Alef

The first letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. It is written א and is mostly used as a stand-alone vowel with no initial consonant. Its numeric value is 1.

Heart Burns – The Perfect Chinese Character for Yom KippurOctober 11, 2024
Sometimes it can be really fun to dissect Chinese character through a Jewish perspective. In the case of the Chinese character 愁 and Yom Kippur, it reveals a surprising semi-coincidental (probably) overlap between the logic of […]
Hey Jew (the antisemite’s song)October 7, 2024
I have been carrying in my head the idea for ‘Hey Jew’ – a sad spoof of Hey Jude by The Beatles for several years now, long before the tragic events of October 7th. I came […]
Etymological Tapestry – Why 經 might be my new favorite Chinese characterAugust 11, 2024
Up until a couple of weeks ago, if you had asked me what my favorite Chinese character was, I would have probably said 忍 which represents the idea of endurance. The character 忍 is both an […]
Laughing Stock – 10 funny clips to break in case of emergencyJuly 24, 2024
People like to say that laughter is the best medicine. Well, I don’t know about the “best” part, but it certainly is a special type of medicine. Because not only is it free, but it is […]
Introduction to Gender in Hebrew GrammarJune 27, 2024
For a while now, I have been planning to publish an article about the various methods the Progressive Left in Israel has developed in order to degenderize the grammar of Modern Hebrew. Naturally, I thought that […]