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BIEGELEISEN, HENRY – Polish critic and author; born 1855 in Galicia. He studied at the universities of Lemberg, Munich, and Leipsic, receiving from the last named the degree of doctor of philology for his treatise, "Characteristik Trembecki's, ein...
BIEL (BIENNE) – Town in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It had Jewish inhabitants as early as the city of Bern itself. In 1305 a few Jewish families were naturalized in consideration of a yearly tax of fifty pfennigs each. According to the...
BIELGORAJ – A district town in the government of Lublin, Russian Poland. According to the "Zuk ha-'Ittim," during the uprising of the Cossacks under Chmielnicki (1648-49), all the Jews of Bielgoraj were killed, among them Rabbi Hirsch,...
BIELTZY – District town of the government of Bessarabia, Russia. At the census of 1897 the population was 18,526, including over ten thousand Jews, most of them engaged in handicrafts, but some in agriculture and commerce. There were at...
BIEN, JULIUS – American lithographer; son of Emanuel M., ḥazan, lecturer, and lithographer; born at Naumburg, near Cassel, Hesse-Nassau, Sept. 27, 1826. He was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts, Cassel, and at Städel's Institute,...
BIENSTOK, LEV MOISEIEVICH – Russian writer, educationist, and communal worker; born April 6, 1836, at Lukachi, government of Volhynia; died Oct. 22, 1894, at Jaffa, Palestine. He received his first education in the ḥeder and in the Russian public school at...
BIESENTHAL, JOACHIM HEINRICH – Theologian and author; born at Lobsens, Posen, 1800; died in Berlin, 1886. He was destined for the rabbinate; but while attending the University of Berlin (1827-35) he made the acquaintance of the Oriental scholar Wilhelm Vatke,...
BIGAMY – Biblical Data. See Polygamy.—In Rabbinical Literature: According to Merrill's "Encyclopedia of Law," ii. 192, bigamy consists in "going through the ceremony of marriage with another while a former husband or wife is still alive...
BIGTHAN – A eunuch of Ahasuerus, who, with Teresh, conspired against the king (Esther ii. 21, vi. 2). The conspiracy was discovered by Mordecai, and on his information the eunuchs were put to death (Esther ii. 23). In vi. 2 the name is...
BIKAYIM, MEÏR BEN ḤALIFAH – Cabalist; lived in Turkey in the eighteenth century. He is the author of the following works: (1) "Golel Or" (Who Evolved Light), on metempsychosis, according to the teachings of Isaac Luria, Ḥayyim Vital, and Azariah of Fano...
BIKHAKHANIM – Reigning princess of the Taman peninsula, Crimea. She was married in 1419 to the Genoese Jew Simeone de Guizolfi, who through this marriage became possessor of that country, where one of his heirs, Zacharias de Guizolfi, was...
BIKKURE HA-'ITTIM – An annual edited and published in Vienna, 1820-31, by S. J. Cohen. It first appeared as a supplement to the Hebrew calendar , and was intended for young people only. In 1822 it ceased to be a mere supplement, and became an...
BIKKURIM – Name of the last treatise of Seder Zera'im. It treats of the way of carrying out the commandment concerning first-fruits mentioned in Deut. xxvi. 1-11. The commandment includes two things: (1) the bringing of the first-fruit,...
BIKKURIM – A Hebrew annual that appeared in Vienna for two years (1864, 1865), Naphtali Keller being its editor and publisher. The greatest Hebrew scholars of the age, as J. H. Weiss, Jellinek, Reifmann, Lewisohn, Gottlober, Meyer...
BILDAD – One of the three friends of Job (Job ii. 11). The meaning of the name is not clear; opinions of scholars vacillate between rendering "Bel has loved" (compare "Eldad," Num. xi. 26 et seq., and "Elidad," Num. xxxiv. 21; Nöldeke,...
BILEAM – See Balaam.
BILGAH – Biblical Data: One of the twenty-four divisions of the priests who officiated in the Temple. According to I Chron. xxiv. 14, Bilgah is the fifteenth in order, and is immediately preceded by that of Jeshebeab. Among the...
BILHAH – A locality in southern Judea (I Chron. iv. 29), evidently the same as "Balah" ( , Josh. xix. 3) and "Ba'alah" ( , Josh. xv. 29).G. W. N.
BILHAH – Biblical Data: Rachel's handmaid, given by Rachel as a concubine to Jacob, to whom, according to Gen. xxx. 3 (compare Gen. xxix. 29, xxxvii. 2), she bore Dan and Naphtali upon Rachel's knees. The expression signifies that...
BILL OF DIVORCE – See Divorce.
BILL OF EXCHANGE – See Exchange.
BILL OF MANUMISSION – See Slaves.
BILSHAN – Biblical Data: One of the important men who came to Jerusalem from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii 2; Neh. vii. 7). In I Esd. v. 8 he is called "Beelsarus," which points to the form Belshar (= "Belshar-uṣṣur"=O Bel, protect the...
BINA BEN DAVID – Cabalist, and rabbi at Lockacze, Poland, in the middle of the seventeenth century. Bina was the author of "Zer Zahab" (Crown of Gold), Cracow, 1647, an alphabetical index to, and extracts and explanations from, the Zohar and...
BINDING – The art of fastening together sheets of paper, leaves of parchment, or folios, and of covering them with parchment, leather, linen, or paste-boards. It was originally practised by the writer of the book. When books were written...

BIEGELEISEN, HENRY – Polish critic and author; born 1855 in Galicia. He studied at the universities of Lemberg, Munich, and Leipsic, receiving from the last named the degree of doctor of philology for his treatise, "Characteristik Trembecki's, ein...

BIEL (BIENNE) – Town in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It had Jewish inhabitants as early as the city of Bern itself. In 1305 a few Jewish families were naturalized in consideration of a yearly tax of fifty pfennigs each. According to the...

BIELGORAJ – A district town in the government of Lublin, Russian Poland. According to the "Zuk ha-'Ittim," during the uprising of the Cossacks under Chmielnicki (1648-49), all the Jews of Bielgoraj were killed, among them Rabbi Hirsch,...

BIELTZY – District town of the government of Bessarabia, Russia. At the census of 1897 the population was 18,526, including over ten thousand Jews, most of them engaged in handicrafts, but some in agriculture and commerce. There were at...

BIEN, JULIUS – American lithographer; son of Emanuel M., ḥazan, lecturer, and lithographer; born at Naumburg, near Cassel, Hesse-Nassau, Sept. 27, 1826. He was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts, Cassel, and at Städel's Institute,...

BIENSTOK, LEV MOISEIEVICH – Russian writer, educationist, and communal worker; born April 6, 1836, at Lukachi, government of Volhynia; died Oct. 22, 1894, at Jaffa, Palestine. He received his first education in the ḥeder and in the Russian public school at...

BIESENTHAL, JOACHIM HEINRICH – Theologian and author; born at Lobsens, Posen, 1800; died in Berlin, 1886. He was destined for the rabbinate; but while attending the University of Berlin (1827-35) he made the acquaintance of the Oriental scholar Wilhelm Vatke,...

BIGAMY – Biblical Data. See Polygamy.—In Rabbinical Literature: According to Merrill's "Encyclopedia of Law," ii. 192, bigamy consists in "going through the ceremony of marriage with another while a former husband or wife is still alive...

BIGTHAN – A eunuch of Ahasuerus, who, with Teresh, conspired against the king (Esther ii. 21, vi. 2). The conspiracy was discovered by Mordecai, and on his information the eunuchs were put to death (Esther ii. 23). In vi. 2 the name is...

BIKAYIM, MEÏR BEN ḤALIFAH – Cabalist; lived in Turkey in the eighteenth century. He is the author of the following works: (1) "Golel Or" (Who Evolved Light), on metempsychosis, according to the teachings of Isaac Luria, Ḥayyim Vital, and Azariah of Fano...

BIKHAKHANIM – Reigning princess of the Taman peninsula, Crimea. She was married in 1419 to the Genoese Jew Simeone de Guizolfi, who through this marriage became possessor of that country, where one of his heirs, Zacharias de Guizolfi, was...

BIKKURE HA-'ITTIM – An annual edited and published in Vienna, 1820-31, by S. J. Cohen. It first appeared as a supplement to the Hebrew calendar , and was intended for young people only. In 1822 it ceased to be a mere supplement, and became an...

BIKKURIM – Name of the last treatise of Seder Zera'im. It treats of the way of carrying out the commandment concerning first-fruits mentioned in Deut. xxvi. 1-11. The commandment includes two things: (1) the bringing of the first-fruit,...

BIKKURIM – A Hebrew annual that appeared in Vienna for two years (1864, 1865), Naphtali Keller being its editor and publisher. The greatest Hebrew scholars of the age, as J. H. Weiss, Jellinek, Reifmann, Lewisohn, Gottlober, Meyer...

BILDAD – One of the three friends of Job (Job ii. 11). The meaning of the name is not clear; opinions of scholars vacillate between rendering "Bel has loved" (compare "Eldad," Num. xi. 26 et seq., and "Elidad," Num. xxxiv. 21; Nöldeke,...

BILEAM – See Balaam.

BILGAH – Biblical Data: One of the twenty-four divisions of the priests who officiated in the Temple. According to I Chron. xxiv. 14, Bilgah is the fifteenth in order, and is immediately preceded by that of Jeshebeab. Among the...

BILHAH – A locality in southern Judea (I Chron. iv. 29), evidently the same as "Balah" ( , Josh. xix. 3) and "Ba'alah" ( , Josh. xv. 29).G. W. N.

BILHAH – Biblical Data: Rachel's handmaid, given by Rachel as a concubine to Jacob, to whom, according to Gen. xxx. 3 (compare Gen. xxix. 29, xxxvii. 2), she bore Dan and Naphtali upon Rachel's knees. The expression signifies that...

BILL OF DIVORCE – See Divorce.

BILL OF EXCHANGE – See Exchange.

BILL OF MANUMISSION – See Slaves.

BILSHAN – Biblical Data: One of the important men who came to Jerusalem from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii 2; Neh. vii. 7). In I Esd. v. 8 he is called "Beelsarus," which points to the form Belshar (= "Belshar-uṣṣur"=O Bel, protect the...

BINA BEN DAVID – Cabalist, and rabbi at Lockacze, Poland, in the middle of the seventeenth century. Bina was the author of "Zer Zahab" (Crown of Gold), Cracow, 1647, an alphabetical index to, and extracts and explanations from, the Zohar and...

BINDING – The art of fastening together sheets of paper, leaves of parchment, or folios, and of covering them with parchment, leather, linen, or paste-boards. It was originally practised by the writer of the book. When books were written...