Glossary (pps.xvii-xviii)

hard cover page xvii

Dualism. The view that two ultimate and irreducible principles are necessary to explain the world, and evil in particular. Opposite of monism.

Emunah. Faith.

Halachah. Literally, “the Way,” the legal parameters of Judaism.

Kabbalah. The esoteric teachings of Judaism and Jewish mysticism, especially the forms which it assumed in the Middle Ages from the twelfth century onward.

Man of Halachah. Jewish religious man of reason (note: our term diverges slightly from Soloveitchik’s definition of Halakhic Man).

Masorah. Corpus of Jewish canon and explication; thus, the body of authentic tradition connected with the biblical text.

Midrash. A particular genre of rabbinic literature incorporating biblical exegesis, explanation of biblical texts from an ethical and devotional point of view (including related sermons delivered in public), and forming a running commentary on specific books of the Bible.

Mitzvah (pl. mitzvot). A Divine ordinance/ precept in the Halachah.

Monism (from Gr. mones, “single”). The view that everything can be reduced to one singularity or principle.

³ See Encyclopaedia Judaica, in addition to Philip Birnbaum, A Book of Jewish Concepts, for more detailed discussion of the Jewish-related terms.

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