JewishEncyclopedia.com

MATHEMATICS – The science that treats of the measurement of quantities and the ascertainment of their properties and relations. The necessity of studying astronomy for calendric purposes caused the ancient Hebrews to cultivate various...
MATHIAS OF CRACOW – See Calahora.
MATRIARCHY – A system of society in which descent and property are traced solely through females. It has been suggested that the prominence given to the mothers of kings in the Books of Kings and to the wives of the Patriarchs are survivals...
MATTANIAH – See Zedekiah.
MATTATHIAS MACCABEUS – The originator of the Maccabean rebellion. His genealogy is given as follows in the First Book of Maccabees, the most authentic source: "Mattathias, the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joiarib, from...
MATTATHIAS B. SIMON – Son of the Hasmonean prince Simon, whom he accompanied on his last journey, together with his brother Judah and his mother. Simon, with his sons, was invited by his son-in-law Ptolemy to a banquet in the fortress of Docus, near...
MATTERSDORF, JOAB BEN JEREMIAH – Hungarian rabbi; died about 1807. Through the influence of Aaron Chorin, a disciple of his father, he became rabbi of Deutschkreuz, near Mattersdorf, Hungary. He wrote "Ḥen Ṭob" (Zolkiev, 1806), commentary on a part of the code...
MATTHÄI (SIMEON), ADAM RUDOLF GEORG – German convert to Christianity; born at Fürth 1715; died at Nuremberg 1779. After having studied Talmud at Prague under his father, Jaidel, who was lecturer on Talmud in the bet ha-midrash, Matthäi, whose name was then Simeon,...
MATTHEW – See New Testament.
MATTHIAS BEN MARGALOT – Associated with Judah ben Zippori in the instigation of an uprising against Herod the Great (Josephus, "Ant." xvii. 6, § 2; idem, "B. J." i. 33, § 2). See Judah ben Zippori.S. S. Kr.
MATTHIAS BEN THEOPHILUS – Name of two high priests. 1. The successor of Simon ben Boethus, and, unlike the other high priests appointed by Herod, who were foreigners, a native of Jerusalem (Josephus, "Ant." xvii. 4, § 2). On the eve of a Day of...
MATTITHIAH B. HERESH – Roman tanna of the second century; born in Judea; probably a pupil of R. Ishmael, and certainly a contemporary and friend of his pupils R. Josiah and R. Jonathan. After his ordination Mattithiah went to Rome, apparently on...
MATTITHIAH B. ISAAC OF CHINON – French scholar of the end of the thirteenth century. He was a pupil of R. Perez of Corbeil and a contemporary of Mordecai b. Hillel, martyred at Nuremberg in 1298. He is sometimes wrongly identified with Mattithiah, the teacher...
MATTITHIAH B. JOSEPH THE PROVENÇAL – Chief rabbi of Paris and of France from 1360 to 1385; son of Joseph b. Johanan of Treves, rabbi of Marseilles; pupil of Perez b. Isaac ha-Kohen and of Nissim b. Reuben of Gerona. In 1360 King Charles V. appointed him chief rabbi...
MATTITHIAH ḲARṬIN – Scholar of the fourteenth century. He translated into Hebrew verse the "Moreh Nebukim" of Maimonides in 1363 (comp. Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." i., No. 1682). His work seems to have been lost, unless this Mattithiah is identical with...
MATTITHIAH BEN MOSES BEN MATTITHIAH – Spanish Talmudist; lived toward the end of the fourteenth century and at the beginning of the fifteenth. He was a member of the Yiẓhari family of Narbonne. As he himself relates, his ancestors on being banished from France...
MATTITHIAH OF PARIS – Head of the Talmudic school of Paris in the eleventh century and doubtless identical with Mattithiah b. Moses, one of Rashi's pupils. He is occasionally called Mattithiah the Great. He corresponded with Samuel. b. Meïr...
MATURITY – See Majority.
MATZEL, ASCHER – Hungarian soldier and philanthropist; born 1763 at Stampfen, Hungary; died Nov. 22, 1842. At the age of seventeen he entered the service of the Jewish hospital in Vienna, of which he became the superintendent in 1799. Emperor...
MAURICE, CHARLES – Theatrical director; born at Agen, France, May 29, 1805; died in Hamburg Jan. 27, 1896. Maurice, who was of French descent, was educated in his native city, and until his twenty-second year, when he accompanied his father to...
MAUROGONATO, ISACCO PESARO – Italian legislator; born in Venice Nov. 26, 1817; died in Rome April 5, 1892. He was a member of a prominent family of Ferrara. His father, Israel Pesaro, removed to Venice on his marriage, and the son took the name of...
MAUSCHBERGER, LEOPOLD – Biblical scholar of the eighteenth century. He was the author of commentaries on the Pentateuch and the Earlier Prophets (Olmütz, 1757), and on the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Tobit, Judith, etc. (ib. 1758; Fürst, "Bibl. Jud.")....
MAUTHNER, FRITZ – Austrian poet, novelist, and satirist; born in Horitz, Bohemia, Nov. 22, 1849. He attended the Piarist gymnasium in Prague and then ostensibly studied law at the university, though in reality he busied himself almost exclusively...
MAUTHNER, JULIUS – Austrian chemist; born in Vienna Sept. 26, 1852; educated at Vienna University (M.D. 1879), where he became privatdocent in experimental medical chemistry (1881) and assistant professor (June 3, 1885). He is a member of the...
MAUTHNER, LUDWIG – Austrian ophthalmologist; born in Prague April 13, 1840; died in Vienna Oct. 20, 1894; educated at the University of Vienna (M.D. 1861). He was admitted to the medical faculty of his alma mater as privat-docent in ophthalmology...

MATHEMATICS – The science that treats of the measurement of quantities and the ascertainment of their properties and relations. The necessity of studying astronomy for calendric purposes caused the ancient Hebrews to cultivate various...

MATHIAS OF CRACOW – See Calahora.

MATRIARCHY – A system of society in which descent and property are traced solely through females. It has been suggested that the prominence given to the mothers of kings in the Books of Kings and to the wives of the Patriarchs are survivals...

MATTANIAH – See Zedekiah.

MATTATHIAS MACCABEUS – The originator of the Maccabean rebellion. His genealogy is given as follows in the First Book of Maccabees, the most authentic source: "Mattathias, the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joiarib, from...

MATTATHIAS B. SIMON – Son of the Hasmonean prince Simon, whom he accompanied on his last journey, together with his brother Judah and his mother. Simon, with his sons, was invited by his son-in-law Ptolemy to a banquet in the fortress of Docus, near...

MATTERSDORF, JOAB BEN JEREMIAH – Hungarian rabbi; died about 1807. Through the influence of Aaron Chorin, a disciple of his father, he became rabbi of Deutschkreuz, near Mattersdorf, Hungary. He wrote "Ḥen Ṭob" (Zolkiev, 1806), commentary on a part of the code...

MATTHÄI (SIMEON), ADAM RUDOLF GEORG – German convert to Christianity; born at Fürth 1715; died at Nuremberg 1779. After having studied Talmud at Prague under his father, Jaidel, who was lecturer on Talmud in the bet ha-midrash, Matthäi, whose name was then Simeon,...

MATTHEW – See New Testament.

MATTHIAS BEN MARGALOT – Associated with Judah ben Zippori in the instigation of an uprising against Herod the Great (Josephus, "Ant." xvii. 6, § 2; idem, "B. J." i. 33, § 2). See Judah ben Zippori.S. S. Kr.

MATTHIAS BEN THEOPHILUS – Name of two high priests. 1. The successor of Simon ben Boethus, and, unlike the other high priests appointed by Herod, who were foreigners, a native of Jerusalem (Josephus, "Ant." xvii. 4, § 2). On the eve of a Day of...

MATTITHIAH B. HERESH – Roman tanna of the second century; born in Judea; probably a pupil of R. Ishmael, and certainly a contemporary and friend of his pupils R. Josiah and R. Jonathan. After his ordination Mattithiah went to Rome, apparently on...

MATTITHIAH B. ISAAC OF CHINON – French scholar of the end of the thirteenth century. He was a pupil of R. Perez of Corbeil and a contemporary of Mordecai b. Hillel, martyred at Nuremberg in 1298. He is sometimes wrongly identified with Mattithiah, the teacher...

MATTITHIAH B. JOSEPH THE PROVENÇAL – Chief rabbi of Paris and of France from 1360 to 1385; son of Joseph b. Johanan of Treves, rabbi of Marseilles; pupil of Perez b. Isaac ha-Kohen and of Nissim b. Reuben of Gerona. In 1360 King Charles V. appointed him chief rabbi...

MATTITHIAH ḲARṬIN – Scholar of the fourteenth century. He translated into Hebrew verse the "Moreh Nebukim" of Maimonides in 1363 (comp. Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." i., No. 1682). His work seems to have been lost, unless this Mattithiah is identical with...

MATTITHIAH BEN MOSES BEN MATTITHIAH – Spanish Talmudist; lived toward the end of the fourteenth century and at the beginning of the fifteenth. He was a member of the Yiẓhari family of Narbonne. As he himself relates, his ancestors on being banished from France...

MATTITHIAH OF PARIS – Head of the Talmudic school of Paris in the eleventh century and doubtless identical with Mattithiah b. Moses, one of Rashi's pupils. He is occasionally called Mattithiah the Great. He corresponded with Samuel. b. Meïr...

MATURITY – See Majority.

MATZEL, ASCHER – Hungarian soldier and philanthropist; born 1763 at Stampfen, Hungary; died Nov. 22, 1842. At the age of seventeen he entered the service of the Jewish hospital in Vienna, of which he became the superintendent in 1799. Emperor...

MAURICE, CHARLES – Theatrical director; born at Agen, France, May 29, 1805; died in Hamburg Jan. 27, 1896. Maurice, who was of French descent, was educated in his native city, and until his twenty-second year, when he accompanied his father to...

MAUROGONATO, ISACCO PESARO – Italian legislator; born in Venice Nov. 26, 1817; died in Rome April 5, 1892. He was a member of a prominent family of Ferrara. His father, Israel Pesaro, removed to Venice on his marriage, and the son took the name of...

MAUSCHBERGER, LEOPOLD – Biblical scholar of the eighteenth century. He was the author of commentaries on the Pentateuch and the Earlier Prophets (Olmütz, 1757), and on the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Tobit, Judith, etc. (ib. 1758; Fürst, "Bibl. Jud.")....

MAUTHNER, FRITZ – Austrian poet, novelist, and satirist; born in Horitz, Bohemia, Nov. 22, 1849. He attended the Piarist gymnasium in Prague and then ostensibly studied law at the university, though in reality he busied himself almost exclusively...

MAUTHNER, JULIUS – Austrian chemist; born in Vienna Sept. 26, 1852; educated at Vienna University (M.D. 1879), where he became privatdocent in experimental medical chemistry (1881) and assistant professor (June 3, 1885). He is a member of the...

MAUTHNER, LUDWIG – Austrian ophthalmologist; born in Prague April 13, 1840; died in Vienna Oct. 20, 1894; educated at the University of Vienna (M.D. 1861). He was admitted to the medical faculty of his alma mater as privat-docent in ophthalmology...