Glossary of Yizkor Book Terms

bukh (Yid), buch (Ger): book
Gedenkbuch (Ger): memorial or commemoration book, used primarily for books in German memorializing German Jews; from the German and Yiddish root, gedenken, to remember, and buch, book
kehilat, pl. kehilot (Heb): community of, usually followed in Yizkor book titles by a community name, e.g. kehilat Lomza; from the root kehila, community
landsman, pl. landslayt (Yid): someone whom comes form the same town in the old country
landsmanshaft, pl. landsmanshaften (Yid): society of immigrants from the same town or region in the old country
Memorbuch, pl. Memorbuecher (Ger): a community prayer book common in Central Europe from the middle ages to the 19th Century, which included lists of deceased persons; perhaps from the Old German memorieren, to memorize, and buch, book
pinkas (Heb): record book or register, often used with a community name, e.g. Pinkes Bialystok
seviva (Heb): surroundings or vicinity, used in Yizkor book titles in the phrase ve-ha-seviva, and the vicinity
sefer (Heb): book
sefer zikaron or sefer yizkor (Heb): memorial book
shoah (Heb): Holocaust; usually used in ha-shoah, the Holocaust
shtetl, pl shtetlekh (Yid): a small town or village, usually used to refer to a small Jewish community; often used (as in Yizkor Book Database) to refer to a Jewish community of any size
yehudei (Heb): Jews of, followed in a Yizkor book title by a community name, e.g. Yehudei Jedrzejow
yehudi or yehudit (Heb): Jewish
yahadut (Heb): Jewry, Jews
yidn (Yid): Jews, e.g. Yidn in Plotsk, Jews in Plotsk; singular form is yid, Jew
yidish, yidishe, yidisher, yidishn (Yid): Jewish; takes different forms depending on what it is modifying, e.g. di yidishe froy (the Jewish woman), der yidisher man (the Jewish man)
yizkor (Heb and Yid), sometimes yizker (Yid): (1) he will remember (third-person singular future of the verb zakhar, remember); (2) memorial service for the departed held in synagogues on Yom Kippur and other holidays, which takes its name from the initial words of the prayer Yizkor Elohim, may God remember; (3) used in sefer yizkor (Heb) or yizker-buhk (Yid), memorial book for communities destroyed in the Holocuast. Although sefer yizkor and sefer zikaron may both be translated as "memorial book," yizkor also conveys a sense of the Jewish mitzva or obligation to remember those who perished.
zikaron (Heb): in memory of, memorial; as in sefer zikaron, memorial book.

Compiled by Martin Kessel from a variety of references with assistance from Arthur S. Abramson, Leonard Markowitz, and Robert Weiss

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Yizkor Book Director, Lance Ackerfeld
Emerita Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
This web page created by Martin Kessel