מסור For the first day of חֲנֻכָּה (khah-noo-KAH) – Hanukkah, I thought I’d inaugurate one of the themes of the holiday: devotion to a cause. The Maccabees were devoted – מְסוּרִים (me-soo-REEM) – to the cause of defending the right of Jews to practice their religion. Thanks to their מְסִירוּת (me-see-ROOT) – devotion– the Jewish…
חשיפה Given the Wikileaks story, disclosure seems to be the word of the week. To disclose or to expose, in Hebrew, is לַחְשׂוֹף (lahkh-SOHF). If you’re familiar with the Friday night service of קַבָּלָת שַׁבָּת (kah-bah-LAHT shah-BAHT), you may recognize this word, which appears in the psalm recited before לְכָה דּוֹדִי (le-KHAH doh-DEE). The gerund…
נוכחות Remember when in school teachers used to take attendance? Perhaps some of you are still in school having your attendance taken. Perhaps you’re a student of Ulpan La-Inyan in one of our client schools and you’re having your attendance taken by our very teachers… In any case, in Israel, one’s presence in a…
נורה חֲנֻכָּה (Hannukah) is coming up this week, so we’re gearing for the light. Here’s how to say light bulb in Hebrew: נוּרָה (noo-RAH). It’s related to the word for candle, נֵר (nehr).
מבנה If you’ve spent some time learning Hebrew, you likely know the word for a building – בִּנְיָן (been-YAHN). This is also the word for a Hebrew verb form. Suppose you want to refer to something that is built but is not a building, per se, such as a storage shed or a compound. You would…
דגימה Yesterday, we had the Hebrew word for a demo – הַדְגָּמָה (hahd-gah-MAH) – because I’m doing a demo of Ulpan La-Inyan in Raanana this Sunday. To wish you a peaceful, turkey-filled Shabbat (for some of you, at least), I’m going to present a related word: a sampling – דְּגִימָה (de-ghee-MAH). For example, אֲנִי אוֹכַל…
הדגמה On Sunday morning, I’m doing a demo lesson of Ulpan La-Inyan in Raanana at Telfed (if you’re thinking of attending, let us know!). The Hebrew word for demonstration when speaking of demonstrating an item or service is הַדְגָּמָה (hahd-gah-MAH). The root is ד.ג.מ (d.g.m), which is the concept of sampling. So I’m doing…
לחסל Suppose you’ve got a tub of חוּמוּס (KHOO-moos) – hummus – in the fridge, and you’re having guests over that love to dip into it. You might say, together, we’ll polish off this חומוס. In Hebrew, you’d say, בְּיַחַד, נְחַסֵּל אֶת הַחוּמוּס הַזֶּה (be-YAH-khahd, ne-khah-SEHL et hah-KHOO-moos hah-ZEH). The word for to finish…
מתכון This word is related to the word for a plan or a program we had the other day – תָּכְנִית (tohkh-NEET). The Hebrew word for recipe is מַתְכּוֹן (maht-KOHN). You can listen to and watch the video of a cute song about Israel’s national snack right here. And you can find all kinds of מתכונים…
חשבון It’s all the same word. The root is ח.ש.ב (kh.sh.b), which means thinking. So your account at the bank, the study of mathematics and the bill at the restaurant are all חֶשְׁבּוֹן (khesh-BOHN).
לחזר In English we used to call this courting. Somehow I think the modern-day rendition – to pursue – sounds less romantic than the contemporary Hebrew – לְחַזֵּר (le-khah-ZEHR). For example, הוּא חִזֵּר אַחֲרֶיה (hoo khee-ZEHR ah-khah-REH-hah) – He courted/pursued her. You can listen to this word conjugated in context, in Ehud Banai’s רוּחוֹת הַצָּפוֹן (roo-KHOHT…