Jewish Glossary: Difference between revisions

'''Landsmanshaftn''' – Organization of Jews from the same town or region. 60

Mohel – A Jew who performs the ritual of circumcision.  

Orthodox – A major movement within Judaism that follows a strict interpretation and observance of Jewish law from both the Torah and Talmud commentaries. Orthodoxy includes modern Orthodox Jews who integrate into modern society and the Chasidic Jews who live separately and dress distinctively.  

Pages of Testimony – A preprinted form available from Yad Vashem that documents a Jewish person who died in the Holocaust. The forms are filled out by people who are able to provide information on the fate of Holocaust victims.  

Pale of Settlement (Pale of Jewish Settlement) – Western area of the Russian Empire where Jews were legally allowed to live. It began with the first partition of Poland in 1772 and existed until WWI. Pinkas – A register of a Jewish community in which the proceedings of and events related to the community are recorded.  

Pogrom – Russian for destruction. An organized attack against helpless people, usually with government help, often directed against Jews.  

Rabbi – A Jew educated in Jewish law and tradition and qualified to instruct the community, answer questions, and resolve disputes regarding the law; the leader of a Jewish congregation.  

Rabbinic – Pertaining to a rabbi. Rabbinic ancestry means having rabbis among your ancestors; “Rabbinic Judaism” is a branch of Judaism that follows the teachings and interpretation of a rabbi.  

Rebbe – The spiritual master and guide of a Chasidic community; sometimes translated as “Grand Rabbi,” but literally it means “my rabbi.” A Chasidic rebbe is considered to be a tzaddik (righteous one). The position is usually hereditary. Outside the Chasidic community the term is sometimes used to refer to any rabbi with whom a person has a close relationship.  

Reform – A modern rabbinical movement of Judaism believing in a liberal interpretation of Jewish law but retaining the values and ethics of Judaism along with some of the practices and the culture.  

Rosh Hashanah – Solemn festival that marks the beginning of the month of  

Tishrei, the beginning of the Hebrew Year. Sephardic – Descendants of the Jews who lived in Spain or Portugal before 1492. The term is now often applied to Jews of Arabic and Middle Eastern background who are more accurately called Eastern Jews.  

Shtetl – A Jewish town or community, especially in Eastern Europe. Synagogue – A Jewish house of worship and study.  

Talmud – The collection of the Jewish oral tradition and rabbinical commentary interpreting the Torah. Torah – The biblical books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Yeshiva – An academy of Jewish learning and scholarship.  

Yiddish – A language very similar to German, usually written in Hebrew characters, that was spoken chiefly by Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe and the areas where those Jews migrated to.  

Yizkor books – Memorial books published by Holocaust survivors from a particular town or region.  

[[Category:Jews]]