ABIMELECH – 1. Son of Gideon (surnamed Jerubbaal), the great "judge" of Israel. By virtue of his father's dictatorship or semiroyalty, he claimed to rule over Ephraim. He was, however, merely the son of Gideon's concubine; and to make good...
ABIMI – The name of several Amoraim, distinguished for proficiency in the Halakah. The most prominent of these are the following:1. A Babylonian halakist of the third century, always quoted without cognomen. Most of his doctrines have...
ABIMI B. ABBAHU – A scholar of the third century. Abimi's native country and parentage are doubtful. He is always cited as Abimi, the son of R. Abbahu; he was as fond of quoting Baraitot as was R. Abbahu of Cæsarea of collecting them; and once he...
ABIMI OF HAGRONIA – A Babylonian amora of the fourth century, disciple of Raba b. Joseph and teacher of Rab Mordecai, the colleague of Rab Ashi. One of his aphorisms reads: "For the man whom women have slain there is no law and no judge" (B. M....
ABIN R – Rabin is a contraction of R. Abin, and appears more frequently in the Babylonian than in the Palestinian Talmud. R. Abin and R. Abun, on the contrary, occur in the latter more frequently than in the former; while the abbreviated...
ABIN – An eminent cabalist of Le Mans (about 1040), a descendant of R. Simon of Le Mans, and grandfather of R. Simon the Great, the contemporary of R. Gershom ben Judah of Metz.Bibliography: Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 25 and note;...
ABIN BEN ADDA – A Babylonian amora of the fourth century, disciple of Rab Judah ben Ezekiel and senior contemporary of Raba ben Joseph. Although no original thinker, he served the cause of both the Halakah and the Haggadah, by storing up in his...
ABIN, BENEDICT – See Ahin, Bendich.
ABIN B. RAB ḤISDA – A Palestinian amora, a disciple of R. Johanan (Giṭ. 5b). In addition to some halakic opinions, a few exegetical remarks by him are preserved in the midrashic literature, from which it appears that he was a linguist and tried to...
ABIN B. ḤIYYA – A Palestinian amora of the fourth generation, and a colleague of R. Jeremiah. His teachers, R. Zeira I. and R. Hila, were among the greatest authorities of the third generation, and his younger contemporaries recognized him as...
ABIN B. KAHANA – A Palestinian amora, one of the teachers of R. Abun ben Ḥiyya (Tem. 20b), and junior colleague of R. Hoshaya II. (Yer. Ter. viii. 45c). R. Jonah, of the fourth amoraic generation, transmits a halakic discussion in his name (Yer....
ABIN HA-LEVI – A Palestinian amora of the second half of the fourth century, distinguished as an original haggadist. In the midrashic literature the title Berabbi is often appended to his name (Tan., ed. Buber, Wa-yera, 46; Ḥayye, 2;...
ABIN NAGGARA – A Babylonian amora of the second and third generations. A carpenter by trade, he devoted his nights to study; and Rab Huna I., noticing the constant light in Abin's home, foretold that learned sons would issue from that house....
ABIN B. NAḤMAN – A beloved disciple of R. Judah ben Ezekiel (B. M. 107a). He is mentioned as a transmitter of Baraitot (Yeb. 84b; B. B. 94b).S. M.
ABIN BEN TANḤUM BAR ṬERIFON – A Palestinian scholar who, by a curious calculation, tries to prove that the Biblical saying, "That soul shall be cut off from his people" (Gen. xvii. 14), signifies a premature death before the expiration of the fiftieth year...
ABINA – An amora of the third and fourth centuries, always cited without any cognomen. He was a Babylonian by birth, a disciple of Rab Huna I., and befriended by Geniba (Giṭ. 65b; Yer. Giṭ. vi. 48a), in whose name he reports a Halakah...
ABINADAB – 1. A resident of Kirjath-jearim, who kept the Ark of the Covenant in his house during the twenty years immediately following its restoration by the Philistines (I Sam. vii. 1; I Chron. xiii. 7). In II Sam. vi. 3, 4, Gibeah is...
ABINOAM – Father of Barak; is mentioned in Judges, iv. 6, 12, v. 1, 12. In all the Greek versions the name is transliterated Abineem, except in the Alexandrine codex (Judges, iv. 12), where it is given as Iabin. This is a name similar in...
ABINU MALKENU – The initial words and name of a portion of the liturgy recited with special solemnity on the Penitential Days from New Year to the Day of Atonement inclusive. In the ancient liturgy the two invocations, "Our Father" and "Our...
ABIOB, AARON – Author of "Shemen ha-Mor" (Oil of Myrrh), a commentary on the Book of Esther. He flourished in Salonica about 1540, and his work was first printed there in 1601. M. L. M.
ABIOB, SIMON B. DAVID – Cabalist of the seventeenth century. He removed to Hebron, one of the chief gathering-places of the Jewish mystics of his day. His work, "Bat Melek" (The King's Daughter), dealing with cabalistic questions, was edited by Solomon...
ABIRAM – 1.—Biblical Data: Son of Eliab, one of the conspiratorsagainst Moses (Num. xvi. 1; Ps. cvi. 17). Deut. xi. 6 places him in the tribe of Reuben. G. B. L.—In Rabbinical Literature: Abiram—who obtained his name from the fact that...
ABISHAG – Biblical Data: A beautiful Shunammite, brought by the servants of David to his harem to minister to the aged king in the hope of reviving his failing powers (I Kings, i. 1-5). After the accession of Solomon, Adonijah, his elder...
ABISHAI – Biblical Data: A son of David's sister Zeruiah. Abishai ranked as a general in command second only to his brother Joab (II Sam. x. 10, 14, xviii. 2, 5, 12). By saving David's life (II Sam. xxi. 17) and by the slaughter of three...
ABISHALOM – See Absalom.