Content tagged with “judaism”

“ This is a Jewish man trained to give ritual circumcisions. ”

“They are related, but they are separate languages. Hebrew is the more historical and traditional of the two. Yiddish is sort of a regional dialect/creole of Hebrew. Yiddish was spoken by European Jews. It’s a mixture of Hebrew, German, and other Eastern European languages. Hebrew is a language born…”

“This is a traditional Jewish toast which means ‘to life.’ It’s a lot like Salud / Salut is for the Italians. It’s sometimes used as a noun to mean: A toast, in itself. You can offer ‘a l’chaim’ A celebratory party, like a wedding or a graduation. You can attend ‘a l’chaim.’ In English, it’s…”

“ This is the traditional Jewish wedding dance where the married couple is lifted up in chairs and the guests lock arms and dance in a circle around them. It’s often performed to a song called the Hava Naglia. ”

“This is the third Gabriel Allon novel I’ve read (there are presently 23 of them). It was probably the weakest of the three. There’s always an organizational villain. In the other novels , he demonized Israel and the Swiss banking industry. This time it’s the Catholic church – or a faction within…”

“This is the Jewish day of rest. It lasts from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Observant Jews – known as ‘shomer Shabbat’ – are prohibited from doing any work during this time. The definition of ‘work’ comes from 39 prohibited categories. Many of things are historic jobs performed by…”

“This was a 1917 letter from the British Foreign Secretary (their Secretary of State, basically) to a leader of the British Jewish community which expressed support for a Jewish homeland in the area of (then) Palestine. It was the first open acceptance and validation of Zionism . The letter was both…”

“This refers to the largest ethnic groups of Jews. (Note: there are a lot of different ethnic/racial divisions among Jews .) The Ashkenazi was a group of Jewish people who migrated North from the Middle East to Eastern Europe about 1000 BC. In turn, this group immigrated heavily to the United…”

“A series of mountain resorts in the Catskills of Upstate New York which catered largely to Jewish families. They were popular because they were within train distance from New York City at a time when air travel was new and expensive, and antisemitism was sill prevalent, which caused Jewish families…”

“This is a Biblical name for a fortress that became the city of Jerusalem specifically, and the entire state of Israel generally. It has often been extended to refer to the Jewish people and community. The word is found 152 times in the Old Testament, the first time in 2 Samuel 5:7: Nevertheless,…”

“This is a holy site in Jerusalem. It’s actually several overlapping sites, important to all three Abrahamic religions. The Template Mount itself is the claimed former site of Solomon’s Temple, which was destroyed twice – the last time in the years just after Jesus died. It’s a raised plaza – kind…”

“This is a Jewish non-profit service organization founded in 1843 that promotes Jewish rights and identity, and fights antisemitism. It’s pronounced ‘bi-nay brith’ (like ‘breath’, but with an ‘i’ sound). The name comes from the Hebrew ‘benē brīth,’ which means ‘Sons of the Covenant.’ From their…”

“This is Yiddish for a non-Jew. The plural is ‘goyim.’ It’s disputed as to whether the word is a Semitic slur – a word that Jewish people use to pejoratively refer to non-Jews. Wikipedia has a list of Yiddish phrases where ‘goy’ is meant to refer to something trivial, frustrating, or pointless. The…”

“For the record, I didn’t read the raw play, but rather the book ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by Modern Library. This book has the script, a scene-by-scene analysis, and about as much commentary from directors and actors who have staged the play. I supplemented this by watching the 1974 TV special with…”