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BENSHEIM, SIMON – Member of the grandducal Oberrat (Upper House) of Baden; born at Mannheim Oct. 14, 1823; died there Oct. 26, 1898. Extremely active in congregational and philanthropic matters, he was annually elected by unanimous vote a member...
BENTWICH, HERBERT – English lawyer and communal worker; born in London 1856; educated at University College and the University of London (LL.B.). One of the founders of the Hampstead Synagogue, he is also one of the chief promoters of the Chovevei...
BENVENISTE – The name of an old, rich, and scholarly family of Narbonne, the numerous branches of which were found all over Spain and the Provence, as well as at various places in the Orient. It is still borne by certain families in...
BENVENISTE BEN ḤIYYAH BEN ALDAYYAN – Physician and religious poet of the thirteenth century. Zunz mentions three metrical "baḳḳashahs" (supplications) written by him. At Benveniste's request, Jacob ben Eleazar under-took the translation of "Kalilah wa-Dimnah" from...
BENVENISTE BEN JACOB – One of the officers of the society Biḳḳur Ḥolim of the Spanish synagogue in Venice toward the end of the seventeenth century. He was of Spanish descent, and is mentioned together with Raphael ben Solomon Silva and Isaac ben...
BENVENISTE B. LABI – A Jewish Mæcenas; son of "Prince" Solomon ibn Labi de la Caballeria; lived at Saragossa, later at Alcañiz, where he died Nov. 30, 1411. He was wealthy, learned, and greatly respected, and often took the part of his...
BENVENISTE DE PORTA – Bailie ("bayle") of Barcelona, Spain, and brother of Naḥmanides (whose secular name was Bon Astruc de Porta; see Grätz, "Gesch. der Juden," vii. 38; "Jewish Quarterly Review," viii. 492, 710). Benveniste was an important...
BENZION, BENEDIX – Russian physician and missionary to the Jews; born in a small town in the government of Kiev, Russia, in 1839. He spent several years in Rumania, and was baptized in Berlin in 1863. Benzion studied medicine and was graduated by...
BENZION, BENJAMIN ZE'EB WOLF BEN JACOB HA-LEVI – Talmudist; lived probably in Galicia in the middle of the eighteenth century. He was the author of "'Et Raẓon" (Time of Grace), containing essays on morals, intended for the first part of the Minḥah prayer of Sabbath (Zolkiev,...
BENZION, SAMUEL – See Endler, Samuel.
BEOBACHTER, DER – See Periodicals.
BEOR – 1. Father of Bela, king of Edon (Gen. xxxvi. 32; I Chron. i. 43). 2. Father of Balaam (Num. xxii. 5; xxiv. 3, 15; xxxi. 8; Deut. xxiii. 4; Josh. xiii. 22; Micah vi. 5). II Peter ii. 15 gives the name as "Bosor."G. G. B....
BEQUEST – Definition. A gift of personal property in a last will and testament. Modern English law and American law distinguish between a bequest and a devise; the former being a testamentary gift of personal property, and the latter one...
BERA – King of Sodom; one of the five kings constituting the confederacy under Amraphel (Gen. xiv. 2). Ber. Rabbah 42 playfully interprets the name as though contracted from "ben ra'" (evil son).G. G. B. L.
BERAB, JACOB [B. MOSES?] – Chosen Rabbi at Eighteen. Talmudist and rabbi; born at Moqueda near Toledo, Spain, in 1474; died at Safed April 3, 1546. He was a pupil of Isaac Aboab. When he fled from Spain to Tlemçen,then the chief town of the Barbary...
BERACHAH – 1. A Benjamite who came to David and joined his forces at Ziklag (I Chron. xii. 3). 2. A valley where Jehoshaphat and his men assembled after having despoiled the Ammonites and Moabites (II Chron. xx. 26). It is identical with...
BERACHAH, "THE HERO" – A Polish Jewish soldier who was killed in the battle near Moscow, in the Polish war against Russia in 1610. He was the son of Aaron ha-Ḳadosh ("The Martyr") of Tishovitz (probably Tyshovtzy, government of Lublin), and served in...
BERAḤ DODI – Three piyyuṭim forming the Ge'ullah in the morning service of the first two days of Passover, and of Saturday between the first and the last days of this feast ( ). Each of these piyyuṭim begins with the initial phrase of Cant....
BERAKAH – See Benedictions; Music, Synagogal.
BERAKOT – The name of the first treatise of Seder Zeraim, the first Order of the Talmud. By the term "Berakot" a special form of prayer is understood, that begins with the words "Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe."...
BERCHIN, JONAH BORISOVICH – Writer on early Russian-Jewish history; born at Krichev, government of Mohilev, 1865; died at Moscow Aug., 1889. Up to the age of fourteen he received a strictly Orthodox education in the house of his uncle, where he became...
BERDYANSK – District town and seaport in the government of Taurida Crimea, Russia, on the northwestern coast of the Sea of Azof, at the Berdyansk estuary, near the mouth of the rivulet Berdyanka. It was built by the efforts of Prince M. S....
BERDYCHEV – A city in the government of Kiev, Russia; in historical and ethnographical relations part of Volhynia. It has one of the largest Jewish communities in Russia, and is often called the "Jerusalem of Volhynia." It is difficult to...
BERDYCZEW – See Berdychev.
BERDYCZEWSKI, MICAH JOSEPH – Great Synagogue at Berdychev.(From a photograph.)Hebrew author; born in 1865. He represents, to some extent, the Nietzsche school of philosophy in the Hebrew literature of the present day. The son of the rabbi of Bershad,...

BENSHEIM, SIMON – Member of the grandducal Oberrat (Upper House) of Baden; born at Mannheim Oct. 14, 1823; died there Oct. 26, 1898. Extremely active in congregational and philanthropic matters, he was annually elected by unanimous vote a member...

BENTWICH, HERBERT – English lawyer and communal worker; born in London 1856; educated at University College and the University of London (LL.B.). One of the founders of the Hampstead Synagogue, he is also one of the chief promoters of the Chovevei...

BENVENISTE – The name of an old, rich, and scholarly family of Narbonne, the numerous branches of which were found all over Spain and the Provence, as well as at various places in the Orient. It is still borne by certain families in...

BENVENISTE BEN ḤIYYAH BEN ALDAYYAN – Physician and religious poet of the thirteenth century. Zunz mentions three metrical "baḳḳashahs" (supplications) written by him. At Benveniste's request, Jacob ben Eleazar under-took the translation of "Kalilah wa-Dimnah" from...

BENVENISTE BEN JACOB – One of the officers of the society Biḳḳur Ḥolim of the Spanish synagogue in Venice toward the end of the seventeenth century. He was of Spanish descent, and is mentioned together with Raphael ben Solomon Silva and Isaac ben...

BENVENISTE B. LABI – A Jewish Mæcenas; son of "Prince" Solomon ibn Labi de la Caballeria; lived at Saragossa, later at Alcañiz, where he died Nov. 30, 1411. He was wealthy, learned, and greatly respected, and often took the part of his...

BENVENISTE DE PORTA – Bailie ("bayle") of Barcelona, Spain, and brother of Naḥmanides (whose secular name was Bon Astruc de Porta; see Grätz, "Gesch. der Juden," vii. 38; "Jewish Quarterly Review," viii. 492, 710). Benveniste was an important...

BENZION, BENEDIX – Russian physician and missionary to the Jews; born in a small town in the government of Kiev, Russia, in 1839. He spent several years in Rumania, and was baptized in Berlin in 1863. Benzion studied medicine and was graduated by...

BENZION, BENJAMIN ZE'EB WOLF BEN JACOB HA-LEVI – Talmudist; lived probably in Galicia in the middle of the eighteenth century. He was the author of "'Et Raẓon" (Time of Grace), containing essays on morals, intended for the first part of the Minḥah prayer of Sabbath (Zolkiev,...

BENZION, SAMUEL – See Endler, Samuel.

BEOBACHTER, DER – See Periodicals.

BEOR – 1. Father of Bela, king of Edon (Gen. xxxvi. 32; I Chron. i. 43). 2. Father of Balaam (Num. xxii. 5; xxiv. 3, 15; xxxi. 8; Deut. xxiii. 4; Josh. xiii. 22; Micah vi. 5). II Peter ii. 15 gives the name as "Bosor."G. G. B....

BEQUEST – Definition. A gift of personal property in a last will and testament. Modern English law and American law distinguish between a bequest and a devise; the former being a testamentary gift of personal property, and the latter one...

BERA – King of Sodom; one of the five kings constituting the confederacy under Amraphel (Gen. xiv. 2). Ber. Rabbah 42 playfully interprets the name as though contracted from "ben ra'" (evil son).G. G. B. L.

BERAB, JACOB [B. MOSES?] – Chosen Rabbi at Eighteen. Talmudist and rabbi; born at Moqueda near Toledo, Spain, in 1474; died at Safed April 3, 1546. He was a pupil of Isaac Aboab. When he fled from Spain to Tlemçen,then the chief town of the Barbary...

BERACHAH – 1. A Benjamite who came to David and joined his forces at Ziklag (I Chron. xii. 3). 2. A valley where Jehoshaphat and his men assembled after having despoiled the Ammonites and Moabites (II Chron. xx. 26). It is identical with...

BERACHAH, "THE HERO" – A Polish Jewish soldier who was killed in the battle near Moscow, in the Polish war against Russia in 1610. He was the son of Aaron ha-Ḳadosh ("The Martyr") of Tishovitz (probably Tyshovtzy, government of Lublin), and served in...

BERAḤ DODI – Three piyyuṭim forming the Ge'ullah in the morning service of the first two days of Passover, and of Saturday between the first and the last days of this feast ( ). Each of these piyyuṭim begins with the initial phrase of Cant....

BERAKAH – See Benedictions; Music, Synagogal.

BERAKOT – The name of the first treatise of Seder Zeraim, the first Order of the Talmud. By the term "Berakot" a special form of prayer is understood, that begins with the words "Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe."...

BERCHIN, JONAH BORISOVICH – Writer on early Russian-Jewish history; born at Krichev, government of Mohilev, 1865; died at Moscow Aug., 1889. Up to the age of fourteen he received a strictly Orthodox education in the house of his uncle, where he became...

BERDYANSK – District town and seaport in the government of Taurida Crimea, Russia, on the northwestern coast of the Sea of Azof, at the Berdyansk estuary, near the mouth of the rivulet Berdyanka. It was built by the efforts of Prince M. S....

BERDYCHEV – A city in the government of Kiev, Russia; in historical and ethnographical relations part of Volhynia. It has one of the largest Jewish communities in Russia, and is often called the "Jerusalem of Volhynia." It is difficult to...

BERDYCZEW – See Berdychev.

BERDYCZEWSKI, MICAH JOSEPH – Great Synagogue at Berdychev.(From a photograph.)Hebrew author; born in 1865. He represents, to some extent, the Nietzsche school of philosophy in the Hebrew literature of the present day. The son of the rabbi of Bershad,...