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having trouble seeing the print? חוֹבְבָנִי listen and repeat Don’t yet read Hebrew? Learn now, for free! The Hebrew word for an amateur is חוֹבְבָן listen and repeat when referring to a male and חוֹבְבָנִית listen and repeat when referring to a female. Likewise, something amateur or amateurish is חוֹבְבָנִי listen and repeat in the masculine and חוֹבְבָנִית listen and repeat in the feminine. …
יְשׁוּעָה, גְּאֻלָּה, הַצָּלָה listen and repeat With the Torah portion to be read this week by Jews around the world being the first of סֵפֶר שְׁמוֹת listen and repeat (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. …
having trouble seeing the print? לְשַׁלֵּם listen and repeat Don’t yet read Hebrew? Learn now, for free! The Hebrew word for to pay – לְשַׁלֵּם listen and repeat– comes from the same root as that of the word שָׁלוֹם listen and repeat – hello, goodbye and, more famously, peace. The root is שׁ.ל.מ (sh.l.m), and the unifying…
having trouble seeing the print? יַחֲסִית, בְּאֹפֶן יַחֲסִי listen and repeat 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…
having trouble seeing the print? סִיּוּט, חֲלוֹם בַּלָּהוֹת listen and repeat Don’t yet read Hebrew? Learn now, for free! 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…
having trouble seeing the print? עִיר מֻשְׁלֶגֶת listen and repeat 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…
having trouble seeing the print? מוּמְיָה, חָנוּט, אִמָּא’לֶה listen and repeat 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 יַעֲקֹב listen and repeat – Jacob, the forefather – and יוֹסֵף listen and repeat – his son Joseph. The most…
having trouble seeing the print? קְרוֹבֵי מִשְׁפָּחָה listen and repeat סֵפֶר בְּרֵאשִׁית listen and repeat, the book of Genesis, is to a great extent about family. As Jews around the world are reading the final chapters of ספר בראשית this week, here’s a dose about various family members or relatives. The term for…
having trouble seeing the print? פַּשְׁטִידַת הָרוֹעֶה listen and repeat This one’s for my sister, who loves this dish. In honor of the cold weather felt in many parts of the world this week, here’s an entry about a nice hot food item. Shepherd’s pie, originating in what is today the United Kingdom, translates…
having trouble seeing the print? סוֹף הַדֶּרֶךְ listen and repeat When I hear the English expression, the end of the road, the first thing that comes to my mind is the song by Boyz II Men. In English, the end of the road connotes the end of a relationship or process, sometimes the end of a…
having trouble seeing the print? לְהַגִּישׁ, לְשָׁרֵת listen and repeat As often happens when crossing linguistic boundaries, the single English verb to serve has several translations in Hebrew, corresponding to several different meanings of the word in English. להגיש There’s to serve as in to give something to someone else,…