An asterisk indicates a cross reference within this Glossary.

All non-English entries are Hebrew unless otherwise indicated.

All prayer-book references are to the bi-lingual Siddur Tehillat HaShem (trans. Rabbi Nissen Mangel; Kehot, N.Y., 1979)

Asiyah, the World of	(lit., "the World of Action, or Making"): the lowest of the Four *Worlds
Atzilus, the World of	(lit., "the World of Emanation"): the highest of the Four *Worlds
avodah	(lit., "work" or "service"): (in Torah usage) divine service, particularly through prayer and (in chassidic usage) through the labor of self-refinement
ayin	(lit., "nothing"): the void that precedes any act of creation; in the mortal realm, ayin describes a person who transcends his innate egocentricity and commits himself to the service of G-d; cf. *yesh
batel	in a state of self-nullification
beinoni (pl., beinonim)	(lit., "intermediate man"): an individual whose spiritual labors have brought him to a level at which he never sins in thought, word or deed, despite his still-active Evil Inclination; see Tanya, ch. 12
Beis HaMikdash	the (First or Second) Temple in Jerusalem
Beriah, the World of	(lit., "the World of Creation"): the second (in descending order) of the Four *Worlds
Binah	(lit., "understanding"): the second of the Ten Sefiros, or divine emanations; the second stage of the intellectual process (cf. *Chabad), developing the initial conception of *Chochmah
bittul	self-nullification
Chabad	acronym formed by the initial letters of the Hebrew words *Chochmah, *Binah, and *Daas, which are both (i) the first three of the Ten *Sefiros, or divine emanations, and (ii) the corresponding stages that comprise the intellectual process (known as seichel or Chabad). Chabad also signifies: (a) the branch of the chassidic movement (see *Chassidus) which is rooted in an intellectual approach to the service of G-d, and which was founded by R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi; a synonym for Chabad in this sense is *Lubavitch, originally the name of the township where the movement flourished 1813-1915; (b) the philosophy of this school of Chassidism
chadarim	(lit., "rooms"; pl. of cheder): (a) Torah schools; (b) academy founded by the Alter Rebbe in Liozna for advanced students
Chai Elul	("the 18th of the month of Elul"): chassidic festival marking the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov (1698) and the Alter Rebbe (1745)
Chanukah	eight-day festival beginning 25 Kislev, commemorating the Maccabees' rededication of the *Beis HaMikdash in the second century B.C.E., and marked by the kindling of lights (Siddur, p. 339)
chassid (pl., chassidim)	adherent of the chassidic movement (see *Chassidus)
Chassidism	see *Chassidus
Chassidus	Chassidism, i.e., the movement within Orthodox Judaism founded in White Russia by R. Yisrael, the Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), and stressing: emotional involvement in prayer; service of G-d through the material universe; wholehearted earnestness in divine service; the mystical in addition to the legalistic dimension of Judaism; the power of joy, and of music; the love to be shown to every Jew, unconditionally; and the mutual physical and moral responsibility of the members of the informal chassidic brotherhood, each chassid having cultivated a spiritual attachment to their saintly and charismatic leader, the *Rebbe; (b) the philosophy and literature of this movement; see also *Chabad
cheder	see *chadarim
Chochmah	(lit., "wisdom"): the first of the Ten Sefiros, or divine emanations; the first stage of the intellectual process (cf. *Chabad); reason in potentia
Chumash	the Five Books of Moses (the Pentateuch)
Daas	(lit., "knowledge"): the third of the Ten Sefiros, or divine emanations; the third stage of the intellectual process (cf. *Chabad), at which concepts, having proceeded from seminal intuition (cf. *Chochmah) through meditative gestation (cf. *Binah), now mature into their corresponding dispositions or attributes of character (middos)
daven, davenen	(Yid.): (a) praying, prayers; in *Chabad usage also signifies (b) the *avodah of praying at length, the reading of passages in the *Siddur being interspersed with pauses for disciplined meditation from memory on related texts in *Chassidus
domem	inanimate matter
dveikus	the rapt state of cleaving to the Creator
Ein Sof	the Infinite One
Elokim	one of the Names of G-d, signifying (variously) power, judgment and *tzimtzum (the latter attribute referring to His being concealed in nature); cf. *Havayah
erev...	(lit., "evening"): the eve of [a Sabbath or a festival]
farbrengen	(Yid.): (a) an assemblage addressed by a *Rebbe; (b) an informal gathering of chassidim for mutual edification and brotherly criticism
Gan Eden	the Garden of Eden; Paradise
gaon	see *geonim
Gemara	(Aram.): see *Talmud
geonim (pl. of gaon)	Torah luminaries
get	bill of divorce
Hakkafos (pl. of Hakkafah)	(lit., "circuits"): the sevenfold procession made with the Torah scrolls in the synagogue on *Simchas Torah, accompanied by singing and dancing (Siddur, p. 335)
Halachah	(a) the body of Torah law; (b) a particular law
Havayah	the Four-Letter Name of G-d (with its letters transposed, as pronounced in the study of *Chassidus), signifying His transcendence of nature's finite bounds of time and space; cf. *Elokim
Havdalah	(lit., "separation"): blessings pronounced over wine at nightfall at the conclusion of a Sabbath or festival to mark it off from the ordinary weekdays that follow (Siddur, p. 234)
hemshech	a series of *maamarim on one theme
ikvos Meshicha	(Aram.): the age which hears the approaching "footsteps of *Mashiach"
Isru Chag	the semi-festive day following any one of the three Pilgrim Festivals
Kabbalah	(lit., "received tradition"): the body of classical Jewish mystical teachings, the central text of which is the *Zohar
kabbalas ol	(lit., "acceptance of the yoke"): self-subordination to the Will of G-d
kalos hanefesh	near-expiry of the soul out of a rapturous love of G-d
kelipos	(lit., "rind" or "shell"; pl. of kelipah): used figuratively (on a personal or universal level) to signify an outer covering which conceals the light within; hence, the unholy side of the universe; synonym for *sitra achra
Keser	(lit., "crown"): the sublime level of divine emanation which transcends the scheme of the Ten *Sefiros; in man's spiritual personality it is the source of the corresponding "superconscious" faculties of pleasure and will
ketores	incense (cf. Shmos 30:34-38, Kerisos 6a, and Talmud Yerushalmi, Yoma 4:65; see Siddur, pp. 20-21)
Kiddush	(lit., "sanctification"): blessings recited over a goblet of wine and expressing the sanctity of *Shabbos (e.g., Siddur, p. 146) or a festival
LeChaim!	(lit., "To life!"): greeting or blessing exchanged over strong drink
Lubavitch	(lit., "town of love"; Rus.): townlet in White Russia which from 1813-1915 was the center of *Chabad *Chassidism, and whose name has remained a synonym for it
lulav	closed palm-branch, used during the festival of Sukkos for the mitzvah of the Four Species
maamar (pl., maamarim)	(lit., "word" or "written article"): in *Chabad circles means a formal chassidic discourse first delivered by a *Rebbe
Malchus	(lit., "sovereignty"): the last of the seven Divine middos, or attributes, and of their corresponding mortal middos, or spiritual emotions
mashgiach (pl., mashgichim)	supervisor of the study of *nigleh in a *yeshivah
Mashiach	(lit., "the anointed one"): the Messiah
mashpia (pl., mashpi'im)	mentor of *Chassidus
maskil (pl., maskilim)	follower of the so-called "Enlightenment" movement
melamdim (pl. of melamed)	Torah teachers in the traditional *chadarim
Menorah	candelabrum, esp. the one kindled in the *Beis HaMikdash, or one used on the fesival of *Chanukah
mesirus nefesh	self-sacrifice
mezuzah (pl., mezuzos)	tiny parchment scroll affixed to doorpost, and containing the first two paragraphs of Shema (Devarim 6:-9 and 11:13-21)
middos (pl. of middah)	the emotive attributes of the soul
Midrash	any one of the classical collections of the Sages' homiletical teachings on the Torah, on the non-literal level of *derush
Mishnah	the germinal statements of law elucidated by the *Gemara, together with which they collectively constitute the *Talmud; any one such statement is likewise called a mishnah
mitzvah (pl., mitzvos)	a religious obligation; one of the 613 Commandments
ner	lamp; candle
neta reva'i	fruit produced by a tree in its fourth year (following the three years of *orlah) and which in the days of the *Beis HaMikdash was eaten in Jerusalem (cf. Vayikra 19:24)
niggun (pl., niggunim)	melody, usually wordless, especially one figuring in divine service
nigleh	(lit., "revealed"): the revealed levels of the Torah (e.g., *Talmud and *Halachah); in contrast to nistar
Or Ein Sof	the [infinite] creative emanation (or "light") that radiates from the Infinite One
orlah	the forbidden fruit which grows in the first three years (cf. Vayikra 19:23); cf. *neta reva'i
oved	one deeply involved in *avodah (cf. *davenen)
parshah (pl., parshiyos)	portion of the Torah read publicly each week
Parshas...	the *parshah of...
peyos	sidelocks or sideburns (cf. Vayikra 19:27)
rav (pl., rabbanim)	rabbi
Rebbe	(common Yid. pronunciation of Rebbe, "my teacher [or master]"; pl., Rebbeim): *tzaddik who serves as spiritual guide to a following of chassidim; see *Chassidus
reva'i,	see *neta reva'i
Rosh Chodesh	(lit., "head of the month"; pl. Rashei Chadashim): New Moon, i.e., one or two semi-festive days at the beginning of each month
Rosh HaShanah	(lit., "head of the year"): the solemn New Year festival, falling on 1 and 2 Tishrei
Sefirah (pl., Sefiros)	divine attributes or emanations which manifest themselves in each of the Four Worlds, and are the source of the corresponding ten faculties (kochos) of the soul
seudas mitzvah	festive meal held in celebration of a religious obligation
Shabbos (pl., Shabbasos)	the Sabbath
Shabbos Parshas...	the *Shabbos on which a [named] *parshah is read
sheliach tzibbur	(lit., "emissary of the congregation"): worshiper leading a prayer service
Shlita	abbreviation placed after a person's name, expressing the wish "that he be preserved in life for many good days"
shochet (pl., shochtim)	ritual slaughterer
shul	(Yid.): synagogue
Shulchan Aruch	(lit., "a set table"): the standard Code of Jewish Law compiled by R. Yosef Caro in the mid-sixteenth century
sichah (pl., sichos)	an informal Torah talk delivered by a *Rebbe (cf. *maamar)
Simchas Torah	(lit., "the Rejoicing of the Torah"): festival immediately following Sukkos, on which the public reading of the Torah is annually concluded and recommenced; in *Eretz Yisrael coincides with Shemini Atzeres, and in the Diaspora falls on the following day
sitra achra	(lit., "the other side"; Aram.): the forces of evil in the universe; a synonym for *kelipah
Talmud	the basic compendium of Jewish law, thought, and Biblical commentary, comprising *Mishnah and *Gemara; when unspecified refers to the Talmud Bavli, the edition developed in Babylonia, and edited at end of the fifth century C.E.; the Talmud Yerushalmi is the edition compiled in *Eretz Yisrael at end of the fourth century C.E.
Talmud Torah	(lit., "study of the Torah"): a Torah school
tamim	see *temimim
Tanya	the Alter Rebbe's basic exposition of *Chabad *Chassidus; "Tanya" is the initial word of the book, which is also called Likkutei Amarim ("Collected Discourses") and Sefer shel Beinonim ("The Book of the Intermediates")
tefillin	small black leather cubes containing parchment scrolls inscribed with Shema Yisrael and other Biblical passages, bound to the arm and forehead and worn by men at weekday morning prayers; "phylacteries"
Tehillim	(lit., "praises"): the Book of Psalms
temimim (pl. of tamim)	students past or present of one of the senior *yeshivos of the *Lubavitch branch of *Chassidism, which are known as Tomchei Temimim
teshuvah	(lit., "return"): repentance
terumah	the first of the tithes to be given to the Kohen
tikkun chatzos	(lit., "midnight service"): an optional devotional exercise lamenting the Destruction of the *Beis HaMikdash and the subsequent exile of the Divine Presence on a cosmic level
Tomchei Temimim	(a) the *yeshivah founded in *Lubavitch in 1897 by the Rebbe Rashab; (b) one of its subsequent offshoots
Tosafos	(lit., "supplements"): classical commentaries on the *Talmud beginning to appear in the mid-twelfth century
tzaddik (pl., tzaddikim)	(a) completely righteous individual (b) *Rebbe
tzedakah	charity
tzimtzum	the self-limitation of the infinite and emanating Divine light by progressive degrees of contraction, condensation and concealment, and making possible the creation of finite and physical substances
tzitzis	fringes on the corners of the tallis worn by males (cf. Bamidbar 15:37-40)
UrimVeTumim	oracular vestment worn by the High Priest in the *Beis HaMikdash
Worlds, the Four	the main stages in the creative process resulting from *tzimtzum; in descending order: *Atzilus, *Beriah, *Yetzirah and *Asiyah, often referred to by their acronym as abiya
yechidus	private interview at which a *chassid seeks guidance and enlightenment from his *Rebbe
yesh	an entity which enjoys seemingly self-sufficient existence, as if independent of its Creator; in the mortal realm, yesh describes a person who is egocentric; cf. *ayin and *yesh me'ayin
yeshivah	Torah academy for advanced students
yesh me'ayin	(lit., "something from nothing"): creation ex nihilo
yeshus	the state of being a *yesh
yetzer hara	the Evil Inclination
Yetzirah, the World of	(lit., "the World of Formation"): the third (in descending order) of the Four *Worlds
Yevsektzia	(lit., "the Jewish section" [of the Communist Party]; Rus.): rabidly anti-religious body of Stalinist activists
yichus	distinguished lineage
Yiddishkeit	(lit., "Jewishness"; Yid.): the Torah way of life
Yom-Tov	festival
Zohar	(lit., "radiance"): classical work embodying the mystical teachings of the *Kabbalah