ASHTEROTH KARNAIM – A town east of the Jordan (Gen. xiv. 5; "Onomastica," ed. Lagarde, 209, 61, 213, 39); called simply "Karnaim" in Amos vi. 13 (so Wellhausen, Nowack, and G. A. Smith, ad loc.), in I Macc. v. 43, and II Macc. xii. 21, 26. The...
ASHTORETH – The name given in the Old Testament to the old Semitic mother-goddess, called in Phenicia, Ashtarte; in Babylonia, Ishtar; and in Arabia, Athtar. (For her worship among the Hebrews, see Astarte.) Ashtoreth is derived from...
ASHTUMKAR, REUBEN DHONDJI – Beni-Israel, soldier; born near Bombay, India, about 1820; He entered military service in the Eighth Regiment native infantry on March 5, 1839. He participated in the pursuit of the rebel army under Tantia Topee in Gujarat,...
ASHURA – A fast-day among the Mohammedans, observed on the tenth day of the month MuḦarram, and derived from the Jewish Day of Atonement, celebrated on the tenth of Tishri (Lev. xvi. 29, xxiii. 27). The name is an Aramaic form of the...
ASHYAN – The name of several Palestinian amoraim and of one, probably Babylonian, amora. 1. Ashyan, "the Carpenter (Naggara)," of the third century, who handed down certain utterances of Johanan (Yer. 'Ab. Zarah iii. 42b; Gen. R. lxxxii....
ASIA – The largest continent, and the most ancient seat of civilization, constituting the greater part of the Eastern hemisphere.The Jews in Palestine. The earliest record that makes mention of the Hebrew people—the triumphal stele of...
ASIA MINOR – The western extremity of Asia, which seems to have been known to the Jews at a relatively early date; for to this region belong the greater number of the sons of Japhet mentioned in the ethnographic lists in Gen. x. Von...
ASIEL – 1. Found only in the genealogy of Simeon (I Chron. iv. 35). 2. One of the five skilled writers who wrote the law for Ezra (II Esd. xiv. 24). 3. Ancestor of Tobit (Tobit i. 1, R. V.; A. V. reads "Asael").J. Jr. G. B. L....
'ASIYAH – The last of the four spiritual worlds of the Cabala—Aẓilut, Beriah, Yeẓirah, 'Asiyah—based on the passage in Isa. xliii. 7. According to the "Maseket Aẓilut," it is the region where the Ofanim rule and where they promote the...
ASKANAZY, MAX – German physician; born at Stallupönen, East Prussia, Feb. 24, 1865. He received his education at the gymnasium in Königsberg, Prussia, and at the university in that city, studying medicine at the latter, and graduating in 1890....
ASKANAZY, SELLY – German physician; born Sept. 8, 1866, at Stallupönen, East Prussia. He attended the Kneiphof Gymnasium at Königsberg, Prussia, and later the university in that city, graduating as doctor of medicine in 1892. Joining the staff of...
ASKENAZY, SIMON – Polish historian; born in 1867 at Zawichwost, government of Radom, in Russian Poland; studied at the universities of Warsaw and Göttingen, graduating from the latter with the degree of doctor of philosophy. In 1897 he was...
ASKNAZI, ISAAC LVOVICH – Russian painter; born at Drissa Jan. 28, 1856; died Dec. 21, 1902, at Moscow. He entered the St. Petersburg Academy in 1870 as a day-scholar, and was registered as a student in 1874. In the latter year he was awarded the second...
ASMA – Arab poetess, contemporary with Mohammed; daughter of Marwan; was married to an Arab of the tribe of the Banu Ḥatmah. After the murder of the Jewish poet Abu 'Afak, who, in spite of his great age, had instigated the members of...
ASMAKTA – A word meaning "support," "reliance" (Ket. 67a); hence it is used to designate a Bible text quoted in support of a rabbinical enactment (Ḥul. 64b; see Jastrow, "Dict." s.v.).Legal Meaning. In civil law Asmakta (surety) is a...
ASMODEUS – Name of the prince of demons. The meaning of the name and the identity of the two forms here given are still in dispute.In the Book of Tobit. Asmodeus first appears in the Book of Tobit. According to Tobit iii. 8, vi. 14, the...
ASMONEAN – See Periodicals.
ASNAPPER – A person who transplanted the mixed multitude of tribes from Babylon to Samaria after the fall of the latter city (Ezra iv. 10). It has been conjectured that this word is a misreading for Assurbanipal, though the reference in...
ASOLO – Town in the province of Treviso, Italy. A Jewish congregation existed there in the middle of the sixteenth century, perhaps even at the end of the fifteenth. In 1547 there were in Asolo 37 Jews, who lived in six houses close...
ASPALATHUS – A word found only in the Apocrypha (Ecclus. [Sirach] xxiv. 15). From the context it appears to be the name of a fragrant wood. It is impossible, however, to identify the plant.J. Jr. G. B. L.
ASPHAR – A pool in the wilderness of Tekoah, where Jonathan and Simon Maccabeus pitched their tents when they fled before the army of Bacchides (I Macc. ix. 33; compare Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 1, § 2). The identification of the place is...
ASRIEL – Eponym of the family of Asrielites, found in the genealogy of Manasseh (Num. xxvi. 31; Joshua, xvii. 2). In I Chron. vii. 14 the A. V. reads "Ashriel."J. Jr. G. B. L.
ASS – Biblical Data: The Bible knows both the wild and the domestic Ass. (1) The wild Ass ("pere" or "'arod") generally roamed about in herds, and is associated with the wilderness (Job xxiv. 5). The character of the wild Ass gave...
ASS-WORSHIP – The accusation that Jews worshiped the ass was for four centuries persistently made by certain Greek and Latin writers.Various Authors of the Calumny. (1) Mnaseas of Patras (second century B.C.) is quoted by Josephus ("Contra...
ASSABAN – Rabbi and author; born at Morocco in 1700 and died at Aleppo about 1760. He was chief rabbi of Leghorn, and emigrated to Jerusalem about 1729, where he dwelt for thirty years. He was the author of a "Widdui" (confession of...