LEONTOPOLIS – Place in the nome of Heliopolis, Egypt, situated 180 stadia from Memphis; famous as containing a Jewish sanctuary, the only one outside of Jerusalem where sacrifices were offered. Aside from a somewhat uncertain allusion of the...
LEOPARD – A ferocious carnivorous mammal. Several allusions are found in the Old Testament to this animal and its characteristics; e.g., its fierceness, Isa. xi. 6; its agility and swiftness, Hab. i. 8; its cunning, Jer. v. 6 and Hos....
LEPROSY – Chronic skin-disease characterized by ulcerous eruptions and successive desquainations of dead skin.—Biblical Data: According to the Levitical text, the characteristic features of leprosy were: (1) bright white spots or patches...
LERIDA – City in Catalonia, which as early as the fourteenth century had an important Jewish community possessed of several privileges. Thus, it was exempted from the general obligation to provide the royal court, during its presence in...
LERMA, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL – Spanish Talmudist; flourished in the middle of the sixteenth century. He was the author of "Leḥem Yehudah," a commentary on Pirḳe Abot, and of "Derush 'al ha-Neshamah," a treatise on the soul, published together under the former...
LERNER, ḤAYYIM ẒEBI – Russian grammarian and teacher of Hebrew; born at Dubno 1815; died at Jitomir 1889. His early education in Bible and Talmud he received from his father. At the age of thirteen he was married. In 1833, when Wolf Adelsohn went to...
LERNER, JOSEPH JUDAH (OSSIP) – Russian journalist; born Jan. 1, 1849, at Berdychev; educated at the gymnasium of Jitomir. In 1866 he went to Odessa, where he studied law for a year, and then entered upon a journalistic career. He served for ten years on the...
LERNER, MAIER – German rabbi; born in Galicia 1857. He studied in Berlin under Hildesheimer, became rabbi at Winzenheim, Alsace (1884-1890), and preacher for the Federation of Synagogues in London (1890-94), and, since 1890, has been chief...
LEROY-BEAULIEU, HENRI JEAN BAPTISTE ANATOLE – French historian; born at Lisieux in 1842. The first works that appeared from his pen were "Une Troupe des Comédiens" and "Essai sur la Restauration de nos Monuments Historiques Devant I'Art et Devant le Budget" (1866). In 1867...
LESSEE – See Landlord and Tenant.
LESSER, ADOLF – German physician and writer on medical jurisprudence; born at Stargard, province of Pomerania, Prussia, May 22, 1851; graduated from Berlin University in 1875. From 1877 to 1884 he was assistant in the pharmacological institute...
LESSER, ALEXANDER – Polish painter; born at Warsaw 1814; died there 1884. He was educated at the Warsaw lyceum and studied art at Warsaw University, at the Academy of Dresden (1833-35), and at Munich under Cornelius and Schnorr (1842). He devoted...
LESSER, EDMUND – German physician; born at Neisse May 12, 1852; educated at the universities of Berlin, Bonn, and Strasburg (M.D. 1876). He became assistant at the dermatological clinic at Breslau; in 1882 established himself as privat-docent at...
LESSER, LOUIS – German soldier; born at Neustadt about 1850; served in the Second Brandenburg Dragoons in the Franco-Prussian war. On Nov. 18, 1870, while on patrol work between Sens and Villeneuve, his comrades being dispersed in various...
LESSER, LUDWIG – German poet, editor, and publicist; born at Rathenow, province of Brandenburg, Prussia, Dec. 7, 1802; died at Berlin Dec. 2, 1867. When very young he went to Berlin, andbecame a regular contributor to most of the literary...
LESSING, GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM – German poet and critic; born Jan. 22, 1729, at Kamenz, Upper Lusatia; died Feb. 15, 1781, at Brunswick.Toleration and a striving after freedom of thought led him to condemn all positive religions in so far as they laid claim to...
LESSMANN, DANIEL – German historian and poet; born at Soldin, Neumark, Jan. 18, 1784; committed suicide at a place between Kropstadt and Wittenberg Sept. 2, 1831. He attended the Joachimsthal'sche Gymnasium in Berlin, and had begun the study of...
LETTER-CARRIERS, JEWISH – Jews carried letters to their coreligionists, apart from the regular post. In those business centers where a large Jewish population existed, such as Hamburg, Prague, Gross Glogau, Polish Lissa, Breslau, and
LETTER-WRITING AND LETTER-WRITERS – The art of conveying information by letter ("miktab," "iggeret," "sefer") was unknown to the Hebrews in the first stages of their history. From the times of the Patriarchs to those of King Saul the Bible mentions only messengers...
LETTERIS, MEÏR HALEVI (MAX) – Austrian scholar and poet; born Sept. 13, 1800, at Zolkiev; died at Vienna May 19, 1871. He was a member of a family of printers that originally came from Amsterdam. At the age of twelve he sent a Hebrew poem to Nachman...
LETTERS IN EVIDENCE – See Evidence.
LEVANDA, LEV OSIPOVITCH – Russian author; born at Minsk 1835; died at St. Petersburg 1888. Levanda graduated from the rabbinical school in Wilna in 1854; was appointed instructor in the government school of his native town; and held the position of...
LEVEN, MANUEL – French physician; born in 1831. He studied in Paris at the Lycée Henri IV., and in 1851 entered the Institut Agronomique at Versailles. In the following year this institution was suppressed on suspicion of republicanism, and...
LEVEN, NARCISSE – French lawyer and communal worker; born at Urdingen, on the Rhine, Oct. 15, 1833; educated at the Lycée Henri IV. and at the Faculty of Law in Paris. For five years he was the secretary of Adolphe Crémieux, and he was an active...
LEVENSON, PAVEL YAKOVLEVICH – Russian lawyer; born at Kamenetz, Podolia, 1837; died at St. Petersburg Jan. 16, 1894. In 1863 he went to St. Petersburg, where he devoted himself chiefly to law. In 1871 he graduated at the university there, and in 1877 became...