The Invention of the Alphabet
In an alphabetic writing system, each letter represents a sound. Where did the alphabet come from? Were there different alphabetic writing systems that arose independently
February 23, 2025
In an alphabetic writing system, each letter represents a sound. Where did the alphabet come from? Were there different alphabetic writing systems that arose independently
1. We were not alone in using the word “cohein” for a priest or leader. This word had this meaning in other religions and societies
There is a kibbutz just north of the Gaza strip called “Yad Mordechai.” It fought valiantly during the War of Independence, and its tenacious fighting
This is a very important root in Tanach. Its basic meaning is “cross over.” I cannot discuss every aspect of this root. I will limit
The mishnah in the tenth chapter of Pesacḥim includes a set of mah nishtanah. If one opens a standard Babylonian Talmud (Pesacḥim 116a), one sees
At Exodus 2:23, there is a verse that we are all familiar with: “In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died,
The word “tirosh” appears 38 times in Tanach. What exactly does it mean? In order to understand it, we must understand the winemaking process. The
The root H-L-L in Hebrew has three different meanings. We all know the meaning “to praise.” There is another meaning “to shine.” This meaning only
We all know the above phrase. It is the beginning of the Torah reading on fast days. The context is that Bnei Yisrael had sinned
I previously wrote a column about Yaakov’s blessing to Naftali. At Genesis 49:21, we read: “Naftali ayalah sheluchah, ha-noten imrei shefer”= Naftali is a hind
It is very easy to intuit that the root of the word “midbar” (desert) is D-B-R, since a typical way that Hebrew forms its nouns
I just came across a very interesting book, “Nehama Leibowitz: Teacher and Bible Scholar.” The author, Yael Unterman, worked on this book for 10 years
