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Ḥushiel Ben Elhanan
Ḥushiel ben Elḥanan was president of the beth midrash at Kairouan, Tunisia, toward the end of the 10th century. He was probably born in Italy, but his origins and travels remain obscure, and his eventual arrival in Kairwan is the subject of a well-known story. The Story of the Four Prisoners According to the ''Sefer Ha-Kabbalah'' of Abraham ibn Daud, Ḥushiel was one of the four scholars who were captured by Abd al-Rahman III, an Arab admiral, while voyaging from Bari to Elaiussa Sebaste to collect money "for the dowries of poor brides." Ḥushiel was sold as a slave in North Africa, but Jewish communities ransomed him and the other three rabbis in Alexandria, Cordoba, and Kairouan. On being ransomed, Ḥushiel went to Kairouan, an ancient seat of Talmudical scholarship. There his Talmudical knowledge gained for him the position of president of the bet ha-midrash—probably after the death of Jacob ben Nissim. However, an autograph letter from Ḥushiel discovere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chushiel Letter
Ḥushiel ben Elḥanan was president of the beth midrash at History of the Jews in Kairouan, Kairouan, Tunisia, toward the end of the 10th century. He was probably born in Italy, but his origins and travels remain obscure, and his eventual arrival in Kairwan is the subject of a well-known story. The Story of the Four Prisoners According to the ''Sefer Ha-Kabbalah'' of Abraham ibn Daud, Ḥushiel was one of the four scholars who were captured by Abd al-Rahman III, an Arab admiral, while voyaging from Bari to Elaiussa Sebaste to collect money "for the dowries of poor brides." Ḥushiel was sold as a slave in North Africa, but Jewish communities ransomed him and the other three rabbis in Alexandria, Córdoba, Spain, Cordoba, and Kairouan. On being ransomed, Ḥushiel went to Kairouan, an ancient seat of Talmudical scholarship. There his Talmudical knowledge gained for him the position of president of the bet ha-midrash—probably after the death of Jacob ben Nissim. However ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob Ben Nissim
Jacob ben Nissim ibn Shahin was a Jewish philosopher and mathematician who lived in Kairouan, Tunisia, in the 10th century; he was a younger contemporary of Saadia. At Jacob's request, Sherira Gaon wrote a treatise entitled ''Iggeret,'' on the redaction of the Mishnah. Jacob is credited with the authorship of an Arabic commentary on the '' Sefer Yeẓirah'' (translated into Hebrew by Moses ben Joseph). He asserts in the introduction that Saadia, while living in Egypt, used to address very insignificant questions to Isaac ben Solomon of Kairouan, and that, on receiving Saadia's commentary, he found that the text had not been understood by the commentator. Jacob therefore decided to write another commentary. In the same introduction Jacob speaks of Galen, repeating the story that that celebrated physician was a Jew named "Gamaliel." The Hebrew translation of Jacob's commentary is still extant in manuscript;Munich MSS., No. 92, 20; De Rossi MSS., No. 769 excerpts from it have been giv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berakhot (Talmud)
Berakhot (, lit. "Blessings") is the first tractate of '' Seder Zeraim'' ("Order of Seeds") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate discusses the rules of prayers, particularly the Shema and the Amidah, and blessings for various circumstances. Since a large part of the tractate is concerned with the many ''berakhot'' (), all comprising the formal liturgical element beginning with the words "Blessed are you, Lord our God....", it is named for the initial word of these special form of prayer. ''Berakhot'' is the only tractate in ''Seder Zeraim'' to have Gemara – rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah – in the Babylonian Talmud. There is however Jerusalem Talmud on all the tractates in ''Seder Zeraim''. There is also a Tosefta for this tractate. The Jewish religious laws detailed in this tractate have shaped the liturgies of all the Jewish communities since the later Talmudic period and continue to be observed by traditional Jewish communities until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rav Papa
Rav Pappa () (c. 300 – died 375) was a Babylonian rabbi, of the fifth generation of amoraim. Biography He was a student of Rava and Abaye. After the death of his teachers he founded a school at Naresh, a city near Sura, in which he officiated as "resh metivta," his friend and associate, Rav Huna ben Joshua, acting as "resh kallah" (356-375). Rav Papa's father seems to have been wealthy and to have enabled his son to devote himself to study. Rav Papa inherited some property from his father; and he also amassed great wealth by brewing beer, an occupation in which he was an expert. He likewise engaged in extensive and successful business undertakings, and his teacher Rava once said of him: "Happy is the righteous man who is as prosperous on earth as only the wicked usually are!". However, Rava also accused Rav Papa and his contemporary Huna of being exploitative in business: "You would take the coats from people's backs". Rav Papa was known for his honesty in business: he once ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish culture, Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews. The Talmud includes the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, including halakha, Jewish ethics, Jewish philosophy, philosophy, Jewish customs, customs, Jewish history, history, and Jewish folklore, folklore, and many other topics. The Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah. This text is made up of 63 Masekhet, tractates, each covering one subject area. The language of the Talmud is Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Talmudic tradition emerged and was compiled between the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Arab conquest in the early seve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Menahem Meiri
Menachem ben Solomon HaMeiri (; , 1249–1315), commonly referred to as HaMeiri, the Meiri, or just Meiri, was a famous medieval Provençal rabbi, and Talmudist. Though most of his expansive commentary, spanning 35 tractates of the Talmud, was not publicly available until the turn of the 19th century, it has since gained widespread renown and acceptance among Talmudic scholars. Biography Menachem HaMeiri was born in 1249 in Perpignan, which then formed part of the Principality of Catalonia. He was the student of Rabbi Reuven, the son of Chaim of Narbonne, France. In his writings, he refers to himself as HaMeiri ("the Meiri", or the Meirite; Hebrew: המאירי), presumably after one of his ancestors named Meir (Hebrew: מאיר), and that is how he is now known. Some have suggested that the reference is to Meir Detrancatleich, a student of the Raavad, who is mentioned in the Meiri's writings as one of his elders. In his youth he was orphaned of his father, and his children were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yitzhak Isaac Halevy Rabinowitz
Yitzhak Isaac Halevy (Rabinowitz) (; September 21, 1847 – May 15, 1914) was a rabbi, Jewish historian, and founder of the Agudath Israel organization. Relatively little of his correspondence survived the Holocaust, and so information concerning his activities is scarce. A somewhat hagiographical treatment based on discovered correspondence of Isaac Halevy is to be found in , and this forms the basis for the present article. Biographical information Isaac Halevy was born in Iwieniec (now in Minsk Region, Belarus), near Vilna into a rabbinical family. He was a grandson of Mordechai Eliezer Kovno. After his father was killed by soldiers, he was raised by his paternal grandfather. At 13, he entered the Volozhin yeshiva, where he was recognized as a talmudic prodigy. He held a number of communal positions in his early adulthood, including gabbai of the aforementioned Volozhin Yeshiva. Halevy was influential in having R. Chaim Soloveichik appointed to head the yeshiva, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lower Mesopotamia
Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It is located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf. In the Middle Ages it was also known as the '' Sawad'' and al-Jazira al-sflia ("Lower Jazira"), which strictly speaking designated only the southern alluvial plain, and Arab Iraq, as opposed to Persian Iraq, the Jibal. Lower Mesopotamia was home to Sumer and Babylonia. Delimitation The medieval Arab geographers placed the northern border between Iraq and Upper Mesopotamia (the ''Jazirah'') in a line running from Anbar on the Euphrates to Tikrit on the Tigris, although later it was shifted to a line running due west from Tikrit, thus including several towns on the Euphrates past Anbar into Iraq. Geography An alluvial plain begins north of Tikrit Near Hamrin Mountains and extends to the Persian Gulf. Here the Tigris and Euphrates lie above the level of the plain in many places, and the whole area is a rive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Europe and the fourth-most populous European Union member state. Spanning across the majority of the Iberian Peninsula, its territory also includes the Canary Islands, in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Balearic Islands, in the Western Mediterranean Sea, and the Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, in mainland Africa. Peninsular Spain is bordered to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; to the east and south by the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar; and to the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. Spain's capital and List of largest cities in Spain, largest city is Madrid, and other major List of metropolitan areas in Spain, urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babylonia
Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorites, Amorite-ruled state . During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was retrospectively called "the country of Akkad" ( in Akkadian), a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. It was often involved in rivalry with the older ethno-linguistically related state of Assyria in the north of Mesopotamia and Elam to the east in Ancient Iran. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi (floruit, fl. –1752 BC middle chronology, or –1654 BC, short chronology timeline, short chronology) created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Etiological Myth
An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place after the initial origin. These stories aim to explain the origins of natural phenomena or human institutions within an already existing world. In Greco-Roman scholarship, the terms founding myth or etiological myth (from 'cause') are occasionally used to describe a myth that clarifies an origin, particularly how an object or custom came into existence. In modern political discourse the terms "founding myth", "foundational myth", etc. are often used as critical references to official or widely accepted narratives about the origins or early history of a nation, a society, a culture, etc. Nature of origin myths Origin myths are narratives that explain how a particular reality came into existence.Eliade 1963, p. 21 They often serve to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western European nations in the early 20th century as a replacement of the term Near East (both were in contrast to the Far East). The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions. Since the late 20th century, it has been criticized as being too Eurocentrism, Eurocentric. The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of West Asia, but without the South Caucasus. It also includes all of Egypt (not just the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai) and all of Turkey (including East Thrace). Most Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world. The list of Middle Eastern countries by population, most populous countries in the region are Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
