A learner who files ברוך השם, בשעה טובה and תתחדש under "religion" and moves on has just deleted a large part of the Hebrew politeness system from their own vocabulary. Hebrew Wikipedia files מזל טוב and בשעה טובה not under religion but under ברכה (נימוס), blessing as etiquette — and the ones that do name God are, in ordinary use, about as theological as English bless you. This page gives you the phrases, the situation each belongs to — rarely what the literal translation suggests — and the life-cycle vocabulary for reading an invitation or a death notice.
The formulae, and when each one is actually said
Read the middle column and then ignore it. The literal meaning is what makes an English speaker mistime these; the right-hand column is what you need.
| Formula | Literally | Said when |
|---|---|---|
| ברוך השםbarúkh hashém | blessed be the Name | Answering "how are you?". Often carries no more content than English "can't complain". |
| בעזרת השםbe'ezrát hashém | with the help of the Name | Attached to a plan: this will happen, nothing is guaranteed. |
| אינשאללהinshála | if God wills (Arabic) | The same slot as בעזרת השם, borrowed from Arabic. (informal) |
| בשעה טובהbesha'á tová | at a good hour | Setting out on something new — a move, a new job, a pregnancy. Forward-looking. |
| מזל טובmazál tov | good fortune | After the event: a birth, a wedding, a birthday, a bar mitzvah. Never before. |
| בהצלחהbehatslakhá | in success | Before the event: an exam, an interview, a first day. This is English "good luck". |
| לבריאותlabri'út | to health | After a sneeze. Also over food or a drink you have handed someone. |
| לחייםlekhayím | to life | Raising a glass. This is the toast; לבריאות is not. |
| תתחדש / תתחדשיtitkhadésh / titkhadshí | renew yourself | To someone with something newly acquired — a haircut, a coat, a car, a flat. |
| בלי עין הרעbli áyin hará | without the evil eye | Appended to a compliment or to good news, to take the shine off it. |
| חס וחלילהkhas vekhalíla | mercy and forbid | Naming a bad outcome you do not want to name — illness, an accident, a death. |
That is eleven formulae. Three are documented in Hebrew Wikipedia's article ברכה (נימוס), which gets the timing right: מזל טוב נאמרת לאדם שחוגג מאורע משמח, "is said to a person celebrating a joyful event"; בשעה טובה belongs בצאת לדרך חדשה, כמו במעבר דירה או בעת לקיחת משרה חדשה, "on setting out on a new path, such as moving house or taking a new job"; and the article's own example of a targeted wish is בהצלחה במבחן.
מה נשמע? ברוך השם, לא רע, עובדים.
ma nishmá? barúkh hashém, lo ra, ovdím
How's it going? — Can't complain, working away.
Hebrew Wiktionary's entry for ברוך השם describes it as משפט השגור על לשונם של דתיים אשר נוהגים לאומרו כתגובה לשאלה "איך אתה מרגיש?" — a phrase habitual on the lips of religious speakers, in reply to "how are you feeling?". That is where it starts; what the dictionary does not capture is how far it has travelled. Coming back from a secular taxi driver asked about business, it is not a statement about providence.
בעזרת השם נסיים את זה עד יום חמישי.
be'ezrát hashém nesayém et ze ad yom khamishí
We'll have it finished by Thursday, all being well.
אינשאללה ניסע לים בשבוע הבא.
inshála nisá layám bashavúa habá
We'll get to the beach next week, hopefully. (informal — borrowed from spoken Arabic)
בשעה טובה! מתי אתם עוברים לדירה החדשה?
besha'á tová! matái atém ovrím ladirá hakhadashá?
That's wonderful news — when do you move into the new flat?
תתחדשי על התיק, הוא ממש יפה.
titkhadshí al hatík, hu mamásh yafé
Enjoy the new bag — it's gorgeous. (to a woman)
תתחדש has no English equivalent, which is why learners never acquire it. English notices a new coat and says "nice coat"; Hebrew has a dedicated verb for the occasion, a second-person future used as an imperative, and it inflects: תתחדש to a man, תתחדשי to a woman, תתחדשו to a group. Leaving it out is not neutral — it is a small politeness withheld.
יש להם ארבעה ילדים, בלי עין הרע.
yesh lahém arba'á yeladím, bli áyin hará
They've got four children, touch wood.
חס וחלילה שיקרה לו משהו, מי ידאג לילדים?
khas vekhalíla sheyikré lo máshehu, mi yid'ág layeladím?
God forbid something happens to him — who'd look after the children?
Life-cycle and observance vocabulary
This is the set that decodes an invitation, a colleague's WhatsApp message, or a death notice in the paper.
| Term | Reads | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| ברית | brit | A boy's circumcision, on the eighth day. Full name ברית מילה. |
| בר מצווה / בת מצווה | bar mitsvá / bat mitsvá | Coming of age — a boy at 13, a girl at 12. בר is Aramaic "son of"; בת is Hebrew "daughter of". |
| חתונה | khatuná | A wedding. The couple are חתן and כלה. |
| לוויה | levayá | A funeral. Announced by the hour, usually within a day. |
| שבעה | shiv'á | The seven days of mourning after a burial. One "sits" it: יושבים שבעה. |
| אזכרה | azkará | A memorial gathering, typically on the anniversary of a death. |
| כשר / טרף | kashér / tref | Fit to eat under the dietary laws, or not. |
| שומר שבת | shomér shabát | Someone who keeps Shabbat. Inflects: שומרת שבת, שומרי שבת. |
המשפחה יושבת שבעה בבית של ההורים, אפשר לבוא מארבע.
hamishpakhá yoshévet shiv'á babáyit shel hahorím, efshár lavó me'arbá
The family are sitting shiva at their parents' place; you can come from four.
המטבח שלנו כשר, אבל אנחנו לא שומרי שבת.
hamitbákh shelánu kashér, avál anákhnu lo shomréi shabát
Our kitchen is kosher, but we don't keep Shabbat.
The four labels
Israelis sort religious practice with four words. They are neither insults nor boasts — they are the ordinary vocabulary of self-description, and the Central Bureau of Statistics puts the question directly in its annual הסקר החברתי. Its technical publication prints the wording (cbs.gov.il, שיטות מדידה ואמידת גודלה של האוכלוסייה החרדית בישראל): האם אתה רואה את עצמך כ: 1. חרדי 2. דתי 3. מסורתי־דתי 4. מסורתי — לא כל כך דתי 5. לא דתי, חילוני. Five rungs on the official ladder; everyday speech collapses the two middle ones into plain מסורתי.
| Label | Reads | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| חילוני | khilóni | Secular. |
| מסורתי | masortí | Traditional — keeps some practice without full observance. |
| דתי | datí | Religious, observant. |
| חרדי | kharedí | Strictly observant, in a community organised around that. |
All four inflect like ordinary adjectives — חילונית, דתיים, מסורתיות — and become nouns with the article: החילונים, החרדים.
הם דתיים, השכנים חילונים, וכולם נפגשים באותה גינה.
hem datiyím, hashkhením khiloním, vekhulám nifgashím be'otá giná
They're religious, the neighbours are secular, and everyone meets in the same courtyard.
שבת organises the week for people who do not keep it
The clearest case of a religious term structuring secular life is the week itself, and it is visible in the grammar. Hebrew names its days by counting towards שבת: יום ראשון is "day one", יום שני "day two", up to יום שישי — and then the seventh has a name rather than a number. Every working week is described relative to a day most speakers using the words do not observe.
The consequences follow: יום ראשון is a full working day, יום שישי a short one, and שישי-שבת is the weekend. So בשבת in an ordinary sentence usually means nothing more than "on Saturday". The calendar itself is on the Hebrew calendar and the festivals on holidays.
בשבת הכול סגור, אז אני עושה קניות בשישי בבוקר.
beshabát hakól sagúr, az aní osé kniyót beshishí babóker
Everything's shut on Saturday, so I do the shopping on Friday morning.
Common Mistakes
1. Using מזל טוב as "good luck". English has borrowed mazel tov and drifted it towards good luck, so the transfer is almost guaranteed. Hebrew keeps the two apart by time: מזל טוב congratulates on something that has already happened, בהצלחה wishes well for something that has not.
❌ מזל טוב במבחן מחר!
good luck in tomorrow's exam
Incorrect as a wish before the event — מזל טוב congratulates on something already achieved. Before an exam Hebrew says בהצלחה במבחן.
✅ בהצלחה במבחן, תעדכן אותי איך היה.
behatslakhá bamivkhán, te'adkén otí eikh hayá
Good luck in the exam — let me know how it went. (to a man)
2. Raising a glass with לבריאות. Both phrases wish you well, both are three syllables and both open on ל, which is exactly why they swap.
❌ לבריאות!
cheers, glass in hand
Incorrect as a toast — לבריאות is what you say to someone who has just sneezed. The toast is לחיים.
✅ לחיים! שיהיה בהצלחה בעסק החדש.
lekhayím! sheyihyé behatslakhá ba'ések hekhadásh
Cheers — here's to the new business.
לבריאות! אתה מצטנן?
labri'út! atá mitstanén?
Bless you — are you coming down with something? (to a man)
3. Saying בר מצווה of a girl. בר is the Aramaic word for "son of" and it is not a generic label; the feminine is a different word.
❌ הבת שלי חוגגת בר מצווה בקיץ
Incorrect — a girl's is a בת מצווה: הבת שלי חוגגת בת מצווה בקיץ.
✅ הבת שלי חוגגת בת מצווה בקיץ, ואנחנו כבר בלחץ.
habát shelí khogéget bat mitsvá bakáyits, va'anákhnu kvar belákhats
My daughter's bat mitzvah is this summer and we're already panicking.
4. Hearing theology where there is none — and then avoiding the whole set. Both halves are one mistake. A learner reads ברוך השם as a profession of faith, decides it would be dishonest to say, and by the same reasoning drops בעזרת השם, בשעה טובה, בלי עין הרע and חס וחלילה — most of the available warmth in a Hebrew conversation. What happened to these phrases is what happened to English goodbye (from God be with you): the etymology is intact and the speech act has moved on.
Key Takeaways
- מזל טוב is retrospective, בהצלחה prospective, בשעה טובה for something newly set in motion. English mazel tov has drifted; Hebrew has not.
- לבריאות answers a sneeze; לחיים is the toast. Not interchangeable in either direction.
- תתחדש, with its feminine תתחדשי and plural תתחדשו, is said to someone with something new — and English has no slot for it.
- ברוך השם is documented by Hebrew Wiktionary as a religious speaker's reply to "how are you"; in ordinary use it carries about as much theology as English bless you.
- בר is Aramaic "son of", so a girl's coming of age is a בת מצווה.
- The four everyday labels are חילוני, מסורתי, דתי, חרדי; the Central Bureau of Statistics splits מסורתי in two, giving five official rungs.
- Hebrew names its weekdays by counting towards שבת, so a religious term frames the week even for speakers who do not keep it.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- בעזרת השם, בלי עין הרע, חס וחלילהB2 — Religious formulas appear both in speech and as compact headings such as בס״ד, בע״ה and אי״ה; their meanings, abbreviations and historical layers are not interchangeable.
- בתיאבון, לחיים, מזל טוב, ברוך הבאA2 — Everyday Hebrew blessings are situation-specific: this page shows what to say over food, a toast, success, an achievement or something new, and what reply each formula invites.
- Set Phrases for Every DayA1 — The twenty-odd phrases you use before you can build a sentence, learned whole — with בסדר as the centrepiece, because one word covers fine, OK, agreed and merely acceptable, and Hebrew Wiktionary derives it from German in Ordnung.
- Haredi Hebrew and the Yeshiva RegisterC1 — Understand Israeli Haredi Hebrew, its rabbinic and Yiddish layers, its writing conventions, and its distinction from Anglophone Yeshivish.