A year ago, Lily Yacobi and her mother, Diana, decided that Hebrew learning in America needed a makeover. “Jewish kids of all ages are confusing letters like Hay, Chet, and Taf,” says Lily, who, along with her mother, sought out “a creative approach to help kids remember the letters and have fun.” Bu December 2004, months of hard work yielded “The Aleph Bet Story Featuring Sarah and David and Friends.”

The Yacobis’ approach stems from the unique shapes of the Hebrew letters and the familiar English sounds they make. Lily explains that “whereas an Israeli child would associate the letter Gimmel with gamal (camel) an American child would imagine, say, that the letter Gimmel looks like a high-heeled shoe.”

Sarah and David, two kids who could be anyone’s next-door neighbors, guide readers through each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The inspiration for these characters was simple: “Every Jew has a friend either named Sarah or David,” Lily says. “They became the avenue for communicating all our material.”

Sprinkled throughout the book are cultural references ranging from Broadway musicals to hula dancing to baseball – Caf, Chaf, and Chaf Sofeet team up with catch, chit and chome run. “Our approach is to bridge pop culture with Jewish learning,” says Lily.

Lily, 26, has a master’s degree in finance and marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business. She had been working as an event planner in Manhattan when her mother asked her to tutor a dyslexic girl for her bat mitzvah. “One student became two, then many,” says Lily, who eventually abandoned event-planning to tutor full time. Then it dawned on her: “Why not take tutoring a step further and turn it into a business? As it happened, Lily and her mother made great partners. Together, they conceived of Sarah and David, one age 12 and one 13, who not only had common everyday American names, but Jewish names.

Lily runs their company, Sarah and David Interactive, which operates out of Englewood, N.J. Diana, who has a master’s degree in education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, is the architect behind Sarah and David’s teaching methodology. This creative team is pleased to already see the fruits of its labor. “Kids starting at the age of three know the aleph-bet already,” says Lily. “Even people in their 80’s and 90’s read it…Many parents are learning to read Hebrew alongside their children – a first step toward opening up a siddur in synagogue and reading the words.”

The Yacobis are working on several products that they plan to launch this year. Included are “The Aleph Bet Story” on CD, “Sarah, David and YOU Get Ready to Read Hebrew,” and “Sarah, David and YOU Read Hebrew.” Beyond that, says Lily, “There are too many ideas on the table. People want to be able to read Hebrew, so that’s what we’re working on right now.”

“The Aleph Bet Story” is available at select local bookstores and at www.sarahdavid.com.

**Correction: Lily Yacobi has her bachelor’s in finance and marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business.