הֲפָקָה Yesterday around the Shabbat table at the absorption center in Beit Alpha, someone asked me whether as a child I dreamed of teaching Hebrew and running an ulpan. I replied that I actually dreamed of becoming a film director. As a kid, I used to make short films with friends…
לסנוור עִוֵּר (ee-VEHR) for a male and עִוֶּרֶת (ee-VEH-ret) for a female are the Hebrew words for someone who is blind. By contrast, to blind someone is (le-sahn-VEHR). This is a very old word; it comes up in next week’s Torah portion, where the angels visiting Lot strike the Sodomites with blindness – סַנְוֵרִים…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/מעונות-#.m4a” /]מְעוֹנוֹת מעון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/מעונות-#.m4a” /] is a fancy word for house – it’s like the English word residence. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/מעונות-#.m4a” /]מעון ראש הממשלה ממוקם ברחוב בלפור בירושלים. The prime minister’s residence is located on Balfour Street in Jerusalem. A dormitory or dormitories are מעונות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/מעונות-#.m4a” /] – literally, residences. For example: [audioclip…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a” /]מִילִּים גַּסּוֹת, קְלָלוֹת I grew up in Los Angeles, where half of my class in school spoke Farsi. As a youth, which words did I naturally I pick up? The curse words – in Hebrew, מילים גסות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a” /] – literally coarse words, or simply קללות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a” /] – curses. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a”…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/סיכה-#.m4a” /]סִיכָּה The word for pin – something sharp you might use to pin two things together – is סיכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/סיכה-#.m4a” /] in Hebrew, as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/סיכה-#.m4a” /]נפצעתי מסיכת ביטחון! I got hurt from a safety pin! The root of סיכה is ס.כ.כ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/סיכה-#.m4a” /], the same as that of סוכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/סיכה-#.m4a” /] – Sukkah….
having trouble seeing the print? תּוֹצָאָה check out music.ulpan.com A result is something that comes out of an action. For example, a colorful wall comes out of or results from the act of painting. Modern Hebrew thus employs the root י.צ.א (y.ts.a) meaning exiting to produce the word for result: תּוֹצָאָה . For example: קִיר צִבְעוֹנִי הוּא תּוֹצָאָה שֶׁל צְבִיעָה. A…