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WILLIAM OF NORWICH – Alleged victim of ritual murder by Jews at Norwich in 1144. He may therefore claim to be the protomartyr of this class of pseudo-martyrdom. According to the boy's own family, he was enticed away on Monday, March 21, 1144, to...
WILLOW – Any tree or shrub of the genus Salix. Willows and poplars are numerous in Palestine. In all regions the white willow (Salix alba) and the Euphrates poplar (Populus Euphratica) occur with great frequency, while the crack-willow...
WILMERSDÖRFFER, MAX, RITTER VON – Bavarian financier and philanthropist; born at Bayreuth April 8, 1824; died at Munich Dec. 26, 1903. At an early age he entered the Munich banking firm of his uncle, J. W. Oberndörffer, whose daughter he married. He was...
WILMINGTON – See North Carolina.
WILNA – Earliest settlement. Ancient Lithuanian city, capital of the district of the same name; situated on the rivers Vilia and Vileika, about 200 miles southeast from Libau on the Baltic, and 436 miles southwest from St. Petersburg. A...
WILNA, ABRAHAM – See Abraham ben Elijah of Wilna.
WILNA GAON – See Elijah ben Solomon.
WINAWER, SIMON – Russian chess-player; born in Warsaw 1839. In 1867 he was in Paris; and while watching some games at the Café de la Régence in that city he decided to enter a tournament to be held there. To the surprise of every one he gained...
WINCHESTER – Ancient capital of England; county town of Hampshire. Jews appear to have settled there at an early date, one of the first entries in the pipe-rolls referring to a fine paid in 1160 by Gentill, a Jewess of Winchester, for the...
WINDOWS – The climate of Palestine and the customs of the ancient and the modern Orient alike rendered the house less important than it is in the Occident, since it was more a sleeping apartment than a place for work, or even for...
WINDS – Ancient Hebrew literature recognizes only four winds-north, south, east, and west, having no names for those from intermediate points, so that such a designation as "north" has a wide range of application. The dwelling-places of...
WINE – Biblical Data: The juice of the grape is the subject of special praise in the Scriptures. The "vine tree" is distinguished from the other trees in the forest (Ezek. xv. 2). The fig-tree is next in rank to the vine (Deut. viii....
WINKLER, MAX – American philologist; born at Cracow, Austria, Sept. 4, 1866; educated at the gymnasium of Cracow, Hughes High School (Cincinnati, Ohio), Harvard University (A. B. 1889), and the University of Michigan (Ph.D. 1892). He took a...
WINNIPEG – Capital of the province of Manitoba, Canada; situated at the junction of the Assiniboin and Red rivers. Jews had relations with Winnipeg when it was merely a small Hudson Bay post, but the first permanent Jewish settlers went...
WINTER, SOLOMON – Hungarian philanthropist; born in the county of Zips, Hungary, in 1778; died at Hunsdorf, in the same county, Feb. 24, 1859, after laboring for sixty years for the advancement of the Jewish race in his locality. The erection of...
WINTERNITZ, MORIZ – Austrian Orientalist; born at Horn Dec. 23, 1863. He received his earliest education in the gymnasium of his native town, and in 1880 entered the University of Vienna, receiving the degree of doctor of philosophy in 1886. In...
WINTERNITZ, WILHELM – Austrian physician and hydropathist; born at Josefstadt, Bohemia, March 1, 1835; educated at Vienna and at Prague (M. D. 1857), where he settled and became an assistant at the institute for the insane. In 1858 he entered the...
WINTERSTEIN, SIMON, FREIHERR VON – Austrian railroad magnate; born at Prague 1819; died at Vöslau June 11, 1883. The son of poor parents, he had to learn early to support himself. He chose a commercial career, and worked as a clerk in Prague and in Vienna, later...
WINTERTHUR – See Switzerland.
WISCONSIN – State in the Upper Lake region of the United States of America; admitted to the Union in 1848. In 1792 a Jew named Jacob Franks went to Green Bay, and in 1805 he erected the first grist- and saw-mill in that section of the...
WISDOM – Practical intelligence; the mental grasp which observes and penetrates into the nature of things, and also the ability skilfully to perform difficult tasks. The former faculty is intuitive, the latter creative. Hence the word...
WISDOM OF SOLOMON, BOOK OF THE – Apocryphal book written in Alexandria about the middle of the first century B.C. That it was composed in Greek by an Alexandrian Jew has been conclusively shown by Freudenthal ("J. Q. R." iii. 722-753). The book has neither an...
WISDOM OF GOD – See God.
WISE, AARON – American rabbi; born at Erlau, Hungary, May 2, 1844; died in New York March 30, 1896; son of Chief Rabbi Joseph Hirsch Weiss. He was educated in the Talmudic schools of Hungary, including the seminary at Eisenstadt, where he...
WISE, ISAAC MAYER – American Reform rabbi, editor, and author; born at Steingrub, Bohemia, March 29, 1819; died at Cincinnati, Ohio, March 26, 1900. He was the son of Leo Wise, a school-teacher, and received his early Hebrew education from his...

WILLIAM OF NORWICH – Alleged victim of ritual murder by Jews at Norwich in 1144. He may therefore claim to be the protomartyr of this class of pseudo-martyrdom. According to the boy's own family, he was enticed away on Monday, March 21, 1144, to...

WILLOW – Any tree or shrub of the genus Salix. Willows and poplars are numerous in Palestine. In all regions the white willow (Salix alba) and the Euphrates poplar (Populus Euphratica) occur with great frequency, while the crack-willow...

WILMERSDÖRFFER, MAX, RITTER VON – Bavarian financier and philanthropist; born at Bayreuth April 8, 1824; died at Munich Dec. 26, 1903. At an early age he entered the Munich banking firm of his uncle, J. W. Oberndörffer, whose daughter he married. He was...

WILMINGTON – See North Carolina.

WILNA – Earliest settlement. Ancient Lithuanian city, capital of the district of the same name; situated on the rivers Vilia and Vileika, about 200 miles southeast from Libau on the Baltic, and 436 miles southwest from St. Petersburg. A...

WILNA, ABRAHAM – See Abraham ben Elijah of Wilna.

WILNA GAON – See Elijah ben Solomon.

WINAWER, SIMON – Russian chess-player; born in Warsaw 1839. In 1867 he was in Paris; and while watching some games at the Café de la Régence in that city he decided to enter a tournament to be held there. To the surprise of every one he gained...

WINCHESTER – Ancient capital of England; county town of Hampshire. Jews appear to have settled there at an early date, one of the first entries in the pipe-rolls referring to a fine paid in 1160 by Gentill, a Jewess of Winchester, for the...

WINDOWS – The climate of Palestine and the customs of the ancient and the modern Orient alike rendered the house less important than it is in the Occident, since it was more a sleeping apartment than a place for work, or even for...

WINDS – Ancient Hebrew literature recognizes only four winds-north, south, east, and west, having no names for those from intermediate points, so that such a designation as "north" has a wide range of application. The dwelling-places of...

WINE – Biblical Data: The juice of the grape is the subject of special praise in the Scriptures. The "vine tree" is distinguished from the other trees in the forest (Ezek. xv. 2). The fig-tree is next in rank to the vine (Deut. viii....

WINKLER, MAX – American philologist; born at Cracow, Austria, Sept. 4, 1866; educated at the gymnasium of Cracow, Hughes High School (Cincinnati, Ohio), Harvard University (A. B. 1889), and the University of Michigan (Ph.D. 1892). He took a...

WINNIPEG – Capital of the province of Manitoba, Canada; situated at the junction of the Assiniboin and Red rivers. Jews had relations with Winnipeg when it was merely a small Hudson Bay post, but the first permanent Jewish settlers went...

WINTER, SOLOMON – Hungarian philanthropist; born in the county of Zips, Hungary, in 1778; died at Hunsdorf, in the same county, Feb. 24, 1859, after laboring for sixty years for the advancement of the Jewish race in his locality. The erection of...

WINTERNITZ, MORIZ – Austrian Orientalist; born at Horn Dec. 23, 1863. He received his earliest education in the gymnasium of his native town, and in 1880 entered the University of Vienna, receiving the degree of doctor of philosophy in 1886. In...

WINTERNITZ, WILHELM – Austrian physician and hydropathist; born at Josefstadt, Bohemia, March 1, 1835; educated at Vienna and at Prague (M. D. 1857), where he settled and became an assistant at the institute for the insane. In 1858 he entered the...

WINTERSTEIN, SIMON, FREIHERR VON – Austrian railroad magnate; born at Prague 1819; died at Vöslau June 11, 1883. The son of poor parents, he had to learn early to support himself. He chose a commercial career, and worked as a clerk in Prague and in Vienna, later...

WINTERTHUR – See Switzerland.

WISCONSIN – State in the Upper Lake region of the United States of America; admitted to the Union in 1848. In 1792 a Jew named Jacob Franks went to Green Bay, and in 1805 he erected the first grist- and saw-mill in that section of the...

WISDOM – Practical intelligence; the mental grasp which observes and penetrates into the nature of things, and also the ability skilfully to perform difficult tasks. The former faculty is intuitive, the latter creative. Hence the word...

WISDOM OF SOLOMON, BOOK OF THE – Apocryphal book written in Alexandria about the middle of the first century B.C. That it was composed in Greek by an Alexandrian Jew has been conclusively shown by Freudenthal ("J. Q. R." iii. 722-753). The book has neither an...

WISDOM OF GOD – See God.

WISE, AARON – American rabbi; born at Erlau, Hungary, May 2, 1844; died in New York March 30, 1896; son of Chief Rabbi Joseph Hirsch Weiss. He was educated in the Talmudic schools of Hungary, including the seminary at Eisenstadt, where he...

WISE, ISAAC MAYER – American Reform rabbi, editor, and author; born at Steingrub, Bohemia, March 29, 1819; died at Cincinnati, Ohio, March 26, 1900. He was the son of Leo Wise, a school-teacher, and received his early Hebrew education from his...