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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...

Ebionites

(Encyclopedia)Ebionites ēˈbēənītsˌ, ĕbˈē– [key] [Aramaic,=poor], Jewish-Christian sect of rural ancient Palestine, of the first centuries after Jesus. There were two groups, according to Origen. The Juda...

Eichmann, Adolf

(Encyclopedia)Eichmann, Adolf īkhˈmän [key], 1906–62, German National Socialist official. A member of the Austrian Nazi party, he headed the Austrian office for Jewish emigration (1938). His zeal in deporting ...

Bostanai ben Chaninai

(Encyclopedia)Bostanai ben Chaninai bôsˈtänī bĕn khänēnīˈ [key], c.618–670, first Jewish exilarch (i.e., ruler of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia) under Arab rule. He is the subject of many legends. His n...

Herzl, Theodor

(Encyclopedia)Herzl, Theodor tāˈōdôr hĕrˈtsəl [key], 1860–1904, Hungarian Jew, founder of modern Zionism. Sent to Paris as a correspondent for the Vienna Neue Frei Presse, he reported on the Dreyfus affair...

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' ...

Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich

(Encyclopedia)Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich ēˈsäk əmäno͞oāˈləvĭch bäˈbəl [key], 1894–1940, Russian writer, b. Odessa. Babel was quick to embrace the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, but in the end it was t...

Gaonim

(Encyclopedia)Gaonim gāōˈnĭm [key] [Heb.,=excellencies], title given to the heads of the Jewish academies at Sura and Pumbedita in Babylonia immediately following the period of the Saboraim until the middle of ...

Frug, Simeon Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Frug, Simeon Samuel sĭmyônˈ səmo͞oēlˈ fro͞ok [key], 1860–1916, Russian-Jewish lyricist and writer. His poems, dealing mainly with Zionist themes, appeared in Russian and Jewish periodicals u...

Bronfman, Edgar Miles, Sr.

(Encyclopedia)Bronfman, Edgar Miles, Sr. 1929–2013, Canadian-American business executive and philanthropist, b. Montreal, grad. McGill Univ. (1951). He was the eldest son of Samuel Bronfman, 1889–1971, an East ...