Most people who try to learn Biblical Hebrew quit within three months.

Not because they lack intelligence or commitment. They quit because they were taught the wrong thing first.

The typical approach: memorize vocabulary, drill paradigms, study grammar charts. After months of this, they sit down with a Hebrew Bible and can barely read a single word out loud.

The missing piece is pointed text reading — the actual mechanical skill of looking at a Hebrew letter with its nikud (vowel dots and dashes) and immediately producing the correct sound. Without this, all the vocabulary and grammar in the world won't help you read a single verse.

What I've found works:

The first 100 Hebrew root words (שרשים) cover a majority of what you'll encounter in the Torah and Prophets. If you can read those 100 roots in all their pointed forms — without hesitation — you have a functional reading foundation.

The other key ingredient: live critique. Reading Hebrew is a physical skill, like playing piano. You need someone listening while you read, catching the moments when you default to guessing instead of truly reading the nikud.

No app corrects you when you skip a shva or mispronounce a qamats. A trained human ear does.

If you're serious about reading the Hebrew Bible in its original language, this is the path: pointed text first, root-by-root, with live feedback every week.

That's what I teach.