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Gabbai
A ''gabbai'' ( he, גבאי), also known as ''shamash'' (, sometimes spelled ''shamas'') or warden ( UK, similar to churchwarden) is a beadle or sexton, a person who assists in the running of synagogue services in some way. The role may be undertaken on a voluntary or paid basis. A ''shamash'' (literally 'servant') or ''gabbai'' can also mean an assistant to a rabbi (particularly the secretary or personal assistant to a Hasidic rebbe). In ma'amad, the Council of Elders (or "the board of directors") of the communities of Sephardi Jews, the position of ''gabbai'' was that of the treasurer. Etymology The word ''gabbai'' is Hebrew and, in Talmudic times, meant "collector of taxes or charity" or "treasurer". The term ''shamash'' is sometimes used for the ''gabbai'', the caretaker or "man of all work" in a synagogue. Duties While the specific set of duties vary from synagogue to synagogue, a gabbai's responsibilities will typically include ensuring that the religious services ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beadle
A beadle, sometimes spelled bedel, is an official of a church or synagogue who may usher, keep order, make reports, and assist in religious functions; or a minor official who carries out various civil, educational, or ceremonial duties on the manor. The term has pre- Conquest origins in Old English, deriving from the Old English ''bydel'' ("herald, messenger from an authority, preacher"), itself deriving from ''beodan'' ("to proclaim", which has a modern descendant in the English verb ''bid''). In Old English it was a title given to an Anglo-Saxon officer who summoned householders to council. It is also known in Medieval Latin as ''bedellus''. The Domesday Book refers to Beadles as ''bedelli'' or undersheriffs of manors. In religion In England, the word came to refer to a parish constable of the Anglican Church, one often charged with duties of charity. A famous fictional constabulary beadle is Mr. Bumble from Charles Dickens's classic novel ''Oliver Twist'', who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexton (office)
A sexton is an officer of a church, congregation, or synagogue charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger. In larger buildings, such as cathedrals, a team of sextons may be employed. Historically in North America and the United Kingdom the "sexton" was sometimes a minor municipal official responsible for overseeing the town graveyard. In the United Kingdom the position still exists today, related to management of the community's graveyard, and the sexton is usually employed by the town/parish or community council. Origin of the name The words "sexton" and "sacristan" both derive from the Medieval Latin word ''sacristanus'' meaning "custodian of sacred objects". "Sexton" represents the popular development of the word via the Old French "Segrestein". Duties Among the traditional duties of the sexton in small parishes was the digging of graves—the gravedigge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shames
Shames may refer to: *Shames Mountain Ski Area *The Shames, American rock band of 1960a *Shames (surname) Shames is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Edward Shames (1922–2021), American army officer *Laurence Shames Laurence Shames is an American writer. Writing career Laurence Shames is best known for his series of comic myste ... See also * Shame (other) {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tzedakah
''Tzedakah'' or ''Ṣedaqah'' ( he, צדקה ) is a Hebrew word meaning "righteousness", but commonly used to signify '' charity''. This concept of "charity" differs from the modern Western understanding of "charity". The latter is typically understood as a spontaneous act of goodwill and a marker of generosity; ''tzedakah'' is an ethical obligation. ''Tzedakah'' (Tzedaka) refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just, which Judaism emphasizes as an important part of living a spiritual life. Unlike voluntary philanthropy, ''tzedakah'' is seen as a religious obligation that must be performed regardless of one's financial standing, and so is mandatory even for those of limited financial means. ''Tzedakah'' is considered to be one of the three main acts that can positively influence an unfavorable heavenly decree. The word ''tzedakah'' is based on the Hebrew (, ''Tzedeq''), meaning '' righteousness'', '' fairness,'' or ''justice'', and is related to the Hebrew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titles
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the first and last name (for example, ''Graf'' in German, Cardinal in Catholic usage ( Richard Cardinal Cushing) or clerical titles such as Archbishop). Some titles are hereditary. Types Titles include: * Honorific titles or styles of address, a phrase used to convey respect to the recipient of a communication, or to recognize an attribute such as: ** Imperial, royal and noble ranks ** Academic degree ** Social titles, prevalent among certain sections of society due to historic or other reasons. ** Other accomplishment, as with a title of honor * Title of authority, an identifier that specifies the office or position held by an official Titles in English-speaking areas Common titles * Mr. – Adult man (regardless of marital s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religious Leadership Roles
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements; however, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith,Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1). a supernatural being or supernatural beings or "some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life". Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Religious Occupations
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) la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including '' Night'', a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. He was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes and human rights causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D. C. In his political activities, he also campaigned for victims of oppression in places like South Africa, Nicaragua, Kosovo, and Sudan. He publicly condemned the 1915 Armenian genocide and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime. He was described as "the most important Jew in America" by the '' Los Ang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night (memoir)
''Night'' is a 1960 memoir by Elie Wiesel based on his Holocaust experiences with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, toward the end of the Second World War in Europe. In just over 100 pages of sparse and fragmented narrative, Wiesel writes about the death of God and his own increasing disgust with humanity, reflected in the inversion of the parent–child relationship as his father deteriorates to a helpless state and Wiesel becomes his resentful, teenage caregiver. "If only I could get rid of this dead weight ... Immediately I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever." In ''Night'' everything is inverted, every value destroyed. "Here there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends", a kapo tells him. "Everyone lives and dies for himself alone." Wiesel was 16 when Buchenwald was liberated by the United States Army in April 1945, too late for his father, who died after a beating while Wiesel lay silently on the bun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canonicals
The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical example" is often used to mean "archetype". Science and technology * Canonical form, a natural unique representation of an object, or a preferred notation for some object Mathematics * * Canonical coordinates, sets of coordinates that can be used to describe a physical system at any given point in time * Canonical map, a morphism that is uniquely defined by its main property * Canonical polyhedron, a polyhedron whose edges are all tangent to a common sphere, whose center is the average of its vertices * Canonical ring, a graded ring associated to an algebraic variety * Canonical injection, in set theory * Canonical representative, in set theory a standard member of each element of a set partition Differential geometry * Canonical one-form, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Hats
A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or sometimes grey, the top hat emerged in Western fashion by the end of the 18th century. Although it declined by the time of the counterculture of the 1960s, it remains a formal fashion accessory. A collapsible variant of a top hat, developed in the 19th century, is known as an opera hat. Perhaps inspired by the Early Modern era capotain, higher crowned dark felt hats with wide brims emerged as a country leisurewear fashion along with the Age of Revolution around the 1770s. Around the 1780s, the justaucorps was replaced by the previously casual frocks and dress coats. At the same time, the tricorne and bicorne hats were replaced by what became known as the top hat. By the 1790s, the directoire style dress coat with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Jewry
British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who identify as Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021. History The first recorded Jewish community in Britain was brought to England in 1070 by King William the Conqueror, who believed that what he assumed to be its commercial skills would make his newly won country more prosperous. At the end of the 12th century, a series of blood libels and fatal pogroms hit England, particularly the east coast. Notably, on 16 March 1190, in the run up to the Third Crusade, the Jewish population of York was massacred at the site where Clifford's Tower now stands, and King Edward I of England passed the Statute of the Jewry (''Statutum de Judaismo'') in 1275, restricting the community's activities, most notably outlawing the practice of usury (charging interest).Prestwich, Michael. Edward I p 345 (1997) Yale Universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
