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PESSELES, JOSEPH (ELIAS) – One of the foremost representative Jews of Wilna during the middle and latter part of the eighteenth century. His father, well known as Rabbi Elias Pesseles, was the grandson of Moses ben Naphtali Ribkas (author of "Be'er...
PESSIMISM – See Optimism and Pessimism.
PESTER JÜDISCHE ZEITUNG – Hungarian political journal in German, issued five times weekly, and printed in Hebrew type. It was founded in 1869 by I. Reiss, who had acquired his journalistic training while holding the position of secretary to Chief Rabbi...
PESTILENCE – The dreaded infectious disease frequent in ancient Israel and proving fatal in the majority of cases was probably the bubonic plague, which in antiquity was especially prevalent in Egypt, and also occurred in other countries of...
PETAḤYAH – See Pethahiah.
PETER – Tosafist of the twelfth century; pupil of Samuel ben Meïr and Jacob Tam. His name occurs in Tos. Giṭ. 8a and 'Ab. Zarah 74b, and in several other places. Peter fell a victim to the persecutions of the second Crusade. While...
PETER OF ALESSANDRIA (PETRUS DE ALEXANDRIA) – Italian monk of the fourteenth century; born at Alessandria, Italy. He translated about 1342, at the request of Pope Clement VI., the treatise of Levi ben Gershon on his astronomical instrument which subsequently had some...
PETER THE GREAT – See Russia.
PETHAHIAH B. JACOB HA-LABAN – Traveler; born at Prague; flourished between 1175 and 1190. He journeyed from Ratisbon (Regensburg) to the East, traveling through Poland, southern Russia, Armenia, Persia, Babylon, and Palestine. His notes of the journey, part...
PETHOR – Native city of Balaam. In Num. xxii. 5 it is called the city "by the river," and in Deut. xxiii. 4 the city "in Aram Naharaim" (A. V. "Mesopotamia"). It was situated north-northeast of Palestine, and was most probably identical...
PETIT GUILLAUME HAGUINET – See Reuchlin.
PETRA – Capital of Edom in northern Arabia, lying in a rocky valley surrounded by mountains, of which the highest is Mount Hor. The name is apparently a Greek translation of the original Hebrew designation of the place, "Sela" (=...
PETRONIUS, ARBITER – Latin satirist; generally assumed to be a contemporary of Nero. In a fragment he ridicules the Jews, declaring that, even though they worship the pig and revere heaven, this is of no significance unless they are circumcised, for...
PETRONIUS, PUBLIUS – Governor of Syria (39-42); died probably in the reign of Claudius. During his term of office Petronius had frequent opportunities to come in contact with the Jews of Judea and to confer benefits upon them. This was especially...
PETRUS LEONIS – See Pierleoni.
PEWS – See Synagogue.
PEYREHORADE – Cantonal chief town of the department of Landes, France. A number of Jews who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal settled in this vicinity toward the close of the fifteenth century, and founded a small community which they...
PFALZBURG – German city in the consistorial district of Metz; formerly in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle and in the consistorial district of Nancy. A Jewish community has existed there since the middle of the eighteenth century; in...
PFEFFERKORN, JOHANN (JOSEPH) – His anti-Jewish Writings. German convert to Christianity; born 1469; died after 1521. According to Grätz, he was a butcher by trade and illiterate, although his writings seem to disprove this, and he was thrown into prison by...
PFERSEE – Small locality near Augsburg, where Jews were living at an early date. About 1559 they were under the protection of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, despite the request for their expulsion made by the municipal council of...
PFORZHEIM – City in the grand duchy of Baden. With this town is connected the earliest reference to Jews in the former margravate of Baden-Baden—an account of the persecution which took place there on Tammuz 20, 5027 (July 15, 1267), when...
PHABI – High-priestly family which flourished about the period of the fall of the Second Temple.The name, with which may be compared Φαβέας (variant, Φαμέας), that of a Carthaginian general (Suidas, s.v. 'Αμίλκας), was borne by the high...
PHANAGORIA – See Taman.
PHARAOH – The term applied in the Old Testament to the kings of Egypt. The word is derived from the Egyptian "pr-'o" (= "great house"), which originally denoted the royal palace with the buildings and grounds attached to it, although the...
PHARISEES – Party representing the religious views, practises, and hopes of the kernel of the Jewish people in the time of the Second Temple and in opposition to the priestly Sadducees. They were accordingly scrupulous observers of the Law...

PESSELES, JOSEPH (ELIAS) – One of the foremost representative Jews of Wilna during the middle and latter part of the eighteenth century. His father, well known as Rabbi Elias Pesseles, was the grandson of Moses ben Naphtali Ribkas (author of "Be'er...

PESSIMISM – See Optimism and Pessimism.

PESTER JÜDISCHE ZEITUNG – Hungarian political journal in German, issued five times weekly, and printed in Hebrew type. It was founded in 1869 by I. Reiss, who had acquired his journalistic training while holding the position of secretary to Chief Rabbi...

PESTILENCE – The dreaded infectious disease frequent in ancient Israel and proving fatal in the majority of cases was probably the bubonic plague, which in antiquity was especially prevalent in Egypt, and also occurred in other countries of...

PETAḤYAH – See Pethahiah.

PETER – Tosafist of the twelfth century; pupil of Samuel ben Meïr and Jacob Tam. His name occurs in Tos. Giṭ. 8a and 'Ab. Zarah 74b, and in several other places. Peter fell a victim to the persecutions of the second Crusade. While...

PETER OF ALESSANDRIA (PETRUS DE ALEXANDRIA) – Italian monk of the fourteenth century; born at Alessandria, Italy. He translated about 1342, at the request of Pope Clement VI., the treatise of Levi ben Gershon on his astronomical instrument which subsequently had some...

PETER THE GREAT – See Russia.

PETHAHIAH B. JACOB HA-LABAN – Traveler; born at Prague; flourished between 1175 and 1190. He journeyed from Ratisbon (Regensburg) to the East, traveling through Poland, southern Russia, Armenia, Persia, Babylon, and Palestine. His notes of the journey, part...

PETHOR – Native city of Balaam. In Num. xxii. 5 it is called the city "by the river," and in Deut. xxiii. 4 the city "in Aram Naharaim" (A. V. "Mesopotamia"). It was situated north-northeast of Palestine, and was most probably identical...

PETIT GUILLAUME HAGUINET – See Reuchlin.

PETRA – Capital of Edom in northern Arabia, lying in a rocky valley surrounded by mountains, of which the highest is Mount Hor. The name is apparently a Greek translation of the original Hebrew designation of the place, "Sela" (=...

PETRONIUS, ARBITER – Latin satirist; generally assumed to be a contemporary of Nero. In a fragment he ridicules the Jews, declaring that, even though they worship the pig and revere heaven, this is of no significance unless they are circumcised, for...

PETRONIUS, PUBLIUS – Governor of Syria (39-42); died probably in the reign of Claudius. During his term of office Petronius had frequent opportunities to come in contact with the Jews of Judea and to confer benefits upon them. This was especially...

PETRUS LEONIS – See Pierleoni.

PEWS – See Synagogue.

PEYREHORADE – Cantonal chief town of the department of Landes, France. A number of Jews who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal settled in this vicinity toward the close of the fifteenth century, and founded a small community which they...

PFALZBURG – German city in the consistorial district of Metz; formerly in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle and in the consistorial district of Nancy. A Jewish community has existed there since the middle of the eighteenth century; in...

PFEFFERKORN, JOHANN (JOSEPH) – His anti-Jewish Writings. German convert to Christianity; born 1469; died after 1521. According to Grätz, he was a butcher by trade and illiterate, although his writings seem to disprove this, and he was thrown into prison by...

PFERSEE – Small locality near Augsburg, where Jews were living at an early date. About 1559 they were under the protection of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, despite the request for their expulsion made by the municipal council of...

PFORZHEIM – City in the grand duchy of Baden. With this town is connected the earliest reference to Jews in the former margravate of Baden-Baden—an account of the persecution which took place there on Tammuz 20, 5027 (July 15, 1267), when...

PHABI – High-priestly family which flourished about the period of the fall of the Second Temple.The name, with which may be compared Φαβέας (variant, Φαμέας), that of a Carthaginian general (Suidas, s.v. 'Αμίλκας), was borne by the high...

PHANAGORIA – See Taman.

PHARAOH – The term applied in the Old Testament to the kings of Egypt. The word is derived from the Egyptian "pr-'o" (= "great house"), which originally denoted the royal palace with the buildings and grounds attached to it, although the...

PHARISEES – Party representing the religious views, practises, and hopes of the kernel of the Jewish people in the time of the Second Temple and in opposition to the priestly Sadducees. They were accordingly scrupulous observers of the Law...