The Fifth Servant (71 page)

           
extra ecclesiam nulla salus
—there is no salvation outside the Church.

           
farkakt
—general negative modifier; befouled; crappy; the state of being up an excrement-filled creek.

           
fraylin
—Miss.

           
froy
—Mrs.

           
froyen-shpil
—the woman’s game.

           
Gemore
—the Rabbis’ commentary on the Mishnah that makes up the bulk of the Talmud. This Aramaic term sometimes replaced the Hebrew “Talmud” during the Middle Ages to avoid Christian censors. Both words mean “study.”

           
Gvuroys Hashem
—The Mighty Feats of The Name [of God].

           
golem
—in Psalms 139:16, it refers to the “unshaped flesh” in the womb that has not yet taken on life and soul; in the
Seyfer Yetsireh
, it is a soulless figure of clay; according to eighteenth-century legends, Rabbi Loew made a
golem
to defend the ghetto from attack.

           
Goyim
—Gentiles (hint: if you have to look this one up, you probably are one).

           
gutn Shabbes
—good Shabbes.

           
Haggadah
—lit. “telling” the text, including the story of the Exodus from Egypt, read at the Passover Seder.

           
Jerusalem Talmud
—also called the Palestinian Talmud, written in the Galilee region in the early fifth century C.E., one or two centuries before the larger Babylonian Talmud.

           
Judenschläger
—Jew-bashers.

           
Kaddish
—memorial prayer for the dead.

           
kashres
—state of being kosher.

           
kehileh
—town council.

           
kesef and mammon
—silver and money; the difference is that “silver” ( jewelry, ritual objects, etc.) may be handled on Shabbes, while handling “money” is prohibited.

           
ksubeh
—marriage contract (Polish-Yiddish:
ksibeh
).

           
keynehore
—contraction of
keyn ayin horeh
, “no Evil Eye.”

           
keyser
—emperor; king.

           
kharoyses
—sweet mixture of nuts, apples, wine, etc. used at the Passover Seder.

           
khaver
—close friend; comrade.

           
kheyder
—school for elementary Jewish education.

           
khreyn
—horseradish, used at the Passover Seder.

           
khumesh
—printed text of the first five books of the Bible (as opposed to a hand

           
written Torah scroll).

           
kidesh
—blessing recited over wine, the symbol of joy (
kiddush
in modern Hebrew).

           
kidesh Hashem
—lit. “the sanctification of The Name [of God]” fig. refers to choosing death rather than renouncing one’s religious beliefs.

           
kleperl
—large wooden club for knocking on doors.

           
klezmorim
—pl. of
klezmer
, musician.

           
Koheles
—“The Speaker,” or preacher; Hebrew name for the Book of Ecclesiastes.

           
lamed-vovnik
—one of the thirty-six righteous people in the world at any given time (the letters lamed-vov have a numeric value of thirty-six).

           
makher
—lit. “maker” big businessman.

           
Megillas Esther
—the Book of Esther.

           
Meynekes Rivka
—
Rebecca’s Wet Nurse
, a guide book for midwives and young mothers by Rivka bas Meyer Tikotin (Tiktiner; d. 1605), published in Prague (1609) and Kraków (1618). No known copies of this work have survived.

           
Meor Enayim
—“Light Unto the Eyes,” or “Enlightenment to the Eyes” (Ghirondi, 1573–75).

           
meshuge/meshugene
—crazy. (Polish-Yiddish: meshigene.)

           
Midrash
—lit. “interpretation” extensive body of exegesis and commentary on Biblical sources.

           
mikveh
—ritual bath.

           
minkhe
—afternoon prayer services.

           
minyen
—a group of ten people (all men before the modern era), the number required to form a full community service. Psalm 82 says that God is present in a congregation (and by association, in a
minyen
), and a classic folk saying reminds us that “Nine rabbis can’t make a
minyen
, but ten shoemakers can.”

           
Mishnah
—book of post-Biblical oral law written down in the second century C.E.

           
mishpokhe
—family, clan.

           
mitsveh
—lit. a Biblical commandment; also a good deed. There are 613
mitsves
in the Hebrew Bible.

           
Moses ben Maimon
—Maimonides, aka Rambam, rationalist philosopher (1135–1204). Born in Moslem Spain (Cordova), he wrote most of his works in Arabic using Hebrew letters.

           
Moyshe Rabbeynu
—Moses our Teacher.

           
Nazirite
—a person who vows not to drink wine or cut their hair, among other requirements, for a certain period of time, as described in Numbers 6:1–21.

           
ne, d
kuji
—(Czech) No, thank you.

           
nemt epes in moyl arayn
—lit. “take something in your mouth” fig. “eat something.”

           
Niddah
—a tractate of the Talmud dealing primarily with issues of when a woman is sexually unavailable due to ritual uncleanliness.

           
“No man should be held responsible
…” The correct quote is “…for the words he utters in
grief
” (Bava Basra 16a).

           
noytsriyes
—Nazarenes, i.e. Christians.

           
nudnik, tshaynik, pupik
—bore; teapot; gizzard and/or belly-button.

           
olev ha-sholem
—May s/he rest in peace.

           
omeyn
—Amen.

           
On the Jews and Their Lies
—
Von den Juden und ihren Lügen
, a late work by Martin Luther (1543), who had previously written a pamphlet relatively sympathetic to the Jews,
That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew
(1523), which advised people “to deal kindly with the Jews and to instruct them in Scriptures…and if some remain obstinate, what of it? Not everyone is a good Christian.” What a difference twenty years makes.

           
Oral Law
—another term for the Mishnah.

           
oysgelasene froyen
—loose women.

           
Pesach
—Passover.

           
Pirkey Avos
—“The Ethics of the Fathers,” a chapter in the Mishnah.

           
Purim
—carnivalesque holiday celebrating the Jews’ survival during exile in Persia.

           
Purimshpil
—a comical or satirical play performed during Purim.

           
Reb
—a simple title, equivalent to “Mr.”

           
Reiter
—rider, cavalryman.

           
ReMo
—acronym for Rabbi Moyshe (Moses) Isserles (1520–1572).

           
Rambam
—acronym for Rabbi Moyshe (Moses) ben Maimon (1135–1204), known for his rationalist approach to Scripture.

           
Ramban
—acronym for Rabbi Moyshe (Moses) ben Nakhman (1194–1270), known for his mystical and Kabbalistic approach to Scripture.

           
reysh
—Hebrew letter
, for the sound “r.”

           
Riboyne shel Oylem
—Lord of the Universe.

           
royter
—(adj.) red;
der royter
= the Red.

           
samekh/pey
—Hebrew letters and
, for the sounds “s" and “p."

           
Seder
—the Passover meal, featuring symbolic foods and rituals, and a retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

           
seyfer Toyreh
—Torah scroll.

           
Seyfer Yetsireh
—
The Book of Creation
, a Kabbalistic work written cir. third to sixth century C.E. First published in Mantua in 1562.

           
schmuck
—probably not from the German
schmuck
( jewel), as is often supposed, but from the Polish
smok
(dragon; “worm” in the archaic sense of snake, serpent).