Judaism

tefillin

Tefillin are the small black leather boxes containing verses of the Torah that Orthodox Jews bind to the forehead and non-dominant arm during morning prayer, thus fulfilling the Biblical commandment to love God with heart, soul, and might and to bind these commandments “as frontlets between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6.8).

Abraham

Abraham is the patriarch, acknowledged as the father of the lineage of faith by the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. He is presumed to have lived sometime in the period 2000-1700 BCE. He is the father of Isaac by Sarah (Genesis 12.25), and the “Friend of God” and Father of Ishmael by Hagar (Qur’an 37.83-113), and the exemplar of faith. (Galatians 3-4).

hallah

Hallah is the braided bread that is blessed and eaten at the beginning of the Shabbat on Friday at sundown.

minyan

A minyan (plural: minyanim) is the quorum of Jews, traditionally ten adult men, necessary to recite certain prayers.

stereotyping

Stereotyping is the ascription of generalized characteristics to a whole group of people, thus describing individuals by the characterization, usually a caricature, of the whole.

Genesis, Book of

The first book of the Humash or Five Books of Moses, Genesis (or Bereishit, meaning ‘In the Beginning’) details the Jewish understanding of the creation of the universe, from the seven days of creation, through the Garden of Eden, ending with the events of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt (the fathers of the Twelve Tribes).

mahzor

A mahzor is a Jewish prayer book containing the special liturgies and prayers for High Holy Days and other festivals.

Diaspora

A Greek word first used in the Hellenistic period, Diaspora refers to the “dispersion” of Jewish communities living in countries other than Israel. Today, the term "diaspora" (all lowercase) is also used to describe other religious communities, living apart from their land of origin.

kiddush

Kiddush means sanctification and is a Jewish prayer recited over wine sanctifying the Sabbath or a holiday. The term can also refer to the meal as a whole that accompanies the blessing over the wine.

Sephardic

Sephardic is an adjective used to refer to the Jewish culture which developed in Spain and the Mediterranean, in contradistinction to Ashkenazi Jewry, which has its distinctive roots in Germany and Eastern Europe. The culture and practices of Sephardic Judaism first came to the United States with Sephardic Jews who had settled in Latin America before coming to North America.

convent

A convent is a religious association and residential home of a religious order, particularly an order of women or nuns; the term is commonly used in both the Christian and Buddhist traditions.

Reconstructionist

The Reconstructionist movement is a recent development in American Judaism, beginning with Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881 - 1982) who understood Judaism to be a civilization and culture, kept vibrant by constantly changing and adapting to new situations. The central academic institution of Reconstructionism is the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) founded in 1968 in the Philadelphia suburbs.

b’rit milah

B’rit milah is the covenant of circumcision, a ritual in which an eight-day old male baby or a male convert to Judaism is circumcised. It is frequently referred to as a bris.

huppah

The huppah is the special canopy under which a Jewish marriage ceremony is conducted. It is symbolic of the Jewish home about to be established.

Purim

Purim is the Jewish festival commemorating the legendary rescue of the Jewish people from the threat of extermination in Persia. The festival celebration, with its costumes and revelry, always includes the reading of the book of Esther which tells the tale of the survival of the Jews.

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