Questions tagged [aleph-bet-letters]
Questions about the Hebrew letters, or aleph-bet.
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Why does An'im Zemiros have two רs?
The song beginning אנעים זמירות (also named Shir HaKavod), which is popularly sung in shuls on Shabbos and/or Yom Tov and/or Yamim Noraim, basically follows a letter-scheme, with one verse for each ...
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Source for the Beit Yosef's צ
In most forms of k'tav stam (Sephardi, Ari, Jeckisch, et c.) the righthand yud of the letter צ is reversed (see fig. 1). On the other hand, the Beit Yosef's צ uses a regular י shape in the righthand ...
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Good resource for learning vowel pronunciation
In trying to improve my leyning, I'm trying to get the finer points of vowel pronunciation down.
What is a good resource to learn, e.g., the difference between a patach and chataf-patach or a ...
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Why don't Ramaniote Jews use the hei in names?
I am named after my grandfather and great grandfather on my mother's side, both of whom were Ramaniote. My name, therefore, is "Avram Mosh" (אברם מוש) instead of "Avraham Moshe" (אברהם משה). I've been ...
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What was the first siddur to contain an aleph-bet chart?
Many siddurim (prayerbooks) published today contain a chart of the Hebrew alphabet towards the beginning (see e.g. page 11 of this pdf).
What was the first siddur published to contain an alphabet ...
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Using Zephaniah 3:8 as a pangram
Would usage of Zephaniah 3:8 solely as a pangram – it being the only option with both finals and cantillation – constitute shemos, and therefore require genizah?
לָכֵ֤ן חַכּוּ־לִי֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה ...
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Chazal on pronounciation (according to Koren)
In his introduction to the Koren siddur, Eliyahu Koren claims:
A window thou shalt make to the ark,” says God to Noah, and our
sages took this also to mean that the correct pronunciation of the
words ...
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Large Nun in Num 27:5
וַיַּקְרֵב מֹשֶׁה אֶת מִשְׁפָּטָן לִפְנֵי יְהוָה.
I've seen the ן letter in Number 27:5 (above) is written enlarged (Nun Rabati (Great)).
Why is that?
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Significance of Torah Midpoint
What is the significance of the middle of the Torah in letters being the vav in גָּחוֹן (Vayika 11:42)? (source: Kiddushin 30a)
What is special about the vav in גָּחוֹן that the Almighty chose to ...
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Where do we put the taggin on letters besides שעטנ״ז ג״ץ?
There are different traditions as to on which letters to put the taggin (the crowns), but many old traditions include various specific letters that are not in שעטנ״ז ג״ץ (the letters that we generally ...
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Minhag Hebrew Pronunciation each letter
Is the pronunciation of the Hebrew letters a minhag or is the pronunciation of each individual letter each an individual minhag itself?
For example would the pronunciation of the letter dalet be one ...
user17175
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Why is Uzzah's name spelled differently
In 2 Shmuel chapter 6 Uzzah's name is spelled alternatively with an ending aleph (v. 3,6) or heh (v 7,8). What is the explanation for this change?
Note that in the recounting in 1 Divrei HaYamim 13 ...
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ג (gimel) mi yodeya (the pronunciation)?
From a halachik perspective, what are the correct ways to pronounce the ג (gimel)? Are there variant traditions? Is there an academic/linguistic opinion on how it was most likely pronounced from the ...
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Should I only pronounce alef as glottal stop only when there is a vowel attached to it?
(In correct pronunciation of Hebrew Bible)
According to matres lectionis alef acts as a vowel at times and not as a consonant (that is, it doesn’t produce a glottal stop) - for example: לַאדֹנִי
Is ...
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What do the independent-minded Hebrew letters teach us?
God renames Sarai "Sarah" [Genesis 17:15], removing a yod at the end and replacing it with a heh. Later, the name of Hoshea. Moses' successor, is changed to Joshua, adding a yod. [Numbers ...
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Thirty two pairs of letters from Adam to Terach
I'm reading in the Zohar on Shir Hashirim 64 that there are thirty-two sets of the alphabet advanced until Israel stood at Mount Sinai. Basically, all the first and final letters of the names of main ...
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Form of letters for safrut
Does anyone know of a good online resource for how to make the letters for Sefer Torah, tefillin, mezuzot, based on the Mishnah Berurah's Mishnat Sofrim (siman 36) or Keset Hasofer (Ch. 5), and/or ...
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The hand tefillin seems to form a lamed
The outline of the tefillin on the hand, to me, seems to form the letter lamed, reversed for a righty and a forwards lamed for a lefty, shown below.
Yes, there are traditions of forming shin on the ...
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what are the different versions of miluiyim for the Hebrew letters?
When calculating gematrias for the Hebrew letters there are letter expansions called "miluyim".
what are all the valid miluiyim letter expansions
according to chazal? (ex. midrashim, talmud, zohar, ...
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Where is a free online copy of the Torah with the "correct" number of letters in it?
First off, my intention is to create a pretty decent replica of the Hebrew text close to the formatting of the Sefer Torah or a Tikkun, for personal documentation purposes. My question though is 2-...
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Two beginnings related to heavens and earth
IIRC, there is a medrash conecting the first letter of torah (beit) + the word reshit by saying that with 2 beginnings (meaning the heavens and earth) the world came into existence. Does anyone happen ...
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Is the dot of Shin and Sin explained as a part of Nikkud?
Following the question about שכר ושכר,
Shin and Sin letters have a little dot that does not have a name and is used exclusively to differentiate between them (diacritic).
I read books about the ...
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What is the history and origin of the Etz Chayim symbol and the 10 Sefiroth?
This question is related to the question 'what is the origin of the Hebrew language?' since Hebrew is a key part of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. However, the question of Hebrew language origins seems ...
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Source for Adam being made with the letter Hey
I know of this gemarah teaching (see also Midrash Rabah 12:2) about Bereshit 2:4 which teaches that the phrase: 'Eileh toldot hashamayim v'ha'aretz b'hibaram' could be read as 'b'Hey baram', that ...
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Implication of uncertain letters in the Torah
I learned that there are a number of uncertain letters in the written Torah
This article lists 12 (counts vary).
(1) Bereishit 4:13 "Mineso" (E&T w/o Vav) (2) Bereishit 7:11
"Ma'ayanos (E&...
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א mi yodeya (the pronunciation)?
What is the correct way to pronounce the א (aleph)? Are there variant traditions? Is there an academic/linguistic opinion on how it was most likely pronounced from the time of the giving of the Torah ...
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Why is the name of the first Hebrew letter also the word for 1000?
I find it interesting the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet is "Aleph", which shares the letters and is pronounced nearly identically to the word for one thousand - "Eleph".
Why might this be?
...
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Eltzafan or Elitzafan, son of Uziel?
I was wondering why the Torah uses two different spellings - with or without the letter Yod - to talk about the same character.
Twice the Torah says Eltzafan: shemot 6:22 and vayikra 10:4
and once ...
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Midpoint of each Sefer
I am looking for sources that tell what word, letter and verse is at the midpoint of each Sefer, meaning 5 midpoints if considering the Torah containing 5 books or if you want, 7 as the Talmud states ...
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What's the connection between the yod's on the letter tzadik, the faces of Adam and chava, and the kruvim
I have heard but I cannot find any sources linking these concepts. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav mentions that the yod's on the letter tzadik are written upside down in ktav arizal; basically not facing ...
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Ribono Shel Olam pronunciation
I haven't studied Hebrew in 50 years and cannot read it anymore. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions on how I can get the pronunciation of Rabbi Nachman's phrase "Ribono Shel Olam" both ...
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Why does the letter Hei stands for Shechinah
Why is it the letter ה which represents or is connected with the Shechinah? What is the explanation behind this idea?
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Why no double vav in the acrostic?
In Musaf of Yom Kippur, we say a prayer (page 574 in the Artscroll Machzor) which begins “umerov avoneinu ein lanu:” and then it goes through a double acrostic of things we no longer have, beginning ...
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