having trouble seeing the print? אִלֵּם The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world depicts the great leader Moses… who was also hard of speaking. The Hebrew word for a mute is אִלֵּם when referring to a male, and אִלֶּמֶת when referring to a female. For example:…
having trouble seeing the print? עוֹלָמִי Today, Christians around the world are celebrating the well-known and beloved holiday, Christmas. one Jew’s answer to the popularity of Christmas One gift that Christianity has delivered to the world is an emphasis on kindness. Here’s how to say global kindness in Hebrew: חֶסֶד עוֹלָמִי …
having trouble seeing the print? הָאֶחָד וְהַיָּחִיד The English expression the one and only translates to Hebrew literally – הָאֶחָד וְהַיָּחִיד when referring to a male, and הָאַחַת וְהַיְּחִידָה when referring to a female. For example: אֲנִי שָׂמֵחַ לְהַצִּיג אֶת הָאַחַת וְהַיְּחִידָה, רִיטָה. I’m happy to present (to you), the one…
having trouble seeing the print? שְׁכוּנָה On the streets of Israel you’ll hear people using the word שְׁכוּנָה – literally, neighborhood (related words discussed here) – to refer to something disappointingly amateurish. How did this expression come to be? Einat Kedem explains that the source lies in contrasting two levels of soccer (football) games: professional and neighborhood (less than professional). For…
having trouble seeing the print? חוֹבְבָנִי Don’t yet read Hebrew? Learn now, for free! The Hebrew word for an amateur is חוֹבְבָן when referring to a male and חוֹבְבָנִית when referring to a female. Likewise, something amateur or amateurish is חוֹבְבָנִי in the masculine and חוֹבְבָנִית in the feminine. For example: הַהוֹפָעָה…
יְשׁוּעָה, גְּאֻלָּה, הַצָּלָה With the Torah portion to be read this week by Jews around the world being the first of סֵפֶר שְׁמוֹת (Exodus), and with the heroics displayed by many during the snowstorm in Israel this past week, now’s a good time to introduce the terms for salvation. ישועה יְשׁוּעָה is…
having trouble seeing the print? לְשַׁלֵּם Don’t yet read Hebrew? Learn now, for free! The Hebrew word for to pay – לְשַׁלֵּם – comes from the same root as that of the word שָׁלוֹם – hello, goodbye and, more famously, peace. The root is שׁ.ל.מ (sh.l.m), and the unifying concept is completion: payment is…
having trouble seeing the print? יַחֲסִית, בְּאֹפֶן יַחֲסִי Don’t yet read Hebrew? Learn now, for free! Last week I posted a dose on relatives, so here’s a dose on a related word – relatively. אַלְבֶּרְט אַיינְשְׁטַיין, אָבִיהָ שֶׁל תּוֹרַת הַיַּחֲסוּת Albert Einstein, father of the theory of relativity Hebrew…
having trouble seeing the print? סִיּוּט, חֲלוֹם בַּלָּהוֹת In English, we use the word nightmare in both the literal sense of a bad dream, and in the figurative, emphatic sense of a difficult event or series of events. So too in Hebrew, where the word used in the figurative, emphatic sense is סִיּוּט …
having trouble seeing the print? עִיר מֻשְׁלֶגֶת Don’t yet read Hebrew? Learn now, for free! As you may have heard – or perhaps you’ve been experiencing it yourself – Jerusalem has been covered in snow since Thursday. For this city unprepared, such a snowstorm means limited electricity, no school, jolly kids, no public transportation, thousands of people…
having trouble seeing the print? מוּמְיָה, חָנוּט, אִמָּא’לֶה The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world features that staple of ancient-Egyptian culture and a main character in horror films, the mummy. In the Torah’s case, the mummies happen to be יַעֲקֹבJacob, the forefather – and יוֹסֵף his son Joseph. The most widely-used Hebrew word for mummy is a transliteration of English…