Customer Reviews

Aleph Isn't Tough: An Introduction to Hebrew for Adults

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most grammars give the alphabet a chapter or two and expect the student to swallow it whole - Rabbi Motzkin takes the Hebrew alphabet and teaches it in digestible bites. The alphabet is taught in its natural context - Jewish worship and beliefs, a few letters at a time and with plenty of background material to cement the letters and sounds into the student's mind. Writing is taught along with the letters.

Directed specifically those who want to learn Hebrew in worship, this work is invaluable to anyone - Christian or Jewish - who wants to study the Bible in its original text.

The second book is due to come out in 2001 - Watch for it!

I found this book to be very clear, with useful exercises in reading and writing Hebrew. The letters are not taught in alphabetic order, but rather in logical groupings that are often used together in words. The vowels are added one or two at a time, and though I felt challenged, I was not overwhelmed. I found it fun, and even reading right to left seemed natural as I became familiar with how the consonants and vowels related to each other.

Besides teaching the sounds of the letters, there are sections on Hebrew word roots, which I found immensely helpful in understanding some of the thinking and spirit in the language. I felt as if I'd been given a key into a whole new way of thinking. For example, there are names of G-d that relate to certain root words in ways that are surprising and wonderful, and there are foods we eat on High Holidays because they are a "pun" on another word that is a spiritual quality we ask for in the new year. The extra dimension this book adds beyond mere pronunciation is its real gift.

I recommend this book to adults with an interest in exploring Hebrew. After just a month, I was able to read (slowly) from the prayer book, and find myself asking questions that I would not have thought of had I only known the English translation.

I liked this primer much better than 'Learn Hebrew Tody, Alef-Bet for Adults'. It offered better exercises, clearer pronunciation guides and more in-depth grammatical explanations. An excellent first choice for the adult beginner.

This is a pretty good book for an introductory Hebrew class. It provides a mixture of basic Hebrew and siddur Hebrew, introducing many word roots used in the prayer book. This satisfies the requirements of the average Hebraically functionally illiterate American Jew who has only a marginal interest in actually mastering Hebrew, but would like to be able to pronounce and "follow along" during Sabbath prayer services. Definitely not the only book one would need to know Hebrew. No grammar or linguistic niceties, simply a book to help you have some ability to know where you are in the prayer book. I am not sure I would recommend this as a beginning book for someone who is serious about learning Hebrew. It is more of a thing unto itself, not necessarily providing a grounding for further study.

If like me you are wanting to teach yourself Hebrew this book is an excellent resource for doing so. As one other reviewer rightly commented it breaks the Hebrew alphabet down into smaller portions and thus makes it easier to memorize. Anoither plus is that writing of the letters is taught along with their pronounciation. One of the best things was the help in pronouncing the letters correctly. The information on roots made the learning of Biblical Hebrew a much less daunting prospect for me. Of all the Hebrew teaching tools I've come across so far, this one is my favorite.

I attended Hebrew school 3 times a week for 6 years until my Bar Mitzvah in 1966). When I quit, I could read Hebrew but understood little or nothing about what I was reading and do not recall any lessons in the structure of the language or its syntax. When we joined a synagogue a couple of years ago, I could still sort of read a little, but had forgotten a few letters which made my ability to read pretty much useless. But I digress.

Aleph Isn't Tough goes through the entire Hebrew alephbet, teaches pronunciation of all the characters, demonstrates many word roots and their modifications that form related words (all with translations, of course), teaches the distinction between a main character and its altered form when used at the end of a word (e.g., mem vs. mem sofit or final mem) and teaches all the vowel sounds. And also teaches a number of exceptions to pronunciation and spelling that I am quite certain I never learned in those 6 years spent all those decades ago. This is a lot for a beginner book, but that is unquestionably what this is.

As the title of the review indicates, this book (first in a series of at least 3 that I know of) is NOT intended to teach modern conversational Hebrew. Rather, it provides an introduction to reading the Hebrew of the Torah and that of the doxology found in all modern siddurs (Prayerbooks). This first volume uses as its basis the Shabbat service. The words that one learns and the sentence fragments and sentences are all part of the Shabbat service. So the book does double duty as an introduction to the Hebrew language as well as an introduction to many of the most important phrases of the Shabbat prayers.

I believe this book (which is definitely more appropriate for adults rather than children because of its style and pacing) would be sufficient to take someone from not reading Hebrew at all to being able to follow along with the Shabbbat service. In my case, just a few hours with the book was enough to get my Hebrew reading to a level at least as good as I ever achieved as a young student, with the added benefit of a rudimentary understanding of the structure of word formation and the rules of pronunciation. At the very least, I am able to go over my son's Hebrew School homework and correct his spelling and reading. It will be interesting to see how long it takes him to surpass me. At which point I suppose I will pick up Volume 2, "Aleph Isn't Enough".

J.M. Tepper

I purchased this book because it was the required text for my class. We use it as an adjunct to other materials. As a stand alone text, I might not be as happy with it. But along with class discussions and other materials it's been a great tool for learning. If you know NOTHING about Hebrew, this is perhaps not the best book to pick for your first primer. However, for our purposes, it's been great.

I've used this book in teaching both children and adults successfully and think it's excellent. The manner in which it is organized and the workbook-like exercises make it possible for some students to self-guide themselves through it in learning how to decode Hebrew.

I wholeheartedly endorse this book!!! It is in workbook format, will teach you how to write cursive AND script, and uses biblical phrases to teach the language. The book also offers and excellent chart on all of the letters (both cursive and script), as well as vowels - well worth keeping long after you complete the book for later reference. This book is a great primer, preparing the student to move on to studying either biblical OR contemporary Hebrew. It allowed me to skip a first level Hebrew class and go straight into level 2. Strongly recommended.

This book is really not useful for helping learn Hebrew as a language.

It was selected for our adult Hebrew class to help with pronouncing the prayers, which it is probably useful if you ignored about half the book, which introduces, but does not explain and ultimately confuses several other concepts like finding roots in other words, gammatria, etc.

Please see follow up comment to Richard Ingraham's review:

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