Schriever's rabbi teaching Hebrew class

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jean Duggan
  • 50th Space Wing
SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  The 50th Space Wing chaplain’s office held the first “Beginning Hebrew” class for people interested in learning the basics of the language.

From the first base bulletin advertising the four one-hour sessions, the response has been nothing but positive, base officials said.

“When we first advertised this class, we received (more than) 50 responses from people interested in taking the class,” said Chaplain (Capt.) Gary Davidson, Schriever’s rabbi.

Students had many reasons for attending the class -- from a basic interest to a return to Jewish roots.

“I had an Israeli history class in high school and was able to visit Israel after I graduated,” said 1st Lt. Owen Dean, of the 2nd Space Operations Squadron. “I became fascinated with the language.”

“I recently started attending the Remnant of Israel Messianic Jewish Synagogue,” said Eric Koppisch, an operations research analyst in the Space Warfare Center. “Since much of the service is in Hebrew, I decided it would be interesting to learn the language."

Mr. Koppisch and his wife have talked about teaching. So when he learned of the class, "I knew it would be incredibly helpful.”

Louis Steinberg, of the wing military personnel flight, is the Jewish lay leader for Peterson Air Force Base and Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. He is taking the class so he can serve in this capacity more effectively.

“Also, it is important to me to know the Hebrew language to get back to my roots,” he said. “There was a part of me that was missing. That one piece of the puzzle was knowing and speaking Hebrew -- this one piece will fulfill my Jewish life.”

With such a diverse group, Chaplain Davidson tried several techniques to make the first class easy to follow and the lessons easy to understand.

“My goal for the first class was for (students) to learn the (Hebrew) alphabet and be able to read and write basic words,” Chaplain Davidson said .

The rabbi took to the board and began the lesson.

“Rabbi Davidson made it pretty simple to follow,” said Mr. Koppisch. “Instead of saying ‘make a line this long and put another one over here,’ it was comments like, ‘make a box with an open window. Make a house with a chimney.’ It made everything pretty simple to follow.”

About 20 people showed up the first day and plan to continue through all four classes. 

“I learned a surprising amount of information in a very short time,” Lieutenant Dean said.