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500 Baptism Bar

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

500

the Essenes (D'JJUV) underwent Baptism every morning (Tosei, Yad. ii. 20; Simon of Sens to Yad. iv. 9; and Ber. 22a; compare with Kid. 70n, "The Name must be guarded with purity ")• Philo frequently refers to these acts of purification in preparation for the holy mysteries to be received by the initiated ("De Somniis," xiv. "De Profugis," vii. " Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit? " xviii. xxiii. "Quod Deus Sit Immutabilis," ii. "De Posleritate

anointing, and the like, which the proselyte has or

Caini," xiv., xxviii.).

BAPTISTA or BATTISTA, GIOVANNI GIONA GALILEO Baptized Jew, professor of









The Baptism of the proselyte has for its purpose from the impurity of idolatry, and the

his cleansing

restoration to the purity of a new-born man. This may be learned from the Talmud (Sotah 12b) in regard to Pharaoh's daughter, whose bathing in the

Nile is explained by Simon b. Yohai to have been The bathing in the water is to for that purpose. constitute a rebirth, wherefore " the ger is like a child just born" (Yeb. 48A); and he must bathe "in the name of God" "leshem shamayim" that is, assume the yoke of Gcd's kingdom imposed upon him by the one who leads him to Baptism (" matbil "), or else he is not admitted into Judaism (Gerim. vii. For this very reason the Israelites before the 8). acceptance of the Law had, according to Philo on the Decalogue ("De Decalogo," ii., xi.), as well as according to rabbinical tradition, to undergo the rite of baptismal purification (compare I Cor. x. 2, "They were baptized unto Moses [the Law] in the clouds and in the sea "). The real significance of the rite of Baptism can not be derived from the Levitical law; but it appears to have had its origin iu Babylonian or ancient Semitic practise. As it was the special service administered by Elisha, as prophetic disciple to Elijah his master, to " pour out water upon his hands " (II Kings iii. 11), so did Elisha tell Naaman to bathe seven times in the Jordan, in order to recover from The powers ascribed his leprosy (II Kings v. 10). to the waters of the Jordan are expressly stated to be that they restore the unclean man to the original This idea understate of a new-born "little child." lies the prophetic hope of the fountain of purity, which is to cleanse Israel from the spirit of impurity (Zech. xiii. 1; Ezek. xxxvi. 25; compare Isa. iv. 4). Thus it is expressed in unmistakable terms in the Mandean writings and teachings (Brandt, "Mandaische Religion," pp. 99 et seq., 204 et seq.) that the living water in which man bathes is to cause his For this reason does the writer of regeneration. the fourth of the Sibylline Oracles, lines 160-166, appeal to the heathen world, saying, " Ye miserable mortals, repent; wash in living streams your entire frame with its burden of sin; lift to heaven your bands in prayer for forgiveness and cure yourselves of impiety by fear of God " This is what John the Baptist preached to the sinners that gathered around him on the Jordan and herein lies the significance He was to be made of the bath of every proselyte. For the term " a new creature " (Gen. R. xxxix.). tpuTioOelg (illuminated), compare Philo on Repentance (" De Pumitentia," i.), "The proselyte comes from darkness to light." It is quite possible that, like the initiates in the Orphic mysteries, the proselytes were, by way of symbolism, suddenly brought from darkness into light. For the rites of immersion,

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had to undergo, Anointing. K]

Proselyte, Ablution, and

see

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E. G. Bengel, Veher das Alter tier JUd. l'rusehjteiitanfe, Tubingen, 1814; M. Sehneekenbiirger, Vcbcr (his Alter dcr JUd. Proselytentaufe, Berlin, 1828; E. Kenan, Les Hpemgiles, 2d ed., p. 167 ; idem, Les Apotres, p. !lii; idem, Marc-Aiirelc, p. 527; Scheehter, in Jewish Quarterlti Review, 19011, xii. 421 ; Schiirer, Oesch. 3d ed., iii. 129;

Bibliography:

Edersheim, K.

The Jewish Messiah,

ii.

745.

S.

Kr.



Hebrew, and Safed Oct.

librarian

1588

28,

died



born in His Jewish

the Vatican

of

May 26,

1668.



name was Judah Jonah ben Isaac. He studied the Talmud and traveled as a rabbi through Italy and Poland visited Amsterdam and was finally elected dayyan in Hamburg. In 1625 he returned to Poland, and was converted to Christianity in Warsaw. Expelled from Poland, he came to Italy was ap;





pointed professor of Hebrew, first in the University of Pisa, then in the Neophyte College of Rome and later was one of the librarians of the Vatican.

The most important of his numerous works are: a sermon in Hebrew and Latin on the Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the " Apostles, Rome, 1653 (2) " Limmud ha-Meshihim (Doctrines of Christianity), a Hebrew translation of (1)



the Italian catechism of Robert Bellarmin, 1658; "Berit a dashah," a Hebrew translation of the New Testament with a preface by Clement IX. to

H

(3)

,

whom

the translation

was dedicated

(4) "



Hebrew-

Chaldaic Lexicon " (5) a " Treatise on the Name of Jesus " (in manuscript) (6) " HiHufin Sheben Sheloshah Targumim, " a collection of the differences in the three Targumim. This work was left unfinished the manuscript is preserved in the Vatican Library. Bibliography: Vogelstein and Rieger, GeseJi. dcr Juden in



Rom,

286 et seq.

ii.



Wolf, Bibl. Hehr.

720.

i.

A. R.

D.

BAPTISTA, GIOVANNI

MANO ELIANO

SALOMO RO-

Baptized Jew ecclesiastical born at Alexandria, Egypt died in Rome March 3, 1589. He was a grandson of Elijah Baptista Levita, the famous Hebrew grammarian. traveled extensively in Germany, Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt; was a master of Latin, Spanish, and Turkish and taught Hebrew and Arabic in Rome. His elder brother, Eliano, embraced Christianity, became a priest, and later a canon, under the name of "Vittorio Eliano." Exasperated by his brother's conversion, Baptista hastened to Venice to rebuke him and, if possible, win him back to Judaism. But instead of converting his brother to Judaism, BapFirst, tista was himself converted to Christianity. Cantareno, a Venetian nobleman, made an effort to persuade him then a Jesuit, Andreas Frusius, succeeded in convincing him. In 1551, under the name of "Giovanni Baptista," he openly declared himself a Christian, to the great mortification of his mother. Baptista became a Jesuit; an ecclesiastical writer; composed a catechism in Hebrew and Arabic and was the author of other works of the same character. The Jews that still remembered his famous grandwriter















father naturally despised him for his desertion, and he determined to wreak vengeance on his former coreligionists.

An opportunity soon presented itself.