בֵּית הַמִּשְׁפָּט הָעֶלְיוֹן listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? Hebrew uses a lot of acronyms. One example is that for בֵּית הַמִּשְׁפָּט הַגָּבוֹהַּ לְצֶדֶק listen and repeat – the High Court of Justice: בָּגָ”ץ listen and repeat. Focusing on social justice including claims against government agencies, בג”ץ is a division of the supreme court, בֵּית הַמִּשְׁפָּט…
מִשְׁטָרָה listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for police in the general sense, as in “the police,” is מִשְׁטָרָה listen and repeat. It derives from the root שׁ.ט.ר (sh.t.r), also the root of שׁוֹטֵר listen and repeat, and שׁוֹטֶרֶת listen and repeat, a police officer (male and female, respectively). The word falls into…
מִשְׁפָּט listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for sentence – as in “These words form a sentence.” – is מִשְׁפָּט listen and repeat. It comes from the root שׁ.פ.ט (sh.p.t) meaning judgment. For example: הַיֶּלֶד שֶׁהִפְרִיעַ בַּשִּׁיעוּר נִדְרַשׁ לִכְתּוֹב מִשְׁפָּטִים עַל הַלּוּחַ. The boy who interrupted class was…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? Review, practice and test yourself on this week’s doses of Hebrew! Flashcards Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend! listen and repeat
עוּגַת שְׁמָרִים listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? I have a Hungarian-Israeli grandmother. She makes delicious goulash, paprika chicken and other signature Hungarian dishes. But the best of her kitchen is her neighborhood-famous yeast cake – עוּגַת שְׁמָרִים listen and repeat. Broken down: עוּגָה listen and repeat means cake, while…
מְאֹד טָעִים listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? Yesterday, we saw that the ah-EE vowel pattern makes a Hebrew concept “-able” or “-ible”, as in the word for edible (“eat-able”) – אָכִיל listen and repeat. Another word of the same structure is the one for tasty, or worthy of being…
אָכִיל listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? In English, to express that an object or concept is capable of doing something, we usually add the suffix -able or -ible, as in reasonable and edible. Sometimes we add -ous as a suffix to express the same, as in poisonous – something…
פִּטְרִיּוֹת, אִטְרִיּוֹת listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? Some words are good to learn in pairs. The Hebrew words for mushroom and noodles are a great example. Mushrooms in Hebrew are פִּטְרִיּוֹת listen and repeat, while a single mushroom is a פִּטְרִיָּה listen and repeat. Noodles are אִטְרִיּוֹת listen and repeat,…
לְהַאֲכִיל Can’t read Hebrew yet? Since the topics in this week’s Torah portion tend to revolve around food, I’ll dedicate this week’s entries to that favorite pastime – eating. To eat is לֶאֱכוֹל listen and repeat. The root is א.כ.ל (a.k.l), and it’s a simple verb. Plugging that root into the causative verb form, we…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? Review, practice and test yourself on this week’s doses of Hebrew! Flashcards Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend! listen and repeat
הַגְרָלָה listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? The ancient Hebrew root ג.ר.ל (g.r.l) appears already in Torah, where it refers to lots – גּוֹרָלוֹת listen and repeat. In Modern Hebrew we use the word גּוֹרָל listen and repeat to mean destiny or fate. As a raffle is something given to chance or fate, the Hebrew word…