ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

History of the Hebrew alphabet

Well hi there kiddo! Are you curious about the Hebrew alphabet? Let me explain it to you in a way that's super easy to understand!

So, the Hebrew people have been around for a very, very long time - even longer than your great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents! They used to speak a language called ancient Hebrew, but they didn't have an alphabet like we do today to write it down.

But one day, around 4000 years ago, a man named Moses came along and helped the Hebrew people escape from slavery in Egypt. After they left Egypt, Moses climbed up a mountain and wrote down some special rules that God had given to him. These special rules, called the Ten Commandments, were written in ancient Hebrew using a new alphabet that Moses had just created!

The Hebrew alphabet started out with only 22 letters, which is fewer than the alphabet we use today. But over time, more letters were added to the Hebrew alphabet to better match the sounds of the Hebrew language. You see, in Hebrew, each letter has a special meaning and is also used to represent a specific sound when spoken.

Eventually, the Hebrew alphabet became widely used to write down all sorts of things - from religious texts to everyday writings, like letters and shopping lists! And even today, the Hebrew alphabet is still used by millions of people all around the world to write and read the Hebrew language.

So there you have it, kiddo! That's the story of how the Hebrew alphabet came to be, and why it's so special to the Jewish people. I hope that helps you learn something new today!