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AKKUB – 1. Son of Elioenai, of the Judean royal family (I Chron. iii. 24). 2. A Levite, porter at the east gate of the Temple (I Chron. ix. 17; Neh. xi. 19, xii. 25). Children of Akkub are found (Ezra, ii. 42, 45; Neh. vii. 45) in the...
'AKKUM – An abbreviation formed by the initial letters of ("worshiper of stars and constellations"). 'Akkum therefore came to be the Talmudical designation for heathen or idolater, and was originally applied to Chaldean star-worshipers....
AKNIN, JOSEPH BEN JUDAH IBN – See Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin.
AKRA, ABRAHAM IBN – See Abraham ben Solomon Akra.
AKRABAH – A city situated one day's journey north from Jerusalem (Ma'as Sheni, v. 2; Beẓah, 5a, where the spelling is ). It is probably identical with Akrabattene mentioned by Josephus ("B. J." iii. 3, § 5), which in the years preceding...
AKRABBIM – This is mentioned in connection with the southeastern boundary of Judah (Num. xxxiv. 4; Josh. xv. 3; Judges, i. 36). It is probably one of the passes which lead from the northern slope of the great Wadi-el-Fikre to the desert...
AKRISH, ISAAC B. ABRAHAM – Scholar, bibliophile, and editor; born in Spain about 1489; died after 1578. The Arabic form of the name, as Steinschneider has pointed out, occurs in a manuscript of Algiers. In a list of forty-eight Jewish families living at...
AKRON, Ohio – Capital of Summit county, forty miles from Cleveland. This city was first settled by Jews in 1850. The Akron Hebrew Congregation (Reform) was organized on April 2, 1865, and was incorporated September 16, 1866. On the latter...
AKSAI (TASHKICHA) – A village in the province of Tersk, in the Caucasus, which has a Jewish community of about 1,000 persons. These Jews claim to be descendants of the exiles of Shalmaneser. Their progenitors emigrated in early days from Persia to...
AKSAKOV, IVAN SERGYEYEVICH – Russian Panslavist leader; born October 7, 1823; died at Moscow, February 8, 1886. Aksakov was one of the founders at Moscow of a circle of Slavophils, whose aim was to restore Russia to the position it had held in the days...
AKSENFELD, ISRAEL – A Judæo-German writer; born in Russia in the last quarter of the eighteenth century; died about 1868. He passed the first period of his life among the Ḥasidim, being himself a disciple of R. Naḥman Bratzlaver (of Bratzlav) and...
AKYLAS – See Aquila.
ALABAMA – One of the southern states of the United States; admitted Dec. 14, 1819; seceded Jan. 11, 1861; and was readmitted July, 1868.No definite date can be assigned to the first settlement of Jews in the state of Alabama. It is known,...
ALABARCH – The title of an official who stood at the head of the Jewish population of Alexandria during the Grecian period. The etymology of the word ἀλαβάρχης (alabarches), and, therefore, the original nature of the office, is obscure. In...
ALABASTER – The Alabaster of the ancients was the stalagmitic variety of carbonate of lime, and differed from what now is commonly known as Alabaster, which is sulphate of lime. From this material vases were made to hold unguents (see Matt....
ALAISH – The name of a Spanish-Jewish family, which occurs in various forms; usually preceded by "abu." Abu-al-'aish means in Arabic "Father of Life" or "Father of Bread." In the form Bolaix (compare the Arabic Belcasem for Abu al-Kasim)...
ALAMAN, ASHKENAZI – Name of a many-branched and wide-spread Jewish family in the Turkish empire, whose ancestor, Joseph ben Solomon of Ofen (Buda), Hungary, is said to have been at the head of a deputation to hand over the keys of the citadel of...
ALAMETH – Son of Becher and grandson of Benjamin (I Chron. vii. 8). G. B. L.
ALAMI, SOLOMON – An ethical writer who lived in Portugal in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; contemporary of Simon ben Ẓemaḥ Duran ( ). He is known through his ethical treatise "Iggeret Musar," which he addressed, in the form of a letter,...
ALASHKAR – A Spanish-Jewish family whose name was probably derived from an Arabic word meaning "red."The first member of the Alashkar family whose name has been handed down is Samuel, the physician, who lived at Seville toward the middle...
ALATINO – A notable family of Jews that settled in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century, and occupied an important position in the history of literature and of science. Its prominence originated with three brothers, Jehiel,...
ALATRI, CRESCENZO – Italian writer; born at Rome, 1825; died February 12, 1897. He was educated in the Talmud Torah of his native city, and graduated as rabbi, but never held any office. Alatri was the author of a "History of the Jews in Rome,"...
ALATRI, GIACOMO – Italian banker and philanthropist; son of Samuel Alatri; born at Rome in 1833; died there March 9, 1889. He was for several years president of the Banca Romana, which position he resigned when, in 1881, his propositions for the...
ALATRI, SAMUEL – Italian politician, communal worker, and orator; born at Rome in 1805; died there May 20, 1889. For more than sixty years he led the Jewish community of his native city, and bore the brunt of its contests for religious and...
ALATRINI – Name of a distinguished Jewish family in Italy, derived from the name of the town Alatri. It has been often transcribed as Alterini and Aletrini. Alatrino and Degli Alatrini are other forms often occurring.The following are the...

AKKUB – 1. Son of Elioenai, of the Judean royal family (I Chron. iii. 24). 2. A Levite, porter at the east gate of the Temple (I Chron. ix. 17; Neh. xi. 19, xii. 25). Children of Akkub are found (Ezra, ii. 42, 45; Neh. vii. 45) in the...

'AKKUM – An abbreviation formed by the initial letters of ("worshiper of stars and constellations"). 'Akkum therefore came to be the Talmudical designation for heathen or idolater, and was originally applied to Chaldean star-worshipers....

AKNIN, JOSEPH BEN JUDAH IBN – See Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin.

AKRA, ABRAHAM IBN – See Abraham ben Solomon Akra.

AKRABAH – A city situated one day's journey north from Jerusalem (Ma'as Sheni, v. 2; Beẓah, 5a, where the spelling is ). It is probably identical with Akrabattene mentioned by Josephus ("B. J." iii. 3, § 5), which in the years preceding...

AKRABBIM – This is mentioned in connection with the southeastern boundary of Judah (Num. xxxiv. 4; Josh. xv. 3; Judges, i. 36). It is probably one of the passes which lead from the northern slope of the great Wadi-el-Fikre to the desert...

AKRISH, ISAAC B. ABRAHAM – Scholar, bibliophile, and editor; born in Spain about 1489; died after 1578. The Arabic form of the name, as Steinschneider has pointed out, occurs in a manuscript of Algiers. In a list of forty-eight Jewish families living at...

AKRON, Ohio – Capital of Summit county, forty miles from Cleveland. This city was first settled by Jews in 1850. The Akron Hebrew Congregation (Reform) was organized on April 2, 1865, and was incorporated September 16, 1866. On the latter...

AKSAI (TASHKICHA) – A village in the province of Tersk, in the Caucasus, which has a Jewish community of about 1,000 persons. These Jews claim to be descendants of the exiles of Shalmaneser. Their progenitors emigrated in early days from Persia to...

AKSAKOV, IVAN SERGYEYEVICH – Russian Panslavist leader; born October 7, 1823; died at Moscow, February 8, 1886. Aksakov was one of the founders at Moscow of a circle of Slavophils, whose aim was to restore Russia to the position it had held in the days...

AKSENFELD, ISRAEL – A Judæo-German writer; born in Russia in the last quarter of the eighteenth century; died about 1868. He passed the first period of his life among the Ḥasidim, being himself a disciple of R. Naḥman Bratzlaver (of Bratzlav) and...

AKYLAS – See Aquila.

ALABAMA – One of the southern states of the United States; admitted Dec. 14, 1819; seceded Jan. 11, 1861; and was readmitted July, 1868.No definite date can be assigned to the first settlement of Jews in the state of Alabama. It is known,...

ALABARCH – The title of an official who stood at the head of the Jewish population of Alexandria during the Grecian period. The etymology of the word ἀλαβάρχης (alabarches), and, therefore, the original nature of the office, is obscure. In...

ALABASTER – The Alabaster of the ancients was the stalagmitic variety of carbonate of lime, and differed from what now is commonly known as Alabaster, which is sulphate of lime. From this material vases were made to hold unguents (see Matt....

ALAISH – The name of a Spanish-Jewish family, which occurs in various forms; usually preceded by "abu." Abu-al-'aish means in Arabic "Father of Life" or "Father of Bread." In the form Bolaix (compare the Arabic Belcasem for Abu al-Kasim)...

ALAMAN, ASHKENAZI – Name of a many-branched and wide-spread Jewish family in the Turkish empire, whose ancestor, Joseph ben Solomon of Ofen (Buda), Hungary, is said to have been at the head of a deputation to hand over the keys of the citadel of...

ALAMETH – Son of Becher and grandson of Benjamin (I Chron. vii. 8). G. B. L.

ALAMI, SOLOMON – An ethical writer who lived in Portugal in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; contemporary of Simon ben Ẓemaḥ Duran ( ). He is known through his ethical treatise "Iggeret Musar," which he addressed, in the form of a letter,...

ALASHKAR – A Spanish-Jewish family whose name was probably derived from an Arabic word meaning "red."The first member of the Alashkar family whose name has been handed down is Samuel, the physician, who lived at Seville toward the middle...

ALATINO – A notable family of Jews that settled in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century, and occupied an important position in the history of literature and of science. Its prominence originated with three brothers, Jehiel,...

ALATRI, CRESCENZO – Italian writer; born at Rome, 1825; died February 12, 1897. He was educated in the Talmud Torah of his native city, and graduated as rabbi, but never held any office. Alatri was the author of a "History of the Jews in Rome,"...

ALATRI, GIACOMO – Italian banker and philanthropist; son of Samuel Alatri; born at Rome in 1833; died there March 9, 1889. He was for several years president of the Banca Romana, which position he resigned when, in 1881, his propositions for the...

ALATRI, SAMUEL – Italian politician, communal worker, and orator; born at Rome in 1805; died there May 20, 1889. For more than sixty years he led the Jewish community of his native city, and bore the brunt of its contests for religious and...

ALATRINI – Name of a distinguished Jewish family in Italy, derived from the name of the town Alatri. It has been often transcribed as Alterini and Aletrini. Alatrino and Degli Alatrini are other forms often occurring.The following are the...