Rak b'Yisrael (only in Israel) and a return to Milot HaYom

The intersection of Rav Ashi and Ravina, in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood of Tel Aviv. These two Babylonia Amoraim are traditionally attributed as the editors of the Babylonian Talmud.

And now back to  our Milot HaYom portion of the program:

אֻמְדָּנָה, umdena: assessment, evaluation. 

I am the only American in the class where we read this word in an article (as well as the only male, providing a particularly unique perspective) and the teacher still chose to translate it into simpler Hebrew. That was encouraging.

מַשְׁכַּנְתָּא, mashkanta: mortgage.

Ari thinks that this word sounds like an expletive when said quickly and sometimes uses it as such.

Milat HaYom — Spanish edition

My friend Maksi from Argentina just expressed to me that he needed to get out of Israel over break, perhaps to go to Europe, to "freeze his brains."

It's a new expression which I'm going to translate directly in the future, as well. We'll see if it catches on. Help make it happen.

Necesito /enfriar / un poco/ la cabeza
I need  / to freeze/ a little/ my brains

I need to freeze my brains, I need to relax, I need to get out and get some air.

Milat HaYom — when Israeli concerts sell out

The Yellow Submarine is a standing room only venue in Jerusalem. They were really going to turn away concert goers?

Apparently so. Next time I pay the 15 shekel internet fee and don't take my chances.

Tonight's HaDag Nahash concert: Sold out.

מילת היוֹם: אזלו הכרטיסים
Milat HaYom: Azlu HaKartisim.

אזלו גכרטיסים, azlu hakartisim: tickets are sold out

Azlu, originally from the Aramaic "to go." Ie. the tickets have gone.

That's your etymology lesson for the day.

(תודה לגיא על התיקון)

Milot HaYom — Balderdash edition

More words that you don't know. And neither do your Israeli friends.

Enjoy.

הומוס, hoomoos: black earth/dirt, organic material produced by worms
עמוץ, imutz: closing of one's eyes, squinting
היפוף, hipuf: pagination
אונה, avana: an elevated parking lot

Milot HaYom — Homonym edition

Over Chanukah, Nomi hosted a party featuring a game of Hebrew Balderdash. Words we all know, or do we...

Change one letter in the spelling and confusion reigns. For any and all nationalities in attendance.

It was an entertaining evening.

So here they come. First batch. Balderdash.

צהיר, tzahir: clear

פתיכה, peticha: a combination of different colors

יקם, yekem: a vessel which they used in ancient bath houses, such as a bucket

טאוט, teyut: sweeping

Milat HaYom

הסתפרתי, histaparti: I got my hair cut

One word in Hebrew, five in English. CRAZINESS

This is not a revelatory milat hayom. If you have studied Hebrew for a year, maybe a bit more, you know this word. But I just got my hair cut. It's on my mind.

During the summer between fourth and fifth grade, I had a Hebrew tutor and asked her how to say "I got my hair cut" for the requisite composition (חיבור) I would write about the previous week.

She said histaparti. I was blown away.

It still gets me every time.

Some accomplishments in Hebrew

I have been giving directions to a number of cars that stop and roll down the window.

- That I can direct Israelis, both Guy and others, from one spot in the city to another shows that I actually live here and have ownership over it. Earlier tonight, somebody stopped right by my apartment in Katamon and asked how to get to Tel Aviv. Three lefts and straight until the city gates, if you're curious.

- In Bible class, right at the beginning of Monday's session, an Israeli woman in the back told the professor to slow down a bit. I honestly can say that I was staying up with the class.

- In philosophy on Wednesday, the teacher lamented that because there is no Hebrew translation of Levinas, he would simply summarize the points, because his "accent in English is even worse than it is in Hebrew." I raised my hand an exclaimed that I have been working on my American accent and would be happy to read.

Not as many laughs as I was looking for. Microphone wasn't on, I guess. They proceeded to ask if I was going to simultaneously translate Levinas. So much for jokes.



And with that, here are some pictures that Kuppy took from the Mosh concert. Talented photog.




Good times.



The night started with a group of bagpipers winding their way through the crowd.




Baller.



Avraham Tal (former lead signer of Shotei Hanevua, continual rockstar) performing with Mosh.



Ehud Banai, Mosh, Barry Sakharof. When the icons of Israeli rock show up to kick of your new album tour, you know you've made it.

You also know you've made it if people turn your name into an adjective.



Good concert, Kupps.

Milot HaYom

Last week, my Bible teacher stumped the entire class (of Israelis) with a word from his Israeli e-mail Milat Hayom. An American oleh and a Bible professor, he was not quite sure how to translate the word נקרנות. Apparently there is a Webster's Rosetta Stone Edition, though, which gives a decent one-word translation (Morfix didn't have it). In either case, נקרנות is the chief characteristic of the Satan in Job, one who looks for the evil in people.

And away we go...

נקרנות (nakranut): carping, censoriousness

לשאת דברים (laset d'varim, lit. to lift words): an elevated way of saying "to give a speech." Beautiful, right?

יושר (yosher): honesty.

יושרה (yoshra): integrity. This word is new in Hebrew, within the past twenty years. Is the concept, too?

Our Hebrew teacher was curious the difference between honesty and integrity. How would you define such a difference?

התערער (hitarer): unsteady

Milot HaYom

Over the course of my academic career, I have often had classes overlap each other in content and thus provide extra layers of meaning to my learning (like a parfait, you might say. I might, at least).

Such is the case this year, as well. But here, the layers (like an onion) are that much more vivid because the new Hebrew words themselves repeat in the various classes, so I am that much more aware of the overlap.

So here are a couple of the new words from the past week.

אילתור (iltur): Improvisation. Several of us got quite excited to discover this word. It derives from the Aramaic word for immediately (אלתר). Cute, right?

No? Tough crowd.

Knowledge of the word also allows Anne to describe one of her favorite activities.

הזולת (hazulat): the other. This word has appeared in the context of identifying "the other" in Israeli society as well as in the philosophy of Buber.

הפרטה (hafratah): privatization. Israel's industries across the board are going through a process of privatization. Can't speak authoritatively on the subject, but it certainly is affecting people.

תרגום שבעים (tirgum shivim; lit. translation of the seventy): Septuagent.
Took me a bit of time to crack this nut in class. But I thought this was fun.

זיקה (zikah): attachment, bond. Both my Bible class on "God/s in the Bible" and Buber's I/thou philosophy were all about this word — the zikah between God and humanity.

פולמוס (pulmus): polemic. Let's be serious, people. What's an academic class on religion without reference to polemics?

Milot HaYom — Marine Biology Edition

Today at lunch, we somehow digressed into a conversation about how to say certain sea animals in Hebrew. With one native Israeli, two olim at the table with perfect Hebrew and two others who can hold their weight, as well, we still had a good amount of trouble coming up with the animals below (me, Goldberg, Lev Tov, Yael Shoham and David Landau, if you're keeping track at home — and I know that many of you are).

Let's just say, these are not מילים יום–יומיים, daily words.

So a collection of words for your אוצר מילים (word bank).

פרת ים (parat yam, lit. sea cow): Manatee, aka. sea cow in English, as well.
When I was 13, my Aunt Reenee took my cousin Scott and me to Florida to swim with the Manatees. She is the biggest Manatee fan I know.

כלב ים (kelev yam, lit. sea dog): sea lion.

סוס ים/סוסיה (soos yam/soosiya, lit. sea horse): walrus

לוטרה (lutrah; there was also an opinion at the table that said this was a חתול ים, sea cat): otter.

You should also know that the otters at the Waco Zoo (yes, that Waco) were donated in memory of my grandparents because my grandma loved how otters were always happy, no matter when you saw them. At one point there was a billboard along the highway with a picture of a pair of otters, under which said, "Welcome Dorris and Jack." Got a number of laughs in our family.

בופלו (buffalo; none of us could figure out the Hebrew word for this. Turns out there isn't one): buffalo.

Yael asked if there were any buffalo in Israel. She had never seen one. This topic came up because Josh was talking about the various meats he most enjoys eating.

Water buffalo, coincidentally, play a big part in the history of my university. For more information on Penn's "water buffalo affair," which ended with the University president resigning, check out the DP (which includes an old-skool article by Yona Silverman).

An additional fun fact: the word "Buffalo" can be used five times in a row, just with that word, and form a coherent sentence.

Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Translation: Buffalo (plural noun for animal), who live in the city of Buffalo, buffalo (verb to intimidate) other buffalo from the city of Buffalo.

Milot HaYom

Friday night dinner with the Kahns quite literally was a bundle of joy. Laughs rolled in by the bundles.

Some highlights:

Elle (fifth grade) wanted to know how good the guests' Hebrew was, particularly our accents. She asked for the best speaker among the group.

The lot fell to Ari, and he subsequently dared Elle to quiz him. So she asked him to say, "I peed in my pants."

And timing is everything, of course.

She then said she didn't hear him and asked him to say it again, but louder. Well played.

Dalya came up with an Arabic phrase of the day which resembled an old-man's Yiddishism. Camille was there to help her with that, as well.

Dinner brought with it a few milot hayom, too. There were more, but this will do for now:

מסננת (misnenet): Strainer
לעכל (l'akel): to digest

Milot HaYom — First graders teach me Hebrew

First graders are among those we have to thank for today's Milot HaYom.

The day began with a trip to the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem to visit a "Tali" school, an elementary liberal Jewish religious school. We spent the morning in a first grade class room, in tefillah and the corresponding class about the prayer Modeh Ani. It will amuse some that Israeli children sing along to the Craig Taubman version of Mah Tovu.

When the teacher asked the class what they are thankful for, one girl said she was thankful for the trees for giving oxygen.

First grade knowledge of photosynthesis (on a base-level or not) impresses me. Well done, dude.

And thus, we begin today's milot hayom with oxygen and carbon dioxide.

חמצן (hamzan): Oxygen
דו–תחמוצת הפחמן (du-tahmozet hapahman): CO2
פסיפס (pseifes): Mosaic

A few fun phrases, as well...

הכדור בידינו (hakadur b'yadeinu): Literally, the ball is in our hands. But kadur is also the word for the world. The phrase sounds a lot like "the ball is in our court" — I love basketball metaphors. But give it an environmentalist flare and it means "the future of the world is under our control"

רגע לדעת, רגע לגעת (rega lada'at, rega laga'at): "A moment to think, a moment to touch"; this is the theme of the zoological curriculum in the school. The students learn about various animals and then head down to the basement to the ג'ונגל ("jungle") to interact with various animals.


Below is the set of principles by which the school runs. Attached to each guideline is a corresponding quote from the Jewish canon.

Such a sign, in my mind, illustrates an ideal vision of what it might mean to structure a society according to religious principles. In future posts, I'll explore the moral imperatives, or lack of them, for religion in the modern world. This is certainly a point along that path.

Milot HaYom

And we are officially back in action — school 2009-2010 is go for launch. Orientation today and tomorrow and then the real kickoff on Sunday.

Particular highlight today was seeing a presentation from artist David Moss (if you are not familiar with his work, become familiar).

We then created our own art using the paradigm of mapping that he illustrated. I'll say that it is likely that I will return home with a Moss Haggadah at the end of the year.


A few words from today:

דיקן (dikan) – dean. Seems to come from the same root as deacon.
My dad recently reported that both the Dutch and German call their deans "dekan." All three languages (and many other western languages, for that matter) additionally each use the same word for pineapple — ananas. And that's what we call a non-sequitur.

עמותה (amutah) — non-profit.

Milot HaYom (words of the day)

Sorry for the lack of yomiyut (daily-ness) of said Milat HaYom. Back in action.

צפונבון (tzfonbon) — a rich person, usually a teenager, who was given all of his/her money without working for it. Think Israeli Paris Hilton (or perhaps/definitely on a lower scale). This crowd often lives on the north side of Tel Aviv. Hence "tzfon" (north) and bon, which means nothing in itself, but rhymes well.

The Israeli equivalent of "like, totally" is כאילו, כזה, דה (keilu, kazeh, duh).


And a more practical word...

להתקפל (lehitkapel) — to pack up, to head out. From the root of "to fold," and in the reflexive form. Essentially means "to fold oneself up." To get all of your things together in order to head out the door.
אנחנו מתקפלים בעוד 5 דקות. We're heading out (with all of our stuff) in 5 minutes.


Another shoutout to Guy for said milot hayom.

Milot HaYom Madhimim (Awesome words of the day)

Tonight I wrote down good words that appeared in the midst of laughs and a conversation with Aliza, Guy, Iris and Avishai. As part of said conversation, periodically I would ask them to think of a fun word that I should know, and subsequently use it in context. That worked better at some points than others. What words would be a good feature for the blog/my life, or as they say in Hebrew, bishvil hablog בשביל הבלוג?

I asked the waitress for a word, as well — she was less helpful in this regard, but quite amusing throughout the entire meal. In that regard, I would highly recommend the restaurant "Diez" on Shlomzion HaMalka, next to Misrad HaPnim.

So here are the words from the evening. Props to Mishlachat 2000 for this help.

ברוגז, brogez: a fight between two people, usually kids, where they stubbornly refuse to talk to one another. No real English equivalent that can be summed up in one word.

שולם, sholem (pronounced in a Yiddish accent): after two people make up from having a ברוגז/brogez, they make שולם/sholem

שיווק, shivuk: marketing. A marketing specialist came to the Yeshiva today to see why people go there, what the institution can do better, etc. Pizza lunch was an unexpected treat, as well. לדעתי, זה דווקא שיווק טוב להביא אוכל לסטודנתים. In my opinion, it is good marketing/shivuk to bring Pizza to students.

קרציה, qirziah: tick (the animal). Refers colloquially to someone who is being annoying and a nuisance. Used in a joking matter. "Stop being such a tick." נו עליזה, תפסיקי להיות קרציה.

מתיש, matish: exhausting

לגהץ, legahetz: Literally to iron. It is also the verb used for "to swipe a credit card." It should be noted that if you are ever at Jen and JAR's and need to iron your shirt, they keep the maghetz/מגהץ in the kitchen.

פרוטקציה, protekziah: another false cognate. Rougly translates as nepotism. Shady dealings which give you connections, particularly for jobs. ''?מי צריך קשרים כשיש לך פרוטקציה'' is a common phrase. ("Who needs connections when you have protekziah?")

ויטמין פי, Vitamin P: פרוטקציה, Vitamin P is an amusing way to say protekziah.

פצצות לגבות, petzatzot l'gavot: Literally "explosions to the eyebrows." Means that something is awesome. The equivalent to "the bomb," you could say. "The bomb diggity," even. I wouldn't say, but you might.

Milot HaYom

I went to the Shuk today, complete with the bubbe cart, thinking that Sesame would be a cognate. Sesame oil is one of the central tastes for Bol Gougie, you should know.
So much for that. The nice man who makes a living selling different types of oils helped with the process. And because of him, we will have Bol Gougie deliciousness.

שומשום (soom-soom): sesame; שמן שומשום: sesame oil

Slang:

שאלת קיטבג (shealat kitbeg): A שאלת קיטבג is a question one asks which receives the obvious kickback response that one would expect, and probably not want. For example, if a teacher asked the class to read 25 pages for homework and a student raised her hand and asked if they should outline it as well. (Thanks to Shayna for the correction).

Editor's note: Laura Ruth Silver says she has retired from being a cheapion, because China does not require it. Life as normal is so cheap that is no challenge (my addition).

Some thoughts on Rosh HaShana to come before sundown tomorrow.

Milot HaYom (again)

Today in Talmud (Sukkah 24a) we came upon the phrase נוד תפוח, meaning an inflated wine skin. No relation to the word apple, though you could certainly have a תפוח נפוח (a swelled apple). Root for this word is נ.פ.ח

,מנפחmenapeach (biyan piel): inflated
מתנפח, mitnapeach: swelled. For example, a welt on your head would use the reflexive form, as seen here.

Slang:

קומבינה, kombina: A cognate, but it does not mean a "combination." A קומבינה is a good deal, perhaps gained through being crafty.

For example, my sister brags about being the cheapest person on the planet, or certainly top 5. (See cheapions.blogspot.com for tales of her triumphs). She is quite familiar with said concept, if not the word itself.

Milot HaYom

The word for beans is a plural noun. But it is modified by a singular adjective.

שעועית: bean/s
רוזמרין: rosemary

Milat HaYom (word of the day)

להתפשט, lehitpashet: As discussed today in class, this word means "to become common;" ie. for information to spread and thus practice to become common. We'll call that the high interpretation.
In modern Hebrew it also means "to get undressed." From the root of the word simple, the reflexive verb means "to become simple." Or in other words, to get back to basics.

הייתי פה, hayiti po: Literally means "I was here." Colloquially it means, "I'm outta here."

סובלנות, sovlanut: Hebrew has one word both for suffering and tolerance. Discuss amongst yourselves.