שקוף Today I was on the phone when all of a sudden a quite powerful gust of wind came and slammed my office/bedroom door shut and shattering all the glass, yielding this: The spots on the door are not stains; rather, they are specs of dust on my phone camera’s lens, which I…
חום Help us get the Hebrew word out there! Forward this to a friend or two! Yes, single Hebrew word above means all three of those things in English: heat, fever and warmth. The word is חוֹם (hohm) – not to be confused with the color brown – חוּם (hoom). Here are two Hebrew…
יום האב I dedicate today’s dose to my father, the man who taught me the language I now give over to you. Why? Because today (Sunday) is Father’s Day, at least in the States (in case you forgot like I almost did :). אַבָּא (AH-bah) is usually one of the first words uttered by…
להאמין I think I’ve already done this word a while ago, but after a wonderful Shabbat that was wonderful as a result of certain acts of אמונה (see below for Hebrew explanation) on my part, I feel it’s nice to reprise. I believe that אֶמוּנָה (eh-moo-NAH) is important for a happy, healthy life….
הפגנה To my Level-5-ers – you’ve already had this lesson. Consider it review :). The Hebrew word for demonstration – political or otherwise – is הַפְגָּנָה (hahf-gah-NAH). To demonstrate or to display is לְהַפְגִּין (le-hahf-GHEEN). For example, הוּא מַפְגִּין עִנְיָן בַּלִּמּוּדִים (hoo mahf-GHEEN een-YAHN bah-lee-moo-DEEM) – he displays interest in (his/the) studies. Today there…
רשות The word for Authority, as in the Palestinian Authority, is רָשׁוּת (rah-SHOOT). The Palestinian Authority is הָרָשׁוּת הַפַלֶסְטִינִית (hah-fah-less-TEE-neet). I use an f instead of a p because Arabic speakers don’t have the p sound – so that when they pronounce this Latin word, Palestine, you’ll often hear either Falestine or Balestine. The plural is…
דייט, וכו. My Level 5 class at AACI Jerusalem is composed partly of some self-proclaimed yentes – people (usually ladies) who like to talk a lot. So the word for date (as in a non-platonic meeting between two people) came up. My students were surprised that the word for date in Hebrew is none other than…
נאור A couple of years ago I worked with a man named נָאוֹר (nah-OHR), who runs a non-profit organization in Tel Aviv. I thought about it, looked it up to confirm, and discovered that his name indeed means enlightened. The female version of the word/name is נְאוֹרָה (ne-oh-RAH). The word/name is actually a…
תכנית רדיו Tune into RustyMike Radio at 3pm Israel time (8am EST) on Monday to hear me presenting Israeli music with brief explanations (usually key words or basic content). I do this every week. If you’ve got requests for songs, let me know (you can just reply to this email).
לצחוק To laugh, in Modern Hebrew, is לִצְחוֹק (leets-KHOHK). It’s the same word used for making fun. In that case, the appropriate preposition following לצחוק would be על (ahl) – on. For example, זֶה לֹא יָפֶה לִצְחוֹק עַל אֲנָשִׁים (zeh loh yah-FEH leets-KHOHK ahl ah-nah-SHEEM) – it’s not nice to make fun of people. …
להמציא מחדש To “re” do something in Hebrew is לְ— מֵחָדָש (le…. meh-hah-DAHSH). To reinvent the wheel is לְהַמְצִיא מֵחָדָש אֶת הַגַּלְגַל (le-hahm-TSEE meh-hah-DAHSH et hah-gahl-GAHL). It’s not recommended. It takes too much time. Listen and repeat…