| A | B |
|---|
| anti-semitism | Although semetism properly refers to Arabic and other peoples as well as Jews, the term "anti-semetism" has come to be applied to expressions of prejudice against Jews in general. |
| apocalypse | In Judaism and Christianity, the dramatic end of the present age. |
| Ashkenazim | An ethnic grouping of the Jews that migrated to Italy, spread through eastern and central Europe and thence on to the Americas. |
| ghetto | An urban area occupied by those rejected by a society, such as quarters for Jews in some European cities. |
| haggadah | The non-legal part of the Talmud and Midrash. |
| halakhah | Jewish legan decision and the parts of the Talmud dealing with laws |
| Hasidism | Escatic Jewish piety, dating from 18th century Poland. |
| Kabbalah | The Jewish mystical tradition |
| kosher | rightly acceptable, applied to foods in Jewish orthodoxy |
| Messiah | The "annointed." The expected king and deliever of the Jews; aterm later applied to Jesus. |
| Misrash | The literature delving into the Jewish Torah |
| mitzvah | A divine command in Judaism |
| Orthodox Judaism | Observing the traditional rabbinical halakhah; the satrictest form of Judaism |
| Penteteuch | The five books of Moses at the beginning of the Hebrew Bible. |
| Rabbi | teacher; the ordained spiritual leader of a Jewish congregation |
| Reform or liberal Judaism | Movement that began in the 19th century as a way of modernizing the religion and making it more accessible and open-ended |
| Sabbath | the day of the week set aside for rest and worship, in Judaism running from sunset Friday night to sunset Saturday night |
| Sephardim | An ethnic grouping of the Jews that migrated first to Spain and then to North Africa, the Americas, and then back to West Asia |
| Shekhinah | God's presence in the world, in Judaism |
| synagogue | Meeting place for Jewish study and worship. |
| Talmud | Jewish law and lore, as finally compiled in the 6th century CE |
| Tanakh | The Jewish scriptures |
| Torah | The Penteteuch; also the whole body of Jewish teaching and law |
| Zionism | Movement dedicated to the establishment of a politically viable internationally reconized Jewish state in the biblical land of Israel. |
