Hebrew offered in Saratoga

Class on Biblical Hebrew offered at Saratoga’s Lutheran church beginning this Friday

For people who have thought about learning a new language, there will soon be an opportunity to learn one. Pastor Randolph Schnack will be starting a class on Biblical Hebrew at the Lutheran church in Saratoga on Sept. 27 and is offering an open invitation.

“I tell this to just about anybody,” said Schnack. “Any class they want, if you can get five or six people together that would want to have it, I’ll go ahead and teach it and I’m not charging anything.”

This offer already resulted in Schnack spending the last two years teaching Biblical Greek to two students, though the class started out with approximately six people.

“It wasn’t planned specifically for two years, but we could only meet once a week,” Shnack said. “Greek is a much more difficult language because of its very long sentences and being highly syntantical.”

Schnack has yet to go back on his offer of teaching either Biblical Hebrew or Biblical Greek to people.

“Part of it was because I made that commitment, which I still keep,” said Schnack. “The other reason, quite frankly, is it helps me to keep up on my skills. No better way to keep up on skills than to teach it.”

Schnack said that he currently has about five people showing interest in the Biblical Hebrew class, but is hoping for more. Those who may be interested should keep in mind that they will have to learn an alphabet and get a vocabulary built up. The pastor also has access to programs that will aid in learning the language, Bibles that feature the Old Testament written in Hebrew and the New Testament written in Greek.

“One of the things which I already try to do, is make some people familiar with some programs which I can get for a very low price or free that then they can use if they’re studying the Bible,” Schnack said. “Learning to use that tool will be part of what we do as well, which is a lot easier than actually learning all the endings and the different verb forms.”

Schnack added that there are a number of resources he may point students to that are online, but cautions against trying to learn a new language solely through the internet.

“The big problem is, when you have a question, who do you ask? If you do it online, you don’t have anybody to ask the question to. Also, there’s little things that you’re not going to get unless someone’s there,” said Schnack.

The first class will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 27 at the Lutheran church and will continue every week on Friday. Due to the time of the class, Schnack said that dinner will be provided. Participants should expect to spend approximately a year on the course due to the meeting frequency.

 

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