| ALCHEMY – The undeveloped chemistry of the Middle Ages, characterized by belief in the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of a panacea, etc. Traces of the connection of Jews with the science of Alchemy are very scanty... |
| ANDROGYNOS (Hermaphrodite) – Rabbinical literature knows both the mythical and the real hermaphrodite: the former in the Haggadah, the latter in the Halakah. The notion of bisexuality must have been derived from Hellenic sources, as the Greek form of the... |
| ASCAMA – The name given by Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities to the laws governing their internal administration. These laws, approved and accepted as binding by the members, called in general "YeḦidim," were, for the most part,... |
| ASUFOT – Collection"; that is, the name of a medieval compilation of laws, customs, habits, and practises of a religious character, similar to other medieval compendiums of a legal character. It is preserved in a unique manuscript (No.... |