SARAVAL – Family of scholars, of whom the following deserve special mention:Abraham b. Judah Löb Saraval: Flourished in the sixteenth century. He was the author of a commentary on the "Ma'amadot." The second edition of his commentary is...
SARDINIA – Under the Romans. An island in the Mediterranean, about 140 miles from the west coast of Italy, between 8° 4′ and 9° 49′ E. long., and between 38° 55′ and 41° 16′ N. lat. The settlement of Jews in various parts of the island...
SARDIS – Ancient city of Asia Minor and capital of Lydia; situated on the Pactolus at the northern base of Mount Tmolus, about sixty miles from Smyrna. The town is first mentioned by Æschylus ("Persæ," ed. Kirchhoff, line 47), and may be...
SARGENES – A white linen garment which resembles a surplice and consists of a long, loose gown with flowing sleeves and with a collar laced in front, a girdle of the same material, and a skullcap to match. The name is derived from "sarge"...
SARGON – King of Assyria; died 705 B.C. He is mentioned in the Bible only in Isa. xx. 1; and his name is preserved by no classic writer. All modern knowledge of him dates, therefore, from the discovery of his palace at Khorsabad, twelve...
SARGON, MICHAEL – Indian convert to Christianity; born in Cochin 1795; died about 1855. He was converted in 1818 by T. Jarrett of Madras, and became the first missionary in India of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews. In...
SARKO (ZARḲO, ZARIḲ), JOSEPH BEN JUDAH – Italian grammarian and Hebrew poet of the first half of the fifteenth century. According to Carmoly ("Histoire des Médecins Juifs," p. 129), he was a native of Naples and one of the teachers of Judah Messer Leon. He was the...
SARMAD, MOHAMMED SA'ID – Persian poet of Jewish birth; flourished in the first half of the seventeenth century. He was born at Kashan of a rabbinical family, but later embraced Mohammedanism, and went to India as a merchant. In the city of Tatta,...
SARMENTO, JACOB DE CASTRO – See Castro Sarmento.
SARPHATI, SAMUEL – Dutch physician and economist; born at Amsterdam Jan. 31, 1813; died there June 23, 1866. After finishing his medical studies at Leyden (M.D. 1838) he established himself as a physician in Amsterdam. He founded a society for the...
SARSINO (SARCINO), JACOB B. JOSEPH – Italian rabbi of the seventeenth century; pupil of R. Ẓebi Hirsch b. Isaac in Cracow. He was rabbi in Venice, and labored as such together with Leon of Modena. He corrected several books which were printed in Venice, and...
SÄRTELES, MOSES BEN ISSACHAR HA-LEVI – See Moses Saerteles ben Issachar ha-Levi.
SARUG (SARUḲ), ISRAEL – Cabalist of the sixteenth century. A pupil of Isaac Luria, he devoted himself at the death of his master to the propagation of the latter's cabalistic system, for which he gained many adherents in various parts of Italy. Among...
SASON, AARON BEN JOSEPH – Rabbi of Salonica in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; died shortly before 1626. He was a pupil of Mordecai Matalon, and in his turn was the teacher of Ḥayyim Shabbethai. He was the author of various works both rabbinic...
SASON, ABRAHAM – Italian cabalist; flourished in Venice at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He was the author of the following works: "Ḳol Mebasser" (Venice, 1605), a commentary on Daniel; "Ḳol Sason," on the arrival of the Messiah,...
SASON, JACOB BEN ISRAEL – Palestinian Talmudist; flourished at Safed at the end of the seventeenth century; a pupil of Isaac Alfandari. He was the author of "Bene Ya'aḳob" (Constantinople, 1714), consisting of a commentary on a part of Isaac b. Abba...
SASON, JOSEPH BEN JACOB – Editor and, perhaps, author; lived in the sixteenth century. He edited the "Maḥazor Sefardi" (Venice, 1584); and a Jewish calendar for the period 1585-1639 was printed the same year at Sason's expense. The author of "Shemen...
SASPORTAS – Spanish family of rabbis and scholars, the earliest known members of which lived at Oran, Algeria, at the end of the sixteenth century. The name seems to indicate that the family originally came from a place called Seisportas (=...
SASSLOWER, JACOB KOPPEL BEN AARON – Russian Masorite of the seventeenth century; lived in Zaslav, government of Volhynia. He wrote "Naḥalat Ya'aḳob" (Sulzbach, 1686), on the accentuations of the Decalogue in Ex. xx. 1-18 for Sabbaths and Pentecost respectively,...
SASSOON – Family claiming to trace its descent from the Ibn Shoshans of Spain. The earliest member to attain distinction was David Sassoon of Bombay.Pedigree of the Sassoon Family. Sir Albert Abdallah David Sassoon, Bart.: Anglo-Indian...
SATAN – In the Bible. Term used in the Bible with the general connotation of "adversary," being applied (1) to an enemy in war (I Kings v. 18 [A. V. 4]; xi. 14, 23, 25), from which use is developed the concept of a traitor in battle (I...
SATANOW, ISAAC HA-LEVI – Scholar and poet; born at Satanow, Poland, 1733; died in Berlin, Germany, Dec. 25, 1805. In early manhood he left his native country and went to the Prussian capital in search of learning. There he became the protégé of Isaac...
SATIRE – Biblical Examples. Ironical and veiled attack, mostly in verse. Among the Hebrews satire made its appearance with the advent of the usurper. The tradition runs that when Abimelech, the son of a maid-servant, treacherously slew...
SATRAP – Ruler of a province in the governmental system of ancient Persia. The Old Persian form of the word, "khshathrapavan" (protector of the kingdom), occurs twice in the inscriptions of Darius Hystaspes at Behistun (iii. 14, 55) with...
SATYR – Rendering by the English versions of the Hebrew "se'irim" in Isa. xiii. 21, xxxiv. 14 (R. V., margin, "he-goats"; American R. V., "wild goats"), while in Lev. xvii. 7 and II Chron. xi. 15 the Authorized Version renders the word...