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Mezuzah
A ''mezuzah'' ( he, מְזוּזָה "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment, known as a ''klaf'', contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah ( and ). These verses consist of the Jewish prayer ''Shema Yisrael'', beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the (is) our God, the is One". In mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, a ''mezuzah'' is affixed to the doorpost of Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to "write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house" (). Some interpret Jewish law to require a ''mezuzah'' in every doorway in the home except bathrooms (which are not a living space), laundry rooms and closets, if they are too small to qualify as rooms. The ''klaf'' is prepared by a qualified scribe ("'' sofer stam'') who has undergone training, both in studying the relevant religious laws, and in the more practical parts (i.e. carving the quill and practising writing). The verses ...
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Mezuzah Museum Of The History Of Polish Jews In Warsaw
A ''mezuzah'' ( he, מְזוּזָה "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment, known as a ''klaf'', contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah ( and ). These verses consist of the Jewish prayer ''Shema Yisrael'', beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the (is) our God, the is One". In mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, a ''mezuzah'' is affixed to the doorpost of Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to "write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house" (). Some interpret Jewish law to require a ''mezuzah'' in every doorway in the home except bathrooms (which are not a living space), laundry rooms and closets, if they are too small to qualify as rooms. The ''klaf'' is prepared by a qualified scribe ("'' sofer stam'') who has undergone training, both in studying the relevant religious laws, and in the more practical parts (i.e. carving the quill and practising writing). The verses ...
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Sofer
A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, or sofer ST"M ( he, סופר סת״ם, "scribe"; plural of is , ; female: ) is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh (holy scrolls), tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot (ST"M, , is an abbreviation of these three terms) and other religious writings. By simple definition, soferim are copyists, but their religious role in Judaism is much more. Besides sifrei Torah, tefillin, and mezuzot, scribes are necessary to write the Five Megillot (scrolls of the Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Book of Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Book of Lamentations), Nevi'im (the books of the prophets, used for reading the haftarah), and for , divorce documents. Many scribes also function as calligraphers—writing functional documents such as (marriage contracts), or ornamental and artistic renditions of religious texts, which do not require any scribal qualifications, and to which the rules on lettering and parchment specifications do not apply. The major halakha per ...
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Klaf
Klaf or Qelaf ( he, קְלָף) is the designation given a particular piece of skin. The Talmudic definition includes both the form of the skin and the way it is processed, in particular, that it must be tanned. Since the innovative ruling of ''Rabbeinu Tam'' (12th century Tosafist) it is primarily used to refer to parchment or vellum. It is one of the materials upon which a writes certain Jewish liturgical and ritual documents. Description is a specially prepared, tanned, split skin of a kosher animalgoat, cattle, or deer. Rabbinic literature addresses three forms of tanned skin: , consisting of the full, unsplit hide; and and which are the two halves of the full hide. The rabbinic scholars are divided upon which is the inner and which is the outer of the two halves. Maimonides is of the opinion that was the inner layer and that was the outer layer The Shulchan Aruch rules in the reverse that was the outer layer and that was the inner layer Preparation The legally r ...
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POLIN Museum Of The History Of Polish Jews
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews ( pl, Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich) is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word ''Polin'' in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews to Poland. The museum's cornerstone was laid in 2007, and the museum opened on 19 April 2013. The core exhibition opened in October 2014 The building, a postmodern structure in glass, copper, and concrete, was designed by Finnish architects Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma. History The idea for creating a major new museum in Warsaw dedicated to the history of Polish Jews was initiated in 1995 by the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.A.J. Goldmann "Polish Museum Set To Open Spectacular Window on Jewish Past"The Jewish Daily Forward, April 01, 2013. In the same year, the Warsaw City Council allocated the land for this purpose in Muranów, Warsaw's prewar Jewish qua ...
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Amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects a person from trouble". Anything can function as an amulet; items commonly so used include statues, coins, drawings, plant parts, animal parts, and written words. Amulets which are said to derive their extraordinary properties and powers from magic or those which impart luck are typically part of folk religion or paganism, whereas amulets or sacred objects of formalised mainstream religion as in Christianity are believed to have no power of their own without faith in Jesus and being blessed by a clergyman, and they supposedly will also not provide any preternatural benefit to the bearer who does not have an appropriate disposition. Talisman and amulets have interchangeable meaning. Amulets refer to any object which has the power to av ...
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Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the same as Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. It is also known in the Jewish tradition as the Written Torah (, ). If meant for liturgic purposes, it takes the form of a Torah scroll ('' Sefer Torah''). If in bound book form, it is called ''Chumash'', and is usually printed with the rabbinic commentaries (). At times, however, the word ''Torah'' can also be used as a synonym for the whole of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, in which sense it includes not only the first five, but all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. Finally, Torah can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching, culture, and practice, whether derived from biblical texts or later rabbinic writings. The latter is often known as the Oral Torah. Representing the core of the Jewish spiri ...
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Rabbeinu Tam
Jacob ben Meir (1100 – 9 June 1171 (4 Tammuz)), best known as Rabbeinu Tam ( he, רבינו תם), was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading ''halakhic'' authority in his generation, and a grandson of Rashi. Known as "Rabbeinu" (our teacher), he acquired the Hebrew suffix "Tam" meaning straightforward; it was originally used in the Book of Genesis to describe his biblical namesake, Jacob. Biography Jacob ben Meir was born in the French country village of Ramerupt, today in the Aube département of northern-central France, to Meir ben Shmuel and Yocheved, daughter of Rashi. His primary teachers were his father and his brother, Shmuel ben Meir, known as Rashbam. His other brothers were Isaac, known as the Rivam, and Solomon the Grammarian. He married Miriam, the sister of Rabbi Shimshon ben Yosef of Falaise, Calvados, who may have been his second wife. His reputation as a legal scholar spread far beyond France. Avraham ibn ...
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Jacob Ben Asher
Jacob ben Asher (c. 1269 - c. 1343), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Rabbi Yaakov ben Raash (Rabbeinu Asher), was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Master of the Columns"), after his main work in halakha (Jewish law), the ''Arba'ah Turim'' ("Four Columns"). Biography He was probably born in the Holy Roman Empire at Cologne about 1269 and probably died at Toledo, then in the Kingdom of Castile, about 1343. He was the third son of the Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (known as the "Rosh"), a Rabbi of the Holy Roman Empire who moved to Castile, due to increasing persecution of Jews in his native Germany. Besides his father, who was his principal teacher, Jacob quotes very often in the ''Turim'' his elder brother Jehiel; once his brother Judah and once his uncle Rabbi Chaim. According to many, Jacob moved to Castile with his father and was not born there. Some say Jacob succeeded his father as the rabbi of the Jewish communit ...
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Yoreh De'ah
Yoreh De'ah ( he, יורה דעה) is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of halakha (Jewish law), Arba'ah Turim around 1300. This section treats all aspects of Jewish law not pertinent to the Hebrew calendar, finance, torts, marriage, divorce, or sexual conduct. (Nevertheless there exists occasional overlap into the excluded areas). ''Yoreh De'ah'' is therefore the most diversified area of Jewish law. Later, Rabbi Yosef Karo modeled the framework of his own compilation of practical Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch, after the ''Arba'ah Turim.'' Many later commentators used this framework, as well. Thus, ''Yoreh De'ah'' in common usage may refer to an area of halakha, non-specific to Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation. Topics include, but are not limited to: * Permitted and forbidden foods, * Circumcision, * Gentiles, * Foreign worship, * Prohibition against charging interest, * Oaths, * Converts, * Honoring parents, * Honoring scholars and the elderly, * Charity, ...
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Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''). Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise and lucid fashion, Rashi appeals to learned scholars and beginning students, and his works remain a centerpiece of contemporary Jewish studies. His commentary on the Talmud, which covers nearly all of the Babylonian Talmud (a total of 30 out of 39 tractates, due to his death), has been included in every edition of the Talmud since its first printing by Daniel Bomberg in the 1520s. His commentaries on the Tanakh—especially his commentary on the Chumash (the "Five Books of Moses")—serves as the basis of more than 300 "supercommentaries" which analyze Rashi's choice of langu ...
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Hebrew And Aramaic Lexicon Of The Old Testament
The ''Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament'' ("HALOT") is a scholarly dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, which has partially supplanted '' Brown–Driver–Briggs''. It is a translation and updating of the German-language Koehler-Baumgartner Lexicon, which first appeared in 1953, into English; the first volume was published in 1994 the fourth volume, completing the Hebrew portion, was published in 1999, and the fifth volume, on Aramaic, was published in 2000. The work was re-issued in 2001 as an unabridged two volume set. It differs from ''Brown–Driver–Briggs'' in being ordered alphabetically, instead of by root. It includes a bibliography, as well as references to the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Vulgate, the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Ben Sira Ben Sira also known as Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira (שמעון בן יהושע בן אליעזר בן סירא) or Yeshua Ben Sirach (), was a Hellenistic Jewish scrib ...
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Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singular: , Modern Hebrew: are a Jewish diaspora population who coalesced in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. Their traditional diaspora language is Yiddish (a West Germanic language with Jewish linguistic elements, including the Hebrew alphabet), which developed during the Middle Ages after they had moved from Germany and France into Northern Europe and Eastern Europe. For centuries, Ashkenazim in Europe used Hebrew only as a sacred language until the revival of Hebrew as a common language in 20th-century Israel. Throughout their numerous centuries living in Europe, Ashkenazim have made many important contributions to its philosophy, scholarship, literature, art, music, and science. The rabbinical term ''A ...
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