רשת One of my favorite Ehud Banai songs is בְּלוּז כְּנַעֲנִי (blooz knah-ah-NEE) – Caananite Blues. Ehud wrote the song in memory of his friend Meir Ariel, another musician who died tragically in 1999. One of the key words in the song is רֶשֶׁת (REH-shet), which means net. It’s also a term…
סופר, משורר, מחבר, כתב Writers are people who help people do mental workouts. Such workouts are great for people aging – they keep the mind fresh and contribute to a more positive outloook on life. In short, intellectual stimulation promotes wellbeing. Check out this article from Forbes.com. Like English, Hebrew has different words for…
רענן Perhaps you’ve heard of the cozy Israeli town, Raanana (רַעֲנָנָה). Perhaps you live there. I did once – I have very fond memories of the place. The word רעננה means fresh when referring to something feminine, such as a city. רַעֲנָן (rah-ah-NAHN) is the masculine form. I’m a bit of a zombie right now…
זהירות Driving conscientiously, defensively and carefully prevents car accidents (I think money should be spent developing an automated personal transport system – that would really save lives). As an Israeli parts from his friend who has a drive ahead of him, he is likely to say to him, סַע בִּזְהִירוּת (sa biz-hee-ROOT), or…
לשבות You’re all familiar with the Hebrew word שָׁבָּת (Shabbat, Shabbos, whatever), or its English equivalent, Sabbath (as in Black Sabbath). The root of the this word is .ש.ב.ת (sh.b.t.), which is also used in the word שְׁבִיתָה (shvee-TAH), or a strike. This word is so common in Israel that I consider it core…
כי In Ulpan La-Inyan, we teach that the word כִּי (kee) means because. This is true. However, it’s got more than one meaning… especially in Biblical Hebrew (check out Dr. Russel Jay Hendel’s piece showing the seven meanings of כי). Think about the English word that (one of the meanings of כי). In English,…
לנמנם Suppose you’re a high-school student sitting in class (or an employee who’s just come off the weekend), and you’re dozing off. Suppose your teacher (or your boss) were to ask you, “are you sleeping?!” You might answer, לֹא, אֲנִי רַק מְנַמְנֵמ/ת (loh, ah-nee rahk me-nahm-NEHM/ET – “et” for a female) – no, I’m just…
המזרח התיכון Yesterday’s entry featured the Hebrew term for the Middle East – המזרח התיכון. I explained that the phrase literally means “the east of the middle” in English. This is wrong. It was late at night… forgive me 🙂 When two words in a phrase have the הַ (hah – the)…
המזרח התיכון The word תִּכוֹן appears in the Bible as the middle-beam crossing the מִשְׁכָּן (meesh-KAHN – the holy tabernacle). The word מִזְרַח (meez-RAH), also appearing in the Bible, comes from the root ז.ר.ח. (z.r.h.). This root represents the sun rising, which occurs in the east. Placed in sequence, הַמזרח הַתיכון (ha-meez-RAH…
There are those who think that Iran poses an existential threat to Israel. In Hebrew, we call this אִיוּם קִיּוּמִי (ee-YOOM kee-yoo-MEE). The truth is, it does. Modern-day Haman (Achmawhatshisname) may have the capacity to blast us out of the Middle East (and thus destroy the world). But the G-d of Israel has more to…
ח The letter ח”ת (het) is pronounced by most Hebrew speakers today the same way the כ is pronounced – like a kh sound (not found in Modern English). In some Jewish communities (North African, Yemenite), however, it is still pronounced just above the throat, with no voice – like a scratchy “h” sound. This…