JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

*Gaon (pl. geonim), head of academy in post-talmudic period, especially
in Babylonia.
Gaonate, office of *gaon.
*Gemara, traditions, discussions, and rulings of the *amoraim,
commenting on and supplementing the *Mishnah, and forming
part of the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds (see Talmud).
*Gematria, interpretation of Hebrew word according to the numerical
value of its letters.
General Government, territory in Poland administered by a German
civilian governor-general with headquarters in Cracow after
the German occupation in World War II.
*Genizah, depository for sacred books. The best known was discovered
in the synagogue of Fostat (old Cairo).
Get, bill of *divorce.
*Ge’ullah, hymn inserted after the *Shema into the benediction of
the morning prayer of the festivals and special Sabbaths.
*Gilgul, metempsychosis; transmigration of souls.
*Golem, automaton, especially in human form, created by magical
means and endowed with life.
*Ḥabad, initials of ḥokhmah, binah, da’at: “wisdom, understanding,
knowledge”; ḥasidic movement founded in Belorussia by
*Shneur Zalman of Lyady.
Hadas, *myrtle; one of the *Four Species used on Sukkot together
with the *etrog, *lulav, and aravah.
*Haftarah (pl. haftarot), designation of the portion from the prophetical
books of the Bible recited after the synagogue reading
from the Pentateuch on Sabbaths and holidays.
*Haganah, clandestine Jewish organization for armed self-defense
in Ereẓ Israel under the British Mandate, which eventually
evolved into a people’s militia and became the basis for the
Israel army.
*Haggadah, ritual recited in the home on *Passover eve at seder
table.
Haham, title of chief rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese congregations
in London, England.
*Hakham, title of rabbi of *Sephardi congregation.
*Hakham bashi, title in the 15th century and modern times of the
chief rabbi in the Ottoman Empire, residing in Constantinople
(Istanbul), also applied to principal rabbis in provincial towns.
Hakhsharah (“preparation”), organized training in the Diaspora of
pioneers for agricultural settlement in Ereẓ Israel.
*Halakhah (pl. halakhot), an accepted decision in rabbinic law.
Also refers to those parts of the *Talmud concerned with legal
matters. In contradistinction to *aggadah.
Ḥaliẓah, biblically prescribed ceremony (Deut. 25:9–10) performed
when a man refuses to marry his brother’s childless widow, enabling
her to remarry.
*Hallel, term referring to Psalms 113-18 in liturgical use.
*Ḥalukkah, system of financing the maintenance of Jewish communities
in the holy cities of Ereẓ Israel by collections made abroad,
mainly in the pre-Zionist era (see kolel).
Ḥalutz (pl. ḥalutzim), pioneer, especially in agriculture, in Ereẓ
Israel.
Ḥalutziyyut, pioneering.
*Ḥanukkah, eight-day celebration commemorating the victory of
*Judah Maccabee over the Syrian king *Antiochus Epiphanes
and the subsequent rededication of the Temple.
Ḥasid, adherent of *Ḥasidism.
*Ḥasidei Ashkenaz, medieval pietist movement among the Jews
of Germany.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
glossary
*Ḥasidism, (1) religious revivalist movement of popular mysticism
among Jews of Germany in the Middle Ages; (2) religious movement
founded by *Israel ben Eliezer Ba’al Shem Tov in the first
half of the 18th century.
*Haskalah, “enlightenment”; movement for spreading modern
European culture among Jews c. 1750–1880. See maskil.
*Havdalah, ceremony marking the end of Sabbath or festival.
*Ḥazzan, precentor who intones the liturgy and leads the prayers
in synagogue; in earlier times a synagogue official.
*Ḥeder (lit. “room”), school for teaching children Jewish religious
observance.
Heikhalot, “palaces”; tradition in Jewish mysticism centering on
mystical journeys through the heavenly spheres and palaces to
the Divine Chariot (see Merkabah).
*Ḥerem, excommunication, imposed by rabbinical authorities for
purposes of religious and/or communal discipline; originally,
in biblical times, that which is separated from common use either
because it was an abomination or because it was consecrated
to God.
Ḥeshvan, see Marḥeshvan.
*Ḥevra kaddisha, title applied to charitable confraternity (*ḥevrah),
now generally limited to associations for burial of the dead.
*Ḥibbat Zion, see Ḥovevei Zion.
*Histadrut (abbr. For Heb. Ha-Histadrut ha-Kelalit shel ha-
Ovedim ha-Ivriyyim be-Ereẓ Israel). Ereẓ Israel Jewish Labor
Federation, founded in 1920; subsequently renamed Histadrut
ha-Ovedim be-Ereẓ Israel.
*Holocaust, the organized mass persecution and annihilation of
European Jewry by the Nazis (1933–1945).
*Hoshana Rabba, the seventh day of *Sukkot on which special observances
are held.
Ḥoshen Mishpat, see Shulḥan Arukh.
Ḥovevei Zion, federation of *Ḥibbat Zion, early (pre-*Herzl)
Zionist movement in Russia.
Illui, outstanding scholar or genius, especially a young prodigy in
talmudic learning.
*Iyyar, second month of the Jewish religious year, eighth of the
civil, approximating to April-May.
I.Ẓ.L. (initials of Heb. *Irgun Ẓeva’i Le’ummi; “National Military
Organization”), underground Jewish organization in Ereẓ
Israel founded in 1931, which engaged from 1937 in retaliatory
acts against Arab attacks and later against the British mandatory
authorities.
*Jadῑd al-Islām (Ar.), a person practicing the Jewish religion in secret
although outwardly observing Islām.
*Jewish Legion, Jewish units in British army during World War
I.
*Jihād (Ar.), in Muslim religious law, holy war waged against infidels.
*Judenrat (Ger. “Jewish council”), council set up in Jewish communities
and ghettos under the Nazis to execute their instructions.
*Judenrein (Ger. “clean of Jews”), in Nazi terminology the condition
of a locality from which all Jews had been eliminated.
*Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition:
Kabbala iyyunit, speculative Kabbalah;
Kabbala ma’asit, practical Kabbalah;
Kabbala nevu’it, prophetic Kabbalah.
Kabbalist, student of Kabbalah.
*Kaddish, liturgical doxology.
Kahal, Jewish congregation; among Ashkenazim, kehillah.