KUNA – Polish name for the pillory, the well-known implement of torture and punishment, used by the Polish and Lithuanian Jews of the eighteenth century, who seem to have adopted it from their Christian neighbors, to punish those who...
KUNITZER, MOSES BEN MENAHEM – Rabbi in Ofen and dayyan in Budapest; born at Alt-Ofen; died Feb. 2, 1837. A descendant of Rabbi Löwe ben Bezaleel, he was one of the pioneers of enlightenment in Hungary. His works include: "Bet Rabbi" (Vienna, 1805), i.e., a...
KUNOS, IGNATZ – Hungarian authority on Turkish; born Sept. 20, 1861, at Sámson, Hungary. He attended the gymnasium at Debreczin and the University of Budapest, where he studied linguistics. On receiving his Ph.D. degree he went to the East on a...
KUPERNIK, ABRAHAM (AVRAAM ARONOVICH) – Russian communal worker; born at Wilna 1821; died at Dembitza 1893, on his homeward journey from abroad; buried in Kiev. He studied Talmud at the Volozhin yeshibah and acquireda fair secular education. In 1851 he became manager...
ḲUPPAH – See Charity.
KURANDA, IGNAZ – Establishes "Die Grenzboten." Austrian deputy and political writer; born in Prague May 1, 1812; died in Vienna April 3, 1884. His grandfather and father were dealers in second-hand books. In 1834 he went to Vienna, where he...
KURBSKI, PRINCE – See Russia.
KURDISTAN – A country of western Asia, partly under Turkish and partly under Persian rule, although the Kurds pay but little attention to either government. They derive their income from agriculture and cattle-raising, and a goodly share of...
KURLAND – See Courland.
KURREIN, ADOLF – Austrian rabbi; born Jan. 28, 1846, at Trebitsch, Moravia. He received his doctor's degree from the University of Vienna. He was rabbi of St. Pölten in 1872, of Zinz from 1876 to 1882, of Bielitz from 1882 to 1888, and in the...
KUSEL, RUDOLPH – German jurist and politician; born May 9, 1809, in Carlsruhe; died there Jan. 26, 1890. He studied law in Heidelberg and Munich, and in 1832 was admitted to the bar in Baden. From 1834 he practised law at Rastatt, Bruchsal, and...
KUSSIEL – See Jekuthiel.
KUSTENDIL – Bulgarian city in the north of Macedonia, near the Servian city of Nish. Jews must have settled at Kustendil before the beginning of the eighteenth century; a tombstone in the local cemetery bears the date 5509 (= 1749), and...
KUTAIS – Russian city in the government of the same name; the scene of a trial for blood accusation in 1877. On April 16 of that year Sarra Modebadzé, a lame girl, six years old, of the village of Perevisi, visited the house of a...
KUTNER, JOSHUA HÖSCHEL – Preacher at Lissa in the middle of the nineteenth century. He was the author of "Ha-Emunah weha-Ḥaḳirah" (Breslau, 1847), containing a philosophical development of the thirteen articles of belief of Maimonides, and extracts from...
KUTNER, ROBERT – German surgeon; born at Ueckermünde, Pomerania, April 11, 1867. Educated at Berlin, Kiel, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Vienna, and Paris (M.D. 1891). In 1892 he traveled, and on his return settled in Berlin, where he is still...
KUTTOWER, ABRAHAM GERSHON BEN EPHRAIM – Polish rabbi and cabalist; born at Kuty, Galicia; died at Jerusalem about 1760. He was a follower of Isaac Luria's system of practical Cabala, and spent most of his time in fasting. He was also a recognized authority in...