bocher

1 9.9

A young man or boy who studies in a Jewish religious school

noun
/ˈboʊkər/

: bocher

Every Sunday, the bocher prepared for his lessons by reviewing the weekly Torah portion.
chaida bocher

Examples

I admired his mastery of the Orthodox idiom, the half-Yiddish of the yeshiva bocher.

Academic text (2010)
In the yeshiva, the young bocher studied ancient texts with great dedication.
My concept of a yeshiva bocher is somebody who has not come from a more cultured background.

Fiction book (1991)
My father expected me to be a chaida bocher for the simple reason that he had been a chaida bocher in Ottonyier in the old country.

Academic text (2000)
My father expected me to be a chaida bocher for the simple reason that he had been a chaida bocher in Ottonyier in the old country.

Academic text (2000)
Had he, I wondered, heard the ancestral voices I used to hear as a chaida bocher when I prayed to "our God and God of our fathers"?

Academic text (2000)
As they speak, they become the boys they were in 1943, two chaida bochers fighting for the honor of God and tribe in front of the synagogue on Hull Avenue.

Academic text (2000)
The community gathered to celebrate the achievements of the local bocher who excelled in his studies.

Synonyms

schoolboy

vsbocher

33 1.0

A boy who goes to school

denotes a young male specifically studying in a Jewish religious school

boychik

vsbocher

Jargon

4 9.9

A young boy people call in a warm, friendly way in Jewish families

refers neutrally to a young male who studies at a religious school

Surface Forms

bocher singular

bochers plural

Etymology

The word bocher comes from Yiddish and Hebrew bachur, which means 'young man' or 'chosen'. It is often used for a young man who studies in a Jewish religious school, so the origin explains its modern meaning.