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Gersonides

(Encyclopedia)Gersonides lēˈvī bĕn gûrˈshən [key], 1288–1344, Jewish philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, called also Ralbag, from the initials of his Hebrew name, b. Languedoc. He wrote scientific ...

Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meir

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meir mâr [key], c.1089–1164, Jewish grammarian, commentator, poet, philosopher, and astronomer, b. Tudela, Spain. He traveled widely and wrote a number of ethical treatises, p...

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...

Kaganovich, Lazar Moiseyevich

(Encyclopedia)Kaganovich, Lazar Moiseyevich ləzärˈ mōĭsyāˈyəvich kəgənōˈvich [key], 1893–1991, Soviet Communist leader. A Jewish shoemaker and labor organizer, he joined the Communist party in 1911. A...

Schiff, Jacob Henry

(Encyclopedia)Schiff, Jacob Henry, 1847–1920, American banker and philanthropist, b. Frankfurt, Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1865 and became a partner in a brokerage house in New York City. At th...

Zangwill, Israel

(Encyclopedia)Zangwill, Israel, 1864–1926, English author, b. London. He became a journalist and founded Ariel, a humorous paper. Zangwill wrote Children of the Ghetto (1892), later dramatized and performed in En...

Marcion

(Encyclopedia)Marcion märˈshən, märˈsēən [key], c.85–c.160, early Christian bishop, founder of the Marcionites, one of the first great Christian heresies to rival Catholic Christianity. He was born in Sino...

Harlem

(Encyclopedia)Harlem, residential and business section of upper Manhattan, New York City, bounded roughly by 110th St., the East River and Harlem River, 168th St., Amsterdam Ave., and Morningside Park. The Dutch se...

Esdras

(Encyclopedia)Esdras ĕzˈdrəs [key] [Gr. from Heb. Ezra], name of several books found in the Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. The New Revised Standard Version (following the Authorized Version) maintai...

Tel Aviv

(Encyclopedia)Tel Aviv tĕl əvēvˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural...