A Guest for the NIght

Glossary

ADAR: Hebrew month; February or March.

ADDITIONAL SERVICE (Musaf): prayer service on the Sabbath and holidays, recited after the general Morning Prayer.

AFIKOMEN (afikoman): piece of matzoh eaten at the conclusion of the Seder.

AGADA: portions of the Talmud dealing with non-legal materials.

AKDAMUT: hymn recited on the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) preceding the reading from the Torah.

RABBI AKIBA: leading Palestinian teacher of the second century c.e.

AL-FASI: Isaac Al-Fasi (eleventh century), author of a famous talmudic compilation.

ARBA TURIM: compendium of Jewish law by Jacob ben Asher (thirteenth-fourteenth centuries).

ASHKENAZI: pertaining to the Ashkenazim, Jews of the central European tradition, as opposed to Sephardim, Jews of the Spanish tradition, from whom they differ in ritual and in their pronunciation of Hebrew.

ASHREI (happy): the opening word in Psalms 84:5 and 144:15, recited in the Afternoon Prayer.

BAAL SHEM TOV (Master of the Good Name): founder of the hasidic movement (eighteenth century).

BEIT MIDRASH (pl. Batei Midrashot): House of Study, a place of learning and worship. Usually identical with the House of Prayer.

CHAJES, ZVI PEREZ (1876–1927): Chief Rabbi of Vienna, 1918–27.

CLOSING MEAL: meal preceding the fast on the Day of Atonement.

DAY OF ATONEMENT (Yom Kippur): the tenth of the Days of Awe, which start with the New Year’s Day; a day of prayer, fasting, and forgiveness of sin.

DAYAN: member of a Jewish religious court; authority in ritual questions.

EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS: one of the oldest parts of the Jewish liturgy, occurring in the weekday prayer service.

EIN YAAKOV: compendium of non-legal sections from the Babylonian Talmud, by Jacob ibn Habib of Zamora (fifteenth-sixteenth centuries).

FESTIVAL OF TABERNACLES (Sukkot): an eight-day holiday, beginning on the fifth day after the Day of Atonement. It commemorates the wandering of the Israelites in the desert.

FOUR SPECIES: citrus (etrog), palm branch (lulav), myrtle, and willow branch, used in the prayer service on the Festival of Tabernacles.

RABBI GADIEL THE INFANT: a legendary creature of small size and great learning, known for his wondrous deeds; Agnon composed a short story abiut Rabbi Gadiel (in Hebrew in Elu veElu).

GEHENNA: the Valley of Hinnom, represents the idea of Hell.

GEMARA: part of the Talmud consisting of discussions of the Mishna. There is a distinction between the Gemara of the Babylonian Talmud and that of the Jerusalem Talmud.

GENIZA: repository for Hebrew writings no longer in use; particularly applied to the one in the Ezra Synagogue in Cairo.

GUIDE TO THE PERPLEXED (Moreh Nevukhim): work in religious philosophy by Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides), twelfth century.

HAGGADAH: the text of the Passover home service.

RAV HAI GAON: leading talmudic authority in Babylonia, tenth-eleventh centuries.

ELEAZAR HAKALIR: influential liturgic poet in the early Middle Ages.

HALACHA (path): law; portions of the Talmud dealing with legal materials and proper observance.

HANUKKAH: an eight-day holiday (Feast of Lights) beginning on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev (November or December), commemorating the re-dedication of the Sanctuary by the Maccabees (167 b.c.e.).

HASID (lit., a pious man): a follower of Hasidism, religious movement founded by the Baal Shem Tov.

HAVDALA (“separation” of the sacred and the profane): benediction at the conclusion of the Sabbath and holidays.

KABBALAH: Jewish mysticism; its writings pointed to the deeper layers of religion, which it represented as the authentic ‘tradition’ of Israel.

KADDISH: prayer recited by mourners.

KASHRUTH: dietary laws and practices.

KERITOT: talmudic tractate.

KIDDUSH (sanctification): benediction pronounced over wine at the commencement of the Sabbath and holidays.

KLEISEL (pl. kleislech): a small klois (see next entry).

KLOIS (pl. kloisen): name given from sixteenth century on in Central and Eastern Europe to a house of talmudic study, usually attached to a synagogue.

KOHEN (pl. Kohanim): priest, descendant of Aaron.

KVUTZA (pl. kvutzot): collective settlement in the Land of Israel.

LAG B’OMER: the thirty-third day of a counting of days that begins with the second day of Passover and ends with the Feast of Weeks. Festive occasions banned in this period are permitted on this day.

MAIMONIDES (Moses ben Maimon): most prominent medieval Jewish philosopher; see ‘Guide to the Perplexed.’

MECHILTA: a midrashic work on the Book of Exodus.

MEZUZA: parchment scroll containing scriptural texts, attached to the doorpost of a Jewish home.

MIKVEH: ritual bath.

MINYAN: quorum of ten men necessary for a communal religious service.

MISHNA: compilation of legal teachings made by Judah Ha-Nasi about 220 c.e., which forms the basis of the Talmud.

MISNAGED (pl. Misnagdim): opponent of Hasidism.

MIZRACHI: party of religious Zionists.

MOHEL: circumciser.

NASO: a weekly portion (from the Book of Numbers).

NINTH OF AV: fast commemorating the destructions of Jerusalem.

NORDAU, MAX: author and Zionist leader (1849–1923).

PASSOVER (Pesach): eight-day holiday (in Israel, seven days) occurring in the Spring and commemorating the exodus from Egypt.

PENITENTIAL PRAYERS (Selichot): recited at night in the period preceding the Days of Awe and on the Days of Awe, except the New Year’s Day.

RABBINER: German for rabbi.

RASHI: Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, classical commentator (eleventh century) on the Bible and the Babylonian Talmud.

REB: Mister; sometimes rabbi.

REBETZIN: a rabbi’s wife.

REVISIONISTS: party of activist Zionists.

SANDAK: godfather, a person chosen to hold the child during the ceremony of circumcision.

SANHEDRIN: the high rabbinic court in the time of the Second Temple. Also, a talmudic tractate.

SEDER: the festive meal and home service on the first and second (in Israel, only the first) night of Passover.

SEPHARDI: pertaining to the Sephardim, descendants of the Spanish Jewish community, expelled from Spain at the end of the fifteenth century (cf. Ashkenazi).

SHAVUOT (Feast of Weeks): a two-day holiday (in Israel, one day), seven weeks after Passover. It is a feast of first fruits and a season dedicated to the memory of the revelation on Mount Sinai.

SHILECHEL (pl. shilechlech): a small house of prayer (‘shil’).

SHTIBEL (pl. shtiblech): a prayer room.

SHTREIMEL: festive fur headgear of Eastern European Jews.

SHULCHAN ARUCH (“Arranged Table”): rabbinical code compiled by Joseph Karo, sixteenth century.

SIFRE, SIFRA: midrashic works on Leviticus and Numbers, respectively.

SUCCAH (booth, tabernacle): simple shelter lived in during the holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles.

TAHANUN: a prayer of supplication, recited on certain weekdays.

TALLIT (pl. tallitot): prayer shawl; worn by male adults at Morning Prayer.

TASHLICH: ceremony of the “casting off” of sins on the New Year’s Day.

TEFILLIN: phylacteries.

THIRTY-SIX SAINTS: perfectly just people in any given generation; their identity is unknown; their existence is necessary for the security and survival of the world.

THREE DAYS OF CIRCUMSCRIPTION: preceding the Feast of Weeks.

TISH’A B’AV (the Ninth Day of Av): a day of fasting in memory of the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians and the Second Temple by the Romans.

TOHU AND BOHU: chaos; see Genesis 1:2.

TOSEFTA: a collection of teachings of the first two centuries c.e., related to the Mishna.

TZITZIT: fringes at the four corners of the prayer shawl.zaddik (“the righteous one”); title given to the leader of a hasidic community.

ZOHAR (The Book of Splendor): chief work of the earlier Kabbalah (end of thirteenth century).