DEDICATION – See Consecration or Dedication.
DEDICATION FEAST – See HanukḲah.
DEED – In English law a contract under seal. To it corresponds very closely in Jewish law the "sheṭar" (lit. "writing"); the latter, however, means a solemn document, and is as such distinguished from the mere note of hand ("ketab...
DEEP – 1. In contradistinction to "rock," which is used figuratively for "a refuge" (Isa. xxxiii. 16; Ps. xxvii. 5, xl. 2, lxi. 3), the "deep" ("ma'amaḳḳim") is a metaphorical expression for misfortune or sorrow (Ps. lxix.2,15; cxxx....
DEFENSE – Means of protection from assault. In Biblical times outlying farms were protected from bands of marauders by watch-towers ("migdal"; see Tower). When the collection of houses in a village became large enough to need protection,...
DEGREES, SONG OF – See Psalms.
DEHAVITES – The Dehavites are mentioned among the peoples settled in Samaria who opposed the reconstruction of the Temple at Jerusalem (Ezra iv. 9). Whether the Dehavites are to be connected with a nomadic Persian tribe, the Δήοι, mentioned...
DEICHES – Polish family; mentioned as early as the seventeenth century, and members of which are living in Russia and Austria. The relationships of those bearing the name can be determined only in a few cases; and the fact that "Deiche"...
DEISM – A system of belief which posits God's existence as the cause of all things, and admits His perfection, but rejects Divine revelation and government, proclaiming the all-sufficiency of natural laws. The Socinians, as opposed to...
DEITY – See God.
DEL BANCO, MIRIAM – American authoress; born June 27, 1867, at New Orleans; daughter of Rabbi Max Del Banco, who died shortly after her birth. Her mother removed to St. Louis, in the public schools of which city the daughter was trained, displaying...
DEL BENE, DAVID – Italian rabbi; born at Mantua in the latter half of the sixteenth century; died at Ferrara in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Possessed of great oratorical talent and having received a thorough secular education, he...
DEL BENE (V04p503001.jpg), JUDAH ASHAEL BEN ELIEZER DAVID – Italian rabbi; born about 1618; died at Ferrara April 2, 1678. Together with Menahem Recanati he signed a halakic decision on the remission of debts in the jubilee year, which decision is cited in "Paḥad Yiẓḥaḳ" by Isaac...
DELACRUT, BEN SOLOMON – Polish scholar; lived in the middle of the sixteenth century. He settled early in Italy, and at one time seems to have attended the lectures on Cabala and philosophy at the University of Bologna, devoting himself to the...
DELAIAH – 1. A son of Elioenai in the Davidic genealogy (I Chron. iii. 24; A. V. "Dalaiah"). The sons of Delaiah are mentioned in the long post-exilic list of those who returned from captivity under Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 60; Neh. vii. 62)....
DELAWARE – A state on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. The first Jew of whom anything definite is known as a resident of the state was Solomon Solis, born in Wilmington March 13, 1819 (Morais, "The Jews of Philadelphia," p. 51)....
DELGADO, GONÇALO – Portuguese Marano of the sixteenth century, and son of Juan Pinto Delgado; born at Tavira, where he occupied the position of an "escrivão dos orfãos" (secretary of an orphanage). He is the author of "Poema Composto de que Era, o...
DELGADO, JOSEPH – Farmer of the revenue of Lumbrales, Castile. On July 26, 1723, he, his wife Antonia de Cardenas, and his brother Gabriel Delgado, refusing to renounce their faith, were sentenced to imprisonment for life by the Inquisition at...
DELGADO, JUAN (MOSES) PINTO – Marano poet; born at Tavira, Portugal, about 1530; died in 1591. Going to Spain in his youth, he studied the humanities at Salamanca, where he formed a friendship with the poet Luis de Leon. He was talented in many ways, and was...
DELIATITZ, ELIJAH BEN ABRAHAM – Russian Talmudist and rabbi of Deliatitz; flourished at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He wrote: (1) "Shene Eliyahu" (The Years of Elijah), notes on the comments of Elijah Wilna on the Abot de-Rabbi Nathan; (2) "Ben...
DELIATITZ, NISSAN – Russian rabbi and mathematician. He wrote "Keneh Ḥokmah," the meaning of which in Prov iv. 5 is "buy wisdom," but which here means "the scientific measure." It is a manual of algebra in five parts (Wilna, 1829). Benjacob says...
DELILAH – A woman of Sorek, loved by Samson (Judges xvi. 4-20). The chief of the Philistines bribed her to discover the source of Samson's great strength. Three times she failed. First, at his own suggestion, she bound him with "seven...
DELITZSCH, FRANZ – Christian Hebraist; born at Leipsic Feb. 23, 1813; died there March 4, 1890. He was not of Jewish descent; although, owing to his rabbinical learning and his sympathy with the Jewish people, and from a misunderstanding of his...
DELMANSI – See Anaw.
DELMEDIGO – A family of German descent. About the end of the fourteenth century its founder, Judah Delmedigo, emigrated to the island of Crete, whose inhabitants were mostly of German origin (compare Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, "Elim," p. 30,...