A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew.

• Author: Bos, James M.
• Position: Book review

A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. By Jo ANN HACKETT. Peabody, Mass.: HENDRICKSON, 2010. Pp. xxv + 302, CD-ROM. $39.95.

Biblical Hebrew can be a daunting subject for undergraduate students, especially at the beginning of the first semester when they are inundated with so much "foreign" linguistic matter--a different alphabet, reading right to left, an unusual vocalization method, etc. Thus, any attempt to write a grammar that makes this language easier to learn is a welcome one. Professor Hackett has attempted just that. What instructors of Hebrew will have to determine for themselves is if she has over-simplified the material too much for their teaching style. Some examples of possible over-simplification are as follows: nowhere in the text is a complete paradigm of the pual or hophal to be found; there is no discussion of verbal aspect; the semantics of the Hebrew verbal stems are explained in only the most basic sense; diacritical marks are shunned in transliteration; references to historical Semitic grammar are almost entirely absent from the book, even when it might aid a student in understanding specific forms of a word (e.g., she does not discuss the evolution of segholate nouns, only mentioning that they have a different form when a suffix is attached); and there is no discussion of why some vowels "reduce" in certain situations but not others, only that they do.

Furthermore, the majority of the end-of-chapter exercises are "invented" rather than being taken from the biblical text, which has resulted in a substantially easier set of exercises than one finds in grammars utilizing biblical examples. None of these observations is necessarily a weakness of this textbook, but instructors might find that they have to supplement their teaching of Hebrew with their own handouts or with a more thorough discussion of the grammar. On the other hand, some instructors might find her presentation of the material to be very appropriate for undergraduates, particularly for those not looking to do more advanced studies of Hebrew in the future.

The grammar, which is laid out nicely and is written in an easy-to-read, almost conversational, English, consists of thirty chapters (the first five being devoted to introducing the consonants and vowels). Hackett intends that the book be completed in one semester, although this might be a bit ambitious for many students. Each chapter concludes with a series of exercises (eventually both Hebrew to...