How to say “attack of conscience” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-1.m4a” /]יִסּוּרֵי מַצְפּוּן

The Hebrew word for conscience is מצפון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-2.m4a” /], of the root צ.פ.נ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-3.m4a” /] meaning north: someone who has lost their conscience has also lost their “north.”

And if you’ve got some background in Jewish philosophy, you almost certainly know the word for tribulations – ייסורים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-4.m4a” /].

Putting these two words together, we get ייסורי מצפון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-1.m4a” /] – tribulations of conscience. Which basically means an attack of conscience, as in:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-5.m4a” /]אחרי שעזבתי, היו לי ייסורי מצפון.

After I left, I had an attack of conscience.

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-6.m4a” /]מוסר כליות וייסורי מצפון הם מושגים דומים.

Feelings of remorse and an attack of conscience are almost the same thing.