Word origins

• Shalosh RegalimPassover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, the three festivals that included pilgrimages.
• shammathaThe most severe form of excommunication among the ancient Jews.
• shana tovaHappy New Year; a common greeting on and around Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
• SharoniA surname from Hebrew.
• shatnezCloth containing both wool and linen (linsey-woolsey), which Jewish law prohibits wearing.
• shavua tovUsed Saturday night through Sunday (and sometimes later) to express good wishes for the coming week following the Jewish sabbath.
• shehakolShehakol, a Jewish prayer said before a variety of foods and drinks
• ShehecheyanuA Jewish prayer to express gratitude for special occasions and new experiences.
• shehitahThe ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws.
• sheloshimA period of thirty days after the burial of a deceased person, during which a mourner is forbidden to do certain things, such as marrying or shaving.
• Shem HaMephorashOne of the esoteric names of God within Kabbalah, corresponding to the Tetragrammaton, often referring to a 72-worded variant in particular.
• Shemini AtzeretA Jewish holiday (holy day) occurring on the eighth day after the start of Sukkot.
• sherutSynonym of shared taxi.
• sheva brachotthe seven blessings recited after grace after meals at a wedding feast, and at festivities during the week after or before the wedding.
• shevarimA series of three medium-length blasts of the shofar.
• Shin BetIsrael's internal security service.
• shittahA tree said in the Bible to have furnished the precious wood of which the ark, tables, altars, boards, etc., of the Jewish tabernacle were made; now believed to have been red acacia, of species Vachellia seyal (formerly Acacia seyal).
• shkedei marakA Jewish food consisting of crisp miniature croutons used as an accompaniment for soup.
• shmitaA sabbatical year.
• shmurah matzoA type of handmade matzo whose production is supervised to ensure that no fermentation occurs.
• shochetA person certified under Jewish law to slaughter cattle and poultry
• shophetA judge: an ad hoc leader in ancient Israel.
• shoreshA Semitic root
• shoterA kind of officer or overseer among the Ancient Israelites.
• shovavimA period of six to eight weeks every year in which, according to some kabbalists, one should focus on repentance for sins, particularly sexual sins.
• shtadlanAn intercessor for a local European Jewish community on behalf of the authorities.
• ShulamisA female given name from Hebrew, variant of Shulamith, masculine equivalent Shlomo, equivalent to English Salome.
• ShulamithA female given name from Hebrew, masculine equivalent Shlomo, equivalent to English Salome.
• ShunemA small village mentioned in the Pentateuch.
• sichahA lesson, disquisition.
• simhahJoy; gladness.
• sivlonotGifts given by the fiance to the fiancee at the engagement.
• siyumA celebration held upon completing the reading of a unit of Judaic scripture; a graduation.
• skhugA Middle Eastern hot sauce made from fresh hot peppers seasoned with coriander, garlic, and various spices.
• SmotrichAn Israeli Jewish surname from Hebrew
• snapplingThe sport or activity of abseiling.
• soficWhose Cayley graph is an initially subamenable graph.
• son of the morningA traveler.
• StammaimAny of the rabbis who composed the anonymous statements and arguments in the Talmud, some of whom may have worked during the period of the Amoraim, but who mostly made their contributions later.
• stiff-neckedHaving a stiff neck; suffering from torticollis
• sufganiyahA deep-fried, ball-shaped doughnut, usually filled with jelly or custard and topped with powdered sugar.
• tachanunA penitential prayer service.
• tachrichA traditional simple white burial furnishings, usually made from 100% pure linen, in which the bodies of deceased Jews are dressed for interment after undergoing a taharah (ritual purification).
• taharahA state of ritual purity.
• taharat hamishpachaThe Jewish laws pertaining to menstruation, given in Leviticus.
• takkanahA law created by the rabbis not derived from Biblical commandments.
• talmidA disciple, student
• tamehRitually impure or tainted.
• TaphthartharathMercury's spirit, executing the malevolent influences of the planet.
• tashlikhA ritual practiced on Rosh Hashanah of throwing pieces of bread into a body of water, symbolically disposing of one's sins.
• tefachA biblical unit of measure, the palm or handbreadth.
• tefillaSynonym of phylactery (“either of two small leather cases containing scrolls with passages from the Torah, traditionally worn by a Jewish man (one on the arm (usually the left) and one on the forehead) and now sometimes by a woman at certain morning prayers as a reminder to obey the law as set out in the Bible”).
• tekheletbiblical blue
• tekiahA single long blast played on the shofar.
• tekiah gedolahAn extremely long blast of the shofar, the final blast in the ceremony.
• tekufahA solstice or equinox.
• Tel AvivA city in Israel that later merged with Jaffa to form Tel Aviv-Yafo.
• tembel hatA kind of loose hat with a floppy brim, an Israeli national symbol.
• teraphAn idol or other image of reverence and divination among the ancient Hebrews; apparently especially a kind of household god.
• teruahA series of usually nine short notes blown on the shofar as a Jewish ceremonial
• tethThe ninth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
• tevilahRitual bathing in a mikveh.
• ThaumielOne of the ten Orders of Qliphoth, associated with or ruled by the demons Satan and Moloch.
• the road to hell is paved with good intentionsWell-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters.
• tikkun olamThe value, prominent in Liberal Judaism, of helping and bettering society as a whole.
• Tisha B'AvAn annual day of fasting, associated with a number of disasters in Jewish history.
• tna'imAn informal document containing the terms and expectations for a betrothed couple.
• todah rabahThank you; many thanks.
• TosafotMedieval commentaries on the Talmud, in the form of critical and explanatory glosses.
• tosherA thief who steals the copper siding from the bottoms of vessels, particularly in or along the Thames.
• trempTo hitchhike.
• TrumpeldorA surname.
• TsahalSynonym of IDF (“Israel Defense Forces”).
• tsitsithany of the four tassels or fringes on garments worn by the Jews in remembrance of the commandments
• Tubal-cainA descendant of Cain. The son of Lamech and Zillah.
• tzaraathAny of various disfigurements of a person's skin, hair, clothing, or home understood as a kind of impurity requiring special rituals of atonement.
• tzereA Hebrew niqqud diacritical mark (ִ◌ֵ) in the form of two horizontal dots, pronounced in Modern Hebrew as /e(j)/.
• tzibburA community.
• tzimtzumA foundational concept in Kabbalah, describing the theological process by which God withdrew his infinite light to create a void, making room for the existence of a finite universe.
• TziporiSynonym of Sepphoris.
• tzniutStandards of modesty in dress and conduct, especially between the sexes.
• TzvikaA male given name from Hebrew.
• UzzielA minor character in the Old Testament.
• valley of the shadow of deathThe world, a place where darkness and death are figurative valleys one must walk through as part of the human experience.
• VeadarThe month of Adar when it occurs in a leap year, preceded by a 30-day intercalary month (which is then itself called Adar, or Adar Rishon).
• vidduiconfession of one's sins before God
• vitamin PAny of the water soluble bioflavonoids that promotes the resistance of capillaries to permeation.
• world to comeThe 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.
• Yad VashemThe official Israeli memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 in Jerusalem.
• YavneA city in the Central District, Israel.
• yechidahOne of the cabalistic aspects of the soul, that of being one with God.
• YehonatanA male given name from Hebrew.
• yeridaThe emigration of Jews from Israel.
• yetzer haraThe human inclination toward evil.
• YevanicThe nearly extinct language of the Romaniote Jews of Greece.
• yibbumlevirate marriage
• yichudThe prohibition in Jewish religious law against seclusion in a private area of a man and a woman who are not married to each other, so as to prevent adultery or promiscuity.
• YnonA male given name from Hebrew.
• yodhThe tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
• Yom HaDinRosh Hashanah