The artistic avoidance of visual depictions of living beings, like animals and humans. Aniconism is particularly prevalent in Islam, but has also been the norm at various points in Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism.
Aramaic
A Northwest Semitic language, akin to Hebrew, that became the lingua franca of the entire Near Eastern region in the middle of the first millennium BCE. Its Aramaic script was adapted as the alphabet for Hebrew.
Ark
Broadly speaking, a chest or receptacle that contained something special (e.g. Noah’s ark or the Ark of the Covenant). In post-biblical Judaism, arks are ornamental boxes or closets that contain a synagogue’s Torah scrolls.
Ashkenaz
The region of Jewish communities that developed in central and eastern Europe.
Canon / canonical
The canon of a religion is the set of texts that it considers to be authentic scripture. Thus, canonical books are books that the religion accepts as authoritative, such as the books of the Tanakh in Judaism.
Cantillation marks (te’amim/טעמים)
A set of markings, written above and below the Hebrew letters, that indicate how the biblical text would be sung or spoken during worship. These markings generally follow the grammatical syntax of each verse.
Carpet page
Inserted at the front and/or back of Bibles like the Leningrad Codex, carpet pages are elaborately decorated pages whose geometric and colorful patterns are reminiscent of “oriental” carpets.
Codex
A book consisting of multiple pages bound together, as contrasted with a scroll. Virtually all modern books are codices, but the form was first popularized by early Christianity. Plural
Colophon
A statement, traditionally at the end of a text, with information about its physical publication.
Dead Sea Scrolls
A cache of nearly 900 scrolls discovered in Israel in 1947, in caves near the Dead Sea. The scrolls contain numerous Jewish biblical manuscripts, as well as many sectarian and other non-biblical texts. As most substantial surviving library of ancient biblical manuscripts, it represents an extremely significant source of knowledge about early scribal practices and textual traditions.
Decalogue
The Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, according to the Pentateuch.
Expulsion (Spanish Expulsion, Expulsion of the Jews)
In 1492, the Catholic monarchs of Spain passed the Alhambra Decree, which decreed that all practicing Jews had to leave the country. Most moved elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin (Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc.), causing an eastward shift of Sephardic culture.
Halakhah (הלכה)
The collection of Jewish laws derived from both written and oral Torah.
Halakhic
Associated with correct Jewish law.
Ḥumash (חומש)
Originally, one of the five books of the Torah, which were written in separate scrolls and kept together in a container. Today, it refers to the Torah printed as a codex (i.e. a book, as opposed to a scroll).
Incunables
Books printed in Europe prior to 1500, i.e. in the earliest stage of printing.
Karaites
Karaism was a major schismatic movement in early medieval Judaism. The Karaites rejected the authority of the Oral Torah and rabbinic tradition, instead focusing solely on the biblical text. Today, there are about 50,000 Karaite Jews, residing mainly in Israel.
Keter Aram Tzova
“The Crown of Aleppo,” i.e. the Aleppo Codex. Sometimes simply called the “Crown/Keter.”
Kosher (כשר)
Acceptable within Jewish law. Originally, “kosher” referred to kashrut, the Jewish system of dietary laws; however, it can be used more broadly, e.g. to describe correctly prepared Torah scrolls.
Kuntras
A Jewish biblical commentary that does not contain the biblical text itself.
Masorah (מסורה)
A collection of notes about the biblical text, gathered by the Masoretes and written in the margins around the biblical text.
Masorah gedolah (masorah magna)
The “long Masorah”; these longer notes were written at the bottom and top of the biblical text. They elaborate on the brief information in the masorah parva.
Masorah qetanah (masorah parva)
The “short Masorah”; these notes, generally just a single letter, were written along the sides of the biblical text. They often note word frequencies and alternate readings.
Masoretes
The Masoretes were Jewish scribes active between the 7th and 10th century. In addition to writing the Masorah, they established rigorous copying techniques that recorded vowels and cantillation marks in addition to the basic biblical text.
Megillah (מגילה)
A scroll (as in Megillat Esther, the scroll of the book of Esther).
Menorah (מנורה)
The seven-branched candelabra prominent in the Jerusalem Temple, which became a symbol of Judaism more generally. Hanukkiahs, the nine-branched candelabras used for Hanukkah celebrations, are sometimes also called menorahs.
Micrography
Miniature writing. Medieval Jewish Bibles often used micrography to turn the Masorah into art in the form of geometric patterns, floral and vegetal arrangements, animals, people, and more. Unlike some micrography in other cultures, Jewish micrography tended to use words to form the outline of the images, rather than their body.
Midrash (מדרש)
At its simplest, midrash is a mode of biblical interpretation employed by Jewish scholars in which the full possibilities of the text are elaborated upon. Midrashic writing often constructs explanations and stories to address missing or problematic details, or to address contemporary questions. With a capital “M,” Midrash can refer to the specific collection of midrashic writings composed by rabbis from the fifth to the twelfth centuries.
Mishnah (משנה)
The foundational document of early rabbinic Judaism, edited in the early third century CE. The Mishnah contains laws and other commentary on the Torah.
Mitzvah (מצוה)
Either one of the commandments ordained by God for Jews, or an act done in order to fulfill one of those commandments.
Mudejar
Muslims who remained in Spain and Portugal after the Christian conquest.
Nikkud (נקוד)
The system of markings (dots and short lines) written around Hebrew letters that guide readers’ pronunciation, providing vowels and other information. They were developed by the Masoretes and are not present in ancient Hebrew texts.
Oral Law
A set of laws that, according to Jewish tradition, were transmitted orally to Moses by God. They were passed down orally and eventually written down in the Talmud and other Jewish texts. Contrasted with the Written Law, i.e. the Torah scroll.
Orthography
The way that a language is written down, including aspects like spelling and punctuation. Orthography often helps scholars to narrow down the time and place of a manuscript.
Paleo-Hebrew
The original script used for Hebrew, closely related to the Phoenician alphabet. Also called archaic Hebrew.
Papyrus
A plant-based material, similar to paper, that was a primary writing surface in ancient Israel, Egypt, and beyond.
Paratexts
Texts that surround the main text, but are not part of it (e.g. titles, dedications, chapter headings, and book covers).
Paratextual markings
Marks on the document (such as dots or brackets) that are not part of the main text; they supplement the text with additional information.
Pentateuch
The Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) that comprise the first part of the BIble. Also called the Torah.
Peshat (פשט)
In contrast to midrash, peshat is a mode of Jewish interpretation that focuses on the “plain sense” of the biblical text, as it was originally intended.
Polysemy
The presence of multiple explanations for a single feature or verse. Polysemous passages have more than one “correct” meaning and can be interpreted in many ways, even when those ways apparently contradict each other.
Puncta extraordinaria
A set of ten dots (or nekudot) that appear over letters in the Torah. These dots may have originally indicated cancellation of the letters under them.
Qumran
An ancient Jewish settlement near the Dead Sea, close to the main caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. It was populated from around 100 BCE to around 68 CE.
Rashi
A renowned French rabbi (1040–1105) whose commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud were highly influential.
Rotulus
A vertical scroll with lines written across its width.
Sefarad
The region of Jewish communities that developed in Spain, Portugal, North Africa, and southern France. (Adjective
Sefer (ספר)
The modern Hebrew word for “book”; in Biblical Hebrew, sefer can refer to any type of written communication, ranging from a letter to a scroll.
Sefer Torah (ספר תורה)
The Torah scroll, i.e. the book containing the Torah.
Septuagint
The Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (and a few other contemporaneous texts), translated by Jews in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.
Shema (שׁמע)
A key Jewish prayer whose first verse comes Deuteronomy 6
Song of the Sea
Another name for Exodus 15, an archaic song of victory over the Egyptians at the Red Sea. In Torah scrolls, the Song of the Sea is written in a spaced-out style called “brickwork.”
Synagogue
A Jewish building used for worship, scripture reading, prayer, and other religious activity. Synagogues became central to Jewish religious life after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), but they had existed in Jewish communities for centuries prior.
Tallit (טלית)
A large piece of fabric with special fringes at the corners, worn as a prayer shawl by many Jews.
Talmud (תלמוד)
The encyclopaedic collection of laws that was the foundation for Judaism from the early Medieval period. There are two versions of the Talmud
Tanakh (תנך)
The Jewish Bible. An acronym for the Hebrew Bible’s three main sections, Torah (the Pentateuch), Nev’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings).
Targum (תרגום)
An Aramaic version of the Hebrew Bible that enabled Aramaic-speaking Jews to understand their scripture. The targums preserve early Jewish interpretations of scripture, as they frequently explain the text as well as translating it.
The Binding of Isaac (Aqedah/עקידה)
A name for the story of Genesis 22. In this tale, which is central to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son. (In Jewish and Christian traditions, the son is Isaac; in most Muslim traditions, the son is Ishmael.) Before Abraham can actually kill his son, God provides a ram to sacrifice instead.
Tik (תיק)
A wooden container used to hold Torah scrolls.
Torah (תורה)
The Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) that comprise the first part of the BIble. Also called the Pentateuch. “Torah” originally meant “Law,” and it sometimes refers to “the Law” more broadly, from the whole Jewish Bible to the entirety of Jewish teachings and practices.
Versocentric (atomistic)
An approach to reading the biblical text that interprets each verse as an individual, self-contained unit, rather than reading it in the context of the verses around it.
Zionism
A movement that emerged (in its modern form) in the late 19th century, advocating for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the region of the historical state of Israel.
