Hi Dave,
Not a response to your game, but an unrelated question - what is the origin of "shoshbin/a"? I am getting married, as you may have guessed ...
Thanks,
Daniel
Daniel Lowbeer | Homepage | 08.07.07 - 5:11 pm | #

Maybe:

כְּרַע - "like bad"
כֶּרַע - a leg, which Yaakov our father was injured in

A stretch, I know...
Alex | 10.24.07 - 5:19 pm | #

Good guess, but nope...
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 10.24.07 - 5:31 pm | #

i'm new here but this blog looks great. its gonna take me a while to go thru all the old posts, but ill be thinking about your game

keep up the good work
dan | 10.25.07 - 1:19 am | #

It seems that you may need to provide some more information, if you want us to solve this...
toby | Homepage | 10.30.07 - 9:38 am | #

A hint, eh?

OK, well how's this:

One of Alex's answers was pretty close.

And Yaakov does not have to refer to the son of Yitzchak...
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 10.30.07 - 10:29 am | #

Please explain how to play your kri and ktiv games. Do we search translations from in the חומש?
Lady-Light | Homepage | 11.22.07 - 9:37 am | #

The idea is explained at http://www.balashon.com/2007/05/...tiv-game- 1.html

But basically, you need to find two words that are spelt the same in Hebrew, but with different vowels, and mean the two things given in the game.
Joel | Homepage | 11.22.07 - 2:10 pm | #

Great explanation Joel. And since you're already beating me at Scrabble, perhaps you'd like to try your luck on this sadly-ignored game?
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 11.22.07 - 2:26 pm | #

Ha! I wish I could but it's not the sort of game I've had any success at... I wouldn't know where to start and my Modern Hebrew probably isn't up to scratch for it!
Joel | Homepage | 11.25.07 - 1:50 am | #

Well, neither word is particularly "modern" Hebrew...
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 11.25.07 - 8:39 am | #

I think I've got it:
K(a)vish (as bad)
K'vish (road, which Yaakov hit)

--but is bish properly Hebrew, or only Aramaic? I have no dictionary on hand.

I hope you see this and, if I'm right, send me my No-Prize!
Isaac M | 01.25.08 - 4:41 am | #

P.S. Love this site. I posted somewhere else on it a few weeks ago -- forget where.
IJM
Isaac M | 01.25.08 - 4:43 am | #

Great job Isaac! It's been a while since I came up with that one; I had pretty much forgotten about it...
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 01.25.08 - 12:53 pm | #

By the way, I assume you know why "Yaakov" hit the road?
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 01.25.08 - 12:55 pm | #

It's blindingly obvious ;-)
Simon Montagu | Homepage | 01.25.08 - 3:50 pm | #

Are you *actually* referring to Ray Charles??

And afaik, we don't have ב(א)יש in the Hebrew portions of the bible, although we did see ובאש היאר (Ex. 7:18) a couple of weeks ago, and we see it a few times in hif'il too.
Joel | Homepage | 01.26.08 - 1:12 pm | #

Well, Percy Mayfield wrote the song, but Ray did sing it best...
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 01.26.08 - 7:47 pm | #