TARGUM MOLCHO · AN INTERACTIVE BEIT MIDRASH
Come and see, friends.
כִּי־אָז אֶהְפֹּךְ אֶל־עַמִּים שָׂפָה בְרוּרָה לִקְרֹא כֻלָּם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה לְעָבְדוֹ שְׁכֶם אֶחָד׃
“For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Hashem, to serve Him with one consent.”
Zephaniah 3:9
Targum Molcho is an interactive Beit Midrash built to teach you how to read the original Hebrew and Aramaic of Torah and the writings of our Sages. Study the texts themselves, learn how their language works, and grow into translating them for yourself.
CHOOSE A DOOR
ספרי קודשOpen the sacred textsFind a chapter, verse, daf, tikkun, or passage.→ללמודLearn to readBuild letters, sounds, vocabulary, grammar, and fluency.→לשונותFocused language pathsBiblical, Rabbinic, Targumic, Bavli, and Zoharic study.→כליםStudy toolsLexicon, nikkud, ta'amim, gematria, and keyboard.→What is Targum Molcho?+
An interactive Beit Midrash for learning Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic through the original writings of Tanakh and our Sages. Tap a word for its sound and meaning, then return to the source and translate it with understanding.
THE PURPOSE
Do not stop at a translation.
Learn to enter the source yourself.
This is a place to study the sacred texts online and a place to acquire the language needed to read them. The text remains central. Every lesson, definition, pronunciation guide, and grammatical explanation returns you to the Hebrew or Aramaic on the page.
Find the passage you came to study.
Browse Tanakh, Mishnah, the Bavli and Yerushalmi, Midrash, Zohar, Kabbalah, and commentaries through their natural indexes.
Enter the collection →02לִלְמֹד וּלְהָבִיןLEARN TO READBuild the language you need.
Learn the letters, nikkud, cantillation, vocabulary, roots, grammar, dialects, and sentence patterns inside real texts.
Begin the learning path →THE SOURCE COMES FIRST
Work through the words without leaving the page.
Select a word when you need help. Hear it pronounced, sound it out with transliteration, see its root and form, and find its other occurrences. Then return to the sentence and make sense of it yourself.
- אRead the originalHebrew and Aramaic remain the primary text.
- בOpen only the help you needNikkud, sound, vocabulary, grammar, and context stay close at hand.
- גTranslate with understandingThe goal is your own growing ability, not dependence on a supplied English text.
From when? A question asking for the beginning of a time period.
THE LANGUAGES OF THE BEIT MIDRASH
Each body of sacred writing has its own language.
Learn each dialect on its own terms, then recognize how words and forms travel across the larger world of Torah.
Biblical Hebrew
Learn the vocabulary, forms, syntax, vowel points, and cantillation that open the Tanakh.
Study this language →02לְשׁוֹן חֲכָמִיםLANGUAGE PATHRabbinic Hebrew
Read Mishnah and Midrash through the characteristic words, phrases, and structures of Chazal.
Study this language →03לְשׁוֹן הַתַּרְגּוּםLANGUAGE PATHTargumic Aramaic
Enter Onkelos and the Targumim beside the biblical verses to which they belong.
Study this language →04אֲרָמִית בַּבְלִיתLANGUAGE PATHTalmudic / Jewish Babylonian Aramaic
Follow the questions, answers, objections, and resolutions that give a sugya its movement.
Study this language →05לִישָׁנָא דְּזוֹהַרLANGUAGE PATHZoharic Aramaic
Learn the language of the Zohar while keeping plain meaning, grammar, and sod in their proper places.
Study this language →ONE BEIT MIDRASH
The texts you study and the tools you learn with belong together.
The permanent structure is being built to hold complete works—including the Lurianic corpus transmitted through Rabbi Chaim Vital—while keeping every passage connected to language study.
FROM RECOGNITION TO UNDERSTANDING
Learn the parts.
Return to the whole.
You do not study vocabulary in isolation forever. Each skill is learned so that the next original passage becomes more open to you.
- 01Letters, nikkud, and cantillationאָב
Recognize what is written and learn how the signs guide the sound.
- 02Words, roots, and formsמִלָּה
See how prefixes, roots, patterns, and endings carry meaning.
- 03Sentences, passages, and sugyotסוּגְיָא
Follow how words work together inside the argument or teaching.
- 04Read and translate for yourselfתַּרְגּוּם
Use less help as your command of the original language grows.
COME AND SEE
The translation is not the destination.
The source is.
Begin with the language you know today, and keep returning until the words of Torah and Chazal open before you in their original tongue.