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  • bagel

    n. "A leavened, firm, doughnut shaped roll" (JPS).

  • bar mitzvah

    n. Jewish coming-of-age ceremony/celebration for a 13-year-old boy; the boy who has come of age.

  • Borscht Belt

    n. Region in the Catskill Mountains with many summer resorts frequented by Jews, especially in the mid twentieth century.

  • bupkis

    adv. Nothing.

  • challah

    n. "The braided egg bread that traditionally is eaten on almost every Jewish holiday and [the Sabbath]" (JPS).

  • chutzpah

    n. Guts (positive).

  • Diaspora

    n. "The term for Jewish communities and their residents who live outside of the State of Israel" (JPS).

  • fatootsed

    adj. Enervated, played out, knackered, terminally fatigued.

  • gefilte fish

    n. Minced sweet or sour fish, cooked in balls or a log and sliced. [lit., "stuffed fish"(JPS), since the chopped fish used to be placed back in the fish for cooking.]

  • gesundheit

    interj. Health. (Bless you) - said in response to a sneeze.

  • glitch

    n. Flaw; slight problem in a process.

  • goy

    n. A nation, but not the Jewish nation.

  • Hanukkah

    n. The winter-time festival that commemorates the rededication of the Temple after the Maccabean revolt in the second century B.C.E. (lit. "dedication")

  • Hasid

    n. A disciple of a rabbi.

  • Hasidic

    adj. Of or relating to Hasidic Judaism or Hasidic Jews.

  • Haskalah

    n. 19th century Jewish Enlightenment, in which modern philosophy and literature entered Jewish consciousness

  • hoo-ha

    interj. Interjection of admiration or astonishment.

  • Kabbalah

    n. A Jewish mystical work, sometimes used as a catch-all term for Jewish mysticism. "The Jewish mystical tradition." (JPS)

  • kibbitz

    v. "To socialize aimlessly...To carry on a running commentary." (Rosten)

  • kibbitzer

    n. Someone who "gives unasked-for advice ... especially as a bystander-observer at a game (bridge, poker, checkers, chess)." (Rosten)