Personal Journey for Learning Hebrew

It was from a wood carpenter in a small town in Ohio that I initially sought to learn Biblical Hebrew. After a year of study with the carpenter, he encouraged me to ask the local Rabbi if he would teach me intermediate grammar. Following yet another year, the Rabbi encouraged me to find a formal place to study which could aid in advancing the necessary erudition. At this advice, I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Judaical Studies with a major in Hebrew and minor in Bible from the Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Jewish Studies, Cleveland, Ohio.

In the last year of my undergraduate degree, I was requested by a seminary professor to be his language tutor for Hebrew. At the end of this experience, I inquired if his seminary could aid in advancing my understanding for the language. His immediate response was that I was already more advanced than those graduating from the seminary’s Master of Divinity program.

For this reason, I ended up going to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. It was here a Master of Arts with a major in Bible and focus on Northwest Semitic Languages was earned. Afterwards, a post-graduate degree was earned in Australia at the University of Sydney. My Ph.D. thesis pertains to the overall history for making Hebrew and Aramaic dictionaries.

While a number of degrees have been obtained throughout my educational journey, earning those degrees were never my intent. The initial prompting which the Lord placed on my heart was simply to learn the languages of the Bible to better understand his word. God is now prompting many of your hearts to learn his word more intimately. Knowledge of Hebrew will profoundly enhance your personal understanding of the Bible and draw you into a much deeper relationship with him. In turn, this will significantly increase your usefulness as ambassadors for Christ. I take great pleasure in being an instrument in the Potter’s hand for that process.

In His Service,
Jason A. Wetz (PhD)