A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Can't find the word you want?
Ask us- we'll tell you!

Machzor

the special prayerbook used for the High Holidays. The root is from 'hazar' which means to return, refering to the cyclical nature of the year.

Mantle

a cloth covering which protects and beautifies the scroll. In Hebrew, m'eel. The mantle is often made of fine fabrics of velvet, and is commonly decorated with lions, tablets, and crowns along with other Jewish symbols. Sometimes an inscription of the donor appears.

M'eel

the mantle, a cloth covering which protects and beautifies the scroll.

Mezzuzah, mezzuzot

(lit. doorpost) a small scrap of parchment that contains two passages from Deuteronomy (including the Sh'ma) that mention that we are commanded to write 'these words' on the 'doorposts' of our houses.

Maimonides

Also known as Rambam, after the acronym of his Hebrew name: Rabbi Mosheh Ben Maimon. Maimonides lived from 1135-1204, mostly in Fustat, Egypt, near Cairo. He is often considered the greatest Jewish philosopher ever. On the other hand, in his lifetime, some Jews burned his books as heretical. His most important works are his 14-volume legal code, the Mishneh Torah (written in some of the clearest Hebrew you'll ever read), and his philosophical treatise, the Guide for the perplexed (written in some of the least clear Judeo-Arabic you'll ever read). As any of my regular readers knows, Maimonides is one of my heroes because of his legal clarity, and his philosophical innovativeness, especially his insistence that God is not anything like an old man in the sky, and anyone who says It is is an idolater.

Midrash

Often people use the word "midrash" to mean a post-biblical story that "fills in" some "missing" aspect of a biblical story or embellishes it. A more technical definition of traditional midrash might be: a teaching, legal or homiletic, that is derived through the word-play between the teacher's words and one, or usually more, biblical texts.

Mishigas

(As if I could translate a good, Yiddish word like this into English!) Craziness/hangups/nonsense.

Mishkan

The portable sanctuary described in great detail in the book of Exodus that served as the model for the Temples in Jerusalem, and synagogues today.

Mishnah

The first normative, post-biblical compilation of Jewish law. Completed in approximately 200 C.E. under the editorship of Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi ("Judah the Prince"). The Mishnah is divided into six "Orders" and these are each divided into smaller "tractates." A tractate is made up of numbered chapters, which are in turn made of numbered paragraphs that are called, confusingly, "mishnahs" -- note the lower case "m." The grammar of a hyperlink (formerly known as a citation) to a law in the Mishnah is: <"Mishnah"><tractate><chapter><mishnah>.

Mitzvah, Mitzvot

Usually translated as "commandments," but a person's real definition of "mitsvot" is a key indication of what type of Jew s/he is (what denomination/philosophy,etc.). The mitsvot are the things (ritual or ethical) that a Jew is supposed to do. According to Rabbinic tradition, there are 613 mitzvot (in Hebrew letters: Taryag) found in the Torah.