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Haman In Rabbinic Literature
Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character of Haman, the anti-Jewish villain of the Book of Esther, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself. Ancestry and other information Haman is identified by the Talmudists with Memucan, the last of the seven princes "who saw the king's face" (Esther 1:14), giving to "Memucan" the signification of "prepared for punishment". Haman was a direct descendant of Agag in the sixteenth generation and consequently an Amalekite. Haman's lineage is given in the Targum Sheni as follows: "Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, son of Srach, son of Buza, son of Iphlotas, son of Dyosef, son of Dyosim, son of Prome, son of Ma'dei, son of Bla'akan, son of Intimros, son of Haridom, son of Sh'gar, son of Nigar, son of Farmashta, son of Vayezatha, (son of Agag, son of Sumkei,) son of Amalek, son of the concubine of Eliphaz, firstborn son of Esau". The Septuagint, however, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rabbinic Literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term ''Sifrut Chazal'' ( he, ספרות חז״ל "Literature f oursages," where '' Hazal'' normally refers only to the sages of the Talmudic era). This more specific sense of "Rabbinic literature"—referring to the Talmudim, Midrash ( he, מדרש), and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. The terms ''meforshim'' and ''parshanim'' (commentaries/commentators) almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of rabbinic glosses on Biblical and Talmudic texts. Mishnaic literature The Midr'she halakha, Mishnah, and Tosefta (compiled from materials pre-dating the year 200 CE) are the earliest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nisan
Nisan (or Nissan; he, נִיסָן, Standard ''Nīsan'', Tiberian ''Nīsān''; from akk, 𒊬𒊒𒄀 ''Nisanu'') in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag'' "first fruits". In the Hebrew calendar it is the first month of the ecclesiastical year, called the "first of the months of the year" (Book of Exodus 12:1-2), "first month" (Ex 12:14), and the month of '' Aviv'' (Ex 13:4) ''ḥōḏeš hā-’āḇîḇ''). It is called Nisan in the Book of Esther in the Tanakh and later in the Talmud, which calls it the "New Year", Rosh HaShana, for kings and pilgrimages. It is a month of 30 days. Nisan usually falls in March–April on the Gregorian calendar. Counting from 1 Tishrei, the civil new year, it would be the seventh month (eighth, in leap year), but in contemporary Jewish culture, both months are viewed as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beth Midrash
A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knesset''), although the two are often coextensive. In Yiddish the ''beth midrash'' may be referred to as a ''zal'', i.e. "hall". ''Beis midrash'' can also refer to a ''yeshiva gedola'', the undergraduate-level program in Orthodox, for boys over 12th grade. The Arabic term ''madrasah'' is derived from the same Semitic root, and refers to any type of educational institution. The root דרש means "to seek nowledge and is then generalized to mean "expound". History Early rabbinic literature, including the Mishnah, makes mention of the ''beth midrash'' as an institution distinct from the ''beth din'' and Sanhedrin. It was meant as a place of Torah study and interpretation, as well as the development of ''halakha'' (the practical application ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bath Kol
In the Abrahamic religions, the voice of God is a communication from God to human beings, heard by humans as a sound with no apparent physical source. In rabbinic Judaism, such a voice was known as a ''bat kol'' ( he, בַּת קוֹל ''baṯ qōl'', literally "daughter of voice"), and was a "heavenly or divine voice which proclaims God's will or judgment."The Jewish Encyclopedia: BAT ḲOL': It differed from prophecy in that God had a close relationship with the prophet, while the ''bat kol'' could be heard by any individual or group regardless of their level of connection to God. Hebrew Bible In the Hebrew Bible, the characteristic attributes of the voice of God are the invisibility of the speaker and a certain remarkable quality in the sound, regardless of its strength or weakness. A sound proceeding from some invisible source was considered a heavenly voice, since the mass revelation on Sinai was given in that way: "Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no sim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shema Yisrael
''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Its first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: YHWH is our God, YHWH is one" (), found in . The first part can be translated as either "The our God" or "The is our God", and the second part as either "the is one" or as "the one " (in the sense of "the alone"), since Hebrew does not normally use a copula in the present tense, so translators must decide by inference whether one is appropriate in English. The word used for "the " is the tetragrammaton YHWH. Observant Jews consider the ''Shema'' to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation as a '' mitzvah'' (religious commandment). Also, it is traditional for Jews to say the ''Shema'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Names Of God In Judaism
Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: YHWH, Adonai, El ("God"), Elohim ("God," a plural noun), Shaddai ("Almighty"), and Tzevaot (" fHosts"); some also include Ehyeh ("I Will Be").This is the formulation of Joseph Karo (SA YD 276:9). Maimonides (MT Yesodei haTorah 6:2), Jacob b. Asher (AT YD 276), and Isaac Alfasi (HK Menachot 3b) also included Ehyeh, as do many later authorities, including Moses Isserles (SA YD 276:9). The original lists are found in y. Megillah 1:9 and b. Shavuot 35a, with some MSS agreeing with each authority. Maimonides and followers give the number of names as seven; however, manuscript inconsistency makes it difficult to judge which are included. Early authorities considered other Hebrew names mere epithets or descriptions of God and wrote that they and names in other languages may be written and erased freely. However, some moderns advise special care even in these cases, and many Orthodox Jews h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallows
A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks of grain or minerals, usually positioned in markets or toll gates. The term was also used for a projecting framework from which a ship's anchor might be raised so that it is no longer sitting on the bottom, i.e., "weighing heanchor,” while avoiding striking the ship’s hull. In modern usage it has come to mean almost exclusively a scaffold or gibbet used for execution by hanging. Etymology The term " gallows" was derived from a Proto-Germanic word '' galgô'' that refers to a "pole", "rod" or "tree branch". With the beginning of Christianization, Ulfilas used the term ''galga'' in his Gothic Testament to refer to the cross of Christ, until the use of the Latin term (crux = cross) prevailed. Forms of hanging Gallows can take seve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther Rabba
Esther Rabbah (Hebrew: אסתר רבה) is a midrash to the Book of Esther. From its plan and scope, it is apparently an incomplete collection of the rich aggadic material which has been produced on the Book of Esther. Structure Except in the Vilna and Warsaw editions with their modern and arbitrary divisions, this Midrash consists of six "parashiyyot" (chapters, sections; singular = "parashah") introduced by one or more proems. These chapters begin respectively at Esther 1:1, 1:4, 1:9, 1:13, 2:1, 2:5. In the Venice edition of 1545, each chapter has at the end the words "selika parashata..." This division was probably based on the sections of the Esther scroll, as indicated by the closed paragraphs (סתומות); such paragraphs existing in the present text to 1:9, 1:13, 1:16, 2:1, 2:5, etc. The beginning of 1:4, as well as the lack of a beginning to 1:16, may be due to differences in the division of the text. It may furthermore be assumed that a new parashah began with the se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pisces (astrology)
Pisces () (; grc, Ἰχθύες ''Ikhthyes'') is the twelfth and final astrological sign in the zodiac. It is a negative, mutable sign. It spans 330° to 360° of celestial longitude. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this area between February 19 and March 20. In classical interpretations, the symbol of the fish is derived from the ichthyocentaurs, who aided Aphrodite when she was born from the sea. According to some tropical astrologers, the current astrological age is the Age of Pisces, Nicholas Campion, (1988) ''The Book of World Horoscopes'' Aquarian Press, Wellingborough while others maintain that currently it is the Age of Aquarius. Background While the astrological sign Pisces per definition runs from ecliptic longitude 330° to 0°, this position is now mostly covered by the constellation of Aquarius due to the precession from when the constellation and the sign coincided. Today, the First Point of Aries, or the vernal equinox, is in the Pisces con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zodiac
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The paths of the Moon and visible planets are within the belt of the zodiac. In Western astrology, and formerly astronomy, the zodiac is divided into twelve signs, each occupying 30° of celestial longitude and roughly corresponding to the following star constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. These astrological signs form a celestial coordinate system, or more specifically an ecliptic coordinate system, which takes the ecliptic as the origin of latitude and the Sun's position at vernal equinox as the origin of longitude. Name The English word ' derives from , the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek ( ), meaning "cycle or circle of little anim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adar
Adar ( he, אֲדָר ; from Akkadian ''adaru'') is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. Names and Leap Years The month's name, like all the others from the Hebrew calendar, was adopted during the Babylonian captivity. In the Babylonian calendar the name was Araḫ Addaru or Adār ('Month of Adar'). In leap years, it is preceded by a 30-day intercalary month named Adar Aleph ( he, אדר א׳, Aleph being the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet), also known as "Adar Rishon" (''First Adar'') or "Adar I", and it is then itself called Adar Bet ( he, אדר ב׳, Bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, also known as "Adar Sheni" (''Second Adar'' or "Adar II"). Occasionally instead of Adar I and Adar II, "Adar" and "Ve'Adar" are used (Ve means 'and' thus: And-Adar). Adar I and II occur during February–March ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
