Glossary

"A good final sealing;" a High Holiday greeting used between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. Often abbreviated as g'mar tov.

A category of commandments; lit. "Deeds of loving-kindness."

 

"Exile;" see the Diaspora.

"Garden of Eden;" paradise; the place to which righteous souls return.

 

A small strip of land on the southeast corner of Israel that was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

The period after death in which the soul is purified.

 

"Money" (Yiddish); often given as a Hanukkah gift; used for playing dreidel.

The rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah; together, the Mishnah and Gemara make up the Talmud, the body of Jewish “oral law.” 

"One who is invited to join the Hebrew tribe;" "convert" (Hebrew); feminine: gioret; plural: gerim.

Lit. a resident stranger, a non-Jewish inhabitant of the Land of Israel who observes the Seven Laws of Noah and has repudiated all links with idolatry.

“Righteous convert.” Refers to someone who has converted to Judaism. 

"Conversion" (Hebrew).