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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

been connected with the ancient Oriental tradition

that NIMKOD, who is called in the Bible a hero and
mighty hunter, was fettered by God for his obstinacy .in building-the tower of Babel, and was set in
the sky (Winer, "B. R." ii. 157). It is possible that
the ancient Hebrews saw in this constellation the
figure of a man who was naturally regarded as extraordinarily tall and strong, exactly as the Greeks
named it "Orion," the Egyptians "Sahu," and the
ancient Hindus " Tricanka " (Schiaparelli, I.e.). The
Targum to Job xxxviii. 31 speaks of the "bands
which lead Orion." The Babylonian scribe and
physician Samuel (d. 257), wdio was celebrated also
as an astronomer, said: " If a comet should pass over
Orion the world would perish " (Bab. Ber. 58b; Yer.
Ber. 13c), and in the same passage of the Babylonian Talmud further declares that " if it were not
for the heat of Orion, the world could not exist on
account of the cold of the Pleiades; and if it were
not for the cold of the Pleiades, the world could not
exist on account of the heat of Orion." See JBW.

Origen
Orleans

'orlah, or kil'ayim, or food is seasoned with spices

made of the same ingredients ( 4-15); other
mixtures which are unlawful ( 16-17).
Ch. iii. : On garments dyed with dye made from
'orlah fruit ( 1-2); on garments partly woven from
the wool of afirstlingor the hair of a Nazarite ( 3);
on bread baked in an oven heated by the peelings
of 'orlah, and on food cooked on a hearth heated in
the same way (4-5); 'orlah and kil'ayim which
cause lawful things mixed with them to become
unlawful, although the latter constitute the larger
portion of the mixture ( 6-8); difference between
Palestine, Syria, and other countries with reference
to the laws regarding 'orlah and kil'ayim ( 9).
In the Tosefta the treatise 'Orlah stands fourth in
the order Zera'im, and consists of a single chapter.
In the Palestinian Gemara to this treatise the several
mishnayot are explained, and new regulations regarding 'orlah are added. Especially noteworthy is
the passage i. 2, which states that K. Ishmael, by
explaining the difference in wording between Num.
ENCYC. ii. 246a, 250b, s.v. ASTKONOMY.
xv. 18, and Lev. xix. 23, and deducing a law thereBIBLIOGRAPHY : Hamburger, R. B. T. ii. 80 et seq.; Hastings,from (Sifre, Num. 110 [ed. Friedmann, p. 31a]), vioDiet. Bible, iii. 632; Kohut, Arueh Completum, iii. 312a,
iv.the principle which he had enunciated elselated
220b; Griinbaum, Uesammelte Aufsiitze zur Sprtwh- und
where to the effect that different expressions if they
Sagenkunde, pp. 65 et seq., Berlin, 1901; Schiaparelli, L'Astronomia nelV Antico Tesiamento, Milan, 1903.
have the same meaning may not be explained in such
E. c.
L. B.
a manner as to permit of the deduction of different
'ORLAH ("Foreskin" [of the trees]): Name of laws.
a treatise in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Yerushalmi,
w. ii.
J. Z. L.
devoted to a consideration of the law, found in Lev.
ORLEANS (E>J^-|1X or B>J"f>T)K) : Chief city of
xix. 23-25, which ordains that the fruit of a newly the department of Loiret, France. Its Jewish complanted tree shall be regarded as " 'orlah " (A. V. " un- munity dates from the sixth century. The various
ci rcumcised ") for thefirstthree years, and that there- councils which met at that time in the city enacted
fore it may not be eaten. This treatise is the tenth special laws against the Jews. In 533 the second
in the mishnaic order Zera'im, and is divided into Council of Orleans forbade marriages between Jews
three chapters, containing thirty-five paragraphs and Christians, under pain of excommunication of
in all.
the latter; and the third, in 538, forbade Christians
Ch. i.: The conditions which exempt trees frnm to permit Jews to act as judges, and prohibited the
or subject them to the law of 'orlah ( 1-5); mix- Jews from appearing in public between Maundy
ing of young shoots of 'orlah or "kil'ayim" with Thursday and-Easter Mondaj', also interdicting the
other young shoots ( C); parts of the tree which are clergy from eating witli them. The fourth council
not considered fruit, such as leaves, blossoms, and decided, in 541, that any Jew who should make a
sap, and which are tnerefore not forbidden, either convert, or should induce one of his former coreligas 'orlah in the case of a young tree, or to the Naza- ionists to return to Judaism, or who should approrite in the case of the vine; it is noted in passing, priate a'Christian slave, or should induce a Christian
however, that in the case of a tree dedicated to idol- to embrace Judaism, should be punished by the loss
atry (the ASHEBAH) the use of these parts in any of all his slaves; if, on the other hand, a Christian
way is likewise forbidden ( 7); the parts which are became a Jew, and gained his liberty on condition
considered fruit in reference to 'orlah, but not in of adhering to the Jewish faith, that such terms
reference to "reba'i" (the fourth year); so that, al- should be invalid; for it would not be just for a
though these parts may not be eaten during the first Christian convert to Judaism to enjoy freedom.
three years, it is not obligatory to take them to
When Gontran, King of Burgundy, made his
Jerusalem in the fourth year ( 8; comp. Lev. xix. entry into Orleans in 585, .Jews mingled in the
24); concerning the planting of 'orlah shoots ( 9). throng hailing his arrival with joyful acclamations.
Ch. ii.: On the mixing of oblations ("terumah"), They delivered a Hebrew address to him, but the
the priests' share ofthe dough ("hallah"), firstlings king received them with derision, saying: "Wo to
("bikkurim"), 'orlah, and kil'ayim with things this wicked and treacherous Jewish nation, full of
which may ordinarily be eaten; the quantity of knavery and deceit! They overwhelm mo with
ordinary things which renders a mixture lawful in noisy flatteries to-day; all peoples, they say, should
spite of the intermingling of unlawful things ( 1); adore me as their lord; yet all this is but to induce
unlawful things which nullify one another when two me to rebuild at the public expense their S3'nagogue,
or more of them are mixed with lawful things, and long since destroyed. This I will never do; for God
those which are added together, so that a larger forbids it."
quantity of lawful things must be in the mixture
At the beginning of the eleventh century the reif it is to be eaten ( 2-3); cases in which ordinary port spread through Europe that the calif Hakim
dough is leavened with leaven made of oblations, Bi-Amr Allah had destroyed the Church of the Holy

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