This volume builds on basic Hebrew skills by working through the text of Genesis. Passages directly from the Torah are illuminated by vocabulary and grammar notes, explaining odd usage and highlighting regular grammatical features. Exercises emphasizing both vocabulary and grammar follow each reading selection. Without overwhelming the student, this textbook manages to offer a glimpse of the depth of the Torah's language and help the student begin to unpack some of the text's meanings.

This volume and the companion Volume 1 present short, focused, uncluttered chapters. Each volume can be used independently, as well as with a class. Answer keys and cassette recordings are also available for the independent student.

Noted scholar Menachem Mansoor makes an extremely valuable addition to the wealth of literature on Bachya ben Yosef ibn Pakuda's extensively-studied treatise on spirituality and ethical behavior. Whereas most extant popular translations are taken from Ibn Tibbon's definitive Hebrew translation, Mansoor works from the recovered Arabic version -- the language in which Bachya wrote. The result is a deeper and richer understanding of the subtleties of this already remarkable work.

I have taught adult beginners for a number of years and this book, while very popular, doesn't know what it wants to be. In depth and detail, it is less than many other "academic" books-- i.e. books intended for college-level classes (Weingreen is probably at the other extreme). Yet, for adult beginners in a non-academic setting such as a synagogue or church, it doesn't achieve the clarity and simplicity of EKS's Biblical Hebrew Primer... and in many instances, not even the completeness of the latter work.

It does have the advantage of good vocabularly, good exercises, and a second volume with excellent Biblical readings. I'd recommend it for teaching or self-study only if you intend to work through both volumes. Otherwise, adult learners should go with EKS.

This is a necessary addition to Mansoor's "Learn Hebrew Step-by-step" book. I have been plugging away at the book and his exercises are clear, very helpful and a great tool to build ont he knowledge of previous work. He also has exams and tests that continue to challenge the student.

This answer key is essential tot he book. I would not seriously attackt he problems without it becuase I do not want to think I have done something correctly and continue on that track without knowing if I am not understanding a concept. So, you have to have the answers to the exercises.

Unfortuantely, for this very reason, Mansoor, instead of making this a separate book, should have included it in the back of his book. Of course, for those students who may be using the book for class may not have such an idea supported by their professor. So I think perhaps it would be better if there was a self-learning book where the book and the answer key were included. This is a major deficiency because this key is so essential.

One of the best textbooks in the subject for serious "beginners".

This won't get you far....Unless you want to ask for a steak in the most overblown hebrew one can imagine...Try something more contemporary.

The type is so tiny in this slender volume that I can hardly see it. With a magnifying glass, the phrase book can be helpful.

gramma