WALLICH – German family which probably derived its name from the Hebrew transcription of "Falk" ( ). The earliest known members of it are Joseph b. Meïr Wallich, a physician, and Moses Joshua Wallich, both of whom lived at Worms in the...
WALLIS (VALAIS) – See Switzerland.
WALLS – The walls erected by the Canaanites for the protection of their farmyards consisted of great unhewn blocks of stone, and remnants of them still exist, especially in the east-Jordan district. Walls of fortifications and towns...
WALOZIN – See Volozhin.
WALTON, BRYAN – Christian Hebraist; born in 1600 at Hilton, Yorkshire, England; died in London Nov. 29, 1661; educated at Magdalene and Peterhouse colleges, Cambridge. He became a London clergyman and was involved in the question of tithes...
WANDERING JEW – Imaginary figure of a Jerusalem shoemaker who, taunting Jesus on the way to crucifixion, was told by him to "go on forever till I return." The legend first appeared in a pamphlet of four leaves entitled "Kurtze Beschreibung und...
WANDSBECK – Town in Sleswick-Holstein, near Hamburg. About the year 1600 Count Breido Rantzau, owner of the estate of Wandsbeck, allowed Jews to settle there in consideration of a small yearly payment for protection. Many Jews availed...
WANDSWORTH, LORD SIDNEY STERN – English banker and peer; born in London 1845; son of Viscount de Stern, senior partner of the firm of Stern Brothers. He was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and was for some time a member of the firm established by his...
WANEFRIEDEN, ELIAKIM GETSCHLIK – Dayyan and preacher in Amsterdam about the end of the eighteenth century. He published a pamphlet entitled "Megillat Sefer" (Amsterdam, 1790), containing some homilies, besides a eulogy of R. Saul Löwenstamm, chief rabbi of...
WAR – Details. —Biblical Data: The earliest war recorded in the Old Testament is that of the Elamitic king Chedorlaomer and his allies against the five kings of Sodom and its adjacent cities (Gen. xiv. 1et seq.). The result of the...
WARBURG – Family whose members are widely spread throughout Germany, Denmark, Sweden, England, and America. There is a tradition that the family was originally settled at Bologna, but emigrated to the Westphalian town of Warburg, whence...
WARNING – See Hatra'ah.
WARRANTY OF TITLE – The Hebrew term for warranty of title is (= "future"), the same word denoting the force of an attested deed which served as a mortgage on all lands owned by the debtor at the time of its delivery. Whenever lands or slaves were...
WARRENS, ROSA – Swedish poet and translator; born at Karlskrona Feb. 24, 1821; died at Copenhagen Nov. 8, 1878. At the age of five she went with her parents to Hamburg, where she remained until her father's death in 1861. She then moved to...
WARS OF THE LORD, BOOK OF THE – A work mentioned in a single passage of the Old Testament (Num. xxi. 14) in connection with the geographical position of Arnon. The title suggests that the book contained songs celebrating the victories of the Israelites led by...
WARSAW – Capital of the Russo-Polish government of the same name, and former capital of the kingdom of Poland; situated on the left bank of the Vistula. According to Polish writers, the earliest settlement of Jews in Warsaw dates from...
WARSCHAUER JÜDISCHE ZEITUNG – See Periodicals.
WARSHAWSKI, MARK SAMOILOVICH – Russian writer; born at Kherson in 1853. He received his early education at a gymnasium in St. Petersburg, and then studied engineering at the ministerial Institute for Engineers. Later he took up the study of law at the...
WASHING – As compared with the Greeks and Romans, the Hebrews paid little attention to the care of the body; and the bath was a rarity in a land where water was relatively scarce. It was important, therefore, that personal cleanliness...
WASHINGTON – The extreme northwestern state on the Pacific coast, United States of America; originally a part of Oregon, but admitted to the Union in 1889. The first Jewish pioneers probably went to Washington about 1860, either from...
WASHINGTON, D. C. – Capital of the United States; situated in the District of Columbia, on the Potomac River. In 1849 there were in Washington six Jews, who were engaged in business on Pennsylvania avenue, and who went to Baltimore for the...
WASKER, SILLEMAN ABAJEE (SOLOMON ABRAHAM) – Beni-Israel soldier; died about 1850. He enlisted in the Third Regiment Native (Indian) Light Infantry, Jan. 1, 1809, and was present at the battles of Puna, Rusood, Khur, Multan, Kittoor, and Gujarat, rising ultimately to the...
WASSERTRILLING, HERMANN (ẒEBI HIRSCH BEN NATHAN) – Austrian Hebraist; flourished in the nineteenth century; born at Boskowitz, Moravia. He officiated as teacher in the Jewish school of Hotzenplotz, Silesia, about 1850, and later as rabbi of Bojanowo, Posen. The following is a...
WASSERZUG, HAIM – English ḥazzan and composer; born at Sheritz, Prussian Poland, 1822; died at Brighton, England, Aug. 24, 1882. As a child he was endowed with a remarkably sweet voice, and at eighteen he was elected ḥazzan at Konin. His renown...
WATCH-NIGHT – See Wachnacht.