A Hebrew Primer - Aleph

Twenty years after quitting Hebrew class in graduate school, I have decided to learn Hebrew.

Here are a few of the reasons:

• Originality consists of returning to the original - Antoni Gaudi
• I have come to see how language both forms and reflects people’s worldview, so I want to dig into the language used by the people with whom the God who is communicated with in a written form.
• I hope to add depth to my understanding of important realities by seeing them through the prism of the original words.

Because Psalm 119 is a poem using the letters of the “alef-bet” I plan on using it as my primer…. a sort of Hebraic “A is for Apple.”

Aleph

A silent letter

I find it fascinating that the first letter of the Hebrew “aleph-bet” is a silent one. Beginning with silence reminds me of the first recorded activity of God: hovering over the formless, empty chaos (For an exploration of this activity see the first lesson, “A Perfect World” in Richard Pratt’s video series The Primeval History.); it reminds of the friends of Job sitting with him in silence for seven days; it reminds me of Jesus spending nine months in the womb. It reminds me that silence is an important part of communication.

Aleph is for Esher (Blessed)

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,

Who walk according to the law of the Lord. Ps. 119:1

Happiness is…

Blessed isn’t a particularly contemporary word. It sounds like something from another time, a more religious one, a time when the idea of floating on a cloud and playing the harp was appealing, although I’m not sure that time ever existed. I find “How happy are they”, J.B. Phillips translation in the Beatitudes, more appealing. I want to be happy and if you tell me where you’ve found happiness I’ll probably listen.

A sort of thesis statement Ps. 119:1 mentions the negative and the positive aspects for the happy life: don’t do this but do do that. I call the first line “negative” because it refers to the absence of something. The admirable Mexican president Benito Juarez (contemporary and friend of Abraham Lincoln) said, “Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.” Juarez was a lawyer and his statement reflects a legal perspective, the same one God taught his people in many of the Ten Commandments and that we see here: don’t do something that is wrong. But the God who is wants more from us and more for us than an absence of wrong doing. He wants the presence of good. He wants us to love our neighbor…to be proactive about seeking their wellbeing. He wants us to start with justice and move beyond that into righteousness.

The term “blameless ways” feels distant…unattainable… but the following rephrasing draws me in, “Happy are they who haven’t done anything to be ashamed of.” When I think of things I have done that make me feel ashamed, things I wish I could undo, I feel the truth of the psalmists promise; I would be happier if I hadn’t done those things. The blessing wouldn’t be something extra added to my life, but something I would experience as I live that way.

When I think of the letter A I picture it on a page next to the drawing of a big red apple. When I think of Aleph, I picture someone paused at a fork in the road. Choosing the right path doesn’t just lead to future blessing but to a life so full of blessing and happiness that it runs over to the lives of others.