Glossary

Since I use a number of Hebrew or Yiddish terms, and many of you are non-Hebrew speakers, I have decided that a glossary page may be of use to you.  I try as much as possible to write the meaning of any Hebrew words in brackets or in what I call “marginalia”* so that you can see the English translation, but this glossary may be just as easy.

*Marginalia: I have “stolen” the idea from my first real blogging experience and blog-mentors zorkmidden and evariste of Discarded Lies.  When you see a word with slight shading and a dotted underline, hover your mouse over it and a pop-up balloon will appear with an explanation of the word. Just like this. Hover your mouse over these words and watch the magic.

This is not going to be in any order for the moment. I’ll try and order it in alphabetical order one of these days… I will also update it as necessary.

Update: The list is now alphabetized and has been updated. I’m sure there will be more updates in future. If there’s a word missing that you’d like to know its meaning, let me know in the comments or email me.

Chag	Jewish Festival (pronounced with a guttural (German) “ch”)
Chag Sameach	Happy Holiday
Chatan	bridegroom
Daven	to pray
Davka	contrarily (sometimes it means “precisely”, depending on context)
Erev	the eve of (a festival or Shabbat)
Hashem	G-d
Kallah	bride
Kever	grave or tomb
Kipa (pl. Kippot)	skullcap(s), yarmulka(s)
Kol Hakavod	Kudos, all honour or credit to
Minyan	quorum of 10 men in order to pray
Mitzva (pl. Mitzvot)	commandment, precept of Judaism, good deed
Musag	concept, idea
Pesach	Passover
Sameach	Happy
Shabbat	the Jewish Sabbath
Shavuot	Feast of Weeks; Pentecost
Shechem	Nablus
Shomron	Samaria
Shtachim	Lit.: “territories”, i.e. Judea & Samaria or West Bank
Shul	synagogue
Simchat Torah	Festival of Rejoicing of the Torah
Sukkot	Feast of Tabernacles
Yehuda	Judea (or boy’s name Judah)
Yehuda veShomron	Judea & Samaria (West Bank)
Yerushalayim	Jerusalem
Yosef	Joseph
Yosh	abbreviation for Judea & Samaria
Zeh ma yesh	That’s how it is (slang)