IdiomDaily Life
Hebrew
Hebrewתפסת מרובה לא תפסת (Tafasta merubah lo tafasta)
Meaning: Overreach for too much and you end up with nothing.
Literally: If you grabbed a lot, you grabbed nothing
Example: “ניסית לפתוח שלוש חנויות בבת אחת? תפסת מרובה לא תפסת.” — You tried to open three shops at once? Grasp all, lose all.
English equivalent: Grasp all, lose all
Equivalents in other languages
Thai: จับปลาสองมือ Literally: To catch fish with both hands
Origin: From the Talmud, where it appears several times as a rule of interpretation (for example in Rosh Hashanah 4b): "If you grasped much, you did not grasp; if you grasped little, you grasped." When unsure, take the smaller amount. In modern Hebrew it means that overreaching leaves one with nothing.
More Hebrew idioms
- שבר את הראש (shavar et harosh) To rack your brains over something.
- יצא מכליו (Yatsa miklav) To lose your temper; to be beside yourself.
- חבל על הזמן (Ḥaval ʿal ha-zman) Amazing, fantastic — though it literally means 'a waste of time'.
- על הפנים (al hapanim) Terrible, awful, in a wretched state.
- לאכול סרטים (Le'ekhol sratim) To overthink and imagine dramatic worst-case scenarios.
- קופצים על המציאה (Kofsim al hamtsi'a) To seize a great opportunity at once.
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