CUENCA – City in New Castile, Spain, which, after its conquest by Alfonso VII., possessed Jewish inhabitants. In the "fuero," or charter, granted to the city about 1189, the king secured to the Jews full personal protection, together...
CULI, JACOB – Talmudist and Biblical commentator of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; died at Constantinople Aug. 9, 1732. He belonged to an exiled Spanish family, and was the grandson and pupil of Moses ibn Ḥabib. He edited various...
CULTURVEREIN DER JUDEN – See Verein für Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden.
CUMANUS, VENTIDIUS – Roman procurator in Judea (48-52). According to Tacitus ("Annales," xii. 54), he divided the procuratorship with Felix; the latter being at the head of Samaria, the former of Galilee. Such a division is unknown to Josephus, and,...
CUMATIANO, MORDECAI B. ELIEZER – See Comtino, Mordecai b. Eliezer.
CUMBERLAND, RICHARD – English dramatist; born in the Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge, Feb. 19, 1732; died at Tunbridge Wells May 7, 1811. He was educated at Bury St. Edmunds and Westminster, and at Trinity College, where he was entered...
CUMIN – The seed of the Cuminum Cyminum, an umbelliferous plant, which, coming originally from Mediterranean countries, spread to many parts of the world. Its name is common to Greek, Hebrew, Phenician, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic, as...
CUNÆUS, PETRUS – Dutch Christian and rabbinical scholar; born at Flushing 1586; died at Leyden Dec. 2, 1638. From 1617 until his death he was professor of jurisprudence and politics at the University of Leyden. Cunæus holds a position of some...
CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS – See Assyriology and the Old Testament.
CUNEO – Capital of the Italian province of the same name. According to local traditions, a Jewish community, founded probably after the expulsion of the Jews from France (1381), existed there in the fourteenth century. It seems to have...
CUP – Biblical Data: The word most commonly used in the Old Testament for drinking-vessel is (Gen. xl. 11, 13). first occurs in the story of Joseph for the cup with which he "divined" (Gen. xliv. 2-12, Hebr.), and from Jer. xxxv. 5 it...
CUP OF BENEDICTION – The cup of wine taken immediately after grace has been recited at the conclusion of a meal. The custom is first mentioned directly in Mish. Ber. vi 6: "If wine comes to them [a company of three or more] during the meal, each one...
CUP OF SALVATION – See Periodicals.
CUPBEARER – The officer who served the cup to the king. Like the Cup, the cupbearer is first mentioned in the Old Testament in connection with the story of Joseph in Egypt (Gen. xl. 21), where the title "chief of cupbearers" ( ) would show...
CURAÇAO – An island of the Dutch West Indies, captured from Spain in 1634. It is probable that Jews from Holland were among the first settlers in the island under the Dutch government. But they did not arrive there in considerable numbers...
CURIEL – A wealthy Marano family which settled in the Netherlands and at Hamburg about the sixteenth century. They intermarried largely with the Da Costa family. In 1682 great excitement was caused at Antwerp by the attempt of the rector...
CURIEL, JACOB – Resident of the Portuguese court at Hamburg about the middle of the seventeenth century; died there in 1665. He had lived previously at Amsterdam, where he had taken an important part in the reunion, effected in April, 1639, of...
CURSING – The expressions used for "cursing" it in the Bible are: (1) ; (2) ; (3) (verb and noun) and ; (4) ; (5) (Lev. xxiv. 11, 16); (6) .In Talmudie literature occur the terms: , , (Sanh. ix. 11), which the Jerusalem Talmud (ad loc.)...
CURTAIN – Curtains in Tabernacle. An adjustable drapery, usually hung before a window or passageway to insure privacy. In Ex. xxvi. and xxxvi., containing the directions for the making and a description of the erection of the Tabernacle,...
CUSA, NICOLAUS DE – Philosopher and theologian; born in Cusa, or Kues, on the Moselle, 1401; died in Todi, Umbria, 1464. He was Bishop and Cardinal of Brixan (Tyrol) at his death. As theologian he was known for his liberal views and wide mental...
CUSH – Biblical Data: A nation whose founder is mentioned in Gen. x. 6; I Chron. i. 8 as brother to Mizraim (Egypt) and as a son of Ham; with the exception of the passages in Genesis, A. V. renders it "Ethiopia." This African country...
CUSTOM – An old and general usage, or a religious practise, not based on any particular Biblical passage, and which has, through the force of long observance, become as sacred and binding as laws instituted by the proper...
CUSTOMS – See Bridegroom of the Law; Burial; Cemetery; Childbirth; Folk-Lore; Funeral Rites.
CUTHAH – One of five cities from which Sargon, King of Assyria, brought settlers to take the places of the exiled Israelites (II Kings xvii. 24, 30). These settlers were attacked by lions, and interpreting this to mean that their worship...
CUTTINGS – In Biblical usage, incisions or gashes in the flesh. The Law forbids the Israelites to make any cuttings in the flesh. For this operation two terms are used: "hitgoded" (Deut. xiv. 1) and "saraṭ" (Lev. xix. 28). From the context...