Allon Bachuth Almanac THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 426

perhaps the same as Amon of Neh. vii. 59, Ami of Ezra, ii. 57. (While R. V. has "Allon," the Greek and A. V. have " Allom.") G. B. L.

ALLON BACHUTH ("Oak of Weeping"). Biblical Data: An oak near Bethel, at the foot of which Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, was buried (Gen. xxxv. 8). In Judges, iv. 5 a tree is referred to as the " palm-tree of Deborah," which has been identi-fied by some with the " oak of weeping." G. B. L.

In Rabbinical Literature : According to the Haggadah, the word "allon" is the Greek tiXkov (another); and it explains the designation of the burial-place of Deborah as "another weeping," by stating that before Jacob had completed his mourn-ing for Deborah, ho received the news of the death of his mother. Scripture does not mention the place of Rebekah's interment, because her burial took place privately. Isaac was blind; Jacob was away from home; and Esau would have been the only one to mourn; and his public appearance as sole mourner would not have been to Rebekah's honor (Pesik. Zakor, pp. 236 et seq.; Gen. R. Ixxxi., end; Tan. AVayishlah, xxvi.). L. G.

ALLORQUI, JOSHUA BEN JOSEPH IBN VTVES. See IBN VIVES ALLORQUI, JOSIIUA BEN TOSPPII

ALLUF (or RESH KALLAH): In the Baby-lonian colleges, title of the chief judge, third in rank below the gaon. As a special distinction it was granted to prominent non-Babylonian scholars, particularly to those of Palestine. There were, however, others who bore this distinctive title, for there is record of a certain "Eliezer Alluf," or"Resh Kallah," of Spain in the ninth century. This title bears no direct relation to the Hebrew sp?K (duke), but is closely connected with I^ SI^ X (our herds) (Ps. cxliv. 14), which, according to the Talmud (Ber. 17a), is a figurative appellation for pious and learned men in Israel. See ACADEMIES IN BABYLONIA. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Zunz, Ritus, p. 190; Harkavy, Studien und Mittheilungen, iii. 48, iv. 377; Halevy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, pp. 317 et seq.

L. G. ALLUFE HA-K:EHILLAH: A general name

for prominent members of any congregation, and typically used in regard to the leaders of the com-munity in the old kahals (governing boards) of the Jews of Poland and Lithuania. The number of these leaders varied from five to ten according to the size of the community. Candidates were chosen from among them, to replace absent members of the four elders (LWK"l), or any of the three to five honorary members of the board (D l^tS). They were the so-called " reserve " of the kahal. H. R.

ALMAGEST: The Arabic title of the astronom-ical work of Claudius Ptolemy (flourished 150), en-titled by him jia6iijiaTiK.fi avvra^ic, in order to dis-tinguish it from another aiivra^ic of Ptolemy's, devoted to astrology. The Almagest contains a full account of the Ptolemaic theory of astronomy, by which the retrograde movement of the inner plan-ets was explained by a system of cycles and epicy-cles. It also gives, in the eighth and ninth books, a list of the fixed stars, with their positions, still of use to the astronomer. It continued to be the clas-sical text-book of astronomy up to the time of Coper-nicus, and even of Newton, and was the foundation of the astronomical knowledge of the Jews (who became acquainted with it through Arabic transla-tions) in the Middle Ages. One of the earliest Arabic translations is said to have been by an Oriental Jew, Sahl Al-Tabari (about 800), but no trace of it can be

found. From Ptolemy, too, were derived the con-ceptions of the spheres and the primum mobile, which had so much influence upon the Cabala. The Alma-gest was translated into Hebrew from the Arabic, with both Averroes' and Al-Fergani's compendiums of it, by Jacob Anatoli about 1230, the latter from the Latin version of Johannes Hispalensis. Com-mentaries on parts of it were written by David ibn Nahmias of Toledo, Elijah Mizrahi, and Samuel ben Judahof Marseilles (1331); only the latter's commen-tary is extant. From the Almagest the Jews re-ceived their conception of the number of the fixed stars as 1,022; the comparison of the universe to an onion with its successive skins, corresponding to the spheres; and their idea of the size of the earth 24,000 miles in circumferencewhich indirectly led to the search for the New World, by inducing Colum-bus to think that the way westward to India was not so far as to be beyond his reach. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Steinschneider, Jew. Lit. pp. 184, 186; idem, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 520-535; Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. Nos. 2010-2013.

J. ALMALIA, JOSEPH: Italian rabbi, of the

beginning of the nineteenth century, whose responsa " Tokfo shel Yosef " (The Strength of Joseph) were published in two parts at Livorno, in 1823 and 1855. His name is wrongly given as Almagia, by Mortara ("Indice Alfabetico," *..). BIBLIOGRAPHY : Benjaeob, Ozar lia-Sefarim, p. 672.

W. M. ALMALIH, JOSEPH B. AARON: One of the

patrons mentioned by Abraham Ankawa in the pref-ace to his responsa, "Kerem Hemed" (Leghorn, 1869-71). Kauf mann regards him as the grandson of Jacob b. Joseph Almalih, whose date may be fixed by an elegy composed by him on the persecution of the Jewish community at Morocco (1790). The per-secution in question was, no doubt, due to the dis-turbed state of the country that "ensued upon the death of Sultan Mulei Sidi Mohammed. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Kaufmann, Zu den MarokkaniscUen Piutim, in Z. D. M. G. 1. 235 et seq.; Rev. Et. Juives, xxxvii. 121; Steinschneider, Jew. Quart. Rev. xii. 196.

H. G. E. ALMANAC : An annual table, book, or the like,

comprising a calendar of days, weeks, and months. Among the Jews it was the holy prerogative of the patriarch or president of the Great Sanhedrin to fix the calendar and according to it proclaim the new moon. Witnesses who reported their having per-ceived the new moon were heard, their statements carefully examined, and perhaps compared with the result of some esoteric calculation. Hence the phrase " sod 7ia 'ibbur " (the mystery of the calcu-lation), though it may perhaps apply altogether to the intercalation. These observations and researches gradually crystallized into a science, the oral tradi-tions having been reduced to a literature on the CALENDAR (see CHRONOLOGY).

Ludh, the Hebrew equivalent for Almanac, means literally a table or tablet. Most of the works on chronology naturally contained such a calendar. It included the proper designation of every day as part of the week as well as part of the month; the desig-nation of the parashah (the weekly Sabbath portion of the Pentateuch); the dates of feasts and general and local fasts; furthermore, the exact date of the molad (new moon) and the tekufot (the quarter-days of the year), as well as the beginning and end of the shealah (the time when a short prayer for rain is added to the eighteen benedictions).

Quite another appearance is borne by calendars

427 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Allon Baehuth Almanac

which are calculated for more than one year, for a hundred years, or when they are meant to be per-petual. These must be classified as chronological literature. The Hebrew calendar contained origi-nally no literary supplements, its only aim being to give a list in order of time of the days of the year. This changed, however, with the composition of the Jewish calendar in a European language. The nine-teenth century introduced the literary annual which has become an almost indispensable part of the Almanac.

The Almanac first appeared as a tablet, then as a booklet, sometimes appended to the prayer-book or Pentateuch. In the synagogue the tablet was used exclusively. Written Hebrew calendars were easily lost; and, therefore, few have come down to us. But among the discoveries made in the Genizah of Cairo there are also some calendars, the margins of which are illuminated with arabesques. Only through the spread of the art of printing did this kind of literature grow up.

The first printed Almanac known came from the printing-office of di Gara at Venice, 1597. It is printed on a folio sheet. In towns where Hebrew printing-offices existed there appeared every year an Almanac on a single sheet or in a booklet. Thus almanacs have been annually published in the city of Prague since 1655, at Venice since 1670, and at Frankfort since about 1670. Owing to the great fire in the last-named city, 1711, the Almanac was pub-lished at Homburg; and from it was evolved the well-known Rodelheim Almanac, which is still being published there. Gradually these calendars were enlarged by the insertion of the memorable days in Jewish history, the civil dates, the Christian festivals, and the days of various fairs. Similar in composi-tion and size are the bibliographically well-known calendars printed at Amsterdam since 1707, at Dy-hernfurth since 1712, at Wilmersdorf since 1715, at Mantua since 1727, at Altona since 1738, at Berlin since 1739, and at Fiirth sinca 1745. The Sulz-bach Almanac contains not only all memorable days, among which it counts the fires at Prague (1089), Frankfort-on-the-Main (1715), Posen (1718), Nikolsburg (1721), but also the birthdays of the rulers and princes of Europe. Since 1758 a list of the most important highways has been added. The calendar printed at Cassel in 1790 gives a list of the Hesse-Cassel princely family and "information when all the mails at Cassel leave and arrive." The calendar of Metz gives also a list of the festivals and names of the months which were instituted by the French Revolution. The first Almanac which con-tained a literary supplement was published by J. Ileinemann in Berlin, 1818-20, under the title "Al-mauaeh filr die Israelitische Jugend," as the Oxford publication, "The Jewish Kalendar in the Year 5452 " (1692), does not belong to this category.

The following bibliography, which includes onl}-calendars published in the nineteenth century, lays no claim to completeness. Only those almanacs are noted which cover a period of not less than one year.

AMERICA. The Jewish Calendar for Fifty Years (1854-1904), with an Essay

on the Jewish Calendars, by J. J. Lyons and Abraham de Sola. Montreal, 1854. The American-Hebrew Manual, a Calendar for Eighteen Years, with a Collection of Events, etc., by A. N. Coleman. Troy, N. Y., 1883. The Centurial: Calendar for One Hundred Years, by E. M. Myers. New York, 1890. Harkavy's Volks-Kalender. New York, 1895-1900. Jewish Year-Book, by Cyrus Adler, 1899 and the years following. Year-Book of Various Congregations, Keneset Yisrael and Ko-def Shalom, in Philadelphia.

Hebrew Almanach. Bloch Publishing and Printing Co., Cincin-nati, Ohio, in progress. , American Jews' Annual (rrn). Bloch Publishing and Printing Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. Ed. by George Wise, 1885 and the years following.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. Kalender u. Jahrbuch fur Israeliten auf das Jahr 5603-08 . . . herausgegeben von Isidor Busch. 6. Jahrg. Vienna, 1843-47. Else Magyar Zsid

Almanac Almeida THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 428

Annuaire des Archives Israelites . . . par H. Prague. Paris, 1882 and the years following. Annuaire Israelite . . . par A. Durlacher. Paris, 1884 and the years following. GERMANY.

Jahrbuch des Niitzlichen und Unterhaltenden fur Israeliten . . . herausg. von K. Klein. Jahrg. 1.-19. Breslau, 1841-47. K6n-igsberg, 1849. Dresden, 1850. Stuttgart, 1853-54. Frankfort-on-the Main, 1856. Mainz, ia59-61. Volkskalender fur Israeliten auf das Jahr 5607 (1847). Zur Belehrung und Unterhaltung; v. M. Troplowitz. Mit Bei-tragen von Piorkowsky. 1. Jahrg. Kreuzburg, 1846.

TiHe-Page of a Hebrew Almanac Published by L. Alexander in London, 1813. Deutsch-Israelitischer Volkskalender und Jahrbuch auf das Jahr 1854 . . . herausg. von A. Ruhemann. 1. Jahrg. Johannis-burg, 1853. Deutscher Volkskalender und Jahrbuch. Insbesondere zum Gebrauch fur Israeliten. Mit Literarischen Beitragen . . . heraus. v. H. Liebermann. 36. Jahrg. Brieg, 1853-88. Kalender und Jahrbuch . . . fiir die Jiidischen Gemeinden Preussens . . . herausg. von Ph. Wertheim. Berlin, 1857-59. Berliner Volkskalender fiir Israeliten . . . bearbeitet von M. Poppelauer. Berlin, 1862 and the years following. Allgemeiner Hauskalender fiir Israeliten . . . herausg. v. I. K. Buchner. Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1863. Jahrbuch fiir Israeliten (Fortsetzung des K. Klein'sehen Jahr-buches, 21. und 22. Jahrg.). 2. Jahrg. Leipsic, 1863-64. Achava. Vereinsbuch . . . herausg. v. Vereine zur Unterstut-

zung hilfsbediirftiger Israel. Lehrer, Lehrer-Witwen und Wal-sen in Deutschland. Leipsic, 1864-68. Illustrirter Jiidischer Familien-Kalender . . . herausg. v. Jul. Meyer. Halberstadt, 1877 and the years following. Max Lamm's Wochen-Kalender. Hebraisch u. Deutsch. Ichen-hausen, 1879 and the years following. [52 separate sheets bound together.] Volkskalender des " Israelit." Mainz, 1882-88. Fortgesetzt als Frankfurter Israelitischer Kalender. Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1889 and the years following. Monteflore-Kalender. . . herausg. von B. Baer u. Jul. Weinberg. Berlin, 1885. Berliner Kalender filr alle Jiidischen Gemeinden . . . von J. Heinemann. Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1885-86. Jiidischer Volks- und Haus-Kalender (friiner Liebermann). Mit

einem Jahrbuch zur Belehrung u. Unterhaltung . . . herausg-v. M. Brann. Breslau, 1889 and the years following. Frankfurter Israelitischer Volks-Kalender. Nebst Jiid. Hotel-Adressbuch. Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1892 and the years fol-lowing. Israelitischer Amtskalender fiir Rabbiner, Prediger, Lehrer, u. Cantoren [und audere Gemeindebehorden], herausg. v. I. Loewy. 2. Jahrg. Berlin, 1889-90. Israelitischer Volks-Kalender . . . herausg. v. H. Schildberger. Berlin, 1893 and the years following. Luab (Hebrew and German). Rodelheim, 5653- (1893-). Jiidischer Volks-Kalender . . . herausg. im Auftrage der Zionis-tischen Vereinigung fur Deutschland. Leipsic, 1896 and the years following. Luah (Hebrew and German). Altona, 5646 (1895-96). Jiidischer Volks-Kalender. Cologne, 5658 (1897-98). Israelitischer Kalender fiir die Jiid. Gemeinden Wiirttemberg's. Herausgeber: 8. Abraham. Stuttgart, 1899. Luah (Hebrewand German). Onefolio. Mayence, 5649(1898-99). Rabbiner Dr. Heppner's Jiid. Litt. Abreisskalender. Koscnmin, 1900.

HOLLAND. Jaarboekle voor het Israelitisch Kerkgenootschap. The Hague, 1843. Nederlandsch Israelitisch Muzen-Almanack, vor 5604 . . . he-

rausg. v. G. I. Polak. Amsterdam, 1843. Nederlandsch Israelitisch Almanak. Amsterdam, 1845. Nederlandsch Israelitisch Jaarboekje. The Hague, 1849. Israelitisch Almanack. Mekon Zedek voor het Jaar 5619 (1858-59) . . . zamengesteld door L. Borstel. Rotterdam, 1858. PALESTINE.

Luah . . . ed. by Joseph Schwarz. Jerusalem, 1843. Luah. Calendar for the year 5647-48 . . . ed. by M. Adelmann. 3 vols. Jerusalem. 1886-87. 'Edut le-Yisrael: Zeugnlss der Beruhmten Besucher des Alten Hauses Moshab Zekenim, Jerusalem, sammt Kalender fur das Jahr 1899-1900. Luah Yerushalmi . . . ed. by sender (Alexander) Phoebus ben David Kohen. Jerusalem, 1889. Luah Erez Yisrael [Literary Almanac of Palestine] . . . ed. by A. M. Luncz. Jerusalem, 1895 and the years following.

RUSSIA. Luah ha-Soherim (Calendar for Jewish business men), ed. by 8. I. Abramovich. 2 vols. Zhitomir, 1877. Wilna, 1879. Luah Israel (Hebrew and Russian) . . . ed. by I. Gurland. Six

vols.: i., Kiev, 1877; ii., Warsaw, 1878; iii. iv. v. vi., St. Peters-burg, 1879-82. Luah, 5641 (1880-81) . . . ed. by J. A. Goldenblum. St. Peters-burg, 1880. Luah Yeshurun (Hebrew and Russian), 5644 . . . ed. by I. Gur-land. St. Petersburg, 1883. Der Komerzischer Kalender (Judaeo-German). Odessa, 5647 (1886-87). Der Jiidischer Kalender (Judaeo-Gerroan), edited by Sbaikevitch ("Shomer"). Wilna, 5648 (1887-88). Der Warschauer Jiidischer Kalender (Judseo-German). War-saw, 5650-51 (1889-91). Ahiassaf (the "Collector"), Hebrew year-book with calendar. Warsaw, 1893, etc. Ha-Mazkir oder Taschen-Luab (Judseo-German). Wilna, 5655 (1894-95).

'Ivri-Teutsch Luah (Judseo-German). Wilna, 5658 (1897-98). Sefer ha-Shanah (Year-Book), ed. by N. Sokolow. Warsaw, 1900 and the years following. Ha-Asif, ed. by Sokolow. 6 vols.

A. F. ALMANZA, ARON DE (or SELOMOH DE):

A Marano born at Salamanca, Spain, of Jewish par-ents. His first wife was Leonore de los Rios Sotte, whom he married in 1696 and with whom he obtained a dowry of "70,000 florins [f 21,000, or 4,200] in money, 19,000 florins [$5,700, or 1,140] worth of jewels, and other presents." After her death he married a Christian woman. He migrated to Eng-land, and in 170.'! he published, in English and Span-ish, an account of his conversion, dedicated to Henry, Lord Bishop of London, entitled: " A declaration of the conversion of Mr. Aron de Almanza, a Spanish merchant, with his two children and nephew, from Judaism to the Protestant religion, according to the Doctrines of the Church of England, with his abju-ration of the Jewish Rights (sic) and ceremonies," etc. In this work the author treats his former coreligion-ists very severely and,in a postscript, says that "Jew-ish rabbis, with the directors of the Jewish Syna-gogue and some other Jews in London, "had spread a report to the effect that in Spain he had been a Catholic. He declares that he would be neither a