MaggidA maggid (מַגִּיד), also spelled as magid, is a traditional Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a darshan (). The title of maggid mesharim ('a preacher of uprightness'; abbreviated ) probably dates from the sixteenth century. There have long been two distinct classes of leaders in Israel—the scholar and rabbi, and the preacher or maggid.
Yiddish literatureYiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Europe, is evident in its literature. It is generally described as having three historical phases: Old Yiddish literature; Haskalah and Hasidic literature; and modern Yiddish literature.
Jewish mythologyJewish mythology is the body of myths associated with Judaism. Elements of Jewish mythology have had a profound influence on Christian mythology and on Islamic mythology, as well as on Abrahamic culture in general. Christian mythology directly inherited many of the narratives from the Jewish people, sharing in common the narratives from the Old Testament. Islamic mythology also shares many of the same stories; for instance, a creation-account spaced out over six periods, the legend of Abraham, the stories of Moses and the Israelites, and many more.
Jewish studiesJewish studies (or Judaic studies; madey ha-yahadut) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, Oriental studies, religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages (Jewish languages), political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies. Jewish studies as a distinct field is mainly present at colleges and universities in North America.
Abraham ben DavidAbraham ben David (1125 – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for Rabbeinu Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal rabbi, an important commentator on the Talmud, Sefer Halachot of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi (known by the abbreviation RIF) and Mishne Torah of Maimonides, and is regarded as a father of Kabbalah and one of the key links in the chain of Jewish mystics. RABaD's maternal grandfather, Rabbi Yitzhak b.
Wissenschaft des Judentums"Wissenschaft des Judentums" (literally in German the expression means "Science of Judaism"; more recently in the United States it started to be rendered as "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies," a wide academic field of inquiry in American universities) refers to a nineteenth-century movement premised on the critical investigation of Jewish literature and culture, including rabbinic literature, to analyze the origins of Jewish traditions.
Religious syncretismReligious syncretism is the blending of religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation of other beliefs into a religious tradition. This can occur for many reasons, where religious traditions exist in proximity to each other, or when a culture is conquered and the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in eradicating older beliefs and practices.
Bahya ben AsherBahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (, 1255–1340) was a rabbi and scholar of Judaism, best known as a commentator on the Hebrew Bible. He is one of two scholars now referred to as Rabbeinu Behaye, the other being philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda. Bahya was a pupil of Rabbi Shlomo ibn Aderet (the Rashba). Unlike the latter, Bahya did not publish a Talmud commentary; he is, however, considered by Jewish scholars to be one of the most distinguished of the biblical exegetes of Spain.
TzimtzumThe tzimtzum or tsimtsum (Hebrew: צמצום ṣimṣum "contraction/constriction/condensation") is a term used in the Lurianic Kabbalah to explain Isaac Luria's doctrine that God began the process of creation by "contracting" his Ohr Ein Sof (infinite light) in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which finite and seemingly independent realms could exist. This primordial initial contraction, forming a ḥalal hapanuy "vacant space" () into which new creative light could beam, is denoted by general reference to the tzimtzum.
GilgulGilgul (also Gilgul neshamot or Gilgulei HaNeshamot; Heb. , Plural: Gilgulim) is a concept of reincarnation or "transmigration of souls" in Kabbalistic esoteric mysticism. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" or "wheel" and neshamot is the plural for "souls." Souls are seen to cycle through lives or incarnations, being attached to different human bodies over time. Which body they associate with depends on their particular task in the physical world, spiritual levels of the bodies of predecessors and so on.
