| MARX, ROGER – French art critic; born in Nancy Aug 28, 1859. In 1878 he went to Paris, where he wrote for various theater and art journals. In 1883 he became art, and afterward literary, critic of the "Voltaire." He was later appointed... |
| MARX, SAMUEL – Chief rabbi of Bayonne, France; born in 1817 at Dürkheim, Bavaria; died in 1887; cousin of David Marx. On completing his studies at the Ecole Centrale Rabbinique at Metz, he became director of the Ecole Religieuse Israélite at... |
| MARYLAND – One of the thirteen original States of the American Union. The history of the Jews in Maryland may be divided into three periods: the first extends from shortly after the establishment of the provincial government at St. Mary's,... |
| MÄRZROTH – Austrian author; born in Vienna March 21, 1818; died at Salzburg in 1888. After leaving the University of Vienna in 1844 he entered the field of journalism, in which his influence helped to establish a more liberal régime. He... |
| MASADA – Strong mountain fortress in Palestine, not far west of the Dead Sea. The fortress was built by the high priest Jonathan (a statement which Schürer upon insufficient grounds holds to be false), who also gave it its name... |
| MASARJAWAIH – One of the oldest Arabic Jewish physicians, and the oldest translator from the Syriac; lived in Bassora about 883. His name, mutilated in every possible way, has been transmitted in European sources; nor has it yet been... |
| MASHAL – See Parable. |
| MASHIAḤ, ḤASUN BEN – Karaite scholar; flourished in Egypt (or Babylonia) in the first half of the tenth century. According to Steinschneider, "Ḥasun" is a corrupted form of the Arabic name "Ḥusain," the ו being easily confounded in manuscript with... |
| MASKIL – 1. A title of honor used principally in Italy. The word "maskil," with the meaning of "scholar" or "enlightened man," was used by Isaac Israeli, who died in 1326 ("my colleagues, the maskilim"; "Yesod 'Olam," ii. 11, Berlin,... |
| MASKILEISON, ABRAHAM B. JUDAH LÖB – Russian rabbi and author; born 1788; died at Minsk 1848. He was a descendant of R. Israel Jaffe of Shklov, author of "Or Yisrael." Maskileison ofliciated as rabbi in many cities, and in his late years went to Minsk, where he... |
| MASKILEISON, NAPHTALI – Russian Hebrew author and book-dealer; born at Radashkovichi, near Minsk, Feb. 20, 1829; died at Minsk Nov. 19, 1897. His father, R. Abraham Maskileison, a Hebrew scholar of note and the author of "Maskil le-Etan," instructed... |
| MASLIANSKY, ẒEBI HIRSCH B. ḤAYYIM – Russian preacher; born in Slutsk, government of Minsk, June 6, 1856. He received a thorough rabbinical education, spending two years in the yeshibah of Mir. Later he settled as a teacher in Pinsk, where he remained about... |
| MASORAH – The system of critical notes on the external form of the Biblical text. This system of notes represents the literary labors of innumerable scholars, of which the beginning falls probably in pre-Maccabean times and the end... |
| MASSACHUSETTS – A northeastern state in the American Union. The earliest record of a Jew in Massachusetts bears the date of May 3, 1649, and refers to a certain Solomon Franco, for whom an allowance was made pending his return to Holland; and... |
| MASSARANI (MASSARAN) – Name of an Italian family which has been known since the latter part of the fifteenth century. Originally the name of the family was , from Massarano, a small town near Novara in Piedmont. Subsequently various members lived at... |
| MASSARANI, TULLO – Italian senator, author, and painter; born at Mantua in 1826. He studied law at Pavia and took an active part in the Italian revolution of 1848, after the failure of which he fled to Frankfort-on-the-Main. From Paris he went to... |
| MASSEKET – Any collection of rabbinic texts affecting any more or less complex subject. Literally the term means "a web" (from = "to weave"; comp. Latin "textus"). It is applied indifferently to a treatise of the Mishnah (Shab. 3b; B. Ḳ.... |
| MASSEL, JOSEPH – Russian Jewish Hebraist; born at Ujasin, government of Wilna, 1850. He emigrated to England in the nineties and settled at Manchester, where he opened a printing and publishing office. Massel has translated and published the... |
| MASTER AND SERVANT – The Pentateuch lays down the rule, in favor of the workman, that "the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning" (Lev. xix. 13); the preceding words of the same verse, "thou shalt not... |
| MAT, MOSES BEN ABRAHAM – Galician rabbi; born at Przemysl about 1550; died at Opatow 1606. After having studied Talmud and rabbinics under his uncle R. Ẓebi and Solomon Luria, he became rabbi of Beldza, where he had a large number of pupils. He retired... |
| MATAH MEḤASYA (MAḤSEYA) – Town in southern Babylonia, near Sura (see Schechter,"Saadyana," p. 63, note 1). Sherira Gaon regarded the two places as identical, for in his accounts of the geonim of Sura he uses the names of both Matah Meḥasya (or Meḥasya)... |
| MATALON, JACOB BEN SOLOMON – Turkish rabbinical scholar; lived at Salonica in the sixteenth century. According to De Rossi ("Dizionario," i. 135) the name "Matalon" is the Hebrew equivalent of "one of Toulon," but Zunz (see Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." col.... |
| MATALON, MORDECAI – Rabbi of Salonica in the sixteenth century; uncle of Jacob b. Solomon Matalon. Besides being a prominent Talmudist, Matalon was, according to his companion Samuel di Modena, who quotes him frequently in his responsa, well versed... |
| MAṬAṬRON – See Meṭaṭron. |
| MATER SYNAGOGUE – See Pater Synagogue. |