Prof Shlomo Karni / The adjective נוֹרָא in יָמִים נוֹרָאִים (root י-ר-א, ‘fear’) has as its original meaning ‘awe-full’, ’fearful’, and, by extension ‘commanding respect or reverential fear’. It is found in the Bible as well as in our liturgy. The expression אָיֹם וְנוֹרָא in Habakkuk 1:7 serves in modern Hebrew as an idiomatic exclamation of dismay, shock, or fear. The moving prayer וּנְתַנֶּה תֹּקֶף in the Musaf service uses the reverse form נוֹרָא וְאָיֹם to rhyme with קְדוּשַת הַיּוֹם.

Guest post by Prof. Shlomo Karni Shlomo Karni was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Religious Studies at University of New Mexico until his retirement in 1999. His books include Dictionary of Basic Biblical Hebrew:Hebrew-English (Jerusalem: Carta, 2002). The word סֻכָּה comes from the verb root ס-כ-ך , meaning ‘to cover’,’ to hide’. Thus, in the coming holiday, אָנוּ סוֹכְכִים אֶת ...

Prof Shlomo Karni / Ahh! “Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer.” So kick off your shoes, sit back and enjoy a few entries from Midrash “lite”, alternately known by its original name as עוּרְבָא פָּרַח — a random collection of true historical events, gleanings from such sources as א.דְרוֹיַאנוֹב, סֵפֶר הַבְּדִיחָה וְהַחִידוּד, תל-אביב: דְּבִיר the ubiquitous author Anon, and personal notes.

Guest post by Prof. Shlomo Karni Shlomo Karni was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Religious Studies at University of New Mexico until his retirement in 1999. His books include Dictionary of Basic Biblical Hebrew:Hebrew-English (Jerusalem: Carta, 2002). Moses And Morse… …the code for wireless transmissions, that is. The common practice used by wireless operators, especially in amateur radio communications, is ...

Prof Shlomo Karni / In Genesis 49:22 we find the expression בָּנוֹת צָעֲדָה which is problematic in that the subject is feminine plural, while the verb is feminine singular. A majority of the English versions read, with small variations, “[Joseph is a fruitful bough,] his branches run [over the wall.]” We are interested here in the פשט meaning, not its דרש such as Rashi’s – “Young ladies: Each one of them stepped on the wall to admire his beauty” — nor with alternate versions, such as the JPS translation, presenting wild asses instead of branches. In any case, the mismatch in the Hebrew between subject and verb still exists.

Prof Shlomo Karni / These prefixes are among the most frequent in Hebrew; yet, in some English transliterations, one often finds a prevalent error in vowelling and pronunciation. The prefix ב is normally vowel-less, בְּ , as, for instance, in Hebrew dates: , בְּחֶשְוָן , בְּתַּמּוּז בְּתִשְרֵי. But Arbor Day, in English, is quite often miswritten and mispronounced as Tu B’Shevat.” Check your favorite calendar. (Ironically, the Jewish National Fund, whose forestations work in Israel made it synonymous with this holiday, made the same mistake.)

Afikoman For The Brain or: Four Post-Seder Questions Guest post by Shlomo Karni Shlomo Karni was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Religious Studies at University of New Mexico until his retirement in 1999. His books include Dictionary of Basic Biblical Hebrew:Hebrew-English (Jerusalem: Carta, 2002). Where do you find the words וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב at the end of the sentence? Where do ...

Prof Shlomo Karni / Lexicographers and linguists tell us that Biblical Hebrew has some 8,000 words in all –small by comparison to, say, Shakespeare’s English (around 20,000), or modern English (450,000). Despite such compactness, Biblical Hebrew has numerous rich lodes of words which are specifically unique to one – and only one – idea (noun, verb, etc.) on the one hand, and several synonyms on the other. Let us list just a few examples

Prof Shlomo Karni / The verb “to be” (root: ה-י-ה or ה-ו-ה ) is among the most common in the Bible, as it is in other languages. Yet, it has several singular properties in the present tense of the frequent ‘simple’ stem (בִּנְיָן קַל, פָּעַל). We examine a few of those here. (A discussion of the forms and meanings of tenses in the Bible, especially the ‘exchange’ of meanings among the past, present, and future tenses — as compared to Post-biblical and current meanings— is found in, e.g., [1], [2], [3].)

David Ben-Gurion, the “father” of the state of Israel and its first prime minister, was also a noted scholar of the Bible. The bi-weekly study meetings held in his home attracted some of the greatest scholars, rabbis, and professors in Israel, representing a variety of approaches, from traditional interpretation to Biblical criticism and beyond. This note summarizes his ideas on a topical question, namely, how many Israelites came out of Egypt in the Exodus [1]. His interpretation has many merits as a viable peshat explanation even if it also faces some challenges. (My own comments are given in parentheses).