Summer Hebrew 29

Not much today, just wanted to splash this picture before your eyes. Awww. Reminds me of reading Jonah from a few weeks ago :-)

Tomorrow is the final exam and then I begin the long journey home. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

Shalom.

Summer Hebrew 28

Hazy sunrise as the clouds linger just above the hills. My time here is quickly drawing to a close. But it feels more like a sunrise as I think back over this experience of language learning. Only God knows what the day that has dawned holds for us.

This I do know, "The sum of your word is truth and every one of your righteous rules endures forever." (Psalm 119:160) So, we'll hold on to that and let His word lead us down this newly lit path.

Shalom

Summer Hebrew 26

You never know what you might stumble upon. Walking back the Yafo Gate in Jerusalem, we wound our way through the Jewish quarter. Lo, and behold, we came upon this site which to you may just look like a pile of rocks. It is actually the foundation layer of the great Broad Wall of Jerusalem from the time of Hezekiah. This wall wound it's way around the large western portion of the city and used to be over 21 feet tall until the Babylonians destroyed it.

This whole summer has been full of ordinary days and stunning surprises. I came expecting to get into the groove of rather mundane language study. But I have been so surprised at how much fun we have. Yes, it is fun to read the bible in Hebrew. And on top of that our teachers make the class time very enjoyable. Today we sang a few songs taken from Psalms and Isaiah. After that we recited one of our memory verses together and began acting out the vocabulary to Genesis 2.

The winding path of this summer course has only 4 more days to roll and in 10 days I'll be back with my family. And after that the language learning journey has only just begun!

Summer Hebrew - Reflection

I read an interesting quote this evening that feels very real at the moment: "A simple but elegant fact about humankind is that if we avoid risk, we do not learn."

This summer was certainly a risk in the best sense of that word. There were a lot of unknown factors about this summer and about what could be accomplished in just 6-weeks of language learning immersion. But, surprise, surprise, this risk has resulted in a harvest of learning - linguistic, pedagogical, cultural, ... and Hebrew!

As I approach my last week of classes here I am struggling to put into words what has been going on inside of me. Today I visited an archaeology park in Jerusalem and took this picture from inside a ritual bath that all worshipers must pass through. They came down the stairs on one side - unclean. After washing they would mount the other side - clean.

At this point, that's the best I can do for analogy, I feel different in my approach to the Hebrew text - but there is a lot more work to do!

As we've been studying this week, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...and God said, "let there be light." And there was light." But on day two, God didn't content himself with light, he moved on to more creative acts. And so I feel like this summer has been a summer of light...and it's just the beginning of an exciting process.

Thank you to all who have been praying and encouraging. One more week to go.

Shalom.

Summer Hebrew 25: When you feel like a mountain goat!

After 5 weeks of language learning by immersion, when you finally get a pause in the action, the question comes to mind, "How in the world did I get up here?"

It's actually been a fantastic climb thus far and we're feeling more and more comfortable in listening to the language, speaking in full sentences, reading pages of text in our homework, and just beginning to write short sentences. These are the 4 basic skills of language learning: listening, speaking, reading, writing. They are usually listed in that order because it's often best to begin mastering them in that order. That's been my experience here thus far and it is paying off!

Tomorrow is Shabbat (Sabbath) and I'll be enjoying a restful day of reading my hebrew texts, reading other things (in English :-), and going for another countryside run. Sunday I'll be heading to Jerusalem for the last time - I hope to visit the Israeli Bible Society, an excavation of the 1st century steps to the temple, and the archaeological dig in the City of David (the original Jerusalem).

More pictures then! Shalom.

P.S.- these goats are called ya'el (יעל) which is also the name of a famous heroine in the book of Judges - I'll let you figure out who :-)

Summer Hebrew 24

Only at the Biblical Zoo will you find signs like this posted (Bereshiyt bara' elohiym 'et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets...) "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..."

It's also only at a Zoo like this where you'll find exhibits of donkeys, goats, and chickens :-)

We've just finished the Genesis 1:1-2:3 account of creation. It's absolutely marvelous to read it in Hebrew and feel the poetic nature of the text. It's been a refreshing contrast to our readings in Jonah. In conjunction with the creation readings, we're also reading the Exodus and Deuteronomy records of the 10 Words (Commandments) and Psalm 8 - "O YHWH, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth..." What a great mix of texts!

Last night for homework we received a sheet of questions in Hebrew, like we've received before, but this time there were no multiple choice answers...just a blank line. I was amazed in class today as I listened to my classmates read their answers. Sure, we used up some of our 30,000 mistakes on that exercise - but we were composing basic answers to questions all in Hebrew. Wow!

This morning I was meditating on the text from Psalm 119:125 (only five words in Hebrew) "I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies." That is our prayer here everyday - "we are your servants here learning Hebrew, we need your help to understand the text, to understand the language, because we want to know more of you through this your precious Word."

With one week left, we appreciate you offering that prayer for us too.

Shalom.

Summer Hebrew 23

Tonight I went for a run through the Judean hillside again - vineyards, orchards, scenic overlooks, rocky paths...oh yeah, and hills! There is one hill on the map whose name is aptly translated - steep hill. It's about a 1/3 mile long, 60 degree slope, and somehow it's always more convenient to run up it. Such way my lot tonight, but my aching muscles are satisfied at their accomplishment.

7 days left of classes and 15 until I'm reunited with my family in Michigan. A lot of days this summer have felt like "steep hill" - no where to go but up. As much fun as we have in class and as motivating as reading the Hebrew Bible is, at times its just plain hard work.

But the good news is that God is with us on the hillside and he cares about us more than we know. Just this morning I was reading in Galatians 4, "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, "Abba!"" That's a name I hear echo around the Kibbutz at night a little children, unconscious of my listening ear, call out for their father's attention. An so we can call out, in any language of the world, and our father will hear us and help us conquer "steep hill" and all other such trials.

Thanks for your prayers. Shalom.

A New Week, A New Course

Wow, the weekend is over already. Last week ended with a celebration of sorts as we ended the Jonah course. A few of us went out to a shwarma place the night before the final (think chipotle Israeli style). Then, after the final we had a celebration and Sabbath welcoming ceremony with the advanced class. It was a very festive and joyful atmosphere.

Then we took a taxi back to our friends' apartment to help them paint the old apartment they just moved out of this week. The next morning we joined them at their congregation for worship in Hebrew (translation to Russian, English, and Sign). Today I mostly spent time resting, reading, and preparing for the next 2.5 weeks here in Israel.

Rachel and Benaiah have enjoyed a happy weekend up at the cabin making mud puddles, splashing around in the lake, and visiting Lake Michigan. (I'm sure they did other things too :-)

Thanks for staying with us. Stay tuned for more updates - and I'm told some ridiculously cute pictures of Benaiah are on the way.

Shalom.

Summer Hebrew 19

"...and many cattle?"

That line is just a fitting end to our beginning Hebrew course as it is also the closing line of the Book of Jonah, which we've been reading. I cannot count how many stories we've told this semester as a class that involved male cattle, female cattle, herds of cattle and so on... Quite fun and very effective for language learning. As a story is being told, the language learning almost become second nature because everyone is so excited to get involved in telling the story.

And today we retold the story of Jonah as a class. Our teachers helped us to both tell the event of the story and then to actually tell the story the way the Hebrew Bible records it. There is a special word form in Hebrew for telling the progressive events of a story and we had a great time using it today.

Tomorrow is the big exam. We'll walk into class and be handed a test with no English written on it, just Hebrew questions. But most people aren't concerned because by this point the language has gotten so much inside of us that we're ready for a test. Besides, I know that I haven't used up my 30,000 mistakes yet! (that's a class joke, haha)

Shalom

Summer Hebrew 18

Just a quick update and example of our classtime activities. Today we were working on the hardest part of Jonah, the prayer in chapter 2. The prayer is actually a poem and this type of writing in the Hebrew Bible contains unique challenges - most notably is the vocabulary, sometimes these words are only used once in the whole Bible!

So, to help us grasp the meaning and give us confidence, our teachers prepared a storyboard and walked us through the poem. We did this all in Hebrew, no translation. Yeah, some things are still a little fuzzy - but this afternoon I was able to read through the poem multiple times in Hebrew and answer both comprehension questions and analytical questions about the poetic structure. Thank the Lord for this gift.

I remember back in my Bible-school days when I took a Psalms class, the professor said that there was a unique delight to reading the Psalms in Hebrew. At the time that seemed an impossibility to me but today was one huge step in that direction. I am grateful to God for this opportunity and for your prayers - may it bear much Kingdom fruit.

Summer Hebrew 16

We've crossed the half-way threshold for our studies this summer and we're rapidly wrapping up Jonah. Here are a few reflections on the language-building process from this summer. (by the way, the picture is of a Talmudic village we visited on a field trip, you can see the pillars of the synagogue in the back)

1) It's a good thing the allow every student 30,000 mistakes. I've certainly cashed in on my share. Just like children have to be allowed margin to err, so language learners must allow themselves such margin. When a 2 year old says, "We go to store!" we accept it, possibly repeat the idea correctly, and generally encourage them to keep trying. That's what we're experiencing here.

2) Short-cuts are for adults only. When a child is learning language they have nothing to compare it to. Not so with adults! So, even though 95% of class time is in Hebrew, we do occasionally diverge into explanations to "short-cut" the learning process. These explanations or grammar, etc... are not language acquisition but they can be helpful.

3) Stories are not just for children. Movies, novels, and even our music today is testimony that people of all ages love stories...and especially language learners. We might spend 45 minutes working through a 5 minute story in class, telling it from the present, telling it like it's past, guessing what will happen next, pulling in the craziest vocabulary to keep the story rolling. Right now we're at an intermission in the epic drama of the donkey and goat who took a boat ride to Greece... (spoiler - they got shipwrecked :-)

4) God made us language learners. I've been extremely refreshed by learning the language of Biblical Hebrew as a living language that people used to hear and speak, read and write. People of ages past used this language to express their greatest joys and deepest sorrows. They used it to worship the one true God of the universe. They employed it to record his word and deeds for the next generation to read aloud and obey. I am very thankful to be here now.

Summer Hebrew - Sidetracks

Today brought back memories. Memories of waking up well before dawn. Memories of packed lunches and painted hands. Memories of sunburn and scaffolding. Memories of learning new skills and leading other people. Memories of painting, woodstaining, and all that goes along with that trade.

Today we helped some friends paint their new apartment before they move in this week. Friends we've only met once or twice before but have a deep bond together in the Messiah. A fiery sunset red, smooth baby blue, and a cool lime green characterized our afternoon. Next we'll return to help some more.

But as for this week, we enter our last week of the Jonah class. By now I can read two whole chapters of the Jonah narrative in the Hebrew text, no translations, no vowels, no kidding! (And I say this not to exaly myself because many others in the class can do this as well.) Tonigh another classmate and I went for a walk and just spoke basic sentences to each other about what we did today and what we would do tomorrow. This after only three weeks! What will three more brings? I'm excited to find out.

Thank you for your prayer support thus far, halfway! Rachel begins teaching swim lessons again this week in Michigan, as for sustaining grace on her behalf. Remember also our friends who are moving - pray for good connections with their new neighbors.

A Clip from Gat Hefer

After a lovely day of study I realized I had forgotten to post anything from our Galilee trip like I planned. So, here's a brief clip from our visit to Gat Hefer, the hometown of Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet whose book we're studying in class. As our instructors said, it's not an exciting place to visit, but certainly exotic. Most of the local inhabitants looked at us rather quizzically as we drew near the historic tell which is entirely unexcavated. But it's also a place the Jesus would have walked past regularly as he went down to the Sea of Galilee from his town of Nazareth as a boy.

Hopefully more tomorrow and some reflections on being half-way through the course...Shabbat Shalom.

Field Trip to Galilee

We just got back from our field trip to Galilee and Gat Hefer, the home of Jonah (the book we're studying). Be sure to check back here and the YouTube page (marcusleman) in coming days for more thoughts, pics, videos, and updates. For now this is just one shot over the Sea of Galilee as we waited for the sun to rise atop a cliff we had conquered. Very peaceful. Shalom.

Summer Hebrew 11 - Freedom

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

I've been reflecting on that description of Jesus lately, and today especially as we remember and celebrate earthly freedoms. How much greater those purchased for us in the Kingdom by our Risen Lamb. Let us continue to pray for the true freedom of America and all the peoples of the world.

I'm thankful today for a restful weekend and to be back into the studies full bore. This time of study is truly a gift which I am thankful for everyday. We were told today that after just two weeks we've learned or been exposed to almost all the vocabulary of Jonah. Amazing!

I'm also thankful for the people I've been able to meet, especially a few guys who are interested in serving future pastors through training in the biblical languages. We've enjoyed many a delightful lunch conversations together.

Rachel and Benaiah are probably enjoying my burger for me right now. I celebrated with a good ol' American PBJ.

Shalom.