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Acharonim – ‘Those who came after’; The rabbis who followed the rishonim. Establishing dates for acharonim is very difficult; roughly from the Spanish expulsion (1492) until the codification of the Shulchan Aruch (ca 1560).

Aggadah – ‘Legend’; the sections of Talmud that deal with stories and moral lessons, comprising roughly 25% of the content of the Talmud. The book ‘Ein Yaakov’ is a compilation of talmudic aggadah.

Alav Hashalom – ‘Rest in Peace’; After a person’s name indicates that that person a) is beloved by the speaker and b) is deceased. It is a two edged statement – it was used both to wish for the person’s rest in the world to come, and also to persuade the deceased’s spirit that it was not being summoned when its name was mentioned, and to stay away from the speaker and not appear to him.

Aliyah – ‘Going up’; the honor of going up (l’aleh in Hebrew = ‘to go up’) to read the Torah blessings during a service; 2. the 7 sections the parasha is divided into, corresponding to the seven people traditionally called up on Shabbat. Most chumashim will have the seven aliyot indicated in the margin of the Hebrew Text or as headings within a parasha. 3. the conventional term for travel to Israel. Leaving Israel is ‘going down’ (yarad in Hebrew) according to convention.

Amitecha – See ‘Relationships’

Amoraim – ‘Those who spoke’; The rabbis and sages who expounded on the writings of the tannaim. The generations of sages following Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (ca 200 CE) and ending with the final editing of the Talmud Bavli (ca 500 CE).

Anshei Knesset Hagadol – ‘People of the Great Assembly’; The Sanhedrin; The Jewish supreme court and chief legislative body. After the time of Shimon Ha Tzaddik (ca 270 BCE), the rule of the Sanhedrin was intermittent, with competing Sanhedrins sometimes being established in places such as Alexandria. After the destruction of the Second Temple (69 C.E.), the Sanhedrin moved from place to place to escape Roman persecution, and eventually became a study academy rather than a legislative body.

Aron – Ark, or Torah cabinet; The large cabinet that Torah Scrolls are kept in. Usually they are ornately decorated, located on the wall closest to Jerusalem, and often feature the admonition written on the front, "Know before whom you stand." In Jerusalem, the arks are on the wall facing the Temple mount.

Ashkenazi – ‘Germans’; Jews of German/East European derivation. Pronunciation of Hebrew according to the people from that region. It varies from the pronunciation common in Israel particularly with the consonant tav, which is pronounced ‘sav’ in ashkenazic when there is no dagesh (dot) in the middle of the letter; and with the vowels kamatz (the little ‘T’ shaped vowel under consonants pronounced ‘o’ or ‘aw’) and cholem (the little dot over consonants pronounced ‘oy’).

Asmachta – Biblical Prooftext – the verse from which a legal or ethical principle is derived.

Av Beit Din – The leader of the Sanhedrin – usually coruler with a ‘nasi’ during the period of the exilarchs

Aveira – See ‘Sin’

Avodah – ‘Service’ or ‘Work’. It can mean any work of service, but often specifically refers to the offerings and prayers in the Holy Temple.

Avot – See Perkei Avot

Avraham Avinu – ‘Avraham our father’; The patriarch Abraham, as distinguished in commentary from any other person named Avraham.

Bamidbar – ‘In the desert’; The Hebrew name for the book of Numbers

Baraita - [Aramaic] tannaitic statement not included in the Mishnah

Basareicha – See ‘Relationships’

Beit Din / Beis Din – A halachic court comprised of one or more dayanim. [See dayan] Depending on the severity of potential sentences, there were minimum requirements for the number of dayanim comprising the court.

Beit HaMidrash – House of study. Often attached to the synagogue, the beit hamidrash was where students and adults gathered to study the holy texts.

Beit HaMikdash – See Mikdash

Bereishit – ‘In beginning’; The Hebrew name for the book of Genesis

B’nei Noach – NonJews living according to Torah. (see Noahide Laws)

B’nei Yisrael – ‘Israelites’; the descendants of the patriarch Jacob who accepted the Torah at Mt. Sinai. As distinct from ‘Ivri’

Boh – ‘come’; See also Sexual Terminology

C – Hebrew words beginning with the letter ‘kof’ or ‘chof’ are indicated with a ‘C’, and use the hard pronunciation.

Cavod – ‘heavy’ or ‘great’; refers to God’s honor.

Cakatuv – ‘As it is written’ – indicating a quote from Scripture, usually Torah

Cantor - See Shaliach Tsibbur

Cashrut – ‘suitability’; the system of establishing food ritually acceptable for consumption

Challah – The tithe of dough for the priest. Later, a braided loaf for festive occasions.

Chassid – ‘Pious person’; In classical times, a pious Jew. From the seventeenth century on, followers of the movement of Chassidism, founded by Israel Baal Shem Tov in Poland.

Chet – See ‘Sin’.

C^htuvim – Writings; the third section of the Bible dealing with historical writings, philosophy and scrolls

Chok – ‘precept’; a mitzvah that cannot be rationally or ethically derived (See mitzvah)

Choved – Ashkenazic pronunciation of ‘Cavod’

Chumash – ‘Five’; The name given to a book containing the Torah, or five books of Moses. As compared to a Sefer Torah, which is a ritual scroll.

Civayechol – ‘As if it could be so’; used to preface anthropomorphic or anthropopathic descriptions of God’s actions or emotions, to make the point that God does not have human attributes. (ex. God went down to the Tower of Bavel, kivayechol, to examine the peoples’ actions and motives. – Does God have a finite body that can travel from here to there? Does God have to move physically to know what is happening at the tower?)

Cohen – ‘Priest’; The descendants of Aaron, Moses’ brother, sanctified for divine service in the Temple. In traditional services, the first aliyah is reserved for cohanim.

Cohen Gadol –‘High Priest’; responsible for carrying out specified activities such as entering the holy of holies on Yom Kippur, and consulting the urim and thummim.

Cosher – ‘fit’ or ‘proper’; food deemed ritually acceptable according to biblical commandments and their interpretations.

Dayan – Halachic Judge

Derash – To explain, in this context, to explain Torah passages. From this, comes the word ‘drosh’ (See drosh).

Drosh – a small speech concerning Torah.

D’varim – ‘Words’ or ‘Matters’; The Hebrew name for the book of Deuteronomy

D’var Torah – A short speech on the weekly parasha

Etz Chaim – ‘Tree of Life’; The tree in the midst of the garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve could have eaten before they ate from the tree of knowledge; A metaphor for the Torah in parables and derash; The wooden roller of a Torah scroll.

Exilarch – (Greek) See Resh Galuta

Gaon – ‘Pride’ (as in ‘Pride of the Jewish People’) term of respect for rabbinic scholars and leaders. Some say that the term Gaon was an official title reserved for the head of the Pumbedita Yeshiva in Bavel. Others say that the term was applied to any exemplary Talmudic leader. Also a period of Jewish scholarship. The gaonic period began in 500 CE, and extended until 1038 CE, when Bavel was the center of Jewish life. Saadiya Gaon was one of the best known leaders of the gaonic period.

Gehinnom – ‘The valley of Hinnom’;(derivative = Gehenna); believed to be a garbage dump near Jerusalem, and or a place where particularly heinous idolatrous practices were performed. It came to mean a place of temporary correction for Jewish souls before proceding to paradise, or to wait for future paradise. According to most Jewish teaching, souls do not remain in Gehinnom for more than one year.

Gemara – ‘Something learned’; the commentaries of the Tannaim (sages) on the laws of the Mishna.

Genizah – ‘Storage’; a storeroom in a synagogue where worn or discarded holy books are stored for eventual burial. Some of the most important documents of Judaic scholarship were discovered in the Geniza of a Cairo synagogue.

Goy – ‘Nation’ Goyim, pl. - Gentile, non-Jew in contemporary language. This is a neutral designation, and not to be used or taken as a derogatory comment. In Chumash, Israel is also referred to as a ‘goy’.

Haftarah - ‘Conclusion’; short for ‘haftara bin’viim’ (conclusion with the Prophets) The weekly readings from the Prophets, read each Sabbath after the Torah reading. Some scholars believe that the haftarah division preceded the Torah parasha system, and was developed during the Greek persecutions before the Maccabean revolt. While they sound the same, ‘Torah’ and ‘Haftarah’ do not have the same root in Hebrew.

Haggadah - the Passover Seder service book

Halakhah – ‘The Way’; The application of exegetical techniques to derive laws of observance from the Torah. The application of the commandments to your daily lifestyle. Halacha is derived only from Torah; not from Nach.

Hashkafa – ‘Outlook’; the theology of Jewish beliefs. There is disagreement on the place of faith in halacha among the traditional sources. The Rambam codified thirteen beliefs that he considered basic requirements, establishing faith as an integral component of halacha. Neither the Tur nor the Shulchan Aruch, subsequent halachic authorities, established beliefs as a requirement of halacha.

Heretics and Unbelievers
Min – ‘species’ A Jew who adopted or incorporated other beliefs than Judaism. It has been applied to Christians, Sadducees, Samaritans, and Gnostics, or any group seen as attacking monotheism.
Apikeros – ‘Epicurean’, Originally a follower of the Greek philosopher Epikoros, eventually meaning a knowledgeable follower any greek philosophy or atheism.
Cofer – ‘denier’; a person who denies Jewish beliefs
Malshan – ‘slanderer’; those who informed to the authorities (Roman or Christian) against their fellows on issues of doctrine.
M’shumad – ‘apostate’; from ‘shmad’ – apostasy. Same shoresh as ‘to baptize’
Zed – ‘arrogant’; conspicuous or intentional sinners
Oved elilim, Oved p’silim – ‘idolator’

Ivri – Hebrew; The descendants of Avraham through Yitzchak. Either named from ‘Ever’, Shem’s descendant and Avraham’s antecedent, or from the shoresh ‘avar’ ‘to cross over’. Distinct from ‘Bnei Yisrael’

K – Hebrew words beginning with the letter ‘kuf’ are spelled with a ‘K’

Kabbalah - the method of mysticism embodied in Sefer Ha'Zohar, the "Book of Splendor", and other texts.

Kach – ‘take’; See also Sexual Terminology

Kashe – ‘hard’; a textual difficulty between two scriptural passages to be resolved.

Kiddush haShem – ‘Sanctification of the Name’; martyrdom

L’Havdil – ‘To separate’; used most often to separate between sacred and profane items, i.e. the separation of Shabbat from the rest of the week in the Havdala (same root) service. Used in discourse when making an analogy between a sacred and a profane item. (ex. The Torah is similar, l’havdil, to the Homeric Epics, in that the language is meant to be spoken aloud more than read.)

Lamed Vavnik – ‘A thirty-sixer’ (Yiddish); a secret tzaddik, according to a belief that each generation has thirty six secret righteous people whose goodness compensates for the degeneration of the general public, and keeps God from destroying the world.

Lashon Harah – ‘Wicked Speech’; malicious gossip

Levi’im – ‘Levites’; descendants of the tribe of Levi other than the cohanim, dedicated to serving the cohanim in the temple service. In traditional services, the second aliyah is reserved for levites.

Machzor – ‘Cycle’ or ‘Circuit’; the High Holy Days prayer book

Malach – ‘Messenger’; used in Hebrew both for divine and human messengers – often translated as ‘angel’. Divine malachim are more like robots – they do not have a will of their own, and traditionally are believed to only be able to carry out one instruction at a time. (Angel comes from the Greek translation of malach, ‘angelos’ which also just meant messenger at one time)

Masoretic Text – The authoritative text of the Torah passed down in Torah scrolls and verified by sofrim (scribes). The Masoretes were a particular group of scribes, from the eighth through tenth centuries CE, who reviewed and purged errors that had crept in to some Bible texts since at least the third century. A Hebrew Bible published in Venice in 1525 has become the standard for the Masoretic text.

Melacha – ‘Work’ or ‘Occupation’; Specifically, the thirty-nine categories of work forbidden on Shabbat and other festivals. These categories are derived from the types of labor specified to be performed in building the Mishkan, which God prohibited the Israelites from doing on Shabbat. They are listed in parashiot ‘Teruma’ and ‘Tetzave’

Mashiach – ‘Annointed’ (derived Messiah) çéùî. Originally, any annointed person or object, consecrated to God for a set purpose. The rock Jacob laid his head on when he had the ladder vision was ‘moAshiach’ as were Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Great, who were seen as God’s instruments in freeing the Jews. The kings of Judea and Israel were annointed (mashiach) to rule over the Israelite people. Traditional Judaism also teaches of more human messiahs who will appear at the end of days to herald the coming age. One, from the house of Joseph, is believed to be Elijah the Prophet. The other is to be from the house of David. Jesus of Nazareth does not meet the requirements to be either messiah as Judaism interprets them.

Mesora – ‘Tradition’ see Masoretic Text

Messiah – See Mashiach

Midrash – ‘Derived’; Commentaries by the sages on Torah from the period before the compilation of the Mishna and Talmud –roughly from 200 BCE to 400 CE. Often misused to mean any drosh on Torah.

Mikvah – ‘Reservoir’; a ritual immersion bath primarily used for purification prior to marriage, after a woman’s menstrual period, and in completing a conversion to Judaism.

Mikdash – ‘Sanctified’; The [destroyed] Temple in Jerusalem (also ‘Beit haMikdash’)

Mikdash M’at – ‘Small sanctuary’; term used by the amoraim for prayer houses following the destruction of the Mikdash. Also applied in later years to mean the Jewish home.

Minchag – ‘Tradition’; a practise whose source is popular custom rather than Torah or rabbinic commandment. (ex. – the traditional requirement to celebrate two days of Rosh Hashanna in the diaspora is based on minchag, as the original uncertainty over setting the calendar is no longer an issue)

Minyan – ‘Quorum’ – ten people, the minimum required for reciting the public prayers, including the Barechu, the Kedusha, and the Kaddish. Derived alternatively from the ten righteous people absent in Sodom and Gemorrah, or from the evil ten out of the total twelve Israelite scouts sent into Canaan by Moshe.

Mishgeh – See ‘Sin’

Mishkan – ‘Dwelling’ The tabernacle used only in the desert, before the Israelites entered Canaan, built so that God ‘would dwell among them’ (the Israelites).

Mishna – ‘Teachings’;’ the compilation of laws by R. Yehuda HaNasi in the third century CE that is the foundation of halachic law.

Mishpat – ‘Justice’; A legal sentence; one of the ethically derivable mitzvot.

Mishpatecha – See ‘Relationships’

Mitnagged – ‘Opponent’; a member of the Jewish community opposed to Chassidism in Eastern Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Mitzvah – ‘Commandment’; one of the 613 explicit commandments determined by the sages to be written in the Torah. For purposes of discussion and exposition, the mitzvot are sometimes compared in different categories; positive commands vs. prohibitions; commandments relating to God vs commandments relating between people; ethical derivable commandments (mishpatim) vs. underivable precepts (chokim).

Moshe Rabbeinu – ‘Moshe our teacher’; the prophet Moses, as distinguished in commentary from any other person named Moshe.

Moshiach – see Mashiach

M’tzachek – See Sexual Terminology

Nach – An acronym for the parts of the Bible other than Torah.

Nasi – ‘Prince’ or ‘Noble’; Originally, the leader of each of the twelve tribes. It came to represent the civil or spiritual leader of the people after the monarchy ended.

Neviim – Prophets; the second section of the Bible dealing with the prophetic writings. A prophet, or navi, was a person, Jewish or not, charged to convey God’s instructions to the people. Other than Moshe, prophets received divine instruction in a vision or a dream. Moshe conducted conversations with God. Prophecy ended at about the time of the destruction of the first Temple. According to traditional interpretation, prophecy ended either through divine mercy, as God would have to have destroyed the Israelites totally for continuing to ignore His warnings, or alternatively, in order to maintain the balance of good and evil in the world when some of the more heinous idolatrous practises were ended at about the same time.

Nevilah – ‘corpse’; animal carcass resulting from natural death or unacceptable slaughtering techniques, and not permitted for consumption under laws of cashrut.

Noahide Laws - Seven commandments for non-Jews (as compared to the 613 for Jews) stemming from the promise God made to Noah never to destroy the world in a flood again, derived from Genesis 9:1-17. These Seven Laws are general prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, homicide, illicit sexual relations, theft, eating the limb of a living creature, and a positive requirement to establish courts of justice.

Parasha – ‘Section’; The Weekly Sabbath Torah Readings divided into 54 parts for reading the entire Torah over the course of one year, also called Sidrah

Pasuk – a verse of Scripture

Pharisee – See Perushim

Perek – ‘Chapter’; The Christian division of the Torah does not follow the earlier parasha divisions. It was introduced in the thirteenth century by either Hugo of St Cher, or Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Perushim – ‘Dissenters’; Derogatory name given to those Jews following the traditions of the oral law. A group that lost power (and the high priesthood) to the Zaddokim under two disciples of Antigonos of Soko (ca 230 BCE), and regained it during the tenure of Shimon ben Shetach (ca 90 BCE). The codifiers of the Mishna [tannaim] and Talmud [amoraim] were lumped by their detractors as ‘perushim’.

Pirkei Avot – ‘Chapters of the Ancestors’; Portion of Tractate Zeraim in the Mishna that traces the transmission of the Oral Torah from Moses to the Rabbis. Usually formally studied between Pesach and Shavuot.

Posek – a rabbi expert in halacha, entitled to rule on or even establish new halachot.

Rabbi – ‘My master’; honorific term for Jewish clergy who have received semicha – formal passing of the religious tradition.

Rayecha – See ‘Relationships’

Rebbe – distorted pronunciation of ‘rabbi’; colloquially applied to Chassidic rabbis.

Relationships – Several terms are used in Chumash to describe the relationship between one person and another. In approximate order of closeness:
Basareicha; ‘your flesh’; a member of your nuclear family
Mishpatecha; ‘your family; a member of your legal family
Achicha; ‘your brother’; a member of your extended family (cousins, etc.)
Rayecha; ‘your fellow’; someone you know
Amitecha; ‘your countryman’; someone of your nation
Ish / Isha; ‘Man / Woman’; any man or woman

Resh Galuta – ‘Leader of the Exile’; (Greek ‘exilarchos’) the leader of Judaism in the diaspora. There was an acknowledged unified leader of Judaism in exile until the schism with the Karaites in 764.

Rishonim – ‘The first ones’; The medieval rabbis who followed the Geonim after the demise of the exilarchy. Establishing dates for rishonim is very difficult – roughly from the end of the geonic period, to the expulsion from Spain in 1492. Maimonides, Rashi, Nachmanides, and Rabbenu Tam were all rishonim.

Sadducees – See Zaddokim

Sanhedrin – ‘Great Assembly’ (Greek); See Anshei Knesset Hagadol.

Satan – ‘The adversary’. The satan was a job description rather than a proper name, assigned to a malach by God for a particular purpose. In Judaism, the satan is not a demigod of evil opposing a god of good.

Savoraim – ‘Those who apply logic’; The final editors of the Talmud Bavli between 475 and 589 CE.

Seder – ‘To put in order’; The ritual meal at Passover (and other festivals).

Sefer Torah – Torah Scroll – the ritually prepared scroll with the Torah written in it by a sofer. See Torah.

Sephardi – ‘Spaniards’; Jews of Spanish, North African and Middle Eastern regions, or in general Jews not from European derivation, living in former countries of the Moslem empire. The method of Hebrew pronunciation commonly used in Israel today.

Sexual Terminology – several terms are used for intercourse in different contexts. Some words have multiple or overlapping meanings
M’tzachek – ‘to sport’; can mean frivolous play, or also physical or sexual abuse
Shachav – ‘to lie with’; also means ‘going to sleep’
Yodea – ‘to know’; often used when formally reciting genealogies. Sober indication
Boh – ‘to come to’
Kach – ‘to take’; used for ‘taking’ a wife
Anoos – ‘compel’; rape; also forced conversion to another religion.

Shachav – See Sexual Terminology

Shaliach Tsibbur – ‘emissary of the congregation’ The person leading the prayer service, and also responsible for reciting them in the hearing of those unable to do them properly, so that they receive credit for observing the mitzvah to pray. Often the cantor in some congregations.

Shechina – The divine presence; an aspect of God treated as feminine grammatically and allegorically in commentary. The word does not appear in Torah.

Shemot – ‘Names’; The Hebrew name for the book of Exodus.

Shene’emar – ‘As it has been said’ – indicating a quote from Prophets.

Sheol – ‘The Pit’; name for where the dead went in Torah – not associated with punishment or torment.

Shiur – A formal lecture on the weekly portion, usually delivered by a rabbi.

Shlita – Acronym for ‘May he be preserved for long life’ in Hebrew. It follows a name, indicating that a) the person is a respected authority on Scripture and Halacha, and b) is still alive

Shoresh – ‘Root’; The root of a word. In Hebrew, words are formed from three or four letter roots that convey the basic meaning. Traditional biblical exegesis relies in many cases on explorations of the etymology of words found in Scripture.

Shtibble – ‘Little House’ (Yiddish); a small synagogue, often a private house, where a small group, often about the size of a minyan, will meet to pray.

Shul – ‘School’ (Yiddish); Synagogue.

Shulchan Aruch – ‘The set table’; Rabbis Yosef Caro and Moshe Isserles compiled a list of halachot in tabular form, which made understanding the rules of halacha much easier, and also reconciled differences between the Ashkenazic communities of northern and central Europe, and the Sephardic communities of southern Europe and Africa, which had developed during their isolation from each other (1570).

Siddur –‘Arrangement’; the prayerbook, containing the order of daily prayer

Sidra – A chapter or section of Torah. See parasha

Sin – (English) Religious transgression having Hebrew equivalents of several degrees. In Judaism, the idea of sin, in most cases, is of deviation from the proper path, rather than alliance with evil.
‘mishgeh’ – ‘error’ [inadvertent]; ‘shagah’ is another form of the same shoresh
‘chet’ – ‘wrong’ or ‘guilt’; same shoresh as ‘to miss’ [the mark]
‘aveira’ – ‘transgression’, ‘trespass’, same shoresh as ‘to cross over’
‘toeva’ – ‘abomination’ or ‘disgusting thing’ same shoresh as ‘rebuke’

Synagogue – ‘Gathering place’ (Greek ‘synagogos’) A Jewish house of worship.

Takkanot - (pl. of takkanah): halachic sublaws ordained by the Sages of the various generations

Tallit – ‘cloak’ – the ritual prayer shawl, whose only job is to hold the Tzitsit (fringes). Tzitsit are only required on garments with four, and only four, explicit corners. (Some people also wear a four cornered undergarment known as ‘arba kanfot’ or four corners, which also has tzitsit)

Talmud – The compilation of the Gemara and associated Mishnas between the fourth and sixth centuries CE. There are two Talmuds – the Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi), and the Babylonian Talmud (Bavli).

Tanach – the Jewish Bible, an acronym for the three sections Torah; Neviim; C^htuvim

Tannaim – ‘Those who teach’; The generation of sages roughly from Hillel the Elder (1^st C. BCE) to Yehuda HaNasi (ca 200 CE). These sages’ statements are included in and have the highest authority in interpreting Mishna.

Targum – Interpretations of the Torah. The most influential targumim are from time periods where the targum explanations give us insight into perceptions of Torah at that time. The best used ones are Targum Onkelos, from Roman times (ca 80 CE); and Targum Yonatan ben Uziel (ca 10 CE) (sometimes called pseudo-Yonatan and dated from about the eighth century CE).

Tefillin - The Boxes tied to your arm and forehead during weekday morning prayers in fulfillment of the requirement of Deuteronomy 6 ‘wear them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes’.

Tehillim – Psalms; from the Hebrew ‘tehilla’; praise

Teraifa – ‘torn’ (trayfe = Yiddish derivative); meat unacceptable for food because of certain ritual defects.

Toeva – See ‘Sin’

Torah – ‘Teaching‘ or ‘Law’; usually the first Five Books of Moses. The Jewish tradition also discriminates between ‘Torah b’ktav’ (the written Torah) and ‘Torah sh’beal peh’ (the oral Torah). The former is the Five Books of Moses, the latter the accumulated wisdom explaining it, said to have been transmitted from Moses orally.

Tzaddik – ‘Righteous One’; one of the great sages who was seen as living the life of Torah.

Tzimtzum – the mystery of God’s contraction of His infinite essence to fit into the physical world (or in some mystical applications, His contraction to make room for the physical universe). Ex.: How was God able to fit between the cherubim to speak to Moses and Joshua in the Mishkan?

Vayikra – ‘And He called’; The Hebrew name for the book of Leviticus

Vort – (Yiddish) See ‘d’var Torah’ and drosh.

Y-H-V-H - ‘Yod Hey Vav Hey’ the Tetragrammaton, the letters of G-d's name. The vowels in texts under these letters indicate whether the pronunciation is ‘Adonai’ (most common) or ‘Elohaynu’. They are not intended to be pronounced along with the letters.

Yahweh/ Jehova - Someone who doesn't know Hebrew trying to pronounce the Tetragrammaton.

Yemach Shemo – ‘May his name be obliterated’; Epithet attached to a truly heinous person when they must be mentioned at all – suitable candidates would include Hitler and Haman. It can be applied to the living or the dead. One of the gender specific statements not demanded to be gender inclusive by feminists.

Yirah – ‘Fear’ or ‘Awe’. In scriptural context, fear of God. The phrase ‘yirat cavod’ represents awe or reverence, literally ‘fear of greatness’. The phrase ‘yirat shamayim’ (‘fear of heaven’) indicates a devout attitude.

Yodea – See sexual terminology

Zaddokim – ‘Zaddokites’; followers of Zaddok the disciple of Antigonos of Soko (Head of the Sanhedrin ca. 240 BCE), who seized control of the Temple administration until displaced at the time of Shimon ben Shetach (ca 90 BCE). They claimed descent from Zadok, the high priest in the reign of David. The zadokim acted to eliminate observance of the oral Law, and supported the helenizing activities leading to the Hasmonean insurrection (2^nd century BCE).

Ztsl – Acronym for ‘zecher tzaddikim l’bracha’; ‘May the memory of the righteous be a blessing’. Following a name it indicates that the person was a) a scholar of Scripture and halacha and b) is deceased.

Zugot – ‘twins’; the eight sets of paired leaders of Jewish religious life in the first and second century BCE. The final pair of zugot were Shammai and Hillel the Elder.

On-line glossaries:

Holocaust glossary: http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/resources/glossary/index.html

Kabbalistic glossary: http://www.inner.virtual.co.il/glossary/glossary.htm

OU glossary: http://www.orthodoxunion.com/about/judaism.htm

Ort Bible glossary: http://bible.ort.org/bible/htm/gloss/glossaa.htm