להתגלח, לגלח Tonight I visited my סַבְתָּא (SAHV-tah) – grandmother – in Tel Aviv. She asked me whether I shave every day, to which I replied in the negative. So, in Hebrew, there’s to shave, and to shave something. To shave – that is, without an object – is לְהִתְגַּלֵּח (le-heet-gah-LEH-ahkh). For example, אֲנִי לֹא…
קריין, מספר A narrator is someone who reads or calls out a storyline. To read or to call out, in Hebrew, is לִקְרוֹא (leek-ROH). Likewise, to tell a story is לְסַפֵּר (le-sah-PEHR). A narrator or an announcer (such as on the radio) is a קַרְיָן (kahr-YAHN) for a male, and a קַרְיָנִית (kahr-yah-NEET) for a female. By contrast, the narrator voice in…
שיחת ועידה The Hebrew word for conversation is שִׂיחָה (see-KHAH). The word for conference is וְעִידָה (ve-ee-DAH). It comes from the same root as the word for committee – וַעַד (VAH-ahd) and its synonym, וַעֲדָה (vah-AH-dah). ועדה also carries the meanings, board and commission. Anyway, a conference call is a שִׂיחַת וְעִידָה (see-KHAHT ve-ee-DAH). This means, literally,…
כורה This week we’ve seen emotions running high and acts of courage being done in Chile, as 33 miners were rescued from 700 meters underground. The Hebrew word for miner is כּוֹרֶה (koh-REH). To mine is לִכְרוֹת (leekh-ROHT), which is spelled the same and sounds the same as the word for to cut off. …
שולי The Hebrew word for margins – as in the side of a paper or the side of a road – is שׁוּלַיִם (shoo-LAH-yeem). To say that something is insignificant or marginal, you’d use שׁוּלִי (shoo-LEE). My accountant friend used this word last night. I don’t recall the context – I’m about to go…
ראיית חשבון After finishing working tonight I walked up the hill from the German Colony to Katamon (both Jerusalem neighborhoods) for the evening prayer… and to get some air. On the way back I walked with a good friend of mine, דּוֹרוֹן (Doron), who is an accountant. We had a good conversation… and I…
לסנוור עִוֵּר (ee-VEHR) for a male and עִוֶּרֶת (ee-VEH-ret) for a female are the Hebrew words for someone who is blind. By contrast, to blind someone is לְסַנְוֵר (le-sahn-VEHR). This is a very old word; it comes up in next week’s Torah portion, where the angels visiting Lot strike the Sodomites with blindness –…
יש לי מזל, וכו There isn’t really a word for lucky. There is one – מְמֻזַּל (me-moo-ZAHL) describing a male and מְמֻזֶּלֶת (me-moo-ZEH-let) describing female, but it’s not very widely used. One could say, יֵשׁ לִי מַזָּל (yesh lee mah-ZAHL) – literally, I have luck. But that doesn’t work for phrases such as It’s my…
יעיל The Hebrew word for both effective and efficient is יָעִיל (yah-EEL). It comes from the same root, י.ע.ל (y.’.l) as yet another word for benefit – תּוֹעֶלֶת (toh-EH-let). To take something and make it more efficient is לְיָעֵל (le-yah-EHL). For example, הַחֶבְרָה גּוּגֶל יוֹדַעַת לְיָעֵל דְּבָרִים (hah-khev-RAH GOO-ghel yoh-DAH-aht le-yah-EHL dvah-REEM) – The company…
הטבה Yesterday’s word was יתרון – advantage. That word is also used, sometimes, to mean benefit. The literal translation for benefit, however, is הַטָבָה (hah-tah-VAH), from the word טוֹב (tohv) – good or goodness. For example, יֵשׁ מִגְוַן הַטָבוֹת לְתָכְנִית סֶלוּלָרִי זו (yesh meeg-VAHN hah-tah-VOHT le-tohkh-NEET seh-loo-LAH-ree zoh) – There’s a variety of benefits…
יתרון Perhaps you know one of the Hebrew words for more – יוֹתֵר (yoh-TEHR). It’s the word that creates comparative adjectives, such as better – יוֹתֵר טוֹב (yoh-TEHR tohv); bigger – יוֹתֵר גָּדוֹל (yoh-TEHR gah-DOHL); more interesting – יוֹתֵר מְעַנְיֵן (yoh-TEHR me-ahn-YEHN); etc. Related to this word is one that appears already in Biblical Hebrew. It’s…