בן אדם The full term for human being in Hebrew is בֶּן אָדָם (ben ah-DAHM) – literally, son of Adam. The term refers to males and females alike, such that you might correctly say הִיא בֶּן אָדָם טוֹב (hee ben ah-DAHM tohv) – she is a good person. Oftentimes, בן אדם gets shortened to simply…
בידור Though Israel is now my home, I’m proud of my roots in LA, the entertainment capital of the world. How do you say entertainment in Hebrew? בִּדּוּר (bee-DOOR). The word is the noun form of the verb לְבַדֵּר (le-vah-DEHR), which means, to entertain. Here’s a video that is מְבַדֵּר (me-vah-DEHR – entertaining) for…
חכמה This one’s to my friend Mark Whelan from… England, LA, Germany, etc. Thanks for the request (the rest of you can request words as well!) הוּא אִישׁ חָכָם (hoo eesh hah-KHAHM) means he is a wise man. It’s used also to mean he is a smart man. So, for instance, if a…
מחויבות, התחייבות So there’s Commitment with an upper-case C, and commitment with a lower-case c. The upper-case one (i.e. the one men are accused of not being prepared to make) is מְחֻיָּבוּת (me-khoo-yah-VOOT). For example, יֵשׁ לִי מחויבות כְּלַפֵּי בֵּיתַ”ר יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (yesh lee me-khoo-yah-VOOT klah-PAY bay-TAHR yeh-roo-shah-LAH-yeem) – I have a commitment to(wards)…
זריחה When I was fourteen, I spent the school year with my family in Raanana, Israel. On יוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן (yohm hah-zee-kah-ROHN – Memorial Day), I was hooked on the country. A few weeks later, on יוֹם יְרוּשָׁלַים (yohm yeh-roo-shah-LAH-yeem –Jerusalem Day), I traveled with my youth movement to Jerusalem, where, at one in the…
ירושלים The letter J makes the j sound in English. But in most other languages using the Latin alphabet, J makes the y sound. That’s how יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (ye-roo-shah-LAH-yeem) became Jerusalem. So what does ירושלים actually mean? Well, the most likely explanation (according to Wikipedia) is that the name combines two Semitic roots:…
סימפתי A conventional way of saying “she’s a nice person” is הִיא אָדָם נֶחְמָד (hee ah-DAHM nekh-MAHD). Note that אדם is used to mean person and stays masculine even though we’re talking about a woman. Another way of saying it that taps into the person’s nature more deeply, is היא אדם סִמְפָּתִי (hee ah-DAHM…
ערך The Hebrew word for value, as in “Ulpan La-Inyan courses are an excellent value”, is עֶרֶך (EH-rekh). To express that you respect a person – that you evaluate this person positively – you’d use the word לְהַעֲרִיך (le-hah-ah-REEKH). For example, you might say מְנַחֵם בֶּגִין הָיָה קָל לְהַעֲרִיך (meh-NAH-khem BEH-gheen hah-yah kahl le-hah-ah-REEKH) – Menachem Begin…
תמיכה Perhaps you’ve called up one of Israel’s phone companies seeking technical support. The phrase in Hebrew for this is תְּמִיכָה טֶכְנִית (te-mee-KHAH TEKH-neet). You can also support a friend – לִתְמוֹךְ בְּחָבֵר (leet-MOKH be-khah-VEHR) – or an organization – לִתְמוֹךְ בְּאִרְגּוּן (leet-MOKH be-eer-GOON). Why this word now? Because this week’s Torah…
כרטיס ביקור Today at AACI, the executive director’s teenage son (who may be one of the counselors on our summer program for preteen new immigrants) handed me the most innovative business card I’ve seen in a while, perhaps ever: I scribbled over the phone number so that he doesn’t get swamped. The…
לטפח This is a nice word. Suppose you’ve got a garden full of greens and flowers. To really appreciate the garden (גִּנָּה – ghee-NAH) means to nurture it – לְטַפֵּחַ אֶת הַגינה (le-tah-PEH-akh et hah-ghee-NAH). Likewise, you might wish to nurture a boy – לטפח יֶלֶד (le-tah-PEH-akh YEH-led) – or a girl לטפח…