Apprentice (75 page)

Adonai
   God's holy name

Agunah
   woman whose husband has disappeared or died without witnesses, leaving her unable to remarry

Aliyah
   blessing made before reading from Torah in synagogue

Am-ha'aretz
   Jew who doesn't accept rabbinic authority

Aris
   tenant farmer

Av
   eleventh month of Jewish year, in midsummer

Bamidbar
   Hebrew name for biblical book of Numbers

Bar
   son of

Baraita
   literally “outside,” additional teachings from the Sages of Eretz Israel not included in the Mishna

Bat
   daughter of

Bavel
   Babylonia

Beit din
   Jewish court

Brit milah
   circumcision ceremony, done eight days after birth

Chaldean
   Babylonian astrologer

Charasheta
   sorceress/enchantress

Cheshvan
   second month of Jewish year, in midautumn

Ctesiphon
   capital city of Babylonia

Cubit
   an arm's length, roughly twenty inches

Dashtana
   menstruating

Devarim
   Hebrew name for biblical book of Deuteronomy

Elohim
   God's secular name

Elul
   last month of Jewish year, in late summer

Etrog
   citron

Exilarch
   ruler of Jewish community in Babylonia, descended from King David

Get
   Jewish bill of divorce

Ha-Elohim!
   exclamation, “O God!”

Haluk
   slip, thin undergarment

Hametz
   leavened bread or cakes, forbidden during Pesach

Hanukah
   winter solstice holiday, celebrates Jewish victory over Greeks in 167
BCE

Haroset
   mixture of fruit, wine, and nuts eaten at Pesach

Huppah
   wedding chamber

Kafri
   southernmost Babylonian city on the Euphrates River, location of exilarch's winter palace

Karga
   Persian poll tax

Kasa d'charasha
   incantation bowl

Kashafa (pl., kashafot)
   witch, evil sorceress

Ketuba
   Jewish marriage contract specifying husband's financial obligations to his wife in the event of divorce or his death

Kiton
   bedroom

Kohelet
   Hebrew name for biblical book of Ecclesiastes

Kohen (pl., Kohanim)
   Jewish man from a priestly family

Kosher
   meat from a biblically permitted animal, slaughtered according to Jewish Law

Liliths
   female demons who prey on newborn babies, women in childbirth, and men sleeping alone

Magi
   Zoroastrian priests

Mamzer (pl., mamzerim)
   child from a forbidden sexual relationship, such as adultery or incest

Matzah
   flat, unleavened bread eaten during Pesach

Mavoi
   covered alley

Mazal
   luck, fortune

Mazik (pl., mazikim)
   impish demon

Melog
   woman's property acquired before marriage

Mikvah
   pool or bath for ritual immersion

Minim
   heretic or sectarian, often refers to Christians

Mishna
   Jewish Oral Law, teachings of the Sages in Eretz Israel compiled ca. 200
CE

Mitzvah (pl., mitzvot)
   commandment from Torah

Mohel
   ritual circumciser

Mokh
   wad of cloth inserted vaginally to absorb menstrual blood

Nasus
   Persian Corpse Demoness

Nehar Malka
   canal connecting Euphrates River at Nehardea to Tigris River at Ctesiphon

Nehardea
   central Babylonian city located on Euphrates River

Nega
   plague demon

Niddah
   menstruating woman, forbidden to her husband until she immerses in a
mikvah
; also the state of menstruating

Palla (pl., pallae)
   Roman shawl-like garment worn by married women

Parasang
   Persian mile, approximately four kilometers

Pesach
   Passover, spring equinox festival, celebrates Exodus from Egypt

Pumbedita
   northernmost Babylonian city on Euphrates River, site of Torah school since the third century

Purim
   holiday celebrates how Queen Esther saved Persian Jews from annihilation

Rosh Hashana
   Jewish New Year, in early autumn

Ruchim
   evil spirits

Samael
   Angel of Death

Shabbat
   the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday

Shalom aleichem
   greeting, “peace unto you”

Shavuot
   late spring festival, celebrates giving of Torah at Mount Sinai

Shayd (pl., shaydim)
   demon

Shema
   passage from Deuteronomy said morning and evening, begins with “Hear O Israel, Adonai our God, Adonai is One.”

Shiva
   first seven days of mourning for a close relative

Shofar
   ram's horn

Sivan
   late spring month in which Shavuot occurs

Stola (pl., stolae)
   Roman woman's outer garment

Sukkah
   flimsy booth where Jews dwell during festival of Sukkot

Sukkot
   autumn equinox festival recalls the forty years the Hebrews wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt

Sura
   southern Babylonian city on Euphrates River, site of the prophet Ezekiel's tomb and one of the earliest Torah schools

Tasqa
   Persian land tax

Tammuz
   summer solstice month (tenth month of the Jewish year), also consort of Babylonian goddess Ishtar

Tefillin
   two small leather boxes with verses of Torah inside, worn by rabbis on their forehead and dominant hand

Tekufa
   solstice or equinox

Tesserae
   small ceramic tiles used in mosaics

Tiragan
   Babylonian holiday celebrated with colored ribbons

Tisha B'Av
   black fast, day of mourning in late summer for destruction of both first and second Temples in Jerusalem

Tishrei
   first month of Jewish year

Torah
   Jewish scriptures, Written Law given to Moses at Mount Sinai

Tractate
   volume of Talmud or Mishna, contains many chapters

Traklin
   dining room or large hall

Tzitzit
   ritual fringes attached to a Jew's four-cornered garment

Yetzer hara
   evil inclination, sexual urge

Yetzer tov
   good inclination

Yom Kippur
   Day of Atonement, observed ten days after New Year with fasting, asking forgiveness, and confession of sins

Zav (fem., zavah)
   person with an abnormal genital discharge

Zonah
   harlot, promiscuous woman