JEWTALK

JEWTALK \joo-tok\ n. 1: vocabulary employed by those of Mosaic heritage.  2:  Specific words meant to convey affiliation with religious group.

Here is a short list:

Temple is out.  That is reform.  Synagogue is in.  That is conservative.  Shul is in or out.  could be orthodox or conservative.  Shteibel is also out, micro-Hasidic.

Prayer is out.  Having its roots is the French, prier (to beg) we are now in a more worldly understanding of God and our connection ans to the Deity. Davenning is in.  It carries a resonance that touches the soul.  See also tefilah.

Skullcap has bitten the dust along with prayer shawl (the only people that use that are wannabes who do not know any other names).  The words are kippa or yarmulke; tallit or tallis.

Cholent was killed by cardiologists.  Other decedents are gribinets and veronikas.  May their memory endure as a blessing.

Blintzes.  When will the French finally admit that a crepe is a fancy word for blintze?

Tefillin.  Now is making a comeback after decades of vacillating with phylacteries (really?  Most people cannot even pronounce the word.  Sounds like a communicable disease).

Happy New Year, is repeated twice yearly (am I really getting older at twice the rate?).  Shanah Tovah has an authentic ring to it.  The Yom Kippur analogue, g’mar tov, is lagging way behind.

Krishma sounds suspicious if not downright blasphemous  We think of toga toting zealots with pony tails.  Yet, in years past this was how they referred to kriat shma, or just plain old shma.

Pentateuch sounds like a five-sided tuchas.  Definitely out.  You will not even find this one on Jeopardy!

Tzedakah wins.  Charity loses.  Charity is hierarchical; superiors doling out help to inferiors.  Tzedaka, coming from Hebrew tzedek, means justice.  Prediction: charity will continue to be used until Neil Sedaka makes comeback.

Passover is edging toward Tabernacles and Pentecost (both of which sound more Christian than Jewish).  Pesach and Shavuot are in.