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Judah ha-Nasi

(Encyclopedia)Judah ha-Nasi hä-näˈsē [key], c.135–c.220, Palestinian Jewish communal leader (tanna). He occupied the office of patriarch (nasi) which was reestablished by the Romans after 135. Under his leade...

Tannaim

(Encyclopedia)Tannaim tänäˈĭm [key] [plural of Aramaic tanna,=one who studies or teaches], Jewish sages of the period from Hillel to the compilation of the Mishna. They functioned as both scholars and teachers,...

Mishna

(Encyclopedia)Mishna mĭshˈnə [key], in Judaism, codified collection of Oral Law—legal interpretations of portions of the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and other legal material. ...

Abravanel, Judah

(Encyclopedia)Abravanel or Abarbanel, Judah, c.1460–c.1523, Jewish philosopher, physician, and poet, son of Isaac Abravanel, b. Lisbon; he is also known as Leone Ebreo. He fled (1483) from Portugal to Spain with ...

Gordon, Judah Leon

(Encyclopedia)Gordon, Judah Leon, 1830–92, Russian-Hebrew novelist and poet, b. Vilna. As teacher and writer he was one of the leaders in the renaissance of a progressive culture among the Jews (see Haskalah) and...

Gershom ben Judah

(Encyclopedia)Gershom ben Judah grˈshəm bĕn jo͞oˈdə [key], c.965–c.1040?, rabbi, religious poet, and scholar. He was also called Me'or ha-Golah [light of the exile]. He lived his entire adult life in Mainz,...

Judah, Theodore Dehone

(Encyclopedia)Judah, Theodore Dehone, 1826–63, American railroad builder, b. Bridgeport, Conn. He built the Niagara Gorge RR and did canal work before going (1854) to lay out a railroad near Sacramento, Calif. Th...

Judah ha-Levi

(Encyclopedia)Judah ha-Levi or Judah Halevy häˌlēˈvī [key], c.1075–1141, Jewish rabbi, poet, and philosopher, b. Tudela, Spain. His poems—secular, religious, and nationalist—are filled with a serene and ...

Baale of Judah

(Encyclopedia)Baale of Judah bāˈəlē, jo͞oˈdə [key] [Heb. Baale, fem. of Baal], the same as Kirjath-jearim. ...

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