L’chaim

By Deane Barker • • tags: judaism •

This is a traditional Jewish toast which means “to life.” It’s a lot like Salud / Salut is for the Italians.

It’s sometimes used as a noun to mean:

In English, it’s pronounced “le-HI-am.” You might drag your tonque a little on the “HI,” like you’re clearing your throat.

Why I Looked It Up

I had heard it before.

In particular, in one of the final songs of the first act of In the Heights, Usnavi says:

As long as you buy ‘em, l’chaim!

Then, in Cork Dork, I saw this in discussion of an Israeli wine:

But man, the Tzora was delicious, if you gave it a chance to win you over, and the Napa fans who tasted it usually ended up converts, toasting “L’chaim!” to the vines of the Holy Land.

Links from this – Salud / Salut December 28, 2021
This is a Latin word that variously means “to your health” (in Spanish), or “salutations; I salute you” in Italian. It’s used as a toast when drinking, and occasionally as an alternative to “bless you” when someone sneezes.
Links from this – Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste October 26, 2024
The author of this book asked herself a question: “Could I become one of those ‘cork dorks’ who get obsessed about wine?” To find this out, she spent a year studying for the Certified Sommelier Examination . (Note: this not the Master Sommelier exam, of which only about 200 people have ever passed....