Author: Ami Steinberger

  כִּוּוּן  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The word direction in English might refer to the physical direction of east and west, but it also speaks of direction in the figurative sense.    So too in Hebrew, with the word כִּוּוּן listen and repeat. For example:   הוּא שִׁנָּה כִּוּוּן בַּחַיִּים. He changed (his) direction in life.  listen …

  מִשְׂרָד  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Those who have made aliyah (immigration to Israel) and have had adventures in the bureaucratic jungle, certainly know the word for government ministry – מִשְׂרָד listen and repeat – as in:   מִשְׂרַד הָרִשּׁוּי The Ministry of Licensing  listen    מִשְׂרַד הָעֲלִיָּה וְהַקְּלִיטָה The Ministry of Immigration and Absorption…

  מִדְבָּר  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     I love spending time in the desert, especially in Israel. There’s something about the quiet, the dryness and the wind that soothes my soul.   The Hebrew word for desert is מִדְבָּר listen and repeat. Its root is ד.ב.ר (d.b.r), which has two meanings in Biblical…

  מְאֻכְלָס  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Population in Hebrew is אֻכְלוּסִיָּה listen and repeat, derived from the Greek word for masses.   Populated or inhabited is מְאֻכְלָס listen and repeat, as in:   הָאִי הַהוּא אֵינוֹ מְאֻכְלָס. That island is not inhabited.  listen and repeat   A synonym for inhabited is מְיֻשָּׁב listen and repeat.   מאוכלס…

  אֵיכוּת  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The Hebrew word for quantity takes כַּמָּה listen and repeat – how much? – and adds the וּת- listen and repeat ending, rendering כַּמּוּת listen and repeat – the “how-much-ness” of something.   Likewise, the word for quality takes ְאֵיך listen and repeat – how – adds the same ending, and yields אֵיכוּת listen and repeat – or…

  כַּמּוּת  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The Ancient Hebrew dialects did not have have a word for quantity.   So what did Modern Hebrew do to supply one? It took the word for how much – כַּמָּה listen and repeat – and appended the abstract-noun-making וּת- listen and repeat ending to it, and yielded the word כַּמּוּת listen…

  חֵץ וָקֶשֶׁת  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Though the more prominent tradition of לַ”ג בָּעֹמֶר listen and repeat is the bonfire, Jewish children today and throughout the Diaspora used to go out into the fields and play with bows and arrows, as a reminder of the last stand in the Jewish independence…

  לְהַעֲלוֹת עַל הַכְּתָב  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Some things, such as various pieces of this week’s Torah portion, are difficult to put in writing.  The Hebrew expression for to put in writing is לְהַעֲלוֹת עַל הַכְּתָב listen and repeat – literally, to raise on the writing.   For example:   הוּא לֹא…

  לְהַסְמִיק  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Many Human beings are masters at masking their emotions. Still, there are some involuntary responses that very few are able to control.   One of these is blushing, whose Hebrew word – to blush – is לְהַסְמִיק listen and repeat.    This is an active-causative verb…