Amen
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
America
till' roiidfr concludes a siu'ciiil i>niycr i)r a prayer for a private person. The later responsive Amen is employed at the betrinnin;; and the conclusion of jjnicc after meals (Ber. iln): for. according to the nihbis, every doxolopy must be responiled to with an Amen. The ineanini; of Amen is discussed by Uabbis Eliezer ben llyrcanus and Simon ben Yohai. The former, a younjier eonterui>orarv of the Apostles, says: "When the dwellers of Gehenna chant their Amen at the very time that the lioly name of God the doors of is praised by the conjrresralions hell yield and anirels cany them in wliitc robes into panidise on Ihe last day " (Kliyalni Zullu xx.). That this utterance is not a later invciition, is jiroveil by the kindred sayintrs of Simon ben Yohai (Shab. liOA, ,Midr. Tehil." x.xxi. H'i). A poetical account of the power of Amen is given in Y'alk. ii. 2ilG to Isa. x.xvi. 2, in which the final release from hell is described as follows: .
.
A similar llaggadah
occurs in Siddur
1{.
Amnim
which is referred to by Hogg ("Jew. Quart. Kev." ix. IT). The legend regarding a pious Jew who once neglected to tmswer Amen to the doxology, recounted by .lalTe in liis introduction to "Lebiisli," i., belongs io the Middle Ages. As the Amen wtis wiilely emploj'cd in the Jewish liturgy in the time of Jesus and the New Testament (i:%,
foot),
Amen occurs extensively in the New Testamcut. But the use of almost one half the number of Aniens found llicrein (fifty-two out of one hundred and nineteen) is peculiar to the New Testament writings, having no parallel in Hebre%v (see however, Dalmaii, " Worte .lesn, ]i. lM(i); for, as is never the case in Hebrew, the Amen is sometimes found at the beginning of a sentence without reference to authors.
what this
precedes.
Amen
Amen in the New
is
The
exjilanation of Delit/.sch that
an erroneous form of the Artimaic NJ'DN (" I say "). is disproved not only
by the
fact that NJ'DX is exclusively IJabyloniau-Aiamaic. but by the furTestament, ther fad that }<3DX is used exclusively in a hypothetic sense (against 'Er. H'lii). while in the New Testament, Amen cxpres.scs certainty. Another peculiarity is the use of o 'Aut/v in Rev. iii. 14 as a designation of Jesus. The attempted explanation of this use from II Cor. i. 20 is altogether
unsatisfactory. The primitive Christian Church borroved the Amen, as it did most of its liturgy, from the Jewish synagogue. Of especial interest is the following passage of Paul (I Cor. xiv. 16), "When thou shalt bless with the spirit (nat'nt33), how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned {'kUutov tDnn) say Amen? " Paul here speaks of the reader's duty to recite his prayers aloud in order that the ignorant people might have compensation in answering the Amen to the doxology. The very same teachings are given bv the rabbis (Tosef., R. IT. iv. |ii.] 12; Gemara, ib. nhumv <p3 IJ^XC'; compare also "Shulhan 'Aruk Oml.i Ilayyim," S 124, -4-6: S 139. 6). It is known that in the time of Justin Martyr (about second century) Amen was pronounced after prayer Jeand the Eucharist ("Apologia." i. g 65, 67). rome shows by his "'ud ximih'tudinem calistis tonitrui Amen rehoaf ("Commentarius ad Galatias," preface to book ii.) that the Church had adopted from the Synagogue even the practise of enunciating
with the
full
power "
— of the voice (Shab.
119/<).
In accordance with the less public character of
hammedan
worship.
Amen
is
very
little u.sed
Mo-
among
the followeis of Islam. Still it is universidly employed by them after every recital of the first sura, the so called >>iinil nlfatiha. Biiii.ioc.R.vniv: ftir.
an
1T!»
I.
11-19:
Blau. Itn: f:i. JuiriK, xxxl. Helmstadt. HITS; Unlman,
Dc Vnec Amen.
Brunner,
liv.rtc
I)if
./mil.
pp.
1H.V1ST:
Di'lltzsch.
Zcitmhrift
IHr
LutluriKclif TUciihuik.
is-'ni. pp. 4i' <•( wi/. : (iriitz. In -Uonalivrhrift. 1S7-'. pp. 4Sl-4'.iil ; IIoitb, Jne. Quart, /(tr. Ix. l-Z: J. Cam, .S/iiiHiiiii •Arnk.S. i'A.i: «.'i(!,2: B 12!i. (1 Id; g-l.'i: L]»ne, Aral lie- tjiHiUsh Lfxicnn. s.v. : Itaidawl and Zamakt Shari on llrst sura ; Maimonldes, Yad hti-IIozokah. I., Tililliili. vill.il, Ix. 1-4; Neslle, Krixmilorn Tinien. January, isl»7, pp. li»i r( .sf<;. : i'.". Ixli. ct wi;.. xcl. i'( wy. : Welwr, ]>f Viin- .iinrn. Jena. ]7:M ; Wcrnsdorf, Dr Litnrftica; W(.ir, Cim/ I'hit. ill y. r. on .Matt. vl. I:i. and I Cor. xlv. 111.
.
"After (idil shall liave publicly revealed tlie new Messianic TdhiIi, Zprul)lBilK-l will re<'lle Ihe Kaddlsh. His V(il(^e will lie heard tlinait'lHuit the world, so that all dwellers upon earth, as well as Jewish sinners and riphteous heathens in hi-Il, will e.Move<l to pity by this Allien fniiii Iln- d*-llci-s elaiiri. 'Amen!' of hell, (Jod will bid the aniiels Michael and (iahnii iclcase them from hell and place them in paiiidLse: which conimaiid the an^fels will foiHuvlth proceed t<t eairy out"
Amen
the "
492
Amen
L.
AMERICA:*
The name 'America"
is
<;.
used in
ill its broadest signilicalion, as apiilii'd to weslern world; that is. North and South all the adjacent islands. The discovery of America by Columbus, and the earliest expeditions and attempts at .settlement In various parts of the continent and in many of the contiguous islands, arc intimately connected with
this ailii
le
tlie eiiiiie
America and
Jews and their history. Columbus rec<ived great assistance from astronomical works prepared by Jews, and fiom scientitic instruments of which Jews were the inventthe
—
Luis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez both JIaranos and Juan Cabrero. of Jewish descent, urged upon Queen Isiiliella the importance of the plans of Columbus, and were instrumental in securing the funds for the first and second voyages. The expenses of the latter were defrayed almost exclusively out of moneys derived from the confiscated properties of Jews. At least five persons of Jewish blood accompanied Columbus upon his first voyage, among whom sjiecial mention must be made of Luis de Jews Ac- Torres, who was to have acted in the company capacity of interpreter. Torres is said Columbus, to have been tlic first European to tread the .soil of America, and the lirst to di.scover the use of tobacco. He settled and died ors.
—
in
Cuba.
On
JIarcli 31, 1492, the Catholic monarchs issued a decree to the effect that within four months all Jews and Jewesses were to leave the kingdoms and lands of Spain. On April 30 the decree was publicly announced by the heralds and on the same day Columbus was ordered to equip a fleet for his voyage to the Indies. On Aug. 2, 1492. aliuiit 300.OUO Jews left Spain to sellle wherever they might find a shelter; and on the following day the fleet of Columbus set sail. His journal opens with a reference to the coincidence in time of these two events. Columbus" first account of his discovery took the form of a letter to his Jewish patron. .Santangel. The facts mentioned suffice to explain the very early jiresence of .lews in America (see Kayscrling, "Christopher Columbus and Ihe Partici|)ation of
and Portuguese Discoveries," and the article AsrERiCA, Discov-
.Tews in the Spanish
New ery
Y'ork, 1894, OP).
Brazil was discovered in 1499 by a SpanPinzon, and independently in loOO by a PortuWith him was a guese, Pedro Alvarez de Cabral.
Brazil
iard,
- This
article
is
intended
as
an outline: numerous de-
tails have therefore been omitted. Each stale, all of the lari?e cities, and of the important towns are treated in separate
many
America is also treated under numenms subject-headwherever appropriate. Text references have been intenthey will be supplied in the individual articles.
anicles. iiiEs
tionally omitted
