Hebrew Word of the Month

Here is your Hebrew Word of the Month !

The last 2 words we have learned are ב ר ו ך (Baruch), meaning Blessed, and א ת ה (Atah), meaning You. The word for July is very special. It is found in the very common phrase Baruch Atah Adonai, meaning “Blessed are You, Lord.” The new word, Adonai, literally means My Masters. It also is used to refer to any one of several names for God. Since we don’t use the name of the Lord our God in vain, we don’t read or pronounce it directly as written. Instead we read it as Adonai. (We’re using the whole word method of reading instead of Hebrew’s regular phonetic method.) The most common ways of writing the words for God or Lord are either a double Yud, י י , or י ה ו ה referring to God as Jehovah. In each case, we read it aloud as Adonai, and translate into English as either God or Lord.