Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT ozemail.com.au>]

Thank you, Charles. I appreciate your point about the centrality of the
Hebrew script to Jewish culture and history. I would hope that anyone
learning Hebrew is also learning to appreciate this culture and history,
certainly not to denigrate them or impose other beliefs. I applaud you
for fostering this appreciation among non-Jews. And this in itself is a
good reason to learn the Hebrew script.

Peter Kirk
peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles David Isbell [mailto:cisbell AT cox.net]
> Sent: 22 January 2003 01:29
> To: Peter Kirk; 'Biblical Hebrew'
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] RE: Transliteration Schemes
> 
> Hi Peter,
> I did not take your message as an attack.  I thought it humorous to
use
> the
> word elitist when arguing that the alphabet WE find easy should
replace
> the
> alphabet the language itself uses to express itself.  I hope you saw
my
> attempts at a little humor in what I was saying.  I do feel strongly
that
> a
> transliteration system is more difficult to learn than the simple
alphabet,
> and the vowels can be taught easily.  a with a macron, with a
circumflex,
> h
> or t with a sublinear dot, forward or backward apostrophe, dh for
Dalet or
> th for Tav without daghesh, etc., ad naseum.  Do you really think
these
> are
> easy for English students?
> Here is a trick I use.  Any vowel with dots is in the EE, EH, class.
If
> there is a line, it is in the AH class.  If it is over or in the
letter,
> it
> is in the OO, UH class.  OK, I save Qibbutz and Hateph Qamatz--hey I
have
> to
> make a living!  But you would be surprised how quickly this
simplification
> works to get students started reading.
> Now the te'amim.  We do not ignore them.  We note their physical shape
> [are
> you aware that in some traditions a Gabbai gave hand signals to the
Ba'al
> Qore' to indicate the points?] and show how they are generally
indicative
> of
> connectors [mehaberim] or separators [mafsikim], rather easily
ascertained
> by the SHAPEs they take.  Incidentally, my classes, 90% non-Jewish
SING
> Jonah by the end of the first twelve weeks, and find that it helps
their
> learning.
> Now I don't want to sound arrogant, but I believe the function of a
> teacher
> is to demystify the language for his students.  If I am not afraid of
them,
> why should they be?  For me, Hebrew is more than merely a language or
a
> tool
> to use for exegesis.  It is the conveyor of my culture, the medium of
> expression of hope and grief and joy and faith,  for thousands of
years.
> I
> pray in it, study in it, think in it, read it as part of the act of
> worship.
> If the goal of a class is merely to achieve minimal proficiency in
order
> to
> buttress what one already believed before the course began, that goal
can
> almost never be achieved, I feel.  If the goal is to wrestle the demon
> grammar into submission and achieve mastery, to enter into and swim in
> [i.e., become a part of] the stream of tradition that has flowed
through
> the
> medium of Hebrew since long ago, even when falling short, one is
likely to
> progress farther than the other way.
> Just some thoughts,
> Be well,
> Charles
>