Here is the second post I've written with the help of reader Debbie, a follow-up to
From Aaron to Zion. This one focuses on
Yiddish and
Hebrew answers; also ones associated with the state of
Israel, which often have a Hebrew etymology.
Answer | Common Cluing Options |
Abba [Eban] | Israel's first U.N. representative; "My People" writer |
Acre | Israeli seaport; Third crusade siege site |
Adar | Month before Nisan; When Purim is observed |
alef or aleph | Hebrew letter; Beth's predecessor |
Amir | Israeli political leader Peretz |
Amos [Oz] | "A Tale of Love and Darkness" author; "My Michael" author |
Arens | Former Israeli minister Moshe |
Ariel | Sharon of Israel |
Asch | Yiddish writer Sholem; "The Nazarene" novelist; "Moses" author |
Aviv | Tel ____; Hebrew for "spring" |
ayin | 16th letter in Hebrew |
bagel | Food whose name means "ring"; zero in sports slang |
Barak | Israel's Ehud; P.M. between Netanyahu and Sharon |
Beame | New York City's first Jewish mayor |
Beth | ____ Israel; Letter before gimel |
Bibi | Israel's Netanyahu, familiarly |
Bethel | Hebrew for "house of G-d"; Ancient city north of Jerusalem |
blintz(e) | Jewish crêpe |
B'nai | ____ B'rith; Sons of, in Hebrew |
bris | Rite for a newborn Jewish boy |
bubbe | Jewish grandma |
chutzpah | Cheekiness; Impudence |

Answer | Common Cluing Options |
Dayan | Israel's Moshe; Six-Day War hero |
dreidel | December spinner; Top of the holiday season? |
Eban | Israel's Abba; "Voice of Israel" author |
Ehud | Israeli statesman Barak; Former Israeli P.M. Olmert |
Eilat | Israeli city on the gulf of Aqaba |
El Al | Airline to Tel Aviv; Carrier whose name means "skyward" |
Elihu | Hebrew name meaning "He is my G-d" |
Elul | Month before Tishri; Av follower |
Emanuel | Hebrew for "G-d is with us"; Common temple name |
Essene | Ancient Jewish ascetic; Dead Sea Scrolls scribe |
Ezer | Former Israeli president Weizman |
ganef | Thief, in Yiddish; Swindler, slangily |
gelt | Traditional Hanukkah gift; Moolah |
Golda | Israel's Meir; 1977 biographical Broadway play starring Anne Bancroft |
golem | Automaton of Hebrew lore; Dimwit, in Yiddish slang |
Haifa | City at the foot of Mt. Carmel; Port near Nazareth |
halva | Mideast confection |
Hasid | Member of a strict Jewish sect |
Hava | ____ Nagila (song title that means "Let us rejoice") |
Hebrew | Whence the word "Sabbath"; Like the letters on a dreidel |
Herzog | Israeli president, 1983-93 |
heth | Eighth Hebrew letter; The H in Hanukkah |
Hillel | Jewish campus group; Noted Talmudic sage |
hora | Bar mitzvah highlight; Dance done to "Hava Nagila"; Wedding ring? |
Isr. | Med. country; Its highest mtn. is Meron; Leb. neighbor; Syr. neighbor |
Israel | Hebrew for "one who wrestles with G-d"; Creation of 1948 |

Answer | Common Cluing Options |
Jaffa | Port of Israel; Port captured by Napoleon in 1799 |
Jerusalem | It was captured by British forces in 1917 |
Jew | Observer of Yom Kippur; Mishnah follower |
jewfro | Curly ethnic hairstyle, colloquially |
Judaic | Like the laws of kosher food; Like bar mitzvahs |
kibitz | Offer advice from around a card table |
klutz | Butterfingers; China shop persona non grata |
Knesset | Israeli Parliament; It has over 120 seats in Israel |
knish | Jewish turnover; New York nosh |
Kol | ___ Nidre (Yom Kippur prayer) |
kosher | Like some Jewish delis; Legit |
kreplach | Jewish ravioli |
kvetch | Bellyache; Crab |
latke | Potato pancake; Hanukkah nosh |
L'Chaim | “To life!”; Toast at a bar mitzvah |
Leumi | Israel's Bank ______ |
Likud | Israeli party |
Lilith | Adam's first wife, in Jewish folklore; Demon of Semitic lore |
Lod | Former name for Ben-Gurion Airport; City in the Plain of Sharon |
lox | Cured salmon; Bagel topper |

Answer | Common Cluing Options |
Masada | Israeli tourist attraction on the Dead Sea; 1981 miniseries set in A.D. 72-73 |
matzo(h) | _____ ball soup; Passover bread |
mazel [tov] | "Congratulations!"; Literally, "Good luck" |
Meir | Golda of Israel; Predecessor of Rabin |
mem | Hebrew letter after lamed |
menorah | Hanukkah centerpiece; Candle site |
mensch | Person of integrity and honor; Stand-up guy |
meshuga | Yiddish for "crazy" |
mezuzah | Jewish parchment scroll put on a doorpost |
Mogen | _____ David (six-pointed star) |
mohel | Bris participant |
Moshe | Dayan of Israel; _____ Arens, former Israeli defense minister |
Mossad | Israeli intelligence group |
Negev | Israeli desert; Beersheba locale |
Nisan | Passover month; Month after Adar |
Noam | Hebrew name meaning "sweetness"; Linguist Chomsky |
nosh | Snack; Have a knish, say |

Answer | Common Cluing Options |
oys | Jewish laments; Yiddish plaints |
oy vey | Kvetcher's cry; “Leaving Brooklyn: __________!” (Williamsburg Bridge sign) |
par(e)ve | Like some foods for Jews; Made without milk or meat |
Peres | Israel's Shimon; Netanyahu's predecessor as P.M. |
Picon | Molly of Yiddish theater |
pita | Falafel bread; Hummus holder |
Purim | Jewish holiday in Adar; Celebration of deliverance |
qoph | Hebrew letter before resh |
rabbi | "My teacher," in Hebrew; Torah reciter |
Rabin | Israel's Yitzhak; 1994 Peace Nobelist |
Reb | Yiddish Mr. |
rebbe | Jewish teacher |
resh | Letter before shin |
Rosen | Baseball's Al aka the Hebrew Hammer |
Rosh | ____ Hashanah; Hebrew for "beginning" |

Answer | Common Cluing Options |
Sabra | Native-born Israeli |
s(c)hlep | Lug; Not a quick jaunt |
s(c)hlock | Junk |
schmaltz | Excessive sentimentality; Mush |
schmear | The whole _______ (everything); Bribe |
s(c)hmo | Stupid jerk; Joe _____ (average guy) |
Seder | Meal in Nisan; Passover feast; Exodus commemoration |
Semite | Arab or Jew; Mideast native |
shalom | Hello or goodbye |
Shavuot | Spring Jewish holiday |
shekel | Israeli money; 100 agorot |
Shema | Jewish pledge of faith |
shin | Hebrew letter |
shiva | Jewish mourning period |
Sholom | Tevye creator ______ Aleichem |
shtetl | Yiddish for "small town"; "Fiddler on the Roof" setting |
shul | Synagogue; Holy Ark's location |
Suez | 1956 crisis site; City rebuilt after the Arab-Israeli wars |

Answer | Common Cluing Options |
Talmud | Rabbi's text; Much studied religious writings |
tav | 23rd Hebrew letter; Torah's beginning |
tel | Hill, in Hebrew |
Tel Aviv | Shalom Meir Tower locale; Home of the newspaper Haaretz |
Tevye | "Fiddler on the Roof" milkman; "If I Were a Rich Man" singer |
Tisha | _____ B'Av, Jewish day of fasting |
Tishri | Jewish calendar starter |
tov | "Mazel ___!"; Yom ___ (Jewish holiday) |
tref | Not kosher |
tsuris | Woes, to a Yiddish speaker; "Oy, vey!" cause |
tush | Backside; Sitting spot |
Uzi | Gun produced by Israel Military Industries; Weapon in "The Terminator" |
Wye | ___ Accords, 1998 Israeli-Palestinian agreement |
yenta or yente | Gossipmonger; "Fiddler on the Roof" role; Musical matchmaker |
Yentl | Story subtitled "The Yeshiva Boy"; Gender-bending Streisand film |
yeshiva | Where the Talmud is studied; Rabbi's alma mater |
Yitzhak | Shimon's predecessor |
YMHA | Jewish youth org. |
yod | Letter after teth |
yom | ___ Kippur; Day, in Hebrew |
zaftig | Well-proportioned; Rubenesque |
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