Category: today’s word

  • The baby leaves of Israel.

    Today’s Hebrew lesson: עלי בייבי Not a hard term to learn in Hebrew. It means ‘baby leaves’ – you know, those tiny bits of greenery you put in salad that cost more than the other vegetables combined? It’s also a term I made up for a certain type of middle-aged Israeli woman – you know…

  • Babies need stuff.

    Tada! In a feat I could never have pulled off on my own, we have managed to choose and order and place a deposit on a baby package consisting of furniture/stuff/things. That, about a week after we first became traumitized when taking a commerical peek at what we were in for.  To answer a few questions:  What…

  • Today's word: אעזקה

    So. That dysfunctional red alert siren (אעזקה) today in Jerusalem. Not cool, siren-maintance man. Not cool.  I was sitting in my office and it very s l o w l y dawned on me that I was hearing a siren in the back of my head. I put my head to the window and realized…

  • Today's word: דופק

    Today we had our first official visit with an ob-gyn (male, charedi) doctor. All in all, a positive experience. I wasn’t expecting anything crazy, pretty much a questionnaire of whether I smoke and if I’m taking vitamins. Oddly, neither of those topics came up. Oh sure, I’ve been to Israeli gynos before, male charedi gynos…

  • In appreciation of צהר, or small windows.

    I attended a secular wedding last night; if it wasn’t my first Israeli secular wedding, then I have only been to one or two before this. The secular Israeli wedding is something I don’t fully grasp. A Jewish wedding is so chock full of beautiful, wacky and wild traditions, why not have that be a…

  • Today's word: טקס

    We attended the Yom Hashoah tekes (טקס or ceremony) tonight, organized by the neighborhood Scouts and Bnei Akiva kids. It was very much a small-town tekes. A few things came to mind while I stood and watched: It never occurred to me before how it must have been for the Mizrachi population to get to…

  • Today's word: שוקו ולחמניה

    It must be Israeli food day at work. They just brought us a classic Israeli snack, and as one coworker remarked, “what are we, in kindergarten?” It’s שוקו ולחמניה, a white roll with “shoko b’sakit”, or chocolate milk in a bag: I realize how weird that may sound, but I guess that weirdness was broken…

  • Today's word: תאונת דרכים

    Here’s what I get to listen to 45293436% of the time while driving home from school. It’s a loosely translated sampling of the radio D.J. on Galgalatz reading the traffic report: “And now, the traffic. Folks, take it easy on the roads out there… We all want to get home safely, and we all need…

  • Today's word: שנאת חינם

    Here’s a backup to my last post in case it wasn’t enough to get my point across. I proudly observe my own brand of Jewishness – and consider it great, holy and everything else – if my alternative for spiritual ‘climbing’ is this: U.S. immigrant beaten up in ‘pogrom’ by ultra-Orthodox gang “An American immigrant…

  • Gaydamak is the new Rothschild.

    I learned a new word today – or is it metaphor? – from my landlady’s son. He’s here to do some repairs and got to asking us if when we move, we’re buying or renting. He mentioned how this building we live in is a wealthy kablan’s (contractor) dream. In his words: “All you need…

  • Leftover Chanukah gelt: the shnekel.

    I saw the brand-new two shekel coin today. There’s already a group on Facebook petitioning everyone to dub the coin the “shnekel” or “שנקל”. Well, why not? It’s shnei shkalim (two shekels). Not only that, but the shnekel has it’s own website, too: www.shnekel.org I guess this it’ll make it easier at those כל פריט…

  • Today's word: Etrog Journalism.

    I learned a new word – or rather, term – today at the Arab-Israeli Journalism panel I sat on: etrog journalism. The idea, thunk up by a Haaretz reporter a few years ago, is that certain items of news need to be treated as delicately as an etrog, the yellow citrus fruit we Jews use…