The Shoresh Map is an interactive prototype that visualizes Hebrew language as a living network of roots.
Each node represents a שורש — a root that expands into families of words, sounds, and ideas — showing how meaning, form, and sound intertwine.
Built as a beta feature of a larger language-learning ecosystem, it explores how design, data, and AI can make Hebrew learning more intuitive, immersive, and beautiful.
Features & Design Principles:
Root-Centric Learning
Reimagines vocabulary not as lists to memorize, but as living constellations of connected meanings.
Visual + Auditory Mapping
Combines typography, color, and sound to let users see and hear relationships between roots, letters, and concepts.
Dynamic Exploration
Clicking on a root reveals a network of related verbs, nouns, and ideas — each with contextual examples drawn from modern and biblical Hebrew.
AI-Enhanced Discovery (Coming Soon)
Future versions integrate Shoresh Map GPT, which will generate examples, etymologies, and cross-lingual connections interactively.
Built for Cultural Connection
Designed for new Hebrew learners, heritage speakers, and anyone curious about the relationship between language, thought, and identity.
Vision — Why It Matters
Hebrew is a root-based language — every word carries memory, echo, and connection.
Shoresh Map turns that structure into an experience, inviting users to navigate meaning like a landscape.
It’s more than a dictionary; it’s an exploration of how language reflects the patterns of creation, thought, and community.
Pedagogy: Teaching Hebrew’s Blueprint, Not Just Words
Most Hebrew learning tools—Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, even traditional ulpan—teach vocabulary as isolated words to memorize and verb tables to drill. They treat Hebrew like English or Spanish, where each word exists independently. But Hebrew doesn’t work that way, and those methods fail because they ignore what makes Hebrew unique.
Shoresh Map takes a fundamentally different approach: we teach the generative blueprint of the language itself. Every Hebrew word grows from a three-letter root (shoresh), and those ~2,000 roots expand through seven predictable patterns (binyanim) to create the entire language. No other language works this way—it’s what makes Hebrew both challenging and perfectly suited to visual pattern learning. By encoding these patterns through color and spatial design, learners see the system, not just the words.
Our visual approach—where each binyan receives a distinct color and consistent spatial position—trains your brain to recognize patterns automatically. Instead of memorizing 100 isolated words, you learn 20 roots and can generate 100+ words from those patterns. This methodology is grounded in linguistic anthropology research and cognitive science, and it’s proprietary to Shoresh Map. No existing tool teaches Hebrew this way because it requires deep morphological expertise combined with intentional design—something generic language apps can’t replicate.
About This Prototype
Shoresh Map is an early-stage experiment — a working proof of concept built to explore how Hebrew can be experienced visually and interactively. The current version maps a small set of roots and related words to test navigation, visual language, and user feedback.
Future updates will expand the dataset, add sound and AI features, and connect to Shoresh Map GPT for dynamic explanations, cross-references, and contextual examples.
This prototype is part of a larger vision to build creative, accessible tools for learning Hebrew — combining design, linguistics, and AI in one evolving ecosystem.