Hebrew You (West Racine Institute on Theological Expression)

In 1991 I bought a Hebrew Bible that was smoke-damaged by a fire at a Christian bookstore in Montpellier, France. I guess my reason for acquiring it was because I loved the Bible and felt a desire to explore its original language.  It didn't hurt, either, that the price was reduced!

That autumn I transferred into the Moody Bible Institute to follow the "Bible-Theology" major with "Biblical Language Emphasis". My advisor, Dr. Paul Haik, told me somewhere at the start of my studies there that my emphasis was the best one of the available choices.  Indeed, my first Hebrew class (under Dr. John Walton) had a fairly good number of students--perhaps fifteen. Then the second semester drew a smaller class. I alone registered for the third semester, and so that class got cancelled until a new round of students passed through. It was nice to be allowed to sit in on the repeated second semester. Finally third semester came, but there were just three of us colleagues studying (under Dr. Paul Wegner). It shrank to two for the fourth and final semester. In contrast, my two semesters of Greek classes seemed to have about thirty students apiece. The disinterest in Hebrew was pretty obvious. Perhaps scholars were simply drawn to other majors? If you think about it, since there are already plenty of English translations of the Hebrew Scriptures extant, extra scholars in the field could be considered redundant.

My perspective, however, is that with so many lost and skeptical souls around me, I have just got to show how important those Hebrew Scriptures are to life. Given this, I kept up my personal Hebrew language proficiency during the years of ministry and beyond. When I learned in 2009 about the upcoming "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures" temporary exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum I immediately joined and trained as a volunteer with the paleography "Stop Spot" cart. Later I did a Craigslist search for someone wanting to learn Hebrew and found a guy looking for a teacher. Working with him was beneficial toward my understanding of how to go about training others in the language. A few more additions were made to my list of resources, and I feel confident about starting to create my own tailored course at this time.

A preface in a grammar from 1943 said that that writer's class had 140 men studying Hebrew. He expressed his happiness that these fellows were there preparing themselves to face simply the proponents of biblical criticism. How amazing. It looks like my courses would do well to have that aim also. In fact, I have thought of five additional goals for you in offering you this course:

1.) To enable you to read the Hebrew Bible.

2.) To give highly advanced preparation to you if you plan to attend a college or seminary where the Hebrew language would be taught or used.

3.) To enable graduates of Hebrew You to in turn teach Biblical Hebrew.

4.) To experience extremely old history firsthand.

5.) To know the very words that God spoke and inscribed (Exodus, Job, Daniel, etc.), that God inspired writers to pen (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc.) and that God commanded His people to both write and remember.

I am looking forward to helping you learn Hebrew at the Tyler-Domer Center in Racine from April 28 to May 28, 2015!  Please register to study by calling or emailing me.  The course costs only the price of your textbook.  A suggested $10 administration participation for the entire period is also requested to cover my expenses in bringing the course to you.  Thanks!