Bat Kol
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Batalyusi
from the
bearing the words, " Rabbit bar been called away," etc. A But Kol wont forth and exclaimed "Wo! wo! Samuel, son of R. Isaac, is dead!" (B. M. 85«, 8Gn Yer. 'Ab. Zarah Vic.) Simeon ben Lakish marked (be graves of the rabbis, but could not find R. Hiyya's. When he grieved over this, feeling that be had not so keen an intellect as R. I.Iiyya, a Bat Kol said: "Thou art as keen of intellect as be; but thou hast not spread the Torah as he did" (B. A!, 85ft; Yer. Kil. :i2ft, below, docs not mention a Bat Kol). Those who occu pied themselves in mystic teachings heard a Bal Kol promising them great honor in the future world. Johanan b. Zakkai in a dream saw himself and his colleagues on Mt. Sinai and heard a Bat Kol there (Yer. Hag. 77a, below; Bab. Hag. 14ft). 'When a drought drove the inhabitants of Palestine to despair, and R. Eliezer's prayers did not bring rain, while Akiba's did, the rabbis believed there must be some stain upon R. Eliezer's character; but they heard a Bat Kol saying " Akiba is not a greater man than Eliezer, but less severe " (Ta'anit 25ft). A Bat Kol was often heard at the death of a ninrt}T r. In the story of the mother with her seven sons a Bat Kol exclaimed, " A joyful mother of children " (Ps. cxiii. 9; Git. 57ft, below.) A Bat K" blamed Bar Kokba when he killed Eliezer of Modi'in (Yer. fell
Nahmani
skies,
lias
I
1
When at Bar Kokba's rebelHanina ben Teradion was horribly burned, a Bat Kol called out: "Hanina and the one Roman Ta'anit 68a, below).
lion
who made
his death easy arc destined to the future
Zarah <i, and elsewhere, but a Bat Kol is not mentioned in Sifre ii. 357). R. Akiba suffered a dreadful death his flesh was torn from his body with brazen tongs. And as with his last breath he said the final words of the Jewish confession of faith, " The Lord is one, a Bat Kol came forth and said " Hail to thee, R. Akiba, that thy soul left thee with the word One. " Then the angels protested, saying: "Is this the Torah and this its reward?" Whereupon God replied: "They have their portion in the life to come " and a Bat ICol again resounded and said: "Hail to thee, Akiba, thou art destined life" ('Ab.
—
592
Bat Kol it is said (Meg. 32u) that it sounds like a man's voice when heard in the city, and like a woman's in the desert; that it repeats words, like " Yea, yea," and "Nay, nay." According to Sofah 83(7, it was taken to be the voice of angels, particularly of Gabriel, who knows all the world's seventy languages. (See Rashi " The divine power [" middah "] residing in the Bat Kol makes its announcements in each language according as circumstances demand. ") Maimonides (" iUoreh," ii. 42 see commentaries) compares it with the voice of the angel heard by Hagar or by Monoah and his wife, it being a degree of prophecy. The same view Later Views. is also expressed by Judah ha-Lovi, in
"Cuzari," iii. 11, 41, 73; Nahmanides, Ex. xxviii. 30 Bahya ben Asher to Dent, xxxviii. 7; Tosafot Sanh. a explains the Bat Kol as tha sound of a voice issuing from heaven, whence the name" the daughter of the voice" (compare Lippmaa Heller to Yob. xvi. 6). In apocalyptic literature, the Bat Ivol is a special being whose function it is to lead the soug of the celestial beings in praise of the Most High around His throne (see Jellinek, " B. Concerning a kind of Bat Kol which, II." ii. 45). in view of its aims, falls into the category of omens,
see
Auguky.
Atlgemeinc II. Chajes, In Orient, vi.345, 'M7 lies Jiltlenlhtlliis, 1845, pp. 345 ('/ so/.; W. Wcsselv, lium-h'n. lalirlmrh, 1814, (It. 227 et »ru.; A. Kulnit, Arnch CimiliU linn, ill. 212; lluiiibiiiner, R. /?./'. 11. 112; F. Welicr, Suslint tier Allsunttgngttlen I'tdtislinensiselien Thenhtgie,
Itim.iooriAi'iiY
KriltniU in
MM
pp. 187,
S. I.uuis,
Ancient
'Prntlil
inns nf Snpernttlural
Ynictxs: Unlit Knl, in Trims. Sue. Itihlienl Arelnviilngn, fx.18; I'tillier, Tnlnn'nl llnhli, lit rnhltnlli, pp. 22 24, h list (if Mueller, all Tallnudlcul und Mldiashiu passages Is tflven; Agtula d&r Tamiaiten, I. 88, note :t; Agntlntler I'ttlilxlincnsischen Amnriler, 1. 351, note :f, il.2ii; and indexes In Itaeher's tier Tannaiten, 11. and tier Paltlstiiiemischen
whom
Agada
Agada
Amitrller,
1., 11., ill.
L. B.
k.
'
'
for eternity " (Ber. !
61ft
two other instances in 'Ab.
Zarah 10ft, below, and 17«.) When a Roman official prevented the execution of R. Gamaliel II. by offering his own life, the deed was proclaimed by a Bat Kol (Ta'anit 39«). The Bat Kol spoke to two later conquerors of Judea as it had once spoken to Nebuchadnezzar. When Titus returned to Rome, after the destruction of the Temple, the sea was stormy, and he remarked that the God of Israel is strong only upon the waters, whereupon a Bat Kol said to him " Blasphemer and son of a blasphemer, I pos:
an insignificant little creature, a midge take it with thee to the land." And the midge penetrated through his nose into his brain (Git. 57ft). Hadrian wanted to plumb the ocean: for three and a half years he tied ropes together until finally he heard a Bat Kol telling him to desist (Midr. Teh. xeiii. sess
BAT-SHEBA A
family of printers, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, whose name originates from the feminine name "Bath-sheba." The printer Mattathia Bat-Sheba, who died at Salonica toward the close of 1600, is the first known representative of the name. His two sons, Joseph.
Abraham
Abraham,
continued the business
from 1592 to 1605. The printing-establishment was founded with the support of many patrons in Venice, and numerous important and beautiful specimens of printers' work were issued from it. The mark of the establishment was a figure, half lion, half eagle, with crowns; and this sign recurs in the prints at Verona, in the pro-
duction of which Abraham Bat-Sheba participated (1594-95). It is probable that the latter subsequently lived at Damascus. There is a single book published at Damascus, in 1600, entitled "Kesef Nibhar," by Josiah Pinto; and this was issued from the house of Abraham ben Mattathia Bat-Sheba. The Bat-Shebas who later achieved distinction in Prague were probably members of the same family. Among the best
known
418J).
In later times, the Bat Kol is heard in the synagogue when the devotion lacks harmoniousness; and it proclaims, in the words of the Song of Songs, "Flee away, my beloved," addressing the Shekinah (Cant. R. to viii. 14). Regarding the nature of the
and
of their father at Salonica
liEito,
of these
who
was Jacob Basbevi von Treuenwas elevated to the Austrian
in 1622
nobility.
Bibliography Ersc.h
Stelnsolineldor,
(Int.
and Gruber, Kneuklniiildir,
II.
Bodl. Nos. 7860-7863; Hock, Qal 'Ed.
28, 41
p. 24.
Q.
A. F.
