Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

shalom Jay, 

The course in the following article may be out of budget but you might find
it of interest. 

The materials that are used in the program are $65 for 
Living Biblical Hebrew for Everyone, vol 1 + 3 CD 
and $65 for vol. 2 plus 11 cassettes.
Air mail shipping is $10/vol. 
They may be ordered by sending a check to Randall Buth at Biblical Hebrew
Ulpan,
POB 82340, Mevasseret Zion 90805, ISRAEL

The good news on this material is that it starts you thinking in Hebrew.
Also, because of the 
spoken methodology for this Biblical Hebrew course,
the material meshes seamlessly with the sounds of modern Hebrew, should you
go that route later.

It could be quite a breakthrough for seminaries.

Blessings,
Randall Buth
Jerusalem

=======(from "Bridges for Peace Dispatch")

Can anyone learn to read the Bible in Hebrew?

How many people have wanted to read the Bible in Hebrew but thought it
impossible because they live in Finland, Nigeria, Japan or the USA?  This
summer in the quiet hills of Judah a unique program is in place to
revolutionize the way people read their Bibles.

There is a unique course of Biblical Hebrew that is now in its fourth year.
Over the past three summers, Dr. Randall Buth and the Home for Bible
Translators have held a six-week program that teaches Biblical Hebrew with
living language methodologies. This summer the Biblical Hebrew course will
be taught at Yad ha-Shmona with its new biblical garden. 

You may wonder how a garden designed to look like an ancient biblical site
will help someone to learn to read the Bible in Hebrew.  Imagine standing
in a real "gat" (a winepress) and being told by a teacher to "drox et
ha-`anavim" (squish the grapes with your feet) as you see the command
demonstrated. The possibilities develop in all directions. You learn words
for "grab that rope", "slip", "John fell down", "Sara is laughing", "rock",
"the ground is hard", "tired", "basket of grapes", "dump the grapes in the
winepress", "wash your feet", etc. Students start learning the language
directly, and they experience it to the point where they begin to think
with it. 

Israel has been teaching modern Hebrew to new immigrants using similar
methods employed in this course for decades. What is different in this
program is Dr. Buth and his teachers are speaking biblical Hebrew to the
students. This course is like a biblical Hebrew kindergarten where
"kindergarten students," ranging in age from 15 to 69, learn to understand
and speak their first words of the Biblical language. Though seemingly
easy, this course is a serious academic program of 120 class hours paced
over six weeks. The students study books in Hebrew like Jonah, Ruth and
Judges. They cover more than vocabulary and grammar, learning items of
culture and ancient literary style. The students learn quickly and retain
it.

This course sponsored by the Home for Bible Translators is a cooperative
effort of Mirja and Halvor Ronen, Randall Buth, and now Yad ha-Shmona. The
Ronens opened up the Home for Bible Translators with the vision of bringing
bible translators to the "Land of the Bible to enrich their translation
skills. The Ronens have arranged for one-semester programs in Biblical
Hebrew and Bible translation under the auspices of the Rothberg School at
Hebrew University. Their vision is to see translators receive fuller
training in the biblical languages and especially Hebrew. 

After many years of working in Bible translation in Africa, Dr. Buth has
joined the Ronens with the initiative to provide a unique introduction to
the Biblical language. Buth has seen a disparity between training programs
for Bible translators and programs for those who would be sent to
vocational training in Germany or the United States. A mechanic or medical
technician might return after two years with some ability to read Goethe or
Shakespeare, but a Bible translator trainee would return after two years of
study very far away from understanding the actual words of Isaiah. As a
remedy Dr. Buth has been designing this biblical Hebrew program with
techniques that have proven highly efficient in language learning. 

The students in these Biblical Hebrew summer programs have come from all
over the world: the south Pacific, Japan, Russia, Burma, India, Turkey,
Romania, Nigeria, Italy, Switzerland, UK, Brazil and USA to name a
representative spread. While many have been connected with Bible
translation projects in one form or another, the majority have been people
who wanted to read Jesus' Bible in its original language. 

What is this program like from a student's perspective? Heidi Scherer of
Switzerland, who has worked in West Africa, provides some insight, "I
wondered if I could cope with learning Hebrew from scratch at age 50. I
heard about this non-conventional course taught in Israel and I went for
it. It was an excellent and effective method. I would not want to learn
Hebrew any other way." Anna Zoni from Italy believes Buth's program can
span the broad educational spectrum. "I had studied Hebrew in college, but
found this new course to be a great refresher. I'd recommend it to anybody,
beginners or rusty non-beginners." When students are finished with the
six-week program they find that they are able to begin reading through the
Torah at a pace that encourages success. Students have been able to go on
successfully to advanced Biblical Hebrew studies or to proceed seamlessly
to Modern Hebrew because of the "living" methodologies of this Biblical
Hebrew program. 

One of the questions for the future will be how to develop this beginning
Hebrew program into a more complete training program that would cover two
or three years? Courses in Koine Greek have already started using these
methods. To learn a language one also needs to understand the culture and
literary background of a text. Israel provides a unique opportunity to
develop programs for Christians where they may begin to study the gospels
and the Bible both in the original language and in connection to the
original culture. Eventually, new programs to teach Bible teachers around
the world will need to be added. With many churches around the world
awakening to "studying their Jewish roots", this program with the Home for
Bible Translators and Yad ha-Shmona sounds very promising.

This summer there are two beginning sessions of biblical Hebrew. One
session is June 3-July 13 and another session is July 1-August 11. For
further information about the Home for Bible Translators or the summer
Hebrew programs you may contact 
The Home for Bible Translators, POB 34120, 91341 Jerusalem, Israel, email:
BibleTranslators AT JerusalemSchool.org 
Or you may contact Dr. Randall Buth directly: 
Buth AT JerusalemSchool.org