MIPHKAD – Name of a gate mentioned in connection with the repair of the wall of Jerusalem by Nehemiah (Neh. iii. 31). It seems that this gate was not in the wall of Jerusalem, but that the part of the wall facing it was to the east,...
MIRABEAU, GABRIEL HONORE RIQUETI, COMTE DE – French statesman of the revolutionary era; born at Bignon March 9, 1749; died at Paris April 2, 1791. Sent by De Calonne on a secret mission to Prussia, he became acquainted at Berlin with several distinguished Jews belonging to...
MIRACLE – An event which can not be explained by ordinary natural agencies, and which, therefore, is taken as an act of a higher power.Miracles are by no means identical with myths. Myths are primitive or pagan personifications (or rather...
MIRANDA, LALLA – Australian singer; born in Melbourne 1876. Both of her parents were singers, and she herself sang in public when only thirteen years of age. After completing her musical education in Europe, under Mdlle. de Garette, and Madame...
MIRELS, MESHULLAM ZALMAN BEN DAVID (NEUMARK) – German rabbi; born about 1620 at Vienna; died Nov. 28, 1706, at Altona. When, in 1670, the Jews were expelled from Vienna, he and his son Zeeb Wolf and other members of the Mirels family emigrated to Berlin. A few years later...
MIRELS, ẒEBI HIRSCH BEN AARON – German Talmudist; rabbi of Schwerin in the middle of the eighteenth century. He received his early education in London. After studying at various yeshibot he became rabbi at Wreschen, Poland, and shortly after was appointed...
MIRÈS, JULES ISAAC – French financier; born at Bordeaux Dec. 9, 1809; died at Marseilles in 1871. A broker in 1848, he became, after the February Revolution of that year, director of the gas company of Arles. Subsequently he bought the "Journal des...
MIRIAM – Biblical Data: Prophetess; daughter of Amram and sister of Moses and Aaron (I Chron. vi. 3; Ex. xv. 20; Num. xxvi. 59). When Moses was left at the river Miriam watched from a distance until Pharaoh's daughter took him up,...
MIRKES, SOLOMON ZALMAN BEN JUDAH LÖB – Lithuanian Talmudist of the eighteenth century; a native of Mir, government of Minsk. He published at Königsberg in 1769 his "Derush," a funeral oration on the death of R. Abraham, chief rabbi of Frankfort-on-the-Main. In 1771...
MIRROR – An object having a nearly perfect reflecting surface. In ancient times mirrors were invariably made of metal; in Egypt, of polished brass. It is no doubt this kind of mirror to which reference is made in Ex. xxxviii. 8 and in...
MI-SHEBERAK – See Sacrifice.
MISHLE SINDABAR – See Sindabar.
MISHNAH – A noun formed from the verb "shanah," which has the same meaning as the Aramaic "matnita," derived from "teni" or "tena." The verb "shanah," which originally meant "to repeat," acquired in post-Biblical Hebrew the special force...
MISHNEH TORAH – See Moses b. Maimon.
MISSISSIPPI – One of the southern states of the United States of America; admitted to the Union in 1817. In 1682 La Salle took possession of the territory for the King of France. It passed to England in 1763, was ceded to Spain in 1781, and...
MISSOURI – One of the central states of the United States; admitted to the Union in 1821. While yet a territory it was inhabited by Jewish settlers, the earliest of whom were the Bloch family. The Jewish communities of the state are as...
MITAU – Capital of the government of Courland, Russia; situated about 20 miles from Riga on the Drixa, an arm of the River Aa. The castle of Mitau was founded by the German Knights in 1263; and the town itself received its charter in...
MITER – A head-dress; one of the sacred garments of the priests. The high priest's miter was designated as "miẓnefet," and was made of fine linen, to which the diadem ("ẓiẓ") of pure gold, inscribed with the title "Holiness to the...
MITNAGGEDIM – Title applied by the Ḥasidim to their opponents, i.e., to the Orthodox Jews of the Slavonic countries who have not become adherents of Ḥasidism (see Jew. Encyc. vi. 254, s.v. Ḥasidim). The latter have in course of time accepted...
MITRANI – See Trani.
MITZKUN, DAVID MOSES – Russian Hebraist; born May, 1836; died in Wilna July 23, 1887. He was a writer of Hebrew prose and poetry, and maintained himself chiefly by teaching Hebrew. A collection of his Hebrew poems entitled "Kinnor Dawid" was published...
MI'UN – A Hebrew word signifying "refusal, denial, or protest"; used technically by the Rabbis to denote a woman's protest against a marriage contracted for her during her minority; also the annulment of such a marriage.A marriage...
MIXED MARRIAGE – See Intermarriage.
MIZMOR LE-DAWID – The superscription to Ps. xxix., chanted on Sabbaths before the evening service, and at morning service while the scroll of the Law is being returned to the Ark. Settings by modern composers are in most cases utilized in the...
MIZMOR SHIR LE-YOM HA-SHABBAT – The superscription to Ps. xcii., chanted with Ps. xciii. before the commencement of evening service on Sabbaths (including festivals falling on that day) in the "Pesuḳe de-Zimrah" of the early part of morning service on Sabbaths...