לסעוד If you know a bit of Hebrew, you probably know the word for restaurant – מִסְעָדָה (mees-ah-DAH). The root of that word is ס.ע.ד (s.a.d.), whose core meaning is satiation. The common word for to eat is לֶאֱכוֹל (le-eh-KHOL), but just like English has a finer word, to dine, Hebrew has לִסְעוֹד…
התקשרות Before I started teaching Hebrew with Ulpan La-Inyan, I was practicing psychotherapy. I did a Masters at Pepperdine University in clinical psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy. One of the topics I got to explore a bit during the degree, but more so in a subsequent AEDP immersion course…
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מעסיק Perhaps you know the Hebrew word for a business – עֶסֶק (EH-sehk). If I were to state that he’s busy, I’d say, הוּא עָסוּק (hoo ah-SOOK); I were to say that a woman is busy, it would be, הִיא עֲסוּקָה (hee ah-soo-KAH). However, if I wanted to say, he’s preoccupied with something, I’d…
ק.ל.ט. Perhaps you’re familiar with the term מֶרְכַּז קְלִיטָה (mehr-KAHZ klee-TAH) – absorption center. Perhaps you’ve lived in one. The word קליטה comes from the root לִקְלוֹט, which means to absorb. The word is used in colloquial Hebrew to mean to get it, as in “Ah, now I get it!” – אָה, עַכְשָׁיו…
מס הכנסה The great American institution, the IRS, has an Israeli equivalent. It’s called מַס הַכְנָסָה (mahs hakh-nah-SAH) – literally, income tax. לְהַכְנִיס (le-hakh-NEES) is to insert or to cause to come in – so its noun form is הכנסה – income. מַס is a Biblical Hebrew word that means something to…
על האש A מַנְגָּל (MAHN-gahl) is a barbecue… but the word comes from Arabic. Rather, the proper (well, maybe not really proper) way to say it in Hebrew is עַל הָאֵש (ahl hah-ESH), which means, literally, on the fire. The really proper way to say it is מַצְלֶה (mahts-LEH), coming from the word לִצְלוֹת (leets-LOHT)…
לחגוג You probably know the word חַג (hahg) – holiday, in the religious sense. To celebrate is לַחְגּוֹג (lah-GOHG). Here’s a video שחוגג sixty years of Israel’s independence (two years dated). In my mind, it celebrates the diversity of Jews in Israeli society, that, after thousands of years of separation and the widest…
עצמאות The Hebrew word עַצְמָאוּת (ahts-mah-OOT) comes from the root ע.צ.מ (a.ts.m.), which carries the basic meaning of essence or that which stands out. An independent political entity stands out as unique in the world; it waves a flag of its own: Incidentally, these are the colors on the Ulpan La-Inyan website. …
זיכרון Tomorrow is יוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן (yohm hah-zee-kah-ROHN), Israel’s Memorial Day (literally, Day of Remembrance). In the States, some people have a somber Memorial Day, but the vast majority see it as an excuse for a getaway, a barbecue, or a shopping spree. Not so in Israel. יום הזיכרון (the root ז.כ.ר., in this context, is…
.ע.ר.ב I’m again in the Ethiopian-Jewish absorption center Beit Alpha, and it’s right before Shabbat. In Hebrew, Sabbath Eve or the day right before the Sabbath, is called עֶרֶב שַׁבָּת (EH-rev shah-BAHT) – the eve of Sabbath. How do you say west in Hebrew? מַעֲרָב (mah-ah-RAHV). If you look closely, you’ll see that it’s got the…