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was accounted murder; and tbe guilty maswas punished capitally (Mek., Mishpatimi 7). The mode of procedure in Beheading is a matter

bours, ter

of dispute, even as early as the Tannaites of the second century, some of whom maintained that the ciiminal's head was struck off with a sword, "the way the government does" while, according to R. Judah ben Ilai, the neck of the victim was placed against a block, and the head hewn off with an ax (Mishnah Sanh. vii. 3). This discussion between R. Judah and his opponents (Tosef., Sanh. ix., end; Gem. i"b. 52*) reveals the fact that Beheading, as a mode of execution, must have been adopted in late veal's from other nations Assyria or Persia, Greece The very question, whether ax or or Rome.

—

sword should be employed, is intelligible only on the supposition that Beheading was a foreign procedure, and one, therefore, not determined by law or custom. It is known that the Roman emperors adopted the use of the sword in lieu of the ax. For the same reason, Beheading was the only mode of execution which a Jewish king might employ, other current modes mentioned in Scripture being reserved for the established courts of law a king may only claim, as royal privilege, that which kings " customarily demand (Maimonides. Yad ha-Hazakah," Sanh. si v. 2: «'*., Melakim. iii. 8. following

the Tosefta. Sanh.

vii.

3; Yer. Sanh.



was the least painful (Mishnah, ib. vii. 1). It was customary to have two different burial-places Simeon,

it

one for those who had sufered death by stoning or by Are the other, for those beheaded or strangled. The punishment was considered a measure of the crime; and it was not deemed right to bury criminals of a minor degree among those of greater wickedness (Tosef Sanh. ix. for executed criminals:



.

Mishnah,

vi.

Bibliography



5;

Gem.

,

Duschak, Hosaiseh-TalmudischesStrafrccht,

L. G.

SK.

was introduced to Moses Mendelssohn, whose house was at that time the rendezvous of men of talent and genius. With the assistance of his new friends, Behr was enabled to acquire an education, studying German, French, and Latin (being forced to start, however, with the rudiments of each language), and

later natural science, philosophy,

and medicine. Behr had mastered German, he commenced to write poetry, using as models the poems of Ramler, Wieland, and Herder. During this time Boie wrote to Knebel, the friend of Goethe " The poems of the Lithuanian are said to have appeared in print. You are right the Jewish nation promises much after it is once awakened " (translated from " Literarischer Nachlass und Brief wechsel Karl Ludwig von Knebel's," ed. Varnhagen von Ense and Th. Mundt, ii. Ill, Leipsic, 1840).

As soon

BEHEMOTH. See Leviathax. BEER, ISSACHAR FALXENSOHN

as





In 1771-72 the "Gedichte eines Polnischen Juden, mit Anhang" were published in Mitau and Leipsic. Goethe himself reviewed them in the " Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen" of 1772. "First, we must admit, " he says, " that the superscription of these pages

has made a very favorable impression upon us. " He continues by saying that he had expected something new, and had hoped to note the impression made by

German

habits

and customs upon a foreigner

this foreigner a Polish

Jew

—

— and

entirely unacquainted

to the country but that he finds himdisappointed: "Only mediocrity, hated of gods and men." He concludes his review with these words We hope that we may one day meet him again in those parts, where we seek our ideals, and in a more intellectual mood" (Goethe's "Yollstandige Ausgabe Letzter Hand," xxxiii. 38 et seq., Stuttgart and" Tubingen, 1830). About this time Behr left Berlin for Halle, and completed at the university of that city his studies The title of his in medicine, graduating in 1772. self sorely

''



thesis

47*).

pp. 10, 11, 41. J.

Bela-

and unused

vii. 24*).

Beheading was accounted one of the least painful modes of execution according to the view of R.

9;

Behalah

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

was

"

Animadversiones Qutedam ad Illustran-

The same Phrenitidis Causam" (Halle, 1772). year he went to Breslau. Kayserling, in his "Issachar Falkensohn Behr," says that, according to a manuscript, Behr's coreligionists, fearing that, like

dam

many

Lith-

uanian poet born in 174G at Zamosc. government of Lublin, Russian Poland, or, according to Recke and Napiersky, at Salaty. a village in Lithuania, near Behr received in his native the Courland frontier. town no education beyond that afforded in small country schools, and was married at an early age,

according to the custom of that time. He engaged in retail trade, and while he was at Konigsberg, Prussia (about 1767). his whole stock in trade, consisting of a piece of velvet, was stolen from him. Ashamed to return, and in the hope of bettering his condition and that of his family, he sought to become a student at the university, though possessing

no funds and having no knowledge of German. Finding this impossible, he left Konigsberg and tramped to Berlin, often contemplating suicide in a Arrived at the Prussian capital nearby stream. (1708)", he looked up his relative and countryman, Israel Zamosc, who, as tutor, came in contact with the leading Jewish families of the city. Through the influence of his relative and of Daniel Jafe he

others, he would change his religion, placed him in custody. Of his further history nothing is known, except that he practised medicine in Hasenpoth, Courland, and removed to Mohilev on the Dnieper about 1775. It is doubtful whether he went thence to St. Petersburg, as stated by Fischer in

Hupels' "Xordische Miscellen." iv. 15. According to Kayserling, Behr was the father of Rabbi Jemham, who published " Ozar Xehmad, " a commentary on the " Cuzari " by Israel Zamocz if this were so, then Behr died before 179(3.

Bibliography: Goethe's Woke, as above; letters ot Karl G. Lessins to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, in Lessing's Gcsa m melte Sehi-iH.cn. xlii. 305-306. Berlin. 1840



Litcrariseheryaehlass

und Briefwechsel Karl Ludicig eon Knebel's, as above; Wiener Jahrbmh filr Israelites 1862, pp. 1 Fftrst. Bibliotheea Juda ion. s.T.Falkensohn, Leipsic, et kq 1S63- Kavserline. Der Diehter Ephmim Kuh (Appendix,

Kavserline, in

Issaehar'Falkeiisohn Belli). pp.43ct «q.. Berlin, 1864 (who mistakes Karl G. Leasing for Gotthold Epbraim LessmL": Karpeles, Geseh. der Jlldisehen Literatur. ii. 1094. Berlin, "Isachar Bar Falkensohn"); Fuenn, 18S6 (who calls

Mm

Keneset Tisrael.

p.

186.

Warsaw, 1S86-1S90: Winter and

Wflnsebe, Jlldisehe Literatur. iii. 8S1. Berlin. 1897: Keeke and Xapierskv, Allgemeines Sehriftsteller- und GelehrienLerikon.i. 92. Mitau. 1827: H. Rosenthal. Toledot Ainhe Shem bc-Kurland. in Ha-3Icliz, Odessa, 1862.

h. k.

F. T.

H.