What Goes on a Seder Plate?
Do you think hazeret is something you say to a sneezing German? Or that the shank bone’s connected to the knee bone? You need our Passover primer, identifying the foods you’ll find on a seder plate, and why.
Shoshana Kordova
As editor of the Haaretz English Edition style guide, Shoshana Kordova is responsible for setting the newspaper's style and attempting to induce staff members to adhere to it. She also edits and translates news and feature articles, opinion pieces and book reviews for the English edition.
Shoshana writes a column on political language for The Faster Times and is a former contributing writer for the (now defunct) Chicago-based monthly World Jewish Digest. She has also written for media outlets including the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Religion News Service, Women's Feature Service, The Jerusalem Post and, of course, Haaretz, where she has been working in various capacities since 2002.
Shoshana has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and has taught journalistic translation at Beit Berl College in Kfar Sava. Her online home is www.shoshanakordova.com.
The Little-known Meaning of the Word Hanukkah
It's not just Americans who have trouble pronouncing the name of this winter holiday. Israelis get it wrong too.
Everything You Need to Know About Elections in Israel but Were Afraid to Ask
When Israelis go to the polls on April 9, they will be picking a party, not a prime minister. So how exactly will Israel’s next leader get into office? Find out in this step-by-step guide
Want to Become a Crowdsourcing Expert? Here Are 7 Tips From an Israeli Ace
Former Microsoft marketing maven Lior Zoref says ‘mindsharing’ can make our decisions better, quicker and easier.
Mothers and Daughters: Online or Off, It's Complicated
In her debut novel ‘Washing the Dead,’ Michelle Brafman shows us that woundedness — damage to mind and soul — can travel down the generations, as can kindness, courage and self-healing.
Hook-nosed Jew vs. Mohammed Cartoons: What’s the Difference?
Genuine freedom of speech includes the right to publish offensive cartoons as well as the right to protest them.
Think You're Awesome? GetYou Will Tell You if the World Agrees
Brace for some naked truth, born in a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv: This new social networking app by this Israeli startup gives you instant feedback.
Does the Story of Creation Hold Up to Scientific Scrutiny?
Water is older than the Sun, science found - which, say some rabbis, supports the story of Genesis.
Word of the Day / Lehitraot: Goodbye, for Now
In this final Word of the Day column, the time has come to say see you around someday.
Word of the Day / Gibush: Coming Together Like Water Molecules in the Freezer
This word can refer to a day of paintball, a military selection process or a cease-fire proposal. Soon it will all be crystal clear.
Word of the Day / Kova Tembel: The Hat That Turns Every Hero Into a Fool
This domed headpiece that evokes farming in the hot sun is an iconic symbol of the Israeli pioneer.
Word of the Day / Firgun: The Art of Tooting Someone Else's Horn
It has to be a genuine delight in the accomplishment of the other to be eligible for inclusion in this untranslatable word.
Word of the Day / Oom Shmoom: Blithe Dismissal, Yiddish-style
Want to disparage a certain august world body? All it takes are these two little words.
Word of the Day / Tzav Shmoneh: Why a Call-up Is an Order 8
In China, it’s a lucky number. In Israel, it means it’s time to dress in olive and hug your kids goodbye.
Word of the Day / Dugri: Yes, That Dress Does Make You Look Fat
Ironically, this word for 'straight talk' from Turkish and Arabic can be used to mean anything but.
Word of the Day / Sababa: What Paula Abdul Called Shimon Peres
And the latest twist on this word for 'cool, dude!' comes courtesy of crunchy coated peanuts.
Word of the Day / Ad Hasof: Testing the Limits and Breaking Through
The Hebrew term for going all the way can have either an innocuous or a naughty connotation - just ask Foreign Minister Lieberman.
Word of the Day / Lehazek Et Yadav: Physical Therapy for the Soul
Would you like to offer emotional support but don’t know how to phrase it? Let this metaphorical stress ball do the work.
Word of the Day / Lo Haya V’lo Nivra: I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With That Nonexistent Woman
Israelis can do more than just deny something happened. They can deny the very premise of its existence.
Word of the Day / Hai B’seret: Living in La La Land
'Starring in a movie' doesn’t make you a celebrity, or even an actor. In modern Hebrew, it means you’re out of your mind.
Word of the Day / Shigrat Herum: When the Emergency Is the Routine
Especially in the south, Israelis aren’t sure whether they should be returning to their regularly scheduled life or to the siren-sensitive routine of the past month.
Word of the Day: Nihye Yoter Hakhamim / When Wise Guys Finish Last
Israelis don’t just find out more when the information starts rolling in; they get smarter.
Word of the Day / Levaya: What Funerals Have to Do With Escort Services
In Hebrew, mourners are considered to be escorting the dead, much as a scantily clad woman might escort a lonely man.
Word of the Day / Hamas: The Terror Movement That Didn't Do Its Hebrew Homework
The proper noun has a literary homophone in the Hebrew language: a biblical word referring to the violence that filled the earth before the flood.
Word of the Day / Leshager: Is That a Rocket You’re Launching or Just an Envoy?
The same verb is used for firing the projectiles that constitute warfare and for sending a negotiator to try to end it.
Word of the Day / Tzeva Adom: Israel’s Expanding Red-color District
This rocket alert system used to be called Shahar Adom (Red Dawn), until kids named Shahar protested.
Word of the Day / Sukariyot: The Devil That Tells You Its Name
Hebrew candy makes no bones about what it really is - sugar with sugar on top.
Word of the Day / Otef Aza: 'Wrapping Round' the Gaza Strip
Are the border kibbutzim the 'Gaza envelope' or, to revive a failed Hebrew word, Israel's condom?
Word of the Day / Sakum: The Spork That Wasn't
An early reference to the Hebrew acronym for cutlery, made in a letter by a new recruit to the Israeli army in 1948, carries eerily modern resonance.
Word of the Day / Mis’hakei Kufsa: Thinking Inside the Box
While in English, board games are known by one of their key identifying features, in Hebrew they are simply lumped together according to the container they arrive in.