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captured Bagdad, Wasit, Hilleh, Bassora, andTekrit, after obstinate resistance (Weil, I.e. p. 427). After various changes of fortune, Mesopotamia and Irak came into the hands of the Osmans, when Sultan Sulaiman II. in 1534 took Tebriz and Bagdad from the Persians; and, with slight interruptions, Babylonia has remained to this day under Turkish domination. There is but scanty historical information available concerning these latter centuries. The president of a synagogue in " Babylon " (BagModern dad ?) brought home a scroll of the Law Period. from Palestine to Bagdad in 1 333 (Isaac Chelo, in Carmoly, " Itineraires "). The scroll belonging to the celebrated Moses b. Asher is said to have been brought to Cairo by the " Babylonian " Jabez b. Solomon, a Karaite, probably in Turkish times ("'Ibn Saphir," p. 14S). Babylonia thenceforth disappears from the history of Judaism. Bibliography: J. Filrst, Kuttur- und Litcraturgesch/chtc der Juden in Asien, Leipsic, 1849 A. Berliner, Beitrdge zur Geographic und Ethnographic Babtllonien's im Talmud und Midrasch, Berlin, 1883; W. Bacher, Agada der Babnlonischen Amoruer, Budapest, 1878 F. Lazarus, Die Hltup-

the same word designates a tree similar to the balsam-tree; and it was supposed that a dry valley could be named after this tree. KOnig takes " Baca " from the Arabian "baka'a," and translates it "lacking in streams." The Psalmist apparently has in mind a particular valley whose natural condition led

him J.



Th. Noldeke, Gesch. der Parser und Araber zur Zeit der Sassaniden, Leyden, 1879; F. Justi, Gesch. ties Alien Perslens, Berlin, 1879; G. Weil, Gesch. der Chalifen, i.-iii., Mannheim, 1846, 1848, 1859; Bitter, Die Erdlurnde, I. H. Weiss, Gesch. der Jildischen Travol. x., Berlin, 1843 dition, i.-iii., Vienna, 1S71-1883.



S.

BABYLONIAN EXILE.

See

Kk.

Captivity,

BABYLONIAN PUNCTUATION

or

VO-

See Punctuation.

BABYLONISH GARMENT. —Biblical An article of dress mentioned in connection with the theft of Achan (Josh. vii. 21) during the The connecspoil of the captured city of Jericho. tion would indicate that the garment was one of That a Babylonish garment considerable value. should have been found in Jericho is not at all impossible, and points to commercial contact with Babylonia which we know, from other sources, began long before the days of Joshua. It is difficult to determine the exact kind of garment meant by

Data



the expression.

In Rabbinical Literature Bereshit Rabbah (lxxxv. 14) states that it was a purple robe, while Josephus says it was made of gold. Two other opinions are registered in the Talmud (Sanh. 44a). Abba Arika says it was a robe made of fine wool, while Samuel says that it meant a cloak made in Zerifa(nearPumbedita; Rashi: " dyed with alum ").

These opinions, however, do not

conflict,

—

but touch ma-

different sides of the question one, the terial the other, the method of dyeing.

upon



j.

743 Jewish families at that time. The district contains 150,000 inhabitants, of whom, according to the official census of 1899, 15,667 are Jews. The community of Bacau is one of the oldest in Moldavia; its cemetery contains inscriptions dating from the beginning of the eighteenth century; there are no traces of any older burial-ground. It worshiped in a wooden synagogue which was destroyed by fire in 1853, and had been popularly supposed to be several centuries old. The present community possesses one synagogue, built in 1853, and twenty meetinghouses, mostly in rented buildings. Two of the latter, however, possess small libraries and are called "bet ha-midrash"; these buildings belong to the community, one having been erected in 1838 and the other in 1848. As in all important communities in Moldavia, Bacau has a " vekil hakam-basha " the last representative of the " hakam basha " of Jassy was Lupu Baruch. The administration of the community was in the hands of a committee of five, or seven, elected by delegates from the synagogues. Its institutions were supported by the revenues derived from the Gabella, which served in lieu of all imposts payable by the Jews to the state; later, however, an addi;

Babylonian.

CALIZATION.



A



G.

F. Bu.

jk.

BACAU

ter der Vertriebenen, in Brull's Jahrbilchcr, x., Frankforton-the-Main, 1890; A. Kaminka, Die Literatur der Geonisehcn Zcit, in Winter and Wunsche, Jlidische Literatur S. Cassel, Juden, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyldopadie, series vol. xxvii.

to adopt its name.

Capital of a district of the same name, situated in the southwest of Moldavia, a division of Rumania, with a population of 15,000, one-half of census taken in 1876 enumerated whom are Jews.



ii.,

Babylonia Bacau

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

G. B. L.

jk.

BACA, THE VALLEY OF

A

valley mentioned in Ps. Ixxxiv. 7 [6 A. V.]. Since it is there said that pilgrims transform the valley into a land of wells, the old translators gave to "Baca" the

meaning of a " valley of weeping " but it signifies Support for this rather any valley lacking water. latter view is to be found in II Sam. v. 23 et seg. I Chron. xiv. 14 ct seq., in which the plural form of



tional

amount was imposed

to

pay

for substitutes

From

1864 the tax was intermittent from 5 bani (1 cent U. S.), paid for each oca (kilo) of meat and for every head of poultry at the commencement of the nineteenth century, the tax rose to 25 bani (5 cents U. S.). Since 1850, the tax has furnished a revenue of from 48,000 to 68,000 francs yearly. Among the rabbis that have officiated at Bacau are Isaac Botoschaner (1803-58), a man of strong character, a distinguished Talmudist, and Rabbis, an opponent of Hasidism. A vault has been erected over his grave where a lamp is kept burning day and night, and the pious pray as at the tomb of a saint. His successor. Alter Ioines (1858-73), was likewise a distinguished Talmudist, much beloved and of great influence.

in the army.

" the " Hebrah Kaddishah which also cares for the sick; it was founded in 1871 and lasted until 1885, when the cemetery passed under the administration of the Com" munal Committee. The "Hebrah Talmud Torah was founded in 1828 for the encouragement of study there were attached to it thirteen "heders," two of them for higher or Talmudic subjects, which have

The old Jewish society is

(burial society),

survived until to-day. of the

In 1851 a society for the study

Mishnah (Hebrah Mishnayot) was formed.

In 1868 the Dorintza Natiunei (The Nation's Desire) was established for purposes of charity, frater-