THERE ARE TWO WAYS to say “I’m here” in Hebrew. Like any language, there are probably lots more, but here are the top two.

“Po ani” means I’m here, or I’m present, or just present, the correct form when someone is, say, taking the roll. We used that one in Hebrew school when I was a kid. Brill? “Po Ani.” Ingber? “Po ani.” Littman? “Po ani.” Miller? Miller? Miller? (Okay, most of the time I’d cut class to watch Soupy Sales, but I still remember what po ani means and I think that’s pretty good. Besides, we thought laughing really hard at comedians had a kind of Talmudic value anyway, turning jokes into prayers, sort of a Jewish version of transubstantiation.)

Recommended Stories

Full Text of Netanyahu’s U.N. Address

100 Years Since the Beilis Case – and Still Relevant

‘Farewell, Rachel’