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In his Biblical exegesis, he aims to reconcile variations in Scriptural expressions. Thus, Aibu explains the reason assigned for God's mercies in the passage, "The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake " (I .Sam. xii. 22). and the omission of that reason in the similar message, "The Lord will not cast out his people" (Ps. xciv. 14). by applying the latter to the times of the people's piety, and the former to the days of heedlessness. God is always good: when the people are deserving of His goodness He showers it upon them for their own sake: when, on the contrary, they are not deserving. He forsakes them not for His great name's sake (Ruth R. to i. 6). Similarly, he explains the variation in the version of the Fourth Commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day " (Ex. xx. 8), and "Keep the Sabbath day " Deut. v. 12). According to Aibu (on behalf of Resh Laḳish) the term "remember" applies to cases when one is not able to rest on the Sabbath day, as, for instance, when one is on a sea voyage, and only remembering is possible; the term "keep" applies to ordinary circumstances, when " keeping " is obligatory (Pesiḳ. R.xxiii.).
Dwelling on the verse (Ps. viii. 4 [A. V. 3]), " When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers," etc., Aibu remarks:
"There are three classes of men: (1) those who are contented with admiring the grandeur of the sky, with the moon and stars and planets: those who pray to find to reserve all the good due in them for heaven In the hereafter; and (3) a class of lazy workingimen who say. Whatever thou will give us, give us now, both what may be our due and whatever may be bestowed upon us through our father' merits: give us whatever thy fingers have wrought" (Midr. Teh, to Ps. viii. 4).
Elsewhere he says: "No man departs from this world having realized even half of his desires. When a mun has acquired a hundred pieces of gold, he longs to increase them to two hundred; and when he has two hundred, he is anxious to double these again" (Eccl. R. i. 13, ii. 10). Abu's homiletic observations are numerous, both those related in his own name and those reported in his behalf by the haggadists of his own and subsequent generations (compare Pesiḳ. i, iii., v., xvii., xxv., xxvii.; Pesiḳ. R. ed. Friedman. index: Tan., ed. Buber, index; Midr. Teh. ed. Buber, index; Bacher. "Ag. Pal. Amor." iii. 68-79). S. M.
AIBU (IBU) B. NAGGARI: A Palestinian amora of the fourth generation (fourth century), disciple of Hila, and contemporary of Judah 12. (Si- mon h.) Pazzi. He reports Halakat in behalf of many of his predecessors (Yer. Sheḳ. iv. 486, Yer. Meg. i. 70a, Yer. Yeb, i. 2c), and also advances opinions of his own. Several of his homiletic observations are preserved. One of these makes the scriptural verse "When he shall be judged, let him he condemned" (Ps. cix. 7) the basis for the often-cited rabbinic doctrine that Satan is always ready to accuse at a man's critical moment (Yer. Shah. H. 5b; Yalḳ., Gen. § 31). Another, and the one most frequently quoted, is that which exonerates David from the importation that he really "sat before the Lord" (compare II Sam, vii. 18), whereas sitting in the Temple was strictly prohibited Aibu interprets the Hebrew term wayesheb ("he sat ") as if it were wayasheb ("he settled." or "prepared himself "), and interprets it as signifying that David composed himself for praying before the Lord (Yer, Pes, v. end. 32d et al.; the rending Bun b. Nagdi, in Midr. Samt. xxvii, is obviously a copyist's error). That Aibu received instructions directly from Johanan, as seems to be intimated in the Babylonian Talmud (R. 11. 2), is doubtful, since he was known to have been a disciplw of Hila (see Frankel, "Mebo," pp. 634a, 756b; Bacher. "Ag. Pal. Amor." iii. 559-560).
S. M.
AIN (Fountain "); 1. A city given to the Levites in the tribes of Judah and Simeon (Josh. xv. 32, xix. 7, xxi. 16: Neh. xi. 29), The Septuagint reading connects Ain and Rimmon and gives them as one; although the context of I Chron. iv. 32 is in favor of the supposition that they at least were reagarded as distinct. The place corresponds to the modern Umm-er Rammamin (Buhl, "Geogr. d. Alten Palestina," p. 183), 2. A place on the northern boundary of Canaan, west of Riblah. Its identity is the subject of much dispute. Both the Jerusalem Targums refer it to the fountain in the grove of Daphine. near Antioch. Later geographers prefer the source of the Orontes; others identify it with a well at the foot of Mt. Hermon (Num, xxxiv. 11; Bacher, "Ag. Pal, Amor," iii. 650 et seq.).
G. B. L.
AIN KADES: A well near the Arabah, first seen by Rowlands in 1842. He identified it with the Kadesh Barsea of the Bible. It was not seen again by Europeans till 1881, when it was visited by Trumbull, who has shown conclusively that Ain Kades and Kadesh Barnea are the same. See Kadesh.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Trumbull, Kadesh Barnea, pp. 272-275, 300-321, New York, 1884.
G. B. L.
AIN MUSA ("Spring for Springs"] of Moses "): A small oasis, about seven or eight miles southwest of Suez, Egypt. It is about 250 acres in extent, with luxuriant gardens and groups of palms and tamrisks. The water of some of its springs is undrinkable, while that of others has only traces of salt, so that the popular identification of it with Marah (Ex. xv. 33) is not very plausible. Modern scholars have, more frequently, connected Ain Musu with Elim (Ex. xv. 27).
W. M. M.
AIRE: A fortified town on the river Adour, in
southern France. There is no certainty that a Jewish
community ever existed here; but about the middle
of the thirteenth century a Hebrew port composed a
eulogy on his native town which, from its Hebrew
spelling ((
Hebrew characters)), would seem to have been Aire.
This pet was Isaac Ben Abraham ha-Gorni. The
appellation Ha Gorni ("he of the threshing-floor")
is derived from the modern name of Aire, which
signifies a barn or threshing-floor; and by a play on
words, the port applies this name to his native place.
He mentions several of his fellowtowns men; one
Samuel, whom he describes as "prophet," and Aaron.
a learned Talmudist, besides a number of private
individuals.
Bibliogrpahy: Monatsschrift, 1878, p. 476; 1879, p. 17; 1882, pp. 510-523; Jedaiah Bedersi, Hotam Taknit, ed. Steinsetinelber, intro. p. 2; Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 49. ; Steinschneider, Cat, Munich, Nos. 128 et seq.
M. S.
AIX, or AIX-EN-PROVENCE: A town in the department of Bouches du Rhône, France, the Aquæ Sextæ of the Romans, and for a short period the capital of Provence. It is variously transcribed in Hebrew, and is sometimes translated in Hebrew literature by "'Ir ha-Mayim."
The first mention of Jews in Aix appears in a document of the year 1281, preserved in the annals of the Church of Aix, wherein it is stated that the community, in return for the yearly payment of two pounds of pepper, was permitted to have a synagogue and a cemetery. The greater part of the Jews of Aix inhabited the rue Venel, in the quarter of Saint-Sauveur, which was then known as the
