Recommended Hebrew BCP

My Biblical Hebrew is very poor indeed and I am looking to improve it.
I heard recently that when Mormon missionaries are in language training, on their incredibly intensive courses, they pray in their "target language".
This made me wonder.
Are there any editions of the BCP in Hebrew (preferably Classical Hebrew) available in the United Kingdom that I could use in my own devotion?

 

I really doubt it. Given the nature of the BCP it's unlikely to have a full translation in modern or Biblical Hebrew. However, you can find any number of Psalters in Hebrew, and of course you can do the Old Testament lectionary readings from any Hebrew Bible (mine is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, but you can also purchase an inexpensive Hebrew Bible from TBS). You can also find good Hebrew interlinears online (the Blue Letter Bible is a great resource for this kind of thing).

Chabad.org also has a good online side-by-side Hebrew reference Bible.

 

I'm going to start work on translating Morning and Evening Prayer from the 1662.
So much of the Prayer Book is scriptural that I'm unlikely to need to generate much unique content.

 

I suspect that The Scriptural BCP will be most useful here

 

You'll need a good Hebrew lexicon, then -- here's the one I use. (I got mine used some years back; you can probably find it cheaper than Amazon shows it if you shop around.)

 

I agree with Ananias about the improbability of finding the BCP in Classical Hebrew. One of the purposes of the BCP was for liturgy to be in the vernacular. As far as I am aware, the Anglican Church in Israel, The Diocese of Jerusalem: The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, uses Arabic or English rather than Modern Hebrew. Thus, I would be very surprised if there is a BCP in any variety of Hebrew.

 

There might be. Do we not have a Bishop in Jerusalem?

 

I suppose it cannot be ruled out. However, the diocese's website is in English and Arabic and its worship is in English or Arabic. From that I have inferred they do not appear to use Hebrew and so there may not be a BCP in Modern Hebrew.

Yes, until 2014. Since 2014 the rank of that see's ordinary is archbishop and the office is currently held by Most Revd Hosam Elias Naoum.

 

I’d be surprised if there were Hebrew-language resources there since the laity are predominantly Arabs. Plus proselytizing Jews is illegal in Israel anyway, so the publishing of such a book there would at the very least raise suspicions.

 

Yes, they cater for an Arab population so it's not surprising that they don't worship in Hebrew.

I wasn't aware this was illegal in Israel but it doesn't surprise me. Yes, Hebrew liturgical books would certainly cause conflict, which seems always close to the surface in Israel.

 

It’s ironic in many ways. Jews have far more religious freedom in the U.S. and the U.K. than they do in Israel. Although the law is secular and is a common law system, religious affairs are solely in the hands of the Orthodox Rabbinate for Israeli Jews. There is thus no such thing as “civil marriage” in Israel. A Jew who wishes to marry a non-Jew must marry outside Israel. A Conservative or Reform rabbi who officiates a wedding or a funeral is subject to arrest and a jail sentence if convicted. Proselytizing is illegal, as are conversions out of Judaism. Only Orthodox converts in other countries are eligible for Israeli citizenship; Reform and Conservative converts are not. And all this in a country in which about 70% of the Jewish population is non-practicing. It’s not uncommon for the average secular Israeli to be just as hostile to the rabbis as he is to the Arabs. It’s a place riddled with contradictions.

 

That 70% non practicing is shrinking every year. I bet over 30% of children are ultra orthodox and then 20% are just orthodox.

 

That’s true. The 70% figure is anecdotal and admittedly a bit dated. The demographic crisis many were predicting never really materialized, and the ultra-Orthodox percentage of the population is growing, since they’re the ones having kids. The rest of the population has abortions, at a really high rate for a country its size.

 

Yeah I think the Jews now have more babies per women than Arabs if not it is really close and pretty much even.

 

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1662/Hebrew.htm

 

It is astounding to me that the 1662 is so blatantly ignored in English provinces when translations exist for so many other languages.

 

For real. There can be 1662 BCP services in Hebrew, in Israel, right now.

 

Oh dear, oh dear! You really must get with the zeitgeist. Only modern liturgies will do!

(Sarcasm intended)

 

I know, I know... must conform to nonconformity and all that...

But there are 297 distinct editions/translations of the 1662 on this page alone: The Book of Common Prayer in other Languages (anglican.org) including languages across every continent. Talk about providing liturgy in the vernacular!

 

Thanks for that link. Sadly, you don't seem to be able to downlaod any. I'd have been interested in one in French.