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Abraham Ben Elijah Of Vilna
Abraham ben Elijah of Vilna also known as Abraham ben HaGaon; (), was a Litvak Talmudist who lived in Lithuania. There is some debate as to when he was born. Some place his birth as early as 1749, but more recent scholarship suggests he was actually born in 1766. He was born in Vilna and died there on December 14, 1808. He was the son of Elijah, the Vilna Gaon, the most famous Talmudist of modern times. He was educated under the supervision of his father, who was famous both for his opposition to both the Hasidic movement, and the dry scholasticism which dominated the rabbinic leadership of Poland at that time. According to the custom of the time, he married at the age of twelve, but continued his studies in the Talmudic colleges in other cities, and after a few years returned home, where he completed his studies under his father. Like his father, he never officiated as rabbi, but was a highly respected member of the Jewish community of Vilna, in which he held various offices. W ...
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Litvaks
{{Infobox ethnic group , group = Litvaks , image = , caption = , poptime = , region1 = {{flag, Lithuania , pop1 = 2,800 , region2 = {{flag, South Africa , pop2 = 67,500 , langs = {{hlist, Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian , rels = Judaism , related-c = Other Ashkenazi JewsBelarusian Jews, Russian Jews, Latvian Jews, Ukrainian Jews, Estonian Jews, Polish Jews {{Jews and Judaism sidebar , Population Litvaks ({{Langx, yi, ליטװאַקעס) or Lita'im ({{Langx, he, לִיטָאִים) are Jews who historically resided in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki Region, Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas of modern-day Russia and Ukraine). Over 90% of the population was killed during the Holocaust. The term is sometimes used to cover ...
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Zohar
The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The ''Zohar'' contains discussions of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of ego to darkness and "true self" to "the light of God". The ''Zohar'' was first publicized by Moses de León (c. 1240 – 1305 CE), who claimed it was a Tannaitic work recording the teachings of Simeon ben Yochai (). This claim is universally rejected by modern scholars, most of whom believe de León, also an infamous forger of Geonic material, wrote the book himself between 1280 and 1286. Some scholars argue that the ''Zohar'' is the work of multiple medieval authors and/or contains a small amount of genuinely antique novel mate ...
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1808 Deaths
Events January–March * January 1 ** The importation of slaves into the United States is formally banned, as the 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves takes effect. However Americans still continue the slave trade by transporting Africans to Cuba and Brazil.. ** Sierra Leone becomes a British Crown Colony. * January 22 – Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil: John VI of Portugal, John (Dom João), Prince Regent, and the House of Braganza, Braganza royal family of Portugal arrive in their colony of Brazil in exile from the French occupation of their home kingdom. * January 26 – Rum Rebellion: On the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the crown colony, colony of New South Wales, disgruntled military officers of the New South Wales Corps (the "Rum Corps") overthrow and imprison Governor of New South Wales, Governor William Bligh and seize control of the colony. * February 2 – French troops take Rome as part of the Napoleonic Wars. * Febru ...
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18th-century Births
The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to challenge the legitimacy of monarchical and aristocratic power structures. The Industrial Revolution began mid-century, leading to radical changes in human society and the environment. The European colonization of the Americas and other parts of the world intensified and associated mass migrations of people grew in size as part of the Age of Sail. During the century, slave trading expanded across the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, while declining in Russia and China. Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revol ...
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18th-century Lithuanian Rabbis
The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to challenge the legitimacy of monarchical and aristocratic power structures. The Industrial Revolution began mid-century, leading to radical changes in human society and the environment. The European colonization of the Americas and other parts of the world intensified and associated mass migrations of people grew in size as part of the Age of Sail. During the century, slave trading expanded across the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, while declining in Russia and China. Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution, ...
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Samuel Joseph Fuenn
Samuel Joseph Fuenn (; 15 October 1818 – 11 January 1891), also known as Rashi Fuenn () and Rashif (), was a Lithuanian Hebrew writer, scholar, printer, and editor. He was a leading figure of the eastern European Haskalah, and an early member of Ḥovevei Zion. Biography Fuenn was born in Vilna, Russian Empire, the son of merchant and Torah scholar Yitsḥak Aizik Fuenn of Grodno. Though he received a traditional religious education until the age of 17, he also acquired an extensive general knowledge of German literature and other secular subjects, and became proficient in Russian, French, Latin, Polish, and English. He afterwards joined Vilna's circle of young '' maskilim''. In 1848 the government appointed him teacher of Hebrew and Jewish history in the newly founded rabbinical school of Vilna. Fuenn filled this position with great distinction till 1856, when he resigned. The government then appointed him superintendent of the Jewish public schools in the district of Vil ...
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Targum Onkelos
Interlinear text of Hebrew Numbers 6.3–10 with British_Library.html" ;"title="Aramaic Targum Onkelos from the British Library">Aramaic Targum Onkelos from the British Library. Targum Onkelos (or Onqelos; , ''Targūm ’Unqəlōs'') is the primary Jewish Aramaic targum ("translation") of the Torah, accepted as an authoritative translated text of the Five Books of Moses and thought to have been written in the early second century CE. Authorship Authorship of the Targum Onkelos is traditionally attributed to Onkelos, a famous convert to Judaism in Tannaic times (c. 200 CE). According to the Talmud, the essential content of Targum Onkelos was already known in the time of Ezra (immediately after the Babylonian captivity). However, it was later forgotten by the masses, and rerecorded by Onkelos. While the Aramaic translation of the Torah is traditionally attributed to Onkelos, a translation of the Torah into Greek is mentioned in the Talmud as being made by Aquila of Sinop ...
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Menahem Mendel
Menahem or Menachem (, "consoler" or "comforter"; ''Meniḫîmme'' 'me-ni-ḫi-im-me'' Greek: Μεναέμ ''Manaem'' in the Septuagint, Μεναέν ''Manaen'' in Aquila; ; full name: , ''Menahem son of Gadi'') was the sixteenth king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Gadi, and the founder of the dynasty known as the House of Gadi or House of Menahem. The Bible Biblical narrative. Menahem's ten-year reign is told in . When Shallum conspired against and assassinated Zechariah in Samaria, and set himself upon the throne of the northern kingdom, Menahem—who, like Shallum, had served as a captain in Zechariah's army—refused to recognize the murderous usurper. Menahem marched from Tirzah to Samaria, about six miles westwards, and laid siege to Samaria. He took the city, murdered Shallum a month into his reign (), and set himself upon the throne. () According to Josephus, he was a general of the army of Israel. He did brutally suppress a revolt a ...
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Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French Natural history, naturalist, mathematician, and cosmology, cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now called the Jardin des plantes. Buffon's works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent French scientists Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-six quarto volumes of his ''Histoire Naturelle'' during his lifetime, with additional volumes based on his notes and further research being published in the two decades following his death. Ernst Mayr wrote that "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century".Mayr, Ernst 1981. ''The Growth of Biological Thought''. Cambridge: Harvard. p 330 Credited with being one of the first naturalists to recognize ecological succession, he was forced by the theology committee at the University of ...
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Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto (, ; 12 August 1452 – ) was a Sephardic Jewish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian. Born in Castile, he served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal before fleeing to Tunis. His astrolabe of copper, astronomical tables, and maritime charts played an important role in the Spanish and Portuguese voyages of discovery, being used by both Vasco Da Gama and Christopher Columbus. Life Zacuto was born in Salamanca, Kingdom of Castile and León, Castile in 1452. He may have studied and taught astronomy at the University of Salamanca. He later taught astronomy at the universities of Zaragoza and then Carthage. He was well versed in Halakha, Jewish Law, and was the rabbi of his community. Zacuto was actually Abraham Zacuto III, his ancestor the first was the author of the ''Sepher ha-Mishpotim'' in 1311, which today is in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He writes that his ...
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Shimon Bar Yochai
Shimon bar Yochai ( Zoharic Aramaic: , ''Šimʿon bar Yoḥay'') or Shimon ben Yochai (Mishnaic Hebrew: ), also known by the acronym Rashbi, was a 2nd-century tanna or sage of the period of Roman Judaea and early Syria Palaestina. He was one of the most eminent disciples of Rabbi Akiva. The ''Zohar'', a 13th-century foundational work of Kabbalah, is ascribed to him by Kabbalistic tradition, but this claim is universally rejected by modern scholars. In addition, the essential legal works called the ''Sifre'' and '' Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai'' are attributed to him (not to be confused with the ''Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael'', of which much of the text is the same). In the Mishnah, where he is the fourth-most mentioned sage, he is referred to as simply "Rabbi Shimon" except in Hagigah 1:7. In baraitas, midrash, and gemara, his name occurs either as Shimon or as Shimon ben Yochai. An 8th-century pseudonymous attribution of divine revelations to Shimon by the angel Metatro ...
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Samuel Luria
Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venerated as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In addition to his role in the Bible, Samuel is mentioned in Jewish rabbinical literature, in the Christian New Testament, and in the second chapter of the Quran (although the text does not mention him by name). He is also treated in the fifth through seventh books of ''Antiquities of the Jews'', written by the Jewish scholar Josephus in the first century. He is first called "the Seer" in 1 Samuel 9:9. Biblical account Family Samuel's mother was Hannah and his father was Elkanah. Elkanah lived at Ramathaim in the district of Zuph. His genealogy is also found in a pedigree of the Kohathites (1 Chronicles 6:3–15) and in that of Heman the Ezrahite, apparently his grandson (1 Chronicles 6: ...
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