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Topic: Hebrew Language, How Accurate?

Father Gant in Belize, Central America wrote:

Dear Rabbi:

I am a Catholic priest serving in Belize/Guatemala. I studied ten years in Rome and while there, a priest from the Biblicum (the Bible school for the Jesuits in Rome) told me that they only know about 30 percent of the words in Hebrew for the scriptures.

I can't believe that a living language that has been handed down orally for all these centuries, can have only 30 percent accuracy. Any ideas?


Dear Father Gant,

I agree with your disbelief. We have traditions going back 3,500 years regarding the meaning of Hebrew words in the Bible. The Mishnah and many post-Biblical Jewish works are written in Hebrew, it has been used in our prayers for more than 2,000 years and is now used in everyday life in Israel. We have 99.44% knowledge of Biblical Hebrew words, extensive literature and a rich oral tradition on the subject.


 
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