Seder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seder (plural: sedarim) is a Hebrew word meaning "order", and can have any of the following meanings:

For Jewish holidays:

• Passover Seder, relives the enslavement and subsequent Exodus of the Children of Israel from Ancient Egypt
• There is also a seder for the minor Jewish holiday of Tu Bishvat, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat. It is known as Hemdat ha-Yamim and is modeled on the Passover seder.

In the Hebrew Bible:

• A portion of a biblical book in the masoretic text of the Tanakh. For the Torah, these portions reflect the triennial cycle of Torah readings in the ancient Land of Israel (as opposed to the annual weekly Torah readings known today). For Nevi'im and Ketuvim they are quantitative divisions of the biblical text.
• A colloquial term for the annual weekly Torah portion as known today.

Relating to Talmudic texts:

• One of the six orders (major sections) of the Mishnah: (1) Zeraim, (2) Moed, (3) Nashim, (4) Nezikin, (5) Kodashim, and (6) Tohorot.
• A session in a daily yeshiva schedule, lasting one or more hours, dedicated to the preparation and review of Talmudic texts by chavrutas (learning partners).

In Jewish liturgy:

• An order of prayers that constitutes a liturgy, similar to the word siddur; example: The Seder of Rav Amram Gaon. See the article on siddur for this meaning.
• A related section of service within a given liturgy; for example: the seder of sounding the shofar.

In Jewish mysticism:

• The Kabbalistic "Evolution of the Worlds"; see Seder hishtalshelus.