לְהִתְאָרֵס My good friend Avi last night became engaged to be married to Karen (thanks for the correction, Netanya). To get engaged in Hebrew is לְהִתְאָרֵס (leh-heet-ah-RESS). אָבִי הִתְאָרֵס אֶתְמוֹל בָּעֶרֶב (Avi heet-ah-RESS et-MOHL bah-EH-rev) – Avi got engaged last night (yesterday evening). מַזָּל טוֹב! (mah-ZAHL tohv!)
לִנְחוֹר The daily aspect of קצת עברית – Ktzat Ivrit – has been spotty over the past few days. I finally arrived this morning at 5:45 in Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv after having flown from LAX on Wednesday afternoon and having had a great time during my nine-hour stopover in Madrid (based…
לְהַגְזִים, מֻגְזָם Tonight’s my last night in LA before I board a flight to TLV via Madrid (9 hour stopover! Viva Madrid!). My dear mom just requested this dose, which I faintly recall having done a while ago… but a refresher ain’t a bad idea once in a while. Plus, I’m sure I’ll include…
לְעוֹדֵד This Sunday, our classes begin afresh in Jerusalem, Efrat and Raanana (Tel Aviv coming very soon!). Our classes are small – and we’ve got a few spots left in all of them. a Raanana class at work/play אֲנִי מְעוֹדֵד אֶתְכֶם (ah-NEE meh-oh-DED et-KHEM) – I encourage you (plural) to find out more by…
נִגּוּד אִינְטֶרֶסִים We’ve still got a few spots…… in our state-of-the-art conversational Hebrew courses in Jerusalem, Efrat and Raanana I’m right now in LA – hometown of the movie industry, as well as the setting of the film, The Lincoln Lawyer, which I just watched with my buddies Daniel and Gabe at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. I enjoy hotshot…
לְהֵרָדֵם We’ve still got a few spots…… in our state-of-the-art conversational Hebrew courses in Jerusalem, Efrat and Raanana. When I was in eleventh grade I perfected the art of falling asleep in class without the teacher noticing: I would lean my head into my palm, which was supported by my elbow placed on the desk. This guy won’t fool…
עַכְבָּר If you know the word for mouse the mammal, you know the word for the electronic one you’ve probably got your hand on right now: עַכְבָּר (ahkh-BAHR). Scary? Nuisance? Cute? חג פסח שמח!Happy Passover! We’ve still got a few spots…… in our state-of-the-art conversational Hebrew courses in Jerusalem, Efrat and Raanana.
לְמַצּוֹת The Hebrew word for juice – that which is squeezed out of a fruit – is מִיץ (meets). To squeeze something out so as to get the most out of it – such as life or a topic of discussion – is לְמַצּוֹת (leh-mah-TSOHT). It’s an “intensive” פיעל (pee-EL) verb. For example, הִיא מִצְּתָה אֶת…
לְהִתְכּוֹנִן, לְהָכִין The Hebrew root כ.ו.נ (k.w.n), the concept of foundation, can be found all over the place in such everyday words such as נָכוֹן (nah-KHOHN) – correct, מְכוֹנִית (meh-khoh-NEET) – automobile/car, and one of those first words that Hebrew learners learn, כֵּן (ken) – yes. A group of words that employ this ubiquitous root…
סֻלָּם גַנָּבִים Last night I went to the birthday party of my friend Zevik, in Encino. Zevik, also a Hebrew teacher, offered to create a thieves ladder so that his neighbor from the house behind his own could simply hop the fence to get home instead of circling the block; thus Zevik introduced me to a Hebrew…
מַצְלֵמָה After having landed yesterday at LAX, I attended services this morning at my beloved community synagogue in which I was raised, Chabad of Encino. Following the prayers I sat in Rabbi Gordon’s class on the Torah portion, which is videotaped and uploaded daily. You can check it out here. Rabbi Joshua B. Gordon…