#98 Be’Ezrat Ha-Shem: A Helping Hand With Your Hebrew
Streetwise Hebrew
TLV1 Studios
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
An עוזר is an “assistant,” but it could also mean “he’s helping” – a verb in the present tense. How are you supposed to know which one it is? Guy teaches us how to work it out from the context, and he explains what initials religious people jot on every piece of paper they write on.
Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon
New Words and Expressions:
Shalom, efshar laazor- Hello, may I help? – שלום, אפשר לעזור
Ata/at yachol/yechola laazor li bevakasha? – Could you help me please? – אתה/את יכול/ה לעזור לי בבקשה
Ulai at yechola la’azor li… – Maybe you could help me… – אולי את יכולה לעזור לי
Eich ani yachol/yechola laazor lecha – How can I help you? – איך אני יכול/ה לעזור לך
Ze mamash azar li – This really helped me – זה ממש עזר לי
Ze lo azar – It didn’t help – זה לא עזר לי
“Hayiti be-esrim tipulim, shum davar lo azar” – I had 20 sessions, nothing helped – הייתי ב-20 טיפולים, שום דבר לא עזר
Lo ya’azor bet din – Even a court won’t help – לא יעזור בית דין
Lo ya’azor klum – Nothing can help – לא יעזור כלום
Ozer/et bayit – House cleaner – עוזר/ת בית
Ha-natsim ve-ozreyhem – The nazis and their helpers – הנאצים ועוזריהם
Ezra – Help – עזרה
Ezra – A male first name or surname – עזרא
Ezra rishona – First aid – עזרה ראשונה
Likro le’ezra – To call for help – לקרוא לעזרה
“Yafa sheli, at chayevet lilmod levakesh ezra” – Sweetie, you must learn how to ask for help – יפה שלי, את חייבת ללמוד לבקש עזרה
Levakesh ezra mi-mishehu – To ask for help from someone – לבקש עזרה ממישהו
Ha-mishtara mevakeshet et ezrat ha-tsibur – The Police are requesting the public’s help – המשטרה מבקשת את עזרת הציבור
Be’ezrat ha-shem – With God’s help – בעזרת השם
Basad (Be’siata dishmaya) – With the help of Heaven – בס”ד, בסיעתא דשמיא
Ani ne’ezer be-milon kedei likro ivrit – I am using a dictionary to help me read Hebrew – אני נעזר במילון כדי לקרוא עברית
Lehe’azer be- To be helped by – להיעזר ב
Galgalei ezer – Training wheels – גלגלי עזר
Playlist and Clips:
Noy Alooshe – Shalom, Efshar La’azor
Sh’chuna – Vicky lomedet levakesh ezra
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is TLV1. |
| 0:10.5 | Streetwise Hebrew. |
| 0:12.6 | Shalom. It's me Guy from Streetwise Hebrew. This is a YouTube clip by Noy Alush, who is a famous mashup guy and |
| 0:37.0 | musician who lives in Florentine, |
| 0:38.8 | my neighborhood, Tel Aviv. And here he made something for McDonald's Israel using phrases, |
| 0:44.6 | people say like, shalom, ephshar la Azor. Hello, may I help. The Efschar lazoor, or |
| 0:51.5 | Efshar to Azolech, mayar to help you came to our life with |
| 0:55.6 | American culture and call centers |
| 0:57.5 | I don't remember this from my childhood |
| 0:59.9 | in Ashdod so much |
| 1:01.3 | and often you can hear we say |
| 1:03.3 | fashar lazoe |
| 1:04.4 | so not really dwelling on the |
| 1:07.6 | a of effshar |
| 1:09.0 | but fashar la azor let La Azor. Let's hear it again. So La Azor, La Azor, behaves like la Avod, lavoid to work. The ain, as letter number one of the shorish, the root, makes it behave a bit differently. So, |
| 1:30.1 | laavod, la azor, la anot to answer, as opposed to l'lmode and lichtov, which are normal roots. |
| 1:39.8 | You can also say, atta y'all azoor me,vacasha, or, at you can't la azor me, bevacasha. Could you help me, please? In Hebrew, we don't really have could you, so we just say, can you? This is something we could ask a service giver at the bank, like an introduction before we ask something, quite similar expression, maybe you can help me, |
| 2:03.6 | and then you state what you need. |
| 2:08.3 | Ulai ati hajola lazoor me. |
| 2:11.0 | The service giver can ask us, how I can't azoa tohlech? |
| 2:15.9 | How can I help you? Or how can I help you? How can I help you? Or |
| 2:20.0 | how I can I help you? |
... |
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