Word origins

• mitpachatA kind of Jewish headscarf; a tichel.
• mitpallelOne who prays.
• MitzrayimEgypt.
• MizbeachThe altar in the Tabernacle or Temple.
• mizrahA plaque attached to a wall to indicate the direction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which a Jew should face while praying.
• moladOn the Hebrew Calendar, the time at which a new month begins.
• moshavaAn early Jewish agricultural settlement in pre-Israeli Palestine
• moshavnikA member of a moshav.
• moshav shitufiA less popular type of Israeli cooperative village having elements of, and falling in between model-wise, both a moshav and a kibbutz.
• Mount CarmelA mountain range in Israel, along the Mediterranean coast.
• 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).
• NaasseneA member of an ancient Christian Gnostic sect who claimed to have been taught their doctrines by Mariamne, a disciple of James the Just
• NaborA surname from Spanish.
• 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.
• NehushtanAny false idol.
• 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.
• Nevi'imA subdivision of the Hebrew Testament (Tanakh) that is known in English as the Prophets. This section is subdivided into two sections, the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The Latter Prophets is further subdivided into the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets (known as the Twelve).
• new shekelThe Israeli currency in use since January 1, 1986, distinct from the shekel circulated between 1980 and 1985, and subdivided into 100 agorot.
• 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.
• notarikonA cabalistic method of deriving a phrase from a word, using the letters of the word as initial letters of words in the sentence.
• 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
• Olam HazehThe world of the living, as opposed to the afterlife.
• Old YishuvThe Jewish communities in the Land of Israel predating the First Aliyah in 1882.
• ona'ahThe sin of knowingly selling goods for more than they are worth or buying them for less than they are worth.
• ophanA member of an order of wheel-like angels.
• OrpahA Biblical figure, daughter-in-law of Naomi, wife of Chilion.
• -osUsed to form plurals of some Hebrew and Yiddish loanwords, usually ending in -a or -ah.
• -othUsed to form plurals of some Hebrew loanwords ending in -a or -ah.
• oy vavoyoh dear
• pa'alThe simplest and most common Hebrew verb conjugation pattern (binyan), without any characteristic prefix or gemination.
• paamayim nekudotayimThe scope resolution operator :: in the PHP programming language.
• PadanaramA village in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States.
• parochetThe curtain that covered the Ark of the Covenant.
• partzufAn aspect of God.
• pashtaA cantillation mark found in Hebrew religious texts.
• Pas Yisroelgrain products that were baked or otherwise prepared with the participation of an Orthodox Jew
• patachA vowel point in the Hebrew script appearing as a horizontal line placed below a letter (ִ◌ַ) and designating the open vowel a /a/.
• PathrosUpper Egypt, in Hebrew contexts.
• paytanThe writer of a piyyut.
• peotSidelocks worn by Hasidic and Orthodox male Jews.
• pereqA subdivision of a masekhet; loosely, a chapter or section thereof.
• periaha supplementary procedure in the bris following the milah (excision of the akroposthion) where the preputial epithelium of the foreskin is separated from the glans of the penis as a precursor to posthetomy.
• peshatA method of interpretation of a text using the face-value, literal meaning.
• Petah TikvaA city in the Central District, Israel.
• petuhahAn open parashah (a section of a book in the Hebrew text of the Tanakh), set apart in roughly the same way as a paragraph would be in modern text.
• pikuach nefeshThe religious commandment to save human life, which overrides most commandments.
• pilpulSynonym of sophistry, hair-splitting, quibbling.
• Pishonone of the four rivers in Eden.
• piyyutA Jewish liturgical poem.
• posekdecisor; legal scholar who decides the Halacha in cases where previous authorities are inconclusive or no halakhic precedent exists.
• prozbulA document assigning one's promissory notes to a court for collection, used to evade the sabbatical year's nullification of debts.
• prutahA bronze coin, equivalent to the Roman quadrans, used in ancient Palestine.
• psakA decisive rabbinic ruling on halachic law.
• ptitimA kind of toasted pasta from Israel, shaped like rice grains or little balls.
• qahalA theocratic organizational structure in ancient Israelite society; congregation, assembly.
• qophThe nineteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
• rachamimMercy, compassion.
• Ramat GanA city in the Tel Aviv District, Israel.
• ReshephA god associated with plague, featured in Eblaite, Ugaritic, and Egyptian myth
• reshutTo shut again.
• revi'itA Talmudic unit equal to a quarter of a log, approximately 100 milliliters.
• Rishon LeZionA city in central Israel.
• Rosh ChodeshA minor holiday marking the beginning of a new month in the Jewish calendar.
• Rosh HaGolahThe Babylonian exilarch.
• Rosh HashanahA specific occurrence of this holiday.
• sabichAn Iraqi-Jewish eggplant sandwich popular in Israel.
• SaboraAny of the leading Jewish rabbis who completed the revision of the Babylonian Talmud in the 6th century C.E.
• SadduceeA member of an ancient Jewish sect possibly formed as a political party in the 2nd century BCE and existing until around the 1st century CE.
• safekA doubt, uncertainty
• salatimCold dishes served as a course in Israeli cuisine.
• Salt SeaSynonym of Dead Sea.
• sarafotoxinAny of a class of toxins derived from the venom of the snake Atractaspis engaddensis.
• sechachThe roof of a sukkah, made up of leaves or branches.
• Sefer TorahA scroll of the Torah, a handwritten parchment containing the Pentateuch
• sefirahEach of the ten attributes that God created, through which he can project himself to the universe and man.
• segolA Hebrew niqqud diacritical mark (ִ◌ֶ) in the form of three dots arranged as an upside-down triangle, pronounced in Modern Hebrew as /e/.
• selichotJewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on fast days.
• semikhahThe ordination of a rabbi.
• SepharadThe Iberian Peninsula, especially in reference to the local Jews before their forced expulsion from 1492 onwards.
• setumahA closed parashah (a section of a book in the Hebrew text of the Tanakh), set apart by a space in the middle of the line of text, with the previous portion ending before the space, and the next portion starting after it.
• seudahA festive meal.
• seudah shlishitThe third meal eaten on the Sabbath.
• Shabbat KallahA celebration held by a bride on the Shabbat before her wedding, typically with her bridesmaids and family.
• Shabbat shalomUsed to express good wishes on or before the Jewish sabbath.
• shaliahA legal agent; one who performs an act of legal significance for another.
• shalom aleichemA greeting said on meeting someone, especially when the two people meeting have not met in some time.