In medieval times, when a Jewish boy of five began religious schooling, he was carried from home to a teacher and placed on the teacher's lap. He was then asked to recite the Hebrew alphabet and lick honey from the slate on which it was written, to eat magically inscribed cooked peeled eggs and cakes, to recite an incantation against a demon of forgetfulness, and then to go down to the riverbank with the teacher, where he was told that his future study of the Torah, like the rushing river, would never end. This book--Ivan Marcus's erudite and novel interpretation of this rite of passage--presents a new anthropological historical approach to Jewish culture and acculturation in medieval Christian Europe. Marcus traces ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman elements in the rite and then analyzes it from different perspectives, making use of narrative, legal, poetic, ethnographic, and pictorial sources, as well as firsthand accounts. He then describes contemporary medieval Christian images and initiation rites--including the eucharist and the Madonna and child--as contexts within which to understand the ceremony. He is the first to investigate how medieval Jews were aware of, drew upon, and polemically transformed Christian religious symbols into Jewish counterimages in order to affirm the truth of Judaism and to make sense of living as Jews in an intensely Christian culture.

Anyone interested in learning to read the Hebrew Bible in its original language will find within the pages of this book all the resources needed to begin this wonderful journey. The book is laid out in four parts. The first part teaches the Hebrew alphabet through a series of lessons. The second part teaches word and sentence structure of the Hebrew language by breaking down each Hebrew word in Genesis chapter one, verses one through five. The Hebrew text of Genesis chapter one is provided for reading and comprehension practices in part three. The fourth part of the book contains charts and dictionaries of prefixes, suffixes, words and roots of the Hebrew language to assist the reader with vocabulary definitions and comprehension. Within a short amount of time the Hebrew student will soon be reading the Bible through the eyes of the author rather than the opinions of a translator.

Learn to Write the Hebrew Script presents a new and innovative approach to learning the Hebrew script. Drawing on the common ancestry of European and Hebrew alphabets and the natural inclinations of the writing hand, Orr-Stav shows how the Hebrew script may be understood and acquired almost intuitively through a three-step transformation of ordinary Roman-script cursive. Thoroughly researched but written with a light touch and the empathy of someone who’s been there, Learn to Write the Hebrew Script uncovers several surprises and dispels much of the mystique of what is often an intimidating subject, making the script of the Old Testament much more accessible to millions of non-Hebrew speakers worldwide. "What sets this book apart is its novel approach to the subject, which offers the Western reader a far more accessible and less intimidating approach to the subject."—J.P. Kang, Princeton Theological Seminary "A completely novel approach to this knotty problem. For anyone who wants or needs to learn Hebrew, this book is a must, a valuable adjunct to any teaching aid."—Josephine Bacon, American Translators Association Chronicle "This quirky, unexpected, and utterly charming book offers a three-step method for learning to write Hebrew script, and the author has a gift for presenting the technical and abstract clearly and disarmingly."—The Jerusalem Report

What was the relationship of ancient education to early Christianity? This volume provides an in-depth look at different approaches currently employed by scholars who draw upon educational settings in the ancient world to inform their historical research in Christian origins. The book is divided into two sections: one consisting of essays on education in the ancient world, and one consisting of exegetical studies dealing with various passages where motifs emerging from ancient educational culture provide illumination. The chapters summarize the state of the discussion on ancient education in classical and biblical studies, examine obstacles to arriving at a comprehensive theory of early Christianity's relationship to ancient education, compare different approaches, and compile the diverse methodologies into one comparative study. Several educational motifs are integrated in order to demonstrate the exegetical insights that they may yield when utilized in New Testament historical investigation and interpretation.

A book with just the etymology of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Etymology is the study of the strokes of the Paleo-Hebrew characters. It is an essential feature in the study of the language and the origins of the alphabet. Each letter corresponds to a Hieroglyphic picture and is theorized to therefore contain meaning related to the corresponding picture. It is considered to be the oldest known alphabet, dated by Travis Wayne Goodsell to be about 1500 + BCE.

Discover Hebrew with the world's most straightforward guide to one of the world's most beautiful languages. Shalom! Are you ready to dive into an ancient-yet-modern and rich language full of nuance? Then open up Hebrew For Dummies and get started learning your way around Hebrew by immersing yourself in its sounds and rhythms. You'll start with the basics—like simple grammar and the Hebrew alphabet—before you move onto commonly used phrases and small-talk. This book gets you used to the more unfamiliar sounds of the Hebrew language—like gutturals—that English speakers aren't used to seeing. It will also help you: Recognize what Hebrew has in common with English (and what it doesn't) Learn to read from right to left, get a handle on the basics of Hebrew grammar, and pick up your first few phrases Discover commonly used expressions that help you get around, shop, eat, and have fun Complete with online resources that help you pick up Hebrew by listening to real speakers have actual conversations, Hebrew For Dummies is the perfect companion to help you work your way towards Hebrew fluency!