In ancient Israel, the third son of the patriarch Jacob. Levi became head of the clans of religious functionaries known as Levites. Unlike the 12 tribes of Israel, the Levites were given no allotment of land when Canaan was conquered. They are thought to have performed subordinate services associated with public worship, serving as musicians, guardians, Temple officials, judges, and craftsmen. Bowen Norman Levi Coffin Levi Heller Yom Tov Lipmann ben Nathan Ha Levi Levi Strauss & Co. Levi Primo
born Oct. 28, 1798, New Garden, N.C., U.S. died Sept. 16, 1877, Cincinnati, Ohio U.S. abolitionist. Despite little formal education, he became a teacher. As a devout Quaker, he opposed slavery. In 1826 he moved to Newport, Ind., where he made his home into a depot of the Underground Railroad and used much of his wealth as a merchant to help the escaping slaves. In 1847 he moved to Cincinnati, where he opened a store selling goods made only by free labour. He continued his work with the Underground Railroad until the outbreak of the American Civil War; he then worked to aid liberated slaves
World's largest maker of pants, noted especially for its blue-denim jeans. The company traces its origin to Levi Strauss (1829-1902), a Bavarian immigrant who sold dry goods to miners during the California gold rush. Hearing of the miners' need for durable pants, he hired a tailor to make garments out of tent canvas, later substituting denim. In 1873, he and an associate received a patent for the copper riveting they used to strengthen their pants. The company's most spectacular growth occurred after 1946, when it decided to concentrate wholly on manufacturing clothing under its own label. In 1959 it began exporting, and during the 1960s jeans became enormously popular worldwide. The company went public in 1971 and was returned to private control (by Strauss's descendants) in 1985
Ancestor of Moses and Aaron and thus of the Jewish priestly lines Because of his significance for the priesthood, he is mentioned frequently in the Dead Sea Scrolls
The third son of Jacob and Leah (Gen 29: 34; 35: 23), Levi earned his father's disapproval for his violence in slaughtering tribal neighbors (Gen 34: 30; 49: 5-7) He was the eponymous ancestor of the tribe of Levi to which Moses, Aaron, and Miriam belonged (Exod 6: 16; Num 3: 1-39)
(born 1938) Israeli politician who served in various offices in the Israeli parliament (including Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Absorption, Minster of Construction and Housing)
born June 21, 1887, Kingston, Ont., Can. died Sept. 11, 1956, Washington, D.C., U.S. Canadian geologist. He worked on and off for more than 35 years for the Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, D.C., where he researched silicate systems. During World War I he made a brief foray into optics, but after the war he returned to his studies of silicate systems. In 1928 he published The Evolution of the Igneous Rocks, which had a profound influence on petrologic thought. At the University of Chicago (1937-47) he developed a school of experimental petrology. His achievements won him honours both in the U.S. and Europe
born July 31, 1919, Turin, Italy died April 11, 1987, Turin Italian writer and chemist. Two years after obtaining a degree in chemistry, Levi, who was Jewish, was captured by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz as a slave labourer. His autobiographical works If This Is a Man, or Survival in Auschwitz (1947), The Reawakening (1963), and The Drowned and the Saved (1986) are restrained and moving accounts of and reflections on survival in the Nazi camps. His best-known work, The Periodic Table (1975), is a collection of 21 meditations, each named for a chemical element. The lingering effects of his wartime trauma may have led to his suicide
born 1579, Wallerstein, Bavaria died Sept. 7, 1654, Kraków, Pol. Bohemian Jewish religious scholar. After serving as rabbi in Moravia and Vienna, he became chief rabbi in Prague in 1627. He was forced to collect a heavy tax imposed on Jews by Ferdinand II during the Thirty Years' War, damaging his reputation in the Jewish community. Later, as rabbi in Volhynia, he earned the enmity of wealthy Jews for denouncing simony. From 1643 he was chief rabbi in Kraków. He is best known for his commentary on the Mishna, The Additions of Yom Tov (1614-17)