Mar Ukba
Mar Ukba ben Judah, also known as Mar Ukban IV (Hebrew: מר עוקבא בן יהודה; early tenth century) was the Babylonian Exilarch from 890 until his banishment in 917 AD. He was briefly reinstated again in the year 918, however the following year he was disposed and succeeded by his contentious cousin, David ben Zakkai. Biography Born in the mid-ninth century in Baghdad, Iraq, his father Judah ben David was Exilarch from 840-857, and a fifth-generation descendant of Bostanai. Following his uncle, Zakkai ben Ahunai's death in 890, he succeeded Zakkai as Exilarch, rather than Zakkai's son David, who was deemed too controversial for the position. Mar Ukba's early years as Exilarch were relatively calm, however, following the appointment of Kohen Tzedek Kahana ben Joseph as Pumbedita Goan in 917, a violent controversy broke out between him and Mar Ukba, over the question of the income of the academy from the region of Khorasan. This ultimately resulted in a boycott by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Safwan, Iraq
Safwan ( ar, صفوان) is a town in southeast Iraq on the Iraq–Kuwait border, border with Kuwait. It was the site of the Safwan Air Base. Etymology The city of Safwan is attributed to its founder Safwan bin Assal Al Muradi Al Yamani, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad who participated in the conquest of Iraq in the middle ages. He settled in Kufa, northeast of Najaf at first but then moved to Safwan, south of Basra along with his tribe who later named the city in his name. Safwan is also part of the Az Zubayr district south of Basra and has a population of 70,000 people. History During Muhammad's era Muhammad ordered a Military expedition in Safwan. The expedition was ordered by Muhammad after he received intelligence that Kurz ibn Jabir al-Fihri rustled some grazing cattle belonging to Muslims. It occurred directly after the Invasion of Waddan in the year 2 Hijri year, AH of the Islamic calendar. The expedition was ordered by Muhammad after he rec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Exilarchs
The exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Persian Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) during the era of the Parthians, Sasanians and Abbasid Caliphate up until the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, with intermittent gaps due to ongoing political developments. The exilarch was regarded by the Jewish community as the royal heir of the House of David and held a place of prominence as both a rabbinical authority and as a noble within the Persian court. Within the Sasanian Empire, the exilarch was the political equivalent of the ''Catholicos'' of the Christian Church of the East, and was thus responsible for community-specific organizational tasks such as running the rabbinical courts, collecting taxes from Jewish communities, supervising and providing financing for the Talmudic academies in Babylonia, and the charitable re-distribution and financial assistance to needy members of the exile community. The position of exilarch was hereditary, held in continuity by a family t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geonim
''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 58 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Meisel Family
The Meisel family (also Meisels and Meizels) is a distinguished Bohemian rabbinic family originally from Prague, who descend from Yitskhak Eizik Meisels (b. 1425), a paternal 10th generation descendant of the Exilarch, Mar Ukba. From the early 16th century and onward, members of the family such as Mordecai Meisel achieved great economic prominence in Prague, becoming one of the wealthiest Bohemian Jewish families. It was also during this time, that a branch of the family descending from Simcha Bunim Meisels (1545-1624) (the son-in-law of Moses Isserles) immigrated to Kraków, Poland due to rising Antisemitism in Bohemia. In Poland the family produced several rabbinic scholars, such as Dow Ber Meisels and Moses Bonems-Meisels. Among the families descendants are: Shabbatai HaKohen, Yitzchak Yaacov Reines, Alexander Sender Shor, as well as the Peshischa, Sulitza, Ropshitz, Bobov, Biala, Kretshnif, and Kotzk Hasidic dynasties A Hasidic dynasty is a dynasty led by Hasidic Jewis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Francia
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks during late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, West Francia became the predecessor of France, and East Francia became that of Germany. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era before its partition in 843. The core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north. After a period where small kingdoms interacted with the remaining Gallo-Roman institutions to their south, a single kingdom uniting them was founded by Clovis I who was crowned King of the Franks in 496. His dynasty, the Merovingian dynasty, was eventually replaced by the Carolingian dynasty. Under the nearly continuous campaigns of Pep ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parashah
The term ''parashah'' ( he, פָּרָשָׁה ''Pārāšâ'', "portion", Tiberian , Sephardi , plural: ''parashot'' or ''parashiyot'', also called ''parsha'') formally means a section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). In common usage today the word often refers to the Weekly Torah portion (a shortened form of ''Parashat HaShavua''). This article deals with the first, formal meaning of the word. In the Masoretic Text, ''parashah'' sections are designated by various types of spacing between them, as found in Torah scrolls, scrolls of the books of Nevi'im or Ketuvim (especially the Megillot), masoretic codices from the Middle Ages and printed editions of the masoretic text. The division of the text into ''parashot'' for the biblical books is independent of chapter and verse numbers, which are not part of the masoretic tradition. ''Parashot'' are not numbered, but some have special names. The division of ''parashot'' found in the modern-day To ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Torah Ark
A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha-Kodesh'' ("holy ark") by Ashkenazi communities and as the ''Heikhal'' ("sanctuary") among Sefardi communities. ''Aron Kodesh'' comes from Hebrew אָרוֹן קׄדֶש ''ʼārōn qōdeš'' (i.e. A''ron Kodesh''), ''Holy Ark''. This name is a reference to the ''’ārōn haqqōdeš'', the Hebrew name for the Ark of the Covenant which was stored in the Holy of Holies in the inner sanctuary of both the ancient Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem. Similarly, ''Hekhál'', also written ''hechal'', ''echal'' or ''heichal'' — and sometimes also ''Echal Kodesh'' (mainly among Balkan Sephardim) comes from Hebrew הֵיכָל ''hēkhāl'' (palace), was used in the same time period to refer to the inner sanctuary. The ''hekhal'' contained the M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kairouan Synagogue
The Kairouan Synagogue ( he, בית הכנסת של קירואן) is a former Tunisian synagogue located in Kairouan, Tunisia. History The city of Kairouan had a large Jewish community, which was formed when the city was founded. Kairouan is indeed the seat of the yeshiva of Kairouan, considered as the first important talmudic academy in North Africa and which was closely linked to the yeshivot of Babylonia. However, the community left Kairouan for other towns in Tunisia following its expulsion by the Almohads in the mid 1100s, after many Jews who refused to convert to Islam were killed. Under the dominance of the Hafsid dynasty in the late 1200s, the situation of the Jews in Kairouan improved notably, but it did not have the same splendor of its golden age.The Jewish Community of Tunis [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Davidic Line
The Davidic line or House of David () refers to the lineage of the Israelite king David through texts in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and through the succeeding centuries. According to the Bible, David, of the Tribe of Judah, was the third king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah. He was later succeeded by his son, Solomon. After Solomon's death, the ten northern tribes rejected the Davidic line, refusing to accept Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and instead chose as king Jeroboam and formed the northern Kingdom of Israel. The southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the House of David, and this kingdom came to be known as the Kingdom of Judah. All subsequent kings of Judah, except Athaliah, are said to be direct descendants of David. The kingdom fell to the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 587/6 BCE. The Hasmoneans, who established their own monarchy in Judea in the 2nd century BCE, were not considered connected to the Davidic line nor to the Tribe of Juda ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tunisia
) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , coordinates = , official_languages = Arabic Translation by the University of Bern: "Tunisia is a free State, independent and sovereign; its religion is the Islam, its language is Arabic, and its form is the Republic." , religion = , languages_type = Spoken languages , languages = Minority Dialects : Jerba Berber (Chelha) Matmata Berber Judeo-Tunisian Arabic (UNESCO CR) , languages2_type = Foreign languages , languages2 = , ethnic_groups = * 98% Arab * 2% Other , demonym = Tunisian , government_type = Unitary presidential republic , leader_title1 = President , leader_name1 = Kais Saied , leader_ti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by the Umayyads around 670, in the period of Caliph Mu'awiya (reigned 661–680); this is when it became an important centre for Sunni Islamic scholarship and Quranic learning, attracting Muslims from various parts of the world, next only to Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. The Mosque of Uqba is situated in the city.Europa Publications "General Survey: Holy Places" ''The Middle East and North Africa 2003'', p. 147. Routledge, 2003. . "The city is regarded as a holy place for Muslims." In 2014, the city had about 187,000 inhabitants. Etymology The name ( ''al-Qayrawān'') is an Arabic word meaning "military group" or "caravan", borrowed early on from the Middle Persian word ''kārawān'' (modern Persian ''kârvân''), meaning "military column" ('' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |