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373 AZOTTJS: in the

and

Aziel Azriel

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

373

1. The equivalent of Ashdod; found Apocrypha (Judith ii. 28; I Mace. iv. 15, etc.)

New

Testament (Acts viii. 40). 2. Mount of Azotus (I Mace. ix. 15), where Judas Maccabeus was killed. It is perhaps identical with 1. in the

G. B. L.

s.

A

AZOV-

(Turkish, Azak): town in the government of Ekaterinoslav, Russia, on the left bank of the Don, about twenty-four miles from Rostov and five miles from the sea. In ancient times it was an important business center, belonging to Greece and known under the name of " Tanais. " The Pontic king Mithridates conquered it in 115 b.c. in the fourth century of the common era it was destroyed by the Huns; and in the eighth century it was rebuilt and passed into the possession of the Chazars. In the twelfth century, when Azov was a store-city for the trade with Indo-China, the Genoese carried on a considerable trade there, at first recognizing the sovereignty of the Polovtzy, whom in the thirteenth century they drove out and in 1471 they themselves were conquered by the Turks, who in 1637 were for a short time subject to the Cossacks. Since 1736 Azov has belonged to Russia. Jews have lived in Azov since they began to settle in the Crimea and in the neighboring provinces, probably in the first century B.C. In the time of the Chazars they were largely interested in the commerce of Azov with Constantinople and Dankov. From the latter the Russian products were transported down the Don to Azov, and all imported merchandise was forwarded from Azov to Dankov. Azov is mentioned in an epigraph on the first page of a Pentateuch written in Azak, stating that one Shabbethai, son of Isaac, during his illness, on the twenty-ninth of Marheshwan, 5035 [1274], presented this Bible (twenty -four books) to the "Ka;



Synagogue

raite

in

Kirim"

(D.

Chwolson, "Yev-

Nadpisi," p. 217, St. Petersburg, 1884). Another epigraph, written on a board in the Karaite synagogue in Theodosia in 1404, relates to Isaac, son of Moses, and Sarah, daughter of Moses, and to the mother of their mother, Kellah of Azak (Azov), who "have put up this board in the synagogue of the community of Kaffa, the community of the Kareiskie

raites "

p. 209).

(»&.

AZRIEL (EZRA) BEN MENAHEM (BEN SOLOMON) Founder of the speculative Cabala,

and called "The Saint"; born at Gerona in 1160; died in 1238. As to the identity of Azriel and Ezra, taken for two brothers by Griitz (" Gesch. " vii. 447 et seg.) and Bloch (Winter and Wilnsche, " Jiid. Literatur," iii. 261), compare Jellinek ("Beitrage zur Geschichte derKabbala," i. 41; Landauer,"Lit.-Bl." vi. 196; and Michael, "Or ha-Hayyim," No. 1151). Attracted by the mystical studies that had begun to spread in Spain, Azriel went early to southern France, and became there a pupil of the celebrated cabalist Isaac the Blind, the son of Abraham of Posquieres. Later he left France and traveled all over Spain, making propaganda for the Cabala. He endeavored to win the philosophers over to his mystic views, but did not succeed, as he himself confesses

commentary upon the Ten For, " says he, " the philosophers believe in nothing that can not be demonstrated logically." He came back disappointed to Gerona, and there founded a school in which Nahmanides received Azriel's cabalistic instruction, as is staled by Abraham Zacuto ("Yuhasin"), Mel'r ibn Gabbai, Ibn Yabya (" Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah"), and others (see Gratz, I.e.). Azriel wrote a commentary on the Ten Sefirot in the form of questions and answers, following therein the speculative method of philosophy (edited by N. A. Goldberg, Berlin, 1850). Its title, not given by the editor, was " Ezrat Adonai " (see Gratz, I.e., following S. Sachs). He also wrote a commentary on "Shir ha-Shirim," ascribed often to Nahmanides, published under his name (Altona, 1764), in which the 613 commandments are explained mysAzriel was, tically as based upon the Decalogue. further, the author of a commentary on " Sefer Yezirah," entitled "Sefer ha-Millui'm, " which was likewise ascribed to Nahmanides, and published under Besides these he seems to his name in Mantua, 1719. have written a cabalistic commentary on the prayers, and a hymn with his name " Ezra " as acrostic. His in the introduction to his

system of "

En

as the

"En

Tiklah

"

negative

Entziklopedicheski Slovw, i. St. PetersG. Barbaro, Viaggi Fatti da Vinetia Alia Tana, in Persia, etc., Venice, 1543, passim; Kostomarov, Ocherk Targovli Moskovskavo Gosudarstva 16 i 17, Vye-

Bibliography:

St.

lo

(compare Joel,

way what He

"

Beitrage zur Ge-

"Lewi in

a,

not can alone be ascerAll positive tained not what He is. attributes bear the stamp of sensual-



is



His

Doctrine of ism. The Being that is the originator of all things can have no intention, God. thought, word, or action. negation of all negations;

desire,

Petersburg, 1889.

H. R.

on his Neoplatonic conception Sof," the Endless One, Gabirol's

rests chiefly

benGerson," 1862. God, he contends, can be determined only

Of the 25,488 inhabitants in 1892, about 600 were who had a synagogue and a Talmud Torah.

kov, pp. 13-14,

God

schichte der Philosophie," Appendix, p. 12,

Jews,

burg, 1891

"

Sefirot.

is

infinite;

the

He the

Endless. 1 Father of God is my help ") men deputed by Jehoiakini to capture

AZRIEL

("



.

one of the Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah (Jer. xxxvi. 26). 2. Chief of one of the families of Manasseh, living on the eastern side of the Jordan (I Chron. v. 24). 3. Father of Jerimoth, the leader of Naphtali at the time that David numbered the people (I Chron. xxvii. 19). j.

O. B. L.

jr.

AZRIEL Trabotta.

B.

HAYYIM TRABOTTA.

See

After having stated this strange conception of God, Azriel investigates the relation of this En-Sof Has the universe been created to the universe. from nothing? No. Aristotle is perfectly right in saying that nothing can proceed from nothing. Moreover, creation implies a decrease in the Creator's essence through subtraction, and that can not be predicated of the En-Sof. Nor can the universe have existed eternally, as Aristotle asserts, because nothing is eternal save God. Accordingly, the Platonic idea of a primary matter is not acceptable