Translator's footnotes “Vaad Lita” was an umbrella organization of Lithuanian Jewish communities at the time. Return The abbreviation KK (Kuf Kuf) that appears here prior to the name Grodno stands for Kehillat Kadosh, which means “Holy Community”. This is a common notation for any Jewish Community. Return Shabbatai Tzvi was a false messiah of the mid 1700s. His movement caused great upheaval in European Jewry for the next century or so. Return The acronym alef beit dalet stands for Av Beit Din, the head of a Rabbinical court of a community. The title here implies that from this time, the religious leadership of the community became fragmented, no longer under one head. Return Misnagdim or mitnagdim are opponents of Chassidism. Return The Haskala movement was the movement for Jewish modernization in Europe of the 1800s. Maskilim are people who ascribe to the Haskala movement. Maskilim began to release themselves from the strictures of traditional Jewish life and law. Return A Kollel is an institution where young married men spend their time studying Torah. Return This appears to be the second main division of the book. In this section, the articles generally list the author's name. The items main items are numbered according to the alef beit (as in the first section); however this numbering stops in the middle, at the Culture and Society section, page 441. There is no consistency as to whether the author's names are in full, or fully or partially initialed (e.g. D. R., D. Rabin, or Dov Rabin). I followed the Hebrew text exactly in this matter. Return Hachshara is activities meant to prepare members of a Zionist movement for immigration to the Land of Israel. Hashomer Hatzair is a left wing socialist Zionist movement. Return Levush is an acronym for a well known medieval Torah commentator. The Great Synagogue in Grodno was obviously named after him. Return

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