Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Useful Hebrew phrases

Useful Hebrew phrases: "Pleased to meet you (na'im me'od) נעים מאוד
Good morning (boker tov) בוקר טוב
Good afternoon (achar tzahara'im tovim) אחר צהריים טובים
Good evening (erev tov) ערב טוב
Good night (laila tov) לילה טוב
Goodbye (lehitraot) להתראות
Good luck (behatslacha) בהצלחה
Have a nice day >f - (sheyihiye lach yom na'im) שיהיה לַך יום נעים
>m - (sheyihiye lecha yom na'im) שיהיה לְךַ יום נעים
Bon appetit (b'tayavon) בתיאבון
Bon voyage (nesi'á tová) נסיעה טובה (derekh tzleha) דרך צלחה
I don't understand m - (ani loh mevin) אני לא מבין
f - (ani loh mevinah) אני לא מבינה
Please speak more slowly (efshar ledaber yoter le-at?) אפשׁר לדבּר יותר לאט?"

Judaism 101: Hebrew Alphabet

Judaism 101: Hebrew Alphabet: "Many letters in the Greek alphabet have similar names and occur in the same order (though they don't look anything alike!): Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta ... Zeta ... Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu ... Pi ... Rho, Sigma Tau.

The 'Kh' and the 'Ch' are pronounced as in German or Scottish, a throat clearing noise, not as the 'ch' in 'chair.'

Note that there are two versions of some letters. Kaf, Mem, Nun, Pei and Tzadei all are written differently when they appear at the end of a word than when they appear in the beginning or middle of the word."

Gideon Bohak: Hebrew, Hebrew Everywhere? Notes on the Interpretation of Voces Magicae

Gideon Bohak: Hebrew, Hebrew Everywhere? Notes on the Interpretation of Voces Magicae: "One of the most com-mon features of such studies is the recurrent attempt to find a Jewish origin for thisor that word and explain it, “etymologically,” by way of Hebrew or Aramaic.
2
Thiserror is due in part to the scholarly refusal to accept the fact that the origins of many
voces
still elude us and to the desperation informing the attempts to find a solution,any solution, to a nagging crux. It is also due to the fact that some
voces,
as well asother elements of the “international” mixture of late antique magic, indeed are of demonstrably Jewish origins, and that the Jews had some reputation in antiquityfor dabbling in magic,"

What Hashem Wants?

What Hashem Wants?: "not satisfied with our current status or lot in life, but are often clueless as to which way to turn to remedy the situation. By refusing too look at the big picture, we are simply cutting ourselves off from many of the potential remedies that are available to help us overcome the current obstacle. By having access to the wisdom of our holy Torah, we can attempt to grasp the situations that our ancestors were faced with and try to learn from the mistakes, or errors which they committed"