pray that God stirs His children to learn Hebrew

What a fabulous teacher!Thank you so much for your clear, and interesting introduction.

Thank you, Miles, for your excellent teaching and clarifications - I started Hebrew last Semester at Uni. The book we use is by a different author; I was so confused by it. I watched your online teaching, and I was very impressed, so I purchased your DVD, the vocab CD's, the English Grammar to Ace and the Charts of Biblical Hebrew. I couldn't be happier. I might also purchase your exercise book for practice. Your teaching is clear and has a precise design strategy. I was progressing well and received a Distinction at the end of the First Semester. two more Semesters until the end of the year! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. God Bless.

I have been working on the Hebrew for more than a year using different slides but this is the best I have come across. There is simplicity and clarity. I have found the Instructor not intimiditating but inspiring.and appatizing for more Hebrew. Thank you. Rev. Albert Selwyn, Bangalore, India

Thanks brother please pray for me to learn Hebrew and God bless.

very good teaching for me to understand it. im glad your teaching is slow and not rushing me i can keep up better. im just starting off i always wanted to learn the biblical hebrew.

Thank you. Really enjoyed this lesson and learning instruments.

I purchased the study book and have been plugging along. Being able to rewind and practice is helping. I can see progress. Thanks

For someone like me not knowing the first thing about this, it was very helpful to learn to write it and understand the sounds thank you

Excellent!!! I have been trying to learn and read through “Basics of Biblical Hebrew.” This video is a tremendous help. Thank you!!!

Simple and self explanatory. It is the perfect lesson for a beginner of Hebrew language. The writing of the letters is very useful, because it is difficult to write correctly

I like the way you demonstrate the letters - I can see it is doable for me - the beginner

I wanted to learn hebrew before I was even saved. It seemed the best way to actually understand the Bible if it was something I truly wanted to read and learn from. I've now read the kjv most of the way through, and am starting my journey into hebrew. I really feel like the Spirit is moving me to learn more about the jews as a whole. Its like I woke up one day and just wanted to know all the things! It's very exciting for me, I am loving the whole process. Thank you for sharing this beautiful knowledge with the world. God bless you 💖

I tried learning Hebrew and gave up . He has presented it with such simplicity that my interest has been rekindled. Thank you very much.

Exactly what I am looking for! I want to add another Semitic language to my brain and I found it close to my native language. شكرا

Great beginner lesson. I want to learn Hebrew so I can understand more about God's intention in the Old Testament. Thank you for keeping this lesson simple and giving things to master before the next lesson.

Yes! I love Hebrew Languange very much.Thanks 4 the lessons

I am so glad to learn Hebrew Alphabet. My study help me a lot. I am working Pastor and learning Master Course this Study is to great for me.. please keep on so that we may continue study online through your preciouses contribution... This will help us a lot May God bless you and your family and ministry as well. Please keep go on on this Subject please

Thank God I found this site...I struggled with the Hebrew alphabet for oh so long until I started listening to this amazing instructor ....Professor Miles V. Van Pelt. God bless you Sir...because of you and your excellent teaching method I have decided not to quit. I might add afer one week...I now know the following: the Alphabet (the form, name and pronounciation); the five final forms and how they are related to the regular form; the 6 begadkephat consonants and a dagesh lene (a dot) identify the hard sound of the begadkephat letters and I able to write and identify the 4 1/2 gutteral and semi-guttural consonants. Thank you again. God bless you.

Your approach has made it possible for me.

Another neat way to remember where to place the dot for Shin and Sin, I learned in a hebrew class is to remember ‘sin is NOT RIGHT’. It’s a cliche but it helps you to remember (So dot goes to the left)

The best lesson so far! Thank you!

This video was extremely helpful. The best yet! At least this is a great start for me. Thank you.

You explained very patiently and very well. Thank you soooooooo much 🙏

Thanks for your thorough introduction of Hebrew letters writing.

Thank you. Excellent teaching method. It helps me a lot as beginner

WOW! Another educator. I really enjoyed this lesson! Looking forward to more. Semper Fidelis

I am taking Biblical Hebrew online in December. Thanks for making this easy

I like to listen to you speak and teach Hebrew is easy to understand

Modern Israeli Hebrew pronunciation, taught here, is an extreme simplification of the Biblical versions that many Jews today neglect, and exhibits many European features not found in any ancient middle eastern dialect. This is not surprising as the founding father of Modern Hebrew was in fact an Ashkenazic Jew. Additional features of the Biblical version are as follows: Consonants: Vav is pronounced 'V', but pronounced 'W' when directly preceded or followed by a rounded vowel like Holem, Qames or Shuruk. When Shuruk represents conjunctive waw meaning 'and', this is pronounced 'wu' with a short /u/ like in 'put'. Gimel w/o Dagesh is pronounced as a Uvular Fricative (see IPA chart), the same as the French 'R' Yod, when doubled with a Dagesh, is pronounced as a Voiced Palatal Plosive (see IPA chart), somewhat like a weak 'J' Resh, is a Uvular Trill (see IPA chart), also the same when doubled with Dagesh. If adjacent to another alveolar consonant such as lamed, nun, tav, sameh, seen, tet, or dalet its pronounced as an alveolar trill, like the Spanish /r/. Sade is pronounced 'S' when it begins and ends a syllable rather than the 'TS/TZ' sound in the modern pronunciation of 'matzah', making it 'massah'. Tav without Dagesh is like /th/ in 'throw' Dalet without Dagesh is /th/ in 'that'. Vowels: One rule must always be obeyed: All vowels are long except for those in closed, unstressed syllables and Shva and Hateph vowels. Shuruk and Kibbus in an unstressed, closed syllable is /u/ as in 'pull' but when in an open or stressed syllable they're pronounced like the /u/ in 'flute'. Segol is /e/ in 'bed' when in an unstressed closed syllable. In an open or stressed syllable it's /e/ in 'they like Tsere. Hireq in an unstressed closed syllable is short /i/ as in 'hit'. When stressed with an accent or Metheg/Gaya (see below) it's long /i/ as in 'machine'. Patah in an unstressed, closed syllable is /a/ as in 'cat'. When stressed or in an open syllable, it's like the /o/ in 'shower', somewhat like the sound you make when saying 'ahhh' when the doctor tells you to open wide, hence the meaning of Patah in Hebrew which is 'open'. Qames when stressed or in an open syllable is like /aw/ in 'saw', but with more lip rounding; something like the /o/ vowel in the British pronunciation of 'box'. When in an unstressed closed syllable it's /o/ as in 'horse'. Shva vocal by default is pronounced like a short Patah, that is /a/ as in 'cat'. The only exception occurring on the letter Sheen, where it's always silent and is pronounced with no vowel like in the word 'schmuck'. When Shva vocal is followed by any of the four guttural letters Aleph, Hey, Het or Ayin it's pronounced as a short version of the vowel on any of those four guttural letters. So if the guttural has a Holem, the preceding Shva is pronounced like /o/ in 'horse. If it has Tsere, it's /e/ in 'bed' and so on. When Shva vocal is followed by Yod, it's pronounced like short Hireq, /i/ as in 'hit'. If in any of these situations Shva has Metheg/Gaya (see below), however, you pronounce it long, or as an exact equal to the vowel on the following guttural rather than the short correspondent. Mostly all long vowels before a Shva are in closed, stressed syllables and the Shva are silent. This is marked by a vertical sign marking secondary stress called Metheg, or Gaya (see below), usually not found in most Hebrew bibles. Exceptions to Shva being silent after a long vowel is before the first of two identical consonants, in which it is vocalic. If a short vowel precedes two identical consonants, however, Shva on the first of the identical consonants is silent and the identical consonants are treated as one with a doubling Dagesh, unless with Metheg/Gaya (see below) in which case it's vocal. Shva is silent after short vowels and only vocalic in the following: 1) The short vowel has Metheg/Gaya and the following consonant is Mem, or Nun. 2) The short vowel has Metheg/Gaya and is followed by any of the gutturals Aleph, Hey, Het and Ayin. 3) The short vowel has Metheg/Gaya and is followed by one of the so-called 'BeGeDKeFeT' letters without Dagesh. The short vowel is Shuruk when it represents the prefix 'and' and has Metheg/Gaya. In all these situations the Metheg/Gaya lengthens the vowel and they're pronounced as their long stressed, or open unstressed syllabic, counterparts (see above). However, if a short vowel has Metheg/Gaya and is followed by a letter with Shva and those are separated from the stressed syllable by a vowel followed by a vocalic Shva, or Hateph vowel, Shva is silent even when occurring in the afore-mentioned situations. When a Metheg, or Gaya is fixed to any vowel it makes it long, and you pronounce it as if stressed. This also applies to Hateph shva vowels. So if fixed to Hateph Patah, it goes from /a/ as in 'cat' to /o/ as in 'shower'. And if fixed to Kubus, goes from /u/ as in 'pull' to /u/ as in flute' like Shuruk. And Hateph Qames goes from /o/ in 'horse' to /o/ in the British pronunciation of 'box' . This is just a taster and there is much more to read on this fascinating tradition. Sources: 'The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics' by Geoffrey Khan.

Thanks for your video very informative.

Very helpful video!

You're a really good teacher. Kept my attention and I didn't fall asleep. Ty

thank you so much for these lessons and this comfortable offering of practice. i wish i could buy this course - it would most definitely be worth it and of immense benefit to my learning of the language.

i dont understand why people always find something negative to say, it's like they try hard to find something wrong with everyone..he is a great teacher and the way he explains it all he made me remember all letters..so there u go, find someone else to criticize ..losers

The greatest gift given from, ADONAI EL SHADDAI, unto BLESSED MOSHE RAVAINU & YISRA'EL, the Hebrew nation.

Thank you very much. Started my long awaited Hebrew lessons atlast.

name, form and sound is very important. And notice how the letters are made, like english use a voice that is clear and understandable.

You're a wonderful teacher .God bless you .I could learn little bit Hebrew Now thank you so much.

I like his rendition of the letter 'tsadde'...

Thanks for the comprehensive teaching

Best I've seen so far.

Excellent explanation! Thanks!

MABUHAY When i was 15 years old wayback 1985 i happened to read Ps 119 the next Bible Study day i asked my 21 year old Bible Study Teacher what Aleph means and the rest of the strange words in Ps 119. Whenever i came across Psalm 119 i always remember the unanswered question i raised. Come year 2013 when all have an access to the internet. I was suprised and totally delighted to know the meaning of the 22 letters and the crown letters and the sofit, now by Gods grace i have more understanding of the Bible. Now I have 4 vesion of the Bible the NKJV, Filipino (Tagalog), Hebrew and Greek Bible. Whenever i have problems understanding a verse Hebrew and Greek version helps. Thank you for your video. From Philippines 😊

I am greatful for your videos I will learn this language.

Wow...this was very wonderful teaching. I learned so much! Thank you!

Ancient hebrew actually pronounced the guttural letters. 3ayin sounds exactly like arabic. 7eth (Heth), does as well. The resh is trilled like arabic raa. Mizrahi jewish communties from Iraq and Syria still pronounce these letters along with Qof (just like arabic and Tet just like the arabic Taa. Ghimel without dagesh lene is pronounced like arabic ghayn I believe. Modern Israeli Hebrew is basically a mix of german/spanish jewish accents.Although some older sefaradi Jews from North africa still pronounce 3ayin and 7et back in the throat. But in normal modern hebrew speech, they don't pronounce dhalet without dagesh lene or Tav like Th without the dagesh lene. Only hard sounds are preserved in modern speech with the BeGad KefaT letters in modern israeli hebrew, even with a north african sefaradi accent. 'mizrahi' is more a political term now, its sometimes wrongly used to describe the sefaradi (spanish) jewish communities of north africa. Mizrahim proper are really from Iraq, Iran, some jews of Syria, the Caucasus, Uzbekistan, Kurdistan and sometimes the word also includes Teimanim (yemenites) North Africa, Turkey, Greece are Sefaradi, not Mizrahi, although we are wrongly labeled as mizrahim today by most people.

Excellent explanation and the detailed study of practice of the basics of the biblical Hebrew in the simple way of teaching

I really like your style/method. This was very enjoyable. Will study more before moving on, but very excited to move on. 👍

Thank you so much! You made it easy to learn ♥️

It's really amazing ... Thank you for teaching

There use to be a CD-Rom language resource that had a greek and a Hebrew version. I bought it in 2002. The greek version had quizzes, vocab, and it was excellent!

Thank you from Barkingside 🇬🇧

Thanks for the upload! It was very useful.

What a great job this guy does. I just really wish I could see how the letters are spelled.

ur a good Teacher !!

Amazing course!!

Thanks for the lesson. It was difficult to figure out how to write the letters as they were written in my work book because of the confusing fancy font. Blessings.

Keep it up sir.. I am learning in your video.. don't mind the people who are saying negative things about you

Thank u for a very clear and concise lecture! I will be back for the next one very soon!! :)

Thank you. You broke it down perfectly for me

This is definitely an extremely simplified pronunciation, WAY more in lome with modern Hebrew than Biblical Hebrew. For example, in biblical Hebrew, א and ע are not silent and not pronounced the same way

Very easy to practice thankyou

I think that this willl be very useful in learniing Hebrew.

Very good instructions on writing Biblical Hebrew . I’ve looked for this type of teaching thank you

Well taught . Very clear to me. Thank u very much .I am learning from Sri Lanka .

This is a great blessing thank you

39.00 not from "left to right" ... but "from right to left." We both read and write from the right. A tiny point but important to have correct.

This is vv helpful for me to pick up Hebrew. Clear and pointed. Thank you!

Thank you so much for your detailed video. This is what I've been searching for. Your an excellent instructor.

I'm watching this for some extra instruction. Each video I've seen has a little different slant on how to write these letters. Let's be mindful of this and the difference between classical and modern Hebrew.

Waiting for the next lesson or have you done it, if yes, where or how can I find it? Thanks a lot.

Wonderful teaching!

Very good video. I learned so much so fast!

You make the point to only write the Hebrew from right to left, but then state at least twice that you are writing left to right (about 37 mins. into the video).

This is wonderful! Thank you so much

I'm a Muslim and I love learning about the Bible 😊 We have a lot of things in common with the Jewish

this is wonder and easy for beginner like me. thanks

My wife keeps saying I need to be cosmopolitan and learn another language - so here I am

Wowwww more specific teaching

Excellent explanation Yahshua bless you brother

hello sir, thank you for your video. can you please give me an advice on how to read Hebrew without NIKUD_vowels ? i have no idea from where to began if i was to read a newspaper for instance

This is SO different from how I learned to write these letters.

Could one think of the RESH as a sort of BOOMERANG symbol?

if the islamic community can learn to speak arabic, who are we as Christians not to learn our language. i was really challanged and now here i am.

I just got the book and this video helped me a lot. Is there a continuation to this lesson? Thanks.

Ok, sir. I got your books study (I worked through up through the weal Qal verbs). I finally got around to get around your lectures. Why was the hand written form of the letters not included in the text book? While I was able to find how to do this on other sources, if it is that important, which it is, it should have been included in the text.

God bless you now and for always.

Thanks for teaching in a clear and effective way. Can I have this book in pdf form?

Hello! Kindly someone give me the link of the video lectures of chapter 2 and chapter 3. please

I would like the software he is using to write. GREAT FOR PRACTICE! Anybody knows?

Parsons Technology had the best learning software in the late 90s to the early 2000s. I wish someone would update it.

Thank you for this I'm very impressed

where can you teach me Hebrew your lessons are great

I'm excited to learn

Sir what device are you writing with and on to record?

you are brilliant, Sir

I like the video, thank you for posting. But for some reason the video is lagging behind the audio lecture such that I am hearing about Het and seeing Vav.

Thank God and you so much!

Awesome lesson. Well explained. Thanks.