Tonight marks Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, so in honour of that, here is the latest episode of Nisht For Me to get you into the festive spirit.
Glossary:
Tishrei - the first month of the Jewish new year.
Challah - the nice plaited Jewish bread we’re kinda famous for
Round challah - over Jewish new year we switch up the shape of the challah - we like to spice things up like that - and have round ones, symbolising the cycle and continuity of life.
Yom Tavim / Yamim Tovim - Hebrew plural for ‘Yom Tov’, the Jewish holidays
Shabbat - the Jewish sabbath
Cheder - Hebrew learning school
Erev pesach - the evening before Pesach/Passover.
Shabbos lift - so this is a genius invention. On shabbat, observant Jews are not meant to switch on anything electric. So in order to allow Jews to use an elevator, the doors are set to open on every floor.
Andy - Anna’s dad. Arron’s father-in-law. Nice guy, some say he looks like Jurgen Klopp.
Hillel - the world’s largest Jewish student organization.
Chabad - part of the Lubatvitch movement, the ultra-Orthodox gang.
Shiur - as in a little talk from a Rabbi or learned person.
HaShem - God. The big guy…or girl. Discuss.
Hasidism - technically defined as a spiritual renewal movement within Orthodox Judaism. Which tracks with them being into the singing.
Yahrzeit - the annual anniversary in Hebrew of a loved one’s death. Abigail’s diary is full of ‘em!
Kichel - yiddish for a little biscuit. They can vary in filling…and quality, to be honest.
Cantor - professional religious singer. If you get a good one for Kol Nidrei…chills. Actual chills.
Bimah - the central stage of sorts in a synagogue, where a lot of the action happens
Chagim - another plural word for Jewish festivals. Who knew we had so many words for this?!
Sefer Torah - the entire Torah, our bible essentially, Old Testament written on parchment and rolled up all fancy into a scroll.
Knishes - an Eastern European Jewish delicacy, ball of dough, sometimes baked, sometimes fried, often filled with cheese or potato.
