גְּדֻלָּה If you’ve done some Jewish prayer, you’re almost certainly familiar with today’s word. Big or great is גָּדוֹל (gah-DOHL), when used in the masculine. Greatness is גדולה (ge-doo-LAH). In past generations, before Hebrew was revived as a spoken language as well as standardized, the word גַּדְלוּת (gahd-LOOT) was used to mean greatness, more so than the…
הִצְטַנְּנוּת, הִתְקָרְרוּת, נָזֶּלֶת In Israel, as in the United States and probably everywhere else in the world, people catch the common cold all the time. I’ve caught it recently, as you might hear from the . Anyway, the cold is so common that it has three words in Hebrew. הִתְקָרְרוּת (heet-kah-reh-ROOT) comes from the…
עוֹבֵד, מָעֳסָק If you’re attending a Passover Seder this year, here’s קצת עברית (keh-TSAHT eev-REET) – a bit of Hebrew – for you that you can share at the table. About a year ago I wrote an entry on the Hebrew words for employer – מַעֲסִיק (mah-ah-SEEK – masculine) and מַעֲסִיקָה (mah-ah-see-KAH – feminine). from www.draftnz.com These words…
מַעֲלָה This past Friday I featured Ehud Banai’s היום (hah-YOHM) – Today as a song thematically tied to the week’s Torah portion. However, when thinking about it this morning a more appropriate song came to mind: Avraham Fried’s אַדְרַבָּה (ahd-rah-BAH), pronounced by the singer, AH-deh-RAH-beh. The word itself is Aramaic for just the opposite. This…
בּוֹדֵד Yesterday I joined Mekete, his brothers, his extended family and his friends at his Bar Mitzvah celebration in Holon. The people at Mekete’s school really went above and beyond to make sure that he had a fun, meaningful occasion – and that he would feel enveloped in love. After Meteke was called up…
יַחֲסֵי צִבּוּר My piece tonight at AACI (that I did last night in Raanana) on “The Hebrew you always wanted to know… but were too afraid to ask” is entertaining and educational. It’s also a PR – public relations – event for Ulpan La-Inyan. Here’s some PR – Visit and like us on Facebook! PR in…
גָּשׁוּם, לְהַגְשִׁים Today was a rainy one here in Jerusalem. from jerusalemshots.com A rainy day is יוֹם גָּשׁוּם (yohm gah-SHOOM). Now גֶּשֶׁם (GHEH-shem) is rain, but it’s also the concept of materialism in certain contexts. To materialize or realize a dream – or to make a dream come true – is לְהַגְשִׁים חָלוֹם (le-hahg-SHEEM khah-LOHM). להגשים is a…
לְדַרְבֵּן One of the students in my Level 5 class invited us to her home in Gush Etzion, where her husband (a tour guide) gave us a history of the region spoken all in Hebrew. She, the student, also served us really tasty home-baked banana-chocolate-chip cake. After our introduction to the region, we all went…
וְרִיד, עוֹרֶק I’m late on the word of the day… so I figured I’d give y’all a double portion. I remember, either from science class as a kid or from my mom telling me, that veins bring blood to the heart, while arteries take blood away from the heart. In Hebrew, veins are וְרִידִים (vree-DEEM), while…
Two events at AACI… Scroll down for your daily dose of Hebrew 1. Tuesday morning A window into Ethiopian Jewish culture with actor Yossi Varda: “It Sounds Better in Amharic” – Tuesday morning at 10:30 at AACI Jerusalem. 2. Wednesday evening (and Tuesday night in Raanana) Be enlightened, entertained, and become that much more…
לָלֶדֶת, לְהוֹלִיד One of the topics of the Torah portion read this week by Jews around the world is childbirth. The Hebrew word for to give birth is לָלֶדֶת (lah-LEH-det). For example, הָאִשָּׁה יָלְדָה יַלְדָּה (hah-ee-SHAH yahl-DAH yahl-DAH) – The woman gave birth to a girl (the first ילדה is the verb, and the second is…