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Ma'amad
Ma'amad or Mahamad ( he, מעמד) was Council of Elders (or "the board of directors") of the communities of Sephardi Jews ( Spanish-Portuguese Jews) corresponding to ''qahal'' of the Ashkenazi Jews. Ma'amad was described as extremely conservative and authoritarian. Gotthard Deutsch, Max SchloessingerMAHAMAD (more correctly MA'AMAD from '' Jewish Encyclopedia'' In Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ... ( Ta'an. 15b:3), the term referred to the "members of the priestly watch" in charge of the Temple service. The Council consisted of four wardens (''parnassim'') and a treasurer ('' gabbai''), and its members were elected, actually, coopted, from the "yeḥidim", those who had full rights of membership in the synagogue. The ma'amad of the Spanish-Portuguese of Lo ...
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Gabbai
A ''gabbai'' ( he, גבאי), also known as ''shamash'' (, sometimes spelled ''shamas'') or warden ( UK, similar to churchwarden) is a beadle or sexton, a person who assists in the running of synagogue services in some way. The role may be undertaken on a voluntary or paid basis. A ''shamash'' (literally 'servant') or ''gabbai'' can also mean an assistant to a rabbi (particularly the secretary or personal assistant to a Hasidic rebbe). In ma'amad, the Council of Elders (or "the board of directors") of the communities of Sephardi Jews, the position of ''gabbai'' was that of the treasurer. Etymology The word ''gabbai'' is Hebrew and, in Talmudic times, meant "collector of taxes or charity" or "treasurer". The term ''shamash'' is sometimes used for the ''gabbai'', the caretaker or "man of all work" in a synagogue. Duties While the specific set of duties vary from synagogue to synagogue, a gabbai's responsibilities will typically include ensuring that the religious services ...
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Ta'an
''Ta'anit'' or ''Taanis'' ( he, תַּעֲנִית) is a volume (or "tractate") of the Mishnah, Tosefta, and both Talmuds. In Judaism these are the basic works of rabbinic literature. The tractate of Ta'anit is devoted chiefly to the fast-days, their practices and prayers. In most editions of the Talmud this treatise is the ninth in the mishnaic order of Seder Mo'ed, and is divided into four chapters containing thirty-four folio in all. The following is a summary of its contents: Summary of the Mishnah and Babylonian Talmud Chapter 1: Concerning the date on which one begin to mention rain in the second blessing of Shemoneh Esreh and to pray for rain in the eighth blessing (1:1-3); the time during which one fasts on account of scarcity of rain—two successive periods of three days each, and a final one of seven days—and the distinctions between these various days with regard to strictness in fasting (1:4-6); nature of the national mourning in case no rain falls despite many ...
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Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefarditas or Hispanic Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the Iberian Peninsula. The term, which is derived from the Hebrew ''Sepharad'' (), can also refer to the Mizrahi Jews of Western Asia and North Africa, who were also influenced by Sephardic law and customs. Many Iberian Jewish exiles also later sought refuge in Mizrahi Jewish communities, resulting in integration with those communities. The Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula prospered for centuries under the Muslim reign of Al-Andalus following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, but their fortunes began to decline with the Christian ''Reconquista'' campaign to retake Spain. In 1492, the Alhambra Decree by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain called for the exp ...
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Spanish And Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the immediate generations following the forced expulsion of unconverted Jews from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497. Although the 1492 and 1497 expulsions of unconverted Jews from Spain and Portugal were separate events from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions (which were established over a decade earlier in 1478), they were ultimately linked, as the Inquisition eventually also led to the fleeing out of Iberia of many descendants of Jewish converts to Catholicism in subsequent generations. Despite the fact that the original Edicts of Expulsion did not apply to Jewish-origin New Christian '' conversos'' —as these were now legally Christians— the discriminatory practices that the Inquisition nevertheless placed upon them, whi ...
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Qahal
The ''qahal'' ( he, קהל) was a theocratic organizational structure in ancient Israelite society according to the Hebrew Bible. See column345-6 The Ashkenazi Jewish system of a self-governing community or kehila from medieval Christian Europe (France, Germany, Italy) was later adopted further east by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (16th–18th centuries) and its successors, with an elected council of laymen, the kahal, at the helm of each kehila. This institution was exported also further to the east as Jewish settlement advanced. In Poland it was abolished in 1822, and in most of the Russian Empire in 1844. Etymology and meaning The Hebrew word ''qahal'', which is a close etymological relation of the name of ''Qoheleth'' ( Ecclesiastes), comes from a root meaning "convoked roup; its Arabic cognate, ''qāla'', means ''to speak''. Where the Masoretic Text uses the term ''qahal'', the Septuagint usually uses the Koine Greek term ''ekklesia'', , which means "summoned gro ...
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Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singular: , Modern Hebrew: are a Jewish diaspora population who coalesced in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. Their traditional diaspora language is Yiddish (a West Germanic language with Jewish linguistic elements, including the Hebrew alphabet), which developed during the Middle Ages after they had moved from Germany and France into Northern Europe and Eastern Europe. For centuries, Ashkenazim in Europe used Hebrew only as a sacred language until the revival of Hebrew as a common language in 20th-century Israel. Throughout their numerous centuries living in Europe, Ashkenazim have made many important contributions to its philosophy, scholarship, literature, art, music, and science. The rabbinical t ...
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Encyclopaedia Judaica
The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, language, scripture, and religious teachings. As of 2010, it had been published in two editions accompanied by a few revisions. The English-language ''Judaica'' was also published on CD-ROM. The CD-ROM version has been enhanced by at least 100,000 hyperlinks and several other features, including videos, slide shows, maps, music and Hebrew pronunciations. While the CD-ROM version is still available, the publisher has discontinued it. The encyclopedia was written by Israeli, American and European professional subject specialists. History Preceding attempts Between 1901 and 1906 ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' had been published in 12 volumes. It was followed by the ''Jüdisches Lexikon I–II'' (1927–28, in German), ''Encyclopaedia Judaica I– ...
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Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the history, culture, and state of Judaism up to the early 20th century. The encyclopedia's managing editor was Isidore Singer and the editorial board was chaired by Isaac K. Funk and Frank H. Vizetelly. The work's scholarship is still highly regarded. The American Jewish Archives deemed it "the most monumental Jewish scientific work of modern times", and Rabbi Joshua L. Segal said "for events prior to 1900, it is considered to offer a level of scholarship superior to either of the more recent Jewish encyclopedias written in English." It was originally published in 12 volumes between 1901 and 1906 by Funk & Wagnalls of New York, and reprinted in the 1960s by KTAV Publishing House. It is now in the public domain. History Conce ...
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Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews. The term ''Talmud'' normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud (), although there is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud (). It may also traditionally be called (), a Hebrew abbreviation of , or the "six orders" of the Mishnah. The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah (, 200 CE), a written compendium of the Oral Torah; and the Gemara (, 500 CE), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible. The term "Talmud" may ref ...
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Synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worship. Synagogues have a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels), where Jews attend religious Services or special ceremonies (including Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs or Bat Mitzvahs, Confirmations, choir performances, or even children's plays), have rooms for study, social hall(s), administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious school and Hebrew school, sometimes Jewish preschools, and often have many places to sit and congregate; display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork throughout; and sometimes have items of some Jewish historical significance or history about the Synagogue itself, on display. Synagogues are consecrated spaces used for the purpose of Jewish prayer, study, assembly, a ...
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The King Of Schnorrers
The King of Schnorrers is Israel Zangwill's 1894 picaresque novel,Milton Hindus,The King of Schnorrers, by Israel Zangwill, ''Commentary'', March 1954 a collection of amusing tragicomic episodes of '' schnorring'' by "Manasseh Bueno Barzillai Azevedo da Costa, thenceforward universally recognised, and hereby handed down to tradition, as the King of Schnorrers", in England on the break of 18th/19th centuries, illustrated by Jewish prints and caricatures of the period. Literary criticism The novel describes the exploits of two ''schnorrers'', Manasseh da Costa, a Sephardi Jew, and his sidekick Yankele ben Itzhok, an Ashkenazi (specifically, a Polish Jew). (The fact that they are from different communities is at the center of the conflict of the plot of Chapter 5 "Showing How the King Dissolved the Mahamad".) Manasseh deals with the life with his wit and "the truly Hidalgo pride". Manasseh's frequent victim is Joseph Grobstock, a ''nouveau riche'' capitalist. A significant compone ...
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Jewish Society
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The people of the Kingdom of Israel and the ethnic and religious group known as the Jewish people that descended from them have been subjected to a number of forced migrations in their history" and Hebrews of historical History of ancient Israel and Judah, Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, "Historically, the religious and ethnic dimensions of Jewish identity have been closely interwoven. In fact, so closely bound are they, that the traditional Jewish lexicon hardly distinguishes between the two concepts. Jewish religious practice, by definition, was observed exclusively by the Jewish people, and notions of Jewish peoplehood, nation, and community were suffused with faith in the Jewish God, ...
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