Kintama
Testicles (Jap.)
Kippah
Skullcap (Heb.)
Kol Nidre
Prayer sung by Jews at the opening of the Day of Atonement service on the eve of Yom Kippur; lit. “All Vows” (Aram.)
Kotel
The Western Wall, or Wailing Wall; remains of Herod’s Temple (Heb.)
Levanta
Lifting of the Torah Scroll (Ladino)
Madei Aleph
Off-duty uniform (Heb.)
Makhtesh
Erosion crater typical of the Negev in Israel and the Sinai in Egypt (Heb.)
Mamzer
Bastard (Heb.)
Mene mene tekel upharsin
From the Bible: The words that appeared on the wall during Belshazzar’s Feast, interpreted by the prophet Daniel to mean that God had doomed the kingdom of Belshazzar; lit. numbered, numbered, weighed, divided (Aram.)
Mensch
A person of integrity (Yid.)
Meshuga
Crazy (Heb.)
Metumtam
Moron (Heb.)
Mezuzah
A parchment inscribed with biblical texts and attached in a case to the doorposts of a Jewish home as a sign of faith (Heb.)
Mi casa es su casa
My home is your home (Span.)
Mikveh
A bath used for ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity (Heb.)
Mijwiz
A double-pipe, single-reed woodwind instrument (Arab.)
Mincha
Afternoon prayer service (Heb.)
Minyan
A quorum of ten adult males required for traditional Jewish public worship (Heb.)
Mitzvah; Mitzvot
Commandment (Heb.)
Motek
Sweetie (Heb.)
Nadsat
A fictional argot used by the teenagers in Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
Central mantra of Nichiren Buddhism
Nargileh
Water pipe (Turk.)
Neko
Cat (Jap.)
Omeko
Vagina (Jap.)
Otanjoubi Omedetou
A popular birthday song (Jap.)
Oud
A Middle Eastern lute or mandolin (Arab.)
Ptitsa
Chick (Nadsat)
Riqq
A Middle Eastern tambourine (Heb.)
Rosh Hashanah
The Jewish New Year; lit. Head of the Year (Heb.)
Saba
Grandfather (Heb.)
Sababa
Cool (Arab.)
Sarong
A garment consisting of a long piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body and tucked at the waist, traditionally worn by men in Southeast Asia (Mal.)
Savta
Grandmother (Heb.)
Shacharit
Morning prayers (Heb.)
Shabbat
The Sabbath (Heb.)
Sheli
Belonging to me; mine (Heb.)
Shema
Prayer that serves as a centrepiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. It is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, and for parents to teach their children to say it before they go to sleep at night. (Heb.)
Sherut
Shared taxi (Heb.)
Shofar
Ram’s horn (Heb.)
Shtiebels
Place used for communal Jewish prayer; lit. little room (Yid.)
Shuk
Marketplace (Arab.)
Tallit
Prayer shawl (Heb.)
Tallit Katan
Small prayer shawl worn under the clothing (Heb.)
Talmud
Primary source of Jewish religious law and theology. (Heb.)
Tefillin
A set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with biblical verses. They are worn by observant adult Jews during weekday morning prayers. (Heb.)
Tel
In archaeology, an artificial mound formed from the accumulated refuse of people living on the same site for hundreds or thousands of years. (Heb.)
Torah
The first five books of the Bible (Heb.)
Yad
A ritual pointer in the shape of a hand used for reading a Torah scroll (Heb.)
Yalla
Let’s go (Arab.)
Yarbles
Testicles (Nadsat)
Yeshiva; Yeshivot
An Orthodox Jewish college or seminary (Heb.)
Yom Kippur
The most solemn religious fast of the liturgical calendar; lit. Day of Atonement (Heb.)
Za’atar
A Middle Eastern condiment made from dried hyssop leaves, mixed with sesame seeds, dried sumac, and often salt as well as other spices. (Arab.)
About the Author
Orlando Ortega-Medina studied English Literature at UCLA and has a law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. At university, he won The National Society of Arts and Letters award for Short Stories. His collection Jerusalem Ablaze: Stories of Love and Other Obsessions was shortlisted for the UK’s Polari First Book Prize 2017. Ortega-Medina splits his time between the United Kingdom and Israel.
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