LIPMANESQUE! -- A VERY INTERACTIVE POST (CLICK YOURSELF!)

Fellow-blogger Lipman (http://lipmans.blogspot.com/) wrote an addendum to an article ('Some Thoughts on My Father and on German Jewry': http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/SCS67features2.htm) by Rabbi Mordecai Plautz (editor@shemayisrael.com) originally in Yated Ne'eman(http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/subscribe/subscribeYN.html) which was reproduced in Dei'ah ve Dibur (http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5765/bo/index.htm).


[NOTE as of October 11th, 2006: LIPMAN'S AMENDMENTS TO THE GLOSSARY HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED IN LARGE TYPE, ITALIC, UNDER THE RELEVANT ENTRIES (Baaltefille, Baaltekeye, Klikôdesh, Medine).
I HAVE ADDED ONE OR TWO NOTES IMMEDIATELY UNDERNEATH IN SMALL TYPE BETWEEN SQUARE BRACKETS.]


Lipman's addendum to Rabbi Plaut's article is here: http://lipmans.blogspot.com/2006/10/jews-in-rural-germany-again.html
Please read it. And go ahead and read his other posts too while you are there. Thank you.


Lipman indicated that some of his words might be difficult to understand - he adheres to a transcription of mediene pronunciation which though transparent for a reader of Dutch and probably a reader of German might prove opaque to one accustomed to Yeshivish (not all of us are Litvaks or Gallitzianers).

Mar gavriel (http://margavriel.blogspot.com/) suggested "You might want to define some of the terms in the "glossary" post on Mis-Dakdek. "
To which Lipman replied "Good idea! So, if somebody hasn't a clue what I was talking about, kindly drop by again after yontev [here: the upcoming holiday]. I'll try to find the time and link the terms to translations or explanations. "

[Note: Mis-Dakdek ("Miscellaneous Diq-dooq from Chevras HamMis-dakdekim") is here: http://mis-dakdek.blogspot.com/]



I'm afraid some of the clue-less cannot wait.

[By which I mean that I hope that such is the case, as I encourage impatient enthusiasm, and the material in both Lipman's post and in Rabbi Plaut's article relate in a number of ways to some of my own posts - see here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/03/short-history-of-jews-of-eindhoven.html
&
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/03/short-history-of-jews-of-eindhoven_23.html &
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/04/short-history-of-jews-of-eindhoven.html &
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/04/dutch-wwii-myth.html &
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/10/ollandim-brief-description-of-origin.html .]


So, jumping the gun, I present a glossary to Lipman's addendum to Rabbi Plaut's article about his father and German Jewry. And take the opportunity to invite comment - especially from but not limited to Lipman and other geekei-diqdeq.



Aggev orche = Aggav - On the back (Aramaic), used to mean 'by the way', in mittn drinnen. Agav orche - on the back of these matters layed out here, meaning that I'm mentioning this because the subject makes it convenient that I do so.

Baalkrie = Master of reciting (ba'al keria); the Torah reader or reciter in a synagogue.

Baaltefille = Master of prayer (ba'al tefillah); the prayer leader in a shul, more likely in a shtibl (small study and prayer 'room', which in cities is closer than the synagogue, and often caters to a very specific subgroup of Yidden, such as, hypothetically, carters and coopers from Brisk living in Minsk, or Litvaks cutting diamonds in Mokum.

Lipman writes: I think the difference to a chazzen (= cantor) is the level of professionalism. A baaltefille (or baaltfille, or baalpfille) can be a layman as well as a professional full-time chazzen.Whoever the guy is that ores fore, he's the baaltefille. To ore fore = to lead the congregation.

[Note: in many smaller kehillos out in the Dutch Mediene, the chazzen was also shochet, meyl, and melamid - and frequently, if hired from outside, somewhat frustrated, at somewhat low remuneration, as funds were chronically short among dorpsjidden.]

Baaltekeye = Master of the blasts (ba'al tekiyah); the person who blows the shofar (ram's horn trumpet) during the high holy days.

Lipman writes: Same meaning, but from ba-al toukea. Ba-al tekiyo would be baaltekiye with an i.

Beheimes = Beasts (behemos), meaning cattle which are kosher.

Davke = Definitely, exactly, precisely, specifically.

Godeler mokem = Larger place. Gedol - large; mokem - makom, place, locus.

Klikôdesh = Holy vessel; repository of wisdom and sanctity, as a profound Talmudic mind was assumed to be. Appellation for a great and venerable scholar (such as Rabbi Pinky Schmeckelstein, shlita).

Lipman writes: Rather holy device/tool/thingy, so firstly things like tefillin, or a crown on top of the Toure scrolls, and then also ministers ("Kultusbeamte") such as a rabbi, a chazzen etc.

[Note: Tefillin = phylacteries; two boxes with four passages from the Torah – one is tied to the forehead, one to the left arm. The Torah passages are the Shma Yisroel (Devarim 6:4 – 9; speaking of the oneness of G_d), Ve Hayah ( Devarim 11: 13 – 21; rewards for observance of the mitvot, consequences of not observing), Kadesh ( Shemos 13: 1 – 10; the obligation to always remember the redemption from bondage in Egypt), and Vehaya ( Shemos 13: 11 – 16; the obligation to accordingly instruct one’s children). Tefillin are worn during the morning prayers on weekdays. The wearing of Tefillin is a mitzva: Devarim 6:8: u keshartam le’ot al-yadeikha ve-hayu letotafot bein eineikha - and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and as a frontpiece twixt your eyes.
Teimani tfillin have an excellent reputation because of the cleaness and precision of manufacture, the leather being free of doubtful treatments and the product being sturdily made. But note that you should have your tfillin checked periodically, as wear and tear may damage them in ways that would render them not kosher - rounded corners, cracks, water damage, and particularly damage to the scrolls or the lettering written thereon. Non-kosher tfillin are batel. ]

Koshe = Difficult, complicated; kashe - a difficulty, a quandary, a puzzling halachic matter best left to the experts.

Lehrer = Teacher, from German.

Malled = Circumcised; from the same root as 'mohel (pronounced moyel or mayel - ritual circumciser).

Medine = State, hence the countryside as inhabited by non-urban Jews in Germany and the Netherlands.

Lipman writes: Or just "geographical region", including urban life. But also, as you said, "countryside" as opposed to mokem = "town", "city".

[And note hereto: Mokum Alef (Amsterdam), and Mokum Vav (affectionate appellation for Valkenswaard, a town in which there were almost no Jews until it became a bedroom community for Eindhoven, after the war - but since then also having several speakers of Amsterdamsch dialect, in which the West-Yiddish influence perfumes every conversation.]

Melammed = Instructor, teacher; usually an instructor of youngsters at a village cheder (room, small Jewish grammar school); from the same root as lomdus (learning, knowledge, wisdom) and Talmud (that which is learned).

Mereine brif = Rabbinic credential. Literally "'our teacher' brevet".

Môre-tzedek = Righteous teacher, mora meaning master-teacher, authority, and tzedek meaning righteousness, which is the quality your actions and your soul are supposed to be imbued with.

Paskened = Decided a matter of halacha (Jewish law, which is based on the Talmud and the later commentaries, along with precedental decisions by famous poskim (decisors, plural; singular is 'posek') of the past.

Pre-chareidi Judaism = The countryside orthodox Judaism before the reaction against the schismatic division into orthodox, conservative, reform, and totally insane… I mean reconstructionist. Hhareidism took shape among people from the pre-war environment in the post-war period. The word refers to those who tremble (before G-d).

Raaf = Rav, rabbi.

Shaales = Yiddish plural of 'shailah'; questions relating particularly to Halacha and minneg.

Shechted tarnegôlem = Slaughterer of cocks; the one who shochets (slaughters in a kosher manner) the birds eaten by the community.

Shliech-tzibber = Leader and representative of the community. Shaliach meaning representative or emmisary (related to shlicha - emmisarate) and tzibbur, meaning community, congregation.

Shômer mitzves = Shomer mitzvos; guarding the commandments. Shomer from a word meaning to guard or watch over, and hence to keep or preserve; mitzvos meaning commandments, of which according to several authorities there are exactly 613 - although there is disagreement over some of those, and a number of those no longer hold since the destruction of the beis hamikdash.

Yated = Yated Ne'eman; a Hareidi daily published in Israel and Monsey which many read on the internet. Yated Ne'eman weighed in on the Slifkin controversy, and has been quoted by authors from all sides of the spectrum, both in support and in dispute of their points of view, on many issues. The name means 'tent-peg of the faithful'; the reference is to a verse in Yeshayah. Yated is also translated as a shovel or digging impliment in certain contexts. Ne'eman is from the same root as faith (emunah) and true (amen).

Yelodem = Children, plural; singular is yeled. Same as Arabic 'walad' (child), from whence 'walid', a parent.