Glossary

This is the complete Glossary of the 1952-1961 printing of the Soncino Talmud, wherein the glossaries of all the tractates were compiled into a single volume. A few other frequently encountered terms have been added (distinguished by green font), with cites as noted.

Abbreviations and some other terms are to found
on the Abbreviations Page

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z

AB: The fifth month of the Jewish Calendar, corresponding approximately to July or August.
ABBA: Father. A title given to many Rabbis of the Talmud as a mark of affection or honour.
'ABODAH ZARAH: Idolatry; lit., 'strange service'.
ADAR: The name of the twelfth month of the Jewish Calendar, corresponding approximately to February or March.
ADRAKTA: A court document authorizing the creditor to trace out the debtors property for the purpose of distraint.
AGGADAH: (Lit., 'tale', 'lesson'); the name given to those sections of Rabbinic literature which contain homiletic expositions of the Bible, stories, legends, folk-lore, anecdotes or maxims. Opposed to halachah, q.v.
'AGUNAH: (Lit., 'tied'); a deserted wife, tied to an absent husband because, e.g. she is uncertain whether her husband is alive or not, and so cannot marry again.
AKIBA: Rabbi Akiba (Akiva) ben Joseph (50-135 A.D.). A poor, semi-literate shepherd, Akiba became one of Judaism's greatest scholars. He developed the exegetical method of the Mishnah, linking each traditional practice to a basis in the biblical text, and systematized the material that later became the Mishnah.
Rabbi Akiba was active in the Bar Kokhba rebellion against Rome, 132-135 C.E.. He believed that Bar Kokhba was the Moshiach (messiah), though some other rabbis openly ridiculed him for that belief (the Talmud records another rabbi as saying, "Akiba, grass will grow in your cheeks and still the son of David will not have come.") When the Bar Kokhba rebellion failed, Rabbi Akiba was taken by the Roman authorities and tortured to death. [< http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/akiba.html]
ALIF: The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, with numerical value 1.
AMARKAL: According to the interpretation given by R. Hisda in Horayoth 13a, the word is composed of amar and kola, lit., 'who said (i.e. directs) all things'. One of the Temple trustees whose duty it was to supervise the work of the cashiers.
'AM HA-AREZ: pl. 'amme ha-arez, (Lit., 'people of the land', 'country people'); the name given in Rabbinic literature to (a) a person who through ignorance was careless in the observance of the laws of Levitical purity and of those relating to the priestly and Levitical gifts. In this sense opposed to haber, q.v.; (b) an illiterate or uncultured man, as opposed to talmid hakam, q.v.
'AMIDAH: (Lit., 'standing'); the Eighteen Benedictions (seven on Sabbaths and Festivals) which the worshipper always recites in a standing posture.
AMORA: 'Speaker', 'interpreter'; originally denoted the interpreter who attended upon the public preacher or lecturer for the purpose of expounding at length and in popular style the heads of the discourse given to him by the latter. Subsequently (pl. Amoraim) the name given to the Rabbinic authorities responsible for the Gemara, as opposed to the Mishnah or Baraitha (v. Tanna).
ANINUTH: The state of being an onen, q.v.
'ARAKIN: Vows to donate a person's valuation to the Temple, v. Lev. XXVII, 1ff.
'AREB: A surety who agrees to pay in case the borrower fails to meet his obligation. (Cf. KABBELAN.)
ARIS: A tenant farmer, who pays a fixed percentage of the crops in rent.
ARUS: The technical term for a husband of a betrothed woman, when erusin (q.v.) has taken place; v. ARUSAH.
ARUSAH: A betrothed woman after erusin (q.v.); v. ARUS.
ASHAM TALUI: (asham 'a guilt-offering', talui 'hung', 'suspended'), the offering which is to be brought by one who is in doubt as to the transgression committed. V. Lev. V, 17-19.
ASHAM WADDAI: (v. ASHAM TALUI; waddai 'certainty'), the guilt-offering incumbent upon one who is certain of having committed a sinful act that has to be atoned for by a guilt-offering.
ASHERAH: The biblical name given to a tree or pole which was the object of idolatrous worship.
ASMAKTA: 'Reliance'; (a) Biblical text adduced to give some slight support or provide a mnemonic for a law enacted by the Rabbis; (b) an assurance that one will pay or forfeit something in case of the non-fulfilment of a certain condition which, however, he is confident that he will fulfil.
ASUFI: (Lit., 'one gathered in'); a foundling, a child, gathered in from the street, whose father or mother is unknown.
'AYIN: The sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, with numerical value 70.
BA'AL KERI: One unclean through nocturnal pollution.
BALAAM: Numbers 22-24: A Midianite (gentile) prophet and diviner from Pethor, who was called upon by the king of Moab to curse the Israelites. At God's direction Balaam blessed, rather than cursed, Israel. Later books characterize Balaam as a most evil man (Joshua 13:22, Joshua 24:10, Nehemiah 13:2, 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, Revelation 2:14, and many parts of the Talmud).

Herford, Christianity in the Talmud, p. 48, suggests that Balaam is frequently used in the Talmud as a type (or euphemism) for Jesus (v. also pp. 64-70). Though no name is mentioned to shew which woman is meant, the mother of Jesus may be alluded to, which theory is strengthened by the statement that she mated with a carpenter [< Sanhedrin 106a, note 42].

According to the view that all the Balaam passages are anti-Christian in tendency, Balaam being used as an alias for Jesus, Phinehas the Robber is thus taken to represent Pontius Pilatus, and the Chronicle of Balaam probably to denote a Gospel (v. Herford op. cit. 72ff.). This view is however disputed by Bacher and others: cf. Ginzberg, Journal of Biblical Literature, XLI, 121. [< Sanhedrin 106b, note 6].
BAMAH: A 'high place', i.e. an altar for sacrifice other than the one in the Temple of Jerusalem.
BARAITHA: (Lit., 'outside'); a teaching or a tradition of the Tannaim that has been excluded from the Mishnah and incorporated in a later collection compiled by R. Hiyya and R. Oshaiah, generally introduced by 'Our Rabbis taught', or, 'It has been taught'.
BATH KOL: (Lit., 'daughter of a voice'); (a) a reverberating sound; (b) a voice descending from heaven (cf. Dan. IV, 28) to offer guidance in human affairs, and regarded as a lower grade of prophecy.
BERERAH: (Lit., 'choice'); the selection retrospectively of one object rather than another as having been designated by a term equally applicable to both.
BETH AB: (Beth 'house' and Ab 'father) 'family', one of the six family divisions into which each of the eight major divisions of the priests and Levites (mishmar, q.v.) was subdivided for the purpose of the Temple service.
BETH DIN: (Lit., 'house of law or judgment'); a gathering of three or more learned men acting as a Jewish court of law.
BETH HAMIDRASH: House of study; the college or academy where the study of the Torah was carried on under the guidance of a Rabbinical authority.
BETH KOR: An area in which a kor of seed may be sown.
BETH PERAS: An area (of a square peras = half the length of a furrow) regarded as unclean owing to crushed bones scattered in it from a ploughed grave.
BETH SE'AH: An area in which a se'ah of seed may be sown.
BIKKURIM: The first ripe fruits which had to be brought to the Temple in Jerusalem, Deut. XXV, 1ff.
BINYAN AB: (Lit., 'constructing of a family'); a norm of interpretation denoting that a certain Biblical passage is regarded as having laid the foundation of a family, because it is the principal passage from which is derived the explanation to passages which are similar to it.
BOGERETH: A girl from the age of twelve and a half years plus one day onwards.
C.E.: "common era"; an attempt to use a neutral term for the period traditionally labeled "AD" (Latin: anno domini or "year of the Lord") by Christians. Thus, 1992 CE is identical to AD 1992. [< http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/gloss.html]
CUTHEAN, CUTHI: A member of the sect of Samaritans by whom Northern Israel was repopulated after the dispersal of the ten tribes.
CUTHEAN: Used as euphemism for non-Jew: 'Cuthean' (Samaritan) was here substituted by the censor for the original goy (heathen) [< Sanhedrin 57a, note 33].
D
DANKA: (a) The sixth of a denar; (b) a sixth in general.
DAYYO: (Lit., 'it is sufficient'); the legal maxim, 'it is sufficient for the object to which an analogy is drawn to be on the same footing as that from which it is drawn,' even though, were the analogy to be applied strictly, it would be treated with greater rigour.
DEMAI: (Lit., 'dubious', 'suspicious'); produce concerning which there is a doubt as to whether the rules relating to the priestly and Levitical dues and ritual cleanness and uncleanness were strictly observed. Any produce bought from 'am ha-arez (q.v.), unless the contrary is known, is treated as demai; and terumah gedolah and terumah (q.v.) of the tithe must be separated from it.
DENAR: Denarius, a silver or gold coin, the former being worth one twenty-fourth (according to others one twenty-fifth) of the latter.
DEYOMAD: A corner-piece constructed from two boards placed at right-angles to each other or a block cut into such a shape.
DUCHAN: A raised platform on which the Levites stood when chanting Psalms in divine service.
DUPONDIUM: A Roman coin of the value of two issars.
ELUL: The sixth month of the Jewish Calendar, corresponding to August or September.
EMURIM: (Lit., 'the consecrated parts'); the parts of a sacrifice which were to be burnt on the altar.
'ERUB: (Lit., 'mixture'); a quantity of food, enough for two meals, placed (a) 2000 cubits from the town boundary, so as to extend the Sabbath limit by that distance; (b) in a room or in a court-yard to enable all the residents to carry to and fro in the court-yard on Sabbath.
'ERUB TABSHILIN: (Lit., 'mixture of dishes'); a dish prepared on the eve of a Festival immediately preceding Shabbath enabling the preparing of food on the Festival for the Sabbath.
ERUSIN: (Lit., 'betrothal'); a formal betrothal, which cannot be annulled without a bill of divorce.
ETHROG: A fruit of the citrus family used with the palm leaves, myrtle and willows on the Festival of Tabernacles. Cf. Lev. XXIII, 40.
EXEDRA: A covered way leading up to the house, open at both sides.
F
FIRST STAGE [of intercourse]: "[T]he first stage of contact is the insertion of the corona [of the penis]" [< Yebamoth 55b]
G
[G]: This symbol is used in place of a Greek phrase, word, or letter in the original Soncino text. Readers to whom the original Greek is important should consider purchasing a printed copy of the Babylonian Talmud from Soncino Press.
GADOL: An adult male, over thirteen years of age.
GEMARA: (Lit., 'completion' or 'learning'). The traditions, discussions and rulings of the Amoras, based mainly on the Mishnah and forming (a) the Babylonian Talmud and (b) the Palestinian Talmud.
GEMATRIA: The numerical value of letters used as a basis of homiletical interpretation.
Geonim: (singular - Gaon) Title borne by the heads of the two large academies in Babylonia in Sura and Pumbedita, between the 6th and 11th centuries. In their days the Babylonian Talmud gained wide circulation throughout the Jewish people. The highest religious authorities of their time, they explained the Halacha and established new laws in accordance with contemporary needs. A listing of the Geonim is found in "Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon" ("The Epistle of Rabbi Sherira Gaon"). The last Gaon in Pumbedita was Rav Hai, the son of Sherira Gaon. The heads of the academies in Eretz Israel at this period were also called Gaon, but their influence was limited. {< http://www.ort.org/ort/edu/rolnik/halacha/geonim.htm)
GET: A deed or legal document; when used without further specification denotes generally a writ of divorce.
GEZERAH SHAWAH: (Lit., 'equal cut'); the application to one subject of a rule already known to apply to another, on the strength of a common expression used in connection with both in the Scriptures.
GRIVA: A dry measure equal to one se'ah. (q.v.)
GUD AHIT: (Lit., 'pull and bring down'); a legal fiction that a wall or any other partition may in certain circumstances be deemed to reach the ground though an air-space in fact intervenes.
[H]: This symbol is used in place of a Hebrew (or Aramaic) phrase, word, or letter in the original Soncino text. Readers to whom the original Hebrew is important should consider purchasing a printed copy of the Babylonian Talmud from Soncino Press.
HABDALAH: (Lit., 'separation'); the blessing (usually made over wine) by which the Sabbath or any other holy day is ushered out.
HABER: 'Fellow', 'associate', opp. to 'am ha-arez (q.v.); one scrupulous in the observance of the law, particularly in relation to ritual cleanness and the separation of the priestly and Levitical dues.
HABUT: (From a root meaning 'to strike' or 'press down'); a legal fiction that an inclined projection may be regarded as horizontal, and stretching downwards to the spot required (cf. LABUD).
HADASH: ('new'); the new cereal crops, which may not be eaten before the waving of the 'sheaf' ('omer); v. Lev. XXIII, 10-14.
HAFINAH: The priests taking handfuls of incense, v. Lev. XVI, 12.
HAFTARAH: (Lit., 'leave-taking'); a section from the Prophetical books recited after the reading from the Pentateuch on Sabbaths and Holy Days.
HAGBAHAH: (Lit., 'a lifting'); a legal form of acquisition consisting in the lifting up of the object to be acquired.
HAGGADAH: See AGGADAH.
HAKANAH: 'Preparation' for use on the Sabbath or Festival; used as a technical term with reference to [H] Ex. XVI, 5.
HAKTARAH: The burning of sacrificial portions on the altar.
HALACHAH: (Lit., 'step'. 'guidance'), (a) the final decision of the Rabbis, whether based on tradition or argument, on disputed rules of conduct, (b) those sections of Rabbinic literature which deal with legal questions, as opposed to the Aggadah.
HALAL, HALALAH: The issue of an interdicted priestly union.
HALIFIN: 'Exchange'; a legal form of acquisition effected by handing to the seller an object in nominal exchange for the object bought (V. KINYAN SUDAR).
HALIZAH: (Lit., 'drawing off'); the ceremony of taking off the shoe of the brother of a husband who has died childless. (v. Dent. XXV, 5-9.)
HALLAH: The portion of the dough which belongs to the priest (v. Num. XV, 20f); in the Diaspora this is not given to the priest but burnt.
HALLEL: (Lit., 'Praise'); Psalms CXIII-CXVIII, recited in the morning service on New Moons and Festivals.
HALUZAH: A woman who has performed halizah (q.v.).
HANUKKAH: The Festival of Dedication (frequently designated the Feast of Lights); a minor eight days' festival, from the 25th of Kislev to the 2nd or 3rd of Tebeth, in commemoration of the rededication of the Temple in 165 B.C.E. after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes.
HAROSETH: A mixture of apples, nuts and wine, so made as to resemble mortar, into which the bitter herbs are dipped on the first two nights of Passover.
HASID: ('pious'). A pious man; at one time possibly a designation of a member of a particularly pious and strictly observant sect.
HAYYAH: Beast of chase, e.g. deer, contra to behemah, a domesticated animal.
HAZA'AH: The sprinkling of the blood of sacrifices, and of the water of purification, upon the unclean.
HAZAKAH: (Lit., 'taking hold'); a legal term denoting (a) presumptive title based on the occupier's undisturbed possession during a fixed legal period, in cases where a claim to ownership cannot be established by other legal evidence; usucaption; (b) taking possession (of landed property) by means of a formal act of acquisition, e.g., digging, fencing.
HEDYOT: (From Gr. [G]); (a) a commoner or layman, as opposed to a king or High Priest; (b) an ignorant or ill-mannered man; (c) untrained, as opposed to a skilled worker; (d) private writings, as opposed to biblical books.
HEFKER: Property which has no owner: a renunciation of ownership in favour of all and sundry. When used in reference to a court of law, it denotes an act of transfer of property from one person to another, in virtue of the power of the court to declare property ownerless, after which it can assign it to another.
HEKAL: The holy temple, especially the hall containing the golden altar etc. in contradistinction to the Holy of Holies.
HEKDESH: Any object consecrated to the Sanctuary.
HEKKESH: Analogy, proving that the law in respect of one thing applies also to another, either because both have some feature in common or there is a Biblical intimation to the effect.
HELEB: The portion of the fat of a permitted domestic animal which may not be eaten; in sacrifices that fat was burnt upon the altar.
HEREM: pl. haramim ('devoted'). Property devoted to the use of the priests or the Temple; when used in vows it denotes that benefit shall be prohibited from the person or things so designated.
HERESH: (cf. Ex. IV, ii); a deaf person, especially (in its legal use) a deaf mute.
HESSET: (Lit., 'shaking'); levitical uncleanness caused through the vibration of an unclean object.
HILLEL: Hillel and Shammai [were] two great scholars born a generation or two before the beginning of the Common Era are usually discussed together and contrasted with each other, because they were contemporaries and the leaders of two opposing schools of thought (known as "houses"). The Talmud records over 300 differences of opinion between Beit Hillel (the House of Hillel) and Beit Shammai (the House of Shammai). In almost every one of these disputes, Hillel's view prevailed.
Rabbi Hillel was born to a wealthy family in Babylonia, but came to Jerusalem without the financial support of his family and supported himself as a woodcutter. It is said that he lived in such great poverty that he was sometimes unable to pay the admission fee to study Torah, and because of him that fee was abolished. He was known for his kindness, his gentleness, and his concern for humanity. One of his most famous sayings, recorded in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers, a tractate of the Mishnah), is "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?" The Hillel organization, a network of Jewish college student organizations, is named for him. [< http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/hillel.html] See also Shammai.
HIN: Measure of capacity equal to three kabs or twelve logs.
HOMER: Equal to a kor or thirty se'ahs.
HULLIN: (Lit., 'profane'); ordinary unhallowed food, as opposed to terumah, q.v.; unconsecrated animals, as opposed to hekdesh, q.v.
HUPPAH: (Lit., 'canopy'). The bridal chamber; the entrance of a bride into the bridal chamber, whereby the marriage was completed; v. kiddushin.
'ISKA: (Lit., 'occupation', 'business', 'merchandise'); a business arrangement whereby one invests money with a trader, who trades therewith on their joint behalf. To avoid the prohibition of usury, the investor took a greater share of the risk than of the profit, e.g. he received either half of the profit but bore two-thirds of the loss, or a third of the profit but bore half the loss.
ISSAR: A small Roman coin.
JUDEO-CHRISTIAN: See MIN [< Sanhedrin 90b, note 17].
JUDAH HA-NASI: Judah Ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince)(135-219 A.D.) The Patriarch of the Jewish community, Judah Ha-Nasi was well-educated in Greek thought as well as Jewish thought. He organized and compiled the Mishnah, building upon Rabbi Akiba's work. [< http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/hanasi.html]
KAB: Measure of capacity equal to four logs or one sixth of a se'ah.
KABBELAN: 'Receiver'; a surety who receives money from the lender to convey to the borrower and who thus becomes liable to pay the debt whenever called upon by the lender, even though the borrower has not been first approached. Also any surety who accepts such liability. (V. also 'AREB.)
KABU'A: That which is stationed in a definite place; hence a technical term for a doubt arising in respect of that which is so stationed.
KADDISH: (Lit., 'holy'): a brief doxology (in Aramaic) recited at the close of each section of a public service.
KALLAH: Name given to an assembly at which the law was expounded to scholars, as well as to the half-yearly assemblies of the Babylonian Academies.
KAL WA-HOMER: (Lit., 'light and heavy'); an argument, or proof of a contention, a minori or a fortiori.
KARETH: 'Cutting off; divine punishment for a number of sins for which no human penalty is specified. Sudden death is described as 'kareth of days', premature death at sixty as 'kareth of years'.
KARETH: The law is clearly established, in this Tractate and elsewhere, that the penalty of kareth is incurred when a transgression — one of the thirty-six cited in the opening Mishnah of this Tractate — is committed deliberately without any previous warning. If the transgression was committed deliberately, after the warning of witnesses, the offender is liable in some of the cases to the death penalty, and in others, to forty stripes. [< Introduction to Tractate Kerithoth by the translator, Rabbi Dr. I. Porusch, Ph. D., Tractate Kerithoth, page v.]
KARETH: Premature or sudden death. [< INTRODUCTION to Horayoth]
KARMELITH: An area which is neither a public nor a private domain, and which is subject to special laws in respect of the Sabbath and the legal acquisition of subjects that happen to be within its limits.
KARPAF or KARPI: (Lit., 'an enclosure'); an area enclosed for the storage of wood or similar purposes, outside a settlement.
KAWANAH: (Lit., 'aiming', 'concentration'); (a) devotion (in prayer); (b) deliberate purpose (in the performance of a religious precept).
KEMIZAH: The taking of the fistful of flour from the meal-offering.
KENAS: A fine or penalty (as distinct from actual monetary loss caused), to be paid by certain classes of wrongdoers, e.g., a seducer.
KERI: (Lit., 'read'); the text of the Scripture as it is to be read in places where this is not correctly indicated by the text as written (Ketib).
KETANAH: (Lit., 'small', 'little'); a girl under the age of twelve years and a day.
KETHUBAH: (Lit., 'a written [document]'); (a) a wife's marriage settlement which she is entitled to recover on her being divorced or on the death of her husband. The minimum settlement for a virgin is two hundred zuz, and for a widow remarrying one hundred zuz; (b) the marriage contract specifying the mutual obligations between husband and wife and containing the amount of the endowment and any other special financial obligations assumed by the husband.
KIDDUSH: (Lit., 'sanctification'); the blessing (usually made over wine) by which the Sabbath or any other holy day is ushered in.
KIDDUSHIN: (Lit., 'sanctification'); (a) the act of affiancing or betrothal; (b) the money or article given to effect the betrothal.
KIL'AYIM: (Lit., 'junction of diverse kinds'); the prohibition either (a) of seeds or plants for sowing; (b) of animals for propagation; and (c) of material containing wool and linen for wearing (v. Lev. XIX, 19, XXII, 9ff).
KINYAN: 'Acquisition'; the legal acquisition of either landed or movable property. (V. KINYAN SUDAR.)
KINYAN SUDAR: (Lit., 'acquisition of a scarf'); a legal form of acquisition of objects or of confirming agreements, executed by the handing of a scarf (or any other article) on the part of one of the contracting parties to the other, or on that of the witnesses to the agreement, as a symbol that the object itself has been transferred or the obligation assumed.
KOFER: (Lit., 'atonement'); the indemnity paid by the owner of an ox which has gored a man to death (v. Ex. XXI, 30).
KOHANIM: Plural of Kohen, Priest, Aaronide.
KOHEN: A priest, a descendant of Aaron (v. Lev. XXI, XXII).
KONAM: (A substitute for korban); an expression used in taking a vow of abstinence.
KOR: A measure of capacity = thirty se'ahs (q.v.).
KORBAN: An expression used in taking a vow of abstinence.
KORTOB: A sixty-fourth of a log.
KOY: A hybrid animal, partly ox and partly sheep.
KUTAH: A preserve or relish made of bread crusts and sour milk.
LABUD: (Lit., 'joined'). A legal fiction whereby a horizontal gap of certain prescribed dimensions is deemed to be closed up (cf. HABUT).
LAGIN: A vessel larger in size than a cup (kos) and smaller than the jar (kad).
LEVIRATE MARRIAGE: The marriage between a man and the widow of his dead brother who has died childless. (V. HALIZAH.)
LINAH: 'Staying overnight'. The disqualification of a holy thing which remained overnight.
LITRA: (a) a measure of capacity equal to half a log, q.v.; (b) the weight of one pound, the Roman libra.
LOG: A liquid measure equal to a quarter of a kab, (q.v.), or the space occupied by six eggs, c. 549 cubic centimetres.
LULAB: The palm-branch used in the ceremony of the Feast of Tabernacles (v. Lev. XXIII, 40).
MA'AH: The smallest current silver coin, weighing sixteen barleycorns, equal in value to two dupondia, a sixth of the silver denar or zuz.
MA'AMAD pl. MA'AMADOTH: (Lit., 'station'); a group of lay Israelites who participated in the Temple service as representatives of the public.
MA'AMAR: (Lit., 'saying', 'declaration'); the formal betrothal, instituted by the Rabbis, of the yebamah (q.v.) by the levir. This is accompanied either by the gift of money or by a deed.
MADDIR: He who vows that his neighbour should not benefit from him; his neighbour is then called the muddar.
MAKKATH MARDUTH: (Lit., 'stripes for rebellion'); lashes inflicted for disobedience the number of which being left to the discretion of the court in contradistinction to the 40 (39) lashes ordained by the Bible.
MAKOM: (Lit., 'place'); a name of God, who is so called because 'He is the place of His universe'.
MAMZER: A child born from a union prohibited under penalty of death or kareth.
MANEH: One hundred zuz. The maneh was a weight in gold or silver equal to fifty holy, or a hundred common shekels.
MATTIR: (pl. Mattirin), 'that which renders permissible'. The essential rite of a sacrifice which renders the offering permissible for the altar or for eating.
MAZZAH: Unleavened bread (in the form of fairly thin wafers) eaten during Passover.
MEDUMMA: Imaginary.
MEGILLAH: (Lit., 'Scroll'); a term commonly applied to the Book of Esther.
MEGILLATH TA'ANITH: (Lit., 'Scroll of Fasting'); a list compiled some time before the destruction of the Temple, of days on which it was forbidden to fast, with the reasons in each case.
ME'ILAH: Illegal or improper use of consecrated objects (v. Lev. V, 15ff).
MELIKAH: (Lit., 'wringing'); the wringing off of the head of the burnt-offering of a bird, v. Lev. I, 15.
MELOG: (Lit., 'plucking' or 'milking'); denotes property which belongs to the wife and of which the husband has only the usufruct without any rights to the capital, or responsibility for its loss or deterioration.
MEMA'ENETH: (Lit., 'she who refuses'); a woman who exercises the right of mi'un, q.v.
MESHIKAH: (Lit., 'pulling'); one of the legal modes of acquiring a movable object which the buyer performs by drawing the object into his — though not exclusive — possession.
MESIRAH: (Lit., 'delivery' or 'harnessing'); a form of legal acquisition which is executed by the buyers performance of some act, resembling harnessing in the case of a beast, or in the case of other heavy objects by obtaining actual delivery.
MESITH: (Lit., 'seducer'); one who entices another to idolatry (v. Deut. XIII, 7ff).
METH MIZWAH: (Lit., 'a dead [body] which is a commandment); a corpse lying unattended with nobody to arrange for its burial. The duty of burying it devolves upon whomsoever discovers it, even if he be a Nazirite or a High Priest.
METHUKAN: Improved, correct, in good order.
MEZUZAH: (Lit., 'doorpost ); a small case containing certain passages from the Scripture affixed to the post of a door (v. Deut. VI, 9).
MIDRAS: (Lit., 'treading', 'place of treading'). It denotes uncleanness of the first degree ('Father of uncleanness') contracted by an object on which a gonorrhoeist (more exactly those mentioned in Lev. XII, z; XV, z, 25) sits, lies, rides or leans against. Any object fit for, and usually used as a seat, cover, etc. is susceptible to midras — uncleanness.
MIGGO: (Lit., 'from the content of'); an argument that a statement should be accepted because a stronger statement to the same effect could have been made without fear of contradiction.
MIKWEH: (Lit., 'a gathering [of water]'); a ritual bath containing not less than forty se'ahs of water.
MIL: (= mille); a Roman mile, 2,000 cubits.
MIN: pl. minim, (Lit., 'kind', 'species'); (a) a heretic, esp. (b) a member of the sect of the early Jewish Christians.
MINHAH: The afternoon service, about two and a half hours before nightfall.
MINUTH: Heresy, the belief in more than one Power, especially Judeo-Christianity.
MISHMAR: (rt. SHaMaR, 'to keep'), a guard of priests and Levites representing one of the eight divisions which carried on the Temple services in rotation. The mishmar again was subdivided into smaller groups each being designated beth ab, q.v.
MISHNAH: (rt. SHaNaH, 'to learn', 'to repeat'), (a) the collection of the statements, discussions and Biblical interpretations of the Tannaim in the form edited by R. Judah the Patriarch c. 200; (b) similar minor collections by previous editors; (c) a single clause or paragraph the author of which was a Tanna.
MI'UN: (Lit., 'refusal'); a declaration by a fatherless girl who has been married off by her mother or brothers under age, that she does not wish to live with her husband. Such a declaration made by her in the presence of a Beth din secures her freedom without the requirement of a Get.
MIZWAH: (Lit., 'commandment'), i.e. any Jewish religious precept or duty.
MODA'AH: (Lit., 'a notification'); a legal term for an affidavit made by a man that a sale or gift which he is about to execute is being forced on him against his will, and that he intends, when opportunity arises, to take legal steps to annul it.
MU'AD: (Lit., 'forewarned'); applied to an ox (or any other animal) that has gored or done injury on three successive occasions, so that the owner thus stands 'forewarned' and is liable to pay in full for any damage that has been done by his beast.
MUDDAR: v. MADDIR.
MUFLA: Lit., 'separated', 'distinguished', the expert of the court, who instructs the members on legal points that are submitted for his consideration and report.
MUKAN: (Lit., 'prepared', 'set in readiness'); a term describing an object as being in a state of preparedness and fitness before a Festival for use as may become desirable on the Festival.
MUKZEH: (Lit., 'set aside'); that which may not be used or handled on the Sabbath or Festivals, though its use does not constitute actual labour.
MULUG or MELOG: (Lit., 'plucking' or 'milking'); denotes property which belongs to the wife and of which the husband has only the usufruct without any rights to the capital, or responsibility for its loss or deterioration.
MUMHE: 'Skilled', 'qualified', 'experienced'; a scholar well qualified by his attainments to deal with matters of law, such, e.g., as the remission of vows.
MUSAF: (Lit., 'addition'); the additional Amidah recited during the morning service on Sabbaths and Holy Days.
Na'ARAH: A girl between the ages of twelve years and one day and twelve and a half years plus one day.
NA'ARUTH: The state of being a na'arah, q.v.
NASI: Chief, Patriarch; the chief of the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem; after its abolition, the head of Palestinian Jewry.
NATHIN: (rt. NaTHaN, 'to give'), a descendant of the Gibeonites who deceived Joshua (v. Josh. IX, 3ff) and, when their identity was discovered, were made (Lit., 'given', v. ibid. v. 27) into hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and the altar. V. also Ezra II, 43ff, VIII, 20, Neh. III, 26 and I Chron. IX, 2, wherein Nethinim, the plural of Nathin occurs.
NAZIR: One who has taken a nazirite vow (to abstain from wine and let the hair grow long; v. Num. VI).
NEBELAH: (pl. nebeloth); an animal slaughtered in any manner other than that prescribed by Jewish ritual law; the least deviation therefrom, e.g., if the knife has the slightest notch, renders the animal nebelah.
NEDABAH: A free-will offering, i.e. one that is neither obligatory nor brought in performance of a vow.
NE'ILAH: The concluding service of the Day of Atonement.
NESEK: (Yen Nesek, Lit., 'wine of libation'); wine forbidden to the Jew because it has been handled by an idolater who may have dedicated it as an offering to his deity.
NESU'AH: A married woman after home-taking (nissu'in, q.v.), whereby the marriage is completed in the sense that cohabitation is permitted; opposed to arusah, q.v., with whom cohabitation is yet prohibited.
NETHINAH: A descendant of the Gibeonites (Josh. IX) with whom Israelites were not allowed to intermarry. An illegitimate was debarred under the law of Deut. XXIII, 3, E.V. z.
NEZIRAH: A female NAZIR.
NEZIROTH: Vows of naziriteship.
NEZIRUTH: The state of a nazirite after binding himself with a vow.
NIDDAH: A woman in the period of her menstruation.
NISAN: The first month of the year in the Jewish Calendar, corresponding to March or April.
NISSU'IN: The ceremony of home-taking, which completes the marriage.
NOLAD: (Lit., 'it is born'); an object that made its first appearance or became available for use on the Sabbath or on any other holy day and the handling of which is forbidden in the days mentioned (cf. MUKZEH).
NOTHAR: ('left over'); portions of sacrifices left over after the prescribed time within which they must be eaten.
OHEL: (Lit., 'tent'); technical name for the uncleanness conveyed by a dead human body, or part of it, to men or utensils which are under the same tent or roof.
OMER: (Lit., 'sheaf'); the sheaf of barley offered on the sixteenth of Nisan. before which the new cereals of that year were forbidden for use (v. Lev. XXIII, 10).
ONAN: A mourner while his dead relative is awaiting burial; opposite to abel, a mourner from the time of burial for a period of seven or thirty days. 741
ONEN: V. Onan.
'ORLAH: ('uncircumcised'); applied to newly-planted trees for a period of three years during which their fruits must not be eaten (v. Lev. XIX, 23ff).
PARASANG: A Persian mile, about 4000 yards.
PE'AH: ('corner'); the corner of a field that is being reaped, which must be left for the poor (v. Lev. XIX, 9ff).
PERAS: (Lit., 'part'); half a loaf of the size of a third of a kab, q.v.
PERUTAH: The smallest copper coin, equal to one-eighth of an issar or one-sixteenth of a dupondium.
PIGGUL: (Lit., 'abhorred'); flesh of the sacrifice which the officiating priest has formed the intention of eating at an improper time. V. Lev. VII, 18.
PROSBUL: Perhaps from [G], or an abbreviation of [G] or [G]; a form of declaration before the Beth din by means of which a creditor, provided he possessed some landed property, could secure exemption from the laws of Sabbatical release (v. Deut. XV, 2) and thus retain his right to the collection of his debts after the Sabbatical year had elapsed.
PUNDION: v. DUPONDIUM.
PURIM: A festival held on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of Adar in commemoration of the delivery of the Jews of Persia through Mordecai and Esther from the destruction designed against them by Haman.
RAB, RABBI
Rabban: (our teacher) [Title of address] for the president of the Sanhedrin. [< Rodkinson, Vol. II, p. 5]
RASHI: Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (or: Shlomo Yitzhaki) [1040-1105 A.D.] is known by the acronym: RaSh'I. [< http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudMap/Rashi.html]
REBI'ITH: A liquid measure one fourth of a log.
RESH GALUTHA: Head of the Exile, the title of the official head of Babylonian and Persian Jewry.
RESHUTH HARABBIM: 'Domain of the many'; the domain or territory belonging to, or used by, the public; public roads, as opposed to reshuth hayyahid.
RESHUTH HAYYAHID: 'Domain of the individual'; private premises, as opposed to reshuth harabbim.
RIS: The seventh part of a mil.
ROHITNI: (Lit., 'a carpenters plane'); an instrument for cropping close the hair of the baird.
SANHEDRIN: ([G]); the council of state and supreme tribunal of the Jewish people during the century or more preceding the fall of the Second Temple. It consisted of seventy-one members, and was presided over by the High Priest. A minor court (for judicial purposes only) consisting of twenty-three members was known as the 'Small Sanhedrin'.
SANTER: (Apparently = Lat. 'senator'); according to the Talmudic interpretation, (a) a recorder, a slave appointed by the town to answer enquiries respecting the boundaries of fields; or (b) a stretch of fields adjoining the town. According to others, a guardsman or sentry.
SARIS: A castrate; one who is physically unable to beget child.
SE'AH: Measure of capacity, equal to six kabs.
SEGAN: The title given to the Deputy High Priest.
SELA': Coin, equal to four denarii (one sacred, or two common, shekels).
SHAHARITH: (Lit., 'morning time'); the morning service.
SHAMMAI: Rabbi Shammai was an engineer, known for the strictness of his views. He was reputed to be dour, quick-tempered and impatient. For example, the Talmud tells that a gentile came to Shammai saying that he would convert to Judaism if Shammai could teach him the whole Torah in the time that he could stand on one foot. Shammai drove him away with a builder's measuring stick! Hillel, on the other hand, converted the gentile by telling him, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and study it." [< http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/hillel.html] See also HILLEL.
SHAMTA: (Lit., 'desolation'); a ban, or excommunication.
SHEBI'ITH: The seventh or Sabbatical year in which cultivation of the land is forbidden; v. Lev. XXV.
SHEBUTH: (Lit., 'cessation'); an act forbidden by the Rabbis to be performed on the Sabbath.
SHECHINA: (Lit., 'abiding [of God]' 'Divine presence'); the spirit of the Omnipresent as manifested on earth.
SHECHITAH: Ritual slaughter, without which an animal is not fit for food.
SHEKEL: Coin or weight, equal to two denar or ten ma'ah (q.v.). The sacred shekel was worth twenty ma'ah or gerah (cf. Ex. XXX, t3), twice the value of the common shekel.
SHEMA': (Lit., 'hear'); the biblical verse, 'Hear', 'Israel' etc. (Deut. VI, 4); also the three sections (Deut. VI, 5-9; Deut. XI, t3-zo; and Num. XV, 37-4 t) which are recited after this verse in the morning and evening prayers.
SHEMA'TA: Something heard from the lips of an eminent person; a reported topic.
SHEMITTAH pl. SHEMITTIN: Every seventh year, which is the Sabbatical year or the year of release.
SHEREZ: Unclean reptile (including rodents)
SHETAR: A deed (v. GET), a writ.
SHETUKI: (Lit., 'silenced'); a child who knows who his mother is but not his father.
SHIDDUKIN: The arrangements and negotiations prior to betrothal.
SHITTUF: (From a root meaning 'association', 'partnership'). An association for the purposes of the Sabbath law of the residents of an alley into a partnership by contributing their shares to a prescribed quantity of food, which is deposited in one of the courts of the alley, and whereby they are regarded as a united body, each of whom is allowed free access to his neighbours.
SHOFAR: (Lit., 'ram's horn'); a horn used as a trumpet for military and religious purposes, particularly in the service of the New Year and the conclusion of the Day of Atonement.
SHOMERETH YABA: (Lit., 'waiting for the yabam'); a childless widow awaiting the brother of her deceased husband to marry her or free her by means of halizah (q.v.).
SHOSBIN: A groomsman, who in addition to acting as best man or companion to the groom, also brought him presents.
SHUM: 'Appraisement'; the term used to designate a dowry in which goods are brought instead of cash.
SIFRA: A legal Rabbinical commentary on Leviticus.
SIVAN: The third month of the Jewish Calendar corresponding to May or June.
SOBEB: A sort of gallery around the altar where the priests would walk.
SOFER: (pl. soferim); (a) scribe, title of the pre-Tannaitic teachers, beginning with Ezra (v. Ezra VII, t 1); (b) teacher; esp. the authorities on Jewish law who preceded the Tannaim.
SOTAH: A married woman suspected of infidelity who has been formally warned by her husband.
SUKKAH: 'Booth'; esp. the festive booth for Tabernacles (Lev. XXIII, 34ff), the roof of which must be made of something that grows from the ground such as reeds, branches or leaves of a prescribed size, quantity and quality.
SUKKOTH: The Festival of Tabernacles during the eight days of which (seven in Palestine) all Israel must dwell in booths. (V. Lev. XXIII, 34, 42f.)
TALLITH: A garment, cloak, esp. the four-cornered shawl with fringes (zizith) at each corner, worn during the recital of certain prayers.
TALMID HAKAM: (Lit., 'disciple of the wise'); scholar, student of the Torah.
TALMUD: (Lit., 'teaching', 'learning') applies (a) to the Gemara (q.v.) or (b) generally to the Mishnah and Gemara combined.
TAM: 'Perfect', (Lit., 'innocuous' opp. to mu'ad, q.v.); applied to an animal that did injury not more than twice. Its owner, not having been forewarned, pays only for half the damage.
TAMAD: An inferior kind of wine or vinegar produced by keeping stalks and skins of pressed grapes in water, or by pouring water into lees.
TAMID: The continual or daily burnt-offering, sacrificed every morning and evening.
TAMUN: (Lit., 'hidden'); articles hidden in a heap which catches fire.
TAMUZ: The fourth month of the Jewish Calendar, corresponding to June or July.
TANNA, TANA: (Lit., 'one who repeats' or 'teaches') (a) a Rabbi quoted in the Mishnah or Baraitha (q.v.); (b) in the Amoraic period, a scholar whose special task was to memorize and recite Baraithas in the presence of expounding teachers.
TARKAB: A measure containing two kabs (q.v.).
TEBEL: Produce, already at the stage of liability to the levitical and priestly dues (v. Terumah), before these have been separated.
TEBILLAH: The act of taking a ritual bath in a mikweh, q.v.
TEBUL YOM: (Lit., 'bathed during the day'); a person who has bathed to cleanse himself at the end of the period of his defilement, but who must wait until sunset to regain his ritual purity (Lev. XXII, 7).
TEFILLAH: Prayer, whether private or public; specifically the 'Amidah prayer.
TEFILLIN: Phylacteries; small cases containing passages from the Scripture and affixed to the forehead and arm during the recital of morning prayers, in accordance with Deut. VI, 8.
TEHUM: The boundary beyond which one must not walk on the Sabbath, which is 2,000 cubits without the town limits; this can be extended by another 2,000 cubits by means of an 'erub, q.v.
TEKIAH: (Lit., 'blowing'); the plain blast made with the Shofar.
TEKO or TEKU: (imperf. of 'to stand'), 'let it stand'; an expression occurring at the end of an enquiry when no definite answer is obtainable. Others consider it to be a combination of the initials of [H] (Elijah the Tishbite will solve all difficulties and enquiries).
TEKUFAH: (Lit., 'circuit', 'cycle'). The year is divided into four cycles called Tekufoth; the Tekufah of Nisan (Vernal Equinox); Tammuz (Summer Solstice); Tishri (Autumn Equinox); Tebeth (Winter Solstice). The term Tekufah is also applied to the season itself.
TERU'AH: (Lit., 'shout'); the tremolo blast made with the Shofar.
TERUMAH: 'That which is lifted or separated'; the heave-offering given from the yields of the yearly harvests, from certain sacrifices, and from the shekels collected in a special chamber in the Temple (terumath ha-lishkah). Terumah gedolah (great offering): the first levy on the produce of the year given to the priest (v. Num. XVIII, 8ff). Its quantity varied according to the generosity of the owner, who could give one-fortieth, one-fiftieth, or one-sixtieth of his harvest. Terumath ma'aser (heave-offering of the tithe): the heave-offering given to the priest by the Levite from the tithes he receives (v. Num. XVIII, 25ff).
TISHRI: The seventh month of the Jewish Calendar, corresponding to September or October.
TORAH: (Lit., 'teaching', 'learning', 'instruction'); (a) the Pentateuch (Written Law); (b) the Mishnah (Oral Law); (c) the whole body of Jewish religious literature.
TOSAFOTH or TOSAFOT: The word "Tosafot" translates as "additions" or "supplements." The Tosafot were composed by many scholars in different schools throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. They probably originated as students' notes of the discussions that took place in the Talmudic academy [=Yeshivah]. As students moved from one yeshiva to another they would assemble personal lists of the Tosafot of their various teachers. [< http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudMap/Tosafot.html]
TREFAH or TEREFA: (Lit., 'torn'); (a) an animal torn by a wild beast; (b) any animal suffering from a serious organic disease, whose meat is forbidden even if it has been ritually slaughtered.
TUMTUM: A person whose sex cannot be determined.
TURGEMAN: (Lit., 'interpreter , 'dragoman'). A public speaker who elaborated before a popular audience the heads of a discourse which he received from a Rabbi or scholar.
UKLA: One of the smaller measures of capacity and standards of weight equal to 1/32 (others 1/20) of a kab, q.v.
ULAM: A hall or porch leading into the interior of the Temple.
WILNA GAON: Notes by Elijah of Wilna (1710-1797) in the Wilna editions of the Talmud. [< Abbreviations]
YABAM: The brother of a married man who dies childless; the widow is called YEBAMAH, v. HALIZAH.
YEBAMAH: A brother's childless widow. V. Deut. XXV, 5-10.
YEN NESEK: (Lit., 'wine of libation'); wine forbidden to the Jew because it has been handed by an idolator who may have dedicated it as an offering to his deity.
YEZER HARA': (Lit., 'formation of evil'); (a) the evil inclination of man; (b) the tempter, Satan and the Angel of Death.
YIBBUM: Levitate marriage with a brother's childless widow (v. Dent. XXV, 5-10).
YIHUD: (Lit., 'privacy'); the prohibition instituted by the Rabbis against the private association of the sexes.
ZAB: (fem. ZABAH). The biblical term for a person who has experienced seminal emission (Lev. XV, 2).
ZAB: A zab is one who is afflicted with gonorrhoea as distinct from a semen discharge. [< Tractate Zabim, page 503, note 1]
ZAR: (Lit., 'stranger'); an Israelite, as opposed to a priest, who may not eat of terumah or perform certain acts in connection with sacrifices.
ZARAH: A co-wife, a married woman in relation to the other wives of her husband.
ZEDAKAH: (a) righteousness, equity; (b) charity, almsgiving.
ZEKUKAH: The widow who is tied by the levirate bond to her deceased husband's brother.
ZEROROTH: (Lit., 'pebbles'); pebbles or clods kicked up by an ox in walking and capable of doing damage.
ZIBAH: Aflux; gonorrhoea. Also the state of uncleanness of a Zab. q.v.
ZIKAH: The levirate bond.
ZIMMUN: (rt. ZaMaN in Pi'el, 'to designate', 'to summon'), the ceremonial consisting of responses in answer to the summons or invitation of the leader when three men, or more who partook of a common meal join together in the recital of the Grace after the meal. The responses with the prescribed variations for a company of ten or more, and for a meal in the house of a mourner, are given in full in Singer's P.B., p. 279.
ZIZITH: The biblical name of the fringe which is attached to each of the four corners of the garment (Num. XV, 38).
ZOMEM: p. zomemim, a witness giving false evidence and who is thus subject to the law of retaliation. Cf. Deut. XIX, 19.
ZONAH: A harlot, i.e. a woman who has intercourse with a man forbidden to her on all grounds save those specifically applying to priests; in the latter case she is a HALALAH.
ZON BARZEL: (Lit., 'property of the iron sheep'); which the wife makes over to the husband from her dowry, on condition that the husband is responsible to her for its full money value, whether he makes a profit or a loss on the transaction.
ZUZ: A coin of the value of a denarius, six ma'ah, or twelve dupondia.

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