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Bourdon, Sébastien

(Encyclopedia)Bourdon, Sébastien sābästyăNˈ bo͞ordôNˈ [key], 1616–71, French painter. Bourdon was active in Rome (1634–37), in Sweden (1652–54) as Queen Christina's court portrait painter, and in Pari...

Kenites

(Encyclopedia)Kenites kēnˈīts [key], in the Bible, wilderness nomadic tribe friendly to the Hebrews. They came with the Hebrews and inhabited S Palestine up to the time of David. Moses' father-in-law was a Kenit...

Massah

(Encyclopedia)Massah mĕrˈĭbə [key], or Massah and Meribah, in the Bible, symbolic name of the place, near Horeb, where Moses brought forth water from the rock. A similar event and an equally symbolic name conce...

Nahmanides

(Encyclopedia)Nahmanides nähmänˈĭdēz [key], 1194–c.1270, Jewish scholar, exegete, and kabbalist, b. Spain. He wrote commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. A mystic, he rejected part of Maimonides' ...

Shuayb

(Encyclopedia)Shuayb sho͞ohāyb [key], Qur'anic non-biblical prophet, appeared later than Hud and Salih among “the people of the thicket.” His preaching is said to have consisted of a call to monotheism and so...

Eckersberg, Christoffer Vilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Eckersberg, Christoffer Vilhelm krĭstôfˈər vĭlˈhĕlm ĕkˈərsbĕrkh [key], 1783–1853, Danish painter. He studied with J. L. David in Paris and in Rome became a friend of Thorvaldsen. After hi...

Caldwell, Sarah

(Encyclopedia)Caldwell, Sarah, 1924–2006, American opera director and conductor, b. Maryville, Mo. In 1957 she founded the Boston Opera Group, later renamed the Opera Company of Boston, and headed it until its de...

Haskalah

(Encyclopedia)Haskalah häˌskəläˈ [key], [Heb.,=enlightenment] Jewish movement in Europe active from the 1770s to the 1880s. Beginning in Germany in the circle of the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn...

Jude, epistle of the New Testament

(Encyclopedia)Jude, epistle of the New Testament, the next to last book of the Bible. The Jude who wrote it has been identified since ancient times with St. Jude the apostle, but most modern scholars deny the ident...

Shavuot

(Encyclopedia)Shavuot shəvo͝oˈət [key] [Heb.,=weeks], Jewish feast celebrated on the 6th of the month of Sivan (usually some time in May) in Israel and on the sixth and seventh days in the Diaspora. Originally ...