Tzalmavet - Shadow of Death (צלמות) Hebrew rarely has two words put together to form one new word. This, however, is one of them. It combines the word tzal (צֵל), "shadow" and mavet (מָוֶת), "death." Interestingly, the modern Hebrew for "to photograph" is letzalem (לצלם) - literally "to make a shadow." So the "shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4) may be "the very image of despair, danger or tragedy" but it is not death itself.