Yule

This word, in various spellings, means a loosely defined midwinter period (not a single day) in the early languages of most Germanic and Scandinavian countries. Bede, writing of pagan England, mentions two months, 'early Yule' and 'later Yule', corresponding to Roman December and January; after the Conversion, 'Yule' was narrowed to mean either the Nativity (25 December), or the twelve days of festivity beginning on this date. The word *Christmas replaced 'Yule' in most of England in the 11th century, but not in north-eastern areas of Danish settlement, where it survived strongly till modern times as the normal dialect term for Christmas. Nineteenth-century writers took up the word as a way of denoting the 'Christmas of olden times', with its lavish food and secular jollity, situated in a largely invented *'Merrie England'.

   The medieval liking for pageantry and symbolism sometimes led to Yule being impersonated (cf. *Father Christmas). In 1572 the Archbishop of York ordered the Mayor and Aldermen to suppress an annual parade on St Thomas's Day (21 December) called 'The Riding of Yule and his Wife', because it drew 'great concourses of people' away from church-going, and involved disguising. The man representing Yule carried a shoulder of lamb and a large cake of fine bread; he was accompanied by his 'wife', carrying a distaff, and by attendants who threw nuts to the crowd (Duffy, 1992: 581-2).

The Yule Log (or Clog, or Christmas Block) is mentioned in folklore collections from most parts of England, but especially the West Country and the North. It would be the largest piece of wood which could fit on the family hearth, and was usually brought in on Christmas Eve with some ceremony, and put on the fire that evening; many writers, including *Herrick, say it was kindled with a fragment kept from the previous year's log (Hesperides (1648), no. 785; N&Q 11s:1 (1910), 129-30). It was also generally believed that it would be very unlucky for the family if the log was allowed to go out on Christmas Day. It is not clear when the custom arose, since the first definite references are only from the 17th century, for example Aubrey's 'In the West-riding of Yorkshire on Christmas Eve at night they bring in a large Yule-log, or Christmas block, and set it on fire and lap their Christmas ale and sing "Yule, Yule, a pack of new cards and a Christmas stool"' (Aubrey, 1686/1880: 134). Victorian illustrations of a medieval Christmas often show several men hauling huge trees or stumps in with ropes, but the antiquity of the word 'Yule' cannot prove the custom's age.

       The Yule Log

Less well known is the custom of lighting a Yule candle on Christmas Eve, first recorded by this name in 1817. These were taller than usual candles ('half a yard in length'), and there was a tradition of chandlers and grocers giving them to their regular customers. The custom is reported chiefly from the north of the country, but its wider range is indicated by Parson Woodeforde's diary entries, in Norfolk, such as: 'I lighted my large wax-candle being Xmas day during tea-time this afternoon for abt. an hour' (25 December 1790). The pre-Reformation Church made a particular feature of candles at Christmas, and strong connections between the season and candles persist to this day. It was thought unlucky to light the Yule candle before dusk on Christmas Eve, and once alight it was not moved. As with the log, a small piece was kept 'for luck' in the coming year (Wright and Lones 1940: iii. 215; Opie and Tatem, 1989: 75).

A Dictionary of English folklore. Jacqueline Simpson & Steve Roud. 2014.

Hydraulic Locks

a hydraulic engineering installation that is located between bodies of water with different levels and through which vessels or rafts pass. Locks are built on canals, at hydraulic

Figure 1. Diagrams of a single lock: (1) approach canal, (2) lock chamber, (3) upstream end, (4) downstream end, (5) filling and emptying system, (6) gate, (7) docks, (8) guiding dolphins, (9) a bridge; (Ie) chamber length, (bc) chamber width, (L) lift, (LHP) level of the higher pool, (LLP) level of the lower pool

engineering complexes on rivers, and in seaports whose water area experiences large-amplitude tides.

A sketch of a lock was discovered in the papers of Leonardo da Vinci. Locks were first built in Western Europe in the 16th century and in Russia—on the Vyshnii Volok Water System—in the 18th century. In the USSR, many large locks have been constructed on numerous navigation canals, at reservoirs, and at hydraulic engineering complexes on the Volkhov, Dnieper, Svir’, Volga, and Kama rivers. A substantial number of large locks have been built in Western Europe and in the USA, for example, on the Ohio, Mississippi, and St. Lawrence rivers.

Figure 2. Da Vinci Meter Lock

Figure 3.Tveretsky Canal from the bridge at the mouth of the canal in the Vyshny Volochyok Reservoir.

Figure 4.Mississippi River Lock and Dam No. 16, Illinois, USA

A lock (Figure 1) consists of chambers, ends, and approaches. A lock chamber, in which vessels to be raised or lowered are held, is formed by two longitudinal walls and a floor. As a rule, the walls and floor are made of reinforced concrete. The chamber is sealed by metal gates located within the upstream and downstream ends. According to the number of successive chambers in a lock, a distinction is made between single locks and flights of locks. The number of chambers in a lock depends on the magnitude of the change in water level and on the relief of the terrain. To increase the traffic capacity of a lock, two or more lanes of chambers are built in tandem.

The main dimensions of lock chambers—that is, their length and width—are chosen when a lock is designed. They depend on the category of the waterway, the amount of freight expected to be handled on the waterway, and the size of the largest vessel, train, or convoy the lock is designed to accommodate at one time. The chambers of the largest locks are up to 33 m wide, up to 400 m long, and—in locks in seaports—from 5 to 15 m deep at the sea entrance. Lock chambers are filled or emptied in a prescribed time, from 5 to 15 min, by means of filling or emptying valves and a culvert system.

The ends of a lock are usually massive headworks. In addition to gates, which maintain the difference in water levels and permit vessels to pass through when the levels of adjacent pools are equalized, the ends contain sluice culverts, equipment for eliminating water turbulence, repair and emergency booms, equipment control mechanisms, and automatic control systems. The approaches to a lock’s upstream and downstream ends comprise canals for sectors of a water area that contain both berthing facilities and facilities for mooring ships waiting to be locked and guiding structures for the safe entry of vessels into the lock.

Cite: The Great Soviet Encyclopedia 3rd Edition (1970-1979)

Jews of Marseille[ Massalia]

    Driving school of Celeste and Raoul Becca, Marseilles, c. 1938

The Oster Documentation Center, ANU – Museum of the Jewish People.

Courtesy of Elise Cohen-Jonathan

The earliest recorded presence of Jews in Marseilles can be traced to the sixth century. In 574 there was a sufficient number to provide asylum for the Jews who fled from clermont-ferrand to escape the coercive measures by Bishop avitus to convert them. In 591 Bishop Theodore of Marseilles also attempted to compel the Jews of the town to accept baptism, but Pope gregory i intervened in their favor. Although scant information is available on the Jews of Marseilles during the early Middle Ages, the importance of their settlement there is confirmed by the names of sites alluding to them. At the close of the tenth century there is mention of a valle Judaica in an area of fields and vineyards and at the end of the 11th century, of a vineyard named rua Judaica. During the 12th century, the Jews formed two communities; one in the upper part of the town, which was under the jurisdiction of the bishop; the other in the lower town, which belonged to the viscount. Both communities were placed under the authority of the bishop. (It was this right which Frederick I Barbarossa ratified for Bishop Peter in 1164.) The two communities are mentioned by the traveler benjamin of tudela , who also indicates that the yeshivot and the scholars were established in the upper town. As might be expected, the merchants settled in the lower part in the vicinity of the port. There they traded with Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, and Italy, dealing mainly in wood, spices, textiles, metals, pharmaceutics, various products for dyeing, and slaves. Commercial partnerships with Christians were very common. They rarely engaged in moneylending, although toward the end of the 12th century they did advance loans to the Monastery of Saint Victor and to the squire of Trets. In 1257 the statutes of Marseilles granted Jews the status of citizens. Nevertheless they were subject to some important restrictions. Jews were prohibited from working in public on Christian festivals, or from taking an oath in a lawsuit against Christians, and no more than four Jews were allowed to embark on a ship bound for Egypt. By at least the middle of the 14th century, all the Jews of the town had united into a single community, led by three officers who administered the schools, the three synagogues, the almshouse, and the mikveh. In the 14th century, Jews were granted equality with other citizens of Marseilles, yet they continued to have special privileges. Thus, although it was forbidden for all other citizens to sell flour in any place but on the bridge, a municipal ordinance of 1359 authorized Jews to sell or buy flour for unleavened bread (maẓẓot) in the Jewish quarter. Similarly, an ordinance issued in 1363 stipulated that whereas all other inhabitants were to sweep the street before their houses on Saturday, Jews were permitted to do so on Friday. Finally, in 1387 Jews were exempted on evenings of Jewish festivals from the general obligation to walk about with a lamp after curfew. Although they lived in an international trading port, the Jewish population remained relatively stable. For much of the Middle Ages, new arrivals in the town constituted little more than 10% of the population. (An important exception was in 1351, after an influx caused by the black death persecutions, when the percentage of new arrivals in the community

 reached 30%.) Although Jews did not generally participate in the maritime trade, limiting their transactions mainly to Spain, they were well represented in the town's urban commercial life, many of them acting as brokers. The Jewish surname Sabonarius has led to the belief that it was the Jews who introduced the soap industry to Marseilles. They had a virtual monopoly over coral craftsmanship, although those engaged in this occupation made very little money. Poorly off, too, were the Jews who earned their livelihood as laborers, porters, stonecutters, and tailors. Since they dealt only in small sums, even Jewish moneylenders were not noticeably wealthy .

Jews did, however, distinguish themselves in the medical field, the number of Jewish physicians in the town often exceeding that of their Christian colleagues. During the 15th century, Jewish economic life experienced a setback and economic activity was reduced to the retail trade, mainly the sale of wheat and textiles. Jews also suffered more than the rest of the population when the town was plundered by the Aragonese in 1423. Most of them became impoverished, and struggled to recover economically. Late in 1484 and early in 1485, shortly after the incorporation of provence into France (1481), the Jewish quarter of Marseilles was attacked. In the wake of plunder, destruction, and murder, the Jews of Marseilles began to flee. In 1486, however, the municipal council curbed their emigration and drew up an inventory of their belongings. The ensuing period is marked by severe upheavals in the composition of the community, as reflected in the extant lists of the heads of families; at least one half of the community's members were relatively new arrivals. Jews from Spain began to arrive in large numbers, particularly after 1491. Many shipowners in Marseilles amassed fortunes as a result of their expulsion in 1492. Spanish Jews hired vessels at exorbitant prices to transport them to Italy and Constantinople, and many of these ships called at the port of Marseilles. At times, the exiles attempted to remain in the city without the authorization of the municipal council. A general expulsion order for Provence was issued in 1500 and enforced in 1492. For about 20 years, conversions increased considerably as great numbers of Jews chose baptism to evade expulsion. The 12th-century Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela refers to Marseilles as a "town of learned men and scholars." Among those he mentions is R. isaac b. abba mari of Marseilles, a renowned commentator and author of prayers. Several members of the ibn tibbon family also lived in Marseilles, or were born there. (Records of a rabbinical lawsuit in this family about 1250 mention family relationships and marriages between the Jews of Marseilles and those of naples , aix-en-provence , and montpellier .) nissim b. moses of marseilles was the author of a commentary – which some regard as "almost rationalist" – on the Pentateuch, entitled Sefer ha-Nissim or Ma'aseh Nissim. Samuel b. Judah ha-Marsili (also known as Miles Bonjudas), born in Marseilles in 1294, translated several philosophical and scientific works from Arabic into Hebrew. Other scholars born in the city include Judah b. David (also known as Bonjudas Bendavi or Maestre Bonjua), a talmudist and physician of the late 14th/early 15th century, and the talmudist and commentator jacob b. david provencal (second half of the 15th century), both of whom emigrated to Italy.

 "Guida dei perplessi" di Maimonide, tradotta in ebraico da Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon; in una copia eseguita a Barcellona nel 1348

Bibliography 

Guide du Judaîsme français (1987), 39; Jewish Travel Guide (2002), 71. (Bernhard Blumenkranz / David Weinberg (2nd ed.)

Source: Encyclopedia Judaica 1971