URI BEN DAVID BEN MOSES – Great-grandson of Samuel Edels (MaHaRSHA); rabbi of Pollno, Lithuania, and chief rabbi of the district; flourished in the middle of the seventeenth century. He was the author of "Or Torah" (Lublin, 1672), commentaries and...
URI PHOEBUS BEN AARON HA-LEVI – Dutch printer; born at Amsterdam 1623; died there Jan. 27, 1715 (not at Zolkiev in 1713, as Steinschneider records); son of Aaron ha-Levi, ḥazzan at the Neweh Shalom Synagogue, Amsterdam, and grandson of Moses Uri ha-Levi,...
URI (ORI) BEN SIMEON – Scholar of the sixteenth century; born at Biel ( ); resided at Safed. He made an abstract of a manuscript of 1537, giving a list of all the places said to contain the tombs of the Patriarchs, Prophets, Amoraim, and Tannaim, to...
URIAH, URIJAH – 1. Biblical Data: A Hittite; husband of Bath-sheba, and one of David'spicked warriors. The scanty Biblical allusions to him are of value as illustrating the taboo under which warriors were constrained to abstain from sexual...
URIEL – Name of an archangel. Of the four chief angels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, who preside over the four quarters of the globe (Jensen, "Kosmologie der Babylonier," p. 163), and who are frequently grouped together, Uriel...
URIEL D'ACOSTA – See Acosta.
URIEL VON GEMMINGEN – See Pfefferkorn; Reuchlin.
URIM AND THUMMIM – Biblical References. —Biblical Data: Objects connected with the breastplate of the high priest, and used as a kind of divine oracle. Since the days of the Alexandrian translators of the Old Testament it has been asserted that...
URY, ADOLPHE (SIMON) – Alsatian rabbi; born at Niederbronn, Lower Alsace, June 14, 1849. He was educated at the lyceum of Strasburg and the rabbinical seminary in Paris, receiving the degrees of doctor and chief rabbi, his thesis being "Les Arts et...
USAGE – See Custom.
USHA – See Synod of Usha.
USISHKIN, MICHAEL – One of the leaders of the Russian Zionists; born in 1863 in Dubrovna, government of Moghilef (Mohilev). In 1871 he went with his parents to Moscow. He studied the Bible and Talmud in the ḥeder till he was thirteen years old, and...
USQUE – Family deriving its name from the Spanish city of Huesca (the ancient Osca; Hebr. ), where it originated, its members emigrating thence to Portugal, and finally to Italy, to escape the Inquisition.Abraham Usque: Italian printer;...
USURY – In modern language this term denotes a rate of interest greater than that which the law or public opinion permits; but the Biblical law, in all dealings among Israelites, forbids all "increase" of the debt by reason of lapse of...
UTAH – One of the Western States of the United States of America; admitted into the Union in 1896. Jews first settled in Utah about 1860, among the earliest comers being Isidor Morris, Nicholas S. Ransohoff, Samuel Kahn, Fred Auerbach,...
UTRECHT – Province of the Netherlands, with its capital of the same name. Jews resided in Utrecht prior to the expulsion from Spain and Portugal. In 1424 they were banished from the city; and their synagogue was transformed into the...
UZ – 1. Son of Aram, and grandson of Shem, according to Gen. x. 23; but I Chron. i. 17 records him as a son of Shem.2. Eldest son of Nahor by Milcah; nephew of Abraham (Gen. xxii. 21; A. V. has "Huz").3. One of the sons of Dishan,...
UZÈS – Town of France, in the department of Gard, about 15 miles north-northeast of Nîmes. Jews were settled there as early as the fifth century. St. Ferréol, Bishop of Uzès, admitted them to his table and enjoyed their friendship. On...
UZIEL – Family name occurring principally among the Sephardim in Spain, where it is found as early as the fifteenth century. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal, the Uziels were scattered throughout northern Africa,...
UZZA, UZZAH – 1. —Biblical Data: Son of Abinadab. Together with his brother Ahio, he drove the new cart on which was placed the Ark of the Covenant when, accompanied by David and all the house of Israel, it was brought from Abinadab's house...
UZZIAH – 1. Son of Amaziah; called also Azariah (comp. II Kings xv. 1, 13, 30). He was king of Judah, and began to rule, at the age of sixteen, in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Jeroboam II. The Kings record (ib. xv. 2) states...
UZZIEL – 1. Son of Kohath and brother of Amram (Ex. vi. 18; I Chron. vi. 2). He was the father of Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri (Ex. vi. 22). The first two, at the bidding of Moses, carried from the Tabernacle the bodies of Nadab and...