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398 Babenhausen Babylon

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

inscription), states that

he built and finished at Baby-

lon "E-sag-ila" (Temple of Heaven and Earth), the dwelling of the god of gods, JIarduk Nebuchad- and likewise the story-tower, " E-temen nezzar's an-ki " (Temple of the Foundation of

Borsippa

Heaven and

the

work he did

398

for the benefit of the Karaites, espeand social rights in

cially in regard to their political

He was a man of wealth and aided the work of Abraham Firkovich, who accompanied him to Jerusalem in 1830, and who was entrusted Russia.

guage is used with reference to the construction of both of these edifices. This being so, there must be a preference for Babylon as the probable site of the Babel of Gen. ix. 1-9, the ruins of which answer the requirements of both a tower and a city. See Babylon and Shinak.

with the education of Babovich's children. In 1827 Babovich went to St. Petersburg with Joseph Solomon, hakam of the Karaite community of Kozlov, to petition the Russian government to This misfree the Karaites from military service. sion was successful; and it was on this occasion that Solomon wrote his "Sefer ha-Zikaron," and Abraham ben Joseph Solomon ha-Hazan composed a hymn in honor of Babovich. In 1829 Babovich corresponded with Jostand other German -Jewish scholars in regard to a history of the Karaites and it was owing to his encouragement that Firkovich gathered all the material for his

Bibliography: H. Rawlinson, In Smith-Sayce, Chaldean Gene-

history.

In-

Earth).

Of

this

latter

he says (Rawlinson, " Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia," v. 34, col.

scription,

i.

53,

"E-temen-an-ki, the zik-

54):

kurat of Babylon I built anew," and adds immediately thereafter: "E-zida, the lasting house, beloved of Nebo, in Borsippa, I built anew." The same lan-

pp. 171 et seq. For the critical analysis of the eleventh chapter of Genesis and the various problems connected with the tradition of the Tower of Babel, see Budde, Biblische Uraeschtelite, and the commentaries of Dillmann, Strack, Holzinger, and Gunkel J. p. Peters, as above. sis,



J.

JR.

I.

31.

P.

Hesse, district of Starkenburg, Germany. Jews are reported to have resided here as early as 1320. At the request of the

nobleman Arrosius von Breuberg, certain Jews were placed under the ban, and all intercourse between them and Christians was strictly prohibited. The reason for this measure is not stated. In 1337 the Jews were cruelly persecuted during the Armleder raids. At the time of the Black Death (1349) the Jewish community was again subjected to persecution.

From 1643 to

1672 there were at no time more than resident here, and these paid an annual protection tax of 60 to 70 gulden. Between 1710

Jews

this tax amounted to 110 gulden. The Daniel of Babenhausen obtained the protection of the Palatinate in 1648. In 1829 there were 80 Jews resident here in 1875 there were 92 and this is about the number at the present day.

and 1719

Jew



Bibliography



Salfeld.



Des NUrnherger Memorhuches MarBeschreibung der Hanau-Miln-

tyrolngium, pp. 338, 281



Lande, p. 57 Lowenstein, Gesch. der Juden in der Kurpfalz, p. 38; Engelbert, Statistih des Judenthums irn Deutschen Reiehe, p. 52. g. A. F. zenhergificfien



BABINOVICHI Town in

the district of Orsha,

government of Mohilev, Russia. In 1900, in a total population of 1,143 the Jews numbered about 800.

H

g.

BABLI HA-SOEOMON Solomon

b.

B.

JEHXTDAH.

R.

See

Jehudah.

BABOVICH, SIMHA: Head man

of the KaCrimea in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and president of the Karaite Council raites of the

The exact date of of the city of Kozlov, Eupatoria. his birth is unknown, but he was probably born about 1785. His surname is spelled by some " Bibovich" (Gottlober, "Bikkoret le-Toledot ha-Karaim, p. 179), and by others "Babovich" (Eben Resheff,

"Abne Zikaron," p. 102, and Deinard, "Massa Krim," p. 20). Babovich did not distinguish himself as a scholar, nor did he write any book but he was famous for

A. Fl.

k.

BABSKI KEFTJES

("Babski" [Polish], oldwomanish; "refues" [Hebrew], remedies): The name applied in Yiddish to domestic and supersti-

Common

tious medicine.

BABENHAUSEN A city of

six



folk

among

the

Jews

in

Russia and Poland believe in peculiar remedies for diseases and maladies, some of the remedies consisting of drugs or physics and some of magic agencies. Especially peculiar are the latter, which are generally prescribed or administered by a practical cabalist called "ba'al-shem" (master of [God's] name) or " guter Yid " (good Jew), to whom superstitious men and women apply for the conjuration of toothaches, of wounds, or of an evil eye (" 'ayyin ha-ra' "), or for the exorcism of an evil spirit (" dibbuk "). Of the "segulot" (superstitious remedies) among these folk, particularly curious are those intended for the relief of pregnant women and that of children. For instance, a well-known practise among them is "Bleigiessen," or what may be termed " plumbomancy " which is divination from the forms assumed by molten lead dropped into water. This is resorted to in cases in which illness of pregnant ,

women

or that of children is

due to

fright, to find

out what object was the cause of the alarm. A medicine-woman, muttering a psalm or an incantation, throws molten lead into a vessel full of water, and from the resemblance of the form thus assumed by the metal to a particular animal, she divines that the cause of fright was a cat, a dog, a horse, etc. The popular guides of domestic and superstitious medicine among the Russian and Polish Jews are the " Sefer Zekirah " (Book of Remembrance), by Rabbi Zechariah of Plungyan, and the "Mif'alot Elohim " (Works of God), which latter is a collection of remedies prescribed by Rabbis Yoel Ba'al-Shem, Naphtali of Posen, and others. Here follow a few items contained in the two treatises: To alleviate pain of dentition, suspend upon the neck of the child a tooth of a horse or of a dog,

and smear the throat of the child with butter or chicken-fat ("Zekirah," p. 80, Warsaw, 1875). To protect a child from an "evil eye," let it wear a copper or silver tablet with the letter n engraved upon it (ib.

p. 84).

In case of measles or small-pox, take them upon the patient, and say N'1l

ten peas, throw

~?P

DJH ST1K pNIVJ PSTIKIVJ



J'JJtt

D'OIN ivs