ALES To ALEXANDER LYSIMACHUS (Jews and Judaism)

ALES

(or Alez; until 1926, Alais; f’Vx in Hebrew sources), town in Provence, S.E. France. There was a Jewish community there in the Middle Ages. Solomon b. Abraham *Adret refers in a responsum to a custom followed in the communities "between Narbonne and Alais." The text of the oath used by Ales Jewry is mentioned in the Coutumes d’Alais, the cos-tumal of Ales, for 1216-92. In the mid-i3th century Jacob b. Judah in the migdal Aloz, apparently the citadel of Ales, copied the Hebrew translation of Maimonides’ Arabic epistle on astrology addressed to the sages of Montpellier. The physician Jacob ha-Levi, who wrote a medical treatise Makkel Shaked in 1300 (Bod. Ms. 2142), also lived in Ales. After their expulsion from the kingdom of France in 1306, the Jews of Ales took refuge in Provence and the Comtat Venaissin.

ALESSANDRIA

Town in northern Italy. The first known Jewish settler in Alessandria was Abraham, son of Joseph Vitale de Sacerdoti (Cohen), who opened a loan bank in or about 1490. The subsequent history of the community, to modern times, continued to center around, and to a great degree consisted of, the record of his descendants, later known by the name Vitale. In 1550, it was proposed to expel the Jews from the Duchy of Milan, which since 1535 had been under Spanish rule. Simone (Samuel) Vitale thereupon went to Madrid and secured authorization for two families to reside in the city.


When the Jews were finally expelled from the Duchy of Milan in 1590, he again traveled to Spain and received permission to remain in Alessandria in consideration of the large sum owed him by the government. Thereafter, the community was concentrated around the Vitale family, whose approval had to be obtained by all newcomers before they could settle there. Of the 230 Jews living in Alessandria in 1684, 170 were members of the Vitale family; in 1761, out of 60 households, 36 bore this name. The wealthier members of the community were engaged in the manufacture of textiles and silks; their mills gave employment to many Christians. General conditions remained unchanged when Alessandria passed to the House of Savoy in 1708. The administration of the community remained distinct from that of Piedmont Jewry. The ghetto was established in 1724. In 1761, the Jewish population amounted to 420 persons, the Vitale family having lost the right to approve the newcomers. From the 18th century, the rabbinate became an almost hereditary office held by the family of Levi (de) Veali. The Jews of Alessandria, with the rest of Italian Jewry, enjoyed temporary civic emancipation during the period of French influence in Italy in 1796-1814. Subsequently, there was a sharp reaction. In 1837, Alessandria Jewry was again restricted to the ghetto, although its gates were not renewed. At a wedding celebration in 1835, an overcrowded house in the area collapsed, killing 42 persons, including 17 Christian guests and R. Matassia b. Moses Zacut Levi de Veali. Although from 1848 the Jews of Alessandria enjoyed complete emancipation, many of them were attracted to the larger cities. Between 1900 and 1938, the total of Jewish residents decreased from 868 to 101 according to Mussolini’s census.

Holocaust Period

Starting in 1938, the Jews suffered under the regime’s anti-Jewish laws, but the final phase of persecution began only at the end of November 1943, after Minister of the Interior Buffa-rini Guidi ordered all provincial chiefs to send all Jews to the "appropriate concentration camps." During the night of December 13, supporters of the German-imposed Italian Social Republic attacked the synagogue in the via Milano, destroying or stealing the silver objects. Books and precious manuscripts were burned in a great bonfire in Piazza Rattazzi that same evening. Also in December, 11 Jews from Alessandria were arrested and sent to Fossoli, from where they left for Auschwitz in February 1944; another six were seized by the Germans in the spring of 1944. The roundups continued in two other important old Jewish communities in the province of Alessandria. Twelve people were deported from Acqui, including the entire impoverished family of Arturo Bachi. Eighteen people were deported from Casale. In all, 48 Jews were deported from the entire province of Alessandria.

After the war 168 Jews lived within the community, but their number decreased to 90 by 1969. At the turn of the 20th century Alessandria no longer operated a Jewish community and was under the jurisdiction of the community of Turin, as were all other nonfunctioning communities of Piedmont (Asti, Car-magnola, Cherasco, Cuneo, Mondovi, Saluzzo, and Ivrea).

ALEXANDER

(c. 36-7 b.c.e.), son of *Herod and *Mari-amne. As Herod’s heir presumptive, Alexander was educated in Rome with his younger brother Aristobulus from c. 23-17 b.c.e. On his return to Judea he married Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia. His arrival aroused the fears of those members of Herod’s retinue who had been responsible for the death of Mariamne, for they assumed Alexander would avenge his mother’s death. *Salome -who had been chiefly to blame – incited the king against Alexander, insinuating that he and his brother intended to take revenge on him for their mother’s death. Influenced by these slanders, Herod recalled *Antipater, his son by his first marriage, to support him. In 12 b.c.e. the king took both princes with him to Italy to arraign them before Augustus on charges of conspiracy. At their meeting in Aquileia, the emperor managed to effect a reconciliation between the father and the sons. However, the intrigues against the princes continued, and relations with their father deteriorated irrevocably. Alexander was put in irons and his life threatened. As a result of the intervention of Archelaus, Herod was pacified and Alexander released. The machinations against him continued, however. This time it was the Spartan Eurycles, a guest at Herod’s court, who incited the king against him after accepting a bribe from Antipater. Herod then suspected two men of plotting with Alexander to kill him. Alexander was again imprisoned, to-gether with his brother. After Alexander confessed that they wanted to escape to Italy to take refuge from their accusers, Herod again lodged a complaint about his sons’ conduct to Augustus. The emperor granted Herod permission to judge them as he saw fit, but advised him to try them in a court composed of Roman well-wishers and officials. The trial took place in Berytus (Beirut). Alexander and his brother were sentenced to death and sent to Caesarea. There a commander of the garrison, Tiro, a veteran in Herod’s service, attempted to gain them a reprieve. His plea that if the executions took place riots would erupt only served to incense Herod further. Tiro was put to death together with other friends of Alexander. The two brothers were brought to Sebaste (Samaria) where they were executed by strangling.

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ALEXANDER

Name of seven popes. The following are the most significant for Jewish history:

Alexander ii, reigned 1061-73, consistently followed the policy set by Pope *Gregory the Great at the end of the sixth century of applying suasion rather than force to convert Jews. When the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula began in earnest, he urged the bishops of Spain to continue defending the Jews against attack by native and foreign soldiers, especially the unruly bands of French knights who had joined the Christian armies against the Muslims. He wrote in the same vein to Berengar, viscount of Narbonne, and to Wifred, its bishop, in 1063. In 1065 Alexander issued a strong warning to the prince of Benevento, in southern Italy, who was using force to convert the Jews.

Alexander iii, reigned 1159-81, reissued the *bull Sicut Judaeis protecting Jews against physical injury and interference with their religious rites. He objected when the Jews in Bourges, France, erected a synagogue which was not only new, but also higher than a neighboring church. The Third Lateran Council, which met in 1179, prohibited Christians from serving in Jewish homes; urged the secular authorities not to confiscate the property of converts from Judaism lest, being impoverished, they reverted to their former faith; and requested the civil courts to admit the testimony of Christians in lawsuits involving Jews. The pope also objected to Jews having the right to cite a cleric before a secular court. Because of prevailing conditions in Europe, most of these restrictive measures were not enforced for a long time, but they eventually found their way into the Corpus Iuris Canonici of 1580, the official collection of church law. The possibility that the pope would urge the council to force the Jews to wear a distinguishing *badge was averted, perhaps through the influence of Jehiel, grandson of *Nathan b. Jehiel, the compiler of the Arukh, who held a high post in the papal household.

Alexander iv, reigned 1254-61, reissued the bull Sicut Judaeis in 1255. During the bitter struggle of the papacy against the imperial Hohenstaufen family, he granted letters of protection to a number of Roman Jewish army suppliers, exempting them from having to pay extra tolls on the roads. That this did not represent a generally favorable attitude is evident from his other pronouncements. Alexander iv insistently enforced the wearing of the distinguishing Jewish badge and the confiscation of the Talmud. The pope commended Louis ix of France and Count Thibaut of Champagne (who was also king of Navarre) for having taken away from the Jews sums which had presumably been gained through usury. He granted them the right to use such money for "pious purposes" (1258). In a letter addressed to several churchmen, the pope expressed horror that certain clerics had left church articles with the Jews as pledges for their debts.

Alexander v, reigned 1409-10, was elected by the Council of Pisa in a vain effort to end the schism within the church. He shared the superstitions of his day, blaming the division within the church on bad Christians and on Jewish magicians. The Jews, he asserted, corrupted the world by consulting the Talmud and practicing usury.

Alexander vi (borgia), reigned 1492-1503, displayed an ambivalent attitude toward the Jews. Where personal gain or the exigencies of diplomacy made it desirable, he was harsh; but where he was free to use his good sense, he showed understanding and humanity. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal, he permitted *Marranos to continue residing in the environs of Rome. When, however, King Ferdinand of *Spain protested, alleging that the pope’s leniency encouraged their flight from Spain, Alexander compelled the refugees publicly to reaffirm their Christian loyalty. Even so, he appears to have profited financially from his refusal to take more extreme measures. While the pope reduced the size, and therefore the prominence, of the distinguishing Jewish badge, he lengthened the distance of the disgraceful annual races in Rome in which Jewish participants had to run naked, so as to be able to watch them from his residence at Castle St. Angelo. He imposed on the Jews an additional tribute of 5% for three years, to help defray the expenses of the Turkish War. Alexander treated favorably the Jews he employed as his personal physicians; one of these Bonet *Lattes, dedicated to him his book on astronomy.

Alexander vii, reigned 1651-67. His policy toward the Jews was primarily motivated by zeal for making converts. Though he did not apply force, he frequently applied indirect compulsion. Residence in the ghetto was strictly regulated, and the entire Jewish community was held responsible for the rental of an apartment vacated by a convert or through the death of its occupant in the recent plague, for Jews were not permitted to own property even within the ghetto (1658). Christian contact with Jews was assiduously discouraged. In 1659 Jews were prohibited from teaching or learning under Christians. To be the servant of a Jew was a punishable offense.

The one improvement in the Jewish situation under Alexander vii was the abolition, in the last year of his papacy, of the shameful annual races (cf. Alexander vi).

ALEXANDER

Name of three Russian czars. Alexander i, czar of Russia 1801-25. Alexander i’s character and actions were to a large extent shaped by the vicissitudes he experienced in his struggle against *Napoleon. His ties with Metternich and the Holy Alliance were a result of his reaction against the spirit of the French Revolution; Alexander activated and joined the Alliance as "the gendarme of Europe" after Napoleons downfall. When Alexander ascended the throne, Russian policy toward the large Jewish population living in former Polish territory, constituting the so-called Jewish question, had already been under active consideration for some time in government circles. In November 1802 Alexander appointed a committee to consider all aspects of the Jewish question in Russia. Some of its members were his personal friends and, like Alexander at that stage, harbored liberal ideas. The committee’s report was approved by Alexander and promulgated in 1804 as the Jewish Statute. It was the first comprehensive piece of Russian legislation to deal with Jewish affairs. The statute, as well as subsequent legislative and administrative measures concerning the Jews taken during Alexander’s reign, was based upon the assumption that the Jews were a parasitic element, an undesired legacy bequeathed by the defunct Polish state. The policy underlying the statute, therefore, was that the Jews must be directed toward employment in productive occupations, such as agriculture and industry. On the other hand the native population, especially the peasants in areas that had formerly belonged to Poland, had to be protected from alleged Jewish exploitation and influence. At the same time measures should be taken to raise the Jews from what was considered their debased cultural condition by encouraging secular education and ^assimilation into the Russian Christian social and cultural environment. A program of repression and restrictions was therefore embodied in the statute, which imposed limitations on Jewish residence, occupations, and land tenure. The full brunt of the legislation was partially averted during the Napoleonic Wars, when the Russian government was concerned that the Jewish population might be driven to help the French, but the measures were resumed with even greater force after the war. The efforts of the English missionary Lewis *Way to induce Alexander to grant the Jews emancipation had no practical results. Alexander, at this time inclining to pietism and mysticism, initiated a policy intended to promote the conversion of the Jews to Christianity. In 1817 a "Society of Israelitic Christians" was founded and placed under the czar’s personal patronage.

Alexander ii, czar of Russia 1855-81. Developments in Russia under Alexander ii and the measures he adopted were a result of the harsh legacy of the reign of his father ^Nicholas i, the aftermath of the Crimean War, and his attitude toward the rising revolutionary movement in Russia. Alexander’s accession raised great expectations among the Jewish as well as the Russian population. The Jews hoped for a change in the oppressive policies pursued by Nicholas i. The abolition in 1856 of the special system of recruiting Jews for the army (see *Cantonists) appeared as a good omen. Alexander, however, was firmly opposed to the abolition of the Pale of ^Settlement restricting Jewish residence. The basic Russian policy toward the Jews, which aimed to "reeducate" them and make them "useful members" of the state (see Alexander i), underwent no change during his reign. Alexander ii, however, attempted to promote their "improvement," and ultimate "fusion" with the Russian people, by extending the rights of certain groups within the Jewish population. These, by virtue of either their economic situation or education, were considered free of "Jewish fanaticism." His policy was also dictated by the demands of the Russian economy which could utilize Jewish capital and skill for its development. Alexander accordingly approved certain reforms to alleviate conditions for the Jews. In particular, the restrictions applying to rights of residence and entry into government service were eased for merchants of "the first guild" (i.e., wealthy merchants), university graduates, and artisans. All these partial and limited concessions were kept within the bounds personally prescribed by Alexander. In the last decade of his reign, when revolutionary tension mounted, the anti-Jewish oppressive policy again intensified. Nevertheless, Alexander was remembered by the Jews as a friendly and enlightened ruler. His assassination on March 13, 1881, brought this relatively liberal interlude to an end and initiated a period of violent reaction.

Alexander iii, czar of Russia 1881-94. The reign of Alexander iii was dominated by the rising tide of the revolutionary movement in Russia, in which Jewish youth took an increasing part. Ascending the throne after his father Alexander ii’s assassination, Alexander iii was determined to suppress all liberal tendencies and maintain an autocracy. The czar’s teacher, Kon-stantin *Pobedonostsev, procurator-general of the Holy Synod (the supreme authority of the Russian Orthodox Church), a fanatic reactionary, became the most powerful figure in the state. The first organized *pogrom against Jews was perpetrated in Yelizavetgrad (today *Kirovograd), in southern Russia, in April 1881. It was followed by a series of similar outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence in the course of 1881-84. Alexander and his government accepted the theory that the pogroms stemmed from the inherent hatred of the indigenous population for the Jews because of their "economic domination." This led to the conclusion that the indigenous population must be shielded "against the harmful activity of the Jews."

The "Temporary Regulations" of May 3, 1882 (see *May Laws) followed. These prohibited Jews from resettling in the villages or from holding real estate outside the urban areas, and authorized the village communities to oust the Jews already settled among them. These measures were succeeded by partial expulsions of "illegal" Jewish settlers from the interior of Russia, and in 1891 by the eviction of about one-half of the Jewish population from Moscow. Admission of the Jews to the bar was temporarily halted in 1889, and their participation in local government was curbed in 1892. A * Humerus clausus, restricting the proportion of Jews allowed to enter secondary schools and universities to between 3% and 10% of the admission total, was imposed in 1887. This policy was adopted by Alexander in the face of the majority report of the governmental commission under the chairmanship of Count Pahlen, sitting between 1883 and 1888, which was opposed to a regressive policy and counseled "a graduated system of emancipatory and equalizing laws." Alexander was ready to support the planned Jewish emigration from Russia suggested to the Russian government by Baron Maurice de *Hirsch.

ALEXANDER

English family of printers. Alexander Alexander (d. 1807?), pioneer of the Hebrew press in London with Benedict Meyers (Hebrew: Jost) of Hal-berstadt. In 1770 Alexander and Meyers produced an edition of the Ashkenazi prayer book with English translation; the list of subscribers included many non-Jews. This was followed by a Haggadah in two editions, Sephardi and Ashkenazi. Originally Alexander did not do the actual printing himself. He produced many liturgical works, including the complete liturgy according to the Sephardi and Ashkenazi rites with slovenly executed English translations (1773), as well as a Pentateuch with translation (1785). In 1772 he began to issue a series of annual pocket calendars. His son levy (judah leib; 1754-1853) also printed Hebrew and English works for many years, reproducing several of his fathers editions. Failing to secure for one of these the patronage of Chief Rabbi Solomon *Hirschel, he published a number of scurrilous attacks on him ("The Axe laid to the root, or, Ignorance and Superstition evident in the character of the Rev. S. Hirschel," 1808; "A Critique of the Hebrew Thanksgiving prayers … on Thursday the 7th of July … With an anecdote of the humorous sermon delivered by the High Priest the Rev. Solomon Hirschel. for the occasion," 1814). He continued the attack on the wrappings of his edition of the festival prayers issued in parts from 1808-15. His own writings include a reply to the proposals of J. *Van Oven on the problem of the Jewish poor (1802), and an English grammar in rhyme (1833). His Memoirs of the Life and Commercial Connections of the Late Benjamin Goldsmid of Roehampton (1808) contains piquant details of contemporary Jewish life in London.

ALEXANDER, ABRAHAM

(Senior; 1743-1816), Revolutionary War officer, U.S. Custom House auditor, and hazzan of Charleston’s Beth Elohim Congregation (1764-84). Born and educated in London, Alexander, the son of Joseph Raphael Alexander, immigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, before the American Revolution. He served for many years as a volunteer lay minister (known then as hazzan). A Hebrew scholar and scribe, he wrote, in his own hand, a prayer book for the High Holy Days "according to the custom of the Sephardim" (1805). During the Revolution, when Charleston fell to the British in 1780, he surrendered at first, along with the rest of the population, but soon afterward left the city to join patriot forces in the backcountry. After he was commissioned a lieutenant of the dragoons, his regiment’s guerilla fighting helped drive the British from the Carolinas. Alexander, a widower, in 1784 married Ann Sarah Huguenin Irby, a widow of French Huguenot affiliation. Intermarriage was unusual for the times, especially since he was a strict adherent to Orthodox Judaism. Yet before their marriage she became a devout Jewess, one of the earliest converts of American Jewish history; apparently, however, he resigned his position as hazzan of the congregation. Alexander entered the service of the new federal government at Charleston’s U.S. Custom House, as clerk in 1802 and then as auditor until his retirement in 1813. An active Mason, he is notable in Masonic history as one of 11 founders and the first secretary-general of the Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Scottish Rite Masonry ("mother council of the world"), which was founded in Charleston in 1801.

ALEXANDER, BEATRICE

(1895-1990), founder of the Madame Alexander Doll Company and one of the best-known U.S. female entrepreneurs. Alexander was born in Brooklyn, n.y., to Hannah Pepper, a widow. When Beatrice was a toddler, her mother married another Russian immigrant, Maurice Alexander; the couple went on to have three more daughters. Beatrice always considered Alexander, who established the first doll hospital in the United States, as her real father. She learned the craft of dollmaking in her father’s shop where she observed both the fragility of the china dolls of that era and their importance to children. The contrast between the wealth of many of Maurice’s customers and the poverty of the neighborhood made a deep impression on her and she became determined to achieve a better future. Alexander’s early surroundings also accustomed her to seeing women contributing to the family economy; her mother worked with her husband in his shop, as well as having full responsibility for the home. In 1915, a few weeks after serving as high school valedictorian, Alexander married Philip Behrman, who later joined her in managing the Madame Alexander Doll Company. The couple had one daughter, Mildred, who grew up in the business, as did her son, William Alexander Birnbaum, company president until 1994.

"Madame Alexander" began her career during World War 1 when the decrease in imported dolls from Europe created a shortage. Her first project was the "Red Cross Nurse" rag doll. In the 1920s she formally created one of the largest doll manufacturing companies in the United States. The Madame Alexander Doll Company has created more than 5,000 different dolls, often based on literary figures and Disney characters, as well as real people. Madame Alexander dolls, known for their high quality and artistry, are on permanent display at a number of museums worldwide and have received numerous awards. In 1986, Beatrice Alexander was honored with the Doll of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.

Alexander, who began to withdraw from the business in the 1970s, was a well-known philanthropist, supporting American and Zionist causes. A trustee of the Women’s League for Israel, Alexander gave particular support to projects benefiting children.

ALEXANDER, BERNARD

(1872-1935), South African lawyer and communal worker. Born in the province of Poznan (Poland), Alexander went to South Africa as a child. In 1903 he helped to establish the Jewish Board of Deputies of the Transvaal and Natal; he was its president when, in 1912, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies was founded, with the Transvaal Board as one of its constituents. He became vice president and from 1916 to 1927 was president of the South African Board. Alexander took a leading part in congregational activities and Jewish institutions in Johannesburg. During his chairmanship of the Jewish War Victims’ Fund (1915-25), it raised more than £500,000 for Jewish war relief. Alexander was a member of the Johannesburg City Council and served on civic and educational bodies. As solicitor to the Paramount Chief of Swaziland, he headed (1929) a mission to the British government on behalf of its people.

ALEXANDER, FRANZ

(1891-1964), U.S. psychoanalyst, criminologist, and author. Alexander was born in Budapest and studied medicine there. During World War 1, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army at a bacteriological field laboratory. After the war he did postgraduate work at the psychiatric hospital of the University of Berlin. With the establishment of Berlin’s Institute for Psychoanalysis in 1921, he became its first student and stayed on there for ten years as clinical associate and lecturer. During that period he formulated his ideas for his first book: Die Psychoanalyse der Gesamtpersoenlichkeit (1927). Early in his career as a psychiatrist Alexander became convinced that the vital approach of psychoanalysis should be the exploration of the human mind to lead men and women to more constructive and satisfying fulfillment in their lives. His research provided much understanding about "psychosomatic specificity" tracing such psychosomatic symptoms as peptic ulcer to their origin in childhood neurotic conflict, and "dream pairs" showing how dreams occur in complementary pairs to produce wish fulfillment. Alexander also made many attempts to shorten therapy through use of the patient’s transference relationship with his or her therapist. His famous work Der Verbrecher undseine Richter (1929; The Criminal, the Judge and the Public, 1931), written with H. Staub, a lawyer, led to an invitation to teach at the University of Chicago. Here he established the world’s first university chair in psychoanalysis. From 1931 to 1932, Alexander was research associate in criminology at the Judge Baker Foundation in Boston. He incorporated his findings in his book, The Roots of Crime (1935), written with William Healy. In 1932 he established and became director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. From 1938 to 1956 he was also professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois. In 1956 he was appointed head of the new psychiatric department of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles and professor of psychiatry at the University of Southern California. Among the many high posts he occupied were president of the American Psychoanalytical Association, president of the American Society for Research in Psychosomatic Medicine, and president of the Academy of Psychoanalysis. He was one of the founding editors of the professional journal Psychosomatic Medicine (1939). His other books include The Western Mind in Transition (1960); The Scope of Psychoanalysis (1961); and Psychosomatic Specificity (1968).

ALEXANDER, HAIM

(Heinz; 1915- ), composer and pianist. Alexander was born in Berlin. In 1936, following the ascent of the Nazis to power, he settled in Jerusalem and studied with Stefan Wolpe and Joseph *Tal at the Palestine Conservatory. He was one of the founders of the Academy of Music in Jerusalem (later the Rubin Academy), where he was professor until his retirement. He also lectured at the musicol-ogy department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the University of Pennsylvania, at the Jacques Dalcroze Institute, Geneva, and at nyu. A versatile musician and superb impro-viser, he taught piano, harpsichord, improvisation, theory, and composition. Like all other Jewish composers who emigrated from Central Europe in the 1930s, Alexander established his own personal response to the dialectics of the ideological pressure of the Zionist vision of the East and the internal pressure to retain and absorb the great European heritage. He was always alert and open to new ideas and influences. In the 1950s Alexander attended avant-garde seminars in Darmstadt and added the serial technique to his rich vocabulary, such as in Patterns (1965) for piano, while still retaining his penchant for lyrical, tuneful writing in the Nature Songs (1988). In 1971 Alexander undertook a large-scale project of transcribing traditional songs kept at the Jerusalem Sound Archives, many of which he later arranged for various ensembles. He published a textbook Improvisation Am Clavier, with two cassettes (Schott, 1987). His large output includes many choral works, songs for voice and chamber ensembles such as the cycle Ba-Olam ("In the World,"1976), orchestral works such as the Piano Concerto, chamber works, and many compositions for piano.

ALEXANDER, JASON

(1959- ), U.S. actor and entertainer. Born in Newark, n.j., as Jay Scott Greenspan, Alexander starred in 180 episodes, over nine years, of the wildly popular situation comedy Seinfeld, starring Jerry *Seinfeld. Alexander portrayed the hapless George Costanza, a "schlepp" partly based on the show’s co-creator, Larry *David. Costanza, neurotic, devious, and unscrupulous, was one of the more memorable characters in television series history.

Although he was short, chubby and began to grow bald at an early age, Alexander had such a commanding stage presence that he was invariably cast as the star in school plays, in roles ranging from romantic leads to elderly character parts. He won a scholarship to Boston University’s drama department and at 20 was cast in the Stephen *Sondheim Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along, but the show closed shortly after it opened. Alexander left college soon thereafter to pursue his acting career. He got his first film role in The Burning, produced by Harvey *Weinstein, in 1981 and three years later he played four roles in the Broadway musical The Rink. He created the role of Stanley Jerome in Neil *Simon’s semi-autobiographical play Broadway Bound and then took on a starring role in Jerome Robbins Broadway, for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Circle Critics awards as best actor in a musical.

Alexander’s voice appeared in a number of animated features, including Aladdin, The Return to Jafar, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In 1997 he played an AiDS-afflicted drag queen who finds romance in the movie Love! Valour! Compassion! He also got a lead role in the Los Angeles stage version of The Producers.

After Seinfeld, for which he won six Emmy nominations, four Golden Globe nominations, and other honors, Alexander starred as a self-help guru in a television series, Bob Patterson, but it was quickly canceled. In 2004 he starred in another situation comedy, Listen-Up, based on the life of a sportswriter. He also made a quick, highly publicized trip to Israel to air his views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

ALEXANDER, KOBI

(1952- ), Israeli high-tech entrepreneur. Alexander was born in Tel Aviv. He served as an intelligence officer in the army. In 1977 he graduated in economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in 1980 he received an M.B.A. degree from New York University. In 1980-81 he worked as an economic consultant for several international corporations. In 1982 he and his two partners, Boaz Misholi and Yehiam Yemini, established Efrat Future Technology Inc. in 1984, after the development of the firm’s first product, Ta-diran joined the partnership and later on a group of American investors joined as well. In 1986 Comverse usa was established, the mother company of Efrat. In 1987 Efrat took big losses, its stock failed, and Yemini retired. In 1988 Alexander moved to New York and succeeded in stabilizing the firm and bringing it back to profitability. Efrat employed 1,500 workers with a turnover of $300 million dollars a year and is a leading firm in the field of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communication services. Alexander is the chairman, president, and ceo of Efrat. In 1997 Comverse and Boston Technologies were merged, and Alexander became the head of a firm with revenues of over $1 billion a year He also served as a director of the venture fund established by Comverse and George Soros.

ALEXANDER, MICHAEL SOLOMON

(1799-1845), the first Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. After an Orthodox Jewish upbringing, in 1820 Alexander left his native Germany for England, where as Michael Solomon Pollack he served as hazzan and shohet to the small communities in Norwich (1820-21), Nottingham (1821-23), and Plymouth (1823-25). Coming into contact with Christian missionaries, he was converted to Christianity in 1825. Alexander then moved to Dublin, where he taught Hebrew, was ordained, and where, in 1827, he was appointed to a curacy. Later he was sent as a missionary to Danzig by the London Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews. In 1830 he returned to London in the service of the society. From 1832 to 1841 he was professor of Hebrew and rabbinics at King’s College, London. He collaborated with Alexander McCaul in Hebrew translations of the New Testament and the Anglican liturgy. In August 1840 he, with other converts, signed a protest against the *Damas-cus blood libel. When, on the withdrawal of *Muhammad Ali from Palestine, it was decided to establish an Anglican and Lutheran bishopric in Jerusalem under the auspices of Great

Britain and Prussia, with missionary as well as political objectives, Alexander was appointed the first incumbent (November 1841). Although the British consul, on the instructions of the Foreign Office, did not support his missionary activities, Alexander zealously carried out the duties of his office as he conceived them, visiting Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Abyssinia, which were included in his diocese. He died while on one of his visits to Egypt; his body was brought back to Jerusalem where he was buried in the Christian cemetery on Mt. Zion. His tombstone bears a long inscription in Hebrew, English, Greek, and German. His published works include The Hope of Israel, a lecture (1831); The Glory of Mount Zion, a sermon (1839); and The Flower Fadeth and Memoir of Sarah Jane Isabella Wolff… eldest daughter of… M.S. Alexander (1841).

ALEXANDER, MORRIS

(1877-1946), South African lawyer and politician. Alexander went to South Africa from East Prussia as a child. He practiced law in Cape Town and soon became involved in politics and in Jewish communal affairs. He played a leading part in the formation of the Cape Jewish Board of Deputies (1904) and was its president and most active figure until its merger with the South African Board of Deputies (1912), thereafter serving as vice president of the United South African Board and chairman of its Cape Committee until 1933. As a Jewish spokesman in matters of immigration and naturalization, Alexander was largely instrumental in having Yiddish recognized as a European language in the immigrant’s literacy test (1906). He was elected to Parliament in 1908 and for 35 years was known as a champion of the Indian and Colored communities against discriminatory laws. He was an active Zionist and was a lay preacher to the Cape Town New Congregation. His first wife, Ruth, was the daughter of Solomon *Schechter. His second wife, Enid, wrote his biography Morris Alexander (1957). The large collection of Alexander’s papers – documents covering his entire life – are housed in the University of Cape Town.

ALEXANDER, MOSES

(1853-1932), first Jewish governor of an American state. Alexander, who was born in Obrigheim, Germany, immigrated to America in 1867. He became mayor of Chillicothe, Missouri (1887), and moved to Idaho around 1891. A successful businessman, he was elected mayor of Boise in 1897 and served two terms. As the Democratic governor of Idaho, serving for two terms (1915-19), Alexander achieved great popularity in his own state and elsewhere, earning a reputation for wit, eloquence, and progressivism. He secured legislation on behalf of workmen’s compensation, the state highway system, irrigation, reclamation and waterway systems, and prohibition. He also rallied Idaho around Wood-row Wilson’s call to enter World War 1, and he supported the women’s suffrage movement.

He helped organize and lead the first synagogue in Idaho. The town of Alexander, Idaho, is named for him.

To commemorate his achievements, the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise installed the Moses Alexander Collection to highlight this American success story. The exhibition’s 80 cubic feet of material, dating from 1876 to 1987, sheds light on the role Alexander played in shaping Idaho’s business, political, and religious communities. The collection includes original and carbon copy correspondence, telegrams, newspaper clippings, speeches, videos, photographs, scrapbooks, fiscal records, and court proceedings, as well as assorted printed material such as blueprints, maps, and certificates that are supplementary to the correspondence.

ALEXANDER, MURIEL

(1884-1975), South African actress and producer. Born in Exeter, England, Muriel Alexander was a member in 1904 of the first class held at Tree’s Academy, London, which later became the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She won a scholarship and acted in Sir Henry Tree’s company at His Majesty’s. Settling in South Africa after World War 1, she founded the Johannesburg Repertory Players, which had a predominantly Jewish membership and directed them for many years. In 1960 they renamed their theater The Alexander.

ALEXANDER, SAMUEL

(1859-1938), British philosopher. His family originated in Alsace and he was born in Australia. From 1882 to 1893 he taught at Oxford as a fellow of Lincoln College, being the first Jew appointed to a college fellowship in an English university. From 1894 to 1924 he was a professor of philosophy in Manchester. In 1930 he was made a member of the Order of Merit, the highest honor in British intellectual life. Alexander also participated in Anglo-Jewish communal life and was a member of the academic council of the Hebrew University. Alexander was the principal exponent of metaphysical realism in England. In his view, metaphysics is a descriptive science, which elucidates the most universal levels of reality. There are various levels in the unfolding of reality, each of which is rooted in the one preceding it and emerges from it. The most important of these emergent levels which have thus far manifested themselves are those of matter, the physical-chemical life, and mind. However, the creative potential of the cosmic order has not ceased – the next level to evolve will be that of "deity." The relationship of "deity" to mind will be of the same order as that of mind to matter and of matter to space-time. The impending advent of "deity" in the process of emergent evolution is evidenced by the existence of religious consciousness. Deity is the goal of the ever-advancing craving – perhaps asymptotic – for it. His doctrines have much in common with those held by Alexander’s friends and contemporaries, A.N. Whitehead and Lloyd Morgan. In his later life, Alexander turned to the study of aesthetics in which he found much substantiation for his views on the cosmic order. The most original and characteristic portion of his work in metaphysics is the recognition of the reality of time, change, process, and the concept of "point-instants" as ultimate units of reality. The "pragmatic deduction" of the categories (i.e., categories of reality, not of thought) is found in the second part of his book Space, Time and Deity (2 vols., 1920). His most lasting contribution to epistemology is his elaborate distinction between "contemplation" of an experience and the "enjoyment" of it: the objective awareness of an "-ed" and the subjective "non-accusative" enjoying self-awareness of an "-ing." Many modern philosophers not otherwise in sympathy with Alexander’s realistic metaphysics owe to him this celebrated distinction. His other major writings are Moral Order and Progress (1889); Locke (1908); The Foundation of Realism (1914); Spinoza and Time (1921); Beauty and Other Forms of Value (1933); Philosophical and Literary Pieces (edited 1939).

"ALEXANDER BALAS

King of Syria, 150-146 b.c.e. According to Diodorus and Strabo, Balas was his original name before he assumed the cognomen Alexander. Many of his contemporaries state that Alexander Balas was a native of Smyrna, of lowly parentage, but he pretended to be the son of Antio-chus iv Epiphanes and claimed the throne of his alleged father in opposition to Demetrius i Soter. Alexander was supported by Attalus ii of Pergamum and was recognized by Ptolemy vi Philometor of Egypt. The Romans, inclined to encourage the disturbances in Syria, also allowed Alexander’s adherents freedom of action. In 153 b.c.e., Alexander led an army of mercenaries against Demetrius. The pretender’s first act was to win Jonathan the Hasmonean to his side by appointing him high priest and leader of the Jews. Demetrius fell in battle, and Alexander assumed the throne in 150. To strengthen his position in Syria he married Ptolemy’s daughter. However, when he conspired against him, Ptolemy withdrew his support and allied himself with Demetrius ii, son of the late king, who now laid claim to his father’s throne. In the ensuing battle between Alexander and Ptolemy on the River Oenoparas near Antioch, Alexander was defeated and Ptolemy mortally wounded. Alexander took refuge with the Arab chieftain Zabeilus, who slew him and sent his head to Ptolemy who had not yet died from his wounds.

ALEXANDER THE FALSE

Impostor who pretended to be the son of Herod and Mariamne. According to Josephus, after Herod’s death in 4 b.c.e., there appeared "a young man, Jewish by birth but brought up in the city of Sidon by a Roman freed-man" who "on the strength of a certain physical resemblance passed himself off as the Prince Alexander, whom Herod had put to death." He successfully deceived several Jewish communities on his way to Rome, but when he arrived there, he was unmasked by the emperor Augustus; Celadus, a freedman who had known the real Alexander, informed the emperor of the deception. The impostor’s life was spared, however, and he became an oarsman in the imperial galleys.

"ALEXANDER THE GREAT

(356-323 b.c.e.), king of Macedonia who conquered most of the Near East and Asia. A legend preserved in Josephus (Ant., 11:329 ft.) tells that when Alexander was besieging Tyre, Sanballat, the leader of the Samaritans, came to him at the head of 8,000 men. Alexander received him in a friendly manner and acceded to his request that he be allowed to build a temple on Mount Ger-izim, where Sanballat’s son-in-law Manasseh would serve as high priest. According to this legend, Alexander demanded of the high priest, Jaddus (Jaddua), the surrender of Jerusalem and of the Jewish people, and when the latter refused on the grounds that he had sworn loyalty to Darius, Alexander marched on Jerusalem at the head of his army to punish the panic-stricken Jews. However, Jaddus succeeded in calming the Jews by making it known that he had a revelation in a dream that no harm would befall the city and the Temple. On the following day Jaddus set out with the chief priests, the elders, and the leading citizens, and awaited Alexander’s arrival at Z ofim, to the north of Jerusalem. When Alexander saw the high priest he prostrated himself before him, telling his men that Jaddus had appeared to him in a dream and informed him that he would defeat the Persian king. Alexander then went up to the Temple, offered a sacrifice, and granted the Jews extensive privileges. When the Samaritans heard of the success of the Jews they invited Alexander to visit their temple on Mount Gerizim on his return from Egypt. Their efforts, however, proved unsuccessful.

A similar story, but with different names for the high priest and the meeting place, occurs in the Talmud: "The twenty-fifth [of Tevet] is the day of Mount Gerizim, on which no public mourning is permitted, it being the day on which the Cutheans [i.e., the Samaritans] requested the House of our God from Alexander of Macedonia in order to destroy it and he granted it to them. People came and informed Simeon the Just. What did he do? He put on his priestly garments, and he and some of the nobles of Israel who carried burning torches in their hands walked all night, some on one side, others on the other, until dawn. When dawn rose he [Alexander] said to them: ‘Who are these?’

They answered: ‘The Jews who rebelled against you.’ When he reached Antipatris and the sun shone, they met. On seeing Simeon the Just, Alexander descended from his chariot and prostrated himself.

[They] said to him: ‘Should a great king like you prostrate yourself before this Jew?’

He answered: ‘The image of this man wins my battles for me.’

He said to the Jews: ‘Why have you come?’

They replied: ‘Is it possible that star-worshipers should mislead you into destroying the House in which prayers are said for you and your kingdom that it may never be destroyed!’

‘To whom are you referring?’

‘To the Cutheans who stand before you.’

‘They are delivered into your hands.’

At once they pierced the heel of the Cutheans, tied them to the tails of their horses and dragged them over thorns and thistles, until they came to Mount Gerizim, which they plowed and sowed with vetch, even as the Cutheans had planned to do with the House of our God" (Yoma 69a).

The legend in Josephus ascribes to Alexander things which are highly improbable. After the battle at Issus, Alexander set out hurriedly for Egypt in order to dislodge the Persians from the Mediterranean coast. The siege of Tyre was protracted and Alexander had no time to turn aside from his main route in order to visit a city as unimportant as Jerusalem was then, or the Jews, who were a small nation. It is obvious that Alexander advanced with his army along the coast and did not then visit the interior of the country, although undoubtedly he did so in the spring of 331 B.c.E. The Roman writer Cur-tius Rufus relates that when Alexander was in Egypt the news reached him that the Samaritans had rebelled and had consigned Andromachus, the Macedonian governor of Samaria, to the flames. Alexander hurried to Samaria, reestablished order with an iron hand, and stationed Macedonians there. On this occasion Alexander probably visited the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim, a visit which would not have been friendly (as is evidenced by the discoveries of the remains of Samaritan fugitives in the caves of Wadi Daliyeh (see F.R. Cross in bibl.). The Jews in Jerusalem presumably rejoiced at the reversal of the Samaritans and tried to appear before Alexander as a people loyal to him and to his rule, in which purpose they doubtlessly succeeded. An intimation of this success may be gleaned from the legendary account that Alexander granted to the Jews special privileges not only in Jerusalem but in the Diaspora as well. Nonetheless, there is no basis for assuming that he visited the Temple in Jerusalem, for had he done so, such an important event would assuredly have been referred to in the Talmud, which contains many stories about Alexander of Macedonia (Tam. 3ib-32b). It may be reasonably assumed, however, that the Jews approached Alexander before his journey to Samaria to correct any false impression he may have had, fearing that he might confuse them with the Samaritans and include them in their punishment. This is clearly reflected in the above-mentioned aggadah, which gives the place of the meeting as Antipatris. Although this name does not fit in with the time of Alexander, the Talmud is most probably preserving an authentic popular tradition (Antipatris was on the main route along which an army had to pass when marching from north to south). The aggadah, however, is not precise in naming Simeon the Just as the officiating high priest at that time. As for the Jews’ destroying Samaria on that occasion, the allusion is probably to its destruction by the Jews in the days of John Hyrcanus.

In the Aggadah

The legends about Alexander of Macedonia do not so much portray his historical image, as describe the Greeks as a whole, as they were known to the peoples of the East, including the Jews. According to Plato (Republic, 435-6), the love of knowledge is characteristic of the Greeks and the love of money and possessions, mainly of the Phoenicians and the Egyptians. According to the aggadah, however, the heart of the Greek is torn by two conflicting desires: a craving for money and a hankering after knowledge; for while the Greek loves gold, he also longs to observe people and their customs, to become acquainted with new countries and new manners, thus increasing his knowledge. He delights in proclaiming the latter desire, and he attempts to conceal the former. He is deeply humiliated when he finds that he has failed to do so, as was the lot of Alexander upon his visit to King Kazya for the assumed purpose of observing his administration of justice (tj bm 2:5, 8c). The disdain of the people of the East for the rapacious Greek conquerors is a conspicuous feature of the aggadah, which describes Alexander’s visit to the country of the Amazons (Tam. 32a). The aggadic account of Alexander’s wish to enter the Holy of Holies and of the sage who dissuaded him from doing so (Gen. R. 61:7) was intended to demonstrate to the Jews that the sword is not always the most effective weapon against enemies like Alexander; moderation and discretion, guarded compromise and the exploitation of an enemy’s weakness, courage and strength of spirit, often accomplish what the sword cannot. One aggadah in which the personality of the Macedonian king bears a close resemblance to the historical Alexander, reports a discussion between him and the elders of the south country (Tam. 3ib-32a). Here he is featured as a typical Greek philosopher, bent upon learning from every man and from every nation, inquiring into every purpose, seeking precise definitions of concepts.

In Medieval Hebrew Literature

Stories about Alexander were included in Hebrew literature throughout the Middle Ages. They may be divided into two categories: (1) Stories describing his wisdom and high moral standards, reflecting the belief that as a pupil of Aristotle he had to be a philosopher. As early as the 11th century, Solomon ibn *Gabirol included such a story in his ethical work, Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh. This practice was imitated by most medieval Hebrew moralists. Stories about him and epigrams attributed to him are found in Arabic works translated into Hebrew, e.g., Musrei ha-Filosofim by Hunain ibn Ishaq and the pseudo-Aristotelian Sod ha-Sodot. (2) The medieval romance, the Gests of Alexander, was known in Hebrew, and published in many versions. This work, which originated in Hellenistic literature, is known in Greek as the Pseudo-Callisthenes; it was written around 300 c.E. by an anonymous Alexandrian author. According to W. van Bekkum, one of the recensions of the Greek text was believed to have been done by a Jew who added new elements taken from Josephus and the rabbinic literature, but Trumpf has proven that it was written by a Christian author who used the Sep-tuagint. Some of the Hebrew versions seem to draw upon the Pseudo-Callisthenes, but most of them are based on the Latin version, the Historia de proeliis Alexandri Magni, a recension of the Latin translation by Archpresbyter Leo of Naples (mid-ioth century). It seems that at least one version was translated into Hebrew from the Arabic, itself a translation of the Latin version. There are five printed versions of the Hebrew text of the Gests of Alexander (and others in manuscript):

(a) In the 12th century a version of this work was included in the *Josippon (written 200 years earlier) and became in this way part of Hebrew historical literature.

(b) Israel Levi printed a version from an Arabic translation attributed to Samuel ibn Tibbon, based on the Latin Historia de proeliis. It was a deficient edition of the Ms. Heb. 671.5 in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, of the Sefer Toledot Alexander (Kovez al Jad, 2 (1886), 1-82). A critical edition of the same manuscript was published, with English translation, by Wout Jac. van Bekkum: A Hebrew Alexander Romance according to Ms. Heb. 671,5 Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale (Gron-ingen, Styx Publications, 1994). According to the editor, there is a tendency to cleanse the Hebrew text of mention of paganism and idolatry in the Latin text, although some of the pagan names still remain.

(c) Wout Jac. van Bekkum also published the first critical edition of the Alexander Romance according to another London Ms.: A Hebrew Alexander Romance according to Ms. London Jews’ College no. 145 (Leuven, Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Orientalistik, 1992). This manuscript is also based on the Latin translation by Leo of Naples, but it represents a different version of the Hebrew translation, with its own characteristics.

(d) I.J. Kazis printed a Hebrew version (1962) based on the Paris manuscript Ms. Heb. 750.3, translated by Immanuel b. Jacob *Bonfils (mid-14a century) from the same Latin text of the Historia de proeliis, which was compiled from other sources as well.

(e) Another version, printed also by I. Levi (in: Festschrift… Steinschneider (1896), 142-63), based on the Ms. 53 of the Estense Library in Modena, seems to be unrelated to the Latin text; Levi conjectured that this version may be derived directly from the Greek Pseudo-Callisthenes. Its story is more imaginative and fanciful than that of the other versions, and has sometimes parallels with texts in the Talmud and Midrash. Two more manuscripts have, according to W. van Bekkum, a similar nature: Ms. Heb. D.11 from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and another one from Damascus.

Besides being popular as a novel, the Gests of Alexander, constructed from hundreds of stories which can exist independently, was also used in Hebrew literature as a source for short stories. The name of the hero, Alexander, is often omitted and only the plot proves its origin in this romance (e.g., Sefer Hlasidim, 379).

ALEXANDER LYSIMACHUS

(Gr. AAifcvSpo^ Aud|iaxoO, a leader of the Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, in the first century c.E., and a member of one of the most illustrious and wealthy Alexandrian Jewish families. Alexander was the brother of *Philo of Alexandria and the father of *Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexander. He served as *alabarch during the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius. He was imprisoned by Caligula, but Claudius released him and restored him to office. Alexander also served the younger Antonia, Claudius’ mother, as procurator of her large estates in Egypt. When Marcus Julius Agrippa was on his way to Rome, he visited Alexandria and asked Alexander for a loan; Alexander lent the sum to Agrippa’s wife *Cypros. He made a gift to the Temple, plating its gates with gold and silver.

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