A Cow Goes Moo, Liat Goes, “Mehhhhh!”

Unless you’ve taken a kabbalah class somewhere along the way, you might not realize that Hebrew is not just a language. It’s a commentary, a philosophy, a teaching, a code filled with insights and secrets. “Oh, Lara, now you’ve really lost it,” you might be thinking. Aval, lo! Ani lo magzima afilu iota! (But, no! I’m not exaggerating even a drop!)

Check it out~
Basic, basic example:  “Dahm” means blood (remember dipping your finger in the wine on Passover?).
                        From that, we get “Ah-dom” which means red, and “Ah-dahm” which means man.
                        From that we get “Ah-dah-ma” which means earth. As man was created from earth and returns to earth…

“Hebrew is an ancient language,” Tamara, our dynamo of a teacher said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. To her, it must be plainly evident – these connections are all over the Hebrew language!…(And, both her parents are rabbis.)

So, in response to our wonder, Liat, another one of my favorites, might say, “be-tach,” meaning of course; from which we get “ba-too-ach” which means I’m sure, and “le-havtiach” means to promise! All these words have the same root, the essence of their meanings linked.

See, Hebrew is made of “Binyanim” or, buildings, which again is a perfect description of the system because the words build upon themselves, upon their roots, brick by brick.

AND Hebrew also contains within it lessons and messages. Take the word, “ahava” which means to love. The root “hav” means to give. The “ah” is a modifier meaning I.  So the word for love, literally translates to I give. Love is giving. So, while in English we speak of passively “falling in love” (a perplexing word choice, by the way, as my teachers point out), in Hebrew, the language itself teaches that first we give, and as a function of giving, create love. There is wisdom in this language!

So, as you can likely see by now, intensive Hebrew language class is fascinating! This is not the same as learning Bulgarian! (Though I’m sure that language has several…redeeming…things…er, nuggets…and…insights!…surely…to offer. And…I love the Bulgarian cheese here, by the way. Really sets off my watermelon well. So…thanks, Bulgaria. I was just…sayin’…)

Furthermore, it’s incredibly satisfying to feel growth every day. Swimming as my head sometimes is in all the binyanim and their different structures, I can’t seem to get enough of this language. Lucky for me, my classmates are also extremely dedicated to learning. Everyone has the aim to actively participate in Israeli life, so this study is far more than recreational.

Seizing the opportunity, I started “Ulpan Café,” essentially class outings where we get together outside of class, expressly to speak in Hebrew. No English allowed! So far, we’ve had lunch gatherings, coffee gatherings, seret v’seecha (movie and conversation – Hebrew movies, of course), drill team where we quiz each other, laila meeschak (Hebrew game night) and coming up soon will be our Shabbat Lunch! We’re quite a unit and feel very lucky to have such a fun and enthusiastic class!

Another thing that’s made our group dynamic such a blast is, of course, our amazing teachers! Let me give some insight into our classroom. Typically, teachers drill us, using the Socratic method of calling on people at random to test their comprehension. They give us a sentence to translate, and we must respond immediately, or they will move on to someone else.
“I had a donkey,” Fina quizzed.
“Hita li…donkey?,” Toby answered.
“Donkey – chamor,” Fina explained, writing the new word on the board.
“Why will I ever need to know the word, donkey?” Toby called out.
Fina turned around, looked him straight in the eye and said, “In Israel, you have many reasons to use the word donkey.”
And the class erupted into laughter.

“He understood,” Liat challenged.
“Hoo heh-veen,” said Shelli.
“He will understand,” Liat continued.
“Hoo ya-veen,” Shelli answered.
“He understands,” Liat asked.
“Hoo…um…mah-veen?” Shelli tried.
“Mehhhhhh!” Liat bleeted like a goosed sheep!
I assure you, my classmates and I never forgot the word, Mehhhhh-veen.

And so it goes. The teachers provide stories, or humor, or songs, or gestures to help us remember…and they work! There’ve been plenty of times when I’ve been called upon and been completely shocked to hear the right answer pop out of my mouth! This sort of automatic response is precisely the aim of our teachers. And they make sure they get what they want: “Don’t mess with me,” Tamara said one time when the whispers at the back of the classroom got too loud. “I was in the army!” she shouted, eyes twinkling. We all laughed but knew she damn-well meant it! The whispers scrammed.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again because it’s so true: