Raphael Loewe: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |

Object 2. Raphael's first Hebrew exercise book

26th November 1923 - 27th July 1924

Description:

Raphael’s first Hebrew exercise book started in 1923 when he was four years old. At the time the family were living in Beaumont Street, Oxford. Studying Hebrew became a central part of his life.

Raphael's notes are corrected in pencil by his father, Herbert, who praises Raphael's efforts as "very good". Subsequent pages are all dated, from 26th November 1923 to 27th July 1924, so that one can trace his progress as he moved onto other letters, and then sentences. It is striking that after a year of practice, Raphael was already able to translate short sentences from English (i.e. a king gave a small slave) into Biblical Hebrew. He did struggle slightly with the right-to-left writing, and he occasionally transposed Hebrew letters, but judging from the previous object, his Hebrew and English writing skills were at the same level.

Credits: Leopold Muller Memorial Library, Raphael Loewe Pamphlets Collection, shelfmark: ARaphael 1,2