world religions

baal shem gov

baal shem gov

faith healer, mystic, and teacher.who is regarded as founder of the hasidic movement

bar mitzvah

rite of passage for a male adolescent signa for their coming of age and the beginning of adult religious responsibility

bat mitzvah

rite of passage for a female adolescent. signal for their coming of age and beginning of adult religious responsibility

ethical monotheism

core concept of judaism. belief that world was created and governed by only one transcendent being, whose ethical attributes provide an ideal model for human behavior

omniscience

divine attribute of total and eternal knowledge

omnipotence

divine attribute of total eternal power

transcendence

divine attribute of being above and beyond anything human beings can know or imagine

immanence

divine attribute of dwelling ,or god being present to human consciousness

torah

means teaching, refers to the first 5 books of the Hebrew bible

talmud

multi volume work of commentary on the laws of the torah and the teachings of the entire hebrew bible

mitzvot

hebrew word for commandments, refers to the 613 commandment of the biblical god

covenant

a biblical concept that describes the relationship between good and the jews in contractual terms, often thought as an eternal bond between the creator and the descendants of the ancient israelites

election

the belief that biblical god “chose” the people of ideal tot be his “kingdom of priests “and “holy land”

mekveh

ritual bath in which married jewish women immerse themselves each month, after the end of their period and before resuming sexual relations with their husbands

tanaka

acronym for entire hebrew bible:Torah, Neviim, KHetuvim,

YHWH

constitute the most sacred of names associated with biblical gods

diaspora

refers to those jewish communities that live outside of the historical land of israel

exodus

the escape(departure) of israelite slave from egypt

Moses

leader and prophet who lead the israelites out of Egypt,served as a mediator between people of Israel and god in the torah

eschatological

Any belief in an “End Time” of divine judgment and world destruction.

dead sea scrolls

Religious literature hidden in caves near the shores of the Dead Sea (c. second–first centuries bce).

synagogue

Jewish house of worship. The focal point of every synagogue is the Ark, a large cabinet where scrolls of the Torah are stored.

halacha

An authoritative formulation of traditional Jewish law.

maimonides

A twelfth-century philosopher and rabbinic scholar whose codification of Jewish beliefs and religious practices set the standard for both in subsequent centuries.

kabbalah

One of the dominant forms of Jewish mysticism, kabbalistic texts begin to appear in Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Mystics belonging to this tradition focus on the emanative powers of God—referred to in Hebrew as Sephirot—and on their role within the Godhead, as well as within the human personality.

zohar

A kabbalistic midrash based on the biblical book of Genesis (c. 1280 ce).

hasidim

A popular movement within eighteenth-century eastern European Judaism, Hasidism stressed the need for spiritual restoration and deepened individual piety. In the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Hasidic movement spawned a number of distinctive communities that have physically separated themselves from the rest of the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds and who are often recognized by their attire and their devotion to a dynasty of hereditary spiritual leaders.

zionism

A modern political philosophy that asserts a belief in the Jewish national identity and in the necessity of resuming national life within the historic land of Israel.

holocaust

The genocidal destruction of approximately 6 million European Jews by the government of Nazi Germany during World War II. This mass slaughter is referred to in Hebrew as the Shoah.

siddur

prayer book used on weekdays and the sabbath

rosh hashanah

The Jewish New Year, it is celebrated for two days in the fall (on the first day of the month of Tishrai) and accompanied by the blowing of a ram’s horn (a shofar, in Hebrew). It signals the beginning of the “ten days of repentance” that culminate with Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur

Referred to as the “Day of Atonement,” it is the most solemn of all of the fast days in the Jewish religious calendar.

Sukkot

A fall harvest festival that is associated with the huts (in Hebrew, sukkot) in which the ancient Israelites sought shelter during the Exodus. It is celebrated for seven days in Israel (

pesach

An early spring harvest festival that celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, Pesach (better known as “Passover” in English) is celebrated for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora. The first two nights are celebrated within a family setting.

shavuot

A later spring harvest festival that is celebrated for two days and is associated with the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Along with Pesach and Sukkot, it was one of the “pilgrimage” festivals in ancient times.

seder