| GENAPPE – See Holland. |
| GENAZZANO, ELIJAH ḤAYYIM BEN BENJAMIN OF – Italian physician, theologian, and cabalist; flourished in the first half of the sixteenth century. He had a religious controversy with Fra Francisco da Acquapendente, in which he bitterly attacked Christianity for its dogma of... |
| GENEALOGY – Biblical Data: A list, in the order of succession, of ancestors and their descendants. The Pentateuchal equivalent for "genealogies" is "toledot" (generations), the verb being in the "ḳal" and "hif'il" forms. The later form is... |
| GENERATION – This many-sided word, like its equivalents in the modern versions of the Bible, is used to translate the Hebrew "dor" and "toledah" (the latter found only in the plural). The primary meaning of "dor" is "period"; the secondary,... |
| GENERATION, LENGTH OF – The number of years that elapse before the children of one set of human beings arrive at a marriageable age. This number has been defined to be equal to the average male age at marriage, plus one year before child-bearing... |
| GENESIS, THE BOOK OF – 1. —Biblical Data: The first book of the Torah, and therefore of the whole Bible, is called by the Jews "Bereshit," after the initial word; by the Septuagint and by Philo it is called Γύνεσις (κόσμου) = "origin" (of the world),... |
| GENEVA – Synagogue at Geneva, Switzerland.(From a photograph.)Capital of the Swiss canton of the same name; situated at the southwest end of Lake Geneva; population (1900) about 80,000, of whom 1,076 are Jews. Jews lived there, as well... |
| GENIZAH – The storeroom or depository in a synagogue; a cemetery in which worn-out and heretical or disgraced Hebrew books or papers are placed. A genizah serves therefore the twofold purpose of preserving good things from harm and bad... |
| GENNESARET, LAKE OF – Biblical Data: A lake which takes its name ("Gennesaret" or "Gennesar"; I Macc. xi. 67; Luke v. 1; and in Josephus) from the small fruitful plain which lies on its western side (Matt. xiv. 34; Mark vi. 53), the present... |
| GENOA – Middle Ages. An important Italian seaport on the Gulf of Genoa; also a former republic of the same name. It is very probable that even before the destruction of the Second Temple Jews from Rome settled in Genoa and took part in... |
| GENTILE – Meaning of the Term. A word of Latin origin (from "gens"; "gentilis"), designating a people not Jewish, commonly applied to non-Jews. The term is said (but falsely so) to imply inferiority and to express contempt. If used at all... |
| GENTILI – Italian family of Gorizia, several members of which were eminent rabbis and Talmudic authorities. Of these the most important were:Azriel Gentili: Cabalist; lived at Gorizia in the seventeenth century. He is quoted by Issachar... |
| GENUBATH – Son of Hadad the Edomite by an Egyptian princess, the sister-in-law of the Pharaoh who governed Egypt at the time of David and Solomon (I Kings xi. 20).E. G. H. M. Sel. |
| GENUFLEXION – See Adoration. |
| GEOGRAPHERS – Persons proficient in describing the surface of the earth. Jews have contributed in different ways to the advancement of geographical science. In Biblical times geographical information was mainly given in the form of... |
| GEOMANCY – Divination by means of points made in sand, or by means of pebbles or grains of sand placed on a piece of paper. Some Moslem writers attribute the science of geomancy to Enoch, others to Daniel. It originated in northern Africa... |
| GEOMETRY IN THE TALMUD – See Mathematics. |
| GEORGIA – One of the thirteen original states of the United States, situated on the Atlantic coast; settled by a chartered company of English colonists under James Oglethorpe in June, 1733. Its Jewish settlement dates almost from the... |
| GER – See Proselyte and Proselytism. |
| GERA – 1. Fourth son of Benjamin (Gen. xlvi. 21). He is not mentioned in the list of Benjamin's sons given in Num. xxvi. 38-40. In I Chron. viii. 3 Gera is given as the son of Bela, the first son of Benjamin.2. Father of Ehud the... |
| GERAH – See Weights and Measures. |
| GERAR – Seat of a Philistine prince (Gen. x. 19, xx. 1 et seq., xxvi. 20; I Chron. iv. 39 [LXX.]; II Chron. xiv. 12 et seq.). Following the statementin Gen. xx. 1 ("between Kadesh and Shur"), Trumbull ("Kadesh Barnea," pp. 255, 631)... |
| GERASI, DANIEL BEN ELIJAH – Turkish Talmudist and preacher of the seventeenth century; lived at Salonica, where he died about 1705. He was the author of "Odeh Adonai," sermons (Venice, 1681-82). Some Talmudic sentences of his are referred to by Ḥayyim... |
| GERESH – See Accents in Hebrew. |
| GERGESITES – See Girgashites. |