DURAN – A widely scattered family, originally from Provence, not from Oran ("d'Oran"), as some scholars think. A "Mosse Duram" is mentioned in a list of Tarascon Jews, 1350-1487 ("Rev. Etudes Juives," xxxix. 268). The Durans went first...
DURESS – In law, the use of such unlawful force against a contracting party as will entitle him to rescind a contract. The rabbinical law on this subject goes back to the wars of Vespasian and Titus, when many Jews, in order to save...
DURKHEIM, EMILE – French writer; born at Epinal, in the department of Vosges, France, April15, 1858. He was educated at the college of his native town, and later in Paris at the Lycéc Louis le Grand and the Ecole Normale Supérieure. From 1882 to...
DURLACHER, ELCAN – Hebraist and publisher; born at Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1817; died Dec. 21, 1889. He went to Paris in 1845 as a teacher of languages, and founded a Hebrew publishing-house, which was continued, after his death, by his son. He...
DURY, JOHN – English divine of the seventeenth century. During his travels abroad he met Manasseh ben Israel in 1644, and heard from him an account of Antonio de Montesino's alleged discovery of the Ten Tribes in America. In 1649 he...
DUSCHAK, MORITZ – Austrian rabbi and author; born in Triesch, Moravia, Nov. 14, 1815; died in Vienna July 21, 1890. He was a pupil in Talmud of R. Moses Sofer of Presburg, and was for a long time rabbi at Gaya, Moravia. In 1877 he became preacher...
DUSCHENES, FRIEDRICH – Austrian jurist; born at Prague Jan. 18, 1843; died there Jan. 11, 1901. He received his education at the Unter-Realschule of his native town, and in deference to the wish of his father became a teacher at the Jüdische...
DUSCHINSKY, WILHELM – Austrian writer; born in Strasnitz, Moravia, May 6, 1860. He attended the gymnasium in Vienna, and afterward studied Romanic and Germanic philology at the universities of Vienna and Paris. Since 1892 he has been professor at the...
DÜSSELDORF – City in Rhenish Prussia, situated on the right bank of the Rhine. According to the census of 1900 it has about 2,600 Jews (500 households)in a total population of 213,767. In 1890 it had 1,401 Jews in a total population of...
DUTCH WEST INDIES – A name by which the Dutch colonies of Curaçao and Surinam are sometimes designated. See under West Indies.
DUTY – That which is due to God as the Master of life, or to a fellow man, or to oneself. "Duty" is an ethical term; its recognition as such is urged by the inner voice called conscience (see Wisdom xvii. 11), which tells man what he...
DUX, ADOLF – Hungarian writer; born at Presburg Oct. 25, 1822; died at Budapest Nov. 20, 1881; cousin of Leopold Dukes. He studied law and philosophy at the University of Vienna, and was connected with the "Presburger Zeitung" until 1855,...
DUX, LUDWIG – See Dóczy, Ludwig.
DUYTSCH, CHRISTIAN SALOMON – Hungarian clergyman; born in Temesvár, Hungary, in 1734; died in 1797. He attended the Talmud Torah in Prague. Returning to Temesvár, he received in 1760 the title of "Morenu." Two years later, excited on the subject of...
DVINSK – City in the government of Vitebsk, Russia. It is situated on the River Düna, at the intersection of two railroads. It was founded in 1278 by the Knights of the Livonian Order, and in 1561 was annexed to Poland. According to the...
DWARF – Bible. —Biblical Data: The rendering in A. V. of (Lev. xxi. 20, literally "thin"), denoting one of the physical disqualifications of priests for the service. In this sense is taken by Targ. Yer. ( ) and Ibn Ezra ad loc. (comp....
DYATLOVO – See Grodno.
DYBOSSARI – See Dubosary.
DYER, ISADORE – American merchant and communal worker; born in Dessau, Germany, 1813; died at Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1888. He went to America while young, living first in Baltimore, whence in 1840 he moved to Galveston. He was engaged in...
DYER, LEON – American soldier; born at Alzey, Germany, Oct. 9, 1807; died in Louisville, Ky., 1883. At an early age he went with his parents to Baltimore. Dyer was self-educated. In the early part of his career he worked in his father's...
DYES AND DYEING – Though not mentioned as a special art in the Bible, dyeing was probably practised as in Egypt by the fuller andthe tanner. Dyed stuffs are mentioned among the vestments of the high priest and the appurtenances of the Tabernacle....
DYHERNFURTH – Town in Prussian Silesia, with 1,463 inhabitants; founded Jan. 20, 1663. In that year the Austrian emperor Leopold I., desiring to reward the Silesian chancellor, Baron von Dyhern, gave his estate Przig the rights and status of...
DYTE, D. M. – English Jew who distinguished himself by saving the life of George III. of England under the following circumstances: On May 15, 1800, George III. attended the Drury Lane Theater to witness a comedy by Colley Cibber; and while...
DYVIN – Village in the government of Grodno, Russia. It has a very old Jewish community, but it is impossible to determine when Jews first settled there. When the town endeavored to secure the Magdeburg Law, the Jews contributed for the...