שָׁלוֹם from Atlantic Canada!
Posted: Thu May 14, 2026 6:40 am
Greetings B-Greek members. I’m new here and looking forward to asking some questions and perhaps sharing some of my own discoveries in learning and interacting with the Hebrew Scriptures.
Before this century was very old, my wife and I decided to take an early retirement from my career in post secondary education in order to devote our time to a thorough study of our Christian faith. And that, of course, involved a thorough study of the Scriptures. Within two or three years of setting out on that journey, I included the study of Biblical Greek, and then of Biblical Hebrew as a part of my mission. And within about a half dozen years of setting out on our own journey we began to help others travelling a similar path.
I took courses in intermediate and advanced Biblical Hebrew at the University of British Columbia in 2010/11 and taught intro Hebrew to a small group of lay folks in Vancouver BC the following year. However, I discovered that to gain real fluency I was going to have to devote all my attention to just one language at a time. As I was asked to teach a course in intro Biblical Greek the following year I decided to set Hebrew aside for a season and focus my attention on becoming fluent in the Greek text of the New Testament. Over the past decade plus, most of my time learning, and helping others to learn, Biblical languages has been focused on Greek.
Recently, however, as my fluency in Biblical Greek is now quite well established, I turned my attention once again to Hebrew. Quite early on in my study of the languages I discovered the same thing that Dewayne Dulaney talks about in his 2024 review of the Aleph with Beth video series – that the grammar/translation/analysis method of studying a language – by itself – does not tend to bring you to a place of fluency. In those early years I also came across, and was arrested by, the comments of Randall Buth on the failure of typical Biblical Language programs to achieve fluency in its students. I had also met and got to know Dr. Martin Culy, a recognized authority in Biblical Greek and himself a very competent teacher, who encouraged me along the same path that I will call ‘real language acquisition’. I began to spend more time listening to audio narrations of the Greek text, and interacting with it in a real language setting.
Also, like Dewayne Dulaney, I found the Aleph with Beth videos to be a truly excellent and unique contribution to the study of Biblical Hebrew - and especially for lay folks. I have become a big fan of Andrew and Beth Case and of their personal dedication to the task of helping others learn Biblical languages. I found Beth to be an excellent language teacher and I can easily believe her when she reports that she spends about 30 hours of preparation for every 15-20 minute video! Though the videos may seem very simple at first, they are very well planned and executed. Beth clearly has a master plan in her mix of repetition and introducing new language elements. If you know Hebrew it soon becomes apparent that she's skillfully building toward an end. This was my chosen vehicle to kick off the revival of my Biblical Hebrew studies. I covered all 151 videos and 56 “Biblical Hebrew Easy Stories” over a period of about 3 or 4 months. I look back on it as an excellent choice of vehicles!
Nowadays, I am working on a project to produce a teaching manual (for want of a better term) to help students of Biblical Hebrew move from the basics into actually reading and interacting with the Hebrew text of the Tanakh. I am also acting as a resource person for several friends who are exploring Biblical Hebrew via the Aleph with Beth resources.
Before this century was very old, my wife and I decided to take an early retirement from my career in post secondary education in order to devote our time to a thorough study of our Christian faith. And that, of course, involved a thorough study of the Scriptures. Within two or three years of setting out on that journey, I included the study of Biblical Greek, and then of Biblical Hebrew as a part of my mission. And within about a half dozen years of setting out on our own journey we began to help others travelling a similar path.
I took courses in intermediate and advanced Biblical Hebrew at the University of British Columbia in 2010/11 and taught intro Hebrew to a small group of lay folks in Vancouver BC the following year. However, I discovered that to gain real fluency I was going to have to devote all my attention to just one language at a time. As I was asked to teach a course in intro Biblical Greek the following year I decided to set Hebrew aside for a season and focus my attention on becoming fluent in the Greek text of the New Testament. Over the past decade plus, most of my time learning, and helping others to learn, Biblical languages has been focused on Greek.
Recently, however, as my fluency in Biblical Greek is now quite well established, I turned my attention once again to Hebrew. Quite early on in my study of the languages I discovered the same thing that Dewayne Dulaney talks about in his 2024 review of the Aleph with Beth video series – that the grammar/translation/analysis method of studying a language – by itself – does not tend to bring you to a place of fluency. In those early years I also came across, and was arrested by, the comments of Randall Buth on the failure of typical Biblical Language programs to achieve fluency in its students. I had also met and got to know Dr. Martin Culy, a recognized authority in Biblical Greek and himself a very competent teacher, who encouraged me along the same path that I will call ‘real language acquisition’. I began to spend more time listening to audio narrations of the Greek text, and interacting with it in a real language setting.
Also, like Dewayne Dulaney, I found the Aleph with Beth videos to be a truly excellent and unique contribution to the study of Biblical Hebrew - and especially for lay folks. I have become a big fan of Andrew and Beth Case and of their personal dedication to the task of helping others learn Biblical languages. I found Beth to be an excellent language teacher and I can easily believe her when she reports that she spends about 30 hours of preparation for every 15-20 minute video! Though the videos may seem very simple at first, they are very well planned and executed. Beth clearly has a master plan in her mix of repetition and introducing new language elements. If you know Hebrew it soon becomes apparent that she's skillfully building toward an end. This was my chosen vehicle to kick off the revival of my Biblical Hebrew studies. I covered all 151 videos and 56 “Biblical Hebrew Easy Stories” over a period of about 3 or 4 months. I look back on it as an excellent choice of vehicles!
Nowadays, I am working on a project to produce a teaching manual (for want of a better term) to help students of Biblical Hebrew move from the basics into actually reading and interacting with the Hebrew text of the Tanakh. I am also acting as a resource person for several friends who are exploring Biblical Hebrew via the Aleph with Beth resources.