I am trying to learn Hebrew. I hope to get far enough to be able to read Genesis. I thought I knew the first verse already, but with a little exposure to what I don’t know even that verse remains a mystery.
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
Genesis 1:1 Bible Hub, Westminster Leningrad Codex
The first thing one needs to learn is the alef bet. Here’s a song to help with that which I found among the many helpful videos on the Hebrew with Mayim channel. One can also learn these letters from the Learn Hebrew With Daniel channel, and many other places. Although that eye makes me suspicious, I figure if I ever understand this video I would finally know the alef bet. I’m not there yet.
One approach to creation is to think of God creating the Hebrew language first and then using that language to speak reality into existence out of nothing. That seemed to be Rabbi Mordechai Kraft’s message. His talk fascinated me from the beginning to the abracadabra at the end.
Rabbi Michael Skobac goes into this in even more detail. Perhaps there is also a code in the Torah as Rabbi Moshe Zeldman suggests. All of these people have convinced me that Hebrew is a language set apart, a holy language, perhaps very close to the “Edenics” spoken in Eden according to Isaac Mozeson.
So I’m trying to learn Hebrew and combine whatever I might ultimately learn with a Christian perspective.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 