Glossary of Hebrew/ English Terms

  • Adonai = 'Lord'
  • Bar Mitzvah = Coming-of-age ceremony in which a Jewish male, age 13, is ac-cepted into the community.
  • Baruch = 'blessed' (Blessings begin 'Baruch atah adonai....' [Blessed are you O Lord...]).
  • BCE = Before the Common Era (equivalent of BC in dates)
  • Bet Midrash = House of Study or investigation
  • Brit Chadasha = 'New Covenant' - New Testament.
  • Brit Milah (Bris) = Circumcision - as given to Abraham, performed on the 8th day by Abraham's descendants.
  • CE = Common Era - (equivalent of AD in dates)
  • Chametz = Leaven - forbidden during Pesakh (Passover) and Chag HaMatzah (Unleavened Bread).
  • Chesed = lovingkindness / mercy
  • Cohen / Kohen = Priest -- descendant of Aaron the Levite, responsible for temple service.  (Cohen Gadol = High Priest)
  • Eretz Yisrael = Land of Israel
  • Erev Shabbat = Shabbat evening / Friday night. Traditional: welcomes the Shab-bat.
  • Goy, Goyim (pl) = Gentiles, heathen, foreign to the God of Israel
  • HaShem = YHVH, 'The Name'
  • Kashrut = Kosher dietary laws.
  • Mashiach / Moshiach = 'annointed' -  translated Messiah or Christ.
  • Messianist = Early name for a follower of Yeshua the Messiah
  • Mikveh = 'Gathering of waters' - immersion of people or utensils for purity
  • Mitzvah = Commandment, good deed
  • Parsha = Weekly Torah readings read corporately and studied at home.  Consists of readings from the Torah, Haftarah(Prophets),  Brit Chadasha (NT)
  • Ruach HaKodesh – Holy Spirit (sometimes shortened to Ruach)
  • Septuagint = Greek translation of the Tanach (see below)
  • Shabbat = Sabbath Day, the seventh day
  • Shema = Hear - "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4)
  • Shofar = Ram's horn ('trumpet' in some bibles) - can be made from horns of any clean animal except cow (e.g., African Kudu)
  • Tallit = Four-cornered cloth used by Jewish men, prayer shawl (Numbers 15:38)
  • Talmid  / talmidim (pl.) = disciple / student. The talmid imitated the conduct and character of the  rabbi (teacher); the rabbi was responsible for the care of the talmidim.
  • Talmud = Rabbinical Jewish tradition.  The collection of ancient Rabbinical writ-ings consisting of the Mishnah (code of Jewish law edited about 200 CE) and the Gemara (Rabbinical legal and ethical discussions).
  • Tanach = Old Testament - consists of 3 sections: Torah (first 5 books), Nevi'im (Prophets), Kethuvim/Ketuvim (Writings).
  • Teshuvah = Repentance: stopping and turning toward HaShem.  ‘Return’ as in ‘return to HaShem’.
  • Tzitzit / tzitziyot (pl.) = Originally the fringe on the four corners of garments. Lat-er, fringes were sewn on tallits. Fringe on a tallit (Numbers 15:37-41 and Deu-teronomy 22:12).  (Techelet/T'chelet/Tekhelet = blue cord on each corner of the tzitzit, (Numbers 15:38) Traditional Judaism doesn't add the blue cord to the tzitzit.)
  • Torah = Instruction  (or Word; see John 1:1) -  “Law” - the books of Moshe: Gen-esis - Deuteronomy. Traditional: all Jewish law.
  • Yehudah = Judah (Jacob’s son, his descendants, tribe’s allotment in Promised Land, Southern Kingdom)

  • Yeshua / Y’shua / Yahshua= Messiah's given Hebrew name, meaning, "He is Sal-vation" (Matthew 1:21).  "Jesus" was derived from "Ieosus," the Greek translit-eration of Yeshua
  • YHWH / YHVH / YAHWEH = Tetragrammaton - four Hebrew letters forming biblical proper name of God.
  • Some common Hebraic names: Mattityahu (Matthew), Kefa (Peter), Yochanan (John), Moshe (Moses), Sha'ul (Saul / Paul, Gr.), Y'hoshua (Joshua), Sh'mu'el (Samuel), Yesha'yahu (Isaiah), Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah), Yechezk'el (Ezekiel), Z'kharyah (Zechariah), Nechemyah (Nehemiah), Ya'akav (James).
  • Some Tanach books: B'resheet (Genesis), Sh'mot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), B'midbar (Numbers), D'varim (Deuteronomy), Shof'tim (Judges), M'lakhim (Kings), Tehillim (Psalms), Mishlei (Proverbs), Divrei-HaYamim (Chronicles).