YA'ABEẒ – See Emden, Jacob Israel ben Ẓebi Ashkenazi.
YA'ALEH – The introductory hymn prefixed to the seliḥot which follow the evening service proper of the Day of Atonement (comp. Kol Nidre) in the northern rituals. The author of the hymn has not been identified with certainty. It consists...
YAD – A pointer to guide the reading in public of the text of the Sefer Torah. During the reading of the Law in the synagogue the reader stands on the right side, the one "called up" being in the center, and the "segan," or deputy...
YADAYIM – Treatise of the Mishnah and the Tosefta, dealing with the uncleanness of the hands and their ablution. It stands eleventh in the order Ṭohorot in most editions of the Mishnah, and is divided into four chapters, containing...
YAH SHIMEKA – YAH SHIMEKA Hymn of five long stanzas which forms the introduction to the Ḳaddish before "Bareku" in the morning service of the second day of New-Year in the ritual of the Sephardim; it is signed with the acrostic "Yehudah," and...
YAḤBI'ENU – See Ne'ilah (Hymn Tunes, 1).
YAḤYA – Portuguese family of the Middle Ages, members of which were prominent in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Turkey. Certain individuals of the family bore the additional cognomen "Negro," with reference to the Moors, from whom several...
YA'ISH, DAVID B. ABRAHAM IBN – Representative of the community of Seville and contemporary of Asher b. Jehiel. He was probably a brother of Solomon b. Abraham ibn Ya'ish and the father of the Solomon b. David ibn Ya'ish mentioned by Judah b. Asher ("Zikron...
YARIM – See Alcimus.
YAKINI, ABRAHAM – See Abraham ha-Yakini.
YAḲḲAR BEN SAMUEL HA-LEVI I. – German scholar of the eleventh century; lived for a short time in Speyer. He was a pupil of Kalonymus of Rome, and questions addressed by him to Kalonymus have been preserved ("Shibbole ha-Leḳet," viii.); several of these...
YAḲḲAR BEN SAMUEL HA-LEVI II. – German scholar and liturgical poet of the second half of the thirteenth ceutury; flourished in Cologneand in Mayence. He was related to Meïr of Rothenburg, in whose responsa he is several times mentioned; and he was a pupil of...
YALḲUT – Contents. A haggadic compilation on the books of the Old Testament. From such older haggadot as were accessible to him, the author collected various interpretations and explanations of Biblical passages, and arranged these...
YANNAI – Palestinian amora of the third century; father-in-law of Ammi. According to his own statement, he had a grandson of the same name (Ḥul. 111a). He is known as having taken part in a controversy regarding the succession of the...
YANNAI – First payyeṭan to employ rime and introduce his name in acrostics; flourished, probably in Palestine, in the first half of the seventh century. He was apparently a very prolific poet, for reference is made to "the liturgical...
YANNAI – Palestinian amora of the first generation (2d and 3d cent.). A genealogical chart found at Jerusalem traced his descent from Eli (Yer. Ta'an. iv. 2; Gen. R. xcviii. 13). Yannai was very wealthy; he is said to have planted four...
YANNAI BEN ISHMAEL – Palestinian amora of the third century; a contemporary of Ze'era and of Abba bar Kahana. There exist a few halakot transmitted in his name, among them one referring to the prayer "Shomea' Tefillah" (Ta'an. 14a). A question,...
YANNAI THE YOUNGER – Palestinian amora of the fourth generation; called "the Younger " ("ze'era") to distinguish him from Yannai b. Ishmael. When his father-in-law died Yannai was exempted from the priestly laws of purity in order that he might...
YARḤI, ABRAHAM – See Abraham Ben Nathan.