B"H: Acronym; Baruch Hashem. Thank G-d.
Challah: Egg bread traditionally eaten on Jewish sabbath.
Chatzos: Or chatzot. Jewish midday-- the halfway point between sunrise and sunset.
Chavruta: study partner for learning Torah. But-oh-so-much-more. See this article.
Chesed: Loving-kindness. Often used to refer to generous, sweet, helpful things that one does for others.
Cholent: Wikipedia does a much better job on "cholent" than I can. It is basically Shabbos stew. In the words of Uncle Moishy, "You take the meat and potatoes and all kinds of beans/salt, pepper, ketchup and things in between/and then the secret ingredient!"
Erev Shabbos: The evening/afternoon leading up to Shabbos.
Gefilte Fish: chopped fish loaf thing. Very mild taste... Yes. It is probably an acquired taste.
Hashem: Literally, "the name". G-d.
Hashem Yerachem: Hashem, have mercy.
Kedusha: holiness
Kugel: Sweet or savory and always yummy. Kugel is... kugel. It is a casseroley, puddingy, kugely thingy. My personal, all time favorite is potato (think potato pancake taste, but thick and baked). Close second is broccoli (quiche-y... I put fried onions on top of mine... green bean casserole style). Mainstay of most shabbos meals.
L'cvod Shabbos Kodesh: For the honor of the holy Shabbos. When you do something "l'cvod shabbos", you are doing it in honor of Shabbos. For example, I am mopping my floor, "l'cvod shabbos".
Matza: Unleavened bread traditionally eaten during Passover. It is flat and resembles a cracker.
Mazel tov: Congratulations. There is a lot more that can be said about that phrase, but for our purposes, congratulations will work.
Mitzvah: Commandment or torah obligation. Also can be used as "good deed"-- as in, HELP ME WITH MY CHALLAH MITZVAH!
Min Hashamyim: From Heaven.
Mitzvah/mitzvos: The way I will be using it-- Torah commandment (you are probably familiar with the top 10 list... there are 603 others).
Motzei Shabbos: Saturday night.
Parasha: Weekly Torah portion.
Parve: The laws of kashrus (keeping kosher) make a distinction between milk and meat (namely, we don't eat them together). Food that is neither milk nor meat is considered "parve"-- neutral, if you will. You could eat it with anything.
Pesach: Passover. On Pesach, we don't eat any leavened food and make special efforts to ensure that no leavened products are in our possession. By "make special efforts", I mean "become borderline ocd about crumbs of cheerios dust that could possible be lingering in the crevices of the couch."
Rebbitzen: Rabbi's wife. Typically, a very holy, special woman sought out for advice.
Shabbos/Shabbat: Jewish sabbath, celebrated every week from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.
Shmooze: chat. But so much more colorful!
Shul: Synagogue.
Tehillim: Psalms.
Yetzer Hara: Evil inclination. The yetzer hara is that little devil that pops up on your shoulder and whispers in your ear.
