galach

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Pronunciations

galach (GAH-lihkh) listen

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Definitions

  • n. A gentile clergyman; a priest.

Example Sentences

  • "Did you hear the one about the rabbi, the galach, and the commissar?" (Glinert)

  • "I know a ton of rabbis, but in this part of town, not a single galach."

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • TH גלח 'shaved one' > Y גאלח 'Christian clergyman'

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
      • Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).

      Alternative Spellings

      galekh, galech, galakh

Notes

  • The designation of the Christian clergymen as shaved comes from their medieval shaved heads, especially in contrast to the payos of the Jewish men.

    plural: 'galachim'

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