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ALLUF – In the Babylonian colleges, title of the chief judge, third in rank below the gaon. As a special distinction it was granted to prominent non-Babylonian scholars, particularly to those of Palestine. There were, however, others...
ALLUFE HA-ḳ;EHILLAH – A general name for prominent members of any congregation, and typically used in regard to the leaders of the community in the old kahals (governing boards) of the Jews of Poland and Lithuania. The number of these leaders varied...
ALMAGEST – The Arabic title of the astronomical work of Claudius Ptolemy (flourished 150), entitled by him μαθηματική σύνταξις, in order to distinguish it from another σύνταξις of Ptolemy's, devoted to astrology. The Almagest contains a...
ALMALIA, JOSEPH – Italian rabbi, of the beginning of the nineteenth century, whose responsa "ToḲfo shel Yosef" (The Strength of Joseph) were published in two parts at Livorno, in 1823 and 1855. His name is wrongly given as Almagia, by Mortara...
ALMALIḤ, JOSEPH B. AARON – One of the patrons mentioned by Abraham Ankawa in the preface to his responsa, "Kerem Ḥemed" (Leghorn, 1869-71). Kaufmann regards him as the grandson of Jacob b. Joseph Almaliḥ, whose date may be fixed by an elegy composed by...
ALMANAC – An annual table, book, or the like, comprising a calendar of days, weeks, and months. Among the Jews it was the holy prerogative of the patriarch or president of the Great Sanhedrin to fix the calendar and according to it...
ALMANZA, ARON DE – A Marano born at Salamanca, Spain, of Jewish parents. His first wife was Leonore de los Rios Sotte, whom he married in 1696 and with whom he obtained a dowry of "70,000 florins [$21,000, or £4,200] in money, 19,000 florins...
ALMANZI – A family that, according to Luzzatto, derives its name from the city of Almansa in Murcia, Spain. The earliest member of the family of whom there is any knowledge is Abraham Joseph Almanzi, grandfather of Joseph Almanzi....
ALMANZI, JOSEPH – Bibliophile and poet; born at Padua, March 25, 1801; died at Triest, March 7, 1860. The eldest son of Baruch Ḥayyim Almanzi, a wealthy merchant; he received a good education by private tutors, one of whom was Israel Conian....
ALMAZAN (ALMAÇAN), MIGUEL DE – A Marano of Saragossa, and private secretary to King Ferdinand of Aragon. He was burned at the stake on the accusation of being an adherent of Judaism. One month later, March 18, 1486, Manuel de Almaçan of Saragossa suffered the...
ALMAZAN, PEDRO DE – One of the conspirators against the inquisitor Pedro d'Arbuez. He escaped death by flight, but his wife Isabella, together with his brothers, Pedro junior and Manuel, were burned at the stake at Saragossa, January 25, 1487,...
ALMEIDA, ISAAC – Turkish rabbi and author; born in the latter half of the seventeenth century; died between 1723 and 1739. He was associate rabbi in Constantinople. His printed work, "Ḥiddushim we-Sheëlot u-Teshubot" (novellæ andresponsa),...
ALMEIDA, LOPEZ D' – Head of the embassy sent by Alfonso V. of Portugal to Pope Sixtus IV., in the year 1472. His mission was twofold: to congratulate the pope upon his accession, and to inform him of the king's victory over the Moors of Arzilla, in...
ALMEMAR – Corrupted from the Arabic al-minbar, "the chair," "the pulpit," is an elevated platform in the synagogue, on which the desk stands for reading the lessons from the Pentateuch and Prophets. In the synagogues following the Spanish...
ALMEYDA, JOSE HENRIQUES DE – A writer in Amsterdam in the early part of the eighteenth century. He published in Portuguese: "Anagrama Achrostica do Sagrado Nome de Tora, com hum Breve Discurso por Introito," Amsterdam, 1706. This was dedicated to D. Abraham...
ALMILIBY, ADAM – A Portuguese Jew who, together with Isaac Belamy, was appointed a farmer of the royal taxes in 1353 by King Alfonso IV. By virtue of this office both were exempted from wearing the Jew-badge, and were endowed with power to...
ALMODAD – The eldest son of Joktan (Gen. x. 26, I Chron. i. 20). The meaning of the name is uncertain. The first element, "Al," may be the Arabic article, and the second perhaps a corruption of "Maudad" (see Joktan).
ALMOHADES – Forced Conversion to Islam. Almemar of Ashkenazic Synagogue, Jerusalem.(From a photograph by the American Colony, Jerusalem.)A Moorish dynasty in north-western Africa and in Spain during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries....
ALMOLI, ALMULI – A Spanish-Jewish family name derived from the Arabic al-mu'alli ("the one who raises up"). In addition to those referred to in the following articles two other members of the family are known. A Salomon Almuli is mentioned in a...
ALMOLIK (ALMALIK), ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH ELIMELECH – See Abraham ben Judah Elimelech.
ALMON – A city in the territory of Benjamin given to the priests (Josh. xxi. 18); now called 'Almit. Found also in the corresponding list of I Chron. vi. 45 [A. V. 60], but there called Alemeth.G. B. L.
ALMOND – A term applied to a tree (Jer. i. 11, Eccl. xii. 5), to a fruit (Gen. xliii. 11, Num. xvii. 23 [A. V. 8]), and to a bud or flower (Ex. xxv. 33,xxxvii. 19). Once (Gen. xxx. 37) the same tree is called lûz, its name in Aramaic,...
ALMON DIBLATAIM – A stopping-place in Moab in the Israelites' journey from Egypt (Num. xxxiii. 46, 47). Called Beth Diblataim in Jer. xlviii. 22. G. B. L.
ALMORAVIDES (AL-MURABATIN) – A Moorish dynasty in northwestern Africa and in Spain in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The rise of this dynasty marked a new epoch; for the first time non-Arab rulers occupied a Moslem throne. Yusuf ibn Tashfin, the...
ALMOSNINO – A distinguished Jewish family originally dwelling in Aragon. The name, according to Jellinek (see Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." No. 6430), is derived from the Arabic and denotes "an orator." The following members of the family...

ALLUF – In the Babylonian colleges, title of the chief judge, third in rank below the gaon. As a special distinction it was granted to prominent non-Babylonian scholars, particularly to those of Palestine. There were, however, others...

ALLUFE HA-ḳ;EHILLAH – A general name for prominent members of any congregation, and typically used in regard to the leaders of the community in the old kahals (governing boards) of the Jews of Poland and Lithuania. The number of these leaders varied...

ALMAGEST – The Arabic title of the astronomical work of Claudius Ptolemy (flourished 150), entitled by him μαθηματική σύνταξις, in order to distinguish it from another σύνταξις of Ptolemy's, devoted to astrology. The Almagest contains a...

ALMALIA, JOSEPH – Italian rabbi, of the beginning of the nineteenth century, whose responsa "ToḲfo shel Yosef" (The Strength of Joseph) were published in two parts at Livorno, in 1823 and 1855. His name is wrongly given as Almagia, by Mortara...

ALMALIḤ, JOSEPH B. AARON – One of the patrons mentioned by Abraham Ankawa in the preface to his responsa, "Kerem Ḥemed" (Leghorn, 1869-71). Kaufmann regards him as the grandson of Jacob b. Joseph Almaliḥ, whose date may be fixed by an elegy composed by...

ALMANAC – An annual table, book, or the like, comprising a calendar of days, weeks, and months. Among the Jews it was the holy prerogative of the patriarch or president of the Great Sanhedrin to fix the calendar and according to it...

ALMANZA, ARON DE – A Marano born at Salamanca, Spain, of Jewish parents. His first wife was Leonore de los Rios Sotte, whom he married in 1696 and with whom he obtained a dowry of "70,000 florins [$21,000, or £4,200] in money, 19,000 florins...

ALMANZI – A family that, according to Luzzatto, derives its name from the city of Almansa in Murcia, Spain. The earliest member of the family of whom there is any knowledge is Abraham Joseph Almanzi, grandfather of Joseph Almanzi....

ALMANZI, JOSEPH – Bibliophile and poet; born at Padua, March 25, 1801; died at Triest, March 7, 1860. The eldest son of Baruch Ḥayyim Almanzi, a wealthy merchant; he received a good education by private tutors, one of whom was Israel Conian....

ALMAZAN (ALMAÇAN), MIGUEL DE – A Marano of Saragossa, and private secretary to King Ferdinand of Aragon. He was burned at the stake on the accusation of being an adherent of Judaism. One month later, March 18, 1486, Manuel de Almaçan of Saragossa suffered the...

ALMAZAN, PEDRO DE – One of the conspirators against the inquisitor Pedro d'Arbuez. He escaped death by flight, but his wife Isabella, together with his brothers, Pedro junior and Manuel, were burned at the stake at Saragossa, January 25, 1487,...

ALMEIDA, ISAAC – Turkish rabbi and author; born in the latter half of the seventeenth century; died between 1723 and 1739. He was associate rabbi in Constantinople. His printed work, "Ḥiddushim we-Sheëlot u-Teshubot" (novellæ andresponsa),...

ALMEIDA, LOPEZ D' – Head of the embassy sent by Alfonso V. of Portugal to Pope Sixtus IV., in the year 1472. His mission was twofold: to congratulate the pope upon his accession, and to inform him of the king's victory over the Moors of Arzilla, in...

ALMEMAR – Corrupted from the Arabic al-minbar, "the chair," "the pulpit," is an elevated platform in the synagogue, on which the desk stands for reading the lessons from the Pentateuch and Prophets. In the synagogues following the Spanish...

ALMEYDA, JOSE HENRIQUES DE – A writer in Amsterdam in the early part of the eighteenth century. He published in Portuguese: "Anagrama Achrostica do Sagrado Nome de Tora, com hum Breve Discurso por Introito," Amsterdam, 1706. This was dedicated to D. Abraham...

ALMILIBY, ADAM – A Portuguese Jew who, together with Isaac Belamy, was appointed a farmer of the royal taxes in 1353 by King Alfonso IV. By virtue of this office both were exempted from wearing the Jew-badge, and were endowed with power to...

ALMODAD – The eldest son of Joktan (Gen. x. 26, I Chron. i. 20). The meaning of the name is uncertain. The first element, "Al," may be the Arabic article, and the second perhaps a corruption of "Maudad" (see Joktan).

ALMOHADES – Forced Conversion to Islam. Almemar of Ashkenazic Synagogue, Jerusalem.(From a photograph by the American Colony, Jerusalem.)A Moorish dynasty in north-western Africa and in Spain during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries....

ALMOLI, ALMULI – A Spanish-Jewish family name derived from the Arabic al-mu'alli ("the one who raises up"). In addition to those referred to in the following articles two other members of the family are known. A Salomon Almuli is mentioned in a...

ALMOLIK (ALMALIK), ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH ELIMELECH – See Abraham ben Judah Elimelech.

ALMON – A city in the territory of Benjamin given to the priests (Josh. xxi. 18); now called 'Almit. Found also in the corresponding list of I Chron. vi. 45 [A. V. 60], but there called Alemeth.G. B. L.

ALMOND – A term applied to a tree (Jer. i. 11, Eccl. xii. 5), to a fruit (Gen. xliii. 11, Num. xvii. 23 [A. V. 8]), and to a bud or flower (Ex. xxv. 33,xxxvii. 19). Once (Gen. xxx. 37) the same tree is called lûz, its name in Aramaic,...

ALMON DIBLATAIM – A stopping-place in Moab in the Israelites' journey from Egypt (Num. xxxiii. 46, 47). Called Beth Diblataim in Jer. xlviii. 22. G. B. L.

ALMORAVIDES (AL-MURABATIN) – A Moorish dynasty in northwestern Africa and in Spain in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The rise of this dynasty marked a new epoch; for the first time non-Arab rulers occupied a Moslem throne. Yusuf ibn Tashfin, the...

ALMOSNINO – A distinguished Jewish family originally dwelling in Aragon. The name, according to Jellinek (see Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." No. 6430), is derived from the Arabic and denotes "an orator." The following members of the family...