ATHENIANS in Talmud and Midrash – The Jewish folk-lore of Palestine was fond of contrasting the inhabitants of Athens and of Jerusalem, and of opposing the Rabbis to the Attic sages. Greek philosophy and esthetics did not greatly impress the Jewish people, who...
ATHENS, ANCIENT – The principal city of Greece, situated five miles from its seaport, Piræus, on the Saronic gulf. When, as a result of the Persian wars, Athens attained the hegemony of the eastern Mediterranean, it was already one of the most...
ATHENS, MODERN – The Jewish community of Athens is hardly thirty years old. One of the oldest families, if not the oldest, is that of Max Rothschild, a Bavarian Jew, who went to Greece in 1833 with King Otho. The community had neither synagogue...
ATHIAS – A Spanish family distinguished by the great number of its scholars and promoters of learning. The name is spelled in Hebrew variously, , (from an Arabic word meaning "present," "gift"). As early as the sixteenth century some of...
ATHLETES, ATHLETICS, AND FIELD-SPORTS – Men who perform feats of strength, or practise games and sports the pursuit of which depends on physical strength; the feats, games, and sports themselves.—Biblical Data: Notable "Mighty" Men. Long before the Greeks made...
ATHRIBIS – A city, during the Ptolemaic period, in Lower Egypt on the Damietta arm of the Nile near the present Benḥa (Benḥa al-Asi), south-west of Zagazeeg. On the hill near Benḥa there are vestiges of the old city of Athribis. A Jewish...
ATHRONGES – Leader of the Jews during the insurrection under Archelaus (4 B.C.—6 C. E.). A shepherd and bold adventurer, without any other claim to power but that of gigantic strength and stature, he managed, in common with his four...
ATLANTA – Since 1868 capital of the State of Georgia in the United States. The city was captured and burned by the United States troops in 1864, and all of the civic and congregational records were destroyed.From the best tradition...
ATLAS, ELAZAR (LAZAR) – Literary critic; son of David Atlas; born March 5, 1851, in Beisegola, in the government of Kowno, Russia. His early years were spent at Novo Zhagory in the study of the Talmud. In 1884 he arrived at Warsaw and became one of the...
ATOMISM – The theory concerning atoms. Two opinions of the nature of matter were professed in the Greek philosophical schools. The Eleatic school asserted that matter is infinitely divisible. Democritus, Leucippus, and Epicurus...
ATONEMENT – The setting at one, or reconciliation, of two estranged parties—translation used in the Authorized Version for "kapparah," "kippurim." The root ("kipper"), to make atonement, is explained by W. Robertson Smith ("Old Testament in...
ATONEMENT, DAY OF – Biblical Data. — In Bible, Talmud, and Liturgy: The term , "Yom Kippur," is late rabbinic. The Biblical laws relating to it are found in Lev. xvi. (ceremonies); ib. xxiii. 26-32 (list of holidays); ib. xxv. 9 (ushering in the...
ATTAH HORE'TA – The first of a series of versicles, seventeen in number, chanted on the Rejoicing of the Law in the Northern ritual, before the scrolls are taken from the Ark for the "haḳḳafot" or processional circuits. The chant resembles a...
ATTAI – 1. Son of the Egyptian Jarha, to whom Sheshan the Jerahmeelite gave his daughter to wife (I Chron. ii. 35, 36).2. A Gadite chieftain who joined the forces of David at Ziklag (I Chron. xii. 11).3. A son of Rehoboam, and Maachah,...
ATTAR, IBN – A family name among the Sephardic Jews. In Arabic the word "attar" means "apothecary" or "spice-dealer"; but it is found Hebraized, and applied in its original sense as an epithet, as early as 1150 (Harkavy, "Meassef Niddaḥim,"...
ATTESTATION OF DOCUMENTS (Ḥatimah) – The general rule of evidence is that a fact can be established only by the testimony of two witnesses. With the introduction of writing and the custom of making written records of the transactions, the strictness of the rule...
ATTIA, ISAAC B. ISAIAH – Talmudic scholar; lived in Aleppo in the nineteenth century. He was the author of the following works, published in Leghorn, 1821-31: (1) "Eshet Ḥayil" (A Virtuous Woman), explaining Prov. xxxi.; (2) "Wayiḳra Yiẓḥaḳ" (And Isaac...
ATTORNEY – A legal representative, empowered to plead on behalf of the person represented. Attorneys at law are unknown in Jewish law. The examination and cross-examination of the witnesses were conducted by the judges; and in criminal...
ATTORNEY, POWER OF (Harshaah) – An instrument empowering an agent to act on behalf of a principal. The following formula of a Power of Attorney is taken from "Naḥalat Shib'ah," chap. xliv.:"A memorial of testimony taken before us witnesses whose names are...
ATTRIBUTES – The fundamental and permanent properties of substance, so-called by logicians in contradistinction to accidents, which are modifications representing circumstantial properties only. Aristotle makes the distinction between...
AUB, HIRSCH – Rabbi and Talmudist; born, 1796, in Baiersdorf, a small town near Erlangen, the birthplace of a number of prominent Jews; died at Munich, 1876. He studied in Prague and became known as a Talmudist. In 1827 he was elected chief...
AUB, JOSEPH – Oculist; born in 1846; died May 13, 1888, at Cincinnati, O. He attended the Talmud Yelodim Institute and the public schools, and later entered the Ohio Medical College, from which institution he was graduated in 1866. He then...
AUB, JOSEPH – German rabbi; cousin of Hirsch Aub; born at Beiersdorf, in Bavaria, 1805; died May 22, 1880. He held various rabbinical posts for fifty years, first in Baireuth (1830-50), then in Mayence (1850-65), and, finally, in Berlin from...
AUB, LUDWIG – Author and poet; born Aug. 4, 1862, in Munich, Germany. He is a grandson of the rabbi Hirsch Aub, of Munich. When his father, Max Aub, a lawyer, was recalled to Munich from the little town of Uffenheim, Franconia, where he held...
AUBRIOT, HUGUES – A provost of Paris, France; born at Dijon; died in Burgundy in 1382. He was in office at the accession of Charles VI. (1380), when the populace, irritated beyond endurance by the taxes levied upon them, demanded of the king that...