to Christianity as a result of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisition.
daf yomi The programme of daily study of a page of Talmud inaugurated in 1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro.
dina malchuta dina ‘The law of the kingdom is the law,’ Subordination of all Talmudic monetary and contractual law to the law of the land in which people live.
gaon pl. geonim Literally ‘Excellency’. Originally the head of the Academy in Babylon in the immediate post-Talmudic period, later a term applied to a rabbi of outstanding distinction.
gemara ‘Teaching’ synonymous and interchangeable with Talmud. Used in the Talmud text to indicate the end of passage from the Mishnah and the beginning of a passage from the Talmud.
genizah A storeroom where worn out Hebrew and religious documents are kept. The best known was the Cairo Genizah .
golem A robotic humanoid created using mystical techniques.
haberim Zoroastrian priests. Not to be confused with the Hebrew haverim , literally friends, a term used to describe members of the rabbinic circle.
halacha ‘Pathway’ or ‘way to go’. a) The body of Jewish religious law; b) A single religious law.
Haskalah The Jewish religious enlightenment, part of the European Enlightenment.
Hasid, pl. Hasidim Followers of Hasidism.
Hasidism The mystical-joyous religious sect founded by the Ba’al Shem Tov or Besht.
kabbalah Jewish mysticism.
kallah Month-long public study sessions held twice yearly in the Babylonian academies.
Karaites A Jewish sect who take the Bible literally and do not accept the Oral Law.
maggid An itinerant preacher, also a supernatural guide or mentor.
Midrash Literally ‘exposition’. a) Homilies drawn from biblical verses. Often interchangeable with aggada; b) Books containing these homilies.
misnegdim Literally ’opponents’. Those who resisted and opposed Hasidism
Mishnah The first codification of the Oral Law, completed 200–220 ce .
musar Ethical teachings, instruction in correct personal behaviour.
nasi The leader of the Jewish community in Israel under Roman occupation.
Pharisees Plebian, social-religious sect prior to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, forerunners of the rabbis.
pilpul Literally ‘sharp’ or ‘peppery’. Casuistic, hair-splitting analysis of Talmudic texts or Talmudic problems.
Sadducees Patrician social-religious sect during the period of the Roman occupation of Israel, opponents of the Pharisees.
Shema Declaration of faith from the Torah, read twice daily by observant Jews.
tanna a) Rabbi of the period of the Mishnah; b) Memory man who recited the Mishnah to students in the Babylonian academies.
Taska A tax similar to ground rent, paid on agricultural land, to the Sassanian authorities.
teshuva, pl. teshuvot A written rabbinic responsum to a legal question.
teyku Literally ‘let it stand’. An unsolved Talmudic problem.
Torah The Five Books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch. The first and, to the Jews the most sacred, books of the Old Testament.
tosafist Talmudic commentator of the twelfth–fourteenth-century French school.
Tosafot. Compilation of commentaries by the tosafists.
Tosefta Collection of rabbinic material from the period of the Mishnah which was not included in the Mishnah.
Wissenschaft des Judentums ‘Science of Judaism.’ Academic analysis of Jewish thought, texts and history.
yeshiva, pl. yeshivot A college for the study of the Talmud.
Zohar The principal text of kabbalah .
Bibliography
Abramson, S., 1987. Mi-torato shel Rav Shmuel HaNagid mi-Sefarad. Sinai, Volume 100, pp. 22–3.
Abun-Nasr, J. M., 1987. A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Adler, J., 2000. The Jewish Kingdom of Himyar (Yemen): Its Rise and Fall. Midstream, 46(4).
Adler, M. N., 1907. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary. New York: Phillip Feldheim, Inc.
Ahren, R., 2012. Never mind the Bible, it’s the sanity of the Talmud you
daf yomi The programme of daily study of a page of Talmud inaugurated in 1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro.
dina malchuta dina ‘The law of the kingdom is the law,’ Subordination of all Talmudic monetary and contractual law to the law of the land in which people live.
gaon pl. geonim Literally ‘Excellency’. Originally the head of the Academy in Babylon in the immediate post-Talmudic period, later a term applied to a rabbi of outstanding distinction.
gemara ‘Teaching’ synonymous and interchangeable with Talmud. Used in the Talmud text to indicate the end of passage from the Mishnah and the beginning of a passage from the Talmud.
genizah A storeroom where worn out Hebrew and religious documents are kept. The best known was the Cairo Genizah .
golem A robotic humanoid created using mystical techniques.
haberim Zoroastrian priests. Not to be confused with the Hebrew haverim , literally friends, a term used to describe members of the rabbinic circle.
halacha ‘Pathway’ or ‘way to go’. a) The body of Jewish religious law; b) A single religious law.
Haskalah The Jewish religious enlightenment, part of the European Enlightenment.
Hasid, pl. Hasidim Followers of Hasidism.
Hasidism The mystical-joyous religious sect founded by the Ba’al Shem Tov or Besht.
kabbalah Jewish mysticism.
kallah Month-long public study sessions held twice yearly in the Babylonian academies.
Karaites A Jewish sect who take the Bible literally and do not accept the Oral Law.
maggid An itinerant preacher, also a supernatural guide or mentor.
Midrash Literally ‘exposition’. a) Homilies drawn from biblical verses. Often interchangeable with aggada; b) Books containing these homilies.
misnegdim Literally ’opponents’. Those who resisted and opposed Hasidism
Mishnah The first codification of the Oral Law, completed 200–220 ce .
musar Ethical teachings, instruction in correct personal behaviour.
nasi The leader of the Jewish community in Israel under Roman occupation.
Pharisees Plebian, social-religious sect prior to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, forerunners of the rabbis.
pilpul Literally ‘sharp’ or ‘peppery’. Casuistic, hair-splitting analysis of Talmudic texts or Talmudic problems.
Sadducees Patrician social-religious sect during the period of the Roman occupation of Israel, opponents of the Pharisees.
Shema Declaration of faith from the Torah, read twice daily by observant Jews.
tanna a) Rabbi of the period of the Mishnah; b) Memory man who recited the Mishnah to students in the Babylonian academies.
Taska A tax similar to ground rent, paid on agricultural land, to the Sassanian authorities.
teshuva, pl. teshuvot A written rabbinic responsum to a legal question.
teyku Literally ‘let it stand’. An unsolved Talmudic problem.
Torah The Five Books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch. The first and, to the Jews the most sacred, books of the Old Testament.
tosafist Talmudic commentator of the twelfth–fourteenth-century French school.
Tosafot. Compilation of commentaries by the tosafists.
Tosefta Collection of rabbinic material from the period of the Mishnah which was not included in the Mishnah.
Wissenschaft des Judentums ‘Science of Judaism.’ Academic analysis of Jewish thought, texts and history.
yeshiva, pl. yeshivot A college for the study of the Talmud.
Zohar The principal text of kabbalah .
Bibliography
Abramson, S., 1987. Mi-torato shel Rav Shmuel HaNagid mi-Sefarad. Sinai, Volume 100, pp. 22–3.
Abun-Nasr, J. M., 1987. A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Adler, J., 2000. The Jewish Kingdom of Himyar (Yemen): Its Rise and Fall. Midstream, 46(4).
Adler, M. N., 1907. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary. New York: Phillip Feldheim, Inc.
Ahren, R., 2012. Never mind the Bible, it’s the sanity of the Talmud you
Similar Books
