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David Luria
David Luria (1798–1855) was a rabbi, commentator, and linguist, one of the greatest Torah scholars in his generation. He authored commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud and Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer. Biography He was born to a wealthy family in Bykhov in the Russian Empire (now in eastern Belarus). His family was descended from Solomon Luria (''Maharshal''), which claimed descent from Rashi and thence to King David. At age 12 he moved to study in Vilna, in connection with an arranged marriage which he entered at age 13. At age 18 he returned to Bykhov and contributed to the establishment of a yeshiva there.Daat – Encyclopedia YehuditDavid Luria, Radal/ref> He was known for his great memory, which allowed him to compose works including comparisons of various textual variants of the Talmud and midrashic works. At age 40 he fell victim to a libel. Letters from him, and passages in his commentary to Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, were forged indicating a supposed call to rebellion against ...
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Moses Montefiore
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, after he achieved success, he donated large sums of money to promote industry, business, economic development, education and health among the Jewish community in the Levant. He founded Mishkenot Sha'ananim in 1860, the first settlement outside the Old City of Jerusalem. As President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, he corresponded with Charles Henry Churchill, the British consul in Damascus, in 1841–42; his contributions are seen as pivotal to the development of Proto-Zionism. Early life Moses Montefiore was born in Leghorn (Livorno in Italian), Tuscany, in 1784, to a Sephardic Jewish family based in Great Britain. His grandfather, Moses Vital (Haim) Montefiore, had emigrated from Livorno to London in the 1740s, but retained clos ...
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19th-century Rabbis From The Russian Empire
The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolished in much of Europe and the Americas. The First Industrial Revolution, though it began in the late 18th century, expanding beyond its British homeland for the first time during this century, particularly remaking the economies and societies of the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Northern Italy, and the Northeastern United States. A few decades later, the Second Industrial Revolution led to ever more massive urbanization and much higher levels of productivity, profit, and prosperity, a pattern that continued into the 20th century. The Islamic gunpowder empires fell into decline and European imperialism brought much of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and almost all of Africa under colonial rule. It was also marked by the collapse of the la ...
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1855 Deaths
Events January–March * January 1 – Ottawa, Ontario, is incorporated as a city. * January 5 – Ramón Castilla begins his third term as President of Peru. * January 23 ** The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in modern-day Minneapolis, a predecessor of the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge. ** The 8.2–8.3 Wairarapa earthquake claims between five and nine lives near the Cook Strait area of New Zealand. * January 26 – The Point No Point Treaty is signed in the Washington Territory. * January 27 – The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. * January 29 – Lord Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, over the management of the Crimean War. * February 5 – Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. * February 11 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia. * February 12 – Michigan State University (the "pioneer" land- ...
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1798 Births
Events January–June * January – Eli Whitney contracts with the U.S. federal government for 10,000 muskets, which he produces with interchangeable parts. * January 4 – Constantine Hangerli enters Bucharest, as Prince of Wallachia. * January 22 – A coup d'état is staged in the Netherlands ( Batavian Republic). Unitarian Democrat Pieter Vreede ends the power of the parliament (with a conservative-moderate majority). * February 10 – The Pope is taken captive, and the Papacy is removed from power, by French General Louis-Alexandre Berthier. * February 15 – U.S. Representative Roger Griswold (Fed-CT) beats Congressman Matthew Lyon (Dem-Rep-VT) with a cane after the House declines to censure Lyon earlier spitting in Griswold's face; the House declines to discipline either man.''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p171 * March &ndas ...
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Megillat Esther
The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the 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 Hebrew woman in 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. Setting and structure Setting The biblical Book of Esther is set in the Persian capital of Susa (''Shushan'') in the third year of the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus. The name ''Ahasuerus'' is equivalent to ''Xerxes'' (both deriving from ...
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Midrash Rabbah
Midrash Rabba or Midrash Rabbah can refer to part of or the collective whole of specific aggadic midrashim on the books of the Torah and the Five Megillot, generally having the term "Rabbah" (), meaning "great," as part of their name. These midrashim are as follows: *Genesis Rabbah *Exodus Rabbah *Leviticus Rabbah *Numbers Rabbah *Deuteronomy Rabbah * Song of Songs Midrash *Ruth Rabbah *Esther Rabbah *Lamentations Rabbah *Ecclesiastes Rabbah The designation "Rabbah" was first applied to the midrash to Genesis, and then applied to the midrashim to the other books of the Pentateuch (Vayikra Rabbah, Shemot Rabbah, etc.) which were copied, with Bereshit Rabbah, even in (later) manuscripts. This collection eventually came to be called "Midrash Rabbot" (i.e., "Midrash of the Rabbot"), to which the midrashim most in use in connection with prayers—to Shir HaShirim, Ruth, Esther, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes—were subsequently added. Thus the Venice edition of 1545, in which the mi ...
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Pesikta DeRav Kahana
Pesikta de-Rab Kahana (Hebrew: פסיקתא דרב כהנא) is a collection of aggadic midrash which exists in two editions, those of Solomon Buber (Lyck, 1868) and Bernard Mandelbaum (1962). It is cited in the ''Arukh'' and by Rashi. The name The term "pesikta" is an Aramaic cognate of the Hebrew "pasuk" or "verse". The appearance of the name of "Rav Kahana" in the title (in manuscripts as early as the 11th century) is possibly to be explained in two ways: *Zunz and S. Buber consider the title to be due to the phrase "Rav Abba bar Kahana patah..." which opens the longest section of the work, for the Shabbat preceding the 17th of Tammuz. * B. Mandelbaum considers the appearance in two manuscripts of the name "Rav Kahana" at the beginning of the Rosh Hashana chapter—which may have originally been the ''first'' chapter—as the more likely explanation for the use of his name in the title of the work. The position of the Rosh Hashana section as the first pesikta is also attest ...
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Midrash Shmuel (aggadah)
Midrash Samuel (Hebrew: ''מדרש שמואל'') is an aggadic midrash on the books of Samuel. Names It is first quoted by Rashi, who calls it by several names: "Midrash Shmuel", "Aggadat Midrash Shmuel", "Aggadah deShmuel", and "Midrash 'Et la-'Asot la-Adonai" - the last name probably derived from Psalms 119:126, with which the midrash begins. It is also called "Aggadat Shmu'el". The name "Shocher Tov" has been erroneously given to it, the error is because in the Venice edition of 1546 the midrash was printed together with Midrash Tehillim, whose title "Shocher Tov" was taken to refer to both works. Contents of the midrash The midrash is divided into 32 chapters. Chapters 1-24 cover I Samuel, and chapters 25-32 cover II Samuel. The midrash contains aggadic interpretations and homilies on the books of Samuel, each homily being prefaced and introduced by a verse taken from some other book of the Bible. It resembles most of the other aggadic midrashim in diction and in style ...
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Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (also Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer; Aramaic: פרקי דרבי אליעזר, or פרקים דרבי אליעזר, Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer; abbreviated PdRE) is an aggadic-midrashic work on the Torah containing exegesis and retellings of biblical stories. The composition has enjoyed widespread circulation and recognition ever since its composition. It is quoted by rishonim under various names, including ''Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer ha-Gadol'', ''Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus'', ''Baraita de-Rabbi Eliezer'' and ''Haggadah de-Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus''. Traditionally, it is ascribed to the tanna Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and his disciples. Leopold Zunz has suggested that the book has had interpolations made to copies owned by private citizens in the 8th century. Isaak Jost first noticed the inclusion of 8th century interpolations. According to Jewish Encyclopedia it was composed in Italy shortly after 830. Scholars unanimously agree that Pirke de-Rabbi Elie ...
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Tosefta
The Tosefta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah (''tosefta'' means "supplement, addition"). The Mishnah ( he, משנה) is the basic compilation of the Oral law of Judaism; according to the tradition, it was compiled in 189 CE. The Tosefta closely corresponds to the Mishnah, with the same divisions for ''sedarim'' ("orders") and ''masekhtot'' ("tractates"). It is mainly written in Mishnaic Hebrew, with some Aramaic. At times the text of the Tosefta agrees nearly verbatim with the Mishnah. At others there are significant differences. The Tosefta often attributes laws that are anonymous in the Mishnah to named Tannaim. It also augments the Mishnah with additional glosses and discussions. It offers additional aggadic and midrashic material, and it sometimes contradicts the Mishnah in the ru ...
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Gaonim
''Geonim'' ( he, גאונים; ; also transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community worldwide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the ''Resh Galuta'' (exilarch) who wielded secular authority over the Jews in Islamic lands. ''Geonim'' is the plural of (''Gaon) , which means "pride" or "splendor" in Biblical Hebrew and since the 19th century "genius" as in modern Hebrew. As a title of a Babylonian college president it meant something like "His Excellency". The ''Geonim'' played a prominent and decisive role in the transmission and teaching of Torah and Jewish law. They taught Talmud and decided on issues on which no ruling had been rendered during the period of the Talmud. The Geonim were also spiritual leaders of the Jewish community of their time. Era The period of the Geonim began in 589 ...
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