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sions is fundamental, and represents holiness in its various degrees. He also holds the four colors to have been of profound significance (Philo, "De Vita Moysis," iii. 6; Baehr, "Symbolik des MosaischenKultus,"i. 207, 303). j. E. G. H. CUSA, NTCOLAUS DE : Philosopher and theologian ; born in Cusa, or Kues, on the Moselle, 1401; died in Todi, Umbria, 1464. He was Bishop and Cardinal of Brixan (Tyrol) at his death. As theologian he was known for his liberal views and wide mental horizon. It was he who facilitated the transition from the scholasticism of the Middle Ages to the philosophic speculations of the Renaissance. Cusa came in contact w'ith the Jews both as a papal legate and as a philosopher. As legate he issued, with the approval of the Synod As Papal of Bamberg, an ordinance prescribing Legate. the badge for all Jews and Jewesses of Bamberg, and forbidding usury. Contravention of these laws would entail the ban (April 30, 1451). Through the intervention of the Roman emperor Frederick III. this ordinance was not immediately carried out. In 1452 De Cusa was compelled by the emperor to extend the term in regard to the Jews of Nuremberg, and on May 1, 1452, the pope (Nicolas V.) excluded Nuremberg entirely from the provisions of the ordinance. On March 20, 1453, on the representation of the Bishop of Bamberg, his diocese was also exempted; and on Oct. 15, in consequence of a petition of the Archbishop of Salzburg, the ordinance was made inapplicable to the whole of the Salzburg bishopric (see Stern, " Urkundliche Beitrftge," i. 47, 52, 53, 55, 57). As philosopher, De Cusa showed a much more impartial spirit in his attitude toward the Jews. He leaned toward the views of the German mystics. He refers to the book Raziel, without, however, evincing a thorough acquaintance with the Jewish mystics. He cites, also (in " De Beryllo " and " Reparatio Calendari"), Isaac Israeli, Avicebron, Abraham ibn Ezra, and the Maimonidist Jacob b. Makir. In his principal philosophical work, " De Docta Ignorantia," he credits " R. Solomon" (probably Maimonides) with these reflections: that Philo- pure truth is beyond the reach of all sophical knowledge, and can not be reduced to a Views, science; that man must strive to transcend the standpoint of mere reason if he would attain to pure truth; that science can never lead to a knowledge of God, for God alone can have a knowledge of His being, man's knowledge of God being at best a recognition of the unattainableness of positive knowledge. He follows R. Solomon in his treatment of the various names and attributes of God, holding that the nature of God is of infinite superiority, and can not be expressed in human language; and that only negative attributes can be ascribed to Him. Nicolaus de Cusa had frequent controversies with Jewish scholars. He believed that they could be made to see the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity, but not that of the Incarnation. He complained that the Jews would not admit the divinity of the Messiah; that, in spite of their belief in a future

universal resurrection, they continued to deny the resurrection of Jesus; and that, in spite of their belief in an eternal life, as is shown by their martyrdom, they would not recognize that this belief has its foundation, not in an observance of the Law, but in a belief in Jesus. The above statements occur in his " Excitationes." In his " De Pace seu Concordia Fidei" he attempts to round off his system of philosophy with the theory that there is only one religion, manifesting itself in a variety of religious practises. To the different nations God has sent different prophets, in order that each should receive religious instruction in the manner best adapted to it. The existence of different religions is clue only to the fact that men are not aware of this underlying religious unity. They all honor the same truth, however; and even the polytheists worship through their various idols a single God. Accordingly, it ought to be an easy matter, on scientific grounds, to reconcile.the contending religious creeds; uniformity of religious practise, however, should not be demanded. Thus, the Jews might be allowed to retain their specific ritual, if only the symbolic meaning thereof be kept clearly in mind. The contrast between these views and De Cusa's dealings with the Jews is explained by the universal idea of his time that it was necessary to segregate and humiliate them. B I B L I O G R A P H Y : Stern, Urkundliche Beitrblge; Guttman, in Monatsschrift, xliii. 251 et seq. G. I. E. CUSH.Biblical Data : A nation whose founder is mentioned in Gen. x. 0; I Chron. i. 8 as brother to Mizraim (Egypt) and as a son of Ham; with the exception of the passages in Genesis, A. V. renders it " Ethiopia." This African country is evidently meant in Gen. x. 6, but in the next verse six Arabic tribes are mentioned as sons of Cush, and in verse 8, NIMKOD, the representative of Babylonia (Assyria), appears as his descendant. These three verses present the vexing problem, much discussed by scholars, arising from the fact that nations identical in name extend over parts of Africa, Arabia, and Babylonia. In regard to the passages referring undoubtedly to Ethiopia, see ETHIOPIA. In a great many cases it is very difficult to determine whether the translators have used this Greek name correctly, or which of the twTo other divisions, Arabia or Babylonia, mentioned in the table of nations given in Genesis is meant. The Arabian branch seems to be intended in II Chron. xxi. 10, where Judah, under Jehoram, is plundered by "the Arabians that were near the Ethiopians." These evidently did not come from the southwestern end of Arabia. In Num. xii. 1, Moses' wife, the Midianitish woman Zipporah, is called an Ethiopian (margin and R. V. " Cushite "). In Hab. iii. 7 the tents of Cushan (the Septuagint reads " Cushim "; the name evidently is the same as " Cush ") and the land of Midian are mentioned (compare verse 3 for other names of northwestern Arabia). There are doubtful references in Isa. xliii. 3, xlv. 14, xx. 3, xviii. 1. Some critics place also the Cushite "Zerah" in northwestern Arabia (II Chron. xiv. 9). Winckler, "Musri, Meluhha, Ma'in," ii., in VMit-

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teilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft" (1898, pp. 169 et seq.; see also Schrader, "K. A. T." 3d German ed., p. 144), throws light on these passages. He shows that the Assyrians speak of this people as "Kusi" (Kfish) in northern Arabia, subjected by Esarhaddon. Sec also Friedrich Delitzsch, "Die Sprache der Kossiler," Leipsic, 1884. For the Babylonian " Cush " compare Gen. x. 6-8 (see above), and ib. ii. 13, where one of the four rivers of Paradise, the Gihon, " compasseth the whole land of Cush." The old attempts to see in this river the Nile lead to impossible geographical identifications ; it must have belonged to the system of the Euphrates and Tigris. In Isa. xviii. 1 (Hebr.) the very obscure verses speaking of the laud " beyond the rivei's of Cush" can not mean Ethiopia, as Winckler, who refers the chapter to Merodach Baladau's legation to Hezekiah (" Alttestamentliche Untersuchungen," p. 146), has asserted. Since Schrader's "K. A. T." 1st ed., p. 87, this name of the Babjdonian Cush has been explained by the Kashshi, a warlike nation from the Median Mountains, who conquered Babylonia in the seventeenth century B.C., and ruled over it for several centuries (see BABYLONIA). They may be identical (as usually assumed) with the Cosseans, a mountain people mentioned by the Greeks, or with the Kissians in Elam, or connected with both (see Delitzsch, " Wo LagdasParadies?" pp. 124, 129). As confirmation of the Biblical statements connecting peoples so remote, the following parallels have been adduced: the Greeks speak of eastern or Asiatic Ethiopians on the Red Sea in Gedrosia (compare Homer, "Odyssey," i. 23). Assyriologists since Rawlinson have often tried to find negro or nigritic types on the sculptures representing Elamites, and French explorers (F. Houssay and Dieulafoy) have recently contended that traces of dusky tribes, relatives of the nigritic aborigines of India, are recognizable in modern Susiana. Various tribes of southern Arabia seem to show African, nonSeniitic descent; on Assyrian reports of " dark Arabians " see Winckler, ib. p. 144. Glaser, however ("Skizze der Geographie und Geschichte Arabiens," ii. 826-329), treats Cush as a brown-red race, extending in earliest time through Elam, Arabia, and eastern Africa. Others deny the possibility of connecting the three groups, ariu assume that their names possessed only an accidental similarity, completed by the ancient, vowelless orthography. E, G. II. W. M. M. In Rabbinical Literature: "Cush "in rabbinical literature is taken to be Ethiopia. According to an old Haggadah known to- the pre-Christian Hellenistic writers, the wife of Moses, " the Cushite " woman, was the Queen of Ethiopia. Rashi claims that she was merely designated as an Ethiopian on account of her beauty, in order to protect her from the evil eye, but Onkelos makes her a "beautiful " woman, following in this the Talmudic application of the derivatives of the name, such as "Cushi," "black" persons of "negro" race, distinguished thus by their color from other men, to ,draw a lesson from a comparison for Israel. njlB>D ,'D, the " distinguished Cushite " (= negro), is a standing expression in these Talmudic analogies (Yer. Mo'ed

Katan 16b). In Sifre to Num. 99, the question is raised, " Was Moses' wife an Ethiopian? " and the answer is given, " She was ' beautiful' and thus ' distinguished' as the Cushi is by his color, by her beauty." In further development of this identification of "Cushite"r with "negro," the former becomes simply a s} nonym for " black" (Suk. 34b; B. B. 97b). In Isa. xi. 11 Targum renders " Cush " by ''N-un (" India "), and in their discussion of Esth. i. 1 (Meg. 11a), Hab and Samuel dispute whether Cush is at the furthest extremity of the world or very close to India. The latter opinion rests on the confusion of Cush with the name of a province extending to the borders of India, Huzistan probably (Neubauer, "G. T." p. 386). E. c. E. G. H. CUSTOM (Hebrew, " Minhag "): An old and general usage, or a religious practise, not based on any particular Biblical passage, and which has, through the force of long observance, become as sacred and binding as laws instituted by the proper authorities. " Custom always precedes law " (Soferim xiv. 18). This is true not only of the Talmudic laws prescribed by the Rabbis, but also of man}' Biblical institutions. Many statutes and commandments, civil, moral, and ecclesiastical, found on the pages of Scripture undoubtedly had their origin in the customs of the people, which, however, became modified and fixed by being inscribed on the sacred books. Some of the customs, as, for .instance, circumcision, or the prohibition of eating blood or of eating the "sinew which shrank," may date back to patriarchal days; others, again, may have a later or perhaps a foreign origin. Moreover, even after the laws had been written down, the manner and form of practise could not always be detailed; and although the Talmud (Zeb. 115b; Sifra to Lev. xxv. 1; see Maimonides' Introduction to the Mishnah) relates that all the details of the Law were delivered by Moses to Israel, there were still man}' tribal and family customs which must have remained unmentioned. For example, the acquisition of property by the exchange of a garment of some kind ("kinyan sudar") is mentioned (Ruth iv. 7) as an old custom. Customs which grew up among the people in various places and in different forms, the Rabbis consider of binding importance. " When thou contest to a town follow its customs, for when Moses .went up to heaven he refrained from food for forty days and forty nights; and when the angels came down to visit Abraham they partook of his meal, each one submitting to the custom of Authority the place" (Gen. R. xlviii. 16; B. M. of Custom. 86b). Even God Himself complied with the prevailing custom when He buried Moses (Sanh. 46b). If a judge be in doubt concerning a certain law, he is advised to follow the common usage of the people (Yer. Peah vii. 5; Ber. 45a). Should a custom conflict with some established institution ("halakah"), the custom frequently takes precedence (Soferim xiv. 18; Yer. Yeb. xii. 1). The court was equally empowered to inflict punishment upon the transgressor of a custom as upon the transgressor of a written law (Yer. Pes. iv. 3; compare Bek. 2a; Tos. s.v. "Konsin"). To the question, Why men of the present time, who are