SUBPŒNA – In English law, a writ which commands witnesses to come into court and to give testimony. Scripture (Lev. v. 1) makes it the duty of any one who has seen or heard things which are material to the right decision of a lawsuit,...
SUBSCRIPTION – See Signature.
SUCCESSION – See Agnates; Inheritance.
SUCCOTH – 1. The first stopping-place of the Israelites on their way out of Egypt (Ex. xii. 37, xiii. 20; Num. xxxiii. 5 et seq.); probably the Egyptian Thuku, name of the district of Pithom and also of the fortress itself (see Ebers in...
SUCHOSTAVER, MORDECAI – Galician adherent of the Haskalah, and teacher of philosophy at the rabbinical seminary of Jitomir, Russia; born near Brody, Galicia, 1790; died at Jitomir July 29, 1880. As a youth he was the pupil of Nachman Krochmal. He left...
SUFISM – The mystic and ascetic doctrines of the Mohammedan sect of the Sufis, whose name is derived from the Arabic noun "ṣuf" (wool), having reference to the woolen cloth worn by its adherents to typify the primitive simplicity...
SUICIDE – Self-murder. The influence of race on the frequency of suicide is evident from statistics giving the rates of mortality from this cause in various countries. Of the European peoples, the Germans, Scandinavians, English, etc.,...
SUKKAH – Treatise in the Mishnah, the Tosefta, and both Talmudim, dealing chiefly with the regulations regarding the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 34-36; Num. xxix. 12 et seq.; Deut. xvi. 13-16). In most of the editions it is the...
SUKKOT, FEAST OF – See Tabernacles, Feast of.
SULAMITH – First Jewish monthly magazine in the German language, its subtitle being "Eine Zeitschrift für Beförderung der Kultur und Humanität Unter der Jüdischen Nation." The first volume appeared in Leipsic, July, 1806, and was edited by...
SULLAM, SARA COPIA (COPPIO) – Italian poetess; born in Venice 1592; died there Adar 5 (Feb. 14); 1641; eldest daughter of Simon and Rebecca Coppio. Her father was a man of culture, who enjoyed the respect of the community in which he dwelt. At his death,...
SULTANSKY, MORDECAI – Karaite ḥakam; born at Lutzk in 1785; died at Eupatoria, in the Crimea, before 1878. He was one of the most prominent scholars of the Karaite sect during the nineteenth century. He officiated as ḥakam of Lutzk (in succession to...
SULZBACHER, LOUIS – American jurist; born in the Rhenish Palatinate, Germany, May 10, 1842. He was educated in Germany, but later emigrated to the United States, and in 1900 was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of Porto Rico, which position he...
SULZBERGER – American family which derived its name from the town of its origin, Sulzbürg, near Ratisbon, in the Bavarian Palatinate. The first known member of the family is Eliezer Sussmann Sulzberger, born about the beginning of the...
SULZER, SALOMON – Austrian cantor and composer; born at Hohenems, Tyrol, March 30, 1804; died at Vienna Jan. 17, 1890. His family, which prior to 1813 bore the name of Loewy, removed to Hohenems from Sulz in 1748. He was educated for the...
SUMMONS – Writ, process, or order sent by the court messenger ("sheluḥa di-rabbanan," or "sheluaḥ bet din"), and commanding a defendant to appear before the bet din. Raba, as dayyan, frequently indorsed such a document (Giṭ. 88a, and...
SUMPTUARY LAWS – Laws that restrict individual expenditures as to food, clothing, etc. In the Mishnah several expensive customs are abolished by reason of evil times which had come over Israel (Soṭah ix. 9): "During the war of Vespasian the use...
SUN – Early Conceptions of It. —Biblical Data: The conceptions of the Hebrews with regard to physical phenomena were those that obtained among their neighbors, the sun being considered as a torch or light ("ma'or") suspended in the...
SUN, BLESSING OF THE – Formula of benediction recited on the day when the sun enters upon a new cycle, which occurs on the first Wednesday of Nisan every twenty-eight years. The present cycle commenced on the 5th of Nisan, 5657= April 7, 1897....
SUN, RISING AND SETTING OF THE – Dawn and Twilight. In order to fix the beginning and ending of the Sabbath-day and festivals and to determine the precise hour for certain religious observances it becomes necessary to know the exact times of the rising and the...
SUNDAY AND SABBATH – See Sabbath and Sunday.
SUNDELES, ẒEBI HIRSCH BEN ENOCH – Polish scholar of the sixteenth century. He published the following works: "Tefillot mi-Kol ha-Shanah" (Lublin, 1571; Cracow, 1606), in collaboration with Koppelmann, and consisting of the Jewish daily prayers, with a...
SUNNAH – See Ḥadith.
SUPERCOMMENTARIES – See Bible Exegesis.
SUPERSTITION – Biblical Data: That views and practises borrowed from paganism and not in accord with the monotheistic belief of Israel—as, for instance, witchcraft and sorcery—existed in Bible times is proved by the fact that they are...