Akhi

Chicago, IL, United States

Posted

08 Nov 01:34

ג Gimel - gematria value 3

ג is another consonant that is part of  begadkephat consonants. These are consonants that may have 2 phonetic values, both of which are represented by the same alphabet symbol though.

In its regular pronunciation it sounds exactly like G in Garden.

In Modern Hebrew ג is always pronounced as G.

But in Aramaic it has 2 phonetic values: G, and depending on the surrounding word context it may also be pronounced as described here (Voiced velar fricative - Wikipedia)

If you always pronounce it as G, you will be understood for sure, in both Modern Hebrew and Aramaic. 

ג is an easy consonant to master, as its pronunciation is exactly like G in many contemporary languages.

Commented on I had enough

08 Nov 00:44

A sensible thing to do, usually, is to quit once you have something else to go to. In my native language we have a proverb; "Do not let the bird in your hand fly in exchange for the one on the fence".

But it sounds like the decision has already been made.  Life is so amazing; we never know what great surprises lie ahead of us.  We can never limit life to rules and... proverbs :-)

God speeds!

Reply

Does anybody find these posts of any use? I believe I can bring to the table insights, gathered from various grammar books and a little knowledge of Modern Hebrew/Modern Aramaic, in a concise form that allows one to quickly and easily come up to speeds with the Hebrew/Aramaic alphabet and pronunciation. 

For example, I am hoping that lesson on alef should demystify that amazing consonant.  See unifyd.tv/community/posts/aleph

06 Nov 23:33

Second AlefBet lesson posted. Letter Bet:

unifyd.tv/community/posts/betvet-is-one-of-the-so-called

Posted

06 Nov 23:28

 ב - Bet/Vet, gematria 2

ב is one of the so called Begadkephat letters. These are a set of 6 consonants, which in Hebrew/Aramaic may have a secondary pronunciation.

Basically, the same letter has 2 phonetic values. In the case of ב, it is normally vocalized as English/Latin B, but then depending by the context inside the word, it could be pronounced also as the English/Latin V.

Hence one could see Abraham also written as Avraham. Because in Hebrew (and Aramaic) in such context as that of Abraham, the B is pronounced as V.

As for when B is pronounced as V do not worry too much, when the audio will be married to the text, as we plan to do later, it will come naturally, and we will know when ב is pronounced as B or when as V.

Apart from the secondary pronunciation, depending on the word context,  ב is an easy letter to pronounce, for an English or Romance language speaker.

The Gematria value for  ב is 2.

4

06 Nov 01:24

First Alephbet lesson posted here: https://unifyd.tv/community/posts/aleph

06 Nov 01:13

Christianity started as another sect inside Judaism. Initially "Christians" met at the Temple and in Synagogues like the rest of the Jews. They were not called "Christians" but rather Nazarene, while inside Judaism still. Over time the leadership managed to expel the believers in Jesus (Ieshua) from the Temple and the Synagogues. The Christian (or Mshikhaya in Aramaic) name came first in Antioch, a non-Jewish city.

In my opinion both Christianity and Judaism lost tremendously by parting ways.  And even if parted, they still influenced each other. So many of the teachings of Jesus, even if they may not be accepted as such, will be found in Judaism as well. And of course, Christianity being fully born inside Judaism it has still preserved al LOT from Judaism. But, by having to separate from Judaism, a lot has also been lost and a non-Jewish, Greek way of thinking and understanding has slowly crept in.

Rabbi AA, believed both Old Testament and the New Testament were divinely inspired.

Commented on Aleph - א; gematria 1

06 Nov 00:32

Please let me know if you find this useful. I wished somebody explained Aleph to me like how I just did here. It took me a long time until I got to this understanding. Next lesson will be Beth on another day.

Reply

Posted

06 Nov 00:30

א is one of the most misunderstood consonants. It is not captured in writing in most languages, yet there is no human language where Aleph is not present.  Here the genius of those who invented Hebrew/Aramaic alphabet shines.

Aleph is most visible in words like Ha'aretz,  הארץ (הָאָרֶץ). It is the pause (glottal stop) we put between those 2 A. Not a long continuous HAAretz but HA ' Aretz. But hold fast, you might not have realized that we all use Aleph when a word starts with what we think it is a vowel or when we pronounce a vowel in isolation. It is impossible to pronounce a vowel "by itself" without using Aleph. Proof?

Put hour hand on your throat bellow your mouth. Now say:
BA and then A, a couple of times. Notice the difference in your throat, what happens when you say BA vs A? You cannot say A or E or U or any other vowel without saying אA or אE, etc. Most grammars would say that א in words like Elohim (אלהים) is silent. But no,  א is there but missed in most languages, and not captured in writing.  At least that is my strong opinion, and the inventors of Hebrew/Aramaic alphabet agree as well, by always prefixing an initial vowel with an א, in a word that according to common understanding, starts with a vowel.

Now it is true that in Hebrew and Aramaic א is silent at the end of a word or usually immediately after another consonant.  But there are still other Semitic languages like Arabic where א is still pronounced immediately after a consonant or as the last consonant of the word (when pronounced it is called Hamza in Arabic). E.g. 

Qur'ān, immediately after R there is a glottal stop and then A. It is not RA but R ' A.

ḥamrāʾ , can hear pronunciation here (https://www.howtopronounce.com/arabic/%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1). Notice the glottal stop right at the end of the word.

These examples show Aleph is a real consonant in semitic languages, like any other. Although in some cases its pronunciation along centuries was lost and it became silent.

The Gematria value for Aleph is 1. In other words, to write the number 1 in Hebrew or Aramaic, one can use א

1

05 Nov 23:20

I begin to realize that if I post everything how I initially envisioned, it might be overwhelming for totally novice to the Hebrew language. 

So I am going to start first with the Alphabet and short sentences. 

In an another thread I'll post about Aleph.