The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (365 page)

Beraitot
(paragraphs)
:

see
TOSEFTA
;
BARAITA
.

 
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(Heb., ‘benedictions’). The first tractate of the
Talmud
. The tractate discusses prayers and
blessings
, including the laws involved in the recital of the
Shema
‘, the
‘Amidah
and the various
benedictions
.

 
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(1874–1948).
Russian philosopher. Originally a sceptic with Marxist sympathies, he embraced
Orthodoxy
after the revolution of 1905, and from 1922 lived as an
émigré
in Paris. His religious philosophy was deeply influenced by
Dostoevsky
and also
Boehme
. There is thus a
gnostic
tinge to his philosophy, which attracted the suspicion of the Orthodox hierarchy.

 
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(Heb., ‘in the beginning’): see
GENESIS
.

 
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(Heb., ‘covenant’): see
COVENANT
.

 
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Berkowits, E.
(Jewish writer)
:

see
HOLOCAUST (3)
.

 
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1817–93).
Jewish
Talmudic
scholar. From 1854, he was head of the
yeshivah
at Volozhin which became the spiritual centre of Russian Jewry. Ultimately he was exiled by the Russian authorities and the yeshivah was closed.
His son, Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan), 1880–1949, was prominent in religious Zionism, and became a leader in the
Mizra
i
movement, first in Berlin, then (1915–26) in the USA. From 1926 he settled in Palestine, where he was involved in initiating the Talmud Encyclopedia. The Orthodox university, Bar-Ilan, was established in 1955 to honour his memory.