[malakhi]

In fact, for 3,000 years, the Jews omitted vowels and spaces to make it impossible for anyone to read the Bible without a rabbi.

Are you serious? Wherever did you acquire such a strange idea?

The Hebrew scriptures are written without vowels because that is the way Semitic languages are written.

[SoothingDave]

The Hebrew scriptures are written without vowels because that is the way Semitic languages are written.

With the vowels ommitted, is there potential for ambiguity?

SD

[Hermann the Cherusker]

The Hebrew scriptures are written without vowels because that is the way Semitic languages are written.

Hmmm .. Paleo-Hebrew had vowels. It also used letters that look Greco-Phoenecian, and not the standard Aramaic.

Take a look at the alphabets.

1=North Semitic alphabet (Paleo-Hebrew); 2=Earliest Greek character (9th-6th centuries BC; 4-5 Eastern branch (4. Ionic; 5. Attic); 7=Western branch; 9=Classic Greek; 10=Names of the letters (those in parentheses; names of letters now discarded in classic Greek.

Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek alphabets.

Are "aleph" (a), "he" (e), "jod" (i), "ajin" (o) not vowels?

Of course, considering the manuscripts are all in standard Hebrew and not Paleo-Hebrew, obviously we know that IF they were written prior to the Babylonian Captivity that they were translated into a new alphabet and updated language at that time.

[maryz]

The Hebrew scriptures are written without vowels because that is the way Semitic languages are written.

Huh? My Tanakh has vowels.

[dangus]

Wherever did you acquire such a strange idea?

From my orthodox Jewish roommate, whose Tanakh had no vowels.