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On Root / Calling the fink phone using the Holy Tongue

Judaism has frowned on gossip for eons, prompting the modern Israeli to give the taxman's tax-cheating hotline an unflattering name.

By Jeremy Benstein | Jun 18, 2013 | 08:30 AM

On Root / What postcards, incest, and revelation have in common
By Jeremy Benstein
On Root / On memory and death, sacrifice and joy, and UFOs
By Jeremy Benstein | 1
On Root / On Earth Day, if you're going to talk dirt, do it right
By Jeremy Benstein

On Root / Peace be unto the schlemiels

The root sh-l-m is most famous for the Israeli greeting (and farewell) Shalom! But it ranges far and wide, from peace to fool.

By Jeremy Benstein | Jun 7, 2013 | 08:21 AM

On Root / How now, dead cow: Are you kosher?

And what slaughterhouses, illicit cronyism and the gym have in common.

By Jeremy Benstein | Jun 5, 2013 | 06:18 PM

On Root / The one and only alphabetic system and the elephant

On the connection between the ox-head symbol for the letter aleph and the Taming of the Shrew.

By Jeremy Benstein | May 27, 2013 | 07:41 AM

On Root / How a word for religious faith turned into a refrigerator

And how the story of the Golem of Prague ties into to military training through the Hebrew root form.

By Jeremy Benstein | May 20, 2013 | 09:44 AM

On Root / What postcards, incest, and revelation have in common

The Hebrew root g-l-h covers the gamut from discover to uncover, from the New World to a child's stubborn secrets.

By Jeremy Benstein | May 13, 2013 | 04:45 PM

Demonstrators in support of the Palestinian bid to become a nonmember observer state at the UN

On Root / In a pickle about Israel's occupation

The central act that is expressed in the root k-b-sh is to 'press down, tread underfoot.' Then the political problems start.

By Jeremy Benstein | May 6, 2013 | 08:51 AM

Children celebrating Lag Ba'omer in the Mea She'arim neighborhood of Jerusalem.

On Root / On fiery angels and evil twins

Bonfires dot the landscape on Lag Ba'omer as Israelis commemorate the passing of the great 2nd century mystic, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. And eat BBQ.

By Jeremy Benstein | Apr 28, 2013 | 07:55 AM

A view of the sphere of Earth as photographed from Apollo 17 spacecraft in December 1972.

On Root / On Earth Day, if you're going to talk dirt, do it right

Earth Day gives us an opportunity to explore Hebrew terms for earth, land and soil.

By Jeremy Benstein | Apr 22, 2013 | 04:43 PM

On Root / On memory and death, sacrifice and joy, and UFOs

The civic holiday season is upon us: Objects and bones come together in Independence Day.

By Jeremy Benstein | Apr 12, 2013 | 11:06 AM

On Root / The Shoah: Naming the unnamable

Naming is crucial. To forget something, to obliterate its memory, is to blot out its name.

By Jeremy Benstein | Apr 8, 2013 | 03:11 PM

On Root / What soldiers, soaps and trade unions have in common

Stick to the seder of the Seder or you'll wind up with a Persian wooden booth.

By Jeremy Benstein | Mar 24, 2013 | 06:04 AM

Keep the pita, lose the hummus and pickles for Passover.

On Root / In search of breadcrumbs, oxygen and pickles

All three things come from the same root, but we only have to eradicate one from our homes on Passover.

By Jeremy Benstein | Mar 17, 2013 | 07:41 PM

David's Harp

David's Harp / Israel, the Startup Nation with ADD

By David Rosenberg | 09:11 AM

Stanley Fischer, the dove that roared

By David Rosenberg | 09:16 PM

Don't dance so joyously on the tycoons' grave

By David Rosenberg | 06:05 PM

Double Take

African migrants looking through the fence at the Egyptian-Israeli border on August 4, 2012.

Double Take / African asylum seekers out of the spolight but not in the clear

By Joel Greenberg | 08:39 AM

Double Take / A month after Gaza war, Hamas still rides a wave of popularity

By Joel Greenberg | 07:22 AM | 4

Double Take / The politics of potholes in East Jerusalem

By Joel Greenberg | 09:41 AM

Someone Else's Simcha

Someone Else's Simcha / Jackie's 40th birthday bash: Dancing to the (Turkish) music

By Ron Ben-Tovim | 11:50 AM

Someone Else's Simcha / Daniel and Zehava's wedding - Getting it right, for good

By Ron Ben-Tovim | 07:06 PM

Someone Else's Simcha / Yoel and Dvorah's engagement party - Pleased to meet you, I'm sure

By Ron Ben-Tovim | 01:00 PM

State of the Union

On Root / How 'Europe' and 'Maghreb' both come from Hebrew

By Jeremy Benstein | 12:08 PM | 4

On Root / Cowboys home on the Israeli range at dawn

By Jeremy Benstein | 12:27 PM

On Root / Purim unmasked: In Hebrew, you're looking for yourself

By Jeremy Benstein | 02:17 PM