An Experiment

סריגה

My friend Joansie asked if I would post a word in Hebrew now and again, with a translation and a pronunciation guide. Please post in the comments and let me know if you can see the word I've typed above. If you can all see it, and like the idea, I will try to make this a regular feature here at Bag of Chocolates.

I think Joansie's idea is a pretty cool one, and I know that my friend Laela is studying Hebrew, so we'll see if everyone else also likes this idea. Now, on to the mini-lesson.

The word I typed above is pronounced "sree gah" and it means "knitting". One nice thing about Hebrew that facilitates learning the language (yes, the word "facilitate" appears with great frequency in the job we're currently doing) is that whole groups of related words are built around the same root made up of three Hebrew letters. Keeping in mind that Hebrew is read from right to left, the first, second, and fourth letters you see above (at least, I hope you see them!) form the root. The verb "to knit" also contains those three letters.

Now, I don't want to go on and on until you're all cross-eyed from boredom, so I will stop here. Of course, I could go on and on! Let me know if you'd like an occasional mini Hebrew lesson such as this.

Now, on to the usual fare: Avi and I worked from 9 until nearly 6 today, and got quite a lot of the current job done. It's been fun and interesting so far. But it was just lovely to pick up my knitting needles after a full day's work, let me tell you. I am currently working on the second mitten of pair #5 for the Cheyenne River Reservation.

Goodies! I got goodies today! My sweet Liat and Meital went to the post office for me this afternoon and picked up my package from Elann, containing two patterns I'd ordered. The first was Paton's "Street Smart." I have been wanting to make the Must Have Cardi for a very long time (we're talking several years), and now I finally have the pattern! The other pattern I got was Fiber Trends' Felted Clog, the famous slipper clog pattern that so many people have made. I wanted to make those for my whole family last December, but never got around to ordering the pattern. Now I have it, and I can only hope that 8 months is enough time for me to get my act together and knit slippers for my dear ones for Chanukah.

Tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day here in Israel. There will be a siren sounded throughout the country in the morning, and everything will come to a stop (including traffic on the freeways) for a moment of silence and remembrance. Meital is going to be performing in a play tomorrow at her school, so we will take a break from work and go to see the ceremony and play. On Yom Ha'Shoah, as it is called ("yom" means "day" and "shoah" means "Holocaust") the radio plays more mellow or restrained music, and programs on Israeli television channels are all stories or movies dealing with the Holocaust. If you're interested in reading more about how Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed here, please consider reading the article I wrote about it on my website, Postcards from Israel.

That's it from here for now. Please do remember to post in the comments and let me know (1) if you can see the Hebrew word I typed at the start of the post, and (2) whether you'd like me to post occasional mini-lessons like the one I did today. Don't be shy: I really want to know what you think! If the answer is no, that's fine too. I could always do an e-mail lesson for those who are interested, if they're in the minority.