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Torquemada, Tomás de

(Encyclopedia)Torquemada, Tomás de dā tôrkāmäˈᵺä [key], 1420–98, Spanish churchman and inquisitor. A Dominican, he became confessor to Ferdinand II and Isabella I and in 1483 was appointed inquisitor ge...

Sanhedrin

(Encyclopedia)Sanhedrin sănhĕdˈrĭn [key], ancient Jewish legal and religious institution in Jerusalem that appears to have exercised the functions of a court between c.63 b.c. and c.a.d. 68. The accounts of it ...

patriarch, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)patriarch pāˈtrēärk [key], in biblical tradition, one of the antediluvian progenitors of the race as given in Genesis (e.g., Seth) or one of the ancestors of the Jews (e.g., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,...

Isserles, Moses ben Israel

(Encyclopedia)Isserles, Moses ben Israel ĭsˈərlĕs [key], c.1525–1572, Polish rabbi, annotator, and philosopher, b. Kraków, known as Remah. He is best known for his glosses on the code of Jewish law of Joseph...

Demetrius II, king of ancient Syria

(Encyclopedia)Demetrius II (Demetrius Nicator) nīkāˈtər [key], d. c.125 b.c., king of ancient Syria, son of Demetrius I. He was aided against the usurper, Alexander Balas, by Ptolemy VI (Ptolemy Philometer). He...

Duran

(Encyclopedia)Duran, Durand düräNtˈ [key], Jewish family of scholars. Profiat Isaac ben Moshe ha-Levi Duran, 1350–1414, called Efodi, was born probably in Perpignan, France, but he moved to Catalonia. In 1391...

Allah

(Encyclopedia)Allah ălˈə, äˈlə [key], [Arab.,=the God]. Derived from an old Semitic root refering to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the biblical Elohim, the word Allah is u...

Ezekiel

(Encyclopedia)Ezekiel ēzēˈkēĕl [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The book is a collection of oracles emanating from the career of the priest Ezekiel, who preached to Jews of the Babylonian captivity from 593...

Noah, Mordecai Manuel

(Encyclopedia)Noah, Mordecai Manuel , nōˈə [key], 1785–1851, American journalist and politician, b. Philadelphia. He became a journalist in Charleston, S.C., and gave ardent support to the War of 1812. As a sp...

Aha of Shabcha

(Encyclopedia)Aha of Shabcha äˈkhī [key], c.680–c.762, Babylonian rabbi. He settled (c.752) in Palestine after being passed over for appointment as head of the rabbinic academy of Pumbedita for political reaso...
 

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