Language

Infinity Labs unveils The Otifier launching a whole new series to explore the mysteries of the Hebrew Alphabet--along with some real practical lessons.

Every translator grapples with two conflicting aims: to faithfully convey the content of the original, and to make it understood, attractive and "natural" in its foreign enclothment. How far to go? The Rebbe sees a precedent in the first Torah scroll ...

"Look," he tried. The poor angel was almost hysterical. "Our job was software. How were we supposed to know that the hardware was to be made from mud? We pleaded with The Engineer to find a more fitting encasement for such an ultimate being than this ...

To what extent does human knowledge and expression shape the reality which it observes and defines?

There is the shape of the letters themselves. The dance of black and white on the page. The delight in having these strange lines take on sound. The surprise when, all at once four or five of these shapes group together to make a word with length, depth ...

QUESTION: "I have always been interested in the Torah and the Kabbala. But I do not speak or read Hebrew. Can you help me in getting the right teachings that I may begin to fully understand the secret holy teachings of these books." ANSWER: Start on our ...

The other day I realized that I hadn't seen G-d in quite a while -- probably not since childhood... Where did I misplace Him?

Those Jews standing around him all understood Hebrew, and I seriously doubt that any one of them would have been comforted or impressed to hear it over again in Outer Mongolian or Swahili...

At the same time we teach every schoolchild that one plus one equals two, in another class we teach that one plus one equals a lot more than two. It's called spelling, and that's pretty mystical if you ask me. Takes a kabbalist to know.

When languages die, whole cultures die with them, and communities lose their identity. Jewish languages are no different.