Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

having trouble seeing the print? הַמְלָצָה  LEVEL 2 (low-intermediate) Hebrew course  opening soon in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv! The Biblical root מ.ל.צ (m.l.ts) means smooth or agreeable. Modern Hebrew takes this root, puts in into the active-causative הפעיל verb form, and creates the word לְהַמְלִיץ (leh-hahm-LEETS) – to present something as agreeable or, in a word, to recommend. And if לְהַזְמִין (leh-hahz-MEEN)…

having trouble seeing the print? פַּעֲמוֹן  LEVEL 2 (low-intermediate) Hebrew course  opening soon in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv! This one’s for Sarah in Tel Aviv. The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world describes the garments worn by the priests in the Temple service. Among a few objects dangling from the coat of the high priest…

having trouble seeing the print? כְּבוּדָה  LEVEL 2 (low-intermediate) Hebrew course  opening soon in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv! The baggage claim area in Ben Gurion International Airport is labeled, in Hebrew, אִסּוּף כְּבוּדָה (ee-SOOF keh-voo-DAH) – literally, gathering of luggage. This translation of the English word luggage, כבודה, comes from the ancient Hebrew word for weighty or heavy – כָּבֵד, the same…

  having trouble seeing the print? לוּחַ שָׁנָה         This term means calendar when speaking of a full calendar of twelve months. The term is לוּחַ שָׁנָה (LOO-ahkh shah-NAH), meaning literally, board of a year. To mean daily planner, you’d use the word יוֹמָן (yoh-MAHN), from the word יוֹם (yohm) meaning day. יומן is also used…

having trouble seeing the print? תְּזוּנָה  LEVEL 2 (low-intermediate) Hebrew course  opening soon in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv!   The Hebrew word for contribution or donation is תְּרוּמָה (teh-roo-MAH). The original root of this word, contrary to one’s first intuition, is ר.ו.מ (r.w.m) meaning height. The ת (t) at the beginning takes the concept of height and creates a word meaning, that which is…

having trouble seeing the print? לְאַלֵּף   Check out Ulpan La-Inyan’s  2012 Course Calendars! …to be found the branch homepages   Last week I introduced the Hebrew word for studio – אֻלְפָּן (ool-PAHN). I explained that it comes from the root א.ל.פ (a.l.p) which, in Aramaic, means teaching. Likewise, the word for to train an animal is לְאַלֵּף (leh-ah-LEF), an…

  having trouble seeing the print? לְגַיֵּס, לִרְתּוֹם     Level 4 Hebrew course  opening in Tel Aviv this Sunday!   Suppose you need to recruit people to volunteer to say, give blood… or to donate towards the establishment of a magnificent spiritual center, as it happens in the Torah portion to be read tomorrow by Jews around the…

  having trouble seeing the print? אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן    Level 4 Hebrew course  opening in Tel Aviv this Sunday!   Some parts of speech have very clear translations from one language to another. For example, a noun such as tree has a clear equivalent in all languages with Hebrew being no exception: עֵץ (ets). Likewise, the verb לְהַזְמִין…

  having trouble seeing the print? שִׁמּוּשִׁי    Level 4 Hebrew course  opening in Tel Aviv this Sunday!   If you’re conversant in Hebrew, you most likely know the Hebrew word for to use something – לְהִשְׁתַּמֵּש (leh-heesh-tah-MESH), as in הִיא מִשְׁתַּמֶּשֶׁת בָּעֵט עַכְשָׁו (hee meesh-tah-MEH-shet bah-ET ahkh-SHAHV) – she is using the pen now.  The root is ש.מ.ש…

  having trouble seeing the print? לִהְיוֹת לְ…   Further build your Hebrew vocabulary with…     There is no one-to-one translation of to become into Hebrew. Here are instead several options to express it, each with a slightly different connotation. 1. …לִהְיוֹת ל (lee-h-YOHT leh…) – literally, to be to… This the most literary form, the one found…