Glossary & Help
New to learning online at TorahSages? This page explains how to use the TorahSages library and decodes the abbreviations you will meet along the way.
How to use TorahSages Library
Reading the texts
Every text opens in a clean, right-to-left reader. Use the A− / A+ controls to set the Hebrew font size — your choice is remembered on your device. Move between chapters or dapim with the previous / next links, and use the breadcrumb at the top to jump back to a book, tractate, or the Library.
Commentaries
On the Chumash, each verse can be read alongside Rashi, Ramban, Ibn Ezra and Sforno. On the Talmud, every daf carries Rashi and Tosafot. Use the toggles at the top of the reader to show or hide a commentary.
Shulchan Aruch & Tur — Nosei Keilim and Commentaries
Beneath each siman you’ll find the Nosei Keilim — the classic commentaries printed around the text in the standard editions (Magen Avraham, Taz, Shach, Beit Yosef and the rest) — together with later commentaries such as the Mishnah Berurah, grouped by commentary author. After each se’if in the main text, small buttons show which commentaries discuss that se’if — click on a button to jump straight down to the note. A short legend on the page explains what each abbreviation stands for.
Finding things
Use the search box in the header to look across sages, texts and parsha posts. Browse the Library by category (Tanach, Mishnah & Talmud, Halacha, Jewish Thought, Musar), and the Sages by era — from the Shoftim and Neviim through the Tannaim, Amoraim, Rishonim and Acharonim.
Abbreviations
The ראשי תבות table above expands the common acronyms for the Sages (for example רש״י, רמב״ם, רמב״ן) — each links to that sage’s page.
Glossary of terms
- תַּנַ״ךְ Tanach
- The Hebrew Bible — Torah, Neviim (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).
- פָּסוּק pasuk
- A verse of Tanach.
- פָּרָשָׁה parashah
- The weekly Torah portion. Parshat Hashavua.
- Leining Hebrew Cantillation (Yiddish)
- Reading the Torah aloud with its trop (cantillation) — also called kriyat haTorah. The word is Yiddish; to “lein” is to read the Torah for the congregation. Learn more →
- טַעֲמֵי הַמִּקְרָא trop (musical notes of Torah)
- The notes the Torah is leined with — ta’amei hamikra, called cantillation in English: melody, punctuation, and word-accent in one system of 32 notes. Learn more →
- בַּעַל קוֹרֵא Baal Koreh – Baal Kriah
- The reader who leins the Torah for the congregation — from the scroll, which has no nikud and no trop, entirely from memory.
- עֲלִיָּה aliyah
- One of the sections the weekly parsha is divided into — seven on Shabbat — each read for a person called up to the Torah.
- מַפְטִיר maftir
- The closing portion repeated or added after the aliyot, read by the person who then leins the haftarah.
- הַפְטָרָה haftarah
- The reading from the Neviim (Prophets) that follows the Torah reading on Shabbat and festivals, leined in its own trop melody. Learn more →
- מִשְׁנָה mishnah
- A single teaching of the Mishnah; also the corpus as a whole. Rebbe, Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi’s compilation of the Oral Law.
- גְּמָרָא gemara (tradition)
- The Talmud’s discussion and analysis of the Mishnah. The Talmud Bavli was compiled by Rav Ashi and Ravina, and the Talmud Yerushalmi was compiled by Rabbi Yochanan and contemporaries.
- מַסֶּכֶת masechet
- A tractate of the Mishnah or Talmud.
- סֵדֶר seder
- One of the six orders (sedarim) of the Mishnah.
- דַּף daf
- A folio (leaf) of the Talmud — the unit a Gemara is cited by.
- עַמּוּד amud
- One side of a daf: amud alef (a) is the front, amud bet (b) the back.
- פֶּרֶק perek
- A chapter (Mishnah, Mishneh Torah, and most works).
- הֲלָכָה halachah
- A law; also a numbered unit in the Mishneh Torah.
- סִימָן siman
- A numbered section in the Shulchan Aruch, Tur and similar halachic works.
- סָעִיף se’if
- A sub-section within a siman.
- חֵלֶק chelek
- A part/volume — e.g. the four chalakim of the Shulchan Aruch (OC, YD, EH, CM).
- נוֹשְׂאֵי כֵּלִים nosei keilim
- The “bearers of the vessels” — the classic commentaries printed around the Shulchan Aruch and Tur – such as the Magen Avraham, Sha”ch, Ta”z, Bac”h and others.
- מְפָרֵשׁ mefaresh
- A commentator (plural: mefarshim). Also peyrush.
- מִדְרָשׁ midrash
- Rabbinic exposition of the verses — narrative (aggadah) or legal (halachah).
ראשי תבות — abbreviations of the Sages
Common acronyms for the Rishonim and others. Each links to that sage’s page.
| ראשי תבות | Full name | Era |
|---|---|---|
| ב״ח | הרב יואל סירקיש Rabbi Yoel Sirkis | Acharonim |
| ב״י | מרן הרב יוסף קארו Rabbi Yosef Karo | Acharonim |
| ט״ז | הרב דוד הלוי סגל Rabbi David HaLevi Segal | Acharonim |
| מ״ב | החפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim | Acharonim |
| מהרי"ל | Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin (Maharil) | Rishonim |
| סמ"ג | Moshe of Coucy (Smag) | Rishonim |
| סמ"ק | Isaac of Corbeil (Semak) | Rishonim |
| פר״ח | חזקיה די סילווא Hezekiah da Silva | Acharonim |
| ראב"ד | Rabbi Avraham ben David of Posquieres (Raavad) | Rishonim |
| ראבי"ה | Eliezer ben Yoel HaLevi (Raaviah) | Rishonim |
| ראב"ן | Eliezer ben Nathan (Raavan) | Rishonim |
| רא"ם | Eliezer of Metz (Rabbi Eliezer of Metz) | Rishonim |
| רא"ש | Rabbeinu Asher (Rosh) | Rishonim |
| רבב״ח | רבה בר בר חנה Rabbah bar bar Chana | Amoraim |
| רד"ק | Rabbi David Kimchi (Radak) | Rishonim |
| ריא"ז | Isaiah di Trani the Younger (Riaz) | Rishonim |
| ריב״ל | רבי יהושע בן לוי Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi | Amoraim |
| ריב"ש | Isaac ben Sheshet (Rivash) | Rishonim |
| ריה"ל | Judah Halevi (Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi) | Rishonim |
| ריטב"א | Rabbi Yom Tov ben Avraham Asevilli (Ritva) | Rishonim |
| רי"ף | Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi (Rif) | Rishonim |
| ריצב"א | יצחק בן אברהם Rizba | Rishonim |
| ר״ל | הרב ריש לקיש Reish Lakish | Amoraim |
| רלב"ג | Levi ben Gershon (Ralbag) | Rishonim |
| רמ״א | הרב משה איסרליש Rabbi Moshe Isserles | Acharonim |
| רמב"ם | Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam) | Rishonim |
| רמב"ן | Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban) | Rishonim |
| רמ"ה | Meir ben Todros HaLevi Abulafia (Meir Abulafia) | Rishonim |
| ר"ן | Rabbeinu Nissim (Ran) | Rishonim |
| רשב"א | Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (Rashba) | Rishonim |
| רשב״י | רבי שמעון בר יוחאי Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai | Tannaim |
| רשב"ם | Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir (Rashbam) | Rishonim |
| רשב"ץ | Shimon ben Tzemach Duran (Rashbatz) | Rishonim |
| רש"י | Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) | Rishonim |
Talmud — tractates
| ב״ק | Bava Kamma the first of the three “gates” in Seder Nezikin |
| ב״מ | Bava Metzia the middle gate |
| ב״ב | Bava Batra the last gate |
| ע״ז | Avodah Zarah |
| ר״ה | Rosh Hashanah the tractate; also the festival |
| מו״ק | Moed Katan |
| ב״ק ב״מ ב״ב | the three Bavot together, the civil-law core of Nezikin |
Halachic works & their sections
| שו״ע | Shulchan Aruch Rabbi Yosef Karo’s code, with the Rema’s glosses |
| או״ח | Orach Chaim daily life, tefilah, Shabbat and the festivals |
| יו״ד | Yoreh De’ah kashrut, mourning, and much else |
| אה״ע | Even HaEzer marriage and divorce |
| חו״מ | Choshen Mishpat monetary and civil law |
| מ״ת | Mishneh Torah the Rambam’s code |
| ש״ס | Shas the whole Talmud — shishah sidrei Mishnah |
Learning shorthand
| ת״ר | tanu rabanan “our Rabbis taught” — introduces a beraita |
| ד״ה | dibur hamatchil the opening words a commentary quotes before its comment |
| ע״א / ע״ב | amud alef / amud bet the front and back of a daf |
| עי׳ | ayen “see” — a cross-reference |
| כ״ש | kol shekein “all the more so” |
| ז״ל | zichrono livracha “of blessed memory” |
| ק״ל | kal lehavin / kashe lehavin “easily understood” or “difficult to understand” — which one depends on the context |
| קמ״ל | ka mashma lan “this is what it teaches us” — the point the Gemara was driving at |
| מ״ט | mai ta’ama “what is the reason?” |
| ת״ש | ta shema “come and hear” — introduces a proof |
| אע״פ | af al pi “even though” |
| כ״ע | kulei alma “everyone” — all opinions agree |
| וכו׳ | vechulei “and so on” |
| ע״ש | ayen sham “look there” — see the source cited |
These are only a sample — the Gemara and the halachic works use many more abbreviations than can be listed here.