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An Israeli Chocolate: “Cow Chocolate” שׁוֹקוֹלַד פָּרָה Posted by Ayana on Feb 5, 2018
In 1930, Eliahu Fromchenko owned a successful chocolate factory (מִפְעַל שׁוֹקוֹלָד) in Latvia. The factory employed around 500 workers, the sales were good, and the products were exported to Europe and the Middle East. But in 1933, after Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, Eliahu and his business partners decided to immigrate to Israel…
Hebrew Kitchen Vocabulary Posted by Ayana on Jan 22, 2018
In the Israeli culture kitchen is the heart of the house. The all family revolves around the kitchen. Jewish mothers feed their kids well: a good appetite is a sign of good health. Nowadays Israeli men also make magic in the kitchen as well. While they are cutting, rinsing, chopping, kneading and mixing, the children…
Happy New Year in Hebrew Posted by Ayana on Jan 3, 2018
Last September, Jews all over the world celebrated the Jewish New Year. They ate apple dipped in honey, they wore new clothes, went to the synagogue to listen to the blowing of the shofar, and greeted each other with Happy New Year שָׂנָה טוֺבָה (shana tova). The Academy of the Hebrew Language – an institution…
The Many Drivers of Israel’s Streets Posted by Ayana on Dec 25, 2017
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew aleph-bet. These 22 basic units are the material from which the Hebrew language forms its consonantal roots. Putting two, three or four letters together creates a root. For example, the root כ-ת-ב (k-t-v), is composed of the 11th letter with the 22th letter plus the 2nd letter of…
The Story of Hanukkah Posted by Ayana on Dec 11, 2017
During the Hellenistic period (323 BC–31 BC), Greek culture spread throughout the vast empire. The Greek arts, literature, architecture, music, mathematics, and science prevailed in the states under the regime of the Greeks. Among them was the Kingdom of Judah, and the Jews living in Judah were inspired as well by the Greek culture. They adopted Greek…
How to Celebrate a Jewish Wedding (part 3) Posted by Ayana on Nov 20, 2017
In our last post about How to Celebrate a Jewish Wedding, we discussed the essentiality of the chuppah. Today we’ll start to discuss everything that happens under it – the wedding ceremony. There used to be two different ceremonies (טְקָסׅים): betrothal (קׅידוּשׁׅין) and wedding (נׅישׂוּאׅין). In the past, when a couple got engaged they celebrated…
Learning Hebrew Through Movies: And Then She Arrived Posted by Ayana on Nov 6, 2017
And Then She Arrived (וְאָז הׅיא הִגִּיעַה) is a new Israeli movie that premiered last July in Israeli cinemas. It’s an enjoyable romantic comedy, and even though the film didn’t receive favorable reviews I still believe it’s worth watching. It’s a fun movie that provides a glimpse into the Israeli culture and a good…