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GHIRONDI – Italian family of Padua, the founder of which settled there toward the end of the sixteenth century. The name indicates that he was a native of Gerona in Spain. He was also called "Ẓarfati" (the Frenchman), either because Gerona...
GHOSALKER, SOLOMON DANIEL – Beni-Israel soldier; born 1804; died at Dhulia, India, Oct. 14, 1869. He enlisted in the 25th regiment of the Bombay native light infantry, and served in the Scinde campaign in 1843-45, the Indian mutiny, and the Abyssinian...
GIANTS – Aborigines. —Biblical Data: Word derived from the Greek γίγας (in LXX.), denoting a man of extraordinary stature; in the English versions the rendering for three Hebrew words: (1) "Nefilim" (see Fall of Angels), Gen. vi. 4a, an...
GIAT – See Ibn Ghayyat.
GIBBOR, JUDAH BEN ELIJAH BEN JOSEPH – Karaite scholar; flourished at Constantinople between 1500 and 1540. His main work, which was highly esteemed by the Karaite scholars, was a poem entitled "Minḥat Yehudah"; it consisted of 1,612 verses ending in , containing all...
GIBEAH – The name of several cities situated on hills. The difficulty of keeping these distinct is increased by the fact that sometimes "Geba" is used for "Gibeah," and vice versa (see Geba). In one passage, however, Isa. x. 29, "Geba"...
GIBEON AND GIBEONITES – Gibeon was one of the four cities of the Hivites, reckoned in Josh. xviii. 25 among the cities of Benjamin. That it was not, however, wholly in the possession of the Israelites until a late period is shown by Josh. ix. and II...
GIBRALTAR – British possession, south of Spain. Jews appear to have settled there shortly after the British took possession of the fortress in 1704, and the synagogue Etz Ḥayyim in Market Lane was founded in 1760, while that in Engineer...
GIDEON – Biblical Data: Son of Joash the Abiezrite; also called "Jerubbaal" (Judges vi. 32; "Jerubbesheth" in II Sam. xi. 21); one of the prominent judges of Israel. His story is told in Judges vi.-viii. Midianites and other Bedouin...
GIDEON, SAMSON – English financier; born in London 1699; died 1762. He was a son of RowlandGideon (died 1720), a West-Indian merchant, who changed his name from the Portuguese "Abudiente" on settling in England, and became a freeman of the city...
GIER-EAGLE – See Vulture.
GIFTS – Biblical Data: The interchange of gifts was a custom common among the early Israelites in the ordinary transactions of life as well as at all family celebrations. The subordinate gave presents to his superior "to smooth his...
GIHON – 1. The second river of Eden, surrounding the whole land of Cush or Ethiopia (Gen. ii. 13). Its identification has been a matter of dispute among Biblical exegetes and critics. Josephus (" Ant. " i. 1, § 3) identifies Gihon with...
GIKATILLA, JOSEPH B. ABRAHAM – Spanish cabalist; born at Medinaceli, Old Castile, 1248; died at Peñafiel after 1305. Gikatilla was for some time a pupil of the cabalist Abraham Abulafia, by whom he is highly praised; his cabalistic knowledge became so...
GIKATILLA, MOSES IBN – Grammarian and Bible exegete of the latter part of the eleventh century. His full name was "Moses b. Samuel haKohen," but Abraham ibn Ezra generally called him "Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen." His surname, which appears as early as the...
GIL VICENTE – Portuguese dramatist; born at Lisbon about 1470; called by the Portuguese their Plautus, their Shakespeare, and the father of their comedy. He numbered secret Jews among his friends, to one of whom, Affonso Lopez Capaio, a poet...
GILBOA – The ancient name given to the bow-shaped mountain chain situated north of the Ras Ibziḳ, separating the plain of Jezreel from the valley of the Jordan, and sloping off abruptly toward the Jalud ravine at the northwest. The...
GILDS – Associations for the restriction of competition in the production and distribution of commodities. From the twelfth century onward most of the towns of western Europe were organized in such a manner as to restrict each craft and...
GILEAD – 1. District, mountain, and city east of the Jordan. The name "Gilead" in Gen. xxxi. 48 is explained by popular etymology to mean "heap of witness," in connection with the story of the heap of stones which Laban and Jacob piled...
GILGAL – The first camping-place of the Israelites in the land west of the Jordan (Josh. iv. 19); the place to which they could retreat during their struggles for conquest (Josh. x. 6 et seq.); it was also a sanctuary, the origin of...
GILGUL-NESHAMOTH – See Transmigration of Souls.
GILYONIM – Term used by the scribes flourishing between 100 and 135 to denote the Gospels. The designation as used by them did not imply any mockery; R. Meïr, who flourished after 135, a descendant of Greek proselytes, was the first to...
GIMEL – Third letter of the Hebrew alphabet, so called, perhaps, because the shape of the letter in the ancient West-Semitic script bears a resemblance to the neck of the camel. In pronunciation gimel corresponds to the Greek γ or to...
GIMZO – A city in the Judean plain; conquered by the Philistines according to II Chron. xxviii. 18; present village of Jimzu, southeast of Lydda.Bibliography: Neubauer, Géographic du Talmud, p. 98.E. G. H. F. Bu.
GINSBURG, CHRISTIAN DAVID – English Masoretic scholar and Christian missionary; born at Warsaw Dec. 25, 1831. He was converted in 1846, and was for a time connected with the Liverpool branch of the London Society's Mission to the Jews, but retired in 1863,...

GHIRONDI – Italian family of Padua, the founder of which settled there toward the end of the sixteenth century. The name indicates that he was a native of Gerona in Spain. He was also called "Ẓarfati" (the Frenchman), either because Gerona...

GHOSALKER, SOLOMON DANIEL – Beni-Israel soldier; born 1804; died at Dhulia, India, Oct. 14, 1869. He enlisted in the 25th regiment of the Bombay native light infantry, and served in the Scinde campaign in 1843-45, the Indian mutiny, and the Abyssinian...

GIANTS – Aborigines. —Biblical Data: Word derived from the Greek γίγας (in LXX.), denoting a man of extraordinary stature; in the English versions the rendering for three Hebrew words: (1) "Nefilim" (see Fall of Angels), Gen. vi. 4a, an...

GIAT – See Ibn Ghayyat.

GIBBOR, JUDAH BEN ELIJAH BEN JOSEPH – Karaite scholar; flourished at Constantinople between 1500 and 1540. His main work, which was highly esteemed by the Karaite scholars, was a poem entitled "Minḥat Yehudah"; it consisted of 1,612 verses ending in , containing all...

GIBEAH – The name of several cities situated on hills. The difficulty of keeping these distinct is increased by the fact that sometimes "Geba" is used for "Gibeah," and vice versa (see Geba). In one passage, however, Isa. x. 29, "Geba"...

GIBEON AND GIBEONITES – Gibeon was one of the four cities of the Hivites, reckoned in Josh. xviii. 25 among the cities of Benjamin. That it was not, however, wholly in the possession of the Israelites until a late period is shown by Josh. ix. and II...

GIBRALTAR – British possession, south of Spain. Jews appear to have settled there shortly after the British took possession of the fortress in 1704, and the synagogue Etz Ḥayyim in Market Lane was founded in 1760, while that in Engineer...

GIDEON – Biblical Data: Son of Joash the Abiezrite; also called "Jerubbaal" (Judges vi. 32; "Jerubbesheth" in II Sam. xi. 21); one of the prominent judges of Israel. His story is told in Judges vi.-viii. Midianites and other Bedouin...

GIDEON, SAMSON – English financier; born in London 1699; died 1762. He was a son of RowlandGideon (died 1720), a West-Indian merchant, who changed his name from the Portuguese "Abudiente" on settling in England, and became a freeman of the city...

GIER-EAGLE – See Vulture.

GIFTS – Biblical Data: The interchange of gifts was a custom common among the early Israelites in the ordinary transactions of life as well as at all family celebrations. The subordinate gave presents to his superior "to smooth his...

GIHON – 1. The second river of Eden, surrounding the whole land of Cush or Ethiopia (Gen. ii. 13). Its identification has been a matter of dispute among Biblical exegetes and critics. Josephus (" Ant. " i. 1, § 3) identifies Gihon with...

GIKATILLA, JOSEPH B. ABRAHAM – Spanish cabalist; born at Medinaceli, Old Castile, 1248; died at Peñafiel after 1305. Gikatilla was for some time a pupil of the cabalist Abraham Abulafia, by whom he is highly praised; his cabalistic knowledge became so...

GIKATILLA, MOSES IBN – Grammarian and Bible exegete of the latter part of the eleventh century. His full name was "Moses b. Samuel haKohen," but Abraham ibn Ezra generally called him "Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen." His surname, which appears as early as the...

GIL VICENTE – Portuguese dramatist; born at Lisbon about 1470; called by the Portuguese their Plautus, their Shakespeare, and the father of their comedy. He numbered secret Jews among his friends, to one of whom, Affonso Lopez Capaio, a poet...

GILBOA – The ancient name given to the bow-shaped mountain chain situated north of the Ras Ibziḳ, separating the plain of Jezreel from the valley of the Jordan, and sloping off abruptly toward the Jalud ravine at the northwest. The...

GILDS – Associations for the restriction of competition in the production and distribution of commodities. From the twelfth century onward most of the towns of western Europe were organized in such a manner as to restrict each craft and...

GILEAD – 1. District, mountain, and city east of the Jordan. The name "Gilead" in Gen. xxxi. 48 is explained by popular etymology to mean "heap of witness," in connection with the story of the heap of stones which Laban and Jacob piled...

GILGAL – The first camping-place of the Israelites in the land west of the Jordan (Josh. iv. 19); the place to which they could retreat during their struggles for conquest (Josh. x. 6 et seq.); it was also a sanctuary, the origin of...

GILGUL-NESHAMOTH – See Transmigration of Souls.

GILYONIM – Term used by the scribes flourishing between 100 and 135 to denote the Gospels. The designation as used by them did not imply any mockery; R. Meïr, who flourished after 135, a descendant of Greek proselytes, was the first to...

GIMEL – Third letter of the Hebrew alphabet, so called, perhaps, because the shape of the letter in the ancient West-Semitic script bears a resemblance to the neck of the camel. In pronunciation gimel corresponds to the Greek γ or to...

GIMZO – A city in the Judean plain; conquered by the Philistines according to II Chron. xxviii. 18; present village of Jimzu, southeast of Lydda.Bibliography: Neubauer, Géographic du Talmud, p. 98.E. G. H. F. Bu.

GINSBURG, CHRISTIAN DAVID – English Masoretic scholar and Christian missionary; born at Warsaw Dec. 25, 1831. He was converted in 1846, and was for a time connected with the Liverpool branch of the London Society's Mission to the Jews, but retired in 1863,...