KEY TERMS: Judaism & Zoroastrianism

Question 1

Ba’al

Answer 1

storm-fertility god of the ancient Canaanites.

Question 2

bar mitzvah

Answer 2

ceremony in which a thirteen-year-old boy becomes an adult member of the Jewish community.

Question 3

bat mitzvah

Answer 3

equivalent of bar mitzvah ceremony for girls in Reform and Conservative Jewish congregations.

Question 4

brit milah

Answer 4

boy’s initiation ritual circumcision that occurs on the eighth day after birth.

Question 5

Conservative Judaism

Answer 5

movement attempting to adapt Judaism to modern life by using principles of change within the traditional laws; occupies middle ground between Reform and Orthodox Judaism.

Question 6

covenant (berith)

Answer 6

relationship between God and Israel, enacted on Mt. Sinai, based on Israel’s acceptance of God’s Torah.

Question 7

diaspora

Answer 7

the dispersion of Jews away from the Jewish homeland, to live as minorities in other lands.

Question 8

dietary law

Answer 8

Jewish laws pertaining to the proper preparation and eating of food, and avoidance of certain animal food; see kashrut.

Question 9

Essenes

Answer 9

ascetic (characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons) Jewish movement around the Dead Sea area from the second century B.C.E. to the first century C.E.

Question 10

Exile

Answer 10

the Jewish captivity in Babylon, especially the period from the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. until the first return to Jerusalem in 538 B.C.E.

Question 11

Exodus

Answer 11

deliverance of Israelites from Egypt under Moses’ leadership.

Question 12

Gemara

Answer 12

comments on the Mishnah; added to the Mishnah to form the Jewish Talmud.

Question 13

ghetto

Answer 13

special Jewish quarters in certain European cities.

Question 14

Halakhah

Answer 14

Jewish legal tradition based on the Talmud.

Question 15

Hanukkah

Answer 15

festival of lights in December, celebrating rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.

Question 16

Hasidism

Answer 16

popular mystical and devotional Jewish movement beginning in the seventeenth century in eastern Europe.

Question 17

Hebrews

Answer 17

ancestors of the Israelites.

Question 18

Holocaust

Answer 18

ancient Israelite ritual meaning “all-consuming sacrificial fire,” used in modern times to denote the destruction of Jews and others under the Nazis.

Question 19

Israel

Answer 19

“he strives with God”; name given to Jacob and thereafter to the covenant people; name of the modern Jewish state.

Question 20

Kabbalah

Answer 20

“tradition,” especially the mystical Jewish tradition, of which the Zohar is a central text.

Question 21

Karaites

Answer 21

Jewish sect that rejected oral Torah (Talmud), relying on scripture alone.

Question 22

kashrut

Answer 22

ritual fitness, suitable for use according to Jewish law; applies especially to dietary laws, what foods can and cannot be eaten, and how to prepare them.

Question 23

Maimonides

Answer 23

great medieval Jewish philosopher (1135-1204).

Question 24

Marranos

Answer 24

Spanish Jews who were outwardly Christianized but many of whom secretly continued Jewish tradition.

Question 25

Masada

Answer 25

mountain fortress near the Dead Sea where Jewish Zealots made a last stand against the Romans.

Question 26

Moses Mendelssohn

Answer 26

Jewish Enlightenment thinker (1729-1786).

Question 27

Messiah

Answer 27

end-time king, descended from King David, expected to redeem Israel.

Question 28

Mishnah

Answer 28

code of Jewish oral law compiled ca. 200 C.E. by Judah the Prince; see Talmud.

Question 29

mitzvot

Answer 29

commandments given by God.

Question 30

Moses

Answer 30

leader of Israel in the Exodus from Egypt and the founding of the covenant on Mt. Sinai.

Question 31

Orthodox Judaism

Answer 31

modern movement continuing a strict traditional belief in the binding character of the Torah and Halakhah.

Question 32

Pesach (Passover)

Answer 32

spring festival commemorating deliverance from Egypt.

Question 33

Pharisees

Answer 33

party in ancient Judaism teaching the oral Torah along with the written Torah, resurrection of the body, and application of the law in everyday life.

Question 34

prophets

Answer 34

inspired people who spoke God's word and advocated reforms in Israel, especially from the eighth to the fourth centuries B.C.E.; recorded words of individual prophets became part of the scared scripture.

Question 35

Purim

Answer 35

early spring festival remembering events of the Book of Esther.

Question 36

rabbi

Answer 36

"my master"; title for the teacher of the law; spiritual leader of the congregation.

Question 37

Rabbinic Judaism

Answer 37

designation for Judaism as it developed under the teachers of the oral Torah (Talmud).

Question 38

Reconstructionist Judaism

Answer 38

modern movement founded by Mordecai Kaplan (1881-1982), emphasizing Judaism as a civilization.

Question 39

Reform Judaism

Answer 39

modern movement attempting to conform tradition to conditions of modern life, allowing changes in the Halakhah.

Question 39

Sabbath

Answer 39

seventh day of the week; sacred day of rest and study for Jews.

Question 39

Rosh Hashanah

Answer 39

Jewish New Year, first day of Tishri (usually in September); beginning of High Holy Days (which include Yom Kippur.

Question 40

Sadducees

Answer 40

conservative party of temple priests and sympathizers in ancient Judaism who rejected the oral Torah and the idea of the resurrection.

Question 41

Shauvot

Answer 41

Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), commemorating the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai.

Question 42

Shema

Answer 42

statement proclaiming in the unity of God, based on Deuteronomy 6:4-9, beginning, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

Question 43

Sukkot

Answer 43

Feast of Booths, autumn harvest festival.

Question 44

synagogue

Answer 44

Greek term translating Hebrew "house of assembly"; Jewish place for prayer and study.

Question 45

Talmud

Answer 45

Jewish "oral Torah," comprised of the Mishnah and Gemara; exists in a Palestinian and a Babylonian version.

Question 46

Tanakh

Answer 46

Hebrew scriptures comprised of Torah (the Pentateuch), Nevi'im (the Prophets), and Khetuvim (the Writings).

Question 47

Torah

Answer 47

first five books in the Hebrew scriptures; also the whole of scripture; also the whole corpus of revelation, including the oral Torah.

Question 48

Yahweh

Answer 48

special covenant name of Israel's God as it was probably pronounced; written YHWH in the Hebrew scriptures; at a certain point Jews stopped pronouncing this sacred name and substituted the name Adonai.

Question 49

Yom Kippur

Answer 49

Jewish Day of Atonement on the tenth of Tishri, a solemn day of repentance.

Question 50

Zealots

Answer 50

Jewish religious party in the Roman period that advocated resistance to Roman occupation.

Question 51

Zionism

Answer 51

modern movement to secure a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which led to formation of the state of Israel.

Question 52

Ahriman

Answer 52

the Pahlavi form of Angra Mainyu.

Question 53

Ahura Mazda

Answer 53

the "wise Lord," eternal, supreme creator of all, as taught by Zarathustra.

Question 54

Amesha Spentas

Answer 54

in Zoroastrianism, the "Holy Immortals," Good Purpose, Truth, Dominion, Devotion, Perfection, Immortality, and Holy Spirit, generated by Ahura Mazda to aid in the creation of the world.

Question 55

Anahita

Answer 55

in Zoroastrianism, one of the Yazata or worpshipful ones, the goddess of water and fertility whose cult was widespread in the Roman world.

Question 56

Angra Mainyu

Answer 56

evil Spirit in Zoroastrian thought, upholder of the lie (druj), cosmic opponent of Ahura Mazda.

Question 57

asha

Answer 57

Truth, one of the Holy Immortals in Zoroastrianism; also, the spiritual quality of truth.

Question 58

Avesta

Answer 58

the sacred scriptures of Zoroastrian communities, including the Yasna (the Gathas), the Yashts, and other sacred texts.

Question 59

dakhma

Answer 59

Tower of Silence in Zoroastrian communities, the structure on which the dead are exposed to vultures and the sun.

Question 60

druj

Answer 60

"lie," upheld by Angra Mainyu and the other evil beings, according to Zoroastrian thought.

Question 61

Fire Temple

Answer 61

main worship sanctuary for Zoroastrians, where the sacred fire is kept burning.

Question 62

Gathas

Answer 62

sacred hymns composed of Zarathustra, part of the Avesta.

Question 63

kusti

Answer 63

long sacred cord given to a young Zoroastrian boy or girl at the initiation ritual (Naojote), to be wrapped around the waist in daily rituals.

Question 64

Mithra

Answer 64

one of the Zoroastrian Yazata, guardian of light and giver of wealth, widely worshipped in Roman Empire.

Question 65

mobed

Answer 65

Zoroastrianism priest.

Question 66

Naojote

Answer 66

the ritual of initiation for young Zoroastrian boys and girls, in which they are invested with the sacred shirt and the sacred cord (kusti).

Question 67

Parsis

Answer 67

communities of Zoroastrians in India.

Question 68

Spenta Mainyu

Answer 68

Holy Spirit in Zoroastrianism, closely identified with Ahura Mazda, creator of world, opponent of Angra Mainyu.

Question 69

Yazata

Answer 69

worshipful ones, Indo-Iranian gods who continued to be objects of worship in Zoroastrianism, sometimes called angels.

Question 70

Zarathustra

Answer 70

the founder of Zoroastrianism, who lived perhaps around 1000 B.C.E., reformed the Indo-Aryan religion, and composed of the Gathas.

Question 71

Zoroaster

Answer 71

Greek form of the name Zarathustra.