For a native English speaker to learn Hebrew is triply daunting, because it involves not only learning a new language, but one that is not of Indo-European origin, and mastering a completely different script.
Of these three obstacles, the script is psychologically the most intimidating. Indeed, conventional Hebrew study materials teach the Hebrew script by rote, as though it bore no relation to the Roman script familiar to all English speakers.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Using academically well-established, but little known historical evidence, Jonathan Orr-Stav (a.k.a. Jonathan Ure Stoppi—a third-generation Hebrew translator and editor—shows how, in fact, the Hebrew script shares a common heritage with its Roman (and Greek) counterparts—one that can be exploited to master Hebrew writing within three comparatively simple steps.
In this five-part course, based on his book of the same title, Orr-Stav first describes precisely how the Hebrew and Roman scripts are related, then takes the students through a three step process of mastering writing in modern Hebrew cursive. In the final, fifth lesson, he shows how to make the transition from that to the print version of the Hebrew alphabet.
On the way, attendees will also learn:
- about history’s most unheralded genius and what we owe him
- the best-kept secret in the history of western writing
- that they already know dozens of Hebrew words that they didn’t know they know
- what is written on a modern shekel coin (and why almost no Israeli can read it)
- the six rules of the little-known theory of chirodynamics
- why the Monty Python sketch about the Judean National Front needs to be rewritten.
Each lesson projected to be 90 minutes–2 hours long.
Cost: $100*, to include a copy of Orr-Stav’s book of the same name.
- When: Wednesdays, 7 pm, January 28 – February 25, 2015 (5 sessions)*
- Where: Congregation Emanu-El, 1461 Blanshard Street.
You can register for the course at the synagogue office or at the Emanu-El website.**
Registration and payment must be completed before the class begins.
Should you have any questions about the course, contact Jonathan at jonathan@orr-stav.com or Heshi Olson at heshi@me.com
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* Except Feb. 4th, when Israel’s Ambassador to the UN will be giving a talk. That week, the course lesson will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 3rd.
** People accessing this page on smartphones (iPhone or Android), find encounter warnings about the registration link’s security. This is due to technical issues of the server, and is beyond the control of Congregation Emanu-El staff. The user can still access the page, though, by clicking “Accept” at the top righthand corner—but a simpler solution is simply to pay with a standard computer (desktop or laptop), rather than on a smartphone.
