Adonai: Name for God used most frequently in prayers and the Torah.
Ark: (Heb. Aron hakodesh, lit. holy chest) Cabinet where the Torah scrolls are kept. The word has no connection with Noah's Ark, which is “teyvat” in Hebrew.
Atonement: (Heb. kaparah) Atonement or reconciliation between God and humanity is achieved by the process of repentance (teshuvah), seeking forgiveness and making amends.
Bar Mitzvah/Bat Mitzvah:
Beit Knesset: (Heb. House of assembly) Synagogue
Bereshit: Genesis, the first book of the Torah.
Bimah: Location in a synagogue from which the Torah is read
Brit: (Heb. Covenant). Term used to describe the special relationship believed to exist between God and the Jewish people.
Brit Milah: Ritual circumcision performed on the eighth day after a baby boy is born
Brit Ha-Chayim: Ritual developed by Reform Judaism to celebrate the birth of girls.
Challah: Braided bread roll traditionally eaten on the Sabbath
Chanukah/Hanukkah: Festival that commemorates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple and the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks around 167 BCE.
Charoset: A mixture of fruit, wine and nuts eaten at the Passover seder to symbolize mortar used by the Jewish slaves in Egypt
Covenant: A pact between two parties. The major covenants in Jewish scriptures are God's covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15), and the Sinai/Moses covenant (Exodus 19-24) between God and Israel. In Judaism, the covenant is a major theological concept referring to the eternal bond between God and the people of Israel grounded in God's gracious and steadfast concern that calls for the nation's obedience to the divine commandments (mitzvot) and instruction (torah).
Days of Awe: Ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, a time for introspection and considering the sins of the previous year
Dreidel: Four-sided, top-like toy used during Chanukah.
G-d: A way of avoiding writing a name of G-d, to avoid the risk of the sin of erasing or defacing the Name.
Matzah: Jewish unleavened bread used at Passover.
Mazel Tov: Congratulations and good luck.
Megillah: (Heb. “scroll”). Usually refers to the biblical scroll of Esther read on the festival of Purim.
Megillat Esther: Story of Purim written on a scroll of parchment that was incorporated into the Tanakh.
Menorah: Candelabrum with special religious significance; a nine-branched menorah is used at Hanukkah, while the seven- branched was used in the ancient Temple.
Mezuzah: (pl. mezuzot; "doorpost"). A parchment scroll with selected Torah verses (Deuteronomy 6.4-9; 11.13-21) placed in a container and affixed to the exterior doorposts (at the right side of the entrance) of observant Jewish homes (see Deuteronomy 6.1-4), and sometimes also to interior doorposts of rooms. The word shaddai (almighty) usually is inscribed on the back of the container.
Midrash: From a root meaning "to study," "to seek out" or "to investigate." Stories elaborating on incidents in the Bible, to derive a principle of Jewish law or provide a moral lesson.
Mikvah: A communal bath for washing away spiritual impurity by immersion.
Minyan: A quorum of ten Jews (for Orthodox Jews, ten males) above age thirteen necessary for public services and certain other religious ceremonies to be considered valid.
Mitzvah: (pl. mitzvot, "commandment, obligation"). A ritual or ethical duty or act of obedience to God's will. See also commandments.
Mohel: The person who performs a circumcision at a Brit.
Pesach: The festival of Pesach, which commemorates the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, is the foundation story of Jewish peoplehood.
Patriarchs: from Abraham to the Children of Israel, ... Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, known as the Patriarchs,
Purim: a lesser Jewish festival held in spring (on the 14th or 15th day of Adar) to commemorate the defeat of Haman's plot to massacre the Jews as recorded in the book of Esther.
Shabbat: Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism. Shabbat is not specifically a day of prayer and spend a substantial amount of time in synagogue praying. Prayer is not what distinguishes Shabbat from the rest of the week. Observant Jews pray every day, three times a day. To say that Shabbat is a day of prayer is no more accurate than to say that Shabbat is a day of feasting: but on Shabbat, eating is more elaborate and more leisurely. The same can be said of prayer on Shabbat.
Talmud: The most significant collection of the Jewish oral tradition interpreting the Torah.
Tanakh: Tanakh is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: Torah ('Teaching', also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ('Prophets') and Ketuvim ('Writings')—hence TaNaKh.
Torah: In its narrowest sense, Torah the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, sometimes called the Pentateuch. In its broadest sense, Torah is the entire body of Jewish teachings.
Yad: A yad (Hebrew: יד, literally "hand"; Yiddish: האַנט) is a Jewish ritual pointer, popularly known as a Torah pointer, used by the reader to follow the text during the Torah reading from the parchment Torah scrolls.
Ark: (Heb. Aron hakodesh, lit. holy chest) Cabinet where the Torah scrolls are kept. The word has no connection with Noah's Ark, which is “teyvat” in Hebrew.
Atonement: (Heb. kaparah) Atonement or reconciliation between God and humanity is achieved by the process of repentance (teshuvah), seeking forgiveness and making amends.
Bar Mitzvah/Bat Mitzvah:
Beit Knesset: (Heb. House of assembly) Synagogue
Bereshit: Genesis, the first book of the Torah.
Bimah: Location in a synagogue from which the Torah is read
Brit: (Heb. Covenant). Term used to describe the special relationship believed to exist between God and the Jewish people.
Brit Milah: Ritual circumcision performed on the eighth day after a baby boy is born
Brit Ha-Chayim: Ritual developed by Reform Judaism to celebrate the birth of girls.
Challah: Braided bread roll traditionally eaten on the Sabbath
Chanukah/Hanukkah: Festival that commemorates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple and the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks around 167 BCE.
Charoset: A mixture of fruit, wine and nuts eaten at the Passover seder to symbolize mortar used by the Jewish slaves in Egypt
Covenant: A pact between two parties. The major covenants in Jewish scriptures are God's covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15), and the Sinai/Moses covenant (Exodus 19-24) between God and Israel. In Judaism, the covenant is a major theological concept referring to the eternal bond between God and the people of Israel grounded in God's gracious and steadfast concern that calls for the nation's obedience to the divine commandments (mitzvot) and instruction (torah).
Days of Awe: Ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, a time for introspection and considering the sins of the previous year
Dreidel: Four-sided, top-like toy used during Chanukah.
G-d: A way of avoiding writing a name of G-d, to avoid the risk of the sin of erasing or defacing the Name.
Matzah: Jewish unleavened bread used at Passover.
Mazel Tov: Congratulations and good luck.
Megillah: (Heb. “scroll”). Usually refers to the biblical scroll of Esther read on the festival of Purim.
Megillat Esther: Story of Purim written on a scroll of parchment that was incorporated into the Tanakh.
Menorah: Candelabrum with special religious significance; a nine-branched menorah is used at Hanukkah, while the seven- branched was used in the ancient Temple.
Mezuzah: (pl. mezuzot; "doorpost"). A parchment scroll with selected Torah verses (Deuteronomy 6.4-9; 11.13-21) placed in a container and affixed to the exterior doorposts (at the right side of the entrance) of observant Jewish homes (see Deuteronomy 6.1-4), and sometimes also to interior doorposts of rooms. The word shaddai (almighty) usually is inscribed on the back of the container.
Midrash: From a root meaning "to study," "to seek out" or "to investigate." Stories elaborating on incidents in the Bible, to derive a principle of Jewish law or provide a moral lesson.
Mikvah: A communal bath for washing away spiritual impurity by immersion.
Minyan: A quorum of ten Jews (for Orthodox Jews, ten males) above age thirteen necessary for public services and certain other religious ceremonies to be considered valid.
Mitzvah: (pl. mitzvot, "commandment, obligation"). A ritual or ethical duty or act of obedience to God's will. See also commandments.
Mohel: The person who performs a circumcision at a Brit.
Pesach: The festival of Pesach, which commemorates the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, is the foundation story of Jewish peoplehood.
Patriarchs: from Abraham to the Children of Israel, ... Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, known as the Patriarchs,
Purim: a lesser Jewish festival held in spring (on the 14th or 15th day of Adar) to commemorate the defeat of Haman's plot to massacre the Jews as recorded in the book of Esther.
Shabbat: Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism. Shabbat is not specifically a day of prayer and spend a substantial amount of time in synagogue praying. Prayer is not what distinguishes Shabbat from the rest of the week. Observant Jews pray every day, three times a day. To say that Shabbat is a day of prayer is no more accurate than to say that Shabbat is a day of feasting: but on Shabbat, eating is more elaborate and more leisurely. The same can be said of prayer on Shabbat.
Talmud: The most significant collection of the Jewish oral tradition interpreting the Torah.
Tanakh: Tanakh is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: Torah ('Teaching', also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ('Prophets') and Ketuvim ('Writings')—hence TaNaKh.
Torah: In its narrowest sense, Torah the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, sometimes called the Pentateuch. In its broadest sense, Torah is the entire body of Jewish teachings.
Yad: A yad (Hebrew: יד, literally "hand"; Yiddish: האַנט) is a Jewish ritual pointer, popularly known as a Torah pointer, used by the reader to follow the text during the Torah reading from the parchment Torah scrolls.
