One of the more intimidating challenges of contemplating becoming a messianic rabbi is having to learn Hebrew. It’s not that Hebrew is particularly more challenging than any other language… it’s just that the thought of learning a new language at age 40 is kind of intimidating in and of itself. Enough so that it almost makes me want to retreat to some quiet stretch of land, a piece of Blue Ridge real estate where I can enjoy the peace and quiet and not worry about my ability to tell the difference between a vav and a nun soffit.
But so far, it’s not been as hard as I’ve worried. I am about six lessons into a program that’s teaching me the aleph-bet, and so far I’m … managing. Of course, I won’t be close to being competent for a while, considering I have half the aleph-bet to go yet, but at least I’m hanging in there. That’s better than I did in college, when I made through only a semester and a half of German before bombing out, although I did barely survive one year of Spanish.
Maybe the fact that it’s an entirely different aleph-bet is making the difference. I’m just glad to be grasping it, to this point!