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ALTAR – Biblical Data: In the book of Genesis it is often said that altars were erected (viii. 20, xii. 7, xiii. 8, xxvi. 25, xxxiii. 20, etc.). These altars were usually heaps of stones such as Laban and Jacob built to sacrifice upon...
ALTAR, JONAS (JONATHAN HA-LEVI) – Bohemian rabbi; born 1755; died March 25, 1855, in Goltsch-Jenikau. He represented the strictest orthodoxy as evidenced by his polemical pamphlet against Aaron Chorin, published in Prague in 1826, entitled, "Mefiboshet ben...
ALTAR, MEIR HA-LEVI – Son of preceding; born in Goltsch-Jenikau, Bohemia, 1803; died there in 1868. He translated into German the Yoẓerot or liturgical pieces for Sabbath reading, published by M. I. Landau, Prague, 1836. K. T.
ALTARAS – A family name variously spelled: and . It is not certain whether this is the same name as that borne by the Spanish Karaite, Sidi ibn al-Taras ( ), author of a work containing the opinions of Abu al-Faraj. Altaras is mentioned...
ALTARAS, DAVID BEN SOLOMON – An Italian rabbi and editor who flourished at Venice, 1675-1714. He wrote the short Hebrew grammar in the quarto Bible (Venice, 1675-78). He edited a daily prayer-book (Venice, 1696) and a vocalized edition of the Mishnah with...
ALTARAS, JACQUES ISAAC – French ship-builder and philanthropist; born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1786, and died at Aix (Department of Bouchesdu-Rhône, France), Jan. 30, 1873. He was the son of a rabbi in Palestine, and left Jerusalem in 1806 to engage in...
ALTARAS, MOSES – An Italian rabbi of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; known as the author of a translation into Judæo-Spanish (but in Latin characters) of the ShulḦan 'Aruk under the title "Libro de Mantenimiento de la Alma," Salonica,...
ALTARAS, SOLOMON – Venetian rabbi of the eighteenth century, probably the son of David Altaras, edited among other works a collection of prayers under the title (A Collection of Prayers and Hymns), Venice, 1718.Bibliography: Benjacob, Oẓar...
ALT-BREISACH – Ancient fortified city in the grand duchy of Baden, Germany; the scene of Jewish persecution.In the fourteenth century, when the black death devastated the world (1348-51), this city, like that of Mayence, was the scene of a...
ALTENKUNSTADT – See Burgkunstadt.
ALTENKUNSTADT, JACOB (KOPPEL) BEN ẒEBI – Rabbi at Verbo, Hungary; lived in the first half of the nineteenth century. He wrote "Ḥiddushe Yabeẓ" (novellæ) on the Talmudic treatise Ḥullin, Presburg, 1837, which, as the author states in his introduction, is an extract from...
ALT NEU SYNAGOGUE, PRAGUE – See Prague.
ALT-OFEN – Old Hungarian city, now incorporated in Budapest as the third district. The earlier history of the Jews in AltOfen begins with the twelfth century and ends with 1541, when the Turks obtained possession of the city. Jews probably...
ALTONA – City and port, situated on the Elbe, adjoining Hamburg, in Holstein, which was formerly a Danish duchy, but is now a part of the province of Sleswick-Holstein, Prussia. The Jewish community of this city was founded, under the...
ALTRUISM – A term derived from the late Latin alter hic ("this other"); dative, alteri huic, contracted to alteruic. It seems to have been first used by Comte (1798-1857), to designate conduct impelled by motives utterly unselfish and...
ALTSCHUL, ALTSCHULER, ALTSCHUELER – Various forms of a family name borne by Ashkenazic Jews in many countries. Though each of these forms now represents groups that are distinct from one another, and that, apparently, are not interconnected by ties of...
ALUPKA – Village on the southern shores of the Crimea, Russia; mentioned in the letter of Joseph, king of the Chazars, to Ḥasdai ibn-Shaprut about 960) as one of the cities tributary to the Chazars.Bibliography: A. Harkavy, Soobshcheniya...
ALUSHTA – Village on the southeastern shore of the Crimea, in the district of Yalta, Russia. Some ruins exist of the fort Aluston built there by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. Under the name of Aluss the place is mentioned in the...
ALVA – Fernando Alvarez de Toledo: born, 1508; died at Thomar, Portugal, 1582. A famous Spanish general who fought in the various campaigns of the Emperor Charles V. and of Philip II. After winning several decisive battles, he was sent...
ALVALENSI, SAMUEL – Spanish author; born, 1435; died, 1487. He was the son of the learned Abraham Alvalensi, of Toledo, and pupil of Isaac Campanton, the last Gaon of Castile. He was the author of a small treatise, entitled "Kelale Ḳal we-Ḥomer"...
ALVALENSI, SAMUEL – Perhaps the grandson of the above; was born in Spain at the end of the fifteenth century, was taken after the expulsion of 1492 to Fez, where he became the favorite of King Abu Said, of the Merines dynasty. About 1536 the...
ALVAREZ – Name of a Hispano-Portuguese family which has included among its members many scholars, distinguished men, and martyrs. Branches of the family have settled in Holland, France, England, and America.Duarte Henriques Alvares: A...
ALVARO DE LUNA – A gifted Spanish statesman of the fifteenth century who attained the highest military rank, that of Grand Constable. With Chancellor Don Juan Furtado de Mendoza and Don Abraham Benveniste, he exercised for many years unlimited...
ALYASHAR, JACOB – Talmudist; born at Wilna, Russia, about 1735; died in Safed about 1785. The congregation at Hebron in 1765 sent him as their emissary (meshullaḦ) to Persia. On the out-break of a war in 1775, Bozrah, the city in which he...
ALYASHAR , JACOB SAUL – akam Bashi (chief rabbi) of Jerusalem; born at Safed, June 1, 1817. He was taken to Jerusalem in 1823. His teacher was R. Benjamin Mordecai Nabon, who, in 1828, married his widowed mother. In 1855 Alvashar was appointed...

ALTAR – Biblical Data: In the book of Genesis it is often said that altars were erected (viii. 20, xii. 7, xiii. 8, xxvi. 25, xxxiii. 20, etc.). These altars were usually heaps of stones such as Laban and Jacob built to sacrifice upon...

ALTAR, JONAS (JONATHAN HA-LEVI) – Bohemian rabbi; born 1755; died March 25, 1855, in Goltsch-Jenikau. He represented the strictest orthodoxy as evidenced by his polemical pamphlet against Aaron Chorin, published in Prague in 1826, entitled, "Mefiboshet ben...

ALTAR, MEIR HA-LEVI – Son of preceding; born in Goltsch-Jenikau, Bohemia, 1803; died there in 1868. He translated into German the Yoẓerot or liturgical pieces for Sabbath reading, published by M. I. Landau, Prague, 1836. K. T.

ALTARAS – A family name variously spelled: and . It is not certain whether this is the same name as that borne by the Spanish Karaite, Sidi ibn al-Taras ( ), author of a work containing the opinions of Abu al-Faraj. Altaras is mentioned...

ALTARAS, DAVID BEN SOLOMON – An Italian rabbi and editor who flourished at Venice, 1675-1714. He wrote the short Hebrew grammar in the quarto Bible (Venice, 1675-78). He edited a daily prayer-book (Venice, 1696) and a vocalized edition of the Mishnah with...

ALTARAS, JACQUES ISAAC – French ship-builder and philanthropist; born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1786, and died at Aix (Department of Bouchesdu-Rhône, France), Jan. 30, 1873. He was the son of a rabbi in Palestine, and left Jerusalem in 1806 to engage in...

ALTARAS, MOSES – An Italian rabbi of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; known as the author of a translation into Judæo-Spanish (but in Latin characters) of the ShulḦan 'Aruk under the title "Libro de Mantenimiento de la Alma," Salonica,...

ALTARAS, SOLOMON – Venetian rabbi of the eighteenth century, probably the son of David Altaras, edited among other works a collection of prayers under the title (A Collection of Prayers and Hymns), Venice, 1718.Bibliography: Benjacob, Oẓar...

ALT-BREISACH – Ancient fortified city in the grand duchy of Baden, Germany; the scene of Jewish persecution.In the fourteenth century, when the black death devastated the world (1348-51), this city, like that of Mayence, was the scene of a...

ALTENKUNSTADT – See Burgkunstadt.

ALTENKUNSTADT, JACOB (KOPPEL) BEN ẒEBI – Rabbi at Verbo, Hungary; lived in the first half of the nineteenth century. He wrote "Ḥiddushe Yabeẓ" (novellæ) on the Talmudic treatise Ḥullin, Presburg, 1837, which, as the author states in his introduction, is an extract from...

ALT NEU SYNAGOGUE, PRAGUE – See Prague.

ALT-OFEN – Old Hungarian city, now incorporated in Budapest as the third district. The earlier history of the Jews in AltOfen begins with the twelfth century and ends with 1541, when the Turks obtained possession of the city. Jews probably...

ALTONA – City and port, situated on the Elbe, adjoining Hamburg, in Holstein, which was formerly a Danish duchy, but is now a part of the province of Sleswick-Holstein, Prussia. The Jewish community of this city was founded, under the...

ALTRUISM – A term derived from the late Latin alter hic ("this other"); dative, alteri huic, contracted to alteruic. It seems to have been first used by Comte (1798-1857), to designate conduct impelled by motives utterly unselfish and...

ALTSCHUL, ALTSCHULER, ALTSCHUELER – Various forms of a family name borne by Ashkenazic Jews in many countries. Though each of these forms now represents groups that are distinct from one another, and that, apparently, are not interconnected by ties of...

ALUPKA – Village on the southern shores of the Crimea, Russia; mentioned in the letter of Joseph, king of the Chazars, to Ḥasdai ibn-Shaprut about 960) as one of the cities tributary to the Chazars.Bibliography: A. Harkavy, Soobshcheniya...

ALUSHTA – Village on the southeastern shore of the Crimea, in the district of Yalta, Russia. Some ruins exist of the fort Aluston built there by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. Under the name of Aluss the place is mentioned in the...

ALVA – Fernando Alvarez de Toledo: born, 1508; died at Thomar, Portugal, 1582. A famous Spanish general who fought in the various campaigns of the Emperor Charles V. and of Philip II. After winning several decisive battles, he was sent...

ALVALENSI, SAMUEL – Spanish author; born, 1435; died, 1487. He was the son of the learned Abraham Alvalensi, of Toledo, and pupil of Isaac Campanton, the last Gaon of Castile. He was the author of a small treatise, entitled "Kelale Ḳal we-Ḥomer"...

ALVALENSI, SAMUEL – Perhaps the grandson of the above; was born in Spain at the end of the fifteenth century, was taken after the expulsion of 1492 to Fez, where he became the favorite of King Abu Said, of the Merines dynasty. About 1536 the...

ALVAREZ – Name of a Hispano-Portuguese family which has included among its members many scholars, distinguished men, and martyrs. Branches of the family have settled in Holland, France, England, and America.Duarte Henriques Alvares: A...

ALVARO DE LUNA – A gifted Spanish statesman of the fifteenth century who attained the highest military rank, that of Grand Constable. With Chancellor Don Juan Furtado de Mendoza and Don Abraham Benveniste, he exercised for many years unlimited...

ALYASHAR, JACOB – Talmudist; born at Wilna, Russia, about 1735; died in Safed about 1785. The congregation at Hebron in 1765 sent him as their emissary (meshullaḦ) to Persia. On the out-break of a war in 1775, Bozrah, the city in which he...

ALYASHAR , JACOB SAUL – akam Bashi (chief rabbi) of Jerusalem; born at Safed, June 1, 1817. He was taken to Jerusalem in 1823. His teacher was R. Benjamin Mordecai Nabon, who, in 1828, married his widowed mother. In 1855 Alvashar was appointed...