how to say “latkes” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-1.m4a” /]לְבִיבוֹת
My Israeli grandmother makes the best potato latkes. But she doesn’t call them latkes – she calls them לביבות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-1.m4a” /].
The word לביבה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-2.m4a” /] originates in the illicit Biblical story of Amnon and Tamar (שמואל ב’, פרק י”ג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-3.m4a” /] – II Samuel, Chapter 13), where the incestuous brother asks his sister to make him שְׁתֵּי לְבִבוֹת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-4.m4a” /] – two “levivot”, some kind of cooked food item made of dough, whose name comes from the root ל.ב.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-5.m4a” /] meaning heart. Rest assured that today’s לביבות are scandal-free – and are usually fried in oil, not boiled in water.
The word in context:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-6.m4a” /]לביבות הן אחד משני מאכלים מטוגנים שיהודים נוהגים לאכול בחנוכה.
Latkes are one of two fried foods that Jews are accustomed to eat on Hanukkah.
