I'll Teach Myself 100 Words (and then some!)

Before we get into the nature of the above title, I have two things to share about today. The first was that we had pizza for dinner, and I ate five slices. The other was the, er, "hairy" theme of the day. First was Rav Bigman, who shaved his beard down from a big fluffy thing to a tighter shave (while of course still maintaining the beard). This led to my discussion with Jamin and Yehuda over lunch about the different types of beards in Judaism, particularly of the rabbis, who are our clearest examples. I explained my five classes of beards:

CLASS I: Free flowing and unfettered, never shaved. The Richler, if you will.
CLASS II: Long and wild, yet structured. The Rav Shmuel.
CLASS III: Puffy and pouffy. Rav Yitzchak has it, Rav Bigman used to.
CLASS IV: The face-hugging, close beard. Rav Elisha has it, so does Rabbi Muskin of YICC, a shul in West LA.
CLASS V: Clean shaven. Or rather, no beard at all. Rav Yossi and Rabbi Kanefsky of Bnai David-Judea, my synagogue back home.

There was some confusion of course, such as whether Chezi, for example, goes under Class III or IV. Also asked was whether a rabbi is classified, or just the beard he has. Talmudic thinking applied to the real world. Word.
And then, to top off the whole beard thing, Rav Elisha gave a shiur on the Halachic perspective on shaving.

And on the 100 words: I started keeping a list of words I have learned while at YMG. Some come from learning; some from normal interactions with Israelis; some come from me looking through a dictionary for cool words. In any case, here are some of them. Enjoy.

1. קצב rhythm
2. תוסס ferment
3. כסיל fool
4. יתרון advantage
5. מנחה guide
6. ראוי suitable
7. חיידקים germs
8. זיעה sweat
9. להדפיס to print
10. זדון malice
11. ממרח spread
12. אטריות noodles
13. עוינות hostility
14. זיוף forgery
15. לחות humidity
16. לטעון to charge
17. הספד eulogy
18. משבצת square
19. מכשיר appliance
20. מתח tension
21. כנות sincerity
22. אלתית salmon
23. אליה sheep's tail
24. קביים crutches
25. פסיפס mosaic
26. מהדק stapler
27. סיכת הידוק staple (n)
28. קרפיף enclosure
29.מטפטף drizzling
30. הקשר context
31. מרתף basement
32. עליית-גג attic
33. נימוק reason
34. קיטור vapor
35. הבל steam
36. לכאורה supposedly
37. מקריות coincidence
38. יען ostrich
39. יעה dustpan
40. מטאטא broom
41. סמרטוט mop
42. מימרה saying
43. אמבר barn
44. כריש shark
45. בועה bubble
46. גלויה postcard
47.כופר ransom
48. שיש marble
49. קצף foam
50. מבטא accent
51. באקראי random
52. נוזל liquid
53. זוגי, לא-זוגי even, odd
54. סנאי squirrel
55. חשוד suspect (n)
56. צבוע hyena
57. חמצן oxygen
58. פחמן carbon
59. מימן hydrogen
60. גופרית sulfur
61. זרחן phosphorus
62. חנקן nitrogen
63. חומצה acid
64. בסיס base
65. שיווי משקל equilibrium
66. חלבון protein
67. פחמימה carbohydrate
68. שומן fat (n)
69. יונת-דואר carrier pigeon
70. דודא mandrake
71. עש moth
72. נברשת chandelier
73. מהחלל החיצון extraterrestrial
74. חייזר alien
75. לחשש to fear
76. חריץ ditch
77.גורר drag
78. פתילה wick
79. חרשף artichoke
80. לביאה lioness
81. הואיל ו since
82. משאבים resources
83. קולמוס quill pen
84. קונדס prankster
85. קורה beam (n)
86. מסכרת sugar bowl
87. מסייע auxiliary
88. הרדמה anesthesia
89. אימה matrix
90. צלב crucifix
91. קדחת fever
92. זוחל reptile
93. חבל הטבור umbilical cord
94. חביתה omelet
95. גיס brother-in-law
96.להביור flamethrower
97. מדורה bonfire
98.הפליץ to fart
99. מצודה fortress
100. מפולת avalanche

Last but not least, the Birthday Squad wishes a very happy birthday to my cousin Simon, who is today a whole year older! Now he can do all sorts of cool things, like drive and drink and vote and- no wait, he's still a minor. But it's fun to dream, right?

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to Simon,

Happy Birthday to you!