‘Cabala.” to the Prophets or to Moses on Sinai 
(compare “mekubbalani” in Peah ii. 6; 
‘Eduy. viii. 7). So the Masorah, “the fence to the 
Torah” (Ab. iii. 13)is, as Taylor (/.¢. p. 55) correctly 
states, ‘a correlation to Cabala.” The chief charac- 
teristic of the Cabala is that, unlike the Scriptures, 
it was entrusted only to the few elect ones; where- 
fore, according to IV Esdras xiv. 5, 6, Moses, on 
Mount Sinai, when receiving both the Law and the 
knowledge of wondrous things, was told by the 
Lord: “These words shalt thou declare, and these 
shalt thou hide.” Accordingly the rule laid down 
for the transmission of the cabalistic lore in the 
ancient Mishnah (Hag. ii. 1) was “not toexponnd the 
Chapter of Creation (“ Ma‘aseh Bereshit,” Gen. i.) 
before more than one hearer; nor that of the Heav- 
enly Chariot (“Merkabah,” Ezek. i.; compare J 
Chron. xxviii. 18 and Ecelus. [Sirach] xlix. 8) to any 
buta man of wisdom and profound understanding ”; 
that is to say, cosmogony and theosophy were re- 
garded as esoteric studies (Hag. 13a). Such was the 
“Masoret ha-Hokmah” (the tradition of wisdom, 
handed over by Moses to Joshua (Tan., Wa’ethanan, 
ed. Buber, 13); and likewise the twofold philosophy 


457 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 





of the Essenes, “the contemplation of God's being 
and the origin of the universe,” specified by Philo 
("Quod Omnis Probus Liber,” xii.). Besides these 
there was the eschatology—that is, the secrets of the 
place and time of the retribution and the future 
redemption (Sifre, Wezot ha-Berakah, 357); “the 
secret chambers of the behemoth and leviathan ” 
(Cant. R. i. 4); the secret of the calendar (“Sod ha- 
‘Ibbur ”)—that is, the mode of calculating the years 
with a view to the Messianic kingdom (Ket. 111a-— 
112a; Yer. R. H. ii. 58b); and, finally, the knowledge 
and use of the Ineffable Name, also “to be trans- 
mitted only to the saintly and discreet ones” (Zenu‘im 
or Essenes; Kid. 71a; Yer. Yoma iii. 40d; Eccl. R. 
ili. 11), and of the angels (Josephus, “B. J.” ii. 8, 
& 7). <All these formed the sum and substance of 
the Mysteries of the Torah, “Sitre or Raze Torah” 
(Pes. 119a; Meg. 38a; Ab. vi. 1), “the things spoken 
only in a whisper” (Hag. 14a). 

How old the Cabala is, may be inferred from the 
fact that as early a writer as Ben Sira warns against 
it in his saying: AMNDI3 poy —b px = “Thou shalt 
have no business with secret things” (Ecclus. 
[Sirach] iii. 22; compare Hag. 18a; Gen. R. viii.). 
In fact, the apocalyptic literature belonging to the 
second and first pre-Christian centuries contained 

the chief elements of the Cabala; and 
Antiquity as, according to Josephus (J.c.), such 
of the writings were in the possession of the 

Cabala. Essenes, and were jealously guarded 

by them against disclosure, for which 
they claimed a hoary antiquity (see Philo, “De Vita 
Contemplativa,” iii., and Hippolytus, “ Refutation 
of all Heresies,” ix. 27), the Essenes have with suf- 
ficient reason been assumed by Jellinek (“B. H.” 
ii., iii,, Introductions and elsewhere), by Plessner 
(“Dat Mosheh wi-Yehudit,” pp. iv. 47 e¢ seg.), by 
Hijgenfeld (“Die Jiidische Apokalyptik,” 1857, p. 
257), by Eichhorn (“ Einleitung in die Apoc. Schrif- 
ten des Alten Testaments,” 1795, pp. 484 et seq.), by 
Gaster (‘‘ The Sword of Moses,” 1896, Introduction), 
by Kohler (“ Test. Job,” in Kohut Memorial Volume, 
pp. 266, 288 e¢ seq.), aud by others to be the origina- 
tors of the Cabala. 

That many such books containing secret lore were 
kept hidden away by the “ wise” is clearly stated in 
lV Esdras xiv. 45-46, where Pseudo-Ezra is told to 
publish the twenty-four books of the canon openly 
that the worthy and the unworthy may alike read, 
but to keep the seventy other books hidden in order 
to “deliver them only to such as be wise” (compare 
Dan. xii. 10); for in them are the spring of under- 
standing, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of 
knowledge (compare Sotah xv. 3). A study of the 
few still existing apocryphal books discloses the fact, 
ignored by most modern writers on the Cabala and 
Essenism, that “the mystic lore” occasionally al- 
Inded to in the Talmudic or Midrashic literature 
(compare Zunz, “G. V.” 2ded., pp. 172 et seg. ; Jotl, 
“ Religionsphilosophie des Sohar,” pp. 45-54) is not 
only much more systematically presented in these 
older writings, but gives ample evidence of a con- 
tinuous cabalistic tradition; inasmuch as the mystic 
literature of the geonic period is only a fragmen- 
tary reproduction of the ancient apocalyptic wri- 
tings, and the saints and sages of the tannaic period 


ime Sn i a enmeeipns S es = e s aa es Hee tet 


a rg eh he SSE EP a 


take in the former the place occupied by the Biblical 
protoplasts, patriarchs, and scribes in the latter. 

So, also, does the older Enoch book, parts of 
which have been preserved in the geonic mystic lit- 
erature (see Jellinek, d.c., and “Z. D. M. G.” 1853, 
p. 249), by its angelology, demonology, and cosmol- 
ogy, give a fuller insight into the “Merkabah ” and 
“ Bereshit ” lore of the ancients than the “ Hekalot,” 
which present but fragments, while the central fig- 

ure of the Cabala, Metatron-Enoch, is 


Cabalistic seen in ch. Jxx.-!xxi. in a process of 
Elements transformation. The cosmogony of 
in the the Slavonic Enoch, a product of the 
Apoc- first pre-Christian century (Charles, 
rypha. “The Book of the Secrets of Enoch,” 


1896, p. xxv.), showing an advanced 
stage compared with the older Enoch book, casts 
a flood of hght upon the rabbinical cosmogony 
by its realistic description of the process of crea- 
tion (compare ch. xxXv.-xxx. and Hag. 12a e¢ 
seqg.; Yer. Hag. ii. 7%a et seq.; Gen. R.i.-x.). Here 
are found the primal elements, “the stones of fire” 
out of which “the Throne of Glory” is made, and 
from which the angels emanate; “the glassy sea” 
(N™D ND), beneath which the seven heavens, formed 
of fire and water (D°D) wap = Dw’), are stretched 
out, and the founding of the world upon the abyss 
(NY ja): the preexistence of human souls (Plato, 
“Timeus,” 36; Yeb. 63b; Nid. 80b), and the forma- 
tion of man by the Creative Wisdom out of seven 
substances (see Charles, note to ch. xxvi. 5 and xxx. 
8, who refers to Philo and the Stoics for analogies); 
the ten classes of angels (ch. xx.); and, in ch. xxii, 
version A, ten heavens instead of seven, and an 
advanced chiliastic calendar system (ch. xv.-xvi., 
xxxli.; see MrnLENNIUM). Its cabalistic character 
is shown by references to the writings of Adam, 
Seth, Cainan, Mahalalel, and Jared (ch. xxxiii. 10, 
and elsewhere). 

More instructive still for the study of the devel- 
opment of cabalistic lore is the Book of Jubilees 
written under King John Hyrcanus (see Charles, 
“The Book of Jubilees,” 1902, Introduction, pp. lviii. 
et seg.)—which also refers to the writings of Jared, 
Cuinan, and Noah, and presents Abraham as the re- 
newer, and Levi asthe permanent guardian, of these 
ancient writings (ch. iv. 18, vill. 8, x. 18; compare 
Jellinek, “B. HL.” iii. 155, xii. 27, xxi. 10, xlv. 16) 

—because it offers, as carly as a thou- 
A Contin- sand years prior to the supposed date 
uous Tra- of the “Sefer Yezirah,” a cosmogony 

dition. based upon the twenty-two letters of 

the Hebrew alphabet, and connected 
with Jewish chronology and Messianology, while at 
the same time insisting upon the heptad as the holy 
number rather than upon the decadic system adopted 
by the later haggadists and the “Sefer Yezirah ” (ch. 
ii. 28; compare Midr. Tadshe vi. and Charles’s note, 
vi. 29 et seq.; Epstein, in “Rev. Et. Juives,” xxii. 
11; and regarding the number seven compare Ethio- 
pic Enoch, Ixxvii, 4 et seq. [see Charles’s note]; Lev. 
R. xxix.; Philo, “De Opificios Mundi,” 30-48, and 
Ab. v. 1-8; Hag. 12a). The Pythagorean idea of the 
creative powers of numbers and letters, upon which 
the “Sefer Yezirah” is founded, and which was 
known in tannaitic times—compare Rab’s saying: 


Cabala 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


458 


: 
“Bezalel knew how to combine [yy] the letters | “ History of Gnosticism,” ii.), show many pitfalls (see 


by which heaven and earth were created’ (Ber. 
90a), and the saying of R. Judah b. ‘Ilai (Men. 29b), 
quoted, with similar sayings of Rab, in Bacher, 
“Ag. Bab. Amor.” pp. 18, 19—is here proved to be 
an old cabalistic conception. In fact, the belief in 
the magic power of the letters of the Tetragram- 
maton and other names of the Deity (compare Enoch, 
ixi. 8 e¢ seg.; Prayer of Manasses; Kid. 7la; Eccl. 
R. iii. 141; Yer. Hag. ii. 77c) seems to have origi- 
nated in Chaldea (see Lenormant, “ Chaldean Magic,” 
pp. 29, 48). Whatever, then, the theurgic Cabala 
was, which, under the name of “ Sefer (or ‘‘ Hilkot ” 
Yezirah,” induced Babylonian rabbis of the fourth 
century to “create a calf by magic” (Sanh. 65h, 
67b; Zunz, “G. V.” 2d ed., p. 174, by a false ration- 
alism ignores or fails to account for a simpie though 
strange fact!), an ancient tradition seems to have 
coupled the name of this theurgic “Sefer Yezirah ” 
with the name of Abraham as one accredited with 
the possession of esoteric wisdom and theurgic 
powers (see ABRAHAM, APOCALYPSE OF, and ABRA- 
HAM, TESTAMENT OF; Beer, “ Das Leben Abrahams,” 
pp. 207 e¢ seg.; and especially Testament of Abra- 
ham, Recension B, vi., xviii.; compare Kohler, in 
“Jew. Quart. Rev.” vii. 584, note). As stated by 
Jellinek (“Beitrige zur Kabbalah,” i. 3), the very 
fact that Abraham, and not a Talmudical hero like 
Akiba, is introduced in the “Sefer Yezirah,” at the 
close, as possessor of the Wisdom of the Alphabet, 
indicates an old tradition, if not the antiquity of the 
book itself. 

The “wonders of the Creative Wisdom ” can also 
be traced from the “Sefer Yezirah,” back to Ben Sira, 
Z.c.; Enoch, xiii. 1, xlviii. 1, Ixxxii. 2, xcii. 1; Sla- 
vonic Enoch, xxx. 8, xxxiil. 8 (see Charles’s note for 
further parallels); [VY Esdras xiv. 46; Sotah xv. 3; 
and the Merkabah-travels to Test. Abraham, x. ; Test. 
Job, xi. (see Kohler, in Kohut Memorial Volume, pp. 
282-288): and the Baruch Apocalypse throughout, 
and even II Macc. vii. 22, 28, betray cabalistic tra- 
ditions and terminologies. 

But especially does Gnosticism testify to the an- 
tiquity of the Cabala. Of Chaldcan origin, as sug- 

gested by Kessler (see “ Mandeans,” 
Gnosticism in Herzog-Hauck, “ Real-Encyc.”) and 
and definitively shown by Anz (“Die 

Cabala. Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnos- 

tizisinus,” 1879), Gnosticism was Jew- 
ish in character long before it became Christian (see 
Joé), “ Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte,” ete., 1880, 
i. 203; Honig, “Die Ophiten,” 1889; Friedlinder, 
“Der Vorchristliche Jtidische Gnostizismus,” 1898; 
zdem, “Der Antichrist, ”1901). Gnosticism—that is, 
the cabalistic “Hokmah ” (wisdom), translated into 
“Madda‘” (Aramaic, “Manda‘” = knowledge of 
things divine)—seems to have been the first attempt 
on the part of the Jewish sages to give the empirical 
mystic lore, with the help of Platonic and Pythag- 
orean or Stoic ideas, a speculative turn; hence the 
danger of heresy from which Akiba and Ben Zoma 
strove to extricate themselves, and of which the 
systems of Pai.o, an adept in Cabala (see “ De Cheru- 
bim,” 14; “De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini,” 15; “De Eo 
Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiatur,” 48; “Quis Rerum 
Divinarum Heres Sit,” 22), and of Pau (see Matter, 


GNOSTICISM, MINIM). It was the ancient Cabala 
which, while allegorizing the Song of Songs, spoke 
of Apam Kapmon, or the God-man, of the “ BRipr 
of God,” and hence of “the mystery of the union of 
powers” in God (see Conybeare, “ Philo’s Contem- 
plative Life,” p. 304), before Philo, Paul, the Chris- 
tian Gnostics, and the medieval Cabala did. Specu- 
lative Cabala of old (IV Esd. iii. 21; Wisdom ii. 24) 
spoke of “the germ of poison from the serpcut trans- 
mitted from Adam to all generations” (Sw aiatehhs 
wns) before Paul and R. Johanan (‘Ab. Zarah 22b) 
referred to it. And while the Gnostic classification 
of souls into pneumatic, psychic, and hylic ones can 
be traced back to Plato (see Joél, l.c. p. 132), Paul 
was not the first (or only one) to adopt it in his sys- 
tem (see Hag. 14b; Cant. R. i. 3, quoted by Jodl!: 
compare Gen. It. xiv., where the five names for the 
soul are dwelt upon). 

The whole dualistic system of good and of evil 
powers, which goes back to Zoroastrianism and ulti- 
mately to old Chaldea, can be traced through Gnos- 
ticism; having influenced the cosmology of the an- 
cient Cabala before it reached the medieval one. So 
is the conception underlying the cabalistic tree, of 

the right side being the source of light 
Cabalistic and purity, and the left the source of 
Dualism. darkness and impurity (“sitra yemina 
we sitra ahara), found among the Gnos- 
tics (see Ireneeus, “ Adversus Hereses,” i. 5,§1; 11, 
§ 2; ti. 24, 8 6; Epiphanius, “ Heres,” xxxii. 1, 2; 
“Clementine Homilies,” vii. 3; compare Cant. R. i. 
9; Matt. xxv. 83; Plutarch, “De Isike,” 48; Anz, 
lc. 111). The fact also that the “Kelippot” (the 
scalings of impurity), which are so prominent in the 
medieval Cabala, are found in the old Babylonian 
incantations (see Sayce, “ Hibbert Lectures,” 1887, p. 
472; Delitzsch, “ Assyrisches Worterbuch,” s. >. nbp), 
is evidence in favor of the antiquity of most of the 
cabalistic material. 

It. stands to reason that the secrets of the theurgic 
Cabala are not lightly divulged; and yet the Testa- 
ment cf Solomon recently brought to light the whole 
system of conjuration of angels and demons, by 
which the evil spirits were exorcised; even the 
magic sign or seal of King Solomon, known to the 
medieval Jew as the Macen Dawip, has been 
resurrected (see Conybeare, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” 
xi, 1-45; also Exorcis). 

To the same class belongs the “Sefer Refu’ot” 
(The Book of Healing), containing the prescriptions 
against all the diseases inflicted by demons, which 
Noah wrote according to the instructions giver by 
the angel Raphael and handed over to his son Shem 
(Book of Jubilees, x. 1-14; Jellinek, “B. H.” iii. 
155-160; Introduction, p. xxx.). It was identified 
with the “Sefer Refu’ot” in possession of King Solo- 
mon and hidden afterward by King Hezekiah (see 
Pes. iv. 9, 56a; “B, H.” Le. p. 160; Josephus, “ Ant.” 
vill. 2, § 5; compare idem, “B. J.” ii. 8, 8 6, and the 
extensive literature in Schitrer, “Gesch. des Volkes 
Israel,” 3d ed., iii. 2, 99 e¢ seq.), whereas the secret 
of the black art, or of healing by demonic powers, 
was transmitted to heathen tribes, to “the sons of 
Keturah” (Sanh. 91a) or the AMORITES (compare 
Enoch, x. 7). 


459 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 





So striking is the resemblance between the SH1‘uR 
KomMaH and the anthropomorphic description of the 
Deity by the Gnostics (see Irenzxus, l.c. i. 14, § 3) and 
the letters of the alphabet laid across the body in At- 
bash (wns). or ALPHA AND OMEGA order, forming 
the limbs of the Macrocosmos, that the one casts light 
upon the other, as Gaster (in “ Monatsschrift,” 1898, 
p. 221) has shown. But so have “the garments of 
light,” “the mate and the female nature,” “the double 
face,” the eye, hair, arm, lead, and crown of “the 
King of Glory,” taken from the Song of Solomon, 
J Chron. xxix. 11; Ps. Ixviii. 18, and other familiar 
texts, even “ the endless ” (/v-Suf = ’Aréparvoc), their 
parallels in ancient Gnostic writings (see Schmidt, 
“ Gnostische Schriften in Koptischer Sprache,” 1892, 
pp. 278, 298, 310, and elsewhere). On the other 
hand, both the mystic Cross (“Staurus” = X = the 
letter fav of old; see JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, i. 612b; 
Ireneeus, U.c. i. 2, $38; Justin, “Apology,” i. 40; and 
Joél, lc. p. 147) and the enigmatic primal “ Kav la- 
kav,” or “Kavkav,” taken from Isa. xxviii. 10, re- 
ceive strange light from the ancient cabalistic cos- 
mogony, which, based upon Job xxxviii. 4 e¢ seq., 
spoke of “the measuring-line”—Kav, the inn sp 
(Isa. xxxiv. 11; compare AID Ap, Gen. R. i. after 
Hzek. x]. 3)—drawn “crosswise ”—3 yp) ‘nw (sce 
Midr. ha-Gadol, ed. Schechter, 11; compare Wee) 
sme Sw nvype, Hag. xti.1, and Joél, /.c.), and conse- 
quently applied also the term ipo ip (Kav le-kav), 
taken from Isa. xxviii. 10, to the prime motive 
power of creation (sce Irenzus, Jc. i. 24, &§ 5, 6; 
Schmidt, @.¢c. p. 215; compare Matter, “ Gnosticism,” 
ii. 58; Joél, Zc. p. 141). This was to express the 
divine power that measured matter while setting it 
in motion; whereas the idea of God setting to the 
created world its boundary was found expressed in 
the name “tw (“the Almighty”), who says to the 
world "| “(This sufiiceth ”). 

With the scanty materials at the disposal of the 
student of Gnosticism, it seems premature and 
hazardous at present to assert with certainty the 
close relationship existing between it and the ancient 
Cabala, as Matter, in his “ History of Gnosticism,” 
1828 (German translation, 1883 and 1844), and 
Gfroerer, in his voluminous and painstaking work, 
“Gesch. des Urchristenthums,’’ 1888, i. and ii., have 
done. Nevertheless it may be stated without hesi- 
tation that the investigations of Gritz (“ Gnosticism 
und Judenthum,” 1846), of Joél (“ Religionsphilo- 
sophie des Sohar,” 1849), and of other writers on the 
subject must be resumed on a new basis. It is also 
certain that the similarities, pointed out by Siegfried 
(“Philo von Alexandria,” pp. 289-299), between the 
doctrines of Philo and those of the Zohar and the 
Cabala in general, are due to intrinsic relation rather 
than to mere copying. 

Asa rule, all that is empiric rather than specula- 
tive, and that strikes one as grossly anthropomorphic 
and mythological in the Cabala or Haggadah, such 
as the descriptions of the Deity as contained in the 
“Sifra de Zeni‘uta” and “ Iddra Zutta ” of the Zohar, 
and similar passagesin “Sefer Azilut” and “ Raziel,” 
belongs to a prerationalistic period, when no Simon 
ben Yohai lived to curse the teacher who repre- 
sented the sons of God as having sexual organs and 
committing fornication (see Gen. R. xxvi.; com- 


pare Vita Adz et Eve, iii. 4, with Enoch, vii. 1 et 
seg.; also compare Test. Patr., Reuben, 5; Book of 
Jubilees, v. 1, and particularly xv. 27). Such mat- 
ter may with a high degree of probability be claimed 
as ancient lore or Cabala (= “old tradition ”). 

And as to speculative Cabala, it was not Persia 
with her tenth-century Sufism, but Alexandria of 
the first century or earlier, with her strange com- 
mingling of Egyptian, Chaldean, Judean, and Greek 
culture, that furnished the soil and the seeds for that 
mystic philosophy which knew how to blend the 
wisdom and the folly of the ages and to lend to 
every superstitious belief or practise a profound 
meaning. There sprang up that magic literature 
which showed the name of the Jewish God (AY ISIN) 
and of the Patriarchs placed alongside of pagan 
deities and demons, and the Hermes books (5D 
pivyn, as copyists wrote for Dp In “sp—not 
“ Homeros ”—see Kohler, * Jew. Quart. Rev.” v. 415, 
note), which, claiming an equal rank with the Biblical 
writings, enticed also Jewish thinkers. But above 
all it was Neoplatonism which produced that state 
of enthusiasm and entrancement that made people 
“fly in the air” by “the wagon of the sou!” (M355) 
and achieve all kinds of miracles by way of hallu- 
cinations and visions. It gave rise to those Gnostic 
songs (3)) WoT; Hag. 15b; Gritz, Uc. p. 16) which 
flooded also Syria and Palestine (see Gruppe, “ Die 
Griechischen Culte und Mysterien,” i. 1886, pp. 329, 
443, 494, 497, 659; Von Harless, “Das Buch von 
den A.gyptischen Mysterien,” 1858, pp. 13-20, 53~ 
66, 75, and Dieterich, “ Abraxas,” 1891). The whole 
principle of emanation, with its idea of evil inherent in 
matter as the dross (mp*Sp) is found there (see Von 
Hartess, Z.¢. p. 20), and the entire theurgic Cabala 
(mrwy mbap) is in all its detail developed there; 
even the spirit-rapping and table-turning done in 
the seventeenth century by German cabalists by 
means of “shemot” (magic incantations ; for the 
literature see Von Harless, J.c. pp. 130-1382) have 
there their prototypes (Von Harless, /.c. p. 107). 

K. 


——History and System: This remarkable pro- 
duct of Jewish intellectual activity can not be 
satisfactorily estimated as a whole unless the religio- 
ethical side of the Cabala is more strongly empha- 
sized than has been the case heretofore. It constantly 
falls back upon Scripture for its origin and au- 
thenticity, and for its speculative-pantheistic and 
anthropomorphic- prophetic tendencies. While mys- 
ticism in general is the expression of the intensest 
religious feeling, where reason lies dormant, Jew- 
ish mysticisin is essentially an attempt to harmonize 
universal reason with the Scriptures; and the alle- 
gorical interpretation of the Biblical writings by the 
Alexandrians as well as by the Palestinians (see 
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION) may justly be re- 
garded as its starting-point. These interpreta- 
tions had their origin in the conviction that the 
truths of Greek philosophy were already contained 
in Scripture, although it was given only to the 
select few to lift the veil and to discern them be- 
neath the letter of the Bible. 

In Talmudic times the terms “ Ma‘aseh Bereshit ” 
(History of Creation) and “Ma‘aseh Merkabdah” 


Cabala 











eee 


(History of the Divine Throne = Chariot; Hag. 11.1; 
Tosef., 7b.) clearly indicate the Midrashic nature of 
these speculations; they are really 

Mystic based upon Gen, i. and Ezek. i. 4-28; 

Doctrines while the names “Sitre Torah ” (Hag. 
in 13a) and “Raze Torah” (Ab. vi. 1) 
Talmudic indicate their charactcr as secret lore. 
Times. In contrast to the explicit statement 
of Scripture that God created not only 
the world, but also the matter out of which it was 
made, the opinion is expressed in very early times 
that God created the world from matter He found 
ready at hand—an opinion probably due to the in- 
fluence of the Platonic-Stoic cosmogony (compare 
Philo, “De Opiticiis Mundi,” ii., who states this as 
a doctrine of Moses; see Siegfried, “ Philo von Aljex- 
andria,” p. 280). Eminent Palestinian teachers hold 
the doctrine of the preexistence of matter (Gen. JR. 
i. 5, iv. 6), in spite of the protest of Gamaliel IT. (2d. 
i. 9). 

A Palestinian Midrash of the fourth century (see 
Epstein, in “Rev. Etudes Juives,” xxix. 77) asserts 
that three of the elements—namely, water, air, and 
fire—existed before the creation of the world; that 
water then produced the darkness, fire 
produced light, and air produced wis- 
dom (AY = “air” = “wisdom ”), and 
the whole world thereupon was made 
by the combination of these six elements (Ex. R. xv. 
22). The gradual condensation of a primal substance 
into visible matter, a fundamental doctrine of the 
Cabala, is already to be found in Yer. Hag. il. 77a, 
where it is said that the first water which existed 
was condensed into snow; and out of this the 
earth was made. This is the ancient Semitic con- 
ception of the “primal ocean,” known to the Baby- 
lonians as “Apsu” (compare Jastrow, “ Religion 
of Babylonia”), and called by the Gnostics Biboc 
= na (Anz, “Die Frage nach dem Ursprung des 
Gnostizismus,” p. 98). Rab’s enumeration of the 
ten objects created on the first day—namely, heaven, 
earth, tohu, bohu, light, darkness, wind, water, day, 
and night (Hag. 12a) [the Book of Jubilees (ii. 2) has 
seven.—K.]—shows the conception of “primal sub- 
stances” held by the rabbis of the third century. It 
was anattempt to Judaize the un-Jewish conception 
of primal substances by representing them also as 
having been created. Compare the teaching: “God 
created worlds after worlds, and destroyed them, 
until He finally made one of which He could say, 
‘This one pleases Me. but the others did not please 
Me’” (Gen. R. ix. 2). See also “ Agadat Shir ha-Shi- 
rim,” ed. Schechter, p. 6, line 58. 

So, also, was the doctrine of the origin of light 
made a matter of mystical speculation, as instanced 
by a haggadist of the third century. who commu- 
nicated to his friend “in a whisper” the doctrine 
that “God wrapped Himself in a garment, of light, 
with which He illuminates the earth from one end 
to the other” (Gen. R. iii. 4; see ABRAHAM, APOCA- 
LYPSE OF; compare Ex. R. xv. 22: “After He had 
clothed Himself in light, He created the world ”). 
Closely related to this view is the statement made 
by R. Meir, “that the infinite God limited or con- 
tracted Himself [pynpy] in order to reveal Himsclf” 


The Six 
Elements. 


(Gen. R. iv. 4; Ex. R. xxxiv. 1). This is the germ of | 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


46060 





the Cabala doctrine of the “ Zimzum,” im idea as well 
as In terininology. 

In dwelling upon the nature of God and the uni- 

verse, the mystics of the Talmudic period asserted, 

in contrast to Biblical transcendental- 

God inthe ism, that “God is the dwelling-place 

Theosophy of the universe; but the universe is 


ofthe not the dwelling-place of God” (Gen, 
Talmud. RK. Ixviti. 9; Midr. Teh. xc.; Ex. xxiv. 
11, LXX.) Possibly the designation 
Dipd (“ place ”) for God, so frequently found in Tal- 
oiudic-Midrashic literature, is due to this concep- 
tion, just as Philo, in commenting on Gen, xXvill. 
11 (compare Gen, R. le.) says, “God is called ‘ha 
makom’ [place] because He encloses the universe, 
but is Himself not enclosed by anything” ("De 
Somniis,” i. 11). Spinoza may have had this pas- 
sage in mind when he said that the ancient Jews 
did not separate God from the world. This con- 
ception of God is not only pantheistic, but also 
highly mystical, since it) postulates the union of 
man with God (compare Crescas, “Or Adonai,” 
i.); and both these ideas were further developed 
in the later Cabala. Even in very early times 
Palestinian as well as Alcxandrian theology rec- 
ognized the two attributes of God, “middat ha- 
din,” the attribute of justice, and “ middat ha-raha- 
mim,” the attribute of mercy (Sifre, Deut. 27; Philo, 
“De Opiticiis Mundi,” 60); and so is the contrast be- 
tween justice and mercy a fundamental doctrine of 
the Cabala. Even the hy postasization of these attri- 
butes is ancicnt, as may be seen in the remark of a 
tanna of the beginning of the second century ¢.r. 
(Hag. 14a). Other hy postasizations are represented 
by the ten agencies through which God created the 
world; namely, wisdom, insight, cognition, strength, 
power, inexorableness, justice, right, love, and 
mercy (Hag. 12a; Ab. R. N. xxxvii, counts only 
seven, While Ab. R. N., version B, ed. Schecliter, 
xliii., counts ten, not entircly identical with those 
of the Talmud). While the Sefirot are based on 
these ten creative potentialities, it is especially the 
personification of wisdom (ADM) which, in Philo, 
represents the totality of these primal ideas; and 
the Targ. Yer. i., agreeing with him, translates the 
first verse of the Bible as follows: “ By wisdom God 
created the heaven and the carth.” So, also, the 
figure of MeraTron passed into the Cabala from the 
Talmud, where it played the réle of the demiurgos 
(see GNosTICcIsM), being expressly mentioned as 
God (Sanh. 88b; compare ANTINOMIANISM, note 1). 
Mention may also be made of the seven pre- 
existing things enumerated in an old Baruita; 
namely, the Torah (=“ Hokmah”), repentance (= 
merey), paradise and hell (= justice), the throne of 
God, the (heavenly) Temple, and the name of the 
Messiah (Pes. 54a). Although the origin of this 
doctrine must be sought probably in certain mytho- 
logical ideas, the Platonic doctrine of preexistence 
has modified the older, simpler conception, and the 
preexistence of the seven must therefore be under- 
stood as an “ideal” preexistence (sce Ginzberg, “ Die 
Haggada bei den Kirchenviitern,” etc., pp. 2-19), 
a conception that was later more fully developed in 
the Cabala. . 
The attempts of the mystics to bridge the gulf 


461 


between God and the world are especially evident 
in the doctrine of the preexistence of the soul [com- 
pare Slavonic Enoch, xxiii. 5, and Charles’s note.— 
K.] and of its close relation to God before it enters the 
human body—a doctrine taught by the Hellenistic 
sages (Wisdom vili. 19) as well as by the Palestinian 
rabbis (Hag. 12b; ‘Ab. Zarah da, cte.). 

Closely connected herewith is the doctrine that the 
pious are enabled to ascend toward God even in this 
life, if they know how to free them- 
sclves from the trammels that bind 
the soul to the body (see ASCENSION). 
Thus were the first mystics enabled 
to disclose the mysteries of the world beyond. Ac- 
cording to Anz, é.¢.,and Bousset, “ Die Himmelreise 
der Seele,” in “ Archiv fiir Religionswissenschaft,” 
iv. 136 e¢ seg., the central doctrine of Gnosticism—a 
movement closely connected with Jewish mysticism 
—was nothing else than the attempt to liberate the 
soul and unite it with God. This conception ex- 
plains the great prominence of angels and spirits in 
both the earlier and the later Jewish mysticism. 
Through the employment of mysteries, incantations, 
nanies of angels, etc., the mystic assures for himself 
the passage to God, and learns the holy words and 
formulas with which he overpowers the evil spirits 
that try to thwart and destroy him. Gaining there- 
by the mastery over them, he naturally wishes to 
exercise tt even while still on earth, and tries to 
make the spirits serviceable to him. So, too, were 
the Essenes familiar with the idea of the journey to 
heaven (sce Bousset, d.¢. p. 148, explaining Jose- 
phus, “Ant.” xviii. 1,8 5); and they were also mas- 
ters of angelology. The practise of magic and in- 
cantation, the angelology and demonology, were 
borrowed from Babylonia, Persia, and Egypt; but 
these foreign elements were Judaized in the proc- 
ess, and took the form of the mystical adoration 
of the name of God and of speculations regarding 
the mysterious power of the Hebrew alphabet (see 
Ber. 55a; compare Pesik. R. 21 fed. Friedmann, 
p. 109a], “the name of God creates and destroys 
worlds”), to become, finally, foundations of the phi- 
losophy of the “Sefer Yezirah.” 

Another pagan conception which, in refined form, 
passed into the Cabala through the Talmud, was 
the so-called ana Wo Cithe mystery 
of sex”). [Compare Eph. v.33, 
and Bribe, and Joél, l¢., pp. 158 et 
seq.—k.} Possibly this old conception 
underlies the Talmudical passages referring to the 
mvstery of mairiage, such as “the Shekinah dwells 
between man and woman” (Sotah 17a). An old 
Semitic view (see BaA‘aL) regards the upper waters 
(compare Slavonic Book of Enoch, iti.; Test. Patr., 
Levi, 2; ABRAHAM, TESTAMENT OF) as masculine, 
and the lower waters as feminine, their union frue- 
tifying the earth (Gen. R. xin.; Wertheimer, “ Batte 
Midrashot,” i.6. Compare the passage, “ Everything 
that exists has a mate (a7 ja]: Israel is the mate of 
the Sabbath; while the other days pair among them- 
selves,” Gen. R. xi. 8). Thus the Gnostic theory 
of syzygies (pairs) was adopted by the Talmud, and 
later was developed into a system by the Cabala. 


The 
Pious. 


The 
Syzygies. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 


of the middle of the second century c.£. (Gen. R. 
iv. 4; R. Meir, “Parable of the Spring”). The idea 
that “ the pious actions of the just increase the heav- 
enly power” (Pesik., ed. Buber, xxvi. 166b); that 
“the impious rely on their gods,” but that “the just 
are the support of God” (Gen. R. Ixix. 3), gave rise 
to the later cabalistic doctrine of man’s influence on 
the course of nature, inasmuch as the good and the 
evil actions of man reenforce respectively the good 
or the evil powers of life. 

The heterogeneous elements of this Talmudic 
mysticism are as yet unfused; the Piatonic-Alexan- 
drian, Oriental-theosophic, and Judzo-allegorical 
ingredients being still easily recognizable and not 
yet elaborated into the system of the Cabala. Jew- 
ish monotheism was still transcendentalism. But as 
mysticism attempted to solve the problems of cre- 
ation and world-government by introducing sun- 
dry intermediary personages, creative potentialities 
such as Metatron, Shekinah, and so on, the more 
necessary it became to exalt God in order to prevent 
His reduction to a mere shadow; this exaltation 
being rendered possible by the introduction of the 
pantheistic doctrine of emanation, which taught 
that in reality nothing existed outside of God. Yet, 
if God is “the place of the world” and everything 
exists in Him, it must be the chief task of life to 
feel in union with God—a condition which the 
Merkabah-travelers, or, as the Talmud calls them, 
“the frequenters of paradise,” strove to attain. 
Here is the point where speculation gives place to 
imagination. The visions which these mystics be- 
held in their ecstasies were considered as real, giving 
rise within the pale of Judaism to an anthropomor- 
phic mysticism, which took its place beside that of 
the pantheists. Although Talmudic-Midrashic lit- 
erature has left few traces of this movement (com- 
pare, ¢e.g., Ber. 7a, Sanh. 95b), the Rabbis opposing 
such extravagances, yet the writings of the church 
fathers bear evidence of many Judaizing Gnostics 
who were disciples of anthropomorphism (Origen, 
“De Principiis,” i.; compare CLEMENTENA, ELcE- 
SAITES, MINIM). 

The mystical literature of the geonic period forms 
the link between the mystic speculations of the Tal- 

mud and the system of the Cabala; 


Different originating in the one and reaching 
Groups of completion in the other. It is ex- 

Mystic tremely difficult to summarize the 
Literature. contents and object of this literature, 


which has been handed down in more 
or less fragmentary form. It may perhaps be most 
conveniently divided into three groups: (1) theo- 
sophie: (2)cosmogenctic: (8) theurgic. In regard to 
its literary form, the Midrashic-haggadic style may 
be distinguished from the Jiturgic-poetic style, both 
ocewring contemporaneously. The theosophical 
speculations deal chiefly with the person of META- 
TROX-Enoch, the son of Jared turned into a fiery 
angel, a minor YHwWH—a conception with which, 
as mentioned before, many mystics of the Talmudic 
age were occupied. Probably a large number of 
these Enoch books, claiming to contain the visions 
of Enoch, existed, of which, however. only fragments 


The doctrine of emanation, also, common to both | remain (see “ Monatsschrift,” viii. 68 e¢ 8eq., and 
Gnosticism and the Cabala, is represented byatanna | Exocn, Book oF). 


Cabala 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


462 





Curiously enough, the anthropomorphic descrip- 
tion of God (see SuHi‘ur Koman) was brought into 
connection with Metatron-Enoch in the geonic mys- 

ticism. This vexatious piece of Jew- 
‘‘Metatron- ish theosophy, which afforded to 
Enoch.” Christians as well asto Karaites (com- 
pare AGOBARD; SOLOMON B. JERO- 
HAM) a welcome opportunity for an attack upon 
rabbinical Judaism, existed as a separate work atthe 
time of the Geonim. Judging from the fragments 
of “Shi‘ur Komah” (in Jellinek, “B. H.” iii. 91; ii. 
41; in Wertheimer, “l[ekalot,” ch. xi.), it repre- 
sented God as a being of gigantic dimensions, with 
limbs, arms, hands, fect, etc. The “Shi‘ur Komah ” 
must have been held in high regard by the Jews, 
since Saadia tried to explain it allegorically—though 
he doubted that the tanna Ishmael could have been 
the author of the work (as quoted by Judah b. 
Barzilai in his commentary on “Sefer Yezirah.” pp. 
20-21)—and Hai Gaon, in spite of his emphatic 
repudiation of all anthropomorphism, defended it 
(“Teshubot ha-Geonim,” Lick, p. 12a). The book 
probably originated at a time when the anthropo- 
morphic conception of God was current—that is, iu 
the age of Gnosticism, receiving its literary form 
only in the time of the Geonim, The Clementine 
writings, also, expressly teach that God is a body, 
with members of gigantic proportions; and so did 
Marcion. ApDAM Kapmon, the “primal man” of 
the Elcesaites, was also, according to the conception 
of these Jewish Gnostics, of huge dimensions; viz., 
ninety-six miles in height and nincty-four miles in 
breadth; being originally androgynous, and then 
cleft in two, the masculine part becoming the Mes- 
siah, and the feminine part the Holy Ghost (Epi- 
phanius, “ Heres.” xxx. 4, 16, 17; liti. 1). According 
to Marcion, God Himself is beyond bodily measure- 
ments and limitations, and as a spirit 
can not even be conceived; but in 
order to hold intercourse with man, 
He created a being with form and 
dimensions, who ranks above the highest angels. 
It was, presumably, this being whose shape and 
stature were represented in the “Shi‘ur Komah,” 
which even the strict followers of Rabbinism might 
accept, as may be learned from the “ Kerub ha- 
Meyuhad” in the German Cabala, which will be dis- 
cussed Jater in this article. 

The descriptions of the heavenly halls (* Hekalot ”) 
in treatises held in high esteem at the time of the 
Geonim, and which have come down in rather in- 
complete and obscure fragments, originated, ac- 
cording to Hai Gaon, with those mystagogues of the 
Merkabah (7257) "51), “who brought themselves 
into a state of entranced vision by fasting, asceti- 
cism, and prayer, and who imagined that they saw 
the seven halls and all that is therein with their 
own eyes, while passing from one hall into another 
(compare ASCENSION, and for a similar description 
of the Montanist ecstasy, Tertullian, “De Exhorta- 
tione Castitatis,” x.). Although these Hekalot vi- 
sions were to some extent productive of a kind of 
religious ecstasy, and were certainly of great service 
in the development of the liturgical poetry as shown 
in the Kedushah piyyutim, they contributed little to 
the development of speculative mysticism. This 


“‘Shi‘ur 
Komah.” 


element became effective only in combination with 
the figure of Metatron or Metatron-Enoch, the 
leader of the Merkabah-travelers on their celestial 

journeys, who were initiated by him 


The into the secrets of heaven, of the stars, 
Heavenly of the winds, of the water, and of the 
Halls. earth, [see METATRON, and compare 


Mithras as driver of the Heavenly 
Chariot in “Dio Chrvsostomus,” ii. 60, ed. Dindorf;, 
Windischmann, “ Zoroastrische Studien,” 1863, pp. 
309-312; and Kohler, “Test. of Job,” p. 292.—k.]. 
Hence, many cosmological doctrines originally con- 
tained in the books of Enoch were appropriated, and 
the transition from theosophy to pure cosmology 
was made possible. Thus, in the Midr. Konen (Jel- 
linek, “B. H.” ii. 23, 2%), which is closely related 
to the “Seder Rabba di-Bereshit” (in Wertheimer, 
“Botte Midrashot,” i. 18), the Torah, identical with 
the “ Wisdom” of the Alexandrians, is represented 
as primeval and as the creative principle of the 
world, which produced the three primal elements, 
water, fire, and light, and these. in their turn, when 
commingled, produced the universe. 

In the description of the “six daysof creation,” in 
the Midrash in question, the important statement is 
made that the water disobeyed God’s command— 
an old mythological doctrine of God’s contest with 

matter (here represented by water), 
Cosmolog- which in the later Cabala serves to ac- 
ical count for the presence of evil in the 

Theories. world. In “Seder Rabba di-Bereshit,” 

however, the contest is between the 
masculine and feminine waters which strove to unite 
themselves, but which God separated in order to 
prevent the destruction of the world by water: 
placing the masculine waters in the heavens, and 
the feminine waters on the earth (/.c. p. 6). Inde- 
pendently of the creation, the “ Baraita de-Middot 
ha-‘Olam ” and the “ Ma‘aseh Bereshit” describe the 
regions of the world with paradise in the east and 
the nether world in the west. All these descriptions 
—some of them found as early as the second pre- 
Christian century, in the Test. of Abraham and in 
Enoch; and, later on, in the Christian apocalyptic 
literature—are obviously remuants of ancient Es- 
sene cosmology. 

The mysticism of this time had a practical as well 
as a theoretical side. Any one knowing the names 
and functions of the angels could control all nature 
and all its powers (compare, for example, Lam. R. 
ii. 8; and HaNANEEL in Rabbinical Literature). 
Probably entrusted formerly only to oral tradition, 
the ancient names were written down 
by the mystics of the geonic period; 
aud so Hui Gaon (in Eliezer Ashke- 
nazi’s collection, “Ta‘am Zekenim,” 
p. 56b) mentions a large number of such works as ex- 
isting in his time: the “Sefer ha-Yashar,” “ Harba 
de-Mosheh,” “Raza Rabbah.” “Sod Torah,” “ Heka- 
lot Rabbati,” “Hekalot Zutrati.” Of all these 
works, aside from the HEKALOT, only the “ Harba 
de-Mosheh” has recently been published by Gaster 
(“The Sword of Moses,” in “Jour. Royal Asiatic 
Soc.” 1896; also printed separately). This book 
consists almost entirely of mystical names by means 
of which man may guard himself against sickness, 


Theurgic 
Cabala. 


463 





enemies, and other ills, and may subjugate nature. 
These and other works later on formed the basis of 
the theurgic Cabala. Theamplifications upon para- 
dise and hell, with their divisions, occupy a totally 
Independent and somewhat peculiar position in the 
geonic mysticism. They are ascribed for the greater 
part to the amora Joshua b. Levi; but, in addition 
to this hero of the Haggadah, Moses himself is al- 
leged to have been the author of the work “ Ma‘ayan 
Hokmah” (compare Sotah ix. 15, which gives an 
account of heaven and the angels). 

Aside from the “Sefer Yezirah,” which occupies a 
position of its own, the following is nearly a complete 
list of the mystic literature of the time of the Geonim, 
as far as itis preserved and known to-day: (1) “ Alfa 
Beta de Rabbi Akiba,” in two versions (Jellinek, 
“B. H.” iii.); (2) “Gan ‘Eden,” in different versions 
(Jellinek, Z.¢. ii., i., v.); (8) “[Maseket] Gehinnom ” 
(Jellinek, 7.c. i.); (4) “ Harba de-Mosheh,” ed. Gaster, 
1896, reprinted from “Jour. Royal Asiatic Soc,” 
1896; (5) “Hibbut ha-Keber” (Jellinek, ¢.¢. 1.); (6) 
“Hekalot,” in several recensions (Jellinek, f.c. ii., 
iii.; Wertheimer, “Jerusalem,” 1889, the text vary- 
ing considerably from that of Jellinek: the Book 
of Enoch is likewise a version of “ Hekalot”); (7) 
“Haggadot Shema‘ Yisrael” (Jellinek, J.c. v.; also 
belonging probably to the time of the Geonim); (8) 
“ Midrash] Konen” (printed several 
times; also in Jellinek, @.¢. i.); (9) 
“ Ma‘aseh Merkabah ” (in Wertheimer, 
“ Botte Midrashot,” ii.; a very ancient 
“ Hekalot ” version); (10) “ Ma‘aseh de 
Rabbi Joshua b. Levi,” in different 
recensions (compare APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, 
Neo-Hespraic, No. 5); (11) “Ma‘ayan Hokmah ” 
(Jellinek, f.c. i.); (12) “Seder Rabba di-Bereshit,” 
in Wertheimer, J.c. i.); (18) “Shimmusha Rabba 
we-Shimmusha Zutta ” (Jellinek, ¢.¢. vi.). 

Mystical fragments have been preserved in Pirke 
R. El., Num. R., and Midr. Tadshe; also in the 
“Book of Raziel,” which, though composed by a 
German cabalist of the thirteenth century, contains 
important elements of the geonic mysticism. 

Eleazar of Worms’ statement that a Babylonian 
scholar, AARON B. SAMUEL by name, brought the 
mystic doctrine from Babylonia to Italy about the 
middle of the ninth century, has been found to be 
actually true. Indeed, the doctrines of the “ Kerub 
ha-Mey uhad,” of the mysterious power of the letters 
of the Hebrew alphabet, and of the great importance 
of the angels, are all found inthe geouic mystic lore. 
Even those elements that scem later developments 

may have been transmitted orally, or 

Origin may have formed parts of the lost 
ofthe works of the old mystics. If, now, 
Speculative the German Cabala of the thirteenth 
Cabala. century is to be regarded as merely a 
continuation of geonic mysticism, it 

follows that the speculative Cabala arising simul- 
taneously in France and Spain must have had a 
similar genesis, It is the SErFER Yezrmau which 
thus forms the link between the Cabala and the 
geonic mystics. The date as well as the origin 
of this singular book are still moot points, many 
scholars even assigning it to the Talmudic period. 
It is certain, however, that at the beginning of 


Mystical 

Literature 

in Geonic 
Times. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


rr cn, ne a A A tre et gy a YP et PSs eG i oh yh hh re thn ttre nse 


Cabala 


the ninth century the work enjoyed so great a 
reputation that no Jess a man than Saadia wrote a 
commentary on it. The question of the relation be- 
tween God and the world is discussed in this book, the 
oldest. philosophical work in the Hebrew language. 

The basic doctrines of the “Sefer Yezirah ” are as 
follows: The fundamentals of all existence are the 

ten Sefirot. These are the ten princi- 
The ples that mediate between God and 
‘‘Sefer the universe. They include the three 
Yezirah.” primal emanations proceeding from 
the Spirit of God: (1) mi (literally, 
“air” or “spirit,” probably to be rendered “ spiritual 
air”), which produced (2) “primal water,” which, 
in turn, was condensed into (8) “fire.” Six others 
are the three dimensions in both directions (left and 
right); these nine, together with the Spirit of God, 
form the ten Sefirot. They are eternal, since in 
them is revealed the dominion of God. The first 
three preexisted ideally as the prototypes of creation 
proper, which became possible when infinite space, 
represented by the six other Sefirot, was produced. 
The Spirit of God, however, is not only the begin- 
ing but is also the end of the universe; for the Sefirot. 
are closely connected with one another, “and their 
end is in their origin, as the flame is in the coal.” 

While the three primal elements constitute the 
substance of things, the twenty-two letters of the 
Hebrew alphabet constitute the form. The letters 
hover, as it were, on the boundary-line between the 
spiritual and the physical world; for the real ex- 
istence of things is cognizable only by means of 
langnage, 7.¢., the human capacity for conceiving 
thought. As the letters resolve the contrast be- 
tween the substance and the form of things, they 
represent the solvent activity of God; for everything 
that is exists by means of contrasts, which find their 
solution in God, as, for instance, among the three 
primal elements, the contrasts of fire and water are 
resolved into nym (“air” or “spirit ”). 

The importance of this book for the later Cabala, 
overestimated formerly, has been underestimated in 
modern times. The emanations here are not the 
same as those posited by the cabalists; for no grad- 
uated scale of distance from the primal emanations 
is assumed, por are the Sefirot here identical with 
those enumerated in the laterCabala. But the agree- 
ment in essential points between the later Cabala 
and the “Sefer Yezirah” must not be overlooked. 
Both posit mediate beings in place of immediate 
creation out of nothing; and these mediate beings 
were not created, like those posited in the various 
cosmogonies, but are emanations. The three primal 
elements in the “Sefer Yezirah,” which at first ex- 
isted only ideally and then became manifest in form, 
are essentially identical with the worlds of AziLur 
and Bertam of the later Cabala. In connection 
with the “Sefer Yezirah” the mystical speculations 

of certain Jewish sects must be men- 
Mysticism tioned, which, toward the vear 800, 
of Jewish began tospread doctrines that for cen- 

Heretics. turies had been known only toa few 

initiated ones. Thus the Maghariyites 
taught that God, who is too exalted to have any attri- 
butes ascribed to Him in Scripture, created an angel to 
be the real rujer of the world [compare the pdyyn at 


Cabala 


and Metatron in the Talmud.—k.]; and to this 
angel everything must be referred that Scripture 
recounts of God (Kirkisani, extracts from his man- 
uscript quoted by Harkavy in Rabbinowicz’s He- 
brew translation of Griitz’s “Gesch. der Juden,” ji. 
496; separately under the title “ Le-Korot ha-Kittot 
he-Yisrael ”), This Jewish form of the Gnostic Demi- 
urge, which was also known to the Samaritans 
(Baneth, “ Marquah, on the twenty. two Letters of the 
Alphabet,” pp. 52-54), was accepted with slight mod- 
ifications by the Karaites (Judah Hadassi, “ Eshkol 


ha-Kofer,” 25c, 26b) as well as by the German caba- 


lists, as Will be shown further on. Benjamin Na- 
hawendi seems to have known of other emanations in 
addition to this Demiurge (see Harkavy, U.c. v. 16). 
These, of course, were not new theories originating at 
this time, but an awakening of Jewish Gnosticism, 
that had been suppressed for centuries by the increas- 
ing preponderance of Rabbinism, and now reappeared 
not. by chance, at a time when Sadduceecism, the old 
enemy of Rabbinism, also reappeared, under the name 
of Karaism. But while the latter, as appealing to the 
masses, was energetically and even bitterly attacked 
by the representatives of Rabbinism, they made al- 
lowance for a revival of Guosticism. For, although 
the cabalistic treatises ascribed to certain geonim 
were probably fabricated in later times, it is certain 
that numbers of the geonim, even many who were 
closely connected with the academies, were ardent 
disciples of mystic lore. The father of the German 
Cabala was, as is now known, a Babylonian (see 
AARON B. SAMUEL HA-NAst), Who emigrated to Italy 
in the first half of the ninth century, whence the 
Walonymides later carried their teachings to Ger- 
many, Where in the thirteenth century an esoteric 
doctrine, essentially identical with that which pre- 
vailed in Babylon about 800, is accordingly found. 
While the branch of the Cabala_ transplanted 
to Italy remained untouched by foreign infiuences, 
the reaction of Greco- Arabic philosoph yon Jewish 
mysticism became apparent in the Arabic-speaking 
countries. The following doctrines of 
Influence Arab philosophy especially influenced 
of Greco- and modified Jewish mysticism, on ac- 
Arabic Phi- count of the close relationship between 
losophy. thetwo. The “Faithful Brothers of 
Basra,” as well as the Neoplatonic Ar- 
istotelians of the ninth century, have left their marks 
onthe Cabala. The brotherhood taught, similarly to 
eatly Gnosticism, that. God, the highest Being, ex- 
alted above all differences and contrasts, also sur- 
passed everything corporeal and spiritual; hence, the 
world could only be explained by means of emana- 
tions. The graduated scale of emanations was as 
follows: (1) the creating spirit (voc); (2) the direct- 
ing spirit, or the world-soul; (8) primal matter; (4) 
active nature, a power proceeding from the world- 
soul; (5) the abstract body, also called secondary 
matter; (6) the world of the spheres; (7) the ele- 
ments of the sublunary world; and (8) the world of 
minerals, plants, and animals composed of these ele- 
ments. These eight form, together with God, the 
absolute One, who is iu and with everything, the 
scale of the nine primal substances, corresponding 
to the nine primary numbers and the nine spheres. 
These nine numbers of the “ Faithful Brothers ” (com- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


464 


pare De Boer, “Gesch. der Philosophie im Islam,” 
p. 84; Dieterici, “ Die Sogenannte Theologie des Aris- 
toteles,” p. 38; ¢tdem, “ Weltseele,” p. 15) have been 
changed by a Jewish philosopher of the middle of 
the eleventh century into ten. by counting the four 
elements not as a unit, but as two (“Torat ha- 
Nefesh,” ed. Isaac Broydé, pp. 70, 745; compare, 
also, Guttmann, in “ Monatsschrift,” xii. 450). 

Solomon ibn Gabirol’s doctrines influenced the 
development of the Cabala more than 
any other philosophical system; and 
his views on the will of God and 
on the intermediate beings between 
God and the creation were especially 
Weighty. Gabirol considers God as 
an absolute unity, in whom form and substance are 
identical; hence, no attributes can be ascribed to 
God, and man can comprehend God only by means 
of the beings emanating from Him. - Since God is 
the beginning of all things, and composite substance 
the last of all created things, there must be inter- 
mediate links between God and the universe; for 
there is necessarily a distance between the beginning 
and the end, which otherwise would be identical}. 

The first intermediate link is the will of God, 
the hypostasis of all things created; Gabirol 
meaning by will the creative power of God 
manifested at a certain point of time, and tlien 
proceeding in conformity with the laws of the 
emanations. As this will unites two contrasts— 
namely, God, the actor, and substance, the thing 
acted upon—it must necessarily partake of the nature 
of both, being factor and fuctum at the same time. 
The will of God is immanent in everything; and 
from it have proceeded the two forms of being, 
“materia universalis ” (647) and “forma universalis.” 
But only God is “creator ex nihilo”: all intermedi- 
ary beings create by means of the graduated ema- 
nation of what is contained in them potentially. 
Hence, Gabirol assumes five intermediary beings 
(AYN) between God and matter; namely: (1) 
will; (2) matter in general and form; (8) the uni- 
versal spirit oS$55 Sow): (4) the three souls, namely, 
vegetative, animal, and thinking soul; and (5) 
the nature, the motive power, of bodies. Gabirol 
(quoted by Ibn Ezra, commentary on Isa. xlii. 7) 
also mentions the three cabalistic worlds, Beriah, 
Yezirah, and ‘Asiyah; while be considers Azilut to 
be identical with the will, The theory of the con- 
centration of God, by which the Cabala tries to ex- 
plain the creation of the finite out of the infinite, is 
found in mystical form tn Gabirol also (see Munk, 
“Mélanges,” pp. 284, 285). 

Still, however great the influence which Gabirol 
exercised on the development of the Cabala, it 
would be incorrect to say that the latter is derived 
chiefly from him. The fact is that when Jewish 
mystic lore came in contact with Arabic-Jewish 
philosophy, it appropriated those elements that ap- 
pealed to it; this being especially the case with 
Gabirol’s philosophy on account of its mystical char- 
acter. But other philosophical systems, from Saadia 
to Maimonides, were also laid under contribution. 
Thus the important German cabalist Eleazar of 
Worms was strongly influenced by Saadia; while 
Ibn Ezra’s views found acceptance among the Ger- 





Gabirol’s, 

Influence 

upon the 
Cabala. 


465 





man as well as the Spanish cabalists. Possibly even 
Maimonides, the greatest representative of rational- 
ism among the Jews of the Middle Ages, contrib- 
uted to the cabalistic doctrine of the “ En-Sof” by 
his teaching that no attributes could be ascribed to 
God [unless it be of Pythagorean origin (see Bloch, 
in Winter and Wiinsche, ~Jitdische Literatur,” iii. 
241, note 3).—k. ]. 

The esoteric doctrines of the Talmud, the mysti- 
cism of the period of the Geonim, and Arabic Neo- 
platonic philosophy are thus the three chief constit- 
ueuts of the Cabala proper as it is found in the thir- 
teenth century. These heterogeneous elements also 
explain the strange fact that the Cabala appeared at 
the same time in two different centers of culture, 
under different social and political conditions, each 
form being entirely different in character from the 


other. The German Cabala is a direct continuation 
of geonic mysticism. Its first repre- 

The sentative is Judah the Pious (died 
German 1217), whose pupil, Eleazar of Worms, 
Cabala. is its most important literary expo- 


nent. Abraham Abulafia was its last 
representative, half a century later. The correct- 
ness of Eleazar’s statement (in Del Medigo’s “ Maz- 
ref la-Hokmah,” ed. 1890, pp. 64, 65), to the effect 
that the Kalonymides carried the esoteric doctrines 
with them from Italy to Germany about 917, has been 
satisfactorily established. Till the time of Eleazar 
these doctrines were in a certain sense the private 
property of the Kalonymides, and were kept sceret 
until Judah the Pious, himself a member of this 
family, commissioned his pupil Eleazar to introduce 
the oral and written esoteric doctrine into a larger 
circle. 

The essential doctrines of this school are as fol- 
lows: God is too exalted for mortal mind to com- 
prehend, since not even the angels can form an idea 
of Him. In order to be visible to angels as well as 
to men, God created out of divine fire His 4339 
(“majesty”), also called Snyon ans. which bas 
size and shape and sits ona throne in the east, as the 
actual representative of God. His throne is sepa- 
rated by a curtain (93795) on the east, south, and 
north from the world of angeis; the side on the west 
being uncovered [compare, however, God’s Sheki- 
nah dwelling in the east (“ Apostolic Constitutions,” 
ii. 57).—K.], so that the light of God, who is in the 
west, may illuminate it. AJl the anthropomorphic 
statements of Scripture refer to this “majesty” 
(3325), not to God Himself, but to His representa- 
tive. Corresponding to the different worlds of the 
Spanish cabalists, the German cabalists also assume 
four (sometimes five) worlds; namely: (1) the world 
of the “glory ” (4335) just mentioned; (2) the world 
of angels; (8) the world of the animal soul; and (4) 
the world of the intelectual soul. It is easy to dis- 
cern that this curious theosophy is not a product of 
che age in which the German cabalists lived, but is 
made up of ancient doctrines, which, as stated above, 
originated in the Talmudic period. The Germans, 
lacking in philosophical training, exerted all the 
ereater influence on the practical Cabala as well as 
on ecstatic mysticism. Just asin Spain about this 
time the deeply religious mind of the Jews rose in 
revolt against the cold Aristotelian rationalism that 


IIT.—sv 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 





had begun to dominate the Jewish world through 
the influence of Maimonides, so the German Jews, 
partly influenced by a similar movement within 
Christianity, began to rise against the traditional 
ritualism. Judah the Pious (Introduction to “Sefer 
Wasidim ”) reproaches the Talmudists with “ poring 
too much over the Talinud without reaching any 
results.” Hence, the German mystics attempted 
to satisfy their religious needs in their own way; 
namely, by contemplation and meditation. Like the 
Christian mystics (Preger, “Gesch. der Deutschen 

Mystik,” p. 91), who symbolized the 

Christian close connection between the soul and 
and Jewish God by the figure of marriage, the 
Mysticism. Jewish mystics described the highest 

degree of love of man for God in 
sensuous forms in terms taken from marital life. 

While study of the Law was to the Talmudists 
the very acme of piety, the mystics accorded the 
first place to prayer, which was considered as a 
mystical progress toward God, demanding a state of 
vestasy. It was the chicf task of the practical 
Cabala to produce this ecstatic mysticism, already 
met with among the Merkabah-travelers of the time 
of the Talmud and the Geonim; hence, this mental 
state was especially favored and fostered by the 
Germans. Alphabetical and numeral mysticism 
constitutes the greater part of Eleazar’s works, and 
is to be regarded simply as means to an end; 
namely, to reach a state of ecstasy by the proper 
employment of the names of God and of angels, “a 
state in which every wall is removed from the spir- 
itual eye” (Moses of Tachau, in “Ozar Nehmad,” 
iii. 84; compare Giidemann, “ Gesch. des Erzieliungs- 
wesens,” 1. 159 é¢ seq.). 

The point of view represented by the anonymous 
book “Keter Shem-Tob” (ed. Jellinek, 1858), 
ascribed to Abraham of Cologne and certainly a 
product of the school of Eleazar of Worms, repre- 
sents the fusion of this German Cabala with the 
Provencal-Spanish mysticism. According to this 
work, the act of creation was brought about by a 
primal power emanating from the simple will of 
God. This eternal, unchangeable power transformed 
the potentially existing universe into the actual 
world by means of graduated emanations. These 
conceptions, originating in the school of Azriel, are 
herein combined with Eleazar’s theories on the 
meaning of the Hebrew letters according to their 
forms and numerical values. The central doctrine 
of this work refers to the Tetragrammaton; the 
author assuming that the four letters yor, he, vair, 
and he (M"\n*) were chosen by God for His name 
because they were peculiarly distinguished from all 
other letters. Thus vod, considered graphically, ap- 
pears as the mathematical point from which objects 
were developed, and therefore symbolizes the spir- 
ituality of God to which nothing can be equal. As 
its numerical value equals ten, the highest number, 
so there are ten classes of angels, and correspond- 
ingly the seven spheres with the two elements—fire 
cohering with air, and water with earth, respectively 
—and the One who directs them all, making together 
ten powers; and finally the ten Sefirot. In this way 
the four letters of the Tetragrammaton are explained 
in detail. 


Cabala 


THE JEWISI ENCYCLOPEDIA 


466 





A generation later a movement in opposition to 
the tendencies of this book arose in Spain; aiming to 
supplant speculative Cabala by a prophetic vision- 
ary one. Abraham ABULAFIA denied the doctrines 
of emanations and the Sefirot, and, going back to 
the German mystics, asserted that the true Cabala 
consisted in letter and number mysticism, which sys- 
tem, rightly understood, brings man into direct and 
close relations with the “ratio activa” (3npn Soy», 
the active intelligence of the universe, thus endow- 
ing him with the power of prophecy. Ina certain 
sense Joseph b. Abraham Gikatilla, a cabalist eight 
years younger than Abulafia, may also be_ in- 
cluded in the German school, since he developed 
the letter and vowel mysticism, thereby introducing 
the practical Cabala into many circles. Yet Gika- 
tila, like his contemporary Tobias Abulafia, still 
hesitates between the abstract speculative Cabala of 
the Provencal-Spanish Jews and the concrete letter 
symbolism of the Germans. These two main move- 
ments are finally combined in the Zoharistic books, 
wherein, as Jellinek rightly says, “the syncretism of 
the philosophical and cabalistic ideas of the century 
appears complete and finished.” 

While the German mystics could refer to authen- 
tic traditions, the cabalists of Spain and southern 

France were obliged to admit that 


The they could trace their doctrines, which 
Cabalain they designated as “the tradition” 
Provence. (“Kabbalah ”; thusan Oriental scholar 


as early as 1223; compare Harkavy, 
Hebrew transl. of Gritz’s “Gesch. der Juden,” v. 
47), to authorities no older than the twelfth century. 
The modern historian has greater difficulties in de- 
termining the origin of the Cabala in Provence 
than the cabalists themselves had; for they agreed 
that the esoteric doctrines had been revealed by the 
prophet Elijah, in the beginning of the twelfth cen- 
tury, to Jacob ha-Nazir, who initiated Abraham b. 
David of Posquiéres, whose son, Isaac the Blind, 
transmitted them further. But Isaac the Blind can 
not possibly be credited with being the originator of 
the speculative Cabala, for it is far too complicated 
to be the work of one man, as is evident by the wri- 
tings of Azriel (born about 1160), the alleged pupil of 
Isaac. Azriel, moreover, speaks of the NSefirot, of 
the En-Sof, and of the cabalists of Spain (in Sachs’s 
“ Ha-Palit,” p. 45); and it is absolutely impossible 
that Isaac the Blind, who was not much older than 
Azriel (his father Abraham b. David died in 1198), 
could have founded a school so quickly that Spanish 
scholars would be able to speak of the contrast be- 
tween cabalists and philosophers as Azriel does. If 
there be any truth in this tradition of the cabalists, 
it can only mean that the relation of Isaac the Blind 
to the speculative Cabala was the same as that of his 
contemporary Eleazar of Worms to German mysti- 
cism; namely, that just as the latter made the eso- 
teric doctrines—which were for centuries in the 
possession of one family, or at any rate of a very 
small circle—common property, so Isaac introduced 
the doctrines of the speculative Cabala for the first 
time into larger circles. 
It may furthermore be assumed that the specula- 
tive philosophy of Provence, like German mysti- 
cism, originated in Babylon: Neoplatonism, reach- 


ing there its highest development in the eighth and 
ninth centuries, could not but influence Jewish 
thought. Gabirol, as well as the author of “Torat 
ha-Nefesh,” bears evidence of this influence on Jew- 
ish philosophy ; while the Cabala took up the mystic 
elements of Neoplatonism. The Cabala, however, 
is not a genuine product of the Provencal Jews; 
for just those circles in which it is found were 
averse to the study of philosophy. The essential 
portions of the Cabala must, on the contrary, have 
been carried to Provence from Babylon; being 
known only to a small circle until Aristotelianism 
began to prevail, when the adherents of the specu- 
lative Cabala were forced to make their doctrine 
public. 

The earliest literary product of the speculative 
Cabala is the work “Masseket Azilut,” which con- 
tains the doctrine of the four graduated worlds as 
wellas that of the concentration of the Divine Being. 
The form in which the rudiments of the Cabala are 
presented here, as well as the emphasis laid on keep- 
ing the doctrine secret and on the compulsory piety 
of the learners, is evidence of the early date of the 

work, At the time when “ Masseket 
The Azilut” was written the Cabala had 
Treatise on not yet become a subject of general 
Emana-_ study, but was still confined to a few 
tion. of the elect. The treatment is on the 
whole the same as that found in the 
mystical writings of the time of the Geonim, with 
which the work has much in common: hence, there 
is no reason for not regarding it asa product of that 
time. The doctrines of Metatron, and of angelology 
especially, are identical with those of the Geonim, 
and the idea of the Sefirot is presented so simply and 
unphilosophically that one is hardly justified in as- 
suming that it was influenced directly by any phil- 
osophical system. 

Just as in the “ Masseket Azilut” the doctrine of 
the ten Sefirot is based on the “Sefer Yezirah ” (ed. 
Jellinek, p. 6, below), so the book Banrr, which, 
according to some scholars, was composed by Isaac 
the Blind, and which in any case originated in his 
school, starts from the doctrines of the 
“Sefer Yezirah,” which it explains 
and enlarges. This book was of funda- 
mental importance in more than one way for the de- 
velopment of the speculative Cabala. The Sefirot 
are here divided into the three chief ones—primal 
light, wisdom, and reason——-and the seven secondary 
ones that have different names. This division of 
the Sefirot, which goes through the entire Cabala, is 
found as early as Pirke R. Eliezer III., from which 
the “Bahir” largely borrowed; but here for the first 
time the doctrine of the emanation of the Sefirot is 
clearly enunciated. They are conceived as the in- 
telligible primal principles of the universe, the pri- 
mary emanations of the Divine Being, that together 
constitute the 55 (7d ray = “the universe ”). The 
emanation is regarded, not as having taken place 
once, but as continuous and permanent; and the 
author has such an imperfect conception of the import 
of this idea that he regards the emanation as taking 
place all at once, and not in graduated series. But 
this assumption annihilates the whole theory of ema- 
nation, Which attempts to explain the gradual transi- 


‘¢ Bahir.” 


467 





tion from the infinite to the finite, comprehensible 
only in the form of a graduated series. 

On the whole, the contents of the book—which 
seems to be a compilation of loosely connected 
thoughts—justify the assumption that it is not the 
work of one man or the product of one school, but 

the first serious attempt to collect the 

Opposition esoteric doctrines that for centuries had 
to circulated orally in certain circles of 
Aristoteli- Provence, and to present them to a 
anism. larger audience. The work is impor- 
tant because it gave to those scholars 

who would have nothing to do with the philosophy 
then current—namely, Aristotelianism—the first in- 
centive to a thorongh study of metaphysics. The 
first attempt to place the cabalistic doctrine of the 
Sefirot on a dialectic basis could have been made 
only by a Spanish Jew, as the Provencal Jews were 
not sufficiently familiar with philosophy, and the 
few among them that devoted themselves to this 
science Were pronounced Aristotelians who looked 
with contempt upon the speculations of the caba- 
lists. It was Azriel (1160-1238), a Spaniard with 
philosophical training, who undertook to explain 
the doctrines of the Cabala to philosophers and to 
makeit acceptable tothem. It should be noted par- 
ticularly that Azriel (in Sachs, “ Ha-Palit,” p. 45) ex- 
pressly says that philosophical dialectics is for him 
only the means for explaining the doctrines of Jew- 
ish mysticism, in order that “those also who do not 
believe, but ask to haveeverything proved, may con- 
vince themselves of the truth of the Cabala.” True 
disciples of the Cabala were satisfied with its doc- 
trines as they were, and without philosophical addi- 
tions. Hence the actual form of the Cabala as pre- 
sented by Azriel must not be regarded as absolutely 
identical with its original one. Starting from the 
doctrine of the merely negative attributes of God, 
as taught by the Jewish philosophy of the time (see 
ATTRIBUTES), Azricl calls God the 
* En-Sof” (31D p's), the absolutely In- 
finite, that can be comprehended only 
as the negation of all negation. From this defini- 
tion of the En-Sof, Azriel deduces the potential eter- 
nity of the world—the world with all its manifold 
manifestations was potentially contained within the 
En-Sof; and this potentially existing universe be- 
came a reality in the act of creation. The transition 
from the potential to the actual is a free act of God: 
but it can not be called creation; since a “creatio 
ex nihilo” is logically unthinkabie, and nothing out 
of which the world could be formed exists outside 
of God, the En-Sof. Hence, it is not correct to say 
that God creates, but that He irradiates; for as the 
sun irradiates warmth and light without diminish- 
ing its bulk, so the En-Sof irradiates the elements 
of the universe without diminishing His power. 
These elements of the universeare the Sefirot, which 
Azriel tries to define in their relation to the En-Sof 
as well as to one another. Although there are con- 
tradictions and gaps in Azriel’s system, he was 
the first to gather the scattered elements of the 
cabalistic doctrines and combine them into an or- 
ganic whole, Casting aside the haggadic-mystic 
form of the cabalistic works preceding him, Az- 
Tiel adopted a style that was equal and at times 


Azriel. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 





superior to that of the philosophic writers of the 
time. 

ASHER BEN Davib, a nephew and pupil of Isaac 
the Blind, a cabalistic contemporary of Azriel, and 
probably influenced by him, added little to the de- 
velopment of the Cabala, judging from the few 
fragments by him that have been preserved. On 
the other hand, IsAac BEN SHESHET of Gerona, in 
his “Sha‘ar ha-Shamayim,” made noteworthy addi- 
tions to the theoretical part of Azriel’ssystem. The 
author of “Ha-Emunah we-ha-Bittahon,” erroue- 
ously ascribed to Nahmanides, must also be included 
in the school of Azriel; but, desirous only to give a 
popular presentation of Azriel’s doctrines, with a 
strong admixture of German mysticism, he contrib- 
uted little to their development. More important 
is “Sefer ha-‘Iyyun” (the Book of Intuition), as- 
cribed to the gaon R. Hamat, but really origina- 
ting in the school of Azriel. 

The cabalists themselves consider NAHMANIDES 
as the most important pupil of Azriel—a statement 
not supported by Nahmanides’ works; for his com- 
mentary on the Pentateuch, although permeated by 
mysticism, has little that pertains to the speculative 
Cabala as developed by Azriel. Nah- 
manides, on the contrary, emphasizes 
the doctrine of the “creatio ex nihilo,” 
and also insists that attributes can be 
ascribed to God; while Azriel’s En-Sof is the result 
of the assumption that God is without attributes, 
Yet Nahmanides’ importance for the development 
of the Cabala must be recognized. The greatest 
Talmudic authority of his time, and possessing a 
large following of disciples, his leaning toward the 
Cabala was transmitted to his pupils, among whom 
David ha-Kohen, R. Sheshet, and Abner are espe- 
cially mentioned. The brothers Isaac b. Jacob and 
Jacob b. Jacob ha-Kohen also seem to have belonged 
to the circle of Nahmanides. His most important 
pupil, however, and his successor, was Solomon ben 
Abraham ibn Adret, the great teacher of the Tal- 
mud, who also had a strong leaning toward the 
Cabala, but apparently gave little time to its study. 
Among his pupils were the cabalists SHemM-Tos RB. 
ABRAHAM Gaon, IsAac OF ACRE, and Banya B. 
ASHER, the last named of whom, by his commen- 
tary on the Pentateuch, contributed much to the 
spread of the Cahala. 

Tsaac ibn Juatif, who flourished about the middle 
of the thirteenth century, occupies a peculiar and 
independent position in the bistory of the Cabala, 
owing to his attempt to introduce Aristotelianism. 
Although he founded no school, and although the 
genuine cabalists did not even consider him as be- 
longing to their group, many of his opinions found 

entrance into the Cabala. With Mai- 

Ibn Latif. monides he upheld the principle of 
the beginning of the world; his state- 

ment, God has no will because He 7¢s will, is bor- 
rowed from Gabirol; and in addition he teaches the 
principle of the emanation of the Sefirot. He con- 
ecives of the first immediate divine emanation as the 
“first created” (NWN N19), a godlike, absolutely 
simple Being, the all-containing substance and con- 
dition of everything that is. The other Sefirot pro- 
ceeded from this in gradual serial emanation, grow- 


Nah- 
manides. 


Cabala 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


468 





ing more coarse and material as their distance in- 
creased from their purely spiritual, divine origin. 
The relation between the “first created ” and all that 
has since come into existence is like that between 
the stmple geometrical point and the complicated 
geometrical figure. The point grows to a line, the 
line toa plane or superficies, and this into a solid; 
and just asthe point is still present as a fundamental 
element in all geometrical figures. so the “first 
created” continues to act as the primal, fundamental 
elemeut in all emanations. This conception of the 
first Setfirah as a point, or numeral unit, within the 
universe reappears with special frequeney in the 
presentations of the later cabalists. 

The real continuation of Azriel’s doctrines, how- 
ever, is to be found in a number of pseudepigraphic 
works of the second half of the thirteenth century. 
Although this literature has been preserved only 
fragmentarily, and has not yet been criticaliy edited 
to any extent, its trend nevertheless may be clearly 
discerned. Such works represent the attempt to 
put the doctrines of “ Bahir” and of Azriel mto dog- 
matic form, to shape and determine the old cabalis- 
tic teachings, and not to bring forward new ones. 
Among the important products of this doginatic 
Cabalu is, in the first place. the little work “Sefer 
ha-Temunah” (Book of Form), which endeavors to 
illustrate the principle of emanation by means of 
the forms of the Hebrew letters. Here for the first 
time the conception of the Sefirot is laid down in 
definite formule in place of the uncertain statement 
that they were to be considered as powers (AYA) or 
as tools (o%55 ) of God. The Sefirot, according to 
this book, are powers inhering in God, and are re- 
Jated to the En-Sof as, for instance, the limbs are to 
the human body. They are, so to speak, organically 
connected with God, forming one indivisible whole, 
The question that long occupied the cabalists— 
namely, how the expression or transmission of the 

will may be explained in the act of 
‘* Sefer ha- emanation—is here solved in a simple 
Temunah.” way; forall the Sefiret, being organ- 
ically connected with the En-Sof, have 
but one common will. Just as man does not com- 
municate his will to his arm when he wants to move 
it, so an expression of the will of the En-Sof is not 
necessary in the act of emanation. Another im- 
portant principle, which is mueh in evidence from 
the Zohar down to the latest cabalistie works, is 
likewise clearly expressed for the first time in the 
“Sefer ha-Temunah”; namely, the doctrine of the 
double emanation, the positive and negative one. 
This explains the origin of evil; for as the one, the 
positive emanation, produced all that is good and 
beautiful, so the other, the negative, produced all 
that is bad, ugly, and unclean. 

The final form was given to Azriel’s Cabala by 
the work “ Ma‘areket ha-Elohut” in which Azriel’s 
system is presented more clearly and definitely than 
in any other cabalistic work. The fundamental 
principle of the Cabala herein is the potential eter- 
nity of the world; hence the dynamic character of 
the emanations is especially emphasized. The treat- 
ment: of the Sefirot is also more thorough and ex- 
tended than in Azriel. They are identified with 
God; the first Sefirah, sn3 (‘crown”), containing 


tn potentia all of the subsequent nine emanations, 
The doctrine of double emanations, positive and neg. 
ative, is taught in “ Ma‘areket,” as well as in “Sefer 
ha-Temunah,” but in such a way that the contrast, 
which corresponds exactly with the syzygy theory 
of the Gnostics, appears only in the third Sefirah, 
Binah (==“ intelligence”). The author of the “ Ma- 
‘areket” proceeds as the “ Bahir” in the separation 
of the three superior from the seven inferior Sefirot, 
but ina much clearer way: he regards only the 
former as being of divine nature, since they ema- 
nate immediatcly from God; while the seven lower 
ones, Which were all produced by the third Sefirah, 
are less divine, since they produce immediately the 
lower world-matter. A contrast which rules the 
world can therefore begin only with the third Sefi- 
rah; for such contrast can not obtain in the purely 
spiritual realm. 

This point is an instructive illustration of the 
activity of the cabalists from the time of the “ Bahir” 
(end of the twelfth century) to the beginning of the 
fourteenth century. Within this period the dis- 
jointed mystico- gnostic conceptious of the “ Bahir” 
were gradually and untiringly woven into a con- 
nected, comprehensive system. 

Side by side with this speculative and theoretical 
school, taking for its problem metaphysics in the 
strict sense of the word—namely, the nature of 
God and His relation to the world—another mystical 
movement was developed, more religio-ethical in 
nature, which, as Griitz rightly says, considered 
“the ritual, orthe practical side, to call it so, as the 
more important, and as the one to which the fhe- 
osophical side served merely as an introduction.” 
Both these movements had their common starting- 
point in the geonic mysticism, which introduced 
important speculative clements into practical mys- 
ticism proper. But they also had this in common, 
that both endeavored to come into closer relation- 
ship with God than the transcendentalism of Jewish 
philosophy permitted, colored as it was by Aristo- 
telianism. Practical mysticism endeavored to make 
this union possible for every-day life; while specu- 
lative thinkers occupied themselves in reaching out 
toward a monistic construction of the universe, in 
which the transcendence of the primal Being might 
be preserved without placing Him outside of the 
universe, 

Both of these movements, with a common end in 
view, were ultimately bound to converge, and this 
actually occurred with the appearance of the book 
called ZoHAR (AAP = “Splendor ”), after Dan. xii. 3, 
pprawq an wa ps Dw (= “The wise shall be 
resplendent as the splendor of the firmament” 
showing that i¢ had the “Bahir” (= Bright) for its 
modeL It is in the main a commentary on the Pen- 
tateuch, and R. Simon ben Yohai is introduced as 
the inspired teacher who expounds the theosophic 
doctrines to the circle of his saintly hearers. It first 
appeared therefore under the title of Mrprasu R. 
SIMON BEN YOHAT. 

The correspondence to the order of the Scripture 
is very loose, even more so than is often the case in 
the writings of the Midrashic literature. The Zohar 
is in many instances a mere aggregate of heteroge 
neous parts. Apart from the Zohar proper, it cor 


469 








tains a dozen mystic pieces of various derivations 
and different dates that crop up suddenly, thus en- 
tirely undoing the otherwise loose texture of the 
Zohar. 

Distinct mention is made in the Zohar of excerpts 
from the following writings: (1) “Idra Rabba”; 
(2) “Idra Zutta”; (3) “ Matnitin”; (4) “ Midrash ha- 
Ne‘elam ”; (5) “ Ra‘aya Mehemna”; (6) “Saba” (the 
Old); (7) “Raze de-Razin”; (8) “Sefer Hekalot”; 
(9) “Sifra de-Zeni‘uta”; (10) “Sitre Torah”; (11) 
“Tosefta ”; (12) and lastly, “ Yanuka.” 

Besides the Zohar proper, there are also a “ Zohar 
Hadash” (New Zohar), Zohar to Cant., and “ Tikku- 
nim,” both new and old, which bear a close relation 
to the Zohar proper. 

For centuries, and in general even to-day, the 
doctrines contained in the Zohar are taken to be 
the Cabala, although this book represents only the 
union of the two movements mentioned above. The 
Zohar is both the complete guide of the different 
cabalistic theories and the canonical book of the 
cabalists. After the Zohar, which must be dated 

about the beginning of the fourteenth 
The Zohar century, and which received its pres- 
Literature. ent shape largely from the hand of 

Moses DE LEon, a period of pause 
ensued in the development of the Cabala, which 
lasted for more than two centurics and a half. 
Among the contemporaries of Moses de Leon must 
be mentioned the Italian Menahem Recanati, whose 
cabalistic commentary on the Pentateuch is really a 
commentary on the Zohar. JosEPH B. ABRAHAM 
IBN WakKAR was an opponent of the Zohar; his 
Introduction to the Cabala, which exists in manu- 
script only, is considered by Steinschneider as the 
best. It was some time before the Zohar was rec- 
ognized in Spain. Abraham b. Isaac of Granada 
speaks in bis work “ Berit Menuhah ” (The Covenant 
of Rest) of “the words of R. Simon b. Yohai,” mean- 
ing the Zohar. In the fifteenth century the author- 
ity of the Cabala, comprising also that of the Zohar, 
was so well recognized in Spain that Suem-Tos 
BEN JOSEPH IBN SHEM-ToR (died 1430) made a 
bitter attack on Maimonides from the standpoint 
of the Zohar. Moses Borares tried to serve the 
Cabala by his alleged discoveries of fictitious authors 
and works; while the pseudonymous author of the 
KaNnau attacked Talmudism under cover of the 
Cabala about 1415. Isaac Arama and Isaac ABRA- 
VANEL were followers of the Cabala in the second 
half of the fifteenth century, but without contribu- 
ting anything to its development. Nor does the 
cabalistic commentary on the Pentateuch of MENa- 
HEM Zion B. MeEYR contribute any new matter to 
the system, although it is the most important caba- 
listic work of the fifteenth century. Judah Hayyat 
and ABRAHAM SABA are the only noteworthy cabal- 
ists of the end of that century. 

The happy remark of Baur, that a great national 
crisis furnishes a favorable soil for mysticism among 
the people in question, is exemplified in the history 
of the Cabala. The great misfortune that befell the 
Jews of the Pyrenean peninsula at the end of the 
fifteenth century revivified the Cabala. Among the 
- fugitives that settled in Palestine MEin 8. EzexKIEer 
IBN GaBBAI wrote cabalistic works evincing an acute 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Oe ir re NS FEE 


Cabala 


insight into the speculative Cabala. A Sicilian 
cabalist, Joseph Saragoza, is regarded as the teacher 
of Davip 1BN ZrurRa, who was especially active in 
developing the Cabala in Egypt. Solomon Molcho 
and Joseph della Reina (the history of his life is dis- 
torted by many legends) represent the reviving 
mysticism. Deliverance from national suffering 
was the object of their search, which they thought 
to effect by means of the Cabala. Solomon ALKA- 
biz and Joseph Caro, who gradually gathered a 
large circle of cabalistic dreamers about them, en- 
deavored to attain a state of ecstasy by fasting, 
weeping, aud all manner of stringent asceticism, by 
which means they thought to behold angels and 
obtain heavenly revelations. Of their number, too, 
was Moses Cordovero, rightly designated as the 
last representative of the early cabalists, and, next 
to Azriel. the most important speculative thinker 
among them. 

The modern cabalistic school begins theoretically 
as well as practically with Isaac Luria (1533-72). 
In the first place, its doctrine of ap- 
pearance, according to which all that 
exists is composed of substance and 
appearance, 1s most important, ren- 
dering Luria’s Cabala extremely subjective by teach- 
ing that there is no such thing as objective cogni- 
tion. The theoretical doctrines of Luria’s Cabala 
were later on taken up by the Hasidim and organ- 
ized into a system. Luria’s influence was first evi- 
dent in certain mystical and fanciful religious 
exercises, by means of which, he held, one could 
become master of the terrestrial world. The writing 
of amulets, conjuration of devils, mystic jugglery 
with numbers and letters, increased as the influence 
of this school spread. Among Luria’s pupils Hay- 
yim Vital and Israel Saruk deserve especial mention, 
both of them being very active as teachersand prop- 
agandists of the new school. Sarnk succeeded in 
Winning over the rich Menahem Azariah of Fano. 
Thus, a large cabalistic schoo] was founded in the 
sixteenth century in Italy, where even to-day scat- 
tered disciples of the Cabala may-be met. I[er- 
RERA, another pupil of Saruk, tried to spread the 
Cabala among Christians by his “Introduction,” 
writtenin Spanish. Moses Zacuto, Spinoza’s fellow- 
pupil, wrote several cabalistic works strongly tinged 
with asceticism, which were not without influence 
on the Italian Jews. In Italy, however, there ap- 
peared also the first antagonists of the Cabala, at a 
time when it seemed to be carrying everything be- 
fore it. Nothing is known of Mordecai Corcos’ 
work against the Cabala, a work that was never 
printed, owing to the opposition of the Italian 
rabbis. Joseph del Medigo’s wavering attitude 
toward the Cabala injured rather than helped it. 
Judah de Modena attacked it ruthlessly in his work 
“Sha’agat Aryeh” (The Lion’s Roar); while an en- 
thusiastic and clever advocate appeared, a century 
later, in the person of Moses Hayyim Luzzatto. A 
century later still, Samuel David LuzzattTo attacked 
the Cabala with the weapons of modern criticism. 
But in the East, Luria’s Cabala remained undis- 
turbed. 

After Vital’s death and that of the immigrant 
Shlumie] of Moravia, who by his somewhat vocifer- 


Luria’s 
Cabala. 


Cabala 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


470 





ous methods contributed much to the spreading of 
Luria’s doctrines, it was especially Samuel Vital, Hay- 
yim Vital’s son, together with Jacob 
ZEMAH, and Abraham AzuLal, who en- 
deavored to spread the mode of life 
(MFI) and the mystical meditations 
for prayer (M33) advocated by Luria. Frequent 
bathing (nySeap), vigils on certain nights, as well as 
at midnight (sce Hazor), penance for sins, and similar 
disciplines, were introduced by this aftergrowth of 
the school of Luria. It must be noted in their favor 
that they laid great emphasis on a pure life, philan- 
thropy, brotherly love toward all, and friendship. 
The belief that such actions would hasten the Mes- 
Sianic time grew until it took concrete form in the 
appearance of Shabbethai Zebi, about 1665. Shab- 
bethaism induced many scholars to study the spec- 
wative Cabala more thoroughly; and, indeed, the 
Shabbethaian Nehemia Hayyun showed in his he- 
retical cabalistic works a more thorough acquaint- 
ance with the Cabala than his opponeuts, the great 
Talmudists, who were zealous followers of the 
Cabala without comprehending its speculative side. 
Shabbethaism, however, did not in the least com- 
promise the Cabalain the eyes of the Oriental Jews, 
the majority of whom even to-day esteem it holy 
and believe in it. 

While the Cabala in its different forms spread 
east and west within a few centuries, Germany, 
which seemed a promising field for mysticism in 
the beginning of the thirteenth century, was soon 
left behind. There is no cabalistic literature proper 
among the German Jews, aside from the school of 
Eleazar of Worms. Lippman MUuHLMmAvseEnN, about 

1400, was acquainted with some fea- 
In tures of the Cabala; but there were no 


In the 
Orient. 


Germany real cabalists in Germany until the 
and eighteenth century, when Polish schol- 
Poland. ars invaded the country. In Poland 


the Cabala was first studied about 
the beginning of the sixteenth century, but not 
without opposition from the Talmudic authorities, 
as, for instance, Solomon b. Jehiel Luria, who, him- 
self a devout disciple of the Cabala, wished to have 
its study contined to a small circle of theelect. His 
friend Isserles gives proof of wide reading in caba- 
Jistic Jiterature and of insight into its speculative 
part; and the same may be said of Isserles’ pupil 
Mordecai Jaffe. Butitis perhaps not a mere chance 
that the first cabalistic work written in Poland was 
composed by Mattathias Delacrut (1570), of south 
European descent, as his name indicates. ASHER or 
AnscrE. of Cracow at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century is named asa great cabalist, but the nature 
of his doctrine can not be ascertained. In the sev- 
enteenth century, however, the Cabala spread all 
over Poland, so that it was considered a matter of 
course that all rabbis must have a cabalistic train- 
ing. Nathan Spiro, Isaiah Horowitz, and Naphtali 
b. Jacob Elhanan were the chief contributors to the 
spread of Luria’s Cabala in Poland, and thence into 
Germany. Yet, with the exception of Horwitz’s 
work “Shene Luhot ha-Berit” (The Two Tablets of 
the Covenant), there is hardly one among the manv 
cabalistic works originating in Poland that rises in 
any way above mediocrity. 


In the following cen. | 


tury, however, certain important works appeared 
on the Cabala by Eybeschiitz and Emden, but from 
different standpoints. The former contributed a 
monumental work to the speculative Cabala in his 
“Shem ‘Olam” (Everlasting Name); the latter be- 
came the father of modern Cabala criticism by his 
penetrating literary scrutiny of the Zohar. 

The real continuation of the Cabala is to be found 
in Hasipism, which in its different forms includes 
both the mystical] and speculative sides. While the 
doctrines of the HaBAD have shown that the Luri- 
anic Cabala is something more than a senseless play- 
ing with letters, other forms of Hasidism, also de- 

rived from the Cahala, represent the 
Hasidism. acme of systematized cant and irra- 
tional talk. Elijah of Wilna’s attacks 
on Hasidism chiefly brought it about that those 
circles in Russia and Poland which oppose sTasidism 
also avoid the Cabala. as the real domain of the 
Hasidim. Although Elijah of Wilna himself was a 
follower of the Cabala, his notes to the Zohar and 
other cabalistic products show that he denied the 
authority of many of the works of the Lurianic 
writers: his school produced only Talmudists, not 
cabalists. Ajthough “Nefesh ha-Hayyim” (The 
Soul of Life), the work of his pupil Hayyim of 
Volozhin, has a cabalistic coloring, it is chiefly eth- 
ical in spirit. Hayvim’s pupil, Isaac Haber, how- 
ever, evinces in his works much insight into the 
older Cabala. The latter also wrote a defense of 
the Cabala against the attacks of Modena. The 
non-Hasidic cireles of Russia in modern. times, 
though they hold the Cabala in reverence, do not 
study it. 

The critical treatment of the Zohar, begun by 
Emden, was continued toward the middle of the 

nineteenth century by a large group 


Critical of modern scholars, and much was 
Treatment contributed in the course of the fol- 
of the lowing period toward a better under- 
Cabala. standing of the Cabala, although more 


still remains obscure. The names of 
Adolf Franck, M. H. Landauer, H. Joél, Jellinck, 
Steinschneider, Ignatz Stern, and Solomon Munk, 
who paved the way for the scientific treatment of 
the Cabala, may be noted. Many obscurities will 
probably become clear as soon as more is known 
about Gnosticism in its different forms, and Oriental 
theosophy. 

This historical survey of the development of the 
Cabala would not be complete if no mention were 
made of its relation to the Christian world. The 
first Christian scholar who gave proof of his ac- 
quaintance with the Cabala was Raymond Lultt 
(born about 1225; died June 30, 1315), called “doce- 
tor Uluminatus ” on account of his great learning. 
The Cabala furnished him with material for his “ Ars 

| Magna,” by which he thought to brirg 
The Cabala about an entire revolution in the meth- 


in the ods of scientific investigation, his 
Christian means being none other than letter 
World. = and number mysticism in its different 
varieties. The identity between God 

and nature found in Lulli’s works shows that 


he was also influenced by the speculative Cabala. 
But it was Pico pr Mrranpo.a (1463-94) who in- 


471 


troduced the Cabala into the Christian world. The 
Cabala is, for him, the sum of those revealed relig- 
ious doctrines of the Jews which were not orig- 
inally written down, but were transmitted by oral 
tradition. At the instance of Ezra they were writ- 
ten down during his time so that they might not 
be lost (compare II Esdras xiv. 45). Pico, of 
course, holds that the Cabala contains all the doc- 
trines of Christianity, so that “the Jews can be re- 
futed by their own books” (“De Hom. Dignit.” 
pp. 829 et seg.). He therefore made free use of 
eabalistic ideas in his philosophy, or, rather, his 
philosophy consists of Neoplatonic-cabalistic doc- 
trines in Christian garb. Through Reuchlin (1455- 
1522) the Cabala became an important factor in leav- 
ening the religious movements of the time of the 
Reformation. 

The aversion to scholasticism that increased es- 
pecially in the German countries, found a positive 
support in the Cabala; for those that were hostile 
to scholasticism could confront it with another sys- 
tem. Mysticism also hoped to confirm its position 
by means of the Cabala, and to leave the limits to 

which it had been confined by ecclesi- 

Reuchlin. astical dogma. Reuchlin, the first im- 

portant representative of this move- 
ment in Germany, distinguished between cabalistic 
doctrines, cabalistic art, and cabalistic perception. 
Its central doctrine, for him, was the Messianology, 
around which all its other doctrines grouped them- 
selves. And as the cabalistic doctrine originated in 
divine revelation, so was the art cabalistic derived 
immediately from divine illumination. By means of 
this iumination man is enabled to get insight into 
the contents of the cabalistic doctrine through the 
symbolic interpretation of the letters, words, and 
contents of Scripture; hence the Cabala is symbol- 
ical theology. Whoever would become an adept in 
the ecabalistic art, and thereby penetrate the caba- 
listic secrets, must have divine illumination and in- 
spiration. The cabalist must therefore first of all 
purify his sonl from sin, and order his life in accord 
with the precepts of virtue and morality. 

Reuchlin’s whole philosophical system, the doc- 
trine of God, cognition, etc., is entirely cabalistic, 
as he freely admits. Reuchlin’s contemporary, 
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim (1487- 
1535), holds the same views, with this difference, that 
he pays especial attention to the practical side of 
the Cabala—namcly, magic-—which lie endeavors to 
develop and explain thoroughly. In his chief work, 
“De Occuita Philosophia,” Paris, 1528, he deals 
principally with the doctrines of God, the Sefirot 
{entirely after the fashion of the cabalists), and the 
three worlds. The last-named point, the division 
of the universe into three distinct worlds—(1) that 
of the elements; (2) the heavenly world; and (3) the 
intelligible world—is Agrippa’s own conception but 
shaped upon cabalistic patterns, by which he also 
tries to explain the meaning of magic. These worlds 
are always intimately connected with one another; 
the higher ever influencing the lower, and the latter 
attracting the influence of the former. 

Mention must also be made of Francesco Zorzi 
(1460-1540), whose theosophy is cabalistic, and who 
refers to the “Hebrei” (‘De Harmonia Mundi.” 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 





cantus iii. 1, ch. iii.). His doctrine of the threefold 
soul is especially characteristic, as he uses even 
the Hebrew terms “ Nefesh, “Ruah,” and “ Nesha- 
mmah.” Natural philosophy in combination with 
the Christian Cabala is found in the works of 

the German Theophrastus Paracelsus 


Natural (1498-1541), of the Italian Hierony- 
Philos- mus Cardanus (1501-76), of the Hol- 
ophy. lander Johann Baptist von Helmont 


(1577-1644), and of the Englishman 
Robert Fludd (1574-1687). Natural science was 
just about to cast off its swaddling-clothes—a 
crisis that could not be passed through at one 
bound, but necessitated a number of intermediate 
steps. Not yet having attained to independence 
and being bound up more or less with purely 
speculative principles, it sought support in the 
Cabala, which enjoyed a great reputation. Among 
the above-mentioned representatives of this pe- 
culiar syncretism, the Englishman Fludd is espe- 
cially noteworthy on account of his knowledge of 
the Cabala. Almost all of his metaphysical ideas 
are found in the Lurianic Cabala, which may be ex- 
plained by the fact that he formed connections with 
Jewish cabalists during his many travels in Ger- 
many, France, and Italy. 

Cabalistic ideas continned to exert their influence 
even after a large section of Christianity broke with 
the traditions of the Church. Many conceptions 
derived from the Cabala may be found in the dog- 
matics of Protestantism as taught by its first repre- 
sentatives, LUTHER and Melanchthon. This is still 
more the case with the German mystics Valentin 
Weigel (1533-88) and Jacob Béhme (1575-1624). 
Although owing nothing directly to the literature 
of the cabalists, yet cabalistic ideas pervaded the 
whole period to such an extent that even men of 
limited literary attainments, like Boéhme, for in- 
stance, could not remain uninfluenced. In addition 
to these Christian thinkers, who took up the doc- 
trines of the Cabala and essayed to work them over 
in their own way, Joseph de Voisin (1610-85), Atha- 
nasius Kircher (1602-84), and Knorr Baron von 
Rosenrotu endeavored to spread the Cabala among 
the Christians by translating cabalistic works, which 
they regarded as most ancient wisdom. Most of 
them also held the absurd idea that the Cabala con- 
tained proofs of the truth of Christianity. In mod- 
ern times Christian scholars have contributed little 
to the scientific investigation of cabalistic literature. 
Molitor, Kleuker, and Tholuk may be mentioned, 
although their critical treatment leaves much to be 
desired. 

—Teachings: The name “Cabala” characterizes 
the theosophic teachings of its followers as an an- 
cient sacred “tradition ” instead of being a product 
of human wisdom. This claim, however, did not 
prevent them from differing with one another even 
on its most important doctrines, each one interpret- 
ing the “tradition” in his own way. <A systematic 
review of the Cabala would therefore have to take 
into account these numerous different interpreta- 
tions. Only one system can, however, be considered 
here;. namely, that which has most consistently car- 
ried out the basic doctrines of the Cabala, Leav- 
ing Hasipism aside, therefore, the Zoharistic system 


Cabala 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


472 





as interpreted by Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria, 
has most consistently developed these doctrines, 
and it will be treated here as the cabalistic system 
par excellence. The literary and historical value 
of its main works will be discussed in special 
articles. 

The Cabala, by which speculative Cabala (nbap 
movyp) is essentially meant, was in its origin merely 
a system of metaphysics; but in the course of its 
development it included many tenets of dogmatics, 
divine worship, and ethics. God, the world, crea- 
tion, man, revelation, the Messiah, law, sin, atone- 
ment, etc.—such are the varied subjects it discusses 
and describes. 

The doctrine of the En-Sof is the starting-point 
of all cabalistic speculation. God is the infinite, un- 
limited being, to whom one neither can nor may 
ascribe any attributes whatever; who 
can, therefore, be designated merely 
as En-Sof (1D [XN = “ without end,” 
“the Infinite”). Hence, the idea of God can be 
postulated merely negatively: it isknown what God 
is not, but not what He is. All positive ascriptions 
are finite, or as Spinoza later phrased it, in harmony 
with the Cabala, “omnis determinatio est negatio.” 
One can not predicate of God either will or intention 
or word or thought or deed (Azriel, in Meir ibn Gab- 
bai’s “Derek Emunah,” ed. Berlin, p. 4a). Nor can 
one ascribe to Him any change or alteration; for He 
is nothing that is finite: He is the negation of all 
negation, the absolutely infinite, the En-Sof. 

In connection with this idea of God there arises 
the difficult question of the creation, the principal 
problem of the Cabala and a much-discussed point 
in Jewish religious philosophy. If God be the En- 
Sof—that is, if nothing exists outside of God—then 
the question arises, How may the universe be ex- 
plained? This can not have precxisted as a reality 
or aS primal substance; for nothing exists outside of 
God: the creation of the world at a definite time 
presupposes a change of mind on the part of God, 
leading Him from non-creating to creating. But 
a change of any kind in the En- 
Sof is, as stated, unthinkable; and 
all the more unthinkable is a change 
of mind on His part, which could have taken 
place only because of newly developed or recognized 
reasons influencing His will, a situation impossible 
in the case of God. This, however, is not the only 
question to be answered in order to comprehend the 
relation between God and the world. God, as an 
infinite, eternal, necessary being, must, of course, 
be purely spiritual, simple, elemental. How was 
it possible then that He created the corporeal, com- 
pounded world without being affected by coming in 
contact with it? In other words, how could the 
corporeal world come into existence, if a part of 
God was not therein incorporated? 

In addition to these two questions on creation and 
a corporeal world, the idea of divine rulership of the 
world, Providence, is incomprehensible. The order 
and law observable in the world presuppose a con- 
scious divine government. The idea of Providence 
presupposes a knower; and a knower presupposes 
a connection between the known and the knower. 
But what connection can there be between absolute 


God. 


Creation. 


spirituality and simplicity on the one side, and the 
material, composite objects of the world on the 
other? 

No less puzzling than Providence is the existence 
of evil in the world, which, like everything else, 
exists through God. How can God, 
who is absolutely perfect, be the 
cause of evil? The Cabala endeavors 
to answer all these questions by the following 
assumption: 

Aristotle, who is followed by the Arabian and 
Jewish philosophers, taught (see Munk’s note to his 
translation of the “Moreh Nebukim,” i. 68) that in 
God, thinker, thinking, and the object thought of 

are absolutely united. The cabalists 


World. 


The adopted this philosophic tenet in all 
Primal its significance, and even went a step 
Will. further by positing an essential differ- 
ence between God’s mode of thinking 

and man’s. With man the object thought of re- 


mains abstract, a mere form of the object, which has 
only a subjective existence in the mind of man, and 
not an objective existence outside of him. God’s 
thought, on the other hand, assumes at once a 
concrete spiritual existence. The mere form even is 
at once a substance, purely spiritual, simple, and 
unconfined, of course, but still concrete; since the 
difference between subject and object does not ap- 
ply to the First Cause, and no abstraction can be 
assumed. This substance is the first product of the 
First Cause, emanating immediately from Wisdom, 
which is identical with God, being His thought; 
hence, like Wisdom, it is eternal, inferior to it only 
in degree, but notin time; and through it, the primal 
will (QVIPM Py). everything was produced and 
everything is continuously arranged (Azriel, l.c. 3a; 
this point is discussed in detail in Eybeschiitz, 
“Shem ‘Olam,” pp. 50 e¢ seg.). The Zohar expresses 
this thought in its own way in the words: “Come 
and see! Thought is the beginning of everything 
that is; but as such it is contained within itself and 
unknown. . . . The real [divine] thought is con- 
nected with the psx [the “Not”; in the Zohar ps 
= “En-Sof”], and never separates from it. This is 
the meaning of the words (Zech, xiv. 9) ‘God is one, 
and His name is one’” (Zohar, Wayehi, i. 246b). 
The Zohar, as may be seen here, uses the expres- 
sion “thought ” where other cabalists use “primal 
will”; but the difference of terminology does not 
imply a difference of conception. The designation 
“will” ismeant to express here merely 
anegation; namely, that the universe 
was not produced unintentionally by 
the First Cause, as some philosophers 
hold, but through the intention—?.e., the wisdom— 
of the First Cause. The first necessary and eternal, 
existing cause is, as its definition “En-Sof” indicates, 
the most complete, infinite, all-inclusive, and ever 
actually thinking Wisdom. But it can not be even 
approached in discussion. The object of its thought, 
which is also eternal and identified with it, is, as it 
were, the plan of the universe, in its entire existence 
and its duration in space and in time. That is to 
say, this plan contains not only the outline of the 
construction of the intellectual and material world, 
but also the determination of the time of its coming 


Its 
Wisdom. 


473 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala. 





jnto being; of the powers operating to that end in 
it; of the order and regulation according to fixed 
norms of the successive events, vicissitudes, devi- 
ations, originations, aud extinctions to take place in 
it. The Cabala sought to answer the above-men- 
tioned questions regarding the creation and Provi- 
dence by thus positing a primal will. The creation 
of the world occasioned no change in the First Cause ; 
for the transition from potentiality to reality was 
contained in the primal will already. 

The primal will contains thus within itself the 
plan of the universe in its entire infinity of space 
and time, being for that reason eo tpso Providence, 
and is omniscient concerning all its innumerable de- 


tails. Although the First Cause is the sole source of 
all knowledge, this knowledge is only 

Provi- of the most general and simple nature. 
dence. The omniscience of the First Cause 


does not limit the freedom of man be- 
cause it does not occupy itself with details; the 
omniscience of the primal will, again, is only of a 
hypothetical and conditional character and leaves 
free rein to the human will. 

The act of creation was thus brought about by 
means of the Primal Will, also called the Infinite 
Light (1D PN WS). But the question still remains 
unanswered: How is it possible that out of that 
which is absolute, simple, and indeterminate—it be- 
ing identical with the “First Cause ”--namely, the 
“Primal Will”—~there should emerge determinate, 
composite beings, such as exist in the universe? The 
cabalists endeavor to explain the transition from 
the infinite to the finite by the theory of the Zim- 
zum; 7.e., contraction. The phenomenon, that 
which appears, is a limitation of what is originally 
infinite and,therefore, in itself invisible and imper- 
ceptible, because the undefined is insensible to touch 
and sight. “The En-Sof,” says the Cabala, “con- 
tracted Himself in order to leave an empty space in 
the world.” In other words, the infinite totality 
had to become manifold in order to appear and be- 
come visible in definite things. The power of God 
is unlimited: it is not limited to the infinite, but in- 
cludes also the finite (Azriel, d.c. p. 2a). Or, as the 
later cabalists phrase it, the plan of the world lies 
within the First Cause; but the idea of the world 
includes the phenomenon, which must, therefore, 
be made possible. This power contained in the 
First Cause the cabalists called “the line” (p) [com- 
pare the Gnostic “Kaw la-Kaw” mentioned above. 
—k.]; it runs through the whole universe and gives 
it form and being. 

But avother danger arises here. If God is imma- 
nent in the universe, the individual objects—or, as 
Spinoza terms them, the “ modi”—may easily come 
to be considered asa part of thesubstance. Jn order 
to solve this difficulty, the cabalists point out, in the 
first place, that one perceives in the accidental 
things of the universe not only their existence, but 
also an organic life, which is the unity in the plural- 
ity, the general aim and end of the individual things 
that exist only for their individual aims and ends. 
This appropriate interconnection of things, harmoni- 
zing as it does with supreme wisdom, is not inher- 
ent in the things themselves, but can only originate 
in the perfect wisdom of God. From this follows 


the close connection between the infinite and the 
finite, the spiritual and the corporeal, the latter being 
contained in the former. According to this assump- 
tion it would be justifiable to deduce 
Identity of the spiritual and infinite from the cor- 
Substance poreal and finite, which are related 
and Form. to each other as the prototype to its. 
copy. It is known that everything 
that is finite consists of substance and form; hence, 
it isconcluded that the Infinite Being also hasa form 
in absolute unity with it, which is infinite, surely 
spiritual, and general. While one can not form any 
conception of the En-Sof, the pure substance, one 
can yet draw conclusions from the “Or En-Sof” 
(The Infinite Light), which in part may be cognized 
by rational thought; that is, from the appearance of 
the substance one may infer its nature. The ap- 
pearance of God is, of course, differentiated from 
that of all other things; for, while all else may be 
cognized only as a phenomenon, God may be con- 
ceived as real without phenomenon, but the phenom- 
enon may not be conceived without Him (Cordovero, 
“Pardes,” xxv., “Sha‘ar ha-Temurot”). Although 
it must be admitted that the First Cause is entirely 
uncognizable, the definition of it includes the ad- 
mission that it contains within it all reality, since 
without that it would not be the general First Cause. 
The infinite transcends the finite, but does not ex- 
clude it, because the concept of infinite and unlim- 
ited can not be combined with the concept of exclu- 
sion. The finite, moreover, can not exist if excluded, 
because it has no existence of its own. The fact 
that the finite is rooted in the infinite constitutes the 
beginnings of the phenomenon which the cabalists 
designate aS AX ID NNID WC‘ the light in the 
test of creation”), indicating thereby that it does 
not constitute or complete the nature of God, but is 
merely a reflection of it. The First Cause, in order 
to correspond to its concept as contaming all reali- 
ties, even those that are finite. has, as it were, retired 
intoits own nature, has limited and concealed it- 
self, in order that the phenomenon might become 
possible, or, according to cabalistic terminology, 
that the first concentration (NWN Dyy¥) might 
take place. This concentration, however, does not 
represent the transition from potentiality to actual- 
ity, from the infinite to the finite; for it took place 
within the infinite itself in order to produce the 
infinite light. Hence this concentration is also des- 
ignated as Ampa (“cleavage ”), which means that no 
change really took place within the infinite, just as 
we may look into an object through a fissure in its 
surface while no change has taken place within the 
object itself. It is only after the infinite light has 
been produced by this concentration, 7.e.—after the 
First Cause has become a phenomenon—that a be- 
ginning is made for the transition to the finite and 
determinate, which is then brought about by a sec- 
ond concentration. 
The finite in itself has no existence, and the infi- 
nite as such can not be perceived: 
Con- only through the light of the infinite 
centration. does the finite appear as existent; just 
as by virtue of the finite the infinite 
becomes perceptible. Hence, the Cabala teaches 
that the infinite light contracted and retired its intin- 


Cabala 


ity in order that the finite might become existent; or, 
in other words, the infinite appears as the sum of finite 
things. The first as well as the second concentration 
takes place only within the contines of mere being; 
and in order that the infinite realities, which form an 
absolute unity, may appear in their diversity, dy- 
namic tools or forms must be conceived, which pro- 
duce the gradations and differences and the essential 
distinguishing qualities of finite things. This leads 
to the doctrine of the SEFIRot, which is perhaps the 
most iinportant doctrine of the Cabala. Notwith- 

standing its importance, it is presented 


The very differently in different works. 
Sefirot. While some cabalists take the Sefirot 


to be identical, in their totality, with 
the Divine Being—7.e., each Sefirah representing 
only a different view of the infinite, which is com- 
prehended in 
this way (com- 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


“0 


474 





The first Sefirah, Keter (M5 = “crown,” or DY 
mbyp = “exalted height”), is identical with the primal 
will (AYTPA PN) of God, and is differentiated from 
the En-Sof, as explained above, only as being the 
first effect, while the En-Sof is the first cause. This 
first Sefirah contained within itself the plan of the 
universe in its entire infinity of time and space. 
Many cabalists, therefore, do not include the Keter 
among the Sefirot, as it is not an actual emanation 
of the En-Sof; but most of them place it at the head 
of the Sefirot. From this Keter, which is an abso- 
lute unity, differentiated from everything manifold 
and from every relative unity, proceed two parallcl 
principles that are apparently opposed, but in re- 
ality are inseparable: the one masculine, active, 
called Hokmah (Aman = “ wisdom”); the other femi- 


nine, passive, called Binah (79°93 = “ intellect”). The 
union of Hok- 


mah and Binal 


pare“ Ma‘are- e ON ON DN. ON dy 5 produces Da‘at 

ket,” p. 8b, be- D Soe Ny (nyt = “rea- 

low)—others y 02 VAN yy MY son”); that is, 
\) Te / 

look upon the Re ag wr the contrast be- 





Setirot merely as 
tools of the Di- 
vine power, su- 
perior creatures, 
that are, how- 
ever, totally 
different from 
the Primal Be- 
ing (Recanati, 
“'Ta‘ame  Miz- 
wot,” — passim), 
The following 
definition of the 
Sefirot, in agree- 
ment with Cor- 
dovero and 
Luria, may, 
however, be re- 
garded asa logic- 
ally correct one: 

God is imma- 
nent in the 
Sefirot, but He 
is Himself more 
than may be per- 
ceived in these 
forms of idea and being. Just as, according to Spi- 
noza, the primal substance has infinite attributes, but 
manifests itself only in two of these—namely, extent 
and thought—so also is, according to the conception 
of the Cabala, the relation of the Sefirot to the En-Sof., 


DN PN BN ON ba, 


The Sefirot themselves, in and through which all 


changes take place in the universe, are composite in 


so far as two natures may be distinguished in them; | 


namely, (1) that in and through which all change 
takes place, and (2) that which is unchangeable, the 
light or the Divine power. The cabalists call these 
two different natures of the Setiroé “ Light” and“ Ves- 
sels” (oss, 3ié). For, as vessels of different color 
refiect the light of the sun differently without produ- 
cing any change in it, sothe divine light manifested in 


the Sefirot is not changed by their seeming differences | 


(Cordovero, lc. “Sha‘ar ‘Azamot we-Kelim,” iv.). 


3 WAV ODA 


vy 


"0 wa nama we 8 


Relation of the Cabalistie Spheres. 
(From Horwitz, “‘ Soefa* Tal,” 1612.) 





| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 








tween subjectiv- 
ity and objec- 


% tivity finds its 
solution in 
"fe % reason, by which 
A Nees cognition or 
a\z% knowledge  be- 
“4 comes possible. 
go , : 
aiz Those cabalists 
a who do not in- 
4 clude Keter 
ad g mong the Sefi- 
a, 2 rot, take Da‘at 


as the third 
Sefirah; but the 
majority  con- 
sider it merely 
as a combination 
of Hokmah and 
Binah and not 
as an independ- 
ent Sefirah. 

The first three 
Sefirot, Keter, 
Hokmah, and 
Binah, form a 
unity among themselves; that is, knowledge, the 
knower, and the known are in God identical, and 
thus the world is only the expres- 
sion of the ideas or the absolute 
forms of intelligence. Thus the iden- 
tity of thinking and being, or of 
the real and ideal, is taught in the 
Cabala in the same way as in Hegel. Thought 
in its threefold manifestation again produces 
contrasting principles; namely, Hesed (Dn = 
“mercy”), the masculine, active principle, and Din 
(7 = “justice”), the feminine, passive principle. 
also called Pahad (795 =“awe”) and Geburah (A233 
=“might”), which combine in a common principle, 
Tif’eret (MINSn= “beauty ”). Theconcepts justice 
and mercy, however, must not be taken in their 
literal sense, but as symbolical designations for 


NON 


The First 
Three 
Sefirot. 


475 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 





expansion and contraction of the will; the sum of 
both, the moral order, appearsas beauty. The last- 
named trinity of the Sefirot represents dynamic na- 
ture, namely, the masculine Nezah (My) =“ tri- 
umph ”); and the feminine Hod (414 = “ glory ”); the 
former standing 
for increase, and 
the latter for the 


torce from 
which proceed 000. 0 8s 
all the forces 


produced in the 0 
universe. Nezah 
and Hod unite ©. ys . oa 
to produce (Poss |. me ae Be 
Yesod (HOY= TF Leseotaines ~ 
“ foundation ” ), 
the reproductive 
element, the root 
of all existence. 
These three 
trinities of the 
Sefirot are also 
designated as 
follows: The 
tirst three Sefirot 
form the intel- 
ligible world 
Sawin o5ry, 
or Saya aby, as 
Azriel [l.e. p. 3b] 
calls it, corre- 
sponding to the 
Koouog voytéc of 
the Neoplato- 
nists), represent- 
ing, as we have 
seen, the abso- 
lute identity of 
being and think- 
ing. Thesecond 
triad of the Sefi- 
rot is moral in 
character; hence 
Azriel (J.¢.) calls 


it the “soul- 
world,” and 
later cabalists 
WIN: Boy « 
(“the sensible | 
world”); while : 


the third triad 
constitutes the 
natural world 
(YAIOA ody, or, asin Azriel [2.¢.], Hn ody, and 
in the terminology of Spinoza “natura naturata ”). 
The tenth Sefirah is Malkut ( moby = “dominion ”), 
that in which the will, the plan, and the active forces 
become manifest, the sum of the permanent and 
immanent activity of all Sefirot. The Setirot on 
their first appearance are not yet the dynamic tools 


proper, as it were, constructing and regulating the | 


world of phenomena, but merely the prototypes of 
them. . | 

In their own realm, called moyxr nd (“realm 
of emanation”; see AZILUT), or sometimes ADAM 


Sreeer rise ESL YC FYFE VIVRE SETICOSOP CU SSETTE REET e Eerie ge geen te ere re meee BES eres neg RSerEr yey 
° $ : A i Deine ee 2) 






The Sefirot in Relation to One Another. 
(From “ Asis Rimmonim,”’ 1601.) 


Kabmon, because the figure of man is employed in 
symbolic representation of the Sefirot, the Sefirot are 
conceived mereiy as conditions of the finite that is 
to be; for their activity only begins in the other so- 
called three worlds; namely, (1) the world of crea- 
tive ideas 
(axman pdt), 
(2) the world of 
creative forma- 
tions (AVY 'Y), 
and (3) the world 
of creative mat- 
ter (Mwy y). 
The earliest de- 
scription of 
these four 
worlds is found 
in the “ Masseket 
Azilut.” The 
first Azilutie 
world contains 
the Sefirot (1155 
in this passage = 
MVEAD, as Azri- 
el, Uc. 5a, says), 
and in the Beri- 
atic (A493) 
world are the 
souls of the 
pious, the divine 
throne, and the 
divine halls. 
The  Yeziratic 
(AVY) world is 
the seat of the 
ten classes of 
angels with their 
chiefs, presided 
over by Meta- 
tron, who was 
changed into 
fire; and there 
ure also the 
spirits of men. 
In the ‘Asiyyatic 
(Mwy) world are 
the ofanim, the 
angels that re- 
ceive the pravers 
and control the 
actions of men, 
and wage war 
against evil or 
Samael (* Mas- 
seket Azilut,” in Jellinek, “Ginze Hokmat ha- 
Kabbalah,” pp. 3-4). Although there is no doubt 

that these four worlds were origi- 

The Four nally conceived asreal, thus occasion- 

Worlds. ing the many fantastic descriptions 

of them in the carly Cabala, they 
were subsequently interpreted as being purely ideal- 
istic. 

The later Cabala assumes three powers in nature, 
the mechanical, the organic, and the teleological, 
which are connected together as the result of a gen- 
eral, independent, purely spiritual, principal idea. 





recta a ar a eT, 


Mt ag ga as ap RN cna ae PR AS ee 


Cabala 


—<<—= 


They are symbolized by the four worlds. The cor- 
poreal world (A*wyn ‘y) is perceived as a world sub- 
jected to mechanism. As this can not be derived 
from a body or corporeality, the Cabala attempts to 
find the basis for it in the noncorporeal; for even 
the ‘Asiyyatic world 
has its Sefirot; 7.e., 
non-corporeal powers 
that are closely re- 
lated to the monads 
of Leibnitz. This as- 
sumption, however, 
explains only inor- 
ganic nature; while 
organic, formative, 
developing bodies 
must proceed from 
a power that oper- 





Correct Order of Sefirot Arranged 


ates from within in a Circle. 
and not from with- (From “ Asis Rimmonim ,” 1661.) 
out. These inner 


powers that form the organism from within, repre- 
sent the Yeziratic world, the realm of creation. As 
there is found in 
nature not activity 
merely, but also wise 
activity, the cabalists 
call this intelligence 
fe manifested in nature 
oh tree pment Fo} ~~ dtthe realm of creative 
ets : 4 ideas. Since, how- 
ever, the intelligent 
ideas which are man- 
ifested in nature pro- 
ceed from eternal 
truths that are in- 
dependent of exist- 
ing nature, there 
must necessarily exist 
the realrn of these 
: eternal truths, the 
Azilutic world. Hence the different worlds are es- 
sentially one, related to one another as prototype 
and copy. All that is contained in the lower world 
is found in higher archetypal 
form in the next higher world. 
Thus, the universe forms a large 
unified whole, a living, undi- 
vided being, that consists of 
three parts enveloping one an- 
other successively; and over 
them soars, as the highest arche- 
typal seal, the world of Azilut. 
The psychology of the Cab- 
ala is closely connected with 
its metaphysical doctrines. As 
in the Talmud, so in the Cab- 
ala man is represented as the sum and the high- 
est product of creation, The very organs of his 
body are constructed according to the mysteries 
of the highest wisdom: but man proper is the soul; 
for the body is only the garment, the 
covering in which the true inner man 
appears. The soul is threefold, being 
composed of Nefesh, Ruah, and Neshamah; Nefesh 
(wH3) corresponds to the ‘ Asiyyatic world, Ruah 











2 BypPa 43 
: 2Ip: 3) p)3t — 
a pe sspbipe 


Sie oe 





Sefirot in the Form of a Menorah. 
(From * Asis Rimmonim,” 1601.) 





The Aleph as a 
Symbol of the 
Four Cabalistic 
Worlds. 


(Froin “Asis Rimmonim,”” 
1601.) 


Man. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


476 





(m5) to the Yeziratic, and Neshamah (7»y9) to the 
Beriatic. Nefesh is the animal, sensitive principle 
in man, and as such isin immediate touch with the 
body. Ruah represents the moral nature; being the 
seat of good and evil, of good and evil desires, ac- 
cording as it turns toward Neshamah or Nefesh. 
Neshamah is pure intelligence, pure spirit, incapable 
of good or evil: itis pure divine light, the climax 
of soul-life. The genesis of these three powers of 
the soul is of course different. Neshamah proceeds 
directly from divine Wisdom, Ruah from the Sefirah 
Tif’eret (“ Beauty ”), and Nefesh from the Sefirah 
Malikut (“Dominion”). Aside from this trinity of 
the soul there is also the individual principle; that 
is, the idea of the body with the traits belonging to 
each person individually, and the spirit of life that 
has its seat in the heart. But as these last two ele- 
ments no longer form part of the spiritual nature of 
man, they are not included in the divisions of the 
soul, The cabalists explain the connection between 
soul and body as follows: All souls exist before the 
formation of the body in the suprasensible world 
(compare PREEXISTENCE), being united in the course 
of time with their respective bodies. The descent 
of the soul into the body is necessitated by the finite 
nature of the former: it is bound to unite with the 
body in order to take its part in the universe, to 
contemplate the spectacle of creation, to become 
conscious of itself and its origin, and, finally, to re- 
turn, after having completed its tasks in life. to the 
inexhaustible fountain of light and life—God. 

While Neshamah ascends to God, Ruah enters 
Eden to enjoy the pleasures of paradise, and Nefesh 
remains in peace on earth. This statement, how- 
ever, applies only to the just. At the death of the 
godless, Neshamah, being stained with sins, en- 
counters obstacles that make it difficult for it to re- 

turn to its source; and until it has 
Im- returned, Ruah may not enter Eden, 
mortality. and Nefesh finds no peace on earth. 
Closely connected with this view is 
the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul (see 
METEMPSYCHOSIS), on Which the Cabala lays great 
stress. In order that the soul may return to its 
source, it must previously have reached full devel- 
opment of all its perfections in terrestrial life. If it 
has not fulfilled this condition in the course of one 
life, it must begin all over again in another body, 
continuing until it has completed its task. The 
Lurianic Cabala added to metempsychosis proper 
the theory of the impregnation (4\2y) of souls; that 
is, if two souls do not feel equal to their tasks God 
unites both In one body, so that they may support 
and complete each other, as, for instance, a lame 
inan and a blind one may conjointly do (compare 
the parable in Sanh. 91a, b). If one of the two souls 
needs aid, the other becomes, as it were, its mother, 
bearing it in its Jap and nourishing it with its own 
substance. 

In regard to the proper relation of the soul to God, 
as the final object of its being, the cabalists distin- 
guish, both in cognition and in will, atwofold grada- 
tion therein. As regards the will, we may fear God 
and also Jove Him. Fear is justified as it leads to 
love. “In love is found the secret of divine unity: 
it is love that unites the higher and lower stages, 


477 





and that lifts every thing to that stage where all must 
be one” (Zohar, wa-Yakhel, ii. 216a). In the same 
way human knowledge may be cither 


Love, the reflected or intuitive, the latter again 
Highest being evidently the higher. The soul 
Relation to must rise to these higher planes of 
God. knowledge and will, to the contem- 


plation and love of God; and in this 
way it returns to its source. The life beyond is a 
life of complete contemplation and complete love. 
The relation between the soul and God is repre- 
scented in the figurative language of the Zoharistic 
Cabalaas follows: “Thesoul, Neshamah [which pro- 
ceeds from the Sefirah Binah, as mentioned above}, 
comes into the world through the union of the king 
with the matrona—‘ king’ meaning the Sefirah Tife- 
ret and ‘matrona’ the Sefirah Malkut—and the re- 
turn of the soul to God is svinbolized by the union 
of the matrona with the king.” Similarly, the mer- 
ciful blessing that God accords to the world is sym- 
bolized by the first figure; and by the second, the 
spiritualizing and ennobling of what is material and 
common through man’s fulfilment of his duty. 

It is seen hereby that ethics is the highest aim 
of the Cabala; it can be shown, indeed, that meta- 
physics is made subservient to it. The cabalists of 
course regard the ethical question asa part of the 
religious one, their theory of influence characteri- 

zing their attitude toward ethics as 

Ethics of well as law. “The terrestrial world 
the Cabala. is connected with the heavenly world, 

as the heavenly world is connected 

with the terrestrial one,” is a doctrine frequently 
recurring in the Zohar (Noah, 1. 70b).. The later cab- 
alists formulate this thought thus: The Sefirot 
impart as much as they receive. Although the 
terrestrial world is the copy of the heavenly ideal 
world, the latter manifests its activity according to 
the impulse that the former has received. The con- 
nection between the real and the ideal world is 
brought about by man, whose soul belongs to 
heaven, while his body is earthy. Man connects the 
two worlds by means of his love for God, which, as 
explained above, unites him with God. The knowl- 
edge of the law in its ethical as well as religious 
aspects is also a means toward influencing the 
higher regions; for the study of the law means 
the union of man with divine wisdom. Of course, 
the revealed doctrine must be taken in 

The its true sense; 2.¢., the hidden meaning 
Doctrine of of Scripture must be sought out (see 
Influence. JEw. Encyc, i. 409, 8.0, ALLEGORICAL 
INTERPRETATION). The ritual also 

has a deeper mystical meaning, as it serves to pre- 
serve the universe and to secure blessings for it. 
Formerly this was the object of the ritual sacrifices 
in the Temple; but now their place is taken by prayer. 
Devout worship, during which the soul is so ex- 
alted that it seems desirous of leaving the body in 
order to be united with its source, agitates the heav- 
enly soul; thatis, the Sefirah Binah. This stimulus 
occasions @ secret movement among the Sefirot of all 
the worlds, so that all approach more or less to their 
source until the full bliss of the En-Sof reaches the 
last Sefirah, Malkut, when all the worlds become 
conscious of a beneticent influence, Similarly, just 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cabala 





as the good deeds of man exert a beneficent iufluence 
on all the worlds, so iis evil actions injure them. 

The question as to what constitutes evil and what 
good, the cabalists answer as follows: 

In discussing the problem of evil, a distinction 
must be made between evil itself, and evil in human 
nature, Evilis the reverse of the divine SINN NIDD 
[the deft side, while the good is the right side—a 
Gnostic idea (see above).-—K.]. As the divine has 
true being, evil is that which has no being, the un- 
real or the seeming thing, the thing as it appears. 
And here again distinction must be made, between 
the thing which appears to be but is not—7.e., the ap- 

pearance of a thing which is unreal— 
The and the appearance of a thing which 
Problem of is what it appears to be—7.e., asa being 
Evil. of its own, having an original type of 
existence of its own. This “appear- 
ance of an appearance” or semblance of the phenom- 
enon is manifested in the very beginnings of the 
finite and the multiform, because these beginnings 
include the boundaries of the divine nature; and the 
boundaries of the divine constitute the godless, 
the evil. In other words, evil is the finite. As the 
finite includes not only the world of matter, but, as 
has been shown above, also its idea, the cabalists 
speak of the Beriatic, Yeziratic, and ‘Asiyyatic worlds 
of evil, as these worlds contain the beginnings of the 
finite. Only the world of the immediate emanations 
(moyen diy), where the finite is conceived as with- 
out existence and seeking existence, is free from 
evil. Evil in relation to man is manifested in that 
he takes semblance for substance, and tries to get 
away from the divine primal source instead of stri- 
ving after union with it. 

Most of the post-Zoharic cabalistic works combine 
with this theory of evil a doctrine on the fall of 
man resembling the Christian tenet. Connecting 
with the ancient view of Adam’s corporeal and 
spiritual excellence before the Fall (see ADAM IN 
RABBINICAL LITERATURE), the later cabalists assert 
that originally all souls were combined into one, 
forming the soul of Adam. Man in his original 
state, therefore, was still a general being, not en- 
dowed with the empirical individuality with which 
he now appears in the world; and together with 
man the whole lower creation was in a spiritual, 
glorified state. But the venom of the serpent en- 
tered into man, potsoning him and all nature, which 

then became susceptible to the influ- 

The Fall of enceof evil. Then human nature was 
Man. darkened and made coarse, and man 
received a corporeal body; at the 

same time the whole ‘Astyyatic world, of which man 
had been the lord and master, was condensed and 
coarsened. The Beriatic and Yeziratic worlds were 
also affected; influenced by man, they sank like the 
‘Asiyatic world, and were also condensed in a pro- 
portionately superior degree. By this theory the 
cabalists explain the origin of physical and moral 
evil in the world. Yet the Cabala by no means con- 
siders man as lost after the Fall. The greatest sin- 
ner, they hold, may attract the higher heavenly 
power by penitence, thus counteracting the poison 
of the serpent working in him. The warfare be- 
tween man and the satanic power will only cease 


Cabala 
Caballeria 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


478 





when man is again elevated into the center of divine 
light, and once more is in actual contact with it. 
This original glory and spirituality of man and 
of the world will be restored in the Messianic age, 
when heaven and earth will be renewed, and even 
Satan will renounce his wickedness. This last point 
has a somewhat Christian tinge, as Indeed other 
Christian ideas are also found in the Cabala, as, ¢.g., 
the trinity of the Sefirot, and especially of the first 
triad. [But on three powers in the one God com- 
pare Philo, “De Sacrificio Abelis et Caini,” xv. ; 
idem, “(Questio in Genes.” iv. 2; and tL, Conybeare, 
“Philo’s Contemplative Life,” 1895, p. 304.—k.] 
But although the Cabala accepted various foreign 
clements, actual Christian elements can not be defi- 
nitely pointed out. Much that appears Christian is 
in fact nothing but the logical development. of cer- 
tain ancient esoteric doctrines, which were incor- 
porated into Christianity and contributed much to 
its development, and which are also found in Tal- 
mudic works and in Talmudic Judaism. 

In forming an opinion upon the Cabala one must 
not be prejudiced by the general impression made 
on the modern mind by the cabalistic writings, es- 
pecially the often repulsive Zoharistic Cabala. In 
former centuries the Cabala was looked upon as a 

divine revelation; modern critics are 


Opinions inclined to condemn it entirely owing 
on the to the fantastic dress in which most 
Value of cabalists clothe their doctrines, which 


the Cabala. gives the latter an entirely un-Jewish 
appearance. If the Cabala were really 

as un-Jewish as it is alleged to be, its hold upon 
thousands of Jewish minds would be a psycholog- 
ical enigma defying all process of reasoning. For 
while the attempt, inaugurated by Saadia, to har- 
monize Talmudic Judaism with Aristotelianism failed 
in spite of the brilliant achievements of Maimonides 
and his school, the Cabala succeeded in being merged 
so entirely in Talmudic Judaism that for half a cen- 
tury the two were almost identical. Although some 
cabalists, such as Abulafia and the pseudonymous 
author of “Kanah,” were not favorably disposed 
toward Talmudism, yet this exception only proves 
the rule that the cabalists were not conscious of any 
opposition to Talmudic Judaism, as is sufliciently 
clear from the fact that men like Nalhmanides, Solo- 
mon ibn Adret, Joseph Caro, Moses Isserles, and 
Elijah b. Solomon of Wilna were not only supporters 
of the Cabala, but even contributed largely to its 
development, As these men were the actual repre- 
sentatives of true Talmudic Judaism, there must have 
been something in the Cabala that at- 

The Cabala tracted them. It can not have been its 
and the metaphysics; for Talmudic Judaism 
Talmud. was not greatly interested in such 
speculations, It must be, then, that 

the psychology of the Cabala, in which a very high 
position is assigned to man, appealed to the Jewish 
mind. While Maimonides and his followers regarded 
philosophical speculation as the highest duty of 
man, and even made the immortality of the soul de- 
pendent on it; or, speaking more correctly, while im- 
mortality meant for them only the highest develop- 
ment of “active intellect” (Sy 357 S5y) in man, to 
which only a few attained, the Cabalists taught not 


only that every man may expect a great dealin the fu- 
ture world, according to his good and pious actions, 


| but even that he is the most important factor in 


nature in this world. Not man’s Intelligence, but 
his moral nature, determines what he is. Nor is he 
merely a spoke in the wheel, a small. uninportant 
fragment of the universe, but the center around 
which everything moves. Here the Jewish Cabala, 
in contrast to alien philosophy, tried to present the 
true Jewish view of life, and one that appealed to 
Talmudic Judaism. 

The Jew as well as the man was recognized in the 


Cabala. Notwithstanding the strongly yantheistic 
coloring of its metaphysics, the Cabala 

The never attempted to belittle the impor- 
Cabala and tance of historic Judaism, but, on the 
Phi- contrary, emphasized it. Like the 
losophy. school of Maimonides, the cabalists 


also interpreted Scripture allegor- 
ically ; yet there is an essential difference between the 
two. Abraham and most of the Patriarchs are, for 
both, the symbols of certain virtues, but with this 
difference; namely, that the Cabala regarded the 
lives of the Patriarchs, filled with good and pious 
actions, as incarnations of certain virtues—e.g., the 
life of Abraham as the incarnation of lcve—while 
allegorical philosophy sought for exclusively ab- 
stract ideas in the narratives of Scriptwe. If the 
Talmudists looked with horror upon the allegories 
of the philosophical school, which, if carried out 
logically—and there have always be:n logical 
thinkers among the Jews—would deprive Judaism 
of every historical basis, they did not object to the 
cabalistic interpretation of Scripture, which here also 
identified ideality with reality. 

The same holds good in regard to the Law. The 
cabalists have been reproved for carrying to the ex- 
treme the allegorization of the ritual part of the 
Law. But the great importance of the Cabala for 
rabbinical Judaism lies in the fact that it prevented 
the latter from becoming fossilized. Ji was the 
Cabala that raised prayer to the position it occupied 
for centuries among the Jews, asa means of tran- 
scending earthly affairs fora time and of feeling one- 
self in union with God. And the Cabaa achieved 
this ata period when prayer was graduilly becom- 
ing a merely external religious exercise, a service of 
the lips and not of the heart. And just as prayer 
was ennobled by the influence of the Cabala, so did 
most ritual actions cast aside their formatism, to be- 
come spiritualized and purified. The Cabala thus 
rendered two great services to the development of 
Judaism: it repressed both Aristotelianiasn and Tal- 
mudic formalism. 

These beneficial influences of the Cabaa are, how- 
ever, counterbalanced by several most pernicious 

ones. From the metaphysical axiom, 

Noxious that there is nothing in the world 
Influences. without spiritual life, the cabalists 

developed a Jewish Macic. They 
taught that the elements are the abode of beings 
which are the dregs or remnants of the bwest spiri- 
tual life, and which are divided into four classes; 
namely, elemental beings of fire, air, water, and 
earth; the first two being invisible. while the last 
two may easily be perceived by the senses. While 


479 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Sabala 
Catalleria 





the latter are generally malicious imps who vex and 
mock man, the former are well disposed and help- 
ful, Demonology, therefore, occupies an important 
position in the works of many cabalists; for the 
imps are related to those beings that are generally 
designated as demons (pw), being endowed with 
‘various supernatural powers and with insight into 
the hidden realms of lower nature, and even occa- 
sionally into the future and the higher spiritual 
world. Magic (aw mAwyDd) may be practised with 
the help of these beings, the cabalists meaning 
white magic in contrast to h\wD Nwyn (“the black 
art”). 

Natural magic depends largely on man himself; 
for, according to the Cabala, all men are endowed 
with insight and magical powers which they may 
develop. The means especially mentioned are: 
“Kaw wanah” (79)3) = intense meditation, in order 
to attract the higher spiritual influence; a strong 
will exclusively directed toward its object; anda 
vivid imagination, in order that the impressions 
from the spiritual world may enter profoundly into 
the soul and be retained there. From these prin- 
ciples many cabalists developed their theories on 
casting of lots, NecromaNncy, Exorcism, and many 
other superstitions. Brs_iomancy and the mysti- 
cism of numbers and letters were developed into 
complete systems. 

The metaphysical conception of the identity of 
the real with the ideal gave rise to the mystical con- 
ception that everything beheld by our senses has a 

mystical meaning; that the phenom- 

Cabalistic ena may instruct man as to what takes 

Super- place in the divine idea or in the 
stition. humanintellect. Hence the cabalistic 
doctrine of the heavenly alphabet, 
whose signs are the constellations and stars. Thus 
ASTROLOGY was legitimized, and bibliomancy found 
its justification in the assumption that the sacred 
Hebrew letters are not merely signs for things, but 
implements of divine powers by means of which 
nature may be subjugated. It is easy to see that all 
these views were most pernicious in their influence 
on the intellect and soul of the Jew. But it is 
equally true that these things did not originate in 
the Cabala, but gravitated toward it. In a word, 
its works represent that movement in Judaism 
which attempted to Judaize all the foreign elements 
in it, a process through which healthy and abnormal 
views were introduced together. Compare ADAM 
KapDMON, ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION, AMU- 
LETS, ASCENSION, AZILUT, CREATION, EMANATION, 
METEMPSYCHOsIS, SEFTROT, SYZYGYIES, ZOHAR; and, 
on the relation of the Cabaia to non-Jewish religions, 
GNOSTICISM. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Only those cabalistic works are mentioned 
here that systematically discuss the Cabala or that are recog- 
nized as standard authorities in reference to it. The cata- 
logue of Oppenheimer’s library, Kohelet David, Hamburg, 
1826, contains the names of most of the cabalistic works that 
had appeared up to the first third of the eighteenth century. 
Neubauer’s catalogue of the Hebrew books in the Bodleian 
Library, Oxford, and Steinschneider’s of the Munich Library, 
give information on the most important manuscripts of the 
Cabala. The following are the most important cabalistic 
works that have appeared: Azriel, Perush ‘Eser Sefirot, 
Berlin, 1850, in Meir ibn Gabbai. Derek Emunah;: Eleazar of 
Worms, commentary on the Sefer Yezirah, Przemysi, 1889; 
Keter Shem-Toh (anonymous), in Jellinek, Auswahl Kab- 
balistiseher Mystik. Leipsic, 1853: Abraham Abulafia, Sheba‘ 
Netibot ha-Torah, in Jellinek, Philosophie und Kkabbala, 


ib. 1854; Isaac ibn Latif, Ginze ha-Melek, in Kokbe Yizhak, 
xxviii.; Zurat ha-‘Olam, Vienna, 1862; Rab Pe'alim, Lem- 
berg, 1885; Ma‘areket ha-Elahut (alleged author, Pharez), 
Ferrara, 1557; Joseph b. Abraham Gikatilla, Sha‘are Orah, 
Mantua, 1561; Moses b. Shem-Tob de Leon, Sefer Nefesh 
ha-Hakamah, Basel, 1608; Zohar, alleged author, Simon b. 
Yohai, Mantua, 1558-60; Cremona, 1558; Shem-Tob ben Shem- 
Tob, Sefer ha-Emunot, Ferrara, 1556; Meir ben Ezekiel ibn 
Gabbai, Derek Emunah, Padua, 1562: Moses b. Jacob Cordo- 
vero, Pardes Rimmonim, Cracow and Novydvor. 1591, the 
best and most profound treatise upon the Cabala by a caba- 
list. Isaac b. Solomon Luria’s doctrines are discussed in the 
works of his pupils, especially in Havyim Vital, Bz Hayyim, 
Korez, 1784; Abraham Herrera, Sha’ar ha-Shamayim, Am- 
sterdam, 1665; also in Latin, Porta Ca@lorwm, Sulzbach, 1678 : 
Isaiah b. Abrabain Horwitz, Shene Luhot ha-Berit, Am- 
sterdam, 1649; Joseph Ergas, Shomer Emunim, Amsterdam, 
1736, a readable discussion of important cabalistic doctrines . 
Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Hoker u-Mekabbel, Shklov, 1785: 
German transl. by Freystadt, Kénigsberg, 1840; Sefer np, 
Pithe Hokmah, Korez, 1785, the last and best introduction tuo 
the Cabala by a cabalist ; Jonathan Eybeschtitz, Shem ‘Olam, 
Vienna, 1891, on the geonic mystical literature (see page 463 
of the JEW. ENCYCL., Vol. ii.). 

Sources: A. Adler. in _Nowack, Jahrbiieher der Philosophie, 
1846-47; Berafeld, Da‘at Elohim, pp. 385-399; Sam. A. Bin- 
ion, The Kabbalah, in Library of the Worlds Best Litera- 
ture, ed. C. D. Warner, pp. 8425-8442; Bloeh, Die Jtidische 
Mystik und EKabbala, in Winter and Winsche, Jtidixche 
Literatur, iii., also separately: Buddeus. Intraductio ad 
Historiam Philosophie Hebreorum, Halle, 1702, 1721; 
Ehrenpreis, Entwickeluny der Emanationstehre, Frankfort- 
on-the-Main, 1895; A. Epstein, Lekorot ha-Kahbalah ha- 
Ashkenazit, in Ha-Hoker, ii. 1-ll, 38-48; A. Franek, La 
Kabbale, Paris, 1843; 2d ed. ih. 1889; German transl. by ad. 
Gelinek (= Jellinek), Leipsic, 1844; Freystadt, Philosophia. 
Cabbalistica, Kiénigsberg, 18382: idem, Kabbalismus und 
Pantheismus, ib.; Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, London, 1865; 
Gratz, Geseh. der Juden, vii: compare also the notes by 
Harkavy tothe Hebrew transl. of Gratz in vol. v.; Hamburger, 
Die Hohe Bedeutung ... der Kabbalah, 1844; Jellinek, 
Beitrdge zur Gesch. der Kabbaia, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1852; 
idem, Auswahl Kabbalistischer Mystik, ib. 1858: idem, 
Philosophie und Kabbala, ib. 1854; D. H. Joél, Midrash 
ha-Zohar, die Reliyionsphilosophie des Zohar, ib. 1849: 
Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, ii., iii., see 
Index ; Kleuker, Veber die Natur... der Emanationslehre 
bei den Kabbalisten, Riga, 1786; Karppe, Etude sur les 
Origines ... du Zohar, Paris, 1901; Hamburger, R. B. T. 
s.v. Geheimlehre, Kabbala. and Mystik; Fliigel, Philoso- 
phie, Qabbala, und Vedanta, Baltimore, 1902: Kiesewetter, 
Der Occultismus der Hebrier, in Der Occultismus des 
Alterthums, Leipsic, no date; Landauer, in Orient Lit. vi.. 
vii., several articles of great value as pioneer work; Eliphaz 
Levi (pseudonym for L’abbé A. L. Constant), La Clef des 
Grands Mysteres, Paris, 1861; idem, Le Livre des Splen- 
deurs, ib. 184; 8S, D. Luzzatto, Wikkuah ‘al Hokmat ha-Kab- 
baiah, Goritz, 1852; I. Misses, Zofnat Pa‘aneah (German), 2 
vols., Cracow, 1862-63; Molitor, Philosophie der Gesch. oder 
liber die Tradition, 4 vols., Frankfort and Minster, 1827-53; 
Isaac Myer, Qabbalah, Philadelphia, 1888; Steinschneider, 
Kabbalah, in Jewish Literature. xiii.; Rosner, Yad Binya~ 
min, Vienna, 1[882; Tedeschi, La Cabbala, Triest, 1900; 
Zunz, G. V. 2d ed., pp. 415 et seq.; Rubin, Heidentum und 
Kabbala, in Hebrew, Vienna, 1888 ; in German, ib. 1893 ; idem, 
Kabbala und Agada, Vienna, 1895; Stéckl, Geseh. der Phi- 
losophie des Mittelalters, ii, 232-251, Mayence, 1863, with an 
account of the influence of tbe Cabala on the Reformation ; 
Tennemann, Gesch. der Philosophie, ix. 167-185, Leipsic, 


8 
K L. G. 


CABALLERIA, DE LA: Marano family of 
Aragon, Spain, widely ramified, and influential 
through its wealth and scholarship, especially in 
Saragossa. The family descended from D. Solo. 
mon ibn Labi de la Caballeria, who had nine sons. 
The eldest, Bonafos de la CABALLERIA, was bap- 
tized, and all the others followed his example ex- 
cept Benveniste. Bonafos and Samuel took the 
name “Pedro” (Micer Pedro). Samuel Pedro at- 
tained to high clerical offices, while his brother Ahab- 
Felipe became a leader in the Cortes, and Isaac Fer- 
nando was assistant curator in the University of 
Saragossa. The youngest brother, Luis, who was 
baptized as a little child, was appointed tesorero 
mayor, or chief treasurer, by Don Juan of Navarre. 
Thesons of Isaac Fernando were engaged in farm- 
ing the public taxes, and through their wealth se- 
cured high positions in thestate. Pedrode la Cabal- 


Caballeria 
Caceres 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


480 


mW Ooh eye 
—— 








leria negotiated the marriage of Queen Isabella of 
Castite to Don Ferdinand of Aragon, and had the 
honor of presenting to the royal bride a costly neck- 
lace, valued at 40,000 ducats, defraying part of the 
cost himself. Benveniste’s son, Vidal de la Caballe- 
ria, and his wife Beatrice also embraced Christianity, 
taking the name “Gonzalo.” One of Benveniste’s 
daughters became the wife of the rich landowner 
Don Apres de Paternoy, a Marano of Verdun, and 
their descendants were important in Spanish history. 

Notwithstanding the high offices which this fam- 
ily filled, several of its members suffered from the 
persecutions of the Inquisition. Alfonso de la 
Caballeria of Saragossa, who still maintained his 
connection with the large synagogue there, took 
part in the conspiracy against the inquisitor Arbues. 
The remains of Juan de la Caballeria were burned 
in Saragossa, at which place, in 1488, Luis de la 
Caballeria, as wellas his son Jaime and several other 
members of the family, was made to do public 


penance. 
BinLioGRapny : Libro Verde, in Revista de Espada, vol. 
XV. 
G, M. Ik. 
CABALLERIA, BONAFOS (pipnn) DE 


LA: <Anti-Jewish writer of the fifteenth century ; 
son of Solomon ibn Labi de la Caballeria of Sara- 
gossa; assumed the name of “ Micer Pedro” on be- 
coming a convert to Christianity. From early youth 
he devoted himself to the study of the Hebrew, 
Arabic, and Latin languages, and gradually ac- 
quired a profound knowledge of civil and canonical 
law. He won the favor of Queen Maria, who ap- 
pointed him conmmissioner of the Cortes which con- 
vened at Monzon and Aleafiiz (1486-37); and all the 
libertics and privileges which the Caballeria family 
had enjoyed for a long time were confirmed to him 
and his descendants. Caballeria was twice married: 
tirst (before his conversion) to the former wife of 
Luis de Santangel, who obstinately resisted baptism, 
and then to Violante, a daughter of the wealthy 
Alfonso Ruiz of Daroca, who, like Caballeria, was 
a convert to Christianity. 

In the year 1450 Micer Pedro began his “ Zelus 
Christi Contra Judeos et Sarracenos,” a book full of 
malevolence against his former coreligionists. This 
work, upon which he was engaged for fourteen 
vears, was published at Bologna in 1592 by Martin 
Alfonso Vivaldo, who added numerous annotations 
showing his hostility to the Jewishrace. Soon after 
the completion of this work, in which he falsely ac- 
cused the Jews of every imaginable vice, branding 
them as a cursed secd and a hypocritical, pestilen- 
tial, and abandoned race, Pedro was murdered (1464), 
the deed having becn committed, it is believed, at 
the instigation of Maranos. All the sons of Pedro 
occupied high positions in Aragon; Alfonso being 
vice-chancellor, Luis confidential adviser of King 
Juan, and Jaime counselor and contidential adviser 
of Don Ferdinand, ¢ecompanying the latter on his 
first visit to Naples, and traveling by his side in 
princely splendor. Nevertheless, Jaime in 1504 
became a victim of the Inquisition, and was sen- 
tenced at Saragossa. Another member of the fam- 
ily, Martin de la Caballeria, was invested with 
the command of the fleet at Majorca. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Amador de los Rios, Historia de los Jucting 
en Exspafia, tii. 102 et seqg.; Kayserling, Christopher Colum. 
bus, pp. 26 et seq., New York, 1894. 


G. M. K. 


CABRET or CABRIT, JACOB BEN 
JUDAH: Spanish translator; lived in Spain toward 
the end of the fourteenth century. The surname 
*Oabret” or “Cabrit,” borne by several persons, is 
derived, according to Gress (“Gallia Judaica,” p. 
474), from a Spanish locality, Cabreta or Cabrita. 
Cabret translated from the Latin into Hebrew and 
abridged the work of Arnaldus of Villanova, “De 
Judiciis Astronomic,” or “Capitula Astrologie,” on 
the application of astrology to medicine, The trans- 
lation made at Barcelona in 1381 is still extant in 
manuscript (Neubauer, “ Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No 
2042), 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loeb, in Rev. Et, Jutves, iv. (1; Stein 
schneider, Hebr. Uebers. p. 183. 
G. I. Br. 


CABUL: A city on the boundary-line of Asher 
(Josh. xix. 27), identical with the modern Kabul 
(Buhl, “Geographie,” p. 221). Josephus (“ Vita,” 
& 48) refers to it as “the village of Chabolo situated 
in the confines of Ptolemais.” The name was ap- 
plied also to an entire district Which included twenty 
cities given by Solomon to Hiram, king of Tyre 
(I Kingsix. 18). Josephus (“ Ant.” viii. 5, $3) inter- 
prets “Cabunl” as meaning, in Phenician, “what 
does not please”; but doubt has been cast on this 
interpretation of the term. 

G. LB. L. 


I, JR. 

CACERES (}' "DN; also spelled Caceras, Car- 
ceres, Carcerts, Casares, Casseras, Cazares): 
A family, members of which have lived in Portugal, 
Holland, England, Mexico, Surinam, the West In- 
dies, and the United States. They came, probably, 
from the city of Caceres in Spain. 

The first reference to any person bearing the name 
is in a list of hereties, posted according to custom in 
the cathedral] in the city of Mexico, where the names 
of Antonio Dias (or Diaz) de Caceres and Cata- 
lina de Lecn, his wife, occuras * Judaizers”; the lat- 
ter doing penance at an auto da fé, celebrated on 
Feb. 24, 1590, in that city. Their daughter Dofia 
Leonor de Caceres was denounced asa “ Judaizer ” 
by her aunt, Dofia Mariana Nufiez de Carabajal (see 
CaRABAJAL), before the tribunal of Mexico. Her 
testimony (see Cyrus Adler, in “Publications Am. 
Jew. Hist. Soc.” iv. 45, 47, 68) gives these data: An- 
tonio Dias de Caceres and Jorge de Almeida (Adler, 
vb. pp. 29-79) married on the same day, in the city 
of Parmco, Mexico, Catalina and Leonor de Cara- 
bajal, sisters of the deponent, and, after a visit to 
Spain, moved to the district of San Paolo in the city 
of Mexico. 

Antonio appears to have lived in another district, 
in a house which served as a gathering-place for 
fasting and prayer; and although they all attended 
mass, and otherwise observed the rites and cere- 
monies of the Roman Church, they practised their 
Jewish rites in private. This was soon discovered: 
the deponent, her mother, and brothers were ar- 
rested by order of the Inquisition; and Antonio Dias 
de Caceres, fearing a similar fate, went to China. 


481 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caballeria 
Caceres 





There he lived three years, came back to Mexico, 
feigned at first estrangement from his wife, because 
she was a “Judaizing ” penitent, and finally, seem- 
ing to yield to the entreaties of friends who sought 
to bring them together, became nominally reconciled 
to her and set about in earnest to obey the behests 
of the Mosaic law. Antonio observed caution, 
dreading the arm of the Holy Office, but persisted, 
together with his family, in keeping tle Sabbath at 
home. Prayers were recited at home out of a He- 
brew book, said to have been written in verse, and 
the Psalins, without the required Gloria Patri, were 
chanted by all. His daughter, the above-mentioned 
Leonor de Caceres, figured as a penitent at an auto 
da fé held in the city of Mexico, March 25, 1601. 
A facsimile of a document, dated Sept. 6, 1608, con- 
taining an account of her trial, is given in vol, iv. of 
“Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc.” 

Isabel Caceres: A victim of the Inquisition in 
Toledo in 1625; wife of Luis Baez. 

Jacob (Yahacob) Rodriguez Caceres: Mar- 
tyr, who died at the stake in 1665, at Cordova. 
Daniel Levi de Barrios celebrates him in verse in the 
prologue to his allegorical comedy “ Contra la Verdad 
noay Fucrca. Panegiricoa los tres biena venturados 
miartires Abraham Athias, Yahacob Rodriguez Ca- 
seres, y Raquel Nufiez Fernandez, que fueron que- 
macdos vivos en Cordova por santificar la unidad 
divina, en 16. de Tammuz, afio de 5425 (1665),” Am- 
sterdam (no date). 

Moseh de Caceres: One of the founders of the 
Portuguese community in Amsterdam, who flour- 
ished about 1600. 

J. G. A. K, 


Francisco de Caceres: 1. Writer of the seven- 
teenth century; son of Daniel de Caceres of Am- 
sterdam. He translated from Italian into Spanish 
the “ Vision Deleytable y Summarico de Todas las 
Sciencias,” a work written by Alfonso de la Torre 
and translated into Italian by Domenico Dolphino. 
The translation of Caceres, published at Amsterdam 
in 1663, and dedicated to D. Emanuel, prince of 
Portugal, consists of two parts, the first dealing 
with the various sciences, the second with moral 
philosophy. Of the first part, ch. i. treats of the 
“evil of things, and the confusion in the world”; 
the following six chapters treat of logic, rhetoric, 
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astrology, and the 
remaining ‘chapters treat of metaphysics, pneu- 
matics, and physics. Part ii. discusses ethics and 
politics. 

Wolf (* Bibl. Hebr.” iii. Nos. 908, 1854h) makes 
this Francisco de Caceres the author also of “ Dia- 
logos Satiricos,” published at Amsterdam in 1616. 
Kayserling (“ Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud.” p. 32), however, 
ascribes that work to (2) Francisco or Jacob de 
Caceres who was probably a son of Moseh de Ca- 
ceres, one of the founders of the Jewish-Portuguese 
community of Amsterdam. The latter Francisco 
or Jacob also translated into Spanish “Los Siete 
Dias de la Semana Sobre la Creacion del Mundo,” a 
work by Bastasi, dedicated to Jacob Tirado. As 
the “ Dialogos Satiricos” was published as early as 
1616, it is not probable that the author was the 
former Francisco de Caceres. 


ItT.—31 


Francisco (or Jacob) had, so far as it can be deter- 
mined, five sons: 

(1) Daniel de Caceres: 
teenth century; son of Jacob de Caceres. 
the degree of master of arts. 

Caceres was a friend of Manassch ben Israel, upon 
whose works, “The Conciliator” and “On Human 
Frailty ” (written about 1642), he wrote approba- 
tions. _He also wrote a eulogy on Saul Levi Mor- 
teira’s Sys yay (Amsterdam, 1645). 

D. A. R. 


(2) David de Caceres, who, according to Kay- 
serling, died Oct. 18, 1624, at Amsterdam (Kayser- 
ling, d.c. p. 82). 

(3) Henrique (or Henry) de Caceres, who lived 
in England c. 1650, probably the same who, with 
Benjamin de Caceres, petitioned the king (April 8, 
1661) to permit them to live and trade in Barbados 
and Surinam (“Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc,” 
v. 47, 62; JeEwisH ENCYCLOPEDIA, ii. 523b). 

J. G. A. K. 


(4) Samuel de Caceres: Dutch poet and 
preacher; and brother-in-law of Benedict Spinoza; 
died Nov., 1660, at Amsterdam. He was a pupil of 
Rabbi Saul Levi Morteira of Amsterdam. The title 
“Poeta, Predicador, y Jaxam, de la Ley Sancta Es- 
critor” (Poet, Preacher, and Cantor, Writer of the 
Holy Law), given to Caceres by his contemporaries, 
shows the eminent position which he occupied in 
the Jewish community of Amsterdam. “De la Ley 
Sancta Escritor” refers to the Spanish translation 
of the Bible, which he edited, revised, and corrected, 
andwhich was published in 1661, soon after his death. 

D. A. R. 


(5) Simon de Caceres: Military strategist, 
merchant, and communal leader; flourished in the 
middle of the seventeenth century. He was promi- 
nent in mercantile affairs in Hamburg, London, 
South America, and the West Indies; and his trans- 
actions extended to many parts of the world. 

Caceres is described as a chauvinist Jew, boastful 
of his Jewish descent (see Lucien Wolf, “Transac- 
tions Jew. Hist. Soc. Eng.” i. 56, 73). He joined 
Antonio Fernandez CARVAJAL in the acquisition of 
the Bet Holim cemetery in London, and was one of 
the petitioners who signed the document presented 
to Cromwell by Manasseh ben Israel in March, 1656. 
Queen Christina of Sweden is known to have inter- 
ceded with Cromwell on his behalf for certain com- 
mercial privileges in Barbados (Rawlinson MS., <A. 
26, fol. 888); and at a later date the king of Den- 
mark gave Caceres’ brother a letter of reeommenda- 
tion to Charles II., which was instrumental in pro- 
curing for the Jews in the West Indies an extension 
of commercial facilities (“ Calendar of State Papers,” 
Colonial series, 1661-68, p. 49). Simon was one of 
Cromwell’s intelligencers; and there are at least two 
documents among the Thurloe papers which show 
that his experience was utilized by the lord protector. 
The one is called “A Note of What Things Are 
Wanting in Jamaica” (“Thurloe Papers,” ed. Th. 
Birch, pp. 61,62, London, 1742). It isa memorandum 
containing minute advice with regard to fortifica- 
tions and implements. From a passage in “Crom- 


Writer of the seven- 
He held 


Caceres 
Cresar 





well’s Letter and Speeches,” ed. Carlyle (iii. 131), it 
would seem that his recommendations were followed, 
for the needed supplies were forwarded. 

Together with this memorandum Caceres sub- 
mitted to the protector a remarkable scheme for the 
conquest of Chile (printed in Birch’s ed. of the 
“Thurloe Papers,” d.c. pp. 62, 68; see also bibliog- 
raphy below), wherein he proposed to enlist “men 
of his own nation” (meaning Jews), and offered to 
lead the expedition in person. In his letter of in- 
structions Cromwell refers to the desirability of 
hindering the Spanish trade with Peru and Carta- 
gena, and of striving with the Spaniard for the mas- 
tery of all those seas (see CHILE), At a later date 
Caceres presented another plan to Cromwell, which 
provided for the protection of the Barbados trade 
and for improving the administration of the naviga- 
tion act (Rawlinson MS., A. 60, fol. 181). This doc- 
ument seems to have been unauthorized, and turns 
out to be a personal application for an office he de- 
sired to have created for himself. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lucien Wolf, in several papers published in 
the London Jewish Chronicle, especially his Cranwell’s Jew- 
ish Intelligencers and American Elements in the Reset- 
flement (each published separately); idem,in the Transac- 
tions of the Jew. Hist. Soc. Eng., i,, ii., iii; G. A. Kohut, 
Simon de Caceres and His Plan forthe Conquest of Chili, 
New York, 1899 (reprinted from the American Hehrew, 
June 16, 1899) ; besides the sources cited in the text. 

Daniel (see above) had two(?) sons ; (1) Francis- 
co de Caceres. (2) Samuel ben Daniel de Cace- 
res, whose name, if he is not Daniel’s son, remains a 
“crux interpretum.” It is more than probable that 
the two Samuels have been confounded by bibliog- 
raphers. Samuel, the poet and preacher, had a son 
named David de Caceres, who was printer in Am- 
sterdam in 1661. Another person bearing that name 
was rabbi at Salonica, and afterward (c. 1650) at 
Hebron, Palestine. The following is a tentative 
genealogical sketch of the Amsterdam branch of the 


Caceres family : 


Moses de Caceres 
(ce. 1600) 
Francisco or Jacob 


| 
David Henry Samuel = sister Simon 
(d. 1624) (England) (d. 1660) of Spinoza (England) 
1650 } ¢. 1650 


C; 
David 


a ep 


Francisco Samuei (?) 


A Bernard de Caceres is mentioned in the “Cal- 
endars of State Papers” (see Jacobs, in the bibliog- 


raphy below) 1661-68, as residing in the West Indies. - 


One of the chief members of the Jewish congrega- 
tion in Surinam, whose name is affixed to a special 
charter of privileges, dated Oct. 1, 1669, was Hen- 
rique de Caceres (“Publications Am. Jew. Hist. 
Soc.” iv. 3), and a Samuel de Caceres is spoken 
of in Curacao, W. I|., in the year 1692 (Corcos, 
“Jews of Curacao,” p. 15). In 1891, a Mr. Benja- 
min de Caceres officiated at Curacao in the absence 
of a rabbi (70. p. 47). 

Persons bearing the name are living to-day (1902) 
in New York and Philadelphia. Miss Ida Caseres 
of Philadelphia claims descent from the Caceres 
who settled in Jamaica in the seventeenth century. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. quoted by Steinschneider, 
in Cat. Bodl. Nos. 525, 7972, 9165; First. Bibl. Jud. i. 150 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


482 








(where, among other errors. the convert Jolin Xeres [Cag, 
Bod. p. 2787] is converted into *‘ Joch. de Cazeres’*); Cata- 
logue Michael, MS. No. 351, 2. p. 29; Jacobs and Wolf, Bihl, 
Anglo-Jud. pp. 39, 40, 45, London, 1888; Kayserling, Bibl, 
Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 32, Strasburg, 1890. 

Ji G. A. K. 

CADENET: Smail village in the department of 
Vaucluse, France. Like all places situated along 
the river Durance, Cadenet had a Jewish commu- 
nity in the Middle Ages. A document of the year 
1283 states that this community, together with those 
of Aix, St. Maximin, Lambesc, Pertuis, Istres, 
Tretz, and Lanson, was permitted to have a syna- 
gogue and a cemetery on paying an annual tax 
of two pounds of pepper to the archbishop of Aix 
(Charter of 1283; compare Depping, “ Les Juifs dans 
le Moyen Age,” p. 197). 

In 1885 a remarkable lawsuit arose jn Arles, rela- 
ting to an alleged marriage (described in all its de- 
tails by Gross, in “ Monatsschrift,” 1880, pp. 404 e¢ 
seq.). The plaintiff was Maestro Duran of Cadenet. 
In order to be revenged on Meirona, daughter of 
En Salves Cassin of Aries, who had refused him, 
Duran declared that he had married her in the pres- 
ence of two witnesses, Vidal Abraham of Bourrin 
and Bonfilh or Bonfils Crégud. These witnesses 
were later convicted of perjury. 

The case was taken in turn before the rabbinical 
colleges of Arles, Nimes, Montpellier, and Perpi- 
gnan, and in the last instance, upon the demand of 
Don Salemias Nasi of Valence, was submitted to R. 
Isaac ben Sheshet, who pronounced severe judgment 
against Duran and his fellow-conspirators, and bit- 
terly reproached the community of Arles that it had 
not done its utmost to prevent such a scandal from 
becoming public. A Jew, Mosson of Cadenet by 
name, lived at Curpentras in 1404 (“Revue Etudes 
Juives,” xii. 196); and two others, Salvet of Cade- 
net and Vidalon of Cadenet, were sheriffs of that 
community in 1460 (. p. 176). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 548. 


a. S. K. 
CZECILIUS OF CALACTE: = Rhetorician, 
critic, and historian; flourished in the first century 
B.c. at Calacte, a town on the northern coast of 
Sicily. He was the first Jew noted for literary activ- 
ity at Rome. Little is known of his life. He was 
born a slave, and was named “ Archagathus.” His 
parents were either of Sicilian or Syrian origin. As 
a freedman he bore the name “Cecilius,” perhaps 
after one of the Metelli, the ancient patrons of 
Sicily. He went to Rome and devoted himself to 
the study of rhetoric, Apollodorus probably being 
his first master, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 
who lived at Rome from 30to7 B.c., his close friend. 
Suidas states that Cecilius was a Jew, an assertion 
which is now generally accepted, though some wri- 
ters think that he may have been only a convert to 
Judaism. 
The fragments of Cecilius’ writings which are 
still extant attest above all his versatility. Together 
with his friend Dionysius, he was the 
The Attic representative in his time of the Attic 
School. style of oratory in contradistinction 
to the verbose Asiatic style. While 
the earlier devotees of the Attic school contented 
themselves with the study and the classification of 


483 





literary forms, Cecilius and Dionysius extended 
their labors to the fields of philology and esthetic 
criticism; and the hatred felt by the former for the 
Asiatic school resulted in his two works directed 
against it: Tive Aragéper 6 ’ArtiKdg ZijAog Tov’ Accavod 
(“On the Differences between the Attic and the Asia- 
tic Styles”), and Ka7vd @pvyav (“ Against the Phryg- 
ians ”; thatis, the Asiatic Barbarians). In his earliest 
works on rhetoric (Téyv ‘Pyropixjand Tepe Dynudtwv), 
Cecilius showed himself a disciple of the older Attic 
teachers, who confined their attention to matters of 
form; but soon afterward he seems to have come 
under the influence of Dionysius, to whom may be 
attributed his interest in philologic and esthetic 
criticism. 

In the latter field, the most sjgnificant work of 
Cecilius is [epi Xapaxripoc tov Atka 'Pyzépwv (“The 
Characteristics of the Ten Orators”). Though Di- 
onysius also wrote on several of the chief orators of 
Greece, it is either in Cxecilius or his contemporary 
Didymus that the first account of the caron of the 
ten Attic orators is found. In the above-mentioned 
work Ceecilius endeavors, by means of information 
gathered from traditional documents and ali other 
available sources, to present truthful portraits of 
the orators, in order to determine the time and to 
illumine the circumstances in which each oration 
was delivered. These researches possessed unusual 
critical value in that they not only offered classic 
examples of theadaptation of style to substance, but 
helped to unmask a large number of orations circu- 
lating under false names. They remained the per- 
manent source of information on the diverse quali- 
ties of the classic orators, even the erroneous hy- 
potheses of the author being accepted by later 
writers as authentic facts. To promote the study 
of the classics, Ceecilius compiled a lexicon that 
was much used by later scholars. The fine rhetor- 
ical feeling and critical acumen which enabled him 
to expose literary pretenders were again exhibited 
in a work devoted to an examination of the genuine 
and the spurious orations of Demosthenes. How- 
ever, he used his discriminative gifts also in com- 
parative studies, this being a unique literary phe- 
nomenon in that time. He produced three essays 
of this character: a comparison of Demosthenes and 
ZEschines, of Demosthenes and Cicero, 
and of Lysias and Plato. As an evi- 
dence of his intellectual curiosity, the 
study of Cicero is particularly note- 
worthy, in view of the fact that Cecilius and Dionys- 
ius were the only students of Latin literature at a 
time when it was the literary fashion to dismiss it 
with contempt. In ail his writings on esthetic sub- 
jects Cecilius appears as an uncompromising an- 
tagonist of the artificial style, always insisting that 
thought and the proper choice of words, with the 
least possible use of rhetorical ornamentation, indi- 
cate excellentoratory. These ideas are reiterated in 
his work on “The Subiime” (Tept “Yyouc), Known 
from a polemical work against it composed in the first 
century under the same title and falsely ascribed to 
Longinus. Cecilius did not attempt to formulate a 
theory of the sublime, but simply gave illustrations 
of what was and what was not sublime. It is inter- 
esting to note that among the examples of the sub- 


Other 
Works. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caceres 
Cresar 








lime there isa quotation, somewhat inaccurate, from 

the first chapter of Genesis, 

As the literary method of Cixcilius was critical 
and historical, he was naturally interested in his- 
tory; and several historical works are ascribed to 
him: one dealing with the historical incidents men- 
tioned in the “Orators,” and with the extent to 
which the orators had clung to strictly authenticated 
facts; another on the Servile wars: and a third on 
“History ” (Ilept ‘Ioropiac), The briefest summary of 
his works may well lead one to concur with those 
scholars who regard Cecilins as the most scholarly 
and versatile representative of the Attic school, and 
one whio, by his labors in hitherto unexplored re- 
gions, rendered considerable service to the cause of 
science. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fragments of the works of Ceecilius, collected 
by Muller, Fraym. Hist. Greece. ii. 330-333, and Th. Burek- 
hardt, Cecili Rhetoris Fragmenta, Bale, 1863; Suidas, 
Lexicon, s.v¥. KatxtAcos; Martens, De Libello Tlept "Ywous, 
Bonn, 1877; Blass, Die Griech. Beredsamkcit, 1865, pp. 169 
et seq.; Rothstein, in Hermes, 1888, xxiii, 1-20; Weise, Quces- 
tiones Ceeciliance, Berlin, 1888; Boysen, De Ceweilit Calac- 
tint Lexict Rhetorict Auctore; Reinach, Quid Judao 
cum Verre, in Rev. Et. Juives, 1893, xxvi. 36-46; Roberts, 
Amer. Journ. of Philology, 1897, xviii. 302-312; Vogelstein 


and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 92 et seq.; Sehiirer, 
Gesch.,, 3d ed., tii. 483 ef seg.; Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Eneye. 


iii. 1174-1188. 
G. H. G. FE. 


CZESAR, CAIUS JULIUS: Roman dictator, 
consul, and conqueror; born July 12, 100 B.c. (ac- 
cording to Mommsen, 102 B.c.); assassinated March 
15, 44 p.c. Cesar’s attitude toward the Jews is. 
manifest from the many enactments issued in their 
favor by him and by the senate. 

The first decree, dated probably July, 47 z3.c., reg- 
istered in both Greek and Latin on a table of brass 
and preserved in the public records, concerns Hyr- 
canus, the son of Alexander, high priest and eth- 
narch of the Jews. Julius Cesar, with the appro- 
bation of the senate, recognizes the services rendered 
by Hyrcanus to the empire, both in peace and in 
war. He mentions the aid given by Hyrcanus with 
his 1,500 soldiers in the Alexandrian war, and speaks 
of the personal valor of Hyrcanus. In recognition 
of these services he grants Hyrcanus and the Jews 
certain privileges (Josephus, “ Ant.” xiv. 10, § 2). 

In another decree of probably the same date, 
Cesar determines “ That the Jews shall possess Jeru- 
salem, and may encompass that city with walls; and 
that Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest 
and ethnarch of the Jews, retain it in the manner 
he himself pleases; and that the Jews be allowed to 
deduct out of their tribute, every second year the 
land is let [in the Sabbatical period], a corus of that 
tribute; and that the tribute they pay be not let to 
farm, nor that they pay always the same tribute” 
(tb. xiv. 10, § 5). 

The next decree, dated before Dec., 47 B.c., or- 
dains that all the country of the Jews pay a tribute 
to the city of Jerusalem except during the Sabbat- 
ical year, with permanent exemption for Joppa, 
which, as formerly, is to belong to 
them. It also prohibits the raising of 
auxiliaries and the exacting of money 
for winter quarters within the bounds 
of Judea. This decree provides for an annual trib- 
ute to Hyrcanus and his sons, the Sabbatical year 


His 
Decrees. 


Ceesar 
Cesarea 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


484 





excepted. It ordains that the original ordinances in 
regard to the high priests of the Jews shall remain 
in force, and that Hyrcanus and the Jews retain 
those places and countries which belonged to the 
kings of Syria and Phenicia. The following two 
decrees confirm the privileges granted to Hyrcanus 
and his children. As the ally of Rome he is to send 
and receive ambassadors (2b. § 6). 

The following two decrees are of the same date: 
“That Hyrcanus and his children bear over the na- 
tion of the Jews, and have the profits of the places to 
them bequeathed; and that he, as the high priest 
and ethnarch of the Jews, defend those that are in- 
jured; and that ambassadors be sent to Hyrcanus, 
the son of Alexander, the high priest of the Jews, 
that may discourse with him about a league of 
friendship and mutual assistance; and that a table 
of brass containing the promises be openly proposed 
in the capitol, and at Sidon, and Tyre, and Ascalon, 
and in the temple, engraven in Roman and Greek 
letters: that this decree may also be communicated 
to the questors and pretors of the several cities, and 
to the friends of the Jews; and that the ambassadors 
may have presents made them, and that these decrees 
be sent everywhere ” (2d. § 8). 

“Caius Cesar, imperator, dictator, consul, hath 
granted, That out of regard tothe honor, and virtue, 
and kindness of the man, and for the advantage of 
the senate, and of the people of Rome, Hyrcanus, 
the son of Alexander, both he and his children, be 
high priests and priests of Jerusalem, and of the 
Jewish nation, by the same right, and according to 
the same laws, by which their progenitors have held 
the priesthood ” (¢. § 4). 

The last decree of Csesar, dated Feb., 44 B.c., 
again mentions the services rendered by Hyrcanus 
and the Jews, and calls for suitable recognition 
on the part of the Senate and the people of Rome 
(tb. § 7). 

Following is a summary of the decrees of the con- 
suls during the rule of Julius Cesar, as recorded in 
Josephus: i 


Sept. 19, 49 B.c.: Report on the public proceedings at Ephesus 
concerning the exemption of the Jews of Asia Minor from mili- 
tary service on account of their religion, and the decree in this 
sense of the consul Lucius Lentulus (** Ant.” xiv. 10, 8 19). 

Sept. 19, 49 B.c.: Short report on the preliminary proceedings 
on the same question on the part of the military authorities (tb. 
§ 18). 

Sept. 19, 49 B.c.: Short declaration of the consul Lucius Len- 
tulus concerning the exemption of the Jews from military serv- 
ice (ib. § 16). 

Sept. 20, 49 B.c.: Communication of Titus Appius Balbus to 
the magistrate of Ephesus, to the effect that on his intercession 
for them, the consul Lucins Lentulus agreed to the exemption, 
and that the high Roman officials Lucius Antonius and Phanius 
sanctioned the decree (ib. § 13). 

Provably 49 B.c.; Message of Lucius Antonius to the magis- 
trates of Sardes, to the effect that the Jews of that city having 
an assembly of their own, according to the laws of their fore- 
fathers, he gives order that their privileges be preserved (ib. 
§ 17). 

May, 48 B.C.: Proclamation of the magistrates of the island of 
Delos, that, according to the decree of the consul Lentulus, the 
Jews shall be exempted from entering the army (ib. § 14). 

Probably at the beginning of 46 8.c.: Reprimand of a procon- 
sul to the people of Parium on account of their hostile attitude 
toward their Jewish fellow-citizens concerning their public as- 
semblies and their contributions to the Temple (ib. § 8). 

46-45 B.c.: Admonitory letter of the proconsul Publius Servilius 
to the magistrate of Miletus that the Jews should not be dis- 
turbed in the execution of their religious customs (ib. § 21). 


46-45 B.c.: Reply of the Laodiceans to the proconsul of Asia, 
that, in obedience to injunctions received from him, they will 
not disturb the religious customs and assemblies of the Jews 
(ib. 8 20). 

46-45 B.c.; Decree of the Sardians, upon the representation of 
the pretors, granting the Jews religious liberty, setting apart 
for them a place for public worship, and even directing those 
that have charge of the provisions of the city to ‘* take care that 
such sorts of food as they esteem fit for their eating may be im- 
ported into the city” (ib. 8 24). 

46-45 B.c.: Decree of the people of Halicarnassus to the effect 
that, in accordance with privileges granted by the Romans, they 
shall not disturb the religious customs and assemblies of Jews 
(ib. § 23). 

Feb., 44 B.c,: Testimony of the twelve questors, that the 
Senate had passed a decree in favor of the Jews, but that this 
decree had not hitherto been brought into the treasury, and 
that now the Senate and the consuls Dolabella and Marcus order 
that these decrees shall be **put into the public tables’? and be 
** put upon the double tables ’’ (ib. § 10). 

(For a critical survey of these edicts see Gratz, ‘‘Gesch. der 
Juden,”’ 8d ed., iii., note 9, pp. 660-0668 ; Schiirer, ‘‘ Gesch.”? 3d 
ed.. iii. 56 et seq., 67, note 380). | 

These decrees show clearly that Julius Cesar in 
his broad and statesmanlike manner fully recognized 
the rights and claims of the Jews as an important 
element of the Roman empire. 

“This Judaism,” says Mommsen (“ R6émische 
Gesch.” iil. 549-555), “although not the most pleas- 
ing feature in the nowhere pleasing picture of the 
mixture of nations which then prevailed, was never- 
theless a historical element developing itself in the 
natural course of things, which the statesman could 
neither ignore por combat, and which Cesar on the 
contrary, just like his predecessor, Alexander, with 
correct discernment of the circumstances, fostered as 

far as possible. While Alexander, by 
Usefulness laying the foundation of Alexandrian 
in Roman Judaism, did notmuch less to found the 

Empire. Jewish nation thanits own King David 

by planning the Temple of Jerusalem, 
Cesar alsoadvanced the interests of the Jews in Al- 
exandria and in Rome by special favors and _ privi- 
leges, and protected in particular their peculiar wor- 
ship against the Roman as well as against the Greek 
local priests.” “Ceesar’s extraordinary keenness as a 
statesman, ” says F, Rosenthal (in “ Monatsschrift,” 
1879, p. 321), “recognized in the Jews most useful 
collaborators in his extensive plans for the creation of 
a great Roman body politic. Distributed as they 
were over the greatest part of the Roman empire, yet 
acting in harmony with one another, they were as 
much on this account as by reason of their commer- 
cial instincts the intermediators between Orient and 
Occident.” 

“The Jews were destined to play no insignificant 
part in the new state of Cesar,” says Mommsen 
(2b.). Even later, when by a decree of Cesar all 
religious or political associations (collegia) were for- 
bidden, except those which had existed from very 
remote times, the same decree permitted the Jews, 
“our friends and confederates . . . to gather them- 
selves together according to the customs and laws 
of their forefathers, to bring in their contributions, 
and to make their common suppers” (Josephus, 
“Ant.” xiv. 10, § 8; Suetonius, “Cesar,” 42). By 
these and other edicts of Cesar the Jewish relig- 
jon was recognized in the Roman empire as “ reli- 
gio licita” (Tertullian, “ Apologia,” xxi.; Schtrer, 
“Gesch.” 3d ed., iii. 69). 

“When Cesar attained the power,” says Huide- 


485 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Ceesar 
Ceesarea 


=e Ee SS SSS ——— eS SS 


koper (“ Judaism in Rome,” p. 6), “ we find a proces- 
sion annually of Roman dignitaries, on the first day 
of the Passover, for the purpose of throwing away 
ido}l-images; and at his funeral Jews were conspic. 
uous.” Mommsen quotes a contemporary orator 
(Cicero) as saying that Roman officials 
in the provinces had to be extremely 
careful not to offend a Jew, otherwise 
they were liable to be hissed on their 
return to Rome by the plebeians. 

During the Pompeian wars Cresar, without asso- 
ciates (Mommsen, J.c. iii. 8, 374), surrounded only 
by military aids and political agents, made use of 
the brilliant abilities of Aristobulus IT., and, out of 
hatred to Pompey, gave the former his freedom and 
sent him with two legions into Syria to create a 
diversion in Cesar’s favor (Josephus, “ Ant.” xiv. 7, 
$4). Macrobius hints (“Saturnaliorum Convivio- 
rum,” i.) that during the Pompeian wars the Jewish 
contingent in Cesar’s army was by no means an un- 
important one; that at his court and in his councils 
the Jews were influential in political and financial 
matters. The great historical significance of Ceesar’s 
relations with the Jews is brought out strikingly by 
their military services under him during the Egyp- 
tian campaign. 

For all his daring and energy, and notwithstand- 
ing the importance of his entering Egypt, Cesar 
would not have landed had he not been certain of 
support from the Jews of the country. His re- 
sources were scanty—scarcely two legions of in- 
fantry and a small detachment of cavalry—in all 
about 5,000 men. With sucha handful of soldiers 
even Cesar could not expect a successful conflict 
with the powerful Egyptianarmy. There is histor- 
ical evidence that organized local bands of Jews came 
to his assistance. The Jews of Egypt, numbering at 
that time, according to Manfrin, abouta million, were 
evidently on his side before he came to Egypt; and, 
in order to render him efficient service, they sus- 
pended their party quarrels. With Mithridates 
there entered Egypt under the leadership of Antip- 
ater a detachment of troops numbering 1,500, or, 
according to Josephus (/.¢. xiv. 8, § 1), 3,000, com- 
posed exclusively of Jews. 

According to the testimony of Josephus, the taking 
of Pelusium, which, from the Syrian side, was the 

key to Egypt, was largely due to the 

Valor of personal bravery and skill of Antip- 

Antipater. ater, who destroyed a portion of the 

city wall. With his Jewish followers 

he was the first to enter the city, thus clearing the 

way for Mithridates’ army. As a reward for his 

services Cesar gave to Antipater the privilege of a 

citizen of Rome, and made him procurator of Judea 
(Josephus, 75. 8, § 3). 

After the Alexandrian campaign Cesar granted 
many favorsand privileges to Judea and to the Jews 
in general. He gave the former the right of “status 
clientis”—the broadest autonomy that countries 
subject to Rome could enjoy. Besides this right 
Cesar allowed Judea to utilize the city of Joppa 
and its harbor, since the latter was indispensable 
to Jerusalem for intercourse with its colonies. 

Cicero’s defense of Flaccus, who confiscated the 
gold collected for the Temple in Jerusalem, shows 


Judaism 
Respected 
in Rome. 


that the Oligarchic party stood in fear of Ceesar’s 
connection with the Jewish colonies. They sus- 
pected that the money collected for the Temple was, 
in part at least, used for the carrying out of Ceesar’s 
political plans. In fact, the whole defeuse (“Pro 
Flacco”) was an indirect accusation of Cesar. By 
the prohibition of all but Jewish associations, he 
apparently expressed his belief in the favorable in- 
fluence of the political principle of Judaism and in 
its superiority over the other Eastern religions that 
had been brought to Rome. 

But while the mass of the Roman population 
favored Cesar, that was not sufficient for his elec- 

. tion. Large sums of money were re- 
Antipathy quired for this purpose, and Cesar 
to Jews had hardly any means of his own. 

Roused. When he was leaving for Spain his 

debts amounted to $3,400,000 (accord- 
ing to some historical documents, $4,800,000); and 
it appears that a few of his creditors importuned him. 
Possibly the Jewish colonics supplied funds. These 
colonies extended all over Egypt, in Asia from the 
shores of the Pontus Euxinus to the Euphrates, and 
in Europe as far as Prague and into Gallia. 

On the other hand, the Cesarean period produced 
an ill-will toward the Jews that gradually grew to 
hatred and has survived to the present day. 

Reference can be here made to the work of Manfrin 
concerning the important rdle Cesar assigned to 
monotheistic Judaism in his new empire, but his 
views are open to question. 

Renan ascribes to Cesar very broad and liberal 
views. “He truly conceived,” he says, “liberty of 
conscience in a sense of absolute neutrality in the 
state, as enlightened nations now do. He desired 
the freedom of all provincial worship, and, if he 
had lived, he doubtless would have prevented the 
reaction toward strictness which, from the days of 
Tiberius, led the central government to insist on too 
much preponderance for the Roman worship. The 
Jews in Alexandria had their privileges confirmed. 
The free exercise of Jewish worship was stipulated 
in the principal towns of Asia Minor, The Jews 
throughout the world regretted the death of the dic- 
tator. Among the numerous provincials who 
mourned the Ides of March, it was remarked that 
Jews for several months came to make final lamen- 
tation over his burial-place” (“ Histoire du Peuple 
d’Israel,” v. 196, 197). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mommsen, Rémische Gesch. tii. 549-550, Ber- 
lin, 1889; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 4th ed., iii. 172-182 ; Ber- 
liner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 15-18: Vogelstein and 
Rieger, Gesch. der Judenin Rom,i., passim; Manfrin, Glt 
Ebreit Sotto la Dominazione Romana, i.-ii.. passim, Rome, 
1888-1890; L. Ruskin, in Voskhoa, 1888, v.—-vi., 1890, vi.. vii. ; 
Cicero, Pro Flacco; Josephus, Ant. xiv., xvi.: Schtirer, 
Gesch, tii., passinu; Arnold, The Roman System of Pro- 
vineial Administration, pp. 89 et seg., London, 1879; Ihne, 
Roémische Gesch. vii., passim, Leipsic, 1890; Herzfeld, Han- 
delsgesch. der Juden des Alterthums, pp. 246 et seq., 264 et 
seq.: Huidekoper, Judaism in Rome, p. 6, New York, 1876; 
Biichler, in Festschrift zum Achtzigsten Geburtstag M. 
Steinschneiders, pp. 91-109, Leipsic, 1896; Plutarch, Brutus, 
20; idem, Caesar, 68; Suetonius, Cawsar, 85 


K, H. R. 


CZESAREA.—1. Cezsarea by the Sea: An- 
cient city of Palestine; called in early times “Strato’s 
Tower ” (Xtpatwrog mipyoc, Josephus, “Ant.” xiii. 
11,8 2; xiv. 4,§ 4; xv. 8,85; xix. 8,82; ¢em, 
“B. J.” i. 3,34; 1 21, § 5; Strabo, xvi. 758; Pliny. 


Cesarea 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


486 





“Tistoria Naturalis.” v. 14). In rabbinic sources 
(Meg. Ta‘an. tii.; Meg. 6a; Sifre, Deut. 51; Yer. 
Sheb. 86c) the name is frequently corrupted (it is 
only once written correctly, Tosef., Sheb. iv. 11) as 
weow: in a later source (piyyut for the second 
Sabbath of Hanukkah) the name has even been cor- 
rupted into Rwy Sap (B. Beer, in “ Monatsschrift,” 
1860, ix. 113). Herod the Great transformed the 
insignificant place into an important city, naming it 
Cesarea (Ka:cdpero) in honor of Emperor Augustus. 
Still the old name survived; Strabo and Pliny con- 
tinue to call the city “Strato’s Tower,” while Ptol- 
emy and Epiphanius use the singular expression 
“Cresarea of Strato.” To distinguish it from other 
cities of the same name, it was also called “ Cesarea 
by the Sea” (wapddsog Katodpeca, “ Ant.” xiii. 11,8 2; 
adem, “B. J.” iii. 9, $1; ért VasdTry = “ad mare,” 7d. 
wii. 1,83; vii. 2,1); on coins itis called KATZAPIA 


Cesarea, a city that they hated, should be uprooted 
(apy), with no intent of identifying it with Ekron 
(Schwarz, “Tebu’ot ha-Arez,” p. 66b). It is possi- 
ble, however, that there is here also an allusion to 
the old name Sharshon (WY) ; while the assump- 
tion that there were two Ekrons, one of which was 
identical with Ceesarea (Friedmann, in Luncz, “ Jeru- 
salem,” v. 109), is wholly unfounded. The Rabbis 
speak of it disguisedly as “Magdiel” (Gen. R. 
Ixxxiii.). 

Mannert determines the location of Cesarea as 66° 
15’ E. long. and 32° 30’ N, lat. Josephus speaks of 
it as lying in Phenicia, between Joppa and Dora 
(“ Ant.” xv. 9, $6). It was 600 stadia 
(75 miles) distant from Jerusalem 
(“Ant.” xiii, 11, § 2; “B. J.” i. 3, 
$5); 36 miles (a day’s journey, Acts xxi. 8) from 
Ptolemais (Abulfeda); and 30 miles from Joppa 


Location. 





RUINS OF C&HSAREA. 
(From a photograph by Bonfils.) 


‘H HPOXL SEBAXTQ AIMENI. Later writers call the 
city “ Cesarea of Palestine” (Caesarea Palestina = 
Kaodpera exit Wataorivy, Eusebius, “Uist. Eccl.” v. 
22, or Kaodpsta tig Madtaortvnc, 1b. vii. 12). In the 
Talmud, the Midrash, and the Targum it is very fre- 
quently called “Kesri” (@ p°p); the expression 
“Kesri, the daughter of Edom” (Meg. 6a); meaning 
that Cesarea is the outpost of the Roman empire. 
In the same Talmudic passage is a sentence of R. 
Abbahu, who lived in the third century at Cresarea, 
according to which “ Ekron,” that “shall be rooted 
up” (Zeph, i. 4), means “Ceesarea”; but this proh- 
ably expresses merely the wish of the Jews that 


(Edrisi). The soil was sandy (“it is situated in the 
midst of sand,” says the Talmud, Meg. 6a; compare 
“Ant.” xv. 9, § 5), but so fertile that the region was 
called “the land of life” (Meg. 6a). The following 
are mentioned as products of the soil: “etrogim ”— 
that is, pomegranates of Cesarea (Tosef., Maksh. iii. 
10); Cesarean grain (Tos., Dem. iv. 23); a woolly 
moss growing on stones (Yer. Kil. 82a; Yer. Shab. 
4c). As merchandise are mentioned the beds of 
Cesarea (Yer. Ber. 6a; Yer. Ned. 40c; Yer. M. K. 
88a). The city lay close by the sea, and had a good 
harbor, which was constructed by Herod, and is 
often mentioned (“ Ant.” xv. 9, $ 6, Zam: Yer, Git. 


487 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cresarea 





43b). This harbor was as large as the Pirgus, and 
had a deep channel and “a double station for the 
ships” (“ Ant.” Z.¢.).. The rocky shore, which is fre- 
quently mentioned (Gen. R. x. 7; Lev. R. xxii. 4), 
was laid out as a promenade (Eccl. R. v. 8). Large 
subterranean passages and canals led from the city 
to the harbor (“ Ant.” Z.¢.); and perhaps these are 
the vaults mentioned in the Talmud (Yer. Naz. 56a). 
The city had imposing streets (¢2.) and theaters 
(“ Ant.” @c¢.), and, on its eastern side, a magnificent 
gateway (retparviov, Tosef., Oh. xviii. 18), through 
which the road led to the vineyards (¢6.). The 
Rabbis considered Ceesarea as the frontier of Palestine 
toward the west, and in questions dealing with 
Jewish law its harbor was held not to belong to the 
land of Israel. Tombs of heathens were supposed 
to lie east and west of the city, and hence these 
regions were declared unclean, although opinions on 
the question were divided (Yer. Git. 48b; Yer. Dem. 





Copper Coin of Agrippa I., Struck at Cesarea. 


Obverse: NEPWNIAA .... KAICAPI AIPIMA with turreted 
female head. Reverse: BA[C. APP ET]OYC AITOY KAI &, 
trro cornucopias, in the middle a caduceus. 

(After Madden, “ History of Jewish Coimage.°’) 


21a; compare Biichler, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. 
654 et seg. and Krauss, 7. xiv. 745). 

The original population of Cesarea was probably 
pagan—at first Phenician, and then Greek. From 
the time of the Maccabees, Jews are mentioned as 
residing there; and as their number steadily in- 
creased they tricd to gain possession of 
the city, frequent quarrels resulting 
between pagans and Jews. Herod’s 
temples and theaters testify to his en- 
deavors to preserve the pagan character of the city. 
He built here a temple of Augustus, the statue by 
which it was surmounted representing Zeus Olym- 
pus, while another, Hera, represented Rome (“ Ant.” 
xv. 9,8 6; “B. J.” 1. 21, §§ 4, 8). 

The first dramatic festivals in honor of Augustus 
were held 12 p.c. (* Ant.” xvi. 5,81; “B. J.” i. 21, 
88). The emperor’s temple (xaroapeov), or “ Sebas- 
tos temple” (2eSaareiov), as it is called by Philo 
(“Legatio ad Cajum,” xxxviii.), lay on a hill op- 
posite the harbor, which was also dedicated to 
Augustus (6 Ziugv ZeBaoréc, “ Ant.” xvii. 5,81; “B. 
J.” 1. 31, § 8); the full name of the city was there- 
fore “ Cxesarea Sebaste” (“ Ant.” xvi. 5, § 1; Am- 
mianus Marcellinus, xiv. 8). On the coins of Ce- 
sarea, Which are mentioned also in the Talmud (‘Ab. 
Zarah 6b), dating mostly from the second and third 
centuries, are found the names of many gods; Zeus, 
Poseidon, Apolio, Hercules, Dionysus, Athena, 
Nike, and especially the Phenician goddess ASTARTE. 
The worship of the Egyptian SERarIs is due to the 


Pop- 
ulation. 


' Ceesarea. 


fact that from the time of Vespasian there was, in 
addition to the Greeks, a large colony of Romans at 
The restoration of a temple of Hadrian 
(‘Adpcaveiov) is mentioned even in Christian times. 
English explorers have recently discovered the 
ruins of a temple at Cesarea. 

The Jews of Caesarea were completely Hellenized, 
and in the third century the Shema‘ prayer was 
said in Greek (Yer. Sotah 21b). In Talmudic times 
there was here a large Jewish population with many 
synagogues. Besides the “brothers” (Yoma 53b; 
Ta‘an. 24b; Pesik. 171b), the “rabbis” of Cesarea 

are very often mentioned (Yer. Dem. 
Character 22c), The teachers of the Law, Nasa 
of Jewish (Lam. R., Introduction, No. 26), Mana, 

Ceesarea. ‘Ulla, Adda, Idi, Tahlifa, Abba, 

Hezekiah, Jacob, Hanina, and Abbahu, 
either came from Cesarea or lived there (see Bacher, 
“Die Gelehrten von Cesarea,” in “ Monatsschrift,” 
Xlv, 298 e¢ seg.). ABBAHU appeared as the antago- 
nist of Christianity, which at an early date had found 
adherents in Caesarea. He directed a college and 
officiated as judge (Bacher, “Ag. Pal. Amor.” ii. 
92). R. Jose (Isi) of Cresurea speaks of the Chris- 
tianized Jews of that city (Eccl. R. vii. 26). The 
Christian library of Cesarea is of great importance 
for Biblical science. But the Christians themselves 
at an early date speak of Cesarea as being a Jewish 
city (Clement, “ Recognitiones,” ii. 387, iii. 65, v. 4). 

A number of Samaritans also lived at Ceesarea. 
The Samaritan prophet Simon Magus worked mis- 
chief there. The Cutheans of Csesarea disputed 
with R. Abbahu (Yer. ‘Ab. Zarah 44d). When, on 
the death of the latter, the columns of Csxsarea 
trickled water, as if they were mourn- 
ing for him (Eusebius, “ Hist. Eccl.” 
viii. 9), the Cutheans declared, to spite 
the Jews, that it was because the 
colurmns were out of repair (Yer. ‘Ab. Zarah 42c; 
M. K. 25b). A Samaritan chronicle (Neubauer, 
“Chronique Samaritaine.” p. 18, Paris, 1878) erro- 
neously identifies Caesarea with Dora. In 484 and 
548 the Samaritans instigated bitter riots against 
the Christians. 

Only the old name, “Strato’s Tower,” gives any 
clue to the earliest history of Caesarea. Kenan 
(“Mission de la Phénicie,” p. 790) and, after him, 
Hildesheimer connect Strato with the Phenician 
name Astarte. But D. Oppenheim and Neubauer 
have demonstrated the probability that “Strato” 
was the name of a person, indeed, that 
of the founder of the city; and it is 
a fact that Strato is named as such 
in Justinian’s “ Novelle ” (103 pref.). Stark (“ Gaza,” 
p. 451) thinks that the Ptolemies founded Strato’s 
Tower; but Schirer is of opinion that it was founded 
by the Sidonians in Persian times. In the fourth 
century B.c. there were two kings of Sidon by the 
name of Strato, one of whom probably founded the 
fort Strato’s Tower. The first geographical writer 
who mentions the “Tower” is Artemidorus (about 
1008.c.; Stephen of Byzantium, 8.7, Adpoc), About 
the same time, Aristobulus I. caused his brother 
Antigonus to be murdered there (“ Ant.” xiii. 11, 
§ 2). The “tyrant” Zoilus, who had usurped the 
government of Strato’s Tower and of Dora, and had 


Samari- 
tans. 


History. 


Ceesarea 
Cage 


made common cause with the Cyprian king Ptolemy 
Lathyrus, drove Alexander Janneus from the coun- 
try, which he apportioned among the Jews (“ Ant.” 
xiii. 12, §§ 2-4). 

Strato’s Tower now belonged to the Jewish king 
(“ Ant.” xiii. 15, 8 4); and it is probably this con- 
quest which is mentioned in rabbinic sources (Meg. 
Ta‘an. tii.). Pompey liberated the city (“ Ant.” xiv. 
4,84; “B. J.” i. 7,87, and Augustus presented it 
to Herod (“ Ant.” xv. 7,§ 38; “B. J.” i. 20, § 3), who 
transformed it into a metropolis, changed its name 
to “Cesarea,” and called the harbor “Sebaste.” 
Ceesarea remained a fortress (“ Ant.” xv. 8, § 5); 
but Herod cared more for beautifying the city, and 
built many magnificent edifices of white stone for 
the citizens. Within twelve years the city was re- 
built, the work having neither wearied the king nor 
exhausted his resources (“ Ant.” xv. 9,85; “B. J.” 
i, 21, § 5; i. 31, § 3). Caesarea now became a flour- 
ishing city, and Josephus callsit the largest in Judea 
(“B. J.” iii. 9,81; Ammianus Marcellinus, J.c.). 
The Jews also recognized it as a rival to Jerusalem 
(Meg. 6a), and the Rabbis called it the “metropolis” 
of the kings (20.), the term “kings” here signifying 
the Roman governors, who, after the death of Ar- 
chelaus, administered Judea from this place. The 
governors Felix and Festus resided in Caesarea (Acts 
Xxiv, 27, xxv. 1). AgrippaI., who possessed the city 
for a short time, also had an administrator there 
(orparnyoc, “ Aut.” xix. 7, § 4), and died there. He 
also had coins struck in Cesarea (Madden, “Jewish 
Coinage,” pp. 107, 109). After his death the Casa- 
reans and Sebasteans vilified the memory of their 
benefactor, whom they hated for his Judaizing, and 
insulted his daughters, Mariamne and Drusilla. By 
the order of Emperor Claudius they were severely 
punished by the governor, Cuspius Fadus (“ Ant.” 
xix. 9, 8 1). The city was also called “Judéae 
Caput ” (Tacitus, “ Historia,” ii. 78), as being the seat 
of the Roman governors, It had a Roman garrison 
(“ Ant.” Z.c.), Which is also mentioned in the Talmud 
(Yer. ‘Ab. Zarah 39c, rafic). The large pagan popu- 
lation (“ B. J.” iii. 9, § 1) would not permit the Jews 
to share in the administration of the city. This 
resulted in sanguinary conflicts under the adminis- 
tration of Felix; and in the year 61 Nero declared 
the pagans to be the sole rulers (“ Ant.” xx. 8, § 9; 
“B. J.” ii. 18, § 7; ii. 14, § 4), and at the same time 
he removed Felix from office. In 66 the Jews, be- 
cause of an insult to their synagogue, began a bat- 
tle with the Greeks in which much blood was shed, 
but they finally succumbed, and had to flee to the 
neighboring city of Narbota (“B. J.” ii. 14, $$ 4, 5). 
These disturbances were the preliminary episodes of 
the Jewish war, upon the outbreak of which the 
pagans of Ceesarea fell upon the Jews and massacred 
them all, to the number of 20,000, in one hour (*B. 
J.” ii. 18, § 1; vii. 8,§ 7). The synagogue, where 
the rioting began, is probably the same which is 
called in Talmudic sources the “riotous synagogue of 
Cesarea” (Yer. Sanh. 18a; Yer. Naz. 56a; Num. R. 
xii. 3; Lam. R. i. 8). The city itself is also called 
the “riotous city ” (Cant. R. 1.5; Targ. Yer. Num. 
xxiv. 10). A Byzantine writer (Malalas, “Chrono- 
graphia,” ed. Bonn, x. 261) says that Vespasian 
turned this synagogue into an odeon; but the trans- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


488 





formation (if it did take place) must have been by 
a later emperor, since the rabbinic sources of the 
third century still speak of this synagogue. 

After the war, Vespasian constituted Cesarea a, 
Roman province, but without the full “ jus Itali- 
cum” (Pliny, “ Historia Naturalis,” v. 18, § 69; com- 
pare Justinian, “ Digesta,” 1. 15, §§ 1, 8). It is also 
called “colonia” on coins. At the time of Alexan- 
der Severus the title “metropolis” came into use, as 
also in the rabbinic sources, and on coins. The 
subterranean prisons of Cesarea (“ Diaeta,” Esther 
R., Introduction) were much dreaded by the Jews, 
being fraught with peril for them (zd.). The city 
was destroyed by an earthquake in 128 (Eusebius, 
“Chronicon ”). 

In the reign of Justinian the Jews made common 
cause with the Samaritans of Ceesarea, and harassed 
their Christian fellow-citizens. They even killed 
the governor, Stephan, July, 556 (Malalas, “ Chrono- 
graphia,” p. 488; Theophanes, “Chronicon,” i. 856). 
Under Heraclius it was estimated that there were 
20,000 Jews in Cesarea; and it was said that a Jew 
gave the city into the hands of the victoriously advan- 
cing Arabs (Weil, “Gesch. der Chalifen,” i., Appen- 
dix, p. 2), by whom, according to the “Chronique 
Samaritaine” (p. 23), the city was looted. Ben- 
jamin of Tudela found only twenty Jewish families 
in Cesarea, as against 200 Samaritans. In 1265 
Cesarea was completely destroyed by the sultan, 
Baibars. The destruction of Cresarea is pictured in 
“Pal. Explor, Fund, Quarterly Statement,” 1884, 
p. 147. Nothing now remains of it but a pile of 
ruins, that still bears the name “ Kaisariyya.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Boettger, Levicon zu Flavius Josephus, p. 

70; Neubauer, G. 7. pp. 91-96; Frankel. Mebo, p. 4; Hil- 

desheimer, Beitrdge zur Geographie Paldstina’s, pp. 4-10, 

Berlin, 1886; Rosenzweig, Jerusalem und Caesarea, Berlin, 

1890; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, ii. 74; Sehtirer, Gesch, 


38d ed., ji. 104-108: Krauss, Lehnworter, ii. 5386, 537; idem, 
Zur Topogr. von C., in Jew. Quart. Rev. xiv. 145-751, 


2. Ceesarea Philippi: Ancient city of Pales- 
tine. According to the investigations of Gesenius, 
Raumer, and Robinson, this was the original site of 
the place Baal-gad,—7.e. where Gad was worshiped 
as the god of fortune (Isa. lxv. 11)—or of Baal- 
hermon (I Chron. vi. 23). In Israelitic times the 
place was called “Dan,” and the image made by 
Micah was worshiped here. Here, too, Jeroboam I. 
set up the golden calf. Not far distant was the 
place Tarnegola, which the Rabbis 

Its mention as being on the northern 
Names and boundary (Tosef., Sheb. iv. 10; Yer. 
Situation. Sheb. 86c; Yer. Dem. 22d; Sifre, 
Deut. 51; Targ. Yer. ii. on Num. 

xxxiv. 15). Its name is probably connected with 
the idol Tarnegol (“fowl”), though other places of 
Palestine (Sepphoris and Phrugitha, for instance) 
were also called after birds. The place is also said 
to be identical with the Biblical Leshem (Josh. xix. 
47) or Laish (Judges xviii. 29; Meg. 6a; Tan., Re’eh, 
16). This, however, is very improbable. But 
Cesarea Philippi is certainly identical with Paneas 
(Ilavéag, Tavdc, Tavaic), frequently mentioned by 
Greek as well as rabbinical authors (Josephus, 
“ Ant.” xv. 10, § 3; Eusebius, “ Hist. Eccl.” vii. 17; 
Sozomen, v. 21; Pliny, “ Historia Naturalis,” v. 15; 
Cedrenus, p. 805); the rabbinical writers indeed 





489 





—<<$_— epee 


chiefly use the name “ Paneas” (DN°35, also DND5; 
see the Talmudic dictionaries). But Taveiag is the 
name of the grotto sacred to Pan, on the neighboring 
mountain Panion (Philostorgius, vii. 3; compare 
Targ. Yer. Num. xxxiv. 11); hence, the significance 
of the place as the seat of a cult is preserved in the 
name, from which it follows that Paneas was origi- 
nally inhabited by Syrian or Greek pagans. Ptolemy 
(v. 15, § 21) includes it in Phenicia. 

At the time of Herod the region of Ilavé¢ be- 
longed toa certain Zenodorus (Zenon), after whose 
death (20 B.c.) Augustus presented it to Herod 
(“ Ant.” xv. 10,81; “B. J.” i. 20,§4). The domain 
of Zenon, together with some other districts, was 
taxed 100 talents (“B. J.” ii. 6,§ 3). Herod erected 
a magnificent temple in honor of Augustus in the 
vicinity of the grotto of Pan (“ Ant.” xv. 10, § 3; 
“B. J.” i, 21, § 3); and Herod’s son, the tetrarch 
Philip, transformed the place into an important 
city, calling it Kacodpeca, also in honor of the em- 
peror (“ Ant,” xviii, 2,§1; “B. J.” 11.9, 81). But 
coins of the city are extant, dating from an inde- 
pendent and earlier era (about3 B.c.). The Galilean 
Ceesarea was called Karodpeca 7 ditinwov (Matt. xvi 
13; Mark viii, 27), to distinguish it from the Judean 
Cesarea, while the rabbinic sources call it paD’p = 
Kesrion, in contradistinction to "Dp = Kesri; but 
as these sources are uncritical, the distinction is not 
always observed. The rabbinic sources state also 
that the designation “ Paneas” continued in use. 

It is indeed a question whether Paneas and Cesa- 
rea were not two separate cities built near together. 
An ancient source (Mek. to Ex. xvii. 14 [ed. Fried- 
mann, p. 55b]) mentions Kesrion as being situated 
below Paneas, from which it follows that they were 
two distinct cities. The name “ Paneas” continued 
to be used to such an extent that through its form 
“Pania ” the variants “Pamiya,” “ Apamiya,” and 
“Aspamiya” (85D) became current among the 
Rabbis; but these must be strictly separated from 
similar names, 

After the death of Philip the city was for a time 
under Roman jurisdiction; then in the hands of 
Agrippa I.; again under Roman gov- 
ernors; and, finally, it passed into the 
hands of Agrippa II. (53 ¢.z.), who 


Its 
History. 


ealled it Nepwridc, in honor of Nero 


(“ Ant.” xx. 9, § 4). This name, which is found on 
some coins, soon fell into disuse. At the timeof the 
Jewish war the population was mostly pagan (Jose- 
phus, “Vita,” xiii). Vespasian and Titus spent 
their holidays there, and arranged games and festi- 
vals (“B. J.” iti. 9, § 7; vii. 2, § 1). 

From the second century the city is called Kacca- 
peca Ilaviag (Ptolemy, v. 15, § 21; viii. 20, § 12), both 
by writers and on coins. But among the native 
population “ Paneas” was probably the name chiefly 
used, and this form prevails in rabbinic writings as 
well as in those of the church fathers, and has been 
preserved under the form “Banias” to the present 
day. According to a legend the patriarch, and the 
most eminent among the Jews of Paneas appeared 
before DIOCLETIAN, who hated the Jews (Gen. R. 
Lxiii. 8). 

The city is important to Christianity as being one 
of the places visited by Jesus. It was the site of 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Ceesarea 
age 


—_— 


an old Christian monument (Eusebius, “ Hist. Eccl.” 
vil. 18), and was made a bishopric. It is also men- 
tioned during the Crusades. At present the village 
of Banias contains about fifty miserable houses or 
huts, built within the ancient castle wall. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Boettger, Lexikon zu Flavius Josephus, p. 
71; Neubauer, G. T. p. 237 ; Schiirer, Gesch. 3d ed., ii. 158; 
Krauss, Lehnworter, ii. 587, 
——3. Ceesarea in Cappadocia: Capital of Cap- 
padocia; originally named “Mazaga.” It is men- 
tioned in rabbinic writings either as “Caesarea of 
Cappadocia” or as “Mazaga-Cesarea.” R. Akiba 
here met a shipwrecked Jewish scholar (Yer. Yeb. 
15d), probably R. Meir (Yeb. 121a). R. Nathan also 
sojourned at Ceoesarea (Yer. Yeb. 7d), where, it is 
further stated (2b. 4b), a Palestinian robber was ex- 
ecuted. It is said that the Persian king Sapor 
massacred 12,000 Jews there (M. K. 26a). As Kai- 
sari, the place is to-day a populous and flourishing 
city. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rapoport, Bikkure ha-‘Ittim, 1823, iv. 71; 
Boettger, Lexikon zu Flavius te ae. p. 180; Lagarde. 


Mittheilungen, ti. 242; Neubauer, G. 18; Krauss, 
Lehnworter, ii. 380, 537, 


G. S. Kr. 


CAGE: A rendering for a> in Jer. v. 27; but 
it is doubtful whether this translation is accurate. 
The Hebrew word occurs only once more—viz., in 
Amos viii, 1—where it seems to be a basket, proba- 
bly of wickerwork, or some other net-like recepta- 
cle for fruit. In Jer. v. 27 the word is employed to 
characterize the houses of the rich, filled to over- 
flowing with ill-gotten wealth, as shown by the 
abundance of costly articles of Juxury. It has beeu 
supposed that 3\55 was a crate filled with birds, 
which craned their necks through the openings—a 
very common sight in the markets. This furnishes 
the key to the simile of the prophet; the costly orna- 
ments and furniture peeping, as it were, for pur- 
poses of display, through the very walls of the 
houses. The Targum, however, in rendering the 
word by 8°) ma (“house [place] for fattening ”), 
assumes that the prophet had in mind not so much 
the display (the craning of the necks) as the artificial— 
t.¢e., ill-gotten—character of the wealth. “Cage” or 

“crate” would thus be the meaning which the Tar- 
gum gave the word, but the cage would be one of the 
kind employed for fattening geese, so restricted in 
size as to make motion impossible for the occupant. 

The root of the Hebrew word being uncertain, the 
exact equivalent can not be definitely ascertained. 
In the El-Amarna tablets the word is found in the 
form “kulibi,” meaning “bird-net,” an instrument 
to trap birds. This seems to fit in with Jeremiah’s 
simile, “The houses are filled with dishonesty and 
violently acquired goods” (A. V., “deceit”). In 
Ecclus. (Sirach) xi. 80 the heart of a vain man is 
likened to a decoy partridge in a “cage” (Kaprardoc). 
This word is the Arabic “kirtal” (hamper); but 
the context shows that “cage” here stands for not 
merely a crate, but for a cage contrived to capture 
birds, in which the decoy partridge is “vain” in s¢ 
far as it displays a mere semblance to the absent 
reality. Ezek. xix. 9, R. V., in accordance with this 
idea of a contrivance to trap, renders the Hebrew 
niayia by “cage.” E. G. H. 


Cagliari 
Cahen 


CAGLIARI (Hebr., y~5xp) : Capital of the island 
of Sardinia. It had a Jewish community in early 
times. When a Christianized Jew named Peter 
placed images of saints in the synagogue of that 
city on Easter Monday, the day following his bap- 
tism, to the annoyance of the Jews, Gregory I. 
ordered Bishop Januarius of Cagliari to have the 
objects at once removed (Gritz, “Gesch. der Ju- 
den,” v. 52). Little is known of the history of the 
Jews of Cagliari. Under Aragonian rule their con- 
dition was favorable, for they were not molested 
and were received at court. When King Martin IJ. 
of Aragon was at Cagliari in Dec., 1408 (he died in 
that city in 1409), and the Jews were looking on at 
the WYANT or Daus games instituted in his honor, he 
invited one of them to take part in the game, and 
the Jew finally consented, although the community 
had issued a decree four years previously, interdict- 
ing this game to every Jew and Jewess on pain of 
excommunication. On this occasion Judah ben 
David, called also Bonjusas Bondavin, the rabbi of 
the community, addressed a question to Isaac b. 
Sheshet, whom he knew personally. A physician 
and fine Talmudist, le formerly lived at Marseilles, 
and then went to Sardinia in 13890, where he was 
appointed rabbiof Cagliari, the king confirming him 
as rabbi of the whole island of Sardinia. There was 
a large synagogue at Cagliari, The Jews of Ca- 
gliari were expelled in 1492, like their coreligionists 
in Spain. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Isaac b. Sheshet, Responsa, No. 171; Rev. 
Et. Juives, vii. 292, viii. 280 ef seqg.; Gazana, Storia della 
Sa ii. 151; Ersech and Gruber, Encye., section ii., part 
i M. K. 


CAGLIARI, ABRAHAM DA: Rabbi at Ca- 
gliari, Sardinia, in the eighth century, He is men- 
tioned by Antonio di Tharos, the historian of that. 
epoch, and by Delotone, in his “ Ritmo di Gialeto.” 
The latter relates that Abraham interpreted many 
Phenician inscriptions collected by the Sardinian 
king Gialeto; and the former that, together with an- 
other Jewish scholar named Canaim, he deciphered 
Greek and Phenician inscriptions found in the palace 
of Masu. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Spano, in Bducatore Israetitico, xxvii. 165; 

Mortara, Indice, p. 9. 


G. I. Br. 


CAHAN, ABRAHAM: Russian-American 
novelist and labor leader; born in Podberezhye, 
government of Wilna, July 7, 1860. His grand- 
father was a rabbi and preacher in Vidz, government 
of Vitebsk; and his father was a teacher of Hebrew 
and Talmud. The family, which was devoutedly 
Orthodox, removed in 1866 to Wilna; and there 
young Cahan received the usual Jewish preparatory 
education for the rabbinate. He, however, was at- 
tracted by secular knowledge and clandestinely 
studied the Russian language, ultimately prevailing 
on his parents to allow him to enter the Teachers’ 
Institute of Wilna, from which he was graduated in 
1881. He was appointed teacher ina Jewish gov- 
ernment school in Velizh, government of Vitebsk, 
in the same year; but a domiciliary visit by the 
police, resulting from his connection with the revo- 
lutionary movement, caused him to flee the country. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


na 


490 


After many vicissitudes he, in June, 1882, arrived 
in New York, where he still resides. Having be- 
come an ardent socialist while in Russia, he devoted 
all the time he could spare from work and study to 
spread his favorite ideas among the Jewish working 
men of New York. He thus became the pioneer 
socialistic labor leader among them, and was the 
first in the United States to deliver socialistic 
speeches in Yiddish. Cahan was either originator, 
collaborator, or editor of almost all the earlier so- 
cialistic periodicals published in that dialect; and 
he is still connected with the daily organ of that 
section of the socialists with which he is in sym- 
pathy. He has occupied various positions in labor 
organizations, from walking delegate to represen- 
tative at the International Socialist Congress at 
Brussels. 

Cahan quickly mastered the English language; 
and four years after his arrival in New York taught 
immigrants in one of the evening schools. Later 
he began to contribute articles to the “Sun” and 
other newspapers printed in English, and was for 
several years employed in a literary capacity by the 
“ Commercial Advertiser,” to which paper he is still 
a regular contributor. While his Yiddish writings 
are mostly confined to propagandism, his literary 
work in English is mainly descriptive; and he has 
few, if any, equals in the United States in depicting 
the life of the so-called “ ghetto,” where he has lived 
and worked for the last twenty years. “A Provi- 
dential Match” was the first of Cahan’s tales to 
be published (in “Short Stories,” 1895). His first 
novel, “ Yekl” (New York, 1896), being the graphic 
story of an Americanized Russo-Jewish immigrant, 
attracted much attention and was favorably com- 
mented on by the press both in America and in Eng- 
land. W. D. Howells compared Cahan’s work to 
that of Stephen Crane, and prophesied for hima suc- 
cessful literary future (“The World,” New York, 
July 26, 1896). Cahan’s next work of fiction, “The 
Imported Bridegroom, and Other Stories ” (¢. 1898), 
was also well received and favorably noticed by the 
general press. Of his shorter publications the arti- 
cle on the Russian Jews in the United States, which 
appeared in the “Atlantic Monthly,” July, 1898, 
deserves to be specially mentioned. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A syndicate article describing Cahan’s career 
(with illustrations), published simultaneously in many news- 
papers Sept. 27, 1896, among others the Boston Post and 
Pittsburg Dispatch; The Bookman, iv. 157-158, vii. 518, x. 
101-102, 428-430; Wiener, History of Yiddish Literature in 
the Nineteenth Century, pp. 221-226, New York, 1899. 

A. : P. Wy. 


CAHANA, DAVID. See Kanana, Davip. 

CAHANA, ELIEZER. See Kanana, ELIE- 
ZER B. REUBEN. 

CAHANA, JACOB ABRAHAM. 
HANA, JACOB B. ABRAHAM. 

CAHANA (RAB). See Kanana (RAB). 

CAHANA (BEN TAHLIFA). Sce Kanana 
B. TAHLIFA. 


CAHEN, ALBERT: French composer; born 
at Paris Jan. 8, 1846; a pupil of César Franck 
(composition) and Mme. Szarvady (pianoforte). He 
made himself known to the musical world by the 


See Ka- 


following compositions: (1) “Jean le Précurseur,” a 
Biblical poem (1874); (2) “Le Bois,” a comic opera 
(1880); (3) “Endymion,” a mythological poem 
(1883); (4) “La Belle au Bois Dormant,” a fairy 
operetta (1886); (5) “Le Vénitien,” four-act opera 
(1890); (6) “Fleur des Neiges,” ballet (1891); (7) 
“Ta Femme de Claude,” a three-act lyric drama 
(1896). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nouveau Larousse IMlustré, ii. 382; Baker, 
Biographical Dict. of Musicians, New York, 1900, 


s. I. Br. 


CAHEN, CORALIE: French philanthropist; 
born at Nancy, 1882; died at Paris March 12, 1899; 
wife of Mayer Cahen, chief physician of the Northern 
Railroad Company. Losing her husband and her 
only daughter before 1870, she devoted herself 
thenceforward to the relief of the unfortunate, and 
was largely instrumental in establishing the Maison 
Israélite dec Refuge pour l’Enfance, an institution 
opened at Romainville in 1866 for homeless Jewish 
girls, When the war of 1870 broke out, she left this 
work to go to the field. At Metz she was appointed 
vice-president of the Society for Aid to the Wounded 
(Société de Secours aux Blessés) and acted as a Red 
Cross head nurse in the hospitals. When the Ger- 
man army entered Metz, Mme. Cahen offered her 
services to the army of the Loire. At the request 
of Gambetta she went to Vendéme, and established 
herself at the hospital organized in the lycée of that 
city, and succeeded in having her authority recog- 
nized by the Marianist sisters of Sainte-Croix at 
Le Mans. 

Filled with compassion for the French soldiers 
imprisoned in the forts of Sitesia and Pomerania, she 
made three journeys into Germany, two of them 
during the severe winter of 1871-72, Aided by 
Empress Augusta, she even gained the ear of Em- 
peror William. Visiting sixty-six forts, sie suc. 
ceeded in releasing 300 prisoners before the expita- 
tion of their term. She also accomplished the ne 
less difficult task of procuring information for the 
families of the missing. She did what even the min- 
ister of foreign affairs had been powerless to ac- 
complish; viz., she discovered at Berlin the office in 
which all the information regarding these widely 
scattered soldiers was kept, and she carried back to 
Paris 59,000 individual reports concerning their sit- 
uation; indicating those that were dead, and those 
that were being treated in the German hospitals. 
This marvelous perseverance and devotion were for 
along time unknown to the public, owing to the 
modesty of thisheroic woman. When in 1889 M. de 
Freycinet found the official record of this brilliant 
service mentioned in an article in the “Temps,” 
he conferred a military decoration upon Mme. 
Cahen. 

After the war Mme. Cahen devoted herself to 
works of charity; giving also some time to sculp- 
ture, in which she showed considerable skill. Note- 
worthy among her works is a bust of Zadoc Kahn, 
chief rabbi of France. The “Refuge” founded by 
her became under her care a model of its kind. It 
was later transferred to its new quarters constructed 
by the architect Aldrophe at Neuilly, and was dedi- 
cated June 4, 1883. She was its president until her 
death. She was also a member of the Association 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cagliari 
Cahen 


Sea Ne a ae a ae, a ge a 
des Dames Francaises. The academician Maxime du 
Camp, in his book entitled “Paris Bienfaisant ” 
(pp. 865 et seg., Hachette, 1888), in which he gives 
high credit to the Jewish charities of Paris, devotes 
an entire chapter to the “ Refuge ” and to its director. 
He pays the latter a brilliant tribute, tracing the 
principal episodes of her life, and closing with these 
remarkable words: “It has been said, and I, too, 
have said it myself, that Israelites never have a 
strongly developed love for their country; but—O 
Jewess, forgive mc!” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Maxime du Camp, Paris Bienfaisant, in 
Univers Israélite, March 17, 1899, 


Ss. J. W. 


CAHEN, ISIDORE: French scholar and jour- 
nalist; born at Paris in 1826; died there March 6, 
1902. After having brilliantly completed his educa- 
tion at the Collége Charlemagne, he entered the 
Ecole Normale in the section of philosophy, having 
for comrades Edmond About, Hippolyte Taine, 
Francisque Sarcey, and others, who afterward be- 
came distinguished in their respective walks of life. 
Cahen soon attracted the attention of his professors; 
and, while still a student, was entrusted with the 
teaching of philosophy in the College of Versailles. 

In 1849 Cahen graduated third at the Ecole Nor- 
male; and in the same year succeeded in obtaining 
the degree of “agrégé de philosophie.” A year 
later he was appointed professor of philosophy at 
the Lycée Napoléon- Vendée, after having been nom- 
inated secretary to the French embassy at Madrid. 
A cabal among the clerical papers, however, soon 
caused him to lose his professorship. The incident 
gave rise to many press polemics, and brought about 
the resignation of the members of the Jewish con- 
sistory. 

The government then offered Cahen other posi- 
tions, but he declined them all, and devoted himself 
to journalism. Hecollaborated on the “ Journal des 
Débats,” and for many years was attached to the 
editorial staff of “Le Temps.” At the death of his 
father, Samuel Cahen, he assumed the directorship 
of the “ Archives Israélites,” which position he held 
until his death. Cahen lectured from 1859 till 1878 
on history and literature in the Jewish Theological 
Seminary of Paris. 

Besides contributing many valuable articles to 
the press on various subjects, Cahen was the author 
of the following writings: (1) “Deux Libertés en 
Une,” in which he pleaded the cause of liberty of 
conscience and freedom in tuition (Paris, 1848): (2) 
“Ta Philosophie du Poéme de Job,” inserted as an 
appendix to the Bible translation of his father; (3) 
“L’Immortalité de Ame chez les Juifs,” translated 
from the German of G. Brecher (Paris, 1857). 


BIRLIOGRAPHY: Archives Israélites, 1902, Nos. 13, 14, 15. 
S. I. Br. 


CAHEN, SAMUEL: French Hebraist and 
journalist; born at Metz Aug. 4, 1796; died at 
Paris Jan. 8, 1862. He was brought up at Ma- 
yence; pursuing a course of rabbinical studies and 
devoting, at the same time, much attention to mod- 
ern languages and literatures. After completing his 
education Cahen was engaged as a private tutor 
in Germany. In 1822 he went to Paris, where he 


Cahn 
Cain 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


492 





assumed the directorship of the Jewish Consistorial | entered the army as a volunteer, and was appointed 


School, a position which he held for a number 
of years. In 1840 Cahen founded the ARCHIVES 
IsRAELITES. 

Cahen’s main work was the translation of the 
Bible into French, with the Hebrew on opposite 
pages, and critical notes and dissertations by him- 
self and others. The entire edition, consisting of 
eighteen volumes, appeared at Paris in 1851. De- 
spite adverse criticism, denying Cahien critical per- 
eeption in the choice of his material, it must be 
admitted that the undertaking exerted a great influ- 
ence upon a whole generation of French Jewry. In 
addition to this great work of his, Cahen was the 
author of the following writings: (1) “Cours de 
Lecture Hébraique, Suivi de Plusieurs Priéres, avec 
Traduction Interlinéaire, et d’un Petit Vocabulaire 
Hébreu-Francais,” Metz, 1824; (2) “Précis d’In- 
struction Réligieuse,” 76, 1829; (3) a new French 
translation of the Haggadah of Passover, Paris, 
1831-32; (4) “ Almanach Hébreu,” 7, 1831. 

Cahen was appointed a chevalier of the Legion of 
Honor in 1849. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Arch. Isr. Jan., 1862; La Grande Encyclo- 
pédie, s.v.; H.S. Morais, Eminent Israelites of the Nine- 
teenth Century, p. 27. 

s. I. Br. 

CAHN, ARNOLD: German physician; born 
at Worms April 11, 1858. After completing his 
course at the gymnasium, he studied medicine at 
the University of Strasburg, graduating thence in 
1881. He was assistant physician at the hospital of 
the university from 1882 to 1885, becoming privat- 
docent in the latter year, and assistant professor in 
1895. 

Cahn has written many articles in the medical 
journals, his specialty being the physiology of diges- 
tion. Among his works and essays are: “ Ueber 
Antiperistaltische Magen-Bewegungen”; “Ueber 
Magen-Verdauung bei Chlorhunger”; “Ueber Ma- 
gensiure bei Acuter Phosphorvergiftung ”; “Ueber 
die Verdauung des Fleisches im Normalen Magen ”; 
“Ueber die Peptone als Nahrungsmittel.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pagel, Biog. Lex. s.v., Vienna, ms 


S. T. H. 


CAHUN, DAVID LEON: French Orientalist 
and writer; born June 28, 1841, at Haguenau, Al- 
sace; died at Paris March 30, 1900. Cahun’s fam- 
ily, which came originally from Lorraine, destined 
him fora military career; but owing to family affairs 
he was compelled to relinquish this, and he devoted 
himself to geographical and historical studies. In 
1863 he began to publish in the “Revue Francaise ” 
a series of geographical articles and accounts of his 
travels in Egypt and the neighboring countries. 
About the same time he published in the daily press 
letters of travel, and a geographical review which 
was the first of its kind. In 1864 Cahun set out to 
explore Egypt, Nubia, the western coast of the Red 
Sea, and Asia Minor. 

Returning to France in 1866, he becamea political 
writer on the staff of “La Liberté”; but when that 
paper supported the empire, Cahun left it, and 
joined the staff of “La Réforme” (1869) and “La 
Loi.” During the Franco-Prussian war he was cor- 
respondent for several papers. On Sept. 4, 1870, he 


sublieutenant of the 46th foot in the following No- 
vember. When peace was established he resumed 
his Oriental studies, devoting himself chiefly to re- 
searches concerning the Turks and the Tatars. 

In 1875 he was appointed to the Bibliothéque 
Mazarine, where he was specially engaged in the 
compilation of an analytical catalogue from the year 
1874. Meanwhile Cahun had begun to publish a 
series of historical novels dealing with ancient his- 
tory, in the style of the journeys of Anacharsis in 
Greece, They are said by one critic to be written 
in temperate and pure French, combining inter- 
est with genuine archeological knowledge. It was 
Cahun’s intention to present facts of ancient history 
that were not generally known, and thus make con- 
tributions to general history and geography. These 
novels include: “Les Aventures du Capitaine 
Magon,” on Phenician explorations one thousand 
years before the common era (Paris, Hachette, 1875) ; 
“Ta Banniére Bleue,” adventures of a Mussulman, 
a Christian, and a pagan at the time of the Crusades 
and the Mongolian conquest (¢b. 1876); “ Les Pilotes 
d’Ango,” dealing with French history of the six- 
teenth century (¢. 1878); “Les Mercenaires,” of the 
time of the Punic wars (¢. 1881); “Les Rois de 
Mer,” on the Norman invasions (Chasavay, 1887); 
“Hassan le Janissaire,” on Turkish military life of 
the sixteenth century (crowned by the French Acad- 
emy); “La Tueuse,” scenes from the Mongol inva- 
sion of Hungary in the thirteenth century (1893). 
Cahun contributed many literary articles to the 
“Revue Bleue,” “Le Journal des Débats,” etc., and 
several critical, geographical, and ethnographical 
papers to the “Bulletin de la Société d’Ethno- 
graphie,” “Bulletin de la Société Académique 
Indo-Chinoise,” “Bulletin de la Société Japonaise,” 
“Bulletin de la Société Americaine,” “ Bulletin de 
l’Athénée Oriental,” ete. 

In 1878 Cahun set out on a fresh series of journeys 
accompanied by his wife. The two intrepid trav- 
elers visited central Syria, the mountains of Ansairi 
(1878), the Faroe islands and Iveland (1879), central 
Syria and Mesopotamia (1880). In 1879 the “ Tour 
du Monde” published an account of his travels 
through Syria and the mountains of Ansairi. He 
also issued a volume treating the same subject, en- 
titled “Excursions sur les Bords de |’ Euphrate” 
(Paris, 1884). His scholarly study of local customs, 
“Scénes de la Vie Juive en Alsace,” with preface by 
Zadoc Kahn, chief rabbi of Paris, appeared about 
the same time (7b. 1885), In 1884 he published “Le 
Congo, la Véridique Description du Rovaume Afri- 
cain, Traduite pour la Premiére Foisen Francais sur 
Edition Latine Faite par les Fréres de Bry en 1598, 
d’Aprés les Voyages Portugais et Notamment Celui 
d’Edouard Lopez en 1578” (Brussels, 1884). 

In 1890 Cahun established a course of lectures at 
the Sorbonne, where he taught the history and the 
geography of Asia. A résumé of one section of 
this course has been incorporated in the “ Histoire 
Générale” of Lavisse and Rambaud. Cahun’s “In- 
troduction Générale a l’Histoire de I’Asie” (1896), 
bascd on material gathered during his travels, is a 
complete and exact history of that continent He 
also undertook the restoration of some ancicnt casts 


493 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cahn 
Cain 





that are of great geographical interest. Some years 
before his death Cahun ceased writing for the 
Parisian periodicals, but to the end he contributed 
to “Le Phare de la Loire.” He left unfinished a 
history of the Arabs, and a historical novel dealing 
with the story of the Arabs. He was a member of 
several learned societies. 

8. Z. K. 

CAIAPHAS or CAIPHAS, JOSEPH (Kaid¢ac, 
a Greek word; in the Hebrew original, probably not 
NB'D. but yp; compare Mishnah Parah iii. 5; Deren- 
bourg, “ Essai sur 1’ Histoire de la Palestine,” p. 215, 
note 2; Schiirer, “Gesch.” 3d ed., ii. 218; Josephus, 
“ Antiquities of the Jews,” xviii. 2, § 2): Son-in-law 
of the high priest Ananas or Annas, mentioned in 
John xviii. 18; held that office himself through 
appointment of Valerius Gratus, about 18-36, hence 
for a longer period than several of his predecessors 
and successors. Luke iii. 2 speaks of two high 
priests, Annas and Caiaphas. The mention of the 
two at one and the same time has been a great 
stumbling-block to the commentators. John made 
a curious error (xi. 49, xviii. 18) in speaking of 
Caiaphas as the high priest “in that year,” as if he 
interchanged every year with Annas. It appears 
that even while Caiaphas performed the duties of the 
office, the power of high priest lay in the hands of 
Annas. 

Caiaphas’ historic importance lies in the fact that 
he is expressly mentioned by Matt. xxvi. 3, 57, and 
John xi. 49, xviii. 18, 24, 28, in connection with the 
crucifixion of Jesus, though not by Mark and Luke. 
After his arrest, however, Jesus was taken not to 
Caiaphas but to Annas (John xviii. 18 et seg.), who 
questioned him only privately. The actual trial 
took place on the next day, the eve of the Passover, 
before the twenty-three members of the Sanhedrin 
over whom Caiaphas presided (Matt. xxvi. 57). 
Caiaphas is reported to have said on that occasion 
that it was expedient that one man should die for 
the people (John xviii. 14), a saying found also 
among the Rabbis (Gen. R. xciv, 9). The fact that 
Jesus was taken not to Caiaphas but to Annas is 
explained on the ground that the latter’s palace was 
nearer the place of arrest than that of the former. 
Through the travels of Theodosius Archidiaconus, 
530, it is known that there were 100 paces between 
the house of Caiaphas and the hall of judgment 
(“Nuovo Bull. di Arch. Crist.” vi. 184, Rome, 1900). 
Peter and other disciples, however, being ignorant 
of the state of affairs, went to Caiaphas’ house in 
the night. 

After Pontius’ recall Caiaphas was removed by 
the new governor, Vitellius (Josephus, “ Ant.” xviii. 
4, $3), and was succeeded by Jonathan, who was 
the son of Anan (36) and perhaps a brother-in-law 
of Caiaphas, It was probably at this time that the 
meeting with the apostles took place, at which Caia- 
phas is mentioned as belonging to the high-priestly 
family (Acts iv. 6). It was said later in the Syrian 
Church that he had been converted to Christianity, 
and was identical with the historian Josephus Fla- 
vius (Assemani, “ Bibl. Orient.” ii. 156, iii. 522; Solo- 
mon of Bassora, “ The Book of the Bee,” ed. Budge, 
tr. p.94). His house outside Jerusalem is still (1902) 
shown. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Commentaries on the Gospels, l.c.; Renan, La 
Vie de Jésus, ch. xxiv.; Edersheim, The Jewish Messiah, ii. 
47; Strauss, Das Leben Jesu, iv. 30 et seg., ed. oo 
G R. 


CAIN.—1. Biblical Data: First-born of Adam 
and Eve, named “Cain” (“Kayin”) because “ got- 
ten” (root, “kanah”) “with the help of Yuwu.” 
He became a tiller of the ground, and made an offer- 
ing of its fruits which Yuwu did not accept, though 
He had accepted that of Abel. Cain was angered, 
whereupon YHWH assured him that divine accept- 
ance depended upon conduct. Cain slew Abel, and 
was cursed by YuwuH so that the soil should yield no 
return to his labor, and he should be driven out to 
wander over the earth. At Cain’s appeal Yuwu 
“made to hima sign, lest. any one finding him should 
smite him.” Cain went forth to the land of Nod 
(Wandering), east of Eden; his wife bore him a son 
Enoch, after whom he named a city which he had 
built. From him were descended Lamech, who is 
recorded as having married two wives; Jabal, who 
instituted nomad life; Jubal, who invented music; 
and Tubal-Cain, the inventor of metal weapons—.e., 
the authors of material and social progress. 

K. W. HH. B. 
—-In Rabbinical Literature: Cain, the mur- 
derer of his brother Abel, presented to the views of 
the Rabbis two different types. One was that of a 
sinner who yielded to his passions, who was greedy, 
“offering to God only worthless portions; the rem- 
nants of his meal or flaxseed”; whom either God’s 
favorable acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice or Abel's 
handsomer wife and twin sister filled with jealousy ; 
who, hecause he claimed the pasture-land or the 
wife of Abel as his birthright, quarreled with his 
brother. He was nevertheless sincere in his repent- 
ance when he said, “Too great is my sin [A. V., 
“punishment ”] to bear” (Gen. iv. 13). and so the 
mark the Lord set upon him was atoken of forgive- 
ness. Like a man who had slain another without 
premeditation, he was sent into exile to atone for 
his sin (Sanh. 37b); and his crime was finally atoned 
for when he met death through the falling upon him 
of his house (Book of Jubilees, iv. 81), or at the 
hands of his great-grandson Lamech, who took him 
for a wild beast in the distance and shot him (Tan., 
Bereshit, ed. Vienna, p. 6b, and Yalk. i. 38). 

Cain was also viewed as a type of utter perverse- 
ness, an Offspring of Satan (Pirke R. EL xxi.), “a 
son of wrath” (Apoc. Mosis, 3), a lawless rebel who 
said, “There is neither a divine judgment nor a 
judge” (Midr. Lekah Tob and Targ. Yer. to Gen. 
iv. 8), whose words of repentance were insincere 
(Sanh. 101b; Tan.), whose fleeing from God was a 
denial of His omnipresence (Gen. R. xxii.), and 
whose punishment was of an extraordinary charac- 
ter: for every hundred years of the seven hundred 
years he was to live was to inflict another punish- 
ment upon him; and all his generations must be 
exterminated (Test. Patr., Benjamin, 7, according 
to Gen. iv. 24; Enoch, xxii. 7). For him and his 
race shall ever be “the desire of the spirit of sin” 
(Gen. R. xx., after Gen. iv. 7). He is the first of 
those who have no share in the world to come (Ab. 
R. N. xli., ed. Schechter, p. 138). 

The seven generations of Cain, as the brood of 
Satan, are accordingly represented as types of rebels 





Cain 
Calahorra 





(Gen. R. xxiii.). While the pious men all descended 
from Seth, there sprang from Cain all the wicked 
ones who rebelled against God and whose perverse- 
ness and corruption brought on the flood: they com- 
mitted all abominations and incestuous crimes in 

public without shame. The daugh- 


Genera- ters of Cain were those “fair daugh- 
tions ters of men” who by their lascivious- 
of Cain. ness caused the fall of the “sons of 


God ” (Gen. vi. 1-4; Pirke R. El. xxii ; 
compare Sibyliines, i. 75). The Ethiopian Book of 
Adam and Eve and the Syriac Cave of Treasures— 
both Christianized Melchisedician works based upon 
a genuine Jewish original—relate the story of the 
fall of the descendants of Seth as “the sons of God” 
who had lived in purity as saints on the mountain 
near Eden, following the precept and example of 
Seth and Enoch, their leaders, but were attracted by 
the gay and sensuous mode of life in which the 
children of Cain indulged; the latter spending their 
days at the foot of the mountain, in wild orgies, ac- 
companied by the music of instruments invented 
by Jubal, and by women, in gorgeous attire, sedu- 
cing the men to commit the most abominable prac- 
tises. In the days of Jared (“descent”) the Sethites 
(“the sons of God”) went down the hill to join the 
Cainites, heedless of the warnings of Jared; and 
none of those who walked in the path of sin could 
come back. This was repeated in the days of Enoch, 
Methuselah, and Noah: all the admonitions of these 
saintly leaders did not prevent the fall of the sons 
of Seth, for whom the daughters of Cain fusted (see 
The Book of Adam and Eve, transl by 8. C. 
Malan, 1882, pp. 115-147; Dilhnann, “Das Christ- 
liche Adambuch,” 1858, pp. 82-101; Bezold, “ Die 
Schatzhohle,” i. 10-28). Josephus (“ Ant.” 7. 2, § 2; 
i. 3, $1) also speaks of the excessive wickedness 
of the posterity of Cain, which grew in vehemence 
with every generation; while the posterity of Seth 
remained virtuous during seven generations, after 
which the fall of the angels ensued and they were 
enticed by their gigantic offspring. To Philo, like- 
wise, Cain is the type of avarice, of “folly and im- 
picty ” (“ De Cherubim,” xx.), and of self-love (“ De 
Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini”; “Quod Deterius Potiori 
Insidiari Soleat,” 10). “He built a city” (Gen. iv. 
17) means that “he built a doctrinal system of law- 
lessness, insolence, and immoderate indulgence in 
pleasure ” (“ De Posteritate,” 15); and the Epicurean 
philosophers are of the school of Cain, “claiming to 
have Cain as teacher and guide, who recommended 
the worship of the sensual powers in preference to 
the powers above, and who practised his doctrine by 
destroying Abel, the expounder of the opposite doc- 
trine ” (¢. 11). 

A doctrine of the Cainites appears, then, to have 
been in existence as early as Philo’s time; but noth- 
ing is known of the same. In thesecond century of 
the common era a Gnostic sect by the name of 
“Cainites” is frequently mentioned as forming a 
branch of the antinomistic heresies which, adopting 
some of the views of Paulinian Christianity, advo- 
cated and practised indulgence in carnal pleasure. 
While some of the Jewish Gnostics divided men into 
three classes—represented (1) by Cain, the physical 
or earthly man; (2) by Abel, the psychical man (the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


494 





middle class); and (8) by Seth, the spiritual or saintly 
man (see Irenzeus, “ Adversus Heereses,” i. 7,5, com- 
pare Philo, “ De Gigantibus,” 13)—the antinomistic 
pagan Gnostics declared Cain and other rebels or 
sinners to be their prototypes of evil and licentious- 
ness. Cain, Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and even 
Judas Iscariot, were made by these Gnostics ex- 
pounders of the “ wisdom ” of the serpent in rebellion 
against God (Gen. iii. 5), the primeval serpent, “ Na- 
hash ha-Kadmoni” (Gen R. xxii. 12). How many 
of these pernicious doctrines were already formed 
in pre-Christian times and how many were developed 
during the first and second Christian centuries is difti- 
cult to ascertain (see Jude 11, “the way of Cain”; 

Irenzeus, /.¢. 1. 31,1; 26,31; 27,8; Hippolytus, * Ad- 

versus Omnes Hirreses,” v. 11, 15, 21; Clemens of 

Alexandria, “ The Cainists,” Stromata vil. 17; Euse- 

bius, “Hist. Eccl.” iif, 29; Epiphanius, “ Heeres.” 

XXV., XXVL, XXXVHi, 2). Blau with good reason 

refers to such Cuinite doctrines the Haggadah of 

blasphemy, referred to in Sanh. 99b, as tanght by 

Manasseh ben Hezekiah, the typical perverter of the 

Law in the direction of licentiousness. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Honig, Die Ophiten, Berlin, 1889; M. 
Friediander, Der Vorchristliche Jtidische Gnosticismus, 
1898, pp. 19 et seg.; idem, Der Antichrist, 190], pp. 101 et 
seq.; Hilgenfeld, Die Ketzergeschichte des Urehristen- 


thums, 1884, pp. 324 et seq.; Ginzberg, Die Haggada bei dei 
Kirchenvtitern, pp. 5070. 
I. 


L. G. 

Critical View: The narratives in Gen. iv. are 
assigned to two different strata of the Jahvistic docu- 
ment; e.g., Ball, “$.B.O.T.,” the story of the murder 
of Abel (1-16a, 25, 26? to J), the later stratum; and 

the story of Cain, the city-builder, and 





Sources of his descendants (16b-24! to J), the 
and earlier stratum. The independence of 
Original the twosectionsis shown, among other 
Form. things, by the fact that the man who, 


in verse 12, is to be “a fugitive and a 
wanderer,” in verse 17 builds a city. Verses 16b-— 
24, to which probably la should be added, are from 
the same document as the story of the creation in 
Eden; and 1b-16, 25, 26, from that containing J)’s 
account of the flood. The apparent cross-reference, 
“wanderer,” “nad” (12), with “ wandering,” * Nod” 
(16b), is due to a redactor; and verse 24 refers to a 
version of the story of Cain which is different from 
that given in 1b-16 (compare below). 

The later section, 1b-16, is commonly explained 
thus (compare Holzinger’s “ Genesis *): Cain is the 
eponym of the Kenites (see 2), and the verses are a 
form of an independent tradition which explained 
the nomadic life of the Kenites as due toa curse laid 
upon them forsome ancient murder. To the settled 
Israelites the nomadic life seemed mean and wretched. 
Verses 25, 26 connect this story with the complete J. 

The earlier section, 17-24, is J'’s genealogy of the 
descent of the human race from Adam, and his ac- 
count of the development of civilization. The Song 
of Lamech (23, 24) is an ancient fragment inserted 
by J', referring to a form of the story of Cain which 
placed his conduct in a favorable light. 

TextofGen.iv.1. A. V..“[amanj{ trom the Lord,” 
so Targ. O., impliesa reading ““ AXD. the actual text 
might possibly be rendered as R. V..“ with the help 
of the Lord”; so Septuagint, Vulgate, or even 


495 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cain 
Calahorra 





“from YHwH.” Marti, apud Holzinger, proposes 
ot for ’et, “a man bearing the YHwu-sign” (com- 
pare verse 15, and below). 

The etymology of iv. lisa linguistic impossibility. 
The name was originally that of the Kenite tribe 


(see 2). The word pp (“kayin”) is 
Origin read in the Masoretic text of II Sam. 
of Name. xxi. 16, and translated “lance”; the 


corresponding words in Arabic and 

Syriac mean “smith.” The tribe may have derived 
its name from the fame of itssmiths. The “Cainan” 
of Gen. v. 14 (“Kenan”) is another form of this 
name (compare “Kenan”; R. V. “Kenan”). No 
explanation of Yuwu’s disapproval is given in the 
Masoretic text. The LX X. of verse 7 implies some 
ceremonial irregularity. Suggestions that the sin 
consisted in the bloodlessness of the offering, or in 
its worthlessness, or that if was given in a wrong 
spirit, are alike conjectures. The story is probably 
imperfect at this point. 

The “sign” of Cain is sometimes understood as 
a sign given to Cain to reassure him, but probably 

some mark on his person is intended, 

The which should indicate that he was un- 
‘*Sign” of der divine protection. It perhaps re- 
Cain. fers to a tribal mark of the Kenites 
connected with their worship of Yaw 

(Stade, “Z. A. T. W.”; Guthe, “ Herzog,” 1901, s.2.). 
The Apocrypha (Wisdom x. 8, 4) refers to Cain 

as the cause of the Flood. In the New Testament 

Cain is mentioned as an evil example (Heb. xi. 4; 

I John iii. 12; Jude 11). 

2. Tribe: mentioned in Num. xxiv. 22, and 
Judges iv. 11, for the tribe of the Kenites (sce 
KENITES). 

3. City (“Ha-Kayin”); mentioned in Josh. xv. 
57, in southern Judah, often identified with Yagin, 
southeast of Hebron. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Delitzsch, Neuer Commentar tiber die Gene- 
sis, 1887; Wellhausen, Die Composition des Hexateuch ; 
Budde, Die Biblische Urgesch. 1883; Stade, Das Kain- 
zeichen, in Z. A. T. W. 1894, pp. 250 et seq.: 1895, pp. 157 et 
seq.: reprinted in Akademische Reden und Abhandlungen, 
1899, pp. 229-273; Holzinger, Genesis, in Kurzer Handkam- 


mentar zum Alten Testament, 1898; Gunkel, Handkom- 
mentar zur Gen. 1901. 


EK. W. H. B. 


CAINAN. 
CAIRO. 


CALABRESE, HAYYIM BEN JOSEPH. 
See ViraL, Hayyim. 


CALABRIA. See ITALY. 


CALAH: The name of a city mentioned in Gen. 
x. 11 eé seg., and forming with Nineveh, Rehoboth 
‘Ir,and Resen the chief places in the Assyrian ex- 
tension of Nimrod’s domain. The verse in question 
embodies a correct tradition that the Assyrian empire 
was originally an offshoot of Babylonia. Assyrian 
culture similarly represents a natural extension 
toward the work of the civilization that arose in 
the South. The mound of Nimrod, lying in the fork 
of land between the rivers Tigris and the Upper Zab, 
marks the site of the city. -Excavations were begun 
here by Layard in 1845, and subsequently continued 
by Rassam and George Smith. Their work has 


See KAINAN, 


See Ecypr. 


resulted in the discovery of a great platform built of 
sun-dried bricks and faced with stone, extending 600 
yards north and south by 400 yards east and west, 
on which have been found remains of new palaces and 
of restoration works carried on by Shalmaneser I., 
Assurnazirpal, Shalmaneser II., Tiglathpileser III., 
Sargon, and Esarhaddon. Very little is known of 
the history of the city, but Assurnazirpal ascribes 
its origin to Shalmaneser I. (about 1300 B.c.); it is, 
however, scarcely probable that the city came into 
existence at so late a period. It is safe to assume 
that he means that Shalmaneser rebuilt it and made 
it a city of importance. Though the city was at 
times the residence of the king, it never became so 
populous as either Asshur or Nineveh. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: See the Babylonian-Assyrian histories of 

Tiele, Hommel, Winckler, and Rogers, s.v. 

J. IR, R. W. R. 


CALAHOR(R)A: A family of Spanish descent, 
resident in Cracow from the sixteenth century up to 
the present time, of which the following members 
attained prominence: 

1. Israel Samuel Calahorra (in the place of 
Mnpoyxp read md) : Writer; lived at Cracow; 
son of Solomon Calahorra (No. 8). He was not a 
physician, as First and others have it, nor did he 
come from “ Califoora.” : 

In 1624 he completed “Yismah Yisrael” (Israel 
Shall Rejoice), a lexicon to the four ritual codes in 
alphabetic order. It was published at Cracow in 1626 
and again at Amsterdam in 1693, together with the 
commentary “Hukke Da‘at” by Moses Jekuthiel 
Kaufman. Single parts of it appeared at Berlin in 
1700 and at Dyhernfurth in 1701. The code Yoreh 
De‘ah was published at Vienna in 1865, together 
with the commentary “Hukke Da‘at” and a com- 
mentary, “‘Olelot Zebi,” by M. H. Friedlander. 

According to Calahorra’s own statement in the 
preface to his lexicon, he wrote, besides the com- 
mentary on the ritual codes: “Or Yisrael” (Light of 
Israel), a commentary on the Pentateuch; “Kerem 
Shelomoh” (Vineyard of Solomon), a commentary 
on Pirke Abot, and “Sullam ha-Shamayim ” (Heav- 
enly Ladder). Besides the last work there is at the 
end of the first code in “ Yismah Yisrael” a “tehin- 
nah” (supplication), mystical in character, together 
with several prayers. None of these other works 
has been printed. 

2. Mattithiah Calahorra: Apothecary in Cra- 
cow; grandson of Solomon Calahorra (No. 3). He 
held a religious dispute with a Dominican, and 
suffered martyrdom at the stake in 1664 at Pieter- 
kov. An account of his trial and the story of his 
martyrdom are in manuscript in the archives of the 
Dominican monastery at Cracow. A copy of the 
same is in the possession of 8. J. Halberstamm. 

8. Solomon Calahorra: Physician; lived in 
Cracow between 1559 and 1586. His son designates 
him as “sepharad ” (= Spaniard); and he probably 
came from Calahorra. Moses Isserles (ReMA) and 
Solomon Luria, whose contemporary he was, held 
him in high regard for his medical skill; and privi- 
leges were conferred on him in 1570 and 1578 by 
King Sigismund Augustus, to whom he was physi- 
cian-in-ordinary, and by Stephen Bathori. 


Calamani 
Caleb 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


496 


i 


Calahorra, it appears, occupied himself also with 
business; and he has been confounded by Graetz 
and others with the physician Solomon Ashkenazi. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: For Israel Samuel: Leopold Zunz, Litera- 
turgesch. p.485. For Mattithiah: J. M. Zunz,‘Ir ha-Zedek, 
p. i. For Solomon: Moses Isserles, Responsa, No. 30; Solo- 
mon Luria, Responsa, No. 21; Liber Relationum Castrt 
Cracovice v. (1578), xi. (1585); J. M.  Zunz, pp. 68 et seq. 
Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, ix. 71. 


G. M. K. 


CALAMANI, JOSHUA ABRAHAM BEN 
SIMHAH: Italian Talmudist; born at Venice in 
1704. ‘The surname “Calamani” is, according to 
Steinschneider, derived from the German “ Kalman ” 
or “Kalonymus,” borne by an ancestor of Joshua, 
Calamani was a precocious child, the only work ex- 
tant by him having been written when he was thir- 
teen years of age. It is entitled “Mille de-Bedi- 
huta ” (Words of Delectation), and contains parodies 
on the language and style of the Talmud, with 
Rashi and Tosafot. It was written for the festival 
of Hanukkah (Venice, 1717). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1555; Mortara, 


Indice, p. 9. 
L. G. I. Br. 


CALAMUS: One of the ingredients (Ex. xxx. 
23) of the oil made specially for anointing the taber- 
nacle (Ex. xxx. 26), its vessels (¢. 27-29), and the 
priests (2b. 30). The calamus reed was fragrant, 
and is therefore mentioned in the long list of spices 
and fragrant woods in Cant. iv. 14. It was one of 
the articles in which Tyre traded (Ezek. xxvii. 19). 
Sce REED. 

J, JR. G. B. L. 


CALATAYUD, CALATAL-YEHUD, or 
CASTILLO DOS JUDfOS (Arabic, Kal‘at 
Ayub, Castillo de Ayub; Hebrew, ars nydp 
or nySp): City of Aragon, which had a large Jew- 
ish community as early as the reign of ‘Abd al- 
Rahman III. In 1882, while workmen were dig- 
ging the foundation of a house, they discovered a 
marble tombstone bearing a Hebrew inscription in 
memory of a certain Samuel b. Solomon, who died 
Marheshwan 11, 4680=Oct. 9, 919 (“Boletin de la 
Real Academia de la Historia,” xii. 17 e¢ seg.; “ Rev. 
Et. Juives,” xvi. 273). By the kings of Aragon the 
Jews of Calatayud were granted certain privileges, 
among which was one with regard to the oath; and 
these privileges were from time to time renewed. 

The Jewish quarter of Calatayud was situated in 
the vicinity of the river Las Pozas, and extended 
from 8. Maria de la Pefia to the Torre Mocha. On 
the opposite side of the river lay the Jewish ceme- 
tery. Thecommunity, which, during its prosperous 
times, annually paid 6,000 maravedis in taxes, pos- 
sessed two large synagogues, one of which, situated 
at the end of the Jewish street, was very beautiful. 
This synagogue was built by Aaron b. Yahya, and 
renovated by his relative, Joseph b. Yahya. There 
were also several large schools, two of which were 
founded respectively by Joseph Parhi and Jacob b. 
Calna. 

In addition to these there was a school for the as- 
sociation of weavers, and another attached to the 
Hebrah Kaddishah. As the members of the congre- 
gation occasionally absented themselves from the 


synagogues and held prayers in private houses, the 
“aljama” (community) ordained that services were to 
be held only in the regularly constituted synagogues 
and schools; and that an infringement of this man- 
date was to be punished by a fine, one-half of which 
was to be donated to the crown. ‘There were, how- 
ever, two persons exempt from this law: one, the 
physician Don Bahiel al-Constantini, who lived 
some distance from thesynagogue; the other, Moses 
b. Shaprut, whose gout prevented his attendance at 
the service. 

In 1326 the Jews of Calatayud had indiscrectly 
admitted two Christians to Judaism; in consequence 
the former were condemned to severe punish- 
ment by the inquisitor, but later pardoned by King 
Jaime. In the war between Castile and Aragon in 
1367, the Jews of Calatayud and Daroca, of whom 
the former had bravely defended their city, were 
subjected to great suffering at the hands of the 
Castilian soldiery, having their shops plundered and 
their children ruthlessly massacred. Asa result of 
this war the walls of the city of Calatayud, which 
had been heavily damaged and partly destroyed, had 
to be restored, and since the Jews were willing to 
repair only the walls of their immediate quartcr, a 
joint conference was held on Jan. 11, 1890, between 
the city council and the representatives of the al- 
jama (among whom were the physicians Samuel 
Sadoch, Jacob Azarias, and Don Samuel b. Shaprut), 
at which it was agreed that the Jews were to rebuild 
all the walls of the city, but that they were to re- 
ceive reimbursement from the Christian inhabitants 
for all the additional money expended. 

In consequence of the persecutions and the ser- 
mons of the proselytizing Vicente Ferrer, a large 
number of the wealthiest Jews of Calatayud in 
1391, and more particularly in 1413, accepted bap- 
tism. Among the converts were the following dis- 
tinguished families: the Clementes, whose progen- 
itor was Moses Hamorro; the Santangels, descended 
from Azariah Genillo: the Villanuevas, from Moses 
Patagon; and the children of the wealthy Samuel 
Vibon. Several of these persons rose to high emi- 
nence in Church and state, but many fell victims 
to the Inquisition. 

The community, once wealthy and powerful, 
gradually declined, until (about fifty years before 
the expulsion of the Jews from Spain) it was able to 
pay only a modicum in taxes. Calatayud was ail- 
ways celebrated as a great seat of Jewish learning, 
and among its eminent scholars. were: the gram- 
marian Solomon ibn Parhon, who was born at 
Calatayud and was a friend of Judah ha-Levi; the 
rabbi Solomon Reuben, who was related to Hasdai 
Crescas, and had many enemies (he was finally com- 
pelled to give place to the preacher En Bima); R. 
David ibn Shoeib, who enjoyed the esteem of both 
Jewish and Christian circles, and who, like Moses 
Alkabiz and Don Solomon b. David, carried on a 
correspondence with Isaac b. Sheshet. The Nasi 
D. Samuel ha-Levi and R. Moses b. Susa (the latter 
probably identical with the correspondent of Isaac 
b. Sheshet at Ucles) were the representatives of the 
Calatayud community at the disputation at Tor- 
Tosa. The last preacher of the congregation of 
Calatayud was the celebrated Isaac ARAMA. Ac- 


497 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Calamani 
Caleb 





cording to Steinschneider (“Jew. Quart. Rev.” xi. 


605), the Jewish family name “ Kalai” is derived 

from this city. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, Sources, Nos. 174, 1170, ete.; J. Ama- 
dor de los Rios, Historia de los Judios en Espafia, i. 196, ii. 
301 et seq.; Vincente de la Fuente, Historia de la Ciudad de 
Calatayud, i. 800 et seg.; Rev. Ht. Juives, xvi. 275; Isaac b. 
Sheshet, Responsa, Nos. 211, 227, 275, 331, 508; Shebet Ye- 
hudah, p. 68, 

G. M. K. 
CALATRAVA: Fortified city in the former 
province of La Mancha, in Castile. In 1146, when 
it was captured from the Moors by Alfonso. VIL, 
the latter made his favorite, Judah b. Joseph ibn 
Ezra ha-Nasi, governor of the city, just as Celorigo, 
when captured twenty-eight ycars later, was en- 
trusted to the Jews (Joseph ha-Kohen, “‘Emek ha- 
Baka” [after Ibn Daud], p. 28; German transl. by 
M. Wiener, p, 161; “Boletin Acad. Hist.” xiv. 267; 
J. Amador de los Rios, “ Historia de los Judios de 
Espaiia,” i. 331) 

The Knights of the Order of Calatrava, called after 
this city—who received large estates and gifts from 
the kings of Castile and Aragon—and their grand 
masters had various relations with the Jewish com- 
munities and individual Jews. The city Maqueda 
was a fief of the order, and was the home of the 
scholarly Moses ARRAGEL, With whom the grand 
master Luis de Guzman corresponded. In 1316 
the grand master Garcia Lopez interceded for the 
Jewish community, by asking the king, Alfonso 
XI., to reduce the royal taxes. In 1304 the Order 
of Jaime IJ. of Aragon was granted the privilege 
of admitting thirty Jewish families into the city of 
Alcaiiiz, which belonged to the order. In recogni- 
tion of the services rendered by the grand master 
and his knights to King Henry IL. in his war against 
Don Pedro, the king presented the grand master 
and the order 500 and 1,000 maravedis, respectively, 
from the annual taxes of the Jews residing between 
Guadalferra (Guadalfeisa) and Puerto de Muladar 
aud from those of the Jewish community of Villa 
Real. In 1310 the order sold a water-mill, called 
Batanejo, which became the property of Don Zu- 
lema (Salomon ibn Albagal) and his wife, Jamila, 
more correctly Joanila. The grand master Garcia 
Lopez also had negotiations with Abraham aben 
Xuxen (ben Susan) of Villa Real in regard to a 
water-mill. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Boletin dela Real Academia de ta Historia, 
XXxXV. 86, 45, 51,126 et seg.; Rev. Ht. Juives, xxxix. 313 et 
seq.; Luis Delgado Merchan, Historia Documentada de Villa 
Real, 1. 269 et. sey. 


G. M. K. 
CALAZ, JUDAH. See Kataz,JupDaAu. 


CALCOL: A man famous for his wisdom, since 
the Biblical writer attests the wisdom of Solomon by 
saying that he surpassed Calcol. In the account of 
I Kings iv. 31, R. V., Calcol (Chalcol, I Kings iv. 
31, A. V.)is given as the son of Mahol, while in 
TY Chron. ii. 6 he is called the son of Zerah of the 
tribe of Judah, and a brother of Heman and Ethan. 
Rashi, following the Midrash (Pesik., ed. Buber, iv. 
o4b) says that Calcol [which probably means “the 
nourisher,” or “nourishment”] is a name given to 
Joseph because of the verse “and Joseph nourished ” 
oleh 355%) (Gen. xlvii. 12), 

E.G. U, 
IIl.—82 


G. B. L. 


CALCUTTA: Capital of Bengal, and seat of gov- 
ernment of British India. The Jews of Calcutta 
now number about 2,150, of whom 150 are Euro- 
pean and the remainder natives of Asiatic Turkey, 
Persia, and southern Arabia. Just when the first 
Jew settled in Calcutta is uncertain; but Jewish 
traders did business there many years ago, Sha- 
lome David Cohen is the first permanent settler of 
whom there is authentic record toward the end 
of the eighteenth century. He became a favorite of 
the raja of Lucknow, and even had the honor of 
riding with him on his elephant. Cohen built the 
first synagogue in Calcutta, known as the Old Syna- 

gogue. The second synagogue, Naveh 


Syn- Shalome, situated in Canning street, 
agogues. was built nearly a century ago by 
Ezekiel Judah Jacob, another Jewish 

pioneer. It had until lately the income (229 rupees 


monthly) from a large compound, which was form- 
erly distributed among the poor. This compound 
is now occupied by the Magen David synagogue, 
whose founder, Elias David Joseph Ezra, compen- 
sated the Naveh Shalome by a permanent income 
from a trust fund. Religious questions are sent for 
solution to Bagdad. 

The third synagogue was the Beth-E], on Pollock 
street, erected in 1855-96 by Joseph Ezra and 
Ezekiel Judah. It was rebuilt and enlarged in 
1885-86 by Elias Shalome Gubbay. The finest 
synagogue in Calcutta is the Magen David. It is 
lighted by gas and cooled by punkas (fans). 

The Ezra Hospital, the only Jewish institution of 
its kind in Calcutta, was erected by Mrs. Mozelle 
E. D. J. Ezra in memory of her husband. It cost 
125,000 rupees; and all expenses, save those of doc- 
tors, are defrayed by the founder. 

The school Kehillath Yeshooroon, though meant 
for girls, also receives boys up to ten years of age. 

It is in charge of three European and 
Education. two Hebrew teachers, and the pupils 

are taught up to the seventh standard. 
The school is maintained partly by tuition fees and 
partly by a government subsidy. There is also a 
Talniud-Torah school, where the poor are taught 
and fed free every afternoon. It is supported by 
the wealthy Jews. 

In trade the Jews are in the front rank, The 
great houses David Sassoon & Co. and E. A. D. 
Sassoon & Co. have branch offices in Calcutta. 
Other representative men in commercial life are M. 
A. Sassoon, Maurice Gubbay, H.S8. Howard, and J. 
E. D. J. Ezra. The middle-class Jews speculate in 
opinm and stocks, and act as brokers. The poor 
keep shops and carn a livelihood as hawkers. 

The rich Jews live in the best part of the town, 
the Chowrunghee, their habits and costumes being 
European in every respect, though their vernacular 
is Arabic. There are several cricket, 
polo, and social organizations. Though 
many still adhere to their Arabian style 
of costume, the younger generation 
has adopted English dress. 

J. J. E. 

CALEB.—Biblical Data: According to the Bib- 
lical text, Caleb was of the tribe of Judah. He repre- 
sented that tribe among the twelve spies whom Moses 


Social 
Position. 


Caleb 
Calendar 


sent from the wilderness to spy out Canaan. He and 
Joshua alone brought back an encouraging report, 
and in consequence were the only ones of all that 
came out of Egypt who were permitted to survive 
and enter Canaan (Num. xiii. 6, 80; xiv. passim; 
xxvi. 65; xxxii. 12; xxxiv. 19; Deut. i. 86). After 
the conquest he was given Hebron and the region 
around it. In the conquest of this territory he 
offered the hand of Achsah, his daughter, to the 
man who would capture Hebron for him; the feat 
was accomplished and the maiden won by Caleb’s 
younger brother, Othniel. To him was assigned the 
south land, to which later, at Achsah’s request, “the 
upper springs” were added (Josh. xiv., xv.; and 
Judges i. passim). His name is connected with sev- 
eral towns in southern Judah (I Chron. ii. passim). 
J. IR. G. A. B. 


——In Rabbinical Literature: In the rabbinical 
sources, Caleb, the son of Hezron (I Chron. ii. 18- 
20), is identified with Caleb, the son of Jephunneh 
(Num. xiii. 6), the epithet “Jephunneh” having 
been given to him because he “turned away ” (715° 
= 798) from the sinful intention of the other spies 
who advised the people against going into the Holy 
Land. Caleb is also called (I Chron, iv. 5) “ Ash- 
hur,” because his face became black (nw) from 
much fasting, and “father of Tekoa” (y\pn °3N), be- 
cause he fastened (ypn) his heart on God, and in 
this faith he married the prophetess Miriam, whom, 
although she was neither fair nor healthy, he treated 
with fatherly love ((3&), appreciating her own piety 
and her relationship to such brothers as Moses and 
Aaron. 

Although the son of Jephunneh, Caleb is also 
called “the Kenizzite” (A. V., “Kenezite,” Josh. 
xiv. 6, 14; compare Judges i. 13), because Kenaz, 
the father of Othniel, was his stepfather; Othniel 
thus being in fact his half-brother (Sotah Ila, 12a, 
where the names of Azubah’s children [I Chron. ii. 
18] are applied to Caleb in haggadic fashion; sec 
also Ex. R. i. 17). 

When Caleb came to Palestine as one of the spies, 
he visited the graves of the Patriarchs in Hebron 
(compare Num. xiii. 22) and prayed for their help 
against the sinful intention of his colleagues (Sotah 
34b). It was also he alone who insisted that the 
spies should take some of the fruits of the country 
with them in order to convince the people of the ex- 
traordinary fertility of Palestine. As they did not 
wish to do this Caleb drew his sword and said: 
“Tf you will not take any fruit with you, then either 
my life or yours!” (Tan., Shelah 15, ed. Buber; 
Num. R. xvi. 14). Thoroughly realizing the evil 
intentions of the spies, and knowing that it was use- 
less to attempt to dissuade them, he did not betray 
his plans to them, but acted as if he agreed with 
them (Tan., /.c.19; Num. R. J.c, 19). But when the 
spies began to incite the people against Moses, and 
hissed Joshua, who attempted to act as peacemaker, 
Caleb, whom they had thought to be on their 
side, rose and said, “This is not the only thing the 
son of Amram has done for us,”—here all the ring- 
leaders were silent—“ He has taken us out of Egypt; 
he has divided the sea for us; and he has fed us with 
manna. Now, therefore, if he were to command 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


498 


us to make ladders and scale the heavens, we should 
obey him. Let us go up at. once and take possession ” 
(Sotah 35a; Num. R. f.c.; Tan., é@.c.). When the 
country was divided, Caleb and Joshua received 
the portions that had been intended for the other 
spies (B. Lb. 117b, 118b). 

Caleb was the father of Hur from his second 
wife Ephrath (1 Chron. ii. 19), and, therefore, the 
progenitor of the Davidic house, the “ Ephrathite ” 
(I Sam. xvii. 12; Sotah 11b; Sanh. 69b). 


J. SR. L. G. 


——Critical View: The eponymous ancestor of 
the clan of CaLEBITES. Since “Caleb” signifies 
dog, it has been thought that the dog was the totem 
of the clan. Modern criticism finds several differ- 
ent strata to this material, representing different 
points of view. The oldest writer (J) calls him 
simply Caleb in Josh. xv. 14-19; and Judges i. con- 
nects him with the expulsion of the sons of Anak 
from Hebron, and with the gift of Achsah and of 
certain lands to Othniel. D and P call him Caleb, 
the son of Jephunneh, and make him one of the 
twelve spies. In the original form of the story he 
alone brought back the favorable report, and so of 
all that came out of Egypt he alone entered Canaan. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wellhausen, Die Composition des Hexa- 
teuchs, pp. 337 et seq.; Driver, {ntroduction, p. 58; Moore, 
Judges, p. 31 
J. JR. G. A. B. 


CALEBITES: A branch of the Edomite clan of 
Kenaz (compare Judges i. 12 with Gen. xxxvi. 11, 
15, 42) that, before the Israelitish conquest, had 
migrated to southern Judah and settled in the vicin- 
ity of Hebron. They appear to have entered the 
country from the south and to have been friendly 
to the Hebrews, from which fact, perhaps, arose the 
story of Caleb’s favorable report as one of the 
twelve spies. They were afterward absorbed in the 
tribe of Judah. This union had not fully taken place 
at the time of David's career as an outlaw (I Sam. 
xxv, 3, xxx. 14). The narrativesin Josh. xv. 14 e¢ seq. 
and Judgesi. 12 ef seg. were composed to establish the 
claim of certain Calebite clans to particular localities 
(see ACHSA and OTHNIEL). It appears from [ Chron, 
ti. 18 e¢ seq. that the pre-exilian territory of the 
Calebites included Ziph and Mareshah and other 
towns in the extreme south of Judah; while another 
list in the same chapter (verses 46 e¢ seq.), by repre- 
senting certain personified towns as sons of Caleb’s 
concubines, among which is Bethlehem, indicates 
that after the Exile the clan was pushed farther 
north. This was doubtless due to the occupation of 
the south by Edomites. 

J. IR. G. A. B. 


CALENDAR, HISTORY OF: The history of 
the Jewish calendar may be divided into three 
periods—the Biblical, the Talmudic, and the post- 
Talmudic. The first rested purely on the observa- 
tion of the sun and the moon, the second on observa- 
tion and reckoning, the third entirely on reckoning. 

The study of astronomy was largely due to the 
need of fixing the dates of the festivals. The com- 
mand (Deut. xvi. 1), “Keep the month of Abib,” 
made it necessary to be acquainted with the position 
of the sun; and the command, “Also observe the 


499 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caleb 
Calendar 





moon and sanctify it,” made it necessary to study 
the phases of the moon. 

The oldest term in Hebrew for the science of the 
calendar is SM" NMy'Ip (“fixing of the month”); 
later YIIA wip (“sanctification of thenew moon”); 
ssp Sy wonn wrip (“sanctification of the new 
moon by means of observation”) ; by BINT wip 
pawn (“sanctification of the new moon by means 
of reckoning”) ; NMAWTNNIYAPI AY" (“science of 
fixing the month”); wonn wrtp miaon (“rules for the 
sanctification of the new moon”). Among other 
names besides these we find ayn TD (“ the secret of 
intercalation”). The medieval and modern name is 


The Babylonian year, which influenced the 
French time reckoning, seems to have consisted of 
12 months of 30 days each, intercalary months being 

added by the priests when necessary. 

Babylonian Two Babylonian calendars are pre- 

Calendar. served in the inscriptions, and in 

both each month has 380 days as 

far as can be learnt. In later times, however, 

months of 29 days alternated with those of 80. The 

method of intercalation is uncertain, and the practise 
seems to have varied. 

The Babylonian years were soli-lunar; that is to 
say, the year of 12 months containing 3854 days was 
bound to the solar year of 365 days by intercalating, 
as occasion required, a thirteenth month. Out of 
every 11 years there were 7 with 12 months and 
4 with 13 months. 

Strassmeier and Epping, in “ Astronomisches aus 
Babylon,” have shown that the ancient Babylonians 
were sufficiently advanced in astronomy to enable 
them to draw up almanacs in which the eclipses of 
the sun and moon and the times of new and full 
moon were predicted (“ Proc. Soc. Bib. Arch., 1891- 
1892,” p. 112). 

The Talmud (Yerushalmi, Rosh ha-Shanah i. 1) cor- 
rectly states that the Jews got the names of the 
months at the time of the Babylonian exile. 

There is no mention of an intercalary month in 
the Bible, and it is not Known whether the correc- 
tion was applied in ancient times by the addition of 
1 month in 3 years or by the adding of 10 or 11 
days at the end of each year. 

Astronomers know this kind of year as a bound 


lunar year. The Greeks had a similar 
Bound year. Even the Christian year, al- 
Lunar though a purely solar year, is forced 
Year. to take account of the moon for the 


fixing of the dateof Easter, The Mo- 
hammedans, on the other hand, have a free lunar 
year. 
Tt thus seems plain that the Jewish year was not 
a simple lunar year; for while the Jewish festivals 
no doubt were fixed on given days of Junar months, 
they also had a dependence on the position of the 
sun. Thus the Passover Feast was to be celebrated 
in the month of the wheat harvest (3°38), and the 
Feast of Tabernacles, also called ).DNA 3n, took place 
in the fall. Sometimes the feasts are mentioned as ta- 
King place in certain lunar months (Lev. xxiii. ; Num. 
XXviil., xxix.), and at other times they are fixed 
inaccordance with certain crops; that is, with the 
solar year. 


In post-Talmudic times Nisan, Siwan, Ab, 
Tishri, Kislew, and Shebat had 30 days, and Iyyar, 
Tammuz, Elul, Heshwan, Tebet, and Adar, 29. In 
leap-year, Adar had 30 days and We-Adar 29. <Ac- 
cording to Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, there was a lunar 
solar cycle of 48 years. This cycle was followed by 
the Hellenists, Essenes, and early Christians. 

In the times of the Second Temple it appears from 
the Mishnah (R. H. i.7) that the priests had a court to 
which witnesses came and reported. This function 
was afterward taken over by the civil court (see B. 
Zuckermann, * Materialien zur Entwicklung der Alt- 
jiidischen Zeitrechnung im Talmud,” Breslau, 1882). 

The fixing of the lengths of the months and the 
intercalation of montls was the prerogative of the 
Sanhedrin, at whose head there was a patriarch or 
x’w9. The entire Sanhedrin was not called upon 
to act in this matter, the decision being left to a 
special court of three. The Sanhedrin met on 
the 29th of each month to await the report of the 
witnesses. 

From before the destruction of the Temple certain 
rules were in existence. The new moon can not 
occur before a lapse of 294 days and $ of an hour. 
If the moon could not be exactly determined, one 
month was to have 380 days and the next 29. The full 
mouths were not to be less than 4 nor more than 8, so 
that the year could not be less than 852 days nor more 
than 356. After the destruction of tle Temple (70 
c.E.) Jokanan ben Zakkai removed the Sanhedrin 
to Jabneh. To this body he transferred decisions 
concerning the calendar, which had previously be- 
longed to the patriarch. After this the witnesses 
of the new moon came direct to the Sanhedrin. 

Every two or three years, as the case might be, an 
extra month was intercalated. The intercalation scems 
to have depended on actual calculation of the relative 
lengths of the solar and lunar years, which were 

handed down by tradition in the pa- 

Empirical triarchal family. Moreover, it was 

Determina- possible to judge by the grain harvest. 

tion of If the month of Nisan arrived and 

Leap-Year. the sun was at such a distance from 

the vernal equinox that it could not 

reach it by the 16th of the month, then this month 
was not called Nisan, but Adar Sheni (second). 

On the evening before the announcement of the 
intercalation the patriarch assembled certain schol- 
ars who assisted in the decision. It was then an- 
nounced to the various Jewish communities by 
letters. To this epistle was added the reason for 
the intercalation. A copy of sucha letter of Rab- 
ban Gamaliel is preserved in the Talmud (Sanh. 
xi. 2). 

The country people and the inhabitants of Baby- 
Jonia were informed of the beginning of the month 
by fire-signals, which were readily carried from sta- 
tion to station in the mountain country. These 
signals could not be carried to the exiles in Egypt, 
Asia Minor, and Greece, who, being accordingly lett 
in doubt, celebrated two days as the new moon. 

Owing to the weather it was frequently impossi- 
ble to observe the new moon, In order to remove 
any uncertainty with regard to the length of the 
year on this account, it was ordained that the year 
should not have less than 4 nor more than 8 full 


Calendar 


months. After the fixing of the calendar it was set- 
tled that the year should not have less than 5 nor 
more than 7 full months. 

R. Gamaliel IT. (80-116 c.E.) used to receive the 
reports of the witnesses in person, and showed them 
representations of the moon to test their accuracy. 
On one occasion he fixed the first of Tishri after the 
testimony of two suspected witnesses. The accu- 
racy of the decision was disputed by Rabbi Joshua, 
who was thereupon commanded by the patriarch to 
appear before him prepared for travel on the day 
which was, according to his (Joshua’s) calculation, 
the Day of Atonement, an order with which he most 
reluctantly complied. 

During the persecutions under Hadrian and in the 
time of his successor, Antoninus Pius, the martyr 
Rabbi Akiba and his pupils attempted to Jay down 
rules for the intercalation of a month. 

Under the patriarchate of Simon III. (140-163) a 
great quarrel arose concerning the feast-days and 
the leap-year, which threatened to cause a permanent 
schism between the Babylonian and the Palestinian 
communities—a result which was only averted by 
the exercise of much diplomacy. 

Under the patriarchate of Rabbi Judah I., sur- 
named “ the Holy ” (163-193), the Samaritans, in order 
to confuse the Jews, set up fire-signals at improper 
times, and thus caused the Jews to fall into error 
with regard to the day of the new moon, Rabbi 
Judah accordingly abolished the fire- 
signals and employed messengers. 
The inhabitants of countries who 
could not be reached by messengers 
before the feast were accordingly in doubt, and used 
to celebrate two days of the holidays. By this time 
the fixing of the new moon according to the testi- 
mony of witnesses seems to have lost its impor- 
tance, and astronomical calculations were in the 
main relied upon. 

One of the important figures in the history of the 
calendar was Samuel (born about 165, died about 
250), surnamed “ Yarlinai” because of his familiarity 
with the moon. He was an astronomer, and it was 
said that he knew the courses of the heavens as well 
as the streets of his city (Ber. 58b). He was director 
of a school in Nehardea (Babylonia), and while there 
arranged a calendar of the feasts in order that his 
fellow-countrymen might be independent of Judea. 
He also calculated the calendar for sixty years. His 
calculations greatly influenced the subsequent cal- 
endar of Hillel. According to Bartolocci his tables 
are preserved inthe Vatican. A contemporary of his, 
R Adda (born 183), also left a work on the calendar. 

Mar Samuel reckoned the solar year at 365 days 
and 6 hours, and Rab Addaat 365 days, 5 hours, 55 
minutes, and 2528 seconds. 

In 825 the Council of Nice was held, and by that 
time the equinox had retrograded to March 21. 
This council made no practical change in the ex- 
isting civil calendar, but addressed itself to the re- 
form of the Church calendar, which was soli-lunar 
on the Jewish system Great disputes had arisen 
as to the time of celebrating Easter. Moreover, the 
Church was not fully established, many Christians 
being still simply Jewish sectarians. A new rule 
was therefore made, which, while still Keeping 


Talmudic 
Period. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


500 


Easter dependent on the moon, prevented it from 
coinciding with Passover. 

Under the patriarchate of Rabbi Judah III. (800- 
330) the testimony of the witnesses with regard to 
the appearance of the new moon was received as a 
mere formality, the settlement of the day depending 
entirely on calculation. ‘This innovation seems to 
have been viewed with disfavor by some members 
of the Sanhedrin, particularly RabbiJose, who wrote 
toboth the Babylonian and the Alexandrian com- 
munities, advising them to follow the customs of 
their fathers and continue to celebrate two days, 
an advice which was followed, and is still followed, 
by the majority of Jews living outside of Palestine. 

Under the reign of Constantius (837-361) the per- 
secutions of the Jews reached such a height that all 
religious exercises, including the computation of the 
calendar, were forbidden under pain of severe pun- 
ishment. The Sanhedrin was apparently prevented 
from inserting the intercalary month in the spring; 
it accordingly placed it after the month of Ab 
(July-August), 

The persecutions under Constantius finally decided 
the patriarch, Hillel IT. (880-8365), to publish rules 
for the computation of the calendar, which had 
hitherto been regarded as a secret science. The 
political difficulties attendant upon the meetings of 
the Sanhedrin became so numerous in this period, 

and the consequent uncertainty of the 
Post- feast-days was so great, that R. Huna 

Talmudic b. Abin made known the following 

Period. secret of the calendar to Rabain Baby- 

lonia: Whenever it becomes apparent 
that the winter will last till the 16th of Nisan, make 
the year a leap-year without hesitation, 

This unselfish promulgation of the calendar, though 
it destroyed the hold of the patriarchs on the scattered 
Judeans, fixed the celebration of the Jewish feasts 
upon the same day everywhere. Later Jewish wri- 
ters agree that the calendar was fixed by Hillel IL. in 
the year 670 of the Seleucidan era; that is, 4119 a.m. 
or 3839 c.E. Some, however, as Isaac Israeli, have 
fixed the date as late as 500. Saapra afterward 
formulated calendar rules, after having disputed 
the correctness of the calendar established by 
the Karaites. That there is a slight error in the 
Jewish calendar—due to inaccuracies in the length 
of both the lunar and the solar years upon which it is 
based—has been asserted by a number of writers. 

According to Isidore Loeb the Jewish cycle in 

19 years exceeds the Gregorian by 


Errorin 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 15.3 seconds. 
the This makes a difference in a hundred 
Calendar. cycles (1900 years) of 8 days, 21 hours, 


45 minutes, and 5 seconds (“ Tables du 
Calendrier Juif,” p. 6, Paris, 1886). 

The assumed duration of the solar year is 6 min- 
utes, 3928 seconds in excess of the true astronomical 
valne, which will cause the dates of the commence- 
ment of future Jewish years, which are so calcula- 
ted, to advance from the equinox a day in error in 
216 years (“Encye. Brit.” 8.0. “Calendar,” 9th ed., 
iv. 678). 

The following calculation of the differences be- 
tween the Jewish and Gregorian lengths of the year 
and month was privately made for the writer by 


501 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Calendar 


A 


Prof. William Harkness, formerly astronomical di- 
rector of the United States Naval Observatory at 
Washington: 
1 year = 365 d. 05 h. 99743 halakim 
or 365 d. 05 bh. 55 m. 25.489 s. 
48 m. 46.069 s. true value 
(29 a. 12h. 793 balakim) 235 = 6939 d. 16 h. 595 halakim = 19 
years 
99 d.12h. 44m. 344s, True value = 29 d. 17 h. 44 m. 02.841 s. 


According to these caiculations the Jewish year 
exceeds the Gregorian by 6 m. 39.378. and the Jew- 
ish month by .492 s. Insignificant as these differ- 
ences may appear, they will cause a considerable 
divergence in the relations between Nisan and spring 
as time goes on, and may requirea Pan-Judaic Synod 
to adjust. 

Writerson the Calendar: Mashallah, 754-813; 
Sahl ben Rabban al-Tabari, 800; Sind ben Ali, 
829-832; Shabbethai b. Abraham Donolo, 949; Has- 
an, judge of Cordova, 972; Abraham b. Hiyya, d. 
1186; Abraham ibn Ezra, 1093-1168; Isaac b. Joseph 
Israeli, 1310; Immanuel b. Jacob of Tarrascon, 1830- 
1346; Elia Misrahi, d. 1490; Abraham b. Samuel 
Zacuto, professor of astronomy at Saragossa, 1492; 
Moses Isserles, d. 1578; David Gans (d. 1618), a friend 
of Keppler and Tycho Brahe; Raphael Levi Han- 
nover, 1784; Israel Lyons, 1773, member of an Eng- 
lish polar expedition. Besides the following works 
of the Talmudic period: 13m 7T)D7 NMS, Ba- 
raita of the secret of intercalation (R. H. xx. 2); 

1WWT NNVII; NIN JWI NN (Pirke de Rabbi 
Eliezer ha-Gadol b. Hyrcanus). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. M. Lewisohn, Geschichte und System des 
Jiidischen Kralenderwesens, Leipsic, 1853 (Schriften heraus- 
gegeben vom Institute zur Férderung der Israelitischen Lite- 
ratur); also the works of Steinschneider, Scaliger, and Ideler. 

J 


CALENDAR (Hebrew, “Luah” = table): <A 
systematic arrangement of the days of the year. 
The Jewish calendar reckons the days from evening 
to evening, in accordance with the order observed 
in the Biblical account of the Creation, “ And there 
was evening and there was morning, one day ” (Gen. 
i. 5). This principle is repeated in the Pentateuch 
several times (Ex. xii. 18; Lev. xxii. 82). With 
nightfall the day, the period of twenty-four hours, 
ends, and a new one commences. The day, in this 
sense of the word, consists of two periods, that of 
light and that of darkness: the former is called 
“day”; the latter, “night.” So that the term 
“day ” is used in a double sense: (1) asthe period of 
twenty-four hours, and (2) as daytime. Which of 
the two meanings the word carries in any particular 
passage of the Bible can easily be gathered from the 
context or from parallel passages (compare Bab. 
Suk. 43a). 

The transition from day to night, from light to 
darkness, and vice versa, is gradual: in the one case 
it begins before sunset, and continues 
till after sunset; in the other, it begins 
before sunrise and continues till after 
sunrise. Thetwo periods of transition 
are of undefined length, and are called, in Hebrew, 
“‘ereb” and “boker” (“evening ” and “morning”; 
compare Ruth iii. 14; Deut. xxiii. 11; Num. ix. 
15). The period of transition is also called “ neshef ” 
(“dawn” and “twilight”; Prov. vii.9; I Sam. xxx. 
17; compare Berakot 3b) and “dimdume hammah” 


oe 


Day and 
Night. 


(redness of the sun, Yer. Berakot iv. 1; Bab. 2d. 9; 
and Rashi, ad loc.). 

Nightfall, as the border-line between two consec- 
utive days, is the moment when three stars of the 
second magnitude become visible (“zet ha-koka- 
bim”); and the length of a day as opposed to night 
is, according to Neh. iv. 21, “from the rising of the 
morning ” (“ ‘alot ha-shahar” or “ “alot ‘ammud_ ha- 
shahar ”) “till the stars appear” (“zet ha-kokabim ” ; 
Berakot 2b). The short time before the actual ap- 
pearance of the stars is regarded as a doubtful 
period, neither day nor night, and is called in rab- 
binic literature “ben ha-shemashot” (between the 
two suns), @ euphemism for “bene ramshaya” (be- 
tween the evenings; compare Mishnah Pesahim i. 
1). Theduration of the “ ben ha-shemashot ” is fixed 
by the Rabbis (Tur Orah Hayyim, 261) to be thirteen 
minutes, thirty seconds before night. 

An important element in the modern Jewish cal- 
endar is the announcement of zet ha-kokabim on 
Sabbaths, festivals, and fasts. The time that elapses 
between sunset and the appearance of stars varies 
from day to day and from place to place. It is de- 
termined by frequent observation, or by calculation. 
In the latter case, as well as in the former, the re- 
sults found must be considered as the average time 
of zet ha-kokabim, which does not in each individ- 
ual case agree with the result of direct observation. 

It may be assumed that, under aver- 
Beginning age conditions of the atmosphere, 
of Night. three stars of the secoud magnitude 
become visible in the evening when 
the sun is seven degrees below the horizon. The 
calculation is based on the following three equa- 
sin « 

cos L cos Dy” (2) cos H = tan D 

tan L. - (8) cos (H — x) = 2 cos ors cos a 
[H = time in degrees from noon to sunset; D = 
declination of the sun; g = an auxiliary angle; 
x = time between sunset and the moment when 
the sun reaches 7 degrees below the horizon.] In 
higher latitudes, where during the summer the sun 
does not sink below the horizon, and during the 
winter does not rise above it, the days are counted in 
summer from midday, ¢.e., from one upper crossing 
of the meridian by the sun to the next crossing; in the 
winter, from midnight to midnight, ¢.e., from one 
lower crossing of the meridian by the sun to the next. 

In places of the same latitude the time of zet ha- 
kokabim varies according to their longitude. Like 
any other point of time, it travels at the rate of one 
degree in four minutes from meridian to meridian, 
along any of the parallel circles, and arrives again at 
the starting-point in twenty-four hours. The ques- 
tion now arises, which is to be considered the first 
meridian. At which point of the circle do the 
twenty-four hours begin? The problem has been 
discussed by R. Judah ha-Levi in his “ Cuzari” (ii. 
11), and although he seems inclined to take the merid- 
ian of Sinai or of Jerusalem as the first, the meridian 
90 degrees east of Jerusalem was accepted as the 
starting-point. 

The day is divided into twenty-four equal hours, 
beginning at 6P.m. (In Pirke R. El. the “large 
hour,” equal to two ordinary hours, is mentioned.) 


tions: (1) cos ¢ = 





Calendar 


This division affects only the calculation of the 
“molad ” and “tekufah” (beginning of a month and 
of the four seasons of the year). In other respects 
daytime is divided into twelve hours, which vary 
according to the length of daytime. Whether the 
night in Talmudic times was likewise divided into 
twelve hours, is not certain. While in daytime the 
parts could easily be determined by 
Duration of the sun-dial, it became difficult after 
Day. nightfall. Both in Biblical and Tal- 
mudical literature mention is made of 
a division of the night into three or four (Berakot 
3a) watches (“ashmorah” or “mishmarah” ; compare 
“the morning watch” [Ix. xiv. 24], “the middle 
watch” [Judges vii. 19], “the beginning of the 
watches” [Lam. ii. 19]). 

The hour is divided into 1,080 parts (“halakim ”). 
In the Yer. (Berakot i. 1) the following division is 
given: A day has twenty-four hours; one hour has 
twenty-four “‘onot”; the “ ‘onah” has twenty-four 
“ittot”; one “‘et” has twenty-four “rega‘im.” 
{n the calculation of the molad only halakim are 
employed. Both the hour and the parts (halakim) 
are treated as constant; a day on the equator, which 
is equally divided between day and night—the night 
jasting from 6 p.m. to 6 4.M., and the day from 6 
A.M. to 6P.M.—being taken as the basis of the cal- 
culation. 

The week consists of seven days, distinguished 
from one another by their place in the week. They 
are called the first day, the second day, the third 
day, and so on to the seventh day, which is besides 
called “Shabbat ” (Rest) or “ Yom ha-Shabbat ” (Day 
of Rest). As the Sabbath is the most important day 
of the week, the term “Shabbat” denotes also 

“week ”—that is, the period from one 
The Week. Sabbath to the next; and a year of 
| rest is also called “Shabbat” (or “sha- 
bu‘a”). Friday, as the forerunner of Shabbat, is 
called “ ‘Ereb Shabbat ” (The Eve of Sabbath). The 
term “‘ereb” admits of two meanings: “evening” 
and “admixture” (Ex. xii. 38); and “‘Ereb Shab- 
bat ” accordingly denotes the day on the evening of 
which Sabbath begins, or the day on which food is 
prepared for both the current and the following 
days, which latter is Sabbath. 

The idea of preparation is expressed by the Greek 
mame tapucxev#, given by Josephus (“ Ant.” xvi. 6, 
& 2) to that day (compare Mark xv. 42; Luke xxiii. 
54; Matt. xxvii. 62; John xix. 42). In Yer. Pesa- 
him iv. 1 the day is called “Yoma da-‘Arubta” 
(Day of Preparation). Another term frequently 
employed in describing the day is the Aramaic 
“me‘ale” (bringing in, that is, the Sabbath). Sat- 
urday evening—.é., the evening after the termina- 
tion of Sabbath—is correspondingly called “ Moza’e 
Shabbat” in Hebrew and “Appuke Yoma” in Ara- 
maic (“leading the day out”). The name, originally 
given to Saturday evening, is also applied to denote 
the whole of “Sunday.” Similarly, the sixth year, 
or the year preceding the Sabbatical year, and the 
eighth year, or the year following the Sabbatical year, 
are respectively called “‘Ereb Shebi‘it ” and “ Moza’e 
Shebi‘it. ” 

The same terms are also applied to the days pre- 
ceding and following any of the festivals; as “‘Ereb 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


502 


Pesah,” “‘Ereb Sukkot,” etc. The weekly Sab- 
baths are distinguished from one another by the lesson 
from the Pentateuch or by that from the Prophets, 
read on Sabbath. “Shabbat Bereshit,” for instance, 
is the name of the first Sabbath after the autumn 
holy days, or the first Sabbath after Simhat Torah, 
because on that Sabbath the section, or parashah, 
that begins “Bereshit” (Gen. i. 1) is read; and, 
similarly, the second Sabbath is called “Shabbat 
Noah,” because the parashah beginning “ Eleh 
Toledot Noah” is read on thatday. Again, “Shab- 
bat Nahamu” is the Sabbath after the fast of Ab, 
when Isa. xl., beginning “ Nahamu ” (Comfort ye), is 

read ; and “Shabbat Shubah” is the 

Name of Sabbath between New- Year’s Day and 

Sabbaths. the Day of Atonement, when Hos. 
xiv., beginning “Shubah” (Return), is 
read. The names are based on the custom followed 
at present in all Orthodox congregations, prescribing 
the reading of the whole of the Pentateuch in the 
synagogue once every year. In the synagogues 
where the cycle of three years is adopted, these 
names do not apply. See SIDRA. 

A difficulty with regard to the Sabbath is expe- 
rienced by those who are traveling round the world. 
Journeying westward, they find the day longer than 
24 hours; traveling eastward, they find the day 
shorter than 24 hours. When the starting-point 
is again reached, the former find that the a days of 
their counting are a—i ordinary days of 24 hours; 
while those who travel in an eastward direction find 
their @ days equal to a-++1 ordinary days of 24 
hours. Suppose the traveler in a westerly direction 
completes his journey on Friday evening according 
to his reckoning, he finds that at his starting-place 
it is not Friday but Saturday evening; and the trav- 
eler in the opposite direction, if he completes his 
journey on Saturday evening, according to his ac- 
count finds that the day was counted in that place 
as Friday and not as Saturday. In the first case, 
therefore, the traveler has kept one Sabbath less 
than his brethren at home; in the second case, one 
Sabbath more. 

The moon passes through her different phases in 
29 days, 12 hours, 793 parts (halakim) of an hour. 
These phases serve asa measure of time (compare 
Ps. civ. 19); and the period covered by. them is 
knownasonelunar month. For practical purposes, 
however, the months are reckoned by full days and 
set in with the beginning of night. They contain 
either 29 or 80 days; in the first case the month is 
“haser” (deficient) by half a day; in the second, 
“male,”) over-full) by half a day. The first appear- 
ance of the new moon determines the beginning of 

the month. At first a small and faint 
The Month. arc, like a sickle, can be seen by those 

endowed with good sight, from spots 
favorable for such an observation. It may, there- 
fore, happen that in different places the reappear- 
ance of the moon is noticed on different days. In 
order to prevent possible confusion to the central 
religious authority, the chief of the Sanhedrin, in 
conjunction with at least two colleagues, was en- 
trusted with the determination of New-Moon Day 
for the whole nation. See CALENDAR, HIsTory or. 

Although the Jewish calendar was thus regulated 


503 


by direct observation, the members of the court seem 
to have been in possession of a recognized system, 
called “Sod ha-Ibbur ”—(‘“ ‘Ibbur” is the interca- 
lation of a day in a month, making it thirty days, 
and of a month in a year. The principal object 
of the calendar was to regulate these two points)— 
which enabled them to test the accuracy of the 
evidence of the eye-witnesses, and which was 
probably resorted to on exceptional occasions 
(R. H. 20). There were times of persecution when 
the president and the Sanhedrin could not ex- 
ercise their authority; times of trouble and war 
when neither witnesses nor messengers could travel 
in safety. On such occasions calculation had to 
be relied upon. The substitution of calculation 
for observation became gradually permanent, help- 
ing to maintain the religious unity of the nation, and 
insuring the uniform celebration of “the seasons of 
the Lord,” independently of the vicissitudes of the 
times, as well as of the distance of Jewish settle- 
ments from Palestine. A permanent calendar, still in 
force, was introduced by Hillel IL, nasi of the San- 
hedrin about 360. It is uncertain what the calendar 
of Hillel originally contained, and when ft was gener- 
ally adopted. In the Talmud there is no trace of it. 

Originally, the Hebrews employed numerals to 
distinguish one month from the other. The month 
in which the spring season (“Abib”) commenced 
was the first month (Ex. xii. 2; Deut. xvi. 1), the 
other months being accordingly called the second, 
third, etc. A few traces of names of months are 
met within the earlier books of the Bible: Abib, 
the first month (Ex. l.¢.); Ziw, the second month (I 
Kings vi. 1); Etanim, the seventh month (2b. viii. 
2); and Bul, the cighth month (I Kings vi. 38). In 
post-exilic books Babylonian names are employed; 
viz., Nisan, Iyyar, Siwan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tish- 
ri, Heshwan, Kislew, Tebet, Shebat, Adar, and We- 
Adar. ; 

Although the Hebrews reckoned by lunar months, 
it was provided that the first month should be in 
the spring (Ex. xii. 2, xiii.4; Deut. xvi. 1). As the 
lunar year consists of twelve months, or 354 days, 8 
hours, 876 parts, it is shorter, by 10 days, 21 hours, 

204 parts, than the solar year, and 
The Year. every twoor three years the difference 
is equalized by the addition of a 
month, following the twelfth month. The year is 
then called a leap-year, and consists of 383 days, 21 
hours, 589 parts. Various methods were suggested 
for the equalization of the solar and lunar years (see 
‘Ar. 8b et seg.; Pirke R. El. vii.; and Baraita of 
Samuel), but the cycle of Meton, or the Mahzor of the 
calendar of Hillel, prevailed. At first it was in the 
hands of the Sanhedrin to decide annually whether 
the year was to be a common year or a leap-year; 
and the decision was based on direct observation as 
to the signsof spring. In course of time, calculation 
was in this case also substituted for observation; 
and the sequence of common years and leap-years 
was permanently fixed. 

The fact that the civil year included only com- 
Piete days, as well as some other consideration, set 
forth below in the principles of the Jewish calendar, 
caused variations in the number of days, both in 
the common year and in the leap-year. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Calendar 


The following are the principles regulating the 
Jewish calendar: (1) The length of the astronoin- 
ical lunar month is 29 days, 12 hours, 793 parts. 
(2) A synodical month has 29 or 30 days, and is ac- 
cordingly “haser” (defective), or “male” (full). 
(3) The first of Tishri is the day on which the 
“molad” (conjunction) of Tishri has taken place, 
except: (@) When the molad is at noon or later 
(“Molad Zaken”). (5) When the molad is on a Sun- 
day, Wednesday, or Friday (“ Adu” =y 7%). (e} 
When the molad in a common year is on Tuesday, 
204 parts after 8 a.m (“Gatrad” = 39003). (d@) When 
the molad is on Monday, 589 parts after 9 a.M., in 
a year succeeding a leap-year (“ Betutakpat” = 
pApMIbA). The exceptions (“dehiyyot” = post- 
ponements) were introduced to provide that the 
Day of Atonement should not be on Sunday or Fri- 
day (‘Ar. lc. p. 20), and that the seventh day of 
Tabernacles should not be on Saturday. Maimonides 
(“ Yad,” Kiddush ha-Hodesh, v. 7) attempts to ex- 
plain these exceptions astronomically. The excep- 
tion of Molad Zaken provided that the first of Tishri 
should at least include six hours of the new astro- 
nomical month, in accordance with R. H. 20: “if the 
molad takes place before noon, the moon can be seen 
the same day near sunset”; and that same day was 
declared to be the tirst of Tishri. There was at least 
the possibility of experts discovering the small sickle 
of the moon six hours after the conjunction; and 
this possibility justified the authors of the calendar 
in fixing the day of the molad as the first of the 
new month, if the molad took place before noon. 

An unsuccessful attempt was made by a certain 
Ben MeryYr (928) to substitute 12 hours, 642 parts 
for “noon” (compare A. Harkavy, “Zikron La’aha- 
ronim,” and M. Friedlander, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” 
v. 196 e¢ seq.). 

(4) The molad of Tishri of the first year was on 
Sunday, 204 parts after 11 p.m. (5) A common 
year, consisting of twelve months, has 353, 354, or 
doo days; a leap-year, consisting of 
thirteen months, has 8838, 384, or 385 
days. The effect of these variations 
is the variation in the length of the 
months of Heshwan and Kislew, which 
have 29 and 30 days, 30 and 30 days, or 29 and 29 
days; the years are accordingly called “kesidrah” 
(regular), “shelemah” (perfect), or “haserah” (de- 
fective), and marked by the Hebrew letters 3, yw, and 
m. These variations for the common year and for the 
leap-year, together with the changes as regards the 
day of the week on which the first of Tishri falls, 
are; Y3,23 3357, wm wrand py for the common 
year, and WO A233 07 wr wr and ny for the leap- 
year; the letters 3, 3, 7, 7, denoting Monday, Tues- 
day, Thursday, and Saturday. 

(6) In the cycle (“mahzor”) of nineteen years the 
third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seven- 
teenth, and nineteenth are leap-years; the rest are 
common years. Nineteen lunar years with seven 
extra months equal nineteen solar years minus one 
hour, four hundred and eighty-five parts. Some 
count the seven leap-years of the cycle differently, 
because they begin the first year of the first cycle 
differently. The solar year in the Jewish calendar, 
according to Samuel of Nehardea, is the same as the 


Principles 
of the 
Calendar. 


Calendar 


Julian year. According to R. Ada,the son of Ahabah 
(date unknown), it is 12,4, lunar months = 365 days, 
5 hours, 99742 parts (see Maimonides, “ Hil. Kiddush 
ha-Hodesh,” ix., x.) The year is divided into four 
equal seasons; and the beginning of a season is 
called in Hebrew “tekufah.” One tekufah is dis- 
tant from the next 91 days, 74 hours, according to 
Samuel, whose theory has been adopted for ritual 
purposes. 

As the Christian calendar is based on the solar 
year, and the Jewish calendar has only years of 
twelve or thirteen lunar months, the problem arises 
how to find for a given Jewish date the correspond- 
ing Christian date. The solution is as follows: 


Given: Sept. 24,3 a.M., the first tekufah of Tishri, being 12 
days, 20 hours, 204 parts before the first molad of Tishri. What 
is the Christian date of the molad of Tishri 5661 (1901)? 

Solution : 5660 = 297 cycles (of 19 years) and 17 years. The 
excess of 1 solar year over 1 lunar year = 10 days, 21 hours, 204 
parts; of 19 solar years over 1 cycle = 1 hour, 485 parts. 

In 297 cycles the excess = 17 days, 22 hours, 405 parts; in 17 
years the excess = 17 days, 19 hours, 870 parts. 

Deduct 12 days, 20 hours, 204 parts from the sum, and 12 days, 
21 hours, 1071 parts remain as the excess of 5660 solar years over 
5660 lunar years; i.e., the molad Tishri of 5661 is 12 days, 21 
hours, 1071 parts before Sept. 24, 3 A.M. = Sept. 11, 44 min. after 
5 A.M. (old style), or Sept. 24, 5 hours, 4% min. (new style). 


The date of the first of Tishri is not necessarily 
that of the molad Tishri. According to rule 3, it 
depends on the day of the week on which the molad 
takes place, whether the first of Tishri is the day of 
the molad, or one or two days later. In order to 
find the day of the week for the molad Tishri, pro- 
ceed in the above example as follows: 

The first molad Tishri was 2 days, 5 hours, 204 parts. The ex- 
cess over complete weeks is in a common year 4 Gays, 8 hours, 
876 parts; in a leap-year, 5 days, 21 hours, 589 parts: in a cycle 
of 19 years, 2 days, 16 hours, 595 parts ; in 297 cycles, 11 common 
years, and 6 leap-years, it amounts to 0 days, 5 hours, 885 parts; 
added to the initial 2 days, 6 hours, 204 parts, the total is 2 days, 
11 hours, 9 parts; i.e. the molad Tishri 5561 is on Monday, % 
min. after 5 A.M., and the first of Tishri is on the same day, 
Monday, Sept. 24. 


Gauss (“Monatliche Correspondenz von Freih. v. 
Zach,” v. 485) gives the following formula for find- 
ing the Christian date for the fifteenth of Nisan of 
the year A A.M.: 

BAaA+W=19D+a;A=4E+b: Mis an integral andm 
is a fraction; M + m = 32.0440982 -++ 1.5542418 a + 0.25 b — 
0.008177794 A. Explanation of the equation: Let M, m, a, b, ¢, 
have the same signification as above, T = initial date of Nisan 1 


(the day of the molad) of the year 1 a.m. with the hours and 
halakim of the molad Tishri of the year 2 (i.e. March 33, 583); 


K- mnar ment i= 1 ae h Then M+ m =T— (A—1) 


7K — (A—1) L+ (6-1) 0.25 = T — (A-—1) (19-12) K 
— etc. = T+ K (2A — 12) — ete. =T+K 012 A—2)—-10K 
—ete. = T+K (2 A+17) —10K —ete. = T—-10K+ K (124 
+ 1%) —- AL+L+ 025 b —-025. T-—-10K4+L+14= 
32.0440932 ; and — 0.25 is disregarded in order to increase the 
value of M by 6 hours and thus to exclude Molad Zaken; and 
ce i or subtraction of a multiple of 19 does not alter the re- 
sult. 

Further, M+3A+5b+5=7 F+e Jf c=2,4, or 6, the 
fifteenth of Nisan is on the (M-+1)th day of March; if c=1, 


a > 6, m> 0.63287037, —on the (M-+-2)th of March, and if 
c=o, a > 1, and m > 0.89772376 Nisan 15 is on the (M+1)th 
of March ; in all other cases, on the Mth of March. 


This formula is intended to determine on which 
day of the week the Mth of March falls: the ex- 
cess of days over complete weeks is 1 day in ordi- 
nary years, 2 days in leap-years, or 5 days in every 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


504 


4 years. The first of March of the year t was on 
Saturday; the excess of days over complete weeks 
from the first of March of the year 1 to the Mth of 
March of the year Ais = 6+ M+ $(A — b)-+(b—1) 
=M-+ 44 (A—b) +5-+ b (because addition or sub- 
traction of a multiple of 7 does not alter the result) 
=M+3A—2+5=M+3A-+5D+5. 

In order to facilitate the comparison of the two 
systems of dates, tables are appended which show 
the date for each day in 1,000 years from the year 
1001 to 2000. In Table I. the first column gives the 
years of the common era; the second column, those 
of the era of the creation (according to Jewish tradi- 
tion, the asterisks indicating the leap-years); in the 
third columns the letters “r,” “p,” and “d” indicate 
whether the Hebrew year is regular, perfect, or de- 
fective; the next column has the figures 2, 3, 5, 7 to 
indicate whether the tirst of Tishri is 
on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or 
Saturday. The last column gives the 
difference between the standard dates 
of Table II. and the actual dates of the 
year in question: e.g., 1110 C.E. or 
4870* a.m. p, 7—7 (¢.e., the year 1110 
C.E.) corresponds to 4870 a.m., which is a leap-year 
having 18 months, and perfect, having 385 days, the 
first of Tishri, Saturday, and 7 days betore Sept. 4. 

This difference has to be added to the Christian 
date if that is sought from the given Jewish date, 
and deducted from the Jewish date if the latter is 
sought from the given Christian date. As rewards 
the Jewish date between Nisan and Elul of the year 
x, or the Christian date between March and Deceim- 
ber, use the difference given for x +1; otherwise 
that for the year x. 

Table II. contains the Jewish and Christian dates 
of one year, beginning first of Nisan, and March 11; 
and having Tishril on Sept. 4. As the Christian 
year is longer than the Jewish comnion year, the 
table has been cxtended to the end of Nisan of the 
succeeding year. From Kislew onward there are 
three lines foreach month, marked “r,” “ p,” and “d,” 
and according as the year is regular, perfect, or de- 
fective, the one or the other line is to be used. In 
We-Adar “r,” “p,” and “d” have each two lines, 
marked respectively “c” and “1,” the one for the com- 
mon Christian year, the second for the Christian leap- 
year. The first column of dates contains the dates 
for the first days of Rosh-hodesh of those months 
which have two days Rosh-hodesh. The difference 
between the dates of any particular year and this 
standard table (Table I, 5th column) applies to the 
months from Tishri onward in that year, and also to 
the months from Nisan to Elul of the previous year 
(and from January to March of that year, and from 
March to December of the previous year). The dates 
which fall on the same day of the week as the first of 
Tishri are printed in heavier figures. The following 
two examples illustrate the use of the tables: 


Relation 
of Jowish 
and 
Christian 
Dates. 


Maimonides was born Nisan 14, 4895; find the corresponding 
Christian date. In Table I. is found 4895 a.m. corresponds to 
1135 c.r.; and that the number of difference for 4896 (which also 
applies to the last six months of 4895) is 6. In Table II. the 
fourteenth of Nisan corresponds to March 24: add 6, and the re- 
sult is: March 30, 1135. The first of Tishri, according to Table 
L, was on Tuesday, and the fourteenth of Nisan, occupying 
the fifth place from the date in heavy figures, was on Saturday. 


505 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Calendar 


pa 


What Hebrew date corresponds to Aug. 15, 1520? Table I.: 
1521 = 5281 97 9. Table IL: Aug. 15 Elul 10; Deduct 9. 
Hence: Aug. 15, 1520 = Elul 1, 5280. 

According to Tabie I., the first of Tishri is on Thursday, and 
in Table II. Elul 1 closely precedes the date printed in heavier 
figures. Elul 1, 5280, was on a Wednesday. 


There are two cycles: the large cycle (“mahzor 
gadol”) of twenty-eight solar years, and the small 
cycle of nineteen lunar years. In twenty-eight solar 
years the tekufot (according to Samuel) complete 
their course of variations as regards the hour of the 
day, and the day of the week; and New-Year’s 

Day (Jan. 1) follows exactly the same 
Cycle order every twenty-eight years as re- 
or Mahzor. gards the day of the week. The cycle 
of nineteen lunar years (the cycle of 
Meton) determines the sequence of common years 
and leap-years in the Jewish calendar, because nine- 
teen lunar years with seven extra months of seven 
leap- years approximately equal nineteen solar 
ears. 
z Thirteen small cycles, = 247 years, form the cycle 
(“‘iggul”) of Rabbi Nahshon. This cycle has al- 
most an exact number of weeks, only 905 parts 
being wanted to complete the last week. The first 
of Tishri after 247 years falls on the same day of the 
week for a long period, but by no means forever, 
on account of the deficiency of 905 parts; nor does 
the same order of the years as regards their charac- 
teristics repeat itself after 247 years. 

The cycles of “shemittah ” (seven years), of year of 
release, and of “yobel” (fifty years = jubilee), 
do not affect the Jewish calendar. 


The following is a list of the dates of Jewish fes- 
tivals and fasts: 


Nisan 14, Eve of Passover. 
15, Passover, first day. 
16. = second day. 
i7-20. Hol ha-mo‘ed, or middle days. 
21. Passover, seventh day. 
22. “ eighth day. 
18. Lag ba-‘omer, or thirty-third of the ‘Omer, 
6. Shabu‘ot or Pentecost, first day. 
/ rh * second day. 
Tammuz l7. Fast of Tammuz. 
Ab 9% “ “ Ab, 
Tishri 1. New Year, first day. 
Pei ‘© second day. 
3. Fast of Gedaliah. 
10. Day of Atonement. 
15. Tabernacles, first day. 
16. " second day. 
17-21. Hol ha-mo*ed, or middle days 
21. Hoshana rabba. 
22. Eighth-day Festival. 
23. Rejoicing of the Law, 
25. Hanukkah, first day. 
10. Fast of Tebet. 
15. New Year for trees. 
13. Fast of Esther 
14, Purim 
15. Shushan Purim 
Adar 14-15. Purim Katan } 
We-Adar 13, Fast of Esther 
14. Purim lin leap-years. 
15. Shushan Purim 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Isaac Israeli, Yesod ‘Olam; Slonimski, Yesod 
ha-‘Ibbur; A. Schwartz, Der Jtidische Icalender, Breslau, 
1872; Al-Biruni, The Chronology of the Ancient Nations, 
London, 1879; 8. B. Barnaby, The Jewish and Mohammedan 
Calendar, London, 1901; I. Loeb, Tables du Calendrier 
Juif, Paris, 1886. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hil. Kid- 
dush ha-Hodesh; Abraham Cohen Pimentel, Minhat Kohen, 
Amsterdam, 1668. 
A. M. F. 


Iyyar 
Siwan 


Kislew 
Tebet 
Shebat 
Adar 

bin common years. 


TABLE I. 


SHowine Dares FoR Each Day In A THOUSAND YEARS FROM THE YEAR 4761 (1061 C.E.) 
ro 5760 (2000 C.E.). 


Note.—The letters “‘r,” “‘p,’’ **d,” in the third column indicate whether the Jewish year is regular, perfect, or defective. The 
figures 2, 3, 5, 7, in column 4, indicate the day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday) on which Tishri | falls. 






























































— 


1 tae « 5}; 1 e 4% 4 BH At <8 
1001 | 4761*| p | 2 |-2 |) 1035.] 4795} p | 2 [12 || 1069 | 4820% 
2{ 2) a) 2)18 |] Ge GH d |) 7 | 2 |) 1070 | 4830 
‘ 8) r]5; 6]! 7 | po) & 119 | i | J 
4* 4¥| pn | 2 \-5 | 8 Si ry, 3 19 i Lil ae 
5 5|/ p12 9 % p | 72 § 3 
6 6| d | 7/4 || 1040*| 4800; p78 || 4 4* 
7 mr] 3isii i rl 5]7 i 5 5 
s) 8} pl2iii| 2 2(a/2)0)] 6 6 
9 94} d 17/0 8 Blpl]7i4h 7 7 
1010 | 4770 | r | 5 [18 4*| 41 ri5}/4il 8 8 
1 tip {2/7 5 5laj{,2-8!| 9 9 
oe BF py 1 7 1-8 6 61 p | 7 [10 || 1080*! 4840* 
3 3) da [7 (16 7 7;p {5/90 1 1 
4 4) r/3i4 S* S$} rj 5 420 | 2 2 
5 B¥ op | 7 |-7 9 9/al(2]/8 3% 
6% 6! p | 7113 {| 1050 | 4810] p | 5 |-0 4¥) 4 | 
p) evel suel] by ala leeed gl f 
r 2 ‘ Bip tate 6 6 
9 9|/ p/7|9 3 Sea teen 2 7 | 
1020*| 4780"| p | 5 (1 4/ 4/r{5(12 || 8 98M 
1 1) r {5 (18 5 Bi p)2}1i| 9 9 
2 214a)/217 6*) 6 | a | 2 [21 || 1090 | 4850 
3 3%) p | 5 IS 7 7! p15/8 1 1* 
mw 4/rlslsi} 8| 8iril3 2 | pel 9 
5 5p [243 9 9! p {27 3 3* 
6 6%, a | 7 |-7 |} 1060*) 4820} a | 7] 7 4 4 
7 Tlr|5 (| 1 li ri3i4 5 5 
8* = 8* p |} 2! 0 2 2) p | 2/18 6* «6* 
9) 9] 4] 2 {19 3 31 pi7}3 " q 
1030 | 4790 | r 15/7 4*#|  4®@ gq | 5 1-7 8 8 
1 14 p {2/0 5| 686|r1{ 3/10 g| 9 
oe 2] p | 2 j16 6 6*| p | 7 j-1 |; 1100"; 4860 
3 8la!l7|5 7 7) p|7 19 1 1 
4{ 4% r {3 [7 s*} 8] r [519 2) 2 






























































3414/5 | 1 2 E 4}5!i 1 on ean 
d {2 3 1103 | 4868 | p {2 {it |} 1287 | 48974 p [7 1-6 
pz] ¢ ga] 7)1 og) S| p fa fu 
r 3) a ay hE o i t T o 
al2|8]) 6] 6lp leis | 1140) 4900") d | 2 [7 
p|7 1 Hl ovi gl a 1? i 1 i| p |7 {10 
pySiti 8 8) pb its 2 2*/ a 1510 
r|5j21|| 9) 9) r|3/4 3° $8] r {13 hs 
d|2 10 | 110 | 4870" p | 7 iT) 44 A DTT? 
p | 5/3 1} la}7hsal) 5! slp ]sts 
r [5 117 a 6 Hr (BLT 6B] 66 rt 5 [16 
p12i6 3 Fle tenet ee ela lays 
Oe ee 4 £59 Dee ey 8* S*| p | 5 |-7 
rj) 4 {13 | 5: d5* ad {5 i-li} 9/ r] 5 (12 
pj2!2i} 6%) 6} r {8 {17 |} 1150 | 4910") a | 241 
p {7 [8 | < | 7 | p 715) 1 1/ p47 19 
d | 7 [12 | 8 8*) p | 5 j-5 2m 2) oF ie [a 
r{3i4{| 9] ol r{5 [5 5 34 op | 21-3 
p | 2 {28 |] 1120 4880] a | 2 As A 4] a)2 17 
p|7\s 1 | i p(5)9|) 5! 5) p|5]5 
dj5|2 ey Se pa OB 6*) r {3 [-5 
r | 3 (15 31 BMalgiol| 7] 7] p/2 he 
efelg] 8) gle /gIe) a) sities 
t e t | 4 T et 22 
r | 3 {12 6 6*| p | 2 |-4 || 1160") 4920.1 p | 2 {10 
p 17/0 7 7 | a | 2 {16 1 06 6M pi? 
p | 7 120 se 6sSip |5/4i .2 21a 7 {19 
r | 5 (10 9 9*| r | 3 |-7 a ee ee ee 
d | 2 /-1 || 1130 | 4890 | p | 2 [12 ae 4* op | 7 |-4 
Bee Ll Wa ere 5 5| p75 
siaisi 3] aiplaled fl palate 
pizisil ¢& sil Tl wads 
ad | 2 i15 A as F ar 1 ae p |i | 
r 2 H d/p | 5 | SF ad | 5 
p {2/9 6*} 6] r | 3} 6 {| 1170 | 4930 | r {| 3 {19 


506 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Calendar 


TABLE JI.—Continued. 

































































































































































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Tishri 19, 5343. 


~~ 


+13 up to Oct. 4, 1582 = Tishri 18, 5343; 23 from Oct. 5, 1583 


Calendar 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


507 


TABLE 1.—Continzed. 





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Calendar THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 508 


Calf, Golden 


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CALF, GOLDEN. — Biblical 
Data: A portable image overlaid 
with gold, made by Aaron at Mount 
Sinai (Ex. -xxxii.). As the text stands, 
it narrates how Moses had gone up 
into the mountain to receive the Ten 
Words, and remained forty days. 
When the people found his return 
delayed they asked Aaron to inake 
for them gods which shouldgo be- 
fore them. At Aaron’s request they 
took off the gold rings worn by the 
women and children in the camp. 
These he took and “ fashioned it with 
a graving tool and made it a molten 
calf.” An altar was built before it 
and a feast to YuHwu celebrated. 

Meantime Moses in the mountain 
had been warned by Yuwu of the de- 
fection of the people, and he now 
came down. Much surprised and 
angered when he found what was ac- 
tually going on, he cast the tables 
of the Ten Words to the ground and 
brokethem. He took the calf—which 
seems to have really been of wood 
overlaid with gold—and burned it till 
the wood was charred, and then pul- 
verized the gold and strewed it on the 
water of the brook they drank from. 
Moses then demanded ef Aaron an 
explanation of his conduct, and re- 
ceived one truly Oriental in character 
(see Ex. xxxii, 22 to 2). Then, 
seeing that the people were “broken 
loose,” Moses called for all on the side 
of YHwuH to come and stand by him, 
whereupon all the sons of Levi 
gathered themselves together, and at 
the command of Moses went through- 
out the camp and slew 3,000 men— 
apparently all those that had been 
leaders in the image-worship. At 
Moses’ command these avengers then 
gathered to receive the blessing of 
YHWH. 

On the morrow Moses assembled 
the people, and told them that they 
had grievously sinned, but that pos- 
sibly he could atone for them. He 
then prayed that he might himself be 
punished and the sin of the people 
forgiven, and was told by Yuwi to 
go on and lead the people forward; 
that those who had sinned should bear 
their own sin, and that one day He 
would punish them. 

J. IR. G. A. B. 
—In Rabbinical Literature: 
Next to the fall of man, the worship 
of the golden calf is, in rabbinical 
theology, regarded as the sin fraught 
with the direst consequences to the 
people of Israel. “There is not a mis- 
fortune that Israel has suffered which 
is not partly aretribution for the sin 


509 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Calendar 
Calf, Golden 





of the calf” (Sanh. 102a). The very seriousness of the 
offense leads the Rabbis to find circumstances ex tenu- 
ating the guilt of the people, and to apologize for 
Aaron’s part in the disgraceful affair, The initia- 
tive was taken not by the Israelites, but by the 
Egyptians who had joined them at the time of the 
Exodus (Ex. xii. 38), and who were the source of a 
great deal of trouble to Moses and the Israelites 
(Num. xi. 4; for the Egyptians, when the time 
fixed for Moses’ descent from the mountain had ex- 
pired, came in a body—forty thousand of them, ac- 
companied by two Egyptian magicians, Yanos and 
Yambros, the same who imitated Moses in producing 
the signs and the plagues in Egypt—to Aaron, and 
told him that it was the sixth hour of the fortieth 
day since Moses left, the hour he named for his re- 
turn (a play upon the word wyz, Ex. xxxii. 1= 
WwW INA, “the six [hours] have come”), and that 
Moses had not yet returned: he would never come. 
Satan took advantage of the opportunity, and 
brought gloom and confusion into the world to 
alarm the people. Then he told them Moses was 
dead, as the sixth hour had come and he had not ar- 
rived. Seeing he was not believed, he showed them 
a bed in the mountain with Moses in it. This con- 
vinced them that Moses was really dead; and they de- 
manded that Aaron make them a god (Shab. 89a; 
Tan., Ki Tissa, 19). Hereupon Hur stepped in and 
rebuked them for their ingratitude to the God who 
had performed so many miracles for them, He wasat 
once put to death, and Aaron was threatened with the 
same fate. The latter saw that he must accede to 
their request, but he sought a device whereby the exe- 
cution of their demand would either be made im possi- 
ble or at least be delayed until Moses came; for he 
was not eusnared by the wiles of Satan. So he ordered 
them to bring the golden ornaments of their wives; 
knowing that the women would be more grateful to 
God, and would refuse to part with their jewels for 
idolatrous purposes. His expectation was realized. 
Their jewels could not be obtained; and the men 
had to give theirown. Aaron had no choice but to 
put the gold into the fire. A calf came out alive 
and skipping! 

One explanation is that this was due to the mag- 
ical manipulation of the Egyptian sorcerers. Auother 
is more ingenious: On the night. of the Exodus, 
Moses searched all Egypt for Joseph’s remains, but 
could nottind them. At last Serah, the daughter of 
Asher, poiuted out to him the place in the Nile 
where the Egyptians had sunk an iron chest con- 
taining Joseph’s bones (Tan., J.e.; Ex. R. xli. 7). 


Moses took a splinter, wrote on it the wordsiw ADy 
(“Come up, ox”; Joseph being compared to an ox; 
see Deut. xxxiii. 17), and threw it into the water, 
whereupon the chest rose to the surface (Tan., Be- 
shallah, ii.; Tosef., Sotah, iv. 7; Sotah 13a). This 
splinter was secured by Micab, and when Aaron 
cast the gold into the fire, he threw the splinter 
after the gold, and as a result a calf came out (com- 
pare MicaH). 

Another reason given for this aberration of the 
people is that when God came down on Mount Sinai 
to give the Law, he appeared in the chariot with the 
four beasts of Ezekiel. These the people saw; and 


it was one of them, the ox (Ezek. i. 10), that they 
made an image of and worshiped. This was one of 
the pleas Moses made to palliate the offense of the 
people (Ex. R. xiii. 8). 

The tribe of Levi did not join in the worship of 
the calf (Yoma 66b). If all the people had abstained 
from worshiping it, the tables of stone would not have 
been broken, aud as a result the Law would never 
have been forgotten in Israel, and no nation could 
have had any power over the Hebrews (‘Er. 54a). 

The mysterious way in which Aaron described the 
origin of the golden calf gave rise to superstitious 
beliefs; and it was ordained by the Rabbis that this 
part of the account of the golden calf (Ex. xxxii. 
21-25, 35) should be read at public worship in the 
origina], but should not be translated by the “met- 
urgeman ” (Meg. iv. 10; Tosef. Meg. iv. [iii.] 86; Yer. 
wb. iv. 75ce; Bab. 7b. 25b). 

J. SR. I. Hv. 
—In Mohammedan Literature: The story of 
the golden calf is mentioned in the JXoran (suras xx. 
88 et seq., vii. 149 e¢ seg.) as follows: “Thereupon 
[after he had recéived the Law on the mountain] 
Moses returned to his people, angry and afflicted, 
and said: ‘. . . Did the time [of my absence] seem 
too long to you, or did you desire that wrath from 
your Lord should fall upon you because you have 
broken the promise given to me?’ They answered: 
‘We have not broken our promise given to you of 
our own authority, but we were made to bring loads 
of the ornaments of the people, and we cast them 
[into the fire], and Al-Samiri did likewise.’ And 
he brought forth unto thema living, bellowing calf. 
And they said: ‘This is your God and 
the God of Moses, but he hath forgot- 
ten him.’ . . . Mosessaid: ‘O Aaron, 
what hindered you, when you saw 
them do wrong, from following me [to the moun- 
tain}; have you been disobedient to my order?’ 
Aaron answered: ‘Oh, son of my mother, do not 
lay hold of my beard or my head—behold the people 
made me weak and almost murdered me.’ And 
Moses said: ‘How about you, O Samiri’’ He an- 
swered: ‘I saw what they did not see, and I took a 
handful [of dust] from the footsteps of the messen- 
ger and cast it. Thus did my mind guide me.’ 
Moses said: ‘Go away, and this shall be your pun- 
ishment, in life that you say {to every one you 
meet]: “Touch me not”; anda threat is awaiting 
you which you shall not escape. And see, your idol 
which you have worshiped, we shall burnand throw 
the ashes into the sea’ ” (compare also suras ii. 48-51, 
86, 87; iv. 152). ; 

When Moses departed for Sinai he made Aaron 
his deputy. During the absence of Moses, Aaron 
reminded the people that the ornaments which they 
had were stolen booty, and told them that they must 
bury them in a common hole until Moses should 
decide what was to be done with them. This they 
did. Samiri threw a clod of the earth, which the 
horse of the messenger Gabriel had thrown up, on 
the spot where they had hidden their ornaments; 
and thereupon God brought forth the calf (Tabari). 

This Arabic legend, in describing the fate of Sa- 
miri as that of a man compelled to wander, barred 
from all iutcrcourse with his fellow-men, whom he 


In the 
Koran. 


Calf 
California 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


510 





nimself is bound to warn by his pitiful ery, “ Touch 
me not,” to come not near him, seems to be one of 
the earliest forms into which was cast the later story 
of the Wandering Jew current among Christians. 
Yet on the whole this assumption is inadmissible. 
Samiri according to Geiger, is identical with Sam- 
ael. According to the Arabic Commentators, how- 
ever, and, lately, according to Frinkel (“Z. D. M. 
G.” lvi. 78, with especial reference to Hosea viii. 5), 
Samiri is indebted for his name to the fact that he 
belonged to the Samaritan sect. Mohammed knew, 
perhaps, how much this sect was hated, and (accord- 
ing to the report of an old but evidently lost Midrash) 
made the seducer a Samaritan in spite of all chronol- 


ogy. So Baidawi (also Palmer’s translation of this 
sura) holds him to have been “the 

Samiri’s Samaritan.” This accounts at once 
Identity both for the réle here ascribed to him 
with and the fate meted out to him. 
Samael. Mohammed carried in his mind many 


rabbinical conceits, but in a much 
confused form. He had an indistinct impression 
of the rabbinical prejudices against the Samari- 
tans, among which the fact that they worshiped 
an animal idol and poured out libations to it on 
their holy mountain was not the least (Yer. ‘Ab. 
Zarah v. 44d, at foot; Hul. 6a). But the fact 
that the idol imputed to the Samaritans was a dove 
and not a calf became confused in his recollection of 
hearsay rabbinical stories. It was enough for him 
to know that the Samaritans were looked upon by 
the Jews as idolaters or even worse (Yer. Ta‘anit 
iv. 66b; Yer. M. K. iii. 83b, middle), to make the 
Samaritan the arch-seducer,and artificer, by “magic,” 
of the idol. That the Jews would hold no inter- 
course with the Samaritans may also have been 
among the disjointed fragments of Mohammed’s 
Biblical and rabbinical lore. Hence under the de- 
cree his “Samaritan ” was condemned to wander and 
never to permit another to defile himself by close 
contact. 

That not Aaron, but another, was the real culprit 
in the making of the calf is also reported in a rab- 
binical account (Sanh. 102, 2), according to which 
Micah (Judges xvii. e¢ seq.) was its maker. The 
threatening of Aaron and the bleating of the calf 
are likewise founded on rabbinical sources (Sanh. 
5; Pirke R. El. 45). 

Before the expulsion of Samiri, Moses (in accord- 
ance with Ex. xxxii. 20 et seq.) ordered the calf to be 
reduced to dust and the powder mixed with their 
drinking-water (sura ii. 87). When they drank the 
water it caused them great pain, and they called 
upon Moses for help. Then Moses told them to slay 
one another (sura ii, 51), Thus 70,000 were killed. 
The Lord sent an intense darkness to prevent their 
seeing one another, so that recognition of the corpses 
should not induce them to forbear (“ jalal al-din ”). 
Finally, the crying of the women and children 
moved the heart of Moses, who prayed to God to 
stop the murdering; and his prayer was answered 
immediately. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Geiger, Was Hat Mohammed aus dem Juden- 
thume Aufgenommen? pp. 165-168: Weil, Bibliseche Le- 
jenden der Muselmdnner, pp. 169, 172; M. Grimbaum, Neue 

eitrdge zur Semitischen Sagen kunde, p. 169. 


E. G. H. M. Sc.—E. G. H. 


— Critical View: Asthe Exodus narrative stands, 
it is clearly composite. For example, in verse 7 
Moses is warned that the people have sinned; and 
in verscs 9 to 12 he seems to understand clearly what 
their sin is, and yet in verses 16 to 19 he is greatly 
surprised at what has occurred. Again, verses 7 to 
12 represent Moses as praying for the sinners before 
he came down from the mount, while verses 30 to 34 
represent him as praying practically the same prayer 
the day after the destruction of the image was over. 
Palpably the two are of different authorship. 
Again, verses 25 to 29 describe the vengeance that 
was executed on the sinners, while verse 34 regards 
it as still future. Critics therefore regard the narra- 
tive as made up of strata from two documents 
(Jahvist and Elohist), though they do not altogether 
agree as to the points of division. The main stra- 
tum of the story is, however, thought to come from 
the Ephraimitish writer (Elohist), though there are 
a sufficient number of points in the story taken from 
the Jahvist to show that his work also contained the 
narrative. 

The purpose of the original story seems to have 
been, as Budde thinks, to acconnt for the selection 
of the tribe of Levi for the priesthood. A great 
crisis in the worship had arisen in which the Levites 
had stood for YHwu, and punished all that opposed 
themselves, so that they were consecrated to the serv- 
ice of the priesthood (see Levi and the literature 
cited below). Many critics see in it a polemic 
against the calf-worship of Beth-el and Dan, and no 
doubt an Ephraimitish writer of the prophetic circles 
of the time of Hosea would shape the tale with a 
view to the religious reforms in which he was inter- 
ested. Itis probable that at this time there was 
introduced into the story the view that the offense 
punished by the Levites was the making of a calf; 
but it also seems likely that there underlies the pres- 
ent narrative a much earlier form of the tale, a form 
that pictured some other crisis in which the Levites 
distinguished themselves and thus were elected as 
the priestly tribe. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kuenen, Hexrateuch, p. 251, London, 1886; 
Kittel, History of the Hebrews, i. 199 et seq., London, 18953 
Racon, Triple Tradition of the Exodus, pp. 127-138, Hart- 
ford, 1894; Budde, Religion of Israel to the E-cile, pp. 85 et 
seq., New York, 1899; Carpenter and Harford-Battersby, 
Hexateuch, it. 180-132, London, 1900; and the commentaries 
on Exodus, especially those of Dillmann and Holzinger. 


J. IR. G. A. B. 


CALF-WORSHIP— Critical View: Among the 
Nebrews, asamong the otheragricultural Semites, the 
bull was associated with deity in a sacred character 
(see Ox), The form in which this thought found 
expression in Israel was in their representation of 
YuHWH by animage of an ox or bull made of gold 
(compare I Kings xii. 28). In consequence of the 
costliness of the metal, the images were small, and 
from their size, rather than from the age of the ani- 
mal regarded sacred, were called “calves.” In the 
earlier time the images were carved out of wood 
(compare Moore, “Judges,” pp. 375 et seg.); but 
with the increase of wealth it became the custom to 
make them of gold. These golden images were cast 
in molds, and consequently were called “molten 
images.” They seem to have been in use in the old 
nomadic times, stnce they are mentioned in the two 


511 


rCY Calf 
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 2 ers 


a ET A NT TD, 


Covenant Documents (Ex. xxxiv. 17; xx. 28), 
whereas the older practise of making images of wood 
persisted more asa private custom. Inthe Decalogue 
(Deut. v. 8.; Ex. xx. 4) the prohibition does not 
specify molten gods and those of silver and gold, 
but extends to all images representing YHWH. 

It has been often held (for example, by Renan and 
Maspero) that this calf-worship was derived from 
Egypt; but that view is now generally abandoned. 
The Egyptians worshiped the living animal, and not 
an image: and the prevalence of bull-worship 
among agricultural Semites sufficiently accounts for 
the origin. Among the Hebrews, the bull wasasym- 
pol of strength (compare Num. xxiii. 22, xxiv. 7). 

Ex. xxxii. attributes the making of a golden calf 
to Aaron at Mount Sinai (see CaLr, GOLDEN). 
The critics assert that this is hardly possible; 
since the bull is the symbol of divinity only among 
settled agriculturists, and not among nomads such 
as the Israelites then were, The narrative in ques- 
tion is declared by them to be in reality a prophetic 
polemic against the calves of Jeroboam. 

Jeroboam, in making the sanctuaries of Beth-el 
and Dan the recipients of his royal patronage, placed 
in them images of YHwH made of gold in this calf 
form, the fame of which went far and wide (com- 
pare I Kings xii, 28; II Kings x. 29; II Chron. xi. 
14, 15). The Deuteronomic author of Kings attrib- 
utes the origination of these representations of 
Yuwu to Jeroboam, but this some critics question. 
Jeroboam, it has been assumed, simply revived an 
old custom; and it is probable that the silver image 
of YuwH in the Temple of Micah (Judges xvii., 
xviii.) was in thisform. Similar images were per- 
haps in the Temple at Gilgal (Amos v. 4 e¢ seq.; 
Hos. iv. 15, ix. 15, xii. 11 [12]; compare G. A. 
Smith, “Book of Twelve Prophets,” i. 37), and 
at Samaria (Hos. viii. 5), though Wellhausen and 
Nowack are of the opinion that “Samaria ” is in this 
latter passage used for the whole kingdom and not 
for the city. 

The prophets of the northern kingdom inveighed 
continually against the rites connected with these 
calf-shrines; and with the overthrow of that king- 
dom they disappear. There are no traces of this 
form of calf-worship in the southern kingdom; 
though the twelve oxen on which rested the great 
laver in the Temple of Solomoa (I Kings vii. 25; II 
Kings xvi. 17; Jer. lii. 20) are regarded as evidence 
that there was some sacred character attached to the 
bull. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kuenen, Religion of Israel, 1._ 73-78, 
235-236, 260-262, 545-547; Baethgen, Beitrdiye zur Semiti- 
schen Religionsgeschichte, pp. 198 et seq.; Robertson, Early 
Religion of Israel, ch. ix.; Baudissin, Studien, ete.. vol. 1.; 
Konig, Hauptprobleme, etc., pp. 55-58; Dillmann, Alttesta- 
mentliche Theologie, pp. 98, 99, 166, 167; Sayce, Hibbert 
Lectures, 1887, pp. 289 et seq.; Jensen, Kosmologie der 
Babylonier, pp. 88 et seq. 

J. IR. G. A. B. 


CALIFORNIA: One of the United States of 
America on the Pacific coast. 
thenticated record of the activities of Jews in Cali- 
fornia prior to 1849. During that year, attracted by 
the discoveries of gold, large numbers of them ven- 
tured into the new El Dorado, scattering over the 
entire area of the gold-fields. (A partial list of the 
Jewish pioneers of California is given in Markens. 


There exists no au- . 


“The Hebrews in America,” pp. 336, 337; but the 
list needs revision.) The constituent elements of the 
nascent Jewish communities came from every part 
of the world, including Australia, and some of them 
from the east and south of the United States. Di- 
vine services were held for the first time in San 
Francisco on Kippur Day, 1849, in a tent owned by 
Louis Franklin, and were attended by about ten 
persons (Leeser’s “ Occident,” vii. 480; “Chronicles 
of Emanu-El,” p. 16). The organization of the Jew- 


.ish community was completed between July and 


October of the following year (see SAN FRANCISCO). 
While the San Francisco community is the oldest 
as regards the date or dates of its organization, it 
received, after the collapse of many of the mining 
ventures, large accessions from the Jewish settlers 
in the gold regions. Many Jews had found their 
way to the mines, notably along the 
Early Com- American river; and in Placer, Ama- 
munities. dor, and Yuba counties — then the 
centers of the gold excitement—and 
at every prominent point of settlement a Jewish 
“mining ” congregation or benevolent society began 
to flourish. As most of these institutions have now 
passed out of existence, it may be well to preserve 
a partial record of them in this permanent form. 
For a complete list see “Emanu-El,” Dec. 21, 1900, 
xi, No. 6. 

Sonora: Hebrew Benevolent Society organized 
in 1852. <A burial-ground is still cared for by the 
few families resident in the village. 

Stockton: Congregation Re‘im Ahubim organized 
1853 from a previously existing society (1851) for 
the care of the Jewish insane. In 1852 there were 
three Jewish inmates in the State Asylum for the 
Care of the Insane at this place. | 

Los Angeles: In 1854 an IJsraclite named Car- 
valho, of Sephardic extraction, a member of General 
Fremont’s expedition, settled in Los Angeles and 
suggested the founding of a benevolent society. 
Religious services were held as early as 1852 (see 
Los ANGELES). 

Nevada City: The Nevada Hebrew Society was 
organized in 1855. Objects: “To hold religious serv- 
ices, maintain a burying-ground for members and 
others, and assist the needy with pecuniary aid.” In 
1857 the society numbered twenty members. 

Jackson: Congregation organized for the au- 
tumn holidays of 1856. Ata meeting held April 18, 
1857, it was decided to build a synagogue, the first 
erected in the mining districts. This synagogue still 
exists, but, owing to the migration of the members 
of the congregation, is subverted to secular purposes. 

Fiddletown: Organization in 1857 of a Jewish 
society “for the furtherance of religious and human- 
itarian interests.” 

Jesu Maria: A mining camp in Amador county, 
where services were held by Jewish miners in 1853. 
In 1857 a society for “the maintenance of religious 
services and the care of the sick and poor” was or- 
ganized; but the records were not kept, and details 
are not obtainable. 

Marysville: Congregation B'nai B’rith (defunct) 
organized Nov. 8, 1857, a Hebrew benevolent soci- 
ety having existed since 1852. In Aug., 1860, the 
Jewish population numbered 23 families, exclusive 


California 
Califs 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


512 





of 105 bachelors. At the present date the town 
contains four Jewish families. 

Sacramento: Congregation organized 1857 out 
of previously existing societies, which had flourished 
since 1851, 

Grass Valley: A Jewish society organized Sept. 
8, 1856, and a congregation for the autumn holidays 
of 1857. 

Shasta: The Hebrew Indigent Sick and Burial 
Society organized March 1, 1857. 

Folsom: Organization of the Hebrew Benevolent 
Society in 1859. 

There existed Jewish burial-places which were 
owned by these extinct societies in Sonora, Oro- 
ville, Nevada City, Folsom, and Grass Valley; 
and these are piously cared for by the descendants 
of the settlers or families subsequently arrived. 
After 1870 most of the organizations mentioned be- 
came defunct, the population having either shifted 
to the new metropolitan centers or returned to the 
East. Out of a few of them small B’nai B’rith 
lodges were organized and incorporated with Dis- 
trict No. 4 of that order. Congregations remain at 
the following points, besides the smaller ones given 
below: San Francisco (6), Los Angeles (2), Sacra- 
mento (1), Stockton (2), Oakland (2), San José (1), 
San Diego (1); total, 15. 

The Jews were prominent in the organization of 
the new state of California. So far as the record 
has been completed mention can be 
made of Solomon HEYDENFELDT, chief 
justice of the supreme court of Cali- 
fornia (1852-57); Henry A. Lyons, one 
of the first three justices of the same court; Wash- 
ington Bartlett, alealde of San Francisco in 1849, 
and governor of California in 1887; Elkan Heyden- 
feldt, brother of Solomon, and Isaac Cardoza, both 
members of the California legislature of 1852; Sam- 
uel Marx, United States appraiser of the port of San 
Francisco; Joseph Shannon, county treasurer of 
San Francisco in 1851; A. C, Labatt, an alderman of 
San Francisco in the same year; besides a large num- 
ber of business men. Of the latter there may be 
mentioned the brothers Seligman, William, Henry, 
Jesse, and James, of San Francisco, afterward emi- 
nent in finance; Louis Sloss and Lewis Gerstle, of 
Sacramento, afterward founders of the Alaska 
Commercial Company; and of Los Angeles the 
Hellman and Newmark families, the former now 
leading financiers, and the Jatter still one of the 
representative Jewish pioneer families of southern 
California. 

During the mining period the commercial skill of 
the Hebrew traders developed relations with the 
East and with Europe (Soulé, “ Annals of San Fran- 
cisco”). ‘The financial transactions of the early gold 
period are represented in part by the names of He- 
brews like Benjamin Davidson, agent of the Rotlis- 
childs, Albert Priest of Rhode Island, Albert Dyer 
of Baltimore, and the three brothers Lazard, now 
composing the international banking house of Lazard 
Fréres (Paris, London, and San Francisco); besides 
the Seligmans (see above), the Glaziers, and the 
Wormeers, all now in New York, but industrial and 
financial pioneers of California. 

Out of the slenderest beginnings—for most of these 


State 
Activity. 


youths were not overburdened with means—came 
forth a number of the proudest business enterprises 
of the coast and of the United States. Moritz 
Friedlander, about 1870, was one of the grain 
kings of the country; Michael Reese, one of the 
extensive realty brokers; and Adolph SutRo, an 
engineer, whose famous exploitation of the Com- 
stock lodes by means of the Sutro tunnel has become 
an interesting chapter in the mining history of the 
United States. While many of the early commer- 
cial firms have passed away, others remain as monu- 
ments of pioneer industry and foresight, strong 
financial concerns worthily maintained by the sec- 
ond and third generations. ‘The London, Paris, and 
American Bank (Sigmund Greenebaum, Richard Alt- 
schul) is still the agency of its founders, Lazard 
Freres; the Anglo-Californian Bank (Philip N. 
Lilienthal, Ignatz Steinhart) is the successor of the 
Seligman interests; and the Nevada Bank, the 
Union Trust Company, and the Farmers and Mer- 
chants’ Bank of Los Angeles (Isaiah W. Hellman, 
Herman W. Hellman, I. W. Hellman, Jr.) are three 
institutions representing a number of financial inter- 
ests of national magnitude and importance. The 
great coal-fields of the Northwest and of Canada 

owe much to the exploitation of John 


Pioneer Rosenfeld; and the seal-fisheries of 
Workin Alaska, as well as the mineral and 
Alaska. other resources of that territory, were 


developed by Jewish successors of the 
Hudson Bay Company, the Alaska Commercial Com- 
pany, and its nore modern competitors, the North 
American Commercial Company (Herman Liebes, 
Tsaac Liebes) and Blum & Roth (Leon Blum and 
Daniel Roth), 

The Jews of California are similarly prominent in 
the professions, In medicine and surgery the lead- 
ing names are: Hirschfelder (internal medicine), one 
of the physicians to the late President McKinley ; 
Rosenstirn (surgery and gynecology); Regensburger 
(skin diseases) ; Newmark (nervous diseases); Abrams 
(lung diseases); Barkan and Arnold (eye and ear). 
Among the younger physicians of California of 
Jewish extraction Joseph Erlanger, now a professor 
of physiological chemistry at Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, Baltimore, may be prominently mentioned. 

In law the names of Charles L. Ackerman, Jacob 
B. Reinstein, Jesse W. Lilienthal, and Marcus Rosen- 
thal represent a class of attorneys remarkable for 
legal acumen and capacity. In the arts Ernest 
Peixotto, scion of an illustrious family, has become 
an eminent representative of his people, and in eco- 
nomics his sister, Dr. Jessica Blanche Peixotto, holds 
an established position. 

The universities and colleges have their quota of 
Jewish scholars. Among them are the following: 

In the University of California, College of Agri- 
culture, Jaffa; Department of Mathematics, Wilz- 
cynski; German faculty, Putzker, Senger; Semitic 
Department, Voorsanger, Margolis; medical faculty, 
D’Ancona, Levison; board of regents, Hellman, 
Reinstein. Inthe faculty of Cooper Medical College 
are Hirschfelder, Barkan, and Harris. In music, Ja- 
cob H. Roswald, Cantor Edward J. Stark, Henry Hey 
man, Landsberger, Sigmund Beel, and Louis Lisser 
(professor of music at Mills’s Seminary) represent 


513 





abilities recognized throughout the West. Louis 
Sloss until his recent demise was treasurer of the 
University of California, being succeeded by Lewis 
Gerstle; Julius Jacobs is the subtreasurer of the 
United States at San Francisco, and Herman Silver 
was director of the United States Mint at Denver, Col. 

The bench of California now has Max C. Sloss, 
one of the youngest, but acknowledged to be one 
of the most learned, of the judges of the superior 
court of San Francisco. Julius Kabn is now mem- 
ber of Congress from the Fourth California District 
(San Francisco). 

In journalism, M. H. De Young, proprietor of the 
San Francisco “Chronicle,” is well known; and in 
literature the native authoress, Emma WOLF, needs 
but to be mentioned. In San Francisco alone more 
than one hundred Jewish women are enrolled as 
public-school teachers (‘‘ Directory of the Depart- 
ment of Public Schools of the City and County of 
San Francisco,” June 1, 1902), and there are several 
in the high school faculties. The name of Leon 
Sloss may be added as one of the regents of Stanford 
University. 

This rapid review of the present commercial and 
professional status of the Jews of California is also 
fairly indicative of their social standing and of the 
excellent character of their communal institutions. 
In 1901 the Jewish population of California did not 
exceed 28,000, of which San Francisco alone num- 
bered 17,500. This comparatively small body of 
people is competently organized; every aspect of 
communal work, including the religions, having 
strong representation. The following table, though 
by no meanscomplete, furn:shesan indication of the 
organized strength of the Jews of California: 


JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS OF CALIFORNIA, 
INCLUDING CONGREGATIONS. 





| 
































i E : | 
a : 5 Zz ae a * 
frie ton Se rks 24 rs os Sf 
sa leea|o| iS; 81218 
© Cables ad (rae a: ; — pe; 
a a 
| 7% | Elc | = 
| | Sh 3G | 
| ; ; 
Alameda... ..ccsecce bl fs ‘% | ‘ 
(IMEO:: *. vcksaeaess ee a Il ses yl iY Pars 
Los ANRELES. 0650 bree a | ne Se oi ee je 
Od RAR 3s oic sha cawee eae i | et a Mie 2 
POUAIUIGS: 660s beac eacs Fo sek we | A Jv ie) © een I bate it ake 
Sacramento.........- ] ] Bae elo |, one» | Me 1 
San Bernardino...... oe Ae mee 1 | se Ht fool k enaihicl 
San Diego..........-. ] | ae ae ; a feo 1 
San Francisco........ 12 OP OE SNe | 4; 18 
SHH) OSC Gs oe kedawas LP bot this i és | PY 1 
UOC LOM iweo bt. radiates re | ; ae ee Ren ae 1 
ee | — = j aS Par 6 ——— <r 
| | 
OR akc cats rdkevs arate 27 | 15 | Ize. VAS | 5 er 








The outbreak of the Spanish-American war (April 
22, 1898) revealed the patriotic spirit of the Jews of 
California toa marked degree. The first volunteer 
regiment ordered to the Philippines was the First 
California (James F. Siith, colonel). 
Californian This regiment, of nearly 1,200 officers 
Jews in and men, contained at the time of its 
War. departure fully eight per cent of Jewish 
volunteers, or nearly one hundred men, 
mostly natives of San Francisco. At the battle of 
Cavite, fought shortly after the arrival of the regi- 
ment, the first to fall was Sergeant Morris Justh 
Tit. —83 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


California 
Califs 





(First California). The incomplete state of prepara- 
tion of the First California, and the general desire to 
equip the regiment in a manner befitting the dignity 
of the state, resulted in the organization of the Cali- 
fornia Red Cross Society, of which Jacob Voorsanger 
was one of the founders and the first. vice-president, 
and Sarah Sloss and Betty Lowenberg members of the 
board. Subsequently, for the comfort and acconi- 
modation of the army in the Philippines, the Manila 

Library Association was organized, of which Jacob 

Voorsanger was the first president and Betty Low- 

enberg the distributing manager. The latter still 

retains her position. The First California returned 
from the ‘var with distinction, bringing back one of 
its Jewish members (Percy L. Badt) as a commis- 
sioned officer. In the California Artillery and the 

Sixth California, Jewish commissioned officers like- 

wise rendered valuable service in the mobilization of 

their respective conimands, among them Emanuel 

M. Heller, Eugene Baer, and Morris Greenwald. In 

the state militia of California, Brig.-Gen. Hyman P. 

Bush is a field-officer with more than twenty years 

of continuous service, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Soulé, Annals of San Francisco; Hittell, 
History of California, vol. ii; H. H. Bancroft, California 
Inter Pocula; Markens, I'he Hebrews in America; Voor- 
sanger, Chronicles of Emanu-El; idem, A Few Chapters 
from the History of the Jews of the Pacific Coast, in Ameri- 
can Jews Anmuial, 5649; Pacific Hebrew Annual, vols. i. 
and ii., 1898-99; Morais, Enrvinent Israelites of the Nine- 
teenth Century; American Jewish Year Book, 1900-1901; 


The Gleaner, San Francisco (Julius Eckmoan), 1856-1862; 
kmane Et, edited by Jacob Voorsanger. 


A, J. V. 


CALIFS: 1. Theattitude of the first Mohamme- 
dan rulers toward their Jewish subjects was as 
much regulated by circumstances as had been that 
of Mohammed himself. The latter, having subdued 
the Jewish tribes of Arabia and located them in the 
northern borders of the peninsula, permitted them 
to remain on condition that they gave half their 
harvest to the Moslem authorities. This was a pol- 
icy of utility pure and simple, as the Jewish farm- 
ers were needed to help feed the Moslem armies. 
The same policy was upheld during the reign of 
Abu Bekr, and his successor Omar was guided by 
two principles, viz., to preserve the mobility of his 
army by not allowing them to turn agriculturists, 
and to banish all non-conformists from Arabia 
proper. This course of action resulted in the tol- 
erance of non-Moslem settlers in the adjoining prov- 
inces, while imposts and land-taxes laid upon them 
secured the revenues of these conquered territories 
for the benefit of the commonwealth. 

Omar wrought another and more important change 
in the fortunes of his Jewish subjects. He trans- 
planted them to Kufa, a town he had founded in the 
year 15 of the Hegira, in ‘Irak, the ancient Baby- 
lon. Apart from the imposts laid upon them, they 
were obliged to wear a special garb to distinguish 
them from the Faithful, and were further bound 
to grant three days’ hospitality to every traveling 
Moslem, to permit the latter to enter their places of 
worship, and to abstain from riding on horseback 
and from using expressions derogatory to Islam. 
A Moslem legend relates (Tabari, p. 2403) that at 
the conquest of Jerusalem Omar was greeted by a 
Jew asthe friend of Elijah. This legend conveys the 


Califs 
Calixtus II. 


idea that the Jews of Palestine considered the Mos- 
lem victory a relief from the persecutions to which 
they had been exposed under the Byzantine régime. 
The Jews of Homs also looked forward to the con- 
quest of their city by the Moslems (Beladhori, ed. De 
Goeje, p. 187). During the siege of Cresarea a Jew 
named Josef is said to have led the Arab warriors 
through a subterranean passage into the town which 
contained 100,000 of his coreligionists. According 
to another legend, the convert Ka‘ab al-Ahbar pre- 
dicted Omar’s death three days before the latter was 
assassinated (Ibn al-Athir, ili. 88; concerning Ab- 
dallah ibn Saba see i. 48). 

2.Ommiads: The government of the califs of 
the house of Omay ya was guided by principles unlike 
those of their predecessors. Religious interests gave 
way to dynastic considerations. Civil war and party 
strife increased. The unity of the Moslem religion 
was broken by deep schisms. The Jews profited by 
these conditions in that the heads of the various 

political and religious factions had no 

Ommiads leisurein which to disturb them. They 

and not only became reconciled to the new 
Fatimites. order of things, but took part in the 
spiritual life of the Moslems and in the 
rise of literary activity among them. The phy- 
sician Maserjaweih of Bassora translated (683) a 
medical work from Syriac into Arabic (Stein- 
schneider, “Z. D. M. G.” lii. 428 et seqg.). In Irak 
the Jew Somair struck coins for the calif ‘Abd al- 
Malik, but was put into prison and threatened with 
death by the tyrannical governor Hajjaj. 

3. Abbassids: See JEwisH ENCYCLOPEDIA, i. 
39. 

4. Fatimite Califs in Egypt: With the con- 
quest of Egypt many Jewish communities came 
under the Mohammedan rute. Amr b. al-Asi, the 
conqueror of the country, is said to have reported 
to Omar that he found in Alexandria alone 40,000 
Jewish taxpayers (Calcashandi, tr. by Wiisten- 
feld, p. 44). Otherwise the Jews of Egypt, and of 
Africa in general, were not much in evidence for 
about two centuries. They seem to have enjoyed 
comparative peace under the various dynasties 
‘which strove to detach the North-African provinces 
from the commander of the Faithful. Ziadat Allah, 
the last Aghlabide prince, appointed the well-known 
Isaac Israeli (the Elder) his physician-in-ordinary. 
When the Aghlabide rule was overthrown, Isaac 
passed over into the service of the conqueror, Obaid 
Allah, founder of the Fatimite dynasty. This was 
about the time that Saadia was born in Fayum. 
Obaid Allah himself was said to have been the son 
of a Jewish widow in Salamiyya. His name was 
Said, and when his mother married the Shiitic 
chief Al-Husain, his stepfather converted him to 
Islam. He was then declared to be the long- 
expected Imam, and, on coming to power, he as- 
sumed the name “Obaid Allah.” This story is, 
however, supposed to have been concocted in order 
to discredit the descent of Obaid Allah from Fatima, 
the daughter of Mohammed. 

Obaid Allah and his successors extended the Fati- 
mite power at the expense of the califs of Bagdad. 
A}l-‘Aziz, who had made himself master of Syria, ap- 
pointed the Jew Manasse and the Christian Isa his 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


514 


lieutenants (996). Through the treachery of several 
Moslem citizens they were, however, subsequently 
deposed and thrown into prison. This change of 
policy toward the Jews assumed a much graver 
character under the next calif, the famous Al-Hakim. 
This monarch, suddenly seized by a fanatic zeal for 
his cause, developed what is called the “religion of 
the Druses” (see De Sacy, “ La Religion des Druses,” 
p. 308). One of the consequences of his doctrine 
was excessive severity in the treatment of non- 
Moslems. In 1004 he ordered Jews and Christians 
to wear black turbans, and black marks on their yel- 
low costumes, and when bathing they were obliged 
to wear around the neck a bell, or a block of wood 
weighing five pounds and resembling a calf’s head. 
Jewish bathers were distinguished by 
Per- wooden blocks. Jews were forbidden 
secution by to ride on horseback, or to hire mules 
Al-Hakim. and asses from Moslemowners. They 
could use only wooden saddles, and 
were compelled to wear the bags on the right side. 
Moslems were forbidden to serve them or to allow 
them the use of their ships. Spies were employed 
to discover all transgressors of these restrictions. 
Many Jews adopted Islam, or pretended to do so, 
and many emigrated to foreign countries. Shortly 
before his death Al-Hakim relented, and permitted 
the Jews to return to their old faith. 

About this time the brothers Abu Sa‘d Ibrahim 
and Abu Nasr Harun, sons of Abu Sahl of Tustar, 
were prominent merchants in Cairo. The calif Al- 
Zahir (1021-36) bought from Abu Sa‘d a female slave, 
who became the mother of the next calif, Al-Mus- 
tansir. In consequence of this, Abu Sa‘d’s influence 
became very great. At his recommendation Al-Mus- 
tansir appointed Abu ul-Fath Sadakah, a converted 
Jew, as vizier. Some time afterward the latter caused 
Abu Sa‘d to be assassinated. Under the rule of Al- 
Amir (1101-30) a Jew named Abu al-Manja was ap- 
pointed governor of the district of Damietta. At the 
request of the citizens he built a canal, which was 
long known under the name of “the canal of Abu 
al-Manja” (Makrizi, i. 487; Calcashandi, p. 27). The 
next calif, Al-Hatiz, appointed the Jew Abu Mansur 
his physician-in-ordinary; the Jatter, when com- 
manded to poison the calif’s son, refused to do so. 
In 1171 the Fatimite califate was declared extinet by 
Saladin. At about the same time Benjamin of 
Tudela visited Cairo and gave much interesting in- 
formation about the religious and communal life of 
the Jews of the place, information which is corrobo- 
rated and supplemented by later authors (see Eng- 
lish translation by Asher). 

G. H. Hir. 

CALIGULA (CAIUS CESAR AUGUSTUS 
GERMANICUS): Third emperor of Rome; born 
Aug. 31, 12 c.E.; assassinated at Rome Jan. 24, 41. 
He soon displayed the characteristics which made his 
reign a blot on Roman history. He formeda strong 
friendship for the Jewish king Agrippa, who, as the 
Romans thought, influenced Caligula for the worse. 

Later on, Caligula professed belief in his own di- 
vinity, and ordered altars to be erected to himself 
and worship to be paid to him. In Alexandria the 
Roman governor, A. Avillius Flaccus, tried to force 
this worship on the Jews, and made their disobedi- 


615 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Califs 
Calixtus II, 


a a a a Craze a 


ence a pretext for persecuting them. He even sup- 
pressed an address of homage which they purposed 
sending to Caligula. The governor was suddenly 
removed in the autumn of 388, and the condition of 
the Jews under his successor, C. Vitrasius Pollio, 
until the death of Caligula, is unknown. 

The discord between the Jewsand the heathens of 
Alexandria continued, In the year 40 both sent 
delegations to Caligula, in order to present the mat- 

ter to him and to win his good-will. 

Jewish Philo headed the Jewish embassy, and 

Delegates Apion that of the heathen. <A report 
to Caligula. of the mission by Philo has been pre- 
served, though not in the original; 
and an alleged report of the heathen delegation is 
found in the collection of papyri at Berlin, which 
Wilcken intends to edit (“ Hermes,” xxvii. 474). 
The mission ended unfavorably forthe Jews. Heli- 
con, a base favorite of Caligula, assisted the Alexan- 
drians to thwart the Jews. Caligula ultimately 
consented to receive the embassy, but treated them 
with the utmost contumely and insult. They were 
obliged to follow at his heels while he interspersed 
orders to his gardeners with ribald remarks on the 
Jewish religion. Naturally no redress ensued from 
such an interview. 

Meanwhile, Caligula’s madness almost caused ca- 
lamity to the Jews of Palestine also. The heathens 
of Jamnia, a seaport largely peopled with Jews, pro- 
voked the latter and exhibited their own loyalty by 
erecting an altar in honor of Caligula. Forthwith 
the Jews demolished it. THerennius Capito, the proc- 
nrator, reported this to Cahgula, who, infuriated, 
sent an order that his image be placed in the Temple 
at Jerusalem, Petronius, the governor of Syria, was 
ordered to mobilize half of his army in Palestine in 
order to enforce this command (39-40). 
Petronius, anticipating a serious con- 
flict, endeavored either to gain the as- 
sent of the Jews to the imperial com- 
mand or to secure the revocation of the latter. 
When the news of Caligula’s intention spread 
through Palestine, it occasioned general mourning. 
A large delegation appeared before Petronius at 
Ptolemais, his headquarters, and their mournful 
petition produced a deep impression on him, Later, 
a similar deputation came before Petronius at Tibe- 
rias and was joined by Aristobulus, Agrippa’s elo- 
quent brother. Inthe mean time, however, Agrippa 
had arrived at Rome, and at a banquet given by 
him to the emperor, he succeeded in inveigling the 
latter into a virtual revocation of his order. A fter- 
ward the letter of Petronius, asking the emperor for 
an annulment of his order, arrived; Caligula was 
incensed at the audacity of the governor, and re- 
gretting his former action, laid plans forintroducing 
his statue into the Temple surreptitiously, and sent 
an order of immediate suicide to Petronius. This 
message did not reach its destination until after the 
receipt of the news of Caligula’s assassination at the 
hand of Cassius Chereas. It is possiblethat the day 
of his death (22 Shebat) was instituted as a memo- 
rial day at Jerusalem. 


Trouble in 
Palestine. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Philo, De Legatione ad Cajum: idem, In 
Flaccum: Suetonius, Caligula: Dio Cassius, lix. et seq.; Jo- 
sephus, Ant. xviii. 6, xix. 1; Delaunay, Philon d’Alezan- 


drie, 2d ed., Paris, 1870; Mommsen, Rimische Gesch. v. 515- 
519; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 4th ed., tii. 319 et seq., 513 et 
seq.; Schurer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 495 et seq.; Vogelstein and 
Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 16-18. 

G. H. G. E. 


CALIMANI, BARUCH: Italian publisher; 
lived in the second half of the sixteenth and at the 
beginning of the seventeenth century at Venice. 
He issued the work of his teacher, Eliezer Ash- 
kenazi, “ Ma‘ase Adonai” (Venice, 1583), and Moses 
Alshech’s “ Torat Mosheh” (¢. 1601), adding rhetor- 
ical prefaces to both works. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi-Ghirondi, Zeker Zaddikim, p. 54; Eliezer 
Ashkenazi, Ma‘ase Adonai, ed. Cracow. 
[. Ber. 


L.G., 
CALIMANI, SIMHAH (SIMON) BEN 
ABRAHAM: Venetian rabbi and author; died at 
Venice Aug. 2, 1784. He was a versatile writer, 
and equally prominent as linguist, poet, orator, and 
Talmudist. During his rabbinate Calimani was en- 
gaged as corrector at the Hebrew printing-oflice in 
Venice. Among the great number of books revised 
by him was the responsum of David ben Zimra 
(RaDBaZ), to which he added an index, and the 
“Yad Haruzim ” (on Hebrew versification) of Gerson 
Hefez, enriched with interesting notes of his own. 

Calimani was the author of the following works: 
(1) “Jl Rabbino Morale-Toscano,” an Italian trans- 
lation of the Mishnah treatise Abot (in collabora- 
tion with Jacob Saraval, Venice, 1729, often re- 
printed); (2) “Kelale Dikduke Leshon ‘Eber,” 2 
Hebrew grammar inserted at the end of the Bible, 
edited at Venice, 1739; (8) “Grammatica Ebrea,” an 
Italian translation of the preceding work, Venice, 
1751; Pisa, 1815; (4) “Kol Simhah ” (Voice of Joy), 
an allegorical drama, with Jealousy, Foily, and 
Wisdom as the heroes, Venice, 1758; (5) a Hebrew 
Jtalian dictionary, left unfinished. 

Calimani was liberal in his religious views, and 
took purt in the campaign directed by Wessely 
against the delivery of casuistic lectures (pilpul) in 
the synagogues (see Zunz, “G. V.” p. 459, note c). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledut Gedole Yisrael, p. 3453 

Dei Rossi, Dizionaria Storico, p. 76; Steinschneider, Cat. 

Bodl. col, 2595; idem, Bibl. Handbuch, No. 348; idem, in 


Monatsschrift, xliii. 565, 567; Mortara, Indice, p. 9. 
G. I. Br. 


CALITAS: A Levite who had married a foreign 
wife, but, at the solicitation of Ezra, repudiated her 
(I Esd. ix. 23). Ezra x. 23 gives “ Kelaiah,” a glos- 
sator, however, giving the collateral form “ Kelita.” 
He is perhaps identical with the “Calitas” who 
helped Ezra to explain the Law (I Esd. ix, 48; in 
Neh. viii. 7 given as “ Kelita”). | 

E.G. H. G. B. L. 


CALIXTUS II. (GUIDO OF BURGUNDY): 
One hundred and sixty-seventh pope (1119-24); 
born at Quigney, near Besancon, France; died at 
Rome Dec. 12, 1124. His attitude toward the Jews 
was a very favorable one. On entering Rome, after 


having defeated the antipope Gregory VIII., Calix- 


tus issued a bull which prohibited the forced con 

versions of Jews. Calixtus said, “ From constrained 
adoption of Christianity, a faithful adherence to that 
religion can not be expected.” He also forbade, un- 
der pain of excommunication, the infliction of bodily 


Callenberg 
alumny 





or pecuniary injuries on Jews who had not been 
legally condemned by a tribunal; they were not to 
be hindered in the exercise of their religion, nor were 
their cemeteries to be defiled. This bull served as a 
mode] to the subsequent popes who were favorably 
inclined toward the Jews. It was mentioned in the 
bull “Sicut Judeis ” of Innocent LV., and in that of 
Eugen IV. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Stern, Urkundliche Beitrdige zur Stellung 
der Piipste zu den Juden, it. 43; Watterich, Pontificum 
Romanorum, ete., ii. 188; Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der 
Juden in Rom, i. 219. 

G I. Br. 


CALLENBERG, JOHANN HEINRICH: 
Professor of theology and philology, and promoter 
of conversionist enterprise among the Jews; born 
of peasant parents at Molschleben Jan. 12, 1694; 
died July 11, 1760. In 1735 he was appointed pro- 
fessor of philology in the University of Halle, and 
in 17389 professor of theology. From his youth he 
cherished the idea of working for the conversion of 
the Mohammedans; but later he devoted himself to 
missionary work among the Jews, and established, in 
1728, the Institutum Judaicum, to which he attached 
a printing-office. In this office he printed the Gospel 
and other Christian books in the Judso-German dia- 
lect, and distributed them among the Jews. Healso 
sent missionaries to other European countries, and 
was a patron of converted Jews. His plans for the 
conversion of Mohammedans were resumed some 
what later, but in these he utterly failed. The In- 
stitutum Judaicum existed until 1791. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie; Herzog- 
Plitt, Real-Eneyklopddie ftir Protestantische Theologie 
und Kirche, see Missionen Unter den Juden; Furst, Bib- 
liotheca Judaica. 


v: A. R. 

‘CALLING UP.” See ‘ALIYAH. 

CALLIRRHOE: Hot springs on the western side 
of the Dead Sea, near the Zerka Maim (Buhl, “ Geo- 
graphie des Alten Palistina,” p. 128; Smith, “ Histor- 
ical Geography of Palestine,” p. 571). Josephus de- 
scribes the springs (“ Ant.” xvii. 6, § 2) as running 
into the lake of Asphaltites and as being fit to drink. 
They were, however, strongly suifurous, and for 
this reason were used for medicinal purposes to 
cure skin diseases. It was to Callirrhoe that Herod 
went for relief from his ailment, without, however, 
securing it. Modern travelers have noticed at Callir- 
rhoe four large and many small springs. Sulfurous 
vapors are given off by the waters, the temperature 
of which is the same as that of the waters of Tibe- 
rias, 49° C. The ground around the sources is 
covered with reeds, thorns, and wild palm-trees 
(Robinson, “Physical Geography,” pp. 163-164). 
Neubauer supposes that by the appellation p73 
(“Biram ”), mentioned in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 
108a) among the thermal places, is meant Callirrhoe, 
which is situated in the vicinity of Baris; and that 
on'3 is a corrupt reading of p73. In fact, Jose- 
phus speaks of a locality called Baaras situated in a 
valley in the vicinity of Machaerus, where flames 
rising from the earth can be noticed in the night. 
This locality is called by Eusebius and Jerome Baris 


or Baru. “Callirrhoe” is the post-Biblical name of 
Lasha. 
BIBHOCRARHY: Neubauer, La Géographie du Talmud, pp. 
dy . 
J. IB G. B. L. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


516 





CALLISTHENES: A Syrian who was believed 
to have been concerned in the burning of the gates 
of the Temple during the persecution to which the 
Jews were subjected in the reign of Antiochus 
Epiphanes (I Mace. iv. 88). When the Jews were 
celebrating their subsequent victory over Nicanor 
(185 B.c.), they captured Callisthenes, who had taken 
refuge in a little house, and burned him to death. 
“And so he received a reward meet for his wicked- 
ness’ (II Macc. viii. 38). E. G. H. 


CALM, MARIE (pseudonym, M. Ruhlanad): 
German authoress and advocate of women’s suf- 
frage; bornat Arolsen, Germany, April 3, 1832; died 
at Cassel, Germany, Feb. 22,1887. She managed a 
seminary for indigent girls at Cassel, and was one 
of the original members of the Allgemeine Deutsche 
Frauenverein. Aside from her books on household 
economics and etiquette, she was the author of: 
“ Bilder und Klange,’’ poems, Cassel, 1871; “ Weib- 
liches Wirken in Kiiche, Wohnzimmer, und Salon,” 
Berlin, 1874; third edition, 1882; “ Leo,’’ novel, 1876; 
“Ein Blick ins Leben,’’ Stuttgart, 1877; “ Wilde 
Blumen,’’ novel, Bremen, 1880; “Echter Adel,”’ 
Stuttgart, 1888; and “ Bella’s Blaubuch,”’ Leipsic, 
1883. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lexikon Deutscher Frauen der Feder, i. 


J20, ii. 214; Brockhaus, Konversations-Lexikon, Supple- 
ment, p. 215, 


8. EK. Ms. 
CALMANSON, JACOB (JACQUES). See 
PoLanD. 


CALMER, LIEFMANN : Baron of Picquigny, 
an important personage in French Jewry of the 
eighteenth century; born in Aurich, Hanover, in 
1711; died in Paris Dec. 17, 1784. His full syna- 
gogal name was Moses Eliezer Lipmann ben Kalony- 
mus—in German, “Kallmann,” whence the family 
name “Calmer” is said to have been derived. From 
“Lipmann” undoubtedly came “Liefmann.” Cal- 
mer first settled in The Hague, and later left Holland 
for France, in which country he obtained letters of 
naturalization. 

On April 27, 1774, Pierre Briet, lord of Benapré, 
as straw-man for Calmer, bought from the creditors 
of the duke of Chaulnes the barony of Picquigny 
and viscountcy of Amiens for 1,500,000 francs. A 
little later it was declared that the’ purchase was 
made in the name of Liefmann Calmer, full citizen 
of The Hague and naturalized Frenchman. He thus 
became baron of Picquigny and viscount of Amiens, 
Calmer had three sons, two of whom were guillo- 
tined during the Reign of Terror; the third dying 
without issue in 1824. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Isidore Loeb, Ur Baron Jui. 

XVIITe Siécle, in Annuaire des Archives Israélites, 1885- 


1886, p. 186; Léon Kahn, Histoire de la Communauté Is- 
raélite de Paris, 1886, Appendix, p. 189. 


ae H. Gert. 


CALMET, AUGUSTIN: French Catholic theo- 
logian, historian, and Biblical scholar; born 1672 at 
Mesnil-la-Horgne in Lorraine; died 1757 in Paris. 
In 1688 he entered the Order of St. Benedict, and 
began his studies. Coming across the smaller He- 
brew grammar by Buxtorf and some other Hebrew 
books in the abbey of Miinster, he undertook the 
study of the language, assisted by the Protestant 


Francais au 


517 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Callenberg 


Tn SE EE 


pastor Faber. From 1696 to 1704 he was instructor 
jn the abbey of Moyen-Moutier, and there wrote his 
commentary on the Bible. After various ecclesias- 
tical appointments, he became abbot of Senones (in 
Lorraine), in which position he remained until his 
death. 

Of Calmet’s numerous works (a full list of which 
is given by Fangé, and in the “ Nouvelle Biographie 
Générale”) only four need be mentioned here: (1) 
His first exegetical work, on which rests his reputa- 
tion as a Biblical scholar, is the commentary “ La Ste. 
Bible en Latin et en Francais avec un Commentaire 
Littéral et Critique ” (1707; 4th ed., 1729). Hz was 
the first prominent Catholic theologian who aban- 
doned the allegorical and mystical method of interpre- 
tation, and undertook to give the literal sense of the 
Bible words. The value of this book lies, however, 
not so much in its exegesis as in the dissertations 
attached to it, which treat such topics as Hebrew 
poetry, music, weights and measures, medicine, 
marriage customs, burial customs, military organi- 
zation, circumcision, the Sanhedrin, and Hebrew 
schools and sects, and are, for his time, remarkably 
full and judicious, though now superseded. They 
were published separately under the title “ Disser- 
tations qui Peuvent Servir de Prolégomeénes 4 |’ Ecri- 
ture Sainte” (1720). An extract of his Bible edi- 
tions is known under the title “Bible de l’Abbé 
Vence.” The “Trésor d’Antiquités Sacrées et Pro- 
fanes” (Paris, 1722, three volumes) is substantially 
the same work. An English translation of a selec- 
tion from the dissertations appeared in 1727, and they 
were aiso translated into other European languages. 

(2) Closely connected with the commentary is his 
“Dictionnaire Historique et Critique Chronologique, 
Géographique et Littéral de la Bible” (1722; Sup- 
plement, 1728), which is chiefly a collection of the 
explanatory remarks in the commentary. Many 
editions and many translations of it have appeared, 
among them a good translation into English by 
D’Oyly (1732), and one by Taylor (1795, 1800) with 
a worthless appendix (American reprint of Taylor, 
1812). The best-known American edition is that of 
Edward Robinson (1882), in which Calmet’s mate- 
rial is condensed and revised. This dictionary was 
the first work of the kind, and was the point of de- 
parture for all others. (8) “Histoire Sainte de 
l’Ancien et Nouveau Testament et des Juifs,” ete. 
(1718; English translation, 1740), extending to the 
destruction of Jerusalem. (4) “Histoire Sacrée et 
Profane Depuis le Commencement du Monde Jusqu’a 
Nos Jours” (1735), coming down to 1720. In these 
works, which are mere compilations, Jewish history 
is treated sympathetically; but Calmet’s ignorance 
of Talmudic and rabbinical literature makes his 
account of the times after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem meager and misleading, and he has no sympa- 
thy whatever with the post-Biblical thought of the 
Jews. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Calmet’s Autobiographie, in his Bibliotheque 

Lorraine, 1728; Fangé, Vie de Dom Calmet, 1763; Ersch 


and Gruber, Encyc.; Nouvelle Biog. Générale; Migne, Dic- 
tionnaires Chrétiens ; Herzog-Hauck, Real-E'ncye. 


CALNEH: 1. City, mentioned together with 
Babylon, Erech, and Accad as forming part of the 


alumny 
Babylonian kingdom of Nimrod (Gen. x. 10). The 
exact site of Calneh isunknown. It has been identi- 


fied with Nippur (modern Niffer) by Rawlinson on 
the ground of the Talmudic statement, “ Calneh means 
Nippar” (Yoma 10a); but the basis is insufficient. 
Nor is the concurrent testimony of Targum, Eu- 
sebius, and Jerome sufficient for the equation Cal- 
neh = Ctesiphon. In recent times it has been pro- 
posed to identify Calneh with Kulunu (Zarilab, 
Zirlaba); but this, too, is doubtful. 2. A city men- 
tioned in Amos vi. 2, which may with some prob- 
ability be identified with Kullani, conquered by 
Tiglath-pileser III., and represented by the modern 
Kullanhu, about six miles from Arpad. 

J. JR. R. W. R. 

CALNI, SAMUEL BEN MOSES: Turkish 
rabbi of the fifteenth century; born at Arta in the 
Morea. Calfii is the author of responsa entitled 
“Mishpete Shemuel,” and printed by his nephew at 
Venice, 1599-1600. He was the son-in-law of Ben- 
jamin b. Mattathias, author of “ Benjamin Ze’eb,” 
as the latter says in a responsum. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kore ha-Dorot, 34b, 39a; Michael, Or ha 
Hayyim, p. 288. 
VY. C. 


L. G, 

CALINO: A city mentioned with Hamath and 
Samaria, and compared to Carchemish (Isa. x. 9). 
Its identity is doubtful. It is named “Calneh” in 
Amos vi, 2; but must not be confused with the 
Calneh of Gen. x. 10. The latter was a Babylonian 
city, held by some to be the modern Niffer, by others 
to be Ctesiphon. The Septuagint seems to have 
disregarded this distinction; for, according to it, 
the tower was built in our Calno. The towns men- 
tioned in Isaiah being Syrian, and not Babylonian, 
precludes the identification of Calno (Calneh) with 
Kullani, captured by Tiglath-pileser III. in 788. 
Neither can it be regarded as the Kullani mentioned 
among the cities and territories north of Assyria, 
given in the geographical list in “ Western Asiatic 
Inscriptions,” ii. 58, No. 1, line 6b. More accepta- 
ble is the equation Calno = Kulnia, which occurs in 
Assyrian tribute-lists (2b. it. 58, No. 3). Delitzsch 
suggests that the Biblical city stands for Kullanhu, 
situated about six miles from Arpad. Pinches ac- 
cepts this identification as “the best,” and this opin- 
ion is indorsed by Cheyne, Winckler, Field, Hom- 
mel, and others. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hastings, Dict. Bible, s.v.; Cheyne and Black, 


Fineye. Bibl.; Delitzsch, Genesis; Schrader, K..A. T.; Buhl, 
Geographie des Alten Paldstinas. 
E. G. H. 


CALUMNY: Evil-speaking; asin regarded with 
intense aversion both in the Bible and in rabbinical 
literature. The technical term for it in the latter is 
yan nd (leshon hara‘, “the evil tongue”). In 
the Bible the equivalent words are: 35, meaning 
“talk” in a sinister sense: bi, the “merchandise ” 
of gossip with which the talebearer goes about; and 
o5, a verb, denoting the “peddling” of slander. 
As these words indicate, that which is condemned 
as “leshon hara‘” denotes all the deliberate, mali- 
cious, untruthful accusations which have the pur- 
pose of injuring one’s neighbor, that is, calumny 


Calumn 
Cambridge 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


518 





proper, and also the idle but mischievous chatter 
which is equally forbidden, though it is not slander. 
In the Pentateuch evil-speaking of both kinds is 
expressly forbidden (Lev. xix. 16): “Thou shalt not 
go about as a talebearer among thy people,” and 
(Ex. xxiii. 1), “Thou shalt not raise a false report; 
put not thine hand with the wicked to be an un- 
righteous witness.” Upon this the Rabbis comment 
(Mek. Ex. 20), “It is a warning not to receive or 
listen to evil reports.” Of course, the most compre- 
hensive commandment in connection with this is the 
ninth of the Decalogue: “Thou shalt not bear faise 
witness against thy neighbor.” In descriptions of 
corrupt society, calumny is always emphasized as a 
prominent feature. Jer. ix. 2, 3 speaks of those 
“that bend their tongues like bows for lies, every 
neighbor walketh with slanders”; and Ezek. xxii. 
9, “In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood.” 
The Psalnis and books of the Wisdom 


Biblical literature abound in descriptions of 
Pro- the terrible workings of thissin. Ps. 


hibition. 1]. 20: “Thou sittest and speakest 
against thy brother, thou slanderest 
thine own mother’s son.” Prov. x. 18: “He that 
hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a 
slander, is a fool”; and Ps. ci. 5: “ Him that slander- 
eth his neighbor in secret I will cut off.” Prov. 
xxx.10: “Calumniate not a servant unto his master 
lest he curse thee and thou be found guilty.” Eccl. 
x. 11: “Surely the serpent will bite without cn- 
chantment, and the man of the [evil] tongue is no 
better.” And Ecclus. xxviii. 12-26 contains an elo- 
quent denunciation of the evil tongue, the gist of 
which (v. 18) is: “Many have fallen by the edge of 
the sword, but not so many as have fallen by the 
tongue.” Specially characteristic is the repeated 
complaint of the pious because of slanderous perse- 
cutors, Ps, xxxi. 13: “For I have heard the slan- 
der of many, fear was on every side; while they 
took counsel together against me, they devised to 
take away my life” (compare Ps. xxxv. 11; Jer. 
xx. 10). 
The man that abstains from evil speech is given 
the highest praise. Among the qualities which befit 
a man who dwells in Jehovah’s tent 


The is “that he uttereth no calumny with 
Opposite his tongue” (Ps. xv. 8). It is recom- 
Virtue. mended as an indispensable condition 


for life rich in years and happiness. 
“Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speak- 
ing guile” (Ps. xxxiv. 12, 18). 

The Talmud and Midrash teem with references to 
the evils of calumny. In Gen. R. xxvi. 2 slander is 
compared to the venom of the serpent. “As this 
aifects every part of the body, so does the slanderer 
wound the soul of mankind. As the serpent’s 
venom injures from a distance, so calumny may be 
hissed forth by one living in Rome to slay one living 
in Syria. The slanderous tongue is called ‘telitai’ 
[threefold], as being a threefold murderer. It ruins 
the slanderer, the listener, and the maligned.” 

Its disastrous effects on a whole gencration are 
suggested in the following (Gen. R. xxvi. 2): “The 
contemporaries of David despite their virtues go to 
battle and are defeated, because among them are 
Doeg and Ahitophel, ‘who were eager for calumnies.’ 


The men of Ahab’s time, though idolatrous, go to 
battle and are victorious because there is no slan- 
derer among them.” And again 
(Shab, 56b), “If David had not lis- 
tened to the evil tongue (in reference to 
Mephibosheth, II Sam. xvi. 3, 4), the kingdom would 
not have been divided; Israel would not have served 
idols, and we should not have been driven from our 
land.” The decree of condemuation of the genera- 
tions of the desert that had tried God ten times 
(Num. xiv. 22) was finally sealed, and they were 
not to enter the Promised Land because the spies 
had brought slanderous reports (Num. xiv. 37) con- 
cerning the country (‘Ar. 15a). 

The heinousness of this sin is strikingly taught in 
sententious sayings. Midr. Yalk., Ps. ci. 5: “Of 
the slanderer, the Holy One says, he and I can not 
dwell together in the world.” ‘Ar. 15 b: “The 
slanderer denies God.” Sotah 42a: “Four classes 
will be excluded from the Divine Presence: scoffers, 
liars, hy pocrites, and slanderers.” And strongest of 
all ‘Ar. 15band Gen. R. Ixx. 4), slander is equal 
in a moral sense to idolatry, adultery, and mur- 
der; and rather than commit any of them, an Is- 
raelite in time of persecution must forfeit his life. 

So sensitive were the Rabbis to the possibilities of 
this sin in all men that they spoke of the “abak 
leshon hara‘” (the fine dust of calumny); that is, of 

words which, while innocent, may lead 
The ‘* Fine to calumny, and against which one 

Dust of must be on his guard (B. B. 165a; 

Calumny.” ‘Ar. 16a). They therefore warned 

against extravagant praise of our fel- 
low-man lest “by too much praise you provoke 
abuse.” As a safeguard against the gossip habit 
they said (‘Ar. 15b): “Ifa scholar, let him occupy 
himself with the study of the Torah; if a man of the 
people, let him cultivate self-depreciation.” 

Calumny appeared to the Rabbis to deserve spe- 
cial and severe punishment. They saw in leprosy 
its merited retribution (Ar. 15b, and Ab. R. N. 
ix. 2). Thisconception was based on the account of 
the punishment of Miriam for speaking evil of Moses 
(Num. xii. 1, 19). Ingenious is their comment 
(‘Ar. 16b) that, as the slunderer does the work of 
moral leprosy, separating husbands from wives, he 
is naturally punished by a disease that casts him 
out from society. They also (Shab. 36a and 36b) at- 
tribute quinsy to the sin of evil speech. According 
to one rabbi (Yalk., Ps. ci. 5), the slan- 
derer deserves stoning; another (Pes. 
118a) vents his anger thus: “He who 
speaks evil of his neighbor, and he 
who listens, and he who bears false witness against 
his neighbor, deserve to be cast to the dogs.” 

It is characteristic of Judaism that it knows of 
no hero without a blemish; and as sins of speech are 
all-prevalent, because of human fallibility (B. B. 
165a), there is a tendency in the Midrash to discover 
the best man’s failure in the form of asin of the 
tongue. So Joseph is punished for slandering is 
brethren (Gen. xxxvii. 2; Gen. R. Ixxxiv. 7, and 
Yer. Peah, i. 1). In Yalk. on Isa. vi. 5 we are told 
that those who are leaders of the people are in dan- 
ger of sinning through too severe censure. Thus 
Moses for saying “ Hear ye, rebels (Num. xx. (0-13): 


Effects. 


Punish- 
ment. 


519 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Calumn 
Cambridge 





Elijah for asserting (I Kings xix, 10), “The children 
of Israel have forsaken thy covenant”; and Isaiah 
for exclaiming, “And in the midst of a people of 
unclean lips I dwell,” were all in some manner 
punished by God. 

The frequent and passionate reiteration of the 
ethical and religious sanctions in Bible and Talmud 
against calumny are explained because its work in 
robbing men of their reputation is usually too sub- 
tle to be reached by the arm of the Jaw. There are, 
however, two cases which could be reached by the 
civil authorities: The man who, because of some 
dislike, “ brings up an evil name” (Deut. xxii. 138-19) 

upon the woman whom he has mar- 

Legal ried. If his accusation is found un- 

Remedies. true, he must pay a fine of one “hun- 

- dred (shekels) of silver,” and “he may 

not put her away all his days.” Comparing this 

fine with the amount that he who forces an un- 

betrothed virgin into sexual sin had to pay (Deut. 

xxii. 28), the sages in ‘Ar. iii, 5 say, “From this 

we gather that sometimes evil speech is more 
severely punished than evil deed.” 

People whose malice leads them to plot the injury 
or death of another by deliberately bearing false 
witness against him (Deut. xix, 16-21), when their 
testimony was proved to be false by the process ac- 
cording to the traditional interpretation of showing 
that they were not present at the time and in the 
place with respect to which they bear witness, were 
condemned to receive the punishment which their 
testimony, if acted upon by the court, would have 
brought upon the falsely accused (see ALIBI). 

The religious horror, the moral indignation, and 
penal severity with which “leshon hara‘” (the ca- 
luniniating tongue) was attacked during every stage 
in the development of Jewish thought, may be said 
to be the expression of the ethical principle (Ab. 
ii. 10), “ Let the honor of thy fellow-man be as dear 
to thee as thine own,” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hastings, Dict. Bible, s.v. Slander or Evil- 
Speaking; Hamburger, R. B. T.,s.v. "Verleumdung: Kahan 
Israel Moses, Shemirat ha-Lashon, Wilna, 1876 (several 
times reprinted). 


K, 8. Sc. 


CALVERT, THOMAS: English Hebrew 
scholar; born 1606; died at York March, 1679. He 
wrote “The Blessed Jew of Morocco” (York, 1648), 
an adaptation of the well-known letter of Samuel 
Maroccanus, itself probably derived from the po- 
lemical treatise of Samuel Abu Nasr ibu ABBAS. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dict. Nattonal Biography. viii. 274, 2753 
Palmer, Nonconfornist Memorial, iii. 408, 459. 


T. E. Ms. 


CALVO, EMANUEL: Italian physician and 
Neo-Hebraic poet; born at Salonica toward the end 
of the seventeenth century; died before 1772. In 
early youth he went to Leghorn with his learned 
father, Raphael Calvo, and on Oct. 23, 1724, was 
graduated as doctor in Padua. 
medicine with considerable success at Leghorn, but 
inclined to the Cabala toward the end of his life. 
Several of Calvo’s poems are included in A. B. 
Piperno’s collection “Kol ‘Ugab,” Leghorn, 1846. 
He was an intimate friend of the poet Abraham 
Isaac Castello and of Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, who 


Calvo practised 


wrote a culogy of him in a Hebrew poem after his 
graduation, and subsequently corresponded with 
him. When Calvo died Joseph ben David wrote an 
elegy, which is published in his * Yekara de-Shakbe.” 
Salonica, 1774. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p. 
284; Carmoly, Histoire des Médecins Juifs, Anciens et 
Modernes, p. 2413 Rev. Etudes Juives, xx xix. 134 


J. M. K. 


CALVOR, CASPER: Lutheran theologian; 
born Nov. 8, 1650, at Hildesheim, Prussia; died at 
Clausthal May 11, 1725. He became master of 
arts in 1674, deacon at Zellerfeld in 1677, super- 
intendent in 1684, councilor of the consistory in 1708, 
and general superintendent of Clausthal in 1710. 
Calvér carried on missionary work among the Jews, 
and distributed among them Christian books, which 
he printed in Hebrew and German. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: First, Bibliotheca Judaica; Allgemeine 
Deutsche Biographie: Schlegel, Kirchengesch. des 18. 


Jahrhunderts; preface to Callenberg, Jiidisch-Deutsches 
Worter hitchlein. 
T, A. R. 


CALW, MEIR. See Mefr Caw. 


CAMBRIDGE: University town of England, and 
one of the earliest English towns inhabited by Jews. 
Fuller (“ History of Cambridge, ” p. 8) fixes the date 
of the first Jewish settlement as 1073. The old syn- 
agogue was near the prison, but was given to the 
Franciscans (Brewer, “Monumenta Franciscana,” 
pp. 17, 18). There is a tradition that the Round 
Church near St. John’s College was a synagogue; 
and the parishes of All Saints and St. Sepuicher are 
still known as “in the Jewry.” One of the earliest 
episodes mentioned with regard to the Cambridge 
Jewry is a fine inflicted upon Comitissa, a Jewess of 
Cambridge, for allowing her son to marry a Lincoln 
Jewess without the king’s permission. It is proba- 
ble that this Comitissa was the mother of Moses BEN 
Isaac HanNassiaH, the author of the “Sefer ha- 
Shoham.” There isa grammarian known as Ben- 
jamin of Canterbury; but he is more likely to have 
been of Cambridge, since the Latin records make 
mention of a “Magister Binjamin” at Cambridge. 
No other prominent Jewish personage is known to 
have lived at Cambridge in early days; but it re- 
mained one of the more important of the Jewries up 
to the Expulsion, being the seat of an ARCHA. 

In 1224 Henry III. granted the house of Benja- 
min the Jew to the town asa jail. This was on the 
site of the present Guildhall. The Jews of Cam- 
bridge do not seem to have suffered during the riots 
of 1189-90; but they were victims during the revolt 
of the barons in 1266. 

Since the return of the Jews to England, the chief 
connection of Jews with Cambridge has been a few 
teachers at the university, like Israel Lyons (1739-75), 
8. Schiller-Szinnessy, and Solomon SCHECHTER. 
The last-named raised the University Library collec- 
tion of Hebrew manuscripts to the first rank by pre- 
senting to it the collection of fragments from the 
GEN1ZAH Of Cairo, which he had collected during a 
scientific mission to that city. Professor J. J. 
Sylvester took high honors in mathematics in 
1839, but was debarred from taking his degree 
by the university statutes, In 1869 Numa HartroGc 


Camel 
Camondo 


—_—--. 


gained the position of senior wrangler, the highest 
mathematical triumph a student can obtain, and by 
this means helped to pass the University Tests Act 
which allowed Jews to take their degrees. Many 
Jewish students have obtained considerable distinc- 
tion in the colleges and universities. Israel Abra- 
hams is now (1902) reader in Rabbinic in the univer- 
sity. There is a small congregation in the town, 
which has a meeting-hall. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, pp. 4, 
222, 374-375; Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, under the years 
ne 3224, 1266; Baker, History of St. John’s College, pp. 
eae J. 


CAMEL: The well-known ruminant, native in 
Asia and Africa. The word “camel” (Hebrew, by, 
gamal) is the same in the Assyrian, Samaritan, Ara- 
maic, Syriac, Arabic, Egyptian, and Ethiopic lan- 
guages. Together with the knowledge of the animal, 
its name was introduced into Greek (xa@uyAoc) and 
Latin (camelus), whence many modern languages 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





520 





war; in Isa. xxi. 7, camel-riders were part of the 
force of the Elamites. The Israelites were forbidden 
to eat the camel (Lev. xi. 4; Deut. xiv. 7; see Bo- 
chart, “ Hierozoicon,” i. 11); it was the opinion of 
the Arabs that Jacob forbade it as food because 
it produced sciatica. As in Arabic, so also in 
Hebrew, the expressions “beker” (933, Isa. Lx. 6) 
and “bikrah” (7923, Jer. ii. 23) denote the young, 
vigorous animals. In the first passage Targ. Yer. 
has “hognin ” (j'3917), a word that also in the Tal- 
mud and in Arabic means a young camel; in the 
second passage Xp)? must, according to Bochart, be 
changed to ApR3, which in the Talmud and in Arabic 
means the female camel (see “‘Aruk,” ed. Kohut, 
v. 878). Theswift camel, or the dromedary, is called 
in the Talmud (Macc. 5a; Yeb. 116a) the “fiying” 
camel. 

The camel is also subject to rabies (see the Tal- 
mud Ber. 56a). Hul. 59a speaks of the distinctive 
teeth of the full-grown and of the young camel. 





CAMELS LED AS TRIBUTE TO SHALMANESER. 
(From the Black Obelisk in the British Museum.) 


derived it (Hommel, “ Die Namen der Siugetiere bei 
den Siidsemitischen Voélkern,” pp. 144-146, Leipsic, 
1879). Many passages of the Bible show that the 
camel was found especially among the peoples of 
the deserts bordering on the land of the Israelites 
(Judges vi. 5, vii. 12; I Sam. xv. 38, xxvii. 9, xxx. 
17; Jer. xlix. 29, 32; Isa. lx. 6). The camels of the 
Midianites were decorated with little golden cres- 
cents (Judges viii. 21, 26). Camels constituted also 
part of the wealth of the Patriarchs (Gen. xii. 16, 
xxiv. 10; specially Job i, 8, xlii. 12), who used them 
as beasts of burden; in riding, a sort of cushion was 
used (Gen. xxxi. 34). For swift riding dromedaries 
were employed (Isa. 1xvi. 20, N95); in traveling 
across wide stretches of desert the treasures were 
packed upon the humps of camels (Isa: xxx. 6). 
King David had a special officer over his camels, 
named Obil (I Chron. xxvii. 30; compare Arabic 
abil). 

Otherwise the camel is mentioned as a possession 
only in post-exilic times among the Israelites (Ezra 
ii. 67). In olden times the camel was also used in 


% 


The fat hump of acamel that has never carried bur- 
dens tastes like the meat itself (Mishnah and Gem. 
Hul. 122a). Camel’s hair was made into clothing 
(Shab, 27a); but it must not be mixed with sheep’s 
wool (Mishnah Kil. ix. 1). John the Baptist was 
clothed ina coarse garment of camel's hair (Matt. iii. 
4; Mark i. 6). 

On the Sabbath it was forbidden to tie cam- 
els together, because of the workaday appearance 
(Mishnah and Cem. Shab. 54a). Camel-drivers, 
who often formed entire caravans (Mishnah Sanh. 
x. 5; B. B. 8a), are frequently mentioned together 
with mule-drivers; Abba Judan gave much of his 
time to his camels (Yer. Hor. iii. 48a). The Talmud 
shows great familiarity with the characteristics of 
the camel: it has a short tail because it eats thorns 
(Shab. 77b); it mates in a modest manner (Midr. on 
Gen. xxxii. 16); in rutting-time it becomes danger- 
ous (Sanh. 87b; compare Jer. ii. 24, where the same 
is said of the wild ass). The name “ gama)” is also 
supposed to signify etymologically that the animal 
becomes easily enraged and is then vindictive. 


521 





A number of Aramaic proverbs about the camel 
are found in the Talmud. For instance, “In Media 
the camel can dance ona bushel-basket ” (Yeb. 45a), 
meaning that in Media everything is possible; “as 
the camel, so the burden” (Sotah 13b); “the camel 


“4 Se 
rae tee ae ES nS 5 ed 
ie, phn 
D 


yes 





Camel on an Assyrian Cylinder. 
(From Hommel, ‘‘ Aufsatze und Abhandlungen.” } 


asked to have horns, so his ears were cut short” 
(Sanh. 106a); “there are many old camels who must 
bear the burdens of the young ones” (zd. 52a). ‘It has 
been suggested that the word “camel” («ay7Aoc) in 
Matt. xix. 24; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25 does not 
mean a camel, but a vope; but in view of the Tal- 
mudic expression “elephant through a needle’s eye ” 
(Ber. 55b; B. M. 38b), this is not admissible. 
J. IR. 5S: Kr: 


CAMONDO: Well-known family of Jewish 
financiers and philanthropists of Spanish-Portu- 
fuese origin. Several centuries ago it established 
itself at Venice, where some of its members be- 
came famous by their scholarship and by the serv- 
ices which they rendered to their adopted country. 
After having Jived for a long time at Venice, the 
Camondo family in the nineteenth century estab- 
lished itself in Constantinople. 

Count Abraham Camondo: [Italian and Turk- 
ish financier and philanthropist; born at Constanti- 
nople 1785; died at Paris, his place of residence, 
March 30, 1873. In 1832 he inherited from his brother 
Isaac (who died without children) a fortune, and 
managed it so wisely that at his death he was esti- 
mated to be worth 125,000,000 frances. While Venice 
was under Austrian rule, he received as an Austrian 
subject the title of Chevalier of the Order of Francis 
Joseph, When Venice again became an Italian pos- 
Session, Camondo, a8 a Venetian citizen, presented 


THE JEWISILT ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Camel 
Camondo 





large gifts to several Italian philanthropic institu- 
tions, in recognition of which King Victor Emman- 
uel conferred upon him the title of count, with the 
privilege of transmitting it in perpetuity to the eld- 
est son of the family. 

Count Camondo’s career in Turkey was an ex- 
traordinary one, He exercised so great an influence 
over the sultans ‘Abd al-Majid and ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, 
and over the Ottoman grand viziers and ministers, 
that his name became proverbial. He was banker 
to the Ottoman government before the founding of 
the Ottoman Bank. It was he who obtained from 
the Porte a firman by virtue of which the privilege 
of possessing real estate in Turkey, which until 
then had been restricted to subjects of the Ottoman 
empire, was extended to those of foreign nations. 

Profiting by this decree, Camondo erected such a 
large number of housesat Pera (Constantinople) that 
even to-day (1902) the family is one of the richest 
landholders in the Ottoman capital. 

Camondo was especially active in behalf of his 
Eastern coreligionists. Heestablished at Constanti- 
nople a central consistory for the Jews of Turkey, 
of which he was almost continuously the president; 
he introduced reforms into the communal adminis- 
tration; and he founded in 1858 an educational} in- 
stitution, the Institution Camondo, at Peri Pasha, 
the poorest and most densely populated suburb of 


TIX hohldo 8 
& 


¢, 









— a 


Figure of a Camel on a Monument (South Arabia). 
(From Homme}, “ Aufsitze und Abhandlungen.” ) 





the capital. Shops for tailoring and shoemaking 
were soon added. On account of this school its 
benevolent founder was excommunicated by certain 
fanatical rabbis, and he endured otherwise much 
vexation; yet it has flourished for thirty-two years, 
and trained the majority of the Jewish officials now 
in the service of the Ottoman government. 

Dying at Paris at the age of ecighty-eight, Ca- 


mondo, according to his last wishes, was buried in 


his family vault in the Jewish cemetery at Haskeni 
(Constantinople). The Ottoman government held 
memorial services in his honor. 


Camp 
Canaan 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


522 





Raphael Solomon de Camondo: Born 1810; 
died 1866 at Constantinople. He left two sons, 
Count Béhor Abraham de Camondo and Nis- 
sim de Camondo, who died at Paris within a year 
of each other, in 1886 and 1887, respectively. Each 
of these two brothers left an only son: the first, 
Count Isaac de Camondo; the second, Count 
Moses de Camondo; the former died April 7, 
1911. 

Solomon Camondo: Turkish rabbi and man of 
letters; lived at Salonica in the second half of the 
eighteenth century; related to the Camondo family 
of Constantinople. He is the author of responsa, 
published under the title “Neharot Dammeshek,” 
Salonica, 1772. 

S. M. Er. 


CAMP (79ND): A collection of tents (Judges vii. 
13), or booths and huts (Neh. viii. 14), pitched or 
erected to give shelter to shepherds, travelers, or 
soldiers, sometimes overnight merely, or for many 
days or even months. Safety and a sufficient sup- 
ply of water were the prime considerations deter- 
mining the choice of location (“ Pitched at the waters 
of Merom,” Josh. xi. 5; compare also Judges vii. 
1; I Mace. ix. 33). Security against sudden attacks 
by roving robbers (Bedouins) or other enemies was 
effected by establishing the camp on the side of a 
ravine or valley. Watches, moreover, were placed 
in three shifts for the night (Judges vii. 19; I Macc. 
xii. 27); and a garrison was left on guard when the 
main body of the campers went out to the combat (I 
Sam, xxx. 24), That the camp was usually laid out 
in a circle, a form of construction much affected 
by the modern Bedouin, may be inferred from the 
word “ma‘gal” (I Sam. xvii. 20, xxvi. 5); though 
by many commentators and ancient versions this 
rare designation is explained as etymologically con- 
nected with the Hebrew word for “ wagon,” and on 
this basis the theory has been advanced that wagons 
surrounded the camp to increase the security and to 
insure ease of defense. It is impossible definitely 
to decide which of these interpretations deserves 
greater credence. 

From Num. ii.—a chapter which the critical school 
would not accept as containing historical data—it 
would appear that in the construction of the camp 
a certain plan was followed in the grouping of the 
different tribes, which was indicated by flags with 
a fixed relation to the tabernacle at the halting- 
places. The descriptions by Doughty and others of 
the had} to Mecca agree in reporting the observance 
of a similar arraugement marked by flagsand lamps, 
or torches, for the pilgrims when on the march. 
Artificial defenses to add to the natural advantages 
of the chosen location, or to supply their absence, 
are also mentioned (I Sam. xvi. 1 e¢ seq.). 

In their anxiety to protect their flocks the early 
nomads were driven to erect permanent enclosures 
(stockades) In which to keep their herds overnight 
(Num. xxxii. 86), gencrally in the neighborhood of 
caves, near which a massive platform of loose large 
stones was built, whereon the huts of the shepherds 
were placed (“Migdal,” “Migdal ‘Eder”). The 
erection of these permanent shepherd camps must 
be considered as the first step ‘toward the abandon- 


meut by the Hebrews of the migratory life with 
its movable camps. Hence the proverb “from the 
watch-tower to the fortified city ” (II Kings xvii. 9, 
xviii. 8). EK. G. H 


CAMPANATOR. Sce SCHULKLOPFER. 


CAMPANTON, ISAAC B. JACOB: Spanish 
rabbi; born 1860; died at Penafeel in 1463. He lived 
in the period darkened by the outrages of Ferran 
Martinez and Vicente Ferrer, when intellectual life 
and Talmudic erudition were on the decline among 
the Jews of Spain. The historiographers Imnman- 
uel Aboab (“ Nomologia,” ii. 2), Zacuto (“ Yuhasin,” 
ed. Filipowski, p. 226b; compare “Seder ha-Dorot,” 
pp. 27b, 28a), and Joseph b. Zaddik (Neubauer, 
“Anecdota Oxoniensia,” i. 99) unite in designating 
Campanton as a gaon, Aboab stating that he was 
styled “the gaon of Castile.” -Among his pupils 
may be mentioned Samuel (ibn Sadillo) al-Valensi 
and Isaac Aboab. He left but one work, “ Darke 
ha-Gemara,” or “Darke ha-Talmud” (A Methodol- 
ogy of the Talmud), which is an important contribu- 
tion to the subject, as it attempts to be a practical 
guide for those who are called upon to teach the 
Talmud. It was published at Constantinople, six- 
teenth century; Venice, 1565; Mantua, 1593; and 
Amsterdam, 1706, 1711, 1754; and newly edited by 
Isaac H. Weiss, Vienna, 1891. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, Geseh. der Juden, 3d ed., viii. 217 et 

seq.; Jelinek, abbon m2, p. 6, Vienna, 1878. 


rem H. G. E. 


CAMPEN, JOHN VAN: Christian professor 
of Hebrew at Louvain and Cracow; died at Frei- 
burg in Breisgau Sept. 6, 1538. He compiled a 
Hebrew grammar from Elias Levita’s work, which 
ran through three editions (Cracow, 1534; Paris, 
1539, 1543). He alsocommented on Psalms ina man- 
ner to earn the praises of Hupfeld (“ Psalmen,” iv. 
474), and attached the commentary to a paraphrase 
which appeared at Paris, 1533; Leyden, 1534; Basle, 
1548, ete. Campen was summoned to Cracow by 
the prince bishop, Peter Tomiki, on very favorable 
conditions, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Siegfried, in Allg. Deutsche Biographie, 

ii. 739; Steinsehneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 818; idem, in Zeit. 

fiir Hebr. Bibl. ii. 95; idem, Bibliographisches Handbuch, 

No. 350 (also Zusditze, p. 361); F. L. Hoffmann, in Stein- 


schneider, Heli. Bibl. vii. 42. 
T. J. 


CAMPHIRE (Hebrew, “kopher”; Arabic “ hin- 
na,” whence English “ henna”): A shrub growing to 
a height of between cight and ten feet, and bearing 


cream-colored and very fragrant flowers. The 
botanical name of the plant is Lawsonia alba. In 


ancient times it grew very plentifully near En-gedi 
(Song of Solomon i. 14), Tristram (“ Natural His- 
tory of the Bible, ” p. 339) reports having found it 
growing there. Various uses were made of cam- 
phire. Along with other fragrant woods (Song of 
Solomon iv. 13, 14) it was valued for its perfume. 
But it was utilized chiefly as a dye for the hair and 
the skin. In dyeing the skin, cloths were placed on 
the parts adjacent to and encircling those to be 
dyed. To these parts the powdered leaves, made 
into a paste by the addition of a little water, were 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Camp 
Canaan 





523 
applied, and allowed to remain overnight. The 
stain lasted for three or four weeks. Mohammed 


(Hughes, “ Dict. of Islam,” p. 175) dyed his beard 
and recommended the practise to his followers: it 
has therefore become an established religious custom 
with Mohammedans. 

E. G. H. G. B. L. 

CANAAN —Biblical Data: Name of the son 
of Ham, and a brother of Cush (Ethiopia), Miz- 
riam (Egypt), and Put (Phut), occurring in the 
geographical-ethnographical table, Gen. ix. and x. 
Originally the name “Canaan” was not an ethnic 
term. It belongs primarily to the vocabulary of 
geography; the curse pronounced upon its bearer 
for the misconduct of Ham demonstrating only 
the knowledge of the author that the dominant 
Semitic population of the land so designated was 
the deposit of a wave of immigration and conquest 
coming from the south. Originally an appellative 
(compare Moore, on the use of the article in Egyp- 
tian inscriptions, in “ Proceedings of Am. Oriental 
Soc.” 1890, Ixvii. ef seg.), it described some peculiar 
aspect of the country, and was only later transferred 
from the territory to the inhabitants. 

Like most geographical terms in the Bible, 
“Canaan” is employed in a very loose and confusing 
manner; and it is aimost impossible to establish 
definitely the limits of its application. In earlier 
times its range was probably very narrow; desig- 
nating the strip of coast-line along the Mediterra- 
nean, more particularly the northern—7z.e., the Phe- 
nician—part thereof. With this restriction “ Kan’na” 
appears in the Egvptian inscriptions (Miller, 
“Asien und Europa,” pp. 206 et seq.). But it was 
also applied to the whole coast district down to the 
Egyptian frontier (Philistrea), Like the Greek 
“Palestine,” which originally designated only the 
southern coast-line, “Canaan” was then extended 
to the adjacent highlands. In Josh. xi. 3 it covers 
the land from the foot of Mt. Hermon to the south- 
ern end of the Dead Sea, and also the territory west 
of the Jordan to the Mediterranean. It is doubtful 
whether the name was ever given to districts east of 
the Jordan. These, as “the land of Gilead,” are 
generally put in antithesis to “the land of Canaan” 
(Num, xxxii. 29 et seg.; Josh. xxii. 9, 82). “Ca- 
nuan” is the favorite appellation of the Jahvist, 
sometimes with the prefix “land” and sometimes 
without (Ex. xv. 15; Gen. xii. 5, xvi. 3; and else- 
where). 

The etymology of the name is in doubt. After 
Augustine (“Ennarationes in Psalmos,” civ. 7), it has 
been explained as designating lowland either in con- 
trast to Aram, or to the mountainous highland loom- 
ing beyond the coast-line and removed from the sea 
only by a narrow strip of “lower land” (Num. xiii. 
29; Josh. xi. 3). The former implication is now 
generally abandoned; but the latter, though open 
to objections (see Moore, f.c.), may be provisionally 
retained. Canaan is geographically ideutical with 
the land of the Amorites. As such it is mentioned 
in the El-Amarna tablets, thezgh it also occurs in 
them as “Kinahhu” or “Kinahna.” See Ca- 
NAANITES. 

BE. G. H. 


—In Rabbinical Literature: The first of the 
seven sinners who made idols for the heathens, the 
other six being Phut, Shelah, Nimrod, Elah, Diul, 
and Shuah. Canaan, with his six companions, 
brought precious stones from Havilah (Gen. ii. 11- 
12), and made of them idols, which at night shone 
as brightly as the sun, and which were endowed 
with a power so magical that, when the blind 
Ammorites kissed them, they regained their eye- 
sight (“Chronicles of Jerahmeel,” p. 167; compare 
KENAZ). 

Canaan, in a certain sense, was predestined to this 
and similar offenses; for he was begotten by his 
father while in Noah’s Ark, whereas God had com- 
manded that the sexes should live separately therein 
(Gen. R, xxxvi.). Canaan was of so low and base a 
character that Ham, in the record of his wickedness, 
is designated “the father of Canaan,” whereby fa- 
ther and son were ironically characterized as a “ par 
nobile” (noble pair) (Gen. R. Z.¢.; Origen on Gen. 
ix. 18). 

Concerning the curse of Noah upon Canaan, the 
Midrashim endeavored in different ways to give a 

solution to the question why Canaan 

Curse had to suffer for the sins of his father. 

of Noah. The old explanation was that Canaan, 

not Ham, though he had in no sense 

transgressed against his grandfather, had to be cursed 

by him because God had blessed Noah and his sous; 

and wherever the blessing of God rests there can be 

no curse (KR. Judah, Gen. R. de.; Justin Martyr, 

“Dial. cum Tryph.” cxxxix.). This explanation, 

however, was found to be defective; for it was con- 

trary to Jewish sentiment to curse an innocent man ; 

hence the new assertion that Canaan, like his father, 
transgressed against Noah. 

There are different views as to the nature of Ca- 
naan’s transgression. According to one, Canaan 
circulated the report that he saw Noah naked; an- 
other view is that he emasculated him that he 
should have no more sons (Gen. R. ¢.¢.; Origen and 
Ephraem Syrus on Gen. x. 24, 25; more elabora- 
ted, in Pirke R. El. xxiii.). 

Through the curse which Canaan brought upon 
himself, the low condition of slaves (Canaan’s de- 

scendants) is to be explained; for par- 

Canaan ents exercise a strong influence, for 
the Father good or forevil, upon the fate of their 

of Slaves. offspring. “Wo unto the sinners,” 
comments a Midrash, “who bring evil 
upon themselves, their children, their children’s 
children; in fact, upon all the generations that fol- 
low.” Many of the sons of Canaan were worthy of 
being ordained as rabbis; but the guilt of their 
father barred them from such a career (Yoma 87a). 
God, however, is different from man. Man seeks to 
deprive his enemies of the means of subsistence; but 
God, though He cursed Canaan, made him a slave, 
that he might eat and drink of that which his mas- 
ter possessed (7b. 75a). 

Canaan upon his death-bed left to his children the 
following rules of life: (1) “Let there be mutual 
love between yourselves.” (2) “Love robbery and 
unchastity.” (8) “Hate your masters, and do not 
speak the truth” (Pes. 113b). Not only by words. 
but also by deeds, Canaan exemplified to his sons 


Canaan 
Canada 


the life worthy of slaves. When Noah divided the 
carth among his three sons, Palestine fell to the lot 
of Shem. Canaan, however, took possession of it, 
notwithstanding the fact that his father and his 
children called his attention to the wrong he had 
committed. They therefore said to him: “Thou 
art cursed, and cursed wilt thou remain before all 
the sons of Noah, in accordance with the oath which 
we took before the Holy Judge [God] and our father 
Noah” (Book of Jubilees, x., end). Later, when the 
Jews, the descendants of Shem, drove out the Cana- 
abites from Palestine, the land fell into the hands of 
its lawful owners. 

Among the various tribes of the Canaanites were 
the Girgashites, who, on Joshua’s demand, subse- 
quently left Palestine and emigrated 
to Africa (Yer. Sheb. vi. 36c; Lev. R. 
xvii.). Many of the Canaanites con- 
cealed their treasure in the walls of 
their houses, that they might not fall into the hands 
of the Jews. But God commanded that, under cer- 
tain circumstances, the houses should fall into ruins; 
thus the hidden treasure came to light (Lev. R. 
xvii.). The Canaanites furthermore, on hearing 
that the Jews had left Egypt, destroyed all crops. 
cut down the trees, demolished the houses, and filled 
up the wells, in order that the Israelites should come 
into possession of a wasted country. But God prom- 
ised the children of Israel a rich and fertile land (see 
Deut. vi. 10-12). He therefore led the Jews for 
forty years in the wilderness; and the Canaanites, 
in the mean time, rebuilt what they had destroyed 
(Mek., Beshallah, i. (ed. Weiss, p. 28b]). 

In the time of Alexander the Great the descendants 
of those Canaanites who had left Palestine at the re- 
quest of Joshua, and had settled in Africa, sought 
to regain the Promised Land. Gebiha ben Pesisa, 
however, who appeared before the king in the in- 


The Ca- 
naauites. 


terest of thc Jews, showed that according to Scrip-. 


ture, by which the Africans traced their ancestry to 
Canaan, that ancestor had been declared the slave 
of Shem and Japheth. The Jews, therefore, not 
only had the right to hold the Jand of their slaves, 
but the Africans had to indemnify the Jews for the 
long time during which they had performed no serv- 
ice for them. In consternation, the Africans then 
fled to their homes {San. 91a). 

In the literature of the German-French Jews of 
the Middle Ages the Canaanites and the Slavs were 
considered identical, owing tothe sim- 
ilarity of the latter name with the 
German word for “slave” (A. Har- 
kavy, “Die Juden und die Slavischen 
Sprachen,” pp. 19-29; Kohut, “ Aruch Completum,” 
s.v. Jy33). In Sifre, Deut. 306 (ed. Friedmann. p. 
181b) the word qy39 is used peculiarly; ‘yy39 pwd 
(literally, “Canaanitish language”) means probably 
“a mercantile ex pression.” 


Medieval 
Views. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bacher, in Jew. Quart. Rev. iii. 354, 356; 
Ginzberg, Die Haggada bei den kirchenviitern, pp. 84-87. 


L. G. 


CANAANITES, THE: The expressions “Ca- 
naan ” and “ Canaanite ” (jy953, 13993) are applied in 
the Old Testament sometimes to the collective non- 
Israelitish population west of the Jordan, or to the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


O24 


land itself (Gen. xii. 5: Josh. xxii. 9; Ps. cvi. 38), 
and sometimes toa part of the population. Thus, 
the Canaanites are mentioned among other Pales- 
tinian tribes (Gen. xiii. 7, xv. 21; Ex. iii. 8); and 
the term is applied specifically to the inhabitants of 
the Mediterranean coast (Josh. v. 1) or to the tribes 
dwelling between that coast and the Jordan (Josh, 
xi. 8; Num. xiii. 29). Asadesignation for the coast 
inhabitants it is identical with “ Phenicians,” and is 
thus used in a political sense in Isa. xxiii. 2. In 
Zeph. ii. 5 the name is applied to the Philistine pop- 
ulation of the southern coast; but the accuracy 
of the text is not quite certain. Since the term 

“Canaanites” was also applied to the 


Various Phenicians, it gradually obtained the 
Applica- meaning of “traders,” as used in Isa. 


tions of the xxiii. 8; Ezek. xvi. 29, xvii. 4; Zeph. 
Term. i. it; Job xl. 30 (A. V. xii. 6); Prov. 
xxxi. 24; (possibly also in Zech. xiv. 
21). The consistent use of the word is one of the 
distinguishing features of the Jahvist sources, while 
the Elohist uses “ Amorite ” in the same sense (com- 
pare Aworrires; Hrrirres). In Isa. xix. 18, where 
the language of the Canaanites is referred to, the 
word “Canaan” is applied to the Jewish population 
of Palestine, but in Hosea xii. 8 it is an opprobrious 
epithet for idolatrous Israel, if indeed the text here 
be reliable. 

The same double use of the word is found else- 
where. Thus, on Phenician coins the word jy33 is 
used to designate the Phenician people. Similarly, 
Greek writers employ the word yve (a short form = 
33) in reference to Phenicia or to the ancestors of 
the Phenicians (compare Schréder, “Die Phoeni- 
zische Sprache,” p. 6). In the El-Amarna tablets 
“ Kinahhu ” (3793) and “ Kinahna” refer to the north- 
ern portion of the Mediterranean coast. In the old 
Egyptian inscriptions the word “ Kan’na” isapplied 
especially to the Phenician coast; sometimes, also, 
to the whole shore of the Mediterranean. The word 
designating Canaanites in these inscriptions is, how- 
ever, applied in a wider sense to the people of west- 
ern Syria in general, This is similar to the Old Tes- 
tament usage, but is more comprehensive, 

In all probability the limited application of the 
word to the Mediterranean coast is the original, nar- 
rower use of the word found in so many inscriptions 
pointing in that direction. The designation was 
afterward applied to the inhabitants of the interior, 
either because the coast population was originally 
best known, or because they actually occupied a 
great portion of the mountainous district also. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Moore, in Proceedings of Am. Oriental Soc. 
1890, Ixvii. et seg.; Zimmern, in Zeit. Deutsch. Paldst.-Ver. 
xiii. 188; W. Max Miller, Asien und Europa, pp. 205 et seq. 


E. G. H. F. Bu. 


CANADA: A federation of provinces in British 
North America. The earliest authentic records of 
the Jews in Canada go back to the period when 
England and France were engaged in their final con- 
test for the mastery of the northern part of the New 
World. While the batteries of Wolfe were thunder- 
ing at the gates of Quebec, Amherst was closing in 
on Montreal with an army from the south. Among 
the members of his staff was Commissary Aaron 
Hart, an English Jew, born in London in 1724; and 


§25 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Canaan 
Canada 





among other Jewish officers of the invading hosts 
were Emanuel de Cordova, Hananiel Garcia, and 
Isaac Miranda. Hart was afterward attached to 
General Haldimand’s command at Three Rivers, and 
at the close of the war settled in that city, and be- 
came seignior of Bécancour. About this time a 
number of Jewish settlers took up their residence in 
Montreal, including Lazarus David, Uriel Moresco, 
Samuel Jacobs, Simon Levy, Fernandez da Fonseca, 
Abraham Franks, Andrew Hays, Jacob de Maurera, 
Joseph Bindona, Levy Solomons, and Uriah Judah. 
Lazarus David was a large landowner, and was 
noted as a public-spirited citizen. Several of the 
others held offices in the army. There were also 
opulent and extensive traders among them; and al- 
together these early colonists were men of substance 
and strenuous character. 

Soon joined by other bands of settlers, the Jewish 
community of Montreal found itself strong enough 
to organize a congregation in 1768, called “Shearith 
Israel.” Asa large majority of the early members 
were descended from exiles from Spain, they adhered 
to the rites of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews; 

and the congregation has continued to 
Syna- _— flourish under its original name, tena- 
gogue _ ciously adhering to its historic ritual. 
Founded at Around this synagogue the main in- 
Montreal. cidents of the history of the Jews of 
Canada centered for the major part of 
a century; for during many decades Shearith Israel 
remained the sole Jewish congregation in Canada. 
The first two scrolls of the Law were presented to it 
in 1768 by the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of 
London, and were at that date already accounted 
very old. These scrolls are still in use in the syna- 
gogue. At first the congregation met for worship 
in a hall in St. James street; but in 1777 the mem- 
bers built their first synagogue ona lot belonging to 
David David, at the junction of Notre Dame and 
St. James streets, close to the present court-house. 
See the Davin family. 

In 1775 the congregation acquired land for a cem- 
etery on St. Janvier street; and the first person 
interred was Lazarus UVavid (referred to above), 
born in 1734, and died « vear after the purchase of 
the ground. His remains were subsequently re- 
moved to the present cemetery on Mount Royal, 
when the old one was ¢ iosed, together with the orig- 
inal tombstone, dated 1776, which still stands and 
marks the oldest Jewish grave in Canada. 

The Rev. Jacob Raphael ConrEn was the first reg- 
ular minister of the Montreal Spanish and Portu- 
guese Jews Of whom there remains any record. He 
was their spiritual guide from 1778 to 1782. 

The president (parnas) of the Montreal svnagogue 
in 1775 was Jacob Salesby (or Salisbury) Franks, 

arelative of the Abraham Franks men- 


The tioned among the earliest settlers, who 
Franks belonged to a family that played a 
Family. most important part in those days in 


Jewish communal matters in Philadel- 
phia, as well as in Montreal (see the Franks family). 
Other members of the Franks family remained in 
Canada, and supported the British in repelling 
Montgomery’s invasion, notably Abraham Franks, 
Jacob Franks, Sr., and Jacob Franks, Jr., who were 


members of the junta of the Spanish and Portu- 
guese congregation of Montreal, and who were 
prominent in public affairs. Abraham Franks, who 
was born in 1721 and died in 1797, had a daughter 
Rebekah, who in 1775 married Levy Solomons. The 
latter, whose name figures among the earliest Jewish 
settlers in Canada, was parnas of the Montreal syna- 
gogue in 1788; and it was during his presidency 
that a regular set of by-laws was drawn up. The 
executive was styled the “junta,” and consisted of 
a “parnas” (president), “gabay” (treasurer), and 
three others. Executive privileges were also ac- 
corded to past officers who were “Gentlemen of the 
Mahamad.” 

When Montgomery invaded Canada in 1775 he 
commanded Levy Solomons to act as purveyor to 
the hospitals forthe American troops. At that time 
Solomons was engaged in very extensive trade oper- 
ations between Michilimackinac, Montreal, Albany, 
New York, and London. He carried out his con- 
tract with General Montgomery faithfully; but 
when the defeat and death of the latter at Quebec led 
to the retreat of the American forces from Montreal, 
General Arnold, as he retired, took possession of 
quantities of supplies stored at Lachine, belonging 
to Solomons, for the maintenance of his troops. 
The services which Solomons rendered the Revolu- 
tionary forces were never indemnified by them. At 
the same time he was exposed to the resentment of 
the British, as one suspected of sympathy for the 
revolted colonists. After having been expelled with 
his family from his home in Montreal by General 
Burgoyne, and after enduring much hardship, he 
eventually gained the indulgence of the Canadian 
governor, and was permitted to return in peace to 
Montreal. 

Solomons bad numerous offspring. His eldest 
daughter, Mary (Polly), who was born in 1776 and. 
died in 1826, married Jacob Franks, Jr., a renowned 
Hudson’s Bay trader, who was one of the first to pen- 
etrate to the remotest parts of the Canadian North- 
west. Another daughter, Rachel, married Henry 
Joseph of Berthier, the progenitor of a family dis- 
tinguished in Canadian Jewish annals. Joseph's 
partner in Montreal was his brother-in-law, Benja- 
min Solomons, closely related to the Seixas and 
Nathan families of New York. His four sons, Jacob 
Henry, Abraham, Jesse, and Gershom, were promi- 
nent men of affairs and communal leaders. See the 
JOSEPH family. 

In 1807 Ezekiel Hart, one of the sons of Commis- 
sary Aaron Hart, was elected to represent Three 
Rivers in the legislature. This at once raised the 
question of the civil status of the Jews in Canada, 
which till then had not been clearly defined. When 
the legislative chamber reassembled Jau. 29, 1808, 
Ezekiel Hart declined to be sworn in according to 
the usual form “on the true faith of a Christian,” 

but took the oath according to Jewish 


The custom on the Pentateuch, and with 
Struggle the head covered. At once a storm 
for Civil of opposition arose, due, it is said, not 
Rights. to religious prejudice or intolerance, 


but to the fact that his political op- 
ponents saw in this an opportunity of making a party 
gain by depriving an antagonist of his seat. After 


Canada 


a heated debate it was decided to receive Hart’s 
petition, in which he urged his right to take his 
seat, and claimed that his oath was in accord with 
the statute of 31stof George IT]. The chamber dis- 
cussed the question In committee on Feb. 16 and 17, 
1808; and on the nineteenth of the same month Hart 
was heard at the bar of the House. The next day 
the majority decided that he was not entitled to take 
his seat, and declared for his expulsion. The Eng- 
lish minority vehemently protested against this; 
notably Richardson, who cited the statute of 13th 
George IT., chap. vii., to show that Hart’s expulsion 
was illegal. The British attorney-general was also 
quoted in suppert of this view of the question. 
Notwithstanding the adverse vote of the majority, 
Hart vigorously protested, and attempted to vote 
during several of the divisions; but he was again 
expelled. Having been again sustained by his con- 
stituents, the House proposed passing a bill to put 
his disqualification as a Jew beyond donbt. This 
roused the indignation of the governor, Sir James 
Craig, who was already in conflict with the Assem- 
bly; and, to put an end to their distasteful course, 
he dissolved the chamber before the bill could pass. 

Years of agitation followed, and on Dec. 4, 1823, 
several Jews petitioned Parliament to authorize 
them to keep a register of births, marriages, and 
deaths. A bill in conformity with this petition was 
passed in 1829, and sanctioned by royal proclama- 
tion Jan. 13, 1831. Encouraged by this success, the 
Jews of Canada determined once more to try to 
secure recognition of their civil rights; and on Jan. 
31 and Feb. 7, 1831, they sent an address, signed by 
Samuel Becancour Hart, to the legislature, petition- 
ing to this effect. On March 16, 1831, a bill was in- 
troduced in the Legislative Assembly extending the 
same political rights to Jews asto Christians. Party 
passions no longer entered into the question; and 
the acrimony that had distinguished the debates of 
1808 and 1809 had died out. The bill rapidly passed 
both the Assembly and the Council, and received 
the royal assent June 5, 18382. Since then Jews 
have sat in the Canadian Parliament, fulfilling their 
duties with credit and ability, the first to attain that 
distinction having been Mr. Nathan of British 
Columbia. 

The land on which the first synagogue had been 
erected in Montreal having reverted to the heirs of 
David David on his death in 1824, it became neces- 
sary to demolish the old building; and the congre- 
gation then met for worship in a hall adjoining the 
residence of Benjamin Hart, at the corner of Recol- 
lect and St. Helen streets, Montreal. For a while 
the affairs of the congregation remained in this un- 
settled condition; but in 1826 an appeal was issued 
urging the members to build a new synagogue to 

replace the former one, and also point- 
The ing to the necessity for reorganization. 

Chenne- This appeal was signed by the presi- 

ville Street dent of the congregation, Benjamin 
Syn- Hart, one of the sons of Commissary 
agopue. Aaron Hart. His appeal had the de- 
sired effect: in 1835 a piece of land on 

Chenneville street was purchased; and there the 
Spanish and Portuguese Jews built their second syn- 
agogue, which they dedicated in 1838. The build- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


526 





ing was planned by Moses J. Hays, a nephew 
of David David, one of the trustees of the congre- 
gation, and in his day one of the most prominent 
citizens of the Canadian metropolis. 

After the retirement of the Rev. Jacob Raphael 
Cohen, the position of minister of the Shearith Israe] 
congregation was occupied tempora- 
rily by Myer Levy, and afterward by 
Isaac Valentine. Dr. de La Motta 
also occasionally officiated. In 1840 
the Rev. David Piza was appointed minister; and 
he held the office for six vears. 

In 1837-38 Canada was convulsed by the rebellion 
led by Papineau, Nelson, Brown, and Mackenzie; 
and among those who fought on the Loyalist side 
were several of the members of the Spanish and 
Portuguese synagogue. Two members of the 
David family held important cavalry commands 
under Wetherell at the action at St. Charles, and 
took a distinguished part in the battle of St. Eu- 
stache. Aaron Phillip Hart, grandson of Commis- 
sary Hart, temporarily abandoned his large law 
practise to raise a company of militia, which ren- 
dered valuable service. Jacob Henry Joseph and 
his brother Jesse were with the troops on the Riche- 
liew and at Chambly; the former being entrusted 
by Sir John Colborne, the Royalist commander, 
with the bearing of despatches to Colonel Wetherell. 
When the struggle had terminated and peace had 
been restored, it was recognized that the members 
of Shearith Israel had done well toward upholding 
the unity and the prestige of the empire of which 
they were citizens. 

In 1846 the Rev. Abraham de Soua, LL.D., was 
elected rabbi of the Montreal Spanish and Portu- 

guese synagogue. He held high rank 


Early 
Rabbis. 


Dr. among the Jewish leaders of his day. 
Abraham In addition to his ministerial duties he 
de Sola. occupied the chair of Semitic Jan- 


guages and literature at McGill Uni- 
versity, and was the author of many valuable works 
on theology, philology, and Jewish history. 

During Dr. De Sola’s pastorate a number of Mon- 
treal Israelites won distinction in public Hfe, nota- 

bly Dr. A. H. David, grandson of 
Some Lazarus David, who was dean of the 
Communal faculty of medicine of Bishop’s Col- 
Workers. lege; Samuel Benjamin, the first Jew 
elected to the Montreal city council; 
and Jesse Joseph, son of Henry Joseph of Berthier, 
one of Canada’s merchant princes, who gained prom- 
inence as the organizer and director of many of the 
most important Canadian public companies and in- 
stitutions. His brother Jacob was connected with 
the promotion of early Canadian railways and tele- 
graph lines, and another brother, Gershom, was the 
first Hebrew lawyer appointed a queen’s counsel] in 
Canada. All these men were officers of the Spanish 
and Portuguese synagogue, which also numbered 
among its active workers Goodman and William 
Benjamin, G. I. Ascher, and Jacob L. Samuel. 

Up to the middle of the nineteenth century the 
Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Montreal maintained 
the only synagogue in Canada; but about the year 
1845 a sufficient number of Jews had settled in 
Toronto to lead to the organization of asynagogueip 


527 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


4 


Canada 


a Se a RE ee ee 


that city. Little, however, was accomplished until 
1852, when a “bet hayyim” (cemetery) was pur- 
chased; and the Holy Blossom congregation was 
established. Mark Samuel, Lewis Samuel, and Alex- 
ander Miller did much to sustain the first Toronto 
congregation in its early struggles. Under the en- 
ergetic presidency of Alfred D. Benjamin, during 
-he closing years of the nineteenth century, it grew 
so greatly in strength and numbers that it became 
necessary to remove from its first building in Rich- 
wond street to its present (1902) commodious edifice 
in Bond street. The arrival of many Hebrew set- 
tlers has lately increased the number of Toronto's 
Jewish communal organizations; and, in addition to 
founding new congregations, the community has es- 
tablished excellent benevolent and literary societies. 
In 1846 several Polish-Jewish families arrived in 
Montreal, and in the same year organized a syna- 
gogue, following the German and Polish, or Ash- 
kenazic, customs. This led the Spanish and Portu- 
guese Jews to seek and obtain (1846) a new act of 
incorporation from the legislature, the 


Polish- Germanand Polish congregation being 
Jewish incorporated by the same bill. The 
Settlers. new congregation, however, was short- 


lived; for although the Sephardim 
aided their brethren with subscriptions and the loan 
of a scroll of the Law, the Montreal community was 
as yet toosmall to support two synagogues, and the 
first Ashkenazic congregation was in consequence 
dissolved soon after its formation. In 1858 asecond 
effort was made to organize a German and Polish 
synagogue in Montreal, this time with success. 
Abralam Hoffnung, M. A, Ollendorf, and Solomon 
Silverman were among the most active of its charter 
members; and the Rev. Samuel Hoffnung was its 
earliest minister. He was soon succeeded by the Rev. 
Mr. Fass, who in turn was followed by other promi- 
nent ministers. The first building of this congrega- 
tion was in St. Constant street, and was dedicated in 
1860. Its corner-stone was laid by David Moss, who 
belonged to a family that was active in advancing 
the welfare of this congregation during three dec- 
ades. The act of 1846 was first availed of: but in 
1902 the congregation secured a separate act of in- 
corporation. In 1886 they removed to their new 
edifice in McGill College avenue. 

Meanwhile the Spanish and Portuguese congre- 
gation had been deprived by death of the ser- 
vices of Dr, Abraham de Sola (1882). He was suc- 
ceeded by his eldest son, Rev. Meldola de Sola. 
As the Spanish and Portuguese congregation con- 
tinued to grow during the latter’s incumbency, a 
new synagogue was erected in Stanley street, where 
the congregation moved thence from Chenneville 
Street in 1890. The new edifice was of Judeao-Egyp- 
tian architecture, and owed its design to Clarence 
I. de Sola, one of the sons of Dr. Abraham de Sola, 
who was honorary secretary of the building com- 
mittee. In 1890 Shearith Israel secured a new act 
of incorporation from the legislature. 

Jewish congregations were meanwhile springing 
up in other parts of Canada. The discovery of gold 
in British Columbia in 1857 led to the settlement 
there of a Hebrew colony, which built a synagogue 
in Victoria in 1862. In 1882 a synagogue was 


erected in Hamilton; and a couple of years later the 
Jews of Winnipeg organized two congregations. 
Halifax, St. John (New Brunswick), Ottawa, and 
London (Ontario) followed in the next decade. In 
Quebec, Israelites had settled soon after the British 
conquest, and a bet hayyim and a temporary syna- 
gogue were opened there as far back as 1853. But 
the Hebrew population of the ancient fortress city 
remained small for a long while, although attempts 
were made from time to time to organize. Abra- 
ham Joseph (born 1815; died 1886), a son of Henry 
Joseph of Berthier, was the most prominent of Que- 
bee’s Jewish citizens. Ie was identified with many 
of its most important commercial enterprises, and 
was at one time selected as candidate for the mayor- 
alty. 

The serious outrages against the Jews in Russia 
which began in 1881, and the persecutions and anti- 
Semitic outbreaks which followed in eastern Europe, 
caused the influx of a large number of Russian, Ru- 
manian, Galician, and other Jewish immigrants into 

vanada during the two closing decades 


The of the nineteenth century and the open- 
Russian ing years of the twentieth. These, 
Outbreaks besides greatly swelling the population 
of 1881. of the already established Jewish com- 


munities, formed new settlements in 
numerous towns and villages throughout the Do- 
minion. Many of those who came in 1882 were as- 
sisted by the Mansion House committee of London 
and by a committee of Montreal Jews that had heen 
formed through the initiative of the Montreal branch 
of the Anglo-Jewish Association. A citizens’ com- 
mittee, organized by Christian sympathizers in Mon- 
treal, of which the Anglican bisbop was chairman, 
raised a substantial fund in aid of these victims of 
persecution. Some of the settlers founded agricul- 
tural colonies in the Canadian Northwest. The ear- 
liest of these was established near Moosomin in 1884 
by the Mansion House committee. The experiment 
of making agriculturists of men who had received 
little and in many Cases no previous training in hus- 
bandry was besct with difficulties; and the results 
were at first discouraging. But obstacles were grad- 
ually overcome, and the present (1902) agricultural 
colonies in Assiniboia, at Hirsch, Oxbow, and Wa- 
pella, seem assured of success. The establishment 
of these colonies was mainly due to the muniticence 
of Baron de Hirsch, who in 1892 and succceding 
years largely subsidized them; and after his death 
the Jewish Colonization Association continued to 
grant them financial aid. Baron de Hirsch’s bene- 
factions were also extended to Jewish immigrants in 
Canada inmany other ways. He gave large sums to 
the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society of 
Montreal, for the purpose of aiding and educating 

Jewish immigrants; and for a while 


Agri- that society was delegated by him and 
cultural his executors to supervise the North- 
Colonies. west agricultural colonies. This duty 


is, however, now performed by a resi- 

dent agent acting under the direction of the Paris 
committee of the Jewish Colonization Association. 

The Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society of 

Montreal, which thus became so closely connected 

with Baron de Hirsch’s work in Canada, was founded 


Canada 
Cancer 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


528 


ee me ee ee ee 


in 18683 through the efforts of Lawrence L. Levey 
(its first president), Isidore G. Ascher, Tucker David, 
Charles Levey, M. Gutman, Lawrence Cohen, Sam- 
uel Moss, Moise Schwob, and others; and among its 
presidents have been Jacob L. Samuel, Jacob G. 
Ascher, Lyon Silverman, Lewis A. Hart, Harris 
Vineberg, and D. A. Ansell. The large sums re- 
ceived by the society from Baron and Baroness de 
Hirsch induced its members to secure an amended 
act of incorporation in 1900; and its name was at 
the same time changed to “ The Baron de Hirsch In- 
stitute and Hebrew Benevolent Society of Montreal. ” 
In addition to succoring the poor and aiding immi- 
grants, it maintains a day-school. 

The Jews of Montreal have greatly increased in 
population in recent years; and in 1902 they pos- 
sessed nine synagogues (eight Orthodox and one Re- 
form) and numerous communal societies and institu- 
tions, as well as a journal, “The Jewish Times.” 
New congregations in other towns of Canada are 
also being founded from time to time. 

The rise of Zionism in 1897 created much enthusi- 
asm among the Jews of Canada; and in a remarka- 
bly short time societies in support of 
the movement were established in 
many centers, The first of these as- 
sociations was organized at Montreal in Jan., 1898; 
and in rapid succession similar societies were estab- 
lished at Toronto, Winnipeg, Hamilton, London, 
Ottawa, Kingston, St. John, Glace Bay, Brandon, 
anc Vancouver. Clarence I. de Sola, Joseph S. 
Leo, Leon Goldman, Rev. A. Ashinsky, Dr. D. A. 
Hart. J. Cohen, I. Rubenstein, H. Bernstein, Rev. 
M. de Sola, L. Cohen, and M. Shapira were among 
the earliest Canadian promoters of the movement. 
In 1899 all the Zionist societies in British North 
America were united under the control of the Feder- 
ation of Zionist Societies of Canada. Clarence I. de 
Sola was elected first president of the Federation; 
and he represented Canada at the International Zion- 
ist Congress held in London in 1900, where he was 
elected member of the Actions committee, the cen- 
tral governing bedy. The Jewish Colonial Trust 
and the National Fund count numerous shareholders 
in Canada; and Zionist organizations Low exist in 
nearly every important town in the Dominion. 

During the South African war, 1299-1902, several 
Canadian Jews enlisted in the British army and 
took part in many of the battles against thie 
Boers. 

The census of 1901 gave the total Jewish popula- 
tion of Canada as 16,060, divided among the provinces 
as follows: British Columbia, 548; 
Manitoba, 1,514; New Brunswick, 
376; Nova Scotia, 437; Ontario, 5,829; 
Prince Edward Island, 17; Quebec, 
7,575; Northwest Territories, 215; Yukon, 54. The 
three largest cities, according to the same census, 
show the following Jewish population: Montreal, 
6,790; Toronto, 3,090; Winnipeg, 1,156; adding the 
large number of immigrants who arrived from Ru- 
mania, Galicia, and Russia in 1901 and 1902, after 
the taking of the census, and adding also the many 
who were unenumerated in the religious census, it 
would seem that the Jewish population of Canada 
may now (1902) be estimated at from 20,000 to 


Zionism. 


Popu- 
lation. 


25,000, of whom at least 10,000 reside in Montreal) 


and environs. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY ; Clarence I. de Sola, The Spanish and Porty. 
quese Synagogue, and other historcal and_ biographical} 
sketches, in J. D. Borthwick’s History and Biographical 
Gazetteer of Montreal, Montreal, 182; idem, in Montreal} 
Star, Dec. 30, 1893; Joseph Tasse, Drots Politiques des JSuifs 
en Canada, in La Revue Canadienns Montreal, June, 1870 - 
Robert Christie, History of the Latz Province of Lower 
Canada, Quebec, 1850; Journaux dela Chambre a’ Asse in- 
blée du Bas Canada; Statutes of Lower Canada; Joby 
McMullen, History of Canada, Brociville, 1855; Papers of 
the Continental Congress ; H.&. Morais, Eminent Israelites 
of the Nineteenth Century, Philadephia, 1880; Jacques J, 
Lyons and Abrahain de Sola, Montred, in Jewish Calendar, 
1854; Minutes of the Corporation oj Spanish and Porty. 
gquese Jews, Shearith Israel, Montreal; Correspondence 
of the Corporation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Mon 
treal; records of the Hart, David, Joesph, and De Sola fami- 
lies, diary of Samuel David. 


A. C. I. pe 8. 


CANAIM OF CAGLIARI: Italian archeolo- 
gist of the eighth century, of whom nothing is 
known except that, like his contemporary towns- 
man, Abraham di Cagliari, he wes engaged in copy- 
ing and deciphering Phenician and Greek inserip- 
tions. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY; Gldemann, Geseh. (es Erziechungswesens 
und der Cultur der Juden in Italiin, p. 14, Vienna, 1884 ; 
Vessilo Israetitico, 1879, xxvii. 165. 

P. Wr. 


L. G. 


CANCELATION OF DOCUMENTS: An in- 
strument in writing may be canceled by cross-lines 
or by other marks obliterating it, or by burning or 
tearing the material on which the writing occurs. 

In the Jewish law there ace certain peculiar 
methods of cancelation by the curt as well as by 
the parties, when the purpose for which the instru- 
ments have been drawn has heen accomplished. 
When an obligation has ceased, the instrument crea- 
ting it is canceled by the court by being torn or cut 
crosswise through the date, through the names of 
the witnesses, or through other important parts of 
the document. Hence any doctment which bears 
such cuts or scissions is invalic, the presumption 
being that its validity has ceasel by a judicial act 

(Shulhan ‘Aruk, Eoshen Mishpat, 52, 

A Torn i; B.B. 168b). If she instrument pro- 

Document duced before the jadge has rents un- 

Invalid. like those made by the court, and ap- 

pears to have beer still further torn 

after the judicial cancelation, in order to destroy 

the peculiar rents made by thecourt, it is invalid 
(7b. gloss). 

An instrument may be cancded by the parties 
without the intervention of the sourt, by being cut 
with a knife, or tornin half (¢.) If the instrument 
produced does not bear these cbvious marks of a 
deliberate intent to cancel it, but is partly obliter- 
ated or torn or spotted, it remeins in full force as 
long as the writing can be recognized (ib. 52, 2); and 
the law provides a method for substituting a new 
instrument for the one thus narly destroyed (see 
AUTHENTICATION OF DOCUMENTS). 

A special instance of cancelation of an instrument 
by the court is the case of the “ketubah” (marriage 
settlement). When a woman was divorced she was 
entitled to payment of the sum provided by her 
ketubah. This was usually psid to her in court 
upon her production of her Get and her KETUBAH. 
After the payment had been made to her, the court 


529 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Canada 
Cancer 


tt RN Re 


took her get from her, tore it crosswise, and wrote 
on it these words: “ We have torn this get not for 
the purpose of canceling it, but in order that the 
wife may not again use it to claim the amount of 
ner ketubah” (Ket. 89b). This act was a cancela- 
tion of the ketubah, although it was the get which 
was torn and indorsed by the court. Unless the get 
was produced the woman could not claim her ke- 


tubah. After the Hadrianic revolt the law was 
changed. Among the edicts of the 
Cancela- Roman authorities intended to sup- 


tion of the press the last remnants of Jewish na- 
Ketubeh. tional life remaining after the unsuc- 
cessful rebellion was one making ita 
crime for Jews to write a get. This resulted in the 
practise of destroying the latter immediately after it 
had been delivered to the wife, so that its produc- 
tion might not incriminate the parties. Thereupon 
R. Simon ben Gamaliel decreed that the non-produc- 
tion of the get could not deprive the woman of her 
right to claim the ketubah, if the divorce were 
otherwise proved to have taken place (Git. 64a; 
Mishnah Ket. ix. 9). 

A peculiar case of cancelation of a contract by the 
act of one of the parties without the knowledge or 
consent of the other was the preparation of a “shetar 
moda‘a” (declaration of protest). This could be 
done in cases where one had been forced against his 
will to enter into an obligation. In such cases the 
person under duress, before actually entering into 
the obligation into which he was being forced, made 
a declaration before witnesses to the effect that he 
was about to be forced intoan agreement against his 
will, and that he intended to contest its validity there- 
after on that ground. This declaration was reduced 
vo writing and signed by the witnesses, and could be 
used afterward for the purpose of canceling the 
contract made under duress. 

The following form of such a shetar is given in 
“Nahalat Shib‘ah,” form 43: 


‘* Before us, the subscribing witnesses, came A, sonof B, and 
said to us, “ Be ye witnesses that I protest before you that C, son 
of D, owes me the sum of . and now he seeks every 
means to evade payment, and if I sue him in court, he threatens 
to claim poverty or to run away, and I am therefore obliged to 
compromise with him on his own terms, for fear lest he may 
seek means to injure me. I therefore declare before you that I 
am compelled under pressure of necessity to compromise with 
him; but hereafter I wish, by producing this instrument, con- 
taining my protest, before you, to cancel the compromise made, 
and to demand payment of the entire debt. For the compro- 
mise I am about to make with him ts the result of duress and 
against my will. Even though I may declare in the instrument 
containing the said compromise that this protest and all its 
proofs are invalid, I shall be doing it not of my free will, but 
under duress, as is known to you, and thereafter I intend to 
cancel it all through this instrument.’ This protest A, son of B, 
declared before us, and we the subscribers having observed his 
condition, and knowing it to be true and recognizing the great 
duress nnder which he is going to do this act, have received 
this protest from him and have written it and signed it before 
the compromise is made. This day and year,” etc. (Signed by 
two witnesses.) 


According to ancient law, when a husband had 
sent the get to his wife by a messenger, he had the 
right to cancel] it in this manner even before she re- 
ceived it, although neither the messenger nor the 
wife was present at the cancelation. The conse- 
quences of this were disastrous. The woman re- 
ceiving the get believed herself divorced, and might 

IIT. —34 


remarry, only to discover afterward that her hus- 
band had canceled the get, this making her an adul- 
teress and bastardizing her children by her second 
husband. Rabban Gamaliel abolished the right of 
the husband in such a case unless the wife or mes- 
senger were present (Mishnah Git. iv. 2), and his 
decision was supported by the later authorities (dd. 
38a). In casesof bills of manumission of slaves, the 
master had a similar right under the ancient law; 
but the sages decided that after he had directed his 
slave to become free, he could never revoke the 
order, since an advantage may be conferred on a 
person in his absence, but nothing could be done to 
cause him loss, except in his presence (7d. i. 6). 

There may be an implied cancelation of an instru- 
ment, as when two instruments concerning’ the same 
matter are prepared, one subsequent to the other. 
The second impliedly cancels or revokes the first 
(Ket. 44a). For cancelation of contracts see Con- 
TRACTS; for cancelation of sales, see SALE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: For other forms of the shetar moda‘a see J. G. 
C. Adler, nywow PN AW, 38 27, 28, Hamburg and Biitzow, 
1773; Judah ben Barzillai, Mwwr apd, No. 39, Berlin, 1898. 


J. SR. D. W. A. 


CANCER: A malignant growth of new tissue; 
usually in the form of a tumor. Whether removed 
or not, it tends to give rise to secondary growths 
in near or distant parts of the body, and to prove 
fatal. The term “cancer” is usually applied to 
malignant tumors formed of epithelial tissue, as car- 
cinoma and epithelioma; but in this article sarcoma 
is also included. 

Cancer is considered a disease of civilization, or 
of civilized races, and the relative mortality of large 
cities from this cause is greater than that of small 
ones. 

Lombroso, investigating the demography of the 

Jews in Italy, found that the mortality 

Occurrence from cancer among the general popu- 

in lation was 2 per cent; while the Jews 

Italy and showed a mortality from this disease 

England. of 3.30 per cent. He also shows that, 

as is the case with the general popula- 

tion, the disease of cancer more frequently attacks 
women than men, 

In England Dr. James Braithwaite noticed that 
cancer of the uterus was seldom or never met with 
among the numerous Jewesses attending the gyne- 
cological out-patient department of the Leeds Gen- 
eral Infirmary—only one case in ten years. The ex- 
perience of the London Hospital, where there is a 
special Hebrew department, is the same—only one 
case in five years, against 178 among Gentile women. 
Dr. Braithwaite considers that the only explanations 
possible are difference of race or difference in diet, 
especially the absence of pork from the Jewish diet. 
On the other hand, a writer in the “ British Medical 
Journal” (March 15, 1902, p. 681) states that, in his 
experience, cancer of the breast has often been met 
with among the Jewesses in London; and while ex- 


‘amples of nearly every form of cancer have been 


seen, there has seemed to be a special tendency to 
development of intestinal malignant growths. Of 
the patients dying between 40 and 65 years of age, 
a large percentage have been sufferers from cancer. 
The writer then brings figures from the records of 


Cancer 
Candlestick 





the United Synagogue Burial Society for three years 
—1898, 1899, 1900—showing that 525 deaths due to 
cancer occur annually among 1,000,000 Jews; while 
the cancer rate for England and Wales for 1896 was 
764 per 1,000,000 of population. From the registrar- 
general’s returns for London the rate for 1900 showed 
more than 800. 


CANCER AMONG THE JEWS IN LONDON. 


United Synagogue 





Registrar-Gen- Burial Society 
eral’s Returns. Returns. 
1900 } 1899 | 1898 | 1900 1898 
Deaths from all causes.| 86,007) 89,689) 83,936) 1,612 1,649 
Deaths stated to be 
from cancer ........ 4,251! 4,234) 4,084 37 34 
Pereentage of deaths 
from cancer ........ 4.9 4.7 4.8 2.3 2.06 
Deaths of persons over 
20 years Of age from 
all CauseS,.........6. 50,565} 51,922] 45,490) 609 O77 
Percentage of deaths 
from cancer to deaths 


from all causes of 
persons over 20 years 





Dr. John 8. Billings has shown that in the United 
States cancer occurs among Jews just as often as in 
the general population, as can be seen from the ap- 
pended table: 


CANCER DEATH-RATES PER 1,000 or ToTaL 
DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES. 





Males. | Females. 
DOWS sabe oh sdtareuee si Siamese teeedes varbesht 13.58 21.65 
General population of the United States 
(1880) ...... fore qewala aimee ke EAL Roped ohana s 13.09 23.59 


_ Statistics collected by Dr. Maurice Fishberg for 

the Russian and Polish Jews living in the seventh, 

tenth, and thirteenth wards of New 

In New York city show, on the other hand, 

York City. that they are less liable to succumb to 

cancer than the other inhabitants of 

the same districts, as can readily be seen from the 
appended table: 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


530 





The cancer death-rate among those whose mothers 
were not born in Russia or Poland was 825.12 per 
100,000; while that of the Russian and Polish Jews 
was only 120.07—less than one-half. 

Inquiries among surgeons and gynecologists who 
have a large experience among Jews in New York 
city have elicited the result that Jews are compara- 
tively less liable to be attacked by cancer than are 
other races. Dr. Abram Brothers states that of 
nearly 35,000 women examined by him (mostly Jew- 
ish) he has met with less than a half-dozen cases of 
eancer of the uterusin Jewish women; while he hag 
had several dozen cases in the same time in non- 
Jewesses. Dr. H. J. Boldt, basing upon an expe- 
rience gained by the examination of more than 1,000 
Jewish women annually, states that although he 
has operated upon a large number of Jewish women 
for cancer of the uterus, the proportion of the dis- 
ease in this race, compared with others, is very 
small, <A rough estimate is about one-tenth or even 
less. Thesame holds good with cancer of the breast, 
so far as his experience goes. 

As to the comparative morbidity of the Jews in 
the United States from cancer, the following statis- 
tics have been collected from the “ Annual Reports ” 
for 1898, 1899, 1900, of one Jewish hospital in New 
York city (Mount Sinai), and compared with the 
cancer cases from a hospital which admits few Jews 
(St. Luke’s). These are given in the following 
table: 


a 





St. Luke’s, 
7,933 Patients. 


Mount Sinai (Jewish), 
9,497 Patients. 





Parts 
Affected by 
Cancer. Number of ; Percent | Number of | Per cent 
Cancer Cases.'of Cancer.;Cancer Cases.|of Cancer, 
Uterus....... 18 6,98 59 15.98 
Breast....... 32 12.40 91 24.59 
Gastro-intes- 
tinal tract.. 81 31.40 48 12.98 
TAVOr: cockea's 19 7.37 14 8.78 
Rectum...... 12 4.66 25 6.76 
Other organs. 38 14.72 86 2.24 
Sarcoma..... 58 22.47 47 12.70 
Total sascss 258 | 100.00 370 100.00 





It appears from these figures that: (1) Malignant 
disease is by no means rare among Jews, although 


CANCER AMONG THE RUSSIAN AND PoLisH JEws IN New York Crry Durine THE Six YEARS 
Enpinea May 30, 1890. 















Cancer per 100,000 Popu- 





















Population. Deaths Due to Cancer. lation Total Three Wards. 
Ss 128 
Mothers Born in: & o ese 
& oe VSe 
wth | 10th | 13th | 7th | 10th | 13th | 7th | 10th | 18th Ee RS {ATs 
Ward. | Ward. } Ward. | Ward. | Ward. | Ward.| Ward. | Ward. | Ward. 2 2S | 523 
& | 2° | ese 
=) a 
es eS ne, ce en Sa Serene 
Russia and Poland (Jews)..; 16,295 | 30,476 | 13,190 15 33 24 92.05 | 108.28 | 181.95 | 59,961 72 120.07 
Other countries (including , 
United States) .....0.65. 41,071 | 27,120 | 82,694 | 126 108 | (OM 306.78 | 398.23 | 287.51 | 100,885! 328 $25.12 
Total.....seevee++--| 57,366 | 57,596 | 45,884 | 141 | 141 | 118 | 245.80 | 244.80 | 257.17 | 160,846, 400 | 248.68 









531 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cancer 
Candlestick 


_ ae 


it is less frequently met with than in other races. 
(2) Carcinoma and epithelioma, or true cancer, arc 
more frequent among the general pop- 

Results ulation—4.07 per cent of the total 
of Inquiry. number of patients sick from all 

causes were affected by these forms of 
cancer; while among Jews the percentage was only 
9.10 or about one-half. (8) Sarcoma is somewhat 
more frequent in Jews than in others; 0.061 per 
cent of sick Jews were affected with this form of 
malignant disease as against 0.059 per cent of the 
general population; 22.47 per cent of all cases of 
malignant disease among Jews suffered from sar- 
coma; while of the patients from the general popu- 
lation suffering with malignant disease,only 12.70 per 
cent were afflicted with sarcoma. (4) Cancer of the 
uterus and breast is less frequent in Jewish women 
than in other races. (5) Jews are more liable than 
non-Jews to be affected with cancer of the gastro- 
intestinal organs. Nearly 45 per cent of all cases 
of malignant disease in Jews occurred in the stom- 
ach, intestines, liver, pancreas, rectum, etc.; while 
in non-Jewish patients only 23 per cent of patients 
suffering from malignant disease were affected with 
cancer of these organs. (6) The only part of the 
gastro-intestinal tract which is less often attacked 
by cancer in Jews than in non-Jews is the rectum, 
and this notwithstanding the fact that Jews are 
markedly sufferers from other rectal diseases, such 
as hemorrhoids, fistula, etc. 

According to all available statistics, cancer is more 
than twice as frequent in women as in men, owing 
to the occurrence of the disease in the breast and 
womb. Among Jewesses, on the other hand, cancer 
_ of the breast and womb is less common than among 
the general population. As has been shown, these 
organs appear to be affected less than one-half as 
often as in the patients in the non-Jewish hospital. 
This explains why the total percentage of cancer 
is lower among Jews than in other races, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Lombroso, DL’ Antisemitismo e le Scienze 

Moderne, Turin. 1894; German translation, Leipsic, 1894; J. 

8. Billings, Vital Statistics of the Jews in the United States, 

Census Bulletin, No. 19, 1890, Washington, 1890; James 

Braithwaite,in The Lancet, clxi. 1578; Cancer Among 


Jews, in British Medical Journal, March{ 15, 1902, p. 681; 
Annual Reports of Mount Sinai Hospital, 1898, 1899, 1900. 


J. ; M. Fr. 
CANDIA. See CRETE. 


CANDIA, ISAAC B. SAUL CHMEL- 
NIKER: Hebrew poet; lived at Warsaw, Poland, 
in the first half of the nineteenth century. He is 
the author of an elegy on the death of Alexander L., 
emperor of Russia (Warsaw, 1826), the poem being 
accompanied by a German version of Elkan M. 
Engel. Candia also wrote “Toledot Mosheh” (The 
Generation of Moses), a dramatic poem in two acts 
based on the life of Moses, and supplemented by 
other poems, original, or translated from Schiller’s 
“Die Burgschaft,” and from Gellert (Warsaw, 1829). 
His dedication ode was written on the occasion of 
the dedication of a house of prayer and a house of 
the study of the Law (Sept. 25, 1840). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benjacob, Ozar_ ha-Sefarim, p. 620, No. 150; 
First, Bibl. Jud. i., s.v. Eis. Kandia; Steinschneider, Cat. 
Bodl. col. 1097, 

H, R, A, R. 


CANDLE TAX. See Taxation. 


CANDLESTICK (Hebrew, “menorah”; Ara- 
maic, “nebrashta,” Dan. v. 5): Mentioned as a sec- 
ular object only in II Kings iv.10. The candlestick 
in the Temple, however, is frequently referred to, 
although there is no reliable definite information 
from earlier times concerning its use or its shape. 

(1) In the temple of Shiloh a “ner” (lamp) is men- 
tioned, but not a “menorah ” (candlestick); accord- 

ing to L. Sam. iii. 3, the lamp seems 


Candle- to have burned only at night. In 
stick in I Kings vii. 49 ten golden candlesticks 
Pre-Exilic are referred to, five of which stood to 
Time. the right and five to the left of the 


“debir” (oracle); and in Jer. lii. 19 
menorot are also found, though not in the parailel 
passage, II Kings xxv.14. By modern critics, how- 
ever, both I Kings vii. 48-50 and Jer. lii. 19 have 
been held to be interpolations. It may be merely 
accidental that we have no stronger references to 
the use of candlesticks in Solomon’s Temple, for 
the number ten is undoubtedly based on ancient 
tradition; and if Solomon had no golden candle- 
sticks, he probably had them of bronze, cast for him 
by Huram (compare Stade’s “Zeitschrift,” iii. 173 
et seq.). 

(2) The seven-branched candlestick in the taber- 
nacle, described in Ex, xxv. 81 e¢ seg. and xxxvii. 
17 et seg., is attributed by the critics to post-exilic 

times, for the description is that of the 

Two Can- candlestick of the Second Temple. It 
dlesticks of was chased of pure gold, and called, 
the Second therefore, “menorah tehorah” (Ex. 


Temple, xxxi.8,xxxix. 37; Lev. xxiv. 4). From 
and of the a pedestal (“yarek ”), whichis not de- 
Tab- scribed, rose the trunk, and from this 
ernacle. spread the branches (“kaneh”), curv- 


ing upward from the stem at three 
points in a vertical line; on the trunk there are said 
to have been four, and on each of the branches three, 
calices shaped like almond blossoms; that is, bulbs 
with opening buds. On the branches were seven lamps 
(“nerot”), which were removed every day for trim- 
ming and refilling, and hence were called “nerot 
hama‘arakah ” (Ex. xxxix. 87). As the lamps evi- 
dently had spouts from which the wicks pro- 
truded, thus throwing the light principally to one 
side, the lamps had to be turned in such a way 
as to make the spouts point northward, for the 
candlestick was set over against the southern wall, 
in order to be to the left of any one entering the 
sanctuary. 
This candlestick corresponds on the whole to the 
one described in Zech. iv. 1 eé seg., except that the 
latter has seven branches, while the 
Symbolism one referred to in Ex. xxv. 31 ¢é¢ seq. 
of the Can- has only six branches, the seventh 
dlestick. light being fastened in the center. 
Both, however, represent a tree with 
six or seven branches respectively, as is evident 
from the fact that the candlestick in Ex. xxv. 31 e¢ 
seq. is ornamented with almond blossoms. The as- 
sumption that this seven-branched candlestick has a 
symbolic meaning is confirmed by Zech. iv. 1 et seq. 
The seven lights may be said to represent the seven 





Lamp Found at Khbirbat Sam- 
Inaka, near Carmel. 





From a Rock-Cut Tomb Near 
Jaffa. 


From the Entrance to a Tomb 
at Wadi al-Nahal. 





From the Bottom of a Glass Vase 
Now in the Museo Borgiano 
at Rome. 





From a Lintel in the Ruins of the Ane 
cient Synagogue of Nebratein. 





OEE: 
Sah 
LES = 
Woy 





The Golden Candlestick on the Arch of 
Titus, as It Appeared in 1710. 


(After Reland, * De Spoliis Templi Hierosolymitant 
in Arcu Titisno.” ) 


feeb gs 


: ” 
inn | te 
Ke eR 
come SS AN “hee 
PH i 
nin ig \ he 
Ce Nie 
, ; 
oe yar BA Bay, 
a ay 4 


Sora Ha: 


te 


” 


' eg ‘ at 
fae 





From the Great Mosque at Gaza, Dis- 
covered by Clermont-Ganneau. 





Lamp Found Among the Ruins 
of Carthage by P. Delattre, 


ry" y 


From a Gilt Glass Vase Found in 
the Jewish Catacombs af Rome. 





= 


From a Graftito Found in the 
Jewish Catacombs at Venosa. 





Hexagonal Arrangement of the 
Golden Candlestick (Hypo 
thetical). 


EARLIEST KNOWN REPRESENTATIONS OF THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK. 


533 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Candlestick 
Cansino, Abraham 


ee a eg Le ee te PN gt ee ee 


planets, which, regarded as the eyes of God, behold 
everything. The light in the center, which is es- 
pecially distinguished, would signify the sun, as 
the chief of the planets. It is possible that with 
this was also combined the mystic conception of a 
celestial tree, with leaves reaching to the sky, and 
fruit ty pifying the planets. How the connection with 
an almond-tree arose is not known, but it may have 
peen through the idea of stars as representing alm- 
onds. This symbolism was probably due to for- 
eign influence, for in the Babylonian religion the 
seven planets are the seven chief gods (compare 
Guukel, “Schépfung und Chaos,” pp. 124 et seq.). 
Zerubbabel’s teinple contained only one candlestick, 
as Ecclus. (Sirach) xxvi. 22 expressly states; An- 
tiochus Epiphanes had it removed and broken 
(I Mace. i. 22), while Judas Maccabeus restored it 
(iv. 49 e¢ seq.). Pompey saw the candlestick in the 
sanctuary (Josephus, “Ant.” xiv. 4, § 4), and it was 
also in the sanctuary of Herod’s temple (“B. J.” v. 5, 
§ 5). Illustrations of the seven-branched candlestick 
are found on the triumphal arch of Titus and on 
Jewish coins (see Madden, “Jewish Coinage,” p. 
231). Compare Tirvs, ARcH OF. 

It was forbidden to make copies of the golden 
candlestick for ritual purposes; and for other uses, 
only five-, six-, or eight-branched, instead of seven- 
pranched, candlesticks could be made. It is doubt- 
ful whether this restriction had anything to do with 
the fact that Onias hung up a golden chandelier in 
the temple of Leontopolis (compare Josephus, “B. 
J.” vii. 10, § 3). 

[The symbolism of the almond-tree is probably 
explained by Jer.i. 11, The traditions of the Rabbis 
may be found in Men. 28b and Maimonides, “ Yad,” 
Bet ha-Behirah, iii. 1-5. According to this au- 
thority the pedestal rested on three feet; other metal 
could be used than gold, and only when gold was 
used was the required weight (“ kikkar ”) insisted on. 
Otherwise the candlestick could even be hollow, but 
under no circumstance was it permissible to use for 
its manufacture broken scraps of metal. Josephus 
says that three of the lamps were kept burning dur- 
ing the day, while at night the entire seven were 
lighted ; but his statement conflicts with the explana- 
tion of the later rabbinical commentators, who hold 
that the lamp was lighted only during the night 
(Ibn Ezra and Rashi to Ex, /.¢c.). The prohibition 
of imitations applies to all Temple or tabernacle 
utensils (Men. 28b). Of interest as bearing on the 
distinction between “ner” and “menorah” may be 
the Midrashic story of the woman married to a man 
of lowcr social standing, likened to a “ golden can- 
dlestick with an earthen lamp on top” (Gen. R. 
xx.). Compare MEnoRAH, HANUKKAH.—E. G. H.] 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Reland, De Spoliis Templi Hierosolymitani 


in Arcu Titiano, 1775, pp. 82 et seq. 
E. G. i. W.N. 


CANISO, ABRAHAM LEVI. See Barrios, 
DantEt, Levi (MIGUEL) DE. 


CANIZAL, JACOB: Flourished probably in the 
fifteenth century. He was the author of notes on 
Rashi’s commentary to the Pentateuch, which were 
published in “ Perushim le-Rashi,” Constantinople, 
1525 (9), 


BIBLIOGRAPHY ; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 5575: Michael, 

ha-Hayyim, No. 281; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. 
Mus. s.v. Jacob Canizal. 

L. G. I. Ber. 


CANKERWORM. See Locust. 


CANNEH: A city mentioned in the long list of 
the contributors to Tyrian greatness and commercial 
power (Ezek, xxvii. 23). The name occurs in no 
other passage. Cornill takes it to be the “Calneh ” 
of Amos vi. 2; and one manuscript has that reading, 
which would, however, rather give the “Calneh ” of 
Gen, x. 10. According to Kiepert, it was Kasai, a 
city on the Tigris. Mez (“Gesch. der Stadt Har- 
ran,” 1892, p. 38), indorsed by Cheyne (“Encyc. 
Bibl.” i. 648), proposes to emend the name to “ B’nai 
Eden”; but, as Bertholet (“ Kurzer Hand-Commen- 
tar,” on Ezekiel) remarks, it would be extraordinary 
indeed for such a familiar word as “B'nai” to be 
corrupted into a form like “Canneh.” 

E. G. H. G. B. L. 


CANON: <A rule for the inclusion of certain 
books within a certain degree of sanctity; hence also 
the word “canonical.” Sce BIBLE CANON, J. 


CANOPY, BRIDAL. See Hupran. 


CANSINO: Spanish-Jewish family, famous in 
history for its wealth and influence, its scholars and 
poets. 

Jacob Cansino I. served as an interpreter at Oran, 
a Spanish colony in northwestern Africa, under 
Charles V., until 1556, when he was sent as an 
ambassador to the king of Morocco. The office was 
then held in regular succession by his son Isaac 
Cansino from 1568 to 1599, by his grandson Hayyim 
(Hayen) from 1601 to 1621, and by his great-grand- 
son Aaron from 1621 to 1688. After an interval of 
three years Aaron’s brother, Jacob Cansino IL, 
received the appointment (1636), and served until 
his death in 1666. He is known by his translation 
into Castilian of “Extremas y Grandenzas de Con- 
stantinopla,” from the Hebrew of Moses Almosnino. 

Other prominent members of the family were Solo- 
mon Cansino, poet; Moses Cansino, scholar; Samuel 
Cansino, cantor in the synagogue, and wealthy 
philanthropist, who ultimately lost the whole of 
his fortune to gamblers; and Rabbi Abraham Can- 
sino II., secretary of the Jewish community of Oran. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, Gesch.. der Juden, x. 413, note 2; Luz- 
zatto, in Kerem Hemed, iv, 34-35; Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. ii. 
524-528, No. 1101; Jost, Gesch. der Israetiten, viii. 42. 


D. A. R. 

CANSINO, ABRAHAM BEN JACOB: Il. 
Poet; lived in the seventeenth century. He is the 
author of “ Aguddat Ezob” (A Bunch of Hyssop), a 
collection of poems and rhetorical compositions, 
in three parts, praised very highly by Isaac Cansino 
and David Abu al-Khair (ayabx Yay). Abraham 
Cansino was once arrested by the Spanish authorities 
for having in his possession copies of the Babylonian 
and Palestinian Talmuds. His son was also taken, 


_and both were sent to Murcia, Spain, where they were 


treated like prisoners for a time, and fined $400; the 
copies of the Talmud were confiscated. His friends 
and relatives wrote poems of consolation to Lim; to 
these he replied from Murcia. 

2. An authority mentioned in the Mahzor Oran as 
writing, in the name of the Jewish community of 


| 


Cansino | 
Cantarini 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


534 


—— nN a Cec EC TT TT Seas, 


Oran, to the communities of Algiers in 1661, of Jeru- 
salem in 1663, and of Hebron in 1668. In 1679 
he lived in Leghorn, Italy, where he received a letter 
from Tunis. This Abraham Cansino may be iden- 
tified with Abraham Cansino, rabbi and preacher, 
brother of Isaac Cansino of whom Wolf speaks 
(“Bibl. Hebr.” iii., Nos. 143b, 1101, and 1265c). 
Kayserling mentions an Abraham Cansino who was 
rabbi at Leghorn in 1685, and evidently refers to the 
same person. Luzzatto thinks that this Abraham 
Cansino is not to be identified with the poet of the 
same name. 

3. An authority mentioned in the Mahzor Oran 
as livingat Leghorn in1709. As heis not addressed 
by the titles usually given torabbis, Luzzatto thinks 
that he was not a rabbi, and therefore not to be iden- 
tified with either of the above. The epitaph of an 
Abraham Cansino written by Jacob Sasportas is 
given in the Mahzor Oran, but furnishes no indica- 
tion of the place or date of its writing. 

Mention is also made of an Abraham Cansino, 
author of the epitaph on David Francis, who died 
about 1696. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 33; S. 
D. Luzzatto, Kerem Hemed, iv. 34-385. See Isaac CANSINO 
and CANSINO family. 


D. A. R., 


CANSINO, ISAAC (BEN HAYYIM): Poet 
and prominent member of the Jewish community of 
Oran; died in 1672; probably a brother of Jacob 
Cansino II, He was a liturgical poet of high at- 
tainments, and cantor in the synagogue on the Day 
of Atonement, an office regarded as a post of honor. 
Cansino’s greatest work is the first part of the so- 
called Mahzor Oran, which contains many poems 
written by him. Among his occasional poems are 
one in praise of the collection of poems, “ Aguddat 
Ezob,” by Abraham Cansino (1); a dirge on the 
death of Aaron Cansino in 1633; and one of sym- 
pathy to Samuel Cansino on the occasion of the loss 
of his fortune by the cheating of gamblers. 

Wolf (“Bibl. Hebr.” iii., Nos. 1265c and 1101) 
speaks of Isaac Cansino, a brother of Abraham Can- 
sino, who embraced Christianity after the expulsion 
of the Jews from Oran in 1668. This Isaac Can- 
sino, however, can hardly be identical with the one 
above mentioned. Kayserling also mentions an 
Isaac Cansino, publisher at Amsterdam in 1685, 
whose relationship with the Cansinos of Oran is un- 
known. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ; Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 33; Luz- 
zatto, Kerem Hemea, iv, 34-35; Jost, Gesch. der Israeliten, 

viii. 42. See Abraham CANSINO and CANSINO family. 


D. A. R. 


CANSINO, JACOB: “Vassal of his Catholic 
majesty and interpreter of languages in the places 
of Oran” (so styled by himself); died Sept. 19, 1666. 
He was the fifth in succession of the Cansino family 
to hold the office of royal interpreter. Upon the 
death of his brother Aaron in 1633, the office was 
given by King Philip LV. of Spain to Yahob Capor- 
tas (whom Graetz identifies with Jacob Sasportas), 
a member of an influential Jewish family which 
rivaled the Cansinos. Thereupon Jacob Cansino 
came to Madrid, petitioned the king for the office in 
consideration of the services rendered by his family 


to the government, and obtained the appointment 
in 1636, with a salary of 25 scudi (dollars) per 
month. 

As a man of letters Jacob Cansino is known for 
his translation into Castilian of a Hebrew book by 
Moses Almosnino, under the title “ Extremas 
Grandenzas de Constantinopla,” published at Madrid 
by Francisco Martinez, 1638, The preface includes 
an extract from the book of the royal secretary, 
Augustus Maldonatus, enumerating the various 
offices held by members of the Cansino family, and 
a letter from King Philip LV. in appreciation of 
their services. Jacob Cansino excited the enmity of 
Marquis de Los Veles, governor of Oran, who wished 
to give the office held by the former to the husband 
of one of his favorites. Jacob was too firmly estab- 
lished in his position, however, and remained in office 
until his death. In 1668 the Jews were expelled 
from Onra at the instigation of the governor. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, x. 235, 413, note 2; 
Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 83; Luzzatto, Kerem 
Hemea, iv. 34-35; Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. iii. 524-526, No. 1101; 
Jost, Gesch. der Isractliten, viii. 42. 


D, A. R. 


CANSTATT, KARL FRIEDRICH: Ger- 
man physician and medical author; born at Regens- 
burg July 11, 1807; died at Erlangen March 14, 
1850. He was one of the pioneers of the modern 
school of medicine in Germany, and numbered Pro- 
fessor Virchow among his pupils. Canstatt studied 
at the University of Viennaand, later, under 
Schénlein at Wiirzburg, where in 1831 he obtained 
his doctor’s degree. A year later he went to Paris 
to study Asiatic cholera, then epidemicin the French 
capital. His monograph on this disease, published 
the same year, attracted the attention of the Belgian 
government, which commissioned him to plan a 
cholera hospital. 

He remained in Brussels until 1838, when he re- 
turned to Regensburg to practise ophthalmology, in 
which he had won signal success in Belgium. The 
same year he was appointed official physician to the 
provincial law court at Ansbach, where he remained 
until 1843. On the death of Hencke (1848) he was 
called to the University of Erlangen to fill the chair 
of pathology. Three years later he was attacked by 
tuberculosis, and thinking thata change of air would 
benefit him, he went to Pisa, Italy; but he remained 
there for a short time only, and on his return to 
Erlangen he died. 

Canstatt’s greatest service to medicine was the 
conception and publication of the “ Jahresbericht 
tiber die Fortschritte der Gesammten Medicin Aller 
Lander,” begun in 1841 and continued after Can- 
statt’s death by Professor Virchow. The work next 
in importance was his “ Handbuch der Medicinischen 
Klinik ” (1841). Other publications were: a mono- 
graph on diseases of the eyes (1841); “Die Cholera 
in Paris” (1882); “Ueber die Krankheiten der Cho- 
reida ” (1887); “Die Krankheiten des Héheren Alters 
und Ihre Heilung” (1839); “Die Specielle Patho- 
logie und Therapie,” ete. (1841-42); a monograph 
on Bright’s disease (1844) ;and “ Klinische Rickblicke 
und Abhandlungen ” (1848). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, iii. T62- 

764; Meyers, Konversations-Lexikon, tii. 841. 


Ss. EK. Ms. 


535 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cansino 
Cantarini 


sn nnn nn I A A 


CANTARINI: A distinguished family of Ital- 
jap Jews tracing their descent from Gherescion 
(Grassin) Cantarini, who, when one year old, 
was driven from his native place, Asolo, and was 
taken to Padua (1547), where his descendants were 
leaders of the community for the next 300 years. 
A sketch pedigree, including the best-known mem- 
pers of the family, may be made up as follows: 


Gherescion (Grassin) Cantarini 
(1546-1620) 


[Isaac] 


Samuel 


Azriel Dr. Kalo- Dr. Judah Samuel (Simon) Jacob Isaac 
(1577-1653) nymus Leon (1596-1631) (1600-1677) 
) (1595-1651) | 


| (Clemente 
Hayyim (1593-1631) Isaac Hayyim 
(fi. 1662) (1644-1723) 
Rafael 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mortara, Indice, p. 10. J 
CANTARINI, AZRIEL (ANGELO) BEN 

SAMUEL (SIMON) HA-KOHEN : Italian rabbi; 

born 1577 at Padua; died there 1658. He was rabbi 

and preacher in his native city, and directed the 

yeshibah Lekah Tob there. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p. 
282; Mortara, Indice, p. 10; Jacob Lebet-Levi, Responsa, 


No. 68 
L. G. I. BER. 


CANTARINI, HAYYIM MOSES (AN- 
GELO) BEN ISAIAH AZRIEL: Italian physi- 
cian, rabbi, poet, and writer; lived in the second half 
of the seventeenth and the first half of the eight- 
eenth century at Padua, where he was also instructor 
in the yeshibah. He published in Italian: “ Chi- 
rurgia Pratica,” Padua, 1677. At his death he left 
the following manuscript works in Hebrew (Ghi- 
rondi MSS.): “Haggahot,” glosses on some halakic 
works of post-Talmudic authors; “ Mar’eh ha-Seneh” 
(Vision of the Thorn-Bush), a description of a perse- 
cution of the Jews at Padua, probably of the same 
one of which the work of his uncle Isaac Hayyim 
CaNTARINi, “Pahad Yizhak,” treats. Responsa of 
his are also extant in manuscript. 

Wolf (“ Bibl. Hebr.” iii. 565) mentions Cantarini’s 
correspondence with the Christian scholar Unger 
of Silesia on the history of the Jews in Italy. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledoat Gedole Yisrael, pp. 
102, 230; Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. 1876, p. 37; th. 1877, p. 89. 
eG: I. Ber. 
CANTARINI, ISAAC HAYYIM (VITA), 
(also called Raphael ben Jacob Isaac ha-Kohen): 
Italian poet, writer, physician, and rabbi; born Feb. 
2, 1644, at Padua; died there June 8, 1723. He 
studied Hebrew and the Talmud with Solomon 
Marini, author of the “Tikkun ‘Olam,” and with 
the poet Moses Catalano. His instructor in the sec- 
ular branches was Bernardo de Laurentius. 
Cantarini received his diploma as physician at 
Padua Feb. 11, 1664; and in addition to following 
the profession of medicine, he very often preached 
in the Ashkenazic synagogue. His sermons were 
frequently attended by Christians, the number of 
these on one occasion being so great that the Jews 


had to find seats in the women’s gallery. He also 
taught in the yeshibah, and officiated as cantor, es- 
pecially on the Day of Atonement. As he had a 
thorough knowledge of the Talmud, his decisions 
were often sought in halakic cases. 

Cantarini had an extensive practise, especially 
among the patricians outside of Padua, but at the 
end of his life, having lost his property through 
others, he was in straitened circumstances. Many 
elegies were written at the time of his death, among 
ting by his pupil Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Venice, 

In his poetical writings Cantarini based his lan- 
guage almost exclusively on that of the Bible: his 
Sentences containing, in addition to 
innumerable conceits, allusions to 
Biblical expressions. The contents of 
his works must be judged apart from 
their unpleasing form, being remarkable for pithy 
sense and elegant definition. 

The most important of his Hebrew works is 
“Pahad Yizhak” (The Fear of Isaac), a description 
of the attack on the ghetto at Padua by the Chris- 
tian populace Aug. 20, 1684, published at Amster- 
dam, 1685. The work contains a detailed account 
of all the incidents, in most of which he had taken 
part (“Ozar Nehmad,” iii. 131); and many docu- 
ments of the governments of Padua and Venice are 
therein translated and quoted in Hebrew. An ac- 
count of the internal condition of the community, 
together with statistics, serves as an introduction 
(p. 10). The author develops entirely modern theo- 
ries on the causes of these occurrences in the po- 
litical as well as the physical world (5a et seq.). 
Noteworthy also is his decided tolerance toward 
Christians (see, for instance, pp. 9a, 23g). 

The following poems were published by Cantarini; 
they are nearly all occasional: “ Pi Sefarim” (Mouth 

of Books), festal songs written when 
His Poems. the teachers of the yeshibah decided 

to include the study of the treatise 
of Hullin (Venice, 1669). A poem in the form of 
a psalm, on the delivery of the community from 
the hands of the populace Aug. 20, 1684, is printed 
in the “ Pahad Yizhak ” (p. 51b), which was formerly 
read every year on the anniversary of the attack (10 
Elul)in thesynagogue. Other poems are printed in 
his works “‘Ekeb Rab” and “ ‘Et Kez ” (see below), 
and in the prefaces to the “ Kebunnat Abraham ” of 
Abraham Cohen, and the “ Ma‘aseh Tobiah” of To- 
bias Cohen. Cantarini also wrote a paraphrase of 
the majority of the Psalms, which has not yet been 
printed. Many of his poems in manuscript were in 
Ghirondi’s possession. Some of his poems have also 
been inscribed on the walls of the large Ashkenazic 
synagogue of Padua, which was built during his 
life. Tfis “‘Et Kez” (Time of the End) deals with 
the time of the advent of the Messiah (Amsterdam, 
1710), while the “ ‘Ekeb Rab ” (Great Consequence), is 
a collection of responsa in Hebrew and Italian, con- 
cerning the oath which the tax-collectors of the 
community of Padua took before the wardens 
(Venice, 1711). The manuscript of his “Leb Ha- 
kam” (Heart of the Wise) was in Ghirondi’s posses- 
sion. His “Hayve Besarim” (Physical Life), “Leb 
Marpeh” (Healing Heart), and “Shibat Tishbi” 


His 
Style. 


Cantarini 
Cantillation 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


536 





(Reply to the Tishbite), a polemic against Elijah 
Levita’s “ Tishbi,” have not yet been printed. Can- 
tarini’s Hebrew letters, addressed to the Christiar 
scholar Unger of Silesia, are interesting as contain- 
ing notices on the Jewish writers of Italy (Hamburg 
MS. No. 335, reprinted in “Ozar Nehmad,” iii. 128 
et seg.). Walakic responsa of his are printed in Isaac 
Lampronti’s “Pahad Yizhak” and in Simson Mor- 
purgo’s “Shemesh Zedakah ” (Orah Hayyim, No. 4, 
and Hoshen Mishpat, No. 38). 

In Latin Cantarini wrote the “ Vindex Sanguinis,” 
a reply to the work on blood accusation of Jacob 
Geuze(Amsterdam, 1681). Three Latin 
letters by him have also been published ; 
one of them dealing with natural his- 
tory, is addressed to his teacher Ber- 
nardo de Laurentius (Padua, 1856, ed. Osimo). 

An Italian responsum of his is mentioned (trans- 
lated into Hebrew 
in Isaac Lam- 
pronti’s “ Pahad 
Yizhak,” under 
“piy). Many of his 
Jtalian sermons in 
manuscript were in 
Ghirondi’s posses- 
sion. There have 
also been preserved 
several “consulti” 
(partly in Latin) 
on medical subjects 
(“Ozar Nebmad,” 
iii. 148). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi- 

Ghirondi, Toledot Ge- 

dole Yisrael, pp. 143, 

154: Mortara, Indice, 

p. 10; Steinschneider, 

Cat. Bodl. No. 58273 

idem, Catalog der 

Hebriischen Hand- 

schriften in der 

Stadtbibliothek zu 

Hamburg, p. _163; 

idem, in Hebr. Bibl. 

1876, p. 38; idem, in 

Monatsschrift, 1899, 

pp. 475-476; Luzzatto, 

in Ozar Nehmad, iii. 

148; Delitzsch, Zur 

Gesch. der Jidischen 

Poesie, pp. 72, 74, 

174; Zedner, Auswahl 

Historischer Stiicke, 

pp. 146 et seq.; Zunz, 

Z2.G.p.282; Almanzi, 

in Kerem Hemed, iii. 

115; Fuenn, Keneset 

Yisrael, p. 611; Ben- 

jacob, Ozar ha-Sefa- 

rim, pp. 448, 457, 528; 

Caspary, Gesch. der 

Ttalienischen  Litte- 

ratur, ii. 331; Etienne, 

Histoire dela Littérature Italienne, pp. 465 et seq. 

L. G. I. BER. 

CANTARINI, JUDAH (LEON) BEN SAM- 
UEL (SIMON) HA-KOHEN : Italian physician 
and rabbi; born about 1650 at Padua; died there 
April 28, 1694, He had a large practise among the 
Christian as well as the Jewish population of that 
city, visiting the poorer of his patients four times a 
day without charge. Cantarini founded a yeshibah 
in the synagogue of the Ashkenazim, where he 
taught the Talmud, in which he was very learned. 


He also officiated as preacher. A letter of his is 


Latin 
Works. 


i VA 
; Ae, 
Lf 05 40 
“ty 
of 


2 
Ff 


J 
rN 
he 
ie “a 
y AYA 
ON * 





Map of Canterbury, Showing Position of Jewry. 
(From Speed, “‘ The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine,”? 1676.) 


extant, addressed to Jacob Lebet-Levi, and deal- 
ing with a legal quarrel in which Cantarini was 
involved. This letter, which testifies to his thor. 
ough knowledge of the Talmud, is written in a very 
pure and classical Hebrew. At Cantarini’s death 
his nephew, Isaac Hayyim Cantarini, wrote his obit- 
uary. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. H. Cantarini, Pakad Yizhak, pp. 10a, 42a ; 
idem, in Ozar_ Nehmad, ili. 145; Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot 
Gedole Yisrael, p. 198; Steinschneider, in Monatsschrift, 
1899, p. 472, 

I. Ber. 


L. G. 

CANTARINI, KALONYMUS AARON 
(CLEMENT) BEN SAMUEL (SIMON) HA.~ 
KOHEN : Italian physician; born in 1593 at Padua; 
died there July 380, 1631, of the plague. He was 
famous as a Talnudist, as wellas for his extensive 
knowledge of the profane sciences. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : 
Ghirondi, Toledot Ge- 
dole Yisrael, p. 302; 
Mortara, Indice, p. 10, 


L. G. J. Ber. 


Nepi- 


CANTARINI, 
SAMUEL (SI- 
MON) BEN 
GERSON HA.- 
KOHEN: Official 
procurator of the 
Jewish community 
of Padua; born 
about 1561: died 
1681 during the 
plague, to which 
also two of his sons 
and other members 
of his family suc- 
cumbed. His sons 
were Azriel, Ka- 
lonymus, and 
Judah Cantarini. 
Isaac Hayyim 
Cantarini was his 
grandson. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi- 
Ghirondi, Toledot Ge- 
dole Yisrael, p. 342 ; 
yore Indice, p.- 


u.G@ I. Ber. 
CANTER- 
BURY: Large 
town in Kent, Eng- 
land, containing the 
metropolitan cathedral. Jews were settled here 
in the twelfth century. They seem to have been 
on very good terms with the monks, taking 
their side in a controversy with the archbishop. 
Gervase of Canterbury (“Chronicles,” i. 405) was 
struck by the contrast between the archbishop 
excommunicating the monks and the Jews pray- 
ing for them. Reference is made to the inn of 
a Jew at Canterbury (Robertson, “Materials for Life 
of Becket,” fi. 7). In Speed’s map of Canterbury 
there isa “Jewry Lane” opposite All Saints’; while, 
according to Somner (“ Antiquities of Canterbury.” 


537 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cantarini 
Cantillation 


a a a a 


p. 124, 125), the site of the ancient synagogue was 
that of the Saracen’s Inn. 

Only two rabbis of any importance are said to have 
peen connected with the town of Canterbury. These 
are AARON OF CANTERBURY and BENJAMIN OF CAN- 
PERBURY, the latter of whom Joseph Jacobs has at- 
tempted to identify with a Benjamin of Cambridge 
(see CAMBRIDGE). The community preserved its 
importance up to the Expulsion, as it was the scat 
of an archa or chest for the preservation of deeds. 
Soon after the return of the Jews to England a 
synagogue was founded in King street, Canterbury 
(about 1780), and a small congregation has remained 
in the town up to the present day. A synagogue 
was builtin St. Dunstan's, but was replaced (1847) 
by anew building, which was erected on the site of 
the old Templars’ Church. There are now only 
thirteen resident Jewish families in the city, though 
a large number of casual poor pass through it an- 
nually. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, pp. 98, 
375; Hasted, Canterbury, i. 61, 126; ii. 364; Margoliouth, 
Jews in Great Britain, iii. 135, 186. j 


CANTHERAS: Surname of Simon, the son of 
Boethus, the high priest, according to Josephus 
“Ant.” xix. 6, §$ 2, 4; compare 2b. 8, § 1, where 
Elioneus, son of Cantheras, is mentioned as having 
also been appointed high priest by King Agrippa 
(41-44). Abba Saul ben Batnit and Abba Jose ben 
Johanan of Jerusalem, contemporary leaders of the 
Hasidic party, however, regarded the house of Can- 
theras as a different one from the house of Boethus, 
when they both exclaimed: “Wo unto me from the 
house of Boethus; wo unto me from their club! Wo 
unto me from the house of Kadros [Cathros = Can- 
theras]; wo unto me from their pen!” (see Tosef., 
Men. xiii. 21; Pes. 57a), while Elioneus is mentioned 
in Parah iii. 5 as son of Joseph Caiaphas. Gritz 
(“Gesch. der Juden,” 4th ed., iii. 789-746, and “ Mo- 
natsschrift,” 1881, pp. 97-112) blames Josephus for 
having confused the names; Schiirer (“Gesch.” 3d 
ed., ii. 218, notes 11, 14) accepts Josephus’ informa- 
tion as correct (compare Derenbourg, “ Histoire de 
la Palestine,” pp. 215, 233). K. 


CANTICLES, BOOK OF. See Sone or Songs. 


CANTILLATION: Mode of intonation used in 
public recital of prayers and Holy Scripture. The 
infinite gradations of tone in ordinary speech serve 
to bring home to the listener the interrelation and 
coordination of the words used by the speaker. 
Even when the listeners do not exceed the small 
circle that can be reached by the ordinary speaking 
voice, the delicate shade of meaning to be conveyed 
by the structure adopted for the sentence will not 
be appreciated by them unless certain conventiona}- 
ities of pitch are introduced in utterance. These con- 
ventionalities of pitch result in an elementary form 
of song, and thus became early known as “singing 
to speech ” (tpoowdia, accentus\, But when a larger 
audience is addressed the assistance of a sing-song 
utterance in marking this accent or prosody, and ren- 
dering the precise interdependence of the successive 
words unnistakable, has been recognized by all who 
have ever had to speak in the open air or in a large 


building, and has been from the earliest ages 
adopted for the public recitation of sacred texts. 
Among Jews the desire to read the Scriptures in 
the manner described in Neh. viii. 8 has from time 
immemorial resulted in the use of some sort of 
musical declamation. This mode of recitation, de- 
pending not upon the rhythm and sequence of the 
sounds chanted, but upon the rhythm and sequence 
of the sylables to which they are chanted, is known 
as cantillation, 

In describing synagogal chanting, it is necessary to 
distinguish the intonation traditionally employed for 
the text of the prayers—the component sounds of 
which are dependent upon the momentary impulse of 
the reader, checked only by the fixed melody of the 
coda with which the benediction concludes—from 
the intonation traditionally employed for the text 
of the Scriptural lessons (the elements of which 
are rigidly fixed). The first is discussed in the 
general article on Music, SyNagoGaL, under the 
heading “ Prayer-Motives.” The cantillation which 
is here described forms the musical interpretation of 
the AccENTS which accompany the text of the He- 
brew Scriptures. 

These signs, mi3°33 (“strings,” “musical notes”), 
or, in the older expression, DYDpy (“ adornments,” 
“tropes”), have been discussed, from the grammati- 
cal point of view, in AccENTs. The musical sys- 
tem to which they now serve as 3 notation, apart 
from their syntactical force, must have existed 
long before the need was felt for such a notation, 

even aS VOCALIZATION was in use 


The long before the vowel-signs were in- 
Chant Pre- vented. The notation which fixed 
ceded Its the traditional pronunciation of each 
Notation. word may well, as Wickes points out, 


have been introduced at the same period 
and for the same reasons as the notation which fixed 
the traditional modulation. And, similarly,the causes 
which have led to a geographical variation of the 
original sounds in the one case have brought it 
ahout in the other. 

The earliest reference to the definite modulation 
of the Scripture occurs in the Babylonian Talmud 
(Meg. 82a), where R. Johanan deprecates the indiffer- 
ence of such as “read [the text] without tunefulness 
and repeat [the Mishnah] without song.” The use 
of the term pny; (“tunefulness”) shows that a 
melody definite enough to cause a pleasant impres- 
sion was already attached to the Scriptural reading, 
and that it had long passed the stage of a syllabic 
plain-song which could only bring out the rhythm 
of the cursus as one group of syllables succeeded an- 
other. The cantillation must already have become 
“melismatic,” with groups of notes, that is, attached 
to the more important syllables, so that the meaning 
of the text as well as its rhythm received emphasis 
and illustration from the chant, 

If the cantillation was already tuneful to conten- 
porary ears, the way had been cleared for its her- 
meneutic application to the text. The vocal phrases 
which constituted its melodious element would, by 
their distinctness from the monotone recitation 
which joined them into tuneful succession, serve to 
bring out the logical and syntactical importance of 
the syllables sung to them from among the other 


Cantillation 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


538 





syllables comparatively slurred over on one note. 
“In this way the music was made to mark not only 
the broad lines, but the finest shades of distinction 
in the sense; and when its signs were introduced 
into the text, they were also the signs of ¢nterpune- 
tion; no others were needed” (Wickes). Fora long 
time no such signs, however, were necessary: the 
cantillation was transmitted orally, and teachers 
were recognized whose profession it was to give in- 
struction in “the pausal system of the 

Early accentuation” (Ned. 3%a). But pre- 
References. cisely as in the case of the plain-song 
of the churches, memoria technice were 

gradually introduced in the private scrolls of indi- 
vidual masters, probably at a very early date—later 
crystallizing into the Babylonian and Palestinian 
systems of Accents. Before this necessity for a 
notation was generally felt, a system of manual 
signs had been developed (Ber. 62a), just as in the 
Greek Church, where it was called the yepovouia 
(“Manuum variis motibus altitudinem, depres- 
sionem, flexus vocis significabant ”); and the system 
survived into the Middle Ages, being referred to by 
Ben Asher (D'DYON *pITpPt, ed. Baer and Strack, 18), 
and later by Rashi (on Ber. 62a), while Pethahiah of 
Regensburg found them still practised in the Bag- 
dad synagogues in the twelfth century. In modern 
times it has been noticed by Joseph Saphirin Yemen 
(Eben “Safir,” i. 56b) and by Burkhardt in Tiberias. 
This chironomy, like that of the churches, must 
have been based upon the rise and fall of the finger 
as the notes employed seemed to rise and to fall in 
succession. However much the point and straight 
line, as in the fifth-century Syriac system, may have 
been utilized for the bases of notation, 


The yet the manual movements and the 
Chiron- written signs must often have mutu- 
omy and ally counteracted (compare “ Manuel 
Notation. du Lecteur,” ed. J. Derenbourg, p. 16). 


In its present state, however, calli- 
graphy rarely depicts the rise and fall of the voice, 
for the accents are intended only to remind readers 
of certain intonations they have already learned by 
ear. So the signs do not designate any tonal value 
or any sort of succession of notes, but only that a 
conventional series of sounds are to be grouped on 
a syllable in a certain manner. 

Attempts have been made to reconstitute the 
oldest form of the cantillation by J. C. Speidel 
(“Spuren von der Alten Davidischen Sing-Kunst,” 
Waiblingen, 1740), C. G. Anton (in Paulus’ “ Neues 
Repertorium fiir Biblische Litteratur,” Jena, 1790), 
L. Haupt (‘Sechs Alttestamentliche Psalmen,” Gor- 
litz, 1854), and L. Arends (“ Ueber den Sprachgesang 
der Vorzeit,” Berlin, 1867). But as these investi- 
gators did not combine that acquaintance at once 
with Hebrew grammar and history and with syna- 
¢ogal music on which Delitzsch rightly insists for 
the study of the subject (“ Physiologie und Musik in 
Ihrer Bedeutung fiir die Grammatik, Besonders die 
Tlebriiische,” Leipsic, 1868), the fanciful in their 
conclusions outweighs the probable. 

The Hebrew Bible is now pointed with two svs- 
tems of accents. Of the system employed in the 
three poetical books, 7'p’s, Job, Proverbs, Psalms, 
the vocal interpretation has been forgotten, al- 


though traces of it appear to have been still re- 
tained in the fourteenth century (compare Simon ben 
Zemah Duran, M\3N 9, 52b), This loss is probably 

due to the early discovery that for 


One congregational use—the chief employ- 
Species ment of the Psalms, at least—the util- 
Lost. ization would be at once more simple 


and more effective of a chant identical 
in each successive verse, and with enough melodic 
definiteness and individuality to be easily remem- 
bered, in comparison with a pointed cantillation 
varied from verse to verse, and demanding continu- 
ous attention from the readers. The similar micas- 
urement and dichotomy of verses in these poetical 
books would sometimes, indeed, suggest such a fixed 
melody by the similar accentuation of successive - 
verses. But the prose Scriptures are recited by an 
individual, and for them the commoner species of 
pointing isemployed. For this accentuation of the 
“twenty-one books” the cantillation vigorously sur- 
vives in acertain number of antique forms, divergent 
in detail of tune and especially in tonality (or scale 
structure), but parallel in character and in outline. 
This parallelism of divergent forms results in sev- 
eral divergent musical interpretations being given to 
the accents in cach MinwaG or rite traditional among 
Jews since the Middle Ages (remarked before 1444 
in 8. Duran’s MAIN 439, 52b). This feature is proba- 
bly of great antiquity, and may have already existed 
in the Talmudical age. A similar parallelism is 
noticeable among the various prayer-motives (or 
outlines of melody for intoning the devotional por- 
tions of the various services; see Music, SYNAGOGAL) 
in each rite, and exhibits the same uniformity of 
employment of different tonalities. The principle 
seems to be general in Jewish worship-music, and 
may be formulated as the specific allotment in tra- 
dition of a particular mode or secale-form to each 
sacred occasion, on account of some esthetic appro- 
priateness felt to lie in the association. While the 
only two modes utilized in modern European music, 
the major and the minor, are to be met with, they 
are of insignificance in face of the rich variety of 
modes of an antique or Oriental character more fre- 
quently favored in all the musical rituals which 
have not recently broken with tradition. The can- 
tillation adheres only to modes similar to those of 
the Catholic plain-song, probably from 
a contemporary development at the 
close of the Dark Ages. The resem- 
blance of some tropes to intonations 
employed in reading the Koran is at 
once suriking; and the tonalities pre- 
served among the Jews closely resemble those of 
the Byzantine and Armenian traditions, of the folk- 
song of eastern Europe, and of Perso-Arab melody. 
This modal feeling of Jewish worship-music is still 
reminiscent of the musical theory and practise of 
eastern Asia, which radiated from Babylon to the 
Mediterranean and to the Indian ocean. All this 
suggests that a similar principle may have under- 
lain the cantillation of the Psalms in the Temple at 
Jerusalem, and attracts attention to the suggestions 
thrown out on literary grounds by Haremberg 
(“Lips. Mise. Nova,” 1758, ix. 2, p. 218 e¢ seg.) and 
by Gritz (“ Psalmen,” 1882, p. 71) that other head- 


Principle 
of Parallel 
Tonalities 

Ancient. 


539 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cantillation 


i ee ee eee 


ings of the Psalms besides Gittith (viii., Ixxxi.) 
refer to music known by the name of a particular 
district, according to the old Greek custom and that 
of Eastern races. It may be surmised that the Mas- 
oretes were no longer acquainted with that prac- 
tise of the older musical school which superscribed 
a Psalm with the geographical name of the scale 
in which it was to be sung, because the litur- 
ical Psalms nearer the close of the Canon, the 
chant of which may have been still known, or may 
have been more definite in melody form, bore no 
such superscription. But if the practise of later 
Jews (found equally among the vari- 

Temple ous traditions which then had not yet 
Can- diverged) of using a different tonality 
tillation of for each class of religious occasion 

Psalms. had already prevailed in Temple times, 

it could be understood why Psalms 
would be headed with geographical expressions such 
as Gathite (viii., lxxxi.); Eolian of the East (xxii.); 
Susian (xlv., Ix., lxix., Ixxx.); Elamite (ix., xlvi.); 
Ionian (Jawanztt) (lvi.); perhaps the headings of 
Ps. vi. and lvii., with others similarly superscribed, 
might be referred to the same class of technical 
musical rubric. In any case, scale-forms similar to 
these ancient ones were, and are, used by all Jews, 
according to the sacred day, for the cantillation now 
designated by the AccENTs. 

The modes employed in the prayer-motives will 
be discussed with them, but the modes for the can- 
tillation may be summarized as follows, if the Grego- 
rian nomenclature is used. 





Scriptural Reading. | Mode. 
| 
f Pentateuchal (ordinary) | Hypoeolian 
| : (penitential) | Mixoivdian 
- Prophetical Dorian 
Ashkenazi | Lamentations Hypodorian 
| Esther Hypolydian 
4 Pentateuchal Hypoeolian 
Sephardi | Prophetical Dorian 
Pentateuchal Ionian _ 
Bagdadi Prophetical . Hyocdorian 
: ‘| Lamentations, etc. rygian 
Levantine } Pentateuchal Hypodorian 


Pt NG 


In all these varied systems of musical interpreta- 
tion of the same signs each particular accent is asso- 
ciated with a parailel vocal figure or trope, which 
consists of a group of notes forming a melismatic 
phrase. The accents, and consequently the tropes, 
are either conjunctive or disjunctive. Some of the 
disjunctive tropes form not so much a note-group, 
to be sung at one effort of the voice, as a series of 
such groups, or what is Known in plain-song as a 
jubilation. Sometimes a minor conjunctive will in 
chanting be absorbed into the more important dis- 
junctive which may follow it; but, as a rule, one 

accent designates one trope, and each 


Inter- word (save only the few enclitics) has 
pretation a trope sung upon its tone-sylable, 
of the the more immediately connected con- 
Accents. junctives and disjunctives running on 
smoothly together into a “ distinction ” 

or phrase. If the word has a penultimate accent, 


the last note is, where necessary, repeated; and any 
syllables preceding the accented syllable are recited 
on a note of the trope introduced for the purpose in 
front of the note bearing the stress, and serving to 
“carry on” from trope to trope, blending the several 
M3233 or jubilations together into a homogeneous 
distinction for each successive rhetorical phrase. 
The whole strikes the hearer with its singular effect- 
iveness in bringing out the meaning of the text, 
and affords a fair idea of that bardic declamation 
interpreting the text chanted, which for the ancients 
constituted melody, as tune does for us. 

Now, if the following text be taken for cantilla- 
tion according to its accents— 


DATE ADI DORN PRT DIT NN oN 


3237 TORN DOIN Woe TN 


when read (according to the Northern use) as part 
of an ordinary Pentateuchal lesson, it will be chanted 
thus: 





Cantillation THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 540 








Name of Accent : Nat Sixp Ing nn yo 
Meaning: Sceatterer Bunch Resting (horn) Resting Square 
Transliteration : 1S dl 2: Oe ae ee Se - gol,.. [Mu-nah...... Mu - nah Re-bi - + as, 





J.—PENTATEUCH. 
A,.—Ashkenazim, 
1902. 


B.—Ashkenazim, 


C.—Sephardim. 






































(Europe.) 4 Fo IC EET cee one 
e/ 
ee 
S Ss 25 j= a es oe 
= ot sa <= Se a CoS) eon EON Sa 
D.—Morocco. “4-0 fe — ————? f——> — pe SE at cae ) ao 
=~ 3 
E.—Egypt & Syria. ——-H a = Sn: oo EEE -—- | -4- = : 
gyPp y Gi wt — a we ar iat aan Es a a = ea ; = ae, 
ee = ne t l 3 
F.— Bagdad. a fe — So ee So caktrheeeat oa eee aa ion 
eo - - ey j —Po'y “e o_o Fe, 
ee a ae 











2.—PENTATEUCH. = SaaS eyes Iasibar Eaepes 
(Penitential.) == 7 OTE oa —?-6—o 


A.—Ashkenazim. 


<3.—PROPHETS. ; -+-—— : = 
On <= 
: —— - Sea see nies: £53 f Se et ee 


A.—AshkKenazim. 




































































e! 
C.—Sephardim. Pains Seta ON eee ert. Poca ts ecm na Z a eS : 
(Europe) =e = aE ETE : : ee eee — 
ae is en = See AEE PAE SP ee 
ee, 
¥.—Bagiad. =e _——S SS 
Oe Bor e 4 nea! Fe 
ae 
4.—YROPHETS. ’ ' — 
(Other readings.) F Rms Cane = ‘Sec Dealed INCE EP Seer vee EEA oan hep ees acy 6: a 
vee im. Se eg ee gs ——— cane fet ae. '7~ AER 
C ire} == a ann: (Sp —_ 0 - = c 74" eee 
¥F.—Bagdad. = 
Pe fo a 9 3 3 
5 .—ESTHER. == weir er Ferme ee ae emer omen OEP Som METI Fate —} 
i, Ras Aa iad Oe — aN as ee eS a 
A.—Ashkenazim. 6 oars Fare Ss." == ygef 2S rae Se ies Sa oe = = 
ar) Mis = a 
C.—Sephardim. 
6.— LAMENTATIONS. —=— 5s: TD 
A.—Ashkenazim, ae St ee eee Seen © es aa Sh 
Ni oe etal 
t 
ae ee : | fe Oe pee ee 
C.—Sephardim Bae ee ; ? : ane aan 2 oti a bos ee =< 
S Se ee eg 
’ 
seo : st es gta gf tet 
E.—Egypt & Syria. 4 i ao se ao oar 
SS ; 
"7 .—RUTH —— 
~~, . {——_@ 4, ie ee 
C.—Sephardim. = or ewers 
&.—-HAGIOGRAPHA. + ca 





F . —Bagdad . 





541 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Cantillation 








: . Not fol- ‘ . : Preceded by 
wove (Gar) Tew Rove Opp an reper (API ) 
Stretcher alai Reversed (horn) stretcher Minor Raising Staying Minor Raising \ AyD 


oy 








Pash-ta..... Mah - pak Pash-ta Za-kef Ka - ton... | Ye-tib.... Za - kef Ka-ton, 





Se eee 6__ <= 


Q_-— __@-—_# — #— 
=> 








Soe ee tee - 





Se a eee = a —— 
pf Per an | Pe ae era ere ae ee So Se eS 
— eS a eS he 























eee a - . _—eeo ‘ 

i A Sad Mae Sa Sal --— — a4 Ca FETE ONG” > 

: Ai NT | a oo ~~ @. 86 -e fo ee » 
ime Ts ee! 






























3 ee ee 
comet 





& oe eee ener 







































































+ goto cea 9) 9 No 
Je oi fe me ——_~—_—__-- —__— # — —_—-- _ #—  eF— 
a eee ER eo RET 





e 2 
Jado re 
Ss SS 


ee 





















































— —_ | e = 
ae —- —j—— 4 le 
—— ote Ne 
é creas Oe a ee 
e/ — a — ~~ 





a a See Re, 
ee 
Gl= Sal eee) ee eee eee See aes el ee er 
——e ei 


Cantillation THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 542 





























2 \ i 
Name of Accent: IOPTNOWD (On,one Sin} Apt xo NMED 
Meaning: Stretcher cum Minor Major Raising Lengthener Handbreadth 
Transliteration : Pash-ta Ka-ton,...... Za - kef Ga - dol,.. Me-re-ka ‘Lif-ha,. Mu- 
a 
rate j=l ia ee ==pe SS 
.—Ashkenazim Sao eer —— 
ison, |) SA e ts ee ee 
B.—Ashkenazim, he 4-—— 8 aan eet —— ae 
1518. —o— aj e e se 
~~” 
C.—Sephardim. —— Se o— — eo e— eo = Soe eee Saeed siieseen ee 
(Europe.) ats Cee eS sccare session © bekite < be— eo 4 
e . ; 








~ ens Ses 



































F.—Bagdad. #6, Sige ee ee aes ee 
@ ae ——_ Fo 4-0] = > aaa NE == <i Pee ae oe oes 
= NS 
(Penitcntial.) 











A.—Ashkenazim. 


<.—PROPHETS. i, = % __ acd 
ines GMa pe Pp 
ea — —— = : *. | < 


A.—Ashkenazim. 














C.—Sephardim. 
(Europe. } 











F.—Bagdad. 





4.—PROPHETS. 
(Other readings.) 
C.—Sephardim. 
(Europe. ) 














F.—Bagdad. 





& .—ESTHER. 
A.—Ashkenazim. 












A.—Ashkenazim . 
= eat § Ss 
C.—Sephardim. Oe ~ sas ox ae = 
. 3 —@—_- ‘A a A ee, aS 
ae re ee ee 
¥.—Bgyps & Syria. Ao tae ee 
i) © See =: ; 
7.—RUTH. Slee 
C.—Sephardim, pais oe eo as 
— — 
tenement” ~~ 
€.— HAGIOGRAPHA. ¥ # . 2, rs eee Seeks y — ; 
F.—Bagdad. Epes =e 


543 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Cantillation 








Before / Before ¥ - . 
no NAmny oD (wwe) ma (sm) at nphirnyron 
Resting (horn) Rester Resting (horn) Resting (horn) Dispersed Major Drawing Out 
nah Et-nah - ta; Mu-nah,.... }Mu-nah PS. FERS one ba uksaec ere dias beer: ee 
Oe ee ee 3 





—— FF eat 
oa see ca Seen eo ere =, 


——- 


















































Ctee? pate oe 
=f =< 

























































































Cantillation THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 544 




























Nameof Accent: — AIMp "NLS None) NIDTD ving ova 
Meaning: Minor Drawing Out Preceding and Going on Expulsion Double Expulsion 
Transliteration : Thi-sha,..... [Kad- ma we-az - la, | Ge - - resh,}G’ra - sha - - yim 
1.—PENTATEUCH. _« pers 
ee ___—| 
a—aniensin, Grp —ts == 
"1902, & =f "ee 
ae 
+ ty : foe] — 
B.—Ashkenasiey ae ea =<: 
= = 





C,—Sephardi ar = 
: ephardim, a »—_.—"! —s 
Sines Gale seswes ee oe 
Pte er 
D.—Moroeco. ea Sos sae 
—~o -@ 4 











¥.--Egypt & Syria. < sr ns — 0 
7} 
Ni? Jilin ae 
ss we 
; 3 
¥F.—Bagdad. Ots= 
= we. 
e oor 








<2.—PENTATEUCH. SS — 
(Penitential.) 5 a ne 
A.— Ashkenazim. ee ee ee 
“eee 
3.—PROPHETS. nex’ 
(Haftarah.) Sat ey ree +f ¢, 
A.—Ashkenazim. = Piet ze 













































































C.—Sephardim. 
(Europe.) 
F.— Bagdad. &: 4 
qe) 
4..—PROPHETS. 
(Other readings.) 
C.—Sephardim, 
(Europe. ) 
oak = : EaPRCeDeS “SEE 
¥.—Bagdad. ehas —— Ol fe 
aad eS — 
3 
&> ESTHER. oe 
; ae Gales 1, 0 FE ee 
A.—Ashkenazim. —e “oy ¢-9- 
5 i eZ) 
C.—-Sephardim. 74— SS — = 
Co ae ee eee 
Sr er i 24-1 —— ‘ Se ee 
A.—Ashkenazim. -#—(e ee Fo Fa 
nian Svein” . 
3 : 
=e 
C.—Sephardim. a ———— eee eee ee 
_—{_a. ~ ee ®™ F 2 
a een. SS - co 
E.—Egypt & Syria. Jie = gl oe oe eee pees 







$3.—HAGIOGRAPHA. -9$- =< Sore 
F.—Bagdad eg <= 
i « = oe pT ~ ee _e- 


&. 


545 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Cantillation 








SS Pp Se e 
xa VaR 82119 RMBD NII PPD 
Steps Broken Lengtbener Handbreadth Lengthener Cessation 
Dae PO: PAs ol esaeiside ser Te se ABTBess x8: Me-re - ka Tip-ha, Me-re-ka Sil- luk. 





vin a — 

eal Tae ar ae ee es a 
ej - - 

i Hef 5 ee 

































































, a TL eas — =] EL RIT 
= eben We bask Jena Se ee Nea CRE RT ee 8 aoe Vo 
é: swf, owe , ——~_ eta ES = Q-2 
Roa oh oo 


= 
“A ee ae eae Ca one ae Sees Sr ii See 
— Serer o exis an. === aes Sie a9 —_ vee a, 
Sa ee ry 

















—t a $< —s 


















































































































































THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 546 














Cantillation 
} 
Name of Accent: NMED PDB HD ndvidys 
Meaning: Handbreadth End of Verse Chain 
es, 
Transliteration : Sof pa-suk... Shal - she - - = = = let 
3 
A.—Ashkenazim, ws -e— Fg Gwe! FP ewstes 
1902. —_— <i oe re Fr 
i Bee 
Sea ee ete et ina! 
= ee 


B.—Ashkenazim, 
151 


2 














8 
C.—Sephardim. Exe ve ee 
ee re ee ee 
e/ ee 



















































































(Europe.) 
D.—Morocco. <n 
E.—Egypt & Syria. & dS — ee ft Seis oe eee ee 

Yo pee So ee EE Se A ee ee Se: = a ~~ ae 

¥F.—Bagdad. eee ee Sa a ee ee 

“8 ——— —_—— os a = | Sameeeerves 

e ee ee 
3 . 











.—PENTATEUCH. 
(Penitential.) 
A.—Ashkenazim. 











<3.—PROPHETS. 
(Haftarah.) 


A.—Ashkenazim. 




















C.—Sephardim. 
(Europe. )} 

















































































































east ot Schon i 
(Other readings.) ——___-—___~- 
C —Sephardim. = = ee = 
(Europe. ) PEE EEE ET 
..--— Ae Se 
¥.— Bagdad. a 0 oa eae nee = 3 = 
§.—ESTHER. —— — == ee 
A.—Ashkenazim. = 
C.—Sephardim. ~ eet ————— = — ——<_ ret 























oe a ne eo ee cae era aso ——————e 









































* ; see as = St == : 
A.—Ashkenazim. ———____# ie 
: - = 
: a OS Sa AE Sap ia ce ee as ee ee ee 
a ee an (Se ee ne a — _ 2 ee ee ee eres 
C.—Sephardim. G4 2 tere ges sd ean ee ee 
e ee 
E.—Egypt & Syria. ss SS — Se 
_——— as a 
Fs a 
7 RUTH. eee eet meee -— 
nh 2 aOR. Dae? == errs SS _ SENET EES 
C.—Sephardim, —a a ge i et 
“8-2 ee ae SS 
,—HAGIOGRAPHA. $4, —— 
igen, 2 ee | 


Concluded on page 548. 


547 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Cantillation 





On the Penitential Days, however, it would be | racy; and only inadequate impressions of the con 
chanted with jubilations of similar outline to each | temporary jubilations in use can be derived from the 
accent, but the intervals of the scale drawn from | few statements preserved in the writings of Ben 
quite another mode, as follows: Asher, Shem-Tob, and Moses Provencale. Delitzsch 


Rather slower: without strict tempo. 





rim ha - el - leh, we-ha - e- lo - him... nis - sah et Ab - ra- 
on 
—— 


Ab - ra - ham, way - yo - mer, hin - 





But, again, had this passage from Gen. xxix. formed | (Psalmsi., p. 44, English ed.) sums these up as fol- 
a portion of a lesson from the Prophets(HAFTARAH), | lows: “Pazer and Shalshelet have a like intona- 
its accents would have been musically interpreted in | tion, which rises quaveringly; though Shalshelet is 
similar style, but in yet another tonality; thus: drawn out longer—about a third longer than that of 


Rather briskly: without strict tempo. 


2 oes a ——— 
4+ ae ai ae Sa 1 
= dn Sto ro ee 











““\enmitepeioe 
Wa - ye - hi.............. a - har ha - de-ba - rim.... ha - 
————ae Ses SES GE ER Saal | oS. 
Se ge —|— | —9 | -#. — — <n Ya 
—— $$ a ——_——__@g—. 
el - leh, we - ha - - e- lo - him nis - sah et Ab -ra - ham, way - 





The coda added to each of the above transcrip- | the prose books. Legarmeh (in form Mahpak or 


tions shows the form of the “jubilation” which ends Azla, followed by Pesik) has a clear 
each section of the reading, a sort of musical “ Here Old De- high tone; before Zinnor, however, 
endeth the lesson,” varying in figuration as well | scriptions. it is deeper and more broken; Rebia 
as in tonality according to the importance of the magnum has a soft tone, tending to 
service. repose [guery: sinking toarest-note]. In Silluk the 


It is not always certain whether the names of the | tone is raised at first, and then sinks torepose. The 
accents were given to them from their shape, posi- | tone of Merka is, according to its name, «ndante 
tion, and function, or from the outline and tone of | [gwery, protracted] and sinking into the depths; the 
the musical sounds for which they are the notation. | tone of Tarha corresponds with adagiv.” All that 
Words in any case rarely succced in describing the | can be gathered from this is that the accents of the 
effect of musical sounds with any approach to accu- | three poetical books were meant to be interpreted 


Cantiillation 
Cantonists 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


548 





Name of Accent: 


Meaning ; 
Transliteration : 


NPIBI_ NII 
Double Lengthener 
Mer’ka Kefulah 





(Numbers xxxii. 42) 








ao 
no_ YP 
Cow’s Horns 
Karne Farah 


jor jam 
Young Moon 
Yerah ben Yomo 





CNumbere xxx7. 5) 


yim Ba-am-meh................. 











Sephardim. 








(Europe.) 





























sah Ha - man. 




















Note: For ‘ nedarim,” or melodies special to certain texts, see Baer, ‘‘ Ba‘al Tefillah,”’ pp. 39-42. 


by much the same figuration of notes as those of the 
twenty-one prose books, Of these last similar de- 
scriptions are to be found in old writers (compare 
Kalonymus ben David in A. de Balmes’ APY 
O 3N, Venice, 1523). During the recent centuries 
the continued elaboration of the cantillation by the 
professional readers, especially among the Polish 
and German congregations, has overlaid the earher 
elements of the chant with ornament and developed 
many variants, so as to render these descriptions dif- 
ficult to elucidate. But they are scarcely needed, 
since so many musical transcriptions have been 
made; such transcriptions being known, from the 
jubilation with which they commence, as “Zarka 
Tables.” The most valuable of them all, for the 
Ashkenazic traditions, is to be found in Cantor 
Abraham Baer’s “ Ba‘al Tefillah,” 1877, pp. 80-42. 
The value of the earlier tables (e.9., those of Barto- 
locci, A. Kircher, P. Guarin, etc.) is detracted from 
by unnecessary elaboration, and especially by ex peri- 
ments in transcribing the notes backward. so as to 
go with the Hebrew froin right to left, which have 
misled later students. Such, too, is the case with 
the transcription made by the monk Béschenstein 
for REucuH.uIn, and printed in his“ De Accentibus” 
(Hagenau, 1518), at end of Book HI., where the can- 
tillation, reversed and given in the tenor as a canto 
fermo, is ludicrously accompanied by three other har- 
mony parts. But Reuchlin’s tenor cantillation, when 
retranscribed, is particularly valuable as showing 
that the tradition has not appreciably varied in four 
centuries, save possibly in the rarer jubilations, such 
as “Karne Farah,” where license is always taken. 
Similarly valuable as illustrating the persistent ac- 
curacy of tradition is the transcription of the Sephar- 
dic cantillation made by David de Pinna, a Jewish 
surgeon in Amsterdam, for Jablonski’s “Biblia He- 
braica” (Berlin, 1699). The Oriental traditions have 
only received treatment since Villoteau followed in 
the train of Napoleon to Egypt, while the Bagdad 


a 
Le RO 


forms are now first presented (from notes by Mr. 
Morris Cohen). The cantillation being still handed 
on in oral tradition, many minor variants will be 
found to exist, which it was not deemed necessary 
to include in the preceding “Zarka Table.” where 
ad libitum grace notes have also been omitted from 
the transcription. 

The “repetition with song” (see above), or study 
of religious literature in a vocal intonation, similarly 
survives from the Talmudical age to the present 
day. But it was never so developed for the small 
audience in the house of study as was the Scriptural 
cantillation for the larger congregation in the house 
of prayer. Private notesin the copy of the individ- 
ual here likewise originated a system of accentua- 


tion. Examples are referred to by the Tosafists and 
by Profiat Duran; and an accentuated 

The copy of the Mishnah was possessed by 
Students’ Joseph Solomon Medigo in the seven- 
Can- teenth century. Indeed, one treatise 
tillation. of the Mishnah was printed with ac- 


centsas lateas 1553. The oldest extant 
manuscript of the Talmud, a fragment of Keritot, is 
marked with accents for the students’ cantillation, 
and can be examined in the facsimile published in 
Singer and Schechter’s “Rabbinical Fragments.” 
Nothing, however, is known of any musical inter- 
pretation of these accents. The students’ cantilla- 
tion in present use varies according to the country 
of origin, but is more or less a mere drone, although 
the monotone is always abandoned at the end of 
the clause, according as it expresses a question or @ 
reply, a doubt ora conclusion. Generally thequestion 
ends on the dominant, the reply on the tonic. 

The earliest transcription of a students’ cantillation 
is to be found in the Helek of the apostate Gerson 
of Halberstadt (Helmstadt, 1610), where he says 
that “almost the whole of the Talmud is set out in 
question and answer as follows.” Put into modern 
notation, his transcription is as given on page 549. 


549 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA eee 













g—| 2—_ 2-4 ee 


re a | 








a a a 
Das ist zu thew - er! Umb ei - nen Pfen - nig? 
a a ee 8 
—______ #_—__—_- 9 ___ @— ee ___@ 





wol - feil! Dar -umb umb zwe-ne Pfen - nig!... 


The students’ cantillation has been carried into } religious matters. To effect this he published his 
domestic worship in the HaG@ADAH, the child’s ques- | “Nuovo Ordinamento del Culto Israclitico nes Regi 
tion on the Passover Eve being often set out init. | Stati,” in which he advocated the establishment by 
The transcription on the following page is due to | the government of consistories, pointing out the 
Baer (“ Ba‘al Tefillah,” p. 170). means by which these could be supported. Cantoni 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : The grammatical force of the accentsistreated | Was the chief promoter of the establishment of asy- 


under ACCENTS, Almost every compilation of synagogue | Jums for children, which are still maintained with 
music covering the whole year includes some transcription of : : ‘ ‘ ‘ : 
the cantillation, if only of the Pentateuch. Fullerand more | Success 1n every Italian Jewish community of im- 


careful summaries are due to Naumbourg, Recueil de Chants portance. 
Religieuxv, Paris, 1874. and Baer, Der Praktische Vorbeter, : ca ‘ 
Gothenburg, 1877, and Frankfort, 1882. For the general con- He was also instrumental in founding the best 


sideration of the melody of the accents see Wickes, Poetical | gehools and societies of the community of Turin. 
Accentuation, Oxford, 1881, and Prose Accentuation, ib. : Wes as ; 
1887. Useful references are collected in Ackermann, Der | Most noteworthy among his achievements was his 
Synagogale Gesang (I, Das Talmudische Zeitalter), in Win- | work on behalf of the emancipation of the Jews in 
ter and Wiinsche, Jiidische Litteratur, vol. tii. Treves, 1894. ; 2 te (aie 
ote EE gist: Daven rucretamind deeorenee is | of 184% which was subsequently transfered. te 
“1844 : and Abrahams. in Jew. Quart. Rev. Xi. O91, London, of 1848, which was Subsequently transferred to 
1899. ‘The various traditions are coordinated in F. L. Cohen, united Italy. Cantoni s untimely death prevented 
A ee stead ane, xe Lona Oeaatt Lele | tbe realization of bis hopes of founding an organi. 
Chant dela Synagogue,in Revue duChant Grégorien, Nos. | Zation to include all the communities and rabbis of 
83-36, Marseiltes, 1899. ; Italy. In addition to writing books for the edifica- 
- Hedy tion of the young, he was a contributor to the “ Edu- 
CANTON, ISAAC BERECHIAH: Italian | catore Israelita” and the “ Archives Israélites.” 
Talmudist; flourished about the middle of the eight- | BistiogRapuy: Educatore Israelita, v. 87: Arch. Isr. xviii. 
eenth century in Turin, in which city he established 81. LE 
ayeshibah. He is the author of a responsum in . at a 
Simson Morpurgo’s “Shemesh Zedakah” (Yoreh CANTONISTS: Sons of Russian private sol- 
De‘ah, 12). Ghirondi possessed in manuscript some | diers who from 1803 to 1827 were educated in special 
other halakie decisions by Canton, and saw also a | “canton schools” for future military service; after 
manuscript work of his entitled “Yetad ha-Ohel” | 1827 the term was applicd also to Jewish boys, who, 
(The Pin of the Tent), an index to Solomon Urbino’s | according to @ statute issued Sept. 7, 1827, were 
dictionary of Hebrew synonyms entitled “Ohel | drafted to military service at the age of twelve and 
Mo‘ed.” placed for their military education in cantonist 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p. | schools of distant provinces. 
159; Mortara, Indice, p. 10 The sons of Jewish soldiers were at this period 
eee I. Ber. regarded as government property and were educa- 
CANTONI, LELIO (mby 3173 bbn): Italian | ted for military service by the authorities, who, 
rabbi; born in 1802 at Gazzuolo (dukedom of Man- | during the reign of Nicholas J. of Russia, had a spe- 
tua); died in 1857at Turin. In 1829 he went to the | cial regard for the Jewish cantonists, as it was easier 
Istituto Rabbinico at Padua, then recently estab- ; to convert. them to the Greek Orthodox Church 
lished, graduating as rabbi in 1882. From 1888 | than it was to convert their elders. whose religious 
until his death he was chief rabbi of Turin. En- | principles had been firmly established. The best 
dowed with executive ability and magnetic person- | method to obtain this result was to take them far 
ality, and being a man of deep piety, he ably bridged ; away from their birthplace so that they could for- 
the gulf that separated the old and the modern views | get their religion and be unprotected against the 
of Judaism. missionary propaganda of the officers of the army 
Recognizing his administrative ability, the gov- | (I. Orshanski, “Russkoe Zakonodatelstvo o Yevre- 
ernment repeatedly entrusted Cantoni with the | yakh,” p. 25, St. Petersburg, 1877). According to 
drafting of statutes affecting the Jewish communi- | Nikitin, “Otechestvennyya Zapiski,” 1871, viii. 
ties. After the emancipation of the Sardinian Jews : 352. those mobilized at Kiev were sent to Perm; 
in 1848, Cantoni was mainly occupied with the or- | those at Brest to Nijni-Novgorod. Eye-witnesses 
ganization of the internal administration of Jewish | have many times described the inhuman tortures 


a a ee a ep oC a nt 


Cantor THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 550 


Cantor 





MAH enue NAH 














Ad lib. 
See a 
i Si = — er Se 
e/ Se os i 
Mah nish-tan-nah ha - lai - lah ha - zeh.. mik - kol ha- le - lot? Sheb-be. 
Why thus dis - tin - guish this ver - y night from all oth-er nights? For on 
3 
Ss: iy, “ees are a eacaialiere cree ae 
| = 3S SS SSS a : Se js 
= ae Sis “ea = 
kol ha-le - lot a-nu o-ke-lin  ha- mez uw - maz-zah: ne - lai - lah ha. 


all = oth - er_ nights we all of us eat leav-en or un-leaven: bdut just on this 



















































a a eh _deeeh a BREN eae 
zeh.. kul- lo maz - zah! Sheb-be-kol ha - le - lot a- nu .o-ke-lin  she- 
night all is un-leaven! For on all oth- er nights we all of us eat of 
_ 
ae pane ————— SNe Nee ae ee 
= —=s-F = SS ee 
~@- 
ye- ra - kot: ha - lai - lah ha - zeh kul - lo ma - ror! Sheb - he - 
va - ri- ous herbs: — dut just on this night but = bit. - ~ ter herbs! For on 
a = | 
Se a 
kol ha - le - lot en a - nu mat - bi - lin a- fi - lu pa-‘am_= e- 
oth - er nights, too, we do not dip even once in salt be - fore oth - er 
ae ces Eee | 
6 SSS _ = 
—— —--—_o—— 44 o-.-_ o_o 
-o- 
hat: ha ~ lai - lah ha - zeh shte pe-‘a - mim! Sheb-be - kol ha - le - 
food: but just on this night we do so twice? For on all oth - er 
nS care —h— 8 ee ee ee es == 
Saige gt iN NN 
e == a aw a 
lot 2 - nu o - ke - lin ben yo - she - bin u- ben me-sub - bin: ha - 
nights we take our.... food sit - ting or else re- cli - ning at choice: but 





—|—_#-—___s—_—_ i —_s—__— 
lai - lah ha - gzeh.... kul - la - nu me - sub -_ bin? 
just on this night... we all of us re - - cline? 


endured by these innocent conscripts (“ Allg. Zeit. CANTOR. See Hazzan. 


des Jud.” 1854, Pps 120, 195); and as the pooh of the CANTOR, GEORG: German mathematician; 
ev) ole noe " ee PORATION or eubormnnte al | porn at St. Petersburg, Russia, March 3, 1845. He 
thorities, butin the legislative administrative system, | . distan tly related to Moritz CANTOR. Te wasonly 
complaints eee of oe avail. This severe method eleven years old when he went to Germany, where 
oe pore heals inte oe vie eure a he received his high-school and university education. 
Noa be a aoe rae is ae ‘0 | Tn 1862 he entered the University of Zurich, Switz- 
ae hee, oes See Be eng eee: Sree erland, but at the close of the academic year moved 
abolished in 1857 by Alexander II. to Berlin, where he remained until 1867, deeply in- 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Levanda, Polny Khronologicheski Sbornik | terested in his studies and enthusiastically following 
Hakonoy (Index): 7 ee 189" lll. Zeek des jaa tee mathematical and philosophical lectures at the uni- 
p. 22; and articles mentioned in text. versity. In 1869, two years after receiving the de- 
H. R. gree of Ph.D. at the University of Berlin, he was 


551 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cantor 
Cantor 





admitted as privat-docent at the University of Halle, 
where he became assistant professor in 1872, and 
rofessor seven years later. 

Without being a prolific writer, Cantor has ren- 
dered invaluable services to the progress of mathemat- 
ical analysis, more especially to that of the modern 
theory of functions, by his epoch-making contribu- 
tious to the theory of multiplicities (“ Mannigfaltig- 
keitslehre ” in German, “théorie des ensembles” in 
French)—a doctrine which he wholly and independ- 
ently created and developed. The startling but 
fruitful ideas embodied in his “Grundlagen einer 
Allgemeinen Mannigfaltigkeitslehre,” Leipsic, 1883, 
have become the property of the best modern text- 
books on mathematical analysis, despite the difficult 
and abstruse character of the new conceptions 
involved. 

No mathematician could to-day dispense with the 
perusal of the little volume that, at a single stroke, 
brought universal fame to the author, and opened a 
new and rich field for mathematical investigation. 
Georg Cantor's definition of the mathematical con- 
tinuum, as a particular form of a more general class 
of multiplicities, has been of immense benefit to the 
progress of nathematics, aud in itself constitutes an 
undying monument to the name of this profound 
philosopher and mathematician. Much of the clear- 
ness and precision of modern matheinatical methods 
is due to his example and instigation. He endeav- 
ored to unravel the mysteries of the infinite, and suc- 
ceeded in establishing, if an indirect, nevertheless a 
perfectly determinate conception of the mathemat- 
ical infinity—theory of transfinite numbers. His 
rigorous mathematical theory of irrational numbers, 
together with the independent investigations of 
Weierstrass and Dedekind, filled an important la- 
cuna in the development of modern mathematical 
thought. On this subject see more especially his 
paper “Ueber die Ausdehnung eines Satzes aus der 
Theorie der Trigonometrischen Reihen,” in vol. v. of 
the “ Mathematische Annalen,” 1872; and the memoir 
“Die Elemente der Functionenlehre,” by E, Heine 
in Crelle’s “Journal fiir die Reine und Angewandte 
Mathematik,” 1871, vol. Ixxii. 

The articles by Georg Cantor which appeared 
under different titles in Crelle’s “Journal,” in the 
“Acta Mathematica,” and in the “Zeitschrift fir 
Philosophie und Phil. Kritik,” are, for the greater 
part, either reproductions or translations of papers 
published in the “Mathematische Annalen,” and 
later collected, under the title “Grundlagen einer 
Allgemeinen Mannigfaltigkeits lehre.” His “Ges- 
ammelte Abhandlungen” were published in 1890. 

8. A. 8. C. 


CANTOR, JACOB A.: American lawyer and 
politician; born in New York city Dec. 6, 1854; 
grandson of Agil Hanau, cantor of Dukes Place 
Synagogue, London. Cantor is an LL.B. of the 
University of New York. He served as a meniber 


of the assembly of the state of New York in 1887 


and as state senator from 1888 to 1898, during which 
time he was chairman of the finance committee of 
the senate and leader of the Democratic party in that 
body. For two years (1893-94) Cantor was presi- 
dent of the senate. In 1901 he was elected, on a 


non-partizan ticket, president of the borough of 
Manhattan, an office second in importance only to 
that of mayor of New York. Cantor has been 
actively interested in good government for munici- 
palities. In the legislature he championed legisla- 
tion in behalf of the public schools and colleges of 
New York, having charge at the same time of gen- 
eral measures affecting the canals. 

Cantor has been prominently identified with Jew- 
ish communal work, belonging to many societies, 
and serving as director of the Society for the Aid of 
Jewish Prisoners and of the Jewish Protectory. 
During his fourteen years’ service in the legislature 
he introduced and aided the passage of many meas- 
ures affecting the Jewish institutions of New York. 
He advocated the Freedom of Worship Bill, accord- 
ing equal religious rights to all inmates of pris- 
ons and reformatories, and was instrumental in se- 
curing an appropriation for the compensation of 
Jewish rabbis ministering in those establishments. 

A. 


CANTOR, MORITZ: German bistorian of 
mathematics; born at Mannheim, Germany, on Aug. 
23, 1829. He comes of a family that emigrated to 
Holland from Portugal, another branch of the same 
house having established itself in Russia, the land 
of Georg Cantor’sbirth. In his early youth Cantor 
was not strong enough to go to school, and his 
parents decided to educate him at home. Later, 
however, he was 
admitted to an ad- 
vanced class of the 
gymnasium in 
Mannheim. Thence 
he went to the Uni- 
versity of Heidel- 
berg in 1848, and 
soon after to the 
University of Got- 
tingen, where he 
studied under 
Gauss and Weber, 
and where Stern 
awakened in him a 
strong interest in 
historical research. 
After taking his 
degree of Ph.D. at 
the University of 
Heidelberg in 1851, he went to Berlin, where he 
eagerly followed the lectures of Lejeune-Dirichlet ; 
and upon his return to Heidelberg in 18538, he 
was appointed privat-docent at the university. In 
1863 he was promoted to the position of assistant 
professor, and in 1877 he became honcrary pro- 
fessor. 

Cantor was one of the founders of the “ Kritische 
Zeitschrift fir Chemie, Physik, und Mathematik.” 
In 1859 he became associated with Schlémilch as 
editor of the “ Zeitschrift fiir Mathematik und Phy- 
sik,” taking charge of the historical and literary sec- 
tion of this excellent publication. Since 1877, 
through his efforts, a supplement to the “Zeit- 
schrift” has been published under the separate title 
of “ Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathematik.” 





Moritz Cantor. 


Cantori 
Caphtor 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 55 





Cantor’s inaugural dissertation—“ Ueber ein We- 
niger Gebriuchliches Coordinaten-System,” Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, 1851—gave no indication that the 
history of exact sciences would soon be enriched 
by a masterwork from the same author. Even 
his first work, entitled “Grundziige einer Element- 
ararithmetik als Leitfaden zu Akademischen Vor- 
trigen,” Heidelberg, 1855, only faintly disclosed 
the direction of his real taste and talents. These 
became apparent for the first time in his paper 
“Ueber die Einfihrung Unserer Gegenwirtigen 
Ziffern in Kuropa,” which he wrote for the “ Zeit- 
schrift fir Mathematik und Physik,” 1856, vol. i. 
The masterwork of Cantor was only recently 
concluded. His “ Vorlesungen tiber Geschichte der 
Mathematik,” in three volumes, of which the first ap- 
peared in 1880 and the last in 1898, at Leipsic, covers 
the development of this science from the remotest 
times until the year 1758—that is, until the era of 
Lagrange—and is the most exhaustive and authori- 
tative work on the subject to-day. 

As a pionecr in the revived study of the history 
of exact sciences, Cantor stands at the head of his 
contemporaries. To him belongs the chief credit for 
founding a new discipline ina field that had hitherto 
lacked the sound, conscientious, and critical methods 
of this master. His work, both as a successful lec- 
turer at the University of Heidelberg and as the 
author of numerous papers and reviews, has been an 
incentive to his pupils and followers and a stimulus 
for further investigation. 

Among his other works may be mentioned: 
“Mathematische Beitrige zum Culturleben der 
Volker,” Halle, 1863; “Die Roémischen Agrimen- 
soren und Ihre Stellung in der Geschichte der Feld- 
messkunst,” Leipsic, 1867; “Das Gesetz im Zufall,” 
Berlin, 1877. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Supplement to vol. xliv. of the Zeitschrift fiir 
Mathematik und Physik entitled Abhandluugen zur Ge- 
schichte der Mathematik ; edited by M. Curtze and s. Giin- 
ther, and dedicated to Moritz Cantor on the seventieth anni- 
versary of bis birthday, Aug. 28, 1899. The carefully compiled 
catalogue contains, besides references to original works by 


Cantor, a complete list of his historical and critical reviews to 
date. 


8. A. S.C, 


CANTORI, JOSHUA DEI: Assailant of the 
Talmud at Cremona in 1559. According to Stein- 
Schneider, he belonged to the fanu.y Cantarini 
(BIND). In consequence of adispute with Joseph 
Ottolenghi, who was head of the Talmudical school 
of Cremona, Cantori, in order to avenge himself 
on his adversary, appeared with the converted 
Jew Baptista Vittorio Eliano, and denounced the 
Talmud as containing blasphemies against the 
Christian faith. The result of this accusation was 
the pubhe burning of Hebrew books in 1559 at Cre- 
mona. Joseph ha-Kohen records this incident, and 
adds that later Cantori was found assassinated in a 
street of Cremona, and was buried “behind the 
board” in the Jewish cemetery of that city as a 
mark of contumely. According to another source 
quoted by J. Wolf (“ Bibl. Hebr.” i, 131), Cantori 
was a convert to Christianity. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Joseph ha-Kohen, ‘Hmek ha-Baka, ed. Let- 
teris, p. 1388; (iriitz, Gesch. der Juden, ix. 360. 
I. Br. 


L. G. 


CAPADOCE, ABRAHAM: Convert to Chrig. 
tianity; born at Amsterdam 1795; died there Dee, 
16, 1874. His parents, who were Portuguese Jews, 
gave him an entirely secular education, wishing him 
to study medicine. After having completed hig 
medical studies at the University of Leyden, he was 
adopted by his uncle, the well-known physician 
Immanuel Capadoce. In his uncle’s house Abra- 
ham came in contact with Christians, and being 
animated with strong religious feelings without 
having been practically instructed in any religion, 
he yielded to the influence of his surroundings, es- 
pecially to that of Isaac da Costa, who persuaded 
him to become a Christian. 

Among Capadoce’s writings the most noteworthy 
are: (1) “Aan Mijne Geloofsgenooten in de Ned, 
IIebr. Gem.” The Hague, 1843; (2) “Overdenkingen 
over Isracl’s Roeping en Toekomst,” Amsterdam, 
1845; (3) “Rome eco Jerusalem,” Utrecht, 1851. 

Asa physician Capadoce made himself known by 
his Opposition to vaccination, A work of his on 
this subject, published at Amsterdam in 1823, pro- 
voked many polemics in the medical world. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conversion de Mr. le Docteur C., Israélite 
Portugdis, Neuchatel, 1837; De Hope Israels, 1876; J. F. A. 
de Le Roi, Geschichte der Evangelischen Juden-Mission, 
i. 208 et seq. 

; J. Br. 


8. 
CAPATEIRO, JOSEPH (designated also, even 
by the more modern Portuguese historians, such as 
Mendes dos Remedios, as José Gapateiro de La- 
mego, or “ Joseph, Shoemaker of Lamego ”): Portu- 
guese traveier of the fifteenth century. After a so- 
journ in Bagdad, he returned to Lisbon to present a 
report to King Jodo Il. on Ormuz, the emporium of 
the East-Indian spice trade. He thereupon, by the 
king’s orders, set out in company with the expe- 
rienced linguist, ABRAHAM oF Bega, in search of 
the roving explorer, Pedro de Covilhao, in order to 
interview the latter in the king’s behalf as to the 
results of his travels. After obtaining valuable in- 
formation regarding the discovery of the sca route 
to India from Covilhaio, who had previously gath- 
ered it from Arabian and Indian pilots, Joseph was 
sent home by caravan to Aleppo. Both Joseph and 
Abraham, his fellow-traveler, thus rendered emi- 
nent pioneer service in the cause of Portuguese dis- 
covery. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Garcia de Resende, Chron. del Rey D. Jodo 
- *9 eb seq.; R. J. Mendes dos Remedios, Os Judeus em 
Portugal, i. 248; Kayserting, Christopher Columbus, pp. 17 
et seq.; idem, Geseh. der Juden in Portugal, pp. 88 ef seq. 
G, M. K. 
CAPE TOWN. SceSovurn ArFrics. 
CAPEFIGUE, JEAN-BAPTISTE HO- 
NORE-RAYMOND: French Christian publicist 
and historian; born at Marseilles 1802; died at 
Paris Dec. 23,1872. Among many historical works, 
Capefigue wrote a history of the Jews, entitled 
“ Histoire Philosophique des Juifs Depuis la Déca- 
dence des Macchabées Jusquw’& Nos Jours,” Paris, 
1883. The author divided Jewish history into three 
periods, of which only the first, extending from the 
decadence of the Maccabees to the sixth century, is 
dealt with in the volume that has been published. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Meyers, Konversations-Lexikon; La Grande 
Encyclopédie, 8.v. 


S, I. Br. 


553 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cantori 
Caphtor 


rvVnW-meneo NN OS 


CAPER-BERRY (translation of myx, abiy- 
yonah, Ecel. xii. 5; incorrectly, A. V. “ desire,” from 
“~3N): The feminine “abiyyonah” does not express 
«desire,” but “the desiring thing,” sc. “soul” [so 
Kimhi]. The Septuagint, Vulgate, Peshitta, and 
Aquila translate by xdxnapec, “caper-berry,” which 
traditional translation is confirmed in the Mishnah 
Ma‘as. iv. 6 and in other places in the Talmud, where 
ijt is carefully distinguished from the shoots, “ tema- 
rot,” aud the floral envelopes, “kapperisin,” and de- 
elared to be the fruit of the “ zalef ” or caper-plant): 
This is a@ woody, trailing shrub known in botany 
as caparris spinosa. It is quite common in the 
Mediterranean countries, where it grows ou old walls 
and in the fissures of the rocks. Its large white 
flowers, with many long lilac anthers, are highly 
decorative. The caper of commerce, which is now 
‘eaten pickled, is the flower-bud, not mentioned in 
the Talmud. The “abiyyonoth,” or berries proper, 
however, were eaten, as appears from their liabil- 
ity to tithes and to the restrictions of the ‘Orlah. 
They were supposed to have aphrodisiac properties 
(see Delitzsch’s “ Kohelet,” ad loc.). 

For the allegorical meaning of the word “abiy- 
yonah” in Ecclesiastes, see commentators. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Moore, The Caper-Plant and Its Edible 

Products, in Journal of Biblical Literature; Tristram, 


Natural History of the Bible. 
K. If. FT. 


CAPERNAUM (Kaégapraoiu, or, in Jewish wri- 
tings, DINS 793): Small town by the Lake of Gen- 
nesaret, mentioned in the Gospels as the home of 
Jesus, Where he resided after his rejection by his 
Nazareth towusmen (Matt. iv. 18, viii. 5-17, ix. 1, 
xi. 28, xvii. 24; Mark i. 21; Luke vii. 1 e¢ seg.; John 
vi. 17; Eccl. R. to i. 6 and to vii. 26, as the dwell- 
ing-place of the Minim or Christian exorcists of 
the second century, See also Derenbourg, “ Essai 
sur |’Ilistoire et la Géographic de la Palestine,” 
p. 862), According to these passages it kiy close 
by the lake, and contained a synagogue built by 
a centurion Hving there. The “reccipt of custom ” 
nearby (Matt. ix. 9) probably had made it neces- 
sary to station Roman soldicrsin the town. The 
exact site of the town can not be definitely 
fixed, Josephus speaks of a spring “Kafarnaum,” 
which watered the fertile plain of Gennesaret (now 
plain of Ghuwair) on the northwestern side of the 
lake. Hence the spring must be looked for in ‘Ain 
al-Tabighah, on the northern slopes of the plain, since 
water was in olden times carried down to the plain 
through a conduit now in ruins. Accordingly the 
ruins of El-Minyah, in the extreme northern part of 
the Gennesaret plain, have been taken by some as 
the site of Capernaum. This assumption is further 
supported by the statement of the pilgrim Arculfus 
(middle of the seventh century ; Tobler and Molinier, 
“Itinerarium Hicrosolymitanum,” p. 188) that Ca- 
pernaum lay at the base of the southern slope of a 
mountain. This is not decisive, however, since Ar- 
culfus did not visit the town itself, but saw it from 
& distance, and his further remarks can not be ap- 
Plied to the site of the ruins of Minyah. 

But Capernaum might also be identified with the 
Tuins close by the Tabighah spring, discovered by 


Schumacher. However, Theodosius of the sixth 
century says that Capernaum was two Roman miles 
from the Heptapegon (or Tabighah) spring. Jerome 
also says that Capernaum was two miles distant 
from Chorazin (probably the Kerazab of to-day). 
These figures apply to the well-known ruins of 
Tell Hum, found near the lake and rapidly disappear- 
ing, Among the blocks of black basalt are found 
the remains of a marble synagogue, which show 
that a city once stood on this spot; and as the sec- 
ond part (“hum”) of this name is also found in 
“Kefar Nahum,” many scholars identify these ruins 
with Capernaum. If the name “Tell Hum” was 
originally “Tenhum,” this identification is made 
more probable on linguistic grounds, especially since 
“Kefar Tanhum” and “Kefar Tehumin” are fre- 
quently given as variants for “ Kefar Nahum.” [See 
Kohut, “Aruch Completum,” s.¢. 959; Neubauer 
“G. T.” p. 221; Gritz, “ Gesch. der Juden,” ii. 307 et 
seq.—K.| This Jocation would harmonize with the 
statement of Josephus (“ Vita,” § 72) that, after his 
accident on the Jordan, he was carried to a village, 
Cepharnome (Kephar Nome). But the reading here 
is not certain (compare Niese), and, moreover, Caper- 
naum was a town, not a village. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cheyne and Black, Hneyc. Bibl.; Hastings, 
Diet. Bible, and the literature given there. 


K. F, Bu. 


CAPESTANG: Village in the department of 
Hérault, near Béziers, France. Several official 
documents testify to the presence of many Jews 
there in the thirteenth century, Simon ben Meir, in 
his work, “ Milhemet Mizwah,” relates that about 
1245 he took part in a religious controversy before 
the archbishop of Narbonne, in the presence of the 
leaders of the Jewish community of Capestang. 
Numerous scholars of the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries have borne the surname of “Capestang,’’ 
which, in passing into Hebrew, underwent many 
alterations, as JRMOWNAP, INMOWIAP. PMNROWNAP. 

The Jewish community of Capestang took part in 
the campaign led by Abba Mari of Lunel against 
Maimonides. A letter of adhesion condemning the 
study of philosophy was sent to Abba Mari by 
Isaac ben Moses ha-Kohen in the name of fifteen 
scholars of Capestang. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Saige, Les Juifs du Languedoe, p. 

Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 546; Minhat Kena ot, pp. 172, 1738. 


& I. Br. 


CAPHAR-SALAMA. Sce KEFAR-SALAMA, 


CAPHTOR: Original country of the Philistines 
before their emigration into Palestine, whence their 
name, “Caphtorim” (Deut. ii. 23; Amos ix. 7; Jer. 
xivii. 4, where they are called “the remnant of the 
country [Hebrew, “island ”] of Caphtor”). Thean- 
cient versions render “Caphtor” by “Cappadocia ” 
(Persian, “ Katpadhuka”), changing the final conso- 
nant to &, which is evidently only a very bold con- 
jecture. According to Gen. x. 14 and I Chron. i. 12 
(where the gloss-like remark, “out of whom came 
the Philistines,” has, as is now generally believed, 
been misplaced by copyists, being properly after 
“Caphtorim,” not after “Casluhim ”), Caphtor was 


Capistrano 
Capital Punishment 





supposed to have beenaregion of Egypt. The city | 


Koptos (Egyptian, “Kebto[yu]”) has, however, 
nothing to do with it, and the hypothesis of Ebers, 
“ Keft-ur, Great(er) Phenicia,” is entirely un-Egyp- 
tian. Thecountry “Kft” of the hierogly phics (ear- 
lier “ Kftyw,” to be vocalized probably as “ Kefté ”), 
which is not Phenicia but probably the southern 
coast of Asia Minor, may have had some indirect 
connection with Caphtor, An Egyptian inscription 
of the most recent period has been found, however, 
which, copying an earlier geographical list, enumer- 
ates “ K(a)ptar” among Asiatic nations, insuring thus 
the correctness of the Hebrew tradition as against 
the versions. The popular identification with Crete 
(Dillmann, etc., following Calmet) rests on Jer. x} vii. 
4 (see LX X.; the word “Caphtor ” is a later addition, 
so that the passage is at least doubtful) and on the 
identitication of the CHERETHITES with the Cretans 
(LXX., etc.), which would, if correct, probably deter- 
mine the original home of only a part of the Philis- 
tines, without necessarily identifying Caphtor itself. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ebers, 4igypten und die Bticher Mosia, p. 

180; W. Max Miller, in Mitthetlunyen der Vorderasia- 

tischen Geselischaft. 1900, v. 1 et seq. (loeating Caphtor on the 


Carian or Lycian coast); Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 171. 
E. G. H. W. M. M. 


CAPISTRANO, JOHN OF: Franciscan monk; 
born at Capistrano, Italy, 1386; died 1456, Owing 
to his remarkable power asa popular preacher, he 
was sent by Pope Nicholas V. (1447-55) as a legate 
to Germany, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, with 
the special mission to preach against the Hussites and 
other heretical teachings and to subdue “the clisbe- 
lieving Jews,” in accordance with the resolutions 
adopted at the council of Basel (1431-48). 

His stirring sermons, in which he urged the peo- 
ple to repent of their sins and to fight against the 
Freethinkers, made a thrilling impression. Know- 
ing how easy it is to excite the masses by appealing 
to their prejudices, Capistrano, in his discourses, 
accused the Jews of killing Christian children and 
of desecrating the host. The Jews trembled at his 
approach, for his sermons seemed like invitations to 
riot. His admirers called him “the scourge of the 
Judeans.” The Bavarian dukes, Louis and Albert, 
influenced by Capistrano’s agitations, drove out the 
Jews from their duchies; in some places in Bavaria 
Jews were forced to wear the degrading BADGE on 
their coats (1452). Bishop Godfrey of Wiirzburg, 
reigning duke of Franconia, who had granted the 
fullest privileges to the Jews of his duchy, under 
the influence of Capistrano issued an ordinance 
(1458) decreeing their banishment. The towns and 
Jandowners were enjoined to expel the Jews, and 
Jewish creditors were deprived of a portion of the 
debts owing to them. 

In Silesia the Franciscan was most zealous in his 
work. When Capistrano arrived at Breslau, a re- 
port was circulated that one Meyer, a wealthy Jew, 
had bought a host from a peasant and desecrated it. 
Thereupon the local authorities arrested the repre- 
sentatives of the Breslau Jewish community and 
confiscated their houses and property for the benefit 
of the city. The investigation of the so-called blas- 
phemy was conducted by Capistrano himself. By 
means of tortures he managed to wring from a few 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


554 


aaa Fa ee 
of the victims false confessions of the crimesascribeq 
to them. <As a result, more than forty Jews were 
burned at the stake in Breslau June 2, 1458. Others, 
fearing torture, committed suicide, a rabbi, Pinheas, 
hanged himself. The remainder of the Jews Were 
driven out of the city, while their children of tender 
age were taken from them and baptized by force. 
In Poland Capistrano found an ally in the arch- 
bishop Zbigniev Olesniczki, who urged Casimir IV, 
Jagellon to abolish the privileges which had been 
granted to the Jews in 1447. Capistrano, in sup- 
porting Olesniczki’s demand, threatened the king, 
in case of resistance, with horrible sufferings in hell, 
and predicted great misfortune tothe country. The 
king at first refused tocomply; but when the Polish 
army was defeated Sept., 1454, in the war with the 
Teutonic Order (which was sccretly assisted by the 
pope and the Polish Church), and the clergy an- 
nounced that God had punished the country on ac- 
count of the king’s negligence of the Church and 
for his protection of the Jews, Casimir yielded (1454) 
and revoked the privieges which the latter had en- 
joved. This led to persecutions of the Jews in many 
Polish towns. Capistrano was canonized in 1690. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lucas, Schlesische Curiose_ Denkwiirdig- 
keiten, Frankfort, 1689; Sylvius, Historia Bohemieca, col. 
1522, p. 174; Graetz, Hist. pa ne Jews, Hebr. trans., pp. 210- 
23], 226-232, 239, 255-256, 23-427 5 aunt. Historya 
Zydow w Polsce, li. Bet seg. migen: in Zeit. fiir Hist. Theol. 
ii., part 2, 259 et seq.; Sybel’s Hist. Zeit., 1868, No. 3, pp. 19 et 
8eq.; Klose, Gesch. von Breslau. ii., part 25 39 et 8eq.; Ge- 
meiner, Regensburgische Chronik, vol. iii. passim ; "Are- 
tin, Gesch. der Juden in Baiern, p. 36; Meir Minz, Re- 
sponsa, No. 68. 


G. H. R. 


CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.—In the Penta- 
teuch: Warrants for the infliction of capital punish- 
ment, as opposed to private retribution or vengeance, 
are found in the Pentateuchal codes for the commis- 
sion of any one of the following crimes: adultery 
(Lev, xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22); bestiality (Ex. xxii. 
18 [A. V. 19]; Lev. xx. 15); blasphemy (Lev. xxiv. 
16); false evidence in capital cases (Deut. xix. 16- 
19); false prophecy (Deut. xill. 6, xviii. 20); idola- 
try, actual or virtual (Lev. xx. 2; Deut. xiii. 7-19, 
xvii. 2-7); incestuous or unnatural connections 
(Lev. xviii. 22, xx. 11-14); insubordination to su- 
preme authority (Deut. xvii. 12); kidnaping (Ex. 
xxi. 16; Deut. xxiv. 7); licentiousness of a priest’s 
daughter (Lev, xxi. 9}; murder (Ex. xxi. 12; Lev. 
xxiv. 17; Num. xxxv. 16 e¢ seg.); rape committed 
on a betrothed woman (Deut, xxii. 25); striking or 
cursing a parent, or otherwise rebelling against 
parental authority (Ex. xxi. 15, 17; Lev. xx. 9; 
Deut. xxi. 18-21); Sabbath-breaking (Ex. xxxi. 14, 
xxxv, 2; Num. xv. 82-36); witchcraft and augury 
(Ex. xxii. 17; Lev. xx. 27). 

Only in comparatively few instances is the partic: 
ular mode of death incurred by the commission of a 
crime prescribed. Blasphemy, idolatry, Sabbath- 

breaking, witchcraft, prostitution by 

Modes of a betrothed virgin, or deceiving her 

Pun- husband at marriage as to her chastity 
ishment. (Deut. xxii. 21), and the rebellious 
son are, according to the Pentateuchal 

laws, to be punished with death by stoning; 
bigamous marriage with a wife’s mother and the 
prostitution of a priest’s daughter are punished by 


555 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Capistrano 
Capital Punishment 





purning; communal apostasy is punished by the 
sword. Withreference to all other capital offenses, 
the law ordains that the perpetrator shall die a vio- 
jent death, occasionally adding the expression, “ His 
{their) blood shall be upon him (them).” This ex- 
pression, as we shall see presently, post-Biblical leg- 
islation applies to death by stoning. The Bible 
speaks also of hanging (Deut. xxi. 22), but, accord- 
ing to the rabbinical interpretation, not as a mode 
of execution, but rather of exposure after death 
(Sanh. vi. 4, 75b). 
——In Rabbinic Law: An old-established rule 
of rabbinic jurisprudence forbids the infliction of 
punishment where there is no Biblical authority for 
such punishment (Sanh. 82b; compare Sifre, Deut. 
154). That authority, however, may be established 
by GEZERAH SHAWAL (AW AW); 7Z.e., 
Rabbinic by comparing similar or analogous ex- 


Devel- _—s pressions in two or more passages, in 
opments. one of which the meaning and import 
of the expression are unmistakable 

(Ker. 5a). Similarly in cases where the Pentateuch 


imposes the death penalty, without specifying the 
mode of death, Talmudic jurisprudence discovers the 
particular mode intended by means of the principle of 
Gezerah shawah. Thus: Inreference to the man or 
the woman who makes use of “a familiar spirit ”— 
z.e., “a wizard ”—the law says (Lev. xx. 27), “They 
shall stone them with stones; their blood shal! be upon 
them” (23 pms). Here the expression “ Deme- 
hem bam” is plainly used in connection with death 
by stoning; hence it is argued that, wherever the 
game expression occurs in the Pentateuch in connec- 
tion with the death penalty, it means death by sto- 
ning, and consequently the punishment of the crimes 
mentioned in Lev. xx. 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, is the same: 
death by stoning (Mek., Mishpatim, 17; Sifra, Ke- 
doshim, ix.; Sanh. 58b, 66a). Again, with reference 
to the perpetrator of bestiality the law reads (Lev. 
xx. 15), “He shall surely be put to death; and ye 
shall slay the beast.” Here the particular mode of 
death is not stated, but rabbinic law again infers it 
by means of a Gezerah shawah. Since, with refer- 
ence to the enticer to idolatry, the Bible (Deut. xiii 

10 [A. V. 9]}) employs the term Harag = “to slay” 
(“Thou shalt surely slay him”), and this is imme- 
diately ex plained by the addition (¢b. 11 [A. V. 10]). 
“Thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die,” it 
follows that the term “harag” used in reference to 
the beast likewise means to slay by stoning. And 
as for the criminal] himself, his sentence is the same 
as that of the beast in connection with which he is 
mentioned (Sifra, 2.c. x.; Sanh. 54b). In the case of 
the instigator to communal apostasy (“ maddiah”) the 
law reads (Deut. xiii. 6 [A. V. 5]), “He hath spoken 
.. . to thrust thee out of the way of the Lord,” and 
in that of the enticer of individuals (“ mesit”) the iden- 
tical expression is used: “He hath sought to thrust 
thee away from the Lord ” (z. 11 [A. V. 10]); hence 
as in the latter case stoning is the penalty, so itis 
in the former (Sifre, Deut. 86; Sanh. 89b).  Fi- 
nally, concerning the witch, it is said (Ex. xii. 17 
[A. V. 18]), “Thou shalt not suffer her to live,” and 
elsewhere (7b. xix. 13) the expression, “Shall not 
live,” is used in connection with “He shall surely be 
stoned”; therefore in the first case the particular 


SS tt py ere 


penalty is to be the same as in the second (Mek., J.¢. ; 
Sanh. 67a). 


According to these conclusions, rabbinic law based on Pen- 
tateuchal authority, expressed or inferred, affixes death by 
stoning to each of the following eighteen crimes: 1. Besti- 
ality committed by man (Lev. xx. 15; Sanh. vii. 4, 54b; Sifra, 
Kedoshim, x. 1; Mek., Mishpatim, 17). 2. Bestiality com- 
mitted by woman (Lev. xx. 16: Sanh. vii. 4, 54b; Sifra, Kedo- 
shim, x.3; Mek., Mishpatim, 17). 3. Blasphemy (Lev. xxiv. 16; 
Sanh. vii. 4, 48a; Sifra, Emor, xix.). 4. Criminal conversation 
With a betrothed virgin (Deut. xxii. 23, 24; Sanh. vii. 4, 66b; 
Sifre, Deut. 242). 5. Criminal conversation with one’s own 
daughter-in-law (Lev, xx. 12; Sanh. vii. 4,58a; Sifra, Kedoshim, 
ix. 13). 6. Criminal conversation with one’s own mother (Lev. 
XViii. 7, xx. I1; Sanh. vii. 4, 8a; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 12). 7. 
Criminal conversation with one’s own stepmother (Lev. xviii. 
8, xx.11; Sanh. vii. 4, 58a; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix.12). 8. Cursmg 
a parent (Lev. xx.9; Sanh. vii. 4, 66a; Mek., Mishpatim, 17; 
Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 7). 9. Enticing individuals to idolatry: 
** Mesit”’ (Deut. xiii. 7-12 (A. V. 6-11]; Sanh. vii. 4, 67a; Sifre. 
Deut. 90). 10. Idolatry (Deut, xvii. 2-7; Sanh. vii. 4, 60b:; 
Sifre, Deut. 149). 11. Instigating communities to idolatry: 
**Maddiah”’ (Deut. xiii. 2-6 [A. V. 1-5]; Sanh. vii. 4, 67a: Sifre, 
Deut. 8&6). 12. Necromancy (Lev. xx. 273 Sanh. vii. 4, 
65a; Sifra, Kedoshim, xi.,end). 13. Offering one’s own children 
to Molech (Lev. xx. 2; Sanh. vii. 4, 64a; Sifra, Kedoshim, viti., 
parashah 10, beginning). 14. Pederasty (Lev. xx. 18; Sanh. 
vii. 4, 54a; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 14). 15. Pythonism (Lev. xx. 
27; Sanh. vii. 4, 65a; Sifra, Kedoshim, xi.,end). 16. Rebelling 
against parents (Deut. xxi. 18-21; Sanh. vii. 4, 68b; Sifre, Deut. 
220). 17. Sabbath-breaking (Num. xv. 382-36; Sanh. vii. 4; 
Sifre, Num. 114). 18. Witeheraft (Ex. xxii. 17 [A. V. 18]; 
Sanh. vii. 4, 6va; Mek., Mishpatim, 17). 

As in the several classes included in the above 
category (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 14) rabbinic jurisprudence es- 
tablishes the particular punishment of the criminal 
on the basis of Gezerah shawah, so in most cases of 
the following category the particular punishment is 
deduced from Gezerah shawah, Thus, with refer- 
ence to bigamy with mother and daughter the law 
reads (Lev. xx. 14): “It is wickedness” (“ Zimmah 
hi”), and because elsewhere (26. xviti. 17) the iden- 
tical ex pression is used with reference to criminal con- 
versation of man with female relatives of other de- 
grees, rabbinic law affixes the penalty which the 
Pentateuch attaches to the former also to the latter 
(Sanh. ix. 1, 75a; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 17). On the 
same principle the Rabbis establish the penalty for 
such conversation with relatives within certain as- 
cending degrees, comparing them with the descend- 
ing degrees of like removes, explicitly mentioned in 
the Bible (Yeb. 21a e¢ seg.; Yer. Sanh, ix. 26d; 
Yer. Yeb. ii. 3d). 

The crimes punished in rabbinic law with death by burn- 
ing are accordingly the following ten: 1. Criminal conversa- 
tion by a priest’s daughter (Lev. xxi. 9; Sanh. ix. 1, 76a; Sifra, 
Emor, i. 14 e¢ seq.). % Criminal conversation with one’s own 
daughter (Yeb. 3a; Sanh. ix. 1, 75a). 3. Criminal conversation 
with one’s own daughter’s daughter (Lev. xviii. 10; Sanh. ix. 
1, 75a). 4. Criminal conversation with one’s own son’s daugh- 
ter (Lev. xviii. 10; Sanh. ix. 1, 75a). 5. Criminal conversa- 
tion with one’s own stepdaughter (Lev. xviii. 17; Sanh. ix. 1, 
vda; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 16). 6. Criminal conversation with 
one’s own stepdaughter’s daughter (Lev. xviii. 17; Sanh. ix. 
1, 75a; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 16). 7. Criminal conversation with 
one’s own stepson’s daughter (Lev. xviii. 17; Sanh. ix. 1, 75a; 
Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 16). 8. Criminal conversation with one’s 
own mother-in-law (Lev. xx. 14; Sanh. ix. 1, 75a; Sifra, Ke- 
doshim, ix.15). 9. Criminal conversation with one’s own moth- 


er-in-law’s mother (Sanh. ix. 1, 75a; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 17; 


Yeb. 2la ef seq.). 10. Criminal conversation with one’s own 
father-in-law’s mother (Sanh. ix. 1, 75a; Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 17; 
Yeb. 21a). 


The nine cases of incest here enumerated (2-10) 
subject the perpetrator to the penalty of burning 


Capital Punishment 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


556 


Pe A eee Ta, 


only when the crime is committed during the life 
of his legal wife (Yeb. 95a; Sanh. 76b; see Maimon- 
ides, “ Yad,” Issure Bi’ah, 1. 5). 

Two crimes only are punished by slaying: 1. Communal 
apostasy (Deut. xiii. 18-16 [A. V. 12-15]: Sanh. ix. 1, 52b; 
Sifre, Deut. 94.). 2. Murder (Ex. xxi. 12; Lev. xxiv. 17; 
Sauh. ix. 1, 52b; Mek., Mishpatim, 4; Sifre, Num. 160; see 
HOMICIDE). 

The penalty for the first is explicitly declared 
(Deut. xiii. 16 [A. V.15]): “Thou shalt surely smite 
the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the 
sword”; but that of the latter is again based on the 
principle of the Gezerah shawah. As with reference 
to a murderer the law is (Ex. xxi. 20), “He shall 
surely be punished” (“nakom yinnakem” ; literally, 
“Jt shall surely be avenged”), and elsewhere (Lev. 
Xxvi. 25) an “avenging sword” (“hereb nokemet ”) 
is spoken of, the Rabbis argue that the term “ nakom” 
applied to homicide has the significance given to it 
by its connection with sword (Sanh. vii. 3, 52b; 
Mek., Mishpatim, 4). 

To the three modes of capital punishment explic- 
itly mentioned in the Pentateuchal laws, rabbinic 
law adds a fourth; viz., strangulation. In post- 
Biblical jurisprudence this is the penalty incurred 
by the perpetrator of any one of the crimes to which 
the Pentateuch affixes death, without specifying 
the mode of death and where no conclusions from 
Gezerah shawah can be deduced. The Rabbis argue 
thus: No death-sentence pronounced in the Bible 
indefinitely may be construed with severity; on the 
contrary, it must be interpreted leniently. And 
since the Rabbis viewed strangulation as the easiest 
of deaths, they decided that the undefined death-sen- 
tence of the Pentateuchal code means strangulation. 
Moreover, the Bible frequently speaks of death sent 
“by Heaven” for certain sins (for example: Gen. 
xxxviii. 7, 10; Lev. x. 7, 9); and as the death visited 
by Heaven leaves no outward mark, so must the 
death inflicted by a human tribunal leave no outward 
marks, and that is possible only in an execution by 
strangulation (Mek., Mishpatim, 5; Sifra, Kedo- 
shim, ix. 11; Sanh. 52b). 

By strangulation the following six crimes are punished: 
1. Adultery (Lev. xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22: Sanh. xi. 1, 52b; 
Sifra, Kedoshim, ix. 11; Sifre, Deut. 241; see ADULTERY). 
2. Bruising a parent (Ex. xxi. 15; Sanh. xi. 1, 84b; Mek., 
Mishpatim, 5). 3. False prophecy (Deut. xviii. 20; Sanh. xi. 1, 
5, 89a; Sifre, Deut. 178). 4. Insubordination to supreme 
authority; “ Zaken mamre,” (Deut. xvii. 12; Sanh. xi.1, 87a; 
Sifre, Deut. 155). 5, Kidnaping (Ex. xxi. 16; Deut. xxiv. 7; 
Sanb. xi. 1, 85b; Mek., Mishpatim, 5; Sifre, Deut. 273; see AB- 
DucTION). 6. Prophesying in the name of heathen deities 
(Deut. xviii. 20; Sanh. xi. 1, 5, 89a; Sifre, Deut. 178). 

Of the four modes of capital punishment—stoning, 
burning, slaying, and strangulation—the first is con- 
sidered by the majority of Rabbis the severest; the 
last, the mildest (Sanh. vii. 1, 49b e¢ seqg.). Hence 
when convicts condemned to different modes of cap- 
ital punishment become intermixed beyond the pos- 
sibility of identification and classification, all of them 
suffer the sentence carrying with it the death named 
lowest in the order cited above (Sanh. ix. 8, 80b). 
On the other hand, when one is found guilty of sev- 
eral crimes of different grades of punishment, he 
will suffer the severest death to which he is Hable 
(Sanh. ix. 4, 81a; compare Tos. Yom-Teb to Mish- 
nah). 


Capital punishment in rabbinic law, or indeed 
any other punishment, must not be inflicted, ex. 
cept by the verdict of a regularly constituted court 
(Lesser Sanh.) of three-and-twenty qualified mem- 
bers (Sanh. i. 1; Sifre, Num. 160), and except on 
the most trustworthy and convincing testimony of 
at least two qualified eye-witnesses to the crime 

(Deut. xvii. 6, xix. 15; Sotah vi. 3. 

Mode of Sifre, Num. 161; 2d. Deut. 150, 188, 

Judgment. Sanh. 30a) who must also depose 

that the culprit had been forewarned 
as to the criminality and the consequences of his 
project (Sanh. v. 1, 40b e¢ seg.; see HATRAAH). The 
culprit must bea person of legal age and of sound 
mind, and the crime must be proved to have been 
committed of the culprit’s free will and without the 
aid of others (see ABETMENT); and if any one wil- 
fully kills him before conviction, a charge of murder 
will lie against such perpetrator (Tosef., B. K. ix. 15; 
Sifre, Num. 161; compare ‘Ar. i. 3, 6b). Nor may 
an execution be deferred, except in the case of the 
“Zaken mamre” (Sanh. xi. 4), or of a woman about - 


to be delivered of a child (‘Ar. i. 4), nor may it be 


carried out on a day sacred to religion (Mek., Mish- 
patim, 4; 7, Wayyakhel; Yeb. 6b; Sanh. 35b). On 
the day that the verdict is pronounced, the convict 
is led forth to execution (Sanh. 34a). Looking upon 
the sinner as upon the victim of folly (otah 3a), and 
considering death an expiation for misdeeds (Ber, 
60a; Sanh. vi. 2; see ATONEMENT), the Rabbis would 
not permit the protraction of the interval between 
sentence and execution, which they considered as 
the most terrible period in the convict’s existence. 
These considerations prompted them to afford the 
convict every possible alleviation of the pains and 
sufferings concomitant with the execution, and to 
direct the execution itself so as to prevent the muti- 
lation of the body, or to reduce such mutilation, 
where it is unavoidable—as in stoning or slaying— 
toa minimum. The Pentateuchal law (Lev. xix. 18) 
prescribes, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self” ; and the Rabbis maintain that this love must 
be extended beyond the limits of social intercourse 
in life, and applied even to the convicted criminal 
who, “though a sinner, is still thy brother” (Mak. 
iii. 15; Sanh. 44a): “ The spirit of love must be man- 
ifested by according hima decent death” (Sanh. 45a, 
OA). 

As the convict is led forth to the place of execu- 
tion, which is located outside of the city limits and 
at some distance from the court-house (Sanh. vi. 1, 
42b), a flag-bearer is stationed at the entrance to the 
court, and farther on a rider is piaced, while a 
herald marches in front of the procession, proclaim- 
ing the name of the convict, his crime, when and 
where committed, and the names of the witnesses on 

whose evidence he was convicted, at 

Execution the same time inviting any and every 
of one in possession of evidence favora- 
Sentence. ble to the convict to come forward 
and declare it—the judges remaining 

in session throughout the process of the execution 
and fasting all that day (M. K. 14b; Sanh. 63a). If 
favorable evidence comes to light, the flag-bearer 
gives the signal, and the rider turns the procession 
back to the court where the new evidence is duly 


557 


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Capital Punishment 


eS ee eee 


considered. Indeed, the convict’s own declaration 
that he can prove his innocence, or mitigating cir- 
cumstances, cause a stay until he is heard. And 
even where he fails to effect a reversal of sentence 
py his first attempt, there is still hope left for him. 
He may repeat the attempt several times, two 
scholars accompanying him for the purpose of hear- 
ing him and judging whether further delay should 
be permitted. On arriving in the neighborhood of 
the scaffold, he is exhorted to make confession of his 
sins, though not specifically of the crime for which 
he is to suffer death (see CONFESSION OF SIN). 
Thereupon he is given to drink a mixture of wine 
and olibanum, that he may become stupefied and 
not realize the painful close of lis earthly carcer 
(Sem. Ji. 9; Sanh. 48a; compare Mark xv. 23; con- 
trast Matt. xxvii. 34). When he is brought still 
nearer to the fatal place, he is divested of his clothes 
and covered in front, and, if a woman, in front and 
behind (according to the adopted opinion, a woman 
was not divested at all). In this state the convict 
was led on to the spot (Sanh. vi, 1-3, 48b-45b, 
Tosef., Sanh. ix. 6; Sifra, Emor, xix. 8; Sifre, Deut. 
921). Then the prosecuting witnesses, who are the 
only legal executioners known to Biblical and rab- 
binic Jaws (Deut. xvii. 7; Sifra, Emor, xix. 3; 
Sifre, Deut. 89, 151; Sanh. 45b), proceed to carry 
out the sentence which their evidence has brought 
about. That is done in the following manner: 

Stoning (AD"pD): With reference to two offenders 
subject to this penalty, the Pentateuch says, “Thine 
hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, 
and afterward the hand of all the people” (Deut. 

xiii. 10 [A. V. 9]), and again (7b. xvii. 
The ‘‘¥Four 7%), “The hands of the witnesses shall 
Deaths.” be first upon him to put him to death, 
and afterward the hands of all the 
people.” Rabbinic law follows this injunction lit 
erally, but confines its consummation within narrow 
limits. The convict having been placed on a piat- 
form twice his height, one of the witnesses throws 
him to the ground. If the concussion does not pro- 
duce instant death, the second witness hurls a heavy 
stone at his chest; and only when this also proves 
insufficient to end his misery, the bystanders throw 
stones at the prostrate body until death ensues 
(Sanh. vi. 4; 45a ef seg.; Sifra, Emor, xix.; Sifre, 
Num. ti4; 7d. Deut. 89, 90, 149, 151). 

Burning (7H wy): The Pentateuch simply ordains 
that the criminal “shall be burnt with fire” (Lev. 
xx. 14; xxi. 9), and a case is reported from the last 
days of the Second Temple, where a guilty daughter 
of a priest was actually burned on a pyre. How- 
ever, the reporter of the case stated that he had wit- 
nessed it during his minority; and as the testimony 
of a minor is not valid, no rule of procedure could 
be based thereon. Indeed, the Rabbis declared that 
a court ordering such an execution was ignorant of 
traditional law, and a later teacher was of opinion 
that the court referred to consisted of dissenting 
Sadducees. According to rabbinic Jaw, an execu- 
tion by burning means this: The witnesses secure 
the convict, then force his mouth open by means of 
a stout cord (wrapped in soft cloth, to prevent the 
discoloration of the convict’s neck) being tightly 
drawn around his neck, when molten lead or, ac- 


cording to another opinion, a mixture of lead and 
tin, is poured down his throat and burns his vitals. 
(Sanh. vii. 2, 52b; Tosef., Sanh. ix. 11; Yer. Sanh. 
vii. 24b). 

Slaying (997): Theconvict having been fastened 
to a post, his head is severed from the body by a 
blow with asword. Splitting the body or piercing 
it is not permitted; neither is it allowed to perform 
decapitation on a block (Sanh. vii. 3, 52b:; Mek., 
Mishpatim, 4; Sifre, Deut. 94). Sce BEHEADING. 

Strangulation (pn) is effected by slinging 
around the convict’s neck a stout cord, wrapped in 
soft cloth, which the executioners draw in opposite 
directions, until all breath leaves his body and he 
dies (Sanh. vil. 3, 62b; Mck., Mishpatim, 5; Sifra, 
Kedoshin, ix. 11). 

No execution is attended with posthumous indig- 
nities, except that the usual mourning ceremonies 
are not observed (Sifra, Shemini, Introduction, 2°; 
Sem. ii. 7; Sanh. vi. 6), and in the case of the idola- 
ter and of the blasphemer hanging is superadded, 
provided the criminal is nota woman. The expo- 
sure of the body, however, must not be protracted. 
The dead convict’s hands are joined above his head, 
and by them he is suspended; but while one of the 
exccutioners is still engaged in fastening the cords, 
the other must begin to untie them. As to the gib- 
bet, it must not be a natural or permanent one, like 
a tree, but an artificial arrangement, easily remova- 
ble: and when once used, must be buried out of 
sight (Sanh. vi. 4, 46b; Sifre, Deut. 221). 

For the burial of convicts two special cemeteries 
are provided: one in which those are buried who 
have been executed either by stoning or by burning, 
and another for those slain or strangled. The dry 
bones are eventually disinterred, and placed in the 
general burial-grounds (Sanh. vi. 5, 6, 47b; Tosef., 
Sanh. ix. 8, 9; Yer. Sanh. vi. 23d). 

No sentence carries with it any change in the civil 
status of the convict’s family. The Pentateuchal 
law provides (Deut. xxiv. 16), “ The parents shall not 
be put to death for the children, neither shail the 
children be put to death for the parents; every man 
shall be put to death for bis own sins,” and rabbinic 
jurisprudence follows this principle both to the let- 
ter and in spirit. Nor is a sentence attended by 
confiscation of the convict’s goods. All his posses- 
sions descend to his legal heirs (Tosef., Sanh. iv. 6; 
Sanh. 27b, 48b; see CONFISCATION). 

Rabbinic jurisprudence is developed on the basis 
of the Ictter and the spirit of the Bible, particularly 
of the Pentateuchal codes (Josh. i. 8, viii. 8t; Jose- 
phus, “Contra Ap.” i. 8; Hag. 10b, 
14a; Ned. 22b; Mak. 28b; compare 
Darmesteter, “The Talmud,” trans- 
lation by H. Szold, pp. 62 e¢ seg.); but 
that development naturally partook of the spirit of 
the ages during which it took place—from Ezra’s 
times to the final redaction of the Gemara (559 B.c. 
to 550 c.E.). This was especially the case with the 
development of the civil and ritualistic laws, which 
governed Jewish life long after the Roman conquest 
of Palestine. But also in criminal law, involving 
capital punishment, the right to administer which 
had been taken from the Sanhedrin decades before 
the fall of Jerusalem (Sanh. 41a; Yer. Sanh. i. 18a, 


Critical 
Note. 


Capital Punishment 
Capsali 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


558 


OT 


vii. 24b), the Rabbis delved deeply, elaborating the 
details thereof with a view to their application in 
the hoped-for Messianic days (NMPwDd xnobn, Sanh. 
51b; Yeb. 45a) or for the satisfaction accruing from 
study ("Dw $3p) vant, 2).). In this department 
there are therefore some laws which are mere legal 
opinions or theoretic ratiocinations which were 
never applied in practise. Such, for example, are 
the laws relating to the “rebellious son” and to 
“communal apostasy ” (Tosef., Sanh. xi. 6, xiv. 1; 
Sanh. 71a). However, the bulk of rabbinic rules, 
even those concerning capital punishment, bear the 
stamp of great antiquity, inasmuch as they are 
based on actual precedent or on old traditional inter- 
pretation, Josephus, whose main authority for the 
first half of his “Antiquities” doubtiess was the 
Bible itself, supplements his outlines of “the polity 
settled by Moses” (“ Ant.” iv. 8, $8 1~45) with tradi- 
tions current in his day. Some of these traditions 
agree with the corresponding Halakot embodied in 
the Talmudim and halakic Midrashim at a much 
later date. A few examples must suftice. In the 
true spirit of traditional law, Josephus (“ Ant.” xii. 
9,§ 1) says, “ The purposing of a thing, but not actu- 
ally doing it, is not deserving of punishment ” (com- 
pare Tosef., Mak. v. [iv.] 10; Sanh. 68b; Mak. 16a); 
nevertheless he construes the Pentateuchal law re- 
garding the confuted witness (Deut. xix. 16-19) as de- 
creeing punishment where the sentence brought 
about by the confuted testimony has not been exe- 
euted. He says (“ Ant.” iv. 8, § 15), “If any one be 
believed to have borne false witness, let him, when he 
is convicted, suffer all the very same punishments 
which he against whom he bore witness was to have 
suffered.” This coincides with the rabbinic Halakah 
(Mak. i. 6; Sifre, Deut. 190; see ALIBI), as opposed to 
the Sadducean ruling that the confuted witness is 
punishable only after the execution of the sentence 
which his falsehood has brought about (¢b. ; compare 
8. Mendelsohn, “Criminal Jurisprudence of the An- 
cient Hebrews,” p. 186). Also the Pentateuchal 
law (Ex. xxi. 21, 22) regarding an assault on a Woman 
with child, Josephus (/.¢. § 28) interprets in the spirit 
of the Halakah (Mek., Mishpatim, 8; B. K. 42a; 
Sanh. 74a; compare Geiger,“ Urschrift,” pp. 436 e¢ 
seq.; Pineles, “Darkah shel Torah,” § 160). Like- 
wise his esteeming guiltless the slayer of the thief, 
“although he were only breaking in at the wall” 
(i.c. § 27), is in consonance with the traditional inter- 
pretation of the Halakah (Mek., Mishpatim,13; Sanh. 
72a; Yer. Savh. viii. 26c); and so is his reduction of 
the number of stripes (Deut. xxv. 1-3) from forty to 
“forty save one” (Z.c. 88 21, 23) in accord with the 
Halakah (Mak. iii. 10, 22b; Sifre, Deut. 186; com- 
pare II Cor. xi. 24). 

As to the spirit of later rabbinic legislation, it 
clearly appears that there was a tendency to reduce 
capital punishment to a minimum, if not to abolish 
it altogether. That capital punishment was a rare 
occurrence in the latter days of the Jewish common- 
wealth is patent from the statement in the Mishnah 
that a court was stigmatized as “murderous” if it 
condemned to death more than one human being in 
the course of seven years. Indeed, ELEAzAR B. AZA- 
RIAH applied the same epithet to a court that exe- 
cuted more than one man in every seventy years; 


and his famous colleagues, TRYPHON and AKIBA, 
openly avowed their opposition to capital punish. 
ment, saying, “Had we belonged to the Sanhedrin 
(during Judea’s independence], no man would ever 
have been executed,” as they would always have 
found some legal informalities by which to make g 
sentence of death impossible (Mak. i. 7a). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benny, Crim. Code of the Jews, pp. 34-95: Fas. 
sel, Strafg. Gerichtsverfahren, 88 72-78: Hamburger, R. 2, 
T.i. 992-995: Hetzel, Die Todesstrafe, 40-48; Mayer, Rechte a. 
Israeliten, ete. iii. 88 59-70; Maimonides. Hil. Sanhedrin, 
Xiv., xv.; S. Mendelsohn, Crim. Jurisprudence of the An. 
cient Hebrews, 88 25-32. 116-183; Michaelis, Mosaische 
Recht, $8 229-236 ; Saalschtitz, Das Mosaische Reeht, ch. lviii.; 
Salvador, Histoire des Institutions de Moise, Bk. iv... Semag, 
Ordinances, pp. G=-104. : 

J. SK. S. M. 
CAPITO (KOPFEL), WOLFGANG FABRI- 

CIUS: German Hebrew scholar; born at Hagenau, 

Alsace, in 1478; died Nov., 1541. In 1515 he wag 

appointed professor of theology. at Basel; and eight 

years later provost of St. Thomas, Strasburg. He 
wrote a Hebrew grammar and various theological 
works. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Universal Biographical Dict. 1827, p. 327: 
Meyer, Konversations-Lexrikon, s.v. 
.. E. Ms, 
CAPPADOCIA (Greck, Kazadoxia, derived from 
the Persian, “Hoaspadakhym”= “country of the 
good horses ” ; in the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions, 
“Katpadhuka”): Ancient province of Asia Minor. 
It was known to the Jewsin its Greek form also, 
and is often mentioned in the Talmud and the Mid- 
rash. The Roman prevince Cappadocia extended 
from the Taurus to the Euxine, and from the Halys 
to the Euphrates. According to Josephus (* Ant.” i. 
6, § 1) the Cappadocians were formerly calted * Mo- 
socheni,” the Biblical tribe Meshech, meutioned to- 
gether with Tubal; and Philo (in treating of Gen. 
xxvi. 28) is said to have called them “ Canaanites.” 
Herodotus speaks of them as “Syrians” (i. 72, v. 49, 
vii. 72), and even at the time of Strabo (xii. 544) 
they were known among the Greeks as “ white Syr- 
jans” (Aevxdovpot), They must not, however, be 
classed with the Semites, since the little that re- 
mains of their language shows no relationship with 
Semitic (Gesenius, “Monumenta Pheenicie,” p. 11). 
The Septuagint, the Syriac Hexapla, the Targum 
Onkelos, and the Jerusalem Targum identify (Deut. 
ii. 23) the Biblical Caputor with Cap- 
In padocia. The targums on Gen. x. 14, 
the Bible. Amos ix. 7 (here also the LXX. and 
Symmachus), and Jer. xlvii. 4 (also 
Aquila and Theodotion), identify it also with Caph 
tor, and the targumon Ezek. xxvii.11, with Gamia- 
dim, where the reading o™ p3 (“ Medes ”) serves as 
basis. According to this interpretation, the Bible 
would testify to an emigration of the Cappadocians 
from Assyrian end Median regions to Syria and Pales- 
tine. For later times, compare Yuhasin, ed. London, 
p. 2382b. 
Josephus is the first to give genuine historical 
data; he often mentions Cappadocia, since the royal 
house of Herod was related to that 
Josephus. of Cappadocia by the marriage of 
Herod’s son Alexander (subsequently 
executed) to Glaphyra, daughter of King Archelans 
of Cappadocia (“ Ant.” xvi. 1, 2). Glaphyra latet 
greatly shocked the Jews by marrying her brother 


559 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Capital Punishment 
Capsali 


Se a a ae ge ee eS 


in-law Archelaus (i). xvii. 18, § 4). Through these 
connections with Cappadocia, and perhaps even be- 
fore that time, Jews came to that country, and Chris- 
tianity spread among them (Acts ii. 9, xviii, 23; 
j Peter i. 1; on the Hypsistarian sect in Cappa- 
docia, see M. Fricdliinder, in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” 
xiv. 300). Jews of Cappadocia also went to the fes- 
tivals at Jerusalem (“ Ant.” xvi. 6,§7); some settled 
in Sepphoris (Yer. Sheb. 39a); and R. Judah, R. 
Yannai, and R. Samuel are mentioned as Cappadocian 
teachers of the Law. The Halakah mentions the 
Jews of Cappadocia, saying that they had no vege- 
tal oil, using only mineral oil (naphtha) for lighting 
on the Sabbath (Tosef., Shab. ii. 3; Yer. 4d; Bab. 
96a). The Talmud also speaks of robbers in Cappa- 
docia (Tosef., Yeb. iv. 5; Bab. 25b), the Cappadocians 
peing in evil repute because of their astuteness. 
Mazaca, or Cesarea, the capital of Cappadocia, is 
also frequently mentioned; R. Akiba visited it on 
histravels (Tosef., Yeb. xiv.5; Yer. 15d; Bab. 25b); 
and R. Metr, a teacher of the Law, is also mentioned 
here (Bab. Yeb. 121a). The importance of Mazaca, 
and hence that of Cappadocia, is shown most clearly, 
however, by the fact that when the Persian king, 
Sapor I., during his war with the Romans, besieged 
the city, he had 12,000 Jews massacred (M. K. 26a); 
it is said that the walls of Laodicea were rent by the 
poise of the arrows at Mazaca (2b.). Further men- 
tion is made of Cappadocian coins (Ket. xiii. 11) 
which, according to the correct interpretation (Parhi, 
in “ Kaftor wa-Ferah,” ed. Edelmann, p. 29b), were 
superior to those of Palestine. An ingenious use of 
the name is seen in the interpretation of a dream 
(kdzra = 20; doxoi = beams), by means of which a 
hidden treasure was found (Lam. R. i. 1; Gen. R. 
68, 12; Ber. 56b; Ma‘as. Sh. 55b); this passage like- 
wise indicates that journeys were often undertaken to 
Cappadocia, The word “ Cappadocia,” furthermore, 
was used as a veiled expression for Rome (Tan., 
Wayera, 18; 72. Bo, 4), and in this sense may be con- 
nected with the dream above mentioned. Cappa- 
docia had no independent existence in later times, 
and hence no further importance for Judaism. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Knobel, Die Volkertafel der Genesis, pp. 119, 
148, 153, Giessen, 1850; Neubauer, G. T. pp. 317-319; Bottger, 
Topographisch-Historisches Lexicon zu den Schriften ces 
Flavius Josephus, p. 75; Krauss, Lehnwéirter, ii, 558, 559. 


G, S. Kr. 


CAPPEL, LOUIS (LUDOVICUS CAPPEL- 
LUS): Christian theologian and Hebrew scholar; 
descended from an old aristocratic French Hugue- 
not family; born Oct. 15, 1585; died June 18, 1658. 
_In consequence of the so-called Tractate of Nemours 
of July 7, 1585, Cappel’s parents were obliged to 
leave the country, and during their flight Louis was 
born at Saint Elier, near Sedan. The soldiers of the 
League, who were pursuing the parents, very nearly 
Spitted the new-born infant on their swords. After 
studying theology and Oriental languages at Sedan, 
and traveling for four years through England, Hol- 
land, and Germany, he was appointed, in 1618, 
preacher and professor of Hebrew, and in 1638 pro- 
fessor of theology, at the Reformed Academy of 
Saumur. He died there, highly honored. 

Cappel gained imperishable fame by his two 
books, “Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum,” pub- 


lished anonymously by Thomas Erpenius, at Ley- 
den, in 1624, and “Critica Sacra,” printed at Paris, 
in 1650. In the “ Arcanum” he proved conclusively 
that the Hebrew text was first pointed after the 
Christian era, until which time it had been composed 
merely of consonants; in the “Critica” he proved 
that not even the consonantal text had been trans- 
mitted without errors, but needed emendation with 
the help of the versions and of conjecture. 

It is to the lasting credit of Cappel that he was 
the first who dared to undertake, with exemplary 
clearness, penetration, and method, a purely philo- 
logic and scientific treatment of the text of the Bible. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Ludovici Cappelli, Commentarius de Cappel- — 

lorum Gente, reprinted in Ludovici Cappelli, Commentarii 

et Notw Critice in Vetus Testamentum, Amsterdam, 1689. 


v, K. H. C. 


CAPSALI: Family of scholars in European 
Turkey during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
which came originally from Greece, where a cer- 
tain Elijah Capsali lived at the beginning of the 
fifteenth century. The name was taken from Cape 
Capsali, in the south of the Morea. Elijah had two 
sons, Moses and David, and the latter one son, 
Elkanah. The last Capsali mentioned in Jewish 
history is Elijah, son of Elkanah. The following 
members of the family are especially noteworthy: 

Eliezer Capsali: Talmudist at Constantinople 
in the second half of the fifteenth century. In answer 
to the appeal of the Karaites, whose literary degen- 
eracy was then notorious, he consented to instruct 
them in the rabbinic disciplines; imposing only the 
conditions that his pupils should refrain from vilify- 
ing the Talmudic authorities, and from desecrating 
the holy days of the rabbinical calendar. This at- 
tempt to reconcile the Karaites with Talmudic Juda- 
ism, or at least to soften their hostile attitude toward 
it, did not meet with the approval of the rigorists 
among the rabbis. Even Moses Capsali, who cer- 
tainly was independent enough otherwise, stoutly 
opposed his relative, Eliezer (perhaps chiefly because 
it was not customary to treat the Karaites in a 
friendly manner; see Elijah Mizrahi, Responsa, 
No. 87). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, viii. 208; Lattes, 

Likkutim Shonim, p. V7. 

Elijah b. Elkanah Capsali: Turkish Talmud- 
ist and historiau; born at Candia about 1490; died 
(there?) about 1555. In 1509 Capsali left his native 
city to study at Padua under Judah Minz; but 
Judah dying eight days after Capsali’s arrival, the 
latter went to Meir Katzenellenbogen, Minz’s son- 
in-law and successor. In 1522 Capsali was again at 
Candia, having been appointed leader of the com- 
munity there, with three assistants. During the 
terrible plague which appeared in Candia soon after, 
entailing upon the Jews great suffering, which was 
aggravated by the policy of isolating the Jewish 
quarter, Capsali worked unselfishly to relieve the 
stricken. When Menahem del Medigo, rabbi of 


Candia, became too old to officiate, Capsali and 


Judah del Medigo were appointed rabbis of the com- 
munity ; and Capsali continued there until his death. 
Among his pupils, Samuel ALGazi deserves especial 
mention (compare Nepi-Ghirondi, “ Toledot Gedole 
Yisrael,” p. 6, below). Capsali carried on a learned 


Capsali 
Captain 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


560 


eS ee a a a a eS 
correspondence with the greatest Talmudists of his | and settled at Candia, where he became one of the 


time; he showed a remarkable independence of 
spirit, not only in his relations with high authori- 
tics, but also in regard to ancient, time-honored 
customs. For instance, he abolished the custom, 
widely spread in Candia, of selling by auction the 
honor of bridegroom of the Torah; ordering instead 
that this should be conferred gratuitously upon a 
scholar or other prominent person of the community 
(Hayyim Benveniste, “Keneset ha-Gedolah, Orah 
Hayyim,” to 669; i. 88c). The independence and self- 
confidence manifested by Capsali in his decisions 
aroused the opposition of many of his colleagues. 
The responsa literature of that time contains numer- 
ous references by prominent rabbis to the controver- 
sies between Capsali and his associate rabbi of Can- 
dia, Judah del Medigo; the former always inclining 
to a less rigorous interpretation than the latter (com- 
pare Moses Alashkar, Responsa, No, 114, p. 177; 
Nos. 99, pp. 111-114; Meir Katzenellenbogen, Re- 
sponsa, No. 29). Abrahamibn Nahmias was another 
opponent of Capsali (Benveniste, ¢.c. pp. 261, 263, 
342). 

Capsali is the author of the following works: (1) 
“Sefer Dibre ha-Yamim le-Malkut Winiziah”; (2) 
“Seder Eliyahu Zutta,” or “Debe Eliyahu”; (8) 
“No‘am Hoblim,” decisions and responsa; and (4) a 
collection of responsa. The first work is a history 

of Venice, the manuscript of which is 


Elijah = in the British Museum. It contains, 
Capsali’s in addition, matter relating to other 
Works. Italian cities, and a section on the per- 


secutions of the Jews in Germany. 

The second work, a history of the Turkish empire 

from the earliest times down to the year 1522, is an 

important contribution to general history, as well as 
to the history of the Jews. This book (in manu- 
script in the Bodleian Library and in the British 

Museum), the publication of which would certainly 

throw much light on the history of the Jews in 

Turkey, contains a section on Spain and Portugal 

down to the expulsion of the Jews from those coun- 

tries. Judging from the extracts made by Lattes, 

Capsali was not only an excellent stylist— possessing 

neither the baldness of the chroniclers nor the ex. 

uberauce and affectation of the clegists—but was 
alsoareliable historian. Capsaliadded to the work, 

which is divided into 4 books and 166 sections, a 

treatise on theodicy. His interest in history is also 

seen in his collection of responsa, “ No‘am Heblim.” 
in which he narrates numerous interesting occut- 
rences relating to the Rabbis (compare, for example, 

the extractin Gratz, “Gesch der Juden,” viii. 448- 

445, which refers to the controversy between Joseph 

Colon and Moses Capsali). Capsali’s responsa seem 

to have entirely disappeared: Hayyim Benveniste is 

the only one known to have possessed and used s 

copy of them. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, viii. 448 ef seq. 
Lattes, Likkutin Shonim, pp. 18-82 (extracts from Capsali’s 
Seder Kliyahiw are given on pp. 83-110); Neubauer, Cat. 
Bod. Hebr. MSS. No, 2411; Nepi-Ghirondi. Toledot Gedole 
Yisrael, pp. 6-8; Rabbinowicz, Moza’e Golah, Index. 
Elkanah b. David Capsali: Turkish Talmud- 

ist and philanthropist of the second half of the 

fifteenth century. He was a pupil of his uncle, 


Moses Capsali, at Constantinople, but left that city 


most prominent members of the Jewish community, 
In 1493 he was “condestable” (high constable), one 
of its highest officers, and in that capacity was spe. 
cially active in relieving the sufferings of the Span- 
ish exiles who arrived that year in Candia. In one 
day (July 22, 1493) he collected for their assistance 
250 Venetian gulden, a very large sum for that time. 
Many notes on the history of the Ottoman empire in 
Elijah Capsali’s work were communicated to him 
by Elkanah, his father. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Lattes, Likkutim Shonim, pp. 17-18 ; LuzZatto, 

in Wiener, ‘mek ha-Baka (Hebr. part), p 20. 

Moses b. Elijah Capsali: Chief rabbi of the 
Ottoman empire; born in Greece 1420; died about 
1495 at Constantinople. When a young man he 
left his native country in order to study at the Ger. 
man yeshibot. He is next mentioned as rabbi of 
Constantinople about 1450; but he became promi- 
nent only during the reign of Sultan Mohammed IL, 
who appointed him chief rabbi of Turkey. The 
sultan thought so much of the rabbi that he assigned 
to him a seat in the divan beside the mufti, the re- 
ligious head of the Mohammedans, and above the 
patriarch of the Christians. 

Capsali held various offices, which included the 
supervision of the taxes of the Jews, and the ap- 
pointment of rabbis, and he even acted as a civil 
judge. It is said that the sultan’s respect for the 
rabbi was due to the fact that, disguised as a civil- 
ian, Mohammed was present one day while Capsali 
was rendering his decisions; and he assured him- 
self that the rabbi was incorruptible and impartial 
in his judgments. When the. sultan undertook to 
improve the moral conditions of some parts of Con- 
stantinople, it was said that this endeavor was 
prompted by the rabbi. It is certain that Capsali 
dealt very severely with Jewish youths who, inti- 
mate with the janizaries, imitated them in leading 
un-Jewish and immorallives. Some ofthese youths, 
enraged by the corporal punishment he had inflicted 
on them, attempted to kill him during a street riot 
in 148f, and he escaped only by flight. Capsali’s 
associations with Bayazid, the son and successor of 
Mohammed IT., were equally pleasant; and Bayazid’s 
friendliness toward the J ews, that became especially 
evident in the ready reception of the Spanish exiles, 
must be ascribed in no small measure to Capsali’s 
influence. 

Capsali directed communal affairs with considera- 
ble skill, and commanded general respect. Ascetic 
in his mode of life—fasting frequently, and always 
sleeping on a bare floor—he was an advocate of rig- 
orous rabbinism, severely criticizing the attempt of 
some rabbis to instruct the Karaites in the Talmud 
(compare ELrezER CAPSALI above). Nevertheless 
he seems to have taken certain liberties in various 
ritual questions, that made him many enemies, A 
party was formed at Constantinople for the purpose 

of injuring Capsali’s reputation, and 

Capsali of branding him as an ignorant and 
and Colon. unscrupulous rabbi. At the head of 

this clique was Moses “ Twenty-four,” 
said to have been so called because he knew only 
the twenty-four books of the Bible and nothing of 
the later literature, and who had been sent to Cor: 


561 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Capsali 
Captain 


Gee GO ep a a ee Ce pee ee pe Ee oe ee  ———— ee 


stantinople by the community of Jerusalem in order 
to obtain permission from the chief rabbi to collect 
money for the poor of that city. But Capsali, for 
political reasons, could not comply with the request ; 
for Bayazid IH. was then at war with the calif of 
Egypt, and it was forbidden to carry money from 
Turkey into the Egyptian provinces, hence into 
Palestine also. Moses “Twenty-four” was so exas- 
erated against the chief rabbi because of his disap- 
ointment, that he offered his services to the men 
who were attempting to bring Capsali into disgrace. 
At the head of these were Elijah Parnes, Aaron b. 
Abbaya, Isaac Alterno, and Asher of Cologne, who 
addressed to Joseph Coton, one of the greatest rab- 
pinical authoritics of the time, a letter containing 
the gravest accusations against Capsali, especially 
that of being careless in deciding cases dealing with 
marital troubles. Moses “ Twenty-four” carried this 
mendacious letter to Colon in Italy, who at once be- 
an to denounce Capsali violently, declaring him to 
pe unfit to fill the office of rabbi. In the ensuing con- 
troversy between Capsali and Colon men like Judah 
Minz and the three learned Del Medigo brothers (E]- 
kanah, Moses, and Elijah), as well as many other 
rabbis, took Capsali’s part against Colon. It is a 
proof of Capsali’s noble character that he received 
Colon’s son Perez in a most friendly way when the 
latter came to Constantinople to ask Capsali’s par- 
don, as his father, on his death-bed, had requested 
him. Capsali, moreover, spoke of Colon in the 
highest terms, convinced that his opponent had acted 
against him because he was ignorant of the true 
state of affairs and zealous in upholding the Law. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, viii., Index ; Lattes, 
Likkutim Shonim, pp. 6-17; Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole 
Visrael, pp. 265-267; Rabbinowicz, Moza’e Golah (see In- 


dex). 
L. G. 


CAPTAIN: One at the head of, and in com- 
mand over, others; a chief or officer; the head man 
of a clan; the commander of an army. The title 
occurs both in A. V. and R. V. as the equivalent 
for a large variety of Hebrew and Greek words fre- 
quently translated differently in other passages. 
Even where the rendering “captain ” is adopted, the 
exact military or official implication of the title is 
often not indicated. This indefiniteness is due to 
the fact that Jewish military forces, especially dur- 
ing the earlier periods of their history, were not 
tigidly or systematically organized. Standing or 
regular armies were unknown before the days of 
the kingdom. 

The levies raised for purposes of offensive or de- 
fensive warfare fell naturally into units correspond- 

ing to the tribes or clans to which they 


The belonged, the captain of each contin- 
Tribe the gent being usually the chief of the 
Military tribe or clan; though occesionally the 

Unit. captain did not belong to the tribe, 


or was not its chief. Bands of men 
unconnected tribally, the “vain men” or fellows of 
Judges xi. 3, under the command of a captain dis- 
tinguished by his prowess, are sometimes men- 
tioned; and it is very likely that Saul, in “choos- 
ig” three thousand men (I Sam.. xiii. 2), called iuto 
fervice such a company, and that the necessity for 
Tesorting to the same expedient a little later in his 

III.—36 


career (I Sam. xxiv. 2) induced him to keep together 
as a permanent establishment a body of armed men 
under his personal command. It is during his reign 
that mention is tirst found of a commander- or cap- 
tain-in-chief; namely, ABNER (I Sam. xiv. 50). 

Under Davib much progress was made in the de- 
velopment and organization of a standing military 
force. While a fugitive and an exile, David had 
been himself the leader of a band of freebooters (see 
I Sam. xxii. 2 et seg.). His followers formed the 
nucleus of astanding army. Under him are found, in 
addition to the commander-in-chief, “captains of 
the host” (Sm ‘yy, II Sam. xxiv. 4). The captain 
of the royal body-guard is also mentioned as one of 
the high dignitaries of the court (II Sam. viii. 18, xx. 
23). Captains of “runners,”—7.e., foot-soldiers, a 
body of men probably entrusted with the custodian- 
ship of the palace gates (II Kings x. 25)—are named 
in I Kings xiv. 27. These “runners” seem to have 
consisted of companies of hundreds (II Kings xi. 4, 
Mixon wy). 

The meaning of worsen WN (A. V., “chief among 
the.captains”; R. V., “chief of the captains ”) is not 
certain. “Shalish” has been explained as the third oc- 
cupant of the CHariot (LXX., terorarac); still, it is 
doubtful whether military chariots had come into 
use among the Israelites so early as David’s reign. 
In Ex. xiv. 7 and xv. 4 the reference is to Egyp- 
tian chariots, and these are known to have been 
manned by two men only. “Shalish” in these two 
verses seems to designate “picked troops,” the élite 
of soldiers. (See Baentsch on Ex. xiv. 7, in “ Hand- 
kommentar zum Alten Testament.”) In other pas- 
sages the “shalish” probably was a military officer 
in charge of a third ofa larger division (compare 
battalion = $ regiment), or the third officer in rank. 
Compare Assyrian “shalshéa,” Rawlinson “ Asiatic 
Inscriptions, ” v. 3, 48; Assurbanipal “ Inscriptions,” 
130, 1. Sonomon, however, had “ captains” of horse 
and chariots (I Kings ix. 22). 

It is not unlikely that during the period of the 
kings the army was divided into tactical units of 

1,000, subdivided again into bodies of 

Military 100, 50, and 10, each under its proper 

Divisions. officer or “head” (we4), or “captain” 

(aw). The fixed titles of the various 
ranks in the military hierarchy are not exactly 
known, but it is probable that each officer was des- 
ignated as the “head” or “captain” (“sar”) of the 
number under him (I Sam. viii. 12, xvii. 18, xviii. 
18; II Sam. xviii. 1; Ex. xviii. 21; I Mace. iii. 55), 
though the title “shalish” would indicate also an- 
other nomenclature. The sources furnish too scanty 
a supply of facts to substantiate a more definite 
assertion. 

The priests and Levites of the Second Temple 
were organized into groups, with proper officers or 

captains. Under the high priest the 

Captains jip (“segan”), more generally desig- 

of the nated -FNMYDN (“the memunneh”), 

Temple. often officiated as his lieutenant. Jost 

(“Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner 
Sekten,” i. 150) suggests that this is the officer de- 
scribed in Acts iv. 1, v. 24, 26 as ozpatyyé¢ Tov iepod 
(“captain of the temple”), and in IT Macc. iii. 4 as 
mpooratye (“governor”). This identification, how- 


tai - 7 Y ! 
Soeeoiy THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 569 


wee 
ever, isnot very convincing. Itismorereasonabletc | asin R. V. generally). “Pehah,” an Assyrian tit}. 
hold orearzyéc to be the rendering of "nw wea, | “pahati,” from “bel pahati,” lord of a district J 
the Mishnaic title of the “captain [of one] of the | governor; military “captain” in II Kings xviii, 94. 
priestly groups” (ma‘amad or “mishmar”), The | Isa. xxxvi. 9; Ezek. xxiii. 6, 12, 23. “Kazin » 
officer named in the passages quoted above corre- riginally “elder,” “judge.” “Rosh,” “ head,” 
sponds to the one given the same title (orparyyéc) by | “chief” (R. V.). “Ba‘al,” “lord” (Jer. xx xvii, 18) 
Josephus (“ Ant.” xx. 6,8 2; “B. J.” ii.5, 83) He | “captain” of prison. “Rab” (II Kings xxxy, 8) 
is the captain of the Levitical temple-guard (compare 
Maimonides, “Kele. Ham.” iii.), a body of police, 
referred to also in Luke xxii, 4, 52. The officers 
that assisted in the arrest of Jesus (John xviii. 3) 
may have belonged to this company. The “cap- 
tain” of Acts xxii. 28, and possibly John xvili. 12, | in “Kurzgefasster Kommentar zu den Heiligen 
rendering the Greek word yiAiapyoc, represents a | Schriften”; also Paul Haupt, in “ Beitrige fay 
Roman officer, the “ preefectus” or “tribunus mili- Assyriologie und Semitischen Sprachwissenschaft,” 


, 


“captain ” of executioners; interchanges with “gap » 
(Gen, xxxix. 1). “Sar” is equivalent to “ prince» 
and hence “commander,” “captain.” “Shallit” jg 
rendered “ruler” in Dan. il. 15. For renderings og 
“shalish” see above, and Dillmann on Ex. xiy, 7, 


tum”; it is not clear which grade of the Roman | iv. 4, pp. 582-587, Leipsic, 1902. 
EB. G. H, 


military hierarchy is meant by the “captain of the 

guards,” in Acts xxviii. 16, where it is a translation CAPTIVES.—Biblical Data: The Bible makes 

cf the Greek orparomedapyyc. The R. V. omits the | no provision for the treatment of captives taken jin 
war. Captives were considered as slaves, and ag 


sentcnce altogether. 
Three Hebrew words are mistranslated “captain” | such were subject to all the laws that govern the 
relations between the master and his non-Jewish 


by the A. V.: (1) 3, in IT Kings xi. 4, 19 (probably 

a misreading for*773; see CHERETHITES); (2) D3, | slave (395 Wy); (See SLAVES). In the early warg 

in Ezek. xxi, 22 (“battering rams,” R. V.); (3) on, of Joshua with the seven tribes that inhabited Pa]. 
estine, there could be no captives of war, as the 


in Jer. xiii. 21, where “ friend ” is the proper meaning. 
Following are other Hebrew equivalents: “Tif- | Israelites were commanded to destroy all the people, 





JEWISH CAPTIVES IN ATTITUDE OF SUPPLICATION. 
(From Layard’s “ Monuments of Nineveh,”)} 


sar,” {the Assyrian “dupsharu ” = writer of tablets), | even the women and the children (Deut. xx. 16-18). 
in Jer. li, 27 and Nahum iii. 17, a military officer, | In later days the descendants of such Canaanites as 
probably the Hebrew “Sofer” (Jer. lii. 25; reading | escaped destruction Solomon considered not only 
emended II Kings xxv. 19, see Nowack, “Lehr- { tributary to himself, but also bond-servants who had 
buch der Hebraischen Archiéologie,” i. 360). “Na- | to serve the Israelites at any time in whatever capac- 
gid,” a title of royal personages; secondarily, | ity they might be needed (I Kings ix. 20, 21; Mar 
“chief,” and hence “captain” (I Chron. xii. 27, xiii. | monides, “ Yad,” Melakim, vi. 1). 

1); the “steward” of the palace (II Chron. xxviii. According to the Deuteronomic law (Deut. X%- 
7). “Nasi,” truer rendering, “prince” (Num. ii. 3, | 10-18), the Israelites were commanded to destroy 


563 


Si Ste et ee 
all male adults of a conquered people. In some in- 
stances, however, Israelitish kings showed unusual 
mildness to their captives. Ahab released Ben 
Hadad of Syria on very generous terms, after the 
jatter had suffered a humiliating defeat on the battle- 
fied (J Kings xx. 34). At the instance of the 

rophet Elisha, the king of Israel dismissed a Syrian 
army which had been taken by stratagem (II Kings 

yi. 20-23). 

Female captives were also subject to the same 
Jaws as the female non-Jewish slaves. <A peculiar 
exception to that general law is the case of the 
“ yefat to’ar” (ANN mp’, Deut. xxi. 10-14). An 
Israclitish warrior who had intercourse with a cap- 
tive might take her for a wife, after having permitted 
her to mourn for her parents a full month. If he 
then refused to marry her, he could not sell her into 
slavery, but must let her go free. 

——In Rabbinical Literature: The Rabbis saw 

in the law regarding female captives a reluctant con- 

cession to the passions of man, and therefore looked 
upon such an act unfavorably. They treated it as 
an exception and limited it in the following manner: 

One who takes possession of a female captive 
during war may not cast her off; but, if she be 
willing to accept the Jewish religion, her captor 
must keep her in his house for three months, this 
being the accepted interpretation of “ yerah yamim ” 
(Deut. xxi. 13), and then marry her. Tf at the end 
of the three months he did not wish to marry her, 
be must not sell her into slavery, but must send her 
away frec, Should she be unwilling to accept the 
Jewish faith, he may continue to Keep her for twelve 
months and use peaceful persuasion; but if at the 
end of that period she is still steadfast in her dceter- 
mination, he must send her away free. At no time 
may the captor employ compulsory measures to 
force her into the Jewish faith. If he belongs to 
the family of Aaron, he can not marry her, as the 
Jewish law prohibits a Kohen from marrying a 
proselyte (Yeb. 48b; Kid. 21b et seq.; Maimonides, 
“Yad,” Melakim, viii. 2-7). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hastings, Dictionary of the Bille, s.v. War; 
Spitzer, Heer und Wehryesetz der Alten Isracliten, Gric- 
then und Romer, ch. xix., Vinkoveze, 1879. 

J. SR. J. W.G. 

CAPTIVITY, or EXILE, BABYLONIAN: 
By “exile” is meant any form of forced emigration 
in which the selection of his new habitation is left 
to the choice of the person banished. In a particu- 
lar sense the word is used to designate the enforced 
emigration of larger communities, such as tribes and 
nations; in which case, however, any choice of dom- 
icile seems to be withheld. The specitic term for 
this species of exile is “deportation.” Jn antiquity, 
deportation was employed on an extensive scale for 
political purposes, either to annihilate the power of 
aconquered people, or to cultivate new and unset- 
tled districts by populating them, or to fuse together 
various nationalities—more widely separated in 
ancient times than they are to-day—and occasionally 
to subserve several of these various ends at once. 

-The earliest deportation of Israelites mentioned in 
the Old Testament was that of ‘Tiglath-pileser IIT. 
This king, either in 734 B.c., upon the march against 
Philistia, mentioned in a fragment of the eponym 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Captain 
Captivity 





list, or (in the event that the march against Hano 
of Gaza [784] did not concern the affairs of Israel and 
Judah) in 733, took the field against. 


The Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Damas- 
Deporta- cus, who were warring against his vas- 
tion sal, King Ahaz of Judah, and punished 
of Israel. them by annexing the northern and 


castern borderlands (IT Kings x vi. 7-9). 
While he annexed these borderlands of the tribes of 
Zebulon, Asher, and Naphtali, together with such 
of the eastern territory of the Jordan as belonged to 
Israel, he led the inhabitants of these provinces into 
Assyria, and established them there (II Kings xv. 
29). The second deportation took place after the 
conquest of Samaria in 722 B.c., which conquest was 
followed by the demolition of the northern kingdom. 
The last king of that country, Hoshea, had renounced 
allegiance to Shalmaneser IV. (IL Kiugs xvii. 4), 
whereupon the latter besieged the city of Samaria 
for three years (724-722). It was reserved for his 
successor, Sargon, however, to capture the hostile 
capital, as is evident from the cuneiform inscriptions 
(in contradiction to II Kings xvii. 3 et seg., ac- 
cording to which the conquest was made by Shal- 
maneser himself). On that occasion 27,280 people 
were taken captive and deported, partly to the As- 
syrian province of Gozan in Mesopotamia and partly 
to Media, where they were established as royal 
charges; while, at the same time, colonists of other 
nationalities were settled in Samaria and the sur- 
rounding territory to take the place of those de- 
ported. In this way not only was a conquered and 
hostile people thoroughly disrupted, but it was at 
once replaced by subjects loyal to the crown, among 
whom the vacated territory was distributed, and 
who obtained special prerogatives, in order to 
strengthen their allegiance. The first people to be 
sent thither (721 8.c.) from Babylon as settlers were 
Arameans. Upon the close of the Babylonian in- 
surrection, however (647 B.c.), Assurbanipal sent fur- 
ther contingents from Babylon, Cuthah, Sippara 
(Sepharvaim), Susa, and Flam (II Kings xvii. 24, 
xviii. 11; Ezra iv. 4-10). 

The inhabitants of the southern kingdom, Judea, 
were In their turn subjected to two deportations. 
The first of these took place in the year 
597 in connection with the first con- 
quest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnez- 
zar. On that occasion Nebuchad- 
nezzar appeared before the walls of Jerusalem with 
his army for the purpose of punishing Josiah’s son 
Jchoiakim, because the latter, relying upon the as- 
sistance of Egypt, had renounced his allegiance to 
Babylonia. As soon as Jehoiachin or Jaconiah, who 
had meanwhile succeeded his father, Jehoiakim, as 
king, had, after a short defense, surrendered to the 
leaders of the Babylonian army, Nebuchadnezzar 
ordered him, together with the most distinguished 
men of the land, and the most valuable treasures of 
the Temple and the palace, to be sent to Babylonia 
(II Kings xxiv. 1-16). Thus began the Babylonian 
Exile (597), from which year the prophet Ezekiel, 
who was among the captives, dates his calculations. 
Another deportation took place upon the downfall 
of the kingdom of Judah (586 B.c.). The new king, 
Zedekiah, a son of Josiah, whose original name was 


Deportation 
of Judah. 


Captivity 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


564 


Steg a Fe pe ee es ee a ge a ge ee Spat EM at Gta edly Op eo epene © ap ko ee eRe Mea yal eee Ste Gem ee ee SG ne ose ena 


Mattauiah, had taken the oath of fealty to the Baby- 
lonian sovereign (Ezek. xvii. 18). But as early as 
998 he had planned an insurrection against Nebu- 
chadnezzar, to which end he had summoned the 
ambassadors of the disaffected Syrian states tribu- 
tarv to Babylon; namely, Edom, Moab, Ammon, 
Tyre, and Sidon. Psammetichus IT. (594-588), the 
new king of Egypt, was probably the soul of the 
undertaking, Although peace still reigned in Syria, 
and Zedekiah himself appeared before Nebuchad- 
nezzar to vindicate his good faith (Jer. li. 59 et seq.), 
it soon thereafter became possible for the Egyptian 
king Hophra to tempt Zedekiah into a breach of 
faith. Nebuchadnezzar was now compelled to step 
in, and repaired to Riblah on the Orontes, in order 
to conduct a campaign against Jerusalem directly 
from his headquarters. The siege began Jan. 10, 
587, and Jasted for a yearand a half. <As the city, 
partly because of its inaccessible position, and partly 
because of its strong fortifications, was almost im- 
pregnable to assault, Nebuchadnezzar endeavored to 
starve out the inhabitants by encircling Jerusalem 
with awall. The approaching army of Hophra now 
compelled the Babylonians temporarily to abandon 
the siege and stand battle. The Egyptians, how- 
ever, were beaten; and the siege began anew, and 
was continued until July 9, 586, when the be- 
leaguerers penetrated into the city through a breach 
made in the protective wall built in the days of 
Hezekiah (II Chron. xxxii.5; II Kings xxii. 14). 
An attempt at flight by Zedekiah and his retinue 
was frustrated; he and his armed followers being 
intercepted before they could cross the Jordan. 
The retinue were dispersed, while Zedekiah was cap- 
tured and brought before Nebuchadnezzar at Rib- 
lah. Here he witnessed the death of his sons, who 
were murdered in his presence. His eyes were then 
put out, and he was taken in chains to Babylon. 
On Aug. 7 of the same year Nebuzaradan, captain 
of Nebuchadnezzar’s body-guard, ordered that the 
’ Temple, the royal palace, and alJl dwellings in the 
city of Jerusalem be set on fire, and that the sur- 
viving inhabitants be taken captive to Babylon. 
This was also the fate of all those who, after the 
capitulation of the city, had sought refuge in the 
camp of the Babylonians. Seventy or eighty dis- 
tinguished Jews, however, among them the high 
priest Seraiah, were sent to Riblah, where, by the 
order of Nebuchadnezzar, they were put to death 
(II Kings xxv. 1 e¢ seg.; Jer. xxxix. 1 et seq., lii. 1 
et seg.). Yet a third deportation of the Jews was 
ordered by Nebuchadnezzar. During the futile 
siege of Tyre, which lasted thirteen years (585-573 
B.C.) and compelled Nebuchadnezzar to keep a 
standing army in Syria, probably a rebellion broke 
out among the population, which, since the murder 
of Judah’s Jewish governor, Gedaliahb, had been 
heavily oppressed (Jer. lii. 30). In consequence of 
this, there was ordered, either in 582 or 581 B.c., an- 
other partial deportation to Babylon. 

As regards the number of Jews deported by 
Nebuchadnezzar, there are two divergent reports. 
According to the statements in Jer. hii. 28-80, which 
must be accepted as the more reliable, as they cer- 
tainly are the more complete, 3,023 Jews were de- 
ported in 597 s.c., 832 inhabitants of Jerusalem in 586, 


and 745 Jews in 582, making 4,600 persons in aj). 
But in Biblical times, as to-day in Oriental countrieg 
only the men were counted. Hence 


Number it follows that from 14,000 to 18 009 
of Bab- — souls must have been deported to Bab. 
ylonian ylon. The other statements, given 
Exiles. in II Kings xxiv. 14, 16, refer only to 


the deportation of the year 597 Bc. 
Verse 14 states that 10,000 men were sent into exile. 
while according to verse 16 the number was 8,000, 
As the former verse is part of an addition to the 
original text, it will be necessary to adhere to the 
second, the figures in which, however, are more than 
twice as high as those given in Jeremiah. Now, if 
the figures as given in Jeremiah for the years 597, 
586, and 582 be accepted as correct, the total numn- 
ber of exiles, taking into consideration IT Kings 
xxiv, 16, will be 12,000 men, or in all 86,000 to 
48,000 souls. Furthermore, if it be assumed that the 
total population of the kingdom of Judah was about 
120,000 (the figures should probably be somewhat 
higher, as the country was at that time more densely 
populated than it is to-day), about one-fourth of the 
population (according to II Kings xxiv. 16) or, per- 
haps more correctly, one-eighth (according to Jer, 
lii, 28-30) was led captive into Babylonia. . 

The Israelites who were deported in 597 at first 

hoped for a speedy return to their homes. As they 
belonged without exception to the 
Condition leading families, they had given cre- 
of dence to the sayings of the false proph- 
the Exiles. ets who had tlattered them (Jer. xxvii.- 
Xxix.; Ezek. xii. 21, xiti. 23); and in 
contradistinction to those who had remained at home, 
they came to regard themselves as the true Israel, 
although they themselves by no means conformed 
to the standard which the true prophets had _pic- 
tured of an ideal Israel (Jer, xxiv.; Ezek. xi. 1-21), 
nor did they betray any evidence of a “new heart.” 
When, therefore, contrary to their expectations, 
Jerusalem was destroyed in 586, they were, after all, 
compelled to follow the advice of Jeremiah (xxix. 
4-9) and accommodate themselves to the conditions 
of a protracted exile. 

As exiles, under royal protection, and conse- 
quently enjoying special prerogatives in their new 
home, their personal lot was undoubtedly a happier 
one than that of their brethren who had remained 
behind. Their habitation was in the province of 
Babylon. Itis not known, however, whether they 
lived together in considerable numbers or were 
scattered throughout the country. The places where 
they dwelt were known by various names; thus, 
“Tel Abib,” according to the Hebrew etymology, 
signified “hill of corn-ears,” whereas its Babylonian 
signification was “the deluge,” or “hill of the 
stream ”—the valley of the rivers Chebar (one of the 
numerous canals of the Euphrates), Casiphia, and 
Ahava (Ezek. i. 8; Ezra viii. 15, 17). A number of 
western Semitic proper names, discovered upon in- 
scriptions found in Nippur, have led Hilprecht to 
believe that many of the exiles were settied in that 
place (see, for example, “Palestine Exploration 
Fund, Quarterly Statement,” Jan., 1898, p. 54: 
April, 1898, p. 187). They not only preserved theit 


' old tribal distinction, but kept special genealogica! 


565 


eee nes 
records (Ezra viii. 17; Ezek. xiii. 9); and the heads 
of the tribes or elders were the leaders of the sepa- 
rate communities (Ezra viii. 1 e¢ seg., 16 et seg.; Ezek. 
viii. 1, xiv. 1, xx. 1). 

Their outward condition was also by no means 
unsatisfactory. Jeremiah, in his exhortations (xxix. 
5-7; compare Ezek. xiii. 2 e¢ seg., xiv. 9-11), states 
that the Israelites were permitted to till the soil, 
to cultivate the family life, and, by thrift and 
diligence, to accumulate wealth. Perhaps, being 
permitted to administer their internal affairs through 
their elders, they were allowed the undisturbed ex- 
ercise of their religion; and nowhere are bloody per- 
secutions heard of, designed to alienate forcibly the 
people from their ancestral religion, and to coerce 
them into accepting that of the conquerors. AI the 
misery, Want, imprisonment, and ill-treatment, fre- 
quently described as suffered in Babylonia, must be 
explained by the fact that the Prophets, whenever 
they gazed back upon the national catastrophe, felt 
anew all the pangs of homelessness and servitude. 
Consequently, the description of the people as a 
helpless worm (Isa. xli, 14), and of the violence and 
spoliation which had reduced Isracl to the condition 
of those who suffer in chains and bondage (78. xlii. 
90-24), is not ascribable to actual sufferings inflicted 
jn the land of exile. The chains and bonds are not 
such as have been forged for them in the land of 
their exile: they are figurative of the condition of 
homelessness and servitude into which the exiled 
Israelites have fallen; and they have lost their 
home, they have been despoiled, and the fetters of 
the foreign rule weigh heavily upon them. The 
Prophets also deplore the deep huniilation to which 
God has subjected His people by consignuing them 
to ruin, and they bewail the circumstance that even 
the religious leaders, the priests and the Prophets 
themselves, have been delivered up to the profana- 
tion of a pagan people, instead of being permitted 
to serve the Lord in His holy Temple according to 
the divine mission appointed to them (Isa. xliii. 28, 
xlvii. 6). The source of the most poignant grief on 
the part of the pious devotees of YuwH was the 
ridicule cast by the idolaters upon their religion, 
their God, and His power; for, as the pagans could 
not trace the downfall of the people to its true cause 
—the sins of the people themsclves—they beheld in 
the fall of Jerusalem and its Temple a proof of the 
weakness of Israel’s God (Isa. lil. -). ; 

In consequence of the favorable external circum- 
stances of the exiles, and particularly of such of 

them as were cngaged in the diversi- 
Religious fied commerce in the Babylonian me- 
Conditions. tropolis, the longing for home gradu- 

ally disappeared, and they learned to 
content themselves with material prosperity. Most 
of these indifferent persons were lost to their people; 
for, in their anxiety to retain the wealth they had 
acquired, they learned to conform to the manners 
and customs of the country, thus sacrificing not 
only their national but also their religious independ- 
ence and individuality. Hence the denunciation by 
the Prophets of the various forms of idolatry prac- 
tised among the people. Even if the description of 
the idolatry mentioned in Isa. lvi. 9-lvii. 18a be- 
longs to pre-exilic times, many other passages so 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Captivity 





graphically describe the idolatrous practises of the 
exiles that the relation between these and the Baby- 
lonian cult can not be mistaken (Isa. Ixv. 3 et seq.; 
compare 7b. Ixvi. 17). Despite all this indifference 
and impiety on the part of the masses, there was 
neverthcless an element that remained true to the 
service of YuwH. These “servants of Yuw#,” 
who humbly submitted (pay, “the meek ”) to Elis 
will, gathered about the few Prophets who remained 
faithful to the Lord, but whose voice and influence 
were lost amid the general depravity, and who, in 
addition to the pain caused by base ingratitude and 
faithlessness toward the God of their fathers, were 
also compelled to endure all the shafts of scorn and 
ridicule. While some, though without obeying the 
prophet’s exhortations (Ezek. xxxiii. 31), listened to 
his words—either because they appreciated his elo- 
quence, or because they were entertained and pleased 
by the holy enthusiasm of the man of God—others 
ridiculed this faith in the Lord and the fond hope of 
the devotees of Yuwu of a future salvation and a 
redemption from pagan captivity (Isa. xiv. 5), In- 
deed, in their delusion they proceeded even tu open 
hostility and oppression; and areference to a species 
of excommunication or, at least, an open declaration 
of ostracism, is contained in the above-mentioned 
passage. These sad experiences of all true Israelites 
tended to separate them more and more from their 
recreant brethren. The more the pious exiles felt. 
themselves repelled by their pagan environment and 
their disloyal fellow-Israelites (Ps. exxxvii. 8 et seq.,) 
the closer became the union among themselves, and. 
the stronger their allegiance to their Prophets and 
the Law. What they had re-established almost im- 
mediately of the religion of their fathers was the 
sacred observances. True, a festive celebration of 
the high festivals was out of the question, in view 
of the unfavorable conditions and of 

Religious the mood of the people. Such a cele- 
Ob- bration was, therefore, supplanted by 
servances. solemn days of penance and prayer to 
commemorate the catastrophe which 

had befallen the people (Zech. vii. 8, viii. 19). The 
fasts of the fathers were also observed, although in 
so superficial and thoughtless a manner that the 
prophet was compelled to condemn the mode of ob- 
servance, and to censure fasting when accompanied 
by the ordinary business pursuits of every-day (Isa. 
lvi.i. 3). As the faithful could not honor Yuwn by 
sacrifices in a foreign land, nothing remained to 
them of all their ceremonial but the observance of 
the Sabbath (Hosea ix. 3-5) and such other customs 
as were connected with a certain independence of 
action. Such, for example, were the act of circum- 
cision, which, together with the observance of the 
Sabbath, constituted a distinguishing mark of Israel; 
regular prayer, performed with the face turned 
toward Jerusalem (I Kings viii. 48); and fasting, al- 
ready mentioned. When the Prophets of the Exile 


spoke of the conditions under which the divine 


prophecies would be fulfilled, they al- 

The ways emphasized the observance of the 
Sabbath. Sabbath as the foremost obligation, as 

| the force which should unite and 
preserve the Jewish community (Isa. Ivi. 2, 6 e 
seg.; lviii, 18; Jer, xvii. 19 e¢ seg.; Ezek. xx. 12 et 


Captivity 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


566 


TDR eee ee eS ee ea en CO ae PS OS ee ae enc, 


seq.; xxii. 8, 26). On the other hand, it is evident 
from the demands and exhortations of the Prophets 
that they were now willing to dispense with the 
ceremonial, as the more external form of religious 
observance, in order to emphasize the exemplifica- 
tion of the essential religious spirit in works of 
morality and charity. 

At the same time the idea found acceptance that 
the submission of the personal will to that of the 
Lord would prove the most acceptable sacrifice in 
His sight (Ezek. xi. 19, xviii. 31, xxxvi. 26; Isa. 1xi. 
1-3). Ezekiel also establishes the new principle 
that the essence of religion must be sought in indi- 
vidual morality: “The righteousness of the right- 
eous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the 
wicked shall be upon him” (Ezek. xviii. 20-32; 
compare Deut. xxiv. 16; Num. xxvi. 11); where- 
fore he, also, in contrast with the present disposition 
of the exiles, predicts a new heart and a new spirit 
(Ezek, xxxvi. 26). The new religious conviction 
was confirmed by the contemplation of the pagan 
idols with the attendant immoral cult, which reacted 
to strengthen and to purify the conception of the 
monotheistic idea, so that in the Deutero-Isaiah the 
certain conviction is already expressed of the ulti- 
mate recognition of Yuws by all pagan peoples. 

Particular attention was now paid to the ancestral 
literature; and thus there arose during the Baby- 
lonian Exile the profession of the “scribes,” those 
learned in the Law who set the standard of piety 
and devotion, and who transmitted their precepts 
both to their successors and to the people at large, 
while at the same time extending the body of the 
laws by means of revision and aimplification (see 
PENTATEUCH). Historical writings also were now 
revised in accordance with the standard of the Law, 

establishing as a basis the historical 
Cultivation conception of Deuteronomy. All the 
-of calamities which had befallen Israel 
Literature. were accepted by these exiles as a 
punishment for transgressions, and 
particularly for idol-worship. Thesin of Jeroboam 
had ruined Israel, and the transgressions of Manas- 
seh, despite his subsequent thorough reformation, 
were only atoned for by the downfall of Judah. 
Therefore the history of the past was to serve both 
asa warning and asa guide for the future, This 
explains the purpose of the compilation of the vari- 
ous older historical works into a historical entity: 
the new Israel, risen from the grave oi cxile, must 
avoid the sins and errors which caused the ruin of 
its fathers. And indeed the Psalms which were 
composed after the Exile reveal a keener introspec- 
tion, a deeper sense of contrition, and a more frank 
avowal of sin than the earlier ones. 

The first indication of a change for the better was 
the liberation of King Jehoiachin from his captivity, 
with regal honors which distinguished him above 

all other kings at the court of Baby- 

Termina- lon. According to II Kings xxv. 27- 
tion of the 30, he was liberated by Evil-Merodach 

Exile. (562-5608.c.); and though this passage 
mentions the liberation as occurring 

in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoi- 
achin, the event must be ascribed to Neriglissar 
(568-556). The first permanent change was brought 


about by the Persian king Cyrus. As the Deutero. 
Isaiah already desired and predicted after the firg, 
inroad of Cyrus into the Babylonian kingdom (545) 
a conquest ‘of the city of Babylon took place (439 
B.c.) after the decisive defeat of the army at Sip- 
para. This conquest, however, was not accompanied 
by spoliation or destruction, and was followed by 
an order to rebuild the Temple of Yawn in Jerugg. 
lem. This duty was assigned to Sheshbazzar, him- 
self a Jew (according to I Chron. iii. 18, Shenazar, 
perhaps a Davidite), who had been sent by Cyrus ag 
governor to Jerusalem, the king himself having pre. 
viously laid the corner-stone of the Temple. The 
work of building, however, was soon arrested (Ezrq 
v. 18-16). Sheshbazzar probably did not go to Jery. 
salem alone, being in all likelihood accompanied by 
distinguished Jews, such as the Davidite Zerubba- 
bel, the priest Joshua, less prominent ones, and 9 
troop of soldiers. Buta general permission for the 
Jews to return was probably not given by Cyrus, ag 
no mention of it occurs in any of the older records, 

The actual return of the exiles was consummated 
by Ezra, who assembled at the river Ahava all those 
desirous of returning. These consisted of about 
1,800 men, or 5,500 to 6,000 souls (Ezra viil.), be- 
sides 38 Levites and 220 slaves of the Temple from 
Casiphia. With this body, which was invested with 
royal powers, Ezra and Nehemiah succceded, after 
great difficulties, in establishing the post-exilic Jew- 
ish community. From the list given in Neh. vii. 
6-73 (= Ezra ii.), which the chronicler erroneously 
supposed to be an enumcration of those who had 
returned under Cyrus, it appears that the whole 
Jewish community at this time comprised 42,360 
men, or 125,000 to 180,000 souls. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: On the general history of Israel: B. Sta 
Gesch. des Volkes Israel, i. 871-703 (Berlin, 1887), ii. 1-67 ria 
1889); R. Kittel, Gesch. der Hebi ‘der, 2d half Vol., pp. 325-383, 
Gotha, 1892 ; A. Kohler, Lehrbuch der Biblischen Gesch. 
{Altes Testament), 2d helf, 2d part. pp. 479-585, Erlangen, 
1893; J. Wellnausen, Israelitische und Jiidische Gesch. 3d 
ed., pp. 135-157, Berlin, 1897; G. Klostermann, Gesch. des 
Volkes Israel his zur Restauration Unter Esra und Nehe- 
mia, pp. 222-228, Munich, 1896; H. Guthe, Gesceh. des Volkes 
Israel. pp. P1249 Freiburg-in- Baden, 1899. Of special 
monographs: B. Stade, Wie Hoch Belief Sich die Zaht der 
Unter Nebukadnezar nach Babylonien Deportierten 
Juden? in Zeitschr. ftir die Alttestamentliche Wissen- 
schaft, 1884, pp. 271-277; V. Ryssel, Die Anftinge der Ju- 
dischen Schriftgelehr semkeit, in Theologische Studien und 
Kritiken, 1887, pp. 149-182. 

G. V. Ry. 
——Traditional Data: Various causes are as- 
signed in the Haggadah for the Babylonian Ex- 
ile. Some authorities mention general unworthiness 
(Lam. R. proem 19); others give specific sins, as 
idolatry, licentiousness, and bloodshed (Tosef., Men. 
xiii. 22), incontinency in the drinking of wine (Gen. 
R. xxxvi. 4), too great indulgence to one another 
and failure to reprove those who sinned (Shab. 
119b), and non-observance of the year of release 
and of the Sabbath, and neglecting the study of the 
Torah (Yer. Ta‘an. iv. 69b). 

Israel was exiled to Babylonia because the lJan- 
guage of the Babylonians is akin to that of the 
Torah. According to another opin- 
ion, God had therefore exiled Israel 
to Babylonia because the latter is @ 
low-lying country, like the nether 
world; asit is said (Hosea xiii. 14): “From the power 
of the nether world I will ransom them.” Another 


Causes 
of Exile. 


567 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Captivity 


es ia ae Pe my a pe RO i Pe ea ee Qe Ge ae Se 


authority says that God exiled Israel to Babylonia, 
pecause it was the land from which they had come, 
aga husband that is augry with his wife sends her 
home to her mother (Pes. 87b), Babylonia was 
[srael’s home. Israel and Judah were exiled to dif- 
ferent places in order that each might find consola- 
tion in the other’s misery (Pesik. R. xxxiii.), 

Forty years before Israel went into exile date- 
palms were planted in Babylonia, because Israel was 
eager for the sweetness of the date, by which the 
tongue gets accustomed to the sweet- 
ness of the Torah (Yer. Ta‘an. J.c.). 
According to one opinion the Ark was 
carried to Babylonia. With the de- 
struction of the First Temple ceased 
the Davidic dynasty, the Urim and 
Tummim, ana the Levitical cities (Tosef., Sotah, xiii. 
1,2). For fifty-two years after the destruction of 
ine Temple no bird was seen to fly in Palestine, 
This is inferred from Jer. ix. 9, M973 having the 
numerical value of 52. Seven hundred kinds of 
clean fishes, 800 kinds of clean locusts, and innutner- 
able fowl! followed the exiles to Babylonia (Yer. 
Ta‘an. d.c.; Lam. R. proem 84). As Nebuzaradan 
entered the Temple court he found the blood of 
the prophet Zechariah boiling. To his question, 
“ Whose blood is that?” the people answered that 
it was the blood of sacrificial animals. He slaughtered 
a multitude of animals, but the prophet’s blood 
did not cease boiling. Threatened with execu- 
tion, the people admitted that it was the blood 
of the murdered prophet. Nebuzaradan thereupon 
slaughtered 80,000 priestly youths, but the blood 
gtill would not cease boiling. Turning in anger to 
it, he said, “Dost thou want me to kill thy whole 
people?” Then God felt mercy with His children 
and caused the blood to cease boiling (Yer. Ta‘an. 
i.c.; Git. STD). 
hid themselves in the cells of the Tempie, where they 
were all burned, with the exception of Joshua b. 
Jehozadak, the high priest, the “brand plucked out 
of the fire” (Yer. Ta‘an. f.c.). Eighty thousand 
priestly youths fled to the Ishmaelites. When they 
asked the latter for a drink, they gave them various 
salted foods, and leather bottles filled with air, and 
invited them toeatand drink, Whenone attempted 
to drink, the air from the bottle entered his lungs 
and choked him to death (28.). 

Nebuzaradan is identical with Arioch (Dan. ii. 14). 
This name suggests that Nebuzaradan, when Jead- 
ing the Jewish exiles, raged against them like a lion 
(FN) until they had reached the Euphrates. On 
arriving there he said to his troops: “ Let them rest 
here, for from this time forward their God will not 
care for them.” Therefore it is said, “By the rivers 
of Babylon we sat” (Ps, cxxxvii. 1), only then, not 
before (Lam. R. v. 5). By the rivers of Babylon 
they sat and wept over the dead who had fallen by 
the sword of Nebuchadnezzar and by the waters of 
the Euphrates, which had proved fatal to those used 
to the rain-water and the spring-water of Palestine. 
But the tyrant sat in a ship, surrounded by all his 
‘nobles in the midst of all kinds of music (Isa. xiii. 
14), while on the bank passed the princes of Judah 
naked and in iron chains. “Why do these people 
0 without burdens on their shoulders?” he asked 


Incidents 
Connected 
with 
the Exile. 


Eighty thousand priestly youths. 


as he caught sight of them. Then heavy burdens 
were put upon them. 

The longing after the soil of the Holy Land turned 
the heart of Israel to repentance. As long as they 
were in their own land Jeremiah exhorted them in 
vain to repentance; but when led into exile they 
regarded even the sacred vessels as holy, and hung 
up their harps on the willows (Pesik. R. xxvilii.). 

God regretted having exiled Israel (Suk. 52b). He 
hastened the Exile two years, otherwise the people 

would have been utterly destroyed 
God’s (Sanh. 38a). God’s anger subsided 
Attitude to after they had gone into exile (Lam. 
Exiles. MR. ii. 16). The divine glory did not 
leave the Sanctuary even after its de- 
struction, according to the assurance given in I Kings 
ix. 3; and so we read (Ps. iii. 5) “from His holy 
mount,” holy even when a bare mount. Cyrus 
speaks (Ezra i. 3)—while the Temple was destroyed 
—of “the God who is in Jerusalem” (Tan., ed. 
Buber, Shemot, 10). God’s attitude is illustrated by 
the following two parables: A king had two sons. 
He grew angry with the first, punished him, and 
sent him into exile, exclaiming, “Wo unto him; 
from what happy state must he be banished!” 
But having also grown angry with the second, and 
sent him likewise into exile, he exclaimed, “It is I 
whose method of education was wrong.” Likewise, 
when God sent the Ten Tribes into exile, He ex- 
claimed, “ Wo unto them! for they have wandered 
from me” (Hosea vii. 138); but when Benjamin and 
Judah also went into exile, He said, “ Wo unto me for 
my hurt” (Jer. x. 19). Again, a king had two sons. 
Angered by the first, he smote him so that he died; 
then he mourned for him. When also the second 
one died of his punishment, the king said, “I have 
no more strength to mourn; call the mourning 
women that they bewail him.” Similarly, God, 
when the Ten Tribes went into exile, bewailed them 
(Amos v. 1); but when also Judah and Benjamin 
were exiled, He said (Jer. ix. 16), “Call the mourn- 
ing women” (Pesik. xv. 120a, b). 

In three passages of Scripture God complains of 
Nebuchadnezzar the Wicked: in Jeremiah, Kings, 
and Chronicles. Just asone complains to his neigh- 
bor, saying, “Behold what that cursed N. N. has 
done me!” so speaks God, “Behold what that Baby- 
lonian dwarf has done: he has exiled My children, 
destroyed My house, and burned My Temple” (2b. 
xiii. 112a, b). 

The expression “because, even because” (Lev. 
xxvi. 48) has the same sense as the saying “ measure 

for measure,” and points to the fact 
Duration of that the duration of the Exile was com- 
Exile. mensurate with the duration of Israel’s 
sinfulness (Lam. R. proem 21). Hana- 
niah b. Azzur was a true prophet, but a plagiarist. 
Whatever he heard Jeremiah proclaim in the upper 
market-place he proclaimed in the lower market- 
place. Also his announcement that within two 
years the sacred vessels would be brought back (Jer. 
XXviii, 3) rests upon Jeremiah’s prophecy of the sev- 
enty years (¢. xxxv. 12), which, however, Hananiah 
had miscalculated, assuming a wrong period for its 
beginning, and therefore an incorrect period for 
its end (Yer. Sanh. xi. 30b). 


Captivity 
Caracalla 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 568 





“The lion went up” (Jer. iv. 7)—this is Nebu- 
chadnezzar in the constellation of the lion (“ the fifth 
month,” Jer. i. 8)—~and destroyed the lion of God 
(“ Jerusalem,” Isa. xxix. 1). Accordingly will also 

come the lion (“God,” Amos iii. 8) in 

Return the constellation of the lion, in the 
from Exile. same month in which Jerusalem was 

destroyed (compare Jer. Xxxi. 12: “I 
shall change her mourning into joy ”), and He will 
rebuild the lion of God (Ps. ex)vii, 2; Pesik. xiii. 
116a). That Israel had found no rest (Lam. i. 8) 
as he went into exile assured his return home; for 
Nouh’s dove returned also because she had found 
no rest for her fect (Gen. viii. 9}; and with the same 
words is also predicted Israel’s restlessness in exile 
(Deut. xxviii. 65; Lam. R. i. 38). When in conse- 
quence of the sins of Israel the enemy had entered 
Jerusalem, captured his heroes and tied their hands 
behind them, God said: “ With him am [in distress ” 
(Ps. xci. 15); “ My children are in distress, shall I be 
in freedom?” Then He drew His right hand back 
from before the enemy (Lam. ii. 8), This was re- 
vealed to Daniel by the expression pov vb (Dan. 
xii. 13, the real meaning “at the end of days”), “ till 
the end of the right hand,” that right hand which 
was in subjection. “With the redemption of My 
sons have Ialso redeemed My right hand” (Pesik. 
Xvii. 131). 


J. SR. C. L. 
CAPTIVITY, THE PRINCES OF. See 
EXILARCH. 


CAPUA, JOHN OF. See Jown or Capva. 


CARABAJAL (variously spelled Carabal, 
Caraballo, Caravajal, Carbajal, and Cavajal, 
the name Carvalho being possibly identical): The 
name of a family of Maranos in Mexico at the end 
of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the 
seventeenth, all connected with Don Luis de Cara- 
‘bajal, governor of New Leon. Several members 
of the family suffered martyrdom at the stake for 
Judaizing. 

Francisca Nunez de Carabajal: Sisterof Don 
Luis de Carabajal; born in Portugal about 1540; 
died as a martyr in the city of Mexico Dec. 8, 1596. 
She was among the members of the family seized in 
1590 by the Inquisition. She also was tortured till 
she implicated her husband and her children, one 
of whom was named Luis de Carabajal. The 
whole family were forced to confess and abjure 
at a public auto da fé, celebrated on Saturday, Feb. 
24, 1590. Luis de Carabajal, with his mother and 
four sisters, was condemned to perpetual imprison- 
ment, and his brother, Baltasar, who had fled upon 
the first warning of danger, was, along with his 
father, Francisco Rodriguez de Matos, deceased, 
burnt in effigy. In January, 1595, Dofia Francisca 
and her children were accused of arelapse into Juda- 
ism, and convicted. During their imprisonment 
they were tempted to communicate with one another 
on Spanish pear seeds, on which they wrote touching 
messages of encouragement to remain true to their 
faith. Atthe resulting auto da fé, Dofia Francisca 
and her children, Isabel, Catalina, Leonor, and Luis, 
died at the stake, together with Manuel Diaz, Bea- 


triz Enriquez, Diego Enriquez, and Manuel de Ly. 
cena. Of her other children, Dofia Mariana, who log 
her reason for a time, was tricd and put to death at 
an auto da fé held in the city of Mexico March 95 
1601; Anica, the youngest child, being “reconciled » 
at the same time. 





Execution of Mariana de Carabajal at Mexico, 1601. 
(From Palacio, “ E) Libro Rojo.’’) 


Don Luis de Carabajal y Cueva: [Born at 
Magodorio, Portugal, in 1589; appointed governor 
of a district in Mexico in 1579; said to have died 
about 1595. In consideration of the appointment 
of governor, he undertook to colonize a certain ter- 
ritory at his own expense, being allowed the privi- 
lege of repaying himself out of the revenues. His 
original jurisdiction, under the name of “ Nuevo 
Reino de Leon” (New Kingdom of Leon), was to com- 
prisea somewhat ill-defined territory, beginning at 
the port of Tampico, extending along the River Pan- 
uco, and thence turning northward: but it was not to 
exceed 200 leagues either way. It would seem to 
have included Tamaulipas, as well as the states of 
Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, and parts of San Luis 
Potosi, Zacatecas, Durango, Chihuahua, and Texas. 
Carabajal received his royal patent as governor of 
Nuevo Reino de Leon on May 31, 1579. He arrived 
in Mexico in 1580, and began to prepare for his occu- 
pancy of the territory. He planted his colony ona 
site formerly called “Santa Lucia,” and named the 
place “ City of Leon.” 

To pacify and colonize the new territory, Cara- 
bajal was allowed 100 soldiers, and 60 married la- 
borers, accompanied by their wivesand children. It 
is safe to assume that a number of these early colo- 
nists were Spanish Jews, who, under the guise of 
Maranos, had hoped to escape persecution and find 


569 


I 


prosperity in the New World. In this expectation 
they were doomed to disappointment, for within a 
decade after their settlement a score of them were 
openly denounced and more or less severely pun- 
ished for Judaizing. In 1590 there seems to have 
peen an extensive colony of them in Mexico. 

Don Luis de Carabajal brought with him to Mexico 
bis brother-in-law, Don Francisco Rodriguez de Ma- 
tos, and his sister, Dofia Francisca Nufiez de Cara- 
pajal, with their children, Doha Isabel, the oldest, 
95 years of age, widow of Gabrielde Herrera; Dofia 
Catalina, Dofia Mariana, Dofia Leonor, Don Baltasar, 
Don Luis, Jr., Miguel, and Anica (the last two being 
very young). Another son, Caspar, a pious young 
man (monk?) in the convent of Santo Domingo, 
Mexico, had arrived a short time before. Dofa 
Catalina and Dota Leonor married respectively An- 
tonio Diaz de Caceres (see CacERES) and Jorge de 
Almeida—two Spanish merchants residing in the 
city of Mexico and interested in the Tasco mines. 
The entire family then removed to the capital, where, 
in the year 1590, while in the midst of prosperity, 
and seemingly leading Christian lives, they were 
seized by the Inquisition. Dofia Isabel was tor- 
tured till she implicated the whole of the Carabajal 





Torture of Francisca de Carabajal at Mexico, 1590. 
(From Palacio, * El Libro Rojo.”) 


family, who, with the exception of Don Baltasar, 
were imprisoned. The latter succeeded in escaping 
to Tasco, and was condemned to death in his 
absence. 

Luis de Carabajal, Jr.: Son of Dojia Francisca 
Nufiez de Carabajal, the first Jewish author in 
America, and nephew of Luisde Carabajal, governor 
of New Leon; was Castilian by birth, and a resi- 
dent of the city of Mexico; died in the city of Mex- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Captivity 
Caracalla 








ico at an auto da fé Sept. 8, 1596. He had been 

“reconciled” at that city Feb. 24, 1590, being sen- 

teuced to perpetual imprisonment in the lunatic 

hospital of San Hipolito. On Feb. 9, 1595, he was 
again arraigned as a “relapso,” subsequently testify- 
ing against his mother and sisters (if the records are 
to be believed). Atone of the hearings (Feb. 25) he 
was shown a manuscript book beginning with the 
words: “Inthename of the Lord of Hosts” (a trans- 
lation of the Hebrew invocation, “be shem Adonay 

Zebaot ”), which he acknowledged as his own book, 

and which contained his autobiography. On Feb. 

8, 1596, he was put on the rack from 9:30 A.M. till 

2 P.M.,and then denounced no less than 121 persons, 

though he afterward repudiated hisconfession, He 

threw himself out of a window to escape further 
torture. He and his brother Baltasar composed 
hymns and dirges for the Jewish fasts: one of them, 

a kind of “widdui” (confession of sin) in sonnet 

form, is given in “ E] Libro Rojo.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Paramo, De Origine et Progressu ... In- 
quisitionis ... p. 242, Madrid, 1599 (the only contempo- 
rary printed record); Vicenta Riva Palacto, Bl Libro Rojo, 
Mexico, 1830 (from which the accompanying illustrations are 
taken); Cyrus Adler, The Trial of Jorge de Almeida, in 
Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soe. No. 4, Index, s.v. Cara- 
hajal; G. A. Kohut, ib. pp. 123, 161; Palacio, Mexico al 
Través de los Siglos ... i142 C. K. Landis, Carabajal the 


Jew,a Legend of Monterey, Vineland, N. J., 1894; H.H. 


Bancroft, History of Alexico, ii. T77-779. 


A G. A. K. 


CARACALLA: Roman emperor (211-217); son 
of Septimius Severus. It is said that as a boy of 
seven he had a Jewish playfellow, and having heard 
that the latter had been cruelly whipped on account 
of his religion, he could not for a long time en- 
dure the sight either of his own father or of the 
boy’s father, both of whom were responsible for the 
punishment (Spartianus, “ Antoninus Caracalla,” i.). 
The anecdote may be credited, since his mother, 
Julia Domna, was a Syrian. While still a prince, 
though already invested with the title “ Augustus,” 
his father permitted him to have a triumphal pro- 
cession on the occasion when the Senate decreed Sep- 
timius Severus a Jewish triumph in honor of his suc- 
cessful wars in Syria (Spartianus, “Severus,” xvi.); 
for the words “Cui senatus Judaicum triumphum 
decreverat” do not refer to Caracalla, as has been 
erroneously assumed (Gratz, “Gesch. der Juden,” 
4th ed., iv. 208), but toSeptimius Severus, who asa 
mere amusement allowed even his youthful son to 
take part in the triumph. 

As Augustus, Caracalla, whose real name was 
Bassianus, assumed the name Antoninus (beginning 
198), an official designation under which he is men- 
tioned several times together with his father. A 
synagogal inscription found in the otherwise little- 
known place Kaisun contains a prayer of the 
Jews for the welfare of the whole imperial family, 
naming Septimius Severus, the empress Julia 
Domna, and their two sons, Antoninus and Geta 
(“Journal Asiatique,” Dec., 1864; “ Monatsschrift,” 
1865, p. 154). Hence Jerome’s words in his com: 
mentary on Dan. xi. 34: “Hebreorum quidam hec 
de Severo et Antonino principibus intelligunt qui 
Judzos plurimum dilexerunt” (Many of the Jews 
take this to refer to the emperors Severus and An- 
toninus, who greatly loved the Jews), are to be 


Caracas 
Carcassonne 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


570 





interpreted literally, and do not, as Gritz assumes (2d. 
iv. 452), refer only to one name, Alexander Severus. 
This contemporaneous rule of father and son be- 
comes evident also in the laws of the Digesta (“De 
Decurialibus,” Leges 50, Il. iii. § 8). Those who 
followed the Jewish superstition were permitted by 
the emperors Severus (in some editions erroneously 
“Verus”) and Antoninus to obtain offices (“ honores”). 
This decree must be dated between 198 and 208, 
since Geta, who became Augustus in 208, is not 
mentioned therein. In any case there are several 
witnesses to Caracalla’s friendliness toward the Jews, 
while nothing is known of any inimical measures 
during his short reign. Hence those scholars may 
be right who identify with Caracalla the Antoninus 
who is often mentioned in both the Talmuds asa 
friend and patron of the patriarch Judah I. 

It is known that Caracalla undertook an expedi- 
tion against the Parthians, during which he passed 
through Antioch and Syria (217); he may at that 
time have met R. Judah. On this expedition he 
was murdered by the subsequent emperor, Macri- 
nus, who is also mentioned in Jewish writings. 
After his death the nickname “ Caracalla” was given 
to him from a long Gallic garment which he had 
preferred. Some scholars think that this garment 
is mentioned also by the Rabbis (Krauss, “Lehn- 
worter,” ii. 592). 

G. S. Kr. 


CARACAS. 


CARASSO, DAVID SAMUEL: Jewish trav- 
eler; born at Salonica, Turkey. On the occasion of 
a business trip to Yemen, Arabia, in 1874, he studied 
the situation of the Jews of that region, and pub- 
lished an account of his travels in a volume written 
in Judzo-Spanish, entitled “Zikron Teman 6 el 
Viage en el Yémen” (Constantinople, 1875). Tle 
traversed the whole of the interior of Arabia—in- 
cluding Sada, Aseer, Sanaa, etc., and was espe- 
cially interested in the last-named community. In 
order to ameliorate the condition of the Jews of 
Yemen, he wrote to the Anglo-Jewish Association 
and to the chief rabbi of Constantinople, Moses 
Halévy, whereupon the latter sent Isaac Saul, a 
rabbi of Constantinople, to Sanaa as chief rabbi. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Franco, Histoire des Israélites de VEmpire 
Ottoman: D.8. Carasso, Zikron Teman, as above. 


8. M. FR. 

CARAVAN : A convoy of travelers or merchan- 
dise. As the commerce of the Israelites was chiefly 
inland trade, products from regions that were not 
contiguous were exchanged by means of caravans 
{“orhah”). The most important highways connect- 
ing Asia with Africa, and the far East with Europe, 
traversed or touched Palestine; and along these high- 
ways the great caravans passed through the coun- 
try. They were not, however, roads in the modern 
sense of the word, but beaten paths, as they still are 
to-day, little better than trails and impassable for 
vehicles. Hence the camel was the chief medium 
for transportation, as it still is the invaluable beast 
of burden of those regions, marching day after day 
from twelve to fourteen hours with a burden of 
three or four hundreé pounds, and thus far surpass- 
ing the best horse im its capacity for work. The 


See SoutH AMERICA. 


Israelites took little part in this trading by caravan, 
for the commerce of the country itself lay chiefly in 
the hands of the Phenicians and Canaanites: while 
the extensive trade between the East and the Medi. 
terranean and Egypt was carried on by the tribes of 
the desert, who made this their business, as they in 
part stilldo. Thus it was a Midianite caravan—ac. 
cording to another source, an Ishmaeijite—that, com- 
ing from the land east of the Jordan, carried Joseph 
to Egypt (Gen. xxxvii. 25, 28). The Dedanim—the 
inhabitants of the land of Teman and of Sheba—are 
also mentioned as leaders of caravans (Isa. xxi. 18, 
Ix. 6; Job vi. 19). It seems that the kings of Israe} 
levied, at least at times, a toll upon these caravans 


passing through their country (I Kings x. 15). See 
COMMERCE. 
J. IR. I. Be. 


CARBEN, VICTOR OF: Jewish convert; lived 
at Cologne (1442-1515), Like most converts, Victor 
endeavored to show his zeal for his new religion by 
writing against his former coreligionists. When the 
Jews were banished from the diocese of Cologne 
early in the sixteenth century, he wrote to the arch- 
bishop, congratulating him on having “plucked 
away the weeds from his bishopric and ridden it of 
Jews.” 

Victor was the author of the following works: 
(1) “Opus Aureum ac Novum in quo Omnes Jude- 
orum Errores Manifestantur,” divided into four 
parts, the first of which treats of the life and customs 
of the Jews (Cologne, 1509). Raimann holds that the 
real author of the latter work was Ortuin Gratius. Jt 
was translated into German. (2) “ Propugnaculum 
Fidei Christiane, Instar Dialogi inter Christianum 
et Judeum, in quo quod Jesus Verus Messias, Verus 
Deus et Homo, Totiusque Humani Generis Salvator 
Sit Demonstratur ” (Cologne, 1504-8). 

In his writings Victor repeatedly asserts that it is 
not wise for Christians to enter into religious con- 
troversy with Jews, the latter being taught from 
childhood how to uphold their faith. He was chiefly 
concerned in exonerating himself from the accusa- 
tion of having apostatized for the sake of worldly 
advantages; and in view of this, he paid the Jews a 
gratuitous compliment when he asserted that they, 
of all the people of the earth, are the most difficult 
to convert, their attachment to their Law being so 
strong that neither riches nor fear of persecution can 
cause them to abandon their faith. 

In his old age Victor became an ecclesiastic; and 
after his death the folowing epitaph was engraved 
on the door of the church of Sainte-Ursule at Co- 
logne: “Victor, formerly a Jew, wrote in the year 
1509 four works against the errors of the Jews.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. iii. 2389, iv. 568 et seq. 

Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, ix. 916 et seq.: Steinschneider, 


Cat. Bodl. col. 815; Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, ix. 77. 
G. I. Br. 


CARCAS: One of the seven chamberlains serv- 
ing Ahasuerus and ordered by him to bring Queen 
Vashti into the royal presence (Esth. i. 10). The 
Septuagint gives a different name—Oapafa, The 
Targum allegorizes five of the names, but leaves 
“Zethar” and “Carcas” unexplained. 


E. G. H. G. B. L. 


§71 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caracas 
Carcassonne 


i ee ee ee ae 


CARCASS.—Biblical Data: The carcass of a 
clean animal that had not been properly slaughtered, 
or that of an unclean animal of the land, the water, 
or the air, polluted until the evening the person who 
touched it (Lev. xi. 24), One who carried or ate it 
must wash his clothes (zd. 25, 39, 40). A special pro- 
hibition was enacted against eating clean animals 
that had died (Lev. xxii. 8; Ezek. iv. 14, xliv. 31), 
and although this was intended primarily for priests, 

only the stranger in Israel could eat 


Pollution them (Deut. xiv.21). Certain “creep- 
from ing things” (“sherazim ”), when dead, 
Carcass. polluted not only persons, but also 


wooden utensils, clothes, leather, and 
gackcloth. These were to be dipped into water, 
after which they became clean in the evening (Lev. 
si. 83). But food and beverages could net thus be 
mace clean (Lev. xi. 84), nor could a stove, Nor any 
earthenware upon which the carrion had dropped 
(Lev. xi. 85; compare vi. 21). Seeds were unclean 
only when damp (Lev. xi. 38). See aiso BURIAL, 
CoRPSE, CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS, 

Corpses, as well as inanimate things in the stage 
of dissolution and decay, must be removed frem be- 
fore the living God and from the people who dedi- 
cate themselves to Him (compare Lev. iii. 18, which 
commands the salting of meat offerings), The fearof 
dead bodies is due not merely toa physical revulsion 
avainst decay, but also to a sense of the mysterious 
curse attaching to mortality, especially of human 
bodies (Gen, ii. 17; iii. 19); it is, therefore, of eth- 
ical import (Dillmann’s commentary on Lev. xi.). 
The fact that not only human carcasses, but also 
those of animals, were supposed to defile, militates 
against the supposition that these laws were intended 
to antagonize the pagan ancestor-worship. 

KE. G. HL. 8. Kr. 
—In the Talmud: Dead animals often lay about 
in the cities (Tosef., Toh. vi. 1), for the carrion of 
animals did not pollute the habitations in which it 
lay. So long as the animals were not altogether 
dead they did not pollute; but if the head had been 
cut off, as, for instance, that of a lizard, though its 
trunk might still be moving, it was considered as a 
carcass (2b. i. 4; Oh. i. 6). Not only did the entire 
body of the animal pollute, but even a single mem- 
ber, which in quadrupeds might be smaller than an 
olive, or, in reptiles, smaller than a lentil (2b. i. 7). 
If the carcass were that of a clean bird, concerning 
which thirteen rules had to be observed (Toh. i. 1), 
it was more defiling in certain respects than that of 
an unclean bird (2). i. 8). According to Lev. xi. 29, 
the carcasses of only eight amphibious animals pol- 
luted, which were specifically called “creeping 
things ” (sherazim); opposed to these as the type of 
a clean animal was the frog (¢, v. 1, 4). 

In post-Talmudic times the ordinances regarding 
the carcasses of “creeping things” were no longer 
observed, since none of the ordinances of purifica- 
tion werein force. The Karaites, however, censured 
the Rabbinites for this negiect of Biblical laws (Ap- 
piryon, in Neubauer, “ Aus der Petersburger Bibli« 
thek,” p. 21, Leipsic, 1866; “Lebush Malkut,” ¢d. p. 
44). An Israelite who was not a Cohen was, accord- 
ing to rabbinical teaching, not bound to guard 
against pollution by carrion (Sifra, Shemini, iv.). 


In other directions, however, the ordinances regard- 
ing animal carcasses received an extremely wide ap- 
plication; according to rabbinical law (Hul. ii. 4), 
for instance, an animal that had not been slaugh- 
tered in the prescribed way became carrion (“nebe- 
lah”; see DieETARY Laws). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Wiener, Die Jiidischen Speisegesetze, pp. 


220-297, Breslau, 1895. 
J. SR. S. Kr. 


CARCASSONNE: Town in the department of 
Aude, France; the Carcaso or Carcassio of the Ro- 
mans. It is variously transcribed in Hebrew as 
MAWNP ID, RAWP rp. ete. 

Although the settlement of Jews at Carcassonne 
goes as far back as the early centuries of the com- 
mon era, official documents relating to them are not 
met with till the twelfth century. <A cartulary of 
the Templars of Douzens in 1162 mentions a terri- 
tory called “Honor Judaicus” in the environs of 
Carcassonne; and two charters of the same century 
describe Jews as lords of the manor. In1142a Jew 
named Bonisach, son of Ganiol (Hebrew name, Isaac 
ben Eliezer), gives his approval, as lord of the 
manor, to a donation of a vineyard made by its pro- 
prietors to the Templars. A similar case occurs 
forty-one years later when four Jews, joint lords of 
the manor, sign a deed of conveyance of vineyards 
bought by the Templars. One of the signers was 
Moses Caranita, who held the office of bailiff. The 
bestowal of this distinction upon a Jew was not 
unusual in the dominions of the counts and vis- 
counts of Carcassonne, who protected their Jewish 
subjects and granted them many privileges. Ray- 
mond de Trencavel interceded with the bishops of 
his dominions to abolish the abuses to which the 
Jews were subjected during Holy Week. Roger II. 

gave the Jews special evidences of his 

Under favor, and took the most prominent 

Roger II. among them under his personal pro- 

tection. Thus, he secured the free- 

dom of the eminent Talmudist Abraham ben David 

of Posquiéres (RABaD), who had been thrown into 

prison by the lord of Posquiéres, and gave him 

shelter at Carcassonne. The example of Roger was 

followed by his successor, w!* assigned to his Jew- 
ish bailiffs the rank of barons in his court. 

The crusade against the Albigenses brought a 
reaction in the state of the prosperous community 
of Carcassonne. Ascribing the Albigensian heresy 
to the influence of the rabbis, the counts and vis- 
counts were compelled at the council of Sainut-Gilles 
to swear that no public office should be entrusted 
to Jews. Moreover, Carcassonne in 1209 passed into 
the hands of the counts of Montfort, who were not 
so favorably inclined toward the Jews as were the 
Trencavels. Old edicts, destined to isolate the Jews 
from their Christian surroundings, were exhumed. 
The Lateran council of 1215 prescribed a special 
badge to be worn by Jews; and this order, although 
little observed in other places, was rigorously en- 
forced in Carcassonne, which was the seat of the 
Inquisition. 

In 1226, when Amaury de Montfort transferred 
Carcassonne to Louis VIII., the condition of the Jews 
grew worse. Under the administration of royal 
officers they became the prey of the avarice of the 


Carcassonne 
Cardinal Virtues 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


572 


SS nn oe ne eee SS 


government. St. Louis (Louis [X.), who did not 
favor the Jewsin general, was especially embittered 
agaiust those of Carcassonne for their participation 
in the uprising of 1240 in favor of Trencavel, when 
the latter was besieging the city. Thus, in 12465t. 
Louis ordered the seneschal of Carcas- 
sonne to keep all the Jews in prison 
until they had paid a certain sum; at 
the same time frecing Christian debtors 
from their debts to Jews, In 1253 he banished all 
Jews from Carcassonne, but soon recalled them, 
probably at the request of the remaining inhabitants. 
St. Louis, however, issued an edict (1254) prohibit- 
ing them from performing Talmudical rites, from 
lending money on interest, from practising sorcery, 
and from engaging in monetary transactions. 

The reign of Philip the Bold brought no change 
in their status. The policy inaugurated by his 
father and the clergy to isolate the Jews from their 
Christian surroundings continued. The synodal 
constitutions of Bernard of Capendu, bishop of Car- 
cassonne in 1272, forbade the Jews to leave their 
houses during Holy Week, obliged them to rest on 
Sundays and Christian festivals, prohibited them 
from eating with Christians, and forbade Christians 
to employ Jewish physicians. 

The beginning of the reign of Philip the Fair 
promised relief to the Jews of Carcassonne. In 1288 
he issued an ordinance forbidding the clergy to ar- 
rest Jews on any accusation without inquiry first 
being made by the seneschals. He also permitted 

the Jews to lend money at a moderate 
Under interest, and obliged their Christian 
Philip the debtors to pay their debts. It was 
Fair. soon evident that in this Philip was 
acting in his own interest: he wanted 
to enrich the Jews in order that he might derive 
more profit in plundering them. A system of im- 
positions was inaugurated by him which drove 
away many Jews from Carcassonne: these sought a 
refuge in the dominions of various counts, in order 
to avoid being sent as captives to Paris on account of 
not having paid their taxes (1290-92). During this 
time Philip himself apportioned the contributions to 
be paid by the principal Jews of Carcassonne, instead 
of leaving the matter to the syndics or procurators 
of the community, who were responsible for the 
payment of the taxes. This régime brought misery 
to the once prosperous community through the total 
banishment of the Jews from France and the con- 
fiscation of their property (1806). 

During the reign of Louis X. (1815) an important 
community was reestablished at-Carcassonne. Joseph 
ha-Kohen (“ Emek ha-Baka,” ed. Let- 
teris, p. 73) includes it among the com- 
munities which had suffered from the 
persecutions of the Pastoureaux about 1320. Under 
Charles [V. the community or district of Carcassonne 
had to contribute the sum of 25,000 livres to the 
total tax of 180,000 livres imposed upon the Jews of 
France. In1394the Jews wereagain banished from 
France, and since then no Jewish community has 
existed at Carcassonne. 

Among the prominent men connected with Carcas- 
sonne the following may be mentioned: in the elev- 
enth century, Joseph ben Solomon; in the twelfth 


Under 
Louis IX. 


Louis X. 


century, Abraham ben David of Posquiéres (RABaD) 

and Meir ben Isaac of Trinquetaille; in the thiy. 

teenth, Elijah ben Isaac of Carcas. 

Men sonne, Samuel ben Solomou Nassi of 
of Promi- Carcassonne, Abraham ben Isaac Hay- 
nence. vim of Carcassonne, Solomon bey 
Jacob, Mordecai ben Isaac Ezobi, ang 

David ben Nathanel. Among the noted physicians 

of Carcassonne were Isaac, Jacob of Lunel, Dollan 

Bellan, and Leon Joseph, all of the fourteenth 

century. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bourges, Histoire de Carcassonne. p. 585. 
Gustave Saige, Les Juifs du Languedoe, pp. 78 et seq: Dep- 
ping, Lex Juifs dansle Moyen Age; Bédarride, Les Juits en 
France, en Espagne, et en Italie, p. 2375 Gross, Gallia Jue 
daica, pp. 615 et seg. 

G, I. Bn. 
CARCASSONNE, ADOLPHE JOSEPH: 

French poet; born at Marseilles, 1826; died Sept. 

22, 1891. Llis principal works are: (1) * Premiéres 

Lucurs,” a selection of poems (1892); (2) “Le Juge- 

ment de Déea,” opera in four acts (L860); (8) “La 

Fille du Franc-Juge,” drama in four acts in verse 

(1861); {4) “Le Siége de Marseilles,” drama in five 

iets (1862); (5) “La Fete de Moliere,” aone-act play 

(1863); (6) “Gouttes d’Eau,” a selection of poens 

(1869); (7) “La Legon de Géographie,” an Alsatian 

Jegend in verse, in memory of 1871 (1878); (8) 

“Thédtre d’Enfants,” short comedies in verse (1878): 

(9) “Moliére et Ja Médecine ” (1878); (10) “ Théatre 

d’ Adolescents ” (1880); (11) “ Piéces a Dire” (1881): 

(12) “Scénes 4 Deux,” aselection of plays for young 

amateurs; (18) “Nouvelles Piéces &@ Dire” (1884): 

(14) “République Enfantine,” short plays in verse 

(1885); (15) “Mariage de Fleurs” (1886): (16) 

“Theatre de Jeunes Filles,” a selection of plays for 

young girls (1887). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Larousse, Grand Dict. Universzel, 2d Supple- 
ment, p. 733. 

S. . Br. 
CARCASSONNE, DAVID: French physician; 
born Dec. 20, 1789, at Remoulins, a small town in 

the Gard department, France; died Noy. 15, 1861, 

at Nimes. He was the son of a purveyor to the 

army of Napoleon I., and baving joined the Grande 

Armée as military surgeon when twenty-three vears 

of age, he followed the emperor to Russia in 1812, 

and was made a prisoner there. On his return to 

Nimes, where his parents had settled, Carcassonne 

gave up his practise and became a carpet-mantfac- 

turer. He was a member of the Municipal Council 

of Nimes, under King Louis Philippe (1837-48). 

Carcassonne was the author of a work entitled ~ Es- 

sai Historique sur la Médecine des Hébreux Ancieus 

et Modernes,” Montpellier-Nimes, 1815. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Registre des Délibérations du Conseil Mu- 
nicipal de Nimes, 1837-48; S. Kahn, Notice sur les Israe- 
lites de Nimes, pp. 35, 47. 

S. S. Ky. 

id 

CARCASSONNE, LEON: French physician, 
municipal councilor, and member of the Academy 
of Nimes. Sonof David Carcassonne; died at Mar- 
seilles May 7, 1894. He was the author of the fol- 
lowing works: (1) “Questions sur Diverses Branches 
des Sciences Médicales,” Paris, 1842; (2) “Compte- 

Rendu des Travaux des Conseils d’Hygiéne et de 

Salubrité Publique de Nimes,” a treatise on the 


+ cen 


573 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


eee 
work done by the health officers of Nimes, Nimes, 
1866: (3) “Notice sur Philippe Boileau de Castel- 
nan,” 7b, 1882. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 8. Kahn, Notice sur les Israélites de Nimes, 


pp. 39. 40. as 
a S. Ik. 


CARCHEMISH: City of northern Syria, on 
the Euphrates. Its importance seems to have been 
based on its situation at the end of the most direct 
route from the mouth of the Orontes to the Eu- 
phrates and to Harran. This position explains why 
jt was the scene of the battle about 605 B.c. (“by the 
yiver Euphrates in Carchemish”) between the 
Egyptian army of Necho II. and the Babylonians 
under Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xlvi. 2), in which, ac- 
cording to II Chron, xxxv. 20 (= I Esd. i. 25), the 
Egyptians were the attacking party. In Isa. x. 9 
Carchemish is included among various powerful 
kingdoms overthrown by Assyria. 

The city is mentioned as early as (about) 1480 B.c, , 
when it was stormed by Pharaoh Thutmosis III, 

and later, in the time of Rameses IL., 
Its as an independent kingdom allied to 
History. the Hittites. The Egyptians write 
“ Karakamisha,” or frequently “ Kara- 
kamisha.” The Assyrians speak of “ Gargamish” (ear- 
lier “ Kargamish ”) as the principal city of northern 
Syria, “the Hatte-land.” Itis mentioned as situated 
“on the right bank of the Euphrates, north of the 
modern river Sajur.” Its territory was ravaged by 
Tiglath-pileser I. about 1100 p.c. King Sangara 
paid tribute to Asurnazirpal (877) and to Shalmaneser 
(854). The last king Pisiri(s) paid tribute to Tiglath- 
pileser IT. (740), but revolted against Sargon in 717, 
which led to the loss of the independence of Carche- 
mish (Isa. x. 9). The inhabitants were deported 
and the city was populated with Assyrian colonists, 
becoming the seat of an Assyrian governor. 

The commercial importance of Carchemish is 
shown in the weight “ maneh of Carchemish” in use 
at Nineveh. In Greek times it seems to have had 
the name “ Europus”; the modern form of this name 
probably being “Jerabis” or “Jirbas” (“Jerablus,” 
“Jerabolus,” given by some English travelers, may 
be due to a confusion with the neighboring Hierap- 
olis. south of Carchemish). The considerable ruins 
were first identified with Carchemish by G. Smith 
on his last journey (1876); formerly Circesitum was 
often mistaken for that city. In I Esd. i, 23 the name 
is rendered “Carchamis”; 1n IL Chron. xxxv. 20, 
A. V., “Charchemish.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Delitzsch, Wo Lag das Paradies? pp. 265 et 

seq. Winckler, Gesch. Babyloniens und Assyriens, pp. 189 


et seq.; W. M. Miiller, Asien und Huropa, p. 263; Hoffmann, 
Ausztige aus Akten Persischer Mdrtyrer, pp. 161 et seq. 


E. ¢. W. M. M. 
CARD-PLAYING. SEE GAMEs. 


CARDINAL, or CARDINEAL, JUDAH 
BEN ISAAC: Translator; lived at the end of the 
twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth, 
probably in southern France. At the request of 
Joseph ben Baruch, who, according to Zunz, trav- 
eled from France to Jerusalem by way of Egypt in 
1211, Cardinal translated from Arabic into He- 
brew Judah ha-Levi’s “Cuzari.” This translation, 
Which, with the exception of several small frag- 


Carcassonne 
Cardinal Virtues 





ments, is no longer in existence, was used by Na- 

thanael ben Nehemiah Kaspi in his commentary on 

the “Cuzari” entitled “‘Edut le-Yisrael,” and also 

by Judah ben Joseph Moscato in his commentary 

“Kol Yehudah.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY; Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i. 772; Rossi, Dizionario, 
p. 162; Dukes. in Orient. Lit. 1840, p. 588; 1849, p. 453 ; Cassel, 


Cuzari, p. 20; Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. p.404: Zunz, 
Notes on Benjamin of Tudela, ed. Asher, ii. 256, 


G. T. Br. 


CARDINAL VIRTUES: Virtues regarded as 
fundamental, and under which, as heads, all others 
may bearranged. The term “ cardinal virtues” is first 
used by Ambrose to denote that group of four vir- 
tues which became familiar through the writings of 
Greek philosophers, and which were first formated 
by Plato. In accordance with his threefold divi- 
sion of the soul into its rational, combative, and ap- 
petitive elements, Plate recognized four fundamen- 
tal virtues: “ ¢pdvyote ” or “ copia,” wisdom; “ avdpeia,” 
courage or fortitude, and this, as Zeller remarks, 
considered as a valor against the foes within the 
soul; “cwdpoctyy,” temperance; and “ dixacooiyy,” 
justice or uprightness, conceived as resulting from 
the harmony of ail the soul’s powers when wisely 
governed. These four virtues became the classical 
expression of Greek ethical thought, irrespective 
ofany particular system. They are specially prom- 
inent in the Stoics; and it is through the influence 
of the latter that they are found in Jewish writers 
of the Hellenistic period (see HELLENISM). 

Strictly speaking, there never was, as a native 
and independent growth in Judaism, any attempt 
made to deduce systematically the commandments 


“of the Torah from one or more general principles. 


It is only when the Jewish mind meets the Greek 
that Jewish thought attempts to present in Greek 
form, and also partly to recast into Greek idaas, the 
religious and moral conceptions of Isracl. Thus a 
writer in the second century before the present era, 
the author of the Wisdom of Solomon, recognizes 
sophia, or wisdom, as the root of all virtues, and 
identifies it in his mind with the Spirit of God. In 
describing its workings he goes so far 

The in his personifications as almost to 
Wisdom  hypostatize it, and speaks of the fruits 
of of wisdom later as four (Wisdom viii. 

Solomon. 7): “temperance and prudence, jus- 

tice and fortitude.” 

The unknown author of IV Maccabees shows the 
influence of Stoicism in his enumeration of the four 
virtues in the following order: in the beginning of 
his work (i. 18) ¢pévyot¢, as the most important, 
through which the mind rules over the affections; 
then justice, fortitude, and temperance. He illus- 
trates the triumph of reason over the passions, from 
the martyrdoms described in IT Macc. vi. Quite 
different again is the order of the four virtues in IV 
Macc. v. 22: temperance, fortitude, justice, and 
piety (see Freudenthal, “Dic Flavius Josephus Bei- 
gelegte Schrift tiber die Herrschaft der Vernunft,” 
1869, pp. 51-55). Schiirer says this “influence of 
Stoicism upon the author is in no other point so 
penetrating. . . . The reason to which he ascribes 
dominion over desire,” and which is to produce 
the virtues, is “not human reason as such, but 


Cardinal Virtues 
Cardozo 


reason guiding itself according to the rule of the 
Divine law.” 

Lastly, Philo, using his allegorical method, finds 
in the four streams of Eden an indication of tne 
four cardinal virtues (“De Allegoriis Legum,” i. 
819; compare “Quod Omnis Probus Liber,” § 10); 
while in the order of them he follows the Stoics, he 
departs from them in recognizing the insufficiency 
of man to liberate himself from his sensual nature. 
For this is needed the help of God, who plants and 
promotes the virtues in the soul of man. True 
morality is, as Plato teaches, “the imitation of 
Deity,” or, better, as the Rabbis say (Sifre, Deut. 
49): “As He is called gracious, be thou gracious; as 
He is merciful, be thou merciful; as He is holy, be 
thou holy.” 

While there seems to be no other work of a Jew- 
ish writer in which the four virtues are directly 
mentioned, it may not be improper in this connec- 
tion to note the tendency growing up in Jewish 
literature to enumerate certain virtues as striking 
manifestations of character. Thus the statement is 
given in Ned. 38a and other portions of the Tal- 
mud: “R. Johanan said, ‘The Holy One, blessed be 
He! lets his Presence dwell only with the strong, 
the rich, the wise, and the humble.’ ” In this con- 

nection may be mentioned the accept- 


Jewish ~ ed definitions of Ben Zoma (Ab. iv. 1): 
Funda- “Wise is he who learns from every 
mental man; strongishe who masters his own 
Virtues. spirit or ‘yezer,’ (his evil inclination); 


rich is he who is contented with or 
rejoices in his lot.” It may be said that here is a 
group which is again and again found in the wri- 
tings of Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. 
As the reverence for God was regarded as the be- 
ginning of wisdom (Ps. cxi. 10; Prov. i. 7), and as 
yezer, the evil inclination, was chiefly identified 
with the tendency to unchastity, a special cluster of 
Jewish virtues is here presented: study, combined 
with fear of God; chastity; cheerfulness or content- 
ment; and humility or meekness. As these would 
express the inward disposition of the “disciple of 
the wise,” there are also enumerations, especially in 
“Ethics of the Fathers,” which scem to emphasize 
the fundamental virtues as they appear objectively 
in the deed or social institution. Such statements 
as that of Simon the Just (Ab. i. 2): “Upon three 
things the world rests—the study of the Law, divine 
service, and deeds of love,” or that of another sage 
(Ab. i. 18): “Upon three things is the world estab- 
lished; viz., truth, justice, and peace,” can well be 
taken to mirror the virtues which appeared to the 
Jewish mind as fundamental. [Compare Paul’s triad 
of Christian virtues: faith, hope, and charity (I Cor. 
xiii. 13).—x. ] 

Reference may also be made to the classical pas- 
sage of the Talmud (Mak. 28b, 24a): “R. Simlai 
said, ‘Six hundred and thirteen commandments were 
given to Moses. King David came and reduced 
them to eleven (Ps. xv.), The prophet Isaiah fur- 
ther reduced them to six (Isa. xxxiii.). Micah (vi. 
8) reduced them to three: “ He hath shewed thee, O 
man, what is good . . . to do justly, and to love 
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Isaiah 
again reduced them to two (Isa. lvi.). The prophet 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


574 


Ba eh See 
Amos placed them all upon one principle (Amog y. 
4): “Seek me and live”; or, as the prophet Habak. 
kuk said, “The just shall live by his faith.” ’” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zeller, Philosophie d, Griechen, ii. 1, 884; jij 
2, 271, 276; Schitrer. The Jewish People in the Time of 
Jesus Christ. div. 2, iii, 245, 879; J. Freudenthal, Die Flavius 
Josephus Beiyelegte Schrift tiber die Herrschaft der Ver. 


nungft, pp. 51, 55; H. Sidgwick, History of Ethies, p. 43, note, 
K. S. Sc. 


CARDOSO, ELIJAH ABOAB: Philanthro. 
pist and founder of the Hamburg synagogue; liveg 
in that city in the first half of the seventeenth cep. 
tury. He was descended from the Spanish family 
of that name, and was one of the first Jewish set- 
tlers in Hamburg. In 16380 Cardoso founded the 
first Portuguese synagogue in the city. In so doing 
he risked the displeasure of the senate, which did 
not care to grant the Jews permission to build a 
synagogue, lest the attention of the fanatical popu- 
lation of Hamburg should be attracted to them, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Schudt, Jildische Merkwtirdigkeiten, 1, 373; 
Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, x. 18; Feilchenfeld, Aus der Ael- 
teren Gesch. der Port.-Isr. Gemeinde in Hamburg, p. 8. 


J: I. Br. 


CARDOSO, ISAAC (FERNANDO): Physi- 
cian, philosopher, and polemic writer; born of 
Marano parents at Celorico in the province Beira, 
Portugal, before 1615; died at Verona after 1680. 
He was a brother of Abraham Michael (Miguel) 
Cardoso. After studying medicine, philosophy, and 
natural sciences at Salamanca, he settled as physi- 
cian at Valladolid in 1632, but was soon called as 
chief physician (“ physico mor”) to Madrid. While 
there he published (1632) a lecture on Vesuvius and 
on the causes of the earthquake, and (1635) a trea- 
tise on the color green, which he dedicated to Isabel 
Henriques, who was celebrated in the academies of 
Madrid for her intellect, and who lived later in Am- 
sterdam. In the latter year he also composed a 
funeral discourse for Lope de Vega, which was ded- 
icated to the Duke de Sessa, and a treatise on the 
uses of cold water, printed in 1637, and dedicated to 
King Philippe IV. Fernando (his Marano name) 
left Spain, probably to escape from the Inquisition, 
and went with his brother Miguel, who had also 
studied medicine, to Venice, where both openly em- 
braced Judaism, Fernando changing his name to 
“Tsaac.” After a short stay in Venice he settled in 
Verona, where he remained until his death, highly 
honored by Jews and Christians, 

Aside from the works already mentioned, Cardoso 
published a comprehensive treatise on cosmogony, 
physics, medicine, philosophy, theology, and natu- 
ral sciences, printed at Venice in 1673 under the title 
“Philosophia Libera in Septem Libros Distributa,” 
and dedicated to the doge and senate of that city. 
In this work, which critically discusses the various 
philosophical systems, he appears as a decided op- 
ponent of the Cabala and of the pseudo-Messiah 
Shabbethai Zebi, although his brother Miguel was 
an adherent. Isaac also ridiculed the cabalistic, 
Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls. 

This “learned, God-fearing physician,” as he is 
designated by the pious Moses Hagis (“ Mishnat 
Hakamim,” p. 120a) defended his coreligionists in 
his great work, “Las Excelencias y Calunias de Jos 
Hebreos,” printed in 1679 at Amsterdam, and dedi- 


575 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cardinal Virtues 
Cardozo 


a a Aa a Ana 


cated March 17, 1678, to Jacob de Pinto. In ten 
chapters he emphasizes the “excelencias” (distin- 
guishing features) of the Jews, their selection by 
God, their separation from all other peoples by spe- 
cial Jaws, their compassion for the sufferings of 
others, their philanthropy, chastity, faith, etc.; and 
in ten other chapters he refutes the “calunias” 
(calumnies) brought against them; viz., that they 
worship false gods, smell badly, are hard and un- 
feeling toward other peoples, have corrupted Scrip- 
ture, blaspheme holy images and the host, kill 
Christian children and use the blood for ritual pur- 
poses. This work, which was celebrated by the 
rabbi J. Brieli of Mantua in a Hebrew sonnet 
(“Ozar Nehmad,” iii. 167), was sent by Cardoso soon 
after its appearance, July 23, 1679, to the rabbi 
Samuel Aboab in Venice, asking for an opinion. 
Aboab answered July 31, thanking him for the 
splendid gift. In another letter to Aboab, Dec. 24, 
1679, he gave his views on the derivation of some 
Spanish words from persons mentioned in the Bible. 
According to De Barrios, Cardoso also published 
“Varias Poesias ” (1680). | 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: De Barrios, Rel. de los Poetas y Escritores 

Espatwles, p. 55; Kayserling, Sephardim, pp. 189 et seq., 

384; idem, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. pp. 338 et seq.; De Rossi, 

Worterbuch, p. 66; Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, x. 298 et seq. 

Rev. Et. Juives, xii. 301 et seq. 

G. M. K. 

CARDOSO, MIGUEL (later ABRAHAM): 
Shabbethaian prophet and physician; born in Spain 
about 1680; died at Cairo 1706. He was a descend- 
ant of the Maranos in the Portuguese city of Celo- 
rico. He studied medicine together with his brother 
Fernand«c Isaac, and while the latter was given to 
his studies, Michael spent his time in singing sere- 
nades under ladies’ balconies. After having com- 
pleted his education, he left Spain for Venice. 
There, probably at the instigation of his brother, he 
embraced Judaism and received the name “* Abra- 
ham.” Later he established himself as a physician 
at Leghorn, but did not meet with much success 
until his recommendation by the duke of Tuscany 
to Othman, the bey of Tripoli. 

Becoming thereafter fairly prosperous, Cardoso 
married two wives, and began to devote himself to 
cabalistic speculations, in Which he appears to have 
been previously initiated at Leghorn by Moses Pin- 
heiro. With the appearance of the Shabbethaian 
movement, he assumed the character of a prophet, 
pretending to have had dreams and visions; and 
sent circulars in all directions to support the Mes- 
sianic claim of Shabbethai. Cardoso's pretended or 
actual belief in the Messiah was not renounced even 
when Zebi embraced Islam; he justified the latter 
on the plea that it was necessary for him to be 
counted among the sinners, in order that he might 
atone for Israel’s sins, according to Isa. liii. (in every 
point applicable to Shabbethai Zebi). 

Later Cardoso, no longer satisfied with being only 
a prophet, gave himself out as “Messiah ben 
Ephraim,” asserting that the Messiah is he who 
teaches the true conception of God. This concep- 
tion Cardoso expounded in nearly all his writings: 
that the true God is not the “En-Sof,” but the 
“Keter ‘Elyon”; the first being a passive power 
which has no connection with the world. 


Being endowed with great eloquence, Cardoso 
had many followers, but many enemies as well. 
An influential personage, Isaac Lumbroso, by spend- 

ing much money, obtained his ban- 

His ishment from Tripoli. Cardoso then 

Wandering wandered from place to place, trying 

Life. to lead people astray by his proplie- 

cies and visions, but meeting no suc- 

cess, as the rabbis had issued warnings against his 

vagaries. In 1703 he settled at Cairo and became 

the physician of the pasha of Egypt. Three years 

later he was assassinated by his nephew during a 
discussion on money matters. 

Cardoso was the anthor of many cabalistic and 
polemical works, of which only two are still extant: 
“Boker Abraham” (Dawn of Abraham), a cabalistic 
work in two volumes (Neubauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. 
MSS.” No. 1441), an extract of which was published 
by Isaac Lopez in “Kur Mazref ha-Emunot,” and 
“THa-Ketab” (The Writing), published 
in Weiss’s “Bet ha-Midrash,” 1865. 
Cardoso’s other works were: (1) “Zeh 
EN”; (2) “Hokmato Shel Abraham 
Abinu”; (8) “Sefer ha-Ma’or”; (4) “Or Zah we- 
Mezukkak”; (5) “ Wikkuah Kellali”; (6) “Sullam 
Ya‘akob”; (7) “ Hereb Pipiyyot”; (8) “ Elohe Abi”; 
(9) “Shema‘ Kaddishah” ; (10) “ Tob Adonai la-Kol”; 
(11) “Derush Amen”; (12) “Erez Yisrael”; (18) 
“Sod Hai ‘Alamin”; (14) “ Derush ha-Ketab”; (15) 
“Solet Nekiyyah ”; and (16) “ Raza de-Razin.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gritz, Gesch. der Juden, x. 228, 229, 301; 

Kahana, Eben ha-To‘im, pp. 53 et seqg.; Gaster, Hist. of 


Bevis Maris, pp. 109 et seq. 
G. I. Br. 


CARDOZA, DON AARON: Consul for Tunis 
and Algiers at Gibraltar about 1805. He was a de- 
scendant of a Portuguese-Jewish family. Cardoza 
promoted the interests of the British government; 
and as delegate of General Fox, the governor of 
Gibraltar, concluded a treaty on Nov. 5, 1805, with 
Sidi Mahomet, bey of Oran, for provisioning the gar- 
rison of Gibraltar and the British squadron in the 
Mediterranean. He proceeded to Oran on board the 
frigate “ Termagant,” which was placed at his dis- 
posal by Lord Nelson. Cardoza was successful in 
saving the lives of three English sailors who were 
imprisoned at Oran and under sentence of death. A 
treaty was negotiated by him between the Portu- 
guese government and the bey of Tunis. He was 
one of the principal landowners of Gibraltar. In 
1824 Cardoza was created a knight of the Legion of 
Honor by Louis XVIII. of France, and was rewarded 
with other orders of merit for his distinguished serv- 
ices. For many years he was president both of the 
Hebrew community and of the chamber of com- 
merce. 


His 
Works. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Pamphlet by H. Baylis, 1830, with letters from 
the Duke of Kent and other naval and military authorities ; 
Anglo-Jewish Association Report, 1877-78. 


J. G. L. 


CARDOZO: American Sephardic family, doubt- 
less connected with the Cardozosof Amsterdam and 
London, though the connection has not been made 
out. They trace back to Aaron Cardozo, a London 
merchant who went to New York about 1752. 


Cardozo. 
Carinthia 


Among his descendants have been several eminent | 

citizens of Charleston, 8. C., and a judge of New | 

York state of some eminence. The sketch pedigree | 

below (omitting branches that have died or mar- | 

ried out of the faith) gives the chief branches of the 

family : 
J. 





KE. N.S. | 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


574 


ea a et ee 

CARINTHIA (German, Karnten or Karn. 
then): Acrownland of Austria, It has buta sma} 
number of Jews, whose ancestors, with the Jews of 
the neighboring crownlands, Carniola (Krain) ang 
Styria (Steiermark), shared the vicissitudes of thejy 
brethren in the Austrian empire. The first settle. 
ment of Jews in these countries took place at the 


PEDIGREE OF THE CARDOZO FAMILY. 


Aaron Cardozo = Sarah 


{d. July 20, 1800) 


(b. July 25, 1722; 
d. May 23, 1761) 


Isaac Nufiez C. = Sarah Hart 


(b. London, 1751; 
d. New York city, 1832) 


Rachel Nufiez C. {b. 1799) 
= ist, Simon Canffman ; 
2d, Joseph Phillips 


(b. Easton, Pa., 1800; 
d. New York city, 1865) 


Isaac Nufiez C. 
= Rachel Seixas 


| 
Michael Hart C. Daniel Henry 


(d. July 19, 1906) C. = Clara. 
= Rosalie Hart. Lieber 
Ernest A. C. Michael 
Hart c., Jr. 


CARDOZO, DAVID DE JAHACOB LOPEZ: 
Dutch Talmudist and prominent communal worker; 
born in Amsterdam, Holland, May 21, 1808; died 
there April 11, 1890. He was sent at an early age 
to the celebrated bet ha-midrash ‘Ez Hayyim, studied 
under Rabbi Berenstein at The Hague, and received 
his diploma of “ Morenu” in 1889. The same year 
he was appointed ab bet din of the Portuguese syna- 
gogue of Amsterdam, and in 1852 ab bet din and 
preacher of that synagogue, Chumacciro being made 
hakam, and Vaz Diaz and Montezinos dayyanim at 
the same time. He became dean of the intermediate 
classes of ‘Ez Hayyim, which office he held for nearly 
half a century. Cardozo was founder of the He- 
brah ‘Abodat ha-Kodesh, instituted for the study 
of Jewish law and its commentaries. After hav- 
ing been decorated by the king of Holland with 
the Royal Order of the Lion for services rendered 
to his country, he retired from his various offices in 
1888. 

J J. H. M. C. 


CARIANS. Sce CHERETHITES. 


CARILLO, ISAAC: Lived in Amsterdam in 
the latter part of the seventeenth century; member 
of the Academia de los Floridos, founded by D. 
Manuel de Belmonte; administrator of the academy 
Temime Derech in 1683; and treasurer of the Mas- 
kil el Dal in 1684, Daniel Levi de Barrios, who 
praises his intelligence and piety, ad@ressed to him a 
“Dialogo Harmonico.” Jacob Carillo, a relative, 
was a publisher at Amsterdam in 1644, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: De Barrios, Academia de los Floritlos, Opus- 
cula; Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 34. MK 
G. . é 


Michael Hart C. = 


Abraham Hart C. 
(b. 1826, d. 1897) 
= Sarah Peixotto 
(b. 1828, co 1900) 


(b. 1763, d.1823) 


Ellen Hart 
(b. Black River, W. I., 1802; 
d. New York city, 1861) 


Abigail Nufiez Q 
= Hyman L. Seixas 


Albert Jacob C. 
(d. 1885) 
= Rebecca Nathan 


| | | 
Abraham H. William 3 daughters, Albert C. Benjamin C, 


C. = Isabel B. C. = Jen- 
Haslem nie Houseman 


end of the eleventh and during the twelfth and thir- 
teenth centuries, as is proved by documents in which 
occur such names as “Judenburg,” “Judendorf,” 
and “Judenanger.” At first compelled to dwell in 
hamlets and villages, they were allowed, in the 
course of the fourteenth century, for financial and 
commercial reasons, to inhabit cities. 

The development of the legal status of the Jews 
of Carinthia and Styria up to the year 1496 resem- 
bled that of the Jews of Austria generally. The 
privileges granted by Duke Friedrich July 1, 1244, 
and by King Ottocar I. March 29, 1254, forming and 
regulating the laws governing the Jews of Austria 
proper, were extended to Carinthia, when, in 1335, 
it came into the possession of the house of Haps- 
burg. In ctvil affairs the Jews had their own juris- 
diction. Their judge (“Judenmeister”) decided all 
cases among Jews, and was the intermediary be- 
tween them and the government, especially in re- 
gard to taxes and other state matters. 

An edict (“ Handfeste”) concerning the “right, 
liberty, grace, and good habits” of the Jews of 
Carinthia and Styria, issued by the dukes Albrecht 
III. and Leopold III. at Vienna, June 24, 1377, was 
renewed and confirmed Oct. 23, 1896, by Duke Wil- 
helm “after good consideration and advice of our 
counselors.” Neither the originals nor copies of 
these documents being extant, their detailed con- 
tents are notknown. Presumably, the Jews, having 
been in 1870 the victims of persecutions and spolia- 
tions, solicited the renewal of these edicts, which re- 
stored to them their former rights and freedom. 

In those parts of Carinthia not belonging to the 
house of Hapsburg the legal status of the Jews was 


577 


pased upon special privileges. Thus, Duke Hein- 
yich of Carinthia granted his protection to the Jew 

Hoschlein and his heirs, and secured to 
Privileges. them all the rights enjoyed by the 

other Jews in Austria and Styria (Jan. 
90, 1828). He also promised thein his aid in collect- 
ing their outstanding debts and claims in Carinthia 
gnd elsewhere. In return they were required to 
pay him annually 30 marks in silver. 

The laws regulating the condition of the Austrian 
Jews were also in force in those districts that were 
included in the territory of Carinthia and that be- 
longed to the archbishop of Salzburg, the bishop of 
Bamberg, the counts of Gérz and Ortenburg, and 
others. The Church in Inner Austria was never 
hostile to the Jews. Although the statutes of the 
Salzburg provincial councils of 1267 and 1418 di- 
rected against the Jews applied also to Carinthia 
and Styria, they were never enforced there; and the 
clergy had frequent commercial dealings with the 
Jews. 

As creditors of the burghers and the peasants, of 
the nobility and the clergy, the Jews through their 
wealth gained great influence in times when money 
was scarce. Money-lending being the only business 
in Which they were allowed to engage, and having 
no guaranty of repayment of their loans, they were 
compelled to exact a high rate of interest, and thus 
they incurred the hatred of the people. In those 
days of ignorance and superstition the Jews were 
also accused of maliciously desecrating the host and 
of ritual murder. Violent persecutions in 1310, 1388, 
and 1897 were the consequence, 

Jewish taxes in Inner Austria are recorded in the 
“Rationalia” (Rent-Books) of the Austrian @ukes in 
the years 1826-38. Under Friedrich 
TIE. the Jews of these countries annu- 
ally paid 6,000 florins. In 1470 a per- 
sonal tax of 4,000 florins and in 1478 one of 8,000 
florins were imposed uponthem. A special tax paid 
in 1446 was a contribution toward the dowry of 
Princess Katharina, sister of Friedrich ITI. 

The agitations in the cities against the privileges 
of the Jews resulted in several edicts limiting their 
commercial and judicial rights. An ordinance of 
Duke Wilhelm (March 17, 1896) prescribed that all 
bills of credit given by Christians to Jews must be 
sealed by both the city or market judge and the 
Jewish judge. 

About the middle of the fifteenth century a hos- 
tile movement also began to manifest itself among 
the provincial legislatures (“ Landstainde”); and the 
Jewish question, heretofore considered but a local 
affair, now became the concern of the country at 
large. Complaints against the Jews were the con- 

stant subject of proceedings in the 
Opposition provincial diets, and they ended in the 
of the expulsion of the Jews. From St. Veit, 

Estates. Carinthia, Emperor Friedrich III. is- 

sued a decree (Jan. 5, 1444), article 17 
of which is to the effect that any Jew possessing a 
bill of credit given by one Christian to another and 
transferred to him (the Jew), must sue for recovery 
in the court to which the Christian creditor resorts, 
and not in a court of his own choice. Article 16 
ordains that without the consent of his feudal 

IIl,—87 


Taxes. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 
a eee 


Cardozo 
Carinthia 





master a peasant may neither sell his estate nor give a 
bill of credit to a Jew. 

On July 8, 1491, Friedrich III. ordained that, 
“for better control and security,” all debt-claims of 
the Jews should be entered in a special book known 
as the “Judenbuch,” and that bills of credit not so 
entered should have no validity. To restrain usury, 
the same ordinance greatly reduced the rate of in- 
terest, and prohibited the charging of compound 
interest. 

In consequence of these Jengthy transactions with 
Friedrich III. the provincial diets came to the con- 
clusion that only expulsion could definitely solve the 
Jewish question, but that this emperor would never 
sanction such a measure. His son and successor, 
Maximilian I., however, yielded to their demand. 
After preliminary transactions at the diets held at 
Marburg in April and Nov., 1494, and at Gratz in 
Aug., 1495, the emperor accepted the offer of 38,000 
florins from Styria and one of 4,000 florins from 
Carinthia, to indemnify him for the loss of Jewish 
contributions to his treasury, and ordered the expul- 
sion of the Jews “on account of their misdeeds.” 
In March, 1496, he issued from Schwibisch-Werda 
a decree according to which the Jews, “for having 
repeatedly insulted and desecrated the holy sacra- 
ment, tortured and killed Christian children and 
used their blood for hidden, damnable purposes, and 
with falsified letters, seals, and otherwise having 
cheated people, and impoverished and ruined many 
noble and other families,” were required within six 
months to leave Carinthia and to withdraw from 
Styria by the following Epiphany (Jan. 6). What 
the Christians “honestly owe” to the Jews, they 
are to pay, up to Aug. 24, 1496; failing to do so, 
their property is to be given into the hands of the 
messenger of the court, Virgil Haffner, who shall 
sell the same, pay the debt to the Jews, and return 
the remainder to the debtor. The real estate of the 
Jews became the property of the king. 

A considerable number of Jews lived at Villach, 
the center of commerce in Carinthia, situated within 
the territory of the bishop of Bamberg. They had 
there a synagogue and a cemetery near the village 

Judendorf, Persecutions took place 


Various in 1338at Wolfsberg; and in the fatal 
Com- year 1349 they extended to the Carin- 
munities. thian possessions of the archbishop of 


Salzburg, as is indicated in the treaty 
of peace made at Friesach Nov. 14, 1349, in which 
Archbishop Ortolf declares that “he will not meddle 
with the affairs of the Jews.” Probably also Salz- 
burg Jews were injured or slain in these tumults in 
the Bamberg territory. 

But during the period following, the bishops of 
Bamberg vigorously protected their Jewish subjects. 
On Feb. 12, 1868, Bishop Ludwig made an agree- 
ment with the dukes Albrecht III. and Leopold IIL, 
according to which the ducal governor of Carinthia 
was to aid the subjects of the bishop, be they 
Christians or Jews, in obtaining satisfaction from 
their debtors, The same stipulation was made in 
the agreement of Feb. 3, 1486, between Duke Fried- 
rich and Bishop Anton of Bamberg. 

These favorable conditions continued during the 
fifteenth century, until the Jews, accused of having 


Carinthia 
Carmoly 





kiNed Srwon oF TRENT, were also expelled from 
the districts of Bamberg under Bishop Philipp von 
Henneberg in 1478. It seems that this decree of 
banishment was not strictly carried out; since it 
was frequently republished, in 1535, 1565, 1566, 1585, 
1593, 1687, 1699, 1700, 1711, 1712, 1713, and 1748. 

Jews settled in the district of Salzburg in the 
thirteenth century. From a brevet of Archbishop 
Ortolf von Weisseneck dated June 25, 1346, it is 
known that upon payment of a considerable annual 
tax they enjoyed the privilege of owning houses, 
and the right of free movement and commerce. In 
Friesach they had a synagogue. In1498 these Jews 
were expelled, being forced to sign a declaration 
that they would never return. After having paid 
their debts, they were allowed to take their goods 
with them; but they had to surrender the pledges 
in their hands. 

Jews passing through the countries from which 
they had been driven were strictly watched; only a 
temporary sojourn in certain market-towns being 
allowed, and then the payment of a personal tax 
was required. 

For almost three centuries the decree of banish- 
ment remained in force. When Emperor Joseph IT. 
proclaimed the Act of Toleration May 16, 1781, the 
Styrian deputies remonstrated against it, where- 

upon the emperor gave this decision: 
Re- “Since, according to the provincial 
admission. privileges, Jews neither exist nor are 
tolerated in this country at the pres- 
ent time, there is no question of the admission or 
toleration of the Jewry in thiscountry.” Neverthe- 
less a patent of Sept. 9, 1783, set forth that “natives 
and foreigners, Christians as well as those of another 
religion, may visit the annual markets at Gratz, 
Klagenfurth, Laibach, and Linz.” 
hand, by circulars of Oct. 20, 1784, and of June 4, 
1787, Jews were prohibited from “ entering the coun- 
try, trading from house to house, buying old silver 
and other things.” These prohibitions were repub- 
’ lished with the gubernatorial ordinances of 1823 and 
1828. 

The imperial patent of March 4, 1849, about the 
political rights granted by the constitution, gave to 
the Carinthian Jews social and legal equality; but 
they were not allowed to own real estate until the 
constitution of Dec., 1867, removed this last vestige 
of intolerance. 

According to the census of 1890 the total number 
of Jews in Carinthian towns was 179, divided as 
follows: 


Klagenfurth andenvirons..122 | Pfarrdorf.................. 5 
NDUWAL 554 i eeeceedeadee es 6 Bleiberg ... 2... cece eve eee 5 
Villae@hics < ie tos wow seen esewts 20 Wolfsberg .... ccc eeeeees 2 
WTarvis vada poet aid o Seek’ 4 VolKermarkt.........e000. 5 
PREVAl lL ccteccctecowneteed. Oo Ste Veltecwidg scvewsenevass 5 


They, together with the Jews of Styria and Cari- 
nola, belong officially to the Israelitish congregation 
of Gratz. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mischer and Ulbrich, Oesterreichisches Staats- 
worterbuch; I. E. Scherer, Rechtsverhdlinisse der Juden in 
den Deutsch-Oesterreichischen Ldndern, 1901, pp. 455-517. 


E. C. S. Man. 


CARITES: People mentioned in II Kings xi. 
4,19. The Kari (R. V., “Carites”; margin, “exe- 
cutioners”; A. V., “captains”) are mentioned be- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


On the other: 


578 
———— 
tween the captains over hundreds and the “runnerg» 
(7.¢., satellites) as body-guards of the King. In qj 
Sam. xx. 23, where the well-known troop of the Che. 
rethites (A. V., “ Keri”) and Pelethites is mentioneg 
the text reads “Kari” (R. V. margin, “ Carites ”) 
for “Cherethites.” The most plausible explanation 
is that, in all three passages, there is only an abridge 
orthography for the usual “ Kerethi(m) ”—Chere. 
thite(s) (compare Vulgate, the Hexapla, etc.; Targ 
[except IT Kings xi. 4, “heroes”]). Others ¢,y, 
Driver, on If Sam. xx.) consider that the reading 
“Carite(s)” (II Sam. xi. 4) is intended, and they as. 
sume that, instead of the Philistine mercenaries here, 
a similar troop of Carians, the famous pirates and 
mercenaries of earlier Greek antiquity, is mentioned, 
as by Herodotus ii. 152, 171; Thucydides, iv, 8. 
Hesychius, under “ Karitai” and “ Archilochus.” This 
might also point to affinity with the Philistines who 
came from the same quarter of the .2gean Sea. The 
Septuagint understands “Chori” not as collective 
singular, but as the name of an officer. 

E. C. W. M. M. 

CARLOS, DAVID COHEN: Spanish Writer: 
lived at Hamburg in the first half of the seventeenth 
century. le translated into Spanish the Song of 
Songs under the title “Cantares de Sclomo, Tra- 
duzido de Lengua Caldayca en Espagnol,” Ham- 
burg, 1621. The bibliographer Wolf says. that 
Carlos’ work appeared as a manuscript in the cata- 
logue published at The Hague in 1728. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Tlebr., iv. No, 502b; Kayserling, 
Sephardim, p. 2l2; First, ibd. Jud. i. 143, 


gq. ], Rr. 
CARLSRUHE, GERMANY. See Karis 
RUHE, 


CARLSTADT, CROATIA. 


under CROATIA 


CARMANTIANS (lf. V., CARMONIANS): A 
people mentioned in Ii Esd. xv. 80. The Carma- 
nians are represented as joining battle with the 
“nations of the dragonsof Arabia.” The dragons 
gain the upper hand, but are themselves defeated 
later (xv. 33). This has been taken to refer to the 
time of the Sassanids. Sapor J. (240-273) invaded 
Syria and took Antioch, but was repulsed by Ode- 
nathus and Zenobia. Zenobia was afterward de- 
feated by Aurelian and takeu captive. 

The name is still preserved in “ Kirman,” a dis- 
trict in the southeastern part of Persia, on the shores 
of the Persian Gulf. 

BG. IL G. B. L. 


CARMEL: The title of a German and a Hun- 
garian Jewish weekly. See PERIODICALS. 


CARMEL, MOUNT: A well-known mountain 
ridge in Palestine ; Sanaa (“the garden ” or “ garden 
land,” with the definite article) is usually given in the 
Bible. It is known in later Hebrew as Sps5, and 
in modern Arabic as “ Kurmul,” but more usually 
“Jabal Mar Elyas.” Extending from the plain of 
Esdraelon to the Mediterranean, it terminates In @ 
steep promontory in that sea, about nine miles south- 
west of Acre. The formation is of limestone with 


see KRARLSTADT, 


579 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA pee 


armoly 





— 


an admixture of flint. The highest point is 1,742 | Bre_tiograPuy: Cheyne and Black, Encyc. Bibl.; McClintock 
and Strong, Cyc.; Hastings, Dict. Bibl.; Porter, Handbook 


feet above the sea, and the slope is covered with for Syria: Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mt. 
g luxuriant vegetation. Oaks, pines, olives, and Sinat, and Arabia Petreea, ili, 160, 189; Smith, Dictionary 
Is abound of the Bible; Thomson, The Land and the Book, i. 493: 
Jaureis abc . ; ; ; Tristram, The Land of Israel, p. 496. 
Carmel is renowned in Jewish history, and occurs E. G. H. A. R. 
frequently in the imagery of the Prophets (Isa. CARMI: 1. A son of Reuben who came to 


xXxXxiii. 9, XXXV. 2; Jer, xIvi, 18, 1. 19; Amos 1. 2, Egypt with Jacob (Gen. xlvi. 9; Ey. vi. 14; IChron. 
ix. 8; Micah vil. 14; Nahumi. 4; Song of Solomon | y. 3). Also the name of a family of which Carmi 
vii. 5). It fell to the lot of the tribe of Asher (Josh. | was the head (Num. xxvi. 6). 2. A Judahite 
xix. 26), “the king of Jokucam of Carmel” being | ( Chron. ii. 6), son of Zabdi, according to Josh 
one of the Canaanitish chiefs who was defeated by | vii. 1, and father of Achan, who is called e Achar ” 
Joshua (Josh. xti. 22). - It is also famous asthe place | in I Chron. ii. 7% The latter name being, perhaps 
where the prophet Ehjah brought Israel back to its | related etymologically tomy (Coker), “the troubler, ” 
allegiance to Yuwn, and where he slew the priests | 3, In I Chron. iv. 1 Carmi is a misreading for Che- 
of Baal (I Kings xviii. 40). Here within the numer- — Iybai Gee Benzinger, “Die Bucher der Chronik Er- 
ous grottoes he lived concealed during the reign of klart,” Tiibingen, 1901). 

Ahab; and here, too, at his word were consumed E. G. H. G.B. L. 


vo “captains” with their “fifties” (TI Kings i. és 
the tv I (II Kings i CARMI: Title of a small Hebrew review, pub- 


9-12). Here also Elisha received the visit of the | ; - : : 
Shunammite woman, Whose son he restored to life lished tor aes one 16 at Adrianople, under 
the editorship of Baruch Mitrani. 


(II Kings iv. 25). 
ae , e BIBLIOGRAPHY: Franco, Histoire des [sraélites de VEmpire 
It is reasonable to suppose that from very early Honan P 


times Carmel was considered a sacred spot. This is G. M. Fr. 








: 


MOUNT CARMEL FROM THE SEA. 
(From 4 photograph.) 


CARMI. See Karnr, 


CARMI(CREMIEUX), MORDECAI B. AB- 
RAHAM. See CREMIEUX, MoRDECAIB, ABRAHAM, 


evidenced by the facts that an altar to Yrrwni ex- | 
isted there before the introduction of the worship of | 
Baal into the kingdom (I Kings xviii. 30); that 
Elijah chose it for the place of the assembly of the 
people; and that Elisha visited it from Jericho before CARMOLY, ELIAKIM: French scholar; born 
going to Samaria (II Kings ii. 25)and even madeit his | at Sulz (then in the French department of the Upper 
abiding-place (IT Kings iv. 23). Jn later times Py- { Rhine) August5, 1802; died at Frankfort-on-the-Main 
thagoras, according to his biographer Iamblicus, | Feb. 15, 1875. His real name was Goschel David 
was attracted to it by its sacred reputation; and | Behr (or Baer); the name “Carmoly,” borne by his 
Vespasian went thither to consult the oracle of God, | family in the fourteeenth and fifteenth centuries, 
“without image or temple” (Tacitus, “Hist.” ii. 7). | was adopted by him when quite young. He stud- 

The exact site of the contest between Yuwu and | ied Hebrew and Talmud at Colmar; and, owing to 
Baal, where fire, descending from heaven, proved | the fact that both French and German were spoken 
the God of Israel to be the true God (I Kings xviii. | in his native town, he became proficient in those 
17-40), has not been identified. Traditions, preserved | languages. Carmoly went to Paris, and there assid- 
in the monastery founded on Mt. Carmel in 1156 by ; uously studied the old Hebrew manuscripts in the 
Berthold, count of Limoges, and among the Druses | Bibliothéque Nationale, where he was employed. 
of the neighboring villages, indicate, as the scene, | Several articles published by him on various sub- 
the eastern end of the ridge, at a spot called El- | jects in scientific papers made him known; and on 
Maharrakah (“the burning ”), the establishmert of a Jewish consistory in Belgium, 


Carmoly 
Carnival 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


580 


ee er a ea ee Soy a gras = ieee Ss oe ee ee oa ee a rena 


he was appointed rabbi at Brussels (May 18, 18382). 
In this position Carmoly rendered many services to 
the newly founded congregation, chiefly in provi- 
ding schools forthe poor. Seven years later, having 

provoked great opposition by his new 


Leaves scheme of reforms, Carmoly resigned 
Ministry the rabbinate and retired to Frankfort, 
for where he devoted himself wholly to 


Literature. Jewish literature and to the collection 
of Hebrew books and manuscripts, in 
which he was passionately interested. 

Carmoly’s works have been severely attacked by 
the critics; and it must be admitted that his state- 
ments can not always be relied upon. Still, he ren- 
dered many services to Jewish literature and his- 
tory; and the mistrust of his works is often un- 
founded. Carmoly was the author of the following 
works: (1) “ Toledot Gedole Yisrael,” a biographical 
dictionary of eminent Jews, ancient and modern, 
Metz, 1828 (only one volume, extending to “ Aaron 
ben Hayyim,” was published); (2) “ Wessely et Ses 
Ecrits,” Nancy, 1829; (8) “Sibbub Rab Petahyah,” 
the travels of Pethahiah of Regensburg, translated 
into French and accompanied by the Hebrew text, 
Paris, 1831; (4) “ Eldad ha-Dani: “ Relation d’Eldad 
le Danite, Voyageur du IX¢ Siécle, Traduit en 
Francais, Suivie du Texte et de Notes,” Brussels, 
1834; (5) “Mémoire sur un Médaillon 
en)’ Honneur de Louis-le-Débonnaire,” 
+b. 1889; (6) “ Maimonides und Seine 
Zeitgenossen,” translated from the 
Hebrew into German, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1840; 
(7) “Les Mille et Un Contes, Récits Chaldéens,” 
Brussels, 1842; (8) “‘Aktan de-Mar Ya‘akob,” a 
kind of Midrash in six chapters on the Chazars, 
published for the first time from two manuscripts, 
2). 1842; (9) “Eldad et Medad. ou le Joueur Con- 
verti,” translated from Leo di Modena’s work, 
with a biographical notice on the author, 2). 1844; 
(10) “Le Jardin Enchanté,” Contes, 2. 1845; (11) 
“Sefer ha-Kuzarim: Des Khozars au X® Siécle, 
Suivi d’une Lettre du Ministre d’‘Abd el-Rahman 
III. au Roi de Khozarie et la Réponse du Prince,” 
ab. 1845; (12) “Histoire des Médecins Juifs, Anciens 
et Modernes,” 2. 1844; (13) “ Halikot Erez Yisrael: 
Itinéraires de la Terre Sainte des XIII*-XVITe 
Siécles,” translated from the Hebrew, 7%. 1847; (14) 
“Dibre ha-Yamim le-Bene Yahya,” genealogy and 
biography of the Yahya family, Frankfort-on-the- 
Main, 1850; (15) “Ha-‘Orebim u-Bene Yonah” 
{The Crows and the Doves), genealogy of the Rapo- 
port family, Rodelheim, 1861; (16) “Imre Shefer” 
(Words of Beauty), on Hebrew versification, by Ab- 
shalom Mizrahi(fourteenth century), with an intro- 
duction and an appendix containing literary essays 
and poems by the editor, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
1868; (17) “La France Israélite; Mémoire pour Ser- 
vir 4 Histoire de Notre Littérature,” Paris, 1858: 
(18) “ Mebasseret Zion” (O Zion, That Bringest Good 
Tidings), a collection of letters from Jerusalem on 
the Lost Ten Tribes, Brussels, 1841. 

Besides these works, Carmoly contributed to many 
periodicals, and edited the “ Revue Orientale ” (Brus- 
sels, 1841-46, 3 vols.), in which most of the articles 
were furnished by himself. The most important 
of these contributions, which constitute works by 


His 
Works. 


themselves, were (1) “ Vocabulaire de la Géographie 
Rabbinique de France”; (2) “Essai sur l’Histojye 
des Juifs en Belgique”; (3) “Mille Ans des Annales 
Israélites d’Italie”; (4) “De l’Etat des Israélites ep 
Pologne”; (5) “Des Juifs du Maroc, d’Alger, qo 
Tunis, et de Tripoli, Depuis Leur Etablissement dang 
Ces Contrées Jusqu’a& Nos Jours.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, eq 
Asher, ii. 209; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 184; a mono. 
graph in Jahrbuch der Vorgesenchclubs, Oct. 1, 1902. 


S. I. Br. 


CARMOLY, ISSACHAR BAR BEN Jv. 
DAH: Alsatian rabbi; bornat Ribeauville, Alsace, 
Sept. 15, 1735; died at Sulz May, 1781. At the 
age of ten he was advanced in his training for the 
rabbinate sufficiently to follow the elaborate lectures 
of Jonathan EKybeschitz. Later, Carmoly studieq 
successively at Frankfort, under the direction of 
Jacob Joshua, author of “ Pene Yehoshu‘a,” and at 
Metz, under Samuel Helman, who conferred upon him 
the title of rabbi. On returning home, in compli- 
ance with the wish of his father, Carmoly began the 
study of medicine under the direction of Jacob 
Assur, a physician of Nancy, but had to give it up, 
being engrossed with his Talniudical studies. The 
only benefit he derived from his tutor was a fair 
knowledge of mathematics, of which he made use 
later, 

Carmoly married the daughter of a rich banker 
named Joseph Raineau. The latter persuaded the 
bishop of Sulz to create a rabbinate in his see; and 
Carmoly was appointed rabbi of Sulz. 

Carmoly was the author of a commentary on the 
Tosefta to the treatise Bezah, published, together 
with the text, under the title “Yam Yissakar” 
(Sea of Issachar; Metz, 1769). The grandson of the 
author, Eliakim Carmoly, claimed to have had in 
his possession the following manuscripts of his 
grandfather: (1) “ Yam Yissakar,” a commentary on 
the Tosefta on the treatise Makkot; (2) “ Keter 
Torah” (The Crown of the Law), a poem containing 
the names of all the books of the Holy Scripture, 
the Mishnah, and the Talmud (“This poem,” says 
Eliakim Carmoly, “is still recited in the district of 
Sulz on the eve of the Feast of the Law” [Sim- 
hat Torah]); (8) “ Ha-Talmudi ha-Melummad ” (The 
Learned Taimudist), a collection of Halakah, Hag- 
eadah, and commentaries; (4) “Matteh Yissakar” 
(The Staff of Issachar), halakic decisions; (5) “Sefer 
Yad ha-‘Ittim ” (Book of the Hand of the Times), a 
treatise on the Jewish calendar; (6) “Bene Yisrael” 
(The Children of Israel), novella on many Talmud- 
ical treatises; (7) “Ohel Yissakar” (The Tent of 
Issachar), a treatise on mathematics; (8) “Karmi 
Sheli” (Mine Own Vineyard), novell on the Penta- 
teuch, literary essays, poems, etc. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, D. 
149; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1061; Eliakim Carmoly, 
in Revue Orientale, ii. 345-349; idem, iii. 240-244. I Br 
L. @. . BR. 


CARMONA: City in the archbishopric of Se- 
ville, Spain, where Jews resided in very early times. 
In an old “Fuero de Carmona” it was ordained 
thatno Jew should command a Christian in Carmona 
or in any of the territory under its jurisdiction. 


581 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Carmoly 
Carnival 


a a a a aR a 


The Jews of Carmona, who were very wealthy 
and lived in a separate quarter, were in June, 1391, 
either murdered or forced to accept baptism, and 
their synagogue was destroyed in the following De- 
cember. With the same celerity which had char- 
acterized the persecution of Jews in 1391, the perse- 
cution of the Maranos spread to Carmona from 
Cordova in 1474, the local Maranos being plundered 
and killed ina most horrible manner. “ Would that 
you, illustrious king, had seen the sack and devas- 
tation of the city of Carmona!” criesthe poet Anton 
de Montoro in a poem dedicated to the king; “not 
one thought to cry halt to these excesses.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Amador de los Rios, Historia, i. 376, ii. 360 ; 
Jacobs, Sources, No. 1818 (read 1390 for 1395); Fidel Fita, 
La hspatia, Hebrea, pp. 211 et seg.; Cancionero de Anton 
de Montoro, p. 90, Madrid, 1900. MK 
ve . K, 


CARMONA: A family of Jewish financiers 
prominent in Turkey at the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century. It is of Spanish origin, and proba- 
bly came from the city of the same name in Anda- 
jusia. The earliest known member was Behor 
Carmona, or, more exactly, “Tchelebi” (Lord) 
Behor Carmona, who had the Turkish title “Shap- 
tehi Bashi” (chief purveyor of alum), Carmona 
was af. the same time banker to the court and gen- 
eral tax-gatherer, sharing these offices with two 
other Jews, Ezekiel Gabbai and Isaiah Ajiman. 
In time of war Carmona and Gabbat followed the 
armies, establishing themselves near headquarters. 
After the destruction of the corps of the janizaries, 
in 1826, by order of the sultan Mahmud two negroes 
of the palace strangled Carmona one nightin hisown 
house. His property was confiscated. 

Thirty years later (1856), during the reign of Sul- 
tan ‘Abd al-Majid, a member of the Carmona family 
who had become an English subject went to Lon- 
don and attracted the attention of the Board of 
Deputies of the British Jews. The board obtained 
from the Ottoman government a firman granting an 
annual pension of 25,600 francs from that year to 
the descendants of the Tchelebi Behor. 

At the beginning of the reign of Sultan ‘Abd al- 
Hainid (1876), Behor Carmona’s son, David (Turk- 
ish, Davidtchon) Effendi, was a member of the 
Ottoman Parliament convened under the new consti- 
tution. Although this parliament held only a few 
sessions, David’s title of senator secured for his fam- 
ily after his death a pension from the government. 

Another member of the family was Joseph Car- 
mona, born at Constantinople in 1860. He was an 
amateur writer and translator. Under the title “ El 
Assedio de Rhodes” he translated in 1878 from the 
French into Judeo-Spanish a novel entitled “Le 
Siége de Rhodes,” treating of the customs of the 
Jews of Rhodes under the dominion of the knights, 
by Pierre Baudin, a bookseller of Constantinople. 

There are several families of the name of Carmona 
at Salonica and Constantinople. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Franco, Hist. des Israelites de V Empire Otto- 
man. 
8. M. FR. 


CARNABAT, CARNOBAT, or KARNA- 
BAT: Town of eastern Rumelia or southern Bul- 
garia. According to tradition, Jews first established 


themselves at Carnabat about 1580; but the oldest 
tombstones decipherable bear date of 1686. Eliezer 
of Calo was chief rabbi of Carnabat about 1800; 
Jacob Finzi, about 1820; and Joseph Hayyim ben 
Hasson of Salonica, from 1840 to 1876. The last- 
named was an exceptionally learned rabbi, whose 
memory is still cherished. He left several Hebrew 
works in manuscript, which are in the possession of 
his son Isaac ben Hassan at Boorghas. During the 
Turco- Russian war, 1876-78, the Circassians ravaged 
the city, inflicting all manner of outrages upon the 
Jews. 

The community has now no chief rabbi, as was 
customary under the Ottoman rule, but is governed 
by an elective synagogal council subject to the ap- 
proval of the government. It has a synagogue, 
built in 1882, a communal school of 70 boys (in 
1901); Le Progrés, areading club; “ Bikkur-Holim,” 
a society for sick relief; and “ Kabarim,” a burial 
society. 

The Jews number 400 in a total population of 
6,500. Most of them are engaged in the calico and 
grocery trades. The only Jarge merchant is Heze- 
kiah Presente, dealer in cereals, wool, and hides. 

D. M. FR. 


CARNIOLA. See Larpacn. 


CARNIVAL: Among the Romans, a period of 
gaiety during the weeks before Lent, in which the 
Jews were made to play a contemptuous part. 
While the carnival had existed from the earliest 
medieval period, its scope was considerably extended 
by Pope Paul II. at Rome, who established foot- 
races in addition to the usual games. The papal 
officials desired to amuse the populace by holding 
races for various classes on different days. On 
Tuesdays Jews raced for a prize of valuable robes 
(“pallia”). The races were not supposed to degrade 
the participants, but were merely a part of the 
program. The Jews ran in red cloaks, which all, 
save physicians, had to wear. No contestant was 
to be older than twenty years, and the entire com- 
munity had to contribute toward the expenses. 

The Jews’ first race took place in the Via Lata 
Feb. 9, 1466. The next year the course exceeded a 
mile and was on another street. By statute the 
Jews were taxed 1,100 florins in support of the 
races. 

At first the Jews enjoyed these contests. Later, 
however, they were subjected to all sorts of cruel- 
ties by the populace; and in 1547 a Jew died dur- 
ing the progress of arace. This was the last year 
in which Jews raced in the carnival. The carnival 
was an institution of most of the cities of Italy; and 
Jews, wherever settled, participated in the races. In 
Rome, contests were held later in the Via Navona 
and on the Monte Testaccio. 

The races were not the only amusements in the 
carnival in which Jews participated. Besides pay- 
ing tribute from the earliest times, the Fattori, rab- 
bis, etc., of the congregation were compelled to 
march on foot before the car of the senators along 
the entire Corso. Finally, on Jan. 28, 1668, Pope 
Clement IX. ordered that the Jews be no longer 
made the sport of the populace, but that a yearly 
tax of 300 scudi be collected instead. The elders 


Caro, Abraham 
Caro, Joseph 





had to pay this tax on the first day of the carnival 
in each year to the papal authorities, with due decla- 
rations of loyalty and submission. The statement 
that these expressions were followed by kicking 
the rabbi must be accepted as fiction; the latest 
sources do not disclose this practise as customary. 
In 1742 the Jewish deputies were ordered to appear 
in citizens’ clothes, and not in their robes of office. 
This annual procession soon drew upon itself the 
scorn of the populace, and on several occasions the 
Jewish deputies were badly treated. It was con- 
tinued, however, up to the accession of Pius IX. 
(1846). * 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Berliner, Gesch. der Judern tn Rom, ti., part 
1, pp. 60-62; ii., part 2. pp. 47-51, 142; Vogelstein and Rieger, 
Geseh. der Juden in Rom, ii. 137 et seq. 


A. A. M. F. 


CARO, ABRAHAM B. RAPHAEL: Turk- 
ish rabbi; flourished at Adrianople in the first half 
of the eighteenth century. He was a descendant of 
R. Joseph Caro, and was the stepson and pupil of 
R. Eliezer b. Jacob Nahum, author of “ Hazon 
Nahum” (Constantinople, 1743-45), whom he prob- 
ably sneceeded as rabbi of Adrianople. Several 
treatises written by R. Abraham Caro and quota- 
tions from others of his works, none of which was 
published separately, are to be found in his step- 
father’s work. Abraham Caro died young. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim (ed. Benjacob), 

p. 15; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 60, Warsaw, 1886. 


L. G. P, Wt. 


CARO, ARYEH LOB BEN HAYYIM: 
Preacher at Posen in the second half of the eight- 
eenth century. He was the author of a work, “ El 
ha-Millu’im” (Ram of Consecration), a homiletic com. 
mentary on the Pentateuch and the Song of Songs, 
published, with additions entitled “Abne Zedek,” 
by his grandson Abraham ben Isaac Zelig Caro, 
Krotoschin, 1845. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Perles, in Monatsschrift, xiv. 261; Zedner, 

Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 167. 

L, G. I. Br. 


CARO, DAVID: Prussian pedagogue; born 
about 1782 at Fordon, grand duchy of Posen; died 
Dec. 25, 1839, at Posen. He belonged to the school 
of the MrassErim, and devoted his great literary 
talents to the enlightenment of his brethren, to the 
reform of Judaism, and to the cultivation of the 
Hebrew language. Under the pseudonym “ Amittai 
ben Abida Ahizedek ” he defended the Hamburg Re- 
form Temple in “ Berit Emit” (Covenant of Truth, 
Dessau [“ Constantinople” on title-page], 1820), 
the tirst part of which, “Berit Elohim” (Covenant 
of God), was published by the author himself, and 
the second part, “Berit ha-Kehunnah” (Covenant 
of the Priesthood), or “Tekunnat ha-Rabbanim ” 
(Character of the Rabbis), by Judah Léb Mieses of 
Lemberg. A new edition of the second part, with 
additions by Mieses, was published at Lemberg in 
1879. 

Many of Caro’s articles, essays, and poems ap- 
peared in “ Ha-Meassef” and in the “ Bikkure ha- 
‘Titim.” He was a prolific writer, and left a num- 
ber of manuscripts on literary, lexicographical, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 
I ea 


583 


bibliographical, and pedagogical subjects. Amon 

his inedited works area Hebrew translation of Zunz ‘y 

“Gottesdienstliche Vortriige der Juden,” with noteg 

and additions; a Hebrew translation of the same 

author’s biography of Rashi, with notes; and biog. 
raphies of celebrated rabbis. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ha-Meassef, viii. 33: ix. (4), 14, 63: x, 
25, 44; (2) 26, 56, 88: Bikkure ha-‘Ittim, xi. 38, 61, 66, 168, 
182, 183, 184; Aly. Zeit. des Jud. iv. 615 et seq., Vv. 48, 49; x" 
Lippmann, Leben wid _Wirken des David Caro, Glogay’ 
1840; Zunz, in Asher’s Benjamin of Tudeta, ii. 300; Gritz’ 
Gesch. der Juden, xi. 425, 426 ; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl., eoy 
816; idem, Hebr. Bibl. xxi. 40. : 
L, G. S. May, 


CARO, EZEKIEL: German rabbi and _ histo. 
rian; born Nov. 26, 1844, at Pinne, near Posen; gon 
of the exegete and homiletic writer Joseph Hayyim 
Caro, rabbi at Wloclawek. He attended the gym. 
nasium at Bromberg, the Jewish theological sem}. 
nary and the university at Breslau; subsequently 
he was graduated as doctor of philosophy at the 
University of Heidelberg. He was at first preacher 
of the German-Jewish community of Lodz (Poland), 
going thence to Mewe (western Prussia); then wag 
successively rabbiat Dirschau, 1870-79 ; Erfurt, 1879- 
82; Pilsen (Bohemia), 1881-91; and since 1891 chief 
rabbi of the community of Lemberg. Caro’s works 
include: “ Ausgewahlte Gelegenheitsreden” (Dan- 
zig, 1874); “Ein Viertel Jahrhundert Stadtischer 
Verwaltung” (Dirschan, 1880); “Geschichte der 
Juden in Lemberg bis zur Theilung Polens” (Cra- 
cow, 1894); also many sermons and scientific essays 
in Rahmer’s “ Litteraturblatt.” 


CARO, GEORG MARTIN: Lecturer on his- 
tory at the University of Zurich, Switzerland ; born 
Nov. 28, 1867, at Glogau, Prussia. Caro received his 
education at the gymnasium of his native place and 
at different German universities, being finally grad- 
uated as Ph.D. from the University of Strasburg, 
Germany, in 1891. After a prolonged stay in Italy, 
where he sojourned chiefly in Genoa, he became 
privat-docent at the University of Zurich tn 1896. 
Asa result of his Italian experiences his writings 
deal principally with the history of northern Italy 
during the Middle Ages, with special reference to 
the republic of Genoa. Caro is a contributor to the 
“Byzantinische Zeitschrift,” to the “Mitteilungen 
des Instituts fiir Ocsterreichische Geschichtsfor- 
schung,” “Historische Vierteljahrschrift,” etc. His 
chief works are: “Die Verfassung Genua’s zur Zeit 
des Podestat’s” (his Strasburg dissertation), 1891; 
“Genua und dic Miichte am Mittelmeer,” Halle, 
1895-99; and “Studien zu den Alteren St. Gallen 
Urkunden,” 2 parts, 1901-02. 

S. F, T. H. 


CARO, ISAAC B. JOSEPH: Spanish Tal- 
mudist and Bible commentator; flourished in the 
second half of the fifteenth century and the first half 
of the sixteenth. The son of a scholar, and sciop 
of a noble family, he devoted himself to study in 
his native city of Toledo, being one of the foremost 
rabbinical authorities cf the country when he had to 
leave it on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 
1492, Then he went to Portugal, where he remained 
for six years, and when the Jews were driven from 
that country too, fied to Constantinople. During 


583 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caro, Abraham 
Caro, Joseph 


eee 


the persecution in Portugal he lost all but one of his 
sons. “ who were beautiful like princes.” Finally he 
found refuge in Turkey, where he probably died at 
an advanced age after 1518. In this year he pub- 
lished his commentary to the Pentateuch, “'Toledot 
Yyizhak” (Constantinople; printed six times in 
ituly and Poland), In this work Caro endeavors to 
do justice to the “ peshat,” the literal interpretation, 
as well as to the allegorical interpretation, evincing 
Hittle originality but good taste. He left acollection 
of responsa that has never been published. His 
nephew, Joseph b. Ephraim Caro, quotes from it 
several times (compare Conforte, s.c., and “ Abkat 
Rokel,” No. 144), and the latter’s son, Judah, in- 
tended to publish it, but never carried out his in- 
teution. The Bodleian Library contains Caro’s 
novelle to Ketubot (No. 585, 2, 3, in Neubauer, 
“Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MS8.”), as well as a work entitled 
“Hasde Dawid,” containing philosophic and hag- 
gadic homilies (Neubauer, /.c. No. 987). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, ed. Cassel, p. 31: 


Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., viii. 386; Steinschneider, 
Cat. Bodl. col. 1129. eat 


CARO, JACOB: German historian; born at 
Gnesen, province of Posen, Prussia, Feb. 2, 1836; 
son of Joseph Hayyim Caro. After several years of 
diligent study at the universities of Berlin and Leip- 
sic, he attracted considerable attention by his work, 
“Das Interregnum Polens im Jahr 1586, oder die 
Hiuser Zborowski und Zamojski,” Gotha, 1861; and 
was immediately entrusted with the continuation of 
Réppel’s history of Poland in the series of “Ge- 
schichten der Europdischen Staaten,” edited by 
Heeren and Ukert, and published at Gotha. Jacob 
Caro contributed vols. ii.-v. (1863-88) of this monu- 
mental work. 

Before publishing the results of his research he 
undertook several extensive journeys through Gali- 
cia and the south of Russia, and upon his return to 
Germany in 1863 was appointed privat-docent at the 
University of Jena. Shortly afterward, at the invi- 
tation of the grand duchess Helena of Russia, he 
accompanied her on her travels, and was for some 
time attached to her suite at St. Petersburg. Later 
he was promoted to the position of assistant pro- 
fessor at the University of Jena; and in 1869 was 
called by the University of Breslau to fill a special 
chair of history. He held the position of professor 
in that institution from 1882. 

His reputation was based chiefly on lis researches 
in the history of Poland. Among his works are: 
“Liber Cancellarize Stanislai Ciolek: Ein Formel- 
buch der Polnischen K6nigskanzlei aus der Zeit der 
Hussitischen Bewegung,” 2 vols., Vienna, 1871-74; 
“ Aus der Kanzlei Kaiser Siegmunds,” Vienna, 1879; 
“Beata und Halszka: Eine Poinisch-Russische 
Geschichte aus dem 16. Jahrh.,” Breslau, 1880; 
“Lessing und Swift: Studien tiber Nathan den 
Weisen,” Jena, 1869; “Das Biindnis zu Canterbury : 
Eine Episode aus der Geschichte des Konstanzer 
Konzils,” Gotha, 1880; “Ueber eine Reformations- 
Schrift des 15. Jahrh.,” Danzig, 1882; “Johannes 
Longinus: Ein Beitrag zur Litteraturgeschichte,” 
Jena. 1863; “Catherina II. von Russland,” Breslau. 
i876. He died Dec. 12, 1904. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie; Brockhaus, Kon- 
versations-Lexikon, 14th ed.: Meyers, Konversations-Lexri- 
kon, doth ed.; Gubernatis, Dictionnaire International des 
EKerivains du Jour; Vapereau, Dictionnaire Universel des 
Contemporains. 


S. A. S. CG. 


CARO, JOSEPH B. EPHRAIM: The last 
great codifier of rabbinical Judaism; born in Spain 
or Portugal in 1488; died at Safed, Palestine, March 
24, 1575. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, 
in 1492, Caro went with his parents to Nicopolis in 
European Turkey, where he received his first in- 
struction from his father, who was himself an emi- 
nent Talmudist. He married, first, Isaac Saba’s 
daughter, and, after her death, the daughter of 
Hayyim Albalag, both of these men being well- 
known Talmudists. After the death of his second 
wife he married the daughter of Zechariah Sechsel 
(Sachsel?), a learned and wealthy Talmudist. Be- 
tween 1520 and 1522 Caro settled at Adrianople, 
where he probably met the enthusiast Solomon 
Molcho, who stimulated his mystical tendencies. 
When the latter died at the stake in 1532, Caro also 
was filled with a longing to be “consumed on the 
altar as a holy burnt offering,” to sanctify the name 
of God by a martyr’sdeath. Like Molko, Caro had 
fantastic dreams and visions, which he believed to 
be revelations from a higher being. His genius, 
392, be thought, was nothing less than the Mishnah 
personified, which instructed him because he had 
devoted himself to itsservice. These mystical tend- 
encies probably induced Caro to emigrate to Pales- 
tine, where he arrived about 1535, having en route 
spent several years at Salonica (1583) and Constan- 
tinople. 

At Safed he met Jacob BrERAB, who exerted a 
great influence upon him, Caro becoming an enthu- 
siastic supporter of Berab’s plans for the restitution 
of ordination. After Berab’s death Caro tried to 
carry out these plans, ordaining his pupil Moses 
Alshech; but he finally gave up his endeavors, con- 
vinced that he could not overcome the opposition to 
ordination (compare his “ Kesef Mishnech,” on Sanh. 
iv., where his silence regarding this point is signifi- 
cant), However, his aspiration to be regarded as the 
highest authority in Judaism was practically real- 

ized; for his reputation during the last 
Authority thirty years of his life was greater than 
Recognized. that of almost any other rabbi since 

Maimonides. The Italian Azariah 
dei Rossi, though his views differed widely from 
Caro’s, collected money among the rich Italian Jews 
for the purpose of having a work of Caro’s printed 
(“ Me’or ‘Enayim,” xxili., ed. Benjacob, i. 241); and 
the Pole Moses Isserles compelled the recognition 
of one of Caro’s decisions at Cracow, although he 
thought Caro was wrong (Isserles, Responsa, No. 
48). When some members of the community of 
Carpentras, in France, believed themselves to have 
been unjustly treated by the majority in a matter 
relating to taxes, they appealed to Caro, whose 
letter was sufficient to restore to them their rights 
(“Rev. Etudes Juives,” xviii. 188-136). In the 
East, Caro’s authority was, if possible, even greater. 
His name heads the decree of excommunication di- 
rected against Daud, Joseph Nasi’s agent (Responsa 
of Elijah b. Hayyim, “ Mayim ‘Amukkim,” No. 56); 


Caro, Joseph 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


584 


ap eae ee Se Se ae ae er ag ce age | ge Ge Na ee ge a ae ag pe we 


and it was Caro who condemned Dei Rossi’s 
“Me’or ‘Enayim” to be burned (Azulai, “ Mahazik 
Berakah,” p. 183). Caro’s death, therefore, caused 
general mourning; and several funeral orations de- 
livered on that occasion have been preserved (Moses 
Albelda, “Darash Mosheh”; Samuel Katzenellen- 
bogen, “ Derashot ”), as well as some elegies (anony- 
mous, see “ Rev. Etudes Juives,” ix. 304, 3805; x. 317; 
Moscato, in “Ozar Nehmad,” iii. 167; and biog- 
raphy of Moscato by Apfelbaum, p. 56). 

Caro published during his lifetime: “Bet Yosef” 
(House of Joseph), in four parts—(i., ii.) Venice, 1550— 
1551; (iii., iv.) Sabbionetta, 1558-59; Shulhan 
‘Aruk, in four parts, Venice, 1565 (according to 
Steinschneider’s Catalogue, col. 1480, the composi- 
tion of the Shulhan ‘Aruk was completed at Biri, 
Palestine, 1555); “Kesef Mishneh ” (Double Money), 
Venice, 1574-75. After his death there appeared: 
“ Bedek ha-Bayit ” (Repairing of the House), supple- 
ments and corrections to “Bet Yosef,” Salonica, 
1605; “Kelale ha-Talmud” (Methodology of the 
Talmud), 7b., 1598; “ Abkat Rokel” (Powder of the 
Merchant), Responsa, 2). 1791; Responsa, #. 1597; 
“Maggid Mesharim” (Who Preaches Rightly), Lu- 
blin, 1646; supplements to the same, Venice, 1654; 
“ Derashot,” Salonica, 1799, in the collection “‘Oz 
Zaddikim ” (The Power of the Righteous). Caro 
also left a commentary upon the Mishnah, as well 
as supercommentaries to Rashi’s and Nahmanides’ 
commentaries on the Pentateuch, which have, ap- 
parently, not been preserved. The Bodleian Library 
contains some smaller literary fragments by Caro not 
yet published. 

Caro’s literary works and the importance of his 
share in the development of rabbinism are beyond 
dispute: his works are among the masterpieces of 
rabbinical literature; and his influence is potent 
even to this day. But Caro’s character has been 
variously criticized, the difference of opinion being 

connected with the literary question whether the 
book “Maggid Mesharim” is really a 


“Maggid work by Caro, or is merely ascribed to 
Me- him, This book is a kind of diary in 
sharim.” which Caro during a period of fifty 


years noted his discussions with his 
heavenly mentor, the personified Mishnab. He had 
these visions even at Nicopolis (p. 21b: p. 42b, ed. 
Polno, is dated 1570; in opposition to Gratz, “Gesch. 
der Juden,” ix, 545, who asserts the text to be corrupt 
but nin meaning there, of course, “ father-in-law ” 
and not “son-in-law ”). The discussions treat of va- 
rioussubjects. The maggid enjoins Caro to be mod- 
estin the extreme, to say his prayers with the utmost 
devotion, to be gentle and patient always. Especial 
stress is laid on asceticism; and Caro is often se- 
verely rebuked for taking more than one glass of 
wine, or for eating meat. Whenever Caro did not 
follow the severe instructions of his maggid, he 
suddenly heard its warning voice. His mentor also 
advised him in family affairs (p. 21b), told him what 
reputation he enjoyed in heaven, and praised or 
criticized his decisions in religious questions. Caro 
received new ideas from his maggid in regard to the 
Cabala only, for the study of which he had hardly 
any time; such information was in the nature of 
sundry cabalistic interpretations of the Pentateuch, 


that in content, though not in form, remind one of 
the theories of Caro’s pupil, Moses Cordovero. Tho 
present form of the “Maggid Mesharim” shows 
plainly that it was never intended for publication, 
being merely a collection of stray notes; nor does 
Caro’s son Judah mention the book among hig 
father’s works (Introduction to the Responsa). It jg 
known, on the other hand, that during Caro’s life. 
time the cabalists believed his maggid to be acty- 
ally existent (compare Vital-Calabrese, “Sefer hg. 
Gilgulim,” pp. 119, 142, Wilna, 1885). The “ Mag. 
gid Mesharim,” furthermore, shows a_ know}. 
edge of Caro’s public and private life that no one 
could have possessed after his death; and the fact 
that the maggid promises things to its favorite that 
were never fulfilled—e.g., a martyr’s death—proveg 
that it is not the work of a forger, composed for 
Caro’s glorification. Rapoport’s assumption (in 
Kobak’s “Jeschurun,” vi. 90; “Iggerot Shir,” pp. 
207, 208) that the “Maggid Mesharim” was writ. 
ten by Solomon Alkabiz and ascribed to Caro is 
unfounded, as well as Cassel’s positive assertion 
that the book was fabricated after Caro’s death 
(“Josef Karo und das Maggid Mescharim,” ap- 
pended to the sixth annual report of the Lehranstalt 
fiir die Wissenschaft des Judenthums in Berlin, 1888), 
The authenticity of the “Maggid Mesharim” doeg 
not, however, justify the assertion that Caro wag 
a cabalist, in the sense of regarding the Cabala as 
equally authoritative with Talmudism, or so impor- 
tant a factor in religious life. 

Although Maimonides and Caro, the two greatest 
codifiers of rabbinical Judaism, differed so widely 
from each other, they had this in common, that in 
their codes they assumed exclusively the standpoint 
of Talmudism—an attitude eminently characteristic 
of the spirit of rabbinism. Just as Maimonides’ 
“Yad ”—aside from its book “Ha-Madda‘ ”—gives 
no indication that its author ranked Aristotle im- 
mediately after the Prophets, so Caro, in his works, 

does not betray his leaning toward 

Caro’s mysticism. Of course, he considered 
Character- the Zohar to be a work of the tanna 

istics. Simon b. Yohai (compare Solomon 
Alkabiz’s answer to Caro about a diffi- 

cult passage of the Zohar in his “ Berit ha-Lewi,” ed. 
Lemberg, 1863, p. 39, to which Brill draws atten- 
tion in “Jahrb.” ix. 152), and a holy book, that, how- 
ever, has little or no importance for religious prac- 
tise, which must be ruled exclusively by the Talmud. 
Caro’s mysticism was not speculative in nature; 
and he devoted very little time to the Cabala, al- 
though his maggid often exhorted him not to neglect 
the study of it (*Maggid Mesharim,” p. 57b). The 
catastrophe that came upon the Pyrenean Jews 
made such an impression upon the minds of the best 
among them that many saw therein the signs of 
Messianic travail, m'wy %3Sm (compare Jacob 
BERAsB); and Caro, according to a contemporary 
(Azkari, “Sefer Haredim,” Introduction), took tbis 
dark view throughout his life. While men Jike 
Mo.Lko and David REUBENI were Jed to commit 
extravagant and foolish deeds under the influence of 
this idea, Berab’s and Caro’s nobility of nature came 
to the fore. If Caro indulged in mystical visions, 
and, half dreaming, thought he heard heavenly 


585 


voices in his soul, they served always as reminders 
to him that his life, his actions, and his accomplish- 
ments must surpass those of other people (7. 
«“Toledot,” p. 9; “Azharot,” p. 8b, and passim). 
Caro’s mysticism stimulated rather than hindered 
his activity, urging him on to great works. While 
Caro’s teacher, Berab, had attempted to create a 
spiritual center for the Jews scattered through- 
out the world, by reestablishing ordination, Caro 
tried to carry out the same idea in a different way. 
Although Caro is known to later times chiefly as 
the author of the Shulhan ‘Aruk, yet his earlier 
“Bet Yosef” marked him as one of the greatest 
Talmudists of all times. He began the book in 1522 
at Adrianople, finished it in 1542 at Safed, and pub- 
lished it in 1550-59. In form it is a commentary 
upon Jacob b. Asher’s “Arba‘ Turim”; but it is 
really. much more comprehensive, go- 
ing back tothe Talmudimand halakic 
Midrashim, discussing the pros and 
cons of the authorities cited by the 
*Tur,” and examining the opinions of the authori- 
ties not mentioned by the latter. Thirty-two au- 
thorities, beginning with the Talmud and ending 
with the works of IssERLEIN, are briefly summed up 
and critically discussed in “ Bet Yosef.” No other 
rabbinical work can compare in wealth of material 
with it. Though Maimonides, in his “ Yad,” almost 
completely covered Talmudic literature (iucluding 
its archeological portions), which was not done by 
Jacob b. Asher and his successor, Caro, the latter 
included in “Bet Yosef” the immense material of 
post-Talmudic literature; while Maimonides hardly 
drew even upon the works of the Geonim, confining 
himself chiefly to the Talmud. Caro evidences not 
only an astonishing range of reading, covering al- 
most the whole Talmudic-rabbinical literature on its 
halakic side, but also very remarkable powers of 
critical investigation. He shows no disposition to 
accept. blindly the opinions of the ancient authori- 
ties. notwithstanding his great respect for them. 
In the introduction to his monumental compilation, 
Caro clearly states the necessity of and his reasons 
for undertaking such a work. The expulsion of 
the Jews from the Pyrenean peninsula and the in- 
vention of printing endangered the stability of re- 
ligious observances on their legal and ritual sides. 
In Spain and Portugal questions were generally de- 
cided by the “customs of the country”; the dif- 
ferent districts had their standard authorities to 
which they appealed in doubtful cases. The most 
prominent of these were Maimonides, Nalmanides, 
and Asher b. Jehiel. When the Spanish-Portuguese 
exiles came to the various communities in the East 
and West, where usages entirely different from those 
to which they had been accustomed prevailed, the 
question naturally arose whether the newcomers, 
the majority of whom were men of greater learning 
than the members of the invaded communities, 
Should be ruled by the latter, or vice versa. The 
increase of printed books, moreover, spread broad- 
cast the products of halakic literature; so that many 
half-educated persons, finding themselves in posses- 
sion of legal treatises, felt justified in following any 
ancient authority at will. Caro undertook his “ Bet 
Yosef” to remedy this evil, quoting and critically 


6¢ Bet 
Yosef.” 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caro, Joseph 





examining in his book the opinions of all the author- 
ities then known. 

Caro at first intended to follow his own judgment 
in cases of differences of opinion between the vari- 
ous authorities, especially where he could support 
his own view by the Talmud. But he gave up this 
idea because, as he says, “ Who has the courage to 
rear his head aloft among mountains, the heights 
of God?” and also because he correctly thought, 

though he does not mention his con- 


The clusion, that he could gain no follow- 
Standard ing if he set up his authority against 
Au- that of the ancient scholars. Hence 
thorities. Caro took Alfasi, Maimonides, and 


Asher b. Jehiel as his standards; ac- 
cepting as authoritative the opinion of two of the 
three, except in cases where most of the ancient 
authorities were against them. The standard that 
Caro set up in the introduction to his work was, 
as a younger contemporary remarks (Hayyim b. 
Bezalel, Introduction to “Wikkuah Mayim Hay- 
yim”), ina certain sense, merely a blind; for Caro 
proceeded with more independence and more self- 
confidence. He very often decides disputed cases 
without regard to the age and importance of the 
authority in question, expressing simply his own 
views. He follows Maimonides’ example, as seen 
in “ Yad,” rather than that of Jacob b. Asher, who 
seldom decides between ancient authorities. . 

But, as regards the form of his work, Caro unfor- 
tunately follows Jacob b. Asher entirely, the “ Bet 
Yosef” in consequence sharing all the methodolog. 
ical faults of its predecessor, the “Tur.” Several 
reasons induced Caro to connect his work with the 
“Tur,” instead of with Maimonides’ code. In the 
first place, the “Tur,” although not considered so 
great an authority as Maimonides’ code, was much 
more widely known; the latter being recognized 
only among the Spanish Jews, while the former en- 
joyed a high reputation among the Ashkenazim 
and Sephardim, as well as the Italians. Secondly, 
it was not Caro’s intention to write a code similar 
in form to Maimonides’ work; he intended to give 
not merely the results of his investigations, but also 
the investigations themselves. He wished not only 
to aid the officiating rabbi in the performance of his 
duties, but also to trace for the student the devel- 
opment of particular laws from the Talmud through 
later rabbinical literature. The study of Talmudic 
literature was not for Caro, as for Maimonides, 
merely a means toward an end—namely, for religious 
observances—but an end in itself; he, therefore, did 
not favor codes that contained only decisions, with- 
out giving any reasons for them. 

Caro wrote the Shulhan ‘Aruk in his old age, for 
the benefit of those who did not possess the educa- 
tion necessary to understand the “ Bet Yosef.” The 
arrangement of this work is the same as that adopted 
by Jacob b. Asher in his “Arba‘ah Turim,” but 

more concise; nor are any authorities 


The given. This book, which for centuries 
Shulhan was, and in part still is, “the code” of 
‘Aruk. rabbinical Judaism for all ritual and 


legal questions that obtained after 
the destruction of the Temple, has a remarkable 
history, hardly paralleled by that of any other prod- 


Caro, Joseph 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


586 


eee 


uct of rabbinical literature. The author himself 
had no very high opinion of the work, remarking 
that he had written it chiefly for p‘spp onsn 
(“young students,” Shulhan ‘Arnuk, Introduction). 
He never refers to it in his responsa, but always to 
the “Bet Yosef.” The Shulhan ‘Aruk achieved 
its reputation and popularity not only against the 
wishes of the author, but, curiously enough, through 
the very scholars who attacked it. The history of 
the Shulhan *‘Aruk is, in a way, identical with the 
history of rabbinical literature in Poland for a period 
of two centuries, Recognition or denial of Cuaro’s 
authority lay entirely with the Polish Talmudists. 
Germany had been forced to give way to Poland as 
early as the beginning of the sixteenth century ; and 
in the last third of that century the East had be- 
come so entirely absorbed in the new cabalistie 
school of Luria that the study of the Talmud was 
greatly neglected, Caro was opposed in the East 
only by his contemporaries, Yom-Tob Zahalon, who 
designated the Shulhan ‘Aruk asa book for Dp 
YIN soy) (“ children and jgnoramuses”; see his Re- 
sponsa, No, 67, beginning), and Jacob Castro, whose 
work “‘Erek ha-Shulhan ” consists of critical glosses 
to the Shulhan ‘Aruk. Isserles and Solomon Luria 
were Caro’s first important adversaries. Although 
the opposition of these two men was different in 
kind and due to different motives, it may be regarded 
in a measure as the protest of the Ashkenazim 
against the supremacy of the Sephardim. The 
Ashkenazim—tirst the German, and then the Polish 
—were much more scrupulous in matters of ritual 
than their Spanish-Portuguese brethren; hence they 
considered that Caro’s “ Bet Yoscf” contained dan- 
gerous innovations, as the authorities he followed 
were chicfly Sephardim, whose opinions did not pre- 
vail among the Ashkenazim. 

Immediately upon the appearance of Caro’s “ Bet 
Yosef,” Isserles wrote his “ Darke Mosheh,” a mod- 
erately expressed but very severe criticism of Caro’s 
great work. In place of Caro’s three standard au- 
thorities, Isserles brings forward the DAS (“the 
later authorities ”), together with the Franco-German 
Tosafists as criteria of opinion (* Darke Mosheh” to 
Yoreh De‘tah, 35). The importance of the Min- 
hag (“ prevailing local custom”) is also a point of 
dispute between Caro and Isserles: whiie the former 

held fast to original authorities and 

Isserles’ mieterial reasons, the latter considered 
Opposition the miuhag as an object of great im- 

to Caro. portance, and not to be omitted in a 

codex, This point, especially, in- 
duced Isserles to write his glosses to the Shulhan 
‘“Aruk, that the customs (minhagim) of the Ash- 
kenazim might be recognized, and uot be set aside 
through Caro’s reputation. If Abraham b, David’s 
criticism. of Maimonides’ code be compared with 
Isserles’ criticism of Caro’s Shulhan ‘Aruk, the 
question suggests itself why the Shulhan ‘Aruk 
became an authoritative code, in spite of opposition 
and against the will of its author, while Maimonides’ 
“Yad” found no acceptance among the Franco-Ger- 
man Jews, owing to Abraham b. David’s criticism 
and influence. The answer lies in the fact that the 
keen and, in part, just criticism by RABaD de- 
stroyed confidence in Maimonides’ “Yad,” while 


Isserles was not content only to criticize, but sup- 
plemented Caro’s work extensively, with the regu}, 
that the Ashkenazim then accepted the Shulhan 
‘Aruk, assuming that in its corrected form it was an 
unquestionable authority. 

Solomon Luria’s opposition to Caro’s code wag 
due to entirely different motives. Luria share 
Isserles’ great respect for the French scholars 
whom he placed above the Sephardic; but he held 
that “since the completion of the Talmud no Opinion 
that can not be deduced from the Talmudim or the 
halakic Micdrashim can claim to be authoritative > 
a view so novel and daring that Luria found few 
supporters even among his own countrymen, and 
his “Yam Shel Shelomoh” was not enough to de. 
prive Caro’s works of their authority. The Shu. 
han ‘Aruk with Isserles’ supplements was so popu. 
lar, and enjoyed such great authority even so early 
as the last third of the sixteenth century, that Hay. 
YI™M B. BEZALEL’s attacks on it were also without 
effect. Hayyim, a Pole by birth and education, at. 
tempted in his “  Wikkuah Mayim Hayyim,” to de. 
fend Germany’s honor against both Caro and Isserleg 
—against the former’s aversion to the German 
authorities, and the tatter’s endeavor to sct up the 
Polish minhag as the “minhag Ashkenaz” par ex- 
cellence. But toward the end of the sixteenth cen- 
tury the Shulhan ‘Aruk found a dangerous com- 
petitor in Mordecai Jafe’s “Lebushim.” Jafe, who 

was a pupil of Luria and Isserles, 

Mordecai adopted in his code a method midway 

Jatfe. between the prolix discursiveness of 
the “Bet Yosef” and the terse oracu- 
lar form of the Shulhan ‘Aruk, both of which the 
“Lebushim ” far surpasses in style, arrangement, 
and method. This book seemed, on its appearance, 
likely to displace the Shulhan ‘Aruk; but the se- 
vere criticism to which it was subjected by Jafe’s 
younger contemporary, Alexander Falk ha-Kohen, 
in his “Sefer Me’irat ‘Enayim,” a commentary on 
the fourth part of the Shulhan ‘Aruk, shattered 
the reputation of the “ Lebushim,” and again con- 
firmed that of the Shulhan ‘Aruk. 

Falk heads the list of the commentators of the 
Shulhan “Aruk who helped to increase its author- 
ity, and made it impossible for rabbinical litera- 
ture to stagnate. These commentators examined 
the differences of opinion between Caro, Isser- 
les, and Luria, as well as the validity of the reas- 

ons given by these and other auth- 
Commenta- orities for their opinions. It is, in 


tors of the part, due to the endeavors of Meir D. 
Shulhan 9 Gedaliah MaHaRaM of Lublin, Sam- 
‘Aruk. ucl Edels, and Yom-Tob Lipmann 


Heller that the Shulhan ‘Aruk did 
not displace the study of the Talmud and the ancient 
sources: they had a very poor opinion of the Shul- 
han ‘Aruk, considering the Talmud as by far the 
chief study (compare, for example, Responsa of 
MaHaRaM, Nos. 11, 102). 

The last important attack on the Shulhan ‘Aruk 
was made by Joel Sirkes in his “Bayit Hadash” 
(New House), in which he endeavored to restore 
Jacob b. Asher’s code to the reputation it had em 
joved, especially among the Ashkenazim; attempt 
ing, in numerous passages of his book, to abolish 





1564. 


18TH OF KISLEW, 5325 


PRINTED AT VENICE, 


LHAN ‘“ARUK 


(In the collection of Hon. Mayer Sulzberger.) 


TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION oF CaRO’S SHU 





Caro, Joseph 
Carpentras 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


588 


A Naas, 


the customs introduced in many places under the 
combined influence of Caro and Isserles (BaH to 
Yoreh De‘ah, 279; Responsa, No. 80 [new series 
42]). But Joel succeeded as little as his master, 
Luria, in his opposition to Caro and Isserles. 

The battle raging around the Shulhan ‘Aruk lasted 
for nearly a hundred years, its authority not being 
firmly established until the middle of the seventeenth 
century, which date also marks the beginning of the 
commentaries to it, the period of the so-called AHA- 
RONIM. Moses Lima pz. Isaac, DAVID B. SAMUEL 
HA-LEVI, SHABBETHAI B. MEiR HA-KOHEN, ABRA- 
HAM ABELE GOMBINER, and SAMUEL B. Urt PHOEBUS 
of Waydyslav, all of the seventeenth century, are 
the classical commentators of the Shulhan ‘Aruk. 
They differ in their relation to Caro and Isserles, 
though all the Aharonim fully and unreservedly rec- 
ognized the authority of both. Moses Lima held 
that no one was entitled to decide any cases accord- 
ing to the Shuihan ‘Aruk “who was not at the same 
time competent to expunge entire paragraphs from 
it” (Emden, “She’elat Ya‘abez,” ii., No. 20, end), 
while David b. Samuel, although a pupil and son- 
in-law of Joel Sarkes, held that no decision of the 
Shulhan ‘Aruk was under any circumstances a cri- 
terion to be literally followed (Yoreh De‘ah, 48, 
5). Shabbethai b. Meir’s relation to the Shulhan 
‘Aruk is a peculiar one. One of the Keenest minds 
among the Rablhis, he was the warmest defender of 
Caro and Isserles against the attacks of the Aharo- 
nim; while he himself unsparingly attacked not only 
the Shulhan ‘Aruk, but also all the post-Talmudic 
authorities. Although all these men thus preserved 
a certain independence toward the work, they yet 
confirmed its authority by making it the basis of 
their own works and by undertaking to explain it. 
The above-mentioned Polish Talmudists especially, 
David b. Samuel and Shabbethai b. Meir, placed 
the authority of the Shulhan ‘Aruk beyond dis- 
pute, answering in their commentaries attacks upon 
’ jt, and supplementing the missing portions from the 
works of others. Menahem Krochmal (second half 
of the seventeenth century) says: “Since Caro’s ‘ Bet 
Yosef’ and Shulhan ‘Aruk, and Isserles’ notes on 
the latter, have appeared and been distributed 
throughout Israel, we must follow them alone ” (Re- 
sponsa, “Zemah Zedek,” No. 9, end). Gershon 
Ashkenazi, Krochmal’s son-in-law, expressed him- 
self similarly (“‘Abodat ha-Gershoni,” No. 48, be- 
ginning), and also his contemporary Ephraim b. 
Aaron ha-Kohen (“Sha‘ar Efrayim,” No. 1138, p. 
81a, bottom), who relates that the congregational 
archives of Buda, where he was rabbi, contained a 
resolution not to accept any rabbi that did not agree 
to render his decisions according to the Shulhan 
‘Aruk (2b.; see also Isaiah Horwitz, “Shene Luhot 
ha-Berit,” ed. Amsterdam, p. 74b). 

In the eighteenth century the authority of the 
Shulhan ‘Aruk was so firmly established that even 
men Jike Hayyim Jair Bacharach (Supplements to 
his “ Hawot Yair,” p. 262)and Jonathan Eybeschiitz 
(“Kizzur Tekofo Kohen”), who possessed great in- 
dependence and self-confidence, considered it in- 
disputable. Elijah b. Solomon of Wilna, however, 
did not share this opinion, having no regard for 
preceding authorities, but decided cases on their 


merits. Among the Sephardim, Hezekiah de Silvg 
born 1650, is perhaps the only one among the Oyj. 
ental Jews who dared to attack the Shulhan ‘Aruk. 
The Egyptian rabbis, in return, forbade the reading 
of his “ Peri Hadash.” 

Instrumental as was the Shulhan ‘Aruk in shaping 
rabbinical Judaism, it was necessarily singled out for 
attack by those who sought to assail the latter. Pas. 
sages from the book, detached from their context, ang 
often intentionally mutilated and misinterpreted, 
were used by the adversaries of the 
Jews as a mineans of representing the 
ethics and religion of the Jews as 
AS re. 


Anti- 
Semitic 
Attacks on dangerous and despicable. 


the gards the work itself—the attacks 
Shulhan are directed really against the entire 
‘Aruk.  post-Biblical literature of the Jews 


—two works may be mentioned here 
which clearly and distinctly refute the unfounded 
criticisms brought against the book; namely, “ Der 
Schulchan Aruch,” by D. Hoffmann (Berlin, 1885), 
and “Die Gesetzsammlung des Judenspiegels . . , 
von Aron Briman . . . Beleuchtet und Berichtigt,” 
by K. Lippe (Jassy, 1885). Compare, also, GENTILEs, 
ETHICS. 

The attacks made by modern Jewish historians 
upon the Shulhan ‘Aruk, especially the accusation 
that it forces rabbinical Judaism intoa strait-jacket, 
can hardly be supported. The code is not the crea- 
tor of that rigorous, scrupulous attitude inimical 
to all liberty, but a product of it. The Shulhan 
‘Aruk, furthermore, has caused anything but stag- 
nation of intellectual activity among the Jews, as is 
most clearly shown by the rabbinical literature of 
the period (1550-1700), the products of which, all 
more or less influenced by Caro, are among the most 
eminent works of their kind. Compure Laws, Cop- 
IFICATION OF; REFORM JUDAISM. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: For editions of Caro’s works, commentaries 
and essays on same, compare the catalogues of Benjacob, 
Steinschneider, Van Straalen, and Zedner, s.v.,and under 
Jacob b. Asher and Maimonides. Translations: Lederer, 
Schulehan Aruch, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1897-1900, extracts 
froma the first and second parts of the Shulhan “Aruk; H. 
Lowe, Der Schulchan Aruch, Vienna, 1896, 2 vols.; Pavly and 
Neviasky, Rituel du Judaisme, Orléans, 1898-1901, French 
transl. of the second part of the Shulhan *‘Aruk;: Shulhan 
ha-Panim, Salonica, 1568, extracts from the Shulhan *Aruk 
in Ladino; F. Friedberg, Rabbeni Yosef Karo, Drohobyez, 
1895; Gaster, The Origin and Sources of the Shulchan 
Aruch, in the report of the Lady Judith Montefiore College, 
1893; A. Geiger, Nachgelassene Schriften, ii. 186-188; 
Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, ix., Index; Rab Zair (pseudonym 
for Hayyim Czernowitz PW IVS), Le-Toledot ha-Shulhan 
‘Aruk, in Ha-Shiloah, iv., v.. vi; idem, Millwim, ib. ix.$ 


idem, in Graetz-Rabbinowicz, History, viii. 640-642: §. P. 
Rabbinowicz, Moza’e Golah, Index; D. Kohn (8379), Eben 


Wegef, pp. 18-15. 
L. G. 


CARO, JOSEPH HAYYIM B. ISAAC 
SELIG: German-Russian rabbi; born 1800; died 
in Wloclawek, government of Warsaw, April 21, 
1895. He was educated as an Orthodox Talmudist, 
and married the daughter of R. Zebi Hirsch Am- 
sterdam of Konin, government of Kalisz in Russian 
Poland, whose pupil he became. Heafterward estab- 
lished himself as a merchant in Gnesen, near Posen, 
whence, at about the age of forty, he was called to 
the rabbinate of Pinne, in the province of Posen. 
Later he became rabbi of Fordon, in the same prov- 
ince, and twenty years after his first call he became 
rabbi of the progressive and Germanized community 


or | 


589 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caro, Joseph 
Carpentras 


i EE en eee 


of Wloclawek, where he remained until his death. 
He was one of the first truly Orthodox rabbis in 
Russia to acquire a correct knowledge of German 
and to deliver sermons in that language. 

Caro was famous not only for his extensive rab- 
pinical knowledge, but also asa preacher; and even at 
the present day his works are popular among old- 
style “maggidim” and “darshanim.” His first 
work, “Minhat Shabbat,” is a German translation 
(in Hebrew characters) of Pirke Abot, with a short 
conumentary in German and a longer one in Hebrew 
(Krotoschiu, 1847). In the third edition of that 
work (Wilna, 1894) the German commentary is 
omitted and that of Maimonides substituted for it. 
His “ Teba we-Haken,” containing rules of “she- 
hitah” and “bedikah” in the form of a dialogue, 
was published by his sons Isaac and Jacob (Leipsic, 
1859; 2d ed., Wilna, 1894). His chief work, “Kol 
Omer Kera,” is a collection of sermons in four vol- 
umes (Warsaw, 1860-80; 2d ed., Wilna, 1895), 
arranged after the order of the Pentateuch in the 
weekly sections, which furnished the texts. The 
last of his published works, “ Yoreh u-Malkosh ” 
(Wilna, 1894), is also a collection of sermons, mostly 
funeral orations, some of which were originally de- 
livered in German. Here and there in his works are 
to be found poetical compositions and other traces 
of the influence of modern ideas not common among 
the rabbis of Russian Poland. UHis inclination 
toward the “ Waskalah” and its Neo-Hebrew litera- 
ture is shown by the article which he contributed, 
ata very advanced age, to the year-book “ Ha-Asif” 
(iv. 1382-187, Warsaw, 1887), entitled “Birkat ha- 
Zedukim.” Caro was also a pioneer Zionist and de- 
fended the colonization of Palestine against the op- 
ponents of that plan. Two of his letters on the 
subject are printed in “Shibat Zion.” He attended 
to his rabbinical duties until past the age of ninety, 
and retired from active work only afew years before 
his death. 

One of Caro’ssons is a professor at the University 
of Breslau, and two others are the rabbis, respect- 
ively, of Lemberg and Thorn. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ahiasaf, 5655. 


L. G@. P, WI. 


CARPENTRAS: Chief town of the arrondisse- 
ment of that name in the department of Vaucluse, 
France. Jews settled at Carpentras at a very early 
period. Thecollection of rabbinical decisions called 
“Kol Bo” quotes a document (No. 117) attributed to 
Jacob Tam, grandson of Rashi (twelfth century), in 
which the rabbis of Carpentras are mentioned to- 
gether with “the elders and scholars of Troyes and 
its environs, the great men of Auxerre, the scholars 
of the regions of the Rhine, the doctors of Paris and 
their neighbors, the scholars of Lyons, of Lombardy, 
of the seacoast, of Anjou, of Poitou, and the great 
men of Lorraine.” Expelled in the beginning of the 
thirteenth century, the Jews returned to Carpentras 
in 1268. On Feb. 28, 1276, Bishop Pierre ITI. Ros- 
taing made an agreement with them, signed by sixty- 
four heads of families, representing two-thirds of 
the community, by which they acknowledged them- 
Selves to be, as their forefathers at Carpentras had 
been, vassals of the bishop, and they consented to 


pay to him and to his successors the following taxes: 
(1) an annual quit-rent of 18 Tours pounds; (2) a 
tallage of 25 pounds for six specified 
Thirteenth cases; (8) sheets for the bishop’s guest- 
Century. beds; (4) all the tongues of the cattle 
they might kill, or should have killed; 
(5) an annual tax on their rural and urban posses- 
sions, and the thirteenth part of the total seat-rent 
of the synagogue; (6) ten Tours sous for every for- 
eign or strange Jew coming to live at Carpentras, 
and desiring to be received as a citizen on the same 
terms as other Jews; (7) fifteen Tours sous for every 
Jew wishing to live outside of the chain fixed at the 
entrance of the “ visataria” (post of inspection). In 
addition, (8) Jews are thenceforward forbidden to 
assist or support any person, corporation, or associ- 
ation against the bishop, or to have any relations or 
connection with them; (9) Jews are obliged to render 
the above-mentioned homage to every new bishop, 
to swear fidelity to him, and to observe the same 
agreement with him; (10) the bishop binds himself 
and his successors to impose no other taxes upon the 
Jews, to guard their property, and to protect them 
against injustice and violence; (11) the Jews are 
permitted to leave the city and to establish them- 
selves elsewhere, but in that case they will cease to 
be citizens of Carpentras (“Revue Etudes Juives,” 
xii. 43, 44), 

The convention of April 12, 1820, between Pope 
John XXII. and the bishop, consecrated by the bull 
of “dismemberment,” changed the situation created 
for the Jews by the act of 1276. They ceased to be 
the bishop’s property, his “subscribed” serfs, but 
they remained to a certain extent his tributary vas- 
sals (Bardinet, “Revue Historique,” xii. 40).  Pro- 
tected against the Pastoureaux by Pope John XXII. 
in 1320, they were nevertheless expelled by him 
from Carpentras in 1822, Their synagogue was de- 
molished, a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary 
being erected on its site (“Revue Etudes Juives,” 
xii. 48; compare Bardinet, l.c, xii. 17). 

Pope Clement VI., well disposed toward the Jews, 
on his accession in 1342, revoked the edict of expul- 
sion of John XXII. Bishop Hugues permitted 
twelve heads of Jewish families, who in 1848 had 
returned to Carpentras, to build a new synagogue, 
and also to have a cemetery near the city, on pay- 
ment of a yearly contribution of six pounds of 
spices, three of ginger, and three of pepper (“Revue 
Etudes Juives,” xii. 51; compare Bardinet, @. ¢. xii. 
41). Thisagreement of 1343 was renewed by Bishop 
Jobn Flandrini in 1867; but Bishop Peter IV. de 
Rabath revoked it in 1885 and reestablished the 
annual tax of eighteen pounds that dated back to 
1276. Pope Benedict XIII. claimed in 1403 all the 
taxes which the Jews had formerly paid to the epis- 
copal household, especially the furnishing of the 
sheets for the bishop’s guest-beds. By an agree- 
ment of May 2, 1405, the Jews could free themselves 
of this prestation by paying to the bishop annually 
the sum of twenty florins in gold (“Revue Etudes 
Juives,” xii, 55; compare Bardinet, U.c. xii. 48). 
Other agreements were made, now and later on, 
between the Jews and the bishopric in regard to the 
tax on seat-rents of the synagogue, the selling of 
kosher wine, the presence of the rector’s sergeant at 


Carpentras 
Carpi 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


590 





circumcisions, marriages, and interments, and the 
policing of the ghetto, etc. (“ Revue Etudes Juives, ” 
xii. 56 ef sey.). 

Clement VII., who had confirmed the privileges 
of the Jews in 1524, revoked them in 1589. Ina bull 
of June 13, 1525, he ordered the men 
to wear the yellow hat, and the women 
.some other distinctive mark. PaullV. 
in 1555, Pius V. in 1566, and Clement 
VIII. in 1592 renewed the decrees of their predeces- 
sors (“Revue 
Etudes Juives, ” 
vi. 90). Not- 
withstanding 
these bulls, the 
Jews obtained 
permission to 
wear no other 
stgns than those 
they were ac- 
customed to (2d. 
xxxii. 70). On 
the accession of 
Paul I. the 
Jews of Car- 
pentras sent 
two procurators 
to Rome, Jo- 
seph de Lattés 
and Vides Avig- 
dor of Cavail- 
lon, in order to 
obtain from the 
pope a new ex- 
amination into 
their rights. 
This request 
was entirely 
suecessful (20. 
74). By his bull 
_ of Feb. 26, 1569, 
Pins VII. ex- 
pelled the Jews 
from the Italian 
and French ter- 


Sixteenth 
Century. 





but each time they were compelled to render hom. 
age to the bishop, and to pay all that they owed hin 
(4b. xi. 68). The Revolution and the annexation of 
the county of Venaissin by France freed them from 
this yoke of the Middle Ages. 

The synagogue, built in 1741 upon the same spot 
as the one of 1367, was repaired in 1784, and again in 
1899. It has several distinctive features not found 
outside of the county, unless in Italy (see detaileq 
description by I. Loeb, “Revue Etudes Juives,» 
Xi. 227, 235), 
The cemetery, 
probably the 

ame as the one 
granted to the 
Jews in 1343 by 
Bishop Hugues, 
is situated jy 
thenortheastern 
part of the city, 
in the quarter 
called “ La Fon. 
trouse.” Neu. 
bauer has de. 
scribed in the 
“Archives deg 
Missions Scien- 
tiiques” (3d 
series, vol. i.) 
some tomb- 
stones from the 
old cemetery, 
now in the mu- 
seum of Car- 
pentras. For 
the construction 
and support of 
their synagogue 
and cemetery, 
the expenses of 
their ritual, 
and the heavy 
taxesarbitrarily 
imposed upon 
them from time 
to time, the 


ritory. An or- 

der of the community 
legate, dated [|g } 3 = contracted a 
Avignon (Aug. = SSS debt which, at 
8, 1570), com- eee eS: the beginning 
manded them NORTH GATE OF THE JEWRY AT CARPENTRAS. of this cen- 


to leave the 
country by Oct. 
15following. Therector, however, permitted a small 
number of them to remain at Carpentras; and these, 
a few years later, had again grown into an impor- 
tant community (7d. xii. 160). The bull of Clement 
VIII. (Feb. 28, 1593), by which the Jews were driven 
from the pontifical states, except Rome, Ancona, 
and Avignon, was not enforced at Carpentras. Those 
provinces which in the course of the seventeenth 
century had repeatedly demanded the expulsion of 
the Jews succeeded no better. 

The Jews willingly paid the episcopal taxes, etc., 
imposed upon them by the agreement of 1276. 
Twice, however, they resisted, in 1513 and in 1781; 


(From the “ Revue des Etudes Jaives.’’) 


tury, amounted 
to —- 286, 831.22 
francs. This was fully paid between June 26, 1822, 
and Sept. 6, 1825. 

Carpentras constituted formerly, together with 
Avignon, Lisle, and Cavaillon, the four communi- 
ties, “ Arba‘ Kehillot,” that were the only ones tol- 
erated in the French pontifical territory. They had 
a special liturgy: (1) the seder of “ Yamim Nora’im” 

(Ritual for the New Year and Day of 

Liturgy. Atonement; Amsterdam, 1739); (2) 
the seder of the three “Regalim” 

(Festivals; Amsterdam, 1759); (8) the seder of the 
four fasts (Amsterdam, 1762); (4) the “Seder ha- 
Tamid” (Daily Ritual; Avignon, 1767); (5) the 


591 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Carpentras 
Carpi 


—— Crh ee 


“Seder ha-Konteris” (Ritual Opusculum; Avig- 
non, 1467). The Hebrew Provence poems inserted 
in the “Seder ha-Tamid” and in the “Seder ha- 
Konteris” have been translated and published by 
E. Sabatier (Nimes, 1876) under the title of “Chan- 
sons Hebraico-Provencales des Juifs Comtadins,” 
and also by Dom Pedro d’Alcantara, emperor of 
Brazil (Avignon, 1891), under that of “ Poésies 
Pébraico-Provencales du Rituel Israélite Com- 
tadin.” 

The community of Carpentras, which, in 1789, had 
1,000 Jews, counts to-day only thirty to thirty-five 
families in a total population of 10,628. It belongs 
to the “ Circonscription Consistoriale ” of Marseilles; 
and possesses, in addition to the synagogue, a maz- 
zot factory. 

The following noted scholars dwelt in Carpentras: 
Hanan ben Nathan Ezobi (thirteenth century) and 
his two sons, the poets Eleazar and Joseph, the first 
of whom settled later on at Béziers, the second in 
Perpignan; ABRAHAM Matakt; Mordecai ben Yo- 
sifya, Abraham the Elder, Abraham ben Isaac, and 
Hayyim de Carcassonne (thirteenth century); Mor- 
decai ben Isaac, a correspondent of Abba Mari of 
Lune! (in 1803-06); Moses ben Judah Rouget, 
Ishmael ben Todros of Noves, and Asher ben Moses 
of Valabrégue (members of the rabbinical college 
in 1582); Hayyim Crescas, Moses ben Joseph Kolon, 
Zemah ben Moses Caslari, Isaac Leon, Jacob Vidal 
(1580-89); Rabbi Jesse, R. Saul, and R,. Solomon 
Lion (1629); Solomon Ezobi (1620-23), a learned 
Talmudist and distinguished astronomer, who was 
jin correspondence with the celebrated Peirese of 
Aix, and the Hebraist John Plantavit de la Pause, 
bishop of Lodéve (“ Revue Etudes Juives,” xi. 101, 

292; compare Gross, “Gallia Judaica,” 


Scholars p. 611); David ben Joseph Carmi 
and Phy- (1621-22); Elijah Carmi, editor of 
sicians. “Seder ha-Tamid,” and a liturgical 


poet bearing the same name (1682); 
Mordecai Astruc, author of a thanksgiving prayer, 
inserted in the “Seder ha-Tamid” and recited at 
Carpentras on the Ninth of Nisan; Saul ben Joseph 
de Monteux, son of the liturgical poet Joseph ben 
Abraham Monteux, who composed a “piyyut” 
upon the deliverance of the Jews at the time of the 
riot at Carpentras in 1682; Mordecai ben Jacob, 
author of an elegy upon the martyrdom of the Has- 
monean priest Eleazar(Zunz, “Z. G.” p. 478); Judah 
Aryeh Loeb ben Zebi Hirsch of Krotoschin (eight- 
eenth century), author of a concordance, a diction- 
ary of Hebrew proper names, and two works on the 
Pentateuch; Moses Sinai (1742), Joseph de Lattés 
(1746-58), Jacob Hayyim Vidas, Isaiah Samuel 
Crémieux, Judah David Crémieux, Joseph Mil- 
haud, Israel Crémieux, Jacob Lunel, Menahem 
Lion, and Abrahain Roguemartine (1731-62). 

Also the following physicians: Bondavit Boninas 
of Marseilles (1343), Maitre Mayé or Magister Magius 
Macipi, Boniac, and Thoros (1357), Isaac Tauroci or 
Thoros (1367), Cresques Bondavid, Hayyim, and 
Solomon (1400-01), Samuel Bonajudo (15382), Isaac 
Thoros, Vides Avigdor of Cavaillon, and Isaac de 
Lattés (1540-64), Sauves or Saulves (1570), Joseph 
ben Isaac ha-Levi (1571), Moses ben Judah (1588), 
and Moses of Cavaillon. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loeb, Les Juifs de Carpentras, in Revue 
Btudes Juives, xii. 34 et seg.; Perugini, i)». iii, 104; Zunz, 
ftitus, Index, s.v.; Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 605 et seq. 
G. S. Ix. 


CARPENTRASI, JUDAH B. ZEBI. Sce 
JUDAILB. ZEBL Hirscu or CarPeENTRAS. 

CARPI, LEONE: Italian political economist; 
born 1820 at Bologna, Italy. He was the first 
deputy elected to the Italian Parliament by the city 
of Ferrara. Carpi, on the expiration of his term, 
divided his time between Bologna and Rome, where 
he was @ contributor to “ Popolo Romano.” He has 
thrown much light on the social and moral condi- 
tions of new united Italy by the authentic interma- 
tion that he has collected in all departments of the 
government, Among his works may be mentioned: 
“Dell Emigrazione Italiano all’ Estere, nei Suoi 
Rapporti coll’Agricoltura, coll’ Industria, e col Com- 
mercio,” Florence, 1871; “Delle Colonie e dell’ Emi- 
grazione degl’ Italiani all’ Estero nei Loro Rap- 
porti coll Agricoltura, Industria, e Commercio,” 4 
Milan, 1874; “ Statistica Hlustrata dell’Emigrazione.” 
Rome, 1878; “ L’Ttalia Vivente, Studi Sociali,” Milan, 
1878; “Il Risorgimerto Italiano: Biogratie Storico- 
Politiche dTllustri Italiani Contemporanei,” Milan, 
1884; “L'Italia all’ Estero,” Rome, 1887. The only 
work written by him relating directly to Jewish 
interests was his “Alcune Parole Sugli Israeliti 
in Occasione di un Decreto Pontifico d'‘Interdi- 
zione,” Florence, 1847. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: De Gubernatis, Dizionario Biogratico degli 

Scrittori Contemporanei, Florence, 1879. 

s. I. Fi. 


CARPI, SOLOMON JOSEPH B. NATHAN: 
Italian writer: born Dec. 27, 1715: lived at Leghorn. 
He engaged in the controversy with regard to Hay- 
yon’s book on Shabbethai Zebi, writing an attack 
on it, extracts from which were published by N, 
Brill under the title “Toledot Shabbethai Zebi,” 
Wilna, 1879. He also wrote a Hebrew elegy on 
the death of Emmanuel Ricchi, and corresponded 
with Joseph Ergas. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mortara, Indice; Briill’s Preface to Tolecdot 

Shabbethai Zebi. 

E. ¢. J. 


CARPI, ZACHARIAH: Italian revolutionist; 
born at Revere in the second half of the eighteenth 
century. After the French Revolution he appears 
to have engaged in plots against the Austrian gov- 
ernment of Lombardy; and on March 25, 1799, he 
and his son, Mordecai Moses Carpi, were imprisoned 
at Mantua. When Napoleon reached that city in 
1800, Carpi was sent to Venice, thence to Sabonico 
in Dalmatia, and through Carinthia and Croatia to 
Peterwardein in Hungary, where he was at last. re- 
Jeased by Napoleon’s orders (April 8, 1801). He 
wrote a narrative of his imprisonment under the 
title “Toledot Yizhak,” which was edited by G. 
Jaré, and published at Cracow in 1892. Besides 
this, he wrote an account of his early life, under the 
title “ Megillat Yizhak,” and a book for children en- 
titled “ Dibre Yizhak.” The last two works are no 
longer extant. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Jaré, in Preface to Toledot Yizghak. 

E. C. 


Carpzov 
Cartagena 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


592 


aaa a aa ST ag EE Daa aa I aa RSS aaa 


CARPZOV, JOHANN BENEDICT II.: Ger- 
man Christian theologian and Hebraist; born 1639; 
died 1699. He was a member of a family which, 
like the Buxtorfs, produced a long line of distin- 
guished scholars. Hestudied Hebrew under Johan- 
nes Buxtorf II. in Basel, was appointed professor of 
Oriental languages at Leipsic in 1668, and was pastor 
of St. Thomas’ 1679-99, and professor of theology 
1684-99. He edited in 1674 Schikhard’s “Jus Re- 
gium Hebreorum,” and, later, Tarnov’s “ Klcine 
Propheten,” Lightfoot’s “ Horse Heb. et Talmudice,” 
Lanckisch’s “Concordantiv Bibl. German.-Hebr. - 
Greece,” and in 1687 the “Pugio Fidei” of Ray- 
mundus Martini. To the last-named work he pre- 
fixed his own “ Introductioin Theologiam Judaicam.” 
Some dissertations by Carpzov were published (1699) 
by his brother Samuel Benedict; and in 1703 ap- 
peared his “Collegium Rabbinico-Biblicum in Libel- 
Jum Ruth.” Carpzov’s writings, useful when first 
published, have now no great value. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ersch and Gruber, Eneye. 8.v.; 
Hanck, Real-Encyc. s.v. 


Herzog- 
T. 


CARPZOV, JOHANN GOTTLOB: German 
Christian Old Testament scholar; born Sept. 26, 
1679, in Dresden; died April 27, 1767, at Litibeck; 
nephew of Johann Benedict JT., and son of Samuel 
Benedict; most famous and most important Biblical 
scholar of the Carpzov family. He was titular 
professor of Oriental languages at Leipsic 1719-30, 
and preacher and theologian till his death; like his 
uncle, he was an opponent of the pietists. His crit- 
ical works are: “Introductio in Libros Vet. Test.” 
1721. 4th ed. 1757; “Critica Sacra” (1. Original text, 
II. Versions, ITI. Reply to Whiston), 1728; “ Ap- 
paratus Historico-Criticus Antiquitatum et Codicis 
Sacri ect Gentis Hebrew,” 1748. The “Apparatus ” 
is in the form of annotations to Goodwin’s “ Moses 
and Aaron,” and appended to it are dissertations on 
“The Synagogue Treated with Honor” (a statement 
of what the Christian Church has rctained of ancient 
Jewish customs’, on “The Charitv System of the 
Ancient Jews” (discussion of the question whether 
Mpty in O. T. ever means “aims”), and others, 

Carpzov represents both an advance and a retro- 
gression in Biblical science—an advance in fulness 
of material and clearness of arrangement (his “In- 
troductio” is the first work that deserves the name), 
and a retrogression in critical analysis, for he held 
fast to the literal inspiration of the Hebrew text of 
the Old Testament and bitterly opposed the freer 
positions of Simon, Spinoza, and Clericus. His anti- 
quarian writings are still interesting and useful. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ersch and Gruber, Eneyklapddie. 


CARRASCO or CARASCON, JUAN: Apol- 
ogist; born at Madrid about 1670, of Marano parent- 
age. At first an Augustin friar at Burgos and an 
excellent preacher, he later, on a journey to Rome, 
became a convert to Judaism at Leghorn. He was 
familiar with the writings of Moses b. Nahman, 
Isaac Abravanel, and others, and while in Holland 
(probably at Amsterdam, where he was circum- 
cised) he wrote in Spanish his “Apology of Juda- 
ism.” This work was published at Nodriza (The 


! 
| 
| 





| died at Barbados, West Indies, May 5, 1777. 


Hague) in 1638, and was later incorporated in the 
“Coleccion de Reformadores Espafioles,” publisheg 
by Wiffen, who believed Carrasco to have been 
Protestant. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Biblioteca Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 35. 
Danielillo, Danielillo 6 Respuestas d los Cristianos, DP. 68 
ef seq., Brussels, 1868; Steinschneider, in Hebr. Bibl. x, 94. 
De Rossi, Bibl. Jud. Antichrist, p. 23, : 


G. M. XK. 


CARREGAL, HAYYIM MOSES BEN 
ABRAHAM: Rabbi and editor; flourished in Pa]. 
estine at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
but lived in Holland for a time, engaged in gather. 
ing funds for Jerusalem. His autobiography is to 
be found in the introduction to his edition of Mogeg 
ben Joseph Ventura’s mw jf’, Amsterdam, 1718, 
He was probably a son of Abraham Carregal of 
Cairo (c. 1650), and was perhaps the father of Raphael 
Hayyim Isaac Carrecan of Hebron, Palestine 
(1733-77), who visited Newport, R. L., in 1778. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: First. Bibl. Jud. ii. 171; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. 
Books Br it. Mus. pp. 167, 338: Roest, Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl, 
pp. 255, 577; G. A. Kohut, in Publications of Am. Jew. Hist. 
Soc. No. 3p . 123; idem, in Ezra Stiles and the Jews, p. 91, 
a York, F002. 

G. A. K. 


a ieaueatoneice Carigal, Carrigal, Ka- 
rigal, Karigel, Karigol, Kargol, Kragol), RA- 
PHAEL HAYYIM ISAAC: Itinerant rabbi and 
preacher ; born in Hebron, Palestine, Oct. 15, 1788, 
THe was 





Raphael Bayyim Isaac Carregal. 
(From « portrait ia the possession of Rev. J. L. Jenkins.) 


ordained rabbi at the age of seventeen, and in 1754 
set out on a series of voyages, usually remaining & 
brief time in the places he visited; e.g., two years in 
Constantinople (1754-56); two years in Curacoa, 
West Indies (1761-63); four years in Hebron (1764- 
1768); two and one-half years in London (1768-71): 





593 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Carpzov 
Cartagena 


ge eae a or ep ee ee ee ee ee a eee 


one year in Jamaica, West Indies (1771-72); and one 

ear inthe British colonies of North America (1772- 
1773). In 1773 (July 21) he sailed for Surinam, and 
in 1775 he was at Barbados. In London, according 
to his own statement, he was teacher at the Bet ha- 
Midrash, earning a salary of £100 sterling ($500) per 
annum. At Curacao he appears to have held the 
office of rabbi, though no record of his incumbency 
js to be found in local annals. He spent some time 
in New York and Philadelphia, and sojourned in 
Newport, R. I. (March-July, 1778), as the guest of 
the community. Though nowise connected with 
the congregation, he often officiated at divine 
gervice. 

While in Newport Carregal became an intimate 
friend of Ezra Stiles, afterward president of Yale 
College, New Haven, Conn. They studied together, 
discussing the exegesis and interpretation of Mes- 
gianic passages in the Bible, and corresponded, 
mostly in Hebrew. The letters still exist among the 
unpublished Stiles papers in the library of Yale 
University. Stiles, in his diary, recently published, 
speaks lovingly and admiringly of his Jewish friend ; 
gives a long account of his dress, manner, and per- 
sonality; and, in a series of entries occupying many 
pages of his day-book, draws up a complete memoir 
of his career in Newport. 

Carregal appears to have written only two bro- 
chures (both sermons), published in Newport in 1773. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abiel Holmes, Life of Ezra Stiles, pp. 168 et 
seq., Boston, 1798; Hannah Adams, History of the Jews, Lon- 
don ed., 1818, pp. 461-463; Publications of the Am. Jew. 
Hist. Soc. No. 3, pp. 122-125; No. 6, p. 79; No. 8 pp. 119-126; 
The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, edited by F. B. Dexter, 
j. 3854, 357-358, 362-363, 376-3877, 894-396 ef passim, New York, 
1901; G. A. Kohut, Ezra Stiles and the Jews, Index, s.v., 
PP. 145-146 (where all the passages are quoted), New York, 


EB... G. A. K. 


CARRETUS, LUDOVICUS: Convert to Chris- 
tiavnity ; lived at Florence in the middle of the six- 
teenth century. He was anative of France and was 
originally called “Todros Cohen.” As the physi- 
cian of a Spanish duke, he was with the imperial 
troops who besieged Florence in 1580. Later, at the 
age of fifty, he embraced Christianity at Genoa. 
Carretus is the author of “Mar’ot Elohim; Liber 
Visorum Divinorum,” in which he relates the his- 
tory of his conversion and quotes passages from the 
Bible and cabalistic writings in favor of Christianity. 
The work, published at Paris in 1553, was trans- 
lated into Latin by Angelo Canini (Florence, 1554) 
under the title “Epistola Ludovici Carreti ad 
Judeos, Que Inscribitur Liber Visorum Divino- 
rum,” etc. Another Latin translation of it was 
made by Hermann Germberg, and is inserted in 
- Johannes Buxtorf’s “Synagoga Judaica.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i., No. 1841; Fr. Delitzsch, 
Schilderungen, p. 290; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 817 ; 
First, Bibl. Jud. i. 146. 

G. I. Br. 


CARRIAGE. See CHARIOT. 
CARRIERA. See GHETrTo. 


CARRION DE LOS CONDES: Ancient city 
of Castile inhabited by Jews at an early date. Al- 
though superior to the Christians both in numbers 
and in property, they submitted in 1126 to the vic- 
torious king Alphonso VI., who showed himself 

ITI.—38 


favorably disposed toward them. In 1160 many of 
them settled in the neighboring city of Palencia. 
The Jewish community of Carrion was so large in 
1290 that it paid 92,000 maravedis in taxes, not 
much less than the amount paid by the community 
of Burgos. In Carrion, as elsewhere, the Jews were 
persecuted. Delegates from the city appeared be- 
fore King Alphonso of Castile (probably Alphonso 
the Wise), informing him that the Christians of the 
city, because of a groundless suspicion, had risen 
against the Jews and killed twoof them; that there- 
upon the Jews had sought refuge in the palace of 
the prince, who was absent at the time, and, when 
the Christians followed in pursuit, had escaped 
through a secret door leading into the court, and 
locked their pursuers in. The king ordered a strict 
investigation of the matter, hanged ten of the ring- 
leaders, and imprisoned all others who had taken 
part in the disturbance. At the time of the great 
persecution in 1891, most of the Jews of Carrion 
were baptized. 

Carrion is the birthplace of the first Spanish- 
Jewish poet, Don Santob, commonly called Don 
SANTOB DE CARRION. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Alador de los Rios, Historia de los Judios 
de Espafia, i. 191, 342; idem, Shebet Yehudah, pp. 88, 119. 


G. M. K. 

CARRION, SANTOB DE. See SANTOB DE 
CARRION. 

CARSONO, CORSONO, or CARSI, JACOB 
(or Jacob ben Abraham Isaac): Spanish astron- 
omer of the fourteenth century. He was commis- 
sioned by King Pedro IV. of Aragon to translate 
from Catalonian into Hebrew the astronomical 
tables known as “The Tables of Don Pedro,” which, 
at Don Pedro’s command, had been begun by Maes- 
tre Piero Gilebert, and finished by Gilebert’s pupil, 
Dalmacio de Planis. About 1876 Carsono wrote at 
Seville a treatise in Arabic on the astrolabe. This 
he himself translated into Hebrew at Barcelona in 
13878. Hayyim ibn Musaascribes cabalistic miracles 
to Carsono. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 596, 639 ; 
idem, Notice sur les Tables Astronomiques Attribuées a 
Pierre IIT. @ Aragon, Rome, 1881. 

G. M. K. 

CART: A translation of mboy (‘agalah). The 
cart. was generally drawn by two oxen, or some- 
times by cows, harnessed with cords (Isa. v. 18). It 
was used to convey the sacred utensils of the taber- 
nacle (Num. vii. 8-8). The Philistines returned the 
Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites on a cart drawn 
by two kine (I Sam. vi. 7-11). Carts were also, but 
not usually, used to convey persons from place to 
place (Gen. xlvi. 5). Owing to the bad state in 
which many of the roads were kept, together with 
the fact that no springs were used in the con- 
struction of carts, they traveled very unsteadily and 
at times threatened to upset; hence Amos ii. 18. 
Compare CHARIOT. 

E. G. H. G. B. L. 


CARTAGENA ((3:°07)): Ancient city on the 
eastern coast of the Spanish province of Murcia, re- 
ferred to in the Talmud. The Cartagena mentioned 
in Yer. Sheb. vi., beginning, identified in this pas- 
sage with Spain, is certainly identical with the 


Carthage 
Carvallo 


Spanish Cartagena. Jews settled here at an early 
date. At the fourth Council of Cartagena (486) it 
was decreed: “Ut episcopus nullum prohibeat in- 
gredi ecclesiam et audire verbum Dei, sive gertilem 
sive... Judxum usque ad missam catechumeno- 
rum.” Many of the Jews expelled from Spain took 
ship at Cartagena, as well as at Cadiz; and many 
Maranos also settled in the former city, where they 


fe)l into the hands of the Inquisition. 
J. M. K. 


CARTHAGE: Ancient city and republic in 
northern Africa; of special interest to Jews on ac- 
count of the Phenico-Semitic origin of its inhabit- 
ants, its government under the suffetes, recalling the 
“shofetim ” (judges) among the Hebrews, and on 
account of the religion of the inhabitants. The city, 
called Ryn nap (“ New City ”) in native inscriptions 
(Lidzbarski, “ Nordsemitische Epigraphik,” i. 365), 
is mentioned in Jewish writings since Talmudic times 
only as 33 Ip (“ Karthigini”), aname equivalent to 
the Byzantine form Kap@ayévy and in agreement with 
the Syriac (Payne Smith, “Thes. Syr.” cols, 3744, 
3765), the Greek form Kapy7dov being found with the 
latter. Notwithstanding the peculiar form, perhaps 
chosen with reference to the founder Dido ("Aap + 
yevg, “ Woman-City ”), the Hebrew word certainly 
designates Carthage in Africa, not Cartagena in 
Spain. Later Jewish chronicies, which make the 
founding of Carthage contemporaneous with David, 
use the variants “ Kartagena” (Yuhasin, ed. London, 
286b), “ Kartigini” (with p instead of n, as sometimes 
even in the Talmud; David Gans to the year 3882), 
“Kartini,” and “Kartigni” (“Seder ha-Dorot,” s.. 
“ David ”), sometimes adding the curious remark that 
the Talmud refers to two cities of Carthage, which 
is, however, an erroneous conclusion. 

Josephus Flavius writes Kapy7dav like the Greeks. 
He says it is recorded in the public documents of 
Tyre that King Solomon built the Temple at Jeru- 

salem 143 years and eight months be- 
Josephus. fore the Tyrians founded Carthage 
(“Contra Ap.” i, § 17), Josephus in- 
tends to prove by this statement the antiquity of the 
Jewish people, drawing the same conclusions from 
Menander’s account of the reign of Hiram, accord- 
ing to which Hiram came to the throne 155 years and 
eight months before the founding of Carthage, and 
the Temple was built in the twelfth year of his reign 
(ib. 31.3 18). Through this computation Josephus 
refutes the grammarian Apion, who placed the ex- 
odus from Egypt at the time that the Phenicians 
founded Carthage (7. ii. 8 2). The Maccabean 
Judah formed a treaty with the Romans for the rea- 
son, among others, that he had heard that the 
Romans had vanquished the Carthaginians (“ Ant.” 
xi. 10, § 6; compare “B. J.” i. 16, § 4; vi. 6, § 2). 
Josephus does not say that any Jews lived at 
Carthage. 

Although Carthage is not mentioned in the Bible, 
modern scholars are inclined to identify the Biblical 
TARSHISH with Carthage, since it is thus translated 
in the Septuagint, the Targum, and the Vulgate, 
Ezek. xxvii. 12. A unique statement in the Tal- 
mud, based probably on the legend of the emigra- 


tion of the Girgashbites, identifies Kenizzi (Gen. xv. | 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


594 


19) with Carthage (Yer. Sheb. 86b; Yer. Kid. 64q. 
Gen. R. xliv. 23). Buta wide-spread rabbinical jeg. 
end identifies the land of the Amazong 

In with Carthage (Lev. R. xxvii, 1), op 


the Bible with Africa (Tamid 32b), in both in. 
andthe stances agreeing with classical traqj. 
Talmud. tion. Carthage was considered one of 


the four largest cities of the Roman ey. 

pire (Sifre, Num. 131; p. 47b, ed. Friedmann), Ay 
amora of the third century has the following eur. 
ous sentence: “From Tyrus to Carthage Israel ang 
his ‘ Father in heaven’ are known; from Tyrusg to 
the west and from Carthage to the east Israel ang 
his God are not known” (Men. 110a); whichis prop. 
ably meant to indicate the extent of the Semitic race. 
The fact that the 'Talmud mentions the Cartha. 
ginian teachers of the Law, R. Abba, R. Isaac, ang 
R. Hana, proves that Jews were living 

Jewsin in that city, although Frankel, with. 
Carthage. out reason, takes it to meanan Arme. 
nian city (“Mebo,” pp. 6b, 66a), ang 

Kohut a Spanish city (““Aruch Completum,” vij, 

220), It is evident from the introduction to the 

work “ Adversum Judeos,” ascribed to Tertullian, 

that Jews were living in Carthage; and they are 
found still further west (Schiirer, “Gesch.” 3d ed., 
iti. 26, note 64). Miinter (“ Primordia Eccl. Afric,” 

p. 165, Copenhagen, 1829) mentions a certain R, 

Jisschak (the one in the Talmud’). The Jews of 

Africa (see AFRICA) are often referred to in the cor- 

respoudence between Jeromeand Augustine; andin 

recent times there has been found in Gamart, near 
the city of Carthage, a great Jewish necropolis with 
many inscriptions in Latin (see CarAcomMBs). From 
the conquest of Carthage by the Vandals (489) to 

the subjection of the latter by the Byzantines (533), 

the holy vessels from the Temple of Jerusalem, that 

had been taken from Rome, were kept in Carthage 

(Evagrius, “Scholasticus,” Fragmentiv. p., 17; Pro- 

copius, “Bellum Vand.” ii. § 9). The Jews then 

passed under the rule of Justinian, who instructed 

Solomon, the governor of Africa, to transform the 

synagogues as well as the ehurches of the Arians 

and the Donatists into orthodox churches (Novella, 

No. 87). Solomon, however, was soon compelled to 

flee from the rebellious Africans. 

In 692 the city was wrested from the Christians by 

Hasan, a general of the calif ‘Abd al-Malik, and 

in 698 the Greeks were permanently 

Under driven from Carthage and Africa by 
the Arabs. Musa (Weil, “Gesch. der Chalifen,” i. 
478). Previous to this the Arabs had 

founded the city Kairwan, which became as impor- 
tant to the Jews as Carthage had been. Following 

Arabic writers, Parhi defined the situation of Car- 

thage as 36° latitude by 35° longitude (“ Kaftor wa- 

Ferah,” ed. Edelmann, 26b). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Movers, Phonicier, ii. part i. 142, 144, 350; Bott- 
ger, Lexikon zu den Schriften des Flavius Josephus, Pp. 
79; Neubauer, G. T. p. 411; Krauss, Lehnworter, ii. 3125 
Delattre, Gamart oula Nécropole Juive de Carthage, Lyon 
1895; Rev. Et. Jwives, xliv. 2-28. K 

G. S. KR. 


CARTHAGENA. See Soutn AMERIC\. 


CARTHAGENA, DON ALFONSO DE: 
Convert to Christianity; son of Paul of Burgos; died 


595 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Carthage 
Carvallo 


——— eee LL gS as 


at Burgos in 1456. He was baptized when quite 
young by his father, and became archdeacon of 
Compostella. Being equally distinguished as states- 
man and as priest, he succeeded his father in the 
pishopric of Burgos. In 1431 he was the represent- 
ative of Castile at the Council of Basel. Pope Pius 
[J., in his memoirs, called him “an ornament to 
the prelacy.” Pope Eugenius IV., learning that the 
pishop of Burgos was about to visit Rome, declared 
jn full conclave that “in the presence of such a man 
ne felt ashamed to be seated in St. Peter’s chair.” 

Gritz ascribes to the influence exercised by 
Carthagena over Eugenius IY. the latter’s sudden 
change of attitude toward the Jews. Carthagena 
alone, says Gritz, could have been the author of 
the complaints against the pride and arrogance of the 
Castilian Jews, which induced the pope to issue the 
pull of 1442, withdrawing the privileges granted to 
them by former popes. Among Carthagena’s wri- 
tings on history, morals, and other subjects, there is 
a commentary on the twenty-sixth Psalm. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Da Costa, Israel and the Gentiles, pp. 323 et 
seq.; Jécher, Allg. Gelehrten-Lexikon, 8.v.; Gratz, Gesch. 


. der Juden, viii. 144 et seq. 


G. I. Br. 
CARTOGRAPHY. Sce CHARTOGRAPHY. 


CARVAJAL, ANTONIO FERNANDEZ: 
Portuguese merchant, and first endenizened English 
Jew; born about 1590, probably at Fundéo, Por- 
tugal; died in London Nov. 10, 1659. He appears 
to have left Fundao on account of the persecution 
of the Inquisition, and, proceeding to the Canary 
Islands, acquired much property there, and made 
many commercial connections which led him (about 
1635) to London, where he settled in Leadenhall 
street. In 1649 the council of state appointed him 
one among the five persons who received the 
army contract for corn. In 16538 Carvajal was re- 
ported as owning a number of ships trading to the 
East and West Indies, to Brazil, and to the Levant. 
He dealt inall kinds of merchandise, including gun- 
powder, wine, hides, pictures, cochineal, and espe- 
cially corn and silver, and is reported to have 
brought to England, on the average, £100,000 worth 
of silver per annum. 

In the early days of his residence in England, Car- 
vajal used to attend mass at the Spanish ambassa- 
dor’s chapel, and in 1645 was informed against for 
not attending church; but the House of Lords, on 
the petition of several leading London merchants, 
quashed the proceedings. In 1650, when war broke 
out with Portugal, Carvajat's ships were especially 
exempted from seizure, thongh he was nominally 
a Portuguese subject. In 1655 he and his two sons 
were granted denizenship as English subjects (the 
patent being dated Aug. 17 of that year); and when 
the war with Spain broke out in the following 
year, his property in the Canaries was liable to seiz- 
ure, as he was a British subject. Cromwell made ar- 
rangements by which Carvajal’s goods were trans- 
ported from the Canaries in an English ship which 
passed under Dutch colors. : 

When Manasseh ben Israel came to England in 
1655 to petition Parliament for the return of the 
Jews to England, Carvajal, though his own position 


was secured, associated himself with the petition; 
and he was one of the three persons in whose 
names the first Jewish burial-ground was ac- 
quired after the RoBLEs case had forced the Jews 
in England to acknowledge their creed. Carvajal, 
besides advancing money to Parliament on coch- 
ineal, had been of service to Cromwell in obtaining 
information as to the Royalists’ doings in Holland 
(1656). One of his servants, Somers, alias Butler, 
and also a relative, Alonzo di Fonseca Meza, acted as 
intelligencers for Cromwell in Tolland, and reported 
about Royalist levies, finances, and spies, and the 
relations between Charles IT. and Spain. It was to 
Carvajal that Cromwell gave the assurance of the 
right of Jews to remainin England. Under date of 
Feb. 4, 1657, Burton, in his diary, states: “The 
Jews, those able and general intelligencers whose 
intercourse with the Continent Croniwell had before 
turned to profitable account, he now conciliated by 
a seasonable benefaction to their principal agent 
[Carvajal] resident in England.” In 1648 a cargo 
of logwood belonging to Carvajal was seized by 
the customs officers. He assembled his servants and 
friends, broke open the government warehouses, 
and carried off his merchandise. The litigation to 
which this gave rise was only interrupted by Carva- 
jal’s death. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Wolf, The First English Jew, in Trans. 
actions of the Historical Society of England, ii. 14-163 


epitaph given by D. Kaufmann, in Jew. Quart. Rev. i. 92-93. 
J. 


CARVALHO (CARVALLO), MORDECAI 
BARUCH: A wealthy Tunisian merchant: died 
Jan., 1785, at an advanced age. He devoted part 
of his time to rabbinical studies, and in 1752 suc- 
ceeded his teacher, Isaac Lumbroso, whose best 
pupil he was, as rabbi of the Leghorn congregation 
of Tunis. Throughout the country he enjoyed 
a high reputation as a rabbinical authority. His 
publications are: “To'afot Re’em” (The Strength of 
a Unicorn), commentary on the work of Elijah Miz- 
rahi (Leghorn, 1761); and “Mira Dakya” (Pure 
Myrrh), commentary and miscellanies on various 
tracts of the Babylonian Talmud, and on Maimon- 
ides’ Yad ha-Hazakah (Leghorn, 1792). He also 
published the uncompleted work of his son, Isaac 
Carvalho, who died January, 1759, at the age of 
twenty-eight. This work, entitled “Sefer ha- 
Zikronot we-Hayye Yizhak ” (Book of Records, and 
the Life of Isaac), and published together with the 
elder Carvalho’s “ To‘afot Re’em,” contains a com- 
mentary on the works of Mizrahi, miscellanies on 
various tracts of the Talmud, and four funeral 
orations. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Cazés, Notes Bibliographiques sur la 

Littérature Juive-Tunisienne, etc., pp. 77 et sey., Se ie 

D. hee 


CARVALLO, JULES: French engineer; born 
at Talence, Gironde, France, in 1820. After having 
graduated with the highest honors at the Ecole 
Polytechnique and Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, he 
was attached as engineer to the Southern Railroad; 
and under his direction the lines from Tech to Riv- 
esaltes and from Tet to Perpignan were built, 
including the remarkable viaduct of Bouzanne, 


Casablanca 
Cashmore 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


596 


re a 


Afterward Carvallo became director of the work of 
canalizing the Ebro (Spain); and he established in 
the delta of that river a system of irrigation which 
permitted the cultivation of enormous tracts of land 
hitherto unproductive. From Spain Carvallo went 
to Italy, where he directed the works of the Roman 
railroads. On his return to Spain he was entrusted 
with the building of the line from Pampeluna to 
Saragossa, and later became the chief engineer of a 
Spanish water company. 

Carvallo was the author of many dissertations 
printed in the “Comptes-Rendus de l’ Académie des 
Sciences” and in many other scientific publications. 
Among his numerous contributions the most note- 
worthy were those on the piling up and solidifica- 
tion of embankments; on the formula of the maxi- 
mum of stability and minimum of expense in public 
works; on the laws of oscillation of chain bridges, 
etc. 

Amid his numerous works, Carvallo found time 
to devote himself to Jewish interests. He was one 
of the founders of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, 
and for many years served on the executive com- 
mittee of that institution. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel, 

xvi., Supplement, p. 470. 


g. I. Br. 


CASABLANCA (Spanish), or BET AL 
ABYAD (Arabic): Port of Morocco, Africa, on the 
Atlantic ocean. The Jewish community, numbering 
6,000, in a total population of 20,000 inhabitants, is 
of recent date. The majority of its members are 
engaged in commerce in grain, spices, etc.; there 
are also a few tinsmiths. The community is gov- 
erned bya council of administration, which aids the 
poor and subsidizes the schools with the revenues 
from the meat-tax, and with the voluntary contri- 
butions of its members. Besides the two schools 
supported by the Alliance Israélite Universelle, with 
295 boys and 161 girls respectively, Casablanca has 
eight Talmud-Torahs with 500 pupils. 

Casablanca possesses eleven synagogues, one of 
which, a synagogue for the poor, was erected 
about 1750, and another, the Synagogue Eliaou, 
about 1800. The chief rabbis of Casablanca since 
1837 have been: Hayyim Elmalch (d. 1857); Joseph 
Mehalem (d. 1867); David Quaknine (d. 1878); 
Messaoud Nahmias (d. 1876); Judah Ohama (d. 
1882); and, finally, Isaac Marasch still living, 
1902). 

There are three Jewish charitable and_ philan- 
thropic societies, the Hebrat Lomede ha-Zohar, the 
Hebrat Eliyahu ha-Nabi, and the Hebrat Tehillim. 
In the neighborhood of Casablanca are three groups 
of Jews; viz., Ouled-Hriss (numbering 50); Stal 
(1,000); and Mzab (1,000). 


Poke Eas Bulletin de Vv Alliance Israélite Universelle, 
D. M. FR. 


CASAL MAGGIORE: Town in Italy, about 
twenty-two miles east-southeast of Cremona. In 
Sept., 1485, Joshua Solomon and Moses, sons of Israel 
Nathan of Soncino, began to print a large Mahzor 
according to the Roman ritual. In the following 
year they erected a printing-establishment in the 


4 


neighboring town of Casal Maggiore, where the 

completed the second part of the book, which ¢op. 
tains 820 folio leaves. The Mahzor, of which y 
number of copies were printed on parchment, wag 
the only work printed at Casal Maggiore. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: De Rossi, Annales Hebrwo-Typographici, Dp 
47; Steinschneider and Cassel, in Ersch and Gruber, Eneye. 
section ii., part 28, p. 35; Steinschneider, Cat. Boul. No. 25%6. 
Freimann, Ueber Hebriiische Incunabeln, Leipsic, 1902,’ 


J. A. BF. 


CASE, CASA, or KAZA, JOSEPH § 
ABRAHAM: One of the foremost Polish rabbhjg 
and Talmudists of the end of the sixteenth century 
and the beginning of the seventeenth; died at Posen 
about 1610. Tis name, “Case” (Xp) or “ Kaza” 
(NINP) is most probably only a variant of the wel]. 
known surname “Cases.” This would argue for 
Italian descent; but it does not agree with the fact 
that Case called himself “Shapiro,” as Bloch hag 
conclusively proved. 

After serving as chief rabbi of Lemberg, Case 
becaine city rabbi of Posen, while Mordecai pb, 
Abraham Jafe was the district rabbi of Greater 
Poland. Although Case apparently left no wri- 
tings, he was one of the first Talmudic authorities 
of his time, as may be seen from Benjamin Aaron 
Solnik’s responsum No. 22, and Meir b. Gedaliah 
of Lublin’s responsum No. 88. Case’s son Solomon 
(d. Jan. 2, 1612, at Lemberg) was also an eminent 
Talmudist. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bloch, in Ha-Eshkol, i. 151-154; Buber, An- 
she Shem, Nos. 215, 508; Kohen Zedek, Liwyat Hen (Supple- 
ment to vol. v. of Ozar ha-Sifrut), p. 36. 

L. G. 


CASES or CAZES: Jewish Italian family that 
included among its members rabbis, physicians, and 
scholars. The more numerous branch of the family 
lived in Mantua; some lived in Ferrara; some emi- 
grated to Turkey and Palestine (see Zunz, in Ben- 
jacob’s edition of Dei Rossi’s “ Meor ‘Enayim,” iv. 
80). Benjamin Cazes, a contemporary of Azulai, 
was rabbi of Safed and author of a commentary on 
Moses of Coucy’s “Codex SeMaG,” with the title 
“Megillat Sefer” (Constantinople, 1750). Of the 
Mantuan branch the following are the most dis- 
tinguished : 


Aaron b. Joseph Baruch Cazes: Scholar and 
physician; took his degree on Aug. 8, 1751; died 
1767. A. R. 


Israel Gedaliah (Claudio) Cazes: Rabbi at 
Mantua; born there June 19, 1794; died there Jan. 
1,1841. Like his fatherand grandfather, he attained 
proficiency both in rabbinical literature and in med- 
icine. In 1884 he succeeded his father in the rab- 
binate, which was transmitted from father to son 
in the Cazes family. In addition to the duties of 
the rabbinate, Cazes practised medicine with great 
success. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jost, Israelitische Annalen, 1841, p. 1443 
Mortara, Indice Alfabetico, p. 11. LB 
R. 


Israel Gedaliah ben Joseph Baruch Cazes: 
Italian physician and chief rabbi at Mantua; died 
Jan. 21,1798. He enjoyed a threefold reputation a8 
physician, as an acute Talmudist of wide reading, and 


597 


ees eeee 
as preacher. He wrote “Tefillot Libene Yisrael K. 
K. Mantova” (Prayers of the Israelites of the Holy 
Congregation of Mantua), being prayers for the vic- 
tory of King Joseph I.’s army, written in Hebrew 
and translated into Italian (Mantua, 1788). He is 
said to have been a disciple of the abbé Canini, whose 
methods of medical treatment he successfully ap- 
plied after having taken his degree in 1754. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p. 160; 
Mortara, Indice Alfabetico, p. 10; Steinschneider, in Mo- 
natsschrift, 1900, p. 84. 

I. BER. 


Jacob b. Israel Cases Gedaliah I.: Physician, 
eighteenth to nineteenth century (Mortara, “Indice 
Alfabetico,” p. 10). A. R. 

Joseph Baruch ben Moses Cazes: Italian 
Talmudist, rabbi, and physician; died between 1716 
and 1726 at Mantua, his native place. He was 
famous both as physician and as Talmudist. His 
responsa, Which Nepi declares brilliant, are quoted 
in the works of his contemporaries, among others in 
Isaac Lampronti’s “ Pahad Yizhak” (letter x, fol. 79g, 
102a; 3, fol. 60b; 3, fol. 63g e¢ seg.; p, fol. 127a). 
His Talmudic method of teaching is entirely logical. 
He was averse to useless discussions (letter 3, fol. 
60b). Although he believed in the strict observance 
of all the Talmudic precepts, he advocated depar- 
tures from the Law in certain cases, in order that 
religion might not become a burden to the people 
(letter &, fol. 79g; letter 3, fol. 63g and 66b); or 
when the welfare of individuals was endangered 
(letter &, fol. 103g). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, pp, 
129-254. The date of his death may be gathered from Pahad 
Yizhak, letter x, fol. 79g, and 3, fol. 42a. 

J. BER. 


Joseph Samuel b. Israel Gedaliah I. Cases: 
Scholar and physician; died 1775 (Mortara, “ Indice 
Alfabetico,” p. 10). 

Luliane (Lelio) Shalom b. Samuel Cases: 
Seventeenth century; physician and scholar; took 
his degree Jan. 12, 1622. Heisthe author of “ Derek 
Yesharah” (The Straight Path); a treatise on com- 
munal conduct in order to avoid dissensions. Zunz 
called this work “the swan-song of the Mantuan 
press.” It was published in 1626 by Judah Samuel 
Perugia & Son. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mortara, Indice Alfabetieco, p. 11; Zunz, Z. 

G. p. 260 AR 


Moses ben Samuel Cazes: Italian Talmudist 
and physician; took his degree on Jan. 11, 1586; 
lived in the second half of the sixteenth century 
and the first quarter of the seventeenth at Mantua, 
where he was rabbi and director of a yeshibah. He 
was a pupil of the celebrated cabalist Menahem 
Azariah di Fano. Cazes enjoyed a more than ordi- 
hary reputation among his contemporaries; a gifted 
writer uttering the following opinion of him: “In 
the synagogues and schoolhouses of our time there 
is no one toequal him in wisdom and understanding, 
in counsel and courage, in knowledge and piety” 
(Abraham de Portaleone, “Shilte ha-Gibborim,” p. 
24d). Cazes was the author of the following works: 
(1) “ Notes on Alfasi”; (2) Commentary on the Fifth 
and Sixth Orders of the Mishnah ; (3) “ Contributions 
to the Hermeneutics of the Talmud.” They were 
never published. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Casablanca 
Cashmore 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 148; Nepi-Ghi- 
rondi, Zoledot Gedole Yisrael, pp. 254, 255; Mortara, Jndice 
Alfabetico, p. 11; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, pp. 60, 180 
(Nos. 387 and 406); Furst, Bidl. Jud. i. 147 (mentions other 
works of Cazes, but without giving the place where they are 
to be found in M8.); Zunz, in Benjacob’s edition of Dei Rossi's 
Meor ‘Enayim, iii. 30. 

I. BER. 


Samuel b. Moses Cases: Scholar of the sixteenth 
century. He edited Samuel Zarza’s’s “ Mekor Hay- 
yim” (Dn Np), Mantua, 1559; and is mentioned by 
Azariah dei Rossi (“Meor ‘Enayim,” i. 80; ii. 221) 
as a possessor of a manuscript of the Targum 
of Jonathan ben Uzziel (Zunz, in Benjacob’s edi- 
tion of De Rossi’s “ Meor ‘Enayim,” iii. 29-30). 

The following two belonged to the Ferrara branch 
of the Cases family: 


Hananiah b. Menahem Cases: Physician and 
rabbi of Florence; lived at the end of the seven- 
teenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries. 
Author of (4) “Kin’at Soferim” (Zeal of Writers), 
written in defense of the “Sefer ha-Mizwot” of Mai- 
monides against the attacks of Nahmanides (Leg- 
horn, 1740, reprinted in the Warsaw edition of the 
“Sefer ha-Mizwot”); (2) an epistle (Iggeret) to R. 
Nehemiah b. Baruch concerning musical harmony 
in the chanting of the priestly benediction (“ Birkat 
Kohanim”) which is included in R. Nehemiah’s 
“ Meziz u-Meliz ” (pry y"S1d), Venice, 1715; and (8) 
“ok le Yisrael” (Statute unto Israel), glosses and 
noteson Hezekiah di Silva’s “ Peri Hadash” on the 
“ Yoreh De‘ah ” (Leghorn, 1740). Responsa of Cases 
may be found in the works of his contemporaries, 
among others in I. Lampronti’s “ Pahad Yizhak,” 
letter §, fol. 102b, and n, fol. 109b). A. R. 


Menahem ben Elhanan Cazes: Italian Tal- 
mudist; born about the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century; clied after 1664. He was rabbi. 
at Modena (1642) and Ferrara (1655). Azulai saw 
two of his manuscript works: (1) “Shelom ha-Ba-~ 
yit” (The Peace of the House), a commentary om 
Solomon ibn Aderet’s “ Torat ha-Bayit ” and Aaron: 
ha-Levi’s “ Bedek ha-Bayit”; (2) and “ Hiddushim” 
(novelle) on the treatise “Shabbat.” Ghirondi had. 
in his possession a manuscript of Cazes containing: 
halakic decisions. A responsum by Cazes, which. 
shows his wide range of Talmudic learning, has been: 
published in Samuel Aboab’s “Debar Shemuel” 
(Venice, 1702, No. 79). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ii. 140; Nepi-Ghi- 

rondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, p. 283; Mortara, Indice Alfa- 


hetico, p. 11; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 180; Samuel 
Aboab, Debar Shemuel, No. 79. 
I. BEr. 


L. G. 

CASHMORE, MICHAEL: Australian com- 
munal worker; born in 1814; died at South Melbourne 
Oct. 17, 1886. He was one of the oldest colonists 
in Victoria, having arrived in Melbourne in 1838, 
after astay of two years atSydney. Cashmore was 
president of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation 


and one of the trustees of the Bourke street syna- 


gogue. He was the first Jewish member of the city 
council, and the first Jewish magistrate appointed. 
in thecolony. For seventeen years he held the posi- 
tion of inspector of meat markets. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish World, Dec., 1886, 
J. G. L. 


Casimir II. 
Caslari 


CASIMIR II., THE JUST: King of Poland; 
born 1138; ascended the throne on the deposition of 
his brother Mreczysuaw III., 1177; died 1194. He 
was one of the most amiable monarchs that ever 
ruled in Poland, a lover of peace, and a friend of the 
people. He protected the Jews from the oppression 
and extortions of the nobles, and by favorable legis- 
lation in the Diet of Leczyc, 1180, paved the way 
for the famous privileges granted to the Jews of 
Poland in 1264 by Duke Boleslaw of Kalisez. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kraushar, Historya Zydéw w Polsce, i. 66, 


Warsaw. 1865; Sternberg,’Gesch. der Juden in Polen, p. 20, 
Leipsic, 1878, 
H. R. 


CASIMIR III., THE GREAT (Polish, Kazi- 
mierz): King of Poland; born 1809; succeeded 18338; 
died in Cracow Nov. 5, 13870. He was a peaceful 
ruler, and, by his salutary reforms, strengthened his 
reign and developed trade and industry. On Oct. 
9, 1334, he confirmed the privileges granted to the 
Jews in 1264 by Boleslaw the Pious. He was favor- 
ably disposed toward the Jews, who during his reign 
made themselves conspicuous in commerce, handi- 
crafts, and agriculture. Under penalty of death he 
prohibited the kidnaping of Jewish children for the 
purpose of baptizing them, and inflicted heavy pun- 
ishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. 

At the Diet of Wislica, March 11, 1847, he intro- 
duced salutary legal reforms in the jurisprudence of 
his country; he sanctioned a code of laws for Great 
and Little Poland, which gained for him the title of 
“the Polish Justinian ”; and he also limited the rate 
of interest charged by Jewish money-lenders to 
Christians to 84 percent per annum. This measure 
must not be ascribed to his animosity against the 
Jews, but should rather be considered as a wise act 
tending to the welfare of the country as well as of 
the Jews. 

The Inquisition, introduced in Poland under Vla- 
dislav Lokietek, remained impotent, in spite of all 

the intrigues of the lowerclergy. On 
Legislative one occasion the Jews were accused of 
En- having murdered a Christian child, 
actments. found on the road to the Lobsow 
wood, afew miles distant from Cracow 
(1347); but a public investigation, conducted under 
an order of the king by the state chancellor Jacob 
of Melchtin in conjunction with the humane priest 
Prandola (who shared the tolerant views of Casimir), 
proved their innocence. The consequence was that 
Casimir ordered the publication, in the form of an 
edict, of paragraph 31 of BoLEsLAw’s statute, refu- 
ting the blood accusation and defining the punish- 
ment for such a charge when not sustained by 
proofs. In commemoration of this event Casimir 
founded a chapel at Cracow. 

Casimir. appears to have protected the Jews 
against outbreaks of the mob in 1848, for the ground- 
less accusation of the poisoning of wells by the 
Jews had traveled from Germany into Poland 
aud had roused the populace against the latter. 
Massacres occurred in Kaliscz, Cracow, Glogau, and 
other cities, especially those on the German frontier. 
According to Matteo Villani (“Istorie,” p. 622, Milan, 
1729), 10,000 Jews were killed in 1848 in Poland. 

In 1356 Casimir became infatuated with a beautiful 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 598 


Jewess, named Esther (Esterka), a tailor’s daughter of 
Opoczno. She bore him two sons (Niemerz ang 
Pelka)and one daughter (not two, as stated by Gritz), 
The sons were brought up in the Christian religion. 
the daughter, in the Jewish. Many Polish noble 

families, as the Lubienski, Niemir, 


Esterka Niemiryez, Niemirowski, claim to be 
the their descendants. Polish historiang 
Jewess. ascribe the special favors and _privj- 


leges bestowed on the Jews by Casj. 
mir to his love for Esther; but they are not correct 
in this ascription, since the privileges in question 
were confirmed by Casimir in 1834, twenty-two 
years before his relations with Esther. Czackj 
sees the origin of these favors in the king’s sense of 
righteousness and justice. Czacki writes: “It jg 
not known that the king granted to the Jews other 
privileges and rights owing, as Jan Dlugogz thinks, 
to his affection for Esterka. Envy and hatred sur. 
named this benefactor of the people ‘ Ahasuerus,’ 

Poland, being a fertile but sparsely populated coun- 

try, was in want of trade and industries. The Jews, 

who during the pestilence of 1360 fled from Ger- 
many, migrated to Poland with their wealth. It 
may also with certainty be admitted that foreign 

Jews provided Casimir with large sums of money, 

thus enabling him to found new cities and to de- 

velop many old ones.” 

Cracow was in Casimir’s time one of the Hanse 
towns in alliance with forty other cities in Europe. 
So full of gratitude to Casimir were the Jews, that at 
the marriage of Casimir’s granddaughter Elizabeth, 
Wierzynek, a Jewish merchant of Cracow, requested 
from the king the honor of being allowed to give 
the young bride a wedding present of 100,000 florins 
in gold, an immense sum at that time and one equal 
to her dowry from her grandfather. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, vii. 379; Kraus- 
har, Historya Zydow w Polsce, i, 1389 et seqg., Warsaw, 1865; 
J. Lelevel, Histoire de Poloyne, i. 78 et seq., Paris, 1844; 
Malte-Brun, Tableau dela Pologne, ed. Leonard Chodzko, i. 
108, Paris, 1880; Sternberg, Gesch. der Jucden in Polen, 
pp. 57 et seq., Leipsic, 1878; V. Krasinski, Poland, p. 8, Lon- 
don, 1855 ; Isidore Loeb, in Rev. Etudes Juives, ce 


CASIMIR IV., JAGELLON: Grand duke of 
Lithuania and king of Poland; boru 1427; died at 
Grodno 1492. He succeeded to the grand ducliy in 
1440, and followed his brother Ladislaus III. on the 
throne of Poland in 1447. For the greater part of 
his reign, when the influence of the clergy was less- 
ened by the greater aggressiveness of the executive 
power, the Jews of Poland and Lithuania enjoyed 
happy days, as in the times of Casimir the Great. 
Casimir continued the liberal policy of his predecessor 
Withold toward the Jews of Lithuania; but he did 
not confirm the privileges Withold had granted to 
them. Bershadski thinks that this was not because 
of antipathy to the Jews, but because he had prob- 
ably left it to the elders to rule them, or that he fol- 
lowed the example of his father, in allowing the 
Jews of Lithuania to enjoy the more extensive priv- 
ileges of the Jewsof Poland. Certain it is that soon 
after his accession to the throne of Lithuania, Casi- 
mir granted the Jews of Troki the Magdeburg law. 
which long before had been granted to the Christian 
inhabitants of that city as well as to the Jews of 


A RE mee RAS en SARS OS Hed tw ee 


599 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Casimir II. 
Caslari 


————— na ee —— —_—e———ee—eEeEeEeEeEeeEeEeEeEeEeeeeeee———eeee—e———ee—————ooee 


Wilna and Kovno. According to this law, the Jews 
of Troki were subject to the jurisdiction of a Jewish 
bailiff, elected by his coreligionists and confirmed for 
life by the king, to whom alone he was responsible. 

Soon after Casimir’s accession to the throne of 
Poland, while he was visiting Posen, a fire broke 
out there, in which the original document, enumer- 
ating the privileges granted to the Jews by Casimir 
the Great (1334), was burned, Casimir IV. not 
only renewed and confirmed the old privileges, but 
granted new ones, such as the Jews of Poland had 
never before enjoyed. 

Owing to the intrigues of Cardinal Olesnicky 
Zbiegnew, archbishop of Cracow, and of the monk 
John CAPpmisTRANO, these privileges were abol- 
ished in 1454 on the pretense that they “conflicted 
with the laws of God and of the country.” This 
repcal aggravated the condition of the Jews of 
Poland and led to the riots of Cracow (April 12, 
1464), in which about thirty Jews were killed. In 
1467 the Diet again confirmed the rights and privi- 
leges of the Jews granted to them by Casimir in 
1447. 

The favor shown by Casimir to the Jews is sup- 
posed by some to have been due to the monetary 
help they afforded him. When he died he left un- 
paid many debts to the Jews. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bershadski, Litouskie Yevrei, pp. 241 et seq.: 
Archiv Fugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, part v. 1. 13 Czaeki, pas- 
sim; Russko-Yevreiski Archiv, i., Nos. 8, 4, 8-10, 11-26; 
Regesty, Nos. 196, 200, 203, 208, 232, 908, 1086; J. Perles, in 
Monatsschrift, xiii. 290-292 ; Dlugosz, Historia Polonica, ii. 
157; Maciejewski, Zydzi w Polsee, na Rusi i Litwie, War- 
saw, 1878; Graetz, History of the Jews, Hebrew transl., vi. 
221; Kraushar, Historya Zydow w Polsce, ii. 85-96. 


H. ft. 


CASIPHIA: The residence of the NETHINIM, 
who were under the leadership of _Iddo (Ezra viii.17). 
Ezra sent them a message from Ahava, which re- 


sulted in their joining his forces at that place. The 
exact site of Casiphia is uncertain. 
J. IR. G. B. L. 


CASLARI: Name of a family originally from 
Cay lar (Latin, “Castalarium ”), a village in the de- 
partment of Hérault, France. <A rather important 
Jewish community existed at Caylar in the Middle 
Ages. After the royal edict of Sept. 17, 13894, these 
Jews went to Provence and to the Comtat-Venais- 
sin; in 1459 and 1487 some of them were at Taras- 
con, and in 1480 at Avignon (8S. Kahn, “Les Juifs 
de Tarascon,” pp. 30, 82; “Rev. Et. Juives,” x. 
172). The Caslari family enjoyed a considerable 
reputation as late as the second half of the sixteenth 
century. It produced the following scholars: 

David Caslari (called also Bongodas, and en- 
titled ‘*‘ Maestro” ) (Zunz, “Z. G.” p. 465): Physi- 
cian at Narbonne, and one of the Jews to whom the 
archbishop, in 1284, granted a number of privileges 
(Saige, “Les Juifs du Languedoc,” p. 48). The 
poet Abraham Bedersi, who was an intimate friend 
of Caslari, addressed to him a liturgic poem at the 
feast of Purim, and proposed him, together with 
Abraham Saquil, Asher ha-Kohen, and Moses ben 


Judah Mansuri, as a judge of the literary contest to 


which he had invited the Jewish poets (Renan-Neu- 
bauer, “Les Rabbins Francais,” p. 715; compare 
Saige, Uc. p. 119). David translated from Latin into 


Hebrew Galen’s treatise, “De Inequali Intemperie” 
(Renan-Neubauer, /.c., p. 646). 

David ben Vadi Caslari: Lived at Perpignan 
about 1387. He was probably not related to Maes- 
tro David Caslari, His signature appears tothe bill 
of divorce which the scholar David Bongoron was 
obliged to give (1387) to his wife, the daughter of 
the rich En Astruc Caravida of Girone (Gross, 
“Gallia Judaica,” p. 469). 

En Bongodah or Bonjuda Yehacel Caslari: 
Poet. He and his son Yehacel (Ezekiel), about 
1400, exchanged poems with Solomon ben Reuben 
Bonfed, which are still extant in the manuscripts 
of Bonfed’s diwan (Neubauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. 
MSS.” No. 1984; Renan-Neubauer, “ Ecrivains Juifs 
Francais,” p. 647; Steinschneider, “Hebr. Bibl.” 
xiv. 98), 

Mossé du Caylar or Caslari: Warden of the 
community at Avignon in 1480, together with Vital 
Dieu, Lo Sal of Carcassonne, Mossé of Softal, Isaac 
of Sant Pal (St. Paul), Isaac Boterel, and Mossé 
Ferrusol (“ Rev. Et. Juives,” x. 172), 

Zemah ben Jedidiah (called Crescas of Cas- 
lari): Hé copied in 1525 the Paris manuscript (No. 
179) containing the commentary of Abraham ibn 
Ezra on the Pentateuch (Gross, l.¢., p. 621). 

Zemah ben Moises Caslari: Rabbi at Carpen- 
tras about 1583. His signature appears on a docu- 
ment confirmed at Carpentras Adar 7, 5348, in addi- 
tion to the names of Moses. son of Judah Rouget, 
and Moses, son of Joseph Kolon (20, x. 82). 

G. S. K. 


CASLARI, ABRAHAM BEN DAVID: 
Physician; lived at Besalu, Catalonia, in the first 
half of the fourteenth century. Caslari was consid- 
ered one of the most skilful physicians of his 
time. He was the teacher of Moses Narboni of Per- 
pignan, and one of the ten notables to whom, in 
1323, Kalonymus ben Kalonymus of Arles addressed 
his treatise on morals, entitled, “Eben Bohan” 
(Touchstone). 

Abraham was the author of the following medical 
works, still extant in manuscript: (1) “‘Aleh Ra‘a- 
nan” (Verdant Leaf), or, as it is quoted by Judah 
ben Natan, “‘Aleh ha-Refu’ah” (The Leaf of Heal- 
ing), a treatise on fevers, divided into five books, 
completed Nov., 1326 (Parma MS. No, 946). The 
author says that he wrote the book at the request of 
his friends, who wished to possess a vade mecum on 
these matters. (2) “Ma’mar be-Kaddahot ha-Debri- 
yot u-Mine ha-Kaddahat,” a treatise on pestilential 
and other fevers, composed in 1849, when the Black 
Death decimated the populations of Provence, Cata- 
lonia, and Aragon (Bibl. Nat., Paris, MS. No. 1191, 7). 
(3) “ Dine ha-Hakkazah ” (Rules for Bleeding), Turin 
MS. No. 121. (4) “Mekalkel Mahalak” (Who Sus- 
tains in Sickness), only an extract from which has 
been preserved (Neubauer, “Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MS.” 
No. 2142, 39). He is also said to have translated into 
Latin the “ Antidotarium” of Razi, The “ Book of 
Foods,” written by Isaac Israeli the Elder, is 
falsely ascribed to Caslari. Profiat Duran Efodi of 
Perpignan, called in Hebrew “Isaac b. Moses ha- 
Levi,” borrowed from Caslari the astronomic note 
which he cites in his commentary on the “ Moreh 


Caslari, Israel 
Cassel 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


600 


ee ee AT ee SD CS ee eee ee ee es Seg a se a ee, 


Nebukim” of Maimonides (i. 72). He is also men- 

tioned by Nissim Gerondi (Responsa, No. 38). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, in Virchow’s Archiv, xl. 122; 
idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 779; Renan-Neubauer, Les Eerwains 

Juifs Francais, pp. 644 et seq.; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 

619; Carmoly, Histoire des Médecins Juifs, p. 102. 

G. S. K.—I. Br. 

CASLARI, CRESCAS. See CReEscAs VIDAL 
DE CASLARI. 

CASLARI, ISRAEL BEN JOSEPH HA- 
LEVI (known as Crescas Caslari): Physician 
aud poet: lived at Avignon in 1827. He was the 
author of a liturgic poem for Purim, beginning with 
the words 71193 9. In a manuscript of this poem 
(“Rev. Et. Juives,” ix. 116) the signature contains 
the words Wy’ 995, from which Neubauer con- 
cludes that Crescas Caslari belonged to the family 
of the Yizhari. This opinion, shared by Zunz, is 
criticized by Gross, who holds that the appellation is 
merely honorary, as it is in the Bible (Zech. iv. 14). 

According to Zunz (“Z. G.” p. 466), Caslari was 
the author of a poem on the story of Esther and 
Mordecai, which he translated into the vernacular. 
A fragment of a Provencal poem by Maestro Crescas 
has been published in “Romania” (April, 1892). 
Caslari also translated Arnaud de Villeneuve’s med- 
ical work entitled “Liber de Regimine Sanitatis,” 
dedicating it to Jaime IT. of Aragon. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecrivains Juifs Fran- 
cats, pp. 647-650; Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 504; Gross, Gal- 
lia Judaica, pp. 7, 257. 


G. S. K. 

CASLARI, JOSHUA: Liturgical poet; lived 
at Avignon about 1840. He wrote four elegies which 
are inserted in the manuscript Mahzor of Avignon; 
his signature is found at theend of the last. Joshua 
Caslari is in all probability identical with the Jozué 
du Cayslar, named with Ferussol Pampelona, in a 
document dated June 15, 1558, as member-elect of 
the council of the Jewish community of Avignon. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 577; De Maulde, in 

Rev. Et. Juives, x. 163; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 621. 

G. 
CASLUHIM: According to Gen. x. 14 (= 
I Chron. i. 12), tle Casluhim are sons of Mizraim; 7¢.e., 
a part or dependency of the Egyptians. Bochart 
(“ Geographia Sacra,” iv. 31) knew no better identi- 
fication than the Colchians in the eastern corner of 
the Black Sea, because, according to a strange and 
utterly improbable statement of Herodotus (ii. 104), 
repeated by Diodorus Siculus (i. 28, 55), Strabo, and 
others, these were Egyptians who had emigrated. 
Knobel (“ Vélkertafel”), after Forster, suggested 
their identity with the Casiotis between Pelusium and 
Rinocolura, a tract of desert coast before the Sirbonis 
lake, which is almost uninhabitable. Ebers, “ Agyp- 
ten und die Bticher Moses ” (p. 120), tried to support 
this view by an alleged Coptic etymology, “kas- 
lokh” (arid mountain), which is impossible in every 
respect (the correct Egyptian form would be “tas- 
rokh”). It is not possible to say anything on the 
name “Casluhim,” the more so because the LXX. 
reads differently. Whether the latter’s Xaopomeiu (1) 
has anything to do with the “Nitriotes nomos,” or 
Natron valley, west of Egypt (“hesmen”; Egyp- 
tian, “Natron”; compare Ebers, U.c.), is very ques- 


tionable. 
G. W. M. M. 


CASPARI, CHARLES PAUL: German 
Semite and Biblical scholar; born at Dessau 1814. 
died 1892. His parents were Jews, and he wag 
reared in the Jewish faith, but in 1888 became a 
Christian. Jn 1847 he was called to the University 
of Christiania, where he remained until his death, 
The most enduring work of Caspari is his Arabic 
grammar, “Grammatica Arabica” (1844-48), very 
soon translated into German, since revised and en. 
larged by Wright in England (English translation, 
3d ed., 1896) and A. Miller in Germany (1887), ang 
now the standard Arabic grammar, Of his numer. 
ous exegetical works the following may be men. 
tioned: commentary on Obadiah (1842); “ Beitrige 
zur Hinleitung in das Buch Jesaia und zur Gesch, 
der Jesaianischen Zeit ” (1848); “Ueber den Syrisch- 
Ephraimitischen Krieg unter Jotham und Ahas” 
(1849): commentary on Micah (1851-52); and com. 
mentary on Isaiah (1867). He also translated the 
Psalter into Norwegian (1851), and had charge of the 
new Norwegian translation of the Bible (1891). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyc. T 

CASPI, JOSEPH BEN ABBA MARI BEN 
JOSEPH BEN JACOB: Provengal exegete, 
grammarian, and philosopher; born in 1297 at Lar- 
genti¢re, whence his surname “Caspi” (= made of 
silver); died at Tarascon in 1340. His Provencal 
name was Don Bonafous de Largentera. He trav- 
eled much, visiting Arles, Tarascon, Aragon, Cata- 
lonia, Majorca (where he must have foregathered 


with Leon Mosconi “ [Rev. Et. Juives,” xxxix, 249), 


and Egypt, where, as he says in his “ Zawwa’ah,” he 
hoped to be instructed by the members of Maimon- 
ides’ family. This hope was not realized, as the 
descendants of Maimonides were more pious than 
learned. At one time Caspi intended to go to Fez, 
where many renowned schools existed; but he seems 
to have abandoned this project and to have settled 
at Tarascon, He underwent much suffering at the 
time of the Pastoureaux persecution, and was threat- 
ened with punishment if he did not renounce his 
faith. 

Caspi was one of the most prolific writers of his 
time, being the author of twenty-nine works, the 
greater part of which are still extant in manuscript 
and the titles of the remainder being known from the 
list which he had the precaution tomake. He began 
his literary career at the age of seventeen, At thirty 
he devoted himself to the study of logic and philos- 
ophy, which he eagerly cultivated until his death. 
The following is a list of his writingsin their chron- 
ological order, some of them being no longer in ex- 
istence: (1) “ Perush,” commentary on Ibn Ganah’s 
grammatical work; (2) supercommentaries on Ibn 

Ezra’s commentary on the Pentateuch 
His Works. (one of these commentaries is purely 

grammatical, bearing the title “ Pora- 
shat Kesef” [Sum of Money], and is still extant in 
manuscript [Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, MS. No. 
184, and elsewhere]); (8) “ Terumat Kesef ” (Oblation 
of Silver), summary of Averroes’ commentaries 0D 
Aristotle’s “Ethics” and Plato’s “ Republic,” accord- 
ing to the Hebrew translation of Samuel of Marseilles 
(Parma MS. No. 442; Neubauer,“ Cat. Bodl. Hebr. 
MSS.” No. 1427);(4) “Zawwa’at Kaspi” (Testament 


601 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caslari, Israel 
Casse 


SS SS 


of Caspi), or “ Yoreh De‘ah,” moral sentences dedi- 
cated to the author’s son, and published by Eliezer 
Ashkenazi, Leipsic, 1844; (5) “ Mattot Kesef ” (Staves 
of Silver), commentaries on the Bible, with the excep- 
tion of the Pentateuch; (6) “ Mazref le-Kesef ” (Cruci- 
ple for Silver), commentary on the Bible; (7) “ Kefore 
Kesef” (Cups of Silver), giving the author’s reasons 
for the rejection of various explanations of Ibn 
Ezra and Maimonides; (8) “ Kesef Siggim” (Silver 
Dross), questions and answers on the seeming con- 
tradictions inthe Bible; (9) “ Zeror ha-Kesef” (Bun- 
die of Silver), or “ Kizzur Higgayon,” a compendium 
of logic (Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, MS. No. 
986); (10) “Retukot Kesef” (Chains of Silver), or 
“Pirke Yosef” (Chapters of Joseph), treatise on 
grammar (“Cat. Angel.” No. 21); (11) “Shulhan 
Kesef ” (Table of Silver), divided into four chapters 
called “regel” (foot), treating of prophets and mira- 
cles (“Cat. Peyron,” p. 209); (12) “Tirat Kesef” 
(Palace of Silver), or “Sefer ha-Sod” (Book of Mys- 
tery), mystic commentary on the Pentateuch (Vati- 
can MSS. Nos. 86, 46); (13) “ Adne Kesef ” (Thresh- 
olds of Silver), forming the second part of the 
preceding work and containing mystical explanations 
of the Biblical books other than the Pentateuch; 
(14) “Mizreke Kesef ” (Basins of Silver), explana- 
tions of Biblical passages respecting the Creation; 
(15) “ Mazmerot Kesef ” (Sickles of Silver), commen- 
tary on Job (Munich MS. No. 265); (16) “ Menorat 
Kesef” (Candelabra of Silver), commentary on the 
Mercabah (Heavenly Chariot); (Neubauer, “Cat. 
Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No. 1631); (17) “ Hagorat 
Kesef ” (Girdle of Silver), commentary on Ezra and 
Chronicles (7b. No. 362); (18) “Kappot Kesef” 
(Spoons of Silver), commentary on Ruthand Lamen- 
tations (Munich MS. No. 265; Cambridge MS. No. 
64); (19) “Gelile Kesef” (Scrolls of Silver), com- 
mentary on Esther (Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, 
MS. No. 1092; Munich MS. No. 2658) ; (20) “ Hazoze- 
rot Kesef” (Trumpets of Silver), commentaries on 
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs (Neubauer, 
“Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” Nos, 362, 1849; Parma MS. 
No. 461); (21) “Ka‘arot Kesef” (Bowls of Silver), 
in which Caspi endeavored to prove that the Law 
contains the idea of spiritual happiness and immor- 
tality, to explain the Biblical doctrine that God 
visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, 
and to explain the relation of wickedness to pros- 
perity; (22 and 28) “‘Ammude Kesef” (Pillars of 
Silver) and “ Maskiyyot Kesef” (Images of Silver), 
commentaries on Maimonides’ “Guide of the Per- 
plexed,” published by Werbluner, with notes and 
corrections by R. Kirchheim, Frankfort-on-the- 
Main, 1848; (24) “Gebi‘a Kesef” (Mug of? Silver), 
or “ Yoreh De‘ah” (Teacher of Science), supplement 
to the mystic commentaries on the Bible (“ Cat. Pey- 
ron,” p. 208; Munich MS. No. 267); (25) “Shasherot 
Kesef ” (Chains of Silver), or “Sefer ha-Shorashim ” 
(Book of Roots), on Biblical lexicography (Biblio- 
théque Nationale, Paris. MS. No. 1244); (26) “Kappot 
Kesef” (Spoons of Silver), in which Caspi explains 
some Biblical problems concerning the history of 
the Jews; (27) “Mezamrot Kesef” (Songs of Sil- 
ver; in other lists, Shulhan Kesef), a commentary 
on the Psalms; (28) “Tam ha-Kesef” (The Silver 
Is Finished), on the destruction of both temples, 


Jeremiah’s prophecies, and the arrival of the Mes- 
siah; (29) “Kebuzat Kesef” (Collection of Silver), 
containing a list of Caspi’s works, published by 

Benjacob in the “ Debarim ‘Attikim,” Leipsic, 1844. 
Joseph Caspi’s name is also to be found attached 

to many liturgic poems of merit. These, however, 

may belong to his namesake, Joseph Caspi ben Sha- 
lom of the sixteenth century, a liturgic poet of some 
importance. 

Caspi’s works were diversely estimated. Ibn 
Zarzah, Moses of Narbonne, and Efodi speak in 
praise of them. The cabalist Johanan Aleman rec- 
ommends Caspi’s commentaries on account of their 
mystic character. On the other hand, Isaac Abra- 
vanel and Simon Duran emphatically declare him to 
be antireligious because, among other things, in his 
commentary on the Moreh he admitted the eter- 
nity of the universe (i. 9, 70; ii. 26). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: De Rossi, Dizionario Storico, p. 77; Delitzsch, 
Kat. der Handschriften der Leipziger Rathsbibliothek, p. 
304; Zunz, Additamenta zu Delitzsch’s Katalog, p. 323; 
Geiger, Meio Hofnayim, p. 69; Dukes, in Orient, Lit. 1847, 
p. 328; Steinschneider, in Ersch and Gruber, HKnecyce. series 
il., Xxxi. 58-783; idem, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 98, 225, 227, 852, 424, 
462; Munk, Mélanges, p. 496; Kirchheim, Introduction to 
Werbluner’s ed. of Caspi’s commentary on the Moreh; Gratz, 
Gesech. der Juden, 3d ed., vii. 311 et seq.; Renan-Neubauer, 


Les Eerivains Juifs Francais, pp. 131-206; Gross, Gallia 
Judaica, pp. 67-69; Berlin, in Jew. Quart. Rev. viii. 711. 


G. I. Br. 


CASPI, NATHANAEL BEN NEHE- 
MIAH (surnamed BONSENIOR MACIF OF 
LARGENTIERE): Provencal scholar; lived at 
the end of the fourteenth century and at the begin- 
ning of the fifteenth. He was a disciple of Frat 
MaimMon, under whose direction he composed in 
1424 his first work, a commentary on the “Cu- 
zari.” This commentary, still extant in manu- 
script (Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, MS. No. 677, 
and elsewhere), is based upon the Hebrew transla- 
tion of the “Cuzari” made by Judah Cardinal. 
Caspi was also the author of the following works: 
(1) a commentary on the “Ruah Hen,” which treats 
of the terminology of Maimonides (2d. No. 678, 3; 
Parma, No. 895); (2) a commentary on Maimonides’ 
“Shemoneh Perakim” (Paris, No. 678; Parma, No. 
395); (3) “ Likkutot,” a collection of glosses on the 
Pentateuch (Munich MS. No. 252). These glosses 
are based upon those of Joseph Official. Many 
rabbis of eastern France are cited in these glosses, 
and many French words and sentences may be 
found in them. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zeit. fttr Hebr. Bibl. xvi. 128 et seq.: Ber- 
liner, Peletat Soferim, pp. 31 et seqg.; Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. 
Hebr. MSS. col. 484; Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecrivains Juifs 
Francais, pp. 755 et seq. ice 
G. : ; 


CASSEL: City in the Prussian province of 
Hesse-Nassau. There was a persecution of the Jews 
at Wolfshagen, near Cassel, during the Black Death 
in 1848; and Hesse-Cassel is mentioned in the same 
year as a scene of persecution. In 1610 Landgrave 
Moritz accorded protection to the Jews of Cassel, on 
the payment of 1,000 reichsguiden. In 1635 only 
one Jew, Benedict Goldschmidt, was living at Cas- 
sel: in 1647 the brothers Abraham and Simon Gold- 
schmidt. In 1649 the Cassel Jews were forced to 
listen to weekly sermons for their conversion, each 
Jew—even women and children—being obliged to 


Cassel, Germany 
Cassel, Hartwig 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


6092 


SS SS SSS Se Sa a ee me ents 


appear at the town hall. Once, when sixteen Jews 
and their rabbi were celebrating the Day of Atone- 
ment and neglected to attend the sermon, the land- 
gravine caused them to be imprisoned and se- 
verely punished, and expelled the rabbi. In 1651 
the weekly sermons to the Jews were reduced to six a 
year, at the instance of the Jewish community. 
Every Jew without a “privilege” had to pay one 
ducat for every night that he stayed in Cassel—an 
ordinance that was renewed in 1673. In 1749 ex- 
ceptions were made only in favor of the traveler 
who had papers from the government certifying 
that he was there on official business, in which case 


The new synagogue was dedicated in 1889. The 
seat of the district rabbinate was transferred from 
Witzenhausen to Cassel in 1772. Among the rabbig 
were: Hirsch Kirchhain (died 1779); Joseph Hegg 
(1780); Joseph Michael Kugelmann (about 1799). 
Loeb Meier Berlin (died 1814); Dr. Ph. Romany 
(1836-42); L. Adler (1852-83); and I. Prager. Cas. 
sel possesses a Jewish teachers’ seminary and school, 

At present (1902) there are 2,200 Jews in Cagsel, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salfeld, Martyrologium; Piederitz, Gesch 

der Stadt Cassel, Cassel, 1882; Munk, Die Constituten dep 

Sdmmtlichen Hessischen  Judenschaft im Jahre 1690, iy 


Hildesheimer’s Jubelschrift. 
D. A. F, 








EXTERIOR OF SYNAGOGUE AT CASSEL, GERMANY. 
(From 2 drawing by Loower.) 


he was allowed to remain four days without pay- 
ment. In 1751 the poll-tax on native Jews was 
fixed at four groschen, and that on foreign Jews at 
eight groschen. In 1766 the Jews were nevertheless 
ordered to dwell in the city during the fairs, even 
the district rabbi and the presidents being included. 
They were not allowed to buy houses except in the 
Unterneustadt, nor were they permitted to rent 
them. The next year twelve streets were named in 
which they might reside. In 1773 a Jews’ street 
was laid out; and as late as 1820 it was ordered that 
no Jews should live in any of the principal streets 
of the Altstadt, and that they be entirely excluded 
from the Oberneustadt. In1775 Jews wereallowed 
to have open shops in the city. 


CASSEL, DAVID: German historian and tneo- . 
Jogian; born March 7, 1818, at Gross-Glogau, 
Silesia, Prussia, where he graduated from the gym- 
nasium; died Jan. 22, 18938, in Berlin. Cassel’s 
name is intimately connected with the founders 
of Jewish science in Germany—dZunz, Geiger, Stein- 
schneider, Frankel, and others. In appreciating his 
great scholarship in Jewish literature it must not be 
forgotten that he was born in a city in which Jew- 
ish learning had been maintained at a very high 
standard, and which has given to the world many 
noted scholars: Solomon Munk, Joseph Zedner, 
Michael Sachs, H. Arnheim, and others. 

Cassel became a student at the Berlin University, 
where he attended the lectures of the Orientalist 


603 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cassel, Germany 
Cassel, Hartwig 





F. H. Petermann, the philosopher Fr. A. Trende- 
lenburg, the philologist Philip Boeckh, and others. 
He, besides, maintained very friendly relations with 
Moritz Steinschneider, H. Jolowicz, L. Landshut, 
and Paul de La- 
garde. During the 
whole time of his 
university studies 
he supported him- 
self by giving les- 


sons; and having 
thus experienced 
all the bitterness 


of poverty, he be- 
came later one of 
the founders of the 
Hiilfs- Verein fiir 
Jiidische Studie- 
rende, a society for 
assisting poor 
Jewish studeuts in 
Berlin, which is still in existence. 

Cassel began his career as an author with his doc- 
tor’s thesis on “Die Psalmeniberschriften ” (pub- 
lished in the “Literaturblatt des Orients,” Leipsic, 
1840). He received his rabbinical diploma in 1848 
from J. J. Oettinger and Z, Frankel, but never ac- 
cepted a rabbinical position, although he possessed a 
decided talent for the pulpit, as may be seen from 
his “Sabbath-Stunden zur Belehrung und Erbau- 
ung” (Berlin, 1868), a collection of 52 homilies on 
the Pentateuch, originally delivered as Sabbath lec- 
tures iv a school for boys. In 1846 Cassel became 
principal of an educational institute called the “ Dina- 
Nauen-Stift,” in which position he remained until 
1879. He was, besides, in 1850 and 1851 teacher of 
religion in Berlin at the congregational school for 
Jewish girls, and from 1852 to 1867 at the Jewish 
school for boys. From 1862 to 1873 he was also a 
teacher at the Jewish Normal School. In 1872, when 
the Lehranstalt fiir die Wissenschaft des Juden- 
thums (“Hochschule”) was established in Berlin, 
Cassel was elected one of the docents. 

Cassel wrotea great number of valuable books, be- 
sides many essays for the Jewish magazines, Some 
of his works were written mainly for educational pur- 
poses; e.g., the above-mentioned “Sabbath-Stunden ” 
and the following: “ Leitfaden fiir den Unterricht in 
der Jitidischen Gesch. und Litteratur,” Berlin, 1868 
(translated into various languages); “Gesch. der 
Jiidischen Litteratur,” 2 vols., Berlin, 1872-78, deal- 
ing only with Biblical literature; “ Hebriisch- 
Deutsches Worterbuch,” etc., Berlin, 1871, last ed., 
1891; “Lehrbuch der Jiidischen Gesch. und Littera- 
tur,” Leipsic, 1879; 2d ed., Berlin, 1896. In addition 
to these he edited, or contributed introductions and 
notes to, several scientific works of great value, of 
which the following may be mentioned: “Cat. He- 
briischer Schriften,” Latin part by himself, and 
Hebrew by Rebenstein (Bernstein), Berlin, 1845; D. 
Conforte’s “ Kore ha-Dorot,” a biographical and bib- 
Hographical lexicon of Jewish scholars with intro- 
duction and notes, Berlin, 1846; “Zikron Yehudah,” 
responsa of Judah b. Asher, published by Rosen- 
berg, with introduction and notes by Cassel, Berlin, 
1846; “Teshubot Geonim Kadmonim,” responsa of 





David Cassel. 


the earlier Geonim, edited from a Berlin manu- 
script, with an introduction by J. L. Rapoport, in 
“ He-Haluz,” Berlin, 1848, viii. 188; the “ Yesod 
‘Olam” of Isaac Israeli, an astronomical work 
edited by B. Goldberg and L. Rosenkranz, with 
an introduction and a German translation by Cas- 
sel, Berlin, 1848; DIP OKA TH wy pr, 
published by Rosenberg with notes and references 
by Cassel, Berlin, 1856; Index to De Rossi’s * Dizio- 
nario Storico,” Leipsic, 1846; the “ Cuzari” of Judah 
ha-Levi, with a German introduction and translation 
and very numerous explanatory and critical notes, 
which fully testify to Cassel’s erudition in Jewish- 
Arabic philosophy, Leipsic, 1840-53, Berlin, 1869 (in 
this work Cassel was assisted to some extent by H. 
Jolowicz); “Meor ‘Enayim” of Azariah dei Rossi—a 
classical edition, Wilua, 1866; the Apocrypha, trans- 
lated into German from the Greek, Berlin, 1864-71; 
“ Die Pesach-Haggadah,” with German introduction, 
translation, and critical notes (latest edition, Berlin, 
1895); “Grammatik der Hebriischen Sprache” of H. 


‘Arnheim (died 1870), with introduction, notes, and 


additions by Cassel, Berlin, 1872. 

Cassel further wrote pamphlets on questions of 
the day, such as “Woher und Wohin? Zur Ver- 
stindigung tiber Jiidische Reformbestrebungen,” 
Berlin, 1845; “ Die Cultusfrage in der Jiidischen Ge- 
meinde von Berlin,” Berlin, 1856, a defense of his 
friend Michael Sachs against the attacks by the 
Orthodox; “Offener Brief eines Juden an Prof. Dr. 
Virchow,” Berlin, 1869; and “Joseph Caro und das 
Buch Maggid Mesharim,” published in the “ Jahres- 
bericht” of the Berlin Hochschule, Berlin, 1888, in 
which he proves, against Gratz, that this book was 
not written by Caro. Cassel is also the author of 
all the articles dealing with Judaism and Jewish lit- 
erature in Brockhaus’ “ Konversations-Lexikon.” He 
also wrote articles for the publications of the So- 
ciety of Hebrew Literature of London. 

Finally, it must be mentioned that Cassel, while still 
a young man, conceived the plan of publishing a 
Jewish encyclopedia containing everything of inter- 
est to Judaism. With the assistance of M. Stein- 
schneider he composed the “ Plan der Real-Encyclo- 
piidie des Judenthums,” Krotoschin, 1844; but, inas- 
much as Jewish studies were still in their infancy, 
the plan, though pursued for some time, could not 
be carried out. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: For the great number of articles written by 
Cassel for Jewish and Christian nagazines and encyclopedias 
(v.g., the Allgemeine Eneyklopddie der Wissenschaften 
und Ktitnste of Ersch and Gruber) see Moise Schwab, Ré- 
pertoire, Paris, 1900, s.v. Cassel; S. Hochfeld, David Cassel, 
Gedenk-Rede auf Seinen Heimgang, Berlin, 1894; and 
ses tea H. Brody’s pamphlet, Toledot David Cassel, Cra- 
cow, . 


S. H. M. 


CASSEL, HARTWIG: Journalist and chess 
editor; born Nov. 2, 1850, at Konitz, West Prussia, 
where his father, Dr. Aaron Cassel, was rabbi. He 
was educated at the Real-Gymnasium in Landsberg 
on-the-Warta, and in 1879 went to England, where 
he began his journalistic career as the chess editor 
of the “Observer-Budget,” Bradford, Yorkshire. 
He wrote chess articles for the metropolitan and 
provincial English papers, organized the Yorkshire 
County Chess Club, arranged the Blackburne-Giins- 
berg match at Bradford (1887) and the International 


Cassel, Jacob. 
Oassius Longinus 





Chess Masters’ Tournament in 1888 at the same 
city. Cassel left England in 1889, and went to 
Havana for an English and New York newspaper 
syndicate to report the Tchigorin-Gtinsberg match. 
In 1890 he became chess editor of the New York 
papers, “ The Sun” and the “ Staats-Zeitung ” (which 
appointments he stil] holds), and since then has con- 
tributed chess articles to most of the metropolitan 
journals. He was instrumental in establishing the 
“Staats-Zeitung ” and Rice trophies, and arranged, 
among other important contests, the first cable chess 
match between the Manhattan and British chess 
clubs. He is the inventor of a chess cable ar 
8. 


CASSEL, JACOB: German physician; born at 
Schwerin-on-the-Warta, province of Posen, Prussia, 
May 25, 1859. He was educated at the universities 
of Berlin and Leipsic, from which latter place he was 
graduated as doctor of medicine in 1883. The same 
year he settled as a physician in Berlin, being as- 
sistant to Baginsky until 1890, when he opened a 
hospital for children. Cassel has contributed many 
essays tothe “ Archiv fiir Kinderkrankheiten ” “ Ber- 
liner Klinische Wochenschrift,” “ Deutsche Medizi- 
nische Wochenschrift,” “Therapeutische Monat- 
shefte,” “ Allgemeine Medizinische Centralzeitung,” 
etc. Especially noteworthy is his “Ueber die Un- 
tersuchung Geistig Minderwerthiger Schulkinder,” 
Berlin, 1901. | 


EP COGRAYHY: Pagel, Biographisches Lexikon, s.v., Vienna, 
S. deed ees 


CASSEL, PAULUS STEPHANUS 
(SELIG): Convert to Christianity and missionary 
to the Jews; born Feb. 27, 1821, in Gross-Glogau, 
Silesia; died Dec. 23, 1892, in Friedenau, near Ber- 
lin. His father was a sculptor, and his brother 
David was Gocent at the Berlin “ Hochschule fiir die 
Wissenschaft des Judenthums.” Cassel studied at 
- the gymnasium at Schweidnitz and at the University 
of Berlin, where he followed with special attention 
the lectures of Leopold Ranke. In 1849 he edited 
in Erfurt “Die Constitutionelle Zeitung,” and in 
1850-56 “ Die Erfurter Zeitung,” ina royalist spirit. 
He was baptized May 28, 1855, in Buessleben. near 
Erfurt, and became librarian of the Royal Library and 
secretary of the Academy in Erfurt in the follow- 
ing year. He remained in Erfurt till 1859.  Fred- 
erick William JV. bestowed the title of professor on 
Cassel in recognition of his loyal labors. In 1860 hc 
removed to Berlin, where he was a teacher at a 
gymnasium fora short time, and occupied himself 
with literary work. In 1866-67 he was a Conserva- 
tive member of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies. 

In 1867 Cassel was appointed missionary by the 
London Society for Promoting Christianity Among 

the Jews, a position which he retained 
Becomesa_ till March, 1891. At the same time 
Missionary. (1867) Cassel was assigned to the pas- 

torate of the Christuskirche in Berlin, 
remaining in service for twenty-four years. In a 
pamphlet published a short time before his death, 
he complains of the inconsiderate treatment he had 
received at the hands of his Christian friends (see 
“Sendschreiben an Freunde in Deutschland und 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


604 


te ee ee er TEE ee ee 
England tiber die Christuskirche in Berlin und Ih; 
Martyrium Durch die London Society,” Berlin, 1891), 
H. L. Strack confesses that it is not clear what iy- 
duced Cassel to join the Christian Church. though 
lhe contends that Cassel’s reasons were obviously not 
mercenary (see Herzog-Hauck, “ Real-Encye.” 437. 
744). Cassel combated anti-Semitism with consid. 
erable warmth (in “ Wider Heinrich von Treitschke 
fiir die Juden,” Berlin, 1880 ; “ Die Antisemiten ung 
die Evangelische Wirehe,” 2d ed., Berlin, 1881, 
“ Ahasverus, die Sage vom Ewigen Juden mit einem 
Kritischen Protest Wider Ed. von Hartmann und 
Adolf Stocker,” Berlin, 1885; also “Der Judengott 
und Richard Wagner, eine Antwort an die Bay- 
reuther Blatter”). 

In his “Emancipation und Mission” Cassel en- 
deavored to show that the Jews would obtain per- 
manent relief from persecution not by civil enfran- 
chisement, but through evangelization. In later 
years, however, he frankly receded from this view, 
De le Roi, the historian of Christian propaganda 
among the Jews, says that Cassel was animated by 
“a very decided Jewish spirit.” In 1860 Cassel 
published a “ History of the Jewish People Since the 
Destruction of Jerusalem,” issued in Berlin by the 
“Gesellschaft zur Beférderung des Christenthums 
Unter den Juden.” Heexerted himself in the inter- 
est of proselytism among Jews. Hestated his views 
on missionary work among them in a pamphiet: 
“Wie Ich iber Judenmission Denke,” Berlin, 1886; 
(see also “ Nathanael,” edited by H. L. Strack, 1897), 
From 1875 to 1889 he edited “Sunem, ein Berliner 
Wochenblatt fiir Christliches Leben und Wissen” 
(16 vols.). “Hallelujah, Einhundert und Acht und 
Achtzig Geistliche Lieder,” is a collection of hymns 
reprinted from this journal. In 1847 Cassel wrote 
an earnesf, though somewhat fantastic study of 
Hungarian archeology, “ Magyarische Alterthiimer,” 
which is still of value. Of especial interest is his 
translation (with notes) of the reply to Chisdai b. 
Isaac of Joseph, king of the Chazars (pp. 188 et seg.). 

His only methodic work is his history of the 
Jews from the destruction of Jerusalem to 1847 
(“Juden [Geschichte] ” in Ersch and Gruber, “En- 
cyc.” ii., part 27, pp. 1-238). This scientific treat- 
ment of Jewish history he wrote before his con- 
version; and it is signed “Selig Cassel.” Jost, how- 

ever, says of it: “It is one-sided and 

His History merely gives episodes out of the life 
of the of Jews in various countries. It is 
Jews. collated in a fragmentary manner, 
though rich in erudite notes” (see I. 

M. Jost, “Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sek- 
ten,” Section 3, p. 865, Leipsic, 1859). “Sabbathliche 
Erinnerungen” was also published before Cassel’s 
conversion—the first part anonymously ; the second 
(signed “8. C.” in the preface) being put forth for 
the benefit of indigent veterans of 1818-15, Other 
publications of Cassel’s are: “ Wissenschaftliche Be- 
richte, Unter Mitwirkung von Mitgliedern der Er- 
furter Akademie”; “Denkschrift der Kéniglichen 
Akademie Gemeinntitziger Wissenschaften in Erfurt, 
Herausgegeben am Sekulartage Ihrer Griindung, 
den 19. Juli, 1854”; “Irene, eine Sprachlich-Ex- 
egetische Skizze,” Erfurt, 1855; “Der Mittler, ei2 
Exegetischer Versuch zu Galater iii. 19, 20”, “Aus 


605 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cassel, Jacob. 
Cassius Longinus 





der Hagia Sophia, ein Akademisches Neujahrs- 
Programm”; “ Ueber Thiiringische Ortsnamen, Ab- 
druck von Wissenschaftlichen Berichten der Erfurter 
Akademie”; “ Dialoge tiber Wissenschaft und Chris- 
tenthum.” Essavs with respect to Judaism, dating 
from this time, are the following: “ Das Glaubens- 
pekenntuniss. der Zenobia, Fiirstin von Palmyra,” in 
“Orient, Lit.” 1841, Nos. 31 et seg.; “Der Apostat,” 
ab. 1848, Nos. 18 ef seg.; “Historische Versuche: 
Anmerkungen zu Benjamin von Tudela, Franzé- 
sische Stiidtenamen, Apologie,” Berlin, 1847; “Die 
Rabbinerversammlung des Jahres 1650, eine Histo- 
rische Abhandlung,” Berlin, 1845. Other writings 
py Cassel with reference to Judaism and the Jews 
are the following: “Die Symbolik des Blutes 
und der Arme Heinrich von Hartmann von der 
Aue,” Berlin, 1882; “Shylock, der Kaufmann von 
Venedig,” in “Aus Literatur und Symbolik,” pp. 
868-886; “Caricaturnamen” jin “ Literatur und Ge- 
schichte, pp. 823-347; “ Der Ewige Jude,” in“ G. 8.” 
i. 867-410; “Das Zicklein aus der Jiidischen Pas- 
sahliturgie,” in “Aus dem Lande des Sonnenaut- 
gangs,” pp. 1-16, Berlin, 1886; “ Zur Naturgeschichte 
der Chuzpe,” a reply to Fritz Mauthner’s review of 
“ Ahasverus,” 2. pp. 89-100; an important treatise 
on medieval folk lore, and the contributions made 
thereto by Jews, is “Mischle Sindbad, Secundus 
Syntipas, Edirt, Emendirt und Erklirt; Einleitung 
und Deutung des Buches der Sieben Weisen Mei- 
ster,” 8d ed., Berlin, 1891. 

Cassel’s Biblical studies are conservative; and it 
issurptismg that he neglected to use the fund of 
rabbinical lore he undoubtedly possessed. In 1865 
he wrote “Das Buch der Richter und Ruth” for J, 
P, Lange’s “ Theologisch-Homiletisches Bibelwerk.” 
A second edition appeared in 1887, which was trans- 
lated into English in 1872. In 1878 appeared “ Das 
Buch Esther, ein Beitrag zur Gesch. des Morgen- 
landes, aus dem Hebriischen Ueber- 
setzt, Historisch und Theologisch Er- 
liutert,” section 1, with an appendix, 
a translation of the Second Targum, 
The original text of the Second Targum Cassel 
published in “Aus Litteratur und Gesch.” Berlin 
and Leipsic, 1885: “Zweites Targum zum Buche 
Esther, im Vocalisierten Urtext mit Sachlichen 
und Sprachlichen Erliuterungen Herausgegeben.” 
An English translation by Aaron Bernstein was 
published in Edinburgh in 1888. This English edi- 
tion also ‘gives translations of several of Cassel’s 
essays; viz., “Mithra” (pp. 845-861), “The Winged 
Bulls of Persepolis” (pp. 362-877), and “Zoroaster ” 
(pp. 378-400). Most of Cassel’s other literary work 
partakes of the character of controversy. His 
larger work on “ Weilinachten, Urspriinge, Briiuche 
und Aberglauben, ein Beitrag zur Gesch. der Christ- 
lichen Kirche und des Deutschen Volkes,” Berlin, 
1861, is a medley of ingenious but unsystematized 
erudition, and is pervaded by a tone of pious emo- 
tionalism. 

Altogether, Cassel’s versatility has secured him 
merely the admiration of his contemporaries. He 
was incapable of acquiring a position of influence in 
the church of hisadoption. His more general works 
are. “Vom Wege nach Damascus, Apologetische 
Abhandlungen,” Gotha, 1872; “Aus Guter Stunde, 


Biblical 
Studies. 


Betrachtungen und Erinnerungen,” Gotha, 1874; 
“Fir Ernste Stunden, Betrachtungen und Erinne- 
rungen,” 2d ed., Berlin, 1881; “Aus Literatur und 
Symbolik,” Leipsic, 1884; “Aus Literatur und Ge- 
schichte,” Berlin and Leipsic, 1885; “Vom Nil zum 
Ganges, Wanderungen in die Orientalische Welt,” 
Berlin, 1880; and “Das Leben des Menschen in 
Gesch. und Symbol,” in “G. 8.” (only one volume 
published), Berlin, 1898. Besides, Cassel] wrote a 
large number of pamphlets on theological, ethnolog- 
ical, and philological subjects. 
S. L. Gr. 


CASSIA: The term given as the translation for 
“kiddah” (Ex. xxx. 24; Ezek, xxvii. 19) and “ke- 
ziot” (Ps. xlv. 9). Ancient commentators agree in 
identifying the two. Onkelos to Ex. xxx. 24 ren- 
ders “kiddah” by “kezi‘ah”; Rashi does the same. 
Cassia belongs to the cinnamon group and resembles 
the ordinary species, though its fragrance is fainter. 
It is indigenous to Eastern countries, and in Biblical 
times was used along with myrrh and aloes both 
as a perfume (Ps. xlv. 9) and as an ingredient of 
the anointing-oil (Ex. xxx. 24). It formed one of 
the many commodities in which Tyre traded (Ezek. 
Xxvii. 19). 

J. IR, G. B. L. 


CASSIUS LONGINUS: Questor of Crassus in 
Syria in 53 B.c. After the unfortunate battle of 
Carrhe, Syria, he became independent governor 
of the province, clearing it of the Parthians, and 
traversing all parts of the country in order to rees- 
tablish the fallen prestige of the Romans. Thus 
he came to Judea, where Pitholaus, a partizan of 
Aristobulus, had taken up arms against the Romans. 

Cassius conquered the stronghold Tarichaa, killed 
the valiant Pitholaus at the instigation of Antipater, 
and carried awav captive 80,000 Jews (Josephus, 
“Ant.” xiv.7, $3; ¢dem, “B. J.” 1.8,§ 9). Te then 
went to Rome and was one of the conspirators 
against Julius Cesar, who had appointed him pretor 
of Syria in 44. After Cesar’s murder he was sent 
as proconsul by the Senate in 43. Thus he came 
again to Judea, where, upheld by four Egyptian 
legions, he used his power to exact money from the 
Jews. The frightened Antipater quickly appor- 
tioned among the provinces the 700 talents of silver 
demanded by Cassius; and his son Herod was the first 
to pay his share. Malichus, however, the friend of 
Ilyrcanus, seems to have hesitated, whereupon Cas- 
sins Ied away captive the inhabitants of the four cit- 
ies Gophna, Emmaus, Lydda, and Thamma, and 
would have also killed Malichus, had not Hyrcanus 
appeased him with 100 talents (“ Ant.” xiv. 11, § 2; 
according to “B. J.” i. 11, § 2, it was Antipater). 

The Jews captured by Caius Cassius, as he is 
called, were liberated by a decree of Mark Antony 
(“ Ant.” xiv. 12, § 8), and it wasordered that Cas- 
sius’ other depredations be repaired (2), 12, § 5). Dur- 
ing the war of Cassius and Brutus against Octavius 
Cewsar and Antony, Cassius, who was at that time 
in Syria, sought to gain the support of Herod by 
promising him the kingdom of Judea; Malichus 
was urged to poison Antipater (“ Ant.” xiv. 11, § 4; 
“B. J.” i. 11, § 4). While Herod took the part of 
Cassius and the republicans, Malichus was looking 


f 


Cassuto 
Castelnuovo 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


606 


a a aa I TT REST | ma a a aR IE SIC SR AA 


forward to the victory of the Cesarean party; so 
that it was in the interest of Cassius that Herod had 
the murderer of his father assassinated at Tyre, the 
old and weak Hyrcanus being induced to believe 
that the deed was instigated by Cassius (“ Ant.” 
xiv. 11,§ 6; *B. J.” i. 11, § 8). The anti-Herodian 
party joined issue with a certain Marion whom Cas- 
sius had left behind as master of Tyre; Herod, how- 
ever, vanquished his enemies (“ Ant.” xiv. 11, § 7; 
12,81; “B. J.” i. 12, § 2) and thus put an end to 
Cassius’ rule in Judea. Cassius soon after slew 
himself in the battle of Philippi, 42 B.c. (“B. J.” i. 
14, § 8). 

G. S. Kr. 

CASSUTO, JUDAH: Hazan of the Portuguese- 
Jewish community of Hamburg; born in Amster- 
dam 1808; died at Hamburg March 10, 1898. In 
1827 he was elected hazan of the Portuguese-Jewish 
community, a post which he held until his death. 
Cassuto was not only cantor, but also spiritual chief 
of the congregation, and was entitled to act as rabbi 
at the solemnization of marriages among its mem- 
bers. He was a very learned man, and possessed a 
thorough knowledge of many modern languages. 
His lay occupation was that of teacher and transla- 
tor. In 1843 Cassuto was appointed sworn inter- 
preter and translator to the city of Hamburg. Asa 
teacher he was active up to the hour of his death, 
which occurred suddenly. Until 1894, when a 
successor to Cussuto was chosen, the Portuguese 
congregation had no spiritual chief, marriages 
being solemnized by the rabbi of the German con- 


gregation. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Chronicle, London, March 17, 1893. 
8, A. FE. 


CASTANHO, ABRAHAM: Spanish poet; 
lived at Ainsterdam in the middle of the seventeenth 
century. He was the author of an elegy on the 
martyr Abraham Nufiez of Bernal, who was burned 
at Cordova May 3, 1655, It was inserted in “ Elo- 
gios que Zelosos Dedicaron 4 la Felice Memoria,” 
etc., published probably at Amsterdam in 1656. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibl. Hehbr. tii., Nos. cxlix. et seq.; Kay- 
serling, Sephardim, p. 262; idem, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 
39; Furst, Bibl. Jud. i. 148. 

G I. Br. 


CASTEL D’AJANO, SAMUEL DI: Italian 
physician and philosopher; lived at Mantua in the 
sixteenth century. <A philosophical work of his on 
the articles of belief, entitled “ Meor ha-Golah” (The 
Light of the Exile), is still extant in manuscript 
(Michael, “ Or ha-Havyim,” No. 383). Castel d’Ajano 
is supposed to be the author of the liturgical poem 
mop maw od (“ For the Comfort of a Poor Cap- 
tive”), which bears the signature RB Oxyes (Ro- 
man Mahzor, ii. 162b). He shows considerable 
knowledge of the Talmud in a casuistical note on a 
passage in R. Nissim’s commentary on Megillah, 
whichis still extant in manuscript (Neubauer, “Cat. 
Bodl. Hebr. MSS.” No. 911, 8b). _ 

It is likely that Samuel di Castel d’ Ajano is iden- 
tical with Samuel Castiglione, who, at the same 
epoch, practised as a physician at Mantua, and was 
also a liturgist (compare Zunz, “ Literaturgesch.” p. 


417). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Luzzatto, Meho, p. 34; Mortara, Indice, s.v. 
G. I. Br. 


CASTEL-BRANCO, JOEL RODRIGO. 
JUAN RopRico. 

CASTEL-SARASSIN (Hebrew, Sys 
PININY or Iw Spy) : Chief town of the de are 
meut of Tarn-et-Garonne, France. A somewhat jin. 
portant Jewish community existed here in the Miq- 
dle Ages. When attacked by the Pastoureauy jp 
1320, all the Jews except two killed one another, jy 
order not to fall into the hands of their enemies 
and these two subsequently threw themselves from 
the tower. The author of “Shebet Yehudah” es. 
timates the number of the martyrs to have been 200. 
but Gritz, following the Latin works that place the 
tragedy at Verdun, a city on the Garonne, considers 
500 to be a more exact estimate. 


See 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Verga, Shebef Yehudah, ed. Wiener, 
p. 5; Joseph ha-Kohen, “Eimek ha-Baka, p. 73, Craeow, 1895 
(trans. Wiener, p. 48); Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, vii. 296, 

G. : 8. OK, 
CASTELLACCIO DA ASOLA: Locality near 
Mantua, Italy, where there was a great slaughter 
of Jews in 1547. Gershon Cantarini, the ancestor 
of the celebrated family of that name, was born 
there in 1546, 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Osimo Marco, Narraztone della Strage Com- 
piuta nel 15/7 eontro gli Ebret di Asolo. 

J. [. E. 

CASTELLAZZO: Italian-Jewish family which 
settled at the beginning of the sixteenth century in 
Cairo, where several members occupied the rab- 
binate with distinction. The most important were 
the following: 

1. Jehiel Castellazzo (called Ashkenazi to 
signify that he was not by birth an Oriental): 
Rabbi at Cairo iu the sixteenth century. He wasa 
contemporary of Joseph Caro, whom he severely 
criticized on account of a Halakah. 

2. Moses Castellazzo: Lived during the seven- 
teenth century. He is eulogisticaily mentioned in 
the responsa of Meir Boton, 

3. Moses dal Castellazzo (whose name _ has 
been misread by copyists as “ Moses Kastilin”): 
Portrait-painter; lived at Venice in the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries. Ie ts highly praised by 
David Reubeni in his memoirs for having befriended 
the latter on bis arrival in Venice from Arabia in 
1524. Moses’ reputation as an artist extended far 
beyond the jimits of the ghetto of Venice; indeed, 
he was known throughout Italy. In 1521, in recog: 
nition of his great talent, the Council of Venice 
granted him the privilege of selling his artistic illus- 
trations of the Pentateuch, | 

4. Moses ha-Kohen Abigdor Castellazzo: 
Son of Simeon (No. 5); was rabbi at Salonica, 
Rhodes, Damascus, and Cairo in the seventeenth 
century. In Cairo he was the colleague of Aaron b. 
Hayyim. He was almost ninety years old at his 
death. 

5. Simeon ben Jehiel Castellazzo: Rabbi at 
Cairo; died May, 1588. He was well versed in the 
Cabala, and was renowned for his great piety. 
Conforte reports that be had seen a decision emana- 
ting from Joshua Soncin, rabbi of Constantinople at 
the time of Joseph Nasi, in which Soncin invokes 
the authority of Simeon ben Jehiel. Both Conforte 
and Joseph Sambari assert that Simeon wrote tw9 


607 





works: (1) a collection of responsa, and (2) “ Me- 
gillot Setarim,” a commentary, probably cabalistic, 
on the Book of Esther. Azulai mentions as many 
as cighty responsa by Simeon. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Benjacob, i. 
43; Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, ed. Cassel, p. 40; Sambari, in 
Neubauer, Anecdota O.coniensia, 1. 159; Kaufmann, in Rev. 
Etudes Juives, xxiii. 139 et seq. 


G. I. Br. 


CASTELLI, DAVID: Italian scholar; born at 
Leghorn, Tuscany, Dec. 30, 1836; died 1901. He 
was educated at the rabbinical college of Leghorn, 
and from 1857 to 1863 was teacher of Hebrew and 
Italian in the Jewish schools of that city; then he 
became secretary of the Jewish congregation in Pisa, 
where at the same time he was a private teacher. 
From Jan., 1876, until his death he occupied the 
chair of Hebrew at the Istituto di Studi Superiori 
Pratici e di Perfezionamento in Florence, 

Of Castelli’s numerous works and essays the fol- 
lowing may be mentioned: “L’Ecclesiaste, Tradu- 
zione e Studio Critico,” Pisa, 1866; “Leggende 
Talmudiche, Traduzione con Prefazione Critica,” 7b. 
1869; “11 Messia Secondo gli Ebrei,” Florence, 1874: 
“Il Diritto di Testare nella Legislazione Ebraica,” 
ib. 1878; “ Della Poesia Biblica,” 7b. 1878. “Ii Com- 
mento di Sabbatai Donnolo al Libro della Creazione, 
Testo Ebraico con Note Critiche e Introduzione in 
Ebraico e in Italiano,” 7b. 1880, in “ Pubblicazioni 
del Regio Istituto di Studi Superiori”; “La Pro- 
fezia nella Biblia,” 26. 1882; “La Legge del Popolo 
Ebreo nel suo Storico Svolgimento,” ¢b. 1884; 
“Storia degli Israeliti Secondo le Fonti Bibliche 
Criticamente Esposte,” 2 vols., Milan, 1887-88: “T] 
Cantico dei Cantici, Studio Esegetico, Traduzione 
e Note,” Florence, 1892; “Ammaestramenti del 
Vecchio e del Nuovo Testamento, Raccolti e Tra- 
dotti,” 2b. 1896; “Il Poema Semitico del Pessimis- 
mo (I! Libro di Job), Tradotto e Commentato,” 
2b. 1897; “Gli Ebrei, Sunto di Storia Politica e Lette- 
Yaria,” 2b. 1899. 

S. 


CASTELLO (CASTILHO), ABRAHAM 
ISAAC: Rabbi, preacher, and poet; born at An- 
cona 1726; died at Leghorn Aug. 1, 1789. At the 
age of thirteen he arrived, poor and destitute, in 
Leghorn, where, although he had previously in- 
tended to become a mechanic, his agreeable voice 
induced him to prepare himsclf to become a cantor, 
After the death of Adam Bondi, cantor of the Jew- 
ish congregation in Leghorn, whose daughter he had 
married, he became his successor. He then, with 
indefatigable diligence, devoted himself to the study 
of the Hebrew and Spanish languages, and to rabbin- 
ical science, and was soon advanced to the position 
of rabbi and preacher, in which capacity he so 
greatly distinguished himself that even Christian 
scholars delighted to discuss with him religious and 
philosophical topics. Castello is probably the Jew- 
ish scholar with whom Lessing conversed during 
his scientific tour in the company of Duke Leopold 
of Brunswick, and, on hearing whom, the duke is 
said to have exclaimed in astonishment, “ Here we 
have one even greater than Mendelssohn—of far 
purer metaphysics. ” 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cassuto 
Castelnuovo 





Castello-was the author of the following writings, 
ali published at Leghorn: “Kol Millin,” an allegor- 
ical drama io celebration of the wedding of Aaron 
Ergas and Deborah da Costa (1765); “ Oracion Doc- 
trinal’* (1758); “A Memorial Sermon on the Death 
of Francis I. of Germany ” (1765), written in Spanish, 
and translated by Castello’s son Joseph into Italian. 
Besides these there were several occasional poems in 
Hebrew published by Sal. Miche, in “ Composi- 
zioni Poetichi” (1788), and by A. B. Piperno in the 
collection “ Kol ‘Ugab” (1846). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Berliner, in Israelitische Monataschrift, Bet- 
lage zur Jtidischen Presse, 1898, pp. 21, 22; Piperno, Kol: 
*Ugab, at end; Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledvot Gedole Yisrael, No. 
51; 8. D. Luzzatto, Epistolarin Italiano-Francese, 189), p. 
734; Roest, Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl. p. 256. 
rr. G. M. K. 


CASTELLO (CASTELO), JACOB (ANTO- 
NIO): Poet at Amsterdam; died after 1684. He 
was a member of several academies of poetry in his 
native city, and was noted for hisriddles. He is the 
author of verses on the “Coro de las Musas” of 
Miguel de Barrros, and the “ Rumbos Pelizrosos” 
of Joseph PENSo. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port,-Jud, pp. 35, 86; 

Jacob Castello, in Jeschurun, iv. 323 et seq., Frankfort-on- 


the-Main, 1859. 
G. M. K. 


CASTELLO (CASTILHO), JOSEPH: Phy- 
sician; born at Leghorn about 1746; son of Abra- 
ham Isaac. After studying medicine at Pisa, he re- 
turned to his native city, where he soon acquired a 
reputation as a physician. A medical work written 
by Castello and dedicated to the archduke (after- 
ward Emperor Leopold II.), did not appear until 
after his death, which occurred while he was still in 
the prime of manhood. Castello’s brother Samuel 
was an eminent physician at Leghorn, and his son 
Abraham Isaac a lawyer and poet in the same city. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Piperno, Kol ‘Ugab, Leghorn, 1848, 
G. M. K. 


CASTELLON DE LA PLANA, or DE BUR- 
RIANA: City of Valencia. In 1820 the Jews of 
Castellon obtained permission to lay out a cemetery: 
and in 1432 to build a new synagogue. In 1891, 
in contradistinction to most of the other cities 
of Spain, at Castellon the magistrates protected 
the Jews from violence. In 1459 thirty-one Jewish 
families were living here. When in 1492 the Jews 
were compelled to leave Castellon, the city council 
demanded an indemnity for the taxes which the city 
would lose by their departure. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Amador de los Rios, Historia, ti. 155; Juan 
A. Balbos, La Juderia de Castellon, in Anuariv for 1887, pp. 
113 et seq., Valencia; Rev. Htudes Juives, xiv. 261; Jacobs, 
Sources, No. 791. 


G. M. K. 


CASTELNUOVO, SAMUEL DI: Secretary 
of the Jewish community of Rome; tived at the end 


_of the sixteenth century and at the beginning of the 


seventeenth. He edited and probably translated 
into Italian: (1) Judah ha-Levi’s piyyut, “ Mi ka- 
moka,” Venice, 1609, recited on the Sabbath prece- 
ding the Feast of Purim; (2) Moses Rieti’s liturgic 
work, “Ma‘on ha-Shoalim,” Venice, 1609. The 


Castles 
Castro, De 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 608 


Tig OFT Np ei geaey SS Meh a A gee pee ee EN may SN gid ae aE Vig hee a greitd Ge Se egy er Sard oN eee te ee eae meets 


name of Castelnuovo occurs also in a halakic deci- 

sion of Reggio on the ritual bath, inserted in 

“Mashbit Milhamot,” fol. 92. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Cat. Boul. cols, 1988, 2410; 
idem, in Monatsschrift, xliii. 9,311; Mortara, Indice, p. 11; 
Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ‘ii. 54, 215. 


G. I. Br. 
CASTLES. See DEFENSE. 


CASTRO, ADOLF DE: Spanish historian; 
member of the Academia de la Historia of Madrid: 
lived in Cadiz; died there Oct., 1898. He wrote the 
first short history of the Jews in Spain, based on care 
ful studies; and this was so impartial and dispassion- 
ate that he found it necessary to assure his readers 
(p. 8): “Escribo esta historia sin pasion, ni artificio, 
como de cosas que nada me tocin. Ni soi judio, ni 
vengo de judaizantes” (I write this history dispas- 
sionately and without craft, as concerning things 
that do not touch me. Jam not a Jew, nor am I of 
Jewish descent. De Castro’s book was published 
under the title, “Historia de los Judios en Espafia, 
desde los Tiempos de su Establecimiento hasta Prin- 
cipios de] Presente Siglo,” Cadiz, 1847; and was 
translated into English by Rev. Edward D. G. M. 
Kirwan, Cambridge, Jolin Deighton, 1851. 

Unlike J. Amador de los Rios, who, after him, 
treated the history of the Jews in Spain, De Castro 
condemned the Inquisition: “Pues Jos monarcas 
bien podran regir con las leyes de Ja fuerza los cuer- 
pos de sus vasallos; pero no podran sujetar los ani- 
mos” (For monarchs can indeed command by forci- 
ble laws the bodies of their subjects, but can not 
subdue their souls). 

8. M. K. 

CASTRO, DE, FAMILY: The various 
branches of this family are all of Spanish and 
Portuguese origin. Soon after the establishment 
of the Inquisition, 
members of the fam- 
ily emigrated to 
Bordeaux, Bayonne, 
Hamburg, and other 
cities in the Nether- 
lands, and later, in 
the United States; 
to-day their descend- 
ants are found scat- 


tered throughout 
Turkey, Egypt, 
Holland, Germany, 





England, and Italy. 
Some branches of the 
family have con- 
tinued to bear the simple name of “De Castro”; 
others are known by the following names: De Cas- 
tro-Osorio; De Castro Sarmento; De Castro-Castello- 
Osorio; Pereira de Castro; De Castro Vietra de 
Pinto; Rodriguez de Castro: Orobio de Castro; De 
‘Castro de Paz; Henriquez de Castro, ete. 

Among the members of this family, of some of 
whom a more detailed account will be found below, 
are the following: Aaron de Castro, or Crasto, par- 
nas, Amsterdam, 18384; Abraham de Castro, who was 
among the Jews who returned to Amsterdam from 
Brazil when that country was lost to the Hollanders 
in 1654 (“ Publ. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc.” iii. 17); Abra- 


Arms of De Castro Family. 


ham Nahamias de Castro, London, 1769; Dr. Baruch 
de Castro, Amsterdam, 1597-1684; Daniel de Castro, 
brother of Baruch ; Daniel Gomez de Castro, parnas, 
Amsterdam, 1772; Dr. Ezekiel de Castro, Verona, 
1639; Imanuel de Emanuel Nahmias de Crasto, par. 
nas, Amsterdam, 1773; Dr. Isaac de Castro, surgeon, 
Amsterdam, 1683 ; Joseph Mendesde Castro, Lon. 
don, 1694; Mordecai de Castro, Amsterdam, 1650; 
Moses Gomez de Castro, parnas, ¢d., 1784; Nissim 
de Castro, Constantinople, nineiecnth century; 
Pedro Fernandes de Castro, alias Julio Fernandez 
de Castro of VaHadolid, son-in-law of Simon Vaez 
“Publ. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc.” iii. p. 57), Los Valles, 
Mexico; as a Judaizing heretic, Pedro Fernandez 
became reconciled in 1647 (¢., vii. 4); Dr. Rog. 
rigo de Castro, 1550-1629; Dr. Jacob de Castro. 
Sarmento, F.R.S., 1691-1761; David de Abraham 
de Castro-Tartas (often spelled “de Crasto),” noted 
printer in Amsterdam, seventeenth century. The 
only branch of the family of which it is possible to 
make a definite pedigree is the Dutch, as follows: 


David Henriquez de Castro (d. 1779) 
= Sarah Fereira (d. 1779) 


David Henriquez (1776-1845) 
= Rachel de la Penha (1778-1838} 


| 


Moses Henriquez (1740-97) 
= Esther de Pinto (d. 1787) 


David Jacob 


Moses H. (1803-48) 
= Esther de Mattos (1803-63) 


David Henriquez (b. 1826) 
== Sarah Lopez-Suasso 


| 
Moses Henriquez (b. 1853) Abraham (b. 1858) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. Hsp.-Port.-Jud. pp. 33 et 
seqg.; De Castro, Keur van Grafsteenen, pp. 24, 25, 27, 38 et 
seg.; Stam en Wapenboek van Aanzientijke Nederland- 
sche Famitien, pp. 1389, 140, Groningen, 1885. 


J. H. Gutr.—M. K. 


Abraham de Castro: Master of the mint and 
farmer of the coinage for Sultan Sulaiman, in Cairo, 
Egypt, in the sixteenth century. Through his 
wealth and benevolence—he gave away 3,000 gold 
florins a year in alms—he acquired great influence 
among the Turkish officials, and was highly es- 
teemed by his coreligionists, in whose affairs he took 
an active interest. When in 1524 Ahmad, who had 
been appointed pasha of Egypt as a reward for his 
exploits at the capture of Rhodes in 1528, plotted to 


establish himself as an independent sovereign, and 


asked De Castro to mint the coins with his name in 
lieu of the sultan’s, De Castro secretly left Egypt and 
hastened to Constantinople to inform the sultan of 
Ahmad’s plot. The sultan received him with high 
honors and gave him costly presents. 

Ahmad avenged De Castro's flight on the Jews; 
he imprisoned several of them, probably relations of 
De Castro, and imposed exorbitant taxes upon the 
community, with heavy penalties in case of non- 
payment. De Castro returned to Egypt after 
Ahmad’s execution; but the anxiety of the Jews 
was allayed only by the granting of a firman at the 
instance of De Castro. In commemoration of this 
deliverance in 1524, the Egyptian Jews for a long 
time celebrated the 27th or 28th of Adar, as a memo 


ee eee 





609 

Sf Succ 
rial day, with special festivities (Egyptian or Cairo 
Purim); see AuMaD-PAsHA. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, p. 38a; Gritz, 
Gesch. der Jitden, ix. 22,25; Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums 
und Seiner Sekten, iti. 204, 

D. M. K. 


Balthazar (Isaac) Orobio de Castro: Philos- 
opher, physician, and apologist; born at Braganza, 
Portugal, about 1620; died at Amsterdam Nov. 7, 
1687. While still a child, he was taken to Seville 
by his parents, who were Maranos. He studied 
philosophy at Alcala de Henares and became teacher 
of metaphysics at the University of Salamanca. 
Later he devoted himself to the study of medi- 
cine, and became a popular practitioner in Seville, 
and physician in ordinary tothe duke of Medina-Celi 
and to a family nearly related to the king. 

When married and father of a family, De Castro 
was, at the instigation of a servant whom he had 
punished for theft, denounced to the Inquisition as 
an adherent of Judaism, and thrown into a dark and 
narrow dungeon, where he remained for three years, 
subjected to the most frightful tortures. As he 
persistently denied the charge, he was finally re- 
Jeased, but compelled to leave Spain and to wear the 
sanbenito, or penitential garment, for two years. 
He thereupon went to Toulouse, where he became 
professor of medicine at the university, at the same 
time receiving from Louis XIV. the title of coun- 
cilor; but, weary at last of hypocrisy and dissimu- 
lation, he went to Amsterdam about 1666, and there 
made a public confession of Judaism, adopting the 
name “Isaac.” In that city De Castro continued the 
practise of medicine, and soon became a celebrity, 
being elected to membership in the directory of the 
Spanish-Portuguese congregation and of several 
academies of poetry. Esther, his wife, died July 
5, 1712. 

Orobio de Castro was a very prolific writer. His 
work entitled “Certamen Philosophicum Propug- 
nate Veritatis Divine ac Naturalis Adversus J. 
Bredenburgi Principia” was published at Amster- 
dam, 1684, 1708, 1731. This work, in which De 
Castro attacks the ethics of Spinoza, with whom he 
maintained a friendly correspondence, was translated 
into Spanish under the titie “Certamen Philoso- 
phico, Defiende la Verdad Divina y Natural Contra 
los Principios de Juan Bredenburg,” by G. de la 
Torre, The Hague, 1741. All the other writings of 
De Castro, like the foregoing translation, are still 
extantin manuscript. They are: “ Prevenciones Di- 
vinas Contra la Vana Ydolatria de las Gentes ” (Libro 
ii., “Contra los Falsos Misterios de las Gentes Ad- 
vertidas a Ysrael en los Escritos Propheticos ”); 
“Explicacio Paraphrastica sobre o Capitulo 53 do 
Propheta Isahias. Feito por hum Curiozo da Nacio 
Hebrea em Amsterdam, em o mez de Tisry anno 
0483 ” (compare Neubauer, “ The Fifty-third Chapter 
of Isaiah,” pp. 21-118. London, 1876); “Tratado em 
que se Explica Ja Prophesia de las 70 Semanas de 
Daniel. Em Amsterdam a 6 Febrero anno 1675,” a 
paraphrastic explanation of the 70 weeks of Daniel; 
“Epistola Invectiva Contra un Judio Philosopho 
Médico, que Negava la Ley .de Mosse, y Siendo 
Atheista Affectava la Ley de Naturaleza.” This is 
identical with “Epistola Invectiva Contra Prado, un 

TII.—39 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Castles 
Castro, De 





Philosopho Medico, que Dubitava, o no Creya la 
Verdad dela Divina Escritura, y Pretendié Encubrir 
su Malicia con Ja Affecta Confacion de Dios, y Ley 
de Natureza,” a work directed against Juan de 
Prado, a physician and author of Picardy who resided 
in Amsterdam. Long after De Castro’s death a 
Jew by the name of Henriquez published an al- 
leged work of his in French under the title “Israel 
Vengé,” claiming it to have been originally writ- 
ten in Spanish (London, 1770), It has been trans 
lated into English by Grace Aguilar (London, 
1839). De Castro’s discussions on Christianity with 
the Dutch preacher Philipp von Limborch were 
published by the latter in the work entitled “De 
Veritate Religionis Christians: Amica Collatio cum 
Erudito Judo,” Amsterdam, 1687. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gratz, in_ Monatsschrift, xvi. 321-330; idem, 
Gesch. der Juden, x. 202; De Rossi, Hist. Worterbuch der 
Jiid. Schriftsteller, pp. 253 et seq.; Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.- 
Port.-Jud, pp. 81 et seq. 

G. M. K. 


Benedict, (Baruch) Nehamias de Castro: 
Physician in ordinary to Queen Christina of Sweden, 
and writer on medicine; born at Hamburg in 1597; 
died there Jan. 31, 1684. He attended the gym- 
nasium of that city in 1615, received preparatory 
instruction in medicine from his father, Rodrigo de 
Castro, and later prosecuted this study at several 
universities. After his graduation at Padua (or at 
Franeker), he began to practise in Hamburg (1622), 
acquiring such fame that in 1645 he was appointed 
physician in ordinary to the queen of Sweden. De 
Castro was for some time president of the Portu- 
guese-Jewish congregation at Hamburg, and was a 
zealous adherent of Shabbethai Zebi. He was twice 
married. In his old age he.was reduced to such 
poverty that he was compelled to sell his library and 
furniture, to obtain the means of subsistence. This 
“vir humanissimus,” as Hugo Grotius calls him, 
was interred in the cemetery of the Portuguese con- 
gregation at Altona. The tombstone erected by 
his relatives bears the following inscription: 

* Do Benaventurado muy insigne Vario 
o Doutor Baruch Nahamyas de Castro 
faleczo em 14. Sebat afio 5444. 

Sua alma gloria.” 

De Castro, under the pseudonym “ Philotheo Cas- 
tello,” was the author of the following works: (1) 
“Flagellum Calumniantium, seu Apologia in qua 
Anonymi Cujusdem Calumnizx Refutantur, Ejusdem 
Mentiendi Libido Detegitur,” Amsterdam, 1631, a 
polemical work, in which the author defends physi- 
cians of Portuguese origin against the malicious at- 
tacks of a certain Joachim Curtius. It is said to 
have been published at Antwerp in 1629, under the 
title “ Tratado da Calumnia em o qual Brevemente se 
Mostram a Natureza, Causas e Effeitos deste Perni- 
zioso Vicio.” (2) “ Monomachia sive Certamen Medi- 
cum, quo Verus in Febre Synocho Putrida cum Cruris 
Inflammatione Medendi Usus per Vene Sectionem 
in Brachio ....” Hamburg, 1647, a work dedicated 


to Queen Christina. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, in Monatsschrift, ix. 92 et seq.: 
idem, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 35; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 
X. 228, 244; Sasportas, Ohel Ya‘akob, responsum 27; A. 
Feilchenfeld, in Zeit. fiir Hamburgische Gesch. x. 2143 

Grinwald, Portugiesengrdber auf Deutscher aaa io 


G. 


Castro, De 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 616 


eee 


Daniel (Andreas) de Castro: Physician; born 
in Hamburg 1599; younger brother of Baruch Na- 
hamias, with whom he attended the gymnasium and 
studied medicine. He was physician in ordinary to 
King Christian IV. of Denmark, and lived at Gliick- 
stadt. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kavserling, in Monatsschrift, ix. 97; idem, 
Bibl. Esp. ~Purt.-J ud. p. 36. 
G. M. K. 


David Henriques de Castro: Numismatist and 
author; born at Amsterdam, 1832; died there Oct. 
10, 1898; son of Moses Henriques de Castro. He 
was a man of much learning, member of the board of 
directors of the Portuguese synagogue at Amster- 
dam, and president of the committee of the Portu- 
guese Jews of the Netherlands. He possessed a rare 
collection of old coins and art treasures, anda library 
rich in Spanish and Portuguese manuscripts and 
printed works dealing with the history of the Jews, 
an elaborate catalogue of which appeared shortly 
after his death, under the title “Catalogue . .. de 
la Succession de Feu M. D. Henriques de Castro,” 
Amsterdam, 1899 (with illustrations), The whole 
collection was sold at auction in April, 1899. De 
Castro was appointed knight of the Order of the 
[Immaculate Conception by the kiug of Portugal. 
[le was a member of the Royal Archeological Soci- 
ety at Amsterdam, the Netherlands Literary Society 
at Leyden, and the Zeeland Society of Arts and 
Science at Middelburg. 

De Castro took a keen interest in the history of 
the Spanish- Portuguese congregation of Amsterdam, 
in the renowned men identitied with it, notably 
Spinoza, and in the inscriptions on the tombstones 
of the old cemetery at Oudekerk. He laid bare an 
entire section of this old burial-ground and unearthed 
costly tombstoncs. He was also interested in the 
Jewish cemetery at Middelburg near Flushing, where 
he resided for some time. The results of his inves- 
tigations are embodied in the following works: “De 
Synagoge der Portugeesch-Israelitische Gemeente 
te Amsterdam,” 1675-1875, published on the occa- 
sion of its bicentenary; “Keur van Grafsteenen op 
de Neder].-Portug.-Israel. Begraafplaats te Oude- 
kerk aan den Amstel,” Leyden, 1888 (text in both 
Dutch and German). De Castro was a contributor 
to several periodicals, such as the “ Israelitische 
Weekblad.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jew. World, London, April 21, 1899; Jew. 
Chron. London, Oct. 21, 1898. 
G. M. K. 


Ezekiel de Castro: Physician; born in Portu- 
gal in the early part of the seventeenth century. 
After completing his studies at Coimbra, he began 
the practise of medicine at Verona in 1639. Barbosa 
(“ Bibl. Lusit. i, 767”) calls him “insigne medico e 
subtil filosofo.” De Castro possessed some Knowl- 
edge of Jewish literature. He was the author of the 
following works on medicine: “ De Colostro,” about 
1639; “Ignis Lambens, Historia Medica, Prolusio 
Physica, Rarum Pulchrescentis Naturee Specimen,” 
Verona, 1642, in which he refers at times to Biblical 
and Talmudic matters (a work entitled “De Igni 
Lambente in Deserto” was published by Pedro de 
Castro in the same year at Verona); “ Amphitea- 
trum Medicum in quo Morbi Omnes Quibus Imposita 


Sunt Nomina ab Animalibus Raro Spectaculo Dibe}- 
lantur,” Verona, 1646. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, in TOTES X. 38 ef sep. 
idem, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 36 5 


G. M, K. 


Felix de Castro: Spanish phy siclan ¢ lived at 
Agramunt in the first quarter of the eighteenth Cen. 
tury. On Noy. 80, 1725, he was condemned by the 
Inquisition to imprisonment for life for J udaizing 
A similar sentence had previously been impogeq 
upon the following members (all physicians) of the 
De Castro family: ” Alvarez de Castro of Pontevedra, 
aged twenty-five, sentenced Sept. 21, 1722, at San. 
tiago; Joseph de Castro of Madrid, aged for ty-nine, 
and Simon de Castro of Badajoz, aged twenty- five, 
sentenced Nov. 80, 1722, at Llerena. To these ma 
be added the following, who were condemned p 
the Toledo Inguisition: Manuel de Castro of Madrig 
(1561), Teresa de Castro (1485), Francisco dt Castro 
(1625), Jorge de Castro (1664), Ana de Castro, wife 
of Rodriguez Mercado (1676); Ines de Castro, wife of 
Luis Cardoso (Toledo, 1679); Catalina de Castro, 
wife of Balthazar de Castro of Guadalajara (1691), 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, in Monatsschrift, x. 38. 
G. Ny 


Hananeel de Castro: English communal 
worker; son of Mosseh and Judith de Castro; born 
at London Oct. 16, 1794; died March 238, 1849, 
During 1817-18 he served with the English volun. 
teers in Barbados, and soon after returned to Lon- 
don, where, in Dec., 1828, he married his cousin, 
Deborah de Jacob Mendes da Costa, 

In London De Castro at once took an important 
part in the communal life of the Bevis Marks syna- 
gogue, At the time of the blood accusation at 
Damascus (1840) he was president of the board of 
deputies of the British Jews, and was among the 
first to urge Sir Moses Montefiore’s journey to the 
East. About the same period (Jan. 20, 1845) he laid 
the foundation of Sussex ITfall, consisting of a library 
and lecture hall, which was the first Jewish literary 
institution in London. 

During the bitter controversies following the 
promulgation of the herem against the Reform syn- 
agogue in 1841, Hananeel de Castro strove un- 
ceasingly to bring about a reconciliation. Finally, 
March 9, 1849, a few weeks before his death, he 
secured the repeal of the herem in so far as it ap- 
plied to Ascama No. 1. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : M. Gaster, Bevis Marks Synagogue, pp. 1%5- 
J. M. W. L 


Isaac de Castro: Author; lived probably in 
Amsterdam about 1612; wrote the extremely rare 
work “Sobre o Principioe Restauracdéo do Mundo,” 
A. de 14 de Adar, 5372. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. Esp. Port.-Jud. p. viii. 
G. M. K 
Isaac de Castro: Talmudist; born in Egypt 

about 1630; son of Jacob de Castro. He was dis- 

tinguished for his Talmudic learning, and accumu: 
lated considerable wealth. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, p. 50a. 


G. M. K. 


eevee poe ak tn SR ht hn en te 


611 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDLA 


Castro, De 


a a: a a ee 


Isaac de Castro: Turkish printer; progenitor 
of the De Castro family of Constantinople; born at 
Venice in 1764; died at Constantinople in 1845. He 
founded an important printing-establishment in the 
latter city, In 1815 he was commissioned by the gov- 
ernment of the sultan Mahmud II. to organize the 
national Ottoman printing-office. Of keen mind 
and exemplary probity, and being a great benefactor 
of his coreligionists, he was universally esteemed, 
and was decorated by the sultan Mahmud with the 
Order Nishan-Iftikhar. He was an English subject. 
At his death he left one daughter, Dolceta, and six 
sons, Abram, Jacques, Moses, Nissim, Joseph, and 
Léon. 

S. M. Fr. 

Jacob de Castro: First Jew born in Hamburg 
(1600); clied there at the age of ninety-nine. He was 
a brother of Benedict and Daniel de Castro. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, in Monatsschrift, ix. 98. 
G. 


Jacob de Castro (wp''"7) : Rabbinical author- 
ity; lived in Egypt; died there in 1610. He wasa 
nephew—not a son—of tlie master of the mint, Abra- 
ham de Castro. Ona pilgrimage to Safed he was 
the guest of Joseph Caro, by whom he was highly 
esteemed. De Castro corresponded among other of 
his contemporaries with Samuel de Medina, and was 
the author of the following works, which were pub- 
lished after his death: “‘Erek Lehem” (An Order of 
Bread), novell and notes to the four legal codes, 
Constantinople, 1718; “Ohole Ya‘akob” (Tents of 
Jacob), ritual decisions, Leghorn, 1788; “Kol Ya‘a- 
kob” (Voice of Jacob), derashot on the Pentateuch 
(cited by Azulai as manuscripts), Constantinople; 
“Nazir,” and a number of similar writings on Tal- 
mudic subjects, published by Jacob Hagis in his 
“Halakot Ketanot,” Venice, 1704. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim. i. 97, ii. 118, 127; 

Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, 38a, 4la, b, 42a. 

G. M. K. 

Jacob de Castro: Comedian; born in London 
Jan. 14, 1758; died after 1815; son of a Hebrew 
teacher. He was intended in his youth for the Jew- 
ish ministry, and, with this in view, attended the 
various scholastic institutions of the Portuguese 
synagogue. But he showed an early predilection 


for the stage, at the age of fifteen arranging plays © 


and farces in commemoration of Purim. He first 
appeared at the Theater Royal, Covent Garden, in 
1779, in a farce; then at the Royal Circus, at the 
Haymarket, in 1785. In 1786 he engaged with 
Philip Astley in the latter’s “Amphitheater and 
Ambigu-Comique,” remaining with him for a num- 
ber of years, and performing ina long list of bur- 
lesques, musical farces, and pantomimes. He was 
the chief of a small body of performers who were 
colloquially spoken of as “ Astley’s Jews.” In 18038 
De Castro became manager of the Royalty Theater, 
but later returned to Astley, with whom he remained 
until his death, appearing frequently in his amphi- 
theater in Dublin. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Humphreys (editor), a OS of Jacob 


de Castro, London, 1824; Jew. Chron. May 26, 1893. His 


Lada by Stanfleld was engraved and published by Sher- 
Ww e 
J. G. L. 


Jacques de Castro: Turkish physician; son of 
Isaac de Castro; born in 1802; died in 1876. After 
finishing his medical studies at Paris, he was ap- 
pointed by the sultan ‘Abd al-Majid head physician 
of the military hospital at Constantinople. Castro 
was made a senator by Sultan ‘Abd al-Aziz, and 
Was appointed by Sultan Abd al-Hamid his consult- 
ing physician, receiving the Order of the Medjidie. 

8. M. Fr. 


Leon Hayim de Castro: Editor of the Span- 
ish (Ladino) periodical, published at Constantinople 
in 1853, under the title “Or Yisrael,” “La Luz de 
Israel.” 

G. M. K. 


Moses de Castro: Rabbinical authority (pre- 
sumably a pupil of Berab); lived in the sixteenth 
century. He was distinguished by great learning 
and ascetic piety. At first the head of a Talmudic 
school in Cairo, he settled later (about 1530) in Jeru- 
salem. When Jacob Berab, rabbi of Safed, sought 
to invest the ordination of rabbinical judges with a 
higher authority, and to reestablish in Palestine a 
kind of Sanhedrin with himself as president, it was 
Moses de Castro and Levi b. Habib who successfully 
opposed the movement. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frumkin, bben Shemu’'el, p. 40; Gritz, Gesch. - 
der Juden, ix. 316 et seq. 


G. M. K 


Moses Orobio de Castro: Son of Balthazai 
(Isaac) Orobio de Castro, and a popular physician in 


Amsterdam. 
G. M. K, 


Nissim de Castro: Author of a Ladino text- 
book on astronomy, published at Constantinople 
1850, entitled, “ Una Mirada 4 los Cielos, 6 la Puerta 
de la Astronomia.” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. hsp.-Port.-Jud. p. 363 
Franco, Essai sur UHist. des Israélites de V Empire Otto- 
man, p. 242, 

G. M. K. 

_ Rodrigo de Castro: Physician; born 1550 at 

Lisbon; died at Hamburg, date disputed, but prob- 

ably 1627. Several members of his family were 

physicians of some reputation, his uncle Emmanuel 

Vaitz having attended four kings of Portugal. 
Castro studied medicine at Evora and Salamanca, 

and, after receiving there the degrees of doctor of 

philosophy and of medicine, he practised at Lisbon. 

Philip IL requested him on the completion of his. 

studies to make a journey to East: India, for the 

purpose of collecting medicinal herbs and studying 
them scientifically; but the request was refused. 

In order to escape the persecutions of the Inqui- 

sition, Castro settled in Antwerp with his wife, 

Katharina Rodriguez, and their two children. Here, 

by effecting some fortunate cures, he soon won high 

esteem; but when the Spanish reestablished them- 
selves in the Netherlands, considering himself inse- 
cure, he left Antwerp, probably living in northern 

Holland for several years, until his countryman and 

colleague, possibly also relative, Henrico Rodriguez, 

induced him tomake Hamburg his permanent home 

(1594). When the plague broke out in that city in 

1596, Castro distinguished himself by self-sacrificing 


Castro, De 
Cat 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


612 





devotion. He wrote a treatise on the plague and 
dedicated it to the Senate. Though he did not hold 
the office of “ Medico del Senado” or city physician, 
as Daniel Levi de Barrios states in his “ Relacion de 
.os Poetas y Escritores Espafioles,” p. 55, he was a 
very popular and active physician, and was fre- 
quently summoned by the magnates of neighboring 
countries, among whom were the king of Denmark, 
the landgrave of Hesse, the count of Holstein, and 
the archbishop of Bremen. 

During Castro’s first years in Hamburg he did not 
avow himself a Jew; but the first list of Portuguese 
Jews published in the city council makes mention of 
Dr. Rodrigo de Castro “together with his wife, two 
full-grown sons, and other small children.” After 
the death of his wife (1603), who, since there was no 
Jewish cemetery in Hamburg-Altona, was buried 
either in the Christian cemetery or in the place ob- 
tained by Castro “within the pale of the Church,” 
he married again. For almost fifty years, thiry- 
five of which were spent at Hamburg, he acted as 
the friend and helper of suffering humanity, being 
styled “master of his art,” “famous physician,” and 
“prince of medicine of his time.” He was buried in 
the cemetery of the Jewish-Portuguese congregation 
at Altona. 

The following works of Rodrigo de Castro ap- 
peared in print: “Tractatus Brevis de Natura et 
Causis Pestis Que Hoc Anno 1596 Hamburgensem 
Civitatem Afflixit,” Hamburg, 1596; “De Universa 
Mulierum Morborum Medicina,” 26. 1608 (1604), 1628, 
1664: Venice, 1644; Hanover, 1654; Cologne, 1689; 
Frankfort, 1668; “ Medicus Politicus, sive de Offi- 
ciis Medico-Politicis Tractatus,” a kind of medical 
encyclopedia and methodology, Hamburg, 1614, 
1662. The above were written in Latin, and the 
following in Portuguese: “'Tratado de Herem, Em 
o Qual a Serca Desta Materia,” etc., cited also under 
the title “Trattado da Halissa, En o Qual Sen a 
Desta Materia Dialogi xxv.” 1614. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, in Monatsschrift, viii. 330-339; 
idem, Gesch. der Jucen in Portugal, pp. 279 et seq.; idem, 


Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. pp. 36 et seq.; M. Isler, Zur Aeltesten 
were der Juden in Hamburg, pp. 8 et seg., Hamburg, 
74. 


D. M. K. 


Castro, Jose Rodrigues de: Christian rabbinic 
scholar; librarian; born in Spain in 1739; died about 
1795. Appointed royal librarian to Charles III. and 
Charles IV., he devoted himself to a revision of the 
bibliographical labors of Nicolas Antonio; producing 
at Madrid, in 1781, the “ Biblioteca Espafiola.” This 
contains in the first volume accounts of Spanish 
Jewish authors, taken mainly from Bartolocci, 
though there is evidence that the writer knew some 
Rabbinic Hebrew, as his work includes Spanish trans- 
lations of two Hebrew poemsonchess. He addressed 
to Charles IIT. on his accession a number of He- 
brew, Latin and Greek verses entitled “ Congratula- 
tio Regi,” Madrid, 1759. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bod. col. 813; idem, in 


Zeu. fiir Hebr. Bibl. ii. 96; Biographie Universelle, 1844, 
5, v.; Ersch and Gruber, Lncyc., s.v. J 


CASTRO SARMENTO, JACOB (HEN- 
RIQUEZ) DE: Physician, naturalist, and poet; 
born about 1691 in Braganca, Portugal; died at 


London in 1761. At the age of seventeen he en- 
tered the University of Evora, to study philosophy, 
and later studied medicine at Coimbra, receiving 
his baccalaureate in 1717. In order to escape the 
persecutions of the Inquisition, Henriquez — go. 
called as a Marano—went to London in 1720; there 
he continued his studies in medicine, physics, and 
chemistry, and passed his examinations in the theory 
and practise of medicine. He was elected a fellow 
of the Royal Society of London about 1725, in ree. 
ognition of his having introduced a new medicine 
for curing fevers. Castro Sarmento corresponded 
with many scholars, among others with Prof. Mendeg 
Sanchetto Barbosa of Lisbon, who reported to him 
the terrible earthquake that destroyed the capital of 
Portugal in 1755, and with the Jesuit B. Suarez, 
who communicated to him his astronomical observa! 
tions made in Brazil. 

The literary activity of Castro Sarmento began 
with a treatise on vaccination, “ Dissertatioin Novam, 
Tutam, ac Utilem Methodum Inoculationisseu Trans. 
plantationis Variolorum” (London, 1721; German 
translation, Hamburg, 1722; Supplement, London, 
1731; anonymously, Leyden). Other works are: 
“ Historia Medica Physico-Hist.-Mechanica,” part i., 
London, 1781; part ii., 7. 1785; “Syderohydrologia 
6 Discurso das Aguas Mineraes Espadafias ou Chaili- 
beadas,” <>. 1736, identical with “Da Uso e Abuso 
das Minhas (Minerales) Aguas da Inglaterra,” Lon- 
don, 1756; “Tratado da Verdadeira Theoria dos 
Mares,” London, 1737; and a Portuguese transiation 
of the treatise of the surgeon Samuel Sharp: “Sur- 
gical Operations, with Platesand Descriptions of the 
Instruments Used ” (London, 1744). 

In recognition of his services to medicine the 
University of Aberdeen awarded to him, in July, 
1739, a medical degree. Castro Sarmento was also 
a poet and a preacher. In Spanish, he published 
“Exemplar de Penitencia, Dividido en Tres Dis- 
cursos Para 6 dia Santo de Kipur” (London, 1724); 
“Extraordinaria Providencia Que el Gran Dios de 
Ysrae}] Uso con su Escogido Pueblo en Tiempo de 
su Mayor Afflicion por Medio de Mordehay y Ester 
Contra los Protervos Intentos del Tyrano Aman, 
Deducida de Ja Sagrada Escritura en el Sequinte 
Romance” (London, 1728); “Serma&o Funebre as 
Memorias do... Haham Morenu a R. e Doutor 
David Neto” (London, 1728). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 37; idem, 
in Monatseschrift, vii. 393 et seq., viii. 161 et seg.; Landau. 


Gesch. der Jiidischen Aerzte, p. 1385 (who foilows the inac- 
curate information of Carmoly); Cat. Anglo-Jew. Eh. p. 49. 


J. 


CASTRO TARTAS, DAVID B. ABRA- 
HAM: Printer in Amsterdam from 1665 to 1699, 
and publisher of a number of rabbinical writings, 
including prayer-books and ritualistic works, in 
Hebrew, Spanish, and Portuguese. His brother, 
Jacob de Castro Tartas, participated in the manage- 
ment of the printing-office. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ersch and Gruber, Eneye. part xxviii. 8, 


p, Ov. 


D. M. K. 


CASTRO TARTAS, ISAAC DE: Marano and 
martyr; born at Tartas, Gascony, about 1623; died 
at Lisbon Dec. 15 (22), 1647. He was a brother of 


613 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Castro, De 
Cat 





David Castro Tartas, and arelative of the physician 
Elijah MontTa.rTo, and was himself trained in philos- 
ophy and in the classical languages. Early in life 
Isaac went to Parahiba, Brazil, where he lived for 
several years. Against the wishes of his relatives 
there, he went later to Bahia dos Santos, where he 
was recognized as a Jew, arrested by the Inquisi- 
tion, and sent to Lisbon. Summoned before the 
tribunal of the Inquisition, he at once avowed his 
belief in Judaism and his determination to remain 
true to the faith. All the endeavors of the inquisi- 
tors to convert him to Christianity were in vain. 
On Dec. 15 (22), 1647 (Mot Sept. 23, as was erro- 
neously supposed), this young man was led, together 
with five fellow-sufferers, to the stake. In the 
midst of the flames he called out in startling tones, 
*“Shema‘ Yisrael! [Hear, O Israel!] The Lord our 
God is One!” With the word “Ehad” (One), he 
breathed his last. For several years the public of 
Lisbon repeated his last words, so that the Inquisi- 
tion was finally compelled to interdict this confes- 
sion of the Jewish faith, under the threat of severe 
punishment. It is said that the martyrdom of De 
Castro Tartas so affected the hardened inquisitors 
that they determined to cease burning heretics at 
the stake. In Amsterdam the tragic end of this 
promising young man occasioned deep mourning. 
A memorial sermon was delivered by Saul Levi 
Morteira, and elegies in Hebrew and in Spanish were 
written in his honor by Solomon de Oliveyra and 
Jonas Abravanel. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Cardoso, Las Ezcelencias de los Hebreos, pp. 
324 et seq.; Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, pp. 
308 et seq.; idem, Sephardim, pp. 204 et seq.; Publications 


Am. Jew. Hiat. Soc. iv. 130 et seq. 
D. M. K. 


CASTROJERIZ: Town in southern Castile, 18 
miles west of Burgos. Jews lived there as early as 
the period of the Moorish rule. In the charter 
(“fuero”) granted to the town in 974 by Garci Fer- 
nandez, count of Castile, it is ordered that the mur- 
der of a Jew be punished in the same way as that 
of a Christian. When, after the death of King 
Sancho, forty Jews were killed at Mercatello, Ferdi- 
nand I., his son and successor, settled the remaining 
Jews of that place at Castrojeriz (1035). After the 
death of Alfonso VI. of Castile, in 1106, the inhabit- 
ants of the neighboring Castro fell upon the Jews 
of Castrojeriz, killing many, making prisoners of 
others, and plundering their houses. The new king, 
Alfonso VIL, and his wife, Urraca, forbade any fur- 
ther injury to the Jews of Castrojeriz on pain of 
heavy penalties. In 1234 Fernando II. confirmed 
the privileges which had been granted to the Jews. 
In 1474 the Jewish community paid 1,100 maravedis 
in taxes. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Mufioz y Romero, Coleccion de Fueros Munt- 
cipales, pp. 38-41, Madrid, 1847; Amador de los Rios, Histo- 
rid, i. 173 et seq., 190; iii. 591. 

E. C. M. K. 


CASUISTRY. See LEGALISM. 


CAT: There is no reference to the cat in the 
Old Testament, the domestication of that animal 
being later than the Bible, except in Egypt, where 
it was reverenced as a divine being, and probably 
thus became tame. Victor Heln (* Culturpflanzen 


und Hausthiere,” etc., Berlin, 1894) even declares 
that the tame cat was not introduced into Europe 
until after the invasion of the Huns. There is, 
however, evidence on Greek vases and Pompeian 
wall-paintings that the cat was domesticated in 
Greece and Rome before the common era (R. Engel- 
mann, “Die Katzen im Alterthum,” in “Jahrbuch 
des Kaiserlichen Deutschen Archiologischen Insti- 
tuts,” xiv, 186-148, Berlin, 1900). In the Talmud, 
on the other hand, there are many references to 
the cat, which is called )\nn, @ general name for 
the “pouncer,” though at times it is called s7o\w 
(N99), Which is a specific term derived from the 
Persian (Sachau, in “Z. D. M. G.”), and suggests the 
possibility that the domesticated cats of Syria and 
Europe were derived from that country, 

The destructive qualities of the cat are generally 
recognized. With its five claws (ful. 52b) it des- 
troys not alone mice (B. K. 80a), weasels (Sanh. 
105a), hens, young birds, jambs, and kids (Hul. 58a), 
but even large birds (Ket. 41b), as well as snakes 
(Pes. 112), snake-poison being innocuous to it (Shab. 
128b). It is dangerous to babies (B. K. 80b), who. 
on that account weara leather bandage (Kelim xxvi. 
5; the reading is doubtful). White cats bite worse. 
than black ones (B. K. 80b). The cat is regarded 
as a model of modesty, because of its cleanly habits. 
(‘Er. 100b); though the reason is also given that. 
these are due to the desire to avoid being detected 
by mice. 

That the cat was tamed in Talmudic times is shown 
by the statement that it never leaves a home it has 
once chosen, and therefore need not be watched 
(Shab. 51b). It bears young in 52 days (Bek. 8a), 
which nearly agrees with the right period of 55 days. 
The reason why the cat forgets its master, whereas 
the dog will always remember him, is stated to be 
because catseat mice, which are eminently the cause 
of forgetfulness (Hor. 18a). This idea has lasted 
into modern times; for in Russia Jewish boys are 
not even now allowed to stroke a cat lest they lose 
their powers of memory. The prohibition does not, 
however, extend to girls. 

In order to see demons, one should burn the fetus 
of a black cat, which must be the eldest female off- 
spring of a black cat that is also the eldest female 
offspring of a black cat, and sprinkle the ashes on, 
one’s eyes (Ber. 6a). A woman’s blood, offered to a. 
cat, with magic formulas, will deprive a man of his 
virility (Shab. 75b). If rats kill a cat, the owner 
has no remedy, on the principle that “the man who. 
is killed by women is no man” (B. M. 97a). Any 
one may kill a wild (perhaps mad) cat and take its. 
skin (Shulhan ‘Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, 266, 4); the 
pelt, being soft, is used for furs (B. K. 80b). Of 
enemies who become reconciled it is said proverbially 
“the cat and the weasel have made a match” (Sanh. 
105a). In Russo-Jewish folk-lore, blood from the tail 
of a cat is regarded as a cure for erysipelas; while a 
cat put into a new cradle drives away evil spirits. 
from the baby. When there is a thunder-storm, the 
cat is put outside in the rain. A black cat in the 
house is propitious; a white one, unlucky. When 
a house is built a black cat, among other domestic 
animals, is introduced into it for luck. In the 
cabalistic system of transmigration a person who. 


Catacombs 





uses the name of God is turned into a cat (Vital 
Calabrese, “Sefer ha-Gilgulim,” ed. Warsaw, p. 125). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lewysohn, Die Zoologie des Talmuds, pp. 74- 
«6, 108; Hamburger, R. B. T.s.v.; Brecher, Das Transcen- 
dentale, p. 52; Levy, Neuhebr. Worterbuch, 3.v. 270. 
E. €. J. 
CATACOMBS: Underground galleries with ex- 
cavations in their sides for tombs or in which human 
bones are stacked. The termis derived from “cata- 
comba,” a compound of the Greek «xaré and the 
Latin “comba ” (“cumba ”), and meaus “ near the sep- 
ulchers.” Originally it designated a definite place 
on the Via Appia near Rome, but since the ninth 
century it has been applied to all subterranean 


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gives a detailed description of this kind of tomb, 
the chief characteristic of which is that the bodieg 
were placed in niches (Talmud, }'335; Latin, “loc- 
uli”) in the subterranean vaults. The Christian 
catacombs doubtless originated in imitation of this 
Jewish custom, although it would appear from the 
catacombs so far discovered at Rome that the Chris- 
tian ones are older than the Jewish. Among Chris- 
tians, moreover, Jesus’ tomb in the rock must have 
been the model from the beginning. 

Jewish catacombs have been discovered at Rome 
as follows: (1) Before the Porta Portuensis; found 
in 1602 by Bosio under the Colle Rosato. This cat- 
acomb has since become inaccessible through the 





FRAGMENT OF A SARCOPHAGUS FROM THE VIGNA RANDANINI AT ROME, SHOWING JEWISH SYMBOLS, 
(From Garrucci, * Cimitero Degli Antichi Ebrei.’’) 


burial-places in Italy as well as in other countries. 
In the Middle Ages only Christian catacombs were 
known; in modern times, however, Jewish burial- 
places have been discovered resembling the Chris- 
tian ones, and hence are also called catacombs. 

In point of fact, the mode of burial followed in 
catacombs is undoubtedly of Jewish origin. Sub- 
terranean tombs were used in Palestine even in 
early times. While in the East corpses were usu- 
ally put into the earth, in the West they were cre- 
mated. The earliest example of a subterranean tomb 
is the double cave of Machpelah, still preserved under 
the mosque built over it. Around Jerusalem there 
are so-called tombs of the Prophets —tombs of priests 
according to Sepp—that, in their labyrinthine ar- 
rangement, resemble the catacombs. Tombs of tlic 
judges—z.e., tombs of the sanhedrists—are also to 
be found throughout Palestine. The architect 
Schick found at Jerusalem a catacomb begun by 
Jews and continued by Christians. These tombs, 
which are hewn out of the rock, differ from the 
Roman catacombs only in that they are difficult of 
access, while the latter are arranged with a view to 
the frequent visits of the living (Swoboda, “Die 
Altpalistinischen Felsengriiber und die Cata- 
‘comben,” in “Rémische Quartalschrift fir Christ]. 
Altertumskunde,” p. 821, Rome, 1890; compare also 
the word Aaréuscov = “quarry,” used in the sense of 
“cemetery,” which recalls these rock-tombs). 

Wherever the Jews went in the course of their 
‘wanderings, they endeavored to preserve this cus- 
tom of their fathers as far as the nature of the 
ground permitted; and they did so at Rome, in 
dower Italy, Carthage, Cyrene, etc. The Talmud 





filling in of theneighborhood. Itsarrangement was 
extremely simple and primitive, as it contained only 
two cubicula or burial-niches. It is evident, from 


eee = AS 


Milby 





Z Hig EE MytT Tithe 
ME SUMMMM I! Libeg 


Teg AC EAE 
ACEZHCENETH 











Inscription on Gravestone in the Vigna Cimarra at Rome. 
CYNA(TwWP)HC EAE The Synagogue of Elea. 
AC EZHCEN ETH 
I He Lived 70 Years. 


KAAwWC KOIMOY Pleasant is the sleep 
META ey AIKE of the righteous. 
w 


its situation on the road leading to Porto, that it 
served as a cemetery for the Jews living in Traste- 


vere. (2) In Porto itself, from which several Greek 
inscriptions of the first and second 
Rome. centuries have been preserved. These 


inscriptions throw much light on the 
history of the Jews at Rome. (8) In the Vigna 
Randanini on the Via Appia, discovered by Garrucci 
in 1862. Healso found there two figured sarcophagi 


615 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Catacombs 





and gilded glasses of Jewish origin, which furnish 
proof of the interesting fact that the Jews also fol- 
lowed the higher arts. (4) In the Vigna Cimarra 
near the Via Appia, discovered by De Rossi in 1867. 
Among its inscriptions, which are also important, 
one mentions the synagogue of Elea. (5) In the 
Vigna Apolioni on the Via Labicana, discovered in 
1882 by Marucchi; it is less important, and contains 
only avery few inscriptions, but is marked by easily 
recognizable Jewish symbo!s. (6) On the Via Appia 
Pignatelli, discovered in 1885 by Nicolaus Miler 
(see “ Mitteilungen des Archiiologischen Instituts,” 
Roman section, 1886, 1. 49-56). 

According to F. X. Kraus’s description, the Roman 
catacombs consist of an immense labyrinth of gal- 
leries excavated in the bowels of the earth and under 
the hills surrounding the city. The galleries are ar- 
ranged in different stories (“piani”), often three or 

four of them one above the other, and 

Arrange- crossing a number of times in the 
ment. same story. The galleries are from 
one-half to one meter wide, hence gen- 

erally very narrow; in height they vary with the 
nature of the rock out of which they are hewn. 
The walls on both sides are perforated by horizontal 
caves or niches like oblong ovens, each of which 
affords space for one or more bodies. The rows are 
broken at intervals by passageways leading into 
smaller chambers, the walls of which are also per- 
forated by niches, There is little difference between 
the Christian and the Jewish catacombs; certain 
variations in construction being no greater than the 
differences among the several Christian catacombs 
themselves. There is the same arrangement of 


\\\ 


ZINA GA 
APXWN 
EN OAAE 
XE!l1OE€E 
BUN XVIII 


ENEIPHNH 
KOIMHCHN 


The chief value of the Jewish catacombs at Rome 
hes in the numerousand multiform inscriptions that 
they furnish, which throw a strong light on the life 
of the Jews at Rome. <A great number of names 
has been preserved thereby ; and sometimes the titles 
of the offices and the status of those buried are given. 
Since about 110 of the inscriptions are in Greek and 
only about 40 in Latin, the former was probably the 
language of the Jews at Rome. The Greek inscrip- 
tions date from between the first and 
third centuries, from which time to the 
fourth century there are Latin inscrip- 
tions. A genuine Hebrew inscription 
has not yet been found, though the formulas piby 
(“ Peace”) and Sens by mbxw [sic!] (“Peace to 
Israel”) have been noted in some instances, Where the 
inscription does not begin with the name of the de- 
ceased, the usual introductory formula is ENOAAE 
KEITE (for xet-ac): the Latin “ Hic Jacet” (Here Lies) 
is seldomfound. Eulogies recalling Biblical verses 
and idioms are used as tinal formulas; e.g., Isa. lvii. 2 
or Ps. iv. 9. The frequent dca Biov, taken to mean 
nbsp wn (“ for life eternal ”), must also be considered 
wa pious wish. The Jewish inscriptions of the cata- 
combs of Rome have been collected in the works of 
Berliner and of Vogelstein and Rieger. 

The commonest symbol found in the Jewish cata- 
combs is the seven-brauched candlestick, doubtless 
in reference to the verse, “ The spirit of man is the 
candle of the Lord” (Prov. xx. 27). It is an infalli- 
ble sign that the tomb in question is Jewish, as it is 
not found on Christian tombs. Another symbol 
is a fruit from which an ear of grain sprouts, and 
which is interpreted as “lulab” (palm-branch) and 


Us 


Inscrip- 
tions. 





INSCRIPTION ON A SARCOPHAGUS IN THE VIGNA CIMARRA AT ROME. 


ZWNAG@A 
APXWN 
EN@AAE 
XEI@EE 
@wN XVITI 
EN EIPHNH 
KOIMH CHN 


galleries and cubicula, the same method in the dis- 
position of the graves, and the same decoration in 
colors and tints. It has been remarked, however, 
that the flags closing the niches on the outside are 
fitted better in the Jewish than in the Christian 
tombs; so that no one would suspect that tombs 
were behind these stones. The only real difference 
consists in the presence of Jewish formulas and 
Symbols and in the absence of Christian ones. 


Zonatha ( = Jonathan) 
the archon 

here 

lies 

aged eighteen years. 
He rests in peace. 


“etrog” (citron). This interpretation is, however, 
not certain. An oil-vessel is also found on some 
stones, a symbol] probably identical 

Symbols. with the candlestick. Garrucci inter- 
preted it as referring to Hanukkah, 

but this is inadmissible. It may be considered an 
artistic expression of the thought, “ A good name is 
better than precious ointment; and the day of death 
than the day of one’s birth” (Eccl vii. 1), There 


Catacombs 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


616 


eee ee 


is uo reason to doubt that a curved horn signifies 
the shofar. It isintended tosymbolize the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, which shall precede the Messianic 
timcs to be announced by the shofar. A _ heart- 
shaped leaf is often found, as also on Christian 
stones: this signifies sorrow for the dead. 

The symbols of the Christian tombs also, in so far 
as they are taken from the Old Testament, are inter- 
esting froma Jewish pointof view. Thechief types 
are: Noah in the Ark, the sacrifice of Isaac, the mi- 
raculous water produced by Moses in the desert, 
Israel’s passage through the Red Sea, the ascension 
of Elijah, Jonah’s deliverance, the three youths in 
the fiery furnace, and Daniel in the den of lions. 
All these pictures express the thought that there are 
comfort and deliverance from sorrow and trouble. 
Kaufmann explains the fact that these and not 
other scenes from the Old Testament were used, by 
the circumstance that this cycle was based on an old 
passage of the Jewish liturgy. 

In some Jewish tombs gilded glasses were found, 
having drawings in gold-leaf executed on the flat 
bottoms of the vessels in such a way that the letters 
and figures were visible from the inside. An illus- 
tration given by Berliner shows, in addition to the 
candlestick, the palm-branch, the heart-shaped leaf, 
anda lion beside the open book of the Law. On 
one of the glasses there is even a representation of 
the Temple at Jerusalem. The gilded glasses are 
supposed to be the “kiddush” cups used on the 
Sabbath and at festivals. Berliner supposes them 
to refer to the “cup of consolation ” that was offered 
to the mourners. 

In addition to the six Jewish catacombs mentioned 
above, Rome has a few others that may be either 
Jewish or Christian. Jn the first decades of Chris- 
tianity, baptized Jews probably used the existing 
Jewish catacombs as burial-places; thus, for exam- 

ple, the Hebrew inscription of one 


Doubtful Shefael was found in the Catacomba 
Catacombs Callisti. In the case of the large and 
at Rome. well-known Catacomb of Domitilla (so 


called because the noble Domitilla, of 
the imperial Flavian house, issupposed to be buried 
there), its Jewish origin depends on the question 
whether Domitilla was a Jewish or a Christian pros- 
elyte. The architectural character of this catacomb 
points to Jewish origin, because one of its cham- 
bers contains only a single-trough tomb (“arcoso- 
lium”), with a benchin front. Since both of these, 
the single tomb as well as the flat bench, are spe- 
cially characteristic of the Jewish rock-tombs in 
Palestine, it is possible that the Catacomba Domi- 
tille was originally Jaid out by Jews, although it 
was certainly finished by Christians. The architec- 
tural characteristics of this catacomb are so striking 
that even Miller admits Jewish influence, although 
he thinks that the Christian catacombs were con- 
structed on pagan and not on Jewish patterns (Her- 
zog-Hauck, “ Real-Encyc.” 3d ed., x. 868). 

It is also impossible to determine whether certain 
-atacombs in places other than Rome are Jewish 
or Christian, particularly as investigations have not 
yet been carried to the same extent as in Rome. 
This is especially the case at Naples and its vicinity, 
and, in general, throughout southern italy. Aside 


from those near the little town of Matera, the cata. 
combs of Venosa are a modern discovery, and none 


has been detinitely recognized ag 

Venosa, Christian, while most of them are cer- 
Sicily, tainly Jewish. Discovered in 1853, 

Carthage. these catacombs have been investi- 


gated and described by G. 1. Ascoli, 
Francois Lenormant, and Nicolaus Miller. Not- 
withstanding the tufa, which tends to crumble easily, 
there are galleries here more than two meters wide; 
hence wider than those at Rome. In the subterrg. 
nean main street the trough-tombs—7.e., those hol- 
lowed out in the form of a trough (“arcosolia ”)— 
are much more numerous than the niche-tombs 
(“loculi”); moreover, not only the walls, but also 
the floors, contain many tombs. The chief interest 
of the catacombs of Venosa lies in their inscriptions, 
These are written partly in Latin and partly in 
Greck, the language in both cases being incorrect 
and barbaric. It is most important to note that He- 
brew occurs more frequently; for there are epitaphs 
written entirely in that language; and the characters 
used are remarkable for paleographic reasons. One 
of these epitaphs reads: 


Ndw? WI mM) [DIS2VONS JA AN. ow IaDwH 
‘pow []*n 

(“Resting-place of Beta, son of Faustinus. Peace to 
his soul! May his spirit share in the life eternal! ”) 
An epitaph of which the second portion is Greek 
written in Hebrew characters is also noteworthy, 
and for that reason is given here, from a reproduc- 
tion in Ascoli’s “Iscrizioni Greche, Latine, Eb- 
raiche di Antichi sepolcri Giudaici del Napolitano,” 
No. 17. | 


I oT A770 
J2°719y 


yn 179A p73 
Nat A P3a-e yr z7UtD 


NPAKIAAN RN Ves 


(“ Peace to his resting-place.”) (sic!) Anse w Sy ose 
PON RIT ROD NP MEDIO AWW WPA Dia 
ANDINITIN 


(Tagog Zexovdivov Upeo3vrépov xal Margpive[c¢] érov 
oydonvra, ) 


(“Tomb of Secundinus [son of] Presbyterus and 
Materina, eighty years old.”) Mier found a num- 
ber of other catacombs at Venosa, in addition to 
those discovered in 1853. It has not yet been dcter- 
mined, however, whether they are of Jewish or Chris- 
tian origin. The same symbolsare found here, and 
in the places still to be mentioned, as are found at 
Rome. 

Theisland of Sicily abounds incatacom}s, These 
have not yet been thoroughly ivvestigated. nes has 


Catacombs 


- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDI 


617 





Archéologique,” 8d series, xiii. 178, Paris, 1889), 


' 


nec 


acombs at Syr 


cuse (see Paolo Orsi, in “Rémische Quartalschrift,” 


1897, pp. 475-495; 2. 1900, p. 190). 


° 


1S 


their Jewish or Christian character been determ 


h cat 


The necropolis lies to the north of the city, on mod- 


erately h 


a- 


put there certainly are Jew 


a 


It contains 


rh hills near the bill Gamart. 


ao 
© 


i 


about 200 tombs, that resemble the Palestinian hyp- 


The geolog- 


ical formation of the island was most favorable to 


culi give it the character of 


It has been found that the Talmudie 


ea, although the lo 


0§ 


catacombs. 


are more s1n- 


There 


an common tombs; and the bod 


the construction of rock-tcmbs, which were built by 
ans, Jews, and Christians. 


regulations regarding the rock-tombs have been im- 


pas 


plicitly observed in this necropolis; and tlre fact 


are placed 


ies 


gle th 


SS 
LARS 





Ge 
OXON» 
. SN 


SESH 
SS 
CANN 


ww 
~ 


SSN 


ST 


SN 
iN. 
‘. 


N 


KAN 


oN 


RYH 
HT = 





ees os SSS 


Sa. 


OQ 
side corridors 


N 


MBS AT VE 


OF THE JEWISH CATACO 


-PLAN 


D 
entrance to catacombs 


N 


J 


GRO 





in ruins. 


corridors 


3 


P. 


L- 


° 
5] 


E-K, 


. 
¢ 


principal corridor 


(After Ascoli.) 


D, 


* 
, 


C, 


entrance grottoes 


3 


B 


9 


A 


' + wm 4 wh 
wYaano oo & 
os) Ges PO AS 
PSP Sashes 
Fe ORODTVH oom 
o qar-.tpQ 
Sse oTeomae 
peas fee § 
~ 
2o wt oo io) 
mg Bkwog Pow 3 
oOFSov Rose FB 
a= 2S & nn 8s 
Pactevas -g 
oreo, sat 
~~ eer Sis om 
TESS Ee ota 2 
= Noa om HO & 
we Sse st a 
— = . 
SraaevwceB 8 
moo .F sR oD GF 
Re we 2 oS 3 
ite = oS eS Ne 
GBESEsazne 8 
SEBS eR ES eo 
eR TT as Oo A 
Sec se cee, 
bad CR OD eT o 
2 oy eg ae | 
~~ Ca e-— e  erers| 
m= Hen Bw ss w 
so oe eee 2s 
2SBUTSBSO0R FRO 
aAaeaene cr Seu sc 
HY meee we vy or 


a a 


wh oF ‘ 
SB2oe85 oa8 
Bug of & AS 
om) Sess ov 
qe ,2& 3 
ace se@is of 
m= |o29 O% ~ Eg 
Sa sito wm WD ot 
M ne a ES os 
o@f as aa LP 
288ard .f38 
eR T--Ts 
Bos ese eas 
nontHOSAES 
2SBGZ OB” HA 
Se Oe ep eo 
Z=DBUaeaegtaeo oe 
GLSHS HA gsZ 
RFS os on ~~ 
ORs on Oem oe BS OD 
Oe. ee wm G Ss 
qa.O2 aon -RPics 
a. 8S Soe SoS. 
say Sb aS. 23 
sole a eee BD 
BHP BZBosler © SO 
ota ss o 
ga Do nese oO VY 
oC R82 ORES mom 
tm oa 2s 5 
aoe o 4; ) 
Ox SCMACL SP 
mORASBSSOSER SE 
Ra 8 es DH Ht w 
2st & Bt rey 
= oDomre oD oO 
ABSEBARBE - & 


Catalan, Abraham 
Catalogues of Hebrew Books 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


618 





found among the many Christian ones in Cyrenaica 
and in its capital, CYRENE. In Lower Egypt, 
also, especially near Alexandria, there are pagan, 
Jewish, and Christian catacombs (“Am. Jour, 
of Archeology,” pp. 145 et seg., Baltimore, 1887). 
In the Egyptian catacombs there are 
many cell-tombs; 2z.e., tombs in which 
the bodies are pushed forward into 
the niches. According to Schultze, this indicates 
that the tomb in question is Jewish. This assump- 
tion, however, is rightly criticized by other scholars, 
and a decision of the question must await further 
investigation. See BurtAL and CEMETERY. 


Egypt. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bosio, Roma Sotterranea, ti. ch. 22, pos- 
thumous, Rome, 1632; Le Rossi, Builetino, 1864, iv. 40; idem, 
Roma Sotterranea, 1877, iii. 886; Garrueci, Cimitero degli 
Antichi Ebrei . .. in Vigna Randanini, Rome, 1862; 
Franz Xaver kraus, Roma Sotterranea, pp. 489 et_seq., Frei- 
burg-in-Breisgau, 1873, 2d ed., 1879; idem, in Real-Encyc. der 
Christl. Alterthiimer, ib. 1888, s.v. Katakomben; idem, 
Gesch. der Christl. Kunst, i. 35, ib. 1895; Kaufmann, Sens 
et Origine des Symboles de VAncien Testament dans V.Art 
Chrétien Primitif, in Rev. Etudes Juives. xiv. 338, 2175 As- 
coli, Iserizioni Inedite o Mal Note, Greche, Latine, Ehra- 
iche dit Anticht Sepolerit Giudaici del Napolitano, Turin 
and Rome, 1880; Lenormant, La Catacombe Juive de Ve- 
nosa,in Rev. Htudes Juives, vi. 201-207; Adolf von Enge- 
strom, Om Judarne t Rom Under Atdre Tider ack Deras 
Katakomber, Upsala, 1876: Schiirer, Die Gemetndeverfas- 
sung der Juden in Rom inder Kaiserzeit, Leipsic, 1879; 
Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 46-70, Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, 1893; Vogelstein and Rieger. Gesch. der Juden in 
Rom, i. 70 et seq.; Nicolaus Miller, Koimeterien, in Herzog- 
Hauck, Real-Hneye. 3d ed., x. 794 et seg.; Lowrie, Christian 
Art and Archeology, p. 42, New York, 1901. 

S. Kr. 


E. C, 


CATALAN, ABRAHAM: Well-known Tal- 
mudist of the seventeenth century. He and his son, 
Abraham Catalan, and his brother, Elijah Cat- 
alan, were contemporaneous with R. Hayyim Shab- 
bethai in Salonica. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot, p. 45a. 
G. M. K. 


CATALAN (CATALANO), ABRAHAM: 
Physician in Padua; died 1642. He is the author of 
“‘Olam Hafuk,” an unpublished manuscript trea- 
tise on the plague of 1630-31, during which time he 
was very active. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Osimo, Narrazione ... Cenni Biografci 


della Famiglia Koen Cantarint, pp. 50, 107 et seq., Casale, 
Montferrat, 1875 ; Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. xvi. 36. 


G. M. K. 


CATALAN, ABRAHAM SOLOMON BEN 
ISAAC BEN SAMUEL (not Solomon Abra- 
ham): born in Catalonia; died 1492; author of a work 
treating of the eternity of the world, Providence, 
prophecy, immortality, and the resurrection, and 
also dealing with mathematical, physical, and caba- 
listic subjects. It appeared under the title “Neweh 
Shalom” (Dwelling of Peace), Constantinople, 1538; 
Venice, 1574, with a preface by Moses Almosnino, 
who cites it several times in his work, “Me’ammez 
Koah.” Abraham Solomon translated into Hebrew 
Albertus Magnus’ “ Philosophia Pauperum,” under 
the title “Kizzur ha-Philosophia ha-Tib‘it” (Syn- 
opsis of Natural Philosophy), and Marsilius ab 
Tnghen’s “Questions,” under the title “Sha’alot 
u-Teshubot ” (Questions and Answers). Both are still 
extant in manuscript; Catalan’s preface to the latter 
work was published by A. Jellinek, without men- 
tion of the translator, together with the index of the 


questions, under the title “ Marsilius ab Inghen” 
(Leipsic, 1859). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 7 De Rossi, Hist. Worterbuch der Jitd. Schrift. 
steller, p. 69; Steinschneider, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 465, 469. 


G. M. K. 


CATALAN, GERSON B. SOLOMON: Av- 
thor; lived at Arles in the middle of the thirteenth 
century; died (possibly) at Perpignan toward the 
end of the thirteenth century. According to Abra. 
ham Zacuto and others, he was the father of Levj 
b. Gerson (Gersonides). He compiled, about 1280, 
an encyclopedia entitled “Sha‘ar ha-Shamayiin” 
(Door of Heaven), which contains many quotations 
and even whole treatises from previous translations 
of works written in Arabic. Following Ibn Pal- 
quera, he divided his work into three parts, dealing 
respectively with: (1) physics, including a chapter 
on dreams; (2) astronomy, taken chiefly from Al. 
Fergani; and (8) theology or metaphysics, which 
part, as Catalan expressly says, contains nothing 
new, but is a copy of Maimonides’ “Book of the 
Soul.” The Greck authors cited are: Alexander of 
Aphrodisias, Aristotle, Empedocles, Galen, Hippoc- 
rates, Homer, Plato, Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Themis- 
tius, and Theophrastus; the Arabic: Ali ibn al- 
Abbas, Ali ibn Ridhwan, Averroes, Avicenna, Costa 
ibn Lucca, Al-Farabi, Al-Fergani, Honain, Isaac 
Israeli, Ibn Tufail, and Ibn Zuhr. The work was 
published in Venice, 1547, Rédelheim, 1801. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1014; idem, 
Hebr. Uebers, pp. 9 et seq.; Gross, in Monataschrift, xxx. 
20 et seq.: idem, Gallia Judaica, p. 82; Sen. Sachs, Kerem 
Hemed, viii. 158 et seq.; De Rossi-Hamberger, Worterbuch, 
p. 69: Rev. Et. Juives, v. 278, xvi. 186. A number of citations 
are to be found in Kaufmann, Die Sinne (see Index). 


G. M. K. 


CATALAN, MOSES HAYYIM: Italian poet; 
born in Padua; son of the physician Abraham Cat- 
alan. He was rabbi in his native town, and died 
there at an advanced age in 1661. It was to him 
that the first letters of Isaac Vita Cantarini, whose 
teacher he was, were addressed. His “ Mezaref ha- 
Sekel,” a rhetorical pamphlet on man, has never 
been published. He wrote a poem in honor of the 
marriage of his sister Perla to Raphael Gans Levi, 
which can be read either as Hebrew or as Italian. 
It has been reprinted by Wolf, “Bibl. Webr.” iii. 
726. In 1645 he wrote a similar poem in bonor of 
Shabbethai Astruc. An elegy on Lamentations in 
ottava rima was also published by him at Padua. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cantarini. Pahad Vizhak, 10a; Osimo, Narra- 
zione, p. 68; Delitzsch, Zur Gesch. der Jtidischen Poesie, p. 
71; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1785; Cat. Ghirondi (Sam. 
Schénblum, Berlin, 1872), p. 2, cod. 4B (where the pamphlet is 
erroneously ascribed to Abraham Catalan, *‘ rabbi in Padua ’’); 
Steinschneider, in Monatsschrift, xliii. 420. 


G. M. K. 


CATALAN, SOLOMON: Prcbablya grandson 
of Gerson b. Solomon Catalan. He was rabbi in 
the city of Coimbra in 1360. 

Bie CRAY: Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden tn Portugal, 

p. 24. 

G. M. K. 

CATALOGUES OF HEBREW BOOKS: 
These were of frequent use among the Jews in 
the Middle Ages. Judah ibn Tibbon (about 1200) 
speaks in loving terms of his collection of books and 
of its catalogue, both of which he recommends to 


nina iim a se a : : - : Ciaran 


619 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Catalan, Abraham 
Catalogues of Hebrew Books 





pis son Samuel. Specimens of old catalogues from 
yarious genizof have been brought to light within 
recent years, the oldest and most important, in re- 
spect to the number and interest of its volumes, 
peing that published by E. N. Adler and I. Broydé 
jn “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. 52 et seg. This frag- 
ment of a catalogue, compiled in the twelfth cen- 
tury, gives an Arabic description of 100 works of- 
fered for sale. The books are indeed summarily 
described without imuch method; still, the cata- 
Joguer states that they are divided into the follow- 
ing classes: Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, Theology, 
Halakah, and Liturgy—a fact which shows the ex- 
istence of asystem in the classification of books even 
at that early period. 

Unfortunately, such catalogues, so important to 
vibliography, are very scarce; and this scarcity has 
caused a distinct gap in the history of Hebrew liter- 
ature in the Middle Ages. It is only within the last 
two and a half centuries that public as well as pri- 
vate libraries have adopted the practise of publish- 
ing catalogues. In the following list of printed ones 
of both public and private collections of Hebrew 
books, the rormer are arranged in the alphabetical 
order of the towns in which the libraries exist, and 
the latter in that of the names of the owners of the 
collections: 


Pupriic CoLuLEcrIoNs. 


Amsterdam : “Catalog der Hebraica und Judaica aus der 
L, Rosenthal’schen Bibliothek,” by M. Roest, 2 vols., Ainsterdam, 
1875. A special division is devoted to a description of 32 MSS. 
in that library. 

Berlin : *‘ Die Handschriftlichen Verzeichnisse der Konig]. 
Bibliothek,” ... by M. Steinschneider; 2 vols. in two divi- 
sions, describing 259 MSS., Berlin, 1878, 1897. 

Bern : “Catalogus Codicum Bernensium,” Bern, 1875. 
the beginning is a description of 20 Hebrew MSS. 

Bologna: ‘Catalogo dei Codici Ebraici della Universita di 
Bologna,’’ by Leonello Modona, in “ Cataloghi dei Codici Orien- 
tali di Aleune Biblioteche d'Italia,’ Florence, 1878-97 (28 MSS.). 

Breslau: (1) ‘Catalog der Bibliothek der Synagogen-Ge- 
meinde,”’ Breslau, 1861; (2) “Catalogus Bibl. Seminarii Jud.- 
Theol. Vratislaviensis,” ... by B. Zuckermann, Breslau, 1876 
(190 MSS.). 

Cambridge, England: “ Catalogue of the Hebrew Man- 
uscripts Preserved in the University Library,”’ by S. M. Schiller- 
Szinessy, Cambridge, 1876, vol. i. (72 MSS., Bible and commen- 
taries). 

Copenhagen : ‘ Codices Orientales Bibliothecee Regie Haf- 
niensis . . . Pars Altera Codices Hebraicos Continens,’’ Copen- 
hagen, 1851 (46 MSS.). 

Florence: ‘* Bibliothecse Mediceo-Laurentainsz Catalogus 
-.. Tomus Primus, Codices Orientales Complectens,” by Maria 
Biseoni, Florence, 1752-57 (221 MSS.). 

Hamburg’: “Catalog der Hebriéischen Handschriften in 
der Stadtbibliothek zu Hamburg,’’ by M. Steinschneider, Ham- 
burg. 1878 (355 MSS.). 

Leipsic : “ Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum qui in Bib- 
liotheca Civitatis Lipsiensis Asservantur,” by Naumann. ‘*Co- 
dices Orientalium Linguarum,”’ by Fleischer and Delitzsch, 
Leipsic, 1838 (48 MSS.). With additamenta by Zunz. 

Leyden: ‘Catalogus Codicum Hebreeorum,” ... by M. 
Steinschneider, Leyden, 1858 (114 MSS8.). 

London (British Museum): “Catalogue of the Hebrew 
Books in the Library of the British Museum,’? by J. Zedner, 
London, 1867. ‘Catalogue of Hebrew Books in the British 
Museum Acquired During the Years 1868-92,” by S. van Straa- 
ten, London, 1894. “* Descriptive List of the Hebrew and Samar- 
itan MSS. in the British Museum,” by G. Margoliouth, London, 
1893. “Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan MSS. in the 
British Museum,” by G. Margoliouth, vol. i. (839 Bible MSS.), 
London, 1899. (Bet ha-Midrash:) ‘Catalogue of the Hebrew 
MSS. in the Jews’ College.” by Ad. Neubauer, Oxford, 1886 (148 
MS8.). “Catalogue of Hebraica and Judaica in the Library of 
ee of the City of London,’’ by A. Lowy, London, 


At 


Mantua: “Catalogo dei Manuscritti Ebraici della Commu- 
nita Israelita di Mantova,” by M. Mortara, Leghorn, 1878 (78 
MSS.). 

Milan (Ambrosiana): ‘‘Die Hebr. Handschriften,” by A. 
Berliner, in ** Magazin,”’ vii. 111. 

Modena: “Katalog der Hebriiischen Handschriften der 
konig!. Bibliothek in Modena,” by Griinwald, 1838 (27 MSS.). 

Monte Cassino: “I Codici ele Carti a Monte Cassino,” 
vol. i. Monte Cassino, 1869 (2 MSS.). 

Munich : “Die Hebriischen Handschriften der K. Hof- und 
Pr a .. . by M. Steinschneider, Munich, 1875 (418 

Nimes: “MSS. Hébreux de la Bibliothéque de la Ville de 
Nimes,” by Joseph Simon, in ** Rey. des Etudes Juives,” iii. 225 
et seq. (20 MSS.). 

Oxford : *‘Catalogus Librorum Hebrxorum in Bibliotheca 
Bodleiana,” ... by M. Steinschneider, Berlin, 1852-60. °* Cata- 
logue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library and 
in the College Libraries of Oxford,” by Ad. Neubauer, Oxford, 
1886 (2,541 MSS.). 

Paris: “Catalogue des Manuscrits Hébreux et Samaritains 
de la Bibliothéque Impériale,” by S. Munk and H. Zotenberg, 
Paris, 1864 (13 MSS.). 

Parma : “MSS. Codices Hebraici Bibliot. I. B. De Rossi,” 3 
vols. Parma, 1803 (1,877 MSS.). “Catalogo dei Codiei Ebraici 
della Bibl. di Parma non Descritti dal De Rossi,” Florence, 
1880 (111 MSS.). : 

Rome (Vatican): “* Bibliothecse-Apostolico-Vaticanse Codi- 
cui Manuscriptorum Catalogus ... Tomus Primus Complec- 
tens Ebraicos et Samaritanos,’’ by Stefano Evodio and Giuseppe 
Simone Assemani, Rome, 1756 (512 MSS.). (Casanata :) “ Cata- 
logo dei Codici Ebraici della Bibliotheca Casanatense,’”’ by Gus- 
tavo Sacerdote, in “‘Cataloghi dei Codici,’? ete. (230 MSS.). 
(Angelica:) ** Catalogo dei Codici Ebraici della Bibliotheca An- 
gelica,”’ by Angelo di Capua, in “ Cataloghi dei Codici Ebraici,”’ 
ete. (58 MSS.). 

St. Petersburg: ‘Catalog der Heb. und Samaritanischen 
Handschriften der Kaiserlichen Oetfentlichen Bibliothek,” by A. 
Harkavy and H. L. Strack, 2 vols., St. Petersburg, 1875 (259 Bib- 
lical MSS.). ““Awn roap, Catalogus Librorum Impressorum 
Hebreorum in Museo Asiatico Imperialis,” ... by Samuel 
Wiener (in course of publication). 

Strasburg: “Catalog,” ete., by Landauer. 

Turin : ** Codices Hebraici Manu Exarati Regie Bibliothecws 
quee in Taurinensi Athenso Asservantur,’’ by Ber. Peyron, 
Turin, 1880 (249 MSS.). 

Upsala: “Verzeichniss der Hebraischen und Aramiischen 
Handschriften der K6nigl. Universitats-Bibl.,”’ by R. V. Zetter- 
steen, Lund, 1900 (88 MSS.). 

Venice: “Catalogo dei Codici Ebraici della Bibliotheca 
Marciana,”’ by Mose Lattes, in ‘* Cataloghi dei Codici Orientali,”’ 
ete. (19 MSS.). 

Vienna: “Die Handschriftiichen Hebriischen Werke der 
Hof-Bibl.”’ by Albr. Krafft and Simeon Dentsch, Vienna, 1847. 
Supplement by J. Goldenthal, Vienna, 1851 (257 MSS.). 


PRIVATE COLLECTIONS. 


Abbas, Samuel, Amsterdam, 1698. Aboab, Isaac, Amsterdam, 
1693. Abraham, Judah Léb of Meseritz, The Hague, 1807. Adler, 
E. N. (only Karaitica), in “Jew. Quart. Rev.” xiii. Aguilar, 
Moses Raphael de Amst., 1680, Almanzi, yO 7, by 8. D. Luz- 
zatto, Padua, 1864. Azulai, Hayyim Joseph, by Schénblum, Lem- 
berg, 1872. Beer, \2v°27) Sax, Berlin, 1868. Berlin, Berlin, 
1866. Berliner, ‘‘Aus Meiner Bibliothek,” Frankfort-on-the- 
Main, 1898. Bondi, Simon, Dessau, 1818. Carmoly, Frankfort- 
on-the-Main, 1874. Chwolson, Daniel, Wilna, 1897. Cohen, 
Joshua, by Cyrus Adler, Baltimore, 1887. Costa, Da, Amster- 
dam, 1816. Dubno, Solomon, Alnsterdam, 1814. Eger, Sam- 
uel, Hanover, 1848. Embden, Hartog, Amsterdam, 1856. Em- 
den, Jacob, "5a map, by M. Roest, ib. 1867. Esseus, Man van, 
ib. 1889. Feibel, Solomon, Erlangen (7), 1804. Ghirondi. by M. 
Steinschneider, Berlin, 1872. Halberstamm, 70> r5ap, Vienna, 
1890. Heidenheim, Rédelheim, 1833. Heinemann, Jeremiah, 
Leipsic [18547]. Holdheim, Berlin, 1866. Jacob ben Saul, Am- 
sterdam, 1816. Jacobsohn, Meir, xr, tb. 1864. Jeshurun, 
Solomon, tb. 1811. Jonghe, Wolf de, ib. 1889. Lehmans, 
Moses, i). 1882. Lehren, i). 1899. Leeser, by Cyrus Adler, 
Philadelphia, 1888. Leuwarden, Jacob, iv. 1797. Levi, Rofe, 
Amsterdam, 1789. Lion, A., Berlin, 1868. Lipmans, Meir, Am- 
sterdam, 1825. Lotze, Leipsic, 1876. Lo6wenstam, ib. 1846. 
Luna, Anshel Norden ae, tb. 1797. Luzzatto, by Joseph Luz- 
zatto, Padua, 1868, Merzbacher, on72x Sax, by R. N. Rabbino- 
wicz, Munich, 1888. Mesa, Solomon de, The Hague, 1743. 


Catalonia 
Catechisms 





Michael, o°°n minsis, Hamburg, 1848. Nathan Aaron of Schwe- 
rin, 1780. Nepi, Lemberg, 1873. Oma, Hayyim, Amsterdam, 
1834. Oppenheimer, by Berend, Hamburg, 1782. wt nbap, by 
Israel Wetz, Hamburg,l826. Pinner, Berlin, 1861 (7). Pinsker, 
Aw 93a5 Yorn, by Judah Bardach, Vienna, 1868. Rahmanuth. 
Abraham, Amsterdam, 1837. Ruben Solomon, 7AD°w pwn, by 
Gabriel Polak, th. 1857. Rubens, d°)"y “Nd, tb. 1864. Sara- 
vel, by M. Steinschneider, Triest, 1853. Selig ben Pharez, Am- 
sterdam, 1835. Straschun, o3s2w wy, Berlin, 1889. Sulz- 
berger, Mayer, N72 718, by E. Deinard, New York, 1896, 
Torres-Nunes, The Hague, 1728. Zedner, Joseph, Berlin, 1872. 


The most interesting catalogues published by 
booksellers have been: Asher, Berlin, 1868. Ben- 
zian, by Steinschneider, 7). 1869, 1870, 1872. Bis- 
licher Brothers, yopn. by L. Zunz, with notes by 
S. Sachs, 7. 1850. Bodenheimer, Leipsic, 1869. 
Harassowitz, Otto, No. 30, 7b. 1877. Kaufmann, 
Frank fort-on-the-Main, 1870, 1873 e¢ seg. Kohler, 
No. 168, Leipsic, 1868. Levison, Amsterdam, 1858. 
Miller, ssp ons ma, 7b. 1868 et seg. Proops, 
Mioew PDN, 2). 1758, 1780, 1784, 1840, 1843. Rab- 
binowicz, N. R., Munich, 1888 (?). 

J. I. Br. 


CATALONIA: Duchy of Aragon in the north- 
west of Spain. Jews settled in Catalonia (which in- 
cluded originally the county of Barcelona; the fol- 
lowing cities of Tarragona, viz., Ciudad de los 
Judios, Vich, Manresa, Gerona, Besalu, Peraleda, 
Confleut; and many other places) as early as the 
eighth century. Kaula ha-Jehudi (“the Jew ”) and 
his army fought the emir Al-Horr on Catalonian ter- 
ritory; and after the former had fallen in combat 
the Jews under his command, who were harassed by 
Al-Horr, were hospitably received in those Catalo- 
nian cities inhabited by their coreligionists, Contem- 
porary Christian chroniclers deny the allegation that 
the numerous Jews resident in Barcelona, the capi- 
tal of Catalonia, surrendered (890) the strongly for- 
tified city to the commander ‘Abd al-Karim. 

Often the Jews had to suffer cruelties inflicted by 
Crusaders in Catalonia, who came to assist the Chris- 
tians against the Moors. The pope, in a letter to 
the bishops, forbids these excesses. He says that 
a difference exists between Jews and Moors: 
“Against those who persecute the Christians and 
drive them from their cities and posscssions, war is 
waged rightly; but the former [the Jews] are every- 
where ready to serve.” 

In early times the Jews of Catalonia secured prop- 
erty rights. Under Count Ramon Berenguer I. it 
was decreed in 1068, and again at the third Council 
of Gerona in 1078, that those Jews who bought 
lands were to pay a tithe to that parish in which 
the lands were situated, “quemadmodum si a Chris- 
tianis coleretur” (Florez, “ Espafia 
Sagrada,” xliii. 477). Moreover, here 
the Christian spirit soon got the upper 
hand. According to the old “Codigo 
de los Usatges,” in a litigation between Jew and 
Gentile the Jew had to take an oath to the Chris- 
tian, but never the latter to the former. Neither 
Jews nor Saracens were admitted as witnesses against 
a Christian. In 1024 the lands of a Jew accused of 
adultery with a Christian woman were confiscated 
and sold. The conversion of Jews to Christianity 
was favored here as early as the eleventh century. 
He who insulted a converted Jew, by calling him 


Legal 
Position. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


i 


620 


trimmer, deserter, or renegade, was punished by g 
fine of twenty ounces of gold. 

In Catalonia, connected as it was for a long time 
with southern France, the French spirit was alto. 
gether dominant; and this continued in all phases of 
development up to the union with Aragon. The 
condition of the Jews was on the whole, quiet ang 
peacefui; they engaged in trade and industries, and 
studied the sciences, particularly medicine; they at. 
tained to honors and respect; medical knowledge 
opened the doors of princes and counts tothem. The 
Jews of Barcelona, Gerona, Tarrega, Tarrasa, and 
Manresa were noted for their thrift not less than for 
their prosperity ; and they contributed materially to 
the dissemination of Catalonian commerce. Many of 
the Jews whom the Almohades persecuted found 
safety and protection in the cities of Catalonia. 

The Jews living in Catalonia were, like the Sara- 
cens, the property of the ruler; they bore a direct 
relation to the king, and, with all of their goods, 

stood under his special protection, 

Relation At the same time they could not be 

to King. called slaves (“servi”); for they had 

free right of residence by law. The 
king gave them a special interest, or usury, law, 
and regulated their congregational relations. 

Gradually, however, the clergy gained supremacy. 
Even before the reign of King Jaime I. the Jews on 
Catalcnian territory were deprived of their right to 
act as judges or to exercise corporal punishment. 
Under Jaime I. Catalonia was united to Aragon and 
Valencia in one great kingdom. Henceforth the 
history of the Jews in Catalonia is that of their 
brethren in Aragon (see ARAGON, BARCELONA, 
GERONA, MANRESA, SPAIN), 

The connection between Catalonia and southern 
France is also shown from a religious standpoint, 
as later the question was discussed whether Ger- 
shom’s arrangement forbidding polygamy for Ger- | 
many and France was binding also on Catalonia. 
Catalonia had its own rite; and this generally coin- 
cided with that of Provence (Mahzor Catalonia) in its 
principal points. “Kol Nidre” was not recited in 
Catalonian congregations. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vict. Balaguer, FHfistoria de Cataluiia, i; 

Amador de los Rios, Historia, i. 248, 254; Ersch_ and Gruber, 


Eneye. Section ii., part 28, pp. 210, 398; Zunz, Ritus, p. 41. 
J. M. K. 


CATARIVAS, SHEMARIAH: Talmudic 
writer of the eighteenth century. He was origi- 
nally from Tiberias, and went to Tunis in 1750 as 
alms-collector, settling there after a sojourn in 
Algiers. He gained a reputation for scholarship 
and piety. Catarivas was an intimate friend of 
Abraham Cohen Baberrebi, one of the oldest rabbis 
of Tunis, whose grandson published Catarivas’ 
“Zeker Zaddik” (Memory of the Just), a commen- 
tary on the first two orders of the Mishnah, together 
with the “Abraham Yagel” of Abraham Cohen 
(Leghorn, 1843). Several of the responsa of Cata- 
rivas are contained in the “Yerek Ya‘axob” of 
Jacob b. Abraham Faitosi, Leghorn, 1842. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Cazts, Notes Bibliographiques sur 1. 
Tee eee Juive Tunisienne. etc., pp. 90 et seq., 193, Paris, 


Ls G. M. K. 


621 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Catalonia 
Catechisms 


a 


CATECHISMS: Manuals for religious instruc- 
tion. The name as well as the form of Jewish cate- 
cbisms has been adopted from the Christian Church 
in modern times in connection with a more systema- 
tized religious instruction. Catechesis as a term for 
jnstructing persons, particularly proselytes, in the 

rincipal parts of the faith before admitting them 
joto the fold, was probably in use among the Greek- 
speaking Jews in pre-Christian times (see, for in- 
stance, Acts xviii. 25); the manual used for this 
purpose being simply called “ Didache”-Torah = 
teaching (see DIDACHE). In the Christian Church, 
however, the catechization—that is, the instruction 
and other preparation of the applicant for admission 
into membership—was made a well-defined branch of 
practical theology, and the existence of catechisms 
as an aid became a necessity. In accordance with 
the old—also Jewish—system of instruction of 
proselytes, the catechism originally consisted of a 
list of the capital sins to be shunned and of the 
duties or leading virtues to be practised, besides 
parts of the creed. With the introduction of more 
rational methods of education, due especially to the 
Reformation movement, and above all since Luther, 
who with fine pedagogical insight made the Deca- 
logue the basis of instruction (1529), the catechism 
became a useful and almost indispensable means of 
religious instruction of the young, as it presented in 
clear concise language, in the form of questions and 
answers adapted to common use, the chief teachings, 
religious and moral, of the Church. 

The need of such acatechism was not felt in Juda- 
ism of old, since with the cessation of a religious 

propaganda cases of the admission of 


Jewish proselytes became rare and isolated, 
Catechism while the regular curriculum of Jew- 
Not Re- = ish instruction comprised throughout 
quired. the Middle Ages theentire Torah; that 


is, Bible and Talmud. Only for the 
observance and knowledge of the laws compendia 
were now and then composed to facilitate the study ; 
but for the systematic comprehension of the creed 
no provision was made in the education of the 
young, the intercourse between Jew and non-Jew 
having been so rare as to render a specific religious 
instruction or a discussion of the distinctive charac- 
ters of the Jewish belief unnecessary for the average 
student. 

The first symptom of an awakened Jewish self- 
consciousness was Abraham Jagel’s “ Lekah Tob,” 
acatechism published in Venice in 1587, and com- 
posed entirely after the model of the smaller cate- 
chism by the Catholic Peter Canisius (see Maybaum, 
“Abraham Jagel’s Katechismus Lekah Tob,” Ber- 
lin, 1892). After Luther’s catechism had given a new 
impetus to systematic religious instruction even in 
Catholic Italy so as to give rise to Canisius’ larger 
and smaller catechisins exactly after the Protestant 
model, the idea naturally suggested itself to the 
Jews of Italy, who stood in closer relation to their 
Christian neighbors than their coreligionists did else- 
where, of having also the tenets of the Jewish faith 
presented to the young in similar catechetic form. 
This was the declared purpose of Yagel’s work. 
The need of a catechism, however, was not as yet 
felt by the Jews. The “Lekah Tob,” written in 


Hebrew and in defense of the Jewish religion, with 
constant and clever use of rabbinical literature in 
support of views and conceptions largely adopted 
from the Catholic original, was—against the ex- 
pectation of the author—never used as a school 
manual; but its popularity is shown by the fact 
that it was frequently republished in Hebrew and 
translated into Latin and into Judeo-German. The 
books used for eclementary religious instruction 
contained mainly the 613 commandments and 
Maimonides’ thirteen articles of faith with excerpts 
from the prayer-book and the Shulhan ‘Aruk. 
Such books were the “Emet we-Emunah” by Isaac 
Aruvas, Venice, 1654; the‘ Eleh ha-Mizwot” by Ge- 
daliah Taikus, Amsterdam, 1765, who also wrote in 
1764 “Emunat Yisrael,” a religious catechism not 
noticed by Giidemann. 

The first systematic religious manual after Jagel’s 
attempt seems to have been Judah ben Perez’s 
“Fundamento Solido de la Divina Ley,” a compen- 
dium of Jewish theology written in dialogue form 
in Spanish (Amsterdam, 1729). A similar one under 
the title of “Torat Emunat Yisrael” appeared 1764 
in Leghorn, in Hebrew and Spanish, for the use of 
Turkish Jews, by Isaac de Moses Paz, and in 1782, 
in Verona, “ Esamo Osia Catechismo ad un Giovane 
Israclito” by Simone Calimani (Strassburger’s 
“Gesch. der Erziehung,” p. 277). 

The Mendelssohnian era, which, owing to the 
closer contact of the Jews with the Christian world, 
made amore systematic religious instruction a neces- 

sity, brought a perfect tidal wave of 


The catechistic literature. From 1782 to 
Mendels- 1884 no less than 161 religious man- 
sohnian uals appeared, according to David 

Era. Kaufmann and Isidore Loeb (see May- 


baum, “ Methodik des Jitdischen Re- 
ligionsunterrichts,” p. 5), and the place of honor 
belongs not, as Maybaum has it, to W. Dessau, 
whose “Grundsitze der Jiidischen Religion” ap- 
peared 1782, but to Hartwig Wessely, who, at the 
suggestion of Moses Mendelssohn, published in 1782 
the first sketch of a catechism in his “ Miktabim,” 
republished in the “ Meassef.” He had already recom- 
mended in his “ Yen Lebanon ” (1775) the composition 
of a religious manual, and in his “Gan Na‘ul” pres- 
ented the systemin Hebrew. As to the method after 
which the matter should be arranged, the question 
was whether for the doctrinal part the thirteen arti- 
cles of Maimonides or Albo’s three fundamental 
articles should be made the basis, and whether for 
the duties the whole Pentateuchal system of laws— 
that is to say, all the ceremonial Jaws—or only the 
chief ceremonies, besides the festivals and the moral 
laws, should be treated. 

A number of authors followed Luther’s example; 
but, in accordance with Num. R. xiii. and Saadia’s 
Azharot, they used the Decalogue as the basis for the 
treatment of the duties. J. A. Francolm, 1826; B. H. 


Auerbach, in “Torat Emet,” 1889; 8S. Holdheim, in 


“Ha-Emunah we ha-De‘ah,” 1857; Leopold Stein, in 
“Ha-Torah we ha-Mizwah,” 1858; and G. Lasch, 
in “Pikkude Adonai,” Leipsic, 1857, all derived the 
613 commandments from the Decalogue. 

Among the leading catechisms of the conservative 
school may be mentioned those of Alexander Behr, 


Catechisms 





1826; Solomon Plessner, 1888; Auerbach, 1889; 2d 
ed. 1858; G. Lasch, 1857; Feilchenfeld, 1867; 2d 
ed. 1878; and M. Friedlander, London, 1891. 
In the year 18382 Zunz wrote in his “Gottes- 
dienstliche Vortriige ” (p. 467) that for the last thirty- 
three years more than fifty Jewish 
Catechism catechisms appeared in German, Da- 
Literature. nish, French, Italian, and Hebrew. 
In addition to these the following 
Hebrew catechisms may be mentioned: Abr. Jagel, 
“Lekah Tob,” 1595; Isaac Aruvas, “Emet we- 
Emunah,” 1654; and Gedaliah Taikus, “ Emunat 
Yisrael,” referred to above; Ben Ze’eb, “ Yesode ha- 
Dat,” Vienna, 1806, in Hebrew and German; David 
Zakkut de Modena, “ Limmude Adonai,” Hebrew and 
Italian, Reggio, 1815; A. Buchner, “ Doresh Tob,” 
Warsaw, 1825 and 1826; Jacob Tugendhold,“ Ben 
Yakkir,” in Hebrew, German, and Polish, Warsaw, 
1839. 
Herz Homberg published three catechisms: “Imre 
Shefer” (Vienna, 1808), in Hebrew, and German; 
“Bene Ziyyon” (Vienna, 1810), which 
Early had to be studied in Austria by brides 
Catechisms. before they could receive the marriage 
license; the third, “Ben Yakkir” 
(Vienna, 1820), declares that Jewish soldiers might 
be exempt from the observance of Biblical laws. 
“*Edut Adonai” (Berlin, 1814; third edition, Leipsic, 
1839, and under a new title, 1850) was published by 
E. Kley; “Gersha de Jankutha” (Breslau, 1814), by 
B. Mescritz; “ Dat Yisrael,” in two volumes (Prague, 
1810-11), by Peter Beer. He also published a “ Hand- 
book of the Mosaic Religion” (Prague, 1818 and 
1821) and “ Emet we’Emunah ” (Prague, 1832, 2d edi- 
tion). This catechism omits the ceremonial laws, 
and states that in the “interest of humanity every re- 
ligious commandment may be sct aside,” and that 
“wars of conquest” are prohibited by the sixth 
commandment. Among the duties of the Jews are 
mentioned “bathing in fresh water and frequent 
change of linen,” and that “employers must take 
care of their employees when they are sick or old.” 
“Doctrine and Faith,” in Hebrew and German, 
by Heinemann, was published, 1812, in Cassel; also 
“Torat Dat Yisrael” and “Mizwot Dat Yisrael” 
(Berlin, 1829 and 1830). A. Armheim published 
“ Leitfaden beim Unterrichte in der Mosaischen Re- 
ligion” (Glogau, 1829); H. Miro, “ Leitfaden beim 
Unterrichte der Israelitischen Religion” (Breslau, 
1834); Joseph Maier, “Selection of Fruits from the 
Bible ” (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1820); and R. Bene- 
dict, “ Elementary Instruction in the Mosaic Relig- 
jon, with Appendix ” (Prague, 1832). “Judaism in 
Its Relation to the State” was translated by Rabbi 
A. L. Landau (Breslau, 1832). The Hebrew title is 
“Ahabat Melek.” “'Teru‘at Melek” was published 
by B. Frinkel (Breslau, 1833), H.M. Copenhagen 
published “ Zefirat Tif’arah” (Breslau, 1883), The 
catechism of J. Wolf, Gotthold Salomon, and M. 
Frankel was published under the title, ‘““ Yesode ha- 
Limmud” (Dessau, 1810); J. Johlson’s, as“ Alume Yo- 
sef” (Frankfort, 1814 and 1819; Vienna, 1824) and 
A. H. Bock’s, as “Emunat Yisrael” (Berlin, 1814). 
Beer Fraenk was the author of “Mahene Lewi” 
(Prague, 1816). Julius Schoenborn published a cate- 
chism (Cracow, 1819). “Emunat Yisrael” is the name 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 
re ee ee 


629 


of a catechism by Naphtali Benedict (Vienna, 1824 
and “ Gedankensammlung” of one published by J, 
Lilienfeld (Berlin, 1825). P. Hurwitz wrote “ Torat 
Adonai Temimah” (Berlin, 1832), and Salomon 
Pappenheim “Maamar Ge’ullat Mizrayim u-Miz. 
wat Tefiilin” (Breslau, 1815; published, after hig 
death, by the Breslau Jewish Orphan Asylum), 4. 
Biidinger was the author of “Morch Limmudim » 
(Cassel, 1830), and Judah ben Ze’eb Loeb of “Rx. 
planation of the Ten Commandments” and * Relj- 
gionsbuch ftir die Jidische Jugend” (Darmstadt, 
1834). H. Stern pubiished the “Tree of Life” 
(Wtirzburg, 1884), and Abraham Gruenthal the 
“ Mosaische Religionslebre ” (Breslau, 1836). “Com. 
plete Ceremonies of Confirmation” was published 
by 8S. Lippmannsohn (Neukirchen, 1836), Naphtalj 
Benedict published a “Torah Min ha-Shamayim” 
(Vienna, 1814). J. Johison’s “Shoreshe ha-Dat: Doe. 
trines of the Mosaic Religion” (Frankfort, 1819) is g 
catechism which was accepted in the curriculum 
for rabbis and teachers in Bavaria. It has beep 
translated into English, with certain omissions, by 
Isaac Leeser (Philadelphia, 1830), and has passed 
through several editions. 

Aron Chorin published a catechism in dialogues 
under the title “ Hillel” (Ofen, 1837), in Hebrew and 

German. Its leading thought is thet 

German the law of humanity is divine. J. - 

Catechisms. seph Sualschiitz's “ Basis to Catechiza- 

tions” (Vienna, 1838) contains fifty 
pages on “God’s Attributes” and four on “ Duties 
to Fellow-Men.” The post-Mendelssohnian school 
imitated Christian catechisms, and dwelt on argu- 
ments for the existence of God at the expense of 
ethics and Jewish teaching. 

Salomon Herxheimer displayed pedagogical skill 
in laying greater stress on ethics, and his “ Israeli- 
tische Glaubens- und Pflichtenlehre” (Bernburg, 
1831; 27th edition, 1889) won great popularity by 
its terseness. Jt was recommended by the Prus- 
sian minister of education “for its Kantian and 
Lessingian spirit” in 1886. 

Samuel Hirsch’s “Systematischer atechismus 
der Israelitischen Religion” (Luxemburg, 1856; sec- 
ond edition, Philadelphia) bases ethics upon Biblical 
history, and declares the ceremonies, dietary laws, 
etc., to be needless to those who have the “religion 
of the heart,” Judaism being not “law” (Gesetaz), 
but “doctrine” (Lehre). Hirsch favors Sunday asa 
day of rest for Jews in the Occident, inasmuch as 
the Jew who would also rest on Saturday would 
break the commandment “ six—[and not five]—days 
shalt thou labor.” Joseph Aub’s “Grundlagen zu 
einem Wissenschaftlichen Unterricht in der Mosa- 
ischen Religion ” (Mayence, 1865; 2d edition, Leipsic, 
1875) Jays stress upon the fact that faith, in the lan- 
guage of the Bible, is “trust based on knowledge.” 
Superstition and atheism spring frem ignorance and 
materialism, which are twin sisters. Falsehood can 
not be made truth by miracles, and truth needs no 
miracles. David Einhorn’s “Ner Tamid, the Doc- 
trine of Judaism ” (Philadelphia, 1866) declares that 
man through his conscience hears God’s voice, 
which is revelation. The mission of Israel implies 
God’s love for all nations. Sin is unnatural; orig- 
inal sin therefore is impossible. Israel’s dispersion 


re eee 


Saw bles Locoerw eae we a hg de a's 


623 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Catechisms 





is a blessing and not acurse; hence the Ninth of 
Ab should be celebrated as a “day of joy,” being 
the beginning of the realization of our mission, 
which is spiritual and not national, Yom Kippur 
emphasizes the idea that Judaism rejects the belief 
in a Mediator. 

Leopold Stein’s “Torah u-Mizwah: Israelitisches 
Religionsbuch” (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1858, 2d 
edition) is based upon the Decalogue; it takes the 
dietary laws to be “sanitary” laws. Salomon Form- 
stecher’s “ Torat Moshe” (Giessen, 1860) is a con- 
densed extract of his treatise, the “ Religion of the 
Spirit” (Frankfort, 1841). Religion is the law in 
history and the spirit of mankind. The Temple in 
Jerusalem was destroyed in order to teach that God 
can be worshiped everywhere by prayer and by 
moral conduct. “ Ha-Emunah we ha-De‘ah ” (Berlin, 
1857), by Samuel Holdheim, discriminates between 
moral and national laws, such as are Levitical, 
purity, and dietary laws. The Sabbath should be 
celebrated in the Occident on a day which can be 
conveniently observed. Ceremonies have only an 
educational character, and sacrifices have no atoning 
power without moral conduct. 

“Tsraelitische Religionslehre” (Dessau, 1873, 2d 
edition), by Julius Popper, defines “revelation” as 
the work of the religious genius of Israel. Among 
ceremonies which he holds to have outlived their use- 
fulness are: circumcision, dietary laws, and mazzot 
on Pegah. Sunday is the real day of rest. 

M. Levin’s “Israelitische Religionslehre ” (Berlin, 
1892) defines religion as the “belief in God based on 
knowledge.” Prayer should not be supplication, 
but adoration. Death atones for every guilt. Man 
must remove everything that might cause his defeat 
in the struggle for existence. The author appar- 
ently means that the Jew should not rest two days 
of the week, as by doing so he could not succeed 
against his competitors, who labor six days of the 
week. 

Salomon Plessner’s “Dat Mosheh we- Yisrael ” 
(Berlin, 1838) represents extreme orthodoxy. Mys- 
ticism plays an important part in this catechism. 
The Sabbath isa blessing, because the six days of 
labor areacurse. That the dictary laws, in Pless- 
ner’s opinion, are conducive to health is no sufficient 
reason for their observance, but the fact that they 
were ordained by God. 

The first English catechism was a translation of 
Salomon Cohen’s Hebrew “ Shoreshe Emunah” (Roots 

of Faith; London, 1814). Leeser’s 


English translation of Johlson’s “Shoreshe ha- 
Cate- Dat” has already been mentioned. 
chisms. A.P. Mendes published “The Law of 


Moses” (revised, London, 1870). He 
speaks of five “revelations”: (1) to Adam and Noah; 
(2} to the Patriarchs; (3) to Moses; (4) to Israel on 
Sinai; (5) to the Prophets. 

The first duty of a Jew is circumcision. Blood, 
certain fat, etc., are forbidden, in order to “keep 
our health from injury.” The thirteeu articles of 
creed are given precedence over the Ten Command- 
ments. 

Isaac M. Wise published “The Essence of Juda- 
ism” (Cincinnati, 1861) and “Judaism, Its Doctrines 
and Duties” (1880). He recognizes the authority 


of the Bible, but not that of the Talmud. “ True re- 
ligion is that the doctrines of which are taught in 
God’s works and words.” Among his four “car- 
dinal doctrines the mission of Judaism is not in- 
cluded.” “Mizwah” means a Biblical command- 
ment which is either expressed or implied in the 
Decalogue. “The Decalogue was written by divine 
authority for the sake of certainty, that it be known 
for sure that this is the moral law, as ordained by 
the Creator of man.” “The fourth commandment 
opens the duties of man to man” (p. 42) and “ teaches. 
duties to ourselves” (p. 45). “Hukkim are ordi- 
nances concerning the mode of worship, and are 
obligatory on every one in Israel,” a definition which 
would make innovations in the mode of worship 
absolutely impossible. 

George Jacobs’ catechism (Philadelphia, 1882) 
teaches that “those who do not keep the Sabbath 
must surely die, and that the sonts of those who eat 
leaven on Pesah shall be cut off from Israel.” Short. 
catechisms in English were published by David 
Asher (London, 1845), Benjamin Szold, H. A. Henry, 
J. Mendes de Solla, N. 8. Joseph, Julius Katzen- 
berg, H. Loeb, I. Mayer, I. Pike, Gustave Gottheil, 
J. S. Goldammer, Joseph Strauss (London, 1895), 
M. Friedlander (London, 1896, 4th edition), Aron 
Messing, and Barnett Elzas; Koplowitz translated 
Feilchenfeld’s “Manual.” In Kaufmann Kohler’s. 
“Guide for Instruction in Judaism” (New Yerk, 
1898) rabbinical as well as Biblical ethics are duly 
considered, and the growth of Jewish religious ideas. 
and ceremonies is traced through the Biblical and 
rabbinical stages of development. It also takes the 
Decalogue as a basis. 

Following are the catechisms written in French: 
“Catechisme du Culte Judaique” (Metz, 1818), 
written in Hebrew, German, and French; “Cate- 

chisme Judaique, en Hébreu, en Alle- 
In French. mand, en Francais,” by L. M. Lambert 

(Paris, 1887); “Précis Elémentaire: 
d’Instruction Réligieuse et Morale,” in Hebrew aud 
French, by Elie Halévy (Paris, 1837); “La Foi 
d’Isracl, Ses Dogmes, Son Culte, Ses Cérémonies,” 
by S. Bloch (Paris, 1859); “Histoire Abrégé des. 
Juifs et de leurs Croyances,” by Elie Astruc (Paris, 
1869); “Quelques Paroles sur l’Instruction Reéli- 
gieuse,” by L. Kahn (Brussels 1862): “ Précis Elé- 
mentaire d’Instruction Réligieuse et Morale,” by 
the central consistory of the Israelites of France 
(Strasburg, 1838); “ Morale en Action 4 1 Usages des. 
Ecoles Israélites” (Mulhouse, 1858; 2d_ edition, 
Vienna, 1869) ; “ Les Doctrines Réligieuses des Juifs,” 
by M. Nicolas (Paris, 1860). Among catechisms. 
written in Jtalian are: “Catechisma de 1|’Istruzione 

Religiosa ad Uso della Gioventa Israel- 
In Italian. itica,” by Salomon Jona (Ivrea, 1858); 

“Or Zaroa‘, Corso d’Istruzione Re- 
ligiosa,” by Marco Mortara (Mantua, 1857-62); 
“ Compendio della Religione Israelitica,” by the same: 
author (Mantua, 1855); and “La Prima Parte 
della Fede d’Israel,” by R. M. Bachi. “ A Catechism 

of the Jewish Religion,” by S. J. Cohn 
In Danish. (Hamburg, 1811), was in 1812 trans- 

latedinto Danish. Abraham Alexander 
Wolf’s “ Lehre der Israelitischen Religion” (Mayence, 
1825) was translated into Danish (1862), Dutch: 


Catechisms 
Catherine IT, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


624 





(1844), Swedish (1844 and 1852), and republished in 

German (1863). Of Hungarian catechisms, the fol- 

lowing deserve mention: the one written by Israel 

Bak (Budapest, 1878, 2d edition), by Solomon Kohn 

(Budapest, 1888 and 1885),and by Leopold Loew 

(Budapest, 1895). “ A Plan of Instruction in Religion 

for the Jewish Congregation of Budapest” has been 

translated into German by Bernhardt Mandl (Vienna, 

1894). David Kaufmann published a Hungarian es- 

say: “On the Jewish Catechism” (Budapest, 1884; 

republished in German). Catechisms in Polish were 

published by 8. Dankowitz (Cracow, 

Other 1873) and by Joachim Blumenthal 
Languages. (Drohobicz, 1882), and in Russian by J. 
L, Klatzko (Warsaw, 1884). Four He- 

brew catechisms were published in the second half of 
the nineteenth century: “Ma‘ase Abot” (Vienna, 

1896); “ Mizwoth Yisrael” (Cracow, 1891); The 618 

“*Mizwot” (Presburg, 1859), by J. Landau; and 

“*Ammude ha-‘Olam” for Orthodox schools (Pres- 

burg, 1875), by Wilhelm Neuman. The last two were 

translated intoGerman. Of modern authors of Ger- 
man catechisms may be further mentioned: Lazarus 

Adler (Cassel, 1872), Ignatz Baek (Leipsic, 1857), S. 

Baeck (Lissa, 1886), M. L. Belinsohn (Odessa, 1878), 

Hirsch B. Fassel (Vienna, 1864), Wolf Feilchenfeld 

(Posen, 1874), Joseph Horowitz (Grodno, 1878), Jacob 

H. Jacobsoln (Leipsic, 1876), L. Kahn (Vienna, 1860), 

Solomon Kohn (Budapest, 1860, 1873, 1878), E. Bondi 

(Briinn, 1880, 1885), Jacob Auerbach (Frankfort, 

1869), L. Lewysohn (Worms, 1856), M. Levinger 

(Bremen, 1876), L. Levi (Hechingen, 1877), D. Leim- 

doérfer (Nordhausen, 1876; Frankfort, 1881; Vienna, 

1898), Gerson Lasch (Leipsic, 1857 and 1861), Julius 

Landsberger (Berlin, 1861; 2d edition, 1876), Georg 

Wolf (Vienna, 1878), Marcus Winter (Vienna, 1861), 

Abraham Singer (Ujhely, 1875), J. Schwarz (Great 

Kanisza, 1877), D. Rothschild (Breslau, 1879), Lud- 

wig Philippson (Leipsic, 1844, 1858; Vienna, 1878), 

Emanuel Mandus (Breslau, 1860 and 1870, Ortho- 

dox), A. Kapka (Prague, 1882; 8th edition, Berlin, 

1884), D. Kohn (Odessa, 1880), Michael Silberstein 

(Wiesbaden, 1888), Israel Singer (Ujhely, 1881), H. 

Sondheimer (Lahn, 1881), Jacob Mautner (Vienna, 

1884, 1894, 1896), Ludwig Stern (Frankfort, 1895, 

Orthodox), Oscar Waldeck (pseudonym; Vienna, 

1886), M. Spanier (Berlin, 1898), Adolf Weiss 

(Prague, 1894), M. Zuckermand] (Frankfort, 1889), 

T. M. Caro (Posen, 1883), J. Goldschmidt (Frank- 

fort, 1896), Eisik Bentauvim (Jaffa, 1899), F. Feil- 

chenfeld (Breslau, 1881; 3d edition, Frankfort, 1900), 

H. J. Schuetz (Cleve, 1854), Eliezer Nathan (pseudo- 

nym; Réddelheim, 1804), M. Gottlieb (Frankfort, 

1896; Hanover, 1898, part ii.), U. Grtinwald (Tilsit, 

1893), J. Guttman (Teschen, 1896), Leopold Katz 

(Ratibor, 1890), H. Lesser (Colberg, 1853), W. Wes- 

sely (Prague, 1846), Israel Steinhardt (Arad), 8. 

Stern (Prague, 1898). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Strassburger, Geschichte der Erziehung und 
des Unterrichts: 8. Maybaum, Methodik des Jidischen 
Religions-Unterichts, 1896. 
K, EK. Scr. 
CATECHUMENS, HOUSE OF (called also 

Casa dei Neofiti): A Roman institution for con- 

verting Jews to Catholicism, which the Jews, by 

means of taxes, were compelled to support. The 


Vatican founded this house for converts March 21, 
1548 (Rieger, ii. 64), by setting apart various sums 
from its revenues. By a papal decree of Jan. 1, 
1565, certain revenues were to be used for the sup. 
port of the catechumens, and the fines levied op 

Jews for possessing scrip certificates of indebted. 

ness, lending money on interest, or engaging in cer. 

tain occupations were to go to their support also, 

Under Pius V. forcible conversions occurred in large 

numbers. His successor, Pope Gregory XIII, con- 

tinued the institution. Hitherto many Jews became 
converts through the fear of powers that might be 
exerted against them; now many took this step in 

the hope of profiting thereby. For Gregory XIII. 

ordained that ali church dignitaries 

should assist the converts by materia] 
encouragements and recommenda. 
tions. Whereas the Vatican had pro- 
tected these. converts up to this time, 
it was decided that the Jews them- 
selves had now to bear this burden. Sirlcto, pro- 
tector of the catechumens or neophytes, was active 
in his opposition to the Jews. Before the establish. 
ment of the House of Catechumens all conversions 
that took place were voluntary. The House niarked 
the second stage, since it was designed as a retreat 
and prison for recalcitrant neophytes during the 
process of transition. Later, when the revenues for 
the catechumens had fallen to a very low point, con- 
version by means of the compulsory attendance of 

Jews three times a year at Christmas sermons against 

Judaism was begun. 

Sixtus V., by a bull of Oct. 22, 1586, permitted 
the Jews to rebuild synagogues on the earlier sites, 
provided the contributions for the support of cate- 
chumens be not reduced in amount. And Clement 
VIII. reduced the tax of the Jews of Rome for the 
support of the House of Catechumens from 2,500 
scudi to 800 scudi, whereof 300 scudi fell to the 
Cloister of Converts. 

After the Jews had been expelled from the Ro- 
magna, with the exception of Rome and Ancona, 
those remaining were, in later times, taxed oppres- 
sively. In Nov., 1604, the chief rabbi of Rome, 
Joshua Assouth, with his four children, was forced to 
enter the Casa dei Neofiti, and the latter were bap- 
tized (Rieger, l.c. 193). Besides, where the neophyte 
refused to become a convert voluntarily, force often 
was applied, and finally the victims were killed by 
hanging. If they accepted baptism, a grant of 
money from the government was usually made in 
addition to the sum derived from Jewish taxes. The 
catechumens, as a Roman institution, survived until 
late into the eighteenth century. As late as 1784 
sixty Jewish children were thrown into prison be- 
cause two other children were being hidden from 
the officers of the Casa dei Neofiti; they had to be 
given up to release the remainder (Rieger, J.¢. 253; 
“ Monatsschrift,” pp. 899 et seg.). The Jewish cou- 
tributions to the Casa were abolished in 1810 
(Rieger, /.¢. 359). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revue Et. Juives, ii.281, ix, 77; Vogelstein 
und Rieger, Gesch. der Jud. in Rom, ii. vassim, Berlin, 
1895: Berliner, Gesch. der Jud. in Rom. ii. 2, passin, Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, 1893; Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Mid 


dle Agea, p. 46, London, 1896, 
J. A. M. F. 


Burden of 
Support 
Put on the 
Jews. 


625 

Bute eee 
CATEGORY (Greek, karyyepia = 7DND): 

term introduced by Aristotle into the philosoph- 

ical vocabulary, signifying “attribute,” “ predi- 

} cate.” According to him every word contained- 

i & proposition belongs to one of the following ten 


categories: substance, quantity, quality, relaticn, . 


place, time, situation, possession, action, passion. 
words being images of objects, it is obvious that 
every object can be predicated by one or more of 
these categories. For this reason, after having 
prietly expounded the categories in the book Karyyo- 
piat, placed at the head of the “Organon,” Aristotle 
treated this doctrine at length in his “ Metaphysics.” 
In the latter book, however, the categories change 
their characters somewhat, and instead of substance 
and attributes they represent being and its accidents. 
Of all the categories, only the first, that of substance 
which represents the being, has a rcal existence; 
the others are only appended to it, describing its 
qualities. For Aristotle there is no being but the 
individual being, as perceived by the senses; it fol- 
lows that the ten categories must be found in every 
kind of being. 

There was no fundamental change in the doctrine 
of the categories from the time of Aristotle to that 
of Kant. Plotinus, after a lengthy critique on Aris- 
totle’s categories, in the first books of the sixth 
«“Ennead,” distinguishes two classes of categories: 
five of the intelligible sphere, and five of the sensi- 
ble world. The former are substance, rest, motion, 
identity, and difference; the latter, substance, rela- 
tion, quantity, quality, and movement. Though 
allusions to this classification are to be found in the 
writings of the Jewish Neoplatonists, the classi- 
fication of Aristotle was adopted even by the 
latter. 

The first Jew to give an account of the categories 
was Saadia. In demonstrating the unity of God he 
analyzes the ten categories and shows that none of 
them can be apphed to God (“Emunot we-De‘ot,” 
ii., Vili. e¢ seg.). Gabirol, in dealing with the nature 
of matter and form, frequently refers to the cate- 
gories (“ Mekor Hayyim,” § 2, pp. 11 e¢ seq.,in Munk’s 
*Mélanges”). Bahya, like Saadia, mentions them 
in his demonstration of the unity of God (“ Hobot 
ha-Lebabot,” i., vii.) and in the definition of sub- 
stance and accidents (“ Torot ha-Nefesh,” p. 6). Jo- 
seph ibn Zaddik also points out that none of the 
categories can be applied to God (“ Ha-‘Olam ha- 
Katan,” ed. Jellinek, p. 53). Abraham ibn Daud 
devotes the first chapter of his “Emunah Rammah ” 
to an explanation of the categories. Maimonides 
frequently refers to them in his “Guide of the Per- 
} plexed”; and, like Al-Farahi, he designates them un- 
der the appellation of “genus.” Jacob Anatoli trans- 
lated the Karyycpiae into Hebrew, and gave a full 
explanation of them in his work on the philosophical 
terms, entitled “Ruah Hen.” 

The general term adoptcd in Hebrew for “cate- 
gory” is ON, which is the translation of the 
Arabic term “makalah,” used by the Arabian philos- 
ophers, Hebrew designations of the several cate- 
fories, also translated from the Arabic, are: IDND 
OXY (substance), NYOIN WN (quantity), WONXDd 
NIN (quality), IYO WNXD (situation), WRXD 
MAINT (relation), ‘ND 7WNd (time), TIX WRXd 

III.—40 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Catechisms 
Catherine II, 


A | (place), P3P7 WN (possession), Syn IONID (ac- 


tion), DYAN'L’ WONXd (passion). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Trendelenburg, Gesch. der Kategorieentehre, 
1846; Bonitz, in Sitzunysberichte der Kaiserlichen Akade- 
mie der Wissenschaften, pp. 591-641, Vienna, 1853 ; Schuppe, 
Die Kategorien des Aristoteles, 1866. 


k. I. Br. 


CATHERINE II.: Empress of Russia; born in 

Stettin May 2, 1729; died in St. Petersburg Nov. 

7, 1796. She was the wife and successor of Peter 
IIT., and usurped the throne July 9, 1762. 

Within a week of her accession, Catherine was 
called upon to ratify a decree of the Senate giving 
the Jews tree admission to the interior of Russia. 
She was liberally inclined; but, having been raised 
to the throne through the extreme Orthodox party, 
found herself unable to carry out the suggestion of 
the Senate, and, in her perplexity, was relieved by 
having her attention drawn, by Prince Odojevski, 
to a side-note of Elizabeth Petrovna concerning a 
similar request: “I will not derive any profit from 
the enemies of Christ,” whereupon Catherine post- 
poned her decision (“ Russki Archiv,” 1865, p. 492). 
During the whole reign of Elizabeth Petrovna (1741- 
1762) the persecution of the Jews had been carried on. 
Catherine, in her zeal to maintain the traditions of 
Old Russia, and to flatter its prejudices, could not, 
with all her liberalism, openly favor the Jews; there- 
fore they were not included in the edict issued Dec. 

15, 1762, permitting foreigners to enter 

Edict Ex- and to settle in Russia (“Complete 
cluding Russian Code,” xvi., No. 11,720). Her 
Jews. liberal attitude toward the Jews was, 
however, manifested in her letter, 

dated May 11, 1764, to Governor-General Browne of 
Riga, concerning certain foreign merchants of the 
New Russian provinces, who came under the tute- 
lage of a bureau, instituted -in 1768, for the protec- 
tion of foreigners. These foreign merchants were to 
be permitted to Hive in Riga and to carry on busi- 
ness on the same legal conditions as merchants 
of other Russian provinces. Furthermore, if any 
clerks, agents, and workmen should be ordered by 
these mercbants to settle in New Russia, they were 
to be provided with passports and with an adequate 
escort, irrespective of their religion. Finally, if 
three or four persons should arrive from Mitau, on 
their way to St. Petersburg, with claims upon the 
government, they were to be provided with pass- 
ports, simply stating their names, without mention- 
ing their nationality or religion. To prove their 
identity such persons were to present a letter from 
the merchant Lewin Wulff of St. Petersburg. To 
this letter the folowing postscript is added in Ger- 
man, inthe hand of the empress: “Wenn Sie mir 
nicht verstehen, so wird es meine Schuld nicht seyn; 
dieser Brief hat der President von der Protcction- 
Canzley selber geschrieben. Halten Sie dieses alles 
geheim.” The “foreign merchants” mentioned in 
the letter were: the rabbi Israel Hayyim, and his 
assistant, Nathan Abraham of Birsen (Birzhi), and 
the merchants David Levi (Bamberg), Moses Aaron, 
Behr Benjamin, and Israel Lazer, the “mohel” Lasar 
Isracl, and the laborer Jacob Marcus of Mitau. 
They were escorted to St. Petersburg. Some of 
them soon returned to Riga and settled there with 


Catherine II. 
Cattle 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


626 


SSS tS ee St to se Sb oo a 0 a a ee 


their families and servants (Buchholtz, “Gesch. der 
Juden in Riga,” p. 5%), 

In this diplomatic manner avoiding the name 
“ Jew,” the empress deemed it advisable to usher in 
the settlement of the Jews into Russia. In another 
letter to Governor-General Browne she speaks of 

her great intentions concerning the 


Liberal Jews, and of his knowledge of these 
Attitude intentions (7). p. 61). In answer toa 
Toward complaint of Benjamin Baehr, “ factor 
the Jews. of the Polish, Lithuanian, and Cour- 


land Jews,” against the municipai 
authorities of Riga, Catherine wrote to Browne, Oct. 
15, 1765, directing him to inquire whether the coun- 
cil (Rath) in spite of its privileges had the right to 
oppress such people, who had begun to develop trade 
in Riga to the benefit of the country, and enjoining 
that the complainants be protected and their peti- 
tions granted (25. p. 65). The “foreign merchants ” 
did not go to South Russia; most of them settled in 
Riga, and some of them in St. Petersburg. In 1769 
Catherine permitted Jews tosettle in the New Rus- 
sian provinces on an equal footing with all foreigners, 
these being invited to people the deserted South 
Russian steppes. 

With the first division of Poland in 1772, a great 
number of the Jews of White Russia became Rus- 
sian subjects. Ina manifesto issued by Count Cher- 
nishov, the new governor-general of White Russia, 
in the name of the empress, promised equal rights, 
without distinction of religion or nationality, to the 
inhabitants of the newly acquired territories. The 
phrase, “ without distinction of religion or national- 
ity” is used in most of the ukascs of the empress. 
The Russian historian Gradovski emphasizes the 
fact that Catherine [1., having declared, on ascend- 
ing the throne, her profession de for to rule in the 
Russian Orthodox spirit, never saw any danger to 
the Orthodox Chureh from the Jews and Judaism, 
as had her predecessors. While she often warned the 
governors against the Roman Catholic orders, and 
especially against the “ plotting ” Jesuits, she did not 
hesitate (in 1772) to grant religious rights to the Jews 
(“ Otnosheniya k Yevreyam,” etc., p. 478, note). 

But notwithstanding the magnanimous intentions 
of Catherine, the Jews were restricted toa PALE or 
SETTLEMENT, almost immediately after the rights 
of equality had been officially granted them. This 
was certainly not the wish of the empress, but was 
due to the local authorities and the Senate, which at 
that time possessed great power in the administra- 
tion of the empire. While the law recognized the 
Jews as Russian subjects, granting them equal 
rights with the other inhabitants throughout the 
ciupire (“Complete Russian Code,” xix., No. 18,850), 
administrative decrees were issued, keeping them 
out of the great Russian provinces. By a ukase of 
1776 the rule of the “kahal” was reestablished, and 
the old poll-tax reintroduced. In 1786 the Senate, 
in answer to an application of the Jews of White 
Russia to the empress, issued a decree curtailing the 
judicial, commercial, and industrial rights of the 
Jews. That the empress was opposed to the nar- 
row-minded policy of the Senate may be seen from 
this remarkable decree: “Since the above-mentioned 
{White Russian] inhabitants, holding the Jewish 


faith, have, in virtue of the ukases issued, alreag 
entered into a position equal to that of other inhap. 
itants, it is necessary in all cases to observe the Tule 
that every one according to his rank and standip 
shail be enabled to enjoy his rights and benefits 
without distinction of faith or nationality ” (“ Vogr. 
hod,” Jan., Feb., 1889, p. 49; Gradovski, “Otnpo. 
sheniya,” etc., 1. 12). For the inhuman crue). 
ties practised upon the Jews of Uman and othe 
places in South Russia in 1782, Catherine was not 
responsible. 

At the end of Catherine’s reign two ukases were 
issued which bear the signature of the empress, byt 
are utterly opposed to her previous tendencies. The 

first, dated Jan, 38, 1792. under the 

Restric- pretext of giving the Jews of Yekate. 
tions upon rinoslav and Taurida the same priyj. 

the Jews. leges as those given to the Jews of 
White Russia, prescribes that Jews 
ean not be admitted into the gild of merchants of 
Smolensk and Moscow (“Complete Russian Code,” 
xxiii., No. 1706). The second, issued July 4, 1794 
(No. 17,224), determines the localities where Jews are 
permitted to carry on business and trade, thus in an 
indirect way depriving them of the right to carry 
on business in the great Russian provinces; it also 
compels the Jewish merchants to pay a tax for 
their business and trade licenses in the provinces 
open to them the double of that paid by Christian 
merchants. Only the Karaite Jews were, in 1795, 
exempt from the double tax, and from that time the 
Karaites enjoyed special privileges. 

Thus the reforms introduced by the “Semiramis 
of the North” affecting the Jews did not, like many 
other of her well-meant reforms, accomplish the ex- 
pected results; but through the fault of the narrow- 
minded officials they rather resulted in establishing 
the Pale of Settlement in which the Russian Jews 
are still shut up at the beginning of the twenticth 
century. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Russki_Arehiv, 1865, p. 492; Buchholtz, Gesch. 
der Juden in Riga, Riga, 1899; Levanda, Poly Chronolo- 
gicheski Shornik Zakonov ¢ Polozheni, St. Petersburg, 1874; 
Voskhod, 1889, Jan., Feb., p. 45: Gradovski, Otnosheniya k 
Yevreyam, etc., i. 478, note, St. Petersburg, 1891. 


CATHUA: Name of a family of Nethinim re- 
turning from Babylon with Zerubbabel (I Esd. v. 
30). In the order of enumeration they correspond 
to Giddel in Fzra ii. 47 and Neh. vii, 49. 

E, G. H. G. B. I. 

CATTANEO, CARLO: Italian Christian juris- 
consult; born in Milan June 15, 1801; died at Cas- 
tagnole, near Lugano, Feb. 5, 1869. Although 
Cattaneo was not favorably inclined toward the 
Jews, he vehemently protested against the oppres 
sive laws to which the Jews in Italy were then sub- 
jected. In a work entitled “ Ricerche Economiche 
sulle Interdizioni Imposte dalla Legge Civile agli 
Israeliti” (Milan, 1899), Cattaneo demonstrates that 
the outlawry of the Jews is detrimental to society. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Boccardo, Enciclopedia Italiana, v. 300: 

Jost, Neuere Gesch. der Israeliten, i. 360. 

8. J. Br. 

CATTLE (Hebrew, 7p = “ possession ”): Term 
used to denote all domestic animals, the princip 
possession of nomadic and pastoral peoples. 


ee eee vee ce eee ees Coen on tlntee Si eile nS (eR rn hag ATO DTN EE LETITIA TLE BATRA +a NH cones noe : 


627 


aE 

Cattle were very important in the early life 
of the Hebrews. The story of Abel, who was a 
“keeper of sheep,” and offered unto the Lord “of 
the firstlings of his flock” (Gen. iv. 2, 4), is with- 
out doubt an indication of the conditions of early 
times. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob his sons were 
“shepherds” in all the significance of the word 
(Gen. xlvi. 84; xlvii. 1, 3, 4, 6); and their respective 
storics show the importance of cattle in their lives. 
Their cattle furnished them their dwelling, the tent, 
their clothing, and their food, the last consisting of 
milk, cheese, and butter, and, on great occasions, 
meat. They also supplied them almost exclusively 
with the material of the sacrifices. 

After having settled in the Land of Promise, the 
Israclites did not entirely abandon their early mode 
of life. Some tribes, particularly those 
of Reuben, Gad, and Simeon, contin- 
ued in the pastoral life, in which they 
were encouraged by the nature of 
theiv respective territories. Others seem to have 
continued the rearing of cattle, along with their 
new agricultural occupations, Therefore the herds 
and flocks were a part of all blessings (Deut. viii. 
13, xxviii. 4) and prophecies (Jer. xxxi. 27, XX xiii. 12, 
18; Zech. ii. 4). In the ordinary usage of the lan- 
guage, kings were called “shepherds” (IT Sam. v. 2, 
vii. 7; Isa. xli. 28), and the same figurative language 
is used to describe Providence (Ps. xxiii. 2). 

The live stock of the Israelites consisted chiefly of 
small cattle, horned cattle, and asses. The camel 
and the horse were not common in Biblical times. 
Small cattle—7.e., sheep and goats—were the most 
numerous, since Palestine, like the other Mediterra- 
nean countries, was in ancient times, as in modern, 
well suited to the habits of these animals. They 
were kuown by the collective name jRNY; (zon; com- 
pare the Homeric 77a; see Goar, SukEEP). Horned 
cattle were raised successfully only in well- watered 
places, as the valley of the Jordan, the plain of 
Sharon, and, particularly, the western part of Bashan. 
They were called pa (bakar, “ plowers”; compare 
“ormentum,” from “arare”; see Ox). Asses were 
as common as they were good, and she-asses were 
especially appreciated (Gen. xii. 16, xxx. 48; Josh. 
vii. 24; I Sam. viii. 16), even after the introduction 
of the horse (Ezra ii. 66 e¢ seg.; Neh. vii. 68 ef seq.). 

Many passages in the Scriptures enjoin on man 
Kindness and humanity toward domestic animals. 

God, as Creator and Providence of all 
Kindness animals, gave man sway over them, 
toAnimals. dclegating to him His providence, as 
wellas Hisdominion. Punishing man, 

He strikes also the animals; making Ilis peace with 
mankind, He extends the reconciliation to animals. 
The firstlings of the domestic animals are His, as are 
the first-born of Israel. Domestic animals were en- 
titled to their rest on the Sabbath (Ex. xx. 10, xxiii. 
12; Deut. v. 14), and during the Sabbatical year 
were allowed to wander through the fields feeding 
on the spontaneous products (Lev. xxv. 7; Ex. 
xxiii. 11). Castration was forbidden, according to 
Josephus (“ Ant.” iv. 8, § 40; probably based on 
Lev. xxii. 24), and, likewise, hybridization (Lev. 
xix, 19). To plow with an ass and an ox was not 
allowed, probably because of the superior strength 


In Agri- 
culture. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


‘Tace, 


Catherine II. 
Cattle 


of the ox, which was the plower par excellence 
(Deut. xxii. 10). The overladen ass must be relieved 
of part of his burden, and if he should fall under it, 
his master must help him up (Deut. xxii. 4). The 
ox treading out the corn was not to be muzzled 
(Deut. xxv. 4). A cow or a ewe and her young 
could not be killed in one day (Lev. xxii. 28). The 
origin of the command not to seethe a kid in its 
mother’s milk (Ex, xxiii. 19, xxxiv. 26; Deut. xiv. 
21) is uncertain. Its purpose seems to have been 
to deter the Israelites from a heathen custom 
(see Bochart, “ Hierozoicon,” pp. 634 ef seg.; Dill- 
mann, on Ex. xxii. 19; Nowack, “Lehrbuch der 
Hebriischen Archiologie,” p. 117. Maimonides, 
“Moreh Nebukim ”). 

During the summer cattle were left in the open air. 
At night they were driven into pens or folds, for 
which the Bible has a great variety of names: YB, 
Bozrah (Micah ii. 12); xb29, Mikla (Hab. iii. 17 
et seqg.); M73, Gederah (Num. xxxii. 16, 24, 36); 

o'nawy, Mishpetayim (Gen. xlix. 14). 
Shelter at These pens were sometimes fenced 
Night. about with stakes; more often, how- 
ever, they consisted of an enclosure 
with adry-stone wall, to protect the cattle from wild 
beasts; and occasionally they were provided with 
watch-towers (IJ Chron. xxvi. 10). The cattle were 
counted in the morning and the evening when going 
out and coming in; and the shepherd wasobliged to 
replace every missing head, unless he could prove 
that it had not perished through his own fault (Gen. 
xxxi. 39; Ex. xxii. 12-18; compare Amos iil. 12). 
In the neighborhood of the pens were watering- 
places, consisting generally of a well or cistern, 
with a trough. To dip out the water and fill the 
troughs must have been one of the hardest duties of 
the shepherds (Gen. xxiv. 20, xxix. 8-10). During 
the winter the cattle were sheltered in regular stables 
(pa. marbek ), which were furnished with cribs 
(DISN. ebus ). Ft is incidentally mentioned that the 
ox and the cow were generally fed on chopped straw 
(an, teben, Isa. xi.. Ixv. 25), or sometimes on a 
sour mixture (YN bb5, belil hamiz ), a provender 
consisting of various grains, mixed with alkaline 
herbs (Isa. xxx. 24), sometimes like the “farrago ” 
of the Latin (see Bochart, f.¢. pp. 118, 303; Blau, in 
“Z.D. M. G.” xxvii. 522 et seg.). Horses also were 
fed on chopped straw and on barley. Oats and hay 
were then, as now, unknown in Oriental countries. 
Fatlings were probably kept always in the stables, 
hence the expression, “‘egel” or “‘egle marbek ” 
(p34 ‘Soy, Soy, I Sam. xxviii. 24; Jer. xlvi. 21; see 
Gesenius, “ Thesaurns,” p. 1260; Bochart, U.c. pp. 302 
et seq.). Elsewhere fat beeves are called O'8%2 
(Beri’im = “ fattened”), in contradistinction to ‘4, 
re‘i(“beeves of pasture,” I Kings v. 3), or OND, 
meri’im (II Sam. vi, 13; I Kings i. 9). There is 
no evidence that the Hebrews understood the art 
of breeding with a view to the bettering of the 
Under this heading one would hardly con- 
sider the trick of Jacob, used to increase his flocks 
at the expense of his father-in-law. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bochart, Hierozotcon; Nowack, Lehrbuch 
der Hebriiischen Archiiologie. 
H. H. 


E. G. H. 


Caucasus 


CAUCASUS or CAUCASIA (Russian, “ Kav- 
kazski Krai” = the country of the Caucasus): A di- 
vision of Russia, bounded on the north by European 
Russia; onthe east by the Caspian sca; on the south 
by Persia and Asiatic Turkey; and on the west by 
the Black sea. It consists of six governments, four 
provinces, and two districts. The Jewish inhabit- 
ants, according to the census of 1897, numbered 
58,471, or 6.3 per cent of the total population 
(“ Voskhod,” 1902, No. 3). These figures are prob- 
ably too low. 

The exact number of the Caucasian Jews is not. 
easy to determine. Some of them (in the southern 
provinces) have adopted the Mohammedan religion ; 
while others (in Georgia) have embraced Christian- 
itv. They are also often confounded with Jewish 
immigrants from European Russia. Vonder Hoven 
estimates fhe number of the native Jews of the Cau- 
casus to be about 100,000 (“ Budushchnost,” 1900, 
No. 52). 

The following table illustrates the distribution of 
the Jews of the Caucasus among the various gov- 
ernments, provinces, and districts according to the 
censuses of 1886 and 1891-92 : 


DISTRIBUTION OF JEWS OF THE CAUCASUS. 











Per cent of 
Jews. {Total Popu- 
lation. 
NORTHERN CAUCASUS (1891-92): 
Government of Stavropol.........0.. eee 1,215 | 0.4 
PRO VITIGG WL TRIS oa sa cicwew Rab eh eee oa 4.965 0.6 
Province of Kuban,..,...cssccccveenccuas 5,100 0.3 
District Chernomorski (Black sea)...... | 52 —- 
TRANSCAUCASIA (1886): 
Government of Kntais................-- | 7,082 0.76 
Government Of Tiflis................000- | 7,682 0.94 
Government of Erivan.......ssessceese0 44 0.01 
Government Of Baku.....cccee cer wees | 8,603 1.20 
Government of Yelisavetpol ............ 1,755 0.24 
Proyinee of Daghestan ...............0.. | 9.210 | 1.46 
Province OF RAISE | csceneenk esis a net —— 
District of -Zakatalsk 3... <5 6 cecesses 40-0 | 8 a 





Some of the Caucasian Jews claim to be descend- 
ants of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, which were 
taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar; 


Supposed while others (particularly the Geor- 
Descent  gians) are equally certain of their de- 
from Lost scent from the Israelites who were 


Ten Tribes. taken from Palestine by Shalmaneser. 

It is hard to determine whether this 
belief is based upon valid tradition or whether it is 
of later origin, and an attempt, by means of bad 
philology, to connect the “ Habor,” near which river 
the exiles were settled, with “Tberia,” the name by 
which the Caucasus is known to classical writers. 
In the Georgian language the Jews are called 
“Huria,” a term which is related to “Tberia” (Koch, 
“Reise Durch Russland,” Preface, p. ix.). 

The Russian archeologist and linguist Vsevolod 
Miller believes that a large Jewish population for- 
merly existed in that part of Media which was later 
called “ Atturpatakan,” and which is at present 
known under the name of “ Azerbeijan,” and that 
this country was probably the cradle of the Caucasian 
Jews. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


62g 


a Ss 
Semitic type to a more marked degree than the 
European Jews. The presence of a distinctive Jew. 

ish type among many of the Caucasian 


Jewish peoples has long been noticed by tray. 
Type elers and ethnographers. It is espe. 
Among cially interesting, as some of thege 
Caucasian pcople, the Armenians, Georgians, ang 
Peoples. Ossctes, for instance, are not of one 


and the same race. Baron Peter Uslg; 
suggests that during the past two thousand yeayg 
Jewish tribes often emigrated to the Caucasyg 
(“Russische Revue,” xx. 42, xxi. 300). Miller is of 
the opinion that in very remote times they emj. 
grated thither from Media. Al) the Armenian ang 
Georgian historians speak of the existence of a large 
Jewish population in Transcaucasia until the begin. 
ning of the present era. 
When St. Nina came to the city of Urbnis jp 
Georgia from Jerusalem in 314, she is said to have 
spoken to the Jews in the Hebrew language (“ His. 


Hint } HH fej } rf 
‘ | tT | {| 
Hl rel ail i} 
HT a i Ht 


| Hi 
Hl i 


















































(After s photograph.) 


toire de la Georgie,” translated by Brosset, I. i. 31, 
87, 54, 64, 93, 100, 104-120). When the Persians 
took possession of Transcaucasia in 366, the Jews 
adopted the old Persian language, which they called 
“ Parsee” or “Tat,” from which they formed a jat- 
gon with an admixture of words taken from the 
Bible and from languages of local tribes. They 
write this jargon in Hebrew square characters. 
From the Arabic writers Mas‘udi, Ibn Haukal, and 
from the “Derbend Nameh” (a Persian history of 


He thinks that they have preserved the old | Derbend) it is evident that the Arabs, when they 


ARON k a te: OR EY tate tae Lt Sate ee 


1 yO ema Ne Ne i dee 


aA,‘ Sr fs A A BD aps fey 


629 








conquered Daghestan in the eighth century, found 
g large number of Jews there. According to Pan- 
tyukhov (probably following Quatrefages, “ Obser- 
vations Anthropologiques au Caucase,” Tiflis, 1893, 
cited in “Archiv fir Anthropologie,” xxvii. 448.) 
the Caucasian Jews may be considered descendants 
of the Chaldeans (early Babylonians), who originally 
dwelt on the upper Euphrates and in the vicinity of 
Lake Van, but who 
in later, though even 
still remote, times in- 
termixed with the 
pative Caucasians. 
In the course of time 
many of these Jews 
renouneed Judaism 
and embraced Mo- 


hammedanism. It is 
probable that the 


Khevsurs and a por- 
tion of the Swanetes 
and of the Lesghians 
are of Jewish descent. 
In the fifth century 
the rulers of Georgia 
claimed that their 
ancestors came from 
Jerusalem, The 
Chaldean has Httle 
in common with the 
Arabo-Semitic type. 
Erckert, as the re- 
sult of a comparison 
of the head measure- 
ments of the Cau- 
casian Jews with 
those of the other in- 
habitants of the dis- 
trictsin which they dwell, gives the following data: 


| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 





CEPHALIC INDEX: 


Azerheijan Tatars........ 0... cc eee cence 79.4 mesocephalic 
GOOTMIANS ocd endo et asa ade tices Cea tee 83.5 brachycephalic 
ATMIOCMIANS 20... cee eee et eee cent ees 85.6 hyperbrachycephalic 
Mountain Jews..........-... neecisats 86.7 byperbrachycephalic 
HEIGHT OF HEAD: FACIAL INDEX: 
Kalmucks............0055 62.0  Georgians................86.5 
GeOrgiansS........ ccc ee ees 67.9 Kalmucks...........0.005 87.0 
Mountain Jews........... 67.9 Armenians.............. mers 
ATIMENIANS. 0... cee ees 71.1 Mountain Jews.........-- 89.0 
NASAL INDEX : 

Mountain. Jewsi4 iain ei eee Sa ee Pe 62.4 
ATINGNIGUS givoe3 b pvakiion os Bethe wR VERS ews Adon tO aeaee AE sc6 62.5 
GOCONPINNS ag 35s SAE ek de care tieie oese Cue eae Snaade sated 62.9 
Kalin KSig fA Pilea ee ice doe She Sha Rae Seba he Ceara hs 75.3 


If the shape of the head be taken as a standard of 
a fine type, the mountain Jew may be considered 
to rank first among the Caucasian races, which are 
classified by Erckert in the following order: moun- 
tain Jews, Armenians, Kumyks, Georgians, Azer- 
beijan Tatars, Ossetes, Circassians, Tshechentzy, 
Lesghians, Nogaians, Kalmucks (“Der Kaukasus 
und Seine Volker,” pp. 370-877). 

The stature of the Jewsin the district of Kuba 
(government of Baku) is 1,618-1,621 mm.; that of 
the Jews in the government of Kutais, 1,630; of 
those of Daghestan, 1,644. These three groups ex- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





Mountain Jews of the Caucasus. 
(From a photograph.) 


Caucasus 





a oo ee 


adopted the language of the peonle among whom 
they live (Pantyukhovy, 2.¢.). 

Mountain Jews (“Bergjuden”) are those of the 
Caucasian Jews who live in villages (“auls”) and 
some towns of the provinces of Daghestan, Tersk, 
Kuban, andin the governments of Baku and Yelisa- 
vetpol, and who speak an Jranian language, a dia- 
lect of the Tat. The Tats themselvesare of Iranian 
origin, but have In- 
termarried with 
Jews. They speak 
the same dialect (Tat 
mingled with He- 
brew) as the moun- 
tain Jews. They 
probably arrived in 
the Caucasus with 
the Jews in the times 
of the Achemenide, 
having been sent to 
guard the northern 
boundary of Persia 
on the Caspian sea. 
According to Anisi- 
mov, the Tats of to- 
day were Jews when 
they arrived in the 
Caucasus, and they 
embraced Moham- 
medanism only when 
the Arabs conquered 
the country. They 
themselves cherish 
this belief, and care- 
fully preserve their 
Hebrew books 
(Hahn, “Aus dem 
Kaukasus,” p. 181). 

Hasdai ben Isaac, in his letters to the king of the 
Chazars (about 960), says that, according to a tradi- 
tion, the Chazars formerly lived in the mountains of 
Seir (Serir in the eastern Caucasus). Miller is of the 
opinion that the Jews of the Caucasus introduced 
Judaism into the kingdom of the Chazars, and that 
the Jews of Daghestan originated in Azerbeijan. 
He refers to Esther iii. 8 and to IT Kings xvii. 6. 
He thinks that old Jewish colonies in the Caucasus 
existed in Tabasseran and in Kaitak, in which region 
there is a place still called “Shuit-Katta ” (Jewish 
pass). About three hundred years ago many Jews 
emigrated thence to Majlis, the capital of the Tatars, 
and a little later to Jangi-kent (= “New Settle- 
ment ”). 

Large Jewish communities existed in the ninth 
century in Tiflis, Bardaa, Derbend, and other places 
in the Caucasus. According to Benjamin of Tudela 
(1160-78), the power of the exilarch extended over 
all the communities of Armenia, Kota, and Georgia. 
Guillaume de Rubruquis in 1254 found a large Jew- 
ish population in the eastern Caucasus. 

The traveler Judah Chorny also conchides that 
the Jews arrived in the Caucasus before the destruc- 
tion of the First Temple, and that up to the fourth 
century of the common era they lived under Persian 
protection. At the end of the Sassanian dynasty, 


hibit slightly varying types; they have compietely | when Tatar hordes overran Persia, and the Cau- 


Caucasus 
Caul 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


639 


——————— a gg ae ee ee ae Ne ee 


caslan Jews were driven from their homes, the latter 
came in contact with their coreligionists in Baby- 
lonia, and adopted the rabbinical teachings as relig- 
ious law. Soon they began to study the Talmud, 
of which they had an intimate knowledge when 
Eldad ha-Dani (ninth century) visited them. This 
is also corroborated by Benjamin of Tudela and 
Pethahiah of Regensburg. In the centuries when 
the great Talmudic schools flourished in Babylon, 
many eminent Talmudists lived in Derbent and the 
ancient Shemacha, in the government of Baku. In 
many regions in the government of Baku, where at 
present there are no mountain Jews, ruins of their 
auls and graves, and traces of irrigation trenches, 
etc., are to befound. The local Mohammedans still 
call these ruins by their old Jewish names; ¢.7., 
“Chifut Tebe” (Jewish Hill), “Chifut Kabur” 
(Jewish Grave), etc. In some parts of Daghestan 
the Mohammedan religion has supplanted Judaism ; 
but in many Mohammedan families are to be found 
Jewish books inherited from Jewish ancestors. 

The Caucasian Jewscan not be classed among the 
Karaites, as they still adhere closely to the Talmud. 
There is no question, however, that at the present 
time their Talmudic knowledge is not extensive and 

that they have added demonology to 


Supersti- Judaism. Owing to this comparative 
tious Be- ignorance they are nicknamed by the 
liefs. European Russian Jews “Byky” 
(oxen). The Jews of Daghestan and 


Baku believe in good and in evil spirits; e.g., Seer- 
Ovy (the spirit of the water), Ider, Hudur-bai, Kes- 
sen-bai, and others. The most venerated is the 
mighty Nuin-Negyr (the spirit of travelers and of 
the family), which name signifies “unutterable” 
(literally, “do not take a name”). A belief in per- 
petual warfare between the good and the evil spirits 
is deep-rooted among the Jews as well as among 
the Mohammedans of the Caucasus. According to 
Erckert. the Caucasian Jews in the times of the 
Seleucids were in communication with Palestine. 
They helped to spread Christianity in Armenia, 
Georgia, and the highlands of Albania. The moun- 
tain Jews are probably later emigrants, who in the 
¢cighth century and at the beginning of the ninth 
settled in the region north of Derbent. It was not 
until the end of the sixteenth century that they 
removed to the neighboring Majlis. Anotherstream 
of emigrants may have followed about 1180 from 
Jerusalem and Bagdad via Persia. Erckert and 
many others are of the opinion that the Caucasian 
Jews amalgamated at an early date with the native 
tribes. It is certain that among the peoples of the 
Caucasus the Jewish type is everywhere repre- 
sented, and that even among Christian and Moham- 
medan tribes many Jewish customs and habits have 
been preserved to the present day. Among the 
Ossetes the old Mosaic law of levirate marriage still 
exists, which, according to Chorny, the mountain 
Jews also strictly observe. Even the outward ap- 
pearance and the manner of speech of the Ossetes 
resemble those of the Jews. Many of their villages 
bear Hebrew names, and the marriage and funeral 
ceremonies correspond in many respects with those 
of the ancient Hebrews. The same may be said 
about the Tshechentzy. 


The Caucasian Jews differ greatly from the Euro. . 
pean Jews. Their language, dress, education, ey). 
ployments, and their whole character render them 
almost a separate people; and they even diffe, 
greatly among themselves. 

The Georgian, Lesghian, and Ossete Jews diffe; 
as much from one another as do the countries jy 
which they live. The Jews of Daghestan hay, 
nothing in common with the foregoing, either jp 

language, dress, mode of life, oy 


Manners moral views. They differ little fro; 
and the other warlike mountain tribes 
Customs. among whom they dwell. They only 


differ from their Mohammedan ang 
Christian neighbors in their adoption of the Tat lan. 
guage. They all dress in the Circassian style, ang 
go about armed with daggers, pistols, and swords. 
even being armed when they go to bed or when 
praying in the synagogue. They are skilled horse. 
men, Their occupations are mostly dycing, cattle. 
breeding, gardening, and viticulture. They own 
small farms, and rent land from their Mohammedan 
neighbors, by whom they are much oppressed. They 
raise tobacco, and manufacture excellent weapons, 
Even their hakams know how to handle the spade, 
the hoe, and the hammer. 

Owing to their persecutions under Mohammedan 
rule, the mountain Jews in the Russo-Caucasian 
wars always sided with the Russians; and the Rus- 
sian government, after the conquest of the Caucasus, 
in acknowledgment of their valuable services, 
granted them equal rights with the other Caucasian 
tribes. Lately, however, these rights have been 
curtailed. 

In contradistinction to the mountain Jews, the 
Georgian Jews have always exhibited great patriot- 
ism, and have fought against the Russians. Their 
love for the fatherland is as proverbial as their bra- 
very in war. Notwithstanding his war- 
like character, however, the Georgian 

and Geor- Jew becomes penitent and humble in 
gian Jews. the synagogue. Here he may be seen 
to weep for the unfortunate destiny 
of his coreligionists scattered over the world. Geor- 
gian Jews are found in Tiflis, Kutais, Suran, Karasu- 
bazar, and the surrounding villages. Besides the 
Georgian and mountain Jews, mention should here 
be made of the Caucasian Sunspornikr (Sabbata- 
rians), who are probably descendants of the Chazars. 
Their type is more Slavonic than Semitic, but their 
mode of life is Jewish: they not only keep the Sab- 
bath strictly, but also observe all the Mosaic laws 
and many rabbinical precepts. In Tiflis in 1894 
their community numbered thirty families, besides 
many who lived outside the village and occupied 
themselves with cattle-breeding, agriculture, and 
the cultivation of the vine. They have the same 
prayers as the Russian Jews, but use the Russian 
language instead of the Hebrew. Some of them 
send their sons to Wilna for a higher rabbinical edu- 
cation. They consider ita great honor to intermarry 
with rabbinical Jews; but such marriages are rare. 
The Georgian and especially the mountain Jews 
deem it beneath their dignity to intermarry with the 
Subhotniki. 
In recent years, with the improvements in com- 


Mountain 


631 





munication, outside interest in the Caucasian Jews 
has become more extensive. Their coreligionists 
have endeavored to spread culture among them, 
while the Zionist organizations have established some 
schools for the rational study of Tlebrew. For fur- 
ther details reference may be made to the articles 
on the respective cities, provinces, and peoples. See 
also ARMENIA and CIAZARS. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Garber, Izvyestie o Nakhodyashchikhsya s 
Zudpatinai Storony Kaspiskavo Morya Narodakh,... 
1760, pp. $05-307 5 Radde, Vier Vortriige tiher den Kaukasus, 
in Ergnzungsheft zu Peterman s Geographische Mit- 
theilungen, Nd. XXXVi., p. 63, Gotha, 1874; Erckert, Der Kau- 
asus und Scine Volker, p. 302, Leipsic, 1887; idem, Die 
Sprachen des Katukasisechen Stammes, Vienna, 1895: Wit- 
sen, Noord ern Oost Tartaryen, ii. 692, 808, Amsterdam: 
Miller, Materialy dlya Izucheniya Yevreisko-Tatskavo 
Yazyka, St. Petersburg, 1892; Merzbacher, 4 us den. Hochre- 
gionen des Kaukasus, Leipsic, 1901; Anisimov, Aavkazskie 
Yevrei, Moscow, 1888 ; Chorny, Sefer ha-Massa‘ot, St. Peters- 
burg, 1884; Vakhouehte Tzarévitsch, Description Géogra- 
phique de la Georgie, translated from the Georgian by Brosset, 
St. Petersburg, 1842; Veidenbaum, Putevoditel po Kavkazu, 
Tiflis, 1888; Russische Revue, xx. 42, xxi. 800: Sbornik Ma- 
terialov diya Optsaniya Myestnostei t Plemion Kavkaza : 
Van der Hoven, in Budushchnost, 1900. No. 52; Harkavy, 
Hia-Yehudim u-Sefat ha-Slarim, pp. 105-109, and his reply 
to Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. ix. 16, 52, in Roman oh Aler- 
andrye, 1892, p. 32, note; idem. Soobsheheniya 6 Chaza- 
rakh, in Yevreiskaya Biblioteka, vii. 148-1538: idem, in Za- 
piski Vostochnavo Otadyeleniya Imperatorskavo Russkavo 
Archeologicheskavo Obshehestva, viii. 247; idem, in Vosk- 
hod, 1896, 11. 35, 86; Khronika Voskhoda, 1884, No. 44; 1886, 
No. 48; 1887, No. 20; 1895, No. 33; Ha-Meliz, 1870, Nos. 4, 
28-30, and 1895 passim; Ha-Zefirah, 1880, x. 33-54; 1894, 
No. 94: R. Andree, Zur Volkskunde der Juden, 1881; Lan- 
glois, Collection des Histoires Arméniennes: Faustus de 
Byzance, i. 274-275; Hahn, Aus dem Kaukasus, Leipsic, 
1891; Uslar, Drevnyeishiya Izvyestiya o Kavkazye, Tiflis, 
18L: Vevreiskoe Obozryenie, 1884, v. 157: D’Ohsson, Des 
Peuples du Caucase,... ow Voyage @ Abou-ElCassim, 
Paris. 1828, 


G,. H. R. 


CAUL.—Biblical Data: Nowadays applied 
to the membrane surrounding the human fetus; 
used also in other senses. Inthe Bible: 1. A render- 
ing of the Hebrew p°p°3w, the second on the list of 
toilet articles worn by the women of Jerusalem (Isa. 
iii. (8). Schrébder emends this to “shemisim.” which 
he compares to the Arabic “shumaisah ” (little sun), 
Tt would then mean an article of jewelry, perhaps 
a pendant. It is quite possible to take it to desig- 
nate nets used as adornments for the hair. The 
Septuagint gives it this sense; and the Targum re- 
produces the word, which by Mishnaic usage is con- 
firmed as a net for the hair (see Levy, “ Neuhebr. 
Worterb.” iv. s.z.). 

2. Used in an anatomical sense of the enclosure 
of the heart, perhaps of the pericardium (Hosea 
xiii. 8). - 

3. Most frequently, however, it is used to trans- 
late “yoteret,” a word occurring frequently in the 
priestly regulations and in connection with the liver. 
It is best taken to mean the fatty mass surrounding 
the liver. This was always included (Ex. xxix, 13, 
22; Lev. iii. 4, 10, 15; iv. 9; vil. 4; vili. 16, 25; ix. 
10, 19) in the burnt offering. 

E. GU, G. B. L. 


——In Rabbinical Literature: According to 
the A, V., it was the caul, with some other parts 
of the sacrifice, that was burned on the altar. 
For we read: “And thou shalt take all the fat that 
covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above tlie 
liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon 
them, and burn them upon the altar” (Ex, xxix. 13; 
compare references below). The Hebrew term here 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caucasus 
Caul 





rendered “caul” is “yoteret” (AM), always occur- 
ring in connection with “kabed” (925 = “liver ”); 
this “yoteret ” is variously translated by earlier and 
later scholars. Thus, the Septuagint renders it “ the 
lobe of the liver”; and so do Josephus (“ Ant.” iii. 
9, § 2), Gesenius (“ Dict.” ».2.), Kohut (“Aruch 
Completum,” iii. 476, «7.999 ayn), Jastrow (“ Dict.” 
p. 572), and the Karaites (see Aaron b. Elijah, 
“Gan ‘Eden,” Shehitah, xxi.). This rendition does 
not seem to correspond with the phraseology of the 
original. Of theeleven Biblical passages containing 
the term “ yoteret,” seven are mandatory (Ex. xxix, 
13, 22; Lev. iif. 4, 10. 15: iv. 9: vii. 4), and the re- 
maining four (Lev. viii. 16, 25; ix. 10 (where the 
preposition 31, “from.” is used], 19) are narrative. 
In six of the former (the only exception being Ex. 
XXIX. 22), yoteret is described as being situated Gy 
357 Cover the liver”), which can not be said of a 
lobe or of any part of the liver itself. Were the 
preposition sy (Sabove,” “over,” “upon ”) absent in 
the mandatory clauses as it is in the narratives, it 
might be assumed that “ voteret ” is in the construct 
state, and the phrase 9357 Mn" would really mean 
“the pendant n° = ‘redundant,’ ‘hanging over’; 
7.¢., lobe ’)of the liver.” But the presence of the prep- 
osition in the six mandatory clauses precludes this 
construction, and consequently also this rendition. 

That the narrative clauses do not embody the 
preposition does not prove the contrary. The nar- 
rator simply relied on the exact designation con- 
veyed in the mandatory passages. The yoteret 
must, therefore, be looked for among the viscera 
ndjacent to and over the liver. JLeeser finds it in 
the midriff; and this partly agrees with Rashi’s 
definition, as explamed by Kohut (Ze. iv. 94, 9.7. 
wat; compare Jastrow, lc. 557b, 3.7. RWW), 
~ Rothfleisch,” the fleshy fibers connecting the mid- 
riff with the costal cartilages. But, as even the 
midriff is not directly over the liver, a double hiver 
of tissue intervening between them, the A. V. ren 
ders the phrase by “the caul over the liver.” 
This detinition is supported by the Vulgate, and 
agrees With that of Rashi (to Ex. xxix. 18, according 
to Musaphia, in “‘Aruk,” s.7. wp), and with the 
translations of Zunz (Arnheim), Luzzatto, First (in 
Lev. é4.c.; in Ex, “ec. he translates “lappen”); and by 
itis meant that part of the caul which forms the 
duplicature extending from the transverse fissure of 
the liver to the lesser curvature of the stomach, tech- 
nically called the “ gastrohepatic” or “small omen- 
tum” (compare Strack to Ex, xxix. 18: Kautzsch, 
Ex. and Lev. é.c.; contrast Kohut, /.¢., s.72. J25 yn). 
Some object to this dctinition, because the small 
omentum jis devoid of fat; but as the Bible never 
includes the yoteret under the fats, this objection is 
not tenable (compare Sifra, Wayikra, Hobah, ix. [ed. 
Weiss, p. 21b]; Pesik. Zutta to Lev. iii. 10; Has- 
tings, “ Dict. Bible,” s.c. “Caul”; Cheyne, “Encyc. 
Bibl.” s.v. “Caul”; see SACRIFICE). 

The Karaites include the yoteret among the ani- 
mal parts forbidden to the Jews as food (see Aaron 
b. Elijah, 7.¢.; Elijah Bashyazi, “ Aderet Eliyahu,” 
Shehitah, xviii.); rabbinic law, however, knows of 
no such prohibition (see Hul. 117a; Rashi, ad loc., 
sv. ANN: Pesik. Zutta, U.c.; Maimonides, “ Yad,” 
Ma’akalot Asurot, vii. 5; Nahmanides to Lev. iii. 6 e¢ 


Caution 
Caves 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


632 


_ SS SS SSS ee ea ee an 


seq.). That thecaul mentioned by Josephus (“ Ant.” 
iii. 11, § 2) in connection with such a law does not 
mean the yoteret isevident from his naming the caul 
and the lobe of the liver as distinct parts devoted to 
the altar (¢b, iii. 9, 32). What he means is doubt- 
lessly the epiploon, or the fatty membrane constitu- 
ting the gastrocolic or great omentum. The same 
is meant by Herodotus (ii. 47), who mentions the 
caul in connection with anancient Egyptian sacrifice 
to the moon. 

J. SR. S. M. 

CAUTION (pYR): Warning given to witnesses 
before testimony. Neither Biblical nor rabbinical 
law requires a witness to confirm his testimony by 
an oath. Jewish casuists are of opinion that the 
witness who would not tell the truth without an 
oath would not scruple to depose a falsehood with 
an oath (Tosef., Kid. 48b, s.v. “Hashta”; compare 
Josephus, “B. J.” ii. 8, § 6). 

Instead of an oath, rabbinical law prescribes in 
criminal cases a preliminary caution or admonition, 
in the course of which the witnesses are exhorted to 
testify to such matters only as have come under 
their personal observation, and are warned not to 
state anything based on imagination or hearsay. 
They are told that the court will subject them to a 
careful examination and a searching cross-examina- 
tion. Finally, the formal caution laid down in the 
Mishnah (Sanh. iv. 5; Maimonides, “ Yad,” Sanh. 
xii. 3) proceeds as follows: 


‘** Know ye that the responsibilities devolving upon the witness 
in criminal cases are vastly more serious than those of the wit- 
ness in civil suits. In civil suits a man makes good the losses 

sustained through his falsehood, and is for- 

Responsi- given; but in criminal cases the blood of the 

bilities of victim of falsehood and the blood of his possi- 

Witness. ble offspring to the end of time, which is cut 
off by his undeserved death, fall on the head 
of the false witness. That such is the case is evident from God’s 
rebuke administered to Cain, who slew his brother (Gen. iv. 10), 
where it is said, ‘The voice of thy brother’s bloods cry unto me.’ 
Now, since the Bible says ‘Thy brother’s bloods (78 2%), 
and not ‘Thy brother’s Dilvod,’ it teaches that Cain was con- 
sidered guilty of shedding the blood of Abel’s possible progeny, 
as well as that of Abel himself. Also the fact that, at the begin- 
ning, God created one man only, should teach thee that whoso- 
ever destroys a single innocent life is as guilty as if he had des- 
troyed a whole generation; and that, on the contrary, whosoever 
saves a single innocent life is as meritorious as if he had saved a 
whole generation. .. . Say not, however, * Why should we mix 
ourselves up in these troubles?’ Scripture declares (Lev. v. 1), 
*The witness who hath seen or known, and doth not tell it, shall 
bear his iniquity... Nor must ye seruple about becoming the in- 
struments of this man’s death. Remember the Scriptural maxim 
(Prov. xi. 10), * When the wicked perish there is shouting.’ ” 


The object of the closing admonition is to remind 
the honest man of his duty to bear witness even 
against a person tried for his life, to impress upon 
him the verity that the escape of the guilty is an 
injury to the innocent, while the punishment of the 
wicked is a benefit to the public. Therefore, al- 
though the criminal’s deed can not be undone, no 

mawkish compassion should prevent 

Object of the giving of testimony leading to 

Warning. conviction (Deut. xix. 13; Sifre, Zc. 

187); therefore, too, the honest wit- 
ness must not scruple to testify against the accused, 
in the event of whose conviction he, the witness, 
must act as executioner (Deut. xvii. 7; Sifra, Kedo- 





shim, viii.; Sifre, Deut. 89). See Caprrat Punisy, 


MENT, WARNING. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Maimonides, Yad ha-Hazakah, Sanh. xii. 3. 
E. C. S. M. 


CAVAILLON: Small town in the department 
of Vaucluse, France. In his book, “Réponses de 
Rabbins Francais et Lorrains” (Vienna, 1881), Jo#] 
Miller mentions (No. 17) a rabbi of Cavaillon, 
Eliezer bea Judah, pupil of Isaac ben Menahem, 
who lived at Orleans in the second half of the eley. 
enth century. It also appears from the same book 
(Nos. 21, 22) that the celebrated Rashi of Troyes 
was in correspondence with the scholars of Cavail- 
lon. Gross (“Gallia Judaica,” p. 591), however, 
maintains that the passage refers not to Cavaillon, 
but to Chalons-sur-Saéne, However that may be, 


GAGE: 


C752 


SSS. 


‘S 
LW 


i i 


Syn 

~ SSS 
SSS 
5 


~ 
SS 
SS 


TSS 





The Old Synagogue at Cavaillon. 
(After a photograph.) 


it is certain that Jews were living at an early 
period at Cavaillon. A Jew named Jaquiellus was 
a tenant of crown lands in 1308 (Bardinet, “ Revue 
Historique,” 1880, xiv. 36). A document of the year 
1872 mentions five Jews who, in the name of the 
community, rendered homage to the bishop, to 
whom the Jews of Cavaillon paid an annual quit- 
rent for the houses and lands owned by them in his 
territory (7b. xii. 44, 46). 

In 1458 the Jews were relegated to a special quar- 
ter (“Inventaire des Archives de la Communauté de 
Cavaillon,” No. 127). The year 1485 was an unfor- 


633 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caution 
Caves 





tunate one forthe Jews of Cavaillon. Imitating the 
inhabitants of Arles and Tarascon, the Christians of 
Cavaillon fell upon the Jews and pillaged their 
property (“ Rev. Et. Juives,” vi. 35). 

Toros of Cavaillon, one of the three wardens of 
the Jewish community of Avignon in 1400, is iden- 
tified by Steinschneider with the physician Todros 
of Cavaillon, the author of a pharmacopceia written 
partly in Hebrew and partly in Latin (Renan-Neu- 
bauer, “Les Ecrivains Juifs,” p. 725). Something 
is Known of another scholar of Cavaillon, Jacob 
Léon, for whom Moses Farissol Botarel in 1465 
wrote a treatise on the calendar. Gross (d.c. p. 589) 
identifies this Jacob Léon with Jacob of Cavail- 
lon, at whose suggestion Mordecai Durant Farissol 
copied, in the same year, a part of Levi ben Ger- 
son’s book, “ Milhamot ha-Shem.” 

Cavaillon was one of the four communities (“arba‘ 
kehillot”) having a special ritual of prayers (see 
CARPENTRAS), this being edited in 1767 at Avignon, 
by Elijah Carmi, a teacher at Carpentras. A new 
edition of this liturgy was published in 1855 at Aix, 
by Michel Milhaud. 

The lists of the Jews of Carpentras (“Rev. Et. 
Juives,” xii. 198-212) contain the names of a number 
of Jews called after the town of Cavaillon. In 1413- 
1414 there were also at Perpignan Jews who came 
originally from Cavaillon (¢b. xiv. 75). At Arles 
Rt. Joseph of Cavaillon was in 1885 a member of 
the rabbinical college of judges in the scandalous 
trial mentioned in the article on CADENET, Provence. 
R. Isaac ben Nathan of Cavaillon was in 1582 a 
member of the rabbinical court of Fossano, Italy. A 
document of the same year, relating to the excom- 
munication of the wonian Bonastorga of Carpentras, 
bears the signatures of Bongoias de la Rocca and 
David Cohen of Cavaillon (“ Rev. Et. Juives,” x. 82). 
At Cavaillon, in 1713, lived the poet Gad ben Judah 
of Bédarride, author of a thanksgiving prayer pre- 
served in the ritual of Avignon (Zunz, “Z. G.” p. 466). 

The old community has almost disappeared, only 
three Jewish families residing in Cavaillon in 1901. 
The synagogue, which was repaired in 1774, has been 
preserved. It rests partly upon an archway under 
which a street passes; and this arch was probably 
once the gate to the ghetto. The synagogue closely 


resembles that of Carpentras. 
G. S. K. 


CAVALLERO, CAVAGLIERO (asap 
ybayp) : Name of a family, with branches in 
Provence, Africa, Turkey, and Italy. 

1. Abraham ben Judah Cavallero: Lived at 
Fez between 1688 and 1700. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Hebriiische Bibl. xvi. 62. 


2. Isaac Cavallero: Talmudic scholar. He be- 
gan thestudy of the Talmud at Salonica about 1680, 
and was a fellow-student of David Conforte (“ Kore 
ha-Dorot,” ed. Cassel, 52b). He is probably not 


identical with the Isaac Cavellero who wasa preacher | 


at Venice in the second half of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, and whose sermons were published by his rela- 
tive Judah ben Joseph Perez under the title “ Nahal 
Etan” in the “ Perah Lebanon ” (Berlin 1712). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ti. 121. 


bee, M. K. 


3. Isaac de Don Shem-Tob Cavallero: Itul- 
jan scholar; son of Shem-Tob Cavallero; flour- 
ished at Venice at the end of the sixteenth and be- 
ginning of the seventeenth century. He was the 
author of “Orden de Oraciones” (Venice, prior to 
1583), an edition of the prayer-book according to 
the ritual of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, and 
containing the Hebrew text with a translation into 
the Spanish vernacular; a second edition, to which 
the “Declaracion de los Puntos” was appended. 
was published at Venice in 1622. The “Orden de 
Oraciones” was placed upon the “Index Librorum 
Prohibitorum,” edited by Caspar 4 Quiroga (p. 69b, 
Madrid, 1583). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. pp. 37, 


59, 60; Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. iii. 1279b; Steinschneider, Cat. 
Bodl, Nos. 2123, 2404, 5328. 


J. M. W. UL. 


4. Jacob Cavallero: Lived in Turkey about the 
middle of the sixteenth century, and was corre- 
spondent of Jacob Berab and of Moses Trani (Con- 
forte, f.¢, p. 37a), 

5. Jonas Cavallero: Of Besalu; was an inti- 
mate friend of Kalonymus b, Kalonymus, the author 
of “Eben Bohan” (‘Touchstone). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Monatssehrift, xxviii. 549. 
6. Moses b. Jehiel Cavagliero: 

died at Ancona, 1583. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revue Etudes Juives, iii. 236. 
7. Shealtiel b. Solomon Cavallero: Hebrew 

poet; lived at Salonica about the second half of the 

sixteenth century, and was probably the son of Sol- 


omon Cavallero (No. 8). He is classed among thie 
Hebrew poets by Gedaliah ibn Yahya. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Carmoly. Jachia, p. 40. 


Physician ; 


8. Solomon Cavallero: Lived at Salonica about 
1515; corresponded with Elijah Mizrahi and with 
Tam (Jacob) ibn Yahya (Conforte, lc. pp. 38a et 
seg). It was for him, or for a contemporary mathe- 
matician of the same name living at Salonica, that 
Ephraim Mizrahi translated into Hebrew Georg 
Peurbach’s “Theorica Planctarum” under the title 
“Tiorika ha-Nikra’ Mabalak ha-Kokabim.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Hebr. Uehers. p. 640. 


Ds: M. K. 


CAVES IN PALESTINE: By “me‘arah” 
(MayD) the Hebrew designates natural caves. The 
mountains of Palestine, which for the greater part 
ave formations of soft limestone, abound in natural 
caves and grottoes. Most of these have developed 
from an initial fissure or crack in the rock, which, 
widening, in time became the channel of a subter- 
ranean stream. But as the latter changed its bed in 
the course of years, a large, dry, hollow passageway 
was finally left. In many places the skill of man 
has completed the work of nature. This has been 
the case more particularly east of the Jordan, and 
especially in the Hauran. In the latter district, ar- 
tificial caves are very numerous (see Wetzstein, 
“Reisebericht tiber Hauran und Trachonitis,” pp. 
22, 44 et seq., Berlin, 1860). 

These caves are historically of the highest interest. 
Undoubtedly they served for the original habitations 


Caves 
Cedar 


of prehistoric man. In the cave where the Nahr-al- 
Kavir takes its rise, in the grottoes at the bridge 
across the river near its mouth, and 


Caves in againin the Ferraja grotto mm the dis- 
Prehistoric trict of Kesrawan, etc., flint knives, ar- 
Times. = row-heads, and fragments of pottery 


have been found, of essentially the same 
kind as those unearthed in Europe; while the re- 
mains of animals are largely of species that are now 
extinct or have disappeared from the region, This 
circumstance points to a time when the climatic 
conditions were evidently different from those now 
prevailing; it presupposes a temperate, if not a 
semi-arctic, climate. Formerly it was the common 
opinion that the entire people of the Horites, who, 
anterior to and contemporaneously with the Edom- 
ites, inhabited the mountain of Seir (Deut. ii. 12, 
22; Gen, xxxvi. 20), were troglodytes, their name 
being connected with 3)n, “hur” ¢hole, cave). It 
is not probable, however, that this may be applied to 
a whole neople, and it is certainly more correct to 
identify “in, “ UBori,” with the Egyptian “ Haru,” 
the designation of southern Syria. 
Caves were used: (a) as dwellings, and (0) as 
burial-places. (4) Even in historic periods, long 
after houses had become the common 


Caves in abodes, caves served, especially in time 
Historic of war, as places of refuge or as natural 
Times. fortresses (compare Josh. x. 16 et seq. ; 


Judges vi. 2; I Sam. xiii. 6; Ezek. 
xxxiii, 27; J Macc. i. 56). Robbers made them their 
hiding-places; shepherds used them for folds, and as 
dwellings when the flock was at large; and travelers 
rested in them at night. 

(®) The custom of using the caves for burial-places 
dates from the earliest times. The entrance wus 
closed with large stones in order to protect the 
bodies against men and animals. Perhaps the best 
known of these burial-places is the Machpelah cave 
at Hebron, which Abraham bought from the inhab- 
itants for a burial-plot for himself and his family 
(Gen. xxili.). The descendants of David had their 
plot in the caves on Ziou. Even to-day a large 
number of vaults in the rocks around Jerusalem 
show how wide-spread was this custom among the 
ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem (see BURIAL). 

Tradition locates the so-called Machpelah cave 
in the eastern part of the present Hebron, on the 
edge of the valley, and the mosque 
which now stands there is supposed 
to enclose it. It is certain that this 
refers toa holy spot of great antiquity, 
whose associations antedate Josephus 
(compare Buhl, “Geographie des Alten Paldstina,” 
p, 161). There is some difficulty in reconciling the 
Machpelah tradition with that of the Mamre oaks 
at Hebron, and it is not improbable that these two 
traditions date from different epochs (7b. pp. 160 et 
seq.). 

The cave of Makkedah (Josh. x. 16 e¢ seg.), where 
five kings are said to have hidden in the days of 
Joshua, is probably identical with one of the caves 
near the village Al-mughar, southwest of Ekron. 
That of En-gedi, where the enconnter between Saul 
and David occurred (I Sam. xxiv.), can not be defi- 
nitely located. On the old road northwest of En- 


Important 
Caves in 
the Bible. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


634 


gedi (I Sam, xxiv. 2) several caves may be seen to. 
day; ¢.g., Magharat al-Nasraniyyah and Magharat 
al-Sakf. It is probable that the cave of Adullam 
(oot my) owes its name toa scribal error, the 
true reading of the passage, I Sam. xxii. 1, 4 being 
mnyp or moayp (compare I Sam. xxii. 1, 4 and IJ 
Sam. xxiii. 13, 14). 
E.G. ML WN, 


CAYENNE or FRENCH GUIANA: An 
island of South America, and a town of the same 
name situated on this island that Hes at the mouth 
of the Cayenne or Oyaque river, in the Atlantic. 

A band of Jews settled in Dutch Guiana as early 
as 1644. They were chiefly immigrants from Hoi. 
land, who had arrived two years before from Am- 
sterdaum, under the lead of Isaac ABOAB and Moses 
Raphael de AatinarR. After the capitulation of 
Recife Jan. 23, 1654, when ali Dutch possessions 
in South America, excepting Dutch Guiana, were 
ceded to Portugal, the Jews having supported 
Holland in the struggle for supremacy (1623-54), 
were compelled to leave Brazit. Many of them 
returned to their native country, whither their 
conquerors accorded them a safe-conduct; others 
migrated to New York or the West Indies, and 
the majority of them, under the captainship of 
David Nassy, a native Brazilian and a cultured and 
influential man, settled at Cayenne, in French 
Guiana. The directors of the West India Company, 
alive to the possibilities of such a colony, and eager 
to encourage Jewish settlements every where, granted 
them, under date of Sept. 12, 1659, a most liberal 
Charter of Privileges (“ Vrijheden onder Exemp- 
tien”), wherein freedom of thought, liberty of con- 
science, and political autonomy were vouchsafed to 
the new colonists headed by David Nassy, who was 
the accredited representative of thecompany. This 
document, one of the most remarkable in American 
Jewish history, numbers 18 paragraphs and has becn 
published at various times (see bibliography). At- 
tracted by these generous inducements, the colonists 
thrived, and encouraged their coreligionists in Hol- 
land and elsewhere to join them. In 1660 one hundred 
and fifty-two Jews of both sexes arrived from Leg- 
horn, Italy (on the 9th of Ab = August), and among 
them was the famous poet, historian, and littera- 
teur Don Miguel Levi de Barrios, who afterward 
visited the West Indies, where his wife Deborah 
died. The colony prospered for nearly five years, 
but owing to the constant wars between Holland and 
Portugal and to the frequent depredations of the 
French, tle settlement was, on May 15, 1664, trans- 
ferred to Strrnam, Dutch Guiana, where it flour- 
ished for two centuries, with occasional interrup- 
tions. Among the “Articles and Conditions” of 
surrender, agreed upon and signed by the French 
and the Dutch, March 15, 1664, when the island was 
ceded to France, we read that the Jews stipulated, 
among other things, “that the expenses incurred by 
the patron (patroon) and individuals of the Hebrew 
colony shall be repaid them,” and that they be 
given “the free and public exercise of their re- 
ligion.” | 

It was on the Ile du Diable, off the coast of Cay- 
enne, that Capt. Alfred Dreyfus was imprisoned. 


635 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Miguel Levi de Barrios, Govierno Popular 


Judayco, p. 28; Essai Historique sur la Colonie Surinam, 
fi. 113-122, Paramaribo, 1788; Geschieden Handethandig 
Tafereel van de Bataafsche West-Indische Colonien, 
fi. 41-42, 98-100, Amsterdam, 1802; Thomas Southey, Chrono- 
logical History of the West Indies, ii. 49-50, Lundon, 1827; 
H. J. Koenen. Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland, 
pp. 283-284, 460-466, Utreeht, 1843; M. Kayserling, Sephardim, 
pp. 265-266. Berlin, 1859; Publications of the American 
Jewish Historical Society, No. 2, pp. 94, 95, 99; No.3, pp. 
18, 104, 13H-137: No. 4, p. 23 G. A. Kohut, in Simon Wolf's 
American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen, pp. 449, 
454-455, Philadelphia, 1895. Full text of the Charter is given 
in the second, third, and fourth books in the above list. 


A. G. A. K. 


CAZES, DAVID: Moroccan educator and wri- 
ter; bornat Tetuan in 1851. Sent to Paris in his 
early vouth, he was educated by the Alliance Is- 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Caves 
Cedar 


In 1878 Cazes was appointed an officer of the 
Order of Nishan Iftikhar of Tunis; and the French 
government in 1886 awarded him academic laurels, 
and in 1889 the rosette of Chevalier of the Legion 
of Honor. 

Cazés is the author of the following works: 
“Essai sur I'Tlistoire des Israélites de Tunisie.” 
Paris, 1889; “ Notes Bibliographiques sur la Littée- 
rature Juives-Tunisienne,” Tunis, 1893, giving an 
exact picture of the literary life of the Jews of 
Tunis. He has also contributed a large number of 
articles to the * Revue des Etudes Juives” and other 
Jewish periodicals. 


s. M. Fr. 





CEDARS OF LEBANON. 
(From a photograph by Bonfils.) 


raélite Universelle, and at the age of eighteen was 
commissioned to establish and direct several primary 
schools in the East; namely, at Volo in Thessaly 
(1869), at Smyrna (1873), and at Tunis (1878-93). In 
each of these places he took part also in the organi- 
zation of the communities. At Tunisespecially the 
official organization of Judaism by the government 
of the French protectorate was his work. Since 
1893 he has been in Buenos Ayres, Argentine Repub- 
lic, serving as a member of the administrative com- 
mittee of the colonization fund founded by the 
Baron Maurice de Hirsch under the name of the 
Jewish Colonization Association. 


CEDAR (34x): A tree of the pine family fre- 
quently mentioned in the Old Testament, where the 
“cedar of Lebanon” is generally meant. The cedar- 
tree grows best in a high, dry, and sandy region, 
and it found these requirements in the northern part 
of Palestine in the Lebanon district. In this dis- 
trict there are to be seen trees that reach a girth 
measurement of no less than forty-two feet. The 
tree spreads its roots among the rocks, and thus 
secures a strong hold. From this hold the tree 
sometimes grows to a height of ninety feet, but this 
scarcely gives an idea of its size, for the cedar usu- 
ally grows horizontally, the limbs out from the 


Cedar 
Cemetery 





~— 


stem as well as the branches out from the limbs. 
The leaves are dark green, about an inch in length, 
and are evergreen; the shade they make is broad 
and dense. The wood of the cedar-tree is valuable 
for building purposes, since the oil in it prevents 
destruction by dry-rot and worms. Cedar-oil was 
used by the Romans for the protection of their 
manuscripts. 

Various were the uses to which cedar was put in 
Biblical times. It was used by Solomon in building 
the Temple (I Kings vi. 18), the inside of which was 
all of cedar, no stone being visible. On the outside, 
also, cedar was used (I Kings vii. 12). The altar 
was made of the same wood (I Kings vi. 20). Later on 
it was employed in building the Second Temple (Ezra 
iii. 7). From Ezek. xvxii. 5it is clear that cedar was 
used in the making of masts. In religious service 
it was used in cleansing the leper (Lev. xiv. 4, 49, 51, 
52) and in the ceremony of the Red Heifer (Num. 
xix, 6). 

It is natural to find so striking a tree introduced 
as a favorite figure of the Biblical writers. A 
maiden describes her lover as a choice cedar (Cant. 
v. 15). Oftentimes a strong nation is compared to 
the cedar; for example, the Amorite (Amos fi. 9) and 
Assyrian (Ezek. xxxi. 3). In Zech. xi, 2 it is a syn- 
onym of “powerful.” The strength of the cedar as 
well as of the leviathan is brought out in Job xl. 
17. Another favorite figure is based on the luxuri- 
ance of the growth of the cedar. A flourishing land 
is evidenced by the presence of the cedar (Isa. xli. 
19); and the prosperity of the righteous is compared 
to it (Ps. xcii. 18 [A. V. 12]). 

In Num. xxiv. 6 cedar is mentioned as growing 
beside water. This seems to be impossible; but it 
is to be noticed that the term “cedar” was applied 
very often to trees that were really not cedars. In 
Rosh ha-Shanah 28a the statement is made that 
the inhabitants of Palestine called ten different trees 
cedar. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. B. Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, 


pp. 341-344. 
J. IR. G. B, L. 
CEDRON: 1. Name of the brook Kidron as 


given in John xviii. 1. Near the stream was the 
garden in which Jesus was taken by the officials 
after he had been betrayed by Judas (see Krpron). 

2. A place mentioned in connection with Jamnia 
(the “Jabneh ” of [II Chron. xxvi. 6) and fortified by 
Cendebeus at the command of Antiochus (I Macc. 
xv. 39). From Cedron as a base, Cendebeus began 
to ravage Judea. According to the account of Jo- 
sephus (“ Ant.” xiii, 7, § 3), Simon Maccabeus, al- 
though at this time quite old, himself led the attack 
and drove back Cendebeus; but, according to 
I Macc. xv. 39-41, xvi. 9, Simon delegated the com- 
mand to his sons Judas and John. Judas was 
wounded, but John continued the pursuit to Cedron 
and thence to Azotus (Ashdod). Cedron is perhaps 
the same as Gederoth (Josh. xv. 41; ILI Chron. 
xxviii. 18), and to be identified with the modern 
Katra, three and one-half miles southwest of Ekron, 
the modern ‘Akir, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Buhl, Geographie des Alten Paldstina, p. 

188; Guérin, Judée, ii. 35 et seq. 

E. ¢, G. B. L. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


636 





CELIBACY: Deliberate renunciation of mar. 
riage. In the Old Testament there is no direct ref. 
erence to the subject. The prophet Jeremiah was a 
celibate (Jer. xvi. 2). He seems to have regarded 
it as futile tu beget offspring doomed to death in 
the impending national catastrophe (2d. iii. 4). The 
pessimistic author of Ecclesiastes, although no ad- 
nirer of woman (Eccl. vii. 26, 28), counsels “ enjoy- 
ing life with a woman whom thou lovest” (¢, 
ix. 9). 

In post-Biblical literature Jewish opinion stands 
out clear and simple: marriage is a duty, and celi- 
bacy a sin. “The world was created to produce life, 
He created it not a waste, He formed it to be inhab- 
ited” (Isa. x}v. 18; Git. iv. 5 = ‘Eduy. i. 13). “Be 
fruitful, and multiply” (Gen. i. 28) is taken as a 
command; marriage with a view to that end is a 
duty incumbent upon every male adult (according 
to some the duty devolves also upon woman; Yeb, 
vi. 8; Maimonides, “Yad,” Ishut, xv.; Shuthan 
‘Aruk, Eben ha-‘Ezer, 1, 138). 

Abstention from marital intercourse on the part 
of the husband exceeding a legitimate limit, which 
varies with the different occupations, may be taken 
by the wife as ground for a divorce (Ket. v. 6, 7). 
A single man who is past twenty may be compelled 
by the court to marry (Shulhan ‘Aruk, le. i. 8), 
Isserles adds that this custom is obsolete. Excep- 
tion is made in favor of a student, who may post- 
pone marriage until a time when his education is 
complete and beyond the possibility of being endan- 
gered by the cares incident to procuring a livelihood 
(¢b.; the source is Kid. 29b). “He who is without a 
wife is without joy, without blessing, without hap- 
piness, without learning, without protection, with- 
out peace; indeed, he isno man; for it is written 
(Gen. v. 2), ‘ Male and female created He them, and 
called their name Man [A. V., “Adam ”]’” (Yeb. 62b, 
63a; Shulhan ‘Aruk, éZ.c. 1.1, note). “He who is 
not married is, as it were, guilty of bloodshed and 
deserves death: he causes the image of God to be 
diminished and the divine presence to withdraw 
from Israel” (Yeb. 63b, 64a). 

The only known celibate among the rabbis of 
Talmudic times is Ben ‘Azzai, who preached mar- 
riage to others, but did not practise it himself, 
“My soul is fond of the Law,” he is reported as 
having said; “the world will be perpetuated by 
others” (Yeb. 63b). Regarding the passages which 
appear to indicate that Ben ‘Azzai was married 
(Ket. 68a; Sotah 4b), see Tosef., Ket. 8.x. m°N93, and 
Yeb. 63b, s.2. Oprvw. The excuse is recognized 
by the Shulhan ‘Aruk (/.¢. 1. 4); it is by no means 
recommended to follow an example which, at best, 
is considered exceptional. According to Josephus 
(“B. J.” ii. 8, § 2) marriage was repudiated by some 
of the Essenes. Inasmuch as intercourse with 
woman was regarded as polluting, the aspiration to 
the highest degree of Levitical purity and sanctity 
may have led them to the rejection of marriage. 
There is nothing in Jewish literature to parallel 
Matt. xix. 12 in phraseology or motive (Dalman, 
“Worte Jesu,” p. 100). Paul’s views on celibacy 
may be found in I Cor. vii. See Ascreticism, Es 


SENES. 
K, M. I. M, 


637 

CELSUS (K¢o0c): Greek polemical writer against 
Christianity; flourished in the second century. He 
was the first pagan who denounced Christianity, 
and in his work, “The Trne Word ” (Adyo¢ ’AAn fie), 
he attempted not only to refute but to ridicule the 
doctrines of Christianity. Although the work has 
been lost, large fragments of it are preserved in the 
apology of Christianity (“Contra Celsum,” in eight 
books) written by Origen in answer to Celsus. An 
attempt was recently made by Keim and Muth to 
reconstruct the original from these fragments. Ori- 
gen was not clear as to the person of Celsus; he 
mentions two Epicureans by that name, one of 
whom was said to have lived under Nero and the 
other under Hadrian; and it was against the latter 
that he directed his polemic. In designating his op- 
pouent by the opprobrious epithet of “ Epicurean,” 
Origen was misled by his prejudice; for Celsus, ac- 
cording to his own teachings, was an eclectic, fol- 
lowing Plato and perhaps also Philo. Moreover, 
he must have lived after Hadrian’s time, probably 
flourishing about 180 under Marcus Aurelius (161- 
180), since he mentions the Marcionites and the Mar- 
cellians. Lucian, who also denounced Christian- 
ity, dedicated to him his “ Alexander, the Lying 
Prophet ” (“ Alex.” xxi.). 

In the first book of Celsus from which Origen took 

his extracts, a Jew, iutroduced by Celsus, addresses 
Jesus; in the second book, the Jew 
Celsus and addresses his Jewish coreligionists who 
the Jews. have embraced Christianity; and in 
the remaining six books Celsus speaks 
in his own person. All this shows, as Mosheim 
says, that Celsus mingled with the Jews, getting 
from them the story of the life and passion of Jesus. 
Yet the Jew introduced knew so little about hisown 
religion as to describe it often incorrectly ; hence his 
introduction in the work is merely a rhetorical de- 
vice, and Celsus himself is the speaker, promulga- 
ting opinions which he had heard or learned from 
Jews. Whether he reproduced mere verbal asser- 
tions of the Jews (compare Origen, “Contra Cel- 
sum,” vi. § 27, and Justin, “Dial. cum Tryph.” 
pp. 10, 17, 108), or information from written Jewish 
sourees, can hardly be determined. Jeim believes 
that Tertullian (“De Spect.” xxx.) had a written 
Jewish polemical work before him; but it is certainly 
wrong to assume that Celsus used the “Toledot 
Yeshu.” 

Celsus was by no means friendly to the Jews, re- 
garding them as slaves escaped from Egypt. He 
denounced their history, especially that contained in 
Genesis, as foolish fables (iv. 5, § 2), affirming that 
sensible Jews and Christians look upon these things 
as allegories. He knew the divine names “ Adonai” 
and “Sabaoth,” the rite of circumcision, and the com- 
mand against cating pork; and he ridiculed these anil 
similar laws. Although understanding why the 
Jews should cling to their own laws, he thought 
Christians foolish for renouncing Helienism in order 
to become converts to a false doctrine. He com- 
pared the disputes of the Jews and Christians about 
the Messiah with the dispute about the shadow of 
the ass (iii. 1, § 2), and asked whether Moses or Jesus 
was right, since the latter countermanded what the 
former had ordained. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cedar 
Cemetery 





It has been assumed that Celsus’ work contained 
material not to be found elsewhere; but he knows 
no more than is found in the Gospels, as has been 
proved. All beyond this is merely an addition to 
what has been called the Jesus myths. 

Yet there are connections between Celsus and 
Judaism that must be emphasized; e.g., he asserts that 
Jesus was the illegitimate son of a certain Panthera, 
and, again, that he had been a servant in Egypt, 
not when a child, as according to the New Tes- 
tament, but when he was grown, and that he learned 
there the secret arts (i. 9,$7). These statements are 
frequently identical with those of the Talmud. 
Celsus might have heard this from the Jews; he 
makes his Jew say that he could tell more about 
Jesusif hechose. Origen, however, rightly explains 
this phrase as a rhetorical device (ii. 8, § 1). Celsus 
agreed with the Jews in the chief points of their 
controversy with Christians, denying the divinity 
of Jesus, declaring all the marvelous stories about 
him to be fables similar to those of Greek mythol- 
ogy, and saying that the Jews were right in refusing 
to accept Jesus, especially as he was betrayed even 
by his own disciples, and left helpless into the hands 
of his enemies. 

Origen had no single historic fact to oppose to 
Celsus’ assertions; he too knew only what the Gos- 
pels recount, but he interpreted them 
as a faithful Christian, and explained 
allegorically even the difficult passages 
in the Old Testament. Celsus gave all the ideas on 
miracles, angelology, and demonology current at his 
time even among the Jews; so that his treatise is 
important also for the study of Judaism. 


Origen. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : J. L. Mosheim, Origenes von der Wahrheit der 
Christlichen Religion Wider den Weltweisen. Celsus, Ham- 
burg, 1745 (bibliography of earlier literature in the Preface) ; 
Richard; von der Alm, Die Urtheile Heidnischer und Ji- 
discher Schriftsteller tiber Jesus und die Ersten Christen, 
Leipsic, 1864; Th. Keim, Celsus’ Wahres Wort, Zurich, 1873; 
J. Fr. S. Muth, Der Kampf des Heidnischen Philosopher 
Celsus Gegen das Christenthum, Mayence, 1899; Ch. Th. 
Crutweill, A Literary History of Early Christianity, Lon- 
don, 1898; Krauss, Leben Jesu nach Jtid. Quellen, Index, 
8.v., Berlin, 1902. 


G. S. Kr. 


CEMETERY: A place for the burial of the 
dead. The word “cemetery” is derived from the 
Greek xotpyrjpov, “the place where the dead sleep ” 
(from kotudw (“to sleep ”), used of the dead in I Kings 
xi. 48, LXX.; IL Mace. xii. 45; Ecclus. (Sirach) 
xlvi, 19, xlviii. 18; Matt. xxvii. 52; I Cor. xv. 20, 
and is applied almost exclusively to Jewish and 
Christian graveyards (sec Eusebius, “ Hist. Eccl.” 
vii. 11, 18; “Apost. Const.” vi. 30; and Herzog- 
Hauck, “ Real-Encyc.”s.v. “ Koimeterien ”). In He- 
brew it is variously termed: MMIpPN M3 (“the place 
of sepulchers,” Neh. ii. 3; Sanh. vi. 5), py n'3 
(“house of eternity”; “long home,” Eccl. xii. 5, A. 
V.), or moby ma (Ecel. R. x. 9; Targ. Isa. xlii. 11; 
Yer. M. KX. i. 80b), and pn m3 (“house of the liv- 
ing,” after Job xxx. 23 and Isa. xxvi. 19). The 
modern euphemistic name is “the good place,” 
and among Polish-Russian Jews “the pure place.” 
Non-Jewish names are: “hortus Judzeorum ” (gar- 
den of the Jews), probably from the trees surround- 
ing the graves (Abrahams, “Jewish Life in the 


Cemetery 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


638 





Middle Ages,” p. 77); “mons Judaicus” (Jewish 
hill; Berliner, “Gesch. der Juden in Rom,” ii, 14); 
and “ Juden-Sand ” or “Sandhof ” (sand-yard.) 

The ancient law (see BuRiAL) required the burial- 
place to be at Jeast fifty ells distant from the near- 
est house (B. B. ii. 9); the place for the cemetery 


pera 


a ey, 
At times, however, the cemetery was at a great 
distance from the town (Berliner, d.c.; Abrahams, 
Z.c.). In fact, it was frequently the case that many 
townships (p*aiv* = “settlements”) had one ceme. 
tery incommon. The London cemetery was the only 
one in England up to 1177; the Hamburg Jews hag 








THE OLD CEMETERY OF THE COMMUNITY OF FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN. 
(From a photograph.) 


was therefore selected as remote as convenient 
from the city (Luke vii. 12). In Talmudica] times 
the tombs were either in caves—hence 
Nnmayp, frequently the name for a cem- 
etery (M. K. 17a; LB. M. 85a; B. B. 
58a)—or hewn out of rocks; and the site was marked 
by a whitewashed stone (vy, Shek. 7. 1) to warn 
passers-by against Levitical impurity. Mauso- 
LEUMS. MONUMENTS, and inscribed ToMBSTONES, 
though not unknown, were exceptional. In the 
Middle Ages the Jewish cemetery was as a rule sit- 
uated at the extreme end of the ghetto, the hospital 
and other communal buildings being frequently 
erected in the neighborhood. The limited area often 
made it necessary to inter bodies above those pre- 
viously buried; and thus the rule became general to 
leave a space of six handbreadths between them 


Site. 


(Tur Yoreh De‘ah, 363, after Hai Gaon, and Sifte 


Cohen to Yoreh De‘ah, 362, 4). 

The Jewish cemetery in London in 1285 was 
within the city walls and was surrounded by a 
protective wall (Abrahams, /.c. p. 78), as was one 
in Rome (Berliner, f.c. i. 14; compare ztdem, ii. 62). 


to bury their dead in Altona; the Amsterdam Jews, 
in Ouderkerk (Schudt, “ Merckwirdigkeiten,” vi. 38, 
$2; Jacobs, “Jews of Angevin England,” p. 62); 
the Jews of both upper and lower Bavaria, in Re- 

gensburg (Berliner, “Aus dem Leben 

Medieval der Deutschen Juden im Mittelalter,” 
Cemeteries. p. 118); and the municipality often 

imposed a tax for the right of burial 
(Stobbe, “ Rechtsverhiltnisse der Juden,” p. 21). 

In ancient times the cemetery was a necropolis 
consisting of family sepulchers, and common burial- 
grounds, in which criminals had special sections as- 
signed to them (Sanh. vi. 5; compare “the potter’s 
field,” Matt. xxvii. 7). In the Middle Ages the 
area was often limited, but the dead were as a rule 
buried in arow (Yair Bacharach, Respousa, No. 239). 
Rabbis and men of distinction were placed in a spe- 
cial row (see Feuchtwang, in Kaufmann Gedenk- 
buch, p. 870; and HoLpHem). On the other band, 
baptized Jews and persons of evil repute, as well 
as suicides, were buried in a corner outside of the 
line (Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 345 and 362). 
In regard to the direction in which the head was 


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THE JEWISH 


Cemetery 


ENCYCLOPEDIA 


640 


a, 


placed custom differed: some preferred it toward the | ing of graves with flowers (see the report of a bitter 


vast; others toward the west or south; others, again, 
toward the exit of the cemetery (see Horowitz, * In- 
schriften des Alten Friedhofs,” Introduction, iii.), 
Each cemetery had, as a rule, a piace for the ablu- 
tion of the dead, called the TAHARAGH, in which 
the prayers were also recited and the HakkaFror 
made. Adjacent to this hall or house lived the keep- 
er, Whose duty it was to watch the cemetery to pre- 
vent profauation. 

In Talmudic times the cemetery was visited on 
fast-days for the sake of offering prayer at the graves 
of the departed, “in order that they may intercede 
in behalf of the living” (Ta‘an. 16; Yer. Ta‘an. ii. 
65a; compare Sotah 34b); and this remained the cus- 





— "ave 





controversy in Léw’s “Ben Chananjah,” 1858, pp, 
433-442). A singular custom in the Middle Ages 
permitted first-born animals, which were held too 
sacred for private use (Yorel De‘ah, 309, 1), to pas- 
ture in the cemetery (Schudt, /.e. vi. 8, 39). On the 
other hand, the cemetery was an object of fear and 
superstition, inasmuch as it was regarded as the 
dwelling-place of spirits and demons (Isa. lxv. 4, 
Matt. viii. 28), and dangerous to remain in overnight 
(Hag. 8b; Nid. 1%a); wherefore cabalists deprecated 
the idea of women—who since Eden’s days have had 
a special predilection for the archfiend—visiting the 
cemetery. 

On entering a cemetery the following benediction 


THE JEWISH CEMETERY, BRODY, AUSTRIA. 
(From Joseph Pennell, ‘The Jew at Home,” by permission of D. Appleton & Co.) 


tom throughout the Middle Ages (see Isserles, Shul- 
han ‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, 459, 10, and 481, 4; 
Schudt, é.c. vi. 88, 78; Berliner, U.¢. pp. 

Sacredness 118 et seg.). Any occupation showing 
of the disregard of the dead, such as eating, 
Cemetery. drinking, profane work, even the 
wearing of tallit and tefillin, or the use 

of a scroll of the Law, is forbidden in the cemetery; 
nor may the vegetation growing there, or the ground 
itself, be used for private purposes (Meg. 29a; Shul- 
han ‘Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 367, 3-4, and 368). The 
non-use of the grass, however, often led to total neg- 
lect of the cemetery, which gave it a very dreary 
aspect not at all in keeping with its original design. 
In Talmudic times great care was bestowed upon 
the cemetery; so that the saying became current, 
“The Jewish tombs are fairer than royal palaces” 
(Sanh. 96b; compare Matt. xxiii. 29, and Schivrer, 
“ Gesch.” 3d ed., iii. 14). Orthodox rabbis in modern 
times, however, have strongly objected to the deck- 


is to be recited: “ Blessed be the Lord our God, 
King of the Universe, who created you in justice, 
who maintained and supported you in justice, who 
caused you to die in justice, and who recorded the 
number of you all in justice, and who is sure to re- 
suscitate you in justice. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, 
who revivest the dead” (Ber. 58b). Compare an 
older and milder version in Yer. Ber. ix. 13, and 
Tosef., Ber. vi. 5: “Blessed be He who recordeth 
the number of you all. He shall judge you all. 
and He shall raise you all. Blessed be He who is 
faithful in His word, the Reviver of the Dead." 
Compare also Pesik. R., ed. Buber, 46b, and Baer’s 
““Abodat Yisrael,” p. 586. For other prayers com- 
posed later, see “ Ma‘abar Yabbok,” compiled by 
Aaron Berechiah of Modena; L. Landshuth, 34D 
pn 7D) pr ayo odin pa, Berlin, 1867; and 
B.H. Ascher, “The Book of Life.” 4th ed., London, 
1874. A manual of prayers and devotional readings 
upon visiting the cemetery was prepared by the 


641 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cemetery 





New York Board of Jewish Ministers, and published 
(1898) under the title of “The Door of Hope.” 

The fate of their cemeteries forms one of the most 
tragic chapters in the tragic history of the Jewish 
people. Every massacre of the living was, as a rule, 
followed by furious attacks on the dead in their 
gravesand by a wanton spoliation of the tombstones. 
Graveyards, though regarded as asylums by the 
pagan Roman and Teuton alike, were not sacred 





tered tombstones and of graveyards long concealed 
from sight, have brought considerable material to 
light, with which the historian is enabled to recon- 
struct in part the history of “those that sleep in the 
dust” and torevive theirmemory. See CATACOMBS, 
PALEOGRAPHY, and TOMBSTONE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Z. G. i. 390 et seq.; Rapoport, in 
kK. Lieben, Gal ‘Ed; Bliss, Excavations at Jerusalem, p. 
230, London, 1898; I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Midd 
Ages, pp. 77 et seq.; Z. Frankel’s and Holdheim’s opinions in 





PART OF THE CEMETERY OF THE EMANU-EL CONGREGATION, AT SALEM FIELDS, NEW YORK. 
(From a photograph.) 


enough in the eyes of the nwmerous mobs to serve 
asa last refuge for the martyr race during the cen- 
turies of persecution. Old selihot and 
many eve-witnesses, quoted in Zunz, 
“Z. G.” pp. 396-401, tell the same 
sad story of the Jewish cemeteries. 
Most of the tombstones were scattered 
about the cities and used for building and other 
purposes: and only occasionally were the lines 
of an inscription recorded by the historian. There 
is consequently little hope that the history of the old 
Jewish communities will ever, like that of buried 
cities of old, be unearthed. Nearly every trace of 
the ancient cemeteries and settlements has been wan- 
tonly effaced. Still, a few scanty records saved 
here and there, and occasional discoveries of scat- 


IT].—41 


Tragic Fate 
of Jewish 
Cemeteries. 


Freund’s Zur Judenfrage in Devtschland, 1843, i. 266-271 5 
Theodore Reinach, Jaudaei, in Dictionnaire des Antiquites 
Greceques et Romains, p. 624; Stohbe, Juden in Deutsch- 
land, 1866, pp. 146, 169, 269; Aronius. Regesten zur Ge- 
schichte der Juden, Nos. 318a, 603; Scherer, Die Rechtsver- 
hdltnisse der Juden in Deutsch-Oesterreichischen Landen, 
1901, pp. 225-262. 

For the older inscriptions of Palestine, Syria, Africa, Asia Minor, 
Rome, and the Crimea, see the literature in Schiirer, Gesch. 
3d ed., i. 28-31; compare also M. Schwab, Répertoire, p. 462, 
ey entaphes: Paris, 1900; JEwISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, i. 509b, 


For Altona-Hamburg-Gliickstadt : Grunwald, Portugiesen-Grd- 
ber auf Deutscher Erde, Hamburg, 1902. 

For Amsterdam, especially: S. F. Mulder, Jéis over de Be- 
graafsplaatsen der Nederl. Isr. Gemeente te Amsterdam, 
1851; and De Castro, Keur van Grufsteenen, Leyden, 1883. 

For Barcelona: F. Fita, Boletin, xvii. 190-200. 

For Brest-Litovsk : Feinstein, n>" ““y, Warsaw, 1886. 

For Cincinnati: Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. viii. 54. 

For Cracow: J. M.,Zunz, P73 YY, Lemberg, 1874; and Fried- 
berg, 5°23 mimn>, Drohobicz, 1897. 

For Curacao: J. M. Corcos, Jews in Curacao. 

For Dijon: Gerson, in Rev. Et. Jaives, vi. 222 et seq. 


Censer 
Censorship 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


649 


a A 5555S ep ee es ee a ag 


For Dubno: P. Pesis, Die Stadt Dubno, Cracow, 1902. 

For Frankfort-on-the-Main; Horowitz, [nschriften des Alten 
Friedhofs, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1901. 

For Firth, etc.: Brann, in Kaufmann-Gedenkbuch, pp. 385 
et seqg., Breslau, 1900; Biichler, tb. pp. 451 et seg.; Karpe- 
les, i>. p. 505. 

For penne: F. Fita, Lapidas Hebreas de Gerona, Gerona, 
1871. 

For Grodno: Friedenstein, 9°7)22 “vy, Wilna, 1880, 

For Jerusalem: Frumkin, *xyw 738, Wilma, 1873; and A. L. 
Brisk, ppwn npbn, Jerusalem, 1901 et seq. 

For Lancaster, Pa.: Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc., ix. 29 


et seq. 

For Lemberg : G. Suchostaw, #7? 337), 1863-1869; and 8. Buber, 
Dw WIN. 

For Lublin: Nissenbaum, poaiba own nv, Lublin, 1899. 

For Macon: Loeb, in Rev. Ht. Juives, v. 104. 

For Mayence: Salfeld, Martyrologium, p. 428. 

For Newport: Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. vi. 61, 67; A. 
P. Mendes, in Rhode Island Hist. Magazine, vi. 84-105. 

For New York: Daly, Settlement of the Jews in North Amer- 
ica, pp. 34-44; Janvier, In Old New York, New York, 1894. 

For Nikolsburg : Feuchtwang, in Kaufmann-Gedenkbuch. 

For Nuremberg: Schudt, Jitdische Merkwtirdigkeiten. 

For Philadelphia: Publications Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. i. 20; H. 
Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia, pp. 200-205. 
For Philadelphia and Richmond: Publications Am. Jew. Hist. 
Soc. vi. 10% et seq. xe cadcec? : 
For Prague: K. Lieben, 1y 73, Prague, 1856; 8. Hock, Die 

Familien Prag’s, Presburg, 1892; M. Popper, Inschriften 

des Alten Prager Juden Friedhofes, Braunschweig, 1893 ; 

B. Foges, Alterthtimer der Prager Josefstadt, Prague, 1882. 
For Presburg: Weisz, 731° M3 1348, Paks, 1900. 


For Rome: Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in. Rom, 


i. 49; Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, passim. | .. 

For Segovia: Boletin, ix. 265 et seq. __ : 

For Seville: F. Fita, in Botetin, xvii. 174-184. 

For Switzerland: J. C. Ulrich, Sammlung Jildischer Ge- 
schichten, Zurich, 1770. 

For Toledo: 8. D. Luzzatto, {733 9338, Prague, 1841. 

For Triest: A. Luzzatto, 0°92 53, Triest, 1851. 

For Venice: A. Berliner, o328 nim, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
1881 (continued in the annual Sx iw» mp39, iii., cols. 578-586). 


For Vienna: L. A. Frankl, Inschriften des Alten Jiidischen . 


Friedhofs, Vienna, 1855. 
For Warsaw: S. Jewnin, onbw nbns, Warsaw, 1882 


For Wilna: §. Fuenn, “3083 TP, Wilna, 1860; H. N. Maggid, 


san) say, ib. 1900 et seq. _ 
For Worms: L. Lewysohn, O°P's MWh), Frankfort-on-the- 
aa 1855; Wolf, Gesch. der Judenin Worms, p. 81, Breslau, 


E. ¢. . -a ie _ K. 


CENSER: An implement shaped like a bowl or 
a pan, intended for the burning of incense. In the 


English Bible the term is employed indiscriminately 


to render two Hebrew words which seem to have 
denoted different objects. One of these words, “ mik- 
teret,” occurs only three times (once in the variant 
“mekatterot,” TI Chron. xxx. 14). This, according to 
its etymology, indicated a censer which was among 
the appointments of the Temple required for the per- 
formance of holy offices. The other word, “mah- 
tah,” is mentioned in the Bible twenty-one times. 
In the English version it is rendered thirteen times 
as “censer,” four times as “ fire-pan,” three times as 
“ snuff-dishes,” and onceas “snuffer.” Derived from 
the root “hatah” (to gather together coal or ashes), 
it was probably the name of various contrivances 
intended to remove the ashes or to carry live coals. 
Dillmann and Knobel contend that it was the 
saucer in which the snuffers were deposited. In 
Ex. xxv. 38 it stands for ladles used to remove the 
burnt portion of the wick (see Rashi on the pas- 
sage). These may have been of small size. The 
larger ones in connection with the altar for burnt 
offerings (Ex. xxvil. 8; Num. xvii. 3 et seg.) may 
more properly be rendered by “fire-pans.” From 
Mishnah Kelim ii. 3, 7 itisevident that various forms 
of these were known; some being open without 
rims, while others, designated as “complete,” were 
provided with raised rims. 


‘tionable passages. 


The mahtah was, as a rule, not used to burn in. 
cense. From the documents, as now incorporated 
in the Pentateuch, it appears that only on the 
golden altar, or, as it is also called, “the inner altar,” 
could incense be offered (Ex. xxx. 1-7; xl. 26, 27), 
The critical school has indeed contended that the 
inner or golden altar was not recognized in earlier 
times. But this does not weaken the evidence of the 
documents to the effect that in post-exilic periods 
censers were not proper utensils for the burning of 
incense. Thestory of Korah’sadherents (Num, xvi. 
17, 18), as well as Ezek. viii. 11, proves that in the 
opinion of the later days the use of the mahtah for 
this purpose was regarded in the light of an illegal 
profanation. 

But the mahtah was used in conveying incense to 
the altar. Anexception to this was in the ritual for 
the Day of Atonement. The high priest filled the 
censer with coals from the altar and, placing upon 
them a handful of incense, caused the smoke to 
cover the mercy-seat of the Ark in the Holy of Holies 
(Lev. xvi. 12, 18), These “pans” were of bronze, 
silver,and gold. Mishnah Tamid v. 5 indicates that 
those in the Temple were complicated in construc- 
tion and of costly material (see also Yoma 48b). 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Keil, Handbuch der Biblischen Archdologie, 

translated by Christie and Cusin, Edinburgh, 1888; Winer, 

B. R. Leipsic, 1838; Cook, Hxodus, note on Ex. xxvii. 3, in 

the Bible Commentary, Scribner’s, New York, 1898; No- 


wack, Biblische Archdologie; commentaries of Knobel and 
. Dillmann to Exodus. 
: B. D.—E. G. H. 


CENSORSHIP OF HEBREW BOOKS: Cen- 
sorship is the regulation, first decreed by the Church 
and then carried out either by that institution or 
by the state, whereby books (both manuscript and 
printed) were examined for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing whether they contained heretical or other objec- 
Upon this examination depended 
the conditions under which a book might be used or 
printed, or its condemnation. If a book was uncon- 
ditionally rejected, it was laid under the ban, and 
all copies that could be found were destroyed. Ifa 
book was authorized conditionally, all the words 
and passages that the authorities found objection- 
able had to be expunged, being either omitted en- 
tirely in works that were about to be printed, or 
rendered illegible in those that had already been set 
up. Censorship, however, as regards the books of 
the Jews, is generally taken to mean only the revi- 
sion, expurgation, or purification (pypt) of the text 
undertaken in Italy by persons appointed by the 
Inquisition. 

The word “censura,” in the seuse of objection to 
questionable passages, is found from the middle of 

the fifteenth century. “Censor” was 

The Words the title of the official appointed by 
‘‘Censura”’ the Church to decide, after examina- 
and ‘‘Cen- tion, whether a book was beyond all 
sor.” revision, and hence would have to be 
prohibited, or whether it could be re- 

vised and allowed to circulate after expurgation. 
But for the examination of Hebrew books before 
printing there were no censors, in the exact mean- 
ing of the word, in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries. Such censors, employed by the state, 
are not found before the second half of the eight- 





516. 


A CENSORED PAGE FROM JACOB BEN ASHER’S “ ARBA‘ TURIM,” PRINTED BY SONCINO IN 1 
(In the Coluinbia University Library, New York.) 


Censorship 


eenth century, and then not in Italy, the chief seat 
of censorship, but in the territory of Austria. Since 
the beginning of the nineteenth century they are 
met with in Russia also, The description “ censor” 
is not once found added to the signature in the 
numerous certificates of censorship of Hebrew books 
that have come down from Italy; but “reviser” 
(*revedetor,” 1557; “reveditor,” 1597; “riveditore ” 
and “revisore” in the seventeenth century) is the 
usual title, and, as an exception, “expurgator” 
(1627). It would be more correct, therefore, to 
speak of the “revisers” than of the “censors” of 
Hebrew books in Italy. The three converts ap- 
pointed by the bishop of Mantua to revise the He- 
brew books are only occasionally (and then in- 
correctly) designated as “censores,” in a document 
dated Aug. 27, 1595 (printed by Stern, “ Urkund- 
liche Beitrige,” No, 158). Evidently none of them 
ever bore the title “censor” or added it to his 

signature. 
There was no censorship for Hebrew books ap- 
pointed and authorized by the Churchas such. For 
even after a most careful expurgation 


No Cen-_ the books of the Jews were not to be 
sorship given such ecclesiastical authority as 
Proper. was conferred upon non-Jewish works 


when revised and certified by censors. 
Therefore the persons employed to examine the 
Hebrew books were not considered by the Church as 
censors in the full meaning of the word. 

The censors (using the term in its common accept- 
ance) proceeded as follows: The Hebrew books were 
demanded from their Jewish possessors in the name 
of the Inquisition, and were handed over to the local 
office. Concealment of books was rigorously pun- 
ished, not only by seizure of the books and by large 
fines, but, under certain circumstances, also by 
imprisonment and by confiscation of property. The 
books collected were examined by the appointed re- 
visers, who destroyed the interdicted ones, and pun- 
ished their possessors. The objectionable books 
were then expurgated and restored to their owners 
with a certificate of censorship. The Jews had to 
provide the costs of the censorship; that is, the pay- 
ment of the revisers. It was forbidden, on pain of 
heavy punishment, to restore the expurgated words, 
or to supply the missing passages between the lines 
or in the margins. 

All passages which, in the opinion of the revisers, 
contradicted the doctrines, regulations, or customs 

of the Christian Church, or contained 


Objec- blasphemies, heresies, or errors, were 
tionable condemned. Thus they rendered illeg- 
Phrases’ ible in Hebrew books any account of 
and Pas- Christiansand baptized Jews, clericals 

sages. or heretics, the uncircumcised, Jude- 


ophobes, or observers of strange rites 
(ay ANDY “TDiy), unless the context showed unmis- 
takably that only the idolatry of antiquity, and not 
Christianity, could be intended: They also expur- 
gated all references to Judaism asthe one true relig- 
ion in contrast to all the others; all mention of the 
Messiah to come; any passages of Scripture in- 
terpreted apologetically in favor of Judaism, or 
polemically in an anti-Christian sense; all compli- 
mentary epithets (as, for instance, psy. wip = 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


644 


rasan RRR 





“pious,” “holy ”) when applied to the Jewish race, 
to a Jewish community, or to individual Jews, espe. 
cially to Jewish martyrs (in the Latin edition of 
Benjamin of Tudela’s “ Itinerary,” expressions like 
“bone, felicis,” or “probande memoria,” etc., fol. 
lowing the names of rabbis; “honesti viri,” follow. 
ing “Judi”; “sacra” before “synagoga,” etc., are 
also condemned by the papal index of 1612). The 
revisers also deleted any reflection on non-Jews and 
non-Jewish matters, or even a commendation of 
Jews or Judaism, that could be construed into a re. 
flection on the opposite parties; all expressions like 
3, DYIN, WONT, , AY maz (“wicked king- 
dom” “sectarian,” “Roman,” “Edom,” “ stranger”), 
that really or apparently referred to Christians 
and Christianity; all mention of the word 3\$p 
(“Talmud ’”’) or of the euphemistic phrase 17 ayy 
(“may his dignity be exalted”; usually applied to 
rulers), and similar expressions, when appended to 
the names of non-Christian rulers. 

The words to be expurgated were scored through 
more or less heavily with pen and ink, and some- 
times were rendered quite illegible by means of cross- 
lines. In consequence of this heavy crossing with 
acid ink, the paper in the course of time frequently 
crumbled, as was especially the case with prayer- 
books, Bible commentaries, and liturgic works, 
whercin many so-called anti-Christian passages were 
treated with unusual severity. At the same time, 
in many other cases, the ink of the expurgator has 
in the course of centuries gradually faded and re- 
vealed the original text. The application of print- 
ing-ink, to render the passage com- 
pletely and permanently illegible, 
seems to have been an invention of 
nincteenth-century censorship. Occa- 
sionally the objectionable passage 
was emended, not by being stricken out, but by 
the addition of one or more words, such as oy after 
osy ody (mbm oasis Tay =a", “ wor. 
shipers of the stars and constellations”), in order to 
exclude any possibility of applying the word pnby 
to the holy images of the Christians. Sometimes a 
totally unobjectionable word was substituted for that 
erased by the reviser: thus, instead of ‘99, that might 
be referred to the Christians, was inserted the word 
ms (“Cuthean ”) or 595 (“ Babylonian ”); and for 
mr may, abbreviated into y’p (“strange rite”), 
which might also mean Christianity, was substituted 
oS Se navay, abbreviated x’y (“idolatry ”). Still, 
such emendations can hardly have been made by the 
Christian revisers, on account of the trouble con- 
nected therewith; they were probably undertaken 
by the Jewish owners themselves, either under com- 
pulsion or as a precaution. From the end of the 
sixteenth century, whenever a large part of the text 
of a folio, of a page, or even of a column was con- 
sidered objectionable, the reviser, not taking the 
trouble to strike out the several expressions and 
passages, preferred to deal summarily by cutting or 
tearing out the whole folio or a part of it. This ex- 
plains for example the absence of several folios from 
the middle (ch. iii., § 25) of Joseph Albo’s “ ‘Ikkarim ” 
in most of the Italian copies of the first three editions. 

In several cases it has been definitely stated that 
the revisers lightened their work either by correcting 


Proceed- 
ings in 
Detail. 





EXPURGATED PAGE FROM “SEFER SHA‘AR HA-SHAMAYIM,”’ OF GERSHON BEN SOLOMON, PRINTED AT VENICE, 154%, 








HOLOGRAPH APPROBATION OF THE CENSOR VINCENTIU@ MATELICA ON FRONT COVER OF “*SEFER SHA‘AR HA-SHAMAYIM. ™ 


Censorship 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


646 





only one copy of each book, and using that as a pat- 
tern for all the other copies of the same edition, or 
by employing the so-called “Index Expurgatorius ” 
(DIP IAD), a list of passages to be expunged, 
prepared either by themselves or other experts. 

When the work of expurgation was finished, a 
short certificate by the censor, in Latin or in Italian, 

occasionally in Hebrew, or in Italian 

Censor’s and Hebrew, was affixed to the last 
Certificate. page of the book, or sometimes to tle 

title-page. The oldest censor’s note 
extant is as follows: “1555 Die 10. dec[em]bris 
Reuisus per D[ominum] Jac[obu]m Geraldini co- 
miss[arium] ap[ostoliJcum. Cesar Belliossus Curice 
Ep[iscopa]l{ijs Bonon[iensis] et dicti D[omini] 
Comiss[arii] not[a]r[ius] uicarfius],” which may 
be translated: “ Dec. 10, 1555, Jac. Geraldini, apos- 
tolic commissioner, revised this book and Czesar 
Belliossus, notary (and vicar ?) testified to this by 
his signature to the bishop of Bologna and to the 
above mentioned commissioner.” There isa similar 
endorsement of the episcopal notary at Reggio made 
in 1556 by order of the above-mentioned apostolic 
and ducal commissioner Geraldini. 

The earliest censor’s certificates (and even those 
as late as 1604) were formulated, at the request or 
with the consent of the ecclesiastical authority, by 
the notaries or the vicars of the Inquisition, who 
sometimes added the information that the inquisitor 
N. N. authorized the book, and that he (the notary 
or vicar) signed by order orin the place of the former. 
Toward the end of the sixteenth century, and less 
often during the seventeenth, the local inquisitor 
signed alone, sometimes adding a statement to the 
effect that he had commissioned the reviser N. N. 
to look through the book. In 1594 a reviser (Hip- 
politus Ferrarensis of Cremona) testified to the ef- 
fect that the book revised by him had been passed 
by the Inquisition with the permission of the vicar 
N. N. <A double signature to the same revision is 
also often found; as, for example, that of the reviser 
commissioned by the Inquisition, and below it that 
of the inquisitor by whom the order was given (end 
of the sixteenth century, at Turin); or that of the 
reviser, and below it that of the notary (1600). 

Beginning with 1557, censors’ certificates of the 
reviser—who sometimes adds that he has revised 
the book by order of the inquisitor (1590, 1622; 
Ancona, 1629) or of the Inquisition (1687)—are 
found side by side with these censors’ certificates 
signed on the authority of the Inquisition by its 
officials, which, however, were declared inadmissi- 
ble by the Roman Curia from the end of the six- 
teenth century. Sometimes, instead of the signa- 
ture of the reviser himself, that of another person 
occurs (1622), with the remark that the revision has 
been undertaken by order of the appointed cor- 
rector, N. N., or that the book has been revised by 
another in the presence of the signer, by order of tle 
Inquisitor. A curious entry of the year 1566 is 
found, to the effect that Rabbi Judah ha- Dani revised 
the book with the permission of the Inquisitor of 
Alexandria, Vincentio Perera. The books revised 
at Mantua in 1597 often have the signatures of two 
revisers, Domenico Hierrosolymitano and Alessandro 
Scipione. In most cases, however, the expurgation 


is testified to by one signature only, often containin 
merely the name of the expurgator, but occasionally 
other matter, as date, place, the nature of work done 
(correction, expurgation, revision, seldom approba- 
tion), and details of the commission (middle of six. 
teenth century): Vittorio Eliano, baptized grandson 
of the famous grammarian Elijah Levita of Venice 
wrote: “ De ordine dei Essecutori contra la Biastema ” 
(by order of the Executive Commission against Blas- 
phemy); others wrote: “1622, by order and in the 
nameof the bishop ”; “ 1623, by the order of Rome”. 
“1683, by order of the archbishop of Urbino”; “ 1754, 
by order of the magister Sacri Palatii.” The follow- 
ing protest, written in 1640-41 by the corrector Giro. 
lamo da Durallano, in the name of the possessor of the 
book isan exception: by xb ale =} by se mbs5 nisi, 
YO)TD DAWN, probably meaning that expressions 
of disdain (nibdy, probably misspelled for midsp) 
have been applied not to Christians, but to idol 
worshipers. Once, in 1754, in addition to the cer- 
tificate of the reviser, Peruzzotti, there occurs a 
warning to the owner of the book (who has affixed 
his signature thereto), that the restoration of the 
erased words is forbidden on pain of a fine of 100 
scudi. 

As the censorship of Hebrew works was never 
given an authoritative character, the Church refu- 
sing any responsibility for conscien- 
tious expurgation, books that had 
once been revised and attested could 
be again demanded for censorship, 
either by the Inquisition of another place, or even 
by the same local Inquisition. Frequently books 
are found containing five different censors’ certifi- 
cates within half a century; hence it is evident that 
the certificate of expurgation was by no means 
equivalent to an ecclesiastical sanction of the expur- 
gated book. The repeated domiciliary visitsand re- 
visions of books in the sixteenth century may have 
been due to the suspicion that some Jews owned 
prohibited books, such as Talmud treatises. But 
even after experience had shown how groundless 
these suspicions were, the authorities did not cease 
to demand Hebrew books. Even works published 
with the permission of the authorities (“con licenza 
dei superiori ”), and, hence, examined and sanctioned 
before printing, had to be produced again and again 
for purposes of censorship. Furthermore, the con- 
scientiousness of the earlier revisers was sometimes 
doubted; and they were openly accused of super- 
ficiality and negligence in correcting, of unreliabil- 
ity, and even of bribery. It became evident at each 
new revision that, in spite of the censor’s certificate, 
many books had, either accidentally or intentionally, 
been left wholly or almost intact: for, on the one 
hand, much offensive matter had not been expunged; 
and, on the other, many erased passages had been 
restored by means of chemicals or had been written 
in the margin, the severe interdiction notwithstand- 
ing. One local inquisition distrusted the other; one 
inquisitor, his predecessor; all mistrusted the bap- 
tized revisers and the Jewish owners. This dis- 
trust, increased by repeated denunciations and by 
the prevailing inclination to harass the Jews, led in 
Italy to repeated domiciliary visits and to the con- 
fiscation or renewed expurgation of Hebrew books 


Renewed 
Revision. 


647 


in the old territory of the Pontifical States in 1753 


and 1754. This last extensive book-inquisition 
marked the end of expurgatorial censorship in Italy. 
The rules followed in the expurgation became 
more and more stringent as time went on. The re- 
visers up to the end of the sixteenth century were 
much more lenient than those who came after; and 
the latter, again, were not so rigorous as the revisers 
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. <A list 
of the general rules to be observed in expurgating 
Hebrew books is found in the preface to the "5p 
pip, of which (as now known) only five copies are 
extant In manuscript. This book, written in He- 
brew, is an “Index Expurgatorius ” 
Principles for several hundred Hebrew books, 
of Cen- and was begun in 1594 by an anony- 
sorship. mous Capuchin. It was finished in 
1596 by Domenico Hierosolymitano, 
who made additions, bringing it down to 1612. Fi- 
nally it was further enlarged in 1626 by the reviser 
Renato da Modena. It was not used, however, until 
the seventeenth century. Although theoretically 
there was a detinite agreement as to the nethods to be 
followed in expurgating a book, practically the re- 
visers acted most arbitrarily ; so that frequently dif- 
ferent copies of the same book were severely scored 
by one censor and hardly touched by another. No 
similarity of treatment was observed even by the 
same censor. At one time he would be severe, at 
another lenient; at one time thorough, and at an- 
other lax. Chance and bribery also came into play. 
As the revisers were paid by the Jews, and were 
mostly poor converts to whom money was a consid- 
eration, the Jews bought their good-will in order to 
save the books from being mutilated; hence the re- 
visers were often bribed to certify to the expurga- 
tion, though the books had hardly been touched. 
Numerous blunders were made by the generally 
ignorant censors of the sixteenth and seventeenth 


centuries. The following striking ex- 

Ignorant amples, unlike the fictitious illustra- 
Censor- tions which, given first in the “ Lite- 
ship. raturblatt des Orients” (v. 548, vii. 


251), have been widely copied, are 
genuine and attested. Laurentius Franguellus (1575) 
strikes out the word spbn (“knowledge,” not “ Tal- 
mud ”) in the prayer “ Let us heed all the knowledge 
of Thy law,” ymin abn at 55 nN; the verse 
of the Psalm \y4NXp, D3 192N; and similar Biblical 
passages, in which D%3, OYIN, wy occurs, as though 
these passages referred to Christianity. Luigi of 
Bologna (1602) deletes the words amba “yw in the 
book yun monn (ed. Venice, 1545, § 86), where 
the cutting of the hair is referred to. Hence 
he read iM332 and took it to mean a cleric (nbj). 
‘ Inthe book D935) D'pow (ed. Venice. 1546) the same 
censor strikes out the first words in 13 pow bap, 
(‘He who bathes while he holds an insect in his 
hand,”) which he here connected with Christian bap- 
tism. Giovanni Domenico Vistorini (1609) deletes 
the Biblical passage 3A APN abn xb) in the book 
Sa myp wD (Venice, 1547, fol. 10). In Abraham 
ibn Ezra’s preface to his Pentateuch commentary 
the words {9 $5) mpiw mvp are stricken out by 
several expurgators, who evidently took them to 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Censorship 





refer to the Messiah, to Jesus, and to all Christians, 
while, in reality, two Karaite commentators, Mashiah 
and Jeshua, and similar sectaries, are meant. 

The extent of the work of a busy censor may be 
estimated from a manuscript notice of Domenico 
Hierrosoly mitano, probably of the year1612 (in Porges 
copy of “Sefer ha-Zikkuk”), which states that he 
had expurgated 21,167 (read “22,167”) printed 
books, 4,811 manuscripts, and 2,533 books, partly 
printed and partly in manuscript; a total of 29,011 
works. 

The first notice of Jews having been forced to 
expurgate alleged blasphemies against Christianity 
dates from the middle of the thirteenth century. 
On Aug. 19, 1268, King Jacob of Aragon ordered 
all the Jews within his domain to delete within three 
months all the so-called objectionable passages found 

in their books either by themselves or 
History of by Paulof Burgos. Failure to obey the 

Expur- command would entail the destruction 

gation. of the books and a heavy fine. Books 

of the fifteenth century also show many 
omissions in the text, gaps not filled in, and textual 
emendations, which are due either to previously ex- 
purgated manuscript copies or to Jewish expurga- 
tion made before printing. In 1426 the Jews of 
Savoy expunged from their Talmud copies and 
prayer-books passages pointed out as objectionable 
by the Inquisition. In the second half of the fif- 
teenth century the Jews in the duchy of Milan ex- 
purgated their prayer-books in order to anticipate 
the denunciations of the apostate Vicenzo. When 
compared with earlier editions, printed books of the 
first half of the sixteenth century also show many 
omissions, indicating a Jewish anticipatory expur- 
gation; but whether this was undertaken from fear 
or by order of the authorities is not certain. 

Eight months after the Talmud was publicly 
burned at Rome (Sept. 9, 15538), a papal bull (May 29, 
1554) commanded the Jews, on pain of heavy pun- 
ishment, to give up within four months all books con- 
taining alleged blasphemies or vituperations against 
Jesus; but they were allowed to retain other He- 
brew books that contained no objectionable pas- 
sages. Hereby expurgation of all Hebrew books 
was naturally assumed without being expressly 
demanded. An ecclesiastical decision from Rome, 
given through the “ Essecutori contra la Biastema” 
in Venice toward the end of 1558, declared, in an- 
swer to the question which Talmudic books apart 
from the Talmud proper should be burned, that the 
non-Talmudic books should be revised by Christians 
who knew Hebrew. 

The first one officially appointed for this work was 
the baptized Jew Jacob Geraldino (Geraldini), pro- 
posed by the Jews themselves and made apostolic 
commissioner by the pope in 1555. In 1556 he was 
appointed ducal commissioner by the duke of Mo- 
dena. Another convert, Andrea de Monte, appointed 
not by the pope, but at the request of the Jews, 
was soon associated with him. Their work was 
merely superficial; and it gave subsequent censorial 
authorities much cause for complaint. Probably, 
in order to lighten the work of the expurgators, the 
rabbi Abraham Provenzale of Mantua began (1555) 
a list of passages to be expurgated, but did not 


Censorship 


get beyond thirty books, mostly Bible commen- 
taries. 

In order to anticipate the censorship by correcting 
the texts before printing, the printing establishment 
founded at Cremona in 1556 engaged as reviser 
Vittorio Eliano, a baptized grandson of the gram- 
marian Elijah Levita. The Jews were so glad to 
save their non-Talmudic books from expurgation, 
that they willingly made great pecuniary sacrifices 
in order to soften the severity of the expurgators. 
There was a tendency in the Roman Inquisition, 
however, to restrict as much as possible the number 
of books permitted to be expurgated. When, in 
1559, the first papal index of prohibited books ap- 
peared—which included the Talmud with all its 
compendiums, glosses, notes, interpretations, and 
expositions—the vicars of the Inquisition at Cre- 
mona (Sixtus of Siena and Hieronymus of Vercelli) 
endeavored to give to it the widest possible interpre- 
tation. On complaint of the Jews of the duchy of 
Milan, however—to which Cremona at that time 
belonged—most of the non-Talmudic books were 
restored, although grudgingly. The two above- 
mentioned vicars demanded a high price for the re- 
vision of the returned books, made either by them- 
selves or by others, and in addressing the duke the 
Jews could unhesitatingly say that the two revi- 
sers had cared more for the money than for the ex- 
purgation. , 

The index of Pius [V. of Trent, which appeared 
March 24, 1564, permitted the Jews to use Hebrew 
and even Talmudic books, provided they were 
printed without the word “Talmud,” and were 
purged from vituperations against the Christian re- 
ligion. The expurgation of Hebrew books, thus 
expressly declared admissible, was henceforth regu- 
larly undertaken before printing, either by the Jews 
themselves or by Christian correctors; and this ac- 
counts for the more or less mutilated state of re- 
prints since the middle of the sixteenth century. 

Although the expurgation of Hebrew books and 
manuscripts was undertaken about 1560-74 in ac- 
cordance with instructions of the Inquisition, it was 
certified to neither by the signatures of the Inquisi- 
tion nor by those of the expurgators. There is a 
single certificate (1566) that the rabbi “Jhehodah ” 
of the tribe of “Dan” expurgated a book by per- 
mission of the Inquisition. As late as 1589-90 it 
must have been customary in Mantua not to sign 
censors’ certificates; for nota single signature by 
Alessandro Scipione is extant from this period, al- 
thongh in 1589-90 he corrected and revised all the 
Hebrew books in that city. The statement in Neu- 
bauer’s “Catalogue of Hebrew Manuscripts in the 
Bodleian Library” (Index, “Censors ”), that Lau- 
rentius “Franquella” signed censors’ certificates as 
early as 1571, seems to be due to an error in reading 
the date; the signature of Laurentius Franguellus, 
who was one of the busiest revisers of whom there 
is record, is not found before Nov. 1574. 

In 1571 the first papal Index Expurgatorius for 
non-Jewish books appeared. for Hebrew books 
busy expurgators doubtless used a similar index, as 
it would have been a waste of time to correct. every 
book afresh page by page. None of these Hebrew 
indices, however, not even the “Sefer ha-Zikkuk,” 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


648 





already mentioned, received the authorization or ee- 
clesiastical sanction granted to the Index Expurga- 
torius for non-Hebrew books. For, although the 
Church declared the expurgation of Hebrew books 
indispensable, neither the Roman Congregation of 
the Index, existing since 1571, nor the Congrega- 
tio Sancti Officit of Rome, founded 1588, nor any 
pope would vouch for the correctness of the expur- 
gation undertaken by the Christian revisers, who 
were generally of Jewish origin; nor would they 
confer upon the purified texts the approbation of the 
Church. Furthermore, the opinions of the Church 
in regard to the admissibility and value of the ex- 
purgation of Hebrew books were continually chan- 
ging, not only with successive incumbents of the 
papal chair, but at times even with one and the same 
pope. 

By permission of Pope Gregory XIII. the cen- 
sored (mutilated) edition of the Babylonian Tahnud 
appeared at Basel in 1578-81 with many of its pas- 
sages changed beyond recognition, a scandalous in- 
stanceof Romancensorship. Buteven this * purified” 
Talmud did not receive ecclesiastical approbation, 
but was merely tolerated. In the third quarter of 
the sixteenth and in the first half of the seventeenth 

century extraordinarily large numbers 

Vacillation of Hebrew books were expurgated. 

in Cen- Notwithstanding the many annoy- 

sorship. ances and the heavy expenses con- 

nected therewith, the Jews were glad 

to be able to save their books from destruction, and 

to be protected against the punishment attendant 
upon the use of non-expurgated books. 

The customary inconsistency of the papal court 
was now again shown in the continual wavering be- 
tween leniency and rigor. At the instance of the 
Jews, who shrank from no trouble and no sacrifices, 
Pope Sixtus V., in 1540, ordered a renewed expur- 
gation of the Talmud by the Index commission, and 
the rules to be followed were formulated; but the 
year after Sixtus’ death the Roman Inquisition 
wrote that the expurgation of the Talmud was a 
ridiculous and useless work. In 1592 the Inquisi- 
tion repeatedly declared, in accordance with the 
wishes of Pope Clement VIII., that the Jews had 
no right to Keep any Hebrew books except the Bible 
and grammars. A year later, however, a bull of the 
same pope limited the prohibition toa few Talmudic 
and cabalistic books, together with some other He- 
brew books and manuscripts—already condemned 
by his predecessor—which could not be permitted, 
even under the pretext that they had been expur- 
gated. A papal writ of April 17, 1593, allowed the 
Jews six weeks in which to expurgate other books 
that had not been expressly forbidden. The bishops 
and local inquisitors, confused by these contradic- 
tions, waverings, and changes of the chief authority, 
treated the books of the Jews according to theirown 

personal likes or dislikes, rather than 

Papal in accordance with the severe or le- 

Inconsist- nient injunctions from Rome. As 

ency. early as 1591, and more frequently 

since then, inquisitors were censured 

and threatened because they had participated in the 

expurgation of Hebrew books, and had affixed their 
signatures to them. 


649 





In 1588 various Jewish communities vainly urged 
the Roman Inquisition to depute an expurgator to 
purify their books from heresies and errors. The 
Inquisition continued to insist that it was the duty 
of the Church not to engage in any way in expurga- 
ting Hebrew books, but merely to punish those Jews 
found in possession of uncensored or insufficiently 
expurgated ones. Thus, the Jews of Mantua, who 
at their own expense had their books revised by the 
convert Alessandro Scipione (1589-90), could not 
obtain a signed official certificate of the revision. 





THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Censorship 





garded this decree of their superiors, and were re- 
peatedly reprimanded therefor by the Holy Office. 
The series of contradictions from Rome is repeatect 
in the seventeenth century. Notwithstanding the 
strict prohibitions renewed from time to time, He- 
brew books were expurgated not only by Christian 
revisers, but also by those appointed and authorized 
by the Church; as, forinstance, in 1608, when Pietro 
Ferdinando signs himself “Revisore deputato.” In 
1618 Giovanni Domenico Carretto was appointed 
corrector for one year by the inquisitor-general of 


RUSSIAN CENSOR’S MARKS ON THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF A. B. DOBSEVAGE’S *“*LO DUBBIM WELO Ya‘AR.”’ 


Tt was not until 1595 that the Jews of that city pre- 
vailed upon the bishop to appoint as censors of He- 
brew books the three converts, Laurentius Fran- 
guellus, Domenico Hierosolymitano, and Alessandro 
Scipione. All the Hebrew books of Mantua were 
again expurgated en masse; and the completed re- 
vision was certified to at the end of each book by 
the signature of one or two revisers. In the same 
way the Roman inquisitional tribunal, contrary to 
former ordinances, decreed in 1598 that Hebrew 
books, in so far as they were not among the prohib- 
ited ones, should be left to the local inquisition for 
correction; but in 1602 the Roman Inquisition 
ordered the local inquisitions to have nothing to do 
with the expurgation of Hebrew books. Neverthe- 
Jess many censors’ certificates of the end of the 
sixteenth century and the beginning of the seven- 
teenth show that the local inquisitions often disre- 


Mantua. Pope Gregory XV. (1621-23), unlike his 
predecessors, doubtless approved the censorship of 
Hebrew books by Christians; for dur- 
Seven- ing his incumbency of the papal chair 
teenth and at least three expurgators of Hebrew 
Eighteenth books were appointed by the Roman 
Centuries. Inquisition: Vincentius Matelica, 
1622, “auctoritate apostolica”; Isaia 
di Roma, 1628, “per ordine di Roma”; and Petrus 
de Trevio, 1628, “deputatus” (officially appointed 
to revise books). After the death of Gregory XV. 
more stringent rules in regard to books seem to 
have been adopted by Rome, probably at the insti- 
gation of the fanatic cardinal Carlo Borromeo. In 
1625 it was again decreed that the Jews themselves 
should expurgate their books; but in the following 
year Renato da Modena was appointed expurgator 
by the Inquisition of that city. 


Censorship 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


650 





In 1641 the work of expurgation was relaxed in 
Italy. The old Hebrew books and manuscripts had 
been repeatedly expurgated; the newly printed 
books were by a rigorous censorship purified of all 
objectionable matter before publication, and after 
that were generally again examined by expurgators. 
Yet the monk Antonio Francisco Enriquez, appointed 
by the archbishop of Urbino, was still busily em- 
ployed as expurgator (1683-88). 

In the eighteenth century, after an interval of 
more than sixty years, the work of revision was re- 
sumed with renewed zeal throughout the papal do- 
minions, by Giovanni Antonio Costanzi, actively as- 
sisted by Philipo Peruzzotti (1758-54). Costanzi was 
scriptor in the library of the Vatican, and the author 
of the large catalogue of its Hebrew manuscripts 
that appeared in 1756 under Assemani’sname. Dur- 
ing the interval of rest, the Jews had undone the 
work of the censors by restoring the expunged or 
omitted passages. Though this was a dangerous 
thing to do, punishable not only by confiscation and 
large fines, but also by long imprisonment, as in the 
case of Rabbi Solomon Abi‘ad Basila in Mantua, 1733, 
yet the Jews could not resist the temptation, They 
were suddenly dumbfounded when, at the instiga- 
tion of Costanzi, searching domiciliary visits in 
quest of Hebrew books were made in all the ghettos 
of the pontifical states. The Hebrew books, with- 
out exception, were collected and divided into three 
classes: (1) those permitted without reserve, which 
were immediatelv returned ; (2) those permitted con- 
ditionally, returned after having been revised and 
paid for; and (8) those absolutely unrevisable, which 
were confiscated. Whenever several copies of the 
same book had to be revised, the reviser corrected 
merely one copy, which he signed; the Jews were 
then obliged to correct all other copies by this one, 
and to bring them to the reviser for his signature. 

After the arduous work of revision had been com- 
pleted an edict was issued, in 1755, for the Pontifical 
States, either prohibiting Hebrew books entirely or 
permitting them under certain restrictions. Co- 
stanzi planned to formulate exact rules for the cen- 
sorship of such works; endeavoring also to work 
out an Index Expurgatorius for Jewish books, sim- 
ilar to that first made by the Spanish Inquisition for 
non-Jewish books. His trouble was in vain; and 
his book, which, according to the opinion of the 
celebrated Assemani, was arranged with signal clear- 
ness and knowledge of the subject, is now buried 
in the library of the Vatican. Outside of Italy the 
expurgation of Hebrew books and manuscripts was 
undertaken only in the French territory belonging 
to the Pontifical States. For the censorship of He- 
brew books in Russia and for a list of censors see 
below. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, in Hebr. Bibl. ii. 42 et seq.: Mortara 
and Steinschneider, in Hebr. Bibl. v. 72 et seq., 96 et seq.. 125 
et seq.; F. H. Reusch, Der Index der Verbotenen Biicher, 
2vols., Bonn, 1883-85; idem, Indices Librorum Prohibito- 
rum, Tiibingen, 1886; A. Berliner, Censur und Confiscation, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1891; M. Stern, Urkundliche Bei- 


trdge, Kiel, 1893; Sacerdote, in Rev. Htudes Juives, xxx. 257 
ot eas W. Popper, Censorship of Hebrew Books, New York, 


G. N. P. 


In Russia: Jews at once took advantage of 
the ukase of Catherine IT., dated Jan. 27, 1783, per- 


mitting the establishment of printing-presses; and 
in the same year Hebrew books were published at 
Shklov and Polonnoe. These, as well as books im- 
ported from Poland (on account of there being no 
Hebrew censors among the censors of foreign books 
at the custom-houses, or among the censors of domes. 
tic printed matter in the chief towns), escaped the 
notice of the government. The attention of the au- 
thorities was first drawn by Governor-General Pas- 
sek to the condition of affairs with regard to Hebrew 
books. This official reported in 1790 that he had 
ordered some Jewish books, imported from Poland, 
to be detained at the custom-house of Tolochin; 
holding the silence of the fiscal laws 
Beginning with regard to [lebrew books to be 
of Cen- a prohibition against their admission 
sorship. into Russia—contrary to the dictum 
of the “kahal” (communal council) 
of Mohilev, which claimed that such silence implied 
only the non-taxation of Hebrew books. Catherine 
thereupon prohibited the importation of Hebrew 
books, stating that the Jews could obtain their sup- 
plies of religious literature from the Russian print- 
ing-offices. 

For six years (1790-96) this prohibition was the 
subject of frequent complaints on the part of the 
Jews, who were compelled to have recourse to smug- 
gling, the small and inadequate Russian printing- 
offices being unable to produce the large numbers of 
books needed. In 1796 the government legalized 
the importation of Hebrew books, having been com- 
pelled to do so in consequence of the ukase of Sept. 
28 of that year, by which the liberty to establish 
printing-offices in Russia was withdrawn. Special 
censors, Well versed in the Hebrew language, now 
became anecessity. On Oct. 17, 1796, Paul I. issued 
a ukase ordering the installation of two learned Jews 
in the censor’s office at Riga, for the purpose of ex- 
amining Hebrew books, both those published in 
Russia and those imported. The “two 
learned Jews” were found by Gov- 
ernor Richter of Livonia in the per- 
sons of Moses Hezekiel (or Hekiel) and Ezekiel 
David Lewy, both of Riga, who, after having been 
sworn (Jan. 1, 1798), entered upon their duties as 
subordinates of the Gentile censor at Riga, at a sal- 
ary of 300 rublesa year. The first Jewish censor 
with full powers was Leon Elkan, a Prussian Jew, 
who, being well recommended to the authorities, 
was appointed Jewish censor at Riga at a salary of 
600 rubles a year. 

The Jewish communities soon felt the scarcity 
of sacred books, due first to the interference of the 
government with private enterprise in the printing 
industry, and secondly to the forced tmport of He- 
brew books through one channel; namely, through 
Riga. Jewish merchants complained to the local 
officials, and petitioned the higher authorities at St. 
Petersburg. Thecensors at Radzivil also petitioned 
the attorney-general to increase the number of Jew- 
ish censors, on the ground that in the governments 
of Vothynia, Podolsk, and Minsk there were many 
Jews who needed Hebrew books “both for prayer 
and for the education of their children in the Law 
and Faith.” The request was refused, the govern- 
ment considering one Jewish censor sufficient for the 


At Riga. 


651 





needs of all the Russian Jews. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


It was not until 1798 


that a censor’s office was established at Wilna, 

Karl Tile of Leipsic being appointed 
At Wilna. censor for Hebrew books in that year. 

The new office did not, however, com- 
mence operations until March 14, 1800; and in the 
mean while the censorship of Hebrew books, of 
either foreign or native production, continued to 
be exercised in Riga, whither the Jewish printing- 
houses of Grodno, Shklov, Slavuta, Koretz, and 
Novodvor had to send their works for approbation. 


It is interesting 
to note that the 
first book to 
puzzle the official 
censor as to its 
being in accord 
with the designs 
of the govern- 
ment was an ordi- 
nary prayer-book, 
entitled * Rosh 
Hodesh Siddu- 
tim.” The most 
doubtful passages 
were found in the 
“Eighteen Benc- 
dictions, ” in“ Tah- 
nub,” and in the 
Sabbatic poem 
“Tklu Mashman- 
nim”: the passages 
in the first two 
containing hints 
about tyrants and 
the land of exile; 
while the last was 
considered im- 
moral on account 
of its exhortations 
to feasting and 
drinking. Censor 
Elkan did not 
recommend the 
burning of the 
prayer-book; but 
he advised that 
the page contain- 
ing “Tklu Mash- 
mannim” be torn 
out, and in the 
other cases that 
the obnoxious 
words be obliter- 
ated. Of other 





Se fe ap 
HSL ESOSe 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 





and other youths took an active part in the revolu- 
tionary movement of the seventies, Alexander knew 
and always appreciated the loyalty of the great ma- 
jority of his Jewish subjects, and on many occasions 
rewarded them for their services to the country. 
When the assassination of Alexander by nihilist 
conspirators became known, the Jews of Russia 
deeply mouraed the loss of the benevolent czar 
and liberator 
BinuioGRaPHy: Demidov San-Donato, Fevrciskt Vopros v 
Rosi, St. Petersburg, 1883; Julius Eckard, Von Nicolaus 
f.zu Alexander J] f. 2d _ed., Leipsic, 1841: Orgsbaoski, Rus. 
skone Zakonodatelstvon Yevrenvakh, pp. 309-333, St. Peters- 
pie § 1877; Sistematicheskt Ukazatel Literatury o Yevre- 
wakhne Russkom Yazukye s i705 du issu, St. Pevarsburg, 1893, 


H R. 


ALEXANDER III., ALEXANDROVICH, 
Emperor of Russia: Bornat St. Petersburg, March 
10. 1845; died at Livadia, Nov 1, 1894. He ascended 
the throne March 14, 1881, the day after the assassina- 
tion of his futher Alexander HN. The terrible fate of 
the latter produced an awful impression upon Alet- 
ander, but instead of Continuing the reforms of the 


—— 








tians and the Christian religion. 


Censorship 





The same fate 


befell the “ Tehinnot Immahot,” because the prayers 
for the New Moon contained allusions to cruel poten- 
tates calculated to breed hatred. The history of the 
Cossack persecutions under Chmielnicki, entitled 
“Yawen Mezulah,” was prohibited, because of the 
hame 0°3)° applied to Russians, and on the further 
ground that the reading of the book might preju- 
dice the Jews against the natural-born subjects of 


the ezar. 


The “Or ha-Hayyim,” by Ya‘abez, was 


prohibited because of one passage stating that God 


Alexander I., Pavlovich 
Alexander I11., Alexandrovich 





was not so much resentment against the Jews asa 
aad tendency to create disturbances (“London 

imes,” May 19, 1881). On May 23.3 deputation of 
the Jews of St. Petersburg waited upon the czar at 
Gachina. [t consisted of Baron Ginzburg, Sack, 
Pasover. Bank, and Berlin. The emperor gssured 
its members that the Jewish question would receive 
his attention, that the disturbances were the work 
of anarchists, and he advised them to address a mem- 
orandum on the subject to-the minister of the inte- 
rior. Both the emperor and the grand duke Vladi- 
mir expressed their belief that race-hatred was not 
the real cause, but only the pretext, of the recent 


disorders. In accordance with the promise of the . 


czar, an edict was issued Sept. 3, 1881, ordering the 
appointment of local commissions from all the gov- 
crnoments to be under the direction of the governors, 
for the solution of the Jewish question. But on the 
same day, Gencral Ignatiev by order of the czar is- 
sucd a circular to the governors, in which he pointed 
out that the Jews had been exploiting the Slav in 
habitants 6f the empire, and that this was the real 
cause of the riots. This contradiction may explain 
the conduct of Attorney-General Stryelnikov, who 
during the trial of the rioters before the court-martial 


Ry | at Kiev, ivstead of incriminating the guilty parties, 
me; tumed upon the Jews and endeavored to cast the 







So eT: cended the throne, 





exander ITI. had as 
anti-Jewish riots (PoGRomy) broke out in Elizabeth- 
grad (April 27, 28), Kiev (May 8-11), Shpola (May 
9), Ananiev (May 9), Wasilkov (May 10), Konotop 
(May 10), and, during the following six months, in 
one hundred and sixty other places of 

Popular southern Russia. In these riots thou- 
Outbreaks sands of Jewish homes were destroyed, 
Against muny families reduced to extremes of 
Jows. poverty; women outraged, and large 
numbers of men, women, and children 

killed or injured. It was clear that the riots were 
premeditated (“ Voskhod,” May 24, 1881, p. 75). 
To give but one example—a weck before the pogrom 
of Kiev broke.out, Von Hubbenet, chief of police of 
Kiev, warned some of his Jewish friends of the 
coming riots. Appeals to the authorities for pro- 
tection were of no avail. All the police did was to 
prevent the Jews from defending their homes, fam- 
ilies, and property. “The local authorities,” says 
Mysh in * Voskhod,” 1888, i. 210, “surrounded the 
pillagers with an honorary escort, while some of 
the rabble shouted approval.” To a delegation of 
the Jews of Kiev, Governor-General Drentelen said 
that he could do nothing for them, “for the sake 
of a few dews he would not endanger the tives of 
his soldiers” (“Zeitung des Judenthums,” May 31, 
1881). On May 18, Baron Horace de Ginzburg: was 
received in audience by Grand Duke Vladimir, who 
declared that the motive of the anti-Jewish agitation 





| whole blame upon them, These persecutions, added 


to the distressing economic conditions then prevail- 
ine yave rise to the emigration movement, which 
soon assumed extensive proportions. The intelligent 
classes of Russia condemned the medieval! barbarities 


‘against the Jews, but the anti-Semitic Bropacends of 


the “Novoe Vremya,” “Kievlyanin,” and other or- 
gaps hostile to the Jews, did not cease even after 
the riots. The constant Jew-baiting of: Aksakov, 
Suvorin, and Pichno had its effect on that class of the 
Russian people which was entirely unfamiliar with 
Jewish life, and therefore believed all the charges 
brought eT the Jews by the agitators. That 
the South Russians especially had no cause for com/ 


’ plaints against the Jews may be seen from the fols 


lowing statement made by the Russian economist 
Chicherin: “Those who have lived in Little Rus- 
sia, which is densely inhabited by Jews, and have 
compared the conditions of the peasant there with 
those existing in the provinces of Great Russia, know 
how exaggerated are the accusations against the 
Jews. If thereisa difference in the condition of these 


| peasants, it is in favor of the Little Russians,” 


The second series of persecutions began with the 
riots of Warsaw on Christmas, 1881, and lasted for 
three days. Twelve Jews were killed, many women 
outraged, and two million rubles’ worth of property 
destroyed. In the neighboring Lithuarian prow? 
inces the disturbances were slight, owing to the pre- 
cautions taken by Count Todleben, governor-general 
of Wiina, who was not one of Ignatiev’s disciples. 

Order was also maintained by General 

Further Gurko, governor-general of Odessa, 
Persecu- and thus the riots in Odessa and vi- 
tions. cinity were prevented from assuming 
great proportions. In Nyezhin the 
soldiers, who were called out to quell the riots, 
killed and pillaged a wealthy Jewish family. Other 
riots occurred in Kuzmintzy, Plitovich, Klimov, 
Okhrimotzy. and, on March 23, in Lubny, where 
three soldiers killed a Jewish family of six Balta 
was the scene of another series of riots (Easter, 1882) 
resulting in the death of eight and the wounding of 
more thary two hundred persons. Over a thousand 
houses were demolished and property to the value 
of over one million dollars was destroyed. ‘These 
disgraceful acts aroused the public indignation of 


REDUCED FACSIMILE OF A CENSORED PAGE OF THE JEWISH 
ENCYCLOPEDIA. 


books that were condemned by the censor the 
first to fall under the ban was the “ Hizzuk Emu- 
nah,” written at the end of the sixteenth century 


by Isaac ben Abraham Troki. 


In March, 1799, the 


entire edition of “ Nizzahon,” by Lip- 


Confisca- 
tions. 


man Milhausen, was confiscated, on 
the ground that it was written as a 


refutation of the Christian religion. 
In 1800 the historical work of Joseph ha-Kohen, 
“ Dibre ha-Yamim le-Malke Zarfat.” was prohibited 
because it contained passages disrespectful to Chris- 


in heaven, unlike 
the czars on earth, 
is not influenced 
by the high social 
standing of the 
sinner. Other 
books, notably 
“Babe Ma‘aseh” 
and “Imre Yo- 
sef,” were prohib- 
ited on account of 
alleged coarse or 
profane ex pres- 
sions in the text. 

By the ukase of 
April 30, 1800, 
the importation 
of books in any 
language was pro- 
hibited ti}l further 
notice, and the 
Hebrew censors 
at Riga were dis- 
missed. During 
the 28 months of 
their activity in 
office 126 books 
were confiscated 
out of a total of 
6,225 which were 
im ported. 

With the acces- 
sion of Alexander 
I. the importation 
of books was once 
more legalized, 
the censorship be- 
ing entrusted to 
the civil govern- 
ors. This ar- 
rangement did 
not last; and in 
1804 a committee 
of censors was 


reestablished in every Russian university. 
During the reign of Nicholas I. the censorship of 
Hebrew books was entrusted to the official rabbis, 
who, partly through ignorance and 
Nicholas I. partly from fear of the government, 
to Alexan- showed themselves particularly severe. 


der ITI. 


Under Alexander IT. Jewish publica- 


tious shared with Russian literature a 
liberal interpretation of the law with regard to censor- 
ship. Since the reign of Alexander III. Russian, and 
especially Hebrew, literature has suffered much from 


Censorship 
Cento 





the severity of the censors. Thus, by order of the 
censor-in-chief at St. Petersburg, the press was for- 
bidden to publish any news concerning the anti- 
Jewish riots. Other orders (May 2, 1882; Nov. 19, 
1890; June 1€and July 12, 1891) forbade the Jew- 
ish periodicals (either in Russian or in Hebrew) to 
comment editorially upon, or to print any matter con- 
cerning, the “new, widely circulating rumors that 
some persons jave the senseless and insolent inten- 
tion to protest against a so-styled oppression of the 
Jews.” Seveml Jewish papers were temporarily 
stopped; and those published abroad were not ad- 
mitted into Raissia. Byacircular issued from the 
chief office of she censor Aug. 138, 1891, the publica- 
tion of appeals for aid for Jewish emigrants, as well 
as the collection of subscriptions in their behalf, was 
forbidden. 

The activity of the censor still continuesin Russia, 
being exercised as late as 1901 on the first volume of 
the JEWIsH ErcycLorepIA, in which a passage rela- 
ting to Alexarder IIJ. was blotted out in copies ad- 
mitted into the czar’s dominions. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 3kabichevski, Ocherki Istorii Russkoit Tzen- 
zury, St. Petersourg, 1892; U. D. Hessen, K Istorii Tzenzury 
Yevreiskikh Knig v Rossii, in Buduzhchnost, ii. 1901; N. A. 
Engelgart, Ochirki Nikolayeuskoi Tzenzury, in Istoricheskt 
Vyestnik, 1901; anonymous author, Materialy dlya Kharak- 


teristikt Polozienia Russkot Pechati, Geneva, 1898; anony- 
mous author, Stmoderzhavie i Pechat, Berlin, 1898. 


IV, R. M. Z. 


List of Censors: The following list of censors 
may be found useful in dating books and manu- 
sctipts. For -taly, the main source is Popper, with 
additions from Steinschneider and Neubauer. For 
Austria it is dfficult to give more than a few select- 
ed names. 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Jacobus Gentiline, 1555. 

Jacobus Pola, 1554. 

Joseph Ciantes (Berliner, l.c. 
p. 10) = J. Cionti, 1639-6141, 
Rome. 

Jos. Parius (?), 1604 (?), Car- 
pi (7). 

Joshua dei Cantori, 1559, Cre- 
mona. 

Laurentius Franguellus, {a70- 
1579, Mantua. 

Leo, 1567. 

Luigi da Bologna, 1596-1606, 
Mantua, Modena, Ancona, 
Reggio. 

Marcellino(Berliner, l.c.p.10). 

Marcus Antonius Lucius, 1537, 
Milan. 

Mesnil, 1763. 

Michel de Montaigne, after 
1581 (Vogelstein and Rieger, 
“Gesch. der Juden in Rom,” 
ii. 178. 


652 


SS. 


Nicolas de Sorzone, 1602. 

Parcicciani, 1753, Urbino, 

Paul. Turin. 

Paulus Barengarias. 

Petrus de Trevio, 1623, Rome, 

Philipo Peruzzotti, 1753, Lugo, 

Pietro de Fiones, 1619. 

Pietro Ferdinando, 1608, Man- 
tua (7), 

Pietro Martire, 1687. 

Prospero Ruggieri, 1669. 

Renato da Modena, 1620-26 (? 
=R. de Bologna). 

Rossi, 1753, Sinigagtia. 

Tomasso Rufini, 1743, Ferrara, 

Vincentius Matelica, 1622. 

Vincento Suppa. 

Vincento Renato. 

Vittorio Caro (Berliner, l.c. p. 
32). 

Vittorio Eliano, 1557-67, Cre- 
mona, Venice. 

Zomegnius (?) 1589, Turin. 


RUSSIA. 


Abraham Aba Karasik (d.1897), 
assistant, Kiev. 

Baratz, Kiev. 

Brafmann, St. Petersburg. 

Elkan, J. L., Riga. 

Feodoro Vladimir (Green- 
berg), Kiev, Warsaw. 

Friedberg, A.S., 1889,Warsaw. 

Greidinger, J. C. (general), 
Riga. 

Hezekiel, Moses, Riga. 

Landau, I., St. Petersburg. 

Lewy, FE. D., 1799, Riga. 

Margolin, P., St. Petersburg. 

Sachs, N. G., Warsaw. 


Seiberling, Joseph (for 15 
years), 1850. 

Slonimski, H. S. 

Steinberg, J., Wilna. 

Stern, A. J., 1835, Warsaw. 

Sussmann, St. Petersburg. 

Tile, Karl, 1798, Wilna. 

Tugendhold, J., 1791-1871, 
Warsaw. 

‘Fugenhold, Woif, Wilna. 

Warschavsky. Isaac, 
Odessa. 

Wohl, A., Wilna. 

Ziramermann, 1863-85, War- 
saw. 


1894, 


For an additional list of Russian censors see RUSSTA. 


E. C. 


CENSUS: <A nuinbering of the people. 


the 


Several 


Fischer, K., Prague, 1791-1831. 


Haselbauer, Franciseus, 1710. 


Gall, Joannes, 17.0, Prague. Prague. 
Georgieco, Thanas,_ 1710, Kohlmen, J. C., 1837, Buda- 
Prague. pest. 
Harzfeld, Lob, Vienna. Tirsch, Leopoid, Prague, 1786. 
ITALY. 


Alessandro Scipbne, 1593-99, 
Mantua. 

Alexander Longis, 1590, Mon- 
reale. 

Alexandro Cari, 559. 

Alonis Morionelo, 1590 or 
1620 (#). 

Andrea Atberti. 

Andrea de Monte, 1557, Rome. 

Andrea Tassini, 753, Pesaro. 

Andreas Seribariis (Notarius), 
1600, Pesaro (?. 

Angelo Gabuloz:i, 1753, Lugo. 

Anselmo Pinapellarius (No- 
tarius). 

Antonio Franciso Enriquez, 
1687, Urbino. 

Antonio di Medcis, 1628-29, 
Florence. 

Bartolomeo Ghidieri (Vicar), 

1600. 

Bartolomeo Roca di Prateri- 
no, Turin (?). 

Benaja, 1590. 

Boncampagno Marcellino. 

Boniforte del Asina, 1582, 
Asti (?). 

Ceesar Beliosus, 1558~55, Pa- 
pal, 

Camillo Jagel, 111-21, Anco- 
na, Urbino, Lrgo. 


Carlo Barromeo, after 1598, 
Rome. 

Clemente Carretto. 

Clemente Renato. 


Dionysius Sturlatus, 1589, 
Monreale. 
Domenico  Hierosolymitano, 


1578-1618, Mantua, Venice. 

Domenico Martinez (Berliner, 
** Censur,”’ p. 10). 

Ferdinando Bonetti, 1567, Mi- 
lan. 

Giovanni Antonio Costanzi, 
1758, Rome, Ancona. 

Giovanni Domenico Carretto, 
1607-28, Mantua, Venice (?), 

Giovanni Domenico Vistorini, 
1609-20. 

Giovanni Monni di Modena. 

Girolamo da. Durallano, 1641, 
Modena, Reggio. 

Guido Venturini,1753, Ferrara. 

Hieronymus Carolus, 1582. 

Hippolito, 1601-21. 

Hippolitus Ferr(is) or Ferr- 
(eno), 1601, Cremona, 1593- 
1621. 

Huesas (7), Parma. 

Isaia de Roma, 1623, Mantua. 

Jacob Geraldino, 1555-56, Pa. 
pal State, Ferrara. 


cases are given in the Bible. The fivst mentioned 
is that in Num. i. (from which the book receives its 
name), when the males—?.e., men capable of bear- 
ing arms—numbered 603,550 at the Exodus, Mod- 
ern critics, foremost among them Bishop Colenso 
(“The Pentateuch and Joshua,” pt. I. ch. v.), have 
pointed out the difficulties attached to such a num- 
ber arising in four generations from the twelve sons 
of Israel, not to mention the commissariat required 
for at least four times that number. The number- 
ing wasagain gone through six months later, ac- 
cording tothe account of Num. xxvi.-xxvii., with ex- 
actly the same result. On these occasions, the num- 
bering was done indirectly, half a shekel being given 
to the sanctuary by each person of the proper age, 
and then the half-shekels, and not the persons, were 
counted. ‘This expedient, according to the critics, 
was resorted to by the writer of Numbcrs owing 
to the superstition which had arisen against a census 
through the experience in David’s reign. After Da- 
vid had organized his kingdom he found it necessary, 
for military purposes, to know exactly how many 
men, of an age suitable for bearing arms, he could 
depend upon; and he determined to take a census 
(II Sam. xxiv.). Notwithstanding the remon- 
strances of Joab, David persisted in carrying out 
the numbering of the people. It appears to have 
been a laborious operation, as it took no less than 
oine months and twenty daysto completeit. Unfor- 
tunately, the numbers given in the Biblical text are 


653 


discrepant; the Book of Samuel giving 800,000 for 
israel and 500,000 for Judah, whereas I Chron. xxi. 
raises the former to 1,100,000 and reduces the latter 
to 470,000. As these numbers included only the 
fighting men, they would imply a population of 
probably 5,000,000 for Israel and 2,000,000 for Judah. 
The Assyrian practise of counting captives shows 
that such a@ census was not uncommon at the time. 
The figures recorded are, however, regarded by Bib- 
lical critics as doubtful for various reasons, apart 
from the uncertainty of the text, which Budde 
would emend to 100,000 for Israel and 70,000 for 
Judah (“S. B. O. T.” ad loc.). A pestilence appears 
to have occurred shortly after the census, and con- 
firmed the people in the superstition, common among 
primitive nations, against being numbered. In the 
Biblical text David’s action in ordering a census is 
regarded as sinful. 

It is possible that this objection to being num- 
bered had something to do with the uprising, led by 
Judas the Galilean, against the census undertaken 
by Quirinius (Cyrenius) in the years 6-7 (Luke ii. 2; 


Acts v. 37). This census, or rather the taxation 
which was the outcome of it, is men- 

Census of tioned by Josephus (“ Ant.” xviii. 1; 

Quirinius. $1); and Luke connects with it the 


date of the birth of Jesus. But it has 
been conclusively proved by Schtirer (“Gesch.” i. 
508-548) that such a census could not have been un- 
dertaken by a Roman official while Herod was still 
reigning. No details are known with regard to this 
census of Quirinius. 

In modern civilized states, since the periodical ta- 
king of a census has been regarded as a necessary 
part of public policy, the number of Jews has been 
determined either by estimate or by actual count—in 
Hungary, for instance, since 1720; in Prussia, since 
1816; and in Poland, since 1825. Custom varies in 
different countries with regard to the inclusion of 
the numbers of adherents to the several creeds in 
the census returns. At one time France included 
them, but no longer does so. Almost all the British 
colonies do so, as does Ireland; but England, Scot- 
land, and the United Statesdonot. In consequence, 
an exact enumeration of the Jewish pcpulation of 
the world is impossibie. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Commentaries on If Sam. xxiv.; Schiirer, as 
above. 

E. C. | J. 

CENTO (103°8): City of 8,000 inhabitants in the 
province of Ferrara, central Italy. If the statement 
is correct that the Ha-Me’ati (*‘MNDN), a family of 
translators, derived their name from their native 
place, Cento (AND. “a hundred ” = cento), there must 
have been a Jewish settlement in that city as early 
as the middle of the thirteenth century ; and the be- 
ginnings of the community would then have been 
contemporary with those of the neighboring capital 
Ferrara. Authentic accounts record the existence 
of a Jewish population from the end of the fifteenth 
century. The Padoa family, still living at Cento, 
traces its genealogy back to Spanish exiles who 
came thither in 1492. In 1505 Duke Ercole d’Este 
decreed that the Jewish inhabitants of Cento should 
share, as far as they were able, the contributions of 
their coreligiouists in the duchy of Ferrara. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Censorship 
Cento 





Under the Estes, the Jews enjoyed great liberty 
and many privileges; but when that family became 
extinct and the Jews passed under the papal domin- 
ion (1598), they were subjected to all the restrictions 
that, since the time of Paul LV., had been imposed 
upon their coreligionists in the Pontif- 
ical States. ‘They were not allowed to 
acquire real estate; they had to sell 
the lands they then possessed; they 
were forbidden to engage in any business except 
money-lending and rag-picking; they had to live in 
a ghetto and to wear the Jews’ badge. These severe 
laws remained in force for fully two centuries; but, 
nevertheless, certain Jews obtained special privi- 
Jeges and became active in public affairs. Thus the 
members of the Carpi family still possess a diploma 
showing that in 1774 their ancestor Moses Carpi was 
appointed “familiaris” to Cardinal Albani, being 
granted all privileges; and itis known that the Jews 
of Cento from their advent into the community 
always owned rea! estate, for they were aided by 
the authorities themselves in evading the unjust 
law. 

The great changes brought about by the French 
Revolution caused the abolition of the ghetto at 
Cento in 1797. During the French occupation the 

Jews had full civic rights, and many 


Restric- 
tions. 


Progress of thein were called upon to fill posts 
of Com- of honor; but when the papal suprem- 
munity. acy was restored, in 1815, they were 


again subjected to exceptional laws 
that were enforced rigorously and cruelly, especially 
by Leo XII. Nevertheless, the severity of their 
operation was mitigated by the humanity of the 
authorities, who informed the Jews in advance of 
impending domiciliary visits in search of forbidden 
books and of children to be baptized, and who, in 
spite of the law, connived at the performance of 
work for the Jews on the Sabbath. 

A happier era dawned only with the overthrow 
of the papal rule, in 1859, when Romagna became 
a part of the new kingdom of Italy, and when the 
Jews received all the rights of citizenship. 

Though it is doubtful whether a community was 
organized when Jews first settled at Cento, there 
must have been a religious association before 1500; 
for, unlike others, this community has always pre- 
served its Italian liturgy and did not introduce the 
Spanish liturgy or admit it on the same footing. 
This fact is probably attributable in part to the small 
number of the immigrants from Spain. The com- 
munity seems to have been organized about 1600, 
when some families from the neighboring Pieve set- 
tled at Cento; it buried its dead for along time in 
the cemetery at Pieve, and even to-day (1902) it 
holds services at that city on the Ninth of Ab and 
on the eveof the Day of Atonement. The new com- 
munity at once founded a Talmud-Torah society for 
the advancement of Hebrew studies, and appointed 
a salaried teacher, who instructed the children and 
also officiated as hazan, or leader in prayer. In 1690 
the twelve members of this society formed a second 
philanthropic society—Gemilut Hasadim—the stat- 
utes of which, in twenty-one articles, are still extant ; 
the society proposed to nurse the sick and to render 
general philanthropic services, and determined to 


Cento |. 
Ceremonies 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


654 





iay out at once a new cemetery at Cento, for which 
they obtained the permission of the papal legate. 
In 1727 the community received a new 
constitution, and both the societies 
were merged into the single Confra- 
ternita di Studi Sacri e di Misericor- 
dia. The community was reorganized during the 
period of liberty under the French consistorial con- 
stitution. In 1814 a new section was added to the 
Confraternita for reciting special prayers. These 
societies and philanthropic foundations for preserv- 
ing the ritual, providing dowries for poor girls, and 
for the relief of the poor still exist. Under the 
kingdom of Italy this community, like many others, 
has been constituted a free association, the expenses 
of public worship and other congregational institu- 
tions being defrayed chiefly by the generosity of the 
Modena, Carpi, and Padoa families. The commu- 
nity that numbered 150 persons in 1865 has been 
reduced to 34 (in 1902); it possesses a new syna- 
gogue and a cemetery. 

Of the scholars and rabbis of Cento the following 
are known: Ishmael Hazak (1618, Oxford MS. No. 
1879); Eliah Daniel del Bene, Sony (1667-75); 
Gamaliel; Monselice; Nathaniel b. Meshullam Levi; 
Isaiah Bassani; Israel Berechiah Fontanella (1724); 
Reuben b. Zerachiah Yahya (1727): Solomon David 
b. Moses del Vecchio; Giuseppe Alexandro Modena 
and his son Isaac Mordecai (1761); Hananeel Neppi 
(1820-36); Abraham Carpanetti (-1858); David Jacob 
Maroni (-1860); Moses Sorani (-1880); Donato Cam- 
erini; Moses Levi (1902). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Flaminio Servi, in Educatore Israelita, 1865, 


xiii. 264, 303, 335; Corriere Fsraelitico. iv. 222; Mortara, In- 
dice; Pesaro, in Vessillo Israelitico, 1882. 


Institu- 
tions. 


K. Il. E. 

CENTO, NATHAN DA. See Me’at, Na- 
THAN HA-. 

CENTO, SAMUEL DA. See Me’atr, Sam- 
UEL HA-. 

CENTO, SOLOMON DA. See Me’atr, Souo- 
MON HA-. 


CENTRAL AMERICA. See SoutTH AND CEN- 
TRAL AMERICA, 

CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERI- 
CAN RABBIS. See CoNFERENCES oF AMERICAN 
RABBIS, : = 

CENTRALANZEIGER FUR JUDISCHE 
LITERATUR. Sce PERIODICALS. 


CEPHAS. 


CEREMONIES AND THE CEREMONIAL 
LAW: Symbolic rites and observances, expressive 
of certain thoughts or sentiments. Associal life de- 
mands forms of etiquette (see GREETINGS), So every 
religous system has its peculiar ceremonies indica- 
tive of its own particular truths. The Biblical name 
for ceremonies appears to be “‘edut” (“ testimonies,” 
Deut. iv. 45; vi. 17, 20; see Nahmanides on the 
last passage), in distinction to “mishpatim ” (“judg- 
ments,” “ordinances,” Ex. xxi. 1, and elsewhere); 
while the term “hukkim ” (“statutes ”) is applied to 
both moral and ceremonial laws (Ex. xii. 14. 43; 
Lev. xviii. 4, and elsewhere). The Rabbis distin- 
guish between mishpatim, moral laws—which are 


See PETER. 


dictated by reason and common sense, such as lawg 
concerning justice, incestuous matriages, and the 
like—and hukkim, those divine statutes to which the 
“Yezer ha-Ra‘ ” (the evil inclination) and the heathen 
object, such as the prohibition of pork or of wearing 
garments woven of wool and linen (Sifra, Ahare 
Mot, xiii. on Lev. xviii. 5; Yoma 67b). 

The Prophets laid the greatest stress Upon the 
moral laws, while condemning mere ceremonial. 
ism (see Hosea vi. 6; Amos v. 21-24; Micah vi, 
6-8; Isa. 1. 138-17). The Psalmist (sec Ps. xv.), and 
especially the Book of Wisdom, do not even refer to 
the ceremoniallaw. Whenever Judaism entered into 
relations with other nations and religions, the moral 
laws were accentuated, and the ceremonial laws were 
putinto the background. Hellenistic Judaism, there- 
fore (for Pseudo-Phocylides see Bernays, “Gesam- 
melte Schriften,” i. 227), Philo, and the entire prop- 
aganda literature to which the DIDACHE belongs, take 
the same attitude toward the ceremonial laws. And, 
again, when the Jew came into contact with Arabic 
culture, this view of the ceremonial laws prevailed ag 
being dictatcd by reason and common sense. 

The discrimination between “laws based upon 
reason” and “laws demanding obedience to God’s 
will” was adopted by Saadia (“ Emunot we- De‘ot,” 

iii. 12; compare Ibn Ezra to Ex, xxi. 
First and “Yesod Moreh,” v.), and, with 
Mention of direct reference to the rabbinical pas- 
Ceremonial sages quoted, by Maimonides (“ Moreh 
Laws. Nebukin,” iti. 2b; “Shemonalh Pera- 
kim,” vi.). Joseph Albo (“ Ikkarim,” 
iti, 25), if not Simon ben Zemah Duran (see Zunz, 
“G. 8.” ii. 194), is the first who divides the Biblical 
laws into ceremonial, juridical, and morallaws. He 
admits, however, that he adopted this classification 
from a Christian controversialist ; and, as a matter of 
fact, he forced himself in consequence to declare, 
with Maimonides (/.c. iii. 46), the sacrifices of the 
Mosaic law to be a concession to the pagan propen- 
sities of the people, and (in accordance with Sifre to 
Deut. xi. 13) prayer to be the true “service of the 
Lord ”—a standpoint hardly to be reconciled with 
the belief in supernatural revelation andthe per- 
manence of the Mosaic law. 

The Mosaic law expressly states that certain cere- 
monies are to serve as “signs ” and “memorials”: (a) 

Circumcision is enjoined as “ ot berit” 
Biblical (“a token of the covenant betwixt me 
and and you,” Gen. xvii. 11). (») The Sab- 
Rabbinical bath is to be “ot” (“a sign between 
Cere- me and you throughout your genera- 
monies. tions,” Ex. xxxi. 18, 17; Ezek. xx. 17, 
20). (ec) The Passover feast “shall be 

for a sign [ot] unto thee upon thine hand and fora 
memorial between thine eyes” (Ex. xiii. 9). (@ 
Connected therewith is the redemption of the first- 
born to bea “token upon thine hands and for front- 
lets between thine eyes” (Ex. xiii. 16). According to 
rabbinical traditions, there are: (¢) The putting on of 
the phylacteries or TEFILLIN prescribed in Deut. vi. 
8, xi. 18, “Thou shalt bind them forasign [ot] upon 
thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between 
thineeyes.” (f) The pjacing of Mezuzan upon the 


| doors (Deut. vi. 9, xi. 20): “Thou shalt write them 


upon the doorposts of thine house.” (g) The Zizit, 


655 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cento . 
Ceremonies. 





the fringe upon the borders of the garment, is also 
enjoined for the purpose “that ye may look upon it 
and remember all the commandments of the Lord ” 
(Num. xv. 39). 

In fact, all the festivals are to be “ remembrances ” 
of God's deliverance and protection of the people of 
Israel (Deut. xvi. 8, 12; vi. 24; Lev. xxiii. 48); the 
paschal lamb, the mazzah, and the bitter herb on 
Passover, and the sukkah and the four plants of the 
Feast of Tabernacles (Ex. xii. 8; Lev. xxiii. 40 e¢ seg.), 
being the significant symbols. Similarly, the erec- 
tion of the sanctuary and the sacrificial worship 
therein must be counted among the ceremonial laws, 
and no less so the dietary laws (Ex. xxii. 80; Lev. 
xi.; Deut. xvi. 8-21), as symbolically emphasizing 
the idea of Israel being God’s “holy” or priest 
people. 

To these, Pharisaic Judaism added a number of 
new ceremonies, among which may be mentioned the 
kindling of the lights, the blessing over the wine (see 
KippusH and Haspaan) for Sabbaths and festival 
days, and the blessing of the Moon. 

Ceremonies are the impressive part, the poetry of 
religion. They invest life at its various stages and 
periods with “the beauty of holiness.” The need of 
such has been all the more felt by Judaism since 
images or signs representing the Deity have been 
scrupulously shunned; and the home and every-day 
life of the Jew was to be sanctified po less than the 
Temple, the ancient domain of the priest. But ex- 
actly as the pomp of ritual called forth the protest 
of the prophet against “the work of men learned 
by rote” (Isa, xxix. 18, Hebr.), so there was a dan- 
ger lest the multitude of forms might crush the 
spirit, wherefore many haggadists and writers, like 
Aristobulus and Philo, attribute symbolical mean- 
ings to Biblical ceremonies. Medieval mysticism 
also, from Bahya and Nahmanides down to Isaac 
Luria, endeavored to imbue the old ceremonies 
with new spirituality; while the liberal spirit awa- 
kened in Italy in the seventeenth century found its 
echo in Leon de Modena’s attack on ceremonialism 
in his “ Kol Sakai.” 

The question of the relative value of the cere- 
monies in Judaism was brought to a focus through 
Moses Mendelssohn, who, in his “Jerusalem,” pre- 
sented a new view of the Jewish ceremonial laws. 
He proudly repelled the attempts of Christian wri- 
ters to win him over to Christianity, and declared Ju- 
daism to be not a system of belief based upon creeds, 
but a revealed system of law based upon ceremonies. 
While granting liberty of conscience to all, because 
truth is the property of all and dictated solely by 
reason, the Jewish law demands strict obedience 

from its adherents, for whom the cere- 


Men- monial law is a system of sign-lan- 
delssohn’s guage suggestive of thought and sen- 
View of timent for mind and heart alike. It 
Jewish isa living force impelling people to 


Ceremonial act well and at the same time to think 
Law. rightly—the only proper bond of 
union of a people to be educated for 

truth and for freedom of thought and to be kept to- 
gether until God’s design shall be fulfilled. Though 
some of these ceremonies have in the course of time 
lost their meaning, they nevertheless retain their 


value and importance as bonds of union, and, even 
when no longer understood as signs, remain bind. 
ing upon the Jews until God in His own way and 
through some universally recognized authority 
abrogates or changes them. “Doctrines and be- 
liefs,” Mendelssohn writes to Herz Homberg, who 
objected to these postulates of blind obedience, “ be- 
come shackles of the intellect. As long as polythe- 
ism, anthropomorphism, and religious despotism 
rule on earth, so long must a people of theists, such 
as the Jews are, remain banded together solely by 
symbolic actions; that is, by ceremonies ” (“Schrif. 
ten,” iii. 311-319, 348-356; v. 669, Leipsic, 1848). 

This was a powerful plea for the ceremonial laws; 
but it rendered Judaism a national concern void of 
a world-wide mission—a system of forms without 
the spirit of faith. Mendelssohn’s own disciples 
were the first to surrender both the form and the 
faith. As soon as the modern Jew recognized the 
fact (which Mendelssolin, as follower of Wolfian 
deism, had failed to see) that in the historic develop- 
ment of humanity Judaism had a mission of its own, 
centered upon the monotheistic truth and the uni- 
versal hope of man, the issue was raised between 
insistence on ceremony advocated by Orthodoxy and 
accentuating the prophetic ideas as the universal 
ideal, as was done by tie leaders of Reform Juda- 
ism. The need of adequate and impressive cere- 
monies in place of the old and obsolete ones was 

urged by the Reform pioneers, and the 
Mutability introduction of forms, though adopted 
of the from Christian surroundings, roused a 
Ceremonial new religious life and zeal in many, 
Law. but likewise awakened opposition 
from the conservatives. “Ceremo- 
nies,” says Geiger, in an article on formalism (“ Der 
Formenglaube in Seinem Unwerthe und Seinen Fol- 
gen”) in his “ Wiss. Zeit. fiir Jiid. Theol.” 1839, pp. 
1-12, “in order to imbue the people with a religious. 
spirit and hallow their life, must have an elevating 
character and be in perfect harmony with their own 
mode of life, or else they Jead to superstition bor- 
dering on idolatry. Blind obedience against one’s 
conviction, ‘the obedience of a dog,’ is incompat- 
ible with the dignity of man and with faith in a 
holy God dwelling within him.” 

This view, advocating a gradual change of the 
ceremonial law, was pushed to its extreme, much to 
the detriment of the Reform movement, by the 
hazardous attempt of the Frankfurter Reform- 
Verein to abrogate circumcision and by the transfer 
of the Sabbath to Sunday made by the Berlin Re- 
form congregation. Holdheim, the radical Reform 
leader, went so far as to deny the validity of the en- 
tire ceremonial law in his work, “ Das Ceremonial- 
gesetz im Messiasreich” (1845), taking the stand that 
it is closely interwoven with the national idea and 
with the temple as center of the Jewish common- 
wealth, whereas the Messianic era of which modern 
Israel is to be the herald and harbinger is to be the 
realization of the universal prophetic ideal. Less 
outspoken, but in sympathy with the principle enun- 
ciated by Holdheim, were Einhorn, Geiger, Sam- 
uel Hirsch (who, however, claimed permanency for 
the Abrahamic rite), Herzfeld, Hess, and others; the 
Sabbath, as far as the choice of day was concerned, 


Ceremonies 
Cerfberr, Samson 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


656 


fn ASS SP Ss eT eae 


being included among the ceremonial laws, all of 
which were subject to change. A Talmudical pas- 
sage, stating that “in the world to come [the Mes- 
sianic time] the ceremonial commandments will cease 
to have validity” (Nid. 61b; compare Midr. Teh. 
to Ps. exlvi. and Yalk. to Isa. xxvi. 2), is referred 
to by some ascorroborating this statement (see Herz- 
feld, “Zwei Predigten tiber den Messias,” 1844). 
Einhorn, in his “Sinai,” 1856, p. 574, with deeper 
insight, refers to the frequent alterationsand modifi- 
cations of the Law in Biblical and Talmudical times, 
mentioned already by Albo (“Ikkarim,” iii., xiii.- 
XVi.). 

Against these radical Reform views Leopold 
Zunz advanced the doctrine that the SABBATH and 
CrrcuMcIsIon have ever been regarded institutions 
of a fundamental if not sacramental character, and 
ean not be abrogated or radically altered without 
undermining Judaism itself (Zunz, “Gutachten tiber 
die Beschneidung,” in “G. 8.” ii. 191-203). Joseph 
Aub also, in an article on “ The Symbols of Faith of 
the Mosaic Religion,” in Frankel’s “Zeitschrift,” 
1845, pp. 409, 449, claims an exceptional position 
among the ceremonial laws for what he calls “the 
two fundamental symbols of Judaism” (see also 
Jost, “Neuere Gesch.” iii. 218 et seg., 261 ; compare 
Geiger, “Nachgelassene Schriften,” v. 181, and 
“Sinai,” 1857, pp. 696, 698 e¢ seq.). 

The issue between Reform and Orthodoxy hinges 
chiefly upon the view taken of the ceremonial law ; 
the Talmudical conception of the Law knows of no 
such distinction as is claimed to exist between cere- 
monial and moral laws. The less important and the 
more important laws (“mizwot kallot” and “ha- 
murot”) are rated alike (Yer. Kid. i. 61b; Tan., 
‘Ekeb, 1). “Ceremonial laws must be obeyed as 
divine ordinances with unhesitating and unreflective 
obedience ” (Yoma 67b), and “the wilful transgressor 
of any of the ceremonial laws is considered as a 
breaker of the law” (Hul. 5a). “Be as carefu! in 

the observance of the smallest com- 

Issue Be- mandment as of the greatest” is the 
tween Tal- ancient Mishnaic rule(Abotii.1). On 

mudic and the other hand, the fact is being more 

Reform and more recognized that while cer- 

Judaism. tain ceremonies fall into disuse and 

others take their place, as has been 
the case with the sacrificial and Levitical laws, there 
are some ceremonies which form distinctive features 
of Judaism and must be upheld in order to keep it 
from disintegration. 

Often imperceptibly old ceremonies are dropped 
and replaced by new ones. While practical life 
necessitates a compromise, the law of evolution 
(which rules religion as well as other domains of 
life) exerts its power also in regard to ceremonies. 
Deeper historical research discloses the fact that all 
forms of religion adapt themselves to the conditions 
of the time. The regulations concerning the zizit, 
the mazzah, the sukkah, and the lulab are not ob- 
served even by conservative Israelites in exactly the 
same manner as prescribed inthe Law. Allreligious 
rites have undergone great and radical transforma- 
tions, and receive in their modified and sanctioned 
form only a new meaning or interpretation at the 
hand of the religion which enjoins it as sacred or 


vision. 


sacramental; and the Jewish religion forms no ex. 
ception to the rule (see Tylor, “ Primitive Culture,» 
ii. 362). Consequently, the question of ceremonial] 
observance becomes for the theologian part of the 
larger problem, how far the principle of evolution ig 
admissible and reconcilable with the belief in reve. 
lation and the divine character of the Law, and how 
far every age has power and authonty to change 
and modify the Law and the forms of religion. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aub, Einhorn, Holdheim, and Zunz, as ihe 


CERF, KARL FRIEDRICH: German theat- 
rical manager; born at Unterreissheim -on-the-Main 
in 1782; died at Berlin Nov. 6, 1845. He em. 
braced Christianity when very young, and had to 
support his father’s family when only seventeen 
years old. After having been engaged for many 
years in the horse trade at Dessau, he rose to the 
post of chief military agent, and in this capacity 
took part in the campaign of 1813-15, under Count 
Wittgenstein, general of the Russian army. The 
courage and fidelity displayed by Cerf won for him 
the favor of Emperor Alexander, who conferred on 
him a gold medal. 

Cerf then settled at Berlin, and obtained from 
Friedrich Wilhelm III. a perpetual grant for the 
erection of the Kénigsstidtisches Theater, which 
was devoted to French comedy and Italian opera, 
and which he managed until his death. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, iv. 89; J. 
F. A. de Le Roi, Gesech. der Evangelischen Juden-Mission, 


Ae I. Br. 

CERFBEER, HERZ, OF MEDELSHEIM: 
French philanthropist; born at Bischheim, Alsace, 
in 1780; died at Strasburg in 1793. He was a con- 
tractor to the army, and employed his wealth and his 
influence with the French government in promoting 
the material and spiritual welfare of his coreligion- 
ists. The government permitted him to settle at 
Strasburg, in opposition to the wishes of the au- 
thorities of that city, who zealously enforced the 
law excluding Jews. 

Cerfbeer protected all Jews who were willing to 
earn a livelihood by manual labor. As. soon as he 
had received (in 1775) from Louis XVI. the patent 
granting him the rights of citizenship, “for services 
rendered by him to the government and to the land 
during the famine of 1770 and 1771,” Cerfbeer estab- 
lished factories, where he employed Jews, in order 
to withdraw them from petty trading, and also to 
deprive their accusers of all excuse for prejudice. 

The narrow-minded Strasburg Germans, who 
made every effort to prevent the Jews from set- 
tling in that city, compelled Cerfbeer to endeavor 
to obtain from the government the repeal of excep- 
tional laws. <A petition to the king: was drawn up 
by Cerfbeer and sent to Moses Mendelssohn for re- 
The latter consulted Doum, who offered 
to write an apology for the Jews. This apology, 
“Ueber die Btirgerliche Verbesserung der Juden,” 
which Cerfbeer energetically spread in France, com- 
bined with his personal efforts, brought about the 
convocation by Malesherbes of a commission to make 
suggestions for the amelioration of the condition of 
the Jews in France. Cerfbeer was the leading 


657 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Ceremonies 
Cerfberr, Samsou 





member of this commission; and the first result of its 
efforts was the abrogation of the degrading poll-tax. 

At the outbreak of the Reigu of Terror in France, 
Cerfbeer was thrown into prison on suspicion of 
favoring the royal cause; but was set free after a 
year of confinement. 

Being acquainted with the Talmud, Cerfbeer took 
a creat interest in Jewish literature. He supported 
a yeshibah at Bischheim and published at his own 
expense rare Hebrew books, among which was the 
“Lehem Sctarim” of Solomon Algazi. Wessely 
wrote a poem in honor of Cerfbeer (“in Ea-Meassef,” 
1786, p. 49), and Abraham Auerbach dedicated to 
him his poem “ Dibre ha-Mekes we-Bittulo.” 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lowenstein, in Bidtter filr Jtidische Gesch. 

und Literatur, 1848, Nos. 1 and 2; Annuaire de la Société 

des Etudes Juives, ii. 154 et seq.; Glaser, Gesch. der Juden 

in Strasburg, pp. 88 et seq.. Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, xi. 

W71 et seq. 

CERFBEER, MAX-THEODORE: French 
officer and deputy; born at Nancy, Meurthe, Dec. 9, 
1792; died Jan. 15, 1876. He centered the army at 
an early age, and was made an officer by Napoleon I. 
without having passed through the military school. 
In 1827 he was made captain on the general staff, and 
in 1834 commander of a squadron, and was attached 
to the War Departmentas staff secretary. When Gen- 
eral Schueider became minister of war in 1839, he 
placed Cerfbeer at the head of his bureau. Cerf- 
beer, promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, took 
his scat in the Chamber of Deputies July 9, 1842, as 
representative from Wissembourg, having received 
86 out of a total of 161 votes against 71 cast for 
Renouard de Bussiéres, the retiring deputy. He sup- 
ported the government, devoting himself chiefly to 
military questions; thus he succeeded in having the 
fund for the relief of old soldiers increased by 150,000 
francs. Cerfbeer, now a colonel, was reelected to 
the Chamber of Deputies Aug. 1, 1846, having re- 
ceived 119 out of a total of 218 votes against 95 cast 
for Renouard de Bussiéres. He cast his vote for the 
ministry of Guizot. He retired from office after the 
revolution of February, 1848. In addition to his 
political duties, Cerfbeer had also acted as manager 
of the Théaitre du Gymnase at Paris. He was a 
commander of the Legion of Honor. 8. 


CERFBERR, ANATOLE: French journalist 
and author; born at Paris 1835; died at Neuilly 
1896.. Under various pseudonyms, among which 
were “ Arthur Clary,” “ Antoine Cerlier,” and “ Ful- 
gence Ridal,” he contributed to numerous papers. 
He was an admirer of Balzac and Victor Hugo, an 
ardent socialist, and well versed in matters concern- 
ing the stage. Cerfberr published many poems, 
biographies, studies, etc., besides a work entitled 
“Répertoire de la Comédie Humaine de H. de Bal- 
zac,” which was crowned by the Académie Francaise 
(Paris, 1887). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nouveau Larousse Illustré, ti. 627; La 

Grande Encyclopédie, x. 

8, I. Br. 

CERFBERR, AUGUSTE EDOUARD: French 
author; born at Epinal in 1811; died in 1858. Hav- 
ing completed his studies in law, Cerfberr entered 
the service of the government, in which he held many 


II].—42 


high positions. His last office was that of prefect 
and general inspector of the prisons at Grenoble 
Cerfberr was the author of two works: (1) “Du 
Gouvernement d’ Alger” (Paris, 1834); (2) “Des So- 
ciétés de Bienfaisance Mutuelle, ou des Moyens 
d’Améliorer le Sort des Classes Ouvriéres ” (Greno- 
ble, 1836). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, s.v. 
8. 


I. Br. 


CERFBERR, FREDERIC: French consul; 
born at Strasburg Oct. 27, 1786; died at sea Sept. 
18, 1842, on a voyage from New York to France. 
Being fond of travel and foreign languages, he ob- 
tained (in 1809) the appointment as secretary of the 
imperial comniissariat in the Ionian Isles. Later he 
successively represented France at New York (1822), 
New Orleans, Haiti (1827-82), and again in the last- 
named place as consul-general, distinguishing him- 
self in all three offices. In 1826, when the French 
government could find no representative for Santo 
Domingo, on account of an outbreak there of yellow 
fever, Cerfberr freely offered his services. On learn- 
ing the miserable state to which the inhabitants of 
Cayes were reduced in consequence of an earthquake, 
Cerfberr despatched at his own expense a ship loaded 
with food and other needful articles, 

Cerfberr fell a victim to his devotion to duty. 
The destructive earthquake at Haiti, May 7, 1842, 
killed his only daughter, and wounded him so 
severely that he expired on his voyage home. 





BIBLIOGRAPHY: Servi, Gli Israeliti di Huropa, p. 259; Jost, 
Neuere Gesch. der Isracliten, ii. 165; La Grande Encyclo- 
pédie, x. 50, 

S. I. Br. 

CERFBERR, MAXIMILIEN CHARLES 
ALPHONSE, OF MEDELSHEIM: French 
journalist; born at Epinal July 20, 1817; died at 
Paris Dec. 16, 1888. After traveling extensively in 
Algeria and the East, Cerfberr was aitached in 1839 
to the penitentiary administration in the Ministry 
of the Interior. In 1848 he held for a short time the 
position of commissary of the republic in the de- 
partment of Sadne-et-Loire. 

Among Cerfberr’s numerous writings the most 
noteworthy are: “Projet d’un Etablissement Péni- 
tencier 4 Paris,” 1841; “La Vérité sur les Prisons,” 
1844; “Le Silence en Prison, Réflexions d’un Con- 
damné,” 1847; “Ce Que Sont les Juifs en France,” 
1843; “ Les Juifs, Leurs Histoire, Leurs Mceurs,” 1846; 
“La Guyane, Civilisation et Barbarie, Coutumes 
et Usages,” 1854; “Paraboles,” 1854; “La Police 
d’ Assurance,” 1867; “L’Epargne par la Dépense,” 
1867; “Biographie Alsacienne,” 1878; “ Histoire 
d’un Village,” 1881; L’Architecture en France,” 
1383. 

Cerfberr wrote on several other subjects of less 
importance; and he translated several works from 
German into French. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Larousse, Dict. xvii. (2d Supplement), p. 761: 
La Grande Encyclopédie, x. 50. 


S. I. Br. 
CERFBERR, SAMSON, OF MEDELS- 
HEIM: French soldier and author; born at Stras- 


burg about 1780; committed suicide at Paris, 1826. 
He led an erratic and adventurous life, wandering 


Cervera 
Chains 





over the world, changing his name and even his relig- 
ion several times. At one time he is disguised as a 
Mussulman with the name of “Ibrahim Mansur 
Effendi,” serving in the Turkish army; at another 
he is found holding office in Westphalia under the 
name of “Medelsheim.” In 1815 Cerfberr fought 
against the Servians in Bosnia. At the end of the 
war he wandered throughout the East, sojourned 
for a time in Austria and at Naples, and in 1814-17 
served in the army of Ali Pasha of Janina. 

On his return home Cerfberr published a work en- 
titled “Mémoires sur la Gréce et ]’Albanie Pendant 
le Gouvernement d’Ali-Pacha” (Paris, 1826), con- 
taining much valuable information. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grande Encyclopédie, x. 50; Nouveau 
Larousse Illustré, ii. 627. 

S. I. Br. 

CERVERA (4992379'D): Hill-town in Catalonia, 
Spain, which in the fourteenth and fifteenin cen- 
turies had a Jewish community. In 1328 a quarter 
near the San Miguel place was assigned by King Al]- 
fonso IV. to the Jews, who enjoyed full commercial 
freedom; but four years later, because of their in- 
creased trade, they received permission to live in the 
“Calle de Vent” (the Traders’ street). At the time 
of the Black Death, in 1849, the Jews were attacked 
and plundered during a riot, and eighteen of them 
were killed. The rest fled, but returned to Cervera 
after order had been restored. 

The liberality and benevolence of Don Juan II. 
won for him the hearts of his Hebrew subjects; and 
upon his death, in Jan., 1479, the Jewish communi- 
ties of Agramont, Belpuig, Tarrega, and certain 
other places assembled at Cervera for memoria] serv- 
ices, All were dressed in black. The most distin- 
guished Jews of Cervera carried a coffin decorated 
with the royal escutcheon and covered with a silken 
pall. Four men bearing huge torches preceded it. 
Singing psalms and extracts from the Jewish liturgy, 
the procession marched from the “Calle de Mayor,” 
the main street, to the market-piace. There the 
coffin was set upon a platform erected for the pur- 
pose, with torches at the two ends; and men and 
women joined in antiphonal dirges. Crescas ha- 
Kohen, physician to the king, delivered the memo- 
rial address, dwelling on the virtues of the deceased 
monarch; and the impressive services were closed 
with more dirges. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jacobs, Sources, Nos. 179, 1021, 1042; Joseph 
ha-Kohen, ‘Emek ha-Baka, p. 66; Balaguer, Historia de 
Cataluiia, xviii. ch. 27. 


G. | M. K. 


CESENA (np"'v’): City of the Pontifical States. 
In early times a Jewish community existed here, of 
which the tosafist Eliezer is mentioned in the thir- 
teenth century. The “payyetan” Moses de Rossi 
and the exegete Obadiah Sforno were born in the 
city toward the end of the fifteenth century; and 
the rabbi Isaac Joshua b. Immanuel de Lattes of- 
ficiated there in the sixteenth century. Under the 
papal dominion the community was subjected to all 
the exceptional laws, and even to the Inquisition 
with all its horrors. The Jews amassed so much 
wealth by their commercial enterprises that in 1514 
the people feared that the money so accumulated 
would enable the Jews to become masters of the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


658 





whole city. The community was dissolved when 
the Jews were expelled from the papai dominions, 
In 1459 Angiolo de Rossi da Cesena was granted 
by Pope Pius IT. permission to practise medicine, 
and in 1474 Manuele de Solomone received similar 
permission from Sixtus IV., and in 1460 was ap. 
pointed physician and confidant to the duke of 


Milan. 
K. l. E, 


CESTIUS FLORUS. See FLorvs CEsrivs, 
CHABAD. See Hasipm™. 

CHABAR. See Hapar. 
CHABAZELETH. See PERIODICALS. 
CHABER. See HABER. 

CHABIB. Sce Habre. 


CHABRIS: Son of Gothoniel, and one of the 
three governors of Bethulia, a city besieged by Holo- 
fernes. Toward the end of the siege, which had 
entailed much suffering upon the Israelites, Chabris 
and his colleagues had agreed to hold out for tive 
days longer in the hope of deliverance; promising 
the people that if no prospect of relief appeared by 
the end of that time, they would yield. For this 
they were reproached by Judith, who pledged her 
help, and redeemed her pledge by killing Holo- 
fernes (Judith vi. 15; vii. 1, 30; viii. 10; x. 6; xiii, 
2 et seq.). 

E. G. H. G. B. L. 


CHACHAM (THE WISE). See Hakam. 
CHACHAM BASHI. Sce Hakam Basu. 


CHACHAM ZEBI. 
HirRscn B. JACOB. 


CHAD-GADYA. See Hab Gapya. 
CHADAD. See Hapap. 


CHASREMON (Xarpjuwv): Stoic philosopher and 
anti-Jewish writer (Origen, “Contra Celsum,” i. 
59; Eusebius, “ Hist. Eccl.” vi. 19), Egyptian priest 
(Porphyry, “ De Abstinentia,” iv. 6-8; Jerome, “ Ad- 
versus Jovinianum Libri [I.,” ii. 18), teacher of Nero 
(Suidas, 8.0. 'AZéavdpog Atyaioc), and of Dionysius of 
Alexandria, and predecessor of the latter as librarian 
of Alexandria (Suidas, 8.7. Acoviawcg Adegavdpeic), 
Hence he flourished about the year 50. He wasa 
younger contemporary of Josephus, who refutes in 
detail his anti-Jewish writings. Josephus quotes an 
extensive fragment from Cheremon’s Egyptian his- 
tory (Alyurtiaxy iorepia), in which he scornfully re- 
counts and ridicules, in a manner similar to that of 
Manetho, the departure of the Jews from Egypt. 
Josephus points out his errors and untruths (“ Contra 
Ap.” i, 32, 83), and boasts of having refuted him as 
well as Manetho and others (2d. ii. 1). Cheeremon’s 
history is mentioned by Porphyry (Eusebius, “ Pre- 
paratio Evangelica,” iii. 4, v. 10; Porphyry, “De 
Abstinentia,” iv. 6-8), who regards the author as 4 
truthful and reliable writer. In this case hatred of 
the Jews must have induced an otherwise honest 
man to make false statements. Chseremon’s descrip- 
tion of Egypt recalls the ideas which Philo, Clement, 
Origen, and others introduced into the Old and the 
New Testament. The asceticism especially, which 


See ASHKENAZI, ZEBI 


659 





he ascribes to the ancient Egyptian priests, is anal- 

ogous to the description in Philo’s work, “De Vita 

Contemplativa”; still there is no literary connection 

between the two authors. 

Fragments of the “History of Egypt” may still 
exist in a treatise of Psellus published in 1877 
(Sathas, in “ Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique,” 
vol.i.). According to Suidas (s.¢. Xa:p7zywv), another 
work of Cheremon was entitled “ Hieroglyphica,” 
and probably contained interpretations of the hiero- 
glyphics (collected from the works of the Byzan- 
tian Tzetzes, in Miller’s “ Fragmenta Historicorum 
Grecorum,” iii. 499); while a third work may be 
the book “On the Comets” mentioned by Origen 
(“Contra Celsum,” i. 59). Origen also made use of 
other writings of Chseremon that are now lost (Suidas, 
8.0, “Qpeyévye). 

BIBLIOGRAPTIY : Birch, On the Lost Book of Cheremon on 
Hieroglyphics (Tr. Royal Soc. Lit. 2d series, tii. 385-396) ; 
Zeller, Die Hieroglyphtker Chaeremon und Horapolwo, in 
Hermes, xi. 430-438; idem, Die Philosophie der Griechen, 
3d ed., IIT. i. 688: Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, tii. 326: Sehiirer, 
Gesch. 30 ed., iii. 404; Wendland, in Jahrb. fiir Philologie, 
Supplement, xxii, 755; Schwartz, in Pauly-Wissowa, eal- 
Encye. iv. 2027, 

G. S. Kr. 


CHAFF (yd or yd): Separated husks of grain. 
The Bible frequently compares things evanescent 
to chaff blown away by the wind (Zeph. ii. 2; Ps. 
i.4,xxxv.5; Job xxi. 18; Hosea xxxiii. 3; Isa. xvii. 
18, xxix. 5, xh. 15). In the process of winnowing, 
by tossing the cut straw, grain, and chatf into the 
air, cr letting it fall from an inverted fork, the grain 
falls almost vertically back upon the heap; the straw 
is blown a short distance away, while the chaff, con- 
sisting of the husks and finer particles of the straw, 
is carried by the wind ten or fifteen feet away. 
Other uses of the word “chaff” in the Old Testa- 
ment are not accurate, referring rather to cut straw 
(isa. v. 24; Jer. xxiii. 28) than to chaff. 

EK, G. H. M. W. I. 


CHAGIS, JACOB, MOSES, and SAMUEL: 
See under Haeiz, Jacon; Uaciz, Mosxs, ete, 


CHAIBAR, ARABIA. See KHArBaR. 


CHAIKIN, MOSES AVIGDOR: Rabbi and 
author; born at Sklow, government of Mohilev, in 
1852, and removed at an early age with his father 
to St. Petersburg, where the latter became chief sho- 
het. Chaikin was educated for the rabbinate, and 
obtained several rabbinical diplomas, among others 
one from Rabbi Spektor of Kovno, After the riots 
of 1881-82 he emigrated to Paris, where he served as 
rabbi of the Polish Jews from 1883 to 1887; but then 
returned to Russia and was rabbi at Rostov-on-the- 
Don from 1888 to 1889. Being expelled from Rus- 
sia in 1890, he went to England, and in 1892 was 
appointed rabbi of Sheffield, England, and in 1901 
of the Federation of Synagogues, London. 

Chaikin is the author of “Apologie des Juifs,” 
Paris, 1887, and “Celebrities of the Jews,” Sheffield, 
1889. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Young Israel, June, 1899. 


J. G. L. 


CHAINS: A word employed in English versions 
of the Bible as an equivalent for the various Hebrew 
terms applied to devices consisting of a series of 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


_ captives. 
4. mn: Trans- 
lated “chain” in 


Cervera 
Chains 





links and used (1) as means of restraint, or (2) for 
ornamental purposes on persons or on buildings. 
‘These Hebrew terms are as follows: 

1. moyyN: Occurring in Num. xxxi. 50; R. V., 
“ankle chains.” Jn II Sam. i. 10 it is translated 
“bracelet”; and this is evidently its more exact 
meaning (see Driver and Klostermann on II Sam. i. 
10, and compare myy¥ below No. 11). 

2. ND)90N: occurring in Dan. v. 7, 16, 29 (read 
3°97), and indicating a necklace worn asa mark of 
distinction. One was conferred upon Daniel for in- 
terpreting Belshaz- 
zar’s dream. In 
the Targum it is 
employed for 4°25 
(Gen. xli. 42). Com- 
pare No. 12 below. 

3. opr: Occurs 
in Nahum iii. 10, 
and Ps. cxlix. 8, 
where it indicates 
fetters, probably of 
iron, for binding 


Ezek. xix. 4, 9, A. 
V., but more cor- 
rectly rendered 
“hook” in R. V. 
Inserted inthe 
nose, it served as a 
means of leading 
captives (compare 
II Kings xix. 28). 
It is also indicated 
as an ornament 
(Ex, xxxv. 22, A. 
V. “bracelets”; R. 
V., “brooches”). From its insertion in the nose 
of the captive, it seems probable that as an orna- 
ment the Nh was a nose-ring (compare O73). 

5. pwn: Occurs in Song of Solomon i. 10 (R. 
V., “strings”). Ornamental chains for the neck, 
probably strings of coral, metal, or pearls, are 
meant. 

6. mvia: This word occurs only in Ps. Ixviii. 7 
(6), and is translated as “chains” in A. V., but more 
correctly in R. V. as “prosperity ” (compare dic- 
tionaries of Gesenius [-Buhl], Siegfried-Stade, and 
Baethgen, on Ps. Ixviii. 7). 

7. Aw and o'nwng3: Occurring in Lam. iii. 7, 
and often translated “fetters,” as in Judges xvi. 21; 
II Kings xxv. 7. Chains for prisoners, made, as 
the name implies, of bronze. They consisted of 
two rings—one for each foot or arm—connected by 
a link. 

8. mpps: Rendered “chains” in Isa. iii. 19, A. 
V., but better taken, in R. V., as “ pendants ”"— 


ae 
a 





Assyrian Captive in Chains. 
(After Botta, “‘ Monuments de Ninive.”’) 


obviously with reference to the drop-like form of 


the ornament. In Judges viii. 26, A. V., it is ren- 
dered “collars” [margin, “sweet jewels” |; in R. V., 
“ pendants.” 

9. may: Employed in Ex. xxviii. 14, xxxix. 15 
to designate the gold chains on the ephod and breast- 
plate of the high priest. 


Chajes 
Chaldea 





10. p3y: An ornament for the neck mentioned 
in Song of Soiomon 1v, 9, etc. (compare ynp3Y, Ps. 
Ixxiii. 6). The word is used in Judges viii. 26 to 
designate the chains worn by camels. 

11. myy: Rendered by R. V. in Isa. iii. 20 as 
“ankle chains”; A. V. has “ornaments of the legs.” 
Compare AWS (No. 1) above. 

12. san: Occurs in Gen. xli. 42 and Ezek, xvi. 
11, where it indicates anecklace evidently employed 
as a sign of distinction. Pharaoh adorned Joseph 
with a chain of this kind when investing him with 
office, 

13. pins: Applied (1) to chains of captivity 
(Ezek. vii. 28); (2) to the gold chains hung before 
the “oracle” (9939) in the Temple (I Kings vi. 21); 
and (3) to silver chains hung upon a graven image 
(Isa. xl. 19). 

14. ny: Translated “bracelets ” in Isa. iii. 19, 
both A. V. and R. V., but “chains” is the margi- 
nal rendering in the latter. The word scems to indi- 
cate arm-ornaments; compare the Arabic “siwar” 
(bracelet). 

15. nyoyesw: Chainwork used in ornamentation. 
It was employed in the Temple (II Chron. fii. 5, 
16) and for the ephod and breastplate of the high 
priest (Ex, xxviii. 14, xxxix. 15). Compare swoy 
(Ex, xxviii, 22), which is an abbreviated form of 
this word. See FETTERs. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Nowack, Lehrbuch der Hebrdischen Archii- 
oloyic, yp. 128 et seg.; and the various Bible commenturies. 


E. G. H. ©. J. M. 


CHAJES or CHAJAS, ZEBI HIRSCH B. 
MEIR: Talmudist, literary historian, and rabbi; 
born at Brody Nov. 20, 1805; died at Lemberg 
Oct. 12, 1855. His father, a scion of the famous 
Hayor family of scholars, was a highly educated 
banker who lived for 
fifteen years at Flor- 
ence before settling 
at Brody. He pro- 
vided a good Jewish 
as well as secular 
education for his son, 
who even at the age 
of five years showed 
extraordinary tal- 
ents. At Brody, 
where it was consid- 
ered a sin for a Jew 
to speak German, the 
boy was taught 
French, German, and 
Italian by his father, 
who was himself fa- 
miliar with six Euro- 
pean languages. He 
also received instruction in Latin, natural science, 
history, etc. But rabbinical lore was his chief study, 
his teachers being Zanwil Margaliot of Przemysl, 
Ephraim Margaliot, and Elazar Landau of Brody. 
The last-named two Talmudists, although void 
of all modern scientific methods, were yet men of 
critical insight, and doubtless had a great influence 
on Chajes. Attheage of twenty-two he received his 
diploma as rabbi, and a year later took charge of the 





Zebi Hirseh Chajes. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 
fn 


660 


important community of Zolkiev, which numbereg 
among its members Nachman Krocuman, A). 
though dissimilar in character and gifts, the two 
formed an intimate friendship, which exerted a spe. 
cially wholesome critical influence on Chajes’ know). 
edge and extraordinarily wide reading. When, jy 
1846, the law was promulgated in Austria compelling 
rabbinical candidates to pass a university examina. 
tion in the liberal arts and philosophy, Chajes, though 
in office, passed his examination at Lemberg, ang 
received the degree of doctor of philosophy. After 
officiating for twenty-four years as rabbi of Zolkiey, 
he accepted a call as chief rabbi of Kalisch, Russian 
Poland, where he remained until shortly before hig 
death, when he returned to Zolkiev. He stayed 
there for ashort time only, and then went for medica] 
treatment to Lemberg, where he dicd. Chajes left 
several learned sons, among whom may be men- 
tioned Solomon, Moses, and Isaac, chief rabbi of 
Brody, (born 1848 and died Feb. 1901). 
Chajes was the author of the following works: 
“ Misped 'Tamrurim,” a funeral oration on the death 
of Emperor Francis I. (Zolkiev, 1885), 
His Works. “Torat Nebi’im,” or “Eleh ha-Miz.- 
wot,” being thirteen treatises on the 
authority of Talmudic tradition, and on the organic 
structure and methodology of the Talmud (2). 1836); 
“Tegeret Bikkoret,” an examination into the Tar- 
gumim and Midrashim (74. 1840; with notes and revi- 
sions by Jacob Brill, Presburg, 1853 ; German transla- 
tion by Julius First, in “Orient, Lit.” i. Nos. 44 e 
seq.) ;“ Aterct Zebi,” six treatises on different subjects, 
which have appeared under separate titles, namely: 
(1) “ Derush,” an address on the accusation that the 
Jews are averse to agriculture and trades as means 
of livelihood; (2) “ Mishpat ha-Hora’ah,” on the con- 
stitution and authority of the Great Sanhedrin; (8) 
“Tif’eret ie-Mosheh”; and (4) “Darke Mosheh,” a 
defense of Maimonides against the attacks of 8. D. 
Luzzatto and Reggio, also on the dogmatics of Mai- 
monides in his halakic works (a discourse on the blood 
accusation is added as an appendix); (5) “Iggeret 
Bikkoret,” with newly added notes; and “ Matbea‘ 
ha-Berakot,” on the principle according to which the 
Rabbis pronounce the blessings in performing relig- 
ious offices, to which are appended responsa under 
the title “ Ateret Zebi” (7b. 1840-41). Chajes wrote 
also “ Darke ha-Ilora’ah,”an examination of therules 
that obtained in Talmudic times in deciding practical 
religious questions (Zolkiev, 1842); “ Mebo ha-Tal- 
mud,” Introduction to the Talmud (¢. 1845; transla- 
ted in part by Jost in “Orient, Lit.” vi. 16 ef eeg.); 
“She’elot u-Teshubot,” responsa and scientific trea- 
tises (@b. 1850); “Imre Binah,” six treatises, on 
the relation of Yerushalmi to Babli, on lost Hag- 
gadah collections, on the Targumim, on Rashi’s 
commentary to Ta‘anit, and on Bat Kol (23. 1849); 
and “Minhat Kena’ot” against Reform (¢. 1849). 
Chajes also contributed to different periodicals, 
among which were “ Literaturblatt des Orients” and 
“Zion” (edited by Creizenach and Jost); and he in- 
cluded these contributions in his collected works. 
His notes to the Talmud, published first in the 
Vienna edition and then in that of Wilna, are most 
valuable, and throw much light on the text. The 
Wilna editions of Habib’s “En Ya‘kob” (1876, 1894) 


661 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Chajes 
Chaldea 


a SS SS ss 


contain the portion of Chajes’ “Mebo’ ha-Talmud ” 
dealing with the Haggadah, as well as his notes to 
the haggadic passages of the Talmud. 

Krochmal, Rapoport, and Chajes form the trium- 
virate of the critical school of Galicia in the second 
third of the nineteenth century. Although Chajes 
lacked the penetrating insight of the first-named 
and the critical sense of Rapoport, he excelled both 
in acumen and range of Knowledge. 
His contributions to the history of the 
Targumim, the Halakah, and the Hag- 
gadah have to some extent been snper- 
seded by later investigations, yet he rendered great 
service in that ficld, because he paved the way for 
thoseinvestigations. Gciger’s hypothesis regarding 
the Jerusalem Targumim is, as he himself admits 
(“Z. I). M. G.” xiv. 314), but the carrying out of the 
idea which Chajes had developed io his “Imre 
Binah.” There are few modern works dealing in 
detail with the Halakah or the Haggadah which 
have not profited by the labors of Chajes, although 
his name is often passed over in silence. His Intro- 
duction to the Talmud is especially noteworthy. 
For the conservative Chajes the Talmud is every- 
where the source of law, even where it does not em- 
body the oldest tradition ; hence a Talmud introduc- 
tion means for him chiefly a systematization of the 
forms that the traditional law and all connected with it 
assumed in the schools. Inthis respect Chajes’ Iutro- 
duction isthe only attempt made on the part of Orth- 
odoxy to formulate the nature, extent, and authority 
of tradition. Although the proofs of the truth and 
necessity of tradition are not valid from a strictly 
scientific point of view, yet it may be assumed 
that Chajes’ conception of tradition was the one that 
must have prevailed in Talmudic times. What- 
ever one’s practical attitnde toward this question 
may be, Chajes’ representation of tradition is highly 
important for the comprehension of Talmudic lit- 
erature. 

The views expressed in his works are not an en- 
tirely trustworthy criterion of Chajes’ attitude on 
religious questions. A rabbi in a Galician town, 
most of the members of his community took him 
probably for an Apikoros, who only doubted 
the genuineness of the Zohar; therefore Chajes 
had to be guarded in the expression of his Hb- 
eral views, and frequently his views on impor- 
tant doctrines are to be read cnly between the lines. 
On reading Chajes’ treatise on the laggadah in his 

“Introduction,” one must admire the 


His Im- 
portance. 


Attitude courage with which he uttered such 
Toward heretical opinions without regard to 
Reform. his surroundings. Jost’s criticism of 


Chajes that he changed “from a 
liberal thinker favoring Reform to a bitter perse- 
cutor and attacker of all that is calculated to ar- 
rest superstition” (Jost’s “Annalen,” 1841, p. 72) is 
unfounded. Chajes’ tolerance toward scientific ques- 
tions is best proved by his veneration for Jost, whose 
works he almost knew by heart. It was the radi- 
cal Reform theories of Holdheim and Geiger that 
he opposed, at the same time avoiding all personal 
attacks on the reformers. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Buber, Anshe Shem, p. 199 (contains also 
Chajes’ epitaph); I. Bodek, in Ha-Maggid, i. Nos. 8-11; Ko- 


hen-Zedek, in Meged Yerahim. 1. 106-116; Z. Sagoradski, in 
Ha-Asif, iv. 155-160; Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. pp. 53-55; 
Rapoport, in Kerem Hemed, vi. 204-259 (a very severe criti- 
cism of Chajes’ Igyeret Bikkoret). L&@ 


CHAJUN. Sce Hayytn. 
CHALAFTA. Sce HALAFTA. 


CHALCIS: Capital of the island of Eubcea in 
the .Egean sea; under Greek dominion since 1882. 
Benjamin of Tudela found 200 Jews on the island. 
There is also testimony to the early residence of 
Jews in Chalcis in a Hebrew inscription on a grave- 
stone set in the city walls at the entrance-gate. This 
stone, dated 5086 (1826 c.r.), shows that Jews came 
to Beotia and Negropont before the expulsion from 
Spain, and therefore were not necessarily of Castilian 
origin. 

According to information gathered at Chalcis, 
there were several Jewish communitiesin this region 
before the War of Independence (1821-27). The 
most important was at Thebes, where it issaid there 
are still some Hebrew inscriptions. These commu- 
nities suffered the ravages of the war, and some 
were completelv broken up. The little synagogue 
of the congregation at Chalcis does not testify to 
any great prosperity in the past. The documents of 
the community were lost in a fire more than a cen- 
tury ago, and the synagogue itself, built about 1400, 
was also destroyed by fire in 1844, but was rebuilt 
five years later. 

In a total population of 7,000 inhabitants there 
are in Chalcis about fifty Jewish families, all of the 
Sephardic ritual. AJl live in the same quarter, and 
are extremely poor, so that no rabbi is maintained 


and very little religious instruction is given. Few 
know the Torah or understand their prayers. Never- 


theless they are attached to Judaism, and generally 
go to end their days in the Holy Land. 

Their family names are for the most part Greek 
—such as Marzoukos, Kosty, Moschonas, Sakkys, 
Politi, Daskalaki—and their features are of the 
purest Greek type. Their language is Greek. The 
old men dress “a& la Palikare,” wearing the “shal- 
var,” or fustanelle, with a high fez on the head, and 
a heavy tassel hanging down the neck. The old 
women cover their hair with an unbecoming head- 
dress consisting of a dark silk kerchief twisted 
tightly around the head. The young people, how- 
ever, like their Christian fellow-citizens, have re- 
cently adopted European dress. 

The Jewish cemetery of Chalcis, which has no en- 
closure, covers a large extent of ground. The dead 
are buried ina most primitive way, without any sign 
to mark the grave. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Chronique Israélite, Corfu, 1863. 


J: D.—M. C. 


CHALDEA: The Hebrew “Kasdim” (generally 
without thearticle) usually designates the Chaldeans 
as a people, sometimes also their country (Jer. 1. 10; 
li. 24, 85; Ezek. xi. 24, xvi. 29, xxiii, 15 e¢ seg.) or 
the people together with the country (Gen. xi. 28, 31; 
xv. 7; Neh. ix. 7). The word is Assyrian, or rather 
Babylonian, yet the Hebrew is the earlier form; 
while the cuneiform inscriptions give the later or 
classical Babylonian sound of the word, namely, 


Chaldea 
Chamberlain 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


662 





“Kulde.” Probably the Hebrew pronunciation was 
learned indirectly from the Chaldean tribes them- 
selves before the latter had changed the earlier pro- 
nunciation. 

The “land of the Chaldeans” (Jer. xxiv. 5 e¢ al.) 
is alsoa frequently occurring phrase. The Chaldean 
country, in the strict sense, lay in southern Baby- 
lonia, on the lower Euphrates and Tigris. But the 
name was extended by the Biblical writers to include 
the whole of Babylonia, after the Chaldean Nebuch- 
adnezzar had established the new Babylonian empire 
and brought his people to world-wide fame. In- 
deed, it is doubtful whether the Biblical “ Chaldea ” 
and “Chaldeans” ever connoted the ancient country 
apd people; these terms, until the eighth century 
B.C., were restricted to the region along the head of 
the Persian gulf (see BaByLonra). The only doubt- 
ful passages are those in which “ Ur of the Chaldees ” 
is spoken of (Gen. xi. 28 e¢ seg.). On the whole, 
therefore, the Bible agrees with the inscriptions in 
making the Chaldeans of history a comparatively 
modern race, and in excluding them from all asso- 
ciation with the ancient dynasties of Babylonia. 

The term “ Chaldaic,” for the language spoken by 
the Chaldeans, does not occur in the Bible. What 
has been popularly signified under that name is 
properly called “Aramean” in Dan. ii. 4. The 
Chaldeans of course spoke Babylonian in the days 
of the prophet Daniel; but when the Book of 
Daniel was composed (second century B.c.), Ara- 
mean had come to be used by all classes throughout 
Baby lonia. 

E. G. H. J. F. McC. 

The Land: Chaldea as the name of a country is 
used in two different senses. In the early period it 
was the name of a small territory in southern Baby- 
lonia extending along the northern and probably 
also the western shores of the Persian gulf. It is 
called in Assyrian “mat Kaldi”—that is, “land of 
Chaldea ”—but there is also used, apparently synon- 
ymously, the expression “ mat Bit Yakin.” It would 
appear that Bit Yakin was the chief or capital city 
of the land; and the king of Chaldea is also called 
the king of Bit Yakin, just as the kings of Baby- 
lonia are regularly styled simply king of Babylon, 
the capital city. In the same way, the Persian gulf 
was sometimes called “the Sea of Bit Yakin, in- 
stead of “the Sea of the Land of Chaldea.” 

It is impossible to define narrowly the boundaries 
of this early land of Chaldea, and one may only 
locate it generally in the low, marshy, alluvial land 
about the estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates, 
which then discharged their waters through separate 
mouths into the sea. In a later time, when the 
Chaldean people had burst their narrow bonds and 
obtained the ascendency over all Babylonia, they 
gave their name to the whole land of Babylonia, 
which then was called Chaldea. 

The People: The Chaldeans were a Semitic peo- 
ple and apparently of very pure blood. Their orig- 
inal seat may have been Arabia, whence they mi- 
grated at an unknown period into the country of the 
sea-lands about the head of the Persian gulf. They 
seem to have appeared there at about the same time 
that the Arameans and the Sutu appeared in Baby- 


lonia. Though belonging to the same Semitic race, 
they are to be differentiated from the Aramean 
stock; and Sennacherib, for example, is careful ip 
his inscriptions to distinguish them. When they 
came to possess the whole land their name became 
synonymous with Babylonian, and, though con. 
querors, they were speedily assimilated to Baby. 
lonian culture. 

The language used by the Chaldeans was Semitic 
Babylonian, the same, save for slight peculiarities in 
sound and in characters, as Assyrian. In late periods 
the Babylonian language ceased to be spoken, and 
Aramaic took its place. One form of this wide- 
spread language is used in Daniel and Ezra, but the 
use of the name Chaldee for it, first introduced by 
Jerome, is a misnomer. 

History : The Chaldeans, settled in the relatively 
poor country about the head of the Persian gulf, 
early coveted the rich cities and richly cultivated 
lands of the more favored Babylonians to the north 
of them. They began a running fire of efforts to 
possess themselves of the country. These efforts 
varied much. On the one hand, Chaldean commu- 
nitics were formed in several parts of Babylonia by 
the simple and peaceful process of immigration. On 
the other hand, Chaldean agitators were ever ready 
to participate in rebellions against Assyrian author- 
ity, hoping that the issue might make them the 
rulers of the independent kingdom. Such @ man 
was MERODACH-BALADAN, who was king of Baby- 
lonia several times, being deposed by the Assyrians, 
but always succceuing in seizing the reins of power 
again. 

Methods similar to those which he pursued tri- 
umphed in the end, and the new empire, which be- 
gan with the reign of Nabopolassar in 625 8.c. (see 
BaBYLONTA), was Chaldean, though there is no posi- 
tive proof that its founder was himself of pure 
Chaldean blood. 

When the Chaldean empire was absorbed into the 
Persian, the name Chaldean lost its meaning as the 
name of a race of men, and came to be applied toa 
class. The Persians found the Chaldeans masters 
of reading and writing, and especially versed in all 
forms of incantation, in sorcery, witchcraft, and 
the magical arts. They quite naturally spoke of 
astrologists and astronomersas Chaldeans, It there- 
fore resulted that Chaldean came to mean astrolo- 
gist. In this sense it is used in the Book of Daniel 
(Dan. i. 4, ii. 2 e¢ seg.), and with the same meaning 
it is used by the classical writers (for example, by 
Strabo). 


J. IR. R. W. R. 


CHALFAN, PHOEBUS. See Haron. 
CHALILAH. See Hainan. 


CHALONS-SUR-MARNE (Latin, Catalau- 
num; Old French, Chaalons): Capital of the de- 
partment of Marne, France. Little is known of the 
Jews of this city. In 1292 Davy and his son Sale- 
mon, Jews of Chaalons, were living at Paris. The 
“Document sur les Juifs du Barrois” (1321-238) 
mentions for Chalons only Lyonnet, his mother 
Doucine, Morel, and two other Jews, whose names 
are not given. In 13806 the king, Philip the Fair, 


663 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Chaldea 
Chamberlain 





demanded the confiscated property of the Jews of 
Chélons in behalf of the royal treasury; but the 
bishop of the city maintained that as the Jews were 
subject to him their property also belonged to him. 
The Parliament was asked to settle the difficulty, 
but in the course of the proceedings the king yielded 
and presented the bishop with the cemetery of the 
Jews (1814). This cemetery seems to have been the 
burial-place of all the Jews of Barrois. The Jewish 
community of Chalons to-day consists of forty or 
fifty families; it has a synagogue and a rabbi. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rev. Ht. Juives, i. 68, 70; ii. 723 xix. 247, 254, 


G. 8. K. 


CHALONS-SUR-SAONE (Hebrew, pbxp or 
wdxp) : Capital of the department of Sadne-et- 
Loire, France. Jews were established in the city at 
an early period; the council that convened there in 
630 forbade them to sell slaves abroad. A mint- 
master named Priseus, who held office at Chalons in 
Sao, seems to be identical with the Jew of that name 
who, in the presence of Gregory of Tours, had a 
theological controversy with the king Chilperic. 
Among the other Jewish mint-masters of this period 
mention is made of Jacote of Chélons, Juse of Macon, 
Jacotus of Orleans, etc. In the second half of the 
eleventh century R. Eliezer ben Judah, the pupil of 
R. Isaac ben Menahem of Orleans, lived at Chalons. 
The celebrated Rashi of Troyes corresponded with 
the scholars of ndap (Chalons; Latin, “ Cabillonum”), 
who took part in the synod convened at Troyes about 
1160 under the direction of R. Jacob Tam of Rameru. 

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the 
Jewish community of Chalons was one of the most 
important of Burgundy, although its members were 
still periodically subjected to harsh treatment, The 
most eminent Jews of the period (1806) were Hélion 
and Bénion, who numbered important personages 
among their debtors, and (1884-95) Alisa of Treves, 
Namiet Lévi, Solomon of Montréal, Saulcin Beaugey, 
Aaron Lévy, Croissant of Bourges, Isaac of Troyes, 
Maitre Pérez, and R. Joseph, author of a commen- 
tary on the Pentateuch, in which he frequently 
cites the Bible commentator R. Eliakim bin or 
sbon as his master and compatriot. Chalons-sur- 
Sadne has to-day (1902) a small Jewish community, 
placed under the administrative and religious au- 


thority of the consistory of Lyons. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Depping, Les Juifs dans le Moyen Age, p. 45; 
Vicomte Ponton d’Amécourt, Description Raisonnée des 
Monnaies Mérovingiennes de Chdlons-sur-Sadne, pp. 2, 
95: idem, Essai sur les Monnaies Merovingiennes, pp. 68, 
189; Simonnet, Juifs et Lombards, pp. 159 et seq.; Gerson, 
Essai sur les Juifs de la Bourgogne, pp. 29, 30, 35, ete.; Joel 
Miller, Réponses des Rabbins Frangais, p.10; Gross, Gallia 
Judaica, p. 590. 


G. S. K. 


CHALPHI: Father of Judas. The latter was 
one of the two captains who remained when all the 
others under Jonathan had fled at the battle of the 
plain of Nasor (I Macc. xi. 70). Josephus refers to 
Chalphi, but calls him “ Chapsios.” 

J. IR. G. B. L. 


CHALUKKAH. See HALuKKAH. 


CHALYZIANS: A people who, according to 
the Byzantine historian, John Cinnamus (twelfth 
century), accepted the Mosaic law. They fought, 


together with the Dalmatians, against the Greeks in 
the reign of Manuel Comnenus in 1154. “Chaly- 
zians,” as A. Harkavy suggests, is probably the 
hame given by Cinnamus to the Chazars, whom 
Duke Taksony of Hungary invited, among other 
tribes, to settle in his domains, in order to make 
good the losses in the population of the country, 
due to the many raids which the Hungarians under- 
took into surrounding countries, but which, after 
causing alarm to the whole of Europe, resulted in 
the final defeat of Duke Taksony in the year 970. 

The Polish historian August Bielkowski, how- 
ever, Suggests that the Chalyzians of Cinnamus were 
the Chvalissy of Nestor. When the Hungarians re- 
moved to Dacia and Pannonia, the reigning family 
among them was the Kabary, one of the Chazar 
tribes. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cinnamus, Epitame, etc., ed. Niebuhr, iii. 107, 
247, Bonn, 18386; A. Harkavy, Ha-Jehudim u-Sefat ha-Sla- 
vim, p. 132, Wilna, 1867; Nestor’s Aelteste Jahrbticher der 
acne Geschichte, translated by Scherer, p. 42, Leipsic, 


G. H.R, 
CHAMA (RAB). See Hama. : 
CHAMAI (GAON). See Hamat. 
CHAMBERLAIN: The English rendering of 

Dp. This Hebrew word is also translate! “ officer ” 

(Gen, xxxvil. 36; II Kings viii. 6). lf “ chamber- 

lain” is to be used at all, it must be taken in a very 

broad sense. The chamberlain is sometimes a mere 

servant (Acts xii, 20), or messenger (II Kings viii. 

6); at other times he holds a position of trust, and 

even has charge of the finances (Rom. xvi. 28). See 

EUNUCH and OFFICEs, 

In Jer. 1i.59 the word stands for AAD Sw, which 
is incorrectly given by the A. V. as“a quiet prince.” 
The chamberlain here referred to was a brother of 
Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah. 

E, G. Hi. G. B. LL. 

CHAMBERLAIN, HOUSTON STEWART: 
Anglo-Gcerinan musical critic and anti-Semitic writer ; 
born Sept. 9, 1855, at Portsmouth, England; son of 
Admiral W.C. Chamberlain. He received his early 
education abroad, being sent to France, where he 
went to school at Versailles. Subsequently he re- 
moved to Switzerland and studied science at Geneva 
University, and finally he settled in Austria, where 
he became privat-docent in philosophy at the Uni- 
versity of Vienna. 

Besides several works on Richard Wagner, from 
whom he probably imbibed much of his anti-Semi- 
tism, he has attracted attention by his chief work, 
“Die Grundlagen des 19. Jahrhunderts,” Munich, 
1899; 4th ed., 1902. In this he regards all history as 
a conflict between the Aryans and the Semites; the 
latter being regarded as a special genus, “homo 
Syriacus,” of which the Jew, “homo Judaicus,” is 
atypical species. Racerules history; and the influ- 
ence of tle Semites in the early forms of Christianity 
broke down the ancient world, which had to be re- 
vived by the new blood of Germanism against which 
the Roman Catholic Church is perpetually strug- 
gling in order to introduce once more the abstract 
universalism of the Semite. Chamberlain dreads a 
world-supremacy on the part of the Jews, and at- 
tacks in every way their intellectual, moral, and re- 
ligious qualities. While evincing great admiration 


Chambéry 
Chao Yne-Cheng 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


664. 


I a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a 


for the character and views of Jesus, so great is his 

anti-Semitic bias that he denies Jesus’ Jewish origin. 
Chamberlain’s journalistic style and wide general- 

izations have attracted considerable attention, espe- 
cially in German-Jewish journalism, as can be seen 
from the accompanying bibliography. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY : Meyers, Konversations- Lexikon, Supplement, 
1900; Schreiner, Die Jiingsten Urtheile tiber das Juden- 
thum, 1901, pp. 119-160; Ally. Zeit. des Jud. lxvi. 5, 90-92, 
330-382 5 Oest. VW “ochensehrift, xviii. 657-659, 67 3-674, 8i7~ 
818, 851-859; xix. 17 -18; Die Welt, v., Nos. 47, 48, 

E. ¢. 


CHAMBERY: Capital of the department of 
Savoy, France. When the Jews were driven from 
France by Philippe Auguste in 1182, many of them 
sought refuge in Chambéry and the surrounding 
country, especially at Yenne, Seissel, Aiguebelle, 
and Saint-Genis (Gerson, “ Notes sur les Juifs des 
Etats de la Savoie,” in “Rev. Et. Juives,” viii. 235; 
compare Loeb, “Un Episode de |’ Histoire des Juifs 
de Savoie,” in “Rev. Et. Juives,” x. 32). They 
were subject to a tax, which in 1800 amounted to 
70,374 franes; in 1328, to 2,400 florins (gold); and, 
in 13831, to 1,200 florins (Costa de Beauregard, 
* Notes et Documents sur la Condition des Juifs en 
Savoie,” in “Mémoires de lAcadémie Royale de 
Savoie,” 2d series, 11; compare Victor de St.-Genis, 
“Histoire de Savoie,” i. 456). Amadeus V. granted 
them privileges which were confirmed Nov. 17, 1823, 
these being chiefiy in favor of the Jews Vivant de 
Vesos, Master Agin, his son-in-law, and Harasson de 
‘Biauna (“ Rev. Et. Juives,” x. 32). 

In 1348, at the time of the Black Death, the Jews 
of Chambéry were accused of having poisoned the 
wells at the incitation of Rabbi Peyret and Aboget, 
a rich Jew. Many were massacred at Chambéry, 
Montmeélian, Chillon, Chatel, Yenne, etc. (Costa de 
Beauregard, é.¢. ; compare Griitz, “ Gesch. derJuden,” 
vii. 362). Another persecution occurred in 1894, at 
the instigation of Vincent Ferrer (Joseph ha-Kohen, 
“‘Emek ha-Baka,” translation by I. Sce, p. 85). In 
1417 two converted Jewish physicians, Guillaume 
Saffon and Master Pierre of Macon, were commis- 
sioned to examine the books of the Jews at Cham- 
béry in order to find therein the alleged blasphemics 
against the Christian religion with which they had 
been charged (“* Mémoires de la Société Savois. a’ His- 
toire et a Archéologie, "xv. 21, cited by Gerson in 
“Rev. Et. Juives,” viii. 289). 

At the request of the archbishop of Lyons, Marie 
de Berry, duchess of Bourbon, who governed the 
city of Trévoux in the absence of her husband, Jean 
de Bourbon, had the Jewish books examined in 1480. 
The physician Ayme (Amadeus), a converted Jew 
of Chambéry, was commissioned to examine works 
written in Hebrew, and to translate the passages 
that were to be condemned (“ Rev. Et. Juives,” x. 34). 
Te also conducted an inquiry against the Jews of 
Savoy, whose books he ordered to be burned (7d. viii. 
239). 

Solomon ibn Verga (“Shebet Yehudah,” No, 11) 
tells of a general persecution of the Jews in Savoy 
and Piedmont in 1490. Gerson (/.c. p. 236) thinks, 
not without reason, that this was the persecution in- 
stigated in 1466 by Louis of Nice or Provence, a con- 
verted Jewish physician, commissioned by his god- 
father, Duke Louis, to make an inventory of the 


books of the Jews of Chambéry, who had been ac. 
cused of witchcraft and sacrilege. This accusation 
was later acknowledged to be false (Costa de Beau- 
regard, f.¢c. p. 106; compare “ Rev. Et. Juives,” viij, 
239). In 1480 the Jews were confined to a special 
quarter assigned to them by Amadeus VII. The 
count of Savoy compelled them to wear, like the 
Jews of France, a wheel, half red and half white, 
upon the left shoulder (“ Rev. Et. Juives,” x. 38), 
They were finally forced to leave Chambéry in con- 
sequence of the general banishment of the Jews from 
Spain in 1492. According to Victor of St.-Genis, 
however (i, 495), this city had a Jewish community 
in 1714. 

Among the scholars mentioned as having lived 
at Chambéry are: R. Aaron, commentator on the 
Pentateuch; R. Jacob Lévi; R. Solomon, the father 
of Joseph Kolon, who states that when he lived at 
Chambéry, about 1440, there were distinguished rab- 
bis in that city; and the celebrated publisher, Gerson 
Soncino, who, in his preface to the Hebrew grammar 
of David Kimhi (1582-34), says that he collected the 
Tosafot of Fouques in Chambéry. There were also 
several eminent Jewish physicians, among whom 
may be mentioned: Master Samson, physician to 
Amadeus V.; Master Palmieri, attached to the per- 
son of Amadeus VI., and physician of the city of 
Chambéry; Helias of Evian, called in 1418 to attend 
the daughters of the count of Savoy; Masters Isaac 
of Annecy and Jacob of Chambéry, physicians to 
Bonne de Berri, mother of Amadeus VIII.; Master 
Solomon, physician to Amadeus VIII.; Master 
Jacob of Cramonaz, physician to the regent Yo- 
lande (“ Rev. Et. Juives,” viii. 241, 242). 

G. S. Kk. 


CHAMELEON: Ananimal of the genus Chame- 
leon, the only genus of the tribe Dendrosaura (also 
Chameleonida, Rhiptoglossa, Vermilinguia), of the 
Chamaleontide or Chameleontde family, of which it 
is the type. Some sixty species of the genus are 
known to exist, the most common of which, Chame- 
leon vulgaris, is frequently found in Egypt and the 
Holy Land. The word “chameleon” is taken from 
the Greek yeuat7éwv (literally “ ground-lion ”), pre- 
sumably a Greek adaptation of a foreign word. 
Bochart (“ Hierozoicon,” iv. ch. vi.) derives it from 
asupposed Punic word, nSi3 (“little camel”), This 
conjecture he bases on the name “jamal al-Yahud” 
(“camel of the Jews”), which the Arabs give to the 
chameleon on account of the hump on its back, 

In the A. V. “chameleon” is the rendering of 
the Hebrew ma (koah), which occurs only once (in 
Lev. xi. 30), in a list of five unclean animals, where 
it occupies the second place. This rendering, ap- 
parently, has the support of the Septuagint and 
the Vulgate, which may, however, be due to the 
fact that the animals are not arranged in the same 
order in the LXX. as in the Hebrew. The same can 
be said of the rendering “hulda” of the Peshitta. 
The koah is presumably a species of monitor, as the 
hulda is of the MoLe. It is now commonly thought 
that the chameleon is to be identified with the fifth 
animal on the list, npwyn (tinshemet), in the R. V. 
This identification is based principally on the etymol- 
ogy of the word npwon (“the breather,” “inhaler ); 


665 





from the root oy (“to blow,” “to breathe”). The 
chameleon is remarkable for its habit of inflating 
itself, which, combined with its power of fasting, 
led the ancients to believe that it lived on air (see 
Bochart, f.¢c., quoting Kimhi). In reality it lives on 
insects, Which it captures by darting at them its long 
and viscid tongue, The little animal, six or seven 
inches long, or, with the tail, eleven to twelve inches, 
lives almost exclusively upon trees, where it finds 
itself quite at home, thanks to its prehensile tail 
and feet. 

Another peculiarity of the chameleon is its ability 
to change its color, supposedly in accordance with 
that of the objects with which it comes in contact. 
Whatever be the occasion of the phenomenon, its 
possibility is due to the presence in the skin of con- 
tractile cells, both clear and pigment-bearing, placed 
at various depths, and so arranged that, under the 
control of the nervous system, the one or the other 
only, or both kinds in various proportions, will come 
to the surface. 

The tinshemet of Lev. xi. 30 must not be con- 
founded with a bird of the same name mentioned in 
Lev. xi. 18. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the 
Bible: J. G. Wood, Bible Animals; 8. Bochart, Hierozoi- 
con: Kamal al-Din al-Damiri, Hayyat al-Haiwan, see under 


hirba. . 
E. G. H. H. H. 


CHAMOIS: The rendering of the Hebrew 4p} 
(zemer), both in the A. V. and in the R. V., prob- 
ably on the authority of Bochart (“ Hierozoicon,” 
iil. ch. xxi.). It must, however, be discarded, for 
the reason that the chamois is exclusively a Euro- 
pean animal. The zemer can not be identified with 
precision. The word occurs only once (Deut. xiv. 
5); and it has no parallel in the cognate languages. 
The versions of the Bible are at variance as to its 
translation. The Septuagint and the Vulgate, fol- 
lowed by the Coptic, have “camelopard” or “ gi- 
ratfe "—apparently a mere guess, and not a happy 
one considering the remoteness of the home of that 
animal from Palestine. The Peshitta translates 
“zemer” by arna, a word which does not occur else- 
where in Syriac literature; Bar-Bahlul renders it 
“mountain-sheep,” on the authority of Gregory of 
Nyssa and Bar-Serushway; while BarAli (ed. Hoff- 
mann, gloss 1518) has althattal, “wild goat,” or 
al-wail, “mountain-sheep.” Both the thaital and 
the wa‘il belong to the wild goats (steinbéke, bou- 
quetins; see Hommel, “ Die Namen der Satigethiere,” 
pp. 280, 286). The rendering “elk” (Luther) is to 
be rejected for the same reason as “camelopard” or 
“chamois.” 

Modern naturalists generaily agree that the zemer 
must have been a kind of wild sheep, of the same 
type as the ammotragus, the arout of the Arabs 
which is represented on the Egyptian monuments 
and is still common in Egypt, Arabia Petreea, and 
the Atlas range. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the 
Bible; J. G. Wood, Bible Animals: S. Bochart, Hierozoicon ; 
F. Hommel, Die Namen der Sdugethiere, Leipsic, 2879. 

E. G. H. o. H. 


CHAMPAGNE (xy™D21p, NMN|D, NMPSP. POS. 
NOMHIP, NIIP, MNINBINP): A former province of 
France, now known as the departments of Marne, 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Chambéry 
Chao Yng-Cheng 





Haute-Marne, Aube, and Ardennes, with part of 

Seine-ct-Marne, Yonne, Aisne, and Meuse. Jews 

settled in Champagne as early as the Gallo-Roman 

epoch, They depended on the protection of the 
counts governing the country, this protection, how- 
ever, being dearly bought. Often the Jews of 

Champagne moved into adjacent countries, being 

unable to pay the heavy taxes imposed upon them. 

To avoid this loss to the treasury and to get “their 

Jews” back, the counts of Champagne concluded 

treaties of extradition with the neighboring coun- 

tries. Such a treaty was concluded in 1198 between 

Count Thibaud IV. and Philippe Auguste, and was 

renewed in 1201 by Countess Blanche, the widow of 

Thibaud. The latter claimed the extradition of a 

wealthy Jew named Cresselin, who sought refuge at 

Paris from the extortions of the countess. 

In 1284 Champagne was incorporated into the 
kingdom of France, and the fate of the Jews of this 
province became that of all the French Jews. In 
taking possession of Champagne Philip the Fair im- 
posed upon the Jews of the province the payment 
of 25,000 livres as a gift for the “happy event.” 

Champagne was renowned in the twelfth century 
for its Talmudical schools at Troyes, Ramerupt, 
Dampierre, and other places. It was the native 
country of Rashi, Jacob Tam, and many other Tal- 
mudical celebritics. Its religious customs are often 
cited im the ritual laws. 

At the present dav (1902) the greater part of the 
ancient Champagne belongs to the consistorial dis- | 
trict of Liile. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brussel, Usage Général des Fiefs en France, 
i., DOOK % ch. xxxix.; Depping, Les Juifs dans le Afoyen- 
Age, p. 1763 Griitz, Geseh. der Juden, vi. 210; Gross, Gailia 
Judaica, p. 599. 


K. I. Br. 
CHANA B. CHANILAI (RAB). 
B. HANILATI. 


CHANAN, CHANANEEL, CHANANYA. 
See HANAN, HANANEEL, HANANIANH, 


CHANELES, LOB. Sce Haneves, Jupan Lin. 
CHANILAI. Sec ANTLAI. 
CHANINA. Sce HANINA. 


CHANOCH. See ENOCH. 
CHANTING. 
CHANUKKAH. 


CHAO YNG-CHENG: Chinese mandarin; 
flourished about 1653. After the sack of K’art FuNne- 
Foo, which followed the fall of the Ming dynasty in 
1642, the synagogue there was destroyed, and the 
Jews took refuge on the north side of the river 
Hoang-!o, having saved the scrolls, which had been 
thrown into the water. Ten years later Chao, who 
was a Jewish mandarin from the province of Chen- 
Si, was detailed to restore the city, and with the aid 
of his brother, Yng-teou, induced the Jews to cross 
the river and take up their old quarters, and rebuild 
the temple in 1653. One complete scroll of the 
Law was made up out of the fragments which had 
been saved from the waters, and other copies were 
made from this. Chao wrote an account of the sa- 


See Hana 


See CANTILLATION, 


See HANUKKAH. 


ving of the scrolls and the rebuilding of the temple, 


Chaplet 
Charity 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


666 





which was expanded by his brother into a book of 
ten chapters. A stone stele dated 1668 was after- 
ward erected, giving the details of his action. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : J. Tobar, Inseriptions Juives de K’ai-fong- 
fous, Shanghai, 1900; M. Adler, in Jew. Quart. Rev. xiii. 


J. 


See Crown, DIaDEM, and 


CHAPLET. 
MITER. 

CHAPMAN, JOHN: English educationist and 
communal worker; born 1845. Educated at Jews’ 
College, Joondon, he became an assistant master in 
that institution, and was subsequently appointed 
head master of the Jews’ Hospital and Orphan Asy- 
lum. He has been for many years principal of the 
Great Ealing proprietary school, at which large 
numbers of Jewish lads of the middle class have 
been trained. For a time Chapman was minister of 
the Western Synagogue, Haymarket. He is the hon- 
orary secretary of the council of Jews’ College. 

Chapman was one of the founders of Ealing 
Public Library. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Year Book, 1901-02, London. 


J: Ax P: 


CHARAATHALAN or CHARAATHA- 
LAR: Name occurring in I Esd. v. 36. It is a cor- 
ruption of “ Cherub,” “ Addan,” and “ Immer” (Ezra 
ii. 59 = Neh. vii. 61). Compare CHERUB. 

E. G. H. C. L. 


CHARACA: A city about 750 stadia distant 
from Caspis. It was the seat of the Jews called 
“Tubieni.” Judas Maccabeus went to this place 
after his conquest of Caspis (II Macc. xii. 17). 

E. G. H. G. B. 


CHARAN. See Haran. 
CHARASHIM. See Ge-HARASHIM. 
CHARCHEMISH. See CarcHemIsaH. 


CHARES (Xd¢pyc):, Leader of the Zealots in the 
Judxo-Roman war, and one of the most eminent men 
of Gamala (Josephus, “B. J.” iv. 1,§ 9). When the 
men of Bathyra, “called the Babylonians,” who sided 
with Agrippa and the peace party, were at Gamala 
without their leader, Philip, they were attacked by 
the Gamalians, and Chares, Philip’s relative, and 
his brother Jesus were killed (¢dem, “ Vita,” xxxv., 
XXXvii.). Chares’ name is found in inscriptions. 


BIBUOGRAEAN:: Waddington, Inscriptions de la Syrie, No. 
G. S. Kr. 


CHARGER: A rendering of two Hebrew words 
and a Greek one: (1) Myp (ka‘arah), occurring in 
the list of the donations of the chiefs of the tribes 
on the day of the dedication of the Tabernacle 
(Num. vii. 18 e¢ seg.). Elsewhere the word is ren- 
dered “dish.” (2) bras (agartel), the etymology 
of which is uncertain. It is, perhaps, the Greek 
xaptadoc taken intothe Aramaic. The word is found 
in the list of vessels restored by King Cyrus to the 
returning Jewish exiles (Ezra i. 9). (8) Ilivaz, the 
dish upon which the head of John the Baptist was 
presented to Herodias (Matt. xiv. 8,11; Mark vi. 
25, 28). 

E. G. H. 


L. 


G. B. L. 


CHARIOT: Vehicles are designated in Hebrew 
chiefly by two expressions, “ ‘agalah” and “rakab,” 
with “merkab” and “merkabah” derived from the 
latter. The former denotes the wagon used for 
heavy loads and general work, the name being con- 
nected with the root “to roll”; while the latter ig 
the chariot of war or of state. Wagons for carrying 
burdens or persons are found among the different 





Egyptian Chariot. 
(From Champollion, ‘‘ Monuments de l’Egypte.’’) 


peoples of antiquity, having displaced at an early 
time the sledge and the drag on rollers, drawn by 
men or oxen (compare the pictures in Wilkinson, 
“Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” 
ili, 824). Early Egyptian monuments show also a 
frame like a litter, which was fastened between 
asses and used to carry persons. 

Originally the wheels of the wagons were solid 
disks (2b. i. 369), but a more artistic type, consisting 
of hub, spokes, and fellies, was gradually evolved. 
The spokes, “hishshukim ” (I Kings vii. 33), sprang 
from the hollow cylinder in the center of the wheel 
(“ofan ” or * galgal”), that is, from the hub, “hish- 
shurim” (I Kings vii. 33), around the stationary axle- 


CF 





Hittite Chariot. 
(From Champollion, ‘‘ Monuments de l’ Egypte.” 


tree, “yad,” and connected it with the rim or the 
fellies, “ gebim” (I Kings vii. 33; Ezek. i. 18, x. 12). 
In extant Assyrian illustrations the wheels generally 
have eight spokes, while in the Egyptian wagons 
four, or more frequently six, spokes are found. 
The body of the wagon and the pole were connected 
directly with the axletree. The pole had a yoke ar- 
ranged for two animals only, so that each additional 
animal had to be harnessed separately, and not in 


667 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Chaplet 
Charity 





front, but on the side of the first two animals. As 
horses did not come into general use among the 
Israelites until the time of Solomon, oxen were orig- 
inally the chief draft animals (I Sam. vi. 7), while 
asses were generally used for the saddle. That the 
Israelites in very early times had wagons for carry- 
ing burdens, is evident from I Sam. vi. 7 and II Sam. 
vi. 3. Mention is also made of threshing-wagons 
(Isa. xxvili. 27). There is no definite information 
regarding harvesting-wagons (see Amos ii. 13). It 
is to be noticed that the latter are not used to-day 
in Palestine (“ Zeit. Deutsch. Palist. Ver.” ix. 40, 
and the commen- 
taries on Amos, J.c.). 
Persons traveled 
chiefly on asses, be- 
cause the poor con- 
dition ot the roads 
in Palestine made it 
difficult to use 


ayy 


Y ra 


wagons to any ex- “2% 
he” 


tent, especially for 
long journeys. 
Nevertheless, the fact 
that the Egyptians 
evidently received 
the word mday (Egyp- 
tian, “‘agolt”), as 
well as 72510 (Egyp- 
tian, “merkobt ”), 
from the Canaanites, 
shows that Wwagon- 
building was known 
at an early date in 
Canaan. 

War-chariots proper were also known in Canaan at 
an early time, for as a result of having them the Ca- 
naanites were so superior to the Israel- 
ites that the latter could not meet them 
jn open battle on the plain (Josh. xi. 4; 
Judges i. 19, iv. 3; I Sam. xiii. 5). 
These vehicles were indeed strange to the Israelites. 
Although David captured chariots and horses in his 
war with the Syrians, he did not use them, and even 
hamstrung the horses (II Sam. viii. 4). It remained 
for Solomon to introduce war-chariots, which were 
stationed partly in Jerusalem and partly in other cities 
(I Kings ix. 19). Beginning with his time, chariots 
and horsemen are often mentioned in the army of the 
southern as well as of the northern kingdom (1 
Kings xvi. 9; II Kings viii. 21, xiii. 7; Isa. ii. 7; 
Micah v. 9). Horses were indispensable to these 
chariots, and the great difficulty in procuring them 
(II Kings vii. 18, xviii. 23) probably often induced 
political leanings toward Egypt (Isa. xxx. 16, xxxi. 
1, xxxvi. 9). 

The war-chariots doubtless resembled the Assyrian 
and Egyptian two-wheeled chariots, open in the 
back; they were not furnished with scythes, as is 
often stated, for the latter were introduced by the 
Persians. They were made of fig-tree wood, and 
trimmed with bronze or iron. Like those of the 
Assyrians, the Hittites, and others, the chariots of 
the Israelites probably carried three men, Dy"py,, 
the driver, the warrior proper, and the shield-bearer ; 
while on those of the Egyptians there were generally 


War- 
Chariots. 





Assyrian Chariot. 
(From Layard’s ** Nineveh.’’) 


but two men. According to I Kings x. 29 the price 
of a chariot imported from Egypt in the time of 
Solomon was 600 shekels, and that of a horse 150 
shekels. 

During the last decades of the southern kingdom 
mention is made of sun-horses and sun-chariots sta- 
tioned in the outer court of the Tem- 
ple, these being removed later by 
Josiah. They had been introduced 
at the time that syncretism was flour- 
ishing, and the cult of the sun-god had become 
dominant under Assyrian influence. As in the case 
of the Canaanite Baal 
(in reality the sun- 
god), the Assyro- 
Babylonian sun-god 
had been identified 
with Yuwu, and his 
symbols placed in 
the court of the 
Temple. Such syn- 
cretism was not al- 
together foreign to 
Hebrew ideas, for 
YHWH is not only 
the God of heaven, 
but also He who 
rides in a _ chariot 
(Hab. iii. 8; Ps. 
Ixvili, 18[17]) and on 
the CHERUBIM, and 
who descends in a 
chariot of fire to 
take His saints into 
heaven (II Kings ii. 
For God’s chariot-throne see 


Sun- 
Chariots. 


11, vi. 17, xiii. 14). 
MERKABAH. 
E. G. H. WN. 
CHARITY AND CHARITABLE INSTI- 
TUTIONS.—Ancient and Medieval Times. 
Charity is kindness shown to the needy; Hebrew, 
“zedakah” =“ righteousness” (Deut. xxiv. 18; Isa. 
xxxli. 17; Prov. xiv. 84; Ps. evi. 8; Dan. iv. 
24); “gemilut hesed” or “gemilut hasadim” = 
“the bestowing of kindness,” is the rabbinical term 
for personal charity. Charity may be regarded 
merely as a free tribute of love, as in the New 
Testament, where aya77 is often translated in A. V. 
by “charity”; or it may be equivalent to “lib- 
erality,” a term borrowed from the Roman world, 
where, as in Greece, only on a larger scale, the free- 
born (“libri”) or wealthy showed generosity by 
great donations to the lower classes. But in Juda- 
ism charity is an act of duty incumbent upon men 
of means to provide for those in want. Charity 
is righteousness in so far as God, the Giver of all 
blessings, claims from His gifts ashare for the poor, 
and, as the actual owner of the land, claims certain 
portions of the produce for the fatherless and the 
widow, the Levite and the stranger: “Thou shalt 
surely give him [the poor], and thine 
The Lord’s heart shall not be grieved when thou 
Share. givest unto him: because that for this 
thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee 
in all thy works and in all that thou puttest 
thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out 


Charity 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


668. 


SS aera 


of the land: therefore, I command thee, saying, 
Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, 
to thy poor and thy needy in thy land” (Deut. xv. 
10, 11). In the Mosaie legislation the right of pro- 
prietorship does not extend to the corners of the 
field, the gleanings of the harvest, the forgotten 
sheaf, and the growth of the seventh year; they 
“shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the 
widow ” (Lev. xix. 9, 10; xxiii. 22; Deut. xxiv. 19- 
21; Ex. xxiil. 11; compare Lev. xxv. 23). The 
tithes of the yearly produce also were claimed every 
third year for the Levite, the stranger, the father- 
less, and the widow (Deut. xiv. 22-29, xxvi. 12 e 
seg.; compare Mal. iii. 10). So should every enjoy- 
ment of God’s gifts be shared by the needy (Deut. 
xvi. 11, 14). Charity from this point of view may 
be called an assessment of the rich in favor of the 
poor, This also is the view of the Rab- 
A Claim of bis. When asked by Tinnius Rufus: 
Righteous- “ Why does your God, being the lover 
ness of the needy, not Himself provide for 
and Love. their support?”, R. Akiba replied: 
“By charity wealth is to be made a 
means of salvation; God, the Father of both the 
rich and the poor, wants the one to help the other, 
and thus to make the world a household of love” 
(B. B. 10a). 

In another aspect charity is righteousness, The 
helpless has a right to claim the help of his more 
fortunate brother. The cry of the distressed is an 
appeal to human compassion which must be re- 
sponded to, lest the “ gracious ” God, who “doth ex- 
ecute the judgment of the fatherless and widow ” 
(Deut. x. 18)- hear it and punish those who remain 

deaf to the call of duty (Ex. xxii. 20- 
Charity Is 25). The poor are “my people,” says 
Righteous- God: “If thy brother be waxen poor 
ness. . thou shalt relieve him that he 
may live with thee” (Lev. xxv. 35). 
He is “of thine own flesh,” and when thou seest him 
naked thou shouldst cover him, and give him bread 
when he is hungry, and shelter when he is cast out 
(Isa. viii. 7). The idea that the poor and forsaken 
stand under the special protection of God, who 
“loves the stranger” and is “father of the fatherless 
and judge of the widows” (Deut. x. 18; Ps. Ixviii. 
6, 15), is the underlying motive of such charity as is 
expressed in Proverbs: “He that hath pity upon 
the poor lendeth unto the Lord” (xix. 17); “He that 
honoreth him hath mercy on the poor” (xiv. 31). 
Compare Ps. xli. 1: “Blessed is he that consider- 
eth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of 
trouble,” and the whole of Ps. cxii. Accordingly, 
the ideal type of the righteous man is he who is “ eyes 
to the blind,” “feet to the lame,” and “father to the 
poor” (Job xxix. 15); and that of the virtuous 
woman, she who “stretchetlh out her hand to the 
poor” and “reacheth forth her hands to the needy ” 
(Prov. xxxi. 20). 

Charity isa human obligation. Man owes it to 
his fellow-man as a brother. It is expected of all 
men and toward all men (Deut. xxiii. 5; I Kings 
xx. 31; Amosi, 11-ii. 1; Philo, “ De Caritate,” 8§ 17, 
18). Abraham is a type of charity and benevolence 
(Gen. xviil. 3). In the Testaments of the Twelve Pa- 
triarchs it is simple-hearted Issachar (Issach. 3, 5, 7) 


who, by example and precept, teaches charity jy 
“helping the poor and the feeble and sharing every 
sift of God with the needy.” Philo. 


Charity (ed. Mangey, ii. 629), in the frayment 
a Human preserved by Eusebius (* Prieparatio 
Obligation. Evangclica,” viii. 7) gives, as especia] 


ordinances of Moses the lawgiver, the 
Buzy gian laws; that is, the old Athenian laws of hu. 
manity (see Bernays, “Gesammelte Schriften,” i. 278 
et seg.): “not to refuse fire to any one asking for it, 
nor to cut off a stream of water; to offer food t, 
beggars and cripples, and to give decent burial to 
the unclaimed dead; not to add additional sufferin 
to one who is in trouble, nor to treat animals with 
cruelty.” Josephus (“Contra Ap.” ii. 29) also giveg 
as ordinances of Moses regarding all men: “to af- 
ford fire, water, and food to such as need them, to 
show them the road [see Bernays, f.c. p. 78}, and not 
to let any one lie unburied.” 

With unmistakable reference to a similar rabbin- 
ical tradition are the words spoken by Jethro, the 
God-fearing Gentile, to Moses (Ex, xviii. 20): “Thou 
shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt show 
them the way which they should walk therein and 
the work that they should do,” as interpreted by Elea- 
zar of Modin in Mek., Yitro (compare B. K. 99b; 
B. M. 80b; and Targ. Yer. Ex. xviii. 20), to mean: 
“Show them the house of life,” ¢.e., the synagogue 
where the poor are to be sheltered; “the way,” that 
is, to visit the sick; “ where they should walk,” that 
is, to bury the dead; “therein,” that is, “to bestow 
kindness” to other persons in need: and “the work 
they should do,” that is, to do “ more than is strictly 
required.” “To him who shows mercy to all his 
fellow-creatures, Heaven will also show mercy; to 
him who fails to show mercy to his fellow-creatures, 
Heaven will not show mercy” (Shab. 1516, based 
upon Deut, xilt. 18 [A. V. 17]). The Israelites are 
distinguished for charity, modesty, and benevolence 
(Yeb. 79a). When Moses asked the Lord to show 
him “His way,” He showed him the treasures of 
heaven in store for those who do works of charity, 
especially for those who rear orphan children 
(Tanh. to Ex. xxxiii. 138). 

Charity, however, should not be so altruistic as 
to overlook one’s duties toward self and those nearer 

home. “He commits a crime who im- 
Principles perils his life by refusing to take char- 
of Charity. ity when he is in dire need” (Yer. 

Peah vii. 2tb). Against the tend- 
ency prevailing in Essene and Christian circles to 
sell all one had and “ give to the poor” in order to 
have “treasure in heaven” (Matt. xix. 21), the rabbis 
at the synod in Usha ordained that “no one should 
give away more than the fifth of his fortune lest 
from independence he may lapse into a state of de- 
pendence” (Ket. 50a). “He that doeth righteous- 
ness at all times” (Ps. cvi. 3) is he who supports his 
wife and small children (Ket. /.¢.). The poor among 
one’s own relatives, and then those in the sane town, 
have the leading claims upon charity (B. M. 71a). 

On the other hand, charity is to provide each poor 
person with “what is sufficient for his need in ac- 
cordance with what he lacks”; that is to say, his 
personal claims and wants with a view to his former 
socia] position should be considered; “and if he needs 


‘669 





a horse to ride on, it should not be withheld from 
him now that he is in reduced circumstances” (Sifre 
to Deut. xv. 8; Ket. 67b; Yer. Peah viii. 21b); the 
fundamental principle being expressed in Ps. xli. 1; 
‘see Midr. Teh. to the passage: “Blessed is he that 
considereth the poor.” Furthermore, all possible 
secrecy should be maintained in order not to of- 
fend the recipient of charity (Ket. /.c.; B. B. 9b; 
see ALMS). Of greater merit, therefore, than 
giving is the helping of the poor by lending him 
money, or in some other way facilitating his mode 
of living (Shab. 63a). But greater than all charity 
is that bestowing of personal kindness (“ gemilut 
hasadim ”) which is enjoined by the words, “to love 
mercy ” (Micah vi. 8). In fact, all charity is valued 
only by the element of personal kindness it contains 
(according to Hosea x. 12). “Charity is offered with 
one’s money; kindness, with both one’s person and 
one’s money. Charity is bestowed upon the poor; 
kindness, upon both poor and rich. Charity is of- 
fered to the living; kindness, to both the living and 
the dead” (Suk. 49b). “The bestowal of kindness 
is one of the three things on which the world is 
stayed,” teaches Simon the Just in the third pre- 
Christian century (Ab. i. 2). That is to say, the 
recognition of the needs of suffering humanity calis 
into existence a body of men who take charge of the 
various charitable works required for the mainte- 
nance of society. Sucha body of elders of each city 
is held responsible for every case of neglect of hu- 
man life which may lead to disastrous consequences; 
for why should the elders of that city “next unto 
the slain man” whose body has been found, “ put 
away the guilt of innocent blood” from among them 
(Deut. xxi, 1-9), unless they have failed to provide 
properly for either the victim or the desperate mur- 
derer (Sifre, Deut. 219; Sotah ix. 6). 

Here the principle is laid down for all times and 
places that charity, in its manifold ramifications, is 
a matter of public safety and public 
administration; and it is more than 
probable that the “ Anshe Keneseth ha- 
Gedolah,” of whom Simon the Just is 
said to have been one of the last rem- 
nants(Ab.i. 2), were also the organizers 
of the system of charity. It is one of 
the radicai errors of Uhlhorn (“ Die Christliche Lieb- 
esthiitigkeit,” 1882, p. 55) and all Christian writers to 
ascribe to the Cristian Church the merit of having 
originated systematic charitable work based on Matt. 
xXv. 85-39; the burying of the dead, as Uhlhorn says, 
having been added later to the six branches of charity 
mentioned there. The fact is that the whole descrip- 
tion of the Messianic judgment in Matthew, l.c., rests 
on the Midrashic interpretation of Ps. cxviii. 19 e¢ 
seq. (see Midr. Teh. to the passage, where the deeds 
of charity are enumerated in words almost identical 
with those of Matthew). Indeed, these familiar 
Hasidic works of charity were regarded as having 
been practised from the beginning of the world, the 
Lord Himself having taught them to the Patriarchs 
(Sotah 14a). Daniel, Job, and Abraham practised 
them (Ab. R. N. iv., vii.; ed. Schechter, pp. 21, 
33), Abraham having learned them from Melchiz- 
edek (Midr. Teh. Ps. xxxvii.); and there are many 
indications that the ancient Hasidim divided them- 


Charity 
a Matter 
of Public 
Adminis- 

tration. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


‘holding the money (see APOSTLE). 


Charity 


selves into groups attending to these (seven?) differ- 
ent branches of charitable work (see M. K. 27b; Sem. 
xii.; Ab. R. N. viii. 86 et seg.; Geiger, “Jiid. Zeit.” 
vi, 279, ix. 7-9; Brill, “Jahrb.” i. 25; and art, 
EssENEs). These seven branches, mutatis mutandis, 
mentioned in rabbinical literature, are: (1) feeding 
the hungry and giving the thirsty to drink; (2) 
clothing the naked; (8) visiting the sick; (4) bury- 
ing the dead and comforting the mourners; (5) re- 
deeming the captive: (6) educating the fatherless 
and sheltering the homeless; (7) providing poor 
maidens with dowries. The “Apostolic Constitu- 
tions” (iv. 2) enumerates ten branches. 

The Mosaic law, based upon the simple agricul- 
tural life of the Hebrews, offered provisions for 

widows, orphans, and strangers who 
Systematic had entered into a state of depend- 
Relief. ence; while the shiftless and otherwise 
unfortunate often sold themselves as 
slaves with the view of recovering their freedom in 
the seventh year and their patrimony in the jubilee 
year. In times of famine, emigration was resorted 
to (I Kings xvii. 9; Ruth i. 1). It is interesting to 
notice the changed conditions in Palestine during 
the first century, when Queen Helena of Adiabene 
during a great famine bought shiploads of wheat 
and figs to aid the starving, and her son Izates sent 
great sums of money “to the foremost men of Jeru- 
salem for distribution among the people” (Josephus, 
“Ant.” xx. 2, £5). Here is the first historical evi- 
dence of the existence of a body of men at the head 
of the community having relief work in charge. And 
that the foremost men were selected for the office of 
charity collectors or overseers (“ gabba’e zedakah ”), 
may be learned from the ancient Mishnah (Kid. vi. 
5): “He whose fathers belonged to the gabba’e zeda- 
kah is qualified to marry into priestly families with- 
out inquiry as to his pure descent.” It is also known 
that at the beginning of the second century R. Akiba 
held the office of charity overseer (Kid. 28a). 

The following system of relief was established in 
Mishnaic times. Every community had a charity- 
box, called “kuppah,” or KorsBawn (see ALMs), or 
“arca” (Tertullian, “ Apologia,” xxxix.), contain- 
ing the funds for the support of the indigent towns- 
men, who received every Friday money for the 
fourteen meals of the whole week, and for clothing, 
as well as the charity for the transient poor, who 
received only as much as was needed for the day, 
and on Sabbath eve for three meals; also a charity- 
bow1(“ tamhoi ”) for the keeping of victuals needed 
for immediate relief. The charity-box was given in 
charge of three trustees, who formed a regular bet 
din to decide on the worthiness and claims of the 
applicants before giving money; personal merit 
as well as parentage and former social station be- 
ing considered. Beggars who went from door to 
door received nothing, or at best a pittance. For 
the collection of the money two men of the utmost 
respectability and trustworthiness were sent, en- 
dowed with full power to tax the people and to 
seize property until the sum required was given 
them. In order to avoid all suspicion, these collectors 
were not allowed to separate while collecting or 
The victuals for 
the tamhuy were both collected and distributed for 


Charity 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


670 


S88 SSS SS SSS 8 = eee eee 


immediate use by three officers. The collections 
for the kuppal were made weekly. A residence in 
the city for thirty days obliged persons to contribute 
to the kuppah, one of three monthstothetamhuy, one 
of six months tothe clothing, and one of nine months 
to the burial fund (B. B. 8-9; Tosef. Peah iv. 8-15; 
Mishnah Peah viii. 7; Yer. Peah 21a, b). The task 
of the charity administrators—also called “ parna- 
sim” (B°D375), from zpdévoog = “ provider” ; compare 
“Apostolic Constitutions,” iii. 3, tpaveiay rototpevoc 
(Tosef., Meg. iii. 4; Yer. Peah. viii. 21a, b; Shek. 
v. 4, 48a)—was regarded as extremely delicate, and 
often entailed great sacrifice; while the reputation 
of the officers was so high that they were never 
called to account for their administration (Shab. 
118b; B. B. 9a-1la; ‘Ab. Zarah 17b). 

The leading maxim was that the poor should never 
be put to shame by receiving charity (Hag. 5a). Mai- 
monides (“ Yad,” Mattenot ‘Anivyim, x. 7-13) enu- 
merates eight different ranksof givers of charity: (1) 
he who aids the poor in supporting himself by ad- 
vancing money or by helping him to some lucrative 
occupation ; (2) he who gives charity without know- 
ing who is the recipient and without having the re- 
cipient know who is the giver, 7.e, in the manner char- 

ity was practised in the chamber of the 


Modes Hasshhaim (Essenes) in the Temple at 
of Alms- Jerusalem (Shek. v. 7); (8) he who 
giving. gives in secret, casting the money 


into the houses of the poor, who re- 
main ignorant as to the name of their benefactor: 
this was done by great masters in Israel (Ket. 67b), 
and should be done whenever the public charity is 
not administered in a proper way; (4) he who gives 
without knowing the recipient, by casting it among 
the poor, while the recipient knows who is the giver 
(Ket. f.¢.); (5) he who gives before he is asked; (6) 
he who gives after he is asked; (7) he who gives 
inadequately, but with a good grace; (8) he who 
gives with a bad grace. 

Impostors who pretended to have bodily defects, 
whereby to appeal to the sympathy of the charity 
officers, are mentioned (Peah viii. 9; Tosef. Peah iv. 
14; Ket. 68a). Non-Jewish poor were also sup- 
ported from the charity fund (Git. 61a), but such 
Jews as wilfully transgressed the Law had no claim 
to support as “brothers” (Shulhan ‘Aruk, Yoreh 
De‘ah, 251). A woman’s claim had precedence of a 
yan’s; a student of the Law, over an ignorant man, 
even though of the highest rank (Hor. tii. 7-8; Ket. 
6, 7a; Maimonides, @.c. viii. 15; Shulhan ‘Aruk, é.¢.). 

Charity was also regarded as a form of sacrifice 
offered to God on behalf of the poor (see ALTAR), 
and was invested with the sacred character of vows 
and free-will offerings (Deut. xxiii. 24; R. H. 6a). 
Hence it came that, while only worthy persons should 
receive charity (B. B. 9b; Ecclus. [Sirach] xii. 1-6 
Didache, i. 5-6; “ Apost. Const.” iv. 3), it was also 
of great importance that the givers should be of 
unblemished character (Tosef., B. K. xi. 9 et seq.; 
“Apost. Const.” iv. 6-10—a very important Jewish 
chapter on charity, stating that charity has the char- 
acter of a sacrifice, for which nothing that is abom- 
inable to God [Deut. xxiii. 19] may be used, and to 
which none who is an abomination [Deut. xviii. 10 
et seg.| may be a contributor; see DrpascaLiA). Es- 


pecially idolaters, unless in cases of royal donorg 
were excluded from contributing to the charity fung 
(Sanh. 26b; B. B. 10b; Maimonides, /.c. viii. 9). 4 
frequent form of charity practised in the pre-Chrig. 
tian and early Christian centuries was the hospice or 

public inn (“* pandok,” ravdoxeior), buj)t 


Public on the high road to offer shelter and 
Inn for foodtothe pour traveler andthe home. 
Travelers. less. Ascribed alike to Abraham ang 


to Job (Ab. R. N. vii., ed. Schechter, 
p. 84; Sotah 10a; Gen. R. xlix., liv.; Test. Job iii. . 
see Kohler, in Kohut Memorial Volume, pp. 270, 
318; compare Targ. Yer. to Deut. xxtii. 17); this 
practise was known in Philo’s time (Philo, “ De Cari- 
tate,” $12, and elsewhere), and later on in Babylonia, 
where Hana bar Hanilai kept an inn which had its 
four doors open on four sides, exactly like those of 
Job and Abraham, to all passers-by; sixty bakers 
being kept busy baking bread in the daytime, and 
sixty at night for the bashful poor who would not be 
seen asking bread by day (Ber. 58b; compare Test. 
Job iii. 11). 

This ravdoyeiov of the Essenes appears as a Chris- 
tian institution in the fourth century under the name 
of “xenodochium "(inn for strangers), and connected 
with, or serving as, a “ptocheum” or “ ptochotro- 
pheum ” (sick-house) and was, as Hieronymus ex- 
pressly states, transplanted from the East to the 
West “as a twig from Abraham’s terebinth,” a di- 
rect allusion to the rabbinical identification of Gen. 
xxi. 33 with such a hospice (see Uhihorn, é.c. pp. 
319-821, where Hieronymus’ words are quoted, but 
seemingly without a comprehension of their signifi- 
cance). Asa matter of fact, the emperor Julian, in 
instituting inns for strangers in every city, refers to 
both Jews and Christians, “the enemies of the gods,” 
as models of philanthropy, inasmuch as with the 
former no beggar was to be found, and the latter 
also supported the heathen poor as well as their own 
(Julianus, “Epist.” xxx. 49; Sozomen, “ Hist. of the 
Church,” v. 16). Abrahams (in his “Jewish Life in 
the Middle Ages,” p. 314, note) is therefore not far 
from the truth when he suggestsa possible connection 
of the ancient “ pandok ” with the communal inn of 
the Middle Ages for the lodging and feeding of poor or 
sick travelers, which became a special necessity after 
the Crusades. The halakic rule, fixed for all time, 
was that no city is worth living in for a devotee of 
the Law (“ Talmid hakam ”) which has not a charity- 
box, “kuppah shel zedakah” ; that is, a systematic 
relief of the poor (Sanh. 1%7b),. Also the name “ hek- 
desh” for the Jewish hospital, found as early as the 
eleventh century in Cologne (see Brisch, “Gesch. der 
Juden in Coeln,” 1879, p. 19; Berliner, “Aus dem 
Innern Leben der Deutschen Juden im Mittelal- 
ter,” p. 120), and in the casuistic literature as “ bet- 
hekdesh [le ‘aniyyim]” (“the house of the things 
consecrated [to the poor},” see Lampronti, 3.7. wtp), 
points to a long-established custom of the pious to 
consecrate property to God for the benefit of the 
poor (see Ta’an. 24a; B. B. 183b). This hekdesh 
served all through the Middle Ages, like the ancient 
Christian xenodochium (Haeser, “ Gesch. der Christl. 
Krankenpfiege,” 1857, 18), both as a poorhouse and 
as 4 hospital for the sick and the aged as well as for 
the stranger. 


671 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Charity 





As has been shown by Abrahams (/.c. pp. 811-312), 
the tamhoi or food distribution of old was gradu- 
ally superseded either by private hospitality or by 
communal hostelries and by the benevolent activity 
of charitable societies formed for this purpose; while 
the institution of regular relief through the charity 
fund (kuppah) became universal (see Maimonides, 
ic. ix. 8). Charity being the universal duty, all 
were forced to contribute (Ket. 49b), even women 
and children, and, as far as they could afford it, the 
poor themselves (B. K. 119a; Git. 7b). In the syn- 
agogue the charity fund was remembered by vows 
made publicly (Tosef., Ter. i. 10; Tosef., Shab. 
Xvil. 22), especially on occasions of joy or in com- 
memoration of the dead (“Or Zarua‘,” i. 26; Ro- 
keah, § 217); and occasionally collections were made 
at festal banquets (Abrahams, f.c. pp. 31 e¢ seq.). 
The average Jew was always expected to give one- 
tenth of his income to charity (Ket. 50a; Yer. Peah 
i. 15b; Maimonides, J.c. vii. 5); and the rabbis of the 
Middle Ages endeavored to make this a legal tax 
rather than a mere voluntary contribution (Abra- 
hans, J.c. pp. 819 e¢ seg.) See also Judah Hadassi, 
in “ Eshkol ha-Kofer.” 

In the thirteenth century (Abrahams, J.c. pp. 324 
et seg.; Giidemann, “Gesch. des Erziehungswesens 
und der Cultur der Juden in Deutschland,” i. 50, 
note; Berliner, “Gesch. der Juden in Rom,” ii. 56; 
Vogelstein and Rieger, “Gesch. der Juden in Rom,” 
ii. 815; “Ben Chananjah,” 1861, p. 28) charitable 
societies were organized all over Europe for sup- 
porting and clothing the poor, for the education of 
the children of the poor, for endowing poor maidens, 
for nursing and educating orphans, for visiting the 
sick, for aid to sick and lying-in women among the 
poor, for sheltering the aged, for free burials, and 
for the ransom of prisoners, which, of all charitable 
objects, is declared in the Talmud to be the highest 
of merit (B. B. 8b; Maimonides, J.c. viii. 9-15; see 

CApTivEs). The activity displayed 
Charitable by these societies in Rome in the sev- 
Societies. enteenth century is typical of all; 
though, according to Berliner (@.c, ii. 
183), the Spanish and Italian Jews displayed a spe- 
cial talent for organization. There existed, and still 
exist, four central organizations in Rome: one by the 
name of “‘Ozer Dallim” for the help of the poor ; 
a second by the name of “Gemilut Hasadim ” for the 
benefit of the dead; a third by the name of “ Moshab 
Zekenim,” a home for the aged; and a fourth by the 
name of “Shomer Emunim” for the maintenance of 
the faith and worship. These comprise wellnigh 
thirty different societies, seven of which provide for 
the needs of the poor, children, widows, and prison- 
ers; two for visiting the sick and for offering aid in 
cases of sudden death; two for dowries for poor 
brides; and one for the ransoming of captives. 
The nursing of sick women as well as the award of 
dowries to brides was in charge of a woman ap- 
pointed as directress by the Jewish community. 
Non-Jewish poor were also supported by these Jew- 
ish societies, whose officers brought the required aid 
to the houses of the more respected poor. The 
women had their own society (see Berliner, /.c.; 
Vogelstein and Rieger, Z.c.). 
In a remarkable document by Samuel Portaleone 


(“Jew. Quart. Rev.” v. 505-515) seven charity-boxes 
are mentioned as existing in Mantua or San Martino 
in 1680: a box for the land of Israel; another for 
Talmud-Torah; a third for burying the dead (“kup- 
pat gemilut hasadim ”); a fourth for charity (“kup- 
pat rahamim,” the sick and aged); a fifth for 
maidens’ dowries; a sixth for the relief of the poor; 
and a seventh for the redemption of captives. (For 
Amsterdam compare Zedner, “Cat. Hebr. Books 
Brit. Mus.” p. 49.) The records of every Jewish com- 
munity, ancient and modern, evidence the fact beau- 
tifully expressed in Cant. R. iv. 1, v. 2: “‘ Behold 

thou art fair, my love ’—in all works of charity; ‘I 

sleep, but my heart waketh ’—‘I sleep’ in regard to 

all other commandments, but ‘my heart waketh’ 
whenever works of charity are to be performed.” 

See ALMs. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hamburger, R. B. T. i.8.v.: Almosen, Almo- 
seneinnehmer, Almosenvorsteher, Armenpflege, Wohlthun; 
M. Weinberg, Die Organization der Jiidischen Ortsgemein- 
den, in Monatsschrift, 1897, pp. 678-681; Abrahams, Jewish 
Life in the Middle Ages; D. Cassel, Die Armenverwal- 
tung im Alten Israel, 1887; Maimonides, Yad, Mattenot 
‘Aniyyim: Shulhan *Aruk, Yoreh De‘ah, 246-259; Uhlkorn, 
Die Christliche Liebesthdtigheit hin der Alten Kirche, 1880; 
idem, Armenpflege, in Herzog-Hauck, Real-Eneye. (in- 
structive for comparison, but, as far as Jewish matters are 
discussed, incorrect). 

J. K. 
Modern Times: In more recent times the 
charities of some of the chief cities, as London, 
Paris, and New York, were organized and modeled 
on modern lines. 

In London a number of charitable institutions. 
connected with the Spanish and Portuguese syna- 
gogue had existed since the middle of the eighteenth 
century. Food charities were founded at the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century, and the Jews’ Hospi- 

talin 1808. In 1876 this was amalga- 

Early mated withthe Jews’ Orphan Asylum, 
Organized founded 18381. Many minor Jewish 
Charity. charities had their rise between 1840 
and 1860; the Spanish and Portu- 

guese Board of Guardians was founded in 1837 (re- 
constituted in 1878), and the German Board of Guard- 
jans in 1859. The earliest Portuguese charity arose 

in 1708, and the earliest German in 1745. Then, too, a 

certain part of the synagogue funds was used in 

relieving the poor. Almhouses had been erected, 
early in the century, by the Portuguese synagogue 
from the bequest of Joseph Barrows. In 1823 Sir 

Moses Montefiore supplied money for the same pur- 

pose. The Ashkenazim established some benevolent 

societies between 1815 and 1885. In 1862 the Solo- 

mons and Moses almshouses were opened; in 1865 

the Jews’ Deaf and Dumb Home. Since that time, 

some new shelters, soup-kitchens, and wards in gen- 
eral hospitals have been established. 

In 1829 Jacob 8. Solis of New York planned a 
Jewish orphan asylum, but not until 1859 was the 
first German Hebrew Benevolent Society established 
in New York: its asylum was opened in 1860. The 
Mount Sinai Hospital was established in 1852, and 
the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids in the 
early eighties. The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian 
Society was founded in 1879 by Philip J. Joachimsen 
of New York, and the Independent Order of B’nai 
B’rith Home for the Aged and Infirm in 1848. In 
1855 the New Orleans Jewish Orphans’ Home was 





Charity 





founded, and the Philadelphia Hebrew Education 
Society in 1849. A number of hospitals, orphan 
asylums, and homes were founded by the Indepen- 
dent Order of B’nai B’rith throughout the United 
States, as at Cleveland in 1863 and at San Fran- 
cisco in 1871. 

In Paris, the several societies were amalgamated 
as the Comité de Bien faisance de la Ville de Paris on 
May 12, 1809. The heads of the Parisian charities 
were the commissioners who had charge of all mat- 
ters affecting relief. Several times 
the Comité was reorganized both in 
the number of commissioners and in 
the relief afforded. April 15, 1889, new regulations 
went into effect, and 15 commissioners were ap- 
pointed. The number finally reached 36 in 1877. 
Subcommittees have charge of the receipts and ex- 
penditures, of poor-relief, coal supplies, soup-kitch- 
ens, ete. 

In 1843 a lottery for the benefit of the charities of 
the Comité was instituted, and between 18438 and 
1853 a lying-in hospital and one for consumptives 
were organized and assistance offered to Jewish 
pedlers. The Comité, moreover, cndeavored to re- 
duce the number of Jewish mendicants. In 1809, 
when the Comité was first organized, a complete 
hospital service was established. But a hospital 
building was not acquired until January, 1841; this 
contained 15 beds. It was formally opened Jan. 16, 
1842, and did much to relieve the poor, besides pro- 
viding medical treatment for sick Israelites. The 
Rothschilds endowed the institution Jiberally, and 
founded an orphanage in 1855. After the Revolu- 
tion of 1848 the affairs of the Comité were entirely 
reorganized, and since 1849 it has had charge of all 
Parisian Jewish charities. Notable was the found- 
ing of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in 1868. 


Paris. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Cahen, Hist. €u Communauté de Paris, 
s.v. Comité de Bienf.; J. Picciotto, Sketches of Arglo-Jew- 
ish Hist., s.v. Charities, in Index; Markens, The Hebrews 
in America, pp. 309 et seg.. New York, 11888; Jacobs-Wolf, 
Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica, s.v. Communal Organizations ; 
Maxime du Camp, Paris Bienfaisant. 


A. A. M. F. 


In 1882 the persecution of the Jews in Russia, 
resulting in a sudden emigration, thrust upon the 
Jews of various countries the problem of finding 
adequate relief for thousands of homeless and starv- 
ing refugees. Soon it became necessary for the 
societies and institutions that existed in the commu- 
nities to combine their efforts and enter into coop- 
eration. In this manner Russian emigration gave 
impetus to the affiliation and consolidation of char- 
itable effort, and especially affected such movements 
as had been started some time before. Within the 

past twenty-five years these organiza- 


Effect tions, originally formed to meet an 
of Russian imminent need, have developed into 
Per- compact, systematic bodies. In the 
secution. larger communities in particular, 


where thousands of Jews Jived, many 
of whom were unknown to one another, the charity 
given indiscriminately by the individual gradually 
gave way to charity given by the organization after 
careful investigation of the applicant’s needs, with 
the view of preventing pauperism and itsattending 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


672 





evils. Along with this Innovation came the intro- 
duction of the paid agent instead of the volunteer, 
it being the business of the former to study the 
complex conditions that encompassed the poor and 

to administer relief, not only from the 


Co- standpoint of the poor, but from the 
operation standpoint of their relation to the com- 
Dueto munity. The modern Jewish relicf 
Russian institution is based on the assumption 
Exodus. that the administration of charity isa 


task for the sociologist who has stud- 
ied the causes subjective and objective that produce 
poverty, and for the trained expert who has a 
knowledge of the particular agency that may be re- 
quired to alleviate any form of distress. 

The organizations, socicties, aud agencies for the 
giving of charity in its various phases may be 
grouped under the following general headings: 

1. The Care of Needy Families in Their 
Homes: It is almost axiomatic that the care of © 
needy Jewish families in their homes to-day is not a 
matter for public relicf by the state, even in com- 
munities where public outdoor relief is given. Such 
relief as may be needed is given by Jewish organi- 
zations which, as a rule are based on the same plan 
and carry on similar lines of work. The Boards of 
Guardians in England, the Unterstiitzungs-Vereine 
in Germany, the Sociétés de Bienfaisance in France, 
the United Hebrew Charities and other benevolent 
societies in the United States give material relief to 
the deserving poor in the shape of money, clothing, 
coal, medicine, food, etc., and practically combine 
under one administration the duties of smaller indi- 
vidual charities which they have replaced. Many 
of these larger societies conduct employment bu- 
reaus, loan bureaus, workrooms for unskilled wom- 
en, day, nurseries, and dispensaries as adjuncts to 
their regular work. An important feature is the 
grauting of transportation to other communities 
where the applicant may be better able to prosecute 
his particular vocation. 

The larger societies have a registration bureau, 
in which the record of the applicant is carefully 
preserved, and which is intended for the use of the 
contributors and the public.. The purpose of such 
a bureau is to overcome the possibility of overlap- 

ping and duplication in the giving of 

Principles relief, and to weed out the beggar and 
of the vagrant. The fundamental prin- 
Relief. ciple of these socicties is that relief 
shall be given in cases of emergency 

and only after a thorough investigation of the appli- 
cant’s condition; that the relief which is given shall 
come from one source; that it shall be adequate for 
the applicant’s needs, and shall consider his future 
welfareas wellas his present distress. To carry out 
the last idea, many organizations have instituted 
cooperating societies known as sisterhoods of per- 
sonal service, whose duty it is to enter the homes of 
the poor and to supplement the material relief of 
the society with the helping hand and kind word 
of the individual. Such personal service is a phase 
of the old Jewish idea of “gemilut hesed,” and the 
modern development of the thought that the best 
aid that can be given to the poor is to help them to 
help themselves. The motto of one of the charity 


873 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Charity 





organization societies in the United States, “Not 
alms, but a friend,” is the fundamental motive of 
personal service and of the friendly visitor. 

Many of these sisterhoods are adjuncts to the syn- 
agogue, and are a part of the contribution of the 
latter to the charitable work of the community. It 
is becoming more apparent daily that the friendly 
visitor, the man or woman who gives personal serv- 
ice to the poor, if intelligent and tactful, can be of 
inestimable benefit to the work of a relief society. 

The London Board of Guardians for the relief of 
the Jewish poor stands as a type of the relief soci- 
ety that is to be found in England and its provinces. 
Its expenditures in 1899 were nearly £58,000 ($290, - 
000). It represents practically the entire Jewish 
community of London, although there are a number 
of independent small societies which give similar 
relief. Its work is conducted by thirteen committees, 
who grant loans, conduct workrooms, assist emi- 
grants, apprentice boys, supply tools, conduct alms- 
houses, and give every form of material relief, 
Similar organizations are found in most of the cities 
and towns in the provinces and colonies and through- 
out the British possessions. 

In Paris the Comité de Bienfaisance Israélite, as- 
sisted by the commissioners of charity, grants neces- 
sary assistance to worthy poor families, gives them 
tools and machines or the means to purchase the 

same, also grants money to purchase 

Local goods, makes loans, and provides med- 

Centralized ical relief. The Comité conducts an 

In- employment bureau and maintains 

stitutions. two large Jewish soup-kitchens where, 

for ten and fifteen centimes, portions 

of soup, meat, and vegetables are given to all pre- 

senting orders from the Comité. Outside of Paris 

there exist in France but few important institutions 
as there are but comparatively few Jewish poor. 

In the United States the United Hebrew Charities 
of New York is the largest organization of its kind, 
disbursing annually upward of $130,000, and is rep- 
resentative of similar institutions throughout the 
country. It endeavors to give every form of mate- 
rial relief that may be required by its beneficiaries, 
and to supplement this relief by educational and 
preventive agencies so that the grinding poverty 
common to congested communities, which rapidly 
tends to degeneracy, may not only be palliated, but 
suppressed. Not only in the larger cities of the 
United States, but in the smallest community where 
there is a Jewish population, similar organizations 
exist. In the “American Jewish Year-Book” for 
1900-01, 593 philanthropic organizations are men- 
tioned, of which the large majority assist in the care 
of needy families in their homes. There are, how- 
ever, numbers of small relief and benefit societies 
which have been organized by the Russian, Ruma- 
nian, and Galician immigrants of the past twenty-five 
years and their descendants, which are little known 
outside of their immediate environment and which 
are not included in this list. 

In Germany the Armen-Commission der Jiidischen 
Gemeinde in Berlinis typical of the general societies 
which look after the needy poor. This organization 
is composed of a committee from the United Con- 
gregations, in whose charge the philanthropic work 

IIT.—43 


of the community is placed. In this respect Ger- 
many differs from the other countries mentioned 
above, where the large communal organizations are 
as a rule separate from congregational effort. The 
Armen-Commission in Berlin has several subcom- 
mittees, one of which gives monetary relief, another 
work and mazzot, and a third food. There are 
among them also a number of smaller institutions, 
such as a society for the support of needy travelers, 
a society for the granting of pensions to students, and 
another for giving clothing. Characteristic of Ger- 
many are organizations known as Vereine Gegen 
Wander- und Hausbettelei, of which there are sev- 
enty-seven in the various German cities and towns. 
In the smaller communities, as in the larger, the care 
of the needy families is a portion of the work of the 
Jewish congregations, 

2. Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent 
Children: The orphaned child has always been the 
particular care of the Jewish community. Furnish- 
ing marriage portions to orphans was the work of 
special societies. Wherever it was possible, the 
orphan child was taken in charge by relatives or 
friends, or foster-parents were found for it. When 
this became impossible, orphanages and asylums 
were organized to look after the child bereft of either 
or both of its parents. The object of these societies 
was not only to give shelter, but to educate the in- 
mates to become good Jewish men and women. 
Such orphan asylums sprang into existence as early 
as the latter part of the eighteenth century, and to- 
day are the accepted method of caring for the de- 
pendent and destitute child. Societies for the board- 
ing out of children in homes under the supervision 
of proper guardians are less common. Of more 
recent growth is the development of what is known 
as the placing-out system under which the child is 

legally adopted. This system is based 

Boarding on the belief that the housing of large 

Out. = numbers of children in institutions is 

detrimental to their proper develop- 

ment and destroys individual characteristics which 

would be brought out in the more natural environ- 

ment ofa home. Attempts that have been made in 

the United States to place children in homes have 
given but meager results. 

In London there are two institutions for depend- 
ent children, the Jews’ Hospital and Orphan Asylum 
and the Spanish and Portuguese Orphan Society, 
the latter for children of Sephardim only. In the 
provinces there are no orphan asyluins, but in a 
number of communities there are organizations 
which are in the nature of aid societies to the Jews’ 
Hospital and Orphan Asylum. In Australia there 
is a Jewish Orphan and Neglected Children’s Aid 
Society in Melbourne. 

In Paris the Jewish Orphan Asylum founded and 
maintained by the Rothschild family receives and 
educates about 100 children of both sexes; the Ref- 
uge de Plessis-Piquet receives abandoned boys from 
six to fourteen years old, gives them an elementary 
education, and teaches them a trade. It has ac- 
commodations for 70 pupils. The Refuge de Neuil- 
ly conducts a similar institution for girls. 

In the United States there are at present 16 Jew- 
ish asylums for dependent children, situated in the 


Charity 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


674 





cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Chi- 
cago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Newark, N. J., New 
Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Roch- 
ester, and San Francisco. Of these the largest are 
the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New 
York, which at present cares for over 900 children, 
and the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum 
Society, which has nearly that number of children 
in itscharge. The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian So- 
ciety of New York and the Hebrew Infant Asylum 
of the same city are distinctive in that they receive 
not only orphan and half-orphan children, but any 
child for whom there is no proper guardianship. 
The latter institution confines its work to children 
under five years of age. The asylums in Atlanta, 
Ga., and Cleveland, Ohio, are under the auspices of 
the I. O. B. B. and receive their inmates from the 
respective districts which they represent. The other 
societies are local in character, and are conducted by 
private agencies. 

The modern tendency in the care of dependent 
children is, as has been stated, against the institu- 
tion, and in favor of the home as the natural place 
for child-training. Onthis supposition many of the 
Jewish relief societies grant pensions to deserving 
widows to enable them to keep their families intact. 
The United Hebrew Charities of New York dis- 
burses over $30,000 annually to this end. In the 
case of full orphans and half orphans, societies like 
the Orphans’ Guardian Society of Philadelphia and 
the Frank Fund of Chicago board out such children 
under proper guardianship in families. The Feder- 
ation of Charities of Boston, in connection with the 
state authorities, has succeeded in boarding out 
some of its dependent children in Massachusetts 
homes. 

In Germany, the institutional care of dependent 
children has developed further than in any other 
country, there being no less than 41 asylums of vari- 
ous kinds that look after the interests of children. 
Most of these institutions are local in character and 
have but few inmates; others, like the one founded 
by Baruch Auerbach in Berlin in 1833, are organi- 

zations of considerable importance. 
European Besides this institution there are ten 
In- others in Berlin; in Frankfort there 
stitutions. are three; in Hamburg, two; in Han- 
over, two; and the others are scattered 

throughout the smaller towns and cities. 

There are no special institutions for delinquent 
Jewish children. In Paris such children are sent to 
the Refuge de Plessis-Piquet; in Frankfort there is 
a society known as the Stift fiir Gebrechliche oder 
Verwahrloste Israelitische Kinder. In neither of 
these institutions is there any attempt at classifi- 
cation. Whenever delinquent children have been 
found, they have been turned over to public officials 
and placed in state or private agencies, not Jewish, 
of a correctional or reformatory character. In large 
cities, such as New York, the growth in the number 
of juvenile Jewish delinquents will in all likelihood 
necessitate the introduction of Jewish reformator- 
ies in the future. In Chicago, the Ninth Ward 
Bureau of Charities, which is affiliated with the Fed- 
eration of Jewish Charities, has cooperated with the 
secular authorities toward the establishment of a 


juvenile court and the paroling of delinquent Jew. 
ish children to probationary officers, in whose charge 
these children are placed and who are responsible 
to the court. In this manner many children who 
formerly were committed to correctional institutions 
for petty offenses are returned to their families | 
under the supervision of the probation officer. The 
result has been salutary to a large degree. 

3. Hospitals, Dispensaries, Nursing: The 
inns of the Middle Ages, for the accommodation of 
travelers and which also served as infirmaries, have 
given place to-day to magnificently equipped hos- 
pitals in all partsof the world, many of which differ 
radically from their originals, as they are founded 
on the highest principles of non-sectarian charity, 
Many of the institutions known as Jewish hospitals, — 
while founded and endowed exclusively by Jews, 
are intended for the treatment of all, irrespective of 
creed, color, or race. The majority of these hospi- 
tals have a dispensary service attached to them, 
where outdoor medical relief is given. A number 
have district service, sending their physicians to the 
homes of the poor who are bedridden. Similar 
work is done. by the relief-giving societies, the one 
in Chicago, for example, having its own dispensary, 
In connection with their other work, the hospitals 
frequently have training-schools for nurses, and of 
more recent growth are organizations similar to the 
nurses’ settlement in New York, which combine 
training with district and neighborhood work. In- 
stitutions for the treatment of special diseases and 
for special classes of diseases are becoming more 
common, in line with the differentiation in charita- 
ble work. 

In London, the Board of Guardians conducts a 
nursing-home and sends nurses to invalid children. 
Another organization, known as the Sick-Room 
Helps Association, provides attendants for the homes 
of the poor during illness and confinement. Con- 
valescents are cared for by the Baroness de Hirsch 
Convalescent Home and the Jewish Convalescent 
Home. There arealsoa home anda hospital for Jew- 
ish incurables, and the Bet Holim Hospital for the 
aged. 

The hospital founded by the Rothschild family 
in Paris is the only Jewish hospital in France. This 
is insufficient for the Jewish population, but the 
Jews do not hesitate to go to the general hospitals, 
where they obtain admission without difficulty. 
Connected with the Rothschild institution is a home 
for incurables, which accepts, besides those incura- 
bly ill, idiots and paralytics. At Berck-sur-Mer 
one member of the Rothschild family founded an 
institution for the special purpose of receiving and 
curing children up to fifteen years of age, who are 
of feeble constitution or scrofulous. Jewish hospi- 
tals are also to be found in Tunis, Smyrna, Constan- 
tinople, Salonica, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. 

In the United States, medica! relief is given by a 
large number of relief societies. There is a Jewish 
hospital in each of the following cities: Baltimore, 
Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, New Orleans, and San 
Francisco. In New York there are four, in Phila- 
delphia two. The hospital in Denver is a national 
Jewish institution for consumptives. <A similar insti- 
tution, local in character, is the Bedford Sanitarium 


675 


of the Montefiore Home, recently established at Bed- 
ford Station, N. Y. In St. Louis and Omaha, hos- 
pital societies have recently been or- 


Medical ganized. In New York the sanitarium 
Relief for Hebrew children gives medical 
Societies. relief andasummer’s outing to Jewish 


children and to their mothers under 
certain restrictions. In Germany, there are over 30 
hospitals, three being in Berlin and three in Frank- 
fort. There jis one in Nauheim, but it is for the 
treatment of children exclusively, Many of these, 
like the relief bureaus, are conducted under the aus- 
pices of the local congregations, and are partly sup- 
ported by contributions from the latter. 

4. The Treatment of Criminals: Until re- 
cently there was no special institution in any part of 
the world for the treatment of Jewish criminals. In 
London a special reformatory has been established, 
anda visitation committee of the United Synagogues 
visits the prisons, The percentage of Jewish crim- 
inals in state institutions has always been a very 
small one. Imprisonment for major crimes has until 
recently been very rare. Petty offenses, such as lar- 
ceny, are the most common. In large cities, such as 
New York, Jewish criminality is steadily on the in- 
crease, and is no longer confined to the minor crimes. 
In the year 1900, 483 Jewish men and women were 
sent to the various prisons, jails, and reformatories 
throughout the state of New York, 419 Jews were 
sent to the New York city workhouse, and 383 
Jewish boys and girls were sent to correctional in- 
stitutions, While the proportion is below that ex- 
isting among Catholics and Protestants in the same 
community, it is higher than the figures of a few 
years ago. The Society for the Aid of Jewish Pris- 


oners of New York has been organized to look | 


after the condition of affairs and to ameliorate it if 
possible. It cares for the families of prisoners, 
and gives the prisoners a helping hand after being 
discharged. 

5. Defectives: Special Jewish institutions for 
the care of this class of dependents are exceedingly 
uncommon, and separate Jewish institutions for the 
care of the insane are unknown. The same is true 
of institutions for the care of the epileptic and the 
feeble-minded. In London there are a Jews’ Deaf 
and Dumb Home (1863) and an institution for the 
indigent blind founded as early as 1819 under 
Jewish auspices. In Berlin, in Tauberbischofsheim 
_ (Germany), and in Budapest, there are Jewish in- 
stitutions for the deaf and dumb, and there is a 
Jewish Blind Institute in Vienna. In Berlin there 
is also asociety known as the Verein zur Forderung 
der Interessen der Israelitischen Taubstummen in 
Deutschland. There are no corresponding institu- 
tions or societies either in France or the United 
States. 

6. Care of Destitute Adults: Consistent with 
the general policy of Jewish charity, it has never 
been customary to allow the destitute adult to be- 
come a charge upon the state or to be supported by 
public funds. In the almshouses of America or 
the poorhouses of England or in the public institu- 
tions of other countries for the care of indigent 
adults a Jewis seldom found. Private benevolence 
has constructed homes for the aged in which the 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Charity 


dietary laws are observed, or has arranged a system 
of life-pensions which permits those who have be- 
come incapacitated, through age or illness, to spend 
the remainder of their lives removed from the fear 
of becoming public charges. 

In England there are but seven homes for the 
aged, of which six are in London and one in Man- 
chester. One of these is under the auspices of the 
Jewish Board of Guardians; one conducted in con- 
nection with the United Synagogue, and one in con- 
nection with the Spanish and Portuguese Congrega- 


tion. The others are conducted by 
Alms- private agencies. Most of these in- 
houses. stitutions are known as almshouses. 


In Birmingham the Hebrew Philan- 
thropic Society grants pensions toaged persons. In 
Liverpool the Hebrew Provident Society provides 
old people with a weekly pension; a similar organi- 
zation exists in Manchester. In the other cities 
throughout England the care of the aged poor is 
left to the various Boards of Guardians and relief 
societies. In the British colonies there are homes 
for aged men and women in Gibraltar and in Sydney, 
Australia. In France a home for the aged is con- 
nected with the Jewish Hospital in Paris. Similar 
institutions are to be found at Nancy, Bordeaux, 
and Luneville, maintained by the local Jewish char- 
ities. In the United States, homes for the aged are 
located in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, 
Cleveland, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, 
Richmond, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Yonkers, 
N. Y., the last-mentioned being conducted under 
the auspices of the I. O. B. B. The home at Cleve- 
land is supported by the order Kesher Shel Barzel, 
the other institutions by private effort in the various 
communities. As with orphan asylums and hospi- 
tals, Germany has a Jarger number of institutions 
for the aged than any other country. There are at 
present 23 “Pfriindnerhiiuser” or homes for the 
aged, Breslau having three, Berlin two. 

7. Preventive Work: The chief tendency of 
modern charity being in the direction of the pre- 
vention of poverty and pauperism rather than 
their palliation, it has been found necessary to 
create many bew agencies that tend to this un- 
derlying idea. In the belief that the prosperity 
of the people is in direct proportion to their health, 
free baths have been established to inculcate clean- 
liness and order. Of such a kind are the free 
baths connected with the Hebrew Education So- 
cieties in Philadelphia, Cleveland, and San Fran- 
cisco. To insure proper nourishment for children, 
the Milk and Ice Society of Philadelphia and Balti- 
more and the Nathan Straus milk depots in New 
York furnish sterilized milk at a nominal cost. 

In London the soup-kitchen provides soup and 
bread for the Jewish poor during the winter months. 
Similar kitchens are conducted by the 
Société de Bienfaisance in Paris, where 
soup, meat, and vegetables are sold at 
a nominal price, and in Budapest. In 
Germany, people’s kitchens exist in Berlin and Bres- 
lau. Special societies likewise look after the proper 
housing of the Jewish poor with the hope of either 
removing them from the congested centers in which 
they live in the large cities, or of providing them 


Soup 
Kitchens. 


Charity 
Charleston 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


876 





with homes built according to the best principles of 
light, ventilation, and sanitation, which can be 
rented at a nominal price. 

In London, The Four Per Cent Industrial Dwell- 
ings Company, Limited (1885), is conducted under 
Jewish auspices with the intention of furnishing 
healthy dwellings at a rental sufficient to yield a 
dividend of 4 per cent per annum on the invest- 
ment. The City and Suburban Homes Company of 
New York, while non-sectarian in character, has a 
number of Jewish incorporators, and has a similar 
object to that of the London society. In the hope 
of bringing the worker into closer contact with the 
poorer classes, neighborhood houses and settlements 
have been organized in a number of communities. 
Of such a kind is the Maxwell Street Settlement in 
Chicago, Ill., and the Neighborhood Mouse in St. 
Paul, Minn, In the latter there isa resident worker. 
Similar Jewish settlements are to be found in Cin- 
cinnati, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. Of a special 
nature is the Nurses’ Settlement in New York. In 
all of these settlements the purpose is to raise the 
intellectual and moral level of the immediate neigh- 
borhood in which the settlement exists, by the or- 
ganization of classes, by giving instruction to both 

the younger and the older element, 


Edu- and by developing the social charac- 
cational teristics of the vicinity along educa- 
Set- tional lines. Societies like the Edu- 
tlements. cational Alliance in New York make 


this their aim. They give instruction 
in various trades, conduct boys’ and girls’ clubs, and 
by carefully arranged entertainments develop the 
social side of the neighborhood. Similar in charac- 
ter to the latter are the Hebrew Educational Society 
in Brooklyn and the Hebrew Education Society of 
Philadelphia, In London the Brady Street Club for 
working boys, the East London Jewish Communal 
League, the Jewish Lads’ Brigade, Jewish Working 
Men’s Club, and the Lads’ Institute accomplish 
similar results. In France the Union Scolaire in 
Paris corresponds to the societies mentioned above. 
This organization is a club where young men meet 
for conferences, readings, etc. It assists young 
Jews to find employment, and grants loans to work- 
men and small tradespeople. In Germany there 
are societies, clubs, etc., in fifty cities for the culti- 
vation of trades and bandicraftsamong Jews. Some- 
what more technical in the instruction which they 
give are the Jewish Training School of Chicago, 
the Hebrew Free and Industrial School Society of 
St. Louis, the Hebrew Industrial School of Boston, 
the Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, the 
Hebrew Technical Schools for Girls, the Hebrew 
Technical Institute, and the Baron de Hirsch Trade 
School of New York. In connection with their re- 
lief-work, the sisterhoods mentioned above conduct 
religious schools, industrial schools, day-nurseries, 
employment bureaus, cooking-classes, sewing-cir- 
cles, classes for women, home circles, Kindergartens, 
boys’ and girls’ clubs, mothers’ meetings, and 
workrooms for unskilled women. Similar organiza- 
tions are conducted by individual societies in most 
of the large cities. 
8. Supervisory and Educational Move- 
ments: Among the most marked features of the 


development of charitable work within the past 
twenty-five years isthe tendency of various instity. 
tions to effect an organization that will add to their 
value, and that will give the members of any one 
society the opportunity of coming in contact wita 
the workings of similar societies in other communi- 
ties. In England, while there is no special supervi- 
sory or educational niovement appertaining directly 
to charitable work among the Jews, organizationg 
like the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Commit- 
tee of Deputies of the British Jews interest them- 
selves in all communal work, and indirectly in the 
charitable work of the various communities. These 
two societies have affiliated organizations through- 
out the cities and towns of England, as well as the 
provinces. In France there is hkewise no special 
organization which devotes itself purely to federa- 
tion of the philanthropic organizations. In Ger- 
many the Deutsche Israclitische Gemeindebund has 
been in existence for thirty years, and is practically 
the source and inspiration of the charitable work 
carried on there. This organization publishes every 
two weeks statistics of its work, and from time to 
time special communications to its members. Up 
to the present time fifty-five reports have been is- 
sued. They are mainly educational in character and, 
in connection with the statistics which are published, 
give a useful résumé of the philanthropic work that 
is carried on by the Jews in the Ger- 
Combined man empire. In this Gemeindebund 
Activity in practically every town, and even the 
Germany. smallest village, in Germany is repre- 
sented, so that there are complete 

federation and community of interest. 

In the United States an attempt to bring the sev- 
eral relicf societies into a union was attempted as 
early as 1885, when a conference was held in the city 
of St. Louis, but came to naught. In 1899 a similar 
movement was organized, and the first conference of 
this society, known as the National Conference of 
Jewish Charities, was held in Chicago in June, 1900. 
It now comprises all the important relief societies in 
the United States. It issues a volume of proceed- 
ings and rules for the guidance of its members on 
questions of transportation, desertion, etc. Interna- 
tional organizations which interest themselves in 
philanthropic work and which can only be men- 
tioned here incidentally, are the Jewish Colonization 
Society, the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and the 
numerous foundations and trusts that were estab- 
lished by the Baron de Hirsch. 

9. Immigration: In connection with the work 
of relief societies in the United States, the United 
Hebrew Charities of New York has a special repre- 
sentative at the immigration bureau, who looks after 
the welfare of Jewish immigrants. In Philadelphia 
the Jewish Immigrant Aid Association supports a 
similar office. In England the London Board of 
Guardians has a special committee to which is en- 
trusted the entire question of immigration and emi- 
gration. In Germany, and in France, the immigra- 
tion question isalmost altogether in the hands of the 
Jewish Colonization Association or the Alliance 
Israélite Universelle, which has agencies at various 


points, 
A. L. K. F. 


677 


CHARKOW (KHARKOV). See Russta. 


CHARLEMAGNE: King of the Franks and 
emperor of the West; born April, 742; died Jan. 28, 
814. His attitude toward the Jews was rather that 
of a clever politician than of a liberal-minded man. 
He realized the advantages to be derived by the 
country from the business abilities of the Jews, and 
gave them complete freedom with regard to their 
commercial transactions. Some Jews seem to have 
occupied prominent places at his court. Thus, 
Charlemagne had for his physician one named Fer- 
ragut. A Hebrew named Isaac was a member of 
an embassy sent by Charlemagne to Harun al- 
Rashid, probably in the capacity of dragoman. 
The account which connects Charlemagne with the 
coming of Makir to Narbonne is apocryphal. 

But if the Jews were free in their commercial 
dealings, their political status generally remained 
almost the same under Charlemagne as under his 
predecessors. This is seen in his capitularies, some 
of which deal directly with the Jews. In bringing 
a charge against a Christian, the Jew was to have 
four, nine, or seven witnesses, while the Christian 
was held only to three. No Jew was to engagea 
Christian workman on a Sunday, nor was he to take 
in pledge, at the risk of the loss of his property and 
his right hand, anything that was the property of 
the Church. No Jew was allowed to force a Chris- 
tian to goto prison as pledge for aJew. Whena 
Jew took an oath he was to hold a copy of the Pen- 
tateuch in his hand, and toswear: “So help me God! 
the same God that gave the Law on Mt. Sinai; may 
the leprosy of the Syrian Naaman not come upon 
me, as it did on him, nor the earth swallow me up 
as it did Dathan and Abiram; in this matter I have 
done thee nothing that is evil.” Some of the capit- 
ularies were dictated by a spirit of proselytism. In 
regulating the laws of marriage, Charlemagne for- 
bade the Jews to marry relatives within the seventh 
degree of consanguinity. “We desire,” says he in 
this capitulary, “that any Christian man or woman, 
any Jew or Jewess, who would contracta marriage, 
should not be permitted to do so until after having 
provided a dowry and obtained in the Church of 
God the benediction of a priest.” But the genuine- 
ness of some of the capitulariesis not beyond doubt. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bougnet, Recueil, v.679; Pertz, Monumenta 
Germanie Historica, i.194; Aronius, Regesten, pp. 25-29; 
Bédarride, Les Juifs en France,en Espagne et en Italie, 
pp. 73 et seq.; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, v. 182 et 8éq.;_ Gross, 
Gallia Judaica, p. 404; Saige, Les Juifs du Languedoe, pp. 
8, 42, 43, 79. 

G. I. Br. 
CHARLEMONT, ELIZABETH JANE 

CAULFIELD, Countess of: Convert to Judaism ; 

born June 21, 1884; died at Roxborough Castle, 

Moy, County Tyrone, Ireland, May 31, 1882. She was 

the only daughter of William Meredyth, first Lord 

Athlumney, and married Dec., 1856, James Moly- 

neux, third earl of Charlemont. Although a Chris- 

tian by training, she became a regular attendant at 
synagogue worship, often seeking advice in spiritual 
matters from Jewish rabbis. Lady Charlemont re- 
sided in the country near Belfast, the synagogue of 
which town she frequently attended ; while in Lon- 
don she worshiped at the services of the Bayswater 
and Central synagogues. She was a woman of 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Charity 
Charleston 


varied accomplishments, an excellent linguist, and a 
good musician; and possessed a remarkable gift for 
recitation, which she utilized on behalf of charitable 
institutions. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : The Athenceum, p. 733, London, 1882; The 
Guardian, xxxvii. 80], London; The Jewish Chronicle, 
June 2, 1882; The Times, June 1, 1882, London. 


J. G. L. 


CHARLESTON, S. C.: Capital of the county 
of the same name, and chief city of the state of South 
Carolina in the United States; founded in 1670. 
The colony of South Carolina was originally gov- 
erned under an elaborate charter drawn up in 1669 
by the English philosopher John Locke. This 
charter granted liberty of conscience to all settlers, 
expressly mentioning “Jews, heathens, and dis- 
senters.” 

The earliest record of a Jew in Charleston occurs 
in 1695, when one is mentioned as acting as inter 
preter for Governor Archdale. It isnot improbable, 
however, that individual Jews had settled there at 
an earlier date. In 1702 Jews appeared in numbers 
and voted at a general election. The Jewish com- 
munity at Charleston received a substantial addition 
during the years 1740-41, when the illiberal policy 
of the trustees of Georgia induced both Jews and 
Christians to leave that colony and to flock to South 
Carolina. 

The tirst synagogue established at Charleston was 
that of the congregation Beth Elohim, founded in 
1750. Several of its founders had come from 
Georgia. Its first minister was Isaac da Costa; and 
among its earliest members were the following: 
Joseph and Meshod Tobias, Moses Cohen, Abraham 
da Costa, Moses Pimenta, David de Olivera, Michael 

Lazarus, and Abraham Nufiez Car- 

First Syn- dozo. The Beth Elohim congregation 

agogue. is still in existence. Its first syna- 

gogue was a smail building on Union 

street; its present edifice is situated on Hasell 

street. The Jews of Charleston at an early date 

also established a Hebrew Benevolent Society, which 
still survives, 

While the earliest congregation was composed 
mainly of Portuguese Jews, the German element 
soon became prominent. Even before 1786 the city 
possessed not only a Portuguese congregation, but 
a distinct German-Jewish one as well. The Jewish 
community soon became very prosperous; and be- 
fore the Revolution several Jews had acquired wealth 
and gained distinction. Among these was Moses 
Lindo, inspector-general and surveyor of indico 
(indigo), drugs, and dyes for South Carolina. 

During the struggle for independence the Jews 
of Charleston distinguished themselves by their 
patriotism, and mauy instances of devotion to the 
cause of independence are recorded. The majority 
did good service in the field, several as officers. The 
most prominent Jew at the outbreak of the war was 
Francis SALVADOR, who resided in Ninety-Six Dis- 
trict, but was in constant communication with the 
leaders of the Revolutionary movement at Charies- 
ton. Salvador was a member of the General As- 
sembly and of the first and second Provincial Con- 
gresses, which met in that city. He was one of the 
leading patriots of the South. 


Charleston 
Chashniki 


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678 





In 1779 a special corps of volunteer infantry was 
composed largely of Israelites who resided on King 
strect in the city of Charleston. Among its Jewish 
members were David N. Cardozo, Jacca I. Cohen, 
and Joseph Solonion. This body subsequently 
fought under General Moultrie at the battle of Beau- 
fort. Among others who served in the field may 
be mentioned Jacob de la Motta, Jacob de Leon, 
Marks Lazarus, the Cardozos, and Mordecai Sheftall, 
who was deputy commissary-general of issues for 

South Carolina and Georgia, but who 
In War of must be considered as a resident of 
‘Independ- 
ence. Major Benjamin Nones, a French Jew 
in Pulaski’s regiment, distinguished 
himself during the siege of Charleston and won the 
praise of his com- 
mander for gallant- 
ry and daring. 
Mordecai Myers 
was also prominent 
at this period. 

In 1790 the Jews 
of Charleston sent 
an address of con- 
gratulation to 
Washington upon 
his accession to the 
presidency, to 
which he replied in 
the most cordial 
terms. 

In 1791 the con- 
gregation, then 
numbering fifty- 
three families, was 
incorporated by the 
legislature; and in 
1794 its synagogue 
Was consecrated in 
the presence of 
General Moultrie 
and many of the 
chief dignitaries of 
the state. 

Shortly after this 
period many Jews 
went to Charleston 
from New York and 
elsewhere, owing 
to the great tield 
offered by the South for commercial enterprise. In 
1816 the city numbered over 600 Jews, then the largest 
Jewish population of any city in the United States. 

During the early portion of the nineteenth 
century several Charleston Jews held high offices 
in the state. Among these may be 
mentioned: Myer Moses, member of 
the legislature in 1810, and one of 
the first commissioners of education; 
Abraham M. Seixas, a magistrate; and Lyon Levy, 
state treasurer. 

Charleston Jews also rendered valuable service 
during the War of 1812 and in the Mexican war. 

The first Jewish Reform movement in the United 
States originated in Charleston. In 1824 a large 


State 
Officials. 


Savannah rather than of Charleston. 





Interior of the Old Synagogue at Charleston, S. C., Destroyed by Fire 
April 27, 1838. 


(From a drawing by Solomon N, Carvalho). 


number of the members of Congregation Beth Elo 
him petitioned its trustees to shorten the service and 
to introduce the English language. The petition 
was rejected; and, as a result, the petitioners re. 
signed, and organized the Reform Society of Israel- 
ites. David Nufiez Carvalho was the first reader of 
the society; but the most influential man in the 
movement was Isaac HarsBy, a distinguished jour- 
nalist and playwright, editor of the “Quiver,” 
“The Charleston Mercury,” and several other pub- 
lications. About 1843 there was another split in 
Congregation Beth Elohim, owing to the intro- 
duction of an organ into the synagogue. This re. 
sulted in the formation of a new congregation 
known as “Shearith Israel,” which, however, re- 
united with the old congregation in 1866. 

Other prominent 
Charleston Jews 
during the early 
part of the nine- 
teenth century 
were: Penina 
Moise, born in 1797, 
who became widely 
known as a writer 
of verse; and Mor- 
decai Cohen, to 
whose memory the 
city of Charleston 
erected a tablet in 
the Orphan House 
in recognition of his 
benevolence. 

At the outbreak 
of the Civil war 
the Jews of Charles- 
ton joined their 
Gentile brethren in 
the Confederate 
cause. Among the 
prominent soldiers 
of the Confederacy 
may be mentioned 
Gen. E. W. Moise 
and Dr. Marx E. 
Cohen. Since the 
war the Jews of 
Charleston have 
been less promi- 
nent, owing partly 
to losses resulting 
from the struggle, and partly to the fact that the 
city is no longer the commercial cen- 
ter it formerly was. Among those 
who have held high office, however, 
have been Gen. E. W. Moise, adjutant- 
general of the state of South Carolina from 1876 
to 1880, and Franklin J. Moses, chief justice of 
South Carolina. Charleston to-day (1902) contains 
fewer than 2,000 Jews, a proportion smaller than 
in 1816. 

Besides the Beth Elohim congregation the only 
other is that of Berith Shalom, with its synagogue 
at St. Philip street, south of Calhoun street. 


Recent 
History. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nathaniel Levin, The Jewish Congregation 
in Charleston, in Occident, i., ii. J. Oldmixon, History 


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679 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Charleston 
Chashniki 


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Carolina, 1708, pp. 106, 429; John Drayton, Memoirs of the 
American Revotution, Charleston, 1821; Robert W. Gibbes, 
Documentary History of the American Revolution, 3 vols. 
L3o7 ; J. L. E. W. Shecut, Typographical, Historical, and 
Other Sketches of Charleston, Charleston, 1819; Charleston 


Year Book, 1888, 1885; Isaac Harby, in North American 


Review, xxiii; idem, Selections from Miscellaneous Wri- 
fings, Charleston, 1829; Isaac Markens, The Hebrews in 
<America, New York, 1888; Charles P. Daly, The Settlement 
of the Jews in North America, New York, 1893; Leon 
Hiihner, The Jews of South Carolina Prior to_1800; idem, 
In American Hebrew, Jan., 1900; D. Philipson, The Progress 
of the Jewish Reform Movement in the United States, in 
Jew. Quart. Rev. Oct., 1897; Simon Wolf, The American 
Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen, 1895; American Jew- 
ish Year Book, 1901-0z. 

A. L. Hi. 


CHARMS. See Amu.ers; Macic. 
CHAROSETH (HAROSETH). See SEDER. 


CHARTOGRAPHY: The art of making maps. 
In the development of this art, during the Middle 
Ages, an epoch is made by the Catalan “ portulani”— 
seamen’s charts showing the directions and distances 
of sailing between different ports, chiefly of the Medi- 
terranean. These differ from the medieval mappe 
mundi by having tolerably accurate outlines of the 
Mediterranean littoral, and are thus, in some meas- 
ure, the predecessors of modern maps.. Baron Nor- 
denskjéld has proved that these are derived from 
what he calls the normal portulano, compiled in 
Barcelona about 1280. The best known of the por- 
tulani are those drawn up in the island of Majorca, 
where a school of Jewish chartographers seems to 
have drawn up sea-charts for the use of seamen. In 
13389 Angelico Dulcert drew up a portulano which 
still exists; and in 1375 this was greatly improved 
by Cresques lo Juheu, who added to Dulcert’s out- 
line the discoveries of Marco Polo in the east of Asia. 
He thus made the voyage to the Indies westward 
appear less than it really was, and so helped toward 
the voyage of Columbus. This map, known as the 
“Catalan Portulano,” was sent by the king of Ara- 
gon to the king of France, and is still retained in the 
Louvre. It formed a model for many globes and 
later maps, including those which most influenced 
Columbus, and is perhaps the best known of the 
portulani. See CRESQUES ; GEOGRAPHERS, JEWS AS, 
BIBLIOGRAPHY : Jacobs, Story of Geographical Discovery, pp. 


60-62 ; Nordenskjéld, Periplus, 1897 ; Kayserling, Christopher 
Columbus, pp. 6-8. 
J. 


CHARTRES: Chief town of the department 
of Eure-et-Loire, France. From time immemorial 
Jews were established at Chartres, occupying a spe- 
cial quarter called “Rue aux Juifs.” In 1394 their 
synagogue, which was in the Rue Saint-Pére, was 
transformed intoa hospital, becoming the property of 
the parish of Si. Hilaire. In the “ Réponses de Rab- 
bins Francais et Lorrains,” p. 15, mention is made of 
w"y~pap’ %3°, interpreted by the editor as “cur- 
rent coin”; but by Neubauer, in “Rev. Etudes 
Juives,” iti. 155, with more reason as “coins of 
Chartres.” There was, in fact, a mint at Chartres, 
which was e¢alled “Chartrain,” and in Old French 
* Chartain.” | 

Among the prominent rabbis of Chartres have 
been Mattithiah of yup or wR Dp, a well-known 
scholar who flourished at the time of Rashi; R. Jo- 
seph, Bible commentator; and Samuel ben Reuben, 


a liturgic poet. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY : Doyen, Hist. de la Ville de Chartres, i. 34, 
199-200; Zunz, Z. G. p. 548; Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 603- 
605; Rev. Etudes Juives, i. 67. 

G. S. Kk. 


CHASDAI. Sce Haspar, Hispat. 


CHASEISCH, MOSES: German Talmudist; 
died at Halberstadi in 1793. Chaseisch enjoyed an 
established reputation among his contemporaries as 
a Talmudist, and was loved and honored by them on 
account of his modesty. Although his Talmudic 
attainments entitled him to the position of rabbin- 
ical assessor (or “klausner”), he preferred to devote 
his life to instructing the young in Talmudic science. 
Notwithstanding his straitened circumstances, he 
often refused to accept the fees for his lessons. 
Chaseisch taught not for the sake of profit, but for 
love of the Torah. As the fruit of his labors, the 
majority of the Jewish scholars who lived at Halber- 
stadt between 1780 and 1840 owe to him their Tal- 
mudic knowledge and religious instruction. 

PAB HOGEAEHY : Auerbach, Gesch. der Gemeinde Halberstadt, 


p. 1 
L. G. A. PE. 


CHASHKES, MOSES (LOB) B. JACOB 
(alias Danzig): Neo-Hebrew poet and Russian 
translator; born in Wilna Sept. 27, 1848; removed 
later to Odessa. His first collection of Hebrew songs, 
entitled “ Nite‘e Na‘amanim,” appearedin Warsaw 
in 1869. In the same year appeared “ Ha-Perahim ” 
(Odessa), followed by “ Nebel we-Kinnor” (Odessa, 
1871), “Zippor Deror ” (Odessa, 1872), “Kol ha-Tor,” 
“Mahat ba-Basar ha-Hai” (St. Petersburg, 1877), 
all poetico-satirical productions. His “Sefer ha- 
Yomi,” or diary, in which he attempts to describe 
in verse the life of a Jewish litterateur (St. Peters- 
burg, 1881), is partly autobiographical. His latest 
Hebrew poetical work is “Kol Shire Moshe Léb 
Chashkes” (Warsaw, 1896), of which only the first 
part has appeared. Chashkes also contributed Yid- 


dish songs to the “ Volksblatt ” of St. Petersburg, and 


published a collection of poems in that dialect enti- 

tled “ Lieder fum Herzen” (Cracow, 1888), Among 

other works he translated the following: “ Kar- 
tina Muchenichestva Yevreyyev” (St. Petersburg, 

1879); Schleiden’s “Die Romantik des Martyrer- 

thums bei den Juden im Mittelalter”; “Stradanya, 

Byedstvo i Zaschitniki Yevreyyev ” (St. Petersburg, 

1882); and the 8d edition of Ellenberg’s “ Leiden der 

Juden.” He was also the publisher and part trans- 

lator of volume 5 of Graetz’s “ History of the Jews,” 

which appeared in Russian (Moscow, 1880), and 
later published a volume of Russian poetry, “Stikhi 

i Mysli” (St. Petersburg, 1888). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. s.v.; Sistemati- 
cheski Ukazatel (Index); Lippe. Bibliographisches Lexicon, 
pp. land 3.8.v. See also Ha-Shahar, No. 6, pp. 152-156, and 
No. 12, p. 130. 

HW. R. P. Wt. 
CHASHNIKI: Town in the government of 

Vitebsk, Russia, having (in 1897) a population of 

4,590, of whom about 4,000 are Jews. Besides those 

engaged in dairying, which is entirely in the hands 

of the Jewish population, there are 810 Jewish arti- — 
sans and 99 Jewish journeymen. In consequence 


of the general poverty, the number of emigrants 


and of those depending on charity is constantly 
growing. About 115 persons apply yearly for aid 


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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


680 





before the Passover holidays. With the exception of 
a Bikkur Holim association, Chashniki has no char- 
itable societies. A government school for Jews with 
a female department (95 pupils), and a private 
school (48 Jewish pupils), are the only educational 
institutions. 

H. R. S. J. 


CHASID. See Hasip. 
CHASTISEMENT. Sce PUNISHMENT. 


CHASTITY: Purity in regard to the relations 
of sex, implied in the commandment, “ Ye shall be 
holy: for I the Lord your God am holy ” (Lev, xix. 2). 
The ancient Semitic religions gave a prominent 
place to the adoration of those powers in nature 
which either fertilize or produce; the worship of 
the sexual was prominent in their cults; and ritual 
prostitution was a recognized and wide-spread insti- 
tution (Kalisch, commentary to Lev. i. 312, 358- 
361; ii. 480). The gods were male and female; sex- 
ual intercourse was part of the rites at the shrines of 
Baal and Astarte in Phenicia and at similar sanctu- 
aries elsewhere. This unchastity in the religious 
institutions naturally affected the relations of social 
life; and sexual purity was regarded as of little 
moment. Possibly in no way were the religious and 
domestic institutions of Israel more markedly differ- 
entiated from those of the surrounding peoples than 
by the stress laid upon the virtue of chastity. The 
conception of the God of Israel as the Holy One 
meant, first of all, purity—purity in worship, and 
hence also in life. 

Before mentioning the special laws of the Penta- 
teuch on this subject, attention must be called to 
the general statement addressed to the people in 
Lev. xviii. 3-5, which may be considered the basis 
of the legislation: “After the doings of the land 
of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do; and 
after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither 
I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk 
in their statutes. My judgments shall ye do, and 
my statutes shall ye Keep, to walk therein: I am the 
Lord your God. Yeshall therefore keep my stat- 
utes and my judgments: which if aman do he shall 
live in them: I am the Lord.” Hereupon follow 
the laws of chastity which were to be observed if 
the people were to avoid the doings of the lands of 
Egyptand Canaan. These laws of chastity, enumer- 
ated in this chapter and in other sections of the Pen- 
tateuch, concern (1) the religiousand (2) the social- 
domestic life. 

The Religious Life: The “kadesh” and the 
“kedeshah,” the male and female prostitutes “con- 

secrated ” to the worship of the god- 

Kadesh dess of fertility, were recognized 

and adjuncts of the Canaanitish cults 

Kedeshah. (I Kings xiv. 24, xv. 12, xxii. 47; Amos 

ii. 7; Hosea iv. 14; Ezek. xxiii. 36; 

see also the Baal-peor incident referred to in Num. 

xxv. 1-4and Hosea ix. 10). This might not be in 

Israe]; for it was “an abomination of the Lord thy 
God” (Deut. xxiii. 18, 19; see also Lev. xix. 29). 

The Social-Domestic Life: (a) The purity of 
the maid was safeguarded (Lev. xix. 29); and, in 
case of wrong-doing on the part of the man, rectifi- 
cation and indemnification were commanded (Ex. 


xxii. 10, 16; Deut. xxii. 28, 29). (6) ADULTERY wus 
most stringently forbidden and punished (Ex. xx. 
14; Lev. xviii. 20, xx.10). “They shall both of them 
die... theman.. . andthe woman; so shalt thou 
put away evil” (Deut. xxii. 22). A betrothed wom- 
an was regarded in the same light as a married 
woman, and was punished for adultery, as was also 
the man found with her (Deut. xxii. 23. 24: see, 
however, verses 25-28 for the modification of the 
punishment). Here must be mentioned the pecul- 
iar institution of the investigation of the Sotau, the 
woman suspected by her husband of adultery, as 
detailed in Num. v. (ec) The ForBipDEN DEGREES 
of consanguinity are set forth in circumstantial de- 
tail (Lev. xviii. 8-18; xx. 11, 12, 14, 17, 21; Deut. 
Xxvii. 20, 22, 28). (d) No woman was to be ap- 
proached during the period of her uncleanness (Lev. 
xvill, 19). See Nippauw. (e) The unnatural crimes 
against chastity, sodomy and pederasty, prevalent 
in heathendom, were strictly prohibited (Lev. xviii. 
22, 23; xx. 13, 15, 16; Deut. xxvii. 21). 

The sins against chastity were the particular 
abominations, the commission of which by the 
former inhabitants had caused the land to become 
unclean (Lev. xviii. 27). No wrong-doing, except- 
ing idolatry, is more constantly and vehemently for- 
bidden. Four out of the twelve curses which are 
pronounced in the chapter of curses in the Book of 
Deuteronomy (xxvii. 20-23) are directed against this 
vice in one or other of its forms. The Biblical atti- 
tude in this matter is perhaps best expressed in the 
story of Joseph, who, when tempted by Potiphar’s 
wife, refused with the noble words: “How can I do 
this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen. 
xxxix. 9.) Unchastity was primarily a sin against 
God, the pure and holy. 

In the historical books of the Bible occasional pas- 
sages indicate how clearly it was understood that chas- 

tity was an indispensable virtue. When 

Inthe  Shechem, the son of Hamor, defiled 
Historical Dinah, the sous of Jacob declared ita 
Books. villainy (A. V., “ folly”) in Israel which 
ought not to be committed ; and Simeon 

and Levi slew all the males of Shechem, saying to 
Jacob, when he rebuked them for their revengeful 
act: “Should he deal with our sister as with an har- 
lot?” (Gen, xxxiv. 7,31.) The one misdemeanor of 
Eli’s two wicked sons that is mentioned by name is 
unchastity (I Sam. ii. 22). In Amnon’s act of vio- 
lence against Tamar she begs him to desist, “for no 
such thing ought to be done in Israel” (II Sam. xiii. 
12). Among the sinsof Judah in the reign of Reho- 
boam was that of ritual unchastity (1 Kings xiv. 24), 
on account of which calamity came upon the king- 
dom (see also IT Kings xiii. 6, xvii. 16, xviii. 4, xx. 
1,3, xxii. 4; I] Chron. xxviii. 3, xxxiii. 3, xxxvi. 14). 
The Prophets laid the greatest stress upon chas- 
tity. Their condemnation of unchastity ranks among 
the most pronounced of their denunciations of the 
evils prevalent in their days (Amos ii. 7; Hosea iv. 
2,13, 14; Isa. lvii. 8; Jer. ix. 1; xxiii. 10, 14: xxix. 
23; Ezek. xvi. 88; xviii. 6; xxii. 10, 11: xxiii, 48; 
xxxlii. 26). There is a further indication of the 
high esteem in which chastity was held in the fact 
that these prophets, in speaking of the punishment 
that would befall the people for their sins, mention 


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the deflowering of the women by their captors, 
which evil would not have been considered as so 
dreadful had not chastity been regarded in the high- 
est light (Isa. xiii. 16; Zech. xiv. 2; Lam. v. 11; 
see also Amos vii. 17). 

The many admonitions in the Book of Proverbs 
against unchastity need but be adverted to for proof 
of the lofty place that the pure life held in the esti- 
mation of the wise men of Israel (Prov. v. 3-23, Vi. 
24-33, vil. 5-27, ix. 13-18, xxxi. 3). “I made a 
covenant with mine eyes; why then should I look 
upon & maid?” says Job (xxxi, 1). Similar are the 
injunctions of the later sage Ben Sira (Ecclus. 
ix. 8-9; xix. 2; xxiii. 22-26; xlii. 11), who coun- 
seled, “Go not after ‘thy lusts’; and restrain thy- 
self from thine appetites” (7b. xviii. 80). The spirit 
of the Rabbis appears in the advice of Jose ben Jo- 
hanan, “Prolong not converse with woman” (Abot 
i. 5). “Follow not after your own eyes, after which 
ye use to go,” etc. (Num. xv. 39): this means, “ Ye 
shall not cast a lustful glance upon woman.” One 
of the reasons given for the destruction of Jerusalem 
is the prevalence of “shamelessness,” 
which undoubtedly means unchastity 
(Shab. 119b). In the days of the ter- 
rible persecutions under Hadrian the 
rabbis advised the people to suffer death rather than 
be guilty of “idolatry, incest, or bloodshed”; while 
they considered the transgression of any other com- 
mandment permissible if necessary to preserve life 
(Sanh. 74a; see also Maimonides, “ Yad,” Yesode ha- 
Torah, v. 9). Asa further example of the attitude of 
the rabbis of Talmudic times, may be quoted the 
passage which was given as advice what to do when 
unchaste thoughts and desires assail: “My son, if 
that monster [the YEZER Hara‘] meets you, drag it 
to the house of study; it will melt if it is of iron; it 
will break in pieces if it is of stone, as is said in 
Scripture (Jer. xxiii. 29); ‘Is not my word like as 
a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that 
breaketh the rock in pieces?’” (Kid. 80b.) The Tal- 
mudic term for chastity is miypoy. There can be no 
doubt of the fact that early marriage among the 
Jews was a strong factor in making them so chaste 
apeople. Even such an unsympathetic and hostile 
exponent of rabbinic theology as Weber indicates 
this (“Jiid. Theol.” p. 234). Theage of eighteen was 
posited as the proper time for a youth to contract 
matrimony (Abot v. 21; Kid. 29b; Yeb. 62b, 638b; 
Sanh. 76b; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Eben ha-‘Ezer, 1, 2). 
Early marriages continued in vogue among the Jews 
through medieval times (Abrahams, “Jewish Life 
inthe Middle Ages,” pp. 90, 167), Many enactments 
were made tosafeguard the purity of the people and 
to insure chastity (Maimonides, “ Yad,” Issure Biah, 
xxi.; Shulhan ‘Aruk, Eben ha-‘Ezer, 21-25). 

In one of the sections of the “reasons for the com- 
mandinents” (“ta‘ame mizwot”) in his “Moreh 
Nebukim,” Maimonides gives as the reason for such 
legislation the following: “The object of these pre- 
cepts is to diminish sexual intercourse, to restrain 
as much as possible indulgence in lust, and [to 
teach] that this enjoyment does not, as foolish peo- 
ple think, include in itself its final cause” (“ Moreh 
Nebukim,” iii. 85; see also zb¢d, 38). In ch. xhix. 
he treats at length the law concerning forbidden 


In the 
Talmud. 


sexual intercourse and that for the promotion of 
chastity, whose object is “to inculcate the lesson 
that we ought to limit sexual intercourse hold it in 
contempt, and only desire it rarely.” 

In speaking of the reason for the prohibition of 
intermarriage with a near relative, he expresses it 
as his opinion that one object of this is “to inculeate 
chastity in our hearts.” 

Of ethical philosophers who have expressed Jew- 
ish thought on this subject, Saadia and Bahya may 

be mentioned. The former, in the tenth 

Views of chapter of his “Emunot we-De‘ot,” 

the Phi- whichis the ethical portion of the book, 

losophers. devotes two paragraphs to chastity ; the 
third is “ on sexual intercourse,” and the 
fourth “on desire.” His teaching concerning inter- 
course is “that it is not good for man, except for the 
purpose of producing offspring ” ; concerning desire, 
“man shall have no desire except for his wife, that 
he may love her and she may love him ”(“ Emunot we- 
De‘ot,” ed. Slucki, pp. 150, 151). In his ethical trea- 
tise, “The Duties of the Heart,” Bahya has frequent 
admonitions on the necessity of chastity and the over- 
coming of evil desires; as, for example, in the fifth 
division of the work, notably pp. 254, 258 e¢ seg. (ed. 
Stern, Vienna, 1856). At the close of ch. ix. he quotes 
with approval and at length the last will and testa- 
ment of a certain pious man in Israel, addressed to his 
son, and containing advice for the guidance of life. 
From this document one sentence may be set down | 
here: “Be not one of those who, sunk in the folly 
of drunkenness and lust, submit like slaves to the 
dominance of evil passions; so that they think only 
of the satisfaction of sensual desires and the indul- 
gence of bestial pleasures” (7b. p. 483). A similar 
word of advice may be quoted from a letter written 
by Nahmanides to his son: “Be especially careful 
to keep aloof from women. Know that our God 
hates immorality; and Balaam could in no other way 
injure Israel than by inciting them to unchastity ” 
(Schechter, “Studies in Judaism,” p. 141). 

A few further like injunctions from the moral 
treatises of medieval rabbis may here be given: 
“Let not the strange god, thy sensual desire, rule 
over thee; act so that thou hast not cause to blush 
before thyself; pay no heed to the biddings of de- 
sire; sin not and say, I will repent later ” (from “ Sefer 
Rokeah” by R. Eleazer b. Judah of Worms, in Zunz, 
“Z. G.” pp. 182, 184); “Keep thy soul always pure: 
thou knowest not when thou wilt have to give it 
up” (“Sefer ha-Middot,” fifteenth century, in 2d. p. 


153). 
K. Dp. P. 
CHASTITY, PROOF OF. See Crime and 
DIVORCE, 


CHATEAU-THIERRY : Chief town of the ar- 
rondissement of the same name in the department of 
Aisne, France. At Chateau-Thierry, as in general 
throughout Champagne, the seigniors of the coun- 
try were favorably disposed toward the Jews. The 
counts of Champagne, however, acted thus in their 
own interest; for they considered the Jews as their 


| own property—a property which was very produc- 


tive. Thibaut, count of Champagne, and Philip 
Augustus, king of France, signed in 1198 an agree- 


Chateau-Thierry 
Chaves 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


682 





ment by the terms of which they bound themselves to 
surrender to each other all Jews who might migrate 
from the domain of the one to that of the other. 
This agreement was renewed in 1201, after the death 
of Thibaut, between the king of France and the 
Countess Blanche (Brussel, “Usage Général des 
Fiefgs en France,” i. xi. 89). Cresselin, the richest 
Jew of Champague, who, in order to escape from 
the arbitrary rule of the countess, had gone to Paris, 
was compelled to return to Champagne and to re- 
main there on penalty of having all his outstanding 
debts canceled by Blanche (Brussel, U.¢. ch. xxxix. ; 
compare Depping, “Les Juifs dans le Moyen Age,” 
p. 116). When in 1284 Philip the Fair took posses- 
sion of Champagne, he demanded from the Jews of 
that province 25,000 livres as a congratulatory gift 
on his accession (2).). In a document of the year 
1298 mention is made of a fine of 50 livres imposed 
upon the Jew Soninus of Chateau-Thierry. An- 
other document shows payments for right of resi- 
dence between 1321 and 1323 by Jews of Chateau- 
Thierry: thus, 20 livres by Chiérefame Denix of 
“Chatel Thierri”; 60 and 68 livres by Deulesault of 
“Chasteltierri”; 100 livres by Vivant of “Chastel 
Thieri” (d.c. xix. 250, 252, 255). 

As early as the thirteenth century Chateau-Thierry 
had become an important center of Talmudical learn- 
ing. Mention may be made of the following schol- 
ars, who either came thence or lived there: 

David the Pious, one of the celebrated French 
rabbis to whom R. Meir ben Todros Abulafia of 
Toledo addressed, about 1204, his letter against the 
theory of the resurrection as propounded by Mai- 
monides. 

Samuel of Evreux, director of the school of Cha- 
teau-Thierry in 1225, was a remarkable Talmudist. 
His name is mentioned in the Tosafot Kid. 27%b, 39a; 
Ned. 90b; ‘Ab. Zarah 68a; Bezah 14b; Tem. 19b; 
the Tosafot upon Sotah are also ascribed to him 
(Zunz, “Z. G.” p. 38). Zunz (/.c.) says that Samuel 
was the son of R. Yom-Tob of Evreux and the dis- 
- ciple of R. Isaac b. Abraham of Dampierre. Gross 
(“Gallia Judaica,” p. 39), on the contrary, identifies 
him with R. Samuel ben Shneor, the correspondent 
of R. Jehiel of Paris, and Nathaniel, the elder, of 
Chinon. 

R. Isaac and his son Bonne Vie are two scholars 
of this place only known through the reference to 
them in the Tosafot upon Bezah. See CHAMPAGNE. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY ; Rev. Etudes Juives, iii. 212; xv. 246; xix. 

250, 252, 255; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 39 

G. S. K. 


CHATTANOOGA. See TENNESSEE. 


CHATTELS: In English and American law 
property is divided into two kinds: real or landed, 
and personal or chattels; in Continental law, into 
immovable and movable. Jewish law speaks of 
_ “karka‘ot” (ground) and “ mittaltelin” (movables). 
Slaves are included in the former; demands on other 
persons, in the latter, though in many respects the 
law governing the ownership and incidents of bonds 
(“ shetarot”) or other demands differs from the law 
of tangible, bodily chattels, as has been shown in 
the article ALIENATION, Landsand slaves are some- 
times joined together under the name of “ property 


which has responsibility” (“sharayot”), chattels, 
bond, and, other demands as property having none; 
because, under the Talmudic law (see DEEDs), a 
properly written and attested bond became as soon 
as delivered a lien on all of the debtor’s lands, but 
not on his chattels and effects, and because, more- 
over, after the death of the debtor, only lands and 
slaves, not chattels or demands, were liable to his 
creditors. During the Middle Ages, however, as 
a matter of necessity, goods, moneys, and effects 
were made liable for the decedent’s debts (see DEBTS; 
compare Hoshen Mishpat, 107, 1). 

Since the non-observance of the Jubilee there has 
been no difference in the laws of descent (see 
AGNATES) between landed estate and chattels. They 
form together one mass, as they do in countries hav- 
ing a system of civil law. The modes of ALIENA- 
TION AND ACQUISITION are different, as has been 
shown in the article under that caption. More- 
over, a sale of chattels can be set aside or corrected 
for OVERREACHING on the sole ground of inadequacy 
or excessive price, while the law of overreaching 
(“ona’ah ”) does not apply to either lands or bonds. 
These broad distinctions are readily found in the 
Mishnah Kid. i. 1-6, and B. M. iv. 1-9; for details 
see the articles under the captions indicated above. 

J. SR. L. N. D. 


CHATZKIN, ISAAC ANDREYEVICH: 
Russian physician; born 1832; died at Odessa June, 
1902. He settled in that city in 1869, and practised 
there for more than thirty years. In 1870 he be- 
came a member of the Medical Society of Odessa 
and a corresponding member of the Medical Society 
of Kherson. Chatzkin distinguished himself by 
several literary productions. In 1858 his letters on 
physiology appeared in the “ Russki Vyestnik.” He 
published, besides, Russian translations of the “In- 
troduction to Medical Science,” by Professor Lebert, 
and Virchow’s “Cellular Pathology.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1902, p. 293. 
H. R. M. Set. 


CHAUSSY: District town in the government 
of Mohilev, Russia. The Jewish community of 
Chaussy dates from the seventeenth century, as ap- 
pears from a charter granted to the Jews Jan. 11, 
1667, by Michael Casimir Pacz, castellan of Wilna, 
and confirmed by King August III. March 9, 1789. 
In 1780, at the time of a visit of Catherine IJ., there 
was a Jewish population of 355, in a total of 1,057; 
and the town possessed one synagogue. In 1803 
the Jewish population was 453, in a total of 1,185; 
in 1870 it was 2,483, in a total of 4,167; and in 
1897, 2,775, in a total of about 6,000. Some of the 
Jewish artisans are employed in the tanneries and in 
silk and woolen factories. The Jewish population 
in the district of Chaussy (including the town) in 
1897 was 7,444, or 8.42 per cent of the total popu- 
tion. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Istoriko-Juridicheskie Materialy Sazonova, 
xiv. 268; Regesty, No. 1054, ILR 


CHAUTAUQUA SOCIETY, THE JEW- 
ISH: A society formed in the United States for 
“the dissemination of knowledge of the Jewish re- 
ligion by fostering the study of its history and liter- 


683 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Chateau-Thierry 
Chaves 





ature, giving popular courses of instruction, issuing 
publications, establishing reading-circles, holding 
general assemblies, and by such other means as may 
from time to time be found necessary and proper.” 
Its organization was the result of a suggestion of- 
fered by Rev. Dr. Henry Berkowitz in an address 
before his congregation, the Rodeph Shalom, Phila- 
delphia, March 10, 1898. The Jewish literary soci- 
eties of that city appointed a “committee on organ- 
ization,” which formulated plans. An agreement 
was entered into with the Chautauqua Literary 
and Scientific Circle convened at Lake Chautauqua, 
N. Y., for the use of the general methods of popu- 
lar education known as the “Chautauqua System.” 
A Jewish society, national in its scope, was then 
organized, with Dr. Berkowitz as chancellor. 

In the winter of 1898 the society began the pub- 
lication of a series of “course books” or syilabi for 
general readers and members of reading-circles or 








AY 


MAN 


MMAR 


SS Ta 








Seal of the Jewish Chautauqua Society. 


study classes. These guide-books give syllabi of 
courses in Biblical and post-Biblical history and lit- 
erature, in the Hebrew language (correspondence 
method), and on Jewish characters in fiction. 

The society has succeeded in interesting several 
thousand persons in the United States and some in 
Great Britain, Canada, and British India, in pursuing 
the readings outlined. By correspond- 
ence and through the agency of a 
traveling field-secretary, numerous 
Chautauqua circles have been organ- 
ized. in many communities. Literary circles con- 
nected with congregations, lodges, sections of the 
Council of Jewish Women, Young Men’s Hebrew 
associations, and Zionist societies use the Chautau- 
qua plans of study. 

The Chautauqua circles of West Virginia have 
formed a state organization and hold annual con- 
ventions, 

The main source of inspiration for the home read- 
ing courses is derived from the summer assembly. 
Atlantic City, N. J., has been the seat of these 
summer gatherings of the Jewish Chautauquans 
during the past six years. In July, 1897, the first 
experiment was made in this direction. The pro- 
gram for aseries of daily sessions continuing two 
weeks was arranged by the chancellor and carried 
out by the persons enlisted, under the management 


Extent 
of Work. 


of Dr. Lee K. Frankel as director of the assembly. 
A course cf popular lectures on Jewish and other 
themes was delivered. Chautauqua circles in Bible 
study and in post-Biblical history and literature were 
conducted. <A teachers’ institute supplied instrue- 
tion and practical help to the teachers of the Jewish 
schools of the country. Conferences were arranged 
for the consideration of soine of the practical prob- 
lems of Jewish life. Social and literary gatherings 
were held from time to time. At the second sum- 
mer assembly, in July, 1898, books, charts, maps, 

models, and various appliances for 


Summer use in the classes of the religious 
As- schools were exhibited. In 1899 the 
semblies. society was incorporated under the 


laws of the state of Pennsylvania. 
The third assembly, which met in July of that year, 
was productive of such enthusiasm that on the rec- 
ommendation of Dr. K. Kohler it was resolved to 
formulate plans for the addition of a regular sum- 
mer school. In July, 1900, the fourth assembly was 
held, and the summer school was opened, with classes 
in the study of the principles of pedagogy applied 
to instruction in religion. 

“The Assembly Record,” a pamphlet giving a 
detailed report of these gatherings and edited by 
the secretary and director of the assembiy, Isaac 
Hassler, has been issued each year by the society. 
The “Menorah” magazine is the official organ of 
the society. 

“Papers presented at the fifth annual session of 
the summer assembly of the society held at Atlan- 
tic City, N. J., July 7 to 28, 1901,” is the title of 
special series No. 7 of the books issued by The 
Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadel- 
phia, June, 1902. <A course in applied philanthropy 
was added to the features described above during 


the sixth assembly, held in July, 1902. 
A If. Be. 


CHAVES: City in Portugal, which in the four- 
teenth century hada fairly large Jewish community, 
and an “aula,” or school, “in which the Law was ex- 
pounded by the rabbis.” This school was subject 
to a special tax. Before the expulsion of the Jews 
from Portugal the Jewish quarter here annually 
paid 31,000 reis in taxes. 


Pere Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, 
p- * 


G. M. K. 

CHAVES: Jewish-Portuguese family that de- 
rived its name from its native place of Chaves in 
Portugal; members of it are found in Amsterdam 
and London. 

A. de Chaves: Painter at Amsterdam in 1700. 

Aaron de Chaves: Edited in Amsterdam, in 
1767, Rehuel Jesurun’s “Dialogo dos Montes,” 
prefixing a Portuguese poem of his own. 

David Chaves: Lived in London in 1720; cele- 
brated in Latin verse Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna’s 
Spanish translation of the Psalms, “Espejo Fiei de 
Vidas.” 

Isaac de Chaves: Hazan in London in 1702. 

Jacob de Chaves: Son of the wealthy Moses de 
Chaves of Amsterdam; pupil of the Neo-Hebraic 


poet Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, who published his 


drama, “La-Yesharim Tehillah” (Praise to the Vir 


Chavillo 
Chazanuth 


tuous), in honor of Jacob’s marriage with Rachel de 
Vega Enriques in 1748. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl. Esp.-Port..Jud. pp. 38, 90; 
Gratz, Geech. der Juden. x. 381. 


J. M. K. 

CHAVILLO. See HABILLO. 

CHAYYIM; CHAYYUJ. See Hayyim; Hare 
YUJ. 

CHAZAK. See Forti, JOHN. 

CHAZAN. See Hazzan. 


CHAZANOWICZ, JOSEPH: Russian physi- 
cian. and founder of the Jewish National Library at 
Jerusalem ; bornat Goniondz, government of Grodno, 
Russia, Oct. 22, 1844; son of Aaron Chazanowicz. 
After finishing his studies at the Jewish school and 
at the gymnasium of Grodno, Chazanowicz went to 
Germany to study medicine. While still a student 
he became volunteer assistant surgeon at one of the 
military hospitals of Berlin during the Franco-Prus- 
sian war, 1870-71. He received his degree of doctor 
of medicine from the University of Konigsberg 
in 1872. Returning to Russia, he passed his state 
board examination at Dorpat, and began to practise 
at Byelostok, where he now (1902) resides, having 
been physician of the Jewish hospital for several 
years. 


THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 


684 


Chazanowicz founded at Byelostok the Hobebe 
Ziyyon, a society for the education of Jewish youth 
in the spirit of Zionism, and was for many years its 
president. He founded also the Linat ha-Zedek, 
a hospital society; and takes an active part in the 
Zionist movement. In 1890 he visited Palestine and 
conceived the idea of founding a library at Jerusa- 
lem, together with the order B’nai B’rith; but his 
plan was necessarily postponed, as he unfortunately 
aroused the displeasure of the government soon after 
his return to Byelostok. An anti-Semitic Polish 
physician of Byelostok had been guilty of malprac- 
tise on a Jewish boy ; and Chazanowicz so vehemently 
took up the defense of the victim that he was forced 
by the government to leave the town for a period of 
two years, during which time he established himself 
at Lodz. In 1893 he returned to Byelostok and 
began to execute his plan. In 1896 he sent to Jeru- 
salem his large collection of books, amounting to 
nearly 10,000 volumes, to become the nucleus of the 
Abarbanel Library. The enlargement of this library 
and the collection of funds to erect a special build- 
ing forit have become the life-work of Chazanowicz. 
See ABARBANEL LIBRARY IN JERUSALEM. 

H. R. F. T. H. 


CHAZANUTH. See Hazzanvt. 


END OF VOL. TIL.