Piles And Clever Seas
Each of these items on its own has no major value, but when grouped together in a pile, can become something important. In the same way, cleverness is like a pile of thoughts that the intelligent person has considered.
All Tied Up
The term asirah derives from another triliteral root, aleph-samech-reish, which appears close to ninety times in the Bible.
Hard Work And Hard Hearts
Rabbi Hirsch notes that because kuf can be interchanged with gimmel, “kashah” is also related to “gishah”/“gashash” (approaching, impacting). Most people only consider solid objects substantial enough to approach or cause an impact.
Animal Sounds (Part II)
Rabbi Pappenheim traces “yehgeh” to the root hey-gimmel, which primarily refers to diligence and consistency, making its derivative “yehgeh” refer to a lion consistently crying.
Remembering The Wall (Part I)
Rabbi Pappenheim suggests that “chomah” is related to “milchamah,” as the main purpose of building a city wall is to protect its inhabitants from enemy warfare.
Flowering Chicklings
Academy of the Hebrew Language and another article by Dr. Moshe Raanan of Herzog College explain that even though in earlier times the terms efroach and gozal were indeed synonymous, in Modern Hebrew there is a difference between these terms based on a zoological distinction.
Say Uncle
The semantic range of “dod” later expanded to include lover or companion, as the word seems to mean throughout Song of Songs.
Take A Breather (Part III)
The Shelah (1555-1630) writes that not everyone can be cognizant of their chayah and yechidah during their lifetimes. Only bnei aliyah (spiritually-elevated people) can connect with their chayah-yechidah.
Getting Clean
The Torah stipulates that a metal receptacle used for cooking the meat of a sin-offering must be thoroughly cleaned before being used for another purpose; it must undergo merikah and shetifah in water (Lev. 6:21).
That’s A Flogging
He argues that "malkut" only denotes physical hitting while "makkot" denotes any sort of painful ordeal.
Purim: Words For Wine (Part I)
Although some Bible scholars claim that tirosh is an archaic Hebrew word for wine that was later replaced with the more modern word yayin in the Bible, this explanation does not really account for the difference between the two terms and why the newer term did not just completely replace the older term.
Seasoning The Land (Part II)
Avot de-Rabbi Natan explains that the world is called taivel because it is “spiced up” (metubal) with Torah, so that the Midrash is emphasizing the importance of Torah in that the entire world is called taivel simply because there’s a little bit of Torah “mixed into” it.
Don’t Trample On Me
In this essay, we explore the verb romes and its etymology, with an attempt at discovering if and how romes differs from its apparent synonyms, dorech and boss.
A Coriander Conundrum
Ultimately, when Antoninus pointed out that doing so would totally erase his progeny, Rebbe encouraged the Roman official to have mercy on his deviant daughter.
Showing Teeth
Although the word shein usually means “tooth,” sometimes it refers to things made out of ivory, which is a material made out of teeth.
Stealing And Robbing
The gaNav steals at Night [i.e., when nobody is looking] while the gazLan steals in the Light [i.e., out in the open].
The Old Man And The See
“Sav” is related to the Hebrew word “seivah,” and both these words form the basis of “saba,” which means “old man” or “grandfather.”
The Fourth Dimension
Some Jews have a custom to greet others on the first night of Rosh Hashanah with the words “Le’shanah tova tei’katev ve’tei’chatem le’alter le’chaim tovim u’le’shalom.
The Many Shades Of Purple
Explaining argaman as red does not preclude explaining argaman as orange, for orange is a shade of red mixed with yellow.
All About Hair
In another famous Talmudic passage, the rabbis speak about taming the force of the Evil Inclination for idolatry, which took on the form of a lion made of fire.
Wake-Up Time
This is why, when a person wakes up, it is called oorah –an entire world is now revealed to him.
Prime Property
While the words rechush and mikneh always appear in singular form in the Bible, the word nechasim always appears in the plural.
A Real Toss Up
Not all appearances of “hashlachah” carry a negative connotation. Some connote throwing something deliberately to bring about certain results.
Single Guys
In this article, we explore the etymologies of ravak and two other Hebrew terms for an unmarried or single man – panui and bachur – try to zone in on the nuances they express.
The Power To Hold Back
In Cheshek Shlomo, Rabbi Pappenheim connects “eitan” to the biliteral root aleph-tav, which he further reduces to the monoliteral root tav. He explains that this root means connections and linking.
On Misers And Cheapskates
The truth is that kilay in the sense of miser is a rather obscure and archaic Biblical Hebrew word, seemingly not used in Mishnaic Hebrew.
All In The Family
When it comes to the word yavam, Rabbi Pappenheim explains that this term for a relative-in-law contrasts with other terms for relatives-in-law.
My Dear Deer
The Land of Israel is often called the desired land: “eretz chefetz” (Malachi 3:12), “eretz chemdah” (Jeremiah 3:19, Zecharia 7:14, Psalms 106:24), and “eretz ha’tzvi” (Daniel 11:16, 11:41).
Learning The Ropes
In this passage, three different words are used for “rope” or “string”: chevel, tikvah, and chut. This essay attempts to trace the etymology of those words, seeking to clarify exactly how they relate to one another.
Spoils Of War
Rabbi Pappenheim traces the etymology of “baz” and “bizah” to the biliteral root bet-zayin, which refers to something unimportant.