NECHO – King of Egypt from 610 to 594 B.C.; son of Psam(m)ethik I., of the twenty-sixth Egyptian dynasty. According to Herodotus (ii. 158), he undertook to connect an arm of the Nile with the Red Sea by means of a canal; he was really...
NECROMANCY – Divination by aid of the dead is said to have been common among the Persians (Strabo, xvi. 2, 39, νεκυονάντεις), and at a later time among the Greeks and Romans as well (see passages in Winer, "B. R." ii. 26). The Israelites...
NEDARIM – A treatise in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and both Talmuds, devoted chiefly to a discussion of the regulations contained in Num. xxx. 2-17. The place assigned to this treatise in the mishnaic order of Seder Nashim differs in the...
NEDERLANDSCHE ISRAELIET, HET – See Periodicals.
NEGA'IM – A treatise of the order Ṭohorot in the Mishnah and the Tosefta, which treats of the rules concerning leprosy and the infection of clothing and dwellings (Lev. xiii., xiv.). In most editions it is the fourth treatise of the...
NEGEB – Tract of land in southern Judah, which, though fertile in comparison with the rest of Palestine, is nevertheless regarded as an arid country. The term "Negeb" refers very often to "the south" in general, just as "yam" (lit. "the...
NEGINAH – See Accents; Cantillation.
NEGLIGENCE – See Fault.
NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS – See Deed; Exchange, Bills of.
NEGROPONT – See Greece.
NEHAMA, JUDAH – Turkish rabbi; born in Salonica 1825; died there 1899. He was rabbi in his native place; for many years vice-president of the local committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle; corresponded with S. D. Luzzatto. S. L....
NEHARDEA (NEARDA) – City of Babylonia, situated at or near the junction of the Euphrates with the Nahr Malka; one of the earliest centers of Babylonian Judaism. As the seat of the exilarch it traced its origin back to King Jehoiachin. According to...
NEHEMIAH – Son of Hachaliah; rebuilder of the walls of Jerusalem. The sole source of information about Nehemiah is the canonical book that bears his name, parts of which, at any rate, furnished Ben Sira with the matter for the short notice...
NEHEMIAH, BOOK OF – A work ascribed to Nehemiah, but bearing in some canons the title Esdras II. or Esdras III., having been attributed to Ezra on the ground that Nehemiah's self-assertion deserved some punishment (Sanh. 93b), or because, having...
NEHEMIAH OF BETH-HORON – Amora of the first generation; lived in the third century at Beth-horon, a small town northwest of Jerusalem. In the different sources he has various names, being called either "Neḥunya [his correct name; Suk. 44a] from the...
NEHEMIAH B. HASHIEL (AMMID) – See Pseudo-Messiah.
NEHEMIAH HA-KOHEN – Polish cabalist and Shabbethaian preacher; died at Amsterdam shortly after 1690, or, according to another account, in Poland in 1682. Owing to Nehemiah's wide knowledge of the Cabala he was sent by the Polish communities in 1666...
NEHEMIAH BEN KOHEN ẒEDEḲ – Gaon of Pumbedita from 960 to 968. While his predecessor, Aaron b. Sargado, was still in office, Nehemiah tried to have him removed; but the college insisted on retaining him, as he was in every respect superior to his opponent....
NEḤUNYA OF BETH-HORON – See Nehemiah of Beth-Horon.
NEḤUNYA BEN HA-ḲANAH – Tanna of the first and second centuries. It appears from B. B. 10b that Neḥunya was a contemporary, but not a pupil, of Johanan b. Zakkai. He was the teacher of Ishmael b. Elisha. Neḥunya was rich and had a large retinue of...
NEHUSHTAN – Bronze figure of a serpent which was broken in pieces by Hezekiah at the beginningof his reign (II Kings xviii. 4). It was identified with the bronze serpent raised by Moses in the desert in order to heal the Israelites from the...
NEIGHBORING LANDOWNERS – The legal maxim "Sic utere tuo ut alienum non lædas" (So use your own that you may not injure another's [property]) is fully recognized in the Mishnah (B. B. ii.) by the imposition of the following restraints:(1) A man should...
NE'ILAH – The last of the five services held on the Day of Atonement. The earliest mention of it is in the Mishnah (Ta'an. 26a), where it is said: "On three occasions the priests pronounce the benediction four times in the day, namely, at...
NEILSON, JULIA (Mrs. Fred Terry) – English actress; born in London 1868; educated at Wiesbaden, Germany. Returning to London in 1883, she became a student at the Royal Academy of Music, and, being possessed of a fine mezzo-soprano voice, devoted herself...
NEISSER, ALBERT – German dermatologist; born at Schweidnitz Jan. 22, 1855. His father, Moritz Neisser, was physician and "Geheimer Sanitätsrat" at Charlottenbrunn. Albert Neisser studied medicine in Erlangen and Breslau (M.D. 1877). In1877 he...