Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/584

536 y

Amram ben Sheshna

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Amsterdam dust

intcn'sl").

(if

Ilii'se

l)oinjr

iiUowed ouly when

custonmry in non-Jew isli business circles ("Slin'are Zedek." iv. 2. '^0,4(1). It is clmriieteristicnf Animm's inetliiid to avoid extreme rigor; tlnis lie deeidis timt n slave who has enihraced Judaism, Init desires to postpone the neeessjiry eircumeisioii until he feels

enough

for it. is not to be hurried ((V<. iv.lJ.ll). superstition, and places himself almost in opposition to the Talmud, when he protests that there is no sense in fasting on account of bad dreams, since the true nattire of dreams is not, known (Tur, Auuam's rules concerning Oral.! l.Iayyini, ^ oOS).

stronj;

He combats

the

536

pended his name to them, speaking of him in the third person. These explanations of the prayers make no reference to any authorities later than tho following: Natronai II., Amram's teacher (17 times), Shalom. Natronai's predecessor in the gaonate (7 times). .luilah. I'alloi. Zadok. and Moses, geonim before Amram (once each) Cohen Zedek (twice), Nahshon and Zemal.i, cont<'mporaries of Anu'am (twice and Xatlian of ludinown date. Thi- ouly authority mentioned of later dale than Amram is Saadia (p. 4A). This indicates that the additions to each),

the text of tho ju-siyers nuist have originated in

Amnim's

met hodol-

mud

are of considerable value (Mueller, "Mafteal.i," p. 123).

printed

But the most

Am ram

text

with the manu-

important work

of

time,

rerlainty on this head, however, can only be obtained by acomjiarison of the

ogy of the Tal-

that of .Vlmanzi. according to the speci-

scripts;

.

which marks him as one of the most prominent of the geo-

mens given by

nim before Saa-

cons id era

dia, is his

Luzzatto. varies

er-book," the so-called "Sid

Todros

dur Rab Amram." Amram was

ing

(1305) .some

mentions

the

lirst

plete liturgy

r

syn-

and

liome.

I



these

now

be

found

(see Xeubauer, in "Jew.

forms the foundation both of theSpanish-Portuguese and of the Ge r ma n

Kev."

(Juart. 703).

vi.

HiHi.iOfiR.vPHV: liaiM.|io rt, Itihkure

-

It

Polish liturgies. and has exerted great influence

n -' It

(I.s2ft)

Sculptured Slab Showing Efllgy of (From

re-

Hall,

Hammurabi or Amraphel,

" Liubt from Ihe East.")

practise

t


 * )ii.

i

in,


 * t7;

X

.

Eiii-

hitunu zuin Ptirchmi, .. note; Iteiriiiatin, II.

ligious

of

race

can

His book

upon Jewish

com-

been

posed by Amam but no

arrange a com-

agogue

hav-

as

iizltarot

to

for use in

hi

from the printed text. Israel bea

"Pray-

ltv>;

y.um^

I.uzzallo,

In

and ceremonial for more than a thousand years, an influence which to some extent is still felt at the present day. For Amniin did not content himself with giving the mere text of the prayers, but in a species of running commentary added very many Talmudical and gaonic regulations relating to them and theirallied ceremonies. His "Prayer-book," which was made familiar by the many extracts cpioted from it by the liturgical writers of the .Middle Ages, and which served as he model f(M"Saadia'sand Maimonides' own praj'er riluals. was publisheil complete for the first time in Warsjiw, in the year 0185. by N. N. I

Coronel, under the title, "Seder jlab Amram Gaon." The work as jniblished is composed of two parts. The second part containing the selihol (proi)itiatory pniyers) and pizmohint (liturgical poems) for the mouth of Elul. for Xew Year and the Day of Atonement, is certainly not the work of Anuam, but appears to belong to a nuich later period. Even the lirst portion, which contains the prayers proper, is full of interpolations, some of which, as the "Kedushah" (Sanctification) for private prayer, are evidently later additions in the manuscripts. But not much weight can be attached even to portions of the book which are specifically given under the name of Anuam; many of the explanations are certainly not b}' him, but by the academical copyists who ap-

Liti-raturhl. (I. Orirnt^: vill. 3!)0-297, .ai-ffiS; Slclnschneiilcr. Cut. Jlmll. col. MV.i; liriitz, fhneh. (I. J«</i», -'<l I'.l.. v. x'-tit. 47S ; Joel Mueller. Maitcalj. np. 121-129. ami llahihul Pcsulfnt, p. 4; Is. Halevv, D'lritt lnj-Iiishnnim, pp. '^i •St'.i: I. H. Weiss,, „ Dor, iv. 117-122.

AMRAM B. SIMON B. ABBA



The son

of a

and the in pliew of U. l.Iiyya ben Abba; he Seems to have remained without distinction in tho scliolar,

scholarly world. His name is fmly connected with two homilelic observations which he quotes in the name of R. Hanina (Sanli. Wa, Shab. 119i). S.

AMRAPHEL.— Biblical Data



M.

A king of Shi-

1. 'Ji, who in vailed ilie West in conjunction with Chedorlaomer. king of Elam, and others, and destroyed Sodom. The identity of the name has

nar (tien. iv.

long been a subject of controversy among A.s.syriologists, ami is not even yet estal)li.--hed to the Siitisfactionof all scholars. Sehrader was the first to suggest ("Cuneiforni Inscriptionsand the Old Testjunent." ii. 299 tt «('/.) that Amraphel was Hanunurabi, king of Babylon, the sixth king in the first dynasty of Babylon. This is now the prevailing view among both

The scholars. name Hammurabi into the Hebrew form Amraphel is difficult of explanation, .Vssyriologistg aiul

Old Testament

transformation of the

though a

partial clue is

perhaps furnished by the