TallitA tallit is a fringed garment worn as a prayer shawl by religious Jews. The tallit has special twined and knotted fringes known as tzitzit attached to its four corners. The cloth part is known as the beged ("garment") and is usually made from wool or cotton, although silk is sometimes used for a tallit gadol. The term is, to an extent, ambiguous. It can refer either to the tallit katan ("small tallit") item that can be worn over or under clothing and commonly referred to as "tzitzit", or to the tallit gadol ("big tallit") Jewish prayer shawl worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers (Shacharit) and worn during all prayers on Yom Kippur.
Shema YisraelShema Yisrael (Shema Israel or Sh'ma Yisrael; שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl, "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Its first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: YHVH is our God, YHVH is one" (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃), found in .
TzitzitTzitzit ( ṣīṣīṯ, tsiˈtsit; plural ṣīṣiyyōṯ, Ashkenazi: ; and Samaritan: ) are specially knotted ritual fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and today by observant Jews and Samaritans. are usually attached to the four corners of the tallit gadol (prayer shawl), usually referred to simply as a or ; and tallit katan (everyday undershirt). Through synecdoche, a may be referred to as . The word may derive from the Hebrew root [n-ts-h]. shares this root with the Hebrew for 'lock of hair'.
TefillinTefillin (ˈtfɪlᵻn; Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazic pronunciation: tfiˈlin), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Tefillin are worn by adult Jews during weekday morning prayers. In Orthodox and traditional communities, they are worn solely by men, while some Reform and Conservative (Masorti) communities allow them to be worn by any gender. In Jewish Law (halacha), women are exempt from most time-dependent positive commandments, which include tefillin.
Sephardic JewsSephardic or Sephardi Jews (יהדות ספרד, ; Djudíos Sefardíes), also Sephardim or Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the Iberian Peninsula. The term, which is derived from the Hebrew Sepharad (Spain), can also refer to the Mizrahi Jews of Western Asia and North Africa, who were also influenced by Sephardic law and customs. Many Iberian Jewish exiles also later sought refuge in Mizrahi Jewish communities, resulting in integration with those communities.
ExilarchThe exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Persian Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) during the era of the Parthians, Sasanians and Abbasid Caliphate up until the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258 CE, with intermittent gaps due to ongoing political developments. The exilarch was regarded by the Jewish community as the royal heir of the House of David and held a place of prominence as both a rabbinical authority and as a noble within the Persian court.
