how to say “window” (literal and proverbial) in Hebrew

 

חַלּוֹן, צֹהַר
 

 

 
The Hebrew word for the physical window found on the sides of homes and buildings is חַלּוֹן  . Though חלון is a masculine noun, it looks feminine in the plural:
מַעֲרֶכֶת הַהַפְעָלָה שֶׁל מִיקְרוֹסוֹפט נִקְרֵאת “חַלּוֹנוֹת.”
Microsoft’s operating system is called Windows.
 
 
חלון also means window in the proverbial sense, as in:
 
הָעֵינַיִם חַלּוֹן לַנְּשָׁמָה.
The eyes are a window to the soul.
 
 
Another word, a more literary synonym for חלון, also refers to the proverbial window: צֹהַר  , as in the name of the Israeli rabbinic organization צֹהַר לַיַהֲדוּת   A Window to Judaism.
 
Both צוהר and חלון first referred to a physical window, and both appear as such in the Torah portion to be read by Jews around the world this Shabbat.
 
צוהר is related to the word for purity – טֹהַר   – as both have to do with clarity, and both begin with an emphatic consonant while the rest of the root letters are the same.

Similar Posts