23 Aug 2010 2 min read Poetry

Of Hebrew from Alef to Taw

Learning the twenty three Hebrew consonants

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com (view full res)

Today is the start of another new semester. I love the start of the fall semester when it rolls back around. Everyone getting back into the groove of a busy fall schedule (down here that means football and basketball are not far away). Hard to believe how full my schedule already is at this point but along with my second Systematic Theology class, today I start Hebrew. There were many times over the last year or so that I had completely given up on ever being able to complete a cognitive language set, but some how it worked out this time, and today is day one. Since I can barely claim to be proficient in my own native English, Hebrew is somewhat intimidating to me right now, but I hope to look back in a year and know it was worth the work, and I managed to learn something along the way.

Step one was to learn the twenty three Hebrew consonants, which gave me a perfect opportunity to practice writing an acrostic poem, Of Hebrew from Alef to Taw. Trying to memorize totally unfamiliar information has never been easy for me, but working the information into a form of study works much better at solidifying the unfamiliar. This was my first attempt at learning the Hebrew letters and my first attempt at writing an acrostic poem. Makes me look forward to a coming semester full of firsts.

Of Hebrew from Alef to Taw

א Alef is first and foremost to complete and appeals to thus ב Bet is on deck but gives no solace ג Gimel sounds familiar with no pivot or axis ד Dalet as in “day”, said slow, not of quickness ה He corresponds to the grass that cows eat ו Waw is the way to follow that drumbeat ז Zayin reminds of that great city on the hill ח Het seems like some mathematical problem to distil ט Tet has power and might to be used many ways י Yod is the smallest among those twenty-three displays כ Kaf comes back around again to explain that of Josiah ל Lamed roars across the kingdom much like Hezekiah מ Mem says be quiet now, the little one needs some rest נ Nun is more than halfway, now don’t be depressed ם Samek brings a circle of life that sounds like the fall ע Ayin proceeds with silence, just like a cat’s crawl פ Pe will furnish a prayer that might demand our response צ Tsade looks just like another minus the tail of nuance ק Qof incurs the wrath of a king going into combat ך Resh provides hope this exercise ends with proper format ש Sin runs through our blood and must come to repentance ש’ Shin appears to be identical just one spot out of vengeance ת Taw is first and foremost to complete and appeals to thus; a text as old as He, but a genesis for us

Update 2026: My Hebrew didn't evolve much beyond this, but I still enjoy the fact that I had to learn Hebrew to some level and if this is all I have to show for it I'm happy with that.

Of Hebrew from Alef to Taw

You might also like...

How to Kill a Soldier

Time Expired, a Haiku

Senseless Act of Poetry

Sunrise, a Haiku

Surf, a Haiku