AMOS – Home and Occupation. —Biblical Data: Jewish prophet of the eighth century B.C.; date of birth and death unknown. Among the minor prophets there is none whose personality is so familiar as that of Amos. His name occurs not only...
AMOS, BOOK OF – This Biblical book, one of the twelve so-called "Minor Prophets," opens with the announcement of God's intention to punish evildoers (i. 2). Damascus (i. 3-5), Gaza (i. 6-9), Tyre (i. 9, 10), Edom (i. 11, 12), Ammon (i. 13-15),...
AMOZ – Father of the prophet Isaiah. See Isaiah.
AMRAM – One of the sons of Bani mentioned in Ezra x. 34, in the list of those having foreign wives (I Esd. ix. 34; Omærus; R.V., Ismærus). In the Authorized Version, "Amram" is given also in I Chron. i. 41 as the name of one of the sons...
AMRAM, FATHER OF MOSES – Biblical Data: A son of Kohath, and grandson of Levi. He married his own aunt, Jochebed, Kohath's sister, by whom he became the father of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam (Ex. vi. 18-20; Num. iii. 19, xxvi. 58; I Chron. vi. 2, 3, 18)....
AMRAM, DAVID WERNER – American lawyer; son of Werner David Amram; born at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1866; educated at the public schools and at the Rugby Academy in Philadelphia, and in the Collegiate and Law departments of the University of...
AMRAM ḤASIDA (The Pious) – A Babylonian amora of the third generation (fourth century), a contemporary of R. NaḦman (B. B. 151a). In addition to his scrupulousness in ritualistic observances (Suk. 11a), he owes his surname to his action at a moment of...
AMRAM, ḤAYYIM – Commentator who lived in Palestine in the first half of the nineteenth century. He published "Ḳorban PesaḦ" (Passover Offering), a commentary on the Passover Haggadah (Leghorn, 1836).Bibliography: Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col....
AMRAM, IBN – See Joseph ibn Amram.
AMRAM BEN ISAAC IBN SHALBIB – Ambassador of Alfonso VI., of Leon and Castile, in the eleventh century. The position occupied by the Jews in Christian Spain toward the end of the eleventh century may be gathered from a statement made by Alfonso VI. in the...
AMRAM OF JERUSALEM – Two scholars are known under this name. 1. A contemporary of Rashi (eleventh century), who maintained a learned correspondence with Samuel ha-Kohen. 2. A scholar who lived a hundred years later and was in correspondence with...
AMRAM OF MAYENCE (MENTZ) – Amram's Church. A saint and rabbi of whom the following legend is told. After having been the head of a school at Mayence, his native place, he went to Cologne to found a school. As his end drew near, he expressed to his pupils...
AMRAM, NATHAN BEN ḤAYYIM – Palestinian scholar and author who flourished at Hebron in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Amram was selected by the Sephardic communities of Palestine as European agent to collect moneys for them. He wrote: ("The...
AMRAM, RAB – A Babylonian amora of the third generation (fourth century); contemporary of Ḥisda, NaḦman, and Abba bar Memel (B. B. 70a, Ket. 91a, Yer. B. M. i. 7d). Amram is better known in the domain of the Halakah than in the field of the...
AMRAM IBN SALAMEH IBN GHAZAL HA-KOHEN HA-LEVI – Samaritan liturgical poet. A number of prayers by him are incorporated in a liturgy, a fragment of which is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, England. They consist of hymns for the ten penitential days, for both the morning and...
AMRAM BEN SHESHNA – Head of the Sura Academy; died about 875. He was a pupil of Naṭronai II., Gaon of Sura, and was exceptionally honored with the title of Gaon within the lifetime of his teacher. Upon Naṭronai's death, about 857, the full title...
AMRAM B. SIMON B. ABBA – The son of a scholar, and the nephew of R. Ḥiyya ben Abba; he seems to have remained without distinction in the scholarly world. His name is only connected with two homiletic observations which he quotes in the name of R. Ḥanina...
AMRAPHEL – Biblical Data: A king of Shinar (Gen. xiv. 1, 9), who invaded the West in conjunction with Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and others, and destroyed Sodom. The identity of the name has long been a subject of controversy among...
AMSCHEL – See Anschel.
AMSTERDAM – One of the capital cities of the Netherlands founded as a fishing village in the thirteenth century. No Jews lived there in the early period when it was under Spanish domination. The history of its Jews may be best considered...
AMSTERDAM, N. Y. – City of Montgomery county, New York, on the Mohawk river, 33 miles northwest of Albany; population in 1900, 20,929.The earliest Jewish residents were Harris Davis, Isaac Mark, and a Mr. Rothenburg, in the order named. In 1865...
AMU – The ancient Egyptian designation for the Semites, frequently quoted in popular literature. The correct form in Hebrew letters would be for the singular, according to the Coptic ame, nearly equivalent to 'ami (plural, 'a'mêu?)....
AMULET – Origin of the Word. The word "Amulet" used to be considered as derived from an imaginary Arabic word "hamalet" (something hung on); but it is in reality an ancient Latin word of unknown etymology. It is found several times in...
AMULO (AMOLON), THEODBOLDUS – Archbishop of Lyons (841) in the reign of Charles the Bald; died 852. From his master and predecessor, Agobard, he learned to hate the Jews, and with the assistance of the Bishop of Rheims and Archbishop of Sens, who nourished...
AMUSEMENTS – See Games, Pastimes.