Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

dating

(Encyclopedia)dating, the determination of the age of an object, of a natural phenomenon, or of a series of events. There are two basic types of dating methods, relative and absolute. In relative dating, the tempor...

pre-Columbian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)pre-Columbian art and architecture, works of art and structures created in Central and South America before the arrival of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. For many years the regions that are now ...

golem

(Encyclopedia)golem gōˈləm [key] [Heb.,=an undeveloped lump], in medieval Jewish legend, an automatonlike servant made of clay and given life by means of a charm, or shem [Heb.,=name, or the name of God]. Golems...

Frankel, Zecharias

(Encyclopedia)Frankel, Zecharias zĕkərīˈəs frängˈkəl [key], 1801–75, Jewish theologian, b. Prague. Frankel believed that only through an appreciation of the historical development of the Jewish tradition ...

Roth, Cecil

(Encyclopedia)Roth, Cecil, 1899–1970, Jewish historian and educator, b. London. He was educated at Oxford (Ph.D., 1924) and was reader in Jewish Studies there from 1939 to 1964. Thereafter he was visiting profess...

Kook, Abraham Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Kook, Abraham Isaac ko͞ok [key], 1864–1935, Jewish scholar and philosopher, b. Latvia. He settled (1904) in Palestine, where he became the chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in 1921. He attempt...

Netanya

(Encyclopedia)Netanya nətänˈyə [key], city (1994 pop. 144,900), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea; also spelled Nathania. It is a beach resort and the trade center for agricultural settlements in the r...

Ben-Zvi, Yizhak

(Encyclopedia)Ben-Zvi, Yizhak yĭtshˈhäk bĕn-tsvē [key], 1884–1963, president of Israel (1952–63), b. Russia, originally named Issac Shimshelevitz. A Zionist, he fled Russia in 1905 because of his activitie...

Crémieux, (Isaac) Adolphe

(Encyclopedia)Crémieux, (Isaac) Adolphe ēsäkˈ ädôlfˈ krāmyöˈ [key], 1796–1880, Jewish-French statesman and political writer. A lawyer, he served briefly as minister of justice in the provisional governm...

Ansky, Shloime

(Encyclopedia)Ansky, Shloime shloiˈmə änˈskē [key] pseud. of Solomon Seinwil Rapoport, 1863–1920, Russian-Yiddish author. He extensively researched regional Jewish folklore and incorporated folk elements int...