![]() ![]() For them the important thing is to learn how to read and study it silently, not read aloud and speak it, since there are no native speakers of biblical Hebrew anymore. That leaves them free to teach in a way they feel most comfortable and convenient. Professors like him who make up their own pronunciation systems argue that, since biblical Hebrew is technically a dead language and impossible to reconstruct with pinpoint accuracy, there’s no point in insisting on one pronunciation system over another. While he distinguishes between ת and תּ (which modern and sephardic don’t), he chooses not to distinguish between כּ and כ. For example, one professor we know and love uses for ו, but usually pronounces ע and א the same. (While we don’t know how Moses pronounced this letter, we have good evidence from the Septuagint that it was pronounced as around the 3rd century B.C.) So you might have several professors in the same seminary who teach radically different pronunciations, depending on what they’ve opted for! But so far in our experience we have never seen a professor of Hebrew who uses a hybrid pronunciation that is entirely consistent. For example, many people choose to pronounce ו as a ‘w’ instead of the ‘v’ of modern and Sephardic Hebrew. Another advantage is that you can mix in pronunciations that you are convinced are more historic and important. For example, if you like to pronounce ר like the ‘r’ in American English, you can do that, and avoid reprogramming your mouth to reproduce a sound that’s foreign to you. ![]() The advantage of this method is that you can adapt Hebrew to your own pronunciation limitations. There is also a lack of certain vowel distinctions, which you can read about here. For example, Sephardic pronunciation doesn’t distinguish between ד and דּ or ת and תּ, while it still distinguishes between ב and בּ etc. But a drawback is that these traditions are still not exactly what people guess ancient Hebrew sounded like, they might have some sounds that are harder to pronounce for people from other countries, and they’re not consistent in their pronunciation of certain letter distinctions (Modern Hebrew is worse). Finally, you don’t have the disadvantages of Modern Hebrew mentioned above. So there’s also the advantage that they are historically accepted by many Jews to be “official” ways to pronounce the biblical text. One advantage of these traditions is that it’s possible to find recordings of the Hebrew Bible using their pronunciation, since it has traditionally been the way Jews pronounce when reading the Bible, even if they normally speak Modern Hebrew (sort of like how some people prefer to read the KJV with “thee” and “thou” even though they would never talk like that in everyday life). So the question, “which one is more correct?” isn’t really a helpful or answerable question. Linguistically, there is absolutely no way of deciding which is best, but historical linguistics tells us that in all probability each has some elements of ancient Hebrew as well as some changes. So which one of these three pronunciation systems is more “correct”? Once again, we have no recordings of what exactly they sounded like originally. (The Samaritan community also preserves its own Hebrew pronunciation, which is very different from the Jewish traditions.) After many centuries, today three main traditional pronunciation systems of Hebrew have survived and are used in synagogues around the world: Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Teimani. Suddenly you had the influence of many different languages causing Hebrew to morph (read all about the diaspora here). That made the pronunciation of Hebrew go crazy all over the place. the Jews were spread throughout the world even more than before. ![]() After the Romans destroyed the second temple in 70 A.D. ![]()
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