Every Friday I take my daughter to a children's park, sit with her there for an hour, and we read the Bible together. The era spoken of in the book of Genesis is especially fun for children. Each week we learn the stories about fathers, mothers and children, love and jealousy, fights and reconciliations, deprivation and appeasement. We are now covering the portions that relate to Joseph, and no matter how many hundreds of times I have read the stories, I still get excited with anticipation when it comes to the fate of the handsome young man who was thrown into a pit on two occasions. Not only do I get excited, but my daughter does as well. And how, you may ask, does a 5-year-old girl handle the biblical Hebrew? Very well, thank you. It is no problem for her at all. And there is no secret method to it either. When you read the Bible to a child at a young age, the ancient language becomes part of the child's language as well. At a young age, a child does not differentiate between versions of a language - between the Hebrew of the Bible and the Hebrew of our sages, or the middle ages, or the age of enlightenment, or modern every-day Hebrew. Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! In his/her understanding, it is the same Hebrew; sometimes it appears in a book, sometimes it is used in a song, sometimes it is spoken among family, sometimes in the kindergarten, and sometimes among friends. The child does not need any special preparation for Biblical Hebrew. One simply does not prepare them for that, and it is learned in a totally natural way - the same way their daily spoken language is natural to them. To avoid being overly simplistic, I will explain how it happens in a practical sense. We read the verses together as they appear. When we encounter a word we are not familiar with, we stop and explain the word or offer a similar word we are more familiar with. Then we reread the verse with the original word, and continue on. After reviewing the word once or twice, it becomes part of the child's private lexicon. Genesis 37.2: "This is the genealogy [Hebrew, "toldot"] of Jacob" - the Hebrew word "toldot" means "those born of," "the offspring off," "the children of" (later, when the literal meaning is internalized, we will talk about the more comprehensive meaning of the word). "Joseph, at 17 years of age, was a shepherd [Hebrew, "tzon"], together [Hebrew, "et"] with his brothers." The Hebrew word "et" means "with." He worked together with his brothers. The Hebrew word "tzon" can include both sheep and goats. "And the lad was with [Hebrew, "et"] the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives" - again we have "et", "with." "And Joseph brought evil report of them unto their father," namely, he falsely accused his brothers of wrongdoing. The Hebrew Vayaveh uses future tense conjugation, but implies past tense in Biblical Hebrew, in keeping with the special grammatical construct that reverses tenses in such cases when a verb is prefixed with a Vav. We have all become used to this reversal of tenses in the Bible, like memorizing a song by heart without knowing how to read sheet music. Thus the same Vav can be used to denote both past and future, depending on its function. Just as some people like hot dogs with french fries while some like rice with schnitzel. It is not so complicated. Truth be told, my daughter is familiar with most of these words from previous portions, as we already set out to read together last year. But the concept is clear. Elisha Ben Abuya said in the Ethics of the Fathers, "He who learns as a child, what is he like? He is like ink inscribed on a new sheet. He who learns as an old man, what is he like? He is like ink on a blotted page." Or in Latin, Tabula Rasa - a blank slate. And indeed this is the case - we sometimes have to read things over and over again. A child cannot fully comprehend everything. It all depends on their age. You can gloss over some parts and catch up with the details in later years. This is what guides us. We have also been reading the historical accounts in the Bible. We read selected chapters in the books of Joshua and Judges and we have begun reading the Book of Samuel. Now we are in II Samuel. Because of Hanukkah we are now taking a breather in our Bible studies, browsing instead through the first Book of the Maccabees. Why should we rely on the holiday songs or the (great) stories our kids are told in kindergarten if we can read the original script- I know there are some parents who are baffled by Biblical Hebrew. But still, this is not such a complicate endeavor. For starters, use Torah contemporary renditions or perhaps even translations. You do not have to read everything, but make sure to keep up the effort. A mere chapter a week will suffice for the Bible not to sound so foreign; biblical constructs will soon enough appear natural to you and your children. And one final note: you can start at any age - even late in life. There is no real difference. It is the practice that counts. Parents - do not wait until school teaches your kids the Bible; do it yourself, reintroduce the Bible at home.
