JewishEncyclopedia.com

COSTUME – In Biblical Times: The general Hebrew designation for "costume" is "beged," applied indifferently to the garments of rich and poor, male and female. Other general designations are "keli," "lebush," "malbush," "tilboshet," and...
COTA, RODRIGO – Spanish poet; born at Toledo; died 1497. He came of a Marano family, three members of which—Francisco Cota, Lopez Cota, and Juan Fernandez Cota—were employed by the state, and were deprived of their offices in 1450. It is...
COTTBUS – Important manufacturing city of Prussia. It includes about 500 Jews in a total population of 40,000 inhabitants. Jews lived here during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but were subsequently expelled. In the nineteenth...
COTTON – This word does not occur in the A. V., but express mention is made of the material in Esth. i. 6, where it is stated that in the court of the king's palace-garden were "white, green, and blue hangings." The Hebrew word here...
COUCH – Structure on which to rest or sleep. The Hebrew term , meaning "divan" as well as "bed," is synonymous with (Amos iii. 12) and (II Sam. xvii. 28). In olden times the Jewish bed, a plain wooden frame with feet, and a slightly...
COUDENHOVE, COUNT HEINRICH VON – Austrian author, traveler, and diplomat; born in Vienna Oct. 12, 1859. Count Heinrich studied law at the University of Vienna; served as volunteer in the Sixth Regiment of hussars; was made an officer in 1881; took the degree of...
COUNCIL OF FOUR LANDS – The central body of Jewish autonomy in Poland for nearly two centuries—from the middle of the sixteenth to that of the eighteenth. The great number of the Jewish population of Poland, its importance in the industrial life of the...
COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN – An organization which came into being as a result of the Congress of Jewish Women, one of the denominational congresses of the World's Parliament of Religions held at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It was organized...
COURAGE – That quality which enables one to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, calmness, and intrepidity; Hebrew, ("Be of good courage," II Sam. x. 12), or ("Be strong and of a good courage," Deut. xxxi. 7, 23; Joshua i....
COURLAND – A government in the Baltic provinces of Russia, bounded on the west and north by the Baltic Sea; on the northeast by the River Düna; and on the south by the government of Kovno. At the end of the eighteenth century the Jewish...
COURT JEWS – Position and Duties. Court Jews, called also court factors, and court or chamber agents, played a part at the courts of the Austrian emperors and the German princes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and at the...
COURTSHIP – See Marriage.
COUSSERI (COUSSER, V04p317001.jpg) – Jewish family of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; lived in Riva di Trento and neighboring towns of northern Italy. The epitaph on the tomb of Meshullam Cousseri (died July 20, 1541) indicates Riva di Trento as the original...
COUTINHO (CUITIÑO, V04p317004.jpg) – Name of a Jewish-Portuguese family, members of which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, resided in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Brazil, and the West Indies.1. Abraham Pereyra Coutinho: Mentioned as living in Amsterdam in...
COUTINHO, FERNANDO – Defender of the Jews, councilor of the supreme court, and afterward Bishop of Silves, in the reigns of Manuel and João III. of Portugal. When, in Feb., 1497, Manuel agitated the question of compulsory baptism of the Jews,...
COVENANT – Biblical Data: An agreement between two contracting parties, originally sealed with blood; a bond, or a law; a permanent religious dispensation. The old, primitive way of concluding a covenant ( , "to cut a covenant") was for...
COVETOUSNESS – The inordinate desire to possess that to which one is not entitled, or that which belongs to another. Its prohibition forms the burden of the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet...
COVILHÃO – City in the province of Beira, Portugal, which in the thirteenth century had a Jewish congregation and was the seat of a district rabbi. After the banishment of the Jews from Portugal, many Maranos resided in Covilhão, where...
COVO – Name of a Jewish family of Salonica, Turkey, a branch of which lives at Widdin, Bulgaria. As the name indicates, the family was originally of Covo, near Milan, Italy. There have been several rabbis of this name.D.Asher Covo, or...
COWAN, PHINEAS – English merchant, volunteer officer, and alderman; born at Chatham 1832; died at Buxton Oct. 22, 1899. From the first he took a keen interest in the Volunteer movement; he was a member of the Honorable Artillery Company: and in...
COWEN, FREDERIC HYMEN – English conductor and composer; born at Kingston, Jamaica, Jan 29, 1852; at the age of four he was taken to England. From his earliest years he enjoyed exceptional advantages in being brought into contact with the greatest...
COWEN, ISRAEL – American lawyer and jurist; son of Bennett and Bertha Cowen; born in Houston, Texas, Dec. 12, 1861; received his early education in the public schools of Texas and California, and in a private school in New York city. He then...
COWEN, LAURENCE – Journalist and politician; born in 1865 at Hull. For some years he lived at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where his father, E. Cohen, acted as Ḥazzan. He went to London in 1888, and was on the staff of "Ariel," the paper conducted by...
COWEN, LIONEL – Painter; born 1846; died Aug., 1895; brother of Frederic H. Cowen, the composer. Cowen, a painter of considerable ability, was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists,and frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. He...
COWEN, PHILIP – Jewish publisher and communal worker; born in New York city in 1853; educated in the public schools; was one of the founders and publisher of "The American Hebrew" (see American Hebrew), and has published several works of...

COSTUME – In Biblical Times: The general Hebrew designation for "costume" is "beged," applied indifferently to the garments of rich and poor, male and female. Other general designations are "keli," "lebush," "malbush," "tilboshet," and...

COTA, RODRIGO – Spanish poet; born at Toledo; died 1497. He came of a Marano family, three members of which—Francisco Cota, Lopez Cota, and Juan Fernandez Cota—were employed by the state, and were deprived of their offices in 1450. It is...

COTTBUS – Important manufacturing city of Prussia. It includes about 500 Jews in a total population of 40,000 inhabitants. Jews lived here during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but were subsequently expelled. In the nineteenth...

COTTON – This word does not occur in the A. V., but express mention is made of the material in Esth. i. 6, where it is stated that in the court of the king's palace-garden were "white, green, and blue hangings." The Hebrew word here...

COUCH – Structure on which to rest or sleep. The Hebrew term , meaning "divan" as well as "bed," is synonymous with (Amos iii. 12) and (II Sam. xvii. 28). In olden times the Jewish bed, a plain wooden frame with feet, and a slightly...

COUDENHOVE, COUNT HEINRICH VON – Austrian author, traveler, and diplomat; born in Vienna Oct. 12, 1859. Count Heinrich studied law at the University of Vienna; served as volunteer in the Sixth Regiment of hussars; was made an officer in 1881; took the degree of...

COUNCIL OF FOUR LANDS – The central body of Jewish autonomy in Poland for nearly two centuries—from the middle of the sixteenth to that of the eighteenth. The great number of the Jewish population of Poland, its importance in the industrial life of the...

COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN – An organization which came into being as a result of the Congress of Jewish Women, one of the denominational congresses of the World's Parliament of Religions held at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It was organized...

COURAGE – That quality which enables one to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, calmness, and intrepidity; Hebrew, ("Be of good courage," II Sam. x. 12), or ("Be strong and of a good courage," Deut. xxxi. 7, 23; Joshua i....

COURLAND – A government in the Baltic provinces of Russia, bounded on the west and north by the Baltic Sea; on the northeast by the River Düna; and on the south by the government of Kovno. At the end of the eighteenth century the Jewish...

COURT JEWS – Position and Duties. Court Jews, called also court factors, and court or chamber agents, played a part at the courts of the Austrian emperors and the German princes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and at the...

COURTSHIP – See Marriage.

COUSSERI (COUSSER, V04p317001.jpg) – Jewish family of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; lived in Riva di Trento and neighboring towns of northern Italy. The epitaph on the tomb of Meshullam Cousseri (died July 20, 1541) indicates Riva di Trento as the original...

COUTINHO (CUITIÑO, V04p317004.jpg) – Name of a Jewish-Portuguese family, members of which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, resided in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Brazil, and the West Indies.1. Abraham Pereyra Coutinho: Mentioned as living in Amsterdam in...

COUTINHO, FERNANDO – Defender of the Jews, councilor of the supreme court, and afterward Bishop of Silves, in the reigns of Manuel and João III. of Portugal. When, in Feb., 1497, Manuel agitated the question of compulsory baptism of the Jews,...

COVENANT – Biblical Data: An agreement between two contracting parties, originally sealed with blood; a bond, or a law; a permanent religious dispensation. The old, primitive way of concluding a covenant ( , "to cut a covenant") was for...

COVETOUSNESS – The inordinate desire to possess that to which one is not entitled, or that which belongs to another. Its prohibition forms the burden of the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet...

COVILHÃO – City in the province of Beira, Portugal, which in the thirteenth century had a Jewish congregation and was the seat of a district rabbi. After the banishment of the Jews from Portugal, many Maranos resided in Covilhão, where...

COVO – Name of a Jewish family of Salonica, Turkey, a branch of which lives at Widdin, Bulgaria. As the name indicates, the family was originally of Covo, near Milan, Italy. There have been several rabbis of this name.D.Asher Covo, or...

COWAN, PHINEAS – English merchant, volunteer officer, and alderman; born at Chatham 1832; died at Buxton Oct. 22, 1899. From the first he took a keen interest in the Volunteer movement; he was a member of the Honorable Artillery Company: and in...

COWEN, FREDERIC HYMEN – English conductor and composer; born at Kingston, Jamaica, Jan 29, 1852; at the age of four he was taken to England. From his earliest years he enjoyed exceptional advantages in being brought into contact with the greatest...

COWEN, ISRAEL – American lawyer and jurist; son of Bennett and Bertha Cowen; born in Houston, Texas, Dec. 12, 1861; received his early education in the public schools of Texas and California, and in a private school in New York city. He then...

COWEN, LAURENCE – Journalist and politician; born in 1865 at Hull. For some years he lived at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where his father, E. Cohen, acted as Ḥazzan. He went to London in 1888, and was on the staff of "Ariel," the paper conducted by...

COWEN, LIONEL – Painter; born 1846; died Aug., 1895; brother of Frederic H. Cowen, the composer. Cowen, a painter of considerable ability, was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists,and frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. He...

COWEN, PHILIP – Jewish publisher and communal worker; born in New York city in 1853; educated in the public schools; was one of the founders and publisher of "The American Hebrew" (see American Hebrew), and has published several works of...