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RELI 1001 - Exam 1 Key words
Keywords
117
Religious Studies
Not Applicable
09/04/2025

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Term
Diaspora
Definition
dispersion of people, in this class specifically Jewish people.
Term
Assyrian and Babylonian Captives
Definition
Assyrian Captivity - Assyrian conquest of Israel (722-720BCE)

Babylonian Captivity - Babylonian Conquest of Jerusalem (~598 BCE)
Term
Achaemenid Empire
Definition
First Persian Empire, Conquered Babylon in 539 BCE by Cyrus
Term
Second Temple Jerusalem
Definition
Began after 538BCE with restoration of Jerusalem and the building of the second temple.
Term
Decree of Cyrus
Definition
proclomation, by Cyrus, that the Lord had appointed him to build a temple in Jerusalem.
Term
Deutero-Isaiah
Definition
Second Isaiah, in these texts Cyrus is presented as an agent of god (possible "Persian Propoganda")
Term
Cyrus Cylinder
Definition
artifact which describes how Marduk, impressed with Cyrus's character, ordered him into Babylon - which he entered without a fight and saved from hardship.
Term
Zoroastrianism
Definition
prominent religion in the Achaemenid Empire. characterized by dualist cosmology of good and evil.
Term
Ahura Mazda
Definition
supreme deity of Zoroastrianism
Term
Elephantine Papyri
Definition
papyri leaves (which were used to write on) found on the islan of Elephantine containing writings from Jewish mercenaries stationed there.
Term
Imperial Aramaic
Definition
lingua franca of the Achaemenid and preceeding empires. Language written on many elephantine papyri
Term
Lingua franca
Definition
common language used by people with different mother tongues
Term
Passover
Definition
observance detailed in the "passover Papyrus" from Elephantine. A jewish pilgrimage festival celebrating the liberation of Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.
Term
Yehud Medinata
Definition
a province of the Achaemenid empire, largely autonomous, which under Cyrus was rebuilt as a Jewish homeland.
Term
Sukkot
Definition
holiday serving as both a harvest festival and as a commemoration of the 40 years the Isrealites wandered the desert after their Exodus from Egypt.
Term
Alexander the Great
Definition
conqueror of the Achaemenid Empire and founder of Alexendria in Egypt (and its subsequent library). After he died his kingdom was split amongst his generals
Term
Hellenism
Definition
dissemination of Greek culture
Term
Koine Greek
Definition
lingua franca during the Hellenistic period, replacing aramaic as the language of governance
Term
Ptolemic Egypt
Definition
Judah was ruled by the Ptolemaic kingdom until 200BC, first historical evidence of synagogues appear here in 3rd century BCE
Term
Seleucid Kingdom
Definition
replaced Ptolemaic kingdom's rule after 200 BCE after its conquest by Antiochus III
Term
Philo of Alexandria
Definition
Hellenized Jewish philosopher known for synthesizing Jewish teachings with Greek philosophy.
Term
Allegorical Interpretation
Definition
representation where one thing "stands for" something else
Term
Septuagint
Definition
earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (legend describes the 72 elders coming to translate the Torah & all arriving at the same translation)
Term
Dead Sea Scrolls
Definition
manuscripts found in 1940s + 1950s in Qumran Caves. Represent oldest extant biblical manuscripts and include all books except Esther.
Term
Samaritans
Definition
small ethnoreligious group of the Levant; consider themselves the true Israelites. animosity between Jews and Samaritans
Term
Maccabean Revolt
Definition
war between the Jews of Judea and their Seleucid empire, it resulted in autonomous Jewish rule under the Hasmonean Kingdom (1 and 2 Maccabees)
Term
Hasmonean Dynasty
Definition
period of autonomous Jewish rule (140-37 BCE); ended when the romans took de facto rule of Judea
Term
Hanukkah
Definition
Jewish Festival that commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple following the Maccabean Revolt
Term
Archaelogy
Definition
study of past objects
Term
Philology
Definition
study of the past through texts, how they were written, what they were written on, style, context, etc.
Term
Canaan
Definition
area defined in historical literature encompassing all of Palestine and Syria and other areas, identified as the land promised to the Israelites by God
Term
Merneptah Stele
Definition
giant stone slab; earliest independent historical evidence of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah
Term
Cuneiform
Definition
type of writing system, done by pressing into soft clay tablets leaving wedge-shaped impressions
Term
Ugaritic texts
Definition
texts discovered in 1920s during excavations at Ugarit in Syria, contains epic poems most famous of which is the Baal Cylce
Term
Monotheism
Definition
belief that "there is only one God"
Term
Monolatry
Definition
belief that "many different gods exist, but we only worship one of them"
Term
Babylonian Captivity
Definition
period around ~ 598 BCE after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem - imperial policy of population resettlement
Term
Tanakh
Definition
Hebrew Bible
Term
Torah
Definition
First five books of the Hebrew Bible
Term
Pentateuch
Definition
Greek word for "five scrolls" - first five books of the Hebrew Bible as translated in its entirety in Koine Greek
Term
Mosaic Authorship
Definition
traditional ascription of the authorship of the Torah to Moses
Term
Documentary Hypothesis
Definition
proposition that the first five books of the Torah were compilations and edits from four different sources (J, E, D, and P)
Term
Herod's Temple
Definition
Temple in Jerusalem that King Herod rebuilt and expanded during his reign
Term
Sanhedrin
Definition
ruling counsel in Jerusalem over which King Herod kept control when the Romans intervened in Judean affairs in 63 BC
Term
Three Pilgrimage festivals
Definition
(Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot)
Term
Zealot
Definition
Jewish political movement in Judea during First Jewish Roman War; "zeal" for God and passionate opposition to Roman rule
Term
Rabbi
Definition
"my master" term of respect for sages and learned scholars of Jewish law/ tradition
Term
Aniconism
Definition
practice of avoiding or prohibiting the use of images or icons of deities (rooted in belief that the divine cannot be represented in physical form)
Term
Rabbinic Judaism
Definition
form of Judaism formed in the wake of the Second Temple's destruction and was led by rabbis
Term
Mishnah
Definition
foundational text of rabbinic Judaism, compilation of legal traditions attributed to sages after the Second Temple destruction
Term
Halakha
Definition
collective body of Jewish religious law derived from the Torah and rabbinic tradition
Term
Midrash
Definition
rabbinic commentaries on the Torah
Term
Talmud
Definition
commentary on the Mishnah, drawn from oral tradition.
Term
Targum
Definition
Aramaic traditions of the Hebrew Bible
Term
Babylonian Academies
Definition
hierarchical academies where Babylonian rabbinic activity was more organized.
Term
Masoretes
Definition
group of scribes based in Tiberias who established an authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible
Term
Masoretic Text
Definition
authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible established by the Masoretes
Term
Pact of Umar
Definition
writing of Christians of a city to Umar, massively restricting the future of their religion in the city and their overall presence/ representation
Term
Dhimmi
Definition
"Protected person" - religious minority in an Islamic state
Term
Karaites
Definition
Jewish movement that emerged in 8th C., believe that the law can only be derived from the Tanakh.
Term
Al-Andalus
Definition
Arabic name for Muslim Spain, became a center of Jewish culture in the 10th and 11th century as Babylon declined in importance.
Term
Aristotelianism
Definition
"Scholasticism and rational theology, based on deductive logic;" influenced Maimonides
Term
Kabbalah
Definition
mystical thought which posits that existence emirates from a pure "first principle"
Term
Sephardi
Definition
Jews descended from families from medieval Spain; first to be granted political equality in France during French revolution
Term
Ashkenazi
Definition
medieval Jews within Northern Europe and Germany
Term
Ghetto
Definition
a Jewish quarter. Place where Jews were restricted to live, mostly in Northern Europe in Middle Ages
Term
Reconquista
Definition
centuries long period in which Christian kingdoms in medieval Spain and Portugal sought to recapture the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule
Term
Alhambra Decree
Definition
order of expulsion (in 1942) of all Jews from the Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon
Term
Pogrom
Definition
antisemitic violence and expulsions
Term
Blood libel
Definition
claim that Jews abducted children and used their blood in religious rituals
Term
Converso
Definition
Jewish person in Spain/ Portugal who converted to Catholicism
Term
Humanism
Definition
intellectual movement where Christian scholars turned to the study of Hebrew
Term
Shabbati Zvi
Definition
figure of the Ottoman empire who was revealed as the Messiah by Nathan of Gaza; arrested and forced to convert to Islam in front of the Ottoman Sultan
Term
Dönme
Definition
followers of Shabbati Zvi who converted to Islam with him
Term
Enlightenment
Definition
intellectual movement that took place in the 17th + 18th c. focused on reason and human progress
Term
Haskalah
Definition
Jewish Enlightenment, intellectual movement influenced by the broader enlightenment
Term
Maskilim
Definition
followers of the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment)
Term
Moses Mendelssohn
Definition
prominent Jewish writer, important figure in Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment)
Term
Hasidism
Definition
charismatic religious revival based on mystical teachings and practices of an elite group of Torah Scholars - catalyzed by death of Ba'al Shem Tov
Term
Ba'al Shem Tov
Definition
"Master of the name" associated with the emergence of Hasidism
Term
Grand Sanhedrin
Definition
assembly of Jewish Notables convened by Napolean who posed specific questions regarding their practices, law and loyalty to the state.
Term
Wissenschaft des Judentums
Definition
"Scientific study of Judaism"
Term
Reform Judaism
Definition
reform movement that aimed to reconcile Judaism with modern sensibilities and Enlightenment universalism
Term
Mechitza
Definition
barrier separating men and women in synagogues, removed as part of Reform Judaism
Term
Progressive Revelation
Definition
concept of reform Judaism which asserts that God reveals his will through reason (implying that earlier Jewish Law may no longer be binding)
Term
Orthodox Judaism
Definition
embraces modernity while respecting the traditional Jewish Law.
Term
Derekh eretz
Definition
"way of the land" describes ways of earning a livelihood and maintaining the social order.
Term
anti-Semitism
Definition
belief/ actions which imagine Jews as a "physiologically and psychologically distinct race;" often as "seeking to control the world."
Term
anti-Judaism
Definition
prejudice, discrimination and hostility directed against Jews and Jewish religion
Term
Pale of Settlement
Definition
area within Russian empire where Jews were permitted to live
Term
pogrom
Definition
instances of anti-Jewish violence in Russia (often because Jewish people are blamed for the world's problems, Black Death, assassination Tsar Alexander II)
Term
Yiddish
Definition
Germanic language with Hebrew elements spoken by Jews in the Russian pale of Settlement
Term
Prototocols of the Elders of Zion
Definition
antisemitic forgery that purports to be the minutes of a meeting of Jewish leaders plotting world domination - most likely propaganda.
Term
Dreyfus Affair
Definition
Dreyfus, a French-Jewish officer was wrongly convicted of passing military secrets to Germany
Term
Zionism
Definition
advocacy for a Jewish Homeland
Term
Hibbat Zion
Definition
"Love of Zion" movement founded in 1881 in response to anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia
Term
Assimilation
Definition
process by which a person or a group from a minority culture gradually adopts the customs, values and practices of the dominant culture
Term
nuremberg laws
Definition
legislation passed in 1935 in Nazi Germany which forbade intermarriage, revoked Jewish citizenship and defined who counted as Jewish
Term
Krisstallnacht
Definition
"Night of Broken glass" anti-Jewish pogroms in Germany 1938
Term
Shoah
Definition
refers to the Holocaust, the systematic examination of Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe
Term
Balfour Declaration
Definition
1917 announcement of british support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine
Term
Mizrahi
Definition
large scale migration of Jews from the Muslim world following the First Arab Israeli War in 1948
Term
Shema
Definition
affirmation of God's singularity, centerpiece of morning and evening prayer; customary to cover one's eye's while reciting Shema
Term
Pesach
Definition
(Passover/ Feast of Unleavened Bread) festival commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
Term
Seder
Definition
ritual meal that is part of Passover and commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
Term
Haggadah
Definition
text read during the Seder
Term
Shavuot
Definition
"weeks" festival which occurs 7 weeks after the start of Passover. celebrates first grain harvest and commemorates the revelation of the Torah on Mt. Sinai
Term
Sukkot
Definition
festival commemorating the wandering of the Israelites in the desert. During this people build sukkah, a hut with a thatched roof.
Term
Kashrut/Kosher
Definition
Jewish dietary law, food which meets the standard is called kosher - restricts certain types of food, animal slaughtered by unacceptable methods and mixing certain foods
Term
Shabbat
Definition
day of rest on the seventh day of the week, begins on Friday until nightfall on Saturday
Term
39 Melakhot
Definition
forms of work prohibited on the Sabbath
Term
Bris
Definition
circumcision, ceremoniously performed on the 8th day of birth
Term
Bar Mitzvah/ Bat Mitzvah
Definition
rite of passage making a person's entrance into religious adulthood and responsibility to uphold the Torah's commandments
Term
Aliyah
Definition
"being called up to the Torah to read, often as part of a Bar Mitzvah"
Term
High Holidays
Definition
10 day period of repentance that occur between Jewish New year and Yom Kippur.
Term
Shofar
Definition
ram's horn which serves as a "wake up call" during the High Holidays
Term
Tashlikh
Definition
an atonement ritual performed at a body of natural, flowing water.
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