8th February, 2010

KARYN MARKWELL

Part of an old Hebrew prayer. PICTURE: Shlomit Wolf (www.sxc.hu)

During my pursuit to learn Hebrew, which is the language of both the Old Testament and the modern State of Israel, I've made many precious Jewish friends, travelled throughout Israel and experienced many 'Wow!' moments.

Unlike in English, every letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a unique meaning. If you combine the meaning of each letter, you can usually understand a new word that you've never heard before.

Here's an example of how this works: The Hebrew letter 'alef', which is similar to our letter 'A', is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It literally means 'leader'. The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is 'bet', which is similar to our letter 'B'. It means 'house'. (As a point of interest, the English word 'alphabet' comes from these Hebrew letters, 'alef' and 'bet'). These letters, when combined, make the word for the 'leader' of the 'house': 'abba' or 'father'.

Another Hebrew letter, 'hey', is similar to our English letter 'H'. It means 'breath' or 'essence'. When you put 'hey' in the middle of 'abba' ('father'), the Hebrew word changes to 'ahava'. This word literally means 'the essence of the father'. We know it in English as the word 'love'. Wow! For what other quality better describes our Father, our Lord and Saviour, than love?

If a passage from a book or a song or something else altogether has particularly inspired or amazed you, why not share it with others in Wow! Email your contributions to wow@sightmagazine.com.au.

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