On the Rudiments of Hebrew

BOOK ONE

God willing, I intend to provide more advanced works in the future. These will serve the secret teachings of Pythagoras original: "Pythagorę disciplinam" and the Kabbalistic art original: "artem Cabalisticā"; the Kabbalah is a system of Jewish mystical thought that Reuchlin sought to reconcile with Christian theology. No one can understand these subjects unless they have been taught Hebrew first. I rightly hope that any students of the Christian religion would rather receive these Hebrew basics from you, a priest, and from me, although I am a married man, than from the Jews. Indeed, we are both Christians. We were born to Christian parents, George and Elisabeth, who were citizens of the town of Pforzheim.

Therefore, my dear Dionysius, I urge you to share this book with many suitable and industrious men. Do this for the praise and glory of the greatest and best God. It will serve the study of Holy Scripture. It will also prepare readers for the most hidden arts and the ancient philosophy of the past. In this way, the helpful name of the Most High God may be clearly recognized, loved, and praised. May He be blessed forever.

Now, at the end of this preface, I want to advise you of one thing. You must read this book in a way that is opposite to the Latin custom. What appears to be the first quinternio: a bookbinding term for a gathering of five sheets of paper or parchment folded together is actually the last. Therefore, you must turn the book over. You must read each page from right to left. In the same way, any text written in Hebrew follows a path from right to left. However, any Latin text on those same pages should be read from left to right, in the usual way. Please note these instructions carefully. We now proceed to the basic elements and the letters themselves.

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