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596 Bathori

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Bathyra

an interpolation, and

xii. 15J should This does not directly affect the narrative concerning Bath-sheba herself. Chronicles, which draws a kindly veil over David's faults, omits all reference to the way in which Bathsheba became David's wife, and gives only the names of her children. The father of Bath-sheba was Eliam (spelled Ammiel " in IChron. iii. 5). As this was also the name of a son of Ahithophel, one of David's heroes (II Sam. xxiii. 34), it has been conjectured that Bathsheba was a granddaughter of Ahithophel and that the latter's desertion of David at the time of Absalom's rebellion was in revenge for David's conduct toward Bath-sheba. ,i. .hi. G. A. B. BATHORI, STEPHEN: Prince of Transylvania 1571-76; king of Poland 1575-86, in succession to Henry of Anjou, who had left the kingdom in order to occupy the throne of France as Henry III. At this election Solomon Ashkenazi, the physician and adviser of Sultan Selim II., made his mas-

of

xii. 1-15(7. is

be joined directly to

xi. 27.

'"

behalf of Bathori. Bathori instituted au eminently liberal policy with regard to the Jews. In 1576 he issued two orders prohibiting the charges brought against them of ritual murder and of the profanation of the host. In 1575 he issued a decree abolishing all restrictions on Jewish commerce, and permitting the Jews to buy and sell goods even on Christian holidays. In the same decree he also abolished the older law which placed Jewish minors under the guardianship of ter's influence felt in

596

Bathori was the last Polish king who maintained and practised the principle that the Jews constitute a fundamental element in the population and, being a class composed mainly of tradesmen and artisans,

should enjoy equal rights with the corresponding non-Jewish classes of the nation. He deserves great credit for preserving the spirit and traditions of a liberal epoch at a time when the Jesuit influence had already begun to assert itself in Poland, Bibliography



L.

Sudhq Yevreyev v

Levanda,







217, 510, 562, 567, 576-578, 580-585, 590-595, 61X1-613, 624, 634, 655, 657, 659, 705, 008, 1086, St. Petersburg, 1899.

H. E.

BATHS, BATHING: The

index and exponent of a clean soul,

human mind

legislation accept the theory

without any very defiThus, when Jacob

nite exposition asked or given.

prepared his household to

visit the shrine of

for his transgression (Ps. "

Ii.,

superscription), prays:

Wash me thoroughly from mine

cleanse

iniquity,

(verses 4 [A. V. 2], 9 [A. V. the harlot nation, as Jeremiah designates

itually

the diet of

Warsaw, Jan.

2,

1580,

the same rights and privileges in the cities as Chrisunder the jurisdiction of the king, except in civil suits; that the citizens should be warned against disturbing Jews in their trade and other occupations; that the children and widows of converted Jews should be warned not to assail the rights of those heirs who remained in the Jewish faith; that Jews should take their oaths only on the scroll of the Law or at the door of the synagogue; and the courts were forbidden to summon tians: that the}- should be

Jews on Saturdays and Jewish

holidays.

and

me from my sin "

In the same year, when the Jewish community of Posen was threatened by a Christian mob, Bathori sent strict orders to the city council to take measures for the preservation of order, but without effect. Three months after the issue of this decree, a riot broke out in the Jewish quarter of Posen, accom-

At

in



archal, Davidic, prophetic, the symbolical

remitted.

God

bade them "purify" themselves (Gen. xxxv. 2). When the people were bidden to prepare themselves for the reception of the revelation on Sinai, they were commanded to " sanctify " themselves that is, wash themselves and wash their garments (Ex. xix. 10). David, anxious to be pardoned

Beth-el, he

Christian.

Stephen confirmed the former privileges of the Jews and granted them some additional advantages in trade and commerce, instructing the city authorities to guard their legal rights. Further decrees provided that Jews should have

of an

is

7]);

was

as an

so natural a conception that the records of early Jewish

approximation to holiness, in the

body and thus

clean

Christians, and put them instead under that of the Jewish rabbi and alderman. He enforced the old decree of Sigismund I. (1506-48), making municipalities liable for losses incurred by Jews during riots He also decreed that the murder of a Jew should be punished by death, just as the murder of a

panied by pillage and several cases of murder. Bathori imposed a heavy tine on the town council, but the members testified under oath that they had not been aware of the contemplated attack, and the fine

PoUkeri

in Vaskhud, Oct. 1886, pp. 10, 11 ; L. Gumplowicz, Prawnclawst-wo Potekie Wzgledem Z)d(m pp. 84, Gratz, Gescli. der Jwlcn, ix. 462 et seq. 65, Cracow, 1867 S. Dutaiow, Yevreiskaya IsLelewel, Dzieje Polski. 1863 toria, ii. 304 et seq., Odessa, 1897 ; Regesty i Nadpisi, Nos.

Ryeehi PrnpoHtoi,

and

Judah,

Symbolic Significance.

so deeply stained with sinful-

is

though it wash with niter "and take much soap," its iniquity is still marked before God (Jer. ii.

ness that

22).

purificative

In

all

side

these periods, then, patriof

and spirBathing was already

recognized, so that Bathing was ordained in preparation for holy rites, upon recovery from sickness, etc. When it is considered how valuable water is in the Orient, and how the average Bedouin of to-day looks upon the use of water for cleansing purposes as an extravagant waste of a valuable necessary of life (see Benzinger, " Hebraische Archaologie," p. 108, note), the free prescription of water for ritual purposes in this fashion becomes remarkable.

Turning to enactments of a general character, the that various states and degrees of corporeal defilement (see Ablution) were to be reme-

Law ordained died

by the

purification of the bath. So, too, he who ate of that which was found

In the Torah.

dead, whether torn of beasts or from other causes (Lev. xvii. 15, 16), and he who had come into contact with a corpse, a bone, or a grave (Num. xix. 19), were alike

required to bathe themselves in water and become clean. The priests, who, as it were, approached closer to the Deity, would naturally be required to exhibit in eminent degree the virtue of cleanliness as a means to godliness there was, therefore, a laver of brass set in the Tabernacle between the court of the congregation and the altar, and the priests were