Prior to the Holocaust, Yiddish, a language more resembling Middle High German than anything else phonetically, was widely spoken by 11 million people, not as a national language or local tongue, but a unique language uniting Jews of various nationalities worldwide.
The Yiddish language is a western Germanic oral and written dialect used by the Ashkenazi Jews of central and eastern Europe for the past millennium.
The Magen David is the six pointed star also known as the Star of David. Magen David literally means "shield of David." It is not certain when the star became a Jewish symbol, but it was used on synagogues as far back as the fourth century as is seen in the remains of a synagogue in Capernaum, Israel.
Today we may recognize some traditional Jewish garments such as prayer shawls and kippahs, which are used to cover the head of the worshiper during prayer.
"Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad." These words
are the first words in every mezuzah. They are written in every
tefillin and are recited every day by some Jewish people. They
are considered the watchwords of Judaism. They are translated,
"Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one."
The shofar, made from a ram's horn, has been used by our people for thousands of years. The blowing of the shofar was used to call the people together for war and to call them to the Sanctuary for repentance. Both were calls for preparation and for battle. God had Joshua's men use shofars to bring down the walls of Jericho. It was shofars that Gideon used in his battle against the Midianites.
The Torah says “And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” Leviticus 2:13
The Hebrew Scriptures, also known as the Tanak contains 39 books divided into 3 sections. The word TaNaK is an acronym: “T” for Torah, N for navi’im, the Hebrew word for prophets, and K for k’tovim, the Hebrew word for writings.
