Yeniceri See Janissary
Yenisey \yi-ni-'sa\ River River, central Russia. One of the longest riv¬ ers in Asia, it rises in the borderland of south-central Russia and Mon¬ golia and flows generally north along the edge of the West Siberian Plain to empty into the Kara Sea. Along its course it receives numerous tribu¬ taries, including the Angara River. Approximately 1,900 mi (3,000 km) of the river’s 2,540-mi (4,090-km) course (calculated from the Great Yeni¬ sey River) are navigable.
yerba mate See mate
Yerevan formerly Erivan \,yer-3-'van\ City (pop., 2004 est.: 1,101,900), capital of Armenia. Fortified since the 8th century bc and part of Armenia since the 6th century bc, it developed as an important centre of the caravan trade. Over the centuries, its rulers have included the Romans, Arabs, Turks, and Russians; it fell to the latter in 1827. In 1920 it became the capital of independent Armenia and remained so during the period of Soviet rule and after independence was restored. Its industries include those producing chemicals, aluminum, automobiles, and electri¬ cal machinery.
Yermak Timofeyevich (d. Aug. 6, 1584/85, Siberia) Cossack leader. In 1579 he was enlisted by the merchant Stroganov family to defend its possessions against attacks by Siberian tribesmen. He set out with an expeditionary force of 840 Cossacks and reached the central Tatar khanate of Sibir in 1582. With their firearms, Yermak and his army defeated the numerically superior forces of Khan Kuchum and occupied the capital, Sibir. Though later killed in a revolt of Kuchum’s forces, Yermak was con¬ sidered the conqueror of Siberia and became a hero of Russian folklore.
Yerushalayim See Jerusalem
Yesenin \yi-'s y en y -in\, Sergey (Aleksandrovich) or Sergey Esenin (b. Oct. 3, 1895, Konstantinovo, Ryazan province, Russia—d. Dec. 27, 1925, Leningrad) Russian poet. From a peasant family, he cel¬ ebrated what he called “wooden Russia” (traditional culture) over mod¬ em, industrialized society in works beginning with Radunitsa (1916), and he believed the Revolution of 1917 would lead to the peasant millennium he envisioned. Taking up the life of a rowdy and blasphemous exhibi¬ tionist, he wrote cynical, swaggering tavern verse such as that contained in Ispoved khuligana (1921; “Confessions of a Hooligan”). In 1922 he married dancer Isadora Duncan, though neither could speak the other’s language. His efforts to adjust to the revolutionary era were unsuccess¬ ful, and he hanged himself at age 30. Though frowned on by the authori¬ ties, he was very popular in Russia both during his life and afterward.
yeshiva Vyo-'she-voX Academy of higher Talmudic learning. Through its biblical and legal exegesis and application of scripture, the yeshiva has defined and regulated Judaism for centuries. Traditionally, it is the setting for the training and ordination of rabbis. Following the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, a series of yeshivas were set up around the Levant to codify and explain centuries of Jewish scholarship. In medieval times, yeshivas flourished in Europe wherever there were large popula¬ tions of Jews. The first yeshiva in the U.S., ‘Etz Hayyim (1886), later became Yeshiva University (1945).
Yeshiva University Private university in New York City. It was estab¬ lished in 1886 as Yeshiva Eitz Chaim; in 1915 it merged with a Jewish
Boris Yeltsin, 1991.
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Yeti ► Yiddish language I 2095
theological seminary. Today the university is independent, although its curriculum emphasizes Jewish culture and history. Yeshiva consists of a liberal arts college, a college for women, a college of Hebraic studies, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as well as schools of Judaic studies, Talmudic studies, business, law (the Cardozo School), social work, education, and graduate studies, among others.
Yeti See Abominable Snowman
Yevtushenko \yif-tu-'shen-ko\, Yevgeny (Aleksandrovich) (b.
July 18, 1933, Zima, Irkutsk oblast, Russian S.F.S.R.) Russian poet. The descendant of Ukrainians exiled to Siberia, he grew up in Moscow and in the small town that is the setting of his first important narrative poem, Zima Junction (1956). He became the spokesman for the post-Stalin gen¬ eration of Russian poets with his internationally publicized demands for greater artistic freedom, which signaled an easing of Soviet control over artists in the late 1950s and ’60s. He revived brash, slangy language and traditions such as love lyrics and personal lyrics, frowned upon under Stalinism. His poem “Baby Yar” (1961) was an attack on lingering Soviet anti-Semitism; his most ambitious cycle of poems is Bratsk Station (1966). He became famous worldwide for his passionate recitations.
yew Any of about eight species of ornamental evergreens in the genus Taxus, family Taxaceae (the yew family), distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Two species are always shrubby, but the others may reach heights of 77 ft (25 m). The plants have many branches, covered with needlelike leaves. Yew wood is hard, fine-grained, and heavy, with white or creamy sapwood and amber to brown heartwood. Once popular for cabinetwork, implements, and archery bows, it is used more today for articles either carved or turned on a lathe. Other trees called yew but not in this family are the plum-yew (family Cephalotaxaceae) and Prince Albeit yew (family Podocarpaceae).
Yezhov \yi-'zhof\, Nikolay (Ivanovich) (b. 1895, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. after January 1939) Soviet secret-police chief. He joined the Communist Party in March 1917 and was a political commissar in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Thereafter he rose through politi¬ cal posts, and by 1927 he was a functionary for the Moscow party’s cen¬ tral committee and a favourite of Joseph Stalin. He became a member of the party’s Central Committee (1934) and succeeded Genrikh Yagoda as chief of the Soviet security police, or NKVD (1936). He instituted the most severe stage of the Great Purge (see purge trials), known as Yezhovsh- china. By 1938 he had become the object of Stalin’s suspicions and was replaced by Lavrenty Beria as head of the NKVD. He disappeared in 1939 and was probably executed.
Yggdrasill Vig-dro-.siL In Norse mythology, the world tree. One of its roots extended into the underworld, another into the land of the giants, and the third into Asgard. At its base were three wells: the Well of Fate, from which the tree was watered by the Fates; the Roaring Kettle, in which dwelt Nidhogg, the monster that gnawed the tree’s roots; and Mimir’s Well, the source of wisdom, for whose water Odin sacrificed an eye. After the Ragn- arok, Yggdrasill, though badly shaken, is to be the source of new life.
Yi dynasty See Choson dynasty
Yi Hwang \'e-'hwar)\ (b. 1501—d. 1570) Korean religious leader, the foremost Korean Confucian. He helped shape the character of Korean Confucianism through his creative interpretation of Zhu Xi’s teaching. His To Become a Sage: The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, an aid for edu¬ cating the king, offered a depiction of all the major concepts in Song- dynasty learning. He elevated the level of Confucian dialogue to a new height of intellectual sophistication through his correspondence with Ki Taesung (1527-72). In their so-called four-seven debate, they discussed the relationship between Mencius’s four basic human feelings (commis¬ eration, shame, modesty, right versus wrong) and seven emotions.
Yi Song-gye Vye-'surj-'gyeV or T'aejo Vtl-'j6\ (b. 1335—d. 1408) Founder of the Korean Choson dynasty (1392-1910). A military leader in the Koryo dynasty, he rose through the ranks by battling invading forces. He defeated his rivals and drove out the last king of the Koryo dynasty, taking the throne in 1392. He established his capital at Hanyang (now Seoul). He and his successors redistributed land, which had been con¬ centrated in the hands of a few high-ranking bureaucrats, throughout the various levels of officialdom. In a break with the past, he made Neo- Confucianism the state religion, replacing Buddhism. Farming was made the centre of the economy. In foreign relations, he maintained a close relationship with China’s Ming dynasty.