Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

363 results found

Numbers

(Encyclopedia)Numbers, book of the Bible, fourth of the five books of the Law (the Pentateuch or Torah) ascribed by tradition to Moses. Numbers begins at Sinai and ends in Moab on the eve of the Hebrews' entry into...

Khabarovsk Territory

(Encyclopedia)Khabarovsk Territory, administrative division (1989 est. pop. 1,800,000), 305,000 sq mi (789,950 sq km), Russian Far East. Situated in the eastern and northeastern extremity of Siberia, the territory ...

Calisher, Hortense

(Encyclopedia)Calisher, Hortense kălˈĭshər [key], 1911–2009, American author, b. New York City, grad. Barnard College, 1932. Her novels are difficult to categorize, blending deft character analysis with compl...

Caro, Joseph ben Ephraim

(Encyclopedia)Caro or Karo, Joseph ben Ephraim käˈrō [key], 1488–1575, eminent Jewish codifier of law, b. Toledo, Spain. He left Spain as a child when the Jews were expelled (1492) and finally settled in Safed...

Werfel, Franz

(Encyclopedia)Werfel, Franz fränts vĕrˈfəl [key], 1890–1945, Austrian writer, b. Prague. He expressed his belief in the brotherhood of man in lyric verse, in expressionist and conventional plays, and in novel...

Blau, Joseph Leon

(Encyclopedia)Blau, Joseph Leon blou [key] 1909–86, American Jewish scholar and educator, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Columbia (A.B., 1931; M.A., 1933; Ph.D., 1945). He taught at Columbia from 1944, becoming profess...

God

(Encyclopedia)God, divinity of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as many other world religions. See also religion and articles on individual religions. There are se...

Zionism

(Encyclopedia)Zionism, modern political movement for reconstituting a Jewish national state in Palestine. After World War II the Zionist movement intensified its activities. The sufferings of the European Jews at...

Hasidism

(Encyclopedia)Hasidism or Chassidism both: hăsˈĭdĭzˌəm, khă– [key] [Heb.,=the pious], Jewish religious movement founded in Poland in the 18th cent. by Baal-Shem-Tov. Its name derives from Hasidim. Hasidism...

Galicia, historic region, Poland and Ukraine

(Encyclopedia)Galicia gəlĭˈshə, –shēə, –ə [key], Pol. Galicja, Ukr. Halychyna, Rus. Galitsiya, historic region (32,332 sq mi/83,740 sq km), SE Poland and W Ukraine, covering the slopes of the N Carpathia...