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tallit

(Encyclopedia)tallit tälētˈ [key], in Judaism, four-cornered, fringed shawl worn by males during the morning prayers. It is donned before putting on the phylacteries, except on Yom Kippur when it is worn all thr...

Messiah

(Encyclopedia)Messiah məsīˈəs [key] [Heb.,=anointed], in Judaism, a man who would be sent by God to restore Israel and reign righteously for all humanity. The idea developed among the Jews especially in their a...

liturgy, Jewish

(Encyclopedia)liturgy, Jewish, rites, observances, and procedures of Judaism. Communal prayer, with a quorum of ten men (or in some modern communities, ten people), replaced the priests of the Temple cult. There ar...

Duran

(Encyclopedia)Duran, Durand düräNtˈ [key], Jewish family of scholars. Profiat Isaac ben Moshe ha-Levi Duran, 1350–1414, called Efodi, was born probably in Perpignan, France, but he moved to Catalonia. In 1391...

Akiba ben Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Akiba ben Joseph əkēˈbə [key], c.a.d. 50–c.a.d. 135, Jewish Palestinian religious leader, one of the founders of rabbinic Judaism. Although the facts of his life are obscured by legend, he is sa...

Schneerson, Menachem Mendel

(Encyclopedia)Schneerson, Menachem Mendel, 1902–94, American rabbi, b. Nikolayev, Russia (now in Ukraine). The son of a prominent rabbi, he studied at the Univ. of Berlin and the Sorbonne, immigrating to the Unit...

rabbi

(Encyclopedia)rabbi [Heb.,=my master; my teacher], the title of a Jewish spiritual leader. The role of the rabbi has undergone a number of transformations. In the Talmudic period, rabbis were primarily teachers and...

Wise, Stephen Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Wise, Stephen Samuel, 1874–1949, American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader, b. Budapest, grad. College of the City of New York, 1891, Ph.D. Columbia, 1901. He served as a rabbi in New York City (1893...

Karaites

(Encyclopedia)Karaites or Caraites both: kârˈəīts [key], form of Judaism, reputedly founded (8th cent.) in Persia by Anan ben David and originally known as Ananites. Its adherents were called Karaites after the...

infanticide

(Encyclopedia)infanticide ĭnfănˈtəsīd [key] [Lat.,=child murder], the putting to death of the newborn with the consent of the parent, family, or community. Infanticide often occurs among peoples whose food sup...