Hebrew Education

Hebrew Education Vision Statement

Note: See the class schedule to determine which courses are offered this semester.

CHILDREN

Aleph Katan 1
Prerequisite: Grades K-1
Students will become familiar with the Hebrew Alef-Bet’s letters and vowels. They will practice single-syllable letter-vowel combinations and systematically practice letter-to-sound and vowel-to-sound relationships.

Aleph Katan 2
Prerequisite: Grades K-1, Alef Katan 1
Students will become familiar with the Hebrew Alef-Bet’s letters and vowels. They will practice single-syllable letter-vowel combinations and systematically practice letter-to-sound and vowel-to-sound relationships.

Shalom Alef
Prerequisite:  Grade 2,children must be able to read
This Pre-Primer course will introduce the students to the Hebrew Alef-Bet.  Decoding skills and recognition exercises are introduced to help students remember the individual letters and vowels.

Aleph Bet
Prerequisite: student must be in 3rd grade or higher
Students will learn visual and auditory discrimination of the Hebrew Alef-Bet letters. They will learn to write in block and script and practice blessings, prayers, Hebrew songs, and the Four Questions from the Pesach Seder.

Shalom Ivrit 1
Prerequisite: Children’s Alef Bet
Students encounter Hebrew as a living language by building on their everyday and holiday experiences, at home and in school. Students will learn 160 key words and an additional 90 holiday and enrichment words, as well as comprehension and language skills.  Students will also learn blessings for the home and synagogue, including Shabbat and the holidays, and selected prayers from the Friday evening and Baruch HaShem Shabbat morning services.

Shalom Ivrit 2
Prerequisite: Shalom Ivrit 1
Students acquire 151 new words and develop their language and comprehension skills. They learn to understand increasingly difficult and complex stories, and also to conduct simple conversations in Hebrew.  Students will also learn the blessings chanted during the Torah service.

Shalom Ivrit 3
Prerequisite: Shalom Ivrit 2
Shalom Ivrit 3 brings to life stories of spirited young teens at home, at camp, with friends, and in Israel. The new vocabulary reflects the interests and experiences of teens. Students have fun and learn about Israel as their ability to read and understand Hebrew continues to grow.  With 190 new words, students’ ability to conduct simple conversations in Hebrew, using both the present and past tenses, steadily increases as they progress through the book.   Students will also learn prayers from the Shabbat morning Torah service.

Prayers & Blessings
Prerequisite: Alef Bet
This class is designed to prepare the bar/bat mitzvah student to fully participate in the Baruch HaShem Shabbat service with Hebrew literacy and comprehension. Students will be given a brief review of the history, origin and significance of the prayers and blessings found in the Messianic Siddur along with elements of basic grammar.

Cantillation Tutorial
Prerequisite: Shalom Ivrit 1
Students will learn the cantillation of their specific Torah portion in preparation to become a bar/bat mitzvah. Enrollment does not guarantee the date of aliyah to the Torah. Bar/Bat mitzvah dates must be arranged with Shaul Katzav.

ADULTS

Aleph Bet*
Prerequisite: None
Students with no previous Hebrew exposure will learn phonetic Hebrew reading, script writing, and a basic Hebrew vocabulary of 100 words.

Prayers & Blessings*
Prerequisite: Aleph Bet
This is an introductory class to prepare the beginning Hebrew student to fully participate in the Baruch HaShem Shabbat service with Hebrew literacy and comprehension. Students will be given a brief review of the history, origin and significance of the prayers and blessings that are chanted in the Baruch HaShem worship service.

Biblical Hebrew 1*
Prerequisite: Prayers & Blessings
This class is a simple, straightforward course for students to learn grammar rules that will enable them to understand most biblical texts.

Biblical Hebrew 2*
Prerequisite: Biblical Hebrew 1
This class is a continuation of Biblical Hebrew 1. The student can expect to expand his/her knowledge of grammar rules and application, vocabulary, fluency in reading, and proper translation skills.

Biblical Hebrew 3
Prerequisite: Torah Appreciation
This class is a continuation of Biblical Hebrew 2.   The student will complete the Adult Hebrew Primer and learn the Infinitive and Hollow form of verbs, as well as the Pa’al, Hifa’il, Nifal, and Hitpael verb patterns.

Biblical Hebrew 4
Prerequisite: Biblical Hebrew 3
This course is a continuation of Biblical Hebrew 3 and will focus on the meanings expressed by the grammatical forms. It will use 13 different readings taken from different parts of the Torah to illustrate the syntactic features of Classical Hebrew.

*Required course for Adult B’nei Mitzvah Students

Childcare Services will be provided for children of Hebrew students during the Sunday morning classes for a reasonable cost. The Parent must be a Hebrew student and remain onsite at Baruch HaShem in order to use this service.