JewishEncyclopedia.com

RAVEN – The first bird specifically mentioned in the Old Testament (Gen. viii. 7), where it is referred to in connection with Noah and the ark. It is included among the unclean brids in Lev. xi. 15 and Deut. xiv. 14, where the term...
RAVENNA – Italian city, capital of the province of Ravenna. A Jewish community existed in Ravenna from very early times; during an attack by the populace in 519 its synagogues were burned. The Jews appealed to King Theodoric at Verona,...
RAWICZ, VICTOR MEYER – German rabbi; born at Breslau Aug. 19, 1846. He attended the Jewish theological seminary and the university of his native city (Ph.D. 1873). Rawicz has held successively the following rabbinates: Kempen (1874), Schmieheim...
RAWNITZKI, JOSHUA ḤAYYIM – Russian author; born Aug. 14, 1845, at Odessa. His first literary efforts appeared in "Ha-Ḳol," and he soon became a frequent contributor to Hebrew journals. In 1887 he published, in conjunction with Krankenfeld, "Der Jüdische...
RAYNAL, DAVID – French statesman; born at Paris Feb. 26, 1841; died Jan. 28, 1903. The son of a merchant, he was brought up for a commercial career, and in 1862 he founded the house of Astrue et Raynal in Bordeaux. There he became acquainted...
RAYNER, ISIDOR – American senator; born at Baltimore, Md., April 11, 1850. He was educated at the University of Virginia (1866-70), pursuing the academic course for three years and the law course for the last year. On leaving that institution he...
RAYNER, WILLIAM SOLOMON – Merchant and financier; born in Oberelzbach, Bavaria, Sept. 23, 1822; died in Baltimore, Md., March 1, 1899. In 1840 he removed to the United States. Declining an offer of the position of religious teacher in the old Henry...
RAZIEL – Angel, first named in the Slavonic Book of Enoch (written before the common era; see Jew. Encyc. i. 591, s.v. Angelology), where, under the name "Raguel" or "Rasuel," he is mentioned together with Shemiel or Shemuel. Apart from...
RAZIEL, BOOK OF – Collection of secret writings, probably compiled and edited by the same hand, but originally not the work of one author. This appears from the fact that the book contradicts itself in regard to the person to whom its contents...
RAZSVYET – Page from the Sefer Raziel., Amsterdam, 1701.(From the Sulzberger collection in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York.)Russo-Jewish weekly; founded in Odessa by Osip Rabinovich May, 1860. It was the first journal...
READING – City of Berks county, Pa. A few Jewish immigrants settled here before 1847, when Reading became a city. In 1864 a cemetery plot was acquired in the southern part of the city, and in the same year Congregation Oheb Sholom was...
REAL ESTATE – Landed property. The differences between landed or immovable and chattel or movable property have been indicated in the articles Alienation, Appraisement, Debts of Decedent, Deed, Execution, Fraud and Mistake, Infancy, Ona'ah,...
REBEKAH – Biblical Data: Daughter of Bethuel, sister of Laban, and wife of Isaac (Gen. xxii. 23, xxiv. 29, 67). Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to seek a wife for Isaac. Arriving with his attendants at Aram-naharaim, Eliezer stopped near...
REBENSTEIN, AARON – See Bernstein, Aaron.
REBICHKOVICH, ABRAHAM JOSEPHOVICH – See Abraham Jesofovich.
REBUKE AND REPROOF – Faithful are the wounds of a friend," says the Old Testament proverb (Prov. xxvii. 6), doubtless referring to reproof. A mild rebuke administered for a breach of etiquette, or for an act of disrespect, was called "haḳpadah"; a...
RECANATI – Town in Italy, on the Musone, and in the province of Macerata; formerly included in the Pontifical States. Jews are known to have lived in Recanati as early as the thirteenth century, when R. Menahem Recanati flourished in that...
RECANATI – Italian family deriving its name from the city of Recanati in the former Papal States. Subjoined is the family tree: The more important members are the following:Amadeo (Jedidiah) ben Moses Recanati: Lived in the sixteenth...
RECHABITES – Biblical Data: Members of a family descended from Hammath, the progenitor of the house of Rechab; otherwise known as the Kenites (I Chron. ii. 55), who were the descendants of Hobab (Jethro), the father-in-law of Moses (Judges...
RECIFE (PERNAMBUCO) – Brazilian city and seaport; capital of the state of Pernambuco. It was merely a collection of fishermen's huts when occupied by the French in 1561. Shortly afterward, however, it began to attract attention as a port. Both Recife...
RECKENDORF, HERMANN (ḤAYYIM ẒEBI BEN SOLOMON) – German scholar and author; born in Trebitsch in 1825; died about 1875. Having acquired a thorough acquaintance with the Hebrew language and literature, Reckendorf devoted himself to the study of the other Semitic languages. In...
RECORD – See Deed; Judgment.
RECORDING ANGEL – The angel that, in popular belief, records the deeds of all individuals for future reward or punishment. The keeping of a general account between man and his Maker is represented by Akiba thus: "Man buys in an open shop where...
RED HEIFER – Biblical Data: According to Yhwh's instructions to Moses and Aaron the Israelites prepared for sacrifice a red heifer which was free from blemish and which had not yet been broken to the yoke. It was slain outside the camp, in...
RED SEA – References to the Red Sea under that name are not found earlier than the Apocrypha (Judith v. 12; Wisdom x. 18, xix. 7; I Macc. iv. 9). The name refers to the body of water, termed "Yam Suf" in all other passages, crossed by the...

RAVEN – The first bird specifically mentioned in the Old Testament (Gen. viii. 7), where it is referred to in connection with Noah and the ark. It is included among the unclean brids in Lev. xi. 15 and Deut. xiv. 14, where the term...

RAVENNA – Italian city, capital of the province of Ravenna. A Jewish community existed in Ravenna from very early times; during an attack by the populace in 519 its synagogues were burned. The Jews appealed to King Theodoric at Verona,...

RAWICZ, VICTOR MEYER – German rabbi; born at Breslau Aug. 19, 1846. He attended the Jewish theological seminary and the university of his native city (Ph.D. 1873). Rawicz has held successively the following rabbinates: Kempen (1874), Schmieheim...

RAWNITZKI, JOSHUA ḤAYYIM – Russian author; born Aug. 14, 1845, at Odessa. His first literary efforts appeared in "Ha-Ḳol," and he soon became a frequent contributor to Hebrew journals. In 1887 he published, in conjunction with Krankenfeld, "Der Jüdische...

RAYNAL, DAVID – French statesman; born at Paris Feb. 26, 1841; died Jan. 28, 1903. The son of a merchant, he was brought up for a commercial career, and in 1862 he founded the house of Astrue et Raynal in Bordeaux. There he became acquainted...

RAYNER, ISIDOR – American senator; born at Baltimore, Md., April 11, 1850. He was educated at the University of Virginia (1866-70), pursuing the academic course for three years and the law course for the last year. On leaving that institution he...

RAYNER, WILLIAM SOLOMON – Merchant and financier; born in Oberelzbach, Bavaria, Sept. 23, 1822; died in Baltimore, Md., March 1, 1899. In 1840 he removed to the United States. Declining an offer of the position of religious teacher in the old Henry...

RAZIEL – Angel, first named in the Slavonic Book of Enoch (written before the common era; see Jew. Encyc. i. 591, s.v. Angelology), where, under the name "Raguel" or "Rasuel," he is mentioned together with Shemiel or Shemuel. Apart from...

RAZIEL, BOOK OF – Collection of secret writings, probably compiled and edited by the same hand, but originally not the work of one author. This appears from the fact that the book contradicts itself in regard to the person to whom its contents...

RAZSVYET – Page from the Sefer Raziel., Amsterdam, 1701.(From the Sulzberger collection in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York.)Russo-Jewish weekly; founded in Odessa by Osip Rabinovich May, 1860. It was the first journal...

READING – City of Berks county, Pa. A few Jewish immigrants settled here before 1847, when Reading became a city. In 1864 a cemetery plot was acquired in the southern part of the city, and in the same year Congregation Oheb Sholom was...

REAL ESTATE – Landed property. The differences between landed or immovable and chattel or movable property have been indicated in the articles Alienation, Appraisement, Debts of Decedent, Deed, Execution, Fraud and Mistake, Infancy, Ona'ah,...

REBEKAH – Biblical Data: Daughter of Bethuel, sister of Laban, and wife of Isaac (Gen. xxii. 23, xxiv. 29, 67). Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to seek a wife for Isaac. Arriving with his attendants at Aram-naharaim, Eliezer stopped near...

REBENSTEIN, AARON – See Bernstein, Aaron.

REBICHKOVICH, ABRAHAM JOSEPHOVICH – See Abraham Jesofovich.

REBUKE AND REPROOF – Faithful are the wounds of a friend," says the Old Testament proverb (Prov. xxvii. 6), doubtless referring to reproof. A mild rebuke administered for a breach of etiquette, or for an act of disrespect, was called "haḳpadah"; a...

RECANATI – Town in Italy, on the Musone, and in the province of Macerata; formerly included in the Pontifical States. Jews are known to have lived in Recanati as early as the thirteenth century, when R. Menahem Recanati flourished in that...

RECANATI – Italian family deriving its name from the city of Recanati in the former Papal States. Subjoined is the family tree: The more important members are the following:Amadeo (Jedidiah) ben Moses Recanati: Lived in the sixteenth...

RECHABITES – Biblical Data: Members of a family descended from Hammath, the progenitor of the house of Rechab; otherwise known as the Kenites (I Chron. ii. 55), who were the descendants of Hobab (Jethro), the father-in-law of Moses (Judges...

RECIFE (PERNAMBUCO) – Brazilian city and seaport; capital of the state of Pernambuco. It was merely a collection of fishermen's huts when occupied by the French in 1561. Shortly afterward, however, it began to attract attention as a port. Both Recife...

RECKENDORF, HERMANN (ḤAYYIM ẒEBI BEN SOLOMON) – German scholar and author; born in Trebitsch in 1825; died about 1875. Having acquired a thorough acquaintance with the Hebrew language and literature, Reckendorf devoted himself to the study of the other Semitic languages. In...

RECORD – See Deed; Judgment.

RECORDING ANGEL – The angel that, in popular belief, records the deeds of all individuals for future reward or punishment. The keeping of a general account between man and his Maker is represented by Akiba thus: "Man buys in an open shop where...

RED HEIFER – Biblical Data: According to Yhwh's instructions to Moses and Aaron the Israelites prepared for sacrifice a red heifer which was free from blemish and which had not yet been broken to the yoke. It was slain outside the camp, in...

RED SEA – References to the Red Sea under that name are not found earlier than the Apocrypha (Judith v. 12; Wisdom x. 18, xix. 7; I Macc. iv. 9). The name refers to the body of water, termed "Yam Suf" in all other passages, crossed by the...