November 10, 2023
• Edited (Nov 14, 2023)

ר Resh - 20th letter, Gematria 200

In Modern Hebrew, ר is pronounced as R in French, Danish, etc. Some pronounce it also as a rolled R, the way it is pronounced in Aramaic, Arabic and Romance Languages. Even if you pronounce it as an English R, you will be understood.

But what can beat the fancy of a French R? If you can pronounce it as a French R, your social standing will immediately shoot up in Israel :-). Modern Hebrew, these days, sounds more like a European language, not rough and harsh, as other Semitic languages like Aramaic or Arabic sound to the ear of a Westerner. But rest assured, in history Hebrew sounded more like Arabic/Aramaic. It did not have the European sound and feel it has today.  Hebrew grammar is also totally Semitic, similar to Aramaic or Arabic.

The word רב (Rav) in Hebrew means "Rabbi" or "great/many", depending on the context.

In Aramaic רבא (rabba) means "great". רבי (Rabbi - pronounced Rabbee, not Rabbai) means My Great One, which is the literal translation of the word Rabbi. Rabbi can also mean My Teacher, My Master, etc.

Note that according to Sepher Yetzirah ר is also considered to have double pronunciation, bringing the total number of consonants like that to 7.  Maybe we should say begadkepherat instead of begadgephat. But that second pronunciation is not known to the common man these days.  Again, maybe TLS does?