BT Dictionary | Imamother

ButterflyGarden

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 3:37 am

BS"D
My husband and I are putting together a BT Dictionary. What are some of the words that you use frequently that a new BT might not know? Can you give a good definition?
Example:
Licht Benchin : Candle lighting, often used to describe the time of candle lighting before shabbat and yom tov.
Hecksher: Kosher certification

queen

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 8:38 am

boruch Hashem.
(I met a BT once who thought the above meant "good bye"....)

gut voch
gut shabbos
freilichin chanukah

gotta run, but I'm sure others will help out here. planning to publish this world wide or keep it local?

TzenaRena

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 8:54 am

Quote:

Hecksher: Kosher certification

leave out the k. spell it hechsher. if the person can't pronounce a ches, chof it will be pronounced hecksher anyway, but... give them a chance.

Of course it's a chof not a ches, I mean the chhh sound. and it's a chof (chaf), not a kaf.

queen

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 10:41 am

amother wrote:

Goin' on Tzivoyim...gonna get me some Farkakta...

(going on Mivtzoyim, going to get a Karkafta)

I think we need an FFB dictionary for the above....?!

southernbubby

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 11:02 am

Maybe you could also include some general advice. When I first became frum, I thought that it was permissable to recite tashlich by putting a jar of gefilte fish in the sink and letting the water run. The rabbi laughed until he cried because my actual shaila was "does the jar need to be open or closed?"

Tefila

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 11:08 am

Quote:

My husband and I are putting together a BT Dictionary

Great idea Very Happy

and

Quote:

When I first became frum, I thought that it was permissable to recite tashlich by putting a jar of gefilte fish in the sink and letting the water run. The rabbi laughed until he cried because my actual shaila was "does the jar need to be open or closed?"

ButterflyGarden

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 3:14 pm

BS"D
I'd love to publish one day. We have many people over who are working on becoming frum and I know it would be a big help.

Southernbuby - where ever did you get that idea from?

BrachaVHatzlocha

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 3:31 pm

I work with sefardim (kids), so sometimes there are words we always use (usually yiddisH) that they don't and we have to catch ourselves. words like - daven, kinderlach, milchigs and fleishigs.
they use this word - but you can add shul.
kashrus
zees

btw, mivtzoyim I know -that's something Lubavithchers do - going around, tryign to be mikaruv people. not sure what karkafta is!

Crayon210

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 3:34 pm

Mivtzoim literally means "campaigns" so when someone goes out and gives out Shabbos candles, it's fulfilling "Mivtza Neshek" (Shabbos Candle Campaign), colloquially known as "going on mivtzoim".

A karkafta is someone who has never put on tefillin, RL. There is an idea (no source, sorry) that a man needs to put on tefillin at least once in order to gain entrance into Olam HaBa. So when a man is able to help such a person while on mivtzoim, it is obviously very special.

Motek

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 3:48 pm

the word "karkafta" literally means skull

Rosh Hashana 17a:

"'The Jews who sin with their bodies' - who are they? Said Rav, 'A head (karkafta) who does not put on tefillin.'"

one explanation of this Gemara is that it's talking about a man who never put on tefillin

RivkaBatya - it's a great idea
first place to start is in a Jewish library or bookstore where so many books have glossaries! See what they have, compare the definitions, and you're off to a good start

southernbubby

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 4:13 pm

Someone wanted to know where I got these ideas. They came from other BTs. Here is an even better one: the rabbi in where we lived told us to buy unwashed eggs for Pesach. Some smart BT told me that they needed to be washed in water that was an exact temperature (lets say 40 degrees F). They told me that it was necessary to run the water over a thermometer to get it at that exact temperature. Well, that thermometer read either 39 or 41 but I couldn't get it to read 40! Well I called the rabbi, who was ready to send me to spend Pesach on the moon, and he told me to just wash the eggs in cold water and get ready for the holiday. In those days BTs had a way of hearing something and turning it into the newest chumra.

Meema2Kids

Wed, Mar 01 2006, 8:49 am

southernbubby - it's still that way! That is why DH and I always try to get a reliable source on whatever we hear, either from a sefer or a rav. It's hard to sort out!

Other ideas for the dictionary:

chinuch
gebroks
shkiya
seichel

It would be helpful to have a list of phrases for certain occaisions, eg greetings for holidays, what to say to someone who just had a baby, what to say to someone who is pregnant (soooo many people tell me mazel tov when they see I am expecting) etc.

ny21

Wed, Mar 28 2007, 9:48 pm

beli ayin hora
an example- my cousin said to me at his daughters l'chaim
see you at the wedding-beli ayin hora

also the word L'chaim