The Story of

רבי עקיבא

In talk partners discuss:

1.How old should you be when you start to learn how to read Hebrew?

2.Why do we learn how to read Hebrew?

Long ago lived a great man.

His name was.רבי עקיבא

When רבי עקיבא was young, he was a shepherd.

The young עקיבא did not know the and he could א-בnot read Hebrew.

When he was older he married .לח.ל They lived in .רa small, simple home.

ביקביב א thought he עwas too old to start learning ב. . א-

.לח.ל disagreed and רsaid, “You are not too old. I am sure you will be able to learn תרור.ה. .”

One day, ביקביב א עtook his sheep to drink from a stream. He saw a big rock in the stream that had a hole in it.

Above the hole he saw water dripping onto the rock.

Slowly, after many years, the constant drip of water on the rock had worn a hole.

ביקביב א thought to עhimself:“Even something that is as soft as water can change something as hard as rock if it never stops dripping!

If I try really hard and put a lot of effort in, if I never give up maybe I will be able to learn how to read Hebrew and then I can learn הר!ה! ”!תרו

When he was 40 years old, הב א! ביקבי עwent to school to learn how to read Hebrew.

He learned how to read א' - ב ', how to say הל!ה! ביפבי and how תto learn the הר!ה! .תרו

He studied day and night.

He learned so much הר!ה! that תרוhe became a wise scholar, a הח!הכ.ם! בימביד .תל

After 12 years he came back home. As he was approaching his house he overheard his wife saying: “If הב א! ביקבי ביבבי ע רwould come home, I would tell him to go and learn הר!ה! for תרוanother 12 years. I am so happy when he is learning הר!ה! .תרו

!הב א ביקבי ביבבי ע went רback to learn הר!ה! תרוfor another 12 years. He became a great teacher and a famous Rabbi.

אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר had thousands of students who learned אר ה תרוwith him.

After the second 12 years אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר went back home with many students.

His wife אר לח ל came out to greet him.

אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר ‘s students did not want to let אר לח ל greet him because they did not know who she was.

אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר told his students, “ You must treat her with respect. All of the אר ה that תרוwe know is because of אר לח ל .”

What can we learn from the story of אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר ?

Have you changed your mind about the answers to these two questions?

1.How old should you be when you start to learn how to read Hebrew?

2.Why do we learn how to read Hebrew?