Rating: 
Summary: Your Best Bet
Review: I am currently finishing up my studies in Kelly. This work book is very solid, Kelly has taken a very in-depth and detailed approach to biblical hebrew. I am a Bible and Theology Major studying under one of Oxford's finest Hebrew profs. This work book can be used by anyone and is great for teaching yourself. Just make sure you buy the Handbook with the answers too...that is a life saver. If you are planning on teaching yourself "biblical" hebrew, then Kelly is the best route you can go, in my opinion of course.
Rating:
Summary: Your Best Bet
Review: I am currently finishing up my studies in Kelly. This work book is very solid, Kelly has taken a very in-depth and detailed approach to biblical hebrew. I am a Bible and Theology Major studying under one of Oxford's finest Hebrew profs. This work book can be used by anyone and is great for teaching yourself. Just make sure you buy the Handbook with the answers too...that is a life saver. If you are planning on teaching yourself "biblical" hebrew, then Kelly is the best route you can go, in my opinion of course.
Rating: 
Summary: A Jewish perspective on this excellent book.
Review: I haven't seen any reviews of this book explicitly from a Jewish point of view, so this is just a short perspective - the other reviews are all well-written and describe the quality of the book well. There are, however, two minor points that the Jewish student should be aware of.
First, the author is a well-respected scholar and linguist; however, he is a member of the Southern Baptist church. While this won't matter to most readers (Jewish and non-Jewish alike), I do realize that there are Jews who will want to avoid the book due to that organization's purported anti-Semitic leanings. Whether or not those leanings exist is another debate - I point this out merely as an informational comment.
Despite the fact that the author comes from a Christian background, the course is devoid of any reference to any Christian beliefs outside of what is referred to as their 'Old Testament'. This is a commendable approach to make the text acceptable to all students.
The second point is in reference to the dialect that is used in the course. This book teaches Sephardic pronunciation - this makes sense from an academic standpoint, as Sephardic is the more modern form of Hebrew and is more common than the Ashkenazic pronunciation. Most Orthodox synagogues, however, still use the Ashkenazic pronunciation in services - it tends to be more condusive for liturgy as opposed to conversation, where Sephardic is generally superior. Orthodox Jews who are using this book should be aware that the Hebrew spoken in their services is going to sound different in several specific ways. The only major differences between the two forms is in vowel pronunciation, so if an Ashkenazic pronunciation guide can be obtained (they're fairly prolific online), this can be used in conjunction with the book for learning both dialects.
I found this to be an excellent guide for learning biblical Hebrew, and would highly recommend it to most Jewish adults who are either learning for the first time, or relearning after a period of disuse.
Rating:
Summary: A modern grammar with use of the Biblical text and examples.
Review: Of all the Hebrew Grammar books on the market today this one is the most "user friendly." It puts the reader directly in the Bible and gives many examples. It is a life long companion to the biblical student. The binding, however, is awful and it will disintegrate by the second year of use.
Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: Page Kelley's grammar is the fruit of decades of experience teaching introductory biblical Hebrew. The format of the book is impeccable. The complexities of Hebrew grammar are made clear at every point. Each lesson is followed by extensive sets of exercises taken from the Hebrew Bible itself. The result is that beginning students are working with the Bible itself immediately and not artificially constructed phrases and sentences. This grammar establishes a clear program for learning Hebrew. Any student who follows that program faithfully and trusts the grammar to do its job will learn the basics of Hebrew grammar. I have used this grammar to teach my Hebrew classes and can not imagine teaching without it.
Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: Page Kelley's grammar is the fruit of decades of experience teaching introductory biblical Hebrew. The format of the book is impeccable. The complexities of Hebrew grammar are made clear at every point. Each lesson is followed by extensive sets of exercises taken from the Hebrew Bible itself. The result is that beginning students are working with the Bible itself immediately and not artificially constructed phrases and sentences. This grammar establishes a clear program for learning Hebrew. Any student who follows that program faithfully and trusts the grammar to do its job will learn the basics of Hebrew grammar. I have used this grammar to teach my Hebrew classes and can not imagine teaching without it.
Rating: 
Summary: Answer key available!
Review: The best thing about Kelly's book is that all the exercises have answers to them in the suppliment Handbook. I found it really helpful to get the material down well by doing the exercises after the chapter, and check the answers in the Handbook. It is a practical way of learning Hebrew.
Rating:
Summary: A Solid Introduction
Review: This 450 page book is a solid introduction to Biblical Hebrew. The book is organized as a teaching help into graded lessons, but it is well organized into broad topical blocks so it is also useful as a reference. The large section of charts in the appendix has kept this book useful to me years after I began to learn Hebrew. Also, the excercises in the book are completely based on actual verses of the Hebrew Bible even starting from lesson one. There are no contrived, artificial sentences in it. As soon as you start, you are learning the bible. The book truly is the result of years and even generations of Hebrew instruction, and it is used in a very large number of seminaries and universities across the English-speaking world.There is one word of caution to fundamentalist types and KJV enthusiasts who tend to be concerned that modern biblical scholarship is undermining biblical authority: Kelley is an NRSV devotee and bases a number of his translations on this version for the purpose of expressing politically correct, gender neutral language. I really must say that this has had such a small effect on the book that it has diminished nothing, however. I am impressed with it. After working through this book a student will have the basics of classical Hebrew and will be able to read most of the prose narratives of the Torah. Kelley is conservative in his scholarship and gives a good treatment of the Hebrew verbal system, something that scholars don't fully understand at this point.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Systematic Presentation
Review: This book by Kelley is extremely detailed without being overwhelming. Learning any language can be overwhelming, but if one takes this book lesson by lesson, they will do well. I find that this makes a great companion text to "Biblical Hebrew" by Kittel et al (see my review on this book for more information).
Kelley provides what Kittel does not, and vice versa. Kittel presents great lessons without getting into a mass of details that aren't yet necessary, and as a workbook, it moves you along confidently and quickly. But with learning anything, many like to know, and will definitely need to know fairly early on, not simply how something is done, but WHY, and what nuances are caused by the details. Kelley does just that by explaining point by point why things work the way they do in Hebrew. For example, this would include how vowel pointing changes and why. Kittel deals with vowel pointing, of course, and how it works grammatically, but leaves one without answers in many cases as to the systematic rules of how vowel pointing works. Also, Kittel's book does a nice job in presenting participles, but doesn't really give enough detail to help the beginner with the related nuances of participial grammar that even the beginner needs to know (e.g., what's the difference in translation between participles as adjective, as verbs, and as nouns?).
Kelley explains in detail what Kittel presents generally. He gives all the answers that Kittel does not. Kittel gives a more workable workbook than does Kelley. With Kittel, you feel like you're moving along faster and so it is more encouraging (I personally went through the first half of Kittel's book thoroughly in only 2 1/2 months, along with working on a number of chapters later in the book at the same time; I could never do that with Kelley's book). Because of its great detail, it may have a somewhat discouraging effect by not allowing the student to move very quickly.
What I recommend for any truly serious student of Hebrew is to invest in both Kittel's and Kelley's books. Use Kittel's book as the main course, and use Kelley's as a main supplement (you will definitely need something to go with Kittel's book). After you've gotten about half way through Kittel's book, it would then be good to look at Kelley's book systematically and find the reasons for why Hebrew is the way it is. Ultimately, Kelley's book will have to become your main text if you really plan to learn Hebrew effectively. Kelley by far gives many more exercises to hone your skills. Also, I use Kelley's book sort of like an encyclopedia to turn to for more information as I study a chapter in Kittel's workbook. I can't recommend this combination of books enough, for it truly gives many positive facets to studying Hebrew. For under $100, the serious student can be set for a long time with these two books. And one can still keep it under a hundred dollars by investing in what I believe to be the best student's vocabulary book out there for the price, "A Student's Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic," by Larry Mitchel, which covers all Hebrew words used 10 times or more in the OT, and all Aramaic words if you should choose to delve into that.
Kelley's book, considering its detail, is quite sufficiently systematic and also simple in its explanations. If you really want to learn, this book will give you what you need without being cumbersome.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book has helped me a great deal in learning Biblical Hebrew. The author was my professor's professor.
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