Wow, the Jewish community is the middle of such a busy period, so many festivals, so much praying, so much food – and so much Hebrew reading! If anyone asks me “why should I learn to read Hebrew?” I will say one word – festivals.

The Jewish festivals revolve around prayer, praising G-d, and the all the prayers are read in Hebrew; especially in Orthodox congregations. In the more Progressive congregations, there is some English read too.

These festivals; Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah are 3000 years old. They have been in existence since Torah was given to the Jewish people .  The laws associated with these festivals are written in the Torah, written in Hebrew. So, even just the motivation to read the Torah and to read about the festivals should be enough to motivate someone to want to know how to read in Hebrew.