Word origins

• 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 ArbaA settlement in the West Bank, Palestine.
• Kiryat Tiv'onA town in Haifa district, Israel.
• kitbag questionA question which causes a disadvantage to the asker and third parties simply by virtue of being asked.
• kitniyotlegumes, grains and seeds that are forbidden on Passover in some Jewish traditions.
• Klal YisraelThe whole Jewish people.
• KnaanicAn extinct West Slavic Jewish language.
• 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.
• kol hakavodgood job, well done, bravo
• 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.
• Kriat ShemaThe recitation of the Shema.
• k'tivThe written form of a word in a Hebrew text, when the form that is traditionally read aloud (k'rei) differs.
• ktiv maleIn Hebrew writing, the rules for writing without vowel pointers (niqqud).
• kubanehA traditional Yemenite Jewish pull-apart yeast bread.
• kurkarA kind of calcareous sandstone, common in Israel.
• KuzariThe Book of the Kuzari, otherwise known as The Book of Refutation and Proof in Support of the Abased Religion, a philosophical treatise by Judah Halevi.
• kvutzaA Jewish communal settlement, primarily in Israel before it became a modern state.
• Lag B'OmerThe 33rd day of the Omer, celebrated as a holiday
• lamdanOne who is learned in Jewish law.
• land o' GoshenUsed by Christians for swearing without being overtly vulgar or blasphemous.
• LapidotA moshav in Ma'ale Yosef Regional Council council area, Northern District, Israel.
• lashon haraAny form of communication — verbal, written, body language — that can result in emotional, financial, or physical harm to another person
• 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.
• Lion of JudahA Jewish national and cultural symbol, traditionally regarded as a symbol of the tribe of Judah.
• lishmahfor its own sake, purely for the sake of something, without outside influence such as possible rewards
• Lord of HostsA Biblical title of the Abrahamic God.
• ma'abaraA type of refugee camp in Israel during the early 1950s, used mostly by new immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East.
• 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.
• maftirThe person who reads the Haftarah.
• 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.
• malawachA food made from fried layers of puff pastry, a staple of the Yemenite Jews.
• mamadA reinforced safe room in an Israeli building.
• ma nishtanaThe four questions sung during Passover seder.
• maqafThe Hebrew script hyphen (־)
• marorA bitter vegetable, such as horseradish or Romaine lettuce, eaten at the Passover seder as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.
• masekhetA Talmudic tractate.
• mashgiachSomebody who supervises the kashrut status of food in a restaurant.
• maskilA proponent of the Haskalah.
• MasorahThe collection of marginal notes on the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, composed by rabbis of the school of Tiberias, in the 8th-9th centuries CE.
• 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.
• MehujaelA descendant of Cain.
• mekubbalSynonym of kabbalist.
• MelachimEither one of the two Books of Kings (1 Kings = Melachim Aleph; 2 Kings = Melachim Bet).
• 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.
• mesirahThe act by which one Jew reports the conduct of another Jew to a non-rabbinic authority in a manner prescribed by Rabbinic Law.
• metadivineOf or pertaining to the realm of existence prior to or beyond that of the gods, especially in nonbiblical/pagan religions.
• metapeletA female caregiver in Jewish culture.
• meteg◌ֽ, a vertical bar placed under a syllable in Biblical Hebrew to mark stress.
• MethusaelThe father of Lamech.
• 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.
• MilcahA sister-in-law of Abraham: a sister of Sarah.
• milchemet reshutA war commanded by a ruler rather than God.
• minhagA longstanding religious custom or tradition that is not required by Jewish law.
• 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.