"The Chosen" Terminology

Question 1

Shabbat

Answer 1

the Sabbath, a weekly festival day of rest (Friday night at sundown until Saturday night at sundown); celebrated with suspension of all forms of work and special prayer services

Question 2

Yeshiva

Answer 2

a special Jewish parochial school where boys and girls are educated separately, and where stress is placed on study of the Torah and Talmud

Question 3

tzitzit

Answer 3

the ritual fringes used to remind Jews of God’s commandments; found either on a prayer shawl or a special undergarment worn under the shirt

Question 4

rabbi

Answer 4

Jewish religious and spiritual leader trained in scholarship and to lead the community

Question 5

Rebbe

Answer 5

a revered leader of a Chasidic sect; the Rebbe is consulted in nearly all matters by his followers because he is considered the wisest man in the community and because it is believed that he is best able to interpret God’s will on earth

Question 6

apikorsim

Answer 6

A person who denies the existence of God
Pg. 23-24: A Jew educated in Judaism who denies the basic tenets of the faith like the existence of God, the revelation, the resurrection of the dead.

Question 7

Hebrew

Answer 7

the language the Torah is written in and therefore considered a holy tongue. Chasidim do not speak Hebrew for trivial matters, but converse in Yiddish. Hebrew has been adopted as the national language of the modern nation of Israel, founded in 1948

Question 8

Yiddish

Answer 8

a language, a combination of Hebrew, German, Polish and other European languages, spoken among Chasidic Jews

Question 9

yarmulke or skullcap

Answer 9

a small hat worn by Jewish men to remind themselves that they are continually below God

Question 10

Abba

Answer 10

Hebrew word for “dad” or “daddy”

Question 11

Talmud

Answer 11

the oral law. According to Jewish tradition, when the Torah was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, Moses also received oral instructions which were passed down orally, but not written down for many generations. Several generations later, a group of rabbis did write down their discussions of the oral laws and those writings are known as the Talmud

Question 12

tzaddik (sg.) tzaddikim (pl.)

Answer 12

“In the Jewish tradition, a tzaddik is a guru-like figure who has devoted his entire life to the study of the Torah and the practice of its commandments.”

The righteous ones – “a superhuman link between themselves and God.”

Question 13

tefillin or phylacteries

Answer 13

two boxes with long straps crafted of unblemished leather that contain particular Bible verses in them. They are worn around the head and between the eyes, and around the arm traditionally by Jewish men during morning weekday services so that they can literally fulfill the commandment in Deuteronomy that says, “and you shall wear them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.”

Question 14

Torah

Answer 14

literally “law” the first five books of the Bible that traditional Jews believe were handed to Moses on Mt. Sinai while they were in the desert returning to Canaan after years of slavery in Egypt (613 commandments)

Question 15

momzer

Answer 15

a contemptible person

Question 16

Samovars

Answer 16

an urn with a spigot at its base for tea

Question 17

Hasidic Jews

Answer 17

Hasidim, or pious ones, are followers of a Polish Jew named Israel who lived in the 18th century. Also called a saintly man, he taught and mingled with his people out of a sense of love, not duty. The leaders of this sect are known as Tzaddikim, the righteous ones. Reb Saunders is a Tzaddik

Question 18

Gentiles

Answer 18

non-Jewish faith, Christian

Question 19

kosher

Answer 19

clean or fit to eat according to Jewish law

Question 20

apostate

Answer 20

a person guilty of abandoning his faith

Question 21

Ba’al Shem Tov

Answer 21

18th century founder of Chasidism