Hebrew

The Hebrew root for "infection" also points to "clinging to one another" - the best way to support each other and maintain a social glue. 

For a limited time, we’re making available the Mah Nishtanah digital module of Hebrew in Harmony - our innovative music-based curriculum - for FREE.

More than 60 prayers and songs from dozens of today’s top Jewish musicians can be found in Hebrew in Harmony Digital.  Individuals can now use the app through the Apple App Store.

This means that parents or other adults who want to learn the music and practice their own Hebrew skills can do so on their own devices.

*Educators using the app with a class or group still need to purchase it through behrmanhouse.com. Once purchased, you can download the app from the Apple App store, sign in, and get started with your class. Alternately, you can play the app from our website. 

Directions for Individual Use 

The best language connections come from using Hebrew in creative ways, advises Dina Maiben, director of the Hebrew program at Gratz College and author of the forthcoming Shalom, Reader

What kind of Hebrew sets up new readers for success? 

Like Spanish and French and many other languages, Hebrew is a gendered language. Expose students to the nuance and various forms of verbs and adjectives by, as it's actually spoken, advises Dina Maiben, director of the Hebrew program at Gratz College. That will give them a solid starting point.

Maiben explains in our video series about effective Hebrew learning strategies.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and connect with us on social media!

Expose students to the nuance, advises Dina Maiben, director of the Hebrew program at Gratz College

Written by Dr. Jeremy Benstein, "Hebrew Wordshops - A New Way to Connect to Hebrew" explores the potency of the three-letter roots that enrich our connection to Hebrew and Jewish values. 

"To pray" in Hebrew is לְהִתְפַּלֵּל l’hitpalel, a term that actually means "judge, judgment.” This verb and the word for prayer, תְּפִילָּה t’filah, come from the root פ-ל-ל (p-l-l), and words derived from it mean "to be judged" or even "to judge oneself." This is a far cry from our usual ideas of liturgy.

There are actually several different types of Jewish prayer, with a range of Hebrew words that help us express an attitude of gratitude, and more. Judaism traditionally acknowledges four types of prayers: petition (bakashah); penitence (s’lichah); praise (hallel); and thanks (todah).

These prayer words have become super-useful words in secular Israeli Hebrew.

The more often students are exposed to Hebrew and practice using it, the stronger their language skills will be. Here's a simple, quick activity you can use today!

Decoding is the first step in learning to read. Then what?

Beneath the surface prayer program is a rigorous pedagogic structure that has been carefully crafted to home in on specific concepts, skills, and content.