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Wiesenthal, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Wiesenthal, Simon vēˈsĕntäl [key], 1908–2005, Austrian-Jewish Nazi hunter, b. Butschatsch, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Buchach, Ukraine). He received (1932) an architectural engineering degree...

Blau, Joseph Leon

(Encyclopedia)Blau, Joseph Leon blou [key] 1909–86, American Jewish scholar and educator, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Columbia (A.B., 1931; M.A., 1933; Ph.D., 1945). He taught at Columbia from 1944, becoming profess...

Essenes

(Encyclopedia)Essenes ĕsˈēnz [key], members of a small Jewish religious order, originating in the 2d cent. b.c. The chief sources of information about the Essenes are Pliny the Elder, Philo's Quod omnius probus ...

synagogue

(Encyclopedia)synagogue sĭnˈəgŏg [key] [Gr.,=assembly], in Judaism, a place of assembly for worship, education, and communal affairs. The origins of the institution are unclear. One tradition dates it to the Ba...

Dor

(Encyclopedia)Dor or Dora, Canaanite seaport, ancient Palestine (modern Israel), N of Caesarea Palestinae. It was never a Jewish city but rather a Phoenician outpost. It was rebuilt by the Romans; still visible are...

Judas of Galilee

(Encyclopedia)Judas of Galilee, fl. a.d. 6, a leader of the Zealots, a radical revolutionary Jewish sect. He raised an insurrection against the taxation census of Cyrenius (a.d. 6) on the grounds that no one but Go...

Apocrypha

(Encyclopedia)Apocrypha əpŏkˈrĭfə [key] [Gr.,=hidden things], term signifying a collection of early Jewish writings excluded from the canon of the Hebrew scriptures. It is not clear why the term was chosen. Th...

Hasidism

(Encyclopedia)Hasidism or Chassidism both: hăsˈĭdĭzˌəm, khă– [key] [Heb.,=the pious], Jewish religious movement founded in Poland in the 18th cent. by Baal-Shem-Tov. Its name derives from Hasidim. Hasidism...

Messi, Lionel Andrés

(Encyclopedia)Messi, Lionel Andrés lyonālˈ ändrāsˈ māˈsē [key], 1987–, Argentinian-Spanish soccer player, b. Rosario, Argentina. He showed great talent early, and his family moved to Spain in 2000 when F...

Ssu-ma Ch'ien

(Encyclopedia)Ssu-ma Ch'ien so͝oˈmä chyĕn [key], 145?–90? b.c., Chinese historian; sometimes called the Father of Chinese History. He succeeded his father, Ssu-ma T'an, as grand historian (an office then deal...