לְשַׁחְרֵר

The word לשחרר

is all about freedom and liberation, deriving from the root ח.ו.ר as in בן חורין – free person. לשחרר means to release, to liberate, to let go. Here’s an illustration of the concept (in English) from the 1991 version of Father of the Bride.

It’s also used colloquially in lieu of to relax, as in:

שחרר, אחי.

Relax (let go), bro.

Its noun form – שחרור

– makes its appearance in the name for Israel’s War of Independence: מלחמת השחרור – literally, War of the Liberation.

לשחרר is an active-intensive פיעל verb. To get released or to release oneself is the active-reflexive התפעל verb להשתחרר

, as in:

השתחררתי מהצבא.

I got released from the army.