When an Israeli teen gets a letter from the military to show up, s/he receives a צַו גִּיּוּס (tsahv g-ee-YOOS) – literally, this is an order of recruitment.
A mitzvah (in Hebrew it’s מִצְוָה – meets-VAH), in the purest sense of the word, is a commandment.
See the connection between the words צו and מצוה? The root of both is צ.ו.ה. – ts.w.h., the core concept of commanding or ordering.
having trouble seeing the print? מְתִיקוּת LAST DAY for the special discount on Ulpan La-Inyan Fall courses! As a way of wishing you a wonderful new year, here is a non-exhaustive list of words that come from the Hebrew root for sweet, מ.ת.ק (m.t.k). The nouns are all declined in the masculine singular. מָתוֹק (mah-TOHK) – sweet לְהַמְתִּיק (leh-hahm-TEEK) –…
נוכחות Remember when in school teachers used to take attendance? Perhaps some of you are still in school having your attendance taken. Perhaps you’re a student of Ulpan La-Inyan in one of our client schools and you’re having your attendance taken by our very teachers… In any case, in Israel, one’s presence in a…
אִזּוּן, שִׁוּוּי מִשְׁקָל listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? One could argue that the lifestyle guidelines presented in the Torah are all about balance, especially in light of this week’s portion. The Hebrew word for balance when talking about non-physical things such as lifestyle is אִזּוּן listen and repeat. It comes from the word for that organ…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סולמית-1.m4a” /]סֻלָּמִית You may know the word סולם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סולמית-2.m4a” /] – ladder – from the dream of Jacob: (וְהִנֵּה סֻלָּם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה וְרֹאשׁוֹ מַגִּיעַ הַשָּׁמָיְמָה… (בראשית כ”ח י”ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סולמית-3.m4a” /] And behold, a ladder resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven… (Genesis 28:12) To name the number sign that appears on the bottom-right of…
מַעֲלָה listen to this word pronounced This past Friday I featured Ehud Banai’s היום (hah-YOHM) – Today as a song thematically tied to the week’s Torah portion. However, when thinking about it this morning a more appropriate song came to mind: Avraham Fried’s אַדְרַבָּה (ahd-rah-BAH), pronounced by the singer, AH-deh-RAH-beh. The word itself is Aramaic…
דְּלִיפָה Over the past few months Wikileaks has been hovering ominously over the heads of various heads of state. Here’s how to say a leak in Hebrew: דְּלִיפָה (de-lee-FAH). It’s the noun form (gerund) of לִדְלוֹף (leed-LOHF) – to leak. This is a simple (פעל – קל) verb. דליפה can mean either…