RESOURCES

Synagogue terminology

Holidays

Hanukkah - Feast of Lights/dedication

Lag B’Omer - 33rd day of counting the Omer

Pesach- Passover Seder - Passover meal/order Haggadah- book Matzah- unleavened bread

Purim- Feast of Lots Megillah - scroll of Esther Hamantashen- 3-cornered cookie

Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year Shofar- ram’s horn

Selichot - prayers of penitence before High Holidays

Shabbat/Sabbath - Day of Rest – begins Friday at sundown through Saturday at sundown Havdallah- ceremony at the conclusion of Shabbat

Shavuot - Festival of Weeks - Giving of the Ten Commandments

Simchat Torah - Rejoicing for the Torah

Sukkot - Festival of Booths Sukkah- booth

Tisha B’Av - Destruction of the Synagogue

Tu B’Shevat - New Year of Trees

Yom HaAtzmaut - Israel Independence Day

Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day

Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement Kol Nidre- eve before Yizkor- memorial service

Our calendar – The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, so our holidays fall on different Gregorian dates each year - Just like Easter is different each year. Each of our holidays falls on the same Hebrew date each year.

Commonly Used Words

Aliyah - called to Torah

Bar Mitzvah – ceremony for 13 year old boy welcoming him to adult community

Bat Mitzvah - ceremony for 13 year old girl welcoming her to adult community

Bima - Altar

B’nei Mitzvah - more than 1 Bar Mitzvah

B’not Mitzvah - more than 1 Bat Mitzvah

Brit Milah - bris/circumcision

Chag – Holiday

Challah - twisted bread that is used for Shabbat or on Jewish holidays

Chanukiyah – candelabra with spaces for 9 candles, used during holiday of Chanukah

Chavurah - group – also the name of the family service during the High Holidays

Chumash – the 5 books of Moses- Torah printed in a book / used for Services

Chuppah - wedding canopy

Dreidle - top that is played with on Chanukah

Ha-Motzi or Motzi – refers to the prayer said before eating bread.

Havdalah - end of Shabbat

Kabbalat Shabbat – welcoming the Shabbat / also refers to our Shabbat service on the first Friday of the month

Kashrut – kosher

Kaddish - prayer for dead

Keren Ami - charity

Ketubah - wedding document

Kiddush – blessing said over wine

Kippah/Kippot - skull cap/s

Machzor – a prayerbook for use on the High Holydays

Mazal Tov - congratulations

Mezuzah - object placed on doorpost

Minyan - group of 10 Jews who gather for a prayer service

Mikvah - ritual bath

Mishpacha - family

Mitzvah/Mitzvot - commandment/s

Moyel – performs the circumcision; often an M.D.

Ner Tamid – The Eternal Light hanging over the ark. Light should always be on.

Oneg - reception following services

Parashah(Parashiot – one portion of the Torah that is read on Shabbat

Shabbat – the Sabbath, starts sundown Friday, ends sundown Saturday

Shiva – means 7 in Hebrew. When someone dies, the family usually sits “shiva” for 7 days or less depending on what the family wants to do. It is during that time that people make condolence calls on the family. There is usually a short prayer service for each night that the family sits shiva.

Shloshim – means 30 in Hebrew. When a congregant or a member of a congregant’s family dies, the name of the deceased is read from the pulpit for 4 Shabbat services- 30 days following the death.

Siddur – a prayerbook for weekly and Shabbat use. The Siddur should never touch the floor.

Shofar – rams horn blown for high holidays

Sukkah – temporary dwelling built during holiday of Sukkot

Torah – The five books of Moses- first 5 books of the old testament , handwritten in Hebrew on a parchment scroll. The Torah is read on Shabbat and on holidays.

Tallit - prayer shawl

Tzedakah - charity

Ufruf - prospective wedding couple being called to Torah

Yahrzeit - anniversary of death

Yarmulke - skull cap