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Shammai, in Judaism

(Encyclopedia)Shammai shäˈmī [key], c.50 b.c.–c.a.d. 30, Jewish sage known for his opposition to the liberal teachings of Hillel. He and his school interpreted the Law extremely rigorously, emphasizing deed ra...

Hess, Moses

(Encyclopedia)Hess, Moses, 1812–75, German socialist. He was responsible for converting Engels to Communism, and he early introduced Marx to social and economic problems. Hess played a prominent role in transform...

Hebrew University

(Encyclopedia)Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at Mt. Scopus, Givat Ram, Ein Karem, and Rehovot, Israel; coeducational. First proposed in 1882, formally opened 1925. It is the world's largest Jewish university and i...

Silver, Abba Hillel

(Encyclopedia)Silver, Abba Hillel, 1893–1963, American rabbi and Zionist leader, b. Lithuania. He was taken to the United States in 1902. Educated at the Univ. of Cincinnati (B.A., 1915) and Hebrew Union College,...

Singer, Israel Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Singer, Israel Joshua, 1893–1944, Polish-American novelist and playwright who wrote in Yiddish, older brother of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Living variously in Poland and Russia, he earned a literary re...

Yeshiva University

(Encyclopedia)Yeshiva University, in New York City; mainly coeducational; begun 1886 as Yeshiva Eitz Chaim, a Jewish theological seminary, chartered 1928 as Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Yeshiva Col...

Gombrich, E. H.

(Encyclopedia)Gombrich, E. H. (Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich), 1909–2001, British art historian and scholar, b. Vienna, grad. Univ. of Vienna (1933). From a culturally prominent Austrian-Jewish family, he fled German...

Stern, Fritz Richard

(Encyclopedia)Stern, Fritz Richard, 1926–2016, American historian and educator, b. Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), grad. Columbia (B.A., 1946; M.A., 1948; Ph.D., 1953). Although his family had converted ...

Grade, Chaim

(Encyclopedia)Grade, Chaim khīəm grädˈə [key], 1910–82, Lithuanian novelist and poet. Grade, who wrote in Yiddish, became one of the prominant members of an experimental writers' group during the 1930s. Afte...

Luria, Isaac ben Solomon

(Encyclopedia)Luria or Loria, Isaac ben Solomon lo͝orˈēə, lôrˈ– [key], 1534–72, Jewish kabbalist, surnamed Ashkenazi, called Ari [lion] by his followers, b. Jerusalem. In his 20s he spent seven years in s...