Sid Roth welcomes Jonathan Bernis

SID ROTH: Hello, Sid Roth here with Jonathan Bernis. And modern science is finding there’s something very supernatural about the Hebrew language. For instance, I’ve recently read a study by a Swiss scientist by the name of Hans Jenny, and what he’s done is he’s been able to capture the effect of sand and sound. He has a box with sand, and when the Hebrew language is spoken the sand actually, he has an invention called the tonoscope, the sand actually goes into beautiful geometric shapes. Now he tried this with modern day languages and nothing to that effect happened. There’s something so supernatural about the language of Hebrew. But the problem is that most Bible believers would love to speak Hebrew, but they can’t go to Bible college and study the Hebrew. And we Jewish people had the same problem when we came to America, and the reform movement developed a method to learn to speak Hebrew instantly. Tell me about it.

JONATHAN: Well I’d love to say that I invented this, Sid, in different materials that I’ve produced. I did not. I grew up with this. When Jews came from the old country, from Europe at the turn of the 19th century and into the earliest part of the 20th century, the late part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, they began to lose Hebrew as they assimilated into American culture. And the Jewish community was very concerned. Now in the old country, they were all orthodox. They learned Hebrew in Yeshiva from the time that they were little. But Hebrew was being a lost language. And in order to keep the use Hebrew in the prayer books and as part of our liturgy in the synagogue, they developed a method called transliteration. And very simply, transliteration is taking the Hebrew and spelling it out phonetically like they do in dictionaries with English. So you could actually, you have the Hebrew above it and the transliteration so you can read it in Hebrew quite accurately by reading it phonetically. And that method preserved Hebrew prayer in the synagogue to this day, even in reformed Judaism as well as conservative.

SID ROTH: Well I would like to see you demonstrate this. There is one of my favorite scriptures, Exodus 15:26. Would you read that in English and Hebrew?

JONATHAN: Yeah. Let me just do an excerpt from it. Let’s take, this is where we learn about one of the names of God, the nature of God, “the Lord who healeth thee.” Let’s look at a revelation of God who is our healer. In Exodus 15:26, He declares himself, and look at the Hebrew now as [Hebrew] “Ani Adonai rof-e-cha.”  That’s almost impossible to read in Hebrew. But now when we use the transliteration, you see “Ani Adonai rof-e-cha” (You-Hay-Va-Vey Adonai or Jehovah, Row-Feh-Kah”). “I am the Lord that healeth.” It’s that simple. That’s how it works. This declaration of the Hebrew name of God is now readable and pronounceable in the form of transliteration.

ITS SUPERNATURAL: Why do you believe it’s so important to confess God’s promises even with the extra dimension of the Hebrew?

JONATHAN: Well, I believe…I don’t believe it. The Bible says that God created the world, Sid, out of “let there be light out of darkness” with the spoken word. And this is what separates man from all the other members of the animal kingdom. It’s the ability to speak with articulate speech, Sid. So it stands to reason that there’s power in the spoken word. And that was an amazing scientific result because I believe there’s something unique about the Hebrew language, that what resonates, the sound waves that resonate from the Hebrew have that added dimension of creation. And the rabbis have been teaching this from ancient times, that there’s something about the holy tongue, the L’Shana Kodesh, that even if you don’t understand it by speaking it, you’re speaking life you’re creating. And I absolutely believe that. Not only do I believe it, Sid, I’ve experienced the power of speaking forth the Word of God because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, and it’s with the mouth confession is made unto.

SID ROTH: You know, Zephaniah 3:9 is an important scripture. It talks about in the later days there will be the restoration of a pure language. And Hebrew, biblical Hebrew has no curse words. It is a pure language. That’s a tremendous prophecy.

JONATHAN: And Sid, we talk a lot about End Time events being fulfilled, about a restoration, the supernatural restoration of God and the Hebrew language, which really came about through Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Modern Hebrew as a spoken language, I believe, is part of this End Time restoration that’s taking place now, and I think believers should be part of it, get in on it.

SID: Eliezer Ben Yehuda was a very interesting man. He literally, God told him to restore Hebrew as a modern-day spoken language, and Israel could not be a nation today without a language because Jewish people came from the four corners of the earth where God said He would spread us, and it was necessary for Hebrew to be revised. And that’s what Zephaniah said.

JONATHAN: It does. But Sid, let me quote another scripture: “That blindness has happened to Israel until the fullness of the gentiles comes in.” It’s not full number, I believe. I believe it’s talking about a fullness coming back to the body of Christ, this one new man, the middle wall of partition being broken down and part of that includes an embrace of the Hebrew roots of the faith. And that’s why I think there’s a growing interest in the Hebrew language among Christians today.

SID ROTH: When we come back from the break you’re going to find out the difference it’s made in Rabbi Jonathan Bernis’ life through confessing God’s Word and publicly proclaiming God’s Word. Don’t go away. We’re going to be right back.