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MACHIR BEN JUDAH – French scholar of the tenth and eleventh centuries; born at Metz; brother of Gershom Me'or ha-Golah. He is known by his dictionary entitled "Alfa Beta de-R. Makir," not extant, but quoted often by Rashi, RaSHBaM, Eliezer b....
MACHLUP, ADOLF – Hungarian merchant and philanthropist; born at Eisenstadt in 1833; died at Budapest Jan. 1, 1895. He studied at Budapest, and at the Polytechnic School in Vienna, and took part in the revolutionary movement of 1848. In 1867 he...
MACHORRO – Name of a family of Sephardim that flourished in Brazil, Germany, Holland, Hungary, and Italy. Thirteen persons bearing the name are buried in Altona, the earliest epitaph being dated 1620 and the latest 1782. A Jac[ob] de...
MACHPELAH – Biblical and Post-Biblical Data: Name of a field and cave bought by Abraham as a burying-place. The meaning of the name, which always occurs with the definite article, is not clear; according to the Targumim and the Septuagint...
MACROCOSM – See Microcosm and Macrocosm.
MADAI – See Media.
MADRID – Capital of Spain. Jews lived there as early as the twelfth century. By the old municipal law ("Fuero de Madrid") they were given the same privileges as the other inhabitants, with the one exception that Christian butchers were...
MAFṬIR – 1. The reader of the concluding portion of the Pentateuchal section on Sabbaths and holy days in the synagogue. On regular Sabbaths that portion forms a part of the section read by the seventh reader, and is repeated by the one...
MAGAZIN FÜR DIE WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDENTHUMS – Journal founded by Dr. Abraham Berliner Jan. 1, 1874. It appeared first as a bimonthly, in quarto form, under the title "Magazin für Jüdische Geschichte und Literatur," and contained a series of articles by Berliner on Hebrew...
MAGDALA – Town in Palestine in the province of Galilee; probably the birthplace of Mary Magdalene. There is a Talmudic sentence which declares that Magdala was destroyed (by the Romans) on account of its immorality (Lam. R. ii. 2). Jesus...
MAGDEBURG – Under the Archbishop. Capital of the Prussian province of Saxony; situated on the Elbe. It has a population of 229,633, of whom about 2,000 are Jews. There were Jews at Magdeburg as early as the tenth century. The district...
MAGDEBURG LAW (MAGDEBURG RIGHTS) – General name for a system of privileges "securing the administrative independence of municipalities," which was adopted in many parts of Germany, Poland, and Bohemia ("Encyc. Brit."). Usually it was introduced into the Slavic...
MAGEN DAWID – The hexagram formed by the combination of two equilateral triangles; used as the symbol of Judaism. It is placed upon synagogues, sacred vessels, and the like, and was adopted as a device by the American Jewish Publication...
MAGGID – See Cabala.
MAGGID – Itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of stories. A preacher of the more scholarly sort was called "darshan" and usually occupied the official position of rabbi. The title of "maggid mesharim" (= "a preacher of uprightness";...
MAGGID (STEINSCHNEIDER), HILLEL NOAH – Russian genealogist and historian; a descendant of the family of Saul Wahl; born at Wilna 1829; died there Oct. 29, 1903. His father was a bibliographer, and his grandfather Phinehas was rabbi at Polotsk and Wilna, the emissary...
MAGGID MISHNEH – See Periodicals.
MAGHARIYYAH, AL- – Arabic name of a Jewish sect, meaning "Men of the Caves." According to the account given by Joseph al-Ḳirḳisani this sect was founded in the first century before the common era and derived its designation from the fact that it...
MAGI – See Babylonia.
MAGIC – The pretended art of producing preternatural effects; one of the two principal divisions of occultism, the other being Divination. The effects produced may be either physical (as a storm or death under conditions insufficient to...
MAGINO, MEïR DI GABRIELE – French silk-manufacturer; lived at Venice. In 1587 he went to Rome to promote the manufacture of silk, which had been begun in that city; and on June 4 of the same year the monopoly of silk-manufacture by his improved process...
MAGISTER JUDÆORUM – See Bishop of the Jews; Hochmeister.
MAGISTRATE – See Judge.
MAGISTRATUS, ELIJAH – See Elijah ben Samuel ben Parnes of Stephanow; Genazzano, Elijah Ḥayyim ben Benjamin of.
MAGNESIA – See Manissa.

MACHIR BEN JUDAH – French scholar of the tenth and eleventh centuries; born at Metz; brother of Gershom Me'or ha-Golah. He is known by his dictionary entitled "Alfa Beta de-R. Makir," not extant, but quoted often by Rashi, RaSHBaM, Eliezer b....

MACHLUP, ADOLF – Hungarian merchant and philanthropist; born at Eisenstadt in 1833; died at Budapest Jan. 1, 1895. He studied at Budapest, and at the Polytechnic School in Vienna, and took part in the revolutionary movement of 1848. In 1867 he...

MACHORRO – Name of a family of Sephardim that flourished in Brazil, Germany, Holland, Hungary, and Italy. Thirteen persons bearing the name are buried in Altona, the earliest epitaph being dated 1620 and the latest 1782. A Jac[ob] de...

MACHPELAH – Biblical and Post-Biblical Data: Name of a field and cave bought by Abraham as a burying-place. The meaning of the name, which always occurs with the definite article, is not clear; according to the Targumim and the Septuagint...

MACROCOSM – See Microcosm and Macrocosm.

MADAI – See Media.

MADRID – Capital of Spain. Jews lived there as early as the twelfth century. By the old municipal law ("Fuero de Madrid") they were given the same privileges as the other inhabitants, with the one exception that Christian butchers were...

MAFṬIR – 1. The reader of the concluding portion of the Pentateuchal section on Sabbaths and holy days in the synagogue. On regular Sabbaths that portion forms a part of the section read by the seventh reader, and is repeated by the one...

MAGAZIN FÜR DIE WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDENTHUMS – Journal founded by Dr. Abraham Berliner Jan. 1, 1874. It appeared first as a bimonthly, in quarto form, under the title "Magazin für Jüdische Geschichte und Literatur," and contained a series of articles by Berliner on Hebrew...

MAGDALA – Town in Palestine in the province of Galilee; probably the birthplace of Mary Magdalene. There is a Talmudic sentence which declares that Magdala was destroyed (by the Romans) on account of its immorality (Lam. R. ii. 2). Jesus...

MAGDEBURG – Under the Archbishop. Capital of the Prussian province of Saxony; situated on the Elbe. It has a population of 229,633, of whom about 2,000 are Jews. There were Jews at Magdeburg as early as the tenth century. The district...

MAGDEBURG LAW (MAGDEBURG RIGHTS) – General name for a system of privileges "securing the administrative independence of municipalities," which was adopted in many parts of Germany, Poland, and Bohemia ("Encyc. Brit."). Usually it was introduced into the Slavic...

MAGEN DAWID – The hexagram formed by the combination of two equilateral triangles; used as the symbol of Judaism. It is placed upon synagogues, sacred vessels, and the like, and was adopted as a device by the American Jewish Publication...

MAGGID – See Cabala.

MAGGID – Itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of stories. A preacher of the more scholarly sort was called "darshan" and usually occupied the official position of rabbi. The title of "maggid mesharim" (= "a preacher of uprightness";...

MAGGID (STEINSCHNEIDER), HILLEL NOAH – Russian genealogist and historian; a descendant of the family of Saul Wahl; born at Wilna 1829; died there Oct. 29, 1903. His father was a bibliographer, and his grandfather Phinehas was rabbi at Polotsk and Wilna, the emissary...

MAGGID MISHNEH – See Periodicals.

MAGHARIYYAH, AL- – Arabic name of a Jewish sect, meaning "Men of the Caves." According to the account given by Joseph al-Ḳirḳisani this sect was founded in the first century before the common era and derived its designation from the fact that it...

MAGI – See Babylonia.

MAGIC – The pretended art of producing preternatural effects; one of the two principal divisions of occultism, the other being Divination. The effects produced may be either physical (as a storm or death under conditions insufficient to...

MAGINO, MEïR DI GABRIELE – French silk-manufacturer; lived at Venice. In 1587 he went to Rome to promote the manufacture of silk, which had been begun in that city; and on June 4 of the same year the monopoly of silk-manufacture by his improved process...

MAGISTER JUDÆORUM – See Bishop of the Jews; Hochmeister.

MAGISTRATE – See Judge.

MAGISTRATUS, ELIJAH – See Elijah ben Samuel ben Parnes of Stephanow; Genazzano, Elijah Ḥayyim ben Benjamin of.

MAGNESIA – See Manissa.