y
Amram ben Sheshna
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Amsterdam dust
intcn'sl").
(if
Ilii'se
l)oinjr
iiUowed ouly when
custonmry in non-Jew isli business circles ("Slin'are Zedek." iv. 2. '^0,4(1). It is clmriieteristicnf Animm's inetliiid to avoid extreme rigor; tlnis lie deeidis timt n slave who has enihraced Judaism, Init desires to postpone the neeessjiry eircumeisioii until he feels
enough
for it. is not to be hurried ((V<. iv.lJ.ll). superstition, and places himself almost in opposition to the Talmud, when he protests that there is no sense in fasting on account of bad dreams, since the true nattire of dreams is not, known (Tur, Auuam's rules concerning Oral.! l.Iayyini, ^ oOS).
stronj;
He combats
the
536
pended his name to them, speaking of him in the third person. These explanations of the prayers make no reference to any authorities later than tho following: Natronai II., Amram's teacher (17 times), Shalom. Natronai's predecessor in the gaonate (7 times). .luilah. I'alloi. Zadok. and Moses, geonim before Amram (once each) Cohen Zedek (twice), Nahshon and Zemal.i, cont<'mporaries of Anu'am (twice and Xatlian of ludinown date. Thi- ouly authority mentioned of later dale than Amram is Saadia (p. 4A). This indicates that the additions to each),
the text of tho ju-siyers nuist have originated in
Amnim's
met hodol-
mud
are of considerable value (Mueller, "Mafteal.i," p. 123).
printed
But the most
Am ram
text
with the manu-
important work
of
time,
rerlainty on this head, however, can only be obtained by acomjiarison of the
ogy of the Tal-
that of .Vlmanzi. according to the speci-
scripts;
.
which marks him as one of the most prominent of the geo-
mens given by
nim before Saa-
cons id era
dia, is his
Luzzatto. varies
er-book," the so-called "Sid
Todros
dur Rab Amram." Amram was
ing
(1305) .some
mentions
the
lirst
plete liturgy
r
syn-
and
liome.
I
these
now
be
found
(see Xeubauer, in "Jew.
forms the foundation both of theSpanish-Portuguese and of the Ge r ma n
Kev."
(Juart. 703).
vi.
HiHi.iOfiR.vPHV: liaiM.|io rt, Itihkure
-
It
Polish liturgies. and has exerted great influence
n -' It
(I.s2ft)
Sculptured Slab Showing Efllgy of (From
re-
Hall,
Hammurabi or Amraphel,
" Liubt from Ihe East.")
practise
t
- )ii.
i
in,
- t7;
X
.
Eiii-
hitunu zuin Ptirchmi, .. note; Iteiriiiatin, II.
ligious
of
race
can
His book
upon Jewish
com-
been
posed by Amam but no
arrange a com-
agogue
hav-
as
iizltarot
to
for use in
hi
from the printed text. Israel bea
"Pray-
ltv>;
y.um^
I.uzzallo,
In
and ceremonial for more than a thousand years, an influence which to some extent is still felt at the present day. For Amniin did not content himself with giving the mere text of the prayers, but in a species of running commentary added very many Talmudical and gaonic regulations relating to them and theirallied ceremonies. His "Prayer-book," which was made familiar by the many extracts cpioted from it by the liturgical writers of the .Middle Ages, and which served as he model f(M"Saadia'sand Maimonides' own praj'er riluals. was publisheil complete for the first time in Warsjiw, in the year 0185. by N. N. I
Coronel, under the title, "Seder jlab Amram Gaon." The work as jniblished is composed of two parts. The second part containing the selihol (proi)itiatory pniyers) and pizmohint (liturgical poems) for the mouth of Elul. for Xew Year and the Day of Atonement, is certainly not the work of Anuam, but appears to belong to a nuich later period. Even the lirst portion, which contains the prayers proper, is full of interpolations, some of which, as the "Kedushah" (Sanctification) for private prayer, are evidently later additions in the manuscripts. But not much weight can be attached even to portions of the book which are specifically given under the name of Anuam; many of the explanations are certainly not b}' him, but by the academical copyists who ap-
Liti-raturhl. (I. Orirnt^: vill. 3!)0-297, .ai-ffiS; Slclnschneiilcr. Cut. Jlmll. col. MV.i; liriitz, fhneh. (I. J«</i», -'<l I'.l.. v. x'-tit. 47S ; Joel Mueller. Maitcalj. np. 121-129. ami llahihul Pcsulfnt, p. 4; Is. Halevv, D'lritt lnj-Iiishnnim, pp. '^i •St'.i: I. H. Weiss, , „ Dor, iv. 117-122.
AMRAM B. SIMON B. ABBA
The son
of a
and the in pliew of U. l.Iiyya ben Abba; he Seems to have remained without distinction in tho scliolar,
scholarly world. His name is fmly connected with two homilelic observations which he quotes in the name of R. Hanina (Sanli. Wa, Shab. 119i). S.
AMRAPHEL.— Biblical Data
M.
A king of Shi-
1. 'Ji, who in vailed ilie West in conjunction with Chedorlaomer. king of Elam, and others, and destroyed Sodom. The identity of the name has
nar (tien. iv.
long been a subject of controversy among A.s.syriologists, ami is not even yet estal)li.--hed to the Siitisfactionof all scholars. Sehrader was the first to suggest ("Cuneiforni Inscriptionsand the Old Testjunent." ii. 299 tt «('/.) that Amraphel was Hanunurabi, king of Babylon, the sixth king in the first dynasty of Babylon. This is now the prevailing view among both
The scholars. name Hammurabi into the Hebrew form Amraphel is difficult of explanation, .Vssyriologistg aiul
Old Testament
transformation of the
though a
partial clue is
perhaps furnished by the
