Notes: Sebastian is a name with Greek origins. The meaning of the name Sebastian is venerable. Alternate spellings include Sabastian and Sebastion. Common nicknames include Seb, Bas, Bash, and Subby. The popularity of the name increased with the telling of the Biblical story of Saint Sebastian.
The Talmud is the source from which the code of Jewish Halakhah (law) is derived. It is made up of the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is the original written version of the oral law and the Gemara is the record of the rabbinic discussions following this writing down. It includes their differences of view. The Talmud can also be known by the name Shas.
Hebrew is a Semitic languageâlike Arabic and Aramaicâand like most ancient Semitic languages its alphabet has no vowels. However, sometime between the middle and end of the first millennium, rabbis known as the Masoretes instituted a system of dots and dashes to indicate how words were to be pronounced.