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MELOL, MOSES ḤAY – Compositor and translator in Leghorn (1777-93); son of Jacob Raphael Melol and brother of David Ḥayyim Melol. He translated or edited the "Sefer Azharot ha-Ḳodesh" and the Book of Ruth (Leghorn, 1777), and translated into Ladino...
MELS, ALFRED – German author; born at Berlin April 15, 1831; died at Summerdale, near Chicago, July 22, 1894. He studied at the University of Berlin, but in 1848 ran away to join the Foreign Legion of Algiers. He was severely wounded while on...
MELUN – Principal town of the department Seine-et-Marne, France. There was a very important Jewish community here as early as the twelfth century. The scholars connected with the Talmudic school of the city took part in the synod held...
MELVILLE, LEWIS (LEWIS S. BENJAMIN) – English author; born in 1874. He is the author of the following works: "Life of Thackeray" (1899); "Thackeray's Stray Papers" (1902); "In the World of Mimes" (1902); and "Introduction to Thackeray's Works" (1903-4). He is a...
MEM – Thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; the meaning of the name is "water," the primitive shape of the letter resembling waves (see Alphabet). "Mem" has two forms: one for the beginning or middle of a word (מ), and one for the...
MEMEL – City in the district of Königsberg, East Prussia. It has a population of 19,796, including 1,214 Jews (1900). The earliest mention of the Jews of Memel occurs in connection with the adjournment of the diet by Duke Albrecht April...
MEMOR-BOOK – A manuscript list of localities or countries in which Jews have been persecuted, together with the names of the martyrs, and necrologies. Memor-books are devoted primarily to the learned and influential, although others may be...
MEMORIAL DATES – Jewish communities, as a rule, have taken no note of birthdays of any of their members and only in rare cases of the dates of death. One of these cases is the anniversary of the day on which Gedaliah was assassinated (3d...
MEMORIAL SERVICE – Prayer for the dead is mentioned as early as the last pre-Christian century (see II Macc. xii. 44), and a sacrifice for the dead, probably given in the form of charity, was known in Talmudic time (Sifre, Deut. 210; Hor. 6a). The...
MEMPHIS – City of ancient Egypt, situated about ten miles south of modern Cairo. "Memphis" is the Greek form of the Egyptian "Menfe," and is used in Hos. ix. 6, A. V., and in Isa. xix. 13, R. V., margin (comp. Judith i. 10). The Hebrew...
MEMPHIS – Largest city of the state of Tennessee in the United States of America. Although the year 1845 is designated as the date of the earliest settlement of Jews in Memphis, it appears that a few had lived there temporarily before...
MEMRA – The Word," in the sense of the creative or directive word or speech of God manifesting His power in the world of matter or mind; a term used especially in the Targum as a substitute for "the Lord" when an anthropomorphic...
MENAHEM – King of Israel 748-738 B.C.; son of Gadi. Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam II., had at the end of six months' reign been slain by Shallum, a usurper. Menahem went from Tirzah, one of the government fortresses, to Samaria, cut down...
MENAHEM B. AARON IBN ZERAH – Spanish codifier; born in Navarre, probably at Estella, in the first third of the fourteenth century; died at Toledo July, 1385. His father, forced to leave France in 1306 through the expulsion of the Jews, went to Spain and...
MENAHEM B. ABRAHAM – See Bonafos, Menahem ben Abraham.
MENAHEM BEN ELIAKIM – German scholar of the fourteenth century; a native of Bingen. He was the author of "'Aruk Goren," a dictionary of the Talmud, with German translations of all the difficult words, particularly those taken from Arabic and Greek....
MENAHEM ELIEZER BEN LEVI – Lithuanian Talmudist; born at Wilna; died at Minsk Dec. 23, 1816. After studying Talmud under Solomon of Vilkomir he settled at Minsk, where he became head of the yeshibah. His "Ya'ir Ḳinno," a commentary on Ḳinnim, which he...
MENAHEM BEN ELIJAH – Turkish liturgist of the fifteenth century; a native of Kastoria. He composed the following piyyuṭim: (1) "Mah yaḳeru re'im be-ḳum ashmoret," a "petiḥah"; (2) "Me'on ehyeh asher ehyeh," a "tokaḥah"; both giving in acrostic the...
MENAHEM THE ESSENE – Prominent teacher of the Essene faction in the time of King Herod, about the middle of the first pre-Christian century. He was renowned for his prophetic powers. According to Josephus ("Ant." xv. 10, § 5), he was distinguished...
MENAHEM BEN ḤELBO – See Ḳara, Joseph ben Simeon.
MENAHEM BEN JACOB BEN SOLOMON BEN SIMSON – German synagogal poet; died at Worms April 16, 1203. He was a member of an old family of Jewish scholars connected with that city. His great-grandfather Simson, who was living in Worms at the time of the First Crusade and was...
MENAHEM BEN JAIR – Leader of the Sicarh. He was a grandson of Judas of Galilee, the founder of the Zealot party, of which the Sicarii were a branch. Menahem checked the lawlessness of the Sicarii, who, under his leadership, in 66 C.E., stormed the...
MENAHEM B. JOSEPH B. ḤIYYA – Gaon of Pumbedita 858-860. He was probably elected to the office of gaon rather on account of his father than for his own merit. He had a rival in the gaon Mar Mattithiah b. Rabbi, his superior in Talmudic lore, between whom and...
MENAHEM BEN JOSEPH OF TROYES – Liturgical compiler; lived at Troyes in the thirteenth century, succeeding his father, Joseph Ḥazzan ben Judah, as ḥazzan. The Jewish liturgy is indebted to him for collecting the order of prayers which was used in the community...
MENAHEM B. JUDAH – Roman halakist of the twelfth century. There are few data regarding his life, neither the year of his birth nor that of his death being determined. It is known, however, that he was descended from a family of scholars. He is...

MELOL, MOSES ḤAY – Compositor and translator in Leghorn (1777-93); son of Jacob Raphael Melol and brother of David Ḥayyim Melol. He translated or edited the "Sefer Azharot ha-Ḳodesh" and the Book of Ruth (Leghorn, 1777), and translated into Ladino...

MELS, ALFRED – German author; born at Berlin April 15, 1831; died at Summerdale, near Chicago, July 22, 1894. He studied at the University of Berlin, but in 1848 ran away to join the Foreign Legion of Algiers. He was severely wounded while on...

MELUN – Principal town of the department Seine-et-Marne, France. There was a very important Jewish community here as early as the twelfth century. The scholars connected with the Talmudic school of the city took part in the synod held...

MELVILLE, LEWIS (LEWIS S. BENJAMIN) – English author; born in 1874. He is the author of the following works: "Life of Thackeray" (1899); "Thackeray's Stray Papers" (1902); "In the World of Mimes" (1902); and "Introduction to Thackeray's Works" (1903-4). He is a...

MEM – Thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; the meaning of the name is "water," the primitive shape of the letter resembling waves (see Alphabet). "Mem" has two forms: one for the beginning or middle of a word (מ), and one for the...

MEMEL – City in the district of Königsberg, East Prussia. It has a population of 19,796, including 1,214 Jews (1900). The earliest mention of the Jews of Memel occurs in connection with the adjournment of the diet by Duke Albrecht April...

MEMOR-BOOK – A manuscript list of localities or countries in which Jews have been persecuted, together with the names of the martyrs, and necrologies. Memor-books are devoted primarily to the learned and influential, although others may be...

MEMORIAL DATES – Jewish communities, as a rule, have taken no note of birthdays of any of their members and only in rare cases of the dates of death. One of these cases is the anniversary of the day on which Gedaliah was assassinated (3d...

MEMORIAL SERVICE – Prayer for the dead is mentioned as early as the last pre-Christian century (see II Macc. xii. 44), and a sacrifice for the dead, probably given in the form of charity, was known in Talmudic time (Sifre, Deut. 210; Hor. 6a). The...

MEMPHIS – City of ancient Egypt, situated about ten miles south of modern Cairo. "Memphis" is the Greek form of the Egyptian "Menfe," and is used in Hos. ix. 6, A. V., and in Isa. xix. 13, R. V., margin (comp. Judith i. 10). The Hebrew...

MEMPHIS – Largest city of the state of Tennessee in the United States of America. Although the year 1845 is designated as the date of the earliest settlement of Jews in Memphis, it appears that a few had lived there temporarily before...

MEMRA – The Word," in the sense of the creative or directive word or speech of God manifesting His power in the world of matter or mind; a term used especially in the Targum as a substitute for "the Lord" when an anthropomorphic...

MENAHEM – King of Israel 748-738 B.C.; son of Gadi. Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam II., had at the end of six months' reign been slain by Shallum, a usurper. Menahem went from Tirzah, one of the government fortresses, to Samaria, cut down...

MENAHEM B. AARON IBN ZERAH – Spanish codifier; born in Navarre, probably at Estella, in the first third of the fourteenth century; died at Toledo July, 1385. His father, forced to leave France in 1306 through the expulsion of the Jews, went to Spain and...

MENAHEM B. ABRAHAM – See Bonafos, Menahem ben Abraham.

MENAHEM BEN ELIAKIM – German scholar of the fourteenth century; a native of Bingen. He was the author of "'Aruk Goren," a dictionary of the Talmud, with German translations of all the difficult words, particularly those taken from Arabic and Greek....

MENAHEM ELIEZER BEN LEVI – Lithuanian Talmudist; born at Wilna; died at Minsk Dec. 23, 1816. After studying Talmud under Solomon of Vilkomir he settled at Minsk, where he became head of the yeshibah. His "Ya'ir Ḳinno," a commentary on Ḳinnim, which he...

MENAHEM BEN ELIJAH – Turkish liturgist of the fifteenth century; a native of Kastoria. He composed the following piyyuṭim: (1) "Mah yaḳeru re'im be-ḳum ashmoret," a "petiḥah"; (2) "Me'on ehyeh asher ehyeh," a "tokaḥah"; both giving in acrostic the...

MENAHEM THE ESSENE – Prominent teacher of the Essene faction in the time of King Herod, about the middle of the first pre-Christian century. He was renowned for his prophetic powers. According to Josephus ("Ant." xv. 10, § 5), he was distinguished...

MENAHEM BEN ḤELBO – See Ḳara, Joseph ben Simeon.

MENAHEM BEN JACOB BEN SOLOMON BEN SIMSON – German synagogal poet; died at Worms April 16, 1203. He was a member of an old family of Jewish scholars connected with that city. His great-grandfather Simson, who was living in Worms at the time of the First Crusade and was...

MENAHEM BEN JAIR – Leader of the Sicarh. He was a grandson of Judas of Galilee, the founder of the Zealot party, of which the Sicarii were a branch. Menahem checked the lawlessness of the Sicarii, who, under his leadership, in 66 C.E., stormed the...

MENAHEM B. JOSEPH B. ḤIYYA – Gaon of Pumbedita 858-860. He was probably elected to the office of gaon rather on account of his father than for his own merit. He had a rival in the gaon Mar Mattithiah b. Rabbi, his superior in Talmudic lore, between whom and...

MENAHEM BEN JOSEPH OF TROYES – Liturgical compiler; lived at Troyes in the thirteenth century, succeeding his father, Joseph Ḥazzan ben Judah, as ḥazzan. The Jewish liturgy is indebted to him for collecting the order of prayers which was used in the community...

MENAHEM B. JUDAH – Roman halakist of the twelfth century. There are few data regarding his life, neither the year of his birth nor that of his death being determined. It is known, however, that he was descended from a family of scholars. He is...