At first when I looked in our new siddur and saw there was a
transliteration of the Hebrew, my heart filled with joy. Now I would be able to
join in prayers and sing along with the choir. Because my Hebrew had never been
very good. As a child, my Orthodox cheder did not prioritise the teaching of
girls, and I fell by the wayside. When I joined Jackson’s Row I was helped to read
Hebrew, but I never practised and although I could recognise letters, spelling
out words was a painfully slow process. Hence my happiness at the
transliteration.
But I always felt just a little guilty that I wasn’t doing
it properly. Then, just under a year ago, inspired by the ice bucket challenge,
a group of people in the MRJ initiated the Elul challenge here in the UK – in the
run up to Yom Kippur, we challenged ourselves to do something in preparation. I
decided to read 15 minutes of Hebrew a day.
Now here’s a thing. I found I enjoyed it. And my Hebrew even
got a little bit better. After Yom Kippur, I didn’t want to stop. So I asked
Rabbi Silverman if he’d lend a hand, and he agreed to go through some prayers
in the siddur with me. I felt like someone had turned on a light. I began to
learn what each prayer was about as well as being able to read it. Prayerbook
Hebrew is an incredible language – each root word has little bits tagged on the
beginning and end – you have to know what these mean, and add them to the root
word – it’s a bit like one of Harry Potter’s spells!
I still practised my Hebrew at home, and then began to need
something more structured. So the Rabbi directed me to The First Hebrew Primer,
and I’ve begun to work through that.
I’m doing all the basics I should have done years ago –
learning how to write Hebrew letters, and really paying attention to those
pesky little vowels. My fluency is slowly improving, and sometimes in shul
Rabbi reads something – even from the Torah – and I actually understand it! I have
to refrain myself from punching the air!
I love this passage from Sayings of the Fathers on p718 of
our siddur:
“Elisha ben Abuyah says, If people learn as children – what do
they resemble? They resemble ink written on clean paper. If people learn when
old – what do they resemble? They resemble ink written on worn-out paper.”
Well, Elisha ben Abuyah – this piece of paper is not quite
worn-out yet, and though I might have to work a bit harder than young people, I
think I appreciate all the more deeply how wonderful Hebrew is – a mine of
treasure which is truly limitless.
If this inspires any of you, Rabbi is only too happy to
arrange tuition as he has done for me.
SA
