SINAITIC LAWS

In the actual confession of sin, Ps. 106:6 is followed; the formula "hatanu, 'avinu, pashanu-we have sinned, we have done iniquitously, we have dealt wickedness," is taken from the Psalmist. This order was followed by the high priests in the ancient Temple (Yoma 36b), and it is used by the individual worshipper to this day. In the traditional confessional on the Day of Atonement (Singer, S., and Abrahams, I., The Authorised Daily Prayer Book, p. 258 et seq.) an exaggerated number of sins is listed. The acrostical form shows that the liturgist assumes poetic license, for even the most blameless saint is expected to ask forgiveness for sins of which he never could have been guilty. In the concluding section (p. 262) reference is made to violations of positive (sins of omission) and negative commands (sins of commission).

While sin affects the spiritual condition of the whole world (Midrash Eccl. 10:1), its greatest effect is on man himself (Sotah 32ab). It first enters man as the spirit of folly. In the course of time man comes under its sway, growing more and more callous. At first it is like a spider's web, then it becomes like a wagon rope. This folly is at first only a passer-by, then a visitor, then it becomes man's master. Hence it is said: "One sin brings another in its train" (Aboth 4:2). Sin thus enslaves him who is free. Proof is often cited from the book of Job (35:1-8) that God is not affected by man's wrongdoing, but that man bears the full consequences. This spirit of folly which causes man to sin is called the Yetzer Hara, the inclination to do evil. At times rabbinic statements seem to imply that this force has separate existence (B.B. 16b).

Simeon ben Lakish said: "Satan, the Yetzer [Hara] and the angel of death are one and the same." However, it is likely that the rabbis spoke only figuratively. Usually they refer to the Yetzer Hara as a purely subjective force, which is not altogether evil. Without it man would not marry, beget children, build a home or engage in commerce (Midrash Gen. 9:7). Therefore it derives its nature, whether it be good or evil, from the use which man makes of it. It may become the motivation for adultery or for wholesome family life, depending on man's power to master the desires of his own heart. This point of view is constant in Jewish literature and in the liturgy of the people of Israel. See also ORIGINAL SIN.

a

ABRAHAM SHUSTERMAN.

Lit.: Schechter, Solomon, Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology; Baeck, Leo, The Essence of Judaism; Kohler, Kaufmann, Jewish Theology; Büchler, Adolf, Studies in Sin and Atonement (1928).

SIN (a letter of the Hebrew alphabet), see ALPHA

BET.

SIN-OFFERING, see SACRIFICE.

SIN, ORIGINAL, see ORIGINAL SIN.
SINA, IBN, see AVICENNA.

SINAI, the most usual name in the Bible for the sacred mountain from which the Ten Commandments were revealed (Ex. 19 and 20). The term Horeb appears elsewhere, and it is evident that Horeb and Sinai are merely variant terms for the same mountain. According to Bible critics, Sinai is preferred by the J and P sources, Horeb by E and D. The origin of the name is uncertain, some connecting it with the moon-god Sin, others with the thornbush (seneh). There is apparently no Jewish tradition as to the location of Sinai; Christian tradition, which can be traced back as far as the 4th cent., identifies it with the range of mountains in what is now known as the Sinai Peninsula, between Arabia and Egypt. Hence

The traditional Mount Sinai

various travelers have suggested Jebel Musa or Jebel Serbal as being Sinai, and this has been followed by many writers. However, this identification is untenable. On the one hand, this part of the peninsula was the scene of extensive mining operations on the part of the Egyptians, so that it is unlikely that the Israelites would have ventured thither. On the other, passages in the Bible practically equate Sinai with the mountains of Seir, in the country of the Edomites, south of Palestine (see Deut. 33:2; Judges 5:4-5). Furthermore, it was near enough to Midian for Moses to reach it in leading his flocks (Ex. 3:1) and but three marches from Canaan (Num. 10:33). Hence the location of Sinai is apparently in Seir, and probably not far from Kadesh.

In 1904 to 1905 Flinders Petrie found interesting alphabetic inscriptions in the region of the traditional Sinai. These Sinai inscriptions have been studied by scholars from 1916 on, and have been shown to be the earliest form of the alphabet. Grimme's attempt to read them as inscriptions of Moses has been rejected by scholars. See ALPHABET.

Lit.: The Biblical dictionaries; Eckenstein, A., A History of Sinai; Baedeker, Palestine and Syria.

SINAI, NATHAN, university professor, b. Stockton, California, 1894. He received the degree of Doctor of Public Health from the University of Michigan (1926) and was appointed there associate professor in 1929, full professor in 1932, and was still holding this position in 1943. He was a consultant of the United States Public Health Service.

His published writings include A Survey of the Medical Facilities of San Joaquin County, California (1931); A Sur vey of the Medical Facilities of Philadelphia (with A. B. Mills, 1931); A Study of Physicians and Dentists in Detroit (with A. B. Mills, 1931); The Way of Health Insurance (with A. M. Simons, 1932); The Incidence of Illness and the Receipt and Costs of Medical Care (with I. S. Falk and M. Klem, 1933); Medical Relief Administration, Essex County, Ontario (1937); Medical Relief in Michigan (with M. Hall, V. Hogue and M. Steep, 1938), and Medical Relief Administration (with M. Hall and R. E. Holmes, 1939). He also compiled the report of the survey of medical services and health agencies in Michigan (1933).

SINAITIC LAWS (halachah lemosheh misinai). Approximately forty laws are described in Talmudic literature as "special traditions revealed to Moses on Sinai." The Sinaitic laws pertain mainly to weights and measures, phylacteries, directions to scribes, and agriculture. In addition, there are six laws introduced by the words be'emeth 'amru ("In truth it was said"), which the Talmud considers as Sinaitic laws (B.M. 60a). According to Maimonides (Introduction to his com

SINGER, CHARLES

mentary on the Mishnah, edit. Hamburger, 21-23-25), these Sinaitic laws are laws which can in no way be derived from, or related to, any passage in the Bible, and there can be no dispute as to their validity. A contrary opinion is expressed by Rashi and other scholars, who hold that most of the laws of the Talmud which are introduced by the formulas gemiri, gemara gemiri, hilchatha gemiri, halachah, de'oraitha and debar torah are also Sinaitic laws.

Nahman Krochmal, Zacharias Frankel and I. H. Weiss, as well as others, hold that those laws the origins of which were shrouded in obscurity were termed Sinaitic. Bacher pointed out that the term halachah lemosheh misinai was used mainly by the sages who were contemporaries of Rabban Gamaliel I (1st cent.), who sought to relate all oral traditions to the time of Moses.

See also ORAL LAW.

Lit.: Revel, Hirschel, Hamasoreth Besifre Harambam (1942); Tchernowitz, Chaim, Toledoth Hahalachah, vol. 1 (1934) 29-36.

SINGAPORE, capital of the island of Singapore, in British Malaya, with a total population of 500,000, including about 2,500 Jews (1940). The Jewish settlement dates from 1840, when a small number of Jews fled thither from Mesopotamia.

Religious service was held first in a rented house near the business quarter, in a street since known as Synagogue Street, but in 1878, when the community had increased through the further influx of Jews from Baghdad and India, the Moghein Aboth Synagogue was built in Waterloo Street through popular subscription. While the community numbered about twenty families in the middle of the 19th cent., it reached the number of 450 by 1900, the majority of whom were Sephardim from the Near East and from India, with a sprinkling of Russian refugees as well as of Jewish merchants from England, The Netherlands and China. The Sephardim, many of whom had established prosperous firms, dealt largely in opium, rice and gunny bags, while the business of the Ashkenazim was chiefly liquor, hotel keeping and furniture. When, subsequently, opium became outlawed as an article of trade, its place was taken by the business of rubber and tin and by banking.

An outstanding figure in the communal life of Singapore and a great philanthropist was Sir Manasseh Meyer (1846-1931), who came to the colony as an impecunious immigrant boy, became a leading merchant and a municipal commissioner, built a Talmud Torah and a new synagogue, Chesed El (1905), and founded the first Zionist society in Singapore-it was the first Zionist society in the whole Far East. His daughter, Mrs. Edward Nissim, became the leading spirit of the community after his death.

There existed a Jewish Women's League, a sports club and, temporarily, a magazine, The Israelite. The Singapore community contributed per capita a greater amount annually to the Palestine Foundation Fund than any other group in the world. Yet Israel Cohen and other visitors from Europe or the United States noticed the lack of interest in Jewish culture among the younger generation, which was completely Europeanized, and also a certain antipathy between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. The two synagogues, both Orthodox and following the Sephardic ritual, had the Bimah in the center rather than on the eastern side, and were lighted only by the Ner Tamid (perpetual lamp). A new burial ground was acquired in 1902.

A small Jewish community, established in 1895, existed also on the island of Penang, north of Singapore, on the west side of the Malay Peninsula; its members were removed to Singapore in December, 1941, where they shared the fate of the entire Jewish community when the island was occupied by the Japanese in February, 1942. ALFRED WERNER. Lit.: White, David, "Saying Mincha in Singapore,"

Philadelphia Jewish Times, April 3, 1931; Büchler, Walter, "The Jews of Singapore," B'nai B'rith Magazine, July, 1932; Becker, Charles Saxe, "Jews in Singapore," American Hebrew, Sept. 16, 1938; Jewish Chronicle (London), March 3, 1939, p. 29; Levi, Elias, "In the Outposts of Exile." Jewish Spectator, Sept., 1940; Cohen, Israel, The Journal of a Jewish Traveller (1925); Wischnitzer, Mark, Die Juden in der Welt (1935); "Jews in the Far East," Jewish Affairs, Jan., 1942.

SINGER, ÁBRAHÁM, rabbi and historian, place and date of birth unknown; d. Várpalota, Hungary, 1914. For many decades he ministered to the Jewish community of Várpalota, on whose history he published a volume. His other works include Paris, Braunschweig, Arad, sidelights on the history of Reform Judaism in Europe; Materialien zur Geschichte der Juden in Ungarn; Chronik der Juden in Ungarn; Hamadrich and Magyar Zsidó Levéltár, a collection of documents of Jewish interest.

His history of Hungarian rabbis and communities remained in manuscript. His son and successor in the rabbinate of Várpalota, Leó Singer, contributed to the periodical press many articles on the history of the Jews in Hungary and was a contributor to several Jewish encyclopedias.

SINGER, BERTHOLD, consul-general, jurist and educator, b. Jászberény, Hungary, 1860. He studied at the Universities of Budapest and Berlin and in 1884 came to the United States. He settled in Chicago where he became consul of Spain, Costa Rica and El Salvador, From 1899 on he was consul-general of Nicaragua at Chicago, and subsequently became consul-general of Costa-Rica and Turkey; he was still in those offices in 1943. Singer was the author of several works on international patent and trade mark law. In 1918 the Chicago Law School conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. Subsequently he became lecturer of international law and a member of the advisory board of De Paul University, Chicago. He was also a knight and commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic.

His published books include: Foreign Patents, Trade Marks and Designs (1903); United States and Foreign Copyright Laws (1907); Patent and Trade Mark Laws of the World (1911); Trade-Mark Laws of the World and Unfair Trade (1913); International Law (1918); Patent Laws of the World (5th ed. 1930).

SINGER, CHARLES, historian of medicine, b. London, 1876. He was the son of Simeon Singer. After studying in England and abroad, he became professor of the history of medicine at the University of London (University College). He was also university lecturer in the history of biological sciences at Oxford (1931-32), visiting professor of the history of science at the University of California, Herztein lec turer at Leland Stanford University, Goldwin Smith lecturer at Cornell University, Noguchi lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, Fitzpatrick lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians, visiting lecturer at the University of Birmingham, and physician to Dreadnought Hospital. Singer presided at the Third International Congress of the History of Medicine (1922) and at the Second International Congress of the History of Science and Technology (1931), both held in London. He was expert on Hebrew MS illustrations.

Singer's writings include: Studies in the History and Method of Science (Oxford, 1917-21); Greek Biology and Greek Medicine (1922); History of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood (London, 1923); The 1493 Venice Fasciculo di Medicina (Milan, 1924); The Evolution of Anatomy (1925); The Legacy of Israel (co-editor with Edwyn Robert Bevan, 1927); A Short History of Medicine (1928); From Magic to Science (1928); Historical Relations of Religion and Science (1928); A Short History of Biology (1931); A Short History of Science (1941).