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JUDAICA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JUDAICA
S E C O N D
E D I T I O N
VOLUME 3
BaBlo
F red Skolnik, Editor in Chief
M ichael Berenbaum, Executive Editor
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Entries BaBlo
5
Abbreviations
General Abbreviations
787
Abbreviations used in Rabbinical Literature
788
Bibliographical Abbreviations
794
Transliteration Rules
807
Glossary
810
BAALAH (Heb. ) , name of several biblical localities, evidently associated with the worship of Baal. (1) Mount Baalah is
mentioned as one of the demarcation points on the northwestern boundary of the territory of Judah, between Shikkeron
and Jabneel in the vicinity of Ekron (Josh. 15:11). Its location is
dependent on the identification of *Ekron, but the prevailing
opinion is the ridge of Mughr, near Wadi Qatra. (2) A city
of Baalah is listed in the Negev district of Judah (Josh. 15:29).
It is also among the settlements of Simeon as Balah (Josh.
19:3) or Bilhah (I Chron. 4:29). Its identification is unknown.
(3) Baalah is mentioned as another name for *Kiriath-Jearim
(Josh. 15:910); in I Chronicles 13:6 it is called Baalath (Heb.
version). (4) A city of Baalath appears in the list of Danite settlements (Josh. 19:44) after Eltekeh and Gibbethon; this is perhaps identical with the Baalath fortified by Solomon (I Kings
9:18). It has been identified with the mound Mughr or of Qatra; in this case it would be identical with (1).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BaBlo
baalei teshuvah
baal-hazor
jailed. Ultimately, the Soviet Union opened its gates and the
mass aliyah to Israel began. Two prominent refuseniks, Joseph Mendelevich and Eliyahu Essas, currently reside in
Israel and continue to teach Judaism to the Russian immigrant community.
Eventually, the Baal Teshuvah movement spread to Israel.
On the one hand, numerous institutions and organizations
were created to teach and influence English-speaking students
who arrived in Israel to continue their studies and enhance
their Jewish observance. The most prominent are: Kefar H abad
(Lubavitcher), Kefar H abad; Magen Avraham, Bene Berak; Diaspora Yeshiva (Har Z ion), Jerusalem; Or Sameah , Jerusalem;
Kollel Or Sameah , Zikhron Yaakov; Or Sameah Work and
Study Program, Givat Ada; Dvar Yerushalayim, Jerusalem;
Aish HaTorah, Jerusalem; Kehillat Yaakov, Jerusalem; Hamivtar, Efrat; Shapell College, Jerusalem; Neve Yerushalayim,
Jerusalem; Isralight, Jerusalem; Machon Pardes (co-ed), Jerusalem. These institutions, in many cases, function not only as
schools, but as the centers of living communities. Many of
their students marry, set up homes within the community,
continue their studies and, even after the end of formal studies,
continue to maintain strong ties with the yeshivah or school.
Thus these yeshivot may be seen as the vital center of the entire Baalei Teshuvah movement. On the other hand, the native,
Israeli society has also witnessed a growing, Hebrew-speaking Baal Teshuvah movement. Here, the movers and shakers
are primarily Sephardi rabbis, many of whom preach to large
crowds, exhorting them to return to their religious roots. On
the whole, the Israeli Baal Teshuvah movement can be characterized as right-wing or ultra-Orthodox.
In the U.S., in 1987 an organization called National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP) was created to provide support
and in-service training for those engaged in outreach to potential baalei teshuvah. Founded by a leading outreach rabbi,
Ephraim Buchwald, NJOP has guided thousands of volunteer
teachers and tens of thousands of Jewish adults. They participated in programs advertised via the mass media and taught
at Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues, as well
as Jewish non-religious organizations, such as Jewish community centers. There is also a complementary organization
called Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals & Programs (AJOP), which was founded in 1988.
The Baal Teshuvah movement, both in Israel and
throughout the Diaspora, can certainly claim great success.
Though no accurate records exist, literally thousands of Jews
have returned to Jewish observance over the past 45 years of
the movements history. The movement has generated a whole
library of books aimed at baalei teshuvah, strengthened existing and built new communities in Israel and abroad, and experienced its own unique set of problems, such as the growing difficulties in educating and maintaining the observance
of the second generation, i.e., the children, of baalei teshuvah.
Nevertheless, the movement has been an integral element in
the resurgence of Orthodoxy throughout the Jewish world
over the last half century.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
baalis
BAALMAKHSHOVES (pen name of Israel Isidor Elyashev; 18731924), Yiddish literary critic, pioneer, and creator
of Yiddish literary criticism as an art form. Born in Kovno,
Baal-Makhshoves was educated at a Courland yeshivah which
combined the moral severity of the *Musar movement with a
modern curriculum, including mathematics, geography, and
German. The influence of the Musar movement intensified
his skepticism, melancholy, and analytic sagacity. After completing his studies at a Swiss high school, he studied medicine
at Heidelberg and Berlin. Although he practiced medicine
in Kovno, Vilna, Riga, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg, and also
translated a few popular works of science into Yiddish, his
main interest was in belles lettres. In 1896 he began to write
in German and Russian and in 1901 published his first Yiddish critical reviews in Der Yud. Influenced by the writer I.L.
*Peretz, Baal-Makhshoves continued to write in Yiddish. In
a brilliant essay, Tsvey Shprakhn Eyneyntsike Literatur
(Two Languages One Literature), he stressed the unity of
Jewish literature despite its linguistic duality. In another famous essay, Dray Shtetlakh (Three Towns) he called attention to the three different interpretations of shtetl culture
in the works of Peretz, Sholem Asch, and I.M. Vaisenberg.
An early admirer of Theodor Herzl, he translated Altneuland
into Yiddish (1902) and participated in the Fifth and Twelfth
Zionist Congresses. His war years were spent as a medical officer in the Russian Army. Another burst of literary activity as Yiddish editor of Klal-verlag (Berlin, 192223), was cut
short by his illness and subsequent death. Baal-Makhshoves
introduced European aesthetic standards and norms into his
interpretation of Yiddish literature. He discovered new talents and encouraged H. *Leivick, David *Bergelson, and the
postrevolutionary Kiev Group. He held that both Hebrew and
Yiddish should be recognized as Jewish national languages,
the former because it linked the Jewish people with its historic
past and the latter because it united Jews in the Diaspora. He
saw himself fulfilling a role in Yiddish literature similar to that
of critics like Byelinski and Lessing in Russian and German
literature, respectively, and as heralding a Jewish literary renaissance whose pioneers were Sholem Yankev *Abramovitsh
(Mendele Mokher Seforim), *Sholem Aleichem, I.L. *Peretz,
Sholem *Asch, and H .N. *Bialik, to each of whom he devoted
a penetrating essay. He accepted Taines theory that historical,
geographical, and ethnic environment determined the character of literary creativity, and formulated the view that true
creativity led from regionalism to national culture, illustrating
it in his essay on the impact of South Russian Jewish life on
Yiddish literature. He translated authors like Turgenev (Foters
un Kinder, Fathers and Children, 1922) and Tolstoy (Kozakn,
Cossacks, c. 1920) into Yiddish.
Less well-known but no less valuable are his Ironishe
Mayselekh (Ironic Tales, after 1910), in which he expressed
his increasing pessimism and disillusionment. His selected
works appeared in five volumes (1915, 19232, 19293) and in a
single volume in 1953.
Bibliography: Rejzen, Leksikon, 2 (1927), 74466; S. Niger,
Lezer, Dikhter un Kritiker (1928), 495565; Eliashev, in: Lite, 1 (1951),
131372; N.B. Minkoff, Zeks Yidishe Kritiker (1954), 22790; LNYL, 1
(1956), 35966; S. Niger, Kritik un Kritiker (1959), 36082. Add. Bibliography: M. Krutikov, in: Polin, 17 (2004), 24358.
[Simha Katz and Shlomo Bickel / Shifra Kuperman (2nd ed.)]
baal worship
BAAL WORSHIP
Name and Etymology
The word bal, common Semitic for owner, master, husband,
became the usual designation of the great weather-god of the
Western Semites. In spite of the fact that the word is used as
the theophorous element in personal names, such as Eshbaal,
Merib-Baal, Jerub Baal, it was long believed that the term remained an appellation and did not become a proper name,
except in the case of the Mesopotamian Bel and in late theological speculation. The basis for this view was the fact that
in biblical usage the plural of the term, with the article, the
baal worship
through seven. In the parallel Ugaritic list, which is unfortunately very fragmentary, the Weather-god, Lord of Mount
Hazi apparently corresponds to Baal S apn, while those fol
lowing are termed simply Baalim (blm). It may be, however,
that these extra Baalim are Baals attendants, mentioned as the
seven or eight lads whom Baal is ordered to take with him in
his descent into the netherworld.
Other Titles and Epithets
Besides the names Baal and Haddu, the Ugaritic texts furnish a variety of other titles, such as Mighty Baal (aliyn bl)
and Prince, Lord of Earth (zbl bl ars ). The latter title has
a biblical echo in the corrupted form Baal-Zebub (II Kings
1:2ff.), from an original Baal-Zebul, which is preserved in
this form in the New Testament (Matt. 10:25, 12:24; Mark
3:22; Luke 11:15, 18). A frequent epithet is Cloud Rider (rkb
rpt) which has an almost identical parallel in Psalms 68:5. A
vivid description of theophany in a thunderstorm is found
in Psalms 18:715 (= II Sam. 22:816). Of special interest is
the designation Aliy(ly) which is twice applied to Baal in
the Krt Epic:
To the earth Baal rained,
To the field rained Aliy.
Sweet to the earth was Baals rain
To the field the rain of Aliy.
Before the discovery and recognition of this name in
Ugaritic, H.S. Nyberg had restored it in Deuteronomy 33:12;
10
I Samuel 2:10; II Samuel 23:1; Isaiah 59:18, 63:7; and Hosea 7:16.
Since the Ugaritic verified the antiquity and authenticity of
this divine name, additional instances have been alleged in
the Psalter and in Job.
A common designation of Baal in the Ugaritic myths is
bn-dgn son of Dagn; but Baal is also considered the son
of El who is called Bull El his [i.e., Baals] father; El King
who begot him [Baal] (tr il abh; il mlk dyknnh). Since El and
Dagn are distinct deities, this seeming confusion over Baals
paternity needs explanation. A solution has been supplied by
a tradition ascribed to the ancient Phoenician priest Sakkunyaton (Greek Sanchuniathn) that when El-Kronos defeated
Ouranos, he captured in the battle Ouranos pregnant concubine and gave her to Dagn. The divine child was named
Demarous, one of the cognomens of Zeus-Baal-Hadad. The
Semitic original of this name has been recognized in one of
Baals names in Ugaritic:
Then said Mighty Baal:
Foes of Hadd why haste ye?
Why haste ye opponents of Dmrn?
(The name is to be connected with the root dmr, be
strong, brave, and is probably the same as that of Abrahams
son Zimrn (damarn), the -n afformative being preserved
in the genitive case of the Greek form Demarountos). Thus,
according to Sakkunyaton, Baals natural father was Ouranos
and Dagn became his foster-father, while El-Kronos effected
the transfer. That Baal appears to be a relative newcomer in the
Ugaritic pantheon has been generally recognized, and it may
be that Sakkhunyatons story about Baals paternity reflects a
mythologizing of the process by which Baal was integrated
into the family of El.
Baals Residence
Baals abode was Mount S apn, identified as Jebel el-Aqra
(Mount Baldy) some 30 mi. north of Ugarit. A god Baal
S apn was known from Egyptian and Akkadian sources before the discovery of the Ugaritic documents. In an Akkadian
catalogue of Ugaritic deities Baal S apn is listed as dIM be-el
hurn ha-zi, Storm-God, Lord of Mount Hazi (see above;
baal worship
11
baal worship
12
Judah the murder of the queen mother, *Athaliah, and of Mattan, priest of Baal, and the smashing of the altars and cult images in the Baal temple (II Kings 11:18) did not wipe out the
cult (II Kings 12:34). Ahaz fostered Baal worship (II Chron.
28:2); Hezekiah attempted to eliminate it; Manasseh his son
again gave it royal support (II Kings 21:3); and Josiah in his
turn purged the Temple of YHWH of the utensils made for Baal
and Asherah (II Kings 23:4).
The contest on Mount Carmel was reported as demonstrating that Baal was an impotent non-entity and that the
rain came only from YHWH. This viewpoint was developed as
the basic and final argument against Baalism. With Baals
functions accredited to YHWH, it was natural and fitting that
some of Baals titles would also be taken over. Portions of ancient Baal liturgy were adapted to the praise of Israels God, as
the Ugaritic poems have shown. To accommodate Baal ideology to Yahwism required some radical transformations.
The summer drought did not mean that YHWH had died
(like Baal), nor did the return of the rains signal the resurrection. The rains were fully controlled by YHWH who called
them from the sea and poured them out on the surface of
the earth (Amos 5:8b; 9:6b). He could, and did, withhold
the rain from one city and lavish it on another (Amos 4:7).
None of the foolish practices of the heathen could bring the
rains; only YHWH could and did (Jer. 10:1113; 14:22). If the
rains failed and drought and death came upon the land and
people, it was not because Mot had mangled Baal and made
the glowing sun-goddess destructive; it was rather YHWHs
way of meting out merited punishment to a faithless and sinful people (Deut. 11:17; I Kings 8:3536; Jer. 3:23). The continued worship of Baal was given as one of the causes for the
destruction of Judah (Jer. 19:5ff.). Payment of the full tithe to
the food stores of the Temple, some thought, would guarantee that YHWH would open the windows of heaven and pour
down overflowing blessings (Mal. 3:10; cf. Avot 5:11 on the
connection between tithing and rain). The prophet Haggai
attributed the drought and scarcity in his day to the failure to
rebuild the Temple (Hag. 1:711).
When the rain failed, it was inevitable that some would
question YHWHs power and resort to Baal. In distress some
would naturally revert to the old ways of reviving or reactivating the rain-god prayer, mourning, self-laceration, dancing,
and water-pouring (I Kings 18:2628; Hos. 7:1416). The right
remedy, according to Israels prophets, was to repudiate Baal
completely and to seek and return to Israels true God (Isa.
55:613; Jer. 4:12; Hos. 14:2).
Bibliography: O. Eissfeldt, Beitraege zur Religionsgeschichte
des Altertums I (1932); H.L. Ginsberg, Kitvei Ugarit (1936); J. Oberman,
Ugaritic Mythology (1948); A.S. Kapelrud, Baal in the Ras Shamra
Texts (1952); M. Dahood, in: Studi Semitici, 1 (1958), 7578; N. Habel,
Yahweh Versus Baal: A Conflict of Religious Cultures (1964); J. Gray,
The Legacy of Canaan (rev. ed., 1965); H.B. Huffmon, Amorite Personal Names in the Mari Texts (1965), 174; W.F. Albright, Yahweh and
the Gods of Canaan (1968); Albright, Arch Rel; S.M. Paul, in: Biblica,
49 (1968), 3436; U. Oldenburg, The Conflict Between El and Bal in
baasha
BAALZEPHON (Heb. ) , a location, perhaps a sanctuary, in Egypt which, according to the Bible, the Israelites
passed during the *Exodus from Egypt (Ex. 14:2, 9; Num.
33:7). Presumably the toponym takes its name from the god
Baal Zephon known from texts beginning in the early second
millennium B.C.E. and continuing well into the first. Scholars
disagree as to the site of Baal-Zephon and locate it according to
their view of the route that the Bible claims was followed by the
Israelites when they departed from Egypt. Those who assume
that a southern passage was meant suggest Jebel Abu H asan,
8 mi. (13 km.) N. of Suez, which is identified with a Migdal
Baal-Zephon mentioned in a papyrus from the Hellenistic
period (Cairo papyrus 31169). Others who prefer a northern
route identify Baal-Zephon with the sanctuary of Zeus Casius,
which is known of from the fifth century B.C.E. onward in the
vicinity of the Serbonic Lake (Bah r al-Bardawl, the Reed
Sea, according to this theory). Since another mountain called
Mons Casius (Jebel Aqra on the Syrian coast) was known in
earlier times as Baal-Zephon, it is consequently assumed that
the southern Baal-Zephon was also called Casius. The site is
identified with a hillock on the western extremity of the lake
called Mah mdiyya. W.F. Albright has identified Baal-Zephon
with the Egyptian port Tah panh es (Daphne). A survey in 1967
directed by M. Dothan has identified Baal-Zephon with Ras
Kasrun near the Serbonic Lake; the survey also identified it as
the site of the Hellenistic-Roman city of Casius.
Bibliography: O. Eissfeldt, Baal Zaphon (Ger., 1932);
Bourdon, in: RB, 41 (1932), 541ff.; Albright, in: BASOR, 118 (1950), 17;
EM, 2 (1965), 2912; Aharoni, Land, 179; M. Dothan, in: Eretz-Israel, 9
(1969), 4859. Add. Bibliography: H. Niehr, DDD, 15254.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
13
baazov, herzl
Bibliography: Noth, Hist Isr, 228, 230, 233, 239; Bright, Hist,
index; EM, 2 (1965), 3034 (incl. bibl.). Add. Bibliography: M.
Cogan, I Kings (AB; 2000), 40812.
[Hanoch Reviv]
BAAZOV, HERZL (19041945), Georgian writer. Born several weeks after Theodor *Herzls death and named after him,
Baazov grew up in Kutaisi in the house of his father, David
Baazov, which was the first Zionist, Hebrew-speaking home in
Georgia. Baazov became a well-known Georgian playwright
and poet, and most of his writings were dedicated to Georgian
Jewish life. At the age of 19, he translated the Song of Songs
into Georgian. His first play, about the life and death of Itzko
(Abraham Isaac) Rizhinashvili a young Jewish revolutionary who was killed during the upheaval of 1905 in a fight with
Czarist gendarmes was staged at the Tbilisi (Tiflis) State Theater. Another of his plays, The Dumb Opened Their Mouths,
dealt with the social changes in the life of the Tat-speaking
*Mountain Jews after the Russian Revolution. He also wrote
poetry, including the well-known poem Cain. In the 1930s
he began to write a trilogy about the changes in Jewish life in
Georgia after the revolution. In spite of his positive attitude
to the revolution as a social phenomenon, he was suddenly
arrested and deported in 1937, after the publication of the
first part of the trilogy. No indictment against him was ever
published, but it is assumed that he was accused of Jewish
bourgeois nationalism. In 1945 he died in exile, somewhere
in the Soviet far north. An indirect rehabilitation of his name
occurred in 1964, when the official Georgian Writers Union
celebrated his 60t birthday. Several of his writings were republished, but were not translated into Russian. The Georgian writer G. Tsitsishvili published a book on Baazovs life
and work (1964) that, inter alia, mentions his close relations
with S. *Mikhoels, P. *Markish, and other Soviet Jewish writers and artists.
His younger brother, MEIR BAAZOV (19151970), an engineer, was also a Hebrew scholar and served in the 1940s as
director of the Hebrew section of the Georgian National Library in Tbilisi.
[Mordkhai Neishtat]
14
index; Friedmann, in: YIVO Bleter, 3132 (1948), 170 n91; EG, 3 (1955),
2626.
[Josef Horovitz]
BABAI BEN FARHAD (18t century), author of a versified short history of the Jews mainly of *Kashan and *Isfahan. His chronicle is called Ketb-e sargozasht-e Kshn and
comprises approximately 1,300 verses written in Judeo-Persian (Persian using Hebrew script). The chronicle deals with
the persecutions of the Jews in the above cities in the years
172930, when they were forced to convert to Islam for a period of seven months. The chronicle also notes some interesting details about the Afghan invasion of Isfahan and Kashan,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
15
bb al-abwb
Iranian Jewrys Hour of Peril and Heroism (1987); H. Levy, Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran (1999), 302ff.
[Amnon Netzer (2nd ed.)]
16
BABEL, ISAAC EMMANUILOVICH (18941940), Russian writer. He was born in Odessa, then the center of Yiddish
as well as Hebrew literature (both Mendele and Bialik lived
there), of Jewish communal and political life (Odessa was, simultaneously, the center of Zionist and Socialist movements),
a cosmopolitan port with a strong Western European orientation. Although Russian was not, strictly speaking, Babels native or even second language (he grew up in a Yiddish-speaking milieu, and his first literary efforts were written in French),
he is now generally acknowledged as one of the truly great
Russian stylists, and probably the most sophisticated Russian
prose writer to emerge by mid-20t century. At the same time
Babel is a profoundly Jewish writer not only in his choice of
settings and of subject matter, but also in a more profound
sense. His imagination is nourished primarily by the tension
between his Jewish ethos and the non-Jewish environment and
by his inability to conquer within himself traces of residual
Jewishness, particularly those of a moral character.
Babel was not a prolific writer. His renown rests chiefly
on two collections of short stories, Red Cavalry (Konarmiya,
1926) and Odessa Tales (1927). Together with two plays, The
Sunset (1928) and Maria (1935), several tales and a few film
scripts, these constitute his entire literary legacy.
The incongruities and paradoxes that are so characteristic
of Babels work are also, by a strange coincidence, to be found
in Babels biography. He fought for the Communist cause in
the ranks of Cossack horsemen, those traditional archenemies of Jewish shopkeepers, whose role in the antisemitic pogroms Babel knew from personal experience and had, in fact,
described in sharp outline in The History of My Dovecote.
A peaceful intellectual, he sought acceptance by fierce warriors. Only recently emancipated from a religious orthodoxy,
he desperately tried to embrace a secular faith that was even
more rigid. The author of a book that made an army immortal, he was denounced by that armys commander, Semyon
Budyonnyi, as a slanderer. A fighter for the Soviet regime, he
was executed by it..
A disciple of Flaubert and Maupassant, Babel excelled in
the highly polished conte, often an extended anecdote related
by the protagonist in his own language be it a peasant dialect, soldier slang, or the strongly Yiddish-accented Russian
of Odessa slums. Few writers could equal Babel in the ability
to portray a character by means of a few malapropisms, a partiality for a single fancy foreign word, or a slightly irregular
syntactical construction.
In the neo-Romantic Babel the traditional motif of infatuation with a noble savage is found often and in many different forms. Babel, however, posits the problem somewhat
differently. Where other writers from Rousseau to Tolstoy
saw a confrontation between an intellectual and the natural
man, Babel sees a Jew aspiring to the status of a pagan, yet
destined to remain frustrated in his desire by the restraints of
the Jewish ethic. Try as he may, he will never learn the ways
of violence and will, therefore, never gain acceptance into the
gentile world: in one of his tales the narrator vainly implores
Providence to grant him the simplest of all proficiencies, the
ability to kill fellow men. He loses his best friend, Afonka
Bida (to an ear attuned to Yiddish, the Russian Misfortune)
because he would not shoot a wounded comrade. To be admitted into a circle of Cossacks, he must first hideously kill a
goose but then, that night, he must wrestle with his Jewish
conscience which abhors murder. Babels Jewish narrator envies his non-Jewish protagonists ability to kill ones own father, trample to death a former master, or shoot a black marketeer masquerading as a helpless mother. His Jewishness and
hence his alienations have numerous attributes he wears
glasses, he cannot learn to swim, he is a poor horseman, he
carries with him books.
It is this envy of what he saw as gentile physical strength
and absence of moral restraints that caused Babel to create a
gallery of Jewish protagonists who bore little resemblance to
pathetic Jews described in certain Yiddish literature or to the
Zionist dreamers and visionaries in certain modern Hebrew
novels. Babels Odessa Jews who bubble like cheap red wine
include an imposing amazon, who presides over a den of
thieves and a brothel, dignified beggars with patriarchal beards
who oversee Jewish cemeteries and discourse on the vanity of
human existence, and the legendary Benya Krik (Bennie the
Howl), a colorful gangster, the terror of Odessas merchants
and policemen. Babels scenes of resplendent Jewish wedding
17
His Life
Until the age of 16, Babel was provided, by private tutors, with
a thorough Jewish education, including Hebrew, Bible, and
Talmud. At the same time he attended a Russian commercial
18
babel, tower of
19
babel, tower of
20
In the Aggadah
The biblical account of the Tower of Babel is singularly brief
and vague (Gen. R. 38). The prevailing opinion of the rabbis is
that it was designed to serve the purposes of idolatry and constituted an act of rebellion against God (Sanh. 109a; Gen. R.
38:6; et al.), for which reason they also associated Nimrod
(the rebel) with its building (H ul. 89a). Many additional reasons are also suggested, among them the fear of a recurrence
of the flood and the need to guard against such a recurrence
by supporting the heavens or by splitting them so that waters
would drain away slowly from the earths surface (Maasim al
Aseret ha-Dibberot; cf. Sanh. 109a). According to Josephus
they were trying to dwell higher than the water level of the
flood (Ant., I, IV). In this way the builders thought they would
be spared, believing as they did that God had power over water alone (Pd RE 24). At the same time the rabbis laud the unity
and love of peace that prevailed among them (Gen. R. 38), as a
result of which they were given an opportunity to repent, but
they failed, however, to seize it (ibid.). Various opinions are
expressed as to the punishment which the builders incurred
(Tanh . B., 23). According to the Mishnah (Sanh. 10:3), they
were excluded from a share in the world to come. In the view
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
babin, victor
In the Arts
The biblical story of the tower of Babel appears repeatedly
in medieval and Renaissance literature, treated as an historical incident with strong moral overtones. Some examples
are the Chronicon of Isidore of Seville (c. 560636 C.E.), the
Weltchronik of Rudolf von Ems (12001254), and the Speculum humanae salvationis (c. 1324), a Dominican manual of
devotion which was frequently copied. Giovanni *Boccaccio wrote on the subject in his De casibus virorum illustrium
(135560), as did an anonymous poet of Lyons in Le Triumphe
de Haulte Folie (c. 1550). Two 17t-century Spanish works were
entitled Torre de Babilonia: one was an auto sacramentale by
the eminent dramatist Pedro Caldern de la Barca, the other
by the Marrano author Antonio Enrquez *Gmez. Modern
treatments include Tower of Babel (1874) by the English poet
Alfred Austin and Babel (1952), an apocalyptic work by the
French poet Pierre Emmanuel (19161984).
The subject appealed to medieval artists, appearing in
12t-century mosaics at Palermo and Monreale in Sicily and
in the 13t-century Cathedral of St. Mark, Venice. There are
representations in illuminated manuscripts from the 12t to
the 14t centuries, including the German Hortus Deliciarum
(Garden of Delights) and the Sarajevo Haggadah. Two 15tcentury painters who used the theme were the Frenchman
Jean Fouquet and the Italian Benozzo Gozzoli, who painted
the fresco of Campo Santo, Pisa, now destroyed. With its
landscape setting and the opportunities it offered for fantasy and close observation of the daily scene, the Tower was
of considerable interest to the early Flemish painters. It was
generally depicted either as a multistory structure, diminishing in size as it rose or, more often, as a square or circular building surrounded by a ramp. Some artists illustrated
contemporary building methods, a fine example occurring
in the Book of Hours of the Duke of Bedford (Paris, c. 1423),
where the construction of the Tower proceeds at night under the stars. In Pieter Brueghels Tower of Babel (1563), the
building leaning slightly is shown in a vast landscape near
the banks of a river, with a king arriving to inspect the progress of the work.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Although the Babel story might appear to be a temptation to composers, since the confusion of tongues can be
expressed most effectively in music, very few works have in
fact been written on the theme. These are mainly oratorios
including Csar Francks La Tour de Babel (1865) and Anton
Rubinsteins markedly unsuccessful Der Turm zu Babel (1858;
revised as an opera, 1872). Two 20t-century works are La Tour
de Babel (1932) by Ren Barbier and Igor Stravinskys Babel, a
cantata for narrator, mens chorus, and orchestra (1944, published in 1952).
Bibliography: IN THE BIBLE: Abraham Ibn Ezra, Commentary to Gen. 11:19; M.D. Cassuto, Mi-Noah ad Avraham (19593),
15469; S.R. Driver, The Book of Genesis (19042), 1327; Kaufmann Y.,
Toledot, 2 (1960), 4125; N.M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis (1967),
6380 (incl. bibl.); J. Skinner, The Book of Genesis (ICC, 1930), 22331;
S.N. Kramer, in: JAOS, 88 (1968), 10811. IN THE AGGADAH: Ginzberg, Legends, index; U. Cassuto, Commentary on the Book of Genesis,
2 (1964), 22549; J. Gutmann, in: Oz le-David [Ben Gurion] (1964),
58494. IN THE ARTS: H. Minkowski, Aus dem Nebel der Vergangenheit steigt der Turm zu Babel: Bilder aus 1000 Jahren (1960); LL. Rau,
Iconographie de lart chrtien, 2 pt. 1 (1957), 1203, incl. bibl.; T. Ehrenstein, Das Alte Testament im Bilde (1923), 12532; H. Gressmann,
Tower of Babel (1928), 119.
21
babi yar
and orchestra and other compositions for one and two pianos,
chamber music and songs.
[Max Loppert and Marina Rizarev (2nd ed.)]
From the cemetery, the Jews were marched to Babi Yar, a ravine only two miles from the center of the city. A truck driver
at the scene described what he saw:
I watched what happened when the Jews men, women and
children arrived. The Ukrainians led them past a number of
different places where one after another they had to remove
their luggage, then their coats, shoes, and overgarments and
also underwear. They had to leave their valuables in a designated place. There was a special pile for each article of clothing. It all happened very quickly I dont think it was even a
minute from the time each Jew took off his coat before he was
standing there completely naked.
Once undressed, the Jews were led into the ravine which
was about 150 meters long and 30 meters wide and a good 15
meters deepWhen they reached the bottom of the ravine they
were seized by members of the Schultpolizei and made to lie
down on top of Jews who had already been shot. That all happened very quickly. The corpses were literally in layers. A police marksman came along and shot each Jew in the neck with
a submachine gun I saw these marksman stand on layers of
corpses and shoot one after the other The marksman would
walk across the bodies of the executed Jews to the next Jew who
had meanwhile lain down and shoot him.
22
Kiev, returned to Babi Yar. For more then a month, his men
and workers conscripted from the ranks of concentration
camp inmates dug up the bodies. Bulldozers were required to
reopen the mounds. Massive bone-crushing machinery was
brought to the scene. The bodies were piled on wooden logs,
doused with gas, and ignited.
When the work was done, the workers from the concentration camp were killed. Under cover of darkness on September 29, 1943, 25 of them escaped. Fifteen survived to tell
what they had seen.
Despite efforts to suppress the memory of Babi Yar, after the war the Soviet public at large learned of the murders through newspaper accounts, official reports, and belles
lettres. In 1947 I. Ehrenburg in his novel Burya (The Storm)
described dramatically the mass killing of the Jews of Kiev in
Babi Yar. Preparations were made for a monument at Babi Yar
as a memorial to the victims of Nazi genocide. The architect
A.V. Vlasov had designed a memorial and the artist B. Ovchinnikov had produced the necessary sketches.
But since the Soviet antisemitic campaign of 194849, an
effort was made to eliminate all references to Babi Yar. This
policy had as an objective the removal from Jewish consciousness of those historical elements that might sustain it. Even
after the death of Stalin, Babi Yar remained lost in the memory hole of history. Intellectuals, however, refused to be silent. On Oct. 10, 1959, the novelist Viktor Nekrasov cried out
in the pages of Literaturnaya Gazeta for a memorial at Babi
Yar, and against the official intention to transform the ravine
into a sports stadium. Far more impressive was the poem Babi
Yar written by Yevgeni *Yevtushenko published in the same
journal on Sept. 19, 1961.
No gravestone stands on Babi Yar;
Only coarse earth heaped roughly on the gash:
Such dread comes over me.
With its open attack upon antisemitism and its implied denunciation of those who rejected Jewish martyrdom, the
poem exerted a profound impact on Soviet youth as well as
upon world public opinion. Dmitri Shostakovich set the lines
to music in his 13t Symphony, performed for the first time
in December 1962.
Russian ultranationalism struck back almost immediately. Yevtushenko was sharply criticized by a number of
literary apologists of the regime and then publicly denounced
by Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Pravda on March 8, 1963.
The theme of a specific Jewish martyrdom was condemned.
But Babi Yar would not remain suppressed. It again surfaced during the summer of 1966 in a documentary novel
written by Anatoly Kuznetsov published in Yunost (Eng. tr.
1967). Earlier that year the Ukrainian Architects Club in Kiev
held a public exhibit of more than 200 projects and some 30
large-scale detailed plans for a memorial to Babi Yar. None of
the inscriptions in the proposed plans mentioned Jewish
martyrdom. Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union did
the new Ukrainian government acknowledge the specific
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
babylon
23
babylonia
Babylon and recovered it from his brother, but at considerable cost to the strength of the empire.
As Assyria was collapsing, in 626 Nabopolassar, a Chaldean, made himself king of Akkad at Babylon. He and his
successor, *Nebuchadnezzar II, proceeded to build the NeoBabylonian empire at the expense of the Assyrians.
As the capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire, to which
Judah was forcibly annexed in 586, Babylon underwent a vast
program of public building and fortification. After the fall of
the empire to the Persians, Babylon still maintained its dominant position. With the fall of the Persian Empire to Alexander the Great, Babylon offered no resistance and was made the
capital of his new empire. But Seleucus I Nicator (312281),
Alexanders successor, founded Seleucia not far away on the
Tigris, and the inhabitants of Babylon slowly moved to Seleucia, deserting Babylon, which may have been uninhabited in
the first centuries of our era.
As early as the 1780s visitors observed that the site had
been looted. Major excavations were conducted by the German architect R. Koldewey (18551925) from 1899 to 1917.
These excavations revealed data for all levels of occupation from Old Babylonian (18941595 B.C.E.) to Parthian
times (250 B.C.E.224 C.E.), but their main importance lay
in the extensive evidence for the Neo-Babylonian period
(625539 B.C.E.). Old Babylonian levels were rarely reached,
and the high water table impeded excavation of early periods.
The excavations are important also in the history of archaeology because Koldewey was the first European systematically to
try to trace mud brick architecture and to distinguish between
buildings and later pits, leading to what we call stratigraphy.
Koldewey uncovered two palaces of Nebuchadnezzar and
an ancient fortress that adjoined the interior wall of the city.
The faade of one palace was made of enamel-covered bricks,
decorated with pillars and capitals in various colors on a blue
background. The royal throne was located in an alcove in the
wall opposite the entrance. The hanging gardens referred to by
Greek authors including Diodorus Siculus (6030 B.C.E.) (2,
10:1, the garden called hung) and considered one of the wonders of the world have never been identified archaeologically.
In the palace were discovered clay tablets upon which were inscribed allocations of food for those who ate at the kings table,
including *Jehoiachin, the last legitimate king of Judah.
To the east of the palaces passed the main road, which
was used for processions of the Babylonian New Year celebration. At the roads northern end the processions passed into
the inner city by way of the Ishtar Gate, which was decorated
with reliefs of fanciful animals with lions feet. This gate has
been partly reconstructed in Berlin and features in all histories of Mesopotamian art.
South of Nebuchadnezzars palace, at the end of the parade road, was a large temple of Marduk, Esagila (The house
lifting [its] head [proudly]) whose walls were made of trees
decorated with gold, marble, and precious stones. North of
it stood the ziqqurat, a pyramid-shaped structure built in
stepped stages on a square base. Each of its sides was 295 ft.
24
(91 m.) long. The highest tower had a great temple according to Herodotus (1:181), who, however, may never have visited the city. The city and its suburbs, which extended to the
west of the Euphrates, were connected by a bridge. Herodotus said that the city had many three- and four-story buildings (1:180).
The greatness of Babylon left its mark in biblical sources.
Isaiah 13:19 called Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans while praying for its fall. Jeremiah was deeply concerned about Babylon, and his book
has more than half of the references to the city in the Bible;
in his day how one was to relate to Babylon was a major issue,
and the prophet himself may have been seen by the Babylonians as a collaborator since he counseled not resisting Babylonian power.
Babylons city-god, Marduk, became the dominant state
god perhaps when Nebuchadnezzar I (11251104) recovered
Marduks statue from *Elam; the god was represented in the
Creation Epic as having supremacy over the entire pantheon
conferred on him by the other gods. Later the god was called
Bel, lord. Both names are known in the Bible, in Jeremiah
50:2 (Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed) and 51:44
(and I will punish Bel in Babylon) and in Isaiah 46:1 (Bel
bows down, Nebo [another Babylonian god] stoops).
Babylon became synonymous in apocalyptic thought
with decadence and evil and was sometimes equated with
Rome and its empire. (For the figure in Christian apocalyptic
see Rev. 17). But for most Jews it remained a real place where
members of a thriving Jewish community made their homes.
The Babylonian Talmud, for example, recalls that Babylons
Jewish community was healthy in terms of its orthodox practice in contrast to others in Media and Elam (Kid. 71b).
Bibliography: R. Koldewey, The Excavations at Babylon
(1914); E. Unger, Babylon, die heilige Stadt (1931); S.A. Pallis, Early
Exploration in Mesopotamia (1954) 1115; A. Parrot, Babylon and the
Old Testament (1958); S.N. Kramer, in: EM, 2 (1965), 1027; C.J. Gadd,
in: CAH, 1 (1965), ch. 22; H.W.F. Saggs, in: D.W. Thomas (ed.), Archaeology and Old Testament Study (1967), 3956; idem, The Greatness That Was Babylon (1962); J. Oates, Babylon (1979); R. Zadok, in:
ZA, 74 (1984), 24044; J.-C. Margueron, in: ABD, 1:56365; H.W.F.
Saggs, Babylonians (1995); E. Klengel-Brandt in: E. Meyers (ed.), The
Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, 1 (1997), 25156;
J. Baer, in: Brills New Pauly 5 (2004), 1125; M. Van de Mieroop, King
Hammurabi of Babylon (2005).
[Daniel C. Snell (2nd ed.)]
babylonia
25
babylonia
26
Parthian Period
The Parthians, an Iranian people, were originally a nomadic
tribe called the Parni. They had settled in the region east
and north of the Caspian, called Parthia, and so came to be
called by the name of that territory. The Arsacid dynasty was
founded about 240 B.C.E. by Arsaces, and all subsequent rulers
bore that name. The expansion of the Parthian territory began with the annexation of Hyrcania, but moved slowly until
the Seleucid Empire had been weakened elsewhere. Then the
Parthians rapidly inherited the portions of the empire east of
the Euphrates. Mithridates I, the real founder of the Parthian
Empire, ascended the throne in 171, reached Media in 155, and
Seleucia on the Tigris in 141. For the next 20 years, Babylonia was contested by Parthians, Seleucids, and the Hellenistic state of Characene. By 120, however, Mithridates II had
permanently established his rule on the Euphrates frontier.
Since the Parthians were fundamentally a military aristocracy,
they were concerned with fostering local support among indigenous populations. They made little effort to win over the
conquered peoples to their culture and religion. They preserved Greek legal forms and allowed the Jews to continue
their usual way of life. The Greek colonies in the region accepted Parthian rule, which promised free access to, and preserved the security of, the trade routes of Central Asia. The
Seleucids attitude to the Jews was favorable, and the Jews allied themselves with their regime.
From around 120 B.C.E. to their fall in 224 C.E., the Parthians treated the Jewish settlements well. Palestinian Jewry
under the Hasmoneans and Arsacid Parthia had a common
interest in the destruction of Seleucid power. In 140/39, a circular from Rome informed the various countries of the civilized world, including Parthia, of Roman friendship for the
Jews (I Macc. 15:1624; Jos., Ant., 14:1457). In 129 B.C.E. Hyrcanus was forced to accompany the Seleucid Antiochus VII
in a Parthian campaign. As soon as he could, he returned to
Palestine and reestablished his independence of the Seleucids. According to tannaitic tradition (TJ, Ber. 7:2, 11b; Naz.
5:5, 54b; Eccles. R. 7:12) a Parthian embassy was sent to the
court of Alexander Yannai (10478 B.C.E.). It may be that the
embassy was intended to arrange joint opposition to the rise
of the Armenian Tigranes, who invaded both Palestine and
Parthian Babylonia around 87 B.C.E., and exiled Palestinian
Jews to his empire. After their great victory over Rome at Carrhae, in 53 B.C.E., the Parthians for more than a decade became the dominant power in the Middle East, and attempted
to contest Roman rule in Palestine. In 4039 B.C.E., they deposed Herod, the ally of Rome, and put in his place as ruler of
Judea Antigonus, nephew of Hyrcanus the Hasmonean. Elsewhere in the Middle East they replaced pro-Roman with proParthian dynasties. The Parthian general, Pacorus, was killed
in a brief engagement in 38 B.C.E., whereupon the Parthians
withdrew across the Euphrates. Rome quickly reestablished
her hegemony, which was never again seriously threatened by
the Parthians. For the next century, domestic instability paralyzed the Parthian government.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
babylonia
27
babylonia
28
achieve just that end. As a result the situation for Jewry suddenly deteriorated.
The Sasanian administration used the Mazdean religion to strengthen its hold on Iran proper, including Babylonia, as well as on Armenia, Georgia, Adiabene, and other regions. The Jews probably suffered, but certainly not alone. The
times of Ardashir (22441) proved difficult. There are, however, few unequivocal accounts of persecutions of the Jews
or of Judaism. Two important talmudic stories show that the
status of the Jewish community had changed radically. First,
the Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kamma 117a contains the story
of the execution of capital punishment in a Babylonian Jewish court by R. Kahana. Rav thereupon said, Until now, the
Greeks [= Parthians], who did not punish bloodshed, were
here, but now the Persians, who do punish bloodshed, are
here. R. Kahana was advised to flee to Palestine. Second, R.
Shila administered lashes to a man who had intercourse with
a gentile woman. The man informed against the Jewish judge,
who successfuly hoodwinked the Persian agent (frestak) who
had come to investigate the execution of judgment without
proper government authorization (hermana). These stories
prove that the status of the Jewish government required renegotiation. Apparently at the outset the Jews supposed they
could continue as before. The Sasanian regime quickly made it
clear that they could not. There are, moreover, some references
to decrees against Judaism. The Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot
63b, records that the Mazdean Mobads decreed concerning
meat the baths and they exhumed the dead. Use of fire
on Mazdean festivals was restricted; Rav was asked whether
one may move a H anukkah lamp on account of the Magi
on the Sabbath (Shab. 45a). An equivocal reference suggests
that the Persians destroyed synagogues (Yoma 10a). In any
event, Jews clearly at this time preferred the rule of Rome, as
is clear from Ravs statement (Shab. 11a).
When *Shapur I came to power in 242, however, he extended freedom of religious and cultural life to all the disparate peoples of the Iranian Empire, hoping eventually to unify
the disparate empire, possibly through the syncretistic teaching of Mani, who included in his pantheon Jesus, Zoroaster,
and Buddha (though not Moses). Further, since the Persians
planned to renew war with the West, it was to Shapurs advantage to reconcile the peoples of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley,
whose brethren lived on the other side of the frontier. Shapurs
success with Babylonian Jewry was complete. During his raid
into Asia Minor in 260, he besieged Caesarea-Mazaca, the
greatest city in Cappadocia. The Talmud (MK 26a) reports
that when the amora Samuel heard Shapur had slain 12,000
Jews there, he did not rend his clothes. The same account
reports that Shapur told Samuel he had never killed a Jew in
his life, but the Jews of Caesarea-Mazaca had brought it on
themselves. In the west, however, Shapurs armies pillaged,
burned, and killed; they were out not to build a new empire
in the Roman Orient, but to destroy an old one. So the Jews,
among other peoples behind the Roman lines, fought for their
lives and for Rome. A far greater threat to Babylonian Jewry
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
babylonia
came from the transient Palmyrene Empire, created by Odenathus (Papa b. Nezar of talmudic sources), who in 262263
conducted a quick invasion of central Babylonia and devastated Jewish settlements there. Since Jewish and Palmyrene
merchants competed with one another, an economic motivation may have played some part in the attacks on the Jews.
The Palmyrene siege of Ctesiphon was raised by Shapur, but
not before Nehardea was destroyed. The Jews of both Palestine and Babylonia applauded the fall of Odenathus wife and
successor, Zenobia.
Since the chief threat to Jewry lay in the cessation of the
right to self-government, it was important to Samuel and to
the exilarch whom he served to regain autonomous government. The early Sasanian regime, as noted, insisted upon supervising the Jewish court system. The best way to end that
supervision was to agree at the outset that the law of the land
is law. This Samuel decreed (see *Dina de-Malkhuta Dina).
The saying specifically applied to rules of land acquisition and
tenure, collection of taxes, and similar matters of interest to
the state. It was a strictly temporary and narrowly political
agreement, which did not affect the religious or cultural policies of the Persians. The rabbis continued to work through
prayer and study of Torah to hasten the coming of the Messiah, who would end the rule of all pagan kings and put into
power the King of the king of kings.
Shapur I was succeeded by Hormizd I (27273), Bahram I (27376), Bahram II (27692), and Bahram III (292). In
the time of the Bahrams, Kartir, a leading Mazdean religious
official, became a powerful influence in state policy. Calling
himself Soul-savior of Bahram, Kartir first saw to the martydom of Mani and the banishment of Manichaeans. He then
turned to the extirpation of other non-Mazdean religions; in
his famous inscription, he refers to his opposition to Jews,
Brahmans, Nazoreans, Christians, and Manichaeans, among
others. Shapurs policy of religious toleration, not to mention syncretism, was thus effectively reversed. There is little
evidence in rabbinical sources to verify Kartirs claim to have
given the Jews much trouble. The Babylonian Talmud, Gittin
16b17a, tells the story that a Magus came and removed a lamp
from the room of the ailing master, Rabbah b. Bar H ana, who
thereupon exclaimed, Merciful Lord! Either in your shadow
or in the shadow of the son of Esau! *Judah b. Ezekiel further
refers to the exclusion of Jews from the offices of canal supervisor and chiliarch (Taan. 20a). But the Jews seem to have suffered less than did the Manichaeans, who were martyred and
banished, and the Christians, whose churches were destroyed.
No rabbi is known to have enjoyed the attentions of the king
of kings, but possibly the rabbis simply did not preserve stories of what contacts did take place, presumably because exilarchic agents and not they were involved in the negotiations.
In the time of Narseh (293301), whatever persecutions earlier
took place were brought to an end. Narseh renewed the tolerant policy of his father, Shapur. The reference of Seder Olam
Zuta to a persecution of Jews in 313 is unverified by any earlier,
more reliable source. Shapur II (30979), crowned king at his
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
birth, was then four years old. The Sasanian government was
weak, and the empire was in a state of disorder. Perhaps a local Mobad or government authority somewhere made trouble
for the Jews. In 331, Rabbah b. Nah amani, head of the academy
of Pumbedita, was arrested because he was accused of assisting Jews to evade taxes. According to a legendary account the
heavenly court required Rabbahs traditions on a matter of
ritual cleanness, so he was called to heaven (BM 86a), but one
can hardly base upon that a general persecution of the Jews.
The Talmud contains stories about the friendship for the Jews
of Shapurs mother, Ifra Hormizd, who is otherwise unknown
(BB 8a, 10b; Taan. 24b; Nid. 20b, Zev. 116b). In any event, during the reign of Shapur II, the Jewish community was unmolested. That is an important fact, for in the same period, particularly after Shapur II unsuccessfully besieged Nisibis in 339,
the Christian community was devastated. Priests and bishops
were put to death and monks and nuns tortured and forced
to violate their vows. Ordinary Christians were pressured to
apostatize. In 363, *Julian the Apostate invaded the Iranian
Empire and besieged Ctesiphon. Among the many towns and
villages he destroyed was one Jewish town, Birta, specifically
referred to by Ammianus Marcellinus and Sozomen (3,20).
Piruz Shapur, with its large Jewish population, and probably
Mah oza, the Jewish suburb of Ctesiphon, were also destroyed.
After Julian had proclaimed his intention of rebuilding a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, a local Babylonian pseudo-messiah
called upon Mah ozan Jewry to follow him to Palestine. The
Persian government massacred those who did so. The fortunes
of war, rather than a specific Jewish policy, thus caused considerable hardship between 360 and 370. In his Armenian campaigns after 363, Shapur II deported from Armenia to Isfahan
and other parts of the Persian Empire large numbers of Armenian Jews and Christians, with the intention of strengthening the economy of the territories sheltered from Rome by
the Zagros mountains, including Frs proper.
The Babylonian Talmud contains references to Yezdegerd I (397417), who supposedly had some contacts with
leading rabbis as well as with the exilarch. The persecution of
Christians, renewed in 414, was not marked by similar treatment of the Jewish communities. Bahram V (42038) is not
referred to in Jewish sources. Yezdegerd II (43857) in 456 decreed that the Jews might not observe the Sabbath. He was,
according to Jewish sources, shortly thereafter swallowed by a
serpent, in answer to the prayer of the heads of the academies
Mar b. R. Ashi and R. Zoma. Firuz (45986) persisted in his
fathers anti-Jewish policy. The Jews of Isfahan were accused
of having flayed alive two Magi. Half of the Jewish population was slaughtered and their children given to Mazdeans.
Firuz the Wicked also killed the exilarch Huna Mari, son of
Mar Zutra I. The year 468 is called in the Talmud the year
of the destruction of the world, and, from that date to 474,
synagogues were destroyed, study of Torah was prohibited,
children were forcibly delivered to the Mazdean priesthood,
and, possibly, Sura was destroyed. The next significant trouble took place in the time of Kovad I (488531), when Mazdak
29
bacall, lauren
[Jacob Neusner]
30
BACAU (Rom. Bacu), city in Moldavia, Romania. A Jewish community is attested there in the 18t century. A h evra
kaddisha was established in 1774. In 1820 there were 55 Jewish taxpaying heads of families in Bacau. The Jewish population numbered 3,810 in 1859 and 7,902 (48.3 of the total) in
1899. From 1803 to 1858 Isaac of Botosani (Botoshaner), who
acquired renown as a miracle worker (baal mofet) was rabbi
there. A talmud torah was founded in 1828, the Poalei Z edek
Tailors Association in 1832, a H evrat Gomelei H asadim (mutual aid society; their minute books are in the YIVO Archives)
in 1836, and a H evrat Mishnayot in 1851. When the Jewish autonomous organization lost its official status in Romania in
1862, communal activity in Bacau also disintegrated. After
1866 Bacau became one of the centers of anti-Jewish agitation in Romania, and the community suffered frequent persecution. During the last quarter of the 19t-century secular
education began to spread among the Jews of Bacau and at
the end of the 1870s and beginning of the 1880s one-third of
the pupils in general schools in Bacau were Jewish. The first
Jewish elementary school was founded in 1863. The main occupations of the Jews in Bacau were commerce and crafts: of
the commercial enterprises in the town in 1899, 563 (85.6)
were Jewish, and there were 573 (66.6) Jewish artisans in
1901. Bacau was also a center of Hebrew printing.
The Jewish population numbered 9,593 (30.8 of the total) in 1930, of whom 50.8 declared Yiddish as their mother
tongue. By this time the community had a well-organized
communal framework. It maintained a kindergarten, two primary schools (for boys and girls), a hospital, an old age home,
an orphanage, and a mikveh, as well as 25 synagogues. Bacau
was also a center of the Zionist movement. Among the rabbis
of Bacau was Bezalel Zeev *Safran (18661930), who officiated
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bacharach
Holocaust Period
With *Antonescus rise to power, the Jews of Bacau were
subjected to repression; their property and shops were confiscated, and a part of the Jewish cemetery was adapted for
agriculture. When war against the Soviet Union broke out
(June 22, 1941), the Jews from towns and villages in the district
were driven from their homes and sent to Bacau, whose Jewish community did its best to help as the citys Jewish population rose to 12,000. The community kitchen dispensed 1,000
meals a day and 1,000 families received financial aid. The men
were sent to Transylvania and Bessarabia on forced labor. In
the spring of 1944, when the front was drawing near, the Jews
were forced to dig defense trenches. Under Soviet occupation
in the summer of 1944, all the local officials fled and the Jewish community took over municipal affairs, keeping law and
order, burying the non-Jewish dead, running the municipal
hospital, and paying the salaries of the municipal employees.
The postwar Jewish population reached a peak of 18,000 but
most subsequently emigrated to Israel. In 2004 there were
359 Jews in Bacau.
[Theodor Lavi]
Bibliography: Edmond (E. Schwarzfeld), Radu Porumbaru
si ispravile lui la fabrica de hartie din Bacau (1885); A.D. Birnberg,
Comunitatea Bacau (1888; mss. In YIVO Archives, New York); A.
Lachower, in YIVOA, 10 (1955), 30013; E. Feldman, in: Papers of the
Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies, 2 (1968), 21922 (Heb.); PK
Romanyah, I, 1017; M. Carp, Cartea Neagra 1 (1946), 66, 118; C. Cristian, Patru ani de urgie (1945), index; W. Filderman, in Sliha, 3 (1956).
Add. Bibliography: I. Voledi-Vardi, Kehillat Bacau, Historiyah
Yehudit Mefueret: Sefer R. Mayer Eibschuetz z.l. (1990); I. Kara, Obstea evreiasca din Bacau (1995); I. Iancu, Noi copiii strazii Leca, 4 vols.
(19992004); M. Mircu, La noi, la Bacau (2000); S. Costachie: Evreii
din Romania: aspecte geografice (2003), 4565.
sued Judah was killed. Bacchides again entrusted the administration of Judea to the Hellenists, while the rebels, led by
Jonathan and Simeon, dispersed and fled south and beyond
the Jordan. Bacchides succeeded in tracking Jonathan down,
but waited until the Sabbath to attack the Jewish army, thinking that they would not fight. However, Jonathan fought back
and the Syrian general suffered many casualties in an indecisive battle. Bacchides retreated to Jerusalem and fortified the
citadel there. He also fortified many places around Jerusalem
in order to strengthen the Seleucid hold on the city. Believing that the royalist rule was secure, Bacchides returned to
Syria and remained there for two years (until 158). His last
expedition to Judea, at the request of the Hellenists, was virtually a disaster. By that time Bacchides had become dissatisfied with those Jews who repeatedly urged him to attack the
Hasmonean brothers. Sensing this, Jonathan proposed peace
and a release of prisoners. Bacchides agreed, considering this
the most dignified way of withdrawing, and returned for the
last time to Syria.
Bibliography: I Macc., 7:820; 9; Jos., Ant., 12:3937,
42034; 13:433; Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (19014), 216ff.; Klausner, Bayit
Sheni, 3 (19592), 4041, 4653.
[Isaiah Gafni]
BACHARACH (Bacherach), town in the Rhine Valley, Germany. Jews were living in Bacharach in the first part of the 12t
century and were engaged in moneylending. While the troops
were assembling there in preparation for the Second *Crusade,
several families left the town and took refuge in the nearby
castle of Stahleck. Three householders who went on royal orders to collect their debts were martyred by the crusaders on
the eve of Pentecost, 1147. In 1283, 26 Jews were massacred
as the result of a *blood libel. Heinrich Heines incomplete
epic, Der Rabbi von Bacherach, was based on a massacre in
1287 following a blood libel in Oberwesel. The Jews in Bacharach were attacked by the *Armleder in 133839, and others
lost their lives in the *Black Death persecutions, 134849. A
document dated 1510 shows that the Jewish community had
by then been reestablished. In the early modern era a synagogue and a ritual bath, probably used by the Jews of Bacharach, existed in nearby Steeg. There were 34 Jews living in the
town in 1924 and 200 in the area in 1932. The five Jews who
remained in Bacharach were deported by July 26, 1942 by the
Nazis. A number of noted Jewish families derived their name
from Bacharach (see next entry).
Bibliography: Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 17; 2 (1968), 44; AWJD
(June 9, 1967), 17; Kahlenberg, in: Zwischen Rhein und Mosel, 17
(1967), 643ff. Add. Bibliography: H. Kuenzl, in: G. Heuberger
(ed.), Mikwe (Ger., 1992), 2388; K.H. Debus, in: Bacharach und die
Geschichte der Viertaelerorte (1996), 31926.
[Zvi Avneri]
BACHARACH (Bachrach; also spelled Bacherach, Bachrich), name of several families originally from *Bacharach
on the Rhine. GOTTSCHALK OF BACHARACH is mentioned
31
bacharach
in Frankfurt in 1391 and EPHRAIM GUMBRECHT BACHARACH in 1457. MENAHEM (Man) BACHARACH was rabbi in
Worms from 1506 to 1520. Two dayyanim named Bacharach
are mentioned in 15t-century Mainz. There were two branches
of the family living in Frankfurt in the 16t and 17t centuries.
ISRAEL and TOBIAS BEN JOSEPH SOLOMON were martyred
in *Ruzhany on Sept. 19, 1659, following a *blood libel. Tobias
descendants lived at Tiktin and include the talmudist *Judah
b. Joshua Ezekiel Bachrach and Jacob b. Moses *Bachrach,
author of a history of the Hebrew script. The first Bacharach
known in Vienna is JUDAH LOEB BEN AARON (d. 1657). His
grandson JACOB found refuge in Teb, Moravia, in 1670 and
became a leader of the community there. His descendants are
found in Konice and Tet (both in Moravia). Two Bacharachs
are mentioned in a list of Nikolsburg (Mikulov) Jews of 1765.
The best-known line, founded in Bohemia, is represented first
by ABRAHAM SAMUEL BEN ISAAC BACHARACH (15751615),
who was rabbi in Worms. His wife Eva (H avvah; 15801651)
had a wide knowledge of Hebrew and rabbinical literature
rarely found among women in her day. She died in Sofia on
her way to Erez Israel. Their son was Moses Samson *Bacharach and their grandson was Jair H ayyim *Bacharach. Common in Bohemia was the abbreviation Bacher. Others of the
family in Hungary include the Hebrew poet Simon *Bacher
and his son the scholar Wilhelm *Bacher.
Bibliography: I.T. Eisenstadt and S. Wiener, Daat Kedoshim
(189798), 3241, 2134 (first pagination); Flesch, in: Zeitschrift fuer
die Geschichte der Juden in der Tschechoslowakei, 2 (1931), 22935.
32
Bibliography: Biographical Directory of the American Congress (1961); Philip R. Goldstein, Centers in My Life (1964), 76, 159.
[Joseph Brandes]
BACHARACH, ALFRED LOUIS (18911966), British chemist and writer on musical subjects. Bacharach was an innovator in the fortification of baby milks with vitamin D, which
brought about the almost complete eradication of rickets in
the northern cities of Britain. He was born in London, and
graduated from Cambridge. After five years in the Wellcome
Research Laboratory, he joined the Glaxo Laboratories in 1920.
He pioneered the development of biological assay methods
for vitamins and also in microbiological assay procedures.
He wrote Science and Nutrition (1938), and edited The Nations
Food (1946), Evaluation of Drug Activities: Pharmacometrics
(in two volumes, with D.R. Laurence, 1964), Exploration Medicine (with O.G. Edholm, 1965), and The Physiology of Human
Survival (1965). Bacharach, an accomplished pianist, edited
The Musical Companion (1934; new edition, 1957), Lives of the
Great Composers (1935), British Music of Our Time (1946), and
The Music Masters (1957).
Bibliography: Chemistry in Britain, 3 (1967), 395.
[Samuel Aaron Miller]
BACHARACH, ISAAC (18701956), U.S. congressman, philanthropist, and civic leader. Born in Philadelphia, Bacharach
and his two brothers were brought to Atlantic City by their
parents in 1881, thereby being among the very first Jews to live
in that seaside resort community. Their father helped found
Atlantic Citys first synagogue, the Reform Beth Israel. Isaacs
brother BENJAMIN (18651936) would serve as the synagogues
president for more than 20 years.
Starting with a single clothing store, Isaac Bacharach and
his brothers expanded their interests into banking, real estate,
and lumber. The brothers put together a syndicate that developed Brigantine, a resort community on nearby Absecon Island, and built the seaside resorts first hotel. Brother HARRY
(18731947) was the first to enter politics, winning a seat on
the Atlantic City City Council in 1900. In 1911, he was elected
mayor, an office he would hold on-and-off until the mid-1930s.
Together, the three brothers founded and helped underwrite
the Jewish Community Center of Atlantic City.
Although limited to a high school education, Isaac excelled in business. Before he turned 30, he had become president of the Second National Bank of Atlantic City and a director of the citys Safe Deposit Company. Isaac joined brother
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
33
34
bache
BACHAUER, GINA (19131976), Greek born pianist of Austrian and Italian parentage. Bachauer studied at the Athens
Conservatory under Woldemar Freeman. She then went to
Paris, where she took lessons with Cortot. Between 1933 and
1935 she received lessons from Rachmaninoff in France and
Switzerland. Her French solo dbut took place in the Salle
Chopin, Paris, in 1929, and she first played in England in 1932.
In 1933 she won the medal of honor at an international piano
competition in Vienna, and in the 1930s played concertos with
the Paris Symphony Orchestra conducted by Monteux and
the Athens Symphony Orchestra under Mitropoulos. During
World War II she lived in Alexandria and played numerous
concerts for the Allied forces in the Middle East. In 1946 she
made her dbut at the Albert Hall, playing Griegs Piano Concerto with the New London Orchestra under Alec Sherman,
who became her second husband in 1951. After her New York
dbut in 1950 she received unanimous acclaim from the critics
and her career was assured. She toured in the U.S. and Israel.
Her unusually wide repertoire ranges from Mozart to Stravinsky. In both standard and modern works, she displayed impeccable taste. Her flair, grand style, big line, and exciting vigor
are put to best use in big virtuoso works. Among her recordings are concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, and Grieg,
as well as solo works by Debussy. After her death in Athens, a
Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition was founded.
The Bachauer Archive at Brigham Young University preserves
diaries, scores, and recordings from her distinguished career.
Bibliography: Grove online; MGG2; Bakers Biographical
Dictionary (1997); W. Graham. Gina Bachauer: A Pianists Odyssey
(1999).
[Naama Ramot (2nd ed.)
35
Bacher, Eduard
BACHER, EDUARD (18461908), Austrian lawyer and journalist. Bacher was born in Postelberg (Postoloprty), Bohemia.
While studying law in Prague and Vienna, he became interested in parliamentary affairs and soon was appointed stenographer of the Bohemian Parliament (c. 1861). After completing
his studies, he became chief stenographer of the Vienna Reichsrat and practiced as a successful lawyer. In 1872, he joined
the staff of the leading liberal Vienna daily Neue Freie Presse
(est. 1864 by Max Friedlnder and Michael Etienne) as parliamentary reporter. The same year, on Friedlnders death, he
was appointed editor of the domestic politics section and on
May 1, 1879, after Etienne died, became editor-in-chief (later
also publisher and part owner). In 1881, Bacher was joined by
Moritz *Benedikt as co-editor. For almost three decades the
Neue Freie Presse was closely linked to Bachers personality
and political orientation, serving as an organ of the German
Liberal Party in Austria. His editorials had considerable influence on Austro-Hungarian domestic politics, promoting a
centrist structure set against anti-liberal, national, or federal
aspirations, and therefore opposing the conservative Austrian
government of Count Taaffe (until 1893) and later Count Badeni (1897). Bacher was a corresponding member of the Society
for Promoting Science, Arts and Literature in Bohemia and
served as literary adviser of the Austrian prince royal, Archduke Rudolf, who committed suicide in 1889. From 1896/97,
Bachers political creed also led him to reject the new Zionist
movement of Theodor *Herzl, who had joined the Neue Freie
Presse as Paris correspondent in 1891. As frequently deplored
in Herzls diaries, Bacher would not let him publish any reports on the Zionist movement or the Zionist Congresses in
the paper. After Bachers death, the Neue Freie Presse was continued by Benedikt until 1920.
Bibliography: Neue Freie Presse (Jan. 1908); Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums (Jan. 24, 1908), supplement Der Gemeindebote,
4; E. Dovifat, in: Neue Deutsche Biographie, I (1953), 496; A. Wandruszka, Geschichte einer Zeitung. Das Schicksal der Presse und der
Neuen Freien Presse von 1848 zur Zweiten Republik (1958). add.
bibliography: Th. Herzl, Briefe und Tagebuecher (ed. A. Bein
et al.), 7 vols. (198396), index; H. Schmuck (ed.), Jewish Biographical Archive, (1995), F. 46, 41/109, 344356; Series II (2003), F. II/35,
422425; S. Blumesberger et al. (eds.), Handbuch oesterreichischer Autorinnen und Autoren juedischer Herkunft, 1 (2002), 55 (No. 422).
[Johannes Valentin Schwarz (2nd ed.)]
36
bachi, riccardo
37
bachi, roberto
economic relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Diaspora. Noteworthy among Bachis writings are his Principi di
scienza economica, 2 vols. (193740), Israele disperso e ricostruito (1952), and his introduction to the Hebrew translation
of Simh ah Luzzattos On the Jews of Venice (Maamar al Yehudei Venez yah, 1950).
Bibliography: L. Einaudi, Riforma Sociale (1931), 416ff.;
RMI, 16 (1950), 14216; A.M. Ratti, Vita e opere di Riccardo Bachi
(1961), 69100 (bibliography).
[Joseph Baruch Sermoneta]
BACHI, ROBERTO (19091995), statistician and demographer. Bachi was born in Rome and completed his studies in
law and statistics at the University of Rome. He taught statistics in various universities in Italy and was appointed full
professor in 1937. In 1938 he emigrated to Palestine soon after the decree of the Racial Laws by Fascist Italy. He worked
as a statistician in the Hadassah Medical Organization, and
during 194547 in the Department of Statistics of the Mandatory Government. From the early 1940s he taught statistics at the Hebrew University and was appointed full professor in 1947.
With the foundation of the State of Israel Bachi was appointed government statistician. He founded Israels Central
Bureau of Statistics, which he directed until 1971, and was responsible for its independent status and academic integrity.
He was among the founders of the Faculty of Social Sciences
of the Hebrew University and served as its first dean (195356).
During the 1950s he headed the Department of Statistics and
Demography and in 195960 he was pro-rector of the Hebrew
University. In 1960 Bachi founded the Department of Demography and Statistics at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of
the Hebrew University, which became an international center. He devoted much attention to the practical implications
of demographic studies, which are of vital importance to the
Jewish people throughout the world. Under Prime Ministers
Ben Gurion and Eshkol he chaired a committee on Israels demographic policy. Bachi taught generations of students, many
of whom have long occupied prominent positions in academic
institutions. After his retirement in 1977 he concentrated on
the two fields of methodological research, which occupied him
throughout his life geostatistics and graphical representation of statistical data. He developed innovative methods for
reducing vast quantities of geographical-statistical data and
their graphic representation in computerized maps. His most
important work, summarizing these methods, was published
posthumously: New Methods of Geostatistical Analysis and
Graphical Presentation: Distribution of Populations over Territories (1999). Bachi published a large number of works, including: La Mobilit della Popolazione allinterno delle grandi Citt
Europee (Rome, 1933), Graphical Rational Patterns (Jerusalem,
1968), Population Trends of World Jewry (Jerusalem, 1976), and
The Population of Israel (Jerusalem, 1977). He was member of
the Israel Academy of Sciences and honorary member of the
American Statistical Society.
38
BACHRACH, JACOB BEN MOSES (also called Baal haMaamarim or Jacob ha-Bachri; 18241896), rabbi and grammarian. Bachrach, a descendant of Jair *Bacharach, was born
in Sejny in the district of Suwalki; he studied with his grandfather Judah *Bachrach. In addition to being an accomplished
talmudist he was versed in secular knowledge. For many years
he was superintendent of the Hebrew department of a printing establishment in Koenigsberg. In 1858 he published in that
press his Maz ref ha-Avodah, which deals with the controversy
over H asidism between Benjamin Wolf of Slonim, a disciple
of *Elijah b. Solomon Zalman the Gaon of Vilna, and Joseph
backer, george
of Nemirov, a disciple of *Levi Isaac of Berdichev. Later editions of this book carry the title Vikkuh a Rabbah (Great Debate). In 1858 he also published the Sefer Yuh asin of Abraham
*Zacuto with corrections and comments. Between 1861 and
1864 he published Jacob b. Ashers Turim with his own annotations. From Koenigsberg he moved to Sebastopol. There,
while managing a refinery, he began to take an interest in
the literature of the *Karaites and engage in polemics with
them. In 1893 his book Me-ha-Ibbur u-Minyan ha-Shanim
(Concerning Intercalation and the Calendar) appeared in
Warsaw. In it he attempted to prove the antiquity of the Hebrew *calendar, in opposition to the Karaite theory on one
side and to the opinion of H .Z. Slonimsky on the other side.
From there he moved to Bialystok, where he played an important role in founding the H ovevei Zion movement and was
sent to Erez Israel in 1882. His findings during his visit there
are contained in his Sefer ha-Massa le-Erez Yisrael (Warsaw,
1884), one of the earliest propaganda books of the H ovevei
Zion. For a short time, he was also private secretary to Samuel *Mohilever. Bachrach also engaged in scientific study
of the Hebrew language. Among other things, he tried to
prove the antiquity of the Hebrew vowels and accents, in
opposition to the opinion of Elijah *Levita who had held
that these were not introduced until after the conclusion of
the Talmud. These studies appeared in Sefer ha-Yah as liKhetav Ashuri ve-Toledot ha-Nekuddot ve-ha-Teamim (History of the Assyrian Script, Vowels, and Accents, Warsaw,
1854) and Hishtaddelut im Shadal (Engagement with Samuel David Luzzatto, Warsaw, 1897), a kind of extension to his
earlier work. Despite the great acumen shown in his works,
they did not meet with the general approval of the scholars
of his time.
Bibliography: E. Atlas, in: Ha-Asif, 1 (1884), 246ff.; S.
Wiener, Kohelet Moshe (18931918), nos. 3311, 4521, 4723; Luah
Ah iasaf, 5 (1898), 326; EZD, 1 (1958), 2913; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965),
2412.
39
Backman, Jules
40
bacri
many sections of the prayer service and assisted in the training of cantors. Some of his compositions for the prayers of
the High Holy Days have been published by the Cantorial
Council of America.
[Akiva Zimmerman]
41
bacri, Jean-Pierre
42
baden
BAD, WILLIAM FREDERIC (18711936), biblical archaeologist. Born in Carver, Minnesota, Bad taught Old Testament literature at Moravian Theological Seminary, Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, from 1898 to 1902; from 1902 to 1936 he was
professor of Old Testament literature and Semitic languages
at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California. He excavated Tell al-Nas ba (Mizpah?), north of Jerusalem, in five
campaigns between 1926 and 1935, clearing the mound almost
completely. Bad published Old Testament in the Light of Today (1915), A Manual of Excavations in the Near East (1934),
and Excavations at Tell al-Nas ba, 1926 and 1927: A Preliminary Report (1928).
Bibliography: Albright, in: BASOR, 62 (1936), 45; idem,
in: JAOS, 52 (1932), 5253.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
BADEN, part of the Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. The former grand duchy was created in 1806 from parts
of various territories (including the Palatinate), where until
then the Jews had formed no united community or shared a
common history. The earliest records of the presence of Jews
in these territories relate to Gruensfeld (1218), Ueberlingen
(1226), *Freiburg (c. 1230), Lauda and *Tauberbischofsheim
(1235), *Constance (1241), and Sinsheim (early 13t century).
The Jews had been expelled from several of these areas at various times: the Palatinate in 1391, the margravate of Baden in
1470, Austrian Breisgau in 1573, and the diocese of Basle in
1581. Until 1806 the history of the Jews in the margravate of
Baden, which subsequently formed the nucleus of the state of
Baden, may be summarized briefly. After the *Black Death,
134849, few Jews lived there but even these were expelled
in 1470, as a result of the blood libel of *Endingen (South
Baden). Jews were allowed to return to Baden at the beginning of the 16t century. In 1535 the margravate of Baden was
divided into Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach, to be united
again in 1771. The Jews were expelled from Baden-Baden in
1614, but readmitted during the Thirty Years War (161848).
According to the first legislation concerning the status of the
Jews in Baden-Baden in 1714, the territorial organization of
the Jewry was headed by two lay officers (Schultheisse) and a
rabbi. In Baden-Durlach Jews were first tolerated officially in
1537, but were expelled during the Thirty Years War and readmitted in 1666. The Jewish population numbered 24 families
in 1709, increasing to 160 families by 1738.
After the grand duchy of Baden was created, the position of its Schutzjuden (protected Jews) improved. In the first
constitutional edict of May 14, 1807, Judaism was recognized
as a tolerated religion; a year later, the sixth edict afforded
the Jews irrevocable civil rights and abolished the marriage
restrictions imposed on them (see *Familiants Laws). Local
civil rights, however, remained severely restricted. The ninth
edict (the so-called Judenedikt of Jan. 13, 1809) granted the
Jews an officially recognized state organization, required them
to adopt permanent family names, and determined their as
yet very curtailed civil status. The constitution of 1818 im-
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43
him the first German Jew to hold a ministerial position. Theodor *Herzl tried to interest the German emperor in Zionism
through the intervention of the grand duke. The Jews of Baden
also participated in its political life. In 1862 the lawyer R. Kusel
was elected to represent Karlsruhe in the second chamber,
and Ludwig Frank of Mannheim was elected to the Landtag
and later to the Reichstag as Social Democratic member. He
was among the 589 Baden Jews who fell in World War I. Two
Jews were in the first postwar cabinet of Baden, L. Marum
(minister of justice, murdered by the Nazis in 1933) and Ludwig *Haas (minister of the interior), who was also active in
Jewish affairs.
In the Middle Ages Baden Jewry engaged in commerce
and moneylending, later in livestock-dealing (which was the
main source of income for the Jews in the countryside) and
retail trading. In the 19t century occupational difficulties,
the lack of progress in the struggle for emancipation, and
anti-Jewish riots resulted in Jewish immigration to America.
Baden Jewry was one of the earliest German Jewish Territorial
Organizations to establish a state-recognized central organization (1809) the Oberrat (supreme council) which in
conjunction with the Synod (established in 1895) represented
and directed the affairs of the community. Until its reorganization on May 14, 1923, the Oberrat was under state control.
Religious controversy between the Orthodox and *Reform
factions began in the early 19t century, the Reform later tending to predominate with the decline of the rural communities.
When the *Karlsruhe community included an organ in its new
synagogue (1868) and introduced reforms into the services,
the Orthodox Jews, led by B.H. Wormser, established a separatist congregation there, the only one in Baden, which was
given state recognition.
In 1806 Baden had a Jewish population of about 12,000,
which had risen to 24,099 by 1862. As the result of emigration after the rise of Nazism, it decreased from 20,617 in 1933
to 8,725 by 1939. The Jews of Baden were among the first to be
deported from Germany. On Oct. 22, 1940, some 5,600 Baden
Jews, along with others from the Palatinate and the Saar, were
transported to *Gurs concentration camp (southern France),
from where they were further deported to Poland from 1942
onward. Approximately 500 Jews from Baden survived in
France. The Oberrat was reestablished after the war. In 1962
the cemetery in Gurs was leased to the Baden Oberrat for 99
years. In 1969 there were 1,096 Jews in six communities (66
Jews in Baden-Baden, 248 in Freiburg, 135 in *Heidelberg, 260
in Karlsruhe, 387 in *Mannheim and Constance), with N.P.
Levinson as chief rabbi. After 1989 new communities were
founded in Emmendingen, Loerrach, *Pforzheim, and Rottweil-Villingen. As a result of the emigration of Jews from the
former Soviet Union, the number of community members
rose to 4,485 in 2003.
Bibliography: B. Rosenthal, Heimatgeschichte der badischen
Juden (1927), includes bibl.; Gedenkbuch zum 125-jaehrigen Bestehen
des Oberrats der Israeliten Badens (1934); A. Lewin, Geschichte der
44
BADER, GERSHOM (Gustav; 18681953), Hebrew and Yiddish journalist and writer. Bader, who was born in Cracow,
taught there after attending rabbinical seminaries outside
Galicia. From 1893 until 1912 he lived in Lvov, where in 1904
he founded the first Yiddish daily in Galicia, the Togblat (from
1906, Nayes Lemberger Togblat), and contributed regularly to
Ha-Maggid and other Hebrew papers. From 1896 to 1912 he
published and edited the Yidisher Folkskalender, a popular
Galician literary almanac. He translated Genesis into Polish
and published Hebrew language textbooks. His anthologies,
badge, jewish
Leket Perah im and Zer Perah im (189596), helped to popularize Hebrew literature and in 1896 he edited the fifth volume of
the literary miscellany Oz ar ha-Sifrut. From 1896 to 1912 he
produced the Lukhes annuals in Yiddish, and from 190304
a parallel Hebrew annual miscellany, H ermon. In 1912 Bader
settled in New York, where he contributed to the Togblat and
the Jewish Morning Journal. Of his Yiddish plays, the most
successful was Dem Rebens Nign (The Rabbis Melody), produced in 1919. His writings include: H elkat Meh okek, a life of
Jesus (1889); Medinah va-H akhameha, a lexicon of Galician
Jewish cultural figures (1934); and Mafteah le-Rashei Tevot,
a dictionary of talmudic abbreviations (1951); Jewish Spiritual
Heroes (3 vols., in English 1940); and his memoirs, Mayne
Zikhroynes (1953).
Bibliography: G. Bader, Medinah va-H akhameha (1934),
autobiographical preface; idem, in: Genazim, 1 (1960), 8290 (autobiography); Rabbi Binyamin, Mishpeh ot Soferim (1959), 1345.
[Getzel Kressel]
45
badge, jewish
46
badge, jewish
47
badH an
48
BADH AN (Heb. ; entertainer), merrymaker, rhymester who entertained guests, especially at weddings. The Talmud mentions professional jesters who cheered the melancholy (Taan. 22a) or who amused bride and groom (Ket. 17a;
Ber. 30b31a). Jewish itinerant singers, called badh anim or
leiz anim (jesters) are mentioned in medieval rabbinical literature (e.g., R. Elijah b. Isaac of Carcassonnes Asufot); they
seem to have appeared as professional entertainers at weddings and at H anukkah and Purim celebrations, much after
the pattern of the troubadours and ballad singers. The merrymaking of these badh anim, who were also the forerunners
of Jewish theatrical art, consisted not only of folksongs and
comic stories but also of skillful puns on scriptural verses and
talmudical passages, which required a certain amount of Jewish learning. As a result, the rabbinical authorities protested
against the badh anim who parodied the Kaddish at wedding
festivities or who committed the near-blasphemy of amusing the guests with jests on scriptural verses and holy words.
Happy the man who abstains from such (R. David ha-Levi,
in Turei Zahav to Sh. Ar., OH 560:5).
In Eastern Europe the badh an (or marshalik, from Ger.
marschalc, in the sense of master of ceremonies, and not
from Heb. mashal, proverb), acted as the professional wedding jester. The *Chmielnicki persecutions (164849), and
the rabbinical opposition to unbridled merrymaking, even at
weddings (based upon Sot. 9:14), led the badh anim to introduce a new style of entertainment the forshpil in which
the badh an addressed the bride with a rhymed penitential exhortation while the women performed the ceremony of bedeken, i.e., covering the bride with the veil before proceeding to
the h uppah (see *Marriage Customs). In the case of orphans,
the badh ans rhymes invoked the memory of the departed
parents and injected a sorrowful note. Later, at the wedding
feast, the badh an entertained the guests with music and with
jests that contained personal allusions to the important guests
and participants. In the course of time the literary style of the
badh an developed into a sort of Hebrew and Yiddish folkpoetry, the most renowned exponent of which was Eliakum
*Zunser of Vilna, who composed over 600 songs of this kind.
A fine portrayal of the badh an is the character of Breckeloff
in I. *Zangwills Children of the Ghetto. In recent times the
institution of the badh an has been replaced by more modern
forms of entertainment.
Bibliography: A. Berliner, Aus dem Leben der deutschen
Juden im Mittelalter (1900), 57, 58; I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the
Middle Ages (19322), 2134; Hirsch, in: JQR, 13 (1901), 6012; Lifschitz,
in: Arkhiv far di Geshikhte fun Yidishen Teater un Drame, 1 (1930),
3874; Eisenstein, Yisrael, 2 (1908), 3023.
[Meir Ydit]
badinter, robert
BADINTER, ROBERT (1928 ), French lawyer and minister of justice. Born in Paris, Badinter studied law there and at
49
badt, hermann
50
baeck, leo
of Breslau under J. Freudental and at the University of Berlin under the philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey. Baeck served as
rabbi in Oppeln (18971907), Duesseldorf (190712), and Berlin (from 1912 on), and as an army chaplain in World War I.
He began lecturing on midrashic literature and homiletics at
the Hochschule in 1912 and became a close adherent of Hermann *Cohen.
Baeck was a member of the committee of the CentralVerein deutscher Staatsbuerger juedischen Glaubens and published numerous articles in its journal, C.V. Zeitung, and periodical, Der morgen, Baeck was a non-Zionist member of the
Jewish Agency and occasionally contributed to the German
Zionist weekly Juedische Rundschau. From 1922 he served as
the chairman of the Rabbinerverband in Deutschland, which
included Liberal as well as Orthodox rabbis. From 1933 he was
president of the Reichsvertretung, the representative body of
German Jews, and devoted himself to defending the rights
remaining for Jews under the Nazis. He refused all invitations to serve as a rabbi or professor abroad, declaring that he
would remain with the last minyan (prayer quorum) of Jews
in Germany as long as possible. At Terezin (*Theresienstadt)
concentration camp, to which he was deported in early 1943,
he was named honorary president of the Aeltestenrat and
continued the work of encouraging his people. Thus, he became a witness of his faith, a theme that had long occupied
a central position in his writings. According to a testimony he
allegedly gave to Eric Boem, he was informed in 1943 of the
death camps but decided not to share the information with
the Jewish leadership of the camp in order not to undermine
Jewish hope, a decision that was sharply criticized by some and
provoked a bitter public debate. After the war, in July 1945, he
moved to London, where he became president of the council
of Jews from Germany and the chairman of the World Union
for Progressive Judaism. From 1948 until his death he taught
intermittently in the United States as professor of history of
religion at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.
Thought and Works
Baeck saw himself primarily as a rabbi and a preacher, who
understood his mission beyond the borders of his own Liberal
affiliation, as shaped by his responsibility to the entire German
Jewish community and the Jewish people at large. His philosophical-theological thought as well as his works on history of
religion should be read and measured in light of his rabbinic
mission. In 1901 he published a polemic article against Wesen des Christentums by the Protestant theologian Adolf von
Harnack. Four years later Baeck published his main work Wesen des Judentums (1905; The Essence of Judaism, 1936). Many
further editions and printings of it were published, as well as
English (19483), Japanese, and Hebrew (1968) translations. The
apologetic character that dominated the first edition was considerably modified in the second and the extreme rationalism
was eliminated. This transformation was the result of the influence of mysticism and Jewish nationalism. He identified the
essence of Judaism with biblical prophecy, namely the direct
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
51
baeck, samuel
19:2 (1999), 10717; W. Homolka (ed.), Leo Baeck Zwischen Geheimnis und Gebot (1997); A. Barkai (ed.), Leo Baeck Manhigut
ve-Hagut (2000).
[Akiba Ernst Simon / Yehoyada Amir (2nd ed.)]
52
BAER, MAX (Maximilian Adelbert; 19091959), U.S. prizefighter, world heavyweight champion 193435, member of
the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Baer dropped
out of school in the eighth grade to work with his father on
a cattle ranch in California, where he developed his muscles
and a powerful right hand. He began to box in 1929 and won
22 of his first 24 fights, nine with first-round knockouts. In
a fight on August 25, 1930, heavyweight Frankie Campbell
was killed in a fight with Baer in San Francisco, which led to
a grand jury investigation of local boxing. Baer was charged
with manslaughter but was later cleared of all charges, though
he was suspended from fighting in California for a year. He
quit boxing for several months after Campbells death and
then lost four of his next six fights, partly, it was said, because
of his reluctance to go on the attack.
Baer recorded a major victory on June 8, 1933, when he
beat Germanys Max Schmeling, a former world champion,
with a 10t-round TKO in front of 56,000 fans at Yankee Stadium. Baer won the heavyweight title on June 14, 1934, knocking down Italys Primo Carnera 11 times in 11 rounds, before
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
baer, yitzhak
winning by a TKO in the 11t. Baer lost the title in his first
defense on June 13, 1935, to Jim Braddock, The Cinderella
Man, who was listed as a 101 underdog. It is considered by
many the greatest upset in boxing history. Baer then lost in
his next fight in four rounds to Joe Louis on September 24,
1935, before 88,000 fans at Yankee Stadium. On June 1, 1939,
Baer fought Lou Nova at Yankee Stadium in the first boxing match ever televised. Baer lost his last professional fight
to Nova again in 1941, retiring with a record of 71 victories
(53 by knockout), 13 defeats, and one no-decision. He later
refereed boxing and wrestling matches. In Ring Magazines
2003 list of the 100 greatest punchers of all time, Baer was
ranked 22nd.
Baer wore a Magen David on his boxing trunks beginning with his fight against Schmeling, whom he taunted with
That ones for Hitler between blows. I wore the insignia
because I thought I should, and I intend to wear it in every
bout hereafter, he said after the fight. Baer claimed Jewish blood through the paternal line of his immigrant father
Jacob, a German-Jewish immigrant who worked as a butcher,
cattle dealer and rancher in Colorado and California. Jacobs
father, Aschill Baer from Alsace-Lorraine, married a non-Jew
from Vienna, Fanny Fischiel. Baer became an actor while he
was boxing and appeared in some 20 movies, including The
Prizefighter and the Lady, which was banned in Germany
because of Baers Jewish grandfather. He also had a successful nightclub act both solo and with Slapsie Maxie *Rosenbloom. His son, MAX, JR. (1937 ), was an actor famous for
playing Jethro on the 196271 television series The Beverly
Hillbillies.
BUDDY (Jacob Henry; 19151986), a brother, also boxed
in the heavyweight division, fighting Joe Louis for the championship twice. Baer lost the first time on a disqualification in
the seventh round on May 23, 1941, when his manager claimed
a foul and refused to leave the ring; and again on January 9,
1942, when Louis knocked him out in the first round. These
were Buddy Baers last two fights, and he retired with a 507
record, with 44 KOs.
[Elli Wohlgelernter (2nd ed.)]
BAER, SELIGMAN ISAAC (18251897), Hebrew grammarian, masorah scholar, and liturgist. Born at Mosbach (Baden,
Germany), Baer was a pupil of Wolf *Heidenheim, who left
him many of his manuscripts. At the age of 19 he turned to
masoretic studies. Franz *Delitzsch was impressed by Baers
scholarly approach and together they published the Psalms
with masorah (1860) followed by most of the other books of
the Bible with masorah texts. Delitzsch prefaced each book
with a Latin introduction (except the last two, which appeared
after his death, Jeremiah in 1890 and Kings in 1895). These
masoretic editions were compiled by Baer from manuscripts
representing the variants of the masorah of *Ben Asher, *Ben
Naphtali, and other masorah texts. All his life, Baer remained
in the humble position of a teacher in the Jewish community
school at Biebrich (Rhineland), but on the initiative of DelENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BAER, YITZHAK (Fritz; 18881980), historian. Born in Halberstadt, where he obtained a thorough Jewish education, Baer
studied philosophy, classical philology, and history (the latter under Heinrich Finke) at the universities of Berlin, Strasbourg, and Freiburg. From 1919 Baer was research associate
of the Akademie fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin, under whose auspices he went twice to Spain (192526) to
collect archival source material on the history of the Jews in
Christian Spain. In 1928 he was appointed lecturer and in 1930
professor of medieval Jewish history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. From 1932 to 1945 he was professor of general medieval history; he served from 1930 to 1959 as head of
the universitys department of Jewish history. Baer was one of
the founders and editors of the Jewish historical review Zion.
A coeditor of the Historiographical Library and Sefer haYishuv, he took a leading part in the Israel Historical Society
and was one of the 20 founding members of the Israel Academy of Sciences. He also contributed important articles to the
German Encyclopaedia Judaica and its Hebrew counterpart
53
baerwald, alex
54
BAERWALD, ALEX (18781930), one of the first Jewish architects in Erez Israel. He was born in Berlin, and studied
architecture at Charlottenburg. In 1910, he was invited by
the Hilfsverein to plan the Technion buildings and the Reali
school in Haifa. In these buildings, Baerwald tried to create a
Jewish style of architecture, based on Muslim architecture.
Baerwald settled in Palestine in 1925, when he was appointed a lecturer at the Technion (which had been opened
in 1924), and founded its Faculty of Architecture. He built
many buildings in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and elsewhere in Palestine, in the same style that he developed in the Technion
buildings (Bet Struck, the Anglo-Palestine Bank in Haifa).
In spite of the quality of these buildings and their high architectural standard their influence on the development of
architecture in Jewish Palestine was very limited. Baerwald
himself designed a number of buildings in the contemporary modern European style. These include the Central Jezreel Valley Hospital and the Electricity Companys power stations at Haifa and Tiberias. He also planned two buildings in
kibbutz Merh avyah, combining rural European architecture
with Middle Eastern motifs.
Add. Bibliography: A. Elhanani, Israeli Architecture in
the Twentieth Century (Heb., 1998).
[Abraham Erlik]
baghdad
BAERWALD, PAUL (18711961), banker and philanthropist. Baerwald, born in Frankfurt, was the scion of a family
of German bankers. He began his career with a banking firm
in Frankfurt. In 1896 he immigrated to the U.S. and in 1907
became a partner in Lazard Frres of New York City. In subsequent years Baerwald held directorships in a number of
corporations. Baerwalds Jewish communal work began in
1917 when he was asked to become associate treasurer of the
*American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) by his
close friend, Felix M. *Warburg. He became treasurer (1920)
and later chairman (1932). Baerwalds chairmanship of the
JDC coincided with the Nazi period. During that time the
JDC aided most of the European Jews who found haven in
overseas countries. In 1938 Baerwald joined President Roosevelts Advisory Committee on Political Refugees, which tried
to find means to aid Nazi victims. He supervised the rescue
work of the JDC during World War II and, risking its credit,
sent money to Europe which had to be borrowed from New
York banks. A high percentage of the Presidents War Refugee
Board funds (194445) came from the JDC under Baerwalds
direction. This financial policy was carried on in the postwar
years when the JDC aided more than 500,000 refugees to reach
Israel. In 1957 the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the *Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Israel
Ministry of Social Welfare founded the Paul Baerwald School
of Social Work at the Hebrew University.
[Yehuda Bauer]
55
baghdad
56
not worsen the situation of the Jews, but with the beginning of
the reign of his son T ahmsp I (152476), they suffered greatly
from the hostile attitude of the Persian authorities. During the
first part of the Ottoman rule, which lasted from 1534 to 1623,
there was again an improvement in the situation for the Jews.
Their economic position improved; their trade with foreign
countries increased; and there were several wealthy merchants
among them. In the early 17t century Pedro *Teixeria, the
Portuguese Marrano explorer, found 25,000 houses in Baghdad, of which 250 belonged to Jews. In 1623 the Persians again
conquered Baghdad, and during their rule, which lasted until
1638, there was a new deterioration in the situation of the Jews.
Because of this, they gave their support to Sultan Murd IV,
who conquered Baghdad in 1638. The day of the conquest,
Tevet 16, 5399, was fixed as a yom nes (day of miracle). Additional evidence of the sympathy of the Jews toward the Ottomans is the custom fixing 11 Av, 5493 (1733), the day that
the Persians were defeated trying to reoccupy Baghdad, as a
yom nes. Carsten Niebuhr, a Danish traveler and scholar who
visited Iraq some 30 years later, relates that there was a large
Jewish community in Baghdad and that its influence was felt
in the economic life of the city.
During the second half of the 18t century and the early
19t century Ottoman rule deteriorated in efficiency and the
attitude of the government toward the Jews became harsh.
Even so, some Jewish bankers were involved in the affairs of
the governing circles, especially in the attempted rebellion of
the governors.
During the reign of Sultan Mahmud II, the banker Ezekiel
*Gabbai supported the removal of the governor of Baghdad,
who had rebelled against the sultan in 1811. The last Mamluk
governor, Dd Pasha (181731), who had also tried to rebel
against the sultan, oppressed the Jews of Baghdad, and many
of the wealthier ones fled to Persia, India, and other countries.
Among them was David S. *Sassoon, a member of the distinguished Baghdad family.
The number of Jews at that time was still considerable.
R. *David DBeth Hillel, who visited the city in 1828, found
6,000 Jewish families there led by a pasha, also known as king
of the Jews, who was also responsible for the judicial affairs
of the community. The English traveler Wellsted, who visited
Baghdad in 1831, praised the remarkable moral conduct of the
Jews, which he attributed to their religious upbringing. Wellsted made special note of the feeling of mutual responsibility
among the Jews of Baghdad. According to him, there were
no poor among them because anyone who lost his means of
livelihood was assisted by his companions. R. Jehiel Kestelmann, an emissary from Safed, claims to have found 20,000
Jews in Baghdad in 1860. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the improvement of the citys economic situation, the economic status of the Jews also improved. Many
Jews from other localities settled in the city. According to the
traveler Ephraim *Neumark, the Baghdad community numbered 30,000 in 1884; 50,000 in the early 20t century; and
100,000 in the 1930s.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
baghdad
Community Leaders
In the 18t and 19t centuries important changes in cultural and
religious life occurred, because of the activities of outstanding
rabbis in the community. A notable improvement took place
with the arrival of R. Z edakah *H ozin from Aleppo in 1743.
H ozin improved the educational system of the city and Jewish
religious education improved. During the 18t century Palestinian emissaries visited the Baghdad community, strengthening its ties with the Palestinian population and reinforcing
religious values within the community. Besides collecting
funds for the communities of Jerusalem, Safed, and Hebron,
these emissaries also delivered sermons and resolved halakhic
problems. The most prominent of Baghdads rabbis during
the 19t century was R. Abdallah *Somekh, who is considered the greatest Iraqi rabbi of the last generations. In 1840
he founded a rabbinical college, Beit Zilkha, whose graduates
filled rabbinical positions in many different localities. Among
the Jews of Baghdad in the 19t century were still some writers of piyyutim, such as R. Sasson b. Israel (18201885). In the
same century there were wealthy philanthropists who contributed generously to the community projects, especially to
educational and religious institutions. The most prominent of
them were Jacob Z emah (d. 1847), Ezekiel b. Reuben Manasseh
(d. 1851), Joseph Gurji (d. 1894), Eliezer Kadoorie (18671944),
and Menah em *Daniel (18461940).
Until 1849 the community of Baghdad was led by a nasi,
who was appointed by the vilayet governor, and who also
acted as his banker (s arrf bsh). The first of these leaders
claimed to be descendants of the house of David and their
positions were inherited by members of their families. Later,
however, the position was purchased. The most renowned of
these leaders were Sassoon b. R. Z alah (17811817), the father
of the *Sassoon family, and Ezra b. Joseph Gabbai (181724).
From 1849 the community was led by the h akham bashi who
represented the Jews to the Turkish authorities. The first one
was R. Raphael Kaz in. The nasi, and later the h akham bashi,
were assisted by a council of 10 and later 12 delegates, which
included three rabbis and nine laymen drawn from the wealthier members of the community. The council collected the
taxes and dealt with community affairs. The collection of the
askarl (military service ransom tax), which replaced the
jizya (poll tax), was sometimes the cause of violent conflicts
within the community.
World War I and After
Until the British conquest of Baghdad in March 1917, the Jews
were oppressed by the vilayet governor and the police commissioner, who attempted to extort money from them and to
recruit their youth for the Turkish army. Hundreds of young
men were recruited and the majority were sent to the Caucasus where many died of starvation and cold. Wealthy Jews
were tortured and killed after being accused of devaluating the
Turkish pound. The Jews naturally rejoiced when the British
occupied Baghdad. The day of their entry was fixed as a yom
nes (17 Adar, 5677, or February 3, 1917). From the conquest
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
57
baghdad
Fourteen Iraqis, including nine Jews, were hanged publicly in Baghdad on January 27, 1969, after being convicted on
charges of spying for Israel. Two other Jews were hanged in
August of the same year. In April 1973 the total number of the
innocent Jews who were hanged, murdered, or kidnapped and
disappeared reached 46; dozens more were detained.
There were 77,000 Jews in Baghdad in 1947. After the
mass exodus to Israel in 195051, approximately 6,000 Jews
were left. Subsequently, Jews continued to leave Baghdad, so
that only about 3,000 remained in 1963 when Qassem was
toppled by Abd al-Salm rif. This figure remained nearly
the same until 1971, when the Jews began to escape from the
country to Iran via Kurdistan and the authorities began to issue passports to Iraqi Jews. From this point on, the number
of Jews dropped steadily to be about 350 in 1975. In 2005 there
were only a few Jews still living in Baghdad.
[Abraham Ben-Yaacob / Nissim Kazzaz (2nd ed.)]
58
burials, and the rabbinical courts, while the latter was responsible for the schools, hospitals, and charitable trusts. In
1926, however, a group of intellectuals gained the upper hand
in the latter council and attempted to remove the chief rabbi,
Ezra *Dangoor. After a stormy period, in 1931, the community passed the Law of the Jewish Community. It deprived
the rabbis of the communitys leadership and made it possible
for a nonreligious person to assume leadership. In spite of this
in February 1933 R. Sasson *Kadoorie was elected chairman
of the community. His position was, however, a secular one,
while a rabbi without any community authority was elected
to the position of chief rabbi. Just before the mass emigration
of 1951, there were about 20 Jewish educational institutions in
Baghdad; 16 were under supervision of the community committee, the rest were privately run. In 1950 about 12,000 pupils attended these institutions while many others attended
government and foreign schools; approximately another 400
students were enrolled in Baghdad colleges of medicine, law,
economy, pharmacy, and engineering. All but two of the Jewish educational institutions closed in 1952. These two had approximately 900 pupils in 1960, while about 50 Jewish pupils
attended government schools. The Baghdad community also
had a school for the blind, founded in 1930, which was the
only one of its kind in Iraq. It closed in 1951.
Pupils in Jewish educational institutions in Baghdad in 1920 and
just before the mass exodus of 195051
Year
1920
1950
Talmud Torah
2,500
1,880
Kindergartens
and Elementary
Schools
3,350
8,970
Secondary
Schools
150
2,626
Total
6,000
13,476
bagley, david
again became president of the community. Kadoorie still presided in 1970. In accordance with an Iraqi law of 1954, a council elected every two years and supervised by the Ministry of
Justice worked with the president. The subcommittees were
abolished and a government law in December 1951 also abolished the rabbinical court in Baghdad.
[Hayyim J. Cohen]
Hebrew Printing
The first Hebrew (lithographic) printing press in Baghdad was
founded by Moses Baruch Mizrah i in 1863. The press printed
a Hebrew newspaper named Ha-Dover (The Speaker) or
Dover Mesharin (Upright Speaker) until 1870 and three small
books. A second printing press with movable characters was
founded in Baghdad in 1868 by Rah amim b. Reuben, a resident of Baghdad, who had previously gained printing experience in Bombay. The brothers Moses and Aaron Fetaya later
formed a partnership with Rah amim, and after his death they
continued his work until 1882. Fifty-five books were printed
on this printing press.
In 1888 a new press was founded in Baghdad by Solomon Bekhor H utz (18431892), a scholar, poet, author, journalist, bookseller, and communal worker. He brought his
printing letters from Leghorn, Italy. Besides prayer books, he
also printed many books which he considered useful to the
members of his community. These included tales and works
by Baghdad scholars which had been in manuscript until
then. After his death, the printing press was taken over by his
son, Joshua H utz, and operated until 1913. Seventy-five books
were printed on it.
In 1904 a new press was founded in Baghdad by R. Ezra
Reuben Dangoor (18481930), who was also h akham bashi of
Baghdad. This printing press was in existence until 1921 and
over 100 books were printed on it. For the greater part they
were books of prayers and piyyutim according to the custom
of the Baghdad Jews, but there were also some popular books
in the Judeo-Arabic jargon and a Hebrew weekly, Yeshurun,
of which five issues were published in 1920. This was a second
and last attempt at Hebrew journalism in Baghdad. During the
British Mandate in Iraq, two small Hebrew printing presses
were founded in Baghdad: the al-Wataniyya al-Isrliyya
(The Israel Homeland) press, which printed about 20 books
between 1922 and 1927; and the Elisha Shoh et press, which
printed more than 40 books between 1924 and 1937. When
the British Mandate ended, these printing presses declined
and finally ceased operation altogether.
[Avraham Yaari]
Bibliography: Ben-Jacob, in: Zion, 15 (1951), 5669; idem,
Toledot ha-Rav Abdalla Somekh (1949); idem, in: Hed ha-Mizrah , 2
(1943/44), no. 8, 1314; idem, in: Sinai, 54 (1964), 95101; idem, Yehudei Bavel (1965); A.S. Yahuda, Bagdadische Sprichwoerter (1906); S.
Poznaski, Babylonische Geonim (1914); J. Obermeyer, Die Landschaft Babylonien (1929); D.S. Sassoon, A History of the Jews in Baghdad (1949); Yaari, Sheluh ei, index; Cohen, in: Middle Eastern Studies
(Oct. 1966), 217; H.Y. Cohen, Ha-Peilut ha-Z iyyonit be-Irak (1969).
BAGINSKY, ADOLF ARON (18431918), German physician and founder of modern pediatrics. Baginsky was born
in Silesia and in 1881 joined the faculty of Berlin University,
being appointed associate professor in 1892. In 1890, with the
assistance of Virchow, he founded the childrens hospital, Kaiser und Kaiserin Friedrich Kinderkrankenhaus, of which he
became director. His main contributions to pediatrics were in
the fields of infectious diseases, the study of milk, and hygiene.
Baginsky was a leader in the movement for the promotion of
child welfare and his services in this field won him orders and
decorations from many governments. He was founder and
editor of the pediatric journal, Archiv fur Kinderheilkunde
(1879). His works included Lehrbuch der Kinderheilkunde
(1982; Textbook of Pediatrics, translated into a number of
languages), Handbuch der Schulhygiene (Manual on School
Hygiene, 1877), and Praktische Beitraege zur Kinderheilkunde
(Practical Contributions to Pediatrics, 188084), as well as
many articles on physiological and chemical subjects.
Baginsky was an active member of the Jewish community in Berlin and of the movement to check antisemitism in
Germany. He also wrote an interesting essay on the significance of hygiene in Mosaic legislation in which he expresses
his admiration for the hygienic laws in the Bible.
Bibliography: S.R. Kagan: Jews in Medicine (1952), 3578.
[Suessmann Muntner]
59
bagohi
for nuclear, aeronautical, and industrial purposes. The company was the first in Europe devoted to automation. In 1967
Elliott-Automation was taken over by the English Electric
Company, with Bagrit as deputy chairman.
He was a member of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (196365) and the Advisory Council on Technology (from 1964). A director of the Royal Opera House, he
founded the Friends of Covent Garden. He became a consultant on automation to the Israeli government. He was knighted
in 1962. In 1964 Bagrit delivered the prestigious BBC Reith
Lectures on The Age of Automation.
add. Bibliography: ODNB online.
60
bahia
of the *Inquisition was established in Portugal (1536; operating until 1821), and after the first auto-de-f (1540), the immigration of New Christians to the Brazilian colony grew, and
many of them arrived in Bahia with the first governors. Some
sources maintain that one New Christian, Gaspar da Gama,
was part of Pedro lvares Cabrals fleet, in 1500. There were
a significant number of Jews involved in sciences and the art
of navigation in Portugal during the period of overseas expansion in the early 1400s. The Tribunal do Santo Ofcio da
Inquisio, created in Portugal, did not settle permanently in
colonial Brazil. As of 1591, the Tribunal do Santo Ofcio made
several visits to Brazil, powers were delegated to some bishops,
like for instance the bishop of Bahia, and clergymen would
indict people for Jewish practices directly in Lisbon.
In the second half of the 16t century, Bahia absorbed
New Christians who contributed to the establishment of
the first villages, to the mercantilist state, and to the Church
struggle against the Indians, to the finance of and participation in the expeditions to the interior, and to cultivation of the
land and of sugar cane in particular. Production and trade in
sugar cane became the chief source of wealth of Brazil in the
second half of the 16t and the 17t centuries. Besides sugarmill lords, New Christians were slave merchants, farmers, and
craftsmen, among other occupations. They ascended socially
and economically, but they were faced with the restrictions of
belonging to religious orders or political spheres, such as the
Irmandades de Misericrdia and Cmaras Municipais.
News about the New Christian prosperity, their increasing numbers, and slight attachment to Catholicism led the inquisitors to set up a board of inquiry in Bahia to locate judaizers. Their sessions, known as Visitaes (visitations), were
held initially in 159195 and in 1618 aiming at judaizers, condemned sexual practices, witchcraft, and Holy Church slanderers. Between 1618 and 1619 a total of 134 people were indicted, of whom 90 were accused of being judaizers. Most of
them were not taken to court and many fled from Brazil to
other regions colonized by the Spaniards.
Between 1624 and 1625 the Dutch Colonial Empire conquered Bahia. Then religious tolerance was established, although just a few New Christians were in the region and a few
Jews came to Bahia with the Dutch expeditionary forces.
An important investigation, known as the 1646 Inquiry,
was carried out in Bahia in the 17t century, at the Jesuit seminary. With the aid of various testimonies, this inquiry revealed
the role that the Portuguese of Jewish descent played in the
political, economic, and administrative life in Bahia. In the
18t century many members of Brazilian families were still
prevented from assuming public office because they were descendants of those denounced in 1646.
The New Christians continued to hold important positions in Bahian society until the end of the 18t century. In
1773, during the liberal government of Marques de Pombal,
general governor of Brazil, the differentiation between new
Christians and old Christians was abolished and the inquisitional procedures came to an end. Consequently the New
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
61
and political life, which reached its peak between the 1930s
and 1950s. Jewish immigrants coming from Eastern Europe
started settling in Salvador in the 1920s.
Records show that small groups of Jewish immigrants
also settled in Ilhus and Itabuna, in the region where a local
economy based on cocoa flourished, and in Bonfim, Petrolina,
Juazeiro, and Jacobina, along the banks of the So Francisco
River (the most important in the State). In Salvador, a synagogue started to function at a private household in 1924, in
1925 the Jewish Jacob Dinenzon school was created. During
the 1930s, a second school was founded, Ber Borochov, with
Zionist leanings, differing from the Jacob Dinenzon school
in its progressive and Yiddishist orientation. The new school
operated slightly over a decade, after which the community
favored the older school. In 1970, there were 120 students registered at the latter, which closed down in 1978 because many
families had immigrated to other cities. In addition, the Jewish
community in Salvador opened a cemetery and ran the Sociedade Beneficente. Zionist womens organizations emerged,
such as WIZO and Naamat-Pioneiras, and the Jewish minority organized itself around the Sociedade Israelita da Bahia,
founded in 1947. In 1968 the Hebraica Club of Salvador was
founded. In politics, Mrio Kertesz was mayor of the capital
and Boris Tabacof was finance secretary of the State of Bahia.
In 2004, those who remained organized themselves around
the synagogue.
Bibliography: Documents of the Arquivo Histrico Judaico
Brasileiro; A. Wiznitzer, Os judeus no Brasil colonial (1960); A. Novinsky, Cristos-Novos na Bahia (1972); E. Lipiner, Os judaizantes nas capitanias de cima. So Paulo estudos sobre os Cristos-Novos do Brasil
nos sculos XVI e XVII (1969); A.J. Saraiva, Inquisio e Cristos-Novos
(1969); M.C. Maio and C. Calaa. Um balano da bibliografia sobre
anti-semitismo no Brasil, in: BIB Revista Brasileira de Informao
Bibliogrfica em Cincias Sociais, no. 49 (2000) 1550; Os judeus na
Bahia, Special Supplement, in: Shalom, no. 296, n/d.
[Roney Cytrynowicz (2nd ed.)]
62
bahlul
63
bahrAin
quently quoted in the work of his son Eleazar. His other sons
were Samuel and Joseph.
SAMUEL was also a rabbi of Mekns. His signature occurs on the halakhic rulings of the community, one of which is
dated 1732. ELEAZAR was one of the important scholars of Mekns. His signature appears on the decisions given in 1726 and
1730. Of his many works, which are extant in manuscript, the
most important is Sefer Mareh Einayim (Jerusalem National
Library), composed in Fez between 1710 and 1712, a collection of sermons by Castilian exiles and Moroccan rabbis from
the 16t century, as well as sermons which Eleazar had heard
from Erez Israel emissaries. He also wrote Pekuddat Elazar
on Proverbs, and a commentary on rabbinic maxims. In 1718
he edited and adapted Refuot u-Segullot and Tivei Asavim of
Jacob Katan of Fez. JOSEPH was the secretary to the bet din of
Mekns in 1834 and was later appointed dayyan.
Bibliography: J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav (1911), 145;
J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 22b, 29a, 61b, 94a, 126a; G.
Scholem, Kitvei Yad be-Kabbalah (1937), 1024.
64
BAH YA (Pseudo), name given to the author of the Neoplatonic work Kitb Man al-Nafs (On the Essence of the
Soul, Ar. version ed. by I. Goldziher, 1902; translated into
Heb. by I.D. Broyd, 1896), at one time attributed to *Bah ya
ibn Paquda. Nothing is known of the author. It appears that
Pseudo-Bah ya wrote this work sometime between the middle
of the 11t and the middle of the 12t centuries, since he cites
*Avicenna and *Nissim ben Jacob who lived in the first half
of the 11t century, but gives no indication that he was influenced by the late 12t-century developments in Islamic and
Jewish philosophy.
On the Essence of the Soul presents the structure of the
universe as a hierarchy of ten emanations created by God.
These emanations are the active intellect, soul of the universe,
nature, matter, bodies of the spheres, stars, fire, air, water, and
earth. Each emanation is dependent on its predecessor for the
divine power necessary to activate it. From the ten emanations
are formed the composite substances of the sensual world to
which the soul must descend. Criticizing the naturalist position that the soul is an accident of the body, the author maintains that the rational soul is spiritual, a product of the soul
of the universe. While passing through each emanation in its
descent, the soul acquires outer garments of impurities until it finally reaches earth and is embodied in man. Different
degrees of impurity depending on the length of the souls stay
in each of the emanations through which it descends provide
the differences between souls, which, however, are all similar
in essence. Once it inheres in a body, the rational soul unites
with the lower vegetative and animal souls, and it loses its
original suprasensual knowledge. In order to reverse this process and ascend to the spiritual source from which it derived,
the rational soul must purify itself by cultivating virtue and
by governing the lower souls.
The author bases the immortality of the soul after death
on the fact that all things composed of elements return back
to their elements. Hence the soul returns to its origin, which is
the spiritual soul of the universe, by means of an ascent which
the soul can make once it has attained moral and intellectual
perfection. Souls possessing only moral perfection can rise
to an earthly paradise where they can acquire the knowledge
necessary for their ascent to the suprasensual world. Souls
possessing only intellectual perfection or no perfection at all
are doomed to their earthly surroundings. As a part of their
punishment these souls strive unsuccessfully to ascend to the
suprasensual world. There is no direct evidence of the work
having had any influence in medieval Jewish philosophy and
it is not cited by other critics.
Bibliography: A. Borrisov, in: Bulletin of the Academy of
Sciences of USSr, Class of Humanities (Rus., 1929), 78599; 41 (1897),
24156; Husik, Philosophy, 10613; Guttmann, Philosophies, 1247.
[David Geffen]
tateuch (Naples, 1492) was written in 1291. According to tradition, he lived in Saragossa and served there as dayyan and
preacher. He was a disciple of Solomon b. Abraham Adret,
whom he called my master, whenever he quoted from his
commentaries. Curiously enough, Bah ya mentions neither
his teachers kabbalistic sayings nor his commentaries on the
mystical teachings of Nah manides as did Solomon b. Adrets
other disciples. There are also kabbalistic matters quoted
anonymously by Bah ya which are attributed to Solomon b.
Adret by other authors. This might confirm the assumption of
J. Reifmann (Alummah, 1 (1936), 82) that Bah ya was not Solomon b. Adrets disciple in Kabbalah. It is also possible that he
did not have his teachers permission to quote him in kabbalistic matters. Isaac b. Todros of Barcelona, the commentator
on Nah manides esoteric teachings, is quoted by Bah ya only
once, without the attribute my teacher.
His Writings
Following *Botarel and for various reasons, spurious works
(as well as writings whose authors are unknown) have been attributed to Bah ya. J. Reifmanns assumption that Bah ya wrote
Ha-Emunah ve-ha-Bittah on (Korets, 1785), Maarekhet ha-Elohut (Mantua, 1558), and Maamar ha-Sekhel (Cremona, 1557),
does not stand up to critical examination. Bla Bernstein has
pointed out that a commentary on Job published in Bah yas
name was really a compilation made from two of his books:
Kad ha-Kemah (Constantinople, 1515) and Shulh an shel Arba
(Mantua, 1514). There was also the opinion that Bah yas mention of H oshen Mishpat was simply a printing error.
The clarity of Bah yas style and his easy exposition have
made his books (which draw their material from a variety of
sources) popular with the public, particularly his commentary
on the Pentateuch which has been published frequently from
1492 (with explanations and references, 2 vols., 196667). Additional testimony to its popularity are the numerous quotations from it in the book *Z eenah u-Reenah. In his work Bah ya
interprets the Pentateuch in four ways: literal, homiletical, rational, and according to the Kabbalah. He uses many different
sources, beginning with talmudic and midrashic literature, exegetic and philosophic literature, and ending with kabbalistic
literature. The way of sekhel (reason) does not always mean
philosophic-rationalistic interpretation. According to Bah ya,
all that is outside the divine world, including demonological
matters, belongs to the way of reason, insofar as it is necessary to explain the verses or the mitzvot according to the subject. Bah ya is considered of great importance in Kabbalah and
is one of the main sources through which the kabbalistic sayings of Nah manides contemporaries have been preserved. As
a rule, Bah ya does not divulge his kabbalistic sources. With
the exception of the Sefer ha-*Bahir, which he considers an
authentic Midrash, and Nah manides, who is his guide in Kabbalah, he rarely mentions other kabbalists, although he uses
extensively the writings of Jacob b. Sheshet *Gerondi, *Asher
b. David, Joseph *Gikatilla, and others. He treats the Zohar in
a similar manner. Parts of the Zohar were known to him, and
65
66
baiersdorf
absence of the Jews is noted. In 1850 Jewish artisans, businessmen, and farmers began to settle in Baia-Mare. Subsequently Jews did much to develop local commerce and industry. A community was organized in 1860, and a burial
society founded in 1862. The first synagogue was opened in
1887. During the *Tisza-Eszlar blood libel case in 1882, a mob
attacked the synagogue and pillaged it. The community always
remained Orthodox, and Satmar Hasidism (see *Teitelbaum)
had a strong following. There was also a flourishing Zionist
movement. In the period between the two world wars there
was increasing tension between the h asidic community and
the Zionists. The Jewish population numbered 701 in 1890 (out
of a total of 9,838); 1,402 in 1910 (out of 12,877); 2,030 in 1930
(out of 13,904); and 3,623 in 1941 (out of 21,404).
[Yehouda Marton / Paul Schveiger (2nd ed.)]
Holocaust Period
Between the two world wars the Jewish population suffered
from attacks by the Romanian Iron Guard. Between 1941
and 1944, the town served as the headquarters of Labor Service Battalion No. X, the recruitment center for many of the
Jewish males of military age in Northern Transylvania. The
Battalion was under the command of Lt. Col. Imre Reviczky
(18961957), a decent Hungarian officer who saved a large
number of Jews after the German occupation in 1944 by recruiting them into labor service and thus rescuing them from
deportation. In 1962 he was posthumously recognized by Yad
Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations.
The roundup of the Jews of Baia Mare began on May 3,
1944, together with those from Northern Transylvania. The
ghetto for the Jews of Baia-Mare was established in the vacant
lots of the Koenig Glass Factory; at its peak, it held close to
4,000 victims. The approximately 2,000 Jews from the communities in the District of Baia-Mare, including Alsfernezely, Hagymslpos, Kapnikbnya, Lposbnya, Misztfalu,
Nagysikrl, Tomny, and Zazr, were concentrated in a stable
and barn in Valea Burcutului (Hung. Borpatak), which could
accommodate only 200 people; the others had to be quartered
outdoors. The 5,917 Jews concentrated in these two ghettos
were deported to Auschwitz in two transports on May 31 and
June 5, 1944, respectively.
[Randolph Braham (2nd ed.)]
67
68
BAILYN, BERNARD (1922 ), U.S. historian. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Bailyn received a B.A. from Williams College in 1945 and his M.A. (1947) and Ph.D. (1953) degrees from
Harvard. Bailyn then joined the faculty of Harvard in 1953 and
became professor of history in 1961. He was editor-in-chief
of the John Harvard Library of American Cultural History
from 1962 until 1970. He also served as coeditor of the journal Perspectives in American History (196777, 198486) and
director of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History (198394).
Bailyn became Winthrop Professor of History in 1966, a
position he held until 1981, when he became the first Adams
University Professor. He was also named James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History, emeritus, at Harvard. He served as a senior fellow in the Society of Fellows
and as director of the International Seminar on the History of
the Atlantic World. In 1993 he received the Thomas Jefferson
Medal and in 1994 the Henry Allen Moe Prize of the American
Philosophical Society. In 1998 he was appointed the Jefferson
Lecturer by the National Endowment for the Humanities and
he delivered the first Millennium Lecture at the White House.
In 2000 he was awarded the Bruce Catton Prize of the Society
of American Historians for lifetime achievement in the writing of history, and in 2001 he received the Centennial Medal
of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He also
received two Pulitzer Prizes in history (1968 and 1987).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
baja
Among his many publications, Bailyn wrote The New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century (1955); Massachusetts Shipping, 16971714 (with Lotte Bailyn, 1959); Education
in the Forming of American Society (1960); The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967), for which he received
the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes in 1968; The Origins of American Politics (1968); The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (1974),
awarded the National Book Award in History in 1975; The Peopling of British North America: An Introduction (1986); Voyagers
to the West (1986), which won the Pulitzer Prize in history and
other awards; Faces of Revolution (1990); On the Teaching and
Writing of History (1994); and To Begin the World Anew: The
Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders (2003).
Specializing in American colonial and revolutionary history, Bailyn is known for meticulous research and for interpretations that sometimes challenge conventional wisdom, especially with regard to the causes and effects of the American
Revolution. Bailyn taught his students that history is primarily about change and movement, and that however hard one
has to work to understand what the past was like, the deeper
challenge is to explain how one part of the past gave way to
another. And because change can only be described through
narrative, historians must be sensitive to all the matters of exposition that make narrative effective, which always involves
understanding that expository decisions are as essential to historians as their mastery of sources and all the other technical
skills on which historical scholarship depends.
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
69
bak
70
BAK (also Pak), a family of Jewish printers of Ashkenazi origin, who lived first in Venice and later in Prague. According
to Zunz, the name represents the initials of Benei Kedoshim
(Children of the Martyrs).
GERSON, the progenitor of the family, lived in Italy in the
early 16t century, where his son JACOB followed the printing
trade. Jacob printed the Midrash Tanh uma in Verona (1595)
and in Venice Tanna de-Vei Eliyahu (1598), and Tiferet Yisrael
by *Judah Loew (the Maharal) of Prague in 1599. Apparently
his connections with the latter brought him to Prague. From
1605 until his death in 1618 he printed numerous Hebrew and
Judeo-German books. He was succeeded by his sons JOSEPH
and JUDAH, who in 1623 set up a new printing house called
Jacob Baks Sons. Their output was considerable, despite the
temporary slowing down during the Thirty Years War and
the persecutions of 1648/49 and 1656. In about 1660 Joseph
left the printing business, and Judah carried on alone. A libel action brought against the press led to its closing down in
1669. Judah died in 1671, and two years later his sons, JACOB
(16301688) and JOSEPH (d. 1696), were authorized to resume printing books, as Judah Baks sons, but a special permit was required for each book. In 1680 Joseph completed a
mah zor at nearby Weckelsdorf the only Hebrew work ever
printed there. Between 1680 and 1683 Joseph apparently continued alone in Prague, while Jacob worked under the name
Judah Baks Sons (168288). Joseph was joined by Jacobs
son MOSES (d. 1712), in 1686. From 1697 Moses ran the firm
with his cousin, Josephs son (later The Bak Press). Moses
son JUDAH (d. 1767/68), who was a compositor, managed
the press from 1735 to 1756. In 1757 Judahs brother YOM TOV
LIPMANN joined as his partner, and the firm became Moses
Baks Sons. The firm later became The Bak and Katz Press
(178489), and afterwards passed into other hands entirely.
The Bak family members were pioneers in the field of Jewish printing, while also making an important contribution to
the Jewish community of the time. Israel *Bak, the printer of
Safed and Jerusalem, does not seem to have any connection
with this Bak family.
Bibliography: Zunz, Gesch, 2646, 282303; S. Hock,
Mishpeh ot K.K. Prag (1892), 4648; H.D. Friedberg, Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Arim she-be-Eiropah ha-Tikhonah (1937), 1926; A.
Tauber, Meh karim Bibliografiyyim (1932), 914; A. Yaari, Ha-Defus
ha-Ivri be-Arz ot ha-Mizrah (1937), 1415.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
bak, samuel
The fragile balance between ruin and repair remained a central theme of his efforts to create for modern consciousness
challenging visual images of our contemporary world.
Bibliography: A. Kaufman and P.T. Nagano, Samuel Bak:
Paintings of the Last Decade (1974); R. Kallenbach, Samuel Bak: Monuments to Our Dreams (1977); S. Bak and P.T. Nagano, Samuel Bak:
The Past Continues (1988); J.L. Kornuz, Chess as Metaphor in the
Art of Samuel Bak (1991); S. Bak, Ewiges Licht (Landsberg: A Memoir 19441948) (1996); L.L. Langer, Landscapes of Jewish Experience
71
bakan, david
BAKER, EDWARD MAX (18751957), U.S. investment broker and communal leader. Baker was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. His maternal grandfather was Rabbi David *Einhorn,
and his uncles were Rabbis Emil G. *Hirsch and Kaufmann
*Kohler, leaders of Reform Judaism. In 1901 Baker entered the
brokerage business in Cleveland. He became resident manager of a national brokerage firm in 1911 and served as president of the Cleveland Stock Exchange for 14 years. Baker was
a founder of the Cleveland Federation of Jewish Charities
(1903), serving as its president (192327) and as a trustee for
more than five decades. He was also a member of the national
board of the American Jewish Committee and of other major
Jewish institutions. Equally active in Cleveland civic affairs,
Baker served as chairman of the Republican County Committee (190708). He was a founder of the Cleveland Legal Aid
Society; a founder and president of the Cleveland City Club,
a community forum; and member of the first Board of Trustees of the Associated Charities of Cleveland.
[Judah Rubinstein]
72
bakshi, ralph
Musical Tradition
Under the influence of the *Zohar and 16t-century kabbalists
of Safed, the custom developed of rising at midnight to chant
hymns from the Psalms, refrains, and bakkashot until dawn.
The concomitant for piyyutim stimulated the creativity of talented poets steeped in mystical doctrine. Although the singing
of bakkashot is traditional in many communities, it evolved
into an organized form of semi-religious activity particularly
in Syria (Aleppo and Damascus) and Morocco. The first of the
great poets whose hymns were introduced in the Syrian and
Moroccan bakkashot was Rabbi Israel *Najara. The melodies
set to the appropriate hymns are extremely varied and include
sophisticated and popular idioms, the latest innovations, and
traditional tunes, which have disappeared from contemporary
cultures. The musical factor is prominent and often tends to
overshadow the basically religious purpose of the meeting.
The singing of bakkashot may thus be considered as half religious concert and half prayer meeting, attended equally for
religious, aesthetic, and social reasons.
The Aleppo bakkashot consist of certain fixed piyyut im
and optional ones, which are selected for the occasion according to circumstances and the character of the audience. Each
bakkashah is performed antiphonally by two groups. Between
one bakkashah and the next, a soloist or smaller group takes
turns in singing the so-called petih ah (opening), which may
be a psalm or a verse which derives from the preceding piyyut or from the classical Hebrew poetry. Their melodies are
improvised, highly melismatic, and constructed so as to establish a modulation from the *maqm (melodic pattern) of
the preceding to that of the following song. The concluding
bakkashah, Yedid Nefesh, is sung in the maqm of the current
Sabbath. In the Moroccan bakkashot, the repertoire is standardized, it is grouped into several series of different piyyutim except for three or four recurring ones for each series,
which also has its own dominant musical mode (nb). The
general structure of each set is conceived in relation to the
form of the Andalusian nba of Moroccan art music, which
is a kind of vocal and instrumental suite. Since instruments are
not permitted, the singers add their own vocal imitations of
instrumental passages. The Moroccan bakkashot, however, are
also sung at celebrations outside the synagogue, and then the
appropriate instruments are used. The piyyutim in the Moroccan bakkashot were collected into anthologies. One, entitled
shir yedidot, which contains 550 piyyutim and was published
in Marrakesh in 1921, is still used today.
After the establishment of an important community of
Aleppo Jews in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20t century,
Aleppo bakkashot became a model for other Middle Eastern
communities, but were themselves much modified by the parENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
ticipation of non-Aleppo singers. The result was the generalized bakkashot style now common to several ethnic groups.
The Syrian community in Brooklyn, New York, also perpetuates the Syrian tradition.
See also *Aleppo, Musical Tradition and *Africa, North:
Musical Traditions
[Amnon Shiloah]
Bibliography: Oz ar ha-Tefillot (Ashkenazi rite, 1923), 5663;
Idelsohn, Liturgy, 157; Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 74, 229, 324; I. Davidson
et al. (eds.), Siddur Saadiah Gaon (1941), 4781; R. Katz, in: Acta Musicologica, 40 (1968), 6585 (Eng.). Add. Bibliography: P. Fenton,
in: REJ, 134 (1975), 10121; A. Shiloah, in: M. Abitbol (ed.), Judasme
dAfrique du Nord (1980), 10813; E. Seroussi, in: Peamim 19 (1984),
12029; K. Kaufman-Shelemay, Let Jasmin Rain Down Song and
Remembrance among Syrian Jews (1998).
73
bakshi-doron, eliahu
ground comic strip Fritz the Cat in 1972. The X-rated feline
who uttered profanities onscreen stirred controversy. There
was talk about if I were a pornographer or not, Bakshi said.
What I did was anti everything animation was about. Animated characters, he felt, could elicit more powerful emotions
than flesh-and-blood actors. His next feature, Heavy Traffic,
was even more outrageous than Fritz, which went on to gross
more than $90 million worldwide, creating a previously unknown market, adult animation. Traffic was a nihilistic, highly
scatological tale of a young New York artists drawing board
fantasies. It featured several Jewish characters. In 1975 Bakshi
released Coonskin, a savage attack on Hollywood racial stereotypes. It was one of the first animated features to depict black
characters (drug dealers). Civil rights organizations boycotted
the film to protest its unflattering portrayal of blacks.
After three urban animated dramas, Bakshi turned to fantasy in 1977 with Wizards, about the creation of the State of
Israel and the Holocaust, about the Jews looking for a homeland,
and about the fact that fascism was on the rise again, he said.
Bakshi withdrew from animated films but returned in 1981 with
American Pop, a social history about four generations of JewishAmerican immigrants. He devoted the next decade to painting
but returned to animation with the 1992 film Cool World.
[Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)]
74
baky, lszl
ish question. For him the solution was to grant full civil rights
to the Jews in Russia and improve their material and moral
condition. Bakst became a highly esteemed public figure in
Russian Jewry; he was one of the initiators of *ORT and active in its management. He served as an expert on the Pahlen
Commission (188388), set up to examine the laws regulating
Jewish life. This prompted Bakst to publish a series of articles
on different aspects of Jewish life and thought in Jewish and
non-Jewish journals.
Bibliography: S.A. Wengeroff, Kritiko-biograficheskiy slovar, 3 (1892), 7375; Galpern, in: Voskhod, 24 no. 27 (1904), 58; YE,
4 (c. 1910), 698701.
BAKY, LSZL (18981946), Hungarian antisemitic politician. Baky was a leading member first of the Hungarian
National Socialist Party and later of *Szlasis *Arrow-Cross
Party, which he left temporarily in 1941. In March 1944 he became undersecretary of state in the Ministry of the Interior,
in charge of Jewish affairs. He presided at the secret meeting
of April 4, 1944, where the arrangement for the deportations
of Jews was drawn up, and was one of those who directed the
setting-up of ghettos and the deportations. On June 2930,
1944, Baky attempted an unsuccessful fascist coup against
75
balaam
Horthy. Nevertheless, he retained his position until September 5. Later he was one of the founders of a group of right-wing
deputies who sought to give a legal framework to the Szlasi
regime. Baky was sentenced to death by a Budapest Peoples
Court and executed in 1946.
Bibliography: J. Lvai, Black Book on the Martyrdom of
Hungarian Jewry (1948), passim; A. Geyer, A magyarorszgi fasizmus
zsidldzsnek bibliogrfija, 19451958 (1958), index.
[Bela Adalbert Vago]
76
balaam
there are indications that Balaam was perceived as a Transjordanian, or son of an inland nation. It is noteworthy that
both the Vulgate and the Samaritan versions read in Num 22:5
eres ben Amm[n] to the land of the Ammonites. in place of
Hebrew ben > amm, the land of his people.The attribution
to a seer named Balaam of the inscriptions found at Deir Alla
which were, given their language and exposition, composed
in the immediate area, would further endorse his identity as
a figure who came from a neighboring, inland country. It is
best, therefore, to allow for alternative traditions regarding
Balaams place of origin (Levine, 2000, 14548).
The Structure and Contents of the Balaam Pericope
The Balaam Pericope consists of prose narratives that serve
as a rubric for the poems of the pericope and poetic compositions.
(A) THE POETIC REPERTOIRE. There are four major orations, followed by a series of three, brief prophecies. Each
oration is introduced as a mashal balanced verse. Only the
third and fourth orations explicitly identify Balaam as the
speaker, though the first and second refer to Balak by name,
making it virtually certain that Balak is the speaker. In the
first oration (Num. 23:710), the speaker relates that he was
called from Aram by Balak to pronounce curses over Israel,
but was powerless to do so because Israel had been blessed
by El/YHWH. Overlooking the Israelite encampment from the
heights, Balaam was awed by its vast expanse, impressed that
the Israelites needed no allies, and were capable of achieving
victory on their own. He would willingly share the fate of such
heroes! In the second (Num. 23:1824), the speaker addresses
Balak directly, insisting that El will not renege on his promise
to bless Israel, and consequently his own mission could not be
countermanded. YHWH would not countenance any misfortune overtaking Israel, a people strong as a lion and protected
by a powerful deity who directly informs them of the future,
thereby rendering divination unnecessary. In the third oration (Num. 24:39), entitled The speech (Hebrew neum) of
Balaam. Beors son, the speakers professional gifts are enumerated. He is one who hears Els utterances, and who beholds the vision of Shadday (the fourth oration adds: who
is privy to Elyons knowledge). Balaam describes the beauty
of the Israelite encampment in words that have become part
of Jewish liturgy: How lovely are your tents, oh Jacob/ your
dwellings, oh Israel. Alluding to Saul, king of Israel, he predicts that Israel will prevail over the Amalekite king, Agag
(I Sam. 15). In the fourth oration (Num. 24:1519), similarly
entitled, Balaam alludes to Davids conquests of Moab and
Edom.(II Sam. 8:2, 1214), characterizing that king dramatically as a shooting star, as a meteor. In the three brief orations that follow (Num. 24:2023) Balaam assumes the role
of a prophet to the nations and predicts the ultimate downfall of the Amalekites and Kenites, and possibly of Assyrians,
west of the Euphrates.
Viewing the Balaam orations in their entirety, it is clear
that the agenda changes after the second poem. Having proENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
claimed Israels victorious destiny on the way to the Promised Land, Balaam proceeds in the third and fourth orations
to predict Israelite victories over the Canaanite peoples and
over hostile neighboring peoples in the interior. This purview
is expanded in the brief prophecies to the nations. It is also the
case that after the second oration Balaam ceases to justify his
refusal to carry out Balaks wishes, and, invoking his preeminent status as a seer, predicts without apology dramatic Israelite victories, including the subjugation of Moab itself.
The poetic sections employ several designations of divinity, in addition to YHWH and elhm, namely, Shadday,
Elyon, and most frequently, El. It has been customary to interpret these names as epithets of YHWH. Although originally
the names of discrete deities, they had, so the argument goes,
been synthesized with YHWH, thereby becoming merely another way of referring to the God of Israel. On this basis, we
would translate Numberss 23:7 as follows: How can I curse
whom the deity has not condemned? How can I doom whom
YHWH has not doomed?
Though the El-YHWH synthesis (Eissfeldt, 1956) is indeed evident in biblical literature, it remains to be determined
whether it is expressed in the Balaam orations, or in other poems that may hark back to a stage in the development of Israelite religion when the worship of the Syro-Cannanite deity,
El, was regarded as acceptable. It is in this spirit, after all, that
the worship of El, sometimes registered as El Shadday, is imputed to the Patriarchs (Gen. 28:3, 31:13, 35:11, 46:3), an attribution explained in so many words in Exodus 6:23. This
is the view most recently adopted by Levine (2000, 21734),
who sees evidence of an El archive in biblical literature, parts
of which were redacted so as to conform to the El-YHWH
synthesis. In Levines view, some of the El poems, most notably the Balaam orations, themselves were retained in their
unredacted form, so that their references to El, in particular,
should be understood as designations of the Syro-Canaanite
deity by that name, not as epithets of the God of Israel. As will
be observed, it is likewise El who presides over the gods in the
Balaam inscriptions from Deir Alla. Read in this manner, the
biblical Balaam orations present a distinctive view of Israelite
religion: YHWH is acknowledged as Israels national God, their
divine King, who is present in their midst to assure them victory. At the same time, it is powerful El who liberated Israel
from Egypt, and who has blessed Israel irreversibly, keeping
faith with them. This earlier religious outlook would be precisely what Exodus 6:23 was aimed at disavowing.
This understanding of the religious predicates of the
Balaam orations, and of the posture of Balaam, explains why
there is no battle projected between YHWH and the gods of
Moab, and why Balaam is powerless to curse Israel. It is not
only YHWH who is providential over Israel, but El, Shadday,
and Elyon, as well. It is as if to say that Moabs own gods, members of the traditional West-Semitic pantheon, were arrayed
against them. Most scholars, however, view the Balaam orations as expressing the El-YHWH synthesis, in essence proclaiming YHWHs exclusive providence over Israel, as well as
77
balaam
his dominance over pagan seers like Balaam. In this perspective, the poetic orations are understood to express the same
religious outlook as do the prose sections of the Balaam Pericope.
Just as the divine appellations in the Balaam orations
are unusual, so are the designations of the Israelite collective. With only one exception (Num. 24:1819), the consistent
classification is (a) Jacob, (b) Israel, expressed in parallelism
(Num. 23:7, 10, 21, 23, 24:5, 17). This nomenclature recalls the
change of Jacobs name from Yacaqb to Yisrael after his combat with the angel, which, appropriately, occurred at Penuel,
in the Valley of Sukkoth (Gen. 32), where the Deir Alla inscriptions were found!
There has been considerable progress in the exegesis of
the Balaam orations, which because of their relative antiquity
and the dialectal features they manifest have resisted interpretation. They employ rare, even unique forms that afford
little basis for comparison. W.F. Albright (1944) achieved a
breakthrough by reducing the Masoretic text to its consonantal base, and reading the poems as West-Semitic epigraphy. Sh. Morag (1981) sought to shed light on unrecognized
meanings through linguistic analysis. More recent attempts
are presented in commentaries on the Book of Numbers by
Milgrom (1990) and Levine (2000).
(B) THE PROSE NARRATIVES. The prose sections pursue
a sequential narrative, except for the tale of the ass (Num.
22:2235), which derives from a separate source. It was undoubtedly inserted as a satire, poking fun at Balaams reputed
clairvoyance as a seer. In a mode familiar to us from Aesops
fables, and from ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature, as
well, it depicts Balaam as being blind to what even the ass he
was riding was able to see! Its theme is that the God of Israel
initially objected to Balaams willingness to accompany Balaks
messengers to Moab, and sent an angel to block his path. The
ass made several attempts to avert the angel, and each time
Balaam struck her, until God gave speech to the ass, so that
she could explain to Balaam what was going on. Ultimately,
God opens Balaams eyes, as well, and he submits to Gods will,
offering to return home. Balaam is then told by the angel that
he is permitted to accompany Balaks emissaries on condition
that he speak only what YHWH communicates to him.
The Tale of the Ass is preceded in Numbers 22:221 by a
narrative of Balaks invitation to Balaam to pronounce curses
over Israel on his behalf. Balaam at first refuses, insisting that
he is under the authority of Israels God. However, God appears to him at night and authorizes him to accompany the
men, but to speak only what he is told. The intervening tale effectively brings us back to this point, in Numbers 22; 35. In the
ensuing narrative (Num. 22:3623:6), we read that Balaam arrives in Moab and is welcomed by Balak, who offers him great
rewards. After a feast prepared by Balak, Balaam proceeds to
the mountain-top of Bamoth-Baal, where he is afforded a view
of part of the Israelite encampment. There he pronounces his
first blessings of Israel (Num. 23:710). When the prose narra-
78
balaam
YHWH, and possibly in search of omens, as well. In this connection, one notes that visual access is a factor in Balaams
praxis. In the preparations for what Balak hoped would be
effective curses, sites were sought out that afforded a partial,
or complete, view of the Israelite encampment, which was the
target of the curses.
There are two additional points to be made about
Balaams performance. First, as is true of ritual experts, polytheistic and monotheistic, Balaam acted under divine authority. Balaam could only do what he was authorized to do by
the divine power, or powers, that controlled him. It was only
after the gods signaled their approval that diviners and exorcists and other ritual experts could undertake the prescribed
operations. Secondly, both the poems and the prose narratives portray Balaam in personal terms. In the poems, he is
said to be awed by the strength and heroism of the Israelites,
and by a realization, based on his own observation, that this
people had been blessed and protected, and was not marked
for misfortune. In the prose narratives and in the Tale of the
Ass, Balaam is depicted as one given to anger and frustration,
who is not tempted by wealth, and, above all, who is honest
in accepting the limitations of his own powers. Balaam is also
reactive; his acceptance of subservience to the God of Israel
increases as his encounters with YHWH progress, until he becomes more than willing to bless Israel. Thus, the fourth, and
final oration was not requested by Balak, but offered to him
voluntarily, as were the three, brief prophecies.
The Deir Alla texts shed further light on the performance
of Balaam. We read more about his divinatory crafts, most
notably his ability to interpret celestial omens, and of his admonitions directed at malevolent divine powersAlthough the
atmosphere of the Deir Alla inscriptions is polytheistic, and
affords more attention to specific ritual practices, the difference between the Deir Alla inscriptions and the biblical pericope is more a matter of degree than of kind, especially if we
accept the interpretation that in the biblical Balaam orations,
El, Elyon, and Shadday are proper names of West Semitic gods
and not merely epithets of YHWH and elohim.
The Sitz-im-Leben of the Balaam Pericope
According to the internal, Biblical chronology, the encounters related in the Balaam Pericope would have occurred during the late 13t century B.C.E., or thereabouts, but we must
be careful not to confuse temporal setting with time of composition. There are problems in attempting to assign both
the poetic and narrative sections of the Balaam Pericope to
the usual documentary sources, J and E, as pointed out most
clearly by A. Rofe (1981). It would be preferable to seek clues
in the poems themselves as to their time and place of composition. As for the Balaam narratives, it is safe to say that they
postdate the poems.
The Deir Alla inscriptions help us to fix the context of
the Balaam poems in more than one respect. For one thing,
they raise the possibility that the biblical Balaam poems were
also composed in Gilead, in central Transjordan, where an
79
balaam
In the Aggadah
Some rabbis inflated the importance of Balaam. They saw in
him one of The seven prophets who prophesied to the peoples of the world (BB 15b; God raised up Moses for Israel and
Balaam for the peoples of the world Num. R., 20:1; Tanh .,
Balak, 1), and believed that in many respects he was greater
than Moses: No prophet like Moses had risen in Israel, but
such a one has risen among the peoples of the world. Who is
he? Balaam the son of Beor. But there is a difference between
the prophecy of Moses and that of Balaam. Moses did not
know who spoke with him but Balaam knew. Moses did not
know when [God] would speak with him till he was addressed
by Him, whereas Balaam knew. Moses did not speak with
Him till he had stood up whereas Balaam spoke with Him
as he was falling (Sif. Deut. end). They explained Balaams
power to curse by the fact that he could ascertain the exact
hour of Gods anger (Av. Zar. 4ab; Sanh. 105b). Others, however, identified him with Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite
(Job 32:2) for Barachel means God has blessed; the epithet
Buzite is derived from buz (contempt), hence it teaches
80
In Islam
Balaam is not mentioned by name in the Koran, and it is not
even clear that he is intended by the inference in Sura 7 (lines
1745), as read by several interpreters of the Koran, historians, and authors of Legends of the Prophets (Qis as al-Anbiy).
The verses read: Relate to them of him to whom we gave our
signs, and who turned away from them; and Satan followed
him, and he was of those who were led astray. But had it been
our will, we would have exalted him through our signs, but
he clung unto the earth, and followed his desire. He is like the
dog who puts forth his tongue whether you chase him away or
let him alone. That is the parable of the people who deny our
signs. Tell them this history, that they may consider it.
It is the general opinion that the inference is to Balaam
who acquiesced to the request of Balak, king of Moab (Num.
2224), as related in the Bible and Jewish legend, and who was
responsible for the going astray of the children of Israel with
the daughters of Moab (ibid. 25). However, some interpret
Muhammads words as referring to *Umayya ibn Ab al-Salt,
Muhammads contemporary and competitor as a prophet who
was sent to the Arabs. Others maintain that the inference is
to Luqmn, an Eastern sage, to whom Muhammad dedicated
Sura 31. Nevertheless, B. Heller presents a number of convincing arguments against this identification.
[Ham Zew Hirschberg]
In the Arts
Balaam is regarded with general disfavor in Hebrew literature, and it was exclusively in Christian literature that he was
accorded any importance mainly because he was alleged to
have predicted the advent of Jesus (Num. 24:17). By the Middle Ages, however, Balaam had become a figure of fun, and it
is in this spirit that he is portrayed in such medieval miracle
plays as the Ordo Prophetarum, the Chester and Stonyhurst
cycles, and the Mistre du Viel Testament. Such treatment destroyed Balaams literary standing, although the 16t-century
French Christian kabbalist Guillaume Postel resurrected the
prophet of the Gentiles in some of his patriotic visionary
works. One rare later treatment is the dramatic poem Balaam
(1787) by C. Davy.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
balaban, meir
Among artists, portrayal of the subject was largely influenced by Christian theological interpretation of Balaams
prophecy, that a star rises from Jacob, which was seen as a
prefiguration of the star of Bethlehem that according to the
Gospels appeared to the Magi. Balaam is represented as a
bearded figure wearing an antique tunic and mantle and a
Phrygian cap or Oriental turban. Such early representations
are found in third and fourth century catacombs. The figure of
Balaam is sometimes placed next to the Madonna and Child
and often appears on sarcophagi. In Byzantine art, Balaam is
depicted as one of the foretellers of Jesus in a fresco on Mount
Athos. There are similar treatments in the West, such as the
12t-century Tree of Jesse window at Chartres and the 14tcentury ceiling of St. Michaels at Hildesheim. Balaam appears
with his ass in a late 12t-century bronze door at Monreale and
a 14t-century facade at Orvieto. There are other representations in illuminated manuscripts and incunabula, such as
the Luebeck Bible (1494). Artists who painted the subject include Taddeo Zuccari (152966), Luca Giordano (16321705),
and Rembrandt. There are also cycles covering Balaks command, his sacrifice, and Balaam and Balak on Mount Peor; a
notable example of this is the illuminated Bible of San Paolo
Fuori le Mura (c. 850). Others occur in later baroque Bible
illustrations.
Bibliography: W.F. Albright, in: JBL, 63 (1944), 20733;
idem, in: EJ 4:11923; J. Baskin, Pharaohs Counselors (1983); A. Caquot
and A. Lmaire, in: Syria, 54 (1977), 189208; O. Eissfeldt, in: JSS, 1
(1956), 2537; HALAT, 130; J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, Aramaic
Texts from Deir Alla (1976); idem (eds.), The Balaam Text from Deir
Alla Reevaluated (1991); B.A. Levine, Numbers 2136 (AB; 2000); J.
Milgrom, Numbers JPS Torah Commentary (1990); M. Moore, The
Balaam Traditions (1991); Sh. Morag, in: Tarbiz, 50 (1981), 124; A.
Rofe, The Book of Balaam (Heb., 1981); H. Rouillard, La Pricope de
Balaam (1985); M. Weippert, in: Hoftijzer and van der Kooij, Balaam,
15184. IN ISLAM: T abar, Tafsr, 9 (1337 H), 8384; Nsbr, ibid.,
76ff.; Tabar, Tarikh, 1 (1357 H), 308, 310; Thalab, Qis as (1356 H),
139202; I. Eisenberg (ed.), Kis, Qis as (1922), 2279; A. Geiger, Was
hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenomanen? (1833), 1767;
Heller, Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, S.V. Luqmn; Vajda, in: EIS2.
BALABAN, BARNEY (18871971), U.S. motion picture executive. Balaban was born in Chicago and worked at the age of
12 as a messenger for Western Union. In 1908, along with partner Sam Katz, he formed a company that developed a chain
of deluxe movie and stage-show theater palaces. In 1917 they
built what historians consider the citys first movie palace, the
Central Park on West Roosevelt Road. Referred to as a dream
theater, it had a seating capacity of 2,200. It was here that they
began working out the service system which soon spread to
all quarters of the theater world. They outfitted their ushers in
military-style uniforms, had them salute the theater patrons,
and trained them to give quick, intelligent service.
At its peak, their cinema chain included 125 theaters in
Chicago and the Midwest, such as the Riviera, the Tivoli, the
Chicago, the Uptown, the McVickers, the Roosevelt, and the
Norshore. The company introduced raked floors, comfortable
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
seats, balconies, and air-conditioning. To keep patrons entertained, Balaban and Katz supplemented the theaters first-run
motion pictures with lavish stage shows, a policy that would
become standard at Chicago movie palaces during the 1920s.
In 1926 they opened the Palace Theatre. Modeled after Versailles, the Palace had rose-marbled walls, crystal chandeliers,
gold plaster ornamentation, and immense mirrors. That year
they also opened the Oriental Theatre in Chicagos Loop area.
A virtual museum of Asian art, the ornate three-level theater had a large domed ceiling graced by seahorses and goddesses. Turbaned ushers led patrons from the lobby with
polychrome figures and large mosaics of an Indian prince
and princess through an inner foyer with elephant-throne
chairs and multicolored glazed Buddhas, to the auditoriums
hashish-dream dcor.
In 1928 Balaban and Katz opened the Paradise on Chicagos West Side. Throughout their career the partners had been
haunted by sentimental memories of the West Side, where they
were born and raised and had first overcome poverty. Wanting to give their home turf the finest theater of all, they built
the Paradise in the center of the citys population. Larger than
any other theater outside of New York City, more daring and
original in its architecture than any theater in the world at that
time, their opulent 3,600-seat French Renaissance-style Paradise embodied the farthest reaches of their imagination.
Ultimately, Paramount Pictures bought a two-thirds interest in their cinema chain, and in 1936 Balaban was elected
president of Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. Under his
guidance, Paramount invested in television and pioneered the
wide screen. Balaban was active in Jewish affairs.
Over the decades, many of the movie palaces fell into disrepair. The Paradise, for example, billed as the worlds most
beautiful theater, was demolished in 1965. With the advent
of talking pictures, fatal flaws in the acoustics and design of
the building were exposed, so Balaban and Katz decided to
demolish the theater and sell the land to a supermarket chain.
Built to last forever, it took two years to tear it down.
In 1996 Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced that
the Oriental would be restored to its original grandeur for the
presentation of live stage musicals. Renamed the Ford Center
for the Performing Arts in 1997, the theater opened its doors
to the public in 1998. Similarly, the Palace was purchased by
General Motors and, renamed the Cadillac Palace Theater,
opened in 1999 to present live stage productions.
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
81
balabanoff, angelica
82
his first prizewinning publication in this field appeared in Polish in 1903. The first part of his own bibliography for the years
190030 appeared in 1939. When the Nazis overran Poland,
Balaban refused to flee. He died in Warsaw in November 1942
before the liquidation of the ghetto and was thus vouchsafed
burial in the Jewish cemetery.
Bibliography: N.M. Gelber, in: Gazit, 5 nos. 910 (1943),
710; R. Mahler, in: Yidishe Kultur, nos. 89 (1943), 5659; H. Zeidman, in: S.K. Mirsky (ed.), Ishim u-Demuyyot be-H okhmat Yisrael
(1959), 22374, includes bibliography. Add. Bibliography: I. Biderman, M. Balaban Historian of Polish Jewry (1976).
[Raphael Mahler]
BALABANOFF, ANGELICA (18781965), European socialist and political activist. Balabanoff was born in Chernigov,
near Kiev in the Ukraine, to a wealthy Jewish family. The
daughter of a landowner and businessman, she was the youngest of 16 children, several of whom had died before her birth.
Like most girls of her class and time, she was educated privately at home. At age 19 she left Chernigov to study at the
Universit Novelle in Brussels, Belgium, an institution noted
for its radicalism. In her autobiography, My Life as a Rebel,
Balabanoff asserted that a guilty awareness of her privileged
background and a poor relationship with her mother, whom
she considered dictatorial, motivated her to pursue goals of
social justice. After receiving a doctorate in the philosophy
of literature in Brussels, she began a wandering life of commitment to socialism which involved significant contact with
prominent personalities and great historical events. In Brussels
she came under the influence of George Plekhanov, a founder
of the first Communist Party in Russia. Her acquaintances
and comrades included Alexander *Berkman, Emma *Goldman, V.I. Lenin, Rosa *Luxemburg, Benito Mussolini, Leon
*Trotsky, and Clara Zetkin. As an organizer and agitator, Balabanoff rejected feminism as a bourgeois philosophy. She was
fluent in many languages, a firebrand speaker, and a talented
journalist and editor. Balabanoff developed a close and lasting
relationship with the Italian Socialist movement early in her
political career. She also had a leadership role in the Swissbased Zimmerwald Group, which attacked imperialism and
demanded immediate peace. During and after World War I,
Balabanoff became more sympathetic to the left wing of Socialism. After the Bolsheviks came to power, she returned to
Russia, where she was appointed secretary of the Communist International. A year later, ousted from that position, she
left Russia disillusioned, assailing the government and the
movement it represented as corrupt and authoritarian. In response, the Bolsheviks attempted to malign her reputation.
Balabanoff spent the interwar years in Paris and Vienna. During World War II, she found refuge in New York City where
she became a friend of American socialist Norman Thomas
and contributed occasionally to the Socialist Review Journal. Balanbanoff also spoke out against Italian Fascism. She
settled in Rome after the war and was active in the Italian
Socialist movement. Balabanoff was the author of ImpresENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
balanjar
sions of Lenin (1934); My Life as a Rebel (1938); and The Traitor: Benito Mussolini and the Conquest of Power (19423);
she also wrote poetry in English, French, German, Italian,
and Russian.
Bibliography: R. Florence, Marxs Daughters: Eleanor Marx,
Rosa Luxemburg, Angelica Balabanoff (1975; Obituary, New York Times
(Nov. 26, 1965); E. Wilson, The Poetry of Angelica Balabanoff, in:
The Nation (Nov. 27, 1943).
[Libby White (2nd ed.)]
BALANJAR, town of the *Khazars located between *Bb alAbwb and *Samandar in the north Caucasus region. It was
formerly identified by Artamonov (see bibliography) with the
ruins of Endere near Andreyeva, or as the site of present-day
Buinaksk, but is now placed by him south of Makhachkala,
where the remains of a town have been found (communication
of November 1964). Balanjar is mentioned in Arabic sources
as existing in the seventh and eighth centuries. Originally the
name appears to have been an ethnic designation. A Pehlevi
source cited by the historian al-T abar (vol. I, 8956) states
that in the time of the Sassanid ruler Khusraw Anshirwn
(53179) a tribal group within the West Turkish empire was
called Balanjar. According to the historian al-Masd (alTanbh, 62), Balanjar was formerly the Khazar capital. It was
the principal objective of the Arabs after they reached the
Caucasus in 641 or 642. In 652 the Muslims attempted unsuccessfully to besiege Balanjar, then a fortified town, and were
heavily defeated nearby. In 723, during the second Arab-Kha-
83
balassagyarmat
BALASSAGYARMAT, city in Ngrd county, northern Hungary. Jews first settled in the town toward the end of the 17t
century. The poll of 1725 mentions only one Jewish family;
in 1746 there were 19 families, and by 1778, 47 families. The
number of Jews ranged from 529 in 1784 to 2,013 (17.4 of the
total) in 1930, reaching a peak in 1920 with 2,401 (21.1). According to the census of 1941, the town had 1,712 Jews, representing 13.9 of the total of 12,347. The Jewish community was organized in 1730, and its Chevra Kadisha in 1742.
The communitys first synagogue was destroyed in a fire in
1776; on its site a new synagogue was built in 1868. Among
the rabbis who served the community were Judah Leb Engel
(from 1730); Benjamin Zeev Wolf *Boskowitz; Mordecai and
Ezekiel *Banet; and successive members of the Deutsch family (Aaron David, Joseph Israel, and David) from 1851 to 1944.
The Jewish community, which was organized as Orthodox in
1868, was joined in 1885 by the smaller communities in the
neighboring villages, including those of Dejtr, rsekvadkert,
rhalom, Patak, and Szgy. During the interwar period, the
community supported a number of social and welfare institutions, and together with the Jewish community of nearby
Salgtarjn published a Hungarian-language paper called
Szombati rtesit (Sabbath News). Located near the border
with Slovakia, Balassagyarmat was a magnet for many Polish
and Slovakian Jewish refugees who escaped persecution in
their own countries.
After Hungary entered the war in June 1941, the Jews
were subjected to ever harsher measures. Jewish males of
military age were conscripted for labor service. The situation
of the Jews took a turn for the worse after the German occupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944. According to a census
conducted after the occupation, the Orthodox congregation
had 1,516 members, led by President Mihly Lzr and Rabbi
David Deutsch. The Jews were rounded up early in May 1944
under the direction of Mayor Bla Vannay. Balassagyarmat
served as a major concentration and entrainment center for
5,820 Jews rounded up in Ngrd county. These Jews were
concentrated in two ghettos: the approximately 2,000 local
Jews were concentrated in the so-called large ghetto, in and
around Kossuth Lajos, Thkly, and Hunyadi Streets; the Jews
brought in from the neighboring towns and villages in Ngrd
county were concentrated in the so-called little ghetto, located in vros Square. Among these were the Jews of Alspetny, Aptjfalu, Becske, Bercel, Cserhthalp, Disjen,
rsekvadkert, Galgaguta, Hugyag, Losonc, Noogrdmarcal,
rhalom, Szcsny, Szgy, and several other locations. The
Jewish Council was composed of Mihly Lzr (chairman),
Dezs Sndor, Pl Sndor, Ferenc Hajd, Imre Lvn, and
Jnos Weltner. Internally, the ghettos were guarded by a Jew-
84
balfour declaration
BALCON, SIR MICHAEL (18961977), British film producer. Born in Birmingham, he began filmmaking in 1920
and during the next 40 years was responsible for many outstanding British films which opened new avenues in realism
and humor. Among them were The Captive Heart, It Always
Rains on Sunday, Passport to Pimlico, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, Whisky Galore, The Cruel Sea,
Dunkirk, and The Long and the Short and the Tall. His book
Michael Balcon Presents A Lifetime of Films was published in
1969. He was knighted for his services to the industry in 1948.
Balcon was born and educated in Birmingham. He founded
Gainsborough Pictures Ltd. in 1928, was director of production for Gaumont-British, director and producer at Ealing
Studios, and chairman of British Lion Films.
Add. Bibliography: ODNB online; DBB, I, 11015.
BALFOUR DECLARATION, official statement which Arthur James *Balfour, the British foreign secretary, addressed to
Lionel Walter Rothschild (2nd Baron Rothschild) on November, 2, 1917. It conveyed a declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations. The British government viewed with
favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for
the Jewish people.
The Declaration was a deliberate act of the British cabinet
and part of its general foreign policy. It was a national policy
in the sense that it represented the views of the three British
political parties. It had acquired international status since the
principal Allies Russia, France, Italy, and the United States
had given it their prior approval. It was subsequently endorsed by the League of Nations and incorporated into the
*Mandate.
The Balfour Declaration recognized the collective right
of world Jewry to Palestine and the Jewish People became
an entity in the context of international law. Recognition of
Zionism was in line with the principle of self-determination
and with the struggle of small nationalities for freedom and
independence.
There were many hands, both Jewish and non-Jewish,
which shaped the policy which led to the Declaration, but
it was Chaim *Weizmann who emerged as the central figure
in the struggle. His scientific achievements early in the war
enabled him to render important services to the British government which brought him to the notice of David *Lloyd
George, minister of munitions. The latters personal admiration for Weizmann proved invaluable to the cause of Zionism
when Lloyd George was serving as prime minister. Weizmann
85
balfour declaration
had met Arthur James Balfour for the first time in Manchester, in 1905. British statesmen, public men, and officials listened readily to Weizmann because he was able to show that
he could influence Jewish opinion and that Zionism was advantageous to Britain.
C.P. Scott, the celebrated editor of the Manchester Guardian, was one of the leading public men whom Weizmann converted to Zionism. It was Scott who cemented Weizmanns relationship with Lloyd George and introduced him to Herbert
*Samuel, then president of the Local Government Board, at
that time the only Jewish member of the cabinet. Like Weizmann, Samuel realized that Turkeys entry into the war on November 5, 1914, opened up great possibilities. He went further
than Weizmann and envisaged that, with the probable disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, the foundation of a Jewish
state in Palestine could be laid. He confided his views first to
Sir Edward Grey, the foreign minister, and found him favorably disposed towards the idea. Lloyd George was also keen
to see the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine; his interest predated Greys.
However, several weeks later, Samuel concluded that,
since the number of Jews in Palestine did not exceed one-sixth
of the total population, the time was not ripe for the establishment of an independent and autonomous Jewish state. In
a memorandum circulated in January 1915 (and in a revised
version in March 1915), he advocated the annexation of Palestine to the British Empire, as only under British rule would
Jewish colonization prosper and immigration be encouraged,
so that in course of time when the Jews would become a majority they would be conceded such a degree of self-government as the conditions of that day may justify.
On February 5, 1915, when Samuel met Grey again, he
found him still anxious to promote Jewish settlement in Palestine but very doubtful of the possibility or desirability of the
establishment of a British Protectorate. Neither Samuel nor
Weizmann gave sufficient weight to the fact that Britain was
disinclined to undertake new imperial responsibilities and that
the wishes of the French in that region were to be respected.
The inter-departmental committee, better known as the De
Bunsen Committee, appointed in April 1915, recommended
that maintenance of an independent Ottoman Empire, but
with a decentralized system of administration, would serve
British interests best. With regard to Palestine the committee
suggested that it should be neutralized and placed under an
international regime. This concept ran counter to Samuels and
Weizmanns wishes. It was not until early in 1917 that their doctrine began to appear relevant to British strategic interests. But
during 191516 it was still condemned to the sidelines. Weizmann and Nahum *Sokolow, a member of the World Zionist
Executive who arrived in England in December 1914, pursued
their activity in a low key, and it was only in 1916 that a collection of essays, edited by Harry *Sacher, entitled Zionism and
the Jewish Future, was published with the intention of enlightening public opinion on the essence of Zionism.
If the British governments interest in Zionism persisted,
86
balfour declaration
with the Arab population and lay the foundation for Jewish
self-government. Neither McMahon nor Grey, nor any other
member of the Foreign Office, saw any inconsistency between
this scheme and the British promise made to Sharif Hussein
of Mecca at that time to recognize Arab independence. It was
understood that, like Lebanon, Palestine was excluded from
the deal.
Against all expectations, Sazonow, the Russian foreign
minister, approved of Greys aide-mmoire but Briand, the
French premier and foreign minister, gave it its coup de grce.
The British gave the French arguments little credence but did
not want to irritate their ally at a time when mutual trust was
of supreme importance. The idea of a joint declaration was
shelved but the need for it did not decrease, especially since
German propaganda in the United States was gaining the upper hand. The situation was all the more critical since growing estrangement from England stood in a direct ratio to her
increasing financial dependence on the United States. At this
juncture, Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the British ambassador to
Washington, remarked: The Zionist movement is growing
in importance and we can well sympathize with it. Perhaps
here would be a basis of common action.
With Lloyd Georges accession to the premiership in December 1916, British policy in the Middle East altered radically. One of his primary objectives was the acquisition of Palestine. He had advocated its annexation since the outbreak of
the war, and to him British and Jewish Palestine were almost
synonymous. He had a long-standing interest in Zionism and
Samuels memorandum made a strong appeal to him. It also
fitted in well with his strategic and political concepts. He had
had no hand in making the *Sykes-Picot Agreement, which
he regarded as an inconvenient legacy. The longer the war
lasted, the stronger became his determination that Palestine,
if recaptured, must be one and indivisible.
However, the broader aim of Lloyd Georges policy was
to forestall the possibility of Turco-German predominance in
Palestine. Herein lay the raison dtre of the alliance with British Zionism. It provided a way to outmaneuver the French
without breaking faith, and a useful card at the future peace
conference to play against any German move to rally the German-oriented and Turcophile Jews to buttress her claim.
Late in 1916 the British began to suspect that Germany
was bent on an aggressive course in the East. Events lent support to this suspicion. The resounding defeat of Serbia by the
German army and Bulgarias adherence to the Central Powers virtually opened the road from Hamburg to Baghdad.
A German foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal
would have placed British imperial communications in grave
jeopardy. In these circumstances destruction of the Ottoman
Empire became an unavoidable necessity. It was also essential that Palestine come under sole British control. Samuels
thesis, expounded in his memoranda of January and March
1915, was now fully vindicated.
However, British strategic requirements clashed with the
principle of non-annexation enunciated by President *Wilson
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
and upheld by the Provisional Government in Russia. It constituted the most serious threat to British war aims. Henceforth, one of the greatest dilemmas of British diplomacy was
how to achieve its desiderata without giving offense to its
allies. This could be done only by marriage with the principle of self-determination. It was here that the importance of
Zionism, as far as Palestine was concerned, came in. It provided a cloak under which Britain could appear free from any
annexationist taint. The anti-Turkish crusade was essentially
negative in nature, and as such could hardly commend itself
to American and Russian opinion; but, when clothed in the
ideological garb of struggle for the liberation of small nationalities, it acquired a different aspect.
The first step, which was to lead to a compact with
Zionism, was taken by Sir Mark *Sykes, a leading expert on
the East and a signatory to the Agreement with his French
opposite number, Franois-Georges Picot. His conversion to
Zionism was of particular importance. In January 1917 Lloyd
George promoted him to the key position of assistant secretary to the war cabinet and delegated authority in Middle
Eastern affairs to him. With his status enhanced he was in a
position to play a major role in shaping British policy in that
part of the world. His crucial meeting with the Zionist leaders,
which included Rabbi Moses *Gaster, Lord Rothschild, Herbert Samuel, Harry Sacher, as well as Sokolow and Weizmann,
took place on February 7, 1917. He heard from them what he
had expected. The common denominator in the spectrum of
their views was the desire for a British protectorate of Palestine. This played directly into his hands. He remained silent about the agreement reached with Picot and Sazonow in
Petrograd in March 1916, but pointed to possible difficulties
from France. He thought it would be useful if the Zionists appointed a representative to discuss the matter with them. The
representative chosen to put the Zionist point of view to Picot,
then in London, and subsequently to the Quai dOrsay, was
Sokolow. In the meantime, quite independently, the French
government had changed its policy drastically and, when Sokolow arrived in Paris, he was told that France took a sympathetic interest in Jewish national aspirations, which, however,
could be sanctioned only if France had a rightful share in the
administration of Palestine. Nonetheless, Sykes considered it
a step in the right direction. Thereafter, Sykes paved the way
for Sokolows visit to the Vatican. On May 1, he was received
by Cardinal Gasparri, the papal secretary of state, who reassured him that the Zionists need fear no opposition from the
Church. On the contrary, you may count on our sympathy.
Pope Benedict XV expressed himself in even warmer terms.
The return of the Jews to Palestine is a miraculous event. It
is providential; God has willed it I believe that we shall be
good neighbors.
Sokolows success did not go unnoticed by the Italian
government and on May 8, Di Martino, the secretary-general
of the Foreign Ministry, handed Sokolow an official declaration of sympathy with Zionist aspirations. Nor did the French
government remain a passive onlooker. On June 4 Jules Cam-
87
balfour declaration
88
within the Russian Jewish community. These figures say nothing of those outside the movement, who by tradition and sentiment were attached to Palestine. British Military Intelligence
estimated that the great mass of the 6,000,000 Jews in Russia
have been more or less in sympathy with the Zionist cause.
Jehiel *Tschlenow was not exaggerating when, in his inaugural
address to the Zionist Conference in Petrograd on June 6, 1917,
he stated that Zionism had become a mass movement and as
such, in a free country, was a formidable political factor.
In the United States, too, the Zionist movement had
made much headway. Louis D. *Brandeis leadership transformed it from a parochial organization into a significant
force in Jewish communal life. One of its greatest assets was
Woodrow Wilson, the president of the United States, who had
come to believe that the Zionist program would help solve
the Jewish question and had promised to lend his support to
implement it.
In April 1917, when Balfour visited the United States, he
thought it important to meet Brandeis, Palestinian policy being one of the subjects on which Balfour intended to explore
American feeling. The broader aim of Balfours mission was
to prepare the ground for full Anglo-American co-operation
and stimulate goodwill. He was fully aware that Brandeis position in the Presidents Council might well facilitate friendship
between the two countries. His meetings with Brandeis, both
private and official (May 1), were rewarding. He gave Brandeis
firm assurances of support for the Zionist cause but thought
that the moment was not ripe to make a public pronouncement as Brandeis wished him to do.
International complexities apart, there was another difficulty that hindered Balfour from issuing an official statement.
Aware of the strong opposition to Zionism among influential
Jews, he was wary of antagonizing them. It was not before the
controversy was resolved in the Zionists favor at a meeting of
the Board of Deputies on June 17 and the dissolution of the
Conjoint Foreign Committee that the British government
could move freely on the road to a public declaration.
The episode became a cause clbre in Anglo-Jewish
history. It resulted from mutual misunderstanding. The assimilationists feared that the recognition of Jews as a separate nationality would cause their alienation in the lands of
their domicile and would play into the hands of antisemites.
It was based on an erroneous assumption and was caused by
misreading the term nationality, mistaking conformity for
civic loyalty.
On the other hand, the Zionists were guilty of indiscretions which tended to magnify their opponents suspicions.
Sensible enough to restrict the application of the concept of
Jewish nationality to Palestine, they blundered in not making
those most concerned aware of their thinking. A timely gesture might well have averted the crisis. With their diplomatic
status in the spring of 1917 elevated, they chose to go it alone
in their dealings with the British government. But since the
agreement between the Conjoint Committee and the Foreign
Office was still in force, such tactics could not lead them far. It
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
balfour declaration
Brandeis was instrumental in convincing President Wilson to approve the proposed draft, whereas Sir Mark Sykes
demolished Lord Curzons contention that Zionism was a
dream incapable of realization. He pointed to the success of
the Zionist colonization and felt certain that, given the proper
conditions, the population in Palestine could be doubled
within seven years without dispossessing anyone.
Sykes drew his information from Aaron *Aaronsohn,
who, on October 1, had arrived in London. Both the War Office and the Foreign Office had a high opinion of his contribution to Military Intelligence and his presence weighed heavily
in the Zionists favor. Sykes did not flatter him unduly when
acknowledging his share in Allenbys victory.
By October the news that the German government had
begun to consider Zionism seriously instilled a sense of urgency in the Foreign Office and the cabinet. The British press
was also clamoring for action. With the anti-Zionists arguments defeated, Balfour was able, on October 31, to wind
up the debate in the war cabinet, which had lasted for two
months. None of the members present (Montagu was away
in India) contested his motives for publishing the declaration
in favor of the establishment of the Jewish National Home in
Palestine. Nor did anyone disagree with his interpretation
of its meaning. On November 2, 1917 a letter signed by Balfour was sent to Lord Rothschild but was made public only
on November 9 so that it could be first published in the Jewish Chronicle.
The enthusiastic response to the Balfour Declaration
among Jewish communities all over the world, especially in
Russia, made the Foreign Office staff regret that the document had not been published earlier. Sir Ronald Graham, who
throughout the latter part of 1917, had pressed unremittingly
for an early statement, minuted: It is a misfortune that our
declaration was so long delayed. Belated as it was, London was
still to reap some notable advantages from it. Zionism helped
to legitimize Britains position in Palestine, which otherwise
would have been based solely on military conquest. Britain
acquired a friendly base in Palestine and massive popularity
among Jews everywhere.
Bibliography: The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann,
vol. 8, Series A (1977); Ch. Weizmann, Trial and Error (1977); L. Stein,
The Balfour Declaration (1961); M. Veret, The Balfour Declaration
and Its Makers, in: Middle Eastern Studies (Jan. 1970); I. Friedman,
The Question of Palestine, 19141918. British-Jewish-Arab Relations
(1973, 19922).
[Isaiah Friedman (2nd ed.)]
89
balfouriyyah
BALFOURIYYAH (Heb. ) , moshav in the Jezreel
Valley, Israel. The settlement was founded on Nov. 2, 1922,
north of Afulah, on land owned by the American Zionist
Commonwealth Federation. Some of the founders were immigrants from the United States, the others from Eastern Europe. Balfouriyyahs economy was based on field and garden
crops, cattle, and poultry. In 2002 the population was 287. The
moshavs name refers to the date of its founding which was the
fifth anniversary of the *Balfour Declaration.
[Efraim Orni]
BALI, RIFAT (1948 ), Turkish scholar. Bali was born in Istanbul and graduated from Sorbonne University, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. His fields of expertise are antisemi-
90
ballagi, mr
BALINT, MICHAEL (18961970), psychoanalyst. Born Mihaly Maurice Bergmann in Budapest, the son of a physician,
he changed his name to Michael Balint against his fathers
wishes. He also changed religion, from Judaism to Unitarian
Christianity. In the 1930s Balint settled in Manchester, England, moving to London in 1945.
Balint devoted a lifetime of research and practice to the
development of psychoanalysis as a science. Entering the field
while it was still young and taking on form, Balint spent much
time studying psychoanalytic technique as well as the patients
response to various forms of therapy. This work is discussed
in his books The Doctor, His Patient, and the Illness (1957) and
Psychotherapeutic Techniques in Medicine (1961). Balint also
devoted much research to understanding the mechanisms of
human sexuality, concentrating in large part on sexual perversions and their relation to neurotic and psychotic symptoms. In addition to writing Problems of Human Pleasure and
Behavior (1957), he edited many anthologies on the subject of
sexuality. In 1968 he was elected president of the British Psychoanalytical Society.
The Balint Society was founded in 1969 to continue the
work begun by Balint in the 1950s. The aim of the society is
to help general practitioners attain a better understanding of
the emotional content of the doctor-patient relationship. The
Balint method consists of regular case discussion in small
groups under the guidance of a qualified group leader. Their
objective is to reveal feelings unwittingly harbored by the doctor towards his or her patient, usually engendered by purely
subjective factors, which interfere with the doctors approach
to a patient, thus jeopardizing not only the patient but also
blurring or blinding the doctors mind with regard to proper
diagnostic procedures and further treatment. Balint societies
have been formed in a number of countries. In 1972 the first
international Balint conference was held in London.
[Maurice Goldsmith / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
91
ballarat
BALLAS, SHIMON (1930 ), Israeli writer. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Ballas immigrated to Israel in 1951 without any
knowledge of Hebrew. Like his colleague Sami *Michael, Ballas
had been close to the Iraqi Communist Party and was not particularly interested in Zionist ideology. He began his literary
career in Israel with the local Arab press and later spent four
years in Paris, where he earned his Ph.D. from the Sorbonne.
He is the author of a comprehensive study called Arab Literature under the Shadow of War (1978; French translation
1980) and taught Arab Literature at the University of Haifa.
His first Hebrew novel, Ha-Maabarah (The Transit Camp,
1964), is one of the first Hebrew novels to shed light on the
harsh realities, tensions, and struggle for power in an immigrant settlement in Israel of the 1950s. This realistically nar-
92
ballmer, steve
BALLIN, MOEGENS (18721914), Danish post-impressionist painter. Ballin settled in Paris in 1891. After meeting Jean
Verkade, he was active in the Nabi group. In 1892 he went to
Italy, where he converted to Catholicism. In 1894 he returned
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
to Copenhagen. In 1943 Danish intellectuals organized a retrospective exhibition of his paintings as a protest against Nazi
policies.
BALLIN, SAMUEL JACOB (18021866), Danish physician,
best known for his efforts to combat Asiatic cholera. Born and
educated in Copenhagen, he was early recognized as an expert in the treatment of Asiatic cholera and in 183132 traveled abroad by royal order to study the disease further. His
published findings became a valuable source of information
concerning the disease. During the great cholera epidemic in
Copenhagen (1853) he was appointed chief physician of the
cholera hospital and a member of the Board of Health. In
honor of his achievements, he was appointed a member of the
Royal Medical Society and given a professorship. Ballin was an
active member of the National Liberal Party and an enthusiastic supporter of a Scandinavian union. Ballin was physician
of the Jewish community for a number of years.
[Nathan Koren]
93
bally, davicion
94
tempted to apply them to the Sephardi and general Jewish milieu of Romania. Bally also received a doctor of philosophy
degree from Breslau University. After returning to Bucharest
he taught Jewish religion and Hebrew language and became
the principal of the modern girls school of the Sephardi community and secretary of the H evra Kaddisha Association of the
Sephardi Jews. Because of his dual cultural background Sephardi and Ashkenazi he could serve institutions associated
with both communities for the good of all Romanian Jews. In
1881 he became secretary of the Infratirea Zion Association,
which later became *Bnai Brith. In 1886 the Julius Barasch
Jewish Historical Society was founded in his home and he became its librarian and treasurer. In these offices he fought for
the emancipation of the Romanian Jews and for their return
to Jewish life. In 188285 he published five textbooks on Judaism in the Romanian language for pupils of Jewish schools.
Bally also published popular books on halakhah (marriage
and family purity) and Jewish history for Romanian-speaking Jews, manuals of biblical Hebrew, and a manual of Judeo-Spanish for Sephardi Jewish children. He also published
a translation and commentary in Romanian on the Passover
Haggadah (1902). Some of his didactic and moralistic works
remained unpublished.
Bibliography: R. Siniol, Portrete si schite sefarde (1981),
95101; L.Z. Herscovici, in: SAHIR, 8 (2003), 2559.
[Lucian-Zeev Herscovici (2nd ed.)]
BALMES, ABRAHAM BEN MEIR DE (c. 14401523), physician, philosopher, translator, and grammarian. His grandfather, also called Abraham de Balmes (d. 1489), mentioned
repeatedly in the royal records between 1463 and 1480, was
court physician to King Ferdinand I of Naples (1472). Balmes
was born in Lecce, southern Italy, and obtained doctorates in
medicine and philosophy at the University of Naples in 1492
by special permission of Pope Innocent VIII. In 1510 when
the Jews were expelled from Naples, Balmes appears to have
gone to northern Italy. Later he became personal physician to
Cardinal Domenico Grimani, who was deeply interested in
Hebrew literature. Under Grimanis auspices, Balmes translated the works of a number of medieval Arabic authors from
their Hebrew versions into Latin. These included the Liber de
Mundo (On the Quadrant) of Ibn al-Hayham (11t century),
the Epistola expeditionis based on a philosophical work by
Avempace, Geminus work on astronomy under the title Introduction to Ptolemys Almagest, *Averroes Epitome of Aristotles Organon, Middle Commentary on the Topics, and
on Sophistical Refutation, part of De Substantia Orbis, and
logical questions by Averroes and other Arabic authors. The
translation of the Long Commentary on Aristotles Posterior
Analytics published in Venice about 1520 seems to have been
part of a more ambitious project which was to have included,
besides other versions, an original philosophical work of his
own (Liber de demonstratione Abrami de Balmes), no longer
extant. Balmes Averroistic materials were incorporated in the
standard 16t-century edition of Aristotle, published in Venice
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
balsam
BALOGH, THOMAS, BARON (19051985), British economist whose main interests were planning, development, and
labor economics. Born in Budapest, he worked as a Rockefeller Fellow at Harvard University, from 1928 to 1930. In 1931
he joined the economic staff of the League of Nations and
settled in London, working as an economist until 1939, when
he became associated with the Oxford University Institute of
Statistics. From 1955 to 1960 he taught in England and in the
United States. Balogh served as a consultant to various United
Nations agencies and foreign governments, including India,
Malta, Greece, Peru, and Turkey. In 1964 he became an economic adviser to the British Labour government under Harold Wilson. He received a life peerage in 1968. Baloghs publications include: Dollar Crisis (1949), Unequal Partners (1963),
Planning for Progress (1963), and Economics of Poverty (1966).
When Labour returned to office in February 1974, Balogh was
appointed minister of state in the Department of Energy, a
post he held until December 1975. In 197678 he served as
chairman of the National Oil Corporation.
Add. Bibliography: ODNB online.
[Joachim O. Ronall / William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)]
95
balta
With the help of money received from Bucharest the Judenrat opened workshops. two orphanages, and inexpensive restaurants. About 1,795 Jews (including 175 from Bukovina)
remained after the liberation on March 29, 1944. Fourteen
hundred Jews were listed in Balta in the 1959 census. Most of
the Jews emigrated in the 1990s. A number of small Jewish
communities formerly existed in the vicinity of Balta, of which
the largest were Bogopol, Krivoye Ozero, and Golovanevsk.
Bibliography: Pauly-Wissowa, 4 (1896), 283639; O. Warburg, Pflanzenwelt, 2 (1916), 282ff.; Loew, Flora, 1 (1926), 299304;
J. Feliks, Olam ha-Z omeah ha-Mikrai (19682), 2468, 2568. Add.
Bibliography: J. Feliks, Plants and Animals of the Mishna (1983),
139.
[Jehuda Feliks]
96
baltimore
97
baltimore
98
Rabbi Rice left in 1849 and two years later founded Shearith
Israel, which upheld German-Jewish Orthodoxy for decades
and remained an Orthodox congregation into the 21st centiry. In 1870, Baltimore Hebrews remaining traditionalists,
led by the Friedenwald family, split off to form the Chizuk
Amuno Congregation. By the early 1900s, Baltimore Hebrew
and Oheb Shalom had joined the Reform movement, while
Chizuk Amuno became a founding member of the Conservative movements United Synagogue of America.
Amidst all the Sturm und Drang among the Germans, a
small congregation named Bikur Cholim opened in 1865, the
first congregation in Baltimore to follow the Polish style of
worship. As East Europeans began to trickle in, small landsman-based congregations sprang up, mostly in East Baltimore.
Dozens of these shuls were established over the next several
decades. Two of the most influential, Bnai Israel (founded by
Lithuanians in 1873) and Shomrei Mishmeres (founded by
Volhynians in 1892), took over the imposing synagogue buildings on Lloyd Street built by Chizuk Amuno and Baltimore
Hebrew, respectively, after those congregations relocated to
more upscale neighborhoods. A second phase of East European synagogue development began in the early 1920s when
the first American-born generation founded several congregations in northwest Baltimore, including Beth Tfiloh, one of
the nations first synagogue centers. In ensuing years, small
immigrant shuls either merged into larger synagogues or disappeared. By 1999 Baltimore hosted more than 50 synagogues,
representing every branch of Judaism.
Jewish Education and Philanthropy
Innovation has been a hallmark of Jewish education in Baltimore. The first known community Hebrew school opened as
early as 1842, and community-operated schools such as East
Baltimores Talmud Torah flourished from the late 1880s to
the 1940s. Samson *Benderly, the father of modern Jewish
education in America, started his revolutionary experiments
in Baltimore in 1900 and the city benefited from his direct influence until he left for New York in 1910. In 1917 Rabbi Avraham Schwartz of Shomrei Mishmeres founded the Talmudical
Academy, the first Jewish day school outside of New York. In
the late 20t century, a dramatic rise in Jewish day schools (16
by 2004) gave Baltimore one of the largest day school populations in the nation. The two institutions of higher Jewish
learning have been *Baltimore Hebrew University, founded
in 1919 by Israel *Efros, and the Ner Israel Rabbinical College,
founded by Rabbi Jacob I. *Ruderman in 1933.
Baltimore Jewrys long tradition of philanthropy and
mutual aid started with the United Hebrew Benevolent Society, founded in 1834. Two key institutions, Sinai Hospital and
the Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center, also date back to the
1800s. Some charities established by German and Americanborn Jews in the late 19t century focused on helping poverty-stricken East European immigrants. East European Jews
started their own aid societies shortly after their arrival, and by
the first decade of the 20t century, two parallel philanthropic
baltimore
99
baltimore, david
in 1982. Academy Award-winning film director Barry Levinson made significant contributions to American cinema with
his three-part chronicle of Baltimore Jewish life, Diner (1982),
Avalon (1990), and Liberty Heights (1999).
JewishGentile Relations
Relations between Baltimore Jews and non-Jews have been
generally amicable, though ethnic and religious prejudice,
social snobbery, and discrimination occasionally vexed the
Jewish community. In the 19t century, the citys large German population of Jews and non-Jews shared German-speaking clubs and many Jewish children attended Zion Lutheran
Churchs well-respected school, where instruction was in German. However, the local Catholic press, German and English,
specialized in antisemitic articles until the appointment of
Archbishop James Gibbons in 1877. Local antisemitism increased with the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, spurring the 1939
formation of the Baltimore Jewish Council, a community relations organization that continues to fight antisemitism, promote dialogue between Jewish and other local communities,
and address broader urban issues.
The relationship of Jews to Baltimores African American community has been complex. Jews participated in the
civil rights movement, but the movement also targeted Jewish storeowners who maintained discriminatory policies. In
one historians words, a state of intimate antagonism existed
between the two groups for much of the 20t century, as economic relations and geographic proximity promoted considerable interaction between Jews and blacks.
The close-knit nature of Baltimores Jewish community
arose from a combination of gentile prejudice and Jewish ties
of kinship and culture. Residential discrimination kept Jews
out of some areas until the mid-20t century, contributing to
the emergence of intensely concentrated Jewish neighborhoods. Upper-class social and educational discrimination
encouraged Jews to create separate clubs and ecumenical
(largely Jewish) private schools. Such discrimination dissipated in the post-World War II era. By the dawn of the 21st
century Baltimore Jewry emerged as a confident and assertive community determined to maintain its own distinct
identity, neighborhoods, and institutions, while its members
pursued ever-expanding ways to involve themselves in the
broader society.
Bibliography: I. Blum, History of the Jews of Baltimore
(1910); Cornerstones of Community: The Historic Synagogues of Maryland, 18451945 (Jewish Museum of Maryland, 1999); I.M. Fein,
Making of an American Jewish Community: The History of Baltimore
Jewry from 1773 to 1920 (1971); Jewish Community Study of Greater
Baltimore (The Association, 2001); G. Sandler, Jewish Baltimore, A
Family Album (2000).
[Deborah Weiner (2nd ed.)]
100
Over the years the university expanded its academic outreach to offer a number of degree programs. In 1971 the university opened its graduate school, which in 1975 was named
the Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone School of Graduate Studies. In
addition to the B.A. degree in Jewish Studies which is offered
by the Universitys Bernard Manekin School of Undergraduate Studies, the graduate achool offers programs leading to
the Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Jewish Studies. The graduate
school also developed degree programs to train Jewish educators and communal professionals. These programs lead to the
Master of Arts in Jewish Education or the Master of Arts in
Jewish Communal Service. Graduates of these programs have
become teachers, principals, and other educational specialists
in the field of Jewish education and others have become executives in federations, Jewish Community Centers, community
relations councils and in the field of Jewish family service. The
university also maintains cooperative relations with Baltimore
area colleges through the Baltimore Collegetown Network,
which enables area colleges to share resources and jointly enhance the academic and social life of students.
While remaining committed to academic Jewish Studies and to the training of Jewish educators and communal
professionals, the university also provides opportunities for
Jewish learning to non-degree students through its program
of Lifelong Learning. The program has featured weekend retreats with scholars, artists, and public figures; classes in Jewish Studies; a Distinguished Lecture series with major scholars,
authors, playwrights, and filmmakers; and the Meah Program,
a two-year 100-hour course of study covering the Jewish experience from biblical times to the present.
The University maintains the Joseph Meyerhoff Library,
which contains over 70,000 books and periodicals in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, German, French, Russian, and other
languages and includes a number of rare books going back to
the 16t century. The library also houses the Baltimore Jewish
Community Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies and
a collection of books that survived the Holocaust acquired
through the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Organization.
Among the distinguished scholars who have served on
the faculty of the university are Moshe Aberbach, Joseph M.
Baumgarten, Adele Berlin, Avram Biran, Cyrus *Gordon,
Samuel Iwry, and Harry M. *Orlinsky.
The presidents who have served Baltimore Hebrew University are Israel Efros (191928), Louis L. Kaplan (193070), Leivy
Smolar (197092), Norma Fields Furst (199295), Robert O.
Freedman (19952001), and Rela Mintz Geffen (from 2001).
[George L. Berlin (2nd ed.)]
101
is mentioned in the Memorbuch of Nuremberg, but it is difficult to assume that he was one of the martyrs there. *Meir b.
Baruch of Rothenberg was his pupil. For a time Samuel was
regarded as the author of Likkutei ha-Pardes (Venice, 1519),
but this view is no longer accepted. Of his works no more
than excerpts and fragments of his responsa remain. His decisions are of a very independent nature, though his style is
modest and austere.
Bibliography: Michael, Or, nos. 1203, 1205; Urbach, Tosafot,
3546, passim; A. Eckstein, Geschichte der Juden im ehemaligen Fuerstbistum Bamberg (1898), 140, 2978.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
BAMBERGER, BERNARD JACOB (19041980), U.S. Reform rabbi, scholar, and author. Bamberger was born in Baltimore, Maryland, educated at Johns Hopkins University (1923),
and ordained at Hebrew Union College (1926). After serving as
rabbi of Temple Israel in Lafayette, Indiana, where he continued to study at HUC earning a D.D. (1929), Bamberger moved
to Congregation Beth Emeth in Albany, where he remained
until 1944. He next served as rabbi of Congregation Shaarey
Tefila in New York City until his retirement in 1970. Bamberger combined his service as a pulpit rabbi with an active
life of community service and scholarship. He wrote several
scholarly and popular books. They include Proselytism in the
Talmudic Period (19682); Fallen Angels (1952), a study of Jewish
demonology and its influence on Christian thought; The Bible:
A Modern Jewish Approach (1995); and Story of Judaism (1957).
He served as president of the Synagogue Council of America
(195051), and of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (195961) and later as president of the World Council for
Progressive Judaism. He was a member of the interdenominational Jewish Publication Societys Bible translation committee
that led to the new translation of the Bible and was the author
of a modern commentary on Leviticus (1979) that served as
part of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations modern commentary published in its entirety after his death.
[Hillel Halkin]
102
bates on the law concerning child labor, he moved an amendment which was rejected demanding that Jewish apprentices be exempt from working on Saturday.
Bibliography: Biographie complte des 534 dputs
(1876).
BAMBERGER, EUGEN (18571932), German chemist; a pioneer in the field of semi-microtechniques. Bamberger studied
at Berlin University and in 1883 became an assistant to Baeyer
in Munich, where he was appointed professor in 1891. From
1893 he was professor of general chemistry at the Zurich Polytechnic. From 1905 he was semi-paralyzed but continued his
experimental work. Bamberger was meticulous in his work,
and he inculcated clean and safe experimental techniques in
his assistants. He insisted on following up not only the main
product of any reaction under study, but also the minor products. He was an entirely pure chemist, his vast output covering most of the contemporary aspects of organic chemistry.
His contributions were notable in the field of constitutions of
natural products.
Bibliography: Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, 66 (1933), 32; Helvetica Chimica Acta, 16 (1933), 644ff.
[Samuel Aaron Miller]
BAMBERGER, LOUIS (18551944), U.S. merchant and philanthropist. Bamberger was born in Baltimore, Maryland. As a
boy, he began work in a dry goods store, but while still a young
man he moved to New York to engage in wholesale merchandising. In 1892 he and his brother-in-law, Felix Fuld, founded
L. Bamberger and Co., a small department store, in Newark,
New Jersey. Adopting advanced methods of merchandising
and the latest techniques of publicity, Bambergers grew into
one of the largest and most profitable American establishments. In 1929 R.H. Macy of New York took over the Bamberger firm but Louis Bamberger continued to serve as president of the Newark store until 1939. He gave his employees a
cooperative interest in the firm, established a pension program
for them, and marked his own retirement by distributing cash
gifts and annuities to workers who had been employed for a
minimum of 15 years. Another of Bambergers successful enterprises was the Newark radio station WOR, which he built
in the 1920s. Bambergers philanthropies covered a wide range
of interests. He gave generously to Newarks hospitals and
Community Chest, and to the furtherance of the arts and sciences. The long list of Jewish causes and institutions to which
he contributed included the *Jewish Theological Seminary
of America. A charter member of the Newark Museum, and
later its honorary president, he provided the funds for the new
building, opened in 1926, and donated a vast quantity of art,
archaeological, scientific, and industrial objects. Bambergers
greatest philanthropic act, which he shared with his sister,
Mrs. Felix Fuld, was a gift of $5,000,000 for the establishment
of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He and his
sister also contributed to the Fuld House at Princeton, which
provided quarters for the Institute.
Bibliography: Newark Museum Association, Louis Bamberger a Tribute (1944); T. Mahoney, Great Merchants (1955),
16770, 194.
[Morton Mayer Berman]
103
Descendants
Bamberger became the founder of a widespread rabbinical
family. Five of his six sons became rabbis, and his three daughters all married rabbis. His son SIMON SIMh AH (18321897)
was rabbi at Fischach and Aschaffenburg (Bavaria). He published H innukh la-Nearim (on the laws of z iz it and tefillin;
with Yiddish translation, 18823); Pekuddat ha-Leviim (Aaron
104
banai
BAMBERGER, SIMON (18461926), U.S. mining industrialist, railroad builder, and governor of Utah. Born in Germany, Bamberger immigrated to the United States when he
was 14. He worked first in the store of his elder brother, Herman, in Wilmington, Ohio, and later the brothers became
clothing manufacturers in St. Louis, Missouri. In pursuit of
a debtor, Simon Bamberger found himself at Piedmont, Wyoming, a Union Pacific Railroad work camp. He decided to
stay, erected shacks and tents which he rented to workers on
the new railroad, and cashed their paychecks at a discount.
He then moved on to Ogden, Utah, where he bought an interest in a hotel, and in 1869 settled in Salt Lake City. He was
joined there by his brothers and they tended to his business
interests, leaving him free to seek his fortune in gold mining.
He found it in the lucrative Centennial Eureka Mines. Subsequently he built a railroad to a coalfield in southern Utah,
and after a struggle lasting 17 years against competing interests and harassing litigation, the Bamberger Railroad went
into operation between Salt Lake City and Ogden, with Simon
Bamberger as director and treasurer.
In 1898 Bamberger entered public service as a member
of Salt Lake Citys Board of Education, where he devoted himself to improving teachers conditions. From 1903 to 1907 he
sat in the State Senate and then was elected governor of Utah
(191620), the first Democrat and non-Mormon to become
governor. During his administration Bamberger sponsored
legislation for the control and supervision of public utilities,
improved public health services, guaranteed full-year salaries
for teachers, the right of workers to voluntary association, benefits for farmers, and other liberal measures.
Bamberger was one of the founders of Utahs first Jewish
congregation, Bnai Israel, and was later its president. He supported the Utah colonization fund established by the Jewish
Agricultural Society which attempted to settle 140 Jews from
New York and Philadelphia in the Clarion Colony. He was
also prominent in several Jewish philanthropic and communal institutions.
Bibliography: AJYB, 19 (1917/18), 249f.; N.Warrum, Utah
Since Statehood (1919); L.L. Watters, Pioneer Jews of Utah (1952), 9f.,
30f., 1639; B. Postal and L. Koppman, A Jewish Tourists Guide to the
U.S. (1954), 608ff.
[Morton Mayer Berman]
with Herzls rejection of the so-called infiltration, i.e., smallscale settlement in Palestine without prior international agreement, he became strongly opposed to political Zionism. He
expressed this primarily in the periodical Zion which he edited
from 1895. In 1901 he was instrumental in the creation of the
*Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden of which he became the first
general secretary. After the Kishinev pogrom (1903) he worked
in the defense organization against antisemitism (Komitee zur
Abwehr Anti-semitischer Angriffe) in Berlin, and endeavored,
unsuccessfully, to establish a bank for Jewish emigrants. His
works included Palaestina, Land und Leute (1898), articles for
Die Welt and the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums, as well as
several works on Jewish settlement in Erez Irsael.
Bibliography: A. Bein, Theodor Herzl (19622), 2158, 227,
241; R. Lichtheim, Geschichte des deutschen Zionismus (1954), index;
G. Herlitz, in: Davar (Nov. 8, 1954); J. Turoff, in: AZJ, no. 48 (Nov. 25,
1904), 56768, no. 47 (1904), 34; H. Loewe, Juedische Rundschau.,
no. 459 (1904), 68, 37980. Add. Bibliography: R. Heuer (ed.),
Lexikon deutsch-juedischer Autoren, 1 (1992), 34445 (incl. bibl.).
[Oskar K. Rabinowicz / Marcus Pyka (2nd ed.)]
BANAI, family of Israeli actors and pop-rock singer-songwriters. For over half a century the Banais provided the country
with leading theater and film actors, directors and pop and
rock stars.
Foremost among the clan was YOSSI BANAI (19322006),
one of Israels leading actors and comedians, who also released
a number of big-selling albums based on the French chanson
singing style, and published several books. Banai followed in
the footsteps of his older actor brother Yaakov, joining the
Nahal entertainment troupe at the start of his military service in 1951. On his return to civilian life Banai enrolled at
105
Banat
106
the Humanities Award, and the National Foundation for Jewish Cultures award for lifetime achievement in social, literary
and cultural studies.
[Jay Harris (2nd ed.)]
107
108
Kalender (1928). Baneth also contributed to the Samter-Hoffmann German translation and commentary of the Mishnah
(order of Moed, 19272).
His son DAVID HARTWIG (ZVI; 18931973) was an
Arabist. Born in Krotoszyn, from 1920 to 1924 he was an assistant at the Akademie fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums.
He then went to Palestine where he was a lecturer at the Hebrew University on Arabic philosophy, language, and literature. From 1946 he was professor of Arabic language and literature. In his earlier years David made important contributions
to ancient Aramaic and Canaanite studies, but his lifes work
consisted in the study of Jewish thought as expressed in Arabic, Arabic as used by Jews, and medieval Hebrew. He wrote
on the enigmatic Jewish rationalist *Ibn Kammuna (MGWJ,
vol. 69, 1925), on the relationship between *Judah Halevi and
the Muslim theologian *Ghazali (Korrespondenzblatt, vol. 5,
1929; see also Keneset, vol. 7, 1942), and on the use made by
both Ghazali and the Jewish pietist Bah ya ibn Paquda of a
passage in a book by a Christian author (Magnes Jubilee Volume, 1938).
Baneth was at his best in the editing and criticism of
texts, such as his edition of Maimonides letters (Iggerot haRambam, 1946), his revisions of Maimonides Terminology of
Logic (edited by L. Roth, 1935) and of the Book of Beatitude,
ascribed to Maimonides (prepared for publication by H.S. Davidowitz, 1939), as well as his discussion of the Hebrew translations of Maimonides treatise on resurrection (Tarbiz, vol.
11, 1939/40, and vol. 13, 1941/42) and of Maimonides Hebrew
usage (Tarbiz, vol. 6, 1934/35 and vol. 23, 1951/52). He published many detailed reviews of Judeo-Arabic works in Kirjath Sepher. Of particular importance are Baneths studies of
the language and contents of the Cairo Genizah documents
(cf. S. Shaked, A Tentative Bibliography of Geniza Documents
(1964), 2689). Most of the Arabic Genizah texts published
by S. *Assaf were prepared for publication and translated into
Hebrew by Baneth. By emphasizing that most deviations from
classical Arabic grammar in the Genizah documents were not
mistakes, but represented the living language of the period,
Baneth pointed the way for a sound approach to the understanding of those medieval writings.
[Moshe David Herr / Shelomo Dov Goitein /
Samuel Miklos Stern]
banishment
Since Banias was situated on the main road from Palestine to Damascus it served in the Middle Ages as an administrative center to a district with the same name. During the
11t century there was a relatively large Jewish community,
whose members were called the Baniasites. They were frequently mentioned in genizah documents. A document of
1056 shows that the Banias community was well organized
and had a bet din.
Since Babylonian Jews had settled in Banias, the community was split into two sections, the Palestinians and the
Babylonians, who differed in their versions of prayers. These
two sections existed to the beginning of the 12t century. A
Karaite pseudo-messiah is reported in 1102. *Benjamin of
Tudela mentions no community in Banias in 1170 and it is
possible that it ceased to exist during the Crusades. Later, Banias was reinhabited by Jews. Even during the early Ottoman
period, Jews still lived at Banias, as attested by a document
from 1624 which mentions the murder of a Jewish physician,
by the name of Elijah ha-Kohen of Banias, by an Arab sheik
(Ben Zvi, in Tarbiz, 3 (1932), 442). From 1948 to 1967 Banias
served the Syrians as a base for attacks on *Dan. In June 1967
it was occupied by the Israel Defense Forces. Later the area
was declared a nature reserve, under the supervision of the
Nature Reserves Authority. The reserve includes the river and
its natural surroundings as well as the archaeological relics
scattered around the river route.
Bibliography: E. Orni and E. Efrat, Geography of Israel
(1964), 74; Mann, Egypt, 2 (1922), 203; J. Braslavski, in: BJPES, 5 (1938),
12831; Assaf, ibid., 6 (1939), 1619; Schuerer, Gesch, 2 (1906), 204ff.;
M. Avi-Yonah, Geog, 1502; Kuk, in: Ha-Tor, 6 (1926), no. 35, 810;
no. 36, 89. Add. Bibliography: Y. Meshorer, The Coins of Caesarea Paneas, in: Israel Numismatics Journal, 8 (198485), 3758; V.
Tzaferis, Banias, la Ville de Pan, in: Le Monde de la Bible, 64 (1990),
5053; J.F. Wilson, Banias: The Lost City of Pan (2004) S.V. Paneas; Y.
Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea
Palaestina. Maps and Gazetteer (1994), 199.
109
banishment
110
1549). Prostitution and adultery were punished by life banishment by takkanot of Prague of 1612. There is even a report of
a man who was excommunicated and run out of Erez Israel
by the Safed rabbis in 1548 for indulging in unnatural practices
with his wife (Eleazar Azikri, Sefer H aredim (1601), part 3, ch.
2). Forfeiture of domiciliary rights throughout Lithuania was
applied by the Council of Lithuania to thieves, receivers, and
forgers, and could be broadened also to any persons engaged
in suspicious or prohibited dealings, infringing ethics, or disturbing the peace of the community. Since the whole community was liable to make good a claim by a gentile for money
he had lent to a defaulting Jewish debtor, in Lithuania the Jew
wishing to borrow from a gentile had first to obtain permission
from the av bet din. A borrower who failed to do so could be
banished, and his right of domicile forfeited (Pinkas ha-Vaad,
paras. 163 and 637). The Lithuanian Council also withdrew the
right of domicile from and imposed banishment on a person
provoking a gentile by quarrels or blows (idem, para. 21). Its
regulations of 1623, when itinerant beggary and unlicensed
behavior was widespread, lay down expulsion for a beggar,
if necessary with the assistance of gentile officers. In 1628 the
Lithuanian Council withheld the right of domicile from any
Jew absent ten years from his community of origin who had
failed to pay his fiscal contribution. Banishment was frequently
applied in the Sephardi community of *Hamburg, its governing body (*mahamad) being empowered by the Hamburg senate to expel from the community any of its members infringing morals or engaged in dishonest business dealings, among
other offenses. The offender thus sentenced was served with a
writ from the beadle (shamash). If he proved unable to travel
for lack of funds, the mahamad lent his relatives money to defray the expenses of the journey. Sometimes the offender was
sent abroad, mainly to Amsterdam, and if his conduct subsequently improved was permitted to return. This punishment
was also meted out to juvenile offenders.
Bibliography: IN BIBLE: Mak. 2:6; Sif. Num. 60; Jos., Ant.,
4:1723; Philo, Spec., 3:123; F. Rundgren, in: VT, 7 (1957), 4004;
W. Zimmerli, in: ZAW, 66 (1954), 1019; M. Greenberg, in: JBL, 78
(1959), 12523. MIDDLE AGES: S. Assaf, Ha-Onashin Ah arei H atimat
ha-Talmud (1922), 3538; Baron, Community, index; Baer, Spain, 1
(1961), 430.
From the 1990s Banja Luka was the seat of the Republika
Srpska (Serbian Republic) as part of the Federation of BosniaHerzegovina. A small Jewish community was reestablished.
Bibliography: Jevrejski Almanah, 12 (192627), index.
Add. Bibliography: Spomenpca 400 (1966); Y. Eventov, Toledot
Yehudei Yugoslavia, vol. I (1971), 9799; Z. Loker (ed.), Toledot Yehudei Yugoslavia, vol. II (1991), 21315.
111
112
was given by several persons. In western Germany hypothecation of real estate was preferred, and in this way Jews acquired in pledge houses, vineyards, farms, villages, castles,
towns, and even seigneuries. Interest rates do not seem to
have exceeded 36 but in the case of deferred payment they
could rise to 100 or beyond. From the 12t century popes
and princes exploited the financial capacity of the Jews by frequent remission of debts or forced loans. The *Black Death
and consequent persecutions of Jews gave rulers an opportunity forcibly to seize property and to restore pawns and letters of credit to debtors. The liquidation of Jewish debts by
King *Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia around the end of the 14t
century is a well-known example of such royal rapacity. With
these and other measures and the rise of the merchant class,
who gradually took over the function of loan-bankers to the
princes and even to emperors during the 15t and early 16t
centuries, the Jews were deprived of imperial protection and
forced to leave the towns. They retired to the small seigneuries or migrated to Eastern Europe, where a less-developed
economy offered them possibilities of making a livelihood. In
Bohemia, Hungary, and in Poland and Lithuania both princes
and nobility made use of their financial help. As the Eastern
European kingdoms developed with the colonization of the
forests, Jews played an increasing part in commerce and especially in the *arenda. In the larger towns some engaged in
moneylending and banking activities.
In 12t-century France moneylending was an important
Jewish business, but in the 13t century Jewish lenders came
up against the superior competition of the Lombards, a rivalry even more intense in the Netherlands. In England, where
*Aaron of Lincoln and *Aaron of York were powerful bankers,
a special *Exchequer of the Jews was set up to centralize Jewish transactions. However in the 13t century the crown began
to rely on the greater resources of the Cahorsins and Italian
bankers and in 1290 the Jews were expelled. In Italy Jewish
bankers could expand their sphere of activity under the silent protection of the popes, despite resistance on the part of
the Christian burghers (see *Popes and the Jews). From the
second half of the 13t century they spread throughout central Italy and gradually expanded toward the north, migrating at first to the smaller and medium-sized towns. In Pisa
and then in Florence the Da *Pisa family became important
loan-bankers; in Florence in 1437 Cosimo de Medici permitted a Jewish group to establish four loan-banks; in Venice in
1366 Jews, probably of German origin, obtained the right to
lend on pledges. Here as in other places in northern Italy, Jewish loan-bankers from the south came into competition with
Jews migrating from Germany or southern France. Finally
only a few towns, such as Milan and Genoa, refused to admit
Jewish loan-bankers. However, their activities were seriously
challenged when the anti-Jewish preaching of the *Franciscans resulted in the establishment of branches of the *Monti
di Piet toward the middle of the 15t century.
The Iberian Peninsula after the Christian reconquest offers many examples of large-scale credit activities and tax
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
113
the Jew Noah Chinillo, loaned Isabella money to finance Columbus expedition to America. Though some men like Isaac
Abrabanel, who went to Naples, remained faithful to Judaism, a number of Jews of Spanish origin stayed in Portugal
and, after accepting baptism, rose to financial influence there,
especially in combination with the East Indian spice trade.
Prominent among them were Francisco and Diogo *Mendes.
The latter, who took up residence in Antwerp, became one of
the most important merchant bankers there, lending money
to the king of Portugal, the emperor, and Henry VIII of England. The firm Herdeiros de Francisco e Diogo Mendes
was administered for some time after Diogos death (1543) by
Franciscos widow, Doa Beatrice de Luna (Gracia *Nasi) and
her nephew Joo Miques (Joseph *Nasi). They subsequently
immigrated to Turkey, where the latter combined commercial and banking activity with political influence. Another to
rise to high position was Alvaro Mendes from Tavira, Portugal, who in Constantinople took the name Solomon *Abenaes.
Jewish money-changers and tax farmers were to be found in
many places of the Ottoman Empire. After the union between
Spain and Portugal (1580), a number of influential Conversos
took the opportunity to invest their capital in financing the
various ventures of the crown, provisioning the army in Flanders and in the East Indies, and supplying contracts for Africa.
Their activities expanded especially after the financial crisis of
1626 and continued until the Portuguese revolt of 1640 which
restored independent sovereignty to the country. After this
all members of the gente de nao (as Conversos were called)
living in Spain became suspect. The last important financial
venture by *New Christians in Portugal was the financing of
the Brazil Company established in 1649. However, Jewish involvement in banking proper really begins with the activities
of those Conversos who, fleeing the Inquisition in Portugal
and Spain, settled in *Antwerp, *Hamburg, and *Amsterdam,
some remaining nominally Christian and some openly returning to Judaism. In Antwerp the Ximenes and Rodrigues
dEvora families were outstanding among an important group
of merchant bankers who had commercial relations extending as far as the East Indies and Brazil. While they remained
Catholics (like the Mendes de Brito group in Portugal), those
who emigrated to Hamburg and Amsterdam formed Sephardi
communities. In Hamburg they participated in the founding
of the bank in 1619; 30 (by 1623, 46) local Jews were among its
first shareholders, and some of them were financial agents for
various North European courts, especially those of Denmark
and Schleswig-Holstein. Most famous in Antwerp were Diego
Teixeira de Sampaio (Abraham *Senior), consul and paymaster general for the Spanish government, and his son Manuel
(Isaac H ayyim Senior), who succeeded him as financial agent
of Christina of Sweden. Manuel Teixeira was an outstanding
member of the Hamburg exchange and participated actively
in the transfer of Western European subsidies to the German
or Scandinavian courts.
At Amsterdam at first only a few Jews were shareholders
in the bank founded in 1609 and of the East India Company.
114
One hundred and six Portuguese had accounts in 1620. Generally their resources were not sufficiently great to add any special weight to the formative stage of Amsterdam capitalism.
Through Hollands developing overseas trade, especially with
Brazil (until 1654) and then with the West Indies, as well as
through the growth of the Amsterdam capital market and the
transfer of subsidies and provisioning of armies through Amsterdam, Jewish financiers rose to importance in the exchange
market, and were especially active in trading company shares.
Outstanding were the *Pinto family and Antonio (Isaac) Lopez
*Suasso (Baron dAvernas le Gras); nevertheless the wealth of
the Sephardi families remained far below that of their Christian counterparts. In the second half of the 18t century the
Pinto family remained prominent, and another influential financier of Sephardi origin was David Bueno de *Mesquita.
Partly as a consequence of the marriage between
Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza (1662), and
especially after William and Mary became joint sovereigns
of England (1689), London, too, became a center of Sephardi
banking, leading figures being Anthony (Moses) da Costa,
Solomon de *Medina, and Isaac Pereira. In the reign of Queen
Anne (170214), Manasseh *Lopes was a leading banker; during the 18t century Samson *Gideon, Francis and Joseph *Salvador, and the *Goldsmid brothers, leading members of the
Ashkenazi community, were outstanding. In the middle of
the 18t century Jacob Henriques claimed that his father had
planned the establishment of the Bank of England (1694).
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. Only a few Jewish financiers,
such as Joseph zum goldenen Schwan at Frankfurt or Michel *Jud, were active in the German principalities in the 16t
century. In the early 17t century the Hapsburgs employed
the services of Jacob *Bassevi of Treuenberg of Prague, Joseph Pincherle of Gorizia, and Moses and Jacob Marburger
of Gradisca. The rise of the absolute monarchies in Central
Europe brought numbers of Jews, mostly of Ashkenazi origin,
into the position of negotiating loans for the various courts,
giving rise to the phenomenon of *Court Jews. The most famous and most active of them in financial affairs were, in the
second half of the 17t and the beginning of the 18t century,
Leffmann *Behrends in Hanover, Behrend *Lehmann in Halberstadt, Bendix Goldschmidt in Hamburg, Aaron Beer in
Frankfurt, and Samuel *Oppenheimer and Samson *Wertheimer in Vienna. Later Diego d *Aguilar, and the *Arnstein
and *Eskeles families became prominent. In the early 18t century Joseph Suess *Oppenheimer was the outstanding figure
in southern Germany; his financial influence was widespread,
especially in Wuerttemberg, until his fall and execution in
1738. Important court bankers around the end of the 18t century were Israel *Jacobson in Brunswick, the *Bleichroeder
family in Berlin, Simon Baruch and Solomon Oppenheimer
in Bonn, the *Rothschilds in Frankfurt, the Reutlinger, Seligmann, and *Haber families in Karlsruhe, the Kaulla family in
Stuttgart, and Aron Elias Seligmann, later baron of Eichthal,
in Munich.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
ITALY. In the 15t and beginning of the 16t century the Italian loan-bankers reached their greatest eminence, including the Pisa, *Volterra, Norsa, Del Banco, *Rieti, and Tivoli
families. In their wealth and style of life these men belonged
to the Renaissance milieu as much as the artists and men of
letters. However, with the expansion of the institution of the
Monte di Piet and the restrictive policy of the popes of the
Counterreformation, their influence declined. The Da Pisa
disappeared from Florence in 1570. However there were still
between 60 and 70 loan-bankers operating in Rome toward
the end of the 16t century and a century later about 20 were
still in existence. In the first half of the 16t century about 500
loan-bankers were active throughout Italy; toward the end of
the century about 280 remained in 131 places. Abraham del
Banco was involved in the establishment of the famous Venetian Banco Giro in 1619.
[Hermann Kellenbenz]
115
116
bank in 1803, which under Ludwig (who with his brother was
converted to Christianity in 1812) became one of the leading
financial institutions in Russia. Otherwise Jewish banking activity was limited to southern Russia, especially to Berdichev
and Odessa. In 1860 Yozel (Yerzel) *Guenzburg, originally a
tax farmer, established the St. Petersburg bank J.Y. Guenzburg, and later the discount and credit bank there, managed
by his son Horace; Guenzburg also established banks in Kiev
and Odessa. Lazar (Eliezer) *Poliakoff opened a bank at Moscow in 1860 and participated in the foundation of the Moskowsky Zemelny Bank and other Moscow banks. Poliakoff
and his two brothers also founded banks in southern Russia. Abram *Zak was director of the Petersburg Discount and
Credit Bank (187193), and Soloveitchik established the Siberian Trade Bank. At the beginning of the 20t century private
banks of some importance were those of H. *Wawelberg in
St. Petersburg, and O. Chayes and R. Sonschein and Company in Odessa.
Toward the end of the 18t century several bankers such
as Koenigsberger, Levy, and Simon Simoni emigrated from
the west to Poland. Jacob *Epstein, court purveyor to King
Stanislas II Augustus, founded an important dynasty of bankers. The Polish revolt of 1863 caused the bankruptcy of many
Jewish banks. The bank of Wilhelm Landauer in Warsaw, established in 1857, closed in that year. However, Landauer returned to Warsaw some years later and opened a joint stock
company in 1913. Mieczyslaw Epstein founded the Warsaw
Discount Bank in 1871. Leopold *Kronenberg took part in the
foundation of the Warsaw Credit Union in 1869 and the following year established the first joint stock bank in Poland,
Bank Handlowy at Warsaw. The Natanson family bank was in
operation between 1866 and 1932. In Romania, Maurice *Blank
(d. 1921) established the house Marmorosch, Blank and Company, which his son, Aristide, directed after him.
Scandinavia and the Netherlands. The Goeteborgs
Bank in 1848 was established in Sweden through the agency
of L.E. Magnes, Morris Jacobsson, Edward Magnus, and others. Theodor *Mannheimer was the first managing director of
Scandinaviska Kreditakteibolaget, and Louis *Fraenkel managed Stockholms Handelsbank from 1893 to 1911. The Danish merchant financiers Joseph *Hambro and his son Carl
Joachim *Hambro settled in London in 1832 and founded
Hambros Bank there. A leading Danish banker was Isaac
*Glckstadt, who managed the Landsmans-Bank at Copenhagen from 1872 until his death in 1910; he was succeeded by
his son Emil. A. Levy Martin was finance minister in 1870 and
from 1873 till 1897 director of the Copenhagen Handelsbank.
From 1913 until his death in 1923, Markus Rubin was director of the Danish Notenbank. In Holland the firm of Lissa
and Kann was established in 1805. Another Dutch firm of the
same era was Wertheimer and Gompertz, later known as the
Bankassociatie. In 1859 the firm of Lippman, Rosenthal and
Company was established as a subsidiary of the International
Bank of Luxembourg. Its international activities were wideENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
117
118
In the latter years of the 20t century and the early years of
the 21st, the banking industry consolidated, and some oldline Jewish firms were bought or incorporated into others as
buyouts and mergers changed the landscape. As Jews assimilated into American life, many advanced in the workplace less
along ethnic lines and more along lines of achievement. To be
sure, there were many Jews in leadership positions in prominent financial institutions: Felix *Rohatyn at Lazard Frres,
Bruce *Wasserstein at several large firms, Sanford *Weill at
Citibank, and others, but their financial success was largely
attributed to their business acumen rather than to their religious or ethnic background.
George Soros, a Hungarian immigrant, became one of
the most successful investors and later spread his wealth to
nonprofit organizations and to political causes. Michael Steinhardt and others made their mark in hedge funds or as independent venture capitalists, accumulating great wealth but also
making large philanthropic contributions. Carl *Icahn and
Irwin L. *Jacobs developed reputations as corporate raiders.
Abby Joseph Cohen was the leading investment strategist for
Goldman Sachs, and Henry Kaufman, a well-known economist, offered advice about the stock market that was followed
by many. In addition, on Wall Street, such firms as Schwab &
Co., headed by Charles *Schwab, achieved great success as a
low-price stock-market firm.
Some investors Ivan *Boesky, Michael *Milken, Marc
*Rich became infamous for their questionable financial
activities, but whether their religion played a role is highly
unlikely. They were perceived as corrupt financial figures,
not corrupt Jewish financial figures.
In the last years of the 20t century, a number of Jews
had important positions in the nations economic community. Alan *Greenspan, a Republican, headed the Federal Reserve System for almost 20 years and became a powerful force
in Washington. During the Clinton administration, Jewish
economists, including Robert *Rubin, the Treasury secretary,
and Lawrence *Sommers, his successor and later president of
Harvard University, held Cabinet-level positions, and James
D. *Wolfensohn headed the World Bank from 1995 to 2005.
His successor, chosen by President George W. Bush, was Paul
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
banner
Die Wirtschaftliche Krise der deutschen Juden (1931); idem, in: YIVOA,
7 (1952), 175203; Goldberg, in: Yivo Ekonomishe Shriftn, 2 (1932),
5692; S. Birmingham, Our Crowd (1967); K. Zielenziger, Juden in
der deutschen Wirtschaft (1930); B.E. Supple, in: Business History Review, 31 no. 2 (1957); E.O. Eisenberg, in: The National Jewish Monthly,
53 no. 6 (Feb., 1939); Milano, in: JQR, 30 (1939/40), 14986; Giuseppi,
in: JHSEM, 6 (1962), 14374; G. Myers, History of the Great American
Fortunes (1910, 19372); D.S. Landes, Bankers and Pashas in Egypt
(1958); K. Grunwald, Hamizrah ha-H adash: Ha-Bankaim ha-Yehudim
be-Iraq, 1 (1960), 1605; H.-D. Kircholtes, Juedische Privatbanken in
Frankfurt/M. (1969). See also bibliographies in articles on individual
countries and families.
119
bnczi
120
BANUS, MARIA (19141999), Romanian poet. Born in Bucharest, Banus first poems were published in 1928. She gained
fame with her first collection of verse, Tara fetelor (The Maidens Land, 1937), a lyrical description of the awakening sensuality of adolescence. Maria Banus came to be regarded as
Romanias outstanding poet on feminine themes. Despite her
baptism, forced
early detachment from Judaism, she adopted a more positive attitude toward Jewish life in the shtetl as a result of her
experiences during the Holocaust. Bucurie (Joy, 1949) includes some important poems about Jewish suffering during
the Holocaust. After World War II, Banus regarded the Communist Party as the savior of mankind. Social and humanitarian themes dominate her Torentul (The Torrent, 1959) and
Magnet (The Lodestone, 1962), in which the poet denounces
war and calls on mothers everywhere to join in the effort to
secure lasting peace. In the liberalization period, she went
back to writing personal poems, but as an aged woman. Her
collections of verse include Fiilor mei (To my Sons, 1949);
Versuri alese (Selected Poems, 1953); Despre pamant (About
the Earth, 1954); and Se arata lumea (The World Shows Up,
1956). She also wrote two social dramas, Ziua cea mare (The
Great Day, 1951) and Indragostitii (The Lovers, 1954), and
published translations of Goethe, Pushkin, Rilke, and Shakespeare. Many of her poems have been translated into English, Russian, and Chinese, and some of them into Hebrew.
She published Din poezia de dragoste a lumii (Love Poetry
in World Literature, 1965), including poems by Hebrew and
Yiddish poets. In 1978 she published parts of her World War II
journal, Sub camuflaj (Under Camouflage), which caused
controversy because of its descriptions of her erotic experiences and her attitude to her Jewish identity. Although she
identified with Jewish suffering, she preferred to be a Romanian, identifying with the Romanian language and culture.
Bibliography: G. Calinescu, Istoria literaturii romane (1941),
847, 925; C. Baltazar, Scriitor si om (1946), 1527; G. Calinescu, in Contemporanul (March 6, 1959); P. Georgescu, in: Viata romaneasca (Oct.
1964), 12527; Add. Bibliography: A. Mirodan, Dictionar neconventional, 1 (1986), 99112; A.B. Yoffe, Bisdot Zarim (1996), 21821.
[Dora Litani-Littman / Lucian-Zeev Herscovici (2nd ed.)]
121
bq al-gharbiyya; bq al-sharqiyya
122
bara, theda
Bq al-Gharbiyya received municipal status. Bq al-Sharqiyya, which remained on the Jordanian side of the border in
1949, was occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967.
In contrast to Bq al-Gharbiyya, its layout and economic and
social structure remained largely traditional. Its population in
1967 was 1,205, rising to 3,054 in 1997.
[Efraim Orni]
BAQBA, town c. 25 mi. (40 km.) north of Baghdad. Under the Abbasid caliphate, Baqba was a district center, with
a prosperous Jewish community. At the end of the eighth century, Manasseh b. R. Joseph of Baqba, was head of the academy of *Pumbedita. Even later, many Jews lived in the town. In
the early 12t century, a self-styled herald of the messiah, Ibn
Shadad, appeared in Baqba and began a movement which
was suppressed by the Muslim authorities. The community
existed into the 19t century.
Bibliography: J. Obermeyer, Landschaft Babylonien (1929),
144f.; Goitein, in: JJS, 4 (1953), 79; Mann, in: REJ, 71 (1920), 90f.; A.
Ben-Jacob, Yehudei Bavel (1965), 13f., 222.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
123
baracs, kroly
and cast her in A Fool There Was (1915) under the name by
which she came to be known as the foremost vamp of the
silent screen. Among her other films were The Devils Daughter
(1915), The Serpent (1916), Heart and Soul (1917), The Forbidden
Path (1918), Devil (1918), The Soul of Buddha (1918), When a
Woman Sins (1918), and Lure of Ambition (1919). However, of
the more than 40 films she made from late 1914 through 1926,
only three and a half remain.
Born in the wealthy, largely Jewish Cincinnati suburb
of Avondale, Bara was close to her immigrant parents and
siblings and had a happy childhood. Extremely intelligent
and an avid reader, she attended college for two years. But
she dropped out of school, dyed her blonde hair black, and
set out to pursue her love of theater. Although she was not
very successful on the Broadway stage, her role as the vampire in A Fool There Was, at the age of 30, made her an overnight success.
The first sex symbol for the masses, Bara was renowned for her portrayal of sinful, smoky-eyed women who
lured proper husbands away from their wives, playing the relentless vamp in such films as Sin (1915), Destruction (1915),
The Vixen (1916), and The Rose of Blood (1917). As the movie
industrys first fabricated movie star, publicists billed Bara
as The Serpent of the Nile, who was born in the shadow of
the Pyramids. They claimed that her first name was an anagram for death and her last name was Arab spelled backwards. Constantly being photographed with snakes, skulls,
crystal balls, and opulent accouterments, Theda Bara epitomized evil at its most lavish. Because of her fatal allure for
Americas husbands and her influence on young women,
clergymen across the country regularly denounced her from
their pulpits.
After a while, Bara began to demand better roles and
succeeded in playing such heroines as Cleopatra (1917), Salome (1918), Carmen (1916), Juliet (1917), Madame DuBarry
(1917), and Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1918). But her two
favorite parts were the staunch Foreign Legion girl in Under
Two Flags (1916) and the innocent Irish peasant in Kathleen
Mavourneen (1919). However, her film career ended with
the latter, as Irish and Catholic groups protested not only the
way Ireland was depicted but also the fact that a Jewish actress
had been given the leading role. The film was pulled out of
circulation after several bomb threats and movie-theater riots.
Undaunted and unscathed, Bara married successful director Charles Brabin in 1921. The wealthy couple lived well
and traveled widely; and when they were at home, Baras
charm as a hostess and her skill as a gourmet cook made
their Beverly Hills estate a haven for their friends in the film
community. Bara wrote a memoir of her professional experiences entitled What Women Never Tell, but it was never
published.
Bibliography: E. Golden, Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda
Bara (1996).
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
124
baraita, baraitot
ing that three (!) of these five traditions are matniyata, and
two (!) shemata. Now since four of the traditions were introduced by tannaitic formula, and only one was presented
as an amoraic statement (shemata), the Talmud emends the
wording of the fifth and final tradition, changing it from teni
Rav H iyya to amar Rav H iyya. The only difference here is the
change in the introductory formula from teni (= matnita) to
amar (= shemata). In his commentary to this passage Rashi
explains the difference between these terms: the words teni
Rav H iyya mean that Rabbi H iyya related or transmitted the
following tradition, whereas the wording amar Rav H iyya indicates that Rabbi H iyya was speaking in his own name, expressing his own opinion (memra), and not repeating an authoritative source (matnita).
From this we learn two important things. First, there is
often no difference whatsoever between the actual wording
of tannaitic and amoraic traditions. Secondly, the primary
difference between the meanings of the verbs teni and amar
lies in the fact that the former indicates the transmission of a
received tradition, whereas the latter indicates that the rabbi
whose name is linked to the tradition is expressing his own
opinion and not reporting a received tradition. These two phenomena can, however, lead to certain ambiguities concerning
the nature of the talmudic baraitot.
Baraitot and Memrot
First of all, the Talmud often introduces a given tradition by
the following double formula: Rabbi Abahu (or the name of
some other amora) said and others report that it was recited
as a matnita, etc. This formula reflects the first fact mentioned
above, namely that there is often no difference between the
wording of tannaitic and amoraic traditions. As a result, an
identical halakhic tradition may circulate both as a shemata
in the name of a specific amora and at the same time also as
a matnita usually transmitted anonymously but sometimes
in the name of a specific tanna.
Similarly, the use of the verb teni as the sole criterion
for identifying ancient and authoritative tannaitic traditions
is complicated by an ambiguity inherent in the meaning of
the term as explained by Rashi above. According to Rashi, the
verb teni indicates that a given rabbi is reporting a tradition,
whereas the verb amar indicates that the rabbi is expressing
his own opinion. But what happens when the disciples of an
amora report his words when the amoras own opinion
becomes a tradition? This situation is reflected in the common talmudic formula in which a form of the verb teni is
used explicitly with regard to an amoraic tradition: matni la
leha shemata = they reported the following amoraic tradition. This and other similar formulae reflect the obvious fact
that amoraic traditions were also repeated, recited, studied,
and transmitted alongside tannaitic traditions within the talmudic academies.
The Amoraic Baraita
When combined, these two phenomena give rise to a particularly difficult issue, namely, the amoraic baraita. We frequently
125
baraita, baraitot
find in the Talmud that the verb teni is used in association with
the name of an amora, for example: teni Rav Yosef. This specific
formula occurs dozens of times in the Babylonian Talmud,
and there are many other similar formula. Does this formula
intend to introduce an ancient tannaitic tradition, preserved
and transmitted in the school of Rabbi Joseph? Or alternatively does it intend to introduce a later post-tannaitic tradition, first formulated and recited within the school of Rabbi
Joseph himself, or within the school of one of his teachers?
We may still accept Rashis distinction and assume that the use
of the introductory term teni serves to designate a tradition
preserved and transmitted by Rabbi Joseph or by his school,
and to distinguish it from the individual opinion of the amora
himself. It does not, however, provide clear evidence as to the
historical roots of that tradition, whether it derives from the
tannaitic period, or from the later amoraic period.
The Baraita as a Legal Category
An important distinction emerges from the previous discussion: between the baraita as a literary category and the baraita
as a legal category. Up to this point we have dealt mostly with
the baraita as a literary phenomenon a distinct and welldefined source, usually in Hebrew, appearing in the talmudic discussion and introduced by certain standard formulae
which indicate that it reports a received tradition. The term
is also used in a more specific sense, to designate a tradition deriving from sources of the tannaitic period and hence
presumably possessing a greater legal authority than similar
sources deriving from the later amoraic period a shemata
or memra. In order to clarify this point, we must return to
our discussion of the role that these sources play in the talmudic sugya.
The legal sources which provide the foundation for the
talmudic sugya can be divided (using standard post-talmudic terminology) into three categories: mishnah, baraita, and
memra. While the sources belonging to all three categories
are considered to be authoritative, they are not equally authoritative. A mishnah is usually (but not always) held to
be more authoritative than a parallel baraita. On the other
hand, either a mishnah or a baraita as a tannaitic source
is generally considered more authoritative than any parallel
amoraic memra. This question of relative authority, however,
only becomes relevant when these sources come into conflict
with each other. Thus two sources of equal authority (e.g. two
baraitot or two memrot) can be treated as mutually contradictory (rumya, raminhi) for the purpose of talmudic analysis and interpretation, but one cannot be used to refute the
other. A tannaitic source (a mishnah or a baraita), however,
can be used to refute (mativ, etive, tiyuvta) the memra of an
amora. Thus, in the case where there is no obvious way to resolve a contradiction between a memra and an alternative legal
source, it becomes crucial to clarify whether that source is in
fact a baraita, in the legal sense of an authoritative tannaitic
source, or whether it is merely a memra, which the amora
may dispute (cf. Git. 42b).
126
baraita, baraitot
ferences are by and large localized, and derive from redactional considerations. In other words, there is no justification
for the assumption that the differences in these baraitot are
ancient, nor that they preserve independent traditions which
originated in the tannaitic period. The opposite is the case.
They do not present alternative traditions, but rather redactional parallels (Tosefta Atiqta, 78). This position has been
substantially confirmed in numerous case studies, carried out
both by Friedman and by his students, which have examined
in detail the development of individual traditions, tracing
the various steps through which original tannaitic traditions
passed on the way to their final and often significantly different
form as baraitot in the Babylonian Talmud sources.
This of course does not mean that the phenomenon of
ancient independent traditions is not to be found in many individual cases. But it does mean that this phenomenon is not
the only legitimate explanation for the existence parallel tannaitic texts, as Albeck would have us believe. As a result, we
may have to reexamine the assertion, put forward by a number
of scholars of the last century, that many alternative collections
of tannaitic baraitot circulated in later talmudic times, since
much of the evidence for this assertion is valid only if one accepts Albecks views regarding this issue. Friedmans approach
also has consequences for the historian, who may no longer
use talmudic baraitot as direct and independent historical evidence for the state of rabbinic law and lore as they existed in
second century Palestine, without first examining the redactional history of the tradition included in the baraita.
The Development of the Terms Baraita and Tosefet
The baraita, both as a literary and as a legal phenomenon, provided the foundation for the development of amoraic halakhic
literature, from the very earliest literary levels of the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmudim to the very end of the amoraic
period. At the same time, it is striking that the term itself only
appears in the Babylonian Talmud, the sole exception being
the case of the Jerusalem Talmud, Nid. 3:3, 50d. Even in the
Babylonian Talmud, it is found almost exclusively in the words
of Babylonian amoraim from the fourth generation onwards,
as pointed out by Neil Danzig. Danzig suggested that the use of
the term baraita, meaning external mishnah, as opposed to
the more neutral term matnita, meaning mishnah, reflected
the growing establishment of the Mishnah of Rabbi Judah haNasi as the central and uniquely authoritative source of tannaitic halakhah in the later Babylonian academies, after an
extended transitional period in which the various collections
of tannaitic halakhah were accepted on a more equal basis. It
remains questionable whether this transitional period, documented by J.N. Epstein (Mavo le-Nusah ha-Mishnah, 166352),
extended to the fourth generation of Babylonian amoraim.
Moreover, the distinction between mishnah and baraita in the
Babylonian Talmud is as often literary as legal, emphasizing
the simple fact that a given tradition is part of the Mishnah
of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi and so provides the literary foundation for a talmudic sugya whereas some other tradition
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
127
to refer to a particular corpus of supplementary halakhic traditions (Meg. 28b, Kid. 49b, Sanh. 86a, Shavu. 41b), or perhaps even a particular literary work like our Tosefta (see
*Tosefta). As a result it may no longer have been able to serve
as a generic term as the name for an entire category of individual literary sources as well as a name for the individual
sources themselves.
Bibliography: B.M. Lewin (ed.), Iggeret R. Sherira Gaon
(1921), 6, 27, 3447; Malachi b. Jacob, Yad Malakhi (18562); N. Krochmal, Moreh Nevukhei ha-Zeman (1928), ch. 73; idem, in: He-H alutz,
3 (1856), 11031; Weiss, Dor, vol. 2, 23958; Halevy, Dorot, 2 (1923),
11452, 162216; Ch. Albeck, Meh karim ba-Baraita (1944); M. Higger, Oz ar ha-Beraitot (1948), 9134; Epstein, Mishnah (1948), 3063,
1714, 673706, 726803, 1291; Bacher, in: Yerushalayim, 10 (1913),
5982; Bacher, Trad; E.Z. Melamed, in: Sefer ha-Zikkaron M.Z. Ilan
(1959), 7184; Neusner, in: PAAJR, 30 (1962), 79127; Add. Bibliography: Danzig, in: Sinai, 85 (1979), 21724; Sh. Friedman,
Tosefta Atiqta (2002), idem, in: D. Boyarin (ed.), Ateret le-H ayyim
(2000), 163201; idem, in: Y. Elman et al. (eds.), Netiot le-David
(2004), 195274.
[Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
BARAITA DEMELEKHET HAMISHKAN (On the Building of the Tabernacle), ancient collection containing 14 chapters, giving a description of the building of the Tabernacle.
The baraita is quoted by early authorities, including Hai Gaon,
Rashi, the tosafists, and Nah manides, under the name Baraita
de-Melekhet ha-Mishkan or Mishnat Melekhet ha-Mishkan.
It is written in mishnaic Hebrew and contains practically no
later additions. The sages quoted in it are tannaim, the latest
of them being Judah ha-Nasi and his contemporaries. Extracts
from it are cited in the amoraic literature. It was therefore evidently compiled at the same time as the other beraitot, i.e.,
after the close of the Mishnah but before that of the Babylonian Talmud. The chapter arrangement is as follows: chapter
1 the dimensions of the Tabernacle, its boards, their appearance and arrangement; 2 the curtains of tekhelet (blue), their
preparation and the manner in which they were placed over
the Tabernacle; 3 the curtains of goats skins and the other
covers of the Tabernacle the rams skins dyed red and the
tah ash (unidentified animal mentioned in the Bible) skins;
4 the weaving of the veil and the screen at the entrance;
5 the court of the Tabernacle; 6 and 7 the ark of the covenant and the tablets which it contained; 8 the table and the
showbread; 9 and 10 the candelabrum, its construction and
manner of kindling; 11 the altar of incense and the altar of
burnt offerings; 12 the laver; 13 the work of the levites in
the Tabernacle and the Israelite encampments in the wilderness; 14 the clouds of glory. The priestly garments are not
treated at all. Extracts from Baraita de-Melekhet ha-Mishkan
are included in the Baraita of 49 Rules. Some are even of the
opinion that the last two chapters, in which the aggadic element is considerable, originally belonged to the Baraita of 49
Rules (L. Gruenhut, Sefer ha-Likkutim, 2 (1898), 1113). The
baraita was first published in Venice in 1602, and a critical edition was published in 1908 by Meir Ish Shalom (Friedmann),
128
barak
129
barak, aharon
130
equality before the law for ordinary people and influential officeholders alike.
Barak then served for another year as attorney general
under newly elected Prime Minister Menach em Begin. During that time he was also a member of the Israeli delegation
to the Camp David talks with Egypt in September 1978. Despite his resignation from the office of attorney general upon
his return to Israel and his appointment as a justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, during the negotiations on the peace
treaty with Egypt in October 1978, he was asked yet again by
the government to join the negotiating team and special permission for this purpose was granted by the minister of justice and the president of the Supreme Court. In this role Barak
proved to be a key figure in reaching and drafting the peace
agreement with Egypt.
As a Supreme Court justice, Barak served on many public
committees, the most notable one being the *Kahan Commission created in September 1982 to investigate Israels involvement in the 1982 massacres at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee
camps in Lebanon. The Kahan Commission found that no
Israeli was directly responsible for the massacre, but determined that Defense Minister Ariel Sharon bore personal
responsibility. It ruled that he was negligent in ignoring the
possibility of bloodshed in the camps following the assassination of Lebanese leader and president-elect Bashir Jumayyil
on September 14, 1982.
As one of the youngest justices ever named to the Israel
Supreme Court, Barak became the most influential figure in
Israeli jurisprudence, creating new legal doctrines and becoming the object of praise and attack from different quarters in
Israeli society. Baraks contention that every human dilemma
can be answered by a legal doctrine led to the development
of several such doctrines that gradually expanded the Courts
powers of review. One judicial doctrine which played an important role in the expansion of the Courts review was the
doctrine of reasonableness: In HC 389/80 Barak drew the lines
of reasonableness as an independent standard, ruling that an
administrative act may be invalidated if it is unreasonable.
This legal doctrine was later used to strike down a government
decision to appoint to a high post a senior ex-Secret Service
officer who had been granted a pardon for his part in a coverup related to the deliberate killing of two captured terrorists
(HC 6163/92). By exercising this measure of reasonableness,
the Court also forced the resignation of a cabinet minister
who maintained the right to remain silent during a criminal
investigation (HC 3094/93).
Barak was the driving force in lowering the standing requirement that served as a barrier preventing citizens from
petitioning the High Court of Justice. In the landmark Ressler
case (HC 910/86), the Court affirmed the existence of the public petitioner, providing that whenever a petition raises an
issue of constitutional merit, or when there is suspicion of
serious executive violations of the principle of the rule of
law, any person is entitled to bring the petition into court, regardless of ones personal standing or interest in the outcome
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barak, ehud
131
bar-am, micha
132
Perhaps Israels most prominent contemporary photographer, Bar-Am had his pictures praised for values that extended
beyond reportage and photojournalism into the world of esthetic journalism. According to one critic, Bar-Ams bromides
transcend the realistic aspect of photography by wrapping the
event into a comprehensive esthetic package. Another point
of synthesis in Bar-Ams work was related to the particular
conditions of his work and existence. The New York Times
called him a deeply committed Israeli and a fiercely independent journalist. Bar-Am expressed concern about being
pigeonholed as a combat photographer, being deeply interested in human beings and their behavior. He sought to take
photographs that contain all the information related to a certain event but that are also elevated above the event.
Bar-Am was a brilliant student of world photography
and succeeded in assimilating its achievements despite his
lack of formal photographic education. He created his own
unmistakably recognizable personal style. This transmits a
strong sense of directness, an intuition for immediacy as well
as for formal compositional qualities. His pictures prove that
in photography a work of art maintains it umbilical link to its
original context.
[Yeshayahu Nir]
baranovichi
BARANGA, AUREL (Leibovici; 19131979), Romanian playwright and poet. Born in Bucharest, Baranga qualified as a
physician and first published poems in the avant-garde review Unu (192832). In 193031 he edited Alge, a journal that
cultivated the absurd. Later he wrote for the left-wing press.
After World War II Baranga devoted himself entirely to writing: he became a reporter and wrote poems. When Romanian
Nazis were put on trial in Bucharest in 1945, he was among
the first to make the Romanian public aware of the full extent of Nazi crimes. His articles on the deportation of Romanian Jews to the Transnistria concentration camps were colENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
133
Holocaust Period
On the eve of the Holocaust, 12,000 Jews lived in Baranovichi. Under Soviet rule (193941), Jewish community organizations were disbanded and any kind of political or youth
activity was forbidden. Some youth groups organized flight
to Vilna, which was then part of Lithuania, and from there
reached Palestine. The Hebrew Tarbut school became a Russian institution. A Jewish high school did continue to function, however. In the summer of 1940 Jewish refugees from
western Poland who had found refuge in Baranovichi after
September 1939 were deported to the Soviet interior. When
Germans captured the city on June 27, 1941, 400 Jews were
kidnapped, leaving no trace. A *Judenrat was set up, headed
by Joshua Izikzon. The community was forced to pay a fine
of five kg. of gold, ten kg. of silver, and 1,000,000 rubles. The
ghetto was fenced off from the outside on Dec. 12, 1941. The
ghetto inhabitants suffered great hardship that winter, although efforts were made to alleviate the hunger. The Jewish
doctors and their assistants fought to contain the epidemics.
On March 4, 1942, the ghetto was surrounded. In a Selektion
carried out by the Nazis to separate the productive from the
nonproductive, over 3,000 elderly persons, widows, orphans,
etc., were taken to trenches prepared in advance and murdered. Resistance groups, organized in the ghetto as early as
the spring of 1942, collected arms and sabotaged their places
of work. Plans for rebellion were laid, but the uprising never
came to pass, partly due to German subterfuge. In the second
German Aktion on Sept. 22, 1942, about 3,000 persons were
murdered. On Dec. 17, 1942, another Aktion was carried out,
in which more than 3,000 persons were killed near Grabowce.
Baranovichi was now declared *judenrein. At the end of 1942
Jews were already fighting in groups among the partisans. A
few survivors from the ghetto were still in some of the forced
labor camps in the district, but most of them were liquidated
in 1943. On July 8, 1944, when the city was taken by the Soviet
forces, about 150 Jews reappeared from hiding in the forests.
Later a few score more returned from the U.S.S.R.
[Aharon Weiss]
Postwar Period
In 1954 a monument was erected in the city as a memorial to
the Jews murdered by the Nazis. Later it was destroyed and
in its place a public latrine was built. The big synagogue was
confiscated by the authorities, leaving a small one for the 3,000
Jews (1969 estimate). Most of the Jews emigrated in the 1990s.
Societies of emigrants from Baranovichi function in Israel, the
U.S.A., Argentina, Chile, and South Africa.
Bibliography: Bulletin of the Joint Rescue Committee of the
Jewish Agency for Palestine (April, 1945), 1322; Baranoviz : Sefer Zikkaron (Heb. and Yid., 1953); Baranovich in Umkum un Vidershtand,
1 (1964); Ben-Mordekhai, in: S.K. Mirsky (ed.), Mosdot Torah beEiropah be-Vinyanam u-ve-H urbanam (1956), 32935.
134
BRNY, ROBERT (18761936), Austrian otologist and Nobel Prize winner. Brny qualified at the University of Vienna
in 1900, and for the next five years did research in hospitals
in Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Freiburg, returning to Vienna
in 1905. By 1914 his research encompassed all aspects of the
physiology and pathology of the inner ear. His greatest innovation in the clinical study of ear diseases was the discovery of
a method of examination of each of the two labyrinths separately, using cold and hot water. He was also the first to describe a practical operative procedure for otosclerosis (hardening of the ear) cases. During World War I Brny served
as a surgeon in the Austrian Army. He was captured by the
Russians in 1915. They released him after it became known that
he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1914.
Brny was not made a full professor at Vienna because he was
a Jew. However, in 1917 he was appointed professor of otology
at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Brny only began to
display interest in Judaism and Jewish questions toward the
end of his life, when the Nazis came to power. In his will he
left his valuable library to the National Library in Jerusalem.
His major works are Der primaere Wundnaht bei Schussverletzungen des Gehirns (in: Wiener klinische Wochenschrift, 21
(1916)); and Die Radikaloperation des Ohres ohne Gehoergangplastik bei chronischen Mittelohreiterungen (1923).
Bibliography: E. Wodak, Der Brnysche Zeigeversuch
(1927); NDB, 1 (1953), 581.
[Yehiel G. Gumpertz]
barash, asher
BARASCH, MOSHE (19202004), Israeli art scholar. Barasch can be considered the father of art history in Israel, a fact
acknowledged by the State in 1996 when it awarded him the
first Israel Prize in art history. Born in Czernowitz, he was a
child prodigy as a painter and writer. He had his first exhibition of Expressionist paintings in 1933, and in 1935 published
his first book, Die Glaubens schwere Wege, stating his belief in
Judaism and Zionism. During World War II, he joined the Romanian Resistance and later enlisted in the Red Army to fight
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
the Nazis, as well as the Haganahs *Berih ah organization. Arriving in Israel in 1948, he fought in the War of Independence
and published in Abysmal Reflections (1948) drawings reflecting his reactions to World War II. In 1956 he began teaching
art history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and in 1965
inaugurated there a Department of Art History, the first in
Israel. He believed that one should be able to teach all periods of art and stressed the importance of a broad knowledge
of philosophy and culture in understanding art. He began to
publish books on the Renaissance and Crusader Art, and later
broadened his scope to include studies on the depiction of
God, the iconography of gestures and facial expressions, aesthetics and the theory of color in Renaissance art, the ways
that art communicates with the spectator, and the way the
mental concept of blindness is imaged in art.
His published works on art history include Michelangelo
(1961); The Image of Man in the History of Art (1967); Introduction to Renaissance Art (1968); Crusader Figural Sculpture
in the Holy Land (1971); Gestures of Despair in Medieval and
Early Renaissance Art (1976); Approaches to Art 17501950
(1977); Light and Color in the Italian Renaissance Theory of
Art (1978); Icon: Studies in the History of an Idea (1981); Theories of Art: from Plato to Winckelmann (1985); Giotto and the
Language of Gesture (1987); Modern Theories of Art, vol. 1
(1990), vol. 2 (1998); Imago Hominis: Studies in the Language
of Art (1991); The Language of Art: Studies in Interpretation
(1997); Das Gottesbild: Studien zur Darstellung des Unsichtbaren (1998); Blindness: The History of a Mental Image in Western Thought (2001).
Bibliography: M. Ebner, Introduction to Moses Barasch,
in: Des Glaubens schwere Wege (1935), 58; J. Assmann, Introduction
to Representation in Religion: Studies in Honor of Moshe Barasch, J.
Assmann and A.I. Baumgarten (eds.) (2001); Z. Amishai-Maisels,
Moshe Barasch (19202004), in: Ars Judaica, 1 (2005), 15658.
[Ziva Amishai-Maisels (2nd ed.)]
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barash, asher
After World War II he composed his best works in poetry and prose, wrote criticism, and edited several works. In
conjunction with Yaakov *Rabinowitz, he edited the prose
volumes Hedim, the Miz peh Almanac, and Atidot, a youth
journal. He was also active in the organizational work of the
Association of Hebrew Writers, and established the bio-bibliographical institute, Genazim, which now bears his name.
Barashs works were collected in three volumes (Kol Kitvei
Asher Barash, 19612). In 1931, he wrote Torat ha-Sifrut (Theory
of Literature, in two volumes) which was the first attempt in
modern Hebrew literature to present the Hebrew reader with
a systematic theory of literature.
It is, however, as an author of fiction that Barash left his
impact. His works mainly highlight the world he left behind.
His description, often touched by nostalgia, is at the same
time indicative of the authors awareness that this world must
inevitably disintegrate. Barash was also aware of the new life
evolving in Erez Israel, and this consciousness he conveyed in
three works, Ke-Ir Nez urah, Ish u-Veito Nimh u (The Man and
His Home Perished, 193334), and Gannanim (Gardeners,
193738). Among his historical fiction are two stories, Mul
Shaar ha-Shamayim (Facing the Gates of Heaven, 1924)
and Ha-Nishar be-Toledo (1944; Last in Toledo, in Israel
Argosy, 8 (1962), 14471).
Barashs literary works are characterized by a rather personal style, precise language, and a quiet tone tending to simplicity and clear and unsentimental description. He rejected
both the traditional style of the school of *Mendele Mokher
Seforim and the extreme impressionistic and psychological style of some modernists. These stylistic qualities rapidly
won him the title of a cool realist, uninvolved in the world
he creates.
Barashs affection for the good people, who are mostly
marginal characters in his stories, was interpreted as an objective description of the more pleasant aspects of life. This simplistic and superficial approach to his works, however, ignores
the cracks in his seemingly tranquil world through which can
be glimpsed the hidden abyss that he keenly sensed. In his essay on Barash (in Arai va-Keva (1942), 14758) Halkin dwells
on this hidden but basic aspect in Barashs writing. He points to
the strange but consistent contrast between the seemingly realistic tranquility and the knowledge (which Barash may have
tried to conceal from himself) that this pleasant existence is
but a thin shell protecting the individual from the chaos which
threatens to erupt at any moment and engulf him or her.
The early story Ah im (Brothers, 1911) describes two
brothers, one anchored in the full life of a traditional Jewish
family, and the other living in debauchery and poverty. When
engaged on a mission of mercy to his brothers family, the rich
brother finds himself strangely jealous of the others way of
life. In his early book, Temunot mi-Beit Mivshal ha-Shekhar
(Sketches from the Brewery, 191528), considered his best,
the theme of the story of The Burning Bed sharply offsets
the peaceful enterprise at a brewery and hints at the inevitable
destruction of this idyllic setting.
136
In Ammud ha-Esh (The Pillar of Fire, 1936) Barash depicts the contrast between a good, stable, and humdrum provincial life, with its lovable yet ridiculous Zionist activity, and
the explosion of the oil well, a pillar of fire. The burning oil
well transforms the small town and its industrious life into a
hell, simultaneously attractive and repelling, which threatens
the sanity of the people. The thematic juxtaposition, found
in almost all of Barashs stories, lends them depth and ambiguity. The same is evident in his method of characterization.
Some of his characters appear to serve his healthy realistic
tendencies, while others result from his romantic affinity for
the strange, the rare, and the threatening.
Structurally, Barashs stories and novels follow a conservative, ordered, and clear pattern that seems to avoid confusion. Each story opens with a systematic exposition that
acquaints the reader with the significance of events and characters. At times, the author introduces an omniscient narrator who defines the characters clearly. The dramatis personae,
however, do not conform to this characterization. In the denouement of the plot and events, their deeds and behavior,
whether openly or secretly, contradict the authoritative evaluation of the narrator. What at first seemed a simple structure
is actually a literary device through which the complexity of
the characters, originally imagined to be much more artless,
is revealed. Barash tends toward short and limited narratives. This is clearly evident even in his more extensive works
which are composed of more or less independent sketches
or episodes. Ke-Ir Nez urah is a collection of random contemporary historical fiction, narratives, and personal experiences which are organically disconnected. These portrayals
may provide the main outlines of characters and events for a
full-length novel, but they cannot sustain its necessary unity
and complexity.
The novel Ahavah Zarah (Alien Love, 193038) poignantly describes events and experiences characteristic of the
problematic coexistence of Jews and non-Jews in a small Galician town. The grandmother is undoubtedly one of Barashs
best-drawn satirical characters. Barashs simplistic solution to
the love conflict of a Jew for a non-Jewish girl introduces a
foreign tendentious element into the novel which reduces its
tragic significance. Barash thus presents, but does not resolve,
the problems in the sphere of human emotions. The girl marries a policeman who is an antisemite; the boy recognizes the
evil that is rooted in the non-Jew, even in his own beloved.
The solution is ideological and logical, stultifying the human
elements in the story and the humanity of the characters.
In Torat ha-Sifrut, Barash attempts to guide the novice poet and the teacher of literature. His normative approach was undoubtedly useful and served as a guide to the
teacher and the student of literature in the technique of writing. Today, however, Barashs dogmatic statements seem oldfashioned and at times even incorrect: they often unnecessarily limit literary concepts and terms. The anthology of
Hebrew poetry edited by Barash, Mivh ar ha-Shirah ha-Ivrit
ha-H adashah (1938), attests to good taste and knowledgeable
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baratz, hermann
choice of material and is still a faithful and discerning reflection of the best of Hebrew poetry. In 1969, Selected Stories of
Asher Barash appeared.
A list of his works translated into English appears in
Goell, Bibliography, index.
Bibliography: Halkin, in: Arai va-Keva (1942), 14758; D.
Sadan, Bein Din le-H eshbon (1963), 22633; Even, in: Moznayim, 22
(1966), 21520; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 3836; S. Lachower, Asher
Barash, Bibliografyah, 190652 (1953); Waxman, Literature, 4 (19602),
1734. Add. Bibliography: G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 1
(1977), 34155; N. Toker, H ezyon H olot ve-Yarkete Olam: Al Zikat haMakom ve-ha-Zeman be-Sippurei Asher Barash (1980); N. TamirSmilanski, Asher Barash, Mivh ar Maamrei Bikoret al Yez irato (1988).
Website: www.ithl.org.il.
[Yosef Ewen]
BARATZ, HERMANN (Hirsch; 18351922), jurist and historian born in Dubno, Volhynia. He graduated from the government rabbinical seminary in Zhitomir (1859) and from the
law faculty of the University of Kiev (1869), and in 1863 was
appointed adviser on Jewish affairs to the governor general of
Kiev; from 1871 to 1901 he served as censor of Hebrew books.
In 1881, with Max *Mandelstamm, he represented the Jews in
the province of Kiev before the commission to investigate the
causes of the pogroms in southern Russia. Baratz, who contributed to the Russian Jewish press from its beginnings in
1860, was one of the founders in 1904 of the Kiev branch of the
*Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews in Russia. He wrote on the history of the Jews in Kiev, and published
studies on the history of ancient Russian law; his chief work
concerned the influence of the Bible and talmudic sources on
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baratz, joseph
138
barbara
His daughter was Asenath *Barazani. The Barazani family included many rabbis of Mosul, other Kurdish towns, and until
recently, Baghdad.
Bibliography: Benayahu, in: Sefunot, 9 (1965), 21125; A.
Ben-Jacob, Kehillot Yehudei Kurdistan (1961), 3338; idem, Yehudei
Bavel (1965), 86.
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barbarians
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BARBASTRO, city in northern Aragon, Spain. Ramn Berenguer IV, count of Barcelona, conferred an estate upon a Jew
named Zecri of Barbastro in 1144 as a reward for his services.
In 1179 the bishop of Huesca granted Benjamin Abenbitals
and Joseph b. Solomon permission to erect shops near the
cathedral. Toward the middle of the 13t century the Jews occupied the Zuda, the citadel of Barbastro, which became the
Jewish quarter. The charter of privileges granted to them in
1273 allowed them to request the bailiff to execute informers
(malshinim) and prosecute Jews of dissolute morals. During
the 13t14t centuries the community of Barbastro, with a
population of 200300 Jews, was one of the important Aragonese communities of the group following the leading Jewish centers in Saragossa, Calatayud, and Huesca.
In 1285 Pedro II endorsed new communal tax regulations.
The Jews of Barbastro paid for the right to maintain a bureau
in which the promissory notes for loans were drawn up. In
1330 Alfonso IV acceded to the request of the community to
abrogate his instruction that a Christian burgher should be
appointed to administer Jewish communal affairs, and endorsed the continuation of the former administrative system.
The circumstances of the community were so straitened at this
period that a special levy imposed by the king did not amount
to more than 20 Jaca slidos. In 1363, however, a levy of 500
Jaca slidos was imposed by Pedro IV to meet the cost of the
war with Castile. In 1383 the king renewed the privilege of the
Barbastro community prohibiting apostates from entering the
Jewish quarter and preaching missionary sermons there, while
Jews could not be compelled to enter into religious disputations with Christians.
During the massacres of 1391 the Jews of Barbastro took
refuge in the citadel, which was subjected to a siege and on
August 18, King John I instructed the local authorities to take
measures against the culprits. The Jews of Barbastro suffered
little compared to other communities. The community evidently ceased to exist after the disputation of *Tortosa and as
a result of the pressure exerted by the Dominican preacher
Vicente *Ferrer. In 1415 Benedict XIII ordered the synagogue
to be converted into a church, known as the hermitage of San
Salvador, because all the Jews in the city had become baptized
and left the faith. It remained, however, a *Converso center.
Many Conversos lived near the plaza del Mercado.
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barcelona
142
of the Reconquista, that Abraham b. Hiyya was so appreciative of the need to disseminate in Hebrew the treasures of the
Greco-Arabic world. The Jewish community reached the peak
of its prestige in the 13t century, when the Crown of Aragon,
under James I, doubled the size of its territories. Besides the
important members of the community who served the kings
and counts, the community had very distinguished scholars
who were among its political, financial, religious, and intellectual leaders.
Communal Life
Documents of the second half of the 11t century contain the
first mention of nesiim (princes; see *nasi) of the house of
Sheshet (see Sheshet b. Isaac *Benveniste), who served the
counts as suppliers of capital, advisers on Muslim affairs, Arab
secretaries, and negotiators. From the middle of the 12t century the counts would frequently appoint Jews also as bailiffs
(baile) of the treasury; some of these were also members of
the Sheshet family. Christian anti-Jewish propaganda in Barcelona meanwhile increased. In 1263 a public *disputation was
held at Barcelona in which *Nah manides confronted Pablo
*Christiani in the presence of James I of Aragon. The bailiff
and mintmaster of Barcelona at the time was Benveniste de
Porta, the last Jew to hold this office. In 1283, as a result of the
French invasion following the conquest of Sicily by Pedro I,
the Great, the Catalan noblemen, joined by their Aragonese
and Valencian counterparts, forced Pedro to give up his Jewish
civil servants who had occupied numerous positions throughout the Kingdom of Aragon. The Jews were subsequently replaced by Christian aristocrats and burghers and Jews from
families whose ancestors had formerly acquired wealth in the
service of the counts now turned to commerce and moneylending. Many of them returned to the communal political
arena and aspired to hold important positions in the community leadership. However, learned Jews such as Judah *Bonsenyor continued to perform literary services for the sovereign.
In 1294 Jaime II gave him the monopoly on all Hebrew and
Arabic documents drawn up in the territory of Barcelona. By
the beginning of the 13t century, a number of Jewish merchants and financiers had become sufficiently influential to
displace the nesiim in the conduct of communal affairs. In
1241, James I granted the Barcelonas Jewish community a constitution to be administered by a group of neemanim (secretarii, or administrative officers) all drawn from among the
wealthy, who were empowered to enforce discipline in religious and social matters and to try monetary suits. James further extended the powers of these officials in 1272. The class
struggle within the Jewish community that erupted in 1263
in Saragossa and spread throughout the communities in the
Kingdom of Aragon did not greatly affect the political regime
in Barcelona. Nevertheless, one of the institutions that served
as the communitys parliament, the Council of Thirty or Ez at
ha-Sheloshim, was established on the model of the municipal
Council of the Hundred or Concell de Trente. Solomon b.
Abraham *Adret was now the leading halakhic authority and
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barcelona
inscription was discovered in a building in the call indicating that it was donated by the famous Rabbi Samuel ha-Sardi,
probably to serve as a talmud torah.
The community suffered severely during the *Black
Death of 1348. Most of the thirty and the neemanim perished in the plague, and the Jewish quarter was attacked by
the mob. Despite protection extended by the municipality,
several Jews were killed. In December 1354, delegates for the
communities of Catalonia and the province of Valencia convened in Barcelona with the intention of establishing a national roof organization for the Jewish communities of the
kingdom in order to rehabilitate them after the devastations
of the plague. In the second half of the century R. Nissim
*Gerondi restored the yeshivah of Barcelona to its former
preeminence. Among his disciples were R. *Isaac b. Sheshet
and R. H asdai *Crescas, both members of old, esteemed Barcelonan families who took part in the community administration after the late 1360s.
Economic Life
The Jews of Barcelona owned extensive property in the city
and its surroundings. In the 13t century they held quite a
substantial part of the real estate in the region. This property
was mostly in the hands of the wealthy class. The Jews were
mainly occupied as artisans and merchants, some of them
engaging in overseas trade. They played an important role in
maritime trade thanks to their international connections with
Jewish merchants throughout the Mediterranean basin, their
easy communication in Hebrew, which was universally used
by Jews, and their ability to have partners, agents, and hosts
in many localities. They overcame some of the difficulties that
Christian and Muslim merchants encountered in trade between their two worlds. Sources from the Archivo Capitular of
Barcelona show the extent of the participation of the Jews of
the city in the trade between Catalonia and Muslim countries
in the eastern Mediterranean. The Catalans spared no effort
in putting an end to the predominance of Jewish merchants
from Barcelona in trade with Muslim countries. They turned
to the law prohibiting trade of certain merchandise with the
Muslims. When this failed they used the Papal Inquisition to
make trade with the east risky and costly. Many Jews returning
from the east found themselves arrested and charged as soon
as they landed in Barcelona. The king yielded to the demands
of the Christian merchants of Barcelona and practically put
an end to the commercial activities of the Jews overseas, particularly in Egypt and Syria. By the beginning of the 14t century Jews no longer played an important role in the trade with
Muslims. The elimination of Jewish competition in maritime
trade was considered a vital goal that was finally achieved.
In another field of economic activity where there was much
criticism of the Jews but no alternative was found, the Jewish
moneylenders continued their credit transactions.
Most of the Jews in Barcelona were engaged in crafts
and other professions. We know that the Jewish bookbinders of Barcelona had their own confraternity. There were also
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barcelona, disputation of
BARCELONA, DISPUTATION OF, religious disputation between Jews and Christians in 1263. The apostate Paulus [Pablo] *Christiani proposed to King James I of Aragon
that a formal public religious disputation on the fundamentals of faith should be held between him and R. Moses b.
Nah man (*Nah manides) whom he had already encountered
in *Gerona. The disputation took place with the support of the
ecclesiastical authorities and the generals of the Dominican
and Franciscan orders, while the king presided over a number of sessions and took an active part in the disputation. The
Dominicans *Raymond de Peaforte, Raymond *Martini, and
Arnold de Segarra, and the general of the Franciscan order
in the kingdom, Peter de Janua, were among the Christian
disputants. The single representative for the Jewish side was
Nah manides. The four sessions of the disputation took place
on July 20, 27, 30, and 31, 1263 (according to another calculation, July 20, 23, 26, and 27). Nah manides was guaranteed
complete freedom of speech in the debate; he took full advantage of the opportunity thus afforded and spoke with remarkable frankness. Two accounts of the disputation, one in HeENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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Barcinsky, Henryk
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bardejov
where he continued his education at Dropsie College, receiving his doctorate in 1942.
Returning to Israel in 1946, he engaged in teaching until
ill health forced him to relinquish it in 1951. Thereafter he devoted himself to research in the geography of Erez Israel and
published articles on topical subjects and literary criticism.
His first major work on the geography of Erez Israel, HaNegev, was published in 1935. A physical geographical study
of the area from Beersheba to the Suez Canal and the Red
Sea, which according to Bar-Daroma was mistakenly called
Sinai, this book won him the Bialik Prize from the City of Tel
Aviv in 1936. In the same year his book Jerusalem, on the topography of the Old City, was published. His most important
work, Ve-Zeh Gevul ha-Arez (1958), was awarded the Rabbi
Ouziel Prize of the City of Jerusalem in 1959 and the Ramat
Gan literary prize.
BARDEJOV (Hg. Bartfa; Ger. Bartfeldt), town in Slovakia,
on the eastern Polish border. The first Jews probably appeared
in Bardejov in the 13t century, after the Tartar invasion, when
the Hungarian king Bela IV invited foreigners to settle in the
devastated country. The Jews engaged in trade and established
inns along the Tokay (Hungary)Brody (Poland) highway.
Jews again appeared in the town in the 18t century, and with
them H asidism and the *Halberstam (Sanz) dynasty. Several
Halberstams served as local rabbis. In 1808 the Hevra Kaddisha (burial society) was founded and in 1830 the Great Synagogue was built. In all, there were five synagogues in Bardejov. Jews continued to engage in the export of wine to Poland
as a principal occupation and Jewish enterprise helped develop Bardejov as a fashionable health resort in the early 19t
century. Two printing shops published Hebrew books. Jews
from Bardejov participated in the First Zionist Congress on
1897 and the *Mizrachi Zionist religious movement became a
strong force in the town.
The Jewish population numbered approximately 300
in Bardejov and its surroundings in 1848, 181 in the town
itself in 1851, 480 in 1862, 1,710 in 1900 (of whom, in 1901,
220 owned businesses, 24 kept taverns, and 89 worked as
artisans), and 2,264 in 1930. Most of the local Jews were deported by the Germans to the Lublin area of Poland on May
1517, 1942.
After the war Bardejov became a rehabilitation center for
Jewish survivors from the concentration camps and a transit
center for illegal immigration to Palestine. (See *Berih ah).
In 1947, 384 Jews lived in the town, including 79 children. Antisemitism was still rife and Jews were attacked in June 1947
without being protected by the police. In 1965 only one Jewish family remained. Ritual objects from Bardejov are preserved in the Divrei H ayyim synagogue in Jerusalem, named
in honor of R. H ayyim *Halberstam, the founder of the Sanz
h asidic dynasty.
The New York filmmaker Jack Gurfein, a native of Bardejov, produced a film on the Holocaust in his town called The
Journey Back. In 2003 a volunteer group of architects from
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barenboim, daniel
BAREKHU (Heb. ) , opening word of the call to worship by the sheliah z ibbur at the formal beginning of the
daily morning and evening services. The full invocation is
Barekhu et Adonai ha-mevorakh (Bless ye the Lord who is
[to be] blessed). The congregation responds Barukh Adonai ha-mevorakh le-olam va-ed (Blessed be the Lord who is
[to be] blessed for ever and ever). Bless, in this context, is
the equivalent of praise. Barekhu is also recited by the person who is called up to the Torah reading and is followed by
the same congregational response. In the morning and evening services Barekhu also serves to introduce the reading of
the Shema; this accounts for the absence of Barekhu before
the *Minh ah service which lacks the Shema. Barekhu is considered to be one of the devarim she-bi-kedushah (lit. holy
things) and may only be recited in the presence of a quorum
of at least ten grown male Jews (minyan; Sof. 10: 7; Sh. Ar. OH
55:1). The invocation Barekhu possibly originated in the time
of Ezra, as might have the practice of standing at Barekhu;
compare with Nehemiah (9:5) Then the Levites said, Stand
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BARENBOIM, DANIEL (1942 ), Israeli pianist and conductor. Born in Buenos Aires to parents of Jewish Russian
descent, Barenboim started piano lessons at the age of five
with his mother, and then with his father, who remained his
only other teacher. He gave his first public recital at the age
of seven. Further education included Markevichs conducting classes in Salzburg (1954), and studies in Paris and Rome.
Barenboim settled in Israel in 1952. Following his British and
American debuts (1955, 1957), he toured widely and soon be-
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bargas, abraham de
came known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. He first conducted in Israel (1962), and from 1965 was
active as conductor and soloist with the English Chamber Orchestra. In 1967 Barenboim married the cellist Jacqueline *du
Pr in Jerusalem. They performed and recorded together in
the coming years until her career was tragically cut short by
multiple sclerosis.
Following his debut as conductor with the New Philharmonia Orchestra (London, 1967), Barenboim was in demand
by all the leading European and American symphony orchestras. He conducted opera for the first time at the Edinburgh
Festival in 1973, and from 1981 was a regular visitor at the Wagner Bayreuth Festival. He was music director of the Orchestre
National de Paris (19751989), the Chicago SO (1991), and the
Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin (1992).
In 2000 the Staatskapelle Berlin appointed him chief
conductor for life. He works on a regular basis with the Berlin
and the Vienna Philharmonics. Barenboim has always been
active as a chamber musician, performing with, among others, *Perlman, *Zukerman, and singer Fischer-Dieskau. His
numerous recordings include the complete Beethoven sonatas
and piano concertos and the Mozart concerti. As a conductor,
he has been most successful with scores from the Romantic
era. He also championed contemporary works, and in recent
years moved into popular and crossover repertory, such as
Argentine tango. He provoked an outcry in Israel by defying the countrys ban on Wagner, playing the Prelude from
Tristan und Isolde with the Berlin Staatskapelle as an encore
in concert at the Israel Festival (2001). He has been a prominent advocate of peace in the Middle East. In the early 1990s,
he met the Palestinian-born writer and Columbia University
professor Edward Said, who shared his vision of peaceful coexistence in the area. This led to Barenboims first concert on
the West Bank, a piano recital at Bir Zeit University. Barenboim and Said established a foundation that promotes music
and co-operation through projects targeted at young Arabs
and Israelis. They jointly received Spains Prince of Asturias
Concord Prize (2002). Among Barenboims other honors are
the Tolerance Prize (2002) and in 2004 the Buber-Rosenzweig
Medal, the Wolf Prize for the Arts, and the Haviva Reik Peace
Award. A new version of Barenboims autobiography, A Life in
Music, was published in 2002, as was his book with Said, Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society.
Bibliography: Grove online; MGG2; Bakers Biographical Dictionary (1997); A. Blyth, Daniel Barenboim, in: Opera
45 (Aug. 1994), 90510; H. Kupferberg, Daniel Barenboim: A 50Year Career Just Keeps on Growing, in: American Record Guide, 63
(Nov.Dec. 2000), 68.
[Naama Ramot (2nd ed.)]
BARGAS, ABRAHAM DE (c. 1740), Spanish Marrano author and physician. After escaping from Spain, Bargas settled
first in France, where he was personal physician to the duke of
Gramont, and later in Italy, where he became physician to the
Leghorn Jewish community. There he composed a volume of
150
ethical discourses on the Bible, Pensamientos sagrados y educaciones morales (Florence, 1749). He also wrote an account of
the earthquake of 1742, Fiel relacin de los terremotos (Leghorn, 1742), and translated into Spanish the order of service
for the fast-day instituted to commemorate that event: Traduccin de la oracin del ayuno y de los temblores de tierra
(Pisa, 1746). He wrote some occasional poems, among them
El Casto Niceto (Leghorn, n.d.).
Bibliography: Kayserling, Bibl, 1516; A.S. Toaff, Cenni
storici sulla communit ebraica e sulla sinagoga di Livorno. (1955).
[Cecil Roth]
bar hedya
his doubtless had its origin in his partys social outlook, opposed as it was to the existing order also in regard to the economic system and social justice.
Bibliography: J. Klausner, Ke-she-Ummah Nilh emet al
H erutah (19559), 15186; M. Hengel, Die Zeloten (1961), 3034, 3812;
M. Stern, in: Ha-Ishiyyut ve-Dorah (1963), 7078; O. Michel, in: New
Testament Studies, 14 (1967/68), 4028 (Ger.); C. Roth, in: Commentary, 29 (1960), 5258.
[Uriel Rappaport]
BAR HEDYA (fl. first half of the fourth century), Babylonian scholar. Bar Hedya was one of the neh utei, amoraim who
moved between Babylonia and Erez Israel, transmitting the
rabbinical traditions of both countries. He testified, among
other things, that in Erez Israel care was taken to ensure that
Hoshana Rabba (the 7t day of Tabernacles) did not fall on a
151
bar-hillel, yehoshua
152
North Africa; after being ransomed, they founded famous talmudic academies (see *Moses b. Hanokh). The legend at least
indicates that Bari was known as a center of talmudic learning. This is confirmed by the adage cited by Rabbenu *Tam
in the 12t century: From Bari shall go forth the Law and the
word of the Lord from Otranto (a paraphrase of Isa. 2:3). The
theological teaching of the Bari schools evidently attained a
wide influence: Andrea, archbishop of Bari (d. 1078), actually
became converted to Judaism (see *Obadiah the Proselyte).
The Jews of Bari underwent a number of vicissitudes.
They were included in the edicts of forced conversion issued
by the Byzantine emperors in the ninth and tenth centuries
(see *anusim). In about 932, the Jewish quarter was destroyed
by mob violence and several Jews were killed. Between 1068
and 1465 the Jews in Bari suffered from the rival claims of the
king and the archbishop on taxes levied on the Jews in the city.
The Jews in Bari were also victims of the campaign to convert
Jews to Christianity initiated by Charles of Anjou in 1290; in
1294, 72 families were forced to adopt Christianity, but continued to live in Bari as neofiti (see *Crypto Jews). There followed
a century and a half of tranquility until the Jewish quarter was
again attacked in 1463. A notable figure in this period is the
physician David Kalonymus of Bari. In 1479 David Kalonymus
and his family were offered Neapolitan citizenship along with
exemption from commercial taxes, and in 1498 he requested
the Sforza Duke of Bari to confer on him the same special
rights in Bari as he already possessed in Naples. In 1495, during the unrest that accompanied the French invasion, Jewish
property worth 10,000 ducats was pillaged. The expulsion of
the Jews from the kingdom of Naples in 151011 sealed the
fate of those in Bari: a small number were readmitted in 1520
and finally forced to leave in 154041. The Via della Sinagoga
in Bari remains to attest the existence of the former community, and several early medieval tombstones are in the Museo
Provinciale. Jewish communal life was briefly resumed during World War II, when in 1943 many Jews from other parts of
Italy and from Yugoslavia took refuge in Bari from Nazi-occupied territories. Toward the end of the war a refugee camp was
established at Bari. The beginning of the illegal immigration
to Palestine movement in Italy was situated in the area around
Bari. During this period Jewish soldiers, mainly from Palestine, were active in aiding and organizing the refugees.
Bibliography: N. Ferorelli, Gli Ebrei nell Italia meridionale
(1915); E. Munkcsi, Der Jude von Neapel (1939); U. Cassuto, in: Festschrift Hermann Cohen (1912), 389404 (lt.); G. Summo, Gli Ebrei
in Puglia dall XI al XVI secolo (1939); Milano, Italia, index; Roth, Dark
Ages, index; Roth, Italy, index. Add. Bibliography: V. Bonazzoli,
Gli ebrei del regno di Napoli allepoca della loro espulsione. Il periodo aragonese (14561499), in: Archivio Storico Italiano, 137 (1979),
495539; C. Colafemmina, Hebrew Inscriptions of the Early Medieval Period in Southern Italy, in: B.D. Cooperman and B. Garvin
(eds.),The Jews of Italy. Memory and Identity (2000), 6581; D. Abulafia, The Aragonese Kings of Naples and the Jews, ibid., 82106.
[Attilio Milano / Nadia Zeldes (2nd ed.)]
bar-ilan university
BARILAN, DAVID (19302003), Israeli journalist and pianist. Bar-Ilan was born in Haifa. A gifted pianist, he won a
scholarship to Juilliard School of Fine Arts in New York at
the age of 17. As a soloist he appeared with major orchestras
and recorded six albums, including the works of Chopin,
Beethoven, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms. In 1961
he was the first Israeli to perform in Germany. He began his
writing career in the 1960s, becoming a staunch defender of
Israels case in articles he published in the American media.
He also helped found Americans for a Safe Israel. Bar-Ilan
was identified with Zionist Revisionist ideology and the Land
of Israel Movement. He returned to Israel in 1990, where he
joined The Jerusalem Post, first as editorial page editor and in
1992 as executive editor. Editorial policy under Bar-Ilan was
characterized by right-wing positions on Arab-Israeli matters
and support for the *Likud party. He wrote a weekly column,
Eye on the Media, castigating foreign media reporting on
Israel. Yet, as editor he zealously kept the papers op-ed pages
open to a broad spectrum of political views. In 1996, after Netanyahu won the elections in Israel, Bar-Ilan joined Netanyahus staff as his chief of information and policy planning. After Netanyahus failure in the 1999 elections, he returned to
The Jerusalem Post.
[Yoel Cohen (2nd ed.)]
BARILAN UNIVERSITY, a religiously oriented university, founded in 1955. In the mid-1990s Bar-Ilan was the third
largest university in Israel. The universitys aim is to advance
knowledge in both Jewish studies and general science in accordance with the ideology of Torah im Derekh Erez (Torah
with general knowledge) and to serve as a bridge between
religious and secular in Israel.
In the late 1940s a plan evolved to establish a religious
university in Erez Israel, supported by the *Mizrachi movement in the United States. The idea received further impetus
under the leadership of Prof. Pinkhos *Churgin of Yeshiva
University in New York, and the university was inaugurated in
1955. Classes opened with 80 students and 19 lecturers. At the
opening ceremonies, Prof. Churgin said that Bar-Ilan would
demonstrate that Judaism is not a cloistered way of life, removed from scientific investigation and worldly knowledge.
Named for Meir *Bar-Ilan (Berlin), Bar-Ilan received little encouragement in Israel at the outset. The government doubted
the need for another university in addition to the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem. *Agudat Israel and similar Orthodox groups were fearful of imperiling certain types of religious education, particularly the yeshivot. However, it gradually became clear that Bar-Ilan served an important function
in combining modernity with tradition, and in expanding
the countrys scientific and Jewish studies capabilities. Prof.
Churgin served as first president of the University. In 2005
Moshe Kaveh was president. In 1957 Prof. Joseph Lookstein
was appointed chancellor, holding the position until 1976.
Under Looksteins leadership the university grew rapidly and
received a charter from the State of New York (the only institution of higher learning in Israel to do so).
The Bar-Ilan campus is located east of the city of RamatGan and administers another five regional colleges throughout
153
barishansky, raphael
BARISHANSKY, RAPHAEL (18641950), rabbi. Barishansky was born in Lipnishtok, Lithuania, and studied at the outstanding yeshivot of Eishishok and Mir as well as the kolel in
Kovno and with the Gaon Rabbi H ayyim Lev. In Bialystok he
154
BARIT, JACOB (17971883), Russian talmudist and communal leader. Born in Simno, Suvalki province, he left in 1822
for Vilna, where he kept a distillery. Attracted by the ideas of
the *Haskalah, he studied foreign languages, mathematics,
and astronomy. In 1850 he became principal of the yeshivah
founded by R. H ayyim Nah man Parnas, a position he held for
25 years. By the end of 1840 he was the acknowledged leader
of the Vilna community. When Sir Moses *Montefiore visited
Vilna in 1846 Barit advised him on his petition to Nicholas I.
He was a member of the delegation sent to St. Petersburg in
1852 in connection with the oppressive new conscription law.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bar kappara
BARKAI (Heb. ; first morning light), kibbutz in central Israel, at the western entrance of the Iron Valley, affiliated with Kibbutz Arz i ha-Shomer ha-Z air. It was founded
on May 10, 1949, by pioneers from North America, joined
later by newcomers from Romania and from English-speaking and other countries. In the mid-1990s the population was
approximately 500, and by the end of 2002 it had decreased
to 327. Farm branches included dairy cattle, poultry, avocado
plantations, and field crops. The kibbutz runs a factory for
polyethylene products.
Website: www.barkai.org.il.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
BAR KAPPARA (beginning of third century C.E.), Palestinian scholar in the transition period between the tannaim and
the amoraim. When quoted in tannaitic sources, he is called
by his full name, R. Eleazar ha-Kappar Beribbie. In his role
as an amora, both when expressing his own opinion and when
transmitting earlier tannaitic sources, he is referred to by the
more informal title Bar Kappara. The term Beribbie, often
used as a title of respect, may serve here as an abbreviation
for Beribbie Eleazar ha-Kappar, i.e., the son of R. Eleazar
ha-Kappar, as it seems that the father and the son were called
by the same name. This fact has lead to some confusion as
to which traditions, especially those mentioned in the later
literary levels of the tannaitic works and in the talmudic beraitot are to be ascribed to the father and which to the son.
Some scholars tend to ascribe almost all of the R. Eleazar haKappar traditions to the father, and others to the son, while
others have claimed that they are one and the same person.
While there is clear evidence for the distinction between the
father and the son for example the use of the long form R.
Eleazar ben Eleazar ha-Kappar Berribie (e.g., Tosef., Bez ah
1:7), to refer to the son the notion that the two engaged in
an halakhic dispute with each other (cf. H ul. 27b28a) seems
unfounded, as it fails to distinguish between Bar Kapparas
role as a tanna, and his role in transmitting earlier tannaitic
sources (cf. Sifra, Sheraz im 10:1, Sifre Deut. 78).
Bar Kappara was a disciple of *Judah ha-Nasi and like
his contemporaries, *H iyya bar Abba and *Oshaya Rabbah,
was the author of a compilation of halakhot. These were called
The Mishnah of Bar Kappara or The Great Mishnayot of Bar
Kappara (BB 154b; Eccles. R. 6:2). This collection, a supplement to the Mishnah of Judah ha-Nasi, was used to explain
obscure passages in the standard Mishnah and brought to the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
155
barkat, reuven
Bar Kappara told 300 *fox fables, and so intently did the guests
listen that they completely ignored the fact that their food
was becoming cold. According to the Talmud, tensions existed between Bar Kappara and the house of Judah ha-Nasi:
On one occasion, Simeon, son of Judah, and Bar Kappara
were studying together when a difficulty arose about a certain halakhah. Simeon said to Bar Kappara, Only my father,
Rabbi Judah, can explain this. Bar Kappara retorted, There is
no rabbi in the world who understands it [Rashi to MK 16a].
Simeon told his father, who was vexed, and when Bar Kappara next presented himself, Judah said to him, I have never
known you (MK 16a), thus disowning him. On another occasion, Bar Kappara and Ben Elasah, the rich but ignorant
son-in-law of Judah, were in the nasis house at a gathering of
scholars who were engaged in learned discourse. Bar Kappara
proposed to Ben Elasah that he too take part in the discussion,
and to this end composed for him a poetic riddle to present
to his father-in-law as a genuine problem. The riddle was in
fact a criticism of the conduct of Judahs household and of
the fear which he inspired. The nasi, realizing from the smile
upon Bar Kapparas face that he was the author of the riddle,
exclaimed, I do not recognize you as an elder (i.e., I do not
wish to grant you recognition), and Bar Kappara understood
that he would not be ordained (TJ, MK 3:1, 81c). It is nevertheless told that Bar Kappara was the first to inform the sages, in
moving words, of the nasis death: Mortals and angels have
been wrestling for the holy ark; the angels have won and the
ark has been taken captive.
Bibliography: Y.M. Kahana, in: Ha-Asif, 3 (1886), 33033;
Graetz, Hist, 2 (1949), 4556, 470; Bacher, Tann; Hyman, Toledot,
28892; Alon, Toledot, 2 (1961), 1457; S. Lieberman, Sifrei Zuta al
Sefer ba-Midbar (1968), 10424; Epstein, Mishnah 2 (19642), 2856,
288; Ch. Albeck, Meh karim bi-Beraita ve-Tosefta (1944), 6970; S.
Lieberman, Sifrei Zuta (1968), 10429; H adashot Archeologiyot (April,
1969), 12; D. Urman, in: IEJ, 22 (1972), 1623; idem, in: Beer-Sheva,
2 (1985), 725 (Heb.).
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat / Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
BARKAT (Burstein), REUVEN (19061972), Israeli politician. Member of the Sixth and Seventh Knessets and speaker
of the Knesset, 196972. Barkat was born in Tavrig (Taurage),
Lithuania, where his father, Abraham Aaron Burstein, headed
the local yeshivah. Barkat attended a Hebrew secondary school
in Ponevezh (Panevezys). He was one of the founders of HeH alutz ha-Z air and chairman of Ha-Ivri ha-Z air in Lithuania.
He studied literature and law at the Sorbonne in Paris and was
chairman of the Hebrew Students Union in the Diaspora. He
immigrated to Erez Israel in 1926 and immediately entered
political life. In 193338 he was involved in the *Haavarah.
Subsequently, in 194046 he was secretary general of the National Committee for the Jewish Soldier, directing cultural
and welfare activities for the members of the Palestinian Jewish units of the British Army and subsequently of the Jewish
Brigade. At the end of the war these activities also involved
clandestine activity connected with the rescue of Jewish sur-
156
BAR KOCHBA ASSOCIATION, an organization of Jewish university students in Prague. It was founded in 1893 by
students of the Prague German University and subsequently
became a focal point of Zionist intellectual activities. Among
the members who later played prominent roles in the Zionist
movement were Shmuel Hugo *Bergman, Oskar Epstein,
Hugo Hermann, Leo *Hermann, Hans Kohn, and Robert
*Weltsch. The members of Bar Kochba contributed much to
the deepening of Zionist ideology, particularly in the years
preceding World War I. They were largely influenced by Martin Buber who, between 1909 and 1911, delivered his Drei Reden ber das Judentum before this group. The Zionist outlook
of these young men found expression in the weekly Selbstwehr, which they edited for a time, and in Vom Judentum, a
collection of essays on the problems of Zionism and Judaism
in general (1913). There were small-scale attempts at renewing the activities of Bar Kochba after World War I, including
the publication of Juedische Jugendblaetter (jointly with *BlauWeiss). Its functions were taken over by its sister society, Theodor Herzl, which consisted of Czech-speaking Jewish university students in Prague.
Bibliography: H. Yachil, Devarim al ha-Z iyyonut ha-Czekhoslovakit (1967), 811; Y. Borman, in: Gesher, 15, no. 23 (1969),
24350; Semestralberichte des Vereins Bar-Kochba in Prag (191013);
F. Weltsch (ed.), Prague vi-Yrushalayim (1954), 77121; H. Kohn, Living in a World Revolution (1965), 4755.
[Oskar K. Rabinowicz]
bar kokhba
157
158
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Map 1. Extent of the Bar Kokhba revolt in its first year, 132 C.E. After Y.
Aharoni, Cartas Atlas of the Bible, Heb. ed., 1966.
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Map 2. Extent of the Bar Kokhba revolt in its third and fourth years. After
Y. Aharoni, Cartas Atlas of the Bible, Heb. ed., 1966.
the Senate of his victory he did not begin with the usual formula: I and my army are well. Dio Cassius states that the
insurrection, which was prepared in detail, spread until the
whole of Judea was in revolt (he referred apparently to most
of Erez Israel, including Galilee and Golan). He further states
that the Jews throughout the world supported the uprising
as did non-Jews, too, and it was as though the whole world
raged. In its scope and vehemence, the revolt assumed the dimensions of a war which constituted a threat to the empire. As
usual with Roman historians, Dio Cassius cites a supernatural omen, to show that the destruction of Judea was predestined, when he states that the sanctified tomb of Solomon
had fallen down of itself.
Greek and Roman inscriptions mention the participation
in the war of detachments of legions brought from all parts of
the empire, from Egypt and as far away as Britain the Tenth
Fretensis, the Third Cyrenaica, the Fourth Scythica, the
Second Trajana, the Twenty-Second Diotrajana legions,
and perhaps also the Sixth Ferrata legion. The Syrian navy
also presumably took part in the war. Although exact figures
cannot be computed since these were auxiliary troops and detachments of legions, the magnitude of the Roman army indicates the dimensions of the war. Isolated evidence an inscription on a tomb, third-century talmudic references to the
destruction of Galilee (BK 80a; TJ, Peah 7:1, 20a), the remarks
of Sulpicius Severus (fourth century C.E.) on the rebellion of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
159
bar kokhba
160
northward, chiefly to Galilee. Thus ended the final and perhaps greatest war of liberation of the Jews in ancient times.
The independence of Judea had come to an end.
The Judean Desert Documents
The finds, dating from the days of Bar Kokhba and brought
to light in the Judean Desert in 195261, contain additional
facts of great importance for an understanding of the social
and economic conditions prevailing during the Bar Kokhba
war in 132135 C.E. The first documents were found in 1952 in
Wadi Murabaat about 11 mi. (18 km.) southwest of *Qumran.
Among them are commercial contracts, letters of divorce, two
letters from Bar Kokhba, and one from the administrators of
the community addressed to Jeshua b. Galgolah. An archaeological expedition undertaken in the Judean Desert south of
En-Gedi in 196061 uncovered, alongside material finds such
as skeletons, linen, remnants of clothes, metal and glass vessels, and remains of food, many documents of the time of the
Bar Kokhba war, chiefly in one of the caves in Nah al H ever,
now named The Cave of the Letters. The letters and economic documents in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek uncovered
in the cave testify to the economic position in southern Judea
on the eve of the revolt and at the height of the war (on the
documents, their language, literary form, and historical significance see *Dead Sea Scrolls).
The letters, written apparently in Bar Kokhbas name
but not personally by him, deal with everyday matters. Some
of them are not entirely clear. The dates mentioned in them
range from the second to the fourth year of the liberation of
Israel (132134 C.E.). The letters open with an almost identical formula:
.
; ;
; .
.( )()( )
From Simeon ben Kosevah to Jeshua ben Galgolah and the
men of his fortress!; From Simeon to Jeshua ben Galgolah,
peace!; Simeon bar Kosevah the nasi [prince] of Israel to
Jonathan and Masbela, peace!; From Simeon bar Koseva to
the men of En-Gedi to Masbela (and) to Jonathan B(ar) Baayan
peace! Simeon to Judah bar Manasseh to Kiryat Araviyah.
bar kokhba
161
barlad
Bibliography: M. Carp, Cartea Neagra, 1 (1946), 115, 158; Filderman, in: Sliha, 1 no. 4 (1956). Add. Bibliography: PK Romanyah, I, 1721; S. Rubinstein, Me-Barlad ad Rosh Pinah (1993).
162
BARLEDUC, capital of the Meuse department, northeastern France; former capital of the Duchy of Bar. The 12t-century Jewish community in Bar-le-Duc was reputedly expelled
by the count of Bar, but Jews are again found there from 1220.
They were expelled in 1309 but were allowed to return to the
county in 1321, and settled in 30 localities. In 1322 the Jews
were again expelled, but had returned by 1328 to be banished
again in 1477. They resided in Bar-le-Duc in the Rue des Juifs,
the present Rue de la Couronne. After the French Revolution
Jews again settled in Bar-le-Duc. From 1808 the community
was affiliated to the Consistory of Nancy and administered
by the rabbinate of Verdun. It numbered 170 in 1892. During
World War II 18 Jews living in Bar-le-Duc were deported or
shot. In 1968, 40 Jews lived there.
Bibliography: Weill, in: REJ, 125 (1966), 287ff.
[Georges Weill]
barmas, issay
8:5). The Karaite Anan held that for fulfilling the commandment on Passover unleavened bread made of barley was to be
used, this being in his view, the bread of affliction and poverty. Of the cereals, barley ripens first (Ex. 9:31) and the barley
harvest season is the designation of the spring (Ruth 1:22). On
the second day of Passover, the Omer (sheaf ), the first fruit
of the harvest, was reaped (Lev. 23:915), and although there is
no specific reference to its being barley, the rabbinic tradition
to that effect is undoubtedly correct (Men. 84b) as the barley
harvest begins at Passover time. One kind of beer was brewed
from barley (BB 96b), another from a mixture of barley, figs,
and blackberries (Pes. 107a), and yet another called Egyptian
zythos from a third part of barley, a third part of safflower,
and a third part of salt (ibid., 42b). The brewing of beer has
a long tradition in Egypt; it is depicted in ancient Egyptian
drawings. Seorah, the Hebrew name for barley, derives from
the long hairs (Heb. sear, hair) of its ears, and the cereal is
designated by cognate words in almost all Semitic languages.
The Greeks regarded barley as the very earliest crop grown in
the world. In Erez Israel there are at present cultivated species of two- and six-rowed barley (*Five Species). These species have been found in Egyptian tombs. A wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) which grows in Erez Israel is thought to be
the origin of two-rowed barley. In excavations at Gezer fourrowed barley has been uncovered, and in the caves of En-Gedi
and of the Judean Desert, two- and four-rowed barley of the
mishnaic and talmudic periods has been found.
Bibliography: Loew, Flora, 1 (1926), 70723; J. Feliks, Olam
ha-Z omeah ha-Mikrai (1957), 1468, 318; idem, Ha-H aklaut be-Erez Yisrael, (1963), 362 (index); idem, Kilei Zeraim (1967), 2327.
Add. Bibliography: Feliks, Ha-Z omeah , 164.
[Jehuda Feliks]
163
fem. ;
lit. son/daughter of the commandment, i.e.,
a person under obligation, responsible), term denoting both
the attainment of religious and legal maturity as well as the
occasion at which this status is formally assumed for boys at
the age of 13 plus one day, for girls at 12 plus one day (Maim.
Yad, Ishut, 2:910). Upon reaching this age a Jew is obliged
to fulfill all the *commandments (Avot 5:1; cf. Yoma 82a). Although the term occurs in the Talmud for one who is subject
to the law (BM 96a), its usage to denote the occasion of assuming religious and legal obligations does not appear before the 15t century (Sefer Z iyyoni of R. Menahem Z iyyoni
to Gen. 1:5). A special celebration for a girl, the bat mitzvah,
is not found mentioned before Ben Ish H ai, the legal code by
Joseph H ayyim b. Elijah (19t cent.).
While the occasion of becoming bar/bat mitzvah was
thus formalized only in later times, it is obvious from various
sources that the status of obligation for boys of 13 was assumed
in early times. According to Eleazar b. Simeon (second century
C.E.), a father was responsible for the deeds of his son until
the age of 13. For example the vows of a boy 13 and a day old
are considered valid vows (Nid. 5:6). From then on a person
can perform acts having legal implications, such as being a
member of a bet din, being reckoned as part of a minyan, and
buying and selling property. Yet there are notable exceptions,
e.g., the testimony of a 13-year-old is not valid regarding real
estate because he is not knowledgeable about buying and selling (Maim. Yad, Edut, 9:8).
Jewish law fixed 13 as the age of responsibility considering this the time of physical maturity for boys (and 12 for
girls; Kid. 16b). At this age young people are thought to be
able to control their desires (ARN2 16, 6263). Rashi claims
that bar mitzvah as a status of obligation was in the category
of biblical laws, as it was given to Moses at Sinai (comment.
to Avot 5:1). Midrashic literature gives many references for
13 as the turning point in the life of a young person, e.g.,
Abraham rejected the idols of his father at this age (Pd RE 26),
and at 13 Jacob and Esau went their separate ways, the former to study Torah, the latter to idol-worship (Gen. R. 63:10).
Until 13 a son receives the merit of his father and is also liable to suffer for his parents sin; after that each one bears his
own sin (Yal. Ruth 600). This is also the time of transition
from elementary school to the bet ha-midrash (ibid.). A tradition recorded in talmudic literature (Sof. 18:7, ed. M. Higger 1937) alludes to the fact that in Jerusalem during the period of the Second Temple, it was customary for the sages to
bless a child who had succeeded in completing his first fast
day at 12 or 13.
Being Called to the Torah
The calling up to the reading of the Torah is a symbol of a boys
attaining maturity. He is called up on the first occasion that
164
Bat Mitzvah
The term bat mitzvah occurs only once in the Talmud (BK 15a),
in reference to the time a girl becomes subject to the obligations of Jewish law incumbent on adults. While Avot 5:21 asserts that 13 is the age of adult responsibility, Niddah 5:6 rules
that the vows of a girl who is 12 and one day are deemed valid,
as are the vows of a boy who is 13 and one day. Similarly, after
their respective 12t and 13t birthdays, girls and boys must
fast on Yom Kippur (Yoma 85). Talmudic discussion in Kiddushin 16b clarifies that a boy is of age when physical signs
of adulthood appear after he is 13 plus one day. Maimonides
(Yad, Ishut 2:910) completes the equation and specifies that
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
a girls signs of adulthood are those that appear only after her
12t birthday plus one day. Aside from assuming ritual obligations, adult responsibility meant that a young woman was
no longer dependent on her father, mother, or brother in
marital arrangements and could act on her own behalf. Prior
to the modern era this change in a females status was rarely
celebrated in a communal context. It is not until the 19t century that indications of ceremony or public recognition come
from Italy, Eastern and Western Europe, Egypt, and Baghdad.
These acknowledgements of female religious adulthood include a private blessing, a fathers aliyah to the Torah, a rabbis
sermon and/or a girls public examination on Judaic matters.
Bat mitzvah as a female ceremony equivalent or identical to
the male bar mitzvah is not found until the middle of the 20t
century and is an American innovation, discussed in more
detail below.
ITALY. The earliest source, from Verona on Passover 1844, refers to an iniziazione religiosa delle fanciulle and la maggiorita
delle fanciulle. This reference to entrance into minyan was
used for boys and girls. By the end of the century, this ritual
had also spread to other cities such as Ancona, Bologna, and
Rome. During this confirmation-like process the girl recited
some biblical verses and a liturgical selection and a rabbi delivered a sermon. There was great debate in the 19t century
Italian community as to whether this was a permitted rite. In
Italy today a 12-year-old female is examined by a rabbi, usually on Shavuot or Purim, after which she reads special prayers
in Hebrew and Italian in the synagogue; a celebratory party
follows. Edda Servi Machlin describes her 1938 bat mitzvah
experience in her cookbook, The Classic Cuisine of Italian
Jews (1981), p. 69.
EUROPE. Some scholars have mentioned Rabbi Jacob *Ettlinger of Germany as favoring some form of puberty lifecycle
event. It is clear, however, in Ettlingers Binyan Z iyyon 107
(1867), p. 145, that he opposed confirmation or any similar
celebration. Rather, in accordance with Danish regulations,
he gave some girls a public exam on the completion of their
religious studies (limmudei kodesh) and then delivered a sermon. All this took place in the synagogue. Intriguing references to bat mitzvah celebrations in various European cities
include a confirmation in Warsaw in 1843 and a party in Lvov
in 1902. Rabbi Musafiya notes that bat mitzvah celebrations
were held in France towards the end of the 19t century. Anecdotal references to bat mitzvah celebrations include that of
Charlotte Salomon (19171943) in Berlin (see Mary Lowenthal
Felstiner, To Paint Her Life (1997)).
EGYPT. Rabbi Elijah Hazzan held a synagogue celebration for
benot mitzvah (pl.) girls who had completed studies in religion
and Jewish history in 1907 in Alexandria.
BAGHDAD. One significant early reference to a celebration
for a girl is found in the book Ben Ish H ai by Rabbi *Joseph
H ayyim b. Elijah of Iraq (18341909). In his discussion of parashat Reeh, note 17, vol. 1, p. 132, Rabbi H ayyim posits that there
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BARNACLE GOOSE MYTHS. The barnacle goose is a migratory bird, whose winter habitat is the Arctic region, when
it is seldom seen outside the Arctic circle. In summer, however, large flocks are found on the western shores of the British Isles and other parts of the temperate zone. According to a
popular medieval fable, the barnacle goose was produced out
of the fruit of a tree, or grew upon the tree attached by its bill
(hence called the tree goose), or was produced out of a shell.
This fable the origin of which is obscure was taken quite
literally by both Jews and non-Jews, and in consequence it was
a matter of doubt whether it was to be regarded as bird, fish,
or a completely distinct species. *Isaac b. Moses of Vienna (Or
Zarua) quotes R. Tam who was the first to deal with the subject as ruling that it may be eaten after ritual slaughtering
like poultry. This decision was in opposition to the views of
contemporary famous scholars who permitted it to be eaten
in the same way as fruit. Samuel he-H asid and his son *Judah
he-H asid of Regensburg agreed with R. Tam. R. *Isaac b. Joseph of Corbeil forbade it (Sefer Mitzvot Katan no. 210), as he
regarded it as a species of shellfish. The Zohar (3:156) states
that R. Abba saw a tree from whose branches grew geese. The
Shulh an Arukh (YD 84:15) rules that birds that grow on trees
are forbidden since they are regarded as creeping things. The
fable was disputed, however, by various scholars but as late as
1862 R. Bernard Issachar Dov *Illowy in New Orleans quoted a
conflict of authorities whether it might be eaten and vigorously
denounced those who would permit it. He too referred to the
belief of many early naturalists that it grows on trees.
Bibliography: J.G.T. Graesse, Beitraege zur Literatur und
Sage des Mittelalters (1850), 80; Lewysohn, Zool, 362f., no. 515; Ginzberg, Legends, 1 (1909), 32; 5 (1925), 50f.; Zimmels, in: Minh at Bikkurim Arje Schwarz (1926), 19.
[Harry Freedman]
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168
BARNETT, JOEL, BARON (1923 ), British politician. Educated in Manchester and by profession an accountant, Joel
Barnett was a Labour member of Parliament from 1964 until
1983. After serving as an Opposition spokesman on economic
affairs from 1970 to 1974, Barnett held office as chief secretary
to the Treasury from March 1974 until the fall of the Labour
government in May 1979. From February 1977 until May 1979
he served in James Callaghans cabinet. Barnett is probably
best known for devising the Barnett Formula, under which
grants to Scotland and Wales were greater per capita than
grants to England, in order to reflect the geographical problems of service provision in these two areas. He is the author
of Inside the Treasury (1992) and was given a life peerage after
he retired from the House of Commons in 1983.
[William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)]
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BARNETT, SIR LOUIS EDWARD (18651946), New Zealand surgeon and professor. Barnett was born in Wellington,
New Zealand, and in 1895 received a permanent lectureship in
surgery at Otago University, where from 1905 to 1924 he was
professor. He served with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the
Royal Australian and New Zealand Medical Corps (191517)
and was knighted for his overseas war service. Barnett was
one of the founders of the Radium Insitute in Dunedin and
a pioneer in X-ray and radium research at Otago University.
Most of his work was in the fields of cancer and hydatids research, and as a result of his efforts the incidence of hydatids
in New Zealand was considerably reduced.
[Maurice S. Pitt]
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BARON, BERNHARD (18501929), industrialist and philanthropist. Born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Baron immigrated
to the United States as a boy and worked in a Maryland cigar
factory. In 1890 he began manufacturing cigarettes by hand,
to be sold at a cheap price. He opened a factory in Baltimore
in 1894 and two years later perfected his own cigarette-making machine. In 1896 he took his invention to London, where
he set up a company for manufacturing cigarettes. Seven years
later he purchased Carreras, one of the oldest tobacco companies in England, and as a result of an extensive advertising
campaign expanded it into one of the largest cigarette companies in the world. Within 20 years Baron had accumulated
a fortune with over $20 million, much of which he proceeded
to give away on an unprecedented scale. He set up two charitable trusts in his name, which distributed over 1 million to
hospitals and childrens homes, and made substantial gifts to
the Jewish National Fund, the Keren Hayesod, and the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. He also made possible the erection
of a new building for St. Georges Jewish welfare settlement
in the East End of London. Despite his enormous wealth he
left 4.9 million Baron remained simple in his tastes and despised opulence. He refused a title but after his death his son,
Louis Bernhard Baron (18761934), was made a baronet.
Bibliography: P.H. Emden, Jews of Britain (1943), 4915;
DNB, Concise Dictionary, pt. 2 (1961), s.v. Add. Bibliography:
G. Black, Bernhard Baron: Tobacco and Philanthropy, in: TJHSE,
36 (19992001), 7180; ODNB online; DBB, I, 17781.
resources of a deep faith. Its spirit was nurtured by a remarkable historical memory; its physical existence was safeguarded
by the fertility of its families. The story Mishpah ah (Family), for example, describes how an attempt to force divorce
upon a childless couple is prevented, and ends with a miracle
of triumphant motherhood. Me-Emesh (Since Last Night,
1956), the last volume to be published during the writers lifetime, contains four stories which describe Erez Israel during
World War II, the volunteers who joined the British Army,
and an encounter with the remnants of European Jewry. The
short story of one bereaved mother epitomizes the fate of the
Jewish town and of all Eastern European Jewry, from the period of the slaughter of the defenseless in normal times to
the final solution under the Nazis.
In her later years, while confined to her sickbed, Devorah Baron composed a group of stories depicting the world
as seen through the window of an invalids room (Be-Lev
ha-Kerakh, in Parashiyyot). Her perception remained sharp
to the end, and her stories are animated by a deep empathy
for the weak and the innocent. No other woman writer in
Israel was as familiar with the sources of Judaism as Devorah
Baron. Every human experience in her stories finds an echo
in the age-old heritage of her people and in its literature. The
rhythm of almost every period of Hebrew prose is clearly felt
in the flow of her narrative. She is a true poet of the lost world
of the Jewish town. In the wake of the growing interest in the
works of Hebrew women writers, various academic studies
and plays (e.g., those by Avivah Gali) have dealt with the life
and writing of Baron. A selection of her stories translated into
English appeared in 1969 under the title The Thorny Path, followed in 2001 by The First Day and Other Stories. A list of her
works translated into English appears in Goell, Bibliography,
62. Bibliographical information and 118 letters appear in the
posthumously published Aggav Orh a (1960).
Bibliography: J. Fichmann, Benei Dor (1952), 25487; Y.
Keshet, Maskiyyot (1953), 82100; Y. Zmora, Sifrut al Parashat Dorot,
3 (1950), 11330; R. Wallenrod, The Literature of Modern Israel (1956),
index; R. Katznelson-Shazar, Al Admat ha-Ivrit (1966). Add. Bibliography: G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 1 (1977), 45266;
N. Govrin, Ha-Mah z it ha-Rishonah: Devorah Baron, H ayyehah viYez iratah (1988); L. Rattok, Ha-Kol ha-Ah er: Sipporet Nashim Ivrit
(1994), 27487; A. Lieblich, Conversations with Dvora: An Experimental Biography of the First Modern Hebrew Writer (1977); N. Seidman, A Marriage Made in Heaven: The Sexual Politics of Hebrew and
Yiddish (1997); O. Lubin, Ishah Koret Ishah (2003), 11659; 24053.
Website: www.ithl.org.il.
[Rachel (Katznelson) Shazar]
BARON, JOSEPH ALEXANDER (19171999), English novelist. Born Joseph Alexander Bernstein in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Barons first work, From the City, from the Plough (1948),
was inspired by World War II service during the invasion of
Normandy. Anglo-Jewish tensions are explored in With Hope,
Farewell (1952; reissued in 1962 as The Thunder of Peace); and
the East London of Barons childhood is the setting of The
Lowlife (1963) and its sequel, Strip Jack Naked (1966). He also
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BARON, SALO (Shalom) WITTMAYER (18951989), historian. Baron was born in Tarnow (Galicia) and taken to
Vienna early in World War I. He studied at the university
there and received doctorates in philosophy (1917), political
science (1922), and law (1923); he was ordained by the Jewish
Theological Seminary in Vienna in 1920. Baron taught history
at the Jewish Teachers College (Juedisches Paedagogium) in
Vienna during the years 191926. He went to the United States
at the invitation of Stephen S. Wise to teach at the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and remained at the Institute
from 1927 until 1930. From 1930 to 1963 he taught at Columbia University, and served as director of the Center of Israel
and Jewish Studies at Columbia from 1950 to 1968. From 1957
he also taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Baron was
the first member of an American history faculty to teach Jewish studies. The many such chairs that now exist owe much to
his example, and a substantial number of his former students
are among their occupants.
Among Barons many involvements in public and academic affairs were his presidency of the American Academy
for Jewish Research (194043, 195866, and 1968 on); his presidency of the Conference on Jewish Social Studies (194154,
196367), and honorary presidency (195562 and 1967 on);
his presidency of the American Jewish Historical Society
(195355); his founding and presidency of Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, which after World War II worked in identifying and reclaiming the libraries and other cultural treasures
despoiled by the Nazis; and his trusteeship of Tel Aviv University from 1967. From 1952 he was a corresponding member
of the International Commission for a Scientific and Cultural
History of Mankind. Barons first major work, Judenfrage auf
dem Wiener Kongress (1920), dealt with the Jewish question
at the Congress of Vienna. He began to write articles as a
youth and subsequently wrote many hundreds. Using his exceptional range of talents in many languages and disciplines,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
barou, noah
BARONDESS, JOSEPH (18671928), U.S. labor and communal leader. Barondess was born in Kamenets-Podolsk,
Ukraine. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1888, working in New
York City as a cloakmaker. Soon after, he joined the United
Hebrew Trades and became a labor organizer in the garment
industry, helping to lead the first great cloakmakers strike in
1890. Indicted in 1891 on an extortion charge brought against
him by the cloak manufacturers, Barondess was sentenced to
a 21-month prison term but was released in a few weeks, after
widespread protests and petitions for his pardon. His career
as an organizer ended when he led an unsuccessful strike in
1894, but he remained active in the Socialist Labor Party, joining its moderate wing in 1898 in the battle against Daniel *De
Leon, which led to the founding of the Socialist Party in 1901.
By then, however, Barondess had retired from socialist politics
and was devoting himself largely to an insurance business that
he had started. In his new role as a successful businessman,
Barondess accepted appointment to the National Civic Foundation in 1900 and to the New York City Board of Education
in 1910. Partly as a reaction to the Russian pogroms of 1903,
Barondess became active in the Zionist movement and during
the last years of his life served as an honorary vice president of
the Zionist Organization of America. He was also among the
founders of the American Jewish Congress and a member of
the American-Jewish delegation to the Versailles peace talks
in 1919. His career typified that of many immigrants, whose
process of integration in the U.S. was marked by initial disillusionment with American society, socialism, a higher economic status, and finally a retreat from radical political activity and a return to the Jewish fold.
Bibliography: New York Times (June 20, 1928), 25; B. Weinstein, Di Yidishe Yunions in Amerike (1929), 116, 31936.
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lished numerous monographs in English. They include Cooperative Banking (1932), Cooperation in the Soviet Union (1946),
and British Trade Unions (1947). He edited The Cooperative
Movement in Labour Britain (1948).
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over long lectures (Yev. 64b). See also *Birth Control; *Castration; *Vital Statistics.
Add. Bibliography: J.R. Baskin. Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature (2002); M. Callaway. Sing,
O Barren One: A Study in Comparative Midrash (1986); J. Cohen.
Be Fertile and Increase, Fill the Earth and Master It. The Ancient and
Medieval Career of a Biblical Verse (1989); J. Hauptman, Rereading the
Rabbis: A Womans Voice (1998).
[Alexander Carlebach / Judith R. Baskin (2nd ed.)]
BARRETT, DAVID (1930 ), Canadian social worker, politician. Barrett was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and
raised in a secular Jewish home on the citys east side, where
his father ran a produce market. Barrett studied philosophy
and social work in the United States. He returned to Canada in
1957 and began work for the British Columbia Department of
Corrections. Angered by what he regarded as wretched working conditions in an archaic prison system, he was soon an
outspoken critic of the provincial penal system and organizer
of a prison employee union. He was fired.
Carrying his battle into the political arena, in 1960 Barrett was elected to the provincial legislature for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), forerunner of the democratic socialist New Democratic Party (NDP). In 1969 he was
elected leader of the British Columbia NDP and in 1972 led his
party to victory with a major reform agenda. His was the first
NDP government in British Columbia history and Barrett was
the first Jewish provincial premier in Canadian history.
Defeated in 1975, he served for a time as leader of the
opposition followed by a stint in broadcasting. He went on to
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BARRIOS, DANIEL LEVI (Miguel) DE (16351701), Spanish poet and playwright. Barrios was born in Montilla, of a
Portuguese Marrano family, and was one of the most eminent
exiles who contributed to Spanish literature. Following the
execution in 1655 of a relative, Marco (Isaac) de Almeyda *Bernal, Barrios family left Spain, his parents settling in Algiers
and he in Italy. After a sojourn at Nice and Leghorn (where
he reverted to Judaism), he sailed with his first wife, Debora
Vez, to Tobago, where she soon died. Barrios then moved
to the Netherlands and in 1662 married Abigail de Pina in
Amsterdam. At about the same time he took a commission
as a captain in the Spanish Netherlands, and for the next 12
years lived outwardly as a Christian in Brussels, while simultaneously maintaining a connection with the Jewish community in Amsterdam. In 1674, Barrios renounced his military
commission and thereafter lived openly as a professing Jew
in Amsterdam. A follower of Shabbetai Z evi, Barrios had
mystical delusions and often fasted for long periods. This
so alarmed his wife that she hurried to R. Jacob *Sasportas
on the first day of Passover, 1675, and pleaded for his assistance. Sasportas found Barrios prepared for the Messiahs
advent before the New Year and convinced that the Christians,
headed by the Dutch monarch, would convert to Judaism.
As he dryly records in his Z iz at Novel Z evi (1737), Sasportas found it necessary to remind the deluded poet of his immediate family obligations and of the perilous state of his
health.
Barrios work can be divided into two periods, before and
after 1674. In Brussels, he emphasized classical and pagan allusions and in Amsterdam stressed his Jewishness, while retaining a great admiration for the Spanish poet Luis de Gngora.
His first work, Flor de Apolo (Brussels, 1665), is a collection
of poetry on varied themes; in the same volume he published
three plays, Pedir favor al contrario, El canto junto al encanto
and El Espaol de Orn, which were typical of the contemporary Spanish theater. An allegorical drama, Contra la verdad
no hay fuerza (Amsterdam, undated, but before 1672), glorified the memory of three martyrs who died in an auto-da-f in
Cordoba in June while Coro de las Musas (Brussels and Amsterdam, 1672) contains poetic eulogies of the Spanish provinces and of famous people and cities, preceded by a panegyric on Charles II of England.
Barrios was one of the outstanding men of letters of
17t century Spain, who, together with other New Christians,
contributed a great deal to the Spains Golden Age. Like most
Jews who left the Iberian Peninsula, as Jews in 1492 or as New
Christians in subsequent years, Barrios retained the Spanish
tongue as his language for every need and occasion. Whereas
the Sephardi refugees developed Judezmo or Ladino, written
in Hebrew script, the New Christians who returned to Judaism continued to use the Spanish and Portuguese languages as
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BARRIS, CHUCK (Charles; 1929 ) U.S. television producer. Barris is known for his role as the producer of popular
TV game shows, including some of the earliest forms of reality television. Barris was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
and attended the Drexel Institute of Technology. After graduating, he moved to New York, where he began his career in the
television industry with a low-level job at NBC. Laid off a year
later, Barris was unemployed for a year before being hired by
ABC, where he worked with Dick Clark, the host of American Bandstand. Barris later sold the pilot of his own show,
The Dating Game, to ABC. The Dating Game was an immediate hit, moving to primetime in 1966 and paving the way for
Barris popular The Newlywed Game. Barris continued to utilize the same formula in three more shows, The Family Game,
Dream Girl of 1968, and Hows Your Mother-in-Law? In 1968,
he founded his own company, Barris Industries, which would
produce television programs such as The Game Game and Operation Entertainment. The Newlywed Show was canceled in
1974, and Barris struggled to find a new niche in the television market until 1976, when he made his first appearance as
the host of the talent competition The Gong Show. Barris antics as the host of The Gong Show transformed the producer
into a celebrity during the shows four-year run. Barris wrote
his autobiography Confessions of a Dangerous Mind in 1986,
which made the controversial claims that he had lived a double-life during the 1960s, working both as a TV producer and
as an international CIA assassin. Barris also published a second autobiography, The Game Show King (1993), which made
no reference to his alleged involvement with the CIA. In 2002,
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was made into a feature film
of the same title directed by George Clooney.
[Walter Driver (2nd ed.)]
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BARSHEFSKY, CHARLENE (1950 ), U.S. lawyer and government trade representative. A native of Chicago, Barshefsky was born to Polish parents who did not speak English.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, B.A. (1972)
and the Catholic University, J.D. (1975). She was in private
practice in the prestigious Washington firm of Steptoe and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
barth, jacob
Johnson from 1975 and 1993 and was then appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as deputy trade representative under the presidents key political ally, Mickey *Kantor. She was
nominated to the office of trade representative when Kantor was named commerce secretary. Her nomination generated considerable controversy because as a private attorney
Barshefsky had represented foreign governments in trade
agreements. She was confirmed and was instrumental in negotiating agreements in China and Japan regarding piracy
and movies. As the United States trade representative and
a member of the presidents cabinet, Ambassador Barshefsky was at center stage in global economic policymaking and
international relations. As the administrations leader in the
opening of foreign markets and the elimination of regulatory
and investment barriers around the world, and as the architect of U.S. trade policy, she was a central figure for international business.
Barshefsky is best known for negotiating the historic
market opening agreement with China on its entry into the
World Trade Organization, which helped lead to the voluminous trade between the United States and China. She was an
essential actor in the opening of foreign markets at the World
Trade Organization and throughout the world, overseeing the
negotiations of hundreds of complex trade and commercial
agreements with virtually every major market, from Japan and
the European Union to the smallest states of Latin America,
Africa, and the Middle East. She negotiated agreements for
the emerging information age, concluding global agreements
covering the worlds telecommunications markets, global financial services, information technology products, intellectual property rights, and cyberspace.
In addition to the China agreements, she was the architect of the negotiations to create a hemispheric free trade zone,
the Free Trade Area of the Americas. She negotiated historic
market opening agreements with Vietnam and Jordan that
transcend international economic relations and are used as a
basis for further regional integration. She also initiated free
trade negotiations with Singapore and Chile, which further
extended the broad trade agenda that she shaped.
After leaving the government, she became senior international partner at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering Hale and Dorr,
LLP and served on the corporate Board of Directors of the
American Express Company; The Estee Lauder Companies
Inc.; Intel, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Starwood Hotels
& Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
[Michael Berenbaum (2nd ed.)]
BARSIMSON, JACOB, regarded as the earliest Jewish resident of New Amsterdam (later New York). Barsimson probably arrived there on July 8, 1654, aboard the ship Peartree,
from Holland, thus preceding the 23 Jews who arrived in September of that year from Brazil. A man of small means, he
was taxed below the majority of other New Amsterdam residents. In November 1655 Barsimson joined with Asser *Levy
in petitioning for the right held by other inhabitants to stand
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180
ism. Throughout Barths writings Judaism appears as a theoretical construction, a kind of figment of theological imagination, whose purpose it is to serve as a foil to the message
of the gospel.
While not hostile in its intention, Barths representation
of Judaism is a complete caricature and falsification of Jewish
reality. According to Barth, Israel is Gods Chosen People and
in spite of its obstinacy in assimilating to other peoples, the
Divine election remains valid. Since the crucifixion of Jesus,
there simply cannot be any normal existence for the Jewish
people, for the Jew represents man as such, sinner, called by
Gods grace and rejecting this grace. In this exemplary role of
man, the Jew necessarily irritates the nations of the world by
acting as a kind of mirror in which the nations see their sinful humanity reflected. The Nazis sought to destroy the Jews,
the people of Jesus, in order to liberate themselves from the
rule of God and to break, as it were, the mirror in which fallen
man sees himself reflected. Beside his numerous theological,
literary, and political writings, Barth also wrote some works on
the church in the Third Reich, and on the existence of Christians in the countries under communist rule.
Bibliography: W. Pauck, Karl Barth (Eng., 1931); Taubes, in:
JR, 34 (1954), 14, 23143; R. Niebuhr, Essays in Applied Christianity
(1959); F.W. Marquardt, Die Entdeckung des Judentums fuer die christliche Theologie Israel im Denken Karl Barths (1967).
baruch
Jonah of Safed), and in 1651 became professor of Hebrew language and rabbinic literature at the Collegium Neophytorum
(for Jewish converts) in Rome; at the same time he served as
scriptor hebraicus in the Vatican Library. He is remembered
above all for his Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica de scriptoribus
et scriptis hebraicis, ordine alphabetico hebraice et latine digestis (Heb. title Kiryat Sefer), a comprehensive bibliography of
Jewish books (Rome, 4 vols., 167593). The last volume was
edited by Bartoloccis student Carlo Giuseppe Imbonati, who
added a fifth volume, Bibliotheca Latina-Hebraica (1694; all 5
vols. repr. 1969), containing a bibliography of Latin works by
Christian authors on the Jews or on Judaism. Bartoloccis work
is the first systematic, all-inclusive bibliography of Jewish literature. It served as the basis for Wolf s Bibliotheca Hebraea and
for subsequent works in the field. Some of the works which
Bartolocci regarded as most important he presents in full, in
the Hebrew (or Aramaic) original and in Latin translation.
Among these are the Antiochus Scroll, Alphabet of Ben Sira,
and Otiyyot de-Rabbi Akiva. Occasionally, he gives biographies
of important writers. His biographies of biblical commentators, such as Rashi, Ibn Ezra, David Kimh i, Gersonides, and
Abrabanel, were published also in A. Relands Analecta Rabbinica (Utrecht, 1702). His work still retains some importance.
Other works by Bartolocci remain in manuscript.
Bibliography: G.M. Mazzuccheli, Gli Scrittori dItalia, 2
(1763), 468; Roth, Italy, 394; Milano, Italia, 681; Steinschneider, in:
ZHB, 2 (1897), 51 no. 99.
[Cecil Roth]
BARUCH (Heb. ; blessed), son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, scribe and trusted companion of the prophet *Jeremiah,
who set down in writing all the latters prophecies and may
have composed the biographical narrative about Jeremiah
(Jer. 36:4). Baruchs brother Seraiah was the quartermaster of
Zedekiah (51:59), the last king of Judah. In the fourth year (or
possibly the fifth) of the reign of *Jehoiakim, Baruch wrote
down, at Jeremiahs dictation, all of the prophets oracles and
read them in the temple court before the entire community,
which had assembled for a fast day proclaimed in Kislev of
that year. Baruch then read them before the kings ministers
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all agree that the first section (1:13:8) was written in Hebrew,
and most scholars who accept the documentary theory consider the third section (4:95:9) to be originally Greek and
dependent on Wisdom of Solomon II (Charles, Apocrypha, 1
(1913), 5723). This stance, modified by a vigorous defense of
the coherence of the present form of the book as the work of
a single author-redactor has been supported by Wambacq
(Biblica, 47 (1966), 5746), while A. Cahana in his Hebrew
edition maintained the theory of literary unity and original
Hebrew (Ha-Sefarim ha-H iz onim, 1 (1936), 350ff.). The book
has been dated variously between the late Hasmonean period
(ante quem non dependence on Daniel) and the destruction
of the Second Temple (the historical framework of the book).
The existence of further Baruch-Jeremiah apocrypha at Qumran weakens this latter argument considerably.
Bibliography: Charles, Apocrypha, 1 (1913), 56995; J.J.
Kneucker, Das Buch Baruch (1879); R. Harwell, The Principal Versions
of Baruch (1915); B.N. Wambacq, in: Sacra Pagina, 1 (1959), 45560;
idem, in: Biblica, 40 (1959), 46375; O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament,
an Introduction (1965), 5924 (includes bibliography).
[Michael E. Stone]
186
BARUCH, JACOB BEN MOSES H AYYIM (late 18t century), editor and author. Baruch lived in Leghorn. In 1875 he
edited (Leghorn, Castello & Saadun) Shivh ei Yerushalayim
(The Praises of Jerusalem; or Shabbeh i Yerushalayim, from
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
187
188
BARUCH BEN ISAAC OF WORMS (late 12tearly 13t century), German tosafist. Although Baruch lived in Worms, he
probably came from France and is sometimes referred to as
Ha-Zarefati (the Frenchman). Baruch was a pupil of *Isaac
b. Samuel the Elder of Dampierre, and after his teachers death,
spent a considerable amount of time in France with Judah
of Paris. Baruch immigrated to Erez Israel (1237?). It seems
certain that he is not to be identified with *Baruch b. Isaac
of Regensburg.
He is renowned as the author of Sefer ha-Terumah (written shortly before 1202; first published Venice, 1523), which
comprises a summary of the established halakhot on several
subjects, including the laws pertaining to Erez Israel, combined and arranged according to the chapters of the relevant
tractates of the Talmud. The whole work reflects the teachings of Isaac b. Samuel. In it Baruch mentions *Samuel b. Meir
(Rashbam) and *Isaac b. Meir, as well as statements of Rabbi
Jacob *Tam and his pupils; however, very few German scholars
are referred to. By virtue of its wealth of material and its terse,
easy style, well adapted to its purpose of leading, through discussion, to the practical halakhah, the book spread through
France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and was widely quoted by
many later authorities among them, *Eliezer of Worms, *Isaac
b. Moses Or Zarua, *Moses b. Jacob of Coucy, Zedekiah *Anav,
*Aaron b. Jacob of Lunel, and *Nah manides. Entire halakhic
passages from the work were inserted by copyists into the
*Mah zor Vitry. Numerous manuscripts of Sefer ha-Terumah
and some manuscripts of an anonymous abridgment are extant. Baruch also wrote tosafot to several tractates of the Talmud, but only those on Zevah im have been preserved and they
are printed in the standard editions of the Talmud. A. Epstein
held that the anonymous commentary on Tamid attributed to
Abraham b. David (Prague, 1725) should be ascribed to Baruch, but despite a measure of similarity between the commentary and a number of quotations in Baruchs name which
are known this is unlikely. E.E. Urbach has maintained that
the commentary on the Sifra ascribed to Abraham b. David
was written by Baruch, but this too is uncertain.
Bibliography: A. Epstein, Das talmudische Lexikon Yih usei
Tannaim ve-Amoraim (1895); Urbach, Tosafot, 263, 28699, 5112;
V. Aptowitzer, Mavo le-Sefer Ravyah (1938), 3278.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
BARUCH BEN SAMUEL (d. 1834), adventurer and physician. Baruch was born in Pinsk and emigrated to Safed in 1819.
The reports of a messenger who traveled from Safed to Yemen
and back in 1825 gave rise to wondrous tales about a Jew from
the tribe of Dan whom he allegedly met in Yemen and of stories about the Sons of Moses and the Ten Tribes. The community of Safed decided to send a messenger to these remote
Jews to come to the aid of their brethren in Palestine. They
chose Baruch who, in their opinion, possessed the qualities
necessary for such a bold undertaking. They gave him a letter
addressed to the Ten Tribes and made him swear to devote
himself wholly to this task.
Baruch started his journey in 1831. His travels took him
to Damascus, Aleppo, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Baghdad,
Basra, Bushire, Muscat, and Aden. Toward the end of 1833
Baruch reached Yemen. The rabbis of Sana received him cordially and one of the members of the community (dayyan Mri
Yih ye al-Abyat) accompanied him to H aydn at the northern
extremity of Yemen, where, according to the rumor, the tribe
of Dan lived. Baruch and his companion made their way into
the desert where they met a shepherd, who appeared to them
like a Danite. They gave him the letter and he promised to
deliver the answer to them in H aydn. Then Baruch and his
companion hurried back to Sana for the autumn Holidays.
The Jews of H aydn promised to forward the anticipated answer to Sana, but it never came.
When Baruch returned to Sana, he offered to cure the
sickly imam of Yemen, al-Mahdi. He hoped thereby to enlist
the imams aid in the completion of his mission. After his recovery, the imam appointed Baruch his court physician. Baruch began to behave haughtily toward the Muslims, and thus
aroused their enmity and jealousy. In 1834 Ibrahim Pasha of
Egypt attacked Yemen and captured Mocha. Baruch assured
the imam that if he would give him an army, he would drive
out the conqueror on condition that afterward he himself be
appointed the ruler of that city. This proposal served Baruchs
189
190
barukh she-amar
BARUH, BORA (19011941), Yugoslav painter. After studying law, he devoted himself to painting, moving to Paris in
1938. On returning to Belgrade in 1941, he joined the partisan movement in Serbia but was captured and executed. He
painted landscapes, portraits, and Spanish Civil War scenes,
mainly in oils.
BARUK, HENRI (18971999), French psychiatrist. In 1931
he was appointed chief physician at the Charenton mental
institution, and in 1946 became professor at the Sorbonne.
His early scientific studies concentrated on psychiatric disorders caused by tumors on the brain. He succeeded in creating, by artificial means, aggression psychoses in animals. This
led him to study the connections between psychiatric illness
and defective moral awareness in human beings, and he subsequently displayed a tendency to extend psychiatry into the
area of general anthropology. In 1957 he became chairman
of the French Neurological Society. Baruk compared biblical
medicine with that of Greece and wrote studies on religious
belief and medical ethics. He opposed scientific experiments
on the human body and all methods of psychiatric treatment
which suppress or diminish the personality. Deeply linked
to Jewish tradition and texts, Baruk was active in Jewish affairs in France, as chairman of the Society for the History of
Hebrew Medicine in Paris and of the French Friends of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His works include Hebraic
Civilization and the Science of Man, 1961 (originally a lecture
in Edinburgh in 1960); Le Test Tzedek, le jugement moral et la
dlinquance (1950); Psychiatrie morale, exprimentale, individuelle et sociale; Psychoses et neuroses (1965); La Psychanalyse
devant la mdecine et lidoltrie (1978); La Psychiatrie et la crise
morale du monde daujourdhui (1983); and La Bible hbraque
devant la crise morale du monde daujourdhui (1987). He also
published his memoirs: Des hommes comme nous,mmoires
dun neuropsychiatre (1975; Patients are People Like Us: The Experiences of Half a Century in Neuropsychiatry, 1977).
[Joshua O. Leibowitz / Dror Franck Sullaper (2nd ed.)]
191
192
bar-yosef, yehoshua
defense committee. As a member of the *Mapai faction, BarYehudah was active in the central institutions of the *Histadrut, the yishuv, and the Zionist organizations. When Mapai
split, in 1944, he joined *Ah dut ha-Avodah and became one
of its leaders and later a member of its Knesset faction. During his term as minister of interior (195559) the question of
Who is a Jew according to Israel law became a public issue
in connection with identity-card registration. From 1962 until
his death Bar-Yehudah served as minister of transport. During 196062 he was his partys secretary-general.
Bibliography: D. Lazar, Rashim be-Yisrael, 1 (1953),
10711.
[Abraham Aharoni]
193
barzilai
yot Kabbaliyot bi-Yez irot shel Yehoshua Bar-Yosef ve-Yiz h ak Bashevis-Singer (1994); idem, H edvat ha-H ayyim mul H edvat ha-Mavet
(1999); G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 2 (1983), 33851; B. Rubinstein,
Hashpaatam shel Gogol ve-Chekhov al ha-Iz uv ha-Komi be-Mah az otav
shel Yosef Bar-Yosef (1977).
[Yitzhak Julius Taub / Anat Feinberg (2nd ed.)]
BARZILAI, Italian family. GIUSEPPE (18241902), Orientalist. Born in Gradisca (Goerz), Giuseppe studied at Padua and
was at one time secretary of the Trieste Jewish community. His
work on the relations between the Semitic and Indo-Germanic
languages (1885) won a prize from the Acadmie Franaise. He
also translated the Song of Songs and Lamentations into Italian verse (1865 and 1867).
SALVATORE (18601939), son of Giuseppe, Italian politician, played no part in Jewish life. An ardent supporter of the
Italian claim to Trieste, at the age of 18 he was found guilty of
treason against Austria, but was acquitted on appeal after a
year of imprisonment. Salvatore studied law at Bologna and
began to practice in 1882, specializing in criminal law. Later
he became recognized as an eminent legal authority. He was
foreign editor of La Tribuna of Rome from 1883 to 1891, and
entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1890 as an extreme leftwing republican advocating Italys withdrawal from the Triple Alliance. His irredentism was so great that he became
known as the Deputy from Trieste. He strongly supported
Italys declaration of war against Germany and Austria in 1915,
and was later appointed minister for the liberated territories.
Salvatore was an Italian delegate at the peace conference in
1919 and became a senator in 1920. Among his writings are
La criminalit in Italia (1885); La recidiva (1883); and Il nuovo
Codice Penale (1889).
Add. Bibliography: E. Falco, Salvatore Barzilai: un repubblicano moderno tra massoneria e irredentismo (1996).
194
BASCH, VICTOR GUILLAUME (18631944), French philosopher and a defender of human rights. Basch was born in
Budapest and studied German at the Sorbonne. He served as
a professor at the universities of Nancy, Rennes, and Paris. In
1918 he held the newly established chair of aesthetics at the
Sorbonne. Basch became well-known when he championed
Alfred Dreyfus. He was a founder of the League for the Rights
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
basevi
of Man and its president in 1926. Basch was a socialist supporter of the left-wing coalition known as the Popular Front
and a leader of the Alliance Isralite Universelle. During World
War II, Basch was a member of the central committee of the
French underground. He and his wife were executed by the
Vichy government.
His writings include Essai critique sur lesthtique de Kant
(1896); La guerre de 1914 et le droit (1915); Les doctrines politiques des philosophes classiques de lAllemagne (1927), and Essais desthtique de philosophie et de littrature (1934), as well as
other works on literature, philosophy, and political issues.
Add. Bibliography: F. Basch, Victor Basch ou la passion
de la justice: de laffaire Dreyfus au crime de la milice (1994); F. Basch,
L. Crips, and P. Gruson (eds.), Victor Basch: un intellectuel cosmopolite (2000).
BASEVI, Italian family of German origin, especially associated with Verona. In Hebrew, they called themselves BathSheba and in abbreviation, Bash (
). The name Naphtali
was common in the family, and therefore some of its members
took a deers head as their crest and became known as Basevi
Cervetto (Italian: little deer), in accordance with the Blessing of Jacob (Gen. 49:21). Others took a boat as their crest, in
accordance with the Blessing of Moses (Deut. 33:23), and became known as Basevi della Gondola. It is not clear what precise relationship existed between this family and the Bassevi
family of Prague (see *Bassevi, Jacob von Treuenberg). The
brothers ABRAHAM and JOSEPH, sons of Sabbatai Mattathias
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
195
bashan
196
Edrei
Tob
EL
Kin g's
.
DR
rmuk R.
Ya
Kenath
Bozrah
GASEA O
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EE
A Naveh
Karnaim
S
Ashtaroth
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UZ
JEB
Hazor
.
Hi
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Jordan R. Via
Ma
ris
Damascus
Salcah
a fall from the spire of Ely Cathedral, of which he was resident architect. Casts of a plaster bust of Basevi, attributed to
T.I. Mazzotti, are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the
Soane Museum, London, and the Royal Institute of British Architects, London. Other members of the family include JAMES
PALLADIO (18321871), Anglo-Indian surveyor and explorer;
JACOB BASEVI CERVETTO (16821783), generally known as
James Cervetto, musician, who introduced the playing of the
cello into England, and his illegitimate son, JAMES CERVETTO
(17461837), also a musician and one of the best cellists of his
time. Both father and son composed various musical works,
especially for the cello. Most of the members of this family
were not professing Jews.
JOSEF BASEWI (b. 1840) founded the Giuseppe Basewi
sugar firm in Trieste, which attained considerable importance
in opening Oriental markets to Austrian export.
bashyazi
BASHIRI, YAH YA (Yahya b. Abraham b. Saadiah alBashiri; Heb. name Abner bar Ner ha-Sharoni; 17t century),
Yemenite kabbalist and scribe. His extant work is characterized by accuracy and beauty. Later Yemenite scholars, particularly Yah ya *S alih , refer to Bashiri in their writings, while
popular legends extol his piety and the miracles he performed
by virtue of his knowledge of practical Kabbalah. His two extant works, still in manuscript form, are H avaz z elet ha-Sharon,
a kabbalistic work on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and
Bashiri, a pentateuchal commentary based on gematria. He is
known to have written other works, which have not survived:
two commentaries on the Ein Yaakov of Jacob ibn H abib and
Amirat ha-Emunot, the contents of which are unknown. The
numerous quotations from Bashiri in the H elek ha-Dikduk
of S alih reveal the variae lectiones collected by Bashiri in the
course of copying the books of the Pentateuch, on which he
may even have compiled a distinct work. His love of books
is evidenced by his written vow (appearing in a colophon to
the Midrash ha-Gadol, on Deuteronomy) never to sell a book
in his lifetime or thereafter, i.e., even if this be necessary to
provide funds for his burial shroud.
Bibliography: A. Elnadaf, Seridei Teiman (1928), 7a, 9b; Y.
Ratzhaby, in: KS, 28 (1952/53), 260, 264, 268, 405; A. Korah , Saarat
Teiman (1954), 2.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
197
Basil i
198
basilica
BASILICA (Greek , talmudic ) , elongated rectangular building divided by colonnades. During the Roman
period this term was broadened from the narrow meaning of a
meeting place for merchants to any assembly hall. In particular the term referred to a hall used in the philosophers schools
and in wealthy homes for reading and lectures. In these basilicas, the apse was the area set aside for the lecturer or teacher.
The entire hall was oriented toward the podium set in the
apse, which had a concave roof serving as an acoustical ceilENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
ing. This type of basilica was the prototype for the early synagogues and churches. Talmudic sources refer to three types of
basilicas, which served as palaces, bathhouses, and treasuries
(Av. Zar. 16b). They note that the basilica also served as a hall
of justice (Gen. R. 68:12) and as a place for the sale of grain
(as in Ashkelon, Tosef. to Oho. 18 end).
An early example of the basilica construction is found in
the Royal Stoa which Josephus (Ant., 15:411416) describes
as having been erected along the southern wall of the Temple
Mount by Herod when he had the Temple rebuilt. This basilica had four rows of pillars each 23 ft. (7 m.) high. According
to Josephus, its length was one stadion (606 ft. (185 m.)), but
it appears to have been longer about 920 ft. (280 m.). The
central hall was 30 cubits wide and 60 cubits high. The width
of the side aisles was 20 cubits, and the height, 30 cubits, giving the structure a true basilical form. Two partially carved
stone pillars have been found in Jerusalem which by their size
indicate that they were destined for this basilica. However,
they were cracked and therefore not used. It is possible that
Herod modeled his stoa after the Great Synagogue in Alexandria which has been described as a kind of basilica with a stoa
within a stoa (Tosef. to Suk. 4:6). Conceivably this expression refers to the central area which was constructed between
two colonnades. Another interpretation is that this refers to
an additional stoa which extended the width of the hall. Such
construction was typical of the early synago-gues, remains of
which have been found at Masada and in Galilee.
The Christians adopted the western form of basilica, and
most of the early churches (fourthsixth centuries) were built
on that model, although the term basilica was no longer
in common usage. In the early Christian basilicas, the apse
served as the seat of the priests. The altar was set before it,
and this part of the building was separated from the remainder by a grille which crossed the width of the church. Two
or more rows of columns extended the length of the building, separating the main hall in the center from the narrower
aisles at either side.
The first churches in Palestine and elsewhere, e.g., the
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, were built according to this design. In the fifth century a vestibule (narthex) was added to
the front facade of the basilica churches.
Basilicas were also used for secular purposes in the Jewish community in Palestine. One structure of this nature
(135 49 ft. (40 15 m.)) was found in Bet Shearim. It consists
of an enclosed paved court, a vestibule, and a basilica with two
rows of five columns each. At the far end of the building, opposite the entry, is a low platform. It would appear that this
was a hall of justice in the time of R. Judah ha-Nasi.
Bibliography: C.M. Kaufmann, Handbuch der christlichen
Archaeologie (1913); R. Cagnat and V. Chapot, Manuel darchologie
romaine, 1 (1916), 12834; H. Kohl und C. Watzinger, Antike Synagogen in Galilea (1916); S. Krauss, Synagogale Altertuemer (1922), 32102;
E.L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece (1934); J.B.
Ward Perkins, in: Papers of British School at Rome, 22 (1954), 6989;
199
200
BASLE
201
basle program
202
203
the literary movement Yung Yisroel. Her poetry, which problematizes the tensions between an annihilated world and a
new homeland, attempts to come to terms lyrically with the
Holocaust while affirming life in all its manifestations. A sober poetic style and a boldly visual lexical metonymy express
great sensitivity, quiet joy, and restrained sorrow. The poems
on the death of her husband (Mulah ben Hayim) are elegiac
and pantheistic. Her book publications include: Toybn baym
brunem (Doves at the Well, 1959), Bleter fun vegn (Leaves
on Paths, 1967), Likhtike shteyner (Glittering Stones, 1972),
Tseshotene kreln (Scattered Pearls, 1982), Onrirn di tsayt
(Touching Time, 1988), Di shtilkeyt brent (Burning Silence,
1992), Di erd gedenkt (The Earth Remembers, 1998), and Oyf
a strune fun regn (On a String of Rain, 2002).
Bibliography: I. Fater, in: Nusakh Ashkenaz in Vort un
Klang (2002), 6670; A. Spiegelblatt, in: Toplpunkt, 8 (2004), 1114;
Z. Kahan-Newman, in: J. Sherman (ed.). Yiddish after the Holocaust
(2004), 26685.
[Astrid Starck (2nd ed.)]
BASOLA, MOSES BEN MORDECAI (I) (14801560), Italian rabbi. Basola was apparently of French extraction, since he
signed himself Z arefati (The Frenchman); it has been conjectured that his surname is identical with Basilea, i.e., Basle.
From the age of nine he resided in Soncino. Basola served as
teacher and tutor in the household of the banker Moses Nis-
204
basra
Moses Cordovero, Or Neerav (a compendium of Pardes Rimmonim, Venice, 1587) and Tomer Devorah (Venice, 1589), both
by Moses Cordovero.
MOSES BASOLA (III) (16t century), properly Della Rocca,
was grandson through his mother of Moses Basola I. He was
the teacher of Leone *Modena at Ferrara (158284). Subsequently he went to Cyprus where he died. Modena wrote a
poem in his memory, which can be read either as Hebrew
or Italian.
Bibliography: C. Roth, The House of Nasi: Doa Graci
(1947), ch. 7; I. Ben-Zvi, Masot Erez Yisrael le-Moshe Basola (1938);
Add. Bibliography: R. Lamdan, in: Michael, 9 (1985), 17193;
idem, in: Z. Ankori (ed.), From Lisbon to Salonica and Constantinople (1988), 13554; A. David, in: Zion and Jerusalem: The Itinerary of
Rabbi Moses Basola (1999).
[Cecil Roth / Avraham David (2nd ed.)]
BASRA, port in southern Iraq, on the Shatt al-Arab, the outlet into the Persian Gulf of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
Jews settled there under the *Umayyad regime and one of
the nine canals near the town is called Nahr al-Yahd (River
of the Jews). Jews also settled in Ubulla, then the port of the
town of Basra and now the site of Basra. Toward the end of
the Umayyad caliphate, Msarjawayh, a Jewish physician from
Basra, gained fame for his Arabic translations of Greek medical books. In the first generation of *Abbasid rule, the court
astrologer was the Jew Misha b. Abra, called Mshallah. Besides many artisans and merchants, the Basra Jewish community comprised many religious scholars, including Simeon
Kayyara of S abkha (suburb of Basra), who wrote Halakhot
Gedolot about 825 C.E. The sages of Basra were in close contact
with the academy of *Sura, to which the community sent an
annual contribution of 300 dinars. In the tenth century, when
the academy closed, the last Gaon, Joseph b. Jacob, settled in
Basra. But until about 1150 the Jews of Basra continued to direct their questions on religious matters to the heads of the
yeshivah in Baghdad, and especially to *Sherira Gaon and his
son *Hai Gaon. From these questions, it appears that the Jews
of Basra had close commercial ties with the Jews of Baghdad.
Both a Rabbanite and a *Karaite community existed in Basra.
A Karaite, Israel b. Simh ah b. Saadiah b. Ephraim, dedicated a
*Ben-Asher version of the Bible to the Karaite community of
Jerusalem. In the 11t century, Basra was gradually abandoned
as a result of civil wars in Mesopotamia; and many of its Jews
emigrated. Solomon b. Judah (d. 1051), head of the Jerusalem
yeshivah, mentions religious scholars and physicians from
Basra in Palestine and Egypt.
However, throughout the Middle Ages there remained
an important community in Basra. *Benjamin of Tudela
(c. 1170) reports that approximately 10,000 Jews, including
many wealthy men and religious scholars, lived in the town.
He also mentions the grave north of the town, believed to be
that of *Ezra and also venerated by the Muslims. According
to an early 13t century letter by Daniel b. Eleazar b. Nethanel
H ibat Allah, head of the Baghdad yeshivah, there was also a
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Modern Period
In May 1941, under the pro-Nazi regime of Rashd l alKailn, Jewish shops were looted by an incited mob. In 1942
the newly founded Zionist movement of Basra trained Jewish youngsters to use arms in anticipation of further attacks
and organized groups for *aliyah. After a few years of relative
calm, the Jews were again in danger. In 1948, with the decla-
205
BASS (Bezprozvany), HYMAN B. (19041983), Yiddish educator and essayist. Born in Vilnius (now Lithuania), Bass immigrated to New York in 1922 and taught in Yiddish schools.
From 1953 he served as executive secretary of the *Congress
for Jewish Culture and in 1966 as president of the Jewish Book
Council of America. He edited textbooks for Yiddish schools
and wrote extensively on Jewish education. His book of essays
Undzer Dor Muz Antsheydn (Our Generation Must Decide,
1963), embodied his ideas on Jewish education and cultural
survival. S. *Dubnow, Y.L. *Peretz, and Chaim *Zhitlowsky
206
BASSAN, ABRAHAM HEZEKIAH BEN JACOB (18t century), proofreader and poet. Abrahams father, JACOB, was the
rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese community of Hamburg.
From 1735 to 1756 Jacob lived in Amsterdam and in 1755 published an order of service for the fast day proclaimed on the
occasion of the great earthquake in Lisbon.
bassano
BASSANI, MORDECAI (Marco in Italian; the name Hezekiah was added on the occasion of his last illness, c. 16321703),
Italian rabbi and polemicist. In 1666 he became preacher to
the Ashkenazi community of Verona, and in 1680 he became
its rabbi; in 1695 he was appointed rabbi of the entire Verona
community. He was the author of Sefer Bikkurim (Venice,
1710) containing deathbed prayers and usages (adapted from
Maavar Yabbok of *Aaron Berechiah ben Moses of Modena,
and Shenei Luh ot Ha-Berit of Isaiah *Horowitz) written for the
Bikkur H olim fraternity of Verona, but later widely adopted.
His treatise on divorce, entitled Mikhtav le-H izkiyyah, and
one on h aliz ah, entitled Maamar Mordekhai, were included
by his great-grandson Menahem Navarra in his Penei Yiz h ak
(Verona, 1743). In his will he mentions a collection of moral
sermons which he had compiled (Avnei Binyan, 1 (1938), 65).
He was friendly with the Roman Catholic polemicist Fra Luigi
Maria Benetelli. His criticisms of Benetellis polemical work,
Le saette di Gionata (Venice, 1703) together with those of
Samson *Morpurgo and Abraham Joel *Conegliano prompted
Benetellis rejoinder, I dardi rabbinici infranti (Venice, 1705).
In this work Benetelli speaks in the highest terms of the gentle manner, great charity, and admirable character of Bassani.
Bassani is also the author of a lengthy responsum on the relationship between the Ashkenazi community of Verona and
the smaller Sephardi community there.
Bibliography: S. Baron, in: Sefer S. Krauss (1936), 21754;
Sonne, in: Zion, 3 (1938), 123ff.; Simonsohn, in: KS, 35 (1959), 127 n. 1;
253 n. 109; C. Roth, Gleanings (1967), 203, 2067, 213.
[Cecil Roth]
207
bassano
BASSANO (Bassan, Bassani), name of Italian family deriving from the town *Bassano. In the 17t and 18t centuries, it
produced several rabbis and scholars, outstanding among
whom are: MORDECAI *BASSANI (c. 16321703), rabbi of Verona and ISAIAH BEN ISRAEL HEZEKIAH (d. 1739), rabbi in
Cento, Padua, Ferrara, and Reggio Emilia. Many of his responsa are included in the second volume of Todat Shelamim
by his son Israel (see below) and in the Pah ad Yiz h ak of Isaac
*Lampronti and Shemesh Z edakah of Samson *Morpurgo. His
other responsa, glosses on the Talmud, a number of poems,
notes on the gospels, sermons, and a book, Kur le-Zahav, comprising critical notes on Solomon *Algazis Halikhot Eli, remain
in manuscript. His pupils included Moses H ayyim *Luzzatto.
His son, ISRAEL BENJAMIN (17011790), one of the outstanding Italian Jewish poets of his day, published two collections of
Hebrew poetry accompanied by Italian versions. He dedicated
both to Francesco III of Este, duke of Modena (175053), calling the second Corona Estense. His Todat Shelamim (Venice,
1741, 1791) includes his own halakhic writings and responsa by
208
bat
Bibliography: Jos., Wars, 7:1635, 190216, 252; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 5 (19512), 285ff.; Pauly-Wissowa, 26 (1927), 164042
(22).
[Edna Elazary]
BAS TOVIM, SARAH (18t century), author of highly popular tkhines, womens supplicatory prayers. Bas Tovim was
born in Satanov in Podolia (present-day Ukraine), the great
granddaughter of Rabbi Mordecai of Brisk. Her works con-
209
bat alyaws, abu muhammad abdallah ibn muhammad ibn al-sd al-
210
bath-sheba
Talmudic Period
The Talmud declared it forbidden for a scholar to reside in a
city which did not contain a public bath (Sanh. 17b). Rome
was said to contain 3,000 public baths (Meg. 68) and despite
the animosity to the Romans they were praised by the rabbis
for constructing baths in Palestine (Shab. 33b). It is related
that Rabban Gamaliel utilized the Bath of Aphrodite in Acre
although the image of the idol adorned the bath (Av. Zar. 3:4).
Originally the baths were communal institutions (Ned. 5:5).
Afterward, smaller baths were also built by private individuals
(BB 1:6; 10:7) and competition between them to attract customers was permitted (BB 21b). The bath attendants received
checks or tokens from intending patrons so they would know
in advance how many to expect and what preparations to
make (BM 47b and Rashi ad loc.). The larger baths contained
separate areas for bathing in lukewarm water, hot water, and
steam baths (Shab. 40a). On entering the bathhouse, the rabbis ordained the following prayer: May it be Thy will, O Lord,
my God, to deliver me from the flames of the fire and the heat
of the water, and to protect me from a cave-in. Upon leaving, the individual recited, I thank Thee, O Lord, my God,
for having delivered me from the fire (TJ, Ber. 9:6, 14b; cf.
Ber. 60a). Hillel the Elder told his disciples that he considered bathing in the communal bathhouse a religious duty for
just as the custodians scour and wash the statues of the kings,
likewise must man, created in Gods image and likeness, do
to his body (Lev. R. 34:3).
Middle Ages and Modern Times
The public bath and adjoining mikveh were maintained by
Jewish communities throughout the Middle Ages as part of
the institutions of Jewish social life and welfare. Hygienic habits and the ritual requirements of the Jewish religion made the
Jews regard bathing as part of their living routine during a
period when bathing was generally considered a form of rare
luxury in Europe. By the end of the 11t century, some Jewish
communities erected imposing buildings to house their baths
and regularly attended to their servicing and upkeep. The refusal of Christians to allow Jews to share the municipal baths
and the fear that Jewish women might be molested there increased the need for separate institutions. The fact also, that,
with the exception of Poland, Jews were prohibited from bathing in the same river as Christians finally led them to build
their own bathhouses, which often became landmarks, such
as the Badehaus of the Jews of Augsburg, or Bakewell Hall
in London, which was probably originally Bathwell Hall. In
Moslem Spain, Ramon Berenger IV allowed his court physician, Abraham, to build the only public bathhouse in Barcelona, which his family ran from 1160 to 1199. In the Middle
East, and in modern times, particularly in Eastern Europe,
Jews became addicted to the Turkish bath which has found
its way into Jewish folklore. Several ancient baths have been
discovered in Erez Israel such as the swimming pool and
hot baths that Herod built at *Herodium, which had waiting
rooms, dressing rooms, hot rooms, and cool rooms with all
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BAT H EFER (Heb. ; Daughter of H efer), urban community located in the *H efer Plain in central Israel. The settlement is located near the border of Samaria, near *Tl Karm,
and is part of the regional council of Emek H efer. Its area is
0.4 sq. mi (1 sq. km.). The settlement was part of the seven
star plan of Ariel *Sharon to establish settlements near the
border of Samaria. Building began in 1994 and the first settlers arrived in 1996. At the end of 2002 the population of Bat
H efer was 4,610.
[Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
BATHSHEBA (Heb.
, in I Chron. 3:5
) , wife
of *David and mother of *Solomon. Bath-Sheba was originally the wife of *Uriah the Hittite, one of Davids warriors.
During the war against Rabbath-Ammon (II Sam. 11), David
saw Bath-Sheba and ordered her brought to his palace. When
David knew that she was pregnant by him, he attempted to
return Uriah to his house (see II Sam. 11:613). Failing to do
so, he sought and found a pretext to have Uriah killed in battle (11:1427); he then married Bath-Sheba. The prophet *Nathan rebuked David for this act (12:112), but subsequently
took Bath-Shebas side and supported the enthronement of
her son Solomon (I Kings 1:8ff.). She later agreed to present to Solomon *Adonijahs request for Davids concubine
*Abishag. In addition to Solomon, Bath-Sheba gave birth to at
least three other sons, Shimea, Shobab, and Nathan (I Chron.
3:5). It seems that her first son, who died soon after his birth
because of the sin of his father, is included in this list (II Sam.
12:13ff.).
211
bathyra
According to II Samuel 11:3, Bath-Sheba was the daughter of Eliam, and according to I Chronicles 3:5, she was the
daughter of Ammiel, who the rabbis of the Talmud (Sanh. 69b)
identify with Eliam son of *Ahithophel the Gilonite (II Sam.
23:34); hence the opinion of early commentators (Kimh i and
Levi b. Gershom) and several recent scholars that the opposition of Ahithophel to David during the revolt of Absalom
stemmed from his wish to avenge Uriahs death. Others believe
that these opinions are unacceptable, because, if indeed Eliam
was the son of the famous Ahithophel, the Bible would not
have failed to mention the fact. It is also difficult to believe that
Ahithophel, if he was the grandfather of Bath-Sheba, would
have taken part in such an action which would undoubtedly
have endangered the position of his granddaughter and her
son in the royal court. On the other hand, there is reason to
suppose that Bath-Sheba was of a family that existed in Jerusalem before its conquest by David.
Although Bathyra remained their base, members of the family also resided throughout the neighboring territories. Relatives of Philip, grandson of Zamaris, were among the prominent residents of Gamala at the beginning of the Roman War
(66 C.E.). Philip played a vital if somewhat ambiguous part
during that uprising, as well as in the events in Jerusalem on
the eve of the outbreak of the war in 66. It was his task to secure Batanea from insurrection against Agrippa II and the Romans. Numerous scholars have made the connection between
Bathyra and the rabbis referred to in the Talmud as the sons
of *Bathyra, who held high offices in Jerusalem until they
were superseded by Hillel. However, it is improbable that there
was any connection between the warriors of Bathyra and the
rabbinical sons of Bathyra.
[Yehoshua M. Grintz]
[Isaiah Gafni]
In the Aggadah
If she was Ahithophels granddaughter, the prophecies
which he believed foretold his own royal destiny, in fact applied to her (Sanh. 101b). Bath-Sheba was predestined for
David; his sin was that he took her before the appointed time
(Sanh. 107a). She was not guilty of adultery since it was the
custom that soldiers going to war gave their wives bills of
divorce which were to become valid should they fail to return and Uriah did fall in battle (Ket. 9b). She was a prophet
in that she foresaw that her son would be the wisest of men.
She is numbered among the 22 women of valor (Mid. Hag.
to Gen. 23:1).
Bibliography: Bright, Hist, 181, 188n., 189, 230; de Vaux, Anc
Isr, index; M.Z. Segal, Sifrei Shemuel (19642), 299, 3267; S. Yeivin,
Meh karim be-Toledot Yisrael ve-Arz o (1960), 198207, 2301; Noth,
Personennamen, 1467. IN THE AGGADAH: Ginzberg, Legends, 4
(1947), 9495, 1034; 6 (1946), 2567, 2645.
212
bat-miriam, yokheved
BATMIRIAM (Zhelezniak), YOKHEVED (19011980), Hebrew poet. Born in Keplits, Belorussia, Yokheved Bat-Miriam
attended the universities of Odessa and Moscow. Although her
poems began appearing in 1923, her first volume of poetry MeRah ok (From Afar) was published in 1932, four years after
she settled in Erez Israel; it was followed by six other volumes
of poetry. The bulk of her poetry was written between the two
world wars against the background of the Jewish tragedy of
this period, and her personal experiences as a child in Russia
213
214
bat yam
Bat-Dor
In 1967, Rothschild established the Bat-Dor Dance Company
for Jeannette Ordman, a classical ballet dancer from South Africa who captured the heart of the Baroness. Ordman was the
artistic director, principal dancer, and headmaster of its dance
school. From the beginning, Bat-Dors style was a combination
of modern dance with a strong emphasis on the technique of
classical ballet. The Baroness gave her generous financial support to Bat-Dor, making it possible for the ensemble to purchase works of important artists all over the world.
Among the Israeli choreographers who worked with
the ensemble were Domi Reiter-Sofer, Mirale Sharon, Gene
Hill-Sagan, Yehuda Maor, Igal Perry, and, in the past decade,
Tamir Gintz. The importance of Bat-Dor lies, essentially, in
its school of dance in Tel Aviv and the branch in Beersheba,
which have produced generations of young dancers who have
permeated the dance companies in Israel. Rothschilds death
(1999) brought an end to the stream of cash flowing into the
company, and its ongoing work was soon in crisis. Requests for
government subsidies were made subject to reorganization of
the ensembles management practices and, today, it only operates the school, which receives government support.
[Ruth Eshel (2nd ed.)]
anti-Mosley protesters and the police, on whom the anti-Fascists turned, and not between the Fascists and anti-Fascists.
Nevertheless, the Battle of Cable Street has become legendary as one of the few times during the 1930s when the left and
far right apparently clashed, and the far right was defeated.
Since most of the anti-Mosley protesters were probably gentiles, Cable Street was also seen by many as a prime example
of what a popular front could achieve to stop the seemingly
irresistible spread of Fascism in Europe. It also probably enhanced the prestige of the British Communist Party, which
attracted a significant level of support in the Jewish East End
during the latter 1930s (but probably not earlier). Presumably
in retaliation, the following week many windows of Jewish
shops in Whitechapel were smashed by vandals.
Bibliography: T. Kushner and N. Valman (eds.), Remembering Cable Street: Fascism and Anti-Fascism in British Society (2000); R.
Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley (1990 ed.); J. Jacobs, Out of the Ghetto: My
Youth in the East End Communism and Fascism (1978); W. D Rubinstein, Jews in the English-Speaking World: Great Britain, 244, 31516.
[William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)]
215
long as Jews were not ready to forsake their specific character, their emancipation was out of the question. The work
gave rise to sharp controversy in which Abraham *Geiger,
Gabriel *Riesser, Samuel *Hirsch, and Karl *Marx, among
others, took part.
Bibliography: N. Rotenstreich, in: YLBI, 4 (1959); 336; Z .
Rosen, in: Zion, 33 (1968), 5976; K. Marx, A World Without Jews
(1959).
[Reuven Michael]
BAUER, BRUNO (18091882), German Protestant theologian, philosopher, and historian. He became influenced by the
philosophy of Hegel while a student in Berlin, and because of
radical criticism of the New Testament expressed in numerous works, was dismissed from his post as lecturer at Bonn
in 1842. Bauer then returned to Berlin where he devoted himself to writing historical works and critical studies of the rise
of Christianity. He also wrote on contemporary political issues, defending Prussian conservatism, and strongly opposed
granting emancipation to the Jews in Germany. In his essay
Die Judenfrage (The Jewish Question, 1843), he stresses, like
Hegel, the Oriental character of the Jewish national spirit
(Volksgeist) which failed to comprehend the ideals of freedom
and reason and saw its highest duty in fulfilling unreasonable
ceremonies. In particular, Bauer attacked the representatives
of Reform Judaism, who called for a return to a pure or purified Mosaism. In his view, pure Mosaism was only possible
in the land of Canaan, and only in a sovereign Jewish state.
It was therefore impossible in contemporary circumstances.
Bauer argued that the observance of Jewish laws made faith
illusory and that Judaism was exclusive and unrealistic. As
216
bauer, otto
217
218
des justes les juifs contre Hitler (1970), 5177; B. Mark, in: Bleter
far Geshikhte, 14 (1961), 2764 (Eng. summary in Y. Suhl (ed.), They
Fought Back (1967), 5568). Add. Bibliography: E. Brothers, in:
W. Loehken and W. Vathke (eds.), Juden im Widerstand (1993), 8393;
M. Kreutzer, in: ibid., 95158.
[Lucien Steinberg]
219
baum, morton
220
Inter-Parliamentary Group from 1985 to 1991. After his political career, Baume went back to the medical academic world,
becoming professor of community medicine at the University
of New South Wales and, subsequently, chancellor of the Australian National University.
[William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)]
221
baumgarten, sndor
BAUMGARTEN, SNDOR (18641928), Hungarian architect. Baumgarten, together with . Lechner, designed the
building of the Postal Bank in Budapest (1900). Using Hungarian folkloristic motifs he built the Institute for the Blind
and the Erzbet high school for girls.
[Eva Kondor]
222
bava batra
BAUR, HARRY (18831943), French actor. Born of poor Alsatian parents, Baur was compelled at the age of 12 to work
on the Marseilles docks but managed to study at the Marseilles Conservatory of Music. He appeared briefly on the
Paris stage but after the outbreak of World War I joined the
army. Wounded, he returned to civilian life, continuing to
act on the stage until movies became his chief interest. The
French called Baur the king of the character actors, and indeed, his heavy features and bushy brows lent themselves to a
great range of parts including Beethoven in the Life and Loves
of Beethoven. He also played in Rasputin and in The Golem.
Baur was arrested in Berlin in 1942 on charges of forging a
certificate of (Aryan) ancestry. Ironically, the Germans had to
destroy a costly film because Baur had the main role. He was
subsequently tortured for 4 months and died shortly after his
release from prison.
[Louisa Cuomo]
BAUSKA (Yid. Boysk), town in S. Latvia, near the Lithuanian border. Originally in the duchy of *Courland, it was
incorporated in Russia in 1795 and became a district town in
the government (province) of Courland. Jews were permitted to settle there by a special law of 1799. At first their right
of residence was restricted to a suburb on a bank of the river
Aa (Lielupe), but the restriction was lifted in the 1820s. The
community, most of whose members came from Lithuania,
retained its Lithuanian character, with its stress on Torah
learning and Orthodoxy. It numbered 2,669 in 1835 but by 1850
had decreased to 2,226 as a result of the settlement of 82 families (692 persons) from Bauska in the agricultural colonies in
the province of Kherson in 1840 and of an outbreak of cholera
in the area in 1848. The Jewish population numbered 2,745 in
1897 (42 of the total population). During World War I many
Jews were forced by the Russian military authorities to evacuate Bauska, which was in the area of hostilities, for the Russian
interior. Many did not return after the war and by 1920 there
remained only 604 Jewish inhabitants. Their number rose to
919 in 1925. Most of the trade was in Jewish hands, supported
by a Jewish cooperative bank. Well-known rabbis who officiated in the community in the second half of the 19t century
were Mordecai *Eliasberg and Avraham Yitzh ak *Kook. During Soviet rule in 19401941 all Jewish life and trade was eliminated. Bauska was occupied by the Germans on June 26, 1941.
On August 3, 50 Jews were murdered by Latvian police, and
on September 30, 1941, all the remaining Bauska Jews, about
800, were executed.
Bibliography: L. Ovchinski, Toledot Yeshivat ha-Yehudim
be-Kurland (19112), 4855; Z.A. Rabiner, in: Yahadut Latvia (1953),
24476; M. Bove, Perakim be-Toledot Yahadut Latvia (1965). Add.
Bibliography: PK Latvia ve-Estonia, S.V.
[Simha Katz / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)]
223
224
BAVA BEN BUTA (first century B.C.E.), sage and judge during the reign of *Herod. Bava, although a disciple of Shammai,
agreed with Hillel, that the Laying of Hands (cf. Lev. 3:2) on
sacrifices during festivals is permissible and was instrumental in establishing this law (Bez ah 20ab). As a judge, Bava
was noted for his thorough investigations and for his just decisions (Git. 57a). He offered daily guilt-offerings prescribed
in cases of doubtful trespass, for fear that he had committed
a sin (Ker. 6:3). This sacrifice came to be called the guilt-offering of the pious. Bava overlooked an insult to himself to
make peace between husband and wife (Ned. 66b). According to another legend Bava was the only Jewish sage who was
not put to death by Herod; instead, Herod blinded him so
that he could seek his counsel incognito. When Herod finally
disclosed who he was and asked how he could make amends,
Bava advised him to rebuild the Temple (BB 3b4a). Josephus
refers to The Sons of Bava, who were among the noblemen of
Jerusalem, and were beloved by the people. They were strong
opponents of Herod, and for a long time The Sons of Bava
remained in hiding for fear of him. Ultimately they were executed by him (Ant., 15:2606).
Bibliography: Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (19014), 3867; Klausner,
Bayit Sheni, 4 (19502), 2728; Hyman, Toledot, 2612.
[Zvi Kaplan]
bava kamma
CHAPTER 3:86 END. This is another section, treating in detail the categories horn, pit, tooth and foot, and fire. It,
too, is an expansion of 1:1, taking ox as horn, and maveh as
tooth and foot. Thus the dispute between Rav and Samuel as
to the meaning of maveh (BK 3b) did not originate with them;
it had its origin in the underlying organizational scheme of
early mishnayot which are independent expansions of the ancient Mishnah: There are four avot ...
CHAPTER 7. Chapter 7 is a comprehensive treatment of the
laws of theft. It concentrates on the fines of double, and four
or five fold found in Exodus 22:3 and 21:37. Virtually each
aspect of the theft and subsequent trial of the thief is scrutinized; each term of the pertinent scriptural verses is carefully
defined and analyzed. In respect to the fine of four or five
fold imposed by Scripture for the sale or slaughter of a stolen
animal, the Mishnah determines that if the thief sold part of
the animal but retained partial ownership, however minute,
he is not liable to the fine of four or five fold, but only to that
of double. Thus sells it in the scriptural verse is defined as
the sale of the entire animal. Similarly, if he slaughtered it and
it became unfit under his hand [through a ritually improper
slaughtering] (7:5), he is exempt from the fine of four or five
fold, such an act not being properly deemed slaughter.
CHAPTER 8. This chapter is a comprehensive unit devoted to
the laws of assault and battery.
CHAPTERS 910. Chapters 9 and 10 deal with laws of robbery. It would appear that a more natural position for these
chapters would be after chapter 7, which deals with the related
subject of theft. Their position is perhaps determined by their
concentration upon the regulations governing transference of
ownership of the stolen object through physical alteration or
the original owners despair of recovery, which makes them
more closely related to the laws of acquisition and ownership
in the succeeding chapters (see *Bava Mez ia) than to the laws
of torts in the preceding ones.
It has been suggested that the function of monetary law
in rabbinic sources is to prevent offenses of law, and to instruct
the common man in moral behavior, rather than merely to
provide for redress after a wrong has been committed (i.e.,
that such law is duty-oriented, rather than right-oriented, as
explained by Silberg). Along these lines, types of damages are
described in Bava Kamma for which one is not liable according to human law, but guilty according to the laws of heaven
(55b56a). Since there are acts which, even though not rendering one liable to suit, are morally wrong, it becomes an act
of piety to take extreme care in preventing harm to the person or property of others. R. Judah held that the study of the
laws of damages in Bava Kamma is a prerequisite for achieving true piety (30a).
Jerusalem Talmud
S. Lieberman has shown that the tractate Nezikin in the Jerusalem Talmud is of a different nature from the rest of that
Talmud. The differences are attributed to its having been ed-
225
bava meZ ia
ited in Caesarea, no later than 350 C.E., while the rest of the
Jerusalem Talmud was edited in Tiberias, some 50 years later.
Among its distinguishing features are the short, pithy nature
of the discussions, indicating a minimum of editing; a more
primitive talmudic terminology; archaic Hebrew words; a
relatively wider use of Greek and Latin (Caesarea was the
seat of the Roman government in Palestine); and a distinctive orthography (e.g., - for ) . Anonymous statements in
Nezikin are quoted elsewhere in the Jerusalem Talmud in the
name of the sages of Caesarea, or in the name of specific
amoraim who lived in Caesarea. When points of law relating to Nezikin are discussed elsewhere in the Jerusalem Talmud, the treatment differs from the parallels in Nezikin. Conversely, sections of Nezikin which discuss matters relating to
other tractates do not correspond to the material found in the
relevant section of those tractates, although it is reasonable
to assume that they were present in the corresponding tractates of the Talmud collection used by the editor of Nezikin.
All this leads to the conclusion that Nezikin differs from the
other tractates of the Jerusalem Talmud and constitutes the
only existing remnant of the Talmud of Caesarea. This issue
has recently been reexamined by Y. Sussman, who arrived at
different conclusions.
Aside from the regular editions, commentaries and translations, Bava Kamma has received special scholarly attention
with the publication of a new critical edition of the Jerusalem
Talmud of Massekhet Nezikin, edited by E.S. Rosenthal with
commentary by S. Lieberman, and a comparative study of the
Mishnah and Tosefta by Abraham Goldberg.
Bibliography: A. Weiss, Diyyunim u-Verurim be-Vava
Kamma (1966); S. Lieberman, in: Tarbiz, 2 (1931), Suppl. 4; L. Jacobs,
Studies in Talmudic Logic and Methodology (1961), 1325; M. Silberg,
Harvard Law Review, 75 (1961), 30731; Epstein, Amoraim, 27987;
S. Lieberman, Sifrei Zutta (1968); S. Friedman, (ed.), Jonathan haKohens Commentary to Bava Kamma (1969). Add. Bibliography: Y. Sussman, in: Talmudic Studies (1990), 55133; Yerushalmi Neziqin, ed. E.S. Rosenthal (1983); A. Goldberg, Tosefta Bava Kamma:
A Structural and Analytical Commentary (2001); A. Westreich, Sidra,
19 (2004), 77100.
[Shamma Friedman]
226
bava meZ ia
guard produce (but do not work with it) to partake of the food
is the occasion to introduce an ancient Mishnah delineating
the laws of the four kinds of guardian: an unpaid guardian,
a borrower, a paid guardian, and a hirer (Ex. 22:614). The
beginning of chapter 8 continues the subject of guardians,
specifically elaborating on Exodus 22:14 that the borrower
of an animal may not be liable for payment on unavoidable
accidents when he had also borrowed or hired the personal
services of the lender. The chapter closes with laws of renting
houses (related to hiring above).
Chapter 9 opens with a related issue: leasing of a field
where the lessee gives the owner a percentage of the produce,
or a fixed amount of produce, instead of rental money. The
last two parts of the chapter complement laws found earlier in
the tractate; they deal with the duty to pay employees promptly
and limitations of the creditors right to exact a pledge from
the borrower. The religio-moral tone of this section is typical of the close of a unit. Chapter 10 does indeed open a
new topic, the ownership of real estate (continued through
*Bava Batra), and deals basically with the property rights
of neighbors whose properties are situated one above the
other.
Among several aggadic passages in Bava Mez ia, the section beginning at the bottom of 59a is of special interest. R.
Eliezers arguments regarding the purity of a certain oven did
not convince his colleagues. He then called for a series of miraculous acts to vindicate him. Although heavenly interventions were forthcoming, the miracles were deemed valueless
in settling legal disputes. R. Eliezer then declared, If the law
is according to my opinion, may it be proved from heaven.
A heavenly voice (*bat kol) issued forth saying, Why do you
challenge R. Eliezer, for the law is according to his opinion in
all matters? Whereupon R. Joshua rose and declared, It is
not in the heavens (Deut. 30:12) since the giving of the
Torah at Mt. Sinai, no attention is paid to a heavenly voice, but
the opinion of a majority of the scholars determines authentic law. An English translation of the Talmud was made by S.
Daiches and H. Freedman (Soncino edition, 1935). A students
edition, vocalized, with translation, commentary and notes in
English, appeared as part of the Talmud El-Am.
[Shamma Friedman]
The Tosefta of Bava Mez ia contains 11 chapters. The beraitot in the Tosefta, in addition to giving supplementary and
sometimes parallel passages to the Mishnah, also contain
much more material than the Mishnah, dealing with entire
subjects not mentioned in it.
Chapter I of the Tosefta parallels chapter 1 of the Mishnah,
but it ends with a series of laws dealing with deeds and surety.
They begin with the words (1:15), if two have hold of a bill,
the one saying it is mine but I lost it etc., which are directly
connected with the main subject of the chapter; since the
editor did not want to fragment the source, he gives it in full
on account of the first halakhah. Chapter 2 parallels Mishnah
chapter 2, but from its last halakhah (33) it can be inferred
Aside from the regular editions, commentaries and translations, Bava Mez ia has received special scholarly attention with
the publication of a new critical edition of the Jerusalem Talmud of Massekhet Nezikin, edited by E.S. Rosenthal with commentary by S. Lieberman, and the monumental work Talmud
Arukh, Talmud Bavli Bava Mez ia VI, by Shamma Friedman.
[Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: Epstein, Amoraim, 27987; D. Daube, in: Tulane Law Review, 18 (1944), 377ff.; Ch. Albeck, Shishah Sidrei Mishnah,
4 (1959), 5763; A. Weiss, Diyyunim u-Verurim be-Vava Kamma
(1966), 1016, 26; B. De Vries. Meh karim be-Sifrut ha-Talmud (1968),
96101; S. Albeck, in: Sinai, 62 (1968), 229ff. Add. Bibliography:
Yerushalmi Nezikin, ed. E.S. Rosenthal (1983); S. Friedman, Talmud
Arukh, TB Bava Mez ia VI (vol. 1. 1990, vol. 2 1996).
227
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Map of Bavaria showing Jewish population centers from the tenth century to 1932-33.
228
bavaria
kenazi *H asidism and in the 12t and 13t centuries the main
center of this school. The traveler *Pethahiah b. Jacob set out
from there in about 1170. Prominent scholars of Bavaria include *Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg (the leading authority of Ashkenazi Jewry, 13t century); Jacob *Weil (taught at
Nuremberg and Augsburg, beginning of the 15t century);
Israel *Bruna (settled in Regensburg, mid-15t century); Moses
*Mintz (rabbi of Bamberg, 14691474); and the Renaissance
grammarian Elijah *Levita (a native of Neustadt). In the 19t/
20t centuries there lived in Munich the folklorist and philologist Max M. *Gruenbaum; Raphael Nathan Nata *Rabinovicz, author of Dikdukei Soferim; and Joseph *Perles, rabbi
of Augsburg, 18751910.
The Jews in Bavaria were among the first victims of the
Nazi movement, which spread from Munich and Nuremberg.
Virulent and widespread antisemitic agitation caused the depopulation of scores of the village communities so characteristic of Bavaria, especially after the *Kristallnacht in 1938.
The first concentration camp was established at *Dachau in
Bavaria and many Jews from Germany and other countries in
Europe perished there.
After World War II thousands of Jews were assembled in
displaced persons camps in Bavaria; the last one to be closed
down was in Foehrenwald. Almost all of the 1,000 Bavarian
Jews who survived the Holocaust were saved because they
were married to Germans or were born of mixed marriages.
A year after the end of hostilities a Nazi underground movement remained active in Bavaria, and the neo-Nazi anti-Jewish demonstrations of June 1965 started in Bamberg. Antisemitic sentiment was also aroused when the minister of Jewish
affairs, Philip Auerbach, was prosecuted for misappropriation
of funds in 1951.
In 1969 there were in Bavaria about 4,700 Jews, forming 13 communities, the majority from the camps of Eastern
Europe. The largest communities were in Munich (3,486),
Nuremberg (275), Wuerzburg (141), Fuerth (200), Augsberg
(230), and Regensburg (150). There were smaller numbers of
Jews in *Amberg, Bamberg, *Bayreuth, Straubing, and Weiden.
In 1989 there were 5,484 community members. Due mainly
to the emigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union, the
number rose to 18,387 in 2003, the largest communites being
those in Munich (8,917), Straubing (1,713), Augsburg (1,619),
Nuremberg (1,286), and Wuerzburg (1,027).
Bibliography: S. Taussig, Geschichte der Juden in Bayern (1874); Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 2224; 2 (1968), 5760; S. Schwarz,
Juden in Bayern im Wandel der Zeiten (1963); R. Strauss, Regensburg
and Augsburg (1939); H.B. Ehrmann, Struggle for Civil and Religious
Emancipation in Bavaria in the First Half of the 19t Century (1948),
199; H.C. Vedeler, in: Journal of Modern History, 10 (1938), 47395;
P. Wiener-Odenheimer, Die Berufe der Juden in Bayern (1918), 131.
Add. Bibliography: PK Bavaria; B.Z. Ophir (ed.), Die juedischen
Gemeinden in Bayern 19181945 (1979); J.F. Harris, The People Speak
(1994); R. Kiessling (ed.), Judengemeinden in Schwaben (1995); G.
Och (ed.), Juedisches Leben in Franken (2002).
[Zvi Avneri]
229
bavli, hillel
[Eliezer Schweid]
230
bayonne
BAYHAN (Bayh n), county and its central city, Bayh n alKas ab, in South Arabia. This was a desert area with shifting
sands on the ancient Perfume Road. In the Roman period
the area flourished because of the perfume trade, but it deteriorated when Christianity became widespread. In Nr alZ alm by Rabbi *Nethanel ben Isaiah, Bayhan was referred to
as Diklah (Gen. 10:27). At the end of the 15t century a Jewish
false messiah orated in the area, but after he had been seized
and killed by the authorities the area was evacuated of all Jews.
In the 19t century the Jews suffered from the struggle between
the Turkish and the British. Jews lived in Bayhan and in four
villages in the area: Aylan, Shirka, Aliya, and Rawna, which
were controlled by the Sheikh Husayn ibn Ah mad. There were
approximately 30 houses belonging to Jews in the town and
about 20 families in the nearby villages. Most Jews were blacksmiths and weavers but some were merchants. A number of
families had land in the neighboring city of H arib. Jews and
Muslims lived side by side and had good relations. There was
one synagogue in Bayhan, established by R. Said Kasha of
S ana. Another rabbi from Sana was Salim Joseph S anani. The
cemetery was located in the western part of the city. One synagogue was situated in Aylan and was used by all Jews in the village area. The rabbibical court was staffed by the Mori and Menasheh families, which, according to their testimony, had lived
in Bayhan for many generations, coming there from Bayda,
H abban, Rada, Suwadi, Sana, and other places. Jewish professions in the last generation included: blacksmithing, weaving,
retail commerce, and some farming. The 88 Jews of H abban
were brought to Aden by a British air force flight in 1949 and
from there immigrated to the State of Israel on December 4,
1949. They settled in the abandoned village of Ajur.
Bibliography: R.B Serjeant, Materials for South Arabian History, in BSOAS 13 (1950), 294; L.D. Loeb, Jewish-Muslim
Socio-Political Relations in Twentieth Century South Yemen, in:
E. Isaac and Y. Tobi (eds.), Judaeo-Yemenite Studies: Proceedings of
the Second International Congress, 7199; R. Meissner, Die suedjemenitischen Juden: Versuch einer Rekonstruktion ihrer traditionallen Kultur vor dem Exodus, (1999), 4751; Y. Kafih , Sefunot 2 (1958),
249; Sh. Lahav, Kehillat Yehudei Bayhan (1996); Y. Tobi, in: Peamim
64 (1995), 2831.
[Yosef Tobi (2nd ed.)]
231
bayrami
to settle in Bayonne until late in the 18t century. The regulations of the community were drawn up in 1752, and confirmed
by the intendant du roi. Bayonne Jewry helped to introduce
the chocolate industry into France; in the mid-18t century
the import of salt and glue into Bayonne was in Jewish hands.
Bayonne Jews were among the first to establish trade connections with the French West Indies. About one-third of
the municipal tax revenue was derived from the Jewish residents. Despite opposition from their Christian neighbors,
the Jews participated in the elections to the States-General
in 1789. They were recognized as French citizens in 1790, with
the rest of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Avignonese Jews
in France. During the Reign of Terror, most of the members
of the Comit de surveillance of Saint Esprit (known then as
Jean Jacques Rousseau) were Jews; it is noteworthy that
no guillotinings took place. In the Napoleonic period the
community benefited from the citys increasing prosperity. A
new synagogue was built in 1837, using the Torah Ark erected
during the reign of Louis XVI. The Jewish population nevertheless fell to 1,293 in 1844, and by 1926 had decreased to 45
families.
[Zvi Avneri]
Holocaust Period
After the Franco-German armistice (June 1940) Bayonne became a stopover for dozens of Jewish refugees, particularly
from *Belgium and *Luxembourg. A great many could not
get to Spain, and the official police census of March 15, 1942
registered 308 Jewish families there at that time. In April 1943
the majority of them were expelled, while 193 pieces of Jewish property were confiscated. Fortunately, the Ark, built in
the style of Louis XVI, and the Torah scrolls, some of which
were of Spanish origin, were hidden in the Basque Museum,
and restored to the synagogue after the Liberation. Few of
Bayonnes Jews survived the war. The rabbi of Bayonne, Ernest *Ginsburger (18761943) directed religious activities on
behalf of the Jews interned in French concentration and labor
camps. He was subsequently deported and murdered by the
Germans. In April 1943, almost all the Jews in Bayonne and
the surrounding district were forcibly evacuated.
After the war the community slowly rebuilt itself, with
about 120 families recorded living in the city in 1960. With the
arrival of immigrants from North Africa, the Jewish community more than doubled, so that in 1969 close to 700 Jews lived
in Bayonne. The community maintained an old-age home. A
rabbi was engaged to preside over regular community services,
led according to the ancient Sephardic (Portuguese) rites of
the old synagogue, which was restored. The old Jewish cemetery, dating back to 1660, continued to be in use. The Basque
Museum maintains two rooms with a large display of Jewish
religious objects and historic documents relating to the Bayonne Jewish community. Ren *Cassin, the Nobel Prize winner and president of *Alliance Isralite Universelle, was born
in Bayonne in 1887.
[Georges Levitte]
232
BAYREUTH, city in Bavaria, Germany, and former principality. Jews lived in the principality of Bayreuth at the beginning of the 13t century and are mentioned in *Meir b. Baruch
of Rothenburgs responsa. In 1248 several Jews were admitted
into the city of Bayreuth. In the course of the riots accompanying the *Black Death (134849) many Jews in the principality were killed. After this, the emperor Charles IV entrusted
authority over the Jews of Bayreuth to the margrave. In 1372
the latter appointed a chief rabbi for all his territory, including at that time the communities of Kulmbach and Hof. Until
the end of the 15t century the Jews were permitted freedom
of movement and the right to bring claims against Christians
before a mixed tribunal. In 1409 a charter was granted to the
Jews of Neustadt an der Aisch (where 71 Jews had perished
in the massacre of 1218) and in 1421 Jewish trade in the principality was regulated. In 1422 the Jews were compelled to
renounce all claims against Christians and subsequently left
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bazelon, david L.
were made for the beacons that were kindled to announce the
New Moon (RH 2:3). In Israel it is an important forest-tree that
grows extensively on moist mountain slopes. An evergreen, its
aromatic leaves are used for seasoning food, and were, according to the Talmud, an ingredient in a cure for intestinal worms
(Git. 69b). In modern Hebrew oren denotes the pine tree, an
identification that is based on the Septuagint, but the pine is
the biblical ez shemen. The translation of oren as ash (AV) or
as cedar (RV) is untenable, the latter being the biblical erez.
In modern Hebrew the bay tree is called dafnah or ez az il.
Bibliography: Loew, Flora, 2 (1924), 11923; J. Feliks, Olam
ha-Z omeah ha-Mikrai (1957), 92. Add. Bibliography: Feliks,
Ha-Z omeah , 21.
[Jehuda Feliks]
BAY TREE. The oren, mentioned only once in the Bible (Isa.
44:14), is identified in the Talmud (RH 23a) with ara, the bay
tree. It is mentioned in the Mishnah (Par. 3:8) as being among
the trees that were used in preparing the fire for the burning of
the red heifer. From it (according to one reading) long poles
233
bdellium
of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often described as the countrys most influential court
next to the Supreme Court. At 40, he was the youngest judge
ever appointed to that court. From 1962 to 1978 he served as
chief judge, retiring in 1986 as a senior judge. From 1960 he
was a member of the board of trustees of the Jewish Publication Society of America. In 1987 Bazelons book Questioning
Authority was published.
An authority on the relationship between law and psychiatry, Bazelon held several university lectureships, and in
1962 was elected honorary fellow of the American Psychiatric
Association. As a member of the National Institutes of Health
Advisory Commission, he was one of the key architects of
early guidelines for genetic engineering. He expressed his particular interest in psychiatry related to the law as a lecturer in
law and psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Menninger Clinic. He was an active member of the American Orthopsychiatric Association,
serving as its president from 1967 to 1970, and was the only
non-psychiatrist included in the first U.S. Mission on Mental
Health to the U.S.S.R. in 1967.
Rather than follow precedent set in a simpler time, Bazelon questioned the status quo and sought to apply new findings in the social sciences and psychiatry to issues the court
faced. One of his landmark opinions from the appellate bench
established the right of a mental patient to appropriate treatment in the least restrictive alternative setting.
At the forefront of the new legal advocacy was the Mental
Health Law Project, formed by some of the lawyers and mental
health professionals who worked on early cases. In 1993 MHLP
celebrated its 20t anniversary by rededicating its mission to
Bazelon and renaming itself in his honor. The Judge David L.
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a legal advocate for
people with mental disabilities. Its precedent-setting litigation
has outlawed institutional abuse and won protections against
arbitrary confinement. For its clientele, the centers advocacy
has opened up public schools, workplaces, housing, and other
opportunities for community life.
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
234
another plant called pol he-h aruv which is the legume known
as the yard-long bean (Vigna sesquipedalis), its Hebrew name
being derived, according to the Jerusalem Talmud (Kil. 1:2,
27a), from the shape of its pods, which resembles that of the
carob (h aruv). Another variety of the cowpea is called sheuit
(Kil. 1:1); this is the legume Vigna nilotica, which grows wild in
Israel climbing river banks, or is sown as fodder. The Mishnah
(ibid.) states that it is not a *mixed species (kilayim) with pol
ha-lavan, the hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab), the seed of
which is used as food.
Bibliography: Loew, Flora 12 (1924), 492f.; J. Feliks, Olam
ha-Z omeah ha-Mikrai (1957), 1568, 318; idem, Kilei Zeraim (1967),
4143.
[Jehuda Feliks]
235
galav) who also attended to bodily ailments in a quasi-medical fashion. Razors were made entirely from metal or from
flint blades fixed in a stone handle. Shaving was also connected with cosmetic treatment of the face (see *Cosmetics).
According to Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5 in an apparent reference
to the hair between the head and the cheeks (sidelocks) it is
forbidden to destroy the corners of the beard. It is difficult
to determine the reason for the ban, but it is possible that it
was promulgated in order to differentiate Israelites from other
peoples. Another possible explanation is that shaving specific
areas of the face was associated with pagan cults or symbolized those who ministered to their gods and just as the Bible
opposes imitation of pagan practices so it opposes this form
of ritual shaving. In the Bible shaving of the head and beard
is considered a sign of *mourning (e.g., Job 1:20) and degradation. Shaving was identified with the spontaneous plucking of the beard, an expression of great sorrow (Ezek. 5:1ff.).
To humiliate a man, it was the practice to forcibly shave half
of the beard as in II Samuel 10:4, where the elders, because
of this humiliation, were commanded to hide in Jericho until
their beards grew again. Shaving is also part of rituals of purification (Lev. 14:8; Num. 6:9; 8:7). Priests were forbidden to
shave the edges of their beards (Lev. 21:5), and the priests,
the Levites, the sons of Zadok (Ezek. 44:15) were allowed
neither to shave their heads nor let their locks grow long, but
only to trim their hair (ibid. 44:20).
[Zeev Yeivin]
In Talmudic Times
The Talmud regards the beard as the adornment of a mans
face (BM 84a); a man without a beard was compared to a eunuch (Yev. 80b; Shab. 152a). Young priests whose beards had
not yet grown were not permitted to bless the people (TJ,
Suk. 3:14, 54a). *Sennacherib was punished by God by having his beard shaved off (Sanh. 95b96a). Rabbinic authorities permitted only those who had frequent dealings with the
Roman authorities to clip their beard with forceps (kom; BK
83a). Objection to the removal of the beard was on the ground
that God gave it to man to distinguish him from woman; to
shave it, was therefore an offense against nature (see Abrabanel to Lev. 19:27).
In the Middle Ages
Jews living in Islamic countries cultivated long beards whereas
those in Christian Europe clipped them with scissors. This was
permitted by halakhah (Sh. Ar., YD 181:10). Rabbinical courts
punished adulterers by cutting off their beards (C.M. Horowitz, Toratan shel Rishonim, 1 (1881), 29; 2 (1881), 18). The post
of h azzan was only bestowed upon a man with a beard (Bah ,
OH 53). Kabbalists ascribed mystical powers to the beard (and
hair). Isaac *Luria refrained from touching his, lest he should
cause any hairs to fall out (Baer Hetev, YD 181:5). With the
spread of kabbalism to Eastern Europe, trimming the beard
was gradually prohibited by leading rabbinic authorities (Noda
bi-Yhudah, Mahadura Tinyana, YD 80) and with the rise of
H asidism, the removal of the beard became tantamount to
236
beatitude
237
beatitude
the existence of man in the attachment of his soul to the supernal world that is the return of like to like. This goal is to
be reached by knowledge, i.e., the contemplative life of the
intellect, and by work, i.e., the practice of the ethical virtues.
The former is the exercise of intellectual virtues, whereas the
latter pertains to the acquisition of moral virtues, which are
linked to parts of the body. Ibn Gabirol explained the precise
connection between specific moral traits and human physiology in his Islah al-Akhlaq translated into Hebrew as Tikkun
Middot ha-Nefesh (The Improvement of Moral Qualities).
This was a manual for the cultivation of proper character traits
composed for the sake of the Jewish adib and reflecting the
commitment of Jews to the social ideals of adab culture. Together moral and intellectual perfections free the soul from
the captivity of nature, and purify it from its turbidity and
darkness (Mekor H ayyim, 1:2). Ibn Gabirol holds that knowledge leads to works, which, in turn, enable the soul to rise
to the contemplation of the spiritual world. The highest level
of contemplation consists in the ecstatic vision of the first
universal matter in which all supernal forms are contained
(3:5658). There is, however, a still higher goal to be attained.
Beyond universal matter (and universal form) there exists, in
Ibn Gabirols ontological scheme, the will of God and, in the
final passage of his Mekor H ayyim, he speaks of a progress of
knowledge leading to a knowledge of the will. Holding that
a still higher stage may be achieved, Ibn Gabirol calls for an
ascent to the wills beginning and source, i.e., God. The fruit
of this effort is freedom from death and mans attachment to
the fountain of life (mekor h ayyim), i.e., communion with
God. Beatitude in the hereafter is, in Ibn Gabirols view, not a
mere continuation of the bliss of the contemplative life, but a
gift of God (5:43, end).
With Ibn Gabirol, Bah ya shares the new intellectualist
piety characteristic of Jewish philosophy in Muslim Spain. He
too sees the upward way as the road to felicity (H ovot haLevavot, 1:7), passing through the stages of purification, illumination, and the vision of the supernal and exalted forms
(8:4). He identifies the love of God with the souls longing for
union with the supernal light, i.e., supernal wisdom (10:1),
holding that it arises from the purifying effects of the ascetic
life (10:11) and from the scrutiny of the soul (10:8). According
to Bah ya, man is an exile in this world (8:3), and the bliss
of the next world should be his most cherished goal (4:4,
end). The reward promised for the hereafter is said to consist
in the utmost distinction [conferred on man] by God and
in the approximation to the supernal light (4:4). This definition combines the notion of reward as a gift from God with
the neoplatonic concept of illumination and union as a result
of the souls ascent. *Judah Halevi, another member of the
courtier class in Muslim Spain who was critical of some of its
tendencies, even though he absorbed the neoplatonic schema,
teaches that the bliss of the World-to-Come is essentially identical with the supreme stage attainable in this world. This stage
is conceived in neoplatonic terms as an attachment to the
supernal world and to the divine light (Kuzari, 1:103; 3:20),
238
beatitude
239
beatitude
240
bebe, Pauline
BEAUCAIRE (Heb. ), town in France. Documents attest the existence of a Jewish community in Beaucaire in the
12t century; its Jews served the counts of Toulouse as fiscal administrators. After the death of Count Raymond in 1194 there
were anti-Jewish outbreaks. With the annexation of lower
Languedoc to France in 1229 the privileges formerly enjoyed
by the Jews in Beaucaire were revoked. In 1294 Philip the Fair
relegated the Jews to a special quarter, between the fortress
and the present Rue Haute, today the Roquecourbe quarter.
A year later he ordered the imprisonment of several Jews in
order to extort money from them. The Jews had to leave Beaucaire when they were expelled from France in 1306. They were
allowed to return in 1315, when their resettlement was supervised by Christian and Jewish agents sent by the king. In 1317
the Jews in Beaucaire were required to wear the Jewish *Badge.
They were again expelled in 1322. The further rehabilitation
of the community after 1359 came to an end with the general
expulsion of the Jews from France in 1394; most of the exiles
settled in Provence, then outside French administration, and
in the Papal State of the *Comtat-Venaissin, where many Jews
retained Beaucaire as a family name. The former Jewish quarter of Beaucaire was demolished during a siege in 1578.
The poet Judah Al-H arizi, on his visit to Beaucaire in
about 1210, found poets and philosophers living there. In
about 1321, Samuel b. Judah of Marseilles (Marseilili) finished
his Hebrew translation of *Averroes middle commentary
on Aristotles Ethics while imprisoned in the fortress of Beaucaire. Moses b. Solomon of Beaucaire translated Averroes long
commentary on the Metaphysics (1342); Beaucaire was also the
birthplace of the translator Tanh um b. Moses.
Bibliography: G.Saige, Les Juifs du Languedoc (1881); Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 171, 217, 666; Gross, Gal Jud, 11921;
Kahn, in: REJ, 65 (1913), 18195; 66 (1913), 7597; G. Caro, Social-und
Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Juden, 1 (1924), 38690, 510; Z. Szajkowski,
Franco-Judaica (1962), index.
[Zvi Avneri]
BEBAI.
(1) Third-century Palestinian amora. Bebai studied under R. Johanan (BK 61a), Resh Lakish (TJ, Nid. 3:3, 50d), R.
Eleazar b. Pedat (Zev. 70b), and R. Joshua b. Levi (Ber. 62b).
He was a close associate of Ammi and Assi (Shab. 74a; TJ, Ter.
241
Beccari, Arrigo
242
beck, willy
stones from the last quarter of the 17t century, were preserved.
There were also Jewish communities in the vicinity in Bernartice and Stadlec.
Bibliography: Chlebord, in: H. Gold (ed.), Juden und
Judengemeinden Boehmens (1934), 2325. Add. Bibliography:
J. Fiedler, Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia (1991), 4243.
BECK(IUS), MATTHIAS FRIEDRICH (16491701), German Lutheran Orientalist. Born in Kaufbeuren (Swabia), Beck
studied at Augsburg and Jena (166870), under the renowned
philologist Johann Frischmuth. His competence in Oriental
languages was very broad, Jewish interests being reflected
in his translation into Latin of the Targum to Chronicles
(168083) and publication of Jewish antiquities discovered in
Augsburg (Monumenta antiqua judaica Augustae Vindelicorum reperta,1686). His voluminous unpublished works, now
mostly dispersed, included translations of Benjamin of Tudelas and Petah iah of Regensburgs travelogues.
Bibliography: J.B. Luhn, M. Fr. Beckii Memoria (Wittenberg, 1703); H. Pipping, Memoria Theologorum (Leipzig, 1705), 911f.;
ADB, 2 (1875), 218. Add. Bibliography: Steinschneider, in: ZHB,
2 (1897), 102, F. Junginger in: Kaufbeurer Geschichtsbltter, 4 (1965),
121124.
[Raphael Loewe / Giulio Busi (2nd ed.)]
BECK, MICHAEL (16531712), German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Beck studied in Jena, like his namesake M.F.
*Beck, under the apostate Frischmuth. He left a tract on the
Masoretic accents as a hermeneutic device (Jena, 1678; repr.
in G. Menthen, Thesaurus theologico-philologicus, 1, 1701), as
well as Hannah atan ve-H aliz atan shel Tefillin or Usus Phylacteriorum (Jena, 1675), which is a public dissertation on phylacteries by Beck with the reply of Matthew Kreher.
Bibliography: J.G.W. Dunkel, Historisch-critische Nachrichten von verstorbenen Gelehrten, 3 vols. (175357); A. Weyermann,
Nachrichten von Gelehrten aus Ulm (1798); ADB, 2 (1875), 218; J.C.
Adelung, Allgemeines Gelehrten-lexicon, 1 (1784), 1580 (bibl.).
[Raphael Loewe]
BECK, WILLY (18441886), Hungarian painter and cartoonist. He exhibited portraits and scenes from daily-life at the Budapest salon. He later earned his living by publishing the Zeitgeist, a humorous periodical in German, contributing all the
prose and cartoons. In 1849 he settled in Vienna and edited
the Charivari, a political and satirical journal, until the police
suspended publication. He then returned to Hungary.
243
beckelman, moses w.
BECKER, U.S. family of bankers and philanthropists. ABRAHAM G. BECKER (18571925), U.S. banker and philanthropist,
was born in Warsaw, Ohio, and eventually settled in Chicago.
He organized his own commercial paper house, A.G. Becker
and Company, which pioneered in the syndication of large
loans. Active in communal affairs, Becker helped found the
Associated Jewish Charities of Chicago and served as its president for eight years. He was a trustee of Hebrew Union College and the Chicago Orchestral Association and bequeathed
large sums to the Chicago Art Institute and the Chicago Jewish charities. His son, JAMES HERMAN (18941970), was also
a banker and communal leader. In 1914, while an undergraduate at Cornell University, he helped convoke the original Jewish War Relief Conference in Chicago. Becker served with the
U.S. Army in Europe from 1918 to 1921, assisting war victims
through the American Relief Association and later as director
general of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
in Europe. Upon his return to America in 1921, Becker joined
his fathers firm, becoming director (1926), president (1947),
and chairman (1961). He also directed several other companies and served with many Jewish organizations. In 1936 he
was chosen president of the Chicago Jewish Welfare Fund, a
post that he held for nearly 30 years.
[Edward L. Greenstein]
244
Becker, Jurek
BECKER, JUREK (19371997), German writer of Polish-Jewish background. Born in Lodz, Becker grew up in the Lodz
ghetto and the concentration camps of Ravensbrueck and
Sachsenhausen. In 1945 he moved with his parents, who had
survived the war together, to East Berlin. He joined the Freie
Deutsche Jugend Communist youth organization and the
Communist Party (SED) while studying philosophy. In 1960
245
Becker, Lavy M.
246
bdarrides
were deported to Minsk in 1942. Beda himself died in *Auschwitz that same year.
Bibliography: A. Baar (ed.), 50 Jahre Hakoah (1959), 27,
2278, 25860; W. Barrel et al., Buchenwald (Ger. 1960), index; S.
Czech, Schoen ist die Welt (1957), 34, 25886, 292; MGG; G. Schwarberg, Dein ist mein ganzes Herz. Die Geschichte von Fritz Lhner-Beda
(2000); B. Denscher and H.Peschina, Kein Land des Laechelns. Fritz
Lhner-Beda 18831942 (2002).
[Lisa Silverman (2nd ed.)]
BEDACHT, MAX (18831972), U.S. Communist leader. Bedacht was born in Munich, Germany. After an impoverished
childhood and a career as a journeyman barber and trade
union leader in Germany and Switzerland, he immigrated to
New York City in 1908, where he supported himself as a barber
and German-language newspaper editor. He moved to Detroit
and then to San Francisco (1919), where he worked as an editor
for the German press. In the same year he was made a member of the national executive committee of the newly formed
Communist Labor Party, renamed the American Communist
Party in 1921. In this capacity Bedacht was sent as a delegate
to the Comintern Congress in Moscow (1921), from which he
returned an apostle of the militant new line. While primarily
a labor agitator, Bedacht rose to serve on the central executive
committees secretariat (192729), and in 1933 was named general secretary of the International Workers Order. He built its
Jewish fraternal section into the partys largest auxiliary, while
editing its publication The New Order. In 1946, following the
post-World War II changes in Communist leadership, Bedacht
was expelled from the party for factionalism, and retired to
become a poultry farmer in New Jersey.
In 1949 he appeared before a hearing of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee to deny charges made against
him by the former Russian espionage agent Whittaker Chambers that for many years he had served as a permanent link
between Soviet military intelligence and the central committee of the American Communist Party. In his 1952 autobiography Witness, Chambers wrote: About both brief, tidy men
[Heinrich Himmler and Max Bedacht] there was a disturbing
quality of secret power mantling insignificance what might
be called the ominousness of nonentity, which is peculiar to
the terrible little figures of our time.
Bibliography: D. Bell in: D. Egbert (ed.), Socialism and
American Life, 1 (1952), index; T. Draper, Roots of American Communism (1957), index; Whittaker Chambers, Witness (1952), index.
[Edward L. Greenstein / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
BEDARIDA, GUIDO (19001962), Italian author and historian. Born in Ancona of a family of south French origin, Bedarida ultimately settled in Leghorn. The Jewish environment
had a deep influence on him, inspiring his poetical and literary work and his eagerness to proclaim his Jewish and Zionist
identity. Most of Bedaridas poems deal with Jewish subjects.
His first collection of verse, Io Ebreo (1927), appeared under
BDARRIDE, ISRAL (17981869), French jurist and historian. In 1823 Bdarride won a prize from the Institut de
France for his essay on the Jews in the Middle Ages, which he
later enlarged and published as Les juifs en France, en Italie
et en Espagne (1859). The following year Bdarride became a
lawyer in Montpellier and was reputed to be one of the best
jurists of southern France. He wrote many articles on legal
subjects, but Jewish history remained his main interest. In
1867 he published his Etude sur le Guide des gars de Maimonide, and in 1869 his Etude sur le Talmud. Bdarride was
also interested in contemporary Jewish life and wrote against
proselytism and in favor of religious liberty, Du proselytisme
et de la libert religieuse, ou le judaisme au milieu des cultes
chrtiens dans Itat actuel de la civilisation (published posthumously). He was the author of Harcanot et Barcanot, a comedy on life in Carpentras, written in the local Jewish dialect
(1896, 2nd edition 1925).
Bibliography: M.E. Lisbonne, Etude ncrologique sur Isral
Bdarride (Montpellier, 1870); Felix, in: AI, 30 (1869), 71723; Z. Szajkowski, The Language of the Jews in the Four Communities of Comtat
Venaissin (New York, 1948), 3236 (Yid. with Eng. summary).
247
beddington
BEDDINGTON, English family of businessmen, philanthropists, and soldiers, originally named Moses. HENRY MOSES
(c. 17911875) became a wealthy wholesale clothing merchant
in London, with links to the New Zealand wool trade, and left
500,000 at his death. In 1868, his children changed their surname to Beddington, a suburb in south London, giving rise to
much humorous commentary. Henry Moses son MAURICE
BEDDINGTON (18211898), a London wool broker, left over 1
million. The family also branched out into the tobacco business and founded the Abdullah cigarette company. ALFRED
HENRY BEDDINGTON (18351900) was active in the life of the
London Jewish community. In World War I, 37 members of the
family served in the British forces. They included LieutenantColonel CLAUDE (18681940) who fought in the South African
War and was in command of the Mounted Troops of the 20t
Division in France in World War I. He became an enthusiastic yachtsman. SIR EDWARD HENRY LIONEL (18841966) was
a career officer in the British cavalry and, after having taken
part in World War I, retired from active service in 1920. At
the outbreak of World War II he rejoined the army, became
deputy director of Military Intelligence, and rose to the rank
of brigadier. WILLIAM RICHARD (18931975) entered the British army shortly before World War I, served in France and the
Mediterranean area, and was wounded in action. In 1939 he
became officer commanding the 2nd Royal Dragoon Guards
(The Queens Bays). He held various staff appointments in the
Middle East, Italy, and North Africa, and finally joined Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF). In
1946 he rose to the rank of major general and retired in 1947.
Henry Moses grandson JOHN LOUIS (JACK) BEDDINGTON
(18931959) became one of the most famous advertising poster
designers of the 20t century.
Bibliography: P.H. Emden, Jews of Britain (1943), 447,449,
548; J. Ben Hirsh, Jewish General Officers (1967), 7677. Add. Bibliography: L.D. Nathan, As Old As Auckland (1984); John Louis
Beddington, in: ODNB online.
BEDERSI, ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC (c. 1230c. 1300), Hebrew poet in southern France. The designation Bedersi indicates that he originated from Bziers (Heb., ). He may be
identical with the Abraham Mosse de Montepessulano (Montpellier; otherwise Abram de Sala) mentioned in secular documents. Abraham settled as a youth in Perpignan where he was
a pupil of Joseph Ezobi. He stayed for some time in Arles and
once took refuge in Narbonne, but apparently lived most of
his life in Perpignan, then under Aragonese sovereignty. The
Jewish community there had been granted a charter of privileges by James I to protect them from molestation. Abraham
is the conjectured author of a letter from the community to
the Jews of Barcelona, appealing to them to persuade the king
through the medium of the bishop of Huesca to uphold the
rights granted under the charter and reduce the communal tax
obligations. Letters of recommendation written by Abraham
in the name of the Perpignan community on behalf of petitioners and fund-raising emissaries have also been preserved.
248
In 1275 Todros b. Joseph ha-Levi *Abulafia, who had accompanied the Castilian monarchs to France, spent some time
in Perpignan and the two exchanged verses. A well-known
poem of Bedersi on the pen and the sword, inspired by Arabic verses, was written in his honor and sent to him on the
occasion of this visit. Abraham also composed for Todros a
poem in the style of the Passover Haggadah, the first attempt
to parody it. He gave some financial assistance to the poet
Isaac Gorni, although deriding his literary talents. Abraham
wrote numerous poems and satires, apparently collected by his
son *Jedaiah ha-Penini (mostly still in manuscript; the most
complete manuscript is in the British Museum (Add. Ms. 27,
168); others are in Vienna, Amsterdam, and Leningrad). Despite his bombastic style, Abrahams works contain interesting
historical details and provide an insight into the contemporary cultural scene. Between 1290 and 1295 he wrote Ha-H erev
ha-Mithappekhet (The Revolving Sword), a lengthy poem of
210 verses (according to the numerical value of the Hebrew
letters in h erev). In it, Abraham mentions his birthplace and
his father, and comments on the Hebrew poets who preceded
him in Provence and Spain. He considered himself their inferior. He did, however, contend that he was the best poet of his
generation and challenged his contemporaries to a competition for which he proposed judges. Abraham also composed
H otam Tokhnit, the first dictionary of Hebrew synonyms in
the Bible. Both works were published in 1865, the latter with a
commentary by Samuel David Luzzatto. There is some doubt
whether Abraham or his son Jedaiah composed the prayer
Elef Alfin (so called because its thousand (Heb. elef ) words
all begin with the letter alef; published in Kerem H emed, 4
(1839), 5765) and Shir ha-Lamedin (Frankfurt on the Oder,
1812), a bakkashah for the Day of Atonement, in which each
word contains the letter lamed, and all subsequent letters of
the alphabet are excluded.
Bibliography: Baer, in: Devir, 2 (1924), 3136; Baer, Spain, 1
(1961), 119, 142, 162; Schirmann, Sefarad, 2 (1956), 46671, 695; idem,
in Sefer Y. Baer (1961), 15473; Bergmann, in: MGWJ, 42 (1898),
50717; I. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature (1907), 16ff.; Davidson, Oz ar, 4 (1933), 352; Regn, in: REJ, 62 (1911), 59ff.; Gross, Gal Jud,
S.V. Bziers; Renan, Rabbins, 70719; Doniach, in: JQR, 23 (1932/33),
6369, cf. 34956. Add. Bibliography: M. Thama, Mashkiyot Kesef (1765), 23b26a; Schirmann-Fleischer, The History of Hebrew Poetry in Christian Spain and Southern France (1997), 46990.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann / Zvi Avneri]
bedzin
(62.1); and in 1931, 21,625 (45.4). A large number of Jewish workers were employed in Bedzins developing industries
at the beginning of the 20t century, and the town became
the center of Jewish and Polish socialist activity and Jewish
workers parties like the Bund and Poalei Zion during the 1905
Russian revolution. Zionist activities were begun in Bedzin by
H ovevei Zion in the 1880s and expanded in interbellum Poland to comprise various Zionist youth organizations. After
World War I Jews took a considerable part in iron-ore mining, metallurgy, zinc and tin processing, and the production
of cables, screws, nails, and iron and copper wire. Jewishowned undertakings included chemical works and factories
for paints, candles, and bakelite products, in particular buttons for the garment industry, which expanded in the area
during 192431. Most Jews earned their livelihoods as merchants and craftsmen.
Jewish schools and a gymnasium (secondary school)
were supported by the community with the help of donations
from local Jewish industrialists. The Jewish community was
very active organizing social and cultural institutions. The
first pioneers of the Third Aliyah came from Bedzin. Dr. S.
Weinzier was elected as member of Parliament (Sejm). The
chain of credit cooperatives and free loan societies established
in Bedzin through the American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee had a membership of nearly 1,000.
[Nathan Michael Gelber / Shlomo Netzer (2nd ed.)]
Holocaust Period
The German army entered the town on Sept. 5, 1939, and five
days later they burned the Great Synagogue in the Old City.
About 50 houses surrounding the synagogue, which were inhabited exclusively by Jews, went up in flames and 60 Jews
were burned to death. During 194041 the situation in Bedzin
was considered somewhat better than in most other places in
occupied Poland (Bedzin and its neighbor *Sosnowiec were
for a long time the only large cities in Poland where no ghetto
was established). For this reason thousands of Jews from central Poland sought refuge there. Several thousand Jews from
the district were expelled and forced to reside in Bedzin,
among them all the Jews from Oswiecim (German name
Auschwitz), who arrived in AprilMay 1941, prior to the construction of the Auschwitz camp. About 6,500 Jews in the town
were sent to forced labor camps and others were put to work
locally making clothing and boots for the German army. In
May and June 1942 the first deportations took place in which
2,400 nonproductive Jews were sent to their death in Auschwitz. On Aug. 15, 1942, about 8,00010,000 Jews were sent
to Auschwitz, while others were shot on the spot for disobeying German orders. In spring 1943 a ghetto was established in
the suburb of Kamionka. On June 22, 1943, 4,000 Jews were
deported and on August 1, 1943, the final liquidation of the
ghetto began. In all, about 30,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz
from Bedzin. Only a limited number of Jews survived the concentration camps by hiding. The Jewish underground resistance in Bedzin became active at the beginning of 1940. They
249
bee
250
BEER (Heb. ; a well), the name of several biblical localities. (1) One of the stations where the Israelites stopped during
the Exodus, north of the Brook of Zered in Transjordan (Num.
21:1618). It is possibly identical with Beer-Elim (Isa. 15:8) in
southern Moab. (2) The place where *Jotham, son of *Gideon,
sought refuge when he fled from his brother Abimelech (Judg.
9:21). As this place is associated with the history of *Gideons
family, it is generally located north of the Jezreel Valley. The
Septuagint mentions Beeroth, in the inheritance of Issachar,
between Shion and Anaharath, i.e., in the vicinity of Mount
Tabor (Josh. 19:19), where the Arab village of al-Bra is located.
Nearby is Khirbat al-Bra, where remains of the early Israelite
period have been discovered. The village was abandoned by
its inhabitants during the War of Independence.
Bibliography: F.-M. Abel, in: JPOS, 17 (1937), 42ff. (Fr.).
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
beer, haim
BEER, BERNHARD (18011861), German scholar, community leader, and bibliophile. For nearly 30 years Beer served
as head of the Dresden Jewish community and its schools. He
founded various charitable organizations, and in 1829 joined
in establishing a Mendelssohn Society for the furtherance of
scholarship, art, and trades among Jewish youth. Through his
writings and personal active efforts, Beer was able to wage an
eventually successful struggle for the civic equality of the Jews
in Saxony. Although he observed traditional practice and was
emotionally attached to Jewish customs, Beer rejected Orthodoxy intellectually and aesthetically in favor of moderate reforms, especially in liturgy. He was the first Jew to give a German sermon in a Dresden synagogue. Beers religious views
were similar to those of his close friend, Zacharias *Frankel.
Nevertheless the reformers *Geiger and *Holdheim also accorded him respect and admiration, and Beer was regarded
as a mediating influence between the proponents of tradition
and those of reform. Beer wrote numerous scholarly articles
and reviews which appeared in Frankels Zeitschrift and Monatsschrift as well as in Orient, Kerem H emed, and other journals. His books include Das Buch der Jubilaeen und sein Verhaeltniss zu den Midraschim (1856), Juedische Literaturbriefe
(1857), and Leben Abrahams nach Auffassung der juedischen
Sage (1859). He also translated into German, with additions,
Solomon Munks La Philosophie chez les Juifs (Leipzig, 1852).
The extensive and valuable library which Beer acquired during his lifetime was divided after his death between the Breslau
Seminary and the University of Leipzig, where Beer received
his doctorate in 1834.
Bibliography: Frankel, in: MGWJ, 11 (1862); G. Wolf, Ohel
Issakhar, Catalogue of B. Beers Library in Dresden (Ger. and Heb.,
1863). Add. Bibliography: R. Heuer (ed.), Lexikon deutsch-juedischer Autoren, 1 (1992), 43540; A. Braemer, Rabbiner Zacharias
Frankel (2000), index.
[Michael A. Meyer]
251
beer, israel
BEER, ISRAEL (19121966), military commentator and Soviet agent in Israel. Beer went to Palestine from Vienna in
November 1938. He joined the *Haganah and was appointed
to the Central Training Bureau. During the War of Independence he served on the General Staff with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After retiring from the army in 1949, he became
noted as a military commentator in Israel and abroad. Later,
when he held the chair of military history at Tel Aviv University, *Ben-Gurion commissioned him to prepare the official history of the War of Independence. In 1961 Beer was arrested and accused of having contact with a Soviet intelligence
agent. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 15
years imprisonment. He died in prison. The true facts of Beers
biography until his arrival in Palestine are difficult to establish,
since he himself gave varying versions. Apparently, he was born
in Vienna and studied literature and philosophy at the University of Vienna. He claimed to have simultaneously joined
the Schutzbund (the military organization of the Austrian
Social-Democratic Party) and the government militia, and
to have graduated from a course at Wiener Neustadt Military Academy with the rank of lieutenant in 1935. He also alleged that, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, he
had been ordered by the Social-Democratic Party to join the
International Brigade, being finally promoted to the rank of
lieutenant colonel. He wrote Der Nahe Osten, Schicksalsland
zwischen Ost und West (1960), and Bith on Yisrael Etmol,
ha-Yom, Mah ar (1966; Israels Security Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow).
[Jehuda Wallach]
252
beer, rachel
Bibliography: R. Heinefling, in: Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. II (1940), 13334; W. Roeder and H.A. Strauss (eds.), International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrs 19331945,
vol. II (1983), 69; H. Schmuck (ed.), Jewish Biographical Archive (1995),
F. 124, 16571; Series II (2003), F. II/47, 12434; S. Blumesberger et al.
(eds.), Handbuch oesterreichischer Autorinnen und Autoren juedischer
Herkunft, vol. I, no. 660 (2002), 86.
[Johannes Valentin Schwarz (2nd ed.)]
BEER, MICHAEL (18001833), German poet and playwright; brother of the composer Giacomo *Meyerbeer and of
the astronomer Wilhelm *Beer. In one of his earliest works,
the classical tragedy Klytemnestra (1823), he attempted to gain
sympathy for a heroine who murders her husband. Beers play
was successfully performed in 1819 at the Berlin Hoftheater
and later in Vienna. In 1825, he achieved a triumph with the
poetic drama Der Paria, a disguised plea for Jewish emancipation, which won high praise from Goethe. Beer moved to
Paris in 1824, and in 1827 settled in Munich, where he enjoyed
the goodwill of King Ludwig of Bavaria and the friendship of
Eduard von Schenk, the minister of interior. Struensee, generally regarded as his best play, was produced by the Bavarian
Royal Theater in 1828, when it was favorably reviewed by Heine. The incidental music for Struensee was composed by his
brother Meyerbeer. Beers narrative poems include only one
with a Jewish theme, a legend entitled Der fromme Rabbi. His
collected plays and poems appeared in 1835, with an introductury biographical sketch by Eduard von Schenk and verse
tributes by Schenk and M.G. *Saphir. Two years later, Schenk
published Beers collected letters.
Bibliography: KAHN, IN: YLBI, 12 (1967), 14960. Add.
Bibliography: J. Stenzel, in: Jahrbuch des freien deutschen Hochstifts (1987), 31435; R. Heuer (ed.), Lexikon deutsch-juedischer Autoren, 1 (1992), 44244, bibl.; H. Olbrich, in: A. Kilcher (ed.), Metzler
Lexikon der deutsch-juedischen Literatur (2000), 3941.
[Sol Liptzin / Marcus Pyka (2nd ed.)
253
beer, rami
BEER, RAMI (1957 ), dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company.
He was born into a family of musicians in kibbutz Gaaton in
Israel. At a very early age, he began studying cello and later
studied dance with Yehudit Arnon. Beer joined the company
as a dancer and choreographer in 1980.
His choreographic style is influenced by Central European expressionism and American modern dance. Generally, his works take up a full evenings program and are constructed as a collage around a central theme. His themes are
connected to the reality in which we live and his choreographies reflect the tension between abstraction and expression.
Reservist Diary (1989) reveals the ethical uncertainties of an
Israeli soldier in the reserves during the Intifada. In Real Time
(1991), Beer deals with the kibbutz movement as the parting
of ways. In Angelos Negros (1992), he addresses the Spanish
Inquisition. In Naked City (1993), the dominant motif is the
loneliness of the individual. The theme of Aide Memoire (1994)
is strongly influenced by Beers being a member of a family
of Holocaust survivors. The set and lighting designs are usually Beers own creations. In On the Edge (1999), the stage is
designed as a huge fortress, and in Screensaver (2002), rays
emitted by a television set are part of the production. He was
awarded the Contributor to Cultural and Educational Creativity Prize in 2000.
Bibliography: H. Rottenberg, Rami Beer A Political
Choreographer. Dissertation (1997).
[Ruth Eshel (2nd ed.)]
254
Beerman, Leonard
BEERMAN, LEONARD (1921 ), U.S. Reform rabbi. Beerman was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, served in the U.S.
Marine Corps during World War II, and entered Hebrew
Union College in 1943. He interrupted his seminary education to volunteer for the *Haganah in 194748, returning to
receive his rabbinic ordination in 1949. Beerman became the
founding rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles that year
and remained there until his retirement in 1986. His career was
marked by social activism on behalf of civil and human rights,
as well as world peace. He was on the faculty of Claremont
Mens College and Immaculate Heart College and served as
255
beer orah
BEEROTH (Heb. ; wells), one of the Gibeonite cities mentioned as part of a confederacy together with Gibeon,
Chephirah, and Kiriath-Jearim (Josh. 9:17). Beeroth is listed
with the cities of Benjamin (Josh. 18:25); part of its population
had previously fled to Gittaim (II Sam. 4:3). One of Davids
heroes came from Beeroth (II Sam. 23:37; I Chron. 11:39), as
did the assassins of Ish-Bosheth (II Sam. 4:2). The town was
resettled after the return from Babylon (Ezra 2:25; Neh. 7:29).
Birea, where Bacchides encamped in 161 B.C.E. before the
battle with Judah Maccabee (I Macc. 9:4), has been identified
with the biblical locality. Beeroth is commonly identified with
the Arab town al-Bra near Ramallah, 9 mi. (14 km.) north of
Jerusalem; Bronze Age remains have been found nearby, at
Ras al-Tah n. Several attempts to identify Beeroth with Tell
al-Nas b (Mizpeh?) or al-Jib (Gibeon) have been disproved
by recent excavations. It has been proposed to locate Beeroth at Nebi Samwil, 1 mi. (1 km.) south of el-Jib. Although
this identification has not yet been confirmed by archaeological findings, it is strengthened by the statement of Eusebius
(Onom. 48:9) that a village with this name was situated 7 mi.
from Jerusalem on the road to Nikopolis (Emmaus; but according to Jerome, on the road to Neapoli, i.e., Shechem), and
its possible appearance on the *Madaba Map.
Bibliography: D.A. Alt, in: ZDPV, 69 (1953), 129; K. Elliger,
ibid., 73 (1957), 12532; idem, in: Mlanges A. Robert (1957), 8294;
EM, 2 (1965), 89; Albright, in: AASOR, 4 (1924), 10211; Z. Kallai, in:
Eretz Israel, 3 (1954), 1115.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
256
beersheba
Modern Beersheba
The modern settlement dates from 1900, when the Turkish
government set up an administrative district in southern Palestine separate from that of Gaza and built an urban center
in this purely nomadic region. The Turks were motivated by
the need to strengthen governmental authority over the Bedouin at a time when Turkey was struggling with Britain over
the delineation of the Egyptian border in Sinai. German and
Swiss engineers aided in laying out a city plan. Both a city and
a district council were set up, and Bedouin sheikhs held seats
on them. Until 1914, however, progress was slow, and Beersheba had about 800 Muslim inhabitants and some Jewish
families, one of whom ran a flour mill. In World War I, the
town became the principal base for the Turko-German Army
fighting on the Suez and Sinai front. Fortifications were laid
out around the town and more settlers, including Jews, came
and provided services to the army. A branch of the JerusalemJaffa railway line was constructed and led beyond Beersheba
to the southwest. On Oct. 31, 1917, the town was taken by Allied forces under General *Allenbys command, with Australian and New Zealand units prominent in the battle. Allied
losses were considerable; the British War Cemetery at Beersheba has about 1,300 graves. When Beershebas strategic role
ended, its economy dwindled and the railway was dismantled.
In 1920, a few Jewish laborers planted a tree nursery and eucalyptus grove there and experimented with cultivating vegetables and other crops. In 1922, the population reached 2,356,
among whom were 98 Jews. By 1931, the number of Jews had
decreased to 11. The last Jews left during the 193639 riots, but
efforts were intensified to purchase land for Jewish settlement
in the Negev. During the *War of Independence the invading
Egyptian army made Beersheba its headquarters for the Negev.
When the town was taken by Israel forces on Oct. 21, 1948, it
was totally abandoned by its inhabitants. Early in 1949, Jewish
settlers, mostly new immigrants, established themselves there.
The population, which totaled 1,800 at the end of 1949, reached
25,500 in 1956, 51,600 in 1962, and over 70,000 in 1968.
The vast majority of its inhabitants were originally new
immigrants, mainly from North Africa, Iraq, India, Romania,
Poland, Hungary, and South America. The first arrivals took
over the abandoned houses, but from 1951 large new suburbs
were built extending mainly to the north and northwest, while
to the east a large industrial area sprang up. Arab Beersheba of
Turkish times now became a small old city in a large modern town. The municipal area of about 10 sq. mi. (26 sq. km.)
was doubled in 1967. Beersheba became the capital of Israels
Southern District, and a hub of communications linking up
with the main roads and the railway lines Lydda-Kiryat Gat
and Dimonah-Oron. A pumping station of the Eilat-Haifa
oil pipeline was located there. Its largest industries (ceramics, sanitary ware, fire-resistant bricks, pesticides and other
chemicals, and bromide compounds) exploited Negev minerals. There was also a large textile factory, flour mill, machine
garage, and smaller plants for building materials, diamonds,
metals, and other industries. The city had several academic,
scientific, and cultural institutions, of which the Soroka Medical Center and the Municipal Museum were the first. In 1957,
the Negev Institute for Arid Zone Research was established,
which experiments with water desalination by electrodialysis, exploitation of solar energy, cloud seeding, adaptation of
plants to aridity, hydroponics, and human behavior under desert conditions. The Institute for Higher Education, opened in
1965, was formally recognized as the University of the Negev
in 1970 and had 1,600 students. Subsequently renamed BenGurion University after Israels first prime minister. It had
15,000 students in 2002. In 1973 the Beersheba Theater and
the Symphony Orchestra were established. Beersheba also
had a Biological Institute, mainly for the study of plant life
in the desert. The city also served as a market center for the
Negevs tens of thousands of Bedouin and had several large
hotels. The traditional Thursday Bedouin market day was a
noted tourist attraction.
In the 1970s the population of Beersheba passed the
110,000 mark, making it the fourth largest urban concentration in Israel after Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. The original
plan to make Beersheba an industrial center was not too successful, though there were several large industrial plants, such
as Machteshim, which produced agricultural fertilizers and
employed over 1,000 workers, and an Israel Aircraft Industries metal plant. The main sources of employment, however,
were the Soroka Medical Center, employing over 2,000, and
the university. The city thus continued to serve as a regional
257
beer toviyyah
center and many workers in the Dead Sea chemical works and
in the Nuclear Research Center near Dimona resided there.
By the mid-1990s the population had risen to approximately
141,400, and in 2002 it was 181,500, making Beersheba the
sixth largest city in Israel.
[George Schwab and Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
258
BEGGING AND BEGGARS. Although the Bible is concerned with the poor and the needy, there is hardly a reference to begging or to beggars, and there is, in fact, no biblical
Hebrew word for it. The needs of the poor were provided by
the laws of *leket, shikhh ah, and peah which were the perquisites of the ani, the poor man, or the evyon, the needy. The
only possible references are not to actual begging and begENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
though the poor are everywhere supported from the communal chest, if they wish in addition to beg from door to door
they may do so, and each should give according to his understanding and desire (Responsa, pt. 3 no. 380). In Cracow,
however, in 1595 and in the Spanish and Portuguese congregation in London in the second half of the 17t century, begging
by mendicants was completely outlawed (Balaban, in JJLG, 10
(1913), 342; Barnett, El Libro de los Acuerdos (1931), 9).
This admirable system of organized relief for the poor
(cf. Yad, loc. cit., 9:3: We have never heard of a community
which has no charity fund for the relief of the poor, though
some have no tamh ui) seems almost to have eliminated beggars until the 17t century. Launcelot Addison (The Present
State of the Jews, p. 212) goes out of his way to dispel the belief
prevalent in his time that the Jews have no beggars, which
he attributed to the regular and commendable efforts by
which the Jewish community supplied the needs of the poor.
A notable literary description of the English Jewish beggar is
Zangwills King of the Schnorrers.
It would seem that an increase in Jewish mendicancy
took place as an aftermath of the *Chmielnicki pogroms when
hundreds of Polish communities were destroyed and thousands of penniless and destitute Jews roamed throughout Europe. From this time dates the word shnorrer, the accepted
Yiddish term for a beggar which became a characteristic feature of Jewish life. Sometimes the shnorrers openly collected
for themselves, at other times for the dowry of a poor bride
(see *Hakhnasat Kallah) or to restore a house which had been
burnt down in one of the many conflagrations of wooden
houses. If the 18t century has been styled a century of beggary as a whole, it certainly applies to the impoverished Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe up to the
dawn of the modern period.
Beggary, which was rife in Erez Israel before the establishment of the State of Israel, has been largely eliminated in
the streets, as a result of the increased activities of the Ministry of Social Welfare. It is still, however, a feature of the synagogues during the morning services. Beggars consist of two
groups, genuine beggars and students of the old-fashioned yeshivot who are to some extent encouraged by the authorities
of the yeshivah, not only as a source of subsistence but to afford the worshipers an opportunity of combining prayer with
charity. A similar sentiment is held toward beggars in cemeteries. Despite objections that they disturb worshippers, opinion
among the Orthodox is opposed to their removal.
See *Charity.
[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]
Social Aspects
Begging as a social phenomenon is associated with migrations. It became prevalent in Jewish history during the period of the Mishnah and the Talmud and especially after the
destruction of the Second Temple. This came about as a result of persecutions under Roman rule, as well as the physical
and economic insecurity which impoverished the rural class
and reduced the urban population to ruin. Yet, despite the in-
259
beghi
260
begin, menaH em
BEGIN, MENAH EM (19131992), Israeli statesman and former commander of the Irgun Z evai Leummi (Iz L); prime
minister of Israel. He served in the First to Tenth Knessets.
Begin was born and educated in Brest-Litovsk. He graduated
with a law degree from Warsaw University. After a short association with Ha-Shomer ha-Z air he joined Betar, becoming a member of its leadership in Poland in 1931 and head
of the movement there in 1938. During the disturbances in
Palestine in the years 193638, Begin organized a mass demonstration near the British Embassy in Warsaw, and was imprisoned by the Polish police. When the Germans occupied
Warsaw, Begin escaped to Vilna, where he was arrested by
the Soviet authorities and sentenced to eight years of hard
labor in the Arctic region. Because he was a Polish citizen,
he was released at the end of 1941 and arrived in Palestine in
1942 with the Polish army formed in the Soviet Union. Toward the end of 1943, after having been discharged from the
Polish ranks, Begin became commander of Iz L. He declared
armed warfare against the British Mandatory Government
at the beginning of 1944, and led a determined underground
struggle against the British, who offered a reward for the disclosure of his whereabouts. On July 22, 1946, the Iz L under
Begins command, carried out an attack on British Headquarters in Jerusalem, in the King David Hotel, which resulted in
numerous deaths. The original plan had been to cooperate in
this operation with the *Haganah, but this attempt failed, and
despite Begins attempts to avoid violent clashes within the Yishuv, there was great animosity between the two camps. After
the Proclamation of Independence, in the course of the first
ceasefire in the War of Independence in June 1948, Begin was
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
261
BEGIN, ZE'EV BINYAMIN (1943 ), Israeli geologist and politician. Member of the Twelfth to Fourteenth
Knessets. Zeev Binyamin Begin was born in Jerusalem, the
son of Menah em *Begin. He studied geology at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and received his doctorate from the
University of Colorado in the United States in 1978, later
working in the Geological Survey of Israel as head of the
environmental unit and the unit for the mapping of maritime geology. He entered politics in 1988 at the behest of his
father. As a Knesset member. he was always noted for his
modesty, and the fact that he usually arrived at the Knesset by public transportation. When Yitzh ak *Shamir invited
Reh avam *Zeevi to join his government in February 1991,
he was one of several members of the Likud who objected,
because of Zeevis advocacy of the transfer of land to the
Palestinians.
Begin contested the leadership of the Likud in March
1993, following the partys defeat in the elections to the Thirteenth Knesset, but was defeated by Binyamin *Netanyahu. In
the government formed by Netanyahu after the elections, he
was appointed minister of science. Despite being part of the
government, Begin strongly criticized Netanyahus contacts
with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser *Arafat,
262
and Netanyahus willingness to fulfill Israels undertakings under the Taba Agreement for a partial withdrawal from Hebron.
He made constant efforts to prove that the Palestinians were
systematically violating their commitments under the Declaration of Principles of September 1993, especially abrogation
of the articles in the Palestine National Covenant that spoke of
the destruction of Israel. After voting in the government twice
within one week against resolutions proposed by the prime
minister, Begin resigned from the government. Together with
two additional members he left the Likud-Gesher-Tsomet parliamentary group and set up a new parliamentary group by
the name of H erut. Begin did not run for election in the Fifteenth Knesset and returned to his previous work as a geologist, on rare occasions coming out publicly on an issue, such
as opposition to Prime Minister Ariel *Sharons plan in 2004
to dismantle all the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and
several in Northern Samaria.
[Susan Hattis Rolef (2nd ed.)]
BEH OZAI, a district extending E. of *Mesene, S.E. of Babylon, and N. of the Persian Gulf. Geographically, Be-H ozai did
not belong to Babylonia, but to Persia. Despite the great distance between them (Taan, 21b; BK 104b), very close ties (including commercial) existed between the Jews of Babylonia
and those of Be-H ozai. The district had a plentiful supply of
water, and rice, extensively grown there, was used for bread by
its inhabitants (Pes. 50b). It was an important station for goods
in transit between Babylonia and Persia (Shab. 51b; BK 104b;
Ket. 85a). Many problems were addressed to the Babylonian
scholars by its sages, the names of some of whom are known,
e.g., Avimi (Nid. 5b), Ah a (BM 39b), Beroka (Taan. 22a), Avram
H ozaah (Git. 50a), H anina (Shab. 130b). The Babylonians had
a generally poor opinion of the common people of Be-H ozai
(Ned. 22a). The Babylonian Talmud mentions, among other
localities in the region, Be Lapet (Syriac for Be Shafat), where
many Jews lived (Taan, 22a), and Shushan (Meg. 2b), or Sus,
its widely used Syriac abbreviation (Sanh. 94a).
Bibliography: J. Obermeyer, Landschaft Babylonien (1929),
20414. Add. Bibliography: B. Eshel, Jewish Settlements in Babylonia during Talmudic Times (1979), 5859.
[Moshe Beer]
263
264
BEHRMAN, MARTIN (18641926), U.S. public official. Behrman was born in New York City and taken to New Orleans
in 1865 by his parents, who died when he was 12. At 19 he became a traveling salesman for a large grocery concern. Turning
to politics, Behrman was elected president of the State Board
of Assessors, a member of the New Orleans Board of Education (18921906), state auditor (190405), and mayor of New
Orleans in 1904, serving four terms until his defeat in 1920.
Behrman was director of the American Bank and Trust Company. He was a leading state Democrat and was chairman of
the Louisiana delegation to the national Democratic convention in 1908. Behrman was active in civic and Jewish affairs.
He was a member of the Louisiana Constitutional Conventions of 1898 and 1921, and president of the League of American Municipalities (191718).
[Edward L. Greenstein]
autobiography under the title The Cold Wind and the Warm.
He also adapted the Duveen biography as a play, Lord Pengo
(1963). In 1964 he was one of three American authors whose
new works were chosen for the opening season of the Lincoln
Center Repertory Theatre in New York. Behrmans play was
But For Whom Charlie (1964), a comedy about a conflict of
temperaments. His novel The Burning Glass (1968) was set in
pre-World War II Salzburg. Among other his works is People
in a Diary; A Memoir (1972).
Bibliography: S.J. Kunitz (ed.), Authors Today and Yesterday (19342), 5657; B. Mantle, Contemporary American Playwrights
(1941), 10815; J. Mersand, Traditions in American Literature (1939),
5167; O. Prescott, Books of The Times New York Times ( November 5, 1954), p.19.
[Bernard Grebanier]
BEI AVIDAN, meeting place in talmudic times where scholars of various nations and faiths met for religious discussions
and disputations. Enjoying the protection of the authorities,
the institution was visited by some of the Jewish sages, while
others, such as *Joshua b. Hananiah (Shab. 152a) and Eleazar b.
Perata (Av. Zar. 17b), refrained from doing so, for which they
were compelled to apologize to the authorities. Similarly, the
amora Rav did not enter a Bei Avidan, whereas his colleague
Samuel did (Shab. 116a). The Bei Avidan is mentioned in this
context in association with a Bei Niz refei (or Bei Naz rufei), to
which neither Rav nor Samuel would enter, and which was apparently an idolatrous house of worship (cf. Er. 80a). R. Abbahu was asked whether it was permitted to save the books
of a Bei Avidan from a fire on the Sabbath (Shab. loc. cit.). It
apparently contained books of the Bible (see R. Hananel, ad
loc.), but since it was not known whether a Jew or a sectarian
had copied them, the doubt arose whether or not they could
be saved on the Sabbath. Various theories have been advanced
to explain the origin of the word. According to S.J.L. Rapoport
(Erekh Millin (1852), 3), it derives from the Persian abdan (a
forum), the meeting place there being called Bei Avidan (i.e.,
house of ). L. Ginzberg (Festschrift Schwarz, 1917, 329) suggests that the word derives from the name of a person, possibly
the astrologer Abidas-Abidan, who was active in Persia at the
beginning of the third century. L. Loew (He-H alutz, 2 (1853),
100ff.) contends that the correct reading is Bei-Evyoni, i.e.,
the meeting place of the Ebionites in the Land of Israel. However, the fact that the word Bei Avidan is not found in Palestinian sources and that, furthermore, the statement about
Joshua b. Hananiah and Eleazar b. Perata is in Aramaic indicate that the Bei Avidan originated in Babylonia and that the
term was adopted by the rabbis to apply to the institution in
Erez Israel. More recently, S. Shaked has suggested that the
term is derived from a Persian word meaning temple; see
Sokoloff, DPJA, p. 209b.
Bibliography: Levy J., Neuhebr Tal, 1 (19242), 9; Jastrow,
Dict. 1 (1950), 5; Neusner, Babylonia, 1 (1966), 73ff. (citing further
literature).
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
BEIDERMAN, BERNARDO (1919 ), Argentine criminologist. Beiderman was professor of criminal law at Buenos
Aires University from 1957 to 1966, when he resigned because
of government interference in the universities. He then became a lecturer on the same subject at the university Museo
Social Argentino in Buenos Aires, and later dean of its faculty
of communication sciences. As a member of the Argentinian
Commission, he helped draft a model penal code for Latin
America. Beiderman wrote on criminal theory, female criminality, obscenity and pornography, and penal reform.
BEILENSON, ANTHONY CHARLES (Tony; 1932 ), U.S.
congressman. Beilenson was born in New Rochelle, New York.
His parents, Peter and Edna Beilenson, were both first cousins
of the Hebrew journalist-writer-translator Moshe *Beilenson
(18891936). Like their cousin, Peter and Edna Beilenson were
involved in publishing; their firm, the Peter Pauper Press,
was one of the most successful small presses operating in the
United States from the 1930s to the 1950s.
At 16, Beilenson matriculated into Phillips Academy in
Andover, Massachusetts the alma mater of many U.S. lawmakers. Following his graduation in 1950, he entered Harvard,
going on to graduate from both Harvard College (1954) and its
school of law (1957) before striking out for California. Moving
to the Los Angeles area, Beilenson spent two years working for
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beilin, asher
266
BEILIN, YOSSI (1948 ), Israeli politician and political scientist. Member of the Twelfth to Fifteenth Knessets. Beilin
was born in Petah Tikvah. He received his Ph.D. in political
science at Tel Aviv University and taught there in 197285. In
197784 he served as the spokesman of the *Israel Labor Party
and was part of the entourage of the Party Chairman, Shimon
*Peres. When Peres served as prime minister in the National
Unity Government in 198486, Beilin served as government
secretary. In the following two years, after Peres became minister for foreign affairs, Beilin served as political director general
at the ministry, making efforts to cool Israels relations with
South Africa, which still followed a policy of apartheid, and to
establish relations with the African National Congress.
Within the Labor Party he formed the dovish Mashov
Circle. He was elected to the Twelfth Knesset and, until the
Labor Party left the National Unity Government, served under Peres as deputy minister of finance. In this capacity he
expressed his opinion that only the needy, and not the whole
population, should receive child suppport and other allowances from the state, provoking severe criticism within the
party. He was also criticized for statements about the expected
level of unemployment, which proved to be conservative.
When Yitzhak *Rabin formed his government in 1992,
Beilin once again followed Peres to the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs as his deputy. At this time he was one of the initiators
of what came to be known as the Oslo Process with two colleagues Dr. Yair Hirschfeld and Dr. Ron Pundak. When he
was convinced of the seriousness of the negotiations with the
Palestinians, he approached both Peres and Rabin, who agreed
to upgrade the talks, though until the end of August 1993 the
talks were kept secret from the public.
In June 1995 Beilin was appointed minister of economics and planning. After Rabins assassination, when Peres
became prime pinister, Beilin brought about the dismantlement of the Ministry of Economics and Planning, which he
thought was superfluous, and was appointed minister in the
Prime Ministers Office.
Three days before Rabins assassination Beilin concluded
with the Palestinian politician Mah mud Abbas (known as
Abu-Maazen), who was later to become prime minister, a
document that outlined the parameters of a permanent settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. The document,
which was published by Haaretz, spoke of the establishment
of a demilitarized Palestinian state in 90 of the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip, with its capital in the Arab neighborhood
of Abu-Dis, east of Jerusalem. Peres rejected the document,
because he believed it would be harmful to the Labor Party in
the forthcoming elections.
In June 1997 Beilin contested the leadership of the Labor
Party, but lost to Ehud *Barak, receiving 28.5 of the party
vote. In the government formed by Barak after the elections
to the Fifteenth Knesset, he was appointed minister of justice.
He resigned from the Knesset in November 1999, to enable the
next member on the Labor list to enter the Knesset. After Shas
left the government, he also assumed the portfolio for religious
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BEILINSON, MOSHE (18891936), Hebrew writer, journalist, and one of the chief spokesmen of the labor movement in
Erez Israel. Beilinson, who was born in Veprika, Russia, qualified as a doctor in 1913. A supporter of the Russian socialist
movement, he was won over to Zionist socialism by Z. Shazar
and B. Katznelson. After World War I he settled in Italy, where
he became active in the Zionist movement. He also published
a series of translations into Italian of books of Jewish interest,
including: Bubers Reden ueber das Judentum (1923); R. Travers Herfords Pharisees (1925); and (with Dante *Lattes) Joseph Klausners Kiz z ur Toledot ha-Sifrut ha-Ivrit ha-H ad ashah
(1926). In 1924 he settled in Petah Tikvah and soon afterward
joined the editorial board of the newly founded *Davar. Here
Beilinson published articles and notes, discussing problems of
the Palestinian labor movement. He first wrote in Russian but
changed to Hebrew in 1926. His style was simple and fluent.
Beilinson wrote: Bi-Ymei Massah, on the Jewish-Arab question
(1930); Bi-Ymei Teh iyyat Italyah (1930); Be-Mashber ha-Olam
(published in 1940, with an essay on Beilinson by B. Katznelson) and Ba-Derekh le-Az maut (1949). One of the main hospitals in the Tel Aviv area was named after him.
Bibliography: Z iyyun le-Moshe Beilinson (supplement to
Davar, fasc. no. 3792, Nov. 9, 1937, includes a bibliography of his
writings).
[Getzel Kressel]
267
The case attracted universal attention. Protests and addresses by scientists, public and political leaders, artists, men
of letters, clergymen, and other liberal-minded men were
published in all the civilized countries of Europe and the
United States affirming that the blood libel was baseless. The
trial of Beilis took place in Kiev from September 25 through
October 28, 1913. The chief prosecutor A.I. Vipper made antiJewish statements in his closing address and defended the
Cheberiak gang against the charge of Yushchinskys murder.
Beilis was represented by the most able counsels of the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev bars: Vassily Maklakov, Oscar
O. Grusenberg, N.P. Karabchevsky, A.S. Zarundy, and D.N.
Grigorovitch-Barsky. The lamplighter and his wife, on whose
testimony the indictment of Beilis rested, when questioned
by the presiding judge, answered, We know nothing at all.
They confessed that both had been confused by the secret
police and made to answer questions they did not comprehend. Scientific foundation for the blood libel was supplied
at the trial by a Catholic priest with a criminal record, Justin
Pranaitis, who stated that the murder of Yushchinsky had all
the characteristics of ritual murder enjoined by the Jewish religion. His arguments were refuted by the rabbi of Moscow,
Jacob *Mazeh, who proved that Pranaitis was ignorant of the
talmudic texts cited. Two Russian professors of high standing, Troitsky and Kokovtzoff, also spoke on behalf of the defense in praise of Jewish values and exposed the falsity of the
ritual murder hypothesis. The jury, composed of simple Russian peasants, after several hours of deliberation unanimously
declared Beilis not guilty.
Beilis, who still remained in danger of revenge by the
Black Hundred, left Russia with his family for Erez Israel.
In 1920, he settled in the United States. Bernard *Malamuds
novel The Fixer is based on the Beilis case.
Bibliography: M. Samuel, Blood Accusation: the Strange
History of the Beiliss Case (1966); M. Beilis, Story of My Sufferings
(1926); AJYB, 16 (1914/15), 1989; A.D. Margolin, in: Jews of Eastern
Europe (1926), 155247; A.B. Tager, The Decay of Czarism: The Beiliss
Trial (1935); M. Cotic, Mishpat Beilis (1978); Z. Szajkowski, in: PAAJR,
31 (1963), 197218.
[Chasia Turtel]
268
ite laws, but he met with strong opposition. In 1855, after the
death of Simh ah *Babovich he was appointed as h azzan of the
Crimea and Odessa. After the death of his father, the h azzan
of the Odessa Karaite community, he moved to Odessa and
continued his fathers good relations with the Rabbanites. He
died in the course of his visit to St.-Petersburg, where he came
to deliver to Czar Alexander II samples of typical Karaite garments, on the Czars request. He wrote Pamiat o Chufut-Qaleh
and several other treatises in Russian on the Karaites which,
however, have limited value, being based solely on the findings of Firkovich.
Bibliography: O.B. Beliy, in: MAIET 10 (2003), 63966; R.
Fahn, Sefer ha-Keraim (1929), 1002; A. Gottlober, in: Ha-Maggid, 8,
nos. 2021 (1864); S. Pigit, Iggeret Nidh ei Shemuel (1894), 2f.
[Golda Akhiezer (2nd ed.)]
beirut
BEIRAV (Aram. ) , term in talmudic literature designating a place of elementary or advanced education (e.g., Sanh.
33b, 17b; Yev. 83b). A related term in Hebrew is bet rabban (e.g.,
Shab. 119b). The students at the bei rav also lived there (Ber.
25a). De-Vei-Rav is also used by some amoraim as a term for
certain collections of tannaitic literature. Shear Sifrei de-VeiRav (Other Books of Bei-Rav) mentioned by some amoraim
(Yoma 74a; BB 124b), are explained by Rashi as the tannaitic
commentaries on Numbers and Deuteronomy, although Solomon b. Abraham *Adret and *Gershom b. Judah include the
Midrash on Exodus as well. For them, the Midrash on Leviticus (Sifra de-Vei Rav) was the book of Bei-Rav as everyone
was so well versed with it, whereas the other works were somewhat less well-known. Zunz identifies *Sifra and Sidra de-VeiRav (also known as Torat Kohanim) with the commentary on
Leviticus, and Sifrei and Sifrei de-Vei-Rav with the commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy. Known under the single
name of *Sifrei, these midrashic commentaries were taught
for the first time by Rav in Babylonia (Zunz, Vortraege, 49f.).
Maimonides and Menahem Meiri after him considered Rav
the author of these works. M. Friedmann, in his introduction to the *Mekhilta (1870; xviff.), identifies Sifra with Torat
Kohanim (i.e., the commentary on Lev.) and Sifra de-Vei-Rav
with miscellaneous *baraitot of Rav, or of the academy of Rav.
D. Hoffman (Zur Einleitung in die halachischen Midraschim
(1887), 1320, and Mar Samuel (1873), 68f.), subscribes to the
view that the term tanna de-Vei-Rav embraces the Sifra and
Sifra de-Vei-Rav, a collection of the teachings of the sages at
the academy of Rabbi Huna (cf. Sanh. 17b). For more on the
halakhic midrashim, see *Midrashei Halakhah.
Bibliography: Weiss, Dor, 2 (19044), 206f.; Bacher, Bab
Amor, 2; idem, Ergaenzungen und Berichtigungen (1913), 5; Gruenhut, in: Sefer le-David Z evi (Festschrift D. Hoffmann) (1914), 111
(Heb.); J.Z. Lauterbach (ed.), Mekhilta, 1 (1933), xxiff. (Eng. and Heb.);
J.N. Epstein, Mevoot le-Sifrut ha-Tannaim (1957), 646ff., 728ff.; Ch.
Albeck, Mavo la-Talmudim (1969), 1026.
BEIRUT, capital city and chief port of Lebanon. From the second century B.C.E. Jews lived in its vicinity, and probably in
the city itself. The Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite mentions the
existence of a synagogue in Beirut at the beginning of the sixth
century. *Abiathar b. Elijah (late 11t century) includes Beirut
and Gebal (Byblos) among the cities subject to the gaonate of
Palestine. At the time of the Crusader conquest (1100) Beirut
contained 35 Jewish families and *Benjamin of Tudela (c. 1170)
found 50 households there. According to Isaac of Acre, many
Jews were killed during the Muslim capture of the city in 1291.
269
beirut
270
From 1948
The number of Jews rose from 5,000 in 1948 to 9,000 in 1958,
as a result of the immigration of Syrian Jews to Lebanon. However, the numbers were subsequently depleted, especially from
1967; and in 1969 only about 2,500 were left. By 1970 the community had decreased to about 1,0001,800.
Until the 197590 conflict (see *Lebanon), the Jewish
community in Beirut, like the rest of the Jews living in the
country, was considered to be an integral part of Lebanons
multiethnic society. During periods of crisis, such as the 1948
War, the first Lebanese civil war in 1958, and the 1967 War, the
Lebanese authorities ordered the security forces to protect
the Jewish quarter in Wadi Abu Jamil. The wealthy Jews living in new suburbs among members of other faiths were also
unharmed. In contrast to other Arab countries, Jewish life in
Lebanon continued almost normally: Jews were not discriminated against or arrested by the government in an arbitrary
manner, and their property was not confiscated. In 1950 extremist Arab nationalists place a bomb beneath the *Alliance
Isralite Universelle school building, causing it to collapse.
The Alliance administered three other institutions, in which
950 pupils studied in 1965. In addition, 250 pupils attended
the talmud torah and 80 studied at the Oz ar ha-Torah religious school. The Jewish scouts and Maccabi sports organization were closed by the government in 1953. The community council, which had nine members, was elected biennially.
The Bikkur H olim committee of the council was responsible
for medical treatment of the poor, and their hospitalization if
they were not Lebanese citizens. Its income derived from the
Arikha (assessment) tax, paid by all males, as well as from endowments and from synagogues. Most Beirut Jews were merchants or employees of trading and financial enterprises.
[Hayyim J. Cohen]
beit-hallahmi, benjamin
BEITHALLAHMI, BENJAMIN (1943 ), Israeli psychologist and leading authority on the social psychology of religion.
Born in Tel Aviv, Beit-Hallahmi served in the IDF in 196366.
He was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (B.A.
1966) and at Michigan State University (M.A. 1968, Ph.D., clinical psychology, 1970). He taught at a number of American and
Israeli universities, including the University of Michigan, the
University of Pennsylvania, and the Hebrew University, and
maintained membership in several American professional associations. From 1973 he was senior lecturer and professor of
psychology at the University of Haifa.
The primary focus of Beit-Hallahmis academic work
(for which he acknowledged his debt to the work of William
James) was the study of the social psychology of religion, with
particular attention to religion and social identity; the appeal
of New Religious Movements (or NRM, popularly known as
cults), on which he was an acknowledged international authority; and the relationship between Jewish ideas of religious
salvation and the Zionist project, and its social consequences.
Among his influential publications in this area were his books
The Social Psychology of Religion (1975, with Michael Argyle),
Prolegomena to the Psychological Study of Religion (1989), Despair and Deliverance: Private Salvation in Contemporary Israel
(1992), The Psychology of Religious Behavior, Belief, and Experience (1997, with Michael Argyle), several edited volumes and
numerous journal articles.
Beit-Hallahmi, as a secular student of culture and progressive (his own word) citizen of Israel, brought his fundamental concerns to bear on public controversies regarding Israeli policy and Zionism, and published two important
books examining their origins and history: The Israeli Connection: Who Israel Arms and Why (1987) and the classic Origi-
271
beit jann
272
BEJA, ISAAC BEN MOSES (c. 15701628), preacher in Salonika and Nikopolis (Bulgaria). Beja studied in Salonika. He
was compelled to wander from one community to another
until he was invited to teach at the yeshivah of Nikopolis. He
arrived there after the city had been damaged in the war between the Turks and the Walachians (159599). Bejas homilies
and eulogies, blended with Kabbalah, were published under
the title Bayit Neeman (Venice, 1621); he also wrote poetry,
and four of his poems appear in this work. His work displays
originality both in thought and in his homiletical approach.
His homily on the building of the synagogue of Nikopolis
was reprinted under the title Keter Torah in Le-Ohavei Leshon Ever (Paris, 1628). There were two contemporaneous
Salonikan scholars both named Isaac Beja; one died in 1635,
the other in 1647.
Bibliography: Rosanes, Togarmah, 3 (19382), 115ff.; M.
Molh o, Be-Veit ha-Almin shel Yehudei Saloniki, 4 (1933), 13; I.S. Emmanuel, Maz z evot Saloniki, 1 (1963), 250f., 270.
bekemoharar
where he served as head of the community and where Solomon *Rosanes was one of his pupils. During the Russo-Turkish War (1878), Bejerano found a haven in Choumla. He afterward moved to Bucharest, where he was both a dayyan and
principal of the school of the Sephardi community. His years
in Bucharest were his most fruitful, both in terms of literary
productivity and of personal gratification. He maintained
close ties with Queen Elizabeth of Romania and served as
the official interpreter for Semitic languages of both the Romanian royal house and of the official government institutions. His publication of several books in Romanian earned
him a government decoration. In 1908, Bejerano was chosen
chief rabbi of Adrianople and in 1922, chief rabbi of Constantinople, a position he held until his death. Bejerano was famous for his generosity and was greatly honored in his lifetime. He was a corresponding member of the Spanish and
French academies. His Hebrew articles appeared in Ha-Maggid, H avaz z elet, Ha-Meassef and Ha-Miz peh, etc. He left many
works in manuscript.
Bibliography: M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez Yisrael, 2 (1938), 143f.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
273
bkscsaba
274
of mourning. He was employed in a bank. During the RussoTurkish War (1878), he escaped to Constantinople; in 1880 he
immigrated to Erez Israel, where he died. His grandson, YOM
TOV, a scholar and a maskil, contributed in his youth to HaMaggid, participated in communal endeavors, and was a Bulgarian Zionist leader.
Bibliography: A. Danon, Yosef Daat (1886), 6667, 7172,
8288; Rosanes, Togarmah, 4 (1935), 2523; 5 (1938), 3440, 1023,
14952; 6 (1945), 109ff.; Marcus, in: Mizrah u-Maarav, 5 (193032),
17384; idem, in: Sinai, 21 (1947), 4863; Azuz, in: H emdat Yisrael
H .H. Medini (1946), 1647.
bekhorot
275
276
him greatly and referred to him in terms of high praise. Abraham b. Joseph of Orleans, mentioned several times in tosafot,
was apparently his son. Josephs commentary on the Pentateuch, parts of which previously appeared in various publications, was issued in its entirety by Joseph Gad (195660),
while excerpts from his commentary on Psalms have been
published in Revue des tudes Juives (vol. 58 (1909), 30911).
In his exegesis, he adopted his French predecessors method
of literal interpretation that of Rashi, Joseph *Kara, and particularly Samuel b. Meir upon whom he largely based himself.
Nevertheless, in many respects he pursued a new and original
course, although in his efforts to produce novel interpretations
his comments are sometimes rather strange and pilpulistic,
particularly in the manner in which he relates passages to one
another. He dwells at length on the biblical figures and investigates the motives for their actions but at times interprets these
somewhat in terms of contemporary social conditions (Gen.
27:40). In many respects his exegesis is similar to that of the
Spanish commentators, this being apparent in his efforts to
explain away anthropomorphic expressions (Gen. 1:2; Num.
23:19); in defending the actions of the Patriarchs and rejecting
any calumnies against them (Gen. 30:33); in interpreting miracles as almost natural phenomena (Gen. 19:26; Ex. 9:8); and
in giving, to a greater extent than his French predecessors, a
rational basis for the Commandments (Ex. 30:1; Lev. 19:27).
He pays little regard to grammar, nor is he as extreme as
Samuel b. Meir in his homiletical comments, adding these occasionally alongside the literal interpretation (Gen. 3:24; Ex.
25:29). He makes use of gematria (Ex. 22:16), and at times incorporates in his comment a lengthy halakhic discussion of
a passage, in these two respects being close to the exegetical
method of the tosafists. He sharply opposes the allegorization
of the Commandments, any neglect of which he vehemently
assails (Lev. 17:13), adopting a similar attitude as regards the
precepts of the tefillin and mezuzah (Deut. 6:9). This did not
however prevent him from giving a literal interpretation of
some passages contrary to the accepted halakhah (Ex. 23:19),
which he naturally neither repudiates nor controverts. Joseph knew Latin, and both in speech and in writing refuted
the christological interpretation of biblical passages, attacking in his comments both apostates and Christians, against
whom he argued a great deal rejecting all attempts to find
in the Bible allusions to Christian dogmas. He similarly repudiated their allegorical explanations that deny the validity
of the Commandments. Although they have translated the
Bible from the holy tongue into the vernacular, the Lord has
given them neither a heart to understand, nor eyes to see, nor
ears to hear (Num. 12:18). In his commentary on Genesis
and Exodus he adds at the end of each weekly portion a brief
poem in which he expresses his hopes and those of the Jewish people. He also wrote piyyutim in the style of the German
and northern French paytanim, describing in them the sorrows that afflicted his generation. Several of these were published by Habermann in Tarbiz (vol. 9, 193738); others have
not yet appeared in print.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
belarus
BELAIS(H), ABRAHAM BEN SHALOM (17731853), Tunisian rabbi. At one time treasurer to the bey of Tunis, he had
to leave the country following business reverses and settled in
Jerusalem. For a time he was rabbi in Algiers, then, moving to
Europe, he managed to secure the patronage of persons high
in public life. He was appointed by the king of Sardinia rabbi
of Nice, against the wishes of the community, with whom he
promptly quarreled. In 1840, he went to London where before
long he again got into financial difficulties and quarreled with
the authorities. He was ultimately given a minor communal
office and sat occasionally on the bet din. He published a large
number of books, apart from his sycophantic odes in honor of
European crowned heads and other influential persons. The
following deserve mention: Yad Avishalom (1829), on Orah
H ayyim; Perah Shushan Beit Levi (1844), sermons with English translation; Petah ha-Bayit (1846), commentary and alphabetical index to part of the Shulh an Arukh; responsa Afrot
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BEL AND THE DRAGON, two stories appearing in different versions in the Apocrypha, the Septuagint, and Theodotion; they appear as a continuation of the Book of Daniel. In
Bel, Daniel challenged the divinity of the idol Bel, which was
reputed to eat and drink. By scattering ashes on the temple
floor, he revealed the footprints of the priests who secretly
removed the sacrifices placed before the idol. As a result the
Persian king, Cyrus, destroyed the idol and killed the priests.
In The Dragon, Daniel caused the death of a dragon worshiped by the Babylonians, by feeding it a mixture of pitch,
fat, and hair. Thrown into the lions den at the crowds demand, Daniel was miraculously unharmed and survived for
a week without food, after which he was fed by the prophet
Habakkuk who was miraculously transported to Babylon (see
Prophecy of *Habakkuk). The king thereupon praised God
and had Daniels accusers thrown to the lions who devoured
them. The object of these stories is to portray the futility of
idolatry. The suggestions that they are either a Jewish version of the Babylonian Marduk and Tiamat legend, or propaganda against Hellenistic idolatry, seem improbable. They
appear to be popular works composed in Babylon when Bel
was no longer worshiped, i.e., between the destruction of the
temple of Babylon by Artaxerxes (485465 B.C.E.) and its rebuilding by Alexander the Great (332 B.C.E.). Snakes (= dragons) were used in the Babylonian cult, and the stories were
perhaps a midrashic elaboration of Jeremiah 51:34, 44. The
two Greek versions seem to be translations from an Aramaic
original. A version from the Midrash Bereshit Rabbati of R.
Moses ha-Darshan (published by A. Neubauer, Book of Tobit (1878), Hebrew portion p. 3940) as well as by Ch. Albeck
(1940, p. 175) is found in the Pugio Fidei of Raymond *Martini (p. 957). These two versions are almost identical with the
Syriac Peshitta. An Aramaic version of Bel and the Dragon in
the Chronicle of Jerahmeel is based on Theodotion. A Hebrew
fragment is preserved in Genesis R. 68:20 and a Hebrew version is found in *Josippon (3).
[Yehoshua M. Grintz]
277
belasco, david
278
melodramas with fires and battles and a passion play with real
sheep. In 1879 he went to New York, where his name became
associated with sensational scenic effects. He was a pioneer
in the use of electricity for stage lighting. Belascos first melodrama, La Belle Russe, was produced at Wallacks Theater in
1882. He established the Lyceum School of Acting and produced successes such as Du Barry and Zaza. In 1902 he opened
the first of two theaters, both called the Belasco, where he
introduced innovations such as footlights sunk below stage
level. His 374 productions displayed a passion for flamboyant
realism. His greatest successes as a playwright were Madame
Butterfly (1900, based on a story by J.L. Long) and The Girl of
the Golden West (1905), both turned into operas by Puccini.
Belascos work was primarily in melodrama, and though the
literary worth of his plays was slight, he was able to satisfy the
contemporary demand for spectacular staging. His production of The Merchant of Venice (1922), with David *Warfield
as Shylock, was regarded as the finest artistic achievement of
his career.
Add. Bibliography: W. Winter, The Life of David Belasco
(1918); L. Marker, David Belasco: Naturalism in the American Theatre (1975).
[Bernard Grebanier / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
belev, alexander
all of them. There were 5,600 Jews listed as residents in Belaya Tserkov in the 1959 census. Its sole synagogue was closed
in 1962 and thereafter Jews conducted private prayer services.
During the 1965 High Holidays, militia broke into such minyanim, arrested participants and confiscated religious articles.
In 1970, the Jewish population was estimated at 15,000. Most
left in the 1990s. In Jewish folklore Belaya Tserkov is also referred to as the Black Abomination (Yid. Shvartse Tume), a
play on its name in Russian (White Church).
Bibliography: S. Ettinger, in: Zion, 21 (1956), 10742; Die
Judenpogrome in Russland 2 (1909), 4068; A.D. Rosenthal, Megillat
ha-Tevah 1 (1927); 7881; Eynikeyt, no. 24 (1945). Add. Bibliography: PK Ukrainah, S.V.
[Yehuda Slutsky / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)]
279
belfast
280
printing house in 1834. In 1843, the local government authorized the printing of Italian translations of Hebrew liturgical
texts. The activity of Salomone Belforte & Co. was continued
by the family with the forced hiatus of the period of Fascist
antisemitic laws and the war until 1961, when all the equipment of the printing house was sold to an Israeli company. For
almost 100 years, Salomone Belforte & Co. was one of the most
prestigious publishers of Hebrew books, meeting the intellectual and religious needs of Italian, Sephardi, and also Ashkenazi communities. Beside this, the Belforte printing house
published Italian literary works and school books.
Bibliography: M. Luzzatti (ed.), Ebrei di Livorno tra due
censimenti (18411938) (1990), 90106.
[Alessandro Guetta (2nd ed.)]
belgium
H
RT
NO
A
SE
Herentals
Antwerp
ANTWERPEN
Ghent Mechlin
LIMBURG
WEST VLAANDEREN
Louvain
Tirlemont
Brussels
Ostend
Bruges
GERMANY
B R A B A N T
Ath
E
HAINAUT
Jodoigne
L
Mons
R
Meise
iv e r
Lige
Namur
I
Charleroi U M
LUXEMBURG
13, 14th cent.
FRANCE
LUX
EM
NAMUR
G
UR
BO
Arlon
281
belgium
Holocaust Period
The study of the Holocaust in Belgium has been complicated
by lack of unified research and by contradictory accounts.
Furthermore, as the Belgian Constitution does not allow any
mention of religion in documents of civil status, exact official
data are lacking.
When the German army invaded on May 10, 1940, between 90,000 and 110,000 Jews lived in Belgium, among
whom there were probably about 20,000 German refugees.
Only 510 of the Jews in Belgium were of Belgian nationality, while the majority of Jews who immigrated to Belgium
from other countries had to remain foreign nationals. Antwerp had at that time at least 55,000 Jews, forming Belgiums
largest, and economically, socially, and culturally most closely
knit Jewish community, and thus suffered more heavily than
the loosely knit community in Brussels (at least 35,000) and
the other smaller communities: Charleroi, with at least 2,000
Jews; Lige, 2,000; Ghent, 300; and Namur, 50. At the time of
the invasion, the adult males among the German-Jewish refugees were treated as suspect aliens although many had volunteered for the Belgian Army. They were rounded up by the
Belgian police and interned in the Gurs camp in France. Their
families remained behind, many reliant on the social welfare
committees of the Jewish communities.
The majority of Jews in Belgium fled the country, mainly
southward toward France. Some managed to escape German
occupation and emigrated overseas; others were overtaken
by the German armies and ordered to turn back. Many who
reached unoccupied France were lured back to Belgium a few
months later in accordance with Nazi policy at the time to assuage the fears of the Jews and prevent the rise of antagonism
among the non-Jewish population. Belgium capitulated on
May 28, 1940, and was held under military rule until the liberation in September 1944. The German military occupation
set up a Belgian administration in charge of civilian affairs,
which was instructed by the Wehrmacht to carry out antiJewish measures. This situation was more favorable than that
for the Jews in the *Netherlands, where the *Gestapo was in
charge of carrying out anti-Jewish measures. The anti-Jewish
policy was executed in two stages. The preparatory phase circumscribed the Jewish population, ordered their geographic
fixation, and brought about gradual economic and social paralysis. The exterminatory phase, which began on July 22, 1942,
consisted of labor call-ups, followed by roundups and razzias
for internment in the Dossin assembly camp near Mechlin
(Malines). From there, the inmates were deported to extermination camps in the east.
282
The succession of edicts followed that in other Nazi-occupied countries, though what the Germans termed the lack
of understanding of the local population, and the courageous
and well-supported Jewish resistance did slow up the persecution somewhat. The tragic and still not forgotten experience in Belgium of German occupation during World War I
brought about more immediate and efficient resistance than in
the Netherlands. The first edicts were issued in October 1940.
Ritual slaughter was forbidden (Oct. 23, 1940). The first sign
of racial discrimination was the ordinance of Oct. 28, 1940,
which defined who was a Jew and prohibited the further return of Jews to Belgium. It required all Jews above the age of
15 to register at the communal administration and have the letter J stamped on their identity cards. The registration affected
about 42,000 Jews; apparently 10,00013,000 Jews did not register at all. Jewish property had to be registered, and was not
transferable. Notices of Jewish ownership in three languages
(Flemish, French, and German) had to be posted. Jews in the
fields of law, education, and communication were prohibited
from practicing their professions. The first protest was raised
by the Belgian associates of Jewish professional men and the
Belgian administration in the case of discriminatory legislation bearing on Jews in the professions. They objected to the
anti-constitutional character of the anti-Jewish legislation and
claimed they were unable to carry it out. The Belgian government in exile, residing in London, laid down a decision on
Jan. 10, 1941, that all laws imposed by the German occupation
which contradict the Belgian Constitution would be annulled
at the time of liberation.
In 1941, further edicts were issued to restrict and paralyze
Jewish life: edicts for confiscation of radios (May 31); enforced
declaration of bank holdings (June 10); prohibition against residing outside the four large cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Lige,
and Charleroi (August 29); and a curfew between 8 p.m. and
7 a.m. (August 29). On Nov. 25, 1941, the German military
commander for Belgium and northern France ordered the formation of a Judenrat, called Association des Juifs en Belgique
(AJB), under the pretext of organizing Jewish social welfare
for the community and furthering Jewish emigration. A national committee of seven representatives was to encompass
all Jews and take over existing Jewish bodies and their property. Rabbi T.S. Ullman, the only rabbi of Belgian nationality, accepted the presidency only after consultation with high
Belgian authorities. Local committees were formed in Brussels, Antwerp, Charleroi, and Lige. Although no documents
attest to the modes of constitution of these committees, there
are indications that the Germans held sway over the choice
of their members. In the course of time, the members of the
AJB committees were utilized by the Germans as a front for
carrying out their own aims. On Dec. 1, 1941, the Judenrat
was ordered to set up an educational system for Jewish children who were expelled at that time from the public schools
by the Germans.
The AJB was ordered to hold another census of the Jews
and, by March, forced to take charge of the distribution of callENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
belgium
ups to be accompanied by covering letters pressing for conformance to the orders. In September 1942, the AJB leaders
were interned in the concentration camp of Breendonck and
charged with insufficient diligence in carrying out German orders. The AJB president was released after a week and resigned.
Razzias now replaced call-ups, and the AJBs job was largely
limited to mitigating the suffering of the deportees. Officially,
however, they were permitted to continue their activities. They
set up childrens homes and old-age homes, and their employees and administrators were protected, i.e., not liable for deportation. The underground took advantage of this status by
introducing some of its people into positions within the AJB
and utilized its resources, despite all the risks involved.
On May 27, 1942, the Nazis issued an order for every Jew
to wear the yellow badge. The Belgian administration refused
to promulgate the order and the Germans were forced to do it
themselves, but a few days later they imposed the task on the
AJB. The Belgian population showed its hostility to this discriminatory measure, expressing its sympathy in various ways.
By June 1, 1942, Jewish doctors, dentists, and nurses were forbidden to practice on gentile patients. Previously (March 2 and
May 8), forced labor for the Nazi organization Todt had been
imposed theoretically on all the unemployed, but was in fact
aimed at the Jews, who had been evicted from all economic
pursuit. The underground issued pleas not to submit to these
labor call-ups. By July 1942, summonses were issued to unemployed Jews to report to Malines for work in the east. At
first the summonses were meekly obeyed, but the resistance
movements warnings started taking effect and people went
into hiding. As the call-ups provided insufficient numbers of
volunteers, the Germans commenced their razzias. The first
convoy of 1,000 Jews left on Sept. 2, 1942. Within five weeks,
10,000 had been deported. Later, the deportations slowed
down. By July 31, 1944, 25,631 victims had been deported in 31
convoys. Only 1,244 of the deportees returned after the war.
Belgian leaders, among them the queen mother Elisabeth and
Cardinal van Roey, intervened on behalf of the small number of Jews of Belgian nationality, and the Germans agreed to
omit them from expulsion as long as they would not transgress German laws. This show of tolerance was short-lived.
On Sept. 3, 1943, Jews holding Belgian citizenship were all
rounded up and deported.
Resistance
The Jewish population required time to organize resistance.
Some Jews individually joined the ranks of the Belgian underground. But after the dissolution of Jewish organizations,
the former social and political groups started regrouping,
mainly for the purpose of mutual social help. Anti-fascist elements grasped the significance of the persecutions sooner and
formed a group of about 70 Jewish armed partisans, many of
whom fell in the line of duty. An estimated 140 fell, including
those who fought as individuals in the general armed resistance. The Committee for Jewish Defence (CDJ, recognized
officially after the war as a civilian resistance group affiliated
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
283
belgium
284
belgium
study of modern Hebrew, and hosting Israel experts on communal and educational matters. The favorable attitude toward
Israel is widely shared by non-Jews as well. During the Six-Day
War (1967), non-Jews walked side by side with Jews in public
demonstrations to proclaim solidarity with Israel, and the Belgian press as a whole supported Israels point of view.
[Max Gottschalk / Willy Bok]
Later Developments
The Jewish population of Belgium in 2002 was estimated at
31,400, equally divided between French and Flemish speakers,
with around 15,000 Jews each in Brussels and Antwerp and
the rest in such shrinking communities as Liege, Charleroi,
Arlon, Mons, Ghent, and Ostend.
COMMUNITY LIFE. An important merger of community
organizations began in 1971 to unify divergent organizations
under a central umbrella organization, which would serve
as spokesman for Belgian Jewry. As a result, in 1977, 21 Belgian
Jewish organizations banded together, as well as the communities of Liege, Charleroi and Ghent. In September 1977 the
Coordinating Committee and the Belgian Section of the
World Jewish Congress merged into the Coordinating Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations, affiliated with the
WJC with the president of the Belgian Section as its head.
By 2002 it had 41 members and, together with the Consistoire, was recognized as an official representative of the Jewish community for political matters. A parallel organization,
Forum oder Joodse Organisaties, founded in 1994 and based
in Antwerp, represented Flemish-speaking Jews before the
authorities.
The Consistoire remained the central authority for Belgian Jews in religious matters, with 16 member congregations
in 2002. In all, around 50 synagogues and places of worship
were in operation (around 30 in Antwerp). A Jewish chapel
opened (1986) at the Brussels international airport, following
the request of Orthodox travelers. Religious life continued to
be much more intense in Antwerp with its largely Orthodox
population than in Brussels. However, starting in the late 1980s
Brussels witnessed a strengthening of its more traditionalist
religious life the creation of two new Orthodox communities, the suppression of the organ and the mixed choir at the
principal synagogue, the opening of a kosher restaurant and a
yeshivah. The Israelite Community of Waterloo and of Southern Brabant, which belonged also to this current, was recognized (1992) by the Cult Administration only four years after
its creation. The new congregation is the result of changes in
the urbanization of the Brussels area; its membership consists
largely of English-speaking expatriates. The Liberal congregation has grown steadily and in 1984 founded its own burial
society with its own cemetery.
A reorganization of the Belgian Zionist Federation took
place in 1976. Following an intensive nationwide membership
campaign in 197576, some 5,000 Jews enrolled as members
of the Zionist Federation, which has branches in five comENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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belgium
boy was killed and others were injured. In October 1981 a car
bomb exploded in Antwerp near a small Sephardi synagogue
shortly before services were to begin; over 100 passers-by were
injured, two of them fatally. There was vociferous public protest over these incidents.
After the municipal (October 1988) and European elections (June 1989), the general elections (October 1991) confirmed the success of the right-wing parties by electing politicians openly against immigration as well as against Jews (in
Antwerp 20 percent of the population voted for them). This
was not a specifically Belgian phenomenon but an international one, as was stressed at the conference of the World
Jewish Congress held in Brussels in July 1992, called My
Brothers Keeper.
Also giving rise for concern were the killing in 1989 of
Professor Joseph Wybran, president of the political body of
Belgian Jewry; the release (July 1990) of a Palestinian terrorist in exchange for the freedom of four Belgian hostages held
by the Abu Nidal group; and antisemitic slogans painted on
walls. All these events brought protests from Jewish bodies to
the government, which reacted positively.
Antisemitic outbursts became particularly widespread
with the onset of the second Intifada in Israel in 2000, which,
coupled with pro-Palestinian terror throughout Europe and
the local anti-Israel press, made life for Belgiums Jews distinctly uncomfortable. Among the incidents recorded in the
early 2000s were the firebombing of synagogues, including
rifle fire in one case, and Nazi and antisemitic graffiti. In 2001
Rabbi Guigui was attacked in the street by young Muslims of
Moroccan origin.
INTERFAITH RELATIONS. Jewish-Christian relations remained essentially cordial. The Consistoire worked together
with the National Catholic Commission in Belgium, a subcommittee of the National Commission for Ecumenism, and
the Belgian Protestant Council for Relationship between Judaism and Christianity, sponsored by the Federation of Protestant Churches in Belgium. A regular interfaith scholastic
dialogue, Institutum Judaicum, was conducted as well as
more general lectures and study groups on Judaism, and an
Interfaith Bulletin published.
Following the end of the Carmelite Convent affair in Auschwitz (August 1993), a Judeo-Christian Consultation Group
was organized. It had to deal with two exhibitions illustrating
anti-Jewish prejudice like the Bible des Communauts Chrtiennes which was uncovered by a researcher of the Leuven
Catholic University.
As to the Israel-Vatican Agreement, it was in Brussels
that the World Jewish Congress held a seminar with the main
negotiators (Monsigneur Celli from the Vatican and Israels
Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi *Beilin) to assess the situation
one year later (December 1994).
From December 1985 to May 1993 the Yarden affair
provided a bad image in the media of the h asidic community
and of the Jews. Thanks to the work of the FBI, the three chil-
286
belgorod-dnestrovski
During the 1970s trade between Israel and Belgium continued to grow. Exports from Belgium (including Luxembourg) to Israel rose from $115 million in 1972 to $404 million
in 1980, while imports from Israel rose from $49 million to
$236 million. By 2004 the figures were $955 and $695 million,
respectively, excluding diamonds. The movement of diamonds
between the two countries reached $5.5 billion.
In March 1992, elections were held in Belgium to the
Zionist Congress: 3,140 voted (25 percent more than in 1987).
The results showed a shift to the right, possibly because the
leader of the left was involved in organizing a meeting with
Palestinians. The anti-Israel feelings prevailing in the media
since the Lebanon War were still felt among the population
and the flow of tourists going to Israel dropped. One consequence was the closing of the Israel Tourist Office in Brussels.
The Oslo Accords brought a resurgence of goodwill but the
onset of the second Palestinian Intifada produced a dampening of official relations, fueled by a hostile press and the presence of half a million Muslims in the country, as the Belgian
government, professing evenhandedness, regularly voted for
anti-Israel resolutions in international bodies, including the
UN. In 2002 Belgium suspended arms sales to Israel and in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
287
belgrade
in 1882), an old-age home, a kindergarten, and a Hebrew elementary *Tarbut school. In 1930, 4,239 Jews resided in Belgorod-Dnestrovski (12.3 of the total population).
[Eliyahu Feldman]
288
BELIAL
BELIAL (Heb. ; lit. worthlessness). In the Bible a common noun characterizing persons who behave in a dissolute
manner, give false testimony, or hatch infamous plots. It is
used in apposition to such words as son (Deut. 13:14; I Sam.
2:12), daughter (I Sam. 1:16), man (I Sam. 30:22; Prov.
16:27), witness (Prov. 19:28), and counselor (Nah. 1:11). A
matter of beliyyaal is a base thought (Deut. 15:9), and rivers
of Belial (Ps. 18:5) are hellish currents of adversity. In postbiblical literature especially in the pseudepigrapha Belial
(usually written Beliar) is the name of the Prince of Evil, i.e.,
*Satan a view which no doubt underlies the practice of the
Vulgate (and of Theodotion, Judg. 9:22) to reproduce the word
by transliteration in certain passages of Scripture. Belial is the
spirit of darkness (Test. Patr., Levi 19:1; 1QM 13:12). Evil men
are dominated by him or his attendant spirits (Test. Patr.: Ash.
1:8; Levi 3:3; Joseph 7:4; Dan. 1:7; Ben. 6:1), and the world is
currently under his sway (1QS 1:18, 24; 2:5, 19; 1QM 14:9; Mart.
Isa. 2:4). His will opposes Gods (Test. Patr., Naph. 3:1), and
he wields a sword which causes bloodshed, havoc, tribulation, exile, death (or plague?), panic, and destruction (ibid.,
Ben. 7:12), or catches men in the snares of lewdness, lucre,
and profanity (Zadokite Document 4:13ff.). Belial will ultimately be chained by Gods holy spirit (Test. Patr., Levi 18:12)
or cast into the all-engulfing fire (ibid., Judah 25:3), and his
attendant spirits will be routed (ibid., Iss. 7:7; ibid., Dan 5:1),
and discomfited by the Messiah (ibid., Dan 5:10; ibid., Ben.
3:8). There will be a final war in which he and his partisans
will be defeated by God and Gods partisans, aided by heavenly cohorts (1QM 1:5; 15:3; 18:1, 3). The latter now abide in the
second of the seven heavens (Test. Patr., Levi 3:3). The concept of Belial as the opponent of God probably owes much to
Iranian dualism, where the eternal antagonists Asha (Right)
and Druj (Perversity) are portrayed as destined to engage in
a final *Armageddon, aided respectively by heavenly and
289
belief
BELIEF
The Bible
In the Bible there are no articles of faith or dogmas in the
Christian or Islamic sense of the terms. Although trust in
God is regarded as a paramount religious virtue (Gen. 15:6;
Isa. 7:9; cf. Job 2:9), there is nowhere in Scripture an injunction to believe. Even a verse like II Chronicles 20:20 believe
(haaminu) in the Lord your God, and you will be established;
believe His prophets, and you will succeed expresses only
King Jehoshaphats advice to the people; it is not a religious
commandment. Furthermore, the verb heemin ( to believe), the noun emunah (belief ), and other forms derived
from the stem mn ( )mean to trust, have confidence; and
faithfulness; and in this sense are used both of God and of
man (Gen. 15:6; Deut. 32:4; Prov. 20:6; Job 4:18). This usage is
in striking contrast to the concept of belief in the New Testament (e.g., John 3:18). It is only in the Middle Ages, when
Jewish theologians began to formulate articles of faith, that
derivations of the root mn came to be used in a dogmatic
sense.
The reason for the absence of a catechism in both the
Bible and the rabbinic tradition is probably twofold: in Judaism the primary emphasis is not on profession of faith but on
conduct (Avot 1:17); and speculative and systematic thinking
is not characteristic of the biblical or the rabbinic genius. Dogmatics entered Judaism as a result of external pressure; contact
with alien religious systems, which had formulated theological
doctrines, compelled Jewish thinkers to state the basic creeds
of their own faith. In a sense, Jewish dogmatics forms part of
the larger category of Jewish apologetics.
No religion, however, is conceivable without fundamental doctrines or axiomatic principles, and Judaism, in its
scriptural as well as rabbinic aspects, is no exception. Indeed,
the Bible contains certain summary statements that might be
considered incipient dogmas. The *Shema (Deut. 6:4), underscoring the unity of God; the Ten Commandments (Ex.
20:1 ff.; Deut. 5:6 ff.), providing an epitome of Jewish precepts;
the formulation of the divine attributes in Exodus 34:67;
Micahs sublime summary of human duty (6:18); and the majestic simplicity of the Lords assurance to Habakkuk but
290
the righteous shall live by his faith (2:4) are a few examples
culled from many. But valuable as these formulations are, they
do not embrace the complete range of fundamental biblical
teachings. Only an analysis of scriptural doctrines against the
background of the entire complex of biblical thought can yield
the essential religious beliefs, moral ideals, and spiritual truths
that underlie the faith expounded by the Scriptures.
That God is is axiomatic. He is One (Deut. 6:4) and incomparable (Isa. 40:18); there are no other gods (Deut. 4:39).
He is omnipotent (Job 42:2), omnipresent (Ps. 139:712), omniscient (Job 28:23 ff.), and eternal (Isa. 40:68; 44:6). Even
more important is the doctrine that He is the God of justice
and love (Ex. 34:67); it is His moral nature that makes Him
holy (Isa. 5:16). In His might He willed the creation of the universe (Gen. 1), and in His love He continues to sustain it (Ps.
104; 145:14 ff.). He made the laws of nature; the miracles are
exceptions to these cosmic rules, but both the normal and the
abnormal conform to the Divine Will. Mythology, except for
idiomatic phrases, is excluded from biblical teaching. Magical
practices are forbidden (Deut. 18:10); unlike miracles, they do
not issue from the will of God, but seek to overrule divinely
established laws of nature.
The apex of creation is man, created in the divine image.
This image is reflected in the moral and spiritual qualities of
human nature. In man creation achieves a new dimension a
moral personality endowed with freedom of will. The relationship between God and man has a voluntaristic ethical character. It is an encounter between the Divine Person and His
human counterpart, between Father and child. Ideally it is an
IThou relation. But man may disobey; sin is spiritual treason, which transforms the nearness of God into estrangement. The divine Thou then becomes It.
Human freedom of choice (Deut. 30:15, 19) is the source
of mans responsibility, upon which are predicated rewards
and penalties, both collective and individual. Divine retribution is a corollary of Gods righteousness; but its purpose
is primarily not punitive but educative and reformative; it
aims to restore the IThou nexus. Thus God does not desire the destruction of the wicked, but their return to the
path of goodness (Ezek. 18:23, 32), and heavens grace far exceeds the measure of divine punishment (Ex. 20:56; Deut.
5:910). Hence all the predictions of the prophets are conditional (cf. Jonah). The Heavenly Father hopes for His punitive decrees to be nullified. Conceptually there appears to be
a contradiction between Gods omniscience and omnipotence
on the one hand, and mans freedom of action on the other.
But the Bible harmonizes them in a supreme historic event.
Human rebellions will ultimately end in a great reconciliation. In the messianic era Zions teaching will become a universal heritage (Isa. 2:2 ff.; Mic. 4:1 ff.). In the end of days
the divine design of history will be realized as perfectly as
His cosmic plan.
Human waywardness was manifest from the beginning
of history. Man has constantly been tempted to do wrong:
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
belief
Hellenistic Literature
The encounter with Greek culture in the Hellenistic period brought the challenge of new concepts and philosophic
methodology to Judaism. But the impact was transitory, and
*Philo, the first theologian, was the only one among the
Greco-Jewish writers to formulate Jewish dogmas. He enumerates five tenets: (1) God exists and rules the universe;
(2) He is one; (3) the world was created; (4) creation is one;
(5) Divine Providence cares for the world (Op. 61). Josephus
asserts that the antagonism between the Sadducees and Pharisees was based on doctrinal differences, such as the question of providence, the immortality of the soul, and the belief
in resurrection with the concomitant idea of the final judgment (Wars, 2:1625). Modern scholarship, however, is inclined to give a political and national interpretation to these
disputes.
Rabbinic Literature
Rabbinic theology is marked by an overwhelming diversity
of opinion. Since the sages method of study was essentially
based on argumentation and controversy, it is by no means
easy to determine at all times its fundamental ideas. Furthermore, while the rabbis sought to give clear definition to the
halakhah, the aggadah remained vague, unsystematized, and
contradictory. Nevertheless in Talmud and Midrash, as in
Scripture, it is possible to discern ground patterns of thought
and basic concepts that constitute the foundations of the
tannaitic and amoraic ideology. It is axiomatic that rabbinic
teaching rests firmly on biblical doctrine and precept. Here,
as in the Bible, God is the transcendent Creator; the Torah is
the unalterable embodiment of His will; providence is motivated by moral principles; there is an IThou relationship
between man and God; the election of Israel, linked to the
immutable covenant of the Torah, is a paramount idea; and
the prophetic promise of Israels ultimate redemption and the
establishment of the kingdom of God upon earth is the national-universal denouement of the drama of history. But rabbinic theology is a superstructure founded on scriptural faith,
not a copy of it; there are evolutionary differences in talmudic
Judaism that distinguish it from biblical norms and give it its
distinctive qualities.
Rabbinic Judaism produced no catechism; but external
cultural pressures and internal heresies gave rise to certain
formulations of a dogmatic character. Sanhedrin 10:1, for example, in defining those who have no share in the world to
come, gives to the belief in resurrection and in the divine origin of the Torah credal status. Similarly Hillels dictum That
which is hateful to thee do not do unto others (Shab. 31a)
constitutes in its context the principal Jewish dogma. In discussing the precepts of the Torah the rabbis spoke of various
figures who reduced the number of precepts (from the traditional 613), ending with Habakkuk who subsumed them all
under one fundamental principle, but the righteous shall
live by his faith (Hab. 2:4; cf. Mak. 24a). But in rabbinic, as
in scriptural, literature, the root-ideas can be reached only by
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belief
a careful examination of the complete compass of the tradition and a comparative study of its beliefs.
A new mysticism, emanating from the doctrines of
maaseh bereshit (work of creation) and maaseh merkavah (work of the chariot), now attaches to the concept of
God. Gnostic influence, despite the general opposition of
the sages to Gnostic ideas, is discernible. But these esoteric
notions were reserved for the few only (H ag. 2:1). On the other
hand, the broad-based popular approach, found in numerous
aggadot, inclines toward an anthropopathic presentation of
the Deity. The Holy One of Israel suffers all Israels tribulations; He too is exiled (Sif. Num. 84; Ber. 9b). Man is conceived as a dualism: his soul, which is immortal, gives him a
place among the angels; his body makes him akin to the beasts
(Sif. Deut. 309). But the body is not condemned as a source
of evil, nor may the material things of this world be left unenjoyed (TJ, Kid. 4:12, 66d). They are the work of God and
inherently good. Indeed, God is to be served with both lower
and higher impulses (Sif. Deut. 32; Ber. 54a). Mans freedom
of choice, however, is fully recognized: All is in the power
of heaven except the reverence of heaven (Ber. 33b), though
the omniscient God foresees all (Avot 3:15). But this freedom
is the basis of responsibility and the justification of retribution. To err is human, but penitence is the great shield that
protects man (ibid. 4:13). Hence it was created even before the
world (Pes. 54a).
The Torah, as the will of God, is immutable, and the sages
regarded it as their supreme task to expound and determine its
provisions, giving precedence, where needed, to moral principles over strict legalism (e.g., TJ, BM 2:5, 8c). To be holy and
to walk in the Lords ways implied in particular the practice
of lovingkindness (Sifra 19:1; Sif. Deut. 49), which was equal
to all the precepts put together (TJ, Peah 1:1, 15b). The purpose of the commandments is to purify man (Gen. R. 44:1),
and the true spirit of observance seeks no reward beyond the
service of God (Avot 1:3). But there are two Torahs: the Oral
Law, which was also revealed at Sinai, supplements and elucidates the Written Law. On the basis of Deuteronomy 17:11
(Ber. 19b), the sages claimed the right to enact laws of their
own (mi-de-rabbanan), chiefly with a view to their serving as a
fence (protection) to the biblical ordinances (mi-de-orayta).
The most daring principle of all originated by the rabbis was
their right to interpret the Torah in conformity with their understanding and to decide (by majority vote) accordingly. It
was they, not the heavenly court (familia), that fixed the calendar (TJ, RH 1:3, 57b). Even if a halakhic ruling ran counter,
so to speak, to the view of heaven, the rabbis still maintained
that theirs was the right to decide, for the Torah, having been
vouchsafed to man, was now subject to human judgment. Nor
did this principle displease the Holy One, Blessed Be He, for
He smiled indulgently when His children outvoted Him (BM
59b). The sages went so far as to declare the suppression of
the Torah may be the foundation thereof (Men. 99). Thus
the rabbis evolved theological machinery for adapting the
halakhah to historical changes and needs without discarding
292
belief
others, who were prepared to use the term belief for describing both. In line with these distinctions H.A. *Wolfson classifies the attitudes toward religious belief in a threefold fashion:
the double faith theory, according to which the acceptance of
propositions based both on religious authority and rational
demonstration constitutes belief; the single faith theory of
the authoritarian type, according to which the acceptance of
propositions based on authority alone constitutes belief; and
the single faith theory of the rational type, according to which
the acceptance of propositions based on demonstration alone
constitutes belief (JQR, 33 (1942), 21364).
Saadiah, a proponent of the double faith theory, accepts
the notion of belief as applying to things known both by way of
authority and by way of demonstration. He maintains that the
doctrines of Scripture coincide with those of philosophy, and
that an affirmation of these doctrines, whether based on revelation or on rational demonstration, constitutes belief. While
Saadiah advocates speculation about the truths of religion, he,
nevertheless, maintains that it is forbidden to ignore Scripture
entirely and to rely solely on ones reason, for the reason is not
infallible, and may lead to erroneous conclusions.
*Judah Halevi, a representative of the single faith theory
of the authoritarian type, maintains that belief applies only to
things known by means of authority. According to him, belief
is an acceptance of the doctrines of Scripture based on authority, i.e., on the fact that these doctrines of Scripture were
divinely revealed. For example, in connection with sacrifices
Halevi states categorically that he who accepts [sacrifices], without examination or reasoning is better off than he
who resorts to research and analysis (Kuzari, 2:26; see also
1:6465, and 3:7).
Maimonides, on the other hand, is a representative of
the single faith theory of the rationalist type. He maintains
that belief applies only to things known by way of demonstration. While he does not state categorically that an acceptance of the doctrines of Scripture based on authority is not
belief, he definitely considers an acceptance based on demonstration to be a more perfect form of belief. Belief is more
than verbal acceptance; it requires understanding and a rational basis. Providing an example, Maimonides writes that
someone who utters with his lips that he believes in the unity
and incorporeality of God, while at the same time maintaining that God has positive attributes, cannot be said to believe
truly in Gods unity. That he can maintain that God has attributes indicates that he does not understand the principle
of Gods unity, and there is no belief without understanding
(Guide, 1:50). According to Maimonides the precept You shall
love the Lord, your God, cannot properly be fulfilled without
an understanding of metaphysics. Love of God, according to
Maimonides, is proportionate to apprehension (Guide, 3:51;
cf. Yad, Yesodei ha-Torah, 4:12).
*Levi b. Gershom shares the view of the Maimonidean
school that there is no opposition between reason and belief. He holds that priority should be given to reason where
its demands are unambiguous, for the meaning of Scripture
293
belinfante
294
science and the concomitant decline of the belief in the divine revelation of Scriptures have made faith a matter of trusting in God rather than of the affirmation of certain propositions. Characteristic of this attitude in recent Jewish thought
are the views of Franz *Rosenzweig, according to whom religious belief arises from the experience of personal revelation,
for which man must always strive and be prepared. This view
was anticipated by Hermann *Cohen in his theory of correlation. Similarly, Martin *Buber and Abraham *Heschel see
faith as a relationship of trust between man and God, which
arises from, and manifests itself in, personal encounters between man and God, and man and man, which Buber calls
IThou relationships.
Another tendency among modern thinkers, which reflects the influence of psychology, is to view belief as a psychological state which is valuable insofar as it motivates man
to act in an ethical manner. Mordecai *Kaplan, a representative of this naturalistic view, implies that faith is a kind of
self-fulfilling prophecy insofar as it leads to the redemption of human society. According to the others embracing a
naturalistic view, faith is good in that it infuses meaning and
purpose into an otherwise meaningless and cruel existence.
This point is taken up strongly by Richard *Rubenstein, who
has been concerned with the challenge to Jewish faith posed
by the Holocaust.
Bibliography: S. Schechter, Studies in Judaism, 1 (1911),
14781; I. Efros, in: JQR, 33 (1942/43), 13370; A. Heschel, ibid.,
265313; G.F. Moore, Judaism, 2 (1946), 2378; H.A. Wolfson, Philo,
1 (1948), 1556; M. Buber, Two Types of Faith (1951); W. Eichrodt,
Theology of the Old Testament, 2 (1967), 27790; E.E. Urbach, H azal
(1969), 1528; S.H. Bergman, Jewish Philosophy in Modern Times
(1968), 1779. Add. Bibliography: S. Rosenberg, The Concept
of Emunah in Post-Maimonidean Jewish Philosophy, in: I. Twersky (ed.), Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature (1984);
M. Kellner, Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought (1986); idem, Must a
Jew Believe Anything? (1999); C.H. Manekin, Jewish Philosophy in
the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, in: D. Frank and O. Leaman (eds.), Routledge History of Jewish Philosophy (1997), 35059;
M. Shapiro, The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides Thirteen
Principles Reappraised (2004).
BELINKOV, ARKADII VIKTOROVICH (19211970), Russian literary critic and writer. Belinkov was born and educated
in Moscow. In 1944 he was arrested and condemned to death
on charges of writing an anti-Soviet novel, Rough Copy of
Feelings, and for founding an anti-Soviet literary group, but the
sentence was commuted and he spent only 13 years in prison.
In 1960 his book on Y.N. Tynyanov (second editon, 1965) was
published; the work had a considerable influence on Soviet
literature. In 1968 Belinkov immigrated to the U.S., where he
lectured at Yale and Indiana Universities and published his
works in the emigr editions of the Novyi Zhurnal and Novoe
Russkoe Slovo, as well as the Russian Review. In the middle of
the 1960s, his literary career moved from pure literary criticism to the journalistic genre, which he maintained was a continuation of the tradition of fierce opposition of the prerevolutionary underground press. He opposed the political trends of
both the West and the censored Soviet press. Belinkovs central
theme is the place of the intelligentsia in history and its atti-
295
belisha
BELKIN, ARNOLD (1930 ), Mexican painter. Born in Canada, Belkin settled in Mexico in 1948. Belkin saw the possibilities of the mural as expanding into multiple viewpoint conceptions which changed and shifted as the spectator moved.
The most important of Belkins murals were at the Federal
Penitentiary (1960), at the Childrens Welfare Institute (1963),
and at the Jewish Cultural Center (1966). From 1954 to 1960
he was assistant professor of mural techniques at the Universidad Motolinia, Mexico City. During this time, his etchings
and aquatints included a series of biblical themes, a number
of large black and white paintings grouped under the theme
Earth Creatures and drawings on Love and War.
BELKIN, SAMUEL (19111976), U.S. rabbi, educator, and
scholar. Born in Swislocz, Poland, Belkin studied at the yeshivot of Slonim and Mir, and was ordained in Radun (1928). He
immigrated to the U.S. in 1929 and received his Ph.D. at Brown
University in 1935. He joined the Yeshiva College faculty as instructor in Greek and Talmud (193537), becoming secretary
of its graduate school (1937) and member of the College Executive Committee (1939). Appointed professor and dean of
Yeshivas Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1940,
Belkin became president of the RIETS and Yeshiva College in
1943. He launched a far-reaching program of academic and
physical expansion which enlarged Yeshiva University from
850 students and a faculty of 94 to 8,000 students and a faculty of some 2,200 with teaching centers throughout New York
City. Fourteen constituent schools were founded, and in 1945
the college became *Yeshiva University.
Belkin, an authority on Jewish law and Hellenistic literature, especially Philo and early Midrashic sources, published
many scholarly studies. In his major work, Philo and the Oral
296
In 1921 Belkin became director of the *Jewish Colonization Association. The JCA was founded in 1906 as the Canadian
wing of Baron Maurice de *Hirschs effort to resettle displaced
East European Jews on agricultural lands in the New World.
Although several such Canadian rural colonies predate the
JCA, most were organized by the JCA. All these efforts eventually failed. By the end of World War II, most Jewish farm
settlements were being abandoned as farmers moved to cities.
Belkin left the employment of the organization in 1954.
Belkin turned to chronicling the Canadian Jewish experience. In 1956 he published his benchmark study of the
Labor-Zionist movement in Canada entitled Di Poale-Zion
Bavegung in Kanade (19041920), which served to establish
his reputation as a leading researcher in the field of Jewish
Canadiana. To this day this work has not been surpassed in
scope or in the thoroughness of its documentation. Belkin
also wrote an important study on Canadian Jewish immigration history entitled Through Narrow Gates (1966). Belkin retired to California.
BELKIND FAMILY
Olga
18521943
Yehoshua *H ankin
18641946
Fania
18551942
came to Israel 1883
Israel *Feinberg
18651912
Meir Belkind
Hebrew teacher
18271898
2 dtrs
Alexandra
(Sonia)
Physician
18581943
Menah em H ankin
18681937
Israel
18611929
came to Israel 1882
Avshalom
*Feinberg
18891917
Aaron Mordecai
Freiman
18461925
came to Israel 1882
Shimshon
18641937
came to Israel 1883
Penina
Naaman
member of Nili
18891917
Eytan
member of Nili
b. 1897
Meir
19041936
shimshon (18641937), a Bilu pioneer, was born in Logoisk. He joined the Bilu movement in Russia and settled in
Erez Israel in 1883. He worked at various crafts in Jerusalem,
Mikveh Israel, and Rishon le-Zion, and in 1888 moved to Gederah, where he was a farmer. His sons Naaman and Eytan
were members of *Nili.
naaman (18891917) was a member of Nili and was executed by the Turks. He was employed in the Rishon le-Zion
wine cellars, where he came into contact with visiting Turkish officers. He joined Nili together with his cousin Avshalom *Feinberg. In September 1917, while attempting to reach
Egypt to investigate the circumstances of Feinbergs death, he
was caught by Bedouin who handed him over to the Turkish
authorities. He was taken to Damascus, tried, convicted for
spying, and hanged in the winter of 1917, together with Yosef
*Lishansky. He was later buried in Rishon le-Zion.
Bibliography: D. Idelovitch (ed.), Rishon le-Z iyyon (1941),
7681; M. Smilansky, Mishpah at ha-Adamah, 2 (1944), 12832; A.
Yaari, Goodly Heritage (1958), index; A. Engle, Nili Spies (1959), index.
[Yehuda Slutsky]
297
Bell, Daniel
298
bellison, simeon
BELL, JOSHUA (1967 ), U.S. violinist. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell studied with Mimi Zweig, and with Josef
Gingold (198089). Winning the grand prize of the Seventeen
Magazine / General Motors competition (1981) led to a highly
acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 1985 he made his Carnegie Hall debut.
In 1987 he received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and made
his first recordings, creating a sensation throughout the music world. His playing combined a virtuoso technique with
sweetness of tone and phrasing. He performed with leading
conductors and orchestras, made recordings of the concerto
repertory and also composed his own cadenzas for the major violin concertos. In 1993 Bell gave the premiere of Maws
Concerto, of which he is the dedicatee. A chamber music enthusiast, Bell initiated a chamber music series in London and
Paris. A multifaceted musician, he also teamed up with artists
such as Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin. He continued to
explore all sides of the musical spectrum in concerts and recordings (such as Gershwin Fantasy and West Side Story Suite,
a deconstruction of *Bernsteins original score). He is known
widely for his brilliant performance on the soundtrack to the
film The Red Violin. The Indiana Historical Society named Bell
an Indiana Living Legend (2000). He also received the Indiana Arts Council Governors Award (2003), and recordings
awards. Bell holds an Artist Diploma from Indiana University.
In 1998, he began teaching master classes at Londons Royal
Academy of Music. He plays an Antonius Stradivarius.
Bibliography: Grove online; MGG2. Bakers Biographical Dictionary (1997); D. Templeton. Fresh Prince: Joshua Bell on
BELLISON, SIMEON (18811953), clarinetist. Bellison studied first with his father and then, from 1894 to 1901, in the
Moscow Conservatory with J. Friedrich. He performed from
the age of nine and organized his own ensembles. Bellison
played first clarinet in the Moscow Opera Orchestra (190414)
and the Petrograd Opera Orchestra (1915). He served in the
Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War and WWI. Bellison organized the Zimro woodwind ensemble (1918), which
went on tour in Asia and the U.S. In 1920 he joined the New
299
bellow, saul
BELLOW, SAUL (19152005), U.S. novelist. Author of 11 novels and numerous novellas and stories, Pulitzer Prize winner
for Humboldts Gift (1975), Nobel Prize winner for literature
in 1976, and the only novelist to win three National Book
Awards, for The Adventures of Augie March (1953), Herzog
(1964), and Mr. Sammlers Planet (1970), Bellow brilliantly
captured the Jewish-American experience and voice of the
mid-20t century.
Born Solomon Bellow, the youngest of four children of
Abraham (Abram) and Liza (Lescha) Belo, Russian Jewish
immigrants to Canada, Bellow changed his name as the Bellows assimilated, from Shloimke to Solomon to Sol to Saul.
He was born in Lachine, Quebec, two years after his family
immigrated to Canada, and was raised in Montreal and Chicago, Illinois. He spoke fluent Yiddish, French, and English
as a child, and studied Hebrew. Bellows trilingual childhood
is evident in Bellows vivid stylistic mix of high and low registers, of classical English and the uniquely Jewish dialect of
his Chicago childhood.
The Bellows, owing to poverty and Abrams troubles with
the law as a result of his bootlegging, moved to Chicago when
Saul was nine. Bellow later in life had a nostalgic love for the
Chicago of his youth, and he explored Chicagos history, diverse ethnic cultures, unique American dialect, and Jewish
immigrant society in much of his literature. In his later works
he contrasted his nostalgia for the Chicago of his youth with
his mounting anxiety concerning what he saw as the citys
rapid urban decay. This concern may help account for his
growing conservatism, which was a dominant theme of such
later books as Mr. Sammlers Planet (1970), in which Bellow
brought together, through the Holocaust survivor Sammler,
the Shoah and his dark satirical rejection of 1960s radicalism. His conservatism can also be seen in The Deans December (1982), Bellows depiction of contemporary Chicago as a
violent, barbaric dystopia.
Bellows religious childhood had a profound impact on
his works, for Jewish American issues and culture permeate
his novels. His religiously observant mother had hopes that
he would become a rabbi or talmudic scholar; at four he could
recite whole passages from the Torah in Hebrew or Yiddish.
Bellow used both vernacular Yiddish and Yiddish cadences
and syntax throughout his works. In early works such as The
Adventures of Augie March and later works such as Cousins
from his short story collection Him with His Foot in His Mouth
(1984), Bellow also depicted Jewish immigrant family life with
vividness and affection. In his use of Jewish irony and humor
and in his introspective, morally focused protagonists, Bellow
is recognizably a Jewish writer. He referred to his Jewish up-
300
belmont, august
BELMONT, AUGUST (18161890), U.S. banker, diplomat, and politician. Belmont was born in Alzey (Hesse), but
claimed descent from the distinguished *Belmonte family of
Portugal. His enemies later circulated the story that his original name was Schoenberg. He began his career as an apprentice in the Frankfurt banking house of *Rothschild and was
soon transferred to the Naples office, where he conducted
the Rothschilds financial negotiations, including those with
the Vatican. After an assignment to Havana, Cuba, in 1837,
Belmont served the Rothschild interests in New York. Later
he opened his own banking house, August Belmont & Co.,
which continued to represent the Rothschilds in the United
States until the beginning of the 20t century. In 1844 he was
appointed honorary Austrian consul general in New York, but
resigned in 1850 in protest against the Vienna regimes brutal
treatment of the Hungarian rebels, particularly their leader,
Louis Kossuth. Belmont represented the United States at The
Hague as charg daffaires (185355), and as minister (185558).
At the conclusion of his foreign service, Belmont returned to
New York and became active in political life. He supported
the Union during the Civil War and raised and equipped the
first German-born regiment in New York. He enlisted the support of European bankers and merchants for the Union cause
during visits to Europe in 1861 and 1863. As Democratic National Committee chairman from 1860 until his retirement
from politics in 1872, he exercised great influence in his party
and American society. He became the founder of the U.S.
Racing Club. One of America's best-known racetracks bears
his name. Belmont severed his Jewish ties and married the
daughter of Commodore Matthew C. Perry. One son, PERRY
(18501947), became a lawyer, diplomat, congressman, and an
author on United States history and politics. The other, AUGUST (18531924), succeeded his father as head of the bank,
and played an important role in financing public transportation in the United States.
Bibliography: R.J.H. Gottheil, The Belmont-Belmonte Family (1917), 1735; I. Katz, August Belmont (1968).
[Joachim O. Ronall]
301
belmonte
302
The Road Back, in: Jewish Chronicle Magazine (March 22, 1991),
2630.
[Cecil Roth / Yom Tov Assis (2nd ed.)]
belorussia
BELORUSSIA, territory located between the rivers Neman (west) and Dnieper (east) and the rivers Pripet (south)
and Dvina (north). Between the 14t and 18t centuries part
of *Poland-Lithuania, from the partitions of Poland (177295)
until the 1917 revolution it was part of the northwestern region of Russia, and much of it was included in the three guberniyas (provinces) of Minsk, Mogilev, and Vitebsk. Under
Soviet rule Belorussia became a political entity as the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. After the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, the area was called Belarus and was a C.I.S.
republic.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Up to Soviet Rule
In Jewish history Belorussia is part of Lita (Lithuania), its
Jews being considered Litvaks. Jewish merchants apparently
first visited Belorussia in transit between Poland and Russia
as early as the 15t century. Jews were acting as toll collectors
in Nowogrodek (1445), *Minsk (1489), and *Smolensk (1489).
In 1495 the Jews in Belorussia were included in the expulsion
of Lithuanian Jewry, returning with it in 1503. As large-scale
farmers of customs dues and wealthy merchants, Jews from
*Brest-Litovsk played an important role in the development
of Belorussia. Their agents were often the pioneers of the
communities of Belorussia. A community was established in
*Pinsk in 1506. By 1539 Jews had settled in *Kletsk and Nowogrodek, and subsequently in Minsk, *Polotsk, *Vitebsk,
*Mogilev, and *Orsha. The Christian citizenry consistently
opposed the permanent settlement of Jews within the areas of
the cities and towns under municipal jurisdiction. In Vitebsk,
for instance, Jews were not granted permission to build a synagogue until 1630. Within the framework of the Council of
Lithuania (see *Councils of the Lands), Pinsk was one of the
three original principal communities; most of the communities in Belorussia came under the jurisdiction of the BrestLitovsk community, while several were subject to that of the
Pinsk community. In 1692 the *Slutsk community achieved
the status of a principal community. Smaller communities
also grew up under the protection of landowners who rented
their towns, villages, taverns, or inns to Jewish contractors
(see *Arenda). These made constant attempts to break away
from the jurisdiction of older communities and manage their
communal affairs independently.
Until the partitions of Poland the communities in Belorussia were constantly exposed to the danger of Russian incursions, which were accompanied by wholesale massacres and
forced conversions. Such events occurred in 1563 in Polotsk,
and in many other communities between 1648 and 1655.
The relative strength of the Belorussian communities in
the middle of the 18t century is shown by the amounts levied
on them as listed in the tax register of the Council of Lithuania for 1761: for the communities in the eastern part of Belorussia, 16,500 zlotys; Polotsk and environs, 3,000 zlotys; the
area around Minsk (including 40 small communities), 4,260
zlotys; Slutsk and its environs, 2,420 zlotys; Druya and its
environs, 750 zlotys; Nowogrodek, 300 zlotys. According to
the government census of 1766, there were 62,800 taxpaying
Jews living in Belorussia, forming 40 of Lithuanian Jewry.
The largest communities were in Minsk (1,396 Jewish inhabitants) and Pinsk (1,350).
After Belorussia passed to Russia in the late 18t century,
*Shklov became an important commercial center on the route
between Russia and Western Europe. Although a small group
of Jews acquired wealth as building contractors, army suppliers, and large-scale merchants, the vast majority of Jews in
the region of Belorussia were relatively destitute. Nevertheless, their numbers grew. There were 225,725 Jews living in the
three guberniyas of Belorussia in 1847, and 724,548 in 1897
303
belorussia
304
belov, A.
youth joined Zionist bodies, from Ha-Shomer ha-Z air to Betar. Many were also members of the illegal Communist movement which was rigorously repressed in this border region.
Yiddish remained the spoken language of the Jewish masses
and knowledge of Hebrew was widespread. In the cultural
sphere the Jews of Western Belorussia looked to the important
centers of Vilna, Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok, and Warsaw.
In September 1939, when western Belorussia was annexed by the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of Jews
in whom religious and nationalist feelings were strong augmented the numbers of Belorussian Jewry already under
Soviet rule. They also included groups of refugees from the
Nazi-occupied zone. Even though the Soviet authorities immediately began to liquidate the practice of religion and the
Zionist movement, signs of awakening were evident among
the older, Soviet Jews. In Bialystok a nucleus of Jewish
writers and intellectuals was formed. The Hebrew schools
were converted to Yiddish institutions. The higher authorities, however, were quick to liquidate this reactionary evolution. Arrests of bourgeois elements and expulsions to the
interior of Russia soon followed, and every effort was made
to press forward with the liquidation and assimilation carried
out over 20 years in eastern Belorussia. The German invasion
of Belorussia in June 1941 interrupted this activity, then at its
height. The Jews in Belorussia, most of whom had not succeeded in escaping eastward, were now caught in the trap of
the Nazi occupation.
For their subsequent history, see *Russia, Holocaust Period, Contemporary Period; *Belarus.
Bibliography: Dubnow, Hist Russ; N.P. Vakar, Belorussia the Making of a Nation (1956); idem, Bibliographical Guide to
Belorussia (1956); W. Ostrowski, Anti-Semitism in Belorussia and its
Origin (1960); H. Shmeruk, Ha-Kibbutz ha-Yehudi ve-ha-Hityashvut
ha-Yehudit be-Belorussia ha-Sovietit 19181932 (1961), Eng. summ.;
Vitebsk Amol (Yid., 1956); Slutzk and Vicinity (Heb., Yid., Eng., 1962);
Sefer Bobruisk (Heb., Yid., 1967); Sefer Pinsk (1969).
[Yehuda Slutsky]
305
belshazzar
BELSHAZZAR (Heb.
,
; the Akkadian name
Bel-ar-us ur, O Bel, guard the king; LXX, ), son
of *Nebuchadnezzar and the last king of Babylon, according
to the Book of Daniel. The biblical account (Dan. 5) relates
that Belshazzar gave a banquet for his high officials at which
the wine was drunk from the sacred vessels captured by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem amid songs to
the idols of gold, silver, etc. While they were thus engaged, a
mysterious hand appeared and wrote on the wall words which
none of the Chaldeans was able to read or interpret but which
Daniel, on being summoned by the king, read as *Mene Mene,
Tekel Upharsin, and interpreted as a warning to Belshazzar of
the impending downfall of his kingdom. That night Belshazzar was killed and was succeeded as world ruler by *Darius
the Mede (5:30; 6:1). Two of Daniels visions are dated as occurring in the first and third years of Belshazzars reign (7:1;
8:1). While the details given in Daniel appear historically inaccurate, Babylonian texts mention a Bl-ar-us ur as the son,
crown prince, and regent of *Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon (556539 B.C.E.). In Nabonidus absence, Babylon was
captured by the armies of *Cyrus, king of Persia. Neither Nabonidus nor Belshazzar was directly descended from Nebuchadnezzar. Presumably because he was a regent, Belshazzars
name is coupled with that of Nabonidus in Babylonian prayer
formulae (in the prayer for the kings health in I Bar. 1:11, it is
coupled unhistorically not with Nabonidus but with Nebuchadnezzar) and in two legal documents (12t and 13t years of
Nabonidus), where an oath is sworn by their lives. While the
Greek historians Herodotus (1:191) and Xenophon (Cyropaedia, 3:5, 15) do not mention Belshazzar, they share with Dan.
6 the hardly historical tradition that the Babylonians were
306
BELTSY (Rum. Balti), city in Bessarabia, Moldova; in Romania 191840 and 194144. Jews were invited there in 1779
when an urban nucleus was formed in the village. Their rights
and obligations were established by an agreement in 1782. By
1817 there were 244 Jewish families living in Beltsy. The community subsequently increased through immigration; after
the *May Laws were issued in 1882, many Jews expelled from
neighboring villages settled in Beltsy. The community numbered 3,124 in 1864 and had grown to 10,348 in 1897 (56 of
the total population) even though Jewish domicile was limited by legislation and Jews were often expelled from the city
as illegal residents. As an outcome of these expulsions, coupled with economic difficulties, many Jews from Beltsy emigrated toward the end of the 19t century, including a group
who journeyed to Erez Israel.
In 1847 a Jewish state school was opened in Beltsy. A
talmud torah, founded in 1889, provided instruction in both
Jewish and general subjects. By the 1930s Jewish educational
institutions included a kindergarten, three elementary schools,
and two secondary schools, for boys and girls. Welfare institutions included a hospital and old-age home. The Jews in Beltsy
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
307
belz
BELZ, one of the most important h asidic dynasties of Galicia, so called after the township where it took up residence
(see previous entry). The founder of the dynasty, SHALOM
ROKEAH (17791855), came from a distinguished family descended from R. Eleazer *Rokeah of Amsterdam. Orphaned
as a child, Shalom studied under his uncle, Issachar Baer of
Sokal whose daughter he married. At Sokal he was introduced
to h asidic teachings by Solomon of *Lutsk, a devoted follower
of *Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezhirech. Later Shalom became
a disciple of *Jacob Isaac Horowitz, ha-H ozeh (the Seer) of
Lublin, Uri of *Strelisk, the maggid Israel of *Kozienice, and
*Abraham Joshua Heschel of Apta. On the recommendation of
Horowitz, Shalom was appointed rabbi in Belz. After Horowitz death in 1815, Shalom was recognized as a z addik as his
following increased. He built a splendid bet midrash in Belz.
Thousands of H asidim flocked to him, including rabbis and
308
belzec
309
belzec
November 1, 1941, construction had begun on the Belzec killing center. The timing of the creation of Belzec coincided with
the creation of *Chelmno, one of the six Nazi killing centers
where murder by gassing became operational on December
8, 1941. Gassing was by mobile gas canisters of the same type
that were built by SS men stationed at Belzec, which were
used to kill mental patients in *Zamosc county in DecemberJanuary 194142.
By the end of February 1942 about 120 Jews from Lubycza
Krolewska had become the first victims of gassing at Belzec.
Between March 17, 1942, and April 14, 1942, the great action
of killing Jews began as some 70,00075,000 Jews, most of
them from Lublin and Lvov, were murdered. The first gassing
installations consisted of three gas chambers located inside a
small 26 13 foot barrack. The floor of the gas chamber and
the walls were covered with tin and the door was made of hard
wood to prevent it from being broken open from the inside.
The pace of killing overwhelmed the camps facilities, so on
April 17 the gassing ceased, resuming only in the middle of
May 1942 when transports from the Cracow district start arriving again to a functioning camp. Once again the speed of
deportation outpaced the camps facilities. So deportations
were halted again and murder by gassing ceased in mid-June
to permit the old gas chambers to be torn down and replaced
with much larger and more efficient ones. They were made of
brick and concrete with one door for entering the gas chambers and another for clearing out the bodies. The size of each
gas chamber was 13 16 feet. At the entrance to the building
was a sign: Shower and Disinfection Room. Their capacity
was 1,0001,200 bodies at a time, or those incarcerated in ten
freight cars of arriving prisoners.
By the second week of July deportations and the gassing that followed resumed, continuing uninterrupted until
December when the gassing operations were halted. Work
detachments of Jewish forced laborers excavated mass graves
and burned the bodies to remove all evidence of the crime.
When the work was completed, the Germans murdered virtually all surviving forced laborers at *Sobibor. Chaim Hirszman
jumped from the train to Sobibor and survived until liberation. He was killed in Lublin, in 1945. A third escapee, Sylko
Herc returned to Belzec, where he remained for 23 days before going to Cracow. His fate is not known.
In spring 1943summer 1944, German officials and
*Trawniki-trained auxiliaries plowed under the site of the
Belzec camp, planted trees, and built a manor house nearby
in order to conceal any traces of the killing center. At the end
of July 1944, the Soviet Army overran Belzec
The staff of Belzec consisted of between 14 and 30 SS officials, many of whom were veterans of the T-4 operations: the
murder of mentally retarded, physically infirm, and emotionally disturbed Germans, where the Nazis pioneered murder by
gassing. Some 90120 Trawniki-trained guards joined them.
Trawniki was the camp where 2,500 captured Soviet soldiers
and 2,200 civilians became police auxiliaries for the Aktion
Reinhard killing centers. These troops worked throughout
310
belzec
The Sonderkommando were Jewish prisoners who were selected to live in order to facilitate the camps function as a
killing center. They escorted the victims from the trains to
the gas chambers and disposed of the bodies after the victims
were murdered. The crucial tasks of the camp were restricted
to the Germans. They alone decided who shall live and who
shall die. They started the diesel engines.
How did the Sonderkommando personnel, whom the
Germans periodically murdered and replaced with new deportees, cope? Reder reported:
We moved like automated figures, just one large mass of them.
We just mechanically worked through our horrible existence
Every day we died a little bit together with the transports of
people.
When I heard children calling [in the gas chamber]:
Mommy, havent I been good? Its dark, my heart would break.
Later we stopped having feelings.
311
belzyce
Holocaust Period
The German army entered the town in mid-September 1939,
and the Jewish population became subject to the persecution and terror carried out throughout Lublin Province. In
February 1940 about 300 Jews from Stettin (then Germany)
were deported to Belzyce. In February and March 1941 about
500 Jews from Cracow and another 500 from Lublin were
forced to settle there. On May 12, 1942, several thousand Jews
from central Germany (Sachsen and Thuringen) arrived.
The towns Jewish population grew to about 4,500 by the
time the mass deportations to the death camps began. In
spring 1942, the Germans conducted an Aktion to liquidate the
remaining Jews in Belzyce. They rounded up over 3,000 Jews
for extermination at Sobibor. Subsequently the Germans established a concentration camp in Belzyce in a few houses
around the destroyed synagogue. In May 1943 the Belzyce camp
was liquidated. Several hundred Jews, mostly women and
children, were shot, while another 250 women and 350 men
were sent to Benzin, where only a handful survived. After
the war the Jewish community in Belzyce was not reconstituted.
[Stefan Krakowski]
312
benacerraf, baruj
visit to the grave of Adam (BB 58a). Benaah was the head of
an academy in Tiberias, which apparently continued to function after his death. His disciple, Johanan, taught there (TJ,
Shab. 12:13c). Some scholars maintain that it was because of
this college that Tiberias was selected as the site of the central
academy in Palestine.
Bibliography: Bacher, Tann; Hyman, Toledot, 2801.
[Zvi Kaplan]
BENABRAHAM, ZVI (1941 ), geologist. Born in Jerusalem, he received his B.Sc. in geology in 1968 from the Hebrew University and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in 1973. Upon his return to Israel in 1973, after
six months as a postdoctoral fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he began working at the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute in Haifa and
later at the Weizmann Institute of Science in the Department
of Applied Mathematics. In 1982, after a two-year sabbatical
at Stanford University, Ben-Avraham joined the Department
of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences at Tel Aviv University,
holding the Nebenzahl and Grossberg Chair in Geodynamics, and heading the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center. That
same year, he was appointed professor of geophysics at Stanford University. In 1989 Ben-Avraham accepted an offer to
hold the Max Sonnenberg Marine Geosciences Chair at the
University of Cape Town. He conducted detailed measurements on the sea floor, magnetic field, gravity field, sub-bottom, and heat flow of the Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea, and the
Gulf of Eilat using different geophysical methods. He made
numerous geophysical studies of the Levant continental margin and the Levant basin, eastern Mediterranean. He also researched the evolution of the Pacific oceanic margins and ways
in which continents grow and compared the San Andreas and
Dead Sea faults, which are tectonically similar. As a result, a
number of advances were made in understanding the Dead
Sea fault valley. Ben-Avraham gained extensive academic experience at various universities in the U.S. and Europe and
conducted scientific studies of numerous seas. He is a fellow
or member of numerous scientific societies and recipient of
the Israel Prize (2003) and the L. Meitner-A.V. Humboldt Research Award (2004).
[Bracha Rager (2nd ed.)]
313
ben-adir
314
BENAIAH (Heb. , ; YHWH has built), son of Jehoiada, one of Davids warriors and Solomons commander in
chief. Benaiah came from Kabzeel in Judah. Famous for his
individual acts of valor, the killing of two warriors, the slaying
of a lion in a pit in the snow, and the defeating of an Egyptian
giant, he was one of Davids most honored warriors (II Sam.
23:2023; I Chron. 11:2225). It is reasonable to attribute some
of these deeds to the period of Davids outlawry or to the first
part of his reign. David appointed Benaiah as the head of his
bodyguard (II Sam. 23:23; I Chron. 11:25), identified by some
scholars with the Cherethites and Pelethites (II Sam. 20:23,
according to the keri; I Chron. 18:17; cf. II Sam. 8:18; I Kings
1:38), whose commander was also Benaiah. After the death of
*Ahithophel, he served as counselor to David, together with
the priest *Abiathar (I Chron. 27:3334, where the order of the
names should be reversed according to some versions: Benaiah son of Jehoiada instead of Jehoiada son of Benaiah).
Benaiah opposed *Adonijahs attempt to seize the crown at the
end of Davids reign and, together with the priest *Zadok and
the prophet *Nathan, he proclaimed Solomon king (I Kings
1:844). He later carried out the liquidation of *Shimei, of
Solomons rival *Adonijah, and of the latters supporter *Joab
(2:2546), in whose stead Solomon appointed Benaiah commander in chief.
Bibliography: Bright, Hist, 18990; de Vaux, Anc Isr. 1278,
2201; Dinaburg (Dinur), in: Zion, 11 (1946), 165ff.; Mazar, in: Sefer
D. Ben Gurion (1964), 24867.
[Yehoshua M. Grintz]
315
ben-ami, jacob
BENAMI (Shieren), JACOB (18901977), actor and director. Ben-Amis long stage career began in his native Minsk, Belorussia, before he was a teenager. After traveling with many
Yiddish acting companies through Eastern Europe, Ben-Ami
went to the United States in 1912 to appear with Rudolf Schildkraut and Sarah Adler in Yiddish plays. In 1918, together
with Maurice *Schwartz, he founded the Yiddish Art Theater
in New York. Ben-Amis reputation as an actor and director
grew, and in 1920 he made his English-language acting debut
in Samson and Delilah, a drama written by a Dane, Sven Lange,
that Ben-Ami had played and directed in Yiddish in New York
and in Russia. The following year he made his Broadway debut in Peretz Hirshbeins The Idle Inn, and many leading roles
followed. Ben-Ami played more parts on the English-speaking stage than on the Yiddish, but he did not appear in a commercial success until almost 40 years later, when he played a
grandfather in Paddy Chayefskys The Tenth Man (1959). In
the interim, Ben-Ami toured extensively in South America,
in South Africa, and in the United States where he did Yiddish plays and Yiddish translations of Russian, European, and
American plays.
[Stewart Kampel]
BENAMI (Dankner), OVED (19051988), founder and longtime mayor of Netanyah. Ben-Ami, who was born in Petah
Tikvah, served as secretary of Benei Binyamin (192428), an
organization of the sons of early Jewish settlers, which was
instrumental in establishing several new settlements. BenAmi founded the town of Netanyah in 192829, and the settlement of Even Yehudah in 1932. He was mayor of Netanyah
continuously from 1930 with minor interruptions. During
that time Netanyah became a major resort and the center of
Israels diamond industry. In 1947 Ben-Ami and other Jewish
mayors and yishuv leaders were arrested by the British Mandatory authorities in reprisal for Jewish underground activities. Ben-Ami was a member of the Liberal Party and a part
owner of Maariv, the daily evening paper. From 1958 to 1961
he was active in the establishment of the new town of Ashdod, heading the Ashdod Development Company. He wrote
the books, Netanyah, Birat ha-Sharon (1940), and Unbreakable
Spirit of Our Jewish Heritage (1964).
Bibliography: Tidhar, 2 (1947), 102425.
[Benjamin Jaffe]
BENAMITAI, LEVI (19011980), Hebrew writer. He received a general education in his native Belorussia and in
1917 joined the He-H alutz movement. In 1920 he emigrated
to Palestine, where he worked as a manual laborer. He became
a member of kibbutz Deganyah Bet in 1925, and worked there
first as an agricultural laborer, then as a teacher. His stories
and sketches in Hebrew periodicals began to appear in 1925.
His books of poetry include Ha-Shibbolim Penimah (1934);
Leilot ba-Maz or (1939); Ba-Kevuz ah (1938); Sadot she-ba-Emek
(1950); Oholivah (1959); Mi-Midbar Mattanah (1962), po-
316
ems about the Essenes; and Osfei Kayiz (1966). He edited the
anthologies Deganiyyot (1955) and Ha-Sofer ba-Kevuz ah (1956),
and was coeditor of a collection of short stories by writers
in cooperative agricultural settlements, entitled Al Admatam (1959). Ben-Amitais poetry is distinguished by its short
verses, and restrained, almost prosaic style. The agriculturalfolk setting takes on symbolic dimensions by virtue of the
connotative language he chooses. Much of his writing is
charged with strong religious accents that evoke a prayerful mood.
Add. Bibliography: R. Peled, Yah id ve-Yah ad be-Shirat Levi
Ben-Amitai ba-Shanim 19251939 (1993).
[Getzel Kressel]
BENAMMI (Rabinowicz), MORDECAI (18541932), author and journalist writing in Russian. A traditional Jewish
education and the harsh circumstances of his life after he lost
his father at a young age are reflected in his stories. At Odessa
he attended a yeshivah where the curriculum included languages and sciences. Influenced by Perez *Smolenskin, he became a maskil, and entered a Russian secondary school and
thereafter the University of Odessa. When pogroms broke
out in southern Russia in 1882, Ben-Ammi took part in organizing Jewish self-defense in Odessa. He campaigned against
the czarist regime for organizing the pogroms and the Russian press for condoning them, also castigating the Jewish intelligentsia for failing to defend its people. In 1882 he went to
Paris to obtain assistance from the Alliance Isralite Universelle for the victims of the pogroms. From there he sent his
Letters from Paris to the Russian-Jewish monthly Voskhod
(signed Resh Galuta), which reflect his deep appreciation of
Jewish values. The same year Ben-Ammi moved to Geneva,
where he began to write stories depicting the joyous spirit of
Jewish festivals and the legends associated with them. In 1883
he completed the stories Priezd Tsadika, and Ben Yukhid,
the latter reflecting the atmosphere of the days of the Cantonists, and in 1884 a long story Baal Tefila. The stories became popular among Jews who read Russian. In 1887 BenAmmi returned to Odessa, where he remained until 1905, and
published the autobiographical story Detstvo (Childhood),
in which he describes the Jewish background of his youth. In
articles published in Voskhod, he attacked the czarist authorities for their anti-Jewish discrimination. He also criticized the
Jewish intelligentsia for having renounced Jewish values and
for leaving their persecuted brethren to suffer an unfortunate
fate. He also published a collection of stories for Jewish juvenile readers with illustrations, as well as a series of stories in
Yiddish. Ben-Ammi became a member of the committee of
H ovevei Zion in Odessa upon its formation in 1890, and was
a delegate to the First Zionist Congress and other congresses
convened by Theodor Herzl. His esteem for Herzl was so great
that on his death Ben-Ammi mourned him as though he were
a close relative. While living in Odessa, he taught in the Jewish
school directed by Mendele Mokher Seforim, whose faithful
friend he remained throughout his life. On the outbreak of the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
317
BENARDETE, MAIR JOS (18951983), philologist. Benardete was born in Turkey and emigrated to the United States in
1910. He was a long-time professor of Spanish and Sephardic
Studies at Brooklyn College in New York City. Benardete and
Federico de Onis, who founded Columbia Universitys Hispanic Institute in 1920, are well known for effecting a reconciliation between Hispanics and Sephardim in America. Benardete was director of the institutes Sephardic Studies Section
in the late 1920s. Under his direction, the section sponsored
lectures on Sephardi civilization, generated articles for the institutes Revista Hispanica Moderna, published a Ladino/Spanish commemorative volume on medieval Spanish-Jewish poet
*Judah Halevi, and staged plays in Judeo-Spanish.
Benardete wrote a number of volumes in the field of Spanish literature and civilization. Several Loyalist ballads are presented in English translation in And Spain Sings (1937), which
he prepared in collaboration with the poet Rolfe Humphries.
His Hispanic Culture and Character of the Sephardic Jews (1952;
Spanish, 1963) is an analysis of the Sephardi Jews.
Benardete retired from City University of New York /
Brooklyn College in 1965. As a tribute to the renowned scholar,
his colleagues Louis Levy and David Barocas formed the Committee for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture
to publish the testimonial book Studies in Honor of M.J. Benardete. They then joined forces with other Sephardi leaders to
continue publishing books on Sephardi history and Sephardi
life in the U.S.
In the late 1970s Benardete, along with Rabbi Marc
*Angel, Levy, and Barocas, initiated the idea of a cultural center that would fill the void in information and programming
regarding Sephardi history and culture. To that end, Sephardic
House was established in 1978 at Congregation Shearith Israel
in New York City.
Bibliography: H.V. Besso, in: I.A. Langnas and B. Sholod
(eds.), Studies in Honor of M.J. Benardete (1965), 45986 (including
bibliography).
[Victor A. Mirelman / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
318
BENARIEH, YEHOSHUA (1928 ), Israeli geographer specializing in historical and cultural geography and the Middle
East. Considered one of the most important researchers of
Erez Israel and Jerusalem in the modern era, Ben-Arieh was
born in Tel Aviv, and received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1963. He began to lecture at the Hebrew
University in 1965 and became a professor in 1979. From 1982
until 1985 he served as dean of the Faculty of Humanities. In
1997 he became rector of the Hebrew University. He was a
research fellow at the University College of London and was
visiting professor at the University of Maryland, Carleton University, and University College of London. In 1971 he received
the Ben-Zvi Prize and in 1977 the Bialik Prize. In 1999 he was
awarded the Israel Prize for geography. Among his books in
English are Rediscovery of the Holy Land in the Nineteenth Century (1980), Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century: The Old City
(1985), and Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century: Emergence of
the New City (1987). Volumes edited include Jerusalem in the
Mind of the Western World, 18001948 (1997) and Painting the
Holy Land in the Nineteenth Century (1997).
[Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
leader of the Greek Socialist Party, but when the Party split in
1924 Ben-Aroya helped to found the Social Democratic Party
and its newspaper The New Period (in Greek). Subsequently,
Ben-Aroya published numerous political pamphlets including
tracts on Social Democracy and the Jewish Question (Bulgarian) and The Workers Movement in Turkey (Hebrew tr. 1910).
In 1953 Aroya emigrated to Israel. Although bitterly opposed to
Zionism for many years, the rise of Nazism and World War II
changed his views, while his decision to emigrate to Israel reflected his disillusionment with socialism, which he had previously believed would resolve the Jewish question.
[Baruch Uziel]
319
Law from them as we do from the Torah) and to vocalization, opinions rooted in Karaite thought. It appears from the
parallel ideas and style used in the Mah beret Ben-Asher (see
below), from the Wine Song written by his father, and from
the list which his father appended to the codex of the Prophets (kept in the Karaite synagogue, Cairo), which he wrote
827 years after the destruction of the Second Temple (i.e.,
in 895), that his father, Moses Ben-Asher, was also a Karaite,
and it is probable that Karaism was a family tradition. (Note,
however, that Dotan (Sinai, 41 (1957), 280ff.) and M. Zucker
(Tarbiz, 27 (1957/58), 61ff.) hold that Aaron Ben-Asher and his
family were not Karaites.) It is noteworthy that the founder of
the family, Asher the Great Sage, apparently lived in the first
half of the eighth century and was a contemporary of Anan,
a precursor of Karaism.
Ben-Asher rapidly gained fame as the most authoritative
of the Tiberias masoretes, and in 989, the scribe of the abovementioned manuscript of the Former Prophets vouched for
the care with which his copy was written by the fact that he
had vocalized and added the masorah from the books that
were [vocalized] by Aaron ben Moses Ben-Asher. Maimonides, by accepting the views of Ben-Asher (though only in
regard to open and closed sections), helped establish and
spread his authority. Referring to a Bible manuscript then
in Egypt, he writes: All relied on it, since it was corrected
by Ben-Asher and was worked on (ve-dikdek bo) by him for
many years, and was proofread many times in accordance
with the masorah, and I based myself on this manuscript in
the Sefer Torah that I wrote (Yad, Maim. Sefer Torah, 8:4). It
is generally agreed that the codex used by Maimonides is that
formerly in Aleppo.
Proof for this is adduced from Saadiah b. David AlAdni, who wrote in his commentary on the Yad (ibid.):
The Codex that the Gaon [i.e., Maimonides] used is in Zoba,
called Aleppo, and is called the Keter and at the end is
written, I Aaron Ben-Asher proofread it I saw and read
it (Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms. Hunt. 372, fol. 138b; cf.
P. Kahle, The Cairo Genizah (1947), 58). However, Cassuto,
who studied the Keter in Aleppo, was doubtful. An attempt
was made to refute these doubts by M. Goshen-Gottstein (Textus, 1 (1960), 1ff.), but A. Dotan further supported Cassutos
position (Tarbiz, 34 (1964/65), 136ff.) It now appears likely
that it was Ben-Asher who vocalized and added the masorah to the Keter of Aleppo, despite the fact that the note in
the manuscript was written after his death. The masorah has
been vocalized and added by the lord of scribes, the father of
wise men and the first of teachers the unique Rabbi Aaron
ben Rabbi Asher, may his soul be bound up in the bond of
eternal life (the latter being an epithet applied to a person
who has died)
The tradition of Ben-Asher is the one accepted in the
Jewish Bible, but this does not mean that the version of the
Bible found in the common editions is exactly the same as
that which Ben-Asher produced. The differences between the
printed editions and the various manuscripts assumed to be
320
benatzky, ralph
(1860), 32; Schorr, in: He-H alutz, 6 (1862), 67ff.; J. Saphir, Even Sappir, 1 (1866), 1120; 2 (1874), 185ff.; B.Z. Bacher, Niz z anei ha-Dikduk
(1927), 2741; D. Yellin, Toledot Hitpatteh ut ha-Dikduk ha-Ivri (1945),
629; M.H. Segal, Mevo ha-Mikra, 4 (19523), 8969 and esp. notes 15,
17; Ben-H ayyim, in: Leshonenu, 18 (1953), 9294; B. Klar, Meh karim
ve-Iyyunim (1954), 276319; Cassuto, in: Haaretz (April 15, 1949).
Add. Bibliography: E.J. Revell, in: ABD, 4: 59394; J. Penkower,
in: DBI, 1:11719.
[Zeev Ben-Hayyim]
321
ben-avi, ithamar
322
benchetrit, aaron
BEN CHANANJA, the first Hungarian Jewish learned periodical, published in German between 1844 and 1867. Ben
Chananja was founded and edited by Leopold *Loew. It first
appeared in Leipzig as a quarterly in 1844; resumed publication in Szeged, Hungary, in 1858; and became a weekly in
reduced format in 1861. Ben Chananja advanced the scientific development of Jewish studies and stimulated interest in
Jewish questions. Its contributors were scholars of prestige in
Hungary and abroad. The periodical presented biblical exegesis, commentary on the Talmud, historical studies, educational information, and literary news. It also considered religious and social problems, advocating the establishment of a
rabbinical seminary and legislation for Jewish emancipation.
Among the contributors were Simon Bacher, Abraham Hochmuth, Solomon Buber, S.D. Luzzatto, and Leopold Dukes.
The academic material was supplemented with topical articles, editorials, Jewish communal news, and occasional poems. Ben Chananja had correspondents in Jerusalem, Berlin,
New York, and in most cities with large Jewish communities
in Europe and America.
[Jeno Zsoldos]
BENCHETRIT, AARON (18861967), physician and communal leader. Born in Tetuan, Spanish Morocco, Benchetrit
spent his childhood in Caracas, Venezuela, and studied in
Paris and Caracas. He was the medical director and administrator of the Leproseras de Venezuela (192126). In 1927 he
moved to Bogot, Colombia, where he was in charge of all
leprosy cases in the country from 1927 to 1935 and directed
many scientific researches on leprosy. He published several
medical works including Disertaciones de un estudiante de
medicina (1917), La epidemia febrl de Caracas (1919), Nuevas disertaciones (1921), and Disertaciones acerca de la lepra
(1922). He also wrote on Zionism in Disertaciones acerca del
sionismo. Benchetrit was president of the Centro Israelita of
Bogot and was president of the Zionist Federation of Colombia, 194344.
323
benchimol
BENCHIMOL, Moroccan family. The descendants of ABRAHAM BENCHIMOL, one of the leaders of the community in
*Fez (1700), established a business of international repute in
Tangiers at the end of the 18t century. For four generations
the family played a leading role in Moroccos political and economic life. As diplomats, they were entrusted with many missions by the French or the sultans. h AYYIM (18341915), who
lived in Tangiers, was the founder of freemasonry in Morocco.
There he organized and supported the *Alliance Isralite Universelle. He also established the first newspapers in Tangiers
for the defense of human rights and of the Jews in particular.
His influence provoked attacks by the anti-Semite Edouard
*Drumont. A philanthropist and founder of charitable institutions, H ayyim headed the Jewry of northern Morocco.
Bibliography: J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav (1911), 124, 133;
F. Rey, De la protection diplomatique et consulaire dans les chelles du
Levant et de Barbarie (1899), 5157; A. Laredo, Memorias de un viejo
Tangerino (1935), 435449; Mige, Maroc, 2 (1961), 85ff.; 210; 3 (1962),
443, 498; 4 (1963), 4950; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 313.
[David Corcos]
324
between Judaism and Christianity, seeking not only the differences but much more the links. While still in Munich and
under the name Rosenthal he wrote the poem Der Rabbi von
Nazareth (in Das Mal der Sendung, 1935). In this spirit, from
1940 he wrote several books promoting the Jewish-Christian
dialogue (Die Christusfrage an den Juden, 1941; Das christliche
Verstaendnis des Alten Testaments und der juedische Einwand,
1941), an endeavor which he stepped up after the war, traveling to Germany from 1956 and still writing in German (Theologia Judaica, 1/2, 1982, 1992; Weil wir Brueder sind, 1988). In
this context, he made clear the Jewish origins of Christianity,
interpreting some of the central figures of Christianity like
Jesus, Paul, and Miriam (cf. the trilogy Die Heimkehr, consisting of Bruder Jesus, 1967; Apostel Paulus, 1970, Mutter Mirjam,
1971). As a catch-phrase symbolizing his approach, the oftenquoted sentence from his book on Jesus might be cited: Der
Glaube Jesu einigt uns, aber der Glaube an Jesus trennt uns
(The faith of Jesus unifies us but the belief in Jesus separates
us). At the same time he tried to answer a central theological
question which came up after the Holocaust: the meaning of
suffering and the absence of God (e.g., Als Gott schwieg, 1986).
He was highly esteemed for his efforts at bringing about a new
Jewish-Christian and Jewish-German dialogue after 1945. BenChorin died in Jerusalem.
Bibliography: G. Mueller (ed.), Israel hat dennoch Gott zum
Trost (1978); H. Bleicher (ed.), Der Mann, der Friede heit (1983); T.
Vasko, From the Creation to the Kingdom of God: The Concept of Gods
Revelation by the Reform Jew Schalom Ben-Chorin in Dialogues with
Christianity and Islam (2003).
[Andreas Kilcher (2nd ed.)]
BENDA, JULIEN (18671956), French writer and philosopher. Benda studied history and philosophy at the Sorbonne.
His first book, Dialogues Byzance (1900), offered a bold
analysis of the manifestations of corruption in French society, which formed the background of the Dreyfus Trial. Benda
wrote several novels, especially in the first years of his literary
activity, including LOrdination (1911), which reveal his rationalistic outlook and rigorous morals. But Benda was first and
foremost a philosopher who preferred to express his ideas in
essays defending reason, science, and responsible thinking
against the cult of intuition. In Le Bergsonisme, ou une philosophie de la mobilit (1912) and in other works, Benda attacked
Bergsons irrationalism; in Belphgor (1919; Eng. tr. 1929),
Benda rejected most contemporary writers, such as Romain
Rolland, Paul Claudel, Maurice Barrs, George Sorel, and
Charles Pguy, his former friend. Bendas militancy increased
in his most famous book La trahison des clercs (1927; The Great
Betrayal, 1928), in which he castigated contemporary thinkers and writers, including the intellectuals and the professionals. He accused them of having sold reason or of having left
it to the state, to society, to the parties, to the family, etc. He
charged them with having forsaken service to reason and to
the perennial truth, all for the sake of temporary success. The
rigorous conclusions which oppose any compromise are the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BENDAVID, JOSEPH (19201986), Israeli sociologist. BenDavid was born in Gyor, Hungary, and immigrated to Israel
in 1941. He studied at the London School of Economics from
19471949. He received his M.A. in history and sociology in
1950 and Ph.D. in sociology in 1955, both from the Hebrew
University.
In 1951 he was appointed George Wise Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University, in 1968 research associate and
visiting professor of sociology at the University of Chicago,
and in 1979 the Stella M. Rowley Professor of Education and
professor of sociology at the University of Chicago.
Ben-Davids sociological research and publications reflected his interest in the interaction between macrolevel historical events and microlevel sociological processes in the areas of the development of science, higher education, and the
professions and social stratification.
His publications included Fundamental Research and
the Universities: Some Comments on International Differences
(1968), The Scientists Role in Society: A Comparative Study
(1971); American Higher Education: Directions Old and New
(1972), and Centers of Learning: Britain, France, Germany and
the United States (1971).
[Beverly Mizrachi (2nd ed.)]
325
grandmother before he was 20. After having studied under Johann Gottfried von Schadow, he followed the son of Johann
Gottfried, Wilhelm von Schadow, to Duesseldorf in 1827 and
enrolled in the Duesseldorf School of Painting, whose head
was Wilhelm Schadow. In 1830 he accompanied Schadow to
Italy, where for one year he devoted himself exclusively to
the study of Raphael, Michelangelo and the Nazarenes. There
he apparently formed his taste for painting monumental historical scenes in a classicist style. Bendemann produced his
best-known paintings between 1831 and 1835, among them
The Exiles of Babylon (1832), Two Girls at the Well (1833), Jeremiah at the Destruction of Jerusalem (1836) and Die Kuenste
am Brunnen der Poesie (1837). In 1835 Bendemann married
Schadows sister Lida. He was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Dresden in 1838 and executed a number
of murals for the royal palace there. In the revolution of 1848
he was an active member of pro-revolutionary leagues. In
1859 he succeeded his former teacher and brother-in-law as
director of the Academy in Duesseldorf, but resigned in 1867
due to ill health. He was commissioned to paint portraits of
well-known figures, and a large number of his works are exhibited in Berlin museums. In addition, his illustrations in the
neo-classical style appear in such literary works as the Nibelungenlied (published 1840 in Leipzig) and Lessings Nathan
the Wise. His son RUDOLF (18511884) was also a well-known
painter. His elder son FELIX (18481915) was an admiral and
chief of Naval Staff.
Bibliography: Roth, Art, 544; J. Schrattenholz, Eduard
Bendemann (Ger., 1891). Add. Bibliography: W. Aschenborn,
Eduard Bendemann (18111885). Das Direktorat an der Dsseldorfer
Kunstakademie 185967 (1998); L. von Donop (ed.): Ausstellung der
Werke von Eduard Bendemann in der Koeniglichen Nationalgalerie
(1890); W. von Kalnein (ed.), Die Duesseldorfer Malerschule (1979);
Die Handzeichnungen des 19. Jahrhunderts. Duesseldorfer Malerschule.
Die erste Jahrhunderthaelfte Teil 1: Tafeln;. 1978. Teil 2: Textband. 1980.
Bearb. v. Ute Ricke-Immel. (1980); B. Maaz, Johann Gottfried Schadow
und die Kunst seiner Zeit (1995).
[Pnina Nave / Sonja Beyer (2nd ed.)]
326
did not affiliate with the Board of Deputies until 1919. He was
also unsympathetic to the Zionist movement, but supported
it after the Balfour Declaration. In the general community he
was prominent in numerous educational and philanthropic
endeavors, giving long service to the Cape Town hospital
board, the school board, the council of the Cape Town University, and a variety of nondenominational philanthropic
organizations.
Bibliography: I. Abrahams, Birth of a Community (1955), index; G. Saron and L. Hotz (eds.), Jews in South Africa (1955), index.
[Gustav Saron]
bendix, reinhard
Holocaust Period
Under Soviet occupation (194041), wealthy Jews were exiled
to Siberia, as were wealthy non-Jews. With the beginning of
the German-Romanian invasion, the Soviet authorities provided transport and many Jews fled to the interior of Russia.
On July 4, 1941, the Romanian army assembled the remaining 700 Jews in the local castle, and shot them. After the liberation in September 1944, some 800 Jews returned, reestablishing the community, but they eventually left for Romania
and from there Israel. In Bendery an agreement was signed
between Germany and Romania, on August 31, 1941, concerning the plan to deport Jews to Transnistria.
[Jean Ancel / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: Taubman, in: Kovez Besarabyah (1941),
9096; Feldman, in: Sefer Yahadut Besarabyah. Add. Bibliography: PK Romanyah, S.V.
the Duke and Duchess of Mecklenburg and the mathematician Abraham Wolff. He exhibited his works at the Academy
of Berlin in 1788 and 1793. His only mezzotint (1808) portrays
Aron Beer, the first cantor to be appointed to the Berlin Jewish
community. Among his most important works are two plates,
each consisting of three medallions: one depicting Napoleon
I, Frederick William III, and Alexander I of Russia, and the
other Empress Josephine, Queen Louise, and Empress Elizabeth of Russia. Bendix also executed an engraving of Nathan
and the Templar (1806), a subject taken from Lessings play
Nathan the Wise. When the Berlin Jewish community opened
a school in 1825 Bendix was engaged as teacher of drawing. He
remained in that position until his death by suicide.
Add. Bibliography: U. Thieme, Felix Becker, in: Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Knstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 3 (1992).
327
BENDIX, VICTOR EMANUEL (18511926), pianist, conductor, and composer. Born in Copenhagen, the brother of the
pianist Otto *Bendix, Victor Bendix studied at the Copenhagen Conservatory with composer Niels Gade and as a pianist
with, among others, Liszt (from 1881). He was rptiteur at
the Copenhagen Royal Theater and later piano teacher at the
Royal Academy of Music. Bendix was an excellent conductor,
and in this role he made great contributions to the musical
life of Copenhagen. He was the conductor of the choral society, which he founded in Copenhagen (187276), and of the
Copenhagen Philharmonic Concerts (which he established
in 1897). His concert performances of Siegfried and Tristan
und Isolde and his staged performances of Verdis Don Carlos
were welcome innovations in the usual repertory of the Copenhagen Musical Society. From 1892 to 1893 he conducted
the Volkskonzerte in Berlin. Bendix wrote many songs but his
important works were his compositions for the piano; among
them are Piano Trio op. 12, Piano Concerto op. 17, and Piano
Sonata op. 26. He also composed Psalm 33 for chorus and orchestra and four symphonies.
Bibliography: Grove online.
[Israela Stein (2nd ed.)]
BENDOR, IMMANUEL (19011969), archaeologist. BenDor, who was born at Okopy, Poland, was a member of the
archaeological expeditions of the University of Pennsylvania
in Beth-Shean, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Italy and also took
part in the American School of Oriental Research excavation
at Beth-El and that of the University of Liverpool at Jericho.
328
benedict
(2) One of the ten towns in Israel which form the metropolitan
area of Tel Aviv, about 3 mi. (5 km.) northeast of downtown
Tel Aviv, bordered on the north by the Yarkon River, on the
east by the main highway to the south and north, and on the
south and west by Ramat Gan. Bene-Berak was established
in 1924 by a group of 13 Orthodox families from Warsaw, Poland, under the leadership of Rabbi Y. Gerstenkorn, who later
became the towns first mayor. Until 1936 affairs were run by a
local committee, and from 1936 to 1949 by a local council, but
since 1950 Bene-Berak has been a township, comprising about
1,775 acres (7,100 dunams). The founders engaged mostly in
farming and by 1929 the settlement grew to 100 families. It had
4,500 inhabitants in 1941, 8,800 in 1948, 25,000 in 1955, and
64,700 in 1968. In the mid-1990s the population was approximately 125,000 and in 2002 about 138,900, making it the tenth
largest city in Israel, with a municipal area of 2.7 sq. mi. (7 sq.
km.). Its dynamic growth was due to its proximity to Tel Aviv,
and its special position as a place for a thoroughly Orthodox
population and way of life. As a suburb, Bene-Berak is interrelated with the Tel Aviv nucleus for its public transportation,
wholesale and retail trade, entertainment, education on the
university level, and for employment especially for white collar workers in Tel Aviv who live in Bene-Berak. Bene-Berak
is known for its numerous yeshivot, headed by the Ponevezh
Yeshivah, founded in 1941 by Rabbi Joseph *Kahaneman. It
is also known for the strict public observance of the Sabbath,
holidays, and Jewish laws, one consequence of which is that
all its roads are closed to traffic on the Sabbath and holidays.
There are more than 200 synagogues, many of them for h asidic
rebbes, and closed h asidic neighborhoods like Zikhron Meir,
Vizhnitz, and Satmar (see *Satu Mare). Bene-Berak was the
home of H azon Ish (Rabbi Abraham I. *Karelitz), who established Tiferet Zion yeshiva. A Haredi College for academic
studies geared to observant students was founded in 1999. It
had around 100 students in 2002. The special character of the
city as a bastion of ultra-Orthodoxy, with most men studying
in the yeshivot rather than working, makes the city a center
of poverty as well. The city includes one secular neighborhood Pardes Katz.
Bene-Berak became one of Israels important industrial
areas and in 1969 had about 150 factories and numerous workshops for food preserves, cigarettes, wool textiles, and other
branches, among them several of the countrys largest such
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
329
Spain in 1391, but this had already been granted them by the
king of Castile. His attempt in 1410 to calm the excessive zeal
of the inquisitors in Majorca may also have been due to the
exigencies of diplomacy rather than to personal good will. His
really spectacular anti-Jewish activity began when, expelled
from Avignon, he moved to his native Spain, still claiming to
be the only legitimate pope. The depressed condition of the
Spanish Jews at the time persuaded him that he could startle
Christendom by obtaining the conversion of all Spanish Jewry.
The Disputation of *Tortosa was the result. When it was concluded in May 1415, Benedict issued his Bull Etsi doctoribus
gentium imposing every conceivable restriction on Jewish life.
It condemned the Talmud and ordered it expurgated of every
statement that might appear uncomplimentary to Christianity, and it made contact between Jews and Christians all but
impossible. The Bulls enforcement lapsed after Benedict XIII
was deposed by the Council of Constance in 1417; but its spirit
remained alive and found echoes in a number of *Bulls by later
popes. BENEDICT XIII (17241730) used every pressure, especially economic, on the inhabitants of the Roman ghetto to
become converted to Christianity. He personally participated
in the ceremonious baptism of 26 of them. He tried to limit
Jewish trade to nonessentials. BENEDICT XIV (17401758) was
deeply interested in the rigid interpretation and enforcement
of Canon Law. Consequently, while reaffirming the right of
the Jews of Avignon to trade in cloth, he increased the onus
of the Jewish badge for the Jews of Rome by ordering them to
wear it even when on a journey. A mere suspicion of consent
was now enough to declare a Jew properly baptized; while a
child, even if baptized without parental consent, was compelled to remain a Christian. Converts were limited to marrying only born Christians. Twice during his pontificate, in
1753 and 1755, Jewish books were confiscated and examined
for anti-Christian statements. Yet he recognized that Jewish
taxation was too heavy. Moreover, it was under his auspices
that Lorenzo Ganganelli (later Pope *Clement XVI) drew up
his memorandum concerning the *blood libel, and Benedict
subsequently wrote to the authorities in Poland deploring the
recent wave of accusations.
For Benedict XVI, see *Popes; *Vatican.
Bibliography: BENEDICT VII: Roth, Dark Ages, 76, 119; Vogelstein-Rieger, 1 (1896), 213. BENEDICT XII: Grayzel, in: HJ, 17 (1955),
89120; MHJ, 1 (1903), 62, no. 36; Baron, Social2, 11 (1967), 170f., 267.
BENEDICT XIII (anti-pope): Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 155, 167, 229ff.,
393f.; M. Simonsohn, Kirchliche Judengesetzgebung im Zeitalter der
Reformkonzilien von Konstanz und Basel (1912). BENEDICT XIII: E.
Rodocanachi, Le Saint-Sige et les Juifs (1891), 220, 284; Roth, Italy,
381. BENEDICT XIV: C. Roth, Ritual Murder Libel and the Jew (1934);
Roth, Italy, 379, 411; Rodocanachi, op. cit., 266, 284, 292; VogelsteinRieger, 2 (1895), 242, 245ff.; New Catholic Encyclopedia, index.
[Solomon Grayzel]
330
BENEDICTIONS (Heb. sing. , berakhah; pl. , berakhot), formulas of blessing or thanksgiving, in public and private services. The Hebrew noun berakhah is derived from the
verb brk ( to fall on ones knees). The Talmud ascribes the
institution and formulation of the benedictions to the Men
of the Great *Synagogue (Ber. 33a), to the sages of old (Sif.
Deut. 33:2; Mid. Ps. 17:4), or to the 120 elders at the head of
the community in the time of *Ezra (Meg. 17b; TJ, Ber. 2:4,
4d). These references, however, cannot be considered histori-
benedictions
ent day). The order of prayer was still relatively flexible, for
while the general outline and the motifs of the prayers and
blessings were well defined, their recital involved an element
of improvisation and free composition. The latter was seen as
a safeguard against mechanical prayer. Some amoraim were
singled out for praise because they recited a new prayer or a
new benediction every day (TJ, Bet. 4:3, 8a). During talmudic
times, however, only the requirements for the wording of each
benediction were fixed in greater detail, and various subsidiary motifs which had to be included in some of them were
enumerated. Consistent attempts at establishing one single
authoritative version of all prayers only came later.
The Benediction Formula
Every blessing opens with the words Barukh Attah Adonai
(Blessed art Thou, O Lord). When the benediction occurs
at the beginning of a prayer, the words Eloheinu Melekh haOlam (our God, King of the Universe) are added. There are
three types of formulas for benedictions: The first is a short
blessing (matbea kaz ar, short formula) which, after the above
opening, is followed by a few words of praise specific to the
occasion, e.g., the benediction over bread: ha-moz i leh em min
ha-arez (who brings forth bread from the earth). The second
is a long blessing (matbea arokh, long formula), in which
the opening is followed by a more elaborate text, e.g., in the
first section of the Grace after Meals, after which a concluding
benediction formula must be recited at the end of the prayer,
e.g., Barukh Attah Adonai ha-zan et ha-kol (Blessed art Thou
O Lord, Who feedest all). The third type of benediction forms
part of a series (berakhah ha-semukhah le-h avertah, contiguous blessings). The opening formula is omitted (except in
the first benediction of each series), and only the conclusion
is phrased in the benediction style. The second section of the
Grace after Meals, for instance, begins with the words Nodeh
Lekha (We thank Thee), and ends with the benediction Barukh Attah Adonai al ha-arez ve-al ha-mazon (Blessed art
Thou O Lord, for the land and the food; TJ, Bet. 1:8, 3d). The
mention of God as King of the Universe (known as Malkhut)
occurs only in the first two forms, and not in the third. It is
totally absent from the Amidah, and probably did not become
customary before the second century C.E. (Ber. 40a). The introduction of Malkhut into the opening phrase of the formula
may have been motivated by the desire to stress the exclusive
kingship of God, as a protest against the Roman cult of emperor worship. Since most of the obligatory prayers, e.g., the
Amidah, and the benedictions preceding and following the
Shema, consist of a series of blessings, the form occurring most
frequently in the synagogue service is the third, in which the
benediction formula is used only as a conclusion.
The standard benediction formula occurs only twice in
the Bible (Ps. 119:12; I Chron. 29:10); other formulas such as
Hodu la-Adonai (Praise God), Odekha Adonai (I will thank
Thee, O Lord) are more frequent, as is the phrase Barukh
Attah (without Adonai). The benedictions in Ecclesiasticus
51:12, for instance, are introduced by Hodu la-Adonai, and in
331
benedictions
the Dead Sea Scrolls the benediction formula is used interchangeably with Odekha Adonai, and the like (e.g., Thanksgiving Scroll, cf. 2:20, 31; 4:5, with 11:28, 30; 16:8; and especially
5:20, where the latter formula has been struck by the scribe
and replaced by the former). Nor do the Dead Sea Scrolls
yet distinguish between the use of the divine names Adonai and El in benedictions. The Talmud also retains some
traces of formulas other than the standard ones (Ber. 40b and
54b; Tosef., Ber. 4:45). The ultimate choice of the formula
containing both the Tetragrammaton and the direct address
of God in the second person was deliberate. It reflects the personal and even intimate relationship of the worshiper with
God. It also ensures that supplications and petitions (such
as the intermediary benediction of the Amidah) invariably
conclude with words of praise. After asking for forgiveness,
the prayer concludes: Blessed art Thou who dost abundantly forgive.
Laws of Benedictions
The Talmud (Ber. 40b) quotes Rav as saying that every benediction must include the name of God, and R. Johanan as saying that each benediction must also contain the attribute of
Gods kingship. It is also obvious from this talmudic passage
that a benediction could be recited in the vernacular and did
not have to be an exact translation of the Hebrew formula.
A shepherd, Benjamin, is quoted as having said in Aramaic,
Blessed be God, the master of this bread, and Rav agreed
that it was sufficient (Ber. 40b). Particular stress is laid upon
the closing formula (Ber. 9:5; Taan. 2:3; Tosef., Ber. 7:2122).
While the benediction formula is obligatory in every one of
the prescribed prayers, its use is precluded in spontaneous
free prayers: He who recites a blessing which is not necessary is considered to transgress the prohibition Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain (Ex. 20:7;
Ber. 33a). Maimonides (Yad, Berakhot 1:4) divides the benedictions into three types: those which are recited before enjoying a pleasure (e.g., food); those which are recited for the
performance of a religious duty (e.g., hearing the shofar); and
those which are forms of liturgical thanksgiving and praise
(e.g., Grace after Meals).
*Abudarham distinguished four classes or types of benedictions: those recited in the daily prayers; those preceding
the performance of a religious duty; blessings offered for enjoyments; and those of thanksgiving or praise (Abudarham
ha-Shalem, Berakhot).
Many benedictions, though obligatory and therefore
couched in the characteristic berakhah formula, are not recited in congregational worship but by the individual in private prayer. Prominent among them are three groups: benedictions before and after the partaking of food and drink;
benedictions to be recited before the performance of most
mitzvot; and benedictions of praise for various occasions
(the morning benedictions which express mans gratitude for
awakening in possession of all his faculties were originally of
this type). Since all three types of benedictions are essentially
332
Benedikt, Moritz
333
bene ephraim
334
to Edmond (Binyamin) de *Rothschild and Theodor (Binyamin Zeev) *Herzl. The association had as its motto: To preserve the existing and to rebuild the destroyed. It was active
in such veteran settlements as Petah Tikvah, Rishon le-Zion,
Nes Z iyyonah, Ekron, H aderah, Zikhron Yaakov, Rosh Pinnah, Mishmar ha-Yarden, and Yesud ha-Maalah. The Benei
Binyamin Cooperative Bank, opened in 1924, loaned money
to members for agricultural development, which the association constantly encouraged. In the same year Benei Binyamin began publication of its own newspaper, Yediot ha-Vaad
ha-Merkazi shel Histadrut Benei Binyamin. Netanyah, Kefar
Aharon, Even Yehudah, and part of Herzliyyah were founded
by Benei Binyamin. Its active supporters in the U.S. included
Nathan *Straus (in whose honor Netanyah was named). Alexander Aaronsohn was its president, and Oved *Ben-Ami
served as its secretary for a number of years.
Bibliography: Dinur, Haganah, 2 pt. 3 (1964), index; Benei
Binyamin, Likerat ha-Binyan (1922).
BENEI MOSHE (Heb. ; Sons of Moses), secret order of H ovevei Zion founded in Russia in 1889 to ensure personal dedication to the spiritual renaissance of the Jewish
people and the return to Erez Israel. Benei Moshe, founded
on the seventh of Adar, the traditional birth date of Moses,
was active in Russia and Erez Israel until 1897. Its originator
was Yehoshua *Barzillai (Eisenstadt), who returned from Erez
Israel dissatisfied with the situation of Jewish agricultural settlement and the general state of depression in the small new
yishuv. Barzillais views conformed with those of *Ah ad HaENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bene israel
335
bene israel
preceptors of the Bene Israel. They were called Kajis and their
position became hereditary. They were also recognized officially as judges in disputes within the Bene Israel community.
Somewhere along the line the Bene Israel formed a special attachment to the Prophet Elijah. They invoke his blessings on
all auspicious occasions. Another typically Bene Israel feature
is their custom called Malida, i.e., the preparation of a ceremonial food offering (composed of special ingredients) accompanied by recitation of Jewish prayers, psalms, and other appropriate biblical quotations on the occasions of purification
after childbirth; preparation for a wedding; when taking, and
after completing, a vow; after a circumcision, and for all other
auspicious occasions; whenever there is a crisis or need for divine help; for the expression of gratitude to God; and on Tu
Bi-Shevat to celebrate the first fruits of their locale, and also to
give respect to the Prophet Elijah at Kandala, the place where
he is believed to have appeared to the Bene Israel.
In mid-18t century, many Bene Israel moved from their
villages into the rapidly developing new city of Bombay. Here
the horizons of the Bene Israel were widened as they benefited from the educational and employment opportunities offered under British rule. The British authorities were anxious
to recruit reliable soldiers to their native regiments. Some
Bene Israel had already served in the army or in the navy of
other Konkan potentates, and many enlisted under the British. Most of these rose to officer rank and established a reputation as good fighters in the Anglo-Mysore, Anglo-Afghan,
and Anglo-Burmese wars of the 18t and 19t centuries. They
were also efficient civil servants.
An impetus to their return to traditional Judaism was
given to the Bene Israel through the cooperation of Cochin Jews who visited Bombay and the Konkan villages, and
through the new wave of immigration of Arabic-speaking Jews
from Baghdad to Bombay in the early decades of the 19t century. The secular education of the Bene Israel was considerably
influenced by Congregational missionaries from America who
opened schools both in Bombay and in the outlying towns and
villages. They trained Bene Israel to become teachers in these
schools, and it was in these schools that the Bene Israel got
their first understandable introduction to be Bible. Then, in
1826 a Jew from Cochin, who had been converted to Christianity, Michael Sargon, was deputed to work among the Bene
Israel. He not only devoted his energy to teaching them in the
Marathi language, without any attempt at proselytization, but
also mediated in their disputes. Somewhat later the most celebrated of all Christian missionaries to work among the Bene
Israel, the Rev. John Wilson of the Scottish Presbyterian Mission, started his educational activities among them. In 1832
he published a Hebrew Grammar in Marathi, and Bene Israel
studied Hebrew in the high school and in the college founded
by him. Gradually the missionaries withdrew from the field of
primary education and the Bene Israel took their education
into their own hands. H.S. Kehimkar, in collaboration with
his brother and A.D. Pezarkar, started a small primary school
in 1875. It later became necessary to solicit for funds, and gen-
336
erous aid was given by the Anglo-Jewish Association of London, Jewish philanthropists in England and France, members
of the *Sassoon family, and the Government of Bombay. The
school, with its own building, grew into a high school teaching Marathi, English and Hebrew. Originally called the Israelite School, the name was changed in the early 1930s to the
Elly Kadoorie School, in recognition of a large donation (earmarked for the reconstruction and extension of the old school
building) by Sir Elly *Kadoorie of Hong Kong.
Religious development was also very much facilitated for
the Bene Israel by translations of the Old Testament by an association of Protestant Christian missionaries of all denominations beginning in the early twenties of the 19t century.
Since its establishment in 1857 Bombay University included
Hebrew in its curriculum.
Originally, the communal organization, religious as well
as secular, of the Bene Israel was headed by the Kajis. With the
establishment of synagogues (the first was established in 1796
in Bombay by Bene Israel army officer Samuel Ezekiel *Divekar and was named Shaar ha-Rachamim (Gate of Mercy)),
the secular functions of the Kajis were gradually taken over by
the Muccadams, who either were the most prominent persons
in the local community, or who succeeded their fathers in the
office. In large synagogue congregations the Muccadams were
aided by Choglas, or councilors. Eventually the ritual functions
of the Kajis came to be performed by the h azzanim who were
initially recruited from Cochin but later also from among the
Bene Israel themselves.
The Bene Israel established additional synagogues in
Bombay Shaar Razon (1839), Etz Hayim (1888), and Magen
Chassidim (1931) and also several prayer halls. From 1848
onwards Bene Israel synagogues were also established in 12
different towns on the Konkan coast; and far afield in the cities of Poona, Ahmedabad, Karachi (now in Pakistan) and
New Delhi.
The relations between the Bene Israel and the Hindu
and Muslim communities of the Konkan coast proved to be
very peaceful. The only thing that the Bene Israel found upsetting was that their neighbors did not always identify them
as Jews, and until well into the second half of the 20t century associated them with the caste of oil-pressers because of
the traditional occupation of their ancestors, though already
in the later British period the occupations of the Bene Israel
were quite diverse.
Apart from serving in the British native regiments they
were employed as civil servants in government, railway, postal
and customs offices; as teachers, hospital assistants, nurses;
many were skilled carpenters, masons, and mechanics; but
very few were engaged in trade or commerce. Many Bene
Israel who attended Elphinstone, Wilson and other colleges
affiliated to Bombay University became well known as engineers, lawyers, physicians, educators, architects, writers and
social workers. Prominent among the leaders and educators
of the 19t century were Hayim Samuel *Kehimkar, historian
of the community, and Joseph Ezekiel *Rajpurkar, writer and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bene israel
337
bene israel
In Israel
Between 1948 and 1952, approximately 2,300 Bene Israel emigrated to Israel. As a result of sit-down strikes and hunger
strikes (see below), the Jewish Agency returned a total of 337
individuals, in several groups, between 1952 and 1954. Most
of them were brought back to Israel by the Jewish Agency after several years. From the establishment of the state until
1969, over 12,000 Bene Israel emigrated to Israel. They were
mainly absorbed into the branches of industry in which they
were occupied in India, such as textiles and metals, as well as
into public services. They settled mainly in Beersheba, Dimonah, Ashdod, and Eilat. Some settled in kibbutzim and
moshavim.
SOCIAL-RELIGIOUS CRISIS. The Bene Israel became the focus
of a controversy which arose in 1954 over the basic question of
the personal status of the Bene Israel regarding marriage with
other Jews. Although the Chief Rabbinate had laid down in essence that the sect of the Bene Israel in India is of the seed of
the House of Israel without any doubt, several rabbis in Israel
refused to marry Bene Israel to other Jews. This standpoint
was based on halakhic decisions that had been given for Jews
from Baghdad who had settled in India, and who denounced
intermarriage with those whom they considered to belong to
an inferior caste. On first coming to India in the 18t century,
the Baghdadi Jews had prayed in the synagogues of the Bene
Israel and buried their dead in their cemeteries. However, as
they became more settled and acquired a higher status and
education, they began to keep apart and to question whether
the Bene Israel were legitimately Jewish. They considered that
338
ben-eliezer, binyamin
the Bnai Zion Order of America, which contributed funds toward the acquisition of the land. In the mid-1990s the population was approximately 430, increasing to 742 in 2002 after
upscale expansion.
[Efraim Orni]
BENELIEZER, BINYAMIN (Fuad; 1936 ), Israeli military commander and politician, member of the Eleventh to
Sixteenth Knessets. Ben-Eliezer was born in Basra in Iraq
and immigrated to Israel on his own in 1950, when he was
only 13. During the Six-Day War he served as the deputy to
the Bedouin commander of the Shaked unit in the Southern
Command. During the Yom Kippur War he was deputy commander of a brigade. In the mid-1970s he was appointed Israels first commander in Southern Lebanon and was in charge
of the opening of the Good Fence between Israel and Lebanon and creating the foundations for the Southern Lebanese
Army under Major Haddad. In 1978 he was appointed military administrator of Judea and Samaria, a position he held
for close to four years. In that period he participated in the
effort to establish an alternative Palestinian leadership to the
PLO in the form of the village leagues. He left the army in 1982
and for a brief period served as the secretary general of the
ethnic Tami party established by Aharon Abuhazeira. However, he was recalled to active service by Minister of Defense
Moshe *Arens in 1983 and appointed coordinator of operations
in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. In the course of his military service Ben-Eliezer graduated from the IDF Command and Staff
Academy and the College for National Security.
After his final discharge from the IDF in 1984 Ben-Eliezer
joined Ezer *Weizman in establishing a new party, Yah ad,
which was elected to the Eleventh Knesset and joined the
Alignment before the formation of the National Unity Government. When not serving as a minister, Ben-Eliezer served
on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In
the government formed by Yitzhak *Rabin in 1992, he was appointed minister of construction and housing, a position he
also held in the government formed by Shimon *Peres after
Rabins assassination. During this period he shifted the focus
back to construction within the Green Line. In the government formed by Ehud *Barak in 1999, he was deputy prime
minister and minister of communications, and after the NRP
resigned from the government also served as minister of construction and housing. Following Baraks defeat in the elections for prime minister held in February 2001 and Labors entry into the government formed by Ariel *Sharon, Ben-Eliezer
was appointed minister of defense but resigned from the government with the Labor Party in November 2002.
As minister of defense he had to contend with the growing violence of the Intifada and was in charge of Operation
Defensive Shield in the territories in the spring of 2002. As
the violence escalated he favored the construction of a fence
between Israel and the Palestinian territories, but continued
to believe in a negotiated settlement which would lead to the
establishment of a Palestinian state. Already in June 2001 he
339
BEN ELIEZER, MOSHE (18821944), Hebrew editor, author, and translator. Ben Eliezer, who was born in Shchuchin,
near Vilna, became attracted to the Haskalah while studying
at Mir yeshivah, and joined the staff of the Hebrew daily HaZeman. From 1906 to 1910 he lived in the United States, where
he established Shibbolim (1909), a journal devoted to modern
Hebrew literature. Returning to Poland he edited several Hebrew journals for young people, and spent some time after
World War I in Kovno as press officer for the Lithuanian Ministry for Jewish Affairs. Immigrating to Palestine in 1925, he
joined the editorial staff of the newspaper Haaretz. His stories,
feuilletons, and translations appeared in the Hebrew press of
various countries and he also wrote and edited several series
of books for children. His works include the historical novels
Yerovam u-Reh avam (Jeroboam and Rehoboam, 1939) and
Don Yosef Nasi (1945), the novel Gavriel (1945), and translations of works by Scott, Dickens, Conrad, Hawthorne, and
others.
Bibliography: N. Goren, Demuyyot be-Sifrutenu (1953),
6974; H. Weiner, Pirkei H ayyim ve-Sifrut (1960), 9495; F. Lachower,
Shirah u-Mah ashavah (1953), 2368; Rabbi Binyamin, Mishpeh ot
Soferim (1960), 3123.
[Getzel Kressel]
340
BENESCH, ALFRED ABRAHAM (18791973), U.S. attorney and civic leader. Benesch was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the
son of Bohemian immigrants. He established a law practice in
Cleveland and was elected to the Cleveland City Council in
1912. In 191415 he served as public safety director in Mayor
Newton D. Bakers cabinet. Under Beneschs direction the
first electric traffic signal lights were installed in Cleveland
on August 5, 1914, by the American Traffic Signal Company.
In 1922 Benesch gained prominence as a libertarian for his
fight against a proposed quota system for Jews at Harvard. His
public career was highlighted by 37 years of continuous service on the Cleveland Board of Education (192562); he was
its president in 193334. Benesch made an immediate impact
on school policy when he successfully opposed compulsory
reserve military training in the citys public high schools. He
was Ohio State Director of Commerce during 193539. Benesch held many public and civic offices and was equally active
as a Jewish communal leader, serving as a trustee of many local Jewish agencies.
[Judah Rubinstein]
BENEVENTO, town in southern Italy. Epigraphical evidence may indicate that Jews were living in Benevento already
in the fifth century. Around 950 the miracle worker *Aaron
of Baghdad visited the town. Later, members of the *Ahimaaz
family resided in Benevento, Hananeel b. Paltiel establishing
his yeshivah there. In 1065, Landolfo VI, prince of Benevento,
forced a number of Jews to become converted to Christianity, being reproved for this by Pope *Alexander II. In 1077
Benevento became part of the Patrimony of St. Peter and its
Jews passed under the rule of the pope. When *Benjamin
of Tudela visited Benevento about 1159 he found 200 Jewish families. Two Hebrew inscriptions on a sepulchral stone
from 1153 also attest to the existence of a Jewish community in
this period. The Jews were living in a fairly ample quarter; in
1198 three churches in Benevento were known as de Judeca.
Jewish economic activities included weaving and especially
dyeing, on which taxes were paid to the archbishop. Later
Jews engaged in moneylending. In the early 16t century
they also dealt in corn. When in 1442 Alfonso of Aragon became king of Naples, he also occupied Benevento. The Holy
See compromised by nominating Alfonso apostolic vicar in
the city, recognizing his rule de facto. In 1452 Alfonso accorded
the Jews of Benevento the same privileges enjoyed by the Jews
living in the Kingdom of Naples, in return for a thousand
ducats. In 1458, upon Alfonsos death, Benevento returned to
pontifical rule. Benevento being a Papal enclave, the Jewish
community which now maintained two synagogues was not
disturbed at the time of the general expulsion from southern
Italy in 1541. Nevertheless, after the election of Pope *Paul IV
in 1555, their position sharply deteriorated and several Jews
converted, among them a rich banker, Raphael Usiglio. In
1569 they were expelled from Benevento as from the other
small towns in the Papal States. The municipal council readmitted Jews in 1617, but in 1630 they were accused of poisoning the wells. Thereafter, the organized Jewish community
ceased to exist.
Bibliography: P.M. Lonardo, Gli ebrei a Benevento (1899);
idem, in: Vessillo Israelitico, 67 (1917); Roth, Dark Ages, index; Milano, Bibliotheca, no. 1041 and index. Add. Bibliography: C.
Colafemmina, Gli ebrei a Benevento, in: Italia Judaica, 6 (1998),
20427.
[Attilio Milano / Nadia Zeldes (2nd ed.)]
and poetry and published Maarekhet ha-Elohut, the kabbalistic work of Perez b. Isaac Gerondi (of Barcelona), which he
annotated with his own commentary (Mantua, 1558). He was
also one of the publishers of the first printed edition of the
Zohar (Mantua, 155860), and went to the Ottoman Empire in
search of new Zohar manuscripts for this edition. Benevento
was also involved in the dispute about printing the Zohar, justifying it in the introductions to his books. He died before the
printing was completed.
Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 541, no. 3492, 1055,
no. 5266; J. Perles, Beitraege zur Geschichte der hebraeischen und aramaeischen Studien (1884), 220; G. Scholem, Bibliographia kabbalistica
(1927), 166, 177. Add. Bibliography: I. Sonne, Mi-Paolo Harevii
ad Pius ha-Hamishi (1954), 11017, 12729; I. Tishby, Studies in Kabbalah and Its Branches (Heb., 1982), 79130.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto / Moti Benmelekh (2nd ed.)]
341
benfeld
[Roger Berg]
342
found at Benghazi, the Jews of Berenice were considered citizens (as in the rest of Cyrenaica) but were ruled by their own
Jewish archons and not by an ethnarch as in other parts of
the Diaspora. Furthermore they are described as a municipal
community, and appear from the inscription to be observant
of the festivals (CIG 3:2, no. 5361). Another inscription found
in 1938, gives thanks to certain donors for helping to dedicate
a synagogue in Berenice in 56 C.E. In both this and the previous inscription the majority of the names mentioned are nonJewish, testifying to a fair degree of hellenization, as in Egypt.
During the revolt of the Jews of Cyrene in 115 and during the
Byzantine era the Jews of Berenice suffered the same fate as
those of Cyrene in general. After the Arab conquest in 660,
Berenice was mostly deserted. In the 14t century it was called
by its Arabic name Benghazi (Bin Ghz). In the beginning of
the 16t century, many Jews from Tripoli helped to repopulate
it, earning their livelihood by trade with North Africa and the
Mediterranean area, or as smiths or tailors.
Following the Ottoman occupation of 1640, Jewish families from Tripoli were attracted to the city. In 1745 epidemics
and poverty drove out the inhabitants, but about 1750 some
members of the previous Jewish community returned and
reorganized the community, which began to flourish about
1775 with the arrival of Jewish families from Italy. In the 18t
and 19t centuries Benghazi had 400 Jewish families divided
into two groups: those of the town and the surrounding region (Kahal Bengazi) and those who were born in *Tripoli
and Italy. Although both groups recognized the authority of
one rabbi, each had its own synagogue. The Muslim brotherhood of the Sanusiya, whose influence was considerable in
Cyrenaica from the 1840s onwards, was well disposed toward
the Jews of Benghazi, appreciating their economic-mercantile
contributions and peaceful attitude. The Jews enjoyed complete freedom and were not forced to live in a special quarter.
They lived in affluence, and because of their commercial activity the town became an important trading center for Europe
and Africa. Several wealthy families occupied high positions
in the service of the Ottoman authorities. Among scholars of
this community were Elijah Lavi (17831883), author of Sefer
Geullot Adonai (1864) and other works written in Hebrew or
Judeo-Arabic; Moses H akmon; and Isaac Khalfon. A modernized talmud torah was organized under the leadership of Elia
Juili (1890), H ai Teshuba, and others. In 1909 when a large fire
broke out in the bazaar, the Ottoman soldiery, who were supposed to extinguish it, looted and attacked the population, especially the Jews. Because of this, several families moved back
to Tripoli. From 1911 Italian rule attracted more Jews from the
interior of the country, as well as from Italy, to Benghazi, and
in 1935 the Jewish population numbered 2,236. Until 1936 life
under Italian rule proceeded peacefully for the Jews. In 1936,
however, the Italians began to enforce fascist legislation aimed
at modernizing social and economic structures based on
conditions current in Italy. With the implementation of antiJewish racial legislation in late 1938, Jews were removed from
municipal councils, public offices, and state schools and their
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
343
ben-gurion, david
344
ben-gurion, david
socialist society in Palestine, based on the collectivist principles embodied in the kevutzot (see *Kibbutz Movement). In
1919 Ben-Gurion opened the founding conference of *Ah dut
ha-Avodah in Petah Tikvah. He also participated in the world
delegation of Poalei Zion which prepared a blueprint for the
future development of Erez Israel. After the Jerusalem riots
of Passover 1920, Ben-Gurion traveled to London, where
he and Shelomo *Kaplansky headed the Political Bureau of
Poalei Zion, which established contacts with the British Labour Party.
Building the Histadrut
On his return to Palestine at the end of 1921, Ben-Gurion
was elected as the first secretary of the *Histadrut, which had
been founded in 1920 a position which he was to hold for
the next 14 years. He was active on all levels the struggle for
the improvement of workers conditions, the organization of
strikes, the employment of Jewish workers in all sections of
the economy, including government works, and provision for
the unemployed. Since Ben-Gurions objective was to turn
the Histadrut into an instrument for settlement, as well as an
economic and political body, he proposed that it become a
cooperative workers society (h evrat ovedim), which would
undertake agricultural settlement, the promotion of industry
and construction, as well as providing workers with all the financial and welfare services that they required. A version of
this vision was adopted by the second Histadrut conference
in 1923. In the early 1920s Ben-Gurion tried to develop economic relations between the Histadrut and the Soviet trade
unions and economic bodies, in the hope that such relations
would facilitate the operation of the He-H alutz movement in
the Soviet Union and Jewish emigration from there to Palestine. He visited the Soviet Union in 1923, when the Histradrut
participated in the Moscow Agricultural Exhibition, but his
efforts to gain Soviet support failed.
During the 1920s the non-socialist middle class within
the Zionist Movement and in the yishuv gained in strength,
and the *Revisionist movement declared its opposition to the
idea of an all-embracing socialist workers organization. The
Revisionist leader Zeev *Jabotinsky called for the breaking
of the Histadrut (ja brechen). Ben-Gurions reaction was to
strive to unite the various Zionist workers parties, with the
goal of attaining hegemony for the labor movement in the
World Zionist Organization. In 1930 he was instrumental is
getting Ah dut ha-Avodah and *Ha-Poel ha-Z air to unite into
a single party that assumed the name *Mapai an acronym for
Mifleget Poalei Erez Yisrael. In the next four years Ben-Gurion
concentrated on efforts to prevent the Revisionists from gaining ascendancy in the Zionist Movement. At the 18th Zionist
Congress in 1933, in which the workers parties comprised
close to 50 of the delegates, Ben-Gurion became a member
of the Zionist and *Jewish Agency Executive. In an attempt to
prevent a split in the Zionist movement, he reached a tentative agreement with Jabotinsky which would establish a modus vivendi on labor matters between the Histadrut and the
345
ben-gurion, david
that would be integrated into the structure of the new democratic world. When, towards the end of the war, the dissident
underground organizations the Irgun Z evai Leummi (Iz L)
and Loh amei H erut Israel (Leh i) carried out armed attacks
against British targets in Palestine, Ben-Gurion ordered the
Haganah to act against them. He even went so far as to cooperate with the British authorities in apprehending members of
the dissident organizations, a policy nicknamed the Saison
(i.e., the hunting season) that aroused much controversy
within the ranks of the Haganah and the yishuv.
When, following the war, it became clear that the British
government had no intention of abandoning the White Paper
policy, Ben-Gurion led the active struggle against the British,
for a time in cooperation with the dissident organizations,
which came to be known as the Hebrew Resistance Movement
(Tenuat ha-Meri ha-Ivri), and intensified illegal immigration. In the meantime he embarked on a policy of acquiring
arms from all available sources in preparation for a possible
armed clash with the Arabs.
On June 29, 1946, known as Black Saturday, when members of the Jewish Agency Executive in Palestine were arrested
by the British, Ben-Gurion was in Europe. Though he refused
to reach a compromise with the British, he ordered a pause in
the armed struggle in Palestine. Ben-Gurions policy was approved at the 22nd Zionist Congress held in December 1946,
which failed to reelect Weizmann as president of the World
Zionist Organization but reelected Ben-Gurion as chairman
of the Jewish Agency Executive, to whom the defense portfolio
was added. After returning to Palestine, he started planning
for the possibility of an armed clash not only with the Arabs in
Palestine but also with the armies of the Arab states that had
started to organize in the Arab League. Ben-Gurion was one
of the chief Zionist spokesmen before the Anglo-American
Inquiry Commission in 1946 and the United Nations Special
Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) in 1947.
War of Independence, 19471949
When the *War of Independence broke out in December 1947,
following the adoption of the partition plan by the UN General
Assembly on November 29, Ben-Gurion stood at the head of
the defense effort, involving the raising of funds, the acquisition of arms, the recruitment of military experts, and the outlining of military goals, though he did not direct the actual
military operations. It was he who, at the end of the war, ordered a withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, and refused to
allow Yigal *Allon to conquer the West Bank from the Arab
Legion. In his determination to free the newly established IDF
from all separatist influences, Ben-Gurion ordered the disbanding of the *Palmah command and the complete integration of all its units in the general framework of the new army,
which was led by officers, most of whom were veterans of the
British Army. He also had to deal with the dissident organizations the Iz L and Leh i. In the case of the Iz L, any chance
for independent activity on its part was ended with the controversial order given by Ben-Gurion in June 1948 to sink the
346
ben-gurion, david
increased, and Ben-Gurion decided on a policy of military reprisals across the armistice lines. Following the elections to
the Third Knesset in November 1955, Ben-Gurion once again
assumed the twofold position of prime minister and minister
of defense. He now concentrated on the development of close
relations with France, which due to its own struggle in Algeria,
viewed Egyptian President Gamal Abdul *Nasser as a bitter
enemy. These ties became even closer when Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956. In October 1956 Ben-Gurion
went to France for a secret meeting with representatives of the
French and British governments. At this meeting an agreement was reached on concerted military action against Egypt.
On October 29, 1956, the Israeli Army moved into the Sinai
Peninsula (see *Sinai Campaign), while Britain and France
closed in on the Suez Canal. However, under international
pressure Britain and France were forced to give up their effort to reverse Nassers actions, and Israel was compelled to
agree to the withdrawal of its forces from the Sinai Peninsula
and the Gaza Strip. This withdrawal was completed in March
1957, and relative quiet was attained after UN forces were stationed in the Gaza Strip and the sea route to Eilat through the
Straits of Tiran was reopened to Israeli shipping. Following
the Sinai Campaign, and the election of Charles de Gaulle as
president of France, Israels relations with France remained
cordial. However, Ben-Gurion increased Israels efforts to diversify its sources of arms to include West Germany and the
United States.
During the election campaign for the Fourth Knesset at
the end of 1959, Ben-Gurion raised the issue of electoral reform. He advocated a system of personal elections in constituencies, which he believed would cure Israels political ills by
reducing the number of parliamentary groups in the Knesset.
His opponents argued that Ben-Gurions intention was to gerrymander the constituencies in such a way that Mapai would
win an absolute majority of Knesset seats. The elections, however, produced no significant change in the composition of the
Knesset, and Ben-Gurion did not have the power to change
the electoral system.
In the years 196062 Ben-Gurion traveled a great deal,
visiting the United States, where he met with President John
*Kennedy, Western Europe, where he met with German Chancellor Konrad *Adenauer and French President Charles de
Gaulle, and Burma. Towards the elections to the Fifth Knesset,
what now came to be known as the Lavon Affair, concerning
responsibility for the bungled intelligence operation in Egypt
back in 1954, reemerged, not least of all because Ben-Gurion
wanted the truth to be uncovered as to who had given the order for the operation. Ben-Gurion believed that Pinh as Lavon,
now secretary-general of the Histadrut, was responsible. BenGurions obsession with this affair was severely criticized by
his opponents both within Mapai and outside of it. However,
a commission of seven ministers, set up to examine the relevant documents acquitted Lavon of responsibility, a verdict
that Ben-Gurion refused to accept. He submitted his resignation in January 1961 and, before new elections were held for
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
347
348
dent, is known for its rapid growth. More than 10,000 students
enrolled for the 1995/6 academic year in its four faculties, and
by 2003 it already had 16,000 students.
Ben-Gurion University is intimately involved in the development of Israels southern arid region, the Negev, which
comprises nearly 60 of the country, but contains only 10
of its population. It plays a central role in the educational, social, and industrial developments of the region. The university
promotes academic research with commercial applications as
the key to economic development in the Negev. Through its
pioneering research in arid zone communities, BGU has established a basis for cooperation with countries sharing a similar
climate, particularly in the Middle East.
Approximately 50 of the students originate from the
Negev, 40 from the center of the country, and 10 from the
north. New immigrant students are absorbed in all BGU departments.
The university has four faculties:
(1) The Faculty of Health Sciences, founded in 1974, is
located on the campus of the Soroka Medical Center, in close
proximity to the university. Its establishment brought about
major changes in health care in the Negev while developing
an innovative medical education program. From the first year,
students integrate academic theory with clinical care. The
orientation of the school is strongly focused on community
medicine. The faculty and students work in Beersheba at the
Soroka Medical Center and travel to development towns, kibbutzim, and Bedouin encampments.
There are three Divisions: Health in the Community; the
Division of Basic Medical Sciences, and the Division of Clinical Medicine. The faculty offers graduate degrees in Medical
Science. The Recanati School of Nursing and Physiotherapy
is also part of the faculty.
(2) The Faculty of Engineering Sciences comprises six
departments: Nuclear Engineering, Materials Engineering,
Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical
and Computer Engineering, and Industrial Engineering and
Management and the Program for Biotechnology.
(3) The Faculty of Natural Sciences consists of five departments: Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Physics,
Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Geology and Mineralogy. Its scientists pursue both basic and applied research projects, many
of which have served to advance the growth of science-based
industry and the agricultural development of the Negev.
(4) The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences has
eleven departments: Behavioral Sciences; Bible and Ancient
Near Eastern Studies; Economics; Education; Geography
and Environmental Development; Hebrew Language; Hebrew Literature; Foreign Literature and Linguistics; History;
Philosophy; and Social Work. The unit for teaching English
as a Foreign Language is also part of the faculty. The Department of Behavioral Sciences integrates psychology, sociology,
and anthropology. The Hebrew Literature Department has
the only Masters Program in Creative Writing in the country, and in the Department of Social Work all third-year stuENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
ben-hadad
349
ben-haim, paul
H. Winckler and E. Meyer (followed in the 1940s by W.F. Albright) believe that there were only two kings of Aram by the
name of Ben-Hadad, the Aramean contemporary of Baasha
being identical with that of Ahab.
Moreover, while the chronology of the books of Kings has
been followed above, H.L. Ginsberg has suggested that, though
there are bound to be differences as to just what adjustments
need to be made, the distribution of the incidents during the
350
351
ben he he
In his pamphlet Lashon Attikah bi-Mez iut H adasha (Ancient Language in a New Reality, 1953) he deals with problems
of the growth and development of modern Hebrew as the living language in the State of Israel. This article was republished
along with most of his articles on modern Hebrew during the
long period of his activity at the Academy in Be-Milhamtah
shel Lashon, 1992. He was the editor of the historical dictionary of the Hebrew language one of the major projects of
the Academy. He also edited Hebrew dictionaries containing
modern Hebrew terms in the fields of mathematics, anatomy,
technology, etc., and contributed articles to leading linguistic
journals on problems of Hebrew grammar and on the systems
of Hebrew grammarians. Ben H ayyim was the Encyclopaedia
Judaicas divisional editor for Hebrew and Semitic languages.
He received the Israel Prize in 1964. A full list of Ben H ayyims
works and scientific publications appeared in Leshonenu (vol.
32, TishriTevet 1967/68), the publication of the Academy, edited by Ben H ayyim from 1955 to 1965; updated in Leshonenu
65 (2003), 20126 with an assessment of his scientific achievements, ibid., p. 22738.
BEN HE HE (c. first century), tanna. In Avot (5, end) appears
a maxim in the name of Ben He He: According to the labor
is the reward. The same maxim is quoted as a popular saying in the name of Hillel the Elder (ARN1 12:28; ARN2 27:28),
while a similar version occurs in Samaritan literature (see S.
Liberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine (1942), 160, p. 113). The
Talmud (H ag. 9b), implying that he may have been a pupil of
Hillel, contains questions addressed to Hillel by Bar He He
(see Seder ha-Dorot, S.V. Ben Bag Bag; cf., however, Liberman,
loc. cit.). His name is said to have originated from his having
been a proselyte, i.e., the son [ben] of Abraham and Sarah, to
each of whose names the letter [ he] was added (cf. Gen. 17:5,
15; Tos. to Hag. 9b; Mah zor Vitry, ed. Hurwitz (1923), 5634).
Bacher (Tann, 1 (19032), 89) suggests that he was converted
under the influence of Hillel. He is also identified with *Ben
Bag Bag (Tos. and Mah zor Vitry, loc. cit.),
Bibliography: Hyman, Toledot, 285.
[Zvi Kaplan]
352
benjacob, isaac
BENJACOB, ISAAC (18011863), first modern Hebrew bibliographer. He was born near Vilna and spent most of his life in
that city. After publishing original works and republishing several medieval writers, including H ovot ha-Levavot by *Bah ya
ibn Paquda (with a commentary of his own), Benjacob published, with Abraham Dov *Lebensohn (Adam ha-Kohen), a
17-volume edition of the Hebrew Bible (184853). It included
Rashis commentary, Mendelssohns German translation (in
Hebrew script), a new commentary by Lebensohn as well as
Benjacobs own Mikraei Kodesh, an abridged version of Tik-
353
354
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benjamin
benjamin
However, some scholars believe that Gibeon is a scribal error for Gibeah, the city of Saul (I Sam. 11:4).
The Tribal Territory
The territory of Benjamin, which extended from the hill
country of Ephraim to the hill country of Judah, is described in
great detail in Joshua 18:1128. The description of its southern
border fits that of the northern border of Judah (Josh. 15:511),
while the picture of its northern border accords with that
of the southern border of the House of Joseph (Josh. 16:13,
5). The northern boundary began at the Jordan and continued
in an almost straight line westward to Jericho, which it bypassed to the north; it then ascended the mountains in a westnorthwesterly direction, encompassing Beth-El, turning south
and continuing to the southwest, and circumventing lower
Beth-Horon on the south. The western border of Benjamin
is unclear; however, from the description of the territory
of Dan, it would seem that it did not reach the sea, but
ended in the vicinity of the valley of Aijalon, with the area of
lower Beth-Horon and Kiriath-Jearim marking its northern
and southern extremities (cf. Josh. 18:28 with 15:60). The
southern border ran from the outskirts of Kiriath-Jearim
(Josh. 18:15), eastward via the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah (Lifta) to Jerusalem, which was included in the territory of Benjamin; for the border passed Jerusalem on the
south and descended east by way of En-Rogel, En-Shemesh,
the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben, and Beth-Hoglah to the
Dead Sea, near where the Jordan enters it. The eastern border was the Jordan.
The list of Benjaminite towns (Josh. 18:2128) does not
accord with the northern border of the tribe as described in
Joshua 18:1213 since Beth-El, Zemaraim, Ophrah, and Mizpeh are elsewhere included in the territory of Ephraim (cf.
Josh. 16; II Chron. 13:4, 19). Possibly the list of cities and the
list of border points are not from the same period and reflect
fluctuating territorial and historical situations. It is generally
believed that the list of border points antedates the period of
the monarchy, whereas the list of cities is of later date. A westward expansion of the Benjaminites possibly as early as the
end of the period of Judges, but perhaps taking place during
the monarchy can be inferred from the list of Benjaminite
towns in Nehemiah 11:3135. Non-Israelite enclaves existed
within the territory of Benjamin; the Jebusites dwelt in Jerusalem (Josh. 18:28), and there were four cities of the Hivites
in the western portion. Echoes of the conflicts between the
Benjaminites and the indigenous population are discernible
in II Samuel 21:12 and possibly in I Chronicles 8:68.
The History of the Tribe
Despite the fact that the territory of Benjamin was smaller
than that of most of the other tribes and although Benjamin
was regarded as the youngest tribe (see the *Tribes of Israel),
it played an important part in the history of the unification
of the tribes of Israel during the period of the Judges and the
beginning of the monarchy. One of the first judges who arose
to save Israel was *Ehud son of Gera, of the tribe of BenjaENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
min (Judg. 3:15), and the first king to rule Israel was *Saul the
Benjaminite (I Sam. 9:1). Benjamins importance was due to
the strategic position of its territory, through which the divide (watershed) of the central hill country passed. The territorys main north-south road ran along the divide; a main
highway connecting Transjordan with the west also passed
through Benjamins territory. It was this road that the Israelites used after they crossed the Jordan. When *Eglon king
of Moab extended the boundaries of his rule westward, the
oppressive effects were felt mainly by the tribe of Benjamin,
since the corridor connecting regions on the banks of the
Jordan was situated in its territory. Therefore it was not just
by chance that the judge who saved Israel from Moab came
from the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 3:12ff). The close ties between the Benjaminites and the people of Jabesh-Gilead (Judg.
2021; I Sam. 11; 31:1113; Obad. 19) are also explained in part
by the Benjaminites easy access to Transjordan. In the days
of *Deborah the Benjaminites joined in the war against Jabin
and Sisera (Judg. 5:14). After forcing the tribe of Dan to move
northward, Philistine pressure focused upon the territory
of the Benjaminites because of the strategic importance of
the area. The *Philistines dominated the entire central part
of the country and placed a garrison in Gibeath-Benjamin
(I Sam. 10:5; 13:3). Opposition to Philistine rule was thus centered in Benjamin, and so it is hardly surprising that the first
king, Saul, whose primary task it was to save Israel from the
Philistines (cf. I Sam. 9:16), was a Benjaminite. This is also in
keeping with Benjamins reputation for military prowess, as
expressed in Jacobs blessing: Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he consumes the foe, and in the evening he
divides the spoil (Gen. 49:27).
A count of Benjaminites made before the intertribal war
that followed the affair of the concubine in Gibeah (Judg.
1921) revealed twenty six thousand men that drew the
sword Among all these were seven hundred picked men
who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a
hair and not miss (Judg. 20:1516; cf. I Chron. 8:40; 12:12).
According to the account, Benjamin was defeated and its civilian population massacred. The survival of the tribe was
only insured by seizure as wives for the 600 remaining warriors of the unmarried women of Jabesh-Gilead and Shiloh
(Judg. 21). The kingdom of Judah established by David did
not include Benjamin (see *Ish-Bosheth), and when Israel
also chose David as its king, Benjamin continued to belong
to the House of Joseph (II Sam. 19:1721). The tribe retained
some rancor against David as the supplanter of the House of
Saul, as is shown by the episode of *Shimei son of Gera and
the revolt of *Sheba son of Bichri (II Sam. 16:513; 20:12).
Under Solomon, too, the territory of Benjamin constituted
one of the administrative divisions of Israel (I Kings 4:18).
After Solomons death and the revolt of Israel, the Davidides
tried to regain as much of Israel as they could, and according to II Chronicles 13 for a time pushed the northern limit of
their dominion well beyond Benjamin. Ultimately, however,
they had to be content with the Benjaminite watershed as a
355
benjamin ii
In the Aggadah
Benjamin, according to one opinion, was the image of his
mother, Rachel (Tanh . B. 1:197), and according to another
resembled his father (Tanh ., Mi-Kez 10). He alone of all the
brothers took no part in the sale of Joseph; as a result he was
privileged to have the Temple built on the territory of his tribe
(Gen. R. 99:1). Another reason is that he was not yet born
when his father and brothers prostrated themselves before
Esau (Targ. Sheni to Esther 3:3). Although he knew of Joseph
as having been sold into slavery, he never revealed it to his
father (Mid. Ps. 15:6). The four additional portions given by
Joseph to Benjamin (Gen. 43:34) consisted of one each from
Joseph, Asenath, and their sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen.
R. 92:5). After Josephs silver cup was found in Benjamins sack,
his brothers struck Benjamin on the shoulder saying, O thief
and son of a thief, thou hast brought the same shame upon us
that thy mother brought upon our father when she stole the
teraphim that were her fathers (Tanh . B. 1:198). Jacobs deathbed blessing to Benjamin contained the prophecy that his tribe
would provide Israel with its first and its last ruler, both Saul
and Esther being of the tribe of Benjamin (Gen. R. 99:3). He
was untainted by sin (Shab. 55b), and when he died his corpse
was not exposed to the ravages of worms (BB 17a).
In Islam
Though Muhammad does not mention the name Benjamin
in the Sura of Ysuf (Sura 12, verse 69ff.), there is no doubt
concerning the identity of the brother whom Joseph wishes
to bring to him in Egypt. The Koran continues with the biblical account (cf. Gen. 4243), according to the version derived from the aggadah. Not only Reuben but all the brothers
guarantee Jacob that they will bring Benjamin back (sura 12,
66; cf. Tanh . Mi-Kez , 8). There are many accounts in Muslim
legends of the threats made by Benjamins brothers when Joseph wanted to imprison him (cf. Gen. 44:17).
[Ham Zew Hirschberg]
Bibliography: W.F. Albright, in: AASOR, 4 (192223), 1505;
J. Muilenburg, in: JBL, 75 (1956), 194201; Z. Kallai, in: VT, 8 (1958),
13460; E.A. Speiser, Genesis (1964), 2734; K.D. Schunck, Benjamin (Ger., 1963); idem, in: ZDPV, 78 (1962), 14358; H.L. Ginsberg,
in: Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Papers, 1 (1967), 9193.
IN THE AGGADAH: Ginzberg, Legends, index. IN ISLAM: T abar,
Tafsir, XIII, 620; al-Kis, Qis as (1922), 16976; Vajda, in: EIS2, S.V.
Binyamin. Add. Bibliography: A. Ben-Tor (ed.), The Archaeology of Ancient Israel (1992), 286, 289, 372; S. Ahituv, Joshua (Heb.,
1995), 29497.
356
by his failure and by the romantic trends of the time, he decided to emulate the medieval traveler Benjamin of Tudela.
He styled himself Benjamin II and, in 1845, took to the road
in search of the remnants of the Ten Lost Tribes. He traveled
first to Egypt, from there through Erez Israel and Syria, and
then to Armenia, Iraq, Kurdistan, Persia, India, and China.
He came back by way of Afghanistan to Vienna (1851) and
from there went on to Italy and to Tripoli, Tunisia, Algeria,
and Morocco. Wherever his travels took him, he made a point
of assembling information concerning the Jewish settlement
in that place the number of Jews of that community, how
they earned their livelihood, their customs, and folklore. Although unscientific, his approach was simple and direct, and
earned the praise of scholars like A. von Humboldt and A.
Petermann. He described his experiences in a Hebrew travelogue, first published in French under the title Cinq annes
de voyage en Orient 18461851 (1856; Eng. 1859). The Hebrew
edition of the book, Sefer Masei Yisrael, as revised by David
*Gordon, was published in Lyck in 1859. He published at his
own expense in 1863 Nathan Hannovers Yeven Mez ulah on
the 17t-century Chmielnicki massacres in Poland. Over and
above his literary endeavors, Benjamin undertook to ease the
plight of the Jews of Morocco. He also appealed to Turkey,
France, and England in an attempt to ameliorate the condition of the Jews of Kurdistan and Persia. In 1859 Benjamin II
began a three-year journey through the United States, describing his travels in Drei Jahre in Amerika (1862; republished in
English in 1956 by the JPSA). He died in London in poverty
while preparing another trip to the Orient.
Bibliography: JC (May 13, 1864), 5; I.J. Benjamin, Three Years
in America (1956), introduction by O. Handlin. Add. Bibliography: PK Romanyah, I, 190.
BENJAMIN, BARUCH BEN ISRAEL (17t century), Jerusalem rabbi. After studying under his father, Baruch proceeded to the yeshivah of Isaac Gaon, where Kabbalah was
included in the curriculum. He was a signatory to the regulation of 1646, which exempted rabbinic scholars from taxation (A. Ankawa, in Kerem H emed, 2 (1871), 22b). In 1657 he,
together with other Jerusalem kabbalists, endorsed the certificate which declared that Baruch Gad, the Jerusalem messenger to the East, had visited the Ten Lost Tribes. Some of his
responsa were published in Mishpetei Z edek (1945, nos. 66, 95,
98, 100, 131, 133) of his friend, Samuel *Garmison. While serving as dayyan in Jerusalem he wrote a work on divorces (Jerusalem Ms. Heb. 8199). Toward the end of his life he traveled
to Egypt, possibly as an emissary, and he died there.
Bibliography: J. Sambari, Likkutim mi-Sefer Divrei Yosef,
ed. by A. Berliner (1896), 66; Frumkin-Rivlin, 2 (1928), 29; A. Yaari,
in: Sinai, 6 (1940), 1705.
BENJAMIN, BARUCH BENZION (1904?), Indian government official. Born in Bombay, of the *Bene-Israel community,
Benjamin joined the Indian government service following independence in 1947 and was made deputy chief controller of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
357
benjmin, lszl
358
benjamin, walter
ever, interpreted in a highly personal way. Benjamin considered himself as a philosophical commentator of important
literary events, stressing especially historical, philosophical,
linguistic, and social motives. Intellectually, he was extremely
independent, a fact felt in everything he wrote, even in the
short book reviews. His concentrated prose makes him difficult to read. He had a strong poetic streak, expressed clearly
in his Berliner Kindheit um Neunzehnhundert (first published
in Frankfurt, 1950). Benjamin was also important as a translator, especially of French literature, which attracted him
deeply. He translated from Baudelaire (Tableaux Parisiens,
1923), several volumes of Proust (192730), and several novels by M. Jouhandeau.
[Gershom Scholem]
359
benjamin, yehoshua
BENJAMIN BEN AARON OF ZALOZCE (late 18t century), East European homilist. In his sermons he commented
pointedly on the social and religious life of his time. His didactic works include instructions on personal behavior and
on the conduct of Jewish community leaders. He was involved
also in the controversy concerning the spiritual value of immigration to Erez Israel, which was a main issue among Jewish thinkers in the 1760s and 1770s. His writings include some
important quotations from *Israel b. Eliezer Baal Shem, the
founder of H asidism, and other early h asidic teachers. His
three main works are Amtah at Binyamin, a homiletic exegesis on Ecclesiastes (Minkowitz, 1796); Ahavat Dodim, on Song
of Songs (Lvov, 1795); and Turei Zahav, a major collection of
360
BENJAMIN BEN H IYYA (Jehiel; 11t12t century), liturgical poet. Benjamin lived in Germany during the First Crusade and was among the refugees from Neuss, Bacharach, and
Speyer. The horrors of the Crusade constitute the theme of his
poetry. According to a 13t-century commentary, his three-line
selih ah beginning Berit Kerutah refers to the claim made by
two monks to have brought back from the Holy Sepulcher a
document in which the extermination of the Jews is urged. It
is probable that other piyyutim which bear the name Benjamin are attributable to him.
Bibliography: Zunz, Lit Poesie, 158; Zunz, Poesie, 139, 166,
197; Landshuth, Ammudei, 52; Davidson, Oz ar 2 (1929), 77, no. 1717.
361
no. 720; Tos. to H ag. 12a; Shelomo b. Yiz h ak (Rashi), Pardes, ed. by
Ehrenreich (1923), 229; S. Bernstein, Piyyutim u-Faytanim H adashim
me-ha-Tekufah ha-Bizantinit (1947), 4457; H. Merh aviah, in: Sefer
H ayyim Schirmann (1970), 195212.
BENJAMIN BEN ZERAH (c. 1050), liturgical poet. Benjamin probably lived in France or in Germany. He composed
liturgical poetry of various sorts in the style of the earliest
paytanim, but his works already contain the names of angels
and other holy appellations. Because of the esteem accorded
to him, he was designated Ha-Gadol (the Great). He was also
called Baal ha-Shem (Master of the Divine Name), possibly
on account of the numerous names of God and the angels in
his poems. About 60 of his piyyutim are known, many being
included in the Ashkenazi and Italian liturgies.
Bibliography: Landshuth, Ammudei, 52; Davidson, Oz ar,
4 (1933), 371; Zunz, Lit Poesie, 1203, 23943, 615.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
362
benjamin of tudela
Paris
Cologne
Bonn Coblenz
Mainz
Worms
Prague
Regensburg
Samarkand
Montpellier
Beziers
Lunel Genoa
Narbonne
Lucca
Arles
Pisa
Tudela Gerona
Marseilles
Saragossa
Melfi
Barcelona
Rome
Tortosa Tarragona
Trani Salonika Drama Constantinople
Benevento
Capua
Gallipoli
Brindisi
Naples
CorfuAbydosMytilene
Nesihis
Chalcis
Amalfi
Harran
Chios
Mosul
Patras
Salerno
Antioch Balis Rakka
Apulia
Corinth
Samos
Curicus Aleppo
Karkisiya
Taranto
Okbara
Thebes
Jebeil Hammath
Otranto
Rhodes
Emesa el-Anbar Baghdad
Cyprus
Hillah
Sura
Saida
Beirut
Damascus el-Kufa
(Sidon)
Basra
Sarfend Baniyas
Alexandria
Damietta
(Tyre) Sur
Cairo Helwan
Fayyum
Almah
Meron
Acco (Acre)
Taima
Sepphoris
Haifa
Tiberias
Khabar
Mt. Gilboa
Caesarea
Nablus
Sebastye
(Neapolis)
Jaffa St. George (Lydda)
Ramleh Beit Nuba
Yavneh
Beth-Leon
(Nabi-Samwil)
Ashkelon
(Bethlehem)
Beit Jibrin
Isfahan
Susa
Shiraz
Actual route
Assumed route
Shiraz Places mentioned
but not visited
363
David *Alroy which was, until recently, almost the sole historical source about his career. It is not probable that he ventured
beyond this area, but he speaks with some fantastic detail of
China, India, and Ceylon. His personal impressions are obviously resumed in his admirable and detailed account of Egypt
in general and its Jewish life in particular, especially in Cairo
and Alexandria, which he visited on his return voyage. After
this he reembarked for Sicily, his account of Palermo being
both accurate and picturesque. From here he probably made
his way back to Spain by sea, though the itinerary as we have
it ends with an idealized picture of Jewish life in northern
France and Germany, presumably based on hearsay. He reentered Spain, as is specifically stated, through Castile, having
left it by way of Aragon.
There is no general account of the Mediterranean world
or of the Middle East in this period which approaches that
of Benjamin of Tudela in importance, whether for Jewish or
for general history. Most of his record is concise and clear,
presumably only a precis of the ampler material he brought
back with him. He indicates the distances between the various towns he visited, tells who stood at the head of the Jewish
communities, and who were the most notable scholars. He
gives the number of Jews he found in each place, though it is
not clear in many instances whether he is speaking of individuals or of householders, and in some cases such as Baghdad, the figures seem to be exaggerated. This may be due to
the corrupt state of the text as we now have it. He notes economic conditions, describing the activity of merchants from
various lands in Barcelona, Montpellier, and Alexandria, and
speaking frequently of the occupations of the Jews the dyers in Brindisi, the silkweavers in Thebes, the tanners in Constantinople, and the glassworkers in Aleppo and Tyre. He
was deeply interested in Jewish scholarship, and his account
of intellectual life in Provence and Baghdad is of singular
importance, as is his characterization of the organization of
synagogal life in Egypt. Sects, too, engage his attention, not
only the Samaritans in Palestine, but also the Karaites in Constantinople and a heretical sect in Cyprus which he relates
observed the Sabbath from dawn to dawn. His characterizations of non-Jewish life are vivid, and sometimes very important. He speaks of the internecine fighting at Genoa and
Pisa, the constant wars between these two republics, the embarkation ports of the Crusaders in south Italy, the palaces
and pageants of Constantinople and the wealth and the weaknesses of the Byzantine Empire. His somewhat highly colored
account of the Assassins of Lebanon and of the Ghuzz Turks
are primary historical sources, and he is said to be the first
European of modern times to mention China by the present
name. The importance of the work can be gauged from the
fact that it has been translated into almost every language of
Europe, and is used as a primary source-book by all medieval historians
Bibliography: The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela was first
published at Constantinople in 1543 and, according to a much-differing manuscript, at Ferrara in 1556. The standard editions are those
364
edited by A. Asher, with very valuable notes and excursus and much
additional material (London, 184041; reprinted New York, 1927, includes list of editions); and by M.N. Adler (London, 1907, with critical
Heb. text and Eng. tr.; reprinted from JQR, vols. 1618, 190406; reprinted 1964); there is also an edition by L. Gruenhut and M.N. Adler
(Jerusalem-Frankfort, 190304) and another edition by H. Haddad
(Baghdad, 1945). See also E. Carmoly, Notice historique sur Benjamin
de Tudle (1852), followed by J. Lilewel, Examen gographique de ses
voyages; R. Luria, in: Vessillo Israelitico, 36 (1888), 5658; Borchardt, in:
JJLG, 16 (1924), 13962; idem, in: Journal of Roman Studies, 26 (1936),
6870; C.R. Beazley, Dawn of Modern Geography 2 (1897), 21864; Andrads, in: Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 30 (192930), 45762; Reissner,
in: Zeitschrift fuer Religions-und Geistesgeschichte, 6 (1954), 1515; E.
Garca de Herreros, Quatre voyageurs espagnols Alexandrie dEgypte
(1923). Most works dealing with the history of the Jews in Italy, Palestine, Byzantium, Mesopotamia, and the Middle East in the 12t and
13t centuries use and comment upon Benjamins material.
[Cecil Roth]
ben laanah
BEN KALBA SAVUA (1st century C.E.), according to tradition he was a wealthy man of Jerusalem, who was renowned
for his generosity. The Bavli relates that during the Roman
siege of Jerusalem, he and his two wealthy friends, Nakdimon b. Guryon and Ben Z iz it ha-Kassat, provided food and
other necessities for the inhabitants over a number of years,
until the zealots set fire to their stores, in an attempt to force
the people to make a desperate effort to break the siege (Git.
56a). Josephus mentions the burning of provisions that would
have sufficed for a long siege, although he does not mention Ben Kalba Savua or his associates (Wars, 5:25). The Bavli
also relates that Rachel, Ben Kalba Savuas daughter, married
R. *Akiva, who in his youth had been Ben Kalba Savuas shepherd. This was against the wishes of her father, who disinherited them. When Akiva had become famous as a great scholar,
his father-in-law was reconciled to him and bequeathed him
half of his wealth (Ket. 62b63a; Ned. 50a). Regarding the historicity of these traditions, see S. Friedman, A Good Story
Deserves Retelling: The Unfolding of the Akiva Legend.
Bibliography: Hyman, Toledot, 274; Z. Vilnay, Maz z evot
Kodesh be-Erez Yisrael (1963), 2815: Add. Bibliography: S. Friedman, in: JSIJ, 3 (2004), 139.
[Zvi Kaplan]
Hyre from 1973 to 1980 and the chairman from 1980 to 1984.
He was then elected president of the Storting, a post he held
until 1993. His Jewish connection has been expressed through
his interest for Israel (e.g., as a speaker) and his involvement
in the cause of Soviet Jewry. After leaving his post at the Storting he worked extensively to promote human rights and combat antisemitism and racism. From 1983 to 1984 he served as
president of the Nordic Council. He was also the president of
the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights from
1993 to 1998. He spent two years (19941995) as visiting professor at Boston University and in 200004 he was a judge on the
Oslo Conciliation Board. In honor of his contribution to society Benkow received titles and medals from the Norwegian
King, the Finnish president, and the Austrian president.
In 1985 Benkow published his autobiography Fra synagogen til Lvebakken (From the Synagogue to Lion Hill, a
popular name for the Storting), which was a great success,
over 240.000 copies being sold. In it, he describes his childhood and youth, his Jewish family and Jewish connections,
his opinions concerning religious faith and absence of faith
and tells about his political life. He also writes about general
prejudices and touches on Jewish history (the history of his
own family), Jewish customs, discrimination against Jews in
the Soviet Union, and tells about his relations with Israel (a
turning point in Jewish self-understanding, as he says). He
also published Folkevalgt (Popularly Elected, 1988), an account of his life in parliament; Vendepunkt 9. april i vr bevissthet (Turning Point April 9t in Our Consciousness),
written together with Prof. Ole Christian Grimnes, about the
German occupation of Norway in 194045 and its aftermath;
Olav Menneske og monark (Olaf Human Being and Sovereign, 1991), a biography of the late king Olaf V; Det ellevte
bud (The Eleventh Commandment, 1994), a polemic directed against racisim; and Hundre r med konge og folk (A
Hundred Years with King and People, 1998), an historical account of the 20t century in Norway. Through his objectivity,
command of language, and calm and dignified manner, Benkow won widespread respect and recognition.
[Oskar Mendelsohn / Lynn Feinberg (2nd ed.)]
BEN LAANAH (Heb. ) , name of the author of an unknown apocryphal work. The Jerusalem Talmud (Sanh. 10:1,
28a), includes the book of Ben Laanah among the works forbidden to be read (cf. Eccles. R. 12:12 where the reading is Ben
Tiglah). However, except for a reference by David Messer Leon
in the 16t century to an apocryphal work called Ben Yaanah
() , which may be identical with Ben Laanah, nothing
is known about the book or the author. Various scholars have
tried to identify him either with the pagan philosopher Apollonius of Tyana (M. Joel), or with the author of a collection of
fox fables Mishlei Shualim (J. Fuerst), but none of these theories is regarded as satisfactory.
Bibliography: Perles, in: REJ, 3 (1881), 1168; Kaufmann,
ibid., 4 (1882), 161; Klein, in: Leshonenu, 1 (1928/29), 340, 344.
365
366
ben-ner, yitzhak
BENNAPHTALI, MOSES (Or Jacob) BEN DAVID, masorete. He is assumed to have been a contemporary of Aaron b.
Moses *Ben-Asher, who dates from the ninth or tenth century
C.E., and an inhabitant of Tiberias. Although nothing about
him is known, except his name, there survives a list of some
850 minor differences from the reading of Ben Asher in vowels and accents in the Hebrew Bible. The list notes only eight
variants in the consonantal text. The differences in vocalization and accents, especially as recorded by Mishael b. Uzziel
(10t11t centuries) with considerable deviations in detail in
the different traditions (published by L. Lipschuetz), reveal no
systematic features, and may be nothing but a gathering of traditional variants. Penkower (in bibliography) argues that the
high level of agreement proves that Ben-Naphtali and BenAsher do not represent two rival schools regarding the biblical text, but rather the contrary. Some scholars have observed
that the very name Ben-Naphtali is suspect: Naphtali in the
Bible is the son of Jacob born after Asher, and the series BenAsher, Ben-Naphtali resembles the standard series of random names, Reuben, Simeon. In Western and Central Asia
in that period it was a common feature to systematize differences by assigning them to two schools, only one of which
existed. The closest parallel, as shown by Gotthold *Weil, is
the invention of a Kufan School of Arabic grammar as a foil
for the Basrian School.
There are, indeed, a number of Bible manuscripts with a
type of Tiberian vocalization rather different from that of the
Ben-Asher school (which itself is not entirely monolithic), but
the slight similarity these manuscripts share with some variant readings ascribed to Ben-Naphtali in Mishaels list is not
sufficient to substantiate the claim that they are representative
of the Ben-Asher School.
See also: *Masorah.
Bibliography: C.D. Ginsburg, The Massorah (18801905);
idem, Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew
BENNATAN, ASHER (1921 ), Israeli diplomat. Ben-Natan was born in Vienna and immigrated to Erez Israel as an
illegal immigrant in 1938. He was one of the founders of
the group which established kibbutz *Dobrath (Dovrat). In
1944 Ben-Natan joined the Aliyah Department of the Jewish
Agency and was delegated to the British Department, which,
in liaison with the Allied Forces, specialized in the interrogation of Nazi war criminals and in compiling lists of them
and their crimes. In October of that year he was transferred
to Vienna, where he was in charge of the *Berih ah movement
in Austria, holding the position until 1947. During this period
he established a special group to search for war criminals. In
1947 Ben-Natan was a special assistant to David Ben-Gurion
and in 1948 was appointed chief of special operations in the
Political Department of the Israel Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
From 1951 to 1953 he studied at the Institute of Higher International Studies in Geneva, and in 1956 was appointed special
delegate of the Ministry of Defense for Europe, taking up the
post in Paris in 1957. From 1960 to 1965 he served as director
general of the Ministry of Defense and from 1965 to 1969 was
first Israel ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 1970 he was appointed Israel ambassador to France. BenNatan was a candidate for mayor of Tel Aviv in Nov. 1978 but
was not elected.
BENNER, YITZHAK (1937 ), Israeli writer. Born in Kefar Yehoshua, Ben-Ner studied literature and drama at Tel
Aviv University before spending a couple of years in New
York. His first novel, Ha-Ish mi-Sham (1967; The Man from
There, 1970), tells of a young Israeli soldier who is trapped
in a small Egyptian border town. An Egyptian doctor protects and hides him in his fiances house. An ambiguous relationship develops, full of tension and surprises. The novel,
which gained Ben-Ner much acclaim, was followed by prose
works novels and collections of stories as well as by books
for children (e.g. Kishona, 1977; Jeans,1991), film and television
scripts, and plays (e.g., the monodrama David August, 1983,
Taatuon, performed at the Cameri Theatre in 1990, and Uri
Muri, performed there in 1999). The collection Shekiah Kafrit
(1976; Rustic Sunset, 1997) comprises eight short stories, tales
of childhood and maturity, depicting urban life in Israel and
looking critically at the seemingly heroic officers of the Israeli
army. Malakhim Baim (The Angels Are Coming, 1987) is a
sophisticated parody on contemporary Israeli society through
the story of David Halperin, a hedonistic Tel Aviv bachelor.
367
bennett, archie
368
benny, jack
369
Benot, Pierre-Marie
370
played the part in his place. In 1989 Jack Benny was inducted
into the Radio Hall of Fame. With his daughter, Joan, he cowrote his memoirs, entitled Sunday Nights at Seven, which
was published posthumously in 1990.
Bibliography: I. Fein, Jack Benny: An Intimate Biography
(1976); M. Josefsberg, The Jack Benny Show (1977).
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
ben-porat, miriam
BEN PETURA (also Ben Peturi, Ben Peturin; early second century), tanna. He is best known for his dispute with R.
Akiva: Two men are traveling in the desert; one has a pitcher
containing enough water to enable one of them to reach a
place of habitation. If they share the water both will die; if
one drinks, his life will be saved. Ben Petura taught: It is better that both drink and die than one witness the death of his
companion. But R. Akiva expounded: It is written: that thy
brother may live with thee (Lev. 25:36) this means that thy life
takes precedence over that of thy brother (BM 62a; Sifra 9:5,
with slight variations).
Bibliography: Bacher, Tann; Ah ad Ha-Am, Al Parashat Derakhim, pt. 4 (19473); Kaminka, in: Keneset le-Zekher Bialik, 4 (1939),
3523, no. 41; S. Pines, in: Tarbiz 16 (1944/45), 23840.
[Zvi Kaplan]
371
ben-porat, mordekhai
BENPORAT (Kazaz), MORDEKHAI (1923 ) Israeli politician, member of the Sixth to Eighth and Tenth Knessets.
Ben-Porat was born in Baghdad. In 1942 he joined the H alutz
movement in Iraq and immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1945. In
1947 he joined the *Haganah. He fought in the War of Independence, and finished the first officers course in the IDF in
1948. In 1949 he returned to Iraq to prepare over 120,000 Iraqi
Jews for immigration to Israel. He remained in Iraq for two
years and was detained by the Iraqi authorities four times, each
time managing to escape the last time after being tortured.
In 1955 he was elected as head of the Or-Yehuda local
council, a position he held until 1969. He was the founder
and first chairman of the Center for the Heritage of Babylonian Jewry in Or-Yehuda. He was one of the founders of
*Rafi and was elected on its list to the Sixth Knesset in 1965.
Following the foundation of the Israel Labor Party in 1968,
he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment list, and in
197072 was deputy secretary general of the Labor Party. He
was elected on the Alignment list to the Seventh and Eighth
Knesset, but left the parliamentary group in March 1977 and
continued to serve as an independent MK. In 1975 he was one
of the founders of the World Organization of Jews from Arab
Countries, becoming one of its chairmen. In 1977 he was member of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations. In 1979, after the rise to power in Iran of the Ayatollah Khomeini, BenPorat was sent to Teheran to help Jews leave the country. In
1981 he was elected to the Tenth Knesset on behalf of Telem, a
party formed by Moshe *Dayan a short time before his death,
and a year later was appointed minister without portfolio in
Menah em *Begins second government. In June 1983 Telem
broke up, and Ben-Porat established a parliamentary group
by the name of the Movement for Social Zionist Renewal. In
January 1984 he resigned from Yitzh ak *Shamirs government,
demanding that a National Unity Government be formed. He
joined the Likud in 1988.
He wrote Le-Bagdad ve-H azarah (1996; To Baghdad and
Back: The Miraculous 2000Year Homecoming of the Iraqi
Jews, 1998).
[Susan Hattis Rolef (2nd ed.)]
BENREMOKH (Rimokh, Remoch, Rimoc, Ramukh), family in Spain and Morocco. SOLOMON BENREMOKH (1285) was
a communal leader in Lerida, Spain. The exegete ABRAHAM
BEN h AYYIM was born in Barcelona. He wrote a commentary
on Psalms, to which he appended an autobiography containing information on the situation of the Jews in southern Europe. In 1391 his home was pillaged, his possessions stolen, and
he himself imprisoned. He participated in the disputation of
372
*Tortosa in 141314. In the 15t century the Benremokh family fled to Morocco, where it attained a position of leadership
in the community before 1492. h AYYIM BEN SHEM TOV (d.
after 1526) was one of the spiritual leaders of the indigenous
communities of the kingdom of Fez, and SHEM TOV BEN
ABRAHAM was their nagid. A dictatorial person, his dispute
with the Spanish exiles of 1492 on questions concerning ritual
slaughter created a friction of long duration between them and
the native Jewish community. Dismissed from office in 1527,
he was replaced by his relative SAUL BEN SHEM TOV who remained nagid until after 1563. YAMIN, confidential adviser to
King Mlay Zaydn, was sent on a mission to London in 1615
and in 1624 to Holland, where he remained until 1628. SHEM
TOV (II) was nagid of Fez until his death in 1648. In 1650 his
brother bought the position from the king against the will of
the community, to which he caused great suffering. Thereafter,
the family gave up political activity but remained among the
most respected members of the Fez community. Part of the
family settled in Gibraltar in 1785 and in London.
Bibliography: Baer, Urkunden, 2 (1927), index, S.V. Rimoch;
Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 131, 218ff., 472, 484, 500; SIHM, Angleterre, 2
(1925), 490; Pays-Bas, 3 (1912), 498; 4 (1913), 72, 111, 1436, 2023;
J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav (1911), 6580, 101; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 2356.
[David Corcos]
BENRUBI, ISAAC (18761943), philosopher. Born in Salonika, he was a member of a well-known Turkish family which
produced rabbis and rabbinic emissaries. After serving as a
teacher in a public school in Philippopolis (Plovdiv) in Bulgaria, he left for Jena, Germany, where he studied philosophy
with Rudolf Eucken. In 1900, while attending the Sorbonne,
he became interested in contemporary French philosophy. His
participation in the Second International Congress of Philosophy in Geneva (1904) brought him into personal contact with
the leaders of the philosophic schools in France. Benrubi decided to devote himself to the study of modern French philosophy and to disseminate its ideas abroad, especially in Germany, where almost nothing was known of French philosophy
after Comte. In addition, he was eager to spread knowledge
of the German philosophy of idealism in France. From 1907
to 1914 he attended the lectures of Bergson in Paris, where he
was asked to prepare a German translation of Bergsons book
Matire et Mmoire (1896). Benrubi undertook this task with
the assistance of Bergson. He engaged in frequent conversations with Bergson on philosophical, religious, social, and
political questions, keeping current notes of these conversations, which took the form of his book Souvenirs sur Henri
Bergson (1942), an important source for an understanding
of Bergsons personality. During World War I, he lectured at
the University of Geneva on contemporary French and German philosophy. After the war, he finally completed the first
part of his original project: an exposition of modern French
philosophy, which was first published in an abridged version
both in English, The Contemporary Thought of France (1926),
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Ben-Shabetai, Ari
BENSASSON, HAIM HILLEL (19141977), Israeli historian. Ben-Sasson was born in Volozhin, Lithuania, and immigrated to Palestine in 1934. He taught at the Hebrew UniverENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
373
ben-shakhar, gershon
374
ings by his father David; Tuv-Miz rayim (1908) gives genealogies of Egyptian rabbis.
Bibliography: Frumkin-Rivlin, 3 (1929), 3078.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
375
376
ner of certain psalms (13; 15; 16; 18; 34:1935; 40:41; et al.), and
concludes with an epilogue comprising two poems of praise
and thanksgiving, and an alphabetic poem on the importance
of acquiring wisdom.
The Wisdom of Ben Sira directs man to the love of wisdom and ethical conduct, teaches him virtue and good deeds,
and proper behavior in eating and drinking, speech and silence, work and commerce, studying and teaching, poverty
and wealth, health and sickness. It also seeks to instruct man
to perform all his actions with intelligence and understanding, moderation, care and wisdom, so that his deeds may
bring to him and others the appropriate benefit. It teaches man
how to behave within his family circle: toward his father and
mother, his wife, his sons, and his daughters. It guides him
in his conduct toward all men. It stresses, as does the book
of Proverbs, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning and
the end of all wisdom. The work, though written in the spirit
of the Bible and in the language of the later biblical books,
bears a contemporary impress of the second century B.C.E.,
and its faith, in general, is that of subsequent Pharisaic Judaism (everything is foreseen but man has freedom of choice:
15:1517; cf. Avot 3:15). It also reveals some influence of Greek
literature and idiom: men grow and fall like leaves on a tree
(14:19; cf. Iliad 6:1469); he becomes wise who is unfettered
by affairs, corresponding to the , the Greek man
of leisure. The work also contains a trace of the Greek gnosis and perhaps also of its philosophical thought (cf. 42:2933
(2023)). Unlike other books of proverbs, in which the authors address themselves to youth, the Wisdom of Ben Sira
attaches prime importance to the well-ordered family, the effective basis of which is the father. It is primarily to him that
the author addresses himself, advising and instructing him.
A man should marry a suitable wife, beautiful and kindlyspoken, who, assisting him, will bring him supreme happiness. He should rear his sons in the Torah, marry off his
daughters while they are young, and deal faithfully with his
fellow man.
From a literary viewpoint, the work is well constructed.
Most of the maxims are arranged according to subject matter, and the various sections have headings such as The fear
of the Lord, Honoring parents, Humility, Lovingkindness, and the like. For the rabbis of the early talmudic period
the work had an importance almost equal to that of the book
of Proverbs. Its aphorisms, quoted either in Ben Siras name
or anonymously, are scattered throughout talmudic literature and are cited by both tannaim and amoraim, such as R.
Levitas of Jabneh (Avot 4:4, cf. Ecclus. 7:13), Akiva, and Rav.
Several of Ben Siras maxims are to be found in other books
of the Apocrypha, the New Testament, the Syriac version of
the book of *Ah ikar as well as in the writings of early medieval Jewish scholars. Ben Siras influence on ancient Hebrew
prayers and piyyutim is particularly great. Although the Wisdom of Ben Sira is quoted in talmudic literature with the introductory phrase as it is written, ordinarily reserved for biblical quotations, and is once explicitly mentioned among the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
books of the Hagiographa (BK 92b; cf. Ecclus. 27:9), it was not
included in the canon. Some amoraim even forbade it to be
read (Sanh. 100b; TJ, Sanh. 10:1, 28a). In the book of Proverbs
the ethics are personal and worldly, and its general character
is bound up with its secular origin, even though the religious
content of the book is of prime importance. In the Wisdom
of Ben Sira there is a notable difference. Wisdom, which is
spoken of in the book of Proverbs as a primordial fascinating
entity, is in Ben Sira identified with the Torah given to Israel,
emphasizing that it is the true basis of all divine and human
wisdom. In the Wisdom of Ben Sira there occur for the first
time a number of ideas subsequently found in the aggadah,
such as that Israel as well as the Torah was among the first acts
of Gods creation (cf. Ecclus. 36:15 and Gen. R. 1:4) and that
the people of Israel (37:29 (25)), the Temple (17:20 (13)) and
the priesthood of Aaron and of Phinehas (45:26, 45 (15, 24))
will endure forever (cf. Sif. Num. 92; Lev. R. 2:2). Ben Sira is
also the original source for several customs which are later
found in the halakhah (e.g., the blessing on seeing a rainbow
43:13 (11)), and contains the earliest reference to the accepted
basis of the Eighteen Benedictions and the like. The sages delivered homilies based on Ben Siras maxims, but changing
their form and language. They were even rendered at times
in the mishnaic Hebrew or Aramaic spoken by the sages. Excerpts from these maxims, current among the masses, were
collected in small compilations, not always in the original
order, and they included not only biblical verses but some
aphorisms which were not Ben Siras. As a result these verses
and aphorisms were erroneously ascribed to Ben Sira by the
rabbis.
The original Hebrew text was no longer extant after the
time of Saadiah Gaon (10t century). In the 19t century the
work was translated from the Greek into Hebrew by Judah
Leib *Ben-Zeev S.I. Fraenkel, and others. In 1896, however,
S. Schechter discovered among the *Genizah fragments in
Cairo a page of the original Hebrew work. During the next
four years, Schechter and other scholars found many other
fragments from various manuscripts, comprising about twothirds of the entire book. In 1929 Joseph Marcus found a fragment from a fifth manuscript containing 46 verses; in 1957 J.
Schirmann found a new folio, and in 1959 yet another folio
of manuscript B, as well as two folios of manuscript C. These
fragments consist at times of no more than portions of verses,
and contain many mistakes, omissions, and corruptions, as
well as numerous additions and repetitions. Nonetheless, they
presumably preserve an early or even original version. Some
fragments of the Hebrew original (6:2031) were discovered
in Qumran Cave II. In 1964 Yigael Yadin discovered at Masada fragments containing chapters 39:2744:25, which indicate that manuscript B of the Genizah represents substantially
the original Hebrew version of the book. The Wisdom of Ben
Sira was included in the Septuagint, from where it made its
way into the Christian Bible. It was translated into Syriac in
about 300 C.E. by a Christian (apparently a Jewish apostate).
Although these versions contain very many mistakes, by comENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
377
benson, robby
378
BEN ST ADA, or Ben Stara, a person mentioned in two apparently unrelated passages in the Tosefta, identified in later
tradition with Ben Pandira (Jesus). The first passage is found
in Tosefta Shabbat (11:15), which reports a dispute concerning someone who made markings on his flesh. R. Eliezer held
such a person liable for the desecration of the Sabbath, while
his colleagues considered him exempt from punishment,
since this is not the normal way of writing. In support of his
position, R. Eliezer said: Isnt it true that Ben Stara (other
readings: Sitra, Sotra, Stada) learned in this way? To this the
Sages replied: And because of one idiot, we should hold all of
the normal people liable? The second passage concerns the
halakhah in Mishnah Sanhedrin (7:10) which permits the authorities to entrap someone who seeks to persuade a Jew to
engage in idolatry. The Tosefta (San. 10:11), commenting on
this halakhah, states: And that is precisely what they did to
Ben Stada (other readings: Stara) in Lydda they placed two
scholars in hiding [to testify against him] and stoned him.
(The spelling of his name is uncertain also in the parallel passages in the Talmudim (see below, and cf. Lieberman, Tosefta
ki-Feshuta, 1 (1955), 17980).)
The second baraita, which tells of Ben Stadas execution,
is brought in the Jerusalem Talmud (Yev. 16:6, 15d) virtually
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bensusan
379
ben temalyon
BEN TEMALYON, name of a demon. According to talmudic legend it accompanied R. *Simeon b. Yoh ai on his journey to Rome where he pleaded with the authorities to annul
the decree compelling the Jews to have intercourse with their
menstruating wives, to desecrate the Sabbath, and not to circumcise their children. The demon entered into the Roman
emperors daughter and when Simeon b. Yoh ai exorcised
it, his request was granted (Meil. 17b). A more detailed account of this miracle is contained in *Halakhot Gedolot (ed.
Hildesheimer, 6034), where, however, the demon is called
Shamdon or Ashmedai. The story frequently recurs in
medieval folklore, sometimes with an anti-Jewish bias. Some
scholars have attempted to identify Ben Temalyon (or Bar Temalyon) with the apostle Bartholomew about whom a similar legend is related in connection with his missionary voyage to India.
Ben Temalyon (or Telamyon) is also the name of a person who technically avoided perjury by concealing a hundred
dinars which he owed to a plaintiff, in a hollowed cane which
he asked the latter to hold, and taking an oath that he had returned him the money (cf. Ned. 25a).
Bibliography: I. Lvi, in: REJ, 8 (1884), 2002; 10 (1885),
6673; Halevy, ibid., 6065; R. Margoliouth, Malakhei Elyon (Jerusalem, 1945), p. 222.
380
ity was the Geological Map of the Negev, 1:100,000, which included the mapping of Israels major mineral deposits the
Negev phosphates and the Timna copper. For this achievement Bentor and his colleague A. Vroman were awarded the
Israel Prize for science in 1953. Until 1966 he was at the head
of all national mineral and energy resources enterprises, including the Dead Sea resources, the Negev phosphates, Timna
copper ore, and petroleum exploration. During his work he
also discovered new geological phenomena, such as combustion metamorphism, a contribution in the field of mineralogy
that has been recognized by the international mineralogical
community, with the mineral bentorite being named in his
honor. He introduced many new scientific disciplines, such
as geochemistry, marine geology, and seismology to the entire earth science community in Israel, and especially to his
many students at the Hebrew University, where he was appointed associate professor in 1957 and full professor in 1963.
In 196774 he headed a large-scale geological study of the
Sinai Peninsula. Focusing on the Precambrian Basement of
this area, he made a major contribution to the understanding of the Precambrian Arabian Massif and guided many research projects in the framework of this study. He also had a
long-term interest in the possible geological origin of many
events chronicled in myth and history and wrote on geological events in the Bible. Bentor headed many national and international scientific committees, including the Council for
Oceanographic Research, the World Geological Map Project,
and the Council of the International Committee for the Scientific Research of the Mediterranean.
He retired from the Hebrew University in 1977 and was
associated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
where he remained active in his studies on the Precambrian
realm and on the combustion metamorphism of the Hatrurim Formation in Israel (Mottled Zone) as well as of similar
phenomena in California. He was a recipient of the Freund
Prize of the Israel Geological Society (1986).
[Yossi Bartov (2nd ed.)]
bentzen, aage
BENTWICH, English Zionist family who settled in Palestine during the 1920s.
HERBERT BENTWICH (18561932), British Zionist leader
and lawyer. An authority on copyright law, for many years he
edited the Law Journal. Bentwich was born in London. He became a leading member of the English H ovevei Zion and one
of the first followers of Theodor *Herzl in England. In 1897
Bentwich organized the first pilgrimage to Erez Israel of the
Order of the Ancient Maccabeans, on whose behalf, in 1923, he
acquired land for settlement at Gezer, near Ramleh. Bentwich
was a founder of the English Zionist Federation in 1899 and for
some time served as its vice chairman. He was a legal adviser
for the *Jewish Colonial Trust. From 1916 to 1918 he served on
the Zionist political advisory committee under Chaim *Weizmann. Bentwich settled in Palestine in 1929, spending most of
his time at the family home in Zikhron Yaakov.
His son, NORMAN DE MATTOS BENTWICH (18831971),
English Zionist, lawyer, and scholar, was born in London,
where he practiced law from 1908 to 1912. In 1913 he was appointed commissioner of courts in Egypt and lecturer at the
Cairo Law School. During World War I he served in the British Army on the Palestine front and was demobilized with
the rank of major. From 1920 until 1931 Bentwich was attorney general of the Mandate government in Palestine, and in
this capacity was active in modernizing the countrys courts
and introducing British law and procedure to replace those of
the former Turkish regime. In 1930 an attempt was made on
his life by an Arab terrorist. The Mandate governments antiZionist policy led him to resign in 1931.
The following year Bentwich was appointed professor
of international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He advocated Arab-Jewish rapprochement, sharing
the views of the *Berit Shalom group. He served as director of
the League of Nations Commission for Jewish Refugees from
Germany between 1933 and 1936. In 1951 he retired from the
Hebrew University and returned to England where he was active on behalf of the Hebrew University.
Bentwich was a prolific writer. His books on Zionism and
Israel include Palestine of the Jews: Past, Present and Future
(1919), England in Palestine (1932), Fulfillment in the PromENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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benveniste
382
BENVENISTE, ABRAHAM (18t century), rabbi and communal leader in Smyrna. Benveniste was a son-in-law of
H ayyim Ventura and of Abraham Ibn Ezra, both outstanding scholars of Smyrna. His communal activity brought him
into contact with the scholars of Italy, and his correspondence with Moses H ayyim Morpurgo of Ancona during the
years 174650 is extant. Morpurgo asked him to supply a list
of books recently published in Turkey and to keep him informed of any new publications, while Benveniste on his part
sent Morpurgo a list of books which he asked him to acquire
for him in Venice. It is possible therefore that Benveniste was
in the book trade.
Bibliography: M. Benayahu, in: Aresheth, 1 (1958), 2246,
2319.
BENVENISTE, EMILE (19021976), French scholar of language theory and comparative grammar. Holding a chair at
the College de France from 1937 to his death, Benveniste was
extremely influential on French theorists in various domains
of linguistics and literary criticism, such as Gerard Genette for
narrative discourse and Roland Barthes, Tzetan Todorov, and
Michel Riffaterre in the field of poetry theory. Benvenistes linguistics perpetuates the heritage of his master, Antoine Meillet, and that of Ferdinand de Saussure, though his theory of
communication notably diverges from Saussures. Benveniste
published profusely, but his most influential essays and theories are collected in the two volumes of his Problmes de linguistique gnrale, in the first volume of which key dichotomies are proposed: je/non-je (I/non-I), histoire/discours
(story/discourse). These concepts are central to modern narrative discourse as well as communications theory: they help
define the larger dichotomy between objective and subjective utterance.
Another crucial dichotomy is to be found in the chapter Smiologie de la langue in the second volume: the dichotomy of semiotic (related to the sign) and semantic
(related to discourse).
[Dror Franck Sullaper (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: J.J. Emden, Torat ha-Kenaot (1752), 4b; J. Sasportas Z iz at Novel Z evi, ed. by I. Tishby (1954), index, S.V. Benvenisti,
H ayyim; Conforte, Kore, 51a; Bernfeld, in: Kobez al Jad, 9 (1899), 111
(third pagination); A. Freimann (ed.), Inyanei Shabbetai Z evi (1912),
142, no. 20; Rosanes, Togarmah, 4 (1935), 4247, 1604; Benayahu, in:
Zion, 12 (1946/47), 4448; idem, in: Reshumot, 5 (1953), 197211; idem,
in: Sinai, 34 (1954), 167, 2002; Scholem, Shabbetai Z evi, index; Sonne,
in: Sefunot, 34 (1960), 48, 50, 57 S.V. Benvenest; Molho and Amarijlio,
ibid., 2146 (Eng. summ.).
[Moshe Nahum Zobel]
BENVENISTE, ISAAC BEN JOSEPH (d. c. 1224), physician to James I of Aragon and nasi of Aragonese Jewry. He
was the leading figure in the representative congresses of the
Jewish communities convened at Montpellier and Saint-Gilles
in 1214 and 1215 to consider protective measures in view of
the approaching *Lateran Council. Subsequently he secured
for the Aragonese communities a temporary suspension of
the obligation to wear the Jewish *badge. In 1220, he received
from Pope Honorius III a warm letter of recommendation to
the king and the archbishop of Tarragona notwithstanding
Isaacs erroneous views in matters of religion.
Bibliography: Neuman, Spain, index; Solomon ibn Verga,
Shevet Yehudah, ed. by A. Shochat (1947), 147, 223; S. Grayzel, The
Church and the Jews (19662), index.
[Cecil Roth]
BENVENISTE, JOSEPH BEN MOSES DE SEGOVIA (second half of the 16t century), rabbi and author. Benveniste
spent most of his life in Safed but died in Brusa, Turkey. His
principal teacher was Elisha *Gallico, but he also studied
under Isaac *Luria and Samuel b. Isaac de *Uceda. Joseph
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benveniste de porta
thers side, with its roots in northern Spain and Greece, and
has a German and Russian background on his mothers side.
He earned his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from
Muhlenberg College and returned to New York to get his law
degree from Columbia University, where he was the Harlan
Fisk Stone Scholar. He joined the United States Attorneys office in New York straight from Northwestern Universitys law
school, where he received his master of law degree in 1968. He
stayed on, assigned first to the Special Prosecutions Section
and then as chief of the Official Corruption Section (where
he prosecuted several celebrated cases), from June 1972, until, at the age of 30, joining the main Watergate task force, investigating the activities of President Richard M. Nixon, and
questioning witnesses in connection with the White House
tape recordings.
It was Ben-Veniste, an assistant special prosecutor, who
presented the opening statement on behalf of the seven-member prosecution team in the Watergate cover-up trial, portraying Nixon as one of the central conspirators. In a four-hour
presentation, Ben-Veniste told the jury that Nixon held a
multitude of meetings in April 1973 with John D. Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman, then his chief aides and two of the
five defendants in the trial. He also laid out details of the case
against the other defendants, including Attorney General John
N. Mitchell. Ben-Veniste thus had one of the key roles in the
unraveling of the Nixon presidency and Nixons resignation
before he could be impeached.
Ben-Veniste practiced law in Washington, specializing in
litigation involving high-profile white-collar clients, including, in the 1990s, the investigation of President Bill Clinton
and his wife, Hilary, concerning the failed land deal known as
Whitewater. That investigation found no evidence of criminal
activity on the part of the Clintons.
In 2004, Ben-Veniste was a Democratic member of the
independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, engineered by Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, on the World
Trade Center in New York and on the Pentagon. As such he
harshly questioned Condoleezza Rice, President George W.
Bushs national security advisor, on her and the presidents
assessment of a briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, that carried the title
Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.
Rice described it as historical information based on old reporting there was no new threat information, a contention Ben-Veniste disputed. Ben-Veniste played a major role
in shaping the commissions final report, in which it asserted
that the Clinton and Bush administrations failed to grasp the
gravity of the threat from Al Qaeda.
[Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)]
BENVENISTE, SAMUEL (d. after 1356), physician and translator, who lived in Tarragona and Saragossa, Spain. Benveniste
was a familiar figure at the court of King Pedro IV of Aragon,
being physician to his brother, Don Manuel. In about 1300
he translated into Hebrew Maimonides Sefer ha-Kaz z eret
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benvenisti, david
386
ben-yehuda, eliezer
387
ben-yehuda, H emdah
death, his widow and his son Ehud continued his publication
which was completed in 1959 (17 vols.), with an introductory
volume, Ha-Mavo ha-Gadol (Prolegomenon).
In 1890, together with David Yellin, Aaron Masie, and
others, Ben-Yehuda founded the Vaad ha-Lashon over which
he presided until his death. This vaad was the forerunner of
the *Academy of the Hebrew Language which Ben-Yehuda
had also suggested in 1920.
Ben-Yehuda was among the supporters of the *Uganda
scheme; he wrote articles in Ha-Z evi advocating the idea, and
even a special pamphlet called Ha-Medinah ha-Yehudit (1905).
His views incurred many enemies for him among those who
were not prepared to exchange Zion for any other country. On
the other hand, he won general respect when he led the fight
(191314) against the plan of the *Hilfsverein der deutschen
Juden to introduce German as the language of instruction in
its secondary schools in Palestine and in the technical college
which was about to be established in Haifa.
During World War I, when Jamal Pasha, the Turkish
commander in Palestine, outlawed Zionism, Ben-Yehuda
left for the United States. There he wrote his book Ad Eimatai
Dibberu Ivrit? (Until When was Hebrew Spoken? 1919). He
returned to Palestine in 1919. Together with M. *Ussishkin, he
prevailed upon Herbert *Samuel, the British high commissioner, to declare Hebrew one of the three official languages
of the country. He founded Sefatenu, a society for the propagation of Hebrew, and also served as secretary of the Planning
Committee of the Hebrew University. A number of his writings were collected and published posthumously: the anthology Yisrael le-Arz o ve-li-Leshono (1929) and Avot ha-Lashon
ha-Ivrit; part 1: Rabbi Akiva (1945).
Ben-Yehudas cultural activities and achievements fall
into four divisions: (1) The revival of spoken Hebrew. Hebrew
was spoken before the days of Ben-Yehuda but only intermittently. The very sanctity with which the language was invested
prevented its daily use. Ben-Yehuda made Hebrew speech a
national goal. He was convinced that a living Hebrew, spoken
by the people in its own land, was indispensable to the political and cultural rebirth of the nation. In this view Ben-Yehuda
differed from *Smolenskin, *Lilienblum, and *Herzl, who
were able to envisage a Jewish homeland without Hebrew as
its mother tongue. Ben-Yehuda fought untiringly and uncompromisingly for this ideal. He lived to see his vision realized:
the revival of the *Hebrew language as a spoken tongue after
more than two thousand years. (2) The creation of a simple,
popular style in Hebrew literature. Ben-Yehuda fought against
the use of inflated rhetoric and the archaic expressions and
forms which had lost their appeal. He demanded simplicity
and concreteness in Hebrew prose which, until then, had been
rhetorical and florid. With this objective in mind, he translated a number of stories from various languages into plain,
unadorned Hebrew. (3) Ben-Yehuda was the first to make a
regular and systematic practice of coining Hebrew words. Neologism was not new to Hebrew, but it had never been done
methodically and specifically to meet the practical demands
388
BENYEHUDAH, BARUKH (18941990), Israeli educator. Ben-Yehudah, who was born in Marijampole, Lithuania,
settled in Erez Israel in 1911. During World War I he joined
kevuz at Deganyah, teaching there and at Rosh Pinnah. He
then studied at the University of Brussels and, after receiving a degree in mathematics and physics in 1924, returned to
teaching. He became principal of the Herz lia Gymnasium in
Tel Aviv. In 1927 he helped found the pioneering high school
youth movement H ugim (later known as Mah anot Olim).
He also founded the Teachers Council for the Jewish National Fund. He was director of the education department of
the Vaad Leummi in 1947, and the first director-general of
the Ministry of Education and Culture of the State of Israel
(until 1951). In 1979 he was awarded the Israel Prize for education. His books include Toledot ha-Z iyyonut (The History of Zionism, 1943); Ha-Keren ha-Meh annekhet: Tenuat
Morim Lemaan Z iyyon u-Geulatah (The Educating Fund:
The Teachers Movement for Zion and its Redemption 1949,
1952); Taamei ha-Mikra le-Vattei Sefer (Biblical Cantillation
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
for Schools, 1968); Kol ha-H innukh ha-Z iyyoni (The Voice
of Zionist Education, 1955); and Yesodot u-Derakhim (Fundamentals and Ways, 1952). He also wrote on teaching mathematics: Horaat ha-Matematikah be-Veit ha-Sefer ha-Tikhon (The Teaching of Mathematics in High School, 2 vols.,
195960) and mathematics texts.
[Abraham Aharoni]
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ben-yosef, shelomo
390
benzinger, immanuel
BEN ZEEV, JUDAH LEIB (17641811), grammarian and lexicographer; the first Jewish scholar to apply Western research
methods to the study of Hebrew. Born near Cracow, Ben Zeev
received a traditional Jewish education, but covertly, on his
own, studied Hebrew philology and secular subjects. He belonged to the group of Polish-Jewish writers that published
Ha-Meassef, a literary organ in the spirit of the early Haskalah.
Later, in 1787, when he moved to Berlin, he was admitted to the
circle of Haskalah scholars there. In Berlin, he devoted himself
to secular studies but returned to his native city which he was
forced to leave when persecuted by Orthodox Jews because
of his liberal opinions. He settled in Breslau and worked as a
proofreader in a Hebrew publishing house. Later he moved
to Vienna where he was employed in the same capacity, in the
Hebrew printing establishment of Anton von Schmid.
Ben Zeevs versatile literary activities spread over a number of fields: grammar and phonetics, lexicography, Bible exegesis, translations, poetry, parodic works, and the editing of
medieval texts. Talmud Leshon Ivri (Breslau, 1796), probably
his best-known work, is a grammar that served as the main
source for the study of Hebrew in Eastern Europe for a hundred years; it was frequently reissued and exerted considerable influence on subsequent grammarians. In it, Ben Zeev
discusses phonetics (and vocalization); the theory of forms
(parts of speech); the noun, the verb, the particles; selected
aspects of syntax (particularly the combination of sentences);
aspects of literary theory (parallelism, rhyme, and meter); and
the theory of taamei ha-mikra (biblical accentuation and cantillation). In his study of phonemes, he followed the line of
thought of S.Z. Henau; in the definition of the parts of speech
that of M. Mendelssohn; in his description of the noun and
the verb the ideas of Elijah *Levita, and in his discussion on
syntax the foundations of David Kimh i in Sefer ha-Mikhlol.
Ben Zeev applied the methods used in the study and research
of European language grammars; his rules, based on logic, are
organized in a manner suitable for instruction. Many of the
concepts in his books are original, not to be found in any previous grammatical work: especially, a new terminology in the
field of composition and syntax; innovations in syntax; and
the study of poetry. His most important achievement is Oz ar
ha-Shorashim (Vienna, 180708), a Hebrew-German and German-Hebrew dictionary which was inspired by the works of
David Kimh i. It is arranged in alphabetical order, e.g., in the
German section, verbs with prefixes are listed alphabetically
according to the prefixes; the definitions of the terms often
include synonyms and examples of usage taken either from
the Bible directly or cited in sentences formulated in biblical
style; the German terms are written in Hebrew characters. Ben
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BENZINGER, IMMANUEL (18651935), German Protestant theologian and Orientalist. Benzinger was born in Stuttgart and served as lecturer in biblical studies at Berlin University from 1898 to 1902. He taught in Jerusalem at various
Christian institutes and at the Ezra Society School from 1902
to 1911. Thereafter he was professor of Bible in Toronto, Canada (191215), Meadville, Pa. (191518), and Riga, Latvia (from
1921 until his death). His principal work, Hebraeische Archaeologie (1894, 19273), is a comprehensive reference book of biblical archaeology. His Buecher der Koenige (1899) and Buecher
391
ben-zion
392
ben-zvi, izhak
a look and went mad, while his companion Ben Azzai died as
a result of this mystical experience. In the Jerusalem Talmud
(Hag. 2:1, 77b) their roles are reversed. According to the Bavli
he was regarded as a disciple of the sages (Kid. 49b and Rashi
ibid.), and as one of those who discussed before the sages
(Sanh. 17b and Rashi ibid.). Nevertheless, he was considered an
outstanding scholar, so that it was said that whoever sees Ben
Zoma in a dream may hope for wisdom (Ber. 57b).
Bibliography: Bacher, Tann; Hyman, Toledot, 117273; S.
Lieberman, Tosefta ki-Feshutah, 5 (1962), 1294.
[Zvi Kaplan]
[Gedalyah Elkoshi]
BEN ZOMA, SIMEON (second century), tanna. A contemporary of *Akiva, he appears to have studied under *Joshua
b. Hananiah (Naz. 8:1, and cf. Tos. H ag. 2:6). The Mishnah
says that he was the last of the authoritative biblical expositors (Sot. 9:15). According to Tosefta Ber. 6:2, when Ben Zoma
was convinced that the scholar was the crown of creation,
and when he would see the multitude of different kinds of
people and professions which populated the world, he would
declare: Blessed be He who created all of them to serve me.
In further explanation of his position he continued: In what
labors was Adam involved before he obtained bread to eat? He
had to plow, sow, reap, bind the sheaves, thresh and winnow
and select the ears of corn; he had to grind them and sift the
flour, to knead and bake, and only then could he eat; whereas
I get up and find all these things prepared for me. And how
much Adam had to labor before he found a garment to wear.
He had to shear, wash the wool, comb it, spin and weave it, and
only then did he acquire a garment to wear; whereas I get up
and find all these things done for me. All kinds of craftsmen
come early to the door of my house, and I rise in the morning and find all these things before me (Ber. 58a, cf. Tos. Ber.
6:2). Many of his sayings became proverbs, such as Who is
wise? he who learns from every man. Who is mighty? he
who subdues his evil inclination. Who is rich? he who rejoices in his lot. Who is honored? he who honors his fellow
men (Avot 4:1). He was one of the tannaim who occupied
themselves with cosmological speculation, the maaseh bereshit
(Tos. H ag. 2:6). According to Tos. H ag. 2:4 he was one of the
four sages who entered paradise, it is said (ibid.) that he cast
393
ben-zvi, izhak
where he participated in the clandestine activities of the central committee of Poalei Zion. He traveled to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to try to influence Jewish students there.
In Vienna he organized the first ties between Poalei Zion
branches in different countries. At the end of 1906 he returned
to Vilna, which, after Borochovs imprisonment, had become
the center of the movement.
Ben-Zvi settled in Erez Israel at the beginning of 1907. In
the same year he was a Poalei Zion delegate from Erez Israel
to the Eighth Zionist Congress held in The Hague. He participated in the founding of the Bar Giora organization in Jaffa
in 1907, and in 1909 of *Ha-Shomer, along with Rah el Yanait
(*Ben-Zvi), who had settled in Erez Israel in 1908, and was to
become his wife in 1918.
After the second Turkish revolution (1909), Ben-Zvi traveled to Turkey on behalf of Poalei Zion. He visited Smyrna,
Constantinople, and Salonika, as well as Beirut and Damascus,
establishing ties with the Jewish communities and leaders. In
Salonika he first encountered the remnants of the Shabbatean
sect, later to become a subject for his research.
In 1910 Ben-Zvi, together with Rah el Yanait, Zeev Ashur,
and others, founded the first Hebrew socialist periodical in
Erez Israel, Ah dut (Unity). Upon the outbreak of World
War I, Ben-Zvi interrupted his studies at the University of
Constantinople and returned to Erez Israel. During the persecution of Jews by Jamal Pasha, the Ottoman governor, Ah dut
was closed down, and Ben-Zvi, together with David *BenGurion, was imprisoned. They were both deported, and eventually made their way to New York. There they founded in 1915
the He-H alutz movement of America.
Before the British offensive on the Palestine front, BenGurion and Ben-Zvi initiated a volunteer movement for Jewish battalions in the U.S., and were among the first volunteers. They arrived in Egypt in 1918, and from there they went
to Erez Israel as soldiers of the *Jewish Legion in the British
Royal Fusiliers. During the disturbances of 1920, 1922, and
1929, Ben-Zvi was active in the ranks of the *Haganah, while
also representing the Yishuv in negotiations with the British
authorities.
He was elected to the Central Committee of the *Ah dut
ha-Avodah Party at its founding convention. During the summer of 1920 he participated in the world conference of Poalei
Zion held in Vienna, in which the movement split under the
impact of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Ben-Zvi was instrumental in its reorganization on a firm Zionist platform.
In October 1920 he was appointed by the British High
Commissioner to Palestine, Sir Herbert *Samuel, to the Palestine Advisory Council. But with the Jaffa riots of May 1921
and the subsequent temporary suspension of Jewish immigration, he resigned from the Council in protest against Mandatory government policy.
Ben-Zvi was elected to the Secretariat of the *Histadrut
when it was founded in 1920. He devoted a considerable part
of his public activity to Jerusalem and its Jewish population.
He was first elected to the Jerusalem Municipal Council in
394
1927, but after the riots of 1929 he resigned from the municipality in protest against the stand of the citys Arab administration. In September 1934 he was reelected to the municipality.
In 1920 Ben-Zvi was elected to the Vaad Leummi, first
as a member, then in 1931 as its chairman, and in 1945 as its
president. He participated as a delegate in all the Zionist
Congresses during the 1920s, and as chairman of the Vaad
Leummi he represented the Yishuv at the coronation ceremonies of King George VI in 1937, and at the Round Table Conference on Palestine in London in 1939.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, Ben-Zvi was
elected as a *Mapai member to the First and Second Knessets.
Upon the death of President Chaim *Weizmann in 1952, he
was elected president of the State. He was elected to a second
term in 1957, and to a third term in 1962. He died in office on
April 23, 1963.
Ben-Zvi headed the Institute for the Study of Oriental
Jewish Communities in the Middle East, which he founded
in 1948, and which was renamed the Ben-Zvi Institute in 1952.
His research on the history of the people of Israel was a lifelong endeavor. The scholarly works that he published were
devoted mainly to research on communities and sects (such
as the Samaritans, Karaites, Shabbateans, Jewish communities in Asia and Africa, the mountain Jews, and others) and
to the geography of Erez Israel, its ancient populations, its
antiquities, and its traditions. He was also a prolific journalist, publishing articles under his own name as well as under
various pseudonyms.
His brochure Ha-Yishuv ha-Yehudi bi-Kefar Pekiin (The
Jewish Yishuv in Pekiin Village, 1922) was the beginning of
series of studies on the Jewish villages in Erez Israel that preceded modern Jewish settlement, most of which were included
in his book Shear Yishuv (The Remnant of the Yishuv, 1927)
and in vol. 2 of his writings. His studies of communities were
greatly facilitated by his direct contact with the subjects and
by their willingness to reveal historical documents previously
unpublished. Ben-Zvis collected surveys on the non-Jewish
communities of Israel appear in Ukhlusei Arz enu (Populations in our Land, 1932), which, together with his book on the
Jewish population of Israel, Ukhloseinu ba-Arez (Our Population in the Land, 1929), is included in vol. 5 of his writings
(1937). His studies on the history of the Samaritans, Sefer haShomeronim (1935, and new enlarged edition 1970), is a basic
work. Ben-Zvi also published Masot Erez Israel le-Rav Moshe
Basola (Journeys of R. Moses Basola in Erez Israel), based
on an original manuscript. This study, he believed, had enabled him to identify the unknown traveller in the Masot haNosea ha-Almoni mi-Livorno mi-Shenat Resh Peh Bet (Journeys of an Unknown Traveler from Leghorn, from the Year
1521/22). His book Niddeh ei Yisrael was translated into English (The Exiled and the Redeemed, 1958 and 1961), Spanish,
French, Italian, Swedish, and Yiddish. The most important of
his many studies on the history of the yishuv is Erez Yisrael
ve-Yishuvah bi-Ymei ha-Shilton ha-Ottomani (Erez Israel and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BENZVI, SHLOMO (1964 ), media owner. Born in London as Michael Goldblum, Shlomo Ben Zvi was educated at
Netiv Meir Yeshivah High School in Jerusalem and various
other national-religious yeshivot in Israel and studied philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After making
a substantial fortune in real estate and the technology sector
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
395
396
berab, jacob
BERAB (Beirav), JACOB (c. 14741546), halakhic authority and leader of the Jewish communities of Palestine, Egypt,
and Syria during the first half of the 16t century. Berab was
born in Maqueda near Toledo, Spain, and went to Morocco
after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. According
to his own statement, he was only 18 years old when he was
appointed rabbi of Fez. A few years later Berab left Fez and
traveled to Egypt, Palestine (Jerusalem, Safed), and Syria
(Aleppo, Damascus) in connection with business concerns,
which proved very successful. During these sojourns Berab
also taught Torah, gathering wide circles of pupils, who respected him greatly. He considered himself superior to the
majority of scholars in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, and tried
to impose his authority on questions of halakhah that were
brought before him, or that he undertook on his own initiative. Although Berab had close associations with many of his
contemporaries, his domineering tendency brought him into
conflict with scholars who would not submit to him.
Berab was swept along with the messianic current of the
early 16t century, which resulted in large measure from intensive study of the Kabbalah. Berab himself gave some impetus
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
397
398
BERAJA, RUBEN EZRA (1939 ), Argentinean community leader and Zionist activist. Born in Ciudadela, Province
of Buenos Aires, to a family from Aleppo, Syria, from an early
age Beraja was active in Jewish public life and after graduating as a lawyer from the University of Buenos Aires he joined
the management of the Cooperativa Mayo, a credit cooperative established in 1961 that used its profits to support the Sephardi Jewish school network and for other beneficial activities. Beraja, who was the youngest member of the board, was
soon appointed president of the cooperative. He continued to
fill this position when the cooperative was transformed into
the Banco Mayo (1978), acting in this capacity until the bank
went bankrupt in 1998.
In the late 1960s Beraja was invited by Rabbi Itzhak Schehebar, the spiritual leader of the Aleppine community, to join
the board of directors of the Congregacin Sefarad Argentina,
becoming an active promoter of its educational and religious
activities. At the same time he became one of the promising
leaders of the Zionist Sephardi movement.
Using the financial success of the Banco Mayo, Beraja expanded its assistance to the educational, cultural and Zionist
institutions of the Jewish community at large, increasing the
influence of the Orthodox sector and the prestige of the Sephardi leadership.
In 1991 Beraja was elected president of the *DAIA, becoming the political representative of Argentinean Jewry. He
was reelected in 1993 and 1996. Acting during the presidency
of Carlos Sal Menem, he was involved (1992) in the opening
of the archives dealing with the immigration to Argentina of
Nazi criminals in the postwar years under Perons presidency.
He also acted in defense of the Jewish community following
the two dramatic events that shook its existence the explosion of the Israeli Embassy in March 1992 and of the AMIA
community building in July 1994.
Berakhot
399
berbers
400
Bercovitch, Sacvan
and the crafts and did not work in agriculture. There was some
kind of understanding between Berbers and Jews about the
occupational structure of each group, enabling each to earn
a livelihood. They also shared religious rituals and customs.
For example, at Shavuot the Berbers of Libya poured water on
Jews as one of their customs.
The Mossad study referred to Jewish life in Berber society at the end of its existence. In the village of Gourama in
southeast Morocco, for example, there were 285 Jews, 73 of
them below the age of 30. About 20 of the families had eight
members, 50 fewer that seven persons. Seven Jews were
tailors, seven farmers, five merchants, and two butchers. Although more research is needed it seems that these figures
characterize Jewish life in the Berber villages.
Bibliography: H. Fournel, Les Berbres (1875), 3241; S.
Gsell, Histoire ancienne de lAfrique du Nord, 1 (1920), 236343; E.F.
Gauthier, Le pass de lAfrique du Nord (1942), 140ff., 22544, 270ff.,
439; Simon, in: Revue dhistoire et de philosophie religieuses 26 (1946),
131, 10545; M. Simon, Verus Israel (Eng. 1948), index; Hirschberg, in
Zion, 22 (1957), 1020; idem, in: Journal of African History, 4 (1963),
31339; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 936; N. Slouschz, Hbraeo-Phniciens et Judo-Berbres (1908); idem, Travels in North Africa (1927),
45388, passim; A.N. Chouraqui, Between East and West (1968). Add.
Bibliography: M. Shokeid, Jewish Existence in a Berber Environment, in: Sh. Deshen and W.P. Zenner (eds.), Jews among Muslims (1996), 10920; E. Goldberg, Ecologic and Demographic
Aspects of Rural Tripolitanian Jewry 18531949, in: International
Journal of Middle East Studies, 2 (1971), 24565; E. Goldberg and H.
Goldberg, Cave Dwellers and Citrus Growers: Jewish Community in
Libya and Israel (1972); E. Goldberg, Communal Organization of
the Jews of Tripolitania during the Late Ottoman Period, in: Jewish
Political Studies Review, 5:34, (Fall 5754/1993), 7795; idem, The
Maskil and the Mequbbal; Mordecai Ha-Cohen and the Grave of
Rabbi Shimon Lavi in Tripoli, in: H.E. Goldberg (ed.), Sephardi and
Middle Eastern Jewries (1996), 16880.
[David Corcos / Haim Sadoun (2nd ed.)]
401
berdichev
tions The American Puritan Imagination: Essays in Revaluation (1974), Reconstructing American Literary History (1986),
and Ideology and Classic American Literature (1986, with Myra
Jehlen); and author of numerous important essays, some of
which are collected in The Rites of Assent: Transformations in
the Symbolic Construction of America (1993). (The essay The
Music of America, printed as the Introduction to this book,
contains Bercovitchs reflections on his personal and intellectual relationship to American culture as well as the Canadian
and Yiddishist-leftist culture in which he grew up.) He was
also the editor of the ongoing new multivolume Cambridge
History of American Literature and published English translations of Yiddish writers.
Sacvan Bercovitch characterizes his work as cultural
close reading, and its subject as the American consensus.
America was a venture in exegesis, he says, a corporate
identity built on fragmentation and dissent whose function
was partly to mystify or mask social realities. Nonetheless it
denoted something equally real: a coherent system of symbols,
values, and beliefs, and a series of rituals designed to keep the
system going (The Rites of Assent, 2930). His great erudition,
intellectual depth, and skepticism of doctrinaire interpretation won him widespread respect and made him one of the
most influential Americanists of his time.
[Drew Silver (2nd ed.)]
402
cultural produce was sold at the Berdichev fairs. The expatriation of Polish nobles and decline of the Polish nobility after the
uprising of 1863 dealt a blow to Jewish commerce in Berdichev.
The economic position of most of Berdichevs Jews was further
impaired by the restrictions imposed on Jewish settlement in
the villages by the Temporary Regulations (*May Laws) of
1882 and other restrictive government measures.
The main increase in the Jewish population of Berdichev
occurred in the first half of the 19t century. There were 23,160
Jews living in Berdichev in 1847, and 46,683 in 1861. It was
then the second-largest Jewish community in Russia. Shortly
afterward the numbers began to decline, and in 1897 Berdichev had 41,617 Jewish residents (80 of the total population).
The 1926 census shows 30,812 Jewish residents (55.6 of the
total); about the same number were probably living there in
1939. Until World War I, emigration was balanced by the natural increase in the Jewish population; after the 1917 Revolution the proportion of Jewish residents steadily decreased
through emigration.
At the end of the 19t century, about half of the Jewish
wage earners were employed in manual trades, mostly in tailoring, shoemaking, carpentry, metalwork, etc. About 2,000
were hired workers, while the remainder gained their livelihood from trade. Berdichev became one of the foremost centers of the *Bund. After the 1917 Revolution, the proportion
of hired workers increased, while a considerable number of
Jews were absorbed by the state administration.
The ideas of the Enlightenment (*Haskalah) began to
spread in Berdichev early in the 19t century, especially among
wealthier families. The Galician Haskalah pioneer and Hebrew
author Tobias *Feder Gutmann settled in Berdichev toward
the end of his life. Influenced by Isaac Baer *Levinsohn, a
group of maskilim was formed there in the 1820s, in which the
physician Israel Rothenberg was particularly active. Among
the opponents of the maskilim was the banker Jacob Joseph
Halpern, who had great influence in h asidic circles and close
ties to the government. The first public school in Berdichev
giving instruction in Russian was opened in 1850. With the
economic decline of Berdichev, the wealthier maskilim left for
the larger cities. Because of the poverty of the majority of the
Jewish population, a large number of children were even unable to attend h eder. According to the 1897 census, only 58
of Jewish males and 32 of Jewish females were able to read
or write any language.
In Russian and Jewish literature and folklore, Berdichev
epitomizes the typical Jewish town. It had some 80 synagogues
and battei midrash and its cantors were celebrated throughout the Ukraine. It served as the model for the town depicted
in the writings of *Mendele Mokher Seforim and *Shalom
Aleichem (Gants Berdichev), as well as in *Der Nister (Mishpokhe Mashber). During the 1917 Revolution and the civil
war of 191719, the head of the community and mayor of the
town was the Bundist leader D. Lipets. In early 1919, the Jews
in Berdichev became victims of a pogrom perpetrated by the
Ukrainian army.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
berdugo
403
berdyansk
BERDYANSK (in 182730 Kutur-ogly, in 183042 NovoNogaisk, in 193958 Osipenko), town in the Zaporozhie region of the Ukraine. Berdyansk was founded as a village by
order of the governor-general of Novorossia, Count M.S. Vorontsov, whose attitude to Jews was fairly liberal. In 1842 it became a district capital. From the beginning the Jews formed
part of its population, employed as tailors and merchants.
In 1847 the Jewish population was 572 and in 1860 a Talmud
Torah school was founded. In 1864, 703 Jews were registered
in the town and 744 in the district. In April 1881, concerned
over anti-Jewish acts in the wake of the assassination of Alexander II (see *Pogroms), the Jews requested the authorities
to dispatch troops to prevent pogroms.
404
405
berechiah
406
Bialik, Berdyczewski, Brenner (1997); N. Govrin (ed.), Boded beMaaravo: M.J. Berdyczewski be-Zukhronot benei Zemano (1997); W.
Cutter, Relations between the Greats of Modern Jewish Literature: M.Y.
Berdyczewskis Complicated Friendship with Martin Buber (2000); A.
Holtzman, Ha-Sefer ve-ha-H ayyim (2003); M. Bergman, in: D. Stern
(ed.), The Anthology in Jewish Literature (2004).
[Dan Almagor / Arnold J. Band]
tion of fables translated mostly from the French fable collection Ysopet by Marie de France (c. 1170), and also from the
lost Latin translation of Aesop, Romulus, as well as from other
collections of Oriental origin. Berechiah writes in his preface:
These fables are well-known to all mankind and are in books
by people of all languages, but my faith differs from theirs.
The preface contains an appraisal in rhyming puns of the low
moral state of English Jewry as seen through Berechiahs eyes:
The wicked are saved, the righteous groan, the bitter are
sweetened, the evil rise, while the great are cast down, and
prayer is tasteless, glory is folly, and the sacrifice is wicked.
He concludes, I would prefer toil and a dry crust to sharing
my lot with them. Mishlei Shualim has appeared in 18 editions, most of them, including the first (Mantua 155759), being incomplete. Berechiah has been identified with Krespia or
Crispia (Heb. , , )the grammarian, one
of whose fables (Fable 119) was included in Mishlei Shualim,
but this identification is unfounded. Berechiahs son, Elijah,
who lived in the city of Radom (Darom, i.e., Dreux) was a
copyist and grammarian. In those of his texts which have survived he expresses his feeling of honor at his fathers respected
position and refers to him as the tanna and pedant.
Bibliography: A.M. Habermann (ed.), Mishlei Shualim
(1946), complete edition, based on manuscripts; Davidson, Oz ar, 4
(1933), 373; W.I.H. Jackson, in: Fables of a Jewish Aesop (ed. M. Hadas,
1967); C. Roth, Jews of Medieval Oxford (1951), 1189; idem, Intellectual Activities of Medieval English Jewry (1949), 4850; J. Jacobs, Jews
of Angevin England (1893); Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 95862;
Porges, in: HB, 7 (1903), 3644; Gross, Gal Jud, 1805; Fuenn, Keneset, 2023. Add. Bibliography: M.M. Epstein, in: Prooftexts 14,
3 (1994), 205-31.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
407
beregi, oszkr
Jewish folk music at the Faculty of Jewish Culture of the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. From 1928 to 1941 he was the head
of the Folk Music Division of the Jewish Culture League and
the Folklore Department of the Kiev Conservatory. By the beginning of World War II the folk music department had more
than 1,200 cylinder recordings of 3,000 items and more than
4,000 transcriptions, of which more than 600 were recorded
by Beregovski, as well as the collections of *An-Ski and Joel
*Engel. In 1944 he received his diploma in music in Moscow
for his thesis on Jewish instrumental music. In 1946 his doctoral work on musical theater and his thesis were rejected because of elements of Western culture which he described. In
1949 the department of Jewish culture was closed and in 1950
Beregovski was arrested and imprisoned for five years. After
his release he tried to publish his work but could not do so for
political reasons. He had written most of his projected fivevolume study of East European Jewish folk music and given
it to his family before his arrest. Most of his recordings and
writings survived WWII and are kept in several institutions in
the Ukraine. His five volumes include: (1) workers and revolutionary songs of the 1905 period, domestic and army songs
(published in 1934 under the title Yevreyskiy musikalny folklor and in its Yiddish edition (in Latin characters) as Jidisher
Muzik Folklor); (2) love and family songs; (3) klezmer music;
(4) songs without words; (5) music of the Purimshpil. These
are all being published in the U.S., Russia, and Israel. In 1938
Beregovski published another collection of Yiddish songs from
several sources under the tittle Yidishe Folkslider, edited with
Itzik *Fefer (1938), which contained 298 items influenced by
Soviet ideology.
Beregovski was the first ethnomusicologist to record in
the field with a recording machine the oral traditions of East
European Jews. The material he collected between 1914 and
1948 includes songs of the Holocaust. He was a pioneer in
addressing the question of modes and context in the study
of Jewish folk music. Beregovskis extensive work represents
the rich musical life of Jews in Russia and the Ukraine before
the Holocaust and established the basis of modern studies of
this material. The following of his works appeared posthumously: Old Jewish Folk Music (ed. M. Slobin, 1982); Jewish
Instrumental Folk Music (ed. M. Slobin, R. Rothstein. and M.
Alpert, 2001); Evreiske Narodnye Musikalno-Teatralnye Predstavlenia (2001).
[Gila Flam (2nd ed.)]
BEREGOVSKI, MOSHE (18921961), Soviet Russian musicologist. Born in the Ukraine, Beregovski was the son of a
melammed and reader (baal kore) and sang in the synagogue
choir, where he received his first musical training. He studied
composition at the Leningrad Conservatory and participated
in the field expeditions of the late 1910s. He taught music and
conducted a choir at the Jewish folk music society in Kiev. In
1918 he founded and directed the music section of the Jewish
Culture League in Kiev and in 1927 began to collect and study
408
berendsohn, walter A.
that Holocaust memory expressed through cultural representations of so many kinds will offer a sober reminder of
what is possible in a modern society.
[Edward T. Linenthal (2nd ed.)]
BERENDSOHN, WALTER A. (18841984), literary historian and critic. Berendsohn was born in Hamburg. He taught
literature at Hamburg University, from 1921 until 1933, when
the Nazi racist legislation forced him into exile. He then made
his home in Copenhagen. While still in Germany he published works on Selma Lagerloef and Knut Hamsun, and his
first work in his new home was Der lebendige Heine im Germanischen Norden (1935) in which he investigated the influence of the various translations of Heinrich Heines writings
into Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Icelandic.
Berendsohn fled from Denmark to Sweden in 1943. There
he continued his literary work, devoting extensive studies, inter alia, to August Strindberg, some of whose works he translated into German. Shortly after World War II he published
Die Humanistische Front (1946), the first part of a two-volume
work on exile literature, created by refugees from the Third
Reich all over the world. This work with a title that marks the
contrast between humanism and the Hitler regimes adoration
of power and violence-laid the foundations for what later became a subject of study and research at many academic institutions in Europe and the U.S.A. In Sweden this research was
409
Augustus
B.C.E.
27
Salome
Costobar
Herod
Mariamne
Doris
C.E.
Tiberius
14
Caligula
Claudius
37
41
Nero
Galba Ortho
Vitelius
Vespasian
Titus
54
68
69
79
Bernice
1. Aristobulus
Herodias
2. Theudian
Mariamne
Agrippa I
Berenice
2. Herod
king of Chalcis
Berenicianus
Aristobulus
Agrippa II
1. Marcus
Hyrcanus
[Yakov K. Bentor]
410
berenson, leon
411
berenson, senda
til 1923 and later in the U.S.S.R. Berenson resigned from the
foreign service in 1930, when the National Democratic Party
(N.D. = Endeks) became a powerful force in the ruling Pilsudski regime. He resumed his legal practice and was defense
counsel in several political trials of historical significance. He
died in the Warsaw ghetto. His writings include Z sali mierci:
Wraenia obrncy politycznego (From the Death Cell: Memoirs of a Defense Counsel in Political Cases, 1929).
Bibliography: Hafftka, in: I. Schiper et al. (eds.), ydzi
w Polsce odrodzonej, 2 (1933), 250; EG, 1 (1953), 24950. Add. Bibliography: E. Ringelblum, Kronika getta warszaskiego, 49192,
62425; idem, Polish-Jewish Relations during the Second World War
(1974), 82.
412
bereza
19391941
After the outbreak of World War II and the Soviet-German
agreement on the division of Poland, Bereza fell to Soviet
rule. All public, independent political activity of a national
character was forbidden. The Jews sources of livelihood were
reduced by the creation of a network of government-owned
stores, cooperatives, and services.
Holocaust Period
On June 23, 1941, a day after the outbreak of war between Germany and the U.S.S.R. German forces entered Bereza. On June
26 the synagogue and houses nearby were burned down. The
community faced kidnappings for forced labor, starvation, and
disease throughout that winter (194142). In July 1942 a ghetto
was established, comprising two sections: ghetto A for productive persons employed by the Germans; and ghetto B for
the nonproductive, nonworking members of the community.
On July 15, 1942, the inmates of ghetto B were taken to Brona
Gra and murdered. Some of the Jews in ghetto A attempted
to flee to the forests, or to *Pruzhany Ghetto, which was still
free from deportations. On October 15, 1942, the Germans
413
berezhany
414
BEREZOVSKY, BORIS ABRAMOVICH (1946 ), Russian tycoon and political figure. Born in Moscow, Berezovsky
graduated from the Moscow Timber Institute (Department
of Electronics and Computer Engineering) and subsequently
from Moscow State University (Department of Mechanics and
Mathematics), pursuing postgraduate studies in the theory of
decision making and receiving a doctorate at the age of 37. He
published over 100 scientific papers and a number of monographs, some of them in the U.S., U.K., Japan, Germany, and
France. From 1991 he was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a member of the International
Scientific Society for the Theory of Decision Making.
Berezovsky worked as an engineer at a research institute connected to the Ministry of Instrument Making, Automation and Control Systems (196869). In 1969 he was an
engineer at the Hydrometeorological Research Center and
in 196987 worked at the Institute of Control Science of the
Academy of Sciences.
Political and economic changes in Russia made it possible for Berezovsky to go into private business. He was active
in the automobile industry and in 1989 organized LogoVaz,
which became a holding company in 1994. Subsequently he
gained control of ORT (Obshchestvennoe Rossiyskoe Televidenie, Russian State Television) and the Siberian Oil Company (Sibneft), ultimately being called the richest man in
Russia by Forbes. He also became influential in the political
life of the new Russia. He became close to President Yeltsin
and rose to the position of deputy secretary in Yeltsins National Security Council in 1996 and executive secretary of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv) in 1998, contributing to the settlement
of the Chechnya crisis and the cessation of hostilities. Called
the grey eminence by his enemies and represented as a typical oligarch, a tycoon who made his fortune by illegal means
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
for a daily radio show called The Rise of the Goldbergs, which
was an instant hit. Shortened to The Goldbergs, it was on the air
six days a week, and in 1931 it picked up a sponsor and ran until 1934. As the writer and producer as well as star of the show,
Berg created an entire neighborhood of characters and a series
of situations that won an audience which eventually numbered
in the millions. Producer Sol Lesser called her to Hollywood,
where she wrote screenplays for him. In 1938, Berg received a
five-year, million dollar contract to write and star in the Goldberg series, which aired on the radio from 1938 to 1945.
Concerned about the growth of Fascism in the 1930s and
the welfare of European Jews, Berg became active in many
Jewish groups and during World War II participated in the
larger war effort.
Berg wrote a Broadway play, Me and Molly (1948), and a
film version entitled Molly in which she herself acted (1951).
From 1949 The Goldbergs, sometimes referred to as the earliest soap opera, had a five-year run on television. An idealized vision of the American melting pot, the show centered
on the dreams and aspirations of a lower-class Jewish family in the Bronx. The older members of the family, including
Molly, her husband, Jake, and Uncle David, spoke with thick
Yiddish accents, while the two children sounded like typical
young Americans. In 1950 Berg won an Emmy for her comedic
performance. In 1951 she took a stand against the blacklist, refusing to fire her long-time co-star Philip Loeb, who resigned
to prevent the shows cancellation.
In later years Berg appeared in Broadway plays, including
A Majority of One (1959), for which she won a Tony Award.
In 196162 she starred as Sarah Green in the TV sitcom The
Gertrude Berg Show.
In 1989 The Goldbergs was inducted into the Radio Hall
of Fame. Berg wrote The Molly Goldberg Cookbook (1955) and
her autobiography Molly and Me (1961).
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
BERG, JACKIE KID (Judah Bergman; 19091991), professional boxer, junior welterweight champion 193031, member
of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing
Hall of Fame. Born in the Whitechapel section of Londons
East End to Orthodox immigrant parents from Poland, Berg
was one of nine children and had to quit school early to earn
a living to help feed the family. Yiddel, as he was known,
fought his first professional fight on June 8, 1924, 20 days
before his 15t birthday, thus justifying his nickname Kid.
When Yiddel Bergman introduced himself to the fights promoter, Lewis Kurtz, the latter said, You cant go in there with
a respectable Jewish name. Well change it around a bit and
call you Jack Berg.
Kid Berg spent his early career fighting in London, winning his first 20 fights and 56 of his first 59, with 25 knockouts.
He gained the sobriquet The Whitechapel Whirlwind from
his perpetual motion, piston-shooting style of fighting, which
was neither boxing nor punching.
415
berg, leo
416
Berg, Philip
tal, and photographed the Tokyo skyline, the harbor, and munitions facilities, which may have helped U.S. General Jimmy
Doolittle in his bombing raids over Tokyo in 1942.
Moes celebrated academic knowledge received national
attention in February 1938, when he appeared on Information,
Please, the intellectuals radio quiz show. Moe amazed all of
America when he answered questions about the derivation of
words and names in Greek and Latin, historical events in Europe and the Far East, and current international conferences.
After his career was over in 1939, Berg spent two years
as a coach with the Red Sox. In 1942 he was named Goodwill
Ambassador to Latin America by Nelson Rockefeller, head
of the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, and
subsequently worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS),
the forerunner of the CIA. His first assignment was to assess
the political and military situation in embattled Yugoslavia.
He spoke to the forces under Tito and to the Serbian camp
of Mihajlovic, reporting back correctly that the Yugoslav
people supported Tito. His most notable mission was to Switzerland, with instructions to kill top German scientist Werner
Heisenberg, who was lecturing there and suspected of working on the A-bomb. Questioning Heisenberg with a loaded
gun in his pocket, Berg determined that the Germans were
not building the bomb, and his invaluable report was read
by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President
Franklin Roosevelt, and the scientists working on Americas
Manhattan project to develop the nuclear bomb.
Berg was also a loner and an eccentric, known among
other things for always wearing a black suit and not letting
people touch his newspapers until he had finished reading
them. Bergs was a life of abiding strangeness, wrote Nicholas Dawidoff in his definitive biography of Berg, The Catcher
Was a Spy. Berg died seconds after asking a bedside nurse:
How are the Mets doing today?
417
bergamo
BERGAMO, city in northern Italy; ruled mainly by Venice between 1430 and 1797. Jewish moneylenders in Bergamo
are mentioned in the 15t century. The anti-Jewish sermons
preached there by the Franciscan Bernardino da *Feltre
in 1479 led to the temporary expulsion of the Jews. By the
beginning of the 16t century, Jews in Bergamo still owned
houses and real estate. When Louis XII of France captured
the city in 1509 the Jewish inhabitants were expelled, but they
were permitted to return when it reverted to Venice in 1559.
There has been no Jewish community in Bergamo in recent
times.
Bibliography: Milano, Italia, 208, 277. Add. Bibliography: G. Antonucci, Per la storia degli ebrei in Bergamo, in: Bergomum 15 (1941), 5254.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]
418
bergen, polly
BERGEN, POLLY (Nellie Paulina Burgin; 1930 ), U.S. actress, singer, entrepreneur. During her long professional life,
Bergen distinguished herself as an extremely versatile entertainer and business executive. She enjoyed enduring success
as an actress on the stage and screen, as a singer, and as the
founder of her own cosmetic and jewelry lines. Born in Bluegrass, Tennessee, Bergen began working in radio at the age
of 14. She arrived in Hollywood at age 19, making her feature film debut in Across the Rio Grande (1949). Bergen subsequently starred in three films alongside legendary comedy
duo Dean Martin and Jerry *Lewis, including At War With
the Army (1950), Thats My Boy (1951), and The Stooge (1953)
as well as making her Broadway debut with a starring role in
the revue John Murray Andersons Almanac. Bergen released
419
bergen-belsen
the first two of her 17 musical albums, Polly Bergen and Little Girl Blue, on the Jubilee record label in 1955. She became
a household name as a regular on the TV game show To Tell
The Truth (195661). Bergens many film and television credits
over the following half-century include two memorable performances opposite actor Robert Mitchum. The first as Peggy
Bowden in the classic film Cape Fear (1962), and again two
decades later as Rhoda Henry in the mini-series The Winds of
War (1983), for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Bergen was also nominated for a Tony Award for her role in
Follies (2001). She acted as the CEO and public face of several
corporations, including Polly Bergen Cosmetics, Polly Bergen
Shoes, and Polly Bergen Jewelry. Bergen is the author of three
books, The Polly Bergen Book of Beauty, Fashion and Charm
(1962), Pollys Principles (1974), and Id Love to, but Whatll I
Wear? (1977). Continuing to perform, she made a notable TV
appearance in 2004 on The Sopranos.
[Walter Driver (2nd ed.)]
420
The death rate was high: in March 1945 just weeks before liberation, nearly 20,000 people died (including Anne *Frank).
A total of 37,000 died before the liberation.
Bergen-Belsen was the second major camp in Germany
to be liberated by the Allies. The British entered on April 15,
1945. The horrors, which deeply shocked the British soldiers,
received widespread publicity in the West. Among the arriving liberating troops were British filmmakers who recorded
the scene of bulldozers burying the dead and filmed the burning of the camps. These films were shown widely in movie
newsreels throughout the world and are emblematic of the
liberation and of the Nazi crimes for those who saw them
then and many years later. The British arrested the SS administrators, including the commandant, Josef Kramer, and
almost all were put to work clearing and burying the thousands of corpses. Twenty of them died doing this work, probably from infectious diseases. The rest were tried at the end of
1945. Eleven were condemned to death, 19 to imprisonment,
and 14 were acquitted.
When British troops entered the concentration camp of
Bergen-Belsen they encountered more than 10,000 corpses
and around 58,000 surviving inmates the overwhelming
majority of whom were Jews who suffered from a combination of typhus, tuberculosis, dysentery, extreme malnutrition,
and other virulent diseases.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bergen-belsen
ideas, unfortunately, were at variance with the political climate in 1945, and the calculations of those who held our fate
in their hands. There were political factors in Germany that
attempted to deny the Jewish character of the problems, which
confronted the world as a result of the Hitler catastrophe. They
sought by all means at their command to loosen the strong
grip that Jewish pain and suffering and the tragic Jewish situation had on world conscience.
When the British officially renamed the DP camp
Hohne in an attempt to at least nominally sever its relationship with the notorious concentration camp and thereby
dilute the impact of the survivors struggle for Jewish rights
in international public opinion, Jewish leadership simply ignored the new designation. They understood full well the
dramatic news value of the Bergen-Belsen name and were
not about to surrender it. Official communications sent by
the British military authorities to Rosensaft at Hohne were
responded to on stationery that gave Bergen-Belsen as the
Central Committees address.
Yiddish was the official language of the Bergen-Belsen DP
camp and Zionist politics were the order of the day. The first
handwritten and mimeographed issue of the Bergen-Belsen
newspaper, Undzer Shtimme (Our Voice), appeared on July 12,
1945. At first declared illegal by the British military authorities,
it soon received official sanction and then appeared regularly.
The first book published in Bergen-Belsen (on September 7,
1945) was a listing, in English and German, of the camps Jewish survivors to facilitate the reunification of family members
and friends, and some 60 other publications followed.
Several hundred children were liberated at BergenBelsen, and many more came there from Poland and other
parts of Eastern Europe during 1945 and 1946. As early as
June 1945, the first school was opened in Bergen-Belsen with
separate classes in Polish, Romanian, and Hungarian. Jewish
children from different parts of Eastern Europe soon joined
them. In due course Bergen-Belsen had a kindergarten; an
elementary, high, and vocational training school; and a full
complement of Jewish religious educational institutions. In
addition, the camp had a rabbinate, a hospital, its own Jewish
police force, a library, two theater companies, an orchestra,
and a host of youth and sports clubs.
Determined to create new lives for themselves, the Jewish DPs of Bergen-Belsen began to marry soon after liberation.
More then 2,000 children a vertitable population explosion
were born in the DP camp between 1946 and 1950.
Bergen-Belsen was at the heart of the Zionist struggle to
establish a Jewish state, resulting in frequent confrontations
with the British authorities. At the September 1945 Congress
of Liberated Jews, the Jewish DPs formally adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine and expressing their sorrow and indignation that almost
six months after liberation we still find ourselves in guarded
camps on British soil soaked with the blood of our people. We
proclaim that we will not be driven back into the lands which
have become the graveyards of our people.
421
bergen county
Both the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine and the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) paid official visits to Bergen-Belsen. Following
the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, many
of the Bergen-Belsen DPs immigrated there. Others immigrated to the United States, Canada, and elsewhere, and the
Bergen-Belsen DP Camp was officially closed in September
1950.
The World Federation of Bergen-Belsen Associations,
based in New York and led by Josef Rosensaft, Norbert Wollheim, Sam E. Bloch, and Hadassah Bimko Rosensaft, was one
of the first and most active organizations of Holocaust survivors, organizing commemorative events in the U.S., Israel, and
Canada as well as frequent pilgrimages to the mass-graves of
Bergen-Belsen, and publishing numerous memorial volumes
about Bergen-Belsen and the Holocaust generally. In Israel,
the survivors of Bergen-Belsen are represented by the Irgun
Sheerit ha-Pletah me-ha-Ezor ha-Briti (Organization of Survivors from the British Zone).
The Gedenksttte (Memorial Site) of Bergen-Belsen includes the mass graves, the Jewish and International monuments erected there, a museum, and a major research center
and archive. In May 1985, U.S. President Ronald Reagan visited
the site in an attempt to alleviate the opposition to his decision
to pay tribute to fallen German soldiers, including members
of the Waffen-SS, at the *Bitburg military cemetery.
Bibliography: Irgun Sheerit ha-Pletah me-ha-Ezor ha-Briti,
Belsen (Eng., 1957). Add. Bibliography: S.J. Goldsmith, Yossl
Rosensaft: The Art of Survival, in: Twenty 20t Century Jews (1962);
H. Lavsky, New Beginnings: Holocaust Survivors in Bergen-Belsen and
the British Zone of Germany, 19451950 (2002); S.E. Bloch (ed.), Holocaust and Rebirth: Bergen-Belsen 19451965 (1965); A. Knigseder and
J. Wetzel, Waiting for Hope: Jewish Displaced Persons in Post-World
War II Germany (2001); J. Reilly, Belsen: The Liberation of a Concentration Camp (1998); H. Rosensaft, Yesterday: My Story (2004); M.Z.
Rosensaft, Bergen-Belsen: The End and the Beginning, in: Children
and the Holocaust: Symposium Presentations (2004); B. Shephard, After Daybreak, The Liberation of Belsen, 1945 (2005).
[Jozeph Michman (Melkman) and Yehuda Bauer / Menachem
Rosensaft (2nd ed.)]
422
chairman of the County Republican Party in 1966 and chairman of the State Republican group in 1969. Nat Feldman was
elected councilman in Englewood in 1969 and was mayor of
Englewood (1970). Alvin Moskin, a descendant of one of the
earliest settlers, served as mayor of Englewood, 195659. Martin Kole of Fair Lawn and Abraham Rosenberg of Bogota were
appointed to judgeships on the county bench in 1966. Franklin
H. Cooper was elected to the Bergen County Board of Freeholders on the Republican ticket (1969). Loretta Weinberg, a
Democrat from Teaneck, was first elected to the New Jersey
Assembly in 1992 and was elected in 2002 to be the Majority
Conference Leader for the Democratic Party in the Assembly.
State Senator Byron M. Baer (D) has served in the State Senate
since 1994 and was elected Senate Leader Ex-Officio in 2004.
Congressman Steven Rothman is a Democrat from Fair Lawn
who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in
1996. He is now in his fourth term of representing the Ninth
District, which includes a portion of Bergen County. Congressman Rothman served as the two-term mayor of Englewood (198389) and as the Bergen County Surrogate Court
judge (199396). Robert M. Gordon of Fair Lawn was elected
to the New Jersey State Assembly in 2004. In the early 2000s,
Bergen County had many Jewish mayors, including Michael
Wildes of Englewood, Jacqueline Kates of Teaneck, Jack Alter of Fort Lee, David Ganz of Fair Lawn, Michael Kaplan
of Norwood, Sandy Farber of Palisades Park, Peter Rustin
of Tenafly, and Fred Pitofsky of Closter. United States Senator Frank *Lautenberg, who served in the Senate from 1982
to 2000 and was elected to a fourth term in 2002, was born
in neighboring Paterson, New Jersey, and now resides in the
Bergen County town of Cliffside Park. The growing political
power of Jews in Bergen County, and the communitys active
participation in the areas social and cultural life, represents a
radical change from the 1930s and the early 1940s. During this
earlier period, the county was a hotbed of activity for pro-German Bundists. Country clubs that once discriminated against
Jews are now fully integrated with all minority groups, and
there is very little overt antisemitism in the county.
Organizational Life
Organizational life is very active, with over 185 known Jewish
organizations. There are 23 Conservative synagogues, 15 Reform, 30 Orthodox, one Reconstructionist, and one unaffiliated. The Rabbinical Council of Bergen County (Orthodox)
and the North Jersey Board of Rabbis (Conservative and Reform) seek to enhance the life of the North Jersey Jewish community by furthering the interests of the professional rabbinate
and the congregations in the area. The umbrella organization
for the community is the UJA Federation of Northern New
Jersey, which was formed on July 1, 2004, by the merger of the
UJA Federation of Bergen County & North Hudson and the
Jewish Federation of North Jersey. The Federation is now the
18t largest UJA Federation out of the 186 major Federations in
North America. It serves a Jewish population of 100,000 people living in 35,000 households in 90 communities in Bergen
423
Berger, David
mentary (1979); and, as editor, History and Hate: The Dimensions of Anti-Semitism (1997).
[Jay Harris (2nd ed.)]
BERGER, ELMER (19081996), U.S. Reform rabbi and antiZionist propagandist. Berger was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and
ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1932. He had begun his
career serving two congregations in Michigan as rabbi when,
in 1942, he wrote a widely circulated essay Why I Am A NonZionist, in which he challenged the Zionist claim to represent
something called the Jewish people. As a result of his manifesto, which set forth the case for a universal and prophetic
Judaism, he became executive director in 1943 of the American Council for Judaism, the leading U.S. Jewish organization
opposed to the creation and existence of the State of Israel. As
executive vice president of the ACJ from 1956, the pro-Arab
Berger lobbied vigorously in the national media against Israel.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, Berger fell afoul of the ACJ leadership and left to form a splinter group, American Jewish Alternatives to Zionism, which remained marginal. He summarized his lifes crusades in his autobiographical Memoirs of an
Anti-Zionist Jew, published in Beirut in 1978. His other books
include The Jewish Dilemma (1945); Judaism or Jewish Nationalism (1957); A Partisan History of Judaism (1951); United States
Politics and Arab Oil (1974); and Who Knows Better Must Say
So (1956). Upon his death, Berger was eulogized as a hero in
Arab scholarly publications.
Bibliography: Grove online, s.v.; Bakers Biographical Dictionary (1997); B. Boretz, in: Perspectives of New Music 41 (2003).
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berger, samuel R.
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berger, victor
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BERGGRN, HEINRICH (18381889), h azzan and composer. Born in Warsaw, Berggrn was a music teacher in Vilna,
and later a violinist at the Grand Theater, Warsaw. He studied singing in Milan, became choirmaster in Odessa, was appointed h azzan in Posen, and chief cantor in Hanover in 1870.
His compositions include: Festival Kaddish for h azzan and
choir on the occasion of the jubilee of the Hanover synagogue,
1892; Complete Kaddish for h azzan and choir, 1889.
BERGH, VAN DEN, Dutch family of industrialists. ZADOK
VAN DEN BERGH (17691857) was a merchant and leader of
the Brabant Jewish community, living in the small village of
Geffen. His son DANIEL VAN DEN BERGH (17941866) headed
a textile factory from 1836, which under the name Bergoss
(18561986) made Oss into a center of the textile industry. His
younger brother SIMON VAN DEN BERGH (18181907) continued their fathers business, bartering groceries and dry goods
for butter supplied by peasants from the surrounding countryside. In 1872, Simon, helped by his sons Samuel, Arnold,
Henry, Isaac and Jacob, started production of artificial butENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bergman, andrew
and The Windmills of Your Mind (The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)). The couple received the Academy Award for Best
Musical Score for Yentl (1983), writing the lyrics to accompany
Michel Legrands music for the film. They were nominated for
16 other Academy Awards.
Alan Bergman was educated at the University of California-Los Angeles and received a B.A. from the University of
North Carolina. His career began during WWII when he wrote
and directed Special Services shows for American troops. After the war, he directed television shows for CBS from 1945
until 1953. He joined ASCAP in 1955 and began writing songs
for television, revues, and nightclub acts, for performers such
as Fred Astaire and Marge and Gower Champion. His notable stage scores include Thats Life, Ice Capades of 1957, and
Something More!, while his albums include Never Be Afraid
and Aesops Fables. He married his wife and songwriting partner, Marilyn, in 1958. Marilyn attended New York University.
She joined ASCAP in 1953, two years before her husband. She
also wrote songs for revues and nightclub performances and
is credited with several television theme songs. Some of the
couples other most memorable songs include Nice n Easy,
Yellow Bird, The Way You Make Me Feel, It Might Be
You, Moonlight, Cheatin Billy, Dont Know Where Im
Goin, Ive Never Left Your Arms, That Face, Baby, the
Ball Is Over, Ol MacDonald, Sentimental Baby, If I Were
in Love, and Thats Him Over There.
BERGMAN, ANDREW (1945 ), U.S. writer, director, producer. Born in Queens, N.Y., Bergman attended Harper College before earning his doctorate in American history at the
University of Wisconsin. His doctoral dissertation, Were in
the Money: Depression America and Its Films (1971), earned
him respect as a trenchant sociologist and film historian and
led to a job as a youth contact in the PR department at United
Artists. After writing the critically acclaimed Broadway comedy Social Security, Bergman received his first screenwriting
credit for the Mel Brooks blockbuster farce Blazing Saddles
(1974), which was based on Bermans treatment for a film
called Tex X. Bergman earned the sole screenwriting credit
for the 1979 comedy The In-Laws, starring Alan *Arkin and
Peter *Falk. He made his directorial debut two years later
with So Fine, a Madison Avenue satire about a professor who
conquers the garment industry with an idea for transparent
jeans. Bergman was widely praised for his adaptation of Michael Ritchies novel Fletch (1985), featuring Chevy Chase as
droll newspaper reporter Irwin Fletcher. Bergman continued to write and direct during the 1990s while also producing a number of films in conjunction with producer Michael
Lobell and their joint venture Lobell/Bergman Productions.
The versatile Bergman both wrote and directed The Freshman
(1990), starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, as
well as the features Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) and Striptease
(1996), while writing the screenplays for Soapdish (1991) and
The Scout (1994). His production credits include Chances Are
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BERGSON, HENRI LOUIS (18591941), French philosopher. His father, Michael *Bergson, came from a distinguished
Warsaw family; his mother from England. He was born in
Paris and from 1881 taught philosophy at the Angers Lyce
and subsequently at Clermont-Ferrand, where he gave his
famous lectures on laughter, and where, after long meditations in the countryside, he first devised the idea of the vital,
continuous, and generative impulse of the universe. From the
age of 25, Bergson devoted himself to elaborating this theory
in various forms. In 1889 he returned to Paris, published his
Ph.D. thesis Essai sur les donnes immdiates de la conscience
(Time and Free Will, 1910), and lectured at the Lyce Henri
IV and the Ecole Normale Suprieure. In 1900 he was appointed professor of philosophy at the Collge de France. His
lectures were popular and were attended by the elite of Paris
society. These lectures, like his books, especially LEvolution
cratrice (1907; Creative Evolution, 1911), were distinguished
by their lucid and brilliant style and established his fame in
France and throughout the world. In 1914 he became a member of the French Academy and in 1928 was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Bergson was also politically active, especially in foreign affairs, and headed a French delegation to
the U.S. He was president of the League of Nations Commit-
432
tee for Intellectual Cooperation. In 1940, after the French surrender to the Nazis, Bergson returned all his decorations and
awards, and, rejecting the French authorities offer to exclude
him from the edicts against the Jews, queued for many hours
to register as a Jew although he was weak and ill. In his latter
years he was attracted to Catholicism but remained a Jew in
order to maintain his identification with the persecuted. He
died a Jew in 1941.
Most of his works deal with the conception and explication of the notions of duration and movement, not as static
concepts defined by the mind but as experiences, conceived by
the intuition when it is freed from the limitations which the
intellectual consciousness imposes upon the conceiver and the
conceived. According to Bergson, the dynamic element of the
duration, the flowing time, is the sole penetrator of real existence. Time abolishes the static world of the conscious mind
and the concept of duration may be defined as the continual
change which takes place in time. This change is not transcendentally motivated but results from an inner energy the vital
impulse (lan vital) which derives from an unlimited source.
The actual duration of the vital impulse is the basic element
of the universe, while matter and awareness are only momentary manifestations or creations of the central stream. The consciousness can grasp the essence of reality, both in its primary
purity as a duration and in its consolidation and objectification as matter in space. In the same manner consciousness
can also reach self-knowledge in two different ways: through
intellectual static self-consciousness, and through an intimate
awareness of its essence as a conscious duration, a vital and
fluctuating spirit, regenerating and developing continuously.
From this it follows that the factor fashioning consciousness
is memory. Memory comprises the duration for it accumulates all past achievements and within it the past grows into
the present. Through the intuition, which is the essence of the
memory, man grasps his personal essence as a vital and conscious duration, and, similarly, grasps the creative duration,
which is absolute reality.
Bergsons view also appears in his theories on the functions of instinct, intellect, and intuition. Life evolution advances in three directions: vegetative, instinctive, and rational.
The instinct is the capability of utilizing organic instruments,
but this function is merely a blind practical knowledge. The
intellect has the ability of execution and of utilizing inorganic
instruments, and it introduces, therefore, the knowledge of the
qualities of objects, accompanied by self-knowledge. When
the intellect has time enough to develop its knowledge, it
judges all objects as if they were inorganic instruments, thus
viewing the living reality itself in a mechanical, devitalized
mirror. This perverted conception can be corrected by intuition, which is a developed instinct with self-awareness. Bergson conceived the intuition as the only means by which it is
possible to inject a primary flexibility into fossilized scientific
methods and draw them closer to reality.
Bergson recognized that the potential capability for immediately grasping reality is actualized only in a few select
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
beriH ah
men. Strong fetters of habit tie man down to the social, moral,
and conceptual reality of his environment, and only an elite
few are capable of extricating themselves. Therefore, Bergson
admired the great mystics (see his Les deux sources de la morale et de la religion, 1932; Two Sources of Morality and Religion, 1935).
Bibliography: A.D. Lindsay, The Philosophy of Bergson,
1911; H. Wildon Carr, Henri Bergson: The Philosophy of Change, 1912;
Hugh S. Elliot, Modern Science and the Illusions of Professor Bergson,
1912; V. Jankelevitch, Henri Bergson, 1931; A. Keller, Eine Philosophie
des Lebens (1914); J. Maritain, La philosophie Bergsonienne (1914); A.
Thibaudet, Le Bergsonisme (1923); J. Chevalier, Bergson (Fr., 1948); A.
Pallire, Bergson et le Judasme (1932); I. Benrubi, Souvenirs sur Henri
Bergson (1942); B. Scharfstein, Roots of Bergsons Philosophy (1943);
A. Cresson, Bergson, sa vie, son oeuvre (1950); R.M. Moss-Bastide,
Bergson ducateur (1955); idem, Bergson et Plotin (1959); I.W. Alexander, Bergson, Philosopher of Reflection (1957). Add. Bibliography: B. Gilson, Lindividualit dans la philosophie de Bergson (1985);
G. Deleuze, Bergsonism (1988); F. Burwick and P. Douglas (eds.), The
Crisis in Modernism: Bergson and the Vitalist Controversy (1992); K.
Ansell-Pearson, Philosophy and the Adventure of the Virtual: Bergson
and the Time of Life (2002); L. Lawlor, The Challenge of Bergsonism:
Phenomenology, Ontology, Ethics (2003).
[Pepita Haezrahi]
BERGSON, MICHAEL (18201898), Polish pianist and composer, born in Warsaw. He was the father of the French philosopher Henri *Bergson. Michaels opera Luisa di Montfort
was produced in Florence (1847) and in Hamburg (1849); his
operetta Qui va la chasse, perd sa place in Paris (1859). For
ten years he was piano professor, then director of the Geneva
Conservatory. In 1873 he settled in London, where he collaborated with M. Hast in the compilation and editing of synagogue music. A pupil of Chopin, he composed in Chopinesque
style, for which Schumann criticized him. One of his works,
Scena ed Aria, is still widely played by military bands.
Bibliography: Baker, Biog Dict; Grove, Dict; Sendrey, Music, indexes.
[Dora Leah Sowden]
BERGSTRAESSER, GOTTHELF (18861933), German Semitic scholar and linguist. Bergstraesser was born in Oberlosa
(Thueringen). During World War I, while professor at the University of Constantinople, he studied the spoken dialects in
Palestine and Syria on which he later published several scholarly works: Sprachatlas von Syrien und Palaestina (1915); Zum
arabischen Dialekt von Damaskus (1924); Neuaramaeische
Maerchen und andere Texte aus Malula (1915); Glossar des
neuaramaeischen Dialekts von Malula (1921). Bergstraesser began to work on an edition of Gesenius Hebraeische Grammatik of which only two parts appeared (Einleitung, Schrift-und
Lautlehre, 1918; Verbum, 1929). He also edited a Hebrew reader
Hebraeische Lesestuecke aus dem Alten Testament (1920). In addition to the linguistic studies which earned him international
repute (Einfuehrung in die semitischen Sprachen, 1928), Bergstraesser engaged in research on textual criticism and reading of the Koran, Arabic translations from Greek, especially
of Galen, and on Islamic law. A fierce opponent of Nazism,
Bergstraesser spoke out strongly against antisemitism.
Bibliography: M. Meyerhof, in: Isis, 25 (1936), 6062 (Eng.);
H. Gottschalk, in: Der Islam, 24 (1937), 18591 (with partial bibliography).
[Martin Meir Plessner]
BERIH AH (Heb.
; flight), name of an organized underground operation moving Jews out of Poland, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, the Baltic countries,
and the U.S.S.R. into Central and Southern Europe between
1944 and 1948 as a step toward their mostly illegal immigration to Palestine: also name of the spontaneous mass movement of Jewish survivors from Europe toward Erez Israel.
In 1939, Jewish refugees fleeing from the Germans were
illegally crossing frontiers into Soviet-occupied Poland and
thence to Lithuania or, in the south, to Romania. While this
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435
berinski, lev
BERIT HABIRYONIM (Heb. ) , an underground group operating in Palestine from 1930 to 1933 against
the Mandatory regime. Its founder and chief ideologue was
Abba *Ah imeir, and two other leading members were Uri
Z evi *Greenberg and Yehoshua *Yeivin. The group comprised
about 30 active members and a few score of sympathizers.
436
Ideologically the Berit stood on the extreme right of the *Revisionist movement, and in Palestine it dominated the party
organ H azit ha-Am. The activities of the Berit were of limited
scope: it demonstrated against the visit to Palestine of the
British Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Drummond Shiels;
called for a boycott of the official census; organized the blowing of the Shofar at the end of the Day of Atonement service
at the Western Wall; and pulled down the swastika flags from
the German Consulates in Jerusalem and Jaffa. Berit ha-Biryonim disintegrated shortly after the murder of *Arlosoroff, as
a result of persecution by the Mandatory authorities.
Bibliography: A. Ah imeir, Berit ha-Biryonim (1972): Y.
Ah imeir, Sh. Shatzki, Hinnenu Sikarikim (1978).
[Joseph Nedava]
berkley, william r.
was chairman of the society until 1929, and the more activist
line was carried out by his successor, Joseph Lurie. Rabbi Binyamin, the first editor of Berit Shaloms monthly, Sheifoteinu
(Our Aspirations), who demanded an agreement with the
Arabs on the basis of unlimited Jewish immigration, was replaced when a majority of the members declared themselves
ready to accept a temporary limitation of immigration to facilitate an agreement with the Arabs. In 1930 senior members of Berit Shalom published a series of memoranda, the
first of which Memorandum by the Brit Shalom Society on
an Arab Policy for the Jewish Agency was submitted to the
Zionist Executive in London in February. The second memorandum, entitled Practical Proposals for Cooperation Between
Jews and Arabs in Palestine, was prepared as a response to a
suggestion by one of the members of the 1929 Shaw Commission. The third memorandum was a personal endeavor
by Ernst Simon, and was distributed to the members of the
Conference of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish
Agency in London. The fourth and last one was a JudeaoArab Covenant prepared by Kalvaryski in August (apparently unknown to his colleagues at the time), and submitted
by him to a member of the Arab Executive. Berit Shalom was
attacked by most of the Zionist parties, who viewed its members as defeatists at best and traitors and worst. By 1933 it had
virtually ceased to exist, after many of its members deserted
it, and it ran out of funds.
Bibliography: Sheifotenu (193033); S. Hattis, The Bi-National Idea in Palestine in Mandatory Times (1970).
[Susan Hattis Rolef (2nd ed.)]
437
berkoff, steven
BERKOVITS, ELIEZER (19081992), theologian and Jewish philosopher. Berkovits was born in Oradea, Romania, in
1908. He received his rabbinical ordination in 1934 at the Berlin (Hildesheimer) Rabbinical Seminary, where he studied
under Rabbi Jehiel Jacob *Weinberg, (author of the Seridei
Esh); as well as from the Mir yeshivah and the rabbinate of
Hungary. In parallel, he earned a doctorate in philosophy at
the Friedrich-Wilhelms (now Humboldt) University of Berlin,
where he studied under Wolfgang Kohler, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology. After escaping Germany in 1939,
Berkovits served as a communal rabbi in Leeds, England
(194046); Sydney, Australia (194650); and Boston, Massachusetts (195056). In 1958 he accepted the chair of the phi-
438
berkow, ira
Zionist philosophy most thoroughly in Towards Historic Judaism (1943) as well as the final section of God, Man, and History. His critique of the modern Israeli reality in light of this
ideal appears in Mashber ha-Yehadut bi-Medinat ha-Yehudim
(The Crisis of Judaism in the Jewish State, 1987).
Other Writings
Berkovits doctoral dissertation, Hume und Der Deismus
(Hume and Deism, 1933) examines the epistemological issues
concerning revelation and natural religion in the thought of
David Hume. In Was Ist Der Talmud? (What is the Talmud?
1938), he offered an introduction to the methods and aims of
the oral tradition. Other significant works include Judaism:
Fossil or Ferment? (1956), a book-length response to Arnold
Toynbees depiction of the Jews; Prayer (1962), a monograph
on the uniqueness of prayer in Judaism; Major Themes in Modern Philosophies of Judaism (1974), in which he offered extensive critiques of the philosophies of Hermann Cohen, Franz
Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua *Heschel, and
Mordecai *Kaplan; and Unity in Judaism (1986), in which he
called for the rediscovery of Jewish collective identity above
denominational divisions. His collected sermons from the war
period appear in Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1945).
A collection of his major essays was published in 2002
(Shalem Press), titled Essential Essays on Judaism (ed. David
Hazony), which includes a bibliography of his writings.
[David Hazony (2nd ed.)]
439
berkowicz, joseph
1989); How to Talk Jewish (with Jackie Mason, 1990); The Gospel According to Casey: Casey Stengels Inimitable, Instructional,
Historical Baseball Book (with Jim Kaplan, 1992); To the Hoop:
The Seasons of a Basketball Life (1997); Court Vision: Unexpected Views on the Lure of Basketball (2000); and The Minority Quarterback, and Other Lives in Sports (2002).
city. During World War I, he toured army bases and was chaplain to soldiers. His efforts led to the development of a heart
condition and forced retirement. He was the first secretary of
the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Among his publications are Kiddush or Sabbath Sentiments in the Home (1898)
and Intimate Glimpses of a Rabbis Career (1921).
BERKOWICZ, JOSEPH (Jzef; 17891846), Polish army officer, the son of Berek *Joselowicz. In 1809 he joined Napoleons
Polish Legion, and took part in the battle of Kock, where his
father was killed. For his distinguished service in Napoleons
Russian campaign of 1812, in which he was severely wounded,
Joseph was awarded two crosses for valor. Retiring because
of his war injuries he was employed in forestry, becoming
chief forester in various localities in Poland. At the time of
the 183031 uprising he called upon the Jews to take up arms
and fight for their Polish fatherland. After the Polish defeat,
he left with his son Leon for France, where he lived in Besanon. He later moved to Liverpool, England, where he wrote a
novel which he himself translated into English, Stanislaus or
the Polish Lancer in the Suite of Napoleon (published posthumously by his sons, 1846).
Bibliography: A. Kraushar, Syn Berka Joselowicza (1889);
E. Tuniski, Berek Joselewicz i jego syn (1909), 51109; M. Balaban, in:
Nowy Dziennik (April 12, 1933); Polski Sownik Biograficzny, 1 (1935),
4545; A. Levinson, Toledot Yehudei Varshah (1953), 1223.
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441
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BERL, EMMANUEL (18921976), French author. A relative of *Bergson and *Proust, Berl was a passionate political essayist and critic of the French bourgeoisie. His works
include Mort de la pense bourgeoise (1925), La politique et
les partis (19322), Discours aux Franais (1934), La culture en
pril (1948), and Nasser tel quon le loue (1968). Berl was chief
editor of the weekly, Marianne (193337). He also wrote short
stories and novels including Sylvia (1952) and Rachel et autres
grces (1965), notable for their insight and an incisive style.
Deeply affected by World War I after serving for two years,
Berl, a convinced anti-fascist, adopted pacifist views that led
him in June 1940 to write some of future Vichy leader Ptains
speeches. He quickly put an end to this cooperation when he
became aware of the antisemitic direction of the new regime.
After the war, he left politics and devoted himself exclusively
to literature. In 1967, he was awarded the French Academys
Grand Prix de Literature.
Bibliography: B. Morlino, Emmanuel Berl: Les trbulations
dun pacifiste (1990); L.-A. Revah, Berl, un juif de France (2003).
[Dror Franck Sullaper (2nd ed.)]
Berlewi, Henryk
BERLEWI, HENRYK (18941967), painter, graphic artist, stage designer, art critic, and theorist of art. Berlewi was
born in Warsaw and as a child attended a h eder for a short
period of time. He started his art education at the Warsaw Art
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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and died there. His wife, daughter, and son-in-law were also
arrested and deported.
Bibliography: Haolam (Feb. 24, 1938); M. Landau et al.
(eds.), Al Admat Bessarabia, 2 (1962), 1314. Add. Bibliography:
M. Slipoi, in: Yahadut Bessarabia (EG, 11), 873; D. Vinitzky, Bessarabia ha-Yehudit be-Maarekhoteihah bein Shetei Milh amot ha-Olam
19141940 (1973), 12527, 13032, 157.
[David Vinitzky / Lucian-Zeev Herscovici (2nd ed.)]
BERLIJN, ANTON (Aron Wolf; 18171870), Dutch composer, born in Amsterdam. He was for many years conductor
and director of the Royal Theater, and was made a member
of the Order of Merit by King William III of the Netherlands.
Other monarchs (of Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, and
Austria) also decorated him. He founded many choral groups,
wrote liturgical works for the synagogue, and composed a
large body of other music. His compositions included nine
operas (of which Die Bergknappen and Proserpina became
popular), an oratorio Moses auf Nebo, a symphony (performed
by Spohr at Cassel, 1857), seven ballets, and a cantata. His
archives, including correspondence with Mendelssohn and
Meyerbeer, among others, are preserved at the National and
University Library, Jerusalem.
Bibliography: Grove, Dict; Baker, Biog Dict; Riemann-Gurlitt; Sendrey, Music, index.
[Dora Leah Sowden]
berlin
to the margrave who from 1317 pledged them to the municipality on varying terms, but received them back in 1363. Their
taxes, however, were levied by the municipality in the name of
the ruler of the state. The oldest place of Jewish settlement in
Great Jews Court (Grosser Judenhof) and Jews Street had
some of the characteristics of a Jewish quarter, but a number
of wealthier Jews lived outside these areas. Until 1543, when a
cemetery was established in Berlin, the Jews buried their dead
in the town of Spandau. The Berlin Jews engaged mainly in
commerce, handicrafts (insofar as this did not infringe on the
privileges of the craft guilds), moneychanging, moneylending,
and other pursuits. Few attained affluence. They paid taxes for
the right to slaughter animals ritually, to sell meat, to marry,
to circumcise their sons, to buy wine, to receive additional
Jews as residents of their community, and to bury their dead.
During the *Black Death (134950), the houses of the Jews
were burned down and the Jewish inhabitants were killed or
expelled from the town.
From 1354, Jews again settled in Berlin. In 1446 they were
arrested with the rest of the Jews in *Brandenburg, and expelled from the electorate after their property had been confiscated. A year later Jews again began to return, and between
1454 and 1475 there were 23 recorded instances of Jews establishing residence in Berlin in the oldest register of inhabitants.
A few wealthy Jews were admitted into Brandenburg in 1509.
In 1510 the Jews were accused of desecrating the *Host and
stealing sacred vessels from a church in a village near Berlin.
One hundred and eleven Jews were arrested and subjected to
examination, and 51 were sentenced to death; of these 38 were
burned at the stake in the new market square together with
the real culprit, a Christian, on July 10, 1510. Subsequently,
the Jews were expelled from the entire electorate of Brandenburg. All the accused were proved completely innocent
at the Diet of Frankfurt in 1539 through the efforts of *Joseph
(Joselmann) b. Gershom of Rosheim and *Philipp Melanchthon. The elector Joachim II (153571) permitted the Jews to
return and settle in the towns in Brandenburg, and Jews were
permitted to reside in Berlin in 1543 despite the opposition of
the townspeople. In 1571, when the Jews were again expelled
from Brandenburg, the Jews of Berlin were expelled for ever.
For the next 100 years, a few individual Jews appeared there
at widely scattered intervals. About 1663, the Court Jew Israel
Aaron, who was supplier to the army and the electoral court,
was permitted to settle in Berlin.
Beginnings of the Modern Community (to 1812)
After the expulsion of the Jews from *Vienna in 1670, the
elector issued an edict on May 21, 1671, admitting 50 wealthy
Jewish families from Austria into the mark of Brandenburg
and the duchy of Crossen (Krosno) for 20 years. They paid
a variety of taxes for the protection afforded them but were
not permitted to erect a synagogue. The first writ of privileges
was issued to Abraham Riess (Abraham b. Model Segal) and
Benedict Veit (Baruch b. Menahem Rositz), on Sept. 10, 1671,
the date considered to mark the foundation of the new Berlin
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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pointed of 15, 18, or 32 members. In 1792 a supervisory committee was created consisting of three members to supervise
the fiscal aspect of communal administration. The first rabbi,
elected at the time of the erection of the Berlin synagogue in
the Heiderentergasse, was Michael H asid (officiated 171428).
His successors include Jacob Joshua b. Z evi Hirsch *Falk of
Cracow (173134), author of Penei Yehoshua, David *Fraenkel
(174362), author of Korban ha-Edah on the Palestinian Talmud and teacher of Moses Mendelssohn, and Z evi Hirsch b.
Aryeh Loeb (Hirschel *Levin, 17721800), known for his opposition to Haskalah.
From the Edict of Equality to the Accession of the Nazis
The political history of the Jews of Berlin after 1812 becomes
increasingly merged with that of the Jews of *Prussia and
*Germany as a whole. In the 1848 Revolution the Jews played
an active role as fighters on the barricades and members of
the civic guard, as orators and journalists, and the like. Despite the edict of 1812 Jews continued to be hampered by a
number of restrictions, and formal civic equality was not attained until July 1860. Subsequently, Jews began to enter Berlins political and social life in increasing numbers, and the
Berlin municipality was for a long time a stronghold of liberalism and tolerance. About one-fifth of Berlins newspapers
were owned by Jews. The Berliner Tageblatt and the Vossische
Zeitung, whose publishers and editors were Jewish, were read
abroad with particular attention, although it was known that
they did not express the opinions of circles close to the government. Berlin Jews played a prominent part in literature, the
theater, music, and art. Their successes aroused fierce reaction
among the more conservative elements and Berlin became a
center of antisemitism. The Berlin Movement founded by
Adolf *Stoecker incited the masses against the Jews by alleging that they were the standard-bearers of capitalism and
controlled the press (see *Antisemitic Political Parties and
Organizations).
The Jewish population of Berlin numbered 3,292 in 1812;
11,840 in 1852; 108,044 in 1890; and 172,672 in 1925. Thus,
within a century it had increased more than fiftyfold. The Jews
comprised about 2 of the total population in 1840, 5.02 in
1890, and 4.29 in 1925. The Jews in Berlin comprised 1.4
of German Jewry in 181128, 7.03 in 1871, and 30.6 in 1925.
Despite the increasing instances of intermarriage, renunciation of Judaism, and conversion to Christianity, and the decline in the Jewish birthrate, the Jewish population of Berlin
continued to grow through the arrival of Jews from provincial centers, especially from the province of Posen (Poznan)
and from Eastern Europe. As Berlin grew in importance as a
commercial and industrial center, Jews played an increasingly
important role in the citys economic life, especially as bankers (*Mendelssohn, *Bleichroeder, and others), owners of department stores (*Wertheim, *Tietz, Jandorf), and in the grain
and metal trades, the textile and clothing industries, building
construction, the manufacture of railway engines and cars,
the brewing of beer, and other branches of the economy. LudENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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193339
At the time the Nazis came to power, Berlins organized Jewish community numbered about 172,000 persons. In the preceding years as the Nazi movement was growing in influence,
the rate of Jewish affiliation had increased. With Hitlers ascent to power on January 30, 1933, street demonstrations
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
berlin
papers was the Berliner juedisches Gemeindeblatt, a voluminous weekly published by the community. Zionist work was
in full swing, especially that of He-H alutz, and in February
1936, a German Zionist convention was held in Berlin (the last
to meet there), still reflecting in its composition the vigorous
party life of German Zionists. From March 28, 1938, the Jewish
community was deprived of its status as a recognized public
corporate body. The Berlin community was made a private
organization, denied the right to collect dues from the community, and renamed the Juedische Kultusvereinigung Berlin
(Jewish Religious Society).
In June 1938, mass arrests of Jews took place on the
charge that they were asocial, e.g., had a criminal record,
including traffic violations, and they were imprisoned in the
*Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On November 910,
*Kristallnacht marked a turning point in the affairs of Berlin
Jewry: synagogues were burned down, Jewish shops destroyed,
Jewish institutions were raided and closed, including libraries
and museums, and Jewish manuscripts and documents were
destroyed. In the wake of *Kristallnacht, 1,200 Jewish businesses were put up for Aryanization and 10,000 Jews from
Berlin and other places were arrested and imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. The Bannmeile was decreed, which restricted
Jews to an area within a certain radius from their place of residence; banished them from most of the main thoroughfares,
and the area in which government offices were located; and
evicted Jews from their apartments, a step which had begun
earlier, but was now accelerated. Jewish newspapers had to
cease publication. The only paper was the new Das juedische
Narchrichtenblatt which was required to publish Gestapo directives to the Jews. Meetings of bodies of the Jewish community were no longer permitted, and the Jewish communitys
executive council had to conduct its affairs from then on without consulting any representative group. Religious services,
when resumed, were now restricted to three synagogues (on
Levetzow, Luetzow, and Kaiser Streets) and a few small halls.
The pace of Aryanization accelerated as did the rate of emigration. Most of Berlins rabbis left Berlin before Kristallnacht:
the last three rabbis to stay were Felix Singerman (died in Riga
in 1942), Martin Salomonski (died in Auschwitz in 1944), and
the most prominent of all, Leo *Baeck, who was offered the
opportunity to leave but decided to stay with his flock and was
sent to Theresienstadt camp in early 1943. As the Germans arrived in his home, Baeck asked for half an hour, during which
time he posted a letter to his daughter in England and with an
unyielding sense of honor paid his gas and electric bills. At the
end of January 1939, the Gestapo established a Zentralstelle
fuer juedische Auswanderung (Central Bureau for Jewish
Emigration) in Berlin. The Berlin community, presided over
by Heinrich *Stahl, was the largest and most dynamic German-Jewish community, and was incorporated along with the
Reichsvertretung der deutschen Juden into the Nazi-imposed
Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland the change in
name from German Jews to Jews in Germany was essential,
not incidental established on July 4, 1939. After its incor-
449
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450
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Scrolls were hidden there during the years of the Nazi persecution in a concerted organized activity which encompassed
over 500 scrolls to be restituted after the war.
Number of Jews in Berlin 18161945
1816
1837
1855
1871
1895
1905
1910
1925
1933
1939
Jan. 1942
Dec. 1942
Apr. 1943
1945
Absolute Numbers
Percentages
3,373
5,648
12,675
36,326
94,391
130,487
142,289
172,672
160,564
82,788
55,000
33,000
18,315
9,000
1.20
1.98
2.93
4.15
4.48
4.30
4.05
4.30
3.80
1.70
Contemporary Period
On July 15, 1945, the Jewish community was officially reconstituted. At first it was headed by Erich Nelhans, a former *Mizrachi leader, and from the fall of 1945 by Hans Erich Fabian,
who had returned from Theresienstadt, the only member of
the Reichsvereinigung to survive the war. Also active in the
leadership of the community were Alfred Schoyer, a member
of the Berlin Jewish Community Council before his deportation; Heinz Galinski, who had returned from Bergen-Belsen;
and Julius Meyer, a survivor of Auschwitz. At the beginning
of 1946, the community had a registered membership of 7,070
people, of whom 4,121 (over 90 of all married members) had
non-Jewish spouses, 1,321 had survived the war by hiding, and
1,628 had returned from concentration camps. The Jews were
dispersed throughout Berlin, a third of them living in the Soviet sector. The community was assisted by the military government, as well as by the *American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), which initiated its activities in Berlin
in the autumn of 1945. Several synagogues were opened, the
Jewish Hospital resumed its work (although most of its patients and staff were not Jews), and three homes for the aged
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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berlin, irving
BERLIN (Baline), IRVING (Israel; 18881989), U.S. popular songwriter. Berlin was born in Kirghizia, Russia, the son
of a cantor, and was taken to New York in 1893. His first regular job was as a singing waiter, and it was then that he wrote
the lyrics of his first song Marie from Sunny Italy in 1907.
His second song, Dorando (1908), brought him $25 and a
job with a music company. He became a partner in the firm
and later established his own music publishing house. Berlin
had no musical training and never learned to read music. His
technique remained primitive, and when he composed at the
piano he did it only in one key; modulations were effected by
a special set of pedals. After composing a tune, Berlin either
sang or played it for an assistant, who would then transcribe
it into musical notation.
His first big success was the song Alexanders Ragtime
Band (1911), which sold more than a million copies in just a
matter of months. His melodies, for which he wrote the lyrics, were infectious, sentimental, and have maintained their
popularity. He composed more than 1,000 songs, 19 musicals,
and the scores for 18 movies. Among his most popular songs
are White Christmas, Easter Parade, Theres No Business
Like Show Business, Blue Skies, Puttin on the Ritz, Cheek
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456
BERLIN, ISRAEL (1880?), Russian-Jewish historian, descended from a distinguished h asidic family. Berlin was educated at a Lithuania yeshivot and moved to St. Petersburg,
where he became a member of the editorial board of the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia (Yevreyskaya Entsiklopediya, vols.
916) for which he edited the sections on the geonic period
and rabbinic literature. He also contributed many basic articles
on other topics, among them the Hebrew language, the Zohar,
H asidism, the Khazars, and Judaizers. He also contributed to
the periodical Yevreyskaya Starina. In his fundamental study
Historical Settlements of the Jewish People on the Territory
of Russia (1919), Berlin attempted to explain the origins of
Jewish settlements in Russia and trace their history up to the
end of the 16t century. This work, based on copious literary
and documentary material, was not completed. Berlins fate
under Soviet rule is not known.
Bibliography: B.Z. Dinur, Be-Olam she-Shaka (1958),
1513.
[Yehuda Slutsky]
BERLIN, MOSES (18211888), Russian scholar and civil servant, born in Shklov, Belorussia. Berlin wrote his first paper
in Hebrew under the Latin title Ars logica (1845). In 1849 he
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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458
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berliner, abraham
460
BERLINER, EMILE (18511929), inventor. Born and educated in Wolfenbuettel, Germany, Berliner emigrated to the
U.S.A. in 1870. He worked in New York and Washington, D.C.,
as a clerk, salesman, and assistant in a chemical laboratory.
He studied electricity and in 1876 began experimenting with
Bells newly invented telephone, which he succeeded in refining with his invention of the loose-contact telephone transmitter or microphone and the use of an induction coil. The
Bell Telephone Company immediately purchased the rights
to his invention, which for the first time made the telephone
practical for long-distance use. Berliner was appointed chief
electrical instruments inspector of the company. In 1887 he improved Edisons phonograph by introducing a flat disc instead
of a cylinder and the use of a shallow groove. The patent was
acquired by the Victor Talking Machine Company and served
as the basis for the modern gramophone. In his later years he
engaged in aviation experiments and introduced the use of a
revolving cylindered light engine. Between 1919 and 1926 he
built three helicopters which he tested in flight himself. Berliner also interested himself in public matters, particularly in
the field of health and hygiene. In 1890 he founded the Society
for the Prevention of Sickness. In 1907 he organized the first
milk conference in Washington, whose efforts contributed to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
the pasteurization of milk and an improvement in its quality. He played a leading part in the fight against the spread of
tuberculosis and wrote a number of articles on hygiene and
preventive medicine. He set out his agnostic ideas on matters
of religion and philosophy in his book Conclusions (1902).
Toward the end of his life Berliner supported the rebuilding
of Palestine and was active on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
[Grete Leibowitz]
Emiles son HENRY ADLER BERLINER (18951970), aeronautical engineer, did pioneering work with his father on helicopter
construction during and after World War I. He was president
of Berliner Aircraft, Inc. in Washington and from 1930 to 1954
chairman of Engineering and Research Corporation. In 1955
he became president of the Maryland firm of Tecfab Inc. In
World War II, during which he lost an arm, he was chief of
war plans for the Eighth Air Force.
[Samuel Aaron Miller]
Bibliography: F.W. Wile, Emile Berliner, Maker of the Microphone (1926); C.J. Hylander, American Inventors (1934).
BERMAN, HOWARD LAWRENCE (1941 ), U.S. congressman. Raised in a traditional home in Beverlywood, Los
Angeles, by an Orthodox Polish-immigrant father, Berman
spent several summers at Machene Yehuda, a Jewish camp in
the hills northeast of Los Angeles San Fernando Valley. The
camps head counselor was the young Rabbi Chaim *Potok
(19292002). Berman always considered his summers at Machene Yehuda to be the single-most important Jewish experience in his life.
Berman entered the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1958, where he majored in political science and
became active in the California Federation of Young Democrats, where he was befriended by the head of the Draft Stevenson campaign, fellow Angelino Henry Waxman. The two
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462
BERMAN, JACOB (18781974), rabbi, educator, and communal worker. Berman was born in Salant, Lithuania. He
studied rabbinics at Telz Yeshivah and law at St. Petersburg
University. While in St. Petersburg he played a part in the
founding of the Baron Guenzburg Jewish Academy. In 1902
he was a delegate to the Zionist Conference in Minsk and the
first Mizrachi Conference in Lida, where he lectured on the
need for modernizing the yeshivot and initiated the founding of the Lida yeshivah of Isaac *Reines. He was principal of
the yeshivah of Odessa, and rabbi in Berdichev, where he was
active in saving and aiding refugees. In 1921 he immigrated
to Erez Israel, and from 1924 to 1944 he was head of Mizrachi
religious education, served as deputy director of the Keneset
Yisrael education department, and was chief inspector of religious schools. He was active in enlarging and developing the
state religious education network and founded and directed
the Religious Pedagogical Institute for yeshivah graduates.
He wrote Torat ha-Medinah be-Yisrael, Pirkei Shulh an Arukh
le-Talmidim, and Halakhah le-Am. He was awarded the Israel
Prize for Education in 1968.
BERMAN, JAKUB (19011984), Polish Communist leader.
Born in Warsaw, a brother of Adolf *Berman, Jacob graduated in law and then undertook research into the economic
and social history of Poland. Some of his articles on these
subjects dealt with Jewish problems, and in 1926 he published a dissertation on the tasks of the historical section of
the Jewish Scientific Institute (YIVO). From 1928 to 1939 he
worked for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Berman joined the
Polish Communist Party in 1928, becoming one of its most
active workers. During World War II he took refuge in the
Soviet Union, and in 1943 helped to organize the Sovietsponsored Union of Polish Patriots. He was a member of the
political staff of the Polish Army in the U.S.S.R. and of the
Polish National Liberation Committee. After the war he returned to Poland and was undersecretary of state in the presidium of the Council of Ministers from 1945 to 1952. From
1952 to 1956 he was a deputy premier. In these years Berman
was a leading figure in the Political Bureau and a close colleague of the Polish president, Boleslaw Bierut. In 1956, when
Wladislaw Gomulka came to power, Berman was accused of
Stalinism and removed from all his government and party
posts. From 1958 to 1968 he worked as editor in a publishing
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BERMAN, JULIUS (1935 ), U.S. lawyer, rabbi, and communal leader. Berman was born in Dukst, Lithuania. Despite
the German occupation the family managed to immigrate to
the United States in April 1940 and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. After earning a B.A. at Yeshiva University (1956),
Berman attended Yeshivas Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological
Seminary (in the daytime) and NYU Law School (at night). In
1959 he received his rabbinic ordination from the seminary
and in 1960 he graduated first in his class from law school,
having been named a member of the law review and the legal honor society.
Choosing to pursue a legal career rather than practicing
as a rabbi, Berman joined the New York firm of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler (now Kaye Scholer LLP) in August 1959, where in the course of a career spanning more than
40 years he was an accomplished litigator in state and federal
courts, a renowned negotiator, and a highly respected counselor for numerous clients throughout the United States, particularly those with Orthodox affiliations.
Berman was a pioneer among Sabbath-observing Jews in
the New York legal world, particularly the larger law firms. By
working Sundays and carrying a workload even greater than
many of his colleagues, Berman was able to demonstrate that
Sabbath observance did not hinder success; and his diligence
and skill were rewarded in July 1969 when he was made a partner in the firm. Indeed, it was through his efforts (and those of
a small number of others) that hiring observant Jews became
a matter of routine in New York and other major cities. Unlike
the Kaye, Scholer of the early 1960s, today many of the firms
attorneys wear kippot in the office and, due largely to Bermans
efforts over the years, the firm today boasts a daily minhah/
maariv minyan and a weekly advanced Talmud lecture.
Bermans service to the American Jewish community
began with an Orthodox focus. He was a founder and president of the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public
Affairs (COLPA), which provided legal representation with
respect to issues of interest to the Orthodox community; and
the founding president of Camps Mogen Avraham, Heller,
Sternberg, Inc., which operated four camps serving some
3,000 Orthodox campers. Berman was active in the Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (the Orthodox Union) from the outset of his career and ultimately was
elected its president.
Berman was heavily involved in representing Orthodoxy
in the broader Jewish community, in such organizations as
the multidenominational Synagogue Council of America and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
463
Berman, Myron R.
View of the Crucifixion (1929), Role of the Rabbi (1941), and For
Zions Sake: A Personal and Family Chronicle (1979).
[Michael Berenbaum (2nd ed.)]
464
rector at RKO when David O. *Selznick took over the floundering studio. Selznick fired many people at RKO, but he saw
something in Berman and made him his assistant. Berman
was a success and, as a producer, brought to the screen many
stars and great films. It was he who paired Rogers with Astaire,
made Katherine Hepburn a star, and brought Elizabeth *Taylor to public attention. In 1940 he signed a contract with MGM.
In 1963, when an MGM power play diminished his authority,
Berman left to do independent work.
Bermans productions include The Gay Divorcee (1934);
Top Hat (1935); Shall We Dance (1937); Stage Door (1937); The
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); National Velvet (1945); The
Seventh Cross (1944); The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945); Of
Human Bondage (1948); Madam Bovary (1949); Father of the
Bride (1950); The Prisoner of Zenda (1952); Ivanhoe (1952); The
Blackboard Jungle (1955); Tea and Sympathy (1956); Something
of Value (1957); Jailhouse Rock (1957); The Brothers Karamazov
(1958); Butterfield 8 (1960); Sweet Bird of Youth (1962); The
Prize (1963); A Patch of Blue (1965); Justine (1969); and Move
(1970). In 1977 Berman received the Irving Thalberg Award
at the 49t annual Academy Awards.
Add. Bibliography: M. Steen, Hollywood Speaks: An
Oral History (1974).
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
BERMAN, SHELLEY (1926 ), U.S. actor, comedian, author. Berman was trained as an actor at the Goodman Theater
in his native Chicago before joining stock companies in Chicago and New York. In the mid-1950s he joined the Chicago
Compass Players, the famed performance group now known
as The Second City. Bermans first breakthrough as a comedian came in 1957 when he began performing at Mr. Kellys
in Chicago. His success as a comedian, including 21 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, led to three best-selling comedy records and the distinction of winning the first Grammy
Award for a non-musical recording, as well as becoming the
first stand-up comedian to perform at Carnegie Hall. His
stage credits include starring roles in the Broadway musical
Inside Outside and All Around Shelley Berman and Neil *Simons touring musical production Two by Two. On television
Berman appeared on both variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jack Paar Show, and scripted programs
such as L.A. Law, Friends, Arliss, Walker, Texas Ranger, Dead
Like Me, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, on which he played the
role of Larry Davids father. His major film credits include
The Best Man, Every Home Should Have One, Divorce American Style, Teen Witch, and The Last Producer. Berman is the
author of three books (Cleans and Dirtys, A Hotel is a Funny
Place, and Up in the Air), two plays (First is Supper and Silver
Sonata). He was also a professor in the University of Southern
Californias Professional Writing Program and was awarded
an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.
[Walter Driver (2nd ed.)]
BERMAN, SIMEON (18181884), precursor of Jewish agricultural settlement in Erez Israel. Berman, who was born in
Cracow, founded a Jewish agricultural settlement society there
in 1851. He immigrated to the United States in 1852 and settled
in New York. There and in other cities he attempted to found
societies for agricultural settlement, but received no support.
In 1870 he went to Erez Israel and proposed that Mikveh Israel
land be set aside for an agricultural settlement, but his proposal was rejected. Berman sent a request, through the U.S.
consul, to the Ottoman government asking to be allowed to
buy land in Erez Israel. The request was granted, and Berman
moved to Tiberias, where he founded the cooperative Holy
Land Settlement Society. He received messages of encouragement from rabbis Z evi Hirsch *Kalischer and Elijah *Guttmacher, who also promised funds. A parcel of land on the shores
of Lake Kinneret was chosen for settlement, and Berman went
abroad to propagate the scheme. His Yiddish book Masot Shimon, published in 1879, relates his experiences in Erez Israel.
In 1882 Berman returned to Tiberias where he died. Toward
the end of his life he witnessed the establishment of the first
settlements in Judea and Galilee. Their founders, as the early
settlers David Schub and Moshe *Smilansky testify in their
memoirs, had been influenced by his book.
Bibliography: A. Yaari, Masot Erez Yisrael (1946), 593610,
780; E z D, 1 (1958), 4208 (includes bibliography); Hadoar, May 16,
1958.
[Avraham Yaari]
BERMAN BERMAN, NATALIO (19071959), Chilean politician and Zionist leader. Born in Podolia (Russia), Berman
immigrated to Chile in 1915 when he was eight years old. His
family settled in Valparaso, where he graduated from high
school. From early childhood he demonstrated his qualities as a leader, organizing the Jewish youth of the small
community of Valparaso. At the age of 15 he was named a
delegate from Valparaso to the Zionist Congress of Chile.
He studied medicine at the University of Santiago, working
as an assistant in anatomy. During his studies he engaged in
broad communal activity, founding the periodical Nosotros,
which became the organ of the entire Chilean Jewish community. He was active in merging the four existing Jewish youth
groups into one organization the Asociacin de Jvenes Israelitas (AJI).
In 1930 Berman was elected president of the Federacin
Sionista de Chile. After his graduation in medicine he moved
to Concepcin, continuing his Jewish communal activities.
At the same time, however, he was extremely active among
the poor Chilean classes, starting his political career in the
N.A.P. (Nueva Accin Pblica), which later united with the
Socialist Party.
In 1936 Berman led a public campaign against higher
taxes, as a consequence of which the government exiled him to
a remote island in the south of Chile and revoked his Chilean
citizenship. This act provoked the general indignation among
465
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466
bernard, edward
BERNAL, JOHN DESMOND (19011971), physicist. Bernal was born in Nenagh, County Tipperary, now in the Irish
Republic, and graduated in science from Cambridge University (1923). After research at the Royal Institution, London
(192327), he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in structural crystallography before his appointment as professor
of physics at Birkbeck College, London (1937). His main research achievements concerned the crystallographic study of
proteins, an essential step in the emergence of molecular biology. His pupils included Rosalind *Franklin, Aaron *Klug,
and Max *Perutz. Known as the Great Sage of Cambridge,
he was a polymath to the detriment of his personal achievements. His interests included the origins of life on Earth and
the creation of the Mulberry harbors indispensable for the
1944 D-Day landings. He was deeply interested in the social
concerns of science and he lectured and wrote prolifically in
this field and on popular science and the history of science.
His honors included election to the Royal Society of London,
the Lenin Prize of the U.S.S.R., and the U.S. Medal of Freedom. The precocious child of Sephardi Jews on his fathers
side and an American mother, he became a Marxist and, with
the rise of fascism in the 1930s, briefly a member of the Communist Party.
[Michael Denman (2nd ed.)]
467
tions and manuscript reliquiae are listed by A. Wood (Athenae Oxonienses, ed. by P. Bliss, 4 (London, 181320), 703),
and a printed auction-catalog of his library survives in the
British Museum.
Add. Bibliography: ODNB online.
[Raphael Loewe]
BERNARD, H AYYIM DAVID (17821858), Polish physician and h asidic leader. Born in Dzialoszyce, near Piotrkow,
Bernard is reputed to have been the son of the poet and physician Issachar Falkensohn *Behr. At the age of 14 Bernard
arrived in Berlin and later qualified as a physician in Erfurt.
The liberal policies of King Frederick William II enabled him
to become court physician at Potsdam and a medical officer
in the Prussian Army a considerable achievement for a Jew.
After Napoleons conquest of Poland, Bernard was appointed
medical inspector for the western regions of the Grand Duchy
of Warsaw (180715). A typical product of the German-Jewish
Enlightenment, he at first remained aloof from Polish Jewry,
but a spiritual crisis led him to approach R. David of *Lelov,
who introduced him to R. *Jacob Isaac ha-H ozeh mi-Lublin,
the Seer of Lublin. Bernard, known thereafter as R. H ayyim
David, became a strictly Orthodox Jew and a follower of the
Seer. He grew a beard, although he retained western dress, and
never mastered Yiddish. As the Warsaw Jewish archives have
shown, he was a leading communal figure and later worked in
collaboration with R. *Simh ah Bunem of Przysucha. Among
the Jews and Christians whom he treated, Bernard was venerated as a saint and he spent the rest of his life in Piotrkow,
both as head of the local hospital and as a wonder-working
H asid. Although his wife opposed the Seers wish to designate
her husband as his successor, Bernard was widely regarded as
the Seers spiritual heir and for decades after the physicians
death his grave was a center of h asidic pilgrimage.
Bibliography: Mah anayim, no. 123 (1969), 1748.
BERNARD, JESSIE (19031996), U.S. sociologist and feminist. Born Jessie Sarah Ravitch in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the
daughter of Jewish-Romanian immigrants, Bernard received
B.A. (1923) and M.A. (1924) degrees from the University of
Minnesota. Her M.A. thesis was entitled Changes of Attitudes
of Jews in the First and Second Generation. In 1935 Bernard
earned a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. In
some of her work Bernard collaborated with her husband, Luther Lee Bernard, a professor of sociology whom she had met
at the University of Minnesota. Bernard spent many years on
the faculties of Washington University and Pennsylvania State
University. In her early career she researched issues relating to
Jewish life. Later, her concerns focused on the family, sexuality,
and gender. In her sixties Bernard became an ardent advocate
of feminism; she was an influential figure who was regarded
as a role model for younger women. She served as president
of the Eastern Sociological Association and president of the
Society for the Study of Social Problems; in retirement Ber-
468
bernays
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX (10901153), French Cistercian, homilist, and theologian. In 1146, when preaching the
Second Crusade, he intervened orally and in writing to protect
the Jews in the Rhineland from persecution incited by a certain monk Radulph, declaring that an attempt on the life of a
Jew was a sin tantamount to making an attempt on the life of
Jesus. A letter addressed by Bernard to the Germans implicitly
repudiates the policy urged by *Peter the Venerable, abbot of
Cluny, against the Jews (although without expressly naming
the abbot) by emphasizing the difference between Jews and
Muslims; Bernard, while considering it right to take up arms
against Muslims, maintains that it is forbidden to attack Jews.
While Peter wished to expropriate the wealth of the Jews to
finance the Crusade, Bernard limited himself to recommending the abolition of interest on credit they had advanced to
crusaders. He finally recalled in his epistle the fate of Peter the
Hermit and his followers, who had persecuted the Jews during
the First Crusade and led his supporters into such peril that
practically none had survived. Bernard warned that the present crusaders might well suffer similar Divine retribution: It
is to be feared that if you act in like manner, a similar fate will
strike you. Jewish chroniclers stress Bernards disinterestedness in his defense of the Jews.
Bibliography: A. Neubauer (ed.), Hebraeische Berichte
(1892), 58ff., 187ff.; Blumenkranz, in: K.H. Rengstorf and S. von Kortzfleisch (eds.), Kirche und Synagoge (1968), 119ff.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
469
bernays, edward L.
470
berne
BERNBACH, WILLIAM (19111982), U.S. advertising executive. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., he served in the U.S. Army
in World War II and then worked at Grey Advertising, one
of a few Jewish-owned advertising agencies in New York. His
modest upbringing during the Depression and public school
education instilled a strong sense of gratitude for the achievements that lay before him during his remarkable career in
advertising.
In 1949, seeking to develop an environment based on
the primacy of creativity, he joined with Ned Doyle, another
Grey vice president, and with Maxwell Dane, a small agency
owner, to form Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB). They specialized
in subtle, intelligent copy and graphics. So successful were
these efforts that in less than 20 years the agency had become
the sixth largest in the U.S. Bernbachs influence on the contemporary advertising industry was profound. His creative
leadership won him many awards.
One of his most famous slogans was You dont have
to be Jewish to love Levys (rye bread). That campaign elevated Levys to the largest seller of rye bread in New York and
helped Bernbach and his partners acquire the first of many
national and international clients. Other well-known slogans
were Think Small for a small-car manufacturer and We Try
Harder Because Were Only Number 2 for the Avis car-rental
company. In 1954 DDB determined that the uniqueness of Dr.
Edwin Lands Polaroid breakthrough could best be demonstrated on live television, so they hired some of the most popular celebrities (Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, and later
Mariette Hartley and James Garner) to demonstrate the benefits of the Polaroid instant camera. The relationship between
Polaroid and DDB lasted almost 30 years, and the campaign
became one of DDBs most widely recognized.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
471
bernfeld, siegfried
BERNFELD, SIMON (18601940), rabbi, scholar, and author. Bernfeld was born in Stanislav, Galicia, and was educated in Koenigsberg and Berlin. In 1886 he was appointed
chief rabbi of the Sephardi community of Belgrade, Serbia; he
remained there until 1894, when he returned to Berlin and devoted himself to scholarly pursuits. He continued his literary
work until his death, despite blindness in his later years. Bernfeld wrote several monographs in Hebrew on Jewish history
and philosophy, the earliest published when he was only 19
472
BERNHARD, GEORG (18751944), German political economist and journalist. Born into an acculturated German-Jewish
trading family in Berlin, Bernhard first went into in the banking business from 1892 to 1898, then turned to professional
journalism. In 1896, he joined the financial staff of the Berlin Welt am Montag as Gracchus. In 1898, he was appointed
editor of the economic section of the Berliner Zeitung by L.
*Ullstein and in 1902 created the first popular financial column of its kind at the Berliner Morgenpost (est. 1898). In addition, from 1901 to 1903, he contributed to M. *Hardens periodical Die Zukunft (est. 1892) as Plutus. At the same time,
he enrolled at Berlin University in 1899, completing his studies
in economics and public law in 1902. As a revisionist Social
Demokrat, Bernhard was elected a member of the Reichstag
in 1903 and thus had to resign from all journalistic posts. Instead, he founded his own financial weekly Plutus. Kritische
Zeitschrift fuer Volkswirtschaft und Finanzwesen (190425).
After a dramatic dispute with A. Bebel in 1903, he was eventually excluded from the Social Democratic Party. In 1908, he
returned to the Ullstein company as publisher-editor of the
dailies Berliner Morgenpost and B.Z. am Mittag. When UllENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bernhardt, sarah
stein took over the prestigious Vossische Zeitung in 1913, Bernhard became its editor-in-chief from 1914 to 1930 (until 1920
together with Hermann Bachmann). He was also appointed
lecturer at the Berlin Handelshochschule (191630, from 1928
as honorary professor). As one of the most influential journalists of the German Empire and Weimar Republic, Bernhard was deeply involved in communal and national politics.
After 1918, he strongly supported a reconciliation between
Germany and France, which, however, made him a public enemy of the political right, including the NSDAP. Subsequently,
Bernhard was appointed to the National Economic Council
and, as a leading member of the DDP (from 1924), again to the
Reichstag (192830). Between 1913 and 1930, he was elected
council member of several press associations and was active
in German-Jewish communal organizations, e.g., as a council member of the Central-Verein, ORT, and, though critical
of Zionism, the Pro-Palaestina-Komitee. At the end of 1930,
Bernhard resigned from all journalistic and political posts, engaging in commerce instead. In February 1933, he managed to
flee via East Prussia and Denmark to Paris, where he founded
the influential emigrant paper Pariser Tageblatt (193336, continued as Pariser Tageszeitung until 1940). At the end of 1937,
however, he had to resign as editor-in-chief, instead working
as a representative of the World Jewish Congress in Paris. In
addition, from 1933, he engaged in numerous emigrant organizations (e.g., Volksfront, FEAF, ZVE, etc.), and served as an
adviser to the French government. In 1940, he was interned
at Bassens near Bordeaux but, after a dramatic flight to Spain,
succeeded in escaping to the United States in 1941. On his arrival in New York, he was employed at the Institute of Jewish
Affairs of the American Jewish Congress, continuing his restless activity for several German-American emigrant organizations. Among Bernhards published works are numerous
studies on politics, economics, and finance (cf. ABJ II (1993),
274279). He published Die Deutsche Tragoedie (1933); Meister
und Dilettanten am Kapitalismus (1936); Warum schweigt die
Welt? (ed. B. Jacob, 1936, in collaboration with others), etc.
Bibliography: R. Schay, Juden in der deutschen Politik
(1929), 26772; Un grand journaliste allemand, in: Revue mondiale
(Jan. 1931), 198202; Aufbau (Feb. 18, 1944); MB (Feb. 18, 1944); K.H.
Salzmann, in: Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. II (1955), 11718; W.
Roeder and H.A. Strauss (eds.), International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrs 19331945, vol. I (1980), 58; R. Heuer
(ed.), Archiv Bibliographia Judaica, vol. II (1993), 27179, incl. bibl.; H.
Schmuck (ed.), Jewish Biographical Archive (1995), F. 138, 2257; Series
II (2003), F. II/59, 41928; J. Mikuteit, Georg Bernhard (18751944),
Ein deutscher Journalist in Presse und Politik vor, Diss. phil., EuropaUniversitt Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), 1998 (Microfilm, 2002); M.
Klein, Georg Bernhard. Die politische Haltung des Chefredakteurs der
Vossischen Zeitung Frankfurt a. M. (1999).
[Johannes Valentin Schwarz (2nd ed.)]
473
bernheim, Gilles
474
bernheim petition
BERNHEIM PETITION, petition against Nazi anti-Jewish legislation, signed by Franz Bernheim on the initiative
of Emil *Margulies and submitted to the League of Nations
on May 17, 1933, by representatives of the *Comit des Dlgations Juives (Leo *Motzkin, Emil Margulies, and Nathan
Feinberg). At the same time they presented to the League a
similar petition signed by the Comit, the American Jewish
Congress, and other Jewish institutions. Since there was a
special procedure regarding petitions addressed by inhabitants of German Upper Silesia, Bernheims petition alone was
immediately considered by the League. When the Nazis came
to power, Bernheim, a warehouse employee in Upper Silesia,
was dismissed from work as a result of racial discrimination,
and took up temporary residence in Prague. In his petition
he complained that the anti-Jewish legislation of the Third
Reich was also being applied to Upper Silesia, in violation
of the German-Polish Convention of May 15, 1922 (Geneva
Convention), which guaranteed all minorities in Upper Silesia equal civil and political rights. The petition requested the
League to state that all the anti-Jewish measures, if and when
applied in Upper Silesia, infringed upon the Geneva Convention and were therefore null and void, and that the rights of
Upper Silesian Jews be reinstated and that they receive compensation for damages. Bernheims petition was placed on the
agenda of the 73rd session of the League Council on May 22,
1933. The German representative, von Keller, lodged an objection denying Bernheims right to submit the complaint, a plea
that was rejected by an ad hoc committee of jurists. Four days
later von Keller declared in the name of his government that
internal German legislation did not in any way affect the General Convention and that if its provisions had been violated,
this could only have been due to errors and misconstructions
on the part of subordinate officials. The purpose of this public
apology was to prevent a general debate on the petition, but
these tactics failed, and in two public sessions (May 30 and
June 6) the persecution of Jews in Germany was fully discussed. Many of the speakers severely censured Germany for
the treatment of its Jews and demanded that they be accorded
minimum human rights. In a unanimous decision, Germany
and Italy abstaining, the Council adopted a resolution noting
the German governments declaration and requesting it to furnish the Council with information on further developments.
On September 30, 1933, the German government submitted a
letter in which it claimed to have fulfilled its obligations, and
that the rights of the Jews of Upper Silesia had been restored.
The main objective of the Comit des Dlgations Juives in
bringing the petitions before the League was to focus world
attention on the anti-Jewish legislation of Nazi Germany and
the persecution of its Jews, and to have it condemned. The
discussions in the League Council, and especially the declaration of the German government, helped the Jews of Upper
Silesia in their struggle for their rights before such local bodies as the Mixed Commission established under the Geneva
Convention. Until the expiration of the Convention on July
15, 1937, the Jews of Upper Silesia continued to enjoy equality of rights, and even sheh itah, forbidden in the Third Reich,
was permitted them.
475
476
ica Line gained control of all his ships in return for payment
of the fine, except those belonging to the Palestine Shipping
Company. Some months later the latter went into bankruptcy.
Upon Bernsteins ransom in 1939 he moved to New York where
he organized the Arnold Bernstein Shipping Company and in
the 1950s, the Atlantic Banner Line. This failed because it could
not meet the competition of the airlines. In 2001, his autobiography was published posthumously in German translation
(Von Breslau ueber Hamburg nach New York).
Bibliography: Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933, 1 (1999), 59. Add. Bibliography:
A. Kludas, Geschichte der deutschen Passagierschiffahrt, 5 (1990),
1009.
BERNSTEIN, ARON DAVID (18121884), German political and scientific writer and one of the founders of the Jewish
Reform community in Berlin. Born in Danzig (Gdansk), he
had a thorough religious education in a yeshivah in Fordon,
but no secular schooling of any kind. At the age of 20 he went
to Berlin, where he taught himself the German language, and
literature and science. He earned his living for some years as
an antiquarian bookseller, but began publishing in German in
1834 with an annotated translation of the Song of Songs. Bernstein combined progressive thought in politics, science and
religion with a nostalgic affection for Jewish ghetto life. His
main interest was natural science, of which he became a successful popularizer. He promoted the Jewish Reform Movement in Berlin, proclaiming that change is the basic principle
of Judaism. In addition he edited the community monthly, Die
Reform-Zeitung. Bernsteins widely read stories, written in the
German-Jewish dialect (Judendeutsch) Voegele der Maggid
and Mendel Gibbor (1860; reissued 1934, 1935, 1994) were
forerunners of a literary genre which sentimentalized the
Jewish lower middle class in small-town ghettos. They were
translated into several languages. During the Prussian liberal
era, Bernstein, who wrote under the pseudonym of A. Rebenstein, was influential as a political journalist. A champion of
democracy, he fought on the barricades during the Prussian
revolution of 1848. In 1849, when the revolutionary tide receded, he founded the Urwaehlerzeitung, an organ advocating moderate political reform. This brought him into conflict
with the authorities, and in about 1852 the newspaper was suppressed and he was sentenced to four months imprisonment.
As a successor to the Urwaehlerzeitung, Bernstein founded the
influential daily, the Berliner Volkszeitung, where his political
editorials and articles on popular science appeared for nearly
30 years. A selection of his political articles was published in
188384. His essays on science, Naturwissenschaftliche Volksbuecher, were published in 21 volumes (185556), and a Hebrew
translation (mainly by David Frischmann) entitled Yediot haTeva appeared in Warsaw from 1881 to 1891. Bernstein himself
was a practical scientist and experimented widely in telegraphy and photography.
Add. Bibliography: J.H. Schoeps, Buergerliche Aufklaerung
und liberales Freiheitsdenken (1992); R. Heuer (ed.), Lexikon deutsch-
bernstein, carl
His father, ISSACHAR BER (d. 1764) was also a distinguished scholar, rabbi, and communal leader. Issachar Bers
first position was as a rabbi of the Kehillat H ayyatin (Congregation of the Tailors) in Brody. In 1750, he was elected rosh
ha-medinah (head of the province) of Brody, and also was
appointed a trustee of the Council of Four Lands and parnas
of Rydzyna Province. Despite the intense opposition of some
communities, he remained a trustee until 1763.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
Bibliography: N.M. Gelber, Aus zwei Jahrunderten (1924),
1437; idem, in: JQR, 14 (1923/24), 30327; S. Buber, Anshei Shem
(1895), xixff.
BERNSTEIN, BLA (18681944), Hungarian Jewish historian. Bernstein was born in Vrpalota; he graduated in 1892
from the Jewish Theological Seminary of Budapest, and received his doctorate in 1890 in Leipzig. He served as rabbi
in Szombathely from 1892 to 1909 and then became rabbi in
Nyiregyhza. He tried to introduce a uniform religious education in Hungary in 1901. Bernstein wrote works devoted to
the history of the Jews in Hungary: Az 184849-iki magyar szabadsgharc s a zsidk (The 184849 Hungarian Revolution
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
477
bernstein, eduard
BERNSTEIN, EDUARD (18501932), German socialist theoretician, spokesman for the so-called revisionist group which
challenged orthodox Marxist doctrines. Born in Berlin, Bernstein was the son of a Jewish engine driver. He joined the Social Democratic Party in 1872 and participated in the creation
of the important Gotha program (1875). In 1878, Bernstein was
forced to leave Germany after the enactment of the anti-socialist legislation. He lived first in Switzerland, where he edited
the Sozialdemokrat, and then in London. It was while he was
in London that he published his principal work Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus und die Aufgaben der Sozialdemokratie
(1899; Evolutionary Socialism, 1909), in which he set out his
nonconformist Marxist interpretation of history. Bernstein
contested the view of the inevitable collapse of capitalism and
urged the socialists to become a party of reform. His views
were vehemently opposed as heretical by most of the party
but gained numerous adherents, the so-called revisionists.
In 1901 Bernstein returned to Germany and sat in the Reichstag from 1902 to 1906 and from 1912 to 1918. In World War I
his pacifist views led him to disassociate himself from the
right-wing faction and join the left-wing independent socialists who opposed the war. He returned to the majority party
in 1918 and sat in the Reichstag again as a Social Democrat
from 1920 to 1928. Concerning Judaism, Bernstein grew up
in a Reform-oriented environment; Aaron David *Bernstein
was his fathers brother. Thus, Eduard Bernstein was aware of
Jewish traditions and ideas, but not interested in them. Nevertheless, throughout his tenure as a deputy in the Reichstag,
he was an active fighter for Jewish emancipation and against
antisemitism. In common with many Jewish socialists of the
time, Bernstein left the Jewish community because the party
disapproved of all religious affiliations. During World War I,
however, he began to rethink his conception of being Jewish
in the modern world. In his book Die Aufgaben der Juden im
Weltkriege (1917) he argued that because of their dispersion
and universalist ideas, the Jews should be the pioneers of an
internationalism which would unite nations and prevent war.
Towards the end of World War I, he got in touch with the
*Poalei Zion movement, and established close contacts with
Zalman Rubashov (later *Shazar, third president of Israel).
478
During the Weimar Republik, Bernstein became an active supporter of East European Jews. Because of their specific situation he accepted a distinct Jewish nationalism among them,
while he disapproved of the same for Western and Central
European Jews. Toward the end of his life, he came to support the concept of a Jewish national home in Palestine and
became a leader of the International Socialist Pro-Palestine
Committee. Bernsteins writings include his autobiography
Erinnerungen eines Sozialisten (1918; My Years of Exile, 1921),
Ferdinand Lassalle (1919); Die Deutsche Revolution (1921), and
Sozialismus und Demokratie in der grossen Englischen Revolution (1922; Cromwell and Communism, 1930).
Bibliography: G. Lichtheim, Marxism (1961), index; P. Angel, Eduard Bernstein et lvolution du socialisme allemand (1961); P.
Gay, The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism: Eduard Bernsteins Challenge to Marx (1952); E. Silberner, in: HJ, 15 (1953), 348. Add. Bibliography: R. Heuer (ed.), Lexikon deutsch-juedischer Autoren,
2 (1993), 30138, bibl.; L. Heid, in: E. Bernstein, Texte in juedischen
Angelegenheiten (2004), 1356.
[Robert Weltsch / Marcus Pyka (2nd ed.)]
BERNSTEIN, ELMER (19222004), U.S. composer. A prolific composer known primarily for his work in film and television, Bernstein was born in New York City. His musical
compositions appeared in more than 200 films and television
shows, receiving 14 Academy Award nominations, including
an Academy Award in 1967 for Thoroughly Modern Millie, as
well as an Emmy Award and several Golden Globe and Tony
Awards. During the McCarthy era, Bernsteins alleged leftist
sympathies led to a spot on Hollywoods gray list, a designation that kept him from working on major studio projects
during the 1950s but did not result in a full ban from participating in the film industry. Despite being relegated to lowbudget films during this period, Bernsteins career is distinguished for both his endurance as well as his versatility. His
compositions have appeared in films of virtually every genre,
from the epic Ten Commandments (1956) to popular comedies like Animal House (1978) and Ghostbusters (1984), dramas
such as To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), the Western True Grit
(1969), the action/WWII film The Great Escape (1963), and the
musical comedy The Blues Brothers (1980). Among Bernsteins
many other credits, his music appeared notably in The Man
with the Golden Arm (1955), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Hud
(1963), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Meatballs (1979), Airplane! (1980), My Left Foot (1989), The Age of Innocence (1993),
and Wild Wild West (1999).
[Walter Driver (2nd ed.)]
bernstein, ignatz
the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa and established a molecular spectroscopy section, opening up the
study of nuclear magnetic resonance. In 1959, together with
W.G. Schneider and J.A. Pople, Bernstein coauthored High
Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, a pioneering text in the field of Raman spectroscopy. In 1973 he
cofounded the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy and served as
coeditor until 1978.
Among other honors, Bernstein was awarded a fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada in 1953 and, the next year,
in the Chemical Institute of Canada. He received the Herzberg
Award from the Spectroscopy Society of Canada in 1978. In
1980 the International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy established the Harold Bernstein Award in Physical Chemistry
for graduate students at Ottawas two universities.
[Ruth Rossing (2nd ed.)]
479
BERNSTEIN, JACOB NAPHTALI HERZ (18131873), Polish communal leader born in Lvov, descendant of a distinguished rabbinical family. Bernstein led the Orthodox Jews in
Lvov in resisting the establishment of a *Reform temple and
a secular Jewish school. He opposed the reforms introduced
into the community in 1848 and its first Reform rabbi, Abraham *Kohn. However, his efforts to force Kohn to resign were
unsuccessful. Kohn was later poisoned, and Bernstein, who
was included among the suspects, remained in custody for a
year. After his release he continued to oppose the Reform and
Germanizing trends, with the backing of the Polish nobility. A
street has been named after him for the services he rendered
to the Lvov municipality. Bernstein was the grandfather of the
Jewish scholar J.N. *Simchoni. The play Herzele Meyukhes by
M. Richter is based on Bernsteins life.
Bibliography: M. Balaban, Dzieje ydw w Galicyi i w
Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej 17721868, (1914); F. Friedman, Die galizischen Juden im Kampfe um ihre Gleichberechtigung (1929), 51, 6063;
N.M. Gelber, in: EG, 4 pt. 1 (1956), 24764; J. Tenenbaum, Galitsye
Mayn Alte Heym (1952), 50.
480
Sciences. Bernsteins fields of interest include algebraic geometry, representation theory, number theory, and automorphic
forms. From the very beginning of his academic career in the
early 1970s, his research was unique and his impact profound.
First with his teachers, and later with his students and independently, Bernstein wrote on a broad spectrum of mathematical areas, including representation theory of Lie algebras
and Lie groups, theory of D-modules, representation theory
of p-adic groups, and automorphic forms, to mention only a
few. The concepts incorporated in his numerous papers have
become cornerstones of modern-day mathematics theory,
and his classic article on the localization of D-modules, written jointly with A. Beilinson in 1981, remains one of the most
widely cited articles in mathematics today.
Bernstein was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities in 2002 and to the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) in 2004. He was awarded the Israel Prize in mathematics in 2004.
[Ruth Rossing (2nd ed.)]
Bernstein, Louis
481
482
BERNSTEIN, MOSHE (1920 ), Israeli painter and draughtsman. Bernstein was born in Bereza Kartuskaya, Poland. He
completed his studies at the Vilna Art School in 1939 and, immigrating to Israel in 1948, he took part in the exhibition of
Immigrant Art held in Tel Aviv that year. In his paintings
and pen drawings, Bernstein displayed his deep attachment to
the Jewish world and which constituted an inseparable part of
his life. He expressed the emotional experiences of his childhood, depicting the bet ha-midrash and the Jewish street. Like
Chagall, he used in his pen drawings cubist form and compositional language. However, instead of using colors, he made
skillful use of black pen and created effects of light and shadow
and the impression of a colorful picture which is composed of
juxtaposing layers, thus producing the illusion of depth.
Since his first one-man show in Tel Aviv in 1950, Bernstein had many exhibitions and participated in various group
exhibitions, such as the 1974 Cyprus exhibition with Zeev
*Ben-Zvi. He won the City Medal of Tel Aviv in 1980.
Bibliography: M. Tal, in: Israel Magazine (Oct. 1972),
6266.
[Judith Spitzer]
BERNSTEIN, NATHAN OSIPOVITCH (18361891), Russian physiologist and civic leader. The grandson of Solomon
Eger, chief rabbi of the Posen provinces, Bernstein moved to
Odessa in 1849 with his parents. He studied medicine at the
University of Moscow. From 1871 he lectured without official
appointment at the New-Russian University at Odessa (1865).
He wrote a textbook on physiology, and succeeded Leo Pinsker
as editor of the Russian-Jewish periodical Zion. Bernstein was
president of the Medical Society of Odessa for 14 years, and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BERNSTEIN, OSIP SAMOILOVICH (18821961), RussianFrench chess master, born in Zhitomir. Bernstein placed second to Tchigorin in the Russian championship (Kiev, 1903)
and tied with Akiva *Rubinstein for first place in a tournament at Ostend, Belgium (1907). He settled in France after
1916 and shared a first prize with Miguel *Najdorf, at Montevideo, Uruguay, when 72.
BERNSTEIN, PEREZ (Fritz; 18901971), Zionist leader,
publicist, and Israel politician. Bernstein, who was born in
Meiningen, Germany, studied commerce. In his youth he went
to Rotterdam, Holland, where he entered business. In 1917 he
joined the Dutch Zionist organization, and soon attained a
prominent position. He later served as secretary of the Dutch
Zionist Federation and as its president for four years. From
1930 to 1935 he was chief editor of the Dutch Zionist weekly,
in which he fought for unconditional Zionism, both in relations with non-Jews and in debate with the socialist and the
religious Zionists. In his major work Der Anti-semitismus als
Gruppenerscheinung (1926; Jew-Hate as a Sociological Problem,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
1951) he tried to prove that antisemitism is a sociological phenomenon which cannot be eliminated by better knowledge,
by persuasion, or by education. He also rejected the theory
that the Jews in the Diaspora have negative traits which encourage antisemitism. Another of his books is: Over Joodsche
Problematiek (1935). In 1936 Bernstein settled in Palestine and
became editor of the General Zionist newspaper Ha-Boker.
From 1941 he was chairman of the Union of *General Zionists
which, in 1946, elected him a member of the Jewish Agency,
where he was responsible for commerce and industry. Bernstein was a member of the Knesset from its inception until
1965, and minister of commerce and industry in 194849 and
from 1952 to 1955. When the Liberal Party was established
he was elected one of its two presidents. Following the party
split in 1964, he became honorary president of the larger faction which retained the name of the Liberal Party. Bernstein
continued his journalistic activities during his political career.
He often opposed the left wing in his articles and advocated
a business-oriented policy.
Bibliography: Y. Nedava (ed.), Sefer Perez Bernstein: Mivh ar
Maamarim u-Massot (1962); D. Lazar, Rashim be-Yisrael, 1 (1953),
6266; Tidhar, 3 (19582), 1395.
[Jozeph Michman (Melkman)]
483
bernstein, sid
BERNSTEIN, SIDNEY LEWIS, BARON (18991993), British television pioneer and publisher. Born in Ilford, Essex, Bernstein inherited his interest in show business from his father,
Alexander Bernstein (d. 1921), who owned a group of cinemas.
Sidney Bernstein was a founder of the Film Society in 1924,
484
BERNSTEIN, ZALMAN CHAIM (19271999), U.S. businessman and philanthropist. Zalman Bernstein, or, as he was
known for most of his 72 years, Sanford C. Bernstein, was born
in New York City to middle class parents. He enlisted at 18 in
the Navy, seeing service in World War II. After graduating
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
485
bernstein-cohen, miriam
486
lansky, Im Benei Dori (1942), 5159; Tidhar, 1 (1947), 1923; A.L. Jaffe
(ed.), Sefer ha-Kongress (19502), 30710; J. Yaari-Poleskin, H olemim
ve-Loh amim (19643), 8992.
[Yehdua Slutsky]
berr, michel
Flood, the Flood itself, and the dynasties down to Nabonassar (747 B.C.E.), and the third brought the account down to
Alexander. Recent discoveries of cuneiform texts on the Flood
show that Berosus was faithful to his sources, and that in
fact his account is in large part taken from the Gilgamesh
epic.
Berosus was particularly important to Samaritan, Jewish, and Christian writers for apologetic purposes, since his
chronology contradicted that of the Greek historians and
since he appeared to confirm the antiquity of, and thus lent
credibility to, certain portions of the Bible. But inasmuch as
Berosus, under the influence of astrological theory, spoke of
600 periods of 3,600 years each, whereas the Bible mentions
a much shorter period since creation, writers such as the Samaritan Eupolemus tried to reconcile these discrepant chronologies. Unfortunately, however, only part of Berosus chronology has been transmitted, and his lists of dynasties have
often been mutilated by those who cite him or by later copyists of the manuscripts.
Berosus was similarly found useful in confirming the
biblical narrative of the Tower of Babel, since he too mentions a tower near Babylon built by men who gloried in their
own strength and size and despised the gods, whereupon, as
in the Bible, the gods brought about a confusion of their languages, though they had hitherto all spoken one tongue. Alexander Polyhistor later apparently attempted to synchronize
this account with those of the Bible and the Greek poet Hesiods story of Prometheus. Berosus is of great importance as
a source for Josephus, although questions are still raised as to
whether he used him directly or through some compilation
such as that of Alexander Polyhistor or perhaps that of King
Juba of Mauretania. Josephus cited Berosus in support of his
statements that a portion of the ark of Noah (Xisouthros in
Berosus) still survives in Armenia (Ant. 1:93; cf. Apion 1:130),
that the patriarchs lived unusually long lives (Ant. 1:107), and
that Abraham lived ten generations after the Flood and was
well versed in astronomy (Ant. 1:158). In his polemic against
Greek historians he cites with approval (Apion 1:142) Berosus
criticism of their reports of Semiramis achievements. The fact
that on two occasions (Ant. 10:21928; Apion 1:13444) he cites
the same passage on Nebuchadnezzar from Berosus, together
with precisely the same confirmatory references from *Philostratus and *Megasthenes, would indicate that at least here
he was using a handbook. The accuracy of this passage from
Berosus, particularly the description of the battle of Carchemish, has now been confirmed by Wisemans publication of a
chronicle of Chaldean kings on cuneiform tablets; but it must
be noted that Josephus account (Ant. 10:96102) of the events
leading to the fall of Jerusalem and the capture of Jehoiachin
differs in several details from the Chronicle.
The attribution (Suidas, 10t century) of the Babylonian
(or Egyptian) Sibylline books to him has been disputed. The
founder of the astrological school on the Greek island of Cos
to whom the Athenians erected a statue (Pliny, Natural History, 7:123) is pseudo-Berosus.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BERR, JACOB (c. 17601855), French physician and publicist, nephew of *Berr Isaac Berr de Turique. Besides gaining a reputation as a surgeon, Berr was a fervent advocate of
equal rights for French Jews. In 1789 he published a refutation of an anonymous pamphlet which contested the right of
Alsatian Jews to enlist in the National Guard. Later, in a letter addressed to the bishop of Nancy (1790), he criticized his
uncles project to preserve a special status for French Jews.
According to E. Carmoly, Historie des mdecins juifs (1844),
Berr was the first French Jew to marry a Christian without
forsaking Judaism.
BERR (de Turique), MICHEL (17811843), French lawyer.
Born in Nancy, he was the son of *Berr Isaac Berr and became the son-in-law of Isaiah *Beer-Bing. Like his father, Berr
was an advocate of Mendelssohnian Enlightenment. He sided
with its radical exponents, however, and tended to disregard
the national and religious aspects of Judaism while concentrating on the struggle for civic equality for the Jews in their
different countries. In this spirit he defended persecuted Jews
in a pamphlet entitled Appel la justice des nations et des rois
(1801). Berr was the first Jewish lawyer to practice in France.
In 1806 he and his father were deputies at the *Assembly of
Jewish Notables, and in 1807 Berr was appointed secretary of
the Napoleonic *Sanhedrin. He then held an official appointment in the Kingdom of Westphalia and subsequently in the
Prfecture of La Meurthe, but his later career was disappointing and he dissipated his talents.
Many important non-Jewish personalities regarded Berr
as the ideal type of modern Jew. Berr translated a number of
works from Hebrew including panegyrics to Napoleon. His
most voluminous work was Abrg de la Bible et choix de morceaux de pit et de morale lusage des Isralites de France
(1819). At first Berrs attitude toward Judaism tended to be radical and rationalist. He held that once Judaism had detached
itself from talmudic quibbling it would appear as the universal truth, while Christianity, also freed from its superstitions, would simply merge with Judaism. Later Berr insisted
on the retention of what, in his opinion, were essential Jewish
practices, which he explained in his Nouveau prcis lmentaire dinstruction rligieuse et morale lusage de la jeunesse
franaise isralite (1839), thus adhering in his eclectic way to
Jewish religious reform.
Bibliography: Terquem (Tsarphaty), in: AI, 4 (1843), 7217;
AI, 5 (1844), 10916, 16880; Barcinski, in: Euphorion, 15 (1908); Dic-
487
488
solidarity. He was, however, not an expert in the internal developments in Jewish history.
Bibliography: M. Vinaver, in: Voskhod, 17 no. 5 (1897),
4954 (second pagin.); Vengerov, in: Kritiko-Biograficheskiy slovar,
3 (1892), s.v.
[Shmuel Ettinger]
BERSOHN, MATTHIAS (18231908), Polish art collector and historian. Bersohn was active in the Warsaw Jewish
community. He assembled an important collection of Jewish
and Polish art in his own home and made generous presents
to Polish museums. Since all his children converted to Christianity, he presented his collection and library to the Warsaw
Jewish community, which established the Bersohn Museum
for Jewish Antiquities to house it, at the time the only institution of its kind in Poland. In March 1940 the Germans broke
into the museum and robbed it of its treasures. Bersohns
general collection was given to Polish museums. One of the
earliest researchers of the history of art in Poland, he wrote a
study on the wooden-structured synagogues in Poland (Pol., 3
vols., 18951903; Ger., in MGJV, 8 (1901), 159ff.). He also wrote
a study of Joseph Nasi (MGWJ, 18 (1869), 422ff.) and one of
Tobias Cohen and other Polish-Jewish doctors (1872). His
lexicon of Jewish scholars in Poland, 16t18t centuries (Pol.,
1906), and his collection of documents on Polish Jewish history from 1388 to 1872 (1910, ed. posthumously by his son-inlaw A. Kraushaar) are not too reliable.
BERSON, ARTHUR JOSEPH STANISLAV (18591942),
Austrian meteorologist. Born in Neu-Sandec, Galicia, he
worked at the Prussian Aeronautic Observatory later transferred to Lindenberg and Friedrichshafen. In 1899 he introduced new methods for the study of the air strata structure at
heights of tens of miles above the earth. Berson employed kites
and balloons of rubber and paper filled with hydrogen gas and
attached them to thin metal threads. Berson, in balloons of his
own design, rose to the upper atmosphere a number of times
with instruments for the measurement of the air pressure, the
air temperature, and the relative humidity. Berson also carried out his observations over Spitzbergen, the Arctic Ocean,
East Africa, Brazil, the Indian Ocean, and Indonesia. From
these observations of Berson, the notion of the troposphere
and the stratosphere were accepted generally. In 1901 Berson
and a companion reached a height of about seven miles without oxygen masks. Berson also sent up unmanned balloons
to heights of 18 miles. These balloons contained recording instruments which, if the balloon exploded, would come down
by means of small parachutes. He also used red balloons sent
up at a fixed rate which could be tracked and thus determine
489
berthold of freiburg
the direction of the wind. During World War I this knowledge of the direction of wind at high altitudes was of great
importance to the fighter planes. The observations and studies of Berson were first published in three volumes, together
with those of R. Assmann, under the title Wissenschaftliche
Luftfahrten (18991900).
[Dov Ashbel]
490
works Der Beitrag des Alten Testaments zur allgemeinen Religionsgeschichte (1923) and Das Dynamistische im Alten Testament (1926) Bertholet maintained that the religion of ancient
Israel, characterized by a strong personal conception of the
Deity, was unique in a world dominated by dynamistic theories which viewed the universe as essentially constituted by
natural and supernatural forces. His other works in biblical
studies include: Die Stellung der Israeliten und der Juden zu
den Fremden (1896), Die juedische Religion von der Zeit Esras
bis zum Zeitalter Christi (1911), Kulturgeschichte Israels (1919),
and a second commentary on the Book of Ezekiel (1936). His
works in the field of comparative religion include Buddhismus
und Christentum (1902, 19092), Dynamismus und Personalismus (1930), Goetterspaltung und Goettervereinigung (1933),
Das Geschlecht der Gottheit (1934), Der Sinn des kultischen Opfers (1942), Die Macht der Schrift in Glauben und Aberglauben
(1949), and the posthumous Grundformen der Erscheinungswelt der Gottesverehrung (1953).
Bibliography: Festschrift A. Bertholet (1950), 56478, includes a complete bibliography; Baumgartner, in: Schweizerische Theologische Umschau, 21 (1951), 121ff.
[Zev Garber]
BERTINI, GARY (19272005), Russian-born Israeli conductor and composer. After training in Israel and Italy, he studied
in the Paris Conservatoire and at the Sorbonne. Among his
teachers were Boulanger and Messiaen. In 1954 he returned to
Israel and taught conducting in Tel Aviv at the Music Teachers College, and later at the Rubin Academy, where he was
appointed professor in 1975. He played an important role in
the development of Israeli music. He founded and directed
many of Israels leading musical institutions such as the Rinat
Choir (1955), the Israel Chamber Orchestra (196475), the Musical Evenings for Contemporary Music (196265), the Liturgical Festival (1978), and the Israel Festival. He was musical
director of the Symphony Orchestra of Jerusalem (197886)
and artistic and musical director of the New Israel Opera in
Tel Aviv (199497). Bertini regularly conducted the major
orchestras of the world and held appointments as conductor,
musical advisor, and director with leading orchestras, among
them the Scottish National Orchestra (197178), the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra (198183), the Cologne RSO (198391),
the Frankfurt Opera (198790), and the Tokyo Metropolitan
Symphony Orchestra. He was later appointed musical director of the San Carlo Theater.
Bertini is known for a wide repertory ranging from Josquin des Prs to contemporary composers. He is noted for
his interpretation of Mahler and French music. He has given
the premieres of many works of Israeli composers (such as
*Partos, *Ben Haim, *Orgad, *Avni, *Seter, and *Tal) and others. His compositions include incidental scores, works for orchestra, chamber music, songs, and choral arrangements. Bertini is the recipient of the Israel Prize (1978), the Frank Pelleg
Prize (1999), and the Grand Prix of the French music critics.
He also wrote an essay on Anton Webern.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Rome
Naples
Salerno
Palermo
Messina
Rhodes
M E D
I T E
R
N E
A N
A
S E
Jerusalem
Bethlehem
Gaza
Rosetta
Hebron
Fuwa
El-Arish
Alexandria
R.
BERTINI, K. AHARON (19031995), poet and editor. Bertini, who was born in Bessarabia, began to publish poetry
in 1924, and taught in Hebrew high schools in Bessarabia
from 1927. He immigrated to Erez Israel in 1947, where he resumed his teaching career. From 1965 he served as an editor of
Moznayim, the literary magazine of the Hebrew Writers Association. His volumes of poetry include Temol Deheh (1939),
Mi-Layil ad Boker (1951), Marot al ha-Efer (1954), Shevil Kah ol
(1961), Bakbuk al Penei ha-Mayim (1969), Mah shakim u-Derakhim (1974), Meah orei ha-Pargod (1985), Le-Orekh ha-Yamim,
le-Orekh ha-Mayim (1988) and the essays Seder Reiyah: Masot
Sifrutiyot (1977). With Z. Rosenthal and D. Vinitsky he edited
the literary anthology Min ha-Z ad (193940). He translated
from French, Romanian, and Yiddish into Hebrew. Among
the last are David *Bergelsons play Prince Reuveni, Moshe
Altmans short story collection Be-Omek Ha-Rei (1967, and
H. Leivicks dramatic poem Abelar un Heluiz. Bertini also
edited an anthology of translations from Yiddish literature
for high schools (1958) and prepared an anthology of works
by Romanian Jewish writers (1972). Dan Miron edited a collection in two volumes of Bertinis poems (2003) with a supplementary essay. His son Gary *Bertini is a noted composer
and conductor.
Citt di Castello
Cairo
Nile
491
bertonoff, deborah
492
besanon
figure of Beruryah talmudic scholar, daughter of R. *Hananiah b. Teradyon and wife of R. *Meir is in fact a conflation
of a number of distinct figures, mentioned either by name or
without name in earlier sources. The fascinating and problematic figure of Beruryah, therefore, must be seen as a synthetic
literary product of the Talmuds method of creative historiography, as was shown by David Goodblatt in his classic
study, The Beruriah Traditions. The notion that Beruryah
was largely a product of the talmudic collective consciousness only increases the significance of her figure for an understanding of the talmudic mind and its problematic attitude
toward scholarly and assertive female figures (Tal Ilan, 38).
We will therefore summarize the basic elements of the Bavlis
Beruryah aggadot in outline:
The Talmud tells of her great knowledge (Pes. 62b). It describes her as restraining her husband Meir in a moment of
moral weakness. When certain evil persons antagonized her
husband and he prayed for their death, she rebuked him, interpreting Psalms 104:35 as expressive of Gods desire for the
destruction of sin, and not of sinners, and exhorting him to
pray, rather, that they repent of their evil ways (Ber. 10a). The
aggadah also tells of her mocking wit. Once, when R. Yose the
Galilean, meeting her along the way, asked, By which road
should we travel in order to reach Lydda? she replied: Galilean fool! Did not the rabbis say, Talk not overmuch with
women? You should have asked: How to Lydda? (Er. 53b).
Another instance of her sharpness is her reply to a sectarian concerning the interpretation of a verse from the Prophets (Ber. 10a). Beruryah also guided students in their study.
When she found a student studying in an undertone, she rebuked him, saying: Is it not stated (II Sam. 23:5) Ordered in all
things, and sure? If the Torah be ordered in the two hundred
and forty-eight organs of your body, it will be sure, and if not,
it will not be sure (Er. 53b54a). Finally, Rashi, in explaining
the obscure phrase the story of Beruryah, mentioned in Av.
Zar. 18b, quotes a legend to the effect that as a result of her exaggerated self-confidence feeling that she was above feminine
weakness she ultimately was led astray, with tragic consequences. Beruryah was also the heroine of a number of belletristic works and plays in Hebrew and in other languages.
Bibliography: Hyman, Toledot, 2945; Graetz, Gesch, 4
(19084), 1723; D. Goldblatt, in: JJS, 26:12 (1975), 6885; T. Ilan, in:
AJS Review, 22:1 (1997), 117.
[Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
493
Besdin, Morris J.
494
bessarabia
BESREDKA, ALEXANDER (18701940), French immunologist, known for his research on anaphylaxis, local immunization, and immunization in contagious disease. Besredka
was the son of a Hebrew writer, Elimelech Ish-Naomi. He
first studied in Russia, but when it was proposed to him that
he convert to Christianity in order to further his scientific
career, he refused and moved to France. He completed his
medical studies in Paris, became a French citizen, and was
appointed a member of the Pasteur Institute of which he was
later a director. Besredka maintained his contacts with Judaism all his life, was active in Jewish organizations such as
*OSE, and wrote for Jewish scientific journals, including the
Hebrew Ha-Refuah. His anaphylaxis research was based on
original concepts, different from the accepted beliefs in immunology. In 1907 he discovered the possibility of eliminating
hypersensitivity to foreign serum. His desensitization method
was accepted throughout the world as the pretreatment of patients who had acquired a sensitivity toward a serum, in order
to prevent anaphylactic shock by repeated serum treatment.
Besredka was closely associated with the biologist Metchnikoff
and in 1910 was appointed professor at the Pasteur Institute in
Paris. His book Immunisation locale, pansements spcifiques
was published in 1925.
Bibliography: Adler, in Ha-Refuah, 19 (JulyAug.
1940), 13.
[Aryeh Leo Olitzki]
BESSARABIA, region between the rivers Prut and Dniester; before 1812 part of Moldavia, with several districts under
direct Ottoman rule; within Russia 18121918; part of Romania 191840; returned to Russia 1940, and together with the
Moldavian Autonomous S.S.R. became the Moldavian S.S.R.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the state of Moldova was established.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Up to 1812
From the 15t century onward, Jewish Sephardi merchants
from Constantinople frequented Bessarabia while using the
trade route which crossed the length of the territory, connecting the countries of the East and the Black Sea shores with Poland. Later, Jewish merchants from Poland also began coming to Bessarabia. Some of them settled there, thus laying the
foundation of the first Jewish communities in northern and
central Bessarabia; in southern Bessarabia Jewish communities were found already in the 16t century. By the early 18t
century, permanent Jewish settlements had been established
in several commercial centers. Toward the end of the century,
relatively large numbers of Jews were living in most of the urban settlements and in many villages. Their number was estimated at 20,000 in 1812. The legal status of the Jews in the part
of Bessarabia under Moldavian rule was similar to that of the
rest of Moldavian Jewry. They were organized in autonomous
communities subject to the authority of the h akham bashi in
Jassy. In the parts under Ottoman rule they were subject to
the same laws as the other communities under this regime.
In the 18t and 19t centuries, the Jews in Bessarabia mainly
engaged in local commerce and liquor distilling; some traded
on a considerable scale with neighboring countries. In the villages main occupations were leasing activities and innkeeping.
In the cultural sphere, Bessarabian Jewry during this period
was not advanced. The most prominent rabbis of the early 19t
century were *H ayyim b. Solomon of Czernowitz, rabbi of
*Kishinev, and David Solomon *Eibenschutz, rabbi of Soroki.
Jacob *Frank exerted an influence from Podolia, and Khotin
became a center for Frank and his adherents. Toward the end
of the 18t century, H asidism penetrated Bessarabia.
18121918
After the Russian annexation in 1812, Bessarabia was included
in the *pale of Settlement, and many Jews settled there from
other parts of the Pale. The Jewish population, mainly concentrated in Kishinev and its district and in the northern part
of the region, grew from 43,062 in 1836 to 94,045 in 1867 (excluding New Bessarabia, see below), and to 228,620 (11.8 of
the total) in 1897. Of these 109,703 (48) lived in the towns
(of them 50,237, or 22, in Kishinev), 60,701 (26.5) in small
towns, and 58,216 (25.5) in the villages. They formed 37.4
of the town population, 55.7 of the population of the small
towns, and 3.8 of the village population. Regulations governing the legal status of the Jews of Bessarabia after the annexation were issued in 1818. In conformance with the Russian
pattern, Jews were required to join one of three classes: merchants, townsmen, or peasants. All their former rights were
confirmed, while the existent Russian legislation concerning
the Jews did not apply, since Bessarabia had autonomous status. The regulations even expressly authorized Bessarabian
Jews to reside in the villages and engage in leasing activities
and innkeeping, in contradiction to the Jewish Statute of
1804 (see *Russia). Because of this regional autonomy, the Jews
of Bessarabia were spared several of the most severe anti-Jew-
495
bessarabia
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Main centers of Jewish settlement in Bessarabia in 1897, showing total Jewish population according to districts.
ish decrees issued in the first half of the 19t century. By 1835,
when the liquidation of Bessarabian autonomy began, the
Jewish legislation then promulgated in Russia was equally
applied to Bessarabian Jewry, although the prohibition on Jewish residence in border regions was not enforced in Bessarabia until 1839, and compulsory military service until 1852. In
the second half of the 19t century, the restriction on Jewish
residence in the border area assumed special importance for
the Jews of Bessarabia. According to the terms of the Treaty of
Paris (1856), a territory in the southern part of the region was
allocated to Romania, and many localities, including Kishinev,
now fell in the border area. The restrictions were not strictly
enforced and thousands of Jews settled in this region, although
decrees of expulsion were issued in 1869, 1879, 1886, and 1891.
Of these the most severe and extensive was that of 1869. Expulsions of individual Jews also became frequent. The Jews in
New Bessarabia the area incorporated within Romania by
the Treaty of Paris shared the fate of the other Jews in the
country. The anti-Jewish riots which broke out in the towns
of this region *Izmail, Kagul, and Vilkovo in 1872 aroused
both Jewish and non-Jewish public opinion in Europe, and
diplomatic intervention was enlisted to alleviate the position
of the Jews. When New Bessarabia reverted to Russia in 1878,
the Jews who were then recorded on the Romanian tax registers were permitted to remain there. The *May Laws of 1882
severely affected Jews in Bessarabia as a considerable proportion lived in the villages, and frequent expulsions ensued. In
1903 a frightful pogrom broke out in Kishinev. The wave of
pogroms in 1905 swept Bessarabia. Three towns and 68 other
496
localities were struck and 108 Jews were murdered. The damage was estimated at 3,500,000 rubles. The 1917 Revolution in
Russia brought civic equality for the Jews of Bessarabia.
During the 19t century, the economic structure of
Bessarabian Jewry remained basically unchanged. In their
old occupations Jews played an important role within the
agrarian economy of the region. An increasing number of Jews
entered agriculture, and between 1836 and 1853, 17 Jewish agricultural settlements were established in Bessarabia, mostly
in the northern districts, on lands purchased or leased from
Christian or Jewish landowners. There were 10,859 persons
living on these settlements in 1858; 12.5 of Bessarabian Jewry
were farmers, and the region became among the largest and
most important centers of Jewish agriculture in Russia. There
were 106,031 dessiatines (276,283 acres) in Jewish ownership
in 1880 (representing 2.5 of the arable land in Bessarabia)
and an additional 206,538 dessiatines (557,652 acres) leased
by Jews. In time, especially after the application of the May
Laws, most of the settlements were liquidated. According to
a survey carried out by the *Jewish Colonization Association
(ICA) in 1899, there were 1,492 families (7,782 persons), of
whom 53 were landowners, on the six settlements still in existence. Of these families only 31.5 were engaged in agricultural work. The land in Jewish ownership also diminished. In
1897, 7.12 of the Jews in Bessarabia were engaged in agriculture; 26.81 in crafts and industry; 3.65 in transport; 2.34
in commercial brokerage; 39.53 in commerce (of these 58
engaged in the trade of agricultural produce); 8.9 as clerks
or employees in private enterprises, domestics, daily workers,
or unskilled laborers; 4.9 in public or government services
or the liberal professions; and 6.75 in miscellaneous occupations. The 22,130 Jews engaged in commerce constituted 81.2
of the total number of merchants in the region, and 95.8 of
the grain dealers. The proportion of Jewish artisans, mainly
tailors, was lower (39). From the early 1880s, the economic
situation of Bessarabian Jewry deteriorated as a result of the
frequent expulsions from the villages and border areas, and
the agrarian crisis in Russia during this period. Many impoverished Jews emigrated overseas. The principal factor in Jewish spiritual life was H asidism. Many of the village Jews of no
marked learning adopted much of the way of life and customs
of the Moldavian peasantry. A major influence was wielded
by the z addikim of the Friedman (see *Ruzhin) and *Twersky families. During the 1830s and 1840s, Haskalah began to
penetrate into Bessarabia. From the end of the 1840s, Jewish
government schools were opened in Bessarabia. In 1855 there
were six such schools, in *Beltsy, Khotin, *Brichany, and Izmail, and two in Kishinev, with 188 pupils. Private secular Jewish schools also began to appear, and from the 1860s Jews in
Bessarabia, especially wealthier ones, began to send their children to the general schools. During the 1870s, 30 to 40 of
the pupils in some of the secondary schools of the region were
Jewish. In 1894, however, 60.9 of Jewish children of school
age still attended h eder. The population census of 1897 revealed that only 27.8 of Bessarabian Jews above the age of ten
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bessarabia
From 1941
The first Soviet occupation of the area lasted from 1940 until the beginning of hostilities between Germany and Russia
in June of the following year. Romania was an ally of Germany. Bessarabia was reconquered by German and Romanian troops by July 23, 1941, and remained under Romanian
authority until August 1944, when it was reoccupied by the
Russians. Central and northern Bessarabia, as well as a narrow strip on the west side of the Dniester, became the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic with the capital in Kishinev.
When Bessarabia was reoccupied by the Soviets, only a few
Jews were still alive. The great majority had been massacred
by the Einsatzkommandos of Einsatzgruppe D, and by the
German and Romanian soldiers, while others were deported
to *Transnistria, where more than half of them died. Many of
the deported Jews preferred to slip back into Romania, and
from there to leave for Israel.
For further information on the Holocaust in Bessarabia
and subsequent events, see articles on *Russia and the various
towns. For the period after the breakup of the Soviet Union,
see *Moldova.
[Theodor Lavi]
Bibliography: Die Judenpogrome in Russland, 1 (1910), passim; 2 (1910), 537; N. Sharand, A Dritl Yorhundert Yidisher Kooperat-
497
bessels, emil
498
beta israel
figure in the Jewish community and was president of the Tunisian *ORT and other communal organizations.
[David Corcos]
499
beta israel
500
beta israel
and 15t centuries the Beta Israel were politically divided and
geographically dispersed.
The recognition of this reality has several important consequences for the interpretation of Beta Israel history. Firstly,
it serves as a caution against attempts to artificially impose
unity on the sources by treating scattered events in specific
regions as if they affected all Beta Israel. The Christian Emperor Yeshaqs (r. 14131430) victory over the Beta Israel governor of Semien and Dambiya was not, for example, a defeat
for all Beta Israel. Some were allies of the Emperor and benefited from his victory. In a similar fashion, the reported conversion to Christianity of much of the population of Salamt
province by the 15t-century Christian missionary St. Takla
Hawaryat must be evaluated in its proper geographic context.
His successes in that region left the population of Semien at
least temporarily untouched.
A recognition of the decentralized character of Beta
Israel society during this period is also of crucial importance
to the proper understanding of the dynamics of Beta Israel
political history. If one accepts the existence of an ancient
Beta Israel kingdom with its origins shrouded in the undocumented past, the rest of Beta Israel history appears almost
automatically to be little more than an account of their decline from this mythical peak. In fact, the story is much more
complex. According to the extant sources, a centralized relatively unified political organization existed among the Beta
Israel only from the 16t and early 17t centuries. The effective military-political structure described in Ethiopian royal
chronicles of this period was not, therefore, an aboriginal
characteristic of Beta Israel society. Rather it developed relatively late, probably in response to the external threat posed by
the Christian empire. Their history is not accordingly a story
of continuous and unremitting decline but rather a gradual
process of consolidation and unification followed by a series
of catastrophic defeats.
Even when applied solely to the period of the 16t and
17t century the term Beta Israel kingdom should not be applied too casually. Even those later sources which portray a
far more centralized polity than existed in earlier periods are
far from unanimous as to the precise character of the groups
political structure. It is, for example, of interest to note that
while many medieval Hebrew sources (none of them eyewitness accounts) accept the existence of a kingdom as axiomatic,
the first-hand reports of Ethiopian, Portuguese, and Muslim
observers are far more restrained. The claim put forward in
the Chronicle of Emperor Sarsa Dengal that the 16t-century
Beta Israel leader Radai lived from his own labor (he was a
tiller of the soil, who ate his bread by the sweat of his brow;
cf. Gen. 3:19) is difficult to reconcile with the idea of a fully
developed monarchy.
Nor should James Bruces detailed reports on the Jewish
kings be accepted uncritically. Bruce, it must be remembered,
visited Ethiopia almost a century and a half after Susenyos
victory over the Beta Israel. He was, therefore, at least in this
case, a recorder of traditions and not an eyewitness. In addiENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
tion, his claim that a Beta Israel king and queen still ruled at
the time of his visit scarcely enhances his credibility.8
THE RISE OF MONASTICISM. The gradual evolution of a more
centralized political structure was only one of the responses
engendered by the Christian threat to the Beta Israel. During the same period a major revolution took place within the
structure of Beta Israel religious life. A new form of religious
leadership began to emerge. Faced with increasing political
and military pressure from the Christian Ethiopian emperors,
the Beta Israel adopted the Christian institution of monasticism as a means of consolidating and developing their unique
communal identity. Beginning with Abba Sabra and Sega Amlak, who lived in the 15t century and are credited with founding Beta Israel monasticism, monks played a vital role among
the Jews in Ethiopia.
According to Beta Israel traditions, the introduction of
monasticism was accompanied by a number of other religious
innovations including the introduction of new religious literature, the composition of prayers, and the adoption of important laws of ritual segregation and purity. The Beta Israel
monks can thus be justly claimed to have been the chief carriers of their peoples distinctive religious heritage. It appears
probable that it was they who provided the ideological basis
for the creation of a unified political structure among their
people. Just how successful the monks were in assuming a
central position in Beta Israel society is evidenced not only
by the fact that they survived the demise of the autonomous
political leaders but also by the fact that nearly all the figures
commemorated by the Beta Israel as holy men at various holy
places in Ethiopia were monks.
16321860
Any doubts one might have with regard to the finality of the
Beta Israels defeat at the hands of Susenyos are resolved by the
decision of his son Fasiledes (163267) to build his capital at
Gondar near the heart of Beta Israel territory. The site would
only have been chosen after the local people had been totally
subdued. According to both Christian and Jewish traditions,
Beta Israel soldiers and artisans were speedily incorporated
into the military and economic life of Christian Ethiopia. Although the Beta Israel no longer ruled themselves, the Gondarine period (16321769) is remembered as a period when the
(Beta) Israel lived in peace and welfare. Beginning in 1769,
however, Ethiopia was plunged into an extended period of conflict and internal struggle. Known as the Zemane Masafent (the
era of the princes or judges), because it resembled the period
of the Old Testament judges when there was no king in Israel:
every man did that which was right in his eyes, this period
brought fresh sorrows to the Beta Israel. During a period of
almost 100 years (17691855) Ethiopia lacked effective imperial
rule and local rulers vied with each other for supremacy. The
Beta Israel, whose well-being was largely dependent upon royal
patronage and protection, suffered accordingly. Their decline
from independence to imperial appointees to despised artisans
is clearly visible in their changing patterns of leadership.
501
beta israel
AZMACH AND BEJEROND. Following their loss of independence in the 17t century, the structure of Beta Israel political
leadership underwent a dramatic change. Autonomous rulers no longer exercised control over the community or the
regions in which the Beta Israel lived. Political power passed
into the hands of royal-appointed governors, none of whom
was chosen by virtue of their traditional roles among their
own people. Rather they acquired land and titles through
their ability to render services to the Christian Emperors
who resided in Gondar. The principal secular leaders of the
Beta Israel became those who were recognized as such by
the dominant society, rather than those related to their own
previous ruling families. A new elite of soldiers, masons, and
carpenters emerged.
The Beta Israel leaders of the Gondarine period are remembered as having held two titles: azmach (commander)
and bejerond (treasurer). The former, which was the higher
of the two ranks, was used to refer to military leaders and local officals. The latter appears to have had connections with
tax collection, although as applied to the Beta Israel it seems
to have referred primarily to the chief of the workers especially potters, carpenters, masons, and blacksmiths. While
the azmach might exercise leadership over a heterogeneous
community, the bejeronds authority was confined to the Beta
Israel. One informant stated, The azmach was government
administrator for many people, but the bejerond was only concerned with the Beta Israel.
One of the clearest indications of the deterioration of the
status of the Beta Israel in the late 18t and 19t century is the
gradual disappearance of the azmach. In the Gondarine period
Beta Israel were appointed both azmach and bejerond, by mid19t century those few Beta Israel who had any titles at all were
exclusively bejerond. As James Quirin has noted, this transition was symptomatic of their social-political decline and increasing identification as a low-status artisan group.
COMMUNAL ORGANIZATION. One immediate consequence
of the Beta Israels loss of autonomy was a return to the decentralized pattern of communal organization which had characterized their political structure prior to the 16t and 17t century. While it may be convenient to continue to speak of the
Beta Israel community, no evidence exists for the survival
of formal centralized communal institutions. Rather a large
number of scattered communities existed with informal economic, political, marital, and religious ties. Halvy observed
when he visited Ethiopia in 1867, Chaque commune est autonomie et indpendante. Cest seulement dans les cas u un
grand danger menace la religion quon se reunit, afin de repousser lennemie commun (J. Halevy, in: Bulletin de lAlliance
isralite universelle (1868), 95).
The Beta Israels lack of autonomy and of an effective
political-military leadership also resulted in a sharp decline
in the communities coercive power. Abba Yeshaq, one of the
Beta Israels outstanding religious leaders of the 19t century,
told the French explorer Antoine dAbbadie that originally
502
the Beta Israel would stone to death any member of the community who ate leavened products on Passover. Following
their loss of independence, however, they were compelled to
change the punishment. Mais aujourdhui, comme on na pas
de roi juif, on se contente dinfliger une pnitence qui est le
don dune chvre dun an.
Abba Yeshaqs words serve as a reminder that however
great the authority of the Beta Israel clergy, neither they nor
any other group in post-independence Beta Israel society
had the power to enforce its will upon the population. On
the whole, the means of coercion in their hands were largely
limited to steps such as ostracism, which depended upon the
support of community opinion. As Halvy wrote, Chaque
province, chaque ville se soumet volontairement la decision
de son prtre et de ses debteras.
At the heart of the daily functioning of the voluntary
system described by Halvy stood the village elders (shmagilotch). On their role he observed, La justice est exerce par
les anciens (chimagueli). Les plaintes et les diffrends sont
portes devant eux. Leurs jugements sont toujours respectes
par les deux partis. Personne nose sy opposer ni faire appel
a lautorit amharique.
Although Halvy appears to have been the first witness to
mention the role of the elders in Beta Israel society, the phenomenon he describes was probably of considerable antiquity.
Certainly we can presume that it existed at least from the time
when the Beta Israel lost their independence. More importantly, it formed an integral part of Beta Israel life throughout the 19t and 20t centuries, and thus forms a vital element
in any comprehensive picture of their traditional leadership
in the modern era.
Although we possess no specific information of the Beta
Israel clergy during the Gondarine period, it appears likely that
their importance was increased by the decline of the autonomous political leadership. In particular, the monastic clergy
who became virtually the only leaders not dependent upon
the Christian kings for their position, probably rose in status.
The further decline of the secular leaders during the era of the
princes could only have further enhanced their standing.
By the time we begin to receive detailed accounts of Beta
Israel life in the first half of the 19t century, the paramount
position of the monastic clergy is clearly established. Antoine
dAbbadie, one of the most important of the early European
visitors to Ethiopia wrote, Bien quil ny ait pas de hierarchie
ecclesiastique, les Falachas reconnaissent pour chef les plus
savent ou le plus habile de leurs moines. The centrality of the
monastic clergy during this period receives further confirmation in the Beta Israels own sources according to which their
religion survived a severe crisis in the early 19t century due
to the efforts of the monk, Abba Wedaje. Significantly it was
also the monastic clergy who served as communal spokesmen
when the first efforts to communicate with world Jewry were
made. Finally, it was upon the monastic clergy that the main
responsibility fell to defend their people against the temptations of foreign missionaries.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
beta israel
503
beta israel
504
beta israel
Ethiopians in Mereba, a crime committed by the Italian occupants in 1937, thirty-two Beta Israel were killed (Taamrats
letter to Faitlovitch, 19.9.1937, in: E. Trevisan Semi, Lepistolario
di Taamrat Emmanuel: un intellettuale ebreo dEtiopia nella
prima met del XX secolo (Torino, 2000), 250256.
19411974
Prior to the liberation of Ethiopia in 1941 only a handful of
Western Jews had visited the Beta Israel. In the next three decades, their numbers were to swell dramatically. Trends which
first became apparent in the period of Faitlovitch, such as outside intervention, education, and normalization of religious
practice, escalated significantly. In a similar manner the pressure upon the Beta Israel to speak with one voice grew. The
traditional religious leadership was increasingly challenged
by Western-educated members of the community and contact with outsiders became an ever more important route to
status.
No description of Beta Israel leadership and the influence of outside forces on community organization in the period after World War II would be complete without a discussion of the figure of Yona *Bogale. Born in Wolleqa, Gondar
in 1910, Yona studied with Faitlovitch and Taamrat Emmanuel
in Ethiopia. Later he pursued further studies in Jerusalem,
Frankfurt, Zurich, and Paris. After his return to Ethiopia he
worked as a teacher and a civil servant. In 1953 he left the imperial service and from that time on, until he left Ethiopia in
1979, he involved himself with various projects connected with
the Beta Israel community.
During the more than 25 years of Ato Yonas activities as
a spokesman for the Beta Israel, foreign involvement with the
community in Ethiopia steadily increased. The Israel government, the Jewish Agency, ORT, JDC, political activists and casual travelers all made their impact felt upon the Jews of Ethiopia. From the perspective of the various Jewish organizations,
which sought to aid their co-religionists in Ethiopia, the Beta
Israels lack of political unity and their tradition of village-level
politics appeared inefficient and wasteful. In an attempt to rationalize and simplify the giving of assistance, such organizations sought to impose an artificial unity on the Beta Israel
whereby a single individual represented all the communities
and coordinated the distribution of assistance.
Despite, or perhaps because of, his unique background,
Ato Yona came to represent the Beta Israel community to
much of the outside world, especially to various Jewish organizations. As the interest and financial involvement of world
Jewry with the Beta Israel grew, Ato Yona became a wellknown and idealized figure. Yet, his position within the community was often a far cry from that depicted by outsiders.
Throughout the period of the 1970s, for example, an open
dispute existed between Yona Bogale and the leading priest of
the Gondar area, Abba Uri Ben (Berhan) Baruch. In part, the
quarrel was based upon a disagreement as to how funds from
the various pro-Beta Israel committees should be divided
among different villages. However, it soon developed beyond
505
beta israel
506
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef s letter refers to the Beta Israel as descendants of the Tribe of Dan. Support for this view can be
traced back as far as the 9t century C.E. in the writings of
the Jewish traveler Eldad Ha-Dani. Such rabbinic luminaries as Rashi cite Eldad as an unquestioned authority on these
issues.
On March 11, 1975, it was reported that an Interministerial Committee had ruled that Israel recognized the Ethiopian
Jews entitled to automatic citizenship and full benefits as prescribed under the 1950 Law of Return.
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Shlomo Goren expressed disapproval of this ruling, but after the winter of 1978 when he met
a group of new immigrants from Ethiopia with the greeting,
You are our brothers; you are our blood and our flesh. You
are true Jews You have returned to your homeland, he too
joined the ranks of the long list of rabbis affirming the Jewishness of the Beta Israel.
Nonetheless, Rabbis Yosef and Goren requested a symbolic ceremony which is called a h idush ha-yahadut, meaning renewal of Judaism. This ceremony consists of a ritual
immersion without the necessity of a blessing for the women.
The men are also immersed because they are already circumcised. They need only a ceremonial milah.
This symbolic ceremony is not a conversion. It does not
require any study period. The rabbis request that it be done
within a few days of the Ethiopian Jews arrival in Israel. Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef expressed it best when he defined the ceremony
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
beta israel
19821992
In a decade of dramatic changes for World Jewry, the Beta
Israel stood out as the Jewish community that had undergone the most dramatic transformation. At the end of 1982
the number of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel stood at about
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
507
beta israel
As of September 1992 almost half the Ethiopian immigrants in the country were still in temporary housing: 2,500
were in hotels, 7,600 were in regular absorption centers, and
15,000 were living in mobile homes. Each of these groups presents officials with a different set of difficulties, but the last is
probably the most problematic. Mobile homes for Ethiopian
immigrants (as well as a relatively small number of Russians
and veteran Israelis) were situated in 22 sites around the country. Most were located in isolated areas far removed from other
Israelis, schools, and employment opportunities. It was anticipated that many immigrants would continue to live in such
quarters for at least 3 or 4 years.
So long as the Ethiopians remained in temporary quarters, it was extremely difficult to complete their educational,
social, and occupational absorption. Although official statistics were never released, it was generally estimated that prior
to 1991, 80 of Ethiopian immigrants eligible for work had
found jobs. Those who have arrived in the following two years
had a much harder time finding employment both because
of their geographic isolation and difficult conditions in the
Israeli economy.
Although more than two decades have passed since
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef (at the time Sephardi chief rabbi) ruled
that the Beta Israel were Jews, many details of their religious
status remain unresolved. Despite recurrent demonstrations
and court appeals, most Israeli marriage registrars continue
to follow the Chief Rabbinates guidelines and require Ethiopian immigrants wishing to marry to undergo ritual immersion. Rabbi David Chelouche of Netanya and other rabbis
designated by him require no such ceremony and continue to
perform weddings for Ethiopian Jews throughout the country. Some Ethiopian activists have demanded that qessotch
(priests), the communitys religious leaders, be allowed to
conduct weddings and perform divorces as in Ethiopia. The
Chief Rabbinate has firmly rejected this demand. Instead it
has agreed to allow the qessotch to serve on religious councils
in areas with large Ethiopian populations and has suggested
that they study to become marriage registrars.
The ongoing controversy concerning marriages and the
status of the qessotch is not merely a halakhic-legal issue. It
is also symptomatic of the vast changes that have shaken the
Ethiopian family in the past decade. Couples have divorced
and remarried, children have asserted an unprecedented degree of independence, and women have redefined their roles.
Changes have, moreover, not been limited to the restructuring of relations within the family. The familys relationship to
the surrounding society has also been radically changed. In
Ethiopia families and households were the foundation of rural communal life and served as schools, workshops, clinics,
reformatories, and credit organizations. In Israel most of these
functions have become the primary responsibility of other
institutions. Thus, the past decade has witnessed not only a
dramatic and irreversible change of location (in a geographic
sense) for the Ethiopian family. It has also produced a no less
508
19922005
The Ethiopian Jews continued to undergo dramatic changes
in a very short period of time. In 2005 there were approximately 85,000 in Israel, of whom 23,000 were Israeli-born.
Official Israeli absorption policy aimed to prevent the development of Ethiopian ghettos and thus encouraged Ethiopians
not to concentrate in the same areas and to purchase homes
in towns where employment and social services were available. This policy failed to some extent because immigrants
wished to be housed near relatives and chose to live were it
was cheapest, often preferring not to leave absorption centers.
In 1993 the Ministry of Absorption initiated a special program to encourage immigrants to buy houses and apply for
mortgages outside peripheral areas. Between 1988 and 2001,
10,542 Ethiopians purchased apartments with the help of government mortgages. If the special mortgage program permitted many Ethiopian families to own their homes, the goal of
settling them in the center of the country was not achieved,
because the Ethiopians concentrated in a few selected areas
while Jerusalem and Tel Aviv remained with very small Ethiopian populations.
The State acted in the process of absorption of Ethiopians according to a model of mediated absorption and the
Jewish Agency was responsible for the process. This policy
encouraged employees to treat immigrants as a social problem, which led immigrants to conform to expectations and
behave accordingly. In 1999 there were 14,778 Ethiopians aged
2554 in the country but only 53 percent participated in the
labor force (compared to 76 percent of all Israelis of the same
age). Only 38 percent of the Ethiopians in the labor force were
women (compared to 68 percent of all Israeli women). Most
of the Ethiopians were employed in manufacturing (especially
men) and in public services (especially women). Few of the
Ethiopians were in academic and liberal professions (4 percent of men and 15 percent of women).
The Israeli education system planned to have all young
Ethiopians attend state religious schools in the first year of
their arrival. Government policy sought to restrict the percentage of Ethiopian students in classes to no more than 25
percent, but this program too was not achieved. Many students went to *Youth Aliyah boarding schools.
In 1996 Maariv revealed that the Magen David Adom
blood bank had for years systematically thrown out blood
donated by Ethiopian Israelis without informing the donors.
This occurred because Ethiopian immigrants were considered
a high-risk group for AIDS (especially those who arrived in
Operation Solomon). The blood scandal was accompanied
by many demonstrations covered by the international media and by a commission of enquiry. At the outset of the 21st
century the absorption of Ethiopian Jews remained the most
bet-anath
BET ALFA (Heb. ) , place in Israel in the eastern Jezreel Valley at the foot of Mount Gilboa. The name is historical
and has been preserved in the Arab designation of the site,
Beit Ilfa, which may have some connection with the proper
name Ilfa or Hilfa which occurs in the Talmud (Taan. 21a). The
foundations of an ancient synagogue were discovered in 1929
near Bet Alfa by E.L. *Sukenik and N. *Avigad, who were conducting excavations on behalf of the Hebrew University. The
synagogue covered an area of 46 92 ft. (14 28 m) and included a courtyard, narthex, basilica-type hall with a nave and
two side aisles, and, apparently, a womens gallery. The apse at
the end of the hall was oriented south toward Jerusalem, and
a small cavity in its floor probably served as a genizah; above
it once stood an ark for Scrolls of the Law. The entire floor of
the structure is paved with mosaics: the courtyard, narthex,
and aisles in simple geometric designs, while the floor of the
nave is decorated with mosaic panels surrounded by a broad
ornamental border. Two inscriptions were found at the en-
trance to the hall: one (in Aramaic) states that the mosaic
was made during the reign of Emperor Justin (undoubtedly
Justin I, 51827); the other (in Greek) gives the names of the
mosaicists, *Marianos and his son H anina. Symbolic animals
are depicted on either side of the inscriptions: a lion on the
right and a bull on the left. The three mosaic panels in the center of the hall depict (from north to south): (1) The Offering of
Isaac, which shows Abraham pointing a drawn knife at Isaac
who is bound near an altar; behind Abraham a ram is tied to
a tree, and alongside it appears the inscription And behold a
ram. The hand of God is seen between the suns rays above;
Abrahams two servants and donkey stand behind him; a band
of palm trees separate this scene from the next one. (2) The
Signs of the Zodiac, with the sun in the center in the form of a
youth riding a chariot drawn by four horses; each sign has its
Hebrew designation inscribed above it. In the corners appear
the four seasons of the year (Tishri, Tevet, Nisan, Tammuz),
each in the form of the bust of a winged woman adorned with
jewels. (3) The Ark of the Synagogue, in which the ark has a
gable roof with an eternal light suspended from its top and
two birds perched at its corners; on either side is a lion with
a seven-branched menorah (candelabrum) and above it and
between them are depicted lulavim (palm branches), etrogim
(citrons), a shofar, and censers. Curtains adorn the scene on
the left and right sides.
The simple but strong style of the mosaic pavement represents a folk art that appears to have developed among the
Jewish villagers of Galilee. The figures are depicted frontally
and the artist took great pains to make each scene expressive.
The mosaics of Bet Alfa are striking in their coloring and stylization and are among the finest examples of Jewish art in the
Byzantine period. In 1960 the synagogue structure was renovated and the pavement repaired by the Israel Government.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
509
betar
(no. 97) but it definitely appears in the records of the campaigns of both Seti I in c. 1300 B.C.E. (between Tyre and
Kadesh) and of Rameses II in c. 1280 B.C.E. (before Kanah).
Although it is listed with the cities in the territory of the tribe
of *Naphtali (Josh. 19:38), this tribe could not overcome it and
only imposed tribute on the inhabitants (Judg. 1:33). Some
scholars locate it in Lower Galilee at Bueina in the valley of
Beth-Netophah or at el-Bina in the Bet ha-Kerem valley, but
the archaeological survey makes a location in Upper Galilee
more probable and its identification with Safd el-Batikh has
been suggested. In talmudic times a Beth-Anath is mentioned
as a city outside Erez Israel with a mixed Jewish-gentile population (Tosef., Kil. 2:16). The Zeno Papyri from 259 B.C.E. contain a reference to a vineyard at Baitoanaia. It has also been
suggested that the Batnaea mentioned by Eusebius (Onom.
30:5; 52:24) refers to the same site. (If so, the Caesarea 15 mi.
(24 km.) distant would be Caesarea Philippi.)
Bibliography: Aharoni, Land, index; Avi-Yonah, Land, 143;
EM, 2 (1965), 96f.; Press, Erez , 1 (19512), 9596; S. Lieberman, Tosefta
ki-Feshutah, Zeraim (1955), 620.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
510
bet-cherem
511
bet-dagon
salem, and to blow the trumpet in Tekoa [in the south], and
to set up a sign of fire [i.e., beacons, massaot] in Beth-Cherem
[in the west]; for evil appeareth out of the north, and great
destruction. Jeremiah referred specifically in this passage to
the ultimate territory of Jerusalem (a radius of five kilometers around the city), demarcated specifically by the furthermost sites of Tekoa and Beth-Cherem, to the south and west,
respectively, and with the northern limit set at the border between Judah and Benjamin (probably at Gibeah/Tell el-Ful).
It again appears during the time of Nehemiah as the center
of one of the Judean districts; Malchijah, son of Rechab, the
ruler of the district of Beth-Cherem, took part in building the
walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Neh. 3:14). The valley of
Beth-Cherem appearing in later sources should apparently be
sought next to the town. According to the Mishnah (Mid. 3:4:
Biqat Beth-Cherem), the stones for the temple altar and its
ramp were brought from the valley of Beth-Cherem (Ex. 20:25
(JPS 20:22); Deut. 27:56). The fertile valley in the proximity
of Ain Karim was also noted as a source of a specific kind of
flat stone, still seen there today. Elsewhere we hear that the
bright color of the valley soils was discussed by the sages in
reference to menstrual blood (Niddah 2:7). The town and its
valley are also mentioned in two Dead Sea Scrolls from the
end of the Second Temple period. In the Genesis Aprocryphon
on Genesis 14:17, the vale of Shaveh the same is the Kings
Vale is thought by some scholars to be the same as the valley of Beth-Karma. The Copper Scroll, which contains a list
of hiding places for treasure, describes Beth-Cherem as a depository for treasure in a large water system (asyw). In Jeromes
commentary on Jeremiah 6:1 (from the fifth century C.E.),
Bethacharma is incorrectly situated on a mountain between
Jerusalem and Tekoa. An attempt was made by Y. Aharoni
to identify Beth Cherem with Ramat Rahel a site which he
excavated in southern Jerusalem, based mainly on Jeromes
misidentification.
Beth-Cherem should be identified as Ain Karim (spring
of the vineyard), situated within the western suburbs of modern Jerusalem. In antiquity it was a major town in the hills east
of a broad valley basin, with excellent sources of natural water
and surrounded by rich agricultural lands. The main spring,
known as the Spring of the Virgin, provided 1,135 cubic meters
of water per day. Archaeological finds in the present village
date back to the Middle Bronze Age II, Iron Age II and Persian
periods. Later remains from the Roman, Byzantine and medieval parts are also known. Ain Karim is important in Christian
sources as the birthplace of John the Baptist. Two churches in
the village the Nativity and the Visitation are associated
with the tradition of John the Baptist. In the hinterland is the
traditional Monastery of John in the Wilderness, and nearby
recent excavations have uncovered a Byzantine memorial cave
dedicated to the Baptist, with earlier remains connected to
baptism rituals dating back to the Roman period.
Bibliography: M.T. Petrozzi, Ain Karim (1971); 39293 in Z.
Kallai, Historical Geography of the Bible: The Tribal Territories of Israel
(1986); Y. Aharoni, Beth-Haccerem, 17184 in T.D. Winton (ed.),
512
Modern Period
This site is now the small town of Bet Dagan. In modern times
the Arab village Beit Dajan existed there, which increased in
population and wealth due to the development of nearby Tel
Aviv. Heavy fighting took place there during the War of Independence (1948) to secure Jewish traffic to Jerusalem and the
south, and the village was abandoned. It was settled by immigrants from Bulgaria at the end of 1948 and called Bet Dagan
(House of Corn). This soon developed from a moshav into
a semi-urban community. In 1953 Bet Dagan received municipal council status. In 1962 the Israel Institute for Meteorology was opened there along with a state-owned agricultural
experimental station. The town had 2,680 inhabitants in 1968
and 4,830 in 2002, occupying a municipal area of 0.6 sq. mi.
(1.5 sq. km.).
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: M. Avi-Yonah, Madaba Mosaic Map (1954),
62; Avi-Yonah, Land, 157; 107; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 269; G. Beyer, in:
ZDPV, 56 (1933), 227; E. Dhorme, in: RHR, 138 (1950), 1301; Press,
Erez , 1 (1951), 79; Aharoni, Land, 337. Website: www.beitdagan.
muni.il.
BET DIN AND JUDGES (Heb. ; lit. house of judgment). Bet din (pl. battei din) is the term, in rabbinic sources,
for a Jewish court of law. In modern times it usually refers to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
cers who took their place with Moses to share the burden of
the people (Num. 11:1617).
The jurisdiction of the various courts was as follows.
(1) Courts of three judges exercised jurisdiction in civil
matters generally (Sanh. 1:1), including those which might involve the imposition of *fines (Sanh. 1:1; Sanh. 3a). They also
had jurisdiction in matters of divorce (Git. 5b) and h aliz ah
(Yev. 12:1). A court of three judges was required for the conversion of non-Jews (Yev. 46b); for the absolution from vows
(Ned. 78a; TJ, H ag. 1:8, 76c and Ned. 10:10, 42b); for the circumvention of the law annulling debts in the Sabbatical year
(prosbul; Shev. 10:4; Git. 32b); for the non-release of slaves
after six years (Ex. 21:6; Mekh. Mishpatim 2; Yad, Avadim
3:9); for the enslavement of one who commits a theft and
does not have the means to pay for the principal (Ex. 22:2;
Yad, Sanhedrin 1:1; Genevah 3:11); and also for the taking of
any evidence, even in noncontroversial cases (Yev. 87b; Resp.
Ha-Meyuh asot la-Ramban 113; Resp. Rashba vol. 1, no. 749).
Compulsory orders in matters of ritual would also require the
concurrence of three judges in order to be valid (Ket. 86a; H ul.
132b), as would the imposition of any sanction for disobedience (Mordekhai Git. 384).
(2) Courts of 23 judges exercised jurisdiction in criminal
matters generally, including capital cases (Sanh. 1:4). They also
exercised jurisdiction in quasi-criminal cases, in which the
destruction of animals might be involved (e.g., Lev. 20:1516;
Ex. 21:2829; Sanh. 1:4). Where a case was originally of a civil
nature, such as slander, but might in due course give rise to
criminal sanctions, such as slander of unchastity (Deut. 22:14),
it was brought before a court of 23 (Sanh. 1:1); if the slander
was found to be groundless, the matter would be referred to
a court of three for civil judgment (Maim. Yad, Sanh. 5:3). According to one view, the imposition of the penalty of *flogging required a court of 23 (Sanh. 1:2), but the prevailing view
is that a court of three is sufficient (Sanh. 1:2; Yad, Sanh. 5:4),
as it is really a penalty that is not necessarily for criminal offenses (see *Contempt of Court), as well as being the accepted
method of judicial admonition (makkot mardut).
(3) The court of 71 judges had practically unlimited judicial, legislative, and administrative powers but certain judicial
and administrative functions were reserved to it alone. Thus,
the high priest (Sanh. 1:5), the head of a tribe (Sanh. 16a), and
presumably also the president of the Sanhedrin (nasi), could,
if accused of a crime, only be tried by the court of 71. Certain crimes were also reserved to its jurisdiction, such as the
uttering of false prophecy (Sanh. 1:5), rebellious teaching by
an elder (zaken mamre; Sanh. 11:2; see *Majority Rule), and
the subversion of a whole town or tribe (Sanh. 1:5); and certain death penalties had to be confirmed by it before being
carried out (such as of the rebellious son, the enticer to idolatry, and false witnesses; Tosef., Sanh. 11:7). The *ordeal of a
woman suspected of adultery took place in the Great Court
at Jerusalem only (Sot. 1:4).
Among the administrative functions reserved to the
Great Sanhedrin were the appointment of courts of 23 (Sanh.
513
1:5; Maim. Yad, Sanh. 5:1); the election of kings (Yad, loc. cit.
and Melakhim 1:3) and of high priests (Yad, Kelei ha-Mikdash
4:15); the expansion of the limits of the city of Jerusalem and
of the Temple precincts (Sanh. 1:5), and the partition of the
country among the tribes (according to Ulla; Sanh. 16a); the
declaration of war (Sanh. 1:5); the offering of a sacrifice for
the sin of the whole community (Lev. 4:1315; Sanh. 13b); and
the appointment and control of priests serving in the Temple
(Mid. 5:4; Tosef., H ag. 2:9). The legislative functions of the
Great Sanhedrin cannot easily be enumerated. It has been authoritatively said that the Great Court of Jerusalem was the
essential source of all Oral Law (Yad, Mamrim 1:1). The law as
laid down (or as interpreted) by the Great Sanhedrin is binding on everybody, and any person contravening or repudiating it was liable to the death penalty (Deut. 17:12; Sif. Deut.
155; Yad, Mamrim 1:2), even where the law as laid down (or
interpreted) by the court might appear misconceived: even
though they show you as right what in your eyes is left or as
left what is right you must obey them (Sif. Deut. 155; but cf.
Hor. 1:1 and TJ, Hor. 1:1, 45d; and see *Rabbinical Authority).
As a corollary of their legislative powers, the Great Sanhedrin
also exercised advisory functions: wherever in any court any
question of law was in doubt, the final and binding opinion of
the Great Court at Jerusalem would have to be taken (Sanh.
88b; Yad, Sanh. 1:4). For the question of appeals see *Practice
and Procedure.
(4) Apart from the regular courts mentioned above, there
sat in the Temple a special court of priests charged with the supervision of the Temple ritual and with civil matters concerning the priests (cf. Ket. 1:5). Mention is also made of a special
court of levites, presumably with similar functions (cf. Tosef.,
Sanh. 4:7). Originally, the priests performed general judicial
functions: they were the sole competent interpreters (or diviners) of Gods judgment (Ex. 28:15, 30, 43; Num. 27:21; Deut.
33:810); later, they adjudicated matters together or alternately
with the judges (Deut. 17:9; 19:17; 21:5), and it seems that the
litigants had the choice of applying to the priest for the dictum of God or to the judges for judgment according to law;
eventually, the judicial functions of the priests were reduced
to their simply being allotted some seats in the Great Sanhedrin (Sif. Deut. 153).
(5) While no regular court could consist of less than three
judges (Sanh. 3b), recognized experts in the law (mumh eh larabbim) were already in talmudical times admitted as single
judges (Sanh.5a), albeit in civil cases only and not without
express reservations and disapproval there being no true
single judge other than God alone (Avot 4:8; Yad, Sanh. 2:11).
No litigant could be compelled to submit to the jurisdiction
of a single judge (Sh. Ar., H M 3:2).
APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES. The appointment of judges
presupposed the semikhah (laying of hands) by the appointer upon the appointee, as Moses laid his hands upon
Joshua (Num. 27:23) thereby making him leader and supreme
judge in succession to himself. The tradition is that through-
514
out the ages judges received their authority from their immediate predecessors who laid their hands upon them; so
it came about that in law the president of the Great Sanhedrin would be the authority conferring judicial powers on
graduating judges (Sanh. 5a), in a formal procedure before a
court of three in which he participated or which he appointed
(Yad, Sanh. 4:5). But judges were also appointed by kings (e.g.,
II Chron. 19:56), a power which appears to have eventually
devolved on the *exilarch in Babylonia (Yad, Sanh. 4:13), but
was superseded even there by the overriding authority of the
heads of the academies (rashei yeshivot; cf. A. Harkavy (ed.),
Zikhron Kammah Geonim, 80f., no. 180). Courts need not
be composed of authorized judges only: any duly authorized
judge could form a court by co-opting to himself the necessary number of laymen (Yad, Sanh. 4:11).
The original practice of semikhah ceased about the middle of the fourth century and at the present time battei din
exercise their judicial functions only as agents of, and by virtue of, an implied authority from the Ancients (Git. 88b; BK
84b; Yad, Sanh. 5:8). This agency does not extend to capital cases; even for cases involving fines nonauthorized judges
would not be qualified (Sh. Ar., H M 1:1). It is only because of
force of circumstances that the scope of jurisdiction was in
practice never restricted, but extended to whatever causes local conditions required (cf. Netivot ha-Mishpat, Mishpat haUrim, H M 1:1; Nov. Ramban Yev. 46b).
One of the consequences of the cessation of the traditional authorization of judges was the adoption in many
(mostly Western European) communities of a system of election of judges; in Spain, the judges were elected every year,
along with all other officers of the community (cf. Resp. Ribash
207). The leading rabbinical authorities of the period were
time and again consulted about election procedures (cf., e.g.,
Resp. Rashba vol. 3, nos. 417, 4225; vol. 5, no. 284), so as to
ensure that the best and most impartial candidates would be
elected. It seems that, when elected, they could not refuse to
serve, even though they had not put up their candidature (cf.
Rema H M 25:3; see Judicial *Autonomy; *Mishpat Ivri).
In the State of Israel today, the procedure for appointing rabbinical judges is similar to that for appointing secular
judges (Dayyanim Act, 5715 1955), but while the qualifications of secular judges are laid down in the law, those of rabbinical judges are in each individual case to be attested to by
the chief rabbis on the strength of examinations.
No authorization (semikhah) and no appointment of a
judge will be valid where the appointee did not possess the
necessary qualifications (Maim. Yad, Sanh. 4:15); and the sin
of appointing unqualified judges is said to be tantamount
to erecting an *asherah beside the altar of the Lord (Sanh.
7b); and where the man was appointed because he was rich,
it was like making gods of silver or gods of gold (ibid.), not
only causing miscarriages of justice but idolatry (Maim. loc.
cit., 3:8); and it is reported that judges appointed because of
their money were treated with open contempt (TJ, Bik. 3:3,
65d). The Sages have said that from the Great Court mesENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
sengers were sent out all over the country of Israel, and they
looked for judges who were wise and feared sin and were
humble and clearsighted and of good appearance and good
manners, and first they made them judges in their towns,
and then they brought them to the gates of the Temple, and
finally they would elevate them to the Great Court (Maim.
loc. cit., 2:8).
QUALIFICATIONS. The judicial qualifications have been enumerated by Maimonides as follows: judges must be wise and
sensible, learned in the law and full of knowledge, and also acquainted to some extent with other subjects such as medicine,
arithmetic, astronomy and astrology, and the ways of sorcerers and magicians and the absurdities of idolatry and suchlike
matters (so as to know how to judge them); a judge must not
be too old, nor may he be a eunuch or a childless man; and as
he must be pure in mind, so must he be pure from bodily defects, but as well a man of stature and imposing appearance;
and he should be conversant in many languages so as not to
stand in need of interpreters. The seven fundamental qualities of a judge are wisdom, humility, fear of God, disdain of
money, love of truth, love of people, and a good reputation.
A judge must have a good eye, a humble soul, must be pleasant in company, and speak kindly to people; he must be very
strict with himself and conquer lustful impulses; he must have
a courageous heart to save the oppressed from the oppressors
hate, cruelty, and persecution, and eschew wrong and injustice
(Yad, Sanh. 2:17). Playing cards for money or other games of
chance and lending money on interest also disqualify a person
from judicial functions (Sanh. 3:3). A judge who is a relative
of one of the litigants, or has any other personal relationship
toward him (loves him or hates him), must disqualify himself from sitting in judgment over him (Sanh. 3:45). A judge
should not engage in manual work, so as not to expose himself to popular contempt (Kid. 70a).
PRINCIPLES OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT. A judge must show
patience, indulgence, humility, and respect for persons when
sitting in court (Yad, Sanh. 25:1; Sh. Ar., H M 7:25); he must
always hear both parties to the case (Sanh. 7b; Shev. 31a; and
Codes); he may not in any way discriminate between the parties (Lev. 19:15; Shev. 30a31a; Yad, Sanh. 21:12; 20:57; Sh. Ar.,
H M 17:1 and commentaries ad. loc.); nor may he act under the
possible pressures of any undue influence, including *bribery
by money or by words (Deut. 16:19; Sanh. 3:5; Shab. 119a; Ket.
105b; and Codes); he must, on the one hand, proceed with
deliberation and care, and reconsider again and again before
finally pronouncing his verdict (Avot 1:1; Sanh. 35a; Sif. Deut.
16 and Codes), but may not, on the other hand, unduly delay
justice (Yad, Sanh. 14:10 and 20:6); and he must so conduct
himself that justice is not only done but is also manifestly seen
to be done (Yoma 38a; Shek. 3:2) and readily understood by
the litigants (H M 14:4). Before joining a court, a judge must
satisfy himself that the judges sitting with him are properly
qualified (Yad, Sanh. 2:14); and no judge should sit together
with another judge whom he hates or despises (Sh. Ar., H M
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Talmudic Period
The rabbis ascribe the development of battei din to leading
biblical personalities such as Shem, Moses, Gideon, Jephthah,
Samuel, David, and Solomon (Mak. 23b; Av. Zar. 36b; RH 2:9;
RH 25a). Historical evidence of the existence of a bet din in
the time of Jehoshaphat is found in Deuteronomy Rabbah 19:8.
However, the bet din belongs essentially to the period of the
Second Temple, and its establishment is attributed to *Ezra.
He decreed that a bet din, which was to sit on Mondays and
Thursdays (BK 82a), be established in all populated centers.
These were local courts, while the Great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem served as the supreme court (Deut. 17:813; Sot. 1:4:
Sanh. 1:6). The Sanhedrin existed for the duration of the Second Temple. A decree against immoral behavior is ascribed
to the bet din of the Hasmoneans (Av. Zar. 36b).
After the destruction of the Temple, *Johanan b. Zakkai
established his bet din in Jabneh as the cultural and political
center of the Jews, and it succeeded the previous Sanhedrin
Gedolah. The Jabneh bet din was responsible for regulating
the calendar and thereby became the religious and national
center not only of Erez Israel, but also of the Diaspora. In
addition to this central bet din, local battei din continued to
function, particularly in the vicinity of the academies. The
Talmud speaks of the courts of R. Eliezer in Lydda, R. Joshua
in Pekiin, R. Akiva in Bene-Berak, and R. Yose in Sepphoris (Sanh. 32b). Under R. Johanans successor, *Gamaliel II,
the power and influence of the central bet din increased. The
summit of its authority was reached under *Judah ha-Nasi I.
His grandson, Judah Nesia, may be regarded as the last nasi
under whose direction the bet din was still the actual center
of the Jewish people. The Talmud therefore refers to Gamaliel
and his bet din (Tosef., Ber. 2:6) and to Judah ha-Nasi and his
bet din (Av. Zar. 2:6), thereby indicating the central civil and
religious authority of the Jews.
Toward the middle of the third century, the bet din of
the nasi gradually lost its importance due to the rise of Jewish scholarship in Babylonia and the increased oppression of
Palestinian Jewry under Roman rule. Although the office of
the nasi continued until the end of the fifth century, his bet
din was no longer the center of the Jewish people. In Babylonia, no bet din ever achieved preeminent authority, even for
Babylonia alone. This situation continued throughout the geonic period, as no central bet din could be established because
of the rivalry between the two academies.
Medieval and Modern Period
The bet din became the stronghold of Jewish *autonomy in the
Middle Ages, and continued with reduced powers into modern times. It experienced many changes in the various centers
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516
517
518
519
520
ing, or acts with bias, its ruling under such circumstances will
be annulled by the High Court of Justice (see, e.g., HC 10/59
Levi v. Tel Aviv-Jaffa Regional Rabbinical Court, 13 PD 1182,
per Justices M. Silberg and Y. Zussman; HC 323/81 Vilozni v.
High Rabbinical Court of Appeal, 36 (2) PD 733, 739, per Justice M. Elon).
In addition to the High Court of Justice, every judicial
forum has jurisdiction to decide whether or not it has jurisdiction over a particular matter. Thus, both the rabbinical
courts and the family courts rule on the question of their jurisdiction when the question is raised before them. In a previous decision Supreme Court held that where one judicial
body has adjudicated and ruled in good faith on a particular
matter, no other judicial body has the power to entertain another claim on the same matter regardless of the formal jurisdiction (CA 359/75 Yahalomi v. Yahalomi, 31(2) PD 25, 27,
per Justice Chaim Cohn). The philosophical underpinning of
this rule is the principle of mutual respect that the civil courts
and the religious courts must accord each other. This mutual
respect is not a question of good manners and proper behavior alone; it is vital for the existence of a properly functioning
legal system, especially in the sensitive legal area of matters
of personal status, in which two judicial systems have parallel jurisdiction within the same legal system (ST 1/81 Nagar
v. Nagar, 38(1) PD 365, 397398, per Justice M. Elon). When
one judicial forum rules on a jurisdictional question, it is not
proper for another forum to consider the matter further, and
it must abide by the decision of the first forum. Recently, the
Supreme Court ruled in a majority opinion that only when
there is a special reason (e.g., when there was no preliminary
hearing regarding the question of jurisdiction or where the
ruling of the first forum on the jurisdiction is illegal or deviates from the rules of natural justice), the other judicial forum
has no jurisdiction to rule again on the question of jurisdiction (see HC 8497/00 Feig-Felman v. Felman, 57(2) PD 118, per
Justice D. Beinisch, and concurring opinion of Justice T. Strassberg Cohen). The dissenting opinion was that even in these
exceptional cases there was no place for conflicting rulings of
the rabbinical and the family courts and that the proper procedure was to petition to the High Court of Justice it order for
it to render a decision in the matter (see opinion of Justice D.
Dorner, ibid., pp. 142143).
When the question is whether a particular matter falls
within the jurisdiction of the rabbinical court or of the civil
court, Article 55 of the Kings Order in Council, 1922 sets forth
a mechanism for resolving the matter, i.e., the establishment
of a special tribunal composed of two Supreme Court justices
and one judge from the highest level of the Rabbinical Court
of Appeals (see entry Special Tribunal (Bet Din Meyuh ad).
RABBINICAL COURTS COMPOSITION. The rabbinical
courts comprise two levels: A regional court is located in each
of the major cities in Israel. The regional court sits in panels of
three judges, known as dayyanim (Section 8(e) of the Dayyanim Law). In matters that do not involve a dispute, and with
521
regard to temporary orders, the law provides that the proceedings will be conducted before one dayyan only (Section 8(e),
ibid and The Dayyanim Regulations (Matters that May Be Adjudicated Before a Single Dayyan), 5750 1990).
The Rabbinical Court of Appeals in Jerusalem serves as
a court of appeals regarding decisions and judgments of the
regional rabbinical courts. The Rabbinical Court sits in panels of no fewer than three dayyanim.
This structuring of trial and appellate courts is a result of
the initiative of the Mandatory Government. There were those
who opposed this system, citing the situation throughout all
of the years of exile, in which there were rabbinical courts in
every city, with no hierarchical system. Others found support
for the establishment of a court of appeals in the commentary
of Sforno regarding Jethros suggestion to Moses that he appoint officers of thousands, officers of hundreds, officers of fifties and officers of tens (Exodus 18:21): There should be four
levels, each higher than the previous one: The lowest will judge
first, and he who is dissatisfied with the ruling will complain
to the one above him, and from the second to the third and
from the third to the fourth. And thus there will be only a few
who will come before you for a judgment.
During the period of the Mandatory government, an
appellant argued before the Rabbinical Court that Jewish Law does not recognize a right of appeal, the Rabbinical Court ruled that the appellant had a right of appeal on
the judgment because the right of appeal was accepted as
an enactment of the sages (takkanat h akhamim), and it has
the same validity as our holy Torah, and one who accepts its
adjudication is considered to be aware of this (File 1/4/705,
B. v. A. Collection of Rabbinical Judgments, Z. Wehrhaftig,
ed., 1950, p. 71).
There was another approach in the rabbinical courts,
whereby each dayan was entitled to maintain his independence, as part of his obligation to rule in accordance with Jewish law. Consequently, even when a judgment of that dayyan
was overruled by the Rabbinical Court on appeal, he was of
the opinion that he was not obligated to obey the Rabbinical
Court of Appeals. A similar case came before the Supreme
Court, and the Court expressed astonishment and reservation with respect to that opinion. The Supreme Court held
that in establishing the Rabbinical Court of Appeals, a hierarchical structure was created in the rabbinical court system,
under which a lower level court is not empowered to disobey
the appellate level, and this was expressed in the procedural
regulations of the rabbinical court (see CA 682/81 Fried v. Fried
36(2) PD 695, pp. 697699 per Justice M. Landau).
APPOINTMENT OF DAYANIM. The Dayyanim Law, 1955, sets
forth the manner of appointing dayyanim. The dayyanim are
appointed by the President of the State (Section 5 of the Law),
according to the recommendations of the Appointments
Committee, whose composition is set forth in Section 6 of the
Law, as follows: The two chief rabbis of Israel, two dayanim
of the Rabbinical Court of Appeals, two ministers, two mem-
522
bers of the Knesset, and two practicing advocates. The composition of this committee is very similar to the composition
of the Committee for the Appointment of Judges in Israel.
It is evident that the representatives of the rabbinical court
system do not command a majority on the committee, and
great weight attaches to the sovereign bodies of the State
of Israel.
The Appointments Committee chooses dayyanim from
among those who are qualified to serve as dayyanim. The first
condition for qualification is Israeli citizenship (Section 3a of
the Dayanim Law). In addition, the conditions for qualification include rabbinical ordination under the auspices of the
Chief Rabbinate Council, and passing the examinations for
dayyanut (see: Section 1 of the Dayanim Regulations (Conditions and Procedures for Rabbinical Ordination), 1955). The
regulations even set forth the subjects of the examinations, including knowledge of Talmud and the Posekim, the Shulh an
Arukh, Even ha-Ezer and H oshen Mishpat, drafting of a judgment in a hypothetical case and knowledge of the rules and
procedures (Section 8 of the Regulations, ibid).
A person appointed to serve as a dayan by the Appointments Committee must make a declaration of allegiance before the President of the State, in the presence of the Chief
Rabbis of Israel, as follows: I pledge allegiance to the State of
Israel, to dispense justice fairly, not to pervert the law and to
show no favor (Section 10 of the Dayanim Law).
In the State of Israel there are two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazi and one Sefaradi, who are chosen by an electoral assembly of the rabbis of the various cities and neighborhoods,
mayors and public figures, as set forth in Sections 68 of the
Chief Rabbinate of Israel Law, 1980. Pursuant to Section 16
of the law, Chief Rabbi serves for a term of 10 years, and Section 17 provides that for half of the term of office of the Chief
Rabbis one of them serves as the President of the Council of
the Chief Rabbinate and the other serves as the Head of the
Rabbinical High Court, and in the second half of their term
they exchange these positions.
STATUS OF THE DAYYANIM. The dayyanim enjoy the same
degree of independence as any one serving in a judicial capacity in the State of Israel. Section 12 of the Dayyanim Law
provides that The dayyan shall be subject to no authority
other than that of the law according to which he judges The
dayyanim are also accorded salaries and other benefits and
pension terms similar to those of judges; the decisions regarding their salaries are made by the Knesset Finance Committee, as is the case regarding judges (Section 17 of the Dayyanim Law).
In this context it should be pointed out that until 2003
the rabbinical courts were part of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs. With the dissolution of this ministry in 2004, the rabbinical courts were transferred to the Justice Ministry, placing
them, from an administrative perspective as well, in their natural and appropriate place, i.e., the Ministry of Justice, which
is responsible for the courts in the State of Israel.
523
bet-eden
524
bani ve-Shipput H iloni, Dinei Israel, 7 (1976), 205 (see: M.Drori, The
Duty to Testify, in: Gilyon Parashat ha-Shavua, Parashat Vayikra
(2001), www.daat.ac.il); idem, Decision of the Rabbinical Court in
Civil Matters and Their Ramifications for Israeli Law, in: Madai Yehadut, 39 (1999), 12131); idem, Who is Empowered to Interpret a
Secular Law Directed at a Religious Court? in: Tel Aviv Law Review,
3 (5734 1974), 94146.
bet-el
rounded by an 11 ft. (3 m.) thick stone wall. The biblical account of Abrahams building an altar to the Lord between
Beth-El and Ai (Gen. 12:68) is usually assigned to this period. Beth-Els main importance, however, is derived from its
traditional association with Jacobs dream. Fleeing from his
brother Esau, Jacob spent the night there and dreamed he saw
a ladder reaching to heaven with angels of God ascending and
descending it. A voice then spoke to him and assured him of
Gods protection and confirmed the promise that the land on
which he rested would be given to him and his descendants
(ibid., 28:1022). Arising the next morning, Jacob erected
a maz z evah (sacred pillar) over which he poured oil as a
thanksgiving sacrifice. The name of the place, which was formerly Luz, was now called Beth-El (i.e., home of God; ibid.,
5:19; 35:6, 15; 48:3; Josh. 18:13; according to Josh. 16:2, however,
Beth-El was east of Luz).
Canaanite Beth-El continued to flourish in the Late
Bronze Age (15t14t centuries, B.C.E.), when it had commercial relations with Cyprus, indicated by the pottery finds.
The remains of a house with rooms built around a large courtyard, plastered or stone flooring, and masonry sewage channels belong to this period. A burnt layer indicates that the
city was captured and burned down around the first half of
the 13t century B.C.E. and resettled by an Israelite population (cf. Judg. 1:22ff.; Josh. 12:16). The city was on the southern
border of Ephraim (Josh. 16:12; 18:13; I Chron. 7:28), but it
is also listed as a Benjamite town (Josh. 18:22). There was a
decline in the standard of living at Beth-El during the Israelite period, when the building became cruder, but a recovery is noticeable during the reigns of David and Solomon.
The stormy epoch of the Judges is reflected in three building
phases, while the relatively calm period of the United Monarchy is represented in a single building phase. The Tabernacle and the Ark were set there for a while, and in the conflict with Benjamin the Israelites prayed, fasted, and offered
sacrifices there. They invoked the oracle of the Urim and the
answer was provided by Phinehas (Judg. 20:18, 28). Deborah
lived near the city (Judg. 4:5), and Samuel visited it periodically to judge the people (I Sam. 7:16). During Sauls war with
the Philistines, he concentrated his forces in the mount of
Beth-El (I Sam. 13:2).
With the division of the Monarchy, Beth-El passed into
the possession of Jeroboam I. In order to wean his people
away from making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, he erected one
of the two principal shrines of his kingdom there (the other
one was at Dan), with its own priesthood. The golden calf he
set there was apparently designed to serve as a substitute for
the cherubim in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the same spirit he
ordered the 15t day of the eighth month to be celebrated instead of the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot), which was observed
on the 15t of the seventh month in Jerusalem as the main pilgrim festival (I Kings 12:2933). This schism aroused vehement
opposition among the prophets (I Kings 13) and caused a rift
between Jeroboam and Ahijah the Shilonite (I Kings 14:7ff.).
The biblical story of Hiel the Bethelite, who ignored the curse
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Modern Beit El
Beit El (Heb. ) is a settlement in the Judean hills, northeast of Ramallah. The first settlers, numbering 17 families, took
over an army base in 1977. Subsequently the community divided into two settlements: Beit El Alef was a residential religious community and Beit El Bet a yeshivah community. Over
the years, new religious settlers joined both settlements, until
in 1997 the two were united again under a single municipal
council. In 2002 the combined population was 4,410. As the
seat of a regional council, Beit El provided a variety of social
and educational services. There were also some private businesses, stores, restaurants, and light industry, most notably
the Beit El tefillin factory.
[Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: Y. Kaufmann, Religion, index; N.H. TurSinai, Ha-Lashon ve-ha-Sefer, 2 (1950), 307; Alt, in: PJB, 21 (1925),
28ff.; Noth, in: PJB, 31 (1935), 729; Albright, in: BASOR, 55 (1934),
2325; 56 (1934), 25; 57 (1935), 2730; 74 (1939), 1517; U. Cassuto,
La Questione della Genesi (1934), 2846, 2917; Galling, in: ZDPV, 66
525
bet eshel
BET GARMU, family of bakers who supervised the preparation of the showbread (leh em ha-panim) in the Temple (Shek.
5:1; Tosef., Yoma 2:5). The Mishnah states that the memory of
the family was held in disrepute because they would not teach
others how to prepare the showbread (Yoma 3:11). According
to one baraita, the sages sent for specialists from Alexandria
of Egypt, who knew how to bake as well as they, but they did
not know how to remove the loaves from the oven as well as
the Bet Garmu, and some report that their bread became
moldy (Tosef., loc. cit., Yoma 38a). According to Tosefta Yoma
2:5, Bet Garmu agreed to return to work only after their remuneration was doubled. Other traditions report that they
justified their refusal to teach their art to others, saying: Our
family knows that the Temple will be destroyed and perhaps
an unworthy man will learn the process and use it for idolatrous worship (Tosef., loc. cit.). The same source praises the
family for never using bread made of fine quality flour, lest
they be suspected of eating the holy showbread.
Bibliography: A. Buechler, Die Priester und der Cultus
(1895), 52ff.; Schuerer, Gesch, 3 (19074), 333; S. Klein, in Leshonenu,
1 (1928/29), 347.
[Isaiah Gafni]
526
of a Roman city and called it Eleutheropolis (the city of freemen). The city of that period covered an area of about 160
acres, and topographically it extended mainly over a hill located south of the present-day highway between Bet Shemesh
and Ashkelon, with the northern extension of the city built
on a low plain. Two aqueducts and an underground tunnel
supplied water to the city. The Midrash (Gen. R. 41:10) interprets Mt. Seir of the Horites (Gen. 14:6) as Eleutheropolis
an interpretation based on a play of words, since H ori means
both freeman and cave dweller and the Bet Guvrin region
abounds in large caves. Severus also granted the new city a
large area encompassing the districts of Bethletepha, western
Edom, and Hebron as far as En-Gedi, which made it the largest single region in Roman times, with over a hundred villages.
Bet Guvrin also had its own system of dating and coinage.
The wealth of its inhabitants is attested to by a mosaic pavement of a Roman house from the fourth century C.E. which
depicts a hunting expedition, with representations of animals
and the personifications of the four seasons. Public buildings
have been uncovered in recent excavations, including a bath
house with double arches and a system of vaults made of ashlars with Severan-type stone dressing, and an amphitheater
which was built on flat ground on the northwest edge of the
city. The amphitheater has an elliptical plan and was erected
during the second half of the second century C.E. Eleutheropolis suffered a severe earthquake in 363 C.E., at which point
the amphitheater fell into disuse. The tanna Judah b. Jacob
(Tosef., Oho. 18:15, 16) and the amora Jonathan (TJ, Meg. 1:11,
71b) resided at Bet Guvrin and there were still Jewish farmers
in its vicinity in the fourth century. The place was regarded
as being outstandingly fertile and the rabbis applied to it the
verse from Isaacs blessing of Esau: And the dew of the heaven
above (Gen. 27:39; Gen. R. 68:6). In matters of halakhah, Bet
Guvrin was regarded as belonging to Edom and was therefore
exempt from the commandments applying only to Erez Israel
(TJ, Dem. 2:1, 22c; TJ, Shev. 8:11, 38b). The talmudic region
Darom (Gr. Daromas) was within the area of Bet Guvrin. An
inscription found there records the donation of a column to
the local synagogue in Byzantine times. Eleutheropolis appears on the Madaba mosaic map of the mid-sixth century
C.E. Excavations have uncovered the mosaic pavements of
two churches from this period; it was an Episcopal see from
the fourth century or earlier. The city flourished in the Early
Islamic period as archaeological finds testify. Clusters of burial
caves from the Late Roman, Byzantine, and Early Islamic periods have been uncovered in excavations around the city.
The castle of Bayt Jibrin was apparently constructed around
1134 and was granted to the Hospitalers by King Fulk of Anjou late in 1136; a civilian settlement subsequently developed
around the castle. Sacked by the Moslems in 1158, the castle
was eventually abandoned to Salah-a-Din (*Saladin) in 1187.
A church belonging to this castle has recently been uncovered. In 1171, Benjamin of Tudela reported three Jewish families living there.
[Michael Avi-Yonah / Efraim Orni / Shimon Gibson (2nd ed.)]
bethar
(2) Kibbutz in the southern Judean Foothills, on the Ashkelon-Hebron road. Bet Guvrin is affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz
ha-Meuh ad. In 1949, after the large Arab village of Beit (Bayt)
Jibrn was abandoned by its inhabitants in the War of Independence, the present settlement was established. Most of its
settlers were Israeli-born and its economy was based primarily on field crops, orchards, milch cattle, and poultry. Over
the years the kibbutz also developed a tourist industry, which
included visits to the Bet Guvrin caves, catering, a swimming
pool, three hostels, and outdoor activities. In 2002 the population of the kibbutz was 231.
527
bet-haram
north, and west. The upper part of the hill, c. 2,300 ft. (700 m.)
above the level of the Mediterranean, constitutes the tongue
of a plateau, sloping gradually to the north to the steep drop
of the Sorek Brook c. 490 ft. (150 m.) above the bottom of the
valley. The northern half of the spur may have served as an
area of orchards of the ancient town and contains few building remains. A spring, the source of water of ancient Bethar
and at present of the Arab village of Battr, flows from a rock
southeast of the spur. Part of a defaced Latin inscription on
the rock near the mouth of the spring mentions the Roman
legions V Macedonica and XI Claudia, which participated in
the siege of Bethar. Since Hadrian was forced to bring these
legions from the northern part of the Empire this probably
indicates the extent of the difficulties that the Romans suffered in overcoming the revolt. The site has been investigated by various explorers since the 19t century, notably by
V. Gurin in 1863, who made the identification of Battir with
Bethar, and by C. Clermont-Ganneau in the 1870s, who was
the first to note the Latin inscription at the spring. Explorers and archaeologists who studied the site include: GermerDurand (1894); Zickermann (1906); Caroll (1923); Alt (1927);
Reifenberg (1950); S. Yeivin (194446); Kochavi (1968); and Z.
Yeivin (1970s). This work indicated that the summit of Khirbet el-Yehud was surrounded by a fortified wall, with aerial
photographs and ground surveys showing the existence of a
Roman siege system, comprising a surrounding circumvallation wall and two Roman camps to the south, and with pottery evidence suggesting that archaeological remains at the
site date not just from the Roman period but also to as early
as the Iron Age II (7t6t centuries B.C.E.).
In 1984 excavations were conducted at the site by Tel Aviv
University under the direction of D. Ussishkin, and the history
of the site and its features are now more or less clear. Access to
the site was from the southeast with a path linking it to its agricultural hinterland and to the spring and its irrigated terraces.
The fortifications visible around the site of Khirbet el-Yehud,
encompassing an area of about 10 acres (40 dunams), did indeed date from the time of Bar Kokhba and showed evidence
of having been hastily built. The surrounding defense wall had
at least six semi-circular towers and three square ones. Segments of the curtain walls and three towers were uncovered
during the excavations. Pottery, slingstones, iron arrowheads,
and a few coins dated from the time of Bar Kokhba.
With the outbreak of the revolt, Bethar was chosen as
Bar Kokhbas headquarters because it was situated close to
Jerusalem, it was strategically located above the main road
running between Jerusalem and Gaza, it had a spring with an
abundant source of water, and it was provided with natural
defenses by deep valleys on three sides. The settlement could
have had a population of between 1,000 and 2,000 individuals. Bethar was Bar Kokhbas last bastion, but it appears from
the careless and inconsistent way that the fortifications were
built that they were erected not long before the siege by the
Romans. It would appear that most of the defenders efforts
went into cutting a moat at the southern approach to the site
528
beth hatefutsoth
as soon as Livia became a member of the Julian imperial family. In 56 C.E. *Agrippa II received Livias and its district from
the emperor Nero (Jos., Wars, 2:59, 168, 252; Jos., Ant., 18:27;
20:159). Beth-Haram was the headquarters of a region as late
as the Byzantine period. Springs and groves are reported to
have existed in its vicinity. The Hellenistic and Roman cities
are situated on Tell al-Rma, in the lower Jordan Valley, which
has preserved the ancient name; the Israelite city has been located by Nelson Glueck at Tell Iktan nearby.
Bibliography: EM, S.V.; Glueck, in: AASOR, 2528 (1951),
38995; Press, Erez , 1 (1951), 82; Aharoni, Land, index.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
529
bet hillel
530
In 1996 Beth Hatefutsoth launched its online site, aiming to serve as a link between Jews in the Diaspora and Israel.
The site includes virtual exhibitions and information about the
museums activities as well as various data bases.
Website: www.bh.org.il.
[Geoffrey Wigoder]
BET HILLEL AND BET SHAMMAI, two schools of exposition of the Oral Law, named after *Hillel and *Shammai
who lived at the end of the first century B.C.E. and the beginning of the first century C.E. These two schools existed
from the time of these two sages, their founders, until the
second generation after the destruction of the Second Temple, i.e., until the beginning of the second century C.E. Tannaitic literature, the halakhah, the halakhic Midrashim, and
the aggadah record the numerous controversies which took
place between Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel. These debates
comprise the principal content of the Oral Law in the last
two to three generations of the Second Temple period. Very
little is extant of the teachings of individual scholars as they
are frequently cited as part of the overall teachings of Bet
Shammai and Bet Hillel. Many of the halakhot and tannaitic
controversies dating from the generation of Jabneh (c. 70 C.E.)
are probably, and a large number are explicitly, based on
the views of Bet Hillel which were adopted as the halakhah
in opposition to those of Bet Shammai (see below), while
numerous anonymous halakhot are extant which may once
have been the subject of dispute between Bet Shammai and
Bet Hillel.
Their controversies are concerned with four areas.
(1) Halakhic decisions based on judgment and on logical
reasoning. For example, in discussing the order of the blessings in the Kiddush for Sabbaths and festivals, Bet Shammai
declares that the blessing is to be said first over the day (i.e., the
Sabbath or festival) and then over the wine; whereas Bet Hillel
maintains that the blessing is to be said first over the wine and
then over the day (Ber. 8:1). Again, Bet Shammai contends that
a woman may not remarry on the evidence of a mere voice
(i.e., the voice of someone who, testifying to the death of the
husband, cannot be identified), while Bet Hillel holds that she
may remarry on the basis of such evidence (Yev. 122a).
(2) Determining the fences around prohibitions, and
the extent to which a prohibition is to be applied. For examENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
531
532
Hillel were from the lower strata of society with their respective views reflecting the needs and life of these strata. However, this point of view has been attacked by some scholars on
the grounds that there is scanty proof that Bet Shammai belonged to the wealthy middle class. It is moreover difficult to
accept the interpretation given to the halakhot listed by these
scholars. It is similarly difficult to accept theories such as that
which attributes the difference to the divergent halakhic outlook, conception, and apprehension of the two schools, with
Bet Shammai adopting a uniform, systematic approach to the
halakhah, as against the particularized, heterogeneous viewpoint of Bet Hillel. It has also been suggested that Bet Shammai represented the continuation of an early halakhic tradition which was strict in its interpretation of the law. Some have
even suggested that the differences between Bet Hillel and Bet
Shammai can be found in the political tensions that existed
towards the end of the Second Temple period. Bet Shammi
represented a more extreme political position, possibly tracing
its origins back to the Hasmoneon rebellion and even serving
as the inspiration for some of the more extreme elements in
the rebellion against Rome, while Bet Hillel was representative of a more realistic and moderate approach which might
have sought some sort of accommodation with Rome. A difficulty for all of the above mentioned theories is that many
of the traditions of Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai were themselves subject to editorial revision and products of different
time periods; therefore each source must be examined individually and critically before any attempted conclusions are
made. Various factors and traditions, as well as different approaches and tendencies, probably combined to produce the
divergent views. Difficult though it is to find the social or conceptual bases for the rise of the two schools, a certain line is
evident in their homiletical exegesis of biblical passages and
in their discussions of many halakhot. Bet Shammai tends in
the former to the plain and sometimes even to the narrow,
literal interpretation of a verse, as opposed to the wider significance assigned by Bet Hillel. Because of the limited number of controversies involving the exegesis of biblical verses
it is impossible to ascertain what relation their disputes bear
to the seven exegetical principles laid down or formulated
by Hillel (Tosef., Sanh. 7:11). Insofar as the halakhah is concerned it is evident in many cases that the view of Bet Hillel
is characteristic of theoretical halakhah which differentiates
between principles of jurisprudence and that they decided in
halakhah in accordance with such principles, in contrast to
the view of Bet Shammai which is characteristic of the literal
and even the conservative approach, conservative not in the
sociological sense but in creativity and in halakhic innovation (cf. Peah 6:1; Eduy. 4:1 and 5; Er. 1:2; Bez ah 1:2). With the
publication of the halakhic works from the Dead Sea Scrolls,
some scholars have claimed that there can sometimes be found
a similar approach to halakhic sources and reasoning in both
the Dead Sea Scrolls and the halakhah of Bet Shammai. It is
thus possible that the reasons for the gradual triumph of the
halakhah of Bet Hillel over that of Bet Shammai is similar to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bethlehem
533
bethlehem
534
In the early Arab period Bethlehem suffered no damage. The city fell to Tancreds forces during the First Crusade
without fighting. Baldwin I and II, the crusader kings of Jerusalem, were crowned in the church of Bethlehem. The crusaders built a fort in the city that was demolished in 1489 during
clashes between the Christians of Bethlehem and the Muslims of Hebron. *Benjamin of Tudela visited the city (c. 1160)
and found 12 Jewish dyers there. The church of Bethlehem
remained in Christian hands during the rule of the Mamluks
and the Turks, even though the Muslim rulers oppressed the
Christian minority. The Christians continually reduced the
size of the entrance to the church for security reasons, so that
by now it is just a low and narrow opening. From time to time,
the Christian rulers in Europe concerned themselves with the
maintenance and repair of the church. The conflicts between
the various Christian communities in Bethlehem caused damage to the church and served to motivate international friction; the theft of the Silver Star from the church in 1847 was
one of the factors behind the outbreak of the Crimean War. In
the middle of the 19t century, the Turkish authorities determined the division of the church among the various Christian
communities and the order of their ceremonies, according to
previous tradition; this decision has been observed, almost
without amendment, to the present.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
Modern Bethlehem
Until 1948, Bethlehem was a city with a Christian majority. Of
its 8,000 inhabitants in 1947, 75 were Christians and the rest
Muslims; this ratio, however, subsequently changed as a result
of the influx of Arab refugees from Israel who settled there.
During the Six-Day War (1967), Bethlehem surrendered to the
Israel army without a fight. In the 1967 census taken by Israel
authorities, the town of Bethlehem proper numbered 14,439
inhabitants, its 7,790 Muslim inhabitants represented 53.9
of the population, while the Christians of various denominations numbered 6,231 or 46.1. The 1,874 inhabitants of the
refugee camp, lying within the municipal confines, raised the
percentage of Muslim citizens to 58.2. However, the three
townships of Bethlehem, Beit (Bayt) Sah ur (the traditional
Field of Ruth), and Beit (Bayt) Jala can be considered as a
unit, as in 1967 they formed a continuous built-up area and a
social and economic entity. Their total population amounted
to 27,000, of whom 14,400 were Christians, constituting a 55
majority. The main Christian denominations are the Latins
(Roman Catholics) and the Greek Orthodox. Other communities with over 100 adherents include the Syrian-Orthodox,
the Syrian-Catholics, and the Melkites. There are also Protestants of various denominations, Maronites, and Armenians.
Throughout most of its history, Bet (Bayt) Jl was an exclusively Christian town. It has numerous churches and Christian institutions, including the Greek Orthodox St. Nicholas
Church, the Catholic Patriarchates Seminary, and a Lutheran
secondary school. Nearby is the Cremisan Monastery of the
Salesian fathers.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bet-horon
The Bethlehem town group has close economic and social ties with Jerusalem. In 1968 farming, trade, and tourism
continued to constitute the mainstay of Bethlehems economy.
Inhabitants of the town own olive groves, vineyards, and deciduous fruit orchards. Bethlehem is a market town where
Bedouin from the nearby Judean Desert trade their produce
for local and imported goods. The town has a number of small
hotels and restaurants catering to tourists and, more important, many workshops producing Christian souvenirs. Christian institutions contributed to raising the educational level
and provided employment to a large number of inhabitants.
The main building in Bethlehem is the Church of the Nativity (sections of which are maintained by the Greek Orthodox
and the Catholics, the latter holding St. Catherines Church
adjacent to the main basilica). It is a major attraction for
Christian pilgrims, especially at the Christmas celebrations
of the Latins (Dec. 24 and 25), Orthodox (Jan. 6 and 7), and
Armenians (Jan. 19 and 20). Bethlehem has numerous other
Christian buildings, including convents of the Franciscans and
the Rosary Sisters, edifices above the Milk Grotto, the SyrianOrthodox Church, the Lutheran Church, parish schools,
orphanages, and a French hospital. Near Bethlehem is the
traditional Shepherds Field. Between Bethlehem and Jerusalem is the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Elias, the
traditional resting place of Elijah the prophet when he fled
from Jezebel.
In 1997 the populations of Bethlehem numbered 21,673,
among them 6,568 refugees, while the population of Beit
Jala was 11,957, including 5,329 refugees, and the population
of Beit Sah ur 11,285 with 1,913 refugees. The city was transferred to the Palestinian Authority after the Oslo agreements. In 2002 a group of Palestinian terrorists took over the
Church of the Nativity and held hostages there for more than a
month under siege by the Israeli army. During the second (alAqsa) Intifada Beit Jala sheltered snipers firing at the nearby
Jerusalem residential neighborhood of Gilo, consequently
taking return fire from the Israel Defense Forces and in
effect turning the once tranquil area into a frontline battleground.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: Lewy, in: JBL, 59 (1940), 51922; EM, 2 (1965),
8688; Press, Erez , 1 (1951), 8889; R.W. Hamilton, Guide to Bethlehem (1939); L.H. Vincent and F.M. Abel, Bethlem (Fr., 1914). Website: www.bethlehem.org.
way from Emmaus to Edom. A mosaic floor of a fifth-century Byzantine church was discovered there as well as other
mosaics, tombs, cisterns, and pillars from the Roman-Byzantine period.
Bibliography: A. Reland, Palaestina (1714), 648; Schuerer,
Gesch, 2 (19074), 232n.; S. Klein, Erez Yehudah (1939), 214; A. Schalit,
Hordos ha-Melekh (19643), 111ff.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
535
bethphage
BETHPHAGE, village on the Mount of Olives in the immediate vicinity of *Jerusalem; it is named for green figs
(paggim). In ancient times, it was surrounded by a wall. Bethphage marked the eastern confines of Jerusalem in the Second
Temple period (Men. 11:2; Men. 75b). In the New Testament
(Matt. 21:19; Mark 11:110; Luke 19: 2938; John 12:1219)
it is mentioned as the place where *Jesus found the ass on
which he entered Jerusalem. A church existed at this spot in
the Byzantine period, and many pilgrims used it as a final
stopping point on their journey to Jerusalem. The Crusaders put up many buildings in Bethpage, notably the Chapel
of the Savior. It has been identified with the village of et-T r,
on the southern of the three hills of the Mount of Olives. According to an ancient tradition the prophetess *Huldah was
buried there. Recent excavations have uncovered the lower
part of a Byzantine building, largely rock-hewn, which was
used as an oil press.
Bibliography: Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 279; Press, Erez , S.V.
add. bibliography: S. Saller and E. Testa, The Archaeological
Setting of the Shrine of Bethphage (1961); J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusades, (1977), 1523; D. Pringle, The Churches of
the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, I, (1993), 1579; Y. Tsafrir, L. Di
Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea Palaestina. Maps
and Gazetteer. (1994), 85.
[Michael Avi-Yonah / Shimon Gibson (2nd ed.)]
536
BETHUEL (Heb. ; = house of God, cf. Batiilu in the *Tell el-Amarna letters or , man of God),
the youngest son of *Nahor and Milcah (Gen. 22:2122) and
the father of Laban and *Rebekah (22:23, 24:15, et al.). In the
list in Genesis 22, Bethuel appears as head of a tribe of Nahors descendants and brother of Kemuel the father of Aram.
Bethuel does not play as important a part in the biblical story
of Rebekah as does Laban (24:28ff., et al.), and it appears that
Bethuel was no longer alive, this being the reason that Laban
received Abrahams servant, since in the organization of the
patriarchal society that emerges from this story, the firstborn
brother was regarded as head of the family. Bethuel is only
mentioned in the discussion of the marriage and, even there,
only after Laban (24:50). It is quite possible, as has been suggested by scholars, that this is a later addition, for even when
Rebekah commences her journey, the members of the family
salute her as Our sister! (24:60).
In the Aggadah
Bethuel was the king of Haran (Yal., Gen. 109). Bethuels apparent disappearance in the middle of the negotiations with
regard to Rebekah (cf. Gen. 24:50, 55) is explained by the assumption that he died suddenly while they were in progress.
There are two Midrashim. According to one, when Bethuel saw
the treasures Eliezer had brought with him, he tried to kill him
by placing poisoned food before him. While he was telling his
story, however, the angel who accompanied Eliezer changed
the dishes so that the dish intended for Eliezer was set before
Bethuel, who ate it and died (Yal., Gen. 109). According to the
other account, Bethuel had introduced the jus primae noctis
and his subjects declared themselves ready to submit to this
outrage on the condition that his own daughters should not be
exempt from it. He was about to exercise this right on Rebekah,
but to spare her this shame, God caused his death (ibid.). With
her approval Eliezer refused to let Rebekah remain in her fathers house during the week of mourning (Gen. R. 60:12).
From the fact that Rebekah was consulted before she accompanied Eliezer, the rabbis conclude that a fatherless minor girl
may not be given in marriage without her consent (ibid.).
Bibliography: E.A. Speiser, Genesis (Eng., 1964), 181, 184;
de Vaux, Anc Isr, 29; Maisler (Mazar), in: Zion, 11 (1946), 78 (incl.
bibl.); W.W. Baudissin, Kyrios als Gottesname, 3 (1929), 300, 304. IN
bet-midrash
BETHULIA, the home of *Judith, the heroine of the apocryphal Book of Judith, in which it is described as a Jewish city
that was besieged by the Assyrian general Holofernes. His
death brought the siege to an abrupt end. The name of the
city is apparently a form of Beth-El (House of God), and
the geographic context of the story indicates a location on
the northern edge of the hills of Samaria, near Dothan, and
Ibleam. Some scholars have identified Bethulia with Jerusalem, Bemeselis (Mithiliyya), or with other localities such
as Shechem or Sheikh Shibl above Kafr Qd. It seems most
probable, however, that Bethulia was an imaginary city that
was endowed with a theophoric name for the purposes of a
historical romance.
Bibliography: Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 283; J.M. Grintz, Sefer
Yehudit (1957), 30ff.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
BET(H)MAON (Heb. ) .
(1) See *Baal-Meon.
(2) A locality mi. ( km.) from Tiberias (Tell Mn)
where Josephus conferred with the men of Tiberias during the
Jewish War in 66 C.E. (Life, 64, 67). In talmudic times BethMaon is frequently mentioned as a center of opposition to the
Patriarchs residing in Tiberias and as a refuge for rabbis antagonistic to them (Gen. R. 80:1, 24; 31:2). The priestly family
of Huppah settled there after the destruction of the Temple
(ha-Kallir: Yashevah Eikhah). The sources mention a synagogue there (cf. TJ Taan, 4:2, 68a).
Bibliography: Avi-Yonah, Geog, 139; Press, Erez , 1 (1951),
90. Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea Palaestina. Maps and Gazetteer (1994), 84.
BET KESHET (Heb. ) , kibbutz north of Mount Tabor, affiliated with Ha-Kibbutz ha-Meuh ad. Bet Keshet was
founded on Aug. 15, 1944, as the first settlement of the then
clandestine *Palmah . Most settlers had received agricultural
training in the nearby Kadoorie School, while others were
demobilized soldiers who had served in World War II. South
African immigrants and others joined the kibbutz after 1948.
In the War of Independence (1948) hard battles raged around
Bet Keshet and a monument was subsequently erected to its
members who fell. Its economy was based on field crops, deciduous fruit, vines, beef cattle, and other farm products. In
2002 the population of Bet Keshet was 297. The name, House
of the Bow, refers to the village being founded by pioneer soldiers (cf. II Sam. 1:18).
BET(H) LEH EM (Ha-Gelilit), place located in western Galilee, near Kiryat Tivon, in the lower Zebulun region (Jos. 19:15;
perhaps also Judges 12:8f.). It is referred to as Beth-Leh em
Z eriyah (TJ, Meg. 1, 70a), however this name has not yet been
given a definitive explanation. Dalman believes that it means
the Beth Leh em which once belonged to Tyre. According to
[Efraim Orni]
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
[Efraim Orni]
537
538
Bibliography: Baron, Community, index; H.H. Ben-Sasson, Hagut ve-Hanhagah (1959), index; J. Katz, Tradition and Crisis
(1961), index; ET, 3 (1951), 2103.
[Natan Efrati / Aaron Rothkoff]
BET NETOFAH (Heb. ) , village in Lower Galilee, north of Sepphoris. It was known in talmudic times as
a place where the vetch plant grew later than in other places
(Shev. 9:5). Bet Netofah is identified with Khirbat al-Ntif,
on the northeastern edge of the plain known in Arabic as Sahl
al-Battf and in Hebrew as the Bet Netofah Valley. Josephus
(Life, 207) calls it the Valley of Asochis. High quality clay
was found in this valley. In modern times, one of the reservoirs
of the National Water Carrier (see *Israel, State of: Economic Affairs Water and Irrigation) was built in the valley and
is now called the Eshkol Reservoir in honor of Levi *Eshkol.
Bibliography: Abel, Geog, 1 (1933), 410; Press, Erez , 1 (1951),
92, 1201.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
betrothal
Early Bronze IV, Middle Bronze II, Iron Age III. Destruction levels found in the Iron Age levels at the site date from
the late 10t century B.C.E., late 9t century B.C.E., and the 7t
century B.C.E. Persian through to Mamluk strata were also
uncovered at the site.
Bibliography: EM, S.V.; Bright, Hist, 181. Add. Bibliography: B. Levine, Numbers 120 (1993), 354; G. Herion, in: ABD, 1,
692; S. Bar-Efrat, II Samuel (Heb., 1996), 86.
BET OVED (Heb. ) , moshav in central Israel, southeast of Nes Z iyyonah. Bet Oved, affiliated with Tenuat HaMoshavim, was founded in 1933 by workers from Russia. Its
economy was based on citrus plantations, garden crops, and
dairy cattle. In 1970 Bet Oved numbered 195 inhabitants, increasing to 285 in the mid-1990s and 304 in 2002.
[Efraim Orni]
Definition
In Jewish law shiddukhin is defined as the mutual promise
between a man and a woman to contract a marriage at some
future time and the formulations of the terms (tenaim, see
below) on which it shall take place. In general parlance, as
opposed to legal terminology, it is known as erusin (Kid. 63a,
Tos.), which is in fact part of the marriage ceremony proper
(see *Marriage, Ceremony of). The concept of shiddukhin can
entail either a promise by the intending parties themselves or
one made by their respective parents or other relatives on their
behalf (Kid. 9b; Sh. Ar., eh 50:46 and 51). The sages regarded
kiddushin (consecration; see *Marriage) without prior shiddukhin as licentiousness and prescribed that he who enters
into a marriage without shiddukhin is liable to be flogged (TJ,
Kid. 3:10, 64b; TB, Kid. 12b; Maim. Yad, Ishut, 3:22 and Issurei
Biah, 21:14; Sh. Ar., EH 26:4). Shiddukhin as such has no immediate effect on the personal status of the parties it being
only a promise to create a different personal status in the future (Resp. Rosh 34:1; Beit Yosef EH 55). Nor does the promise give either party the right to claim specific performance
from the other since a marriage celebrated in pursuance of
a judgment requiring the defendant to marry the plaintiff is
repugnant to the basic principle that a marriage requires the
free will and consent of both the parties thereto.
Gifts
(Heb. , sivlonot). The Talmud (Kid. 50b) discusses
the question whether the brides acceptance of gifts from her
bridegroom is to be regarded as an indication that kiddushin
has already been celebrated between them thus making
it necessary for her to receive a divorce, on the grounds of
doubt, in the event she does not marry him and wishes to
marry someone else. The halakhah was to the effect that the
matter be left dependent on local custom so that any doubt
as to whether or not kiddushin had already taken place would
depend on whether or not there was any custom in the particular place where the parties resided to send such gifts before or after kiddushin. From the time that it became the general custom for parties to initiate their intended ties with each
other by way of shiddukhin (when the bridegroom would send
gifts to his bride) and for the kiddushin and nissuin (the marriage proper; see *Marriage) to take place simultaneously at
a later date, there would usually be no opportunity for the
bridegroom to send such gifts to the bride after the kiddushin
but before the nissuin, so the halakhah was then to the effect
that the giving of gifts per se implied no suspicion of kiddushin as mentioned above (Sh. Ar., eh 45:2; Arukh ha-Shulh an
EH 45:1618. See also *Minhag.
539
betrothal
Tenaim
(Heb. , conditions). It is customary, but not generally or
necessarily so, for the tenaim, or conditions of the shiddukhin,
to be reduced to writing whereby such matters would be
prescribed as the date and place of the proposed marriage,
the financial obligations of the parties, i.e., the *dowry (Heb.
, nedunyah) to be brought by the bride, or the period for
which her father undertakes to provide for the couple. All
such obligations undertaken at the time of the shiddukhin are
valid and binding, even without a formal or symbolic kinyan
(see Modes of *Acquisition), as obligations of this nature are
in these matters effected by mere verbal arrangement (Ket.
102a; Kid. 9b; See also *Contract). It is also customary to stipulate a sum of money as a penalty to be paid in the event of
a breach of promise without good cause. In the Talmud such
written instruments are termed shetarei pesikta abbreviated
by the posekim to shetarei or tenaei shiddukhin or simply
tenaim (Rashi, ad loc.; Sh. Ar., eh 51: Arukh ha-Shulh an, EH
51:13; see also forms: A.A. Rudner Mishpetei Ishut, 178f, and
Gulak, Oz ar 119 (nos. 14), 362 (no. 403); see also *Shetar).
Breach of the Shiddukhin
CONSEQUENCES OF BREACH. The party committing a breach
of promise, i.e., by not marrying the other party, may be liable to compensate the other party for any actual damage
sustained, such as the expenses of the preparations for the
marriage, and may also be obliged to return the gifts he received on the occasion of the shiddukhin, whether from the
other party or from relatives and friends (Sh. Ar., eh 50:34;
Resp. Rosh, 35:8; Arukh ha-Shulh an, EH 50:20). The offending
party may further be liable to pay the penalty stipulated in the
tenaim or, if not so stipulated, such amount as a court may
determine as proper in the circumstances having particular regard to the degree of mental suffering, shame, and public degradation suffered by the other party as a result of the
breach of promise (Tos. to BM 66a; Sh. Ar., EH, 50:34; Baer
Heitev 15). In cases where the sum stipulated in the tenaim
to be paid by way of compensation exceeds the value of the
actual damage caused, so as to make it a real penalty, the
posekim debate the legal validity of such a condition on the
grounds that the promise is tainted with *asmakhta, i.e., that
a promise to pay such a sum by way of compensation might
possibly not have been meant seriously, since both parties
would have been at the time so certain and confident of fulfilling their respective commitments. Some of the authorities, mainly Ashkenazi, took the view that the law requiring
one who shamed another to compensate the latter should be
strictly applied in these cases as well, and that the plea of asmakhta avails only if the stipulated sum is a highly exaggerated one (Tos. to BM 66a and to Kid. 8b; Resp. Rosh 34:2,4;
Rema EH 50:6 and Beit Shemuel, ibid.; Arukh ha-Shulh an, EH
50:21f.; Rema H M 207:16 and Siftei Kohen, ibid.). Other sages,
primarily Sephardi, held that the plea of asmakhta would avail
the offending party even in a breach of promise case involving shiddukhin (Maim. Yad, Mekhir 11:18; Sh. Ar., H M 207:16;
540
Beit Yosef EH 50; see also pdr 3:131154). In order to avoid any
doubts, however, in the Middle Ages the Sephardi authorities
introduced the practice of two separate agreements between
the parties one whereby each party unconditionally undertook to pay to the other a fixed sum in the event of breach of
promise and another whereby each party released the other
from the former undertaking upon the fulfillment of all the
obligations stipulated in the tenaim (Sh. Ar., H M, ibid., and
EH 50:6; Resp. Maharit, 131). Even if the tenaim had not been
reduced to writing the court would adjudge the offending
party to pay such compensation as may seem proper in the
circumstances, having regard to the standing of the parties,
provided the terms of the shiddukhin had been evidenced by
kinyan between the parties.
DEFENSES AGAINST LIABILITY. Any justifiable reason for
withdrawing from the shiddukhin is a valid defense to a claim
for compensation. Since the matter in issue is a promise to
marry, involving a personal tie between the parties, the court
will tend to regard any ground for not entering the marriage
as reasonably justified, even if it is not directly attributable to
the defendant. For example, if the tenaim were agreed by the
parents and subsequently the son or the daughter involved
refused to accept them, such refusal would be regarded as
justified and would not involve him or her in any liability
(Resp. Rosh 34:1; Tur and Sh. Ar., eh 50:5, Arukh ha-Shulh an,
EH 50:29; pdr 5, 3229). However, if the grounds on which
the defendant bases his withdrawal were known to him prior
to the shiddukhin or if they became known to him thereafter
and he did not immediately withdraw, he will be regarded as
having waived his objections and such grounds will not later
avail him as a defense.
Validity of the Tenaim after Marriage (Nissuin)
Noncompliance with the terms of the tenaim after the marriage has taken place does not exempt the parties from the duties imposed on them by law vis--vis each other as husband
and wife. Thus, the husband is not absolved from his duty to
maintain and provide a home for his wife because she or her
parents may have failed to honor their undertaking to provide
a home for the couple the husbands duty being imposed
on him by law (see *Marriage) and being unconnected with
any rights deriving from the shiddukhin (Bayit H adash EH
52; Rema EH 52:1, and Baer Heitev 5). On the other hand, the
existence of the marriage is not necessarily to be regarded as
constituting a waiver and cancellation of the obligations created by the shiddukhin. In order to avoid such a contention, it
is customary for the parties to draw up secondary or new
tenaim at the time of the kiddushin, whereby they reaffirm
the original tenaim or else stipulate specifically in the *ketubbah that the marriage is based on the terms of the original
tenaim; the latter form being the customary procedure in the
ketubbah adopted in the State of Israel (A.A. Rudner, Mishpetei Ishut, 179). Such procedures provide either party with a
clear cause of action for claiming the specific performance of
bet-shean
541
bet-shean
542
bet-shean
543
bet-shean
probably imported from Cyprus. This type of pottery is typical to the period of the Sea Peoples migration from the Aegean to the east.
IRON AGE IB (UPPER VI). With the construction of Upper VI
emerges a new material culture typical to the 11t century
B.C.E. and lacking the Egyptian component. The plan of the
settlement represents a significant departure from that of the
Egyptian garrison. Important buildings from this time include
the twin temples, identified by the University Museum archaeologists with the House of Ashtaroth (I Sam. 31:10) and the
House of Dagon (I Chron. 10:10). Both temples produced
numerous cylindrical and house-like cult stands decorated
with snakes and birds. The excavators assigned these two
buildings to Level V, but they probably belong to Upper VI.
According to the biblical accounts of Sauls death the Philistines killed Saul and his three sons in a battle at the foot of
Mt. Gilboa. They cut off his head and placed it in the temple of
Dagon, stripped off his armor and placed it in the temple of
their gods (Chronicles) or in the temple of Ashtaroth (Samuel). Then they fastened his body and those of his sons to the
city walls of Beth-Shean (I Sam. 31:1012; I Chron. 10:910),
or as I Samuel 21:12 reports, hung them in the public square.
Following the original excavators, most commentators have
assumed that the two temples were in Beth-Shean, but this
is unclear from the text. They could just as easily have been
in Philistia. No significant Philistine presence has ever been
identified at Beth-Shean, although we can assume on the basis of the biblical narrative that they exercised some sort of
political control over the region as the self-declared successors of the Egyptians.
IRON AGE II (LEVELS VIV). It is generally assumed that
Beth-Shean was brought under Israelite control by David,
since by Solomons time, it was part of the fifth administrative
district under Baana ben Ahilud (I Kgs. 4:12). If so, then David
may have been the one who destroyed Upper VI. Excavations
at the highest point of the tell (Level V) have produced the
remains of an administrative complex from this era, hinting
to the towns continued strategic importance. The impressive
building compound might also explain why Beth-Shean was
singled out in the Kings passage with Megiddo and Taanach,
since it may have been a regional center for the fifth administrative district.
The severe destruction that characterized the end of
Level V is difficult to date with certainty, but one possibility is
Pharaoh Shishak (Egyptian, Shoshenq), who lists Beth-Shean
on the walls of the temple to Amen-Re at Karnak as one of
the cities he conquered. Shishaks campaign took place after
the division of the United Monarchy in the fifth year of Rehoboam, ca. 925 B.C.E. (I Chron. 12). While the towns final
destruction in Israelite times (Level IV) is not mentioned in
any biblical or extra-biblical source, the cumulative historical
and archaeological evidence supports its capture by the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/2 B.C.E.
544
bet-shean
545
bet-shean
546
Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Volume 2: Samaria. Palestine Exploration Fund (1882; reprinted 1998, Archive Editions and
Palestine Exploration Fund); G.M. FitzGerald, Four Canaanite Temple
of Beth-Shan. The Pottery (Beth-Shan II/2) (1930); idem, Beth-Shan
Excavations, 19211923: The Arab and Byzantine Levels (Beth-Shan
III) (1931); idem, Excavations at Beth-shan in 1933, in: Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, 65 (January 1934), 12334; The
Earliest Pottery of Beth-Shan, in: Museum Journal, 24 (1935), 532;
idem, A Sixth Century Monastery at Beth-Shan (Beth-Shan IV) (1939);
G. Foerster, Beth-Shean at the Foot of the Mound, in: E. Stern, A.
Lewinson-Gilboa, and J. Aviram (eds.), New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, vol. 1 (1993), 22335; G. Foerster
and Y. Tsafrir, Glorious Beth Shean: Huge New Excavation Uncovers the Largest and Best-Preserved Roman/Byzantine City in Israel,
in: Biblical Archaeology Review, 16:4 (July/August 1990), 1631; W.
Horowitz, A Letter of the El-Amarna Period on a Clay Cylinder from
Beth Shean, in: Qadmoniot 27:34 (1994), 8486, Heb; F.W. James,
Beth Shan, in: Expedition 3:2 (1961), 3136; idem, The Iron Age at
Beth Shan: A Study of Levels VIIV (1966); F.W. James and P.E. McGovern, The Late Bronze II Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan: A Study
of Levels VII and VIII, 2 vols. (1993); A. Mazar, The Excavations at
Tel Beth Shean (19891990): Preliminary Report, in: Eretz-Israel,
21, Ruth Amiran Volume (1991), 197211; idem, The Excavations of
Beth Shean in 198990, in: A. Biran and J. Amiran (eds.), Biblical
Archaeology Today: Proceedings of the Second International Congress
on Biblical Archaeology, Jerusalem, June-July 1990 (1993a), 60619;
idem, Beth Shean in the Iron Age: Preliminary Report and Conclusions of the 19901991 Excavations, in: Israel Exploration Journal, 43
(1993b), 20129; idem, Beth Shean: Tel Beth-Shean and the Northern
Cemetery, in: E. Stern, A. Lewison-Gilboa, and J. Aviram (eds.), New
Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (1993c),
21423; rev. ed., Israel Exploration Society and Carta (1994); idem,
Four Thousand Years of History at Tel Beth Shean, in: Qadmoniot,
27:34 (1994), 6683, Heb.; idem, Beth Shean, in: E. Meyers, The
Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, vol. 1. (1997a),
3059; idem, The Excavations at Tel Beth Shean During the Years
198994, in: N.A. Silberman and D. Small (eds.), The Archaeology of
Israel: Constructing the Past, Interpreting the Present, Journal for the
Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 237 (1997b), 14464;
idem, Four Thousand Years of History at Tel Beth-Shean: An Account of the Renewed Excavations, in: Biblical Archaeologist, 60, 2
(1997c), 6276; idem, Beth Shean (Tel); Husn (Tell el-), in: A. Negev
and S. Gibson, Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (2001),
8185; idem, Beth Shean in the Second Millennium BCE: From Canaanite Town to Egyptian Stronghold, in: The Synchronization of
Civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium
B.C. II: Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000 EuroConference, Haindorff,
2nd of May 7t of May 2001 (2003), 32340; idem, Tel Beth Shean I.
The Iron Age (2005); A. Mazar and R. Mullins, Tel Beth Shean II. The
Middle Bronze II and Late Bronze I-IIA Periods (2005); B. Mazar,
The Valley of Beth Shean in Biblical Times, in: The Beth Shean Valley: The 17t Archaeological Convention, Israel Exploration Society
(1962), 920, Heb.; A. Mazar, A. Ziv-Esudri, and A. Cohen-Weinberger; The Early Bronze IIIII at Tel Beth Shean: Preliminary Observations, in: G. Philip and D. Baird (eds.), Ceramics and Change in
the Early Bronze Age of the Southern Levant (Levantine Archaeology 2)
(2000), 25578; G. Mazor and R. Bar-Nathan, Scythopolis Capital
of Palaestina Secunda, Qadmoniot, 27:34 (1994), 11737, Heb.; P.E.
McGovern, Late Bronze Age Palestinian Pendants: Innovation in a
Cosmopolitan Age. JSOT/ASOR Monograph Series No. 1 (1985); idem,
Beth-Shan, in: Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 1 (1992), 69396. W.L.
Moran (tr. and ed.), The Amarna Letters (1992); R.A. Mullins, Beth
bet shearim
547
bet-shemesh
548
bet-shemesh
village (Lam. R. 2:2; etc.) and Eusebius (Onom. 54:1113) accurately locates it 10 miles from Eleutheropolis (Bet Guvrin)
on the road to Nicopolis (Emmaus).
(2) A Canaanite fortress town listed as part of the inheritance of Naphtali (Josh. 19:38) but not settled by the tribe
in the early stages of the Israelite occupation of the country
(Judg. 1:33). It was most likely located in the northern part of
Upper Galilee, where remains of strong Canaanite settlements
have been discovered. Some scholars identify it with the BethShemesh of Issachar ((3) below) and accordingly place it in
Lower Galilee on the border between Issachar and Naphtali.
(3) A city in the territory of Issachar, apparently close to
the northern border of the tribe (Josh. 19:22). Khirbat Sheikh
al-Shamsw in the southern part of the valley of Naphtali may
preserve the ancient name. Some scholars, however, identify
it with al-Ubaydiyya, farther east near the Jordan River, on
the assumption that it is identical with (2) above.
(4) The city On-Heliopolis in Egypt whose temple to the
Egyptian sun-god Re is mentioned in Jeremiahs prophecies
against the nations (Jer. 43:13; cf. Isa. 19:18). It is the presentday el-Matariyeh, east of Cairo.
[Yohanan Aharoni]
Modern Period
In the vicinity is the modern town of Bet-Shemesh. Its beginnings go back to the village of Hartuv, founded in 1895 by Jews
from Bulgaria who bought the land from a training farm set
up 12 years earlier by the English Mission of Jerusalem which
had tried unsuccessfully to convert Jerusalemite Jews working there. Hartuv made little progress due to its isolation
549
bet-shittah
and the lack of water and good soil. In the 1929 Arab riots,
the few inhabitants had to leave the village temporarily but
soon returned. Shortly before 1948, the Tel Aviv municipality
opened a youth training farm there, and construction of the
large Shimshon cement factory was begun. Bet-Shemesh
was abandoned for a few months during the 1948 War of Independence, but finally fell to Israeli forces on September 19,
1948. A mabarah (immigrant transit settlement) was set up
there in 1950, and in 1951 a permanent urban settlement was
begun as part of the program of populating and securing the
Jerusalem Corridor.
Bet-Shemesh grew to serve as an urban center providing community and commercial services to 60 rural settlements. The city had two large industrial areas, but some of its
residents commuted to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It numbered
10,000 inhabitants in 1969 and received municipal status in
1991. In the mid-1990s the population was approximately
20,900 and by 2002 the fast-growing city had increased its
population to 53,400, 50 among them under the age of 21.
It occupied an area of 20 sq. mi. (50.5 sq. km.). In this latter
period the city absorbed many new immigrants, mainly from
the former Soviet Union. The majority of them were secular
and their presence in the city led to a degree of cultural-religious tension. The Ramat Bet-Shemesh suburb south of the
city attracted a religious population, including many Englishspeaking immigrants.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: (1) Press, Erez , 1 (1951), 1045; EM, 2 (1965),
1108 (includes bibliography). (2) Y. Aharoni, Hitnah alut Shivtei Yisrael ba-Galil ha-Elyon (1957), 52, 745. (3) Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 2823;
Aharoni, Land, index. (4) EM, 1 (1965), 147; 2 (1965), 119. Website:
www.betshemesh.muni.il.
550
bettelheim, bruno
state, akin to the first Austrian republic, expels all Jews for
economic and antisemitic reasons; as a result it breaks down
completely and decides to call its Jewish population back. The
novel, as well as the film version by Hans Karl Breslauer (1924),
aroused controversy in Vienna and Berlin. In 1924 Bettauer
founded the periodical Er und Sie: Wochenschrift fuer Erotik
und Lebenskultur (later Bettauers Wochenschrift), advocating
sex education, abortion, and homosexuality, but also calling
attention to unemployment and poverty. His views made him
the focus of attacks from right-wing newspapers. In March
1925 he was murdered in his office by the National-Socialist
Otto Rothstock.
Bibliography: M.G. Hall, Der Fall Bettauer (1978); F. Krobb,
Vienna Goes to Pot without Jews: Hugo Bettauers Novel Die Stadt
ohne Juden, in: The Jewish Quarterly 42 (1994), 1720. Add. Bibliography: Die Stadt ohne Juden, ed. G. Geser and A. Loacker
(2000).
[Mirjam Triendl (2nd ed.)]
551
bettelheim, samuel
Dempsey, in: New York Times Magazine (Jan. 11, 1970), 2223, 10711;
N. Sutton, Bruno Bettelheim: The Other Side of Madness (1995); N. Sutton, Bettelheim: A Life and a Legacy (1996); R. Pollak, The Creation of
Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim (1998).
[Abraham J. Tannenbaum / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
552
BET YEHOSHU'A (Heb. ) , moshav shittufi in central Israel, in the southern Sharon, affiliated with Ha-Oved
ha-Z iyyoni. It was founded as a kibbutz in 1938 by pioneers
from Poland. Its economy was based mainly on citrus plantations and dairy cattle. In 1968 its population was 260, risENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bet yeraH
Tiberias
(MKinn
osh ere
ava t
h)
Modern
cemetery
B
Gan
Rahel
C
D
E
G A
L I L
E E
OHOLO
Agricultural
school
G
Kinneret (Kibbu
tz)
J or
da
Riv
Deg
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any
ah
Map showing the site of the Canaanite city of Bet Yerah in relation to the
modern Oholo. After P. Delougaz and R.C. Haines, A Byzantine Church
at Kirbat Al-Karak, 1960.
553
bet yiZ H ak
554
BET ZAYIT (Heb. ) , moshav west of Jerusalem, affiliated with Ha-Moaz ah ha-H aklait association of middle-class settlements. Bet Zayit was founded in 1949 by immigrants from Yugoslavia, Romania, and Hungary. Later,
immigrants from Egypt settled in the village. Its economy was
based on fruit orchards, vegetables, poultry, and other farm
products. Situated on the fringe of the Jerusalem Forest Park
it operated a swimming pool and guest house as well. Near
the village is the Ein Kerem dam built to store winter flood
waters. The name, House of the Olive Tree, refers to the extensive olive groves on the slopes around the village. In 1970
Bet Zayit numbered 468 inhabitants, in the mid-1990s the
population was 840, while by 2002 it had increased still further 1,110. A place of the same name mentioned in the books
of the Maccabees stood further north, possibly at the site of
the Arab village Br al-Zayt, north of Ramallah.
[Efraim Orni]
555
bevin, ernest
tic Judaism. Bevan was a close friend of Claude *GoldsmidMontefiore and an active member of the Society of Christians
and Jews. Paradoxically, his sister was the notorious conspiracy theorist Nesta Webster. His brother, ANTHONY ASHLEY
BEVAN (18591933), taught Oriental languages at Cambridge
University. His chief interests were Arabic and Hebrew and he
wrote a commentary on the Book of Daniel (1892).
Add. Bibliography: ODNB online.
556
BEZ AH (Heb.
; egg), a tractate (so called after its opening word) of the order Moed, in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Babylonian Talmud, and Jerusalem Talmud. The tractate deals
with the laws of festivals, but whereas other tractates of the
order Moed deals with specific festivals, Bez ah, in the main,
discusses the laws common to festivals in general; for this
reason this tractate is also called Yom Tov (festival). The
tractate consists of five chapters in both the Mishnah and the
Talmud, but of only four in the Tosefta. The first two chapters of the Mishnah consist chiefly of differences of opinion
between Bet Shammai and *Bet Hillel (e.g. 2:7; 3:8; 5:5) but
also includes traditions from the period of Jabneh (2:6). The
Mishnah ascribes most of the halakhot to various tannaim
who were disciples of R. *Akiva, but it also contains many
anonymous mishnayot of later tannaim who were contemporaries of Judah ha-Nasi. Bez ah in the Babylonian Talmud
contains many teachings of Palestinian scholars who reached
Babylon by way of the *neh utei, but which do not appear in the
Jerusalem Talmud. Conversely, the text of the tractate in the
Jerusalem Talmud contains statements of Babylonian scholars
which are not found in the Babylonian Talmud. Bez ah contains many additions of the savoraim (26a, 27a, 35b), as well
as older material revised by them. Aside from the regular editions and commentaries, one of the earliest commentaries on
the Jerusalem Talmud has been preserved for Bez ah, that of
R. Eleazar Azikri, edited by Israel Francis (1967).
Bibliography: P. Blackman (ed. and tr.), Mishnayot, 2 (Eng.,
1952), 34975 (with introd. and notes); H.Strack, Introduction to the
Talmud and Midrash (1959[2]), 3940; Epstein, Tannaim, 35462;
Epstein, Amoraim, 2444; H. Albeck, Shishah Sidrei Mishnah, Seder
Moed (1958), 2816.
[Zvi Kaplan]
In the Aggadah
When Moses was instructed to erect the Sanctuary and fashion its vessels, God showed him the name of Bezalel written
in the Book of the Generations of Adam (Gen. 5:1), in which
are inscribed all the deeds of future generations, as the divinely
appointed architect. Nevertheless he was told to obtain the approval of the Children of Israel for the appointment, in order
to teach that no leader should be appointed without the consent of the people (Ber. 55a; cf. Jos., Ant., 3:104). At the side
of Bezalel, who belonged to the aristocratic tribe of Judah,
worked Oholiab, of the lowliest tribe, that of Dan, to show that
before God the great and the lowly are equal (Ex. R. 40:4).
God filled Bezalel with wisdom (Ex. 31:3) because he already
possessed wisdom, since God does not grant wisdom save
to those who already have wisdom (Tanh . Va-Yakhel, 2; Ber.
55a). Bezalel had five other names: Reaiah (the seer), Shobal
(the builder of the dovecote, a synonym for the Tabernacle),
Jahat (the dreadful), Ahumai (the unifier of Israel), and
Lahad (one who beautified Israel, or one who was near to
the poor; Ex. R. 40:4).
[Elimelech Epstein Halevy]
BEZALEL BEN MOSES HAKOHEN (18201878), Lithuanian rabbi and unofficial rabbi of Vilna. At the age of 11, Bezalel already knew by heart two of the six orders of the Talmud;
at 13, he had covered the entire Talmud and amazed his listeners with his original halakhic discourses. A sermon which
he delivered before the rabbis of Vilna at the age of 18 was
subsequently published in his Reshit Bikkurim. His novellae
were collected in a work Torat Yisrael which is no longer extant. In 1843 although only 23 years of age, Bezalel was chosen
as one of the rabbis of Vilna in succession to Joseph Shiskes.
He soon became the leading moreh z edek of Vilna, an office
equivalent to that of rabbi of the city. Bezalel was well versed
in secular subjects, particularly mathematics and engineering.
Reshit Bikkurim, responsa and comments on the Sifra (1868),
reveals his extensive scholarship and his firm attitude in halakhic questions. His glosses on the Talmud, Mareh Kohen,
557
bearing the same title as his notes on Yoreh Deah, were published in the Vilna edition of the Talmud (1884). His commentary on the Sefer ha-Mitzvot of Maimonides appeared in the
Vilna edition of 1866. He also published a pamphlet entitled
Horaat Hetter, dealing with the permissibility of using etrogim
from Corfu on Sukkot (1876). Many of Bezalels responsa appear in the works of his contemporaries and a number of his
writings are still in manuscript.
Bibliography: H.N. Maggid-Steinschneider, Ir Vilna, 1
(1900), 5561; J.L. Maimon, Middei H odesh be-H odsho, 4 (1958),
1216.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
558
bziers
Judaism. The seal of the community they established was inscribed the Proselyte Community Congregation of Jeshurun. At the beginning of the 20t century a few Jews by birth
settled in the village and intermarried with the proselytes. In
1940 Bezidul Nou passed from Romania to Hungary and there
followed a period of disaster because of the strong racial laws
which existent in Horthiite Hungary. The authorities ordered
the demolition of the synagogue; under pressure from the local Christian clerics and the Hungarian Horthiite authorities,
most of the community became converted to Unitarianism.
From 1940 the leaders of the congregation tried to obtain exemption for their members from the anti-Jewish racial laws.
On Oct. 3, 1941, the Hungarian minister of justice signed an
order enabling the descendants of Sabbatarians to obtain certificates of exemption. There were then 94 proselytes living in
Bezidul Nou, while an additional 3040 persons originating
from the village or the vicinity also obtained certificates. These
were still being issued by the Hungarian ministry of justice in
spring 1944, a few days before the German occupation. When
ghettos were established, the proselytes were deported to the
Marosvasarhely ghetto together with the other Jews who lived
in the region. Some of their leaders succeeded in reaching Budapest and obtained certificates for a small number already
confined in the ghetto, who were subsequently released. Those
who did not wish to accept the certificates were deported to
*Auschwitz.
After World War II Bezidul Nou reverted to Romania;
those who survived the Holocaust remained formally Christians, although some continued to follow Jewish observances.
In 1960 they began to emigrate to Israel, where by 1968 they
numbered approximately 50. Only five families, all aged persons, remained in the village in 1969, formally belonging to
the Unitarian Church. But they observed the Sabbath and
their wives lit candles on Sabbath eve as they had learned
from their forefathers; they also maintained close contact with
their relatives in Israel for some time. A small cemetery with
a few hundred tombstones attests to the past existence of the
community. The Hebrew inscription (Ger Z edek, proselyte)
appears next to the name on many of the tombstones, most
of which bear the menorah and a Magen David. Today these
are almost the only memory of the existence of a specific Sabbatarian community among the Szeklers, though even today
there are stories about these the Jewish predecessors.
Bibliography: S. Kohn, A szombatosok (1889), 3367; Beck,
in: Dr. Blochs Oesterreichische Wochenschrift (1912), 7045, 73840,
7546; Gy. Balzs, in: Libanon, 6 (Hg., 1941), 1822.
[Yehouda Marton / Paul Schveiger (2nd ed.)]
559
biala
BIALA, town in W. Galicia, S. Poland, on the river Biala opposite the Silesian town *Bielsko with which it was amalgamated
in 1950 to form Biala-Bielsko. The two were closely connected
through their joint textile industry. In 1765 the Jews were expelled from Biala. Many of them subsequently returned and
formed a community in conjunction with the Jews in the
suburbs which until the middle of the 19t century remained
under the jurisdiction of the Oswicim community. A cemetery was established in 1849 and an independent congregation constituted in 1872. The Jews in Biala numbered about
2,600 in 1929. With the exception of the h evra kaddisha the
charitable and cultural institutions were maintained jointly
with those of the Bielsko (Bielitz) community. For Holocaust
period see *Bielsko.
BIAA PODLASKA, town in Lublin province, Poland. The
first mention of Jewish settlement in Biaa Podlaska dates from
1621 when 30 Jewish families were granted rights of residence
there. In 1841 there were 2,200 Jews out of a total population of
3,588; in 1897, 6,549 out of 13,090; in 1921, 6,874 out of 13,000.,
and in 1939, 7,439 (36.9 of the total population). The main
Yiddish newspaper, Podlasyer Leben was published there between the two world wars.
Holocaust Period
On September 26, 1939, the Soviet army entered the town, but
withdrew a month later when the Soviet-German boundary
agreement was reached. About 600 Jews left the town together
with the Soviet army. The remaining Jewish population was
immediately subjected to Nazi persecution and terror. At the
end of 1939 about 2,000 Jews from Suwalki and Serock were
forced to settle here. A few months later about 1,000 Jewish prisoners of war who had served in the Polish army were
brought to Biaa Podlaska from the prison camp in Czarne
near Chojna. Several score of them were murdered during
the march on foot to Biaa Podlaska. They were imprisoned
on arrival in a forced labor camp and about a year later were
transferred to a Lublin prisoner of war camp. During 1940 and
1941 further deportations to Biaa Podlaska took place. Several hundred Jews from Cracow and Mlawa were dispatched
there. As a result of all the resettlements the Jewish population in the town grew to about 8,400 in March 1942. At the
end of June 1941 a number of Jews were sent to the concentration camp in *Auschwitz for giving bread to Soviet prisoners of war marching through the town. They were among the
first Jewish victims to perish in Auschwitz.
On June 11, 1942, the first deportation from Biaa took
place. About 3,000 people were sent to *Sobibor death camp
and exterminated. In late September and early October
1942, a second deportation was carried out in which the entire remaining Jewish population was sent to the ghetto in
560
Miedzyrzecz, and from there to *Treblinka death camp in November. Only 300 Jews were left in Biaa Podlaska in a newly
established forced labor camp. This was liquidated in May
1944 and all its inmates transferred to *Majdanek concentration camp, where only a few survived. Several hundred Jews
fled to the woods during the deportations, but only about 30
of them survived in hiding until the liberation of the region
in July 26, 1944. After the war the surviving Jewish remnant,
together with a few hundred former residents who came back
from the Soviet Union, tried to rebuild the Jewish community,
but were forced to leave the town in the summer of 1946 because of antisemitic manifestations among the Polish population. In June 1946 Polish antisemites killed two young Jews
and destroyed the monument which the Jewish survivors had
erected in memory of the murdered Jewish community. Societies of former Biaa Podlaska residents were active in Israel,
the U.S., Argentina, France, Canada, and Australia.
Bibliography: M.I. Feigenbaum (ed.), Sefer Biaa-Podlaska
(1961). Add. Bibliography: Halpern, Pinkas, index; B. Wasiutynski, Ludnosc Zydowska w Polsce w wiekach XiX i XX w. (1930).
[Stefan Krakowski]
BIALE, DAVID (1949 ), U.S. historian of Jewish culture, religion, and politics. Biale was educated at Harvard University,
the University of California at Berkeley, the Hebrew University, and UCLA, where he received his Ph.D. in history in 1977.
He taught Jewish history at the State University of New York,
Binghamton, and Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley,
and from 1999 served as Emmanuel Ringelblum Professor of
Jewish History at the University of California at Davis.
He is the author of a number of books, among them Gershom Scholem: Kabbalah and Counter-History (1979), Power
and Powerlessness in Jewish History (1986), Eros and the Jews:
From Biblical Israel to Contemporary America (1992), and is the
editor of Cultures of the Jews: A New History (2002), a significant re-conceptualization of the entirety of Jewish history.
Biales work is characterized by attention to the broad
sweep of Jewish history; while he is primarily a specialist in
modern European Jewish history, his investigations took him
to all periods and geographic centers. Especially significant
is his edited volume, Cultures of the Jews, a work designed to
re-focus the discipline of Jewish history on everyday matters,
on the multifaceted interaction of Jews with their social and
political environments, and on neglected groups within the
Jewish community.
[Jay Harris (2nd ed.)]
pupils were such outstanding rabbis of the following generation as Akiva *Eger, Isaiah *Berlin, and Mordecai *Halberstadt. He refused to publish his novellae on the grounds that
through the continual publication of works by ah aronim, students would neglect the rishonim, but glosses and responsa by
him can be found scattered in various works of his contemporaries. His works, which were published only after his death,
are Ateret Z evi (1804), comprising responsa, sermons, eulogies, and novellae; Kos Yeshuot (1902), Part 1 novellae on Bava
Kamma and Shevuot, Part 2 on Bava Mez ia and other material. He preferred to penetrate deeply into the understanding
of the sources, stress the plain meaning of the Talmud, and
avoid excessive pilpul. Five of his children were rabbis: Solomon Dov Berush in Glogau; Naphtali Herz in Dubno; Abraham in Rawicz; Samuel in Halberstadt; and Simh ah in Dessau.
His brother, Israel b. Naphtali Herz (d. 1744) lived in Cleves,
Offenbach, and Hanau. His talmudic novellae are contained
in his brothers Ateret Z evi.
Bibliography: Michaelson, in: Z evi Hirsch H arif, Kos
Yeshuot, 1 (1902), appendix (Toledot ha-Meh abber); Israel Moses b.
H ayyim Joshua, ibid., 2 (1910), appendix (Toledot ha-Meh abber); B.H.
Auerbach, Geschichte der israelitischen Gemeinde Halberstadt (1866),
6470; S. Buber, Anshei Shem (1895), 196, 240, 247f., I.T. Eisenstadt
and S. Wiener, Daat Kedoshim (189798), 141f.; Loewenstein, in: JJLG,
14 (1921), 19; Frankel, in: Nah alat Z evi, 7 (1937), 321f.; Meisl, in: Reshumot, 3 (1947), 190; Sefer Biala-Podlaska (1961), 19, 270.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
died and the destitute widow entrusted her son to the care
of his well-to-do paternal grandfather, Jacob Moses. For ten
years, until he went to yeshivah in 1890, the gifted, mischievous H ayyim Nah man was raised by the stern old pietist. At
first he was instructed by teachers in the traditional h eder and
later, from the age of 13, pursued his studies alone. He was a
lonely figure in the almost deserted house of study on the edge
of town, for the expanding modernization of Jewish life had
restricted the traditional study of Torah to a secluded nook.
Passionate and solitary dedication to study shaped traits of
character that Bialik was to exalt: A fertile mind, lively logic,
a trusting heart when the knee falters. From this experience
of his adolescence stems the sense of vocation of the chosen
individual who dedicates his life to an ideal, sacrificing youth
and the delights of the world in order to remain faithful to the
last. This theme of vocation was to become central to Bialiks
thinking and his poetry is a spiritual record of the paradoxical
struggle to free himself from his calling and at the same time
to remain faithful to it. During this period too his reading of
medieval theology and Haskalah works stimulated ambitions
for secular knowledge, moving him to seek a more comprehensive education. He dreamed of the rabbinical seminary in
Berlin, and of acquiring the cultural tools that would give him
entrance to modern European civilization.
Volozhin Period
Convinced by a journalistic report that the yeshivah of *Volozhin in Lithuania would offer him an introduction to the humanities, as well as a continuation of his talmudic studies, Bialik persuaded his grandfather to permit him to study there.
In Volozhin, a center of Mitnaggedim, his hopes for a secular
academic training were not fulfilled since the yeshivah concentrated only on the scholarly virtues of talmudic dialectic
and erudition. For a short time Bialik immersed himself in the
traditional disciplines. In some of his poems the image of his
stern grandfather merges with the image of the uncompromising rosh yeshivah, becoming a symbol of the burning imperatives of traditional Judaism. In the end, however, modernist
doubts triumphed over traditionalist certainties. Bialik began
to withdraw from the life of the school and lived in the world
of poetry. At this time, he read Russian poetry and started his
acquaintance with European literature. During the following
year in Volozhin and later in Odessa, he was deeply moved
by Shimon Shemuel Frugs Jewish poems, written in Russian,
and many of Bialiks early motifs echo him. His first published
poem, El ha-Z ippor (To the Bird), was written in Volozhin. In the yeshivah Bialik joined a secret Orthodox Zionist
student society, Nez ah Israel, which attempted to synthesize
Jewish nationalism and enlightenment with a firm adherence
to tradition. Bialiks first published work (in Ha-Meliz , 1891) is
an exposition of the principles of the society and reflects the
teachings of Ah ad Ha-Ams spiritual Zionism.
Ah ad Ha-Ams Influence
*Ah ad Ha-Am, whose thinking had a profound impact on
Bialik and his generation, first began publishing his essays
561
562
House which produced suitable textbooks for the modern Jewish school written in the spirit of Ah ad Ha-Ams educational
ideals. In his dark rooms in Odessa Bialik created nature poems
that evoke a childhood intoxicated with light (e.g., Zohar,
1901). During this period also a self-imposed challenge to cast
folk expression into Hebrew, only a literary language then,
led the poet to write the first of a series of folk songs. In his
first decade in Odessa he wrote poems of wrath in Yiddish
(Fun Tsaar un Tsorn (Of Sorrow and Anger), 1906) and in
Hebrew (H azon u-Massa (Vision and Utterance), 1911).
Both were products of that critical period in Jewish life when
the initial impetus of Zionism was retarded and other movements and ideologies, such as Yiddishism and territorialism, offered different solutions to national problems. When
Bialiks first volume of poems appeared in 1901, Joseph Klausner hailed him as the poet of the national renaissance. In
1902 he wrote Metei Midbar (The Dead of the Desert), a
long descriptive poem whose motifs are taken from the legend that the generation of the Exodus did not die but slumbers in the desert. Gigantic in stature, they awaken from
time to time to utter defiance against the divine decree which
consigned them to their state of living death, and to fight for
their own redemption. It may also reflect the universal predicament of modern man whose struggle for the right to determine his own destiny involves the desperate rejection of
the divine imperative.
Kishinev
The Kishinev pogroms in 1903 deeply shocked the whole civilized world. Bialik, on behalf of the Jewish Historical Commission in Odessa, went to Kishinev to interview survivors
and to prepare a report on the atrocity. Before leaving he
wrote Al ha-Sheh itah (On the Slaughter, 1903) in which
he calls on heaven either to exercise immediate justice and, if
not, to destroy the world, spurning mere vengeance with the
famous lines Cursed is he who says Revenge/Vengeance for
the blood of a small child/Satan has not yet created. Later he
wrote Be-Ir ha-Haregah (In the City of Slaughter, 1904), a
searing denunciation of the peoples meek submission to the
massacre, in which he is incensed at the cowardliness of the
people, bitter at the absence of justice, and struck by the indifference of nature The sun shone, the acacia blossomed,
and the slaughterer slaughtered.
Influence of Warsaw
In 1904 Bialik became the literary editor of Ha-Shiloah and
moved to Warsaw, where, among the members of the circle
of Isaac Leib *Peretz, he found a lighter mood. They were less
cautious and less involved with higher principles than the
Odessa group. In Warsaw he wrote several memorable love
poems. The symbolist emphasis of Peretz may have influenced
the poem Ha-Berekhah (The Pool, 1905), most of which
was written during the Warsaw stay. The pool, guarded by
the forest, reflects the changing moods of nature and the observer, meditating on the riddle of the two worlds, objective
reality and reality as it is reflected in the pool, ponders which
563
is primary the external manifestation, or the inner conception of the soul (of art). This was Bialiks most prolific period
and Ha-Berekhah was followed by his most enigmatic and
experimental work, Megillat ha-Esh (The Scroll of Fire,
1905). The work is a prose poem which fuses elements drawn
from Jewish legend (aggadah) and Jewish mysticism. Its overt
theme is the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem,
and the exile which followed. The destruction of the Temple appears to represent the destruction of the poets soul on
one level and that of the religious faith of an entire generation on the other. The youths, marooned on the island, as they
are transported into exile may symbolize spiritual isolation;
at the same time the two youths represent the struggle between faith and despair which is the poems central theme. The
chosen youth himself is caught between the call to preserve
the last spark of redemption and the lure of eros, the girl.
Torch in hand, he moves toward the girl and plunges into
the abyss.
Silence
After Megillat ha-Esh Bialik fell into a period of silence, writing few poems and becoming occupied with manifold cultural activities: public lectures, essays, criticism, translating,
and editing. The growing tension and the stark dichotomies
in his poetry point to an inner crisis; the lonely poet can no
longer find solace either in his individual talent or in his God.
The radical split of personality in the autobiographical prose
poem Safiah (1908), in which the childs inner self is abandoned by its double, who accompanies the crowd, marks the
farthest development of Bialiks ambivalent attitude to tradition and religion. Baruch Kurzweil has shown that the change
in the motif of return in Lifnei Aron ha-Sefarim (Before
the Book Case, 1910) marks a turning point in Bialiks poetry. The poet desperately realizes that his attempt to return
and to repent fails because there is no one to return to, and
no condition of dialogue with God or the world. The flame of
the study candle has died, the peoples past is a graveyard that
offers nothing, and the returning son, despairing, welcomes
death and departs. Bialiks poetry now becomes acutely personal. The poet, sensing his strangeness in the world, retreats
and longs for death. Having lost the purity of childhood and
the grace of the chosen, he is preoccupied with death a broken, useless twig, dangling from its branch (Z anah lo Zalzal
(A Twig Fell), 1911). Before his death Bialik wrote the cycle
Yatmut (Orphanhood poems, c. 1933) in which the existential predicament is fused with the poignancy of his own
orphaned childhood.
Berlin and Palestine
Bialik lived in Odessa until 1921 when Maxim Gorki interceded with the Soviet government to permit a group of Hebrew writers to leave the country. Bialik went to Berlin, which
had become a center of Jewish migr writers, engaging in
publishing and editing, until he settled in Tel Aviv in Palestine
in 1924 where he spent the rest of his life. He died in Vienna
where he had gone for medical treatment.
564
Essays
A series of essays written between the years 1907 and 1917 secures Bialiks place as a distinguished essayist. In it he charts
the course of modern Jewish culture: the state of Hebrew literature, the condition of Hebrew journalism, the development
of language and style, the existential function of language, and
the role of authority in culture. Ha-Sefer ha-Ivri (On the
Hebrew Book, 1913) propounds his basic idea of selecting and
collecting the best of classic Jewish literature.
Cultural Role
After 1905, he became more active in public affairs, devoting
his abundant vigor, vision, and charm to the preservation and
advancement of Jewish culture. He participated in Zionist
Congresses (1907, 1913, 1921, and 1931) and the Congress for
Hebrew Language and Culture (1913). His cultural missions
took him to the United States (1926) and to London (1931).
From 1928 on, ill health forced him to spend his summers in
Europe and these trips became occasions for the promotion
of Jewish culture. He was active in the work of the Hebrew
University, served as president of the Hebrew Writers Union
and of the Hebrew Language Council, and initiated the popular Oneg Shabbat, a Sabbath study project.
Editor and Translator
Bialik was the literary editor of several periodicals, HaShiloah (190409), Keneset (1917), and Reshumot (191822),
and he founded Moznayim in Palestine (1929). Together with
Rawnitzki he compiled a selection of rabbinic lore, Sefer haAggadah (190811) and the collected works of the medieval poets Solomon ibn *Gabirol (1924) and Moses *Ibn Ezra (1928).
In 1932 he published a commentary to the first order of the
Mishnah. His masterful translations of Don Quixote (1912) and
Wilhelm Tell (1923) are an integral part of his work. After his
death some of Bialiks lectures and addresses were collected in
Devarim she-be-Al Peh (2 vols., 1935) and part of his huge correspondence was published in Iggerot (5 vols. 193839).
For English translations of his work see Goell, Bibliography, index.
[Samuel Leiter]
Evaluation
Bialiks literary career is a watershed in modern Hebrew literature; when he arrived on the scene, Hebrew poetry was
provincial and by and large imitative. It could not free itself
of the overwhelming biblical influence which had dominated
it for centuries and, except for the poetry of a few, the stylized
florid biblical meliz ah (ornate phrase) had a stifling effect on
the creativity of the Haskalah poets. At the same time most of
these poets slavishly imitated in subject and in genre the European models mainly German romantic poetry. Bialik, who
more than any other Hebrew poet since *Judah Halevi had a
thorough command of Hebrew and the ability to use the many
resources of the language, forged a new poetic idiom which
enabled Hebrew poetry to free itself from the overwhelming biblical influence and yet, at the same time, retain its link
with the language of the race. While his Hebrew remained
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bialkin, kenneth J.
nant motivator of the cultural revolution of his age, embodying its very essence to carve out of the past the foundation
on which the people might build with dignity in the future. In
answering the silent cry of a people needing articulation in a
new era, he has gained its permanent recognition. As a poet
his genius and spirit have left an indelible imprint on modern Hebrew literature.
[Ezra Spicehandler]
Bibliography: I. Efros, H ayyim Nahman Bialik (Eng., 1940),
incl. bibl.; F. Lachower, Bialik, H ayyav vi-Yz irotav (19502); J. Fichmann, Shirat Bialik (1946); Z. Shapiro, Bialik bi-Yz irotav (1951); idem,
Derakhim be-Shirat Bialik (1962); J. Klausner, Bialik ve-Shirat H ayyav
(1951); D. Sadan, Avnei Boh an (1951), 6077; E. Kagan, Marot Shetiyyah be-Shirat Bialik (1959); R. Zur, Devarim ke-H avayatam (1964);
A. Zemach, Ha-Lavi ha-Mistatter (1966); B. Kurzweil, Bialik re-Tchernichowsky (1967); E. Schweid, Ha-Ergah li-Meleut ha-H avayah (1968);
J. Haephrati, in: Ha-Sifrut, 1 (1968/69), 10129; M. Perry, ibid., 60731;
I. Avinery, Millon H iddushei H .N. Bialik (1935); A. Avrunin, Meh karim
bi-Leshon Bialik ve-Yalag (1953); B. Benshalom (Katz), Mishkalav shel
Bialik (1945); A. Avital, Shirat Bialik ve-ha-Tanakh (1952); A. Even
Shoshan and Y. Segal, Konkordanz yah le-Shirat Bialik (1960); Z. Fisman, in: En Hakore, 23 (1923), 97134, incl. bibl.; M. Ungerfeld,
H .N. Bialik vi-Yz irotav: Bibliografyah le-Vattei ha-Sefer (1960); E.H.
Jeshurin, in: H .N. Bialik, Oysgeklibene Shriftn (1964), Bialiks bibliography; Shunami, Bibl, nos. 326172. Add. Bibliography: B.
Kurzweil, Bialik ve-Tschernichowsky (1967); I. Biletzky, H.N. Bialik
ve-Yiddish (1970); S. Zemah, Al Bialik: Asarah Maamarim (1977); M.
Genn, The Influence of Rabbinic Literature on the Poetry of H.N. Bialik (1978); Z. Luz, Tashtiyot Shirah: Ikkarim ba-Poetikah shel Bialik
(1984); S. Werses, Ben Gilui le-Kisui: Bialik be-Sippur u-ve-Masah
(1984); Z. Shamir, Ha-Z arz ar Meshorer ha-Galut: Al ha-Yesod haAmami bi-Yez irat Bialik (1986); U. Shavit, H evlei Niggun (1988); D.
Aberbach, Bialik (1988); D. Sadan, H.N. Bialik ve-Darko bi-Leshono
u-Leshonotenu (1989); S. Shva, H ozeh Berah : Sippur H ayyav shel Bialik
(1990); D.S. Breslauer, The Hebrew Poetry of H.N. Bialik and a Modern Jewish Theology (1991); E. Nathan, Ha-Derekh le-Metei Midbar:
Al Poemah shel Bialik ve-ha-Shirah ha-Russit (1993); U. Shamir and
Z. Shamir (eds.), Al Sefat ha-Brekhah: Ha-Poemah shel Bialik bi-Rei
ha-Bikkoret (1995); D. Miron, H.N. Bialik and the Prophetic Mode in
Modern Hebrew Poetry (2000); A.M. Rubin, From Torah to Tarbut:
H.N. Bialik and the Nationalization of Judaism (2000); Z. Luz and
Z. Shamir (eds.), Al Gilui ve-Kisui ba-Lashon: Iyyunim be-Masato
shel Bialik (2001); R. Shoham, Poetry and Prophecy: The Image of the
Poet as a Prophet, a Hero and an Artist in Modern Hebrew Literature (2003); Y. Bakon, Z ofeh Hayyiti be-Eyno shel Olam (2004). Website: www.ithl.org.il.
565
League; president and chairman of the American Jewish Historical Society, president of the Jewish Community Relations
Council of New York; chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and chairman
of the America Israel Friendship League. He also served for 30
years as vice chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation.
In his law practice, Bialkin represented insurance companies, broker-dealers, investment bankers, and other financial institutions. In 1998 he represented Travelers Group in its
merger with Citicorp. The year earlier, he represented Travelers in its acquisition of Salomon Inc., and he represented
the stock exchange Nasdaq in its restructuring to separate it
from the NASD in 2000 and 2001. He was involved in some
of the largest insurance company mergers and acquisitions in
the United States, including the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company in its merger with New England Mutual Life Insurance Company. He also represented Travelers Group in its $4
billion acquisition of Aetnas property-casualty operations.
Bialkin is a former editor of Business Lawyer magazine
and was chairman of the American Bar Associations committee on federal regulation of securities. His wife, Ann Bialkin,
who earned a masters degree in social work from Columbia
University, established Elem (a Hebrew acronym for youth
in distress), a foundation that assists teenagers in Israel who
commit crimes or use drugs and who are apparently overlooked by the judicial system.
In recognition of his 16 years as a member of its board of
directors, Citigroup established the Kenneth J. Bialkin/Citigroup Public Service Award at the American Jewish Historical Society.
[Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)]
BIALOBLOCKI, SAMUEL SHERAGA (18881960), talmudic scholar born in Pilwiszki (western Lithuania). Bialoblocki
studied for many years at the Lithuanian yeshivot of Telz, Slobodka, and Ponevezh; at the last he studied under Isaac Jacob
Rabinowitz and Isaac *Blaser. After World War I he entered
the Bet Midrash Elyon of H ayyim *Heller in Berlin. He also
attended various universities and graduated from Giessen
with a thesis on Materialien zum islamischen und juedischen
Eherecht (1928) and became instructor in modern Hebrew.
Between 1928 and 1934 he was one of the contributors on talmudic subjects to the German Encyclopaedia Judaica. With
the advent of the Nazis he emigrated to Palestine where first
he taught at the Mizrachi Teachers Training College in Jerusalem but later ventured into the real estate business, though
continuing to devote most of his time to his studies. When
Bar-Ilan University was opened in 1955, Bialoblocki was appointed head of its Talmud department; he also served as
chairman of the universitys Senate.
Bialoblocki, though a profound scholar of vast erudition, did not publish much; his importance lay chiefly in
his influence as a teacher. His method, both in teaching and
writing, expressed a spirit of conservative criticism. He began to prepare an anthology of early commentaries on the
566
Talmud with notes on the variants and sources for the Makhon ha-Talmud ha-Yisreeli ha-Shalem, of which a first part
was published posthumously (Bar Ilan, Sefer ha-Shanah, 2
(1964), 6569). In Germany he published his Beziehung des
Judentums zu Proselyten und Proselytentum (1930, Heb. tr.,
4460). Various learned articles of his appeared in: Keneset,
68 (194244); Yovel Shai S.J. Agnon (1958); and Alei Ayin
(Sefer Yovel S. Schocken 1952). He contributed the article on
Personal Status (Ishut) to the Encyclopaedia Hebraica. Bialoblocki also contributed articles on the Torah centers in Lithuania and on his teacher I.J. Rabinowitz in: Yahadut Lita, 1
(1960), 185ff., 394ff.
Bibliography: H.Z. Hirschberg and S.J. Agnon, in: Bar-Ilan,
Sefer ha-Shanah, 2 (1964), 743 (Eng. summaries); Ungerfeld, in:
Ha-Z ofeh (Jan. 2, 1970).
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
bialystok
1765
1808
1856
1861
1895
1910
1913
1929
1932
1936
1945
1948
Absolute Numbers
Percentages
765
4,000
9,547
11,873
47,783
52,123
61,500
43,150
39,165
42,880
1,085
660
22.4
66.6
69.0
69.8
76.0
68.5
68.6
47.8
60.5
43.0
n.a.
n.a.
567
bialystok
Holocaust Period
Shortly after the outbreak of the war, the Germans entered
Bialystok, first occupying it from September 15 until September 22, 1939, when it was transferred to the Soviets. The second German occupation was from June 27, 1941, to July 27,
1944. At that time some 50,000 Jews lived in Bialystok, and
some 350,000 in the whole province. On the day following the
second German occupation, known as Red Friday, the Germans burned down the Jewish quarter, including the synagogue and at least 1,000 Jews who had been driven inside.
Other similar events followed in rapid succession: On Thursday, July 3, 300 of the Jewish intelligentsia were rounded up
and taken to Pietrasze, a field outside the town, and murdered
there; on Saturday, July 12, over 3,000 Jewish men were put to
death there. Their widows were later known in the ghetto as
die Donnershtige (the ones from Thursday) and di Shabbesdige (the ones from Saturday). A *Judenrat was established on German orders (July 26, 1941), and chaired by Rabbi
Rosenmann, but his deputy, Ephraim *Barash, was the actual
head and served as its liaison with the German authorities.
On August 1, some 50,000 Jews were segregated into a closed
568
bialystok
569
biarritz
through the German ranks, and seek refuge in the forests. German fire, however, supported by tank action, crushed the rebellion. After a day of fighting, 72 fighters retreated to a bunker
in order to organize their escape to the forests. The Germans
discovered the bunker and killed all the fighters, with a single
exception. The ghetto fighters held out for another month, and
night after night the gunfire reverberated through Bialystok.
The commanders, Tenenbaum and Moszkowicz, presumably
committed suicide when the revolt was quashed. A month
later the Germans announced the completion of the Aktion,
in which some 40,000 Jews were dispatched to Treblinka and
Majdanek. The members of the Judenrat were among the last
group to be deported. A few dozen Jews succeeded in escaping
from the ghetto and joined the partisans in the forests. The revolt made a deep impression upon the Poles and the Germans.
After the ghettos liquidation, six Jewish girls remained who
had posed as Aryans. They acted as underground couriers,
and now helped those who escaped to reach the partisans. After suffering many losses, the Jewish partisans in the forests
united to form a single group, Kadimah. They in turn were
absorbed into a general partisan movement led by Soviet parachutists at the end of 1943.
After the war there remained 1,085 Jews in Bialystok, of
whom 900 were local inhabitants, and the rest from the neighboring villages. Of the ghetto inhabitants 260 survived, some
in the deportation camps, others as members of partisan units.
The community presumably dwindled and dissolved.
[Bronia Klibanski]
Bibliography: A.S. Hershberg, Pinkas Bialystok (1949); J.
Lestschinsky, in: EJ, 4 (1928), 4719; I. Schipper (ed.), Zydzi w Polsce
odrodzonej, 2 (1933), 4956, 523; B. Wasiutyski, Ludno ydowska w
Polsce w w. xix i xx (1930). HOLOCAUST PERIOD: Klibanski, in: Yad
Vashem Studies, 2 (1958), 295329; M. Tenenbaum-Tamaroff, Dappim
min ha-Delekah (1948); H. Grossman, Anshei ha-Mahteret (19652); N.
Blumental, Darko shel Yudenrat: Teudot mi-Getto Bialystok (1962);
R. Raizner, Umkum fun Byalistoker Yidentum 19391945 (1948); B.
Mark, Oyfshtand in Byalistoker Geto (1950); D. Sohn (comp.), Byalistok Bilder Album (1951), with English captions; S. Datner, Walka i
zaglada bialostockiego getta (1946).
BIARRITZ, coastal town in southwestern France. The Jewish community dates to the beginning of the 17t century. In
1619, after disorders in St. Jean-de-Luz, many *Marranos left
that town to settle in Biarritz; according to the contemporary
Pierre lAncre they numbered 2,000. In the census of Jews
taken in 1942, 168 families were registered in Biarritz. The present synagogue, built in 1904, contains the Torah scrolls, the
Ark, and the silver candelabrum from the former synagogue
of Peyrehorade. In 1968, the Biarritz community had 150 members, many of whom originated from North Africa.
Bibliography: Roth, Marranos, 223ff.; Laborde, in: Le Rpublicain du Sud Ouest (1963); Loeb, in: REJ, 22 (1891), 111; Z. Szajkowski, Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer (1966), 241.
[Roger Berg]
570
bibas
571
bible
572
bible
Judeo-Romance Languages
Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
Yiddish
English
Earliest Versions
The Lollard Bible
The 16th17th Centuries
Tyndale and His Successors
Anglican, Calvinist, and Catholic Bibles,
15601610
The King James, or Authorized, Version, 1611
16111945
Anglo-Jewish Versions
Since World War II
Introduction
Major Versions since World War II
Knox Bible
RSV and NRSV
Modern Language Bible
New World Translation
Anchor Bible
Jerusalem Koren Edition
Jerusalem Bible
New American Bible
New English Bible
New American Standard Bible
Living Bible
Todays English Version
New International Version
Other Protestant Translations
New Jewish Version
Torah Translations by Jews
Conclusion
Variations in English Versions of Psalm 23
Arabic
Catalan
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French and Provenal
French
Provenal
German
Before Luther
Luther and Protestant Bibles
Catholic Bibles
Jewish Bibles in German
Hungarian
Icelandic
Italian
Norwegian
Portuguese
Romanish (Raeto-Romance)
Romanian
Slavonic
Bulgarian
Church Slavonic
Czech and Slovak
Polish
Russian and Ukrainian
Serbian and Croatian; Wendish
Spanish
Swedish
Other Languages
In Cyberspace
EXEGESIS AND STUDY
TALMUDIC LITERATURE
MEDIEVAL RABBINIC COMMENTARIES
The Work of Saadiah Gaon and Its Influence
In Spain
Literal Commentary
Synthetic Commentary
Later Commentary
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS
EXEGESIS AMONG JEWS IN THE MODERN PERIOD
BIBLE RESEARCH AND CRITICISM
Early Moves Toward Critical Study
Nineteenth-Century Pentateuch Criticism and Wellhausen
The Influence of Archaeology
Gunkel and Form Criticism
Biblical Theology
Archaeological Evidence
Developments in the 1970s
Developments in the Late 20t Century
RELATED EPIGRAPHIC FINDS
SOCIOLOGY OF THE BIBLE
RELIGIOUS IMPACT
IN JUDAISM
In Hellenistic Judaism
Talmud and Medieval Times
In the Middle Ages and After
Modern Times
IN CHRISTIANITY
IN ISLAM
IN THE ARTS
Literature
Music
Art
Islamic Art
ILLUSTRATED BIBLES IN MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts
Oriental
Spanish
Ashkenazi
Italian
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The Canon
The term as applied to the Bible designates specifically the
closed nature of the corpus of sacred literature accepted as
authoritative because it is believed to be divinely revealed.
The history of the word helps to explain its usage. Canon
derives ultimately from an old Semitic word with the meaning of reed or cane (Heb. ), later used for a measuring
rod (cf. Ezek. 40:5), both of which senses passed into Greek
(, ). Metaphorically, it came to be used as a rule or
standard of excellence and was so applied by the Alexandrian
grammarians to the Old Greek classics. In the second century,
had come to be used in Christian circles in the sense of
rule of faith. It was the Church Fathers of the fourth century
C.E. who first applied canon to the sacred Scriptures.
No exact equivalent of this term is to be found in Jewish sources although the phrase Sefarim H iz onim (external
books; Sanh. 10:1), i.e., uncanonical, is certainly its negative
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bible
14:19, 29; I Chron. 9:1; II Chron. 16:11; 20:34; 27:7; 32:32; 33:18)
all bear witness to royal annalistic sources no longer extant. A
category of literature called Midrash (II Chron. 13:22; 24:27)
is also ascribed to the times of the monarchy, and a book of
dirges to the end of that period (II Chron. 35:25). While it is
true that in many of these instances it is possible that the same
work has been referred to under different titles and that the
caption sefer might indicate a section of a book rather than the
whole, it cannot be doubted that numerous other works must
have existed which were not mentioned in the Bible. In fact,
the very concept of a scriptural canon presupposes a process
of selection extending over a long period.
The quantitative disproportion between the literary productions and the literary remains of ancient Israel is extreme.
The main factor at work was the natural struggle for survival.
The absence of mass literacy, the labor of hand copying, and
the perishability of writing materials in an inhospitable climate all combined to limit circulation, restrict availability, and
reduce the chances of a work becoming standard. In addition,
the Land of Israel was more frequently plundered and more
thoroughly devastated than any other in the ancient Near East.
At the same time, in the historical realities of the pre-Exilic
period Israels cultural productions had scant prospects of being disseminated beyond its natural frontiers. Developments
within Israel itself also contributed. The change of script that
occurred in the course of Persian hegemony doubtless drove
out of circulation many books, while the mere existence of
canonized corpora almost inevitably consigned excluded compositions to oblivion.
Certainly there were other books, including some of
those cited above, which were reputed holy or written under
the inspiration of the divine spirit, but why they did not enter
the canon cannot be determined. The possibility of chance as
a factor in preservation cannot be entirely dismissed. Some
works probably survived because of their literary beauty
alone. A very powerful instrument must have been scribal and
priestly schools which, by virtue of their inherent conservatism, would tend to transmit the basic study texts from generation to generation. Similarly, the repertoire of professional
guilds of Temple singers would be self-perpetuating, as would
the liturgies recited on specific occasions in the Jerusalem
Temple and the provincial shrines. Material that appealed to
national sentiment and pride, such as the narration of the great
events of the past and the basic documents of the national religion, would, particularly if employed in the cult, inevitably
achieve wide popularity and be endowed with sanctity. Not
everything that was regarded as sacred or revealed was canonized; but sanctity was the indispensable ingredient for canonicity. It was not, in general, the stamp of canonization that
conferred holiness upon a book rather the reverse. Sanctity
antedated and preconditioned the formal act of canonization,
which in most cases, simply made final a long-existing situation. Of course, the act of canonization, in turn, served to
reinforce, intensify, and perpetuate the attitude of reverence,
veneration, and piety with which men approached the Scrip-
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Torah
The Prophets
Neviim
Former Prophets
Pentateuch
Later Prophets
The Law
Genesis
50 Chapters
Exodus
40
Leviticus
27
Numbers
36
Deuteronomy
34
Joshua
24
Judges
21
I Samuel
31
II Samuel
24
I Kings
22
II Kings
25
*Isaiah
66
Jeremiah
52
Ezekiel
48
The Writings
Ketuvim
Hagiographa
Five Scrolls
Megilot
though Daniel, Psalms, and Proverbs are included in the designation (18:1316). It must have been a widespread practice
to refer to the entire Bible in this manner for it is encountered
in the most diverse sources, rabbinic (Tosef., BM 11:23), New
Testament (Matt. 5:17 7:12; 11:13; 22:40; Luke 16:16; John 1:45;
Rom. 3:21), and the Scrolls from the Judean Desert (1QS 1:23).
All this can mean only one thing: the Ketuvim were canonized much later than the Prophets and the tripartite canon
represents three distinct and progressive stages in the process
of canonization. This is not to say, however, that there is any
necessary correlation between the antiquity of the individual
books within a given corpus and the date of the canonization
of the corpus as a whole. Further, a clear distinction has to be
made between the age of the material and the time of its redaction, the period of its attaining individual canonicity and
the date that it became part of a canonized corpus.
Psalms
150
Proverbs
31
Job
42
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
12
Esther
10
Daniel
12
Ezra
10
Nehemiah
13
I Chronicles
29
II Chronicles
36
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadia
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
14
4
9
1
4
7
3
3
3
2
14
3
The first report of the reading of the Torah in public assembly subsequent to Josiah comes from the post-Exilic period, namely, the ceremony conducted in Jerusalem by Ezra,
approximately 444 B.C.E. (Neh. 810). This ceremony cannot
be the occasion of the canonization of the Pentateuch, as has
often been claimed, since the initiative for the public reading
comes from the people and there is no hint that the promulgation of a new law is involved. The book is called the book of
the Torah of Moses which the Lord commanded Israel (Neh.
8:1) and the emphasis is on its dissemination and exposition.
It would appear that the Torah, or at least some form of it, had
achieved canonical status.
Further evidence that the Torah had already been canonized by this time is provided by the Chronicler and by Samari-
577
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CODEX
ALEXANDRINUS (A)
CODEX
ALEPPO (C)
4th century
Genesis-Judges
Ruth
IIV Kings
(Samuel, Kings)
III Chronicles
I Ezra (apochryphal)
II Ezra
(Ezra-Nehemiah)
Joel
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Job
Wisdom of Solomon
Wisdom of Sirach
Esther
Judith
Tobit
Baruch
Hosea
Amos
Micah
Joel
Obadiah
Jonah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Baruch
Lamentations
Letter of Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Daniel
5th century
Genesis-Judges
Ruth
IIV Kings
III Chronicles
Isaiah
Hosea
Amos
Micah
Joel
Obadiah
Jonah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Isaiah
Jeremiah
10th century
Genesis-Judges
III Samuel
III Kings
Lamentations
Letter of Jeremiah
Daniel
Ezekiel
Ruth
Esther
Tobit
Judith
I Ezra
II Ezra
IIV Maccabees
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom of Solomon
Wisdom of Sirach
Psalms of Solomon
III Chronicles
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Hosea
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra
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2.
Two mss.
3.
Eleven mss.
4.
Five Early
Editions
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Isaiah
The Twelve
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Isaiah
The Twelve
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Isaiah
The Twelve
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Isaiah
The Twelve
1. (1) The Babylonian Talmud; (2) 1280 C.E. Madrid, National Library, ms. no. 1;
(35) London, British Museum, mss. Orient. 1474, Orient. 4227, Add. 1545.
2. (1) 1286 C.E. Paris, National Library; (2) London, British Museum, Orient.
2091.
3. (1) 916 C.E. Leningrad codex; (2) 1009 C.E. Leningrad ms.; (311) London,
British Museum, mss. Orient. 1246 C.E., Arund. Orient. 16, Harley 1528, Harley
571011, Add. 1525, Add. 15251, Add. 15252, Orient. 2348, Orient, 26268.
4. (1) The rst printed edition of the entire Bible, 1488 Soncino; (2) The second
edition, 149193 Naples; (3) The third edition, 14921494 Brescia; (4) The rst
edition of the Rabbinic Bible, edited by Felix Pratensis, 1517 Venice; (5) The
rst edition of the Bible with the Masorah, edited by Jacob b. H ayyim, 152425
Venice.
bible
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
1.
Talmud
and Six mss.
2.
Two mss.
3.
Add. 15252
4.
5.
Adat. Devorim Ar. Or. 16
and three mss.
6.
Or. 262628
7.
Or. 2201
8.
Five Early
Editions
Ruth
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Lamentations
Daniel
Esther
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Ruth
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Ruth
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Daniel
Esther
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Chronicles
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Ruth
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Daniel
Ruth
Song of Songs
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Ezra-Nehemiah
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Ruth
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
Chronicles
Ruth
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
1. (1) The Talmud; (2) 1280 C.E. Madrid, University Library, codex no. 1; (37)
London, British Museum, mss. Harley 1528, Add. 1525, Orient. 2212, Orient.
2375, Orient. 4227.
2. (1) 1286 C.E. Paris, National Library, mss. no. 13; (2) London, British Museum,
Orient. 2091.
3. London, British Museum, Add. 15252.
4. (1) 1009 C.E. Leningrad ms.; (2) 1207 C.E. Adat Devorim; (34) London, British
Museum, mss. Harley 571011, Add. 15251.
5. London, British Museum, Arund. Orient. 16.
6. London, British Museum, Orient. 262628.
7. 1246 C.E. London, British Museum, Orient. 2201.
8. The ve early editions, see Table 1, note 4.
at Qumran, and much earlier in Mesopotamia. Haran suggests instead that the baraita reflects a time when scribes had
begun to resort to larger scrolls containing several books
rather than using one scroll per book. This technological
change would have necessitated a fixed order. The silence
about the Pentateuch in the baraita is due to the fact that its
priority in its long fixed order was so universally known as
to make it superfluous. As to the underlying principles that
determined the sequence, it is clear that the historical books
of the prophetical division are set forth as a continuous, consecutive narrative with Jeremiah and Ezekiel following in
chronological sequence. The anomalous position of Isaiah after Ezekiel (reflected also in some manuscripts) (see Table:
Order of the Latter Prophets) has been variously explained.
According to the Gemara (BB 14b) contextual considerations
were paramount:
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of the Ketuvim as Psalms, Proverbs, and Job (Ber. 57b), a variant possibly conditioned by the view that Job was among those
who returned from the Babylonian exile (BB 15a).
The most unstable books in respect of their order in the
Ketuvim are the five Scrolls (Megillot). Their position varies in the manuscripts and printed editions both as part of
the corpus of Ketuvim and as separately attached to the Pentateuch (see Table: Order of the Megillot). Nowhere in rabbinic sources are all five listed in immediate succession, nor
is the term Five Megillot used. The chronological sequence,
according to reputed author, that underlies the tannaitic listing is essentially reflected in another talmudic source which
identifies the three smaller books of the Ketuvim as the Song
of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Lamentations, in that order (Ber.
57b). In fact, six of eight main variations basically preserve this
chronological principle (see Table: Order of the Hagiographa,
cols. 15, 7). The practice of grouping all five Megillot together
has its origin in the custom of reading these books on festival days: the Song of Songs on Passover, Ruth on Pentecost,
Lamentations on the Ninth of Av, Ecclesiastes on Sukkot, and
Esther on Purim (cf. Soferim 14:1, ed. Higger, p. 2512). This is
the order as it crystallized in the early printed Hebrew Bibles
and in some manuscripts and early printed editions of the Pentateuch, to which all five Megillot have been attached.
The Order of the Megillot after the Pentateuch
1.
mss.
Nos. 1,2,3
2.
mss.
Nos. 4,5,6
3.
mss.
Nos. 7, 8
4.
mss.
No. 9
5.
Early
Editions
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Esther
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Ruth
Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Ruth
Song of Songs
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
The nine mss. collated for this Table are the following in the British Museum: (1)
Add. 9400; (2) Add. 9403; (3) Add. 19776; (4) Harley 5706; (5) Add. 9404; (6) Orient.
2786; (7) Harley 5773; (8) Harley 15283; (9) Add. 15282.
The fth column represents the order adopted in the rst, second and third editions
of the Hebrew Bible, as well as that of the second and third editions of Bombergs
Quarto Bible (Venice 1521, 1525), in all of which the ve Megillot follow immediately
after the Pentateuch
582
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with the received text. Further evidence for a still fluid state
of the text is provided by the citations of Scripture found in
the books of the *Apocrypha and by rabbinic traditions about
the activities of the *soferim. These latter are credited with responsibility for textual emendations (tikkunei soferim, Mekh.,
Shira, 6; Sif. Num. 84), for marking dislocated verses (ibid.;
Shab. 115b116a) and suspect readings (ARN1 34, 1001; ARN2
37, 97; Sif. Num. 69), as well as for deletions (itturei soferim,
Ned. 37b). Other rabbinic traditions tell of the need for book
correctors (maggihei sefarim) in Jerusalem attached to the
Temple (Ket. 106a; TJ, Shek. 4:3, 48a) and even of divergent
readings in pentateuchal scrolls kept in the Temple archives
(TJ, Taan 4:2, 68a; Sif. Deut. 356; ARN2 46, 65; Sof. 6:4).
This fluidity of text is precisely the situation that was
revealed at Qumran, particularly Cave IV which has yielded
about 100 manuscripts, complete or fragmentary. The outstanding phenomenon is the ability of the sect to tolerate, with
no apparent disquiet, the simultaneous existence of divergent
texts of the same book, as well as verbal and orthographic variety within the scope of a single recension. Clearly, an inviolable, sacrosanct, authoritative text did not exist at Qumran.
Whether the identical conclusion is also valid for the normative Jewish community of Palestine in this period is less certain. It is true that there is nothing specifically sectarian about
the Qumran Bible scrolls, either in the scribal techniques and
conventions employed or in the nature of the divergent readings, which are decidedly neither tendentious nor ideological. Nevertheless, caution must be exercised in the use of the
Qumran evidence for reconstruction of a generalized history
of textual development in this period. The lack of more examples of the masoretic text-type may be solely accidental. It
is also possible that this is less a library than a genizah which
would tend to preserve discarded texts and so present a distorted picture. In many instances, the fragments are very small
and are only disjecta membra, making the derivation of overall
characteristics very hazardous. Finally, the isolated, cloistered,
and segregated existence led by the sect of covenanters, with
its implacable hostility to the Jerusalem religious establishment, could well have insulated Qumran from normative developments elsewhere in Judea, where a less tolerant approach
to textual diversity may have prevailed.
In fact, the rabbinic testimony cited above demonstrates
the existence of a movement away from a plurality of recensions and toward textual stabilization. The textual-critical
activities of the soferim are all directed to this end and they
are expressly reported to have worked on a text fixed even in
respect of the number of its letters (Kid. 30a). Whatever its
intrinsic worth this talmudic tradition could not have arisen
among the rabbis had the fixing of the text been recent. The
presence of Temple-sponsored book correctors implies the
acceptance at some point in the Second Temple period of an
authoritative text by which the accuracy of other scrolls was
measured (Ket. 106a; TJ, Shek. 4:3, 48a; Sanh. 2:6, 20c). The
record of the variant Temple scrolls is a tradition concerned
584
bible
scripts from the tannaitic period (c. 200 C.E.) and the earliest
medieval ones (c. ninth century C.E.). None of the medieval
manuscripts and codices, and not even the thousands of Bible
fragments from the Cairo *Genizah represent a recension different from the received text.
See also *Masorah, *Poetry in the Bible.
Bibliography: F. Buhl, Canon and Text of the Old Testament
(1892); C.D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible (1897), repr. 1966 with a prolegomenon by
HM Orlinsky; V. Aptowitzer, Das Schriftwort in der rabbinischen Literatur (190615); H.E. Ryle, The Canon of the Old Testament (1909);
H.B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (19682); L.
Ginsberg, in: JBL, 41 (1922), 11536; M.L. Margolis, Hebrew Scriptures
in the Making (1922); G.F. Moore, Judaism (192730); A. Geiger, Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel (1928); S. Zeitlin, in: PAAJR,
4 (1932), 169223; R. Gordis, Biblical Text in the Making (1937); J. Ph.
Hyatt, in: BA, 6 (1943), 7180; E. Urbach, in: Tarbiz, 17 (1945/46), 111;
B.J. Roberts, Old Testament Text and Versions (1951); Y. Kaufmann,
Toledot; E.A. Parsons, The Alexandrian Library (1952); M.H. Segal,
in: JBL, 72 (1953), 3547; idem, Mevo ha-Mikra (1956); L.J. Liebreich,
in: HUCA, 25 (1954), 3740; C.H. Robert, in: British Academy Proceedings (1954), 169204; M. Weitemyer, in: Libri, 6 (195556), 21738
(Eng.); M. Greenberg, in: JAOS, 76 (1956), 15767; P. Katz, in: ZNW, 47
(1956), 191217; M. Haran, in: Tarbiz, 25 (1955/56), 24571; I.L. Seligmann, ibid., 11839; P.W. Skehan, in: VT Supplement, 4 (1957), 15560;
W. Hallo, in: IEJ, 12 (1962), 1326; idem, in: JAOS, 83 (1963), 16776;
88 (1968), 7189; S. Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (1950);
D. Barthlemy, Les Devanciers dAquila (1963); F.M. Cross, in: HTR,
57 (1964), 28199; idem, in: IEJ, 16 (1966), 8195; idem, in: BA, 28
(1965), 87100; E. Wuerthwein, Text of the Old Testament (1957); M.H.
Goshen-Gottstein, Text and Language in Bible and Qumran (1960);
idem, in: Textus, 2 (1962), 2859; 5 (1966), 2223 (Eng.); idem, in: A.
Altmann (ed.), Biblical and Other Studies (1963), 79122; idem, in:
Biblica, 48 (1967), 24390 (Eng.); P. Kahle, The Cairo Geniza (19592);
S. Talmon, in: Textus, 1 (1960), 14484; 2 (1962), 1427; 4 (1964),
95132 (Eng.); F.G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts
(19654); N.M. Sarna, in: Essays in Honor of I.E. Kiev. Add. Bibliography: Traditional commentaries on the Torah: Torat H ayyim:
H amisha H umshe Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy complete in 7 vols),
Jerusalem: Mosad Harav Kook: 19861993; The English translation
of the Bible by the Jewish Publication Society of America was completed as follows: Torah: 1962; The Prophets: 1978; The Writings: 1982.
The entire work is now in one volume: Tanakh: A New Translation of
the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text, Philadelphia/New York/Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society, 1985. All of the
following contain extensive bibliographies. The most recent work on
the textual history and criticism of the Bible is: Emanuel Tov, Textual
Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Minneapolis: Fortress Press and Assen/Maastrict: Van Gorcum, 1992. A major reference work in biblical
studies is the now-complete Enz iklopediyyah Mikrait in Hebrew: E.L.
Sukeinik (dec.), U.M.D. Cassuto (dec.), H. Tadmor, and Sh. Ahituv,
editors, Enz iklopediyyah Mikrait (= Encyclopaedia Biblica), Vols. 19,
Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 19501988. Other reference works in biblical studies are: David Noel Freedman, editor-in-chief, Anchor Bible
Dictionary, complete, Vols. 16, New York/London/Toronto/Sydney/
Auckland: Doubleday, 1992; G.J. Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren and,
Heinz-Josef Fabry, editors, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volumes 17 covering through , Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 19741995 (trans. of Theologisches Wrterbuch zum Alten Tes-
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segol. There are frequent errors, whole verses (108), half verses
(3), and odd words (43) are omitted, and there are dittographs
both of letters and of words.
The next venture was due to the z edakot (charities)
of the rich and pious Joseph b. Abraham Caravita. Knowing
that the vigor of Judaism depends on serious and continued
reading and study of the Bible, many wealthy Jews employed
scribes to copy manuscripts in order to foster this study. In
Spain they continued using scribes, but Jews in Italy quickly
realized that the invention of printing with movable type
would enable them to ensure the more effective dissemination
of the Bible. In 147980 Joseph b. Abraham invited from Ferrara to Bologna Abraham b. H ayyim di Tintori, a master craftsman who had largely solved the problems of both vowel-points
and accents. The result of this move was the Bologna Pentateuch of 1482, which set the pattern for many future editions,
culminating in the Bomberg rabbinic Bibles of the next century. The folios consist of Rashis commentary across the page,
top and bottom, with the Hebrew text in the inner and wider
column and Targum Onkelos in the outer column. The type is
larger than that of the 1477 psalter, but, as in some Ashkenazi
manuscripts, the final letters kaf, nun, and pe do not extend
below the base-line of other consonants, so that it is virtually
impossible to distinguish between dalet and final kaf.
A little later, a certain Israel Nathan b. Samuel moved
to Soncino, a small town in the duchy of Milan. There he set
up a printing press for his son, and this was the beginning of
the great firm of Joshua Solomon *Soncino and his nephews,
Moses and Gershom. Attracting Abraham b. H ayyim from
Bologna, they produced the first complete Bible, the Soncino
Bible of 1488, with vowels and accents, but without a commentary, as was the custom of the Soncinos. The Soncino brothers
also were responsible for the 149193 Naples Bible, in which
the vowel-points and accents are better placed than before.
Gershom Soncino moved to Brescia, where he produced the
1495 Brescia Bible, an improved edition of the 1488 Soncino
Bible, but, more important, in small octavo format, making it
a pocket edition specifically produced for the persecuted Jews
who, perpetually moving from place to place, found it difficult to carry the huge and costly folio Bibles. It was this edition which Martin Luther used when he translated the Bible
into German.
In Spain a Hebrew Pentateuch with Targum and Rashi
was printed by Solomon Salmatic b. Maimon in 1490 at Ixar
(Hijar). There were also printing presses in Portugal, where
in 1487 the Faro Pentateuch was produced. In this edition the
printer was unable to solve the problem of placing a dot in the
middle of a consonant, so there is no dagesh. This was followed
in 1491 by the Lisbon Pentateuch in two volumes with the Targum and Rashis commentary, and in the next year by Isaiah
and Jeremiah at Lisbon and Proverbs at Leira. The expulsion
of the Jews from Spain (1492) put an end to the printing of new
editions of the Bible, both in Portugal and Italy, for wealthy
Jews needed all their means to help the refugees, over a quarter
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TRANSLATIONS
ancient versions
Aramaic: the Targumim
The word targum ( ) means translation, corresponding
to the verb tirgem ( ;translate), of which passive participle, meturgam, occurs in Ezra 4:7: The letter was written (katuv) in Aramaic and translated (meturgam; the second mention of Aramaic in the verse is a note to the reader
that the Aramaic version of the letter follows (Blenkinsopp
10910)). There are no other biblical attestations of trgm. In
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic the verb trgm means translate
into Aramaic, explain. In Syriac the verb means explain,
translate (Sokloff DJBA, 123132). In Jewish Palestinian Aramaic trgm means translate into any language (Sokoloff,
DJPA, 591). In Samaritan the verb means translate, relay
the message (Tal, DSA, 963). Tirgem is a denominative verb,
being derived from the noun turgeman. The term may have
entered Hebrew and Aramaic through Akkadian targumnu
(interpreter) whence, ultimately, the English dragoman. The
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and scholastic redaction, is known by the name of Targum Onkelos. The origin of this name is derived from the Babylonian
Talmud (Meg. 3a), where the Targum to the Torah is attributed to the proselyte *Onkelos, who is said to have composed
it (literally, spoke it, declaimed it) under the guidance of R.
Eliezer and R. Joshua (An anonymous statement (ibid.) goes
so far as to say that the original targum was given at Sinai,
subsequently forgotten, and then restored by Onkelos.) The
Palestinian Talmud, however (Meg. 1:11, 71c), contains the
statement: Aquila the proselyte translated (tirgem) the Pentateuch in the presence of R. Eliezer and R. Joshua, in a context
which shows that a translation into Greek is meant. These accounts are obviously related: in the Babylonian Talmud only
the name Onkelos occurs, while Aquilas (= Akylas, the Greek
adaptation of the Latin Aquila) alone is found in the Jerusalem
Talmud. The latter is historically reliable Aquila did compose a scrupulously exact and literal Greek translation of the
Bible, and Targum Onkelos, however, is almost a literal Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch. In addition to this, a great
deal of what is revealed about Onkelos in Babylonian sources
is attributed to Aquila in the Jerusalem ones. Important works
that discuss the identity of Onkelos and Akylas (= Aquila) are
those of M. Friedmann, A.E. Silverstone, and D. Barthlemy.
Silverstone argues that Aquila was identical with Onkelos, and
that this one individual produced both a Greek and an Aramaic translation. Friedmann believes that they were two different personalities. Barthlemy argues that the Babylonian
Jewish scholars possessed an anonymous Aramaic translation
to which they gave the name Targum Onkelos. This was based
on mistakenly transferring the western tradition of Aquilas
Greek translation of the Torah into Greek to the Aramaic Targum of the Torah that the Babylonians possessed.
The Aramaic of this Targum exhibits a mixture of the
Western (e.g., yat as nota accusativi) and Eastern (e.g., h zy,
to see) features. This combination gave rise to a variety of
opinions about the Targums place of origin. A. Berliner, T. Noeldeke, G. Dalman, and E.Y. Kutscher believe that it originated
in Palestine, while its final redaction took place in Babylonia.
The opposing view is held by P. Kahle and his followers, who
consider this Aramaic version to have originated entirely in
Babylonia. Adherents of Palestinian origin have argued from
the content of the Targum that it was composed in Palestine
(particularly in Judea) sometime in the second century C.E.,
since both the halakhic (legal) and aggadic (non-legal) portions betray the influence of the school of Akiva. In addition,
they have maintained that the western Aramaic elements, e.g.,
preservation of the absolute state, are much stronger. Kutscher
(1113) argued that the Aramaic of Onkelos is quite close to
that of the Genesis Apocryphon found at Qumran in Palestine; and Greenfield, in the same vein classified both as examples of Standard Literary Aramaic. After the destruction
of the Second Temple and the suppression of the Bar Kokhba
revolt, which destroyed the cultural centers of Judea, Targum
Onkelos disappeared from Palestine. The old Standard Literary Aramaic was superseded by the local Western Aramaic
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and is regarded as an amalgam from other Targums and Midrashim. The commentators refer to it as aggadah and as
Midrash. The earliest mention of Targum Sheni occurs in
tractate *Soferim (13:6), and it was probably not completed
before 1200 C.E. The Targum of Song of Songs interprets the
biblical book as an allegory on the relation between God and
Israel and on the history of Israel. The types of paraphrase
employed by the various Targums to the Five Scrolls may be
summarized as follows: historical parallels; motives and reasons to explain the occurrences of events; etymology and explanation of proper names; figurative language rendered into
prose and allegory in the place of narrative; the Sanhedrin,
as well as the study of the law, frequently mentioned; appendance of elaborate genealogies to names; and general statements related to names of particular individuals, such as the
Patriarchs, Nimrod, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, Alexander, and the Messiah.
Chronicles. No Targum to this book was known to exist
until the appearance of the Polyglot Bibles. It was first published, in a somewhat incomplete form, in 168083 from an
Erfurt manuscript of 1343 and edited with notes and translation by M.F. Beck. In 1715 a more complete form of the text
was edited by D. Wilkins on the basis of a Cambridge manuscript of 1347, which contained a later revision of the targumic
text. This Targum is essentially a literal rendering of the Hebrew original, although midrashic amplifications are also employed at times (e.g., I Chron. l:20, 21; 4:18; 7:21; 11:11, 12; 12:32;
II Chron. 2:6; 3:1; 23:11). Instances where the author made use
of Jerusalem Targums to the Pentateuch are Genesis 10:20
and I Chronicles 1:21, and Genesis 36:39 and I Chronicles 1:43.
Similarly, acquaintance with Targum Jonathan to the Prophets
is suggested when one compares the readings from the books
of Samuel and Kings to the readings from the Targum in the
synoptic passages in Chronicles, only slight variations occurring between them. The date of the Targum may be surmised
from the translation of geographical names, as well as their
rendering into modern forms. The final redaction of the Erfurt manuscript has been assigned to the eighth century, and
that of the Cambridge manuscript to the ninth century C.E.
(M. Rosenberg and K. Kohler in bibliography).
R. Joseph And The Authorship Of The Hagiographa Targums. The 168083 Augsburg edition of Targum
to Chronicles carries the title Targum Rav Yosef. This fact
is related to the view that prevailed in early times that R. Joseph b. H ama, the Babylonian amora who had the reputation
of being thoroughly versed in the Targums of the Prophets,
was the author of the Targum of the Hagiographa. Thus, a
quotation from Targum Sheni to Esther 3:1 is introduced as
kedimtargem Rav Yosef in tractate Soferim 13:6. Furthermore,
the Breslau Library manuscript of 1238 appends the following
statement to apocryphal additions to Esther known as H alom
Mordekhai: This is the end of the book of the Targum on the
Hagiographa, translated by R. Joseph. The 12t-century commentator *Samuel b. Meir quoted passages on Job and Prov-
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erbs in the name of R. Joseph (see Ex. 15:2; Lev. 20:17). In the
Talmud, the phrase kedimtargem Rav Yosef, as R. Joseph has
translated, occurs frequently, but it occurs only with reference
to passages in the Prophets and once in the Pentateuch (cf.
Sot. 48b). It was inferred that R. Joseph was also the author
of the known Hagiographa Targums, but on the basis of the
basically Palestinian linguistic character of the Hagiographa
Targums, as well as the variety of the translation techniques,
which mitigate against the view of one author for all of them,
this opinion has been rejected as historically without basis.
Furthermore, the Tosafot (Shab. 115a) assign the origin of the
Hagiographa Targums to tannaitic times (cf. Meg. 21b).
Bibliography: EDITIO PRINCEPS: Targum Onkelos: Bologna, 1482, Sabbioneta, 1557; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Venice, 1591;
Fragmentary Targum: Rabbinic Bible, Venice, 1518; Targum Jonathan:
Leira, 1494, Venice, 1518; Targum to Hagiographa: Venice, 1517; Ms.
Neofiti I-Genesis (A. Diez-Macho), Madrid-Barcelona, 1968. CRITICAL EDITIONS: A. Sperber, The Bible in Aramaic, 13 (195962); M.
Ginsburger, Pseudo-Jonathan (1903); idem, Das Fragmententhargum
(1899); A. Diez-Macho, Biblia Polyglotta, Matritensia IV/5 Deuteronomium Caput I (1965), 123; P. Kahle, Masoreten des Westens, 2
(1930), 165; J.F. Stenning, The Targum of Isaiah (19532); P. de Lagarde, Hagiographa chaldaica (1873); R.H. Melamed, The Targum to
Canticles According to Six Yemen Mss. (1921). LEXICONS, TRANSLATIONS, GRAMMARS, AND CONCORDANCES: Jastrow, Dict; S. Krauss,
Griechische und Lateinische Lehnwoerter im Talmud, Midrasch und
Targum, 2 vols. (189899); J.W. Etheridge, The Targums of Onkelos
and Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch with the Fragments of the
Jerusalem Targum (186265, 1968); G.H. Dalman, Grammatik des Juedisch-Palastinischen Aramaeisch (1905, 1960); H.J. Kassovsky, Oz ar
ha-Targum (1940). GENERAL WORKS: Geiger, Urschrift, 15970; M.
Ginsburger, Die Anthropomorphismen in den Thargumim (1891); H.Z.
Hirschberg, in: Sefer ha-Shanah shel Bar-Ilan, I (1963), 1623; M.R.
Lehman, in: Revue de Qumran, 1 (1958), 24963; M. Mc-Namara, in:
CBQ, 28 (1966), 119; M. Martin, in: Orientalia et Biblica Lovaniensia,
4 (1962), 42551; S. Maybaum, Die Anthropomorphien und Anthropopathien bei Onkelos und die spaeteren Targumim (1870); A. Sperber,
The Bible in Aramaic, 4 (1969); G. Vermes, in: Annual of the Leeds
University Oriental Society, 3 (196061), 81114; Zunz, Vortraege; P.
Nickels, Targum and New Testament, a Bibliography (1967). TARGUM
ONKELOS: A. Berliner, Targum Onkelos, 12 (1884); M. Friedmann,
Onkelos und Akylas (1896); S.D. Luzzatto, Ohev Ger (1830); A.E. Silverstone, Aquila and Onkelos (1931); A. Sperber, in: Jewish Studies in
Memory of G.A. Kohut (1935), 55464, PALESTINIAN TARGUM: Geiger, Urschrift, 45180; A. Diez-Macho, in: VT Supplement, 7 (1960),
222ff.; idem, in: CNFI, 13 pt. 2 (1962), 1925; M. Mc-Namara, The
New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch (1966).
TARGUM JONATHAN: Z. Frankel, in: MGWJ, 21 (1872), 192ff.; P. Churgin, Targum Jonathan to the Prophets (1907). HAGIOGRAPHA TARGUMIM: W. Bacher, in: MGWJ, 21 (1872), 40816, 46373; 20 (1871),
20823, 2834; P. Churgin, Targum Ketuvim (1945); Y. Komlosh, in:
Sefer M.H. Segal (1964), 26570; J.P.M. van der Ploeg, Le targum de
Job de la grotte 11 de Qumran (1962); M. Rosenberg and K. Kohler, in:
JZWL, 8 (1870), 7280, 13563, 26378; J. Shunary, in: Textus, 5 (1966),
13344; A.S. van der Woude, in: VT Supplement, 9 (1963). Add. Bibliography: D. Barthlemy, Les devanciers dAquila (1963); A. Diez
Macho, Neophyti I, Targum Palestinense ms. de la Biblioteca Vaticana
Vols. IVI (196879); R. le Daut and J. Robert, Targum des Chroniques (1971); J. van der Ploeg et al., Le Targum de Job del la grotte xi
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within both Judaism and especially Christianity, this relatively restrained account was embellished in many directions. Within the Jewish world, it is primarily to the first century C.E. philosopher *Philo, himself a native of Alexandria,
that we owe several significant additions to Aristeas narrative. For example, Philo names the Island of Pharos as the location at which the translators worked, and he describes an
annual festival, still observed in his day, to honor their work.
Moreover, he speaks of those responsible for the Septuagint
as prophets rather than (mere) translators. In this way, he is
able to account for material that was found in the Greek but
not in the Hebrew text.
As fully elaborated in the work of the fourth century
Christian writer Epiphanius, each of the translators was isolated in a cell and cut off from discussion or comparisons with
his colleagues and yet all 72 produced texts that were identical in every detail (in other forms of the tradition, the translators worked in pairs). This and other miraculous occurrences
served to demonstrate the sacredness of the text produced and
the role it was to play as Scripture for Christians.
It is not entirely clear what the author of Aristeas intended in this regard. On the one hand, as noted above, the
deliberations of the elders proceeded in much the same way
as modern teams of Bible translators operate. Nonetheless,
what they produced was accepted as somehow authoritative
by the Alexandrian Jewish community and, by extension, the
larger Jewish world. This is seen not only in the curse uttered
against all who might change it, but also in the deliberate way
in which the reception of the Septuagint is modeled on the reception of the Ten Commandments and accompanying laws
in the biblical book of Exodus.
It is likely that when the author of the Letter of Aristeas
fashioned a communal curse on those who would change the
Greek Pentateuch, he had some specific concerns in mind that
were relevant to his own second century B.C.E. context; that
is to say, as early as that date, if not even before then, there
were individuals who were revising the Septuagint of the Pentateuch and of other books subsequently translated. Such individuals, who may have come from or worked in Jerusalem,
judged most, if not all, differences between the LXX and their
Hebrew text as deficiencies in the Greek, and they therefore
sought to correct the LXX in the direction of the Hebrew text
of their community. Although they probably also had some
linguistic interests, their goal, as well as their motivation, was
primarily what may be described as theological.
As noted above, Philo, while also recognizing differences
between the Greek and the Hebrew, devised another explanation entirely; namely, that these divergences were as much a
part of Gods inspired message as were the far more numerous places where the Greek and the Hebrew were in agreement. It may be that the author of the Letter of Aristeas had,
in some inchoate sense, a similar intimation; if so, he did not
explicitly express it. For most early Christians, the creators of
the LXX, whether they knew it or not, were prophetic in the
sense that much of their distinctive wording looked forward
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adopted (or co-opted) it. The very fact that at least some Jewish translators chose to revise the older Greek demonstrates
their allegiance to it, even when circumstances led them to
change it in a given number of instances. Moreover, as can
be seen from fragments preserved in the Cairo Genizah and
elsewhere, Greek-speaking Jews continued to rely on a Greek
Bible, in particular a developed form of Aquila, well into
the Byzantine era.
Nonetheless, it is true that the Septuagint ceased to be a
concern for most Jews from the first century of the common
era until early in the 19t century, when some Jewish scholars
(such as Z. *Frankel ) began to look seriously at it as a heritage
of their past. In so doing, they uncovered many places where
interpretative material in the LXX reflected concerns found
in rabbinic discussions. Also fairly numerous are instances
of what might be termed rabbinic-like midrash.
These findings alert scholars once again to the fact that
the Septuagint, as a document of Hellenistic Judaism, is a repository of thought from that period. It is very difficult, often
impossible, to determine whether distinctive elements of LXX
presentation are the results of creative activity on the part
of the translators themselves or accurately reflect their Vorlage, which in these cases differed from the MT. Caution is
strongly advised when making statements that characterize
LXX thought in one way or another, since, as noted above,
the LXX is not a unified document, and its translators did not
adopt a standardized approach to their Hebrew text. Moreover, it is inappropriate to describe the world of the LXX or
LXX thought solely in terms of differences between it and
our received Hebrew Text, for this would leave out their many
points of near or total convergence.
It is then not surprising that the rabbis of the early common era had decidedly negative things to say about the LXX
(see, for example, Tractate Soferim 1:8) as well as some positive statements about its value (as in Meg. 9 ab); see also
the passages within rabbinic literature that cite a tradition
according to which between 10 and 18 alterations were inserted into the Greek translation of the Pentateuch. It is not
easy to organize these differing opinions chronologically or
geographically or in any other way. The rabbis, or at least
some of them, were open to extra-Jewish (re)sources so long
as they were kept subservient to what the rabbis understood
as the core values of Judaism. But, as has often been pointed
out, a given language cannot be completely separated from
the values of the society in which it is spoken. Thus, whatever
acceptance the LXX found among the rabbis can be aptly described as grudging.
Today the LXX is studied by a growing number of Jewish scholars worldwide. As part of their heritage, Jews in general should not be averse to learning about the Septuagint, its
development, and its distinctive features. It is a priceless reminder of a time and place, not unlike our own, when Jews
struggled to varying degrees of success with issues of self-identification and accommodation within a cosmopolitan world
in and of which they were a creative minority.
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for which the LXX and MT may vary greatly like Samuel. In
these situations, it is possible that the OL can contain an earlier Hebrew text than that found in the MT.
In 383, Pope Damasus I commissioned *Jerome (c. 347
420), the leading biblical scholar of the day and his personal
secretary, to revise the OL Gospels in light of the LXX. He continued, on his own initiative, by revising the Psalter according
to the LXX. This recension became known as the Gallican Psalter because of its use by Charlemagne in Gaul. In 386, shortly
after relocating to Bethlehem, where he spent the last part of
his life, Jerome discovered Origens Hexapla in the library of
nearby Caesarea. The Hexapla was Origens edition of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament presenting most of the books in
six parallel columns, the fifth consisting of a critical text of the
LXX with signs indicating where the Greek differed from the
Hebrew. Jerome used these signs in his amended edition of the
Latin versions of the Psalms, Job, Chronicles, and the books
attributed to Solomon (viz., Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
Songs). Through this work, Jerome found the LXX increasingly
unsatisfactory and became convinced of both the supreme authority of the Hebrew and the necessity of producing a fresh
translation based on the original Hebrew truth (Hebraica
veritas). Jerome embarked on his new Latin translation according to the Hebrew (iuxta Hebraeos) around 390 and by
405 had completed his work on the Hebrew Bible.
Because he accepted the Hebrew canon as authentic
Scripture (i.e., as Hebraica veritas), Jerome did not translate the deuterocanonical books (with the exception of Tobit
and Judith). Thus, the Latin version of the Bible that became
the official text of the western Church from the early Middle
Ages and that was given the name Vulgate in the 16t century
was not produced entirely by Jerome. Rather, the Vulgate includes Jeromes translations from the Hebrew text (the Psalter
excepted), his versions of Tobit and Judith, his revision of the
Gospels, and his revision of the Psalter made from the Hexapla (i.e., the Gallican Psalter). It is now generally believed that
the Vulgate version of the epistles, Acts, and the Apocalypse
is not the work of Jerome himself but rather that of an unknown hand or hands.
From the early medieval period, the biblical text of the
Vulgate has exerted an incalculable influence not only on
Roman Catholic teaching and piety, but also on the languages
and literature of western Europe. This text remains the basis
for some modern translations (e.g., that of Ronald Knox into
English). In 1979, Pope John Paul II promulgated a new official revision of the Vulgate according to the Hebrew and the
Greek. Furthermore, in 1987 Benedictine monks of the Monastery of St. Jerome completed a critical edition of the Vulgate that includes the most certain findings of modern biblical scholarship and exegesis.
Bibliography: J. Trebolle Barrera, The Jewish Bible and the
Christian Bible: An Introduction to the History of the Bible, tr. W.G.E.
Watson (1998); A. Kamesar, Jerome, Greek Scholarship, and the Hebrew
Bible (1993); J.N.D. Kelly, Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies
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Samaritan
The Samaritan Bible contains only the *Pentateuch. In many
Pentateuch manuscripts the Samaritan Hebrew text is accompanied by a targum into Samaritan, a western Aramaic dialect.
Sometimes the targum was copied separately. Tal, who provided the first reliable critical edition, dates the production of
the Samaritan targum to the middle of the third century. No
manuscripts survive from the time that Samaritan Aramaic
was a spoken language. As a result much of the ancient text
was corrupted by the penetration of Arabic, which replaced
Aramaic as the spoken language, and by Hebrew. Nonetheless, several manuscripts preserve the older Samaritan Aramaic, which is very close to that of the Palestinian targums.
The Samaritan targum is more literal than the Jewish targums
and usually has one Aramaic word for each Hebrew word.
Tal (1988) has shown, nonetheless, that subtle midrashic and
paraphrastic interpretations are to be found, especially when
it comes to apologizing for the actions of biblical heroes and
defaming unpopular characters like Esau and Nimrod, a penchant it shares with Jewish midrash. The younger manuscripts
tend to be more paraphrastic than the older. Similarities between the Samaritan targum and Onkelos are probably due the
late activity of learned Samaritan scribes (Tal 1989).
Bibliography: A. Tal, The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch, 3 vols. (198083); idem, in: Rabin (ed.) Bible Translation
(1984), 458; idem, in: Mulder (ed.), Mikra (1988), 189216; idem, in:
A. Crown (ed.), The Samaritans (1989), 41367; idem, in: JAB 1 (1999),
297314; idem, A Dictionary of Samaritan Aramaic (2000); R. Macuch, Grammatik des Samaritanischen Aramisch (1982); R. Anderson,
Encyclopedia of Religion, 13:336.
[S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]
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Ethiopic
Christianity arrived in Ethiopia in the fourth century, and the
need for a translation of the Bible and the New Testament was
felt not long afterward. The original translation into classical
Ethiopic (Geez), beginning with the New Testament gospels
and the psalms, was probably made during the fifth and sixth
centuries, and completed by the mid-seventh century. The
translation of the Bible was based on the Greek (Septuagint),
the underlying Greek text types varying from book to book.
It has commonly been believed that there were also Syriacspeaking missionaries involved in the translation, but this is
not proven, and seems unlikely; most of the Aramaic loanwords in early Ethiopic likely derived not from Syriac but
rather from a pre-Christian Jewish element in early Christianity (Polotsky; Knibb). While there are a few 13t- or possibly 12t-century manuscripts of New Testament gospels,
there are no known manuscripts of the Ethiopic Old Testament that survive from before the 14t century, at which time,
especially during the literary renaissance under King Amda
Sion (131444), the text was much revised under the influence
of a Syriac-based Arabic version of the Bible; this revised text
is known as the vulgar recension. It was probably later still,
during the 15t or 16t century (when there was an Ethiopian
community in Jerusalem) that further revisions were made to
bring the text closer into alignment with the Hebrew masoretic text; manuscripts of this academic recension exhibit a
number of Hebrew words simply transliterated into Ethiopic
(Knibb). In addition to canonical and apocryphal books, the
Ethiopic Bible often contains pseudepigraphic works as well,
such as Enoch and Jubilees, which are held in the same regard. Translations of the Bible into modern languages of Eritrea and Ethiopia, such as Tigrinya, Tigre, and Amharic, have
been produced over the past century, generally by European
missionaries.
Bibliography: Ludolf, Psalterium Davidis aethiopice et
latine (1701); A. Dillmann, Biblia Veteris Testamenti Aethiopica
(185394); J. Bachmann, Dodekapropheton Aethiopum oder die zwlf
kleinen Prophenen der aethiopischen Bibelbersetzung. I. Der Prophet
Obadia (1892); J. Bachmann, Der Prophet Jesaia nach der aethiopischen
Bibelbersetzung (1893); J. Bachmann, Die Klagelieder Jeremiae in
der thiopischen Bibelbersetzung (1893); R.M.J. Basset, Les apocryphes thiopiens (18931900); F.M. Esteves Pereira, Le livre de Job:
version thiopienne (1907); J.O. Boyd, The Octateuch in Ethiopic. Part
I: Genesis; Part II: Exodus and Leviticus (all published; 190911).; J.
Schfers, Die thiopische bersetzung des Propheten Jeremias (1912);
F.M. Esteves Pereira, Le livre dEsther: version thiopienne (1913); F.M.
Esteves Pereira, O livro do profeta Ams e a sua verso etipica (1917);
F.M. Esteves Pereira, Le troisime livre de Ezr (Esdras et Nhmie
canoniques): version thiopienne (1919); F. Da Bassano (ed.), Beluy
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Kidn (4 vol., 1922/231925/26); O. Lfgren, Die aethiopische Uebersetzung des Propheten Daniel (1927); O. Loefgren. Jona, Nahum, Habakuk, Zephanja, Haggai, Sacharja und Maleachi aethiopisch (1930);
S.A.B. Mercer, The Ethiopic Text of the Book of Ecclesiastes (1931); S.
Grbaut, Les Paralipomnes. Livres I et II: version thiopienne (1932);
H.C. Gleave, The Ethiopic Version of the Song of Songs (1951); A. Vbus, The Ethiopic Versions, in: Early Versions of the Old Testament,
24369 (1954); H.J. Polotsky, Aramaic, Syriac, and Geez, in: Journal of Semitic Studies 9 (1964); E. Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible
(1968); H.F. Fuhs, Die aethiopische Uebersetzung des Propheten Micha (1968); O. Loefgren, The Necessity of a Critical Edition of the
Ethiopian Bible, in: Proceedings of the Third International Conference
of Ethiopian Studies (1970); H.F. Fuhs, Die aethiopische Uebersetzung
des Propheten Hosea (1971); B. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New
Testament (1977); H.A. Pilkington, A Critical Edition of the Book of
Proverbs in Ethiopic (D. Phil. thesis, Oxford, 1978); E. Ullendorff, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek: the Versions underlying Ethiopic Translations of the Bible and Intertestamental Literature, in: G. Rendsburg
et al. (eds.), The Biblical World: Essays in Honour of Cyrus H. Gordon
(1980); E. Ullendorff, Hebrew Elements in the Ethiopic Old Testament, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 9 (1987); M.A. Knibb,
Hebrew and Syriac Elements in the Ethiopic Version of Ezekiel?
in: Journal of Semitic Studies 33 (1988); R. Cowley, Ethiopian Biblical Interpretation: A Study in Exegetical Tradition and Hermeneutics
(1988); J. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees (1989); P. Marrassini, Some
Considerations on the Problem of the Syriac Influences on Aksumite
Ethiopia, in: Journal of Ethiopian Studies 23 (1990); R. Zuurmond,
Ethiopic Versions, in: Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992); M.A. Knibb,
Translating the Bible: The Ethiopic Version of the Old Testament (1999);
G.W.E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1 (2001).
[John Huehnergard (2nd ed.)]
Egyptian (Coptic)
Coptic versions of biblical literature that is, the texts of the
Bible translated into a late antique form of the Egyptian language, written in an augmented Greek alphabet which includes seven demotic Egyptian characters began appearing in the third century C.E. and were well established by the
fourth century. Coptic was written, and biblical texts have
been preserved, in several dialects and dialect families, the
most important for the study of biblical literature being Bohairic (Delta region, to the north) and Sahidic (Upper Egyptian, to the south). Important fragments remain in Fayyumic
and Akhmimic.
It is generally agreed that the Coptic versions have as
their source Greek witnesses. Of interest is the richness of the
extant versions. For example, the Sahidic witnesses vary from
each other, bespeaking independent translators and translation families, as well as, perhaps, differing Greek base texts. It
should be noted that a host of literatures and genres related to
the Bible (among them apocryphal works, hagiography, liturgical texts, and Gnostic literature) were variously written and
preserved in Coptic in late antiquity, and that Coptic remains
a language in which biblical and liturgical texts are regularly
read, spoken, and sung.
Bibliography: E.A.W. Budge, The Earliest Known Coptic Psalter: The Text, in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, Edited from the
Unique Papyrus Codex Oriental 5000 in the British Museum (1898);
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Armenian
The need for an Armenian Bible arose once the court converted to Christianity early in the fourth century. According
to Armenian tradition the Bible was the first book translated
into that language. The translation was undertaken directly
after the invention of the Armenian alphabet in 406 C.E.; the
story of the translation is preserved in the Armenian tradition for which the prime source is the Vark Matoci, Life of,
Mashtots (ca. 345440; after the fifth century the name begins
to appear as Mesrop Mashtots) written by Koriwn, his pupil
and colleague. Employing the new alphabet, Mashots along
with his ecclesiastical patron the Catholicos Sahak Partew and
their disciples translated the Bible as well as other Christian
religious writings. The initial translation, which according to
these sources was made from Syriac, was subsequently revised
twice in the light of Greek manuscripts brought from Constantinople and Alexandria. The work was completed by c. 450.
The translation of the Bible as preserved by the Armenian
Church is predominantly Hexaplaric in character, equipped
with Hexaplaric signs and showing a full text. Further relationships of the versions have been studied only for few books,
where it has been demonstrated that it reveals relationships
with certain non-Hexaplaric Greek text types and with the
Peshitta. There is also evidence for the existence of two recensions in certain books, such as Chronicles and Ben Sira, and
Revelation in the New Testament. Khalatianz (Moscow, 1899)
published a version of Chronicles apparently reflecting the
translation made from Syriac prior to the revision according to
Greek manuscripts. The translation has been characterized as
queen of the versions and its closeness to the Greek original
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Arabic
The need for translation of the Bible into Arabic arose with
the expansion of the Islamic empire. During the eighth century the Arabic language spread and replaced Aramaic as the
cultural language of Jews and other non-Arabs living under
Islamic rule. Around that time, both scholars and lay people
started producing translations of the Bible into Judeo-Arabic
using the Hebrew alphabet. Evidence for such translations
exists in the various collections of the Ben Ezra Genizah of
Cairo as well as other private and public collections. Other
translations were preserved and transmitted within the Jewish communities living in the Islamic milieu. Scholars divide
these translations into several main categories pre-Saadian,
Saadian, Karaite, post-Saadian sharh and glossaries.
Pre-Saadian translations. Fragments of pre-Saadian
translations were identified in the Genizah collections by
scholars such as Y. Tobi, J. Blau, S. Hopkins, M. Polliack, and
Y. Avishur. These fragments are characterized by their typical
Judeo-Arabic phonetic orthography common to texts prior to
the 10t century (Blau and Hopkins 2000). This early spelling
is solely based on Hebrew orthography and is devoid of any
influence of classical Arabic (Blau 1992). In addition, these
fragments present a strict literal translation. Hence word order and use of prepositions reflect Hebrew syntax and stand
in contrast to Arabic. The preposition that marks the Hebrew
definite accusative, which does not exists in classical Arabic, is
present in these translations in the form of an artificial morpheme (Tobi 1993). These literal translations are often interrupted in the body of the text by strings of alternative translations for a single word. In some instances expansions of an
interpretative nature are also added (Polliack 1998). The preSaadian fragments found to date include sections from the
Books of Proverbs, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Blau 1992). It is very likely that additional fragments
will surface in the future as the Genizah material is researched
further. Y. Tobi has shown that these translations were initiated in the Arabian Peninsula by and for Jewish communities prior to the rise of Islam (Tobi 2005). They reflect an oral
tradition that was subsequently put into writing.
Saadiahs Translation. By the 10t century the need for
a standard translation of the Bible became apparent. The bestknown translation of the Bible into Judeo-Arabic was written
by *Saadiah (Gaon) b. Joseph al-Fayyumi (882942), who
was born in Fayyum, Egypt, studied in Palestine, and eventually became the gaon of Sura, Babylonia. His translation of
the Pentateuch soon became the most widespread among the
various Jewish communities under Islam and continued to be
the most authoritative in some communities until our time, in
particular among Yemenite Jewry. In his translation Saadiah
standardized Judaeo-Arabic orthography and created a spelling system that reflects classical Arabic. The main principles
of this system of spelling include choosing phonemes according to their cognates rather than following audible similarities,
and using matres lectionis to indicate long vowels in agreement
with Arabic orthography. As far as his method is concerned,
Saadiah follows Arabic syntax and his translation is anything
but literal. He avoids repetitions, and shortens or expands the
text for stylistic reasons. To create a coherent text he subordinates originally coordinated clauses. He often changes the legal
text by additions and adaptations. At times he alters the text
in order to avoid what he deems to be exaggerations. Echoes
of the Aramaic translations are detected in his translation as
well as an avoidance of anthropomorphism. In fact, Saadiahs
translation is one of the most free and individual in the history of Bible translations as it reflects his personal interpretation (Blau, Saadya 1998). Scholars believe that Saadiah
completed the translation of the entire Bible; however, so far
only the Pentateuch, Isaiah, Job, Proverbs, Psalms, Song of
Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, and Esther have been recovered.
No autographed manuscripts of Saadiahs translation of the
Bible have been found to date. The vast majority of the manuscripts attributed to Saadiahs translation are written in Hebrew characters; however, scholars disagree on the nature of
the initial manuscripts. Abraham Ibn Ezra, a medieval Bible
commentator, contends that Saadiah wrote his translation in
the language of the Ishmaelites and in their writing (ketiva-
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tam) (see Ibn Ezras commentary to Gen. 2:11). Some scholars understand this statement to mean that the original was
written in the Arabic language in Arabic characters. Others
interpret it as Arabic language precisely transliterated into Hebrew characters according to Arabic orthography. In fact, in
support of the latter opinion, some of the Genizah fragments
attributed to Saadiah and written in Arabic characters seem
to have been transliterated from a text originally written in
Hebrew letters (Blau 1981, Tobi 1993, and Polliack 1998). Evidence from the Genizah supports the speculation that Saadiah
created his interpretative translation first and named it tafsir,
modeled after similar koranic compositions of his time. He
then composed his expanded commentary to the Pentatuech
(Polliack 1998). The long tafsir, which included both the translation and the commentary for the Pentateuch, fell out of use
eventually. However, fragments of the long tafsir were found
in the Genizah and Firkovitch Collections. A compilation of
such fragments containing commentary on Genesis were assembled and studied by M. Zucker (Zucker 1984).
Manuscripts and printed editions of Saadiahs translation
of the Pentateuch were widespread in Yemenite communities
until recent times. The most famous of them is the Taj. Two
editions of the Taj were printed in Jerusalem, one in 1894 and
the other in 1982. N.J. Derenbourg published a critical edition
of Saadiahs translation to the Pentateuch in 1893 in Paris. His
edition is based mainly on the Jewish polyglot of Constantinople (1546) but also on a Yemenite manuscript and on the
Christian polyglot of London (1657) (Blau 1998).
Saadiahs translation and commentary to other books of
the Bible were less known and of smaller circulation. Some
of these manuscripts, which were found in Yemenite collections, were translated into Hebrew and published by Rabbi Y.
Kafah. These publications include the Five Scrolls, the Book of
Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Proverbs, and the Book
of Daniel (Kafah 1962, 1965, 1973, 1976, and 1981).
Karaite Translations. Rejection of rabbinical authority
and the Oral Law led the Karaites to reject Saadiahs approach
to Bible translation and compelled them to create alternatives.
Most Karaite translations of the Bible date back to the 10t
and 11t centuries, a time in which scholarly Karaite activity
reached its zenith. The Karaites used the same orthography as
the one Saadiah standardized. However, they drew upon the
pre-Saadian traditions of translation, which they developed
further by emphasizing the principles of individualization and
pluralism of biblical commentary. Their approach enabled the
composition of creative and original translations free from
midrashic influence. The Cairo Genizah contains numerous
Karaite manuscripts from Egypt and Palestine from the 11t
and 12t centuries. It is not quite clear how these fragments
ended up in the Genizah of the Rabbanite synagogue of Palestinian Jews in Fustat. It may partially be attributed to the
Crusade of 1099, which caused the destruction of the Karaite centers in Palestine and forced the survivors to join their
coreligionists in Cairo.
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modern versions
Introduction
Although the translation of the Bible was carried out already
in antiquity, in Aramaic, Greek, and Latin, it was the burgeoning Protestant Reformation, some decades after the invention
of movable type, which provided the impetus to make the
Bible the most translated book in world history. In its desire
to bypass the Catholic Churchs monopoly on the meaning of
the text, the Reformation sought to return to the source, and
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It may be helpful to visualize the broad spectrum of translation by means of a hypothetical illustration. If one imagines a
culture in which the description of a heavy rainfall, whether in
everyday language or in a recited story, translates out as the
rains fall rhinos and zebras, there are at least four possibilities that present themselves to the translator: (1) the rains are
falling like rhinos and zebras; (2) the rain is like stampeding
animals; (3) its raining cats and dogs; and (4) Its pouring outside! It will be observed that the first is rather literal,
although not totally so (like has been inserted for clarity);
the second retains the basic concept but is less language-specific; the third uses a parallel image from the target culture,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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Feminist Sensitivities of Translation. Contemporary problems for the translator concern inclusive language
that does not neglect more than half the human race. The
term inclusive language primarily refers to gender concerns; the word, however, also includes the concerns of Jews,
handicapped, and people of color. In any case, the modern
translator is seriously obliged to bring the right word into
the right place.
The Inclusive Lectionary has brought the problem of inclusive language to worship services. This lectionary is a collection of fixed readings used for services among Anglican,
Protestants, and Roman Catholics. The Inclusive Lectionary
modifies the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of Ps.23:1: God
is my shepherd God makes me lie down This avoids
the male term Lord and the pronoun he. Other examples
are realm for kingdom; Abraham and [Sarah]; God the
[Mother and] Father; a person with a disabling condition
for a cripple; the religious authorities for, when applicable,
Jews, etc. Furthermore, man is the celebrated example since
the English word is ambiguous, meaning people, a human,
and an adult male.
A major example of a translation that attempts to adjust
the biblical text to such recent concerns is New Testament
and Psalms: An Inclusive Version (1995), which is based on
New Revised Standard Version. To use its own illustrations,
not only is gender-specific language modified so that, for
instance, son becomes child, and in an extreme case, God
as Father becomes Father-Mother but whenever possible, pejorative references to disability, race, religion, etc.,
are replaced by more inclusive terms. Thus, in the New Testament, Jews are referred to as unbelievers, the Pharisees as
the authorities or the leaders, and the concept of darkness is replaced by gloom or night. In the Psalms, there
is a conscious attempt to move away from masculine designations of God (23:2, God makes me lie down in green pastures, and 8:1, O God, our Sovereign). Even the term right
hand, when it denotes power, is designated as the mighty
or powerful hand. This kind of adjustment of the text,
while jarring to some readers, is but another illustration of
the Bible-reading audiences continual need to experience the
text on their own terms.
Another recent and more modest attempt at genderneutral language is a revision of the New International Version, Todays NIV (2005); the revised edition of W. Plauts The
Torah: A Modern Commentary (2005) also makes gender-related modifications (see below).
Such an approach has, not surprisingly, spawned both
acceptance and criticism, often passionately argued. In 1997,
a group of evangelical Christian leaders, spearheaded by the
group Focus on the Family, issued the Colorado Springs
Guidelines, which sought to mitigate the use of genderneutral language in English Bible translation, feeling that it
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Translating the Name of God. A third translation problem is the rendering of the Tetragrammaton. Since the Septuagint and through the Vulgate and the KJV, overwhelmingly the
translation has been the equivalent of the Lord. Even before
the closing of the Hebrew biblical canon, the divine name was
not pronounced, out of reverence. Later in the New Testament,
there is a tendency to avoid saying the name by substituting
bible
Jewish Languages
JUDEO-PERSIAN. As *Maimonides (Iggeret Teiman) attests, a
Persian translation of the Pentateuch was in existence centuries before Muhammad. In fact, theological works of the Sassanid period (Dinkard and Shikand Gumanik Vigar) contain
biblical quotations which point to the existence of a Pahlavi
version. Nevertheless, this fact and even the reference to the
reading of the Book of Esther in the dialects of Media and
Elam (Meg. 18a) provide no firm evidence for the existence
of a complete or partial translation of the Bible into these languages. The earliest such text is a Pentateuch of 1319 written in
*Judeo-Persian, and there are also manuscripts of the Pentateuch, Psalms, and even fragments of the Apocrypha, all predating the 16t century. Their stylistic uniformity suggests that
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which was first printed (at Naples?) in 1488. Their impact has
been felt in modern translations.
Several Judeo-Romance versions of biblical books are
extant, including a 14t-century *Judeo-Provenal fragment
of the Book of Esther by Crescas du Caylar, and manuscript
translations of Song of Songs (the oldest dating from the 13t
century) and of the entire Bible written in *Judeo-Italian. Although the Old French versions have been lost, their existence
is attested by six 13t-century glossaries and two complete biblical dictionaries in *Judeo-French. There may also have been
Jewish translations of portions of the Bible in Catalan, since
(as in the case of Old French and Judeo-Provenal) biblical
glosses (*Laazim) and glossaries in this dialect have inspired
scholarly research (see below).
LADINO (JUDEO-SPANISH). Judeo-Spanish translations of
the Bible dating from the 13t to 15t centuries were among
the earliest Castilian versions of the Bible, and three manuscripts have been preserved in the Escorial Library, Madrid.
These early works were invariably written in Latin characters,
as was the famous Ferrara Bible (1553), published by Abraham *Usque, of which there were separate editions for Jews
and Christians. After the Spanish expulsion, however, Ladino
versions of the Bible were mainly printed in Hebrew characters for the use of Jewish refugees in the Sephardi Diaspora.
These translations, which were clearly distinguishable from
Spanish Christian editions, include Psalms (Constantinople,
1540), the Pentateuch (in the Polyglot Pentateuch, Constantinople, 1546), and Prophets (Salonika, 1572). Judeo-Spanish Bible translations were later produced by Manasseh Ben
Israel (1627) and Abraham b. Isaac Assa, whose complete Bible
(Constantinople, 173945) was long the most popular work of
its kind among Sephardi communities of the Orient (see also
*Ladino Literature).
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]
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tury. They include one of Judges (Mantua, 1564); one of Genesis (Venice, 1551); Moses Stendals edition of Psalms (Cracow,
before 1586); a 17t-century version of Psalms (the Teitsch-Hallel), whose author copied the verse form of contemporary German church hymnology; and Mizmor le-Todah (Amsterdam,
1644) rhymed translations of stories from the Pentateuch and
the Megillot by David b. Menahem ha-Kohen. Rhymed paraphrases of various biblical books were still popular in the 16t
and 17t centuries, the outstanding example being the Shemuel
Bukh (see above), of which there were at least seven editions
during the years 15431612. Another work of this type was a
version of the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges, written by Jacob
b. Isaac ha-Levi of Roethelsee (Kehillat Yaakov, 1692).
Later, Yiddish prose paraphrases of the Bible were much
in favor. Some notable examples were the so-called Lang Megile on Esther (Cracow, 1589); the Teutsch-Khumesh by *Isaac b.
Samson ha-Kohen of Prague (Basle, 1590), a paraphrase of the
Pentateuch with Midrashim; the Zeenah u-Reenah (Tsenerene;
cf. Song 3:11) by Jacob b. Isaac Ashkenazi (Lublin, 1616), a reworking of the Pentateuch filled with edifying and instructive
material drawn from the Talmud, the Midrash, and folklore;
and the Sefer ha-Maggid by the same author (Lublin, 1623),
an adaptation of the Prophets and Hagiographa with Rashis
commentary.
The most famous of these was Z eenah u-Reenah, which
ran to many editions and continued to serve as a second Bible
among East European Jewry during the 19t century. An extract was translated into Latin by Johann Saubert in 1661, and
the whole work into French by A. Kraehhaus in 1846. A German version (with an introduction by A. Marmorstein) was
serialized in 1911.
With the decline of Yiddish among German Jewry, from
the early 19t century onward, these Bible translations and
paraphrases were read only by the Jews of Eastern Europe
and the U.S. Mendel *Lefin (of Satanow), an early 19t-century Polish apostle of the Enlightenment, produced an excellent Yiddish version of Proverbs (Tarnopol, 1817). Bible translations of outstanding linguistic and artistic merit were later
written by two leading Yiddish poets of the 20t century I.L.
*Peretz (the Five Scrolls, 1925) and *Yehoash (pen name of S.
Bloomgarden; Yiddish Bible, 1910ff.). The latter, in particular, was considered a great masterpiece of the Yiddish language. It became a standard work for Yiddish-speaking homes
throughout the world. In 1929 Yehuda Leib (Zlotnick) *Avida
translated Ecclesiastes into Yiddish. N. Gross published fluid
versions of the Five Scrolls (1936) and the Torah (1948). See
also *Yiddish Literature.
English
EARLIEST VERSIONS. The Latin Bible, in an essentially Italian
form, first reached England in the sixth or seventh century;
however, it should be understood that until the late Middle
Ages, the Bible of the West comprised, for practical purposes, only the Gospels, Catholic (i.e., canonical) Epistles,
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the texts of both the Greek New Testament and the Latin Vulgate, printed editions of which were prepared by Erasmus. Estienne (Stephanus) in Paris also published scholarly texts. The
polyglot Bible editions made it easier to compare the ancient
versions. The new (or rediscovered) methodology of textual
criticism demonstrated the importance of basing vernacular
versions on original and not on secondary texts; Reuchlin and
Luther in Germany were pioneers of the new scholarship. A
new theology was to lead, in the reformed churches, to the
recognition that ultimate Christian authority lay in Scripture,
rather than in the tradition of the Church, and conversely,
in the Catholic Church it led to insistence by the Council of
Trent in 1546 on the authentic quality of the Latin Vulgate,
notwithstanding the possibly greater accuracy of contemporary Latin versions of the Bible. Finally, the period which
embraces the age of Shakespeare witnessed the spectacular
advance of the English language as a literary medium.
Go therefore and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what
thou shalt say. And he said: Oh my Lord, send I pray thee whom
thou wilt. And the Lord was angry with Moses and said: I know
Aaron thy brother the Levite that he can speak. And moreover
behold, he cometh out against thee, and when he seeth thee, he
will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak to him and put
the words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth and with
his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. And he shall
be thy spokesman unto the people: he shall be thy mouth, and
thou shalt be his God.
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and James I, reflected the Anglican Compromise. The Scotsman John Knox was the most prominent Briton to take refuge from the Catholic restoration of Mary, in Geneva, where
he began to study Hebrew. At the time, not only was *Calvin
himself teaching there, but French and Italian Bible-making
was also in progress. English versions of Psalms were issued
from 1557 on, corrected, and finally superseded by the complete Geneva or Breeches Bible (so-called from its rendering of Gen. 3: 7) of 1560, an elegant and powerful rendering
that retains much of Tyndales accomplishment. It was the
first English version in which the poetic sections of the Hebrew Bible fully half of the text were translated directly
from the original. Typographically, additional words which
were idiomatically essential were printed in italic type; the remainder, in roman instead of the black letter of earlier prints.
It also contained illustrations and, more importantly, helpful notes which clarify the text at many points. The influence
of David Kimh'is commentaries may be observed in the Geneva Bible, which was reprinted until 1644, in well over one
hundred editions, reflecting its hold on English hearts until
finally overtaken by KJV. It was the Bible of Shakespeare and
the Pilgrims.
The next major translation, the Bishops Bible (1568), was
fathered by Archbishop Parker, himself responsible for translating Genesis, Exodus, and some of the New Testament. It
was intended to offset the pressures of the returned exiles of
Marys reign for an English church settlement on Calvinistic
lines and the popularity of their Geneva version from which,
however, the Bishops retained some notes and renderings.
The contributors were enjoined to avoid polemical exegesis, and were directed to correct the Great Bible, following
Pagninus and Muenster for the Hebrew. This Bible was not
a great success; its importance lies in its forming the basis
of the Authorized Version of 1611, which, in the opinion of
many, would have been better served by taking the Geneva
Bible as its model.
English Catholics who fled to Flanders under Elizabeth I
produced their own New Testament at Rheims (1582), followed
by the Old Testament printed at Douai (160910). This version characterized by the outspokenly apologetic tone of its
editorial matter was naturally based on the Latin Vulgate.
THE KING JAMES, OR AUTHORIZED, VERSION, 1611. The
incomplete success of the Bishops Bible had made James I
sympathetic to pleas from scholars especially, perhaps, the
Hebraist Hugh *Broughton for a fresh translation; after its
publication in 1611, printing of the Bishops Bible was discontinued, and thus the King James version became without any
explicit declaration the Authorized Version, i.e., that appointed to be read in churches. The work of translation was
done by a team of 54, in Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge;
the 47 identified translators including most of the best English
Orientalists (although Broughton was himself too cantankerous to be included) and Greek scholars. By now there were
much-improved tools of biblical scholarship in the shape of
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(New Testament, 1923) and J.W. Powis Smith with others (Old
Testament, 1927).
ANGLO-JEWISH VERSIONS. From the early 18t century,
progressive anglicization of Jewish settlers in England and
America rendered first the Spanish, and ultimately the Yiddish, translations inadequate for educational needs. The King
James Version became current in spite of the Christianizing
tendency of some of its headlines to the Prophets. The Pentateuch with haftarot published in London by David Levi
(1787) appears to be the King James Version but without offending captions and with Jewish annotations. An earlier
Pentateuch was produced by A. Alexander in 1785. In the U.S.
Isaac *Leeser published a Pentateuch (5 vols., 1845) and subsequently a complete Old Testament in English (1853), which
incorporated matter from the Mendelssohn schools German
translation and included the Hebrew text. Leeser used the KJV
as a basis, de-Christianizing some renderings (e.g., substituting this young woman for ha-almah in Is. 7:14) and incorporating rabbinic readings of the Bible into his text via parentheses. Leesers version stood as pre-eminent in the American
Jewish community until the appearance of the Old JPS translation of 1917. C.G. *Montefiores Bible for Home Reading was
published in 1896. A. *Benisch issued a Jewish School and Family Bible (185161) and M. *Friedlaenders Jewish Family Bible
(1881) used the Authorized Version. After the Revised Version
of 1885 had appeared, the London Jewish Religious Education
Board published (1896) a pamphlet listing essential emendations to make that version acceptable for Jewish use. These
modifications were among the material utilized for the version published by the *Jewish Publication Society of America
in 1917, which also took into account 19t-century Jewish Bible
scholarship and rabbinical commentary (e.g., *Malbim); the
edition issued by a committee representative of both traditional and Reform Judaism was basically the work of Max L.
Margolis. The New Jewish Version, in the course of translation
by an American Jewish team presided over by H.M. Orlinsky,
while probably being more open than any earlier Jewish version to the findings of non-Jewish biblical scholarship, still remains tied to the Masoretic text, even though it incorporated
on its margin emendations based on evidence gathered from
ancient versions of Hebrew manuscripts. Its Pentateuch, published in 1962, has consequently met with substantial criticism
from Orthodox Jewish circles. Two traditional Pentateuchs are
the Pentateuch and Haftorahs edited by Chief Rabbi J.H. Hertz
(192936), which first used the Revised Version and later the
1917 JPS translation although it was popularly supposed that
the translations were Hertzs own and I. Levis Hirsch Pentateuch (195862), translated from the German [but see Torah
Translations by Jews below].
[Raphael Loewe / Everett Fox (2nd ed.)]
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Acceptance. The RSV was burned in fundamentalist pulpits and the RSV committee was accused of being in league
with the devil, especially because of their translating Isa. 7:14
as young woman. The Christian Reformed Church rejected
the RSV for pulpit use in 1954. The New International Version
[NIV] evangelicals felt that all the messianic prophecies were
taken out of the RSV Old Testament.
Despite all the uproar, in the first year, the RSV sold 2 million copies. Until the appearance of the NRSV, it enjoyed wide
use on college campuses, especially in study editions such as
the Oxford Annotated Bible.
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New World Translation [= NWT] (1961). History. This translation is the work of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society,
by a group of scholars who wish to remain anonymous even
after death. They published the New Testament (1950), the
Old Testament (1961), and revisions (19701971).
Principles and Representative Examples. The most obvious characteristic of this translation is the representation of
the divine name as Jehovah. A feature of this translation is
the frequent use of capitals for the plural YOU, and for the
plural imperative. Since the English you is ambiguous as to
singular and plural, the meaning often suffers. One example
from the NWT is Hosea 2:1 [Masoretic Text 2:3]: say to your
brothers, My people! and to your sisters, O woman shown
mercy!
Another venturesome point in the NWT is that the translators use the term Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures (instead
of the deprecating Old Testament), and for New Testament they use Christian Greek Scriptures. This is not,
however, done in response to sensitivities of Jews, but
rather because Witness theology denies that these are covenants.
The translation style is wooden: Ex. 20:3: You must not
have any other gods against my face. Gen. 17:4: You will certainly become father of a crowd of nations. Another notable
feature is the translations considerable use of the auxiliary
verbs proceeded to, proved to be, went on to, and began at the beginning of verses, where the Hebrew uses the
narrative imperfect with consecutive vav.
Acceptance. Being an extremely biased denominational
version, this translation is suitable only for the Jehovahs Witnesses, and even they often avoid it. According to the Bible
Scholar H.H. Rowley, this version is an example of how not
to translate. Nevertheless, several million copies have been
printed.
Anchor Bible [= Anchor] (1964 ). History. The Anchor
Bible was originally intended to be an ecumenical translation
of the whole Bible, to be completed in 1970. Under the general
editorship of D. Freedman, however, the series has become a
scholarly project in which the individual volumes have come
to serve as the standard works for study and reference in the
field. Each is accompanied by extensive, often exhaustive, introduction, commentary, notes, and bibliography. The Anchor
Bible and other sets of commentaries like the Hermeneia Series
and Word Biblical Commentary have new translations that are
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not subject to the demands of a denomination which authorizes translations. They are translations by individuals not
by committee and customarily have a freshness and creativity about them.
Principles and Representative Examples. The principles
of translation are as different as the different authors, although
the first workers for the Anchor Bible were students of William Foxwell Albrights methodology.
Acceptance. The Anchor Bible volumes are used primarily for study, and thus do not figure in wide public usage such
as in congregations. At the same time, they are laboratories
for future translations. For the Anchor Bible of the Psalms, E.
Speisers Genesis volume was a fresh approach, strongly influencing the NJV even though it officially appeared after that
work. Mitchell Dahood, the author of the Psalms volume,
emended extensively, relying on the use of other Semitic languages, especially Ugaritic, for elucidating the Hebrew. W.
Propp, in the Exodus 118 volume, created a translation that
experimentally sought to reflect the stylistic characteristics of
the Hebrew text more closely than many of the other contributions to the series.
Jerusalem Koren Edition (1964). History. Koren Publishing
published the first Hebrew biblical text edited, typeset, and
printed in the State of Israel (1962). The Koren text was published with an English text on facing pages (1964) and called
The Jerusalem Koren Bible. (This should not be confused
with the The Jerusalem Bible [= JB] (1966) and The New Jerusalem Bible [= NJB] (1985).) The presidents of the State of Israel
are sworn in on this Bible.
Principles and Representative Examples. The English
text is based on the Jewish Family Bible, a translation by Michael Friedlander (1881, 1884, repr. 1953) and edited by Harold Fisch (1964). Salient is its transliteration of Hebrew names
such as Iyyov for Job. The Hebrew accents and vowels have
been rectified. The Qere is vocalized in the margin, leaving
the Ketiv unvocalized in the text. The English text is a formal
equivalent translation in line with KJV but follows the paragraphing of the Hebrew text.
Acceptance. With the publication of New Jewish Publication Version [NJV] from the years 19621982 and its one
volume edition (1985), the Koren edition does not have wide
circulation.
Jerusalem Bible [= JB] (1966) and New Jerusalem Bible [= NJB]
(1985). History. The JB is the first complete Catholic Bible
translated into English from the original languages; previously, Catholic translators had relied on the Vulgate. JBs history begins at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, which in 1949
was entrusted with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Under the leadership of Pre Roland de Vaux in the 1940s and 1950s, the Ecole
Biblique published 43 individual fascicles of the books of the
Bible (19481954), commentaries not entirely unlike the Anchor Bible, World Biblical Commentary, and Hermeneia, mentioned above.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
The JB (1966) is a derivative of the one-volume abridgment of these French fascicles, La Sainte Bible de Jrusalem
(1956). The English JB was translated by Alexander Jones of
Christs College, Liverpool, and 27 principal collaborators. It is
a clear departure from the KJV and the Douay-Rheims-Challoner. The JB translation often verges upon a translation of a
translation and this French connection is often evident in its
choice of words. JBs scholarship benefits from the card catalog of the Ecole Biblique library, which lists every biblical article of the century according to verses treated. The footnotes,
marginal notes, introductions, chronological tables, calendar,
table of weights and measures, index of biblical themes handled in the notes, and maps, all make this both a study Bible
and a translation with commentary. The notes reflect the best
Catholic scholarship of its time. The JB weighs in just under
five pounds, with some 2,062 pages.
The NJB (1985), edited by H. Wansbrough, corrected
shortcomings of the JB. The NJB looked more closely at the
original languages, reduced the number of Britishisms, depended on newer scholarship both for translation and footnotes, and generally became more readable.
Principles and Representative Examples. This dynamic
equivalent translation is idiosyncratic for its use of Yahweh,
the Tetragrammaton. The decision to translate the unpronounced name of the Lord is described in the introduction:
It is not without hesitation that this accurate form has been
used, and no doubt those who may care to use this translation of the Psalms can substitute the traditional the Lord.
Scholarship prevailed over Catholic theology. Many renderings were true to scholarship: Job 19:25: This I know: that my
Avenger lives, and he, the Last, will take his stand on earth,
for the KJV: For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he
shall at the latter day upon the earth. (NJB has I know that I
have a living Defender and that he will rise up last, on the dust
of the earth.) The scholars often go to the Greek Septuagint
while the NJV stays more closely to the Hebrew, often rearranges verses, and proposes conjectures (e.g., Isa. 53).
Acceptance. In 1966 nearly a million copies had been
sold by Doubleday. The expense of the NJB, however, has not
made it a best seller. Moreover, many comparable scholarly
translations, such as NAB, RSV, NJB, REB, and NJV have not
become commercial successes. All of these collectively are
guessed to be less than 10 percent of the American market.
New American Bible [= NAB] (1970). History. The NAB is the
first American Roman Catholic translation from the original
languages. Originally, the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine
[= CCD] asked the members of the Catholic Biblical Association to translate the Vulgate. This was to be a revision of the
Douay-Rheims-Challoner English Version, which itself was
a translation of the Latin Vulgate. The New Testament (1941)
was translated first.
As a consequence, however, of Pius XIIs liberating encyclical, Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943), Roman Catholics were
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rick. Finally, after 24 years, the Old Testament and the Apocrypha were published (1970), along with a second edition of
the New Testament containing 400 minor revisions. A further
update of both testaments was published as the REB (1989), a
major revision done under the direction of W.D. McHardy.
The NEB is a new translation and has departed from the
Tyndale-King James tradition. With modernity of speech, with
new meanings for words, with translating sense for sense
not word for word, with a boldness for emendation often
the easiest way out of a textual difficulty and with a strong
dependence on the versions, English Christians have truly
abandoned the KJV.
Principles and Representative Examples. The NEB has
made wide use of the versions and comparative Semitics, especially the use of Arabic for coming up with new meanings
for the Hebrew (e.g., 2 Chr. 34:6: he burnt down in both NEB
and REB; Num. 16:1: challenged the authority in both NEB
and REB). Often, these new meanings are proposed to scholars
for the first time in the NEB. Furthermore, the NEB has about
50 readings in Isaiah derived from the Dead Sea Scrolls. This
boldness with the Dead Sea Scrolls is matched with a timidity in the use of Ugaritic.
Some renderings in the NEB engage the reader with its
modernity. Ruth 1:1: Long ago in the time of the Judges;
Ruth 2:1: Boaz is a well-to-do-man. Some scatological Driverisms have made NEB famous or infamous. The most well
known concerns Achsah in Judges 1:14: broke wind, is now
changed in REB she dismounted from her donkey.
Some innovative characteristics of the NEB were not carried through to the REB: the single column page of NEB was
replaced in REB with the traditional double column page, thus
saving paper; NEBs three levels of indentation, reflecting the
number of stressed syllables in Hebrew poetry, were not employed by REB; the marginal verse numbers of the NEB are put
back inside the text of REB; the omission in NEB of the traditional superscriptions from the Psalter are restored in REB; the
Hebrew selah in the Psalms, omitted by NEB, has been restored
in the REB; the hybrid word Jehovah was used four times
for Lord (Ex. 3:15; 6:3; 33:19; 34:56) in NEB and now in REB
all are rendered Lord; some of the transpositions of verses
in the NEB are returned to their original Masoretic Hebrew
order in the REB (e.g., Job 14:2122; Isa. 5:2425, etc.); some
NEB Britishisms were changed in the REB: gaoler in Isa. 10:4
to prisoners; corn to grain in Judg. 15:5.
In response to a period of radical change of language
used in the churches, this Bible for the 1990s has abandoned
the thou form of address for God. In addition, O as a form
of address is mostly abandoned in REB. Numerous topical subheadings have been added in REB. The REB has also begun to
use more inclusive language, especially where men applies
to both genders. Ps. 8:4 in the NEB: What is man that thou
shouldst remember him? becomes in the REB: What is a frail
mortal, that you should be mindful of him? Male references
to the deity are retained, as are the metaphorical king and
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its few words well, the translation accords with this purpose.
New Testament Greek was koine Greek as TEV is koine English. [Koine means common, not the classical Greek].
To this end, the translators took advantage of word-frequency lists, such as that used by the United States Information Agency in its program for editing books into Easy
English. Technical terms for the biblical institutions were
maintained, such as, unleavened bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles, etc., but council was used for Sanhedrin, and teachers of the Law for scribes. In addition, there is a word list
in the back of the TEV with definitions of unfamiliar words,
e.g., Abib, Abyss, Acacia, etc.
Acceptance. As people are becoming more aware of the
value of dynamic translation, the TEV is becoming more acceptable. J.B. Phillips, the translator of the Phillips New Testament, favorably describes the translation of New Testament as
ordinary workaday English. If the style is rather of the plain
Jane variety, well so long as Jane does her work and speaks
the truth, whats wrong with her? Catholics have been encouraged to use an approved (i.e., with an imprimatur) edition of the TEV that includes the deuterocanonical/apocrypha. The sales of the TEV are extremely numerous, usually
sold at prices subsidized by the United Bible Society and the
American Bible Society. In total, the United Bible Societies in
1981 distributed some 500,000,000 Bibles or parts of Bibles
throughout the world.
New International Version [= NIV] (1978). History. The NIV
is the Evangelical Christians answer to their dissatisfaction
with the RSV. The 1954 Evangelical Synod advised its consistories that in a number of passages the RSV did not do justice
to the unity of Scriptures, the deity of Christ, and messianic
prophecy. Therefore, the RSV was unapproved for public worship. After much labor and expense, Zondervan published
the NIV New Testament (1973) and completed the Old Testament (1978).
The New International Version was to be an international
version avoiding Britishisms and Americanisms a language
that all understand and no one speaks. The work was sponsored by the New York International Bible Society and done by
scholars of 34 different religious groups, working in 20 teams.
This was the largest committee ever to work on a translation.
The actual work of translation took some 11 years.
Thirteen denominations were represented; 87 of the 97
scholars were Americans; and seven were from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois. The whole project took 25
years, 200,000 hours of work, and $2,000,000. It is estimated
that 170 man-hours were invested in translating each chapter of the Bible.
To control the total 115 scholars involved an elaborate system of committees was formed: (1) the first draft to be done
by two co-translators, two consultants, and an English stylist; (2) an Intermediate Editorial Committee composed of five
scholars concerned mainly with exegetical matters; (3) General editorial committees, which included seven scholars to
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(2003). The NJV is also the one most frequently quoted in the
works of Jewish Bible scholars in English.
Principles and Representative Examples. There is a
plethora of English renderings which are deliberately not literal translations of the Hebrew. The Hebrew word five is rendered several and a few; the Hebrew ten is also translated
dynamically as many. Footnotes note the literal Hebrew. The
Hebrew torah is translated: teachings, instructions, ritual,
directions, procedure, obligation, and law (Ex. 12:49).
Ark of the Pact is used for ark of the testimony. The Hebrew conjunctive, vav, often slavishly and in other English
Versions, is rendered when or so or then or thus or
although or but or yet or and or left untranslated. The
Hebrew mishpat has a variety of meanings: norm, rights,
regulation, due, decision, true way, and custom. The
Hebrew z edek is rendered grace, victory, vindication. Ex.
10:19 has Sea of Reeds. Some Hebrew words are left transliterated: ephod, and Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh in Ex. 3:14.
The 54 parashiyyot (sections of the Pentateuch) are given
with the Hebrew names written in Hebrew. In line with the
Vulgate, KJV, RSV, the NJV employs the LORD to indicate
the personal name of Israels God. In Ex. 6:3, however, where
specific mention is made of the name, the four Hebrew letters, known as the Tetragrammaton, appear in the English text
in Hebrew characters. Deut. 6:4: Hear, O Israel! The Lord is
our God, the Lord alone, since monotheism was the issue in
a polytheistic society. Isa. 1:8: for the traditional daughter of
Zion, NJV has fair Zion.
The footnotes present consistent and reliable information
and an illustrative example is offered by the first verses of the
Tanakh: The NJV is the first official (i.e., denominationally approved) translation to read: When God began to create and
a wind from God instead of In the beginning the Spirit
of God The footnotes to this verse are instructive: When
God began to createa the heaven and the earth the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the
deep and a wind fromb God sweeping over the water God
said, Let there be light; and there was light.
Footnote (a) Or In the beginning God created [Or is
defined: Indicates an alternative reading that the committee
found almost as acceptable as the one adopted for the text.]
Footnote (b) Others the spirit of [Others is defined:
Indicates a well-known traditional translation, especially if
it was used in the older (1917) JPS version that the committee
does not find acceptable even as an alternative reading.]
The footnotes also present renderings from the Dead Sea
manuscripts, propose emendations and transpositions in difficult passages (especially in the poetic books), and, unlike
most translations, frequently use the intellectually honest term
meaning of Heb. uncertain. In this, the NJV reflects Jewish
tradition, with its strong sense of multiple interpretive possibilities and openness to ambiguity. Orlinsky discusses the
translation choices in NJV at length in his illuminating Notes
on the New Translation of the Torah.
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side and the other on the other side; so his hands remained
an expression of trust until the sun went down. Hirsch reads
emunah not as the customary etymology would have it, firm,
but rather theologically, an expression of trust.
The Chumash (ArtScroll Series: The Stone Edition; ed.
Nosson Scherman) (1993); incorporated in Tanach (The Stone
Edition) (1996, includes Hebrew), like the previous two works,
translates with an eye to rabbinic understandings of the text
and incorporates these into the translation when it feels them
to be warranted. Strikingly, the English text is printed entirely
in italics. The translation is part of ArtScrolls program of presenting classical Jewish texts in English and Hebrew, accompanied by traditionally-based commentaries.
Example A: Deut. 6:5, You shall love HASHEM, your
God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
resources. The choice of resources reflects the understanding of meod found in Targum Onkelos, Sifre (Deut. 32), and
M. Ber. 9:5.
Example B: Lev. 20:27, Any man or woman in whom
there shall be the sorcery of Ov or of Yidoni, they shall be
put to death. The reader is directed to a note that reads in
part, Ov and Yidoni were magical means of foretelling
the future, differing somewhat from modern scholarly interpretation, which understands them as related to departed
spirits.
Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses (The Schocken Bible,
Vol. 1) (1995; rev. 1997, no Hebrew), following in the footsteps
of the German Buber-Rosenzweig translation (q.v.), seeks to
echo rhythms and literary devices of the Hebrew text. While
not as radical as the German work, given the less malleable
nature of English, it is designed, like its predecessor, to be read
aloud and to give the English reader an aural feel for the Hebrew text. Thus it is printed in a form resembling free verse,
names retain their Hebrew forms, as in Hirsch, and the principle of leading words (Buber) theme words in the text is
reflected in English. Foxs line divisions do not strictly follow
the traditional teamim, but they often correspond to them.
The text is accompanied by commentary on thematic issues,
and notes on specific words. Previous versions of his Genesis
appeared in 1972 and 1983; of Exodus, in 1986.
Example A: Ex. 2:10, She called his name: Moshe/HeWho-Pulls-Out; / she said: For out of the water meshitihu/Ipulled-him. The translation, using the Hebrew form of Mosess name and the Hebrew phrase attached to it by Pharaohs
daughter, points to the grammatical significance of the form
Moshe (in hiphil) as an active foreshadowing of Mosess future role.
Example B: Gen. 6:11, 13, Now the earth had gone to
ruin before God, the earth was filled with wrongdoing. / God
saw the earth, and here, it had gone to ruin, / for all flesh had
ruined its way upon the earth. / here, I am about to bring
ruin upon them, together with the earth. The repetition of key
word ruin, representing the Hebrew root sh-h-t, appears to
be used by the text to express the biblical concept of the punishment corresponding to the crime.
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KAPLAN [Jacob] said [to himself], I will win him over with
the gifts that are being sent ahead, and then I will face
him. Hopefully, he will forgive me.
HIRSCH For he thought: I will first appease his anger with the
gift that goes before me and then I will
HIRSCHLER see his countenance; perhaps he will raise my
countenance.
ARTSCROLL For he said, I will appease him with the tribute
that precedes me, and afterwards I will face him;
STONE (SCHERMAN) perhaps he will forgive me.
FOX For he said to himself: / I will wipe (the anger from) his
face / with the gift that goes ahead of my face; / afterward,
when I see his face, / perhaps he will lift up my face!
FRIEDMAN Because he said, Let me appease his face with the
offering thats going in front of me, and after that Ill see
his face; maybe hell raise my face.
ALTER For he thought, Let me placate him with the tribute
that goes before me, and after I shall look on his face, perhaps he will show me a kindly face.
NJV For he reasoned, If I propitiate him with presents in advance, and then face him, perhaps he will show me favor.
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NJV Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is
a Sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any
work.
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Verse 2
KJV He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth
me beside the still waters.
NAB In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you
lead me;
NIV He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
NJB In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he
leads me
NRSV He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me
beside still waters;
REB He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me to
water where I may rest;
CEV You let me rest in fields of green grass. You lead me to
streams of peaceful water,
Stone In lush meadows He lays me down, beside tranquil
waters He leads me.
NJV He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me to
water in places of repose.
Verse 3
KJV He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake.
NAB you restore my strength. You guide me along the right
path for the sake of your name.
NIV he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his names sake.
NJB to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.
NRSV he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his
names sake.
REB he revives my spirit; for his names sake he guides me in
the right paths.
CEV and you refresh my life. You are true to your name, and
you lead me along the right paths.
Stone He restores my soul. He leads me on paths of righteousness for His Name sake.
NJV He renews my life; He guides me in right paths as befits
His name.
Verse 4
KJV Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and
thy staff they comfort me.
NAB Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for
you are at my side; your rod and staff give me comfort.
NIV Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod
and your staff, they comfort me.
NJB Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should
fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your
crook are there to soothe me.
NRSV Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no
evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they
comfort me.
REB Even were I to walk through a valley of deepest darkness I
should fear no harm, for you are with me; your shepherds
staff and crook afford me comfort.
CEV I may walk through valleys dark as death, but I wont be
afraid. You are with me, and your shepherds rod makes
me feel safe.
Stone Though I walk in the valley overshadowed by death, I
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will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and your
staff, they comfort me.
NJV Though I walk through a valley of deepest darkness, I fear
no harm, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff
they comfort me.
Verse 5
KJV Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
NAB You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint
my head with oil; my cup overflows.
NIV You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
NJB You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.
NRSV You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
REB You spread a table for me in the presence of my enemies;
you have richly anointed my head with oil, and my cup
brims over.
CEV You treat me to a feast, while my enemies watch. You
honor me as your guest, and you fill my cup until it overflows.
Stone You prepare a table before me in view of my tormentors.
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
NJV You spread a table for me in full view of my enemies; You
anoint my head with oil; my drink is abundant.
Verse 6
KJV Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for
ever.
NAB Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of
my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years
to come.
NIV Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my
life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
NJB Kindness and faithful love pursue me all the days of my
life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time
to come.
NRSV Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my
whole life long.
REB Goodness and love unfailing will follow me all the days
of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
throughout the years to come.
CEV Your kindness and love will always be with me each day of
my life, and I will live forever in your house, LORD.
Stone May only goodness and kindness pursue m all the days
of my life, and I shall dwell in the House of HASHEM for
long days.
NJV Only goodness and steadfast love shall pursue me all the
days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for many long years.
That the different approaches represented by these translations and here we are only dealing with English! cannot be fully bridged by one definitive work is a testimony
to both the richness of the biblical text and its greatly varied
post-canonical life. This must lead to the recognition that
many translated versions of the Bible are possible and even
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Arabic
Catholic and Protestant Arabic Bibles were, until the second
part of the 19t century, based on the 1671 edition of the (Vatican) Congregation of Propagation of the Faith when three
new versions appeared. The American Protestant missionaries in Beirut published in 1864 a translation in modern Arabic, which was started by Eli Smith and finished by C.V.A.
van Dyck, with the help of Arab scholars, especially Sheik
Nasif el-Yzij. This version was reprinted in 1869 and became
known as the Oxford Arabic Bible. The Dominicans of Mosul
published a four volume Bible based on C.J. Davids version
(187478). About the same time (187680) the Jesuits in Beirut
published a translation in classical Arabic, in three volumes.
The Arabic Bibles in circulation among Christians are based
on those versions, although other missionary work has produced more modern renditions (e.g., the Book of Life of 1982/
1988, in modern Arabic, and a version published in 2003).
Catalan
A Catalan Bible, probably based on a French prototype, was
prepared in 128191 at the request of Alfonso III of Aragon,
but this has not been preserved and perhaps remained unfinished. Various Catalan translations Psalms (14t15t centuries), part of Genesis (14t century), a complete Bible by Sabruguera (14t century), and other 15t-century Bibles were
made from the Vulgate using the French and Provenal versions. Sabrugueras Bible was revised by Jaime Borrell and
by Bonifacio Ferrer (c. 1400), the printed edition of 147778
reproducing the work of the latter, which was destroyed by
the Inquisition. During the 16t century, some biblical books
were translated from the original Hebrew. In 1832 a complete
Catalan Bible was made by the Protestant scholar J.M. Prat
(published by the British and Foreign Bible Society). Various
Catholic translations appeared in the 20t century, including
those by Clascar (1915), the monks of Montserrat (1926), and
the Catalan Biblical Foundation (192848).
Danish
Although Hans Tausens Pentateuch (Magdeburg, 1535) is
thought to have been only part of a complete Danish translation of the Bible, the earliest surviving complete edition the
so-called Christian III Bible (1550; 1950) was a reworking by
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Christiern Pedersen of Luthers German Bible. Like its prototype, the latter was written in an extraordinary pithy style and
had a significant impact on the Danish language. It was later
revised as the Frederick II Bible (158889) and the Christian
IV Bible (163233). Meanwhile, the need for a translation from
the original languages had been recognized, and in 1607 Professor (later Bishop) H.P. Resen published an edition of the
Bible that was linguistically distinct from its predecessors. Revised by Professor (later Bishop) Hans Savning in 1647, this
remained until modern times the authorized Danish version
of the Bible. There were also innumerable translations of separate portions of the Bible; and various private biblical projects, two of which were a translation by C.A.H. Kalkar (1847),
who was a Jew by birth, and a more significant version by the
Orientalist and theologian J.C. Lindberg (183754). The first
Danish Bible to take cognizance of modern biblical criticism
was that produced by Frants Buhl and his associates in 1910;
this was in part the basis for a new translation, directed by
Bishop Goetzsche, of which the Old Testament appeared in
1931. Another new version of the Old Testament in Danish appeared in 1931, and Catholic Bibles based on the Vulgate were
published in 1893 and 1931. The most recent version, produced
by the Danish Bible Society, appeared in 1992. Another, ongoing project is a scholarly secular translation of the Hebrew
Bible, begun in 1998, which treats the text as a product of the
ancient Near East and eschews the centuries of interpretation
based on Western (mostly Christian) religious traditions. It
uses Hebrew names for biblical figures, as well as for books
(e.g., When God Began for Genesis), and retains the Jewish
ordering of biblical books. There have also been some Danish
translations under Jewish auspices, notably the Pentateuch of
Chief Rabbi A.A. *Wolff (1891), published with the Hebrew
text. A new edition, revised by the Jewish education authorities and to which the haftarot were added, appeared in 1894.
Chief Rabbi Friediger also published Esther with a Danish
translation in 1924.
Dutch
There were several medieval Dutch versions of biblical books,
but the first Dutch Bible the complete Bible except for the
Psalms dates from a Flemish work (c. 1300) and was a translation from the Vulgate (published Delft, 1477). A Dutch version of Psalms, produced by another translator, was frequently
reprinted from 1480 onward. Later, there was a Dutch translation of Luthers Bible (Antwerp, 1526), and an Old Testament based on Luther and the Delft Bible appeared in 1525.
Claes (Nicholas) van Winghes Dutch Catholic Louvain Bible
(1548) underwent many revisions and remained in use well
into the 19t century. The Dutch Protestants Reformed, Lutheran, and Mennonite all pursued their own adaptations of
the Bible, but the first editions based on the original Hebrew
appeared only in 1614 and 1623. Early in the 17t century the
Dutch States-General commissioned the famous Statenbijbel
(Leyden, 163637), the text of which was later published in the
German Biblia Pentapla; frequently revised, it remained in use
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and Fleischuetz (1778) also referring occasionally to the original Hebrew. Another Catholic Bible appeared anonymously
at Vienna in 1794. Heinrich Brauns version (17881805) provided the basis for the widely distributed edition of J.F. von
Allioli (183037), which was revised by Arndt and furnished
with notes indicating textual divergences between the Vulgate
and the original (189899). C.M. Brentano made a translation
from the original text (1797), and Jaeck, one from the Vulgate
(1847), while Leander van Esss Bible (1822; 195055) and that
of V. Loch and W. Reischl (1851) enjoyed the success of Alliolis
earlier translation. Modern Catholic editions include those of
Nivard Schloegl (1920), which was the first critical edition under Catholic auspices. F. Feldmann and H. Herkenne (1923), J.
Nikel (191133), P. Riessler (1924), and Pius Parsch (1952).
A work of special interest was the so-called Biblia Pentapla of 171012 (3 vols.), which compared the texts of Martin
Luther, Caspar Ulenberg, and Johannes Piscator, the two remaining columns containing Joseph Witzenhausens JudeoGerman version and the Dutch Statenbijbel version. A parallel
Bible of 188788 contained Luthers text together with a literal
translation in modern German.
A translation that has seen widespread use is the Einheitsuebersetzung of 1980 (rev. 1994), which combines the work of
Catholic and evangelical translators.
JEWISH BIBLES IN GERMAN. The first Jew to translate the
Bible into High German was Moses Mendelssohn, whose work
was fiercely attacked by the rigidly Orthodox (notably Ezekiel
Landau and Phinehas Horowitz of Frankfurt) and repeatedly
placed under a ban. Mendelssohns closest collaborators were
Solomon Dubno, Hartwig Wessely, Naphtali Herz Homberg,
and Aaron Jaroslaw. The translation, printed in Hebrew characters, appeared under the title Netivot ha-Shalom, together
with the original Hebrew and a commentary, designated Beur
(Biur). Mendelssohn himself translated the Pentateuch (1783),
Psalms (178591), Ecclesiastes (1770), and Song of Songs (1788;
ed. J. Loewe and A. Wolfsohn), and he also prepared a version of the Song of Deborah. The project was completed by
his collaborators and successors, the Biurists. Translations of
separate portions of the Bible were supplied by various scholars. A complete edition of the Minor Prophets, prepared by
Moses Philippson (Arnswalde), Josef Wolf, Gotthold Salomon (S. Lipman), Israel Neumann, and Joel Loewe, appeared
as Minh ah H adashah (1805) and reappeared in Moses Israel
Landaus edition of the complete Bible (183337). Aside from
what Mendelssohn had himself prepared, the translation of
the remaining biblical books was the work of M.J. Landau,
Josef Weisse, Salomon Sachs, Wolf Mayer, Abraham Benisch,
and Marcus Goldmann. Mendelssohns Bible translation also
appeared in German orthography (Genesis, 1780; Pentateuch,
1815). In contrast to Luther, who based his rendering of Gods
name, der Herr, on the Greek kyrios of the Septuagint and the
Latin dominus of the Vulgate, Mendelssohn used der Ewige
(The Eternal), a term which was accepted by Germanspeaking Jews. Mendelssohns work was a landmark for his
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influenced Bible versions in other languages, as well as contemporary (non-Jewish) German readers.
See also *German Literature.
Hungarian
In the 15t century the Hussite movement assailed the Latinity of the Church. Behind the heresy lay, among other social
aims, the wish to make the Bible available to the masses, so
that people might know the world of the Bible even in the oppressive reality of feudalism, and so become acquainted with
the admonitions of the biblical prophets. The oldest Hungarian
Hussite Bible translations are preserved in the late 15t-century
Vienna codex (Ruth, Esther, Minor Prophets) and the Apor
Codex (Psalms). The Codex of Dobrente contains the translations of the Song of Songs and Job (1508). The first Catholic Pentateuch survives in the Jordanszky Codex (151619).
The Hungarian reformers translated the Bible in the spirit of
Erasmus and also emphasized its social message. Unlike the
Catholics, who adhered to the Vulgate, Protestant scholars referred to the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Gspr Heltai
and four Protestant colleagues translated the entire Bible, but
several books of the Hagiographa did not appear in this edition (Kolozsvar, 155265). The first complete, and most readable, Bible translation was that of Gspr Krolyi, a Calvinist
preacher (Vizsoly, 1590); revised by Albert Szenczi Molnr
(1608), it became the official text of the Hungarian Protestant Church and was the basis of a modern (London) Bible
Society version.
The Reformation enhanced the ecclesiastical importance of the Psalms, most translations of which were, however, merely paraphrases. Christian terminology and political
references were inserted into the text, to the detriment of the
original. The first renderings were those of Sztray (1575), a
more poetical version being that of Balint Balassa (155494).
Accumulated accretions were eliminated by Mikls Bogti
Fazekas, a Unitarian preacher, in his unpublished versified
translation of Psalms (1587). Protestant translations of Samuel, Kings, and Job were produced by Peter Melius Juhsz in
156567.
The Bible translations of the 15t and 16t centuries were
stimulated by social motives, while in the 17t century religious concern proved to be the creative force. The greatest
accomplishment of Hungarian Protestantism at the time was
the Psalterium Ungaricum of A. Molnr (Hanau, 1608). This
was the first complete Hungarian translation of the Psalms in
verse, running to more than 100 editions and it is still extant.
It endured because of the beauty of its style and because of
its faithfulness to the original text. Simon Pchi, the most renowned member of the Hungarian Szombatos (Sabbatarian)
sect, who had a good command of the Hebrew language, interpreted the biblical text and his translation adhered strictly
to the original (162429). The first complete Hungarian Catholic Bible was published by the Jesuit Gyrgy Kldi (Vienna,
1626). Toward the end of the 17t century a new Protestant
Bible translation was prepared by Gyrgy Csipks of Komorn
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Slavonic
BULGARIAN. Translations of the Bible that have been preserved among the Bulgarians are almost exclusively written in
Old Church Slavonic. The revival of the old Bulgarian literary
and ecclesiastical tradition had its origin in 16t-century Russia. Two modern Bulgarian Bibles are those of P.R. Slaveykov
(Constantinople, 186064) and of the Orthodox synod (1925).
By 1912, a complete Protestant Bible was published (in Constantinople); revisions followed in 1921 and 1924. Despite the
strictures of Communist rule, several Bulgarian translations
published abroad in the 1950s and 1960s found their way into
the country. In 1995, a new Orthodox translation appeared;
three new Protestant revisions were published in 20001.
CHURCH SLAVONIC. The oldest Slavonic version of the Bible
is that of the missionary monks Cyril and Methodius (ninth
century C.E.). Cyril, who first acquired a knowledge of Hebrew on a journey to the *Khazar kingdom, borrowed some
Hebrew characters for the Slavic alphabet which he invented
(see *Bulgarian Literature), and it is thus reasonable to suppose that he was familiar with the original Hebrew text of the
Old Testament. It was probably toward the middle of the ninth
century that the entire Book of Psalms and liturgical extracts
from other biblical books (mainly the Pentateuch, Job, and the
Prophets) were translated into Old Moravian, almost certainly
with the assistance of Cyril. Presumably these Scriptural portions were first rendered into the Old Moravian tongue and
only then into Old Bulgarian (Church Slavonic). According
to some accounts, the work of Cyril (d. 869) was completed
by his brother, Methodius (d. 885). Although neither the text
nor the language of these translations has survived, it may be
assumed that they were written in Moravian-Bulgarian. The
historical influence and dissemination of the so-called CyrilMethodius translation among the Slavic peoples passed from
the Moravians to the Bulgarians, Serbs, and Poles, and then
to the Russians. The Old Bulgarian biblical and liturgical texts
reached the Russian Slavs in the second half of the ninth century C.E. the era of Christianitys spread to the Kiev region.
A manuscript Bible in Church Slavonic, dated 1499 and named
after Archbishop Gennadi of Novgorod, is extant; revised editions of this translation appeared in 1581, 1663, and 1751.
CZECH AND SLOVAK. The earliest known translations of
isolated biblical books into Czech probably date from the 13t
century, but it was only in the 15t century, under the impact of
the Hussite movement, that the entire Bible was first translated
into Czech. John Huss revised and modernized earlier Czech
versions at the beginning of the 15t century. The first Czech
printed edition (1475) was based on the Vulgate. An impressive
Czech version of the Scriptures, based on the original Hebrew
and Greek texts, was Jan Blahoslavs Kralice Bible (157993).
Another classic Czech translation was the Catholic Bible edited by Durich and Prochaska at the request of Empress Maria
Theresa (1778). Other Czech versions include the Jesuit Wenceslas Bible (16771715) and that of Skora, which was revised
by Hejl and, in 1947, by Col and Josef Heger (192548), the
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Song of Songs, and Daniel by Christian Leonhardi Georg Dumisch (Loebau, 1719). A complete Bible by Johann Lange, Matthaeus Jockisch, and Johann Boehmer (Bautzen, 172728) was
prefaced by an introduction in German. The Catholic Wends
have no printed versions of the Bible apart from an edition of
Psalms translated from the Hebrew by Johann Lara (1872).
See also *Yugoslav Literature.
Spanish
Translations of the bible into Spanish were undertaken in the
13t century, Jews and Christians collaborating in versions
antedating 1250. Since the Old Testament translations were
based on the original Hebrew rather than on the Vulgate (and
perhaps also because of the interreligious scholarly activities),
Juan I of Aragon prohibited further Bible translations in 1233,
suspecting them of heretical tendencies. However, the more
tolerant Alfonso the Wise (Alfonso X of Castile and Leon) encouraged the translation of the Bible into Spanish, but only
parts of this version have been preserved. Numerous Bible
manuscripts dating from the 14t century onward are extant,
and these Spanish versions some based on the Vulgate, others on the original Hebrew were the work of Jews or Jewish apostates. The most important of these was the Alba Bible
(142233), which Moses *Arragel produced at the command of
Don Luis de Guzmn, Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava;
an edition of this Bible appeared in Madrid in 192022. During
the 16t18t centuries, Spanish Catholic scholars only translated the Psalms, the biblical songs, and the wisdom books,
although Fray Luis de Len wrote a version of Song of Songs
(c. 1561; printed, Madrid, 1798) based on the original Hebrew.
Two Protestant translations of the complete Bible (based on
the Hebrew text) were Cassiodoro de Reinas (Basle, 156769)
and an edition by Cipriano de Valera (Amsterdam, 1602).
Later Catholic Bibles by Felipe Scio de San Miguel (Valencia,
179093) and Felix Torres Amat (182325) appeared, as well
as translations of separate biblical books by Garcia, Carvajal, and other scholars. The last great Jewish Bible project in
Spanish, Abraham Usques Ferrara edition of 1553, was based
on Arragels 15t-century version and is thought to have inspired translators in Christian Spain. Two modern Spanish
Bibles have been produced by E. Ncar Fuster and C.E. Colunga (1944; 19599) and J.M. Bover and F. Cantera Burgos (2
vols., 1947). In 1960 a revision of the classic Reina-Valera version in simple language appeared; it was updated in 1995. The
year1985 saw a translation along the lines of TEV, Dios habla
hoy (Version Popular). As elsewhere over the last two decades,
evangelical-inspired translations have been published in Spanish, notably Nueva Versin Internacional (1999, following the
method of NIV, but from the original languages), La Biblia
de las Amricas (1986/1997), and the World Bible Translation
Centers La Palabra de Dios para Todos (2005).
Swedish
There was no complete Swedish translation of the Bible during the Middle Ages, although individual biblical books were
translated during the 14t and 15t centuries. However, af-
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Other Languages
Complete Bibles and portions of the Old Testament have also
been translated into hundreds of other languages in recent
centuries; versions in many of the more remote languages
and dialects were the work of Protestant missionary groups,
particularly the British and Foreign Bible Society, during the
19t and 20t centuries. Maltese Bible translations include
M.A. Camillaris edition of Psalms based on the Hebrew text
(1845), R. Taylors Psalms and Song of Songs (1846), C. Cortis Ruth (1924), and P.P. Saydons complete Maltese Bible,
Il-Kotba Mkaddsa bil-Malti (192959). The earliest modern
Greek translations of the Old Testament, consisting of the
Pentateuch and other biblical books, were probably the work
of an unknown Jewish scholar of the 14t century. There were
also two early versions of Jonah in *Judeo-Greek. Two early
Judeo-Greek works printed at Constantinople were a translation that appeared in the Polyglot Pentateuch (1547) and Job
(1576) by Rabbi Moses b. Elias Pobian. A Greek Christian version of Psalms, based on the Septuagint, was published in 1543.
The first complete Bible in modern Greek was the Protestant
edition of 1840, and an entirely new version was in preparation in Athens during the 1960s, but this was denied general
distribution owing to the hostile policy of the Greek government. A Protestant Basque Bible (185965), based on the Vulgate was published in London, and Catholic Lithuanian Bibles
appeared in 1922 and 1936.
Celtic versions of the Scriptures were first attempted in
the Middle Ages, the earliest being a partial translation in
Welsh (1346). The English Reformation gave a considerable
impetus to Celtic Bible translation. The first complete Welsh
Bible was produced by William Morgan and others in 1588
(revised 1620 by R. Parry and J. Davis), and this remained in
use with only slight modifications well into the 20t century.
An interdenominational Welsh Bible project was begun in
1926 and again after World War II. The first complete Irish
(Erse) Bible, based on the English Authorized Version, was
produced by Bishop William Bedell and others (1685), and inspired the Scots Gaelic edition of 17831801. A new Irish ProtENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions (2001); B. Moynahan, Gods Bestseller (2002); O. Opfel, The King James Bible Translators (1982); J. Pelikan, The Reformation of the Bible/The Bible of the
Reformation (1996); A.W. Pollard (ed.), Records of the English Bible
(1911); H. Pope, English Versions of the Bible (1952); I. Rashkow, Upon
the Dark Places: Anti-Semitism and Sexism in English Renaissance
Biblical Translation (1990); W. Schwarz, Principles and Problems of
Bible Translation (1955); P. Theusen, In Discordance with the Scriptures
(1999); W. Tyndale, Answer to Sir Thomas More (1531); B.F. Westcott,
A General View of the History of the English Bible, 5t ed. (1905); P.J.
Wosh, Spreading the Word: The Bible Business in Nineteenth-Century
America (1994). ENGLISH AFTER WORLD WAR II: General: A. Brenner
and W. van Henten, eds., Bible Translation on the Threshold of the
Twenty-First Century (2002); R. Caroll, As Seeing the Invisible: Ideology in Bible Translation, Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages,
19 (1993); J. De Ward and E.A. Nida, From One Language to Another
(1986); L. Lupas and E. Rhodes (eds.), Scriptures of the World: A compilation of the 2,018 languages in which at least one book of the Bible
has been published since the Bible was first printed by Johann Gutenberg (1993); M. Margolis, The Story of Bible Translations (1917); M.
Miller, Plain Speaking (1974); E.A. Nida, Toward a Science of Translation (1964); idem, Intelligibility and Acceptability in Bible Translating, Bible Translator 39 (1988), 301308; E.A. Nida and C.R. Taber,
The Theory and Practice of Translation. Helps for Translators, 8 (1969);
S. Porter and R. Hess (eds.), Translating the Bible: Problems and Prospects (1999); C.R. Taber, Translation as Interpretation, in Interpretation, 32 (1978), 13043; R. Worth, Bible Translations: A History
Through Source Documents (1992); R. Youngblood, M. Strauss, S.
Voth, and G. Scorgie, eds., The Challenge of Bible Translation (2003).
On the Various Translations in General. R. Bailey and T. Pippin (eds.),
Race, Class, and the Politics of Bible Translation (1996). L.R. Bailey
(ed.), The Word of God: A Guide to English Versions of the Bible (1982),
contains articles by Bruce M. Metzger (RSV); Roger A. Bullard (NEB);
R. Crim (NJV); Barclay M. Newman, Jr. (NASB); Bruce Vawter (JB);
William F. Stinespring (TEV); James D. Smart (LB); Walter Harrelson
(NAB); Robert G. Bratcher (NIV); and an annotated bibliography by
the editor; J. Barr, Modern English Bible Versions as a Problem for
the Church, Quarterly Review, 14:3 (1994); R. Bratcher, Current
Trends in Bible Translation in English, Bible Translator, 46:4 (1995);
F.F. Bruce, The English Bible: A History of Translations (1970); R.
Crim, Versions, English, Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, Supplementary ON INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE. P.A. Bird, Translating Sexist Language as a Theological and Cultural Problem, in: Union Seminary Quarterly Review, 42 (1988), 8995; D.M. Bossman, Insights
from Comparative Midrash, in: Biblical Theology Bulletin, 14 (1984),
3435; D. Carson, The Inclusive Language Debate: A Plea for Realism
(1998); M. Dumais, Sexist Language and Biblical Translation, Liturgical Ministry, 1 (1992); P. Ellingworth, Translating the Bible Inclusively, in: Meta, 32 (1987), 4654; An Inclusive-Language Lectionary
(1984); C. Fontaine, The NRSV and the REB: A Feminist Critique,
Theology Today, 47 (1990); W. Harrelson, Inclusive Language in the
New Revised Standard Version, Princeton Seminary Bulletin, 11:3
(1990); R. Maggio, The Nonsexist Word Finder: A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage (1987); P. Perkins, A Biblical Theological Critique,
in: Biblical Theology Bulletin, 14 (1984), 3133; M. Strauss, Distorting
Scripture? The Challenge of Bible Translation and Gender Accuracy
(1998); G. Wainwright, Geoffrey, Systematic Liturgical Observations,
in: Biblical Theology Bulletin, 14 (1984), 2830. On Jewish Sensitivities
in Translations of the New Testament. A. Byatt, Handling the Tetragrammaton in English Translations, in: Bible Collectors World, 3:4
(1987), 38; M.J. Cook, The New Testament and Judaism: An His-
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Hebrew Text of the Old Testament: The Readings Adopted by the Translators of the New English Bible (1973); F.F. Bruce, The New English
Bible, in: Christianity Today, 14 (Jan. 30, 1970), 811; M. Burrows, A
Review of NEB, in: Journal of Biblical Literature, 89 (1970), 220222;
R. Coleman, A Contemporary Bible, in: English Today, 20 (Oct.
1989), 38; K.R. Crim, The New English Bible, in: The Bible Translator, 21 (July 1970) 149154; M. Dahood, Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography VIII, in: Biblica, 51 (1970), 391404; idem, A Review of the
New English Bible: Old Testament, Apocrypha, in: Biblica, 52 (1971),
117123; D. Daiches, Translating the Bible, in: Commentary, 49 (May,
1970), 5968; G.R. Driver, The New English Bible: The Old Testament, in: Journal of Jewish Studies, 24 (Spring 1973), 17; C.H. Gordon, The New English Bible: Old Testament, in: Christianity Today,
14 (1970), 574576; G. Hunt, About the New English Bible (1970); A.A.
MacIntosh, G. Stanton, & D.L. Frost, The New English Bible Reviewed, in: Theology, 74 (April 1971), 154166; H. Minkoff, A Review
of the REB and NRSV, in: Bible Review, 6:3 (1990), 910; A. Sauer &
F.W. Danker, A Look at the NEB. OT, in: Concordia Theological
Monthly, 41 (Sept. 1970), 491507; B. Vawter, A Review of New English Bible, in: Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 32 (1970), 426428. Add.
Bibliography: M. Hooker, The Revised English Bible, in: Epworth Review, 17 (1990); J. James, Thoughts on the Revised English
Bible, in: Friends Quarterly, 26:3 (1990); W. McKane, The Revised
English Bible (REB): Old Testament, in: Journal of Northwest Semitic
Languages, 18 (1992). LB. R.G. Bratcher, A Review of The Living New
Testament Paraphrased, in: Bible Translator, 20 (1969), 3639; K.R.
Crim, A Review of The Living Bible Paraphrased, in: Bible Translator, 22 (1972), 340344; E.J. Epp, Jews and Judaism in the Living New
Testament, in: G.A. Tuttle (ed.), Biblical and Near Eastern Studies:
Essays in Honor of William Sanford LaSor (1978); a response by K.N.
Taylor, 143144; idem, A Review of Good News for Modern Man,
in: The Bible Translator, 17:4 (1966), 159172; idem, The Nature and
Purpose of the New Testament in Todays English Version, in: The
Bible Translator, 22:3 (1971), 97107; M. Dahood, A Review of The
Psalms for Modern Man, in: Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 34 (1972),
240242; J. de Waard, & E.A. Nida, Functional Equivalence in Bible
Translating: From One Language to Another (1986); Editor, The Nature and Purpose of the New Testament in Todays English Version,
in: The Bible Translator, 22:3 (1971), 97107; D. Lithgow, Some Notes
on the Use of TEV as a Translation Source Text by Translators who
speak English as a Second Language, The Bible Translator, 28 (1977),
408412; H.G. May, A Review of Todays English Version, in: Interpretation, 32 (1978), 187190; H.K. Moulton, A Review of The New
Testament in Todays English Version. Second Edition, in: The Bible
Translator, 19:4 (1968), 184187; J.B. Phillips, A Review of Good News
for Modern Man: The New Testament in Todays English Version,
in: The Bible Translator, 18:2 (1967), 99100; W.A. Smalley, Discourse
Analysis and Bible Translation, in: The Bible Translator, 31 (1980),
119125; P.C. Stein, Biblical Poetry and Translation, in: Meta, 32
(1987), 6475; R.F. Youngblood, Good News For Modern Man: Becoming a Bible, in: Christianity Today, 21 (Oct 8, 1976), 1619. Add.
Bibliography: J. Wilson, The Living Bible Reborn: From the
Living Bible to the New Living Translation Christianity Today, 40:12
(1996). NIV. K.L. Barker, The NIV: The Making of a Contemporary
Translation, (1986); R.G. Bratcher, A Review Article: The Holy
Bible New International Version, in: Bible Translator, 30 (1979),
345350; P.C. Craige, The New International Version: A Review Article, in: Journal of Evangelical Theological Society, 21 (1978), 251254;
B.L. Goddard, The NIV Story: The Inside Story of the New International
Version (1989); J.C. Jeske, New International Version Completed,
in: Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, 75 (1978), 292305; D. Jackson, The
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voted to biblical exegesis, but also in those dealing with philosophy or linguistic research, which often included interpretations of biblical verses. Generally speaking, two broad
approaches to biblical exegesis are discernible the literal and
the homiletical. In the former the commentator bases himself on the plain meaning of the text and on the context, and
the interpretation is objective. In the homiletic approach the
commentator strives to interweave his ideas with the text even
if the simple meaning of the language and the context are at
variance with his interpretation, and his interpretation is subjective. Homiletic commentary developed because of various
cultural requirements and because of the necessity of finding
a correspondence between scriptural views and the prevailing opinion in different ages.
A considerable portion of the exegesis of the geonic period consisted of assembling and editing material, much of
which had accumulated through traditions handed down over
the generations. Included in this material were midrashic collections and the masorah. The task of the masorah scholars,
particularly in establishing vocalization and cantillation, was
of the utmost importance, providing as they did the most
valuable interpretation of the Bible. Vocalization and cantillation insured correct reading of the biblical text and were
established, as a rule, in accordance with the peshat, the literal meaning. The greatest commentators such as *Rashi,
Abraham *Ibn Ezra, and others, based their interpretations
on the masorah.
In additon to this work of collation new and original
works were created in the geonic period, opening up fresh
paths in the field of exegesis and powerfully influencing succeeding generations. Two historic events led to this development: the expansion of Islam and the rise of *Karaism. The
efflorescence of learning and science among the Muslims influenced the Jews living among them to participate in philosophic enquiry and linguistic research. Along with the decline
of Aramaic as the vernacular came a decline in the use of Aramaic translations of the Bible. The intensification of the Karaite-Rabbanite controversy over readings and interpretations of
biblical texts also contributed to this development. The Karaites produced a number of commentators, among them *Anan,
the founder of Karaism, who in his interpretations frequently
applied the hermeneutic methods of the tannaitic Midrashim,
and Benjamin *Nahawnd, who made use of allegorical explanations. The Rabbanites were thus compelled to intensify their
biblical research and to seek new methods of exegesis.
The Work of Saadiah Gaon and Its Influence
The new era was ushered in by *Saadiah Gaon, a considerable portion of whose extensive literary work is connected
with Bible commentary. Saadiah endeavored to prove the impossibility of explaining the Scriptures without the masorah
and to show that the Midrashim and halakhot of the rabbinic
sages were based on the literal meaning of scriptural texts. In
this context, Saadiahs Arabic translation of the Bible and his
commentaries are noteworthy. The translation is actually a
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Literal Commentary
Of a quite different nature is the literal commentary, fostered by Rashi and his disciples, which flourished in northern France, and which is relatively free of outside influence.
The Jews of France, though occasionally engaging in discussion with Christians on the interpretation of biblical passages,
had only limited cultural relations with their neighbors, whose
standards in this area in any event were quite low. Thus, their
commentaries do not contain such philosophical or philological elements as abound in the commentaries of the Spanish
school. The commentary of this school is characterized by the
search after the plain meaning, although a certain conflict is
discernible between the inclination toward homiletical exegesis and the conscious effort to explain biblical passages according to their plain meaning.
The interpretations of *Menahem b. H elbo contain much
homiletics. Rashi, too, introduced many ancient rabbinic
Midrashim, but only in addition to the plain meaning, frequently remarking that they were not to be taken as representing the literal meaning of the passage. Rashi often reiterates
as his aim the explanation of the text according to its plain
meaning or according to the closest aggadic interpretation.
This tendency becomes even more marked with Rashis successors Joseph *Kara, *Samuel b. Meir, *Eliezer of Beaugency
and Joseph *Bekhor Shor. It is somewhat surprising that this
phenomenon should exist particularly in northern France.
Samuel b. Meir and Joseph Bekhor Shor, for example, who
are outstanding exponents of literal commentary, are also
among the foremost tosafists, and their method with regard to
their biblical exegesis is in contrast to that adapted by them in
their talmudic exposition. In some instances they even assigned to a biblical text a meaning at variance with the halakhah, despite the fact that the halakhah was unquestioningly
accepted by them, their serene spirit and unswerving faith
ruling out any feeling of strain or conflict. A contributing
factor to the growth of literal exposition may have been the
need felt to counter christological interpretations of certain
biblical passages, although these commentators and particularly Rashi had a definite influence on some of the Christian biblical exegetes.
Synthetic Commentary
Certain commentators embody all the above methods of interpretation. The main representatives of this synthetic approach
are: Abraham ibn Ezra, David *Kimh i and Nah manides. Their
commentaries include philological, philosophical, literal,
homiletical and, in the case of Nah manides, even kabbalistic elements.
While Ibn Ezra bases his commentary principally on the
philologic method, contributing much to linguistic research,
he also introduces many philosophical explanations. In dealing with halakhic material, he accepts the rabbinic *Midrash
Halakhah, but opposes Midrash Aggadah when it is in conflict
with the plain meaning of Scripture. He argues that homiletical explanations should not always be taken literally, there be-
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allegorical interpretations
Allegorical interpretation of Scripture is concerned with the
inner or spiritual meaning of the biblical text. Used consistently in the writings of Philo, the Church Fathers, the medieval Jewish philosophers, and the kabbalists down to the
h asidic teachers, this method does not necessarily discard
the literal meaning (peshat) but tends to prize the allegorical
one more highly. While the Bible itself makes occasional use
of allegory, the allegorists claim the right to treat the Bible
as a whole or certain of its parts, as a series of allegorical expressions.
(1) Rabbinic aggadah and Midrash employed the allegorical method in an uninhibited homiletic rather than in a systematic manner. Their guiding motive was not, as that of the
allegorists, a concern for the true, inner meaning of the text,
but a pious endeavor to find everything (Avot 5:22), in Scripture, to make every biblical passage or word (Sanh. 34a) yield
as many meanings (teamim) as necessary. Thus while the
aggadah and Midrash contain many instances of allegorism
(mashal or dugma), these fail to exhibit, as I. Heinemann has
shown, any pattern of consistency. The only exceptions are the
allegorical interpretations of Proverbs 31:1031 (the woman
of valor being understood as the Torah) and of the Song of
Songs. But even in the interpretation of the Song of Songs at
least three different allegorical themes are apparent: the love
between God and Israel; the exodus; interpretations of Jewish laws. Ezekiels vision of the resurrected dry bones (ch. 37)
and the figure of Job are described as allegories (BB 15a; Sanh.
92b), but no detailed allegorical interpretation of these texts
is provided. Nor was Proverbs, in spite of its suggestive title
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gage in allegorism but were content to treat biblical anthropomorphism as metaphors (tawl). *Saadiah Gaon laid down
the philosophic position on the propriety as well as the limitations of metaphorical interpretation (tawl) and it was later
acknowledged by Abraham *Ibn Dad and *Maimonides.
According to Saadiah, the literal meaning of a biblical text is
to be discarded in favor of tawl in four instances only: if it is
contradicted by sense perception, by reason, by some other
explicit text, or by rabbinic tradition qualifying its apparent
meaning. He argued that if license were given for metaphorical interpretation in other than these four instances, all the
commandments of the Torah and all the miraculous events
narrated in Scripture might be explained as mere metaphors
(Book of Beliefs and Opinions, 7). Saadiah upholds the literal
meaning of passages presumably referring to the resurrection of the dead, but insists on the metaphorical sense of the
anthropomorphic descriptions of God. His use of the tawl
method is sufficiently restricted to prevent allegorism on any
significant scale.
(4) Under the impact of neoplatonic and Aristotelian
philosophy the situation changed fundamentally. Having expanded the meaning of tawl to include the philosophic interpretation of doctrinal matters, the Islamic neoplatonic and
Aristotelian philosophers distinguished between the inner
(bt in) and apparent (z hir) meaning of certain words and
teachings of the Koran, treating the apparent meaning as
an allegory replete with philosophic truth. Concurrent with
this distinction it was often held that the philosophical truths
contained in the allegory should be kept secret from the multitude. Following this tradition Moses *Maimonides insists that
the true meaning of certain biblical passages, such as Ezekiels
vision of the Chariot, and chapters in Proverbs, etc., lies in the
philosophical truths which they express in allegorical fashion
and which should not be revealed to the philosophically untrained. Applying the simile of Proverbs 25:11 (A word fitly
spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver), he said that
the inner meaning bears the same relation to the apparent one
as gold to silver (Guide, introd.). Here allegory proper comes
into its own. The inner meaning is considered superior to
the apparent one since it alone establishes the truth in all
its reality (ibid.). Philosophic truth, as far as it is demonstrable, is thus made the arbiter of biblical exegesis. Maimonides
was less radical when he interpreted anthropomorphic or spatial terms applied to God as either homonyms or metaphors.
Maimonides cites the rabbinic phrase, The Torah speaks in
the language of men (BM 31b), in the sense that Scripture
speaks of God in terms appropriate to the mental capacity of
the multitude (Guide 1:26). This phrase had already been applied in this sense by earlier exegetes and theologians such as
Judah *Ibn Quraysh, *Jacob b. Nissim, *Bah ya ibn Paquda,
Judah *Halevi and others. The question of the legitimacy of
the allegorical method had been raised by Abraham *Ibn Ezra,
who rejected the search for hidden meanings (sodot; h idot) in
passages whose plain meaning did not conflict with reason or
sense perception. He also asserted that the apparent and the
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providence. Their sermons are an interesting blend of homiletics (derash) and allegory (mashal; sod). Some of them exhibit strong traces of Kabbalistic influence. *Bah ya b. Ashers
commentary on the Torah exemplifies the trend to make use
of philosophic and kabbalistic interpretations alike. It offers
interpretations: (1) by the literal method; (2) by the homiletical method; (3) by the method of reason (sekhel), i.e., the
philosophical method; and (4) by the method of Kabbalah.
Allegorism, then, in its strict sense is here two-faced, rational and mystical.
Bibliography: W. Bacher, Die Bibelexegese der juedischen
Religionsphilosophen des Mittelalters vor Maimuni (1892), 814; idem,
Die Bibelexege Moses Maimunis (1897), 822; I. Goldziher, Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung (1920); J. Guttmann, in: MGWJ,
80 (1936), 1804; I. Heinemann, in: Bericht des juedisch-theologischen
Seminars, Breslau (1935); idem, in: Mnemosyne, 5 (1952), 1308; idem,
in: HUCA, 23 pt. 1 (195051), 61143; W. Jaeger, Early Christianity and
Greek Paideia (1961), 4668, 12736; D. Kaufmann, in: Jahresbericht
der Landes-Rabbinerschule in Budapest (1899), 6379; H. Lewy (ed.),
Philosophical Writings of Philo (1946), 1216; A. Schmiedl, Studien
ueber juedische, insonders juedisch-arabische Religionsphilosophie
(1869), 21536; L. Strauss, Philosophie und Gesetz (1935), 6886; G.
Vajda, Lamour de Dieu dans la thologie juive du moyen ge (1957),
index, S.V. Cantique des Cantiques, and review by A. Altmann in: KS,
34 (1958/59), 5354; idem, in: Sefarad, 10 (1950), 2571; H.A. Wolfson,
Philo, 1 (1947), 11538; A.S. Halkin, in: PAAJR, 34 (1966), 6576; idem,
in: A. Altmann (ed.), Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies (1967),
16584; I. Husik, in: JAOS, 1 (1935), Supplement, 2240; L. Ginzburg,
On Jewish Law and Lore (1955), 12750; B. Smalley, The Study of the
Bible in the Middle Ages (1952). Add. Bibliography: W.Z. Harvey, in: Interpretation and Allegory; Antiquity to the Modern Period
(2000), 18188
[Alexander Altmann]
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German language and its literature. The writing of the Hebrew commentary to the Torah was actually carried out by
various people who were commissioned by Mendelssohn, but
Mendelssohns stamp and his viewpoint are manifest in the
commentary (particular mention should be made of Solomon
*Dubno, who interpreted Genesis, and Naphtali Hirz Wessely, who interpreted Leviticus). The method and approach
of Mendelssohn and his group were influenced by contemporary Christian biblical research and commentary. It should
be pointed out that in 1753, approximately 15 years before the
beginning of the project, three basic works were published
which ushered in a revolution in biblical research, each of
which reflected a particular approach: R. *Lowths book on
form criticism (Praelectiones academicae de sacra posi Hebraeorum; Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, 1829);
J. *Astrucs work on source criticism (Conjectures sur les mmoires originaux dont il paroit que Moyse sest servi pour composer le livre de la Gense); and C.F. Houbigonts work on text
criticism (Biblia hebraica cum notis criticis et versione latina
ad notas criticas facta, 4 vols.). (See below, Bible research and
criticism). A short while later J.G. Herders book on Hebrew
poetry (Vom Geist der hebraeischen Poesie, 1782) and J.G. Eichhorns introduction to the Old Testament (Einleitung in das
Alte Testament, 3 vols., 178083) were published.
Mendelssohns commentary was first intended to be
an explanation of the reasons for translating the Bible, but it
broadened into a comprehensive commentary on the entire
Pentateuch. The commentary places emphasis on grammatical points, cantillation points, and elements of style, and
is based both on traditional Jewish exegesis and biblical research. In matters of style, the commentary relies mainly on
Lowth and Herder (see the summary of Mendelssohns aesthetic views in the preface to Ex. 15). The commentary on
the Pentateuch was written in simple language and in a scholarly Hebrew style, and despite the fact that five authors collaborated in its composition, the unity of language and style
was preserved because of Mendelssohns editing. In the commentary Mendelssohn was attempting to establish a single
and homogeneous method for the study of the Bible among
the Jews, and for this reason early Jewish commentaries do
not appear alongside his commentary (for it is, essentially, an
eclectic exegesis). The commentary was very popular and was
reprinted about 20 times.
Mendelssohns followers continued with the method established in the commentary in interpreting the Prophets
and the Hagiographa, but they made no innovations. These
interpretations are only a collection of commentaries, particularly from the medieval commentators, but the introductions to these commentaries were influenced by biblical research, especially by Eichhorns introduction to the Old Testament.
In the generation after Mendelssohn, young Jews studied
in the German universities and adopted the critical method
which was prevalent there. Thus they moved to critical interpretation, which was also written in German. In the 19t cen-
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tury, German Jews wrote a number of works on biblical research, but the only one who also dealt with exegesis was H.
Graetz in his commentaries to the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes (1871), and Psalms (1881). The Mendelssohnian Enlightenments view of the Bible as an independent aesthetic, religious,
and moral tract found expression only in Western Europe and
Italy (see below), while in Central and Eastern Europe, the
Bible was viewed mainly from a talmudic perspective, and the
approach to the Bible took on the form of lower criticism,
rather than higher criticism.
Most noteworthy among the commentaries of Eastern
Europe is that of Meir b. Jehiel Michael *Malbim (180979).
While it was written in the period of the Enlightenment, and
reflects, in a number of places, influences of the Enlightenment, this commentary is nonetheless an authentic and typical
work of the culture of the ghetto as it developed among the
outstanding and brilliant scholars of Eastern Europe (Segal).
This commentary, which follows the method of pilpul (casuistry and harmonization), contains halakhah and aggadah,
philosophy and Kabbalah, philological investigation and moralistic homilies. Despite his declaration that he was interpreting the text in accordance with its literal meaning, Malbim did
not recognize the boundaries between literal and homiletical
exegesis. He collected investigations of style and language,
classifying them into 613 rules, corresponding to the number
of the commandments of the Torah. He gathered these rules
from the Midrash, and added to them some of his own.
In Western Europe, in contrast to Eastern and Central
Europe, the Enlightenment penetrated Italy and influenced
Jewish Italian commentators, such as Samuel David *Luzzatto (Sha
haDaaL; 180060) and others. Luzzatto combined a
comprehensive knowledge of traditional Jewish exegesis in all
its forms with a knowledge of non-Hebrew biblical research.
He did not, however, tread the beaten path, but was both independent and original, disagreeing with both early and late
commentators. He drew on early and late commentaries, ancient translations, and Semitic philology. He had a poetic bent,
and understood biblical poetry. Like Mendelssohns, his work
was bilingual and included translation and interpretation. He
translated and interpreted the Book of Isaiah (1855). His commentary on the Torah was collected for publication from his
lectures in the rabbinical seminary in Padua (1871). His commentaries on Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Proverbs, and Job were published by his son (1876).
Luzzatto introduced many new elements in his interpretations and investigations, but at the same time he relied on his
predecessors. He introduced the method of textual emendation (outside of the Pentateuch) into Hebrew biblical analysis,
his emendations following his own rules of interpretation. The
textual emendations he allowed himself to make were based
on the incorrect separation of words in the traditional text,
similar letters in the ancient Hebrew script and square (Aramaic) characters, dittography, haplography, incorrect vocalization and cantillations, metathesis, and abbreviations. In these
emendations Luzzatto used translations and manuscripts of
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edly given its final shape by circles akin to P about the time of
Ezra. It was asserted that during the same period, and indeed
down to that of the Maccabees, the earlier prophecies of doom
were supplemented by more optimistic oracles, and most of
the psalms, understood mostly as gems of individualistic piety, were also composed. Vast modifications of Wellhausens
synthesis continue to be made, and the underlying unilinear
notion of progress in history has been almost totally repudiated; nevertheless, very little scholarship has turned its back
on him completely and his influence is still to be widely detected in biblical research.
In general, it is probably true that much Jewish scholarship, even that which was not totally traditionalistic, was
initially and, to a degree, still remains rather cool toward the
standard results of German biblical scholarship, well aware
of the subtle anti-Judaism, if not antisemitism, which by no
means necessarily but very often de facto accompanies any
depreciation of the Old Testament and it is undeniable that
such implications were often present in much of the classical critical literature. Prominent 20t century Israeli scholars
including U. *Cassuto attacked the hypothesis frontally, and a
coolness is apparent in the works of, M.H. *Segal and others.
(Y. Kaufmann opposed Welhausens evolutionary explanation
of monotheism and differed on the dating of P but fully accepted the Documentary Hypothesis.)
The Influence of Archaeology
Probably the major development that led to a modification
of the Wellhausenian synthesis was archaeology (and it is
perhaps in this area and the subsidiary philological ones that
modern Jewish scholars, both in Israel and elsewhere, have
made their major contributions). Apart from the various
particulars, archaeologys contribution can be summed up
by saying that it provided an actual, historical context for interpreting ancient Israels life and literature instead of the a
priori, philosophic one on which Wellhausen had largely depended. Biblical Archaeology was especially prominent in
the United States and Israel in the middle decades of the 20t
century. For some of its leading practitioners such as W.F. *Albright and Nelson *Glueck, G.E. Wright and Yigael Yadin the
general net effect of archaeological discoveries was seen to enhance the general trustworthiness and substantial historicity
of the biblical tradition, although not in the nave, uncritical
sense sometimes expressed by the prove the Bible true slogan. Israels military victory in 1967 facilitated the exploration
of the west bank of the Jordan River, the heart of ancient Israel,
and the Sinai desert. The newer archaeological evidence has
undercut the claims of substantial historicity, but nowhere
to the extent claimed by extreme minimalists.
Gunkel and Form Criticism
The first school to exploit the new resources provided by
archaeology was that of Religionsgeschichte (History of Religion) and, closely allied with it, that of form criticism. In both
cases, Hermann *Gunkel (18621932) was probably the leading
spirit, and his name can be used to epitomize a considerable
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are Albrights) in an indiscriminate primitivism (the weakness of J. Pedersens Israel (1926), which, however, is still useful). James Barr leveled especially devastating critiques at this
approach. H. Frankforts The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient
Man (1946; later reprinted under the title Before Philosophy)
remains an outstanding study.
Biblical Theology
In a way, the last of the supplements to classical Wellhausenianism, although it often overlapped with the movements
already noted above, was that of biblical theology, a movement that initially attracted minimal attention in Judaism. Its
roots lay in the post-World War I disillusionment with both
the reductionism of the earlier liberalism and the deliberate
irrelevance of Religionsgeschichte (as expressed also in the
neo-orthodoxy of the Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth
(18861968) in particular). While unwilling to return to the
pre-Kantian orthodoxy of an objective norm in an inspired
Scripture, this movement did strongly affirm the truth of the
Bibles record of revelation because it allegedly rang true
to mans existential condition. It revolted especially against
the earlier critical tendency to limit criticism to questions of
date, authorship, sources, etc., without pressing on seriously
to consider the message. No doubt, since Gablers manifesto,
most biblical theology had in actuality been little but history of Israels religion.
Most work in this field tended to have somewhat of a
Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) character. However, no
unanimity at all was reached concerning the order or system
which was most appropriate, and on this reef the movement
itself eventually foundered. Among the major names may be
mentioned: Edmond Jacob (1955) who produced a theology
using quite traditional categories; Walther Eichrodt (1933) who
tried to arrange his material around the internal biblical category of *covenant; and Gerhard von Rad (1957), author of the
last and perhaps the greatest of the works of this school, who
attempted to return to a more strictly chronological arrangement, thus abandoning all attempts to find any real internal
unity in the material. Hence it became plain that this movement too had come full circle, and in subsequent years works
on the religion of Israel again began to supplant theologies.
Interestingly, Jews showed little interest in biblical theology in
its heyday but now seem increasingly open to the enterprise
(Brettler in bibliography).
Finally, there is the ecumenical spirit of the age, which
has seen Roman Catholicism join most of the rest of Western
Christendom and Judaism in the historical-critical enterprise.
Jewish and Catholic Bible scholars now participate in collaborative scholarly projects that were once exclusively Protestant.
(Oddly, despite Jewish participation in Protestant translations,
no Christian scholars have participated in the translations or
commentaries sponsored by the Jewish Publication Society.)
To the extent that this cooperation has progressed beyond
theologically neutral philological matters, probably two traditional blindspots of the previously dominant Protestantism
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ment (1977), and G. Coats and B. Long (eds.), Canon and Authority (1977).
As the last two titles indicate, such literary concerns inevitably overlap with the more theological issues of the nature
of biblical authority. The canonical criticism of James Sanders (Torah and Canon, 1972) attempts to interpret traditionalhistorical pursuits in relation to the shaping and significance
of a canon. Brevard Childs goes further. In a series of efforts,
beginning especially with Biblical Theology in Crisis (1970) and
culminating in his Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979), Childs argues that, in the formation of a canon, the
literature was deliberately loosened from its original historical particularity in order to expose and release its universal,
transhistorical significance. Thus, the normative meaning of a
passage is to be found on its canonical level, not at any of the
earlier stages (though their existence is not denied, nor the
usefulness of the search for them entirely repudiated). Most
scholars, however, are not prepared to go that far, and continue
to affirm the potential authority of also precanonical stages.
Within the same period, J. Blenkinsopp (Prophecy and Canon,
1977) has resuscitated an essentially Wellhausenian picture of
the canonical process.
In some respects, Childs unique isagogics is about as
close as the period has come to biblical theology. Although
followed by others, he once pronounced that movement as
good as dead. Von Rad continues to cast a long shadow, however, and, often following his lead, there have been many investigations of the theologies of individual writers or traditions. But, in spite of much discussion, no agreement could be
reached on what center, if any, could be found in the Bible.
Cf. G. Hasels survey Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in
the Current Debate (1972).
Only toward the end of the period have more ambitious
theologies begun to become frequent again. The noteworthy titles are (in alphabetical order; the first three, 1977): R.
Clements, Old Testament Theology; W. Kaiser, Toward an Old
Testament Theology; S. Terrien, The Elusive Presence; C. Westermann, Theologie des Alten Testaments in Grundzge (1978);
and W. Zimmerli, Old Testament Theology in Outline (1972,
19772, 1978, ET).
The situation is equally confused in the area of archaeology. There has certainly been no abatement of scientific excavation in biblical lands, especially not in Israel (and it is impossible to note here even the major ones). In fact, so much raw
material is accumulating that even specialists are scarcely able
to stay abreast of it, and there is great concern here about the
knowledge explosion. Furthermore, there is no consensus
on how to deploy the material vis--vis biblical studies. The
very term biblical archaeology is increasingly coming under fire. Some of the debate is merely semantic, and some of
the objection to the term is well founded (sometimes shoddy
workmanship and attempts to prove the Bible true). But, on
the whole its rejection scarcely conceals a trend away from
primary concern with biblical history and culture to broader
anthropological interest, in which the Bible is often only one
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commentaries on Daniel, worthy of special mention is J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Vision of the Book of Daniel (1977).
Recent study of the psalter, in contrast to the above areas, does not appear to describe so marked a contrast to earlier work. The older cultic approach appears to thrive only in
England: J.H. Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms (1976; cf. his Festal Drama in Deutero-Isaiah, 1979); A.R. Johnson, The Cultic
Prophet in Israels Psalmody (1979); and J. Gray. The Biblical
Doctrine of the Reign of God (1979). In contrast to that more
corporate accent, there are signs that the pendulum may be
swinging back to a more individualistic perspective; a harbinger may be R. Albertz, Persnliche Frmmigkeit und offizielle
Religion (1979).
Finally, the continuing intense research into the nature
of biblical poetry may be noted. The pioneering study of F.
Cross and D. Freedman has been reprinted (Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (1975)). Other important investigations include D. Robertson, Linguistic Evidence for Dating
Early Hebrew Poetry (1972) and M. OConnor, Hebrew Verse
Structure (1980). It is apparent, however, that in this area also
consensus is far off.
[Horace D. Hummel]
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Khirbet El-Qom
Located West of Hebron in the hills of ancient Judah, the site
whose Arabic name means ruins of the heap/ tribe may be
ancient Makkedah. An eighth-century tomb inscription for
one Uriyahu, difficult to read, refers to YHWH and <rth, this
last somehow related to *Asherah the goddess or a cultic object
of the same name, both of which the biblical writers strongly
disapprove. If the reference is to the goddess, the text appears
to show that Yahweh was believed by some to have a consort.
(Cf. the next paragraph.)
Kuntillet Ajrud
Numerous Hebrew and Phoenician inscriptions written on
plaster and clay and engraved on stone were recovered at Kuntillet Ajrud (Hill of the water- source), a site near the main
road midway between the southern Mediterranean coast and
Eilat. These texts coordinate historically with Judahs renewed
activity in the south in the mid-9t century B.C.E. under king
Jehoshaphat and his son (cf. I Kings 22:49). At the same time,
the script, dialectal features of the texts, and the place name
Samaria show Northern Israelite connections perhaps reflecting the good relations between Judah and Israel described in
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Iran Stele
The Israelite King Menahem (Minihime Samerinaya Menahem: the Samarian) is mentioned among the tribute-paying
kings of the west in a stele of Tiglath-Pileser III (744727 B.C.E.)
set up in Iran after the Assyrian campaign in 737. This mention
of Menahem clarifies a disputed point in biblical chronology.
It is now certain that the Israelite king reigned at least until
738, with Assyrian support and as an Assyrian vassal. (The
name of the Tyrian king, Tubail, hitherto unknown, is also
recorded in the text).
Ebla
For the significance of *Ebla, see separate entry.
Tel-Dan
A damaged Aramaic insciption discovered in at Tel-Dan in
northern Israel dating from the ninth century relates the victories of an Aramaean king. There is mention of a mlk yr<l
king of Israel, whose name has been variously restored. Much
attention and controversy have been directed to the phrase
bytdwd. (See Schiderski in Bibliography.) Written as a single
word, this would appear to be the first extra-biblical reference
to thehouse of David, which in the Book of Isaiah (7:2,13)
refers to a specific king.
Ammonite (see *Ammon, Ammonites)
Ammonite seals have long been known. Larger inscriptions have been available only since the late 1960s. The earliest known Ammonite text, the Citadel inscription, dates
from the ninth century. Most of the known texts date from
the seventh and sixth centuries. The Tel-Siran bronze bottle (ca. 600 B.C.E.; Ahituv, 223) contains an inscription of
King Amminab that enables reconstruction of the Ammonite
royal succession. Other inscriptions have been found at Tel
Hesban (biblical Heshbon) and as far away as Calah in Iraq.
(Ahituv, 22839; Cross. 7094). The Ammonite corpus confirms the biblical datum that Milcom was an Ammonite deity,
as was El. The Ammonite language is a dialect of Northwest
Semitic that would have been intelligible to any reader of
Hebew.
Ketef Hinnom
Two Hebrew silver amulets found at this site in Jerusalem
date from the mid-seventh century B.C.E. These contain texts
very close in wording to the biblical priestly blessing found
in Num. 6:2426.
Philistine Inscriptions
Two ostraca of the early seventh century were found at TellJemmeh, some 10 kilometers south of Gaza. These are administrative lists in a local form of the Hebrew script, apparently
demonstrating Judite influence on Philistia (Cross, 165). Of
special interest is a seventh century dedicatory temple inscription from Tel Miqne (Ekron). The builder identifies himself
as Achish, ruler of Ekron, and provides the name of four ancestral predecessors in that office. Orthographic and dialectal
forms identify the language as Phoenician.
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Edomite
The Edomite corpus remains small. An ostracon found at
Horvat Uzzah, east of Arad, from the beginning of the sixth
century is in the form of a letter. The formula I commend
you to (the god) Qaus is quite similar to Hebrew greeting
formulae (Ahituv, 21314).
Bibliography: Y. Aharoni, Arad Inscriptions (Jerusalem,
1975); A.F. Rainey, in: Tel Aviv, 4 (1977), 97104; Plates 5, 6; Z. Meshel,
in: Qadmoniot, 36 (1976), 11924; Plates 3, 4; idem, IEJ, 27 (1977),
5253; N. Avigad, in: IEJ, 25 (1975) 101105; Plates 10: C, D; idem, in:
IEJ, 26 (1976), 17882; Plate 33: D, idem, in: IEJ, 28 (1978), 5256; idem,
Qedem, Monograph No. 4 (Jerusalem, 1976); J. Hoftijzer, G. van Tijzer, in: BA, 39 (1976), 1117; S. Page, in: Iraq, 30 (1968), 139153; Plate
xxix; H. Tadmor, in: Iraq, 35 (1973), 14150; L.D. Levine, in: BASOR,
206 (1972), 4042; Add. Bibliography: J. Naveh, Early History
of the Alphabet (1982); K. Jackson, The Ammonite Language of the
Iron Age (1983); M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB; 1988), 335;
G.I. Davies, Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions (1991); A. Yardeni, in: VT 41
(1991), 17685; S. Ahituv, Handbook of Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions
(Hebrew; 1992); J. Holladay, in: ABD, 4:979; Z. Meshel, ibid, 10309;
H. Tadmor, The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III (1994), 106; S. Gitin et al, in, IEJ 47 (1997) 116; A. Demsky, in: JANES, 25 (1997), 15;
idem, in: BAR, 24:5 (1998) 5357; I. Kottsieper, Die Inschrift vom Tel
Dan, in: M. Dietrich, I. Kottsieper (eds.),Und Moses schrieb dieses
Lied auf, (FS O. Loretz; 1998), 475500; W. Dever, in, ErIsr, 26 (1999),
*9*15; M. Heide, in: WdO, 32 (2002), 110120; F. Cross, Leaves from
an Epigraphers Notebook (2003); D. Schwiderski, The Old and Imperial Aramaic Inscriptions (2004), 409; N. Naaman, in: ErIsr, 26 (1999),
11218; J. Naveh, in: ibid., 11322.
[Mordechai Cogan / S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]
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the Hebrew Bible was produced. Accordingly, biblical sociology must develop criteria for assessing when scriptural data
offers accurate data for sociological reconstruction. Self-reflexivity has always been a staple of the sociological imagination and the study of how knowledge has been produced
in biblical studies (across two millennia) and who produces
such knowledge, stands as one of the most fertile areas for
further exploration. Finally, as a means of moving beyond the
rather positivistic project of reconstructing ancient Israelite
society, and as a means of remaining loyal to Webers transhistorical vision, biblical sociologists might look at how the
Hebrew Bible itself has functioned across sociological time
and space. A sociology of interpretation, or socio-hermeneutics (Berlinerblau, 2005) would look at how situated Jewish
and Christian interpreters have read the Bible and how such
readings came to exert world-altering effects upon the social
body in question.
Bibliography: M. Weber, 1952. Ancient Judaism, 194218,
5, 242, 417; T.O. Beidelman, W. Robertson Smith and the Sociological Study of Religion (1974), 68; W.R. Smith, The Religion of the Semites. Lectures on the Religion of the Semites: Second and Third Series,
J. Day (ed.) (1972); P. McNutt, Reconstructing the Society of Ancient
Israel (1999); F. Frick, Norman Gottwalds The Tribes of Yahweh
in the Context of Second-Wave Social-Scientific Biblical Criticism,
in: Tracking the Tribes of Yahweh: On the Trail of a Classic (2002);
J. Pedersen, Israel: Its Life and Culture: 14 (1926); A. Lods, Isral.
Des origines au milieu du VIIIeme Sicle (1930); A. Causse, Du groupe
ethnique a la communaut religieuse: Le problem sociologique de
la religion dIsral (1937); A. Alt, Essays on Old Testament History
and Religion (1967); R. De Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions (1961); M. Noth, The History of Israel (1958); C. Van Leeuwen,
Le dveloppement du sens social en Isral avant lre chrtienne (1955);
C.E.H. Mayes, Amphictyony, in: The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Volume 1:AC., 212216 (1992); N. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh:
A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel 12501050 B.C.E. (1980);
G. Mendenhall, Ancient Israels Hyphenated History, in: Palestine in Transition: The Emergence of Ancient Israel (1983); A. Rainey,
Review of The Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 12501050 B.C.E., in: JAOS, 107 (1987):540543; J. Berlinerblau, The Delicate Flower of Biblical Sociology, in: Tracking
the Tribes of Yahweh: On the Trail of a Classic (2002), 59-76; R. Wilson, Sociological Approaches to the Old Testament, 30-53 (1984); P.
Berger, Charisma and Religious Innovation: The Social Location of
Israelite Prophecy, in: American Sociological Review, 28 (1963):
94050; P. Davies,. The Society of Biblical Israel, in: Second Temple
Studies 2. Temple and Community in the Persian Period (1991), 23;
J. Berlinerblau, The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take
Religion Seriously (2005); R. Boer (ed.), Tracking the Tribes of Yahweh:
On the Trail of a Classic (2002).
[Jacques Berlinblau (2nd ed.)]
RELIGIOUS IMPACT
in judaism
In Hellenistic Judaism
Hellenistic Jewish literature, dating from about 250 B.C.E. to
40 C.E., may be regarded as the fusion of the biblical tradition with the Greek language and culture. The literary activ-
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instituted for home reading on Friday night. Among other biblical verses, mention should be made of the ten verses each of
*Malkhuyyot, Zikhronot and Shofarot of which four are from
the Pentateuch, three from the Prophets, and three from the
Hagiographa and Psalm 47 recited before the sounding of
the shofar on Rosh ha-Shanah. The individual biblical verses
introduced into the liturgy are too numerous to be detailed.
The intensive preoccupation with the aggadic and homiletical interpretation of the Pentateuch brought in its wake
a profound familiarity with the Bible, in which, however, the
Midrash was paramount. The worthies of the Bible were regarded not as figures from the past but almost as living contemporaries. Abrahams smashing of the idols of his father and
his deliverance from the fiery furnace, Esau as the embodiment of wickedness and the prototype of the archenemy of
Israel, Aaron as the personification of the love and pursuit of
peace, Judah as the mighty warrior, David as the wholly righteous monarch without sin or flaw, all of them the creation of
the Midrash, appeared as real, if not more so, than the literal
portrayal of them in the biblical narrative. In the Talmud it is
laid down (Bet. 8ab) that one should revise the weekly scriptural reading during the preceding week twice in the original
and once in the Aramaic translation [Targum]. It was later
laid down (Tur., Oh 2:285) that the commentary of Rashi could
be substituted for the Targum. This injunction was widely followed throughout the ages, with the natural result that the
ordinary Jew acquired an unparalleled and intimate acquaintance with the Pentateuch. Nevertheless, it was emphasized
that the study of the Oral Law took precedence over and was
regarded as more meritorious than that of the Bible. Those
who occupy themselves with the Written Torah (alone) are
of but indifferent merit (lit. a quality and not a quality); but
they do receive their reward; with Mishnah, are wholly meritorious, with *Gemara there can be nothing more meritorious
(BM 33a). Tractate Soferim expands this with the statement,
the Bible is compared to water, the Mishnah to pepper, the
Gemara to spices. The world needs all three, and the wealthy
man can indulge in all, but happy is the man whose occupation is with Gemara, the only rider being that the study of
Bible should be thorough and not a mere springboard (jumping) to the study of the Oral Law (15:89).
The Talmud declares that a person should divide his time
into three equal portions, one of which should be devoted
to the study of the Bible. Rashi maintains that one should
therefore devote two days weekly to the study of Bible, but
his grandson R. Tam, while applying the division to each day
rather than the week, makes the significant comment that
a person who studies Talmud can ignore that of Bible since
Bible is intermingled in it (Av. Zar. 19b and Rashi and Tos.
in loc.). Maimonides, however (Yad. Talmud Torah 1:11), posits
the talmudic injunction in its literal sense, which is probably
the reason that knowledge of the Bible indeed its memorization has been much more widespread among Oriental Jews
than among Ashkenazi Jews. The close study of the biblical
text, pursued with meticulous care and devotion by the maso-
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retes, who not only set themselves the task of establishing the
correct text but provided both punctuation and accents, was
of immense service in establishing the accepted and standard
text. It became the basis of the independent study of the Bible
which was to characterize the Middle Ages.
The other non-Pentateuchal books of the Bible were also
studied in the talmudic period. Every child was given a specific verse of the Bible which was, so to speak, regarded as his
own (H ag. 15ab; Esth. R. 7:13). (It may, however, refer to the
verse he had studied that day.) The verses quoted in these two
passages alone are from Isaiah (four verses), Jeremiah (two
verses), Psalms and Proverbs. The child was introduced to
the study of the Bible at an early age. The standard age of five
is given in Avot (5:21), but a certain amount of flexibility was
permitted (BB 21a see *Education). The Mishnah, however,
continues the age of 10 for the study of Mishnah and of 15 for
gemara, evidence that the study of the Bible was regarded as
belonging to elementary education, although it was insisted
that it be studied thoroughly (Sof. 15:9).
In the Middle Ages and After
The stimulus behind the emergence of the study of the Bible
as an independent discipline was largely the result of the challenge provided by biblical exegesis of the *Karaites. Rejecting
the entire corpus of talmudic tradition as incorporated in the
Oral Law, and calling themselves Benei Mikra (students
of the Scripture), they paid especial attention to the investigation of the biblical text and the derivation of new rules of
conduct from it. There is no doubt that it was this challenge
which stimulated Saadiah Gaon to branch out into what was
to become the new intellectual activity of independent biblical
exegesis, which largely took the form of literal exegesis. He was
followed, among the Babylonian geonim, by Samuel b. Hophni
and his son-in-law Hai Gaon, and they may be said to have
laid down the foundations for literal exegesis of the Bible. (For
the history of subsequent exegesis see above section on Exegesis.) An aspect of this study of the Bible in medieval times as
an independent discipline is the fact that from Rashi onward
biblical commentary covered the entire Bible. The commentary to the Pentateuch and Early Prophets of Isaac Abrabanel
can be regarded as marking the close of this period.
The influence of the close study of the Bible, especially
in Spain, is also evident in the neo-Hebrew poetry which
developed during this period. Unlike the paytanim of Erez
Israel and the Franco-German school, the poets of Spain,
particularly Solomon ibn *Gabirol, Moses *Ibn Ezra and
*Judah Halevi confined themselves to classical biblical Hebrew in their works, paying close attention to the rules of
grammar and displaying a perfection and finish which reveals a thorough knowledge of the Bible. Mention must be
made of a different approach to the study of the Bible which
left a permanent mark. This is the kabbalistic exegesis of the
Bible, which reached its full development in the *Zohar, the
Bible of the Mystics. This famous work can be regarded as a
midrashic commentary to the Pentateuch, but the interpretaENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bible
made possible the study and teaching of the Bible in the language in which it was written, and on the other hand, for the
first time among the Jewish masses, that study was liberated
from the theological confines to which it had been limited. A
secular approach to the Bible, which regarded it solely as the
greatest cultural and literary monument of Jewish culture, the
outstanding achievement of the Jewish people when it lived
a full national life in its own homeland, was adopted. It gave
impetus to the most striking aspect of study in modern Israel,
the restoration of the study of the Bible per se. The Bible and
its study has come into its own in modern Israel. It is studied with equal interest both in religious and non-religious
schools, with the obvious difference, however, that whereas
in the former the religious aspect is paramount and there is a
complete absence of any reference to biblical criticism, in the
latter it is studied from the point of view of literature and history. Its study can be regarded almost as a national pastime. It
has become a significant feature of Israel life; it is divided into
daily readings so that the entire Bible is read in the course of
the year, and those readings (for Prophets and Hagiographa),
with a topical commentary, are the subject of a daily broadcast.
Biblical quizzes, whether among youth, in the army, among
the general populace, or international have become a popular feature. Criticism has been leveled against this phenomenon in that it tends to emphasize a wide and comprehensive
knowledge of the text alone, with no consideration given to
its more profound aspects. But for the first time a public exists which employs the language of the Bible as its vernacular
and which has a considerable knowledge of the text. As a result, practically for the first time since biblical study became
an independent discipline, the possibility has been created for
that study to be undertaken and disseminated in Hebrew. It
has been suggested that the great enthusiasm for the Bible in
Israel is a search for roots. It is witnessed in the popular interest in Bible conferences, in archaeological digs, in the revival of
biblical place- and personal-names. Contact with the land of
the Bible and its distinctive natural features and tangible conditions has had a distinct influence, for example, in the fields
of topography, the history of settlement in Israel, and biblical
realia, which have been intensified in recent years.
[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]
Bibliography: HELLENISTIC JUDAISM: J. Freudenthal, Hellenistische Studien, 2 vols. (187475); J. Wieneke, Ezechielis Judaei poetae Alexandrini fabulae (1931); Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica,
ed. by K. Mras, 1 (1954), 419554; 2 (1956), 165256; English translation: E.H. Giffords edition, 3 (1903); F. Jacoby (ed.), Die Fragmente
der griechischen Historiker, 3C, pt. 2 (1958), 666713, nos. 72237; N.
Walter, Der Thoraausleger Aristobulos (1964); Wacholder, in: HUCA,
34 (1963), 83113; idem, in: HTR, 61 (1968), 45181. MODERN TIMES:
M. Haran, in: Ha-Universitah, 14, no. 3 (1969), 1012; idem, Biblical
Research in Hebrew (1970).
in christianity
Christianity began as a conventicle in Judaism, with a complete and unquestioned acceptance of what had come to be
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Much has been written about Pauls rejection of the Mosaic law, but although this is true, it is far from meaning that he
rejected the Old Testament. It remains Scripture for Paul and
of the profoundest value, as his constant citation to establish
or buttress this contention or that indicates, but it is no longer letter but spirit, no longer law but a ministry of grace. By
the aid of the Spirit he holds, the Old Testament can be interpreted as a spiritual book the reason others cannot do so is
because they have not received the gift of the spirit. They have
been blinded by Satan; true understanding of the Old Testament comes only from God. Paul is adept in finding spiritual
meaning in the most unlikely texts. He does not view the Old
Testament as the Christians moral guide, for his break with
the law, ceremonial and moral alike, was complete. Rather this
standard or guide is to be found based on what he calls Jesus
law of love, more exactly, what is worthy of one in Christ. The
point often overlooked is that the kind of life which Paul felt
worthy of in Christ is precisely the type of life which as a Jew
he had been from birth trained to revere, as he had found it
revealed in Scripture.
The whole insistence in the Epistle of Barnabas is that
Christians must avoid a Judaistic conception of the Old Testament. Despite Barnabas blistering criticism of the literal
understanding of passages regarding sacrifices and the food
laws, he never thinks of giving up the Old Testament or its divine Creator, as Marcion and most of the Gnostics were subsequently to do. Instead his pages are filled with such words
as Moses received these doctrines concerning food and thus
spoke of them in the Spirit; but they [the Jews] received them
as merely referring to food, owing to the lust of their flesh
(Epistle of Barnabas 10). His reference to gnosis and his antiJudaism do not mean that he was either a Gnostic or that he
rejected the Old Testament. Gnosis, as he uses the term, is
simply deeper insight into the truths of Christianity with the
aid of allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament which
allowed him to find what he sought to discover. His allegorization constantly does violence to the meaning of the text
and resolves historical events into exaggerated fantasy. Nor is
Barnabas alone. Justin Martyr indicates the same naive and
uncritical attitude toward the Old Testament. That he revered
it as inspired Scripture is evident in every page; his devotion
to allegorical interpretation, which can find Jesus clearly predicted in the most impossible passages and the cross prefigured not alone throughout the Scriptures the paschal lamb
roasted on a spit (Dialogue with Trypho 40), the extended
hands of Moses (ibid. 90), the serpent in the wilderness (First
Apology 60), the horn of the unicorn (Dialogue with Trypho
91) but also in the nautical rig of masts and yardarms, in the
plow and tools of the farmer and mechanic, in the more obscure and misty discourses of Plato, or in the nose which juts
from the face which enables the prophet to say, The breath
before our face is the Lord Christ (First Apology 55), reveals
vividly, if to a modern age grotesquely, the early Christian
confidence that the Old Testament was primarily a Christian
book, at least of a sort which must be rightly read to be propENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
erly understood. Like Paul, Justin does not deny the historical
reality of Gods relationship with Israel. What he insists upon
is that the earlier covenant looks forward to being superseded.
The prophets herald a new covenant with God, and in Christianity with its two predicted advents of Christ the one already experienced, the other yet to come their predictions
are fully realized.
The Alexandrian school, notably *Origen, deeply indebted to Philo, sets forth most thoroughly the principles
or purport of Christian allegorization, and with far less of
the bizarre overemphasis of a Barnabas or Justin Martyr. For
Origen the fulfillment of prophecy is the proof of its unquestioned inspiration. Thus, in the advent of Jesus the inspiration
of the prophetic words and the truly spiritual nature of Moses
law come into full light. The purpose of Scripture is to reveal
intellectual truths, not to show Gods working in history. Actually history often conceals truth. This, Origen sees clearly
evidenced in the pages of both Old and New Testaments. In
addition for, like Philo, Origen was in many ways a very
practical and down-to-earth man much of the legislation in
both Testaments cannot be literally observed. Such passages
must, accordingly, reveal other important, if less obvious, values. But Origen is far more restrained than were some of his
predecessors: the passages which are historically true, he is
sure, far outnumber those which are composed with purely
spiritual significance that is, which are not historically true.
In sum, all Scripture has a spiritual meaning. It should be observed that Origen is a scholar and thinks and writes as such.
His protests against what he terms the literal meaning are directed essentially against the superficial and often absurd misinterpretations put upon Scripture by ignorant people who
cannot understand metaphors and parables and who thus
regularly read poetry as pedestrian prose.
The allegorical method of interpreting Scripture, which
was the outgrowth of the Christian confidence that their
movement and their Christ were of course revealed in the allinclusive Scriptures, and that it was their task to set forth these
facts clearly so that when their Lord returned from heaven
he would find faith on the earth, encountered much criticism. Marcion, a devoted if misguided Christian and in no
small degree driven to his rejection of the Old Testament as
a Christian book by these absurd excesses of allegorization
insisted on a literal understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures,
the better to emphasize their crudity. In his eyes the Old Testament was not a Christian book, and no amount of allegorization could make it such. Jesus was not foreseen in any of
the prophecies of the Old Testament, nor did his coming in
any sense fulfill them; rather, he had come to destroy both the
law and the prophets. Marcion stands alone in this rejection,
and many interpreters have denied that he was a Christian in
any sense of that word.
Others, notably the group of scholars styled the Antiochian school and *Jerome, had a profound respect for the
literal meaning of Scripture. Jerome had earlier been an allegorist, as his first biblical commentary clearly shows, but
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obeli; material in the Hebrew but not in the Greek was indicated by asterisks. In addition to this monumental work by
Origen, other recensions of the Septuagint (Hesychian and
Lucianic) were subsequently made. Occasionally Christian
scholars in the early days had some knowledge of Hebrew
and made use of Hebrew texts, although regularly chided by
Jewish scholars for employing inferior and corrupted texts;
by and large until the 16t century, when knowledge of Greek
and Hebrew became a scholarly must, study of the Old Testament was based upon the Greek texts. Although translations
of both Testaments into Latin and Syriac were made early,
Greek continued to be the usual medium until the fourth century. Gradually Latin became the common Christian tongue,
and a standard authoritative Latin version of both Testaments
became necessary to bring order out of the chaos which had
arisen and of which Augustine remarked: Whenever in earlier
days a Greek manuscript came into any mans hand, provided
he fancied that he had any skill at all in both languages, he did
not hesitate to translate it. After completing his revision of the
Latin text of the New Testament at Rome at the behest of Pope
Damasus, Jerome went to Bethlehem and produced a version
of the Old Testament. He claimed that it was a new translation
into Latin of the Septuagint on the basis of Origens hexaplaric
text, that is, the fifth column of the Hexapla. Whether this was
actually a fresh translation, as Jerome claimed, or simply a revision of the Old Latin text, is uncertain, for Jeromes claims
are often unreliable. At any rate, he speedily became convinced
of the need of a fresh translation of the Old Testament from
the Hebrew text. This he made and, except for the Psalms, it
is the present Vulgate (cf. above, Ancient Versions, Latin). His
translation of the Hebrew Psalter was never likely to oust in
popular regard his earlier translation from the Greek (Gallican Psalter). In consequence of his work, Jerome became convinced that only the books in the Hebrew Bible had warrant to
be considered part of the Bible. Despite his arguments and insistence, the Roman Church continued to use the Apocrypha,
which had been regularly regarded as canonical by Christians
to whom the Septuagint was their Bible; the Apocrypha continued to be, as it is today, an unquestioned part of the Bible
of the Roman Catholic Church, not collected at the end, but
interspersed, as it was in the Septuagint, among the other Old
Testament books. Jeromes objections eventually found acceptance in Protestantism. Luther relegated the Apocrypha to the
end of the Old Testament. Subsequently British and American
churches came to exclude these books, even as a separate collection, from printed editions of the Bible, although in the 20t
century they have regained a measured popularity as valuable
reading. They are not, and they have not been since the Reformation, a veritable part of the Bible in Protestant eyes (see also
*Luther; *Reformation; *Protestantism). For many centuries
the basic contention of both Judaism and Christianity maintained that the Bible is totally different from all other books,
and in consequence the rules and procedures for studying and
appraising other writings do not apply here. The past three
centuries have seen the rise and development of a direct chalENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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in islam
The presence of Jewish and Christian communities in the
northern and southern Arabian Peninsula during the centuries which preceded the advent of *Muhammad is sufficient
explanation that the Arabs already knew of the existence of the
Bible in these communities during the period of the Jhilyya
(ignorance), i.e., before the Prophet of Islam began to
herald his religion. The pre-Islamic poets saw the books of
the Bible in the possession of the Jewish h akhamim and the
Christian clergymen and monks, and since the overwhelming
majority of them could not read or write Muhammad also
prided himself on his ignorance in this field (Sura 7:156; cf.
also 4:162; 40:78) the letters appeared to them as the faded
traces of abandoned campsites which could only be distinguished with difficulty (but see Brockelmann, Arab Lit, supplement 1 (1937), 32 n. 2). The poets mention the zabr the
definition of which appears to be (the book of) Psalms (of
David); Muhammad later pluralized it as zubr in the Koran
to denote the whole of the Bible (see Sura 17:57; 26:196). Muhammad knew of the Torah (tawrt; e.g., Sura 3:58, 87), which
was given to ahl al-kitb (the people of the book, i.e., Jews
and Christians) and like the Koran it is a revelation of the
word of God. The tawrt is held as a way of uprightness and
light. According to the book of Allah, the Prophets who
were loyal to Allah as well as the rabbis and the ah br (Jewish h akhamim), judged the Jews (Sura 5:48). Even though it
is obvious that Muhammad had heard much of the contents
of the Bible, there is no doubt that all of his knowledge was
acquired from teachings and tales told to him by Jews and
Christians. It appears that he was not the only one in his time
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revealed in his Bible tales, because with regard to true monotheistic beliefs there are hardly any conflicts with Jewish views;
this is not the case with respect to the divinity of Jesus and the
Trinity. In the Bible tales, however, the inexactitudes, changes,
lack of consistency, and even errors on almost every subject
are conspicuous. However, during the years of Muhammads
activity, many changes also occurred in his approach to the
Bible tales, which he sometimes deliberately adapted to the
new conditions that had emerged; some of these were political, others were connected with information acquired from
others or conclusions which he had reached himself. The
commentators of the Koran later attempted to explain some
of these faults, but with regard to others they did not conceal
the truth. The cause of these errors is sometimes the defective
source from which Muhammad drew his information, but one
may also assume that Muhammad did not attribute much importance to these details. He employed the narrative material
as a creator who sought to form a new structure from it, and
therefore often adapted it to his requirements. The function
of the tales of the Prophets on the events in antiquity and the
attitude toward the emissaries who had preceded him was to
explain his mission, his war against the inhabitants of Mecca,
his policy, and also his failures. Hence the phenomenon that
there is no uniform system in the Koran concerning the tradition of the Bible tales.
(A) Certain figures are mentioned by their names, but
with occasional changes in the pronunciation which have been
influenced by the Greek or Syrian languages, e.g., Ilys Elijah; Ismil Ishmael; Sulaymn Solomon; Firawn Pharaoh. Other changes are due to Muhammads affection for the
creation of paronomasian couples, such as Hbl and Qbl
(Abel and Cain), Hrn and Qrn (Aaron and Korah), Jlt
and T lt (Goliath and Saul), Yjj and Mjj (Gog and Magog), etc. Other changes must be attributed to Arabic writing,
which as of yet did not have the diacritic marks, e.g., *Qitfir
instead of Poti-Phar; Asiya (wife of Pharaoh; see *Firawn)
instead of Asenath (the daughter of Poti-phera). (In both
cases the difference in the reading lies in the placing of the
diacritic mark.)
(B) Some figures are alluded to in the Koran in such a
way that there is no doubt as to whom Muhammad referred,
even though they are not mentioned by their biblical name,
e.g., the three (or four!) sons of *Noah (Sura 11:4449), and
Joshua son of Nun (5:2329). This anonymity at times stems
from Muhammads obvious tendency to use insinuations.
In some cases, however, the name was not sufficiently clear
to him and he then preferred not to name the person (see:
e.g., the Sura on *Balaam son of Beor, in the identification of
which the commentators of the Koran also encounter difficulties, 7:1745).
(C) In contrast to this anonymity, some figures are mentioned in the Koran with different names from those in the
Bible; figures from the world of fantasy are cited as well: e.g.,
*Terah, the father of Abraham, is named zar; a figure from
the world of folklore is the prophet to whom *Moses went dur-
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ing his journey with his servant. The third Sura of the Koran
known as the Sura of Amrn Family, i.e., Amram. It refers to
a man whose wife (known as Hannah in post-Koranic legend)
gave birth to Mary (Miriam), the mother of Jesus, the messiah, as is apparent from the continuation of the tale (3:31ff.).
Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses, is not referred to by
her name in the Koran. Parenthetically, it should be noted
that the space allocated in the Koran to the tales and legends of the New Testament is disproportionately small, a fact
which has drawn the attention of all researchers (Hirschberg,
Juedische und christliche Lehren, 6466). On the other hand,
Christian influence is discernible in the descriptions of some
of the biblical characters, such as Lot, Solomon, and Jonah.
Many attempts, some of them successful, have been made in
the post-Koranic Muslim literature to correct the curiosities
in the tales of the Koran, to clarify the intentionally or unintentionally obscure places, to call by their correct names
those figures who are mentioned by incorrect names or only
by allusion, and to complete that which has been omitted in
the continuity of the Bible tales. It is remarkable that in spite
of the excessively large number of biblical characters referred
to by the title of prophet because God spoke to them, and the
figures of the prophets who were sent to the Arab tribes (e.g.,
*Hud, S lih ), the three great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel, are unknown. Speyer has already noted that Muhammad does not allocate a place of importance to women in the
Koran, especially not to unmarried girls. In his opinion this
is the reason why the rescue of Moses is attributed to Asiya,
the wife of Pharaoh (Sura 28:8), and not his daughter. Similarly, there is no mention in the Koran of the names of Sarah,
Hagar, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel (to whom there is a distinct
allusion in Sura 4:27), or to Zipporah, the wife of Moses. He
presents the wives of Noah and Lot in dreadful disgrace and
describes the wife of Pharaoh as a righteous woman (Sura
66:1012). In the post-Koranic literature all the above women
are mentioned by their names and even Keturah, the wife of
Abraham, is not forgotten. This process of exegesis and completion began within the circle of Muhammads friends and
supporters immediately after his death. Similar to the *Hadith collections (traditions dealing with sunnat al-nab the
ways of the Prophet, his practical conduct (halakhah) and
based on isnd, i.e., an unbroken line of transmission which
has been handed down from mouth to mouth beginning
from the companions of the Prophet or the Prophet himself)
they also began to insert, according to the same system, the
explanations, commentaries, and legendary additions of the
Koran. The legends which originated in Judaism were called
*Israiliyyt and are to be found in three literary categories:
(1) The commentaries on the Koran, the most renowned, detailed, and ancient of which is that of the historian Abu Jafar
Muhammad al-T abar (838/9992). Al-T abar published a 30volume anthology of commentaries in accordance with the
Hadith system; he presents the various opinions then prevalent on many subjects (see, e.g., in the entry Isaac concerning the question of who was bound by Abraham). Al-T abar,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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however, was also familiar with the Bible and knew the details
of the story of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua.
(2) Arabic history books. Again the first volume of the
detailed historical work by al-T abar is a rich source of Bible
tales, as they were current among the Arabs and the Muslims
in general.
(3) A third source is the Qis as al-Anbiya (Legends
of the Prophets), in which the tales were also collected in
chronological order. The first to gather these tales in writing appears to have been *Wahb ibn Munabbih, the author
of the Isrliyyt which have been lost and are only known
from quotations. The detailed work which has been printed
many times is that of al-Thalab (d. 1035), who presents his
subjects according to the Hadith system. In addition to the
legends, his work contains literal translations and paraphrases
from the Bible. A second collection which was published is
that of al-Kisa (lived during the 11t century). A third collection is extant in manuscript in the Vatican (Cod. Borgia
165); it is the earliest of the collections and belongs to Umra
ibn Wathma (eighth century). His work does not attain the
completeness of those mentioned above. Much romantic material, which cannot be traced to the Bible or to Jewish literature, has also entered into these tales: e.g., the story of Jarda,
the daughter of the king of Sidon, whom Solomon took for
his wife after he had defeated her father and whom he loved
more than all his other wives because of her beauty (T abar,
Tarkh, 1 (1357 A.H.), 351352). She continued to worship the
idols and s af ibn Barakhy, the righteous adviser of Solomon
who frequented his palace, rebuked him for this. According
to the commentators, there is an allusion to this s af in Sura
27:40, in the story of Bilqs, the queen of Sheba.
Abundant and rich biblical material has entered Arabic
and Muslim literature by the way of the Koran and tales of
aggadah. Some of the Bible tales, as well as Muhammads accusations against the changes (tabdl) and the forgeries (tah rf )
in the Bible in order to refute the prophecy of his coming
found in the Holy Scriptures of the Jews and the Christians
served as the Islamic *polemic against Judaism (and Christianity) in Muslim literature. Ibn H azm used this particular
method when he argued with Samuel ha-Nagid (11t century),
and also the Jewish apostate al-Samawal al-Maghrib (Samuel
b. Yah ya; 12t century). One may see the last echo of this polemic in the words of R. David ibn Abi Zimra, who laments:
The Arabs regard our prayer as heresy and they say that
we have added to, subtracted from, and changed our Torah
(responsa, vol. 4 (Sudilkov, 1836), 21c).
For biblical tales in Islam see also the following articles: *Aaron (Hrn); *Abraham (Ibrhm); *Adam (dam);
*Balaam (Balam ibn Bur); *Benjamin (Binymn); *Cain
and Abel (Qbl wa-Hbl); *Canaan (Kanan); *Daniel
(Dniyl); *David (Dad); *Elijah (Ilys); *Elisha (Alyasa);
*Enoch (Idrs); *Eve (H awwa); *Ezekiel (H izql); *Ezra
(Uzayr); Gog and *Magog (Yjj and Mjj); *Goliath (Jlt);
*Haman (Hmn); *Isaac (Ish q); *Isaiah (Shay); *Israliyyt;
*Ishmael (Ismil); *Jacob (Yaqb); *Jeremiah (Irmiy); *Job
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
IN THE ARTS
Gabriel Sivans The Bible and Civilization (1973) provides, inter alia, the first comprehensive survey of the Hebrew Bibles
impact on world literature, art, and music.
literature
Although the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament inspired a few writers in classical times, the Hebrew Bibles first significant impact on the secular literature of other
nations really dates from the Middle Ages with the beginning
of drama. Old Testament episodes figured in various cycles of
Sacred Mysteries or Miracle Plays sponsored by the Church
(mainly in England, France, and Germany), the vernacular
eventually replacing Latin dialogue. During the Reformation,
writers in many countries produced biblical epics which expressed the national aspirations and religious yearnings of
their people. New scope was given to original treatment of
Old Testament themes through the appearance of numerous
Bible *translations (largely the works of Protestant scholars in
Switzerland, Germany, England, Hungary, and other lands);
and these not only popularized the Bible stories, but also very
often had linguistic repercussions. From the Renaissance era
onward, biblical works increasingly contained political and
social overtones. Although *Yiddish literature is several centuries old, Yiddish fiction based on biblical themes other than
*Purim plays is of recent date. Some notable treatments of
Old Testament themes are dramas by Abraham *Goldfaden
(Akeydas Yitskhok, 1897) and Sholem *Aschs novels Moses
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1782; Abele, 1797). Two Jewish writers who turned to the Bible
for inspiration were David *Levi, the author of an allegorical
drama about Jeremiah (Il profeta, 1866), and Guido *Bedarida,
whose La bella ridestata (1927) was a Zionist allegory invoking
the figure of Abishag the Shunamite. In *Spanish and Portuguese literature, more than a quarter of the biblical autos of
the Madrid Codex (155075) deal with Old Testament themes.
During the Renaissance Luis de *Lon, a humanist of partly
New Christian descent, wrote biblical poems and translations,
while Usques Purim play was staged at Venice. Two leading
17t-century dramatists who used biblical motifs were Tirso
de Molina (La venganza de Tamar, 1634) and Caldern. Marrano and Jewish writers were, however, more prominent as interpreters of Old Testament themes in Spanish during the 17t
and 18t centuries. They include the eminent preacher Felipe
*Godnez; Francisco (Joseph) de *Caceres; Antonio Enrquez
*Gmez (El Sansn nazareno, 1651; La Torre de Babilonia,
1649); and Joo (Mose) *Pinto Delgado. Like Pinto Delgado,
Isaac Cohen de *Lara was attracted to the story of Esther,
publishing a Comedia famosa de Aman y Mordochay (Leiden,
1699). Although many Jewish writers made their appearance
in Latin America from the late 19t century, few, if any, paid
more than cursory attention to biblical motifs.
The Old Testament was a prime cultural influence in
*Dutch literature, the Calvinists of Holland seeing themselves
as Israelites engaged in a war of liberation against Catholic
Spain. The outstanding Dutch biblical writer of the 17t century was, however, a Protestant convert to Catholicism, Joost
van den Vondel, whose many biblical dramas include Joseph
in Egypten (1640), Salomon (1648), Jephta (1659), Koning David
hersteld (1660), Adam in Ballingschap (1664), and Noah (1667).
After some decline of interest in the 18t and 19t centuries,
biblical writing revived with works such as H. de Bruins epic
drama about Job (1944). Three Jewish writers of the 20t century who dealt with biblical themes were Isral *Querido (Saul
en David, 1915; Simson, 1927), Abel *Herzberg (Sauls dood,
1958), and Manuel van *Loggem (Mozes in Egypte, 1960). Old
Testament themes in *German and Austrian literature have
been traced back to the 11t century but, apart from the Miracle
plays found also in England and France, the Bibles influence
was more important during and after the Reformation. Biblical themes attracted first Sixtus Birck and Hans Sachs, then
Christian Weise (Nebukadnezar, 1684; Athalia, 1687; Kain und
Abel, 1704) and Johann Bodmer (Die Synd-Flut, 1751). Their
successors included Solomon Gessner, Friedrich Klopstock,
and J.K. Lavater (Abraham und Isaak, 1776). Biblical culture
exerted varying degrees of influence on *Herder, *Schiller, and
*Goethe (whose Faust owes much to the book of Job). Old
Testament motifs also preoccupied some of the leading 19tcentury dramatists, notably Franz Grillparzer (Esther, 1877).
In the 20t century, Georg Kaiser, Frank Wedekind (Simson
oder Scham und Eifersucht, 1914), and Thomas *Mann (Joseph
und seine Brueder, 193343) were only three of the many leading writers who turned to the Bible. The Bible also inspired a
remarkably large number of Jewish authors from the 19t cenENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
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art
The Hebrew Bible has been a continual source of inspiration
to artists from classical antiquity until the present day and
was a major source until the 17t century. In early Christian
wallpaintings in the Roman catacombs and in the carvings
on sarcophagi certain images including Sacrifice of Isaac,
Moses striking the Rock, the Three Men in the Fiery Furnace (Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego), and Jonah and
the Whale continually recur. These images, which were associated with Christian doctrines concerning the life to come,
have their artistic origins in pagan art and also, perhaps, in
Jewish visual representations of the Bible, such as those that
survive in the wallpaintings of the synagogue at *Dura-Europos. In the East Roman (Byzantine) empire, the visual interpretation of the Bible was dominated by the icon, or holy
image, whose form, credited with a divine origin, was preserved unchanged for hundreds of years. This precluded the
development of any narrative interest. The characteristic artform of Byzantium was the mosaic, but the troubled condition of the West after the fall of Rome discouraged ambitious
schemes of architectural embellishment and favored instead
the more modest illuminated manuscript. This was at first
somewhat stylized, but the Carolingian period of the ninth
century witnessed a renaissance of creativity. Traditional images were transformed, iconography was developed, and a
number of important schools of illumination came into being.
Until the close of the Middle Ages, Christian representations
of the Bible were governed by certain dogmatic considerations.
Scenes from the Old Testament were held to prefigure episodes
from the New, and were generally depicted in that light. Thus,
the sacrifice of Isaac was taken to be symbolic of the Crucifixion of Jesus; the story of Jonah and the whale as a prefiguration
of the Resurrection. In the age of the great Romanesque and
Gothic cathedrals, from the 12t century onward, most of the
arts tended to be subordinated to a total architectural ensemble. Gradually, however, each art began to regain a life of its
own. The static carved figures round the cathedrals began to
converse in groups; in Italy they were placed in niches which
isolated them in an independent area of space. The same tendency was to be seen in other arts.
The Gothic architecture of the North eliminated wallspace in order to let in the light, so that frescoes were reENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
placed by stained-glass windows. In Italy wallpainting continued to develop but, instead of remaining subordinate to the
architectural scheme, it became increasingly of equal importance to its setting. This tendency reached its culmination in
Michelangelos great biblical frescoes in the Sistine Chapel
in Rome. In the same way, illuminations which had formerly
been integral to the text of a manuscript now developed
into miniature paintings, in which an artists individuality could be expressed. Other changes occurred. Images no
longer depended to the same degree on their purely symbolic
significance. Artists sought to treat figures naturalistically,
placing them in their natural settings. More and more, the
biblical subject provided an opportunity for the study of
contemporary life. Paintings developed a third dimension,
with colors that were naturalistic rather than symbolic. The
interest in the natural setting finally developed into landscapepainting. By the 17t century, the landscape in the paintings
of Nicholas Poussin was given the same importance as the
biblical figures, and in the paintings of his contemporary
Claude Lorrain it is given even more. Some of Poussins biblical scenes are primarily studies of nature; thus his Ruth
and Boaz (c. 166064, Paris, Louvre) is in reality a portrait
of summer.
National schools of painting developed, each with its
own characteristics. The Italians rendered space according to
the laws of perspective and took inspiration for their figures
from the art of antiquity. French painters such as Claude Lorrain utilized standardized compositions resembling stage-sets.
The Germans sometimes divided up the picture-plane into a
number of sections according to the theme. Italian painters
favored boldly constructed landscapes and interiors, showing man as the master of space. Italian interiors were clearly
visible and well defined, whereas northern interiors could be
dark and mysterious, with filtered light such as is found in the
works of *Rembrandt. The Italian Renaissance glorified man.
In his Creation of Adam (1511, Vatican, Sistine Chapel), Michelangelo depicted Adam as the perfect man, the image of God.
Michelangelo created several of the most famous interpretations of Old Testament figures. His sculpture of Moses on the
tomb of Pope Julius II (c. 151316, Rome, S. Pietro in Vincoli)
and David (at the Florence Academy) and his painting of Jeremiah (c. 1511) in the Sistine Chapel frescoes are particularly
noteworthy. In the 17t century, Rubens treated biblical themes
with great dramatic freedom, and Rembrandt restored an element of supernatural mystery to painting, from which it had
been banished by the development of naturalistic representation. Rembrandt lived in the heyday of Protestantism, which
had brought the Old Testament into favor but at the same time
disapproved of paintings of the Bible. Nevertheless, it was a
major theme in Rembrandts work. In his biblical paintings, he
abandoned the longstanding tradition of typology and treated
each episode on its merits and not as a prefiguration of something else. His tender, emotional treatment often suggested a
subject rather than described it. His famous painting of David
and Saul, for example, depicts their psychological relationship
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ciarum, formerly in Strasbourg. Byzantine biblical representations apparently belonged to another recension related to
an important Greek manuscript, the Vienna Genesis (Vienna
National Library Ms. Theo. Gr. 31). The incomplete text paraphrases the Book of Genesis, and illustrations appear at the
bottom of each page. The position of the illustrations suggests
a scroll archetype for the manuscript, since classical scientific scrolls were illustrated in this way. It has been suggested
that the manuscript was made for a childs biblical education.
This theory accounts for the textual paraphrase, the legendary material, and many everyday scenes. Since the manuscript
was painted on purple-tinted vellum, it was probably meant
for a child of royal family. The style and motifs date it to the
time of Justinian (sixth century). The Cotton and Vienna
Genesis manuscripts are but two surviving examples of an
important Eastern school of illumination in Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople. The Joshua Roll in the Vatican Library (Palat. Grec. 431), probably of the tenth century,
has a very shortened Greek text as captions to the consecutive pictorial episodes from the Book of Joshua, painted on a
scroll. The style, iconography and some Classical motifs suggest a prototype which may go back to the second century
C.E.
Biblical illustrations of the Western tradition are best exemplified by the full-page illustrations of the Latin Ashburnham Pentateuch (Bib. Nat. Nouv. Acq. Lat. 2334). Dating from
the seventh century, but of unknown origin, this manuscript
contains iconography different from the Eastern tradition of
the Cotton and Vienna Genesis recension, although a complete comparison is not possible because most of the full-page
miniatures have been cut out. In the early Middle Ages illustrations existed in the East and West for books of the Bible
other than the Pentateuch. There were, for example, the fifthcentury Itala Fragments illustrating episodes from I Samuel,
and the Syrian Book of Kings of 705 C.E. (Paris, Nat. Ms. Syr.
27). The Itala Fragments (Berlin Ms. Theo. Lat. fol. 485),
which use a Latin translation earlier than that of St. Jerome,
were found in a 17t-century binding. Some of the color had
disappeared, exposing written instructions by the scribe to the
artist regarding what he should illustrate in the miniatures.
These instructions suggest the possibility that the illustration
of Bible manuscripts may have been a matter of individual
choice. By the pre-Iconoclastic period, Byzantine illuminators had developed a system of consecutive biblical illustrations. Such pictures were used, for example, to illustrate the
book of Christian Topography by Cosmas Indicopleustes. As
soon as the Iconoclastic bans were lifted after 843 C.E., biblical representations returned to Byzantine illumination, fashioned after the surviving Early Christian and Antique representations. One example is the manuscript of the Sermons of
St. Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 880 C.E.), which has extensive
biblical illustrations. Consecutive cycles also continued in
post-Iconoclastic times, mainly in illuminated psalters. Psalters illustrated the life of David, episodes from the Exodus
from Egypt, and other passages mentioned in the text. The
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two main types were the aristocratic, with full-page miniatures and the monastic, with marginal illustrations. Among
the best known Byzantine biblical manuscripts are the Greek
Octateuchs, which contain the Pentateuch and the books of
Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. The 11t- to 13t-century Octateuchs
have small miniatures within the text.
In the West, the most famous Carolingian center for biblical illustration was the French city of Tours. The Bibles of
this school illustrate the life of the first men and Moses with
the Israelites in the desert. It is possible that the large Bibles
from Tours were inspired by a biblical illuminated manuscript
of the Cotton Genesis recension and also by the Ashburnham
Pentateuch, which was probably in Tours by the ninth century. Psalters were also illustrated in Carolingian art centers,
the most notable being the Utrecht Psalter and the Stuttgart
Psalter, which contain illustrations above each psalm. For an
unknown reason, no consecutive cycle of biblical episodes existed in Ottonian illumination, and the few biblical representations were usually symbolic. Other regional schools, such
as the Anglo-Saxon, Franco-Saxon and Italian, followed the
same symbolic method. In Spain, however, a system of biblical text illustrations survived from later antiquity, and formed
the Catalan school of illumination of the 10t to 13t centuries.
Artists used this system to illustrate the commentaries of Beatus of Libana on the Apocalypse as well as complete Bibles. It
was only through the influence of Byzantine art that biblical
cycles were reestablished in the other parts of Western Europe
during the 12t century. Most French, German and English
Bibles of the 12t century had a few illustrations, probably all
derived from Byzantine prototypes. The custom of adding a
sequence of full-page biblical illustrations to the psalter was
possibly also derived from Byzantine aristocratic psalters. The
spread of biblical cycles attached to psalters from England to
France during the 13t century is parallel to the development
of the Gothic style in illuminated manuscripts. A complete
series of biblical illustrations from the Creation to the building of the Second Temple was produced in France, mainly
in Paris, during the reign of *Louis IX. The best examples
are the Pierpont Morgan Picture Bible and the Psalter of St.
Louis. This biblical series quickly spread from France to most
European countries, and was incorporated into other types of
books, such as the German Weltchroniks and Armenbibel, the
French Histoire Universelle, Bible Moralise, Biblia Pauperum
and Speculum Humanae Salvationis, and the Hebrew Spanish
Haggadot. During the early part of the Italian Renaissance, it
became fashionable to illustrate biblical texts with elaborate
miniatures on the first page of each book. Their iconography
is mainly based on central and south Italian tradition, which
preserved the most classical iconography, both in miniatures
and in the monumental art of the period. Examples are the
Pantheon Bible of the 12t century, the Padua Bible of the 14t
century, and the Bible of Borso dEste of the 15t century. The
early printed bibles mainly used the 15t-century system of Italian illuminated bibles and some of the early printed Gutenberg
Bibles were hand decorated as if they were manuscripts. The
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patterned masoretic micrography. The carpet pages are composed of repeated geometric designs or a central motif with
ornamented frame. In several manuscripts, such as the Cairo
Karaite Latter Prophets, there are two geometrical, patterned
carpet pages which have an additional palmette motif on the
outer border. The origin of such carpet pages is unknown, but
similar types can be found in the eighth-century Christian sacred books of Hiberno-Saxon and Northumbrian origin, such
as the Lindisfarne Gospels. In Hebrew Bibles they are directly
related to the traditional opening and closing pages of Koran
manuscripts of the same period.
The other type of fully decorated pages in Oriental Bibles
incorporates floral and geometric motifs outlined in micrography. The text of the minute script is usually the *masorah
magna. Some masoretic pages have a portal-like motif, although most have round, square, or rhomboid shapes. Floral
and geometric elements sometimes frame dedicatory and colophon pages. In addition to the carpet pages, the Pentateuch
manuscript dated 929 C.E. has two pages with a display or
plan of the sacred implements of the tabernacle and Temple.
These consist of the seven-branched candelabrum, shovels, the
table of shewbread, jars, basins, Aarons flowering staff, and a
highly stylized triple arcade, perhaps symbolizing the facade
of the Temple, as well as a stylized Ark of the Covenant. The
exposition of the menorah, the Ark, the jar of manna, and
the triple-gate facade of the Temple probably originated in
late Hellenistic tradition. All these elements appear on minor
Jewish art objects of the first to the third centuries, such as
clay oil lamps, painted gold-leaf glasses, and coins, as well as
in monumental wall-painting in synagogues and catacombs
and in later synagogal floor motifs.
Within the text of the Oriental Bibles, traditionally written in three columns, divisional motifs demarcate the end of
books, portions (parashot), and verses. At the end of books,
there is usually an ornamental frame containing the number of
verses in the book. Sometimes, these frames were extended to
decorative panels, like the Sra headings in the Koran. Decorated roundels or other motifs, occasionally with mnemonic
devices, mark the different parashot as well as the chapters of
the Psalms. The roundels resemble the ashira (division into
verses), and the sajdah (pause for prostration) signs in contemporary Korans. Other sections contain similar decorations.
Most frequent is a paisley motif, derived from the Arabic letter ha, which resembles the khamise (five-verse section) notation in Korans. The Songs of Moses (Ex. 15; Deut. 32) are traditionally written in a distinct verse form, sometimes framed
by decorative geometric and floral bands. An example is an
11t-century Persian Bible in the British Museum (Or. Ms.
1467, fols. 117v118v). Of the few existing examples of Oriental Bibles that contain text illustrations, two are 11t-century
Persian Pentateuchs. One has pictures of sacred vessels between the text columns of the page, illustrating the texts description of the princes gifts to the tabernacle in the desert
(Num. 7:1; Brit. Mus., Or. Ms. 1467, fols. 4343v). The other
has an illustration of the two tablets of the law inscribed with
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cial altar with a leaning ramp, the laver on its stand, vessels,
basins, pans, shovels, and forks. An earlier Bible of the same
type from Toledo (1277) is in the Biblioteca Palatina, Parma
(Ms. 2668).
The Farh i Bible (Sassoon Collection, Ms. 368), one of the
richest Bibles of the 14t century, was both copied and decorated by Elisha b. Abraham b. Benveniste b. Elisha, called Crescas (b. 1325). It took him 17 years, from 1366 to 1382, to complete the work which, as his colophon reveals, he undertook
for his own use. The manuscript was previously in the possession of the Farh i family of Damascus and Aleppo. The actual
biblical text is preceded by 192 fully decorated pages, 29 of
which are carpet pages and nine, full-page miniatures. Among
the illustrations are several pages of drawings of the implements. The Bible became a substitute for the Temple and was
called Mikdashiyyah (Gods Temple). Thus, in Spanish Bibles
the implements symbolize the messianic hope for the rebuilding of the Temple. A tree on a hill representing the *Mount of
Olives, where tradition states that the precursor of the Messiah will appear, is included among the implements a further
indication of the messianic intent of the illustration. Plans of
the Temple also exist in Spanish illumination. One early example is attached to the First Ibn Merwas Bible of Toledo, 1306
(British Museum, Ms. Or. 2201). A large fragment, executed
by Joshua b. Abraham ibn Gaon in Soria (1306), is bound together with the Second Kennicott Bible (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Ken. 2). It contains all the implements and vessels
of the Second Temple arranged in ground-plan form, unlike
the more common random arrangement.
A few Bibles have other illustrations next to the carpet
pages. The Farh i Bible has several, among which are the labyrinth of the seven walls of Jericho and the tents of Jacob and
his wives. Two novel features appear in the carpet pages of
Spanish Bibles. One is the calendar page, according to the Jewish year. Most of the calendars are circular, similar to the zodiac form; some, such as that in the First Joshua Ibn Gaon Bible
of 1301 (Paris, Bibliothque Nationale, cod. hb. 21), consist
of movable disks. Contemporary calendars were also added,
usually beginning with the year in which the manuscript was
written. The second major novelty is the comparative tables of
the masorah. The different versions of the masorah of *BenAsher and *Ben-Naphtali are written in columns framed by arcades which resemble the early medieval canon tables. In some
manuscripts, the tradition of the fully arcaded pages persists
even though the text is different. The First Kennicott Bible, a
masterpiece of Spanish-Jewish art (Oxford, Bodleian Library,
Ms. Ken. 1), was copied, punctuated, and edited according to
the masorah by Moses Jacob ibn Zabara, and completed, as
his colophon shows, on July 24, 1476, in the Spanish town of
Corunna, for Isaac son of Don Solomon de Braga. The manuscript was planned and fashioned in scope and decoration on
the model of the Cervera Bible (1300, Lisbon, Univ. Lib. Ms.
72). The illumination was done by Joseph *Ibn H ayyim, who
fashioned his colophon in zoo- and anthropomorphic letters,
similar to those of *Joseph ha-Z arefati, the artist of the Cervera
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micrography, which is also used in the ornamentation of carpet pages from the 13t to the 15t centuries.
Hebrew illustrated Bibles must have been so common in
Spain that Castilian translations of the Bible may have used
their illustrations as early as the 13t century. Jewish iconography is also predominant in the Castilian *Alba Bible.
The 15t-century Yemenite school of illumination, like
the Spanish, follows the Oriental school. Many Yemenite
Bibles contain carpet pages ornamented with floral and animal motifs in micrography of colors (e.g., Brit. Mus., Or. Ms.
2348 of Sanaa, 1469, and Or. Ms. 2211 of 1475). The micrography in these manuscripts is of biblical verses and Psalms,
not the masorah.
ASHKENAZI. Hebrew Bibles of the Ashkenazi school fall
into two categories: one consists of complete Bibles, mostly in
large, even giant, format, such as the Ambrosian Bible (Ulm,
123638), written in large script with Aramaic translation incorporated into the text after each verse; the other contains
the Pentateuch with its Aramaic translation, the five scrolls,
*haftarot, parts of Job, and sometimes the passages of doom
in Jeremiah (2:293:12; 9:2410:16). Ashkenazi Bibles are illuminated in a different fashion from the Oriental and Spanish
ones. Most are decorated by the punctuator-masorete in micrography and pen drawing, either in large initial-word panels or in the margins of the text area. Illuminated Bibles of the
Ashkenazi tradition do not contain carpet pages and only occasionally have expositions of the Temple implements. What
sometimes appears like a carpet page is in fact an excess of
masoretic material copied in decorative shapes, either at the
beginning or the end of books of the Bible. Implements of the
Temple are very rare. One example occurs in the Regensburg
Pentateuch of about 1300, now in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, which has an exposition of the tabernacle implements,
including Aaron in his robes extending his arm to light a very
large menorah, which is depicted on the facing page.
The most common illuminations of French and German
Bibles are initial-word panels, which sometimes include text
illustrations. The Rashi commentary on the Pentateuch from
Wuerzburg, 1233 (Munich, Cod. Heb. 5) has initial-word panels to each parashah which includes a text illustration. The
Ambrosian Bible (Mss. B. 3032 inf.) has illustrated panels to
most of the books. At the end of the third volume, this manuscript has full-page eschatological illustrations, which depict
the Feast of the Righteous in Paradise, and a cosmological
picture. The British Museum Miscellany (Ms. Add. 11.639) of
c. 1280 contains three cycles of full-page miniatures of biblical episodes, which were probably intended to illustrate a
northern French Bible. Painted initial-word panels also exist
and sometimes extend to a full page, as in the Duke of Sussex
Pentateuch in the British Museum. Sometimes these painted
panels illustrate the text, but a few are merely decorative. The
46 medallions of the frontispiece to Genesis in the Schocken
Bible in Jerusalem depict episodes from the entire Pentateuch,
beginning with Adam and Eve by the Tree of Knowledge and
678
bible codes
dex; G. Hareloff, in: ZAW, 69 (1957), 10329; S.C. Cockerell, and M.R.
James, A Book of Old Testament Illustrations of the Middle of the Thirteenth Century (1927); A. de Laborde, Etude sur la Bible moralise illustre, 5 vols. (191127). ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS: Gutmann,
in: Gesta, 5 (1966), 3944; D.S. Sassoon, Ohel Dawid, 1 (1932), 614,
pl. 1; B. Narkiss, in: Catalogue of the Israel Museum, 40 (1967), nos.
1, 2, 3, 4, 16, 18, 19; idem, Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts (1969), index; C.O. Nordstrm, in: Byzantion, 2527 (195557), 48793; idem,
The Duke of Albas Castilian Bible (1967); M. Gengaro, F. Leoni and G.
Villa, Codici decorati e Miniati dellAmbrosiana (1957), 1362; Mayer,
Art, nos. 53, 523, 670A, 800, 876, 1071, 1190, 1721, 2003, 2074, 2207,
2221, 2223, 2525, 2547, 2775, 2776.
679
bible societies
680
bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY. As in general bibliography, the development of Hebrew bibliography is characterized by the transition
from brief listings to more detailed catalogues. The listing of
the books of the Bible which appears in the Talmud (BB 14b,
15a) had as its purpose the fixing of an authoritative order for
the biblical books as a guide for the copyists. Lists of books for
broader purposes, among them those of the Cairo Genizah,
have come down from the 11t century. Sometimes these listings contain only the name of the book; in other cases, the
authors name is also included. In some of the later booklists,
short annotations also appear. Bibliographical lists within the
biographical listings are found in genealogical works of the
16t century, as in Sefer Yuh asin by Abraham *Zacuto and in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
681
bibliography
682
bibliophiles
In 1975 Shunami published a supplement to the second edition of his Bibliography of Jewish Bibliographies (1965). The
500-page supplement contains information on over 2,000
bibliographies published between 1965 and 1975. In his introduction Shunami notes that this number compares with that
for the first hundred years of the Wissenchaft des Judentums.
He comments on the rapid growth of bibliographies relating to the Holocaust and to the State of Israel. On the other
hand, the small number of entries related to Hebrew printing
is a reflection of the decline of study of this subject with little
extra interest having been aroused by the 500t anniversary
of Hebrew printing. There is also a decrease in entries relating to private collections, reflecting a decline in major Jewish
book collectors. Shunami also decries the shortage of Jewish
bibliographers.
Bibliography: S. Brisman, History and Guide to Judaic Bibliography (1977); C. Roth, in: Jewish Studies in Memory of Israel Abrahams (1927), 38493; Shunami, Bibl, xivxv (Eng.), 7ff.; Urbach, in:
KS, 15 (1938/39), 2379; Assaf, ibid., 18 (1941/42), 27281; Yaari, ibid.,
21 (1944/45), 192203; Zulay, ibid., 25 (1948/49), 2035; Sonne, in:
SBB, 1 (195354), 5576; Aloni, in: Sefer Assaf (1953), 3339; idem, in:
Aresheth, 1 (1958), 4460.
BIBLIOPHILES. Little is known about private book collectors in antiquity and in the early Middle Ages. It might be
assumed, however, that patrons of learning, such as *Hisdai
ibn Shaprut, collected important Hebrew and other books.
Historical sources refer to the library of *Samuel ha-Nagid.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
683
bibliophiles
684
bickel, alexander M.
685
bickel, solomon
BICKEL, SOLOMON (Shloyme; 18961969), Yiddish essayist and literary critic. Born in eastern Galicia, Bickel was an
officer in the Austrian army during World War I. As an active Labor Zionist, he was editor of Di Frayhayt (192022), the
Yiddish organ of the Poalei Zion of Bukovina, and later editor
and co-editor of Yiddish literary periodicals in Romania. Immigrating to the United States in 1939, he served, from 1940,
as literary critic of the New York Yiddish daily, Der Tog and in
the 1960s as head of *YIVOs Commission on Research.
Among his ten books, which appeared between 1936 and
1967, the following are the most significant: A Shtot Mit Yidn
(A City with Jews, 1943, 1960), a survey of the vanished culture of Kolomyya written with mild irony, deep sympathy,
and tolerant understanding which highlights acts of moral
greatness and poetic, joyous moments in the lives of ordinary
Jews; Dray Brider Zaynen Mir Geven (We Were Three Brothers, 1956), further recollections of Kolomyyas Jews; Remenye
(Romania, 1961), which chronicled developments of Jewish cultural life in Romania between the two world wars, intimately experienced by the author; Shrayber fun Mayn Dor
(Writers of My Generation, 2 vols., 195865), essays on Yiddish writers.
Bickel was one of the foremost literary critics and essayists, writing significant works on such writers as Isaac *Bashevis Singer, Itzik *Manger, Avrom *Sutzkever, the *Inzikhist
movement, and editing a memorial volume for fellow literary
critic Shmuel *Niger. He set each writer in his specific environment, defining his uniqueness at the same time. A jubilee
volume, Shloyme Bikel Yoyvl-Bukh (1967) summarized and
evaluated his role in Yiddish literature, including numerous
poetic and prose tributes to him.
Bibliography: LNYL, 1 (1956), 3002; J. Glatstein, In Tokh
Genumen (1956), 4739; A. Glanz-Leyeles, Velt un Vort (1958), 23340;
S.D. Singer, Dikhter un Prozaiker (1959), 30312; D. Sadan, in: Avnei Miftan (1962), 27984; S. Liptzin, Maturing of Yiddish Literature
(1970), 2302. Add. Bibliography: E. Shulman, in: YIVO Bleter,
43 (1966), 30912.
[Sol Liptzin]
686
BICKERMAN, ELIAS JOSEPH (18971981), historian. Bickerman was born in Kishinev, Russia, and studied at the University of Petrograd (Leningrad). In 1918 he escaped to Germany, studied at the University of Berlin until 1926, and taught
there from 1929 until 1932, when he emigrated to France. He
was charg de cours in the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
from 1933 to 1940 and in the Centre National de Recherche
Scientifique from 1937 on. After the German conquest of
France he again escaped, this time to the United States. There
he taught at the New School for Social Research and the Ecole
Libre in New York (194246), was research fellow at the Jewish Theological Seminary (194650), taught at the University
of Judaism in Los Angeles (195052), and was professor of
ancient history at Columbia University (195267). After his
retirement from Columbia he taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Bickerman wrote innumerable articles in scholarly journals in many fields of ancient history, notably law, religion
(especially Judaism), epigraphy, chronology, and the political
history of the Hellenistic world. Outstanding among his many
books are Der Gott der Makkabaeer (1937); The Maccabees
(1947; also as part 2 of his From Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees, 1962), which revolutionized the historical understanding
of the Maccabean revolt; Institutions des Sleucides (1938); and
Chronology of the Ancient World (1968) the last two being the
fundamental works on their respective subjects. He also wrote
The Ancient History of Western Civilization (1976); Studies in
Jewish and Christian History, vol. 3 (published in 1986); and
The Jews in the Greek Age (published in 1988).
Add. Bibliography: A. Momigliano, Essays on Modern and
Ancient Judaism (1994).
[Morton Smith]
BIDNEY, DAVID (19081987), U.S. anthropologist and philosopher. Born in the Ukraine, Bidney was educated in Canada. He taught philosophy at Toronto, Yeshiva, and Yale uni-
687
biegeleisen, henryk
BIEGELEISEN, HENRYK (18551934), Polish literary historian and ethnographer. On his mothers side a grandson of
Nah man *Krochmal, Biegeleisen was assimilated and even
made his sons convert. He was for many years principal of a
girls school run by the Jewish community at Lvov. Biegeleisen published a number of studies and monographs on Polish
romantic literature. These include Pan Tadeusz Mickiewicza
(Mickiewiczs Pan Tadeusz, 1884); Lirnik mazowiecki (The
Bard of Mazovia, 1913) on the poet Teofil Lenartowicz; and
Ilustrowane dzieje literatury polskiej (An Illustrated History of
Polish Literature, 5 vols., 18981901). He also edited the works
of Sowacki, *Mickiewicz, and Fredro, and a Polish translation
of Shakespeare. In the field of ethnography Biegeleisen wrote
a number of original studies, among them Matka i dziecko w
obrzdach, wierzeniach i zwyczajach ludu polskiego (Mother
and Child in the Rites, Beliefs, and Customs of the Polish
Folk, 1927); Wesele (Wedding, 1928); U Kolebki przed
otarzem nad mogil (At the Cradle Before the Altar By
the Tomb, 1929); Lecznictwo ludu polskiego (Popular Cures
of the Polish Folk, 1930); and mier w obrzdach, zwyczajach i wierzeniach ludu polskiego (Death in the Rites, Customs, and Beliefs of the Polish Folk, 1931). One of his sons,
BRONISLAW BIEGELEISEN-ELAZOWSKI (b. 1881), was professor of psychology in various Polish universities, and published works in his field.
Bibliography: Polski Sownik Biograficzny, 2 (1936), 3032;
F. Pajczkowski, in: Pamitnik Literacki, 31 (1934), 2447 (bibl.);
Wielka Encyklopedia Powszeczna, 1 (1962), 77980 (on Bronislaw;
incl. bibl.).
[Moshe Altbauer]
BIEL (Bienne), town in the Swiss canton of Berne. Citizenship (Buergerrecht) was granted to several Jewish families in
1305, although Jews probably settled in Biel earlier. They were
allowed to trade freely and engage in moneylending, until
their expulsion from the city, the date of which is unknown.
688
bielsk Podlaski
In 1921 Bielsk had 2,392 Jews, but under Soviet rule (193941)
its Jewish population increased to 6,000 when large numbers
of refugees arrived from the western parts of Poland occupied
by the Germans. In the summer of 1940 a number of refugees
were exiled to the Soviet interior. In the spring of 1941 young
Jews were drafted into the Soviet Army. When the war broke
out between Germany and the U.S.S.R. (June 22, 1941), groups
689
bien, julius
period of Hitler, and followed it with Religion der religionslosen Juden (1938; Religion of the Non-Religious Jews, 1944). In
1939 he fled to England where he worked on the staff of the
World Jewish Congress, later becoming a member of the executive, and drafted the claims for German *reparations after
World War II. Bienenfeld took part in the juridical preparations for the Nuremberg processes. His book Rediscovery of
Justice (1947) argued the claim of the Jews to compensation.
His writings on Austrian civil law include Die Haftung ohne
Verschulden (1933).
Add. Bibliography: H. Goeppinger, Juristen juedischer Abstammung im Dritten Reich (19902), 26970; R. Heuer (ed.), Lexikon
deutsch-juedischer Autoren 2, (1993), 42830 (bibl.).
[Josef J. Lador-Lederer]
[Edward L. Greenstein]
690
691
released from this restriction with his wifes consent (loc. cit.;
Darkhei Moshe, EH 1:1, n. 8; Sh. Ar., EH 76).
H erem de-Rabbenu Gershom
SUBSTANCE OF THE BAN. In the course of time and for varying reasons (Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:61, 2), it became apparent
that there was a need for the enactment of a general prohibition against polygamy, independent of the husbands undertaking to this effect. Accordingly, relying on the principle
of endeavoring to prevent matrimonial strife (which principle had already been well developed in talmudic law) Rabbenu *Gershom b. Judah and his court enacted the *takkanah
prohibiting a man from marrying an additional wife unless
specifically permitted to do so on special grounds by at least
100 rabbis from three countries (i.e., districts; see below).
This takkanah, known as the H erem de-Rabbenu Gershom,
also prohibited a husband from divorcing his wife against her
will. Various versions of the takkanah exist (Oz ar ha-Posekim,
EH 1:61, 1) and, indeed, scholars have even questioned the
historical accuracy of ascribing its authorship to Rabbenu
Gershom. This, however, does not in any way affect its validity.
Since the prohibition against polygamy is derived from
this takkanah and not from any undertaking given by the husband to his wife, she is not competent to agree to a waiver of
its application, lest she be subjected to undue influence by her
husband (Sh. Ar., EH 1:10; Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:61, 5). Nevertheless, if the husband does enter into a further marriage it
will be considered legally valid (Tur, EH 44; Darkhei Moshe,
ibid., n. 1; Sh. Ar., EH 44; Beit Shemuel 11), but as a prohibited
marriage, and the first wife can require the court to compel the
husband to divorce the other woman. Since the first wife cannot be obliged to live with a z arah (rival), she may also ask
that the court order (but not compel) the husband to give her
(i.e., the first wife) a divorce (Sh. Ar., EH 154; Pith ei Teshuvah,
5; PDR vol. 7, pp. 6574, 2016). The husband continues to be
liable to maintain his wife until he complies with the courts
order even though they are living apart because as long as
he refuses to divorce her he is preventing her from remarrying and thus being supported by another husband (Keneset
ha-Gedolah, EH 1, Tur 1617; PDR vol. 7 p.74). However, if the
first wife and the husband agree on a divorce and this is carried out, he is then released from his obligation to divorce his
second wife, although his marriage to her in the first place
was in defiance of the prohibition (Sh. Ar., Pith ei Teshuvah, 5;
Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:80, 1 and 2).
APPLICABILITY OF THE h EREM AS TO TIME AND PLACE.
Many authorities were of the opinion that the validity of the
h erem was, from its inception, restricted as to both time and
place. Thus, it is stated: He [Rabbenu Gershom] only imposed the ban until the end of the fifth millennium, i.e., until the year 1240 (Sh. Ar., EH 1:10); others, however, were of
the opinion that no time limit was placed on its application.
At any rate, even according to the first opinion the h erem remained in force after 1240, since later generations accepted
692
RELEASE FROM THE PROHIBITION. The object of prohibiting bigamy is to prevent a man from marrying a second
wife as long as he is not legally entitled to dissolve his first marriage. Thus, in order to avoid any circumvention of the prohibition, the h erem also generally prohibits divorce against the
will of the wife. This double prohibition may, however, result
in the husband being unjustifiably fettered in circumstances
where he would not otherwise be required by law to maintain
his ties with his wife and yet may not divorce her against
her will. This can, therefore, be obviated by the availability
of a hetter (release) from the h erem against bigamy, which
is granted by the bet din in the appropriate circumstances.
This hetter does not mean that the first wife is divorced, but
that the husband is granted exceptional permission to contract
an additional marriage. Naturally, such a step is only taken
if the court, after a full investigation of the relevant facts,
is satisfied that a release is legally justified. Thus, for example,
a release would be granted in a case where a wife becomes
insane. Her husband cannot, therefore, maintain normal married life with her, a fact which would ordinarily entitle him
to divorce her; this he cannot do because of her legal incapacity to consent. However, as the first marriage must continue
to subsist, the husband remains liable to support his wife
including medical costs but he is permitted by the court to
take an additional wife (Bah , EH 119; Sh. Ar., EH 1; Beit Shemuel
1, n. 23; 119, n.6; H elkat Meh okek, ibid., 1012; Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:72, 19). Should the first wife subsequently recover her
sanity she cannot demand that her husband divorce his
second wife, as he married her in accordance with the law.
On the contrary, the husband would be entitled and even
obliged to divorce his first wife, so as not to remain with
two wives, and if she refuses to accept his get he would be free
from any further marital obligations towards her, save for
the payment of her ketubbah (Sh. Ar., EH 1; Beit Shemuel, ibid.;
Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:72, 1718; PDR 3:271). However, the
hetter would be revoked if the first wife recovered her mental capacity before the second marriage took place (Sh. Ar.,
EH 1, Pith ei Teshuvah, 16, concl.; Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:72,
14).
On the strength of the aforementioned rule, a release
from the h erem may also be obtained by a man whose wife
refuses to accept a get from him, despite the courts order that
she does so, e.g., in the case of her adultery or where the marriage is a prohibited one (Sh. Ar., EH 1:10; H elkat Meh okek,
ibid., 16; Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:63, 7). Some authorities are of
the opinion that in the event of the wifes adultery the husband
only requires a hetter from a regular court and not from 100
rabbis, since the h erem was not meant for such a case (Oz ar
ha-Posekim, EH 1:73, 2). A hetter would be justified where a
wife who has had no children during a marriage which has
subsisted for at least ten years a fact which entitles the husband to divorce her refuses to accept the get and thus prevents her husband from remarrying and fulfilling the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply. In such a case the husband
is obliged to take another wife to fulfill the mitzvah and so he
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
would be entitled to the hetter (Sh. Ar., EH 1:10; Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:68; Arukh ha-Shulh an, EH 1:25).
As has already been stated, in Oriental communities for
a husband to take a second wife requires either his first wifes
consent or the courts permission. The wife is required to give
her consent before a regular court (not 100 rabbis) and the
court will permit the second marriage only if satisfied, after a
thorough investigation of the facts, that the wife has consented
wholeheartedly, without anger or under undue influence (Oz ar
ha-Posekim, EH 1:61, 5, subsec. 3; Sedei H emed, Asefat Dinim,
Ishut 2). Without her consent, the court will generally only
grant a release to the husband in such cases where it would do
so were the h erem to apply (Sedei H emed; Oz ar ha-Posekim,
ibid.), since it is presumed that the husbands undertaking the
ketubbah is given on the understanding that no circumstances
shall exist which, if the h erem were to apply, would warrant
his release from the prohibition (Sedei H emed, ibid.; Oz ar haPosekim, EH 1:72, 9).
PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING THE HETTER. After the court
has decided that a release from the h erem should be granted,
the matter is referred to 100 rabbis of three countries (Oz ar
ha-Posekim, EH 1:61, 9) for approval and, if so approved, the
hetter takes effect. As a preliminary, the husband is required
to deposit with the court a get for his first wife, together with
an irrevocable authority for the court to have the get delivered
to his first wife as soon as she is able and willing to receive it
from an agent appointed by the husband at the request of the
court. However, in the case where the hetter is given because
of the first wifes insanity, it is customary to give her a new get
when she recovers, rather than the one previously deposited
with the court, as some doubt could be cast on the latters validity, since it was the wifes insanity that made it impossible to
deliver the get to her originally and there may therefore possibly be other legal objections to its validity. The deposited get is
usually only delivered to her if she is in danger of becoming a
deserted wife (see *Agunah; Arukh ha-Shulh an, EH 1:26; Oz ar
ha-Posekim, EH 1:72, 3031). Furthermore, the husband is also
generally required to deposit with the court the amount of the
wifes ketubbah in cash or provide adequate security (Bah , EH
119; Sh. Ar., EH; Beit Shemuel 1, n. 23; Arukh ha-Shulh an, EH
1:25; Oz ar ha-Posekim, 1:72, 2324). Some authorities are of the
opinion that the husband must also deposit with the court,
or adequately secure in like manner, such sum as the court
may determine to cover the wifes maintenance and medical
expenses (Oz ar ha-Posekim, EH 1:72, 29).
State of Israel
At a national rabbinic conference called in 1950 by the chief
rabbis of Israel, an enactment was passed making monogamy
(apart from the above-mentioned permissions) binding upon
all Jews irrespective of their communal affiliations. This takkanah, however, does not render a second marriage invalid
according to biblical law, and therefore, if such a marriage does
take place, it can be dissolved only by divorce. The criminal
law of the state, however, renders it an offense on pain of im-
693
bigart, jacques
694
E. Berkovitz, Tenaibe-Nissuin u-ve-Get (1966), passim; B.Z. Schereschewsky, Dinei Mishpahah (1967), 6180; M. Elon, in: Hed haMishpat (1957), 23335; idem, H akikah Datit (1968), 3436, 10416,
12227. Add. Bibliography: M. Elon, Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri, (1988)
1:55455, 63334, 653, 675; idem, Jewish Law (1994) 2:67475, 78386,
807, 83334; Al Averat Ribui ha-Nissuim, in: Hed Hamishpat 1213
(1957), 23335; M.A. Friedman, Ribui Nashim be-Yisrael (1986); M.
Elon and B. Lifshitz, Mafteah ha-Sheelot ve-ha-Teshuvot shel H akhmei
Sefarad u-Z efon Afrikah, vol. 2 (1986), 39394; B. Lifshitz and E.
Shochetman, Mafteah ha-Sheelot ve-ha-Teshuvot shel H akhmei Ashkenaz, Z arfat ve-Italyah (1997), 290; E. Westreich, Temurot, be-Maamad
ha-Isha ba-Mishpat ha-Ivri (2003).
BIGART, JACQUES (18551934), Alsatian rabbi and longtime secretary general of the *Alliance Isralite Universelle.
Bigart began his service to the Alliance in 1882 as assistant
to the secretary general Isidore Loeb, whom he succeeded
in 1892. Single-minded in his devotion to every detail of the
policy and administration of the Alliance, Bigart was deeply
involved in refugee rescue and immigration management. In
1915, he developed an enduring partnership with Lucien *Wolf
of the British Jewish Conjoint, later Joint Foreign Committee, to resist Zionist and Jewish nationalist diplomatic initiatives and uphold acculturationist Judaism. Their joint efforts,
which ended only with Wolf s death in 1930, grew and prospered through World War I and into the Paris Peace Conference as they coordinated strategies to protect Jewish minority
rights in the succession states and developed programs and
relief for refugees and stateless people.
As an Alsatian patriotically committed to France and as
a Jew unreservedly committed to regeneration on the French
model, Bigart shared the values and objectives of the professional gentlemen who sat on the Alliances Central Committee. Under his administration, the Alliance prospered and
grew, particularly in the area of education, founding schools
from Morocco to Teheran, from the Balkans through the
Middle East to Cairo. The numbers peaked at the outbreak
of World War 1 when 48,000 students attended 188 schools.
Bigart, who knew the minutest detail of every classroom and
school building, micro-managed the budgeting and administration of each Alliance-supported institution. Under his
leadership, elementary schools for boys and girls grew into
secondary schools and vocational and agricultural schools
blossomed. Alliance normal schools trained teachers for Romania and ICA schools in South America and Sephardi rabbinical training began in Constantinople. In recognition of
his signal services and contributions, the French government
awarded Bigart with the Legion of Honor and promoted him
to officer.
So many commitments, however, overextended resources
just when American and German Jews grew less inclined to
support a Franco-centric enterprise and Bigart preserved
Gallo-centrism and Jewish heterogeneity at the cost of serious institutional losses and international support. Bigart, who
had little interest in the rise of Hebrew studies, was hostile to
the Jewish nationalism of Eastern Europe and uncompromisENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
ingly rejected Zionism as an overt threat to everything emancipated Jewry had accomplished. Towards the end of his life,
the surge of European antisemitism, the coming of Nazism,
the threats to Soviet Jewry, and the failure of more liberal
options in the succession states, together with consistently
closing doors to Jewish emigration, made him slightly more
receptive to a broader federation of Jewish organizations to
combat these threats
Bibliography: E. Antbi. LAdventurier Immobile: Jacques
Bigart (18551934), in: Les Missionnaires juifs de la France, 18601939
(1999); E.C. Black, Jacques Bigart, in: F. Buisson, ed. Dictionnaire de
pdagogie (2005); idem, Lucien Wolf et Jacques Bigart: Partenaires en
la politique et la diplomatie, in: Revue des tudes Juives (2005).
[Eugene C. Black (2nd ed.)]
695
696
BIKERMAN (Bickermann), JOSEPH (18671941), journalist active in Jewish political life. Born in Okny, Podolia, Bikerman graduated in philology at Odessa University in 1903. In an
article written in 1902 in the monthly Russkoye Bogatstvo, he
strongly opposed Zionism, and called upon Jews to join with
progressive elements in Russia to help in the countrys rebirth.
His article aroused a controversy in which V. *Jabotinsky and
B. *Borochov took part. He contributed to the democratic
journal Yevreyskiy Mir, and wrote studies in Russian on the
Pale of Settlement (Cherta yevreyskoy oszedlosti, 1911) and on
Jews in the grain trade (Rol yevreyev v russkoy khlebnoy torgovle, 1912). After the Bolshevik revolution, Bikerman settled
in Berlin. He was one of the founders of the short-lived Patriotic Union of Russian Jews Abroad, which supported the
ideal of the restoration of the Russian monarchy. His views
on Jewish political problems are summarized in his Russian
pamphlet on the self-knowledge of the Jew (K samopoznaniyu
yevreya, 1939). He was the father of the historian Elias J. *Bickerman and the scientist Jacob J. *Bikerman.
Bibliography: B. Dinur, Bi-Ymei Milh amah u-Mahpekhah
(1960), 6668; J. Frumkin (ed.), Russian Jewry (1966), index.
bildersee, adele
Some Mishnah editions include a fourth chapter outlining laws related to the status of the androgynos. This represents a variant tradition of a passage also found in the Tosefta
2:37.
There is a full Palestinian Talmud to the three chapters
of the Mishnah, but no Babylonian.
Bibliography: N. Sacks, The Mishnah with Variant Readings: Order Zeraim, vol. 2 (1975); J. Rabbinowitz, The Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi): Bikkurim (1975); S. Lieberman, Hellenism
in Jewish Palestine (19622); D. Hoffmann, The First Mishna and the
Controversies of the Tannaim, trans. P. Forchheimer (1977).
[Eliezer L. Segel (2nd ed.)]
697
served as principal of the Temple Beth-El and Emanuel religious school and wrote several textbooks for Jewish children.
Among her published works are Jewish Post-Biblical History
Through Great Personalities (1918); Bible Story in Bible Words
(6 vols., 192430); Out of the House of Bondage (1925); Imaginative Writing: A Course in College Composition (1927); and
Hidden Books: Selections from the Apocrypha for the General
Reader (1956).
The Dean Adele Bildersee Scholarship provides full or
partial tuition to an outstanding student for graduate study
at Brooklyn College.
Bibliography: LNYL, 1 (1956), 292; M. Ravitch, Mayn Leksikon (1958), 8586; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 229. Add. Bibliography: I. Yanasovitch, in: Di Goldene Keyt, 83 (1974), 18591; B.
Kagan, Leksikon (1986), 83.
[Sol Liptzin]
698
[Stefan Krakowski]
Bibliography: T. Brustin-Bernstein, in: Bleter far Geshikhte,
3 no. 12 (1950), 6576, table 3; Khurbn Bilgoraj (1957).
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica]
In the Aggadah
The aggadah indicates Bilhahs righteousness by the statement
that, after the death of Rachel and Leah, the Shekhinah (which
had been continuously present in their households) passed to
Bilhah (Zohar 1:175b). After the death of Rachel, Jacob moved
Bilhahs bed into his chamber. Bilhah is identified as the messenger (Gen. 50:16) sent by the brothers to Joseph, to inform
him of his fathers will (Tanh . B. 3:18).
Bibliography: C.H. Gordon, in: RB, 44 (1935), 3536; Noth,
Personennamen, 10; S. Yeivin, Meh karim be-Toledot Yisrael ve-Arz o
(1960), 14950.
biltmore program
BILLIKOPF, JACOB (18831950), U.S. social worker. Billikopf, born in Vilna, emigrated to the United States in the
late 1890s. He was a son-in-law of Louis *Marshall. An imaginative administrator and fund raiser, receptive to fresh ideas,
Billikopf became professionally active in labor relations as
well as Jewish social work. He served as superintendent of the
Jewish Settlement, Cincinnati (190405), of the United Jewish Charities of Milwaukee (190507), and of the United Jewish Charities, Kansas City, Missouri (1907). While in Kansas
City Billikopf played an important role in the establishment
of the pioneering municipal Board of Public Welfare. During
World War I Billikopf directed the campaign to raise $25 million for Jewish war relief and in 1918 he directed the National
Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Emigrants.
He was appointed executive director of the Federation of Jewish Charities, Philadelphia (1919), which became his base for
many services in the labor field. He was the impartial chairman of the Mens Clothing Industry, New York City, and the
Ladies Garment Industry, Philadelphia. In the 1930s he was
appointed impartial chairman of the federal Regional Labor
Board. Billikopf also served as vice president of the American
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
Association for Old Age Security, chairman of the Committee of One Hundred on Unemployment Relief, Philadelphia
(193031), and board chairman of the New York Clothing Unemployment Fund.
[Roy Lubove]
699
bilu
BILU (Heb. , Hebrew initials of Beit Yaakov Lekhu veNelkhah; House of Jacob, come ye and let us go, Isa. 2:5), an
organized group of young Russian Jews who pioneered the
modern return to Erez Israel. Bilu was a reaction to the 1881
pogroms in southern Russia, when the ideology of Jewish
nationalism began to replace that of assimilation, which was
prevalent among the youth. At first not linked with any particular country, the Bilu ideology soon came to mean a return
to Erez Israel. One of the first Biluim, H ayyim *Hisin, testified: The recent pogroms have violently awakened the complacent Jews from their sweet slumbers. Until now, I was uninterested in my origin. I saw myself as a faithful son of Russia,
which was to me my raison dtre and the very air I breathed.
Each new discovery by a Russian scientist, every classical literary work, every victory of the Russian kingdom would fill
my heart with pride. I wanted to devote my whole strength
to the good of my homeland, and happily to do my duty, and
suddenly they come and show us the door, and openly declare
that we are free to leave for the West.
The reawakening of the Jewish spirit coincided with the
increasing waves of emigrants and fugitives leaving Russia as
a result of the pogroms. Jewish leaders devised various solutions, one of which was settlement of Erez Israel, but most of
700
bimah
BIMAH (Heb.
; elevated place), platform in the synagogue on which stands the desk from which the Torah is read.
Occasionally, the rabbi delivers his sermon from the bimah,
and on Rosh Ha-Shanah the shofar is blown there. In Sephardi synagogues, the h azzan conducts most of the service
from the bimah. In some Ashkenazi synagogues, the h azzan
has a separate reading stand immediately in front of and facing the ark from which he conducts the service. Alternative
names are almemar (from the Arabic al-minbar, platform)
or, among Sephardi Jews, tevah (box). The use of the bimah
as a pulpit for reading the Torah in public was known as early
as the times of Nehemiah (Neh. 8:4). Raised platforms were
also known to have existed in the times of the Second Temple
(Sot. 7:8). The Talmud mentions a wooden pulpit in the center of the synagogue of Alexandria in Egypt (Suk. 51b). In Orthodox synagogues of the Ashkenazi rite, the bimah is often
in the center, with some intervening seats between the bimah
and the ark (based upon the opinion of Maimonides, in Yad,
Tefillah, 11: 3; Tur., OH 150, and Rema, Oh 150: 5). In Sephardi
and Oriental synagogues, the bimah is placed in the middle
of the room opposite the ark and without intervening seats.
The location of the bimah close to the western wall in Sephardi
synagogues was permitted by Joseph *Caro. In his commentary Kesef Mishneh (to Maimonides, loc. cit.), he wrote: It is
not essential to place the bimah in the center; all depends upon
the place and time. A heated dispute, however, resulted from
moving the bimah from the center toward the ark in Liberal
synagogues after the Reform movement started. The most
vehement antagonists of this innovation were Moses *Sofer
(H atam Sofer, Oh 28), and Ezekiel *Landau (Noda bi-Yhudah
701
bimko, fishel
BIMKO, FISHEL (18901965), Yiddish dramatist and novelist. Born in Kielce, Poland, Bimkos first realistic narrative, Di
Aveyre (The Transgression), was published in 1912 and his
first play, Oyfn Breg Vaysel (On the Shores of the Vistula),
was staged in Lodz in 1914. Thereafter his plays were produced
in the Yiddish theaters of Europe and America. Especially
popular were Ganovim (Thieves, 1921), a realistic play depicting the Polish-Jewish underworld, and East Side (1938), a
naturalistic drama of Jewish life in New York, where Bimko
settled in 1921. His selected dramas were published in seven
volumes in 1936, and his selected narratives in three volumes
in 1941 and 1947.
Bibliography: Rejzen, Leksikon, 1 (1926), 2702; LNYL, 1
(1956), 2935; A. Beckerman, F. Bimko Dramaturg un Realist (1944);
B. Rivkin, Undzere Prozaiker (1951), 297320. Add. Bibliography:
A. Gordin, Yiddish Lebn in Amerike (1957).
[Sol Liptzin]
702
bing
East). Towards the end of its existence in 1938, the organization became associated with bi-nationalism, as Haim *Margolis-Kalvaryski became its most active member. Another group
that was active in this period, and advocated an agreement
with the Arabs which included certain features of bi-nationalism, was known as the group of five. This group, which included Gad *Frumkin, Moshe *Smilansky, Pinh as *Rutenberg,
Moshe *Novomeysky, and Judah L. *Magnes, and held meetings with both Arab leaders and Zionist leaders, proposed as
part of an agreement with the Arabs that would enable continued Zionist development, the establishment of a legislative
council based on parity.
On the eve of World War II, all the various groups
and individuals that sought a solution of the Jewish-Arab
problem on the basis of bi-nationalism got together in an
organization that called itself the League for Jewish-Arab
Rapprochement and Cooperation. The group included former members of Berit Shalom and Kedmah Mizrah ah, leaders
of Ha-Shomer ha-z air and Poalei Zion Semol, members of
Aliyah H adashah (a political group made up primarily of new
immigrants from Germany), and several members of Mapai
and the General Zionists B. The first act of the new group
in March 1939 was to publish a pamphlet called Al Parashat
Darkenu (At the Crossroads), which dealt with the Arab
problem and ways of resolving it. Among the articles appearing in it were several by Martin *Buber, who had recently
immigrated to Erez Israel from Germany and was a supporter of bi-nationalism for moral reasons. In the course
of its existence the League published various constitutional
proposals for a federal state based on the idea of bi-nationalism. The adoption in May 1942 of the *Biltmore Program,
which for the first time singled out the establishment of
a Jewish commonwealth in Palestine as the Zionist goal,
and news coming out of Europe regarding the Nazi final
solution, strengthened the resolve of the League to struggle for the only plan that it regarded as realistic. Within the
League a new group was formed in August 1942, calling itself
Ih ud (Unity). Ih ud opposed the idea of establishing an independent Jewish state, which it regarded as ruinous, and advocated a bi-national solution. Among the active members of
this group was Judah L. Magnes, Martin Buber, Haim Margolis-Kalvaryski, Moshe Smilansky, Henrietta *Szold, and Justice Joseph Moshe *Valero. Magnes tried to get the Sephardim
and Agudat Israel involved in the new organization but failed.
Ih ud published a periodical called Beayot (Problems). At
the same time Ha-Shomer ha-Z air joined the League as an
organization.
When the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry appeared in Erez Israel in March 1946, the League did not appear
before it, but Magnes, Buber, and Smilansky did, as representatives of Ih ud. Ha-Shomer ha-Z air submitted a memorandum to the Committee, entitled The Case for a Bi-National
State. Both Ih ud and the League appeared before the United
Nations Special Committee on Palestine (*UNSCOP). Though
the members of both Committees, however, were impressed
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
BING, name of a number of Jewish families from the *Bingen community, which branched out in Germany, Lorraine,
England, and the Netherlands. Bingen Jews are mentioned in
*Frankfurt in the early and middle 15t century. Expulsions in
the 16t and 17t centuries helped to disseminate the name in
northeastern France and southwestern Germany; four families
from Bingen settled in Frankfurt around 1530 and ten additional families named Bing settled there by the end of the 17t
century. *Court Jews named Binge were active in *Hanau and
elsewhere. In the late 18t century persons bearing the name
were prominent in the community of *Metz. Abb *Grgoire
wrote (February 1789) to Isaiah *Beer-Bing of Nancy encour-
703
bing, ilse
BING, ILSE (19001998), photographer. Born into an affluent family in Frankfurt, Germany, Bing was trained in music and art. While she pursued a doctorate in art history and
photographed buildings for her dissertation, she developed a
passion for photography. In early 1929 she produced picture
essays for a Frankfurt newspaper, but she decided to leave for
Paris that summer after seeing an exhibition of photographs
by Florence Henri, an exponent of New Photography, which
was characterized by tight close-ups, unusual angles and the
rendering of everyday objects as abstract geometric forms. In
the 1930s Bing used the newly marketed 35-millimeter Leica
as an extension of her personal vision, and she mastered darkroom techniques to show the subtleties of light and movement
against the treacherous streets of Paris at night. She favored
overhead shots and tilted angles of German Constructivists,
but her photographs were often infused with softer, more lyrical and humanistic qualities.
Like Andre Ketesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson, she caught
the spare geometries in ordinary Parisian life. She photographed at night with available light and produced images
that were studies of light and deep shadow. She said that as
she walked through Paris with her camera, reacting intuitively
to what she saw, she was unencumbered by thoughts about
making art. She became a technical innovator, improvising
lenses, experimenting with cropping, and discovering the
dramatic effects of solarization, which produces a black outline resulting from the controlled use of light during printing. She discovered the process by accident in the darkroom,
she said. Her photographs were regularly shown in galleries
in Paris in the 1930s alongside the work of other members of
the photographic avant-garde. In 1936 she was included in the
first modern photography exhibition held at the Louvre, and
the next year she was part of the landmark photography show
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her best-known
work from that period is a self-portrait. She photographed a
mirror image of herself, one bent arm leaning against a table,
704
705
706
of what may be called biographical anthologies. Israel Kammelhar has written biographies of all the great figures of medieval German H asidim. The Sarei ha-Meah on the rabbis of
the 19t century by Rabbi J.L. *Fishman, though sometimes
uncritical, is a treasurehouse of biographical material. Much
biographical material from prominent Jewish characters of
the 18t20t centuries is contained in the last three volumes
of The Jewish Library series, edited by Leo Jung (vol. 6, Jewish Leaders 17501940, 1953; vol. 7, Guardians of Our Heritage,
1958; vol. 8, Men of Spirit, 1964). Naturally the general vogue
of compiling biographies of contemporary Jewish figures after their decease is as marked among Jews as in general literature, but it contains no specific Jewish aspect. From the
end of the last century autobiographies have become more
common. Mention may be made of those of Isaac Hirsch
Weiss, J.L. Gordon, H .N. Bialik, Chaim Weizmann, Cyrus
Adler, and Nahum Goldmann. H. Ribalow has published an
anthology of autobiographies of American Jews (1965). Other
collections have included Leo W. *Schwarzs Memoirs of my
People (1943) and H. Bachs Juedische Memoiren aus drei Jahrhunderten (1936).
Yiddish Life-Writing
With the exception of a few pre-modern Yiddish memoirs,
most notably the memoirs of Glueckel of Hameln (16891719;
publ. as Zikhroynes, 1896), Yiddish life-writing has developed
since the 1860s, beginning with fictional autobiographies
Sholem Yankev *Abramovitshs Dos Kleyne Mentshele (The
Little Man, 1864) and Yitskhok Yoel Linetskys Dos Poylishe
Yingl (The Polish Lad, 1867). The first biographical entries
on Yiddish writers appeared in Nahum Sokolovs Sefer Zikkaron le-Sofrei Yisrael ha-H ayyim Itanu ka-Yom (A Memoir
Book of Contemporary Jewish Writers, 1889), and *Sholem
Aleichem presented biographical entries on Yiddish writers in his Di Yidishe Folks-Bibliotek (The Yiddish Folk Library, 1888). While the first Yiddish literary autobiography
was Sholem Yankev Abramovitshs Shloyme Reb Khayims
(Shloyme, Hayims Son, 18941914, first part in Hebrew, Petikhta, later reworked in Yiddish), the two other classical Yiddish writers, Sholem Aleichem (Funem Yarid, From the Fair,
191316) and I.L. *Peretz (Mayne Zikhroynes, My Memoirs,
191316), also wrote autobiographical novels.
In addition to literary autobiography, other subgenres
emerged in the 20t century. Yekhezkel Kotiks Mayne Zikhroynes (My Memoirs, 1913) exemplifies the rich subgenre of
Yiddish ethnographic memoir, while the memoirs of Jewish
political leaders and party members, cultural leaders, actors,
painters, and other artists also appeared. A rich subgenre
also developed in the poeme or long narrative poem, e.g.
Menakhem Boreyshos Der Geyer. Kapitln fun a Lebn (The
Walker: Chapters from a Life, 1943). A particularly rich subgenre is the Holocaust memoir, originally crafted as testimony
and eyewitness account to the eras unspeakable crimes, exemplified in Mark Turkovs 176-volume series, Dos Poylishe
Yidntum (Polish Jewry, Buenos Aires 194666), which in-
707
Biographical Lexicons
Although much biographical material about Jews can be
found in the medieval Jewish chronicles, the first lexicon of
Jewish biographies did not appear till the end of the 18t century. S. Shunamis Bibliography of Jewish Bibliographies (1965;
supplement 1975) contains sections on biographical dictionaries of Jews in general (nos. 25942661), of Jews in Zionism
(nos. 187276), Jews in America (nos. 217283), Jews in the
Holocaust (nos. 253944), Jews in Palestine and Israel (nos.
201727, 205766a), as well as on biographical literature (nos.
266267). The following is a list of dictionaries of the history
of the lives of individual Jews:
GENERAL JEWISH BIOGRAPHICAL LEXICONS
S. Wininger, Grosse juedische National-Biographie (7 vols.,
192536), the most comprehensive work of this kind;
Juedischer Plutarch; oder biographisches Lexikon der markantesten Maenner und Frauen juedischer Abkunft (2 vols.,
1848);
Juedisches Athenaeum. Galerie beruehmter Maenner juedischer
Abstammung und juedischen Glaubens (1851), limited to
the 19t century;
H.S. Morais, Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century
(1880), 100 biographies, mainly of rabbis and community leaders, but also of some Jews prominent in
public life;
708
biram, arthur
709
biran, avraham
his own method of teaching the Bible. For Biram the training
of pupils toward fulfilling their duties as citizens, and the inculcation of discipline, order, and precision, were educational
principles which could determine the fate of the nation. He
devoted special attention to physical education, military training, and scouting. Under his direction, the course of studies at
the Reali High School consisted of six years of primary and six
years of secondary education, the latter being divided into two
stages, permitting specialization in the senior grades. Some
of Birams reforms were later incorporated into the educational system of the country. Biram received the Israel Prize
for Education in 1954.
Bibliography: Sefer Biram (1956); Tidhar, 4 (1950), 1696f.
[Joseph Bentwich]
710
birkat ha-minim
711
birkat ha-torah
This was also the version commonly used in the Babylonian rite,
in which the penultimate sentence, And let them be blotted
out, was replaced by a petition to cut off all enemies, may all
the enemies of your people and their opponents be speedily cut
off. Other variants reflect a longer, more elaborated request for
obliteration of enemies. The language of the benediction clearly
demonstrates that it was directed, not at non-Jews in general,
but rather specifically aimed against external persecutors of
the Jews and against Jewish separatists who posed a danger to
Judaisms internal cohesion. Nonetheless, as early as the first
centuries C.E. we find church fathers voicing the claim that the
Jews curse the Christians in their prayers. Such contentions,
alongside censorship of siddurim, wrought significant changes
in the wording of the benediction during the Middle Ages.
Also contributing to this modificatory process were shifts in
the social environment of the Jews and in their worldview.
Without exception, the word noz erim was expunged from
all Jewish prayer rites, and in many, substitutions were made
for minim (heretics) and meshummadim (apostates), as in the
accepted opening in the Ashkenazi rite: may the slanderers
(malshinim) have no hope. Some Reform prayer books omit
this benediction entirely.
Bibliography: G. Alon, The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age (70640 C.E.) (1980), 288307; I. Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy:
A Comprehensive History. tr. R.P. Scheindlein (1993), 3134, 4546;
E. Fleischer. Le-Kadmoniyyut Tefillot ha-H ovah be-Yisrael, in: Tarbiz, 59 (1990), 43537; D. Flusser, Mikat maasei ha-Torah u-Virkat
ha-Minim. in: Tarbiz, 61 (1992), 33374; J. Heinemann, Prayer in the
Talmud: Forms and Patterns (1977), 22526; W. Horbury. The Benediction of the Minim and Early Jewish-Christian Controversy, in:
Journal of Theological Studies, 33:1 (1982), 1961; R. Kimelman. Birkat
Ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Prayer in
Late Antiquity, in: E.P. Sanders (ed.), Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 2 (1981), 22644; J.J. Petuchowski, Prayerbook Reform in
Europe (1968), 22325; S. Schechter, Genizah Specimens, in: JQR,
10 (1898), 657.
[Uri Ehrlich(2nd ed.)]
712
nations and hast given us Thy Law. They are followed by selections from Scripture (Num. 6:2427), the Mishnah (Peah
1:1) and the Talmud (Shab. 127a), recited in symbolic fulfillment of the duty to study Torah. Jacob b. Asher interpreted
the words Torah of truth to refer to the written Torah, and
the words everlasting life to refer to the oral tradition. These
benedictions contain 40 words, said to symbolize the 40 days
Moses spent on Mount Sinai (Tur OH 139). The benedictions
over the Law have uniform wording in all modern rituals, including that of Reform Judaism. Only the Reconstructionist
trend, which repudiates the notion of the election of Israel,
has changed the wording of the middle part of the benediction to read who hast brought us close to Thy service instead
of who hast chosen us.
Bibliography: ET, 4 (1952), 61531; J. Heinemann, Ha-Tefillah (1964), 1058; E. Levy, Yesodot ha-Tefillah (19522), 130, 3156;
Hertz, Prayer, 1217, 1903; E. Munk, World of Prayer (1961), 4149,
1745.
birmingham
713
714
BIRNBAUM, MENACHEM (18931944), Austrian portraitist and graphic artist, son of Nathan and Rosa *Birnbaum;
brother of philologist Solomon Asher *Birnbaum and the
poet Uriel *Birnbaum. Born in Vienna, Birnbaum had limited
contact with art teachers and thus trained himself as an autodidact. He moved to Berlin in 1911. In 1912 Menachem Birnbaum was art editor of the Yiddish monthly Der Ashmeday,
and in 1919 became art editor and contributor to Der Schlemiel.
In 1920 he published a volume of his drawings, Chad Gadjo,
which made him famous. He was appointed art director of
two important Jewish publishing houses, Juedischer Verlag
and Welt-Verlag and designed book covers and illustrations.
With the advent of the Nazis (1933) he fled to Holland where
he continued to draw portraits. In 1937 he published a small
book with caricatures, Menachem Birnbaum zeigt Karikaturen, in The Hague. Caught by the Nazis in 1943, he perished
in Auschwitz concentration camp. Menachem Birnbaum did
not join his father, Nathan, in turning to traditional Judaism
but always kept himself aware of his Jewish identity as an individual and as an artist.
bibliography: D. Schmau (ed.), Menachem Birnbaum:
Leben und Werk eines jdischen Knstlers (1999); G. Schirmers,
Zum Leben und Werk von Menachem Birnbaum, in: Exil. Forschung, Erkenntnisse, Ergebnisse. 18,2 (1998), 3453; K. Zijlmans, Jdische Knstler im Exil. Uriel und Menachem Birnbaum, in: sterreichische Exilliteratur in den Niederlanden 193440. Hrsg. v. Hans
Wuerzner (1986), 145155; M. Birnbaum, Menachem Birnbaum zeigt
Karikaturen (1937).
[Sonja Beyer (2nd ed.)]
birnbaum, nathan
ceived the idea that the Jews were an ethnic entity, a people,
and propagated his ideas among his schoolmates. In his first
year at the Vienna university studying law he founded, together with Reuben *Bierer and Moritz *Schnirer, Kadimah,
the first Jewish nationalist students organization (1882) with
the aim of criticizing assimilation and setting up a Jewish nationalist consciousness. In 1884 his first publication appeared,
a pamphlet called Die Assimilationssucht, Ein Wort an die sogenannten Deutschen, Slaven, Magyaren etc. mosaischer Confession von einem Studenten juedischer Nationalitaet. In 1885
he founded and edited the first Jewish nationalist journal in
German, Selbstemanzipation (later entitled Juedische Volkszeitung), where he coined the terms Zionist and Zionism. The
policy and name of the journal came from Leo *Pinskers pamphlet Autoemanzipation. Birnbaum was, during the decade
18851895, the most distinguished intellectual personality in
Jewish national circles in Austria and Germany (Bein). In
1893 he published Die nationale Wiedergeburt des juedischen
Volkes als Mittel zur Loesung der Judenfrage, Ein Appell an die
Guten und Edlen aller Nationen, a summing up of his first
Zionist phase. He now gradually passed to a cultural conception of Zionism, as evidenced by his publication Die juedische
Moderne (1896) and his official address, Zionism as a Cultural
Movement, at the First Zionist Congress (1897).
After a short period of service as chief secretary of the
central Zionist office run by *Herzl, ideological disagreements
broke out between the two. After the Second Zionist Congress
(1898) Birnbaum made a fundamental turn in his political
thinking: He became a spokesman for diaspora nationalism,
publishing articles in which he severely criticized Herzls diplomatism, the inorganic nature of the Zionist movement,
and the Zionist negation of the Diaspora, its culture and language (Yiddish). He gradually withdrew from Zionism, affirming that Israel comes before Zion, i.e., that the striving for
Erez Israel must not entail neglect of the Jewish People itself.
His concept was now that of an interterritorial nation, comprising and integrating all existing Jewish groups which had a
cultural life of their own. The most important group in his eyes
was the Yiddish-speaking one in Eastern Europe. The political
aspect of these ideas found expression in a demand for the cultural autonomy of the Jews, in conformity with the autonomy
principle for the various peoples of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which was then gaining ground. One of its cornerstones
was language. In the case of the Jews this was Yiddish. Birnbaum set about working for its recognition as a language in
its own right and an important cultural value, mainly through
articles in his weekly Neue Zeitung (19061907). He learned
Yiddish himself and used it as a literary medium. In 1907 he
ran in Buczacz, Galicia, for the Austrian Reichsrat as a Jewish
Nationalist but was fraudulently defeated by the Polish candidate. In 1908, while on a visit to America, he proposed that a
world conference on behalf of Yiddish should be called. This
took place in Czernowitz in 1908 with the participation of the
leading Yiddish writers. A resolution was passed there declaring Yiddish to be a (not the) national language of the Jewish
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
people. From 1908 to 1911 Birnbaum lived in Czernowitz, publishing the newspapers Dos Folk and Vokhen-Blat.
Birnbaums acquaintance with East European Jewry was
now deepening and he arrived at the religious core of the
nation. His basic attitude underwent another fundamental
change. The atheism of his materialist philosophy as well as
his secular nationalism were gradually replaced by the conviction that the vocation and destiny of the Jewish People was a
religious one. Finally, God entered into his consciousness.
The turning point seems to have been an intimate religious
experience in 1908. He later wrote that he had not sought
God but that God had sought him. During the next few
years before World War I his writings and lectures dealt with
problems of religion. He gradually accepted the Jewish tradition and way of life, and finally joined the ranks of religious
Jewry as a practicing Jew. However, he did not feel satisfied
with the state of affairs he met with there. He maintained that
religious Jewry was not making a serious attempt at fulfilling
its world mission as an exemplary people living on the basis of Gods Word. He outlined a program toward effecting a
change. Those things in the environments, occupations and
habits of the Jews which were barring the way to spiritual advancement must be altered. The highest authority of the Jewish
nation was to be vested in a body of Guardians of the Faith.
The first step would be the founding of a small community of
Those Who (want to) Ascend (H ever Olim), who would act
as a nucleus, and for whom he laid down a scheme for disciplined living. These ideas were embodied in Et Laasot (The
Time Has Come for Action) and Divrei ha-Olim (The Words
of Those Who (want to) Ascend, both in 1917, Heb. and Yid.).
He repudiated his own former pagan-Jewish life in Gottes
Volk (1917), with further editions in 1918 and 1921 (translated
into English under the title Confession, 1946). In Vom Freigeist
zum Glaeubigen (1919) he described his spiritual development.
Upon the refounding of the *Agudat Israel World Organization (1919) he became its first general secretary. At that time,
after the war, revolution, and pogroms in Eastern Europe, he
devoted much effort to the problem of emigration and endeavored to enlist general Jewish cooperation toward regulating
on a big scale what amounted to an unorganized, panic mass
flight. His book Im Dienste der Verheissung (1927) contains a
critical analysis of the activism of the Orthodox as a grafting of fashionable ideologies onto an organism that was inherently of a different nature and suggested to the activists
a more fruitful field the gigantic task of creating the necessary material preconditions toward effecting a metamorphosis. Nearness to God can only result from a complete inner
transformation of the masses through their sociological restratification in favor of a life based mainly on agriculture, and
this is to be achieved by the large-scale colonization of sparsely
populated or practically uninhabited territories. The anarchy
in the life of the Jewish community can be remedied by the
establishment not of an interterritorial, state-like organization
but of an interterritorial All Israel Congregation, under authoritative spiritual leadership. The next publication devoted
715
birnbaum, philip
BIRNBAUM, PHILIP (19041988), U.S. author and translator. Birnbaum was born in Zamowiec, Poland, and immigrated to the United States in 1923. He attended Howard College and completed a Ph.D. degree at Dropsie College. In 1942,
he published his dissertation, a critical, scientific edition of the
Arabic commentary of the Karaite Yefet Ben Ali, on the Book
of Hosea. Birnbaums edition of Yefet Ben Alis work was edited from eight manuscripts and included an English language
introduction, a translation into Hebrew of the Arabic original,
and critical notes on the text.
But Birnbaums talent and lasting contribution was in
popularizing Jewish law and custom, and in translating synagogue liturgy. His popular works included A Treasury of Judaism (1957), A Book of Jewish Concepts (1975), The Concise
Jewish Bible (1977), and a selection of the Maimonides Code,
the Mishneh Torah (1944, 1967), with Hebrew and English
translation. Birnbaum was widely known and respected for
his fine translation and annotation of synagogue liturgy. His
editions of liturgy for daily prayer, Sabbath, festivals, and the
High Holidays became immensely popular, selling an estimated 300,000 copies. The Hebrew Publishing Company
described him, at his death, as the most obscure bestselling author.
Birnbaum was a regular columnist and book reviewer for
716
birobidzhan
717
birobidzhan
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718
birobidzhan
+10,000*
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40,000
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1928 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37
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45
48
59
Jewish population of Birobidzhan 192859. The lower graph shows the total
Jewish population, the upper one the immigration into the region.
719
birstein, yossel
zhan (1965); A.G. Duker, Jewish Survival in the World Today (1939),
4759; idem, in: Contemporary Jewish Record (MarchApril 1939),
2426; J. Emiot, Der Birobidzhaner Inyen (1960); Jews in Eastern Europe (1966ff.), index; Z. Katz, in: Bulletin on Soviet Jewish Affairs, 2
(July, 1968); C. Abramsky, in: L. Kochan (ed.), Jews in Soviet Russia
since 1917 (1970), 6275 (incl. bibl.).
[Jacob Lvavi (Babitzky) / Shimon Redlich]
720
birth
721
birth
722
birthday
lical To Modern Times (2004); R.L. Millen, Women, Birth, and Death
in Jewish Law and Practice (2004), 70108; S. Sabar, Childbirth and
Magic. Jewish Folklore and Material Culture, in: D. Biale (ed.), Cultures of the Jews: A New History (2002), 671722.
BIRTHDAY. The celebration of birthdays is unknown in traditional Jewish ritual. A comparatively late exception, however, is the *bar mitzvah and the bat mitzvah. The only reference to a birthday in the Bible is that celebrated by Pharaoh
(Gen. 40:20). In Reform and Conservative synagogues, special prayers of thanksgiving are recited on the occasion of significant birthdays (e.g., 50t, 70t, 80t, etc.) and at silver and
golden wedding anniversaries.
723
birzai
BIRZAI (Lith. Biri; Yid. ), district capital in northern Lithuania, near the Latvian border. Jews started to settle
there in the beginning of the 17t century. Birzai was one of
the three leading communities of the medinah [province] of
Zamut (Zhmud) in the mid-17t to mid-18t century. A small
Karaite community also existed there. The Jewish population numbered 1,040 in 1760; 1,685 in 1847; and 2,510 in 1897
(57 of the total). In 1915 the Jews were expelled from Birzai
by the Russian military authorities. After the war some of
the exiles returned. The Jewish community developed during the period of Lithuanian independence (191839). There
were approximately 3,000 Jews living in Birzai in 1934 (36
of the total). Three of the 12 city councilors were Jewish. Hebrew and Yiddish schools and a talmud torah were in operation. Most Jews earned their livelihoods from trade in wood
products and flax; several factories for weaving and spinning
were owned by Jews.
Shortly after the occupation of the town by the Germans
in June 1941, the Lithuanian nationalists began to murder and
maltreat the Jews. A ghetto was established and on August 8,
1941, Lithuanians executed 500 Jewish men. The remaining
Jews were similarly murdered shortly thereafter.
Bibliography: Yahadut Lita, 2 (1967), 2924. Add. Bibliography: PK Lita, S.V.
[Yehuda Slutsky / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)]
BISCHHEIM, French town in the department of the BasRhin. Jews settled there after their expulsion from *Colmar in
1512. H. *Cerfberr, one of the general syndics of Alsace Jewry
724
BISCHOFFSHEIM, family of bankers in Belgium, Britain, and France. The familys founder RAPHAEL (NATHAN;
17731814) was born in Bischoffsheim on the Tauber and settled as a young man in Mainz, where he became a prominent
merchant and president of the Jewish community. His elder
son, LOUIS (LUDWIG) RAPHAEL (18001873) found work at
a banking house in Frankfurt. When he was twenty he moved
to Amsterdam where he established a bank. Through his marriage to Amalie Goldschmidt, he became related to Europes
banking aristocracy. His business expanded rapidly and in
1827 he established a branch in Antwerp, in 1836 together with
the Goldschmidt family a London branch known as Bischoffsheim and Goldschmidt, and in 1846 another branch in Paris.
In 1848 he moved to Paris, where his bank cooperated with
great French houses in national and international transactions. At some stages in the development of his banking busiENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bisgyer, maurice
BISCHOFFSHEIM FAMILY
ELLEN ODETTE
18571933
HENRY LOUIS
18281907
LOUIS RAPHAEL
18001873
CLARISSA
BIEDERMANN
d. 1922
AMALIE
RAPHAEL
LOUIS
18231906
AMALIA
RAPHAEL NATHAN
BISCHOFFSHEIM
17731814
AUGUST
BAMBERGER
of Mainz
banker
AMALIA CATHERINE
18581933
Sir MAURICE
FITZGERALD
18441916
20th Knight of Kerry
LUDWIG
BAMBERGER
18231899
HEINRICH
BAMBERGER
of Antwerp
AMALIA
CLARA
L. CAHEN
DANVERS
*GOLDSCHMIDT
WILLIAM ULICK
OCONNOR
18451898
4th Earl of Desart
JOSEPH
HIRSCH
RAPHAEL
JONATHAN
18081883
of Brussels
HENRIETTE
CLARA
18331899
Baron MAURICE
de *HIRSCH
18311896
FERDINAND
REGINA
SOLOMON H.
LEOPOLD
725
bishop, joey
726
Bibliography: Loevinson, in: RMI, 7 (1933), 477ff.; Y. Colombo, ibid., 34 (1968), 492.
Bitburg controversy
727
Bitburg controversy
On April 11, the White House announced that the Bitburg cemetery was on Reagans itinerary, and that Reagan
and Kohl would lay a wreath there in a spirit of reconciliation, in a spirit of forty years of peace, in a spirit of economic
and military compatibility. Kenneth J. Bialkin, chairman
of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, called Reagans decision to visit Bitburg but not Dachau
deeply offensive, and noted author and Holocaust survivor
Elie *Wiesel, then chairman of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Council, told The New York Times that he could
not believe that the president would visit a German military
cemetery and refuse to visit Dachau or any other concentration camp.
At a press conference on April 18, Reagan made matters worse by appearing to equate dead German soldiers with
the victims of the Holocaust. They were victims, he said of
the soldiers buried at Bitburg, just as surely as the victims
in the concentration camps. Reagans comments drew angry responses from American Jewish leaders. Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, described Reagans remarks as a distortion
of history, a perversion of language, and a callous offense to
the Jewish community.
A long-scheduled ceremony in the White House on
April 19, awarding, the Congressional Medal of Achievement,
provided the charismatic Wiesel with an unprecedented opportunity to publicly confront the White House on national
television. Despite fierce pressure to mute the confrontation
with Reagan, whose strong support of Israel was valued, Wiesel implored him not to go to Bitburg. That place, he told
the president during a nationally televised White House ceremony, is not your place. Your place is with the victims of
the SS. Other Jewish leaders similarly called on Reagan to reconsider, as did 53 U.S. senators on April 15, and 101 members
of the U.S. House of Representatives on April 19 in bipartisan
letters to the president.
Immediately after the public castigation by Elie Wiesel,
the White House announced that Bergen-Belsen had been
added to the presidents German itinerary. Two days later,
Menachem Rosensaft, addressing thousands of Holocaust survivors gathered in Philadelphia, called on survivors, children
of survivors, and American war veterans to confront Reagan
at the gates of Bergen-Belsen. If the president insisted on going to Bitburg, Rosensaft said, we do not need him and we
do not want him in Bergen-Belsen.
Former President Richard M. Nixon, former Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger, and conservative columnist William F. Buckley, among others, endorsed the Bitburg visit, and
several public opinion polls indicated that only about 52 percent of Americans were opposed to it. West German officials,
meanwhile, pressured the Reagan Administration to stand
fast. On April 19, Alfred Dregger, the chairman of Kohls
parliamentary group, wrote to U.S. senators who had urged
Reagan to change his itinerary that his only brother had died
on the Eastern Front in 1944, and that If you call upon your
728
bittul ha-tamid
BITHIAH, name given by the rabbis to the daughter of Pharaoh who found the infant Moses. Many legends are told of
her in the aggadah. The name Bithiah (daughter of God) was
given her as a reward for her devotion in treating Moses as
her own child (Lev. R. 1:3). Her purpose in bathing in the Nile
was to cleanse herself of the impurity of the idolatry rampant
in Egypt (Sot. 12b). When her handmaidens refused to disobey the royal decree and save the Israelite child, her arm was
lengthened miraculously so that she could reach the casket in
which Moses lay; as soon as she reached it she was cured of
her leprosy. She called the child Moses, not only because she
had drawn him out of the water, but because she knew he
would draw the children of Israel out of Egypt (Mid. Hag. to
Ex. 2:10). Although Moses had many names, God called him
only by the name Bithiah gave him (Lev. R. 1:3). At Moses intercession, Bithiah was not afflicted by any of the ten plagues
and therefore was the only female firstborn to be spared in
Egypt (Ex. R. 18:3). She became a proselyte and married Caleb
because, as she had opposed her father, he would oppose the
spies (Lev. R. 1:3). Bithiah was one of those who entered Paradise in her lifetime (Mid. Prov. 31:15). She is numbered among
the 22 women of valor (Mid. Hag. to Gen. 23:1, s.v. Takom).
Bibliography: Ginzberg, Legends, 2 (1946), 266ff., 369; 5
(1947), 398ff., 435.
BITTELMAN, ALEXANDER (18901982), U.S. Communist leader and journalist. Bittelman was born and grew up in
Odessa, Russia. He joined the socialist Bund at an early age,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
729
bitumen
thorities or by rich and violent individuals. Ashkenazi takkanot of the 12t century set various limits to the exercise of
this right to arouse public scandal for the rights of the individual, while takkanot attributed to *Gershom b. Judah
sought to regulate it: If a man summons his neighbor to
court and the latter refuses to appear, the plaintiff may not
stop the morning prayers and reading of the Torah, unless he
has first three times stopped the evening services. A Book
of Customs compassionately adds: However an orphan or a
widow may interrupt even the first time until justice is done
them. Until 1876 a Jew wishing to protest communal abuses
was permitted to rise and say, Ich klame. This privilege was
extended to the aggrieved in Eastern Europe also, including
cases of complaints against the kahal itself. In Russia, after the
conscription law of 1827, many a poor mother availed herself
of the opportunity to prohibit further prayer until she had
stated her protest over the cruel drafting of her male child as
a *Cantonist.
Bibliography: Finkelstein, Middle Ages, index S.V. Interrupting the prayers; Baron, Community, index S.V. Interruptions
of Prayers; I.A. Agus, Urban Civilization in Pre-Crusade Europe, 2
(1965), index; S. Assaf, Battei ha-Din ve-Sidreihem (1924), 2529;
H.H. Ben-Sasson, Perakim be-Toledot ha-Yehudim bi-Ymei ha-Beinayim (1962), 1156.
[Isaac Levitats]
BLACK, ALGERNON DAVID (19001993), educator, author and Ethical Culture leader. Born to immigrant Russian
Jewish parents, Black began a lifelong involvement with the
Society for *Ethical Culture after receiving a scholarship to
the Ethical Culture School in New York City. After graduating from Harvard in 1923, he returned to teach history, business, and ethics in the Ethical Culture school system. Black
combined his teaching responsibilities with voluntary work
for a variety of social causes, including efforts to strengthen
workers rights and equalize housing opportunities. This
civic engagement reflected the principles and priorities of the
Ethical Culture movement, particularly its belief in the importance of the individual, its emphasis on living by ethical
standards, and its work on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised. A protg of Felix *Adler, Black rapidly moved into the
leadership cadre of the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
He was appointed to the Societys Board of Leaders in 1934,
chosen as executive leader in 1943, elected chairman of the
Board of Leaders in 1945, and installed as Senior Leader ten
years later. He held this office until 1973, but remained active
within the Society as its leader emeritus for another decade.
Articulate, energetic, and magnetic in personality, Black was
the public face of the movement for over 40 years, speaking
regularly on the radio, participating on a plethora of boards,
panels, and committees that dealt with social and civil rights
issues, and writing five books.
Bibliography: H. Friess, Felix Adler and Ethical Culture
(1981); New York Times (May 11, 1993).
[Adam Mendelsohn (2nd ed.)]
[Zeev Yeivin]
730
black death
BLACK, SIR MISHA (19101977), British architect and industrial designer. Born in Baku, Russia, Black was taken to
England as an infant. Before World War II he helped to found
the Artists International Association, a radical organization
with an anti-Nazi program for assisting refugee artists then
attempting to enter Great Britain. In 1933 together with the
designer Milner Gray he set up a firm called Industrial Design Partnership in an effort to bring total design methods to
Britain. In 1944 they founded the Design Research Unit. Black
became a nationally recognized design leader as coordinating architect for a major part of the 1951 Festival of Britain; he
later took part in the design of exhibitions in many other
countries. Among the most important activities of the Design
Research Unit is the redesigning of British Railways, including
Blacks designs for a diesel locomotive and an electric train,
supervision of the Victoria Line opened by the London Underground in 1969, and the Clore Pavilion at the London Zoo.
Black was appointed professor of industrial engineering design at the Royal College of Art in 1959. He served as
president of the British Society of Industrial Arts and Design
and as a trustee of the British Museum. His publications on
exhibition and interior design include The Practice of Design
(1946) and Public Interiors (1959). He was the brother of the
philosopher Max *Black (19091988), who chiefly taught at
Cornell University in the United States.
Bibliography: Art and Industry, 63 (Sept. 1957), 106. Add.
Bibliography: ODNB online; A. Blake, Misha Black (1984).
[Charles Samuel Spencer]
BLACK DEATH, epidemic of various contagious diseases, bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic, all caused by
the same bacillus, pasteurella pestis, a combination of which
raged throughout Europe between 1348 and 1350. (See Map:
Black Death). It was the worst plague experienced since the
sixth century. Between one-quarter and one-half of the total population perished. In centers with denser populations,
such as the monasteries, the proportion of victims was much
higher. As the bacteria of this disease live in certain temperatures only, the peak periods of sickness and mortality usually occurred at certain months in the year, according to the
local climate.
The impact of this unprecedented catastrophe had a profound effect on the behavior of the population. People reacted
by extremes, either seeking recourse to religion through repentance and supplication to God, or reverting to licentiousness, lawbreaking, and savagery. These two types of reaction
often combined, in particular where they concerned the attitude of the non-Jewish population to the Jews. Toward the
end of 1348 and in early 1349 countless numbers of Jews lost
their lives in a wave of massacres which spread throughout
Europe as a result of the accusation that the Jews had caused
the death of Christians by poisoning the wells and other water sources. According to L.F. Hirst, a leading authority in this
field, the Black Death in all probability originated somewhere in the central Asiatic hinterland, where a permanent
reservoir of infection is maintained among the wild rodents
of the steppes. Rumors of a great mortality among Asiatics, especially Chinese, reached Europe in 1346, and by the
spring of that year bubonic plague had reached the shores of
the Black Sea. From ports on the shores of the Crimea besieged by Tatars, who perished in vast numbers from the epidemic the infection was carried on shipboard to Constantinople, Genoa, Venice, and other European ports. The disease
spread as rapidly as the transport of those days permitted
to the Mainland. At the time of the Black Death no one was
aware of this connection and the existence of contagion was
only vaguely perceived. By some persons the catastrophe
was ascribed to astrological conjunctions; others regarded it
as a divine visitation. Pope *Clement VI, in his bull defending the Jews from these accusations, saw it as the pestilence
with which God is afflicting the Christian people. The vast
majority of the population, however, was inclined to view it
as a pestis manufacta (an artificially induced malady), the
simplest explanation to the unsophisticated mind, and
therefore sought the human agents thought to be spreading
the disease. Initially, the Jews were not the only persons accused; strangers of every type were suspected. An Avignonese
physician relates: Many hesitated, in some countries people
believed that the Jews intended to poison the whole world
and therefore killed them. In other countries they expelled
paupers suffering from deformity; and in yet others, the nobles. Sometimes itinerant monks were suspected of placing
the poison and spreading the disease, and they were attacked
instead.
731
black death
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1350.
732
black death
tribute among the wells, the cisterns, and the springs about
Venice and the other places where you go, in order to poison
the people who use the water. This indictment, therefore,
shows that his accusers recognized that the plague had spread
from the south northward. As the case dragged on, details
were extracted telling of further consultations held among
the Jews, about messengers from Toledo, and other wild allegations. On Oct. 3, 1348, during the summing up, an allegation providing a motive for the total destruction of Jewry was
made; it was asserted that before their end they said on their
Law that it is true that all Jews, from the age of seven, cannot
excuse themselves of this [crime], since all of them in their
totality were cognizant and are guilty of the above actions
(asseruerunt praefati Judaei ante eorum ultimum supplicium
per legem suam esse vera dicentes quod omnes Judaei a septem
annis circum non possint super hoc se excusare, quoniam universaliter sciant omnes, et sint culpabiles in dicto facto).
Outbreak of Persecutions
These confessions were sent to various cities in Germany.
The accusation that the Jews had poisoned the wells spread
there like wildfire, fanned by the general atmosphere of terror. The patricians of *Strasbourg attempted to defend the
Jews at a meeting of representatives of the Alsatian towns at
Benfeld, but the majority rejected their plea, arguing: If you
are not afraid of poisoning, why have you yourselves covered
and guarded your wells? Correspondence on the subject between the authorities in the various cities has been preserved.
In general, it reveals a decision to expel the Jews from the locality concerned for good, and to launch an immediate attack to kill them while they still remained. At *Basle the patricians also unsuccessfully attempted to protect the Jews. In
various cities Jews were tortured to confess their part in the
conspiracy. The defamation, killings, and expulsions spread
through the kingdoms of Christian Spain, France, and Germany, to Poland-Lithuania, affecting about 300 Jewish communities. On Sept. 26, 1348, Pope Clement VI issued a bull
in Avignon denouncing this allegation, stating that certain
Christians, seduced by that liar, the devil, are imputing the
pestilence to poisoning by Jews. This imputation and the
massacre of Jews in consequence were defined by the pope as
a horrible thing. He tried to convince Christians that since
this pestilence is all but universal everywhere, and by a mysterious decree of God has afflicted, and continues to afflict,
both Jews and many other nations throughout the diverse regions of the earth to whom a common existence with Jews is
unknown [the charge] that the Jews have provided the cause
or the occasion for such a crime is without plausibility. Both
the emperors Charles IV and Peter IV of Aragon also tried to
protect the Jews from the results of the accusation. The arguments generally put forward by the rulers were expressed by
the physician Konrad of Megenberg in his Buch der Natur arrived at in the light of his own experience: But I know that
there were more Jews in Vienna than in any other German city
familiar to me, and so many of them died of the plague that
The Martyrs
It was recognized by the Jews that the Christians have opened
wide their mouths about me: they have put and spread poison
on the water, so they say, in order to libel and attack us, to
quote a contemporary dirge. Faced with this overwhelming
antagonism, the Jews tried to defend themselves wherever possible and in whatever way they could. In many localities fierce
conflicts took place between the Jewish population and their
attackers. At *Mainz the Jews set fire to their homes and to the
Jewish street: according to some sources, 6,000 Jews perished
in the flames. This also occurred at *Frankfurt on the Main. In
Strasbourg, 2,000 Jews were burnt on a wooden scaffold in the
Jewish cemetery. The manner in which the martyrs met their
deaths is described in a contemporary Hebrew source concerning the holy community of Nordhausen.They asked
the burghers to permit them to prepare themselves for martyrdom: permission having been giventhey joyfully arrayed
themselves in their prayer shawls and shrouds, both men and
women. They [the Christians] dug a grave at the cemetery and
covered it with wooden scaffoldingThe pious ones [among
the Jews] asked that a musician be hired to play dancing tunes
so that they should enter the presence of God with singing.
They took each other by the hand, both men and women, and
danced and leapt with their whole strength before God. Their
teacher, R. Jacob, went before them; his son, R. Meir, brought
up the rear to see that none should lag behind. Singing and
dancing they entered the grave, and when all had entered, R.
Meir jumped out and walked around to make certain that
none had stayed outside. When the burghers saw him they
asked him to save his life [by apostasy]. He answered: This
now is the end of our troubles, you see me only for a while,
and then I shall be no more. He returned to the grave; they
set fire to the scaffolding; they died all of them together and
not a cry was heard (Sefer Minhagim of Worms). This was
the spirit that enabled European Jewry to emerge spiritually
unscathed from the avalanche of hatred and cruelty released
on the Jews by the Christians in Europe.
733
The Black Death not only resulted in the immediate destruction of thousands of Jewish lives and the loss of Jewish
homes and property in hundreds of communities, but had
more far-reaching consequences. Popular imagination invested the already odious image of the Jew with even more
horrible characteristics. It was this image that helped to shape
the stereotype of the Jew represented by *antisemitism and
racism in modern times. After the Black Death the legal status of the Jews deteriorated almost everywhere in Europe.
Although Jews were frequently received back into the cities
where many had been killed or driven out, sometimes within
a year of the decision to expel them for good, they usually
only gained permission to resettle on worse terms and in
greater isolation than before. The position of the Jews in Aragon and Castile (*Spain) deteriorated sharply after 134849.
The only countries in Europe where the events of the Black
Death did not leave a permanent scar on the Jewish communities were Poland-Lithuania. The reconstruction of the Jewish communities and of Jewish life and cultural activity in the
second half of the 14t and the beginning of the 15t century
clearly evidence the social and spiritual vitality of the Jewish
people in Europe in the period.
Bibliography: P. Ziegler, Black Death (1969); R. Hoeniger,
Der schwarze Tod in Deutschland (1882); J. Nohl, Der schwarze Tod
(1924), 23973; L.F. Hirst, Conquest of Plague (1953); E. Carpentier,
in: Annales, 17 (1962), 106292; E. Littmann, in: MGWJ, 72 (1928),
576600; J. Trachtenberg, The Devil and the Jews (1943, repr. paperback 1961), 97108; S. Guerchberg, in: S.L. Thrupp (ed.), Change in
Medieval Society (1964), 20824; Baron, Social 2, 912 (196567).
[Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson]
734
735
Employment Practices Act, which outlawed employment discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin.
They cooperated on passing anti-Klan and anti-violence
legislation, fighting restrictions on employment applications,
and challenging racism and antisemitism with educational
programs that appealed to American ideals of fairness and
democracy. The two leaders of the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights were an African American, Walter White, and a
Jew, Arnold *Aronson.
Nor was such collaboration one-sided. Jewish organizations participated in racial segregation cases; black groups
advocated expanding immigration to accommodate wartime
refugees, endorsed (and lobbied for) the UN resolution on
the creation of the state of Israel, and protested Soviet antisemitism.
Because the persistence of economic tensions threatened
these partnerships and contradicted their non-discriminatory rhetoric, black and Jewish organizations began to intervene directly. Jewish activists met with (or picketed) Jewish
landlords and storeowners, urging them to end segregationist
and discriminatory practices. The AJ Congress and ADL organized Jewish merchants in black neighborhoods into associations charged with improving race relations, hiring more
African-American clerks, and contributing to community
improvement projects. (In many areas, Jews left black neighborhoods completely, diminishing tensions that way.) In both
communities leaders worked to educate their own people on
the dangers of bigotry against any other group. Such efforts
succeeded widely, revealed in the disproportionate number of
Jews supporting black civil rights compared with other whites,
and a rapid decline in reported antisemitism in the AfricanAmerican community. In many ways this truly was a golden
age for black-Jewish relations.
But these liberal successes brought new challenges.
Jews continued to outperform blacks economically and socially. No longer segregated or discriminated against overtly
or legally, Jews could make their way in the world far more
easily than blacks, who continued to suffer from open discrimination and legal segregation. This divergence produced not
only resentment on the part of black people but also Jews
greater satisfaction with the current system. For Jews, educational and reformist methods worked. For African Americans,
who continued to face structural barriers, such approaches
were inadequate. As black groups turned to increasingly
confrontational tactics such as boycotts and mass demonstrations, most Jews moved toward a greater commitment to
the status quo.
The 1960s sit-ins and the rhetoric of the more activist
civil rights workers heightened these tensions and laid bare
the different social positions of Jews and blacks. Southern Jews
in particular refused to get involved, save a courageous few
very often from the more radical segment of the community.
Most Jews, North and South, still supported the goals of, and
contributed financially to, black civil rights organizations, but
some questioned the tactics of what they feared could become
736
blake, william
Professor Michael Levin insisted that black people were inferior to whites. And of course there was real violence like that
in the Afro-Caribbean and Orthodox Jewish neighborhood
of Brooklyns Crown Heights in 1991. After a member of the
Lubavitcher rebbes entourage accidentally hit and killed a
black child, black youths attacked Jewish passers-by. One
Jewish youth was stabbed to death. One early dimension of
affirmative action particularly troubled Jews: quotas. African
Americans intended quotas as a floor, designed to open up
and include them, but Jews, for whom quotas were historically
used to exclude and limit, balked. Once the legal concept was
clarified, most Jews came to support affirmative action.
All this played out against the backdrop of a rightward
shift in the larger political scene. Even for those still committed to black-Jewish cooperation, it appeared that few shared
issues remained. The black community struggled with problems of poverty, racism, crime, and improving education and
opportunity, while Jews became increasingly concerned with
issues surrounding Israeli security, Jewish continuity, and
church-state separation. Jewish Studies programs competed
with Black or Africana Studies for college curricula funding.
It seemed all that was left between the two groups was friction. Pundits proclaimed the death of the black-Jewish relationship.
But that is a distortion. Civil rights coalitions remained
active into the 21st century, if less visible. There have been
hundreds of local economic and political initiatives around
the country: books, articles, and documentaries about blacks
and Jews, congregational exchanges, public discussions
from Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Bostons BlackJewish Economic Roundtable to Common Cause, a journal
jointly published by the American Jewish Committee and
Howard University; from the Reform Movement Religious
Action Centers Common Road to Justice to the Marjory Kovler Institute for Black-Jewish Relations. In Congress, the Black
Caucus has established routine and productive cooperation
with the more informal Jewish caucus.
All this sustained, even increasing, mutual engagement
suggests that many overlapping concerns do remain, not
least of which is the rightward movement of the country itself, opposed by a majority of both communities, who remain
staunch Democratic voters. Problems of discrimination, unequal access to opportunity, voting, and education still top
both black and Jewish political agendas, as do commitments
to civic community, tolerance, and diversity.
Bibliography: M. Friedman, What Went Wrong? (1995); C.
Greenberg, Troubling the Waters: Black Jewish Relations in the American Century (in press); M. Bauman and B. Kalin (eds.), The Quiet
Voices: Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights, 1880s to 1990s (1997);
P. Berman (ed.), Blacks and Jews (1994); V.P. Franklin, N. Grant et al.
(eds.), African Americans and Jews in the Twentieth Century (1998);
J. Washington (ed.), Jews in Black Perspectives (1984); C. West and J.
Salzman (eds.), Struggles in the Promised Land (1997); E. Faber, Jews,
Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight (1998).
[Cheryl Greenberg (2nd ed.)]
BLACKSTONE, WILLIAM E. (18411935), Chicago businessman who became an evangelist, missionary, and ardent
supporter of the return of the Jews to Palestine. His Zionistic
views sprang from his millennarian theology as expressed in
his first book Jesus is Coming (1878), which was translated into
many languages, including Hebrew. He considered the Jewish restoration to Zion as the fulfillment of biblical prophecies
signifying the approach of the second Advent of Jesus. After
a visit to Palestine in 1888/89, Blackstone organized meetings
of Jews and Christians to promote his Zionist ideas. In 1891
he initiated a memorandum to President Harrison urging the
restoration of Palestine to the Jews as a primary solution to the
problem of Jewish persecution in Czarist Russia. The petition
was signed by 413 outstanding Jewish and Christian personalities in the United States. In 1916 a similar memorandum
was sent to President Wilson which may have influenced his
positive attitude to the *Balfour Declaration.
[Yona Malachy]
737
blanc, mel
BLANCHOT, MAURICE (19072003), French writer, novelist, essayist, and literary critic, Blanchot began his career as
a young monarchist and right-wing journalist in the Journal
des Debats. While studying German literature and philosophy
in Strasbourg, he became a close friend of Emmanuel *Levinas, who introduced him to Heideggers thought. During the
1930s, despite this friendship, Blanchot wrote in various rightwing newspapers, most of them related to Maurras Action
Francaise, which he admired, and his articles were occasionally antisemitic in tone, describing for example Leon Blum in
1937 as a wog; but Blanchot was critical of the persecution
of the Jews as early as 1933. He also wrote in Thierry Maulniers Combat review, which was anti-Hitlerian but favored a
rational antisemitism. In 1940, he joined the Jeune France
movement, a cultural association set up by the Vichy regime.
In 1942 he published his novel Aminadab, named for a brother
of Levinas murdered by the Nazis in Lithuania.
After the war, Blanchot began a journey towards Jewish philosophy and literature, following in the footsteps of
Levinas, whose concepts and philosophical language impreg-
738
nated Blanchots literary criticism. This turn towards Judaism, clearly perceptible in LEntretien infini, to the point that
Philippe Mesnard wrote that Blanchot tries to think Jewish
like Holderlin tried to think Greek, may be seen as an endeavor to cope with the horrors of genocide. Blanchot commented on Kafka, Edmond Jabes, and Martin Buber. In the
wake of the May 68 movement, Blanchot joined the extreme
left wing, but ultimately left it when French left-wingers became increasingly anti-Israel.
Bibliography: F. Collins, Maurice Blanchot et la question de
lcriture (1986); E. Levinas, Sur Maurice Blanchot (1975); A. Toumayan, Encountering the Other: the Artwork and the Problem of Difference in Blanchot and Levinas (2004).
[Dror Franck Sullaper (2nd ed.)]
blank, maurice
BLANK, ARTHUR M. (1942 ), U.S. entrepreneur, philanthropist. Born in Queens, N.Y., Blank received an accounting
degree from Babson College and worked as an accountant before joining a small pharmaceutical company started by his
father. When the company was bought by Daylin, Blank became an executive at a Daylin drugstore unit. He then moved
to the Handy Dan Improvement Centers, a division of Daylin, where he met Bernard *Marcus. In 1978, Blank and Marcus were fired by Daylin over disagreements about the small
chains future and decided to go into the home-improvement
business. After surveying four cities, they settled on Atlanta
as the place with the right market and real estate conditions
to test their theory that consumers would flock to huge stores
offering a broad selection of home improvement products, low
prices, and hospitable service. They opened three Home Depot
stores in 1979, employing 200 workers, and had $7 million in
sales. They lost nearly $1 million. But their fortunes changed
and the company went public in 1981. Their goal was to encourage creativity from everyone from sales people to managers, with stock options offered even to the lowest-level employees. Their adversary was the lumberyard down the street,
not the boss. This familial structure, plus a ferocious sense
of competition, proved a winning combination. Eventually,
their muscle helped put Handy Dan out of business. By the
end of 1998, Home Depot had grown to almost 800 stores,
had 157,000 employees, and recorded more than $30 billion
in sales. Home Depot became the do-it-yourself giant, providing everything from screws to electrical wiring for American fixer-uppers. It also opened stores in other countries, in
Canada and South America.
Blank served as chief executive from May 1997 until
December 2001, when he turned over day-to-day management to an executive from General Electric. During Blanks
tenure, Home Depot sales more than doubled and the companys stock price almost tripled. Blank said he planned
to devote more time to his family foundation and to his wife,
who was expecting twins. In December 2001, Blank also
completed a deal to buy the Atlanta Falcons professional football franchise for $545 million. Blank and Marcus became
philanthropic leaders in Atlanta and Blank was chairman
of the local Chamber of Commerce. When he retired, his
stock holdings were estimated at $1.6 billion. His foundation gave away $100 million from 1995 through 2002. His
philanthropies ranged from a new venue for the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra to restoring green space in the inner city
to helping such nonprofits as Outward Bound and Zoo Atlanta. About 90 percent of the funds the Blank Family Foundation gives away goes to youth projects, but other causes
also receive support. The foundation gives to many Jewish
organizations. The Home Depot company has spawned as
many as 1,000 millionaires. One former executive vice president, Ronald M. Brill, who helped start the company, gave $1
million for an endowment at the Atlanta Jewish Community
Center in 1999.
[Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)]
BLANK, LEON (18671934), Yiddish actor. Born in Lithuania, Blank and his family subsequently moved to Romania. He sang in synagogue choirs as a child but was attracted to Yiddish theater. He reached the U.S. in 1886, as
a stowaway with Moguleskos company. He started out as a
member of the chorus but soon turned to acting. As a singer
and a dramatic reader, Blank made a number of recordings
in Yiddish.
His appearance in the play Davids Fidele (Davids
Violin, 1897) brought him recognition and started him on
a successful career. Blank was one of the founders of the
Hebrew Actors Union in 1899. In the 1920s he starred in
many of Jacob *Gordins plays at the National Theatre, Liberty
Theatre, and Public Theatre in New York. For a short period
he was a member of a Yiddish theater company in Philadelphia, but he spent most of his time on the road, performing across the U.S. Despite offers from Broadway and Hollywood, Blank remained attached to the Jewish theater. His
memoirs were serialized in Der Forverts (Oct. 5, 1928Jan.
29, 1929).
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
739
[Eisig Silberschlag]
740
BLANTER, MATVEY ISAAKOVICH (19031990), songwriter. Born in Pochep, Ukraine, Blanter studied violin, theory, and composition in various institutions in Kiev (191517)
and Moscow (191721). His pieces and music for the Leningrad Satirical Theater attracted early attention. During the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
blasphemy
In the Talmud
The Mishnah (Sanh. 7:5), rules that the death sentence by
stoning should be applied only in the case where the blasphemer had uttered the *Tetragrammaton and two witnesses
had warned him prior to the transgression. In the Talmud,
however, R. Meir extends this punishment to cases where the
blasphemer had used one of the *attributes, i.e., substitute
names of God (Sanh. 56a). The accepted halakhah is that only
the one who has uttered the Tetragrammaton be sentenced to
death by stoning; the offender who pronounced the substitute
names is only flogged (Maim., Yad, Avodat Kokhavim, 2:7). In
the court procedure (Sanh. 5:7 and Sanh. 60a) the witnesses
for the prosecution testified to the words of the blasphemer by
substituting the expressions Yose shall strike Yose (yakkeh
Yose et Yose). Toward the end of the hearing, however, after
the audience had been dismissed, the senior witness was asked
to repeat the exact words uttered by the blasphemer. Upon
their pronouncement (i.e., of the Tetragrammaton), the judges
stood up and rent their garments. The act expressed their profound mourning at hearing the name of God profaned. The
custom of tearing ones clothes on hearing blasphemy is attested to in II Kings 18:37, where it is told that Eliakim and his
associates tore their garments upon hearing the blasphemous
741
blau, amram
BLAU, AMRAM (18941974), rabbi, leader of the ultra-Orthodox sect *Neturei Karta. Blau was born in Jerusalem into a
noted religious family. He was a leading member of the Agudat Israel youth movement in the early 1930s. Blau and some
of his colleagues left the movement in 1935 and founded the
extreme anti-Zionist H evrat H ayyim, later to become Neturei Karta. His fierce opposition to Zionism and Agudat Israel,
sometimes expressed violently, led on several occasions to his
prosecution and imprisonment. His anti-Zionist attitude did
not change with the establishment of the State of Israel (1948),
which he refused to recognize. Blau and his followers rejected
the State of Israel on so-called halakhic grounds, rejecting
a state run by secular Jews. In addition, Blau continually denounced the establishment of a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah as an act of infamy and blasphemy. In 1965,
after the death of his first wife, he married a proselyte, Ruth
Ben-David, despite the opposition of the ultra-Orthodox bet
din and some of his followers.
[Menachem Friedman / David Derovan (2nd ed.)]
742
BLAU, HERBERT (1926 ), U.S. theater director and educator. Born in New York, Blau received a bachelors degree in
chemical engineering from New York University (1947), an
M.A. in drama from Stanford University (1949), and a Ph.D.
in English and American literature from Stanford (1954). He
formed the Actors Workshop in San Francisco with Jules *Irving, in 1952. One of Blaus innovative acts was to present a
play to the inmates of San Quentin penitentiary. On November
19, 1957, a group of actors faced an audience of 1,400 convicts.
No live play had been performed at San Quentin since Sarah
Bernhardt had appeared there in 1913. Now, 45 years later,
the play that had been chosen, largely because no women appeared in it, was Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot. It was an
unequivocal success. Overall, this repertory theater was highly
successful but failed financially, and closed in 1965. Blau and
Irving then directed the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater,
New York, but Blau resigned in 1968. His last extended work
in the theater was as artistic director of the experimental group
KRAKEN (196881). Blau served as its first provost as well as
dean of the School of Theater. A radical departure from the
already innovative theater that Blau had been associated with,
the work of KRAKEN included some of the first productions
in the U.S. of such controversial dramatists of the modernist
period as Brecht, Beckett, *Pinter, Ionesco, Whiting, Arden,
Duerrenmatt, Frisch, and Genet.
Blau was distinguished professor of English and Modern Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where
he was also a senior fellow at the Center for 20t Century
Studies. Subsequently he was the Byron W. and Alice L. Lockwood Professor in the Humanities at the University of Washington.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
blau, joshua
Regarded as the reigning theorist of theater and performance in our time, Blau wrote many books on the subject. Sails of the Herring Fleet: Essays on Beckett (2000) traces
Blaus encounters with the work of Samuel Beckett. He directed Becketts plays when they were still virtually unknown,
and for more than four decades remained one of the leading
interpreters of his work. In addition to now-classic essays,
the book includes two interviews one from Blaus experience directing Waiting for Godot at San Quentin prison
and one from his last visit with Beckett, just before the playwrights death. Take Up the Bodies: Theater at the Vanishing
Point (1982) and Blooded Thought: Occasions of Theater (1982)
received the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. Other books by Blau include The Impossible Theater.
A Manifesto (1964), The Eye of Prey: Subversions of the Postmodern (1987), The Audience (1990), To All Appearances: Ideology and Performance (1992), Nothing in Itself: Complexions
of Fashion (1999), and The Dubious Spectacle: Extremities of
Theater, 19762000 (2002).
Blau received The Kenyon Review award for literary excellence.
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
BLAU, JOSEPH LEON (19091986), U.S. educator and historian of ideas. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Blau was educated at Columbia University. He taught at Columbia from
1944, where he later became a professor of religion (196277).
In 1966 he became vice president of the Conference on Jewish
Social Studies. Blau followed the philosophic tradition of naturalistic humanism in the line of John Dewey and his school at
Columbia. He carried on their interest in the history of philosophy in America in his book Men and Movements in American
Philosophy (1952) and in monographic studies.
As Blau was a student (and, later, collaborator) of Salo
W. *Baron, his approach to Jewish history emphasizes interdisciplinary and cross-cultural influences. He opposes
the conventional interpretation that the development of the
Jewish religious and philosophical tradition is mainly linear,
maintaining that the Jews were not cut off from cross-cultural
contact for any significant period of their history. He compiled The Jews of the United States, 17901840 (ed. with S.W.
Baron, 1963), and wrote Judaism in America (1976). His book
The Story of Jewish Philosophy (1962) explores the ways in
which Jewish thinkers absorbed and modified the ideas current in their cultural environment. In Modern Varieties of Judaism (1966), Blau demonstrates the same principle of interplay of tradition and environment in the shaping of Jewish
religion since the 18t century. The Christian Interpretation of
the Cabala in the Renaissance (1944) investigates the flow of
ideas in the reverse direction that is, from Jewish to Christian thinkers.
Blau also edited the book Essays on Jewish Life and
Thought: Presented in Honor of Salo Wittmeyer Baron (1959).
Add. Bibliography: M. Wohlgelernter, History, Religion,
and American Democracy (1993).
BLAU, JOSHUA (1919 ), scholar of biblical Hebrew grammar, Middle Arabic, and *Genizah manuscripts. Born in Cluj,
Transylvania, Blau studied in the Jewish Gymnasium in Budapest and Baden. He had barely spent a year in Jewish studies at the Rabbinical Seminary and Semitic languages at the
University of Vienna when he had to flee the country in 1938
after its occupation by the Nazis. He immigrated to Palestine
with his parents, where he continued his academic studies in
Hebrew, Bible, and Arabic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (M.A., 1942). In 1948 he presented his dissertation on
The Grammar of Judeo-Arabic, but was only awarded a Ph.D.
two years later, after the War of Independence, during which
he served in the army and took part in battles in Jerusalem.
In 1956 he was appointed senior lecturer at Tel Aviv
University and a year later lecturer at the Hebrew University (professor from 1962), where he taught until his retirement in 1986.
Blau was a member of the Academy of Hebrew Language
from the 1950s, was its president in 198193, and editor of its
journal, Leshonenu, in 198199. Blau was also a member of the
Israeli Academy for Sciences and Humanities from 1968 and
head of Humanities, 198995; honorary fellow of the Royal
Asiatic Society; and corresponding fellow of the American
Academy for Jewish Research.
Blaus research focused on the fields of biblical Hebrew
grammar, Semitic languages, and medieval Arabic. His books
Torat ha-Hegeh ve-ha-Z urot (Phonology and Morphology of
Biblical Hebrew, 1971), Oz ar Leshon ha-Mikra (A Concordance and Dictionary of the Bible, with S.A. Loewenstamm
and M.Z. Kaddari, vol. 1 (1957), 2 (1960), 3 (1968)), Dikduk
ha-Aravit ha-Yehudit shel Yemei ha-Beinayim (Grammar of
Judeo-Arabic of the Middle-Ages, 1962, updated 1980) and
others (see below) along with hundreds of articles brought
him the fame as the leading authority on Judeo-Arabic and
a prominent expert on other branches of Semitic languages.
Blau described the rise of Judeo-Arabic in The Emergence and
Linguistic Background of Judaeo-Arabic: A Study of the Origins
of Middle Arabic (1965, 19993), and also published A Grammar
of Christian Arabic (3 vols., 196667). In these works Blau provided a solid foundation for research into medieval Judeo- and
Christian-Arabic. These linguistic types had never been sufficiently studied or assessed before, because they were outside
the scope of Muslim culture. In his studies, Blau provided a
profound analysis and thorough description of a full-fledged
and unique literature. He also showed the importance of this
layer of Arabic in the crystallization of general standard Arabic as it has come down to us. Together with Prof. Simon
Hopkins, he discovered an early phonetic method of JudeoArabic spelling, which enables us to reconstruct the very beginnings of Judeo-Arabic culture. Blaus research project on
Middle Arabic will be completed with the publication of his
immense Dictionary of Medieval Judeo-Arabic Texts.
Another important achievement of Blaus consists in
his annotated critical edition of Teshuvot ha-Rambam (Responsa of Maimonides) in three volumes (1958, 196061)
743
with a Hebrew translation of the Arabic original, and an additional volume (1986).
Blau was founding president (198399) of the Association for Medieval Judeo-Arabic, which holds an international
biannual conference.
Blau also contributed to the field of education. Thousands
of high school and college students learned Hebrew grammar
from his series Dikduk Ivri Shittati, Yesodot ha-Tah bir, and
Yesodot Torat ha-Lashon (2 vols.).
Blau was awarded the Ben-Zvi Prize in 1980; the Wilhelm Bacher Medal (Hungary) in 1999; the Mark Lidzbarski
Medal in 2000; the Rothschild Prize in 1992; and the Israel
Prize in 1985.
A list of Blaus publications up to 1991 is to be found
in Hebrew and Arabic Studies in Honour of Joshua Blau,
Presented by Friends and Students on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday (ed. H. Ben-Shammai; 1993), pp. 134. Subsequently he published over 60 articles and three books:
Iyyunim be-Valshanut Ivrit (1996), Topics in Hebrew and Semitic Linguistics (1998), and A Handbook of Early Middle Arabic (2003).
Blaus father, Pinchas (Paul), was one of the founders of
the Hungarian Zionist daily newspaper *Uj Kelet at the end
of World War I.
Bibliography: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem General Information (2000), 66; J. Blau, Mi-Transilvaniah li-Yerushalayim (2000); Perasei Rotshild li-Shenat 1992, 5; Perasei Yisrael haTashmah (1985), 89.
[Aharon Maman (2nd ed.)]
744
first to make use of Greek papyri for the evaluation of talmudic law (Papyri und Talmud in gegenseitiger Beleuchtung,
1913; Prosbul im Lichte der griechischen Papyri und der Rechtsgeschichte, in Festschrift der Landesrabbinerschule, 1927).
He also published the letters of Leone *Modena (Leo Modenas
Briefe und Schriftstuecke, 2 vols., 190506).
Bibliography: S. Hevesi, in: Ve-Zot li-Yhudah (1926), 19; D.
Friedman, in: Jubileumi emlkknyv Blau Lajos 65. szletsnapja
alkalmbl (1926), 1490 (bibliography); D.S. Loewinger, Zikhron
Yehudah (1938), 545; J. Bakonyi and D. Friedman, ibid., 1834.
[Alexander Scheiber]
blaustein
BLAUBAUM, ELIAS (18471904), Australian Jewish minister. Born in rural Hesse, Germany, Blaubaum immigrated to
Australia in 1873, learning English on the boat en route, and
served as minister of Melbournes St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation until his death. Learned in Jewish law, he defended traditional Orthodoxy and, although never ordained as a rabbi,
served on Melbournes Beth Din. From 1879 he edited the Jewish Herald newspaper and was one of the earliest Jewish voices
in Australia to assert Jewish identity in an aggressive manner
and to combat antisemitism.
Bibliography: H.L. Rubinstein, Rev. Elias Blaubaum, in:
Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 9 (Part 8), 1985, 56781;
idem, Australia I, 26364, index.
[William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)]
745
blaustein, abraham
746
ies, but in 1886 he left for the United States. In Boston he established a modern German-Hebrew school the first of its
kind in the United States and continued his studies. From
1892 to 1896 he served as rabbi of a Providence Reform congregation and taught at Brown University.
In 1898 Blaustein was appointed superintendent of the
Educational Alliance of New York City, then the most important social-educational institution for the Americanization of
foreigners. With the untrained social workers of that institution he worked diligently to raise the standards of social work
and to turn it into a profession. Respected by Jews and nonJews alike, he accompanied Robert Watchorn, immigration
commissioner at Ellis Island, to Romania in 1900 to study the
conditions of the Jews there and the causes of the large-scale
emigration from that country.
In 1905 Blaustein became the first president of the Society of Jewish Social Workers of New York. Active in Zionist
affairs in New York, he was the first nasi (presiding officer)
of Order of the Sons of Zion. In 1908 he became director of
the Chicago Hebrew Institute, and in 1910 took up a lectureship on Jewish, Italian, and Slavic immigration at the New
York School of Philanthropy, where a chair had been established for him.
Bibliography: DAB, 2 (1929), 3601; M. Blaustein (ed.),
Memoirs of David Blaustein (1913).
[Judah Pilch]
BLAUWEISS (Blue-White), first and one of the most influential Jewish youth movement in Germany, founded in
1912. It initiated a Zionist program, basing its organizational
format on the German nationalist youth movement Wandervogel (whose increasing antisemitism greatly contributed to
the expansion of Blau-Weiss). Before and immediately after
World War I Blau-Weiss groups engaged almost exclusively
in outings and intimate gatherings, emphasizing nature appreciation and manliness in the manner of the German Jugendbewegung (youth movement). Instead of the cult of German peasantry and folk traditions, Blau-Weiss introduced
new forms of celebrating Jewish holidays outdoors and an
interest in the Hebrew language, Hebrew songs, and Yiddish folklore. The main aim of Blau-Weiss was to combine
being a Jew with love of the German fatherland. The movement strove to strengthen the body, mind, and spirit of the
young with an introduction to Jewish education. Blau-Weiss
reached its peak in the early 1920s, with about 3,000 members. At this time a pioneering, Palestine-oriented tendency
developed in its ranks and became, under the leadership of
Walter Moses, its official program at the Blau-Weiss conference in Prunn (August 1922). The conference decided upon the
establishment of a Blau-Weiss settlement in Palestine based
not only on agriculture but also on precision workmanship
in such fields as tool mechanics. It also decided to streamline
the organizational structure of the movement along hierarchical lines, and to participate actively in Zionist politics.
Subsequent friction with the German Zionist leadership, as
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
bleek, friedrich
well as the economic crisis in Palestine, thwarted this ambitious program. While many members of Blau-Weiss settled
in Palestine, some of them prior to the Prunn conference, no
specific Blau-Weiss settlement or enterprise materialized. The
movement dissolved in Germany in 1929, retaining only the
Praktikantenschaft, i.e., small hakhsharah groups. After the
disintegration of the Blau-Weiss most of its remaining members joined the *Kadimah group.
Blau-Weiss also existed in Austria, where it flourished
for a time. The Czechoslovak branch of the movement, which
from 1919 called itself by the Hebrew equivalent, TekheletLavan, continued as a pioneering organization into the 1930s.
The main impact of the Blau-Weiss experience was felt in
Germany in the early 1920s among Jewish boys and girls of assimilated and semi-assimilated families. Alienated from their
affluent parents and excluded from the Aryanized youth
movements, these young people found their way back to the
Jewish people and to Zionism.
Bibliography: H. Maier-Cronemeyer, in: Germania Judaica (Cologne), 8 (1969), 1840, 5964, 6771; H. Tramer, in: BLBI, 5
(1962), 2343; W. Laqueur, in: YLBI, 6 (1961), 193205; W. Preuss,
Ha-Maagal Nisgar (1968); M. Calvary, Das neue Judentum (1936),
7587; F. Pollack (ed.), 50 Jahre Blau Weiss (1962); Bergmann, in: G.
Hanokh (ed.), Darkhei ha-Noar (1937), 15562. Add. Bibliography: J. Hackeschmidt, Von Kurt Blumenfeld zu Norbert Elias (1997),
179262; G.R. Sharfman, in: Forging Modern Jewish Identities (2003),
198228.
747
Bleich, J. David
748
BLEJER, DAVID (19131997), Argentine lawyer and politician. Blejer, the son of Jewish colonists in the province of Entre Ros, was born in Buenos Aires.
He graduated as a lawyer from the University of La Plata
and settled in Villaguay in the province of Entre Ros. He became active in politics and before reaching the age of 30 was
elected as councilor of the city.
He was a legal adviser to the Argentine Agrarian Institute and lectured on agrarian economics. He joined the
Unin Cvica Radical Party in 1930. In 1956, when the party
divided over internal conflicts, Blejer aligned himself with the
Unin Cvica Radical Intransigente, which was led by Arturo
Frondizi who was elected president of Argentina (195862). In
1958 Blejer was appointed undersecretary of the Ministry of
the Interior and in 1959 minister of labor and social security.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
blemish
It was the first time in the history of Argentina that a Jew had
become a member of the presidential cabinet. Afterwards he
served as ambassador to Mexico. In 1961 he was named chairman of the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano and head of
the official delegation of Argentina to the conference of the
International Labor Organization. Blejer also published humoristic essays under the pseudonym Julio Mocoroa.
[Efraim Zadoff (2nd ed.)]
BLEMISH (Heb. ), a defect in the body of a man or an animal. Defects of conduct are also metaphorically called blemishes (Deut. 32:5; Prov. 9:7; Job. 11:15). A blemished priest was
unfit to serve in the priesthood (Lev. 21:1623) and was precluded from approaching the altar to offer the fire-offerings.
He was permitted to carry out only Temple functions not
involving actual service at the altar, since he was not standing before the Lord. The Bible forbade a priest who had been
blemished to approach the veil (Lev. 21:23), and as a result he
was forbidden during the Second Temple period not only to
enter the Temple but even to step between the altar and the
sanctuary (Kelim 1:9). He was permitted, however, to go into
the other parts of the Temple area and to eat of the food of his
God, of the most holy as well as of the holy (Lev. 21:22).
Just as the officiating priest had to be unblemished, so
no blemished animal was permitted to be offered on the altar
(Lev. 22:1725; Deut. 15:2123; 17:1; cf. Mal. 1:6ff.). An animal
whose blemishes were slight with a limb extended or contracted (Lev. 22:23; see below) could only be offered as a
freewill offering, which was less stringent. A blemished priest
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
was forbidden to approach the veil and approach the altar because he shall not profane these places sacred to Me (Lev.
21:23). A blemished sacrifice that was offered would not be
acceptable on behalf of the one offering it (Lev. 22:20). Such a
sacrifice is called an abomination in Deuteronomy 17:1 (cf.
the strong words in Mal. 1:8ff. against a prevailing laxness in
this regard). The flesh of a blemished animal, however, is permitted as food (Deut. 15:2122).
The requirement that priests and sacrifices should be
without blemish was common to all the ancient civilizations,
and there is evidence of this from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Hatti
(the land of the Hittites), Greece, and Rome. Egyptian documents state that candidates for the priesthood were examined
for blemishes, and that the sacrifices were examined in the
same way, marking animals fit for sacrifice. Documents from
Mesopotamia state that priests and the sacrifices had to be
perfect, without any blemish. The Hittites also regarded the
presence at the ceremonial ritual of those blemished as an affront to the gods. The requirement that both priests and sacrifices be without blemish is also known from Greece and
Rome.
The following blemishes are enumerated as making
priests unfit for service in the Temple (Lev. 21:1820): ivver (iwwer), a blind man; pisseah , one injured in the thigh,
from birth or as the result of an accident (cf. II Sam. 4:4), in
contrast to a man who has a broken leg; h arum, a man whose
nose is sunk in between his eyes; sarua, apparently one with
hands or feet of unequal length; a man who has a broken leg
or broken arm; gibben and dak (daq), whose meanings depend
on whether the words are connected with the following (Rashi,
Maimonides) or with the previous bone deformities (Ibn Ezra;
according to the first explanation gibben is one whose eyebrows are long and descend over his eyes and daq is one who
has a kind of skin (pterygium) over the cornea of his eye; according to the second explanation, gibben is a hunchback and
daq is one whose foot or hand muscles degenerated as a result
of corrosion, and are thinner than usual); tevallul, a sufferer
from cataract; garav and yallefet, skin diseases, not identified with certainty (garav is probably dermatitis and yallefet
is probably Egyptian herpes, ringworm); meroah ashekh, one
with a crushed testicle.
Blemishes that render an animal unifit for sacrifice are
(Lev. 22:22, 24) avveret, (awweret) blindness; shavur or h aruz ,
broken or cracked limbs that cause the animal to be lame;
skin diseases (yabbelet, a wen, referring to a swelling discernible because of its size; garav and yallefet (see above)); defects
of the testicles due to bruising by hand (maukh), or cutting
with an implement (katut), tearing with pincers or a cord
(natuq), or even complete severence by castration (karut);
sarua and qalut , very slight blemishes, referring to an animal
having one leg longer or shorter than the other (these animals
may be sacrificed as a freewill offering (Lev. 22:23)). According
to some, only sarua means living limbs of unequal length,
whereas qalut means club-footed, i.e., in the case of cattle,
sheep, and goats, with the hoof uncloven.
749
In the Talmud
Blemishes in the Talmud can be divided into four categories: those mentioned in the Bible as physical blemishes disqualifying priests for service; physical blemishes disqualifying animals for sacrifice; nonphysical blemishes in both; and
moral blemishes.
BLEMISHES IN ANIMALS. Whereas the Bible enumerates
only 12 disqualifying blemishes in animals and 12 in the case
of a priest, the Mishnah subdivides them in the minutest detail. The whole of chapter 6 of tractate Bekhorot is devoted to
an enumeration of those blemishes in an animal. They are
divided into permanent and transient blemishes, the former
referring to those which continue for 80 days. As an example
of the detail, where the Bible merely says blind, the Mishnah
6:2 enumerates a pierced, defective, or slit eyelid, a speck in
the eye, a commingling of the iris and the outer part, various
growths in the eye, and rheum, or if its lip is pierced. According to the legend of *Kamz a and Bar Kamz a in the Talmud, it
was the infliction of one of those two blemishes by Bar Kamz a
in the sacrifice offered up by the Roman emperor which we
count as a blemish and Romans do not, and the obstinate refusal of R. Zechariah b. Avkulas to make any exception, which
was the immediate cause of the Roman War (Git. 55b, 56a). The
list even includes such blemishes as if the tail of the animal
does not reach the knee joint or if its lower jaw protrudes beyond the upper. Maimonides lists 50 disqualifying blemishes
in man and beast (Yad, Biat ha-Mikdash, ch. 7).
BLEMISHES IN PRIESTS. All the blemishes enumerated for
animals similarly disqualify priests from serving in the Temple, but chapter 7 of Bekhorot gives another extensive list of
blemishes which disqualify a priest but which are not considered blemishes in an animal, such as baldness, flat nose, bowleggedness, black skin, red skin or albino, and many others.
Maimonides numbers 90 blemishes which particularly apply
to man (ibid., ch. 8).
NONPHYSICAL BLEMISHES. In addition to bodily defects,
the Mishnah enumerates some moral blemishes which disqualify a priest: if he has been guilty of homicide or murder,
if he has married a woman forbidden to a kohen (though permitted to a non-kohen), or if he becomes ritually unclean by
contact with the dead. In the last two cases he can resume his
service if he undertakes to separate himself from the woman
or undertakes to adhere in the future to the rules of ritual
cleanness applying to a kohen. These blemishes originally
applied to actual service in the Temple, and it is explicitly
stated that a priest so disqualified could and did participate
in reciting the *Priestly Blessing (see Second *Temple, Order
of Service). It was, however, stipulated that if a kohen had a
disfigurement which caused people to stare at him, he was
not to recite the priestly blessing, not because the blemish
disqualified him but because it would distract the recipients
of the blessing. Thus as far as physical blemishes were concerned, this applied only to the hands, and even included a
750
BLESSING AND CURSING. In the Bible these two antonyms have three meanings: (1) the invocation of good or
evil; (2) good fortune or misfortune; and (3) the person
or thing upon whom or which the fortune or misfortune
falls.
Thus the first meaning is best represented in English by
the terms benediction and malediction or imprecation. The
most common formulas of invocation use the terms barukh
and arur. Despite the frequent assertion that words themselves were regarded as intrinsically power-laden, there is little evidence that biblical Israel was any more prone to such a
view than is contemporary man. When, in the Bible, man does
the invoking, the source of power is (explicitly or implicitly)
the Deity; hence both blessings and curses are basic prayers.
When the Deity pronounces either good or evil against anyone, the pronouncement is to be understood as a decree rather
than a prayer; when man is the subject of the verb berekh and
the Deity is the object, the verb denotes praise, for nowhere
in the Bible is there any indication that the power of God is
itself increased by mans pronouncements. As substantive
good, blessing is most frequently represented by the terms
berakhah, shalom, and t ov; its most common antonyms are
kelalah (qelalah) and raah. Blessings include health, long life,
many and enduring progeny, wealth, honor, and victory. The
dependence of Palestinian agronomy on rainfall is reflected in
the use of berakhah for the rains in their due season. Curses,
it follows, bring sickness and death, barrenness in people and
cattle, crop failure, poverty, defeat, and disgrace. That the ben-
In the Talmud
The rabbis continued to stress the efficacy of blessings and
curses. With regard to the former, they ordained that Gods
name be utilized in the blessing uttered when meeting or
greeting people in accordance with the practice of Boaz (Ber.
9:5; Ruth 2:4). Continuing biblical traditions, the rabbis introduced blessings at circumcisions (Targum Uzziel to Gen.
48:20), at marriages (Gen. 24:60), and upon separating from
an acquaintance one was advised to say, Go unto peace (Ex.
4:18; MK 29a). The sages declared that even the blessing or
the cursing of an ordinary man should not be lightly esteemed (Meg. 15a). The Jew was also encouraged to respond
Amen after the blessing of a Gentile (TJ, Ber. 8:9, 12c). Great
emphasis was placed upon the blessing of an elder, and people
were urged to receive their blessings (Ruth R. 6:2). Likewise,
people were encouraged to bless the righteous whenever they
mentioned them (Gen. R. 49:1). Abraham blessed everybody,
and he was constantly blessed by God (Gen. R. 59:5). The abil-
751
blessing of children
752
BLESSING OF CHILDREN. Belief in the value and efficacy of parental blessing of children is attested to in biblical
stories, such as those of Noahs blessing of Shem and Japheth
(Gen. 9:2627); Isaacs blessing of Jacob and Esau (Gen. 27,
and 28:14); and Jacobs blessing of his sons (Gen. 49) and his
grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:1322). The importance of parental blessing is also stressed by Ben Sira (Ecclus. 3:9). The blessing of the children is performed on Sabbath eve either in the synagogue or in the home; on the eves
of holy days, of the Day of Atonement, and before leaving
for a journey. The blessing is usually given by the father, on
special occasions also by the mother, to both small and adult
children, by laying the hands upon the head of the child and
pronouncing (for a boy) the verse May God make thee like
Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:20) or (for a girl) the verse
May God make thee like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah
(cf. Ruth 4:11), followed by the priestly benediction (Num.
6:2426). From the Middle Ages, the ceremony of blessing
children became deeply rooted (see J. Buxtorf, Synagoga Judaica (1604), ch. 15, and Jacob *Emdens Siddur, 1748). The parental blessing is also recited prior to a childs wedding ceremony and by parents on their deathbed. When grandparents
are still alive, it is customary to receive their blessing, too, especially on the eve of the Day of Atonement and before the
wedding ceremony (Abraham Danzig, H ayyei Adam (1810),
143:19). In some communities the parental blessing is also bestowed after the *Havdalah ceremony at the end of the Sabbath (Baer, Seder, 309).
Bibliography: Eisenstein, Dinim, 5657; Abrahams, Companion, cxxxivcxxxv.
blindness
BLINDMAN, YERUH AM (c. 17981891), cantor and composer. Blindman, who was called Yeruh am ha-Koton (little) because of his small stature, served as cantor in Kishinev,
Tarnopol, and Berdichev. Though not universally admired,
his voice was a remarkable lyric tenor with unlimited falsetto
range. The public was attracted by his pious appearance in
long, white beard and his great artistry in improvisation. His
formal knowledge of music was rudimentary, but his own
melodies, composed in the spirit of Jewish folksong against
a liturgical background, earned him a reputation as a composer of synagogal music. His singing with choir consistently
attracted large crowds, including gentiles. He performed with
his choir throughout Russia and Austria.
Bibliography: H.H. Harris, Toledot ha-Neginah ve-haH azzanut be-Yisrael (1950), 4045; Idelsohn, Music, 3023; A. Rosen
(ed.), Di Geshikhte fun Khazones (1924), 97.
[Joshua Leib Neeman]
753
blindness
t (t)
(a)
c,z (ts)
q(k)
x(ch)
s (sh)
w(v)
th(s)
x,h (ch)
(h olem
without vav)
754
blindness
Malben, which in 1951 took over Kefar Uriel, a village for the
blind established in 1950 by the Jewish Agency for blind immigrants; in 1962 it had 63 families (about 350 persons). Heads
of families were employed in four workshops. The Israel Foundation for Guide Dogs for the Blind in Haifa was established
around 1950. A Central Library for the Blind, established in
1952 in Netanya, had over 5,000 volumes in braille and a talking book library.
The Association for the Blind and Prevention of Blindness, founded in 1953, had branches in nine centers. The National Council for the Blind, established in 1958 for coordinating, research, and planning, was represented on the World
Council for the Blind. Voluntary agencies giving assistance
from abroad include Hilfe fuer Blinde in Switzerland and Aide
aux Aveugles Israliens in France. Training for non-Jewish
blind has also been given by the Saint Vincent Roman Catholic hostel in Jerusalem, and at handicraft centers established
in Nazareth and Shefaram. Isolated Arab villages have been
visited by home teachers.
Modern Incidence and Causes
There is no statutory registration of blindness anywhere in the
world. All comparative statistics on the incidence and causes
of blindness are therefore largely speculative, and this applies
in particular to statistics on blindness in Jews, for whom data
are usually lacking in whatever national statistics are available.
Comparative studies are thus impossible, and little more than
some generalizations can be advanced.
The incidence and causes of blindness in most parts of
the world are determined essentially by environmental factors.
Jews, as a widely dispersed community, therefore suffer from
the locally prevailing environmental causes of blindness. In
this respect, if the incidence of blindness in a particular Jewish community is different from that in the general population, it will merely reflect the differences found in the various
social groupings of the population at large. Thus it occurs in
all countries where trachoma is endemic. The disease is more
prevalent in rural areas, ill provided with sanitation and health
services, than in the more developed urban centers with their
populations relatively well housed and well served medically.
The high incidence of trachoma in Oriental Jews who immigrated to Israel reflects country of origin and social level,
rather than their Jewishness.
In the more highly developed countries, infections and
other environmental causes of blindness are steadily declining, and most cases of blindness are now due to affections seen
in the elderly (such as senile cataract and senile macular
degeneration) or in the middle-aged (such as glaucoma and,
to a lesser extent, myopic atrophy, uveitis, and diabetic retinopathy). These are all constitutional diseases, and clinical experience in Western Europe and the United States has
brought out a greater incidence of three of these affections in
Jews: myopia, diabetic retinopathy, and Tay-Sachs disease, a
rare lethal disorder. Although adequate statistics are lacking,
this clinical experience is probably well-founded and would
755
756
bloc, andr
BLISS, FREDERICK JONES (18591937), British archaeologist. The son of a missionary, Bliss taught for a time at the
Syrian Protestant College, Beirut. On behalf of the *Palestine
Exploration Fund, he excavated at Tell al-H as (1891), Jerusalem (189497), and (in collaboration with R.A.S. *Macalister) at various mounds in the *Shephelah (18991900). At
Tell al-H as Bliss continued the work of Sir William Flinders
*Petrie and in Jerusalem he discovered the walls of Mt. Zion
and the wall enclosing the Tyropoeon Valley, in addition to
many other minor discoveries. His work in the Shephelah was
marked by some important finds but was too hurried to be of
lasting value. His publications include Mound of Many Cities
(1898); Excavations at Jerusalem 18941897 (1898); Excavations
in Palestine 18981900 (1902), with R.A.S. Macalister; Development of Palestine Exploration (1906); and Religions of Modern
Syria and Palestine (1912).
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
757
bloch
BLOCH, family of U.S. book publishers. The Bloch Publishing Company was founded by EDWARD BLOCH (18291906),
who emigrated to the United States from Bohemia. He learned
the printing trade in Albany, New York, and in 1854 set up a
company in Cincinnati, which published newspapers and
books of specific Jewish interest in English and German. His
publications included The American Israelite and Die Deborah. Later the company diversified its activities, and one of
its regular clients was a monastery to which he supplied religious books.
In 1885 Edwards son, CHARLES (18611940), established
a branch of the company in Chicago. He took over the management of The Chicago Israelite, an edition of The American
Israelite, and in 1891 he co-founded the Chicago-based Reform Advocate. He succeeded his father as president in 1901
and moved the Bloch Publishing Company to New York City
where, in addition to publishing, it was also one of the leading
bookstores in the U.S. representing several publishing houses.
It concentrated on books of Jewish interest. Charles was also
highly active during his years in New York in the Reform
movement, taking part in 1907 in the founding of the Free
Synagogue of New York, of which he later served as president,
and in 1922 of the Jewish Institute of Religion. On his death,
Charles was succeeded by his son EDWARD H. (18981982),
who headed the company for 40 years and under whose management the companys activities continued to expand. Reaching its fifth generation, the company continued to serve the
cultural life of American and world Jewry through its publication and distribution of Judaic and Hebraic literature.
Bibliography: S. Grayzel, in: JBA, 12 (195355), 7276.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
BLOCH, CAMILLE (18651949), French historian, archivist, and librarian. A professor at the Sorbonne, Bloch was
an authority on the French Revolution and its economic and
758
bloch, ernest
saw, and he was a regular contributor to the Slutzk Yagdil haTorah and Migdal Torah. In the U.S. he was a contributor to
Ha-Pardes, wrote many essays, and published several volumes
on the Talmud about material related to the glosses of the medieval rabbi *Yom Tov Ishbili, the Ritba.
Bibliography: M. Sherman, Orthodox Judaism in America:
A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook (1996), 3132; A. Rand
(ed.), Toldot Anshei Shem (1950), 910.
for the local Orthodox high school. Active with the Agudat
Israel since the Marienbad Conference of 1937, Bloch played a
leading role in the American Agudah. He was also a member
of Moez et Gedolei ha-Torah, the international body which
guides the World Agudah on questions of Torah principle,
where he was known for the universality of his approach.
Bloch actively supported Israel.
Bibliography: Dos Yidishe Vort (Feb. 1955).
759
bloch, ernst
760
invasion of the Czech Republic by Nazi Germany, he emigrated via Poland to the United States, where he wrote his major work, Das Prinzip Hoffnung (The Principle of Hope), whose
original title had been Trume vom besseren Leben (Dreams
of Better Life) a great compendium of all the forms of wishful and utopian thinking in culture, religion, architecture,
music, etc., based on the theory of the antizipierendes Bewusstsein (consciousness in anticipation). It also outlines
a philosophy of praxis as humanity in action, linking messianic hope and the Marxist project of the transformation of
world. By the mediation of the category of possibility, wishes
are to be transformed into real human praxis. The second
volume, Freiheit und Ordnung Abriss der Sozialutopien, is not
only a synopsis of all manifestations of utopian thought in the
history of philosophy, literature, architecture, music, etc., but
also contains a chapter on Zionism (Altneuland, Programm
des Zionismus), where Blochs main concern is to criticize
Theodor Herzls bourgeois Zionism and to assert that Judaism should not become a territorial nationalism but acknowledge and preserve the best that was in Moses Hess Utopia and
transform it into a messianic international socialism. During
his exile in the United States, Bloch also wrote Subjekt-Objekt.
Erlaeuterungen zu Hegel (1951, enlarged ed.1962). In 1949, he
returned to Europe, accepting a professorship in philosophy
in Leipzig and the direction of the Institute of Philosophy. In
December 1956, after the bloody repression of the Hungarian
uprising by the Russians, he was publicly denounced by the
Neues Deutschland (the official journal of the East German
Communist Party S.E.D.) as a revisionist, an idealist, and
a mystical philosopher, distracted by historical and dialectical materialism. After a political campaign against him, he
finally was obliged to accept compulsory retirement in 1957.
In August 1961, during a visit to the German Federal Republic,
frightened by the news of the construction of the Berlin wall,
he resolved not to return to Leipzig but to stay in Tuebingen,
where he taught until his death. During the Six-Day War in
June 1967 he was the most vocal speaker in an assembly organized at Frankfurt University to proclaim Israels right to exist
(Frieden im Nahen Osten, 1967). During the 15 years of his
last period, Bloch dedicated himself entirely to the publication of his complete writings (Gesamtausgabe) in 16 volumes,
published by Suhrkamp. These included Naturrrecht und menschliche Wuerde (1961; Natural Law and Human Dignity), Philosophische Aufsaetze zur objektiven Phantasie (1969), Atheismus im Christentum (1968), Politische Messungen, Pestzeit,
Vormaerz (1970), and Experimentum Mundi (1975). TendenzLatenz-Utopie, including the Gedenkbuch fuer Else Bloch-vonStritzky (Memorial Book for Else Bloch-von-Stritzky, Blochs
first wife), followed in 1978.
Bibliography: S. Marcun, Ernst Bloch in Selbstzeugnissen
und Bilddokumenten, rowohlt (1977); B. Schmidt (ed.), Materialien
zu Ernst Blochs Das Prinzip Hoffnung (1978); R. Traub and H. Wieser (eds.), Gespraeche mit Ernst Bloch (1975); Utopie-marxisme selon
Ernst Bloch. Hommages publis par Grard Raulet (1976); A. Muenster (ed.), Tagtraeume vom aufrechten Gang.Sechs Interviews mit Ernst
bloch, herbert
Bloch (1977); idem, Utopie, Messianismus und Apokalypse im Fruehwerk von Ernst Bloch (1982); B. Schmidt, Seminar: Zur Philosophie
Ernst Blochs (1983); V. Caysa et al., Hoffnung kann enttaeuscht werden.
Ernst Bloch in Leipzig (1992); M. Riedel, Ernst Bloch und die Tradition (1993). BIOGRAPHIES: P. Zudeick, Der Hintern des Teufels. Ernst
Blochs Leben und Werk (1985); A Muenster, Lutopie concrte dErnst
Bloch. Une biographie (2001; (Ger. tr. Ernst Bloch. Eine politische Biographie (2004). CORRESPONDENCE: K. Bloch et al. (ed.) Ernst Bloch.
Briefe (19031975), 2 vols. (1985).
[Arno Muenster (2nd ed.)]
761
bloch, hermann
762
BLOCH, HYMAN MORRIS (19051963), South African Supreme Court judge. Born in the Transvaal, Bloch was admitted to the Cape bar in 1927. He was kings counsel in 1944 and
in 1958 was appointed to the bench. He was prominent on the
Western Province Zionist Council and the Cape Council of
the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. He headed campaigns on behalf of Israel in the Western Province.
BLOCH, ISSACHAR BAER BEN SAMSON (17301798),
Austrian rabbi. Bloch was born in Hamburg and studied under Jonathan *Eybeschuetz and Ezekiel *Landau. After serving as rabbi in several communities he was rabbi in Boskovice
(179396), and later in Mattersdorf where he died. He wrote
Binat Yissakhar (Prague, 1785), a collection of his sermons with
a rhymed appendix on the precepts of the priestly benediction
and the redemption of the firstborn. He also wrote glosses on
the Mishnah (published in the Lemberg edition, 1869) under
the title Benei Yissakhar. He carried on a halakhic correspondence with some of the renowned contemporary scholars, to
which reference is made in Ezekiel Landaus Noda bi-Yhudah (1928, pp. 8789; cf. also Eleazar b. Aryeh Loeb, Shemen
Rokeah , (1902), 1812; and Moses *Sofer, H atam Sofer, 7 (1912),
nos. 17, 18, 21). Bloch, who was childless, adopted Jacob Patraselka, ancestor of the rabbinical family of Duschinsky and the
first rabbi in Ndasd (Hungary), who also carried on a correspondence with Moses Sofer (H atam Sofer, OH , nos. 104, 106,
139; YD, nos. 243, 305; H M, no. 206).
Bibliography: E. Duckesz, Chachme Ahw (1908), 24 no. 33
(Heb. section); Eisler, in: Das juedische Centralblatt, 11 (1892), 1178;
J.J. Greenwald, Ha-Yehudim be-Ungarya (1913), 43 no. 24; idem, Peerei
H akhmei Medinatenu (1910), 94 no. 190; Mandl, in: Magyar Zsid
Szemle, 17 (1900), 142; Richtmann, ibid., 22 (1905), 3356; M. Stein,
Magyar rabbik, 2 (1905), 103; 3 (1906), 145.
[Samuel Abba Horodezky]
BLOCH, JOSEPH (18711936), German socialist and journalist. Born in Lithuania, he immigrated to Germany where
he edited the Sozialistische Monatshefte, a monthly publication which attracted a team of outstanding writers. Bloch advocated a union of Continental Europe and when the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, he proposed a Franco-German
Union. After the German revolution of 1918, he advocated a
system of German democracy based on workers councils.
The Monatshefte gave considerable attention to Jewish questions and supported the Zionist movement. Bloch favored
mass immigration to Palestine and was highly critical of British policy there. One of the first victims of Nazi persecution
in Germany, he never wavered in his belief in the triumph of
socialism and the future of the Zionist enterprise. He died a
lonely refugee in Prague.
Bibliography: K. Blumenfeld, Erlebte Judenfrage (1962), 57,
123. Add. Bibliography: C. Bloch, Der Kampf Joseph Blochs und
der Sozialistische Monatshefte in der Weimarer Republik, in: Jahrbuch des Instituts fr Deutsche Geschichte, 3 (1974), 25788.
763
bloch, joshua
764
BLOCH, MARCUS (Mordecai) ELIEZER (17231799), physician and zoologist. He was born in Bavaria, the son of a poor
trader. Bloch received a traditional Jewish education and, at
the age of 19, he began to learn German, French, and Latin. He
was helped by wealthy relatives to study medicine at Frankfurt on the Oder, and received his doctors degree in 1747. He
became a physician in Berlin, and soon gained a reputation
at all levels of society. His friends included Moses *Mendelssohn, who was also his patient. Blochs main achievement
was in his morphological and systematic work on fish. He
built himself an aquarium and acquired a marine collection
which after his death was incorporated in the Berlin Zoological Museum. He wrote his great ichthyological work, Allegemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische, in 12 volumes (17811795).
The work describes and classifies over 1,500 species of fish.
Although Blochs classification system was primitive and superficial, his book retains its scientific value, with its excellent
drawings and diagrams. Bloch also wrote several short works
on medical and zoological subjects.
Bibliography: Hirschberg, in: Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, 39 (1913), 900; Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Aerzte, 1 (19292), 5712.
765
bloch, martin
766
versities of Prague and Leipzig, and then proceeded to Switzerland and received his doctorate in physical chemistry at
Berne in 1926. From 1927 to 1933 he headed the department of
metallography and X-ray spectrography at the Higher Technical Institute of Karlsruhe. His researches on silver iodide and
refrigeration were interrupted when the Nazis came to power,
and he thereafter served as consultant on the technology of
refrigeration in Holland, England, and France. Immigrating to
Erez Israel in 1936 he worked at the potash works at the Dead
Sea, where he introduced a method of increasing evaporation by the sun and was head of the research division of the
works. From 1940 to 1968 he was a member of the Scientific
Council of Israel and the Advisory Technological Council of
the Israel Government. In 1967 he was guest professor for research on water resources at the Hebrew University and at the
Institute of Atomic Physics at Heidelberg from 1967 to 1968.
Bloch also undertook research on bromine and potash in nature, and climatic and geological research. He was awarded
the Israel Prize for Science in 1966.
BLOCH, PHILIPP (18411923), German historian and Reform rabbi. He was born at Tworog (Silesia) and studied in
Breslau. After a period as teacher with the Munich Jewish
communal school (186971), he became rabbi of the Liberal
congregation Bruedergemeinde of Posen where he remained
active for some fifty years. When that city reverted to Poland
after World War I, Bloch retired from the rabbinate and moved
to Berlin. He took a leading part in the association of Liberal
rabbis and in the work of German Jewish scholarly societies;
in 1905 he was a co-founder of the General Archives of German Jews. Blochs contributions to Jewish scholarship were
concerned mainly with the philosophy of religion, aggadah,
and Kabbalah; he also wrote about the history of Jews in Poland and the city and province of Posen. Among his works are
a translation of and introduction to the first book of Saadiahs
Emunot ve-Deot (1879); a translation of and commentary on
the fifth chapter of Book II of Crescas Or Adonai concerning free will (1879); essays on the development of Kabbalah
and Jewish religious philosophy for Winter-Wuensches Die
juedische Literatur (189496); Die Kabbalah auf ihrem Hoehepunkt (1905); Spuren alter Volksbuecher in der Aggadah
(in Festschrift Hermann Cohen, Judaica, 1912); and Piskoth
fuer die drei Trauersabbathe, translation and commentary (in
Festschrift Steinschneider, 1896).
Bibliography: M. Brann, Geschichte des juedisch-theologischen Seminars in Breslau (1904), 1467, bibliography; A.
Warschauer, in: MGWJ, 68 (1924), 116; idem, in: MGADJ, 6 (1926),
1079; J. Guttman, in: KAWJ, 5 (1924), 17; N.M. Gelber, in: S. Federbusch (ed.), H okhmat Yisrael be-Maarav Eiropah, 2 (1963), 5963.
767
bloch-michel, jean
BLOCHMICHEL, JEAN (1912 ), French novelist and essayist. Bloch-Michel was influenced by his experiences during
the Nazi occupation of France and by the moral confusion and
crises of conscience affecting his country after World War II.
Both his fiction and his essays show him to be a moralist in the
French classical tradition with notable psychological insight.
Among his best-known works are Le tmoin (1949; The Witness, 1950); a book of war memoirs, Les grandes circonstances
(1949); La fuite en Egypte (1952; The Flight into Egypt, 1957),
and Frosinia (1966). He also wrote a study of French politics,
Journal du dsordre (1955), and an essay on the contemporary
novel, Prsent de lindicatif (1963). Bloch-Michel was a contributor to a collective work on capital punishment, Reflexions
sur la peine capitale (1957). Although culturally assimilated,
Bloch-Michel expressed his solidarity with Russian Jewry and
the State of Israel.
Bibliography: E.P. Hazard, in: Saturday Review of Literature
(Feb. 11, 1950); vidences, no. 30 (1953), 89.
[Arnold Mandel]
768
bloemfontein
BLOCK, PAUL (18771941), U.S. publisher of an early newspaper chain. Born in Elmira, N.Y., Block made his first venture
into newspaper ownership by purchasing the Newark StarEagle in 1908. He bought the Evening Sun and Morning Post
(both of Pittsburgh) in 1927 and later was president and publisher of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Toledo Blade, and Toledo
Times. He was a contributor to Jewish and other philanthropic
causes, and donated $100,000 to Yale University in 1930 for a
study of newspapers in the modern world.
BLOEMFONTEIN, capital of the Orange Free State, Republic
of South Africa. Jewish families played an important pioneering role in the development of Bloemfontein. Isaac Baumann
of Hesse-Cassel (18131881), one of the first settlers to buy land
in the new township in 1848, established the first trading store.
The earliest Day of Atonement services in Bloemfontein were
held in his house in 1871. In 1873 marriages by Jewish rites were
legalized in the Orange Free State. A Hebrew congregation
was formed in 1876, and a synagogue built in 1903. The first
president (190224) was Wolf Ehrlich. As the East European
element increased the communal leadership gradually passed
to them, a prominent part being played by Jacob Philips and
Henry Bradlow. Jews also took an active part in municipal affairs. Baumann was the second chairman of the Bloemfontein
municipal board, the forerunner of the town council. His son
Gustav was the first surveyor-general of the Orange Free State.
The Baumanns fought on the side of the Boers in the South
African War (18991902). Moritz Leviseur, who took part in
the Basuto War of 186566, helped to establish the towns first
hospital and founded the National Museum. His wife Sophie
wrote Ouma Looks Back, an account of the early days, and became known as the Grand Old Lady of Bloemfontein. Wolf
Ehrlich, a friend of the Boer leader General Hertzog (later
South African prime minister), sat as a senator in the South
African parliament. Jewish mayors of Bloemfontein included
Ehrlich (190607 and 191112), Ivan Haarburger (191214),
and Sol Harris (1929). The community had a well-developed
network of institutions, including a fine communal center for
cultural and educational activities. A large new synagogue was
built in 1965. In 1956 the Hebrew congregation, Chevra Kaddisha, talmud torah, and the charitable institutions combined to
form the United Hebrew Institutions of Bloemfontein. Other
Jewish institutions included the OFS provincial committee of
the South African Board of Deputies and the OFS and Northern Cape Zionist Council. There was also a small Reform
group. The Jewish population in 1967 numbered 1,347 out of a
769
BLOIS, capital of the department of Loir-et-Cher, north-central France. The earliest information concerning Jews in Blois
dates from 992. The community is known in medieval Jewish
annals for the tragic consequences of a *blood libel in 1171, the
first ritual murder accusation to be made in France. Thirtythree members of the community including men, women and
children, were burned at the stake on May 26, on the orders
of Count Theobald. Jacob b. Meir *Tam established the 20t
of Sivan, the date of the martyrdom, as a fast day for the Jews
770
blood
Bibliography: Dubnow, Hist Russ, 3 (1920), 37f.; Budushchnost, 3 (1902), 8790, 105f.; Voskhod, 21 no. 6 (1902), 8f.
[Chasia Turtel]
771
blood-avenger
In Halakhah
The prohibition of blood enjoined in the Bible is defined by
the Talmud as referring to the blood of cattle, beasts, and fowl,
and prescribes the punishment of *karet for the consumption
of the minimum amount of the volume of an olive (Ker. 5:1).
The blood for which one is so liable is the blood with which
the soul emerges, i.e., the lifeblood, but not the blood which
oozes out subsequently, or blood in the meat. Blood of all
other creatures, fish, locusts, and human blood, is permitted
according to the rabbinical interpretations of biblical law, although according to one source (Tanna de-Vei Eliyahu Rabbah, 15) human blood is equally forbidden by the Bible. All
authorities agree, however, that it is forbidden by rabbinic law
(Maim. Yad, Maakhalot Asurot, 6:2). The Talmud uses the peculiar phrase bipeds (Ker. 20b), and although all the halakhic
authorities regard this phrase as a synonym for humans (Sh.
Ar., YD 66: 10), J.S. *Bloch, in answer to the *blood accusation
whose fomenters quoted this passage in support of their allegation, put forward the intriguing suggestion that it actually
refers to simians. Although the content, which enumerates
blood of bipeds, the blood found in eggs, the blood of locusts
and of fish would appear to lend some support to this view,
it must be regarded as belonging to the realm of apologetics.
Nevertheless, the repugnance felt by Jews for blood caused an
extension of the prohibition even of permitted blood because
of appearances if it were collected in a vessel. Thus it is permitted to swallow the blood from ones bleeding teeth and suck
ones bleeding finger, but should a piece of bread, for instance,
be stained by blood it must be discarded. Similarly the blood
of fish collected in a vessel is forbidden (Ker. 21b).
The prohibition of blood is confined to its consumption; it is, however, permitted for other uses, and the Mishnah
(Yoma 5:6) states that the sacrificial blood which flowed into
the brook of *Kidron was collected and sold to gardeners as
fertilizer. For the most extensive prohibition of blood, the
need for its removal from meat before it is fit for Jewish consumption, see *Dietary Laws.
[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]
Menstrual Blood
The biological reality that women regularly menstruate is central to biblical and rabbinic constructions of the female. Pro-
772
bloodguilt
communities; notwithstanding repeated efforts from various quarters, blood vengeance is not, however, recognized in
Israeli law even in mitigating circumstances.
Bibliography: M. Duschak, Mosaisch-Talmudisches Strafrecht (1869), 19f.; S. Mayer, Rechte der Israeliten, Athener, und Roemer,
3 (1876), 3647; E. Goitein, Vergeltungsprincip im biblischen und
talmudischen Strafrecht (1891); G. Foerster, Das mosaische Strafrecht (1900), 9ff.; J. Weismann, Talion und oeffentliche Strafe im mosaischen Rechte (1913); E. Merz, Blutrache bei den Israeliten (1916);
ET, 5 (1953), 22033; J.M. Ginzburg, Mishpatim le-Yisrael (1956),
35674; EM, 2 (1965), 3924; B. Cohen, Jewish and Roman Law, 2
(1966), 6247; addenda 793f.; I. Warhaftig, Goel ha-Dam, Tehumim,
11 (1990), 326-360.
[Haim Hermann Cohn]
773
bloodletting
later generation (II Sam. 12: 1314; I Kings 21:21). Man, however, does not have this option (Deut. 24:16; II Kings 14:6) unless divinely authorized (II Kings 9:7, 26).
There is no commutation of the death penalty. The
notion that deliberate homicide cannot be commuted is the
foundation stone of criminal law in the Bible: human life is
invaluable, hence incommutable. This concept is not found in
any other body of law in the ancient Near East.
Accidental Homicide
Since accidental homicide also results in bloodguilt, the killer
may be slain by the goel with impunity (Num. 35:2627; Deut.
19:410). However, as his act was unintentional, the natural
death of the high priest is allowed to substitute for his own
death (Num. 35:25, 28). In the interim, he is confined to a
*city of refuge to protect him from the blood-avenger (Num.
35:9ff; Deut. 4:4143; 19:113; Josh. 20:1ff.) In cases where the
slayer is unknown, the community nearest the corpus delicti must disavow complicity and, by means of a ritual, symbolically wash away the blood of the slain (Deut. 21:19; see
*Eglah Arufah).
Homicidal Beast
The penalty is death by stoning and the shunning of the carcass. The supreme value of human life in the Bible is best expressed in the law that a homicidal beast is also guilty and that
not only must it be killed but its carcass, laden with bloodguilt,
must be reviled (Ex. 21:2829; cf. Gen. 9:5).
Unauthorized Slaughter of an Animal
The reverence for life that informs all biblical legislation
reached its summit in the priestly law which sanctions the
use of an animal for food on the condition that its blood,
containing its life, be drained upon the authorized altar (and
thereby be symbolically restored to God; Lev. 17:11). All other
slaughter is unlawful bloodshed, punishable by death at the
hand of God (Lev. 17:4).
Exceptions
No bloodguilt is incurred by homicide in self-defense (Ex.
22:1), judicial execution (Lev. 20:916), and war (I Kings
2:56). The priestly legislation may indicate some qualification
of the view that war is justifiable homicide. For example, David
was disqualified from building the Temple (I Chron. 22:8).
Bibliography: M. Greenberg, in: Sefer Yovel Y. Kaufmann
(1960), 528; idem, in: IDB, 1 (1962), S.V.; K. Koch, in: VT, 12 (1962),
396416; J. Milgrom, Studies in Levitical Terminology, 1 (1970), 2233,
5669.
[Jacob Milgrom]
774
Talmud relate to specific ailments (e.g., Git. 67b; Av. Zar. 29a),
but most are in the realm of preventive medicine based on the
belief that the regular removal of blood from the body was of
hygienic value. Among the ten indispensable requirements
of a town, in the absence of which no scholar should reside
there (Sanh. 17b), is a bloodletter. According to the Talmud,
bloodletting is one of the things which should be applied in
moderation (Git. 70a), and, in practice, the amount of blood
to be let varies with the subjects age. Maimonides (Yad, Deot
4:18), though in general agreement, suggests, in addition, consideration of the subjects blood richness and physical vigor
(Pirkei Moshe, 12). Many instructions are given in the Talmud
with respect to diet and precautions to be taken both before
and after bloodletting (e.g., Shab. 129ab; Git. 70a; Ned. 54b;
Av. Zar. 29a; et al.). Maimonides advises moderation in bloodletting: A man should not accustom himself to let blood regularly, nor should he do so unless he is in great need of it (Yad,
loc. cit.). The views of the Talmud and of Maimonides provide
a sharp contrast to those of the ancient and medieval world,
where the practice of bloodletting was unrestricted. In late Hebrew literature (e.g., the Oz ar ha-H ayyim of Jacob *Z ahalon
and the Maaseh Tuviyyah of Tobias b. Moses *Cohn) directions for bloodletting and cupping are also found.
Bibliography: J. Preuss, Biblisch-talmudische Medizin
(19233), 3639, 289300; M. Perlmann, Midrash ha-Refuah, 2 (1929),
8589.
[Joshua O. Leibowitz]
blood libel
tyr William] before Easter and tortured him with all the tortures wherewith our Lord was tortured, and on Long Friday
hanged him on a rood in hatred of our Lord. The motif of
torture and murder of Christian children in imitation of Jesus
Passion persisted with slight variations throughout the 12t
century (Gloucester, England, 1168; Blois, France, 1171; Saragossa, Spain, 1182), and was repeated in many libels of the 13t
century. In the case of Little Saint Hugh of *Lincoln, 1255, it
would seem that an element taken directly from Apions libel
(see above) was interwoven into the Passion motif, for the
chronicler Matthew Paris relates, that the Child was first fattened for ten days with white bread and milk and then almost all the Jews of England were invited to the crucifixion.
The crucifixion motif was generalized in the Siete Partidas
law code of Spain, 1263: We have heard it said that in certain
places on Good Friday the Jews do steal children and set them
on the cross in a mocking manner. Even when other motifs
eventually predominated in the libel, the crucifixion motif did
not disappear altogether. On the eve of the expulsion of the
Jews from Spain, there occurred the blood-libel case of the
Holy Child of *La Guardia (149091). There, *Conversos
were made to confess under torture that with the knowledge
of the chief rabbi of the Jews they had assembled at the time
of Passover in a cave, crucified the child, and abused him and
cursed him to his face, as was done to Jesus in ancient times.
The crucifixion motif explains why the blood libels occurred
at the time of Passover.
The Jews were well aware of the implications of sheer sadism involved in the libel. In a dirge lamenting the Jews massacred at Munich because of a blood libel in 1286, the anonymous poet supposedly quotes the words of the Christian
killers: These unhappy Jews are sinning, they kill Christian
children, they torture them in all their limbs, they take the
blood cruelly to drink (A.M. Habermann (ed.), Sefer Gezerot Ashkenaz ve-Z arefat (1946), 199). These words, written in
irony, reflect another motif in the libels, the thirst of the Jew
for blood, out of his hatred for the good and true. This is combined in 13t-century Germany with the conception that the
Jew cannot endure purity: he hates the innocence of the Christian child, its joyous song and appearance. The motif, found
in the legendary tales of the monk Caesarius of Heisterbach
in Germany, underwent various transmutations. In the source
from which Caesarius took his story the child killed by the
Jews sings erubescat judaeus (let the Jew be shamed). In Caesarius version, the child sings the Salve Regina. The Jews cannot endure this pure laudatory song and try to frighten him
and stop him from singing it. When he refuses, they cut off his
tongue and hack him to pieces. About a century after the expulsion of the Jews from England this motif only became the
basis of Geoffrey *Chaucers Prioress Tale. Here the widows
little child sings the Alma Redemptoris Mater while the serpent Sathanas awakens indignation in the cruel Jewish heart.
The Jews obey the promptings of their Satanic master and kill
the child; a miracle brings about their deserved punishment.
Though the scene of this tale is laid in Asia, at the end of the
775
blood libel
story Chaucer takes care to connect Asia explicitly with bygone libels in England, and the motif of hatred of the innocent
with the motif of mockery of the crucifixion.
In the blood libel of *Fulda (1235) another motif comes to
the fore: the Jews taking blood for medicinal remedies (here of
five young Christian boys). The strange medley of ideas about
the use of blood by the Jews is summed up by the end of the
Middle Ages, in 1494, by the citizens of Tyrnau (*Trnava).
The Jews need blood because firstly, they were convinced
by the judgment of their ancestors, that the blood of a Christian was a good remedy for the alleviation of the wound of
circumcision. Secondly, they were of opinion that this blood,
put into food, is very efficacious for the awakening of mutual
love. Thirdly, they had discovered, as men and women among
them suffered equally from menstruation, that the blood of a
Christian is a specific medicine for it, when drunk. Fourthly,
they had an ancient but secret ordinance by which they are
under obligation to shed Christian blood in honor of God, in
daily sacrifices, in some spot or other the lot for the present year had fallen on the Tyrnau Jews. To the motifs of crucifixion, sadism, hatred of the innocent and of Christianity,
and the unnaturalness of the Jews and its cure by the use of
good Christian blood, there were added, from time to time,
the ingredients of sorcery, perversity, and a kind of blind
obedience to a cruel tradition.
Generation after generation of Jews in Europe was tortured, and Jewish communities were massacred or dispersed
and broken up because of this libel. It was spread by various agents. Popular preachers ingrained it in the minds of
the common people. It became embedded, through miracle
tales, in their imagination and beliefs. This caused in Moravia, for instance, in about 1343, a woman of ill fame to come
with the help of another woman and propose to an old Jew
of Brno, named Osel, her child for sale for six marks, because
the child was red in hair and in face. Yet the Jew invited
Christian officials, who imprisoned the women and punished them horribly (B. Bretholz, Quellen zur Geschichte der
Juden in Maehren (1935), 2728). The majority of the heads of
state and the church opposed the circulation of the libel. Emperor *Frederick II of Hohenstaufen decided, after the Fulda
libel, to clear up the matter definitively, and have all the Jews
in the empire killed if the accusation proved to be true, or
exonerate them publicly if false, using this as an occasion
to arbitrate in a matter affecting the whole of Christendom.
The enquiry into the blood libel was thus turned into an allChristian problem. The emperor, who first consulted the recognized church authorities, later had to turn to a device of
his own. In the words of his summing-up of the enquiry (see
ZGJD, 1 (1887), 1424), the usual church authorities expressed
various opinions about the case, and as they have been proved
incapable of coming to a conclusive decision we found
it necessary to turn to such people that were once Jews
and have converted to the worship of the Christian faith;
for they, as opponents, will not be silent about anything that
they may know in this matter against the Jews. The em-
776
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blood libel
777
blood libel
778
remains only one question: for what purpose did the Jews use
the blood? (col. 734).
The blood libel, in the various forms it assumed and the
tales with which it was associated, is one of the most terrible
expressions of the combination of human cruelty and credulity. No psychological or sociological research can convey the
depths to which the numerous intentional instigators of such
libels, and the more numerous propagators of this phantasmagoria, sank. It resulted in the torture, murder, and expulsion, of countless Jews, and the misery of insults. However, the
dark specters it raised were even more harmful in their effects
on the minds of Christians. In modern times *Ah ad Ha-Am
found some consolation in the existence of the blood libel,
for it could serve as a spiritual defense against the influence
on Jewish self-evaluation of the consensus of hostile opinion.
This accusation is the solitary case in which the general acceptance of an idea about ourselves does not make us doubt
whether all the world can be wrong, and we right, because it
is based on an absolute lie, and is not even supported by any
false inference from particular to universal. Every Jew who has
been brought up among Jews knows as an indisputable fact
that throughout the length and breadth of Jewry there is not a
single individual who drinks human blood for religious purposes. But you ask is it possible that everybody can be
wrong, and the Jews right? Yes, it is possible: the blood accusation proves it possible. Here, you see, the Jews are right and
perfectly innocent (Selected Essays (1962), 2034).
[Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson / Dina Porat (2nd ed.)]
blood libel
curred in places within the *Pale of Settlement, and the investigations always ended by exposing the lie on which they were
based. In an attempt to stop their dissemination the minister
of ecclesiastic affairs, A. Golitsyn, sent a circular to the heads
of the guberniyas (provinces) throughout Russia on March 6,
1817, to this effect. Basing his instruction on the fact that both
the Polish monarchs and the popes have invariably invalidated
the libels, and that they had been frequently refuted by judicial
inquiries, he stated in his circular that the czar directed that
henceforward the Jews shall not be charged with murdering
Christian children, without evidence, and through prejudice
alone that they allegedly require Christian blood. Nevertheless Alexander I (180125) gave instructions to revive the inquiry in the case of the murder of a Christian child in *Velizh
(near Vitebsk) where the assassins had not been found and
local Jewish notables had been blamed for the crime. The trial
lasted for about ten years. Although the Jews were finally exonerated, Nicholas I later refused to endorse the 1817 circular,
giving as a reason that he considered that there are among
the Jews savage fanatics or sects requiring Christian blood
for their ritual, and especially since to our sorrow such fearful and astonishing groups also exist among us Christians.
Other blood libels occurred in Telsiai (Telz) in the guberniya
(province) of Kovno, in 1827, and Zaslav (*Izyaslav), in the government of Volhynia, in 1830. The Hebrew writer and scholar
I.B. *Levinsohn was stirred by this case to write his book Efes
Damim (Vilna, 1837), in which he exposed the senselessness of
the accusations. A special secret commission was convened by
the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clarify the problem
concerning use by Jews of the blood of Christian children, in
which the Russian lexicographer and folklorist V. Dahl took
part. The result of the inquiry, which reviewed numerous cases
of blood libel in the Middle Ages and modern period, were
published in 1844 in a limited edition and presented by Skripitsin, the director of the Department for Alien Religions, to
the heads of state. In 1853, a blood libel occurred in *Saratov,
when two Jews and an apostate were found guilty of the murder of two Christian children the only instance in Russia of
its kind. The council of state which dealt with the case in its
final stages announced that it had confined itself to the purely
legal aspect of the case and refrained from anything bearing
on the secret precepts or sects existing within Judaism and
their influence on the crime. It thereby prima facie deprived
the case of its test character as a blood libel. While the case was
being considered, between 1853 and 1860, various Jews were
accused of kidnapping on a number of occasions. The special committee appointed in 1855 had included a number of
theologians and orientalists, among them two converts from
Judaism, V. Levisohn and D. *Chwolson. The committee reviewed numerous Hebrew publications and manuscripts, and
came to the conclusion that there was no hint or evidence to
indicate that the Jews made use of Christian blood.
With the growth of an antisemitic movement in Russia in the 1870s, the blood libel became a regular motif in the
anti-Jewish propaganda campaign conducted in the press and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3
literature. Leading writers in this sphere were H. *Lutostansky, who wrote a pamphlet concerning the use of Christian
blood by Jewish sects for religious purposes (1876), which
ran into many editions, and J. Pranaitis. Numerous further
allegations were made, including a case in Kutais (Georgia)
in 1879, in which Jewish villagers were accused of murdering
a little Christian girl. The case was tried in the district court
and gave the advocates for the defense an opportunity of ventilating the social implications of the affair and the malicious
intentions of its instigators. The chief agitators of the blood
libels were monks. At the monastery of Suprasl crowds assembled to gaze on the bones of the child martyr Gabriello,
who had been allegedly murdered by Jews in 1690. The wave
of blood libels which occurred at the end of the 19t century
in central Europe, including the cases in Tiszaeszlar in 1881,
*Xanten in 1891, Polna in 1899, etc., also heaped fuel on the
flames of the agitation in Russia.
A number of works were published by Jewish writers
in Russia to contradict the allegations, such as D. Chwolsons Concerning Medieval Libels against Jews (1861); I.B.
Levinsohns Efes Damim of 1837 was translated into Russian
(1883). Some of the calumniators were also prosecuted (see
*Zederbaum v. Lutostansky, 1880). Despite the growing antisemitism and their officially supported anti-Jewish policy, the
czarist authorities during the reign of Alexander III (188194)
did not lend credence to the blood libels. It was only at the
beginning of the 20t century that further attempts were renewed. These included the *Blondes Case in Vilna, in 1900,
and an attempt in *Dubossary, in the guberniya of Kherson,
where a Russian criminal tried to pin the murder of a child on
the Jews. However, with the victory of the reactionaries in Russia after the dissolution of the Second *Duma in 1907, and the
strengthening of the extreme right wing (*Union of Russian
People) in the Third Duma, another attempt at official level
was made by the regime to use the blood libel as a weapon in
its struggle against the revolutionary movement and to justify
its policy toward the Jews. An opportunity for doing so occurred in the *Beilis Case engineered by the minister of justice
Shcheglovitov. The trial, which continued from spring 1911 to
fall 1913, became a major political issue and the focal point for
anti-Jewish agitation in the antisemitic press, in the streets, at
public meetings, and in the Duma. The whole of liberal and
socialist opinion was ranged behind Beilis defense, and even
a section of the conservative camp. Leading Russian lawyers
conducted the defense, and in Russia and throughout Europe
hundreds of intellectuals and scholars, headed by V. Korolenko
and M. *Gorki, joined in protest against the trial. The exoneration of Beilis was a political defeat for the regime. Despite this,
the government continued to assent to the instigation of blood
libels and support their dissemination among the masses until
the 1917 Revolution. The Soviet governments attitude toward
the blood libel was that it had been a weapon of the reaction
and a tactic to exploit popular superstition by the czarist regime. The instigators of the Beilis trial were interrogated and
tried at an early stage after the revolution. In later years the
779
specter of the blood libel was raised in the Soviet press in remote regions of the U.S.S.R., such as Georgia, Dagestan, and
Uzbekistan, in the context of the violent propaganda campaign
conducted by the Soviet government against Judaism and the
State of Israel. After these attempts had aroused world public
opinion, they were dropped.
[Yehuda Slutsky]
BLOOM, BENJAMIN SAMUEL (19131999), U.S. educator. Bloom studied at Pennsylvania State University and at the
University of Chicago, where he taught from 1940 (professor
of education, 1953) and worked as a university examiner. He
participated in several major educational assessment research
efforts, both in America and abroad. His evaluation of school
performance among youth of different nationalities was pub-
780
bloom, hyman
in the Stream (1977), Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987), and
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). She has continued to make
films and TV dramas into the 21st century. Claire Bloom has
been married three times; her third husband (from 1990 to
1995) was Philip *Roth, the American writer. She is the author of several autobiographical works, including Limelight
and After: Education of an Actress (1982) and Leaving a Dolls
House: A Memoir (1998).
[Jonathan Licht and Willian D. Rubinstein (2nd ed)]
781
bloom, sol
BLOOM, SOL (18701949), U.S. businessman and politician. Bloom, born in Pekin, Ill., was brought to San Francisco by his parents as a child. He was largely self-educated.
At the age of 17 he became a theatrical producer, and began
successful financial investments. Moving to Chicago, Bloom
managed part of the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893
and prospered as a music publisher. In 1903 he moved to New
York where he entered the real estate and construction field.
Extremely successful in business, Bloom retired in 1920 and
went into politics. He was elected to Congress as a Democrat
in 1923, and served continuously until his death. As chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee he strongly supported and
advanced President Roosevelts internationalist policies. He
was a member of the American delegation to the 1943 Bermuda conference on refugees during World War II, and was
criticized by those who, unlike Bloom himself, found its results unsatisfactory. He was a delegate to the 1945 San Francisco Conference that wrote the UN Charter; to the UN Relief
and Rehabilitation Administration Conference of 1946; and to
the 1947 Inter-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro. Bloom,
who was favorable to Zionism, opposed President Trumans
early Palestine policy and took part in gaining American and
UN support for the establishment of the State of Israel. His
Autobiography was published in 1948.
Bibliography: Current Biography Yearbook 1943 (1944),
5559.
[Stanley L. Falk]
BLOOMBERG, MICHAEL R. (1942 ), founder of Bloomberg LP, philanthropist, and mayor of New York. Born in Medford, Mass., where his father was the bookkeeper at a local
dairy, Bloomberg evinced a thirst for information and technology that led him to Johns Hopkins University, where he
parked cars and took out loans to finance his education. After his college graduation, he gained an M.B.A. from Harvard
and in 1966 was hired by Salomon Brothers to work on Wall
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bloomingdale
BLOOMFIELD, MAURICE (18551928), U.S. expert in Sanskrit. Born in Austria, Bloomfield was taken to the U.S. as a
child and received his higher education at the University of
Chicago and at Yale, where he studied under the Sanskritist
W.D. Whitney. Bloomfield concentrated on research in Vedic language and literature, and after further study at Berlin
and Leipzig (187981) was appointed professor of Sanskrit
and comparative linguistics at Johns Hopkins University. His
major works are A Vedic Concordance (1906), and Vedic Variants (completed after his death by his student and colleague,
Franklin Edgerton, and published 193034). Bloomfield was
president of the American Oriental Society (191011).
Bibliography: Studies in Honor of Maurice Bloomfield
(1920).
BLOOMFIELDZEISLER, FANNY (18631927), U.S. virtuoso pianist, known for her recitals in Europe and the U.S.
Born in Vienna, Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler was taken to the
U.S. in 1868. She made her debut in Chicago at eleven and then
went to Vienna for further study with Theodor Leschetizky
(18301919). She first toured Europe in 1893 and continued to
appear in leading cities until World War I. She gave a special
performance in Chicago in 1925, to mark the half-century of
her concert career.
BLOOMGARDEN, KERMIT (19041976), U.S. theatrical
producer. Born in Brooklyn to Zemad and Annie Groden
Bloomgarden, he graduated from New York University in 1926
as an accounting major and practiced as a certified public accountant for six years, when he met a Broadway producer at
a dinner party who convinced him that the theater was for
me, Bloomgarden recalled. In 1935 Bloomgarden began a tenyear association with Herman Shumlins production organization, and he was associated with the presentation of several
successful plays by Lillian *Hellman, including The Childrens
Hour, The Little Foxes, and Watch on the Rhine. Later he produced other Hellman plays on his own. His first venture as a
producer was Heavenly Express, starring John *Garfield, which
gave him experience but no profits before it closed quickly in
1940. Following World War II, Bloomgarden produced Deep
Are the Roots, a powerful drama about racial conflict, and
Hellmans Another Part of the Forest. Perhaps the best-known
play he produced in that period, in 1949, was Arthur *Millers
Death of a Salesman, with a cast headed by Lee J. *Cobb. It is
considered one of the greatest American plays of the 20t century, and it won the Tony and New York Drama Critics Circle
awards as well as the Pulitzer Prize.
He had failures as well as hits. But between September
1955 and the following May, Bloomgarden, alone or in association with others, presented four major productions: Hellmans
adaptation of Jean Anouilhs The Lark, the musical The Most
Happy Fella, Millers A View From the Bridge, and The Diary
of Anne Frank, based on a diary kept by a doomed Jewish girl
in World War II. Directed by Garson *Kanin, it ran for 717
performances, made a star out of Susan *Strasberg, and won
the three major drama prizes of 1956: the Pulitzer, the Tony
for best play, and the New York Drama Critics Circle award.
The play, written by the husband and wife team of Albert
*Hackett and Frances Goodrich went through eight drafts
over several years before emerging on the stage. The playwrights visited Amsterdam to see the secret hideaway and
conferred with Otto Frank, Annes father. The work was based
on Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, the best-selling
book about the Dutch girls wartime experience hiding from
the Nazis. The play contains the pivotal line from the diary:
In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really
good at heart.
In 1957 Bloomgarden produced Look Homeward, Angel,
based on the novel by Thomas Wolfe, as well as Meredith Willsons Music Man, which won eight Tony awards and ran for
1,375 performances. Over the years his name preceded the credits of Hellmans Toys in the Attic, Millers The Crucible, Stephen
*Sondheims Anyone Can Whistle, and Lanford Wilsons The
Hot L Baltimore. He produced more than 30 plays on Broadway, including seven by Hellman and three by Miller. In 1974,
after the amputation of his right leg because of arteriosclerosis,
he returned to Broadway with Peter Shaffers Equus.
[Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)]
783
784
A bar mitzvah boy surrounded by family and friends carries the Torah Scroll as part of the Torah reading at the
Western Wall, one of the favored sites in Israel to commemorate a boys Jewish coming of age. Photo: Z. Radovan, Jerusalem.
For a Jew the stages of life are accompanied by various rituals and ceremonies,
from birth through education and bar/bat mitzvah to marriage and family to death.
Items may relate to an individual, such as birth amulets, tefillin bags,
and dowries, or to the community, such as the hevra
kaddisha (burial society)
.
appurtenances. The locale of each community influenced the materials and
styles reflected in the various objects and events shown here.
life cycle
A tenth-century childrens alphabet primer from a Hebrew manuscript. Cambridge University Library, T-S K5.13.
(opposite page):
The Jewish Wedding,
1861, by Moritz Daniel
Oppenheim, (18001882),
German painter. Oil on
canvas, 37 x 27.5 cm.
Collection, The Israel
Museum, Jerusalem.
Photo The Israel Museum,
Jerusalem, by David Harris.
(this page) LEFT:
A bat mitzvah girl
wearing a yarmulke and
tallit (prayer shawl)
reads the Torah.
Israel images/Alamy.
A man prays the kaddish (mourning prayer) at the Western Wall wearing a tallit (prayer shawl),
and tefillin (phylacteries). Jewish people from around the world make pilgrimages to the Wall, especially
during the festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Photo: Z. Radovan, Jerusalem.
Dowry of a Jewish bride, made from costly items and containing several sets of dresses, coats,
underpants, scarves and ornate leather boots. Bukhara, Central Asia, 19th century.
Collection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo Israel Museum, Jerusalem, by David Harris.
A rabbi holds up a couples ketubbah (marriage contract) during a wedding ceremony in the
central square of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, 1994. Bojan Brecelj/Corbis.
Wedding rings, Germany and Italy, 17th century. Engraved, filigree, and enameled gold.
Collection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, by Avi Ganor.
Yemenite Jewish bride and groom in their traditional finery. Photo: Z. Radovan, Jerusalem.
REVELATION