row houses houses having common walls with the houses on either side; this type of housing is often found in older urban areas in the United States.
Herzl (Her tsul) Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), Austrian founder of a modern movement known as Zionism, whose goal was to create a Jewish state.
Bialik (Bee al lick) Hayyim Nahman Bialik (1873-1934), a Jewish poet who had a decisive influence on the renaissance of the Hebrew language in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) a Zionist leader and first president of the state of Israel.
ailanthus tree a tree with bitter-scented flowers, usually found in the tropics.
pilpul (pill pull) the dry, stale manner of Jewish study in seventeenth-and eighteenth-century Europe that inspired the rise of Hasidism.
tallit (tal leet) a shawl used by Jews in prayer.
shofar (show far) an ancient ritual horn of Israel, used to announce important public events.
Beadle a minor church official in charge of ushering and keeping order during religious services.
Amulets objects or charms superstitiously worn to ward off evil.
Kaddish (Cad ish) the Jewish prayer for the departed.
Benedict de Spinoza (1632-77) Dutch Jewish philosopher.
Liebniz Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz (1646-1716), German mathematician.
Hume David Hume (1711-76),Scottish philosopher.
Immanual Kant (1724-1804) German philosopher.
caftan (calf tan) a long coat worn by the Hasidim.
Scythe an instrument with a long blade and long handle used for cutting grass.
Eternal Light a symbol in the synagogue that symbolizes the permanence of the Torah and the radiance of the Jewish faith.
gefilte fish (guh fill tuh) cakes or balls of seasoned fish.
Catechism a written record of religious beliefs, usually in a question-and-answer format.
Din overwhelming noise.
Ascribe credit with.
Vestibule entryway.
nu a Jewish colloquial expression meaning “so” or “so then” or “and then what?”
gematriya (gem ot ree ya) a sort of arithmetical amusement to disclose the hidden meaning of biblical or other text by determining the numerical equivalents of the Hebrew letters in a Hebrew word.
Mitnagdim (Meet nog dim) critics or opponents of the Hasidic way of life.
Secular not specifically religious.
