Judaism

haggadah

Literally, "the telling"; non-legal material in the Talmud. It refers also to the booklet used at the annual Passover Seder that tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

Halacha

Literally, the "way to walk"; the body of legal material in the Mishnah and Talmud followed by traditional or Orthodox Jews

Havurah

Based on the Hebrew word haver, "friend"; small, egalitarian, home-based Jewish communities who worship together on Shabbat, the Sabbath

Mechitzah

The separation between men and women in segregated worship in Judaism

Midrash

Jewish biblical interpretation that reads between the lines of a text to wrest meaning from it. Midrash Rabbah is a five-volume rabbinic commentary on the Torah

Minyan

the quorum of 10 men required for public prayer in Judaism

Mishnah

The "oral Torah"; a six volume body of material transmitted orally for some 200-300 years and put into writing in 220 CE.

Pogroms

Mob attacks on Jews, involving destruction of Jewish homes and synagogues as well as murder

anti-semitism

A nineteenth-century term referring to expression of hatred toward and fear of Jews, not to "semities" more generally

apocalypse

a narrative account of the predetermined history of humanity, often with emphasis on its dramatic final end in the present day

Ashkenazism

An ethnic grouping of the Jews with origins of Italy, France, and Germany.

Diaspora

The dispersal of the Jews after the Babylonian exile

Ghetto

an urban area occupied by those rejected by a society, such as quarters for Jew in some European cities

Halakhah

Jewish legal decision and the parts of the Talmud dealing with laws

Hasidism

Ecstatic Jewish piety, dating from eighteenth-century Poland

Kabbalah

the jewish mystic tradition

kosher

ritually acceptable according to Jewish tradition. Applied predominantly to food, but also to ritual objects and practices

Messiah

the "anointed", the expected king and deliverer of the Jews; a term later applied by Christians to Jews

Mitzvah

in Judaism, a divine commandment or sacred deed in fulfillment of a commandment

Orthodox Judaism

A modern Jewish movement that emphasizes traditional rabbinic authority and halakhah

Oral torah

the rabbinic tradition, including the Mishnan, Talmud, and other texts, whose origins the rabbis assign to the covenant at Mount Sinai

Pentateuch

the five books of Moses the first section of the three-part Jewish Bible.

rabbi

Teacher

Reform or Liberal Judaism

A modern jewish movement whose emphasis is on the relevance of Judaism for present and future Jews

Sabbath

the day of the week set aside for rest and worship

Sephardim

an ethnic grouping of the Jews with origins in Spain and North Africa

Shekhinah

the presence of God in the world, especially emphasized in Jewish mystical circles

Synagogue

meeting place for jewish study and worship

Talmud

One of two collections of Jewish law and tradition, implied in the fifth century CE in palestine and the sixth century CE in Babylonia

Tanakh

the Jewish Bible , made up of the Torah, Nevi'im, and Kethuvim

Torah

"law" or "teaching"

Zionism

movement dedicated to the establishment of a politically viable, internationally recognized Jewish state in the biblical land of Israel