Kari's a member of the Holy Language tribe, following Yeshua and learning Hebrew! Here's her story.

My name is Kari. I am a wife, mother, homeschooler, and follower of Yeshua, lover of Judaism. I grew up in a Christian home, and started connecting to Messianic Judaism and my own family's Jewish heritage when I was in college. Shortly after I started attending a Messianic congregation full-time, I met my husband, who was raised in a Conservative Jewish home and became a follower of Yeshua in his mid-twenties. He had grown up with Judaism but no knowledge of Yeshua, and I had grown up with lots of Yeshua and no knowledge of Judaism. We have had an interesting journey meeting in the middle, and discovering what our own family's unique expression of Messiah-centered Judaism should look like.

I first learned to read Hebrew on a date with my husband during our courtship phase, with crayons on a paper tablecloth over dinner. He taught me the AlephBet song, then matched up the names of the letters with their crayon counterparts to teach me to read.

He coached me and helped me practice reading when we attended Shul together, and then he gifted me with my first Hebrew/English Tanakh during our engagement. My final year in college I took a Modern Hebrew course, though graduation requirements kept me from going on to subsequent levels. Since that time, I have greatly desired to study Biblical Hebrew, and in the meantime, an entire world of online learning has developed to make it possible!

I found Holy Language Institute in a way that can only be described as a divine appointment. I began wondering why I kept seeing Izzy Avraham's name and face all over the Facebook community. People were quoting him, sharing his status updates, and liking his page. What's the deal? Does he have some kind of ministry or something? So I decided to check out his page to find out, and as I was clicking through his pictures, I began to feel a familiarity with his wife's face. I saw that we had one mutual friend, and somewhere between that realization and seeing a picture of her with her sister, it clicked! She and I had attended the same home fellowship when she was a high school student and I was newly married to my first Hebrew teacher. ;-) She and her sister had come to my apartment once to learn some Israeli dances. Clearly our paths crossed again for a reason!

Upon investigating Holy Language Institute, I discovered their online Hebrew learning program, but not being familiar with Izzy, I had questions. Was this a reliable way to learn Hebrew? Were these quality resources? As I was mulling over how to ask questions and get answers, HLI announced their live Hebrew classes taught by Rabbi Derek Leman - a name I'm very familiar with! Having been a regular reader of his blog and his books for several years, as well as being familiar with his credentials for teaching Hebrew, I was convinced this was the path for me to finally delve into the world of Biblical Hebrew learning (and what a bonus that I could do so with Rabbi Derek!).

I'm still exploring the treasure trove of resources on the HLI site, and very excited to begin my studies in earnest. I believe it will be a great asset to me in my personal journey of drawing closer to the written and Living Torah, to my efforts to teach my daughters Hebrew in our homeschool, and to my hopes of officially converting to join the peoplehood of my husband and children (which I hope to accomplish in the upcoming years). This could not have come at a better time, and I'm so very grateful it is affordable to boot!

My Twitter handle is @karimiller27. Or you can hop over and take a gander at my blog at leadmeoutofexile.com

Hope to see you around!

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