ABBASI, JACOB BEN MOSES IBN – Translator and scholar, who flourished in the second half of the thirteenth century at Huesca, Spain. His father, Moses ibn Abbasi the Martyr (the son signs himself , which can only mean ), was surnamed Bedersi, which might...
ABBASI, JOSEPH – A wealthy Jew of Oporto, where, in 1376, he was farmer of taxes for the city and its territory.Bibliography: Mendes do Remedios, Judios em Portugal, p. 163; J. A. de los Rios, Historia de los Judios, ii. 279.M. K....
ABBASI (ABBAS), MOSES – Disciple of Rabbi Ḥasdai ben Solomon of Valencia and Tudela (1378). He corresponded with Isaac ben Sheshet and the poet Solomon da Piera (see Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." xiv. 79). M. K.
ABBASSID CALIFS – The position of the Jews during the five centuries of the domination of the Abbassid Califs (750-1258) differed from that under their predecessors, the Ommiads, as the Abassids were troubled by no fears that Jewish influence...
ABBAYE – An amora. See Abaye.
ABBAYE OF CONSTANTINOPLE – Talmudic scholar of the sixteenth century. He carried on a learned correspondence with Samuel di Medina ( ), rabbi of Salonica, who refers to him as the "greatest of our teachers." He wrote also a preface to Moses Nagara's...
AB BET DIN – 1. Title, according to some scholars, of the judge next in authority to the nasi (prince or president), and who would, accordingly, be vice-president of the Sanhedrin. On the disputed question of the relation of the Ab bet din...
ABBREVIATIONS – Terminology. The oldest term for abbreviation, = νοταρικόν, is found in tannaitic literature as early as 150 B.C. (Krauss, "Lehnwörter," ii. s.v.; Bacher, "Die Älteste Terminologie"). Authorities of the third century use also...
ABD – An Arabic word that forms the first part of many compound proper names of Jews of Arabic-speaking countries. The name following it is invariably that of a deity, and is either (1) the proper name of a god, as in early times, or...
ABDA – 1. The father of Adoniram, the superintendent of the tax levied by Solomon (I Kings, iv. 6). 2. A Levite residing in Jerusalem (Neh. xi. 17), called Obadiah in the corresponding list of I Chron. ix. 16.Bibliography: Renan, in...
ABD-AL-DAIM – Son of Abd-al-Aziz, son of Muhasan ha-Israeli, physician and descendant of a line of Jewish physicians. Abd-al-Daim flourished about 1300, and on August 30, 1316, he completed an Arabic work entitled "The Two Sciences," in two...
ABD-AL-MALIK – Ommiad calif who ruled at Damascus 685 to 705, and who, unlike his predecessors, was not very religious, but showed a certain tolerance toward the Jews, who hitherto had been roughly handled. Abd-al-Malik, indeed, employed as...
ABDALLAH – As a Jewish name the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew Obadiah and similar names. Its first appearance among the Jews was not due to religious motives. The name Abdallah was common in Arabic before the rise of Islam, and if it be...
ABDALLAH IBN SABA – A Jew of Yemen, Arabia, of the seventh century, who settled in Medina and embraced Islam. Having adversely criticized Calif Othman's administration, he was banished from the town. Thence he went to Egypt, where he founded an...
ABDALLAH IBN SALAM – Jewish convert to Islam in the time of Mohammed; died 663. According to the Moslems, he was one of the most important Jewish personages in the history of Mohammed's career at Medina, owing to the fact that he was converted to...
ABDALLAH IBN SAURA – One of those whom Moslem traditionists number among Mohammed's opponents in Medina. He was the rabbi of the Banu Tha'laba ibn Fityaun, and, according to several traditions, one of the most learned of Medinian rabbis. Whenever...
ABDALLAH IBN UBAIY – A chief of the Arab tribe Banu al-Khazraj at Medina and a powerful opponent of Mohammed, who had undermined Abdallah's influence in that city. He was the head of the party that Mohammed called "Hanifa." Being an ally of the Banu...
ABDAN – A Palestinian scholar of the first amoraic generation, who lived about the beginning of the third century. As a disciple and clerk (amora) of Rabbi (Judah I.) he seems at times to have been too officious in his bearing toward...
ABDEEL – Father of Shelemiah, who was one of the men ordered by King Jehoiakim to capture Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch (Jer. xxxvi. 26). The Septuagint omits the name. G. B. L.
ABDI – 1. Son of Malluch, a Levite descended from Merari (I Chron. vi. 44). 2. Father of Kish, a Levite, also of the family of Merari, but living in the time of Hezekiah (II Chron. xxix. 12). 3. One of the sons of Bene Elam who had...
ABDI HEBA – A king of Jerusalem about 1400 B.C., whose name (read by some, Ebed Ṭob) is recorded in the El-Amarna Tablets. From the letters sent by Abdi Heba to the Pharaoh of Egypt it appears that the former owed his kingship not to royal...
ABDIAS – Obadiah, the prophet (IV Esd. i. 39).G. B. L.
ABDIEL – Son of Guni, of the tribe of Gad (I Chron. v. 15). G. B. L.
ABDIMA – Name of several Palestinian amoraim, known also in Babylonia. One of them is mentioned in thePalestinian Talmud simply as R. Abdimi or R. Abudmi, without any cognomen. He flourished in the fourth century, contemporaneously with...
Abdima (Dimi) of Ḥaifa – A Palestinian amora of the third generation (third and fourth centuries). He was a recognized authority in halakic matters, prominent contemporaries as well as successors citing his views in support of their own; nor was he less...