לְכָל דָּבָר וְעִנְיָין

Growing up I would hear teachers in school use the expression “for all intensive purposes.” I knew what it meant but didn’t think about the words themselves. Only when I saw the expression in a book did the penny drop – it’s “for all intents and purposes.” Now it started making more sense.

In Hebrew, we say לכל דבר ועניין

– literally, for every thing and matter. Or, we cut it short by simply saying לכל דבר

.

For example:

אופניים חשמליים הם רכב לכל דבר – אסור לרכוב עליהם על המדרכה.

An electric bike is a vehicle for all intents and purposes – one may not ride it on the sidewalk.