Have you tried Duolingo? Its not completely interactive but they do have hebrew speakers who recite how the phrases are supposed to be said.
I am sorry you are alone on Passover. Can you contact the local Jewish Federation and see if they can recommend a place that is having a seder? I know in NY there are alot of places having seders for people who are alone. Maybe they have the same thing where you are. Or maybe there is a zoom seder where you can at least read the haggadah with others and have all the food on your own?
I haven’t tried it. I really want human interaction and I’m okay to wait until I can do that. I’m pretty overwhelmed with work now anyway. I imagine I could find some place to go for Seder but it’s weird not being really Jewish. It was nice last year to go to the second night Seder at the reform synagogue but I doubt I’ll go back. Kinda feeling at peace with being out of place for now
I think what is in your heart is what counts. Remember too, that at Passover not only the Jews were free, but they took anyone who wanted to go with them as well. It is a story of the right to be free.
BTW I have been out of place my whole life. Its fine. I think it makes you stronger to be your true self. 💖
Hello April, at the Reconstructionist congregation in Montreal, Dorshei Emet, of which the majority of members are from Orthodox and Conservative families (and services are quite traditional), you would be welcomed as a Jew if you wish to be - and welcomed just as much if you don’t want to be.
Duo Lingo: the Hebrew version is still rather in a beta format - no comparison to the versions for the major European languages, for instance. But I have been using it religiously for a year now, and the payoff is when you can start watching Israeli TV and movies on Chaiflicks and find yourself understanding a great deal of the dialogue. And even when you have to look up every second word when reading a text, you understand the grammar and much of the nuance. It’s life-changing. The world is full of Duo Lingo drop-outs, but for those who persist, it really does equate to two years of college language courses (I know, because I’ve taken languages in college). For speaking and writing practice, there is a new AI app, Talkpal. Is it a human? No. But much better than nothing, and hopefully will improve. And also, if you get stumped by a grammatical point, you can usually easily get an answer from an AI bot.
I also did the Yiddish version of Duo Lingo, and while they chose pretty deadful accents (sorry, don’t wish to offend, but would you want to teach people how to speak English using a deep rural Mississipi speaker as a model?), it’s also certainly much better than nothing. Yiddish classes with real humans abound, and I would certainly recommend those, as well. Why Yiddish? - well, it was my parents’ mother tongue, the language of my ancestors, and the literature is amazingly rich and brilliant (as is Hebrew literature, obviously).
“So I try to catch up on weekends. I’m still thinking of you, Joshua, Jill, Annie, EKB, Rivka, and all my other Substack friends, Israel-related or not.” 😘
Decades ago, political differences didn't make or break relationships. What changed? Google & FB funnel people into silos of group think where people 'interact' -- virtually. People spend more time on their devices (I'm guilty of this too, but not as much as people who have smart phones, which just dumb people down... I don't have one of those) and less time in the presence of others and *being* present to them.
Absolutely. I don’t cut people off because we disagree. My more right leaning American friends were my friends when I was a certified leftist. Several people cut me off over my support for Israel 🇮🇱 but some came back. It was just a cause of the moment thing I guess or they realized that long term friendships matter
I understand why Gadi was 'falling over his legs.' In Hebrew foot/feet & leg/legs are the same word. Regel (hard g) is singular, raglayim is plural, 'ayim' being the form for paired plural items. And regel is a feminine noun (like all paired body parts), even though by form/structure, it looks like a masculine noun (ex. : geder=fence, masc.noun).
Good afternoon=tsawhawrayim tovim (that's an uber phonetic spelling, not standard translit. spelling).
Have you tried Duolingo? Its not completely interactive but they do have hebrew speakers who recite how the phrases are supposed to be said.
I am sorry you are alone on Passover. Can you contact the local Jewish Federation and see if they can recommend a place that is having a seder? I know in NY there are alot of places having seders for people who are alone. Maybe they have the same thing where you are. Or maybe there is a zoom seder where you can at least read the haggadah with others and have all the food on your own?
I haven’t tried it. I really want human interaction and I’m okay to wait until I can do that. I’m pretty overwhelmed with work now anyway. I imagine I could find some place to go for Seder but it’s weird not being really Jewish. It was nice last year to go to the second night Seder at the reform synagogue but I doubt I’ll go back. Kinda feeling at peace with being out of place for now
I think what is in your heart is what counts. Remember too, that at Passover not only the Jews were free, but they took anyone who wanted to go with them as well. It is a story of the right to be free.
BTW I have been out of place my whole life. Its fine. I think it makes you stronger to be your true self. 💖
One of our readers has offered to teach me Hebrew once a week !
💖
I’m coming with!!!!
Hello April, at the Reconstructionist congregation in Montreal, Dorshei Emet, of which the majority of members are from Orthodox and Conservative families (and services are quite traditional), you would be welcomed as a Jew if you wish to be - and welcomed just as much if you don’t want to be.
Duo Lingo: the Hebrew version is still rather in a beta format - no comparison to the versions for the major European languages, for instance. But I have been using it religiously for a year now, and the payoff is when you can start watching Israeli TV and movies on Chaiflicks and find yourself understanding a great deal of the dialogue. And even when you have to look up every second word when reading a text, you understand the grammar and much of the nuance. It’s life-changing. The world is full of Duo Lingo drop-outs, but for those who persist, it really does equate to two years of college language courses (I know, because I’ve taken languages in college). For speaking and writing practice, there is a new AI app, Talkpal. Is it a human? No. But much better than nothing, and hopefully will improve. And also, if you get stumped by a grammatical point, you can usually easily get an answer from an AI bot.
I also did the Yiddish version of Duo Lingo, and while they chose pretty deadful accents (sorry, don’t wish to offend, but would you want to teach people how to speak English using a deep rural Mississipi speaker as a model?), it’s also certainly much better than nothing. Yiddish classes with real humans abound, and I would certainly recommend those, as well. Why Yiddish? - well, it was my parents’ mother tongue, the language of my ancestors, and the literature is amazingly rich and brilliant (as is Hebrew literature, obviously).
“So I try to catch up on weekends. I’m still thinking of you, Joshua, Jill, Annie, EKB, Rivka, and all my other Substack friends, Israel-related or not.” 😘
Decades ago, political differences didn't make or break relationships. What changed? Google & FB funnel people into silos of group think where people 'interact' -- virtually. People spend more time on their devices (I'm guilty of this too, but not as much as people who have smart phones, which just dumb people down... I don't have one of those) and less time in the presence of others and *being* present to them.
Absolutely. I don’t cut people off because we disagree. My more right leaning American friends were my friends when I was a certified leftist. Several people cut me off over my support for Israel 🇮🇱 but some came back. It was just a cause of the moment thing I guess or they realized that long term friendships matter
I understand why Gadi was 'falling over his legs.' In Hebrew foot/feet & leg/legs are the same word. Regel (hard g) is singular, raglayim is plural, 'ayim' being the form for paired plural items. And regel is a feminine noun (like all paired body parts), even though by form/structure, it looks like a masculine noun (ex. : geder=fence, masc.noun).
Good afternoon=tsawhawrayim tovim (that's an uber phonetic spelling, not standard translit. spelling).