Class No.

3
Shalom and welcome to class number 3 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to reading
Independent of the Hebrew Bible, today we are going to review the letters that we learned in the last
class
and we will read more words with the same letters.
We'll start with a short word to make it easier. Try reading the following word:

Let's go little by little, the first letter is Shin , with the dot to the right, so it sounds SHHH and
no SSS, then we have the kamats which sounds like A, and finally we have a M em sofit , a
final mem, thus: S ham.
If you remember in the first class we already mentioned the word Sham , and we explained that if
we punctuate differently it could be read as Shem , we said that Sham means: there, so now the
we put like one more word in your vocabulary.
Also, if you look closely and, as you will see later, this word, Sham , is directly related
with the other word we could punctuate Shem , it is no coincidence that they have the same letters,
because the Shem , the name of a person, is the one that gives him direction, Sham , towards there,
gives him
objective, gives you the purpose of life. The names we call each other are not a coincidence.
Let's go for another word, the word Mashal:

Let's see if you recognize this first letter, it is Mem , which sounds like an M, then we have the
kamats below which would be like an A, we would already have Ma, then comes the Shin, which is
shin, remember,
because it has the dot on the right and its vowel is again the same, the kamats , A.
So, now we have Ma-sha , and finally, we have a Lamed that sounds like an L. So
does it come out?: Mashal
A Mashal is an example or a parable, so you already know one more word, plus it is not
any word, there is a book in the Bible called: Mishlei ‫ֵלי ְׁש ִמ‬
which, as you can notice,
It is a term that derives from the word mashal .
It is the book of Proverbs, now you know that they are not only proverbs, but they are also
metaphors, they are also parables, they are also examples.
Now let's go for a slightly longer word and I know you can do it, let's try to read

First we have a Shin again, then we have a Vav with a dot in the middle, which
It means that you are not going to read the Vav as a V, but that this is a vowel, it is a shuruk that is
pronounced like a U. If we put the Shin together with the U we already have Shu.
The third letter is lamed, which sounds like an L and the vowel below it is an A, so
So we already have Shu-la. And finally we have a Mem sofit , so let's read together
Shu-lam.
Does it sound familiar to you? It is similar to the word shalom. Shulam means something that is
already paid or completed,
That is why Shalom does not just mean peace, but it comes from something complete, something
harmonious.
Shulam is something that is already complete. Very good, so we have already read three words and
we see that
You're already picking it up very quickly.
Let's move on to the next word, perhaps a slightly more complicated word: Lalush

The first is a Lamed with a kamats, then a Lamed and behind it we have a Vav with the point
in the middle that would be a U, and finally we have a Shin. Not a Sin , because the point is at the
right and we would get Lalush .
Lalush is a verb, which means to knead. Like when you knead bread dough.
Are you ready for a five letter word? Mushlam

First we have the Mem, and then what is the vowel of the Mem? It is the Vav with a dot in the
middle,
a U, we already have Mu , then there is the Shin: Mush. It does not have a vowel, then we would
have a Lamed with
an A, Mush-la, and finally the Mem sofit.
And we would get the word Mushlam , which also comes from the term Shalem: complete, and
Shalom.
Before we learned the word Shulam: paid, this amounts to the same thing, a derivation of the
itself, and Mushlam would also be something that is complete. Mushlam would be more of an
adjective: “this
it would be something complete,” while Shulam would be more like the verb, “I have completed
it.”
We have read a few words together. And now it's your turn to practice the exercises yourself.
this class. See you next class. I have enjoyed reading with you and I know that this principle of
Reading will only be the beginning of your journey to reading the entire Torah in Hebrew.
All the best.

Class No. 4
Shalom and welcome to class number four of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to reading
independent of the Hebrew Bible. I hope you have reviewed the letters we have learned well.
until now because today we are going to go for a little more. In this class we are going to learn the
letters of the
word Boker tov, ‫ טֹוב ֹבֶקר‬meaning good day or literally good morning.
It is true that it is a modern expression that is not used in the Mikra, in the Bible, but both the
The word Boker ‫ ֹבֶקר‬and the word Tov ‫ טֹוב‬are in the fourth and fifth verses of the first
chapter of Bereshit, Genesis, so it serves as a vocabulary for us to understand the Torah ‫ּתֹוָר ה‬
also.
Boker means tomorrow and Tov means good. In Hebrew, the adjective always comes after the
noun as it normally is also in Spanish: the big house, the tall tree. Although there are
Sometimes we also say it the other way around: the big house or the good cake.
Not like in English that is always said backwards, for example: the big house. First the adjective
and
then the noun, but remember that in Hebrew the noun always comes first and only after
the adjective that describes it, which is why it is said Boker Tov: good morning and not Tov Boker:
good
tomorrow. But please don't make the mistake of translating: Boker: good. Tov: tomorrow, but the
other way around.
Let's see the word with the letters in Hebrew. what is the first letter? This is a Bet:

As you can see the Bet has a little dot inside which means it is a Bet and it sounds like a B
high. If it doesn't have a dot inside it would be a different sound: a V.
The Bet and Vet are shaped like an upside-down C. and a little more square, but there is a
important detail, which is the tail below on the right. It is important because this queue
It will help differentiate the Bet and the Vet from the Jaf, which we will learn in another class.
The Bet/Vet is a sfatit letter, it is said with the lips, it has a numerical value 2 x being the second
letter of the
Hebrew alphabet . And this is not just any letter, it is the letter with which it begins in the Torah in
the
book of Bereshit , the book of Genesis. “Bereshit bará Elohim” ‫א‬ ‫“ ֱא ֹלִהים ְּבֵר א ִׁשית ָּבָר‬In the
God created from the beginning.”
Bet/Vet derives from the term bait ‫ ַּבִית‬, house, with the current form of the Bet/Vet I don't know if
I would tell you that it is the
letter that most resembles a house, but you can say that in a house you need a floor, a
wall and a roof and an entrance and all of that is contained in the letter Bet/Vet.

Above the Bet in Boker you see that there is a little dot. We already know this from the second
class, which
It sounds like an O, it is a jolam, but without the Vav, without its full form. You have the point
above but
is missing the Vav, We know that O can be written with Vav and a period above it or simply the
period
on top, so we have a Bet and an O: Bo. In this case Boker is written without the Vav.

Then we have the letter Kuf , and the kuf sounds like a K and has a numerical value of one hundred.
If you notice, it goes lower than all the other letters, and the truth is that, apart from the sofiot: the
letters that we already said are the ones that are placed at the end, five letters that change to be at the
end of
word, the Kuf is the only one that goes below the other letters and is the longest.
The Kuf is a jikit letter, meaning that it is said with the palate, this is how it was said in the
beginning: “ Kof ”, the
sound from behind, nowadays we find it difficult to pronounce: Kof, so we say it like a normal K.
The oldest versions of the alphabet represent the Kuf as the hole of a needle and also
The shape of the letter resembles a needle with a large hole above it. Furthermore kof is the root of
verbs that mean: surround.
On the other hand, in modern Hebrew kof is a monkey, which is also how I taught my son that there
are
like a little monkey climbing on a stick.
Below the Kof there are three little dots in the shape of an upside down triangle, this vowel is called
Segol and
It sounds like an E.

So now we have Bo-ke and then at the end of the first word we have the letter Resh

The Resh sounds like an R, has a numerical value of 200 and is a shinit letter, which means it is
said
with the teeth. Rrrrr, you put your tongue in your teeth and say it Resh
Resh means or derives from the term head or principle, which today is called Rosh .
You may know the word for the holiday, for example Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, the
beginning of the year, which is the holiday that in the Torah is called Yom Teruah , the day the
shofar is blown.
It is the new year of the Hebrew calendar, the truth is that there are four heads of the year according
to the
tradition but we will leave that for Torah classes.
Up to this point we have learned all the letters of the word Boker.
And now we go for the Tov.

The first letter is a Tet how you can imagine it sounds like a T.

It has the numerical value 9, because it is the ninth letter and it is a leshonit letter, that is, it is said
with the
language: T. You put your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Tet in the ancient alphabet is
symbolized by a
wheel, the first time the letter Tet appears in the Torah is right in the word Tov, which we are
learning now. When it says in Bereshit, Genesis 1:4 ‫כי־טוב את־האור אלהים וירא‬
Vayare Elohim et-haor ki-tov. “And God saw that it was good” the light that was good.
Another detail is that there is another letter in Hebrew that also sounds. how T, and it is the Tav
which we go
to learn later, but in modern Hebrew Tet is used especially when you write
foreign words, such as: ‫ ֵטֵלפֹון‬, telephone. As you can already see although in Hebrew
Let's say telephone, this is not a Hebrew word, or television. Whenever you use a word
foreigner you will put a Tet.
So if you have a Spanish name that contains a T, the correct thing to do would be to write it with
Tet.
Most of the time, for example Teresa. Teresa would have to start with a Tet.

So back to Boker Tov, after Tet we have a Vav with a dot on top,

Which we already know is a vowel, it is a jolam malé , an O but complete because it is written
with the Vav, so we already have Tov, and finally we have a Bet/Vet, but without a dot so
It sounds like a V. And it is the first letter we learned today.
What I want to clarify is that many times in different types of Spanish, in different countries, or
In Spanish, we do not differentiate between B and V, and in Hebrew it is very important because the
difference
between B and V can even have changes in meaning in the words. A simple point in the middle of
Bet/Vet can change the meaning of the entire word, so it is important to get used to it.
So let's read the two words together, ready? Let's go there!
First a Bet with an O: Bo, then the Kuf with a segol: with an E: Bo-ke, then a Resh
Boker. Boker is out .
Let's go to the second: Tet, with an O: Tov.
Boker Tov.
If it is tomorrow for you I wish you Boker Tov ‫טֹוב ֹבֶקר‬
Until the next class and don't forget the exercises, you know that the most important thing is to
practice.

Class No. 5
Shalom and welcome to class number 5 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to reading
independent of the Hebrew Bible.
Congratulations, we have already learned a third of the letters, kol ha kabod, ‫ “ קבוד הא כל‬All
honor."
But, I repeat, for you to learn them by heart you have to repeat them as many times as possible.
Today we are going to learn the first word of the Torah. Yeah. You are starting to read the Torah in
Hebrew:

We already know the first letter, because we learned it in the previous class, let's see, it is a Bet or a
Vet ? correct! Because of the little dot inside it is a Bet .

Below the Bet there are two little dots that are a new vowel that you have not learned yet, it is called
Shva. Now, the Shva is special because there are different types of Shva . But first let's
learn the two main ones, the shva na and the shva naj.
The Shva na: Na in Hebrew means: that moves, while Naj means: that rests, that is,
that we have a Shva that moves, and another that rests, what does this mean? Well, the one that
moves sounds like an E, it moves because its sound is continuous, it is like a short E,
Bereshit, Not Beereshit, but Bereshit . And the one who rests is totally mute.
When you see it at the beginning of a word it will always be Shva na , always the words when you
see the
Shva at the beginning of the word you will read E, when you see it in the middle, it will normally
be a Shva naj .
There are several grammatical rules for when to use Shva na and when to use Shva naj , we will
not go into them.
grammar now. That's for more advanced courses.
So, in our case: Bereshit, as it is in the beginning of the word, will sound like a short E. AND
another thing is that when you have two Shva, one after the other in a word, the first one always
is going to be shva naj , the first one is not going to sound, and the second one is Shva Na, the
second one is going to sound like
a short E.
As a rule, when we have a consonant with a Shva Na at the beginning of a word, with an E
short at the beginning of a word, it will always be a syllable, for example: Beresheet

or Tzevaot

:
Which is one of the names of God. And, at the end of a syllable it will always be silent. As for
example, Abraham, or Yitzchak, or Rivkah : as it is in the second letter which is the end of the
syllable
then it will be Shva naj.

The Shva naj could be said to be like a wild card that you put when the consonant does not have
vocal. When you don't want to pronounce anything you put a Shva naj that doesn't sound.
And the truth is that today in modern Hebrew, many times, when speaking even Shva na se
They eat it, for example, when you have someone, a friend whose name is Solomon in Hebrew,
they
you will call, Slomó . Do not call him Shelomo , although in the Torah it should be said Shelomo .
After the Shva , we already have Be, we have a Resh, which we already know, it sounds like an R.
But underneath we have a new vowel, we have a Tseire ,
The Tseire sounds like an E, although not short like the Shva Na, but it differs from the other E that
We saw, the Segol , we saw it in the last class, in which it can be Male: full, or lacking.

To understand this I need you to go back to your memory, do you remember that there is a Jolam
male , an O
complete and a lack? Just in case I repeat it to you, we said that jolam is a vowel that is drawn as
a little dot to the left above the letter and it sounds like an O. There we said that there are four
letters in
Hebrew that can also be vowels, the Aleph, the He, the Yud and the Vav.
For Jolam malé we learned the Vav, which is a vowel that accompanies both Jolam malé
like Shuruk. It can be O or U.

Up to this point we already knew it, but returning to the Tseire , the Tseire can be accompanied by a
Yod
and that would make him a Tseire male, a complete Tseire . When we have a Tseire and then a
Yod.
And this should sound like Ei, but here there is a difference in traditions, those who have a tradition
Sephardic , that is, their ancestors are from those who left Spain, and from all the
eastern areas, they are going to say E, even if the Tseire is complete, they are not going to pay
attention to the Yod of
Afterwards, it will be a silent Yod . For example, the most famous is in the word of the Name of
God
Eloheinu, the Sephardic people are going to say Elohenu.
While those of Ashkenazi pronunciation, those who come from Europe, those whose ancestors
They come from Europe, they are going to pronounce Ei and they are going to say Eloheinu .

‫ֱאֹלֵהינּו‬
Now, for the reading, each one applies the tradition they want, we are going to conduct ourselves by
the
Sephardic for the most part and in the way it is spoken in Israel today, with meanings, but, you
have to
know that the Tseire can be malé, it can be complete if it has a Yod after it or it can be lacking
if you don't have it.
In other cases the Tseire can be accompanied by an Aleph , which we will also learn today or
for a He, which we will learn in the next class, which are silent, so it would only sound
the sound E, if you look at the name Tseire, the Ei that can make the vowel is already hinted at. In
theory
Could you say why do I need the Tseire malé as a vowel itself? I put the Tseire, and then
the yud comes as a normal consonant, well the thing is that then the yod would need a
vowel for itself, however when it is with the Tseire it already becomes part of a vowel and does not
It needs its own vowel.
Here you have all the E's together. You have the Shva, the tseire and the segol, to be able to
memorize them.

The Shva are two vertical points, the Tseire are two horizontal points and the Segol are three points
in
upside down triangle shape.
If you have questions you can send them in the group.
Okay, let's move on. Let's go back to the word Bereshit. To the next letter that comes out in
Beresheet.
We have learned Be-re and now we have a very special letter, it is the letter Aleph, Aleph is the first
letter of the Alef-bet of the Hebrew alphabet and that is why it has a numerical value of 1, because
it is
The first, although the Aleph is considered a letter (groronit) that is to say of the neck, has no sound,
it is
say is silent and has the vowel sound that accompanies it. Aleph derives from the term Elef which
It means a thousand, while the ancient Aleph derives from the image of a bull's head. It also has the
root. the same root of the word Aluf, which means leader, as the expression Alufo Shel Olam.
‫עולם של אלופו‬
He who directs, the general, the leader of the world, God, who is also One. As the Shema says
Israel:

‫ֶאָֽחד ְיהָוה ֱאֹלֵהינּו ְיהָוה לֵאָר ְׂשִי עַמְׁש‬

Shema Israel Adonai Elohéinu Adonai Ejád.

Listen Israel Adonai is our God, Adonai is one.
That is why the Aleph represents the one who directs the world, the one who is one.
Also, in this week's Hebrew pearls I will leave you a surprise about Aleph and her
relationship with God.
As you see in Beresheet, the Aleph does not have a vowel, but is part of the Tseire, which has the
Resh:
Be-re. So we are better understanding the Tseire and how the vowels accompany it.
Then, after the Aleph, we have the letter Shin, which you already know and it is a Shin and not a
Sin .
the point on the right.

Below the Shin there is another new point, this is the Jirik
The Jirik sounds like an I and it can also be Jaser, that is, just the dot, as you have here in
the word Bereshit or Malé , meaning complete, accompanied by a Yod after. It's easy to remember
that, just like the i in Latin letters, it has a dot. Well, in the Hebrew letters the little dot
below is also an i
Let's continue in the word Bereshit , then we find the letter Yod or as it is said today: Yud

Which we have already mentioned a few times talking about the tseire and how it accompanies
different vowels, also the jirik.
The yud is the smallest letter of the alef-bet, it reaches only half of the letter Vav that you already
know.
It is a jikit letter, that is to say that it is said with the palate, formerly like a Greek Y, it was said
more
as a Y than as an I only, for example in the word Israel: ‫ִיְש ָר ֵא ל‬
or Daniel: ‫ל א ֵּי ִנ ָּד‬
What happens is that today it is pronounced only as an I. This has a numerical value of 10. Yod
derives from
Yad term: ‫ָיד‬hand.
Ye we have learned a new letter and we are missing the last one, we already have Be-re-shi and the
last one is a
Tav.

The Tav is the last letter of the alef-bet. Today you have learned the first letter of the alef-bet and
the last. So
that you already know the first and the last, plus you already know the letter Mem, which is the
middle letter, yes
Look, that's also a pearl. We have the first word an Aleph , then a Mem and then a
Tav. The first, the middle and the last, and this forms the word Emet: the truth. ‫ֱא ֶמת‬
Truth is the fullness of everything, which is also in the beginning, in the end and in the middle. Tea
I will leave a little more information about it in one of the pearls of the Hebrew language.
Thus, the Tav, being the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 400.
And it is a leshonit letter, that is, it is said with the Tav language and sounds like T. The Tav
symbolizes a
seal, a signature, a sign.

As it is written in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 9 verse 4 that a sign was set.
Vayomer Adonai elav, avor betoj hair. Betoch Yerushlam, vehitvite Tav al mitschot haanashim
haneenachim.
“Adonai said to him, go inside the city, inside Jerusalem, and you will set up a Tav, a
sign, to the foreheads of the people.”
We see that Tav is a sign, or a letter, a symbol that can also be put on the front of
people. As you see, the Tav does not have a vowel because it is at the end of the word. In Hebrew
the last
consonant of the word does not need a vowel. Okay, so now we know all the letters of the first one
word of the Torah: Bereshit. Word that also describes the first book of the Torah . So
Now we are going to read it together.
First we have a Bet, with a Shva Na, with a short E: Be. Then we have a Resh, with a
E: Be-re. Then there is the Aleph, which is silent and accompanies the vowel of the E: Be-re. After
Aleph
There is the Shin that has a dot, like in Spanish, it is an i. Be-re shi. And at the end a Tav, which is a
T and no vowel needed. Bereshit.

There are several ways to translate the word Bereshit, but to understand it we would have to
understand,
learn, different grammar rules, and that's for the more advanced course. One of the ways
most famous is to translate Bereshit as “In the beginning” which is also what the
most Bibles in Spanish. However, it can also be translated as: “with the beginning” or
"from the beginning"
So, we are going to look at the word more closely and we are going to extract from it the root, all
the words
in Hebrew they have a shoresh , ‫ שורש‬, a root. But we will learn to find the root in the
the next course. Bereshit has the root of Reshit , because Be is just a prefix. So we are left with
word Reshit, which comes from the word Rosh. When we learned the Resh, we learned that Rosh is
the head and also the beginning. So Bereshit: Be: En. Reshit : Beginning. In the beginning.
Now let's practice the new letters that we have learned and the ones you already know so that the
Let's know like the back of our hand, because next class we continue with more letters. Don't you
forget about today's exercises.

Class No. 6
Shalom and welcome to class number 6 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to reading
independent of the Hebrew Bible.
In this class we will learn two new vowels and two new consonant letters and then you will have
a surprise, are you ready?
I also want to tell you that it is true that in the first classes we gave you a large amount of
information. But, you have to know that from this, if you learn it well, then we will go
adding more little by little, so, an effort and a push in the beginning and then everything will go
rolling.
The first vowel is the combination of two punctuations that you already know, two vowels that you
already
you know. The Shva and the Segol.
Together they form a Jataf Segol. It seems that this letter is pronounced like a shorter E, without
However today it is pronounced like a normal E. So if you see this score in the Torah
just pronounce it like an E.
The other vowel of this class is the Pataj.

Pataj looks like a kamats.

And, in fact, both sound the same as an A, although there are translations that pronounce it
differently,
We're not going to get into that.
Well then. those will be the new vowels. Now on to today's two new lyrics.
The first is a very famous one and it is the letter He

He is famous because it is used to shorten the word Hashem , which literally means: “The
Name” and it is a way of referring to the Creator, to God.

From a verse in the book of Vayikra, ‫ ויקרא‬Leviticus.

“Fear the Great and Awesome Name, Adonai your God.”
Here you see that: “Adonai your God” is also called “the Great and Fearsome Name” from where
the
custom of calling God Hashem: The Name, because the Torah also calls him that. many say
that Hashem is not a biblical name, because there you have a biblical source for it.
He is a gronit letter, that is, it is said with the throat and sounds like the H of an “aha!”
In Spanish our hache is silent and we do not pronounce it, in fact many in Israel do as well.
They pronounce He as silent, but, for example in English, if there are haches that are pronounced as
by
example in: “Hello” is not said “Ellou” nor is it said “Jelou” is said “Hellou”
He has a numerical value of five.

He has a numerical value of five.

Before the numerical value, let me tell you that it is extremely important to pronounce He correctly
and not
call it “Je” because that has changes in meaning, for example we call God. Mehullal
‫( המהולל‬Hamehullal: The Praised)
But if you said mejulal ‫ לָּלְמַח‬it would be: desecrated. Thus, even tradition tells us that he who
say mejulal cannot say his prayers out loud because he would be profaning God in public, it is
something we don't want. So we are going to try to say the letter He correctly.
I also have a very funny story that, when someone was learning Hebrew, in a
class had a teacher, we called the teacher Hamoráh ‫המורה‬. Hamorah is: “the teacher.”
This is the respectful way to call the teacher: “Hamorah, please.” and someone, who did not know
To differentiate between He and Jota, he called her: Jamorá , which unfortunately, due to her
misfortune, means: “donkey.”
So he was calling, in the middle of class, to the teacher: “Burra.”
So, you have to be careful with this and specify and say He . The truth is that, if it costs you a lot
the Hei sound, it is preferable that you make it completely silent than that you make it as a Jack.

Good. So let's go back to the numerical value:

that end with an open vowel, in these cases the He is always silent, so most
Sometimes when you see a Hei at the end of a word, don't say it. There are cases that yes, we will
go into
That's only in grammar courses, for example when you have a Hei with a period, yes, for
For example, when you read Isha ‫ ִא ָׁש ה‬without a period, it means: woman.
When you read Isha with a period at the end of the He , Isha, that would be: his wife. This fact of
pronouncing
the He at the end as Isháh, is something that is being lost today but, as we have said, it is something
important because it has a change in meaning in the words of the Torah reading.
In any case, we will study this in more advanced courses.
The second letter of this class is Tsadi:

Nowadays many call him Tsadik, there are those who say that like the letter that comes after in the
Hebrew alphabet after the Tsadi is the Quf , when said together:
Tsadi-Quf , Tsadik came out .
In any case, the two forms are said today and if you say Tsadi or you say Tsadik they will
understand.
The Tsadik or the Tsade is a shinit letter, that is, it is said with the teeth and sounds TS, it has a
sound that does not exist in Spanish, which is, as we have already said: TS. In English phonetics
you are going to
find like a TZ.
The Tsadi has a numerical value of 90 and the word Tsadi derives from the term: Hunting: ‫ ציד‬.
has the same
root than Latsud which is hunting. Or Tsaid, like Esau, who was an ishtsaid man, ‫איש‬ ‫ ציד‬a
hunting man
The Tsadi is one of the five letters that have, apart from the same letter, a Sofit letter,
That is to say that when it appears at the end of the word there will be a certain change in the letter.
The Tsadi sofit
It is like the Tsadi , except that the ground has fallen downwards and goes lower than the rest of the
letters.
As we said, sofiots are long like Quf , a letter you already know.
All except Mem, which you have already learned too.
Well, that's it for new things for today. And now comes the surprise that I told you. The surprise is
that already
you know all the letters and consonants to be able to read the first verse of the Torah.
Can you believe it? We are only in the first classes and you can now read the first verse of the
Torah. So we can't resist and, even if it's a bit long, let's read it.
You are ready? Let's go there:

The first word is the word you already know. by the previous class: Bereshit. very good!
Let's go to the next one. Look at the vowels, you have the same vowel twice, so it's not that difficult
And you already know it's an A.
Above all, remember that the Bet , the first Bet, has a point in the middle, so it is not a Vet , it is
a Beth . Let's go there:
Ba-rá, the alef is silent at the end because it does not have any sound and also cannot have vowels
for
be at the end of the word.
So now we have: Bereshit Bará.
This third word is a Divine Name, so we are going to read it with the respect it deserves.
Let's go there! E… because the alef is silent, only the vowel will sound, which is an E: E-LO-HI-M
Notice that the Yod after He is part of the vowel of He itself. Elohim. Remember well, no
Elohim, but Elohim

Let's move on and we have: Bereshit bará Elohim... In the beginning God created.
This word is very short and has the first and last letters of the alphabet. Let's go there! ET: Et .

Wonderful, a little more: Ha-sha. Not Sa, because the point is on the right: Sha
Ha-sha-ma-yim. Very good!

You have the Yod there, it sounds like a yod in itself, it is not part of the back vowel because the
vowel
from behind is an A. So: Ha-sha-ma-yim. It ends in a Mem sofit .
Look, here you have the two Mems, the normal Mem in the middle of the word and the sofit Mem
at the end of the word.
word.
Let's go to the next one, which is also the same word Et, but it has a prefix, a Vav , and, like
we'll see later: Ve-et.

And the last one: Ha-a-re-ts .

Marvelous! Bereshit bará Elohim et hashamayim veet haarets “In the beginning God created the
heavens and earth

!! Congratulations!! You have read your first verse of the Torah

We are going to translate now word by word so you can not only read, but also understand.
First we have bereshit: we already learned it in the previous class.

Bará: means: created, in the past: “In the beginning he created.”

Then we have Elohim, which is one of the Names of God. Which translates as God.

Et: It is a complicated word because it has no translation in Spanish, it is like a preposition that
is used before a defined direct object. It could be translated as: a or the.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
It is a very interesting word since it is composed of the first and last letters of the alphabet ,
but we will get into these things and these secrets in the next courses, in the section of: The
Hebrew pearls.
Thus: Bereshit bará Elohim et Hashamayim. It is composed of a preposition Ha, which is:
el or la, and shamayim , meaning: heaven. So, Hashamayim is: “Heaven.”

Then we have: Ve-et and, as we said before, et does not have an exact translation, but it could be A.
Ve-et is: “now”

In Hebrew, And is a preposition, and that is why it goes together with the word that follows. To
connect it, to
see that it follows the previous word and is not a word itself.
So: Ve-et.
and the last word: Ha, you know what it is: el or la and Arets.

Arets is earth. Like Eretz Israel: “The land of Israel.” from where we are giving you with love this
Hebrew reading course. So: Haarets is: The land.
If you haven't been able to capture it all, that's okay, it's a pretty long verse and a bit complicated to
read.
read. The most important thing is that you try to repeat it as many times as you feel it is necessary
until
You can read this verse or part of it, if you see it too long, fluidly.
In any case, I recommend that you read it at least three more times even without understanding and
Remember what you are reading, just for practice.
One thing before finishing, did you see any strange point in the verse we just read?
some that we have not learned or talked about before. If you find it. send us in the
Telegram group and in the next class we are going to talk about it.
Until next time.

Class No. 7
Shalom and welcome to class number 7 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to reading
independent of the Hebrew Bible. Yesterday we finished the class giving you a challenge, to find a
point
a stranger. You found it? Col ha Kabod ‫קבוד הא כל‬
All my honor. To all those who sent the response on telegram, thank you very much for it.
The point was in the Shin, it is true, the Shin of the word Hashamaim. ‫ השמים‬, which, as
We said, it means: "heaven" in this class we are going to start learning what this point is.

This point in the middle of the Shin is called Dagesh . The dagesh is a point that gives emphasis
in the letter. It symbolizes that this letter has to be said louder: SHAmaim.
The little dot that differentiates between the Bet and the Vet is also called dagesh and helps us
differentiate
each other is soft like the Vet , which has no point, and the Bet , which does have a point.
There are three letters that have two quite different sounds depending on whether they have dagesh
or not.
The Bet and the Vet, the Coffee and Jaf and the Pe and the Faith.
And these last two letters are what we are going to learn today.
In the rest of the letters the dagesh doesn't change that much, so you don't need to pay much
attention to them.
Attention, now at the beginning of the reading.
An example of this we see in the word Hashamayim in which, as we said, the Shin has a
But Dagesh is not pronounced that differently than Shin without Dagesh . Just put a little bit of
emphasis on the Sh, as we said before. So let's learn Caf/Jaf and Pe/Fe .
Let's start with Caf/Jaf .

When it has a point in the middle it is called Caf which is stronger than Jaf which is softer. The
letter
Jaf has a numerical value of 20 and means or derives from the term: ‫ כ ף היד‬, Caf Haiad, palm of
the hand.
Nowadays, if you want to clap someone you say: "give him a kif" or when you are asked to clap
you are asked to do " capaim. " ‫כפיים‬
Okay. The truth is that, for having come this far, you deserve capaim . And now you know where
This is coming and it has a great relationship with the letter Caf. Caf is a Jikit letter, which is said
with the
throat.
The Caf and the Jaf is one of the five letters that also have a sofit letter.
As you already know, when Caf/Jaf appears at the end of a word it will appear in a different way
which we call Caf sofit or Jaf sofit.
Jaf sofit, Caf sofit has numerical value of 500. But the numerical values of the letters sofiot , the
final letters, they are not usually used, not in a standard way, only for certain gematria , only for
certain numerical values we use the numerical value of the letters sofiot. The vast majority of
cases the sofit letter of Caf or Jaf is always a Jaf .
But there are some cases where this changes and it is also said Caf at the end. Then it would be a
Jaf sofit ,
as you see on the screen with a Dagesh, with a dot that marks it.

A very famous case is the Aaronic Blessing. The Bircat Cohanim ‫ כהנים ברכת‬written in the
book
from Numbers, chapter 6 verses 24 to 26.
Yevarejejá , we see here, in the first word. The Jaf sofit is always Jaf and not Caf. "Yevarejeja
Adonay veyishmereja, Ya'er Adonay panav eleyja (and here comes the change) vijuneka." Look at
the
Coffee that has a point, that's why we say VijuneKA. And let's finish the blessing: "Yisa Adonay
panav eleycha veyasem lecha shalom."
Blessing that I wish you with all my heart.
If you notice, there are several Jaf sofit but only one has the point, this will be the one we will say
VijuneKA, the
rest we will say JA.
Let's go for Pe and Fe . Or Pei and Fei depending on the pronunciation.
When the Pei has a dot it is said P, without the dot it is softer, it is said F. If you look at it, it's both
Letters are said with the lips, that is why they are sfatiot . And it derives from the term mouth,
Faith is a mouth.
Also this letter is one of those that has a sofit letter, a final letter.

So, when the letter Pe is at the end of the word you will see that the floor of the word falls down.
the same thing that happened with the Tsadi and is going down. And when you see a Pe that its
ground continues towards
Below you will know what a Pei sofit is.
So in this class you have learned the concept of dagesh, emphasis and how it can
change the sound of the letters and, obviously, the way of reading them.
So, all blessings, until the next class.

Class No. 8
Shalom and welcome to class number 8 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to
independent reading of the Hebrew Bible.
There are two new letters that we are going to learn today and one vowel. Let's start with the first of
them and it is the letter Jet.
As you see on the screen, the letter Jet can be a construction of three Vavim , three letters Vav .
Two
vertically and one horizontally. Others, and you can also see it in the sources, prefer to say that the
Vav, is like a Vav and a Zain together or two Zain together linked by a small unification between
they.
In any case, the Jet that you will always find is the one on the left, which, as
We said, it seems like a fence. That is why many say that the letter Jet , the
The term Jet itself derives from Jits (?) which is like a kind of fence. We are not sure that
That is the true etymology, but it is what we have found in different philologists.

So, the letter Jet is pronounced like a J in modern Hebrew and then we will see a little bit
what needs to be said about it, and, the numerical value of it is the number 8. Now, we have said
that the letter Jet is pronounced like a Jack, however, tradition tells us that the letter Jet is a
guttural letter, which is pronounced with the neck, that is, as we say in Hebrew: gronit.
Then the letter jet would be pronounced something like “Jjet”, we have already said on other
occasions that the
speaking with the neck, as for example in Ayin , which we also have to see and Jet , is something
that
It is more customary in the most eastern areas and in languages such as Arabic and has been
completely lost in Western languages.
So, know that the true pronunciation of Jet is “Jjet”, however, you will hear
that the most popular pronunciation is Jet like a Jack.
The first word in the Torah in which the letter Chet appears and begins with the letter chet is the
word
Joshej.

‫תהום על־פני וחשך‬ Ve Joshech al-penei Tehom.

And there was darkness on the face of the abyss. Joshej means darkness and we can read it
together. Come on
there!
And there was darkness on the face of the abyss. Joshej means darkness and we can read it
together. Come on
there!

A Jet with a Jolam, now you know what it is: Jo. And then, you already know very well, Shin with
E and the
end a Jaf sofit: Joshej.
In the Jaf sofit you are going to see a Shva, it is something that happens in the Jaf sofit , but you
should not read Josheje,
but it is a Shva Naj that is completely mute.

Now we move on to the next letter and it is the letter Dalet. The fourth letter of the Hebrew
alphabet and that is why it is
which has numerical value 4.
This is pronounced like a D. It is a sound that you already know and Dalet , its etymology, would
come from the
word door, as you can see, its drawing is like that of a Tsir, ‫ ִציר‬in Hebrew, an axis in
Spanish. The axis of a door, something that can be opened and closed. However, the wise
They say that the letter Dalet also reminds us of the term Dal : ‫ ַּד ל‬, poor, that is why it represents
this
letter poverty and the most inferior states on a spiritual level.
The letter Dalet can have a dot in the middle, you can find it with a dot in the middle, a
dagesh, we have already studied that when we give dagesh , we give emphasis to the letter, the
letter sounds
stronger. So this letter could sound like: DD. While it might sound softer like:
ddd. And this is something we know because we are told that when we say the famous Shema
Israel:
(Listen Israel,) Adonai Eloheinu, (Adonai is our God) Adonai Ejad.

‫ישראל שמע‬, )‫אלוהינו [אדוני] (יהוה‬, )‫אחד [אדוני] (יהוה‬

Shema Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.
We are told that we have to lengthen the letter Dalet . And, if it's a loud sound, like Daniel, then
We cannot lengthen this sound, “DDD” however if it is a soft sound like “ddd” it is something that
can be
we can lengthen. So, with that instruction that was given to us when saying the Shema, we have
than lengthen in the Dalet , we know that the Dalet can be pronounced this way.
This letter is one of the letters that is pronounced with the language that we call letters
leshoniot because lashon means tongue. ‫לשון‬

The Dalet, as we have already said, appears in the famous word Echad so we are going to read it
together. There
you have it on the screen:
An Aleph with an E, with a Segol , - ha, is the Jet you just learned: E-ha-d. Now we have
made a strong pronunciation but it could also be Ejad, a softer pronunciation.
Ejad means one or only, it depends on what we are referring to. Finally, let's learn another
vowel, we call it, Kubuts, it sounds like a U.

And it is shaped like three points that descend in steps. So we have two ways to
write U, as you have already seen, we have two different vowels for U: Shuruk that you have seen
in the
previous classes, and is always accompanied by a Vav. It is a Vav with a point in the center and
Kubuts you just learned now. So, in this class you have learned two new letters and
a new score and we are already getting closer to our goal: knowing all the letters, all
the vowels
‫ָׁשלֹום‬

Class 9
Shalom and welcome to class number 9 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to
independent reading of the Hebrew Bible.
Today we are going to learn two vowels composed of different punctuations that you already know.
And we are also going to learn three new letters, they are the letters of the word Anan. We will talk
her later.

Today's vowels are Jataf Pataj and Jataf Kamats. You can see them on the screen.
The two scores, like the Jataf Segol that we already learned, are a combination of the Shva,
the two points one above the other, combined with the Kamats and with the Pataj.
The Jataf Pataj sounds like an A, just like the Pataj alone, only the Jataf that comes from the verb
lajtof ,
‫ ַלְחֹטף‬, which is like removing, comes to remove a little bit of the prolongation of the
pronunciation of the A.
It would be shorter, nowadays there is no difference, so don't complicate yourself too much,
pronounce it like an A.
However, the Jataf kamats have a variation by having a Shva in front, and it varies from the
kamats, since
It is not an A but becomes an O. For example in the word Mimajorat

If you read it normally you could say Mimajarat, but in the Torah you should read Mimajorat,
because it is Jataf
Kamats . I know it is complicated and the details are many, but luckily the Jataf kamats is not a
such a common letter, so don't worry.
Now we are going to learn today's consonants, today's letters, which are what make up the word
Anan.
The first letter, obviously starting from the right, is the letter Ayn

The letter Ayn is an almost silent letter, however it is a guttural letter, which is said with the neck,
for
That, although it does not have a sound by itself, when it has a vowel below, for example an A, it
will
sound the A gutturally, for example A and n, like the same word. It is a sound that to us
It is very difficult for us to do, because in Western societies we do not have guttural letters, however
However, look, for example, at the Arabic language, which is a language that speaks a lot with its
neck,
It is easy for them to make this sound: A and n.
The same thing happens within the traditions here in Israel, those who come from Europe have a
hard time
pronounce the Ayn , even in their schools children are taught that the Ayn is like an Aleph, without
However, those who come from the Middle East or Morocco and other places, they do know how to
pronounce,
because they have preserved it like the languages that were spoken in their places, Arabic, they have
been able
keep those guttural letters and still say Ayn .
So we have to make a little effort, what we can, to say Ayn , but, if we can't,
We're just going to make her mute. Never use the letter Ayn to translate Spanish names,
because it is a sound that does not exist in Latin languages, so if your name starts with A, for
For example Andrés, never put an Ayn because your name is not Andrés , so you can use the
Aleph.
The numerical value of the letter Ayn is 70 and it derives or means: eye An Ayn is an eye, you can
also do that
have as a sign, that if you point to both eyes that comes out like a letter Ayn in your hand.
So the Ayn in the word Anan has a kamats , therefore we would start reading this
word like A.
Then followed by the second letter is a Nun.
The letter Nun has a numerical value of 50 and derives from the term fish, in Aramaic for example,
Nuna is a
‫ נונא‬fish
So Nun according to its ancient meanings would have a relationship with the term fish.
It is a letter that is pronounced with the tongue, it is a leshonit letter. Nun, you have to put your
tongue
on the palate to pronounce, and the Nun also has a change when we put it at the end of
word, that is, it is one of those five letters that also have a sofit form, and, it is in the
word Anan , right next to the letter Nun we just learned.

When the Nun goes down, as we can see in many of the sofiot , for example the letter
Tsadi sofit that you already know, it is the same as a Tsadi but it falls downwards, the same thing
happens with the Nun
When the ground of the Nun where it is supported falls downwards it is because this Nun is at the
end of
word. The Nun Sofit also sounds like an N, and has a numerical value of 700.
Now, we know how to read the entire word Anan, let's read it together: A-na-n

So, with these three letters that you have learned, even if you don't believe it, you already know
how to read the ten
first verses of the Torah, so, let's read the second verse of the Torah together and, if
If you want, to practice, you can start reading up to the first ten.
Let's go for the second:
Vehaarets , yes, that is the first word, a Vav , a Hei , an Aleph , a Resh and a Tsadik sofit.
Let's go little by little, first there is a Shva , Ve-ha-a-re-ts . It is a tsadi sofit.

Ha-ye-tah: the second word.

To-hu: third word.

Va-vo-hu .

Good. Tohu vavohu . An interesting concept that we will talk about in our Torah classes.

Ve-ho-she-J .

Remember that when there is a Shva with a Jaf sofit at the end, you do not have to say,
Vehosheche, but rather
she remains mute, like a S hva naj. VejosheJ.

Al , remember Ayn
Pe-nei .
Te-ho-m The vav is only a vowel of the Hei. Te-hom. It's a Jolam malé. And only one O.

See-ruach. Again the middle Vav with a dot in the center is a U. Veruaj. and here is something
different thing that we haven't taught you yet and that is that when there is a Jet and there is an A at
the end, you are not going to
read verruja, you are going to say: Verruaj. The A takes first place. But we will teach you that in
the
upcoming courses. So I'll tell you this: Verruaj.

And again we have the name that you already know from the first verse: E-lo-him.

Note that the Yud at the end is an accompaniment to the Hirik . To the I of the letter Hei. Elohim.
Me-ra-je-fet. Not merajepet, because the Pei does not have a point, it is a Fei.

Al-penei. This one does have a point, and here we have our Nun that we learned today.
Ha-ma-yim. Here we have the two Mem , a Mem in the middle of the word, remember that it is
always there,
open below and a Mem sofit. Hamayim .

And with this we have finished the second verse of the Torah. You can practice it over and over
again.
until it comes out fluently, and those who want to advance further remember that you can advance
up to verse number 10 without any problem because you already know all the letters up to that
point.

Class No. 10
Shalom and welcome to class number 10 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to
independent reading of the Hebrew Bible.
Today we are going to learn three new letters, and, having finished these three letters, you will
already know all the
letters of the alphabet of the Hebrew alef-bet , so, a celebration awaits us at the end of class.
Let's start with the first letter. The first letter we are going to learn today is the letter Gimel .

This letter is pronounced like a G for a cat, it has a numerical value of 3 because it is the third letter
and, it derives
from the term Gamal, ‫ ָמ לָּג‬which would be: camel. With a good imagination you can see
something like
an animal, like a camel, with both legs down and its head up. From this term perhaps
It also derives and is related to the term ligmol, ‫ ִלְגמֹול‬which is to give.
When someone does kindness to another we say that: Gomel chasadim . If you notice, “ Gomel
chasadim ” is
“does good.”
The first word Gomel has a close relationship with the word Gimel.
Gimel is a letter that is pronounced with the throat, that is why it is one of the letters we call jikiot .
You will also sometimes see the Gimel letter punctuated, it also has dagesh.
It's because it can be pronounced stronger: G or softer: G.
Some traditions even pronounced the Gimel as a Y: yimel. But the truth is that it is a
minority, are those who come from Yemen. Most traditions do not pronounce it, it is more the
sound yyy, does not exist in Hebrew, it seems.
The second letter that we are going to look at today is the letter Zain. You have it there on the
screen.

And this letter sometimes causes certain problems because it is difficult to pronounce, it is
pronounced like a
Z, but not like the Z of the Spanish, but like: zzzzzz, the sound of a bee.
So, zzzain, it always has to be pronounced like this, otherwise we would be changing the sound and
we would be changing the meaning of the word.
Zain has a numerical value of 7 because it is the seventh letter of the alef-bet and, surely it is by
chance, but the
Seven and Zain look very similar, look closely.
Zain derives from the term sword which is also called clizain, (?) a weapon, it is called in the
Torah:
clizain, thus, it seems that there is a very deep relationship in its shape that seems the shape of a
sword indeed, and its meaning, the term from which it derives.
It is one of the letters that is pronounced with the teeth. That's why it is one of the shiniot letters,
that's why
is that really to make that sound, the sound of the bee or the fly, we need to put the
tongue in teeth, zzzz. And so we can get that sound out.
And finally, we have the letter Samej. You see it there as a circle.
This letter is pronounced like an S and has a numerical value of 60.
It derives from Somej, or from Soméj which is a staff.
Something you can lean on, hold on to or hold on to. I don't know what the relationship will be to
hold on to
The shape of the letter perhaps comes from the ancient form of the letter Samech . Today the letter
Samech
You will always see it as a round one.
If you look at the upper part, a little bit comes out, and it is not a complete round letter, and this will
make us
know that it is a Samech.
It is a letter that is pronounced with the teeth: Shinit .
And, the Samech sounds the same as the letter Sin.

Just like Tet sounds the same as the letter Tav.

And just like in Tet and Tav when we want to import words into Hebrew, names into Hebrew,
we will always use the letter Tet. The letter Tet will be the letter with which we will write foreign
words.
The same thing happens between the Sin and the Samech. The Samech will be the one with which
you will always put words
imported.
So if you have a name like Sandra for example, you will always write it with Samej and not with
Without.
However, Hebrew names like Sarah ‫ָר הָׂש‬
are already existing names, their origin is
a Hebrew origin are normally written with Sin.

Now, congratulations, you know all the letters and all the vowels of alef-bet . what do we have left
then now? What is most important now is practice and repetition as the
Torah:

That is to say: you will repeat it to your child, who can already begin to differentiate words:
VeShinantam.
Which is repeating and comes from Shnaim, that is, doing it twice, not only do you have to do it
twice.
times, but three, four, five and as many as necessary, so that we begin to remember the letters and
being able to read fluently without needing to see what that letter is and what its sound is.

If you're wondering why we still have four classes left in this course, it's because we're going to
practice how to differentiate between letters that are similar to each other, we are going to practice
the
gematrias , the numerical values to be able to find chapters and verses in the Bible, and we are
going to
learn some special pronunciation rules. So stay with us until the last
class.
I'll wait for you in class number 11

‫שלום‬

Class No. 11
Shalom, welcome to class number 11 of the Biblical Hebrew course, your path to
Independent reading of the Hebrew Bible.
Today we are going to review the letters that are similar to each other to know how to differentiate
them and with
This will make it easier for us to not have to always think and search. Will this be an Aleph , will it
be
a Tsadi, will it be a Samech, will it be a Mem Sofit?
As we already said, in Hebrew the slightest change makes the meaning of the word different.
completely, so it is very important not to change letters, also since they are letters that you do not
We are very used to it, it is very likely that we can confuse them.
So we are going to highlight the differences between the letters, those that are similar so that our
brains are already clear about the differences and directly look at the differences between them and
the
know how to differentiate.
So, let's go! The first three letters are Aleph, Tsadi and Ayin.

These are letters that are often confused with each other, the reason is because they look similar in
part.
superior. If you look at the top of all these letters they have like two sticks facing up, each
one in its own way, but in a very similar way.
If we put our hand on the letters, you can do that if you want and we saw the top, we would see
which are almost the same. However, what determines their differences is their lower part.
The Aleph has like two legs, while the Tsadi has a straight ground and the Ayin its stick tends
down. So now when you read all these letters the first thing you are going to do is look at the
bottom to know how to differentiate them. If it stands on both legs it will be an Aleph, if it has a
floor
straight will be a Tsadi and if the ground goes downwards this will be an Ayin .
The next three letters are Bet, Jaf and Faith , I think you alone will be able to know why they are
usually used.
confuse these letters and that is why their “back”, if we start from right to left in the three
letters are like a circle.

If you look at the Bet it has like a circle, the Caf has like a circle and also the Pei has like a
circle.

That makes us confuse them one with the other. The most important thing is that you pay attention
to the Bet
There is like a stick sticking out at the bottom:
and this differentiates it from the letter Caf, which would be the same as Bet . It just doesn't end
straight and doesn't come out
in the end but ends up as a square. It would be like a C backwards.

And the Pei has a clear difference in its upper part, since it has like a stick that enters towards
within the letter and this is what will differentiate it.

So always look closely at the bottom, towards the back, if there is anything that is coming out of the
letter,
A suit that is coming out of the letter, and also down is straight, is a Bet. If it's just a C
the other way around it's a Caf. And, if in its upper part there is a part that is inserted into the inside
of the
letter is a Pei.
The next letters that are often confused are Gimel, Zain , La Nun , Vav and also Nun.
sofit. The Nun at the end of the word.
If you look, all of these letters have like a little upward slope at the top,
That makes them seem, when we see them at first glance and we usually look at the top, that the
Let's confuse them:

However, in their lower part they are different.

The Gimel has two legs. The Zain ends straight and the Nun ends with a straight floor.

The bottom of the Zain and the Vav look very similar, but note that the Zain is not completely
straight but has a bit of a curve.
What is more difficult to differentiate, depending on which scriptures, is the difference between the
Vav and the Nun
Sofit , because they are identical. But, again at the bottom, the Nun Sofit will always be longer.
So if you have, and you're reading a computer-written book, it doesn't have to be a problem,
Just notice that the Nun Sofit is longer and you will be able to differentiate it from the Vav.

The other two letters that are often confused are Dalet and Resh.

The Dalet and the Resh are practically identical, however the difference lies in their upper part.
Notice that the Dalet has no curve, it is two straight sticks. And, furthermore, again the top stick
comes out
outwards at its top.
While the Resh is round

Yes, that also depends on the sources, but in Resh the upper part will never appear above. AND
That differentiates it from the Dalet.
There are three other letters that are confused: Hey, Jet and Tav.

The Hey and the Jet are obvious because they are confused. They are the same letter, only the left
leg of the Jet
is connected to the roof of the letter, while Hey does not connect. There is a space.
Let's say that Hey has like a little window in its upper left part.

And then there is the Tav which is very similar to the Jet.
It is also closed, however the leg of the Tav has a slight protrusion outwards and that makes it
difference of the letter Jet

Two letters that are often confused, especially at the beginning, are Tet and Mem.

We can perhaps understand why, it is because at the top, on the right, you have like a
curve inward, it is something that also exists in the Mem,
And there is also a stick that sticks out, that is also in the two letters. However it is a
letter that is less confused because at the end of the day they are very different.
Another reason, some say is because if you turn the Mem it looks a lot like a Tet. Of all
ways you can see the clear difference.

And the last two letters that are often confused are Mem Sofit and Samech .

Because? Because they are both round, they have a circular shape. However the Mem is not in
Circular reality is more square and if you look at the bottom part it is always straight while the
Samech is completely circular.
Also, as you already know, this Mem is not a common Mem , it is a Sofit Mem, at the end of the
word. So
Well, most of the time you will see that, when you have this form, at the end of the word it will be
a Mem Sofit.

Sometimes there are also words that end with Samej, but it is less common.
Well, you have already learned to differentiate these letters. I recommend that you write them,
highlighting the
differences that we have said in class, in this way the brain will mark the differences, it will
Record the differences and when you read it, it will automatically differentiate them.

‫שלום‬

Class No. 12
Shalom and welcome, welcome to class number 12 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to
independent reading of the hebrew bible
In today's class we are going to focus on the concept of Gematria . Or as some say
Gematria.
therefore the Aleph is 1

the bet is 2

Gimel is 3

the Dalet is 4,

He is

the Vav is

Zain
 the Jet

the Tet

the Yud

After the Yud comes the Caf, but this does not have a numerical value of 11, but we now move on
to the
dozens. So the Caf would be 20.

So how would we write 11? we would have to put a Yud worth 10 next to an Aleph
which is worth 1.
And we get 11.
Remember that it is written from right to left. So it would be Yud-Alef and not Alef-Yud .

The 12th is written Yud-Bet,

The thirteenth Yud-Gimel

Now you... how would you write 14? exact! Yud-Dalet.

And the 15th? … Well, the truth is that I am playing a trick on you, because the logical thing would
be for
wrote a Yud and then a He, the problem is that these two letters together form one of the
Divine names, therefore it would not be respectful for us to use the Divine Name as a number,
because it is a colloquial use. So, a small change is made here. What is done? You write a
9 and a 6. Because 9 and 6 is also 15. That's why 15 is a Tet and a Vav

So, we move on to 16, which would have to be Yud-Vav, but these are also part of the Name of
God, the Name of the Four Letters. So we are not going to use them, we are going to use Tet -Zain.

Then there is the 17th which would be Yud-Zain and we would return to normal.
So 14 15 16 and 17 would be: Yud-dalet}

Tet-Vav

Tet-Zain

Yud-Zain .

Now you…. What would 18 be? Yud-Jet.

Exact!

And the 19th: Yud-Tet

And 20 would be Coffee

Like we have already said. Okay? And it would n't be Yud-Yud , like when my son was 5 years old
and learning gematria: “20: Yud-Yud”

21 would be Caf-Alef.

I think you already got it. Apart from 15 and 16 there are no other numbers that are written
differently.
Only when we reach higher numbers, for example 270, which, we will see later,
gematria of these numbers, but, if 200 is Resh. And Ayin is 70:

these form the word Ra .

Ra means evil, bad. ‫ע‬ ‫ַר‬

And, since we don't want to write the word Ra , in this case, we will advance the letter Ayn , and
then
we will put a Resh.
The same thing happens with other Words like Retsach , ‫ ֶר ַצח‬murder.
It is not said: Resh-Tsadi-Jet : 298.

The order of the letters is changed so we do not write negative words.

After the Caf comes the Lamed, which has a numerical value of 30.
 The Mem : 40.

The Nun : 50.

The Samej: 60.

La Ayin : it's 70

La Pe 80

The Tsadi : 90

The Kuf : 100

So, if we want to write 43 we would make a combination between the Mem which is 40 and the
Gimel which is 3.

What if we want to write 88? Exactly. A Pe worth 80 and a Jet worth 8:88. Pe and Jet.

And from there we would move on to hundreds:

 The kuf is 100

The Resh is 200

Shin is 300

and finally the Tav is 400

According to some traditions of gematria, the Caf sofit = 500 The letters Sofiot would follow.
We would continue counting.

The Café Sofit would be worth 500

The Mem Sofit 600

The Nun Sofit 700

The Pei Sofit 800

and the Tsadi Sofit 900

But these are not used to mark chapters and verses like the rest.
Or page numbers in Hebrew books, but what is done is combinations of the
hundreds. For example, to say 500 you would put a Tav worth 400 and a Kuf.
To say 600 you would put a Tav and a Resh

And so on.
For example the year we are in now: it is Tav, Shin, Pei, Alef

That is Tav and Shin worth 700

Pei is 80 and Aleph 1:781

That is, the year 5781 according to the Hebrew account. That is, the year 5781 according to the
Hebrew account.

So why do Sofiot have a numerical value? Well, for the cases where there is a word
with a Sofit that wants to get a numerical value to equate it to other words. It is something that
usually done in Gematria.
There are words that have a numerical value that, when you look at their parallelism with other
words,
then these two words connect and you can learn new meanings from those connections.
Another important thing is that, in the text of the Torah, numbers are not written with the Gematria.
For example, if you say that Adam ‫ אדם‬lived 930 years, or that Moshe ‫ הֶׁש ֹמ‬Moses lived 120, do
not
is going to put in Gematria .

It is not going to say: Tav, Tav Kuf, Lamed.

Or Kuf, Coffee.

Instead, it will give you the name of the spelled number, like in Spanish: nine hundred thirty or
One hundred twenty.
Well, that's it for today and don't forget to practice with the exercises we have prepared
especially for you so that you learn all the numerical values by heart.
Remember that learning the numerical value is very important to see the chapters and verses
of the entire Hebrew Bible.
No one in Hebrew is going to say Bereshit chapter one to you, but they are going to tell you:
Bereshit perek ‫ֶר קֶּפ‬
alef.
Chapter: Aleph. Verse: Caf, Bet, for example: 22. So it is extremely important.

See you soon in the next class

Class No. 13
Shalom, welcome, welcome to class number 13 of the biblical Hebrew course, your path to
independent reading of the Hebrew Bible.
Today we are going to learn three special reading rules. They are not grammar, because otherwise
they are no longer
we would put in this course but in the next one, but they are rules of pronunciation and therefore
They are part of this introductory course, which we come to teach how to read and how to
pronounce the words well.
words.
Let's go for the first grammar rule. And in these three letters that you are seeing now in
screen.

When they have an A at the end of the word, these three letters are not going to be pronounced first
and then the
vowel as we always do but there is going to be an inversion, at the beginning we are going to
pronounce the
vowel and then we will pronounce the letter. We saw an example when we read the second verse of
the
Torah. That we had the word Veruaj there

Yeah? The spirit. And we didn't say Veruja. Even though it is written Veruja. The jet with an A at
the end. Without
However, we advance the vowel to the consonant: Veruaj
That happens with the letter He and a Patah at the end, the letter Jet and a Patah and the Letter
Ayin and a Patah.

Let's practice some words so that you become familiar with this concept.
You surely know the first one and that will make you remember this concept. Look at this
first word:
At this point in the course you probably already know how to read it fluently. Let's read it a little
more
quick: Mashija… No! How is a Jet with a pataj at the end of the word is:

ma

Shi

ah

Which, translated, would be Messiah. Very good!

Another word:

mo
 Shi

to

Okay? Also when an Ayin has Patach, it has A at the end, Moshia.

Then we have:

po

Tea

Aj

of

to

Yeah? Poteaj: it is open.

Yodea: You know
Very good! We continue with the next word.

EITHER

Re

Aj

An oreaj is a guest.
Let's see one that you will be able to use in the next parties, in the next festivities.

jag
 Sa

Aj

Very good! Any other for example? One that you also have in Bereshit is the name of Noah
in Hebrew

No

Aj

Force for example:

 Co

Aj

Well, I think you have already understood the concept, so we will move on to the second reading
rule
special that is the Kamats katán

We have learned the pronunciation of the vowel Kamats, it is pronounced like an A, and it is like
that in the
most cases, but there are cases where the Kamats are called Kamats Katán, Katan means
little. A small Kamats . In which kamats is pronounced like an O, not like an A.
It is true that, if you have noticed, certain singers who sing songs in Hebrew say all the A's
like Oes. It is because they say in their pronunciation all the Kamats, all the A's, like O.
However, as we have already told you, we follow the pronunciation according to tradition.
Sephardic and what is spoken today in Israel. And, according to our pronunciation, there are still
cases that,
Even if there is a Kamats, it has to be pronounced like an O.
The most common word that Kamats Katan has and that kamats is pronounced like an O and not
as an A is the word Kol, ‫ ָּכל‬which means:

And, even if it is written Kal, it has to be read Kol.

By the way, Kol with Kuf would mean voice.

So do not confuse it with the Kol which means everything. We must try not to mix those
words.
Another word that has a Kamats Katan is the word Hochma

Look carefully at how the word Hochma begins and it seems to say Hachma , but the kamats
sounds like
an O for being a Kamats Katan.
Hochma means wisdom so you have to have wisdom to know how to read Hochma and not
Hachma.
There are grammatical rules that tell us when we are going to have this exception and we are going
to read the
kamats like an O, but we still lack many terms to understand them so we have
left out of this course.
In any case, if it seems complicated to you, don't worry, you will learn the meanings.
in which you say O and not A, when you learn the vocabulary.
Now you know 2: Kol and Hochma. Kol is everything and Hochma is wisdom.
Do you remember that we already said that there is a kamats that sounds like an O. Yes, it is the
kamats when
He has Shva in front of him, a Jataf Kamats. You can see it on the screen to remember it.

So now it sounds more logical to you as the Kamats can sometimes be O and sometimes it can be
A.
It is not the first meaning, we also have that meaning in the Jataf Kamats .
Now let's look at some examples that have Jataf Kamats and sound like an O.

The first is the word Chodesh

When we say it in its plural form, Chodashim.

If you notice, Chodesh has an O vowel, a Jolam.

But, Jodashim has a Chataf Kamats, but it's also like an O.

Then we have the word Ohel: store