Governmental and Judicial Ethics in the Bible & Rabbinic Literature
GLOSSARY
Amoraim – Originally, speakers or interpreters who attended upon the public speaker to expound the discourse at greater length. Eventually, the rabbinic authorities responsible for the Gemara.
Amphictyony – A tribal confederation, originally referring to a league of ancient Greek states ruled by a council composed of deputies, or amphictyons, from each state.
Baraitha – A teaching or a tradition of the Tannaim that is not found in the Mishnah but is found in a later literary collection, usually introduced by the phrase “Our Rabbis taught,” or, “It has been taught.”
Beth Din – Literally, a house of law or judgment. A gathering of three or more men acting as a Jewish court of law.
Gemara – Completion, learning. The traditions, discussions and rulings of the Amoraim based chiefly on the Mishnah and forming the Talmud.
Gerousia – The aristocratic council of the high priest prior to 165 B.C.E. which had jurisdiction over civil matters in Palestine.
Gezerah – Legislative enactment in halakhic Judaism that was preventive in nature, usually thought of as “making a fence around the Torah.”
Git – A deed or legal document; usually referring to a writ of divorce.
Haggadah – Interpretation and exposition of Scripture by the Rabbis for the purpose of edification. Also, those portions of rabbinic literature containing stories, legends, folklore, maxims and anecdotes.
Halākhāh – Rule, custom, or decision in rabbinic law; the portion of the Talmud concerned with legal matters.
Halizah – The ceremony of “drawing off” the shoe of the man who refused to marry his brother’s childless widow.
Hanuth – A place on the Temple Mount that served as a temporary residence for the Great Sanhedrin after this court moved from the Hall of Hewn Stones in about 30 C.E. Hierocracy – A rule or government by a priesthood.
Kabbalah – An esoteric theosophy based on a mystical interpretation of the Scriptures originally handed down by oral tradition.
Kareth – A “cutting off”; or, divine punishment for many sins which had no specified human penalty prescribed by law.
Lèse-Majesté – Injury or insult to majesty.
Log – Two litras; or, the space taken up by the contents of six eggs.
Midrash – Interpretation or exposition of Scripture, usually with a verse-by-verse commentary format.
Misharum – An economic reform institution dating as early as the Old Babylonian kingdom that had much the same function as the biblical “jubilee land release” laws found in Lev. 25:28 ff.
Mishnah – Repetition or teaching, especially the legal traditions explaining or supplementing the pentateuchal laws or the principles derived therefrom ascompiled by R. Judah the Patriarch near the end of the second century C.E.
Mishpāt – Judgment.
Mu'ad – Forewarned. Applied to an animal that had gored or injured on three successive occasions, causing the owner to be liable to pay full damages done by the animal.
Nāsī – Great leaders in ancient Israel (Num. 34:17-18, etc.). Also, according to M. Hag. II, 2, the rulers of the Great Sanhedrin began to be called Nāsī beginning with the Zuggot. After the demise of the Great Sanhedrin, the head of Palestinian Jewry was called Nāsī.
Peruţah – The smallest copper coin.
Prosbul – A rule enacted by Hillel which allowed a creditor to present a declaration before a court of law, properly signed by witnesses, stating that his loan would not be remitted as required by the law stated in Deut. 15:1-2, 9.
Savoraim – Later rabbinic scholars who contributed to the redaction and formation of the Talmud in the late fifth and early sixth centuries C.E.
Shālōm – Peace!
Shebuth – An act forbidden by the Rabbis to be performed on the Sabbath.
Shechinah – The abiding of the Divine Presence; the spirit of God as manifested on earth. Shofar – Ram’s horn blown for military or religious purposes, especially in the course of the Temple or Synagogue service connected with New Year and at the conclusion of the Day of Atonement.
Takkanah – Legislative enactment in the halakhic system of Judaism, especially in the public, criminal, and civil areas of Jewish law.
Talmud – Learning, study of the Law. With reference to documents, it is the comments and discussions concerning the Mishnah found in the Gemara, as expounded by the Babylonian and Palestinian Rabbis from the third to the fifth century C.E.
Tam – Perfect. Applied to an animal which had not injured more than twice: thus, its owner paid only half damages.
Tannaim – Those who repeat or teach. Rabbis quoted in the Mishnah or Baraitha. In the Amoraic period, scholars whose special responsibility was to memorize and recite Baraithas before other teachers.
Tarţemar – Fifty zuz, or denarii; or, twenty-five common shekels.
Zuggoth – Pairs of leaders who, according to the tradition, presided over the Great Sanhedrin from about 160 B.C.E. until near the close of the first century B.C.E.
