Encyclopaedia Judaica - Vol.06 (Dr-Feu) - WiccanGeek's Reading ...

dedicated several poems to him and to his nephew Solomon b.
Ferrizuel, who was murdered on his return from a successful
political mission abroad, and subsequently mourned by the
poet. In 1110, a year after Alfonso’s death, Ferrizuel was one
of the witnesses and signatories to a charter of immunities
granted by Queen Urraca. Nothing about Ferrizuel is known
after this date. He had probably died by 1145, when Alfonso VII
gave his property to the Cathedral of Toledo.
Bibliography: Baer, Spain, index S.V. Joseph Ferrizuel; Baer,
Urkunden, 2 (1936), 14, 552 n. l; idem, in: Zion, 1 (1936), 17; Abraham
ibn Daud, Book of Tradition – Sefer ha-Qabbalah, ed. and tr. by G.
Cohen (1967), index.
[Haim Beinart]
FESELA (Federación Sefaradí Latinoamericana), roof organization
of the Sephardi communities of Latin America,
affiliated to the World Sephardi Federation as well as to the
World Zionist Organization. FESELA was founded in 1972 in
Lima (Peru) during the Conference of Jewish Communities in
Latin America by a group of young Sephardi leaders representing
the new leadership of Sephardim born in Latin America.
They were seeking representation in the World Zionist Organization
not through political parties but on the basis of their
ethnic identity – as Sephardim.
The executive of FESELA is rotated: every two years a different
president and secretary – from a different country –
must be elected, and the seat of FESELA moves to their respective
country. Membership in FESELA is institutional and not
personal, and each country is entitled to one vote. In addition
to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico,
Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, the Cuban Sephardi
community of Miami is also active on the board.
The main objectives of FESELA are to represent the Sephardi
communities of Latin America, to strengthen Sephardi
identity, to combat assimilation, to promote the Zionist cause.
and to support the State of Israel. FESELA promotes cultural
activities of Sephardim in Latin America and supports the
publication of Sefardica, a journal published by CIDICSEF –
Centro de Investigación y Difusión de la Cultura Sefaradí
(Center for the Study and Diffusion of Sephardi Culture) in
Buenos Aires.
[Margalit Bejarano (2nd ed.)]
FESTIVALS (Heb. גַח, ḥag; דעֹ ֵומ,
mo’ed; or בֹ וט םֹ וי, yom tov).
Introduction
The root of גַח is גֹג ָח ḥagog, to celebrate, or possibly גּוח ḥug, to
go round. It is related to the Arabic ḥajja which means to go on
a pilgrimage from which comes ḥajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The term mo’ed means an appointed place, time, or season.
The festivals can be divided into two main categories
each of which can be subdivided: (1) those commanded by the
Pentateuch, and (2) those added later.
The Pentateuchal festivals are (a) the *Sabbath (not
strictly a festival), (b) the three pilgrim festivals, *Passover,
*Shavuot, and *Sukkot, with Shemini Aẓret which is consid-
festivals
ered in some respects a festival in its own right, (c) the New
Year (*Rosh Ha-Shanah) and the Day of *Atonement, (d)
*Rosh Ḥodesh, the first day of the lunar month. These divisions
can however be still further divided. Rosh Ha-Shanah
and the Day of Atonement, while obviously belonging to a
single pattern, nevertheless differ from each other completely.
The three *pilgrim festivals, too, although similar in many aspects
differ in detail. There is, furthermore, a decided difference
between the first and last festival days and the middle
days termed ḥol ha-mo’ed (see below). The second category
too can be subdivided: *Purim and *Ḥanukkah; the first being
biblical (Book of Esther) and the second from the Hasmonean
period; memorial days such as *Lag ba-Omer (medieval)
and the 15th of *Av (mishnaic) to which may be added *Tu bi-
Shevat; thirdly, certain festival days added in modern times
to mark historic events of Jewish importance. Apart from the
above are also festival days of individuals or communities to
record salvation or a similar event.
A festival is characterized by three factors: (1) rejoicing,
which mostly takes the form of ceremonial meals (with the
exception of the Day of Atonement), and, on the more important
biblical festivals, the prohibition of work; (2) the liturgy
(or in Temple times, the special sacrificial service); and (3)
special ceremonials of the festival, such as eating of maẓẓot
on Passover (biblical injunction), lighting of the candles of
Ḥannukah (talmudic), and the planting of saplings on Tu bi-
Shevat (custom).
The liturgy is in effect dictated by the type of festival.
The main changes from everyday prayer are mainly in (a) the
*Amidah, (b) the addition of *Hallel, (c) the reading of the
*Torah, (d) the *Musaf service representing the special sacrifices
of the day (for details, see below – Liturgy). It can generally
be stated that the less important the festival, the less
changes are made in the liturgy. On Sabbath, the pilgrim festivals,
and the high holidays, it is customary for the woman
to light *candles accompanied by a special benediction, and
(except Sabbath) also by the she-heḥeyanu, whereas the man
makes sanctification (Kiddush) over wine (except on the Day
of Atonement). It is interesting to note that the national day
of mourning, Ninth of *Av, is also regarded in a sense as a festival,
as it is termed “mo’ed” in Lamentations (1:15), and, according
to tradition, will be the greatest festival in the time to
come (with reference to Jer. 31:13).
In the Bible
The festivals mentioned in the Pentateuch as “feasts” (םיּגַח ִ
ḥaggim) are Passover (Ex. 12:14), also called “the feast of unleavened
bread”; Shavuot, otherwise “the feast of harvest” (Ex.
23:16) or the “day of the first fruits”; and *Sukkot, also known
as “the feast of ingathering” (ibid.) and sometimes called simply
“feast” (ḥag) in the Bible. The sages, too, mostly use the
term ḥag by itself to refer to Sukkot. Common to all three
festivals is the pilgrimage to Jerusalem from which the term
(םי ִלגָ ר ְ שֹדֱָׁ ׁ ש “the three pilgrim festivals”) is derived. The term
“appointed seasons” (mo’adim) in the Pentateuch, however, in-
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