Place - an adoption agency's, lawyer's, social worker's or baby-broker's assigning a child to a family for adoption.

Relinquish - to surrender to adoption and lose all parental rights. Not synonymous with "abandon," "lose," or "share custody."

Search - in adoption circles this refers to the search of one member of the adoption triad fro another:
Adopters searching for an adoptable baby;
An adoptee trying to locate a biological parent;
A birthparent trying to locate a relinquished child.

Hebrew Terms

Afikomen - a piece of matzah that is broken in half and hidden at the beginning of the seder, it is bought and found at the end, to be eaten as dessert.

Ametz - adoption; a modern Hebrew word that comes from "to graft on, to make strong" as used in Psalm 80:

     Look from heaven, and behold,
          and be mindful of this vine;
     And the stock which Thy right hand
          hath planted,
     And the branch that Thou madest strong for thyself.

Ba'al teshuvah - a secular person who has rediscovered her religious community

Bat - daughter of

Beitsa - roasted egg used for all three Moses-entwined holidays, known as pilgrimage holidays in the days when the Temple stood, related symbolically to zeroa

Chametz - leaven; this is forbidden during the eight days of Passover and traditionally includes all leavened grain, wheat, spelt, barley, rye and any of their derivatives

Charoset - a sticky mixture usually made from nuts, apples and wine

Chazeret - a vegetable with a tendency to bitterness, often lettuce, radish or watercress, related symbolically to maror

Haggadah - the book containing the story and home-centered ceremonies of Passover, literally: "the telling" (plural haggadot)

Halakhah - religious law based on rabbinic interpretations of the Torah that fundamentalist Jews call the Orah Torah

Israel - "wrestler with God," or "God-wrestler"

Jerusalem - the heart of the Promised Land, originally it meant "city of wholeness" or "city of peace"

Karpas - a springtime vegetable like celery, parsley or potato

Kiddush - to sanctify or set apart; a prayer of praise, honor or memory

Kinim - "lice," one of the Ten Plagues, related to the work kinah or jealousy

Maror - grated horseradish or the head of a horseradish, related symbolically to chazeret

Matzah - unleavened break like that which the Hebrew slaves ate

Midrashim - (plural of midrash) stories and interpretations based on Biblical text

Mitzrayim - "Egypt," originally a "narrow, confining place"

Mitzvah - literally a commandment, plural is mitzvot; a good deed, an opportunity to increase holiness in the world

Rechem - "womb," related to the word rachamim or "compassion"

Seder - literally "order;" refers to the ordered ritual and meal with which we celebrate Passover

Teshuvah - literally, "turning, returning," and figuratively, "repentence"

Tikkun Olam - literally, "repair of the world"

Torah - the five books of Moses which also correspond with the first five books of the Christian Old Testament

Y'rushalayim - Jerusalem; "city of wholeness" or "city of peace"

Zeroa - a roasted shankbone that symbolizes the springtime sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem in ancient times, related symbolically to beitsa

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