Yizkor Book Project
Hazkarat Neshamot (), commonly known by its opening word Yizkor (), is an Ashkenazi Jewish memorial prayer service for the dead. It is important occasion for many Jews, even those who do not attend synagogue regularly. In most Ashkenazi communities, it is held after the Torah reading four times a year: on Yom Kippur, on the final day of Passover, on the second day of Shavuot, and on Shemini Atzeret. In Sephardic custom there is no Yizkor prayer, but the '' hashkavot'' serve a similar role in the service. Origin The earliest source of Yizkor is the Midrash Tanchuma, which mentions the custom of remembering the deceased and pledging charity on their behalf on Yom Kippur. The service was popularized amid the persecution of Jews during the Crusades. Customs It is customary for those with both parents alive to leave the main sanctuary during the Yizkor service, out of respect or superstition. It is usually not attended within the first year of mourning, until the first ''yahrzeit'' h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jewish Grave Candle
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The people of the Kingdom of Israel and the ethnic and religious group known as the Jewish people that descended from them have been subjected to a number of forced migrations in their history" and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, "Historically, the religious and ethnic dimensions of Jewish identity have been closely interwoven. In fact, so closely bound are they, that the traditional Jewish lexicon hardly distinguishes between the two concepts. Jewish religious practice, by definition, was observed exclusively by the Jewish people, and notions of Jewish peoplehood, nation, and community were suffused with faith in the Jewish God, the practice of Jewish (religious) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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History Of The Jews And The Crusades
The History of the Jews and the Crusades was a part of the history of antisemitism towards the Jews in the Middle Ages. The call for the First Crusade intensified the persecutions of the Jews that would continue with subsequent crusades. Typically the Jews were victims of the Crusaders' violence, with a number of massacres taking place throughout the course of the Crusades. Background After the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, the Jewish community was scattered, with many Jews spreading throughout Europe and the Middle East. During this time, several Jewish communities coalesed across the Levant in approximately fifty known locations, including Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ramleh, Ashkelon and Caesarea. Many of these communities fell in the path of the Crusader forces on their mission to capture the Holy Land. One of the primary motivations for attacking Jewish communities may have been to seize wealth and supplies. A Christian priest commenting on the behavior of the C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jewish Prayer And Ritual Texts
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The people of the Kingdom of Israel and the ethnic and religious group known as the Jewish people that descended from them have been subjected to a number of forced migrations in their history" and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, "Historically, the religious and ethnic dimensions of Jewish identity have been closely interwoven. In fact, so closely bound are they, that the traditional Jewish lexicon hardly distinguishes between the two concepts. Jewish religious practice, by definition, was observed exclusively by the Jewish people, and notions of Jewish peoplehood, nation, and community were suffused with faith in the Jewish God, the practice of Jewish (religious) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sefaria
Sefaria is an online open source, free content, digital library of Jewish texts. It was founded in 2011 by former Google project manager Brett Lockspeiser and journalist-author Joshua Foer. Calling itself "a living library of Jewish texts", Sefaria relies on volunteers to add texts and translations. The site provides cross-references and interconnections between different texts. Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic texts are provided under a free license in the original and in translation. The website also provides a tool for creating source sheets. Sefaria is a non-profit organization. The technology is maintained by a team of 18 engineers. According to its chief data officer Lev Israel in 2019, the service received 250,000 unique visitors monthly. Etymology The name ''Sefaria'' derives from the words ''sefer'', or "book", and ''sifria'' ("library") in Hebrew. History Sefaria was originally founded in 2011 by journalist Joshua Foer and Brett Lockspeiser, a former product man ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yahrzeit Candle
A yahrzeit candle, also spelled yahrtzeit candle or called a memorial candle, ( he, נר נשמה, ''ner neshama'', meaning "soul candle"; yi, יאָרצײַט ליכט , meaning "anniversary candle") is a type of candle that is lit in memory of the dead in Judaism. This kind of candle, that burns up to 26 hours, is also lit on the eve of Yom Kippur or of the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony (Yom HaShoah) to burn through the entire occasion. (in Judaism, days begin at sundown, in accordance with Genesis, e.g., 1:5: "And there was evening and there was morning, one day.") History The use of a yahrzeit candle is a widely practiced custom, where mourners light a yahrzeit candle that burns for 24 hours, on the anniversary of the death on the Hebrew calendar. The word "''yahrzeit''" ( yi, יאָרצײַט ''yortsayt '') itself means "anniversary" (or more specifically "anniversary f a person's death) in Yiddish, originating from German ''Jahr'', year, and ''Zeit'', time. It i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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El Malei Rachamim
"El Malei Rachamim" (Hebrew: אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים, lit. "God full of Mercy" or "Merciful God"), is a Jewish prayer for the soul of a person who has died, usually recited at the graveside during the burial service and at memorial services during the year. Place in the Liturgy In the Eastern Ashkenazi liturgy, the prayer is usually chanted by a chazzan for the ascension of the souls of the dead on the following occasions: during the funeral; at an unveiling of the tombstone; ''Yizkor'' (Remembrance) service on the four of the Jewish festivals, Yom Kippur, Shmini Atzeret, and the last day of Pesach and Shavuot; on the Yahrzeit on a day when there is public reading from the Torah, or the closest date before the Yahrzeit; and on other occasions on which the memory of the dead is recalled. In the Western Ashkenazic liturgy, this prayer is usually not recited, although it has been adopted on various occasions in certain Western Ashkenazic communities (including K'hal Adat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through labor in concentration camps; and in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibór, and Treblinka in occupied Poland. Germany implemented the persecution in stages. Following Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor on 30 January 1933, the regime built a network of concentration camps in Germany for political opponents and those deemed "undesirable", starting with Dachau on 22 March 1933. After the passing of the Enabling Act on 24 March, which gave Hitler dictatorial plenary powers, the government began isolating Je ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Martyrdom In Judaism
Martyrdom in Judaism is one of the main examples of Jews doing a ''kiddush Hashem'', a Hebrew term which means "sanctification of hename". An example of this is public self-sacrifice in accordance with Jewish practice and identity, with the possibility of being killed for no other reason than being Jewish. There are specific conditions in Jewish law that deal with the details of self-sacrifice, be it willing or unwilling. The opposite or converse of ''kiddush Hashem'' is '' chillul Hashem'' ("Desecration fGod's Name" in Hebrew) and Jews are obligated to avoid it according to Halakha (Jewish religious law). There are instances, such as when they are faced with forced conversion to another religion, when Jews should choose martyrdom and sacrifice their lives rather than commit a ''chillul Hashem'' which desecrates the honor of God. Martyrdom in Judaism is thus driven by both the desire to Sanctify God's Name concurrently and the wish to avoid the Desecration of God's Name. In He ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yahrzeit
Bereavement in Judaism () is a combination of ''minhag'' and ''mitzvah'' derived from the Torah and Judaism's classical rabbinic texts. The details of observance and practice vary according to each Jewish community. Mourners In Judaism, the principal mourners are the first-degree relatives: parent, child, sibling, and spouse. There are some customs that are unique to an individual mourning a parent. Halachot concerning mourning do not apply to those under thirteen years of age, nor do they apply when the deceased is aged 30 days or less. Upon receiving news of the death Upon receiving the news of the death, the following blessing is recited: : :Transliteration: :Translation: "Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, the Judge of Truth lt., the Just Judge" There is also a custom of rending one's clothes at the moment one hears news of a death. Another prevalent custom is to tear at the funeral.Klein, Isaac, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, Ktav Publishing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to recover Holy Land, Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim conquests, Islamic rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the recovery of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of Crusades were fought, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. In 1095, Pope Pope Urban II, Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, AlexiosI against the Seljuk Empire, Seljuk Turks and called for an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Across all social strata in western Europe, there was an enthusiastic response. The first Crusaders had a variety of motivations, including religious salvation, satisfying feud ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tanhuma
Midrash Tanhuma ( he, מִדְרָשׁ תַּנְחוּמָא) is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch aggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of R. Tanḥuma, must not be regarded as having been written or edited by him. They were so named merely because they consist partly of homilies originating with him (this being indicated by the introductory formula "Thus began R. Tanḥuma" or "Thus preached R. Tanḥuma") and partly of homilies by aggadic teachers who followed the style of R. Tanḥuma. It is possible that R. Tanḥuma himself preserved his homilies, and that his collection was used by the editors of the midrash. The three collections were edited at different times; they will, therefore, be treated in chronological order. According to Samuel Berman's most recent research and translation on Midrash-Tanhuma, the "earliest manuscript of this text was compiled in late 8th or 9 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |