Camel Camondo

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

520

gained the position of senior wrangler, the highest war; in Isa. xxi. 7, camel-riders were part of the mathematical triumph a student can obtain, and by force of the Elamites. The Israelites were forbidden this means helped to pass the University Tests Act to eat the camel (Lev. xi. 4; Deut. xiv. 7; see Bowhich allowed Jews to take their degrees. Many chart, " Hierozoicon," i. 11); it was the opinion of Jewish students have obtained considerable distinc- the Arabs that Jacob forbade it as food because tion in the colleges and universities. Israel Abra- it produced sciatica. As in Arabic, so also in > hams is now (1902) reader in Rabbinic in the univer- Hebrew, the expressions " beker" (133, Isa. lx. C sity. There is a small congregation in the town, and " bikrah " (m33, Jer. ii. 23) denote the young, vigorous animals. In the first passage Targ. Yer. which has a meeting-hall. B I B L I O G R A P H Y : Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, pp. has 4, " hognin " (pJJin), a word that also in the Tal222, 374-375; Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, under the years mud and in Arabic means a young camel; in the 1215, 1224, 1200; Baker, Histom of St. John's College, pp. second passage tip)> must, according to Bochart, be 28-27. changed to npNJ. which in the Talmud and in Arabic J. CAMEL: The well-known ruminant, native in means the female camel (see "'Aruk,"ed. Kohut, Asia and Africa. The word " camel" (Hebrew, ^DJ, v. 378). The swift camel, or the dromedary, is called gamal) is the same in the Assyrian, Samaritan, Ara- in the Talmud (Mace. 5a; Yeb. 110a) the "flying"' maic, Syriac, Arabic, Egyptian, and Ethiopic lan- camel. The camel is also subject to rabies (see the Talguages. Together with the knowledge of the animal, its name was introduced into Greek {itaiirjloc) andmud Ber. 50a). Hul. 59a speaks of the distinctive Latin (camelus), whence many modern languages teeth of the full-grown and of the young camel.

CAMELS LKD AS TRIBUTE TO SHALMANESER.

( F r o m the B l a c kO b e l i s k in the British M u s e u m . ) derived it (Hommel, " Die Namen der Saugetiere bei The fat hump of a camel that has never carried burden Sildsemitischen V01kern,"pp. 144-146, Leipsic, dens tastes like the meat itself (Mishnah and,Gem. 1879). Many passages of the Bible show that the Hul. 122a). Camel's hair was made into clothing camel was found especially among the peoples of (Shah. 27a); but it must not be mixed with sheep's the deserts bordering on the land of the Israelites wool (Mishnah Kil. ix. 1). John the Baptist was (Judges vi. 5, vii. 12; I Sam. xv. 3, xxvii. 9, xxx. clothed in a coarse garment of camel's hair (Matt. hi. 17; Jer. xlix. 29, 32; Isa. lx. 6). The camels of the 4; Marki. 6). Midianites were decorated with little golden cresOn the Sabbath it was forbidden to tie camcents (Judges viii. 21, 20). Camels constituted also els together, because of the workaday appearance part of the wealth of the Patriarchs (Gen. xii. 16, (Mishnah and Gem. Shab. 54a). Camel-drivers, xxiv. 10; specially Job i. 3, xlii. 12), who used them who often formed entire caravans (Mishnah Sanh. as beasts of burden; in riding, a sort of cushion was x. 5; B. B. 8a), are frequently mentioned together used (Gen. xxxi. 34). For swift riding dromedaries with mule-drivers; Abba Judan gave much of his were employed (Isa. lxvi. 20, ni"13"l3); in traveling time to his camels (Yer. Hor. iii. 48a). The Talmud across wide stretches of desert the treasures were shows great familiarity with the characteristics of packed upon the humps of camels (Isa. xxx. 6). the camel: it has a short tail because it eats thorns King David had a special officer over his camels, (Shab. 77b); it mates in a modest manner (Midr. on named Obil (I Chron. xxvii. 30; compare Arabic Gen. xxxii. 10); in rutting-time it becomes dangerabil). ous (Sanh. 37b; compare Jer. ii. 24, where the same Otherwise the camel is mentioned as a possession is said of the wild ass). The name " gamal" is also only in post-exilic times among the Israelites (Ezra supposed to signify etymologically that the animal ii. 67). In olden times the camel was also used in becomes easily enraged and is then vindictive.

521

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Camel Camondo

A number of Aramaic proverbs about the camel are found in the Talmud. For instance, " In Media the camel can dance on a bushel-basket" (Yeb. 45a), meaning that in Media everything is possible; "as the camel, so the burden " (Sotah 13b); " the camel

large gifts to several Italian philanthropic institutions, in recognition of which King Victor Emmanuel conferred upon him the title of count, with the privilege of transmitting it in perpetuity to the eldest son of the family. Count Camondo's career in Turkey was an extraordinary one. He exercised so great an influence over the sultans 'Abd al-Majid and 'Abd al-'Aziz, and over the Ottoman grand viziers and ministers, that his name became proverbial. He was banker to the Ottoman government before the founding of the Ottoman Bank. It was he who obtained from the Porte a firman by virtue of which the privilege of possessing real estate in Turkey, which until then had been restricted to'subjects of the Ottoman empire, was extended to those of foreign nations. Profiting by this decree, Camondo erected such a large number of houses at Pera (Constantinople) that even to-day (1902) the family is one of the richest landholders in the Ottoman capital. Camondo was especialty active in behalf of his Eastern coreligionists. He established at Constantinople a central consistory for the Jews of Turkey, of which he was almost continuously the president; he introduced reforms into the communal administration ; and he founded in 1858 an educational institution, the Institution Camondo, at Peri Pasha, the poorest and most densely populated suburb of T n x i ^ n m

! j

Camel on an Assyrian Cylinder. ( F r o mH o m m e l , "A u f s a t z eu n d Abhandlungen.") asked to have horns, so his ears were cut short" (Sanh. 106a); " there are many old camels who must bear the burdens of the young ones " (ib. 52a). It has been suggested that the word " camel" (nd/i>i^oc) in Matt. xix. 24; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25 does not mean a camel, but a rope; but in view of the Talmudic expression " elephant through a needle's eye " (Ber. 55b; B. M. 38b), this is not admissible. j. JR. S. KH. CAMONDO: Well-known family of Jewish financiers and philanthropists of Spanish-Portuguese origin. Several centuries ago it established itself at Venice, where some of its members became famous by their scholarship and by the services which they rendered to their adopted country. Figure of a Camel on a Monument (South Arabia). After having lived for a long time at Venice, the Camondo family in the nineteenth century estab( F r o mH o m m e l , " Aufsiltze u n d AbhandluDgen.") lished itself in Constantinople. the capital. Shops for tailoring and shoemaking Count Abraham. Camondo : Italian and Turk- were soon added. On account of this school its ishfinancierand philanthropist; born at Constanti- benevolent founder was excommunicated by certain nople 1785; died at Paris, his place of residence, fanatical rabbis, and he endured otherwise much March 30,1873. In 1832 he inherited from his brother vexation; yet it hasflourishedfor thirty-two years, Isaac (who died without children) a fortune, and and trained the majority of the Jewish officials now managed it so wisely that at his death he was esti- in the service of the Ottoman government. mated tobeworthl25,000,000irancs. While Venice Dying at Paris at the age of eighty-eight, Cawas under Austrian rule, he received as an Austrian mondo, according to his last wishes, was buried in subject the title of Chevalier of the Order of Francis his family vault in the Jewish cemetery at Haskeui Joseph. When Venice again became an Italian pos- (Constantinople). The Ottoman government held session, Camondo, as a Venetian citizen, presented memorial services in his honor.