רֶבַע שָׁעָה I as an American grew up saying fifteen minutes. Only as I crossed the Atlantic and moved to Israel did I encounter English speakers saying a quarter hour. Hebrew favors the latter construction, so that fifteen minutes is רבע שעה, where רבע means a quarter and שעה means hour. For example: אני אגיע…
עֲנָווָה Moses is described as עניו מכל אדם – the humblest among people. The trait of humility is ענווה, as in: קצת ענווה לא יזיק לו. A little humility won’t hurt him. ענווה is related to עוני – poverty: like a poor person, someone humble is down to earth, simple.
פֶּלַח תַּפּוּז An orange, in Hebrew, is תפוז (one of my favorite fruits). This modern word combines תפוח – apple and זהב – gold, because an orange’s skin is “golden”. The slice of a fruit such as an orange – really more a segment – is פלח, as in: היא לא תאכל את כל התפוז,…
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מִזְרָח A few generations ago, my family lived in מזרח אירופה – eastern Europe. The Hebrew word for east is מזרח, called such because the sun rises – השמש זורחת – in the east. Here’s מזרח in another context: הם גרים במזרח ירושלים. They live in East Jerusalem. The word for west also has to…
לִסְפּוֹר, לִמְנוֹת How do you say to count in Hebrew? Two options: לספור and למנות, both simple verbs, the first of the root ס.פ.ר, and the second, מ.נ.י. לספור is the everyday word, as in: אני סופר את הימים עד החופשה! I’m counting the days until my (the) vacation! למנות is used in more formal…