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alfouriyyah
BALFOURIYYAH (Heb. הָ ּירּופ ִ ְל ּב), ַ moshav in the Jezreel
Valley, Israel. The settlement was founded on Nov. 2, 1922,
north of Afulah, on land owned by the American Zionist
Commonwealth Federation. Some of the founders were immigrants
from the United States, the others from Eastern Europe.
Balfouriyyah’s economy was based on field and garden
crops, cattle, and poultry. In 2002 the population was 287. The
moshav’s name refers to the date of its founding which was the
fifth anniversary of the *Balfour Declaration.
[Efraim Orni]
BALI, ABRAHAM BEN JACOB (second half of the 15th to
the beginning of the 16th century), Karaite author and physician
living in Turkey. Bali was a pupil of the Rabbanite R.
Shabbetai b. Malchiel ha-Kohen. Although disagreeing with
the Rabbanites, Bali refers with respect to the contemporary
Rabbanite scholars Mordecai *Comtino, Moses ha-Yevani
Capuzato, and Solomon “Sharvit ha-Zahav” in his works. Most
of them survived in manuscripts kept in various libraries.
They include Iggeret Issur Ner Shabbat, upholding the Karaite
prohibition against burning lights on the Sabbath (contrary to
the reform introduced by Elijah *Bashyazi; non-critical print,
Ashdod 2002); Iggeret ha-Kohanim, on the status of Rabbanites
of priestly descent who become Karaites; Perush Inyan
Sheḥitah, a commentary on the chapter dealing with ritual
slaughter in *Aaron b. Elijah of Nicomedia’s Gan Eden (noncritical
print, Ashdod 2003); a commentary on al-*Ghazālī’s
Maqāṣid al-Falāsifa, in which Bali used a Hebrew translation
of it and followed the commentary of Moses Narboni, which
he much admired; and Perush al Ḥamishah Perakim min ha-
Haysharah le-Abu Nasr, a commentary on the first five chapters
of al-*Fārābī’s Logic, translated into Hebrew under the
title Iggeret le-Petiḥat Sifrei ha-Higgayon.
Bibliography: Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), 1420; Danon, in:
JQR, 15 (1924/25), 312–3; Steinschneider, in: HB, 20 (1880), 96–97; A.
Neubauer, Beitraege und Documente Zur Geschichte desKaraeertums
(1866); J. Gurland, Ginzei Yisrael (St. Petersburg, 1886); J-C. Attias,
Le commentaire biblique: Mordekhai Komtino ou l’hermeneutique du
dialogue (Paris, 1991), index.
[Isaak Dov Ber Markon]
BALI, MOSES BEN ABRAHAM, Karaite poet, physician,
and ḥakham in Cairo in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Two volumes of his liturgical poems have been preserved in
the *Firkovich collection in Leningrad: the first, Sefer Zeraḥ,
completed in 1489, consists of 224 piyyutim arranged in the
order of the weekly lessons; the second, Taḥkemoni, contains
237 piyyutim for Sabbaths and festivals.
Bibliography: Fuerst, Karaeertum, 2 (1865), 294; Geiger, in:
WZJT, 3 (1837), 443, no. 9–10.
[Isaak Dov Ber Markon]
BALI, RIFAT (1948– ), Turkish scholar. Bali was born in Istanbul
and graduated from Sorbonne University, Ecole Pratique
des Hautes Etudes. His fields of expertise are antisemi-
tism, conspiracy theories, relations between the Turkish state
and the non-Muslim minorities, the Jews in the Republican
period, and the appearance of the new bourgeoisie in Turkey after
1980. His works include: Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri
Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni, 1923–1945 (1999); Musa’nın
Evlatları Cumhuriyet’in Yurttaşları (2001), Les Relations entre
Turcs et Juifs dans La Turquie Moderne (2001), Tarz-ı Hayat’tan
Life Style’a (2002), Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri,
Aliya Bir Toplu Göçün Öyküsü, 1946–1949 (2003), Devlet’in Yahudileri
ve ‘Öteki’ Yahudi (2004), Anadolu’dan Yeni Dünya’ya
(2004), Türkiye’de Yayımlanmış Yahudilikle İlgili Kitap, Tez ve
Makaleler Bibliyografyası 1923–2003 (2004), Avram Benaroya:
Un Journaliste Juif Oublié suivi de ses Mémoires (2004).
[Jacob M. Landau (2nd ed.)]
BALIDEH (al-Balideh), MOSES (15th century), Yemenite
scholar. Balideh was the author of more than ten works on
diverse subjects, mostly in the form of commentaries and expositions
of rabbinic sayings. With the exception of his Midrash
on the last chapter of Proverbs, Sharḥ Eshet Ḥayil, all his
works are in manuscript in the British Museum (Margoliouth,
Cat, no. 1101). Although he enjoyed a distinguished reputation,
his works did not achieve wide circulation among Yemenite
Jewry and were therefore almost unknown to succeeding
generations. They include a commentary on the Midrash
Yelammedenu, a commentary bearing a marked resemblance
to the Midrash ha-Gadol in respect to sources, arrangement,
and tenor. Balideh wrote a commentary concerning the ten
items recounted as having been created on the (first) Sabbath
at twilight (Avot 5:6) in addition to commentaries on some
works of Maimonides.
Bibliography: Ratzaby, in: KS, 28 (1952/53), 260, 263, 268,
277–8; Y.L. Naḥum, Mi-Ẓefunot Yehudei Teiman (1962), 206–22.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
BALIN, MARTY (Martyn Buchwald; 1942– ), U.S. singer
and songwriter. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the young Balin and
his family moved to San Francisco in 1948. Balin founded the
seminal Bay Area rock group Jefferson Airplane (1965–71). In
1975, Balin re-formed the band under the new name of Jefferson
Starship and immediately had a top-of-the-chart album,
Red Octopus. He became president of the Great Pyramid Ltd.
and owner of Diamondback Music Co.
Balin’s distinctive, soulful voice became one of the hallmarks
of the Airplane/Starship’s sound, and he composed
many of the band’s most memorable songs, including “It’s No
Secret” (1966), “Plastic Fantastic Lover” (1967), “Young Girls”
(1968), “Sunday Blues” (1969), “Volunteers” (1970), and Jefferson
Starship’s biggest hit, “Miracles” (1975).
Balin left the group in 1978, writing the rock opera Rock
Justice, a fantasy about a rock star on trial for not having a hit.
He then began a solo career with his 1981 album Balin, which
generated the singles “Hearts” and “Atlanta Lady.” After issuing
Lucky in 1983, he joined former bandmates Paul Kantner
and Jack Casady to form the KBC Band (1985–87). In 1989,
90 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3