ICJudaism: A Teacher’s Guide to Judaism

      Hosted by ICTeachers                                                                Formerly: Mike’s Rough Guide to Judaism

Disclaimer:

The contents of these pages represent the author’s personal views, experience and understanding.
There are bound to be some things here that some Jews would disagree with.

 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T Y Z

Akiva:  A great rabbi, who lived in the first century CE.

Aliyah: Being called to read from the Torah during a prayer service. The work means going up.

Arba Minim: The 4 species. A wand made of 4 kinds of plants. Used only at Sukkot. (Also called the Lulav).

Aron HaKodesh: the ark, the cupboard in which Sifrei Torah are kept.

Ashkenazi (pl Ashkenazim): Jews originating form Eastern Europe

Aytz Chayim (pl. Atzei Chayim): Trees of life - the wooden rollers on which a Torah scroll is wound.

Bal Tashchit: The ethical view that we should not be extravagant or wasteful.

Bar Mitzvah / Bat Mitzvah (pl B’nei Mitzvah): Aramaic term meaning Son or daughter of the commandment - reaching the age of religious responsibility.

BCE / CE: Before the Common Era / Common Era - an ecumenical way of referring to year numbers. The numbers correspond to the Christian BC / AD system.

Bentch / bentsching: Saying Grace after Meals (Birkat HaMazon).

Birkat HaMazon: Grace after Meals.

Charedim: Those who tremble (ie at the word of God). The preferred term for those  communities of Jews who choose to live very observant, traditionally religious lives.

Chassidim: Religious, mostly Charedic, Jews, who emphasise spirituality in their practice

Chazan: A cantor, an expert singer employed by many synagogues to lead services.

Challah: A rich bread, usually baked as plaited loaves, which is eaten on Shabbat and festivals.

Chanukah: 8-day festival, which celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the Seleucids. There are a variety of commonly used transliterations of this name (eg. Hanuka, Hanukkah, Khanuka, Xanuka etc.)

Chanukiah: (8+1)-branched candlestick, used during Chanukah.

Chumash: a bound book containing the 5 Books of Moses in pointed text, with vernacular translations and commentaries. A Chumash usually also contains the texts and translations of the prophetic readings that are linked to each week’s Torah portion.

Chuppah: Wedding canopy.

Cohen (pl. Cohenim): A hereditary priest. Cohenim still have a role in orthodox practice.

Dreidel: Spinning top that is used in a game played at Chanukah.

Elul: The 6th month of the Hebrew calendar. A time of penitence in readiness for the High Holy Days.

Gemara: The books of rabbinic commentary on the Mishna which form the second part of the Talmud.

Gematria: The system of calculating the numerical values of Hebrew words and deriving meanings form those values.

Hagaddah: The prayer book used during the Pesach seder.

Halacha: Jewish Law - a combination written Law (from the Torah), oral Law (from the Talmud and later Rabbinic interpretation.

Haftarah: The reading from the Prophets which is linked to the week’s Torah portion.

Havdalah:The ceremony that closes Shabbat.

Hillel: A great rabbi who lived in the first century BCE.

Holocaust: See Shoah

Kashrut: The laws concerning what is fit for Jews to eat or use and what is not.

Kehillah: Community (either a local community or the whole community of the People of Israel (ie Judaism)

Ketubah: A Jewish Marriage contract certificate.

Kiddush: The ceremony of sharing wine and bread and thanking God for them, Kiddush is said at the beginning of Shabbat and festival meals in the home or at the end of synagogue services.

Kippah (pl. kippot): skullcap (also see Yarmulke).

Kol Nidre: The evening service at the beginning of Yom Kippur.

Kosher: Fit for Jewish use. Usually used in relation to food but is an equally valid term when referring to objects and actions.

Ladino: Judaeo-Spanish. A language, largely based on Spanish, spoken by Jews who settled around the Mediterranean after the expulsion of Jews form Spain in 1492.

Latke: A fried potato cake. Traditionally eaten at Chanukah

Lulav: See Arba Minim.

Magen David: The Star of David. A commonly recognised image, often used as a Jewish symbol.

Matzo: Unleavened bread. Eaten during Pesach.

Menorah: The 7-branched oil lamp in the Temple in Jerusalem. The original was removed by the Romans and disappeared from history.

Mezuzah: A small hand-written parchment scroll containing the Shema, which is fixed, inside a mezuzah case, to door frames in Jewish homes and buildings such as synagogues. The mezuzah case is often referred to (incorrectly) as a mezuzah. (see Shema)

Mishna: The 6 volumes of Jewish oral law which form the first part of the Talmud. First written down by the great rabbi Judah the Prince in the second century CE

Moshiach: The Messiah. Judaism has a very different take on the concept of the Messiah from that of Christianity

Mitzvah (pl. mitzvot): One of the Torah’s commandment. The term is also used to mean any good deed.

Olam HaBa: The World to Come. The perfect world when all people will recognise the sovereignty of God and will follow his commandments.

Parashat: A weekly Torah reading.

Parev (or Parve): Foods which may be eaten together with either meat or diary.

Phylacteries: (See Tefillin).

Pesach (Passover): 8-day Spring festival remembering the freeing of Jews from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses.

Purim: Festival day celebrating the survival of Jews from an attempted massacre.

Purim Spiel: A play, usually comedic, performed at Purim.

Rambam: Medieval rabbi, Moses Maimonides, who formulated the 13 principles of Jewish Faith.

Rosh Hashanah: The Jewish New Year. A time of serious reflection and repentance.

Seder: Ritual meal during Pesach.

Sefer Torah (pl. sifrei Torah): A Torah scroll

Sephardi (pl. Sefardim): Jews  originating from western Europe and the Near East.

Shabbat: The day of rest commanded by God to recall His completing the creation of the World. The most important Jewish celebration.

Shabbos: The Ashkenazi way of pronouncing Shabbat.    

Shavuot: The Festival of Weeks, 7 weeks after Pesach. The time for celebrating the gift of Torah on Mt Sinai.

Simchat Torah: Rejoicing the Law. Festival day celebrating the ending and restart of the annual cycle of Torah readings.

Shema: 3 separate paragraphs from the Torah which tell us to remember God’s laws, to discuss them, teach them to our children and gives instructions for ways of remembering them. (see mezuzah)

Shiva (sitting shiva): The first week of mourning after the death of a close relative.

Shoah: The Holocaust. The period of World War II when 6 million Jews in Europe were murdered by the Nazis.

Shomer (Pl. Shomerim): person who sit by a body after death, so that it should not be left alone until burial.

Siddur: Jewish daily prayer book

S’lichot: Penitential prayers said in the period running up to Rosh Hashanah.

Sofer (pl. sofrim): A scribe who is skilled enough to write and repair Sifrei Torah.

STAM: The decorated lettering styles used when writing Torah scrolls.

Sukkah: A temporary house. Jewish families build a sukkah during the during Sukkot.

Sukkot: 7-day Autumn harvest festival.

Tallit (also Tallis): A prayer shawl.

Tallit Katan: A small “poncho” with tzitzit, worn as an undergarment by strictly orthodox Jewish men.

Talmud: The oral Jewish Law and rabbinic commentaries on it, consisting of the Mishnah and Gemarah.

Tefillin: Small leather boxes containing passages from the Torah, worn on the head and left arm during morning prayer, except on Shabbat and festivals.(Phylacteries is a Greek-based misnomer meaning “good luck charm” - which they aren’t).

Tenakh / Tenach:The Jewish “Bible”. The word is an acronym for the 3 sections (Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim).

Tikkun Olam: Healing the World. Judaism holds that we should leave the world a better place than we find it.

Tisha B’Av: The 9th day of the month of AV. A full fast day.

Traifeh: Not kosher - unfit for Jewish use.

Tzaar Baalei Chaim: The ethical demand to treat animals well.

Tzedakah: Charity - the word actually means righteousness.

Tzitzit: A tassel or fringe. Jews are commanded, in the Shema, to wear fringes in the corners of their garments as one of the ways of remembering God’s laws.

Yamim Noraim: The High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and the days between).

Yarmulke: a skullcap (also see kippah).

Yartzeit: The anniversary of a person’s death.

Yeriah (pl. yeriot): A sheet of parchment used as “pages” in making Sifrei Torah. (see Sefer Torah)

Yetzer Ra: The impulse to selfishness.

Yetzer Tov: The impulse to goodness.

Yiddish: Lingua franca of Eastern European Jews from the 12th - 20th centuries. Almost died out after the Shoah (except in Charedic communities), but currently experiencing something of a revival.

Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement. A full fast of around 25 hours. The day when Jews make atonement for sins committed during the previous year and resolve to improve. The most serious day of the Jewish year.

Zion: Originally a hill close to Jerusalem, eventually the word came to be an alternative name for Jerusalem and even for the whole land of Israel.

Glossary

of terms used in this website