In our previous post, we discussed the word sudar , and how it was formed from the Greek sudarium , which became סודרין in Hebrew. This wor...

In Modern Hebrew we find two words with the same consonants, but different vowels: סוּדָר - sudar - "scarf, shawl" סְוֶדֶר - sv...

ADDeRabbi asked me (a while ago, I know, but better late than never): "What's the origin of the term ' d o ogri '?...

Time for a new game! (Since there hasn't been a successful guess, I'm adding another clue.) a) quiet thanks b) he encouraged his aun...

I live in a community that has an active local email list, and people are often looking for rides from one place to another. It always looks...

Reader David H. asked about the Hebrew word zug זוג, and its connection to the English words "yoke - conjugal - zeugma" (I have t...

Well, the results are in, and with your help I won the Best Jewish Religious Blog award! I would like to thank you all publicly - בפומבי b...

I'm still waiting for an solution for quiz #4 , but lets take a look back at quiz #3 . The word was חולצה - which can either be a shirt ...

I've been asked what I get out of participating in the Jewish & Israel Blog Awards (you can - please - vote for me here ). Is there ...

For those that haven't noticed yet, I made it to the Finals of the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards. As of this writing, it doesn't lo...

The following are excellent aides in studying Onkelos , the Aramaic translation of the Torah: Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner's book...

Lag B'Omer was a few days ago, but we're still talking about requirements for a bonfire. And as my kids will testify, you can't ...

I'm not sure if it's a good sign that I'm having a much harder time coming up with the clues than you are with the answers, but ...

Yesterday was Lag B'Omer, and of course we had a bonfire. Let's look at some of the foods eaten at a bonfire. We've already talk...

In my post on shevach , I mentioned the Yiddish word shvach , which derives from the German schwach , meaning "weak". Since German...

Well, you solved the last one pretty quickly. This one hopefully will take a little longer (but it is timely...): a) Reviva's rubric b) ...

I thought I'd try something a little new here at Balashon - a game I've decided to call Kri and Ktiv (Read and Write). I will provi...

In our last post, we talked about kilus קילוס - a post-Biblical word for "praise". A more common root in Hebrew is שבח - we find ...

In our post on pras we mentioned the (non-related) English word "praise". One way of saying "to praise" in Hebrew is לק...

Thanks to the readers of this site, I was able to purchase the entire 17 volume set of Ben-Yehuda 's dictionary. It's a great resour...