JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook, (1996), 26–27;
Morgen Journal (Sept. 9, 1948), 9; New York Times (Sept. 9, 1948),
27.
[Jeanette Friedman (2nd ed.)]
BAUR, HARRY (1883–1943), French actor. Born of poor Alsatian
parents, Baur was compelled at the age of 12 to work
on the Marseilles docks but managed to study at the Marseilles
Conservatory of Music. He appeared briefly on the
Paris stage but after the outbreak of World War I joined the
army. Wounded, he returned to civilian life, continuing to
act on the stage until movies became his chief interest. The
French called Baur the “king of the character actors,” and indeed,
his heavy features and bushy brows lent themselves to a
great range of parts including Beethoven in the Life and Loves
of Beethoven. He also played in Rasputin and in The Golem.
Baur was arrested in Berlin in 1942 on charges of forging a
certificate of (Aryan) ancestry. Ironically, the Germans had to
destroy a costly film because Baur had the main role. He was
subsequently tortured for 4 months and died shortly after his
release from prison.
[Louisa Cuomo]
BAUSKA (Yid. Boysk), town in S. Latvia, near the Lithuanian
border. Originally in the duchy of *Courland, it was
incorporated in Russia in 1795 and became a district town in
the government (province) of Courland. Jews were permitted
to settle there by a special law of 1799. At first their right
of residence was restricted to a suburb on a bank of the river
Aa (Lielupe), but the restriction was lifted in the 1820s. The
community, most of whose members came from Lithuania,
retained its “Lithuanian” character, with its stress on Torah
learning and Orthodoxy. It numbered 2,669 in 1835 but by 1850
had decreased to 2,226 as a result of the settlement of 82 families
(692 persons) from Bauska in the agricultural colonies in
the province of Kherson in 1840 and of an outbreak of cholera
in the area in 1848. The Jewish population numbered 2,745 in
1897 (42% of the total population). During World War I many
Jews were forced by the Russian military authorities to evacuate
Bauska, which was in the area of hostilities, for the Russian
interior. Many did not return after the war and by 1920 there
remained only 604 Jewish inhabitants. Their number rose to
919 in 1925. Most of the trade was in Jewish hands, supported
by a Jewish cooperative bank. Well-known rabbis who officiated
in the community in the second half of the 19th century
were Mordecai *Eliasberg and Avraham Yitzḥak *Kook. During
Soviet rule in 1940–1941 all Jewish life and trade was eliminated.
Bauska was occupied by the Germans on June 26, 1941.
On August 3, 50 Jews were murdered by Latvian police, and
on September 30, 1941, all the remaining Bauska Jews, about
800, were executed.
Bibliography: L. Ovchinski, Toledot Yeshivat ha-Yehudim
be-Kurland (19112), 48–55; Z.A. Rabiner, in: Yahadut Latvia (1953),
244–76; M. Bove, Perakim be-Toledot Yahadut Latvia (1965). Add.
Bibliography: PK Latvia ve-Estonia, S.V.
[Simha Katz / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)]
bava batra
BAVA BATRA (Aram. ארְ ָתָ
ּב אָ בָ ּב, “last gate”), tractate of the
Mishnah with Gemara in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds.
The tractates *Bava Kamma, *Bava *Meẓia, and Bava
Batra were originally one large tractate, Nezikin. The division
into three apparently took place in Babylonia: in the Babylonian
Talmud there are indications that the Gemara of each of
the three sections was edited by a different hand, while in the
Jerusalem Talmud they are uniform.
Chapters 1–3 of Bava Batra deal essentially with laws relating
to ownership of real estate. Chapter 1 discusses the division
of a courtyard held by joint owners whose homes open
onto it. They may build a stone partition, each owner contributing
an equal amount of land for its construction. Consequently,
if the partition falls, “the place and the stones belong
to them both.” This law is similar to Bava Meẓia 10:1, for the
last chapter of Bava Meẓia opens the discussion on ownership
continued here. A courtyard containing several houses is a
small community, and the Mishnah discusses the obligations
of the individual to this community. Next, the mutual obligations
of “neighbors” are presented for the dwellers of one city.
The Tosefta adds to these communal obligations: “The citizens
of a town can compel each other to build a synagogue,
and to purchase a scroll of the Torah and the Prophets. The
citizens are permitted to fix price ceilings and control weights
and measures …” (Tosef., BM 11:23). In chapter 2, the Mishnah
imposes limitations upon the actions of the property owner
within the bounds of his own property, when such acts are a
source of damage or nuisance to neighbors. Personal privacy is
protected by a law prohibiting construction of windows which
command a close-range view into a neighbor’s windows. The
section on ownership concludes with chapter 3, which discusses
the rules of *ḥazakah, according to which evidence of
three years’ undisturbed use of property can serve as proof
of ownership. The Babylonian Talmud records many actual
cases involving ḥazakah and disputed ownership, indicating
the wide application of these laws in the area of Jewish real
estate in Babylonia.
Concerning the acquisition of real estate, chapter 4 gives
precise definitions of terms, so as to prevent a dispute between
buyer and seller over what was included in the purchase. The
list of legal definitions is continued in chapter 5 and extended
to cover sale of movables. The variety of objects thus treated
presents a wealth of precise Hebrew terminology and a rich
description of the realia of Palestine during the mishnaic period.
The remainder of this chapter expands on the requirement
of justice in weights and measures (Lev. 19:35–36; Deut.
25:13–16), a topic related to purchase. Chapter 6 returns to
definitions of objects of sale, not with regard to extent of inclusion
but with regard to quality, i.e., to what degree the
seller is required to replace inferior goods. The remainder of
the chapter defines the minimum legal dimensions of various
structures and tombs. Definitions of specific quantities of land
mentioned in the sale of real estate are presented in chapter
7. This concludes the unit of “definitions,” which began with
chapter 6. The chapters discussed above deal with acquisition
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 223