For libraries, cultural centres and communities
A free daily word, in the language your people actually read.
No cost, no account, nothing to sign. Pick the language — Yiddish, Modern Hebrew or Biblical Hebrew — read it yourself for a fortnight, then pass on the text further down if it is worth your members’ time.
The latest word in each language
The full archive is open to anyone — no login, no paywall, every word indexed and permanent.
What arrives
- One word each morning, in the language you ticked — the word, how it is pronounced, and what it means.
- A sentence somebody might really say, not a textbook sentence.
- An original woodcut-style illustration, drawn for that word.
- A cultural or usage note where the word has a story behind it.
- An unsubscribe link in every single email, which works immediately.
I also teach Aramaic. There is no daily Aramaic word yet — the Tanakh reader is open, and a daily word will come when I can keep the standard.
Read it for a fortnight before you recommend it
Put your own address in and see what actually turns up before you put your institution’s name near it. Tick only the languages you want. Each one is its own email each morning. Apart from the word, you get at most four short notes from me in the first year (a question, an offer of a free session for your members), each with an unsubscribe link.
Text you are welcome to steal
Already written so nobody at your end has to. Change the wording, cut it, put your own name on it — whatever suits the way you write to your members.
A free Yiddish word of the day: one word, how to say it, an example sentence and an original illustration, in your inbox each morning. Written by Yaacov Schlezinger, a Jerusalem-born teacher of Hebrew, Yiddish, Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. Archive and sign-up: lashon.online/words
A free Modern Hebrew word of the day: one word, how to say it, an example sentence and an original illustration, in your inbox each morning. Written by Yaacov Schlezinger, a Jerusalem-born teacher. Archive and sign-up: lashon.online/hebrew/word
A free Biblical Hebrew word of the day: one word from the language of the text, how to say it, an example and an original illustration, each morning. Written by Yaacov Schlezinger, a Jerusalem-born teacher. Archive and sign-up: lashon.online/biblical-hebrew/word
Free daily word — Yiddish, Modern Hebrew or Biblical Hebrew — with pronunciation, an example sentence and an illustration. lashon.online/for-institutions
Who writes it
Yaacov Schlezinger. Hebrew and Yiddish are both native to me: Yiddish is the language of my home, and I grew up speaking Hebrew in Jerusalem, where my family has lived since 1870. I teach Hebrew, Yiddish, Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, in English and in French.
If you want to talk about something else
Some institutions have asked about a guest session for their members, help reading something in the collection, or translation work. I am glad to hear about any of it, but none of it is the reason for this page — the daily word is free whether or not anything else ever comes of it.
Write to me directly: yaacov@lashon.online