Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryan Rocine" <brocine AT earthlink.net>]

B-Haverim,

Please allow me to re-post below our list charter, which is
also available at http://metalab.unc.edu/bhebrew ,and make a
couple explanatory comments:

Notice that our list is not technically a scholarly forum.
That is, the list is open to those who are not professional
scholars or those who are not academically credentialed.  In
fact, part of our mission, a part that is sometimes a bit
neglected, is to help those with intermediate skills in
Biblical Hebrew to learn more about how to read the Hebrew
Bible in Hebrew.

Because the list is open to the non-scholar, we will not
strictly enforce the rules of engagement that may be
essential in a strictly scholarly forum.  Indeed, all of our
participants are not even completely aware of such rules,
they did not join the list to be schooled in such rules, and
the scholars on the list are required to be patient with
their fellow list members.  Belittling someone for not
arguing according to the rules of scholarly engagement is
against our list charter and grounds for dismissal.  Neither
does this requirement for patience on the part of the
scholar open the door for the non-scholar to brandish
faith-only-based arguements or to make the list a place for
proselytizing.  The staff is quite active in insuring that
this mutual respect of the members is maintained. You must
realize that we do most of our work, including correction of
offenses *off-list.*

Finally notice that our charter is not the same as the
b-greek charter, which almost entirely limits discussion to
subjects of a linguistic nature.  Although some of our list
members may prefer the older b-hebrew charter, which is more
like the b-greek charter, our charter is presently more
broad.  Some of the current threads about textual criticism
or archeology are indeed within the charter's scope.  We
certainly have had a few people speak up to say that they
preferred the older, more limited charter.  Personally, I
also prefer the limits.  However, the consensus on the list
seems to be that the broader scope is preferred.  I judge by
the many-fold increase in traffic, generally, which I
believe includes an increase in discussion of linguistic
topics as well.  In the end, the scope of list discussion is
not up to the consensus of the members; it is up to the list
owner, Jonathan Robie.

Shalom,
Bryan Rocine
b-hebrew staff

THE B-HEBREW CHARTER:

B-Hebrew is an e-mail conference of academic professionals,
teachers, students, clergy and laity, people of any faith,
devoted to a better understanding of the Hebrew Bible. As
such we often discuss a variety of topics related to the
Biblical languages, the history of the text and its study,
the culture of the Ancient Near East, the literary analysis
of the Hebrew Bible, and more.

Respectful Discourse
B-Hebrew seeks to foster valuable, interesting exchange
among people whose views, backgrounds, and cultures vary
widely. We encourage participants to be at least as willing
to listen as they are to speak. In our experience, certain
rules have been valuable for promoting the kind of exchange
we desire.

Although the B-Hebrew forum is willing to entertain a wide
range of discussion topics related to Hebrew and the Hebrew
Bible, the staff will not tolerate personal attack or
disrespect. We are careful to administer this list
responsibly. The first two times you post, your message must
be approved by a member of the B-Hebrew staff. This allows
us to screen out spam and off-topic posts by people who are
not familiar with the list. However, it also means that
there will be a delay before your message is posted to the
list. After the first two posts, your messages are sent
directly to the list. Please honor the following guidelines
in all your contributions:

Debate that forces particular faith or doctrinal
perspectives onto a reading of the text is not appropriate
subject matter for this forum.

Proselytizing ("seeking to convert someone to a certain
religious faith") is also not appropriate. Naturally, each
of us will share our own understanding from our own
perspective, but this should not be done with the goal of
changing other participants.

Knowledge of Hebrew is assumed, but belittling someone for
their lack of skill or ridiculing someone for making a
mistake--even a basic one--is unacceptable.

All list members should be allowed the dignity of being
different.

Discuss passionately, but keep control of your own emotions.

Support your counterpoints with evidence, and remember to
focus on people's ideas and not the people themselves.

Consider the possibility of responding directly to a person,
rather than to the entire list, if the content might not be
of interest to everyone.

Each of your posts should be signed by name, so members know
from whom they are hearing and to whom they might respond

A helpful hint: Write your response, save it and sleep on
it. After the emotion of the moment has passed, think about
whether your posting will be helpful and appropriate.

Transcription Guidelines
Officially, the B-Hebrew forum transcribes Hebrew in our
posts using the Michigan-Claremont-Westminster scheme(MCW)
as shown below. In practice, however, the adherence of the
list members to the MCW is rather relaxed, so we also assume
that members have Hebrew Bibles handy for reference. When an
alphabetic sequence is particularly critical to a
discussion, members may want to write out the sequence in
words, e.g., "The Hebrew spelling of _Adam_ is
aleph-qamets-dalet-qamets-mem."

Consonants
Aleph  ) or '
Beth  B
Gimel  G
Daleth  D
Heh  H
Waw  W
Zayin  Z
Cheth  X
Teth  +
Yod  Y
Kaph  K
Lamedh  L
Mem  M
Nun  N
Samek  S
Pe  P
Ayin  ( or `
Tsade  C
Qoph  Q
Resh  R
Sin  &
Shin  $
Tav  T

Vowels
Patah  A
Qamets  F
Segol  E
Tsere  "
Hireq  I
Holem  O
Qamets Chatuf F
Qibbuts  U
Shureq  W
.  Shewa  :
Hatef Patah  :A
Hatef Segol  :E
Hatef Qamets  :F

Miscellaneous
Ketiv  *
Qere  **
Dagesh  .
Meqqeph  -