The Parable and Its Lesson: A Novella (27 page)

Kohen (pl. kohanim)
A descendant of the priests who served in the Jerusalem Temple.

Ma’asim tovim
Good deeds. Maskilim (sing. maskil) The literate elite in the Jewish community.

Melamed
A teacher of young children.

Mezuzah
Small box containing a parchment scroll attached to doorways.

Midrash
The exegetical and storytelling component of rabbinic texts.

Mikvah
Ritual bath used monthly by women after their menses.

Mishnah
The code of Jewish law compiled in Palestine around 200 CE. The text for which the Talmud serves as a commentary.

Mitzvot
Commanded deeds; generally, the daily acts a Jew is obliged to perform under Jewish law.

Pilpul
Clever dialectical solutions to textual problems, often verging on sophistry.

Rashi
Acronym of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, the famous eleventh-century French commentator on the Bible and the Talmud.

Shamash
Sexton of a synagogue and assistant to a rabbi.

Shavuot
Festival seven weeks following Passover marking the giving of the Torah at Sinai.

Sukkah
Booths in which meals are eaten during the festival of Sukkot.

Sukkot
The harvest festival that takes place the week following Yom Kippur.

Talit (pl. talitot)
Shawl with four fringes worn by men during morning prayer.

Targum
An Aramaic translation of the Bible that is traditionally studied along with the Hebrew when studying the weekly portion of the Torah.

Tefillin
Black leather boxes and straps containing biblical verses written on parchment, worn by men on the arm and the head during morning prayers.

Tsadik (pl. tsadikim)
A righteous person who excels in his relationships both to God and to man.

Yahrzeit
The anniversary of the death of a family member.

Yeshivah (pl. yeshivot)
Academies of advanced Talmud study.

Yizkor
Memorial prayer for the dead recited on major festivals.

Zohar
The central text of medieval Jewish mysticism.

Table of Contents

Introduction

THE PARABLE AND ITS LESSON

Essay on The Parable and Its Lesson [ Hamashal vehanimshal ]

Glossary