having trouble seeing the print? תּוֹשָׁב brought to you by Ulpan La-Inyan teaching Hebrew throughout Israel and the world The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat in Israel and next Shabbat abroad presents the Biblical laws of real estate as well as the laws of citizenship. A key term in civics is a resident –…
לֶהָבָה The common Hebrew word for fire is אֵשׁ (esh). A flame, however, is a לְהָבָה (leh-hah-VAH). by Capture Queen ™ Perhaps the most well-known Biblical example of this word can be found in the psalm recited in synagogues Friday night before the לְכָה דּוֹדִי (leh-KHAH doh-DEE) liturgical poem: קוֹל (הַשֵּׁם) חֹצֵב לַהֲבוֹת אֵשׁ…
having trouble seeing the print? לִרְתּוֹחַ, לְהַרְתִּיחַ Brought to you by Ulpan La-Inyan The Hebrew word for hot is חָם (khahm), an adjective. But the Hebrew word for boiling is רוֹתֵחַ (roh-TEH-ahkh), both an adjective and a verb. For example, you could describe the water as boiling in the phrase, the boiling water – הַמַּיִם הָרוֹתְחִים (hah-MAH-yeem hah-roh-teh-KHEEM), where ה)רותחים)…
having trouble seeing the print? מַצִּית Brought to you by Ulpan La-Inyan Correction to last entry: Jews in Israel read the Torah portion אֱמֹר (eh-MOHR) this past week, but Jews in the rest of the world read a different portion. Today’s dose: Smokers in English-speaking countries might ask a passerby, got a light? or do you have…
having trouble seeing the print? מִשְׁחָה Brought to you by Ulpan La-Inyan The Torah portion to be read tomorrow by Jews around the world mentions the high priest upon whose head the anointment oil has been poured – אֲשֶׁר יוּצַק עַל רֹאשׁוֹ שֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה (ah-SHEHR yoo-TSAHK ahl roh-SHOH SHEH-men hah-meesh-KHAH). by li-penny The word משחה means anointment, cream which is…
having trouble seeing the print? דְּפוּס הִתְנַהֲגוּת Check out our spring and summer courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat The other day, we saw that the Modern Hebrew word for printing is דְּפוּס (deh-FOOS), which also can mean pattern. Yesterday, we saw that behavior, in Hebrew, is הִתְנַהֲגוּת (heet-nah-hah-GOOT). by Roby Ferrari A pattern of…
having trouble seeing the print? הִתְנַהֲגוּת Check out our spring and summer courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat by mikebaird To behave is to conduct oneself in a certain way. It is therefore not surprising that the Hebrew word for to behave comes from the Biblical root meaning conduct or drive – נ.ה.ג (n.h.g). To behave is לְהִתְנַהֵג (leh-heet-nah-HEG), a…
having trouble seeing the print? דְּפוּס Yesterday, we saw the Hebrew terms for population, which come from the Ancient Greek word for masses, όχλος (OHKH-lohs). Today I’ll introduce another Hebrew word that borrows from Greek. Yesterday I visited two printing houses to pick up booklets for Ulpan La-Inyan, one in Raanana and the other in Tel…
having trouble seeing the print? אֻכְלוּסִיָּה The word used in Modern-Hebrew to refer to a specifc population is the same as that used in Mishnaic times: אֻכְלוּסִיָּה (ookh-loo-see-YAH). For example, גֹּדֶל אֻכְלוּסִיַּת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם מִתְקָרֶבֶת לִשְׁמוֹנֶה מְאוֹת אֶלֶף תּוֹשָׁבִים – the size of the population of Jerusalem is approaching eight hundred thousand residents (GOH-del ookh-loo-see-YAHT yeh-roo-shah-LAH-yeem meet-kah-REH-vet…
having trouble seeing the print? סִדְרָה Check out our spring and summer courses in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, Efrat, Ramat Beit Shemesh and Tzfat Today was Israel’s יוֹם הָעַצְמָאוּת – Independence Day, literally, the day of independence (yohm hah-ahts-mah-OOT). To give you a comical glimpse into Israeli culture, I’ll refer you to a series put out by Ynet called “Pini”: pini.ynet.co.il….
having trouble seeing the print? שְׁכוֹל War and bereavement have been, unfortunately, a part of life since the dawn of humanity. It is no wonder, then, that Biblical Hebrew has a salient word for bereavement – שְׁכוֹל (sheh-KHOHL). A related word is שַׁכּוּל – bereaved (shah-KOOL). For example, בְּיוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן הָעָם עוֹמֵד בְּסוֹלִידָרִיּוּת עִם הַמִּשְׁפָּחוֹת הַשַּׁכּוּלוֹת…