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SIFRE – A Composite Work. Midrash to Numbers and Deuteronomy (for the title "Sifre debe Rab" see R. Hananeel on Sheb. 37b, Alfasi on Pes. x., and Rashi on Hos. ii. 1; it occurs likewise in Mak. 9b, where, as Berliner says in his edition...
SIFRE ZUṬA – Quoted in the "Sefer ha-Miẓwot." A peculiar midrash to Numbers, of especial interest for the study of the Halakah. Its authenticity is wrongly questioned by Weiss ("Zur Gesch. der Jüdischen Tradition," ii. 238). Medieval authors...
SIFRONI B. ISRAEL – See Sforno.
SIFTE YESHENIM – See Bass, Shabbethai.
SIGMARINGEN – See Hohenzollern.
SIGN – See Miracle.
SIGNATURE – Usually a writer inscribes his name at the end of a writing as a certification of authorship or as an indication that he accepts the sponsorship of the writing; but it does not appear that this was the custom of the ancient...
SIḤIN – Large and populous city in the territory of the tribe of Zebulon, near Sepphoris. After the destruction of Jerusalem it lost its importance, and was thenceforth called merely Kefar Siḥin. Josephus refers once ("B. J." ii. 20, §...
SIHON – Biblical Data: Amoritic king of the east-Jordan country, whose kingdom extended from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north, and from the Jordan in the west to the desert in the east (Num. xxi. 24; Judges xi. 22)....
SILAS – 1. A Jew who made himself tyrant of Lysias, a district of the Lebanon. Pompey subjugated him, together with other petty rulers, on his march to Palestine in 63 B.C. (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 3, § 2).2. Friend of Agrippa I., whose...
SILBERMAN, ELIEZER LIPMAN – German rabbi and Hebrew journalist; born in Königsberg, Prussia, Sept. 7, 1819; died in Lyck, Prussia, March 15, 1882. His parents were Russians who settled in Königsberg when Jews were admitted to that city during the...
SILBERSTEIN (ÖTVÖS), ADOLF – Hungarian art critic and writer; born at Budapest July 1, 1845; died there Jan. 12, 1899. After graduating from the gymnasium of his native city he studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Leipsic, comparative...
SILBERSTEIN, MICHAEL – German rabbi; born at Witzenhausen, Hesse-Nassau, Nov. 21, 1834; educated in his native town, in Hanover, at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (rabbi, 1859), and at the University of Berlin (Ph.D. 1860). He was...
SILBERSTEIN, SOLOMON – American philosophical writer; born at Kovno, Russia, March 10, 1845. Educated privately, he received the rabbinical diploma in 1864, and officiated from 1867 to 1868 as rabbi at Dershunisok, in the government of Kovno. Later he...
SILESIA – Province of Prussia, formerly of Austria. Unreliable accounts date the first settlement of Jews in Silesia as early as the eleventh century, when, it is said, a synagogue in Altendorf, near Ratibor, was transformed into a church...
SILOAM INSCRIPTION – The inscription on the Siloam conduit; the earliest long ancient Hebrew inscription that has been found at Jerusalem—one may even say in Palestine—and so far the only really important one. It commemorates the digging of the...
SILVA, ANTONIO JOSÉ DA – Portuguese poet; born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 8, 1705; died at the stake in Lisbon Oct. 19, 1739; son of Jaão Mendes da Silva. He was educated at the universities of Lisbon and Coimbra (B.D. 1726). On Aug. 8, 1726, he was...
SILVA, FRANCISCO MALDONADO DE – Peruvian physician, controversial writer, and martyr; born in San Miguel, province of Tucuman, Peru, about 1592; burned at the stake in Lima Jan. 23, 1639. His father, Diego Nuñez de Silva, and his brother, Diego de Silva, were...
SILVA, HEZEKIAH – Jewish author; born at Leghorn in 1659; died at Jerusalem in 1698; son-in-law of the dayyan Mordecai Befael Malachi. About 1679 he left his native city for Jerusalem, where he attended the yeshibah of Moses Galante, and ten...
SILVA, JOÃO MENDES DA – Brazilian poet and attorney; born in Rio de Janeiro 1656; died at Lisbon Jan. 9, 1736. He took his degree in law at the University of Coimbra, and, upon his return to Brazil, married Lourenca Coutinho, who was several times...
SILVA, LUCIUS FLAVIUS – Governor of Judea in 73; consul in 81. He accomplished the difficult task of taking the fortress of Masada from the Sicarii. See Procurators.Bibliography: Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 644; Prosopographia Imperii Romani, ii. 75.G....
SILVA, SAMUEL DA – Physician of Portuguese birth who lived in Amsterdam in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He is known especially through his energetic proceedings against Uriel da Costa. Before the latter's "Examination of the Pharisaic...
SILVER – See Metals.
SILVERMAN, JOSEPH – American rabbi; born at Cincinnati, Ohio, Aug. 25, 1860. Educated at the high school, the university (A.B. 1883), and the Hebrew Union College (rabbi, 1884) of his native town, he became rabbi successively at Dallas, Texas...
SILVERSMITH – See Goldsmiths and Silversmiths.

SIFRE – A Composite Work. Midrash to Numbers and Deuteronomy (for the title "Sifre debe Rab" see R. Hananeel on Sheb. 37b, Alfasi on Pes. x., and Rashi on Hos. ii. 1; it occurs likewise in Mak. 9b, where, as Berliner says in his edition...

SIFRE ZUṬA – Quoted in the "Sefer ha-Miẓwot." A peculiar midrash to Numbers, of especial interest for the study of the Halakah. Its authenticity is wrongly questioned by Weiss ("Zur Gesch. der Jüdischen Tradition," ii. 238). Medieval authors...

SIFRONI B. ISRAEL – See Sforno.

SIFTE YESHENIM – See Bass, Shabbethai.

SIGMARINGEN – See Hohenzollern.

SIGN – See Miracle.

SIGNATURE – Usually a writer inscribes his name at the end of a writing as a certification of authorship or as an indication that he accepts the sponsorship of the writing; but it does not appear that this was the custom of the ancient...

SIḤIN – Large and populous city in the territory of the tribe of Zebulon, near Sepphoris. After the destruction of Jerusalem it lost its importance, and was thenceforth called merely Kefar Siḥin. Josephus refers once ("B. J." ii. 20, §...

SIHON – Biblical Data: Amoritic king of the east-Jordan country, whose kingdom extended from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north, and from the Jordan in the west to the desert in the east (Num. xxi. 24; Judges xi. 22)....

SILAS – 1. A Jew who made himself tyrant of Lysias, a district of the Lebanon. Pompey subjugated him, together with other petty rulers, on his march to Palestine in 63 B.C. (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 3, § 2).2. Friend of Agrippa I., whose...

SILBERMAN, ELIEZER LIPMAN – German rabbi and Hebrew journalist; born in Königsberg, Prussia, Sept. 7, 1819; died in Lyck, Prussia, March 15, 1882. His parents were Russians who settled in Königsberg when Jews were admitted to that city during the...

SILBERSTEIN (ÖTVÖS), ADOLF – Hungarian art critic and writer; born at Budapest July 1, 1845; died there Jan. 12, 1899. After graduating from the gymnasium of his native city he studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Leipsic, comparative...

SILBERSTEIN, MICHAEL – German rabbi; born at Witzenhausen, Hesse-Nassau, Nov. 21, 1834; educated in his native town, in Hanover, at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (rabbi, 1859), and at the University of Berlin (Ph.D. 1860). He was...

SILBERSTEIN, SOLOMON – American philosophical writer; born at Kovno, Russia, March 10, 1845. Educated privately, he received the rabbinical diploma in 1864, and officiated from 1867 to 1868 as rabbi at Dershunisok, in the government of Kovno. Later he...

SILESIA – Province of Prussia, formerly of Austria. Unreliable accounts date the first settlement of Jews in Silesia as early as the eleventh century, when, it is said, a synagogue in Altendorf, near Ratibor, was transformed into a church...

SILOAM INSCRIPTION – The inscription on the Siloam conduit; the earliest long ancient Hebrew inscription that has been found at Jerusalem—one may even say in Palestine—and so far the only really important one. It commemorates the digging of the...

SILVA, ANTONIO JOSÉ DA – Portuguese poet; born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 8, 1705; died at the stake in Lisbon Oct. 19, 1739; son of Jaão Mendes da Silva. He was educated at the universities of Lisbon and Coimbra (B.D. 1726). On Aug. 8, 1726, he was...

SILVA, FRANCISCO MALDONADO DE – Peruvian physician, controversial writer, and martyr; born in San Miguel, province of Tucuman, Peru, about 1592; burned at the stake in Lima Jan. 23, 1639. His father, Diego Nuñez de Silva, and his brother, Diego de Silva, were...

SILVA, HEZEKIAH – Jewish author; born at Leghorn in 1659; died at Jerusalem in 1698; son-in-law of the dayyan Mordecai Befael Malachi. About 1679 he left his native city for Jerusalem, where he attended the yeshibah of Moses Galante, and ten...

SILVA, JOÃO MENDES DA – Brazilian poet and attorney; born in Rio de Janeiro 1656; died at Lisbon Jan. 9, 1736. He took his degree in law at the University of Coimbra, and, upon his return to Brazil, married Lourenca Coutinho, who was several times...

SILVA, LUCIUS FLAVIUS – Governor of Judea in 73; consul in 81. He accomplished the difficult task of taking the fortress of Masada from the Sicarii. See Procurators.Bibliography: Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 644; Prosopographia Imperii Romani, ii. 75.G....

SILVA, SAMUEL DA – Physician of Portuguese birth who lived in Amsterdam in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He is known especially through his energetic proceedings against Uriel da Costa. Before the latter's "Examination of the Pharisaic...

SILVER – See Metals.

SILVERMAN, JOSEPH – American rabbi; born at Cincinnati, Ohio, Aug. 25, 1860. Educated at the high school, the university (A.B. 1883), and the Hebrew Union College (rabbi, 1884) of his native town, he became rabbi successively at Dallas, Texas...

SILVERSMITH – See Goldsmiths and Silversmiths.