מִפְלָגָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? Elections are taking place in Israel tomorrow, so here’s the word for political party: מִפְלָגָה . For example: לְאֵיזוֹ מִפְלָגָה אַתְּ מַצְבִּיעָה? Which party are you (a female) voting for? Though the concept of political party is a modern one, the word…
יְמֵי הַבֵּינַיִם Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for between is בֵּין , so that in-between is בֵּינַיִם . Medieval times, or the Middle Ages, are thus called יְמֵי הַבֵּינַיִם – literally, the in-between days. For example: הָיוּ וִכּוּחִים פִילוֹסוֹפִיִּם גְּדוֹלִים בֵּין רַבָּנִים בִּימֵי הַבֵּינַיִם. There were great philosophical arguments among…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן 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 Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
אָרֹךְ Can’t read Hebrew yet? The basic Hebrew word for long, when describing a masculine object, is אָרֹךְ . For example: מִלְחָמָה וְשָׁלוֹם הוּא סֵפֶר אָרֹךְ מְאֹד. War and Peace is a very long book. When describing something other than a single masculine object, the word changes…
תָּמִים, נָאִיבִי Can’t read Hebrew yet? The proper Hebrew word for naive is תָּמִים , as appears in Danny Sanderson’s זֶה הַכֹּל בִּשְׁבִילֵךְ – This Is All for You: אוֹ, דּוֹן קִישׁוֹט, אַל תִּהְיֶה כָּל כָּךְ תָּמִים. Oh, Don Quixote, don’t be so naive. But since this word has…
קְטוֹרֶת Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for incense is קְטוֹרֶת . For example: יֵשׁ כָּאן רֵיחַ שֶׁל קְטוֹרֶת. There’s a scent of incense here. The word’s root is ק.ט.ר (k.t.r), which gets plugged into the active-causative verb form to produce the word לְהַקְטִיר – to…
גֹּדֶל, מִדָּה Can’t read Hebrew yet? If you’ve got some basic Hebrew down, you know that the word for big is גָּדוֹל for a masculine object such as a book, and גְּדוֹלָה for a feminine object such as a shirt. Size – or bigness – is גֹּדֶל . For example:…
הַקְּהִלִּיָּה הַבֵּינְלְאֻמִּית Can’t read Hebrew yet? The common Modern Hebrew word for community is קְהִלָּה . This word appears in Biblical Hebrew, but there the more common word is קָהָל or עֵדָה . Now קהילה refers to a community of people, linked by common interests or geography. But to describe…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן 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 Game Test חַג פּוּרִים שָׂמֵחַ… וְשַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם! Happy Purim… and Shabbat Shalom!
קִיר, חוֹמָה, כֹּתֶל Can’t read Hebrew yet? 1 קִיר קִיר is the everyday word. It refers to the wall you’re probably facing right now, if you’re indoors. It’s that which encloses and divides between rooms. For example: בַּחֶדֶר שֶׁנִּפְתַּח אֶל הֶחָצֵר יֵשׁ שְׁלֹשָׁה קִירוֹת וְדֶלֶת גְּדוֹלָה מִזְּכוּכִית. In the room that opens…
גַּן, גִּנָּה Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for garden goes way back to the opening passages of the Bible, so that the Garden of Eden is גַּן עֵדֶן – or, in the Biblical context, “a garden in Eden, in the east” – גַּן בְּעֵדֶן מִקֶּדֶם . גַּן in Modern…