how to say "the rules" in Hebrew

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הַכְּלָלִים

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The Torah portion(s) to be read tomorrow by Jews the world over (in Israel,  בְּחֻקֹּתַי -  beh-khoo-koh-TAH-ee, and abroad בְּהַר-בְּחֻקֹּתַי - beh-HAHR-beh-khoo-koh-TAH-ee) feature various rules given to the People of Israel to be kept as they enter their promised land, as well as the consequences that would come should they not follow the rules.


There are many words for a rule in Hebrew, just as there are in English: law, ordinance, decree, dictate, edict, legislation, etc.

by Mariano Kamp

But then there's the rules - those principles, often unspoken, by which people operate (or rebel against) in the various arenas of life.


In Hebrew, these rules are כְּלָלִים (keh-lah-LEEM), of the root כ.ל.ל (k.l.l) meaning all or completeness. 


Examples of הכללים:


צָרִיךְ לְשַׂחֵק אֶת הַמִּשְׂחָק לְפִי הַכְּלָלִים 
(one) needs to play the game by the rules 
(tsah-REEKH leh-sah-KHEK et hah-mees-KHAHK leh-FEE hah-keh-lah-LEEM)


כְּלָלֵי מִשְׂחַק הַחַיִּים אֵינָם בְּרוּרִים לְכֻלָּם
the rules of the game of life are not clear to everyone
(keh-lah-LEH-ee mees-KHAHK hah-khah-YEEM eh-ee-NAHM beh-roo-REEM leh-khoo-LAHM)


Another application of the root כ.ל.ל is the word general. The synagogue where I like to pray Friday night is called בֵּית הַכְּנֶסֶת הַכְּלָלִי - the general synagogue (where all are welcome) - (BEH-eet hah-keh-NEH-set hah-keh-lah-LEE).


שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים לכולם!
Shabbat Shalom and a pleasant weekend to all!

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how to say "image" - part 2

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תַּדְמִית

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In English, there's the image of something physical or that which is formed in the mind (a mental image using the imagination), and there's the psychological image that a person perceives of him/herself and projects to the world, as well as other definitions.


The Hebrew word for a psychological image or that image which is projected to the world, is תַּדְמִית (tahd-MEET).

Two examples will illustrate:


יֵשׁ לוֹ תַּדְמִית עַצְמִית חִיּוּבִית
he has a positive self image
(yesh loh tahd-MEET ahts-MEET khee-yoo-VEET)


הִיא מְשַׁדֶּרֶת לָעוֹלָם תַּדְמִית מִקְצוֹעִית
she projects (broadcasts) to the world a professional image
(hee meh-shah-DEH-ret lah-oh-LAHM tahd-MEET meek-tsoh-EET)


The root of תדמית is ד.מ.ה (d.m.h), meaning image or likeness. It's of the same verb-to-noun pattern as the words תַּבְנִית (tahv-NEET) and תַּפְנִית (tahf-NEET) meaning pattern and turnabout, respectively. The root of תבנית is ב.נ.ה (b.n.h), while the root of תפנית is פ.נ.ה (p.n.h). Note that the final root letter of all three words in the verb-to-noun pattern - תדמית, תבנית, תפנית - is ה (h).

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how to say "image" in Hebrew - part 1

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תְּמוּנָה

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The word image has several meanings in English. There's the image of something physical or that which is formed in the mind (a mental image using the imagination), there's the psychological image that a person perceives of him/herself and projects to the world, as well as others.


Hebrew has different words for these various meanings.


In Biblical Hebrew, the content of a vision is a דְּמוּת (deh-MOOT), while a visual representation of something either physical or imagined is a תְּמוּנָה (teh-moo-NAH). 

תְּמוּנָה יָפָה מֵאֵת פּוֹל בַּיקָה

(teh-moo-NAH yah-FAH meh-ET Paul Bica)

a pretty picture by Paul Bica

In today's spoken Hebrew, תמונה refers to a physical image or picture, including those images stored digitally on a computer (files ending in .jpg, .png, etc). דמות, on the other hand, today refers primarily to a character or figure in a story or public arena. For example, הַיֶּלֶד מֵחֵיפָה הוּא הַדְּמוּת הַמֶּרְכָּזִית בַּסִּפּוּר - the boy from Haifa is the main character in the story (hah-YEH-led meh-kheh-ee-FAH hoo hah-deh-MOOT hah-mehr-kah-ZEET bah-see-POOR).


The root of דמות is ד.מ.ה (d.m.h), meaning image or likeness. For another application of the root as well as another definition of image, you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can fill out this poll:

how to say "résumé" in Hebrew

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קוֹרוֹת חַיִּים

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A résumé or a curriculum vitae (CV) is a document that details a person's professional and life accomplishments, usually for a prospective employer. 


One might describe a résumé as a list of the deliberate happenings or events of life, which is exactly what the Hebrew expression for résumé means: קוֹרוֹת חַיִּים (koh-ROHT khah-YEEM). The root of קורות is ק.ר.ה (k.r.h) meaning happen or occur, while חיים means life.


In writing, קורות חיים is often abbreviated to קוֹ"ח (kohkh), as are many other Hebrew expressions.

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how to say "resident" in Hebrew

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תּוֹשָׁב

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The Torah portion to be read this Shabbat in Israel and next Shabbat abroad presents the Biblical laws of real estate as well as the laws of citizenship.


A key term in civics is a resident - someone who lives in a particular place. In Hebrew, a resident is a תּוֹשָׁב (toh-SHAHV) for a male and a תּוֹשֶׁבֶת (toh-SHEH-vet) for a female. 


For example, הֵם לֹא תּוֹשְׁבֵי הַמָּקוֹם, הֵם תַּיָּרִים - they are not locals (literally, residents of the place), they are tourists - (hem loh toh-sheh-VEH-ee hah-mah-KOHM, hem tah-yah-REEM).



The word תושב derives from the root י.ש.ב (y.sh.b) meaning sitting or dwelling. The letter י (y) switches with the letter ו (w), as it often does in application of roots.

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שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים לכולם!
Shabbat Shalom, and a pleasant weekend to all!

how to say "flame" in Hebrew

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לֶהָבָה

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The common Hebrew word for fire is אֵשׁ (esh).

A flame, however, is a לְהָבָה (leh-hah-VAH).

by Capture Queen ™

Perhaps the most well-known Biblical example of this word can be found in the psalm recited in synagogues Friday night before the לְכָה דּוֹדִי (leh-KHAH doh-DEE) liturgical poem: קוֹל (הַשֵּׁם) חֹצֵב לַהֲבוֹת אֵשׁ - the voice of G-d (changed to preserve sanctity) hews flames of fire (kohl (hah-SHEM) khoh-TSEV lah-hah-VOHT esh).

The root of להבה is ל.ה.ב (l.h.b), which gives rise to the Modern-Hebrew word for enthusiasm, or the state of being "fired up" - הִתְלַהֲבוּת (heet-lah-hah-VOOT) - see our entry on that. 

This is the third in a series of fire-related entries for this week, the week of לַ"ג בָּעֹמֶר (lahg bah-OH-mehr), which starts tonight. 

The theme of fire also relates to a video clip we released earlier this week, which will help you learn some essentials for Hebrew letter-writing and parent-teacher diplomacy.


The words for bonfire can be found here.

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how to say "to boil" in Hebrew

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לִרְתּוֹחַ, לְהַרְתִּיחַ

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The Hebrew word for hot is חָם (khahm), an adjective. 

But the Hebrew word for boiling is רוֹתֵחַ (roh-TEH-ahkh), both an adjective and a verb.

For example, you could describe the water as boiling in the phrase, the boiling water - הַמַּיִם הָרוֹתְחִים (hah-MAH-yeem hah-roh-teh-KHEEM), where ה)רותחים) is an adjective.

But you could also declare that the water is boiling - הַמַּיִם רוֹתְחִים (hah-MAH-yeem roh-teh-KHEEM), where רותחים is a verb. The infinitive to boil is לִרְתּוֹחַ (leer-TOH-ahkh), an active-simple פעל verb.

by LearningToSee

לרתוח is also used to express that a person is very angry. For example, הוּא רָתַח כְּשֶׁהוּא שָׁמַע אֶת הַחֲדָשׁוֹת - he boiled when he heard the news (hoo rah-TAHKH keh-sheh-hoo shah-MAH et hah-khah-dah-SHOHT).

That's the water itself, boiling. But when a person boils water, s/he is actually causing the water to boil. That's לְהַרְתִּיחַ (leh-hahr-TEE-ahkh) in Hebrew, an active-causative הפעיל verb.

For example, כְּדֵי לְהָכִין תֶּה, קֹדֶם כֹּל צָרִיךְ לְהַרְתִּיחַ מַיִם - in order to prepare tea, first (one) needs to boil water.

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