Towards a Progressive neo-Hasidism
glossary
Our mission is to make Jewish mysticism radically accessible and, to that end, we have created a Glossary for the essays in Volume 3. We have compiled all the basic (and not so basic) vocabulary needed to engage with our articles, and we hope that it will level the playing field so that everyone has a window into a shared language. This will be an active project that our small team will continue to work on as we release more content.
B
Ba'al T'shuvah
(Hebrew) בעל תשובה
Literal Translation: "master of return"
Someone who becomes a religious Jew later in life.
Bundists/Doikeit
(Yiddish) דאיקייט
Literal Translation: Lit. 'hereness,' this idea was central to the Jewish Labor Bund, a socialist movement who focused on solving the challenges confronting Jews in the country in which they lived, versus the "thereness" of the Zionist movement, which posited the necessity of an independent Jewish polity in its ancestral homeland.
C
C. G. Jung
(1875—1961)
“Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology, in some aspects a response to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.”
Chevraya
(Yiddish/Hebrew?) חבריא
The group of “comrades” or “companions” that go on adventures in the Zohar.
D
Devekus / Dveykus
(Hebrew/Yiddish?) דבקות
Literal Translation:
A state of cleaving to, or uniting with, the Divine
E
Ein Sof
(Hebrew) אין סוף
The infinite, unknowable God.
Elohut
(Hebrew) אלוהות
A Hebrew term for divinity.
Et
(Hebrew) את
The definite direct object marker in Hebrew grammar that does not exist in English and is impossible to translate.
Etrog
(Hebrew) אתרוג
One of the four ritual objects for the Holiday of Sukkot; a type of citrus fruit.
Exegetical
The critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works.
(Wikipedia)
F
First Temple
(Hebrew) בית המקדש
Literal Translation: The Holy House
The crowning achievement of King Solomon's reign was the erection of the magnificent Temple (Hebrew- Beit haMikdash) in the capital city of ancient Israel - Jerusalem. His father, King David, had wanted to build the great Temple a generation earlier, as a permanent resting place for the Ark of the Covenant which contained the Ten Commandments. Sacrifice was the predominant mode of divine service in the Temple until it was destroyed by the Babylonians some four hundred years later, in 586 BCE.
G
Gan Eden
(Hebrew) גן־עדן
Garden of Eden
Geulah
Hebrew: גאולה
Literal Translation: “Redemption”
Gevurah
(Hebrew) גבורה
Literal Translation: might
The second of the seven Divine middot, or attributes, associated with the holding back of Divine revelation and restricting the dispersion of Divine light to lower levels of existence.
H
Haredi
“The word “haredi” is a catchall term, either an adjective or a noun, which covers a broad array of theologically, politically, and socially conservative Orthodox Jews, sometimes referred to as “ultra-Orthodox.” What unites haredim is their absolute reverence for Torah, including both the Written and Oral Law, as the central and determining factor in all aspects of life. Consequently, respect and status are often accorded in proportion to the greatness of one’s Torah scholarship, and leadership is linked to learnedness.”
Hermeneutics
The branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts.
(Oxford Dictionary online)
Hislabshus
(---) התלבשות
Literal Translation: “Enclothedness.”
The Hebrew root denotes getting dressed, but comes to describe the layers of materiality and worldliness that overlay True Reality, which is pure Godliness.
I
J
K
Kabbalat Shabbat
(Hebrew) קבלת שבת
The traditional Friday night liturgy to welcome in Shabbat, developed by the Kabbalists of Sfat in the 16th century.
Kabbalah
Hebrew: קבלה
The central tradition within Jewish mysticism.
Kavannah
(Hebrew) כונה
“Kavanah is the Hebrew word for direction, intention, or purpose. In its simplest meaning, it refers to concentrating the mind in the performance of a religious act, ensuring that it doesn’t devolve into rote, mechanical action. It is most commonly associated with concentration and intention in Jewish prayer, but the concept of kavanah applies to all mitzvot.”
Kelipot
(Hebrew) קליפות
Literal Translation: “husks”
The material garbs around the sparks of Divinity in the world.
Khmelnitsky
“Bogdan Khmelnitsky was the leader of the Cossack and peasant uprising against Polish rule in the Ukraine in 1648 which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities; later hetman of autonomous Ukraine and initiator of its unification with Russia… It is impossible to determine accurately the number of victims who perished, but it undoubtedly amounted to tens of thousands; the Jewish chronicles mention 100,000 killed and 300 communities destroyed.”
L
L'chah Dodi
(Hebrew) לכה דודי
Translation: Let's go, my beloved
A hymn that is a centerpiece of the Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy, written by the 16th century Kabbalist Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz.
Lehavdil
(Hebrew) להבדיל
Literal Translation: “to separate, to distinguish”
Lehavdil is said colloquially when drastically changing topics.
M
Maimonides
(1138-1208)
(Hebrew Acronym) רמב"ן
"Ben Maimon (Maimonides), also known as the Rambam, was among the greatest Jewish scholars of all time. He made enduring contributions as a philosopher, legal codifier, physician, political adviser and local legal authority …His most enduring masterworks are the Mishneh Torah and the Guide of the Perplexed.”
Martin Buber
(1878–1965)
Martin Buber was a prolific author, scholar, literary translator, and political activist whose writings—mostly in German and Hebrew—ranged from Jewish mysticism to social philosophy, biblical studies, religious phenomenology, philosophical anthropology, education, politics, and art. Most famous among his philosophical writings is the short but powerful book I and Thou.
Matronit
A female God in the ancient Near East, who becomes identified with the divine feminine in certain Jewish mystical traditions
Midrash
(Hebrew) מדרש
Midrash is an interpretive act, seeking the answers to religious questions (both practical and theological) by plumbing the meaning of the words of the Torah. (In the Bible, the root d-r-sh [דרשׁ] is used to mean inquiring into any matter, including occasionally to seek out God’s word.) Midrash responds to contemporary problems and crafts new stories, making connections between new Jewish realities and the unchanging biblical text.
Mishnah
(Hebrew) משנה
“Published at the end of the second century CE, the Mishnah is an edited record of the complex body of material known as oral Torah that was transmitted in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Rabbi Judah the Patriarch, also known as Rabbi Judah the Prince and Yehudah HaNasi, undertook to collect and edit a study edition of these halachot (laws) in order that the learning not vanish.”
Mitzvot
(Hebrew) מצוות
Literal Translation: Commandment
Mysticism
“A belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender.”
(Oxford Dictionary online)
N
Neologism
“A newly coined word or expression.”
(Oxford dictionary online)
Nephilah
(Hebrew) נפילה
Literal Translation: “fall”
This term denotes a spiritual fall.
O
Off-the-Derech
Derech= “path” and this term is used to describe people who were raised religious but have left that life, thereby going “off the derech.” Often shortened to the acronym "OTD."
P
Panentheism
The belief that God both fills and exceeds all of existence
Philology
The branch of knowledge that deals with the structure, historical development, and relationships of a language or languages.
(Oxford dictionary online)
Pseudographical
The ascription of false names of authors to works. (Merriam Webster)
Q
R
RaMBaN
(Hebrew Acronym) רמב"ן
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, also known as Nachmanides. He lived in the 12-13th c in Spain and he was the first mainstream commentator to use Kabbalistic ideas to explain the meaning of the Torah.
S
Safed/Sfat/Tzvat
(Hebrew) צפת
A city in the Galilee, and an important historic and contemporary center for Jewish mysticism
Segulah
(Hebrew) סגולה
Literal Translation: “protection”
A segulah is a ritual, charm, or amulet understood to provide protection to the owner.
Shabbatai Tzvi
(Hebrew) שבת׳ צבי
Shabbetai Zvi was born in Smyrna in 1626 and declared himself to be the messiah in 1665. He amassed millions of followers across the Jewish world and was called the “king of the Jews.” In 1666, Shabbetai Zvi was brought before the Sultan and given the choice of death or converting to Islam and he chose the latter.
Shekhinah
(Hebrew) שכ׳נה
“In contemporary Jewish discourse, the term shekhinah most commonly refers to the divine feminine, or to the feminine aspect of God — God as mother, nurturer, protector and compassionate one. Though the term — from the Hebrew root meaning to “dwell” — is found throughout early rabbinic literature, in its early usage it referred generally to God’s presence among the people and had no gender associations. The connection between shekhinah and femininity emerges mainly in Jewish mystical literature. The concept was later embraced by Jewish feminists as a counterbalance to prevailing masculine notions of God as king, father and judge.”
Shemonah Esrei
(Hebrew) שמונה עשרה
Literal Translation: 18
The central prayer in Jewish liturgy that consists of 18 mini-prayers. Is also referred to as the “amidah,” which means “standing” since it is recited while standing.
T
Talmud
(Hebrew) תלמוד
Literal meaning: “study”
This is the generic term for the documents that comment and expand upon the Mishnah (“repeating”), the first work of rabbinic law, published around the year 200 CE by Rabbi Judah the Prince in the land of Israel.
Although Talmud is largely about law, it should not be confused with either codes of law or with a commentary on the legal sections of the Torah . Due to its spare and laconic style, the Talmud is studied, not read. The difficulty of the intergenerational text has necessitated and fostered the development of an institutional and communal structure that supported the learning of Talmud and the establishment of special schools where each generation is apprenticed into its study by the previous generation.
Tehillim
(Hebrew) תהילים
Tehillim is the Hebrew word for The Book of Psalms, which is an ancient anthology of poetic prayers. It is the first book of the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible, known as Ketuvim (Writings).
Textus
“A text of the Bible”
(Merriam-Webster)
Theosophical Kabbalah
Esoteric Jewish mysticism concerned with understanding the nature of Divinity.
Tzadikim
(Hebrew) צדיקים
Literal Translation: “Righteous ones.”
In Kabbalah and Hasidism it comes to refer to saint figures who acted as intercessors between the Divine and their constituents.
U
V
W
Wilderness
Hebrew: במדבר
This is referring to the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert after leaving Egypt and before getting to Eretz Yisrael.
Written Law
“The Torah, or Jewish Written Law, consists of the five books of the Hebrew Bible – known more commonly to non-Jews as the “Old Testament” – that were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and include within them all of the biblical laws of Judaism. The Torah is also known as the Chumash, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses.”
X
Y
Yeshiva
(Hebrew) ישיבה
A Jewish learning institution.