TORTSCHINER, LÖB B. ABRAHAM – See Cordovero, Aryeh Löb.
TOSAFOT – Meaning of Name. Critical and explanatory glosses on the Talmud, printed, in almost all editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes. The authors of the Tosafot are known as Tosafists ("ba'ale ha-tosafot"). For what...
TOSEFTA – Name of a collection of baraitot which treat in a more complete form than does the Mishnah the subject of traditional law. In tannaitic literature old halakot are often amplified by explanatory notes and additions. Such...
TÖTBRIEF – Term applied in Germany to the edicts issued by the kings and emperors, to the papal bulls, and to the edicts of various ecclesiastical authorities, by which the Christians were exempted from paying their debts to Jews. The...
TOTEMISM – A primitive social system in which members of a clan reckoned kinship through their mothers, and worshiped some animal or plant which they regarded as their ancestor and the image of which they bore tattooed on their persons. It...
TOUL – Capital of an arrondissement in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, with a Jewish population dating from the thirteenth century. Among the scholars who were once residents of this city may be mentioned R. Eliezer of...
TOULON – Capital of an arrondissement in the department of the Var, France. Like most of the principal cities of Provence, Toulon contained a Jewish community in medieval times; and under the counts of Provence the Jews of the city fared...
TOULOUSE – Capital of the department of Haute-Garonne, France, where a large number of Jews lived as early as the beginning of the eighth century. In conformity with an old custom, and in punishment for some fancied crime, one of their...
TOURO, JUDAH – American philanthropist; born at Newport, R. I., June 16, 1775; died at New Orleans, La., Jan. 13, 1854; son of Rev. Isaac Touro and Reyna Hays. His father was of Portuguese origin and had settled in Jamaica, but went to Newport...
TOURS – Capital of the department of Indre-et-Loire, France. Since the first half of the sixth century Jews have lived either in the city or in its environs, especially in Civray. About the year 580 a Jewish tax-gatherer of Tours named...
TOWER – A building of strength or magnificence (Isa. ii. 15; Cant. iv. 4, vii. 4), and, with a more limited connotation, a watch-tower in a garden or vineyard or in a fortification. It was customary to erect watch-towers in the...
TOY, CRAWFORD HOWELL – American Christian Orientalist; born at Norfolk, Va., March 23, 1836. He was educated at the University of Virginia, and studied Orientalia at the University of Berlin (1866-68). On his return from Europe he was appointed...
TRABOT (TRABOTTI) – Family of Italian scholars of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, which immigrated to Italy from France, so that several of its members bore the additional name "Ẓarfati." The most important representatives of...
TRACHTENBERG, HERMAN – Russian jurist; born in Jitomir 1839; died there 1895. He studied law at the University of St. Petersburg, and at the end of his course entered the government service. For meritorious work he was granted the Order of Stanislaus...
TRADE – See Commerce.
TRADE-UNIONISM – In Diamond and Cigar Trades. —In England: Excepting in Holland, the creation of a Jewish proletariat has everywhere followed immigration from the east-European centers, where the massing of population gradually led to the...
TRADITIONELLE JUDENTHUM, DAS – See Periodicals.
TRADITIONS – Doctrines and sayings transmitted from father to son by word of mouth, and thus preserved among the people. Such traditions constitute a large part of Jewish oral teachings (see Oral Law); and many halakic doctrines seek to...
TRAJAN – Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Like Vespasian, Titus, and Hadrian, he is frequently mentioned by Jewish writers; and he exercised a profound influence upon the history of the Jews throughout the Babylonia, Palestine, and...
TRANI – Family of scholars, members of which were prominent in Spain and the Levant.Aaron di Trani: Spanish tosafist; born in Castile; descendant of a family which produced several eminent Talmudists. He received his education under the...
TRANSFER – See Alienation and Acquisition.
TRANSLATIONS – Into Hebrew: After the early victories of the Mohammedans and the consequent spread of Arabic civilization, the Jews of the Eastern countries became familiar with and adopted to a large extent the Arabic language; so much so...
TRANSLITERATION – Into Hebrew: The Greek and Latin words which entered into the language of the Hebrews are transcribed in the Talmud, Midrash, and Targum according to purely phonetic principles, their etymologies being entirely disregarded....
TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS – Doctrine Refuted by Saadia. The passing of souls into successive bodily forms, either human or animal. According to Pythagoras, who probably learned the doctrine in Egypt, the rational mind (ψρήν), after having been freed from...
TRANSVAAL – See South Africa.