BINDING AND LOOSING – Rabbinical term for "forbidding and permitting." The expression "asar" (to bind herself by a bond) is used in the Bible (Num. xxx. 3 et seq.) for a vow which prevents one from using a thing. It implies binding an object by a...
BING, ABRAHAM – German rabbi and Talmudist; born in 1752 at Frankfort-on-the-Main; died in 1841 at Würzburg, Bavaria, where he had been chief rabbi until his resignation at the beginning of 1839. Before officiating at Würzburg, he was rabbi at...
BING, ALBERT – Austrian physician; born at Nikolsburg, Moravia, Sept. 20, 1844. He attended the gymnasium in his native city, and studied medicine at the University of Vienna, where he completed his course in 1870. The following year he...
BING, MEYER HERMANN – Danish art publisher and manufacturer; born at Copenhagen June 4, 1807; died there Sept. 15, 1883. As a boy he was employed in his father's book and stationery store, assuming charge of it with his younger brother at their...
BING, SOLOMON – German physician; son of Dr. Abraham Bing of Bingen, and son-in-law of the well-known physician and scholar Joseph Solomon del Medigo; born about the year 1615. In his boyhood he attended the colleges of the Jesuits in Mayence...
BINGEN – City of Hesse, situated on the Rhine. Jews lived there from the earliest times, for they are mentioned by the traveler Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Bingen toward the middle of the twelfth century. In May, 1254, Bingen joined...
BINNUI – 1. A Levite (Ezra viii. 33). 2. One of the Bene Pahath Moab who had taken foreign wives (Ezra x. 30). 3. One of the Bene Bani, also found in the list of those who had taken foreign wives (Ezra x. 38). 4. Son of Henadad, who...
BIRAH – See Acra.
BIRCH-HIRSCHFELD, FELIX VICTOR – German pathologist and medical author; born at Kluvensiek, near Rendsburg, in the province of Holstein, Prussia, May 2, 1842; died at Leipsic Nov. 19, 1899. He received his education at Kiel and Leipsic, graduating from the...
BIRDS – Biblical Data: The general designation for winged animals is "'of" ( , Hosea ix. 11; Isa. xvi. 2) or "'of kanaf" ( , Gen. i. 21), "ẓippor" ( , Gen. xv. 10), or "ẓippor kanaf" ( , Deut. iv. 17; Ps. cxlviii. 10), or "ba'al kanaf"...
BIRKAT KOHANIM – See Blessing, Priestly.
BIRKAT HA-MINIM – See Shemoneh 'Esreh.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – Capital of Jefferson county, Alabama, founded in 1871. The first congregation, Emanu-El, was organized in 1882; the corner-stone of its building being laid in July, 1886, and the building dedicated in 1889. The rabbis of the...
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – Chief town of Warwickshire. The Jewish community consists (1902) of a population of about 4,000, having grown to this number from 140 families (700 souls) in 1851. The first Jewish settlement is believed to have taken place...
BIRTH, NEW – Renewal of a man's nature by casting aside the impurity of sin which cleaves to him from his former life, thus turning him into a pious and righteous child of God. The idea of man's regeneration was first expressed by the...
BIRTHDAY – There are no positive data in the Bible or in rabbinical literature concerning birthday festivals among the ancient Jews. This silence on the subject is, however, no warrant for the conclusion that the Jews altogether abstained...
BIRTHRIGHT – Biblical Data: The right of possession into which the eldest son is born. The first son born to the father occupied a prominent place in the Hebrew family (Gen. xxvii. 19, xxxv. 23, xli. 51, xlix. 3; II Sam. iii. 2). Such a one...
BIRTHS – Statistical: The number of births among the Jewish populations of the world is generally found to vary from that of the surrounding population in a manner showing the influence of some cause common in its operations to all...
BIRZHI – District of Poniwiezh, government of Kovno. The population of 1,500 includes 600 Jews, the majority of whom are engaged in handicrafts. The traditional Jewish charity is here developed in the highest degree; the philanthropic...
BISCHITZ DE HEVES, JOHANNA – Hungarian philanthropist; born in Tata in 1827; died in Budapest March 28, 1898; daughter of a porcelain manufacturer and wife of David Bischitz. She was the founder and president of the Jewish Women's Association, and the...
BISCHOFFSHEIM, LOUIS RAPHAEL – French banker and philanthropist; born in Mayence, Germany, in 1800; died in Paris, Nov. 14, 1873. His father's sudden death, combined with the general upheaval of public affairs that followed the events of 1815, compelled...
BISCHOFFSHEIM, RAPHAEL JONATHAN – Belgian financier and philanthropist; born at Mayence in 1808; died at Brussels Feb. 6, 1883. He left his native town when quite young and went to Belgium. Endowed with good judgment, being a tireless worker, and having early...
BISCHOFFSHEIM, RAPHAEL JONATHAN – Belgian financier and philanthropist; born at Mayence in 1808; died at Brussels Feb. 6, 1883. He left his native town when quite young and went to Belgium. Endowed with good judgment, being a tireless worker, and having early...
BISCHOFFSHEIM, RAPHAEL LOUIS – French banker; member of the Institute of France; son of Louis Raphael Bischoffsheim; born July 22, 1823, in Amsterdam. He received his early education in his native city, and was then sent by his father to Paris to take a...
BISCHOFFSHEIM, RAPHAEL (NATHAN) – Merchant and prominent philanthropist; born at Bischofsheim-on-the-Tauber, 1773; died at Mayence Jan. 22, 1814. He went to Mayence during the French Revolution, and from a small merchant became a purveyor to the army....