how to say “to reside” or “to dwell” in Hebrew
This is one is for Mr. and Mrs. Worms.
If you’ve got some Hebrew, you likely know how to say “He lives in… (Israel, Los Angeles, Argentina, etc…)” – הוּא גָּר בְּ… (hoo gahr beh…). The word לָגוּר (lah-GOOR) means to reside, in colloquial Hebrew.
There is also a more refined word, not used much in everyday language, but worthwhile knowing nonetheless. This word is לִשְׁכּוֹן (leesh-KOHN), meaning, to dwell. You’ll find it all over the Hebrew Bible (i.e. מִשְׁכָּן – meesh-KAHN – holy tabernacle) and in Jewish liturgy
. You’ll also find the root ש.כ.נ (sh.k.n) all over Modern Hebrew, in words like שְׁכוּנָה (sheh-khoo-NAH) – neighborhood, and מַשְׁכַּנְתָּא (mahsh-KAHN-tah) – mortgage (that word is from Aramaic
).You’ll encounter לשכון in contexts where in English you’d use to live somewhere, but not at a street address. For example, הוּא שׁוֹכֵן בְּלִבָּה (hoo shoh-KHEN beh-lee-BAH) – he lives in her heart (here’s a beautiful love song by Israeli artist Kobi Aflelo, featuring the word).
Or, הָאֱ-לֹהִים חָפֵץ לִשְׁכּוֹן בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה (hah-eh-loh-HEEM khah-FETS leesh-KOHN bah-oh-LAHM hah-ZEH) – G-d wishes to dwell in this world… which is the climactic theme of this week’s Torah portion, the concluding portion of the Book of Exodus.
שבת שלום וסוף שבוע נעים לכולם!
Shabbat Shalom and a pleasant weekend to all!
