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22 April 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Bethany Case
Bethany Case received the prestigious Senate Medal during the April Graduation ceremonies. She completed the Bachelor of Arts Honours and plans to continue creating free resources for beginner and intermediate Hebrew students to improve their comprehension and reading fluency.
An international student and linguist from Michigan in the United States, Bethany Case, received the highest mark in an honours class throughout the university and was awarded the Senate Medal for this achievement during the University of the Free State’s (UFS) April graduation ceremonies.  

Case, who is now living in Mexico with her husband and daughter, completed the Bachelor of Arts Honours with specialisation in Hebrew in the Department of Hebrew in the Faculty of the Humanities. “I am honoured by this recognition; I did not expect any award,” she says.

Internalise the language for lifelong study and enjoyment

With an interest in supporting the work of Bible translation that is still ongoing around the world, Case decided to pursue studies in this specific field. She wanted to specifically support the translation of the Hebrew Bible, since there are fewer available translations of this than for the Greek New Testament. 

Her study in Biblical Hebrew focuses on the grammar of the Hebrew language as found in the text of the Hebrew Bible. “This includes historical reconstructions of its ancient forms, existing manuscripts, critical apparatus for studying the variants, and the poetic devices used in Hebrew poetry,” says Case, who also enjoys reading portions of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls.

With Hebrew being a difficult language to study and master, Case seeks that more students would learn to love Biblical Hebrew through a joyful learning experience rather than feeling intimidated and discouraged by its complexities. 

“My desire is that anyone who wants to learn to read the Bible in its original language will have a chance to do so, even if they don't have money for classes or textbooks. I want those who struggle to learn languages from a grammar-translation textbook model to have a chance to learn Hebrew through a more dynamic audio-visual pedagogy, and for Hebrew students to be able to internalise the language for lifelong study and enjoyment and not forget their Hebrew shortly after graduation,” she says.

Learning through the Aleph with Beth YouTube channel

In order to teach others Biblical Hebrew, Case has created the Aleph with Beth YouTube channel. This lively and informative resource has more than 69 000 subscribers and is grammatically accurate to the biblical text. According to Prof Cynthia Miller-Naudé, Senior Professor and Head of the Department of Hebrew, her work with the 170 videos on YouTube has been praised in academic journals such as Hebrew Higher Education as a free, online resource that provides excellent and high quality videos for learning Hebrew.   
My goal is that more students would learn to love Biblical Hebrew through a joyful learning experience rather than feeling intimidated and discouraged by its complexities. – Bethany Case

According to Prof Miller-Naudé, two of the guiding principles of the Department of Hebrew are to make Hebrew accessible to everyone, regardless of their language background, and to gain insight into the world of the Old Testament through knowledge of Hebrew. “Case has not only excelled in mastering Hebrew, but she also embodies the ethos of the department in her commitment to making Hebrew accessible to everyone. The department is proud of her extraordinary achievement in teaching Hebrew, and her embodiment of our principles that Hebrew can be enjoyable for everyone to learn. We look forward to her bright future as a teacher and scholar of Biblical Hebrew.”
 
Catching the important details that really counts

Concurring with Prof Miller-Naudé is Dr Kevin Chau, Case’s biggest motivator and her BA Honours instructor, who taught all her modules and supervised her mini-dissertation. He also believes that Case has a bright future ahead as a Hebrew scholar. 

“Case also catches the important details. While academia is concerned with details, it is catching the important details that really counts. Over and over in class, she demonstrated this valuable ability that separates exceptional scholarship from the pedestrian,” he adds. 

Case says that, together with her husband, she plans to continue working on the Aleph with Beth video lesson series and provide a free, effective, and enjoyable way for students all around the world to learn the basics of Biblical Hebrew grammar so that they can learn to read the Hebrew Bible in its original language.

News Archive

UFS celebrates Africa Month
2017-05-24

 Description: ' Africa Month Tags: UFS celebrates Africa Month

Most of the international students at the UFS come from
the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
and other countries in Africa.
Photo: iStock

“Africa Month provides an opportunity
to every student and staff member to
commemorate African unity and celebrate
our rich cultural heritage, diversity,
energy and social dynamism.”

The University of the Free State (UFS) celebrates Africa Month to commemorate African unity and praise cultural heritage, as well as to take ownership of the future of the continent. According to Prof Heidi Hudson, Director of the Centre for Africa Studies, these are reasons to take part in the festivities.

Formation of Organisation of African Unity

Africa Day is the day on which Africa observes the creation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May 1963. A total of 32 independent African states attended the formation.

The OAU’s aims were to promote unity and solidarity of the African states and act as a collective voice for the continent, in order to secure Africa’s long-term economic and political future and to rid it of remaining forms of colonialism. The OAU later gave birth to the African Union, which formally replaced the OAU in July 2002.

Prof Hudson says celebrating Africa Month forms part of her centre’s institutional mandate to promote an African focus in research, teaching, as well as public debate.

“Africa Month provides an opportunity to every student and staff member to commemorate African unity and celebrate our rich cultural heritage, diversity, energy and social dynamism. Secondly, by participating we all begin to take ownership of our future on this continent.”

She adds that Africa month provides a platform for reflecting on past experiences and achievements, as well as to critically assess the failures, challenges and the lessons learnt for the sake of a better future for the continent’s people.

Working relations across the continent

The UFS has working relations with universities, embassies and consulates in African countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, and Tunisia.

Five cooperation agreements exist – they are with the Botho University (Botswana), Greater Zimbabwe University, Universidad Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique), Trinity Theological Seminary Ghana, and Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary.

According to Kanego Mokgosi, Senior Officer at Internationalisation, there are also working relations between the university and The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, Swedish International Development Agency and The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. All of these focus on research development in Africa.

Most of the international students at the UFS come from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the continent. It hosts 1393 students from SADC countries.

“The UFS employs SADC protocol guidelines which, among others, enjoin SADC universities to admit at least 5% of their student population from the SADC region,” says Mokgosi.

Memorial Lecture by Dr Zeleza

On 24 May 2017 the Centre for Africa Studies hosted an Africa Day Memorial Lecture by Dr Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, the Vice Chancellor (President) of the United States International University Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

The UFS library, in collaboration with the Department of English and the Office of International Affairs, also celebrated Africa Day on 25 May 2017. They hosted a conversation on the Land Debate in South Africa, together with the launch of a book titled White Narratives: The depiction of Post-2000 Land Invasions in Zimbabwe by Prof Irikidzayi Manase. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of English.

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