ulpan raanana

  having trouble seeing the print? תַּרְדֶּמֶת  listen and repeat     Tomorrow Israel will lay to rest Former Prime Minster Ariel “Arik” Sharon.   Sharon suffered a massive stroke eight years ago, and since then had been in a coma.       The Hebrew word for coma is תַּרְדֶּמֶת listen and repeat.    For example:   אֲרִיאֵל […]

  אֹמֶץ  listen and repeat   The People of Israel are standing on the shore of a sea. Behind them, an army of Egyptian horsemen is advancing quickly, with vengeance in their stride.   Moses receives the message from G-d that the people are to cross the sea. No one moves.   Then, one man takes a […]

  having trouble seeing the print? מְסִבַּת עִתּוֹנָאִים  listen and repeat     This is my favorite term in Hebrew.   When you hear the term press conference, microphones and cameras might come to mind, perhaps also politicians or celebrities making statements.   When I hear the Hebrew version of press conference, the first thing that comes […]

  having trouble seeing the print? לְהַבְרִיחַ  listen and repeat   For those of you in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv… Our Level 2 and 4 courses are set to start soon! Jerusalem   .   Tel Aviv   Now that the sale and consumption of marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington, it is expected that rates of smuggling the substance will […]

  having trouble seeing the print? כַּנָּ”ל  listen and repeat   For those of you in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv… Our Level 2 and 4 courses are set to start soon! Jerusalem   .   Tel Aviv In most societies, people are assumed nice until proven otherwise. That’s why we say “nice to meet you” in English, נָעִים מְאֹד listen […]

  having trouble seeing the print? לִפּוֹל בֵּין הַכִּסָּאוֹת  listen and repeat   At Ulpan La-Inyan, we try  not to let such things happen.     Suppose a teacher is delivering a daily lecture to a group of forty students. While many students – especially more vocal ones – may prosper, others are bound to fall between the […]

  having trouble seeing the print? אֶזְרַח  listen and repeat     The Torah portion to be read this week by Jews around the world tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt. As those who have attended a סֵדֶר פֶּסַח listen and repeat – Passover seder – know, the People of Israel rose and left the enslaving nation […]

  having trouble seeing the print? תַּגְבִּיר אֶת הַוּוֹלְיוּם  listen and repeat       When we speak in English of raising volume, we mean making the volume more powerful or stronger. That’s the literal meaning of the active-causative Hebrew verb לְהַגְבִּיר listen and repeat, which is used in the expression:     לְהַגְבִּיר אֶת הַוּוֹלְיוּם to raise the volume  listen  […]

  having trouble seeing the print? חֶמְאַת בָּטְנִים  listen and repeat     I recently discovered, thanks to my intern, Craig, that peanut butter is available in Israel. I suppose I should have known that, since the Hebrew term for peanut butter has been in use for decades.       The term is חֶמְאַת בָּטְנִים listen and repeat. […]

  having trouble seeing the print? מַסְטוּל, מְסֻמָּם  listen and repeat       Despite political differences, Jews and Arabs have been exchanging cultural ideas and linguistic features for generations, so that much of Hebrew slang comes from Arabic (here’s a partial list).   One word borrowed is that for high or drunk: מַסְטוּל listen and repeat  when referring […]