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EPHAH – See Weights and Measures.
EPHESUS – Capital of Ionia, Asia Minor, and later, under the Romans, capital of Asia Proconsularis. Many Jews lived in this large Greek city during the whole of the Hellenistic period. Josephus ("Contra Ap." ii. 4) traces the granting of...
EPHOD – Biblical Data: In the Old Testament this word has two meanings; in one group of passages it signifies a garment; in another, very probably an image. In the former the ephod is referred to in the priestly ordinances as a part of...
EPHOR – An official in Sparta and in other parts of Greece. Officials called "ephori" were employed among the Jews: (1) in the service of the Temple at Jerusalem (Yoma 9a); (2) at Babylon (Yeb. 45b); (3) in the Byzantine empire, where...
EPHRAEM SYRUS – Church father; born at Nisibis, Syria (whence his surname "Syrus"), or at Edessa, at the beginning of the fourth century. His numerous writings include Syriac commentaries on the Pentateuch and on most of the historical and...
EPHRAIM – Biblical Data: 1. Son of Joseph. The name is connected with the root ("to be fruitful": Gen. xli. 52). He was the younger of the two sons born to Joseph before the famine, Manasseh being the elder (Gen. xli. 51). Nevertheless,...
EPHRAIM, MOUNTAIN OF – The northern part of the mountain range west of the Jordan, extending from Beer-sheba to the great plain of Esdraelon. Its southern boundary is not expressly indicated in the Old Testament, and probably never constituted a...
EPHRAIM B. AARON NABON – See Nabon, Ephraim b. Aaron.
EPHRAIM B. GERSHON – Turkish preacher and physician of the middle of the fifteenth century; lived in Negropont and Constantinople. He was a friend of Mordecai Comtino and Samuel Bueno, for the funeral of whose sister he composed a sermon. His...
EPHRAIM B. ISAAC OF REGENSBURG – German tosafist and liturgical poet of the twelfth century; died in Regensburg about 1175, probably at an advanced age. He was one of the oldest pupils of R. Tam, under whom he studied in his youth, and he probably attended...
EPHRAIM B. JACOB – German Talmudist, liturgical poet, and chronographer; born in 1133; died after 1196. Ephraim belonged to a prominent family of scholars, which included Eliezer b. Nathan, to whom he addressed questions, and Leontin b. Jacob. He...
EPHRAIM BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN – Lithuanian Talmudist; born at Wilna 1616; died June 3, 1678, at Ofen, Hungary. Driven by the Chmielnicki persecutions from his native city, where he was dayyan, he went to Moravia. He filled the office of rabbi, first at...
EPHRAIM BEN JOSEPH OF CHELM (JAMBROWER) – Polish liturgist; born at Chelm, Poland, at the end of the sixteenth century; died at Wreshna, Poland, about 1650. His father, rabbi at Jambrower, Poland, entrusted his education to David ben Jacob of Szczebrszyn. After residing...
EPHRAIM BEN JUDAH – Liturgical poet of the twelfth century. According to Zunz ("Literaturgesch." p. 348) he lived in the northern part of France, and may be identical (ib. p. 495) with the Ephraim quoted by Jeroham in his "Toledot Adam we-Ḥawwah"...
EPHRAIM MAḲSHA'AH – Scholar of the second century; disciple of R. Meïr. He is known only for several homiletic remarks in the name of his teacher. One accounts for the selection of Obadiah for the mission of evil tidings to the Edomites by...
EPHRAIM MOISICH – See Anbal the Jassin.
EPHRAIM B. NATHAN – German Talmudist of the thirteenth century; died before 1293. He was a pupil of Simḥah of Speyer and of Isaac b. Moses of Vienna. Under the latter he probably studied at the same time as did Meïr b. Baruch, as the names of both...
EPHRAIM SAFRA – Palestinian scholar of the third century; disciple of Simeon b. Laḳish, in whose name he reports a civil law (B. M. 119a). The same report appears elsewhere (Yer. B. M. x. 12c) without the reporter's cognomen and without any...
EPHRAIM BEN SAMSON – Bible exegete; flourished in France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He was the author of "Perush 'al ha-Torah," which consists chiefly of gemaṭria and "noṭariḳon." He largely followed Eleazar of Worms. The commentary...
EPHRAIM SOLOMON BEN AARON OF LENCZIZA – Rabbi and popular preacher at Prague; born probably at Lencziza, Poland; died at Prague March 3, 1619. After having filled the office of rosh yeshibah at Lemberg, he was appointed in 1604 rabbi of Prague, and remained in this...
EPHRAIM OF SUDILKOV – Russian rabbi and preacher among the Ḥasidim of the Ukraine; born at Medzhibozh, Podolia, about 1750; died at Sudilkov, Volhynia, about 1799. He was the grandson of Israel Ba'al Shem-Ṭob and a twin-brother of Baruch of Tulchin....
EPHRAIM, VEITEL-HEINE – German financier; died at Berlin in 1775. The name means "Veitel, the son of Heine [German for "Ḥayyim"], the son of Ephraim." He was jeweler to the Prussian court and mint-master under Frederick William I. and Frederick the...
EPHRAIM, VIDAL – Pupil of R. Nissim of Gerona, rabbi in Palma, and teacher of Simeon Duran. He was greatly esteemed by Isaac b. Sheshet, and was noted for his mathematical attainments. He died a martyr to his faith.Bibliography: Isaac b....
EPHRATH – 1. Wife of Caleb (son of Hezron) and mother of Hur (I Chron. ii. 19, 50; iv. 4). 2. Another name for Bethlehem (Gen. xxxv. 19, xlviii. 7; Ruth i. 2, iv. 11; Ps. cxxxii. 6; Micah v. 1). The name "Ephratah" occurs once (I Chron....
EPHRATI, DAVID (TEBELE) – Russian Talmudist; born in Vitebsk 1850; died in Frankfort-on-the-Main Oct. 24, 1884. Among his ancestors were: R. Liva b. Bezalel of Prague, R. Yom-Ṭob Lipman Heller, and R. Moses Kremer of Wilna. His "Toledot Anshe Shem,"...

EPHAH – See Weights and Measures.

EPHESUS – Capital of Ionia, Asia Minor, and later, under the Romans, capital of Asia Proconsularis. Many Jews lived in this large Greek city during the whole of the Hellenistic period. Josephus ("Contra Ap." ii. 4) traces the granting of...

EPHOD – Biblical Data: In the Old Testament this word has two meanings; in one group of passages it signifies a garment; in another, very probably an image. In the former the ephod is referred to in the priestly ordinances as a part of...

EPHOR – An official in Sparta and in other parts of Greece. Officials called "ephori" were employed among the Jews: (1) in the service of the Temple at Jerusalem (Yoma 9a); (2) at Babylon (Yeb. 45b); (3) in the Byzantine empire, where...

EPHRAEM SYRUS – Church father; born at Nisibis, Syria (whence his surname "Syrus"), or at Edessa, at the beginning of the fourth century. His numerous writings include Syriac commentaries on the Pentateuch and on most of the historical and...

EPHRAIM – Biblical Data: 1. Son of Joseph. The name is connected with the root ("to be fruitful": Gen. xli. 52). He was the younger of the two sons born to Joseph before the famine, Manasseh being the elder (Gen. xli. 51). Nevertheless,...

EPHRAIM, MOUNTAIN OF – The northern part of the mountain range west of the Jordan, extending from Beer-sheba to the great plain of Esdraelon. Its southern boundary is not expressly indicated in the Old Testament, and probably never constituted a...

EPHRAIM B. AARON NABON – See Nabon, Ephraim b. Aaron.

EPHRAIM B. GERSHON – Turkish preacher and physician of the middle of the fifteenth century; lived in Negropont and Constantinople. He was a friend of Mordecai Comtino and Samuel Bueno, for the funeral of whose sister he composed a sermon. His...

EPHRAIM B. ISAAC OF REGENSBURG – German tosafist and liturgical poet of the twelfth century; died in Regensburg about 1175, probably at an advanced age. He was one of the oldest pupils of R. Tam, under whom he studied in his youth, and he probably attended...

EPHRAIM B. JACOB – German Talmudist, liturgical poet, and chronographer; born in 1133; died after 1196. Ephraim belonged to a prominent family of scholars, which included Eliezer b. Nathan, to whom he addressed questions, and Leontin b. Jacob. He...

EPHRAIM BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN – Lithuanian Talmudist; born at Wilna 1616; died June 3, 1678, at Ofen, Hungary. Driven by the Chmielnicki persecutions from his native city, where he was dayyan, he went to Moravia. He filled the office of rabbi, first at...

EPHRAIM BEN JOSEPH OF CHELM (JAMBROWER) – Polish liturgist; born at Chelm, Poland, at the end of the sixteenth century; died at Wreshna, Poland, about 1650. His father, rabbi at Jambrower, Poland, entrusted his education to David ben Jacob of Szczebrszyn. After residing...

EPHRAIM BEN JUDAH – Liturgical poet of the twelfth century. According to Zunz ("Literaturgesch." p. 348) he lived in the northern part of France, and may be identical (ib. p. 495) with the Ephraim quoted by Jeroham in his "Toledot Adam we-Ḥawwah"...

EPHRAIM MAḲSHA'AH – Scholar of the second century; disciple of R. Meïr. He is known only for several homiletic remarks in the name of his teacher. One accounts for the selection of Obadiah for the mission of evil tidings to the Edomites by...

EPHRAIM MOISICH – See Anbal the Jassin.

EPHRAIM B. NATHAN – German Talmudist of the thirteenth century; died before 1293. He was a pupil of Simḥah of Speyer and of Isaac b. Moses of Vienna. Under the latter he probably studied at the same time as did Meïr b. Baruch, as the names of both...

EPHRAIM SAFRA – Palestinian scholar of the third century; disciple of Simeon b. Laḳish, in whose name he reports a civil law (B. M. 119a). The same report appears elsewhere (Yer. B. M. x. 12c) without the reporter's cognomen and without any...

EPHRAIM BEN SAMSON – Bible exegete; flourished in France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He was the author of "Perush 'al ha-Torah," which consists chiefly of gemaṭria and "noṭariḳon." He largely followed Eleazar of Worms. The commentary...

EPHRAIM SOLOMON BEN AARON OF LENCZIZA – Rabbi and popular preacher at Prague; born probably at Lencziza, Poland; died at Prague March 3, 1619. After having filled the office of rosh yeshibah at Lemberg, he was appointed in 1604 rabbi of Prague, and remained in this...

EPHRAIM OF SUDILKOV – Russian rabbi and preacher among the Ḥasidim of the Ukraine; born at Medzhibozh, Podolia, about 1750; died at Sudilkov, Volhynia, about 1799. He was the grandson of Israel Ba'al Shem-Ṭob and a twin-brother of Baruch of Tulchin....

EPHRAIM, VEITEL-HEINE – German financier; died at Berlin in 1775. The name means "Veitel, the son of Heine [German for "Ḥayyim"], the son of Ephraim." He was jeweler to the Prussian court and mint-master under Frederick William I. and Frederick the...

EPHRAIM, VIDAL – Pupil of R. Nissim of Gerona, rabbi in Palma, and teacher of Simeon Duran. He was greatly esteemed by Isaac b. Sheshet, and was noted for his mathematical attainments. He died a martyr to his faith.Bibliography: Isaac b....

EPHRATH – 1. Wife of Caleb (son of Hezron) and mother of Hur (I Chron. ii. 19, 50; iv. 4). 2. Another name for Bethlehem (Gen. xxxv. 19, xlviii. 7; Ruth i. 2, iv. 11; Ps. cxxxii. 6; Micah v. 1). The name "Ephratah" occurs once (I Chron....

EPHRATI, DAVID (TEBELE) – Russian Talmudist; born in Vitebsk 1850; died in Frankfort-on-the-Main Oct. 24, 1884. Among his ancestors were: R. Liva b. Bezalel of Prague, R. Yom-Ṭob Lipman Heller, and R. Moses Kremer of Wilna. His "Toledot Anshe Shem,"...