Historical dictionary of the Jews

276 Pages·2011·1.283 MB·English

by  Unterman, Alan

Historical Dictionaries of PeoPles anD cultures
Jon Woronoff, series eDitor
edited by Jon Woronoff
1. Kurds, by Michael M. Gunter, 2004. Out of print. See No. 8.
2. Inuit, by Pamela R. Stern, 2004.
3. Druzes, by Samy Swayd, 2006.
4. Southeast Asian Massif, by Jean Michaud, 2006.
5. Berbers (Imazighen), by Hsain Ilahiane, 2006.
6. Tamils, by Vijaya Ramaswamy, 2007.
7. Gypsies, 2nd ed., by Donald Kenrick, 2007.
8. Kurds, 2nd ed., by Michael M. Gunter, 2011.
9. Jews, by Alan Unterman, 2011.

Historical
Dictionary of the Jews

Alan Unterman
Historical Dictionaries
of Peoples and Cultures, No. 9
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2011
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2011 by Alan Unterman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication Data
Unterman, Alan.
Historical dictionary of the Jews / Alan Unterman.
p. cm. -- (Historical dictionaries of peoples and cultures ; 9)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8108-5525-0 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-8108-7508-1
(ebook)
1. Jews--History--Chronology--Dictionaries. 2. Acronyms--Dictionaries. 3.
Abbreviations--Dictionaries. I. Title.
DS114.U58 2010
909'.04924003--dc22
 ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States
of America
For Sandra, Yossi, and Michael,
with thanks for their encouragement.

Contents
Editor’s Foreword ix
Preface xi
Acronyms and Abbreviations xv
Chronology xvii
Introduction xxvii
THE DICTIONARY 1
Bibliography 195
About the Author 225
vii

Editor’s Foreword
The Jews are certainly not one of the larger groups of people numeri-
cally, not even among those covered in this series of Historical Dic-
tionaries of Peoples and Cultures, but they are undoubtedly among the
most influential, in every sense of the term. There may be 15 million
Jews, depending on definitions and sources, and this is not even two
tenths of a percent of world population, but in any listing of “famous
persons,” there will be considerable multiples who are Jews. The Jews
trace their origins far back in history, more accurately, although some-
times just approximately, to the early tribes of Judah and Moses. They
have fought many of their neighbors and have been driven out of the
“promised land” by some, including the ancient Egyptians and Persians.
They were a minority in the land ruled by the British Empire and largely
populated by Arabs, with whom they still contend. They spread across
much of the Western world, but also parts of Africa and Asia, over the
centuries until they were crushed by the Holocaust or found refuge in
the United States and the new State of Israel, where the largest Jewish
community lives today. And yet, through it all, they have survived and
also produced countless exceptional artists, writers, musicians, scien-
tists, businessmen, political leaders, and others.
So this Historical Dictionary of the Jews assumes quite another
dimension from the other books in the series. Its historical scope is
exceptional, including some four millennia, from the foundations of
ancient Israel, through the early Christian era, the expulsion from Spain,
the Holocaust, the creation of the modern State of Israel, and its present
activities. Its geographic scope is no less impressive, tracing the Jewish
Diaspora around the world, referring to communities in the Arab world,
Europe, and the Americas, as well as the Jews in Israel today. And it
does mention many of the famous Jews, especially those related to its
various struggles, as including those in other fields would take us too
far. Of course, there are also dictionary entries on the religion, its basic
ix