"Way before we called the people of Israel “Jews” (which happened long after the Babylonian exile was over), the Bible called them “Hebrews”. The very first “Hebrew” was Abraham – the father of all those who believe.
Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg
Dean of the Jewish Studies Faculty at eTeacher
Host of the "Jewish Studies for Christians" blog"
The word "hebrew" comes from the verb LaAVoR, which means “to cross over.” On the one hand, Abraham crossed over from Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq) into Canaan, which is modern-day Israel. On the other hand, he crossed over from the world of idol worship that was familiar to him and his family to a new realm, one in which one true God was worshiped instead. In both senses Abraham became forever an IVRi (a Hebrew) – one who has crossed over.
The Hebrew alphabet is very different from the English alphabet in that it is made entirely of consonants. In order to understand how each letter is pronounced, special markings are added to each letter, indicating what sound that letter will make. Today, these markings are only used when learning the language and are later left behind as readers begin to recognize words without them.
I invite you today to cross over into the world of the Biblical Hebrew. It’s a life-changing experience. Let us lead your way to a new and better understanding of the Holy Scripture using the leading academy of Biblical Hebrew - eTeacherBiblical.
