Glossary for the Seven Commandment Pages

A - H  ~  I - P  ~  Q - Z

  A - H

The Holy Scriptures of the Jews.  The first five of the twenty-four books of the Bible make up the Torah.  The second part of the Bible consists of the eight books of the Prophets.  Some of these books are divided into two parts in printed editions of the Bible, but they are really one book.  The third part of the Bible consists of eleven books of holy literature.  The literature books Ezra and Nehemiah are considered one book as are Chronicles I and II.

The Bible is written in the Hebrew language, with a few isolated words and verses and most of the book of Daniel being written in the Aramaic language.  There is virtually universal agreement among all the copies of the Bible which are in Jewish hands.  The Bible has been translated into almost every language of the world.  Christian translations tend to render certain words and phrases to reflect their theology.  Jewish printed editions of the Bible have chapter and verse numbering that correspond to Christian texts.  This facilitates dialogue with Christians.

The 'Common Era'.  This abbreviation could also be interpreted as the 'Christian Era'.  'ad' in Latin refers to anno domini which means "year of the lord."  'Lord', here, refers to Jesus as lord, and his birth as the beginning of an era.  Jews and people of other faiths, not believing in Christian doctrine, are reluctant to use an expression – here it is an abbreviation – which is not part of their belief system.  This counting, though, has become virtually universal as a matter of convenience and uniformity.  This is indeed a "common" era, so common that it is the one system of dating which is recognized everywhere in the world.  Although this dating system is recognized everywhere as a matter of convention, it originated as the era by which Christians count – the 'Christian Era'.

  Chabad (khah BAHD)

The name of the Hasidic philosophy and teachings in the tradition of the Lubavitcher Rebbes.  This is an abbreviation for the Hebrew words Chochmah, Binah, Da'as (Da'at) – wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.  Developed by His Holiness, Grand Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (a town in White Russia on the edge of Lithuania, Lida, Belarus).  He formally introduced this approach to traditional Judaism in his book the Tanya, first published in 1756-7.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman (1745-1813) lived in a region of Jewish culture and custom that was once called "Reissin" (RYE sən).  This region included today's Lithuania and Belarus.  Minhag Reissen is the accepted custom in the region of Reissen.  To the extent that some Jewish prayers differ from place to within Europe, Minhag Reissen indicates the version used in this region.

Chassidic, Chasidic (khah SID ik)

see Hasidic

Chassidism, Chasidism (KHAH sid izm)

see Hasidism

Literally, "the fifth."  The entire Five Books of Moses, or each individual book by itself.  Also called the Torah.

  commandment

Those actions which G-d tells us to do or to refrain from doing as part of His covenant with us.  Those actions or activities which we are to refrain from doing are called negative commandments.  Those things that G-d told us to do are called positive commandments.  Some commandments are "between man and his fellow" such as giving charity and not stealing.  Some commandments are "between man and G-d" such as not worshiping idols.  The Hebrew word for commandment is mitzvah.  Commonly, the word mitzvah is also used to mean any good deed, even if there is no strict religious requirement for it, such as doing someone a favor.

The derivation of the word mitzvah is from a root that means "to bind."  By obeying G-d's commandments, we are bound to Him.  This is very significant for us because otherwise, "What is a weak human that You should remember him?  What is a mortal man that You should take note of him?" (Psalm 8:5).

The Eternal World to Come

see World to Come

evil - N.Y.A.

gaon (GUH ohn)

(as used here in the Seven Commandment Pages)

Anyone who was not born to a Jewish mother or who did not convert to Judaism.  In contrast to Jews, who are anyone born to a Jewish mother or who converted according to Jewish law.  The terms Gentile and Jew apply only since the Torah was given to Moses at Mt. Sinai.  The revelation at Sinai involved a new covenant between G-d and the new Jewish people — the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the "mixed multitude" that Moses took out of Egypt.  Before then, there was neither Jew nor Gentile.

This word comes to us from the Latin gens, those who belong together by birth.  To the Romans, gentiles were anyone from a non-Roman clan or race, therefore a foreigner.  Christians use the word to refer to pagans and heathens — those to whom monotheism is foreign.  Jews use the word 'gentile' for anyone who is not Jewish.  We also use the term 'non-Jew'.  'Gentile' is a positive identity, by virtue of birth and choice, rather than 'non-Jew' which seems like a negation, what the person is not.  However, I am using both 'non-Jew' and 'Gentile' depending on the context.  In both cases, I have no disparaging intention.

In the context of these pages, I use the term 'Noahite' for a Gentile who obeys the Seven Noahide Commandments.  Therefore, every Noahite since Moses' time is also a Gentile, but, unfortunately, every Gentile is not yet a Noahite.  Before Moses but after Noah, everyone was supposed to be a Noahite in observance, except that the family of Abraham acquired a private covenant with G-d above and beyond observing the basic Seven Commandments.

Earlier, from Adam through Noah, we find essentially the same covenant as the later Noahide covenant, except that no one was allowed to eat meat.  Most of those individuals violated the commandments, and the early generations of humanity were destroyed during the life of Noah.  G-d then renewed this covenant with Noah and his children, but allowing the eating of meat if it is not torn from a living animal.  Nevertheless, we discuss the earlier covenant in terms of "what has come down to us as the Noahide Commandments."

  G-d's names

G-d has seven holy names.  Each name refers to some mode of Divine revelation.  From our standpoint, the names represent the different ways that we experience the Divine — whether kindly, severely, grandly, and so on.  The names are like handles with which we grasp the infinite and unknowable G-d.  Their holiness means that we do not use them casually.  For casual use or even study, we use substitute words or phrases that have no holiness.  The holiness of G-d Himself is in His names, so much so that we generally refrain from fully writing out even the translations of G-d's names.

No translation does justice to G-d's names.  The convention in English is to use "L-rd," "G-d," "H-o-sts," and "Al-mighty."

One of G-d's names is called "ineffable" — not to be pronounced outside the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  In reading this name of four letters, we substitute either the name which is translated as "L-rd" or one of the names which is translated as "G-d."  Sometimes, the first two of the four letters appear by themselves in Scripture.  This abbreviated name is pronounced as written and usually translated as "L-rd."

Three different Hebrew names are translated with the one name "G-d" due to English's lack of words with subtle distinctions.  If we wanted to be precise, we could say "Mighty G-d," "Kind G-d," and (plain) "G-d."  One Jewish scholar and author (H. Moose, The Bible Unauthorized and In the Beginning: the Bible Unauthorized) uses terms like "The G-dly Spirit of Law and Order," "The G-dly Spirit of Mercy," and, when both names are combined (translated as L-rd G-d), "The G-dly Spirit of Mercy, Law, and Order."

Unlike the ineffable name, the Hebrew names for "L-rd" and "G-d" have profane uses referring to G-d's messengers and agents such as angels and human judges.  The ultimate in profanity, idols, are also referred to by these names of G-d.  Hebrew does not have upper-case and lower-case letters to help distinguish between holy and profane uses.

"H-o-sts" generally appears with "L-rd."  It has the same spelling as the Hebrew word for "multitudes" and "armies."  "The L-rd of H-o-sts" is G-d as He commands and leads His heavenly multitude — the sun, moon, planets, and stars or the various angels — or as He commands and leads the multitude of Israelites.  Once again, Hebrew does not have upper-case and lower-case letters to help distinguish between holy and profane uses of this word.

The Hebrew for "Almighty" has no other use or meaning.

When the names are written in Hebrew letters and refer to G-d, they are not to be erased.  We consider G-d's names in other languages to deserve respect, so we generally do not spell them out fully if we suspect that they may be tossed in the garbage or otherwise treated with disrespect.

Some Christians have adapted letters of the Latin alphabet to represent the ineffable name ("J-e" followed by "h-o-v-a-h").  They err on two counts.  First, no one today is allowed to pronounce this name.  Second, they have no reliable tradition that their vowels are correct.

Hebrew is written without vowels.  The letters of the Hebrew alphabet generally represent entire syllables.  One needs to see the context of a word in order to read it.  One Hebrew letter (aleph) usually starts a new syllable but has "no sound."  Three other Hebrew letters — equivalent to the English letters h, i/y, o/u/v/w — represent both syllables beginning with the universal semi-vowels as well as the vowel sounds that are attached to the previous consonant.  As such, some Hebrew words with semi-vowels are recognizable because the semi-vowels have associated vowel sounds.  Even so, one needs to learn the traditional reading of the Scriptures because many of the semi-vowels are left out.

Texts that teach the reading (and meaning) of the Scriptures have vowels represented by a system of dots and dashes placed under, over, and next to letters.  These texts also include the punctuation which divides verses and chapters, as well as the tonal notes that a cantor needs for the formal community readings.

Students of these copies of Scriptures are taught from the start that the vowels remind us which of G-d's names to pronounce out loud.  Students are warned from the beginning not to pronounce the consonants as they are written.  "This is my name forever [hidden in the writing], but this [as you hear it] is how I am remembered [out loud] for every generation." (Exodus 3:15; compare with Psalms 135:13 where King David says, "Your name of four letters is forever [hidden], and for all generations and all people your name is mentioned as L-rd.")

The Christians mentioned above saw these Hebrew texts of Scriptures.  They saw three vowel points associated with the first three letters of the four-letter ineffable name.  They mistakenly decided that, taken together, the four letters and three vowels formed the pronunciation of G-d's name.  They did not know (or chose not to know) that these vowels belong to the Hebrew pronunciation of the name "L-rd."

These Christians were writing their Romance, Germanic, or Slavic languages with the original Latin alphabet.  The letter 'j' was the sound of our 'y', and this is the sound of the first letter of G-d's ineffable name.  We still see this in the German words ja, Jahr, jawohl, jodeln, and jung (in English: yes, year, yes indeed!, yodeling, and young).  This is an account of how some Christians mistakenly think that "J-e" followed by "h-o-v-a-h" is G-d's personal name.  As Jews, we are cautious not to put these letters together.  Even more so, we won't pronounce them out loud as one word.

". . . I will bless Your name forever and ever. . . .  I will praise Your name forever and ever. . . .  The L-rd is close to all those who call out to Him, to all who are calling out to Him in truth. . . .  May all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever" (King David in Psalm 145: verses 1, 2, 18, and 21).

Maimonides writes in his Code (The Mishneh Torah) -
 "The Book of Knowledge" - The Laws of Temperaments (Personal Character Development):

1. Among all humans [each and every one of the human race] there are many temperaments [attitudes].  A particular attitude of one person is different [and unique] from an attitude of another person to the extent that these attitudes could not be farther apart.

One person has an angry temperament, they are always angry.  And then there is a calm person who is not angry at all.  And if this person does get angry, he or she will only be slightly angry, and even then, only once every few years. . . .

2. In the middle between the extremes is an average temperament equally distant from both extremes. . . .

3. The extreme temperaments in each case do not make for a good way [of life] . . .

The Golden Mean is an average temperament that is equally distant from extremes.

“Do unto others as you would have done to you.”

More poetic and concise:  “Do as you would have done.”  (The English phrase “as you would have done” has become archaic.  It means, “as you would [like to] have done [to you].”)

In contemporary language:  “Treat others as you would want to be treated yourself.”

The Golden Rule as a prescription for behavior cannot be followed without using the skill of empathy.  By empathy I mean, "having walked in another person's shoes" and being able to see a situation "through their own eyes."  Some of us have yet to learn this skill.  Others find it a difficult skill to employ regularly, or we just forget to use it.

Empathy is not sympathy.  Using the skill of sympathy, we recognize another person's misfortune or misery and try to see this person's misery as our own.  There is a selfish component here.  To an extent, we are more concerned about ourselves so that we can behave appropriately than we are about being dedicated to help the other person (except by keeping their company, for example).

The Golden Rule is a high standard.  Some of us are not prepared to live up to this standard of behavior.  For us, we should strictly adhere to the Silver Rule.

haftarot  (hahf tah ROHT)

Jewish Law from the Torah,  rulings of Jewish Law;  literally the "Way to Go."

Hanukkah  (HAH noo kŭ,  KHAH noo kŭ)

Hebrew

Holy Scripture

see Bible

A - H  ~  Q - Z

  I - P

Israel, Israelite

Jew, Jewish

Kabbala

A townlet in today's Belarus (White Russia) where the Rebbes made their homes for 102 years.  Consequently, this townlet was a magnet for the Rebbes' disciples and their flocks.  As with other Jewish institutions which relocated to the New World and Israel, the folk retained the name of the town/townlet of the Eastern European origin.  I write 'flock' because the Rebbe is like a shepherd.
also see Chabad

mashpiya (mahsh PEE ŭ)

Messiah

Midrash (MID rahsh)

Mishnah (MISH nŭ)

mitzvah (MITS vŭ)

see commandment

Nach (NAHKH)

Noah plus a Latin suffix -ide, -idae, -ides, meaning connected to, from the family of.  Noahide = pertaining to the Biblical Noah and his family.  This adjective is used for the covenant between G-d and Noah after the Great Flood.  Some people who are careful to observe this covenant refer to themselves as "Noahides" (NOH uh hides).  In these pages, I refer to them as "Noahites."

Noah's name in Hebrew ends with the letter chet (a throaty k sound that was lost in English but remains in continental Germanic languages; it also remains in the Celtic family of Gaelic and Scots).  Some English-speaking purists write "Noachide" but pronounce it as NOH uh kide.

A person who observes the Seven Noahide Commandments.  Some of these G-d-fearing people refer to themselves as Noahides (it keeps things simple — one word for the adjective and the noun).  I prefer to call these people Noahites, at par with the other group of humanity, Israelites.  I may change my spelling and pronunciation preference as I develop contact with Noahites/Noahides/Noachides.

It remains to be seen what spelling Time, Newsweek (with a new name and only online, if I am not mistaken), the New York Times, CNN, etc., decide to use as standard American.  Anyway, they are not leaders but followers.  If they try to lead, you will probably find me going in the opposite direction!

The Five Books of Moses.  Also called the Torah.
see Torah
also see Chumash

physical

prophet, prophecy

A - H  ~  I - P

  Q - Z

rabbi

Rosh Hashana

Sabbath

Sage

  Sanhedrin (sahn HED rin)

A supreme court for enforcing Jewish Law which has been duly constituted according to the tradition of Jewish Law – Halacha.  The Sanhedrin is also the highest academy, the supreme authority, for studying the Torah to issue new rulings of Jewish Law.

This supreme court of seventy-one sages meets in session only in the Land of Israel.  It is not unlikely that a pool of 120 sages were eligible to constitute the required seventy-one for an active session.  No such court has been convened in about 1,800 years, since a couple of generations after the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 69 ce.  A future Supreme Court will be convened when the Messiah comes and he is anointed, which is imminent.  However, no court has had any jurisdiction outside the Holy Land.  In addition, no duly constituted Sanhedrin can mete out the death penalty unless the Temple is standing and this court sits in judgment in an adjacent hall.  The Sanhedrin of old ceased trials of capital cases around the year 30 ce when it moved away from the Holy Temple.  Regional Sanhedrins convened with twenty-three Sages but could never judge capital cases.

During the periods of Roman persecutions of Jews after 69 ce, the Sanhedrin relocated from time to time, often unable to even assemble seventy-one sages.  Most of these moves were within the Galilee region.

The word 'sanhedrin' comes from the Greek language and means "meeting place of advisors" (HeAruch).  It is not unlikely that the Sages chose a Greek name in order to distinguish themselves from the earlier Great Assembly.  The Men of the Great Assembly – Anshei Knesset HaGedola (AHN shay k' NES set hah geh DOH lah) – included prophets and biblical figures such as Mordecai and Ezra.  It ceased to meet and the Sanhedrin replaced it at about the time that Ezra died and the canon of Hebrew Scripture was closed.  This was about 320-310 bce, one generation into the era of the Second Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  Perhaps, a Greek name demonstrated the inferior standing of its members when compared to the earlier giants of Jewish history.  A Greek name certainly represented a transition in Jewish life.

The account of the Sanhedrin and Jewish justice as portrayed in the New Testament is entirely fabricated.  The Great Priest (High Priest) had no standing in the Sanhedrin.  His job was exclusively to oversee the activities in the Holy Temple and to perform the rituals of Yom Kippur.  Certainly, he never presided over the Sanhedrin or ever passed judgment.  Traditional governance of the Jewish people was made up of three branches:  the king, the priests of the Temple, and the Sanhedrin Supreme Law Court and Academy.  Each branch guarded its own area of authority and was in no way amenable to interference from the other branches.  A king did not preside over the Sanhedrin, for example.

Any single High Priest may have collaborated with the Roman authorities, but he did so as a traitor to his own people.

Scripture

see Bible

The Code of Jewish Law from the 16th century (1563-1570).  Rabbi Joseph Karo (1488-1575) of Safed, Israel, gave this name to the Code.  Its rulings have been accepted by Jews everywhere since the 16th century.  The title literally means "Set Table."  Karo composed this Code so that someone could "sit down" and expect to "consume a meal."  Thereby, someone who sets themselves to study an appropriate ruling comes away satisfied with a clear ruling as one derives energy from a meal.

Worshiping an intermediary between humans and G-d.

Also see the full page:  Rejecting Sheetoof - No Intermediaries Between Us and G-d

"Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you."

In contemporary language:  “Don't treat others as you would not want to be treated yourself.”

see Golden Rule

sin - N.Y.A.

spiritual

soul

A Hebrew word that translates as 'study', 'the study of'.  "Talmud Torah" refers to study of the Torah in all its levels.  "Talmud Torah" also refers to the time and place of such study.

The student of Judaism needs to study both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Oral Tradition which explains the contents of the Scriptures.  The most prominent of all the texts which covers Jewish law and observance has been called "the Talmud."  It consists of free-roaming discussions of Jewish civil, criminal, and religious laws and conduct, as well as the Jewish philosophy of the Torah and its legends.  See

During the third through the sixth centuries of the common era, several generations of Jewish Sages in and around Tiberias, Israel, and in the Jewish communities of Babylonia labored over clarifying the way (halachah – hah LUH khuh, hah lah KHAH) of Jewish life.  The underpinning is the Covenant with G-d at Mount Sinai when Moses received the entire Torah in the text of the Five Books of Moses along with the orally transmitted understanding of the text.  This Oral Tradition was not written down but taught by teachers in every generation to their students.

In the second and third centuries of the common era (CE), the Oral Tradition was first written, which is to say published (in manuscripts, of course).  The starting point of the Talmud is this earlier text of the Mishnah followed by the discussions or legal decisions of these later Jewish Sages, which is called the Gemara (geh MAW ruh).  Gemara means "finishing" – the last word for studying and understanding the Mishnah.  Taken together, and with the texts of commentaries that are printed in the standard editions, the whole thing is the Talmud.

See English Language Introductions to the Talmud.

Tanach (tah NAHKH)

These are the Torah Sages who lived primarily in the last generation bce and the first two centuries ce in the Land of Israel.  Among the last of the Tannaim was Rabbi Judah the Prince (the Nasi) who assembled and canonized — with the agreement of the Sages of his day — the Six Orders of the Mishnah.  He drew from the teachings of several generations of Sages — all called Tannaim — who rehearsed the teachings of the generations who came before them.  Moreover, some of the Tannaim initiated rulings particular to the last generations of the Second Commonwealth — the era of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem — and rulings geared to the new ways of Jewish conduct for the period without a Temple.

The most well-known early Tannaim are Hillel and Shammai and their respective academies.  Previously, Joshua son of P'rachia and Nitai Ha'Arbeili could be considered the first Tannaim since their teachings are mentioned in the Talmud.  For an entire list of Tannaim see the Mishnah, Tractate Avot (Chapters of the Fathers), chapter 1, mishnahs 6 through 18, the end of chapter.  The second chapter of Avot introduces Rebbi, the short name by which Rabbi Judah the Prince is known.

Rabbi Akiba, one of the later Tannaim, arranged a critical edition of the Book of Formation.  The edition that I study is probably from Rabbi Akiba without additional material.

Tanya (TAHN yŭ)

A Hebrew word that means literally "instruction."  The term can refer to any set of instructions, such as "This is the law/ritual (torah in Hebrew) of the burnt offering . . ." (Leviticus 6:2) and, "There shall be one law (torah) for the natural-born Israelite and for the stranger who converts . . ." (Exodus 12:49).

In the widest sense, "Torah" refers to the entire body of Divine instructions as revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai fifty days after the Israelites were taken out of Egypt more than 3,300 years ago.  These instructions were written down by Moses in installments during the forty-year sojourn in the desert.  At the same time, Moses explained to the Israelites the meanings and significance of what he was writing.  This explanation is the Oral Torah, also called the Oral Tradition — Torah passed on by word of mouth from one generation to the next.

The Written Torah is the Five Books (Pentateuch, Chumash) which Moses wrote down.  In this narrower sense, the Torah is the tangible scroll which has been copied by hand numerous times from Moses' first thirteen scrolls.  Every Jewish congregation has at least one copy.  The scroll only contains the Five Books of Moses.  Other holy writings came into being as the needs of the Israelites warranted.  See Bible.

An age after the Messianic Era when every deserving person who ever lived will be resurrected to enjoy the reward for all the good deeds they did during their lifetime.  According to my present understanding, actually everyone, good and evil, will be resurrected for a final judgment.  The deserving will be rewarded with everlasting bliss, and the ones who were primarily guilty of evil deeds in this world will suffer everlasting pain, anguish, suffering, and embarrassment for rebelling against G-d (see Rabbeinu Sa'adiah Gaon, Emunot v'De'ot).

Rabbi Ya'akov says: "This world is like an ante-chamber before the World to Come;  prepare yourself in the ante-chamber so that you may enter the banquet hall" (Chapters of the Fathers 4:16).

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