צַר לִי לְאַכְזֵב My father, who grew up in Israel, raised me speaking Hebrew in the US. Thanks to him, when I came to live in Israel as an adult, I was already equipped with conversational Hebrew. But since my education took place in the States, I was missing some higher-register expressions such as צר…
שֶׁבֶר Once I was riding my bike on Azza Street in Jerusalem, made a bad turn and fell with my hand breaking the fall. I came away with a שבר – a fracture. שבר refers not only to a physical break or fracture, but to many other things as well: a fraction, a failure, and even emotional anguish. For example: כשנחרב…
סִילָאן I know lots of women named תמר – Tamar (date), and I’ve met one or two named דבש – Dvash (honey) as well. דבש mentioned in the Bible refers to date honey – דבש תמרים. Over time, Jews started using bee honey – דבש דבורים – as their main form of honey, so דבש came to refer…
בַּעֲלִיָּיה Aliyah – Jewish immigration to Israel – means literally rising up. I’ve done it – perhaps you have as well. בעלייה means on the rise, so that we might say: העלייה לארץ בעלייה. Aliyah to Israel (the country) is on the rise. ב usually means in, but in this case it’s on. If that doesn’t make 100%…
אִם זוֹ לֹא טִרְחָה גְּדוֹלָה Empathy is a key element in persuasion: if I want to get someone to do something, acknowledging the fact that I’m causing them inconvenience will make them more likely to accept my request. אם זו לא טרחה גדולה accomplishes just that. It means literally, if this isn’t too much trouble. People…