how to say “to assume” in Hebrew
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In this week’s Torah portion (in דברים כ”ו, י – Deuteronomy 26:10), the Israelite bringing the first fruits of his portion in the Land of Israel, in reverent gratitude to G-d, is instructed to place down – לְהַנִּיח (leh-hah-NEE-ahkh) – his basket on the floor of the Temple.
לְהַנִּיח can be easily confused with another nearly identical verb used in last week’s Torah portion (דברים כ”ה, י”ט – Deuteronomy 25:19), לְהָנִיח, which is pronounced the same way… except in the past tense, where the first vowel is eh instead of ah. If you look closely at the two words, you’ll find that the first – לְהַנִּיח – has a dot of emphasis in the letter נו”ן (noon), while the second word – לְהַנִיח – has no such dot. Likewise, the vowel under the ה”ה (heh) letter is a patakh in the first and a kamatz in the second.
While the first word, להנּיח, means literally to place down, the second word means to lay to rest. It appears in the context of G-d’s promise to the people of Israel that they will inherit their land and be free – or rested – of their enemies.
To assume is a word that doesn’t appear per se in the Bible. So Modern Hebrew borrows the physical concept of placing something down – להנּיח – and uses it to communicate the abstract concept of placing down an idea, or assuming that something is true.
שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים לכולם!
Shabbat Shalom, and a pleasant weekend to all!
I’ve seen his amazing art at Hechal Shlomo and even acquired a piece myself.
