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Paul Kohlmeier
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Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:54 am

Hello Everyone!

Post by Paul Kohlmeier »

Hello,

I am a recent graduate from a Master's Degree in Biblical Studies (and a hopeful soon to be PhD student as well) from NY state. It has been a few years since I've done anything with Biblical Hebrew, and I'm hoping to utilize this forum to recover and expand my Hebrew. During my previous studies we used Biblical Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar by Kelley. Honestly, I did not like the exercises very much in that textbook. We only got about a third of the way into the textbook, as the school I attended was small. Now I've decided to give a go at Seow's grammar on my own.

Thanks for having me!
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Jason Hare
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Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Jason Hare »

Wow, Paul. I’m actually excited to hear that you’re going to go forward with Seow’s grammar. It’s what I learned from. Just to be sure, it’s not for the faint of heart. He really gets into patterns and morphology, following his predecessor, Thomas Lambdin. My personal suggestion would be the change directions and go with Kutz and Josberger’s Learning Biblical Hebrew: Reading for Comprehension. It’s all about reading and getting ahead in Hebrew.

If you decide to stay with Seow (and that is understandable), know that: (1) I have the text and would love to help in any way that I can; and, (2) the best part of it are the actual translations from the Hebrew Bible, for which you just read the text directly from the Bible and use his notes to help translate. The more reading you do in the Hebrew Bible, the better your Hebrew will be. I’m happy to be here to challenge, help, and encourage you—as I’m sure you’ll find others here on the forum to be.

Of course, everyone has his or her own experience with how they learned Hebrew and what books they view as the best for student and independent learning. I know that Jonathan Beck is big on Cook and Holmstedt’s recent grammar textbooks, and these certainly have great appear (not to mention some obvious weaknesses). I’m just thrilled whenever someone says that they want to get their Hebrew moved from the back to the front burner, to place real emphasis on picking up the Hebrew Bible and moving forward with the language.

So, welcome | בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה בְּבוֹאֲךָ | ἀσπαζόμεθά σε.
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
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Paul Kohlmeier
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:54 am

Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Paul Kohlmeier »

Thank you very much for your response, Jason.

I picked Seow precisely because he tries to unveil a lot of the "irregularities" in Hebrew, and because he makes a point of having readings from the Biblical text rather early in his text. I should probably also note I have a copy of the Handbook as well. Admittedly, the last time I learned Hebrew I found great success with Biblical Hebrew: A Text and Workbook by Kittel, et al. I made it a good way into that textbook, but for some odd reason, which I can't recall at the moment, I stopped.

I plan to make a thread here at some point this week to catalogue how far I have gotten thus far, and to ask any questions I may have at this point.

Thank you for the warm welcome!
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Jason Hare
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Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Jason Hare »

Paul Kohlmeier wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:06 am I picked Seow precisely because he tries to unveil a lot of the "irregularities" in Hebrew, and because he makes a point of having readings from the Biblical text rather early in his text. I should probably also note I have a copy of the Handbook as well. Admittedly, the last time I learned Hebrew I found great success with Biblical Hebrew: A Text and Workbook by Kittel, et al. I made it a good way into that textbook, but for some odd reason, which I can't recall at the moment, I stopped.
 Which handbook are you referring to?  {I don’t know how I missed the fact that you were talking about Kittel and even mentioned it directly after the first quick mention. Sometimes I’m slow.}

Of course, you probably know your learning style better than someone else might. I also benefited greatly from the orderly presentation that Seow made. I’m really analytical and notice little details, so it was really good for me. I also understood the importance of reading the biblical text early and a lot. It seems that you know what you’re getting into, and that means that Seow might be just what you’re looking for.
Paul Kohlmeier wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:06 am I plan to make a thread here at some point this week to catalogue how far I have gotten thus far, and to ask any questions I may have at this point.
This is a fantastic idea.
Paul Kohlmeier wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:06 am Thank you very much for your response, Jason.
...
Thank you for the warm welcome!
Of course!
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
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Jason Hare
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Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Jason Hare »

If you don’t mind me asking, how did you hear about B-Hebrew and what brought you to us?
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
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Paul Kohlmeier
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:54 am

Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Paul Kohlmeier »

Jason Hare wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 1:45 pm  Which handbook are you referring to?  {I don’t know how I missed the fact that you were talking about Kittel and even mentioned it directly after the first quick mention. Sometimes I’m slow.}
Actually I'm talking about the Handbook to A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew by some of Seow's PhD students that they wrote to accompany his grammar. It contains the answers to the exercises, notes and suggestions for the grammar and readings, and additional exercises in some places. I probably wasn't the clearest.
If you don’t mind me asking, how did you hear about B-Hebrew and what brought you to us?
Well, I have known for some time about the Textkit forum for Greek and Latin and other forums for general language studies (Unilang, LLORG), but finally got around to looking into a Biblical Hebrew specific forum. I've found them quite helpful for being able to discuss related topics, and getting feedback on translations and exercises. So I did a web search and it lead me here.
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Jason Hare
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Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Jason Hare »

Paul Kohlmeier wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:45 am Actually I'm talking about the Handbook to A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew by some of Seow's PhD students that they wrote to accompany his grammar. It contains the answers to the exercises, notes and suggestions for the grammar and readings, and additional exercises in some places. I probably wasn't the clearest.
That’s amazing. I didn’t even know that a handbook existed for the grammar. I wish we’d had such a thing when I was a student! That’ll certainly make independently studying through Seow’s a lot easier.
Paul Kohlmeier wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:45 am Well, I have known for some time about the Textkit forum for Greek and Latin and other forums for general language studies (Unilang, LLORG), but finally got around to looking into a Biblical Hebrew specific forum. I've found them quite helpful for being able to discuss related topics, and getting feedback on translations and exercises. So I did a web search and it lead me here.
B-Hebrew used to be a place where scholars from various academic areas met and discussed the Hebrew Bible from their different perspectives. It wasn’t really a “learning space,” though I joined up just after my first year of Hebrew while in Bible college. We don’t have much going on here on the forum at this point (as you can see), so we’re able to think about ways to build interaction and to perhaps modify some of our objectives. I think that maintaining learning spaces here on the forum is a great idea, and questions regarding specific textbooks or even the formation of study groups is perfectly valid—as is done on Textkit. I’m excited to see your study of Seow come to fruition here with us.
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
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Jason Hare
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Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Jason Hare »

You got me excited about Seow, so I went ahead and ordered the handbook. I just might use Seow for teaching a course someday. Haven’t really opened it in a few years. I’m more than excited to answer questions and be a guide here on the forum. I check in here like twenty times a day (on regular days).
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
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Jason Hare
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Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Jason Hare »

I just created a subforum specifically for Seow’s grammar. Feel free to get busy with your study and post your thoughts, comments, and questions there!
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
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Paul Kohlmeier
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Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:54 am

Re: Hello Everyone!

Post by Paul Kohlmeier »

Wow! I'm very glad to have made you excited!

I was under the impression that this was geared more towards more advanced people, who know Hebrew well. I was still hoping to find this forum helpful for my purposes as well. I appreciate that you have created a sub-forum specifically for Seow's grammar. I'll be sure to populate it!

How it be appropriate to post on single thread for everything as I work though his grammar, or is the preference to post one question/comment/etc. per thread/topic?

I'm more than happy to learn B-Greek as it currently stands until I have revivex my Greek, and to use Textkit for learning purposes.

And yes, it is rather unfortunate that forums in general seem to be less active in the past few years. I've noticed that with other forums as well. It is especially unfortunate when the resource is as great as this.
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