I HAVE BEEN very slowly learning some Hebrew (yes on top of Spanish: I'm a sucker for punishment). Slowly being the operative word. I got 4 books from the library: 2 on Biblical; another 2 on modern. The Biblical Hebrew "grammars" (the one from the 1950s claims to be "simplified" ~ well I'd love to see a complicated version. What do they do there? Write the explanations in Arabic??)~~ these are totally impenetrable. 
Only by poring over Teach Yourself Modern Hebrew did I eventually get somewhere. I can now read and write the script in both printed and handwritten variants with and without vowel pointings or "vocalizations" as scholarly types like to call them. Though I still make the odd howling error. E.g. mistaking a T for an M or an S. Compare Tet, Mem and Samech on the chart. It took me a week to get the 22 consonants plus a handful of vowel signs (which look so similar I have to take off glasses and peer at them from 2 inches away to read any distinction in the 1950s book, which appears to have deliberately picked the most arcane and confusing font possible, where entire groups of letters look just the same... I have always had a fascination with Near Eastern history and culture, ancient and modern...& NOW FOR SOME MUSIC...
THIS IS a CLASSIC:
OFRA HAZA: IM NIN ALU
Famous in Israel and surrounding countries for years, this song became an international hit in 1988 after rappers Eric B and Rakim featured a sample on one of their tracks... The video is shot in Petra in Jordan. Ofra Haza died in 2000 of pneumonia, a complication of AIDS...
Im Nin Alu means loosely if the doors are locked ... Originally a Hebrew poem by a 17th century rabbi, some of the words were incorporated in Haza's 1988 hit.
Good for you. I intend to get back to the Rosetta Stone Spanish. I'd wanted to learn Hebrew years ago but let it pass.
ReplyDeleteHebrew is about 10 times harder than Spanish!
ReplyDeleteBTW with Rosetta Stone do you actually learn to put written sentences together?... Or is it more listen and repeat and learning the spoken language? I know it's on CD roms but don't get exactly how it works...
Gosh you really tax your brain don't you? :)
ReplyDeletesheesh, I'm lucky I can speak passable English and that's my mother tongue. You really put your brain to the test!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately they only sold these old fashioned Madonnas (the other one is not the youngest either) but I haven't seen any white Michael in the shop, lol !
ReplyDeleteI plan to take on Yiddish one day.
ReplyDeletethis is a beautiful poem. i have always loved ofra haza. there is a website with the English trans of her work.
ReplyDelete(kudo on the hebrew, i skipped it in seminary, had to redo for scripture translation)
Brother Frankie
A Biker for Christ
Hey Gleds, I saw your wasps and have to say it was a lil unerving seeing them so close up. I am NOT a bug kinda girl! I have no issues with reptiles, rodents or anything else I can think of...just most species of insects.Shhh, don't tell anyone ;)
ReplyDeleteI wish you continued success with your language studies.
I'm fortunate in that I learned to speak both spanish and english when I was a toddler. The spanish has made it possible for me to read and understand french and some italian as well. I tried to learn portuguese from my stepfather but gave up pretty quick. Aside from that I've learned how to say NO! and Stop that! in russian but that was out of necessity haha.
XOXO
~Melody
How beautiful! I have a special fondness for Hebrew and Arabic because of their relation to calligraphy (in my eyes) and there's so much incredible poetry written by these obscure scribes and Rabbis from centuries old. I've used calligraphy most of my life and it's more than natural now. Wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's no mean feat, Gleds. Congratulations on your achievement. I'm fascinated by Arab and Jewish history, but I've never thought to learn the language. I've taken the easy way out to learn the Romance languages...
ReplyDeleteGood for you learning yet another language. My sister is picking up Spanish with her frequent trips to Mexico and my daughter is trying to learn Japaneses watching anime in that language.
ReplyDeleteAs for Me being a writer I'm just trying to brush up on English and English grammar my mother tongue, lol.
Janice~
Akelamalu: my brain would rot otherwise!
ReplyDeleteDrifter: yeah but you have to!
Gattina: !
Koala: why Yiddish? I can just about follow it because I nearly speak German. They have a funny way of rendering the SCH in words like "Schule" "Schuhe" etc... round S, Shin S, Heh H or something like that...
Frankie: are you a Catholic Priest then?
Wouldn't you have to learn Greek, Latin AND Hebrew to be a priest? Wow that would make my head whirl. And aparently NO-ONE spoke Greek or Latin in the hardcore classical form. Though New Testament Greek and Biblical Hebrew do follow "vernacular" forms that only became arcane with the passing of time...
PS why do people say "Abba" for father when the modern word is "ava". Or is Abba Aramaic?...??
Melody: I can swear in a panapoly of tongues too, hahar!!
ReplyDeleteCathy: I watched a film by Miramax (well it had their name at the beginning but it seemed to be made in the Middle East) it was in Arabic... called Children of Heaven or something.
I did go to Morocco and before I went was expecting a country full of sand, like a giant beach with square white houses, women dressed head to toe in black and ultra-modern cities full of black glass. There were these things but those countries are so far more cultured than I'd imagined. The food is far better than ours. And fresh tangerine juice ~ wow!
PussInBoots: it is a bit complicated with the vocabulary. It bears no relation at all to anything in English...
Janice: Japanese is the other one I wanna learn. I love the funky writing as much as anything...
kind gledwood,
ReplyDeletei was once a catholic, but like most things in my life, walked away.
after study of the scriptures i have found that the priesthood had ended with Jesus Christ. Him ending the levitical line and fulfilling the "priest forever" after the order of Melchizedek.
we, believers, now have access to God without the need of a priest.
So, i am just a teacher/preacher, like john the baptist. (i wonder if he was an addict? mushrooms maybe?)
I have an extensive library which i use when i am digging into the old writings.
you are correct on the abba thing. there are a lot of ideas as to just why it was translated that way. could be some phonetics, some Arabian, some drunk king james guy (joke)with a quil...
either way, i do enjoy your gift of writing.
Be Blessed,
you are loved
Brother Frankie
I need a gift for SOMETHING ~ ha-har!!
ReplyDeleteWasn't Melchizadeck symbolic of Jesus Christ... or something? I don't understand all that...
cool stuff.
ReplyDeletealot has been written about Melchizadeck. Some say he was the preincarnate existence of Christ. Technically it would be called a theophany, which is an appearance of God in a physical form.
but you are right, i consider him symbolic or pointing towards, if not Christ Himself.
You are appreciated.
Brother Frankie
Hebrew is beautiful. My parents (Angus & Batya) are fluent but they are also founders of
ReplyDeleteMessianic Israel Alliance
That is a true challenge yet wonderful, at least to me!
Messianic Israel Alliance is an awesome group, and they know alot about the priesthood and the lineage i was talking about..
ReplyDeleteokay, ill be quiet now.
(hi aunt b)