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ezalel ben solomon of kobryn
bearing the same title as his notes on Yoreh De’ah, were published
in the Vilna edition of the Talmud (1884). His commentary
on the Sefer ha-Mitzvot of Maimonides appeared in the
Vilna edition of 1866. He also published a pamphlet entitled
Hora’at Hetter, dealing with the permissibility of using etrogim
from Corfu on Sukkot (1876). Many of Bezalel’s responsa appear
in the works of his contemporaries and a number of his
writings are still in manuscript.
Bibliography: H.N. Maggid-Steinschneider, Ir Vilna, 1
(1900), 55–61; J.L. Maimon, Middei Ḥodesh be-Ḥodsho, 4 (1958),
12–16.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
BEZALEL BEN SOLOMON OF KOBRYN (17th century),
preacher and author. Bezalel was active in Slutsk (Minsk region),
Boskowitz (Moravia), and Przemysl. The following of
his books are worthy of note: (1) Pelaḥ ha-Rimmon (Amsterdam,
1659), consisting of 20 different expositions of various
Midrashim; (2) Ammudei ha-Shivah (“Seven Pillars,” Lublin,
1666), sermons on obscure Midrashim. The “Seven Pillars” are
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, and Solomon,
and each section has in its title a biblical verse containing the
respective names of these worthies. In his introduction the author
states: “I found favor in the eyes of the rulers and leaders
of the country [Lithuania], who were moved to make a large
contribution toward the publication of the book, and it also
received the approbation of the Council of the Four Lands.”
Selections from the book were published by Joshua Abraham
b. Israel of Zhitomir under the title Nofet Ẓufim (Lemberg,
1804). (3) Korban Shabbat (Dyhernfurth, 1691), homilies on
the Sabbath precepts and customs, compiled from the halakhic
authorities and works of Kabbalah. Other of his works
are still in manuscript.
Bibliography: Michael, Or, 289, n. 613; Halpern, Pinkas,
78–79, 99; Pinkas Slutsk… (1962), 19, 33, 272.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
BEZEK (Heb. קֶזֶ ּב), place-name mentioned in the Bible. Saul
mustered his army there before undertaking his campaign to
relieve *Jabesh-Gilead, which was being besieged by the Ammonites
under Nahash (I Sam. 11:8). Bezek has been identified
(following Eusebius, Onom. 54:8) with Khirbat lbzīq, 15 mi.
(24 km.) north of Shechem on the road leading to Beth-Shean.
Its position on the road descending from the hill country of
Ephraim to the Jordan Valley would explain its choice as a
mobilization point.
A Bezek is also mentioned in Judges 1:4–5, as the place
where the tribe of Judah defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites.
Their dying overlord, Adoni-Bezek, was taken to Jerusalem.
Attempts to locate this Bezek in the vicinity of Jerusalem
have so far been unsuccessful. Some scholars accept its
identification with the other Bezek, assuming that the tribe
of Judah crossed the Jordan Valley in the direction opposite
to that taken by Saul and then continued south to its inheritance.
Bibliography: Clermont-Ganneau, Arch, 2 (1899), 239ff.;
Alt, in: PJB, 22 (1926), 48ff.; EM.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
BEZEM, NAFTALI (1924– ), Israeli painter. Born in Essen,
Germany, the youngest son of a Polish-Jewish immigrant family,
Bezem immigrated to Eretz-Israel with the assistance of
*Youth Aliyah. His parents were murdered in Auschwitz. In
1943 Bezem began his studies at the Bezalel Academy of Art
and Design in Jerusalem under the guidance of Mordecai *Ardon,
whom he adopted as a father figure. Later Bezem himself
became a teacher in the institute. In 1949 he traveled with
his wife, Hannah Liberman, to Paris and studied at the Centre
d’Art Sacre, a Catholic art school specializing in modern
sacred art. Over the years Bezem had many one-man shows
and produced a number of reliefs for public buildings, wall
paintings, stained glass, and tapestries. In 1975 his eldest son
was murdered in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem’s Zion Square.
Bezem divided his life between Israel and Switzerland.
Besem’s art was much involved in the history of Israel.
Some of his art works are located in official institutes of the
State of Israel, such as the ceiling painting in the President’s
Residence in Jerusalem and the metal relief at the Yad Vashem
Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. In his symbolic style he integrated
Jewish and Zionist contents with the formal requirements
of these institutes.
During the years Bezem devised a symbolic language.
The beheaded fish or the rooster were symbols of atonement
and in the context of the Holocaust served as a symbol of
the victim being sacrificed. Boats with oars were the means
of transport by which he arrived to Israel; the forward motion
symbolized progress with the boat a protective device.
The lion was his characteristic symbol for Jewish objects and
stones represented an old city on which a new city is built. The
Sabbath candles symbolized the happiness of his childhood
and the candles of his mother but also the light that went out
when his son died.
For several years after the death of his son Isaac, Bezem,
the mourning father, dedicated himself to the theme of Isaac’s
sacrifice (the *Akedah). In these paintings he created an analogy
between the sacrifice of the father and sacrifice of the son,
without a ram for redemption.
Bibliography: Z. Amishai-Maisels, Naftali Bezem (1986).
[Ronit Steinberg (2nd ed.)]
BEZIDUL NOU (Hg. Bőződújfalu), village in Transylvania,
Romania, inhabited by Szeklers, a distinctive ethnic group of
Hungarian origin who speak a specific Hungarian dialect.
In the 17th century it was an important center of the Sabbatarians,
who practiced their religion mostly in secret. There
were other centers of Sabbatarians in 18th century Transylvania,
but they disappeared in the face of Christian hatred and
enmity towards them. In 1868–69, after equal rights had been
granted to Hungarian Jewry, the Sabbatarians, then numbering
approximately 100, mostly poor farmers, openly practiced
558 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3