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Onkelos

(Encyclopedia)Onkelos ŏngˈkəlōs [key], 2d cent. a.d., translator of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, his work later being given the title Targum Onkelos (see Targum). A proselyte, he gained the respect of the lea...

Aquila Ponticus

(Encyclopedia)Aquila Ponticus pŏnˈtĭkəs [key], 2d cent., Jewish translator of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. The characteristic feature of Aquila's version was its extremely literal rendering of the ...

Dunash ben Tamim

(Encyclopedia)Dunash ben Tamim täˈmēm [key] or Dunash ibn Tamim, c.900–c.960, Hebrew scholar, an astronomer and physician of North Africa. A pioneer in the field of scientific comparative philology, he tried t...

Ebla

(Encyclopedia)Ebla ĕbˈlə, ēˈblə [key], an ancient city located in N Syria 34 mi (55 km) S of Aleppo. First excavated in 1964, the ruins of the city were discovered in 1973 by an Italian archaeological expedit...

Gordon, Judah Leon

(Encyclopedia)Gordon, Judah Leon, 1830–92, Russian-Hebrew novelist and poet, b. Vilna. As teacher and writer he was one of the leaders in the renaissance of a progressive culture among the Jews (see Haskalah) and...

Ginsburg, Christian David

(Encyclopedia)Ginsburg, Christian David gĭnzˈbərg [key], 1831–1914, English Hebrew scholar, b. Warsaw. He was converted to Christianity in 1846 and settled in England. He translated (1857) the Song of Songs, w...

Smolenskin, Perez

(Encyclopedia)Smolenskin, Perez pĕrˈĕts smōlĕnˈskĭn [key], c.1842–1885, Russian novelist and essayist who wrote in Hebrew. He settled in Vienna and founded the Hebrew monthly journal Ha-Shahar, which he ed...

Sirach, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Sirach ēklēˌzēăsˈtĭkəs [key] [Lat. from Gr.,=ecclesiastical], book included in the Septuagint and in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament but not included in the Hebrew Bible and plac...

Kimhi

(Encyclopedia)Kimhi kĭmˈkhē [key], family of Jewish scholars and grammarians in Spain and France. Joseph ben Isaac Kimhi, c.1105–c.1170, besides writing a Bible commentary, making numerous translations, and wr...

Mapu, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Mapu, Abraham mäˈpo͞o [key], 1808–67, Lithuanian novelist who wrote in Hebrew. For many years an impoverished, itinerant schoolmaster, Mapu gained financial security when he was appointed teacher...