Hebrew Pronunciation: Overview

Hebrew is one of the most ancient continuously used languages. Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. Canaanite languages were spoken in and around Canaan - the ancient name of the land of Israel. The most ancient inscriptions in a Canaanite languages date 3000 years back.
The Jewish religious history presents a different story. Hebrew in Hebrew is called ivrit - the language of Eber (Ever) the only descendant of Noah who preserved the language of Adam. The language was passed down to Abraham and through his son Isaac to Jacob (aka Israel) and all his descendants - the nation of Israel.
In both cases we have the text of Torah and those of us who observe and study it must know how to pronounce it correctly. Or not?
In the following brief articles I will outline the currently used Hebrew pronunciations and I will try to answer these questions:

• what is the root of the currently used pronunciations
• to what extent we can know the original pronunciation
• is it important to use the original pronunciation in the religious context