a video lesson for Rosh Hashanah
having trouble seeing the print? לָשֵׂאת brought to you by Ulpan La-Inyan teaching Hebrew throughout Israel and online Courses starting Sunday around the country! The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world is called נָשֹא (nah-SOH), which, literally, means lift up or carry (in the Biblical context, it means take a census or lift…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-1.m4a” /]לְרוֹקֵן If you’ve got basic Hebrew down, you may know the Hebrew word for empty – ריק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-2.m4a” /] for masculine objects and ריקה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-3.m4a” /] for feminine ones. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-4.m4a” /]למה הכוס שלך ריקה? Why is your (a male’s) glass empty? Modern Hebrew takes this Biblical word and plugs it into…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/חולה-קורונה-#.m4a” /]חוֹלֶה קוֹרוֹנָה When referring to someone with a disease, the English word patient sounds much nicer than its Hebrew equivalent – חולֶה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/חולה-קורונה-#.m4a” /] (a male) or חולָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/חולה-קורונה-#.m4a” /] (a female), meaning literally sick one. In any case, a corona patient – literally, sick one of corona – is חולת קורונה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/חולה-קורונה-#.m4a” /] (a…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/לנשוך-#.m4a” /]לִנְשׁוֹךְ The Hebrew word for to bite is the simple verb לנשוך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/לנשוך-#.m4a” /], as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/לנשוך-#.m4a” /]נשך אותי עכביש! A spider bit me! In Biblical Hebrew, נשך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/לנשוך-#.m4a” /] – biting – refers to monetary interest (bankers beware). But by Mishnaic times, the word for interest was already ריבית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/לנשוך-#.m4a” /], related to the…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/מברשת-שיער-#.m4a” /]מִבְרֶשֶׁת שֵׂעָר The Hebrew word for brush is מברשת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/מברשת-שיער-#.m4a” /]. Look at it closely. Its root is ב.ר.ש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/מברשת-שיער-#.m4a” /], the same consonants as the English brush. Does this word really have an English origin? Yes and no. Someone – possibly Eliezer Ben Yehuda – coined the term מברשת in the late…