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

Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page

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