Babbit

Steve Babbit's life-long interest in modern Israel and the Jewish roots of Christianity inspired him to study the history of Israel, Biblical Scriptures, and the Hebrew language. In 1971, less than a year after graduating from high school, he lived and worked in Israel, where he first began to learn Hebrew while living on Kibbutz Gevulot (a collective farm in the Negev Desert, about 10 km from the SE corner of the Gaza Strip). In 1975, Babbit began his professional career in secondary public...See more

Steve Babbit's life-long interest in modern Israel and the Jewish roots of Christianity inspired him to study the history of Israel, Biblical Scriptures, and the Hebrew language. In 1971, less than a year after graduating from high school, he lived and worked in Israel, where he first began to learn Hebrew while living on Kibbutz Gevulot (a collective farm in the Negev Desert, about 10 km from the SE corner of the Gaza Strip). In 1975, Babbit began his professional career in secondary public education. He has taught middle school, high school and university summer extension classes in a wide variety of subjects. Steve took a leave-of-absence from teaching for the 1984-85 school year and spent two semesters studying Greek and Hebrew at Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada, CA. While at Talbot, he studied Biblical Hebrew under Dr. Richard Rigsby, who was the translation team coordinator for the Old Testament portion of the New American Standard Bible. In the summer of 2003, Steve attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, where he continued his Hebrew studies. Since his first trip in 1971, he has spent many of his summers in and around Jerusalem, often living with his Jewish "adopted family." In 1982, Babbit lived for a summer among Christian Arabs in the West Bank town of Ramallah. These first-hand experiences have provided insight into the cultural, religious and political environment of the Holy Land, past and present. In the spring of 2009, Steve retired from full-time teaching to pursue his desire to learn and teach Biblical Hebrew. Since 2009, he has returned to teach at one of his old schools whenever they need a teacher who is certified to teach a wide variety of subjects. Whether teaching or not, Steve spends his spare time writing various Hebrew language books and volunteering as a teacher for adult Hebrew language classes at Temple Beth El in Tacoma, WA, where he has been a member since 2012. See less