Lesson 1 letters: aleph thru hay שׁעוּר ראשׁוֹן Congregation Faithful Stewardship Torah Scroll. (Written in Romania, circa 1936, during the rise of extreme anti-semitism which led to WWII and the Holocaust.) א ל ף ב ית ע ב ר י Introducing the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (א ) & Patach (א ( Kamats Introducing two vowels: INTERESTING FACT: What did Yeshua study? During the time of Yeshua (Jesus), all followers of Yeshua (Yeshua Himself, the Apostles, Paul, James, etc.) all read weekly from the Hebrew Scriptures (the Torah and the TaNaKh, (aka Old Testament)) on a table (which is called the Bema) in the synagogues. 1 P a g e
) א ל ף ב ית ע ב ר י ( Aleph-Bet First 5 letters in Hebrew Congratulations on getting started learning Biblical Hebrew! The objective of this course is to learn to read -- write -- study in the Hebrew language of the LORD. Our desire is to learn to study God s Word effectively, which includes studying in the original language. In this lesson, we will: Begin to learn to pronounce Biblical Hebrew with Sephardic pronunciation. (Sephardic is the pronunciation that is used in Israel today). Begin to print in Hebrew with Block (aka Square) letters. Begin to sound out the first 5 letters of the Hebrew aleph-bet with 2 vowels. First 5 letters of the Hebrew aleph-bet. 1. Read the name of each letter below. (Refer to Sound of Letter column for pronunciation) 2. Do the hand: make a fist with your right hand. Point thumb down and say aleph. Raise index finger - say bet. Lift middle finger - say gimmel. Lift ring finger say dalet. And finally lift pinkie say hay 3. Print each letter. (Copy the Block print below & refer to Aleph-Bet chart for letter formulation.) Book print Read letters Letters & words (aka aloud. consonants) It is important & Vowels for you to (aka hear nikkudot yourself ד ותSAY these (נ ק new words.. ב Please note that there are two forms of the The first is the ב (bet, which has a dot) while the second is the ב (vet, does not have a dot). Numeric value Name of letter Sound of letter Block print (as in English, there are slight variations in letters shapes) א א 1 aleph silent bet b in ball ב 2 vet v in vice ב ב ב ג 3 gimmel g in get ג ד 4 dalet d in dog ד ה 5 hay h in hi ה Vowels (aka nikkudot) Practice saying these letters & the accompanying sounds above Write each letter Name of vowel Sound of vowel Block Print Write א ah in spa ק מץ kamats: א פתח patach: א ah in spa א 2 P a g e
Now, practice reading and writing the letters First 5 Consonants (Consonants #1-5) & 2 vowels (nikkudot): patach & kamats Letter Name Sound Block Write letter & vowel aleph א silent (the aleph has the sound of attached vowel) א aleph with kamats spa) ah (as in א א aleph with patach spa) ah (as in א ב bet ball) b (as in ב ב bet with kamats bah ב ב bet with patach bah ב ב vet vice) v (as in ב ב vet with kamats vah ב ב vet with patach vah ב ג gimmel get) g (as in ג ג gimmel with kamats gah ג ג gimmel with patach gah ג ד dalet dog) d (as in ד ד dalet with kamats dah ד ד dalet with patach dah ד ה hay hi) h (as in ה ה hay with kamats hah ה ה hay with patach hah ה א 3 P a g e
Now, we are going to put these sounds together & read actual Hebrew words! Our objective is to become familiar with the letters and their sounds. not to memorize words. How to read Hebrew: 1. Hebrew is read right to left and top to bottom. Begin by reading the right-most letter. Then add the vowel that is written below it. 2. For example: with the word הב.א Begin by reading the ;א then add the.ה We now have Since there is no vowel below this letter, it only has.ב (ah-ha). Finally, we add the א ה the sound of the consonant. When we put the word altogether we have: א הב (ah-hav). Always remember read: right to left and top to bottom. Hebrew Translation בה in her bah אב Av is the 5 th month of the Biblical year, counting from Nisan. ;ב (note: red letter is the vet (ב other form of אב father ahv אהב גד אבד Read & Write words below Transliteration (please, try to read before looking at transliteration) he loved ah-hahv Gad (as in the tribe of Gad) ahv: (reminder a sound in Hebrew is like a in spa not like a in apple.) gahd he perished, was lost ah-vahd ה the hah Practice writing each word below 4 P a g e
Patach Vav How Shall I Study Hebrew? 1. Consider taking your lesson with you & review it during lunch. 2. Practice saying the first 5 letters of the aleph-bet using the hand. 3. Read the Hebrew words in this lesson. 4. Print the words. Again, read the words. Hebrew בא באה אב ה Translation I (masculine) come; also he came; arrived I (feminine) come; also she came Extra Practice Transliteration (please, try to read before looking at transliteration) bah bah-ah he was willing ah-vah בגד he acted deceitfully or treacherously verb (1Sam 14:33) bah-gahd ב דד alone (Lev 13:46) bah-dahd גאה he exalted, triumphed verb (Ex 15:1, 21) gah-ah Practice writing each word below On the Scripture below, please write the name of the letter above that particular letter. Do the same for each letter. (Only identify the letters and vowels which we have introduced thus far.) וי ד ב ר י ה וה א ל משׁ ה ב הר סיני ל אמ ר : And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, Lev 25:1. 5 P a g e