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Learn to Read Hebrew in 6 Weeks!
The Hebrew Alphabet can look intimidating, but this book will have you reading it in 6 weeks. Even people who have tried other books without success have learned to read Hebrew using this book. Here's what makes it * Fun memory tricks make it super simple to remember the sounds of the letters * Pace - The book is divided into 12 simple lessons. Two a week for 6 weeks. * The cheerful style of the book is great for adults and children alike. * From week one you are given words you can read from the Hebrew Bible! * The charming illustrations make learning Hebrew a pleasure. At the end of six weeks you WILL be able to read from the original Hebrew Bible, Psalms or the Siddur (Jewish prayer book) and you will have taken the first big step towards learning the Hebrew Language!
116 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 8, 2016
31 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 2, 2020
If one can classify a book (which is not my usual read) into simple yet easy to consume lessons for both adults and children, then “Learn to Read Hebrew in 6 weeks” definitely met the requirement. Learning accomplished in 4 weeks. It begins with 12 lessons and the style brings humor and flow rhythmically to compliment the learning process.
"Thinking of "Gimmel" as a person playing golf or an upside down "y" sounding like the "G" when pondering an auspicious guy---not the sinister giraffe "G."
---India M. Clamp
Whether it’s the Siddur that you wish to fully comprehend or Psalms this format is ideal for retention. Imagine the word “Noon” has the aesthetic similar to an iron nail that is being hammered into a board yet Alef “א” is silent. Note the very serious and important note that is found at the end of the book. Shalom שָׁלוֹם. Read, learn and teach.
"Thinking of "Gimmel" as a person playing golf or an upside down "y" sounding like the "G" when pondering an auspicious guy---not the sinister giraffe "G."
---India M. Clamp
Whether it’s the Siddur that you wish to fully comprehend or Psalms this format is ideal for retention. Imagine the word “Noon” has the aesthetic similar to an iron nail that is being hammered into a board yet Alef “א” is silent. Note the very serious and important note that is found at the end of the book. Shalom שָׁלוֹם. Read, learn and teach.
April 17, 2022
6 weeks after beginning these lessons with no prior Hebrew lessons, I was able to read from the Haggadah (albeit very slowly)! I’m doing the writing workbook by the same author next. I really enjoyed this program and think it will prove valuable as I move to more beginner and intermediate study so that I can move along even quicker and keep up in shul.
June 29, 2017
Weeks later you can read an alphabet...
This is not helpful at all to actually learn the language. I was expecting more from a book saying "learn to read Hebrew in 6 weeks"...
This is not helpful at all to actually learn the language. I was expecting more from a book saying "learn to read Hebrew in 6 weeks"...
August 2, 2024
GREAT learning tool to understand the Hebrew alphabet! She combines each letter with an illustration and a mnemonic device to help you remember the sound it makes. You could honestly read it way faster than over the span of 6 weeks. She explains what each word means and gives some examples from scripture too !! P cool
June 23, 2021
Really wonderful. I got it yesterday. Read through the whole thing in about two hours last night and this afternoon. And now I'm "reading" Hebrew. I don't know what the words mean, but I can actually phonetically read the words on the page. Having made a bunch of attempts at learning Hebrew over the past 10 years and always got discouraged and decided to come back later, it feels like a huge accomplishment to FINALLY be past this hurdle!
March 15, 2019
I compared several websites and books on learning to read the Hebrew alphabet before purchasing this book, and I can say that I'm very satisfied. As a native English speaker who learned to read and write Arabic about twenty-five years ago, one of my first thoughts was that I wish I'd had a book like this for the Arabic alphabet way back then. This book—thankfully—proceeds very slowly and clearly, and there hasn't been once where I got confused. Each consonant is explained in detail and some memory tips are presented, and the vowels are incorporated in a very understandable way. While the author's tone is very "fun," you can tell that a lot of thought went into how to present the material—and she, along with the illustrator, has done a very commendable job.
I'll mention that I thought that knowing Arabic might help me in learning Hebrew—since they're both Semitic languages that are read from right to left and the letters have many of the same or similar names...but it's been more difficult than expected. While, due to my knowledge of Arabic, reading from right to left seems natural to me—thus avoiding one of the "weird" aspects of Hebrew that many new readers experience—I still very much face the problem that, even though many of the letters are pronounced (pretty much) the same, the letter "Aleph" in Hebrew isn't written anything like the letter "Alif" in Arabic—indeed, almost none of the letters correspond to anything similar. Well, except perhaps for "Shin" and "Sin". So, in the end, I'm pretty much going to have to memorize each letter just like everyone else—and, so far, Hebrew seems to have more letters that are easily confused with each other than the Latin or Arabic alphabets...although that might just be my inexperience speaking. On the other hand, Hebrew doesn't have a stand-alone/initial/medial/final form of each letter like Arabic does, although some letters do have a different final form, so that certainly makes it easier.
Overall, this book is excellent and I'm confident that in six weeks I'll be comfortably, albeit slowly, reading Hebrew and moving on to learning vocabulary and grammar. I'm thankful to have this book!
I'll mention that I thought that knowing Arabic might help me in learning Hebrew—since they're both Semitic languages that are read from right to left and the letters have many of the same or similar names...but it's been more difficult than expected. While, due to my knowledge of Arabic, reading from right to left seems natural to me—thus avoiding one of the "weird" aspects of Hebrew that many new readers experience—I still very much face the problem that, even though many of the letters are pronounced (pretty much) the same, the letter "Aleph" in Hebrew isn't written anything like the letter "Alif" in Arabic—indeed, almost none of the letters correspond to anything similar. Well, except perhaps for "Shin" and "Sin". So, in the end, I'm pretty much going to have to memorize each letter just like everyone else—and, so far, Hebrew seems to have more letters that are easily confused with each other than the Latin or Arabic alphabets...although that might just be my inexperience speaking. On the other hand, Hebrew doesn't have a stand-alone/initial/medial/final form of each letter like Arabic does, although some letters do have a different final form, so that certainly makes it easier.
Overall, this book is excellent and I'm confident that in six weeks I'll be comfortably, albeit slowly, reading Hebrew and moving on to learning vocabulary and grammar. I'm thankful to have this book!
May 21, 2022
I've learned and forgotten a number of languages over the years, some better than others. Many times it's been easier for me to speak than read and then read over write -- writing is brutal in some languages. I took many years of German in high school and college, could read German novels and write fairly well but lack of use over many years has rendered me mostly useless, sadly. Then when I lived in Los Angeles, I lived in a high rise in Koreatown for a few years and while I worked in Beverly Hills and Culver City, my employers hired hundreds of Koreans to work in warehouses. Virtually all were women and they don't learn English; the men do. Thus no one listened or spoke to them, let alone paid them any attention except for a VP who was Korean. I felt bad for them. I felt like just because a few offices were staffed largely with white collar (and white) employees, that didn't make us any better or more relevant than them and to have hundreds of women in warehouses in broiling heat with little recourse pissed me off. I bought a few books on how to learn to speak Korean and practiced in restaurants, malls, shops and clubs in Koreatown. Soon I started dropping into the warehouse where I was looked at suspiciously. I picked one older Korean woman out who I had seen take short walks in their short break and I greeted her in Korean, formally and later informally. Talk about shock! All of a sudden I was inundated with dozens of questions and comments coming my way from surprised workers and I had to ask them to slow down. Long story short, I became pretty good at speaking Korean and I'd bring them in jugs of bottled water and sandwiches a few days a week. I couldn't do it more often because, naturally, management didn't approve. I later became friends with some Korean couples and a few co-workers at other companies and really enjoyed that language. Ironically, years later a very nice young Korean woman in a different state offered to help teach me to read and write in Korean. It was interesting and challenging -- more than Chinese -- but I couldn't continue for very long as I moved to another state shortly thereafter. And now, again due to disuse, I barely remember any.
Ultimately over the 25+-year course of my "work" career and writing career, I had many opportunities (and a few requirements) to learn some other languages to very different degrees. Over the course of my work life, I learned a bit of Persian, Spanish, Tagalog, French, Italian, possibly more I'm forgetting, and at one big company I worked at, I had to deal with a number of Chinese partners -- IN China, who were Chinese and didn't speak English well, so it was a challenge -- and I was expected to fly to China 2-4 times a year for 2-4 weeks at a time for business.
In my personal life and during my writing career, my work appeared in close to 20 languages, some of which I would never learn (like Flemish). Some countries, though, published the hell out of me, in terms of everything from commercial magazines to books to zines to scholarly peer-reviewed papers, etc. And in many cases, I wanted to understand as much as possible because in some countries, I was actually so "popular" that they wrote articles about me and put me on various magazine covers with my hero, Bukowski. Even had a small fan club in Finland for awhile. A ton of this was in Finland, for decades. Other countries and languages included Japanese, Taiwan's "simple" Chinese, Swedish, Russian, Norwegian, Greek, Polish, Hindi, Arabic and many more. In some cases, I was only published once or twice in some of these countries while in others I was published in everything from music magazines to poetry journals to tech or science journals to anarchist zines to several books in several languages, etc. So over the years I began to see, recognize, learn, speak/read to varying degrees of success or failure a number of these languages. I was huge in Finland, so that was a no brainer. Finnish is hard as shit! That said, back in those days you didn't have these great translation software programs or websites, so it's much easier now (I feel like I'm cheating at times). So last year I translated a couple of articles about me in Finnish -- (old). I also translated some things in Chinese. I learned some Norwegian and Swedish largely due to family there and then Tagalog long before I ended up dating a Filipino woman for a year. I've also struggled with a little Danish and Portuguese and largely gave up on Russian, although I DID learn just a touch of Bulgarian and Serbian -- briefly.
And now ALL down the tube due to massive disuse, although again, recently I've been slightly active with Finnish, German and Chinese.
What's that have to do with THIS book? Well, despite having many Jewish friends my whole life and working with Jewish people in many companies, I was never exposed to anything more than Yiddish. And reading or writing? Are you shitting me? Korean seemed (and was) easier. Anyway, a few decades ago, I struck up a relationship with a practicing Jewish woman who literally had expectations for anyone she dated who was not Jewish -- and she wasn't really looking for anyone who wasn't; it was a bizarre introduction. Well, I know that for far too long, there has been a debate as to whether Jewish is an Ethnicity or a Religion. I have nothing in that fire, but I know plenty of people who do and for this woman, it was more the latter. I was generally okay with some people being religious -- as long as they didn't try to force it on me, proselytize, convert me, etc. And she largely didn't -- at first. But she DID think it would be a very nice gesture if I learned history, culture, religion and language. So I did. I went with her to a local synagogue two nights a week for half a year to learn Hebrew. And let me tell you, that was goddamn hard as hell! She had orthodox friends in other cities and states so I picked up a bit of spoken language when together with them, but I never could get reading and certainly not writing. Well, that relationship ended after some years and with it, any need (or desire) to continue. So why read this book? A refresher. Over the past few years I've come into contact with and made acquaintances and connections with several Israeli citizens in several different fields, most at a fairly high level. A number of them are diplomats, some are CEOs of companies, a few in government positions (their version of NASA; the Knesset, etc.), and some academics, etc. While they're all fluent in English, I do like to try to show professionals I deal with for any extended reasons that I think enough of them and what the professional relationship is to at least try to learn to communicate with them in their own language. I'm probably not very successful, but I try. I actually don't speak with many in Israel, so much as some FROM Israel, but since my language lessons were two decades ago, I decided to try this out to see if I could catch some of that back, and thus it was a decent book and I do recommend it! (Sorry for the too-long intro...)
Ultimately over the 25+-year course of my "work" career and writing career, I had many opportunities (and a few requirements) to learn some other languages to very different degrees. Over the course of my work life, I learned a bit of Persian, Spanish, Tagalog, French, Italian, possibly more I'm forgetting, and at one big company I worked at, I had to deal with a number of Chinese partners -- IN China, who were Chinese and didn't speak English well, so it was a challenge -- and I was expected to fly to China 2-4 times a year for 2-4 weeks at a time for business.
In my personal life and during my writing career, my work appeared in close to 20 languages, some of which I would never learn (like Flemish). Some countries, though, published the hell out of me, in terms of everything from commercial magazines to books to zines to scholarly peer-reviewed papers, etc. And in many cases, I wanted to understand as much as possible because in some countries, I was actually so "popular" that they wrote articles about me and put me on various magazine covers with my hero, Bukowski. Even had a small fan club in Finland for awhile. A ton of this was in Finland, for decades. Other countries and languages included Japanese, Taiwan's "simple" Chinese, Swedish, Russian, Norwegian, Greek, Polish, Hindi, Arabic and many more. In some cases, I was only published once or twice in some of these countries while in others I was published in everything from music magazines to poetry journals to tech or science journals to anarchist zines to several books in several languages, etc. So over the years I began to see, recognize, learn, speak/read to varying degrees of success or failure a number of these languages. I was huge in Finland, so that was a no brainer. Finnish is hard as shit! That said, back in those days you didn't have these great translation software programs or websites, so it's much easier now (I feel like I'm cheating at times). So last year I translated a couple of articles about me in Finnish -- (old). I also translated some things in Chinese. I learned some Norwegian and Swedish largely due to family there and then Tagalog long before I ended up dating a Filipino woman for a year. I've also struggled with a little Danish and Portuguese and largely gave up on Russian, although I DID learn just a touch of Bulgarian and Serbian -- briefly.
And now ALL down the tube due to massive disuse, although again, recently I've been slightly active with Finnish, German and Chinese.
What's that have to do with THIS book? Well, despite having many Jewish friends my whole life and working with Jewish people in many companies, I was never exposed to anything more than Yiddish. And reading or writing? Are you shitting me? Korean seemed (and was) easier. Anyway, a few decades ago, I struck up a relationship with a practicing Jewish woman who literally had expectations for anyone she dated who was not Jewish -- and she wasn't really looking for anyone who wasn't; it was a bizarre introduction. Well, I know that for far too long, there has been a debate as to whether Jewish is an Ethnicity or a Religion. I have nothing in that fire, but I know plenty of people who do and for this woman, it was more the latter. I was generally okay with some people being religious -- as long as they didn't try to force it on me, proselytize, convert me, etc. And she largely didn't -- at first. But she DID think it would be a very nice gesture if I learned history, culture, religion and language. So I did. I went with her to a local synagogue two nights a week for half a year to learn Hebrew. And let me tell you, that was goddamn hard as hell! She had orthodox friends in other cities and states so I picked up a bit of spoken language when together with them, but I never could get reading and certainly not writing. Well, that relationship ended after some years and with it, any need (or desire) to continue. So why read this book? A refresher. Over the past few years I've come into contact with and made acquaintances and connections with several Israeli citizens in several different fields, most at a fairly high level. A number of them are diplomats, some are CEOs of companies, a few in government positions (their version of NASA; the Knesset, etc.), and some academics, etc. While they're all fluent in English, I do like to try to show professionals I deal with for any extended reasons that I think enough of them and what the professional relationship is to at least try to learn to communicate with them in their own language. I'm probably not very successful, but I try. I actually don't speak with many in Israel, so much as some FROM Israel, but since my language lessons were two decades ago, I decided to try this out to see if I could catch some of that back, and thus it was a decent book and I do recommend it! (Sorry for the too-long intro...)
September 11, 2020
I’m attempting to find a good introductory Hebrew workbook to help children (and perhaps adults) to read, write and feel good about this amazing language.
Shaffer’s book is an extremely creative work to help a young child learn the Hebrew Alef Bet. However, the words the student is taught are mostly two syllable words, while Hebrew can have five syllable words. I am not so sure the pupil is given the ability to feel comfortable with multi-syllabic words from this workbook.
Nothing is said in the book about where to place the accent in pronouncing Hebrew words. Yet the creative way in which Schaffer encourages the student to know the letters of the Hebrew alphabet is worth using this book. Yet recognize the limitations.
Shaffer’s book is an extremely creative work to help a young child learn the Hebrew Alef Bet. However, the words the student is taught are mostly two syllable words, while Hebrew can have five syllable words. I am not so sure the pupil is given the ability to feel comfortable with multi-syllabic words from this workbook.
Nothing is said in the book about where to place the accent in pronouncing Hebrew words. Yet the creative way in which Schaffer encourages the student to know the letters of the Hebrew alphabet is worth using this book. Yet recognize the limitations.
January 27, 2021
This book made it very easy to learn and to remember the Hebrew alphabet. The pictures for each letter made it super helpful in remembering how to pronounce each letter when reading. Al though I chose to take longer than 6 weeks to get through the book, it is very easy for adults and children alike to learn, if Hebrew isn't your first language. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a resource to teach yourself the basics of the Hebrew language.
April 30, 2022
This was a quick and engaging way to learn the aleph bet. The memory-aid pictures were helpful, and I love that there were embedded reviews. My favorite part, though, was the inclusion of words from the Bible as soon as I knew enough letters. They were given both on their own as well as highlighted in the verse. Highly recommend.
January 20, 2024
I am in the process of learning Hebrew and started with this. I've now enrolled in an actual online class, but this little book has me way ahead of my classmates. You'll literally be reading Hebrew in a few weeks. It's a pretty cool little system of teaching! Simple enough for a child to understand, but its actually very effective.
March 8, 2019
Really helpful in learning the Aleph-Bet and vowels! It is very exciting to be able to sound out words in Hebrew now. I am not a person who is adept at learning new languages but this was very readable and digestible. You can go about it in a few days rather than six weeks.
October 11, 2020
Very simple and helpful
This book lives up to its promise - learn to read the Hebrew language in six weeks or less. I finished it in a weekend and felt ready to read Hebrew words (so long as they were written with vowels).
This book lives up to its promise - learn to read the Hebrew language in six weeks or less. I finished it in a weekend and felt ready to read Hebrew words (so long as they were written with vowels).
December 12, 2020
Great place to start
I knew literally nothing about Hebrew before this book and her YouTube videos. Both have been a tremendous help in getting started with my first steps. Now I am apps and vocabulary/grammar books and videos with the skills I learned in this book!
I knew literally nothing about Hebrew before this book and her YouTube videos. Both have been a tremendous help in getting started with my first steps. Now I am apps and vocabulary/grammar books and videos with the skills I learned in this book!
March 19, 2021
Excellent, clever introduction to the Hebrew letters!
Miiko has written a clever guide to learning both the consonants and vowels of Hebrew. Her distinctive illustrations make remembering the letters easy and fun for all ages. A real confidence booster!
Miiko has written a clever guide to learning both the consonants and vowels of Hebrew. Her distinctive illustrations make remembering the letters easy and fun for all ages. A real confidence booster!
August 19, 2023
So much fun!! What a great use of mnemonics and what a clever presentation. Will take lots of practice to develop and keep my chops, but this was exactly what I was hoping for! I normally don't give five stars for books this short, but this was well worthy of an exception!
October 4, 2018
What a great and simple way to learn to read Hebrew! It also helps you begin to build a simple vocabulary with a few example words as well. Loved it!!!!
May 13, 2019
This was great - I'm glad I read this first. Very basic and very helpful in identifying the letters (and vowels) of Hebrew.
January 3, 2020
A good book for teaching Hebrew aleph bet to an adolescent. Fun memnonics.
May 18, 2020
Great Primary For Pronouncing Words
I had though this would help me understand grammar and the like but it was perfect for what it did. Her tips and ticks really help!
I had though this would help me understand grammar and the like but it was perfect for what it did. Her tips and ticks really help!
January 17, 2021
This book, presenting the Hebrew alphabet, is the gateway drug into reading Hebrew.
January 29, 2022
Easy and widely accessible to all audiences. More voracious readers will complete this in far less than six weeks but it’s hard to find any faults with this book.
December 24, 2022
I loved the book! It really makes learning the Hebrew alphabet easy!
January 5, 2023
Easy to use, practical, great for children or adults! (Important to note this is modern Hebrew as opposed to Ancient or Biblical Hebrew.)
September 1, 2023
I can't believe but I can read in Hebrew now!
January 2, 2024
Great way to learn for children and adults!
February 12, 2025
Exceptional
Easy to read easy to understand! Easy to grasp the first time through! But I think I'll take a second and maybe a third tour through it for clarity.
Easy to read easy to understand! Easy to grasp the first time through! But I think I'll take a second and maybe a third tour through it for clarity.
April 26, 2021
Loved it
This book made remembering the letters much easier with the pictures and mnemonic devices! I took Hebrew 100 years ago so this book was a great review in just a couple of days to spark my memory!
This book made remembering the letters much easier with the pictures and mnemonic devices! I took Hebrew 100 years ago so this book was a great review in just a couple of days to spark my memory!
July 9, 2021
I’m amazed at myself!
I’m an old woman deprived of a bat mitzvah. Thanks to the confidence I got from this little morsel of genius, I will celebrate my bat mitzvah on my 70th birthday and have a great party with my community. Can you think of higher praise?
I’m an old woman deprived of a bat mitzvah. Thanks to the confidence I got from this little morsel of genius, I will celebrate my bat mitzvah on my 70th birthday and have a great party with my community. Can you think of higher praise?
September 22, 2020
Very nice and easy to understand. Easy to follow.
Very nice and easy to understand. Easy to follow. A little hard to discern characters but that's more font than fault
Very nice and easy to understand. Easy to follow. A little hard to discern characters but that's more font than fault
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews