שבע If you’re familiar with the Jewish blessing following a meal involving bread, you almost certainly know the phrase (Biblical verse) וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבַעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ (ve-ah-khahl-TAH ve-sah-VAH-tah oo-veh-rahkh-TAH…) – and you shall eat and be sated, and you shall bless (G-d)… To say I’m full, as in I’ve eaten enough, is (ah-NEE sah-VEH-ah) for…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ראוי-1.m4a” /]רָאוּי The Hebrew word for worthy is ראוי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ראוי-1.m4a” /]. You may recognize its root as ר.א.ה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ראוי-2.m4a” /] – the concept of seeing. ראוי means literally, seen. The word first appears in the Mishnah, where it means fit or seen as appropriate for something specific. This meaning carries until today in phrases like: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ראוי-3.m4a” /]הוא ראוי לה והיא…
having trouble seeing the print? שִׁפּוּטִי The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world is called מִשְׁפָּטִים (meesh-pah-TEEM), literally, ordinances or rules. The root of this word is שׁ.פ.ט (sh.p.t), meaning judgment. To judge, in both the legalistic sense and in the interpersonal sense, is לִשְׁפּוֹט (leesh-POHT), while a שׁוֹפֵט (shoh-FET) is…
מִנְהָרָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? The primary objective of Operation Protective Edge was the destruction of tunnels that Hamas had built to terrorize Israel. The Hebrew word for tunnel is מִנְהָרָה. It comes from the word נָהָרmeaning river, so that a tunnel is a place dug through the ground, potentially by a river. For example:…