JAGEL, ABRAHAM BEN HANANIAH DEI GALICCHI – Rescued from Bandits. Italian catechist, philosopher, and cabalist; born at Monselice; lived successively at Luzzara, Venice, Ferrara, and Sassuolo, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Bartolocci ("Bibliotheca Magna...
JAGEL, GAMALIEL BEN HANANIAH, OF MONSELICE – Italian scholar; lived at Ferrara, later at Parma, in the seventeenth century. He filled the position of chief rabbi or head of the Talmudical schools of the province of Parma. Jagel was the author of "Sifte Renanim," a...
JAHRZEIT – Accompanied with Fasting. Judæo-German term denoting the anniversary of a death, commemorated by mourning and by reciting the Ḳaddish. The custom of commemorating the death of the beloved and honored is of ancient origin ( see...
JAHVIST – The name given in modern Bible criticism to the supposed author of those portions of the Pentateuch (or of the Hexateuch) in which the name Yhwh is used for God in preference to the name "Elohim," which latter is employed by the...
JAIL – See Imprisonment.
JAIR – 1. A contemporary of Moses, called in the Pentateuch "son of Manasseh," who in the beginning of the conquest took from the Amorites the whole tract of Argob, containing sixty fortified cities, which he called Havoth-jair (Num....
JALOMSTEIN, MORDECAI B. DAVID – American journalist; born in Suwalki, Russian Poland, 1835; died in New York city Aug. 18, 1897. He was well versed in Talmudic and neo-Hebrew literature, and was a skilful linguist. He went to New York in 1871 and for several...
JAMAICA – Largest island in the British West Indies. It has a total population of 644,841 (1901), of whom about 2,400 are Jews. When England conquered the island in 1655, a considerable number of Jewish inhabitants was found there, known...
JAMES – Name of three persons prominent in New Testament history. Synagogue at Spanish Town, Jamaica.(From a photograph.)1. Son of Zebedee (Aramaic, "Ya'ḳob bar Zabdai"); with his brother John one of the first disciples of Jesus. Like...
JAMES, GENERAL EPISTLE OF – Letter of exhortation and instruction, written by "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ," and addressed "to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion" (i. 1, R. V.). The writer is supposed to be James, the...
JAMES, DAVID (DAVID BELASCO) – English comedian; born at Birmingham 1839; died in London Oct. 3, 1893. Under the auspices of Charles Kean, James made his début, when a child, in the ballet at the Princess' Theatre, London. Next he appeared in various...
JAMNIA – See Jabneh.
JANINA – City in Albania, European Turkey, on the lake of Janina.The community, which was flourishing in the middle of the nineteenth century, is now dwindling. It includes about 1,000 families in an entire population of 30,000...
JANNAI – See Yannai.
JANNES AND JAMBRES – Names of two legendary wizards of Pharaoh "who withstood Moses" (II Tim. iii. 8) by imitating "with their enchantments" the works of Moses and Aaron, though they were defeated (Ex. vii. 11, viii. 7). According to rabbinical...
JANOWSKI, DAVID – Russian chess-player; born May 25, 1868, in Russian Poland. He learned to play chess as a child, but did not make a serious study of the game until about 1886, when he removed to Paris, where he still (1904) resides. In...
JANUARIUS – Talmudic name of a legendary hero; it is taken from the name of the first of the twelve Roman months. R. Johanan, in Yer. 'Ab. Zarah i. 39c, relates as follows: "The governments of Egypt and Rome, having been at war with each...
JAPHETH – Biblical Data: One of the sons of Noah, and the ancestor of a branch of the human race called "Japhetites." Japheth and his two brothers, Shem and Ham, were born when Noah had attained his five hundredth year (Gen. v. 32). It is...
JAPHETH HA-LEVI – Karaite Bible translator and commentator; flourished at Jerusalem between 950 and 980. He was one of the most able Bible commentators among the Karaites, who distinguished him by the epithet "maskil ha-Golah" (= "teacher of the...
JAPHIA – 1. King of Lachish, and one of the five kings who, entering into a confederacy against Joshua (Josh. x. 3), were killed by the latter at Makkedah (see Adoni-zedek). 2. According to II Sam. v. 15, the eighth of the eleven sons of...
JAPHO – See Jaffa.
JARE – Name of an ancient Italian family of scholars dating back to the fifteenth century.Giuseppe Jaré: Italian rabbi; born at Mantua, Dec., 1840. He was educated at the Istituto Rabbinico of Padua, being one of the last pupils of S....
JARGON – See Judæo-German.
JARMON, NEHORAI – See Garmon, Nehorai.
JARNO, JOSEF (Josef Cohen) – Austrian actor; born at Budapest Aug. 24, 1866. He was educated for a mercantile career, but went on the stage when nineteen years of age. His début was made in 1885 at Ischl, where he has since been engaged during the summer...