[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תעוזה-1.m4a” /]תְּעוּזָה, הֱעָזָה By its nature, the act of doing something requiring courage may come across as positive or less so: It could be called an act of daring or an act of audacity, which itself could be positive or negative. The Hebrew words for each draw upon the same root – ע.ו.ז[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תעוזה-2.m4a” /]:…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להעיז-1.m4a” /]לְהָעִיז I attended an all-boys high school – it housed nearly double the testosterone found at a coed school, with the grief caused to staff following a similar proportion. One time, several boys from another class decided to play a daring prank on a teacher: they lifted his car from his normal spot in the parking lot and moved…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/באותו-ראש-1.m4a” /]בְּאֹתוֹ רֹאשׁ To express that two people are thinking in sync, English invokes the metaphor of a book, where among all the pages in the volume, the two people are reading the same one – “we’re on the same page.” English also has an expression that stresses the feeling of connection that comes with such an…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נר-לאחד-1.m4a” /]נֵר לְאֶחָד נֵר לְמֵאָה Last night Jews lit the eighth candle of חנוכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נר-לאחד-2.m4a” /] – Hanukkah, the last candle of the festival. So many flames look beautiful, but even one candle can provide light to multitudes. This the rabbis of the Talmud observed (שבת קכא עמוד א[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נר-לאחד-3.m4a” /] Shabbat 121A) with their statement, נר…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מואר-1.m4a” /]מוּאָר Ernest Hemingway wrote a short story called “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” The story itself I don’t remember at all, but the title for some reason stayed with me. Something lighted or lit in Hebrew is מואר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מואר-1.m4a” /], a passive form of the active-causative verb להאיר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מואר-2.m4a” /] – to light up or to shine. This word להאיר also forms the…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-1.mp3″ /] Review Material Can’t read Hebrew yet? You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep. Flashcards . Scatter . Space Race . Test [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להשפיע-1.m4a” /]לְהַשְׁפִּיעַ Earlier this week we saw the word for abundance – שפע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להשפיע-2.m4a” /]. Imagine a basket overflowing with fruit – that’s abundance. Plugging the word שפע into the active-causative verb form – overflowing to the point where it affects others – we get the word להשפיע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להשפיע-1.m4a” /] – to influence (to flow into). For example: [audioclip…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-1.m4a” /]לְבִיבוֹת My Israeli grandmother makes the best potato latkes. But she doesn’t call them latkes – she calls them לביבות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-1.m4a” /]. The word לביבה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-2.m4a” /] originates in the illicit Biblical story of Amnon and Tamar (שמואל ב’, פרק י”ג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-3.m4a” /] – II Samuel, Chapter 13), where the incestuous brother asks…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-1.m4a” /]אֹכֶל מְטֻגָּן, מַאֲכָלִים מְטֻגָּנִים One of the key features of the חנוכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-3.m4a” /] (Hanukkah) holiday is fried snacks. The reason has something to do with the oil found in the Temple, but regardless, they’re delicious. The Hebrew expression for fried food is אוכל מטוגן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-3.m4a” /], where אוכל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-4.m4a” /] means food and מטוגן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-5.m4a”…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-1.m4a” /]סְפוֹג Appearing in the Mishnah, the Hebrew word for sponge – ספוג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-1.m4a” /] – borrows from the Greek σπόγγος (spongos). From that source comes the active-simple verb לספוג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-2.m4a” /] – to absorb (both physically and metaphorically), and the word for those חנוכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-3.m4a” /] (Hanukkah) favorites, סופגניות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-4.m4a” /] – doughnuts. The word in…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-1.m4a” /]שֶׁפַע If you’ve spent time in Haredi neighborhoods in Israel, you may have come across supermarkets with the word שפע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-1.m4a” /] in them, such as שפע שוק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-2.m4a” /] – literally, Abundance Market. שפע means abundance or plenty. For example, you might hear people wishing each other on special occasions: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-3.m4a” /]שפע ברכות! An abundance…