Seder The traditional ceremonial meal eaten on the first and sometimes second nights of Passover. (Christ’s Last Supper was a Jewish seder.)
Sefer Hebrew for “book.”
Sefirot The ten aspects or manifestations of God, sometimes represented as divine lights and often associated with the Cosmic Tree, the names of God and various parts of the human body.
Sitra Ahra The kabbalistic term for the domain of evil emanations and demonic powers (The Other Side).
Shefa A divine influx or moment of divine presence.
Shevat The fifth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, generally coinciding with part of January and part of February.
Shofar A ram’s horn blown to produce a trumpet sound during certain Jewish rituals.
Shohet A Jewish butcher specially trained in the techniques governing the slaughter of animals.
Tallis A rectangular prayer shawl.
Talmud An ancient compilation of Jewish Oral Law which includes rabbinical commentaries.
Tefillin Phylacteries.
Tishri The first month of the Hebrew calendar, generally coinciding with part of September and part of October.
Torah The Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament. In a broader sense, it can refer to the complete Old Testament or even all of Jewish teaching.
Tref Food unfit for human consumption and which must be discarded according to Jewish dietary laws.
Tzitzit The fringes which dangle from the four corners of a Jewish prayer shawl.
Tu Bisvat A Jewish holiday connected with the Tree of Life and the eating of fruit associated with the land of Israel.
Yom Kippur The holiest Jewish holiday, on which Jews fast to atone for their sins.
Zedek Divine Justice.
Zohar The Book of Splendor. The most influential book of kabbalistic mysticism, written in Guadalajara, Spain, between 1280 CE and 1286 CE, by the Jewish mystic Moses de Leon.
About the Author
Richard Zimler, born in 1956 in New York, has lived since 1990 in Portugal, where he is a professor of journalism at the University of Porto. His short fiction, which has appeared in Britain in
