Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/369

321 THE

321 at the

bottom of

work,

JES'ISH

kill."

"Miinview of

till'

may

is

the

liittor's

the

Acfri>tinj,' tlicse two iiitluincfs, the (loublf truth nccfssiirily follows. It

be

lidded that Albala^ interpreted the Hiblieul account of the Creation as siirnifyius; that the six days represent the relative order of tlunjis, while he conceives the seventh day as pointing to the world of ideals.

BiBLIOOBAPnv: Hi-Hnluz, Gincli.

(iriltz.

Vcliem. pp.

Iv. s;>-!l», vl. K-'i-M. vll. l.iT liW; Ji(((i)i, vll. 23ti, ai7; StfloscbnelJer, Hclir.

il.

29i>-:!i>;.

Ho.

Name

of one of the more ancient .lew ish families in Spain. The Irailition among its members was that hey were(h'scended fiom Baruch, the friend and eiJm|)auion of the prophei .leremiah.

Albany

owner of real estate there. Then the .settlement was known both as Fort Orange and Beverwyck. To trade in the colony in those days it was necessary to acquire burghers' rights, and one of the the

conditions essential to the acquisition of such rights was the ownership of real estate. This probably accounts for the ownership at that time of real estate in Albany by this .lewish trader (see S. AV. Uosendale in " Publications of Am. .Tewish Historical Society." No. 3. ]^p. (il et «Y/. Daly's "Settlement of the .Jews in North America " edited by M. .J. Kohler note. p. 22)._ 'While .Vsser Levi seems to have been a resident of New 'i'ork city, his carryingon tradeat Albany at that early ilatc in the history of the American colonies is worthy of note. But the promiscuous trading of Asser Levi has little or no connection with the .settling of a .Jewish

S.

ALBALIA

Alba, Jacob di

ENCYCLOPEDIA

I

according to more numerous and also more i>lauaccounts, from a noble family of .ludea. one of whose inemticrs, Baruch. was sent l)y the em|ieror Titus to Jlerida at the rie al-Bali ("Jew. Quart. Kev." x. iST). A Solomon Allmla is mentioned in a Barcelona document (.lacoljs. "Sources," p. 20). Kaufmann (".lew. Quart. Kev." viii. 222) suggests that there may tie some connection between the names Alhalia and Ahnibalia. A .Toseph and a David Albali are iirobahly meant in Schiller-.S/.incssy's "Catalogue of Helir. .MSS. in the University Library of Cainljridge "(No. 19, p. 30). wiiere the spelling is '^y^^X The following two nienilK'rs of the family were conspicuous: Baruch ben Isaac Albalia Talniudist, born at Seville in lliT? died in 1 rjti. After the death of his father, anil liy his advice, he, being then only seventeen years old, went to Isaac Alfasi. who conducted a large rabbinical school at Luceiia. Alfasi had long lieen hostile to Lsaac Albalia but he received liis son Baruch with the utmost friendliness and promised to he a father to him. Baruch was not averse to the secular sciences. He was a fellow pujiil of .loseph ibii Migasli; and, like the latter, became the head of a celebrated rabbinical school. Isaac ben Baruch Albalia: .Mathematician, as tronoiner, and Talmudist horn at Cordova. 103.1; died in Cranada. 10'J4; father of Baruch ben Isaac Alhalia. He was educated by a .lew from Perigord. His favorite subjects were Tahuudic literature, iiiatheniutics, and astronomy. When barely thirty yearsold





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Isaac began to write D'^ann nSIp ("The Store of the .Merchant "). a commentary nn the most dillicult passages of the Talmud. He wastlevotcil to the st inly of mathematies anil astronomy. Among his patrons were Samuel ihii N'agdilah and his son Joseph Nag to

work

"

whom in 10t>.'i he diilicated his astronomical Ibbur, " on the principles of tlic> .lewish calAfter the death of .Joseph Nagdilah, Albalia

ililali,

endar.

settled at

Cordova, where he be<ameac(|Uainted with

.Mohammed Abu

Kasim alMiitamid, the Arab ruler, who appointed him astrologer at his court in Seville and made him nasi of all the .lewish congreal

gations of his realm. Isjiae also acted as rabbi of the .lewish congregations of Seville; and. with the hooks that he ac(|uired from his patron tloseph as a nucleus, uceumulated a large libniry. thus making Seville a center of lewish learning. M. K. ,

ALBANY, New York New



Capital of the state of

Vnrk and of Albany county, situated on llii- west bank of the Hudson river. As early as Ultll, wlieii Albany was but a small tniding post, a .Iiwish trailer, named Asskii Li;vi(or Ix-evi), became

L-21

AllMiiy (From

SyuugoKUc

a photof^rsph.)

community

at Albany. For the foundation of a .Jewish settlement there one must look to much more recent times. During the early years of the nineteenth century a number of German Jews, principally from Bavaria, settled there; hut it was not before lH38tliat the Congregation Beth -El was organized (March 2.')), having its meetingFirst Con- place first in Basset t and afterward

gregation.

in

Herkimer

.street.

The congrega-

tion hail no nibbi regularly olHeiating al its services until the fall of IS-ili. when the Kev. Isiuie M, Wise, then just entering upon his career, was gladly welcomed to the place. He remained at Albany eight years, during which time lie intro-

duced many reforms in the service of the synagogue. These reforms, and the frank uttenuices in liis si'rmons in defense of them, produced such violent opposition on the part of some of the members of the congregation, that at the end of the fourth year of his ineiimbeiiey the ojiposition had grown very bitter, even to personal violence, and caused a division in the <-ongn'gation. The adherents of Dr, Wise orguni/.eil the Congregation Auslie Emetli ou