having trouble seeing the print? תַּרְדֶּמֶת Tomorrow Israel will lay to rest Former Prime Minster Ariel “Arik” Sharon. Sharon suffered a massive stroke eight years ago, and since then had been in a coma. The Hebrew word for coma is תַּרְדֶּמֶת . For example: אֲרִיאֵל שָׁרוֹן הָלַךְ לְעוֹלָמוֹ…
אֹמֶץ The People of Israel are standing on the shore of a sea. Behind them, an army of Egyptian horsemen is advancing quickly, with vengeance in their stride. Moses receives the message from G-d that the people are to cross the sea. No one moves. Then, one man takes a leap of faith…
having trouble seeing the print? מְסִבַּת עִתּוֹנָאִים This is my favorite term in Hebrew. When you hear the term press conference, microphones and cameras might come to mind, perhaps also politicians or celebrities making statements. When I hear the Hebrew version of press conference, the first thing that comes to my…
having trouble seeing the print? לְהַבְרִיחַ For those of you in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv… Our Level 2 and 4 courses are set to start soon! Jerusalem . Tel Aviv Now that the sale and consumption of marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington, it is expected that rates of smuggling the substance will go down…
having trouble seeing the print? כַּנָּ”ל For those of you in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv… Our Level 2 and 4 courses are set to start soon! Jerusalem . Tel Aviv In most societies, people are assumed nice until proven otherwise. That’s why we say “nice to meet you” in English, נָעִים מְאֹד or נָעִים…
having trouble seeing the print? לִפּוֹל בֵּין הַכִּסָּאוֹת At Ulpan La-Inyan, we try not to let such things happen. Suppose a teacher is delivering a daily lecture to a group of forty students. While many students – especially more vocal ones – may prosper, others are bound to fall between the cracks and miss…
having trouble seeing the print? אֶזְרַח The Torah portion to be read this week by Jews around the world tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt. As those who have attended a סֵדֶר פֶּסַח – Passover seder – know, the People of Israel rose and left the enslaving nation after a hearty…
having trouble seeing the print? תַּגְבִּיר אֶת הַוּוֹלְיוּם When we speak in English of raising volume, we mean making the volume more powerful or stronger. That’s the literal meaning of the active-causative Hebrew verb לְהַגְבִּיר , which is used in the expression: לְהַגְבִּיר אֶת הַוּוֹלְיוּם to raise the volume In context:…
having trouble seeing the print? חֶמְאַת בָּטְנִים I recently discovered, thanks to my intern, Craig, that peanut butter is available in Israel. I suppose I should have known that, since the Hebrew term for peanut butter has been in use for decades. The term is חֶמְאַת בָּטְנִיםThe latter word, בָטנים is one of the cases…
having trouble seeing the print? כְּבַד שְׁמִיעָה, קְשֶׁה שְׁמִיעָה Last week I posted about the Hebrew words for blind, deaf and mute. Responding to the post, my student and friend Ruti asked whether the terms in Hebrew provoke the same politically-correct sensitivity as they do in English. My answer is that it depends who…
having trouble seeing the print? מַסְטוּל, מְסֻמָּם Despite political differences, Jews and Arabs have been exchanging cultural ideas and linguistic features for generations, so that much of Hebrew slang comes from Arabic (here’s a partial list). One word borrowed is that for high or drunk: מַסְטוּל when referring to a male and…