Learn to Read Hebrew

At every session, from 7:00 to 7:30pm there will be a brief "Learn to Read Hebrew" lesson.  These will cover the Hebrew letters and vowels, and only as much vocabulary and grammar to add a little interest.  At the end of the course, students will gain a reading knowledge of Hebrew, which is to be able to read and say aloud the sounds of the Hebrew words; this is useful for learning to say Hebrew prayers and blessings, without resorting to hard to read transliterations.  Optionally, if the student desires, using the limited vocabulary introduced in this class, some understanding of some of the Hebrew blessings and prayers may result.   

Even if you have never studied another language before, you will gain a knowledge of Hebrew sufficient to read Hebrew words aloud and pronounce them.  Our goal is to have fun in class and learn something along the way. 

There will be calendar outlining what will be presented each week. Our class pace will be what the students can absorb, fast or slow as needed.  So what will be presented in each session is not predictable in advance. The calendar usually will be updated before each class session. 

While the handouts for all the class sessions are available here, please do not get ahead of the class presentations.  Take it slowly; it is easier to absorb that way.

Please visit this page weekly to get the next lesson. (Scroll to the bottom for the handouts).   Everything I hand out in class is or will be available on this page.  So, if you miss a session, you can get the handout here. 

Textbooks:

• Practice, Drill and Review for Reading Hebrew (Sefardi) by Lillian W. Adler ISBN 0-87441-216-1 , published by Behrman House Inc.  (this is the most important book). 

• The New Reading Hebrew (A Guided Instruction Course) by Dr. C. Castberg and Lillian W. Adler ISBN 978-0-874-41728-9, published by Behrman House Inc. 

• The in-class handouts (Lesson 1 through Lesson 14), available for download on this page. 

The class lessons will be from the in-class handouts, which are based on the text books.  The text book sections corresponding to each handout should be reviewed before each class.  

Homework:

Homework will be assigned at the end of each class session, based on what we have covered up to that point.  It is very important that you do the homework; it makes it easier to learn the material.  At the next class, please ask questions if you did not understand or had trouble doing the homework.    If you miss a class, please read the handout and textbook section that was covered and please do the homework that was assigned, so that you do not fall behind.  The homework assigned will be listed on the calendar below.

The homework consists of reading the material in the textbooks corresponding to the class lesson handout. Then a page or two of "Read-Listen-Say" will be assigned.  You read the words on the page while listening to the corresponding audio track for that page.  Then you try to say them yourself, along with the recording, and then by yourself.  This is a great way to learn!

Lesson Calendar:

(This list shows when we covered each of the lesson handouts in class; this section should be updated shortly after each class session).  

• 2024.1119:  This initial session was an introduction to "Introduction to Judaism" class, instructors, and each other.  No Hebrew Class.  The first Hebrew class is next week. 

• 2024.1126: This was the first "Learn to Read Hebrew" session.  We introduced the books (including how to read the "Yellow" book with all the colored stripes on the pages), and the "Peach" book with the exercise pages. We covered a letter  בּ (Bet, and its form without the dagesh, Vet,  ב ), and the long-a vowel (two dots under the consonant, shown here as a place-holder-character-X ֵX ).  Lesson-1, boxes 1-5.  No Homework. 

• 2024.1203: We finished Lesson 1.  Homework: Exercises on page 6 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2024.1210: We reviewed last week's homework and started Lesson 2 (boxes 0 through 7, and 12. Homework: Exercises on page 9 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2024.1217: We reviewed the homework and then finished Lesson 2.  Homework: pages 12 and 15 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2024.1224: No Introduction to Judaism Class today.

• 2024.1231: No Introduction to Judaism Class today.

• 2025.0107: We reviewed the letters and vowels we have already learned and then started Lesson 3 (through box12).  Homework: pages 18 and 21 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0114: We reviewed the homework and previously covered letters and vowels. We finished Lesson 3 and started Lesson 4 (through box 12). Homework: page 22 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0121: We reviewed the homework, and the Alef-Bet so far covered.  We finished Lesson 4 started Lesson 5 (through box 5). Homework: page 26 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0128: We reviewed the homework and Alef-Bet. We will covered Lesson 5 (boxes 6 through 10).  Homework:  pages 30 and 34 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0204: We reviewed the homework, finished Lesson 5, and started Lesson 6 (boxes 0 through 5).  Homework: all of page 38 and lines 1 & 2 on page 39 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0211: We reviewed the homework, finished Lesson 6 (boxes 6 through 46). Homework: page 40 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0218: We reviewed the homework, and covered Lesson 7.  Homework: page 43, and page 39 lines 3-10 (the Torah Blessing) (Read/Listen/Speak). 

• 2025.0225: We reviewed the homework and covered Lesson 8. Homework: page 46 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0304: We reviewed, and started Lesson 9 (boxes 0 through 23). Homework: page 50 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0311: (No Hebrew Lesson today; No Homework)

• 2025.0318:  Hebrew Lesson by Rabbi Magat:  Reviewed Lesson 9 and covered Lesson 10. No Homework.

• 2025.0325: We reviewed all the letters and vowels (all of them!) and learned the Aleph-Bet song.  We also sang Oseh Shalom, and started Lesson 11 (through box 23).  Homework: Page 51 [especially the last part] (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0401: We reviewed (including the Aleph-Bet song),  finished Lesson 11 and started Lesson 12 (through box 36). Homework: Page 57 (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0408: We reviewed, sang the Aleph-Bet song, and finished Lesson 12. We covered The Passover 4 Questions. Homework: Page 59 (The 4 Questions) (Read/Listen/Speak).

• 2025.0415: We reviewed, sang the Aleph-Bet song, and covered Lesson 13 through box 22.  No Homework. 

• 2025.0422: We reviewed, sang the Aleph-Bet song, finished Lesson 13, started Lesson 14 (through box 19).

• 2025.0429: No Class.

• 2025.0506: This will be the last class session. We will review, sing the Aleph-Bet song, and finish Lesson 14. 

The files available here are:

The AlephBetChart file is a small image of the chart that we use in class that contains the various letters and vowels, presented in a strange non-alphabetical order.  There are little hints with many of the letters to help you remember the sound of each letter. 

The Dreidel handout gives some information on the Hanukah Dreidel (traditional spinning top).  Note that Dreidel (דרײדל) is a Yiddish word.  The word in Hebrew is Seh'vee-vone (סביבון).  This is for the lesson just before or during Hanukah (חנוכה).  (Note: the name of the holiday starts with a guttural H letter, so should be written Khanukah, but then it would not be recognizable in English!)

The Hebrew_Book_Exercise_Pages are excerpts from the peach colored book.  These are the exercise pages that correspond to the Audio Tracks.  

The Hebrew_Flash_Cards are pages that are meant to be printed double-sided, and then cut with a scissors to make small flash cards used for practice.  The front of the card will have a letter or vowel, and the back will give you the pronunciation. Look at the front of the card and then without turning it over, try to say out loud the sound.  If you can't remember, then turn over the card, say the sound, then put the card randomly back in the stack and keep going.  Use of the flash cards will eventually help you in remembering the sounds of the letters. 

The Letters_from_old_dictionary is two pages from an old Hebrew-English dictionary.  Please remember that the "pronunciation" given is NOT how we pronounce the letters. What is interesting here is the "old Hebrew" column of the letters that shows you how very ancient Hebrew letters used to look (when things were carved in stone) before the letters changed shape to reflect paper and pen.  It also shows the script (handwriting) form of Hebrew letters.  We will not use anything from these pages in class; it is presented just as a curiosity, for your information only. 

Lesson01 through Lesson14: The weekly lesson handouts will have file names of the form "LessonXX.pdf" where XX is a number (such as "01", "02", etc.). 

Audio Files:

Please look at the page  "Hebrew Audio Tracks"   for a down-loadable audio tracks (MP3 files) that give you the pronunciation of the exercises in the text book.  Everyone should, every week, practice the exercises in the book corresponding to the current week's lesson, while listening to these recordings. 

Hebrew Class Handouts