EPIGRAMS – Short poems with an unexpected yet pointed ending; much in favor among Jewish writers because of the play of wit which they permitted, though often rather in substance than in form. Such epigrammatic phrasings of ideas were used...
EPIGRAPHY – See Paleography.
EPILEPSY – Disease of the nervous system, manifesting itself by attacks of unconsciousness, with or without convulsions. It frequently occurs in families where there is a predisposition to neurosis, and tends to appear in the offspring of...
EPIPHANIUS – Bishop of Constantia, Cyprus; born at Bezanduke near Eleutheropolis, Palestine, between 310 and 320 (according to Bartolocci, in 288); died at sea in 403. Epiphanius is supposed to have been born of Jewish parents and to have...
EPISCOPUS JUDÆORUM – See Bishop of the Jews.
EPISTOLOGRAPHY – See Letter-Writing.
EPITAPHS – See Paleography.
EPITHALAMIA – See Wedding-Songs.
EPITOMISTS – See Legalism.
EPSTEIN – The surname "Eppstein" is one of the oldest Jewish family names in the Slavic countries. Nathan ha-Levi Eppstein and Solomon b. Jacob ha-Levi Eppstein are mentioned in the responsa (No. 37) of R. Moses Minz about the middle of...
ER – 1. First son of Judah by Shuah the Canaanite (Gen. xxxviii. 3; Num. xxvi. 19). He died soon after marrying Tamar, because he "was wicked in the sight of the Lord" (Gen. xxxviii. 7). What his sin was is explained in Bereshit R....
ERA – A historical period or reckoning of years, dating from some important event or fixed point of time. A striking event of a lasting effect is generally taken as a starting-point for a new era. The Bible contains a few instances of...
ERACH – A tax on property for communal purposes. The direct taxes which were levied by the Jewish congregations were mostly twofold: (1) on every family ("rashe bayit"), and (2) on property, both real estate and chattels, according to...
ERECH – The second of the four Babylonian cities founded, according to Gen. x. 10, by Nimrod.The site of the city is now known as "Warka," on the left bank of the Euphrates, about half-way between Hilla and Korna. The mounds and ruins...
ERFURT – Earliest Mention. Chief town of the district of the same name in Prussian Saxony, situated on the Gera. If the dates on the tombstones found in Erfurt are genuine, there existed in that city an organized Jewish community in the...
ERGAS, JOSEPH BEN IMMANUEL – Italian rabbi and cabalist; born in Leghorn 1685; died May 19, 1730. He is frequently mentioned by Meldola in his responsa "Mayim Rabbim," by Morpurgo in his "Shemesh Ẓedaḳah," and in the "Milḥamah la-Adonai" (p. 48).Ergas...
ERLANGER, CAMILLE – French composer; born at Paris May 25, 1863; studied at the Conservatoire and (1888) obtained the first Prix de Rome in the class of Löo Delibes. In 1888 he composed at Rome "St. Julien I'Hospitalier," which ranked him at once...
ERLANGER, JULES – French composer; born at Weissenburg, Alsace, 1830; died at Brussels 1895; son of Israel Süsskind Erlanger, rabbi at Weissenburg, and brother of Michel Erlanger, of the Consistory of Paris; a graduate from the conservatory of...
ERLANGER, MICHEL – French communal worker; born in Weissenburg, Alsace, 1828; died in Paris Sept. 27, 1892. Having received a thorough Jewish education from his father, he went to Paris in 1835. Sent by his employers to Alexandria, Egypt, to...
ERNESTI, JOHANN AUGUST – Protestant theologian; classical scholar; born Aug. 4, 1707, at Tennstädt, Thuringia; died 1781 at Leipsic, in the university of which city he was professor of classical literature, rhetoric, and theology. Ernesti did good...
ERRERA, ABRAO – Italian banker and deputy; born Dec. 8, 1791; died at Venice Dec. 25, 1860; father of Jacques Errera. His family traces its descent from Benjamin Errera, who went from Aleppo to Venice about 1700; according to a tradition the...
ERRERA, GIORGIO – Italian chemist; born Oct. 26, 1860, at Venice; educated at the universities of Padua and Turin, from which latter place he was graduated doctor of chemistry in 1882. Errera was appointed lecturer to the philosophical faculty of...
ERRERA, LEO-ABRAM – Belgian botanist; born at Laeken, Belgium, Sept. 4, 1858; died at Brussels, Aug. 1, 1905. He was educated first at the Athénée Royale and later at the University of Brusselsand at the universities of Strasburg, Bonn, and...
ERRERA, PAUL JOSEPH – Belgian barrister; born at Laeken, Belgium, July 23, 1860; educated at the University of Brussels; professor in the law department of the Ecole des Sciences Politiques et Sociales and of the University of Brussels; member of the...
ERTER, ISAAC – Satirist; born 1792 at Janischok, Galicia; died 1851 at Brody. The first part of his life was full of struggles and hardships. After having associated for many years with the Ḥasidim, he settled at Lemberg; and through the...