These definitions are seeded from the same lexicon lookup Sh'elah's AI assistant and reader word-lookup feature use, so a term here matches what you'll see inline elsewhere in the app.
- Kezayit · כזית
- The volume of an olive — a standard halachic measure for how much food must be eaten to trigger certain blessings or obligations.
- Muktzeh · מוקצה
- Objects set aside by their nature or designated use as unfit to be handled on Shabbat or Yom Tov.
- Eruv · עירוב
- A symbolic enclosure, typically of wire strung between poles, that permits carrying items in an otherwise public domain on Shabbat.
- Chametz · חמץ
- Leavened grain product, forbidden to own, eat, or benefit from during Pesach.
- Tzitzit · ציצית
- The fringes tied to the corners of a four-cornered garment, commanded in Numbers 15:38.
- Kashrut · כשרות
- The body of Jewish dietary law governing which foods may be eaten and how they must be prepared.
- Minhag · מנהג
- accepted communal custom.
- Halacha · הלכה
- practical Jewish law.
- Poskim · פוסקים
- Rabbinic decisors whose rulings determine practical halacha for a question or community.
- Mitzvah · מצוה
- a divine commandment.
- Berakhah · ברכה
- blessing.
- Havdalah · הבדלה
- The ceremony, with wine, spices, and a braided candle, marking the end of Shabbat or a festival.
- Zman / Zmanim · זמן
- A halachically defined point or window of time in the day (e.g., sunrise, sunset, the latest time for the morning Shema).
- Eruv Tavshilin · עירוב תבשילין
- A procedure performed before a Yom Tov that falls on a Friday, permitting food preparation on the holiday for Shabbat.
- Chumra · חומרא
- A stringency a person or community adopts beyond the strict letter of the law.
- Kula · קולא
- A halachically valid leniency, as opposed to a chumra (stringency).
- Nusach · נוסח
- The specific liturgical text and order of prayer a community follows (e.g., Nusach Ashkenaz, Nusach Sefard).
- Tevilah · טבילה
- Ritual immersion in a mikveh (or other qualifying body of water) for purposes of ritual purity.
- Get · גט
- A formal Jewish bill of divorce, required to dissolve a Jewish marriage.
- Sh'elah · שאלה
- A halachic question posed to a rabbi — the origin of this project's name.