Jewish Word Glossary

Y

"Ya'aleh!"

lit.=arise: "Get up! Let's go, already! Hurry it up!"

yacneh

(Yid.) gossipy one

yad (pl. yaddayim)

lit.=hand: Torah pointer

Yad VaShem

lit.=hand and name: Israeli Holocaust Museum

yam

pron. "yom": (Heb.) sea

Yam HaMelech

(...of salt) the Dead Sea

Yam HaGadol

(...the large one) the Mediterranean Sea

Yam Kinneret

(...shaped like a harp) Sea of Galilee

Yam Suf

(...the final one) the Red Sea

yarmulke

pron. "yamaka": (Yid.) skullcap

yartzeit

lit.= year's time: anniversary of a death

"Yashar!" 

lit.=straight: "Keep going forward for a while, it's up ahead."

"Yasher ko'ach!"

lit.=(go) straight, (as) strong: "Good job! Keep up the good work!"

yayin 

wine

yemach shemoh

lit.=may his name be erased: said after mentioning an anti-Semitic leader

yemeen 

right, right hand, "Turn right."

Yene Veld 

lit.=the other world: the afterlife, Heaven

yenem('s) 

someone else('s)

yente

gossipy one [n]

yerusha

inheritance; heritage

Yerushalayim

(Heb.) Jerusalem

yeshiva (pl. yeshivot)

Talmudic seminary

yeshiva boch'r

seminary student

yeshuv

Israeli town

yetzer tov/harah

good/evil impulse

Yetziat Mitzrayim

(Heb.) Exodus from Egypt

yichus 

lineage

yichud

lit.=togetherness: post-recessional wedding seclusion of the bride and groom

Yiddishkeit

Jewishness

Yiddishe kop

lit.= Jewish head: clever, resourceful, ingenious person

yingel

lit.=youngster: (Yid.) dear boy (used as a term of endearment)

Yinglish

slang jargon combining Yiddish and English, incl. words like "nogoodnik." "boychick," and "cacamamie"

yirat

awe of... (God, Heaven), fear of... (sin)

yisrael

member of a tribe other than Levi; thus a member of the nonpriest class

Yisrael

(Heb.) Israel

Yizkor

communal service for personal mourning

yofee 

lit.=pretty: "Great! Very nice! Very good! I like it!"

yold

(Yid.) gullible one

yom

pron. "yome": (Heb.) day

Yom HaAtzma'ut

Israel Independence Day

Yom HaShoah

Holocaust Memorial Day

Yom HaZikaron

Israel Memorial Day

Yom Kippur

Day of Atonement, in autumn

yom tov

lit.=good day: holiday

Yom Yerushalayim

Jerusalem Reunification Day

Yomim Nora'im

lit.=days of awe: the High Holidays, the Rosh HaShanah-Yom Kippur holiday season

yontif 

Yiddish pronunciation of "yom tov"

yored (pl. yordim)

lit.=descender: emigrant from Israel (considered impolite)

yoter 

(Heb.) more

Yovel

every 50th yr.; see shmita (trans. Jubilee)

Yud-beis Chodesh

lit.= 12 months; the 12-month mouring peroid between a burial and the first yartzeit