שָׂפָה זָרָה זָר (zahr) is the Hebrew core word for strange. The word you may know that means odd or weird – מוּזָר (moo-ZAHR) – comes from the same root. A foreign language – a strange language – is a שָׂפָה זָרָה. At Ulpan La-Inyan we work to make Hebrew less and less of a…
Today’s dose of Hebrew is sponsored by… Check it out! לְהִתְנַשֵּׂא You may be familiar with this word from the קַדִּיש – Kaddish prayer (kah-DEESH). In that context, it means to rise up and refers to the exalting of G-d’s name. That’s לְהִתְנַשֵּׂא (leh-heet-nah-SEH) with its positive connotation. The negative connotation…
Today’s dose of Hebrew is sponsored by Yom Tov I’ve seen his amazing art at Hechal Shlomo and even acquired a piece myself. Check out Yom Tov’s virtual gallery, and visit his Kohelet exhibition in Jerusalem. It’s open throughout the summer. תְּמִימוּת In Biblical Hebrew, a שֶׂה תָּמִים (seh tah-MEEM) is a perfect animal from the flock –…
שִׂיא Today’s dose of Hebrew is sponsored by Yom Tov I’ve seen his amazing art at Hechal Shlomo and even acquired a piece myself. Check out Yom Tov’s virtual gallery, and visit his Kohelet exhibition in Jerusalem. It’s open throughout the summer. I happen to like warm weather – maybe it’s because I…
לְהַזְכִּיר, לְצַיֵּן Conversational Hebrew classes start this Sunday in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Efrat (Raanana starts mid-July). Some spots are still available. Check us out! In yesterday’s posting, I neglected to mention one more member of the Yelloz family in mourning, Tirtza (Tabitha). מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם תְּנֻחָמו – may you be…
תַּנְחוּמִים The other day, a friend and reader of this blog – a woman who watched me grow up – lost her husband, Roni Yelloz. Her sons, with whom I grew up, lost their father. To Eva, Marc, Joe and Gabi, my heart goes out to you. The Hebrew word for condolences is תַּנְחוּמִים (tahn-khoo-MEEM). The…
תּוֹבָנָה Today’s dose of Hebrew is sponsored by… Check it out! After a few weeks of silence, a woman I had been dating called me up and said, “I have an insight.” (The insight was that we weren’t right for each other.) In retrospect, she was right. But at the time… The…
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…