BAALATH BEER – A city in the possession of Simeon (Josh. xix. 8); but in the corresponding list of I Chron. iv. 33 called "Baal."J. Jr. G. B. L.
BAALBEK – A city situated at the base of the western slope of the Anti-Lebanon, in a fertile region. It is the Heliopolis of the Greek and Roman writers, and is famous for the magnificent ruins of several temples—a large one with a vast...
BAALE, JUDAH – See Kirjath-Jearim.
BAALIM – Plural of "Baal"; occurs in the Bible fifteen times, always used with the article; not found in the Pentateuch nor in the poetical books. For a full discussion of the cult, see Ba'al-Worship. The true signification has been a...
BAALIS – King of the Ammonites, who was the leading spirit in the murder of Gedaliah (Jer. xl. 14). While the first element in the name is clearly "Baal," the second is puzzling; and no satisfactory explanation has as yet been...
BAALTIS – See Astarte.
BAANA – 1. Son of Ahilud, one of the twelve commissariat officers of Solomon. He had charge of the districts Taanach and Megiddo (I Kings iv. 12).2. Son of Hushai, another of the commissariat officers of Solomon; placed over Asher and...
BAANAH – 1. Son of Rimmon the Beerothite, of Benjamin, who, with his brother Rechab, was an officer under Ishbosheth. He killed Ishbosheth and brought his head to David in the hope of obtaining a reward; but instead of this, he and his...
BAAR, HERMAN – American educator; born in 1826 at Stadthagen, near Hanover, Germany. He received a preliminary education at the gymnasium of Hanover, and, after graduation, took a course in philology and theology at the University of...
BA'ARAS – A place in the ravine Zerḳa Ma'in above the city of Macherus on the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea, where are, according to Josephus ("B. J." vii. 6, § 3), the so-called Iron Mountains. According to Eusebius ("Onomasticon,"...
BAASHA – Son of Ahijah and king of Israel. Owing to the weakness of Nadab, the successor of Jeroboam I., first king of Israel, Baasha was enabled to seize the throne through the murder of his master. The conspiracy was carried out at...
BAB AL-ABWAB – See Derbent.
BABA (THE GREAT) – Son of Nathaniel and grandson of Aḳbun, the high priests; a prominent leader and high priest of the Samaritans in the time of the emperor Constantine (fourth century). According to Samaritan traditions (see Neubauer, "Chronique...
BABA – Originally, "gate," a Talmudic technical term for section, part, or clause. A single Mishnah may be divided into two or three parts: "resha" and "sefa," "beginning" and "end"; or "resha," "meẓi'ata," and "sefa," "beginning,"...
BABA BATRA – The third of the three Talmudic tractates of the order Neziḳin, dealing with man's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property, of a house or field. This "massekta" (treatise) is not, like Baba Ḳamma and Baba Meẓi'a,...
BABA BUCH – Judæo-German translation or adadaptation by Elijah Levita of an Italian version of the Anglo-Roman romance, "Sir Bevis of Hamton." The Italian version of this, entitled "Buovo d'Antona," was very popular—no less than thirty...
BABA BEN BUṬA – Teacher of the Law at the time of Herod, and perhaps a member of the prominent family known as "The Sons of Baba" ("Bene Baba"), who, at the time of the siege of Jerusalem by Herod (37 B.C.), resisted its surrender, and whom...
BABA ḲAMMA – The first of a series of three Talmudic treatises of the order Neziḳin dealing with damages. Baba Ḳamma is on compensation for damages. The regulations discussed in this tractate have their source in the judgments that Moses was...
BABA MEẒI'A – The second of the three Talmudic tractates of the order Neziḳin. It treats of man's responsibility with regard to the property of his fellow-man that has come lawfully into his possession for the present, and of which he is...
BABEL, TOWER OF – Biblical Data: The story of the building of the city and the Tower of Babel as found in Gen. xi. 1-9 is briefly as follows: The whole human race spoke one and the same language, and formed one community. This community or clan...
BABENHAUSEN – A city of Hesse, district of Starkenburg, Germany. Jews are reported to have resided here as early as 1320. At the request of the nobleman Arrosius von Breuberg, certain Jews were placed under the ban, and all intercourse...
BABINOVICHI – Town in the district of Orsha, government of Mohilev, Russia. In 1900, in a total population of 1,143 the Jews numbered about 800.G. H. R.
BABLI, SOLOMON B. JUDAH HA- – See Solomon b. Judah ha-Babli.
BABOVICH, SIMḤA – Head man of the Karaites of the Crimea in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and president of the Karaite Council of the city of Kozlov, Eupatoria. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was probably born about...
BABSKI REFUES – The name applied in Yiddish to domestic and superstitious medicine. Common folk among the Jews in Russia and Poland believe in peculiar remedies for diseases and maladies, some of the remedies consisting of drugs or physics and...