Best products from r/hebrew

We found 33 comments on r/hebrew discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 34 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/hebrew:

u/Bogizley · 4 pointsr/hebrew

Wow! Good on you for taking that time and putting it to use. And you taught yourself Arabic last time! You sound like an impressive person! So remember that the Old Testament or the Tanakh was written in Biblical Hebrew that is not exactly the same as modern Hebrew. So here's what I would recommend. First get the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. This is the scrolls put into a book with vowels so as to make each word more more distinguishable (the original scrolls do not have vowels, just consonants). So make sure the Hebrew Bible you get is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), because that's the text us academics use for translation purposes. This is usually the cheapest option or this one if you need bigger print. Many, many people complain when they're learning Biblical Hebrew about the small Hebrew print and how it gets in the way of the learning process! You'd be amazed. I've been teaching Biblical Hebrew for a while and in my modest opinion the best book and workbook to learn Biblical Hebrew is Seow's book
and workbook. It's intense and demanding, but somehow I think you might be okay with that. You sound like a determined person. If you'd prefer a book that demands a slower pace or doesn't go in too much depth, then I'd suggest Pratico and Van Pelt's Basics of Biblical Hebrew and its workbook. They have a really helpful Laminated Sheet that's like a helpful cheat sheet. Another thing I would suggest is focusing on narrative in the Hebrew Bible and, at least in the beginning, staying away from poetry and songs. Those are a genre of their own and are much harder to translate. Focus first on narrative (Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, Ruth and others). This link talks a little bit more about which books are which genre. Start with narrative and once you get a handle of that you can move on to poems like Lamentations or songs like the Psalms or the Song of Solomon. I hope this helps! If you have any questions at all please feel free to pm me!

u/Tzipity · 3 pointsr/hebrew

I loved Duolingo but if you’re only using the app you may want to give the actual website a go. There’s more info and stuff to read there that doesn’t make it onto the app. So like stuff you’d find in textbooks.

I also bought this text (Living Language) on amazon. Has some errors in it but you get three books and CDs for such a good price (I think I even used a holiday 40% off a book purchase coupon to buy mine so it was super cheap!)

https://www.amazon.com/Living-Language-Hebrew-Complete-coursebooks/dp/0307972143/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=living+language+hebrew%2C+complete+edition+beginner+to+advanced&qid=1568363059&s=gateway&sprefix=living+language+hebrew&sr=8-1

I had a bit more Hebrew than you when I started the Living Language course (I’d taken some Hebrew in University though had a pretty awful professor who graded too easy and gave answers away during exams. I learned more Hebrew just through constant exposure because I also majored in Middle East studies and am an Israeli politics dork.) But because I was primarily self taught I had lots of gaps in knowledge. I like that Living Language is actually a workbook you can write in. So I started from the beginning and plowed through the stuff I knew quickly and went from there. Couldn’t complain for the price and with how much you get. Grab yourself a good dictionary too. Watch tv and movies and listen to Israeli music. I have several other textbooks too but had the same issue that a lot were too simple, some were religious (and simple), etc. my biggest problem is I haven’t had much practice speaking. I can read and understand a lot of spoken Hebrew well and my pronunciation isn’t bad but I’m not good at expressing myself in Hebrew or forming sentences on my own. And all the textbooks in the world won’t give you that. You’re going to want to find someone to speak Hebrew with ideally.

But yeah, I think the Living Language Collection is probably a good one for you. There’s also the books that are used in Ulpan in Israel. You can find them on amazon and they move pretty fast so I’m unsure if you’d want the first level 1 book or the second. The biggest issue is that they’re pricey and the answer key is sold separately. I think I’ve seen them for sale cheaper on Jewish book websites than on Amazon but still much pricier than Living Language.

u/Tomagatchi · 2 pointsr/hebrew

I'm trying to learn Hebrew from the Bible as well currently, and have found a couple of resources: Hebrew for Christians

Has a lot of the basics and some helpful information like grammar and help with a lot of info. It's got a lot of free information.

I've been using Bible hubs' interlinear bible which has some translation and pronunciation with links to Strong's and occurrences of words in other verses. There is also text analysis. A lot of really good, powerful tools for Bible study and teaching yourself Hebrew. I've been trying to find a guide for the pronunciation marks they use, but so far no luck.

Also, just google "Learn Biblical Hebrew" or "learn torah hebrew" or "learn hebrew tenakh" Lot's of sources. Some sites I've used a little bit:

http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/

http://www.jewfaq.org/index.shtml

Some resources are on Amazon as well. Pratico and Van Pelt are commonly used by seminaries. Here's a study guide they put out: http://www.amazon.com/Biblical-Hebrew-Laminated-Zondervan-Guides/dp/031026295X/

Click on the picture to "take a look inside" for basic information.

Hope that gives you some ideas on where to begin. Good luck, fellow student!

u/Dramatic_Cranberry · 2 pointsr/hebrew

Books that helped me:


  • Hebrew Binyanim Made Easy - very short, and probably better to buy as an e-book, but super helpful.
  • Modern Hebrew Verbs Step-By-Step - the author also has a youtube page which is awesome.
  • Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar is a MUST. You can always find earlier editions on eBay for like 10$ easily, and they are mostly the same. I personally own the 2nd edition and quite like it. NOTE: The author has another Hebrew grammar as well, but it is so technical as to be basically unreadable. Get this one.


    Hebrew verbs are strange, but once you see the over-arching pattern they become quite simple.
u/hurhurdedur · 1 pointr/hebrew

I'd strongly recommend getting a copy of the book 501 Hebrew Verbs, which provides an excellent explanation of the verb conjugation system as well as lots of great examples of verb conjugations.

u/hallabackgirl · 1 pointr/hebrew

I tried to learn exclusively online for a little while but I found quickly that it was a daunting task. Italki.com has some great tutors that helped me not only speak but read Hebrew faster than I was ever able to on my own. If you're looking for books

http://www.amazon.com/Colloquial-Hebrew-Series-Zippi-Lyttleton/dp/0415240484

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/israel-and-the-palestinian-territories/hebrew-phrasebook-3/

are two great places to start with. Just remember no matter how many books or online courses you do nothing replaces actual human interaction

u/sabata00 · 3 pointsr/hebrew

If you want something extensive, I recommend 501 Hebrew verbs.

https://www.amazon.com/501-Hebrew-Verbs-Verb/dp/0764137484

It is an incredibly useful tool for Hebrew learning. My favorite purchase which has been of immeasurable use.

u/tourguideaaron · 1 pointr/hebrew

Duolingo is great for vocabulary. The biggest barrier to learning Hebrew is the Alphabet though. People are intimidated by any non Latin Alphabet. There's a great book that teaches Hebrew reading with fun memory tricks available on kindle or in paperback:
https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Read-Hebrew-6-Weeks/dp/0997867507/

u/IbnEzra613 · 3 pointsr/hebrew

Just a correction to the title: אני רוצה ללמוד את השפה העברית. Direct objects that are definite should be preceded by the preposition את (et).

This is a good beginner's textbook. You could study it on your own. That combined with the Duolingo you are doing should be a great starting point and last you a little while.

u/AManAPlanACanalPeru · 2 pointsr/hebrew

You might have a hard time finding this specific of a resource. Most dictionaries will not have the English transliteration of Hebrew words, and certainly not for every conjugation. I recommend learning to read with niqqud (which is explained at the beginning of any good English-Hebrew dictionary) and learning how to conjugate all the different binyanim. This way, you can read the Hebrew word and know how to pronounce it without much ambiguity. If you are not yet at this level, maybe you should start with a more basic introductory text book as opposed to a full-fledged dictionary.

As far as specific dictionaries go, I reccoment the Oxford English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English Dictionary or the The New Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew & English Dictionary, Revised.

u/asaz989 · 3 pointsr/hebrew

I had this book when I was little; don't know if there are new editions available. It has those nice old tables. [EDIT: found another version that might be the one I remember; 201 didn't sound like the right number. The cover I remember was just closer to the (prettier) old version.)

I also found this convenient site online [EDIT: changed link to one that actually knows Hebrew phonology], though it's a bit weird in that it titles the entries by infinitive; usually in Hebrew grammar the singular male third-person past tense is considered the "base" form. But you can search by any conjugation, so it's all good.

My personal advice, and the philosophy used by most such references - treat the binyanim as etymology, not conjugation. There are very regular rules for plugging in a root to a binyan, but there are no rules for figuring out the meaning based on root + binyan, except for the passive/active pairs of binyanim which are very useful to keep in mind while learning conjugations. But for these purposes, just focus on the tense-and-pronoun (or aspect-and-pronoun) variants.

u/voseba · 1 pointr/hebrew

I'm using "hebrew from scratch" and I'm very satisfied. I started with no knowledge about the language and it worked well. https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Scratch-Part-1/dp/9653501127

u/ulfurinn · 9 pointsr/hebrew

Hebrew from Scratch is quite enjoyable (it's designed for use in a classroom but can be used for self-study without too much trouble)

Routledge Modern Hebrew is a decent grammar reference

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/hebrew

Hebrew from Scratch is what is used in ulpans.


https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Scratch-Part-1/dp/9653501127?sa-no-redirect=1&pldnSite=1

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(easy to find pdfs online too)