Word origins

• PisgahA glimpse of a distant sight; an overview of a situation; a position that affords a view.
• HadassahA female given name from Hebrew.
• darshanHierophany, theophany; being in the presence of the divine or holy (as a person or object).
• azaA nitrogen atom substituted for a carbon atom within a ring.
• PincusA surname from Hebrew.
• aliyahThe calling up of someone to the bimah for the reading of the Torah.
• OphirA city or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its gold.
• tanninTannic acid or any of its derivatives.
• RozenA surname.
• ShoshanaA female given name from Hebrew.
• sabraA native-born Israeli.
• EtanA male given name from Hebrew.
• AdarThe enzyme adenosine deaminase that affects RNA, important in editing nuclear double stranded RNAs (from A to I) in higher eukaryotes, that work by acting to convert adenosines to insosines via hydrolytic deamination.
• MishnahThe oldest part of the Talmud, rabbinical writings collected by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi and published in 250 C.E. in Javneh (יבנה, in Israel).
• seferA book, especially a religious book.
• AharonA male given name from Hebrew.
• shofarA ram’s-horn trumpet, used for Jewish ritual purposes.
• PeretzA surname from Hebrew.
• AkivaA male given name from Hebrew.
• HamanA surname.
• rishonA hypothetical fundamental particle in an early preon model.
• kiddushA blessing recited over wine or grape juice in commemoration of the sanctity of the Shabbat or other Jewish holy day.
• olehA Jew who has recently made aliyah to Israel; an immigrant to Israel.
• marahA gratuity in the form of deductions from the gross produce of cultivated lands, granted to a mirasidar.
• dayanA rabbinic judge.
• NisanThe seventh month of the civil year and the first month of the ecclesiastical year in the Jewish calendar, after Adar and before Iyar.
• SanhedrinAn assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every major city in Israel.
• GathA surname.
• bekaan ancient Biblical unit of weight, half a shekel
• ItzhakA male given name from Hebrew, variant of Isaac.
• mezuzahA piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21) and attached in a case to the doorpost of a house.
• KadimaA centrist political party in Israel.
• NephilimSynonym of Naphil (“a member of the race of Nephilim”).
• shoahA mass murder.
• AdonaiThe Lord: a Hebrew title of God.
• halachaA law or tradition by which Jews live. They are derived from the Torah and from later rabbinic literature.
• ShemaThe central declaration of faith of Judaism, recited at least twice daily by religious Jews.
• SamaelThe angel of death and chief ruler of the 5th heaven.
• tallitA traditional Jewish prayer shawl with tassels which covers the chest and upper part of the back.
• tikkunA night of (usually communal) Torah study.
• SivanThe ninth month of the civil year and the third month of the ecclesiastical year in the Jewish calendar, after Iyar and before Tammuz.
• SephardiOf or relating to Jews of Iberia and their traditions, customs, and rituals. Their traditional vernacular is Ladino.
• eberthe son of Salah and the father of Joktan and Peleg.
• EitanA male given name from Hebrew.
• DagonThe main god of the Phoenicians. Although at one time believed to be represented as half man and half fish, modern scholarship recognizes that the latter was the apkallu, while Dagan/Dagon was a grain god.
• EleazarAny of a number of men in the Old Testament, including a son of Aaron.
• VashtiA queen of Persia.
• LiorA male given name from Hebrew.
• DrorA male given name from Hebrew.
• jeroboamA bottle of champagne or Burgundy wine containing 3 liters of fluid, four times the volume of a standard bottle.
• NetanyaA city in the Central District, Israel.
• AvramA male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Abram.
• ShavuotA Jewish harvest festival which falls on the sixth day of Sivan in the spring, fifty days after the second day of the Passover when the omer (“sheaf of barley”) is offered.
• MegiddoMount Megiddo, site of an ancient city in northern Israel's Jezreel valley
• SapirA surname from Hebrew.
• nebelA Hebrew stringed instrument, possibly the same as the nabla.
• haverTo hem and haw.
• ZadokA priest, said to be descended from Eleazar the son of Aaron, who aided King David during the revolt of his son Absalom and was subsequently instrumental in bringing King Solomon to the throne.
• SassonA surname from Hebrew.
• PelegA male given name from Hebrew.
• RehovotA city in the Central District of Israel.
• JubalA son of Lamech and Ada.
• HaggadahThe text which is recited at Seder during the first and second nights of Passover, focused on the freeing of Israel from Egyptian bondage as described in the Book of Exodus.
• chayaA teahouse in Japan.
• tzedakahThe Jewish tradition of charity.
• MoshiachThe Messiah.
• AkibaA surname from Japanese.
• targumAn Aramaic translation of the Tanakh written or compiled between the Second Temple period and the early Middle Ages.
• HaganahA Jewish paramilitary organization in the British Mandate of Palestine (1921–48), which became the core of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
• molochAny of species Moloch horridus of Australian lizards, sole species of the genus Moloch.
• AzariahA male given name from Hebrew.
• Ushpizinthe seven guests who spiritually visit the sukkah during Sukkot.
• MaorA surname from Hebrew.
• MaarivA Jewish prayer service held in the evening or at night.
• TanakhThe body of Jewish scripture comprising the Torah, the Neviim (prophets) and the Ketuvim (writings); corresponding to the Christian Old Testament (or roughly so, depending on the denomination).
• DaganA surname from Hebrew.
• EfronA surname from Hebrew.
• BeershebaA city in Israel.
• chagA branch of a tree; a branch of broom or gorse.
• kaddishA Jewish prayer of praise to God recited during services, and specifically when mourning the death of a close relative.
• bimaThe raised platform in the front of a synagogue where the Torah is read on a podium.
• assurforbidden
• hamsaThe Hand of Fatima.
• shiurA lesson on a topic in the Tanakh.
• MalkaA surname from Hebrew.
• AshkelonA coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast.
• KeterThe topmost of the sefiroth of the tree of life in Kabbalah.
• sheolThe realm of the dead, the common grave of mankind, Hell. In older English translations of the Bible, notably the Authorized Version or King James Bible, this word sheol is translated inconsistently and variously as grave (31 times), pit (3 times) or hell (31 times: e.g., De. 32:22; 2Sa. 22:6; Job 11:8; Ps. 9:17).
• LifshitzA surname from Hebrew.
• KislevThe third month of the civil year and the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year in the Jewish calendar, after Cheshvan and before Tevet.
• melamedA religious teacher or instructor in general, especially in the Talmudic period.
• AbimelechAny of several Philistine kings.
• chokA law or commandment without a comprehensible explanation or purpose.
• gaonA sage of the Talmudic academies of Babylonia
• soferA Jewish scribe who can transcribe Torah scrolls and other religious writings.
• tannaAny of the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishna, from approximately 10–220 CE.
• MetatronAn archangel and the chancellor of Heaven and the scribe of the book of life, in Christian and Jewish folklore. According to medieval apocrypha, he is Enoch, ancestor of Noah, transformed into an angel.
• SargonAn Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th and 23rd centuries BCE.
• kashrutThe Jewish dietary laws, stating which foods are fit to eat.
• GershomA male given name from Hebrew.