Xmas: Do not use this shortened form of the word Christmas.

Yahweh (YAH-way): An English translation of the four Hebrew letters usually transliterated as YHWH that form the name of God. Jews do not attempt to pronounce this name, as they believe that would risk taking the name of God in vain. Wherever it appears in Scripture, they say “the Lord” (“Adonai”) instead, and a vowel marking beneath the four consonants renders the word unpronounceable in Hebrew. Sixteenth-century Protestants attempted to transliterate this word, resulting in “Jehovah.”

yarmulke (YAH-mi-kuh): Yiddish name for the skullcap traditionally worn by Jewish men in synagogue, and by some Jews at all times. It is a symbol of humility and submission to God. It is sometimes also referred to by its Hebrew name, kippah, which means “dome.”

yin/yang: A symbol from Chinese philosophies such as Taoism and Confucianism representing two forces continually interacting in humans and in the universe; balance between the two is ideal. Yin is the darker, female, passive force; yang is the lighter, male, active force.

yoga: Most often associated with body poses, stretching exercises and breathing techniques developed in India. It is a Sanskrit term that means union; yoga is a discipline found in Hinduism. It is the philosophy, process, disciplines, and practices whose purpose is the unification of individual consciousness with transcendent or divine consciousness. One of its eight “limbs” is referred to as asana (also known as “hatha yoga”) and involves various body postures meant to keep the body physically relaxed and healthy as an important prerequisite for meditation.

Yogachara: A Mahayana Buddhist school whose followers practice yoga and meditation and whose focus is the teaching of shunyata (emptiness).

Yom Hashoah: The Hebrew words for Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and takes place on the 27th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. It falls in spring, though the day shifts on the U.S. calendar. The U.S. Congress asked the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which it created in 1980, to lead the nation in civic observances. It is a national memorial day in Israel, and U.S. observances generally take place from the Sunday before to the Sunday after the actual day.

Yom Kippur (yohm ki-POOR): The Jewish Day of Atonement, which takes place on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishri — September or October of the Gregorian calendar. Yom Kippur is marked by spending the day in prayer; forgoing food, drink and work; and repenting for misdeeds of the past year. See Jewish holidays.

yule, yuletide

Zarathushtra (zar-uh-THOO-struh): The ancient Iranian name for Zoroaster.

Zen Buddhism: A Mahayana Buddhist tradition that teaches enlightenment through meditation. It developed in China as Ch’an. Two major schools of Japanese Zen are the Rinzai school, which emphasizes koan practice, in which the student is given a traditional paradoxical sutra or story to consider (and, by having ultimately to transcend the logical use of mind, thereby is propelled into a direct encounter with reality beyond words), and the Soto school, whose primary practice is shikantaza (“just sitting” meditation, in which there is no object but simply a state of awareness).

zendo: In Zen Buddhist schools, a meditation hall.

Zionism: A modern movement in Judaism rooted in the establishment of a separate Jewish nation, based on God’s biblical promise that Israel would forever belong to Abraham and his descendants as a nation. Many Zionists do not have religious motives, but believe a Jewish state is necessary because of the long history of persecution of Jews. That goal was realized with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Zionism refers to Mount Zion, the site of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.

Zionist: A supporter of Zionism.

Zoroaster (zoh-roh-AS-tuhr), Zoroastrianism (zoh-roh-AS-trah-nism): Zoroaster was the founder of Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest surviving monotheistic religions. It was once the state religion of the ancient Persian empires, which include modern-day Iran, before the Arab Muslim invasions of the seventh century. Zoroastrians who fled to India more than 1,000 years ago are known as Parsis.

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