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Glossary of Hebrew Terms     A-G     H-L     M-R     S-Z
Adonai   Lord
B'hatzlacha   (Literally) In success. (Figuratively) "To your success." or "Wishing you success.".
Brit Chadasha   New Covenant; New Testament
Drash   Sermon; exposition. Plural is Drashot
Echad   One (can mean a composite unity as in Gen 2:24 - "For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."1)
Elohim   God (note that this is a plural word in Hebrew and, depending on context, can also be translated as "gods" as in Ex 12:12 - "For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements - I am the LORD."1)
Goyim   Gentiles; nations; pagans.
Haftarah   A portion of Scripture taken from the K'tuvim (Writings) and the Nevi'im (Prophets) which is traditionally read after the Torah portion in the Synagogue. The word haftarah is derived from the Hebrew word patar meaning "to dismiss, send away". It is used in this context since the haftarah is the portion of Scripture used after the Torah is put away.
Kehilah   Community; assembly
Kosher   Refers to food which is ritually clean (Lev 11). Certain animals such as pigs are unkosher. Also, anything containing blood is considered unkosher both in the Old Testament before the Torah was given (Gen 9:4), in the Torah (Lev 17:11-12), and in the New Covenant (Acts 15:20)
K'tuvim   Writings; Includes the following Old Testament Scripture: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, I Chronicles, and II Chronicles.
Ma'ariv   Evening prayer service (after sundown). Originally instituted as a substitute for the parts of the sacrifices which used to be burned at night.
Mashiach   Messiah; Annointed One; The Greek word for annointed is "Christos" from which is derived the word "Christ".
Minchah   Afternoon prayer service; grain offering; evening sacrifice (IKi 18:29).
Mitzvah   Commandment; Also traditionally used in Judaism to refer to "a good deed". Mitzvot is the plural of mitzvah.
Nevi'im   Prophets; Includes the following Old Testament Scripture: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Pesach   Passover
Ruach haKodesh   The Holy Spirit. See Psalm 51:11 (verse 13 in the Hebrew).
Shabat   Sabbath
Shacharit   Morning prayer service. Originally instituted as a substitute for the morning sacrifice.
Shavuot   A Biblical Feast which occurs 7 weeks and 1 day after the Feast of First Fruits (which occurs the day after the first Shabat during Passover). (See Lev 23:15-16.) The word Shavuot is derived from the word shavua meaning "week". The English name of the Holiday is "Pentecost" which is derived from "Pente" meaning "fifty".
Shema   Literally meaning "hear (command form of the verb)". Refers to the Hebrew prayer which begins with Deut 6:4 - "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!"1
Tenach   The Old Testament. The word Tenach is formed by taking the first Hebrew letters of the words Torah (Law), Nevi'im (Writings), and K'tuvim (Prophets).
Torah   The five books of Moses, i.e. the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The word can also be translated as "law".
Yeshua   The Hebrew name of Jesus. The word also means "salvation". For example Isa 12:3 - "Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of Yeshua (salvation)."1
Yom Kippur   The Day of Atonement; see Lev 16 and Lev 23:26-32
1 Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used with permission.