What I did over the weekend....

Mmmmmmmm.....miles of kugel....a sweet noodle pudding make with eggs and cream cheese and butter and...of course noodles.

I admit....I didn't actually cook them....I'm really the kugel kitchen assistant to my hub and a wonderous cook named Rita.

We're getting ready for the Food Festival next weekend.....and as I mentioned before I'm managing the kugel and blintze booth.

One more batch to make on Monday and we'll have 40 trays of kugel and 125 dozen blintzes ready for sale....with the proceeds going to charity.

Getting nervous....I've been chairman of a literary festival....but manager of a kugel and blintze booth? It involves cooking and things I'm not ordinarily associated with.....like food.

Well, I guess it's good to expand one's horizons...lol.

Bet-Tav-Shin....or OY...I'm in Hebrew Class....

Okay....I can read one word.... but I do know 5 consonants and two vowels.

Hey.....You have to begin someplace.

I've started Hebrew class a couple of weeks ago and am dutifully doing my homework tonight for Sunday morning's class.

Our two angelic teachers are trying to mold the brains of 8 adults who don't know a shin from a koof or a resh from a nun.

But we all know by now: Lamed, Mem, Bet,Tav and Shin.

There's 22 consonants to learn and no vowels. Well not vowels as we know them....more like a system of dashes and dots which when placed next to a consonant...help you know how to pronounce the word.

We are going very slow......because this is a two pronged system.

First you have to learn Hebrew script and sounds....and then finally after you sound out a Hebrew word.....you eventually have to learn what it means.....in English.

When you study a language like French or Spanish....you go directly from recognizing the letters and saying a word....like bon jour....to what the meaning of bon jour is in English....good day.

Hebrew is more like....what the heck do those lines and dashes mean.....oh...okay....I can sound out this word.....and now .....what the heck does that mean?

Needless to say....I'm going to be in class for a while but I figure it's good for me....reading from left to right and then reading from right to left has got to keep some neurons fit and trim.

Tonight I cut out flashcards so if I have stupid down time ...I can pull them out and study.

I probably should check if there's a "learn Hebrew" app for the IPhone.

I must admit....it's kind of exciting/amazing....to tackle the script and see letters in vowels in ...what previously looked like a jumbled set of lines and dashes. It gives me hope ...this is possible to learn.

To show you how it's done....let me break down the one and only Hebrew word I know now.

First of all..... find the letter on the right that looks like a harp... that letter stands for an S sound and the dash under it means an A sound so.....the first thing you have is SHA

The middle letter is a B sound and the "T" under it means another A sound so you have BAH


The last letter on the left is a T sound.......so you put them all together and you get:

SHA BAH T....

which comes together as........ Shabbat

which means.....the Sabbath.......Your day of rest.

Isn't that cool?????
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