Dateline Jerusalem —  “Abracadabra,” a magical word, often is spoken by magicians performing tricks for their audiences. It is really Hebrew, meaning “I create as I speak.” In a sense, while the magician speaks to distract his viewers, he creates his magic. Amazing how many common words and phrases in the English language originated from Hebrew. Every fraternity and sorority member who has been forced to learn the Greek alphabet might be surprised to learn that it is derived from the ancient Hebrew alphabet.  Yet some of the modern Hebrew spoken in Israel today borrows from English.

“Chutzpah,” commonly used by Jews and gentiles in speech and writing, is a Hebrew word that cannot be explained by a one- or two-word definition. Often it is used to describe extreme arrogance or self-confidence. The only real way to describe “chutzpah” is to relate the following:  A child murders his parents and begs the judge for mercy because he is an orphan. That is chutzpah!

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 characters used for both words and numbers. These letters pack numeric values.  The Greek alphabet is similar, but with 24 characters with numeric values.  In English, we have both alpha and numeric characters: a,b,c  and 0,1,2,3. Comparing Hebrew and Greek, notice the similarities.  In Hebrew there is alef, bet, gimel, dalet, hey, vav, zayin, het, tet, yod, kaf, lamed, mem, nun, samekh, ayin, peh, tsadi, kof, resh, shin, tav.  The Greek has alpha, beta, gamma, delta etc.  Alef and alpha, bet and beta, gimel and gamma, and dalet and delta are definitely closely related.  I wonder if the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma would call itself Kaf Kaf Gimel in Israel.  Probably not.

Some modern Hebrew words are easy for me to understand because they are adapted from English.  For example, “televizia” and “telefon” are television and telephone. “Pizza” is pizza, “cafe” is a cafe, but can also be coffee. “Hamburger” is hamburger but pronounced “humm-boo-gar” in an Israeli accent. One of my favorite words is “friar,” not a monk but a slang word for a sucker, a fool. It aptly describes me when I allow people to take advantage of my trusting nature. I like to believe I am trusting as opposed to naive.  I am learning to say “no,” which is “lo” in  Hebrew. The language can be confusing to English speakers, especially when “me” means “who,” “hu” means “he,” and “he” means “she.” 

“Shalom” to you all.  Shalom means “peace,” “hello,” and “goodbye.”

L'hitraot (“See you soon” or “Hasta luego” in Spanish and “A bientot” in French).  Shachar