Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Amoraim äˈmōräˈĭm [key] [Heb. amar=to interpret], in Judaism, term referring to those scholars, predominantly at Caesarea and Tiberias in Palestine (c.a.d. 220–c.a.d. 375) and in Babylonia (c....

(Encyclopedia) pawnbroker, one who makes loans on personal effects that are left as security. The practice of pawnbroking is ancient, as is recognition of the danger it involves of oppressing the poor. In fact, the ...

(Encyclopedia) Asch, Sholem or Shalom shōˈləm ăsh, shäˈləm [key], 1880–1957, Jewish novelist and playwright, b. Poland. He first came to the United States in 1909, was naturalized in 1920, and lived in vari...

(Encyclopedia) Neusner, Jacob, 1932–2016, American scholar and historian of Judaism, b. West Hartford, Conn, B.A. Harvard, 1953, M.A. Jewish Theological Seminary, 1960), Ph.D. Columbia, 1960. Regarded as the world...

(Encyclopedia) Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch hĕnˈdrək frĕnsh fərvo͞ortˈ [key], 1901–66, South African political leader, b. Holland. He was taken as an infant to South Africa when his parents emigrated as missio...

(Encyclopedia) Adler, H. G. (Hans Günther Adler) häns günˈtər ädˈlər [key], 1910–88, modernist author and Holocaust studies pioneer, b. Prague to a German Jewish family, studied Charles Univ. He and his fa...

(Encyclopedia) pork, flesh of swine prepared as food, one of the principal commodities of the meatpacking industry. Pork has long been a staple food in most of the world, although religious taboos have limited its u...

(Encyclopedia) Narbonne närbônˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 47,086), Aude dept., S France, near the Mediterranean coast. It is the commercial center of a wine-growing region and an industrial city producing sulfur, co...

(Encyclopedia) Némirovsky, Irène, 1903–42, French novelist, b. Kiev. The daughter of a Jewish banker who fled (1918) the Russian Revolution with his family and settled (1919) in Paris, she studied at the Sorbonn...

(Encyclopedia) Oliphant, Laurence ŏlˈĭfənt [key], 1829–88, British author, b. Capetown, South Africa. Although he wrote some valuable travel books, he is probably best remembered for his fascinating life. The ...