Hebrew Language Blog

The days of the week in Hebrew don’t have special names, they simply follow a specific order: first day, second day, third day, and so on. The seventh day is the only exception that doesn’t bear numeral meaning in its name. The Jewish week begins with Sunday: יוֹם (yom) in Hebrew means day. For the…

The hot weather and the long vacation make the Israeli summer a season full of activities: trips, parties, open-air concerts, water sports, etc. Here are five useful verbs for spending the summertime in Israel. To travel לְטַיֵּיל School summer vacation in Israel is long – two months in total: July and August. Many spend part…

Water related words have become popular names in Israel in recent decades. Here are the most common ones. גַּל (gal) is a masculine noun means wave. As a name it was specified for boys only for many years. Parents who wished to name their newborn daughter after this meaning used different declensions of the noun, such…

The Eurovision Song Contest (תַּחֲרוּת הַזֶּמֶר שֶׁל הָאֵירוֹוִיזְיוֹן) is an international song competition. Eurovision has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956, making it the longest-running annual international television contest (תַּחֲרוּת). It is one of the most watched events, with audience (קָהָל) figures of between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eligibility to participate (לְהִשְׁתַּתֵּף) in the contest…

Many minefields (שְׂדוֺת מוֹקְשִׁים) scattered throughout Israel. More than one million mines (מוֹקְשִׁים), anti-personal and anti-tank, are concealed under the ground of Israel. They were laid over the years by the armies of Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt mostly along the borders of Israel, but also near military camps and training areas. The IDF maintained…

General elections will be held in Israel this month, on April 9th. Elections (בְּחִירוֹת) in Israel are held every four years, always on Tuesday (since 2003). Election day (יוֺם בְּחִירוֹת) in Israel is a sabbatical day (יוֺם שַׁבָּתוֹן), except for security forces, health services, and other essential services as transportation, communications and gas. The statutory…

The International Day of Happiness (יוֺם הָאֹושֶׁר הַבֵּינְלְאוּמִּי) is celebrated worldwide every March 20th. According to the international 2018 Happiness Report Israelis are pretty joyful: the report ranked Israel as the 11th happiest country in the world.  And yet Israeli magazines and websites are filled with lists of tips about how to be happier. (For advanced Hebrew reading check…