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Linda Motzkin

Aleph Isn't Tough: An Introduction to Hebrew for Adults Paperback – March 1, 2000

by Linda Motzkin (Author), Hara E. Person (Editor)

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This new Hebrew book for adult learners is ground breaking in its structure and as an effective educational tool. This superb new text was created by Rabbi Linda Motzkin in consultation with key figures in the field of Hebrew education. Piloted in a sample of Reform congregations throughout the country, the book is the first step in a program of Hebrew learning for adults. Drawing upon the particular knowledge that the individual reader brings to the material, one is carefully introduced to the letters and vowels of the Hebrew alphabet. The goal is to develop the reader's ability to decode written Hebrew words as well as to ground the learning of Hebrew in the broader sense of its use in Jewish life, ritual, study, and tradition.

Print length

57 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Behrman House
Publication date

March 1, 2000
Dimensions

8.6 x 0.3 x 10.8 inches
ISBN-10

0807407267
ISBN-13

978-0807407264
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Linda Motzkin Linda Motzkin received her M.A.H.L. and rabbinic ordination from HUC-JIR. She is a co-rabbi, together with her husband Jonathan Rubenstein, of Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs, New York, as well as the Jewish chaplain at Skidmore College. She is the author of the Hebrew for Adults Series and numerous other publications.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Behrman House; 0 edition (March 1, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 57 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807407267
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807407264
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.6 x 0.3 x 10.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #59,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13 in Jewish Theology
- #192 in Foreign Dictionaries & Thesauruses

Customer Reviews:
250 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		82%
4 star		11%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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S. Perry

Great for Adult Learners - keeps you invested!

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2016

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This is the most delightful intro-to-Hebrew book I've yet found. I'm an autodidact, and this book made it easy to work on my own, at my own pace, for the beginning stages of learning the alphabet and language. Rather than just making this a rote learning exercise, the book teaches root words and has you applying your lessons by the time you know three characters and one vowel. You're able to write a word within half an hour, and by your second lesson you can write one complete sentence. It gives a feeling of accomplishment that keeps you moving through the lessons. I am excited for my self-designated lesson time, which is very exciting for someone who left high school quite a while ago!

20 people found this helpful

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R. M. Barge

Finally, Someone Who Understands How to Teach the Hebrew Alphabet to Beginners.

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2014

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I got my copy of this book last week and I thought I'd just pile on another 5 star review. This book is fabulous. Somebody who finally grasps the problems that adult English speakers might have learning Hebrew.

I have zero knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet, grammar, etc. That is who this book is intended to serve, and it does the job so very well. Why suffer when you don't have to?

It goes reasonably slowly and pounds each and every letter and vowel into your head, a couple at a time, until you actually know them. And it is painless and fun doing it. But it does not go so slowly that you get bored.

If you are an absolute beginner in Hebrew, read this book before you start your Hebrew course! It will save you untold agony.

23 people found this helpful

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eclecticCritiques

EXCELLANT

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2019

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This is my second go-round with Aleph Isn't Tough. It is an excellent learning tool for Hebrew. I found the lessons easy to follow with an elevation in each lesson from the one before.

The book advances from simple introduction to the twenty-two Hebrew letters. A Reading Practice is included in each lesson and writing exercises. The lessons go into prefixes and suffixes, vowel and consonant, Trope or Cantillation marks. It goes into depth of the Hebrew language but in a manner that is not difficult to follow and excites you to the next lesson.

RECOMMENDED.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Excellent for those who want to be able to read their prayerbooks in Hebrew

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2010

Verified Purchase

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

33 people found this helpful

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S. I. Greenberg

Good proofreading is important!

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

Two major complaints: (1) One letter is used in a reading exercise BEFORE it is actually introduced to the readers, and (2) there are MANY words that should have accents (a meteg) indicating the correct syllable to accent, but they are missing. This means I have to begin each class going through the corrections before we can start our lesson.

I hope they'll come out with an improved, corrected version.

Helpful

Cheryl Savageau

Excellent Book for Adults Learning Hebrew

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2002

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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.

58 people found this helpful

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Donna Dove

The information is very easy to understand

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2015

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My rabbi used this book for her adult beginning Hebrew class. The information is very easy to understand. The book takes the student through the entire alphabet and has exercises in reading and writing. I believe any adult student would be able to use this book to good advantage.

13 people found this helpful

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Seeker of Light

Objective Review - Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2015

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First of All, I want to give a complete objective review on this book after I finished reading it:
1) Concerning the book itself, it is new, well written and in very good condition, no problem with delivery with amazon (good job).
2) This is the student book suitable for a school, Synagogue etc…. It is a religious one teaching Hebrew. So if you are an atheist/Agnostic etc… interested in the language you might not like it.
It is a marvelous book nevertheless .It is written taking into consideration that there is a teacher (not aimed primarily for self-learning although in my case it was very helpful without a teacher). There is also a teacher's book and some workbooks. This book is part of a series of 4 books. I advised you to buy them all.
3) This book is Awesome, brilliant in every possible way!!! A big thank you to the author and to the editor. I have never seen anything like that so successful. The blessings of God is shown clearly in this book.
Believe it or not I am learning Hebrew for the first time “on my own" using this book. I am a polyglot. I know already 9 languages including Arabic. I began with colloquial Hebrew and then used ASSIMIL method intuitive for a while to just learn the correct pronunciation and listened to a lot of material on YouTube. I dumped them and moved to this book.
4) It is a book that is totally vowelized (meaning written with vowels (the dots and dashes above and below letters). It explains the letters and vowels and give tons of reading material to practice. It teaches cursive Hebrew and block or print Hebrew and has a lot of exercises that allow you to practice writing.
This is how to learn Hebrew really.
Don't buy any book that claim that in majority of newspapers, TV shows people don't use vowels (all this is nonsense). IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ANY SEMETIC LANGUAGES (ARABIC, HEBREW, ARAMAIC etc...) WITHOUT "VOWELIZING THE LETTERS” (in bold), I repeat without VOWELS, without the HatNoat (Shva, Segol, patakh, Kamats, Shuruk etc...). Any book that claims otherwise must be thrown in the garbage. I remember when I learned Arabic, this is how I learn it -WITH WOWELS-. Arabic in newspapers, TV shows etc… is not vowelized. To read without vowels is a stage of being intermediate or advanced learners not in the beginning.
5) It could be a lot better (the perfect book!) IF this book came with audio (A CD or a Web site containing pronunciation, prayers etc…) for people who are learning on their own.
For me what I did is I went to YouTube and listened to prayers and blessings in Hebrew mentioned in the book. Few links that can help:
From Brian Shamash channel found at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BrianShamash/videos
All prayers vowelized and chanted – Brilliant!. At least I knew how a very mysterious vowel is pronounced called "Shva". I almost gave up :-)
Jewish Educator found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAw09v9JLPjjar5cYsPlGKg
Missing points and minor remarks:
----------------------------------------------
1) Kaf has a sofit form like "Khaf sofit". Same for Pei has a sofit form (final Form) like Fei. The reader (like me, working on his own) cannot deduce that. It is not mentioned clearly nor it is implied from exercises. Especially is some exercises, I almost wrote the Pei in the end of the word not how it should be written (exercises on page 81).
2)The Shva vowel (covered in chapter 4) is a mysterious vowel as I said. Learn it well before you proceed. In the majority of case (95%), it is pronounced (I watched tons of videos) as short "eh" like the French e with an accent not as "ah" nor "oh" when it comes in the beginning of a word and in other rare situations. I wish I had a teacher to tell me that. It can be silent (like the "Soukoun" vowel in Arabic - if you are familiar with Arabic). Knowing Arabic or Syriac Aramaic (spoken in some parts of Syria) is very advantageous to learning Hebrew (All these are sister or cousin languages).
I am a polyglot who lives in Scotland and nobody seems to care about Hebrew. They have courses to teach Arabic, Chinese, Japanese etc... but not Hebrew??!! I don't know why.
3) Yemenite Jews and a lot of Jews from the Orient (Syria, Lebanon etc...) pronounce "Khet" as the letter ح in Arabic (which is the most correct following the real origin). Letter Ain is pronounced as ع in Arabic (which is the most correct following the real origin). Same with Kuf (wrongly pronounced by European Hebrews) and many other letters, all of these letters really sounds like their sisters in Arabic and Aramaic. It is good to know that because there are many oriental dialects for Hebrew (which are more authentic to the original Hebrew – this is the opinion of academics in linguistics not me) as then to Sephardic (Spanish...) or Ashkenazi (German...). Sephardic and Ashkenazi both speak modernized somewhat incorrect European influenced Hebrew.
Proper Pronunciation of Hebrew Alphabet (near the forgotten original) links:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpIExmYVPSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAx1rwU9x4M
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqk83uZegoML7cEnXlXYZ4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMowx4Q-eJA

I hope I was as objective as possible and my comments were useful. I definitely recommends Linda's books. Good Job!

6 people found this helpful

E.S

Fantastic!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

I love this book! It introduces two or three letters in each chapter, along with a root letter and facts about letters and the context they are used in.
In each chapter there are little boxes with information about jewish life for example, and even though I am a christian, I find it very intresting and fun to learn more about hebrew in jewish tradition! I have tried some other books, but I like Aleph isn't tough the most, as it introduces the letters at bite-sized chunks to the learner!

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

A Great Introduction for Learners of the Hebrew Language

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

For all newcomers to the Hebrew language and especially those wanting to learn how to read the Torah, this training manual is an excellent springboard. A highly recommended training tool - idral for use as a re- cap for continued practice.

One person found this helpful

Chris

Excellent book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

Helped me navigate Hebrew from when I was a child, looking forward to my adult bar mitzvah, thank you book!

jw

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2018

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One person found this helpful

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