The Battle of the Hebrew Cards

books:


	• Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary Cards Raymond B. Dillard Visual Education Assn, 1997 average customer review:based on 5 reviews
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highly recommended

Excellent product

Great product - very professional, maybe the publisher update some things - the picture of the box that Amazon shows is outdated so this is possible. There is 1 review that thinks little of this product. Most everyone else agrees it's a good product - I concur. Go with the consensus and ignore the sole dissenter. I nearly didn't buy these cards because of that one review. I'm very happy I ignored it.
- Size - as someone else stated - there is no 'official card size'. These are slimmer than a business card yes (from top to bottom) , a little longer than a business card. They work well. Don't worry about it.
- Writing size - the 'featured word' is huge - even the cognates listed are much bigger than you will ever be actually reading it in a book/BHS - not a problem.
- quality of paper - fine!
- calligraphy - done well. There are some slight differences - as with any handwritten calligraphy - Nothing that even approaches any problems with readability - that is unless you have trouble reading Hebrew letters to begin with. These cards are quite clear.
- Use of cognates (words built from the base 'root' ie achal = eat, ochel = food). To complain about these extra words listed on the same card is to miss the point. General educational pedagogy will tell you that the power of association in learning makes this a great time saving strategy. This also gives you great insight into how Hebrew 'works'. I began to make my own cards purely for this purpose with root and cognates (if clear connection - sometimes care must be taken here) on the same card. This will help tremendously. Open up a comprehensive lexicon ie NIDOTTE and check it out - there is a good reason words are listed together, and easier than doing it yourself.

- The only possible draw back is that this pack covers words that occur only 25x or more in the Bible. Yet it's not practical really for any publisher to cover the 1x - 25x words in vocabulary cards, as those extra words account for several thousand extra words/cards that most would agree are best learnt as they are encountered, that is unless one has a photographic memory. Landes has an excellent book that covers words down to the 10x level for those wanting the extra info - similarly grouping roots with cognates.

- I also have a software vocab card system - iVocab put out by Kregel. good product, nice to hear words (American voice but as good as it gets without being Israeli) but my eyes have their limits staring at a computer screen. It's nice to listen to the audio in the car with English and Hebrew both spoken, but just as reading a book on a screen isn't my idea of fun, it's still nice to have some old fashioned cards to use.

Great product. Buy it.

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The Battle of the Hebrew Cards

To my knowledge there are two big (about 1000 cards) sets of pre-made biblical Hebrew flash cards readily available for purchase (at least on Amazon). These are the Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary Cards by Dillard, which is the subject of the present review, for $12.95 and the Old Testament Hebrew Vocabulary Cards by Van Pelt for $17.95. Were I still a starving college student, the five dollar difference alone would incline me toward the Dillard set. Fortunately I've already graduated and have been working in what passes for the real world. So I had enough money to buy both in order to facilitate my study of Hebrew. Having used both I find them both quite good though they have different strengths.

I like the Dillard set the best. The size is handy and easy to hold. Also, the writing on the opposing side is inverted so one can look at one side and flip the card over top to bottom to get the answer. This is a small point but I find it easy to use this way, especially when I study while riding my exercise bicycle. Another person might prefer the opposite.

Someone else has commented that the Dillard size is not standard. Is there a standard size for flash cards? I don't think so. I have flash cards of all different sizes. The Dillard cards are actually part of a large series of flash cards, the Vis-Ed series. This is a large series including Modern Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Greek, calculus, statistics, SAT practice etc. There are a very large number of subjects offered in the same 3 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch format. So I would say that these cards are of a standard size though I doubt any card can be said to be "the" standard. Also, they are the same length as most business cards that I have, though shorter in height. So they would fit many trays designed to hold business cards. They fit well in my wallet. The Van Pelt cards are not the same length as a standard business card and the height is a little less than a business card, though greater than the Dillard cards. They would still fit a business card holder, however. And they fit in my wallet as well. But usually I keep both sets in their original boxes, so it does not matter to me anyway.

The Dillard cards a bit thinner than the Van Pelt but they are still nice and stiff and easy to turn.

I also like the calligraphy on the Dillard cards. It isn't the exact rigid perfection of cards made with a word processor but it is very well done. It is hardly "quick and dirty" as someone has commented. It is a very nice job. Reading Hebrew in slightly different fonts should be helpful in preparation for reading actual books and scrolls. Again, this is a small point. Both sets are readable, including the vowels.

Finally, I like the fact that Dillard has grouped together some words that share the same root or are grammatically related and placed them together on the same card. To me this is a great plus and it helps in understanding and learning. It also increases the number of actual words covered to 1200 rather than 1000. One reviewer did not like this because he points out that the related words listed on the card are smaller than the main word. This is true but I still find them readable. They are larger than the print in most newspapers and magazines. But if you need really big print you might have trouble with them.

Van Pelt cross-references his cards to a number of Hebrew reference works. That's a very good feature if you are using those books. The Dillard set comes with a small pamphlet listing the words plus some grammatical points.

Which set to buy? I've expressed my preference for Dillard. But if you are using one of the books cross referenced by Van Pelt, then that might be the better one. Or if you have an instructor, go with his or her recommendation. I think it matters more if you use them than which set you buy.

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Very Useful!

This is a set of vocabulary cards for learning biblical Hebrew. It is very useful. Of course, you can always make your own cards to match the assigned text, but they won't be as nice or as easy to use. These are professionally printed in a consistent manner.

The cards are grouped in three different sections (verbs, nouns, other) with each section arranged in order of occurrance in Scripture. This would make individual cards difficult to find, so the set comes with an indexed booklet. A number of blank cards are included for words which may have been missed. (Geographical and personal names are intentionally skipped.)

When I was trying to learn Hebrew, at the beginning of each week I would use the index to find the cards I needed that week. These would go in my shirt pocket so I could review them throughout the week.

The only minor annoyance was that there were some slight differences in definitions between the cards and the text I was using. But this is unavoidable with different authors. Further, this was also helpful in a way, as it showed a second opinion and helped to explain the word meanings.

All in all, it is a very complete, useful tool. Nearly all of the vocabulary I needed (for Kelley's text) was included, and was in roughly the same order as in the text.

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Well pleased!!!

(Original shipment lacked one part; seller quickly replaced with no complaint!)

I expect to have a fluent 600+ word vocabulary of biblical Hebrew by this time next year. Highly recommended if you would wish to have same!

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