KALINJAR, a town and hill fort of British India in the Banda district of the United Provinces. Pop. (1901), 3015. The fort stands on an isolated rock, the termination of the Vindhya range, at an elevation of 1203 ft., overlooking the plains of Bundelkhand. Kalinjar is the most characteristic specimen of the hill-fortresses, originally hill-shrines, of central India. Its antiquity is proved by its mention in the Mahābhārata. It was besieged by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1023, and here the Afghan emperor Sher Shah met his death in 1545, and Kalinjar played a prominent part in history down to the time of the Mutiny in 1857, when it was held by a small British garrison. Both the fort and the town, which stands at the foot of the hill, are of interest to the antiquary on account of their remains of temples, sculptures, inscriptions and caves.
KALIR [QALIR], ELEAZER, Hebrew liturgical poet, whose hymns (piyyutim) are found in profusion in the festival prayers of the German synagogal rite. The age in which he lived is unknown. Some (basing the view on Saadiah’s Sefer ha-galuy) place him as early as the 6th century, others regard him as belonging to the 10th century. Kalir’s style is powerful but involved; he may be described as a Hebrew Browning.
Some beautiful renderings of Kalir’s poems may be found in the volumes of Davis & Adler’s edition of the German Festival Prayers entitled Service of the Synagogue.
KALISCH, ISIDOR (1816-1886), Jewish divine, was born at Krotoschin in Prussia on the 15th of November 1816, and was educated at Berlin, Breslau and Prague. In 1848 he came to London, but passed on in 1849 to America, where he ministered as rabbi in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Detroit and Newark, New Jersey. At Newark from 1875 he gave himself entirely to literary work, and exercised a strong influence as leader of the radical and reforming Jewish party.
Among his works are Wegweisen für rationelle Forschungen in den biblischen Schriften (1853); and translations of Nathan der Weise (1869); Sepher Jezirah (1877); and Munz’s History of Philosophy among the Jews (1881). He also wrote a good deal of German and Hebrew verse.
KALISCH, MARCUS (or Maurice) (1828-1885), Jewish scholar, was born in Pomerania in 1828, and died in England 1885. He was one of the pioneers of the critical study of the Old Testament in England. At one time he was secretary to the Chief Rabbi; in 1853 he became tutor in the Rothschild family and enjoyed leisure to produce his commentaries and other works. The first instalment of his commentary on the Pentateuch was Exodus (1855); this was followed by Genesis (1858) and Leviticus in two parts (1867-1872). Kalisch wrote before the publication of Wellhausen’s works, and anticipated him in some important points. Besides these works, Kalisch published in 1877-1878 two volumes of Bible studies (on Balaam and Jonah). He was also author of a once popular Hebrew grammar in two volumes (1862-1863). In 1880 he published Path and Goal, a brilliant discussion of human destiny. His commentaries are of permanent value, not only because of the author’s originality, but also because of his erudition. No other works in English contain such full citations of earlier literature.
(I. A.)