Word origins

• kedoshimThe victims of the Holocaust.
• kedushahAny of several prayers involving the recitation of the biblical verses Isaiah 6:3 and Ezekiel 3:12.
• kehillahA type of Jewish community in eastern Europe.
• keriahThe ritual tearing of one’s clothes while in mourning, now typically the wearing of a torn black tie or ribbon.
• ketoretAn incense used in Jewish rituals.
• kezayitAn amount of something, usually food, about the size of an olive.
• kibbutznikA member of a kibbutz.
• KidonA department within Israel's Mossad that is allegedly responsible for assassinations.
• kikayonA plant mentioned in the Book of Jonah, where it provides shade; possibly a gourd or a castor bean/castor oil plant.
• kinnahAny of the dirges or elegies traditionally recited by Jews on Tisha B'Av to mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temple in Jerusalem and other tragedies in Jewish history, including the Crusades and the Holocaust.
• kinnorA stringed instrument of the Israelites.
• kinyanA legal agreement.
• Kiryat Tiv'onA town in Haifa district, Israel.
• kitniyotlegumes, grains and seeds that are forbidden on Passover in some Jewish traditions.
• Klal YisraelThe whole Jewish people.
• koferA nonbeliever.
• KoheletThe person to whom most of the book Ecclesiastes in the Bible is attributed, introduced as a son of David, king in Jerusalem.
• Kohen GadolThe high priest.
• korban todahA thanksgiving offering
• krav magaA hand-to-hand combat system developed by the Israel Defense Forces that consists of a wide combination of martial arts techniques along with realistic fight training.
• k'reiThe form of a word in a Hebrew text as it is traditionally pronounced when read aloud, when the written form (k'tiv) differs.
• kremboA chocolate teacake popular in Israel.
• Kriat HaTorahThe act or ceremony of reading the Torah.
• k'tivThe written form of a word in a Hebrew text, when the form that is traditionally read aloud (k'rei) differs.
• kubanehA traditional Yemenite Jewish pull-apart yeast bread.
• kurkarA kind of calcareous sandstone, common in Israel.
• kvutzaA Jewish communal settlement, primarily in Israel before it became a modern state.
• lamdanOne who is learned in Jewish law.
• lechayim"To life": a Jewish drinking toast.
• lechiA pole used in demarcating an eruv.
• leil shimurimA night in which God is considered to protect the Jews - applied to the first two nights of Pesach.
• leitzanusridicule, disrespectful mockery.
• lethekA former Hebrew measure of dry volume, equal to about 115 L or 3¼ bushels.
• LikudnikA supporter of the Israeli political party Likud.
• LimmudA Jewish educational charity.
• lishmahfor its own sake, purely for the sake of something, without outside influence such as possible rewards
• maamarA lecture, dissertation, discourse.
• machmirBeing the strictest interpretation of the law; following this interpretation.
• machzorA prayerbook for a Jewish holiday.
• madrichA youth counsellor, coordinator, and supervisor in Zionist youth movements and Birthright Israel tours.
• Magen DavidStar of David
• maggid shiurA rabbi who lectures on advanced and in-depth Talmudic studies.
• MahershalaA male given name originating from the Bible
• makhteshA geological landform having steep walls of resistant rock surrounding a deep closed valley, usually drained by a single wadi.
• malabiA type of Middle Eastern pudding made with milk and rice flour, flavoured with rosewater or other ingredients.
• mamadA reinforced safe room in an Israeli building.
• ma nishtanaThe four questions sung during Passover seder.
• masekhetA Talmudic tractate.
• mashgiachSomebody who supervises the kashrut status of food in a restaurant.
• maskilA proponent of the Haskalah.
• massebahA sacred Jewish pillar.
• Matan TorahThe giving of the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai
• matkotAn Israeli beach game in which two or more players hit a small ball back and forth using paddles.
• Ma TovuA prayer in Judaism, recited when entering a synagogue.
• mazzebahA sacred Jewish pillar.
• mazzikimA class of invisible demons or harmful spirits; such spirits viewed collectively.
• mechitzaA partition in an Orthodox synagogue to divide men from women
• mechutanA co-father-in-law.
• mekubbalSynonym of kabbalist.
• melakhahAny of the types of work forbidden on Shabbat.
• Melaveh MalkahA meal on the evening of the Shabbat, figuratively escorting the departing "Sabbath Queen" by way of eating and music.
• menahelA principal, especially of a yeshiva or Jewish school.
• MerkabahA school of early Jewish mysticism, circa 100 BCE – 1000 CE, based around visions.
• meshulachAn emissary sent to the Diaspora to raise funds for the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel.
• metapeletA female caregiver in Jewish culture.
• met mitzvahA deceased person who has no relatives or no known relatives, whom anyone is obligated to bury.
• metulaThe outermost branch of a conidiophore from which flask-shaped phialides radiate
• metzitzaa procedure performed in Rabbinic Judaism after the Jewish ritual of brit milah (covenent cut) following the two added steps of priya (uncovering) and circumcision (circle-cut) mandated by the Gelmud in 500 CE: in this 3rd extra step a mohel uses his mouth to suck blood from the penis of the male (usually a baby) he just uncovered and circumcised, drawing the blood from the wound where the prepuce (foreskin) was amputated.
• metzizah b'pehA practice performed during a brit milah in which a mohel orally draws blood away from a male baby's circumcision wound.
• metzoraA person afflicted with tzaraath.
• miktamAny of the Psalms 16 and 56–60 in the Hebrew Bible.
• milchemet reshutA war commanded by a ruler rather than God.
• MiqraSynonym of Hebrew Bible.
• mishkala constructive morphological pattern, a nonconcatenative morphological pattern/template used to form nouns and adjectives from a consonantal root
• mishloach manotThe sending of gifts of food for Purim, or the food given.
• mitpachatA kind of Jewish headscarf; a tichel.
• mitpallelOne who prays.
• MitzrayimEgypt.
• MizbeachThe altar in the Tabernacle or Temple.
• moladOn the Hebrew Calendar, the time at which a new month begins.
• moshav shitufiA less popular type of Israeli cooperative village having elements of, and falling in between model-wise, both a moshav and a kibbutz.
• muktzehOf objects: restricted from being moved (and sometimes touched) during Shabbat and holidays.
• MussafAn additional prayer service recited on holy days (Shabbat, Yom Tov, Chol HaMoed, and Rosh Chodesh).
• Muth-labbenUsed in translating Psalms 9:1 without assuming a specific meaning for the Hebrew phrase מות לבן (muth labbén).
• nagidA Hebrew prince or leader, especially the religious leader in Sephardic communities of the Middle Ages.
• NaphilA humanoid giant mentioned in the Old Testament, believed to be the offspring of a human woman with a fallen angel.
• NashimThe third order of the Mishnah (also of the Tosefta and Talmud), containing family law.
• nazariteshipThe state of being a Nazarite.
• NebaiothThe first son of Ishmael, according to the Hebrew Bible.
• negiahPhysical contact between the sexes outside of marriage or familial relations.
• nehilothA word of uncertain meaning in the title of Psalm 5. Perhaps a type of wind instrument or a particular tune.
• Ne'ilaA Jewish prayer service held at the closing of Yom Kippur, when final prayers of repentance are recited.
• nepheshThe tangible aspects of life, as possessed by human beings and the higher animals; sometimes translated as soul.
• neshamaThe soul.
• NethinimA servant of the priests and Levites in the menial services about the tabernacle and temple.
• nevelahA carcass of an animal that died in a manner other than kosher slaughter.
• nishtaneh hatevaMaterial conditions have changed in such a way that an earlier pronouncement no longer applies; or that an earlier statement was not incorrect but merely describing how things were at the time.
• NotzriA Jewish Christian.
• nusachThe style of a prayer service.
• Olam HabaThe Jewish afterlife or mythic future, usually thought to occur after the coming of the Messiah, in which the righteous are rewarded for their good deeds and the wicked punished for their evil deeds