Hebrew Language Blog

We are going back in time when this book was published in Warsaw, Poland. This is a Hebrew primer intended for use after learning the alef-bet. It contains over 200 detailed illustrations, stories with review questions and a color chart. The pictures here are based on the copy currently housed at Yeshiva University Museum in New York City, USA

Here is the text from the cover:
הַדִּבּוּר הָעִבְרִי
סֵפֶר לִמוּד שְׂפַת עֵבֶר עַל פִּי הַשִׁטָה הַטִבעִית
(הָרִאשוֹן אַחַר הָאָלֶף־בֵּית)

Then, breaking it down into the vocabulary:

אַחַר – after
אָלֶף־בֵּית – alef-bet
דִּבּוּר – speech
טִבעִית – natural
סֵפֶר לִמוּד – textbook
עֵבֶר
עִבְרִי – Hebrew
עַל פִּי – according to
רִאשוֹן – best
שִׁטָה – the method
שְׂפַת – language

Translation:
Hebrew Speech
A Language textbook based upon the natural method
(Best used after learning the Alef-Bet)

If you want to see more about this book and what it contains, it’s available for reading online at the Center for Jewish History

What are we listening to in Israel this week? Here are the top 10 songs that you may enjoy. Some are not from Israeli artists, but still enjoyed by all. And, as you can see, The Idan Raichel Project is on the chart twice.

1 – Anthony Hamilton Elayna Boynton- Freedom

2 – עידן עמדי – בזמן האחרון (Idan Amedi – Bazman Haacharon)

3 – Asaf Avidan – Love It or Leave It

4 – הפרויקט של עידן רייכל – בלילה (The Idan Raichel Project – Balayla)

5 – Alicia Keys – Girl on Fire

6 – נתן גושן – מה אם נתנשק (Nathan Goshen – Ma Em Nitnashek)

7 – will.i.am – Scream & Shout (feat. Britney Spears) – Single

8 – יובל דיין – לאסוף (Yuval Dayan – Le’esof)

9 – הפרויקט של עידן רייכל – עכשיו קרוב (The Idan Raichel Project – Achshav Karov)

10 – Stay – Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko

Shalom is a Hebrew word meaning peace, completeness, prosperity, and welfare. It can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye and it can refer to either peace between two entities, or to the well-being, welfare or safety of an individual or a group of individuals.

Shalom by itself is used in Modern Israeli Hebrew as a greeting, to which the common reply is, שָׁלוֹם שָׁלוֹם. It is also used as a farewell, making it similar to the Hawaiian aloha, the English good evening or Hindi नमस्ते (namaste).

Other uses of שָׁלוֹם

The word “shalom” can be used for all parts of speech; as a noun, adjective, verb, adverb, and interjection. When used as a noun shalom refers to welfare (health, prosperity and peace).

In the Scriptures, shalom describes the actions that lead to a state of soundness, or better yet wholeness. So to say, shalom seems not to merely speak of a state of affairs, but describes a process, an activity, a movement towards fullness.

Other greetings and expressions

The word shalom is used in a variety of expressions and contexts in Hebrew speech and writing:

Shalom aleichem (שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם) is used to greet others and is a Hebrew equivalent of “hello”. The appropriate response to such a greeting is “upon you be well-being” (עֲלֵיכֶם שָׁלוֹם aleichem shalom). On Erev Shabbat (Sabbath eve), Jewish people have a custom of singing a song which is called Shalom aleichem, before the Kiddush over wine of the Shabbat dinner is recited.

Shabbat shalom (שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם) is a common greeting used on Shabbat. This is most prominent in areas with Mizrahi, Sephardi, or modern Israeli influence. Many Ashkenazi communities in the Jewish diaspora use the Yiddish Gut shabbes in preference or interchangeably.

Alav hashalom (עַלָיו הַשָּׁלוֹם; “upon him is peace”) is a phrase used in some Jewish communities, especially Ashkenazi ones, after mentioning the name of a deceased respected individual.

Oseh shalom עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם is the part of a passage commonly found as a concluding sentence in much Jewish liturgy (including the birkat hamazon, kaddish and personal amidah prayers). The full sentence is
עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו, הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עַלֵינוּ, וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן
, which translates to English as “He who makes peace in His heights may He make peace upon us and upon all Israel; and say, Amen.”

Related words in Modern Hebrew include l’shalem (לְשַׁלֵּם), “to pay” and shalem (שָׁלֵם, “complete”.

Cultural Awareness

As a Jewish religious principle

In Judaism, שָׁלוֹם is one of the underlying principle of the Torah. “Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are shalom.” The Talmud explains, “The entire Torah is for the sake of the ways of shalom”. Maimonides comments in his Mishneh Torah: “Great is peace, as the whole Torah was given in order to promote peace in the world, as it is stated, ‘Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. ‘”

Shalom as a name for people

• Shalom is commonly used as a person’s name oe surname in modern Israeli Hebrew.
• Related male names include Shlomi (Hebrew name) (“my well-being”) and Solomon (Hebrew Shlomo).
• Related female names include Shulamit, Shulamith, Shlomtzion or Shlomzion and Salome and Shlomith.
• Shalom Aleichem was the pseudonym or pen name of Shalom Rabinowitz, whose work, Tevye and his Daughters, formed the basis for Fiddler on the Roof.

Tuvya Ruebner (טוביה ריבנר‎) was born in 1924 in Bratislava, Slovakia. He was 17 years old in 1941 when he fled Slovakia to Mandate Palestine and joined a kibbutz. His parents, sisters and grandparents were sent to Poland and were killed in the Holocaust.

Following the Israel War of Independence, he became a member of Kibbutz Merhavia. In Israel he settled in Kibbutz Merchavia. Tuvya Ruebner started as a labourer in the kibbutz and then a literature teacher in the local secondary school. With relatively little formal education, he ended up as Professor of Literature at Haifa University in Israel, and the editor of a leading Israeli publishing house for literature.

His Writings

Tuvya Reubner began writing in German – his first language, and later switched to Hebrew. He published his first book of poetry in 1957 and has since published 11 more collections. His poetry blends classical and modern Hebrew, creating a unique style and translated into 14 languages.

He has also translated Goethe, Shlegel and Kafka into Hebrew, and Agnon, T. Carmi and Dan Pagis into German. Ruebner has been awarded, in Israel: the Anne Frank Prize, the Jerusalem Prize, the Prime Minister`s Prize twice and the prestigious Israel Prize (2008); abroad he has received the D. Steinberg Prize (Zurich, 1981), the Christian Wagner Prize (Germany, 1994), the Jeannette Schocken Prize (Germany, 1999), the Paul Celan Translation Prize (1999), the Jan Smrek Prize and the Theodore Kramer Prize (2008).

In February 2008 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Poetry (the highest accolade the state of Israel can bestow). The jury awarding the prize wrote: ‘Tuvya Ruebner has been one of the foremost Hebrew poets for five decades now….Ruebner’s poetry is planted in two main landscapes, those of Europe and of Israel, and in this respect embodies ‘the pain of two homelands’ and the unresolved tension between them. This is restrained, polished and intellectual poetry. It is nourished by the ancient strata of Hebrew poetry and the best tradition of Central European poetry’.

Personal Life

His first wife, with whom he had one daughter, was killed in a car accident. His second wife is the pianist Galila Yizreeli-Ruebner with whom he has two sons.

He is a member of the German academies for languages and literature at Darmstadt and Meintz, and a winner of numerous prizes for literature in Israel and in Germany.

קערה

Preparing the Seder plate is not just putting the required foods on the plate. It takes advanced preparation and cooking. In order to prepare all the seder foods on time, you’ll need other members of the household to help out. Every item on the Seder plate abounds in meaning and allusion. So I’m going to go through them below and help you see why they are included, how they are prepared and what its roles are in the Seder meal.

The plate is placed on top of the covering of the three matzot and is placed in front of the head of the household. The Seder plate has six items on it, arranged in a special order.

The Shank Bone

The shank bone (a piece of roasted meat) represents the lamb that was the Paschal sacrifice on the eve of the exodus from Egypt. Since the temple was destroyed in the month of Elul, year 3830 (August 70 AD), the Paschal sacrifice is no longer offered. Many communities today have the custom to use a roasted chicken neck or similar.

To prepare: Roast the meat on all sides over an open fire on the stove. Some have the custom of removing most of the meat off the bone.

During the Seder: The meat of the shank bone is not eaten. After the meal it is refrigerated, and used a second time on the Seder plate the following night.

Hard boiled egg

The egg represents the offering brought in to the Temple.

To prepare: Boil one egg per Seder plate, and boil a few more in case they are needed during the meal.

During the Seder: One egg is placed on each plate. As soon as the actual meal is about to begin, remove the egg from the Seder plate and use during the meal.

Bitter Herbs

Bitter herbs (maror) are a reminder of the bitterness of the slavery the Jews experienced in Egypt. The most common choices for this are horseradish root, romaine lettuce, and endive.

To prepare: This must be done before the holiday begins. Peel the raw horseradish roots, and rinse them off well. Dry the roots thoroughly since they will be eaten with the matzah later on. Not a single drop of water should be left on the horseradish – this will prevent chametz when later used with the matzah. Grate the horseradish with a hand grater or electric grinder. (Cover the face with a cloth to cover the nose and mouth. Breathing in the strong, bitter odor will cause quite a lot of tearing up and coughing.)

The lettuce or endive leaves must be washed, carefully checked for insects, and again, thoroughly dried. As an alternative, the stalks can be used as they are easier to clean. Put a few of the cleaned dried leaves of romaine lettuce on the Seder plate and then put the horseradish on top.

Role in the Seder: After the recital of most of the haggadah comes the ritual handwashing. Then matzah is eaten, followed by maror, followed in turn by a sandwich of matzah and maror.

The Paste

This is a mixture of apples, nuts and wine to resemble the mortar and brick made by the Jews when they toiled for Pharaoh.

Preparation: Shell walnuts and peel apples and chop finely. Mix together and add a small amount of wine.

Role in the Seder: The morar is dipped in this (then shaken off) before eating.

The Vegetable

This non-bitter vegetable alludes to the backbreaking work of the Jews as slaves.

Preparation: Peel an onion or boiled potato. Cut off a slice and place on Seder plate. Next to the Seder plate, place a small bowl of salted water.

Role in the Seder: After recital of kiddush, the family goes to the sink and washes hands, but without saying the usual blessing. Then the head of the household cuts a small piece of the vegetable, dips it in saltwater, and gives each person at the table a very small piece (less than 17 grams – or ½ ounce) over which they say the appropriate blessing.