# "touch wood" / "Inch'allah" in Hebrew?



## pickarooney

Hi,

I was just wondering if there was a Hebrew equivalent for these phrases.
The context is an injured person, being examined by an Israeli with some medical experience.
"Will she live?"
"Yes [please God/hopefully/touch wood]"

thanks.


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## ks20495

There are a two common Jewish sayings that mean "God willing":
בְּעֶזְרַת הַשֵּׁם - with God's help
אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם - if God will want [it] 

You can also colloquially say "אינשללה" (Inshallah) or "לִדְפוֹק עַל הָעֵץ" (knock on wood). However, I wouldn't use them in a very serious or pressing situation.


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## pickarooney

Thank you! How would I transliterate those into latin script?
Just another little bit of context - the speaker is quite a sarcastic person and the injury is not anything life-threatening.


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## ks20495

בעזרת השם - be'ezRAT haSHEM
אם ירצה השם - eem yirTZEH haSHEM
אינשללה - eenSHAla 
לדפוק על העץ - leedFOK al ha'ETZ

(capital letters denote stress)


If the situation is not tense, all four are fine. But, the second two are definitely not traditional and not formal.


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## Spharadi

בְּעֶזְרַת הַשֵּׁם     be 'ezrat hashem; 
   אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם      im irtseh hashem


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## yuval9

i would use only בעזרת השם be'ezrat hashem in this case

אם ירצה השם (if god wants) is usually more like when you make a plan
if god wants, i am flying to america next week

i'm not really familiar with the "knock on wood" phrase. although i know that some people knock on wood when they talk about bad scenarios


inshalla is like be'ezrat hashem
but i wouldn't use Inshalla too, because sometimes it has bad connotations 
like: "god take you inshalla", "die inshalla"..
still, sometimes inshalla can be good too


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## pickarooney

Thank you very much everyone 
I've decided to use _be'ezrat hashem_.


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## rosemarino

Actually, "touch wood," or "knock on wood" in English has been discussed in Maayan's thread   טפו טפו בלי עין הרע
בלי עין הרע
 literally meaning "without/no evil eye"

I think this translation may be closer because it includes the element of superstition that is inherent in both the Hebrew and English expression.  By the way, this expression is used in Yiddish also (קיין עין הרע) and is still used by American Jews of a certain vintage to express the idea of warding off bad luck when mentioning something fortunate that has happened.


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## origumi

rosemarino said:


> By the way, this expression is used in Yiddish also (קיין עין הרע) and is still used by American Jews of a certain vintage to express the idea of warding off bad luck when mentioning something fortunate that has happened.


 
Also had an interesting thread about קיין עין הרע or קיינורע: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1733908


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## Alcamike

Does הלוואי work in Hebrew (modern Israeli), or is that only Yiddish usage?


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## ks20495

It does. You can say, for example: הלוואי שיירד שלג = I wish it would snow.

Or, for example: 
א: אומרים שיירד שלג מחר (They say it's going to snow tomorrow.)
ב: הלוואי (I hope so)


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