Glossary
- Aaron
- Brother of Moses, chosen as Moses' interlocutor. Synonyms: Aharon
- Abba
- Father
- Abigail
- One of David's wives and a prophetess, known for her cleverness and beauty. Synonyms: Avigail
- Abraham
- Abraham is the first patriarch and the father of the Jewish people. God's covenant - that we will be a great people and inherit the land of Israel - begins with Abraham and is marked by his circumcision, the first in Jewish history. Synonyms: Avraham
- Adam
- Symbolizes: Creation, humankind. According to the book of Genesis, Adam is the first human being created by God.
- Afikomen
- The broken half of the middle matzah, hidden by the leader of the seder and ransomed back by the children. The seder meal cannot be completed without the return and eating of the afikomen.
- Agunah
- Traditionally, only a Jewish man can initiate divorce proceedings. Hence an agunah is a woman whose husband has refused her a divorce. She is unable to remarry, though he is permitted to, and any future children she had would be considered mamzerim (a legal category of persons who may not marry except among themselves).
- Al Chet
- ''For the sin ...'' – the litany of sins for which we ask forgiveness during Yom Kippur services. Synonyms: Al Het
- Aleynu
- Prayer proclaiming God’s kingship, said near the conclusion of the prayer service. Synonyms: Aleinu
- Aliyah
- lit., ascending; refers to being called up to recite the blessing before and after a Torah reading. Also, a term used upon moving to Israel (i.e., making aliyah)
- Amidah
- lit., standing; one of the central prayers of the Jewish prayer service, recited silently, while standing.
- Aron Kodesh
- lit. holy ark. The ark or cabinet in which the scrolls of the Torah are kept. Often, an aron kodesh is richly decorated. Synonyms: Aron haKodesh
- Asarah b'Tevet
- Asarah b'Tevet or the Fast of Tevet falls on the tenth day of Tevet. This public fast marks the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Some also mark this as a memorial day for the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust.
- Ashkenazi
- Jew of Northern European descent.