Biblical Hebrew for Everyone

A collaborative offering of Mekom Torah and
​The Mordecai M. Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood

Meeting online via Zoom

• Two semesters of about 20 sessions each, over the course of about one calendar year, with breaks for holidays and summer vacation.
• All course materials are accessible online, with recordings available for missed classes.
• Current cohort begins Semester 2 in October 2021. Due to high demand, there are two sections: Thursdays, 7:30-9:00 pm eastern, and Wednesdays, 4:00-5:30 pm eastern.
• New cohort begins Semester 1 in April 2022. Sign up now using form below!!

Instructor: Rabbi Helen Plotkin has taught Biblical Hebrew for 20 years at Swarthmore College, in the departments of Classics and Religion.  

What you can expect to accomplish

• Learn to read the Hebrew Bible in the original, using the tools available in reference books and online.
• Uncover the nuances and ambiguities in biblical language that commentators use as jumping off points for interpretation.
• Understand much of Jewish liturgy.
• Discover why different translations are so different.
• Rescue your powers of interpretation from the hands of translators.

Before you begin: You should have at least a basic knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet.  Please contact Rabbi Plotkin for help getting up to speed. As long as you’ve made a start, your reading will get smoother rapidly as you begin to understand the language!

How this is like a college course: There will be homework.  Consistent attendance is expected.  Commitment is paramount!

How this is different from a college course: It’s fun and welcoming, with no grades, just encouragement and pay-off for hard work.  Examples are drawn from familiar passages in the Bible, Jewish liturgy, holiday practice, and other famous Jewish texts.

Tuition: For more information please fill out the form below, or contact Rabbi Helen Plotkin (helen@mekomtorah.org). Tuition assistance is available.

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