'
.
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
131
tlic word, doubtless obtained from their .lewisli teaehers, tlioiij^li ()rij;cn sii])|ilements liis remarks by saying that Abreeli is to be literally rendered as jinmruew (bending of the linee). This view is advocated by Jcwisli grammarians from the time of Jonali ibn An interpretation dilTerent fiom the foreGiinah. going. which isof Palestinian origin, islhat given by Babylonian scholars, who exjilain the word as being a compound of "ab" (father) and "rak" (Old Per " »ian (irjiikii = kin.g), siirnifving " father of the king (B. B. 4'/; Targ. U., targ."Ycr. iitl lor.). The Babylonian etymology is followed by Peshito as well as by the Arabic translator, both rendering the word
their tiiiiiiMciitaiics
JiKlah's
"
ou
e.|ilaiiati(jn
fatherand
ruler".(.see Brllll, in Oeiger's "JiUl. Zeit." 2S1 ctudi.; Ginzberg, in " Moiiats-schrift." 1S99.
iii.
xliii.
L
ri|."ii
ABREST, PAUL D' RICH KOHNABREST) (
pen name of
(!.
FRIED-
born at near Vienna, iu July. lN!i:!. lli-rcccivcd liiseihnation al the Lycce Bonaparte in Paris, and on its completion he devoted himself to journalism, lie was a fre()icnt contributor to "Le Petit Journal." "LaVerite." " l.e Happel," "Le Siede." and " L'Independancc Beige." Later lie became corresjiondent of the "Temiis " at Vienna, at the same time contributing to Austrian and Hungarian journals. During the Ru.ssoTurkish war he represcnii-d the " Siecle " and afterward, at the instance of the French government. In- went to Bosnia to investigate the economic con<lition of that counBesides his articles, several collections of trv. which have appeared in book form, Abrest wrote: " Vienne sous Pram/ois Joseph." a " Life of General Hoelie." anil a history of the opera. Prague.
<i^^
.
.lournalist;
diiil at cislau.
IlllilIOdliAPiiv
.JrwMi Chniniclr. Ainnist
.
IKS!,
|). li.
B. B.
ABROGATION OF LAWS:
In Dcut.
.xiii.
1
"What
- W, A.V.).Mo.scs is described a.s saying
tiling soever I command you. ob.serve to do it (.ii.
thou
Shalt not add thiTclo, nor"iliminish from it." Taking this injunction literally, the Sadducees, and later the Karaites, rejicted the ralibiiiical development of Ju-
daism, as additions to ami moditications of the Mosaic laws. But the injunction could not have fiicant that for all future time, without regard to varying cireunistances. not the least alteration or modilicalion should be made in the ndigious and civil laws establislnd for the people of Israel. The ancient rabbis claimed authority, not only to nijike new provisions and to establish institutions as a ' hedge " for the protection of the Rabbinical Biblical laws, but under cerlain cirAuthority. euinstances even to suspend and to abrogate a Biblical law. They derived Ihis authority from the passage in Dent, .x'vii. 8-11. in which mention is made of a supreme court consisting of priests. Levites, and "the jud.ire that shall Ih' In those days." Doubtful (|Uestions of law were to lie brought Iwforc this court, and unconditional olxdicnce to this supreme authority in all religious, civil, and criminal matters is emphatically enjoined in the
"
words:
Acronlliiit
til
the
law
wlilili llifv
sliiill
li-mli tlipo.
ami
no-
ronllnRtotlic Juiluineiii wlili-li ttieysimll Ii-ll lliii'. tliouslmit iln; ttwiii sliiilt not ili.|»irt fnini the wont whii-li llicy may ti-ll thee. lothiTlKlllnrt.ithe Ifft."
In iifcrenee to this, celebrated code "Ililkot
Maimonides Mamrim," I.
tt-achcs in 1:
his
" Fmm the Sanlieilrin in .Icnisiilcin, law anil flivtston mIiouIiI SO iiirth 1.1 III! Nnii'l. WhulcviT li lauk'lil rlllirr ils tniilltli.u c.r hy tnteriinuillc.il mwrilliii,' to thf liiTiiieni'uMi- nile.s or wliatpvi>r
It
obeyed.
I'liaiteil
luwrtlliiK u> the
e.l(fi.|iilc,s i.f
the
tliiie.
inu>I
W
Abraxas Abrogation of Latvs
" A later court has a right to reject a decision based on the interpretation of a former though higher court, for .Scrijiture says: 'Go to the juilge wlio will be in those days,' meaning, you shall go according to the authority of your own time" {iUd. ii. 1) And again .
" Any
rell(?loas court [kol het din]
has the power to set
ajiide
even a
liililli'al law a.* a leniporarv iiiea.'.ure. If they tlnil It ni>i-i->snry to su.siicnd for the tiiiu- hi-inn an injnnctidn. or to [leniiii one to art against a prohii.itifni in onliT to liriiiu' the
Tna,s.-ii-s hark to the Tonih, or in onler to ini-vcnl a irrnili-r i-vil, autliority may do an-onlintr to the e.Nit'encvof the line. Jnst as a physielan Is soniethiies i'oni|>e||e(l loanipntat.- tire lijnl) of a patient in order to save his lite and iieneial health, .so those in authority [liet dinl may at any timedeeree the i.inpor-.irv suspension of some laws In order to secure the fullllinenl of the reliifious law in Keiieral " {ilnil. ii. 4).
lliosi' in
t
Allliough Maimonides here refers only to the right of temporarily suspending a law, there are cases mentioned in the Talmud, as will be seen later, in which a Biblical law was entirely abrogated. Besides, the simile used by Maimoiiidcs in the passage just (|iioted applies rather to the abrogation than to the lemporary suspension of a law: for the amputation of a limb to .save the life and health of the patient is not a mere temporary separation. The Talmud contains the following maxims by which the religious authorities of various periods were guided in abrogalinir certain Talmudic laws; "The abrogation of a law is View. sometimes ef|uivalcnt to the niaiiilenanceof the law "; that is. to .seta law aside is sometimes as meritorious as to establish it (Jlen. 99i). "It is better that a single law be uprooted than that the whole Torah be forgotten" (Tcm. Wi) "There are times when the duty of working for the glory of God re(|iiires the abolition of a law " (Ber. aiid (3*0- "The court [the religious authority] may. under circumstances, decree to ujiroot a iiositivc law of the Bible" (Veb. 8%). In citing some cxamphs of suspension and of abrogation of Mosaic laws in different periods, one may be recorded from the Bible. According to I Kings, xviii. Jil, the prophet Elijah ofTered a.sacrilice upon the altar erected on .Mount Carmel. This was in conlravcntion of the law in Dcut. xii. Hi. which forbade the olTering of sacritices outside of the central sanctuary. The rabbis defend the act of the luophet on the ground that il was a temporary measure neces-sitated by the circumstances (Yeb. .
Mn
90/-)
Of more importance are the following cases of the abrogation of a Biblical law as stated in the Talmud: Ezra (according to Yeb. H6/i, Hid. 131//) decreed that the lirst tithe should be given to the priests, contrary to the Mosaic Law in Xum. xviii. 21. which ordained that lliey should lie given to the Levites. In consci|iience of this abrogation another law had to be abrogated, namely, that which referred to the solemn profession which, according to Dent. xxvi. 13-l."i, every farmer had to make annually ill the Temple; for the pas.sage in this confession. " have given it [the tithes] to the Levile," could not aiiv longer be said in truth (.Sotah, 4iA, after Toscf.. "Sotah.xiii. Id). Hillcl the Elder enacted a measure, termed Plioslit'L, which was tantamount to an abrogation of the Biblical law in Dent. xv. 2. conThe Pros- cerniiig the ridea.se from debt in the Sabbaiical year. bul. Finding that this law. which was intended to benetit the poor, proved in the course of time nillier a disadvantage to them, as no one was willing to li'iid then) money lest he lose bis claim at the approach of the Sabbatical year, llillel. by virtue of his authority as head of the Sanhedriu, caused a law to be euuctcd
