505

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

where he became editor of" Der Volksadvokat." In

1891 he removed to Philadelphia, became connected
there with the "Jiidische Presse," and, in 1892,
with the "Volkswachter" (as editor and publisher).
Returning to New York, he has been, since 1893,
editor of the "Jiidisches Tageblatt" and of the
"Jiidische Gazetten," which he has mad!) the most
widely circulated Jewish paperin the world. Paley
is the autl10r of: "The Russian Nihilist" and "Life
in New York" (dramas); "Die Schwarze Chevrnh ";
"Uriel Acosta"; "Mysteries of the East Side" ;
"The Erev Rav'"; "' Yiehus und Verbrechen "; "Das
Leben in New York"; etc.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

American Jewfah Year Book, 5665 (1904-5).

F. T. H.

J.

PALGRAVE (COHEN), SIR FRANCIS:

English historian; born in London ,July, 1788; died
there July 6, 1861; son of Meyer Cohen, a member
of the London Stock Exchange. He was an infant
prodigy. At the age of eight he made a translation
of Homer's" Battle of the Frogs" into French, which
was published by his father (London, 1796). In
1823 he changed his name, by royal permission, to
Palgrave, and married a daughter of Dawson Turner, the historian. He was trained as a solicitor,
but, having embraced Christianity, was called to
the bar in 1827, devoting himself to pedigree cases.
He had previously shown great interest in the records, drawing up an elaborate plan for their publication; this was approved by the Royal Commission, for which he edited many volumes of records
during the decade 1827-37. In 1832 he published
"The Rise and Progress of the Englii:;h Commonwealth," which is generally regarded as the earliest
important study of English constitutional history
founded on the records. He was knighted in that
year, and in 1838 became deputy keeper of Her
Majesty's records, in which capacity h~ issu,ed
twenty-two annual reports of great historic value.
His most important work is "A History of Normandy and England,'' 4 vols., London, 1851-63.

Palgrave had four sons, each of whom attained

distinction of various kinds: Francis Turner Palgrave (1824--1902), editor of "Golden Treasury of
English Songs and Lyrics," and professor of poetry
at Oxford; William Gifford Palgrave (1826-88),
Eastern traveler, and author of" A Year's Journey
Through Central and Eastern Arabia" (London,
1865), and other works; Robert Harry Inglis
Palgrave (b. 1827). editor of "The Dictionary of
Political Economy"; and Sir Reginald Francis
Douce Palgrave (1829-1903), clerk of the House of
Com mops.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Gentleman's Maaazine, 1861, part ii., pp. 441-

445; Diet. Nat. Biog.

J.

PALITSCHINETZKI, JOSEPH HIRSH:

Biblical scholar; born 1805; died at Berdychev Feb.
27, 1886. He was instructor in the Bible in the rabbinical seminary at Jitomir until its close, and was
an assiduous student throughout his life. Palitschinetzki was the author of "J>:era Mil~ra" (Jitomir.
1874), on Biblical Hebrew and various other Biblical
subjects. In this work, as well as in his articles
contributed to different periodicals, he evinces a

Palestine, Laws and Customs

Palm

wide knowledge of the Hebrew language and literature.

Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 491: Rabblno.vlch, Keneset Y israel, I., col. 1121 : Sokolow, Sefer ha.Shanah, 1. 70 ; idem, In Ha-.Asif, Ill. 119.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

A. s. w.
PALM (Phmnix dactylifera): An evergreen tree
growing in tropical climates in a dry atmosphere.
The term for it, common to the Aramaic, Ethiopic,
and Hebrew, is "tamar" (iDn). The Arabic
"tamr" means more particularly the fruit of the
date-palm. The Aramaic has also the name "dil}la,"
and a feminine form, "dil~leta" (see Jastrow,
"Diet." s.v.). The stem of the date-palm is slender and very yielding, so that in a storm it sways
back and forth, but does not break; and throughout its length it bears marks showing where leaves
have fallen off. The tree is crowned by a mass
of branches from 40 to 80 in number, and on
these the fruit grows. There are distinct male and
female trees-hence the masculine and feminine
forms of the name in Aramaic-and artificial fertilization is necessary. The Assyrian monuments show
figures of a god having a pail in one hand, and with
the other spreading the pollen on palms.
When the fruit begins to grow it bas a green
color, which gradually changes, through yellow and
red, until it becomes quite dark; it hangs in bunches
from the stalk. The date-palm relies for nourishment upon its roots, which strike downward and
reach water under the soil; if this fails, irrigation
must be resorted to. Especially interesting in this
light. are the Babylonian contract tablets. From
these it is learned that trenches were dug around
the palms, so as to supply water to the roots. From
the tablets it is clear also that dates were used quite
frequently in payment of rent and of all kinds of
debts (sec "Babylonian Expedition of University of
Pennsylvania," ix.).
The tree was very plentiful in Palestine in ancient times, but now is found only at the Lake of
Gennesaret, near Jericho, and around the Dead Sea
(Nowack, "Lehrbuch der Hebraischen Archaologie,"
i. 62). At Elim (Ex. xv. 27; Num. xxxiii. 9) there
were seventy palms growing around the springs.
The date-palm was put to many uses. The fruit
was used for foocl, and from it a clrink was distilled.
The leaves were used as a roof-covering; the stem,
for building purposes and for fuel. Parts of the
stalk were used to weave ropes. From the better
quality of dates, according to Josephus ("B. J." iv.
8,""-3):a kind of honey was pressed: this was also
known to the Talmudic writers (Low, "Aram1iische
Pflanzenuamen," p. 124).
The qualities of the date-palm are referred to
quite frequently in a figurative sense in the poetical
books of the Bible. Together with another evergreen tree, the cedar, it is used to typify the prosperity of the righteous man (Ps. xcii. 13). Its tall,
slender, graceful, mobile stalk symbolizes the beautiful female figure (Cant. vii. 8, 9). In Joel (i. 12)
the date-palm is spoken of as languishing.
In the Temple service, branches of the date-palm
were used at the Feast of Booths (Lev. xxiii. 40;
Neh. viii. 15). A palm design was used as a decoration in the Temple of Solomon (I Kings vi. 29)
H. R.

Palma
Paltiel

!,I

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

and in the plan of Ezekiel's Temple (Ezek. xl., passim). A coin struck by Jaddua has on it the figure of the date-palm (De Saulcy, "Numismatique
Juive," plate 1, fig. 6). Several names in the Bible
give evidence of the plentifulness of the palm.
Jericho is called "the city of palm-trees" (Deut.
xxxiv. 3; Judges i. 16, iii. 13; II Chron. xxviii. 1/'i).
"Tamar" occurs in Ezek. xl vii. 19; and two other
place-names have the word as an element, viz.,
"Hazazon-tamar" (II Chron. xx. 2) and "Baaltamar" (Judges xx. 33); perhaps "Tadmor" (II
Chron. viii. 4) also. Three women bear the name
"Tamar" (Gen. xxxviii. 6; II Sam. xiii. 1, xiv.
27). linder a palm-tree Deborah sat and judged
Israel; and on this account it was called "the palmtree of Deborah" (Judges iv. 5; but see DEBORAH,
the nurse of Rebekah). For the part this tree played
in early Semitic civilization, see Barton, "Semitic
Origins," Index, s.v. "Palm," 1901. The Misbnah
(see L5w, l.o. pp. 109-125) mentions three kinds of
dates.
E. G. H.
G. B. L.
PALMA : Capital of the Spanish island of Majorca. As early as the Moorish period Jews were
living in Almudayna, the most populous part of the
city, which was surrounded by walls and contained
the "Castell dels J ueus," the Jews' castle. About
1290 Alfonso III. or James II. assigned them a special ghetto, surrounded by walls with gates for their
own protection. It was situated in the De Calatrava quarter in the parish of Santa Eulalia, and
com prised the Calle de Monte Si on and "el Calle,"
or the .Tews' street proper. In 1318 Sancho I.
granted the ,Jews, at their own request, this ghetto
as their habitation for all time. With the permission
of the king, the Jews had built a fine synagogue,
but it was hardly completed, in-1314, when Sancho
I. took it from them by way of punishment, and
converted it into the Church of Santa Fe. In 1331
James III. permitted them to build a new but plain
synagogue(" casa de oracion ")or school (" escucla ")
in the street in which their cemetery was situate<l,
and they gave a mortgage on this building, which
had not been entirely paid off in 1380. In addition
to this synagogue t-hern were two smaller ones,
situated between the churches of Santa Fe, Santa
Bartolome, and Santa Misericonlia.
The Jews, to whom James I., conqueror of the
Balearic Isles, granted privileges which were abrogated and renewed by subsequent rulers, formed in
their aljama almost a state within a state. At its
hean were five representatives, callen "secretarii"
or "reginores," a treasurer (" tesorero "),and a council consisting of eight, and at times of more, persons,
who were elected, according to an old privilege, by
the Jews themselves, and were confirmed hy the
king. Sancho I., after abrogating in 1314 all the
privileges granten the Jews, meddled with their
internal affairs also, and arbitrarily appointed acertain Astruc b, Nono as secretary or representative.
The other representatives protested l:o Sancho's
successor, whereupon the right of free election was
restored to the Jews ("Boletin Aca<l. Jlist." xxxvi.
197, No. 45). Only honorable and independent men
were eligible as "sccrctarii"; physicians, brokers,
and all persons who sought to gain office by influ-

506

ence or other unfair means being excluded. The

number of the members of the council varied. In
1374 the aljama consisted of thirty persons; but,
since disputes and di visions often arose among them,
a royal decree was issued on Jan. 24 of that year to
the effect that the oldest and wealthiest taxpayers
fll10uld have seats in it (ib. ~os. 71, 91). The representatives of the aljama had the right to make
statutes and to issue regulations, which all its members had to obey implicitly. The men and women
of the community were forbidden to buy or to wear
garments of more expensive material than did the
secretaries, and the council prohibited extravagant
celebrations of betrothals and weddings. The secretaries and the council constituted a court of morals,
and had the right to fine and, if necessary, to excommunicate refractory members (necree of Sept. 17,
1319, ib. No. 30). Any Jew or Jewess who dared to
revile the secretaries or the council was to be punished with perpetual banishment from the island,
and any one who returned in defiance of such a sentence was to have the right foot cut off (ib. Nos.
27, 61).
One of the most important tasks of the secretaries
or representatives of the "Calle Juich," as the aljama of Palma was called, was the regulation of the
taxes. They drafted a "Constitution," which was
approved and confirmed by the king in 1318. All
Jews over fifteen years of age, all Jewesses living
independently, all strangers remaining for a month,
and all foreign merchants doing business in the city
for a year were subject to taxation. Each .Tew and
Jewess had to pay a certain tax, according to values,
on every pound of flour or meat consumed, on every
garment, on every purchase or sale, and on every
house or lodging leased (ib. pp. 250 et seq.). The
method of taxation was as follows: the governor
appointed a committee of 51 persons, 17 from each
of the three classes, and this body chose from each
section one person in whom it had complete confidence. Each of these three commissioners was then
obliged to take a solemn pledge before the governor
that he would ma)w the appraisements without fear
or favor, according to the best of his knowledge and
belief. The names of the members of the aljama
were then given to each of the commissioners for
appraisement, and according to their valuation the
taxes were apportioned by the governor and announced to the secretaries (ib. No. 106). The division of the money for the poor was undertaken with
the assistance of eight of the wealthiest taxpayers
of the community. The following representatives
of the aljama are mentioned between 1318 and 1390:
Abraham Malaqui, Astrnc b. Nono, Isaac b. Aaron,
l,Iayyim Cohen, Juce Barqui, Vital Cresques, Moximus Nat.jar, Solomon Jono, Solomon Susan, Bionc
del Mestre, Maimon Xullell, Magaluf Natjar, Mahnluf Feraig, Bonsenior Gracia, and others.
The Jews of Palma were undisturbed in their
They were allowed to
religious obsenances.
slaughter according to their own ritual in the Christian slaughter-house, while, by an agreement made
with the representatives of the aljama in 1344, Christian butchers solrl. kashcr meat for one dinar a pound
more than other meat (ib. :N'o. 55). The Jews took
the oath on the Pentateuch, without the curses in