PARSA – See Weights and Measures.
PARSHANDATHA – The first-born son of Haman (Esth. ix. 7). In the twelfth century the name obtained a literary meaning. It was then separated into the words "parshan" (= "interpreter") and "data" (= "law"), and was used with reference to Rashi,...
PARSI, JOSEPH – Mathematician; flourished toward the end of the fifteenth century. All that isknown of him is that he was the author of a work (unpublished) entitled "Keli Faz," a manual showing how to construct mathematical instruments....
PARTIES TO ACTION – See Procedure.
PARTITION – See Joint Owners.
PARTNERSHIP – The word "shotefin" is used in the Mishnah almost always to denote joint owners, especially of land. In the language of later ages, when the Jews had become a people of traders, the word with the corresponding forms of the verb...
PARTRIDGE – This bird is mentioned only in I Sam. xxvi. 20 (LXX., νυκτικόραξ = "kos" = "owl") and Jer. xvii. 11.The most common partridge in Palestine is the Caccabis chukar; around the Dead Sea and in the Jordan valley the Ammoperdix heyi...
PARTY LINES AND PARTY WALLS – See Boundaries.
PASCHAL SACRIFICE – See Passover Sacrifice.
PASCHELES, WOLF – Austrian publisher; born at Prague May 11, 1814; died there Nov. 22, 1857. The son of needy parents, he gained a livelihood by tutoring in Prague and its vicinity. Then by an accident he was led to the career which made him...
PASCHKIS, HEINRICH – Austrian pharmacologist; born at Nikolsburg, Moravia, March 21, 1849; educated at Vienna University (M.D. 1872). He was appointed assistant at the university hospital, and in 1883 became privat-docent in pharmacology.Paschkis is...
PASHUR – 1. Son of Immer the priest. He attacked Jeremiah on account of his prophecies of calamity and put him in the stocks, for which Jeremiah predicted Pashur's captivity and death in Babylon (Jer. xx. 1-3).2. Son of Melchiah. He was...
PASS, AARON DE – South-African pioneer; together with his brother Elias de Pass, he was connected with Cape Colony from the year 1846. His firm, De Pass, Spence & Co., performed conspicuous services in the development of the whaling, sealing,...
PASSAU – Town of eastern Bavaria. Jews were settled here toward the end of the twelfth century, when they were under the authority of the bishop. Bishop Mangold, in 1210, to indemnify them for serious losses they had suffered through...
PASSIGLI, UGO – Italian physician; born at Sienna Dec. 14, 1867; studied medicine at the Reale Istituto di Studi Superiori, Florence, and is now (1904) attached to the health department of thatcity. He has written many articles for the...
PASSOVER – Biblical Data: The Biblical account connects the term with the root (= "to pass by," "to spare"; Ex. xii. 13, 23, 27; comp. Isa. xxxi. 5). As a derivative designates (1) a festival and (2) the sacrificial lamb and meal...
PASSOVER SACRIFICE – The sacrifice which the Israelites offered at the command of God during the night before the Exodus from Egypt, and which they ate with special ceremonies according to divine direction. The blood of this sacrifice sprinkled on...
PASTERNAK, LEONID OSIPOVICH – Russian painter; born at Odessa, 1862, of well-to-do parents. According to a family tradition, he is descended on his father's side from a family of Spanish refugees at Padua, which removed in the eighteenth century to Galicia,...
PASTOUREAUX – French religious fanatics of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the year 1251 an unknown man, called "Le Maître de Hongrie," began to preach the Crusade in the plains of Picardy. In a short time he gained numerous...
PASUḲ – Passive participle of the Aramaic word "pesaḳ" (to cut off), meaning a section or division. It is, however, used almost exclusively to denote a Bible verse, as, for example, in Giṭ. 56a: "Tell me thy Bible verse [pasuḳ]." The...
PATER SYNAGOGÆ – Title occurring frequently in the inscriptions of the Jewish catacombs at Rome. According to Berliner ("Gesch. der Juden in Rom," i. 69), it is the equivalent of Parnas, while Schürer ("Gesch." 3d ed., iii. 50), whom most...
PATERNITY – Fatherhood. Doubtful paternity involves not only the right of inheritance, but also, if the father be a kohen, the claim of priesthood with all its privileges and restrictions, including those regarding incest and prohibited...
PATERSON – Manufacturing city in the state of New Jersey; center of the silk industry in the United States. It has attracted an extensive Jewish population, which possesses three incorporated synagogues: one conservative, chiefly composed...
PATHOLOGY – See Medicine.
PATIENCE – The Hebrew Scriptures have many words for "patience," corresponding to the varied meanings of this complex virtue; e.g., "erek af" (long-suffering), the patience exhibited in the restraining of justifiable anger (Prov. xiv. 29,...