Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/585

537 "

explanation of llie name in a cuneiform letter as equivalent to Kimta rapaslitu (great |)eple or fam-

On this basis " 'am " = " Kimta " and " rapliel = " rapaltu " = " nipashtu."

ily).

Hammurabi was the founder of the centralized kinjrdom of Babylonia, with the capital at the city The lenjjth of his reigu is given in the of Babylon. native list of kings as tifty-five 3-ears, but this long period is not perfectly certain, as a recently discovered chronicle throws doubt upon some figures in the king-list from which the number tifty-five is obtained, and puts llie Icngtii of his reign at forty-three The period at which Hanunurabi reigned years. Sayce locates is al.so the subject of much dispute. ins reign at 'jyTIi-;!;} n.c. ("Early Israel." p. 281), on the basis of the native sources, and counting the second dynasty with its long reigns (for example, sixty, tifty-six, fifty-live, fifty years) as of equal historical Lchmann ("Zwei Hauptcharacter with the first. probleme der Altorientalischen Chronologic ") prefers the figures 2248-2194, while Hommcl would still The higher the figures the further reduce them. more difficult is the i<lenlification with Amraphel, or with the period to which the narrative of Gen. xiv. is usually supposed to refer. Hammurabi fiegaii to reign in Babylon when the Elamites were in pos.session of the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad. They were driven out and the whole country was united under his rule. The dominion thus set up was strengthened by great works of peace, the chief of which were the digging of a canal at Babylon and the erection of a great granary there the building of temples in Lars;i and 8ippara, and the construction of the walls of the latter city, " like a great mountain." The union of Babylonia accomplished by this monarch endure(l until the .scepter Iiassed from the Semites to the Persians in 538 B.C. Jlammurabi himself was honored and imitated, even to the copying of his inscriptions, by kings of the latest period, such as Nabopolas,sar and Nebuchadnezzar (Uogers, "Outlines of History of Early Babylon," pp. 27-30). A eoni|ueror so great as he may well have penetrated and conquered as far west as Syria and Palestine. BiDLiocRAriiv: Tlelc,

Oench.

Bahut/yniech-Asgurtsche

pp.

VM). VM: WIncklcr, (iewh. jfialiuloiwiig utiil Atntlrie "k, pp. nn-fti; liirm, (ifufh. IsracU. I. 1:«). 1:11; Hi>gers, JIMnru nf Anxuria. I. :i-<s-:fi);) ; Driver, In .liithorilu llnbiilonUi Archccobuni, ed. by D. G. Hugartli, pp. 39, 10.

ami

and

R.

In Babbinical Literature



W.

H.

.Veeording to

Bab and Samuel, .mraphi-l is identical with NimSome sjiy .Vinraphel was his real name, and he was called Nimrod. "thechicf rebel." as leaderof the rod.

"who led the world unto rebellion" ns TIOD"') against heaven's Ruler; others

tiiwer-biillders,

(oi'ivn

again say

was

Niiiiroil

liis

real

name, and he was

.Vinraphel as the one who "( onniiandrd tlK'iu toeast .brahani into tin; lire" (p'Eni "lOSI Ci'-r. •");!i( and Targ. Ver. to (leii. xiv. 1). .mi>ng other fanciful etymologies the name is explaineil as that of one whose "commands bn night <larkness [<lestructioii| on calle<l

the world

"

(nisDX and niiKh' sport of i.

Amram ben Sheshna

THE JEWISH EN'CYCLOPEDIA

537

H.

—



(i3.

tin'

or of one

world

"

who "provoked

C^SSl "lOS)

(s<'e

Gen.

.Midr. I.eliah Tub to Gen. xiv. I. ed. Buber. note 4: also B<'er," Ix-ben .Vbrahaiiis." i)p. 130,

xlii.

13h.

mOS).



See also .ViiHMUM. Nl.Miton. S.c Ans-ciiki..

K.

—

J. Sit.

AMSCHEL.

AMSTERDAM

(formerly Amstelredam, ami so written in .lewish dociinienlsi: One cif thi' capital cities of the Nelhirlands foiindeil as a lishing village in the thirteenlli century. No .lews lived there in the early period wlii'ii it was under Spanish domination.

Amsterdam

The history of its Jewi* may be

best considered under three divisions; (1) the Sepbardira. until 179.5; (2) the .Vshkenazim, until 179.T; (3) both congregations, from 17y.'5 to the present time (1901). I.

The Sephardim Until 1795



There

is

no

actual proof of the existence of Jews in Amsterdam before the latter half of the sixteenth century, though the probability is strong that some lived there earlier. When Holland joined the Union of Utiecht (1579), which, among other provisions, forbade persecution on religious grounds, the Slaranos in Portugal fixed their hopes on Amsterdam, and, according to Franco Jlendes and Graetz, the first Maranos settled there in They were ^Manuel Lopez Pereira, his sister 1593. Maria Nunez, and her uncle Miguel Lopez. Their voyage had not been prosperous; they were first captured by English pirates and taken to London. They again set sjiil for Amsterdam, only to be flung by a storm upon the coast of East Friesland at Emden. Thence the Rabbi Moses Uri Levi (bom 1.544) helped them on to .msterdam, and followed them shortly in ortler to receive them back into Judaism. Soon thereafter other Jews came from Portugal, mainly relatives of these first comers.

(Jn.Vtonemenl Day, .5357 (October 2. 1.596). they met together for worship probably for the first time in the house of Don Samuel Palache, ambassador of the emperor of Morocco to the Netherlands. The congregation numbered sixteen. Soon afterward a hall for worship was secured, named "Beth Yaakob," after one of its founders, Jacob Tirade, and consecrated on New-years Day, .53.58. Moses I'ri Levi was preacher: he spoke in German and his son Aaron ha-Levi (born 1578) translated his sermon into Spanish. The rabbis of The First this synagojjiie, called "l.iakamim," Two Syna- were Joseph Pardo (in office from 1597 to 1619), and Moses ben Aroyo (from gogues. 1.597 until his departure for Constantinople). In 1616 .Saul Levi Mtjrteira became rabbi. Most of these facts, as well as many incidents of the In the archives times, are mentioned by De Barrios. of the city of Amsterdam, probably the oldest date dealing with Portuguese Jews is November 28, 1598, when there was entered in the " Puyboek," V. 2'2A, the announcement of the intt'uded marriage of Manxiel Lopez Home and the above-mentioned Maria Nunez. The community grew apace througli the constant arrival of refugees from I'ortugal and southern France; and a second hall for worslii|) was opened by Isaac Franco Jledeiros in 1608, under the name of " Neweh Shalom." Its first three rabbis were; Judah Vega (in ollice from 1608 until his dejmrture for Constantinople); Isaac Uzziel of Fez (1610-1622); and Mana.sseh ben Israel (1(>22). .Vmsterdam could well be satisfied with this accesHolland was. in those limes, a rather sion of Jews. They took jiarl in transgreat wealth into the land. manne enterprises and fostered trade. And not alone did the city's material riches increase through them; its intellectual wealth increa.sed
 * >oor country; and the Portuguese Jews brought

—



Increased Irumi-

also.

sicians

Mention is made of Jewish jdiyand poets of about this time.

From among

the lall<T, it is nece.s.sary Rkiitki. Ji.sntrN (called also Pauloile Piiia). whose " Dialogo dos .Monies" was recitid in 16'24, in the synagogue "Beth Ya'akob." The various eongregatiimal inslitutions wrre carefully fostered. The Portuguese community securi'il a burial-place first in Groede (North HolIn April, 1614, another cemetery land) ill 1602. w:is obtained in Ouderkerk, on the .mstel, which is But after a peaceful existence of tea still in use.

gration.

to nuiition

only