Agada: Ai: A Yiddish exclamation equivalent to the English Oh!
aleph-bess (bet): The first two letters of the Hebrew- Yiddish alphabet, i.e. learning how to read.
aleichem sholom: “To you be peace,” which is the inverted Hebrew response to the customary salutation: sholom aleichem — “peace be to you.”
Amoraim (s. Amora): The builders of the Talmud.
apikoiros (pi. apikorsim): From the ancient Greek word Epikoureios. In the Mishna and Talmud the apikoiros is described as a Jewish adherent of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. In the course of time the Greek origin of the word was forgotten and in Yiddish meant a heretic or free-thinker.
baal-tefilah: The leader of prayer, the precentor.
bagel: Hard circular roll with hole in the center like a doughnut but boiled and then baked; adapted from the Russian bublitchki.
bahelfer: Assistant to a melamed or Scripture-teacher.
Bar-Mitzvah: A thirteen-year-old Jewish boy who is confirmed; the confirmation ceremony itself.
blintzes: Cheese or kasha (groats) rolled in thin dough.
borsht: A beet or cabbage soup, of Russian origin.
bris: Circumcision ceremony; performed on the eighth day after birth of boy.
bronfin: Whisky.
chacham (pi. chachamim ): Hebrew for wise man, sage.
chalef: Slaughterer’s knife, also that of the Angel of Death.
chaleh: White Sabbath or holy day bread.
chalutz (halutz): A Jewish pioneer in the land of Israel.
Channukah (Hannukah): Described variously as “The Festival of Lights,” “The Feast of Dedication,” and “The Feast of the Maccabees.” It is celebrated for eight days from the 25th day of Kislev (December). It was instituted by Judas Maccabeus and the elders of Israel in 165 b.c. to commemorate the rout of the invader Antiochus Ephinanes, and the purification of the Temple sanctuary.
chochem: Yiddish adaptation of Hebrew word chacham.
chochma: Wisdom.
cholent (shalet): Potted meat and vegetables cooked on Friday and simmered overnight for the Sabbath noonday meal.
chupeh: Marriage canopy under which bride and groom stand during the wedding ceremony.
chutzpah: Impudence, unmitigated gall.
datcha: A summer home in the country or seashore; in both Russian and Yiddish.
dayyan: A rabbinical judge.
Diaspora: The lands of the Jewish dispersion collectively.
dreydlach (s. dreydel): From the German drehen, “to turn.” These are small metal tops, having four sides, and are spun with the fingers. Jewish children in Fast European countries traditionally play with them on Channukah.
fisnoga: Comical word-combination of the Yiddish fis (feet) and the Russian noga (feet).
gabbai (pi. gabbaim): Synagogue treasurer,
Gaori (pi. Geonim): The title given to the rectors of the two famous Talmudic academies of Sura and Pumbeditha in Babylon beginning with the Sixth Century. But the word also signifies a genius.” It was the title of honor given to Rabbi Elijah of
Vilna, the 18th Century scholar.
gefillte fish: Stuffed fish seasoned with spices and eaten on the Sabbath.
Gehenna (Hebr. Gehinnom): Hell.
Gemara: The Aramaic name for the Talmud.
gesundheit: Good health!
gewalt: Help!
goniff: Thief.
goyish, derived from goy (pi. goyim): Gentile.
gribbenes: Small crisp pieces left from rendered poultry fat, eaten
as a delicacy.
groschen: Small German silver coin whose old value was about
two cents.
gulden: Austrian silver florin whose former worth was about
forty-eight cents.
guten tog: Good-day; good-bye.
Habdalah: The benedictions and prayers recited at the conclusion of the Sabbath over a cup of wine, spices and a freshly kindled light.
Haggadah (Hagadah): The book containing the Passover home service of the Seder, consisting in large part of the narrative of the Jewish exodus from Egypt led by Moses.
Hasid (pi. Hasidim, adj. Hasidic): Literally “the pious one.” Refers to a devotee of Hasidism, the mystic sect founded in the middle of the 18th Century by the Ukrainian Rabbi Israel Baal-Sehm. There were sectarians in the days of the Maccabees who were also called Hasidim, but the two must not be confused.
hazzan (chazzan): A cantor.
Kaddish: The mourner’s prayer recited in synagogue twice daily for one year by the immediate male relatives, above thirteen years of age, of the deceased; a son who recites the Kaddish for a parent.
kaleh: Bride.
kapote: Taken from the old French word capote, meaning coat.
kazatzkale: Lively Russian dance.
Kedushah: Literally “holiness,” but refers to the Third Benediction called “Holiness of the Name” which is recited by the baal-tefilah leading the synagogue service, with the responses given by the congregation.
kest: The old ghetto practice whereby the young bride’s parents supported, in their own home, their daughter and son-in-law for a specified period of time after their marriage.
kopek: Small Russian copper coin, there being 100 kopeks in a ruble.
kosher: Food permitted and prepared according to Jewish dietary laws.
kreplach: Small pockets of dough filled with chopped meat, usually boiled and eaten with chicken broth.
kreutzer (kreuzer): Austrian copper coin, the hundredth part of a gulden, and formerly worth about one-half of a cent kugel: Noodle or bread suet pudding, frequently cooked with raisins.
lamdan: A scholar.
lox: Smoked salmon.
luftmensch: Literally “air man,” but refers to the person who has neither trade, calling, nor income and is forced to live by improvisation, drawing his livelihood “from the air” as it were.
Maimon, Rabbi Moses ben (1135-1204): The famed physician and philosopher of Spain, known generally as Maimonides and among the Jews as the Rambam, derived from the first four letters of his Hebrew name — RMBM. mameligge: Roumanian corn porridge eaten with sour cream.
matzos: Unleavened bread eaten during Passover week in recollection of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt.
maze l (mazl): Luck
mazel-tov: Good luck, congratulatory greeting especially used at weddings.
melamed: Old style orthodox Scripture and Hebrew teacher. meshuggener: A crazy man.
mezuzah: Small rectangular piece of parchment inscribed with the passages Deut. VI. 4-9 and XI. 13-21, and written in 22 lines. The parchment is rolled up and inserted in a wooden or metal case and nailed in a slanting position to the right-hand
doorpost of every orthodox Jewish residence as a talisman against evil.
Midrash: Literally “to study,” “to investigate.” A body of exegetical literature, devotional and ethical in character, which attempts to illuminate the literal text of the Bible with its inner meanings. The Midrash is constantly cited by pious and learned Jews in Scriptural and Talmudic disputation.
mikveh: Indoor bath or pool required for Jewish ritual purification.
milchig: All dairy foods; refers to cutlery, dishes and cooking utensils used exclusively for dairy foods according to Jewish ritual regulations.
min (pi. minim): Term used in Talmud and Midrash for “heretic.”
Mincha (Minha): Afternoon or twilight devotional service of the Jewish liturgy.
Mishna: A compilation of oral laws and Rabbinic teachings, edited by Judah ha-Nasi in the early 3rd Century a.d., which forms the text of the Talmud. It is obligatory for pious Jews to study it constantly. (For full explanation see main introduction.)
minyan: The quorum of ten men necessary for holding public worship; young boys can also be included, provided they are over thirteen.
misnagdim (s. misnagid): Literally “opponents”; since the advent of the Hasidic sect in the 18 th Century the term is applied to all non -Hasidic Jews.
mohel: The religious functionary who performs circumcisions according to Rabbinic rite and regulation.
Nasi: Literally “prince”; the president of the Sanhedrin. The title was first applied in the days of the Maccabees.
nebich: A Yiddish exclamatory word used as an expression of pity.
nu: Yiddish exclamatory question equivalent to “well?” — “so what?”
nudnik: A bore.
oy: The Yiddish exclamation to denote pain, astonishment or rapture.
Pans (s. Pan): Polish gentry, nobility.
Passover: English for Pesach, the festival commemorating the liberation of the Jews from their bondage in Egypt. It lasts seven days, beginning with the 15th of Nisan (March-April).
pfennig: German coin of smallest value, there being 100 to the mark.
Purim : Festival of Lots, celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from Haman’s plot to exterminate them, as recounted in the Book of Esther. It is celebrated on the 14th and 15th of Adar, the 12th Jewish lunar month (March).
Rambam: (See Maimon).
Reb: Mister.
rebbe: Rabbi; frequently applied only to a Hasidic rabbi.
rebbiniu: “Rabbi dear!” — term of endearment for a rabbi.
rebbitzen: The rabbi’s wife.
Rosh Hashanah (Hashana, Hashono, Hashoneh): The Jewish New Year, celebrated on the 1st of Tishri (in September), is the most solemn day next to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
Rosh Yeshiva (Yeshiba): Principal or rector of a yeshiva, an orthodox Talmudic college.
ruble: Silver coin of Russia, having had the value in Czarist times of fifty-one cents.
samovar: A brass urn, used in Russia for boiling water for tea, which is heated by means of a tube filled with hot charcoal which passes through the hollow center.
Sanhedrin (from the Greek synhedrion): The assembly of seventy-one in Jerusalem, established during the Second Temple period, which constituted the parliament and highest judicial body in the nation.
schlemihl: A clumsy, inept person; the etymology of the word is obscure. (See introduction to Schlemihls and Schlimazls.)
schlimazl: A luckless fellow. (See introduction to Schlemihls and Schlimazls.)
schmaltz: Animal fat.
schnapps: Whisky.
schnorrer: A beggar who shows wit, brass and resourcefulness in getting money from others as though it were his right.
schoirah: Merchandise.
Seder: The religious home service recounting the liberation from Egyptian bondage, and celebrated amidst festivity on the first and second nights of Passover; the reformed rite observes only the first night.
selichos (selichot): Penitential prayers, supplicating for God’s mercy, are recited in orthodox synagogues after midnight on “the ten days of repentance” during the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur time-interval.
s’ forim (s. sefer): A book; usually is applied to Jewish religious books.
Shabbes: The Sabbath, i.e., Saturday.
shadchan (pi. shadchonim): A marriage broker. (See introduction to Traditional Types.)
shammes (pi. shamosim): A synagogue sexton.
Shekhina (Shekinah, Shechina): God’s radiance or presence.
Shema: The first word in the confession of the Jewish faith: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God the Lord is One!”
Shem-hamforesh (ha-Meforash): The name first used by the sages of the Mishna for the tetragrammaton, the secret preeminent and Ineffable Name of God. To discover this name was the principal preoccupation of the later cabalists, for by its supernatural power they hoped to bring the Messiah.
shochet (pi. shochtim): Ritual slaughter.
shofar: Ram’s horn blown during the synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
sholom aleichem: Peace be unto you! It is equivalent to the more prosaic greeting — “hello!”
shul : Synagogue.
Shvuous (Shevuoth, Shabuat): Variously known as “The Festival of Weeks” and “Pentecost.” It originally was a harvest festival and is celebrated seven weeks after Passover.
Simchas Torah: “Rejoicing over the Torah,” the last day of Sacco (Feast of Tabernacles), celebrating the completion of the reading of the Torah.
sofer (pi. soferim): A scribe, a copyist; one who writes out, with a goose-quill in the traditional manner, the Scrolls of the Torah and who also copies mezuzahs and other Hebrew religious writings.
tallis (tallith): Prayer-shawl.
Talmud: (See main introduction for detailed explanation.)
Talmud Torah: Hebrew school for children.
Tannaim: The architects of the Mishna.
tateniu: Father dear — the suffix niu in Yiddish is added for endearing intimacy; also, God is addressed this way by the pious.
tefillin: Phylacteries.
Thaler: Large silver coin formerly in the currency of some German states, including Austria, and once having the value of seventy-two cents.
Tisha Ba’Ab: Ninth day of the month of A b (August) set aside by Jewish tradition for fasting and mourning to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 b.c. and by Titus in a.d. 70.
Torah: “Doctrine” or “law”; the name is applied to the five books of Moses (Pentateuch), and in a wider sense to all sacred Jewish literature.
tref (terefa): Food forbidden by dietary laws or not prepared according to their regulations.
tzaddik (pi. tzaddikim): Hasidic rabbis and wonder-workers.
tzimmes: Dessert made of sweetened carrots or noodles.
vey: Woe! Usually appears in Yiddish as oy veyl (woe is me!)
yeshiva: Talmudic college.
yeshiva-bocher: Student in a yeshiva.
yiches: Good ancestry; pride of ancestry.
yiddena: Yiddish for a Jewish woman.
Zemiros (Zemiroth): Devotional “table-songs” for the Sabbath
and holy days.
zloty: Large silver Polish coin.
Zohar: (See introduction to Cabalists for detailed explanation.)