Hebrew Word: Mazal Tov

Posted by on Feb 5, 2024 in Hebrew Study

The word mazal is often translated as “luck” or “fortune” as in the phrase מזל טוב mazal tov or mazel tov with the meaning of “good luck” or “good fortune”. As such, mazal tov is similar in usage to the word “Congratulations!” According to this translation, the phrase mazal tov or mazel tov is seen as good luck, something that happens by chance. But is this the intention of the phrase? For there is no such a thing as good or...

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Hebrew Words: Hear and Guard

Posted by on Sep 16, 2023 in Hebrew Study

It may come as a big surprise to many but even though the Torah of YHVH is full of laws, there is no Hebrew word that means “obey”. Instead, the Torah uses the word Hebrew shema. Another surprise is that nowhere in the Torah we are told to keep all laws. What do we mean by that? It is the object of this work of Hebrew study to explain the Hebrew words for “hear” and “guard”, as we will interpret their literal translations and meanings not distinctly explained by...

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Hebrew Word: Vav That Reverses Time

Posted by on Aug 7, 2023 in Hebrew Study

In the following, it will be beneficial for the reader to learn not only the grammar of the Hebrew word vav, “and”, but also some facts about Hebrew language and more, as we will go deeper in our study. We will try to show that the question of learning Hebrew words and grammar is far from being trivial and hope to provide a more interesting approach to Hebrew study for the reader. Biblical Hebrew is a small language but large in meaning. The number of attested...

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Hebrew Word: Goy (Nation, Gentile)

Posted by on Mar 26, 2023 in Hebrew Study

The Hebrew word גּוֹי goy is often translated as “nation” or “gentile”. By extension goy means also a heathen, a pagan. The first time the word goy appears in the Hebrew Scripture, is in Genesis 10:5 to refer to the peoples who were separated into their lands, according to their languages and clans. Thus, Genesis 10 has become the cornerstone moment in the human history when the people were divided into nations, and every tribe is called a nation by...

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Hebrew Word: Aphar (Dust from the earth)

Posted by on Feb 25, 2023 in Hebrew Study, The Origin

The scientists said to God, “We can create man, as you did”. God said, “Really? Can you create a man from the dust of the earth?” They said, “Yes, we can. We have genetic engineering, cloning, artificial intelligence to imitate and duplicate life”. “Let Me see it!”, said God. They took dust from the earth and … “No, no. Not from My dust”, said God. While we are waiting for the scientists to create their own dust,...

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Hebrew Word: Olam (Universe, Eternity)

Posted by on Feb 19, 2023 in Hebrew Study, The Origin

The Hebrew word עוֹלָם olam is often translated as eternal, everlasting, or forever, all of which have a meaning of a “continual existence”. By extension olam means “universe” or “world”, i.e., the whole creation of YHVH, known today better by the Greek word kosmos, rather than by the Hebrew olam. As such olam appears in the Hebrew texts to represent the physical dimension of the universe relating specifically to its infiniteness. Thus,...

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Hebrew Word: Racham (Mercy, Womb)

Posted by on Feb 12, 2023 in Hebrew Study

In Hebrew, the seeming different words “womb” and “mercy” have nothing in common. But for the native speaker they are one and the same, because רֶחֶם rechem, “womb”, and רַחַם racham, “mercy”, “compassion” are derived from the same verbal root רָחַם racham, which has the meaning of “to caress”; by implication to love, especially to compassionate. Notice how these three words are spelled in Hebrew without vowel points, which do not exist...

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The Sons of Ishmael Vs the Sons of Israel

Posted by on Sep 28, 2022 in Hebrew Study

Only if the sons of Ishmael recognize that they and the sons of Israel are all children of Avraham (Arabic, Ibrahim), and they are brothers. And if they do, then they should also recognize that the sons of Israel have the right to exist as they do. If the sons of Ishmael recognize that they and the sons of Israel have common history, they should also recognize that they have common future. If the sons of Ishmael recognize the Creator of the earth as the God of Avraham, as...

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Methods of Textual Analysis

Posted by on Aug 28, 2022 in Hebrew Study

Some make the curious argument that the difficulty of offering any rational reason or explanation for the minute details of an analyzed text “proves” that the text must be a metaphor about something else and thus requires a metaphorical explanation. This kind of logic is somewhat akin to how some scholars “study” the Scripture. They say that since the literal reading is unsatisfying, another level of interpretation is required. And they while...

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The Hebrew versus the English Concept of Murder

Posted by on Jul 31, 2022 in Hebrew Study

In English, a very clear distinction exists between murder and manslaughter. The legal term “murder”, as in “You shall not murder”, is defined as an unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being, wherein “killing” is the act of terminating a human life. The English translations of the Tanak render the Sixth Commandment of the Covenant by using the English words “murder” or “kill”: “Thou...

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When the Pharisees Sat on the Seat of Mosheh

Posted by on Jun 12, 2022 in Hebrew Study

There was a time in the first century Judea, when the Pharisees usurped upon the domain of the Levites and the judges, and a new term was largely used to denote the authority the Pharisees usurped: “the Seat of Mosheh”, as it appears in the opening of Chapter 23 of Matthew. But what does “the Seat of Mosheh” mean because the text goes on to include even the command to do whatever the Pharisees say? One cannot argue that if the Messiah has told us to...

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Controversy in the Hebrew Word for Stranger

Posted by on Feb 8, 2022 in Hebrew Study

The Almighty is very clear in His Word that He does not show partiality and that there is one law for the Hebrew and for the stranger who has joined Israel. Yet, there is a law in the Torah that has perplexed the strangers, who observe the Torah in obedience to the Eternal. At first reading of that verse, it seems to the reader that Mosheh our teacher has departed from this fundamental principle in the Torah putting the stranger in an awkward position to eat what otherwise...

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