| INTESTACY – See Agnates; Inheritance. |
| INVOCATION – A form of praise or blessing greatly in vogue in medieval Hebrew literature. In ancient times the invocation was an essential part of the various forms of salutation, many instances of which are found in Biblical, and especially... |
| IONIA – See Javan. |
| IOWA – One of the north-central states of the American Union. A part of the Louisiana Purchase (1803), it was incorporated successively in the territories of Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In 1838 it was organized as the... |
| IRELAND – An island west of Great Britain, forming part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The earliest mention of Jews in Ireland appears toward the end of the eleventh century, although, curiously enough, quite a number... |
| IR HA-HERES – See Heres. |
| IRKUTSK – See Siberia. |
| IRON – The invention of the art of working in brass and iron is ascribed to Tubal-cain (Gen. iv. 22), and thus placed in prehistoric times. The Israelites, therefore, derived their knowledge of the art from others. Further proof of... |
| IR-SHEMESH – A city of Dan, mentioned with Shaalabbin and Ajalon (Josh. xix. 41-42). Its parallel name in Judges (i 35, Hebr.) is "Har-Ḥeres" (the mountain of the sun). Some modern critics identify Ir-shemesh with Beth-shemesh, in Judah. See... |
| ISAAC – Biblical Data: Second patriarch; son of Abraham and Sarah. He was the child of a miracle, for at the time of his birth his mother, hitherto childless, was ninety years old, and his father a hundred. By the command of God the... |
| ISAAC – Member of the embassy sent in 797 by Charlemagne to Harun al-Rashid, calif at Bagdad, probably as interpreter for the ambassadors, who were the noblemen Sigismund and Landfried. Both died on their way back, and Isaac became the... |
| ISAAC B. ABBA MARI – French codifier; born in Provence about 1122; died after 1193 (in Marseilles ?). Isaac's father, a great rabbinical authority, who wrote commentaries on the Talmud ("'Iṭṭur," i. 17, ed. Warsaw, section "Kinyan"), and responsa... |
| ISAAC ABENDANA – See Abendana, Isaac. |
| ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM ANCONA AL- ḲUSṬANṬINI – Italian Talmudist; lived at Ancona in the first half of the eighteenth century. He carried on a scientific correspondence with Isaac Lampronti, who frequently mentions him in his "Paḥad Yiẓḥaḳ."Bibliography: Mortara, Indice, p.... |
| ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM HA-GORNI – Provençal poet; lived at Luc in the second half of the thirteenth century. He is known in Hebrew literature under the surname of "Gorni," which, as Steinschneider first pointed out, is the Hebrew equivalent of "Aire" (= ). Isaac... |
| ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM OF NEUSTADT – Dutch cabalist; lived at Amsterdam in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was an assistant rabbi at Amsterdam, where he devoted himself to the editing of cabalistic works. In 1701 he published, from a manuscript he had... |
| ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM OF POSEN – Polish rabbi and author; died in Posen 1685. He was the pupil of R. Jonah Teomim, author of "Ḳiḳayon de-Yonah," and colleague of R. Moses Zacuto; later he became rabbi of Lutzk, Volhynia, whence he went to Grodno. In 1664 he was... |
| ISAAC OF ACCO – See Isaac ben Samuel of Acre. |
| ISAAC BEN ASHER II. – Tosafist, apparently of the beginning of the thirteenth century. He is quoted by Mordecai b. Hillel (M. Ḳ No. 504), who adds that Isaac b. Asher died a martyr The same passage is also found in "Haggahot Maimuniyyot" ("Semaḥot,"... |
| ISAAC BEN ASHER HA-LEVI (RIBA) – Tosafist; lived at Speyer in the eleventh century; son-in-law of Eliakim ben Meshullam and pupil of Rashi. His are the earliest known tosafot, and are mentioned, under the name of "Tosafot Riba," in the "Temim De'im," in the... |
| ISAAC (ABU JACOB) BAR BAHLUL – Karaite scholar; lived at the end of the eleventh, or at the beginning of the twelfth, century. Two decisions of his have been preserved by Hadassi. The first of these ("Eshkol ha-Kofer," alphabet 197) refers to the eating of... |
| ISAAC IBN BARUN, ABU IBRAHIM – See Ibn Barun, Abu Ibrahim Isḥaḳ. |
| ISAAC THE BLIND – French cabalist; flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Isaac is considered the founder of the Cabala; or, rather, he transmuted the mysticism of the Geonim into the present form of the Cabala. He is therefore... |
| ISAAC DẸ CASTRO – See Castro. |
| ISAAC BEN ELEAZAR HA-LEVI – German Talmudist and liturgical poet; flourished at Worms; died, according to Abraham Zacuto ("Yuḥasin ha-Shalem," p. 217), in 1070. Zunz says ("Literaturgesch." p. 155) that he died between 1070 and 1096. He was a pupil of R.... |