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A GLOSSARY of JEWISH TERMS and WORDS for CHRISTIANS
Glossaries ...Sources of self-understanding
Go to: Glossary of Christian Terms for Jews
Asara B’Tevet |
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The Fast of Tevet marks the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. This day has also become a day of remembrance for all those who died in The Shoah [The Holocaust.] |
Chanukah |
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The festival of Chanukah celebrates the liberation of the Temple by the Maccabees (2nd Century BCE). The Chanukiah [a special menorah for Chanukah] holds eight candles and a serving candle [used to light the other candles.] On each successive eve of Chanukah a new candle is lit. E.g., Day 1, one candle; Day 2, two candles, till the eighth day when all candles are lit. |
Erev |
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The Hebrew word erev means evening. The Jewish day begins in the evening. Erev Shabbat is Friday evening. |
Haftarah |
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The reading from the Prophets that accompanies the Parashat Hashavuah, the Portion of the Week taken from the Torah. |
Jewish Festivals |
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The Book of Genesis (1:14) speaks of the “lights in the dome of the sky” that set the days apart as signs of “set times/seasons” for the days and years. The Hebrew word for “set times” is moadim/festivals. Jewish festivals are events in time that are “sacred markers”; witnesses to the sacred. The Jewish festivals are: Shabbat (Sabbath), Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot (Tabernacles), Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach (Passover), and Shavuot (Pentecost) |
Kristallnacht |
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Kristallnacht, also called The Night of Broken Glass, was the night, 9th November 1938, when across Germany and parts of Austria synagogues were attacked, burned and destroyed, Jewish shops, businesses and homes were vandalized and burned, and many Jews lost their lives, during an unprecedented riotous upsurge of violence and hatred against Jews. |
Lag Ba’Omer |
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According to the Torah the days between Passover and Shavuot are to be counted (Lev. 23:15-16; Deut. 16:15-16). These 49 days of counting, which relate to the offering of an omer of barley, (called in Hebrew Sefirat Ha'Omer) are likened to a connecting thread between the Passover from Mitzrayim [Egypt] and the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.
Lag Ba'Omer (falling on 18th Iyyar) is the 33rd day of counting which, according to tradition recorded in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (120:1-10), signals a small break in the counting to celebrate the ending of the "great plague," a perceived "divine sent" plague during the Counting of the Omer [Sefirat Ha'Omer] in Rabbi Akiva’s time (2nd Century). The Talmud relates (Yevamoth 62b) that 2400 of Rabbi Akiva's disciples died at the same time because they did not treat each other with respect and the "world" remained desolate of learning until R. Akiva taught new masters. These new masters [R. Meir, R. Judah, R. Jose, R. Simeon, and R. Eleazar b. Shammua] revived the Torah.
Another tradition suggests that the R. Akiva's students died at the hands of the Romans during the Bar Kochba revolt. The celebration of Lag Ba'Omer with a break in fasting and the lighting of bonfires is, perhaps, a reflection of this tradition.
Yet another traditional celebration by some Jews at Lag Ba'Omer is the memorial of the death of R. Shimon. It is a kabbalistic belief that through one of R. Akiva's five students who survived the plague, R. Shimon [R. Shimon bar Yochai; Rashbi; aka. R. Simeon,] Israel received the mystical Torah, The Zohar. This hidden and mystical Torah transmitted through R. Shimon is a complement to the revealed Torah given through Moses.
The word "lag" is a shorthand way for writing 33, a number which is written in Hebrew as lamed gimel [ג''ל]. Lag Ba'Omer is thus the 33rd day of the counting of the omer. An omer is a measure of barley. The counting of the days in the omer [ba omer = meaning, in the omer—Shephardic Jews call the days la omer meaning, of the omer] is a practice which dates from biblical times (Lev. 23:15-16) when, from the second day of Passover through to Shavuot [seven weeks,] a sheaf of barley the size of an omer was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. After Shavuot the offering changed from barley to wheat. It is because Shavuot marks the end of the 49 days of counting of the omer that Shavuot is also referred to as the Feast or Festival of Weeks. Shavuot, being the 50th day after Passover was named Pentecost by Hellenic Jews. See below for Sefirat Ha'Omer, The Counting of the Omer. |
Parashat Hashavuah |
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The Portion of the Week—set readings from the Torah studied each week and read in synagogues on the Sabbath. |
Pesach |
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Passover (Pesach) is the Jewish festival that remembers and relives the experience of God’s saving intervention in the history of Israel. The original Passover events are celebrated and retold every year during the Passover Seder, as though “each and every Jew living today were themselves part of the experience” (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah). |
| Pesach Sheni |
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Pesach Sheni, meaning 2nd Passover, is a minor observance instituted for those who, because of reasons associated with the laws of ritual purity, were unable to celebrate Passover on 14th Nisan. Celebrated on the 14 Iyyar, Pesach Sheni is mentioned in the Torah [Num. 9:1-14] and makes allowance for those who being ritually impure could not participate in the Passover sacrifice of the lamb, Korban Pesach, and so were unable to fulfill the mitzvah [commandment] of Passover.
Today no one is able to fulfill the commandment of Korban Pesach because there is no longer a Temple or sacrificial cult. Therefore, Pesach Sheni is remembered as a memorial, some keeping the custom of eating matzah [unleavened bread].
An Hasiddic philosophic approach to Pesach Sheni is found in the understaing of "second chances." God wants everyone to have the opportunity to profess their belief in the great significance of the Passover offering, which the Sefer Chinuch says is a sign of acceptance that our destiny is in the hands of God. |
Purim |
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Purim celebrates the deliverance wrought for the Jewish people in Persia.
The story is told in the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther) c. 4th Cent. BCE.
Purim is celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar. [In leap years Purim falls in Adar II.] Traditionally the date of Purim marks the first day following the victory/deliverance of the Jews in Persia.
In cities that were surrounded by a wall in the time of Joshua Purim is celebrated on the 15th day of Adar, also called Shushan Purim. This is because of the tradition that the war was extended one more day in the ancient city of Shushan—the Persian capital, and a walled city. For this reason the sages declared that Purim be celebrated in Israel as it was in Shushan, on the 15th Adar. Since the city walls of Israel at that time lay in ruins it was declared that all cities that had walls in the time of Joshua should celebrate Purim on Shushan Purim. Today the ruling is applied to Jerusalem and Shushan. ...Thus Purim is celebrated in Jerusalem in Adar 15.
The Story of Purim which is recounted in the Hebrew Bible, the Megillat Esther, dates from the 4th Century BCE and is the last of the Canical texts to be determined for inclusion in the Tanakh. The Talmud attributes Megillat Esther to a redaction of an original text written by Mordechai (Baba Bathra 15a). The Book of Esther in the Septuagint [Greek Bible] differes from Megillat Esther and is understood as an interpretive adaption. The Greek Esther (c. 2nd Century BCE) adds additional traditions, e.g., Ahasuerus is identified with Artaxerxes.
Jerome's Latin text [Vulgate] of the Book of Esther is a translation of the Hebrew text with additions based upon the Greek version. |
Rosh Chodesh |
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Rosh Chodesh is the “Head of the Month,” the time of the new moon. |
Rosh Hashanah |
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Rosh Hashanah, New Years Day, the first day of the Days of Awe, Yamim Noraim, is one of the holiest days in the Jewish year. Synagogue services focus on God’s sovereignty. It is customary to each apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah and to wish everyone “Happy New Year, and sweet one.” |
Sefirat Ha'Omer
Counting the Omer |
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The Torah teaches that the days between Passover and Shavuot are to be counted (Lev. 23:15-16; Deut. 16:15-16). These days of "counting" refer to the period within which the obligation to bring an omer of barley from the harvest as a "first fruits' offering to the Temple was to be fulfilled. The days of counting, which lasted a period of seven weeks, are called, in Hebrew, Sefirat Ha'Omer and are likened to a connecting thread between the Passover from Mitzrayim [Egypt] and the giving of the Torah at Sinai.. According to the Sefer HaChinuch [Book of Education, 13th Century, Spain*] the purpose of the redemption from Egypt was the giving and reception of the Torah at Sinai. Counting the Omer between Passover and Shavuot 50 days later signifies the commitment of Jews to the promise of Sinai and the acceptance of the Torah.
A spiritual understanding of Counting of the Omer [Sefirat Ha'Omer] is therefore connected to the physical exodus from Mitzrayim [biblical Egypt] and the spiritual freedom received in the giving of the Torah at Sinai which is celebrated at Shavuot. The physical bringing of barley sheaths during the 49 days period between Passover and Shavuot helps make a spiritual connection between the the two festival events. The redemption from slavery is not complete without the reception of the Torah at Sinai.
An omer is a measure of barley. The counting of the days in the omer [ba omer = in the omer; Shephardic Jews call the days la omer meaning of the omer] is a practice which dates from biblical times (Lev. 23:15-16) when, from the second day of Passover through to Shavuot [seven weeks,] a sheaf of barley the size of an omer was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. Following Shavuot the offering changed from barley to wheat. It is because Shavuot marks the end of the 49 days of counting of the omer that Shavuot is also referred to as the Feast or Festival of Weeks. Shavuot, being the 50th day after Passover was named Pentecost by Hellenic Jews. See above for Lag Ba'Omer.
* The Sefer HaChinuch is an anonymous work published in the 13th Century in Spain, which discusses the 613 mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah from legal and moral perspectives, drawing upon their biblical
sources and developing their philosophical meaning and their understanding as halakhah. The work has been attributed to R. Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona [Ra'ah] a colleague of Rashba [R. Shlomo Ben Aderet] but, because of contradictions between the Chinuch and his Ra'ah's works, many believe that Sefer Chinuch is the work of another Aharon HaLevi, a student of Rashba rather than his colleague. |
Shabbat |
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Shabbat (Sabbath), a recurring weekly festival; a day of rest in honor of Creation and Redemption, beginning at sundown on Friday evening and “going out” at sundown Saturday. |
Shavuot |
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Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage feasts. Shavuot, also called Hag Hashavuot/The Festival of Weeks, has agricultural roots in the “first fruits” of the harvest, and spiritual links to the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Shavuot is often called Hag Matan Torateinu (The Festival of the Giving of Our Torah.) Read more... |
Shemini Atzeret |
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Shemini Atzeret, the “assembly of the eighth day,” is celebrated at the end of Sukkot. A Rabbinic midrash says that God desired one more day of intimacy with Israel and said to them, “Your departure is difficult for me. Stay with me one more day.” |
Simchat Torah |
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Simchat Torah—the “Time of Rejoicing in the Torah,” follows Shemini Atzeret. It is a time of celebration when the liturgical reading cycle of the Torah comes to an end and a new cycle begins again (with Genesis 1:1). |
Sukkot |
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The Book of Leviticus teaches “You shall dwell in booths for seven days” (23:42). The Sukkot festival is related agriculturally to harvest, historically to forty years of “wandering” in the wilderness, and spiritually to rejoicing in the gifts and bounty that God has brought and wrought. Sukkot is called the Season of our Joy. It is customary to make a lulav for waving at prayer time during Sukkot. |
Ta’anit |
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Ta’anit, means “Day of Fasting”. There are six fast days in the Jewish calendar. Tzom Gedaliah, Yom Kippur, Asara B’Tevet, Ta’anit Esther, Tzom Tammuz and Tisha B’Av. |
Ta’anit Bechorot |
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The Fast of the First Born which commemorates the saving of the first born of Israel is observed by first born Jewish males on the day preceding Passover. |
Ta’anit Esther |
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The Fast of Esther commemorates the fast observed by Esther and the Jewish people when threatened with death by the evil Haman. The Fast of Esther is followed by the celebratory festival of Purim. |
Tisha B’Av |
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Tisha B’Av, the Ninth Day of Av, is a fast day of mourning for the many tragedies of Jewish history. Read more... |
Torah |
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The Five Books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, sometimes called the Chumash [The Five in Hebrew].
The term, Torah, can also refer in the general body of scriptures that constitute the Jewish bible [The Five Books of Moses (Gk. Pentateuch), the Prophets and the Writings], and to the Teachings of the Torah, The Law. |
Tu B’Shvat |
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Tu B’Shvat is New Year for Trees, the 15th of the month of Shvat. This is the time for calculating the age of trees for tithing. |
Tzom Gedaliah |
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The Fast of Gedaliah remembers the killing of the Jewish governor of Judea, Gedaliah ben Achikam, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. |
Tzom Tammuz |
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Tzom Tammuz is a fast day remembering the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem, culminating in the destruction of the 1st Temple. |
Yom Kippur |
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Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur falls on the 10th day of Tishri, at the culmination of forty days of repentance, beginning on the 1st day of the month of Elul (30 days), followed by Rosh Hashanah (the 1st day of Tishri) and the Ten Days of Awe. |
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