aleichem sholom

Peace be upon you. Response to "sholom aleichem"

arba kanfot

A tallit katan (see tzitzit)

askan

A person who is influential in working for the community

A Jewish communal or social worker (Steinmetz)

Activist

balaboosta

1) Female head of household 2) Impressively competent homemaker

batlan

"naive, impractical person" (Steinmetz)

"Someone without a trade or regular means of livelihood" (Rosten).

"One who consistently wastes time: Bum, Fainéant" (Weiser).

"A misfit, such as a Talmud student of no promise" (Rosten).

"Someone with intellectual pretensions and half-baked ideas" (Rosten).

"Layabout" (Glinert)

"An unemployed or lazy man" (Rosten).

besamim

"Modern Israeli slang for illegal drugs" (JPS).

"Literally, 'spices.' It almost always refers to the spices in the spice box used for the Havdalah ceremony" (JPS).

Spices

bris

circumcision ceremony; the celebration surrounding it. Lit. covenant.

broiges

angry, annoyed (adj.)

a dispute (n)

bubbe meise

"Something of little importance, an inconsequential thing or minor happening." (JPS)

"old wive's tale"; an untrue story, sometimes related to superstition

chacham

rabbi (Sephardi)

wise, learned person; genius

wiseguy

chashuv

Important; of high status

chassidus

"Chasidism" (Glinert)

cheder

Hebrew and religious classes (often on Sundays) for elementary school children.

chochmah

"Brains; wisdom; a brilliant idea" (Glinert)

da'as torah

Intuitive knowledge that comes from a lifetime of Torah study.

The authoritative wisdom of the tradition mediated by "gedolim" or great rabbis.

dybbuk

a spirit, "often thought to be the soul of a dead person, that wanders the earth looking for a living body to inhabit" (JPS)

gemilas chesed

(pl. gemilas chasodim) A loan of money without interest to help a needy person.

goyish

"in the manner or style of a non-Jewish person" (JPS), especially something WASPy or "white bread"

gut chodesh

"Good month!" Ashkenazi greeting on Rosh Chodesh.

gut moed

"Good festival season!" Used by Ashkenazim on Chol Hamoed.

gut yontef

"Happy holiday!" Ashkenazi greeting used on any of the holidays, including Rosh Hashanahh and Yom Kippur.

hazarai

"Junk, trash" (Rosten)

treyf (non-kosher) food

junk food

kaddishl

A son who will say kaddish for a parent (literally, "little kaddish").

Kahal

(the people of) a Jewish community

Synagogue, shul, congregation

keinehora

"no evil eye" (Rosten). "An expression said to ward off the evil eye or bad luck in general; the verbal equivalent of knocking on wood." (JPS)

khurbn

"Destruction of the Temple" (Glinert)

Destruction, generally

the Holocaust

l'hachis

spitefully; deliberately; literally "in order to anger"

mayofes

a servile person (see note below)

mazume

"ready money, cash" (Steinmetz)

"A group of three or more adult males who join together to recite the after-meal blessings..." (Steinmetz).

mechuten

In laws, more generally (http://www.pass.to/glossary/gloz2.htm#letm).

the father of one's child's spouse, though can sometimes be used to refer to the grandfather of one's grandchild's spouse.

mechuteneste

the mother of one's child's spouse

mieskeit

someone/something ugly

ugliness

naches

"Proud pleasure, special joy--particularly from the achievements of a child... 2. Psychological reward or gratification." (Rosten)

orel

non-Jew (contemptuous, pejorative).

sheymes

n., such content

adj., of or relating to printed material, such as a book or even an audio recording, that contains the name of God, and therefore must not be erased, put on the floor, etc., out of respect for the Divine Name

shkotz

berating term for a mischievous Jewish boy

shomu shomayim

heaven forbid!

woe is me!

tsvuak

hypocrite

yechinik

a Lubavicher (a Hasidic group, Chabad) who believes that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavicher rebbe, is the Moshiach.

yontif

a Jewish holiday, especially one on which work is prohibited (in contrast to chol hamoed)