how to say “rehab” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/גמילה-#.m4a” /]גְּמִילָה

The original meaning of the Hebrew word גמילה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/גמילה-#.m4a” /] was weaning or dealing fully with something, closing a circle, so to speak. You may be familiar with the expression from Jewish prayer, גומל חסדים טובים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/גמילה-#.m4a” /] – (He who) pays back (completes the circle for) good acts of kindness – in this expression, גומל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/גמילה-#.m4a” /] is a form of the simple verb לגמול[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/גמילה-#.m4a” /] – to pay back. And לגמול is the noun form of גמילה.

Today, Israelis use גמילה to refer to recovery or rehabilitation from addiction. 

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/גמילה-#.m4a” /]פעם עבדתי במרכז גמילה מסמים ואלכוהול.

I once worked at a rehab center for drugs and alcohol.

Whether גמילה has to do with the animal גמל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/גמילה-#.m4a” /] – camel, I do not know.

Addendum:

The dose above refers to rehab for addiction. The word for rehab in the medical sense, such as for physical injuries, is שיקום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/גמילהה-1.m4a” /].