Menahem (bp:x-Zerach) of Estella, a Jewish savant, was born in 1306 at Estella, whither his father had rted after the expulsion of the Jews from France. In 1328, six years after his marriage to the daughter of Benjamin Abiz, the rabbi of Estella, the Navarresc mas- •sacre occurred, in which his father, mother, and four younger brothers were murdered, while he himself, se- verely wounded, was left for dead. A soldier riding by, late in the night, heard him groan, and lifted the unfor- tunate Jew upon his horse, bound up his wounds, clothed him, and secured a physician's care for hira. Thus pre- served, IMenahem repaired to Toledo, and studied the Talmud for two years. Thence he went to Alcala, where he joined R. Joshua Abalesh in his studies. Upon the death of the latter in 1350, Menahem succeeded as ruler of the college, and held this place till 1368. Having lost all his property during the civil war, Don Samuel Abarbanel, of Seville, liberally supplied him during the remainder of his life, which he spent at Toledo, where he died in 1374. To this benefactor he dedicated his book on Jewish rites and ceremonies, in 327 chapters, entitled Provision for the Way, Xlin TxT^^ •T'? **'7"''?^ (Ferrara, 1554). Comp. Griitz, Gesch. d, Juden (Leipsic, 1873), vii, 312; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenthums u. s. Sekten, iii, 86 ; Zunz, Zur Gesch. u. Literntur (Berlin, 1845), p. 415; Dessauer, Gesch. d. Israeliten (Breslau, 1870), p. 323 sq.; Furst, Bibl. Judaica, ii, 353; Lindo, History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal (London, 1848), p. 157 sq. ; Finn, Sephardim, or the History of the Jews in Spain and Portugal (London, 1841), p. 307 j
Etheridge, Introd. to Hehr. Literature, p. 265 ; Manasseh ben-Israel, The Conciliator, transl. by E. H. Lindo (Lon- don, 1842), p. sxx ; Zunz, Literaturgeschichte der syna- gogalen Poesie (Berlin, 1865), p. 506. (B. P.)
Menahem of Merseburg, a rabbi of great dis- tinction among Jewish scholars of the 14th century, and one of the representatives of truly German synagogal teacheis, flourished about 1360. He lived in very troub- lesome times, and because the literary remains of this period were scanty, it was called the cip^ "lin, "the destitute generation." To the prominent literati of that period, who left some monuments of their learning, be- longs Menahem of Merseburg, who wrote annotations on Rabbinical decisions, entitled CplSJ, reprinted in Jak.Weit's m'i5, "questions and answers" (Vened.1549; Hanau, 1610). Comp. Griitz, Geschichte der Juden, viii, 149 ; Jost, Geschichte des Judenthums u. s. Sekten, iii, 116; Zunz, Zur Geschichte u. Literatur (Berlin, 1845), p. 193; Furst, Bibl. Judaica, ii, 352.
Me'nan, or rather Mainan {Mdivov [with much variety of readings], of uncertain signification), a per- son named as the son of Mattatha and father of Melea, among the private descendants of David and ancestors of Christ (Luke iii, 31) ; but of doubtful authenticity (Meth. Quart. Per. 1852, p. 597). See Genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Menandrians, one of the most ancient branches of the Gnostics, received their name from their leader, Menander. He was a Samaritan by birth, and is said to have received instruction from Simon Magus. This supposition is not well founded, however, and has arisen, no doubt, from the similarity which existed, to some extent, between his teachings and those of Simon, as well as from the erroneous idea that all the Gnostic sects sprung from the Simonians. Menander aspired to the honor of being a Messiah, and, according to the tes- timonies of Irenjeus, Justin, and Tertullian, he pretended to be one of the jeons sent from the pleroma, or celestial regions, to succor the souls that lay groaning under bod- ily oppression and servitude, and to maintain tlJ€m against the violence and stratagems of the dtemons that hold the reins of empire in this sublunary world. One of the conditions of salvation was baptism in his name, according to a peculiar form instituted by him. He claimed also the power to make his followers immortaL His daring pretensions and fanatical teachings should cause him to be ranked as a huiatic rather than the founder of a heretical sect. The influence of the Me- nandrians continued through several minor sects untU some time in the 6th century. They were often con- founded, by those not well informed on the subject, with the orthodox followers of Christ. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. iii, 26,; iv, 22; Irenseus, ^ f/i'. hares, i, 21; Jus- tin M., Ajwlog. i, 26 ; Schaff, Ch. Hist, i, 235 ; Gieseler, Eccles. Hist, i, 56 ; Mosheim, Commentary on Eccles. Hist. ; Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen-Lexikon, \o\. vi, s. v. ; Walch, Hist, der Ketzereien, i, 185 sq., 276, 284 ; Schrockh, Kirchen-Gesch. ii, 244. See also Gnostics; Magus,
SlJION.
Menard, Claude, a French theologian, was born at Angers in 1580. He began his career as a barrister, and was made a lieutenant-general of the provostsh'ip. Becoming depressed in mind by the loss of his wife, he forsook his calling, and intended to retire from the world. His friends prevented his entering a cloister, but he embraced the ecclesiastical profession, and showed his interest in monastic institutions by contributing to the erection of several convents. He applied himself to researches in the antiquities of his province with so much success that his compatriot Menage calls him "Le pere de I'histoire d'Anjou." He died Jan. 20, 1652. He is noted for the following works: Zes deux premiers li- vres de St. A ugustin contre Julien (Paris, 1617, folio and 8vo) : — S. Hieronymi endiculus de Hceresibus Jud(eorum (ibid. 1617, 4to). Menard published this history from a