Glossary

Al m’nas livnos – for the purpose of building.

Array – temporary.

Avid v’kay – already made.

Av – lit. father.  Main category of melacha.

B’karka – in (with) the ground.

B’kaylim – in (with) vessels.

Beis Hillel – a school of learning from the time of the mishna.

Beis Shammai – a school of learning from the time of the mishna.

Binyan – building.  One of the 39 melachos.

Borer – separating.  One of the 39 melachos.

Chayav­ – lit. obligated.  A biblical prohibition.  If one does this by accident, one has to bring a chatas offering.  If it is done intentionally in front of witnesses, one is stoned to death.

Chazon Ish – great rabbi who lived in the early twentieth century.

Choleh sh’ayn bo sakanah – an ill person.

Choleh sh’yesh bo sakana – someone deathly ill.

D’rabanan – from the rabbis of the Talmudic period.

D’oraysa – Biblically.

Gemara – the second part of the oral law to be written down.  Explains and expands upon the mishna.

Hilchos (halacha sing.) – the laws of.

Issur – prohibition.

Lavud – a halachic principle in which we consider gaps of less than three tefachim to be closed.

Maka b’patish – finishing touch to something.  One of the 39 melachos.

Melma’aleh lemateh – from top down.

Mishna – the first time the oral torah was written down, about 150 C.E.  It was written in a very terse and unclear manner, only understandable with the gemara.

Mishnah Brurah – a much accepted work on the Shulchan Aruch written by the Chofetz Chaim (Rav Yisoel Meir HaKohen Kagan) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Melacha (melachos pl.) – category of work prohibited on shabbos.  There are 39.

Mosif al ohel array - making a temporary addition to an already existing ohel.

Ohel – lit. tent.  Creating tents is one of the toldas or binyan.

Patur – lit. exempt.  A rabbinic prohibition.  There is no punishment for a violation.

Poskim – those that rule on Jewish law.

Rambam – an early Rishon.  (Maimonides)

Ramban – an early Rishon.  (Nachmonides)

Rashi – an early Rishon.  The most basic commentator on the Talmud.

Ran – a late Rishon.

Rema – the notes on Shulchan Aruch that quote the German and Eastern-European customs.  Written by Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the Rabbi of Crakow.

Rishonim (Rishon sing.) – aarly commentaries on the Talmud from about 1000 C.E. until about 1500 C.E.

Shabbos – the Sabbath (from Friday sunset until Saturday at nightfall).

Shinui – an unusual way of performing a prohibited act.  It downgrades a Biblical prohibition to a Rabbinic one, but a Rabbinic one is still prohibited.

Shulchan Aruch – Code of Jewish law.  Written by Rabbi Yosef Cairo in the early sixteenth century.

Sosair – destroying.  One of the 39 melachos.

Stira – See sosair.

Sugya – the relevant sources in the gemara and its commentaries.

Talis – prayer-shawl.

Taz – Turei Zahav.  A commentary on all four sections of Shulchan Aruch.

Tefach (tefachim pl.) – biblical and Talmudic measure.  Between 8 and 9.67 cm.

Toldah – subcategory of one of the melachos.  Also prohibited d’Oraysa.

Tosfos – a group of early rishonim many of whom were grandsons of Rashi.