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Dubnow, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Dubnow, Simon do͝obˈnôf [key], 1860–1941, Jewish historian and ideologist, b. Belorussia. Self-educated, he settled after extensive travels in St. Petersburg, where he taught Jewish history. He w...

Diaspora

(Encyclopedia)Diaspora dīăsˈpərə [key] [Gr.,=dispersion], term used today to denote the Jewish communities living outside the Holy Land. It was originally used to designate the dispersal of the Jews at the tim...

Jews

(Encyclopedia)Jews [from Judah], traditionally, descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, whose tribe, with that of his half-brother Benjamin, made up the kingdom of Judah; historically, members of the worldwi...

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...

Hirsch, Maurice, baron de

(Encyclopedia)Hirsch, Maurice, baron de mōrēsˈ bärôNˈ də hĭrsh [key], 1831–96, German Jewish financier and philanthropist. The benefactor of numerous organizations and causes, his most ambitious project w...

B'nai B'rith

(Encyclopedia)B'nai B'rith bənāˈ brĭth [key] [Heb.,= Sons of the Covenant], oldest and largest Jewish service organization in the world, founded (1843) in New York by American Jews “to provide service to thei...

Maimonides

(Encyclopedia)Maimonides mīˈmən [key], 1135–1204, Jewish scholar, physician, and philosopher, the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, b. Córdoba, Spain, d. Cairo. He is sometimes called Rambam...

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...

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 ...

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...