HASKALAH
man), as almost the intermediary between
God and man. Dynasties of Tzaddikim
were established, each Tzaddik having his
own enthusiastic and devoted followers.
As the Hasidic movement grew, the Tal-
mudists began to oppose and even perse-
cute the Hasidim. T hey were called Mit-
nagdim (opponents) and in Lithuania the
great Talmudist Elij ah, known as the Gaon
of Vilna, issued a ban against the Hasidim
and synagogues established by them. It
would seem that misguided enthusiasm led
a number of the Hasidim to viólate some
basic religious precepts. The persecution
of the Hasidim by the Mitnagdim led
them to seek the intervention of the gov-
ernment. The Hasidic teacher, Rabbi
Shneour Zalman, was imprisoned twice, but
after investigations by government officials
the Hasidic sect was given full freedom.
However, the opposition continued and
for many years there was no intermarriage
between Mitnagdim and Hasidim. Later
the rift diminished, and other issues be-
came important in Jewish life, such as the
Haskalah (enlightenment) movement of
the 19th century which was felt as a
threat to the teachings and beliefs of both
the Mitnagdim and the Hasidim.
Hasidism, although still practiced, has
lost its significance as a mass movement,
even though its renewed vigor is expressed
in the life of numerous smaller groups.
The Hasidim modified the ritual by adopt-
ing some elements used by the Spanish
Jews, and to this day Mitnagdim use the
Ashkenazic (Germán) or Polish rite, while
the Hasidim use a modified form of the
Sephardic (Spanish) rite in their Services.
There are numerous variations within each
rite. See Baal Shem Tov.
HASKALAH
A Hebrew term meaning “enlightenment”
derived from the word “sekhel” (intelli-
gence), and applied to a movement among
192
Jews to bring “enlightenment” or to mod-
ernize Jews and Judaism. The movement
of the Haskalah began in the middle of the
18th century in Germany, and spread to
Austria, Poland and Russia.
The Maskilim (proponents of the
Haskalah) believed that Jews were perse-
cuted because they differed from the non-
Jews in culture, language, education, dress
and manners. Their contention was that
as soon as Jews could modernize their
schools, learn the spoken language of the
land, increase their knowledge of modera
Science and art, and adapt their manners to
those of their neighbors, they would be
treated as equal citizens and become
emancipated politically and socially.
The Champion of the Haskalah move­
ment in Germany was Moses Mendelssohn,
who translated the Pentateuch (Five Books
of Moses) into Germán with modera
commentaries (Biur) written by himself
and other Jewish scholars. The purpose of
the translators was to teach Germán to the
Jews. As a result of the efforts of the fol­
lowers of Mendelssohn, modera Jewish
schools were established in the major cities
in Germany, and “Ha-Meassef,” a Hebrew
periodical, was started in order to “fight
the battles of light against darkness” and
to free the Jews from the shackles of
ghetto life.
The Maskilim in Austria, Poland and
Russia followed the pattern of the Has­
kalah movement in Germany, with the
exception that in Poland and Russia Yid­
dish and Hebrew were used in addition to
the Russian language as instruments for
the modernization of contemporary Jew­
ish life and culture.
As was to be expected, the work of the
Maskilim was challenged and opposed by
many leaders of orthodox Jewry. Many of
the orthodox saw in Haskalah a great
threat to Judaism and a source of assimila-
tion. Indeed, many of the Maskilim did
 HAVDALAH

throw off the yoke of Jewish tradition,

and in their effort to identify themselves
with the culture of the land, became es-
tranged from Judaism. In some instances
they left the Jewish faith entirely. The
Tsars favored the Haskalah and instituted
“modern” schools in the Palé. The Jewish
masses in Poland and Russia soon realized
that the attempts of the government to en-
courage the Haskalah movement, by estab-
lishing such modern Jewish schools, were
only a trap, a calculated means for the
Russification of the Jewish people. The
hopes of the Maskilim themselves were
finally shattered because the moderniza-
tion of Jewish life did not prevent the
government from persecuting the Jews and
provoking pogroms as well as decreeing
anti-Jewish legislation. Consequently, many
Jewish leaders carne to believe that the
only solution to the Jewish problem was
the establishment of a Jewish national
Copy of the Hatikvah, Jewish national anthem,
home. The movement of Haskalah became published in 1886, and its author, N. H. Imber.
one of the potent factors in the initiation
and propagation of the Zionist movement. melody, or perhaps a tune from one of
See Krochmal, N.; Levinsohn, I. B.; Lilien- Smetana’s works. It became the hymn of
blum, M. L.; Mapu, A .; Smolenskin, P.; the Zionist movement in 1898, and the
Wessely, N. H. official national anthem of Israel on the
establishment of the State, at which time
HASMONEANS the concluding words of the refrain were
Family ñame of the Maccabean dynasty modified to suit the changed condition.
that ruled in Judea from 141 to 37 b.c.e.
The surname of Hasmonai is first associ- HAVDALAH
ated with Simón, the father of Mattathias Hebrew term meaning “separation,” ap-
who, together with his five brave sons, rose plied to a special prayer and ceremony in
up against Syrian rule. This revolt ended the home and in the synagogue declaring
in the Maccabean victory celebrated on the end of the Sabbath or a festival. Bene-
the feast of Hanukkah. dictions are recited over a cup of wine,
(and on Saturday night, also over spices
HATIKVAH called Besamim, and a braided candle), and
Hebrew term meaning “The H ope,” ñame contain praise of the Lord “who maketh a
of the Jewish (and now Israel national) separation between the sacred and the sec­
anthem. It was written by the poet Naph- ular” (that is, between the holiness of the
tali Herz Imber, and set to music by Sabbath or festival and the secular nature
Samuel Cohén, one of the Palestinian col- of the weekdays). If a festival is celebrated
onists who presumably adapted a Sephardic on Saturday night the words are “between

193

A typical old-fashioned Heder scene giving the atmosphere and demonstrating the method of the
schools ¡n which generations of Jewish children were formally ¡ntroduced to their fathers’ tradition.
place of the Patriarchs (the Cave of
Machpelah) is found, and as the capital of
King David before the conquest of Jeru-
salem. Since the return from Babylonian
captivity, Hebron has had a Jewish com-
munity, which at different periods has
been exposed to persecution. Hebron is
now located within the State of Jordán.
HEDER
Traditional Hebrew elementary school. It
was an established institution in most Jew­
ish communities and was attended by prac-
tically all boys, and occasionally by girls,
where they received instruction in Hebrew
reading, prayers, Hebrew Bible and Rashi’s
Mosque above the Cave of Machpelah, the
place where the Bible says the Patriarchs were
burled. The land was originally bought by Abra-
ham from the H ittites as a burial place for
Sarah, and was used to bury his descendants.
HEFKER
commentary on the Torah, as well as Tal­
mud. The child was started at a very early
age, even as young as four years. Until
modern times, the only education received
by Jewish children was in the Heder, since
very few Jewish boys and girls attended
secular government schools. The traditional
Heder was a one-room school, usually in
the house of the “Rebbe” or “Melammed”
(teacher of the very young), where boys
attended most of the day, and in the case
of more advanced pupils, in the evening
as well. In the United States the term
“Heder” is occasionally applied to a Tal­
mud Torah or a modern Hebrew school,
open on weekdays during the afternoon
hours, and on Sundays. See Talmud Torah.
HEFKER
A Hebrew term used in rabbinical litera-
ture to desígnate any unclaimed or owner-
199
 YESHIVAH
Advanced Yeshivah student pores over the “ Gemara” and Rabbinic commentaries. For ages, the Yeshivah
has been the traditional school of higher learning, Talmud study, and prepararon for the rabbinate.
Jews in Israel are manual laborers and
porters, and are well adjusted citizens.
T hey are intensely religious, speak He-
brew with a rhythm of their own, and
preserve much of their ritual, musical and
cultural traditions. In 1960 about 3,500
Jews still remained in Yemen.
YESHIVAH
Hebrew term meaning “Talmudical Acad-
emy,” or the traditional institution of
higher Jewish learning. Talmud academies
or Yeshivot early became important cen-
ters of learning both in Palestine and Bab-
ylonia. Centuries later Yeshivot (under this
or other ñames) existed in most major
Jewish communities in the diaspora, as for
example, in France, Italy, Poland, Lithua-
nia, and others. Each lecturer of the Yeshi­
vah was called Rosh Yeshivah (Head of
526
the Yeshivah). In more recent centuries,
with Yiddish the language of instruction
and social intercourse, the students were
called in Yiddish Yeshivah Bahurim (Yeshi­
vah students, since the word Yeshivah may
mean any group of students sitting and
learning rabbinics). Such students were
often poor and needed the assistance of
scholarships from the community for their
food and lodging. W hen they acquired
adequate knowledge, some of them re-
ceived Semikhah (ordination) and entered
the practical rabbinate. In the United States
the most famous orthodox institution of
higher learning is the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan
Theological Seminary in N ew York, now
one of the affiliates of Yeshiva University.
Some schools, offering an elementary cur­
riculum, cali themselves Yeshivot Ketan-
not (sing. Yeshivah Ketannah).
1
Exterior of Yeshiva University’s main building in New York City. Founded as a rabbinical school, Yeshi-
va has grown to a university of arts and Sciences; many faculties, gradúate and professional schools.
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
America’s oldest and largest university
under Jewish auspices, comprises 17 schools
and divisions providing undergraduate,
gradúate, and professional studies in the
arts and Sciences and Jewish learning. Sit-
uated at six centers in N ew York City, it
offers preparation for careers in the ortho-
dox rabbinate, medicine, education, social
work, mathematics, physics, psychology
and many other fields. In 1960 Yeshiva
University had 5,000 students (men and
women), and a faculty of 850. The Uni­
versity also sponsors several community
Service agencies and a program of re-
search and experimentation; it also pub-
lishes scholarly journals and books in vari-
ous fields. The Yeshiva Eitz Chaim Tal-
mudical Academy was established in 1886
and the Yeshiva R. Isaac Elchanan Theo-
YETZER HA RA
logical Seminary in 1896. In 1915 they
merged, in 1928 the ñame Yeshiva College
was adopted and in 1945 Yeshiva Uni­
versity. In 1929 the institution moved from
the Lower East Side to its présent main
center on Amsterdam Avenue. Among the
more recently established schools of Ye­
shiva University are Stern College for
W omen (1954), Albert Einstein College
of Medicine (1955), Sue Golding Gradú­
ate División of Medical Sciences (1957),
Gradúate School of Education (1957),
School of Social W ork (1957), and the
Gradúate School of Mathematical Sci­
ences (1958), which was expanded into
the Gradúate School of Science in 1960.
YETZER HA RA
Hebrew term for “evil inclination.” Ac-
cording to Jewish tradition man is born
527
EBAN, ABBA
EBAN, ABBA
Minister of Education in Israel. Born in
Capetown, South Africa, in 1915, he spent
most of his early years in England. There
he was graduated from Cambridge Uni-
versity, and subsequently taught at Pem-
broke College. From early youth he took
a leading role in the Zionist movement.
During the Second W orld War, he served
as an officer in the British Army assigned
to the Middle East, and afterwards settled
in Jerusalem.
Soon he was made a member of the
Jewish Agency delegation to the United
Nations (1947), Israel’s United Nations
delegate (1948-1959), and Ambassador to
the United States (1950-1959). In 1959 he
was recalled to Israel and shortly there-
after appointed Minister of Education.
Eban’s wide travels in the Near East,
lecturing in Hebrew and Arabic, and his
contributions to learned journals, added
prominence as a scholar and speaker to an
already fine reputation as a diplomat.
ECCLESIASTES
The Greek ñame of the book Kohelet, con-
tained in the last section of the Hebrew
Bible, called “W ritings” (Ketuvim). Ac-
cording to the opening words in the book
it was written by “Kohelet, the son of
David,” and tradition attributes it to King
Solomon, the son of David. Some scholars
believe that it was written during the pe-
riod of the Second Temple. Some of the
Tannaim did not think that the book
should be included in the Canon.
In contení, the book in many passages
reflects a highly pessimistic outlook on life.
It starts with the assertion “Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity.” The implication is
that nothing in life is worthwhile; material
and spiritual possessions, and all life ex-
periences, pleasures, disappointments and
wisdom have no real valué, because “there
is nothing new under the sun;” that “he
122
that increaseth knowledge increaseth sor-
row;” that “a man hath no pre-eminence
above a beast;” and that all men’s effort
is “only a striving after the wind.” The
philosophical conclusions of the book are,
however, not irreligious. Kohelet advises
that man should not grow impatient or be-
come discouraged, because there are things
beyond man’s comprehension, and that in
the end God will not fail him. It is, there-
fore, important to “fear God and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty
of man.” The book is universally quoted
because it contains numerous sayings of
practical wisdom in reference to man’s
conduct, his relationship with other peo-
pie and his manifold experiences in life.
ECCLESIASTICUS see Ben-Sira, Joshua.
EDEN, GARDEN OF see Gan Edén.
EDOM, EDOMITES
A Biblical people and country named after
Esau who was called Edom after he sold
his birthright to his twin-brother Jacob.
The Edomites occupied the territory south
of Canaan, between the Dead Sea and the
Red Sea. Although Moses warned the Is-
raelites, saying “thou shalt not hate an
Edomite, for he is thy brother,” there was
constant warfare between the two na­
tions, who traditionally had a cióse blood-
relationship. The Edomites (now called
Idumeans) were conquered by the Macea-
bees, and later by John Hyrcanus, who
forced them to embrace Judaism. Herod,
descendant of these converted Edomites,
became king of Judea under Román rule
and is remembered chiefly for his cruelty
to the Jews and his efforts to please the
Romans. The Idumeans are also mentioned
as the brave fighters who, together with
the Zealots (Judean patriots), made the
last stand in the revolt against Rome.
EDUCATION
Nothing was more important to the Jew-

ish people throughout their history than
the teaching of Torah to their children.
The teaching of Jewish religious and
ethical principies was based on the Bib-
lical command “and thou shalt teach them
diligently to thy children.” In Biblical
times children received their practical and
religious education directly from their par-
ents. During the Second Commonwealth,
the synagogue became not only a house of
prayer but also a house of study for adults,
and perhaps also for younger people. The
love of learning has long been a character-
istic of the Jewish people, as has been
respect for the man of learning.
Simeón ben Shetah is credited with the
establishing of schools for young people
during the first century b.c.e., and uni­
versal elementary Jewish education was
introduced in 64 c.e. by the High Priest
Joshua ben Gamala who compelled every
Young Hungarian boys after World War II follow ¡n their fathers’ footsteps. They are studying
Jewish history and tradition, as well as the vocational subjects, in religious elementary-school classes.
EDUCATION
community to conduct an elementary
school of its own.
The role of schools for both children
and adults increased in importance after
the destruction of the Temple (70 c.e.)
and the disruption of independent national
life in Palestine. Education thus became
the source of strength to the defeated na-
tion and the primary means for spiritual
salvation. In the course of time Jewish
education became a well organized and
regulated institution. The Bet ha-Sefer
(“house of the book”) was the common
elementary school where children received
instruction in the Bible, and the Bet Tal­
mud or Bet ha-Keneset, and later the Bet
ha-Midrash were the higher institutions of
learning where Talmud was taught. Girls
were generally excused from receiving a
formal education, and their training for
practical Jewish living was given to them
123
EGYPT
in the home, though there were numerous
women who had acquired a high level of
Jewish knowledge.
These two institutions of learning, later
better known as the Heder (elementary
religious school) and the Yeshivah (Tal-
mudical Academy), have been maintained
by Jews in all the lands of their dispersión.
There were practically no Jewish children
who did not receive at least an elementary
Jewish education consisting of instruction
in prayers and the Hebrew Bible.
The European type of Jewish school
was taken o ver by the Jewish communi-
ties in the United States, where more than
490,000 children attended some sort of
Jewish elementary school in 1960. The
subject matter of these schools is religious
and cultural in character, consisting mainly
of prayers, Bible, Hebrew, Jewish history
and current events. These schools are gen-
erally sponsored by orthodox, conservative
and reform congregations, the latter em-
phasizing the one day a week religious
school with a curriculum limited mainly to
Jewish history and customs.
EGYPT
Jewish history in Egypt began with
Abraham, the founder of the Jewish peo-
pie. The Biblical record tells that Jacob’s
family of 70 settled in Goshen, Egypt,
when Joseph was its popular viceroy. After
several hundred years of sojourn in Egypt,
during which period the Children of Israel
multiplied and became slaves under the
Pharaohs, they left as free men in the
Exodus under the leadership of Moses.
Despite the Biblical restriction stating
that “Ye shall return no more that way,”
the relationship of the Jewish people with
Egypt continued to persist during the en­
tire Biblical period. After the destruction
of the First Temple, many Jews settled in
Egypt, where the Jewish community grew
steadily, and especially during the Greek
124
rule in the Middle East it developed into
a most significant Jewish. center. It is be-
lieved that cióse to a million Jews lived in
Egypt, particularly in Alexandria, during
the 4th century b.c.e. The decline of the
Jewish community in Egypt began in the
first century c.e., and it had almost com-
pletely disappeared in the sixth century.
Jews, however, returned to Egypt later,
so that in the Middle Ages the Jewish set-
tlement grew in importance if not in size.
Some of the most outstanding Jewish per-
sonalities, such as Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, and
Moses Maimonides lived in Egypt during
that period. Jews living in modern Egypt
are mostly of Sephardic origin, and are
found mainly in Alexandria and Cairo.
W ith the establishment of the State of Is­
rael in 1948, Egypt and the other Arab
countries continued to consider themselves
in a State of war with Israel, owing to their
defeat by the Israeli army. As a result of the
successful Sinai campaign carried out by
the Israeli army in 1956 because of Egypt’s
constant provocations, thousands of Jews
were forced to flee the country. In 1959
only 15,000 Jews remained in Egypt.
EHAD MI YODEA
The Hebrew ñame of a children’s rhyme,
meaning “One: W ho knows?”, which is a
chant in the Haggadah and is sung with a
special melody toward the end of the Pass-
over Seder. The rhyme lists 13 questions
starting with “One: W ho knows?”, then
“Two: W ho knows?”, “Three: W ho
knows?”, etc. The corresponding answers
are: “One is G od,” “T w o are the Tablets
of the Covenant,” “Three are the Patri-
archs,” etc. It probably originated in
France and Germany in the 16th century,
for the purpose of keeping the children
awake to the end of the ritual.
EIBESCHÜTZ, JONATHAN (1690-1764)
Rabbi, Talmudist and Kabbalist. He was

the head of the Yeshivah (Talmudical
Academy) of Prague which he founded,
and later rabbi of Metz, Altona and Ham-
burg. He associated with the followers of
Shabbetai Tzevi, the discredited “messiah,”
and because of this he carne into an open
and bitter quarrel with Rabbi Jacob Em­
den. The latter accused Eibeschütz of be-
ing a Sabbetaian himself, using as evidence
the fact that the amulets which he issued
to sick people and expectant mothers con-
tained in a concealed form the ñame of
Shabbetai Tzevi. This dispute caused great
upheaval in tlte Jewish communities, and
leading rabbis of Germany and Poland, as
well as governmental authorities, took
sides in this controversy between the two
opposing parties. Although Eibeschütz was
vindicated in the end, the bitter conflict
between him and Rabbi Emden left a seri-
ous and unhappy atmosphere.
E1GHTEEN BENEDICTIONS see Shemoneh Esreh.
EILAT (Elath)
Hebrew ñame for the seaport of Aqaba
(Akaba) on the Red Sea, and the southern-
most point of the State of Israel. King
Solomon used this seaport for his com-
mercial expedition to Ophir. During the
period of the Jewish kingdom, Eilat was
under Jewish rule, and had Jewish inhabit-
ants during the Arab period up to the end
of the Middle Ages. W hen the partition of
Palestine was ordered in 1947 by the
United Nations, the seaport of Eilat was
included as part of the Jewish territory.
This promising seaport at the Southern
end of the N egev was placed under devel-
opment by the State of Israel. Because of
its strategic position and the hardships of
living in a remóte and somewhat primitive
outpost, the government appealed to the
patriotism of young immigrants to serve
as Hatutzim (pioneers) and settle there.
As a result of their efforts, in 1958 and
1959, its growth was spectacular.
EINSTEIN, ALBERT
EINHORN, DAVID (1809-1879)
Rabbi and leader of American reform
Judaism. Born in Germany, he became
active in the Jewish reform movement
there, and met with opposition from both
orthodox Jewry and the Germán govern­
ment. H e went to Budapest, where he met
with the same difficulties, and therefore
decided to go to the United States, where
he was appointed rabbi in 1855 at Temple
Har Sinai in Baltimore.
Einhorn was more radical than Isaac
Mayer W ise in his interpretation of Ju­
daism. He published a prayer book for
use by reform Jews, omitting or modify-
ing many of the traditional prayers. This
prayer book was used as a basis for the
Union Prayer Book, which was published
some time later.
Before the Civil W ar Einhorn joined the
anti-slavery movement, and because of his
sermons denouncing the pro-slavery party,
his life was actually threatened, and he
moved to Philadelphia. In 1866 he was ap­
pointed rabbi of the Adath Jeshurun Con-
gregation in N ew York, where he was
active for the rest of his life. He wrote
numerous articles and essays and also left
to posterity a collection of sermons and
important addresses.
EINSTEIN, ALBERT (1879-1955)
Most prominent physicist in rnodern times.
Born in Germany, he published four im­
portant scientific papers in 1905, in some
of which he formulated his world-re-
nowned “Theory of Relativity.” His
work attracted the attention of the great-
est physicists of the world, and he was
invited to serve as professor of physics in
the universities of Zurich, Prague, and
Berlin. As his theories were authenticated
by observation, his fame became universal,
and he was accepted as a member of the
world’s outstanding academies of science.
In 1922 he received the N obel Prize for
125
THE NEUJ
6NCYCLO
E D IT E D BY

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; ' e u c o Í Í i o d £ Mé x ic o

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ART EDITOR
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í

The New Standard

Jewish
Encyclopedia

GEOFFREY WIGODER, D. Phil.

Editor- in-Chief

NEW REVISED EDITION

Editor-in-Chief First Edition:

CECIL ROTH, B. Litt., M.A., D. Phil.

1992
7th Edition

El
RctsQnFile
New York • Oxford
288 EDEN, GARDEN OF — EDUCATION
and Ostrog. His main work Hiddushe Halakhot
("Halakhic Novellae") became a classic and was
incorporated in most editions of the Talmud.
EDEN, GARDEN O F (Heb. Gan Edén)'. Original
abode of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2-3). It was watered
by a river whích divided into four streams, the Pishon,
Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. Adam and Eve were
eventually excluded from the garden for their disobedi-
ence. Ezekiel (28:11-19; 31:8-9,16-18) locates E. on a
mountain consecrated to God and describes the
expulsión of a cherub from it. In later Jewish
literature, E. is the abode of the righteous after death.
EDER, MONTAGUE DAVID (1866-1936): British
psychologist and Zionist leader. He was a follower
of Freud and one of the founders of the British Psy-
choanalysts' Association. He was active in Jewish
affairs and joined the Jewish Territorial Organization in
1905. After 1917, he supported Zionism and in
1918-21, was in Palestine with the first Zionist Com-
mission. E. was a member of the Zionist Executive in
London and Jerusalem 1921-3 and 1927-8.
EDESSA (now Urfa): City in Asiatic Turkey, where
Jews have lived since Second Temple times. They
suffered massacre in Trajan's time (116 CE) and under
Julián (363). In the 19th cent., a third of the population
was Jewish, but their numbers dwindled, especially
after World War I. Few are now left. Emigrants from
E. living in Jerusalem have their own synagogue.
EDINBURGH: Capital of S cotland. Individual Jews
appeared in E. from the 17th cent, but no
community existed until the cióse of the 18th. The main
Jewish immigratíon to Scotland after 1881 was
atttacted to Glasgow, but E, has a well-organized,
unified community, with a synagogue and charítable,
educational, and social institutions. Jewish pop.
(1990): 600.
EDINGER, LUDWIG (1855-1918): Germán neurolo-
gist; professor at Frankfort Univ. from 1914. His
researches led to advances ín the knowledge of
bxain-anatomy.
EDIRNE see ADRIANOPLE
EDMAN, IR WIN (1896-1954): US philosopher; pro­
fessor of philosophy at Columbra Univ. from
1935. He wrote many books and articles on
philosophy, esthetics, literature, and education.
EDMONTON: Canadian city. The first Jews went there
in the last decade of the 19th cent. The first
congregation (Orthodox) was founded in 1906, and its
Beth Israel synagogue built in 1911. A Reform
congregation was established subsequently. Jewish
pop.(1990): 5,000.
EDOM (IDUMEA): Country in SE Palestine, also
called Mount S eir. Its terrain was mountainous and
easily fortified and its land was fertile. E. lay S of the
Dead Sea and bordered on the Red Sea at Elath and
Ezion Geber. The Edomites were of Semitic origin,
traditionally descendants of Esau, and lived by
hunting. They dispossessed the Horite inhabitants of
Seir and organized themselves along tribal lines headed
by a chieftain (called alíooph), later consolidating into a
monarchy. The Edomites were traditional enemies of
the Israelites; they fought Saúl and were defeated by
David who partly annexed their land. The Edomites
regained their independence during the reign of
Jehoram, but wars between the two States were
frequent. In the 8th cent. BCE, the Edomites became
vassals of Assyria. At the time of the destruction of the
First Temple, they plundered and looted in association
with the Babylonians, and, being driven out from Seir
by the Nabateans, occupied S Judah during or after the
period of the Exile. The Edomites were conquered by
John Hyrcanus who forcibly converted them to
Judaism, and from then on they constituted a part of
the Jewish people, Herod being one of their descen­
dants. During Titus' siege of Jerusalem, they marched
in to reinforce the extreme elements, killing all they
suspected of peace tendencíes. Thereafter, they ceased
to figure in Jewish history. The ñame in the Talmud is
a syrvonym for an oppiessive government, especially
Rome: in the Middle Ages, it was applied to Christian
Europe.
EDREI: Ancient city of Transjordan in the Bashan re­
gión; today Deraa (Syria). Formerly the capital of
Og (Num. 21:33), it was later in the territory of the
tribe of Manasseh (Josh. 13:31). A Jewish community
survived there until the 14th cent.
EDUCATION: The constant reiteration in the Penta-
teuch of the duty to teach the Divine precepts to the
people, and especially to the young, must have
stimulated some sort of religious e. among the
Hebrews at a very early period. Even in the age of the
judges, a young man, casually encountered, was able
to write (Judg. 8:14). The Lachish letters illustrate
relatively widespread literacy at the end of the period of
the First Temple. Religious e. at this time was appax-
ently conducted by levites sometimes dispatched
expressly from Jerusalem (II Chr. 7:7ff). The religious
revival under Ezra centered on the regular reading of
and instruction in the Torah which inevitably entailed
the extensión of organized e. According to tradition,
local schools were first organized systematically in
ancient Palestine by Simeón ben Shetah (lst cent.
BCE), while elementary e. was instítuted for boys of
six or seven by the high priest Joshua ben Gamla (c.
64-5 CE). Before the fall of the Jewish state, the pagan
philosopher Seneca stated that the Jews were the only
people who knew the reasons for their religious
observances, while Josephus observed that "our
principal care is to edúcate our children well." A
comprehensíve system of e., open to all, was funda­
mental to the organization of Jewish life in the
Talmudic Period when the rabbis maintained that the
entire world was "poised on the breath of
schoolchildren." The patriarch Judah I sent a commis-
 EDUCATION
sion throughout Palestine to ensure that there should be
teachers of the Bible and of the Oral Law in every
place. There was opposition to female e., but some
women were nevertheless well versed even in
advanced Jewish leaming. The elementary school was
termed the Bet ha-Sepher to distinguish it from the
advanced school, the B et ha-M idrash, which was in
immediate proximity to the synagogue. No teacher was
supposed to instruct a class of more than 25 pupils.
Apart from the instruction in the Bet ha-Midrash, there
was something approximating to universal adult e. in
the Sabbath discourses in the synagogue, besides
sermonic instruction. This system was the basis of
subsequent Jewish educational organization. In the
Middle Ages and Ghetto Periods, there was universal
and generally free Jewish e., and an illiterate male was
seldom encountered in the medieval community. In the
small local communities characteristic of this period,
elementary e. was generally in the hands either of the
father or of a professional elementary teacher who
might at the same time be one of the communal
functionaries or a scribe or copyist. Advanced
instruction in Talmud would be volunteered as a
meritorious deed by learned householders. Adults
would continué throughout their lives to particípate in
study-groups, almost as their solé diversión. For
business purposes, some elementary mathematical
instruction was obviously a necessity. In larger
communities, e. was more formally and elaborately
organized. A full account has survived of the
educational reform introduced for the Castilian
communities by a synod which met at Valladolid in
1432. In this period, the essential aspect of the duty of
the rabbi especially in Central and E. Europe was to
maintain and conduct a Y eshivah, those who studied in
it being supported at public expense. Though only the
Talmud and Jewish lore were taught, the wide
ramifications of purely Jewish study contained many of
the elements of general e. In Renaissance Italy, the
scope of Jewish e. widened to inelude versification,
philosophy, the rudiments at least of the vernacular,
and even Latín. Elementary e. in the Italian
communities was often conducted by women and more
advanced e. by prívate tutors. ít was then that Jews
began to enter universities for general e., particularly in
medicine. In 1366, the Sicilian Jewish communities
attempted to establish a university of their own, while
in 1583, David Provenzale of Mantua planned an
institution for providing, in a Jewish atmosphere,
preparatory trainíng before entering the universities.
The educational system of the Italian Jewish
communities in the Ghetto Period was well organized,
a special society (hevra) having charge of the Talmud
Torah (as the elementary institution was henceforth
generally called). Feminine e. also began to make
headway at about this time, a Talmud Torah for girls
being reportedly established in Rome in the 15th cent.
289
The combination of Jewish and general e. was
perfected in the famous and lavishly supported Talmud
Torah of the Sephardi community in Amsterdam
where, in the 17th cent., Spanish and Latin were taught
besides Hebrew, and the advanced class spoke only
Hebrew. In Germany and E Europe, however, the oíd
educational system continued almost unmodified. It
was confined to talmudic study and to some extern
neglected even the Bible in favor of the Talmud.
Elementary instruction was given in the H e d e r ,
sometimes by poorly qualified teachers; this institution
long survived among immigrant Jews in W. Europe
and America. In the second half of the 18th cent., the
system was subjected to attack by Haskalah writers,
such as Naphtali Herz Wessely whose proposal for a
drastic Jewish educational reform and the inclusión of
secular subjeets led to bitter controversy. In the course
of the next generation, schools giving instruction in
general, as well as Jewish subjeets, were established in
many countries; the Jews’ Free School, founded in
London in 1817, was at the cióse of the century the
largest elementary school in Europe, if not in the
world. In such institutions, general e. tended gradually
to predomínate, only rudimentary Jewish instruction
being normally given. However, with the spread of
universal e. in the western world in the 19th cent.,
sepárate Jewish schools began to be superseded, and
"Sunday schools" or "Hebrew and religious classes"
were set up in most Jewish communities to gíve a
modicum of Jewish instruction. This tended to be most
elementary and to end with the age of Bar-mitzvah,
girls being often wholiy neglected for this reason. In
recent years, there has been an increasing tendeney in
some countries to re veri to Jewish Day Schools or
"parochial schools," in which a more advanced and
comprehensive Jewish e. can be given in the
framework of general e. At the same time, bodies such
as the London Boatd of Jewish Religious Education,
the Jewish Education Committee in New York, and the
Commission on Jewish Education of the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations, have done much to
set Jewish e. on a sounder footing by providing
training colleges, modem textbooks, etc. Zionism has
often resulted in the introduction of modem Hebrew
into the curriculum. It is nevertheless estimated that
about one-half of the 1,800,000 Jewish children in the
western world receive no Jewish e. whatsoever. The
prohibition of public religious instruction in the USSR
was a potent factor in the decline of Judaism there from
1917 but the restrictions were overeóme and relaxed
in the 1970's and 1980's. See also R a b b in ic a l
SEMINARIES.
The State of Israel inherited from the British
Mandatory period a network of Jewish schools run by
the Vaad Leumi, a governmental network of Arab
schools, as well as prívate schools, yeshivot, etc. The
Jewish schools were divided into three "trends":
290 EDUYYOT — EGYPT
general, labor, and religious, to wbich an extreme
religious trend was added after the establishment of the
State. E. is supervised by the Ministry of Education and
culture (see I srael, State of). In 1949, e. was made
compulsory for children between 5 to 13. Since 1978,
school attendance has been mandatory to 16 and free
up to 18. The differing trends were abolished in 1953,
and only two types of schools recognized—State and
State religious. Permission was however given to opt
out of the State system and most of the extreme
religious educational institutions withdrew, although
they still receive State support. 1,117,600 Jewish
pupils and 215,800 Arab pupils attended recognized
schools in 1986/7. In addition, tens of thousands
attended prívate educational institutions (under Jewish,
Christian, or Moslem auspices). Secondary e. is given
at high schools, gymnasia, vocational centers, and,
with certain qualifications, yeshivot. Institutes of
higher education which grant degrees inelude the
Hebrew U niversity, Jerusalem, the T echnion or Israel
Institute of Technology, Haifa, T el A viv U niversity,
B ar -Ilan U niversity , Ramat Gan, the W eizmann
I nstitute, Rehovot, the U niversity of H aifa and the
B en-G urion U niversity of the N egev.
EDUYYOT (Heb. "Testimonies"): Seventh tractate in
the Mishnah order of N ezikin, containing 8
chapters. It has no gemara in either the Babylonian or
the Palestinian Talmud. The ñame is derived from the
testimonies given before the high court at Jabneh
concerning statements of older authorities. In the
Babylonian Talmud, the ñame of the tractate is Behirta
("chosen"). Most of the contents of E. are found again
in other tractates.
EFROS, ISRAEL (1890-1981): Hebrew poet, scholar,
and educator. Bom in Poland, he migrated to the
US in 1906, and served as rabbi and teacher in
Baltimore and Buffalo. E. was also professor of
Hebrew at Dropsie College and Hunter College. As a
poet, he elicited the influence of the folk sources of
American poetry, particularly evident in Wigwamim
Shotekim ("Silent Wigwams"). He wrote on medieval
Jewish philosophy, and was co-author of a standard
English-Hebrew dictionary. E. translated Shakes-
peare's Hamlet and Timón o f Athens into Hebrew and
much of Bialik's poetry into English. In 1954, E.
settled in Israel as rector of the Tel Aviv Univ. (till
1959) and deán of its humanities department.
EGER: Rabbinical family. (1) AKIVA BEN MOSES
E. (1761-1837) was rabbi at Márkisch-Friedland
(1791) and from 1814, at Posen where his yeshivah
attracted many students. Recognized as one of the
foremost rabbinical authorities in Europe, he led
opposition to religious reform and secular education.
E. published many works including novellae,
responsa, and glosses on the Mishnah, Talmud, and
M aimonides’ M ishneh Torah. (2) AKIVA BEN
SIMHAH BUNEM E. (1729-1758), grandfather of,
(1), was rabbi at Zülz (Upper Silesia) and from 1756,
headed the yeshivah at Pressburg. (3) JUDAH Ll II!
E. (1816-1888), son of (5), founded the Lublin
dynasty of Hasidic rabbis. (4) SAMUEL LEVES
(PERETZ ZABEL) BEN JUDAH LEIB E. (1769-
1842), grandson of (2), was rabbi in Brunswick from
1809. He was one of the outstanding scholars of his
generation, and rabbinical inquiries (some relating to
the Reform movement) were directed to him from
many lands. (5) SOLOMON BEN AKIVA E. (1786-
1852), son of (1). After serving as rabbi of Kalish. he
succeeded his father in Posen. E. reorganized the
collections for Halukkah Jewry in Palestine and wiu'.
on talmudic and halakhic topics.
EGLAH ARUPHAH: Heifer, the neck of which was to
be broken on the occasion of an unsolved murder
(Deut. 21:1-9). The entire court of the city nearest to
the crime had to wash their hands over the heifer's
body and affirm their innocence. The Mishnah (Sota 9,
9) States that when murders became more frequent, this
ceremony was stopped.
*EGLON (c. 12th cent. BCE): King of Moab. With me
aid of the Amalekites, he conquered parts of Israe-
lite territory but was killed cunningly by E hud (Judg.
3). Talmudic legend depiets him as the father of R uth.
EGYPT (Heb. Mitzrayim): Country in NE Africa. The
history of the Jewish people from its very out set
has been connected with E. The patriarchs all visited
the country, and the beginnings of Hebrew history are
bound up with the bondage in E. and the Exodus. Ii n
probable that the first Hebrew immigration into E.
connected with the period of domination there of the
Semitic Hyksos dynasty (18th-16th cents. BQ
was at that period closely involved in Palestinian
affairs, as is shown by the Tel el-AMARNA letters which
 EGYPT
iiiustrate the background of, and perhaps al lude to, the
first Israelite incursions there. The scholar A. S.
Yahuda has shown the cióse influence of Egyptian
civilization on the Pentateuch. Throughout the period
of the Monarchy, there were constant Judeo-Egyptian
reiations. Solomon married an Egyptian princess and
concluded a trade treaty; the pharaoh Shishak attacked
jerusalem (c. 930) to assist the newly-established
• irthern kingdom; Josiah was killed in 608 when at-
icmpting to check the march of Pharaoh Necho through
his territory; his successor, Jehoahaz, was deported,
and Jehoiakim installed in his place by the Egyptians.
H'. en before the fall of the First Temple, there was a
Jewish colony in E., and the prophet Jeremiah was
iaken there shortly after. Jewish military colonies
.■• sted in E., particularly in pharaonic days. In Y eb , a
vast mass of papyri has been found, minutely
illustrating local life and showing the existence of a
Jewish temple under the Persians in the 5th cent. BCE.
With the conquest by Alexander the Great (333 BCE),
iwvs formed a large proportion of the new immigrants
who streamed into the country, some spontaneously,
some as deportees. There is evidence of synagogues
from the 3rd cent. BCE. The community was to a great
extent hellenized in speech and culture. The focus of
Jewish life was A lexa ndria , the seat of the great
hellenistic Jewish civilization, the best-known expo-
nent of which was the philosopher P hilo , but there
were many lesser centers. The total of Egyptian Jews at
this period has been estimated as high as 1,000,000.
11 t a long time, the Ptolemies of Egypt were in control
of Palestine where they were generally popular. During
the dark period before the Maccabean revolt, the
refugee high priest Onias founded a Temple in
! leliopolis. This was the period of the completion at
\ exandria of the first Greek translation of the Bible
(.Septuagint) which had enormous influence. On the
other hand, there was a great deal of anti-Jewish
fccling among the Greek populace, expressing itself
sometimes in riots and necessitating the periodic
intervention of the Román authorities. In 71 CE, after
the destruction of Jerusalem, zealot refugees stirred up
a Jewish revolt in E. and another uprising there
assumed considerable proportions in 115-7.
H ellenism may have weakened the resistance of
Egyptian Jewry to Christianity, and there are many
obvious Alexandrian-Jewish elements in early
Christian literature and thought. The condition of
Egyptian Jewry, deteriorated with the Christianization
of the Román Empire, and riots in Alexandria,
instigated by the bishop Cyril in 415, drove masses of
Jews to baptism. At the time of the Arab invasión of
640, the Egyptian Jewish community was unimportant.
under Moslem rule, the former traditions of hellenistic
Egypt were submerged. The community, centered in
the new city of C airo , was wholly Arab in character
and culture. Its life is minutely illustrated in the mass of
291
documents of the Cairo G enizah. Saadyah Gaon was a
native of the Fayyum. The organization of Mesopota-
mian Jewry under an exilarch (later nagid) was imitated
in E., and there were distinguished academies of
learning. An important Karaite community flourished,
surviving to modern times. Generally, under the
Moslems, conditions were fairly favorable, though
normally the traditional Moslem anti-Jewish code was
enforced, and under Caliph Hakim (996-1021), there
was an interlude of almost ferocious persecution.
M oses M aimonides, arriving in E. in the second half of
the 12th cent., found a .congenial environment. His
descendants long continued to serve as nagid of
Egyptian Jewry. After the Turkish occupation in 1517,
conditions improved somewhat. The record of
Egyptian Jewry was tranquil, undistinguished, and
unenlightened until the 19th cent, when the penetration
of western influences made for rapid occidentalization
among the upper strata, and families such as those of
Cattaui and Mosseri played some part in public life.
The anti-European reaction of the mid-20th cent,
involved the Jews, many of whom had European
citizenship. This became linked ultimately with the
adoption of an anti-Zionist policy, though Zionism had
formerly been favored. In 1948, as a result of the war
in Palestine, many Jews were placed in concentration
camps and attacks made on Jewish homes. A great
emigration of Jews from E. ensued and their number
dropped from 90,000 in 1947 to c. 30,000 in 1955. In
1954, there were still 11 Jewish day schools with
1,750 pupils. Following the Sinai O peration, N asser
dispossessed and expelled many Jews from E. Most of
the others left in the following years and by 1966, only
2,500 remained, 1,800 in Cairo and the rest in
Alexandria. Most of the remaining males of Egyptian
nationality were arrested at the time of the Six-Day War
in 1967 and the other Jews emigrated. Pop. (1990):
240.
Egyptian captives from the neighboring lands of Lydia, Ethlopia (?)
and Canaan. The temple of Sahure (c. 2750 BCE).
416 HASIDISM
Hasidim in a Polish town.
three main divisions. 1. The popular Ukrainian branch.
This carried on the traditions of the original H:
elevation of the simple man, devotion in prayer, song
and dance, and faith in the T zaddik . T o this branch
belonged Nahum of Chemobyl (d. 1797) from whom
sprang the T wersky family dynasty, L evi I saac of
B erdichev (d. 1802), and N ahman of B ratzlav (d.
1810). From Dov Ber of Mezhirich was descended
I srael of R o z h in and the ensuing dynasties
(Chortkov, Sadagora). 2. The Habad branch (see
above). 3. The Polish-Galician branch, founded by
E limelech of L izensk (d. 1786) who elevated the
tzaddik to the role of intermediary between man and
God, and Michel of Zloczov (d. 1786), noted for his
saintly simplicity. Leading Polish tzaddikim included
Jacob Isaac "the seer" of Lublin and Israel the maggid
of Kozniece, who were the ancestors of the dynasties
of Przysucha, Kotzk, and Gur. Polish H. was
characterized by the stress on learning. The movement
spread widely during the 19th cent, when the
opposition of the Mitnaggedim abated, while the
Hasidic dynasties exerted influence on social and
cultural life. At the same time, the inner decline of H.
began. Leadership became a matter of inheritance from
father to son; the various dynastic groups fought
among themselves for hegemony and influence over
the Jewish masses. In Russia and Poland, the Hasidim
turned increasingly to study and founded yeshivot.
They joined hands with the Mitnaggedim to combat the
common enemy—the Haskalah, whose writers (e.g.
Perl, Erter) mocked the Hasidim and accused them of
superstitious practice and blind faith. During the Nazi
Holocaust, all Hasidic centers were destroyed in
Poland and Russia. Only a few of the tzaddikim
escaped and re-established their "courts." These
included R Aaron Rokah of Belz (in Tel Aviv), |<
Abraham Mordecai of Gur (Jerusalem), and R Joseph
Isaac of Liubavich (New York).
II. Doctrines: The philosophic basic for H. is the
Kabbalah as expounded by Isaac Luria, but whereas
the Kabbalah concerned itself chiefly with
cosmological considerations, H. (except possibly the
Habad stream) was primarily concerned with morality
and religión. God—or the Shekhinah—incorporates all
creation, including inorganic matter and vegetable,
animal, and human life. Everything perceived is an
illusive cover for Divinity. Evil is merely a cover for
good, and all evil will eventually be turned into good.
Man's function is to redeem the evil in nature and bring
it within the radius of Divine Light. Evil thoughts must
be sublimated. Everything—thoughts, words, and
deeds—must be integrated for the sake of God who is
all-pervasive. This approach leads to D evekut and
ecstasy, which must stem from both love and fear.
Man must strive to attain that freedom from sensualil v
in which he will be unconscious of the lower worki
and only be conscious of the forms of the higher
world, viz. angels and seraphim. Prayer in particular,
must be characterized by devekut. The basic principie
of daily conduct is love of Israel. No man—even the
wicked—must be despised, but only the evil quality
within him. The Hasid must be joyful when he sees
things are well with the Jewish people, and if the
reverse, he must particípate in their sorrow. Special
emphasis is laid on humility. A basic premise is that
evil desire can only be overeóme by joy, and not by
melancholy. For this reason, melody is exalted, having
the power to draw the heart of man to God. The tzad­
dik plays a central role in H., being linked to God and
bringing life to the world. Even the tzaddik's casual at:
tions are raised to holiness, and his secular conversa-
tion has a Divine intent. Any apparent decline from his
high State is only to redeem the sparks from the husk.
III. Way ofLife: The tzaddik (or Admor, or simply
rebbe) stood at the center of the movement. At first the
tzaddikim were chosen for their piety and leadership,
and this continued in Poland until the middle of the
19th cent. In the Ukraine, however, dynasties of
tzaddikim were established from the outset. The
Hasidim would travel to the tzaddik for the Sabbath to
listen to his teaching and seek his advice. Befóte
departing home, they would leave a pitka ("written
slip" containing a list of the members of the family and
their requests) and attached would be a pidyon
("ransom," i.e., money-offering). On Sabbaths and
holidays, the Hasidim sat at the table of the tzaddik.
Dressed in white, the tzaddik would begin to chant a
melody. After the meal, he would expound Hasidic
teaching. From each course of the meal he would leave
shirayim ("left-overs") which would be seized by the
 HASKALAH
Hasidim as a segullah ("good-fortune charm"). The
nieal of the tzaddik was regarded as an "altar" and a
sacrifice. Ecstasy was particularly pronounced during
the third Sabbath meal (seudah shelishit) when the
Hasidim would sit in the closing darkness listening to
the words of the rebbe and singing songs of devekut.
The greatest number of Hasidim would congrégate at
festival-time, when their comradely affection (dibbuk
betverim) was especially strong. After prayer or a meal,
the Hasidim would start to dance, the rebbe joining—
and even leading—on occasion. After the death of a
tzaddik, an Ohel would be built over his grave and
visited by thousands of Hasidim on the anniversary of
his death, which would be celebrated with drink and
joy as a yom de-hillula ("day of celebration"). Some
tzaddikim lived in poverty, distributing all their
"ransom" money to the needy; others lived in luxurious
style eventually leading to a degeneration which
contributed to the decline of the movement. However,
although much reduced numerically, H. is still
widespread. Its teachings have become widely known
in the occidental world mainly through the works of
Martin Buber, both through his retelling of Hasidic
anecdotes and through his philosophy which has been
termed "neo-Hasidic."
HASKALAH (Heb. "Enlightenment"; the term was
coined in 1832 by Judah Jeiteles): The movement
for spreading modern European culture among Jews,
c. 1750-1880. The H. school believed that Jewish
Emancipation required intellectual and social
conformity with the non-Jewish population and that the
latter could be achieved by modemized and westemized
Jewish religión and customs (including the active
literary use of the Hebrew language). It thus attempted
to mediate between unyielding Orthodoxy and radical
assimilation. H. was transitory largely because the
merely partial conformity and the Hebraism which it
preached were insufficient or superfluous in the
countries where it flourished. However, H. paved the
way for Zionism by creating a stratum of secularized
middle-class Jews imbued with Hebrew culture and
faithful to their historie traditions, yet also permeated
by the political and social ideas of the western world.
While Jewish participation in western culture and
interest in the Sciences were cultivated in 18th cent.
Orthodoxy by the Gaon of Vilna and his circle, they
were regarded solely as aids to a more perfect
knowledge of sacred tradition. The innovation of H.
consisted in proclaiming such western education as
necessary for the masses. A further important feature
of H. was a strong element of national and linguistic
romanticism which became the chief preoccupation of
many of its literary representatives. The eradles of H.
were the somewhat westemized Jewries in Holland and
Italy as early as the 17th cent., but H. as a movement
began in Berlín. There, mercantilism had produced a
small Jewish capitalist class and, under Frederick II
417
(1740-86), European Enlightenment attitudes were
dominant. The first manifestation of H. was the weekly
Kohelet Musar, published for 2 weeks in 1750 by
Moses M endelssohn and T. Bock in imitation of the
Tañer and Spectator. In 1783, Mendelssohn published
his Germán translation of the Pentateuch in Hebrew
characters with a rationalist commentary (Biur), the
work of a group which included several young men
from E Europe. The same group, the Association of
Friends of Hebrew, started a Hebrew quarterly,
H a -M easseph (1784-1811). In spite of its insipid
contents and rebanee on translations from the Germán,
this publication had a profound effect—especially
outside Germany, for in that country full cultural
assimilation rapidly outstripped the efforts of the
maskilim (i.e., those engaged in H.). Only in Breslau
did the Hebrew H. last until about 1830. When, in
1782, the Austrian emperor Joseph II initiated a policy
of Emancipation linked by his Edict of Tolerance with
the Germanization of the Jews of Galicia. N. H.
W essely , a leader of the Berlin circle, greeted this
fervently. Herz H omberg hastened to help by putting
the proposals into practice and between 1787 and
1800, founded over 100 German-Jewish schools. The
westernizing policy in Galicia was resisted by the
Orthodox leaders (J. Orenstein, rabbi of Lemberg,
imposed the ban on leading maskilim in 1816) and
especially by the strong Hasidic community. The
scanty literary activity of Galician H. consisted mainly
of satirical writings directed against Hasidism (J. P erl,
I. E rter), but its chief achievement was the initiation
of historical studies under the leadership of N.
K rochmal and S. J. R apoport . This was served by
several Hebrew scholarly periodicals (B ik k u r e
ha -I ttim , 1820-31; H e -H alu tz , 1852-89; K erem
H em ed , 1853-57). In S Russia, also a stronghold of
Hasidism, H. seems to have had an easier course. In
contrast to Germany and Galicia, Russian maskilim
used Yiddish in addition to Hebrew for their
propaganda. The talmudist Manasseh Ilyer (1767-
1831) published Yiddish booklets. In 1817, a Yiddish
translation of Die Entdeckung Amerikas by the
educator J. H. Campe was published at Berdichev; and
in 1823, a Hebrew translation by M. A. GÜNZBURG
appeared at Vilna. A school for arts and crafts was
founded by J. Perl at Tamopol (then Russia) in 1819;
in 1826, a similar school was opened at Odessa to
which was added a girls' section in 1836—education
of women was previously almost unknown. By the
early 1840's most larger communities had modem
schools. In the 1830's, a Society of Lovers of Light
and Enlightenment was founded at Berdichev; in 1841
six such societies conferred at Vilna and proposed,
ínter alia, that talmudic study be restricted to future
rabbis. The central figure of S Russian H. was I. B.
L e v in s o n . The real home of H., however, was
Lithuania, especially Vilna. Its early leaders were M.
418 HASKAMAH — HASMONEANS
A. Günzburg and A. L e b e n s o h n . The latter, in
particular, gave Hebrew H. literature its romantic and
nationalist trends, which reached their peak in the
writings of his son M. J. L ebensohn, J. L. Gordon in
his earlier period, and the first Hebrew novelist A.
M apu. Here biblical Hebrew, the chosen vehicle of all
H., was written most successfully, and the world of
the Bible was made to illumine the ghetto. Under
Catherine II and, especially, Paul and Alexander I, the
Russian government seemed disposed to improve the
Jew's position and favored the first steps of H. From
1815 onward, and, in particular, under Nicholas I
(1825-55) this was replaced by a policy of repression
aimed at securing mass conversión. In 1840-3, an
attempt was made, with the help of the Germán rabbi
Max L ilienthal , to employ the H. movement for
furthering this pulpóse. The conflict thus engendered
between H. and Orthodoxy developed in the 1850’s,
reinforced by the growing social rifí within the commu-
nity. The literary expression of the new aggressive H.
was the realist movement which had the distinction of
being the first Hebrew literary trend to develop in cióse
association with contemporary European tendencies.
Its chief representatives were Mapu (whose The
Hypocrite, 1857-61, was the first novel of contempo­
rary Jewish life), J. L. Gordon in his epic poems, M.
L. Lilienblum, and S. J. A bram ovich ("Mendele
Mocher Sephorim") in his first novel Fathers and Sons
(1868). The H. was slowly strangled by tendencies to
full cultural assimilation and also by the realization that
its program of internal Jewish reform could not br>n.,
about Jewish Emancipation. The pogroms of 1881
marked the real beginning of Zionism and of nc"
viewpoints in Hebrew literature. Soon P. Smolensí i\
originally a realistic H. writer, denounced H. ■■
betrayal of Jewish identity; this negative judgment was
widely accepted, and a more positive view of H. has
set in only in recent years.
HASKAMAH (Heb. "approval"): Authorization some-
times prefixed to Hebrew books. The usage became
established after the decisión of the Synod of Ferrara in
1554 that Hebrew books sbould be approved by the
local Jewish authorities to avoid difficulties with the
Church. Later, the h. was sought by the author as an
indication of scholarship as well as of orthodoxy, and
several from different rabbis would frequently be
prefixed to the same work. H. (often pronounced
ascama, pl. ascamot), is also the ñame given arnong
Sephardim to a communal regulation.
HASMONEANS: Ñame of priestly family and dynasty
founded by M attathias of Modiin; and called
Hashmonai (Hasmonean) perhaps after his ancestor
Hashmon, but it may derive from a place-name (cf.
Josh. 15:27). Mattathias and his five sons J udah thf
M accabee , J onathan , Simón , J ohn , and Ei la/ ar
directed the popular revolt against the helleni/ing policy
 HASSAN, SIR JOSHUA ABRAHAM — HA-TZEPHIRAH
aclopted in Palestine by the Syrian king A ntiochus
gpiPHANES. In 166-164 BCE, the H. fought a number
0¡' successful battles against the Syrians and in 164,
Judah captured Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple,
fhis was foliowed by a series of raids to reseñe the
jewish populations of Ammon, Idumea, Gilead, and
Galilee. Though defeated in 163 at Bet Zechariah,
where Eleazar was killed, the H. were able, owing to
dviiastic distractions in Syria, to obtain terms securing
Jewish religious freedom, but Judah and his party,
aspiring for political freedom, continued the fight and
Judah fell at Elasa in 160. John was murdered shortly
thereafter and Jonathan took over the leadership. By
playing off Syrian pretenders against each other,
Jonathan was able to secure the high priesthood (152)
and goveniorship of Judah (150). Simón succeeded in
gaining exemption from tribute (147). He was
confirmed by the people as hereditary high priest,
ethnarch, and general in 142. He was murdered in 135.
His son John H yrcanus, who succeeded him, suffered
a crushing defeat by Antiochus VII Sidetes, Jerusalem
being taken by the Syrians after a prolonged siege and
Judea once more becoming a Seleucid province. But
after the defeat of Antiochus in his war against Parthia,
John launched a successful offensive against
Transjordan. Samaría, and Idumea, marking the
traasition of the H. to a semi-hellenized secular military
dynasty. This led to his repudiation of the P harisees
and his adherence to the aristocratic S adducee party.
He was succeeded by his sons Judah A rístobulus
(105-4) and A lexander Y annai (104-76), one of
whom was the first to adopt the royal tille. Yannai set
up a standing mercenary army and conquered
Transjordan, Idumea, and the Coastal plain. His
antagonism to the Pharisees, who opposed his war
policy, led to civil war in which he was victorious after
a bloody struggle, but the Pharisees were in the
asoendant during the reign of his widow Salom e
\ .EXandra (76-69). With her death, the H. declined.
The strife between her sons H y r c a n u s II and
Arístobulus II led to the intervention and eventual
domination of A ntipater and his son H erod , with
Rotnan assistance. P ompey drastically reduced the
country’s territory in 63. Hyrcanus remained a puppet,
while the efforts of Arístobulus II and his sons
\ -Exander and A ntigonus M attathias to regain
Power failed. Hyrcanus' granddaughter M ariamne
married Herod but was put to death by him (29) as
were the surviving H., viz. A rístobulus III (35),
Hyrcanus II (30), and Mariamne's sons A lexander
and Arístobulus (7).
11 VNSAN, SIR JOSHUA ABRAHAM (1915-): Gi-
braltar public figure. He was chairman of the city
council of Gibraltar from 1945 (mayor, from 1955).
H-’ 'l us chief minister of Gibraltar's Legislative
Council, 1964-9 and again from 1972 to 1987.
H \S s e \;£H (Heb. hatunah): A wedding.
419
HATAM SOPHER see SOPHER, MOSES
HATAN (Heb.): A bridegroom.
HATAPH: Common ñame of the signs -, (Hataph
Patah or Hatuph), .... (Hataph Segal or Segol
Hatuph) (Hataph Kamatz or Kamatz Hatuph)
which show that the S ueva after the letters aleph, he,
het, ayin is pronounced respectively as an a, e, o.
Hataph (Aramaic hitpha) is an oíd ñame for sheva
mobile. In oíd mss the sheva sign is written inside the
consonant.
HA-TEKUPHAH (Heb. "The Age"): Hebrew quarter-
ly appearing 1918-50 (vols. 1-3, Moscow; 4-23,
Warsaw; 24-5, Berlín; 26-9, Tel Aviv; 30-5, New
York). Besides original contributions, both literary and
scientifíc, it contaíned translations of major works of
world literature.
HA-TENUAH HA-MEUHEDET (Heb. "The United
Movement"): Israel pioneer youth movement,
organized in 1950 by Mapai supporters who split from
M a h a n o t O l im . In 1951, it joined the World
H a-B onim Organization.
Halikva
oA lo a veda lik-m — te—nu ba-tik-mb slxnot al-pa-yini lih yol etm bopbslñ
be---- a r ----- tze----- nu e-retztziyon ye-rushalayim
HA-TIKVAH (Heb. "The Hope"): Hymn ofthe Zion-
ist movement and now the national anthem of
Israel. The words, composed by Naphtali Herz I mber
and first published in 1886, express the hope of Jews
for redemption and their yearning to return to Zion.
The last lines of the refrain have been modified to cor-
respond to modern developments. The melody echoes
a Sephardi hymn as well as a tune in Smetana's Vltava.
HA-TOREN (Heb. "The Mast"): New York Hebrew
journal, published 1913-25. It dealt with current
and literary questions, and its editors included
Shemaryahu Levin, Y. D. Berkovitz, Reuben Brainin,
and Simón Bemstein.
HATTARAT HORAAH see ORDINATION
HA-TZEPHIRAH (Heb. "The Dawn"): Hebrew peri-
odical founded by Hayyim Selig Slonimsky,
appearing intermittently in Warsaw from 1862 to 1931
(in Berlín 1874-5). Its initial object was to disseminate
a knowledge of the natural Sciences and mathematics in
Hebrew circles. In 1879, Nahum Sokolow joined the
editorial board (editor, 1904) and under his influence
political essays, stories, feuilletons, etc. were incor-
porated. When the journal became a daily in 1886, the
430 HEBREWS — HEBRON
War oflndependence (1948) gravely affected the work
of the H. U. which was cut off from its buildings,
laboratories, and librarles on Mt. Scopus, and was
compelled to use various temporary premises in central
Jerusalem. In 1954, work commenced on a second
permanent site at Givat Ram in the W suburbs of
Jerusalem, the first buildings being opened in 1955 and
the campus in 1958. Access to Mt. Scopus was opened
again after the Six-Day War in 1967. It was decided to
rebuild the Scopus campus primarily for the humani-
ties, the social Sciences, and law, leaving Givat Ram as
the Science center. The Scopus building program was
completed by the 1980’s. In addition the H.U. has its
Medical and Dental School in En Kerem, and its
Agricultural Faculty at Rehovot. In 1990 the faculty
numbered over 2,000 with 18,000 students. The
student body was being increased to accomodate the
immigration from the USSR. 1,300 students attended
the School for Overseas Students.
HEBREWS: English form of Heb. Jvrim, denoting ei-
ther a descendant of Eber, grandson of Shem (Gen.
10:24) or one who comes from the other side of the
River [Euphrates] (Heb. ever ha-nahar). Abraham is
called "the Hebrew" (Gen. 14:13) and the term was
later sometimes used interchangeably with Israelites
(Exod. 9:1, etc.). It is disputable whether the H abiru
and H. are identical. In the 19th cent., "Hebrew" was
occasionally used in preference t# "Jew " as implying
greater dignity, though on the Continent of Europc
"Israelite" was more common. H. was the origin of
ebreo and Yevrei, the usual Italian and Russian words
for Jew.
HEBRON (in the Bible also called Kiriath-Arba): An-
cient city of Judah, 18 m. S of Jerusalem. Before
Abraham's time, it was under the control of Hittites.
Abraham bought from them a plot of land (the Cave of
M achpelah ) in H. in which to bury Sarah; today a
mosque stands on the reputed site. Joshua assignvd II.
to Caleb, and it became a levitical city and a city of
refuge. David reigned there for seven and a half years
before transferring his capital to Jerusalem. A Jewish
community continued in H. in the Byzantine Period
and under Arab rule. The modern city is situated
somewhat to the E of the historical location and was
(together with Jerusalem, Tiberias, and Safed) one of
Palestinian Jewry's four sacred towns. Jews livecl
there throughout recent centuries and in 1890, num­
bered 1,500 with yeshivot and religious schools. For
economic reasons, their number subsequently declined,
although the great Lithuanian yeshivah of Slobodka
was transferred there in 1925. In 1929, the Arabs
massacred many Jews of the town (then numbering
700), and the survivors fled. About 30 Jewish families
returned in 1931, but after the Arab riots of 1936. no
Jews lived in H. Its population in 1967 was 38.310.
After the Six-Day War of 1967, a number of 1
 HECHLER, WILLIAM H. — HEILBRON, SIRIAN MORRIS
aaLiin settled in H. establishing the Kiryat Arba quarter
-: of the city. This numbered 3,700 in 1988.
'■ ECHLER, W ILLIAM H. (1845-1931): Zionist
sympathizer. A British Protestant clergyman who
served as chaplain to the British embassy in Vienna and
latcr as tutor to the children of Grand Duke Frederick
of Badén, he became inspired by Zionist ideáis and
advised Herzl on política! matters. H. assisted Herzl in
making contacts, especially through Grand Duke
Frederick, an únele of the Germán kaiser William II.
He wrote The Restoration o f the Jews to Palestine
•84).
CHT, BEN (1894-1964): US author. His first nov­
el Erik Dorn was experimental, but it was
succeeded by a number of sensational novéis (The
Florentine Dagger, A Jew in Love). In 1945-8, he
actively supported the Irgun Tzevai Leumi. He wrote a
personal Jewish credo A Guidefor the Bedevilled and
an autobiography A Child o f the Century (1954). H.
also wrote plays and film scenarios.
HEDER (Heb. "room"): A school for teaching children
the basis of Jewish religious observance. The h
ivas a prominent feature of traditional Jewish education
in E Europe. The term is now sometimes applied to the
school attached to a synagogue.
HE-HALUTZ (Heb. "The Pioneer"): Federation
fonned by halutz (pioneering) youth movements. It
is responsible for halutz education, training farms for
General view of Hebron.
431
halutz movements, and immigration to Israel of youth
movement members within a framework created by the
Histadrut. The first H. group was founded in the US in
1915 by David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi;
many of its members fought in the Jewish Legión
against the Turks. In E Europe, H. was inspired by
Yoseph Trumpeldor after World War I, and was
closely bound up with Jewish self-defense. Similar
groups were formed throughout Europe in 1919-21,
and were combined into a world organization in 1924.
H . supplied the bulk of pioneering labor for the
upbuilding of Palestine, especially in agriculture, and is
responsible for the growth of new social forms there.
From 1933. it became strong in Germany and grew
rapidly in Central Europe, World War II swept away
the Central and E Europe an movements. which were
prominent in Jewish resistance in Warsaw and
elsewhere. During the later I920's and more particular-
ly in the 1930's, the pioneering ideal developed in
affiliated youth movements (e.g. H ashomer ha-Tzair,
G ordonia , H a -B onim , B ene A kiva ) and pioneers
emigrated to Palestine from N and S Africa, W Europe,
the US, etc.
HEIDELBERG: Germán town. Jews are mentioned
there in the late 13th cent. The community was
martyred during the Black Death massacres (1349), but
renewed from 1360 to 1391. Individuáis settled there
from the late 15th cent, and in 1714, a synagogue was
consecrated. The number of Jews grew in the 18th
cent, against the wishes of the local population, and in
1819, H ep ! Hep ! riots broke out. The 1933 Jewish
community, numbering 1,400, was annihilated. Jewish
pop. (1990): c. 100.lt is now the home of an Institute
for Higher Jewish Studies.
HEIDENHEIM, W OLF BENJAMIN (1757-1832):
Germán liturgical scholar. In 1799, he set up a
press at Rodelheim where he printed important Hebrew
works. The festival prayer-book which he published
(1800) with commentary and Germán translation
(in Hebrew letters) became the standard text, while
his daily prayer-book went through over 100
editions.
HEIFETZ, JASCHA (1901-1987): Violinist. Bom in
Vilna, he began to make concert appearances before
he was 5. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, he
settled in the US. In 1926, he donated a concert
hall to Tel Aviv. H. transcribed many pieces for
the violin, and wrote a number of original composi-
tions.
HEIJERMANS, HERMANN (1864-1924): Dutch au­
thor and playwright. He published short stories,
novéis, and plays, many devoted to unsparing criticism
of the social order. Some of his works depict Jewish
life.
HEILBRON, SIR IAN MORRIS (1886-1959): British
chemist. He was professor at the Univs. of
Liverpool, Manchester, and London and held several
982 YEHUD YEMEN

Jews left Y. to settle on the land in S Ukraine. Its

community was destroyed during the Germán occupa-
tion in World War II.
YELLIN, DAVID (1864-1941): Palestinian scholar.
He was one of the first teachers of secular Hebrew
in his native Jerusalem where he later headed the
Hebrew Teachers' College and was one of the organ-
izers of the national Hebrew educational system. He
became a central figure in the Palestinian Jewish
community, helping to found the Vaad Leumi, Jewish
Teachers' Organization, B'nai B'rith in Palestine, etc.;
he served as deputy-mayor of Jerusalem 1920-5,
president of the Asephat ha-Nivharim and head of the
Vaad Leumi 1920-8. His literary researches centered
on medieval Jewish poetry (on which he lectured at the
Hebrew Univ.) and Hebrew philology. Y.'s publica-
tions inelude a monograph on Maimonides, Bible
David Yeliin. studies, a Hebrew dictionary and grammar, and an
edition of the poems of Todros Abulafia.
YEHUD: Israel urban settlement near Lydda. The town YELLIN-MOR, NATAN see MOR
existed in Bible times (Josh. 19:45) and was reset- YEMEN: Arabic ñame of SW A rabia; today an inde-
tled by Jews retuming from the Babylonian captivity. It pendent State. Various traditions trace the settlement
was an Arab village until 1948 and was subsequently of Jews in this región back to biblical times and even to
occupied by new immigrants mostly working in the Tel the era of the First Temple. Immigration on a larger
Aviv area. Pop. (1990): 15,000. scale (from Palestine and also from Mesopotamia, etc.)
YEHUDAI: Gaon of Sura 750-4. A native of Pumbedi- does not appear to have preceded the 2nd cent. CE.
ta, he succeeded Solomon bar Hasdai as head of the Inscriptions discovered in the Bet Shearim catacombs
Sura academy. He was the first to enter systematically evidence the existence of Jewish communities in Y. in
into relations with the growing Jewish communities of
N Africa and strove to enforce Babylonian usages even
in Palestine. Over a hundred of his responsa have sur-
vived. His chief literary legacy is the code H alakhot
P esukot which was written for him by his pupils, as
Y. himself was blind.
YEHUDIBEN SHESHET (fl. late lOth cent.): Gram-
marian. A pupil of D unash ben L abrat, Y. wrote a
venomous rejoinder to the polemic which the pupils of
M enahem ben Saruk directed against Dunash after the
latter's attack upon their teacher.
YEIVIN see YEVIN
YEKOPO (initials of Russ. "Committee for Jewish As-
sistance"): Society founded in 1915 to assist Jews
expelled by the Russian military command from the
Baltic provinces, etc. It was liquidated by the Soviet
authorities in 1920.
YEKUM PURKAN (Heb. "may redemption come"):
First words of two Aramaic prayers, one for the
welfare of the communal and scholastic heads of
Palestine and Babylonia and the other, of the general
community. They were composed during the Gaonic
Period and are recited in Ashkenazi communities after
the reading of the Law on Sabbaths, sometimes with
modifications to remove anachronisms.
YEUAMMEDENU see TANHUMA
YELGAVA (Mitau): Town in Latvia. An organized
Jewish community existed there from 1730, except
for 1759-70 when Jews were excluded. In 1840, 863 Operation Magic Carpet.
 YEROHAM
the early 3rd cent., and Byzantine sources testify to
them from the 4th cent. At first, their number was
probably small (estimated at 3,000 for the first centu-
ries), but they made many converts among the native
population. According to Moslem tradition, conversión
to Judaism started under Abu Karib Asad (ruled c.
390-420), who became a Jew himself and propagated
his new faith among his subjects. Arabic sources ex-
pressly State that Judaism became widely spread among
Bedouin tribes of S Arabia and that Jewish converts
were also found with the Hamdan, a N Yemenite tribe.
At this time, many of the upper strata of society also
embraced the Jewish faith. The position of Judaism in
Y. reached its zenith under Dhu N uwas; after his death
and the downfall of his kingdom, Christianity rapidly
gained ground in S Arabia, especially among the for-
mer converts to Judaism; but even then, some Yemen­
ite rulers were of the Jewish faith. After the rise of Is ­
la m , the Jews of Y. were spared the fate of their
coreligionists in H ejaz . Against payment of the taxes
imposed on all non-Moslems, M ohammed assured
them protection and freedom of religión. No
information is extant on Yemenite Jews for the
subsequent centuries, but their position must have been
precarious, especially after the establishment of Shi'ite
rale in the country (early lOth cent.). The men only
were educated in Jewish traditional studies, knowing
Hebrew and Aramaic well. The Kabbalah was popular
among them. They produced several liturgical poets,
the most celebrated being Shalom S habbazi . The
sectarian rulers of Y. proved more oppressive to their
Jewish subjects than orthodox sovereigns in other
Moslem countries. The restrictions imposed by Mo-
hammedan law on non-Moslems were always rigidly
enforced in Y., and up to modera times, its Jews were
strictly forbidden, e.g. to ride on animáis or wear the
same clothes as Moslems. They were deprived of their
property on the pretext that any semblance of wealth
was incompatible with the status assigned to the Jews
by God. They constantly suffered insults and abuses,
since religious law was interpreted to the effect that
unbelievers should be disgraced. Orphans were
converted by forcé. The Jews usually lived in villages
or quarters of their own, but in the late 17th cent., after
they had been expelled and on their recall not allowed
to re-enter their former homes inside the walls, Jewish
suburbs sprang up outside the Moslem cities. Down to
the 19th cent. Yemenite Jewry experienced a number of
messianic movements, the best-known of which oc-
curred in the late 12th cent., when a false prophet pro-
claimed the amalgamation of Judaism and Mohamme-
danism; to counter him, Maimonides wrote his Epistle
to Yemen (1172) in which he exhorted the Jews to
abide by the faith of their fathers despite compulsión
and persecutions. The late history of Yemenite Jews
consists mainly of a series of persecutions.The Jews of
Y. achieved renown as excellent artisans, chiefly
YESHIVAH 983
silversmiths. In the early 19th cent., Yemenite Jews are
said to have numbered 30,000, about one third living
in Sanaa. Systematic Yemenite Jewish immigration to
Palestine began c. 1910 and attained fairly large
proportions despite constant difficulties. This contin-
ued until 1948 by which time there were 18,000
Yemenite Jews in Palestine. Virtually the whole Jewish
community, numbering about 46,000, was transferred
to Israel in 1949-50 in O peration M agic C a rpet .
There are still some 1,400 Jews in the country.
YEROHAM: Urban settlement in the N. Negev, Israel.
Founded in 1951, most of its inhabitants work in
the Great Cráter and in the Dead Sea Works at Sodom.
The ñame is mentioned in an Egyptian source of the
lOth century BCE. concerning Shishak's war with
Israel. Pop. (1990): 5,890.
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: University in New York,
US. The first American university under Jewish
auspices, it traces its origins to the Etz Chaim yeshivah
founded in 1886 and the R Isaac Elhanan Theological
Seminary founded in 1896. The two merged in 1915,
added Yeshiva College in 1928, and became Y.U. in
1945. With its main center in the Washington Heights
area of New York city, it also maintains educational
facilities in the Bronx and Manhattan. Y.U. ineludes
the R Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva
College for Men, College of Arts and Sciences,
College for Women, Teachers' Institutes for Men and
Women, Gradúate School, School of General Jewish
Studies, School for Higher Jewish Studies, Gradúate
School of Education, School of Social Work, Institutes
of Mathematics, Cantonal Training, and Israel Studies,
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the
Gradúate División of Medical Sciences. Its auxiliary
Services inelude a psychological center, educational
Service, audio-visual Service, community Service and
West Coast División. It publishes the Hebrew
periodicals H oreh, Talpioth, and Sura as well as
Studies in Judaica and Studies in Torah Judaism and
the mathematical joumal Scripta Mathematica.
YESHIVAH (Heb.) : Jewish traditional school devoted
primarily to the study of the Talmud and rabbinic
literature. The y. is a direct continuation of the A cad-
emies which flourished in Palestine and Babylonia in
the Talmudic and Gaonic Period and which were later
established in various parts of Europe and elsewhere.
Lithuania is the country most noted for the growth of
the y. in modera times, beginning with the establish­
ment of the y. of Volozhin in 1803. Famous yeshivot
founded in the 19th cent, inelude Tels, Slobodka, Mir,
and Kamenetz. World War II brought to an end
yeshivot in E Europe; many of them transferred to
America or Palestine. Almost all the American yeshi­
vot, as well as most of the newly-established ones in
Israel, maintain a secular program of study on the
intermedíate level simultaneously with the traditional
grounding in talmudic scholarship.
 984 YESHIVATH TORAH VODAATH AND MESIVTA — YIDDISH

YESHIVATH TORAH VODAATH AND MESIVTA:
Orthodox educational institution founded in 1918 in
Brooklyn, New York. It consists of elementary and
high schools, as well as a teachers' and a rabbinical
seminary.
YESUD HA-MAALAH: Israel village in the Upper
Jordán Valley. Founded in 1883, its settlers—
originating from Mezhirich in Russia—suffered
severely in the early years from malaria. Barón
Edmond de R othschild took the settlement under his
protection, but development was nevertheless
extremely slow, irrigation not being introduced until
shortly before 1948. Pop. (1990): 759.
U ( i t * itt
, « t i i i 'i o»w «J "*-•-> *«-,( <v-
|*H •>-»•«* *’ • \*.\l *,7 -l.At'íH T.M
i* I’** &•? -i» | <ii( * »«<
YETZER HA-RA and YETZER HA-TOV (Heb.): The
evil and the good inclination. Yetzer Ha-Ra is fre-
quently used in a restricted sense to refer to the sexual
urge: see also G ood & E vil.
YETZIRAH, SEPHER see SEPHER YETZIRAH
YEVAMOT (Heb. "levirates"): First tractate in the tal-
mudic order Nashim containing 16 chapters. It
has gemara in both the Babylonian and Palestinian
Talmuds. Y. deais with the status of the widow of a
man who has died childless and whose brother must
contract L e v ir a te M a r r ia g e with her or grant
H alitzah.
YEVIN, SHEMUEL (1896-1982): Archeologist. Of
Russian birth, he settled in Palestine before World
War I and participated in many archeological ex-
peditions. Y. was secretary of the Vaad ha-Lashon
1935-42, and directed the Israel Department of Antiqui-
ties 1948-59. He wrote on the Bar Kokhba revolt and
I' . ¡
was an editor of the Entziklopedia Mikrait ("Biblical

lsv e:
Encyclopedia").
YEVSEKTZIA (abbr. from Russ. "Jewish branch"):
<ti Jewish branch of the Russian Communist Party
1***»
v y 7 . - I| t >» '» TjX-I-3Í _ ^ —• r| 1918-30. It was responsible for the liquidation of
i • -'•w» V*n -3JJ •»*-, ««7> h -Í-Vm,
communal organizations and Jewish institutions, boy-
H ! .j , ' |4* ,* 3 I*»*.»* ?>•»« |<>H X? 4»Í| cotting of synagogues, and activities against Hebrew
.¿r» »■•»* -»■>»«« j « ” i t»~»sA J f i and Judaism. In 1926 it initiated territorial plans in
f7 J íi- tü '-*»•? H*» '"»**' l , £ i .,7 Crimea and later in B irobidjan. Its organ was the daily
E mes . Many of its leaders were executed in the purges
po pp tXj-7
|X j -7 ».' 'W
». W . ’t’tr r ' ' "*«K
AaH mM t t””’*’*--It'
--It'bb*-'T
'- » ?? | Jtl
ti
of 1936-8.
:•»« y * * ’* "U»? *-*' fH - « ía t „ H
YEZIERSKA, ANZIA (1885-1970): Author. Bom in
|M| « tlíS IHM '*% •»*’! tó» j •«*» | H - t » 7 |. |f J,7
Russia, she was in the US from 1901. Her stories
. «* «**.*» r t“ H v * l , m * '0’” j p € and novéis depict the experiences of Jewish immigrants
»» 1« W S VM a 4 mi v*V' •.'>*« | w< ¡ t í : , d f„H in America.
3. t ; » , . . | . h vM ” ” ''M -S *’* »«* YIDDISH: Language spoken by a majority of Ash-
f ¿ \ Hn « « ,» » <»**« t v »> n T** ^ kenazi Jewry from the Middle Ages. Four main
^ « J , ir» v stH » '-,.. - 0> ’ ? !’•( X 7 VH l'O components entered into the formation of Y.: Hebrew,
„t, tj?y > ’.'-Vm }•* «V’‘ ' “n Loez (the Jewish correlates of Oíd French and Oíd
M .. "«*» “’H •»« "AU-í ti Italian), Germán, and Slavic. Of these, medieval
i J f K - -A n »»•> v * *” * l'1**4' ■72*'•< Germán of the Middle Rhine región was the most
¿7 «-A --H 3-«» «?»•*» «-• important. Germán words, many in new applications.
; L h v ^ u ., ^ .»«»>*•>*- r * ? * ’ ’ “ •:* have supplied about 85% of the vocabulary and the
basic grammatical stracture. Hebrew words predom­
7 *>»< ** n i L -li ” V’
ínate in the religious and intellectual spheres. English
n T ’,u4 VvOM t words have become increasingly significant during
.\4 77.|, t.4 « 7» • « “ • •A**, "*t U
recent decades in English-speaking countries and many
|..y ^«4 \vy,H \*» -«.-'4 »í»
neo-Hebrew words have been added since the rise of
I* |» 7 ^4 £»'•’* |>.» »«7 - w ,f Israel. The structure of the language, however, has
7 .,V t I » ' •*' 7 K.6.H »»*< hardly been affected by vocabulary changes. Since the
Lirt-*-**' tV . ií >^ ó »’ 7**»* formation of Initial Y., 1000-1250, the language has
H n MX>4. t u - ¿ i * '? I19 *<A»1 undergone constant growth and may be divided chron-
. A | , # |«n »*« ,tíy !**•« , ’H I h j»* , « ologically into Oíd Y., 1250-1500; Middle Y. 1500-
ytw ^ “•i | ' H f-1' ” Y*< ’*» i" ‘* P' |*J* 1750; and modern Y., from 1750 on. Y. may also be
divided spatially into western Y., now almost extinct,
-♦•A|»»4 and eastern Y., subdivided into a northern dialect
centered in Lithuania and a Southern dialect extending
from Poland to the Ukraine and Romanía. In the US,
Page from a 16íh cent, ms collection of Yiddish tales. the Southern dialect dominates on the stage and the
 YIDDISH LITERATURE — YIDDISHE GESELLSHAFTEN KOMITET
northem dialect on the lecture platform, but in daily
speech every variety of pronunciation is found. The
standard pronunciation is based on the northem dialect.
Y. is written in Hebrew characters. Spelling was
standardized in 1937 by Yivo, but some newspapers
still adhere to older spelling and in the Soviet Union,
the traditional spelling of the Hebrew words in Y.
was abandoned. At the outbreak of World War II, Y.
speakers numbered between ten and twelve million.
Extermination, however, decimated this number. In W
Europe and America, Y. once predominant among
Jews, is now comparatively little spoken by the native-
bom. There has been a small revival of Y. including
university studies and it is spoken by the ultra-
Orthodox but in general it is fast disappearing.
YIDDISH LITERATURE: The first important Yid­
dish literary works were produced in the 16th cent,
and included Arthurian romances, of which the most
popular was the Bovo-Buch or Bovo-Maase, a verse
epic of the adventures of Prince Bovo of Antona
(=Bevis of Hampton), composed by Elijah Levita in
1507-8. The best heroic epic of Oíd Yiddish with a
Jewish hero was the Shmuel-Buch, which centered
about King David. The M aase-Buch was a prose
collection of talmudic legends and folktales in which
the lore of many peoples and of countless centuries
were recorded in the transformations effected by the
Jewish mind. The Tzenah u-Reenah, a combination of
stories and moralistic teachings based on the Bible,
was the Yiddish book most widely read by women.
Tekhines, Yiddish devotional prayers, were also
especially composed for women and still retain their
vogue. Yiddish literary production declined in the 17th
and 18th cents. During the first half of the 19th cent.,
Yiddish was used as a médium of enlightenment by
Haskalah writers, such as Solomon Ettinger, Abraham
Ber Gottlober, and Isaac Meir Dick. They paved the
way for the classícal masters—Mendele Mocher
Sephorim, Isaac Leib Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem. In
fiction, the most gifted contemporaries of the classicists
were Jacob Dinesohn, Mordecai Spector, and S.
An-Ski, although none of them attained the popularity
of the prolific Shomer, pseudonym of Nahum Meir
Shaikevitch. The wedding bards Berl Broder, Velvel
Zbarzher Ehrenkranz, Eliakim Zunser, and others
paved the way for Abraham Goldfaden, father of the
Yiddish theater. The drama, which began in Romanía
and Russia in the 1870's, reached its climax on
American soil in the first quarter of the 20th cent, with
Jacob Gordin, León Kobrin, Peretz Hirschberg, and
David Pinski. The undidactic Yiddish lyric of quality
began with S. S. Frug and continued with Jehoash
(pseudonym of Solomon Bloomgarden, a master stylist
who also rendered the Bible into lucid Yiddish),
Abraham Reisin, and H. Leivick. The socialist lyric of
Morris Winchevsky, Morris Rosenfeld, and Abraham
Liessin was far more effective on the American Jewish
985
Isaac Bashevis Singer.
scene than the anarchist lyric of David Edelstadt and
Joseph Bovshover. The golden glow of Y. L. in
Russia was best reflected in the sad, impressionistic
tales of David Bergelson, while the most widely read
Yiddish novelist of Poland and America was Sholem
Asch. Asch and Isaac B ashevis S inger became known
to an intemational public through translation and
Singer's Nobel Prize in literatura was a recognition of
Y.L. In lyric poetry more than in any other médium,
literary schools aróse and fell, from the Yiddish
Introspectivists who centered about the periodical In
Sich—Jacob Glatstein, A. Glanz-Leyeles, and N. B.
Minkoff—to the group Yung Vilna, which included
Abraham Suzkever, Chaim Grade, and Shmerke
Katcherginsky. The Jewish tragedy of 1939-45 in E
Europe, together with the Soviet repression, has
annihilated the former Creative centers of Y. L. On the
other hand, the survivors have implanted its
influences—it is yet to be seen whether or not with
permanent results— more widely than ever before, e.g.
in S Africa, Australia, and S America, as well as in
England, Israel, and the US. In the 1960's, the
outstanding organs for Creative Y. L. were Die Goldne
Keht, published in Tel Aviv, Die Zukunft published in
New York and Sovietishe Heimland published in
Moscow. The Yivo, founded in 1925 in Vilna and
having its main center in New York since World War
II, is the principal institute for the study of Y. L.
YIDDISHE GESELLSHAFTEN KOMITET (Yidd.
"Jewish public committee"; abbr. Yidgazkom):
Organization founded in 1920 by the Jewish
Commissariat and the American Joint Distribution
Committee to care for Jewish relief and social activities