Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Justus of Tiberia

(Encyclopedia)Justus of Tiberia, fl. 1st cent. a.d., Jewish historian. Friendly to Rome, he opposed the Jewish war against the Romans and fled to Beirut where he became the private secretary of Agrippa II. He is ma...

Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi

(Encyclopedia)Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi säˈdēä, äl-fīyo͞oˈmē [key], 882–942, Jewish scholar, b. Egypt. He was known as Saadia Gaon. He was the head of the great Jewish Academy at Sura, Babylonia, which...

Scholem, Gershom Gerhard

(Encyclopedia)Scholem, Gershom Gerhard gĕrˈshôm gĕrˈhärt shōˈləm [key], 1897–1982, Jewish scholar, b. Berlin. He studied at the universities of Berlin, Jena, Bern, and Munich. Scholem received (1922) his...

chorale

(Encyclopedia)chorale kōrălˈ, –rälˈ [key], any of the traditional hymns of the German Protestant Church. The form was developed after the Reformation to replace the plainsong of the earlier service and as a ...

missal

(Encyclopedia)missal [Lat.,=of the mass], in the Roman Catholic Church, liturgical book containing all directions and texts necessary for the performance of Mass throughout the year. The Roman Missal (Missale Roman...

seraph

(Encyclopedia)seraph –ĭm [key], supernatural being. The name seems to derive from the Hebrew word “to burn.” According to the Book of Isaiah, seraphim have six wings. Scholars have suggested that seraphim we...

Cairo geniza

(Encyclopedia)Cairo geniza kōˈrō gənˈēzə [key], archive of ancient Jewish manuscripts found in the synagogue of Fostat-Cairo, Egypt (built 882). In the 1890s western scholars visited the synagogue and remove...

Hertzberg, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Hertzberg, Arthur, 1921–2006, American rabbi, scholar, and Jewish community leader, b. Poland. His family emigrated to the United States in 1926. He attended Johns Hopkins, the Jewish Theological Se...

Heschel, Abraham Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Heschel, Abraham Joshua hĕshˈəl [key], 1907–72, American Jewish philosopher and theologian, b. Warsaw, Poland. He succeeded Martin Buber as director of the Central Organization for Jewish Adult E...

Dies irae

(Encyclopedia)Dies irae dēˈās ēˈrā [key] [Lat.,=day of wrath], hymn of the Roman Catholic Church. A part of the Requiem Mass, it is a powerful description of the Judgment and a prayer to Jesus for mercy. Sugg...