פ.ת.ח. Perhaps you know the word לִפְתּוֹח (leef-TOH-ah) – to open. If you’re familiar with Jewish prayer, you more than likely know the verse פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָל חָי רָצוֹן (poh-TEH-ah et yah-DEH-khah oo-mahs-BEE-ah le-KHOL khai rah-TSOHN) – You open your hand and satiate all those that live with favor. The Hebrew…
רמה In English, we call it the Golan Heights. In Hebrew, however, it’s רָמַת הַגּוֹלָן (rah-MAHT hah-goh-LAHN) – the Golan Height. Geographically, the Golan is a single plateau. Zevitan Wadi, a really cool place The Golan is one of Israel’s most popular hiking and tourist spots, and a most important military strategic point. …
לאסוף לֶאֱסוֹף (leh-eh-SOHF) means, literally, to gather. In Hebrew, it’s also to mean to pick someone up (i.e. from work, not on a date – that’s לְהַתְחִיל עִם… – le-haht-HEEL eem… – to start with…). An American mother might say I need to pick up the kids. An Israeli mother would say אֲנִי…
ללבוש, לחבוש, לנעול, לגרוב, וכו Actually, it’s not so simple – Hebrew has specific verbs for wearing many different types of clothing. The most common word is לִלְבּוֹש (leel-BOHSH). For example, אֲנִי אוֹהֵב לִלְבּוֹש חוּלְצוֹת יָפוֹת (ah-NEE oh-HEV leel-BOHSH hool-TSOHT yah-FOHT) – I like to wear nice shirts. But there are other terms:…
בן אדם The full term for human being in Hebrew is בֶּן אָדָם (ben ah-DAHM) – literally, son of Adam. The term refers to males and females alike, such that you might correctly say הִיא בֶּן אָדָם טוֹב (hee ben ah-DAHM tohv) – she is a good person. Oftentimes, בן אדם gets shortened to simply…
בידור Though Israel is now my home, I’m proud of my roots in LA, the entertainment capital of the world. How do you say entertainment in Hebrew? בִּדּוּר (bee-DOOR). The word is the noun form of the verb לְבַדֵּר (le-vah-DEHR), which means, to entertain. Here’s a video that is מְבַדֵּר (me-vah-DEHR – entertaining) for…
חכמה This one’s to my friend Mark Whelan from… England, LA, Germany, etc. Thanks for the request (the rest of you can request words as well!) הוּא אִישׁ חָכָם (hoo eesh hah-KHAHM) means he is a wise man. It’s used also to mean he is a smart man. So, for instance, if a…
מחויבות, התחייבות So there’s Commitment with an upper-case C, and commitment with a lower-case c. The upper-case one (i.e. the one men are accused of not being prepared to make) is מְחֻיָּבוּת (me-khoo-yah-VOOT). For example, יֵשׁ לִי מחויבות כְּלַפֵּי בֵּיתַ”ר יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (yesh lee me-khoo-yah-VOOT klah-PAY bay-TAHR yeh-roo-shah-LAH-yeem) – I have a commitment to(wards)…
זריחה When I was fourteen, I spent the school year with my family in Raanana, Israel. On יוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן (yohm hah-zee-kah-ROHN – Memorial Day), I was hooked on the country. A few weeks later, on יוֹם יְרוּשָׁלַים (yohm yeh-roo-shah-LAH-yeem –Jerusalem Day), I traveled with my youth movement to Jerusalem, where, at one in the…
ירושלים The letter J makes the j sound in English. But in most other languages using the Latin alphabet, J makes the y sound. That’s how יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (ye-roo-shah-LAH-yeem) became Jerusalem. So what does ירושלים actually mean? Well, the most likely explanation (according to Wikipedia) is that the name combines two Semitic roots:…
סימפתי A conventional way of saying “she’s a nice person” is הִיא אָדָם נֶחְמָד (hee ah-DAHM nekh-MAHD). Note that אדם is used to mean person and stays masculine even though we’re talking about a woman. Another way of saying it that taps into the person’s nature more deeply, is היא אדם סִמְפָּתִי (hee ah-DAHM…