Five reasons to Learn Biblical Hebrew

Posted by Eli Dahan on March 13, 2010 under Biblical Hebrew | Be the First to Comment

When I try to translate The Scriptures to my students I am trying to be as close as I can get to the meaning of the text, without changing the original meaning of it.

This is sometime a very impossible mission, like the great T.V. program in the sixties….

There is an easy way to solve the problem of the translation- Learn Biblical Hebrew with us!

So why should you do it?

A. Don’t you want to be as close as you can to The Lord’s words?

B. The sacred language should be for all of the people in the world as written in the book of Zephaniah 3:9-

“כִּי-אָז אֶהְפֹּךְ אֶל-עַמִּים, שָׂפָה בְרוּרָה, לִקְרֹא כֻלָּם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה, לְעָבְדוֹ שְׁכֶם אֶחָד ”

“For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve Him with one consent”

C. It’s easy learning with the best teachers in the world!!!

D. You can see the teachers online, though that you are from other places in the world as written in the book of Isaiah 30:20-

“וְהָיוּ עֵינֶיךָ רֹאוֹת אֶת-מוֹרֶיךָ”

“thine eyes shall see thy Teacher”

E. you can understand the connection between the name and the meaning, like mahlon and kilion…

Have a nice week, Eli

One king that rules 55 years – part 1

Posted by Eli Dahan on March 11, 2010 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew | Be the First to Comment

Chapter 21 in 2 Kings start like this:

” בֶּן-שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה, מְנַשֶּׁה בְמָלְכוֹ, וַחֲמִשִּׁים וְחָמֵשׁ שָׁנָה, מָלַךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם; וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ, חֶפְצִי-בָהּ. וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע, בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה–כְּתוֹעֲבֹת, הַגּוֹיִם, אֲשֶׁר הוֹרִישׁ יְהוָה, מִפְּנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.

“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the nations, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel”

One of the best questions that a man can ask is why. This question gives us, the people of the world the opportunity to understand that the curiosity still exist in our crazy world. If why is the best question that a man can ask, all the more so in a religious context. Today we will speak about Manasseh

This is a king that has done a lot of sins in his life, maybe the worst sins ever. He put a statue of the god Astarte in the temple- this is the place that you should serve The Lord and nothing but The Lord. He killed a lot of people in Jerusalem that the bible said that Jerusalem was full of blood from end to end.

Manasseh was a king that if you had to give him a grade the grade was the most negative to you can imagine- a big F. and still the question remains- why did he reigned more time then David and Solomon- why?

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The name and the meaning – mahlon and kilion

Posted by Eli Dahan on March 9, 2010 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

Hello dear readers, I am sorry for being away last week, this was a week with sickness to me and to my family.

Due to this reason, I decided to write today about sick people in the bible.

In the book of Ruth we can find two very sick persons without telling us that they are sick, these are mahlon and kilion, the two sons of Naomi and elimelech as written

In Ruth 1:2-

“וְשֵׁם הָאִישׁ אֱלִימֶלֶךְ וְשֵׁם אִשְׁתּוֹ נָעֳמִי וְשֵׁם שְׁנֵי-בָנָיו מַחְלוֹן וְכִלְיוֹן..”

“And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and kilion”

Seemingly, it seems to be that nothing is written about someone that is sick, but if we will look closely to the nouns that appear in the names mahlon and kilion, we will see that machlon derives from the noun Machala, which means sickness or illness; kilion derives from kelaya, which means extermination.

It’s not a surprise that few verses after we can find this:

“וַיָּמֻתוּ גַם-שְׁנֵיהֶם, מַחְלוֹן וְכִלְיוֹן”

“And Mahlon and chilion died both of them”

If you have a name with sickness you will be sick.

I wish everyone to be healthy, Eli

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The water that goes to the sea…- Ecclesiastes 1:7

Posted by Eli Dahan on February 28, 2010 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Personal stories | Read the First Comment

Well, my friends, after a weekend with a lot of rain in Jerusalem, I decided to write on the water today.

The water in the bible has a lot of meanings, but today we are going to look at one verse in the book of Ecclesiastes, a verse that always bring into my mind a lot of questions:

"כָּל-הַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים אֶל-הַיָּם, וְהַיָּם אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא; אֶל-מְקוֹם, שֶׁהַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים–שָׁם הֵם שָׁבִים, לָלָכֶת"

"All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again.

This verse speak about the water, but it seems to be that the water here is not just the liquid , the H20, it’s also a symbol to our life, we are all going in different ways, but the end and the beginning are the same.

Furthermore, we are all going to a place that is not going to be perfect because only one is perfect and endless, this is God!

The sea will never be full because it can’t, like the stories of other people, fight against the Almighty.

There’s a program in the T.V. that my small kid likes to see, the circle of life, and this are the same situation with the water, where they go they will come back, what a beautiful metaphor…

The process is different with every one of us, but in the edges we are all one!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com