I first began to learn Hebrew in 1994 before the internet was really popular. Even then Borders and Barnes and Noble stores were just starting, so it was hard to find good tutorials. Most courses simply jumped into Hebrew sentences, without taking the time to properly learn the alphabet first.

On an out-of-town business trip, I finally discovered a book of exercises that teach a person to easily read the Hebrew letters. The book taught one or two letters per chapter, and slowly introduced the vowels (or Nikud). Each lesson progressed by adding one or two Hebrew letters, and another vowel or two.

Using this methodology, I finally got to where I could read Hebrew words “on site”. Then I could make out words in the course book, the Sidur, or the Hebrew Bible and finally be able to pronounce them, even if I didn’t know what they meant. As a beginner though, I didn’t always know if my pronunciation was correct or not.

Even the books were lacking. What I needed was a person (or computer) sitting there with me, validating whether I was pronouncing the Hebrew words correctly or not. Oh vey – if only I would have had a personal tutor. But as a software programmer, I knew that I could get the computer to take the place of the tutor that I didn’t have.

My search began to find Hebrew fonts that were appropriate, and a good multimedia software program called “Toolbook”. That was the easy part; the hard part was developing the dozens of words, lessons, and system of combingin them. I almost wore out the pages of my printed Hebrew dictionary.

One of the challenges was deciding the order in which to teach the Hebrew letters and vowels. Another challenge was just the shear volume of words that had to be keyed in the computer. There was no easy Hebrew word processor, so the data entry was a big challenge. The final challenge, was recording over 2700 Hebrew word and sound files, so that program would be able to pronounce each and every word.

Finally, the art work came together, and the progam changed from three diskettes (you don’t see those much any more) to a CD/ROM. I learned Microsoft Frontpage and began selling the program online, back when the world wide web was just in its infancy. After 10 years, I have literrally sold 100s of the program.

When I first started “At Home with Hebrew” in 1994, the concept of selling on the internet was still new; some people even questioned if it was legal. I learned Microsoft FrontPage and created the first version of my website, and over the years the site had grown to sell many other Hebrew tutorials. Our recent products include “Hebrew Kindergarten” and “Songs of the Shabbat”.

In about the year 2012 (or before), I opened the doors to Hebrew Garden (HebrewGarden.com).  It has most of the same features as “At Home with Hebrew”, but it now runs as a web-based membership site.  Members can logon an do their lesson on any of the modern devices, including Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, or any operating system, whether it be Windows, Apples, or Linux/Unix or even if they run on a device like a Google Chromebook.

CHAZAL – an acronym for these word “Chachameinu Zichronam Livracha” (our saves of blessed memory). “Chacham” means wise – so “Chachameinu” could literally be translated as “our wise ones”. “ZACHAR” is the verb to remember, thus the root of “Zichronam” – maybe they be remembered. LIVRACHA – is broken down L’-Bracha – for a blessing. The “B” or “BET” of Bracha changes to a “V” or “VET” in this case. When you see something looks like a double-quote in a Hebrew word, it is often a hint that the word is an acrnoym.

RISHONIM – the leading Rabbis and Poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh and following the Geonim. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishonim

Acharonim (Hebrew: ????????; lit. “last ones”) is a term used in Jewish law and history, to signify the leading rabbis and poskim (Jewish legal decisors) living from roughly the 16th century to the present. The Acharonim follow the Rishonim, the “first ones” – the rabbinic scholars between the 11th and the 16th century following the Geonim and preceding the Shulkhan Arukh. The publication of the Shulkhan Arukh thus marks the transition from the era of Rishonim to that of Acharonim. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharonim

Tannaim- (Hebrew: ?????, singular ???, Tanna) were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years. It came after the period of the Zugot (“pairs”), and was immediately followed by the period of the Amoraim. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanaim

The root tanna (???) is the Talmudic Aramaic equivalent for the Hebrew root shanah (???), which also is the root-word of Mishnah. The verb shanah (???) literally means “to repeat [what one was taught]” and is used to mean “to learn”.

The Mishnaic period is commonly divided up into five periods according to generations. There are approximately 120 known Tannaim.

Amora – (Aramaic: ?????; plural ???????, Amora’im; “those who say” or “those who tell over”), were renowned Jewish scholars who “said” or “told over” the teachings of the Oral law, from about 200 to 500 CE in Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Their legal discussions and debates were eventually codified in the Gemara. The Amoraim followed the Tannaim in the sequence of ancient Jewish scholars. The Tannaim were direct transmitters of uncodified oral tradition; the Amoraim expounded upon and clarified the oral law after its initial codification.

Savora – (Aramaic: ?????, plural Savora’im, Sabora’im, ???????) is a term used in Jewish law and history to signify the leading rabbis living from the end of period of the Amoraim (around 500 CE) to the beginning of the Geonim (around 700 CE). As a group they are also referred to as the Rabbeinu Sevorai or Rabanan Saborai, and may have played a large role in giving the Talmud its current structure. Modern scholars also use the term Stammaim (Hebrew = closed, vague or an unattributed source) for the authors of unattributed statements in the Gemara. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoraim

Geonim (Hebrew: ???????; also transliterated Gaonim) were the presidents of the two great rabbinical colleges of Sura and Pumbedita, in Babylonia, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta (Exilarch) who wielded secular authority over the Jews in Islamic lands.

Geonim – is the plural of ???? (Gaon’), which means “pride” or “splendour” in Biblical Hebrew and since the 1800s “genius” as in modern Hebrew. As a title of a Babylonian college president it meant something like “His Excellency.”

The Geonim played a prominent and decisive role in the transmission and teaching of Torah and Jewish law. They taught Talmud and decided on issues on which no ruling had been rendered during the period of the Talmud.

The period of the Geonim began in 589 (Hebrew date: 4349), after the period of the Sevora’im, and ended in 1038 (Hebrew date: 4798). The first gaon of Sura, according to Sherira Gaon, was Mar Rab Mar, who assumed office in 609. The last gaon of Sura was Samuel ben ?ofni, who died in 1034; the last gaon of Pumbedita was Hezekiah Gaon, who was tortured to death in 1040; hence the activity of the Geonim covers a period of nearly 450 years.

There were two major Geonic academies, one in Sura and the other in Pumbedita. The Sura academy was originally dominant, but its authority waned towards the end of the Geonic period and the Pumbedita Gaonate gained ascendancy (Louis Ginzberg in Geonica).
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geonim

Zugot – (Hebrew: ?????????) ?????????)?) ((t?q?ph?th) hazZ?gh?th) refers to the period during the time of the Second Temple (515 BCE – 70 CE), in which the spiritual leadership of the Jewish people was in the hands of five successive generations of zugot (“pairs”) of religious teachers. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugot In modern Hebrew, zugot (or zugim?) can mean “twins”. The English word “Zygot” (in the field of biology) comes from this Hebrew word. (is a term in Developmental biology used to describe the first stage of a new unique organism when it consists of just a single cell)

Sh’visa – rest, termination of a creative process, refraining from activities. Apparently with a “TAV” so could be Sh’vita – and probably related to the root verb SHABAT

Sh’vus (or Shvus)- (a) A Shvus is an action prohibited by the Chachamim on Shabbos or Yom Tov. The Torah states “… uva’Yom ha’Shevi’i Tishbos” — “… and you shall rest on the seventh day” (Shemos 23:12). The Rabanan understood this to apply even to actions that are not Melachos, and as a result they prohibited actions that would otherwise be permitted (see Shabbos 114b). The term “Shvus” is derived from the word “Tishbos” in the Pasuk. [Source: http://www.mail-archive.com/daf-background@shemayisrael.co.il/msg00074.html quoting “Background to the Daily Daf – http://www.dafyomi.co.il – on Beitzah 21 & 22)

Sh’vus D’Shvus – a situation where two rabbinic laws are in force simultaneously
Source: https://www.dafdigest.org/eiruvin/Eiruvin%20091.pdf

Mamash – (Mamish?) – I’m still trying to find if these are two different pronunications or two different words.
According to this page: http://www.mamash.org/pages/content/meditations.html, the word “Mamash” has no English translation, the closest thing being an exclamation point. I think the word “really” might be a loose translation. “The Kaballah Handbook” says that it is a word that embody levels of truth beyond metaphor or abstraction, that is literally and concretely true from the highest to the lowest of worlds. It goes on to provide possible translations: substance, matter, truly, literally.

Shema Yisrael (often called simply “The Shema”), the Biblical passage from Deuteronomy 6:4, is certainly the best known of all Jewish prayers. It is part of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. The phrase of course menas “Hear Israel”, and refers to the entire phrase “Hear O Israel, the Lord Thy God, the Lord is One.”.

Christians are familiar with the “Shema”, because it is quoted in the Gospel of Mark. A scribe asked Jesus which commandment is greatest of all. Jesus replied “Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord.”

The Shabbat typically begins (on Friday evening) with candle-lighting and “Kiddush”. The Sabbath table is set with two candles (or more), a special kiddush cup is filled to the rim with wine or grape juice, and two loaves of challah bread.

Officially, the candle-lighting blessing should occur 18 minutes before sunset on Friday. The Torah forbids “kindling a fire” on the Sabbath, so the day is marked by lighting a candle immediately before it begins, and ends with lighting a candle at the Havdalah service (see below).

The Sabbath is often greeted by the singing of an ancient prayer called “Lecha Dodi”. The title of the song literally means “Come My Beloved”. In this ancient Kabbalistic song, the sabbath is referred to as “a bride”.

Many other songs and prayers fill the Sabbath, which is concluded Saturday evening with a brief ceremony called “Havdalah”. It should be performed no earlier than nightfall (when three stars can be seen in the sky) on Saturday night. The word itself comes from the Hebrew word “L’HAVDIL”, meaning to separate or to distinguish.

The wine cup is filled to overflowing, symbolizing the joy of the Sabbath day. The spices remind us of the sweetness of the Sabbath, which departs for another six days. The spices commonly used are cloves, cinnamon or bay leaves. They are commonly kept in a special decorated holder called a b’samim box.

“Eliyahu HaNavi” is the song that typically concludes the brief Havadalah ceremony. The song title translates as “Elijah the Prophet”. Elijah’s name is involved in the hopes that he will come to usher in the final eternal Shabbat of the Messianic Age.

It’s Chanukah Time! Have you figured out what youre going to give during each night of Chanukah? Maybe, youre just going to give a gift on the First and Eighth day of the Holiday, but even then, what are you going to give? WellWhy not Hebrew?

Unfortunately, an amazing number of people studied Hebrew as a child, but over the years, they have let those Hebrew skills fall by the way side. Sometimes, as they become parents or enter their leisure years, the desire to learn Hebrew returns. In big cities, many of them take courses at the Jewish Community center, but in more remote places, many people turn to the computer to become their Hebrew teacher.

Several products from hebrewrsources.com help children and adults to learn Hebrew, either for the first time, or to refresh their prior skills. The series of programs typically begins with “At Home with Hebrew”, their most beginner level program, that teaches a person how to read and write the Hebrew Alef-Bet (alphabet). After learning basic reading skills, the students go on to learn some basic grammar and vocabulary.

Hebrew Kindergarten is not just for kids. Its for anybody who wants to learn more advanced Hebrew grammar; this program assumes you know the basics, but it will make you comfortable reading Hebrew without vowel points and speaking and thinking in the language.

Something very special is Shirei Ha-Shabbat. This program teaches the basics of Jewish Liturgy for Shabbat. Again, this program assumes you already some basics about Hebrew grammar. The program highlights Shabbat Liturgy with two cantors from the Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions. Its fun, delightful, and educational!

Selecting the right cantor for the job of recording was a challenge. One was finally found with an amazing, but easy-to-follow voice and pronunication. The software let’s you hear each word or line of the prayers, as you desire, at your own pace.

Children are often the focus of Hanukah. Jewish parents usually require their children to learn some basic Hebrew, even if their own skills have become rusty. The tutorials above, can be used by inividuals. But how much better, if parents and children learn Hebrew together?

Believe or not, Jews are not the only people learning Hebrew. Many Christians today have a growing interest in the original language of the Bible, and many are learning the basics of Jewish practices to better understand the Bible. It has been said that “all translations are commentary”, meaning that any English translation of the Hebrew scriptures cannot help but have ideas of the translator behind it.

Whether you celebrate Chanukah or Christmas, consider giving the “gift of Hebrew”. Any of the above tutorials can keep a student busy for months, so they are truly gifts that give all year round. Even if you miss the winter holidays, you can start Hebrew as a New Years resolution, or any time of the year.

In 1990, I was planning a trip to Israel, but it got postponed due to Desert Storm and the Gulf War. I finally go on a tour trip of Israel in 1996. But in the late 80s, in Oklahoma, before the internet, how does one begin to learn Hebrew?

Via a language catalog (there was no internet then), I discovered the FSI courses. I had used FSI for Brazilian Portuguese, and thus ordered it for Hebrew. At least Portuguese used the same alphabet as English, but Hebrew required learning 22 new characters, and reading at first was very slow.

Back then, the FSI course included a large book and about 24 cassette tapes (today, you can find the book in PDF and the tapes are often on MP3 files). The course was designed for instructor-lead classroom use, and was definitely not designed for home-study. To this day, I have never finished that course.

Back then, Borders was building it’s first huge book stores in large cities. On a business trip, I visited one, and found a small selection of Hebrew books not normally found in other bookstores. The book that helped me master the alphabet was a “reader” that was full of practice exercises of reading short two to four letter syllables or words.

Attending synagogue and learning some of the Hebrew prayers really accelerated my understanding of Hebrew. The music, along with the weekly repetition, clearly helps with the learning the words and phrases. Each week, I would pick a favorite tune, and go home and break down the words of that particular prayer.

To learn more Biblical Hebrew, I used Mansoor’s book, “Biblical Hebrew: Step by Step”. After that, a friend was teaching Biblical Hebrew to a small group, using Weingreen’s “A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew”. This is another book that would be hard to pick up and learn on your own. By completing one lesson every week or two, we finished the book in about two years.

A full exposur to Hebrew requires at least some Modern (“Modernit”) and Biblical (“Tanachit”). Two modern Hebrew books from bookstores includes 3 or 4 cassette tapes: “Hugo Language Course: Hebrew in Three Months” and also Eliezar Tirkel’s “Every Hebrew”. Listening to audio in the car is one of my favorite ways to learn any language; the trick is that the lessons don’t get too complex too fast.

A few years ago, I signed-up for two semesters of an online Hebrew course offered by Boston’s Hebrew College. The textbook was “Hebrew From Scratch – Part II” (with 5 CDs available). There was a lot of homework required, and we met with our teacher online each week for practicing conversation. Later, I took classes in Aggadic Literature and Talmud, which introduced Medieval Hebrew and Aramaic.

I still feel that I have just scraped the surface of learning the beautiful Hebrew language. By creating courses and teaching classes for others, I have continue to learn more each and every day.

A group called the “Masoretes” (often dated to the ninth century C.E.) recorded and annotated what has become the “authentic” version of the Hebrew Scriptures. Their work is recognized today by Jewish religious leaders as being authentic. This group’s name comes from Hebrew word “MESORAH” which is ultimately from the verb “MASAR”, meaning “to hand down”. The leaders and Rabbis who busied themselves with the “MASORAH” were called the “MASORETES”. The oldest copy of the Hebrew Bible still in existence today is about 1000 years old.

The Masoretes (sometimes called “Masorites”) apparently became dissatisfied with the traditional Hebrew text since it was written without vowels, or at least only with the three consonants which can be treated as vowels (Yud, Hei, Vav). These three letters became known by their Latin name “matres lectiones”, which literally means “mother of meaning”. In other words, it was very difficult to read Hebrew without vowels until these three “helper” letters became used as vowels. They are also known in Hebrew as “Am Qiria” (mother of reading). The Yud and Vav are more often vowels than consonants.

The Masoretes used small marks, usually dots and dashes, above, below or through a letter to add additional meaning, i.e. to show how the letters are to be pronounced based on a common understood meaning or tradition. If a person ran across the letters “SHIN-MEM-sofit” in a Hebrew text, there are at least three possible pronunciations: SHEM, SHAM, SAM, each with entirely different meaning.

Thus the reader has to use the context of the sentence and paragraph to determine which is the correct pronunication. The meanings of the three words are: SHEM (there), SHAM (there) and SAM (put). Thus, a vowel was needed to distinguish between the “AH” and “EH” vowel sound, and some mark was need to distinguish between the “S” and the “SH” sound. Later, some Latin languages added similar symbols, such as the accent mark or the Spanish Tilda symbol.

This group accomplished yet another useful function. In a Torah scroll, for example, most of the sentences run together, with only an occasional white space. The Masoretes added small amounts of punctuation, basically periods and the equivalent of a hyphen. Beyond the above, they added an intricate musical system for singing the text in liturgical settings.

Sometimes, the families disagreed about various issues, such as pronunciation, and other authors even discussed their differences, and the writings of those authors are still available to study. The Masoretes weren’t the only systemizers and preservers of the scriptures, two lesser-known systems include the Babylonian system and “The Land of Israel” (“Palestinian”) system.

Today, one of the most famous bibles, produced according to the Massoretic tradition is “The Leningrad Codex”. When most people think of “The Hebrew Bible”, they are thinking of copies of this Bible. A codex, a Roman invention to replace scrolls, is similar to books we have today, basically pages joined with a cover (but obviously created long before the printing press). The Leningrade Codes is housed in the National Library of Russia, and dates to about 1009 C.E.. It is the oldest extant copy of the Hebrew Bible that includes the complete text. It is still in excellent condition after a thousand years, and contains amazing examples of medieval Jewish art.