Almeida
THE JEWISH E^•CYCLOPEDIA
Almemar
appeared as an appendix to "Slieue haMeorot Im-Gedolim." a rare work by Elijah ben Judah C'ovo (Constanlinople. 1739). After his death it was rei)ublished, edited partly by Joshua ben Josepli respousii).
Cbendali. publisher of the larger
and partly by Almeida's
son,
work mentioned,
Solomon.
Almeida
was
living in 17'.';{, as is attested by the fact that on ISii of "Shene ha-Meorot" the work " Neeman Shemuel" is mentioned as havinir lieen reeently printed; and this Ixiokuppeiiicd in Saloniea in ll'i'A. On page I'm it is mentioned that Almeida was associate rabbi (dayyan) in Constantinople. Schiller-Szinessy, in the catalogue of the Cambridge nianuseripts, p. 23, mentions an Isjiae ben Solomon Almeida, who in a Hible manuscript of the fourteenth or lifteeuth century was named as its
page
430
Yel.iiel of Pisii, to perform all possible kindly olliees toward Lopez d'Almei(hi and to win his good-will by iinpres.sing upon him tliegnititicalion of the Italian Jews at the generous altitude of Alfonso toward
their coreligionists.
The success
I)f Plna, Cniiiita ile Aff'iiim v.. ih. ItiR; Curninlv. Iliinirnpliir tier JacliJuU-n, p. 88; Gratz. (Jeivh.
BuiLiniiKAriiv
d.Jwh'n. -M
.-.I.,
vlil. :ta<.
11.
ALMEKAK
ALMEHOR
Bibliography: Stelnsehneidcr. Jrn: Quart. Rev. ZeUner. Cat. Hchr. Birnkt Brit. Mus. p. 44. J.
LOPEZ
xi.
137:
Vr.
AlillEIDA, D' : Head of the embassy sent by .lfonso V. of Portugal to Pope Sixtus IV., in the year 1472. His mission was twofold: to congratulate the pope )ipon his accession, and to inform him of the kings victory over the Moors of Arzilla, in Africa. Don Isaac Abravanel, who was prominent at the court, endeavored to induce the embassy at the .same time to plead with the pope in favor of the Jews. He wrote to liis Italian friend.
<;.
K.
Corrupted from the Arabic nl-miii/xir, " the chair," "the pulpit," is an elevated platform in the synagogue, on which the desk .stands for reading the lessons from the Pentateuch and Pro])hets. In the synagogues following the S|)anish ritual the jirayers are also read from it. or
The Almemar or Reaoinq-Uesk of the Synagogie at Florence, owner. Wliile he can not be positively identified as being of the family of Isaac Almeida, it is not impossible that such is the case.
of Abravauel's
effort is d(id)lful (si'c Si.XTUS IV.).
Italy.
it still goes by its Talmudic name nD'3. which is simply the Greek /?w«. n speaker's tribune. Being the counterpart of the wooden pulpit from which Ezra read the Liiw to the assenil)led jx'ople who stood all around him (see Xeh. viii. 4). its proper place seems to be in the middle of the synagogue (see the literature in 'Ben Chananja," viii. No. 39, pp. ()81-688; " Die Almemarfrage " by Leopold Low, repiinted in " Gcsammelte Sehriften," iv. 93-107). but it lias in modern times often been moved forward elose up to the Ark. L. N. D.
In Russia
The Septuagint reading in the passage in Xeli. is for PUD. In the 'Aznrah. or Temple liall. a heiiia. or wooden pulpit, was erected for the king (if/fia
when, every seventh year, he read the prescribed
