From the family of Hebrew. It gradually replaced Hebrew as the language of the Jews. Jesus spoke aramaic.  

An altar was a platform usually made out of stones and used to elevate the gift or sacrifice because God is seen as higher or above all else. At first they were erected anywhere by fathers of families. Later there was only one altar at the Temple.

He took the Seleucid throne as an eccentric despot who sought to force Hellenization throughout his empire. He attempted to eliminate the traditions and identity of the Jewish people.

Bethlehem is a town south of Jerusalem. The biblical birthplace of Jesus 

A sacred pact or agreement between God and his people.

The belief that Yahweh had chosen the Jews to play a unique role in the history of the world.

 Solved the problem of Jewish identity in a Roman-occupied Israel by withdrawing to a monastic-like setting. They were, if you like, the hippies of the day insofar as they completely opted out of mainstream Jewish society. 

The Galilee is a fertile, mountainous region in northern Israel. It’s known for the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus is said to have walked on water. 

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. 

The Jewish language of the Old Testament. Jesus read and studied Hebrew.

Spread of ancient Greek culture, religion, and, to a lesser extent, language over foreign peoples conquered by Greeks 

Herod I, also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman client (puppet) king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He oversaw many building projects including the temple in Jerusalem. He was paranoid and ordered the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem.

Son of Herod the Great. He was responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. It was the same Antipas who is accredited with the mocking of Jesus at his pre-crucifixion trial.

Herod's Temple is the temple that we read about in the Gospels, the one that Jesus was presented to God as an infant, called his Father's house as a child, taught about it, wept over it, predicted it's destruction, and where he turned over the money changer's tables.

took charge and waged a successful guerilla war against the Seleucids, retook Jerusalem, and in 164 restored and rededicated the Temple, giving birth to the Feast of Hanukkah. 

One of the twelve tribes that descended from Abraham's grandson Jacob. Moses and his brother Aaron were Levites, therefore they were considered priests.

Jerusalem, the holy city, is a city in Israel, located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It was the center of Jewish life and worship during Jesus's earthly life. Jesus's death and resurrection and ascension happened here.

The Maccabean Revolt was a Jewish rebellion, lasting from 167 to 160 BCE, led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and the Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. 

 a savior who would enable the Jews to fulfill their divine mission. There were differing understandings of the mission and role of the Messiah ranging from the establishment of a Jewish political kingdom here on earth to the eschatological notion of a heavenly kingdom at the end of the world.

a Jewish temple priest who refused to be persecuted by Antiochus Ephiphanies. . Seeing one of the Jews about to comply, he rushed forward and slew him at the altar and then killed the king’s emissary, “acting zealously for the law of God". Father of Judas Maccabeus.

Nazareth is a city in Israel with biblical history where the angel Gabriel told Mary she would bear a child. The site of Jesus' boyhood home and Joseph’s carpentry workshop where Jesus studied and prayed. 

The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. In memory of the Exodus event.

The Pharisees sought to live a rural life of spiritual purity by a meticulous and literal following of the torah (Jewish law). 

The fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 CE. He is best known today for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion. 

The priest had the role of offering worship to God on behalf of God's people and he acted as a mediator between God and the people offering sacrifice. A Levite. 

Legalistic ritual animal sacrifices that required blood to be splashed on the people. The blood was a sign of a family bond and also a reminder of the permanence of the covenant. To break it would be death. 

The great pragmatists of the day. As wealthy lay-nobles, priests and aristocrats, they sought to conserve their wealth and power through compromise with Rome. The main opponents of Jesus at the time of his trial and death. Centered in Jerusalem/urban areas. 

People inhabiting Samaria in biblical times, half-Jewish people adhering to a form of Judaism accepting only its own ancient version of the Pentateuch as Scripture. 

The Sanhedrin were assemblies of either twenty-three or seventy-one elders, appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the ancient Land of Israel. There were two classes of Jewish courts called Sanhedrin, the Great Sanhedrin and the Lesser Sanhedrin. 

An ancient Jewish record-keeper or, later, a professional theologian and jurist. Usually also considered a Pharisee.

A synagogue was a gathering place for the Jews where they came together in a U shaped building to keep their identity as God's chosen people alive. They read their stories, prayed to God as a substitute for ritual sacrifice, sang songs and they listened to Rabbis teach about the Law.

By the time of Jesus' birth, the Romans had established a two-tiered system of government consisting of Roman overseers and Jewish leaders who exercised control in the name of Rome. 

Zealots were looked upon as freedom-fighters or revolutionaries. Certainly Jesus had zealots among his followers, for example 'Simon the Zealot'. Judas Iscariot is also thought to have been a Zealot. Eventually they revolt against the Romans and lose.