JewishEncyclopedia.com

DIRGE – See Kinah.
DISABILITIES, LEGAL – See Blemish; Evidence; Law, Civil.
DISABILITIES – Principles of Treatment. —In Europe: J. E. Scherer in his "Die Rechtsverhältnisse der Juden in den Deutsch-Oesterreichischen Ländern" (Leipsic, 1901) has well pointed out that legislation concerning the Jews during the Middle...
DISCOUNT – See Commerce.
DISEASES IN THE BIBLE AND TALMUD – See Medicine in Bible and Talmud.
DISHON – 1. A son of Seir, and head of the aboriginal Idumean tribes (Gen. xxxvi. 21, 30; I Chron. i. 38; compare 41). 2. A son of Anah, grandson of Seir, and brother of Aholibamah, Esau's second wife (Gen. xxxvi. 25; I Chron. i. 41). A...
DISINTERMENT – The act of exhumation, or taking out of the earth or the grave. The removal of dead bodies from one place of burial to another has been a subject of controversy among Jewish authorities, and in recent times has become a cause of...
DISKIN, JOSHUA LÖB BEN BENJAMIN – Russian rabbi; born at Grodno, Russia, Dec. 10, 1818; died at Jerusalem Jan. 22, 1898. At thirteen he married Sarah, the daughter of a good family of Volkovisk, known later as "Die Brisker Rebitzin." Diskin obtained a rabbi's...
DISNA – Town in the government of Wilna, Russia. According to the census of 1897, it has a population of 6,739, about 5,600 being Jews. Most of these are traders. About 265 persons are employed as day-laborers. Truck-farming gives...
DISPECK, DAVID BEN JOEL – Talmudic scholar and homilist; born about the year 1744. He studied in the yeshibah under Joshua Cohen, among his companions being Joseph Steinhard and Jacob Berlin. Later he was named dayyan of Fürth, and in 1771 he became...
DISPUTATIONS – Public debates on religious subjects between Jews and non-Jews. Religious differences have at all times induced serious-minded men to exchange their views in order to win opponents over to their own side by appeals to reason....
D'ISRAELI, BENJAMIN – 1. English merchant and financier; born in Venice Sept. 22, 1730; died at Stoke Newington, London, in 1816. He went to England in 1748, and settled there as a merchant, though he did not take out papers of denization till...
DISRAELI, BENJAMIN, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD – English statesman; born at London, England, Dec. 21, 1804; died there April 19, 1881. The son of Isaac D'Israeli, he was descended from a wealthy Sephardic family of Venice, his grandfather having come to England to engage in...
D'ISRAELI, ISAAC – English author; born at Enfield, Middlesex, May, 1766; died at Bradenham Jan. 19, 1848. He was the only son of Benjamin D'Israeli, and after completing his studies and travels, he first appeared in print (Dec., 1786) with a...
DISRAELI PEDIGREE – The following is a genealogical tree of the Disraeli family: Lord Beaconsfield could trace his ancestry only back to his grandfather of the same name, who arrived in England from Venice in 1759 (though he himself dated his...
DISTAFF – A stick on which flax or wool was wound ready for hand-spinning before the spinning-wheel came into use. It was held under the left arm, or stuck in the girdle, of the spinner. The fibers were drawn from it and twisted by the...
DITTEL, LEOPOLD RITTER VON – Austrian surgeon; born at Fulneck, Moravia, May 15, 1815; died at Vienna July 28, 1898. He was educated at the gymnasia of Troppau and Brünn, and at the University of Vienna, whence he was graduated as doctor of medicine in...
DIVEKAR, ABRAHAM SAMUEL – Beni-Israel soldier; born near Bombay about 1830. He enlisted in the Nineteenth Regiment native infantry March 1, 1851; was promoted to the rank of a jemedar Jan. 1, 1872; and was appointed subedar Sept. 10, 1878. Divekar was...
DIVEKAR, SAMUEL EZEKIEL (Samajee Hasajee) – Soldier in the service of the East India Company and second founder of the Beni-Israel congregation of Bombay; born at Cochin in 1730; died there in 1797. He enlisted in the East India Company's army about 1760, and rose to the...
DIVINATION – The forecasting of the future by certain signs or movements of external things, or by visions in certain ecstatic states of the soul (see Dreams and Prophecy). Divination rests on the belief that spirits inhabit the various...
DIVINE JUDGMENT – See Judgment, Divine.
DIVINE SERVICE – See Liturgy.
DIVORCE – Dissolution of marriage. The origin of the Jewish law of divorce is found in the constitution of the patriarchal family. The fundamental principle of its government was the absolute authority of the oldest male ascendent; hence...
DIZAHAB – Name occurring but once in the Bible—in the topographical description in Deut. i. 1. Its identity has not been successfully established. The context, locating it indefinitely in the trans-Jordanic region, and mentioning it among...
DLUGOSZ, JEAN – See Poland.

DIRGE – See Kinah.

DISABILITIES, LEGAL – See Blemish; Evidence; Law, Civil.

DISABILITIES – Principles of Treatment. —In Europe: J. E. Scherer in his "Die Rechtsverhältnisse der Juden in den Deutsch-Oesterreichischen Ländern" (Leipsic, 1901) has well pointed out that legislation concerning the Jews during the Middle...

DISCOUNT – See Commerce.

DISEASES IN THE BIBLE AND TALMUD – See Medicine in Bible and Talmud.

DISHON – 1. A son of Seir, and head of the aboriginal Idumean tribes (Gen. xxxvi. 21, 30; I Chron. i. 38; compare 41). 2. A son of Anah, grandson of Seir, and brother of Aholibamah, Esau's second wife (Gen. xxxvi. 25; I Chron. i. 41). A...

DISINTERMENT – The act of exhumation, or taking out of the earth or the grave. The removal of dead bodies from one place of burial to another has been a subject of controversy among Jewish authorities, and in recent times has become a cause of...

DISKIN, JOSHUA LÖB BEN BENJAMIN – Russian rabbi; born at Grodno, Russia, Dec. 10, 1818; died at Jerusalem Jan. 22, 1898. At thirteen he married Sarah, the daughter of a good family of Volkovisk, known later as "Die Brisker Rebitzin." Diskin obtained a rabbi's...

DISNA – Town in the government of Wilna, Russia. According to the census of 1897, it has a population of 6,739, about 5,600 being Jews. Most of these are traders. About 265 persons are employed as day-laborers. Truck-farming gives...

DISPECK, DAVID BEN JOEL – Talmudic scholar and homilist; born about the year 1744. He studied in the yeshibah under Joshua Cohen, among his companions being Joseph Steinhard and Jacob Berlin. Later he was named dayyan of Fürth, and in 1771 he became...

DISPUTATIONS – Public debates on religious subjects between Jews and non-Jews. Religious differences have at all times induced serious-minded men to exchange their views in order to win opponents over to their own side by appeals to reason....

D'ISRAELI, BENJAMIN – 1. English merchant and financier; born in Venice Sept. 22, 1730; died at Stoke Newington, London, in 1816. He went to England in 1748, and settled there as a merchant, though he did not take out papers of denization till...

DISRAELI, BENJAMIN, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD – English statesman; born at London, England, Dec. 21, 1804; died there April 19, 1881. The son of Isaac D'Israeli, he was descended from a wealthy Sephardic family of Venice, his grandfather having come to England to engage in...

D'ISRAELI, ISAAC – English author; born at Enfield, Middlesex, May, 1766; died at Bradenham Jan. 19, 1848. He was the only son of Benjamin D'Israeli, and after completing his studies and travels, he first appeared in print (Dec., 1786) with a...

DISRAELI PEDIGREE – The following is a genealogical tree of the Disraeli family: Lord Beaconsfield could trace his ancestry only back to his grandfather of the same name, who arrived in England from Venice in 1759 (though he himself dated his...

DISTAFF – A stick on which flax or wool was wound ready for hand-spinning before the spinning-wheel came into use. It was held under the left arm, or stuck in the girdle, of the spinner. The fibers were drawn from it and twisted by the...

DITTEL, LEOPOLD RITTER VON – Austrian surgeon; born at Fulneck, Moravia, May 15, 1815; died at Vienna July 28, 1898. He was educated at the gymnasia of Troppau and Brünn, and at the University of Vienna, whence he was graduated as doctor of medicine in...

DIVEKAR, ABRAHAM SAMUEL – Beni-Israel soldier; born near Bombay about 1830. He enlisted in the Nineteenth Regiment native infantry March 1, 1851; was promoted to the rank of a jemedar Jan. 1, 1872; and was appointed subedar Sept. 10, 1878. Divekar was...

DIVEKAR, SAMUEL EZEKIEL (Samajee Hasajee) – Soldier in the service of the East India Company and second founder of the Beni-Israel congregation of Bombay; born at Cochin in 1730; died there in 1797. He enlisted in the East India Company's army about 1760, and rose to the...

DIVINATION – The forecasting of the future by certain signs or movements of external things, or by visions in certain ecstatic states of the soul (see Dreams and Prophecy). Divination rests on the belief that spirits inhabit the various...

DIVINE JUDGMENT – See Judgment, Divine.

DIVINE SERVICE – See Liturgy.

DIVORCE – Dissolution of marriage. The origin of the Jewish law of divorce is found in the constitution of the patriarchal family. The fundamental principle of its government was the absolute authority of the oldest male ascendent; hence...

DIZAHAB – Name occurring but once in the Bible—in the topographical description in Deut. i. 1. Its identity has not been successfully established. The context, locating it indefinitely in the trans-Jordanic region, and mentioning it among...

DLUGOSZ, JEAN – See Poland.