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Piyyut
A ''piyyut'' or ''piyut'' (plural piyyutim or piyutim, he, פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט ; from Greek ποιητής ''poiētḗs'' "poet") is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. ''Piyyutim'' have been written since Temple times. Most ''piyyutim'' are in Hebrew or Aramaic, and most follow some poetic scheme, such as an acrostic following the order of the Hebrew alphabet or spelling out the name of the author. Many ''piyyutim'' are familiar to regular attendees of synagogue services. For example, the best-known ''piyyut'' may be ''Adon Olam'' ("Master of the World"). Its poetic form consists of a repeated rhythmic pattern of short-long-long-long (the so-called hazaj meter), and it is so beloved that it is often sung at the conclusion of many synagogue services, after the ritual nightly recitation of the Shema, and during the morning ritual of putting on tefillin phylacte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shulamit Elizur
Professor Shulamit Elizur ( he, שולמית אליצור), born April 6, 1955, is a scholar of ancient and medieval piyyut (Hebrew poetry). She is the head of the Fleischer Institute for the Study of Hebrew Poetry, a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, and a member of the editorial board of the Mekize Nirdamim publishing house. Early life and education She was born in Jerusalem, to Leah and Meir Hovav. She received her bachelor's degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the departments of Hebrew language and Hebrew literature. She then entered directly into a doctoral program A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ... under the tutelage of Ezra Fleischer, in which she wrote her dissertation on the piyyutim of a paytan named Eleazar b. Qilar; she prove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Yahalom
Joseph Yahalom (born April 11, 1941) ( he, יוסף יהלום) is a professor of Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since 1983, he has been a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Biography Joseph Yahalom was born in Haifa. In 1960, he graduated from Lifshitz College of Education in Jerusalem. In 1962, he completed his B.A. in Hebrew Language and Literature at the Hebrew University. In 1967, he was awarded an M.A. in Hebrew Language from the Hebrew University. In 1973, he completed his Ph.D. at the Hebrew University. Yahalom is married to Shlomit and has five children, among them physicist Prof. Asher Yahalom and Tamludic scholar Prof. Shalem Yahalom. They live in the Nayot neighborhood of Jerusalem. Academic career Yahalom has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 1974. He also taught at Harvard University in Boston, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. In 1978, he was a rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleazar Kalir
Eleazar ben Kalir, also known as Eleazar HaKalir, Eleazar ben Killir or Eleazar Kalir (c. 570c. 640) was a Byzantine Jew and a Hebrew poet whose classical liturgical verses, known as '' piyut'', have continued to be sung through the centuries during significant religious services, including those on ''Tisha B'Av'' and on the sabbath after a wedding. He was one of Judaism's earliest and most prolific of the ''paytanim'' (Hebrew liturgical poets). He wrote ''piyutim'' for all the main Jewish festivals, for special Sabbaths, for weekdays of festive character, and for the fasts. Many of his hymns have found their way into festive prayers of the Ashkenazi Jews' synagogal rite. Biography Although his poems have had a prominent place in printed ritual and he is known to have lived somewhere in the Near East, documentation regarding details of his life has been lost to history, including the exact year and circumstances of his birth and death. He is said to have been the disciple of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yigdal
Yigdal ( he, יִגְדָּל; ''yighdāl'', or ;''yighdal''; means " Magnify Living God) is a Jewish hymn which in various rituals shares with Adon 'Olam the place of honor at the opening of the morning and the close of the evening service. It is based on the 13 principles of faith (sometimes referred to as "the 13 Creeds") formulated by Maimonides. This was not the only metrical presentment of the Creeds, but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. A translation can be found in any bilingual siddur. Among Ashkenazim only thirteen lines are sung, one for each creed; the last line, dealing with the resurrection of the dead, is repeated to complete the antiphony when the hymn is responsorially sung by the Chazzan and congregation. Sephardim, who sing the hymn in congregational unison throughout, use the following line as the 14th: ''"These are the 13 bases of the Rule of Moses and the tenets of his Law"''. Authorship There is scholarly debate as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah ( he, ר׳ שְׁלֹמֹה בֶּן יְהוּדָה אִבְּן גָּבִּירוֹל, Shlomo Ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol, ; ar, أبو أيوب سليمان بن يحيى بن جبيرول, ’Abū ’Ayyūb Sulaymān bin Yaḥyá bin Jabīrūl, ) was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher in the Neo-Platonic tradition. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical exegesis, philosophy, ethics and satire. One source credits ibn Gabirol with creating a golem, possibly female, for household chores. In the 19th century it was discovered that medieval translators had Latinized Gabirol's name to Avicebron or Avencebrol and had translated his work on Jewish Neo-Platonic philosophy into a Latin form that had in the intervening centuries been highly regarded as a work of Islamic or Christian scholarship. As such, ibn Gabirol is well known in the history of philosophy for the doctrine that all things, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judah Halevi
Judah Halevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; he, יהודה הלוי and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi ; ar, يهوذا اللاوي ''Yahuḏa al-Lāwī''; 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075 or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in the Holy Land in 1141, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets, celebrated both for his religious and secular poems, many of which appear in present-day liturgy. His greatest philosophical work was the '' Sefer ha-Kuzari''. Biography Convention suggests that Judah ben Shmuel Halevi was born in Toledo, Spain in 1075. He often described himself as coming from Christian territory. Alfonso the Battler conquered Tudela in 1119; Toledo was conquered by Alfonso VI from the Muslims in Halevi's childhood (1086). As a youth, he seems to have gone to Granada, the main centre of Jewish literary and int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;"midrash" ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; or מִדְרָשׁוֹת ''midrashot'') is expansive Biblical exegesis using a rabbinic mode of interpretation prominent in the . The word itself means "textual interpretation", "study", or " exegesis", derived from the root verb (), which means "resort to, seek, seek ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hakham
''Hakham'' (or ''chakam(i), haham(i), hacham(i)''; he, חכם ', "wise") is a term in Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. It can also refer to any cultured and learned person: "He who says a wise thing is called a ''hakham'', even if he be not a Jew." Hence in Talmudic-Midrashic literature, wise gentiles are commonly called ' ("wise men of the nations of the world"). In Sephardic usage, ''hakham'' is a synonym for "rabbi". In ancient times ''Hakham'' as an official title is found as early as the first Sanhedrin, after the reconstruction of that body, when the Hadrianic religious persecutions had ceased. In addition to the nasi Simeon ben Gamliel, two other scholars stood at the head of the Sanhedrin, namely Nathan the Babylonian as '' Av Beit Din'' and Rabbi Meir as ''hakham''. Another ''hakham'' mentioned by name was Simon, the son of Judah the Prince, who after the death of his father officiated as ''hakham'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hazzan
A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' ( he, חַזָּן , plural ; Yiddish ''khazn''; Ladino ''Hasan'') is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term also used in Christianity. ''Sh'liaḥ tzibbur'' and the evolution of the hazzan The person leading the congregation in public prayers is called the '' sh'liaḥ tzibbur'' (Hebrew for " emissary of the congregation"). Jewish law restricts this role to adult Jews; among Orthodox Jews, it is restricted to males. In theory, any lay person can be a ''sh'liaḥ tzibbur''; many synagogue-attending Jews will serve in this role from time to time, especially on weekdays or when having a Yartzeit. Someone with good Hebrew pronunciation is preferred. In practice, in synagogues without an official Hazzan, those with the best voice and the most knowledge of the prayers serve most often. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Services
Jewish prayer ( he, תְּפִלָּה, ; plural ; yi, תּפֿלה, tfile , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the '' Siddur'', the traditional Jewish prayer book. Prayer, as a "service of the heart", is in principle a Torah-based commandment. It is not time-dependent and is mandatory for both Jewish men and women. However, the rabbinic requirement to recite a specific prayer text does differentiate between men and women: Jewish men are obligated to recite three prayers each day within specific time ranges ('' zmanim''), while, according to many approaches, women are only required to pray once or twice a day, and may not be required to recite a specific text. Traditionally, three prayer services are recited daily: * Morning prayer: '' Shacharit'' or ''Shaharit'' (, "of the dawn") * Afternoon prayer: '' M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Samawal Al-Maghribi
Al-Samawʾal ibn Yaḥyā al-Maghribī ( ar, السموأل بن يحيى المغربي, ; c. 1130 – c. 1180), commonly known as Samau'al al-Maghribi, was a mathematician, astronomer and physician. Born to a Jewish family, he concealed his conversion to Islam for many years in fear of offending his father, then openly embraced Islam in 1163 after he had a dream telling him to do so. His father was a Rabbi from Morocco. Mathematics Al-Samaw'al wrote the mathematical treatise ''al-Bahir fi'l-jabr'', meaning "The brilliant in algebra", at the age of nineteen. He also used the two basic concepts of mathematical induction, though without stating them explicitly. He used this to extend results for the binomial theorem up to n=12 and Pascal's triangle previously given by al-Karaji. Polemics He also wrote a famous polemic book in Arabic debating Judaism known as ''Ifḥām al-Yahūd'' (''Confutation of the Jews''). A Latin tract translated from Arabic and later translated into ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cairo Genizah
The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the '' genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Old Cairo, Egypt. These manuscripts span the entire period of Middle-Eastern, North African, and Andalusian Jewish history between the 6th and 19th centuries CE, and comprise the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts in the world. The Genizah texts are written in various languages, especially Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, mainly on vellum and paper, but also on papyrus and cloth. In addition to containing Jewish religious texts such as Biblical, Talmudic and later Rabbinic works (some in the original hands of the authors), the Genizah gives a detailed picture of the economic and cultural life of the Mediterranean region, especially during the 10th to 13th centuries. Manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza are now dispersed among a num ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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