JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

even ha-to’im
the Jewish Brigade and after returning to civilian life, lectured
at several U.S. and South American universities. From 1952 to
1957 Evenari was dean of the faculty of science at the Hebrew
University and headed the botany department as professor of
plant physiology. He served as vice president of the Hebrew
University from 1953 to 1959. Evenari’s main fields of research
were the study of the influence of red and infra-red light on the
germination of seeds, and the determination of the food value
of algae for livestock and their large-scale cultivation. With a
grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Evenari carried out
research on the methods used by *Nabateans, Romans, and
Byzantines to maintain a thriving agricultural existence in the
northern Negev in spite of the low annual rainfall of the area.
He set up experimental farms at *Shivta and *Avedat based on
archaeological findings in the area. Evenari served on several
UNESCO bodies, dealing with arid zone development.
EVEN HA-TO’IM (Heb. םיעֹ ִ וטַה ּ ןֶ בֶ א or ןעֹ ַטַה),
ּ a stone in Jerusalem,
It is mentioned once in the Mishnah (Ta’an. 3:8) in the
story of *Onias (Ḥoni) the circle drawer. When asked to pray
that the rains cease, he answered: “Go and see if the even hato’im
has been washed away,” indicating that just as it was impossible
for it to be washed away so was it impossible to pray
for the rain to cease. This picturesque reply is reminiscent of
one in the Jerusalem Talmud showing that praying for the
cessation of rain is unnecessary (Ta’an. 3:11, 67a). An anonymous
Aramaic passage in the Jerusalem Talmud (Ta’anit 3:11,
66d) interprets the even ha-to’im as a place where “one who
lost an item would receive it from there, and one who found
an item would bring it to there.” A similar tradition is reflected
in a baraita found in the Babylonian Talmud (BM 28b) which
mentions the even ha-to’an in connection with the return of
lost property during the Second Temple period. People who
had lost or found objects in Jerusalem and on the road to the
capital met by the side of this stone: “The one stood and announced
his find and the other submitted evidence of ownership
and received it.” According to these traditions, the name
is to be interpreted as “the stone for those wandering,” i.e., in
search of someone or something. The reading even ha-to’an
(“the claimant’s stone”) is faulty (Dik. Sof., ibid.), and any conclusions
deriving from it are therefore invalid.
Bibliography: Krauss, Tal Arch, 362; Sepp, in: ZDPV, 2
(1879), 48–51.
[Jacob Eliahu Ephrathi]
EVEN-OR, MARY (1939–1989), Israeli composer. Even-Or
studied at the Music Teachers’ Seminary in Tel Aviv in 1959,
the Oranim Seminary in 1960–62, and with Yehezkel *Braun.
She studied law at Tel Aviv University and music in 1976–80 at
the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and Tel Aviv University.
Even-Or was a member of the Israel Composers’ League
from 1980; from 1981 she was a member of ACUM and of the
International Association of Women Composers. Her works
include Dances for flute, clarinet, violin, bass, and percussion
(1961); Dreams for flute, clarinet, and guitar (1977); Music for
Strings (1979); Espressioni Musicali for choir a cappella (1981);
Cardioyada for brass quintet (1981); Musikinesis for symphony
orchestra (1983).
[Ury Eppstein (2nd ed.)]
EVEN SHEMUEL (Kaufmann), JUDAH (1886–1976), Israel
educator, lexicographer, and writer. Even Shemuel was born in
Balta, Ukraine, and received a yeshivah education. He studied
in various countries and his thesis at Dropsie College, Philadelphia,
“Rabbi Yomtov Lipman Muelhausen…” (1927), contained
his edition of *Muelhausen’s Sefer ha-Eshkol. From 1913
he was active in the Zionist Labor movement in Montreal,
Canada, and became the first principal of its teachers training
college. As a contributor to Ha-Toren and the Zukunft and a
lecturer on Jewish philosophy and sociology, he gained a reputation
as a spiritual guide of the movement. He also tried to
reconcile the Hebraists with the Yiddishists.
Even Shemuel settled in Palestine in 1926 at the invitation
of the Devir publishing house to edit, with Ḥ.N. *Bialik,
I. *Efros, and B. *Silkiner, an English-Hebrew dictionary (1929;
29th and revised repr. 1963). He continued his cultural activities
in the Histadrut and became the first general secretary of the
Friends of the Hebrew University. When the *Va’ad Le’ummi
established a cultural division, Even Shemuel was appointed
its head, remaining there until 1947. He received the Israel
Prize in Jewish studies in 1973.
His principal scholarly work is a vocalized edition of
Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed in Samuel ibn Tibbon’s
Hebrew translation (3 vols., 1935–60), with introductions, extensive
commentary, and notes. A one-volume edition of the
whole work with a short introduction appeared in 1946. Even
Shemuel also published Midreshei Ge’ullah (1943, 19542), an
anthology of messianic and apocalyptic literature from the
conclusion of the Talmud to the 13th century. He edited various
volumes in fields of Jewish scholarship.
Bibliography: Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 14–15; P. Birnbaum,
in: Hadoar, 47 (1968), 587–9.
EVEN SHETIYYAH (Heb. הָ ּיתְׁ ִש
ןֶ בֶ א), tannaitic term which
was understood in two ways in talmudic times: “the rock from
which the world was woven, and “the foundation rock.” Both
meanings presuppose the belief that the world was created
from the rock which, placed at the center of the world in the
Holy of Holies (Devir) of the Temple in Jerusalem, constitutes
the focal point of the world. The Holy Ark was placed upon
this rock, and during the Second Temple period the high priest
rested the fire-pan on it when he entered the Holy of Holies
on the Day of Atonement. The Mishnah (Yoma 5:2) states
that the rock had been at the site of the Devir since “the time
of the early prophets” (i.e., David and Solomon); that it was
three finger breadths higher than the ground; and that it was
called shetiyyah. However, R. *Yose b. Halafta (Tosef., Yoma
3:6) explains the term as having cosmogonic significance and
the subsequent Midrash is based on this view. The Mishnah
clearly dates the placing of the stone to the time of the Temple’s
574 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6