For many, Hebrew sits like a wall between them and the Torah — a script they cannot read, guarding a language they cannot speak. But the wall is a misperception. Hebrew is not a wall. It is a doorway, and like every doorway it has a threshold you can actually step over.
Before translation, there are letters.
Begin with letters
Before translation, there are letters. Twenty-two of them, each with a shape, a sound, and often a meaning of its own. You do not begin by reading Chumash fluently; you begin by knowing the aleph-bet, then syllables, then words.
The language of Torah is not locked. It has an entrance, and the entrance is small enough for anyone willing to start.
Into the root, into meaning
Hebrew rewards the digger. Every word has a root — usually three letters — and the root carries meaning that translation flattens. Learn to see the root, and a single verse opens into a chamber.
Begin with letters; continue into meaning; and when a word's depths exceed what a beginner should weigh alone, carry it to a teacher who can take you further in.