aggadaThe non-legal material in the Talmud, including commentaries on biblical verses, ethical and religious ideas or attempts to explain the workings of the natural or spiritual worlds. More or less synonymous with Midrash.
amora pl. amoraima) A Talmudic scholar who lived during the period of composition of the Talmud; b) The assistant to the head of the yeshiva, who would proclaim his words to the students in front of him.
baraita pl. baraitotMaterial from the period of the Mishnah which was not included in the Mishnah and which may, but doesn’t necessarily, occur in another work from the Mishnaic period.
conversosJews who converted to Christianity as a result of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisition.
daf yomiThe programme of daily study of a page of Talmud inaugurated in 1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro.
dina malchuta dina‘The law of the kingdom is the law,’ Subordination of all Talmudic monetary and contractual law to the law of the land in which people live.
gaon pl. geonimLiterally ‘Excellency’. Originally the head of the Academy in Babylon in the immediate post-Talmudic period, later a term applied to a rabbi of outstanding distinction.
gemara‘Teaching’ synonymous and interchangeable with Talmud. Used in the Talmud text to indicate the end of passage from the Mishnah and the beginning of a passage from the Talmud.
genizahA storeroom where worn out Hebrew and religious documents are kept. The best known was the Cairo Genizah.
golemA robotic humanoid created using mystical techniques.
haberimZoroastrian priests. Not to be confused with the Hebrew haverim, literally friends, a term used to describe members of the rabbinic circle.
halacha‘Pathway’ or ‘way to go’. a) The body of Jewish religious law; b) A single religious law.
HaskalahThe Jewish religious enlightenment, part of the European Enlightenment.
Hasid, pl. HasidimFollowers of Hasidism.
HasidismThe mystical-joyous religious sect founded by the Ba’al Shem Tov or Besht.
kabbalahJewish mysticism.
kallahMonth-long public study sessions held twice yearly in the Babylonian academies.
KaraitesA Jewish sect who take the Bible literally and do not accept the Oral Law.
maggidAn itinerant preacher, also a supernatural guide or mentor.
MidrashLiterally ‘exposition’. a) Homilies drawn from biblical verses. Often interchangeable with aggada; b) Books containing these homilies.
misnegdimLiterally ’opponents’. Those who resisted and opposed Hasidism
MishnahThe first codification of the Oral Law, completed 200–220 ce.
musarEthical teachings, instruction in correct personal behaviour.
nasiThe leader of the Jewish community in Israel under Roman occupation.
PhariseesPlebian, social-religious sect prior to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, forerunners of the rabbis.
pilpulLiterally ‘sharp’ or ‘peppery’. Casuistic, hair-splitting analysis of Talmudic texts or Talmudic problems.
SadduceesPatrician social-religious sect during the period of the Roman occupation of Israel, opponents of the Pharisees.
ShemaDeclaration of faith from the Torah, read twice daily by observant Jews.
tannaa) Rabbi of the period of the Mishnah; b) Memory man who recited the Mishnah to students in the Babylonian academies.
TaskaA tax similar to ground rent, paid on agricultural land, to the Sassanian authorities.
teshuva, pl. teshuvotA written rabbinic responsum to a legal question.
teykuLiterally ‘let it stand’. An unsolved Talmudic problem.
TorahThe Five Books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch. The first and, to the Jews the most sacred, books of the Old Testament.
tosafistTalmudic commentator of the twelfth–fourteenth-century French school.
Tosafot.Compilation of commentaries by the tosafists.
ToseftaCollection of rabbinic material from the period of the Mishnah which was not included in the Mishnah.
Wissenschaft des Judentums‘Science of Judaism.’ Academic analysis of Jewish thought, texts and history.
yeshiva, pl. yeshivotA college for the study of the Talmud.
ZoharThe principal text of kabbalah.