Fuhgeddaboudit
Israelis are an impatient people. They speak dugri (“directly,” an import from Arabic). They get to the point. Haval (guttural, as in Hanukkah) means “too bad.” Al hazman means “about the time.” Haval al hazman: It’s a waste of time.
Don’t even look at her, haval al hazman, she has a tall, dark paratrooper boyfriend. I’m not going to the rally in Rabin Square, haval al hazman, this dysfunctional government won’t fall.
Paradoxically, the phrase also has a positive meaning: It’s so wonderful there’s no need to waste time talking about it. Did you hear Elton John in Ramat Gan? Haval al hazman. Do you like my new haircut? Haval al hazman! How was Rome? Haval al hazman. And the food? I ate fettuccine Alfredo haval al hazman: “fabulous fettuccine Alfredo.” What’d you think of “Avatar?” Haval al hazman: “Awesome.” Though some might answer the question the same way and mean “awful.”
Another variation personalizes the idiom, adding lecha — to you — for emphasis. One kid playfully throws a rock at another but misses, the other says: Good thing you didn’t hit me, haval lecha al hazman — no need to elaborate.
Jewish parlance has long eschewed the waste of time. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon is condensed to Rambam; the Ba’al Shem Tov is the Besht. Standard Israeli Hebrew features acronyms such as mankal (menahel klali, director-general) and tzahal (tzeva haganah l’Yisrael, Israel Defense Forces). Young people sometimes save even more time by saying havlaz instead of the full haval al hazman. I started saying havlaz myself, until my 21-year-old son informed me that it was already passé. You’re an older, immigrant, American Jew, he was probably thinking. Haval al hazman.
Stuart Schoffman is a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and editor of “Havruta: A Journal of Jewish Conversation.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
