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Torah Reading
Torah reading (; ') is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a 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 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 לייענען (), 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 Jews practice Torah reading according to a set procedure almost unchanged since the Talmudic era. Since the 19th century CE, Reform and Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading has usually remained the same: As a pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seder (Bible)
A ''seder'' (plural: ''sedarim'') is part of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. In the Torah The text of the Torah is divided into roughly 150 ''sedarim'' though sources disagree on the exact number. Differing texts record 141, 154 or 167 ''sedarim''. The division of the Torah into ''sedarim'' is a result of the ancient custom of a triennial cycle for Torah reading. The Babylonian Talmud states that it was the custom of Jews in Israel to read the Torah in a three-year cycle.Tractate Megillah 29b In other parts of the Bible The books of Nevi'im and Ketuvim are also divided into ''sedarim''. Unlike the '' parashot'' (another subdivision of the biblical books in the Masoretic Text that is indicated by various spacing techniques), which are thematic divisions of the text, the divisions indicated by the ''sedarim'' is mostly quantitative. In Tiberian masoretic manuscripts, it is noted in the margin. In this part there are 293 sedarim, which are the numbers of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashkenazi Hebrew
Ashkenazi Hebrew (, ) is the pronunciation system for Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew favored for Jewish liturgical use and Torah study by Ashkenazi Jewish practice. Features As it is used parallel with Modern Hebrew, its phonological differences are clearly recognized: * ''aleph'' and '' ayin'' are completely silent at all times in most forms of Ashkenazi Hebrew. In other dialects of Hebrew, they can be pronounced as a glottal stop. Compare ''Yisroeil'' (Lithuanian) or ''Yisruayl'' (Polish-Galician) vs. ''Yisra'el'' (Israeli). An earlier pronunciation of ''ayin'' as a velar nasal () is attested most prominently in Dutch Hebrew (and historically also the Hebrew of Frankfurt am Main). Vestiges of this earlier pronunciation are still found throughout the Yiddish-speaking world in names like ''Yankev'' (יעקבֿ) and words like ''manse'' (מעשׂה, more commonly pronounced ''mayse''), but are otherwise marginal. * ungeminated '' '' is pronounced in Ashkenazi Hebrew. It is always ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baal Keriah
A baal keriah (), colloquially called the baal korei (, ''baʿal qôrē'' 'master-reader'), is a member of a Judaism, Jewish congregation who reads from the Torah scroll during the service. As there are no niqqud, punctuation, or Hebrew cantillation, 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 Bema, 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 (Torah), aliyah. To the right of the scroll stands the second gabbai, the gabbai sheni. Before each ali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Umberto Cassuto
Umberto Cassuto, also known as Moshe David Cassuto (16 September 1883 – 19 December 1951), was an Italian historian, a rabbi, and a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Ugaritic literature, in the University of Florence, then at the University of Rome La Sapienza. When the 1938 anti-Semitic Italian racial laws forced him from this position, he moved to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Early life and career Cassuto was born in Florence as the son of Gustavo and Ernesta Galletti in a traditionalist Jewish family. Cassuto studied there at the University of Florence (graduated in 1906), and the ''Collegio Rabbinico'' (ordained in 1908), where its principal Samuel Hirsch Margulies had a profound influence on him. After getting a degree and '' Semicha'', he taught at both institutions. From 1922 to 1925, he was Chief Rabbi of Florence. In 1925 he became professor of Hebrew and literature at the University of Florence and then took the chair of Hebrew language at the Universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex () is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, and was endorsed for its accuracy by Maimonides. Together with the Leningrad Codex, it contains the Aaron ben Moses ben Asher Masoretic Text tradition. The codex was kept for five centuries in the Central Synagogue of Aleppo, until the synagogue was torched during 1947 anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo, anti-Jewish riots in 1947. The fate of the codex during the subsequent decade is unclear: when it resurfaced in Israel in 1958, roughly 40% of the manuscript—including the majority of the Torah section—was missing, and only two additional leaves have been recovered since then. The original supposition that the missing pages were destroyed in the synagogue fire has increasingly been challenged, fueling speculation that they survive in private hands. The portion of the codex that is accounte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mishneh Torah
The ''Mishneh Torah'' (), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' (), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''halakha'') authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam). The ''Mishneh Torah'' was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE (4930 and 4940 AM), while Maimonides was living in Egypt, and is regarded as Maimonides' '' magnum opus''. Accordingly, later sources simply refer to the work as "''Maimon''", "''Maimonides''", or "''RaMBaM''", although Maimonides composed other works. ''Mishneh Torah'' consists of fourteen books, subdivided into sections, chapters, and paragraphs. It is the only medieval-era work that details all of Jewish observance, including those laws that are only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem is in existence, and remains an important work in Judaism. Its title is an appellation originally used for the Biblical book of Deuteronomy, and its moniker, "Book of the Strong Hand", derives from its subdivision into fourteen books: the numerical v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin. He was born on Passover eve 1138 or 1135, and lived in Córdoba, Spain, Córdoba in al-Andalus (now in Spain) within the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravid Empire until his family was expelled for refusing to convert to Islam. Later, he lived in Morocco and Egypt and worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher. During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on Halakha, Jewish law and Jewish ethics, ethics with acclaim and gratitude, even as far away as Iraq and Yemen. Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the History of the Jews in Egypt, Jewish community in Egypt, his writings also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ; ), are a Jewish diaspora group who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. After several waves of antisemitism, persecution, the vast majority of Yemenite Jews aliyah, emigrated to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen), Operation Magic Carpet between June 1949 and September 1950. Most Yemenite Jews in Israel, Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, with smaller communities in the United States and elsewhere. As of 2024, only one Jew, Levi Marhabi, remains in Yemen, although ''Ynet'' cited local sources stating that the actual number is five. Yemenite Jews observe a unique religious tradition that distinguishes them from Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, and Jewish ethnic divisions, 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 are considered Mizrahi Jews, Mizrahi or "Eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendants. The term "Sephardic" comes from '' Sepharad'', the Hebrew word for Iberia. These communities flourished for centuries in Iberia until they were expelled in the late 15th century. Over time, "Sephardic" has also come to refer more broadly to Jews, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, who adopted Sephardic religious customs and legal traditions, often due to the influence of exiles. In some cases, Ashkenazi Jews who settled in Sephardic communities and adopted their liturgy are also included under this term. Today, Sephardic Jews form a major component of world Jewry, with the largest population living in Israel. The earliest documented Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula dates to the Roman period, beginning in the fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashkenazic
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language that originated in the 9th century, and largely migrated towards northern and eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages due to persecution. Hebrew was primarily used as a literary and sacred language until its 20th-century revival as a common language in Israel. Ashkenazim adapted their traditions to Europe and underwent a transformation in their interpretation of Judaism. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Jews who remained in or returned to historical German lands experienced a cultural reorientation. Under the influence of the Haskalah and the struggle for emancipation, as well as the intellectual and cultural ferment in urban centres, some gradually abandoned Yiddish in favor of German and developed new forms of Jewish religious l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weekly Torah Portion
The weekly Torah portion refers to a lectionary custom in Judaism in which a portion of the Torah (or Pentateuch) is read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' (), is popularly abbreviated to ''parashah'' (also ''parshah'' or parsha), and is also known as a Seder (Bible), Sidra or Sedra . The ''parashah'' is a section of the Torah used in Jewish liturgy during a particular week. There are 54 parshas, or ''parashiyot'' in Hebrew, and the full cycle is read over the course of one Biblical year. Content and number Each Torah portion consists of two to six chapters to be read during the week. There are 54 weekly portions or ''parashot''. Torah reading mostly follows an annual cycle beginning and ending on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, with the divisions corresponding to the lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Hebrew calendar, which contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between leap years and regular years. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the Genesis creation narrative, creation of the heaven and earth in six days and the redemption from slavery and the Exodus from Egypt. Since the Hebrew calendar, Jewish religious calendar counts days from sunset to sunset, Shabbat begins in the evening of what on the civil calendar is Friday. Shabbat observance entails refraining from 39 Melachot, work activities, often with shomer Shabbat, great rigor, and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Judaism's traditional position is that the unbroken seventh-day Shabbat originated among the Jewish people, as their first and most sacred institution. Variations upon Shabbat are widespread in Judaism and, with adaptations, throughout the Abraham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
