Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/190

LEVIRATE MABBIAOE. cate a departure from the earlier custom. The obligation rested ou a surviving brother only in case he 'dwelled together" (i. e. on the family estate) with the deceased; and while formerly all the male offspring of the second marriage were regarded as the issue of the deceased, according to Deuteronomy only the eldest son of the new marriage was to be" so considered. It appears also that even with these modifications, the cus- tom was falling into disuse, for the Deuteronomic Code provides a ceremony wlierchy a surviving brother can evade the obligation, though in doing so he is subjected to an insult by the widow, who draws off her brother-in-law's sandal and spits in his face. The situation in the ])0st-exilic Book of Ruth inii)lics tliis custom, though still further modified. The brotlicr of Elimelech upon whom rested the oliligalion to marry Naomi for- feits the privilege and also the duty to redeem the field which Xaomi was forced to sell, but there is no longer connected with the formal re- pudiation any such ceremony of public obloquy as is prescribed in Deuteronomy. The Priestly Code (Lev. xviii. 1(1: xx. 21) represents the final stage in the decay of this custom — its abro- gation. Marriage with a deceased brother's wife is forbidden without qualification, and evidently because of economic abuses to which the ancient custom led with advancing social culture. Tbe contradiction between Deuteronomy and Leviticus was embarrassing to the .Jewish Rabbis. In the days of Jesus the levirate law was still observed incertain circles, but the Talmud effects a com- promise by recognizing the validity of the Priestly Code, but combining its execution with the performance of the ceremony prescribed in Deuteronomy, which is still observed among or- thodox .Tews. Consult the Hebrew archiEologies of Xorwaek and Benzinger.

LEVIS, eve' or liv'is, or Point 'Levi. The capital of Levis County. Quebec, Canada, on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence, opposite the city of Quebec (Map: Quebec. E 4). It has the Lorne graving dock, 500 feel long, which ad- mits vessels drawing 25 to 2G feet of water, and the wharves where passengers from the ocean steamships are landed, and is protected by sub- stantial fortifications crowning the heights from which General ^Innckton bombarded Quebec in 1750. It is connected by ferries with Quebec; is on the Intercolonial Railway, and is the ter- minus of branches of the Crand Trunk Railway and the Quebec Central Railway. Population, in 1891, 7.301; in 1001, 77S3.

LEVIS, la've'. Francois Gaston, Duke of (1720-87). A French soldier, born at Chittcau d'.jac. Languedoc. After serving in the army in Bohemia. Germany, and Italy during the War of the .^ustrian Succession, he was sent to Canada (175G), where be was second to Montcalm in the campaigns against the Bridsh. He was promoted major-general for his leading share in the suc- cessful defense of Carillon (1758) against a far superior force of English. He repulsed Gen- eral Wolfe at ilontmorcnci (1750). and after the death of Jlontcalm took command of the rem- nants of the French army. He kept up a hopeless but gallant fight against the conquering British throughout the succeeding winter. In the battle of Sainte Foye (I7C0) he won a victory over them that would have resulted in Quebec chang- ing hands once more had the French instead of the English ships arrived with the opening of navigation. After his return to France Levis was made lieutenant-general in 1701, served in the Rhine campaigns, was with Coude at the victory of .Johannisburg, and became Governor of Artois in 1705, a marshal of France in 1783, and a duke and peer of the realm in 1784.

LEVI'TA, Elias, or Elia Levi ben Asiier, surnamed Ashkenasi.llic German; Habbachur. the Master; and Hammedakdek. the (irammarian (C.1408 1549). A Jewisli grammarian and exe- gete. He was born at Neustadt on the Aisch, near Nuremberg, about 1468. In 1496 be went to Italy, where he taught Hebrew mainly, if not solely, to Christians, lie first taught in Venice, then" in Padua, and next in Rome, where he bad Cardinal Egidio as a ]iupil. From Rome he returned to Venice, and here he gave lessons to the French Ambassador. Cicorge de Silve ; then he went to Isny, in Swabia, and finally returned to Venice. No Jews were allowed to live in France at this time, but Elias Levita received the unique honor of an invitation — which he declined — from King Francis I. to come to France and teach the Hebrew language. He died in Venice in 1549. His principal works are: a Hebrew grammar, entitled litihur (1518); a treatise on the Jlasnra, iUisitrcth lid-Miisorcth (15.'i8), important for the study of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament; and a dictionary of the Targum, Meturijeman (1541). His book, Tixhhi (1541), a compilation of 712 articles treating chiefly of Rabbinic Hebrew, and his Tub Taam. a treatise on accents in Biblical He- brew, also deserve mention. Elias Levita's He- brew knowledge was derived mainly from the works of the Kiinchis (q.v.).

LE'VITE (Lat. Lcrites, Gk. evi-Ti(, Levites, from Heb. Lr,n). The designation in the Penta- teuch for servitors attached to the sanctuary of Yahweh. The usage of Levite in the vari- ous codes supposed to be found in the Pentateuch differs in an im|)ortant particular. In the Deuteronomic Code the priests are referred to as 'the Levite priests.' a distinction between priest and Levite being unknown at the time of the compilation of this code (c.623 B.C.). Ezekiel, however, introduces a distinction between priests of the family of Zadok. who presided over the temple from' the days of Solomon, and Levites (chs. xliii.-xliv.). il?y Levites are meant the former priests of the sanctuaries (or high places) in Israel and Judali. which by the Deuteronomic Code had been abrogated in favor of the central- ization of the cult in the .Jerusalem temple. These Invites, as a punishment for maintaining a cult that to the exilic writers appeared idola- trous, were to be degraded to the position of the temple servants, subordinate to the Zadokites. This distinction is fully carried out in the 'Priestly Code' (Leviticus and Numbers). A compromise is effected between the priests of Jerusalem and those who served in the other sanctuaries by recognizing the descent of all from an eponymous ancestor. I^evi : but. on the other hand, within this tribe, special prerogatives are accorded to a particular family — that of Aaron, to whose hands the priesthood proper is in- trusted. This did not involve the setting aside of the privileges of the Zadokites. whose descent was reckoned from Aaron through the latter's son Eleazar (I. Chron. xxiv. 3), while removing