how to say “God forbid!” in Hebrew
This one’s for Katie
I don’t think she picked up on the humor in the occurrence, but I had a laugh when someone asked the bus driver tonight whether he would be turning left from Emek Refaim St. onto Masaryk – to which the driver responded, חַס וְחָלִילָה! (khahs veh-khah-LEE-lah). Perhaps because it’s a one-way street, I don’t know. But his reaction made me feel right at home.
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| one of the Emek Refaim hot spots |
I grew up in the Los Angeles Orthodox Jewish school system, where the phrase חַס וְשָׁלוֹם (khahs veh-shah-LOHM) meant God forbid. But at home I heard my Israeli father use חס וחלילה, which turns out to be the vernacular here in Israel.
I just read up a bit on this phrase. Apparently, it combines both Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew words that communicate a swear to the effect of stop it, have mercy! – חס is the Aramaic, while חלילה is the Hebrew, appearing in בְּרֵאשִׁית מ”ד, ז (beh-reh-SHEET) – Genesis 44:7.
