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enedict, sir julius
Spain in 1391, but this had already been granted them by the
king of Castile. His attempt in 1410 to calm the excessive zeal
of the inquisitors in Majorca may also have been due to the
exigencies of diplomacy rather than to personal good will. His
really spectacular anti-Jewish activity began when, expelled
from Avignon, he moved to his native Spain, still claiming to
be the only legitimate pope. The depressed condition of the
Spanish Jews at the time persuaded him that he could startle
Christendom by obtaining the conversion of all Spanish Jewry.
The Disputation of *Tortosa was the result. When it was concluded
in May 1415, Benedict issued his Bull Etsi doctoribus
gentium imposing every conceivable restriction on Jewish life.
It condemned the Talmud and ordered it expurgated of every
statement that might appear uncomplimentary to Christianity,
and it made contact between Jews and Christians all but
impossible. The Bull’s enforcement lapsed after Benedict XIII
was deposed by the Council of Constance in 1417; but its spirit
remained alive and found echoes in a number of *Bulls by later
popes. BENEDICT XIII (1724–1730) used every pressure, especially
economic, on the inhabitants of the Roman ghetto to
become converted to Christianity. He personally participated
in the ceremonious baptism of 26 of them. He tried to limit
Jewish trade to nonessentials. BENEDICT XIV (1740–1758) was
deeply interested in the rigid interpretation and enforcement
of Canon Law. Consequently, while reaffirming the right of
the Jews of Avignon to trade in cloth, he increased the onus
of the Jewish badge for the Jews of Rome by ordering them to
wear it even when on a journey. A mere suspicion of consent
was now enough to declare a Jew properly baptized; while a
child, even if baptized without parental consent, was compelled
to remain a Christian. Converts were limited to marrying
only born Christians. Twice during his pontificate, in
1753 and 1755, Jewish books were confiscated and examined
for anti-Christian statements. Yet he recognized that Jewish
taxation was too heavy. Moreover, it was under his auspices
that Lorenzo Ganganelli (later Pope *Clement XVI) drew up
his memorandum concerning the *blood libel, and Benedict
subsequently wrote to the authorities in Poland deploring the
recent wave of accusations.
For Benedict XVI, see *Popes; *Vatican.
Bibliography: BENEDICT VII: Roth, Dark Ages, 76, 119; Vogelstein-Rieger,
1 (1896), 213. BENEDICT XII: Grayzel, in: HJ, 17 (1955),
89–120; MHJ, 1 (1903), 62, no. 36; Baron, Social2, 11 (1967), 170f., 267.
BENEDICT XIII (anti-pope): Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 155, 167, 229ff.,
393f.; M. Simonsohn, Kirchliche Judengesetzgebung im Zeitalter der
Reformkonzilien von Konstanz und Basel (1912). BENEDICT XIII: E.
Rodocanachi, Le Saint-Siège et les Juifs (1891), 220, 284; Roth, Italy,
381. BENEDICT XIV: C. Roth, Ritual Murder Libel and the Jew (1934);
Roth, Italy, 379, 411; Rodocanachi, op. cit., 266, 284, 292; Vogelstein-
Rieger, 2 (1895), 242, 245ff.; New Catholic Encyclopedia, index.
[Solomon Grayzel]
BENEDICT, SIR JULIUS (Isaac; 1804–1885), composer
and conductor, born in Stuttgart. After conducting in Vienna
(1823–25) and later in Naples, he settled in London in 1835. He
accompanied Jenny Lind on her American tour (1850–52) and
conducted at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. Of his operas,
the most successful was The Lily of Killarney (Covent Garden,
1862). Although a convert to Protestantism (1826), he set to
music Psalm 84 (first verse) for the inauguration of the first
British Reform Synagogue (West London) in 1840. His works
include cantatas, symphonies, and piano concertos. He wrote
biographies of Felix Mendelssohn (18532) and Carl Maria von
Weber (1881), whose pupil he was. He was knighted in 1871.
Bibliography: P.H. Emden, Jews of Britain (1943), 514–15;
Raphael, in: BLBI, 11 no. 41 (1968), 32–37; Grove, Dict; Riemann-Gurlitt;
Baker, Biog Dict; Sendrey, Music, indexes.
[Dora Leah Sowden]
BENEDICT BEN MOSES OF LINCOLN (d. 1278), English
financier, in secular records called Magister Benedictus filius
Magistri Mossei de Lincolnia. Benedict came from a family of
scholars: his great-grandfather, Moses of Bristol (later of Oxford),
had been a patron of letters; his grandfather, Yom Tov
(apparently also known as Simeon), composed the lost Sefer ha-
Tena’im; and his father, R. *Moses b. Yom Tov of London, was
the leading Hebrew and talmudic scholar of his day in England.
One of Benedict’s brothers was Hagin (Ḥayyim), *archpresbyter
of English Jewry from 1257 until his death in 1280; another
was R. *Elijah Menahem b. Moses of London. Benedict’s business
activities in Lincoln date from 1252 and are often referred
to in the records of subsequent decades. It is conjectured that
the *blood libel at Lincoln in 1255 took place when a number
of Jews from all over England were assembled to celebrate the
marriage of Benedict’s daughter Bellasset. Benedict was among
those arrested. After his family had procured the intervention
of the Castilian ambassador, Benedict was released in December
1255 and his sequestered property restored to him. In Hebrew
Benedict was known as R. Berechiah of Nicole (Lincoln).
He was regarded as one of the outstanding Anglo-Jewish halakhic
scholars of his day and was mentioned with veneration
long after his death. R. Berechiah was also known as an exegete.
His name occurs along with those of other English rabbis of
the 13th century in the works of several tosafists.
Bibliography: J. Jacobs, in: JHSET, 1 (1893–94), 101–2; C.
Roth, ibid., 15 (1946), 29ff.; idem, in: JJS, 3 (1952), 56–61; Rigg-Jenkinson,
Exchequer, index; Urbach, Tosafot, 402; J. Ḥazzan, Eẓ Ḥayyim,
ed. by I. Brodie, 1 (1962), 141, 310; 2 (1964), 179; E.E. Urbach, in: Sefer
ha-Yovel Tiferet Yisrael… Brodie (1967), 1ff.
BENEDICTIONS (Heb. sing. הָכָ רְ ּב, berakhah; pl. תֹ וכרְ ָ ּב, berakhot),
formulas of blessing or thanksgiving, in public and private
services. The Hebrew noun berakhah is derived from the
verb brk ךרב (“to fall on one’s knees”). The Talmud ascribes the
institution and formulation of the benedictions to “the Men
of the Great *Synagogue” (Ber. 33a), to the sages of old (Sif.
Deut. 33:2; Mid. Ps. 17:4), or to the “120 elders” at the head of
the community in the time of *Ezra (Meg. 17b; TJ, Ber. 2:4,
4d). These references, however, cannot be considered histori-
330 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3