Word of the day: תפוח - apple

This is the last day of the Jewish year ה'תשע"ז, or 5777.

Jewish new year is called a fest of apples and honey. Last year we posted a picture about honey, now it's the turn for apples. An apple is תַּפּוּחַ tapuach, plural תַּפּוּחִים tapuchim. Incidentally, the Hebrew word for an orange, תַּפּוּז tapuz, is derived from תפוח זהב tapuach zahav ("gold apple", or "apple of gold"), and the Hebrew for a potato is תפוח אדמה tapuach adama "ground apple".

Hebrew year numbers are usually written in Hebrew numerals using the ordinary Hebrew letters. Each Hebrew letter can denote a number: א-ט are 1–9, in the order they follow in the alphabet; similarly, י-צ are 10–90 and ק-ת are 100–400. You can read the full rules of the Hebrew numerals in the Wikipedia.

In this case, ה׳ means 5 x 1000 = 5000, ת = 400, ש is 300, ע is 70 and ז is 7.

These numbers are usually pronounced by saying the letter names in order (the thousands parts is omitted), for example 5777 is tav-shin-ayin-zayin. Some years can also be pronounced as a single word – for example, תשל"ג tashlag(5733).

That's all – best wishes for the year 5778, or תשל"ג tav-shin-ayin-chet!