how do you say “to let go” in Hebrew?
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-1.m4a” /]לְשַׁחְרֵר
The word לשחרר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-1.m4a” /] is all about freedom and liberation, deriving from the root ח.ו.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-2.m4a” /] as in בן חורין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-3.m4a” /] – free person. לשחרר means to release, to liberate, to let go. Here’s an illustration of the concept (in English) from the 1991 version of Father of the Bride.
It’s also used colloquially in lieu of to relax, as in:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-4.m4a” /]שחרר, אחי.
Relax (let go), bro.
Its noun form – שחרור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-5.m4a” /] – makes its appearance in the name for Israel’s War of Independence: מלחמת השחרור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-6.m4a” /] – literally, War of the Liberation.
לשחרר is an active-intensive פיעל verb. To get released or to release oneself is the active-reflexive התפעל verb להשתחרר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-7.m4a” /], as in:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-8.m4a” /]השתחררתי מהצבא.
I got released from the army.
