So many of my students come to Hebrew not just with a love of language—but with a deep desire to connect more personally with the Bible, the land of Israel, and their faith.

I received a moving video from one such student who shared how she found “Hebrew by Inbal” on her journey to read, write, and speak Hebrew - excited to deepen her spiritual walk in ways she never expected.

Her story is beautiful, and it reflects the heart of so many who come to Hebrew with faith as their guide. Watch, be inspired, and if this speaks to you—know you’re not alone on this path. 💙✡️📖

#HebrewByInbal #BiblicalHebrew #HebrewLanguage #Christians #Bible

How would you define compassion?

Knowing the word used for compassion in the Hebrew Bible is rackum, and is translated mercy, compassion, pity, and in rare circumstances, love. Would that change your definition?

I saw a definition for mercy that went like: “Mercy is God’s goodness to those in misery and suffering.” And I think that’s a reasonable starting place for a definition, but not a good enough one. And for me it barely captures compassion.

Curious for some thoughts here.

#Theology #BiblicalHebrew #Christianity #Christian #BiblicalStudies

Heard an interesting theory today that Hummus is mentioned in the Bible. Did some digging and there are some people that claim that the word translated vinegar in this verse sounds an awful lot like the Arabic work for chickpeas, and thus it's an early form of hummus:

"At mealtime Boaz said to her, 'Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.'" ~ Ruth 2:14

Couple problems with this theory. Words sounding like words in another language is not enough to mean that they mean the same thing. It certainly happens that words will be absorbed by other languages, but sometimes similar sounding words are just that, false cognates.

So we have to look at other uses of the word to determine if this is a possible meaning. There are 4 other verses that use this word: Numbers 6:3 (uses it twice), Psalm 69:12, Proverbs 10:26, and Proverbs 25:20.

All of these passages were written before Ruth, so that gives us some historical context.

In Numbers it refers to vinegar made from wine or strong drink. Hard to think you could replace vinegar with chickpeas here and have a readable sentence.

Similarly Psalm 69 was likely written before Ruth and in there it says "they gave me vinegar to drink" and refers to it in a very negative context of lacking sympathy. Vinegar fits perfectly with this verse where hummus does not.

In Proverbs 10:26 we get a compare and contrast kind of sentence, which is very nice for understanding the meaning of the word. I'll write it out as both vinegar and hummus so you can decide which makes more sense:

"Like hummus to the teeth and smoke to the eyes so is the lazy man to those who send him."
OR
"Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes so is the lazy man to those who send him."

Lastly, Proverbs 25:20 refers to carbonated beverages flavored with either vinegar or chickpeas depending on your interpretation. I can't imagine drinking chickpea flavored beverages, but that's definitely a cultural thing, so I'll say this verse could go either way.

But when you take all 6 occurrences together across 5 verses, vinegar seems to be a much more likely interpretation than chickpeas.

#BiblicalStudies #BiblicalHebrew #Christianity

This is what real Hebrew clarity and confidence looks like! 🙌

Chris shared this video reading from the Hebrew Bible—beautifully, with self-correction. That’s true understanding in action!

While Practically Speaking Hebrew focuses on modern Hebrew, it builds the foundation to understand biblical texts too.

Want to read, write, speak, and understand? Start with Hebrew 1, 2, 3 + Practically Speaking Hebrew.

Want to skip the letters and go straight to speaking? Start with Practically Speaking Hebrew!

Thank you, Chris! 💙

#BiblicalHebrew #HebrewByInbal #BibleStudy #LanguageLearning #Hebrew #Religion

Beginning a study on the word “compassion” in the the Hebrew Bible. The root word is רחם (rachum) and it’s only used as an adjective 13 times in the Old Testament. A couple interesting notes:

1) it’s the first word God uses to describe himself (Exodus 34:6)
2) 12 of the 13 uses are to describe God. The 13th use is an exhortation for what we ought to be (Psalm 112:4)

The word is used a bunch more as both a noun and a verb, and I’ll be studying those use ages next!

#BiblicalHebrew #BibleStudy #Theology #Bible

🕍 The Incredible History of the Jewish Language | Hebrew: The Only Language Reborn and Thriving Today 🇮🇱

From ancient prayers to modern street slang in Tel Aviv — Hebrew is the only language to fall out of daily use and come roaring back to life! 🔥✡️

Click the link to discover the miraculous journey of Hebrew and what makes it so unique among world languages.

🎥 Watch now: https://youtu.be/i5YEScJFXWY?si=sbdJnCnk4AeQ2CPY

#HebrewLanguage #JewishHistory #LearnHebrew #ModernHebrew #JewishCulture #BiblicalHebrew #JewishHeritage #HebrewRoots #HebrewForBeginners #JewishTradition

Do you know the names of the five books of the Torah in Hebrew? 📖

I teach Modern Hebrew—the everyday language of Israel—but here’s something cool:

Modern and Biblical Hebrew aren’t separate languages. They’re the same language at different life stages.

When you learn Modern Hebrew, you’re also building a strong foundation for Biblical Hebrew—same alphabet, vowels, and structure.

My Hebrew 1-2-3 series teaches reading and writing from the ground up so you can read anything—modern or ancient. ✍️

And my conversational course? It teaches practical spoken Hebrew while deepening your overall grasp of the language—perfect if you want to explore scripture later on.

Hebrew connects past and present in every word. 💙

#ModernHebrew #BiblicalHebrew #Torah #LanguageDiscovery #HebrewByInbal