Rebbe – The leader of a hassidic community. Also called a tzaddik.

Shabbat – The Jewish Sabbath.

Mishnah - An early written compilation of Jewish oral tradition, the basis of the Talmud.

Havdalah – A ritual marking the end of the Sabbath.

Kiddush – A prayer recited over wine sanctifying the Sabbath.

Gemara- Commentaries on the Mishnah. The Mishna and the Gemara together are the Talmud.

Ashkenazic Jews – Jews from Eastern Europe

Sephardic Jews – Jews from Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East.

Torah – The first five books of the Bible, however in its broadest sense, Torah is the entire body of Jewish teachings.

Takkanah – A law instituted by the Rabbis and not derived from any biblical commandment.

Tallit – A shawl-like garment worn during morning services, with tzitzit (long fringes) attached to the corners as a reminder of the commandments.

Siddur – Prayer book

Shul – Yiddish term for house of worship, used mainly among Orthodox Jews.

Apikorsim – apikoros, plural apikorsim, means a Jew who denies the basic tenets of his faith, indicating one who accepts Darwinism or Freud, for example.

Gematrya – A field of Jewish mysticism that finds hidden meanings in the numerical value of words.

Midrash - Stories elaborating on incidents in the Bible, to derive a principle of Jewish law or provide a moral lesson.

Orthodox Judaism - One of the major movements of Judaism, believing that Jewish law comes from G-d and cannot be changed.

Phylcateries - Leather pouches containing scrolls with passages of scripture, used to fulfill the commandment to bind the commandments to our hands and between our eyes. Jews refer to them as tefillin.

Talmud (Pronounced Tal-mood) - The most significant collection of the Jewish oral tradition interpreting the Torah.

Yeshiva – Jewish school.

-Adam.

Every month we try to do a book discussion where everyone reads the same book (that way the details are fresh and we can have a more in depth discussion). The process of picking a book is very open and suggestions are welcomed from everyone.

The discussion for Chaim Potok's Chosen will begin on June 1. What will happen is that 'captainbackfire' will start the discussion with an introduction on that day (this was decided simply by this poster volunteering to do so). In this case, 'picassocat' (Adam) is very familiar with Potok so these two have agreed to kind of co-moderate. However, once the thread is started on June 1, anyone can post their thoughts.

Below, I have provided a link to the latest book discussion thread. You will see that we try to pick books in three month periods to allow people enough time to acquire the book (library, purchase, etc). If I remember correctly, for this next three months we have selected Chosen for June, and Shadow of the Wind for August, but have not yet firmly decided on July (maybe you would like to lead a discussion for that month?).

The link I provide below will also lead you to previous examples of our discussions from recent months, so you can get a feel for how it works.

I hope this explains things a bit. I really hope you participate. All ideas are welcomed and we end up having some pretty good discussions...and a lot of fun too!

Best Always,
Tamara

Chat with you then!!

And Adam, I have used my reference sheet throughout the book. I even quizzed my Jewish husband on some of the terminology! Thanks again!

Vawoodnymph/Mary,
I heartily recommend My Name Is Asher Lev. It is the story of a gifted/talented young artist who happens to be a Hasidic Jew. You can imagine the struggle he faces with his religious heritage and traditionalism as he grows and realizes his talent. Excellent if you are interested in the mind of the gifted/talented and, as always with a Potok novel, it is a great look at Jewish Culture. I am just starting Chosen so I couldn't tell you which of the two I like best as a point of comparison...but will be happy to let you know more soon!

Happy reading everyone, and to all those out there lurking, please go to your library, read the book, and join us June 1!
Tamara

Here is a lecture Potok done in 1986, where he talks about many of his books, including The Chosen. If you are interested check it out.

-Adam.

Mary

Lately, I thought that the firstname "John" was an alteration of "young". I was very proud of that idea, until I looked in a dictionary and discovered I am wrong. "John" is derived from "yehohanan" meaning "Yahweh (God) has been gracious".

I also thought that Elisabeth derives from Isabelle, but I am wrong here again, it's the other way around. Elisabeth is derived from "El (God) has sworn". The French first name Isabelle is derived from the Spanish Isabel which derives from Elisabeth, the Spaniards keeping only the part after "El" because they thought that "El" was the Arabical article for "the".

So, I have decided to browse my dictionary, in search for other first names derived from Hebrew and I found the following ones:

Anna, Anne = grace
Abraham = father of many
Barnaby = son of exhortation
Batholomew = son of Talmai
Bathsheba = daughter of the oath
Benjamin = son of the right
Daniel = El is my judge
David = beloved
Eleazar = El has helped
Emmanuel, manuel = El is with us
Ezekiel = El strenghtens
Gabriel = strength of El
Ishmael = El will hear
Jacob, Jack = supplanter
Jeremy = Yawhe is high
Jesus = Yaweh saves
Joachim = Yaweh gives
Job = persecuted
Joel = Yaweh is El (Lord is God)
Joseph = increaser
Martha = lady
Matthew = gift from Yaweh
Michael = who is like El
Obadia = servant of Yaweh
Rebecca = binding
Samuel = name of El
Sharon = a flat area
Simon = harkening
Susanna = lily
Thomas = twin
Zachary = Yahweh remembers

-Nicolas (from Greek, meaning Nike=victory + Laos=people)

-Tamara