Judaism 101: Hebrew Alphabet Hebrew Alphabet  Hebrew uses a different alphabet than English  Hebrew is written right-to-left  The Hebrew alphabet has no vowels, but pronunciation aids are often added  There are several styles of Hebrew writing  Hebrew letters have numerical values  Writing in Hebrew may require a special word processor and fonts The Hebrew and Yiddish languages use a different alphabet than English. The picture below illustrates the Hebrew alphabet, in Hebrew alphabetical order. Note that Hebrew is written from right to left, rather than left to right as in English, so Alef is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and Tav is the last. The Hebrew alphabet is often called the "alefbet," because of its first two letters. Letters of the Alefbet Table 1: The Hebrew Alphabet If this sounds like Greek to you, you're not far off! Many letters in the Greek alphabet have similar names and occur in the same order (though they don't look anything alike!): Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta ... Zeta ... Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu ... Pi ... Rho, Sigma Tau.

The "Kh" and the "Ch" are pronounced as in German or Scottish, a throat clearing noise, not as the "ch" in "chair." Note that there are two versions of some letters. Kaf, Mem, Nun, Pei and Tzadei all are written differently when they appear at the end of a word than when they appear in the beginning or middle of the word. The version used at the end of a word is referred to as Final Kaf, Final Mem, etc. The version of the letter on the left is the final version. In all cases except Final Mem, the final version has a long tail. See and hear the letters in a quick reading of the letters or a more in-depth introduction ! Vowels and Points Like most early Semitic alphabetic writing systems, the alefbet has no vowels. People who are fluent in the language do not need vowels to read Hebrew, and most things written in Hebrew in Israel are written without vowels. However, as Hebrew literacy declined, particularly after the Romans expelled the Jews from Israel, the rabbis recognized the need for aids to pronunciation, so they developed a system of dots and dashes called nikkud (points).

These dots and dashes are written above, below or inside the letter, in ways that do not alter the spacing of the line. Text containing these markings is referred to as "pointed" text. Table 2: Vowel Points Table 2: Vowel Points Most nikkud are used to indicate vowels. Table 2 illustrates the vowel points, along with their pronunciations. Pronunciations are approximate; I have heard quite a bit of variation in vowel pronunciation. Vowel points are shown in blue. The letter Alef, shown in red, is used to illustrate the position of the points relative to the consonants. The letters shown in purple are technically consonants and would appear in unpointed texts, but they function as vowels in this context. There are a few other nikkud, illustrated in Table 3. Table 3: Other Nikkud The dot that appears in the center of some letters is called a dagesh. It can appear in just about any letter in Hebrew. With most letters, the dagesh does not significantly affect pronunciation of the letter; it simply marks a split between syllables, where the letter is pronounced both at the end of the first syllable and the beginning of the second.

With the letters Beit, Kaf and Pei, however, the dagesh indicates that the letter should be pronounced with its hard sound (b, k, p) rather than its soft sound (v, kh, f). See Table 3. In Ashkenazic pronunciation (the pronunciation used by many Orthodox Jews and by many older Jews), Tav also has a soft sound, and is pronounced as an "s" when it does not have a dagesh. Shin is pronounced "sh" when it has a dot over the right branch and "s" when it has a dot over the left branch. Vav, usually a consonant pronounced as a "v," is sometimes a vowel pronounced "oo" as in "food" (transliterated "oo" or "u") or "oh" as in "Oh!" (transliterated "o"). When it is pronounced "oo," pointed texts have a dagesh (though sometimes, Vav with a dagesh is pronounced "v"). When it is pronounced "oh," pointed texts have a dot on top (though sometimes, Vav with a dot on top is pronounced "vo").

Illustration 1: Pointed Text Illustration 1 is an example of pointed text. Nikkud are shown in blue for emphasis (they would normally be the same color as the consonants). In Sephardic pronunciation (which is what most people use today), this line would be pronounced: V'ahavtah l'reyahkhah kamokhah. (And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18). Styles of Writing The style of writing illustrated above is the one most commonly seen in Hebrew books. It is referred to as block print, square script or sometimes Assyrian script. For sacred documents, such as torah scrolls or the scrolls inside tefillin and mezuzot , there is a special writing style with "crowns" (crows-foot-like marks coming up from the upper points) on many of the letters. This style of writing is known as STA"M, an acronym for "Sifrei Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzot," which is where you will see that style of writing. For more information about the STA"M alphabet, including illustrations and relevant rules, see Hebrew Alphabet used in writing STA"M .

Table 4: Hebrew Cursive Font There is another style commonly used when writing Hebrew by hand, often referred to as Hebrew cursive or Hebrew manuscript. Table 4 shows the complete Hebrew alphabet in a font that emulates Hebrew cursive. Table 5: Rashi Script Another style is used in certain texts, particularly the Talmud , to distinguish the body of the text from commentary upon the text. This style is known as Rashi Script, in honor of Rashi , the greatest commentator on the Torah and the Talmud . Rashi himself did not use this script; it is only named in his honor. Table 5 shows the complete Hebrew alphabet in a Rashi Script font. K'tav Ivri: Ancient Hebrew Script As mentioned above, the Hebrew alphabet that we use today is referred to as Assyrian Script (in Hebrew, K'tav Ashuri). But there was once another way of writing the alphabet that the rabbis called K'tav Ivri, which means "Hebrew Script." Many examples of this ancient way of writing the Hebrew alphabet has been found by archaeologists: on coins and other artifacts. It is quite similar to the ancient Phoenician writing.

An example of this script is seen at Scripts of the Hebrew Language , side-by-side with other styles of Hebrew writing that were discussed above. The rabbis of the Talmudic period were well aware of this ancient K'tav Ivri, and they raised the question whether the Torah was originally given in K'tav Ivri or K'tav Ashuri. A variety of opinions are expressed in the Talmud at Sanhedrin 21c-22a: one opinion states that the Torah was originally given in K'tav Ivri, but was changed to K'tav Ashuri in the days of Ezra, after the Babylonian Exile (the Babylonians, and consequently the Jews in exile, used K'tav Ashuri). Another opinion says that the Torah was written in K'tav Ashuri, but that holy script was denied the people when they sinned and was replaced with another one; when the people repented, the K'tav Ashuri was restored. A third opinion states that the Torah was always in K'tav Ashuri. The general consensus is that the Torah was given in K'tav Ashuri, because the Talmud makes other references that don't make sense in K'tav Ivri.

The Talmud talks about final forms of letters in the original Torah, but K'tav Ivri doesn't have final forms. It talks about the center of the Samekh and the Final Mem miraculously floating when the Ten Commandments were carved all the way through the tablets, but there is no Final Mem in K'tav Ivri, and neither Samekh nor Mem would have a floating center in K'tav Ivri as they do in K'tav Ashuri. All authorities maintain that today, the only holy script is K'tav Ashuri. Any torah scrolls , tefillin or mezuzot must be written in K'tav Ashuri, and specifically in a style of K'tav Ashuri known as STA"M, discussed above . K'tav Ivri is understood to be in the nature of a font, like Rashi script, rather than in the nature of a different alphabet, like Greek, Cyrillic or Roman.

The names of the letters, the order of the letters, and the numerical value of the letters are apparently the same in both K'tav Ashuri and K'tav Ivri; thus, any religious significance that would be found in the numerical value of words or the sequence of the alphabet is the same in both scripts. The only difference is the appearance. Transliteration The process of writing Hebrew words in the Roman (English) alphabet is known as transliteration. Transliteration is more an art than a science, and opinions on the correct way to transliterate words vary widely. This is why the Jewish festival of lights (in Hebrew, Cheit-Nun-Kaf-Hei) is spelled Chanukah, Chanukkah, Hanuka, and many other interesting ways. Each spelling has a legitimate phonetic and orthographic basis; none is right or wrong. Numerical Values Table 6: Values of Hebrew Letters Table 6: Values of Hebrew Letters Each letter in the alefbet has a numerical value. These values can be used as numerals, similar to the way Romans used some of their letters (I, V, X, L, C, D, M) as numerals.

Table 6 shows each letter with its corresponding numerical value. Note that final letters have the same value as their non-final counterparts. The numerical value of a word is determined by adding up the values of each letter. The order of the letters is irrelevant to their value: the number 11 could be written as Yod-Alef, Alef-Yod, Hei-Vav, Dalet-Dalet-Gimel or many other ways. Ordinarily, however, numbers are written with the fewest possible letters and with the largest numeral first (that is, to the right). The number 11 would be written Yod-Alef (with the Yod on the right, because Hebrew is written right-to-left), the number 12 would be Yod-Beit, the number 21 would be Kaf-Alef, the number 611 would be Tav-Reish-Yod-Alef, etc.

The only significant exception to this pattern is the numbers 15 and 16, which if rendered as 10+5 or 10+6 would be a name of G-d , so they are normally written Teit-Vav (9+6) and Teit-Zayin (9+7). Because every letter of the alphabet has a numerical value, every word also has a numerical value. For example, the word Torah (Tav-Vav-Reish-Hei) has the numerical value 611 (400+6+200+5). There is an entire discipline of Jewish mysticism known as Gematria that is devoted to finding hidden meanings in the numerical values of words. For example, the number 18 is very significant, because it is the numerical value of the word Chai, meaning life or living. Donations to Jewish charities are routinely made in denominations of 18 for that reason.

Some have suggested that the final forms of the letters Kaf, Mem, Nun, Pei and Tzadei have the numerical values of 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900, providing a numerical system that could easily render numbers up to 1000. However, there does not appear to be any basis for that interpretation in Jewish tradition. A cursory glance at any Jewish tombstone will show that these letters are not normally used that way: the year 5766 (2005-2006) is written Tav-Shin-Samekh-Vav (400+300+60+6; the 5000 is assumed), not Final Nun-Samekh-Vav (700+60+6). Indeed, writing it in that way would look absurd to anyone familiar with Hebrew, because a final letter should never appear at the beginning of a word! But even where numerology is used only to determine the numerical values of words, you will not find examples in Jewish tradition of final letters being given different values.

For example, in traditional sources, the numerical value of one name of G-d that ends in Final Mem is 86, not 646. I have received several e-mails pointing out that the numerical value of Vav (often transliterated as W) is 6, and therefore WWW has the numerical value of 666! The Internet, they say, is the number of the beast! It's an amusing notion, but Hebrew numbers just don't work that way. In Hebrew numerals, the position of the letter/digit is irrelevant; the letters are simply added up to determine the value. To say that Vav-Vav-Vav is six hundred and sixty-six would be like saying that the Roman numeral III is one hundred and eleven. The numerical value of Vav-Vav-Vav in Hebrew would be 6+6+6=18, so WWW is equivalent to life! (It is also worth noting that the significance of the number 666 is a part of Christian numerology, and has no basis that I know of in Jewish thought). While we're on the subject of bad numbers, it is worth noting that the number 13 is not a bad number in Jewish tradition or numerology.

Normally written as Yod-Gimel, 13 is the numerical value of the word ahava (love, Alef-Hei-Beit-Hei) and of echad (one, as in the daily prayer declaration, G-d is One!, Alef-Cheit-Dalet). Thirteen is the age of responsibility, when a boy becomes bar mitzvah . We call upon G-d's mercy by reciting his Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, found in Exodus 34:6-7. Rambam summed up Jewish beliefs in Thirteen Principles . Hebrew Fonts and Word Processors Many fonts have a built-in Hebrew character set. Current versions of Windows should have the Hebrew characters built into their fonts; if not, your browser may be able to automatically download fonts for viewing Hebrew on the web simply by viewing a Hebrew web page. In Windows, you can see these characters using the Windows Character Map tool. Persuading your computer to type these characters, however, can be a bit of a trick! This page displays some standard fonts that should include Hebrew characters, so you can see if your browser supports them.

If you do not already have Hebrew web fonts installed, your browser should give you an opportunity to download them. This page includes a JavaScript tool that will help you type Hebrew, if you have Hebrew support. The results of that script can be copied and pasted into your word processor, if it supports Hebrew characters. Depending on your word processor, you may need to reverse the results for them to appear properly. The page can reverse them for you. Feel free to download that page and use it on your own computer. The scripts you need to run it are all in the file. If you are serious about writing a significant amount of text in Hebrew, you will need a proper Hebrew word processor. I have used DavkaWriter , from Davka Software . DavkaWriter comes with many attractive Hebrew fonts including both consonants and vowels that will map to your keyboard in an intuitive phonetic way or in the standard Israeli keyboard format. It is very easy to switch between Hebrew and English within a document. DavkaWriter even comes with little stickers to put on the keys of your keyboard so you can learn their keyboard mappings, and an onscreen display shows you their keyboard mappings.

Davka also has a lot of fonts available, as well as a lot of other Hebrew and Judaic software. For mobile devices, there are a number of apps, many of them free, that will allow you to type Hebrew characters. © Copyright 5756-5771 (1995-2011), Tracey R Rich If you appreciate the many years of work I have put into this site, show your appreciation by linking to this page, not copying it to your site. I can't correct my mistakes or add new material if it's on your site. Click Here for more details. The Hebrew Alphabet The Hebrew Alphabet Learning the Hebrew Consonants To begin studying Hebrew, you must begin with its character set or script. Click on a letter below to begin studying how to pronounce, read, and write the letter (start with Aleph and proceed right-to-left through the entire alphabet): FREE DOWNLOADS Some Encouragement for your Hebrew Studies Signs and Wonders... The Hebrew word for "letter" is ot (אוֹת), which can also mean "sign" or "wonder." Each letter of the Aleph-Bet, then, may contain signs that point to wonderful truths about life.

According to midrash, the LORD God Himself taught the alphabet (along with the numerical values, mathematical relationships, etc. for the letters) to Adam ha-rishon, who then transmitted this knowledge to his sons, and they passed this to their sons, and so on, until it was taught to Jacob at the School of Shem in Salem (later renamed Jerusalem). Jacob taught the secrets of the alphabet to Joseph, who used it to decipher dreams, etc. The Jewish mystics go so far as to say that the entire cosmos was created from the 22 consonants of the Hebrew Aleph Bet, called otiyot yesod (אוֹתיּוֹת יְסוֹד) or "foundational letters." Through the otiyot yesod God formed substance out of chaos and brought forth existence from nonexistence. In other words, the entire universe is created and sustained by divine language (the Word of God). When the LORD spoke the universe into existence, His words still echo throughout all of creation, sustaining it and preserving it in being.

Rabbi Oshaya taught: When a human king builds a palace, he does not build it with his skill alone; the king employs a builder. Moreover, the builder does not bring it out of his own imagination, but consults a blueprint - a plan and diagram - to know how to arrange the chambers, doors, and passageways of the palace. In the same way, God as both King and Builder consulted Torah and then created the world. - Midrash Genesis Rabbah 1:1 Yeshua the Mashiach is called devar Elohim (דְּבַר אֱלהִים), the Word of God, and the Aleph and Tav (אָלֶף וְתָו), Who upholds all of the created order by the word of His power. It is the Mashiach Yeshua alone Who is the true yesod (יְסוֹד) or foundation of life itself. Every holy utterance can be traced back to Him, and He is the Source and Origin of all that is good, lasting, and righteous.

Indeed, Yeshua is called "the zohar of His glory" (הוּא זהַר כְּבוֹדוֹ), that is, the radiance of the glory of God Himself, who "upholds all things by the word of His power" (נוֹשֵׂא כל בִּדְבַר גְּבוּרָתוֹ) (see Heb. 1:3 ). Since He is the First and the Last, we can see that the otiyot will all reveal something about Him. As various acrostics in Scripture reveal, the Hebrew letters and their order are of divine origin. The Hebrew language is unique in this regard, since you can learn something about God from the Hebrew letters themselves and their spiritual properties. For instance, some claim that the order of the letters within a word reveals spiritual properties. For example, if the letters appear in a word in ascending order (i.e., from Tav -> Aleph), the word connotes compassion (i.e., moving toward Aleph/God), whereas if they appear in a reversed or descending order (i.e.

from Aleph -> Tav), the word connotes the idea of justice. An example of the former would be the Name "Yah" (יָהּ) and of the latter, the word "king" (מֶלֶךְ). Other words are formed in "triangular" patterns, combinations of these attributes, etc. A Blessing for learning Hebrew The following blessing may be recited thanking the LORD for teaching your hand to write the letters of the Hebrew aleph-bet: Barukh ha'melamed et yadi le'sapper et ha'otiyot. Blessed is the One who has taught my hand to scribe the letters! Hebrew Script Styles and STA"M There are a variety of Hebrew script styles used today, though the Hebrew script used for sacred writing is called STA"M (an acronym for Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls), Tefillin (phylacteries), and Mezuzot). STA"M is written using Ketav Ashurit (Aramaic square script) according to a number of detailed rules of how each letter is to be formed.

There are three basic types of STA"M writing performed by STA"M certified Jewish soferim (scribes): Bet Yosef - Ketav Yosef is the style of Hebrew script used by Ashkenazi Jews. Its source derives from the Gemara and Rabbi Yosef Caro - author of the Bet Yosef and Shulchan Aruch: (This is the style used on this website when displaying the STA"M letters). Bet Ari - Ketav Ari is the Hebrew Script written in accordance to the tradition of Rabbi Isaac Luria, 1534-1572 (also known as the Arizal). In Europe most Chassidim use this script for their Sifrei Torah. Notice that it is identical to the ketav Yosef except for the letters Aleph, Vav, Chet, Tsade, Tsade Sofit, and Shin, which have slight modifications: Sefardi - This style of Hebrew script is used by Sephardic Jews: In each case of script style, however, there are many rules governing the formation of the letters (collectively known as soferut) so that there be no confusion between the letters written in the sacred writings.

Additonal Tools for this Level: Step-by-Step Hebrew: Zola's Introduction to Hebrew New to Hebrew? Start Here! Unlike most academic books on Biblical Hebrew, this course provides a step-by-step approach that will enable you to understand the Hebraic mindset while learning the alphabet and vowel signs. Studying at your own pace, you will master the Hebrew alphabet, sound out actual Hebrew words, and begin connecting your studies with your heart by reading Hebrew prayers, blessings, and even passages from Scripture! Using this resource, you will learn more than mere academic material; you will learn the underlying spirit of the Hebrew heart. From the author of Hebrew4Christians.com. The book also provides fascinating information throughout, to illustrate how learning Hebrew gives you a better understanding of the Lord Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. Click for more information... God's Secrets Revealed in Hebrew! Learn amazing insights into the Hebrew texts of Scripture from a leading Israeli Hebrew teacher, Dr. Danny ben-Gigi. Discover how the prophet Daniel deciphered the "writing on the wall," what Jesus meant by a "jot and tittle" of the Holy Scriptures, what the term "the Son of Man" really means, and much more!

With over 145 fascinating topics, you will realize how God's secrets are embedded into the Hebrew language -- but now you can discover them for yourself! No knowledge of Hebrew is required to use this book - all Hebrew terms and phrases are clearly explained. The Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar! Biblical Hebrew Home Study Bundle Everything you need to help get you started! An audio supported self-study tutorial with vowels for every Hebrew word, enlightening color charts, and Scriptural examples for every grammar rule! Includes a FREE, full color edition of our "Living Israeli Hebrew" course for those who are just beginning or those who want to refresh their basic Hebrew skills. Learn More Hebrew Word Pictures by Dr. Frank Seekins. The book that shows how the ancient Hebrew letters declare the Gospel! Discover the ancient script that reveals penetrating truth about the Word of God! Includes an Audio CD that will help you learn the word pictures and hear all the examples on your home stereo. Learn More Ancient Hebrew Alphabet Chart. This is the ultimate Alphabet Chart, with over 20 alphabets arranged so you can easily compare Hebrew to any of the languages of Biblical and Modern times. Using this chart, you will see how Hebrew has developed over time.

High color, laminated: 16.25 X 12.5. THE ALPHABET OF BIBLICAL HEBREW THE ALPHABET OF BIBLICAL HEBREW This page is an introduction to the alphabet of Hebrew Scripture. Hebrew is a Semitic language. The word Semitic comes from the name Shem, named in Genesis (6:10) as the son of Noah, whose descendants lived in the Middle East. Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic are all examples of Semitic languages. They have similar characteristics, such as the presence of guttural letters formed in the pharynx or larynx; a consonantal system with three-letter word roots to connote meaning; and changes in the form or morphology of the word root through the addition of prefixes, infixes, and suffixes to determine the precise sense and function of the word. Hebrew was the original language of the Israelites. In contrast to other ancient civilizations, Hebrew Scripture referred to one God, the Lord God of Israel.

Hebrew tradition, the Torah itself, as well as Jesus and the New Testament writers named Moses as the divinely inspired author of the Law, Torah, or Pentateuch, which comprise the first five books of Hebrew Scripture: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (see the Book of Genesis ). It is believed that Moses lived in the latter part of the second millennium BC, circa 1450-1200 BC. Archeology has yet to discover the precise time that Moses lived and led his people during the Exodus from Egypt, or the actual script utilized by Moses to write the Torah. Furthermore, no original manuscript by the author of any biblical book has yet been discovered! Phoenicia (now Lebanon) was a peaceful sea-faring nation expert in navigation and trade that developed their alphabet circa 1400-1250 BC in an effort to communicate with their diverse trading partners that encircled the Mediterranean Sea.

It was the Phoenician alphabet that was widely received and readily adapted throughout the Mediterranean world and the Levant, as it was only 22 letters based on sound, as opposed to the myriad of symbols in cuneiform and hieroglyphics prevalent at the time. The Hebrew alphabet known as Ketav Ivri or Paleo-Hebrew was identical to the Phoenician Alphabet . Biblical Hebrew contains 22 letters, as noted in Psalm 119, all of which are consonants. The alphabet and language remained pure until the Babylonian Exile in 587 BC, when, following the destruction of the Temple of Solomon, spoken Hebrew came under the influence of other languages, particularly Aramaic. Aramaic became the prevailing language, or "lingua franca" of the entire Middle East from about 700 BC through the time of Christ. Because of the Dispersion of the people of Israel to Babylon and Egypt, knowledge of pre-exilic texts was dependent on oral tradition. This occasionally gave rise to an ambiguity of interpretation for a text written purely in consonants. The Hebrew language adopted the square script alphabet of Imperial Aramaic, known as Ketav Ashuri.

Tradition holds that Ezra adopted the Aramaic square script alphabet in place of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet during the post-exilic Restoration of Israel in the fifth century BC. As the Aramaic alphabet became the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew papyri and parchments were then primarily written in Aramaic script. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet has persisted to the present day solely with the Samaritans. The Biblical Hebrew text available to us today is thus written in the Hebrew language with the adopted Imperial Aramaic alphabet. Please note that the letter ו in Biblical Hebrew was known as waw and pronounced as w, as יהוה Yahweh, and ויקרא Wayiqra, the original Hebrew name for the Book of Leviticus, whereas in modern Hebrew ו is known as vav and pronounced as v. Note that the guttural letters א and ע are generally silent in contemporary pronunciation, and assume the sound of their related vowel. In fact, the laryngeal א and the pharyngeal ע had been two of the most difficult letters to pronounce. Hebrew is written from right to left. There are no capital letters in Hebrew. Letters stand alone in printing or writing.

Observe that five letters, Kaf, Mem, Nun, Peh, and Tsade, have a final form when the letter occurs at the end of a word. For example, Peh at the beginning or middle of the word has the form of פ, but at the end of a word appears as ף. Notice that in the pronunciation column, six letters (aleph, het, tet, ayin, tsade, and shin) do not convert directly into our alphabet, and have been given symbols for transliteration, which are sometimes employed in biblical or scholarly works. Please observe in the following chart the distinctions in the pronunciation and transliteration of the three forms of the letter shin: unpointed shin (as in original texts or modern unpointed contemporary script), shin with a dot over the right-hand corner, and shin with a dot over the left-hand corner. In addition, three letters, Bet ב, Kaf כ, and Peh פ, vary in pronunciation depending on the presence of a dot. The point or dot within a letter, as seen in the three letters Bet, Kaf, and Peh, is known as a dagesh.

The functions of a dagesh include: (a) to signal the doubling effect of a consonant, as in the letter p in יוֹם כִּפּוּר, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement; or (b) to emphasize pronunciation, as the letter Bet with the dot is hard b, as in ball, whereas Bet without the dot is soft and becomes v, as in have. Note the pronunciations in the following chart: Numbers one through ten have two forms - masculine and feminine, depending on the noun to which they refer. Number one אֶחָד may mean one or first, as in Genesis 1:5, the First Day .

Sometime during the Maccabean period (the second century BC), the letters of the alphabet began to represent numbers, such as the first ten letters of the Hebrew alphabet began to signify numbers one through ten, as seen in the presentation of the Ten Commandments of God: TIME OF MANUSCRIPT Two characteristics of ancient Hebrew were the pure use of consonants, and the use of an epicene personal pronoun (a personal pronoun that does not distinguish for male and female) - the same word is used for both "he" and "she." This use of an epicene personal pronoun הוא first appears in Genesis 2:11, occurs in Genesis 3:15, and appears 120 times throughout the Pentateuch of Moses in Hebrew Scripture, but not in the Prophets or Writings. The only pre-exilic Biblical passage that has been discovered to date is the Priestly Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26, which is found throughout the liturgies of Judaism and Christianity. Two silver amulets with the Priestly Blessing were uncovered in a burial chamber on the western slope of the Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem in 1979.

This archeological find has been dated from about 600 BC, and is pre-exilic; the amulets are inscribed in the Paleo-Hebrew consonantal text. Of great importance, the Divine name YHWH was inscribed on the amulets! Beginning in the pre-Exilic period, the following three consonants, ה hey, ן waw, י yod, were used at the end of a word to indicate final vowels. Beginning in the post-Exilic period, waw and yod were also used as vowel indicators within a word. The oldest Biblical Hebrew manuscript in our possession came with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of writings from the Essenes, a monastic religious sect of Judaism that emerged near Qumran about 200 BC. In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd named Muhammed ed-Dhib accidentally discovered three scrolls in the caves of Qumran near the Dead Sea: a complete scroll of the Book of Isaiah; the Manual of Discipline, also called the Community Rule, and a Commentary on Habakkuk.

Soon thereafter, four more scrolls were uncovered - the Hymn Scroll, another partial scroll of Isaiah, the Genesis Apocryphon, and the War Scroll, an eschatological text that deals with the final battle between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. Together these seven comprise the seven original Dead Sea Scrolls now preserved in Jerusalem. Thus began the greatest discovery of ancient manuscripts of the twentieth century - nearly 900 scrolls were uncovered in 11 caves in Qumran. The Dead Sea Scrolls included portions of each book of the Pentateuch written in the pre-exilic Hebrew alphabet known as Ketav Ivri or Paleo-Hebrew, as well as scrolls written in the post-exilic Ketav Ashuri or Aramaic Square script, and even some written in both forms of script. These recently discovered scrolls of the Essenes were written purely in consonants. During the ninth and tenth centuries AD, the Masoretes, Jewish scholars in Tiberias, Galilee, perfected a system of points or nikkud for vowel notation and added it to the received consonantal text.

The vowel points were added to ensure proper interpretation and reading of Hebrew Scripture, and are known as the Masoretic or Tiberian vowel points. This point system was added without altering the spacing of the text. All of these considerations help biblical scholars to date a particular Hebrew text. For instance, the presence of "pointed text" allows biblical scholars to date manuscripts to at least the latter part of the first millennium AD. VOWELS Vowels in Masoretic Hebrew Scripture are a combination of the historically long vowels, Hey, Waw, and Yod, and the Masoretic or Tiberian Vowel Points. Vowels are long or short in quality and quantity. Hey ה, Waw ו, and Yod י became known as "matres lectiones," or "mothers of reading," as they assisted in reading Scripture. The individual letter used as a vowel was known as a mater. Waw served as a vowel and was pronounced as long o or u, whereas Yod as a vowel was pronounced as long e or i. Hey served as a final long a.

The Masoretic vowel points in conjunction with the mater helped to clarify and preserve the proper pronunciation, so that, for example, waw with a dot over it וֹ was pronounced long o, and waw with a dot beside it וּ was pronounced long u. The vowel points for Hey and Yod occur underneath the prior letter. The Shewaְ sign, a colon under the letter, is written in the absence of a distinct vowel sound, and may be vocal or silent. Shewa under the first letter of a word or syllable, or following a long vowel, is vocal, and becomes a semi-vowel, and is pronounced as a half of a short e. Shewa under a letter that closes a syllable is silent. With the guttural letters aleph א, hey ה, het ח, and ayin ע, vocal shewa is combined with three vowel signs (Patah, Segol, and Qamets) to produce three hurried vowels known as the hateph vowels. The following chart summarizes the Masoretic vowel points.

Notice in the following chart that the majority of vowel points appear under the letter, except for long o when it occurs over and to the left of the letter. We recommend the reference textbooks below for an in-depth study of Biblical Hebrew. With the Masoretic vowel points, the vowel follows the consonant in pronunciation, as, for example, לָ is pronounced la, לֻ is lu, and מִ is pronounced mi. As these are consonants that end with a vowel, these are examples of open syllables. Syllables are of two types in Hebrew: open and closed. A closed syllable is one that ends with a consonant, as בֵּנ is ben, the word for son; and סוּס is sūs, the word for horse. This multiple form of vowel notation accounts for much of the variation in word formation in the Masoretic text. For example, Joshua in Judges 2:7 is spelled two different ways in the same sentence! The mater Shureq וּ is utilized for the vowel u in the first spelling, while the short vowel point Qibbuts ֻ is incorporated for the second spelling.

VOCABULARY The following list of vocabulary words includes a first chart of personal pronouns, and a second chart of 50 words in Masoretic Hebrew pointed text, 25 of which are from the Books of Genesis and Exodus. Hebrew is quite distinctive in that it has two words for the first person singular pronoun. The third person feminine singular pronoun was written as הִוא in the Pentateuch, and subsequently as הִיא. Hebrew words with the same root often have related meanings. For example, יָלַד means to give birth; יֶלֶד is boy; יַלְדָה means girl; יְלָדִים is children or boys; and יַלְדוּת means childhood or youth. Accent is primarily on the last syllable. Nouns in Hebrew are either masculine or feminine. Biblical Hebrew verbs express either completed action known as the perfect tense, or incomplete action known as the imperfect tense. The perfect tense generally expresses past action, and the imperfect tense generally expresses future action.

However, when these verbs appear in narrative sequences, as in the Book of Genesis, they are converted by the waw-consecutive to the opposite tense. When the waw ו conjunctive is prefixed to the perfect, it changes its meaning to imperfect. Likewise, when the waw conjunctive is prefixed to the imperfect, it changes its meaning to the perfect. Note the difference in the following example: he will write becomes and he wrote by the waw-consecutive of narration. A careful study of the pronunciation of the Hebrew words should give one an appreciation for the phonetics of Hebrew letters and vowels. Note that Yeshua, the true name of Jesus, appears throughout the Old Testament, for it means the Lord saves! SCRIPTURE READING The following passage is Genesis 3:15 presented in Masoretic "pointed text." We have preserved the ancient epicene personal pronoun הוא in consonantal text, as one cannot know whether the pronoun in the original script referred to "woman" or "seed (offspring)." Remember Hebrew is written from right to left, so the English translation is best understood when read in similar fashion. The links at the end offer more passages in Hebrew for your study.

REFERENCES 1 Minto A. Genesis 1-11. Course Lectures and Texts, Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, 2004. 2 Henson J. Biblical Hebrew. Course Lectures and Notes. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 2008. 3 Mansoor M. Biblical Hebrew - Step by Step, Volume One, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, 24th Printing, 2007; Volume Two, Third Edition, 1984, 13th printing, 2002. 4 Ross A. Introducing Biblical Hebrew. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2001. 5 Lambdin TO. Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1971. 6 The Hebrew Bible. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Masoretic Text, Fifth Edition. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1997. 7 JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh. Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 2000. 8 Rendsburg GA.

A New Look at Pentateuchal HW'. Biblica 63:351-369, 1982. 9 Kohlenberger JR. NIV Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1987. 10 Brown F. Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2000. Hebrew language, alphabet and pronunciation Search Hebrew Hebrew is a member of the Canaanite group of Semitic languages. It was the language of the early Jews, but from 586 BC it started to be replaced by Aramaic. By 200 AD use of Hebrew as an everyday language had largely ceased, but it continued to be used for literary and religious functions, as well as a lingua franca among Jews from different countries. Hebrew at a glance Native name: עברית [ʔivˈʁit / ʕivˈɾit] Linguistic affliation: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central Semitic, Northwest Semitic, Canaanite Number of speakers: c.

7.4 million Spoken in: mainly Israel, and also in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, Panama, the UK and USA First written: 10th century BC Writing system: Hebrew script Status: official language in Israel; recognised minority language in Poland During the mid-19th century the first efforts were made to revive Hebrew as a everyday language. One man who played a major role in these efforts was Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1922), who was the first to make exclusive use of Hebrew in his home, and encouraged the use of Hebrew among others, as well as its use in schools. Today Hebrew is spoken by some 5 million people mainly in Israel, where it is an official language along with Arabic. and a further 2 million people speak the language in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, Panama, the UK and USA. Hebrew alphabet The first alphabet used to write Hebrew emerged during the late second and first millennia BC. It is closely related to the Phoenician alphabet.

The modern Hebrew alphabet was developed from an alphabet known as Proto-Hebrew/Early Aramaic . Notable features Type of writing system: abjad Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines. Number of letters: 22 consonants, plus final letters and diacritics Used to write: Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic , Ladino , Yiddish and many other Jewish languages. Some letters (kaf, mem, nun, fe and tzadi) have a final form (sofit), which is used when they appear at the end of a word. There are no separate numerals in Hebrew, instead standard western numerals (1, 2, 3, etc) are used. Long vowels can be indicated by the letters alef, vav, and yod. Short vowels are not usually marked, except in the Bible, poetry and books for children and foreign learners.

The Hebrew script het is officially pronounced [ħ], but many people pronounce it [x] ʻayin is officially pronounced [ʕ], but many people pronounce it [ʔ] Hebrew vowel points / Niqqud (נִקּוּד טְבֶרְיָנִי) This system of indicating vowels was devised by the Masoretic scholars in Tiberias in around 750 AD. It is known as Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian pointing, or Tiberian niqqud, or נִיקוּד טְבֵרִיָנִי in Hebrew. Modern Cursive Hebrew script Biblical Hebrew (עִבְרִית מִקְרָאִית) / Classical Hebrew (עִבְרִית קְלַסִּית) Biblical or Classical Hebrew is the form of Hebrew used in Israel and Judah from about the 10th century BC until the 2nd century AD. Texts include the Hebrew Bible, and other religious and historical writings.

It was written without vowel indication at first, and over time some consonants, known as matres lectionis, came to be used to indicate vowels. Biblical Hebrew was first written with the Phoenician script, which developed into the Paleo-Hebrew script by the 10th or 9th century BC. By the 6th century BC the Aramaic script began to replace the Paleo-Hebrew script. Source: Tiberian Hebrew This is the reconstructed pronunciation of the Hebrew used between 750-950 AD by Masoretic scholars living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in ancient Judea. Join the eTeacher affiliate program and earn money from your website Rashi The Rashi style is used mainly to write commentaries on texts. It is named after Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105 AD) a.k.a. Rashi, one of the greatest medieval Jewish scholars and bible commentators. Rashi did not use the Rashi sytle to write his commentaries but it is named in honour of him.

Download Download a Hebrew alphabet chart in Word or PDF format Sample texts in Hebrew Without vowels (Serif font - David) Without vowels (Sans-Serif font - Arial) With vowels Another version of the cursive script Cursive script with ligatures (informal) Transliteration Kol benei ha'adam noldu benei xorin veshavim be'erkam uvizxuyoteihem. Kulam xonenu batevuna uvematspun, lefixax xova 'aleihem linhog ish bere'ehu beruax shel axava.

Question: How many letters are in the Hebrew alphabet?
Answer: 22