Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

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/להשפיע-1.m4a” /]לְהַשְׁפִּיעַ Earlier this week we saw the word for abundance – שפע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להשפיע-2.m4a” /]. Imagine a basket overflowing with fruit – that’s abundance. Plugging the word שפע into the active-causative verb form – overflowing to the point where it affects others – we get the word להשפיע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להשפיע-1.m4a” /] – to influence (to flow into). For example: [audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-1.m4a” /]לְבִיבוֹת My Israeli grandmother makes the best potato latkes. But she doesn’t call them latkes – she calls them לביבות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-1.m4a” /]. The word לביבה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-2.m4a” /] originates in the illicit Biblical story of Amnon and Tamar (שמואל ב’, פרק י”ג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לביבות-3.m4a” /] – II Samuel, Chapter 13), where the incestuous brother asks…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-1.m4a” /]אֹכֶל מְטֻגָּן, מַאֲכָלִים מְטֻגָּנִים One of the key features of the חנוכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-3.m4a” /] (Hanukkah) holiday is fried snacks. The reason has something to do with the oil found in the Temple, but regardless, they’re delicious. The Hebrew expression for fried food is אוכל מטוגן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-3.m4a” /], where אוכל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-4.m4a” /] means food and מטוגן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אוכל-מטוגן-5.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-1.m4a” /]סְפוֹג Appearing in the Mishnah, the Hebrew word for sponge – ספוג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-1.m4a” /] – borrows from the Greek σπόγγος (spongos). From that source comes the active-simple verb לספוג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-2.m4a” /] – to absorb (both physically and metaphorically), and the word for those חנוכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-3.m4a” /] (Hanukkah) favorites, סופגניות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ספוג-4.m4a” /] – doughnuts. The word in…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-1.m4a” /]שֶׁפַע If you’ve spent time in Haredi neighborhoods in Israel, you may have come across supermarkets with the word שפע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-1.m4a” /] in them, such as שפע שוק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-2.m4a” /] – literally, Abundance Market. שפע means abundance or plenty. For example, you might hear people wishing each other on special occasions: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שפע-3.m4a” /]שפע ברכות! An abundance…

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/מוצלח-1.m4a” /]מֻצְלָח If you’ve got basic Hebrew down, you’re likely familiar with the active-causative verb for to succeed – להצליח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מוצלח-2.m4a” /]. It appears in Hebrew literature for the first time in the Torah portion to be read this week, where no matter how much he’s thrown into pits and tossed around as a slave, Joseph ends up…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אתגר-חצי-מרתון-1.m4a” /]אֶתְגַּר חֲצִי מָרָתוֹן Challenges promoting good causes – such as the Ice Bucket Challenge – have been trending on social media over the past few years. The Hebrew word for challenge is אתגר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אתגר-חצי-מרתון-2.m4a” /], so the Ice Bucket Challenge was called: אתגר דלי הקרח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/אתגר-חצי-מרתון-3.m4a” /] Another popular challenge is a marathon…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תתמודדו-1.m4a” /]תִּתְמוֹדְדוּ When people go against the grain or otherwise disturb society’s equilibrium of norms, they tend to elicit negative reactions from others. These people might fold under the pressure, or they might give a message of “deal with it.” The Hebrew expression for this, when speaking to a group of people, is תתמודדו[audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נעלי-ספורט-1.m4a” /]נַעֲלֵי רִיצָה, נַעֲלֵי סְפּוֹרְט If you’ve got some basic Hebrew, you probably know the word for shoes – נעליים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נעלי-ספורט-2.m4a” /]. But there are different types of shoes, such as נעלי ריקוד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נעלי-ספורט-3.m4a” /] – dancing shoes, נעלי ריצה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נעלי-ספורט-4.m4a” /] – running shoes and נעלי טניס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נעלי-ספורט-5.m4a” /] – tennis shoes. Israelis are likely to call any…