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phylacteries
phylacteries [Gr.,=safeguard], two small leather boxes worn during morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jews after the age of 13 years and one day. Each box contains strips of parchment inscribed with verses from the Scriptures: Ex. 13.1-10; 13.11-16; Deut. 6.4-9; 11.13-21. One box is faste...
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Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday in the Western Church, the first day of Lent , being the seventh Wednesday before Easter. On this day ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of death, of the sorrow they should feel for their sins, and of the necessity of changing their lives. The practice, ...
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Steven Paul Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs , 1955-, American businessman, b. San Francisco. Working with Stephen Wozniak, Jobs helped launch the personal-computer revolution by introducing the first Apple computer in 1976. Jobs later successfully established Apple's line as a user-friendly, graphically oriented alternative t...
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political action committee
political action committee (PAC), U.S. organization formed by a corporation, labor union, or association to raise money for political activity. Funds can be gathered by voluntary contributions from members, employees, or shareholders. Political action committees were first organized in the 1940s. T...
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amnesia
amnesia , [Gr.,=forgetfulness], condition characterized by loss of memory for long or short intervals of time. It may be caused by injury, shock, senility, severe illness, or mental disease. Some cases of amnesia involve the unconscious suppression of a painful experience and everything remindful ...
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Fort Smith
Fort Smith city (1990 pop. 72,798), seat of Sebastian co., NW Ark., at the Okla. line where the Arkansas and Poteau rivers join; inc. 1842. It is the rail, trade, and industrial center of a farm and livestock area. Its manufactures include construction materials, food and beverages, textiles, furni...
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amulet
amulet , object or formula that credulity and superstition have endowed with the power of warding off harmful influences. The use of the amulet to avert danger and to dispel evil has been known in different religions and among diverse peoples. Like the talisman and the charm, the amulet is believed ...
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall, memorial to the victims of the Holocaust . Designed by architect James Ingo Freed, it opened in 1993. Using a stark, harsh architectural vocabulary of industrial forms and unadorned materials, the building itself ser...
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Kerman
Kerman , city (1991 pop. 311,643), capital of Kerman prov., E central Iran. It is noted for making and exporting carpets. Cotton textiles and goats-wool shawls are also manufactured. Kerman was under the Seljuk Turks in the 11th and 12th cent., but remained virtually independent, conquering Oman and...
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Peter
Peter two letters of the New Testament, classified among the Catholic (or General) Epistles. Each opens with a statement of authorship by the apostle St. Peter. First Peter, the longer book, is addressed from "Babylon" to the Christians of the churches of Asia Minor. The work opens with a remin...
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