Jews and Judaism

TRANSLITERATION RULES (Jews and Judaism)

1. The letters X and V are not transliterated. An apostrophe (‘) between vowels indnicates that they do not form a diphthong and are to be pronounced separately. 2. Dagesh hazak (forte) is indicated by doubling of the letter, except for the letter tf. 3. Names. Biblical names and biblical place names are rendered according […]

Important keywords in Judaism

Actions Committee, early name of the Zionist General Council, the supreme institution of the World Zionist Organization in the interim between Congresses. The Zionist Executive’s name was then the "Small Actions Committee." *Adar, twelfth month of the Jewish religious year, sixth of the civil, approximating to February-March. *Aggadah, name given to those sections of Talmud […]

AACHEN To AARON BEN SAMUEL (Jews and Judaism)

(Aix-la-Chapelle; in Jewish sources: ) city on the German-Belgian border; former capital of the Car-olingian Empire. The delegation sent by *Charlemagne to the caliph Harun al-Rashid in 797 included a Jew, Isaac, who probably acted as interpreter or guide, and subsequently reported back to Aachen. Jewish merchants were active in Aachen by about 820. A […]

AARON BERECHIAH BEN MOSES OF MODENA To ABBA BAR ZEMINA (Jews and Judaism)

AARON BERECHIAH BEN MOSES OF MODENA (d. 1639), Italian kabbalistic writer and compiler. Aaron was a cousin on his mother’s side of Leone *Modena. For the benefit of the pious members of his native Modena, Aaron compiled his Maavar Yabbok ("The Crossing of the Jabbok" (cf. Gen. 32:22), Venice, 1626, and often reprinted) comprising the […]

ABBA BEN ABBA HA-KOHEN To ABBOTT, BUD (Jews and Judaism)

ABBA BEN ABBA HA-KOHEN (early third century), Babylonian scholar during the transition from the tannaitic to the amoraic period. Abba is overshadowed by his famous son Samuel, and therefore is always referred to in the Babylonian Talmud as "the father of Samuel" (cf. Bezah 16b). He was a native of Nehardea and decided issues of […]

ABBREVIATIONS To ABELES, SIMON (Jews and Judaism)

ABBREVIATIONS The abbreviation of words originated in antiquity, probably soon after the alphabet developed from ideographic pictures. While originally rare, their use increased with the general growth in the transmission of ideas by writing. They relieved the shortage of space and precious writing materials, served the convenience of the scribe, and preserved a certain degree […]

ABELIOVICH, LEV MOYSSEYEVICH To ABIMELECH (Jews and Judaism)

ABELIOVICH, LEV MOYSSEYEVICH (1912-1985), Be-lorussian composer. Born in Vilna, Abeliovich studied at the Warsaw Conservatory with Kazimierz Sikorski (composition) in 1935-39, and when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, he fled to Minsk and studied composition at the National Conservatory with Vasily Zolotarev, graduating in 1941. After World War 11, he devoted himself to composition […]

ABILEAH, ARIE To ABOAB, ISAAC I (Jews and Judaism)

ABILEAH, ARIE (1885-1985), Israel pianist. Born in Russia, Abileah gave his first concert at the age of six. He studied at the Conservatory of Petersburg under Marie Benoit, Liadov, and Glazounov and completed his artistic training in Geneva with Stavenhagen. He appeared as accompanist of Joseph *Szigeti, Joseph *Achron, and Maurice Marechal. In 1914 he […]

ABOAB, ISAAC II To ABRABANEL, ISAAC BEN JUDAH (Jews and Judaism)

ABOAB, ISAAC II (1433-1493), rabbinical scholar. Known as the "last gaon of Castile," Aboab was a disciple of Isaac *Can-panton and head of the Toledo Yeshivah. Joseph *Caro refers to him as one of the greatest scholars of his time. During the final years before the expulsion from Spain he headed a yeshivah in Guadalajara, […]

ABRABANEL, JUDAH To ABRAHAM, APOCALYPSE OF (Jews and Judaism)

ABRABANEL, JUDAH (called Leone Ebreo or Leo He-braeus; c. 1460-after 1523), physician, poet, and one of the foremost philosophers of the Renaissance. Abrabanel was born in Lisbon, the eldest son of Don Isaac *Abrabanel and was instructed by his father in Jewish studies and in Jewish and Arabic philosophy. He also studied medicine and is […]

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