FIGAH ():

By: Richard Gottheil, M. Seligsohn

River in the Damascene, affluent of the Barada (the Biblical "Abana"). "Figah" comes from the Greek πηγὴ, and is still to be found in the name "'Ain Fijah," the chief source of the Barada. Reland has identified it with Pliny's "Pagida" ("Palæstina," i. 290), and Schwarz, wrongly, with the Biblical Pharpar ("Das Heilige Land," p. 31). The Figah is spoken of in the Mishnah (Parah viii. 10) as a troubled stream, the water of which was unfit for sacrificial uses. Nevertheless, it is supposed to be one of the four rivers which surround Palestine (B. B. 74b).

G. M. Sel.