Alexander Zabinas Alexandra
TIIK .IKWISII
of war Ijcforc JcTiisathe picscrvatinii nf tliv Temple (UeiiiiT, "Coiiscil lie Giuire Tiuu par Titus." in '• MOnioircs de llnstitut," lH(i7, xxvi. 294; Griltz, "Gescli. (1. Jiukn," 4lli td., iii. 531). In lS-i» an inscription was found in Amdus. in which tlu,' council and the people of Aradus pay lioinaL'c .simultaneously to Pliny the Eldcrand to Alexaniler ("Corpus Inscriplioiium Gnecarum." iii. l-'T^i. Xo. -I."):!!! 1 >!<(/.). The diirnities of Alexander are stated in lliis inscription as follows: aiTfmr/m-of (this apiiellation is found here only, and is e(|ii valent to vice-i)rocurator; see Mommseii in "llcrnics." xix. governor of Syria; 64(1): eparch of the Jewish host eparch of the twenty-second lejrion in p]>ry])t. The stone bearin<r this inscription was brought to Paris in lS64(Keuau, "Mission en Phenicie," 1SG4. p. 29).
In
I'viT uttiiinofl. Iciii
Alcxaiuler
tlir roiinril
V(iti<l lor
1
BinLiOGRAPIIY:
Sohiirer,
fhsch. Oct JIM. VdIHcs,
473, .534.
I.
Kli.
S.
ALEXANDER ZABINAS
King of
Syria. of a merchant, but he allowed hini.self to be proclaimed by the Egyptian king Ptolemy Physcon as an adopted son of King Antiochus VII., Sideles. of Syria, and became the ruler of the country. In the active political intrigues of the time. Alexander foimd it to his advantage to secun' the interest of the Jewish king Ily nanus; and. in compensation, he rendered various services to the state of Judea.
He was
lO-t-122 B.C.
the
young son
BniLiocRAPriY Sehilrer, GtKch. 2(1 ed., 1. 13:), 209 Kiitin, J?iiBttltflon, liinn t7"(7(/e zur (rcsrh. dfr Sclcithi(lc7i. pp. it ft xeii. (tc Sjtrie, p. H>J; Graetz, Hi)^tu7-y of the Jcics ii. tJ, T.
ENCYCLOPEDIA
358
lie would take a lenient view in all legal (piestions; of sleejiing liarelieaded of walking four cubits from his bi-d without washing his hands; and of other violations of Jewish rites. In 1835 a court, compo.sed of three rabbis, declared liim unworthy of the rabbinical oHice. .Moses Sofer. chief rabbi of Presburg, and Jloses Teilclbaum, rabbi of I'jhely, the leader of the I.Iasi dim in Hungary, conlirmed this deei.sion. Alexandersohn appealed to the civil courts in vain; but Solomon Koscnthal.a prominent member of the congregation in Budaiiest, and his old friend Giilz Kohn of Schwerin. took up his case, and appointed a committee of tive rabbis to consider it. The com-
saying that
mittee cleared him of all charges, and ordered the congregation to jiay him 8()() llorins damages. Alexandersohn would not acci'pt this indemnity, Imt demanded to be reinstated in hisolVxr. He brought other lawsuits against the congiegalion. and traveled through Germany, B<'lgium. Prance. Englanil, and Italy in order to interest olh<'r rabbis an<l laymen in his behalf. Among those who defended him was Zacharias Frankel. then rabbi of Dresden, who addressed a letter to JIos<'S Sofer. urging the latter to rescind his decision. All these elforts were unsuccessful, and in l^^Ki Alexandersohn published, in German and Hebrew, the docnmenis relating to his ease. He was linally reduced to beggary and thrown on public charity for his sujiporl. living the life of a tramp. He died in the Jewish Altofen, Nov. 24, 1869.
hosjiitiil
of
II.
nnii.ioiiRAPHV:
U)id nil Wijierletfunft. etr., Des-stiu. 1S4)( (the
t3j
work, with the
i:i.i, ,f„<, tlile >nr,): Jiwi. AuikiIiii. lS4n, No. printed in rl scq.: L. Miiiiz. lifif'l'i [.hdzftv iitnaiiut Schfttifn IinUrac)i, pp. 131 (( s,q.. r.-vis. is'.ri; s. Kohn. In MayiiarZsiM Szcmh,
Het)ri'W part nf
this licrllii In
ALEXANDER THE ZEALOT
One of the chiefs of the poiilie.'U paity of Zealots about the year era. bj- him and his colleague 50 of the common Led Eleazar, an armed body of Jews fell upon the city of Samaria. ))itilessly massacring old men, women, and children of the Samaritans, and burning their vilThe motive for this sanguinary deed was relages. venge for the murder, in the Samaritan village of Gema (Gina'a ). of a number of Galilean Jews who were on a pilgrimage to Jcrusjilcm. The Koman governor Cumanus inunediately went in pursuit of the Zealots but Alexander seems to have escaped unharmed, while many of his followers were cither slain or carried to Pome. See also Ci:m. us, Fklix, Ze.i.ots.
Alexandersnlin, f",hri)ircllini!i
.T.
D'lhumcntc ficstHtztc
B.
1
is'js,
pp.
- 5ii;^;£.'."i.
and
is:!".!,
pp. i7-3;i.
D.
ALEXANDERSON (BEN ALEXANDER),
DANIEL:
Theological writer of the .sevenleenth century. He embraced the Christian faith at Uouen France) on April 21. 1621. and wrote in Syriac (rabbinic?) an ojien letter, setting forth the reason of his (
abandoning Judaism anil calling upon his formercoreligionists to do likewise. The letter was translated into several European languages and went through two English editions (London, 1G88 and 1703). BIHMOORAPHY
Wolf, BilA. llehr.
ii.
1003
Stelnschnelder, Cat.
Biidl. col. 731. .losephiis. Ant. xx. 6, 8S 1-3; idem, B. J. ii. 12. §8 3-7; Si'hiirer, Gcsch. i. 476; Gratz, (Jcsch. d. Judrn, 2d ed., 11. 333.
Bini,iO(iR.P!!Y
M. B.
L. G.
ALEXANDRA:
Daughter of King Aristobuhis brought to Kome with her parents and brothers II. as ])risoners of war by Pom]iey in the year 63 n.c. She was liberated by the senate in the year 56 n.c.,
ALEXANDERSOHN, JONATHAN
Ger-
man
rabbi; linrn al (iriitz, in Posen. about the begitming of the nineteenth century; died at Altofen (Old Ij'uda), Hungary, Nov. 24, 1869. About IWiO he was rabbi in Schwerin-on-thc-'Warthe, whence he
removed to Hungary. Here Gcitz Kohn. rabbi of Baja and a native of Schwcrin. recommemled him to the congregation of Csaba, in the county of Borsod. which elected liim nibbi in 1833. His violent temper soon made him many enemies. He pronounced a decree of divorce which brought upon liini tlic enmity of the rablii of Szanto, Eleazar Li)w, whose contention was that no divorce had ever been pronounced in Cssiba, because of the uncertainty of the Hebrew transliteration of the name. an<l therefore it was not lawful to grant a divorce in Ibis place (see DrvOKCE). Alexandersohn's enemies were encouraged by this contention to bring charges against him. and prevailed upon Low to try him for heresy and for violations of the dietary and ritual laws. He was accused of disbelieving in a hereafter; of
it
lieing held sutticient to detain Aristobuhis only. the death of her father, who was poisoned by
Upon
Pompey in the year 49 n.c, she found refuge with her mother;ind herl)rother Antigonus at Ihe court of Ptolemy, prince of Chalcis. She married Pliilippion, Ptolemy's son. Unfortunately her father-in-law was entranced by her beauty, and. having secured the death of his son, espoused his the partizans of
widow. BiBLTOC.RAPHY
Josephus, Ant. xlv.
Ucsch.d.Juden.
II.
4, §
5
6, S 1
7, § 4
(iriitz,
149.
L. G.
ALEXANDRA
Daughter of Ilyrcanus IL, and wife of Alexander, son of Aristobuhis II. She was one of the strongest and shrewdest supporters
When of the Ilasmoneans at the court of Herod. Ilyrcanus was humiliated by Herod, on the occasion of the latter's entry into Jerusalem. Alexandra sought to stay the destruction of her father's house by
