Paul Luckraft reviews 'The Routledge Introductory Course in Biblical Hebrew' by Lily Kahn (2014, Routledge).
This is a good investment for the serious student of biblical Hebrew and for those wanting to get a flavour of what such study would entail.
It provides a comprehensive introduction to the language and texts of biblical Hebrew, covering all the topics usually found in a first-year university course, including the writing system, pointing rules, parsing, and strong and weak verb paradigms.
Structured Around Stories
As would be expected, the essentials of vocabulary and grammar are presented in detail throughout the 40 units. But where this course differs is that after the first two introductory units, each of the remaining units is structured round a brief story, which sets up the vocabulary and grammar points to be studied.
Each unit also contains supporting exercises to reinforce the main points, and ends with a specific biblical text, which gives the student a good sense of progress towards the main aim of being able to read the Tanakh.
This is a good investment for the serious student of biblical Hebrew - and for those just wanting to get a flavour of what such study would entail.
The stories are constructed to form a graded cycle, featuring characters and storylines similar to those found in the Hebrew Bible. After each story comes a section explaining the new grammatical points introduced, followed by a variety of exercises including gap-filling tasks, analysis of biblical words and translating English narrative passages into biblical Hebrew.
The biblical passages chosen to round off each unit are narratives rather than legal or poetic passages, and contain some of the most famous stories of the Hebrew Bible in roughly sequential order, starting with the creation story and progressing through to Esther and Daniel. These passages may be abridged (though never re-written), especially in the earlier units, in order to prevent the student being overwhelmed with too many new items at once.
Well-Organised and User-Friendly
Although designed as a one-year course, for many it will take longer - but that is not a negative point. It can be used for self-study at one's own pace or to encourage group study (maybe even just in pairs). The aim is that by the end, the student will "have been familiarised with all of the main points of Biblical Hebrew grammar, have been introduced to the most frequently appearing biblical vocabulary, and have acquired the skills necessary to read the Hebrew Bible independently as well as to progress to intermediate courses" (p.xvi).
Course units present the essentials of Hebrew vocabulary and grammar structured around Bible stories.
This is a well-organised and clearly-presented course, with a user-friendly text design in which the Hebrew script is slightly enlarged to make it stand out more easily. The book ends with an extensive grammar reference occupying 28 pages, two glossaries (Hebrew-English and English-Hebrew) and a short but useful index.
Companion Website
Another significant plus point is the free companion website, which not only makes the cost seem less steep but also provides the student with a wealth of extra learning opportunities. Here the student can find audio versions of all the stories and biblical texts, 'flashcards' to help test knowledge, a vocabulary guide listing words by parts of speech and much more.
Lily Kahn is Lecturer in Hebrew at UCL where this course has been trialled extensively. The Routledge Introductory Course in Biblical Hebrew (446 pages) is available to purchase from the publisher for £38.99.
