A busy day in Period 2! part 1

Today started out just like any other day. We were all seated as soon as the bell rang and were greeted with a cheerful "Hello everyone!" by Ms. Smith. We simultaniously responded with a "Hello" and then prepared for class. We turned in our take-home SAT quizzes and our signatures from This I Believe stating that we submitted our essays. Then, Ms. Smith made sure we all had our essays submitted in her school drop box and handed out our MAPs test scores. We went on to download The Chosen Vocabulary onto our hard drive or our flash drive. The vocab is as follows:

Hasid: Member of a Jewish sect who follows the religious and social precepts set down in the 17th century.

Yiddish: A language spoken by Jews since the Middle Ages. Its components are Hebrew, German, and Slavic.

assimilationist: One who adopts the practice of a prevailing culture.

fanatic: Rigorous believer.

Talmud: In Hebrew, the word for "teachings." Applied to the collection of academic discussion and judicial administration of Jewish law written by generations of scholars over hundreds of years.

apikorsim: An unbeliever or skeptic. One who does not adhere to Jewish religious belief or practice.

rabbi: Religious leader and head of a congregation.

Cossacks: Polish soldiers who, under the leadership of Chmielnicki, annihilated hundreds of Jewish communities in 1648, killing hundreds of thousands of people.

tallit: Hebrew prayer shawl worn by adult males.

tefillin: Two small black boxes fastened to leather straps, containing parts of the Torah and worn during morning prayer.

shofar: Ram's horn blown at various religious services.

the Kaballah: Books of Jewish mysticism.

tzaddik: According to Hasidism, a pious leader who is the intermediary between God and man, the "soul of the world."

Torah: The written law given to Moses at Mount Sinai, including the Talmud and related commentaries.

gematriya: A method of interpreting a biblical word based on the numerical value of its letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

misnaged: Opponents of the Hasidic movement who criticize belief in the tzaddik.

Teresienstadt: The name of a German concentration camp.

goyim: The Hebrew word for non-Jews.

Zionism: The movement to secure the return of the Jewish people to Palestine.

bar mitzvah: The ceremony marking the initiation of a 13-year-old boy into adulthood and the Jewish religious community.