סוֹכֵן Think Mossad. Think KGB. Think… travel agencies. An agent of any human kind is a סוֹכֵן (soh-KHEN) or a סוֹכֶנֶת (soh-KHEH-net) if she’s a female – there are סוֹכְנֵי נְסִיעוֹת – travel agents (sohkh-NEH-ee neh-see-OHT), סוֹכְנֵי מוֹסַד – Mossad agents (sohkh-NEH-ee moh-SAHD), etc. An agency is a סוֹכְנוּת (sohkh-NOOT). The Jewish Agency is הַסּוֹכְנוּת (hah-sohkh-NOOT).
רְכִיבָה לֵילִית Today’s dose of Hebrew is sponsored by… Check it out! Yesterday afternoon I rode my bike from Jerusalem’s German Colony to my cousin’s military swearing-in ceremony at גִּבְעַת הַתַּחְמוֹשֶׁת – Ammunition Hill (gheev-AHT hah-tahkh-MOH-shet), where he and his comrades pledged to protect the people of Israel –…
מָתוּן Today’s dose of Hebrew is sponsored by… The edge of something is the קָצֶה (kah-TSEH); someone “on the edge” or extreme is קִיצוֹנִי (kee-tsoh-NEE). But someone moderate or level-headed – in ideology or in relationships – is מָתוּן. My 2am not-delving-into-it theory is that the word is related to מָתְנַיִם…
חַס וְחָלִילָה Today’s dose of Hebrew is sponsored by… This one’s for Katie I don’t think she picked up on the humor in the occurrence, but I had a laugh when someone asked the bus driver tonight whether he would be turning left from Emek Refaim St. onto Masaryk…
הִשְׁתּוֹקְקוּת, גַּעֲגוּעִים Raise your hand if you’ve ever missed someone. Raise your hand if you’ve ever longed for someone. There are several ways to express longing in Hebrew. The basic, more well-known word is גַּעֲגוּעִים (gah-ah-goo-EEM). In verb form, this is לְהִתְגַעֲגֵע (leh-heet-gah-ah-GHEH-ah). You can learn how to use this intensive-reflexive התפעל (heet-pah-EL) verb…
הִשְׁתּוֹקְקוּת, גַּעֲגוּעִים Raise your hand if you’ve ever missed someone. Raise your hand if you’ve ever longed for someone. There are several ways to express longing in Hebrew. The basic, more well-known word is גַּעֲגוּעִים (gah-ah-goo-EEM). In verb form, this is לְהִתְגַעֲגֵע (leh-heet-gah-ah-GHEH-ah). You can learn how to use this intensive-reflexive התפעל (heet-pah-EL) verb here….
הִתְלַהֲבוּת This one’s for Yehoshua. A while ago I did a piece on the Hebrew word for exciting. The word for excitement is הִתְרַגְּשׁוּת (heet-rahg-SHOOT), employing the root ר.ג.ש (r.g.sh), the Biblical Hebrew concept of emotion. When people get excited, they’re filled with emotion. לְהִתְרַגֵּש (leh-heet-rah-GHESH) is to get excited, but also to…
לִנְכוֹחַ To bear witness in the legal sense is לְהָעִיד. It’s a technical term. But to be witness to an event, such as those that took place in 1967, is to overpowered by their magic. It’s to be present at such an event – לִנְכוֹח (leen-KHOH-ahkh). I was not yet born in 1967,…
לְהַכְנִיס Tonight in downtown Jerusalem two vans blocked the road with a hundred or so people dancing and singing around them. The vans were blasting music and were decorated thus: What was all the commotion about? Hidden behind the dancing men in the picture above is a סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה (SEH-fehr toh-RAH)…
לְמַנֵּף A crane or a lever in Hebrew is a מָנוֹף (mah-NOHF). To leverage – to use resources to gain a desired outcome (rough definition) – is לְמַנֵּף (leh-mah-NEF) in Hebrew. It’s an active-intensive פיעל (pee-EL) verb. Check out our Summer 2011 classes for adults as well as teens in our…
לְחַבֵּר, לְהַלְחִין Level 1 class in Tel Aviv starts Sunday evening. For more info… My roommates and I put together a Hebrew cover version of U2’s smash hit from the 90’s, “One.” The slide show is nice. My voice is the one that’s off key (ten years ago such a thing wouldn’t…