Combating the Evil Eye

In Hebrew, עין הרע means the Evil Eye. There are folks here in Israel who perform ceremonies to get rid of עין הרע. On this episode, Guy explains the word רע (ra), and also discusses nasty gossip and the campaign to rid our society of it.

As part of our podcast’s 8th birthday celebrations, we are giving all Streetwise Hebrew podcast listeners $50 USD towards Ruben Adery’s full Hebrew pronunciation course. The course consists of 4 modules, 31 high-definition videos, and a bonus vowel audio course with 400+ common daily practice words.

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New Words and Expressions:

Ro’ah – Evil – רוע

Kama ro’ah – So much evil – כמה רוע

“Kama ro’ah efshar livlo’a” – How much evil can you swallow – כמה רוע אפשר לבלוע

Ro’ah lev – Wickedness – רוע לב

Ra, ra-ah – Bad, mean – רע, רעה

Yeled ra – Bad boy – ילד רע

Ha-yeled ha-ra shel ha-sport ha-israeli – L’enfant terrible, the bad boy of the Israeli sport – הילד הרע של הספורט הישראלי

“Ma ra be-lihyot nesichat pop?” – What’s wrong with being a pop princess, pop star? – מה רע בלהיות נסיכת פופ

Leshon ha-ra – Evil speech – לשון הרע

Hok isoor leshon ha-ra – Libel law – חוק איסור לשון הרע

Leshon ha-ra, lo medaber elai – Gossip, it doesn’t speak to me – לשון הרע לא מדבר אליי

“leshon ha-ra lo medaber elai, aval mazda ken medaberet elay” – Evil gossip doesn’t speak to me, but mazda cars do – לשון הרע לא מדבר אליי, אבל מאזדה כן מדברת אליי

Lo ra means – Not bad – לא רע

Eich haya ha-seret? Lo ra – How was the movie? Not bad – איך היה הסרט? לא רע

Ayin ha-ra / Ayin ra’ah – Evil eye – עין הרע, עין רעה

Ma osim neged ayin ha-ra? – What can I do against the evil eye? – מה עושים נגד עין הרע

Lehare’ah – To harm – להרע

Hara’ah – Worsening – הרעה

Ha-ra’ah be-matsavo shel mishehu – Worsening of his situation – הרעה במצבו של מישהו

Matsavo hura – His situation worsened – מצבו הורע

Playlist and Clips:

Ha-dag Nachash – Shirat Ha-sticker (lyrics)

Riki Gal – Yeled Ra (lyrics)

Noa Kirel & Roni Duani – Nesichat Pop (lyrics)