bat mitzvah
In Judaism, a religious initiation ceremony for a Jewish girl aged twelve years and one day, regarded as the age of religious maturity. The word comes from Hebrew baṯ miṣwāh ‘daughter of ...
Bet Din
(Heb., ‘house of judgement’).Jewish court of law. Traditionally the establishment of the bet din as an institution is ascribed to Ezra. In Israel, the bet din is the rabbinic ...
covering of Head
In Judaism, the custom of men covering their heads as a sign of humility before God, and of married women covering their heads as a sign of modesty before men ...
Covering of the Head
(Heb. kissui ro’sh). There is little basis in ancient Jewish law for the custom of going about with the head covered, or even for covering the head during prayer and ...
Ecokosher
Or eco-kashrut, a recent practice based in the United States that seeks to reconcile Jewish dietary laws with environmental stewardship and related ethical issues. The term was coined in the ...
Gerson D Cohen
(1924–1991), historian, rabbi, educator, and leader of Conservative Judaism in the United States. Born in New York, Cohen was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1948. ...
Historical Movement
A school of religious thought in nineteenth-century Germany which aimed for a middle path between the Reform and the Orthodox, preserving the authority of Jewish law and tradition while ...
Jewish Theological Seminary
(JTS).The educational centre of Conservative Judaism. The Jewish Theological Seminary was founded in New York in 1887. Today the Seminary trains rabbis, cantors, teachers, and synagogue ...
Kaddish
An ancient Jewish prayer sequence regularly recited in the synagogue service, including thanksgiving and praise and concluding with a prayer for universal peace; a form of this prayer sequence ...
Louis Finkelstein
(1895–1991).US Conservative rabbi. As president (1940–51) of the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Rabbinical Assembly, his was the most prominent voice in the Conservative movement of his time. He ...
Marriage and Divorce
Marriage is the union between at least two people (in polygamy and polyandry it may be more), in which commitment is made and responsibility undertaken. It is recognized and controlled ...
Mitzvah
(Heb., ‘commandment’).Jewish commandment, ritual duty, or good deed. The rabbis categorized the mitzvot (pl.) into mitzvot de-oraita (‘the biblical commandments’) and the mitzvot de-rabbanan (‘the ...
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan
(1881–1983), U.S. rabbi; founder of Reconstructionism. The son of an Orthodox rabbi, Kaplan, who arrived with his family in the United States at age nine, was ordained at the Jewish ...
Mount Sinai
A mountain in the south of the Sinai peninsula in NE Egypt, the place, according to the Bible, where Moses received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19–34).
Progressive Judaism
A collective term to refer to non-Orthodox movements within Judaism. Although usually applied to Reform or Liberal Judaism, it may sometimes be used to include the very different Conservative and ...
Rabbinical Assembly
The rabbinical arm of the Conservative movement (see Conservative Judaism). Organized in 1901, it has approximately sixteen hundred members, about two-thirds of whom are graduates of the Jewish ...
Rabbinical seminaries
Seminaries for the training of Jewish rabbis. Traditionally, rabbis were trained in yeshivot, but under the influence of the Haskalah, it was felt that the old Talmudic curriculum was not ...
Reconstructionism
The American movement, with branches elsewhere, founded by Mordecai Kaplan with a view to revitalizing Judaism in the modern world. The central idea of Reconstructionism is that Judaism is more than ...
Reform Judaism
The religious movement which arose in early nineteenth-century Germany with the aim of reinterpreting (or ‘reforming’) Judaism in the light of Western thought, values, and culture where such a ...
Solomon Schechter
Scholar, theologian, leading thinker of Conservative Judaism (1847–1915). Schechter was born in Fascani, Romania. His father, a Habad Hasid, was a shoḥet (see SHEHITAH), hence the family name, ...
