Jewish Glossary

The kindling of the candles before the onset of Shabbat, whose light brings peace to the home (shalom bayit); the mitzvah falls to the household, and it is the woman of the house who kindles first.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 263. Voir la fiche ›

Ordinary time added to sacred time: Shabbat is welcomed a little before sunset, and taken leave of after nightfall.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 261. Voir la fiche ›

The 39 categories of creative labor forbidden on Shabbat, known by the phrase "forty less one" (arba'im chaser achat).

Source : Mishnah Shabbat 7:2. Voir la fiche ›

The portable sanctuary of the wilderness, whose building the Torah sets right beside the command of Shabbat: it is the source of the 39 forbidden labors.

Source : Talmud Shabbat 49b. Voir la fiche ›

The "thought-out work": a melacha is defined as a deliberate creative or transformative act, not as sheer physical effort.

Source : Talmud Chagiga 10b. Voir la fiche ›

The grouping of the 39 melachot into 6 families (bread, clothing, parchment, building and demolishing, fire, and the last two) as a way of memorizing them.

Source : Mishnah Shabbat 7:2. Voir la fiche ›

Every melacha is a "father" (av) whose "offshoots" (toladot), different in form but identical in principle, are forbidden just as much.

Source : Talmud Shabbat 73b. Voir la fiche ›

Selecting from a mixture, a melacha permitted only when three conditions are met together: by hand, taking the food (never the waste), and for immediate consumption.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 319. Voir la fiche ›

The 39th melacha: carrying an object from one domain to another (private and public), or four cubits within the public domain, whatever its weight.

Source : Mishnah Shabbat 7:2; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 301. Voir la fiche ›

The "final hammer blow": any act that completes an object and makes it usable for the first time.

Source : Mishnah Shabbat 7:2; Talmud Shabbat 75b. Voir la fiche ›

"Set aside": whatever is not meant to be used on Shabbat is not moved that day, a safeguard the Sages instituted around the day of rest.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 308. Voir la fiche ›

The surface that has held a muktzeh item since the onset of Shabbat and becomes muktzeh itself (the classic case: the tray that holds the candlesticks).

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 309. Voir la fiche ›

"Moving from the side": shifting a muktzeh item that is in the way without taking it in hand, when there is a permitted need.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 309:4-5; Talmud Shabbat 43a-44a. Voir la fiche ›

The additional service added on Shabbat and festival days, right after Shacharit, echoing the additional offering that was brought in the Temple.

Source : Talmud Berachot 26b; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 286:1. Voir la fiche ›

The sanctification of Shabbat in words, over a cup of wine, before the Friday evening meal (and in a shorter form at Shabbat lunch).

Source : Shemot 20:8; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 271 and 289. Voir la fiche ›

The two whole loaves on which the Shabbat meal opens, recalling the double portion of manna that fell on Fridays in the wilderness. At the third meal, their number varies from one community to the next.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 274 and 291; Shemot 16. Voir la fiche ›

The ceremony that "separates" the holy from the ordinary at the end of Shabbat, over a cup of wine, with spices and a braided candle.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 296. Voir la fiche ›

The "extra soul" received on Shabbat, an added measure of serenity that withdraws at the end of the day, and that the spices of the Havdalah console.

Source : Talmud Beitza 16a. Voir la fiche ›

All the Jewish communities living outside the land of Israel; in the Diaspora, the Yamim Tovim of the Torah last two days instead of one.

Source : Talmud Beitza 4b; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 496.

Twelve lunar months fall about 11 days too early relative to the sun.

Source : Talmud Rosh Hashanah 21a; Rambam, Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh 1 and 6.

The start of each month, at the new moon, is called Rosh Chodesh.

Source : Bamidbar 28:11; Rambam, Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh 1.

Yom Tov ("good day") refers to the festival days established by the Torah, on which work is forbidden as on Shabbat.

Source : Vayikra 23; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 496.

The Torah permits on a Yom Tov day "what every person must eat": this is the permission called ochel nefesh, "a person's food."

Source : Shemot 12:16; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 495:1.

The word eruv means "mixture" or "combination."

Source : Talmud Beitza 15b; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 366.

When a Yom Tov falls on a Friday, the permission to cook holds only for that same day: one may therefore not cook on that festival Friday for Shabbat.

Source : Talmud Beitza 15b; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 527.

To carry objects in the streets of a neighborhood on Shabbat, a symbolic enclosure is added to the eruv chatzerot: poles joined by a taut wire trace the shape of a doorway (the tzurat hapetach), and this line of doorways closes the neighborhood off, in law, as a single private domain. The wire must be maintained: one break invalidates it.

Source : Talmud Eruvin 11b-12a; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 362-364.

Chol Hamoed brings together two words: Chol ("ordinary") and Moed ("festival").

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 530.

Rosh Hashanah opens the Jewish year.

Source : Vayikra 23:24; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 601.

As a precaution, Rosh Hashanah became a festival of two days, counted as one single continuous day, the yoma arichta.

Source : Alfred J. Kolatch, The Jewish Book of Why, ch. 11.

The great rite of the day is to hear the shofar, a ram's horn.

Source : Bamidbar 29:1; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 585.

The Rosh Hashanah service is long and solemn: we follow a prayer book proper to the festival, the machzor.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 585:1; 592:1.

On the evening of Rosh Hashanah, we take symbolic foods, the simanim, while expressing wishes for the year.

Source : Talmud Keritot 6a; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 583.

On the afternoon of the first day (or of the second if the first is Shabbat), we go to the edge of a body of water for Tashlich.

Source : Michah 7:19; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 583.

Tradition holds up three practices that turn the judgment toward the good: returning to oneself (teshuvah, which means "return": recognizing one's wrongs and mending them), prayer, and tzedakah.

Source : Talmud Rosh Hashanah 18a; Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:2.

During these days, we wish one another chatimah tovah, "a good sealing": the hope of being inscribed and sealed for the good.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 582; 603.

During this stretch, we recite selichot, prayers of supplication that ask for forgiveness, early in the morning before the service.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 581:1.

Yom Kippur falls on the 10th of Tishrei, ten days after Rosh Hashanah.

Source : Vayikra 23:27; Mishnah Yoma 8.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, we take a meal before the fast, ask forgiveness of those we have hurt, and follow customs of preparation: immersion in the mikveh and the kapparot.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 604; 605; 606.

Sukkot begins on the 15th of Tishrei and lasts seven days.

Source : Vayikra 23:34; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 625.

For seven days, we dwell in the sukkah, a temporary booth: we take our meals in it and we sleep in it if we can.

Source : Vayikra 23:42; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 625.

Each day of the festival, except Shabbat, we take the four species: the lulav (a palm branch), the etrog (a citron), the hadas (myrtle) and the arava (willow).

Source : Vayikra 23:40; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 651.

On the seventh day of Sukkot, Hoshana Rabbah, we make seven circuits in the synagogue with the four species and beat willow branches.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 660; 664.

Shemini Atzeret, "the eighth day (atzeret), whose exact meaning is debated," falls on the 22nd of Tishrei, right after Sukkot.

Source : Bamidbar 29:35; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 668.

Simchat Torah, "the joy of the Torah," celebrates the completion of the yearly reading cycle and its immediate restart: we finish the last passage and go straight back to the beginning.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 669.

On Simchat Torah, we take out the Torah scrolls and make circuits (the hakafot) around the reading platform, dancing and singing, just as we would circle with the lulav on Sukkot.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 669.

Chanukah begins on the 25th of Kislev and lasts eight days.

Source : Talmud Shabbat 21b.

The meaning of the Chanukah lights is to make the miracle known: this is the idea of pirsumei nisa, "the publicizing of the miracle."

Source : Talmud Shabbat 21b; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 671.

We kindle with the chanukiah, an eight-branched candelabrum, plus a service light, the shamash, which is used to light the others.

Source : Talmud Shabbat 21b; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 673.

During Chanukah, we add Al HaNissim, a passage of thanksgiving, in the prayer and in the Birkat Hamazon.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 682; 670.

Tu BiShvat falls on the 15th of Shevat ("Tu" stands for the number fifteen).

Source : Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1.

The custom honors fruit, above all the seven species by which the Torah praises the land of Israel: wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranate, olive and date.

Source : Devarim 8:8.

Before eating a fruit that grows on a tree, we first say the blessing "borei peri ha'etz," "who creates the fruit of the tree."

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 202:1.

In the Persian empire, the minister Haman obtained a decree to exterminate the Jews.

Source : Scroll of Esther; Talmud Megillah 7a.

In practice, most firstborn do not fast.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 470.

Chametz is a product of the five grains (wheat, barley, spelt, oats, rye) that has fermented in contact with water.

Source : Shemot 12:15; Mishnah Pesachim 2:5.

On the evening of the 14th of Nisan, the eve of Pesach, we do bedikat chametz: searching the house for chametz, traditionally by candlelight.

Source : Mishnah Pesachim 1:1; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 431.

The chametz one would rather keep (valuable bottles, provisions) is sold to a non-Jew, usually through the rav, so as not to own it during the festival.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 448.

The word Seder means "order."

Source : Mishnah Pesachim 10; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 473.

During the Seder, we drink four cups of wine, at set moments.

Source : Mishnah Pesachim 10:1; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 472.

On the table sits a plate that brings together the foods of the telling, each in its place: the zeroa (a roasted bone, a reminder of the Pesach lamb), the beitzah (an egg, a reminder of a festival offering), the maror and the chazeret (the bitter herbs of slavery), the charoset (a fruit paste, recalling the mortar), and the karpas (a vegetable dipped in salt water).

Source : Mishnah Pesachim 10:3; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 473.

At the Seder, we eat a portion the size of an olive (a kazayit) of matzah, and likewise a kazayit of maror: this is the measure that fulfills the mitzvah.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 475:1 and 486.

The heart of the Seder is telling the exodus from Egypt, by reading the Haggadah.

Source : Shemot 13:8; Mishnah Pesachim 10:5.

Starting on the second day of Pesach, we count the Omer: forty-nine days, that is seven weeks, up to Shavuot.

Source : Vayikra 23:15; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 489.

Lag BaOmer is the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, the 18th of Iyar.

Source : Talmud Yevamot 62b; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 493.

Shavuot falls on the 6th of Sivan (and extends into the 7th in the diaspora), at the close of the seven weeks of the Omer.

Source : Vayikra 23:15-21; Shemot 19.

At Sinai the Ten Commandments (Aseret HaDibrot) were given.

Source : Shemot 20 (the numbering of the verses varies by tradition).

From the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av stretch the Three Weeks (Bein HaMetzarim), a time of mourning for the destruction of the two Temples.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 551.

The 9th of Av is the saddest day of the year: a major fast of about twenty-five hours, from the evening before.

Source : Mishnah Ta'anit 4:6; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 554.

The se'udah hamafseket is the last meal before the fast, eaten on the afternoon of the day before.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 552.

Mourning follows a gradual return to life.

Source : Talmud Moed Katan 27b; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 375.

The Kaddish is a prayer that sanctifies the Name of G-d, in Aramaic.

Source : Talmud Berachot 3a; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 55.

For a land mammal to be kosher, two signs must be present together: the cloven hoof (the parsa, the hoof split in two) and chewing the cud (the animal brings its food back up to chew it).

Source : Vayikra 11:3; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 79.

A water creature is kosher if it has fins and scales (the kaskeset).

Source : Vayikra 11:9; Talmud Chullin 66b.

The Torah names four animals that have only one of the two signs, to show that a single sign is not enough: the camel, the hyrax and the hare chew the cud without a cloven hoof; the pig (the chazir) has the cloven hoof but does not chew the cud.

Source : Vayikra 11:4-7; Devarim 14:7-8.

The Torah gives no simple sign for birds: it only lists the forbidden species, mostly birds of prey.

Source : Vayikra 11:13-19; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 82.

Several families have no sign of purity at all and are always forbidden: crustaceans and shellfish, reptiles, frogs, rodents and creeping crawling things (the sheretz).

Source : Vayikra 11:10-12, 29-31, 41-42.

In talmudic times, wine used for idolatrous libations, yayin nesech, was absolutely forbidden to Jews, whatever later use might be made of it.

Source : Alfred J. Kolatch, The Jewish Book of Why, ch. 4.

The Sages extended the prohibition of yayin nesech to any ordinary wine merely touched by a non-Jew, stam yeinam, even with no connection to worship, out of a concern that sharing wine might lead to intermarriage.

Source : Beit Din of Paris ("Kosher wine").

Pasteurized wine, yayin mevushal, escapes the prohibition of contact: the Sages hold that a wine treated this way is no longer fit enough for idolatrous use.

Source : Beit Din of Paris ("Kosher wine").

In a kosher kitchen, every food belongs to one family: meat (basari), dairy (chalavi), or neutral (pareve).

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 87.

The Torah forbids the meat-milk mixture (basar b'chalav) in three ways: cooking it together, eating it, and deriving benefit from it.

Source : Shemot 23:19; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 87.

To set up a barrier against intermarriage and assimilation, the Sages forbade consuming food cooked by a non-Jew (bishul akum), even when all the ingredients used are themselves kosher.

Source : Beit Din of Paris ("Cooking of food by non-Jews (Bishul Goy)").

The same principle as bishul akum applies to bread: the Sages forbade bread made by a non-Jew (pat akum), again out of concern for a barrier against assimilation.

Source : Beit Din of Paris ("Cooking of food by non-Jews (Bishul Goy)").

In talmudic times, non-Jews sometimes produced milk from non-kosher animals, a milk that could be mixed unnoticed into kosher milk.

Source : Beit Din of Paris ("The Kashrut of dairy products").

Even when the milk used is certainly kosher, the Sages permit only cheese made by a Jew.

Source : Beit Din of Paris ("The Kashrut of dairy products").

A hen's egg is pareve: neither meat nor dairy.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 87.

Blood (dam) is forbidden.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 66.

The Torah forbids consuming blood (dam).

Source : Vayikra 17:14; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 69.

The usual method is salting (melichah): the meat is rinsed, soaked for about half an hour, covered with coarse salt on every surface for about an hour, then rinsed thoroughly.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 69.

A utensil (a pot, a saucepan) that was heated with liquid and absorbed a forbidden taste is kashered by hagalah: it is immersed whole in boiling water.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 121.

Kashering by fire: a utensil that was heated dry, in direct contact with the flame (a frying pan, a grill), is heated in the fire until it glows. Boiling water, which is enough for a utensil heated with liquid, does not remove what it absorbed.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 121.

A metal or glass kitchen utensil bought from a non-Jew must be immersed in the mikveh before it is used: this is the tevilah of utensils.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 120.

Before immersing, one removes anything that would form a barrier between the water and the object (a label, glue, rust): this is the chatzitzah.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 120 and 202.

A woman is called niddah from the appearance of a flow of blood until her immersion in the mikveh.

Source : Vayikra 15:19; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 183.

During niddah, the couple observes restrictions, called harchakot.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 195.

Beyond the three main restrictions, common practice adds that one spouse does not serve the other a drink: neither pouring the cup, nor handing it to them.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 195:11 and 195:14.

In addition to the harchakot kept during niddah, the couple takes a precaution even before the expected appearance of blood, when a woman's cycle follows a certain regularity: this is the veset.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 184; 189.

Veset hachodesh is set by the date: the woman gets her period three times in a row on the same date of the month.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 189.

Veset haflagah is set by the interval between two appearances: the same number of days separates, three times in a row, two appearances of blood, whatever the date of the month on which they fall.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 189.

Veset haguf is set by a repeated physical sensation (a yawn, a stretch) that precedes, each time, the appearance of blood.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 184.

Once the blood has stopped, the woman makes an examination called hefsek taharah.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 196.

After a valid hefsek taharah, the woman counts 7 clean days, called shivah neki'im, before she may go to the mikveh.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 196.

The bedikah is an examination of verification.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 196.

The mikveh is a pool of water that meets the halachic requirements, intended for the immersion that ends the niddah.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 201.

The chafifah is the preparation that precedes immersion.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 199.

The chatzitzah is any interposition between the body and the water at the time of immersion: dirt, jewelry, a bandage.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 198.

Water "drawn" by hand, called mayim she'uvim, invalidates a mikveh.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 201.

The tevilah is the complete immersion: the whole body and the hair are surrounded by water at one time, with no part floating above.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 200; 201.

After the immersion, the niddah ends and the couple resumes married life.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer 76; Shemot 21:10.

At the kiddushin (the consecration), the groom gives the ring to the bride before two witnesses and pronounces the formula "according to the law of Moses and Israel."

Source : Maimonides, Hilchot Ishut.

The ketubah is the marriage contract, written in Aramaic and signed by two witnesses.

Source : Talmud Ketubot.

Shalom bayit, literally "the peace of the home," refers to the harmony between husband and wife.

Source : Chabad.org, Shalom Bayit.

Judaism sees in the union of husband and wife, within marriage, a source of kedushah (holiness).

Source : Yoatzot Halacha (Nishmat), Mitzvat Onah.

The get is the document of divorce in Jewish law.

Source : Alfred J. Kolatch, The Jewish Book of Why, chapter 2.

The word chinuch, often rendered as "education," first means initiation or inauguration: the first entry into a role one will hold later on.

Source : The meaning of the word chinuch after Rashi (Bereshit 14:14).

Among these duties, the redemption (the pidyon haben) concerns only the firstborn son of his mother: the father redeems him through a payment to a Kohen.

Source : Talmud Kiddushin 29a.

Prayer is called "the service of the heart."

Source : Talmud Berachot 26b; Ta'anit 2a.

Shacharit and Mincha have always been obligatory; Arvit, for its part, was first instituted as reshut, left to each person's choice.

Source : Talmud Berachot 27b.

On waking, before anything else, one gives thanks: Modeh Ani, "I thank You," for the soul returned.

Source : siddur; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 1, 4 and 6.

"Hear O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One": the Shema proclaims the divine unity, morning and evening.

Source : Devarim 6:4; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 61.

The Amida, whose name means standing: the central prayer of every service, said in a low voice, feet together, facing Jerusalem.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 94-95; Talmud Berachot 28b.

To enjoy this world without blessing, the Talmud says, is like taking without permission: the blessing acknowledges the Creator and lets us enjoy His creation.

Source : Talmud Berachot 35a.

"You shall eat, you shall be satisfied, and you shall bless": blessing after a meal of bread is a commandment of the Torah itself.

Source : Devarim 8:10; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 182-201.

The Torah commands attaching fringes (tzitzit) to the corners of the garment: "you shall see them and remember all the mitzvot."

Source : Bamidbar 15:38-40; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 8 and 24.

Two boxes of black leather holding four passages of the Torah: one is placed on the arm, facing the heart, the other on the head.

Source : Devarim 6:8; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 25.

On the right-hand doorpost of every doorway in a dwelling, a rolled parchment bears the first two paragraphs of the Shema: the mezuzah.

Source : Devarim 6:9; Yoreh De'ah 285-289.

The synagogue is called "small sanctuary": since the exile, it stands in place of the Temple in miniature.

Source : Yechezkel 11:16; Talmud Megillah 29a; Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 151.

The Torah scroll is written by hand, letter by letter, by a scribe (sofer) on parchment.

Source : Yoreh De'ah 270-284; customs.

Tzedakah comes from tzedek, justice: giving is not a favor, it is returning what is owed.

Source : Devarim 15:7-8; Talmud Gittin 7b; Yoreh De'ah 247-248.

The widespread practice: one tenth of one's income (the ma'aser, on the model of the tithe of the harvest); one fifth for whoever wishes to give generously.

Source : Yoreh De'ah 249; Talmud Ketubot 50a.

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself": Rabbi Akiva sees in this the great principle of the Torah.

Source : Vayikra 19:18; Talmud Shabbat 31a.

"You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt": the Torah returns to this dozens of times, more than to any other mitzvah, says the Talmud.

Source : Devarim 10:19; Talmud Bava Metzia 58b-59b.

Lashon hara: speaking ill of another is forbidden even when it is true.

Source : Vayikra 19:16; Chafetz Chayim.

"Honor your father and your mother" stands among the Ten Statements.

Source : Shemot 20:12; Devarim 5:16; Talmud Kiddushin 30b.

Kavod, one of the two duties toward parents, is honor in deeds: feeding a parent, clothing them, helping them come and go, providing for their needs when they can no longer do so themselves.

Source : Talmud Kiddushin 31a-32a.

Mora, the second duty toward parents, is reverence in restraint: not sitting in a parent's designated place, not contradicting them in public, not calling them by their first name alone.

Source : Talmud Kiddushin 31a-32a.

The Hebrew Bible fits into a single word, Tanakh: an acronym formed from the initials of its three parts, the Torah (the Law), the Nevi'im (the Prophets) and the Ketuvim (the Writings).

Source : Structure of the Tanakh (table of contents, Sefaria).

The Torah gathers five books, in order: Bereshit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bamidbar, Devarim.

Source : Structure of the Tanakh (table of contents, Sefaria).

The Mishnah is the first setting down in writing of the Oral Torah: a terse base text that sorts all the material into six great orders.

Source : Wikipedia "Talmud" (FR and EN).

The Mishnah sorts all of its material into six orders, in Hebrew shishah sedarim ("six orders"): Zeraim (Seeds), Moed (Appointed Time), Nashim (Women), Nezikin (Damages), Kodashim (Holy Things) and Taharot (Purities).

Source : Table of contents of the Mishnah (Sefaria).

The Babylonian Talmud (in Hebrew Bavli) is the largest and the most elaborate of the two; it became the great reference.

Source : Wikipedia "Talmud" (FR and EN).

The Shulchan Aruch, "the set table," is a great code of Jewish law compiled in the sixteenth century by Rabbi Yosef Karo.

Source : Wikipedia "Shulchan Aruch" (EN).

The Shulchan Aruch is built in four parts, on the plan of an earlier code, the Arba'ah Turim ("the four rows").

Source : Wikipedia "Shulchan Aruch" (EN).

Karo's text follows the Sephardic traditions first; the Rema, an Ashkenazi master, adds a gloss to it that gives the Ashkenazi custom.

Source : Wikipedia "Shulchan Aruch" (EN).

The Rambam placed the list of the thirteen principles of faith in his Commentary on the Mishnah, as an introduction to the tenth chapter of tractate Sanhedrin.

Source : Rambam, Commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, Perek Chelek.

The last four principles bear on G-d's relationship to history: He knows the deeds and the thoughts of mankind (10); He rewards and holds to account (11); the Mashiach (the Messiah) will come (12); the dead will rise again (13).

Source : Rambam, Commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, Perek Chelek.

The Written Torah (Torah shebichtav) means the Five Books received at Sinai: the biblical text itself, the first source of halacha.

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

The Oral Torah (Torah sheba'al peh) is the tradition passed down from generation to generation and later set in writing in the Mishnah and then the Talmud: it explains and completes the Written Torah.

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

A d'oraita rule ("from the Torah") flows directly from the biblical text, whether it is arrived at by logical inference or received as a tradition going back to Moses at Sinai.

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

A d'rabbanan rule ("from the Rabbis") is enacted by the Sages: it is not written in the Torah, yet its observance has been made binding all the same.

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

A gezera is a prohibition enacted as a precaution, to keep a person from coming to transgress a d'oraita rule.

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

A seyag ("a fence") names the very logic that grounds the gezera: "make a fence around the Torah," a principle stated in Pirkei Avot.

Source : Pirkei Avot 1:1.

A takana is a positive institution of the Sages, established for the public good or for religious practice, unlike the gezera, which is a precautionary prohibition.

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

A minhag is a custom, a practice taken on by a place or a community without having the status of a rabbinic law, but which can, over time, become binding on those who follow it.

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

Since the destruction of the Second Temple, there is no longer a single central authority (no Sanhedrin, no body empowered to legislate for all).

Source : George Robinson, Essential Judaism, chapter 4.

Sanctifying the divine Name, in Hebrew Kiddush Hashem, means acting in a way that honors G-d in the eyes of the world.

Source : Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah ch. 5.

The opposite of sanctification: profaning the divine Name, in Hebrew Chillul Hashem, means dishonoring Him.

Source : Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah ch. 5.

Three transgressions fall outside the general rule of staying alive.

Source : Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah ch. 5.

By tradition, the Torah holds six hundred and thirteen commandments.

Source : Talmud Makkot 23b.

The commandments fall into two families.

Source : Rambam, Sefer Hamitzvot.

The reference list of the six hundred and thirteen is that of Maimonides (the Rambam), in his Sefer Hamitzvot ("Book of the Commandments"), written in the twelfth century.

Source : Rambam, Sefer Hamitzvot.

The six hundred and thirteen fall upon the Jewish people.

Source : Talmud Sanhedrin 56a.

Becoming Jewish is called giyur.

Source : Consistoire of Paris (conversion path).

Kabbalat mitzvot, the acceptance of the commandments, is the heart of conversion.

Source : Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 268:3.

At the mikveh, the convert says the blessing of immersion, al hatevilah.

Source : Talmud Pesachim 7b (the formula of blessings over a mitzvah).

A classic principle exempts a woman from the mitzvot aseh shehazman gerama: the positive commandments ("you shall do") fixed to a particular moment of the day or the year.

Source : Talmud Kiddushin 29a.

The tradition highlights three mitzvot entrusted in a special way to women: separating the challah (a portion of the dough), niddah (the laws of married life) and kindling the nerot (the Shabbat and festival lights).

Source : Chabad "Women's Special Mitzvot"; JewFAQ "The Role of Women".

Separating the challah means setting aside a small portion of the bread dough.

Source : Bamidbar 15:20-21; Chabad "Women's Special Mitzvot".

Jewish history begins with three generations, the patriarchs (in Hebrew the Avot, the fathers): Avraham, his son Yitzchak, and Yitzchak's son Yaakov.

Source : Ken Spiro, Crash Course.

The prophet who leads the Hebrews out of Egypt and receives the Torah at Sinai. Born in Egypt during the slavery, he receives his mission at the burning bush and leads the people to the mountain.

Source : Ken Spiro, Crash Course.

Soon after the going-out from Egypt, the people halt at the foot of Mount Sinai.

Source : Ken Spiro, Crash Course.

After the settlement in the land of Israel, King Shlomo (Solomon) builds the First Temple in Jerusalem (Beit Hamikdash, the House of the Sanctuary), the center of worship.

Source : Ken Spiro, Crash Course.

Each destruction opens an exile (in Hebrew galut).

Source : Ken Spiro, Crash Course.

The systematic extermination of the Jews of Europe by the Nazi regime bears the name Shoah (catastrophe, in Hebrew) or Holocaust.

Source : Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, part 7 (The Holocaust).

After the Great Revolt and Bar Kochba, Babylonia becomes the chief center of Jewish religious creativity: it is there that the Babylonian Talmud takes shape.

Source : Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, entries 87-88.

From the nineteenth century on in Russia, the word pogrom (an organized riot against a Jewish community, deadly and destructive) enters the vocabulary.

Source : Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, entry 128.

Before eating a crop of the Land of Israel, the Torah asks that a portion of it be set aside.

Source : Guide to the portions (Chabad.org, R. Y. Shurpin).

Every seven years, the Land of Israel rests: this is the sabbatical year, called shemitah (release).

Source : Mitzvot that depend on the land (Wikipedia, Laws and customs of the Land of Israel).

During a tree's first three years, its fruits are forbidden to eat.

Source : Guide to the portions (Chabad.org, R. Y. Shurpin).

The portions taken and the prohibitions tied to the harvest make up the commandments that depend on the land (mitzvot hateluyot ba'aretz): they are bound to the soil of Israel.

Source : Mitzvot that depend on the land (Wikipedia, Laws and customs of the Land of Israel).

Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day, marks the birth of the State of Israel.

Source : Wikipedia, Yom Ha'atzmaut (proclamation of May 14, 1948).

For the tradition, the birth of the State of Israel calls for a religious response: to give thanks to G-d.

Source : Rav Chaim Jachter, Kol Torah; Rav David Brofsky, Har Etzion.

The Hallel is a set of psalms of praise (Tehillim 113 to 118) recited on days of festival and deliverance, to thank G-d.

Source : Rav Chaim Jachter, Kol Torah.

Beyond the Hallel, one way of marking the day in prayer is to add, in the Amida, a passage of gratitude on the model of Al HaNissim (for the miracles), the formula added on Chanukah and Purim.

Source : Wikipedia, Yom Ha'atzmaut (added version of Al HaNissim).

Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, marks the reunification of the city in 1967, when its eastern part, cut off since 1948, came back under Israeli control.

Source : Wikipedia, Yom Yerushalayim.

At the heart of this return stands the Kotel, the wall: the Western Wall, the last standing remnant of the wall of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Source : Wikipedia, Yom Yerushalayim.

The main observance of the day is the Hallel: a set of psalms of praise recited on days of festival and deliverance, to thank G-d.

Source : Rav David Brofsky, Har Etzion.

Jerusalem is at the center of the people's attachment to their land.

Source : Jerusalem in Judaism (Wikipedia).

The hope of return is voiced in one phrase, Leshanah haba'ah biYerushalayim, Next year in Jerusalem, recited at the end of the Pesach Seder and at the close of Yom Kippur.

Source : Jerusalem in Judaism (Wikipedia); liturgy (Seder, Yom Kippur).

KKL is a Hebrew acronym: Keren Kayemet LeYisrael, often rendered as the permanent fund for Israel.

Source : KKL France (kkl.fr).

Hebrew is written with twenty-two letters, from the first (alef) to the last (tav). It is called the alef-bet, after its first two letters.

Source : Hebrew alphabet chart (Chabad.org).

Five letters take a different shape when they end a word: the final form, called sofit. Only the shape changes, never the sound.

Source : Hebrew alphabet chart (Chabad.org).

Since the alphabet marks only the consonants, the vowels are added by the nikud (pointing): small dots and strokes, placed most often below the letter.

Source : Nikud table (Wikipedia, Niqqud).

Each letter also stands for a number: this is gematria. The first nine letters are worth 1 to 9, the next ones the tens, then the hundreds.

Source : Hebrew alphabet chart (Chabad.org).

Most blessings open with the same formula: Baruch ata Hashem Elokeinu melech ha'olam (Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe). Only the ending changes with the food or the occasion.

Source : Talmud Berachot 40b; blessing formula of the siddur (Sefaria).

After using the restroom, one gives thanks for the body working as it should: Baruch ata Hashem Elokeinu melech ha'olam, asher yatzar et ha'adam bechochmah (who formed the human being with wisdom).

Source : Asher Yatzar, siddur (Sefaria); Talmud Berachot 60b.

The Amida, whose name means standing, is the central prayer of every service, said standing and in an undertone.

Source : Amida, siddur (Sefaria); Talmud Berachot 28b.