Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סוף-טוב-1.m4a” /]סוֹף טוֹב הַכֹּל טוֹב You know that feeling after a difficult week, when things somehow all come together? When that happens to me, I think of the expression, sometimes even say it out loud – סוף טוב הכול טוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סוף-טוב-1.m4a” /] – all’s well that ends well. The expression sounds less Shakespearean in Hebrew,…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/גמר-1.m4a” /]חֲצִי גְּמָר We’ve seen that לגמור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/גמר-2.m4a” /] is one of the words for to finish in Hebrew. While that word is finding less and less public usage, its root ג.מ.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/גמר-3.m4a” /] thrives in sports, reality TV and academia in the word גמר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/גמר-4.m4a” /] – end, completion, termination. It appears in terms such as עבודת…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לגמור-1.m4a” /]לִגְמוֹר, לְסַיֵּם Modern Hebrew has two common words for to finish. לגמור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לגמור-2.m4a” /], the word used in the Bible, is probably the better-known one to people who are familiar with Hebrew but who are not native speakers. לגמור is used in Modern Hebrew primarily to mean to finish something – it is a transitive verb, one…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סירוב-פקודה-1.m4a” /]סֵרוּב פְּקֻדָּה A form of insubordination that can threaten the disciplinary system of an army, refusal of orders in Hebrew is סירוב פקודה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סירוב-פקודה-1.m4a” /] – literally, refusal of an order. During the Disengagement from Gaza in 2005, this was a major issue in Israeli society. סירוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סירוב-פקודה-2.m4a” /] is the noun form of the active-intensive לסרב[audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הפקדה-1.m4a” /]הַפְקָדָה The ancient Hebrew root פ.ק.ד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הפקדה-2.m4a” /] means visit, attend or appoint. It shows up in Modern Hebrew in words such as פקיד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הפקדה-3.m4a” /] – clerk or someone appointed for a job and תפקיד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הפקדה-4.m4a” /] – role or job. It also appears in the active-causative verb to deposit (to appoint someone or something such as a bank as a trustee of sorts)…

חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-1.mp3″ /] Review Material Can’t read Hebrew yet? You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep. Flashcards . Scatter . Space Race . Test [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-1.m4a” /]שִׁפּוּצְנִיק Perhaps you know the Hebrew word for to improve something – לשפר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-2.m4a” /]. The word’s root – ש.פ.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-3.m4a” /] – means beauty, so that we might understand לשפר as to make something more beautiful or good. Another word that has to do with improvement, whose root starts with the first two letters in לשפר, is לשפץ[audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שריון-1.m4a” /]שִׁרְיוֹן Imagine a knight riding a horse, spear in hand, charging towards the target, dressed from head to toe in armor. The Hebrew word for armor, a word as old as the Bible, is שריון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שריון-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שריון-2.m4a” /]אבירים לבשו שריון. Knights wore armor. Nowadays, soldiers might wear an אפוד…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/קסדה-1.m4a” /]קַסְדָּה The Hebrew word for helmet is קסדה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/קסדה-1.m4a” /], most probably deriving from the Latin word cassis meaning guard (Klein). For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/קסדה-2.m4a” /]חובה לחבוש קסדה למי שרוכב על אופניים חשמליים. It’s mandatory to wear a helmet for whoever rides an electric bike.

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מנוף-1.m4a” /]מָנוֹף, עֲגוּרָן The Hebrew word מנוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מנוף-2.m4a” /] refers to a lever or a small-scale crane. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מנוף-3.m4a” /]הכבאי עלה במנוף כדי לחלץ את החתול שהיה התקוע בעץ. The firefighter went up in a crane in order to rescue the cat that was stuck in the tree. Leveraging this noun, Hebrew created a word…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/במרתון-1.m4a” /]אֲנִי רָץ בְּמָרָתוֹן On March 18, I’ll be taking a 10-kilometer run in Jerusalem. I’m privileged to be running with my friend Gabe Pransky who founded AACI’s Shira Pransky Project, an initiative that makes the Israeli healthcare system accessible to the English-speaking population in Israel. For many, this initiative is a lifeline. I’ve accepted the challenge of raising…