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Midrash Rabba
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ( or ). An unnamed author introduces "The words of Kohelet, son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1:1, 1:1) and does not use his own voice again until the final verses (12:9–14), where he gives his own thoughts and summarises the statements of Kohelet; the main body of the text is ascribed to Kohelet. Kohelet proclaims (1:2) "Vanity of vanities! All is futile!" The Hebrew word , 'vapor' or 'breath', can figuratively mean 'insubstantial', 'vain', 'futile', or 'meaningless'. In some versions, vanity is translated as 'meaningless' to avoid the confusion with the other definition of vanity. Given this, the next verse presents the basic existential question with which the rest of the book is concerned: "What profit can we show for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aggadic Midrashim
Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine. Etymology The Hebrew word () is derived from the Hebrew root , meaning "declare, make known, expound", also known from the common Hebrew verb .Berachyahu Lifshitz, "Aggadah Versus Haggadah : Towards a More Precise Understanding of the Distinction", ''Diné Yisrael'' 24 (2007): page 23 (English section). The majority scholarly opinion is that the Hebrew word ''aggadah'' () and corresponding Aramaic ''aggadta'' (אֲגַדְתָּא) are variants of ''haggadah'' based on a common linguistic shift from ''haphalah'' to ''aphalah'' forms. However, a minority of scholars believe that these words derive from a separate Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vayikra Rabbah
Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayiqra Rabbah is a homiletic midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus (''Vayikrah'' in Hebrew). It is referred to by Nathan ben Jehiel (c. 1035–1106) in his ''Arukh'' as well as by Rashi (1040–1105). According to Leopold Zunz, Hai Gaon (939-1038) and Nissim knew and made use of it. Zunz dates it to the middle of the 7th century, but ''The Encyclopaedia Judaica'' and Jacob Neusner date it to the 5th century. It originated in the Land of Israel, and is composed largely of older works. Its redactor made use of Genesis Rabbah, Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, and the Jerusalem Talmud, in addition to other ancient sources. The redactor appears to have referred also to the Babylonian Talmud, using several expressions in the sense in which only that work employs them. Contents Leviticus Rabbah is not a continuous, explanatory interpretation to Leviticus, but a collection of exclusive sermons or lectures on the themes or texts of that book. It con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isidore Singer
Isidore Singer (10 November 1859 – 20 February 1939) was an Austrian-born American encyclopedist and editor of '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man. Biography Singer was born in 1859 in Weisskirchen, Moravia, in the Austrian Empire. He studied at the University of Vienna and the Humboldt University of Berlin, receiving his Ph.D. in 1884. France After editing the ''Allgemeine oesterreichische Literaturzeitung'' (Austrian literary newspaper) from 1885 to 1886, he became literary secretary to the French ambassador in Vienna. From 1887, he worked in Paris in the press bureau of the French foreign office and was active in the campaign on behalf of Alfred Dreyfus. In 1893 he founded a short-lived biweekly called ''La Vraie Parole'' as a foil to the anti-Jewish '' La Libre Parole''. New York Singer moved to New York City in 1895 where he learned English and taught French, raising the money for the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Schechter
Solomon Schechter (; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of American Conservative Judaism. He is an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history, particularly his study of the Cairo Geniza. Early life He was born in Focşani, Moldavia (now Romania), to Rabbi Yitzchok Hakohen, a shochet ("ritual slaughterer") and member of Chabad hasidim. He was named after its founder, Shneur Zalman of Liadi. Schechter received his early education from his father. Reportedly, he learned to read Hebrew by age 3, and by 5 mastered Chumash. He went to a yeshiva in Piatra Neamț at age 10 and at age thirteen studied with one of the major Talmudic scholars, Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathanson of Lemberg. In his 20s, he went to the Rabbinical College in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midrash Rabba
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leopold Zunz
Leopold Zunz (—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', —''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies ('' Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual. Nahum Glatzer, Pelger Grego"Zunz, Leopold" ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2nd ed., 2007) Zunz's historical investigations and contemporary writings had an important influence on contemporary Judaism. Biography Leopold Zunz was born at Detmold, the son of Talmud scholar Immanuel Menachem Zunz (1759–1802) and Hendel Behrens (1773–1809), the daughter of Dov Beer, an assistant cantor of the Detmold community. The year following his birth his family moved to Hamburg, where, as a young boy, he began learning Hebrew grammar, the Pentateuch, and the Talmud. His father, who was his first teacher, died in July 1802, when Zunz was not quite eight years old.Kaufmann, David (1900).Zunz, Leopold" In: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie''. Vol. 45, p. 490- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population was 607,667, and the Vilnius urban area (which extends beyond the city limits) has an estimated population of 747,864. Vilnius is notable for the architecture of its Vilnius Old Town, Old Town, considered one of Europe's largest and best-preserved old towns. The city was declared a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The architectural style known as Vilnian Baroque is named after the city, which is farthest to the east among Baroque architecture, Baroque cities and the largest such city north of the Alps. The city was noted for its #Demographics, multicultural population during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with contemporary sources comparing it to Babylon. Before World War II and The Holocaust in Lithuania, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megillot
The Five Scrolls or the Five Megillot ( , ''Hamesh Megillot'' or ''Chomeish Megillos'') are parts of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), the third major section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The Five Scrolls are the Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and the Book of Esther. These five relatively short biblical books are grouped together in Jewish tradition. History An early testimony that these five scrolls were grouped together is in the '' Midrash Rabba''. This ''midrash'' was compiled on the Pentateuch and on the Five Scrolls. Liturgical use All five of these ''megillot'' ("scrolls") are traditionally read publicly in the synagogue over the course of the year in many Jewish communities. In common printed editions of the Tanakh they appear in the order that they are read in the synagogue on holidays (beginning with Passover). Song of Songs The Song of Songs ( ''Shir ha-Shirim'') is read publicly in some communities, especially by Ashkenazim, on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Editio Princeps
In Textual scholarship, textual and classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts. These had to be copied by hand in order to circulate. For example, the ''editio princeps'' of Homer is that of Demetrios Chalkokondyles, Demetrius Chalcondyles, now thought to be from 1488. The most important texts of classical Greek and Roman authors were for the most part produced in ''editiones principes'' in the years from 1465 to 1525, following the invention of the printing press around 1440.Briggs, Asa & Burke, Peter (2002) ''A Social History of the Media: from Gutenberg to the Internet'', Cambridge: Polity, pp. 15–23, 61–73. In some cases there were possibilities of partial publication, of publication first in translation (for example from Greek to Latin), and of a usage that simply equates with first edition. For a work with several strands of manuscrip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations (, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible, it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ("Five Scrolls") alongside the Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther. In the Christian Old Testament, it follows the Book of Jeremiah, for the prophet Jeremiah is traditionally understood to have been its author. By the mid-19th century, German scholars doubted Jeremiah's authorship, a view that has since become the prevailing scholarly consensus. Most scholars also agree that the Book of Lamentations was composed shortly after Jerusalem's fall in 586 BCE. Some motifs of a traditional Mesopotamian "city lament" are evident in the book, such as mourning the desertion of the city by God, its destruction, and the ultimate return of the deity; others "parallel the funeral dirge in which the bereaved bewails... and... addres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Esther
The Book of Esther (; ; ), also known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the wikt:מגילה, Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the Five Megillot, Five Scrolls () in the Hebrew Bible and later became part of the Christian Old Testament. The book relates the story of a Jews, Jewish 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 takes place during the reign of King Ahasuerus in the Achaemenid Empire, First Persian Empire. Queen Vashti, the wife of King Ahasuerus, is banished from the court for disobeying the king's orders. A beauty pageant is held to find a new queen, and Esther, a young Jewish woman living in Persia, is chosen as the new queen. Esther's cousin Mordecai, who is a Jewish leader, discovers a plot to kill all of the Jews in the empire by Haman, one of the king's advisors. Mordecai urges Esther to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
