Jewish Historical References

Abravanel, Isaac ben Judah (1437-1508).
Statesman, Bible commentator, religious philosopher. Portugal and Spain. His commentary is cited from the Benei Arbel edition (Jerusalem, 1979).

Aggadah
The nonhalakhic (nonlegal) homiletic side of rabbinic teaching, mostly anchored to the biblical text.

Akkadian
An ancient Semitic language spoken in Mesopotamia and widely diffused in the ancient Near East from before 3000 B.C.E. through the biblical period. Its chief dialects were Babylonian and Assyrian.

Aleppo Codex
The most famous Masoretic manuscript of the entire Hebrew Bible, in codex (book) rather than scroll form. Produced in the tenth century, it was the model followed by Maimonides in making his own copy of the Torah and in formulating his rules for writing Torah scrolls.

Amarna letters
An archive of more than three hundred official letters to and from Canaan and elsewhere in western Asia from the fourteenth century B.C.E., found at El-Amarna, Egypt, the site of the Egyptian capital under Amenophis IV (also known as Akhenaton, 1369-1353).

Aquila
A convert to Judaism from Pontus, Anatolia, and a disciple of Rabbi Akiba. He translated the standardized biblical Hebrew text into Greek in the second century C.E.

Aramaic
A Semitic language closely related to biblical Hebrew and known in many dialects and phases, including Syriac. Aramaic flourished throughout the biblical period and thereafter, and is the language of the Targums, the Gemaras, and large sections of Midrash.

Avot de-Rabbi Nathan
An exposition of an early form of Mishnah Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), transmitted in two versions.

Baal ha-Turim
Commentary on the Torah by Jacob ben Asher (?1270-1340). Germany and Spain.

Bahya ben Asher (thirteenth century).
Bible commentator and kabbalist. Saragossa, Spain.

Bekhor Shor, Joseph ben Isaac (twelfth century).
Bible commentator. Northern France.

Chiasm(us), chiastic
A symmetrical arrangement of words or larger units of a text, in which the second group of words or units inverts the order of the first, producing patterns such as ABBA, ABCB'A'.

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Da'at Zekenim
Anthology of comments on the Torah by the authors of the Tosafot (northern France, thirteenth century).

Deuteronomy Rabba
Aggadic midrash on Deuteronomy. There are two main editions, one printed in traditional editions of Midrash Rabba, the other published from manuscript by Saul Liebermann (third ed., 1974).

Dittography
A scribal error in which the same letter or letters are accidentally written twice.
Elephantine papyri Collection of Aramaic papyri from the Jewish and Aramean garrison of the Persian Empire based on the island of Elephantine, Egypt, in the fifth century B.C.E.

Exodus Rabba
Aggadic midrash on the book of Exodus, originally two separate compositions, combined ca. eleventh or twelfth centuries.

Fragment Targum
A series of targums to the Torah that are preserved only in fragmentary form. Also known as Jerusalem Targum (Targum Yerushalmi).

Gemara
An exposition of the Mishnah in Aramaic and Hebrew.

Genesis Apocryphon
An Aramaic elaboration of the Genesis narratives, from first century B.C.E. or C.E., found in cave 1 at Qumran.

Genesis Rabba
Palestinian aggadic midrash on the book of Genesis, edited ca. 425 C.E.

Gersonides
See Ralbag.

Halakhah
The individual and collective rabbinic legal rulings that regulate all aspects of Jewish life, both individual and corporate.

Hapax legomenon (plural: legomena)
A word or phrase that occurs only once in a body of literature, such as the Bible.

Haplography
A scribal error in which two successive, identical letters or groups of letters are accidentally written only once.

Hazzekuni
Commentary on the Torah by Hezekiah ben Rabbi Manoah, mid-thirteenth century. France.

Hendiadys
Two nouns expressing a single notion, such as "covenant and sanctions" meaning "a covenant guarded by imprecations" (Deuteronomy 29:11, 13).

Ibn Ezra, Abraham (1089-1164).
Poet, grammarian, Bible commentator. Spain.

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Ibn Janah, Jonah (first half eleventh century).
Grammarian, lexicographer. Spain. He wrote a dictionary, Sefer Ha-Shorashim, and a grammar, Sefer Ha-Rikmah, of biblical Hebrew.

Judah Halevi (before 1075-1141).
Poet, philosopher, and author of The Kuzari. Spain.

Kara, Joseph (born ca. 1060).
Bible commentator. Northern France.

Kaspi, Joseph ibn (1279-1340).
Philosopher, grammarian, and commentator. Spain.

Keli Yakar
Homiletic commentary by R. Ephraim Shelomo ben Aaron of Luntschitz, Poland (1550-1619).

Kere
The way the Masorah requires a word to be read, especially when it diverges from the ketiv.

Keter Torah
A Karaite Torah commentary written by Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia, Turkey (1328?-1369).

Ketiv
The way a word, usually unvocalized, is written in the Bible; cf. Kere.

Kimhi
See Radak.

Lekah Tov
A midrashic compilation on the Torah and the Five Megillot by Tobias ben Eliezer, eleventh century. Balkans.

Leviticus Rabba
Palestinian aggadic midrash on the book of Leviticus, edited in the fifth century C.E.

Maimonides, Moses ben Maimon, known as the Rambam (1135-1204).
Halakhic codifier (Ha-Yad Ha-Hazakah=Mishneh Torah), philosopher (Moreh Nevukhim=Guide of the Perplexed), and commentator on the Mishnah. Spain and Egypt.

Malbim (1809-1879).
Acronym for Meir Loeb ben Yehiel Michael. Rabbi, preacher, and Bible commentator. Eastern Europe.

Mari
A city on the Middle Euphrates in Syria where over 20,000 cuneiform texts, mostly from the eighteenth century B.C.E., exhibiting many similarities to the Bible, have been found.

Masorah
The traditional, authoritative Hebrew text of the Bible with its consonants, vowels, and cantillation signs, as well as marginal notes that relate to orthographic, grammatical, and lexicographic oddities; developed by the school of Masoretes in Tiberias between the sixth and ninth centuries.

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Mekhilta
Tannaitic Halakhic midrash on the book of Exodus in two forms, the Mekhilta de-R. Ishmael and the Mekhilta de-R. Simeon ben Yohai, first and second centuries C.E.

Meklenburg, J. Z. (1785-1865).
Author of Ha-Ketav ve-ha-Kabbalah. Poland.

Merism
A "polar expression," a phrase that refers to the totality of a phenomenon by naming the items at its two extremities; two examples are "when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up," meaning wherever you are and at all times (Deuteronomy 6:7).

Metonymy
A figure of speech in which a term is used in place of another that is associated with it.

Meyuhas ben Elijah
Bible commentator and Talmudist. Greece. Probably fifteenth century.

Midrash
Legal and homiletical expositions of the biblical text, and anthologies and compilations of such.

Mishnah
The written compilation of orally transmitted legal teachings covering all aspects of Jewish law, arranged in six orders that, in turn, are divided into tractates; edited by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi, ca. 200 C.E. Palestine.

Motive clause
A clause in a law seeking to explain the law or motivate the listener to observe it.

Nahmanides
See Ramban.

Neveh Shalom
Commentary to Saadia's translation of the Torah, by Rabbi Amram Korah (Yemen and Israel, 1871-1953). Published in Sefer Keter Torah. Ha-"Taj" Ha-Gadol (Jerusalem: Yosef Hasid, 1970).

Numbers Rabba
Aggadic midrash on the book of Numbers, originally two separate compositions, combined ca. thirteenth century.

Onomatopoeia
A word formed by imitating the sound of the object or action that it represents.

Peshitta
A translation of the Bible into Syriac, parts of which are said to have been made in the first century C.E.

Pesikta de-Rav Kahana
Homilies on the synagogue lectionaries. Fifth (?) century C.E. Palestine.

Pesikta Rabbati
Medieval midrash on the festival lectionaries.

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Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer
Aggadic work on scriptural narratives. Eighth century. Palestine.

Punic
The phase of the Phoenician language used primarily in the western Phoenician colonies, such as Carthage, in North Africa, from around the beginning of the fifth century B.C.E.

Qumran
Site overlooking the Dead Sea where a Jewish sect lived ca. 135 B.C.E.-70 C.E. Numerous documents, including the oldest known Bible manuscripts, were found in caves nearby.

Radak
Acronym for Rabbi David ben Joseph Kimhi (1160?-1235?). Grammarian, lexicographer, and Bible commentator. Narbonne, Provence.

Ralbag
Acronym for Rabbi Levi ben Gershom, known as Gersonides (1248-1344). Mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, Bible commentator. Southeastern France.

Ramban
Acronym for Rabbi Moses ben Nahman, known as Nahmanidcs (1194-1270). Philosopher, halakhist, Bible commentator. Spain.

Rashbam
Acronym for Rabbi Samuel ben Meir (ca. 1080-1174). Commentator on Bible and Talmud, grandson of Rashi. Northern France.

Rashi
Acronym for Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (1040-1105). Commentator on Bible and Talmud. Troyes, France.

Saadia ben Joseph (882-942).
Philosopher, halakhist, liturgical poet, grammarian, and Bible commentator and translator. Gaon (head of academy) of Pumbedita, Babylonia.

Samaritan Pentateuch
The Torah text of the Samaritans, a non-Jewish sect centered around a sanctuary on Mount Gerizim, claiming descent from the tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel. Apart from a few sectarian elements, the text is based on a type of manuscript found among Jews in Second Temple times. The text is cited here from A. and R. Sadaqa, Jewish and Samaritan Version of the Pentateuch (Tel Aviv and Holon, 1961-65), in which Deuteronomy is based on a manuscript said to be from the eleventh century.

Seder Olam (Rabba)
Midrashic chronological work ascribed to Yose ben Halafta, second century C.E. Palestine.

Sefer Ha-Hinnukh
"The Book of [Mitsvah] Education." A thirteenth or fourteenth century compilation of the 613 traditional commandments of the Torah in the order of their appearance, with philosophical explanations and references to their talmudic amplification. Attributed to one Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona, its authorship is uncertain.

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Sforno, Obadiah ben Jacob (ca. 1470-ca. 1550).
Bible commentator. Italy.

Septuagint
The Greek translation of the Torah made for the Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt, third century B.C.E.

Shadal Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865).
Italian philosopher, Bible translator, and commentator.

Shalag Samuel Leib Gordon (1865-1933).
Author of a Bible commentary for students and teachers. Palestine.

Shulhan 'Arukh
The classic codification of Jewish law by Joseph Karo (1488-1575) of Safed, traditionally published with glosses by Moses Isserles (1525-1572) of Poland.

Sifra or Torat Kohanim
Tannaitic midrashic commentary to the book of Leviticus, probably compiled about the end of the fourth century C.E. Palestine.

Sifrei
Tannaitic midrashic commentary to the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy, probably compiled at the end of the fourth century C.E. Palestine.

Sumerian
A non-Semitic language, written in cuneiform, spoken in the southern part of ancient Babylonia in the late third millennium B.C.E.

Syriac
The Aramaic dialect of the ancient and medieval Syrian Churches.

Talmud
The body of rabbinic law, dialectic, and lore comprising the Mishnah and Gemara, the latter being an exposition and elaboration of the former in Hebrew and Aramaic. Two separate talmudic compilations exist: the Babylonian Talmud (redacted ca. 500 C.E.) and the Palestinian Talmud (also known as the Jerusalem Talmud; redacted ca. 400 C.E.).

Tanhuma (Yelammedenu)
Collection of homiletical midrashim on the Torah, arranged according to the triennial lectionary cycle. Attributed to Tanhum bar Abba, Palestinian preacher, fourth century C.E.

Tanna(im)
The Palestinian sages of the first and second centuries C.E., whose rulings are cited in the Mishnah.

Targum
Literally, "translation," specifically of the Bible into Aramaic.

Targum Jonathan
An unofficial free Aramaic translation of the Torah, erroneously ascribed to Jonathan ben Uzziel through misinterpretation of the initials "T.J." (= Jerusalem Targum). That scholar is the reputed author of the Targum to the Prophets.

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Targum Neofiti
A targum of the Torah preserved in Vatican Manuscript "Neofiti 1," discovered in 1956.

Targum Onkelos
The standard, official Aramaic translation of the Torah. Attributed to Onkelos, reputed nephew of the Roman emperor Hadrian and convert to Judaism; second century C.E.. The name is probably a corruption of Aquila.

Theodotion
Reviser of the Septuagint (second century C.E.).

Torah Temimah
Anthology of talmudic interpretations of the Torah, and penetrating analyses of them, arranged in order of the biblical verses, by Baruch ha-Levi Epstein of Pinsk (1860-1942).

Tosafot
Supplementary comments to the Talmud and to Rashi's commentary on it by his disciples (France and Germany, twelfth and thirteenth centuries).

Tosefet Berakhah
Supplementary comments by the author of Torah Temimah.

Tosefta
A compilation of tannaitic rulings either omitted from the Mishnah or containing material parallel or supplementary to it. It is arranged according to the six orders of the Mishnah.

Ugaritic
A Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew, used in the ancient city-state of Ugarit (Ras Shamra), on the Syrian coast, in the second millennium B.C.E.

Vulgate
The Latin translation of the Bible made by the Church father Jerome about 400 C.E. It became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.

Wisdom Literature
Books exhorting to moral behavior and discussing theological problems on the basis of experience, such as Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and similar extrabiblical works.

Yalkut Shimoni
Midrashic anthology on the Bible attributed to a certain Simeon, thirteenth century.

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