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Chag Habanot
Rosh Chodesh L'Banot ( he, ראש חודש לבנות), also known as Chag HaBanot ( he, label=none, חג הבנות, , Festival of the Daughters, sometimes translated as Girls' Day), and in Arabic as Eid al-Banat, is a holiday celebrated by some Jewish communities in the Middle East on Rosh Chodesh of the Jewish month of Tevet, during the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. The Jewish community where the holiday was most preserved is in Tunisia. But there is also evidence that it was also celebrated in Jewish communities in Libya, Algeria, Kushta, Istanbul, Morocco and Thessaloniki. Origins of the holiday It is not clear when the holiday was first celebrated. The holiday is linked to several events throughout Jewish history. The stories of Judith, the mother of seven, and the daughter of the High Priest are directly linked to the story of Chanukah. Judith tricked and killed the invading general Holofernes, allowing the Maccabees to get an upper hand. The mother of seven, sometimes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther Shkalim
Esther Shkalim (in Hebrew: אסתר שקלים; born January 19, 1954) is an Israeli, Mizrahi feminist poet. Shkalim is a researcher of Jewish communities, and a curator of Jewish art. In her poetry Shekalim describes the experience of the female, Jewish and Mizrahi identities, in the family and public spheres. Biography Shkalim was born in Tehran, the capital of Iran, to Nurit and Peretz Shkalim, the second of their five children. In 1958, when she was four, the family immigrated to Israel, where her father became a carpet dealer, and owner of a chain of stores. After her national service she completed a BA in literature and history at Bar Ilan University. She then married and had three children. Later, she divorced. In the early 1990s, her husband was sent to the United States for four years for work, and that was when she started writing, as she was disconnected from home, friends, family and work. Shkalim says she is not influenced by other writers, and actually does not r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire originally founded by Alexander the Great. After receiving the Mesopotamian region of Babylonia in 321 BC, Seleucus I began expanding his dominions to include the Near Eastern territories that encompass modern-day Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, all of which had been under Macedonian control after the fall of the former Persian Achaemenid Empire. At the Seleucid Empire's height, it had consisted of territory that had covered Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, and what are now modern Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Turkmenistan. The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture. Greek customs and language were privileged; the wide varie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Djerba
Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 at the 2004 census, which rose to 163,726 at the 2014 census. Citing the long and unique history of its Jewish minority in Djerba, Tunisia has sought UNESCO World Heritage status protections for the island. History Legend has it that Djerba was the island of the lotus-eaters where Odysseus was stranded on his voyage through the Mediterranean Sea. The island was called ''Meninx'' ( grc, Μῆνιγξ) until the third century AD. Strabo writes that there was an altar of Odysseus. The island was controlled twice by the Norman Kingdom of Sicily: in 1135–1158 and in 1284–1333. During the second of these periods it was organised as a feudal lordship, with the following Lords of Jerba: * 1284–1305: Roger I * 1305–1307, and 1307–1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purim
Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book of Esther (usually dated to the 5th century BCE). Haman was the royal vizier to Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I or Artaxerxes I; "Khshayarsha" and "Artakhsher" in Old Persian, respectively). His plans were foiled by Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin, and Esther, Mordecai's cousin and adopted daughter who had become queen of Persia after her marriage to Ahasuerus. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing among the Jews. According to the Scroll of Esther, "they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor". Purim is celebrated among Jews by: *Exchanging gifts of food and drink, known as *Donating charity to the poor, known as *Eating a celebratory me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther
Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen to fulfill this role due to her beauty. Ahasuerus' grand vizier, Haman, is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian, Mordecai, due to his refusal to prostrate himself before Haman. Consequently, Haman plots to have all the Jewish subjects of Persia killed, and convinces Ahasuerus to permit him to do so. However, Esther foils the plan by revealing Haman's eradication plans to Ahasuerus, who then has Haman executed and grants permission to the Jews to kill their enemies instead, as royal edicts (including the order for eradication issued by Haman) cannot be revoked under Persian law. Her story provides the traditional explanation for the Jewish holiday of Purim, celebrated on the date given in the story for when Haman's order was to go into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Esther
The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the wikt:מגילה, Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Judaism, Jewish ''Tanakh'' (the Hebrew Bible). It is one of the five Scrolls () in the Hebrew Bible and later became part of the Christian Old Testament. The book relates the story of a Israelites, Hebrew woman in Achaemenid Empire, Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people. The story forms the core of the Jewish festival of Purim, during which it is read aloud twice: once in the evening and again the following morning. The books of Esther and Song of Songs are the only books in the Hebrew Bible that do not mention God in Judaism, God. Setting and structure Setting The biblical Book of Esther is set in the Persian Capital city, capital of Susa (''Shushan'') in the third year of the reign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rabbi Meir
Rabbi Meir ( he, רַבִּי מֵאִיר) was a Jewish sage who lived in the time of the Mishnah. He was considered one of the greatest of the Tannaim of the fourth generation (139-163). He is the third most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah. His wife Bruriah is one of the few women cited in the Gemara. Biography He was born in Asia Minor. According to the Talmud, his father was a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero who, it is said, escaped death at the time of his deposition and became subsequently a convert to Judaism. Twenty four thousand students of Rabbi Akiva died in a plague. He went and found five new students and Rabbi Meir was one of them. The four others were: Rabbis Judah ben Ilai, Eleazar ben Shammua, Jose ben Halafta, and Shimon bar Yochai. Meir began to study very early in life. At first he entered the school of Rabbi Akiva, but, finding himself not sufficiently prepared to grasp the lectures of that great master, he went to the school of Rabbi Ishmael, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruriah
Bruriah ( he, ברוריה or he, ברוריא, also Beruriah) is one of several women quoted as a sage in the Talmud. She was the wife of the Tanna Rabbi Meir and the daughter of Hananiah ben Teradion. Biography Bruriah lived during the first and second century in Roman-occupied Israel and was the daughter of Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradion, one of the Ten Martyrs, who was burned to death for his faith, as was Bruriah's mother. She had two known siblings, a brother, Simon ben Hananiah, who turned to a life of crime after failing to match Bruriah's success as a teacher, an unnamed sister, who was sold into sexual slavery and later rescued from a Roman brothel by Bruriah's husband, Rabbi Meir. She is greatly admired for her breadth of knowledge in matters pertaining to both halachah and aggadah, and is said to have learned from the rabbis 300 halachot on a single cloudy day. Her parents were put to death by the Romans for teaching Torah, but she carried on their legacy. Bruriah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woman With Seven Sons
The woman with seven sons was a Jewish martyr described in 2 Maccabees 7 and other sources, who had seven sons that were arrested (along with her) by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who forced them to prove their respect to him by consuming pig meat. When they refused, he tortured and killed the sons one by one in front of the unflinching and stout-hearted mother. The story likely occurred around the beginning of the religious persecutions in 167-166 BCE. Although unnamed in 2 Maccabees, the mother is known variously as Hannah, Miriam, Solomonia, and Shmouni. Narrative 2 Maccabees Shortly before the revolt of Judas Maccabeus (2 Maccabees 8), Antiochus IV Epiphanes arrested a mother and her seven sons, and tried to force them to eat pork. One of the brothers said, on behalf of everyone, that even if they were all to die, they would not break the law. The angry king ordered to heat up the pans and cauldrons, and he ordered the first brother to have his tongue cut off, the skin to be rem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asher
Asher ( he, אָשֵׁר ''’Āšēr''), in the Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ..., was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Zilpah (Jacob's eighth son) and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Asher. Name The text of the Torah states that the name of ''Asher'' means "happy" or "blessing", implying a derivation from the Hebrew language, Hebrew term ''osher'' in two variations—''beoshri'' (meaning ''in my good fortune''), and ''ishsheruni'', which some textual criticism, textual scholars who embrace the JEDP hypothesis attribute to different sources—one to the Yahwist and the other to the Elohist. The Bible states that at his birth Leah exclaimed, "Happy am I! for the daughters will call me happy: so she called his name Asher", mea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serah
{{about, , the Jewish wife of the Khazar ruler Sabriel, Serach (Khazar), the South Indian actress, Serah (actress), the type of Ancient Egyptian cartouche, Serekh, other meanings, Serach (other) Serach bat Asher was, in the Tanakh, a daughter of Asher, the son of Jacob. She is one of the seventy members of the patriarch's family who emigrated from Canaan to Egypt, and her name occurs in connection with the census taken by Moses in the wilderness. She is mentioned also among the descendants of Asher in I Chronicles vii. 30. The fact of her being the only one of her gender to be mentioned in the genealogical lists indicates her extraordinary longevity. This is an outcome of the blessing for longevity she received from Jacob. She is also the heroine of several legends. In the Torah There are two mentions of Serach in the Torah. The first is in Genesis, 46:17, in a passage that begins “These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt,” an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jael
Jael or Yael ( he, יָעֵל ''Yāʿēl'') is the name of the heroine who delivered Israel from the army of King Jabin of Canaan in the Book of Judges of the Hebrew Bible. After Barak demurred at the behest of the prophetess Deborah, God turned Sisera over to Jael, who killed him by driving a tent peg through his skull after he entered her tent near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh. Name The Hebrew ''ya'el'' means ibex, a nimble, sure-footed mountain goat native to that region. It literally translates to "he shall ascend or go up". As of 2016, ''Yael'' was one of the most common female first names in contemporary Israel. Family Jael has often been understood to be the wife of Heber the Kenite.Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. "Jael: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
