BRIDEGROOM OF THE TORAH – See Bridegroom of the Law.
BRIDLE – A term used in the English versions of the Bible interchangeably with bit to represent the three Hebrew words , and , which, however, do not as a rule denote the usual head-gear of a horse or other beast of burden, consisting of...
BRIEG – Town in Silesia; formerly the capital of the duchy of the same name. Jews settled there about 1324, chiefly because it was situated on the commercial route to Breslau, in which place a colony of Jews had long resided. The Jewish...
BRIEGER, LUDWIG – German physician and medical writer; born at Glatz, in Prussian Silesia, July 26, 1849. He received his education at the gymnasium of his native town and at the universities of Breslau and Strasburg. From the latter he was...
BRIELI JUDAH LEON BEN ELIEZER – Rabbi in Mantua; born about 1643; died in 1722.Brieli, besides being a high Talmudical authority, as is shown in the responsa of his contemporaries Ishmael Coen, Morpurgo, and others who asked his opinion on halakic questions,...
BRIER – See Bramble.
BRIGHT, JOHN – English statesman and orator; born at Greenbank, Nov. 16, 1811; died in Rochdale March 27, 1889. It has been stated that his mother, Martha Jacobs, was a Jewess; but this statement is erroneous, such Biblical names being not...
BRILL, AZRIEL – Hungarian rabbi and author; lived in the first half of the nineteenth century; assistant rabbi (dayyan) at Pest, Hungary. He wrote: "Hadrat Ḳodesh" (Beauty of Holiness), containing the Mishnah treatises, Rosh ha-Shanah, and...
BRILL, JEHIEL – Russian journalist. According to Zeitlin he was born in 1836 in Tultschin, Russian Poland; but Fuenn, who knew him well, states that he was born in British India. He died in London Nov. 12, 1886. Taken to Constantinople when...
BRILL, JOEL – See Löwe, Joel.
BRILL, JOSEPH – Russian teacher and Hebrew writer; born at Gorki, near Mohilev, on the Dnieper, 1839. He studied Talmud at the yeshibot of Shklov and Vitebsk, and later settled in Minsk, where he opened a school for Jewish boys, and in which...
BRILL, SAMUEL LÖW – Hungarian rabbi and Talmudical scholar; born Sept. 14, 1814, in Budapest; died April 8, 1897. He was carefully educated by his father, Azriel Brill (1778-1853), who was teacher and associate rabbi at Pest, and the author of...
BRIMSTONE – Sulfur in a solid state. It is found in Palestine, in the region along the banks of the Jordan and around the Dead Sea, both in combination with other elements and in its pure state. In the latter condition it is still employed...
BRINDISI – Seaport on the coast of Calabria, Italy, whence the ancient Romans embarked for the East. Jews undoubtedly settled there at a very early period. In the Talmud ('Er. iv. 1) it is recounted that four illustrious Mishnaic doctors...
BRISK – See Brest-Litovsk.
BRISKER, AARON B. MEÏR – See Aaron b. Meïr of Brest.
BRISTOL – Early History. Commercial seaport city in the counties of Gloucester and Somerset, England. Jews settled very early at Bristol, which was the center of the slave-trade between England and Ireland, until its discontinuance, under...
BRITISH MUSEUM, London – Chief library and museum of the United Kingdom. It contains many books and objects of Jewish interest.The Hebrew MSS.: The Hebrew manuscripts in the British Museum already fully catalogued or briefly described number about...
BRITTANY – Ancient province of France corresponding to the present departments of Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord, Morbihan, Ile et Vilaine, and Loire-Inférieure. The name occurs in Hebrew writings under various forms, such as . Little...
BRIVIESCA – The ancient Virovesca; city in Old Castile, not far from Burgos. A Jewish community dwelt there, which in 1290 was taxed 11,700 maravedis. At the request of his sister, the Infanta Doña Berenguella, Don Ferdinand III. of Castile...
BROCINER, JOSEF B. – President of the Union of Hebrew Congregations of Rumania; born in Jassy, Rumania, Oct., 1846. From 1864 to 1866 he studied law at the university of his native city, and during that time cooperated with Dr. Landesberg and others...
BRODA, ABRAHAM BEN SAUL – Bohemian Talmudist; born about 1640 at Bunzlau; died April 11, 1717, at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Saul Broda sent his son to Cracow to pursue his Talmudic studies with Rabbi Isaac ben Ze'eb Ḥarif of that city, in order to withdraw...
BRODA, ABRAHAM B. SHALOM – Russian rabbinical author; born in Wilna about the beginning of the nineteenth century; died there after 1860. His father, R. Shalom b. Aaron, who was quite young at the time of his death (1805), was one of the leaders of the...
BRODA, BENJAMIN B. AARON – Lithuanian rabbi and Talmudist; died Sept. 1, 1818, at Grodno. He was the best-known Talmudist of the five sons of Aaron Broda, an eminent Talmudist and rabbi of the old Polish community of Kalvarien. Owing to his wealth and...