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230 :

Afrane

Till::

A^eda

JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

member

of the KisfuUidj' Society and also of the Hungariaii-Jt'wisli Literary Society.

BiBLioiiKAi'iiY



Pallas. .Udi/i/iir I,<'J-ikn, 1. 141; Szlnnyel, I. '*: PcDtlJXaiilo, IW., No. 30; itagyar

Miiuii'ir Iriik Tiim. Szntoii, vlli.

AGAPiE —

AGAPE

" Love-feasts ") ( plural Tlir imiiif jjiven to tlir idiimaiiiion meals of the early Cliristlans. at which the rich uikI the i)oor. the master and the slave, SJlt together at one table, merginj; all distinctions of rank in fniternal union anil fellowship. good description of the Agape is given in Tertullian, " Apologeticus." x..i.. It began and closed with thanksgiving and song (see Gk.ce .t Micai.s). but had no specific religious character, nor any refiiencc to the Last Sui>per of Jesus; at least not during the first century, as is

A

seen from the " Didache," i.. .. (see " DiDAcmc." and compare I Cor. xi. 20; .lude, 13, where the term ayd-m, "love-feasts." first appears). The jmorand the widows and orphans were the chief i)artakers of AH these worthy the Agape (Apost. Const, ii. 2s). recipients from the common dish (called t'lin/pii/ in the -Mishnah K-ah. viii. T) were regarded as " an altar to (iod " (Apost. Const, ii. 26, iv. 3). In rabbinical literature reference is made to a similar feast, " the table spread by the rich in fiout of their where doors for the support of the jjoor is likened to an altar which atones for the sins of the rich" (Targ. Every table at which portions were Yer. Ex. xl. 6). reserved for the poor is called "the table that is be" (Ezek. xli. 22; Ber ri'yii compare Ab. fore the Lord iii. 6); hence the term, "the Lord's supper" (I Cor. Some xi. 20). which originally did not refer to .Jesus. of the saints in IJabylou kejit up the ancient custom of opening the door before breaking bread and crying forth: "Let all who are hungrv come and partake of my meal" (H. Iluna in Ta'anit, 20/<). The provision inadeby the charity treasury forthe needy was called Konn.w (Midr. Zutta; see Slidr. Shir ha-Shirim, ed. BubcT. 2;!). By referring to this "atoning altar of charity" .lohanaii b. Zakkai consoled his jMipil .Toshua b. Hananiah. who mourned over the destruction of the Temple, citing Ilnsea. vi. C. "For I desired mercy, and not sjicrifice." and pointed to the examiile of Daniel, who "worshiped the Lord" in exile, no longer b_v sacrifices of blood, but bj' providing for the poor (Ab. K. N. iv. 4).

BIRl.IocRAPnT: Herzop. Tliriilti[jic. s. v.

isi-}ti



Ilrnlnirtil.l^iinlilii-

Smith. lUfliumirii nf

Zur

(if:sfhichtc christcntlium, pp. SSi ct acq. Spitta.



fllr Prnlenlatlti

'Inistittii

uud Littcralur

Anti-

ttt-ji

L'r-

K.

AGATE. — Biblical Data: A

precious stone, meii!iiiii( il four tinii'S in the Authorized Version of the Bible twice as the translation of /.nilhxl (Isa. liv. 12, Ezek. xxvii. l(j), and twice of .«//</« (Ex. xxviii. 19, xxxix. 12). The Agate derives its name from the place where it was first found the banks of the river Achates in Sicily; but it is not confined to that locality, being met with in many parts of the •world. It occurs near the ancient Chalcedon. in Asia Minor ( whence the name "chalcedony"), as the white Agate. The sard (brown), carnelian (red), onyx (white an<I black), and .sardonyx (white and red) arc other varieties of the same mineral. Drlitzsch, "Hebrew Language." 3(5. connects shebo with the Assyrian .«/(i(i/f (" the shining "). G. B. L.

—

—

According to In Rabbinical Literature Samuel bar Xahmani (B. B. T.iii), two angels. Gabriel and .Alichael. discussed in heaven tlie meaning of kadkod (Agate), occurring in Isa. liv. 12



"And One

make thy windows

of agates [13131." maintaine<i that this precious stone is idenI will

with beryl, while the other thought it to be a Whereupon (Jod interveta-d with a |)aronomasia, saying: " Kadkod will contain both [pi3 'in'i) tical

jasper.

According to others, the discussion took place between the Palestinian umoniim Jinlah and Ezekiel. sons of K. Hiyya; see also Pcsik. H. xxiii.. and Midr. Teh. Ixxxvil M. B.
 * '13l]."

W.

II.

quitifs, s.v.

230

AGDE A

town in the department of Herault. France, two miles from the Mediterranean Sea and thirty miles from Montpellier. Probably there was a Jewish community here sometime before the sixth century for the Council of Agde, which as.sembled in the city in ."lOfi, prohibitid bcilli Christian ecclesiastics and laymen from eating with the Jews or inviting them to their houses. This prohibition, which was only a repetition of that lumnulgaled by the Council of Vannes in 4(i."). jirnves that the Jews had been on good terms with their Christian neighbors. Agde was the center of great maritime coiumerce, and the Jews took an important part in the commercial ac tivity of southern France. When William III., seigneurof M(inl])ellier. concludeda treaty of cnnunerce with the bisho]>and the viscount of Agde in 1 1!*,"), he stipulated that all merchants of the city, whether Christians. Saracens, or .Tews, shoidd be upon a footing of equality. Except those who hail been under the protection of the bishop for .some time, the Jews of Ag<le, in the year 127.'^, were comi)elleil to ])ay their taxes directly to the royal treasury, Tlmse under the bisho|)'s tare continued to pay their taxes to the Church, The number of Jews in Agde can not have been large, as they po.s.se.sse(l no cemetery there and had to bury their dead in Beziers, three miles away.

BiBLm(R.PiiY : Aaron lia-Kohen. Orhot-IJamiti'u '. "fi'' Salirc JvifKde LatwuetttK, pp. 39. dtH); Gross! Gallia Judaica, pp.

-'•-•

M.S.

AGE, OLD

Various terms are used in the Bible to designate the declining years of life. The most frer|Uent is zakeii (old. and old man). This term is applied first to Abraham and thereafter to other Biblical worthies, as Is;iae. Jacob. Joshua, Eli, Sam-

and David. In a nund>er of instances the tcMiii defined by the additional expres.sion "advanced This term zaki-n is connected with the in years." word znkini (beard), the gi>iy beard being the most striking sign of age. From zaken are obtained the derivatives ziknah and zikmiim, meaning "old age." find also the following expressions: mlmJi (uhl age), !/fi)i/i i/i/i (an old man), siha' i/niniiii (siitiated with years), mela ynniiiit (full of years), kaUiir yntiiim (rich in years). Of the two terms most commonly used for Old Age. sebah designated a greater age than ziknah. In the Mishnah Ab. v. 21. where the ages of man are enumerated, the age of sixtj- is calle<l ziknah. while that of seventy is called sebah. In the Bible itself (Hs, xc.) we find but one definite st;itement of the limit of life: "The days of our years are threescore yearsand ten and if by reasim nf strength the}' be foiu'score years, yet is their str<'ngthl:diorand sorrow " (Ps. xc. iO). In the Talmud we find a similar stateim'nt " If one dies at eighty, he has reached old age" (JI. K. 28<(, B. B. 7.w). The physical ills attendant upon Old Age were fully aiipreciated by the Biblical and Talmudieal sages. The author of Ecclesiastes in his celebrated dirge indicates the failing powers of age (Eccl. xii, 1-7): and the Psjdmist makes jiathetic reference to the infirmity of his declining years (Ps. Ixxi. 9-lH). In the Mishnah the greater inability of the aged to aciiviiie learning is set forth by the following simile: "When the oUl receive instruction it is like writing a palimpsest " (Ab, iv. 20) and in a passage of the uel,

is

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