how to say “a virtue” in Hebrew

ByAmi Steinberger

 



This past Friday I featured Ehud Banai’s היום (hah-YOHM) – Today as a song thematically tied to the week’s Torah portion.


However, when thinking about it this morning a more appropriate song came to mind: Avraham Fried’s אַדְרַבָּה (ahd-rah-BAH), pronounced by the singer, AH-deh-RAH-beh. The word itself is Aramaic for just the opposite. 


This song is a prayer several hundred years old (and thus its Hebrew is pre-standard) written the Hassidic master, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk. In it Rabbi Elimelech intimates a piece of advice: seek out the virtues – הַמַּעֲלוֹת (hah-mah-ah-LOHT) – of our fellows, rather than their vices or deficiencies – חֶסְרוֹנוֹת (khes-roh-NOHT). 


I think I featured this teaching a little while back, but not the word מַעֲלָה (mah-ah-LAH) – virtue – itself.


Likewise, חִסָּרוֹן (khee-sah-ROHN) is the singular form of vice, deficiency or lacking.



 

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