almemar

Edit
Record a Pronunciation

Definitions

Example Sentences

  • "When you are finished with your aliyah, please walk to the other side of the almemar."

Record a Sentence

Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish
  • Arabic / Judeo-Arabic

Etymology

  • Y אַלמימר almemer (the more common term is באַלעמער balemer), originally from Arabic al-minbar

      • Regions

      • North America
      • Great Britain

      Dictionaries

      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).

      Alternative Spellings

      almemor, almemer

Notes

  • Used by German Jews in their English, although may be of wider use by Ashkenazim, one user says. Steinmetz (Dictionary of Jewish Usage) notes that it is "a chiefly Anglo-Jewish term for the raised platform on which the Torah-reading desk stands in a synagogue. Among Ashkenazim it is called a bimah, and among Sephardim, a tevah" (p. 5). The word exists in Yiddish as balemer, which may derive from bal-memer, i.e., the person who stands at the platform. Almemer is apparently a German Jewish pronunciation.

Edit     Something missing from this entry? Inaccurate? Feel free to suggest an edit.