as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. Psalm 45 v1

Hebrew   eevree        

Who would have believed that a language dead for nearly 2000 years would live again and be the national language of the reborn Promised Land; Eretz Israel?

Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things?   Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?   Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. (Isaiah 66 v8)

But why is the Hebrew language of interest to the Christian and why are some of us so hooked on it?

Lashon Hakodesh        ( The holy tongue)       

I am sure our friend Amnon is right when he says, "Reading the Torah in a translation is like kissing your bride through a handkerchief."   Once you have listened to a Bible teacher who loves Hebrew you become aware that so much richness of meaning is contained in the Hebrew words and constructions that several translations might be possible for a word or phrase but none will convey its fullness.

Also, many who have heard Hebrew feel that there can be no better language in which to praise Eloheinu than in the language He used to communicate to His people.   Even God’s names are so rich and full of praise. So what is Hebrew? Hebrew is an ancient language that is written from right to left with a set of letters which does not include vowels. The first two letters are Alef and Bet, so the letters are an Alefbet. The Jewish/Hebrew scriptures were written without vowels, and the teachers and priests passed on the pronunciations verbally. It works in the same way that "Speedriting" in English worked, by omitting the vowels – try it. In Israel today, the language written and spoken is also Hebrew, but the modern version is written without pointing and the spoken language differs in pronunciation of some letters.  Not all Jews were happy about the use of Hebrew as an everyday language as they feel it is God’s language for worship and teaching. Thus some orthodox communities use Yiddish for everyday conversation and Hebrew for worship and Torah study.

character	called	Sounds -  traditional	Sounds - modern
	Alef	Used to carry a vowel sound
	Beth / Beth	baith	bet
	Dalet	d or dth	d
	Gimmel	g or gh	g
	Hey	h	h
	Waw / Vav	w	v or oo or o
	Zayin	z	z
	Heth / Chet	h	ch     as in loch
	Teth / Tet	t	t
	Yodh / Yod	y	y
	Kaph	k or kh	k or kh
	Lamed	l	l
	Mem	m	m
	Nun	n	n
	Samekh	s	s
	Ayin	a   (growly)	a
	Pe / Pay	p	p
	Tzade	ts or tz	ts or tz
	Qoph	q	q
	Resh	r	r
	Sin or Shin	s or sh	s or sh
	Sin when there is a dot above the left / Shin when the dot is above the right or no dot  (modern)
	Taw / Tav	t	t

Certain letters are modified when they occur at the end of a word.

character	called	at end of word	called
	Kaph		Kaph sofit
	Mem		Mem sofit
	Nun		Nun sofit
	Pe		Pe sofit
	Tzade		Tzade sofit

The Masoretes, in around 700CE devised a system of dots which were placed under the letters which were followed by a vowel sound.   This system is comprised "pointing" to give the vowel sounds and "cantillation" to indicate emphasis etc.   This fixed the texts to the accepted pronunciation of that time.    This is the form in which you will encounter the Tanakh.

Put simply, the vowel sounds are as follows.

symbol	Sounds like	as in . . .	called
	long a	car	Qames
	short a	cat	patah
	long e		sere
	long e, y	they	sere yod
	short e	met	segol
	long i	marine	hireq yod
	short i	sit	Hireq
	long o	toe	holem
	long o, w	row	holem waw
	short o	cost	qames hatuf
	long u	rule	sureq
	short u	pull	qibbus

Two dots, one above the other, signifies an ultra short sound which is effectively a very short break.  This is called a schwar.  In transliterations it is written as an apostrophe.   eg   l'yisrael  ,  meaning "of Israel" or "for Israel".

Concepts in Hebrew language and thought

Hebrew differs from Greek in some interesting ways.  For instance, there is no separate word or concept for heart and mind, sacred and ordinary.  Thus the language reflects the way of thinking;  The Greek pattern we have inherited separates heart from mind while Hebrew thought does not.  The same is true for sacred and ordinary, which are not separated in Hebrew thought, so all of life is to be enjoyed for God.

 

The author is not a qualified Hebrew reader, speaker or writer; merely an enthusiastic beginner.   However, the following may be of assistance to others who wish to try Hebrew.

The author recently attended a series of eight evening classes, which aimed to teach enough basic understanding to allow the student to read the words well enough to be able to look them up in a dictionary and painstakingly read and understand the text.   Look out for courses near you.    See also Jot and Tittle, below, for Kesher courses.

If you can obtain a Siddur (Jewish prayer book) you will find lots of scripture portions and prayers in Hebrew and the local language.   This can help you learn or practice.

There are web sites, software packages and books which may enable the student to teach himself.

	You will find www.biblicalhebrew.com  will be very interesting.
	Hebrew for Christians gives wonderful insights into the language itself and the truths conveyed by it.  It is a site for learning Hebrew or for getting a taste of the language.  Other features include Jewish humour and Yiddish.  www.hebrew4christians.com
	On the  Shalom Peace website there is ministry and aids to learning Hebrew, including downloadable flash cards for the Alefbet.                www.shalom-peace.com
	Jot and Tittle is the ministry of John CP Smith.  John aims to help Christians who wish to learn Hebrew in order to better understand the scriptures.  Jot and Tittle also aims to share the insights available through Hebrew with those who do not feel able to learn it themselves.  Many services, facilities and software packages are offered.   www.jotandtittle.co.uk
	The HTML Bible web site offers an interlinear Old Testament with both modern Hebrew and early Hebrew plus transliterations. www.hebrewoldtestament.com/index2.htm
	On the Karaite web site, you will be able to download a Tanakh in pointed Hebrew and a Siddur (in pdf format)  The tanakh is an HTML document which opens in your browser, but if you have the SIL fonts installed you can copy the text into word and use the SIL Ezra font which is like the script used in the Tanakh scrolls.      www.karaite-korner.org

Re Jot and Tittle.... (Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. (Matthew 5 v117-18) The KJV used the expression "jot or tittle" but the reference is actually to the letter Yod (the smallest letter) and to a the smallest detail of a letter.

Learning to speak modern Hebrew can be undertaken in various ways but the author has been advised that the best way is by living in Israel for a while, and possibly doing an Ulpan course. Many Israelis had to learn the language that way after making aliyah.

It is possible to pick up Hebrew worship, learning the phrases and words, by joining with Messianic groups or gatherings such as the ICEJ Feast of Tabernacles.

You could even learn some of the blessings (Brachot) which are included on this web site.    (The process would be a little second-hand, but the sound clips can be played repeatedly with just a mouse click.     It might work for you.)        Audio File

If you want to be able to type and print Hebrew, you might appreciate the software made available through SIL. By downloading and installing Hebrew fonts, a Keyboard modifying programme and a Hebrew keyboard module it is possible to make Microsoft Word type Hebrew. The process requires quite a bit of perseverance, but the results are effective and the utilities are freeware if they are for home/student use.    

The Hebrew text on wildolive was produced using these utilities.     www.sil.org/computing/fonts/silhebrew/index.htm

 

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