A Journey In Hebrew

“Not only does every Hebrew word have its own definition, but every Hebrew letter, within the word, has its own meaning. God placed before you a great banquet of universal truths. All this in 22 Hebrew letters. Every letter contains a progressive curriculum designed to teach you about this marvelous world that God gave us. These letters will flavor each word’s definition claiming its place in God’s well organized universe.” 

-Michael Ben Zehabe

To say that needing to know Hebrew is important in Israel is kind of an understatement. The fact I speak English makes me lucky since most Israelis are taught English in elementary school, around seven or eight years old, but most are not the best at speaking English.

Frankly its a matter of practicality for them; but what surprises me is that a good half of those I have met here who have lived here all their lives can speak around three or four languages on average. That's impressive; among those that are extremely common are Hebrew, English, with French, or Russian. Some speak Arabic. I have met one person who speaks Japanese. I'm not sure many asian languages are spoken here, so I'm going to assume he's just an exception.

In some aspects Hebrew is like any other language- it's not some mystical words or even particularly magical- when a term comes up that isn't native to their language, much like Japanese and English and many, many other languages they just pronounce the term as it is. Such as when I asked my teacher what the word was for 'hangover' she told me it was just hangover, as its pronounced in English. But then there's a commercial I see (I like watching the Israeli commercials on youtube) for the product called head&shoulders, and despite there being obvious words in Hebrew for your head and shoulders, the commercial product's name is pronounce in English. Or should I say Abrit.

Anyway, something surprising to me I never knew about Hebrew is that there is traditional characters, such as these;

And then there is a script form, akin to how in English we have cursive.

I found this really surprising as I had never heard of that existing in relation to Hebrew. Something I could only find out in Israel, I suppose.


But where it gets kind of weird to me, is that there is a whole set of marks that let the reader know how to pronounce the characters in a word. These are a kind of grammar/vowel indicator. And they are standard in both Hebrew in its traditional form, and in its shorthand.

But here is where it gets a little crazy to me. You see even though these are academically important, and even vital to pronounce a word, most Israelis do not utilize these at all. Instead, words are written without the accents, leaving the reader to have to guess, based off the context, what was actually communicated.

Let me illustrate the issue; The word כוס is pronounced Kos, and means cup. However, the word כוס can be pronounced Koos, which means Vagina. The only thing that sets those words apart is the application of the grammar marks.

So this presents an unusual problem for the foreigner and inexperienced Hebrew speaker. Let's say one day I am at a girls house to meet her parents after a date or two. I ask them to pass a cup, but if I were writing it, I could inadvertently also be asking them to pass me a vagina. You see what I mean?

Now this is where the context of the situation indicates which word I am using, if I am writing. Chances are I will not be asking her parents to pass me the pussy, but the fact that if this is writing, it can lead to many problems. Now I do understand the reason for not including the marks, mainly because it makes writing Hebrew WAY longer and harder to do.

But still, this is something I have never encountered in any language studies, where there is an established set of rules for how to write, but then are completely ignored.

This is why many places do not include the marks, especially on road signs;

I'm certain the language will get easier over time and with practice; but to me this is still something so strange. The language itself can be very beautiful; my goal is to be able to write poetry in Hebrew in all three forms, from ancient, to modern, and in script. But the fact I'd have to do so with skill means ignoring the grammar rules essentially makes that type of writing very, very tricky.

 Disclaimer: I am a novice at speaking and writing in Hebrew, this is based off the classes I have received at the Ulpan and this article will be edited as I go forward, as I believe that some of the things I have covered here may not be true, because of my limited experience with the language. This is solely what I have noticed thus far, and as a beginner it means my understanding can be very wrong. Please correct me where I have erred. And thank you for reading.