[quote:0f70d19c41]But if you want to be a seminarian, and more important, a minister of the gospel, Hebrew is essential. Not extra or nice. Essential.[/quote:0f70d19c41]

What if I'm not going to spend [i:0f70d19c41]tons[/i:0f70d19c41] of time exegeting the Hebrew text? I mean, for the pastor and teacher to preach or teach from the OT, I can see where it would be essential. But, what if I don't plan on teaching from the OT at all? I can atleast see where [i:0f70d19c41]basic[/i:0f70d19c41] Hebrew would be essential for my purposes. I mean, if I can understand it with a little help (lexicon etc.), why do I still need to be able to read it verbatim? Its not like I carry around a Hebrew Bible with me everywhere...

Perhaps, I am not interested because I haven't spent alot of time in the OT in the past year... maybe I just need to spark the Jewish fire...

Rembrandt