Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-רושם-1.m4a” /]לַעֲשׂוֹת רֹשֶׁם To jot down something is לרשום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-רושם-2.m4a” /] in Hebrew. For example, before cellphones one might have said: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-רושם-3.m4a” /]רשמתי את מספר הטלפון שלך. I wrote down your (a female’s) phone number. When jotting something down, we make a visible impression on a piece of paper – a רושם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-רושם-4.m4a” /]….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ביצועי-שיא-1.m4a” /]בִּצּוּעֵי שִׂיא Yesterday we saw that a peak – of a mountain, for example – is פסגה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ביצועי-שיא-2.m4a” /]. But when talking about a person achieving peak performance, Hebrew does not use the metaphor of a peak, but rather the word for record: the term is ביצועי שיא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ביצועי-שיא-1.m4a” /] – literally, record performances. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ביצועי-שיא-3.m4a” /]היא מאמנת…

  [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסגת-ההר-1.m4a” /]פִּסְגַּת הָהָר One of Jerusalem’s northern neighborhoods, close to the university on הר הצופים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסגת-ההר-2.m4a” /] (Mt. Scopus), is פסגת זאב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסגת-ההר-3.m4a” /] – Pisgat Zeev. This means literally, Zeev’s (mountain) Peak or Zeev’s Summit. Unattached to another word, peak or summit is פסגה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסגת-ההר-4.m4a” /]. For example hikers or competitive business people might say: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסגת-ההר-5.m4a”…

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/בריאות-הנפש-1.m4a” /]בְּרִיאוּת הַנֶּפֶשׁ When I was in psych school, I would read about דיכאון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/בריאות-הנפש-2.m4a” /] – depression and get depressed. I’d hear a lecture about התמכרויות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/בריאות-הנפש-3.m4a” /] – addictions and start searching for my own. As the Lubavitcher Rebbe said, טראכט גוט, וועט זיין גוט[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/בריאות-הנפש-4.m4a” /] – in Hebrew, תחשוב טוב, יהיה טוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/בריאות-הנפש-5.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נפש-בריאה-1.m4a” /]נֶפֶשׁ בְּרִיאָה בְּגוּף בָּרִיא The Hebrew word נפש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נפש-בריאה-2.m4a” /] carries a spiritual connotation, as it means soul or essence: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נפש-בריאה-3.m4a” /]נפש האדם עוצמתית ביותר. The human soul is extremely powerful. But the word can also mean something perhaps less spiritual, though no less powerful: the mind. Thus a healthy mind in a healthy body, in Hebrew,…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כישוף-1.m4a” /]כִּשּׁוּף Whereas a not-very-nice term in English to describe a not-very-nice woman likens her to a dog, one such term in Hebrew likens her to a witch – מכשפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כישוף-2.m4a” /] (more commonly pronounced with an ah vowel at the beginning of the word – מַכשפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כישוף-3.m4a” /]). The root of מכשפה is כ.ש.פ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כישוף-4.m4a” /],…