Vocabulary

 

• Moishe the Beadle: a teacher of Jewish mysticism. He is a poor Jew who lives in Elie’s hometown of Sighet

• Hasidic: A member of a sect founded in Poland in the 18th Century, it is characterized by its emphasis on mysticism, prayer, ritual, strictness, religious zeal and joy.

• Shtibl: A Hasidic house of prayer

• Penury: extremely poor

• Waiflike: very thin and delicate in appearance

• Shekhinah: the presence or symbol of God on earth

• Kabbalah: A system of theosophy [philosophical or religious thought] and theurgist [magic] developed by rabbis

• Talmud: Collection of Jewish law and tradition

• Synagogue: Jewish house of worship

• Maimonides: Jewish scholastic philosopher and rabbi

• Sighet: town in Transylvania (modern day Romania)

• Zohar: a medieval mystical work of interpretations of the Kabbalah

• Galicia: former crown land of Austria [is now split between south Poland and the Ukraine]

• Gestapo: Secret police

• Kolomay: town near/in Galicia

• Rosh Hashanah: Jewish New Year, it is a holy day

• Zionism: worldwide Jewish movement that resulted in the establishment and development of the state of Israel

• Nyilas: a member of the Hungarian Nazi party called cross-arrows

• Passover: A Jewish holiday celebrating the Jewish liberation by God from slavery in Egypt

• Anti-Semitic: strong dislike/hatred of Jewish people and customs

• The Yellow Star or Star of David: the symbol of Judaism

• Ghetto: a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area [in this case populated with members of a minority group]

• Shavuot or Shavuoth: a festival celebrated on the sixth and seventh day of Sivan, a commemoration of God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses

• Phylacteries: a box containing Torah versus worn by Jews when praying

• Surreptitiously: acting in a stealthy way

• Conflagration: a destructive fire, usually an extensive one

• Partisans: a member of an irregular military force [usually civilians] formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power

• Sabbath: the seventh day of the Hebrew calendar, it is commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest.

• Hermetically: airtight [sealed]

• Pious: having or showing a dutiful spirit of reverence to God or to fulfill religious obligations

• Auschwitz-Birkenau: the largest concentration camp in Poland

• Tumult: a violent and noisy commotion

• Kaddish: a liturgical prayer of 3 or 6 verses said at specific points during each of the three daily services and on certain other occasions [anniversaries of death]

• Sonder Kommando: the name given to concentration camp prisoners whose job was to service the assembly lines of death.

• Kapos: Nazi concentration camp prisoner who became a supervisor of other prisoners for privileges

• Convalescent: recovery of health and strength after illness

• Blockalteste: a block leader in the concentration camps

• Lageralteste: a prisoner who selected other prisoners for work and made recommendations to the SS

• Oberkapo: Supervisor of workers

• Appelplatz: German word meaning “roll call” in place

• Day of Attonement: another name for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jewish people

• SS: Schultzstaffel a paramilitary organization

• Invectives: violent denunciation/ or accusation

• Raus: out

• Lucidity: quality of being easily understood

• Harangued: a scolding or long intensive veral attack

• Colic Attack: a sharp sudden pain in the stomach

• Buna: the largest Auschwitz sub-camp

• Lagerkapo: a Kapo who was in charge of the whole camp

• Pipel: an attractive male child who received special favors or privileges by being friends with another prisoner given authority (like a lageralteste).

• Yom Kippur: Jewish holy day, observed on the 10th day of the month of Tishri[first month of the Jewish calendar]; people abstain from food and drink and recite prayers in the synagogue

• Achtung: attention