|
Benjamin Al-Nahawandi
Benjamin Nahawandi or Benjamin ben Moses Nahawendi ( fa, بنیامین نهاوندی ''Nahāwandī''; he, בנימין אלנהאונדי) was a prominent Persian Jewish scholar of Karaite Judaism. He was claimed to be one of the greatest of the Karaite scholars of the early Middle Ages. The Karaite historian Solomon ben Jeroham regarded him as greater even than Anan ben David. His name indicates that he is originally from Nahawand, a town in Iran (Persia).Yoram Erder, Benjamin al-Nahāwandī, in: Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Consulted online on 24 June 2017 Works Benjamin's work is, for the most part, known only in quotations made by subsequent Karaite writers. Yefet ben Ali, in the introduction to his commentary on the minor prophets, wrote that Benjamin was the author of several works, mostly in Judeo-Arabic: *a commentary on the Torah, in which he frequently refers to Oriental customs; *a commentary on Isaiah; *a commenta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persian Jewish
Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor state is Iran. The biblical books of Esther, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah contain references to the lives and experiences of Jews who lived in Persia. Dating back to biblical times, Iranian Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities. Jews have had a continuous presence in Iran since the time of Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus invaded Babylon and freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. Today, the vast majority of Persian Jews live in Israel and the United States, especially in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and on the North Shore of Long Island. There are smaller Persian Jewish communities in Baltimore, Maryland and the Twin Cities. According to the latest Iran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of the rabbi developed in the Pharisaic (167 BCE–73 CE) and Talmudic (70–640 CE) eras, when learned teachers assembled to codify Judaism's written and oral laws. The title "rabbi" was first used in the first century CE. In more recent centuries, the duties of a rabbi became increasingly influenced by the duties of the Protestant Christian minister, hence the title " pulpit rabbis", and in 19th-century Germany and the United States rabbinic activities including sermons, pastoral counseling, and representing the community to the outside, all increased in importance. Within the various Jewish denominations, there are different requirements for rabbinic ordination, and differences in opinion regarding who is recognized as a rabbi. For ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hebrew (language)
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved throughout history as the main liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. Hebrew is the only Canaanite language still spoken today, and serves as the only truly successful example of a dead language that has been revived. It is also one of only two Northwest Semitic languages still in use, with the other being Aramaic. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '' Lashon Hakodesh'' (, ) since an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halakha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandments ('' mitzvot''), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic laws, and the customs and traditions which were compiled in the many books such as the ''Shulchan Aruch''. ''Halakha'' is often translated as "Jewish law", although a more literal translation of it might be "the way to behave" or "the way of walking". The word is derived from the root which means "to behave" (also "to go" or "to walk"). ''Halakha'' not only guides religious practices and beliefs, it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life. Historically, in the Jewish diaspora, ''halakha'' served many Jewish communities as an enforceable avenue of law – both civil and religious, since no differentiation of them exists in classical Judaism. Since the Jewish Enlightenment (''Hask ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Harkavy
Abraham (Albert) Harkavy (, russian: Авраа́м Я́ковлевич Гарка́ви, translit=Avraám Yákovlevich Garkávi; 17 October 1835 – 15 March 1919) was a Russian historian and orientalist. Biography Harkavy was born in 1835 to a Lithuanian Jewish family in Navahrudak, Minsk Governorate (in present-day Belarus). He studied initially in the Volozhin yeshiva and graduated from the Teacher's Institute in Vilna. In 1863, he enrolled at the University of St Petersburg, where he studied Oriental Languages and graduated with the degree of master of history in 1868. He continued his studies in Berlin and Paris, receiving a doctorate in history in 1872. Harkavy become involved in Jewish communal life in Russia, and was extremely active in various capacities. From 1864 Harkavy was secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, and from 1873 he was one of the directors of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg. In 1876 he was appointed h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Essenes
The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE. The Jewish historian Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, thousands lived throughout Roman Judaea. They were fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the other two major sects at the time. The Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to voluntary poverty, daily immersion, and asceticism (their priestly class practiced celibacy). Most scholars claim they seceded from the Zadokite priests. The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are commonly believed to be the Essenes' library. These documents preserve multiple copies of parts of the Hebrew Bible u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afterlife
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving essential aspect varies between belief systems; it may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit of an individual, which carries with it and may confer personal identity or, on the contrary, nirvana. Belief in an afterlife is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death. In some views, this continued existence takes place in a spiritual realm, while in others, the individual may be reborn into this world and begin the life cycle over again, likely with no memory of what they have done in the past. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include protectors and guides for humans, and servants of God. Abrahamic religions describe angelic hierarchies, which vary by religion and sect. Some angels have specific names (such as Gabriel or Michael) or titles (such as seraph or archangel). Those expelled from Heaven are called fallen angels, distinct from the heavenly host. Angels in art are usually shaped like humans of extraordinary beauty. They are often identified in Christian artwork with bird wings, halos, and divine light. Etymology The word ''angel'' arrives in modern English from Old English ''engel'' (with a hard ''g'') and the Old French ''angele''. Both of these derive from Late Latin ''angelus'', which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek ''angelos'' (literally "messenge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadassi
Judah ben Elijah Hadassi (in Hebrew, ''Yehuda ben Eliyahu'') was a Karaite Jewish scholar, controversialist, and liturgist who flourished at Constantinople in the middle of the twelfth century. He was known by the nickname "ha-Abel," which signifies " mourner of Zion." Neubauer thinks that "Hadassi" means "native of Edessa" Nothing of Hadassi's life is known except that he was the pupil of his elder brother Nathan Hadassi. He dealt with Hebrew grammar, Masorah, theology, and philosophy, and knew Arabic and Greek well. Eshkol ha-Kofer Hadassi acquired his reputation by his treatise '' Eshkol ha-Kofer'' or ''Sefer ha-Peles'', on which he began work on 9 October 1148. It is a treatise on the Ten Commandments, in which the author endeavored to explain them philosophically, and in which he applied all his analytical talent and scholarship. He starts from the premise that all laws contained in the Pentateuch, and those added by the Rabbis, as well as the minor ethical laws by which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob Al-Qirqisani
Jacob Qirqisani (c. 890 – c. 960) ( ar, ابو یوسف یعقوب القرقسانی ''ʾAbū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Qirqisānī'', he, יעקב בן יצחק הקרקסאני ''Yaʿqov ben Yiṣḥaq haṢerqesi'') was a Karaite dogmatist and exegete who flourished in the first half of the tenth century. His origins are unknown. His patronym "Isaac" is the addition of a later copyist, and may reflect no more than the genealogy of the biblical patriarchs, while his surname has been taken as referring to either ancient Circesium ( al-Busayra) in eastern Syria or Karkasān, near Baghdad. He seems to have traveled throughout the Middle East, visiting the centers of Islamic learning, in which he was well-versed. In 937 Qirqisani wrote an Arabic work on the Jewish precepts—under the title ''Kitāb al-Anwār wal-Marāqib'' (, known in Hebrew as ''Sefer ha-Me'orot,'' or ''Sefer ha-Ma'or''), with the subtitle ''Kitab al-Shara'i'' (''Sefer Mitzvot Gadol'')—and a commentary entitled '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elijah Bashyazi
Elijah ben Moses Bashyazi of Adrianople or Elijah Bašyazi (in he, אליהו בן משה בן מנחם) (c. 1420 in Adrianople – 1490 in Adrianople) was a Karaite Jewish hakham of the fifteenth century. After being instructed in the Karaite literature and theology of his father ( Moses Bashyazi) and grandfather ( Menahem Bashyazi), both learned hakhams of the Karaite community of Adrianople, Bashyazi went to Constantinople, where, under the direction of Mordecai Comtino, he studied rabbinical literature as well as mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy, in all of which he soon became most proficient. Hakham at Adrianople In 1460 Bashyazi succeeded his father as hakham of the Karaite community at Adrianople. From the many letters addressed by him as representative of the Karaite community of Constantinople, from 1480 to 1484, to Karaim communities in Lutsk and Trakai. Neubauer concludes that Bashyazi resided for the most of the time in Constantinople. In these letters h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 refer to eith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
