The Aleph-Bet
Twenty-two letters; five with final forms; read right to left. The first essential step.
Hebrew
The Aleph-Bet, Vowels, Reading, and Cantillation
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Why Learn Hebrew?
Hebrew is the language of Tanakh, of the siddur, of three thousand years of Jewish thought, and (since 1948) of the modern State of Israel. Some Hebrew is a necessity. More than some, a deep enrichment.
Continue reading →Vowels (Nikkud)
The diacritical marks below, inside, and above the consonants that indicate vowel sounds — present in the siddur and Chumash but not in the Torah scroll itself.
Cantillation (Te’amim / Trope)
The musical notation that turns reading the Torah into chanting it — and that is itself a Sinaitic tradition.
A Practical Learning Plan
A concrete weekly plan that takes an adult New Jew from zero to siddur fluency in a year.
Aleph-Bet Mastery
Learn every letter and the sounds it makes — as a chart, then as a timed flashcard drill.
Vowel Mastery
The nikud — the points and dashes that voice the letters. Learn them as a chart, then drill them against the clock.
Word Mastery
The most common words of the Torah, drilled in frequency groups of twenty-five — sounds or meanings, against the clock.