Brought to you by the Temple Israel of Natick Massachusetts Men's Club
 
 
 

Divrei Hashavua - Words of the Week


Insert the words for the current week in your synagogue's Shabbat flier and weekly emails.  See the Sample Shabbat Flier for an example.
 
Click on the Book/Parasha on the left to find the words for a particular week.  This week's parasha is

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A list of all the words can be found in the Master Word List.

If your synagoge is participating in this program, please email us at words@nerfjmc.org us so we can add it to the Participating Synagogues page .







Check out our article in the Conservative Movement's CJ magazine.







 
 

To discuss the current set of words (including making corrections), to suggest words for future weeks or to discuss this program as a whole, visit us on our Facebook page.

 

Vision

 
To teach the novice Hebrew readers of our congregations the Hebrew words found in the Torah and Siddur a few words at a time so they will be more comfortable in our synagogues.
 

Mission 

 
To provide five Hebrew Words with their English translation and transliteration a week from the Torah portion for synagogues to insert into their Shabbat fliers and weekly emails.
 
To build up three sets of five Hebrew words for each week that can be rotated over three years.  Each set will roughly correspond to one triennial section of the parasha.
 
To provide a website to allow for the review of past words.

Overview

Not long ago, I passed my 20 year mark at Temple Israel and I realized that if I had learned an average of just one Hebrew word a week during Shabbat services, I’d know over 1000 Hebrew words.  Using the approach that, by learning a little bit at a time, we can acquire a substantial vocabulary, the Men’s Club and I have created the Divrei HaShavua – Words of the Week Initiative.

My feeling is that no one should leave the Shabbat morning service after reading the story of Noah without knowing the Hebrew word for flood (מבוּל), or the story of Joseph without knowing the word for dream (חלוֹם).  Divrei Hashavua has the potential to stimulate interest for everyone in the parsha, including those that often don't feel a connection with the Torah service.  This program is one small step to help make our Conservative services more accessible to current and potential synagogue members. It might even inspire some people to participate in the Federation of Jewish Men’s Club’s  Hebrew Literacy Program or to seek another Hebrew class.

 
David P. Singer