Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

  having trouble seeing the print? הוֹצָאוֹת     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat     I bet some of you guessed that the Hebrew word for expenses would be some kind of declension of the word for expensive – יָקָר (yah-KAHR). Sorry to disappoint. Rather, the word for expenses comes from the active-causative הפעיל verb…

having trouble seeing the print? שָׁעוֹן מְעוֹרֵר Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat   An essential Hebrew phrase for navigating the streets of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem without a watch is ?מַה הַשָּׁעָה (mah hah-shah-AH?) – what’s the time? The Modern Hebrew word for clock or watch is שָׁעוֹן (shah-OHN), deriving from the Ancient Hebrew word for…

  having trouble seeing the print? יְסוֹדִי     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat     Many of the readers on this blog are busy this week preparing their dwellings for Passover. This preparation demands, above all, a thorough cleaning – נִקּוּי יְסוֹדִי (nee-KOO-yee yeh-soh-DEE). The foundations of Hebrew יסודי is an adjective form…

  having trouble seeing the print? לִסְמוֹךְ     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat Deadline to save 200 shekels April 1 (THIS SUNDAY)!     The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world continues to detail the sacrificial practices in the Temple. One of event in the process…

  having trouble seeing the print? חָמְרִיּוּת     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat Deadline to save 200 shekels April 1 (THIS SUNDAY)!!!     If חֹמֶר לְמַחְשָׁבָה (KHOH-mehr leh-mahkh-shah-VAH) means food (material) for thought, and the word חומר itself means material, it follows that חָמְרִיּוּת (khohm-ree-YOOT) means materialism, where the וּת– ending…

  having trouble seeing the print? חֹמֶר לְמַחְשָׁבָה     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat Deadline to save 200 shekels April 1!     The last entry presented a Hebrew equivalent for the English expression, food for thought – נְקֻדָּה לְמַחְשָׁבָה (neh-koo-DAH leh-mahkh-shah-VAH) – literally, a point for thought. I realized later that there…

  having trouble seeing the print? מֻרְכָּבוּת     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat Deadline to save 200 shekels April 1!     The Hebrew word רֶכֶב (REH-khev) means vehicle in both Biblical and Modern Hebrew. Likewise, the verb לִרְכּוֹב (leer-KOHV) means to ride. The root is ר.כ.ב (r.k.b). There’s another set of words…

  having trouble seeing the print? רִגְשׁוֹת אַשְׁמָה     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat Deadline to save 200 shekels April 1 – no joke!       The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world unveils the spiritual life of those Jews living in the times…

  having trouble seeing the print? מֶרְכָּז רְפוּאִי     Check out our spring courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat and Ramat Beit Shemesh     A center is a מֶרְכָּז (mehr-KAHZ). For example, the greater Tel Aviv metropolis is considered מֶרְכַּז הָאָרֶץ (mehr-KAHZ hah-AH-rets) – the center of the country. The root of מרכז is ר.כ.ז (r.k.z) meaning concentration.  The practice of…

medical center   having trouble seeing the print? טֶבַח     The root is ט.ב.ח (t.b.kh), just like that of the word for kitchen – מִטְבָּח (meet-BAHKH). And it makes sense – a מטבח is historically the place where butchering took place.  Toulouse. אוֹצָר הַתּוֹרָה (oh-TSAHR hah-toh-RAH) – The Treasure of the Torah. Sweet innocent children and adults…