Passover: a Jewish holiday commemorating the Hebrews' liberation from slavery in Egypt

Pentecost: a Christian feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles

penury: severe poverty

pestilential: deadly; poisonous

phylacteries either of two small square leather boxes containing slips inscribed with scriptural passages and traditionally worn on the left arm and on the head by Jewish men during morning weekday prayers

pipel: a young boy in the service of a kapo in the concentration camps


Red Army: the Army of the Soviet Union

Rebbe: rabbi, usually refers to a Hasidic rabbi

Rosh Hashanah: the festival of the New Year in Judaism. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the eight days in between are special days of penitence.

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