YEẒER HA-RA' – Evil inclination or impulse, popularly identified with the lusts of the flesh. The idea is derived from Gen. viii. 21: "the imagination of the heart of man is evil from his youth." Yet from the use of the two "yods" in Gen. ii....
YEẒIRAH, SEFER – The Power of the Name. The title of two esoteric books. Of these the older is also called "Hilkot Yeẓirah" (Rules of Creation), and is a thaumaturgical work that was popular in the Talmudic period. "On the eve of every Sabbath,...
YIBBUM – See Levirate Marriage.
YIGDAL – The hymn which in the various rituals shares with Adon 'Olam the place of honor at the opening of the morning and the close of the evening service. It is based on the thirteen Articles of Faith (usually called the Thirteen...
YIMLOK ADONAI – The tenth and final verse of Ps. cxlvi., which opens the series of HalleluiahPsalms that conclude the Psalter. The verse is employed as a response at prominent points in the liturgy, and is always the concluding response in the...
YIR'AM OF MAGDIEL – Italian Biblical commentator; lived at Rome in the tenth century. Yir'am was styled "of Magdiel " in conformity with the rabbinical interpretation which refers the name "Magdiel" (Gen. xxxvi. 43) to Rome (comp. Rashi ad loc.)....
YISHAI (JESSE) BEN HEZEKIAH – Exilarch of Damascus toward the end of the thirteenth century. He was a very prominent defender of the writings of Maimonides against the attacks of the anti-Maimonists. Thus, when he was informed of the agitation of the mystic...
YISHAR KOḤEKA – A frequent exclamation and expression of thanks. The first part of the formula is derived by Levy and Kohut from "yashar" = "to be firm or healthy." The phrase occurs in the Talmud in the Hebrew form "yishar koḥeka" (Shab. 87a)...
YISRAEL NOSHA' – YISRAEL NOSHA' A hymn composed by an early medieval writer named Shephatiah (Zunz, "Literaturgesch." p. 235), and forming the pizmon, or chief responsory verses, in the seliḥot of one of the mornings in the week preceding the...
YIẒḤAḲ (ISAAC) – Tanna of the early post-Hadrianic period (2d cent. C.E.); a halakic exegete whose Biblical exegesis mostly belongs to the Mekilta and the Sifre. In the Tosefta he transmits sayings in the name of Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (Ter. i. 1,...
YIẒḤAḲ BAR ADDA – Palestinian amora of uncertain period. He interpreted Ps. xcii. 13 as meaning that even as the shade of the palm-tree extends far and wide, so shall the reward of the pious extend to the future world (Shoḥer Ṭob to Ps. xcii.;...
YIẒḤAḲ HA-BABLI – Palestinian amora. His period is unknown. Two haggadot of his are extant. The king Melchizedek, who went to meet Abraham, was called Salem, says Yiẓḥaḳ, because he was perfect; that is, he had early submitted to circumcision...
YIẒḤAḲ OF CARTHAGE – In an edition of the Pesiḳta Rabbati by Buber (xiv. 64a) occurs the word , written incorrectly for = καταδίκη ("punishment," "penance"). Buber, however, in his preface (p. 80) attempts to identify this with the name of one...
YIẒḤAḲ B. ELEAZAR OF CÆSAREA – Palestinian amora of the fourth century. He was a teacher of law in the old synagogue of Cæsarea, where he was so loved by pupils and friends thatJacob of Kefar Nibburaya placed him as high in this synagogue as is God Himself in...
YIẒḤAḲ BEN ḤAḲOLA – Palestinian amora of the third century. He was a contemporary of Joshua ben Levi and Johanan, and belonged to the school of Eleazar ben Pedat. He transmitted halakot in the names of Abba ben Zabda, Judah II. (Yer. 'Er. 24d),...
YIẒḤAḲ BEN ḤIYYA THE SCRIBE – Palestinian amora of the fourth century; contemporary of Mani. He was well known as a scribe, and was the author of a halakah in which he asserted that Torah scrolls might be written on various parchments, but that this rule did...
YIẒḤAḲ BAR JOSEPH – Palestinian amora of the third and fourth centuries. He was a pupil of Abbahu and of Johanan, and transmitted almost entirely in the name of the latter. It is related that he was once about to be killed by a spirit to which he...
YIẒḤAḲ BAR JUDAH – Babylonian amora of the fourth century; a junior contemporary of Ulla. He was educated at his father's house in Pumbedita; and once when Ulla visited there the latter expressed displeasure at the fact that Yiẓḥaḳ was not yet...