אֲנִי מַבְּסוּט Can’t read Hebrew yet? Hebrew and the local dialect of Arabic borrow lots of words from one another, especially in slang. Among several slang terms that mean happy, chillin’, etc is the word borrowed from Arabic, מַבְּסוּט (written مبسوط in Arabic). In Hebrew, it means roughly satisfied or just happy, often very much…
Can’t read Hebrew yet? חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material Review, practice and test yourself on this week’s doses of Hebrew! Flashcards Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
מְפַקֵּד My cousin Yudi is the third Chabadnik to become a combat officer in the Israeli military. He is currently serving as a commander. The Hebrew word for military commander is מְפַקֵּדIts root is פ.ק.ד (p.k.d), the concept of turning attention to something: someone who commands causes those under him or her to turn…
לְהָזִיעַ Can’t read Hebrew yet? Exercise is particularly gratifying when we sweat, because this proves to ourselves that we’ve actually worked out. At least that’s my experience. The Hebrew word for to sweat is לְהָזִיעַ . It’s an active-causative verb of the root ז.י.ע (z.y.a). For example: רָקַדְתִּי כָּל כָּךְ…
רִיצָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? With the Tel Aviv marathon this week and the Jerusalem one next month, now’s a good time to do a piece on running – רִיצָה . Look at the second letter in ריצה (reading from right to left). It’s a י , which functions much like…
סִיסְמָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? Yesterday’s dose introduced the Hebrew term for username – שם משתמש . But a username isn’t enough to get into a membership site. You need a password too. The Hebrew word for password is סִיסְמָה . It’s the same word as slogan. סיסמה first appeared in…
שֵׁם מִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ Can’t read Hebrew yet? If you’re like me and you sometimes forget your username or password on one of the dozens of websites you’ve joined, raise your hand. The Hebrew term for username is a direct translation of the English – שֵׁם מִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ – where שם means name and משתמש means…
Can’t read Hebrew yet? חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material Review, practice and test yourself on this week’s doses of Hebrew! Flashcards Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
Can’t read Hebrew yet? מַקְהֵלָה Music sung solo can be fantastic. Still, there’s something special about many voices converging in unison, in melody and harmony. The Hebrew word for choir is מַקְהֵלָה . Its root is ק.ה.ל (k.h.l), the ancient Hebrew root meaning public and community. It’s also the root…
Can’t read Hebrew yet? בַּעֲלֵי חַיִּים In Yiddish, a person unwilling to be controlled is א וידלע חייע (literally, a wild animal), where חייע is a Yiddishized form of the Hebrew word חַיָּה – animal. Spelling seems to vary. I’m no expert on Yiddish. To refer to living…
Can’t read Hebrew yet? קְרִיאַת חוֹבָה I just finished reading ‘Tis, the second of Frank McCourt’s three memoirs. I read his first book Angela’s Ashes this past summer, and I’ve just started Teacher Man. These books comprise the story of a perennial student of life. Spiced with pain, humor and understanding, this is his great legacy. …