Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol 08 - Gos-Hep

825 Pages·2006·19.278 MB·English

by  Subject Scholars

ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JUDAICA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JUDAICA
S E C O N D E D I T I O N
VOLUME 8
Gos–Hep
Fred Skolnik, Editor in Chief
Michael Berenbaum, Executive Editor
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
KETER PUBLISHING HOUSE LtD., JERUSALEM
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition
Fred Skolnik, Editor in Chief
Michael Berenbaum, Executive Editor
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Entries Gos–Hep
5
•
Abbreviations
General Abbreviations
817
Abbreviations used in Rabbinical Literature
818
Bibliographical Abbreviations
824
•
Transliteration Rules
837
Glossary
840
Initial letter “G” of the word “Ge”
(“I” in old French) at the opening
of a paraphrase of and commen-
tary on I Sam. 19:11 in Old French
and Latin. The historiated initial
in this 13th-century manuscript de-
picts Saul sending messengers after
David. Munich, Bayerische Staats- Gos–Gy
bibliothek, Cod. gall. 16, fol. 36r.
GOSHEN (Heb. ןשֶ ֹׁגּ), a grazing area in the N.E. of lower GOSHENGOTTSTEIN, MOSHE (1925–1991), scholar of
Egypt, east of the delta. Goshen was the residence assigned Semitic linguistics. Born in Berlin, Goshen-Gottstein immi-
to Jacob and his family, and it was there that the Israelites lived grated to Palestine in 1939. He studied at the Hebrew Univer-
in Egypt (Gen. 45:10; Ex. 9:26). It is currently assumed that sity of Jerusalem and taught there from 1950 on, becoming
the name is derived from the Semitic root שוג, i.e., com- professor of Semitic linguistics and biblical philology in 1967.
pact, solid, and fertile land, suitable for grazing and certain He was also director of the lexicographical institute and bib-
types of cultivation. In the Bible Goshen is described as “the lical research institute of Bar-Ilan University. In 1988 he was
best part of the land” of Egypt (Gen. 47:6). It is also called “the awarded the Israel Prize in Jewish studies.
land of Rameses” (Gen. 47:11) and it was probably identical His three areas of research were biblical studies, Hebrew
with or not far from the “field of *Zoan” (Tanis; Ps. 78:12, 43), linguistics, and Semitic linguistics. His numerous articles and
the name of the Egyptian capital during the *Hyksos period. books included Medieval Hebrew Syntax and Vocabulary as
The Septuagint (Gen. 46:28) renders Goshen as Heroonpolis Influenced by Arabic, Introduction to the Lexicography of Mod-
(i.e., *Pithom, Ex. 1:11), and once (Gen. 46:34) as “the Arab ern Hebrew, and The Aleppo Codex. He worked on a number
land of Gesem.” Therefore it is generally assumed that Gos- of dictionaries, among them the Millon ha-Ivrit ha-Hadashah
hen is to be located in Wādi Tumeilāt, which stretches from (“Dictionary of Modern Hebrew”), the first synchronic dic-
the eastern arm of the Nile to the Great Bitter Lake and is tionary of Hebrew, of which only the introductory volume
known to be excellent pasture land. Support for this identifi- was published (1969).
cation is found in a papyrus (Pritchard, Texts, 259) from the
end of the 13t century B.C.E. which describes how nomadic
GOSLAR, city in Lower Saxony, Germany. Jewish merchants
shepherds moved from the land of Edom, past the Mernep-
from *Worms are mentioned there in 1074 and 1114. In 1252 the
tah fortress in Teku to the wells of Pithom in order to keep
city demanded the rights to the taxes from its Jewish settle-
themselves and their cattle alive (cf. Gen. 45:10; 47:4). Teku
ment for itself, opposing the royal prerogative on the Jews as
is Wādi Tumeilāt. The rulers of Egypt would therefore seem
*Servi camerae; royal taxes were levied on them through the
to have permitted nomadic Semitic tribes to come to Goshen
municipality from 1274. In 1312 the community paid a direct
and graze there.
tax identical to that paid by Christians. The city council in-
Bibliography: P. Montet, in: RB, 39 (1930), 5ff.; W.F. Al- tervened on behalf of the community against the exactions of
bright, in: BASOR, 109 (1948), 15; 140 (1955), 30–31; idem, Yahweh
Emperor Louis IV in 1336 and 1340. The community of Goslar
and the Gods of Canaan (1968), 79, 134; H.H. Rowley, From Joseph
did not suffer persecution even at the time of the *Black Death,
to Joshua (1950), index; H. Kees, Ancient Egypt (1961), index, S.V.
and the local form of the Jewish *oath was relatively free of
Wadi Tumilat.
[Pinhas Artzi] degrading formulas. Problems of residence rights (*ḥerem
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 8 5
goslar, hans
ha-yishuv) gave rise to bitter quarrels between old and new In 1943 he was deported to the *Westerbork concentration
settlers, which the municipal council was often called upon camp and in 1944 was transferred to *Bergen-Belsen, where
to arbitrate, and resulted in a split in the community in 1331 he died shortly before the liberation in 1945. He also wrote
which lasted for seven years. At that time there were approxi- Juedische Weltherrschaft: Phantasiegebilde oder Wirklichkeit?
mately 30 Jewish taxpayers. (1919) and Hygiene und Judentum (1930).
From 1312 the city council issued an increasing number
Bibliography: Pick, in: MB (July 12, 1957); Y. Aviad, Deyo-
of Judenbriefe conferring rights and obligations on individual kena’ot (1962), 235–7. Add. Bibliography: T. Maurer, “Auch
Jews, so that by 1340 at least half of the Jews in Goslar were not ein Weg Als Deutsche und Jude – Hans Goslar 1889–1945,” in: J.H.
included in the community for taxation purposes. This pro- Schoeps, Juden als Traeger der buergerlichen Kultur in Deutschland
cess continued in the latter half of the 14t century, accompa- (1989), 192–239.
[Getzel Kressel]
nied by increased taxation and decline of the community. By
1400 not even a minyan could be organized, and in 1414 sev-
GOSLAR, NAPHTALI HIRSCH BEN JACOB (c. 1700–?),
eral Jews secretly left for Brunswick to evade a heavy imperial
rabbi and philosopher. Goslar acted as dayyan in his native
tax. A *blood libel about 1440 contributed to the decline of
*Halberstadt, but later moved to Amsterdam. Only in his 50t
the community. A community in Goslar is mentioned in 1615,
year did he begin to study Maimonides’ Guide and religious
when a parnas was installed and took the oath of office. The
philosophy in general. In his Ma’amar Efsharut ha-Tivit (Trea-
pinkas registering a community of nine members was begun
tise on Natural Potentiality, Amsterdam, 1762), composed in
in 1677. A synagogue was built in 1693.
dialogue form and partly in rhymed prose, he criticizes the
The community numbered 43 persons in 1871 and 38 in
doctrine of an uncreated prime matter and polemicizes against
1933. On *Kristallnacht, Nov. 10, 1938, the synagogue (conse-
deism. The appendix to the Ma’amar contains talmudic novel-
crated in 1802), and Jewish shops and homes were attacked
lae under the title Meromei Sadeh. Goslar addressed two let-
and looted. The well-preserved community archives were
ters, dealing with theological problems, to his son Samuel who
destroyed. Twenty-two members of the community perished
too was dayyan at Halberstadt (published in German transla-
during the Holocaust. A new community was organized, with
tion by B.H. Auerbach, Geschichte der israelitischen Gemeinde
46 members in 1948, but declined soon afterward.
Halberstadt (1866), 100ff., 199ff.).
Bibliography: Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 117f.; 2 (1968), 283–95;
[Moshe Nahum Zobel]
M. Stern, in: Israelitische Monatsschrift (supplement to Die Juedische
Presse), 40 (1909), 41–42, 45–47; 41 (1910), 6–7, 10–11; idem, in: Isra-
GOSTYNIN, town in central Poland. The Jewish popula-
elitischer Lehrer und Cantor (supplement to Die Juedische Presse), 31
tion numbered 157 in 1765, 634 in 1856, 1,849 in 1897, and 1,831
(1900), 17–18; 32 (1901), 38–39; D. Loehr, in: Friede ueber Israel, 47
(1964), 147–9, 167–70; H. Fischer, in: Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung (27.5 of the total) in 1921. Between 1823 and 1862 there were
fuer Rechtsgeschichte, Germanistische Abteilung, 56 (1936), 89–149; L. special residential quarters for the Jews. The old synagogue,
Rabinowitz, in: HJ, 2 (1940), 13–21. destroyed by fire, was rebuilt in 1899. It was situated in the for-
[Henry Wasserman]
mer Jewish lane, and a side alley there was popularly known as
the “alley of the dead,” recalling the location of the old Jewish
GOSLAR, HANS (1889–1945), a senior official of the Prussian
cemetery. The ḥasidic leader and rabbi Jehiel Meir *Lipschuetz
government during the Weimar Republic and a leader of the
lived in Gostynin in the 19t century. There were 2,269 Jews
*Mizrachi movement in Germany. Born in Hanover, Goslar
living in Gostynin on the eve of World War II.
wrote for periodicals, specializing in economic problems. He
became an early adherent of Zionism and in 1911 published a Holocaust Period
book entitled Die Krisis der juedischen Jugend Deutschlands Immediately after the German army entered the town in
(1911). During World War I he served in Eastern Europe, where Sept. 1939, mass arrests and attacks on Jews began along with
he came to know the Jewish masses and this profoundly re- requisition and looting of Jewish property. Jews were or-
vised his religious outlook. On his return to Germany in 1919, dered to hew the old wooden synagogue into pieces and carry
his activities in the German Social Democratic Party earned them to German inhabitants for fuel. They were ordered to
him the title of Ministerialrat and an appointment as director pay two “contributions” (fines) in succession; when the presi-
of the press section of the Prussian government, a post he re- dent of the community was unable to collect the second sum
tained until he resigned in 1932. In 1919 he published Die Sex- in time, he sent a delegation to the Warsaw Jewish commu-
ualethik der juedischen Wiedergeburt, in which he urged a re- nity (on a German suggestion) and received the required
turn to Jewish family ethics. He maintained his general Jewish, amount.
Zionist, and Mizrachi activities and published several books A ghetto was set up in Gostynin which was at first open,
on Jewish as well as general themes. In 1933 Goslar immigrated but subsequently surrounded by barbed wire. Order was
to Amsterdam, where he continued his communal activities, kept by Jewish police. Most of the Jews left the ghetto every
especially on behalf of the rescue of Jews from Germany. He morning for hard labor assignments. In August 1941 trans-
was a neighbor of Anne *Frank’s family, and his daughter was ports of men and women began to be sent to labor camps
Anne’s friend, mentioned in Anne’s diary on several occasions. in the Warthegau. The ghetto was liquidated on April 16–17,
6 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 8
Gotlieb, Allan
1942, when nearly 2,000 Jews were sent to the death camp at other thousand or so living in and near the city who are not
Chelmno. affiliated with the congregation.
By the end of the war all traces of Jewish life in the town
Bibliography: Göteborgs mosaiska församling, 1780–1955
had been obliterated. The cemetery had been desecrated and (1955); Skrift till invigningen av mosaiska församlingens i Göteborg nya
destroyed, the tombstones hauled away, and the tomb (ohel) of församlingshus… (1962); H. Valentin, Judarna i Sverige (1964). Add.
the local ẓaddik destroyed. The few Jews from Gostynin who Bibliography: Mosaiska församlingen i Göteborg 200 år (1980).
survived the Holocaust subsequently emigrated.
GOTHA, city in Thuringia, Germany. Jews from Gotha are
Bibliography: Pinkes Gostynin: Yizkor Bukh (1960); D.
Dąbrowska, in: BIH, 13–14 (1955), 122–84 passim. mentioned in *Cologne in 1250 and later in *Erfurt. Eight
members of the community were killed in connection with a
[Danuta Dombrowska]
*blood libel in Weissensee in 1303. The community suffered
during the *Black Death persecutions (1349) and again in 1391.
GOTA, MOSES ZERAHIAH BEN SHNEUR (d. 1648),
Though the community disappeared after the persecutions
Turkish rabbi. Gota studied under Jehiel Basan and Joseph di
of 1459–60, a mikveh (Judenbad) is mentioned in 1564 and
Trani. After spending most of his life in Constantinople, he
1614. Until 1848 no Jews were allowed to live in the duchy of
moved to Jerusalem and from there, to Hebron; financial dif-
Gotha but restricted trading was permitted. The community
ficulties compelled him to leave for Cairo, where he remained
formed after 1848 increased from 95 in 1872/3, to 236 in 1880,
for the rest of his life. His contemporaries describe him as a
and 372 in 1910 (0.9 of the total population). A synagogue
great posek and as expert in Kabbalah. Apart from some re-
was built in 1903. In 1932 the prosperous community of 350
sponsa, all his works have remained in manuscript. They
members maintained a synagogue, school, cemetery, library,
are: Zeraḥ Ya’akov on the Beit Yosef of Joseph *Caro; a com-
and six social and charitable organizations. On Nov. 10, 1938,
mentary on Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah; a supercommen-
the synagogue was burned down and 28 men of the commu-
tary on Rashi’s Pentateuch commentary; collected responsa
nity were sent to *Buchenwald. The 80 remaining Jews had
and sermons. Some of his responsa are to be found in the
been deported by 1939. The community was not reestablished
Bodleian Library together with those of Eliezer Arḥa (rabbi
after World War II.
in Hebron from 1634) and David *Habillo. Others appear in
various works, among them in the collection of responsa Zera Bibliography: Germ Jud 1, 118–19; 2, 295–96; FJW, 372;
Anashim (1902). Gota’s remains were interred on the Mount PK.
of Olives in 1650.
GOTLIEB, ALLAN (1928– ), Canadian lawyer, diplomat,
Bibliography: Conforte, Kore, 51; Frumkin-Rivlin, 2 (1928),
public servant. Gotlieb was born in Winnipeg. His parents,
31; Fuenn, Keneset, 337.
[Simon Marcus] David and Sarah Gotlieb, were very active in Jewish commu-
nity and Israel support activities. Sarah Gotlieb was a leading
GÖTEBORG, city in S.W. Sweden. In 1780 a number of Jew- figure in Canadian Hadassah and served as national president
ish families were granted permission to enter the area, and by of the organization from 1951 to 1955.
1792, 20 Jews lived in the city. Though the first synagogue was Allan Gotlieb earned a B.A. at the University of Califor-
built in 1808, the congregation was unable to secure the ser- nia at Berkeley, his M.A. while a Rhodes’ Scholar at Oxford,
vices of a rabbi, Carl Heinemann, until 1837. After an attempt and a law degree from Harvard University. In 1957 he joined
to introduce radical reform measures, opposed by the rabbi, the Canadian Department of External Affairs, where in 1967
two members of the congregation secured Heinemann’s res- he became an assistant undersecretary and legal adviser. Got-
ignation in 1851, replacing him with the liberal German rabbi, lieb met Pierre Trudeau shortly after Trudeau was first elected
Moritz Wolff, who led the community until 1899. Numbers to Parliament in 1965. While Trudeau was first parliamentary
of Polish and Russian Jews settled in Göteborg between 1903 secretary to Prime Minister Lester Pearson and then minister
and 1920. During World War II the Göteborg community ab- of justice, the two men developed a close working relationship
sorbed many Jewish refugees from Denmark and also from and consulted often on issues of federal-provincial relations
Poland and Russia (1943–45). The Jewish population increased and foreign affairs. When Trudeau became prime minister in
steadily and in 1968 reached 1,450, making Göteborg the third 1968, Gotlieb was appointed deputy minister of the Depart-
largest Jewish community in Sweden. With the exodus of Jews ment of Communication and in 1971 deputy minister of man-
from Poland in 1968, many Polish Jews settled in Göteborg as power and immigration. In 1977 he returned to External Af-
well as in Sweden’s two other major cities of Stockholm and fairs as an undersecretary and in 1981 Gotlieb was appointed
Malmö. Following the collapse of Soviet power and the dis- Canadian ambassador to the United States, a post he held
mantling of the Berlin Wall, a new wave of Jewish emigration until 1989. While in Washington, Gotlieb, with the assistance
saw a significant increase in the number of Jews arriving from of his wife, Sondra, was particularly effective in representing
Russia and its satellites. Now constituting the second largest Canada’s interests and raising Canada’s profile.
Jewish community in Sweden, Göteborg’s Jewish population From 1989 to 1994 Gotlieb was chairman of the Cana-
stood at 1,600 in the early years of the 21st century, with an- dian Council for the Arts, a government-funded organization
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 8 7
gots
charged with fostering and promoting the study, enjoyment, money he received from rich relatives he used for party pur-
and the production of art in Canada. He then became a senior poses. Apart from articles, he published a book: on criticism,
adviser to a major Canadian law firm, specializing in areas of dogma, theory, and practice.
arbitration, government relations, and regulatory and public [Mark Kipnis / The Shorter Jewish Encyclopaedia in Russian]
policy. In addition to his various professional and business in-
terests, Gotlieb was also active in support of a number of arts GOTSFELD, BESSIE (1888–1962), U.S. social worker and
foundations and research institutions. Among his many hon- Zionist. Born Beilka Goldstein in Przemsyl, a middle-sized
ors, he was a Companion of the Order of Canada. city in southeastern Poland, this daughter of a religiously
[Harold Troper (2nd ed.)] Orthodox yet modern family was educated in a Polish gymna-
sium. In 1905, her family migrated to New York, where Beilka
GOTS, Russian revolutionary family. ABRAM RAFAILOVICH became Bessie. In 1909 she married Mendel Gotsfeld, her
GOTS (1882–1937 or 1940) was born in Moscow into the fam- English tutor. A Zionist since her youth in Poland, Gotsfeld’s
ily of a wealthy tea merchant; from 1906 Gots was an active interest in the movement was rekindled through contact
member of the fighting organization of the Socialist-Revolu- with Mizrachi leaders Rabbis Wolf Gold and Meir Berlin.
tionary (SR) party and a member of its central committee. For Thereafter she dedicated her life to religious Zionism. She
his participation in the planning of a terrorist act in 1907 he cherished Mizrachi’s objective, which was to secure "the land
was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. After the Febru- of Israel for the people of Israel, in accordance with the law
ary 1917 Revolution he led the SR faction in the Petrograd so- of Israel.”
viet. In June 1917 at the First Congress of Soviets he was elected In 1925 she founded a national organization, Mizrachi
chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Women of America (which after 1982 became known as Amit).
Following the October Revolution Gots joined the anti-Bol- MWOA’s double objective was to give voice to the inchoate
shevik Committee for Saving the Homeland and the Revolu- desire of Orthodox women for a gendered connection to the
tion. He was an organizer of the armed attack of the junkers new Zionist settlement in Palestine and to widen educational
(cadets) which took place in Petrograd. November 11–12, 1917. and vocational opportunities for the female Orthodox popu-
At the 4t Congress of SRS (November 1917) he defended the lation of Ereẓ Israel.
right to resort to terror against the forces which had usurped To investigate the feasibility of starting a school, Gotsfeld
the rights of the Constituent Assembly. In 1920 he was arrested traveled there in 1929–30 and selected a Jerusalem building
and in 1922 sentenced to execution, which was subsequently to refurbish as a technical school. En route home, she con-
changed to five years imprisonment. In 1927 he was exiled, tacted European women’s groups and solicited their support.
first to Simbirsk and then to Alma-Ata. In 1937 he was arrested She convinced Orthodox women in Europe and America that
again. According to some sources, he was shot together with this school would foster Zionism and religion. Skilled young
Mark Liber in Alma-Ata. In Soviet political literature his name women would contribute to the economy of the new settle-
always appears as part of the trio “Gots-Liber-Dan” (see Fy- ment, put a new face on Orthodoxy, and assure continuity
odor *Dan) whom Lenin referred to as “social defenders,” i.e. into the next generation.
leaders of socialist parties who advocated the continuation of In 1931 the Gotsfelds settled permanently in Tel Aviv and
the war after the February Revolution. Bessie became the official (though unpaid) “Palestine repre-
His brother, MIKHAIL RAFAILOVICH GOTS (literary sentative of MWOA.” At her suggestion and under her super-
pseudonym, M. Rafailov; 1866–1906), entered Moscow Uni- vision MWOA founded three urban vocational schools for
versity in 1885, but in the following year was arrested for revo- adolescent girls and two large farm villages that instructed
lutionary activities, and in 1888 was exiled to Eastern Siberia girls and boys along similar lines. The largest, Kefar Batya in
for 8 years. For armed resistance to the authorities in Yakutsk Ra’ananah, bears her Hebrew given name. MWOA also con-
in 1889, during which he was wounded, he was sentenced to structed children’s homes in small settlements, supported day
permanent exile, but in 1895 received amnesty. He lived in care centers in the cities, and funded youth programs. Gots-
Kurgane, and then in Odessa where he took up literary ac- feld kept the MWOA membership informed through letters,
tivities. In 1901 Gots emigrated to Paris where, in collabo- bulletins, and speaking tours in the United States.
ration with other revolutionaries, he published the journal Gotsfeld was caught up in the fierce battles between
Vestnik russkoy revolyutsii. From the establishment of the SR secular and Orthodox Jews over the education of child refu-
party (in late 1901) until his death, Gots was one of the heads gees who found their way to Palestine before, during, and af-
of the party. In 1902 he moved to Geneva where he helped to ter World War II. She found places in Orthodox institutions
publish the central organ of the SRS Revollyutsionnaya Ros- for Youth Aliyah children and immigrants from Arab coun-
siya. Gots’ apartment in Geneva served as SR headquarters tries. No other branch of Mizrachi matched MWOA’s accom-
and he himself directed all party work. In 1903 when visiting plishments during the pre-state years. Along with Hadassah
Italy, Gots was arrested at the request of the Russian govern- and Pioneer Women, the other major American women’s
ment but due to a campaign in the European socialist and Zionist organizations, MWOA played a critical role in build-
radical press he was freed and deported to Switzerland. The ing the Yishuv.
8 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 8