JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

practiced accounting during 1928–46, becoming a Certified
Public Accountant in 1930, and from 1929 taught accounting
and commercial law at Rutgers University. In 1946 he was appointed
assistant budget director of the City of New York, and
director in 1952, serving as a member of many city and state
committees and commissions dealing with management, social
services, the courts, city employees, the state constitution,
and intergovernmental fiscal relationships.
In 1962, and again in 1969, Beame was elected comptroller
and in 1965 won the mayoral nomination of the Democratic
Party in a primary election. In 1967 he was a delegate to
the New York State Constitutional Convention. In November
1973, at age 67, Beame defeated State Senator John Marchi and
won the election for mayor of New York by a landslide victory,
which included 63% of the Jewish vote and 68% of the
black vote. He assumed office on January 1, 1974, as the 104th
mayor of New York.
During his term of office, the city endured such crises
as terrorist bombings, a citywide power failure that resulted
in violence and looting, and the Son of Sam serial killings.
At the same time, Beame faced the worst fiscal crisis in the
city’s history and spent most of his term trying to ward off
bankruptcy. He slashed the city workforce, froze wages, and
restructured the budget, which proved insufficient until reinforced
by actions from newly created state-sponsored entities
and the granting of federal funds. After a tumultuous
four years as mayor, he ran for a second term in 1977 but was
succeeded in 1978 by Edward *Koch, also a Jew. Despite criticism
about his methods, Beame left office with a $200 million
surplus for the city, having entered the mayoralty facing
a $1.5 billion deficit.
Beame retired from politics but remained active as head
of the Advisory Board of the UMB Bank and Trust, and later
senior advisor of Sterling National Bank. He also served on
the board of directors of a number of civic and corporate
foundations.
Bibliography: Chris McNickle, To Be Mayor of New York
(1993).
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
BEANS. Ancient Jewish sources refer to several species of
beans under the Hebrew name of pol qualified by various epithets.
Pol itself is the broad bean (Vicia faba) which was included
in the food brought to David’s forces by his loyal supporters
from Ammon and Gilead (II Sam. 17:28). Its flour was
added to the bread that Ezekiel was commanded to eat to symbolize
the approaching destruction of Jerusalem (Ezek. 4:9).
In mishnaic and talmudic times the broad bean was widely
grown, being a cheap food popular especially among the poor
(Tosef., BM 3:9; Sof. 21:4) and eaten with or without the husk.
Another important plant was the pol ha-miẓri which, identified
with the cowpea (Vigna sinensis), is a creeper which
grows in summer. In mishnaic times it was highly regarded
as a food for human consumption (Ned. 7:1; Shev. 2:8–9) but
is now grown as fodder. To the botanical genus Vigna belongs
beard and shaving
another plant called pol he-ḥaruv which is the legume known
as the yard-long bean (Vigna sesquipedalis), its Hebrew name
being derived, according to the Jerusalem Talmud (Kil. 1:2,
27a), from the shape of its pods, which resembles that of the
carob (ḥaruv). Another variety of the cowpea is called she’u’it
(Kil. 1:1); this is the legume Vigna nilotica, which grows wild in
Israel climbing river banks, or is sown as fodder. The Mishnah
(ibid.) states that it is not a *mixed species (kilayim) with pol
ha-lavan, the hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab), the seed of
which is used as food.
Bibliography: Loew, Flora 12 (1924), 492f.; J. Feliks, Olam
ha-Ẓome’aḥ ha-Mikra’i (1957), 156–8, 318; idem, Kilei Zera’im (1967),
41–43.
[Jehuda Feliks]
BEAR (Heb. בֹ ּד; dov). In ancient times the Syrian brown bear,
Ursus arctos syriacus, had its habitat within the borders of Ereẓ
Israel; it was found in the forests of Lebanon until World War I
and is still occasionally reported in Lebanon and northern
Syria. The bear is omnivorous, and when driven by hunger, it
preys on large animals, including the ox or cow (cf. Isa. 11:7).
In the Bible the bear is portrayed as an animal dangerous to
man, like the lion. Especially emphasized is the danger of a
(female) bear bereaved of its cubs (II Sam. 17:8; Hos. 13:8).
This was a frequent occurrence as the cubs were taken from
the dam to be trained. The bear was common in the period
of the Mishnah, which forbids their sale to Gentiles (Av. Zar.
16a). One of the miracles ascribed to R. *Ḥanina b. Dosa was
that after being attacked by bears, each of his goats came home
with a bear on its horns (Ta’an. 25a). Because the second world
kingdom of Daniel 7 was identified as the Persian one, the fact
that it is represented by a bear (Dan. 7:5) is explained by the
observation that the Persians “eat and drink like the bear, are
fat like the bear, are hairy like the bear, and are restless like
the bear” (Kid. 72a).
Bibliography: Lewysohn, Zool, 99; Tristram, Nat Hist,
40–49; F.S. Bodenheimer, Ha-Ḥai be-Arẓot ha-Mikra, 2 (1956), index;
J. Feliks, Animal World of the Bible (1962), 39. Add. Bibliography:
Feliks, Ha-Ẓome’aḥ, 220.
[Jehuda Feliks]
BEARD AND SHAVING. The characteristic manner in
which the beard and hair were shaved, cut, curled, or groomed
identified specific peoples in the ancient world. Egyptian, Assyrian,
and Babylonian monuments depict the unique way
various peoples treated facial hair, thereby illustrating their
ethnic identity. The Semites appear with thick beards or with
thin and groomed beards; the Lybians are shown with pointed
beards, while the Hittites, Ethiopians, and Sea Peoples are
portrayed as clean-shaven. The Babylonians and Persians are
represented with curly and groomed beards, and the majority
of the images of Egyptian males reveal clean-shaven faces,
with the exception of a number of pharaohs who appear with
plaited beards extending from the chin only. Shaving was performed
either by the individual himself or by a barber (Heb.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 235