Author: Ami Steinberger

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/תסירו-אותי-#.m4a” /]תָּסִירוּ אוֹתִי! At the bottom of every marketing email that respects itself is a link that in English says something to the effect of unsubscribe. In Hebrew, that word is usually הסר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/תסירו-אותי-#.m4a” /] – literally, remove. הסר is an imperative (command) version of the word להסיר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/תסירו-אותי-#.m4a” /] – to remove. Here’s להסיר in a different…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/רשימת-תפוצה-#.m4a” /]רְשִׁימַת תְּפוּצָה We saw yesterday that התפוצות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/רשימת-תפוצה-#.m4a” /] means the Diaspora, and that the word תפוצות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/רשימת-תפוצה-#.m4a” /] itself means literally distributions. A mailing list or a distribution list is רשימת תפוצה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/רשימת-תפוצה-#.m4a” /], as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/רשימת-תפוצה-#.m4a” /]יש לנו מעל שלוש עשרה אלף כתובות מייל ברשימת התפוצה שלנו. We have over thirteen thousand emails addresses on…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התפוצות-#.m4a” /]הַתְּפוּצוֹת The Hebrew word for exile is גלות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התפוצות-#.m4a” /], as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התפוצות-#.m4a” /]עם ישראל היה אלפיים שנה בגלות. The People of Israel were two thousand years in exile. But what about the specific places that the Jews inhabited בגלות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התפוצות-#.m4a” /] – in the exile? There’s a special word for these: התפוצות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התפוצות-#.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התבוללות-#.m4a” /]הִתְבּוֹלְלוּת You may know the Hebrew expression לבלבל את המוח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התבוללות-#.m4a” /] – to drive someone crazy, or literally, to confuse the brain. לבלבל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התבוללות-#.m4a” /], whose four-letter ב.ל.ב.ל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התבוללות-#.m4a” /] root is a linguistically-mutated version of ב.ל.ל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התבוללות-#.m4a” /], means to confuse things. ב.ל.ל is also the root of the word assimiliation – התבוללות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/התבוללות-#.m4a” /]….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/בכוונה-#.m4a” /]בְּכַוָּנָה You may know the word כוונה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/בכוונה-#.m4a” /] – intention or purpose – from Jewish prayer. With the letter ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/בכוונה-#.m4a” /] in front of it, the word becomes on purpose or intentionally, as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/בכוונה-#.m4a” /]סליחה, לא עשיתי את זה בכוונה! Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose! כוונה comes from the root כ.ו.נ[audioclip…