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368 Azbuk

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Azharot

(Thank-Offering), which contains a lengthy peniprayer (" widdui gadol ") with reference to the various human organs so far as they lead man to sin (Constantinople, 1733). This work was modeled after Eleazar Ascari's "Sefer Haredim." He also wrote " Yissa Berakah " and other works of a mystic nature. Bibliography: Azulai, Shem harQedolim, ii. 38, 42; Benjaeob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 154. K. M. K.

AZBUK

Father of Nehemiah



J.



AZEKAH A city in the Shephelah,



—

—

four centuries

the reign of Zedekiah, the forces at Azekah After the return from the Exile it the tribesmen of Judah (Neh xi. 30)

later, in

Jews opposed Nebuchadnezzar's (Jer.

xxxiv.

7).

was resettled by Bibliography

.

Buhl, Geographie des Alten PoMstina, pp. 90, 92; Mittheilungen und Nachrichten des Deutschen PaUtstinavereins, p. 26, 1896. J.



M. B.

JR.

AZEL A

Chron. J.

Benjamite descended from

viii. 37,

Saul

(I

D'

Hakam



Amsterdam; died in 1823; son and successor of the hakam David Cohen d'Azevedo. He is the author of a sermon " Sermao Heroico pregado no K. K. de Talmud Torah en Amsterdam," Aug. 3,

—

1809 (eulogistic sermon, preached in the holy con1809.

M. K.

s.

AZEVEDO, DAVID COHEN

D'



Hakam

of

Amsterdam in the eighteenth centu^ died in 1792. He devoted himself to rabbinical studies and was elected hakam in Amsterdam in 1782. He pub;

sermon entitled " Triumphos da Virtude Sermao a Occasiao do Natalicio de Guillermo V., Principe de Orange," Amsterdam, 1788. d. M. K. lished a

AZEVEDO, DAVID SALOM

D'



Diplomat,

of the seventeentli century; died 1699. He was minister resident at Amsterdam of the dey of Algeria, and in that capacity negotiated a commercial treaty with the Netherlands. He was also an ener-

member

of the building committee of the great synagogue of the Portuguese congregation in Amsterdam. Azevedo was renowned for his wisdom gotic

and learning.

His epitaph is to be found in D. H. de Castro's "Keur van Graf steenen, " p. 97. d.

Getschkhtc der d.

M. K.

Juden

—

Jttricn, x. 278; Kayserling, in Portugal, p. 315.

M. K.

AZEVEDO, MOSES COHEN

D' Hakam of London; son of Daniel Cohen d'Azevedo; born in Amsterdam about 1720; died in 1784. He succeeded, in 1761, Moses Gomez da Mesquitta, his father-inlaw, as haham (hakam) of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation of London.

The only publications credited to him are two sermons, one on the accession of George III., delivered December, 1760, before he was called haham. They were delivered in Spanish, and published, with an English translation, in 1776, containing prayers for the success of the British arms: "Order de la Oracion, en el Dia de Ayuno, 13 Dec, 1776, Implorando ... la Divina Asistencia a las Armas de su Magestad." One of his descendants died a few years ago in Barrow's Buildings at the age of portrait of the haham is the only relic ninety. left of him. His son, Daniel, was kazan of tke congregation from 1779 until 1812. Bibliography: Catalogue of Anglo-Jewish Historical Ex-

A



Kayserling, Bibl. Espafi.-Port.-Judaica, s.v., M. Gaster, History of the Bevis

Marks Congregation,

in

Amsterdam,

—

and private information

G. B. L.

AZEVEDO, DANIEL COHEN

gregation),

in

hibition, 1887

38; ix. 43, 44).

JR.

He was

Bibliography: Gratz, Gesch. der

about midway between Jerusalem and the Philistine boundary, in a southwestern direction; probably not far from Socoh or Shochoh (I Sam. xvii. 1) now Shuweikah with which it is coupled (Josh. xv. 35). Its exact site has not been ascerEusebius relates that a village, Ezekah, tained. was to be found between Eluethe-ropolis and Elia. Azekah existed before the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. Joshua, having defeated the five kings at Gibeon, followed them up to Azekah (Josh. x. 10, 11). The Philistine army lay between Shochoh and Azekah, when David fought Goliath (I Sam. xvii. 1). Rehoboam fortified it (II Chron. xi. 9), and

Judah

Portuguese



or plain of

16).

jk.

D'

of the seventeenth century.

G. B. L.

assisted in repair-

iii.

AZEVEDO, FRANCISCO Marano

sent 1673 to Rome to implore the papal curia to curb the inhumanity of the Inquisition. Well supplied with money, and seconded by the Jesuits who were not in sympathy with the Inquisition he succeeded in exposing the cruelties of its procedure. Clement X. thereupon issued a bull, dated Oct. 3, 1674, suspending the activity of the Portuguese Inquisition, and prohibiting any further accusations, condemnations, or confiscations until the grievances of the Maranos in that country should have been investigated by a Roman court of inquiry.

tential

ing the wall at Jerusalem (Neh.

368



pp. 131 et seq.

M.

J.

AZGAD



K.— G.

L.

The Bene Azgad returned with Zerub-

babel from the captivity (Ezra ii. 12; Neh. vii. 17). Their number is variously given as 1,222 (Ezra ii. 12), 2, 322 (Neh. vii. 17), 1,322 (I Esd. v. 13, where the form given to the name is " Astad "). Subsequently 110 more came up with Ezra (Ezra viii. 12; I Esd. viii. Azgad signed the covenant 38, "Astath"). with Nehemiah (Neh. x. 16). J.

jr.

AZHAROT

G. B. L.

(Exhortations) Liturgical poems treating of the precepts of the Law. The Babylonian Talmud (Mak. 2b) contains an utterance by R. Simlai to the effect that "613 commandments were revealed to Moses: 365, equal to the number of days in the year, were negative precepts; and 248, corresponding to the number of the component parts of the human body, were affirmative. " R. Hamnuna finds a suggestive hint for this number in the alphabetical value of the Hebrew letters composing the word min (" law " Deut. xxxiii. 4), which amount to 611, to which there are to be added the first two passages of the Decalogue which were spoken not by Moses, but by God Himself to Israel. Although this enumeration repeatedly recurs in Talmud and Midrash, even in the name of the earlier teachers (compare Backer, " Ag. Pal. Amor."