| rabbi | teacher and spiritual leader of a Jewish congregation | The rabbi said that I should leave my wife. |
| lying-in | giving birth | We could not travel because my wife had reached the lying-in period. |
| mad | in this text, not angry, but rabid from the bite of a wild animal | He was bitten by a mad dog and got very sick |
| golem | in this story, a blockhead, a stupid person | I didn't know she would grow up to be a golem. |
| yeshiva | an Orthodox Jewish school for preparing young men for the rabbinic ministry | His parents encouraged him to join the yeshiva. |
| Messiah | the promised savior from God, whose arrival is announced by the blowing of a ram's horn | Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah. |
| indignantly | angrily | The dog indignantly nipped at the badger in the backyard. |
| unscathed | unharmed; without injury | He left the accident scene unscathed despite the many casualties. |
| dowry | money or property given by a bride's family to her husband | He loved her so much that he did not expect much of a dowry. |
| guilder | a unit of money in the Netherlands | The dowry turned out to be several thousand guilders. |