The Hebrew alphabet, named for its first two letters, alef and bet. It has 22 letters and no capital letters.
Right to left
Hebrew is read and written from the right side of the page to the left. A Hebrew book opens from what looks to us like the back.
Vowel marks ניקוד
In Hebrew, nikkud (nee-KOOD)
Small dots and dashes under or beside a letter that show the vowel sound. Children’s books use them, but a scroll and a street sign do not.
End letter סופית
In Hebrew, sofit (so-FEET)
Five letters change shape at the end of a word: kaf, mem, nun, pey, and tsadi. If your name ends in an M, N, F, K, or TS sound, you used one.
Geresh גרש
GEH-resh
A small mark, like an apostrophe, written after a letter for a sound Hebrew did not have. Gimel with a geresh, ג׳, says J.
Letters as numbers
Every Hebrew letter also stands for a number: alef is 1, bet is 2, and yud is 10. Find the letter for your age on the tracing sheet.
Scribe סופר
In Hebrew, sofer (so-FAIR)
A person who writes out a whole scroll by hand, one letter at a time, with pen and ink. The father and son in the lesson’s photograph are scribes.
Torah scroll תורה
TOR-ah
A long scroll, written by hand and kept in synagogues. Scribes copy it with the same 22 letters, the way they have for about two thousand years.
For families: Ask your child to write your family’s name in Hebrew letters, starting at the right. Then look for Hebrew together: on a food package from Israel, on a map of Israel, or in a library book. Which way does it read? One more to share: our word “alphabet” comes from alpha and beta, the Greek cousins of alef and bet.
K–5 Lesson