Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/231

* JEWISH SECTS. 205 JEWS. little later another movement, likewise inspired by a spirit of opposition to the Talmud, began in another part of Persia under the lead of .Judah .Judghan of Hamadan. It attacked the anthropo- morphic conceptions of the deity still current among the .Jews, and in other respects repre- sented the adaptation of the rationalistic theol- ogy advocated by the ilutazilites. ( See JIoham- MEDAN Sects.) Abstention from meat and wine, frequent prayers, and fasts were among the rites emphasized "by .Judah, whose follow- ers maintained themselves for a long timo, though they were gradually absorbed by the most successful sectarian movement of the time, and the most decided and thorough reaction against the Rabbinic spirit which claimed the same validity for Talmudic law as for biblical ordinances — i.e. Earaism. Anan ben David, a member of a distinguished fam- ily, living in Bagdad, about "65, set up a doctrine which rejected the Talmud and Jlidrash as the work of man, and only allowed such laws and ordinances tc be binding upon the community as resulted immediately from a simple and natu- ral Scriptural e.xegesis. The sect thus founded, within an astonishingly brief period, spread over Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Spain, Syria, Tartary, the Byzantine dominions, Fez, and Morocco. The Karaites are now, however, found only in small numbers in Russian Poland, Galicia, Odessa, the Crimea. Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Alexan- dria. The name Karaites designates them as ad- herents of the llikra (i.e. the written), which is the essentially .Jewish name of the Bible. Abro- gating the 'rabbinical' traditions, they erected a traditional system of their own, derived from what they regarded as a strictly literal interpre- tation of biblical laws as they stand. Prayer, fasting, pilgrimages to Hebron, are the points of religious practice to which they pay the greatest attention. Their general conduct is even by their antagonists allowed to be of the highest moral standard. They have produced an extensive spe- cial Hebrew literature of their own, chiefly con- sisting of works on theology, philosophy, gram- mar, mathematics, astronomy, etc. Some of their principal authors are Anan (880-9.30), Solomon ben Jcruham (883-960), Joseph ben Abraham al Bazir 1880-930), Jehudah ben Eliah Hadassi (1075-1160), Aaron ben .Joseph (c.1270-1.300), •Tephet ben All (c. 950-990), Eliah ben Moshe Bashiatzi (1420-91), and others. Another sect was that founded by Sabbathai Zewi from Smyrna (1626-76), son of a rich mer- chant, who proclaimed himself the ilessiah. and found numerous followers throughout Germany, Poland. Italy, and Holland. .Sultan Mohammed IV., however, put an end to his mission by im- prisoning him, and making him adopt Mohamme- danism. Many of his disciples followed his example, others turned Roman Catholics — adher- ing withal to their former doctrines and tenets, consisting chiefly of the belief in the INlessiahship of their master, a distinct leaning to the dogma of the Trinity, and the abandonment of the hope of a final return to .Jerusalem under the guidance of 'Messiah hen Havid.' They put a thoroughly mystical interpretation upon the Bible, rejected unconditionally the Talmud, and extolled their special cabalistic gospel, the Zohar. above all things created. This sect did not die out imtil the end of the eighteenth century. .Jakob Frank, their last supreme pontiff (whose more intimate friends and followers called themselves by his name, Fraiikists), died, it is said, in a debtor's prison on the Rhine (1791). Another branch of the Sabbatians was organized in Salonica by .Jacob Zewi Kerido (apparently the brother-in- law of Sabbathai Zewi) and his son, Berachya (c.1695-1740). Each of these claimed to be the true redeemer of Israel. Their teachings, a strange mixtiire of Judaism and Islam, were of a mystical character, and they are said to have favored a species of mystical free love among their followers. They retained the -Jewish rite of circumcision and regarded the .Song of Solo- mon as the highest embodiment of true revela- tion. This branch of the Sabbatians was known as Dohnali or Donm-ah, and a few thousand of them are said .still to exist in and around Salonica. A notable outcome of the mystical movement in .Judaism are the modern Chasidim — not to be confounded with the ancient Chasidim (q.v.). They take their stand on the Cabbala, but remain ostensibly within the province of rabbinical Judaism. The sect was founded by Israel Baal- shem (c.1698-1759) in Galicia. Its adherents are characterized by their wild mode of praying, contempt for any but mystical and religious science, by their belief in the miracles wrought by their temporary chiefs or saints, whose grandeur and pomp contrasts most strikingly with the simple mode of life of their flock. Constant repentance, joyfulness. disinterestedness, benevo- lence, peacefulness, cleanliness, and temperance are some of the chief points of the practical doc- trine of this sect. They are still ver^' numer- ous in Poland, Galicia, Russia, and Palestine. In the early decades of the nineteenth century there began a. movement among the Jews of Germany looking to the 'reform' of divine wor- ship in the synagogues. This movement in time spread to other countries, notably the United States, and has resulted in the creation of separate 'reformed' sjTiagogues and separate rituals for use in worship. The 'Reformers,' however, can hardly be called a sect, orthodox and reformers being rather parties within .Juda- ism (like Pharisees and Sadducees) and repre- sentative of different tendencies that always existed in one form or the other. See the article .Jews, section JiicUiism of To-d^iy. Consult: the Jewish histories of Griitz. Reinach, Lady Mag- nus; .Jost. O'eschichte des Judenthums und seiner f^ekten (Leipzig, 1857-59) ; Schechter, Studies in Judaism (Philadelphia, 1896): Xeubauer, Ge- schichte des Karaerthums (Leipzig, 1866). JEW LIZARD. An agamoid lizard of Aus- tralia, which when excited expands the pouch of its throat into the appearance of a beard: hence often called "liearded lizard.' JEW OF MALTA, mal'ta. The. A tragedy by Marlowe, written at a date which is uncertain, but must have been subsequent to 1588. It was acted between 1591 and 1596, and was first pub- lished in 1633, edited by Thomas Heywood. Shakespeare was indebted to Marlowe's play for suggestions in the Merchant of Tcnice, though the plot was mainly taken from other sources. JEWS (OF. Geu. Jeu. Ft. Juif. It. Giudeo. Lat. Judwus, Gk. 'lovda'wg, loudaios, from Heb. Yehudnh. Judah). The name given since the Babylonian Captivity to a people of Semitic origin, who called themselves in earlier time