Hot answers tagged hebrew
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From the archaeological evidence it is clear that the Hebrew srcipt being used during the First Temple Period was what's known as the Ivri script (a handy conversion chart can be found here) which is very similar to Phoenician, as opposed to our script nowadays which is called Ashuri script.
In terms of what script was used at Mount Sinai, there is a 3 way ...
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It's at least as old as the Sh'la (around 1600), according to Taame Haminhagim, kuntres acharon 94 to paragraph 396, which says in the Sh'la's name, via the Baer Hetev OC 307:2: "Someone visiting his friend on Shabas should not say, e.g., 'good morning' as on a weekday, but rather 'shabas shalom' or 'shabas tov', to fulfill 'zachor es yom hashabas'."
It ...
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"L'chatchila" means "from the outset", meaning that before one did action 'x' the halacha was that it was forbidden. However, if one was not familiar with that halacha and did action 'x' without knowing that there was a problem, then "b'di'eved" ("after the fact") the halacha might be different, meaning the consequences of what was done would change.
In ...
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The "Modim anachnu lach" in davening is a quotation from Divrei Hayamim I 29:13. "L'cha" becomes "lach" because of the etnachta, which is a pause in the pasuk.
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"Mi yodeya" or מי יודע in Hebrew means "who knows," where "mi" means "who" and "yodeya" is the masculine singular participle for the verb "know." This phrase is featured in the popular Passover song "Echad Mi Yodeya" and on the Q&A site for Jewish life and learning Mi Yodeya.
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I understood the term to mean designated, differentiated or set aside for a purpose. So Kiddush-קידוש would be the verbal declaration that designates the day of Shabbat and differentiates it from all the days that precede it (see the Rambam on the Mitzva of Kiddush). The קדושת היום would be the legal designation of the day. The בית המקדש is a place ...
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Don't know the earliest attestation of menorah for what we light on Chanukah, but it is mentioned parenthetically in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 671:7 (and from there in Aruch Hashulchan 671:25), where it's talking about how to set up the menorah in shul. All of the rest of their references to the Chanukah lights indeed use the term נר(ות) חנוכה. I'd guess ...
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In Tanach there are only four:
Aviv = first month = Nissan (Ex. 13:4, et al)
Ziv = second month = Iyar (I Kings 6:1)
Eisanim = seventh month = Tishrei (ibid. 8:2)
Bul = eighth month = (Mar)cheshvan (ibid. 6:38)
In a letter from the era of the first Beis Hamikdash found in Arad, there is mention (according to some reconstructions) of ירח צח, "the month ...
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The Torah commands us regarding emotions all the time, e.g.: "Don't bear a grudge", "don't hate your fellow in your heart", "don't harbor resentment when you give [charity] to him", "because you didn't serve Hashem your Lord with happiness and a glad heart", "don't despise the Edomite, for he is your brother; don't despise the Egyptian, for you were a ...
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Minchas Shai (to Gen. 30:18, the first place where the name appears) cites Radak, who says that it this is an example of elision: the sound of the second letter is combined into that of the first. As another example, he gives מחצצרים (I Chron. 15:24 and in a few other places in Chronicles), where the second צ is silent.
That said, as Yahu noted, there are ...
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Mishne Halachos, "a summary of halachos" like in Mishne Tora, "a summary of Torah". The root is shin-nun-he: it's related to shana, "repeated".
I've heard that after he allowed certain eruvin that R' Moshe Feinstein did not, people jokingly (and with quite a lack of k'vod hatora) referred to his books as M'shane Halachos, "changer of halachos". The root is ...
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Well you have to remember that in those days houses were not quite like they are today. The floors were earthen and they (the houses) were generally only 1 story high. So the simplest way to get into a house is to dig under the wall. Going through the front door is problematic: a) it's in a location where it's super-easy for the owner to notice (squeak) b) ...
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A core belief of Judaism is that there is only one God.
This is a bad translation. The Hebrew is:
אֲנִי-אָמַרְתִּי, אֱלֹהִים אַתֶּם; וּבְנֵי עֶלְיוֹן כֻּלְּכֶם.
The word אֱלֹהִים can mean "God". It can also mean Judge, Idolatrous god/power (note the distinction between God and gods), Important Person.
In this context, others translate it as ...
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An academic reason would be that indeed Hebrew (and other related languages) don't need vowels for disambiguation as much as, say, English. Most Hebrew words are built out of triliteral consonantal roots, so that words with the same consonants are (usually) related, differing only in how they're inflected for different parts of speech, number, tense and so ...
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Malbim (to Ps. 69:19) draws the following distinction:
גאל means to redeem someone or something because of your relationship. (The cases in Lev. 25 where a person has to sell his property, or even himself into slavery, and is "redeemed" by himself or a close relative, are all described with this root.)
פדה means to redeem someone or something because of ...
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No, it doesn't change the meaning. The letter bes that starts that word appears with a dot in it usually, but without one after a word (in the same phrase) that ends in an open syllable. (Usually.) The pronunciation changes between these two forms, but not the meaning. It's not unique to this word, either, but true of all words that start with a bes, gimel, ...
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Another difference is that classical Hebrew generally uses a VSO word order (verb, subject, object), while modern Hebrew is generally SVO. As an example, the common phrase in the Torah, וידבר ה' אל משה, would literally translate as "and He spoke, G-d, to Moses"; a modern Hebrew speaker would probably say something like ה' דיבר אל משה.
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Hebrew is the language of the Torah. The holy language. Translation inevitably creates a certain perspective on the text, as a Hebrew word can have multiple meanings or interpretations. A word for word translation would not make sense. The meaning often gets simplified, if not lost, in translation.
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"I davka haven't seen that movie."
I purposely haven't seen that movie.
or
I specifically have NOT seen that movie.
"He doesn't eat peanut butter, b'shita"
He doesn't eat peanut butter, on principle. (or "as a matter of principle").
"Mamash" in proper Hebrew usage should translate as "tangible"; that works sometimes.
"He's mamash the ...
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There is a booklet called Minhagei Melech that purports to collect all of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's customs; it states (pp. 28 and 34) that he indeed repeated the word with both vocalizations.
However:
It's questionable how reliable these reports are (not just the ones in MM, but more generally, oral descriptions of what the Rebbe said or did); in some ...
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Leib (as well as Label, Leibush and Loeb) is the Yiddish version of the German Name Loeb which means Lion (from the German for lion, Löwe).
The English equivalent of this name is often Leo or Leon which are root in the Latin word for lion, leo.
[Source: Kolatch, Alfred J. 1984. The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names. Middle Village: ...
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Rashi, Radak, ibn Ezra and the M'tzudos all seem to say it means "you have caused me to hear" your command, i.e. informed me of it, though literally, yes, it means "you have dug me ears".
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The following is adapted from Dovid Katz, "The Phonology of Ashkenazic," in Hebrew in Ashkenaz: A Language in Exile, ed. Lewis Glinert (Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 61-65.
Apparently, at least from the 16th century onwards, there was a distinction among (some) Ashkenazim between the sounds of kubbutz and shuruk, with the former being pronounced like ...
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Rabbeinu Bachye on "lo sechanem" (Vaeschanan, 7:2) gives multiple ways of reading the prohibition based on fiddling with the vowels. He gives this flexibility for multiple versions as the reason for the Torah not including vowels. See R. Bachye also Behaalos'cha 11:15.
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I think you are mixing up 3 different phrases.
1 ברוך אתה ה Baruch Attah Adonai. This phrase is commonly translated as "Blessed are you Lord," meaning "you, the Lord, are blessed" a statement of fact. It is used to begin most ritual blessings.
2 ברכו את ה המבורך Barechu et Adonai HaMevorach. This phrase means "Bless the Lord-who-is-Blessed." "Bless" here ...
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Matthew, perhaps you are not Jewish in which case tattoos are permitted for you (and tattoos related to one's child are certainly one of the nicer options and one which you are less likely to regret later). Nevertheless since receiving a tattoo is prohibited in Leviticus (chapter 19 as I recall), and there is strong traditional support for respectful ...
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The Classical Hebrew is more compact than modern Hebrew. The are no redundant words in Torah, hence you can see usage of "ובלכתך" instead of "כאשר אתה תלך" and alike.
A Jew (even not a religious one) can understand most parts of the Torah without special training. More problematic parts are description of offerings with much details of how and where each ...
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It certainly doesn't mean electricity! The truth is, we don't really know what it means. And whatever it is, studying it is dangerous! Some of you may recall the story in BT Hagiga 13a, where a child is studying Ezekiel, ponders over the meaning of hashmal, and was consumed by fire. You have been warned...
From the context, it appears to be some kind of ...
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From Soncino's intro to Seder Moed:
"It might be observed that the designation 'Mo'ed' is in the singular, as distinct from the plural forms used to designate the other Orders, e.g., Nashim, Nezikin, etc. It has been suggested that the singular is here specially used to avoid the confusion that might arise through the employment of the plural Seder Mo'adim ...
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Etz is Biblical Hebrew; ilan is Rabbinic.
Also, etz is ambiguous, since it can mean "tree" or "wood." Thus Rashi (to Gen. 18:4) finds it necessary to gloss תחת העץ as תחת האילן, to make it clear that Avraham was inviting his guests to rest under the shade of a tree rather than under a wooden canopy or something similar.
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