THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
801
Rendig of Aix," in manuscript No. 2550 of the Bodkiau Library, Oxford. Set- also NosTRAD.VMrs. BtBi,io(jRAri! Y : Josppli Iiii-Kohen. *Kfni'k )ia~Baka. ed. Wii-tifT, p. t«); Gniss, anlliil Jwttika. pi). M. 'M, 4.>4». 14«, 14!). HM ; Di'pping, IHeJuilen iin Mittilnlln; pp. ii2 ft wij.; MhimIsschrift^ 1S7H, pp. Vtt> I't «*•'/., 1H79, pp. 17 ft tti'tj.; Ilunanel Crt'mleux, lu La Fmnilk dc Jiuuli, vil.
m.
AV.
M.
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (AACHEN): A iii
I{lii'iiish
I'liissiii.
ill
which
city a .liwisli sctllcniciit
diriu.i; tlic time of the Hoinau eiiipiro. In thu Carli)vini;iaii |)iTiod there was a colony of Ji'Ws near the royal jialaee; and the .lewisli niercliantsof Aix-la-Cliapelle are referred to in a caiiitiilary of the <i,i;hth century. In Wr3 Isajie, -who had accompanied the anilias,sador of Charlemagne to the calif Haruii-al-l{aseliid, made his ceremonial entrance into the royal residence of Aix la-Chapelle. Among the Jews of Aix-laChapelle in H'.i8, u certain David is mentioned, who had admired the woiulerfid cures of Eiuhard(Kgiiilianl). For the next four hundred years the records are silent concerning the Jews; and not till 1-27 is there another important entry. In that year Frederick II. presented the Jews to Count Villielm of JUlichasan imperial lief. The records of the Church of St. Mary show many Jew ish converts in the thirteenth century. In 1247 a Jew of Aix-IaCliapelle, Mannis (also called Troist), acquired half a house called "Aiiuis" (that is. Aachen)at Cologne.
floiiri.slicd
(iE.NKK.ll. VlKl
Ut
VaLO— TIIK
certain that Jews resided at Aix -la-Chapelle during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that they contributed largely to the state trcasurj'. The expulsion of the Jews in 102!) cau.sed the serious loss to the city in tax receipts of 1^(5 gold guilders. In 1007, against the iirotest of the city council, six Jews were allowed to return. In 1777, the duke of Jillich yielded to thecity of Aix-la-Cliapelle the Jewish tax, which had been his prerogative. (Jn May 10, 1815, the Jewish congregation, dating from about the end of the eighteenth century, otlered homage in its synagogue to the Prussian king Fiiedrich Wilhelni III. The iiresent synagogue was built in 1800 (see illustration op])osite). cemetery was acquired in 1851. The otlice of rabbi was held bv Dr. Rothschilil from 1847 to 1859; by Dr. Wolllsohri, 1801 to 1875; and by Dr. Taubes, 1870. Dr. Jaulus is the present rabbi. is
A
In l!»00 there were 2,100 Jewish residents at Aix-laChapelle. BliiLiOGUAPiiv: (>. Drcsemann. Die Judeu in Aarhcn, 1887; Stern aiKl HcM*nl^rt*r. />«.( Jmlfm^chreiiiMlmch, Nos. 'St, 28, lis, nil. IL1). 141-14:1; AriMiius, Reue^tcn zur Uenchichte ilcf Jiiiiin in
DiiUscldand,
p. 240.
J.
F.
AJALON: A
city in Palestine, from which the adjuceiil "Valley of A.ialon"took its name (Josh. X. 12). Its location is identical with that of the present Yiilo, a small village on the western spur of the .south E])hruimitic
mountain range (Kobinson, "Re-
A.S'CIKXT AJAI.U.N-
An
searches."
in
2itO
Isaac of .achc>n and his son Jacob are mentioned the " Judenschreinsbueh " of Cologne, 1270-75; also a Snlnmim of Aachen and his son Vivis, 1280—81. In the fourteenth cnitury the pri'seiii-e of Jews at Aix la-Chapelle is prolmlilc. though not certain. At the coronation <<( .Slaxliiiillan I. (llsOi.the .lews offered homage and gave him maguitkeut presents. It
Ajalon
ii.
253;
Pal. Explor.
iii.
145;
OmVin.
"
Fund. "Memoirs."
l^ft iii.
Jtidec," 1111.
i.
The
valley of Ajalon is either the fertile plain Merj ibn I'mar or the valh'V Wady Salman, which lies west of The city is mentioned (fibeon and leads to .Vjalon. the El .marna tablets under the names Aialuiia ill " Keillusehrift. Uibliothek," and laliiimi Winckler. ill
