weekly video dose – how to say “abstinence” in Hebrew

I’m originally from LA, where you only honk your car horn if it’s an emergency… or if you’re Israeli. I’ve lived in Israel, though, long enough now that I sometimes honk to teach someone a lesson or to express my disappointment. I’ve acclimated. To honk in Hebrew is לצפור, while a horn is צופר (sounds…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/נפש-#.m4a” /]נֶפֶשׁ, רוּחַ, נְשָׁמָה Jewish mystical tradition has three words for that non-physical side of man: נפש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/נפש-#.m4a” /] – soul, רוח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/נפש-#.m4a” /] – literally, wind and נשמה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/נפש-#.m4a” /] – spirit (Kabbalah expands on these terms). Today, Israelis tend to use נשמה to refer to someone’s divine spirit: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/נפש-#.m4a” /]יש לו נשמה טובה. He has…

The simple way of saying he couldn’t or he wasn’t able to is הוא לא היה יכול. But Hebrew has a more eloquent expression for he couldn’t in the sense of he was prevented from being able to: נבצר ממנו. For example: בגלל אפליקציית עיצוב ישנה, נבצר ממנה לייצר תמונה באמת טובה. Because of an old design app…