Hebrew for Christians

I want to give a bit of background about how it came about that I started teaching Hebrew for Christians. I had to go to a pharmacy to buy some medication. I was wearing my favourite T-shirt that had ‘Sesame Street’ written in Hebrew. The pharmacist asked me if it said ‘Shalom’.

The T-shirt sparked a conversation, and it transpired that he was a devout Christian and was keen on learning Hebrew for Christians. He also gave me the name of his friend, the head of the language college at the local Baptist College. It was because of this encounter with the pharmacist that I was teaching a student to learn to read Hebrew at the theological college.

I taught a number of courses there, all to pupils who were profoundly religious and wanted to engage with Hebrew for Christians. Their knowledge of the original bible, the Torah, was vast. At the end of every course that I hold, and the pupils are able to read Hebrew (albeit slowly), I always ask them to read longer texts. One of these texts was the Shema and the V’ahavta.

To my surprise and amazement, all the students recognised the text from the Torah and were able to name the book and chapter where it was found. I realised at this point how important Hebrew for Christians actually is. Once I truly understood this, I spoke to other Christian bible colleges and discussed with them the importance of this language for Christianity.

Whilst they did not engage with the face-to-face teaching that I do, they purchased my online Hebrew reading program, understanding the need to provide resources for their students in relation to engaging in Hebrew. These resources are valuable to the student’s learning and help them tremendously to achieve their goal.