| DIETARY LAWS – Biblical and rabbinical regulations concerning forbidden food.Vegetable Food. A. The ancient Israelites lived chiefly on vegetable food and fruit, upon which the Bible places no restrictions (Gen. i. 29). With the development of... |
| DIETARY LAWS IN ISLAM – The Mohammedan dietary laws are neither as rigorous nor as numerous as in Judaism. They were not introduced into the religious code until the Medinian period of Mohammed's career. He probably found it unwise to force dietary... |
| DIGNE – Capital of the department of Basses-Alpes, France. There was a Jewish community here as early as the thirteenth century. Salve, a Jew of Digne, with Rotelus of Olobrega (Israel of Valabrègue) and Bonfils of Beaucaire, was one of... |
| DIJON – Chief town of the department of Côte-d'Or, France. Jews have been settled here from time immemorial. They occupied two special quarters: the first and most important comprised the whole Rue Buffon, a part of which bore, until... |
| DIḲDUḲ – See Grammar, Hebrew. |
| DIKLAH – A son of Joktan (Gen. x. 27, and the corresponding genealogical list, I Chron. i. 21). The names of the other sons of Joktan point clearly to an Arabic origin, and it is quite reasonable to suppose that Diklah also had in Arabic... |
| DILLMANN, AUGUST – German theologian and Orientalist; born at Illingen, Württemberg, April 25, 1823; died at Berlin July 4, 1894. When Hengstenberg died in 1869, Dillmann was invited to Berlin as his successor. Besides preparing a catalogue of... |
| DILLON, ELIEZER – Russian army contractor; born at Nesvizh, government of Minsk, in the second half of the eighteenth century; died at Wilna June 25, 1838. He received a good education, which was rather unusual among the Jews of Lithuania at that... |
| DILLON, MARIA LVOVNA – Russian sculptress; born at St. Petersburg in 1859. She entered the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at St. Petersburg in 1875, and was graduated thence in 1888 with a gold medal for her statue "Andromeda." After the completion of... |
| DILLON, MARK LVOVICH – Russian jurist; born at Ponevyezh Feb., 1843; educated at the yeshibah of Wilna, the gymnasium of his native town, and the University of Moscow, graduating from the last in 1867. From 1868 to 1874 he occupied in turn the... |
| DIMI – Amora of the fourth century who often carried Palestinian doctrinal and exegetical remarks to the Babylonian schools, and Babylonian teachings to Palestine (see Abdima Naḥota). In consequence of a decree of banishment issued by... |
| DIN – Signifies (1) argument; (2) judgment; (3) laws and rules which form the basis of arguments and judgments; (4) justice, the object ofthe judgment; (5) punishment, the execution of the judgment. The term is generally used in... |
| DINA, GIACOMO – Italian deputy and journalist; born at Turin in 1824; died there July 16, 1879. The son of poor parents, he became a teacher early in life. In 1848 he founded the "Opinione," a journal which, under his tactful editorship,... |
| DINAH – Biblical. Data: "Dinah" is the name of Jacob's daughter by Leah (Gen. xxx. 21). Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, seduces her while she is visiting "to see the daughters of the land" (Gen. xxxiv. 1-31). Though he is anxious... |
| DINAITES – A tribe mentioned in Ezra iv. 9 as having settled in Samaria, and as opposing and denouncing the efforts of the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. The Dinaites have thus far not been positively identified.K. B. P. |
| DINHABAH – City mentioned in the Old Testament as the capital of Idumea, and probably the birthplace of Bela, son of Beor, King of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 32; I Chron. i. 43). The efforts at locating the Dinhabah of Scripture have thus far been... |
| DINIZ – King of Portugal (1279-1325), and styled "the father of his country"; one of the most tolerant rulers of his time, and well disposed toward the Jews. He took care that the judges did not encroach on their rights, and did not... |
| DIOCÆSAREA – See Sepphoris. |
| DIOCLETIAN – Roman emperor (285-305). Although he was the son of Dalmatian slaves (Eutropius, ix. 19), he rose to the highest honors by virtue of his personal qualities. The rabbinical sources have amplified the account of his lowly origin... |
| DIODATUS – Ruler of Syria 141-138 B.C.; born at Kasiana near Apamea. Originally an officer in the army of Alexander Balas, he opposed the claims of Demetrius II., putting on the throne Antiochus, the young son of Alexander, who was still a... |
| DIOGO, JUSTINIANO ALVARES DA ANNUNCIAÇÃO – Archbishop of Cranganor; born at Lisbon in 1654; died at Evora Oct. 28, 1713. Doctor of theology and canon in ordinary, he was charged with a special mission at Rome. Dom Pedro II. rewarded his services by appointing him... |
| DION CASSIUS – Historian; born about 155 at Nicæa in Bithynia; held the highest offices of state in the Roman empire; became consul in 221; died about 240. He wrote an extended work in Greek which dealt with the entire history of Rome, and... |
| DIONYSUS, FESTIVAL OF – II Maccabees. Historic notices regarding a supposed festival of Dionysus in Judea do not antedate the time of the Maccabees. The general statement in I Maccabees (i. 51, 54, 55) that Antiochus Epiphanes forced the Jews to... |
| DIOSCORIDES, PEDACIUS – Greek physician of the first century. His "Materia Medica" is mentioned in a Hebrew medical work called "Midrash ha-Refu'ot," attributed to Asaf ben Berechiah, but compiled from Syriac sources in the tenth or eleventh century.... |
| DIOSPOLIS – See Lydda, Council of. |