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Tanach

The Hebrew acronym for the Jewish Bible made up of first letters of the words for the three parts: Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim.

Tas

Hebrew for Breastplate, although more commonly referred to as Choshen.

Tallit

A Jewish prayer shawl. Its most important aspect are the four fringes of knotted string at the corners, called tsitsit, which traditionally symbolize the mitsvot.

Talmud

Usually, when people say "Talmud," they mean the Babylonian Talmud, an extremely voluminous work, completed in 499 C.E., according to tradition, although some scholars would put that date a century or two later. The Talmud appends to nearly each mishnah of the Mishnah (see entry above) a further discussion of law, legend, textual criticism, and other material. Within about half of a millenium of its completion, the Babylonian Talmud had been accepted by nearly the entire Jewish world as the authoritative basis of Jewish law. That lasted for quite a long time. The grammar of a hyperlink (formerly known as a citation) to the Talmud is: <"Talmud"><tractate><page number><folio side: "a" or "b">. "Talmud" is also sometimes replaced with "Bavli" which means "Babylonian."

Tanakh

The Jewish Scriptures. Also called the Hebrew Bible (even though a little bit of it is in Aramaic, not Hebrew.) Christians have called it the "Old Testament," because they believe they have a "New Testament," but those who are sensitive to the negating implications of the phrase "Old Testament" are learning not to use it when talking to us. The word "Tanakh" is a Hebrew acronym for its three major divisions: Torah, Nevi'im (= prophets), and Ketuvim (= writings).

Tefillin

The word "tefillin" literally means "prayers," but these are prayers that you wear. They are two little leather boxes, containing certain verses of Torah, and with attached leather straps that allow them to be tied onto the arm, in one case, and rested on the head, in the other. They are the way that Judaism took literally the Torah's injunction to "tie [these words] as a sign upon your hands" and "let them be frontlets [whatever that means!] between your eyes." They are traditionally worn by men and some women during the morning, weekday prayers.

Tekhelet

A particular blue prescribed by the Torah for certain items, including the tsitsit -- the fringes on a Tallit.. Some say that it is blue like the firmament, which is like the throne of God. Others say it is a blue that "resembles the sea and the sea is like the grasses, and the grasses are like the trees, and the trees are like the firmament, and the firmament is like the radiance, and the radiance is like the rainbow, and the rainbow is like the [divine] image" (Midrash Tehillim 90:18)

Torah

The handwritten scroll that contains the five books of Moses. Torah comes from the Hebrew root which means 'to shoot' (as in to aim) and means 'Teaching,' or 'instruction.'

Tosefta

A collection of teachings by the same guys that wrote the Mishnah, but with a bit less authority in traditional Jewish jurisprudence.

Tum'ah

a state of ritual/spiritual fragmentation in which one is not allowed to participate in the rites of the central sacrificial shrine (the Mishkan or Temple)

Tzedakah

Money donated to others because that is the right thing to do. Often mistranslated as "charity," tzedakah, in its Hebrew origin, is actually more related to "justice -- tzedek." Many homes and synagogues have a tzedakah box, or "pushke" in Yiddish, in which change can be given to tzedakah.