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Casimir III

(Encyclopedia)Casimir III, 1310–70, king of Poland (1333–70), son of Ladislaus I and last of the Piast dynasty. Called Casimir the Great, he brought comparative peace to Poland. By the Congress of Visegrad (133...

Neusner, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Neusner, Jacob, 1932–2016, American scholar and historian of Judaism, b. West Hartford, Conn, B.A. Harvard, 1953, M.A. Jewish Theological Seminary, 1960), Ph.D. Columbia, 1960. Regarded as the world...

Asch, Sholem

(Encyclopedia)Asch, Sholem or Shalom shōˈləm ăsh, shäˈləm [key], 1880–1957, Jewish novelist and playwright, b. Poland. He first came to the United States in 1909, was naturalized in 1920, and lived in vari...

pawnbroker

(Encyclopedia)pawnbroker, one who makes loans on personal effects that are left as security. The practice of pawnbroking is ancient, as is recognition of the danger it involves of oppressing the poor. In fact, the ...

Adler, H. G.

(Encyclopedia)Adler, H. G. (Hans Günther Adler) häns günˈtər ädˈlər [key], 1910–88, modernist author and Holocaust studies pioneer, b. Prague to a German Jewish family, studied Charles Univ. He and his fa...

pork

(Encyclopedia)pork, flesh of swine prepared as food, one of the principal commodities of the meatpacking industry. Pork has long been a staple food in most of the world, although religious taboos have limited its u...

Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch

(Encyclopedia)Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch hĕnˈdrək frĕnsh fərvo͞ortˈ [key], 1901–66, South African political leader, b. Holland. He was taken as an infant to South Africa when his parents emigrated as missio...

Aleichem, Sholem

(Encyclopedia)Aleichem, Sholem räbˌĭnôˈvĭts, rəbĭnˈəvĭts [key], 1859–1916, Yiddish author, b. Russia. One of the great Yiddish writers, he is best known for his humorous tales of life among the poverty...

Hezekiah

(Encyclopedia)Hezekiah hĕzəkīˈə [key], in the Bible, king of Judah, son and successor of Ahaz. During his reign Sennacherib of Assyria routed (701 b.c.) the rebellious Jews, laid seige to Jerusalem, and exacte...

Ananias

(Encyclopedia)Ananias ănˌənīˈəs [key] [Gr.,=Heb. Ananiah and Hananiah]. 1 In the Acts of the Apostles, man who, with his wife Sapphira, held back part of a gift to the early Jerusalem church and lied about it...