CATALONIA – Duchy of Aragon in the north-west of Spain. Jews settled in Catalonia (which included originally the county of Barcelona; the following cities of Tarragona, viz., Ciudad de los Judios, Vich, Manresa, Gerona, Besalu, Peraleda,...
CATARIVAS, SHEMARIAH – Talmudic writer of the eighteenth century. He was originally from Tiberias, and went to Tunis in 1750 as alms-collector, settling there after a sojourn in Algiers. He gained a reputation for scholarship and piety. Catarivas was...
CATECHISMS – Manuals for religious instruction. The name as well as the form of Jewish catechisms has been adopted from the Christian Church in modern times in connection with a more systematized religious instruction. Catechesis as a term...
CATECHUMENS, HOUSE OF – Burden of Support Put on the Jews. A Roman institution for converting Jews to Catholicism, which the Jews, by means of taxes, were compelled to support. The Vatican founded this house for converts March 21, 1548 (Rieger, ii....
CATEGORY – A term introduced by Aristotle into the philosophical vocabulary, signifying "attribute," "predicate." According to him every word containedin a proposition belongs to one of the following ten categories: substance, quantity,...
CATHERINE II – Empress of Russia; born in Stettin May 2, 1729; died in St. Petersburg Nov. 17, 1796. She was the wife and successor of Peter III., and usurped the throne July 9, 1762.Edict Excluding Jews. Within a week of her accession,...
CATHUA – Name of a family of Nethinim returning from Babylon with Zerubbabel (I Esd. v. 30). In the order of enumeration they correspond to Giddel in Ezra ii. 47 and Neh. vii. 49.E. G. H. G. B. L.
CATTANEO, CARLO – Italian Christian jurisconsult; born in Milan June 15, 1801; died at Castagnole, near Lugano, Feb. 5, 1869. Although Cattaneo was not favorably inclined toward the Jews, he vehemently protested against the oppressive laws to...
CATTLE – Term used to denote all domestic animals, the principal possession of nomadic and pastoral peoples.Cattle were very important in the early life of the Hebrews. The story of Abel, who was a "keeper of sheep," and offered unto the...
CAUCASUS – A division of Russia, bounded on the north by European Russia; on the east by the Caspian sea; on the south by Persia and Asiatic Turkey; and on the west by the Black sea. It consists of six governments, four provinces, and two...
CAUL – Biblical Data: Nowadays applied to the membrane surrounding the human fetus; used also in other senses. In the Bible:1. A rendering of the Hebrew , the second on the list of toilet articles worn by the women of Jerusalem (Isa....
CAUTION – Warning given to witnesses before testimony. Neither Biblical nor rabbinical law requires a witness to confirm his testimony by an oath. Jewish casuists are of opinion that the witness who would not tell the truth without an...
CAVAILLON – Small town in the department of Vaucluse, France. In his book, "Réponses de Rabbins Français et Lorrains" (Vienna, 1881), Joël Müller mentions (No. 17) a rabbi of Cavaillon, Eliezer ben Judah, pupil of Isaac ben Menahem, who...
CAVALLERO, CAVAGLIERO – Name of a family, with branches in Provence, Africa, Turkey, and Italy.1. Abraham ben Judah Cavallero: Lived at Fez between 1688 and 1700.Bibliography: Steinschneider, Hebräische Bibl. xvi. 62.2. Isaac Cavallero: Talmudic...
CAVES IN PALESTINE – By "me'arah" ( ) the Hebrew designates natural caves. The mountains of Palestine, which for the greater part are formations of soft limestone, abound in natural caves and grottoes. Most of these have developed from an initial...
CAYENNE – An island of South America, and a town of the same name situated on this island that lies at the mouth of the Cayenne or Oyaque river, in the Atlantic.A band of Jews settled in Dutch Guiana as early as 1644. They were chiefly...
CAZÈS, DAVID – Moroccan educator and writer; born at Tetuan in 1851. Sent to Paris in his early youth, he was educated by the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and at the age of eighteen was commissioned to establish and direct several primary...
CEDAR – A tree of the pine family frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, where the "cedar of Lebanon" is generally meant. The cedar-tree grows best in a high, dry, and sandy region, and it found these requirements in the northern...
CEDRON – 1. Name of the brook Kidron as given in John xviii. 1. Near the stream was the garden in which Jesus was taken by the officials after he had been betrayed by Judas (see Kidron).2. A place mentioned in connection with Jamnia (the...
CELIBACY – Deliberate renunciation of marriage. In the Old Testament there is no direct reference to the subject. The prophet Jeremiah was a celibate (Jer. xvi. 2). He seems to have regarded it as futile to beget offspring doomed to death...
CELSUS – Greek polemical writer against Christianity; flourished in the second century. He was the first pagan who denounced Christianity, and in his work, "The True Word" (Λόγος 'ΛληΘής), he attempted not only to refute but to ridicule...
CEMETERY – A place for the burial of the dead. The word "cemetery" is derived from the Greek κομιητήριον, "the place where the dead sleep" (from κοιμάω ("to sleep"), used of the dead in I Kings xi. 43, LXX.; II Macc. xii. 45; Ecclus....