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Yiddish language

(Encyclopedia)Yiddish language yĭdˈĭsh [key], a member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages; German language). Although it is not ...

Rachel, Russian poet who wrote in Hebrew

(Encyclopedia)Rachel, pseud. of Rachel Bluwstein, 1890–1931, Russian poet who wrote in Hebrew. She moved to Palestine in 1909 where she worked as a laborer. Her verse is simple and relates to the experience of Je...

Sephardim

(Encyclopedia)Sephardim səfärˈdəm [key], one of the two major geographic divisions of the Jewish people, consisting of those Jews whose forebears in the Middle Ages resided in the Iberian Peninsula, as distingu...

Stoppard, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Stoppard, Tom, 1937–, English playwright, b. Zlín, Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic), as Tomas Straussler. During his childhood he and his family moved to Singapore, later (1946) settling ...

Aquila, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Aquila ăkˈwĭlə, əkwĭlˈə [key], in the New Testament, Christian of Jewish origin from Pontus who lived at Rome. He and his wife, Prisca or Priscilla, were friendly to Paul. ...

Givatayim

(Encyclopedia)Givatayim gĭvätäˈyĭm [key], town, W central Israel, a residential suburb of Tel Aviv. It was ...

Friedmann, Meir

(Encyclopedia)Friedmann, Meir mīˈər frētˈmän [key], 1831–1908, Hungarian Jewish scholar. He made important contributions in the field of scientific criticism of rabbinical texts. Friedmann's editions of the...

Shamir, Yitzhak

(Encyclopedia)Shamir, Yitzhak yētzˈäk shämērˈ [key], 1915–2012, Zionist activist and Israeli politician, b. Poland. Emigrating (1935) to Palestine, he was twice arrested by the British for participating in ...

Sabbatai Zevi

(Encyclopedia)Sabbatai Zevi säbätīˈ zāˈvē [key], 1626–76, Jewish mystic and pseudo-Messiah, founder of the Sabbatean sect, b. Smyrna. After a period of study of Lurianic kabbalah (see Luria, Isaac ben Solo...

Wiesenthal, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Wiesenthal, Simon vēˈsĕntäl [key], 1908–2005, Austrian-Jewish Nazi hunter, b. Butschatsch, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Buchach, Ukraine). He received (1932) an architectural engineering degree...