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To judge by Wikipedia, it looks like the basic meaning of it is "teacher" or something similar - the Hindu use of it is a specification of that general meaning. So I can't imagine that it would be any …

Ibn Ezra (throughout the Megillah, and also to Gen. 14:1) says that "birah" means a palace, and thus that Shushan Habirah means "the royal palace in the Shushan area." He also says (commentary to Esth …

Partly a comment on DoubleAA's answer, and partly an independent answer: It is true that in general we find Chazal avoiding the use of Hashem's name where possible, and using alternative terms instea …

"Mazal" stems from the root "nazal," meaning "to flow." The basic meaning of the word, then, is not "luck" but rather "something that causes a flow." (It is therefore applied to the heavenly bodies, w …

Among the 13 principles of Torah interpretation are that sometimes the Torah may express itself using "a general statement followed by a specific one," or vice versa, or "a general statement, a specif …

Homiletically: When you have two Yudin (or in Polish Jewish pronunciation, "Yidin" - also means "Jews") who get together on an equal level, neither of them putting themselves higher than the other, t …

The Zohar (Bereishis 73a) says: כד הוו זכאין ישראל אקרי ארעא על שמא דא ארץ ישראל כד לא זכו אקרי ארעא על שמא אחרא ארץ כנען "When Israel was worthy, the land was called by their name, …

Gen. 34:28-29 describes how Yaakov's sons plundered the city of Shechem after wiping out its (adult male) inhabitants: אֶת-צֹאנָם וְאֶת-בְּקָרָם וְאֶת-חֲמֹרֵיהֶם וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר בָּעִיר וְאֶת אֲשֶׁר בַּ …

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 …

There are a lot of answers. Here are a couple: In Hebrew, mastership is often expressed in the plural, as in אדוני יוסף or בעליו עמו. Similarly, then, the Name Elokim, which denotes that G-d is Mast …

Rosh Hakehilah is more than a shul president. He would have been a lay leader of the entire community (or a major portion of it), very likely representing them before the (non-Jewish) authorities when …

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 63a) cites a couple of opinions. (Actually, it's talking about the plural form of the verb העלוך, "those who brought you up," but I would assume that these also fit with the plur …

The names of some letters of the alef-beis are commonly mispronounced, at least by Ashkenazim: ב - with final /z/ rather than /s/ ד - with final /d/ rather than /s/ צ - with final /k/ rather than not …

So שבת קדש would mean "the Shabbos which is holy," ובדברי קדשך would mean "in Your words which are holy," and so forth. …

R' S.A. Wertheimer (in Beur Shemos Hanirdafim, vol. 1, pp. קכז-קכח) defines שיר as vocal song, and זמרה as instrumental music. So שירי זמרה, he says, would mean the combination: שירים that are said al …