CHARCHEMISH – See Carchemish.
CHARES – Leader of the Zealots in the Judæo-Roman war, and one of the most eminent men of Gamala (Josephus, "B. J." iv. 1, § 9). When the men of Bathyra, "called the Babylonians," who sided with Agrippa and the peace party, were at...
CHARGER – A rendering of two Hebrew words and a Greek one: (1) (ḳa'arah), occurring in the list of the donations of the chiefs of the tribes on the day of the dedication of the Tabernacle (Num. vii. 13 et seq.). Elsewhere the word is...
CHARIOT – Vehicles are designated in Hebrew chiefly by two expressions, "'agalah" and "rakab," with "merkab" and "merkabah" derived from the latter. The former denotes the wagon used for heavy loads and general work, the name being...
CHARITY AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS – The Lord's Share. —Ancient and Medieval Times. Charity is kindness shown to the needy; Hebrew, "ẓedaḳah"="righteousness" (Deut. xxiv. 13; Isa. xxxii. 17; Prov. xiv. 34; Ps. cvi. 3; Dan. iv. 24); "gemilut ḥesed" or "gemilut...
CHARKOW, RUSSIA – See Kharkov.
CHARLEMAGNE – King of the Franks and emperor of the West; born April, 742; died Jan. 28, 814. His attitude toward the Jews was rather that of a clever politician than of a liberal-minded man. He realized the advantages to be derived by the...
CHARLEMONT, ELIZABETH JANE CAULFIELD, Countess of – Convert to Judaism; born June 21, 1834; died at Roxborough Castle, Moy, County Tyrone, Ireland, May 31, 1882. She was the only daughter of William Meredyth, first Lord Athlumney, and married Dec., 1856, James Molyneux, third...
CHARLESTON, S. C. – Capital of the county of the same name, and chief city of the state of South Carolina in the United States; founded in 1670. The colony of South Carolina was originally governed under an elaborate charter drawn up in 1669 by the...
CHARMS – See Amulets; Magic.
CHAROSETH (ḤAROSETH) – See Seder.
CHARTOGRAPHY – The art of making maps. In the development of this art, during the Middle Ages, an epoch is made by the Catalan "portulani"—seamen's charts showing the directions and distances of sailing between different ports, chiefly of the...
CHARTRES – Chief town of the department of Eure-et-Loire, France. From time immemorial Jews were established at Chartres, occupying a special quarter called "Rue aux Juifs." In 1394 their synagogue, which was in the Rue Saint-Père, was...
CHASDAI – See Ḥasdai, Ḥisdai.
CHASEISCH, MOSES – German Talmudist; died at Halberstadt in 1793. Chaseisch enjoyed an established reputation among his contemporaries as a Talmudist, and was loved and honored by them on account of his modesty. Although his Talmudic attainments...
CHASHKES, MOSES (LÖB) B. JACOB – Neo-Hebrew poet and Russian translator; born in Wilna Sept. 27, 1848; removed later to Odessa. His first collection of Hebrew songs, entitled "Nite'e Na'amanim," appeared in Warsaw in 1869. In the same year appeared "Ha-Peraḥim"...
CHASHNIKI – Town in the government of Vitebsk, Russia, having (in 1897) a population of 4,590, of whom about 4,000 are Jews. Besides those engaged in dairying, which is entirely in the hands of the Jewish population, there are 310 Jewish...
CHASID – See Ḥasid.
CHASTISEMENT – See Punishment.
CHASTITY – Purity in regard to the relations of sex, implied in the commandment, "Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev. xix. 2). The ancient Semitic religions gave a prominent place to the adoration of those powers in...
CHASTITY, PROOF OF – See Crime and Divorce.