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Baal Korei
A baal keriah ( Hebrew: , 'master of the reading'), colloquially called the baal korei (Hebrew: , 'master-reader'), is a member of a Jewish congregation who reads from the Sefer Torah during the service. As there are no niqqud, punctuation, or cantillation marks (called in Yiddish) in a Sefer Torah, and these are required features of the reading, the baal keriah must memorize them beforehand.Eisenberg, Ronald LJewish Traditions: a JPS Guide, pp. 451-3/ref> Arrangement When the Torah scroll is placed on the bimah, or reading table, the baal keriah approaches the bimah by the most direct route possible and stands in front of the scroll, a little to the left. If necessary, the scroll is rolled to the portion to be read, and then closed and covered with the mantle. To the left side of the scroll stands the gabbai, who calls up congregants to honor them with an aliyah. To the right of the scroll stands the second gabbai, the gabbai sheini. Before each aliyah When called up by ...
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Hebrew Language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved throughout history as the main liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. Hebrew is the only Canaanite language still spoken today, and serves as the only truly successful example of a dead language that has been revived. It is also one of only two Northwest Semitic languages still in use, with the other being Aramaic. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '' Lashon Hakodesh'' (, ) since an ...
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Book Of Esther
The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the wikt:מגילה, Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Judaism, Jewish ''Tanakh'' (the Hebrew Bible). It is one of the five Scrolls () in the Hebrew Bible and later became part of the Christian Old Testament. The book relates the story of a Israelites, Hebrew woman in Achaemenid Empire, Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people. The story forms the core of the Jewish festival of Purim, during which it is read aloud twice: once in the evening and again the following morning. The books of Esther and Song of Songs are the only books in the Hebrew Bible that do not mention God in Judaism, God. Setting and structure Setting The biblical Book of Esther is set in the Persian Capital city, capital of Susa (''Shushan'') in the third year of the reign ...
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Aliyah (Torah)
An aliyah (Hebrew עליה, or aliya and other variant English spellings) is the calling of a member of a Jewish congregation up to the '' bimah'' for a segment of the formal Torah reading. The person who receives the aliyah goes up to the ''bimah'' before the reading and recites a blessing for reading of the Torah. After the portion of the Torah is read, the recipient recites another blessing. In many congregations, the recipient will stand to the side of the ''bimah'' during the next person's reading. Process A synagogue official, called a '' gabbai'', calls up several people (men in Orthodox and some Conservative congregations, or both men and women in others), in turn, to be honored with an ''aliyah'' ( he, עליה; pl. עליות, ''aliyot''; "ascent" or "going up"). The honoree (or, more usually, a designated reader) recites a blessing over the Torah, between each verse. Each reads a section of the day's Torah portion. There are always at least three ''olim'' (people called ...
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Torah Scroll
A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Torah reading during Jewish prayers. At other times, it is stored in the holiest spot within a synagogue, the Torah ark, which is usually an ornate curtained-off cabinet or section of the synagogue built along the wall that most closely faces Jerusalem, the direction Jews face when praying. The text of the Torah is also commonly printed and bound in book form for non-ritual functions, called a (plural ) ("five-part", for the five books of Moses), and is often accompanied by commentaries or translations. History The En-Gedi Scroll is an ancient Hebrew parchment found in 1970 at Ein Gedi, Israel. Radiocarbon testing dates the scroll to the third or fourth century CE (210–390 CE), although paleographical considerations suggest that the s ...
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Torah Reading
Torah reading (; ') is a Judaism, Jewish religion, religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Sefer Torah, Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special Hebrew cantillation, cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is also commonly called "laining" (''lein'' is also spelt ''lain'', ''leyn'', ''layn''; from the Yiddish , which means "to read"). Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Judean exiles from the Babylonian captivity ( BCE), as described in the Book of Nehemiah. In the modern era, Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jews practice Torah reading according to a set procedure almost unchanged since the Talmud, Talmudic era. Since the 19th century CE, Reform Judaism, Reform and Conservative Judaism, Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practic ...
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Hakhel
The term Hakhel (Hebrew: הקהל ''haqhēl'') refers to a biblical commandment of assembling all Israelite men, women and children, as well as converts to assemble and hear the reading of the Torah by the king of Israel once every seven years. Originally this ceremony took place at the site of the Temple in Jerusalem during Sukkot in the year following a Seventh Year. According to the Mishna, the "commandment to assemble" (Hebrew: מצות הקהל ''mitzvat hakhel'') was performed throughout the years of the Second Temple era and, by inference, during the First Temple era as well. The biblical mitzvah of Hakhel is only in effect when all the Jewish people reside in Israel. However, more recently attempts have been made to revive a symbolic form of hakhel. In the Bible The Hebrew Hiphil verb ''haqhêl'' (Hebrew: הַקְהֵ֣ל, "assemble"), from which comes the term ''mitzvat hakhel'', is used in : "9 Moses wrote down this Teaching and gave it to the priests, sons of Levi, who ...
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Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population immigrated to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. After several waves of persecution throughout Yemen, the vast majority of Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, while smaller communities live in the United States and elsewhere. Only a handful remain in Yemen. The few remaining Jews experience intense, and at times violent, anti-Semitism on a daily basis. Yemenite Jews have a unique religious tradition that distinguishes them from Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, and other Jewish groups. They have been described as "the most Jewish of all Jews" and "the ones who have preserved the Hebrew language the best". Yemenite Jews fall within the "Mizrahi" (eastern) category of Jews, though they differ ...
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Biblical Hebrew Grammar
Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea. The term "Hebrew" (''ivrit'') was not used for the language in the Bible, which was referred to as (''sefat kena'an'', i.e. language of Canaan) or (''Yehudit'', i.e. Judaean), but the name was used in Ancient Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts. The Hebrew language is attested in inscriptions from about the 10th century BCE, and spoken Hebrew persisted through and beyond the Second Temple period, which ended in the siege of Jerusalem (70 CE). It eventually developed into Mishnaic Hebrew, spoken up until the fifth century CE. Biblical Hebrew as recorded in the Hebrew Bible reflects various stages of the Hebrew language in its consonantal skeleton, as well as a vocalization sys ...
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Tikkun (book)
A tikkun or tiqqun ( he, תיקון) is a book used by Jews to prepare for reading or writing a Torah scroll. There are two types of tikkun, a ''tikkun kor'im'' and a ''tikkun soferim''. Tikkun kor'im A ''tikkun kor'im'' or ''tiqqun qor'im'' (readers' ''tikkun'') is a study guide used when preparing to chant einthe Torah reading from the Torah in a synagogue. Each tikkun contains two renditions of the masoretic text in Hebrew. The right side of each page is written with the cantillation marks and vowel points, while the left is written in unpointed Hebrew, as it appears in the actual scroll. People who chant from the Torah must learn the tune and the pronunciation of the words beforehand, as the scroll itself has neither points nor cantillation marks, and because there are places where the word to be read (the ''Qere'') differs from that written (the ''Kethib Qere and Ketiv, from the Aramaic ''qere'' or ''q're'', (" hat isread") and ''ketiv'', or ''ketib'', ''kethib'', ''keth ...
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Minyan
In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Judaism, only males 13 and older may constitute a minyan; in more liberal (non-Orthodox) streams women are also counted. The most common activity requiring a ''minyan'' is public prayer. Accordingly, the term ''minyan'' in contemporary Judaism has taken on the secondary meaning of referring to a prayer service. Sources The source for the requirement of ''minyan'' is recorded in the Talmud. The word ''minyan'' itself comes from the Hebrew root meaning to count or to number. The word is related to the Aramaic word ''mene'', numbered, appearing in the writing on the wall in . Babylonian Talmud The Babylonian Talmud ( Megillah 23b) derives the requirement of a ''minyan'' of ten shomer Shabbat for Kiddush HashemSanhedrin 74b and ''Devarim ...
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Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'Av ( he, תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב ''Tīšʿā Bəʾāv''; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem. Tisha B'Av marks the end of the three weeks between dire straits and is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy. ''Tisha B'Av'' falls in July or August in the Gregorian calendar. The observance of the day includes five prohibitions, most notable of which is a 25-hour fast. The Book of Lamentations, which mourns the destruction of Jerusalem, is read in the synagogue, followed by the recitation of ''kinnot'', liturgical dirges that lament the loss of the Temples and Jerusalem. As the day has become associated with remembrance of other major calamities which have befallen the Jewish people, some ''kin ...
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