hebrew

Jewish New Year Greetings Made Simple 🍎🍯 What Do You Say on the High Holidays?

The Jewish New Year isn’t just about apples and honey—it’s about connection. And one of the simplest, most meaningful ways we connect during this season is through our greetings. But if you’ve ever stood at the synagogue door or sat down at a holiday table wondering, “Wait, what do I say??”—you’re not alone. In this […]

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Finding Peace in Jewish Traditions During Busy School Days! | Jewish Back-to-School Part 3

Some Jewish moments are big and obvious — holidays, life cycle events, milestones you can see coming from a mile away. Others sneak up on you: the first time you light Shabbat candles on time, the first day back to class, the first time you feel truly at home in your Jewish community. This is

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Word of the Day: Ulpan

At some point in your orthodox journey, someone is going to suggest you go to ulpan. Another class and another thing to learn? Sounds great, but what’s ulpan?  In short, it means modern Hebrew classes. But it’s more than that. It’s a particular style of teaching a foreign language through intense immersion and often with

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Phrase of the Day: Off the Derech

Calling someone “off the derech” can mean many things, depending on who the speaker is. There are apparently many ways of categorizing someone as off the derech. But at the end of the day, it’s a judgment about someone else, which you should probably avoid when you can. It may matter to know whether someone

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How Do You Congratulate a New Convert?

This has been a surprisingly contentious issue. What do you say to someone upon finishing their conversion?  Congratulations in English is a simple, easy way to do convey all the possible emotions. Out of the 200+ congratulations I’ve received in person and online, almost all people said “mazal tov!” to me, and I think that’s

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Should You Change or Add to Your Hebrew Name When You Have a Second Conversion?

I find it interesting that Hebrew names is the #1 topic that brings people to this blog through search engines. I wonder where all this interest in names comes from! Based on the search terms themselves, it appears to be adults choosing a name for themselves, rather than parents naming a baby. Well, this week’s

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Word of the Day: Bentchophobia

Let’s be honest. For the new-to-Hebrew person, bentching takes a really long time, even in English or transliterated Hebrew. It feels like everyone else at the table is finished in 45 seconds flat (and yes, some of them did do it that fast, but it’s debatable whether it was words or one big slurred sound).

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UPDATED: Adventures in Semantics: Hashkafah, Hashgacha, Haskalah

Personally, my biggest tongue-twister is hashkafah and hashgacha. My brain consistently combines the two into a nonsense word: hashgafa. Hashkafah: Worldview. It generally refers to your “brand” of halacha and Jewish living. Modern orthodox, yeshivish, Satmar, etc. Hashgacha: The kosher certification of a restaurant. It’ll be evidenced by a little sign in the window, which

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