Judaism
Terms
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- Midrash
- the literature of delving into the Jewish Torah
- Torah
- The Pentateuch; also, the whole body of Jewish teaching and law
- Pentateuch
- The five books of Moses at the beginning of the Hebrew Bible
- t'fillin
- phylacteries, small leather boxes containing biblical verses about the covenant with God
- Talmud
- Jewish law and lore, as finally compiled in the sixth century CE
- Babylonian Talmud
- the dominant version of the Talmud in Jewish theology and law
- Kabbalah
- The Jewish mystical tradition
- Essenes
- sect of Jews of Judea who were uncompromising in their piety and their disgust with what they considered a corrupted priesthood; library is known as the Dead Sea Scrolls
- Shekhinah
- God's presence in the world--is a feminine noun that often represents the nurturing aspect of God
- Hasidism
- Ecstatic Jewish piety, dating from eighteenth-century Poland
- Yom Kippur
- completes the High Holy Days
- Gentiles
- non-Jewish people
- apocalyptic
- literature which ses the world in stark terms of good and evil, predicts the coming of God's victory over evil,etc.
- ghettos
- special Jewish-only quarters which were often walled in and locked at night
- mitzvah
- In Judaism, a divine commandment or sacred deed in fulfillment of a commandment
- Isaac Luria
- Kabbalah's most influential leader; creation was a beaming of the divine light into 10 special vessels which were shattered (tikkun olam, repairing)
- Rosh Hashanah
- New Year's Day, includes blowing of the shofar
- haggadah
- non-legal teachings, folklore, sociological and historical knowledge, thological arguments, ritual traditions, sermons, and mystical teachings (derived from Midrash)
- Seder
- a special dinner to mark the beginning of Pesach, or Passover--eat unleavened bread (matzah), bitter herbs, charoset, salt water
- Western Wall
- what remains of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem (the foundation)
- exegesis
- the introduction of new ideas into Judaism
- talit
- fringed prayer shawl
- Theodor Herzl
- man who organized the Zionist movement
- Tanakh
- The Jewish scriptures
- Mishnah
- legal teachings of the oral Torah, completed by Judah the Prince
- mikva
- special deep bath structure which Orthodox Jewish women must bathe in after their periods
- Sadducees
- sect of Jews in Judea consisting of priests and wealthy business people; conservatives
- Sukkot
- fall harvest festival
- Zohar
- the most important books of Kabbalah
- davening
- intensity of praying in Hasidic congregations
- covenant
- contract with God in which both sides are accountable
- pogroms
- reprisals against Jewish communities by the white Russians in the Russian civil war
- Zealots
- Jews that rose up in armed rebellion against Rome in 66ce; unsuccessful, and Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed
- kosher
- ritually acceptable food (esp. meat)
- halakhah
- "proper conduct"; legal decisions (derived from Midrash)
- manna
- daily bread given to the wandering Israelites by God
- Messiah
- The "annointed", the expected king and deliverer of the Jews; a term later aplied by Christians to Jesus
- Semite
- a linguistic term applied to Jews, Arabs, and others of eastern Mediterranean origin
- diaspora
- word describing how Jews lived among Babylonians and did not return to Jerusalem
- Maccabees
- Hasmon family of priests who lead a successful revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Hellenistic ruler of Syria; established the last independent Jewish nation
- Zionism
- Movement dedicated to the establishment of a politically viable internationally recognized Jewish state in the biblical land of Israel
- synagogues
- "meeting places", places of worship
- minyan
- The quorum of ten adult males required for Jewish communal worship
- Ten Lost Tribes of Israel
- ten northern tribes which separated from the kingdom of Israel after Solomon's death; were overtaken by Assyrians
- rabbis
- inheritors of the Pharisee tradition; teachers, religious decision-makers, and creators of liturgical prayer (no more sacrifices)
- Pharisees
- sect of Jews from Judea consisting of citizens of all classes; liberal and sought to study the applications of Torah to everyday life
- Baal Shem Tov
- Hasidic teacher who offered a joyful version of Jewish holiness
- tzaddik
- enlightened saint or teacher, called rebbe when ordained as a Hasidic spiritual guide
- yirah
- fear of God, awe of God's greatness
- Israel
- the later name of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, "the one who struggles with God"