HebrewAlphabet=Aleph-Bet TheHebrewlanguagesusesadifferentalphabetthanEnglish.Thepicturebelow illustratestheHebrewalphabet,inHebrewalphabeticalorder.NotethatHebrewis writtenfromrighttoleft,ratherthanlefttorightasinEnglish,soAlefisthefirst letteroftheHebrewalphabetandTavisthelast.TheHebrewalphabetisoftencalled the"alefbet,"becauseofitsfirsttwoletters. LettersoftheAlefbet IfthissoundslikeGreektoyou,you'renotfaroff!ManylettersintheGreekalphabet havesimilarnamesandoccurinthesameorder(thoughtheydon'tlookanything alike!):Alpha,Beta,Gamma,Delta...Zeta...Theta,Iota,Kappa,Lambda,Mu,Nu... Pi...Rho,SigmaTau. The"Kh"andthe"Ch"arepronouncedasinGermanorScottish,athroatclearing noise,notasthe"ch"in"chair." Notethattherearetwoversionsofsomeletters.Kaf,Mem,Nun,PeiandTzadeiall arewrittendifferentlywhentheyappearattheendofawordthanwhentheyappearin thebeginningormiddleoftheword.Theversionusedattheendofawordisreferred toasFinalKaf,FinalMem,etc.Theversionoftheletterontheleftisthefinal version.InallcasesexceptFinalMem,thefinalversionhasalongtail. VowelsandPoints LikemostearlySemiticalphabeticwritingsystems,thealefbethasnovowels.People whoarefluentinthelanguagedonotneedvowelstoreadHebrew,andmostthings writteninHebrewinIsraelarewrittenwithoutvowels. However,asHebrewliteracydeclined,particularlyaftertheRomansexpelledthe JewsfromIsrael,therabbisrecognizedtheneedforaidstopronunciation,sothey incorporatedthesystemofdotsanddashescallednikkud(points)intoregularuse. Thesedotsanddashesarewrittenabove,beloworinsidetheletter,inwaysthatdo notalterthespacingoftheline.Textcontainingthesemarkingsisreferredtoas "pointed"text. Mostnikkudareusedtoindicate vowels.Thetableatrightillustrates thevowelpoints,alongwiththeir pronunciations.Pronunciationsare approximate;Ihaveheardquitea bitofvariationinvowel pronunciation. Vowelpointsareshowninblue. TheletterAlef,showninred,is usedtoillustratethepositionofthe pointsrelativetotheconsonants. Thelettersshowninpurpleare technicallyconsonantsandwould appearinunpointedtexts,butthey functionasvowelsinthiscontext. Thereareafewothernikkud,illustratedandexplainedbelow. Thedotthatappearsinthecenterofsomelettersiscalledadagesh.Itcanappearin justaboutanyletterinHebrew.Withmostletters,thedageshdoesnotsignificantly affectpronunciationoftheletter;itsimplymarksasplitbetweensyllables,wherethe letterispronouncedbothattheendofthefirstsyllableandthebeginningofthe second.WiththelettersBeit,KafandPei,however,thedageshindicatesthattheletter shouldbepronouncedwithitshardsound(b,k,p)ratherthanitssoftsound(v,kh,f). Seethetableabove.InAshkenazicpronunciation(thepronunciationusedbymany OrthodoxJewsandbymanyolderJews),Tavalso hasasoftsound,andispronouncedasan"s"whenit doesnothaveadagesh. Vav,usuallyaconsonantpronouncedasa"v,"issometimesavowelpronounced"oo" (u)or"oh"(o).Whenitispronounced"oo"asin"food",pointedtextshaveadagesh. Whenitispronounced"oh"asin"Oh!,"pointedtextshaveadotontop. Shinispronounced"sh"whenithasadotovertherightbranchand"s"whenithasa dotovertheleftbranch. Atrightisanexampleofpointedtext.Nikkudareshowninblue.Thislinewouldbe pronounced(inSephardicpronunciation,whichiswhatmostpeopleusetoday): V'ahavtahl'reyahkhahkamokhah.(Andyoushallloveyourneighborasyourself. Leviticus19:18). StylesofWriting ThestyleofwritingillustratedaboveistheonemostcommonlyseeninHebrew books.Itisreferredtoasblockprint,squarescriptorsometimesAssyrianscript. Forsacreddocuments,suchastorahscrollsorthescrollsinsidetefillinandmezuzot, thereisaspecialwritingstylewith"crowns"(crows-foot-likemarkscomingupfrom theupperpoints)onmanyoftheletters.ThisstyleofwritingisknownasSTA"M,an acronymfor"SifreiTorah,TefillinandMezuzot,"whichiswhereyouwillseethat styleofwriting.FormoreinformationabouttheSTA"Malphabet,including illustrationsandrelevantrules,seeHebrewAlphabetusedinwritingSTA"M. Thereisanotherstyleused forhandwriting,inmuchthe samewaythatcursiveisused fortheRoman(English) alphabet.Thismodernscript styleisillustratedatright. Anotherstyleisusedincertaintextsto distinguishthebodyofthetextfrom commentaryuponthetext.Thisstyleis knownasRashiScript,inhonorof Rashi,thegreatestcommentatoronthe TorahandtheTalmud .Rashihimselfdid notusethisscript;itisonlynamedinhis honor.Thealefbetatleftisanexample ofRashiScript. K'tavIvri:AncientHebrewScript Asmentionedabove,theHebrewalphabetthatweusetodayisreferredtoasAssyrian Script(inHebrew,K'tavAshuri).Buttherewasonceanotherwayofwritingthe alphabetthattherabbiscalledK'tavIvri,whichmeans"HebrewScript."Many examplesofthisancientwayofwritingtheHebrewalphabethasbeenfoundby archaeologists:oncoinsandotherartifacts.Itisquitesimilartotheancient Phoenicianwriting.AnexampleofthisscriptisseenatScriptsoftheHebrew Language,side-by-sidewithotherstylesofHebrewwritingthatwerediscussed above. TherabbisoftheTalmudicperiodwerewellawareofthisancientK'tavIvri,andthey raisedthequestionwhethertheTorahwasoriginallygiveninK'tavIvriorK'tav Ashuri.AvarietyofopinionsareexpressedintheTalmudatSanhedrin21c-22a:one opinionstatesthattheTorahwasoriginallygiveninK'tavIvri,butwaschangedto K'tavAshuriinthedaysofEzra,aftertheBabylonianExile(theBabylonians,and consequentlytheJewsinexile,usedK'tavAshuri).Anotheropinionsaysthatthe TorahwaswritteninK'tavAshuri,butthatholyscriptwasdeniedthepeoplewhen theysinnedandwasreplacedwithanotherone;whenthepeoplerepented,theK'tav Ashuriwasrestored.AthirdopinionstatesthattheTorahwasalwaysinK'tavAshuri. ThegeneralconsensusisthattheTorahwasgiveninK'tavAshuri,becausethe Talmudmakesotherreferencesthatdon'tmakesenseinK'tavIvri.TheTalmudtalks aboutfinalformsoflettersintheoriginalTorah,butK'tavIvridoesn'thavefinal forms.IttalksaboutthecenteroftheSamekhandtheFinalMemmiraculously floatingwhentheTenCommandmentswerecarvedallthewaythroughthetablets, butthereisnoFinalMeminK'tavIvri,andneitherSamekhnorMemwouldhavea floatingcenterinK'tavIvriastheydoinK'tavAshuri. Allauthoritiesmaintainthattoday,theonlyholyscriptisK'tavAshuri.Anytorah scrolls,tefillinormezuzotmustbe writteninK'tavAshuri,andspecifically inastyleofK'tavAshuriknownas STA"M,discussedabove. K'tavIvriisunderstoodtobeinthe natureofafont,likeRashiscript,rather thaninthenatureofadifferentalphabet, likeGreek,CyrillicorRoman.The namesoftheletters,theorderofthe letters,andthenumericalvalueofthe lettersareapparentlythesameinboth K'tavAshuriandK'tavIvri;thus,any religioussignificancethatwouldbefoundinthenumericalvalueofwordsorthe sequenceofthealphabetisthesameinbothscripts. Transliteration TheprocessofwritingHebrewwordsintheRoman(English)alphabetisknownas transliteration.Transliterationismoreanartthanascience,andopinionsonthe correctwaytotransliteratewordsvarywidely.ThisiswhytheJewishfestivalof lights(inHebrew,Cheit-Nun-Kaf-Hei)isspelledChanukah,Chanukkah,Hanuka,and manyotherinterestingways.Eachspellinghasalegitimatephoneticandorthographic basis;noneisrightorwrong. NumericalValues Eachletterinthealefbethasanumericalvalue.Thesevaluescanbeusedasnumerals, astheRomansusedsomeoftheirletters(I,V,X,L,C,D,M)asnumerals.Thetable atrightshowseachletterwithitscorrespondingnumericalvalue.Notethatfinal lettershavethesamevalueastheirnon-finalcounterparts. Thenumericalvalueofawordisdeterminedbyaddingupthevaluesofeachletter. Theorderofthelettersisirrelevanttotheirvalue:thenumber11couldbewrittenas Yod-Alef,Alef-Yod,Hei-Vav,Dalet-Dalet-Gimelormanyotherways.Ordinarily, however,numbersarewrittenwiththefewestpossiblelettersandwiththelargest numeralfirst(thatis,totheright).Thenumber11wouldbewrittenYod-Alef(with theYodontheright,becauseHebrewiswrittenright-to-left),thenumber12wouldbe Yod-Beit,thenumber21wouldbeKaf-Alef,thenumber611wouldbeTav-Reish- Yod-Alef,etc.Theonlysignificantexceptiontothispatternisthenumbers15and16, whichifrenderedas10+5or10+6wouldbeanameofG-d,sotheyarenormally writtenTeit-Vav(9+6)andTeit-Zayin(9+7). Becauseofthissystemofassigningnumericalvaluestoletters,everywordhasa numericalvalue.Forexample,thewordTorah(Tav-Vav-Reish-Hei)hasthe numericalvalue611(400+6+200+5).ThereisanentiredisciplineofJewish mysticismknownasGematriathatisdevotedtofindinghiddenmeaningsinthe numericalvaluesofwords.Forexample,thenumber18isverysignificant,becauseit isthenumericalvalueofthewordChai,meaninglife.DonationstoJewishcharities areroutinelymadeindenominationsof18forthatreason. SomehavesuggestedthatthefinalformsofthelettersKaf,Mem,Nun,Peiand Tzadeihavethenumericalvaluesof500,600,700,800and900,providinga numericalsystemthatcouldeasilyrendernumbersupto1000.However,theredoes notappeartobeanybasisforthatinterpretationinJewishtradition.Acursoryglance ataJewishtombstonewillshowthattheselettersarenotnormallyusedthatway:the year5766(2005-2006)iswrittenTav-Shin-Samekh-Vav(400+300+60+6;the5000is assumed),notFinalNun-Samekh-Vav(700+60+6).Indeed,writingitinthatway wouldlookabsurdtoanyonefamiliarwithHebrew,becauseafinallettershouldnever appearatthebeginningofaword!Butevenwherenumerologyisusedonlyto determinethenumericalvaluesofwords,youwillnotfindexamplesinJewish traditionoffinallettersbeinggivendifferentvalues.Forexample,intraditional sources,thenumericalvalueofanameofG-dthatendsinFinalMemis86,not646. Ihavereceivedseverale-mailspointingoutthatthenumericalvalueofVav(often transliteratedasW)is6,andthereforeWWWhasthenumericalvalueof666!It'san amusingnotion,butHebrewnumbersjustdon'tworkthatway.InHebrewnumerals, thepositionoftheletter/digitisirrelevant;thelettersaresimplyaddedupto determinethevalue.TosaythatVav-Vav-Vavissixhundredandsixty-sixwouldbe likesayingthattheRomannumeralIIIisonehundredandeleven.Thenumerical valueofVav-Vav-VavinHebrewwouldbe6+6+6=18,soWWWisequivalentto life!(Itisalsoworthnotingthatthesignificanceofthenumber666isapartof Christiannumerology,andhasnobasisthatIknowofinJewishthought). Andwhilewe'reonthesubjectofbadnumbers,itisworthnotingthatthenumber13 isnotabadnumberinJewishtraditionornumerology.NormallywrittenasYod- Gimel,13isthenumericalvalueofthewordahava(love,Alef-Hei-Beit-Hei)andof echad(one,asinthedailyprayerdeclaration,G-disOne!,Alef-Cheit-Dalet). Thirteenistheageofresponsibility,whenaboybecomesbarmitzvah.Wecallupon G-d'smercybyrecitinghisThirteenAttributesofMercy,foundinExodus34:6-7. RambamsummedupJewishbeliefsinThirteenPrinciples. .