Terms for The Chosen Flashcards
Ba’al Shem Tov
18th century founder of Chasidism
Shabbat
A weekly festival day of rest. (Friday night at sundown until Saturday night at sundown)
Celebrated with suspension of all forms of work and special prayer services
Yeshiva
A special Jewish parochial school where boys and girls are educated seperately, and where stress is placed on study of the Torah and Talmud.
Tzitzit
The ritual fringes used to remind Jews of God’s commandments
Found either on a prayer shawl or a special undergarment worn under the shirt
Rabbi
Jewish religious and spiritual leader trained in scholarship and to lead the community
Rebbe
A revered leader of the Chasidic sect
Consulted in nearly all matters by his followers and is considered the wisest man in the community because he is believed that he is best able to interpret God’s will on earth
Hebrew
the language the Torah is written and therefore is considered a holy tongue
Yiddish
a language, a combination of Hebrew, German, Polish and other European languages, spoken among Chasidic Jews
Yarmulke or skullcap
A small hat worn by Jewish tradition, worn by Jewish men to remind themselves that they are continually below God
Abba
Hebrew word for dad or daddy
Talmud
Jewish oral law
tzaddik
The righteous ones, “a superhuman link between themselves and God”
tefillin or phylacteries
two boxes with long straps of crafted unblemished leather that contains particular Bible verses in them. They are worn around the head and between the eyes and aound the arm traditionally by Jewish men during morning weekday services so that they can literally fulfill the commandment in Deuteronomy that says “and you shall wear them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes”
Torah
Literally “law”
The first five books of the Bible that traditional Jews believe were handed to Moses on Mt. Sinai
Momzer
a contemptible person
