Spiritual Humanistic Judaism uses many Hebrew words and a few key ideas from the thinkers it draws on. This glossary explains the ones you’ll meet on this site, in the sense we use them. Spellings vary from page to page; the common alternatives are given with each entry.

A B D E F G H K L M O P R S T Y Z

A

Ahavá אהבה
Love: care and fidelity sustained over time. One of the values that should guide both a rabbi and the whole community. The role of the rabbi →

Ahavat Yisrael אהבת ישראל
Love of the Jewish people. Peoplehood brings duties of solidarity, continuity and inclusion, and of morally serious criticism. Mordecai Kaplan →

Amen אמן
Literally “so be it”. Said in response to a blessing or prayer spoken by someone else, making it one’s own.

Anavah ענווה (also anavá)
Humility: people and communities taking their rightful space, neither less nor more. Mordecai Kaplan →

Avodá עבודה (also avodah)
Service. Once the service of the Temple, later the “service of the heart” in prayer; here, sacred service to the community and its shared purposes. The role of the rabbi →

B

Bal tashḥit בל תשחית
“Do not destroy.” Waste and avoidable harm violate the interdependence that all life rests on. Mordecai Kaplan →

Ben / bat Avraham v’Sarah בן / בת אברהם ושרה
“Son / daughter of Abraham and Sarah”: the Hebrew name traditionally taken by someone who has joined the Jewish people. Resources →

Berachá ברכה (also berakhah; plural berachot)
A blessing. It does not call down power from on high; it names what is good and strengthens our commitment to it, training attention and gratitude. Blessings for everyday occasions →

B’mitzvá בר מצווה · בת מצווה (also bar / bat mitzvah)
Coming of age as a responsible member of the Jewish people, usually marked at twelve or thirteen by leading part of a service and reading from the Torah.

Brit ברית
Covenant: a relationship of mutual responsibility directed towards a shared purpose. Here it describes the bond between a rabbi and a congregation, and between members of a community. (Brit milá is the covenant of circumcision.) The role of the rabbi →

D

Deus sive Natura (Latin)
“God, or Nature.” Spinoza’s phrase for a single reality with no creator standing outside it. Baruch Spinoza →

Din דין
Judgement: honest accountability, applied fairly to everyone, the rabbi and the congregation alike. The role of the rabbi →

E

Dreidel סביבון (Hebrew sevivon)
A four-sided spinning top played at Ḥanuká. Its letters are usually read as “a great miracle happened there”; we read them as Hava na’asé shalóm gadól, “come, let us make great peace”. Ḥanuká →

Emet אמת
Truth. Public teaching and liturgy must say what the community actually means. Mordecai Kaplan →

Evolving religious civilisation
Mordecai Kaplan’s description of Judaism: not only a religion but the whole changing culture of the Jewish people — language, land, history, arts, ethics and religious practice. Mordecai Kaplan →

F

Folkway
Kaplan’s word for a mitzvá understood as a living custom that keeps a people a people, rather than a command from above. Folkways can be kept, reinterpreted or changed. Shabbat →

G

Gemilut ḥasadim גמילות חסדים
Acts of lovingkindness: care that takes material form, such as visiting the sick, comforting mourners and supporting people in need. Mordecai Kaplan →

Ger גר (plural gerim)
Originally a stranger living among the people; later, a person who has chosen to join the Jewish people. Resources →

H

Haggadah הגדה (also haggadá)
“Telling”: the book used at the Pesaḥ seder to tell the story of liberation. This community’s is Haggadat Bene Ḥorin. Get Haggadat Bene Ḥorin on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. Tefilotenu →

Hakarat ha-tov הכרת הטוב
“Recognising the good”: noticing, naming and being grateful for what is good. Mordecai Kaplan →

Ḥanuká חנכה (also Hanukkah, Chanukah)
The eight-night winter festival of lights. Each night’s candle stands for a human quality to cultivate: reason, self-esteem, courage, freedom, love, loyalty, generosity and hope. Ḥanuká →

Ḥanukiyá חנכיה (often called a menorah)
The nine-branched lamp lit at Ḥanuká: eight lights in a row and the shamash set apart. Ḥanuká →

Havdalah הבדלה
“Separation”: the short ceremony at nightfall on Saturday that ends Shabbat, with wine, sweet spices and a braided flame, and the wish shavua tov. Shabbat →

Havurah חבורה (also ḥavurá; plural havurot)
A fellowship: a small, participatory Jewish community whose members lead and learn together, such as Spinoza Havurah. Connect →

Ḥemlá חמלה
Compassion: being moved by another’s suffering and acting to ease it. Our Practice →

Ḥesed חסד (plural ḥasadim)
Lovingkindness, loyalty and reliability: goodness that keeps showing up. The role of the rabbi →

Hokhéaḥ tokhíaḥ הוכח תוכיח
“You shall surely rebuke” (Leviticus 19:17): honest correction offered with love, so that problems are named rather than resented. The role of the rabbi →

K

Kaddish קדיש
An ancient Aramaic prayer of praise, best known as the mourners’ prayer. Traditionally it cannot be said alone, so grief is always met by a community. Harold Schulweis →

Kadosh קדוש (noun kedushá)
Holy: set apart and treated differently from the ordinary. Where Schulweis says “godly”, this community says “holy”. Harold Schulweis →

Kashrut כשרות (adjective kosher)
Jewish food practice. It can cultivate restraint, gratitude, mindfulness and reverence for life, and communities may shape it in different ways. The Spiritual Humanistic Jewish Process →

Kavod כבוד
Dignity and respect. No title confers greater human worth than anyone else’s. The role of the rabbi →

Kehillá קהילה (also kehillah; plural kehillot)
A community: the people who study, decide and practise together, and the place where Jewish decisions are best made. The Spiritual Humanistic Jewish Process →

Kiddush קידוש
“Sanctification”: the blessing over wine that opens Shabbat and festival meals, anchoring joy in gratitude. Shabbat →

L

Lehitpalel להתפלל
To pray. The verb is reflexive: it suggests turning towards oneself — examining oneself honestly and allowing oneself to be changed. Talking About God →

M

Menuḥa מנוחה (also menuchah)
Rest: one of the two moods, with oneg, that Shabbat is meant to carry. Shabbat →

Mezuzá מזוזה (also mezuzah)
A small case holding a parchment with the Shema, fixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home. Blessings for everyday occasions →

Middot מידות
Character traits — such as patience, generosity, honesty and humility — that Jewish tradition asks us to keep working on. Our Scholarship →

Minyan מניין
The quorum of ten traditionally needed for communal prayer. Inclusive communities count everyone. The Spiritual Humanistic Jewish Process →

Mitzvá מצווה · מצוות (also mitzvah; plural mitzvot)
Traditionally a commandment; here understood, with Kaplan, as a folkway — a sacred practice the community chooses to keep and give meaning to. In everyday speech, also a good deed. Mordecai Kaplan →

O

Oneg עונג
Delight: the joy Shabbat makes room for. The ceasing exists for the sake of the delight. Shabbat →

P

Parashá פרשה (also parashah; parashat when followed by its name)
The weekly Torah portion, read on Shabbat. Each is named after a key word near its start. Shabbat →

Pesaḥ פסח (also Pesah, Passover)
The spring festival of liberation, centred on the seder and its retelling of the journey from slavery to freedom. Resources →

Predicate theology
Harold Schulweis’s approach: instead of asking what God is, look at the qualities — justice, compassion, peace — and treat acting on them as the substance of religious life. Harold Schulweis →

R

Raḥamim רחמים
Compassion; the word is related to reḥem, womb. Vulnerability and suffering call first for accompaniment. The role of the rabbi →

S

Sancta (Latin, singular sanctum)
Kaplan’s term for the days, objects and deeds through which a people carries its highest values from one generation to the next. Shabbat →

Seder סדר
“Order”: the ritual meal on the first night or nights of Pesaḥ. Rosh Hashanah has its own Seder HaSimanim, a meal of symbolic foods. Tefilotenu →

Shabbat שבת
The weekly day of rest from Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall: a pause that shows human value is more than production. Shabbat →

Shalom שלום
Peace; also wholeness and well-being. A greeting and a goal. The role of the rabbi →

Shamash שמש
“Servant”: the candle on the Ḥanukiyá that lights all the others. It gives its flame away and is not diminished. Ḥanuká →

Shavua tov שבוע טוב
“A good week”: the greeting exchanged at Havdalah as Shabbat ends. Shabbat →

Sheleymut שלמות
Wholeness and integrity: a life, or a community, that holds together. The role of the rabbi →

Shema שמע
“Hear”: the opening word of the central declaration of Jewish liturgy, said morning and evening. Tefilotenu →

Shmirat ha-lashon שמירת הלשון
“Guarding the tongue”: speech governed by truth, necessity, dignity and its consequences for others. Mordecai Kaplan →

Siddur סידור (plural siddurim)
A prayer book, from seder, order. This community’s siddur is Tefilotenu. Tefilotenu →

Simḥá שמחה (also simḥah)
Joy, and the celebrations that express it. Mordecai Kaplan →

T

Tallit טלית
A prayer shawl with fringes at its corners; wrapping oneself in it can be a meditation on clothing oneself in ḥesed and ḥemlá. Our Practice →

Talmud תלמוד
The great compendium of rabbinic law, argument and story, completed around 500–600 CE, and studied ever since. Our Beliefs →

Tefilla תפילה (also tefillah; plural tefillot)
Prayer. Not petition to a listening deity but a communal practice of reflection, aspiration and commitment. Tefilotenu means “our prayers”. Our Practice →

Teshuvá תשובה (also teshuvah)
“Return”: acknowledging harm, changing course and making repair. Central to Yom Kippur, and to any healthy community. Yom Kippur →

Tokheḥá תוכחה
Honest correction, given and received in good faith. The role of the rabbi →

Torah תורה
“Teaching”: in the narrow sense the Five Books of Moses; in the wide sense the whole unfolding body of Jewish learning.

Tzédek צדק (also tsedek)
Justice and fairness. Institutions and the way they share out resources are always open to moral scrutiny. The role of the rabbi →

Tzelem Elohim צלם אלהים
“The image of God” (Genesis 1:27), the traditional ground of human dignity. Here dignity rests on our shared humanity: every person has needs, vulnerability, agency and the capacity to suffer and to flourish. The role of the rabbi →

Y

Yetzer hara and yetzer hatov יצר הרע · יצר הטוב
The two inclinations. The yetzer hara — appetite, ambition, self-interest — is not evil but energy that needs direction; the yetzer hatov is the impulse towards goodness that guides it. Our Beliefs →

Yom Kippur יום כיפור
The Day of Atonement: a day of fasting, honesty and teshuvá at the end of the Ten Days of Return. Yom Kippur →

Z

Zmanim זמנים
“Times”: the daily times set by the sun — dawn, sunrise, the latest times for Shema and Tefilla, midday, Minḥa (afternoon prayer), Plag HaMinḥa, sunset and Tzeit (nightfall). Home →