Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

  לְהִתְפָּרֵעַ  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     For the Jews it’s been Passover, and for students around the world it’s been spring break. As parting advice for the latter, parents might tell their son:   תַּעֲשֶׂה חַיִּים, אָבָל אַל תִּתְפָּרֵעַ יוֹתֵר מִדַּי. Have a good time (literally, make life), but don’t…

  קָפֶה הָפוּךְ  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     There’s a line from a popular song from the nineties that goes, “I like my sugar with coffee and cream.”   Even though they’re Jewish, I bet the Beastie Boys didn’t know that what they’re describing is pretty close to the Israeli version…

  צַלְיָנוּת, עֲלִיָּה לָרֶגֶל  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     General Pilgrimage   Various religions the word over recommend or require pilgrimages to holy sites.   The generic term for pilgrimage in a given religion is צַלְיָנוּת listen and repeat, while a pilgrim is a צַלְיָן listen and repeat or a צַלְיָנִית listen and repeat, referring to a male or female, respectively.   For example:  …

  מִן, מִ-, מֵ-  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The word מִן listen and repeat means from. You’ll find it in Biblical Hebrew, in Rabbinic writings and in literary contexts of Modern Hebrew.   You’re more likely, however, to encounter the abbreviated, prefix versions:   -ִמ listen and repeat in most contexts   and    -מֵ listen and…

  עַבְדּוּת  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     לַעֲבוֹד listen and repeat means to work.   But whereas an עוֹבֵד listen and repeat is a (male) worker or an employee, an עֶבֶד listen and repeat is a (male) slave. The feminine versions of these are employee–עוֹבֶדֶת listen and repeat  and slave/maidservant–אָמָה listen and repeat.   And slavery is עַבְדּוּת listen and repeat.   For example:  …

  לְהוֹצִיא  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     We saw yesterday that לָצֵאת listen and repeat means to go out or to leave.   Using the same root (י.צ.א – y.ts.a), Hebrew creates another term – to take out: לְהוֹצִיא listen and repeat, in the active-causative verb form.   For Biblical example:   הוֹצִיאוּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֶרֶץ…

  לָצֵאת, לַעֲזוֹב  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Also featured in our Passover video is one of the Hebrew terms for to leave: לָצֵאת listen and repeat.   לצאת – an active-simple verb of the root י.צ.א (y.ts.a) – means literally to go out or to exit, so that יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם listen and repeat is the exiting of Egypt or the Exodus.   Here are a couple of colloquial usages of לצאת:  …