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

Most nouns in Hebrew derive from a verb. Let us try to figure out what verb was the root of this one. Unfortunately, yod-resh-chet never

At the beginning of our daily prayers there is a section with fourteen blessings, beginning with the “sechvi” blessing. Where do these blessings come from?

The name “Mitzrayim” raises three questions:  1) Did the ancient Egyptians use this name as well? 2) Why the plural-style ending in the name? 3)

I have read the relevant verses on this subject for decades without understanding them. It is time to finally explore this topic. At Genesis 15:14,

Last year I read a book by someone very familiar with rabbinic Hebrew and modern Hebrew who ended up studying the King James Bible and

At Genesis 49:21, Naftali is given the following blessing: “Naftali ayalah sheluchah, ha-noten imrei shefer.” Here is the translation in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash: “a

In this week’s parsha, Jacob’s sons return home and tell Jacob that Joseph is still alive and that he rules over the entire land of

This is a question that has been troubling me for decades (along with whether there is a connection between “milchama” and “lechem”!) Both “mishpacha” and

In Biblical Hebrew, most nouns are derived from verbs. So when you see a noun and want to know what it originally meant, the first

This column will address the root “amar.” Am I so desperate for topics that I picked such a seemingly boring one? Please read the entire