I really enjoy learning with eteacher. Learning online from my home is very convenient, and the teacher is very professional and attentive.
My big challenge!
Receive Learning Materials
Eliana Sa Barretto
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Modern Hebrew
So after I've finished my "job" bringing up my two sons I decided to follow my mother's step and thought that I needed a challenge too! Being aware of my Jewish roots and having taken the decision to follow the Jewish faith, made me decide to start learning Hebrew as I wanted to read the Torah in its original language. I grew up learning English, French and German so I thought that it would be just one more language ... how mistaken was I!
I looked for a Hebrew course but only found courses with the basics of Biblical Hebrew and that was not what I wanted. I wanted to read the Torah but also to be able to speak Hebrew. At last after taking two courses in basic Hebrew a friend of mine told me about eTeacherHebrew and I emailed them. A few minutes after I sent the email someone called me on the phone and I could hardly believe it was someone from eTeacherHebrew. I was very excited about the course and after a great talk with the person who called me (sorry I forgot his name!) I said: Yes! I didn't know that my challenge was bigger than I thought...
I decided it would be better to start with Modern Hebrew as I could already read the words in Hebrew as I knew the alphabet but didn't know the cursive. After a while I could start with Biblical Hebrew. My first teacher was Adina Mor Haim and what a great teacher she is! She lead me through the early steps in Hebrew and when I was very sad and feeling that I would never learn this language she would cheer me up by telling me how good I was and how fast I was learning. There were days that I would tell myself: "Are you crazy Eliana? Why in the world are you learning this difficult language? What for?" But my desire to speak Hebrew and to learn the Torah was getting bigger and bigger as I would learn more and more and I could sometimes open the Torah and UNDERSTAND a word!!
In my first trip to Israel I could read a lot of signs and my heart was jumping during the 10 days I was there... I wanted to talk to everybody and tried all the words I knew. I had the great pleasure of meeting my first teacher Adina and she made me feel very welcome and maybe she doesn't know but it made all the difference for me! I had a friend in Israel! Me, Eliana who had never been there and never dreamed that this would be possible! I was in my ancestors Land... my Land also!! What joy it was to walk the streets in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and see all the places we learned about in the Torah! But my challenge is far from over as now after 2 years of Modern Hebrew I started with Biblical Hebrew and it is a whole new world. Wonderful I would say but still a bigger challenge. Classes are great and my colleagues are also very good and interesting.
I found out that I was making friends all over the world and I liked it! My teacher of Biblical Hebrew,Sigal Zohar, is great and a very good teacher. So I guess I will be able to move forward with her help. During my Modern Hebrew course I had great teachers such as Adina Mor Haim, Nurit Aviv and at the moment, Dorit Marcus. As I move forward I feel that there is still a lot of work ahead of me but then I remember my mother and I gather all my strength pursuing my goal. I love this language...I think it is the most beautiful language in the world as it is G'D's chosen people's language and my language too! I am sure I will be able to speak Hebrew fluently and also be able to read the Torah, "Be Ezrat HaShem". eTeacherHebrew and its teachers are helping me and soon I will have to find another challenge as life goes on and I can't see myself without one!
My first trip to Israel in 2010!
At the Kotel in 2010!