Questions tagged [aleph-bet-letters]
Questions about the Hebrew letters, or aleph-bet.
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Which alphabet were the original Torah scrolls in?
I've assumed that the Torah scrolls we read today as the same that Moses wrote. I always assumed it's been the same alphabet.
However lately I came across documents explaining the evolution of the ...
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Is the winding פ in this sefer torah kosher?
Leaving aside all other issues with the text as displayed, are the pehs acceptable, or do they actually need an inverted vav on the inside (instead of these whirls)?
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Why does the Hebrew alphabet not have letters representing vowels?
The Hebrew alphabet is actually an abjad rather than a "true" Western-style alphabet, in that every letter represents a consonant, and vowels, if they're indicated at all, require diacritics.
This ...
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Relationship between Samekh and Sin
What is the relationship between the letters samekh and sin? Did they ever have distinct sounds? Why do they exist as separate letters?
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Why does almost every pasuk in Megillat Ruth start with a vav?
Every single pasuk except 8 in megillat Ruth starts with the letter vav. Is there any reason for this or is it just a quirk of how it was written? If there is a reason, what about the 8 pesukim which ...
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Aleph with a Dagesh
In four places in Tanakh, our text has an aleph with a dagesh: Gen 43:26, Lev 23:17, Job 33:21, and Ezra 8:18. What is the significance of this, and for the first two examples, how would you indicate ...
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Why does the Gemara use gamma to compare shapes and not reish or chaf sofit?
When talking about shapes, the Gemara often uses Greek gamma (e.g., Peshachim 8b). Why doesn't it use reish, dalet or chaf sofit instead?
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Different Size Letters in the Torah
I've often wondered if someone has compiled anything about the "special letters" in the Torah: All the letters that are either big or small. Together, do they read as something special? One or more ...
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Did Rembrandt really get the 'mene, mene' inscription in his painting of Belshazzar's Feast wrong?
Forgive me if you feel this is not the best forum to ask this question on, but it seems the most apposite one out of those currently available.
The inscription that appears on the wall in Daniel 5:25 ...
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What does the /shin/ marker (like Petucha/Setuma) at the end of Torah books mean?
I've been reading about details of Torah sofrut, and after learning about the paragraph markers peh / פ (petucha) and samekh / ס (setuma), I noticed some similarly placed shin markers (mostly at the ...
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How do you extend the sound of a daleth in Shema?
How does one extend the sound of the daleth in the echod of the shema as prescribed in OC 61 (6)?. The letter as we say it does not seem to allow extension. See Dalet (Wikipedia) which defines it as a ...
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Have any of you ever heard anyone pronouncing ayin as "ng"?
I have read that historically the letter ayin was pronounced by some Dutch, Portuguese, and Italian Jews as a velar nasal consonant (ng as in sing). Reference to this can be found here, here, and here....
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What is the reason for "stretched" letters in the Torah?
I noticed that in many Sifrei Torah, Sofrim prefer to "stretch" certain letters. It seems that these letters are stretched to end a line if there wouldn't be enough space to start a new word. That's ...
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י-ו as a name of Hashem
Sometimes the letters י-ו seem to serve as a name of Hashem. For example, many authors replace י-ו with טז in a numbering system, presumably so as to not write Hashem's name, similar to replacing י-ה ...
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Does one choose one or two pesukim for names?
What posuk does one choose at the end of shmonei esrei if one has two names? do you use two pesukim? or take the posuk that starts with the first initial of the first name and ends with the last ...
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Why do we write the number 16 as tet + zayin? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How could the numerals יה and יו be used irreverently?
I understand that we write the number 15 as tet vav as opposed to yud hey to avoid writing the shem Hashem, but what ...
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Eicha - why are the Pesukim with the פ before the Pesukim with the ע?
The first 4 Perakim of Eicha are written in the order of the Aleph Bais. However in Perek 2, 3, & 4 the Pesukim for פ are written before the Pesukim with the ע. Why? And then why in Perek 1 is it ...
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How could the numerals יה and יו be used irreverently?
I was told that in the sequence of numerals with Hebrew letters, the numbers 15 and 16 are rendered with טו and טז instead of יה and יו to prevent the tetragrammaton from being formed irreverently.
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What is the significance of the two letter shins (ש) on tefillin?
What is the significance of the two letter shins (ש) on tefillin?
One side of tefillin has a regular shin (ש) and the second has four-prongs.
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Why shin and sin?
Why does Hebrew use the same letter to represent two different sounds: shin and sin? As far as I know, with the exception of when using a dagesh kal, no other Hebrew letter has this property.
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Complete list of verses corresponding to people's names?
There is a custom to say a verse corresponding to ones name at the end of the Amidah, as a Segulah not to forget his name on the day of Judgement. There are several sources for this practice, ...
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How many words are there in Tanach?
How many letters are in the Torah?
How many words are in the Torah?
How many verses are in the Torah?
How many chapters are in the Torah?
How many letters, words, verses, and chapters are in every ...
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If the "Nun" preceding Bamidbar (Num) 10:35 is not upside down, is the Torah still kosher?
While reading last week's parsha, I noticed that the letter "nun" immediately preceding the verse Vayehi B'nso'ah ha'aron Bamidbar 10:35 was written as regular nun (tagin on top) rather than upside ...
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Rabbi Akiva and Ketarim
In Menachos the Gemara relates the Moshe asked Hashem about the meaning of the "crowns" on many Hebrew letters as written in the Torah. Hashem then gives the following response:
אמר לו, אדם אחד יש ...
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Analysis of an answer to "Why does the Torah begin with the letter bet?"
Why does the Torah begin with the second letter, bet, rather than the first letter, aleph? There are many answers, but let's focus on this one:
Bet is the beginning of the word barukh (blessed), ...
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Why is the hey in Elo-* replaced with a kuf?
As we know when we write Hashem's name, we replace the hey with a kuf. Why davka a kuf? For example: Elokai, Elokeinu, Elokah, or "Yud-Key-Vav-Key". And in "Yud-key-vav-key", why is it pronounced ...
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Is there an online list of Perakim of Mishnayos arranged alphabetically?
There is a popular custom cited by Chabad to recite Mishnayos which initialize the deceased’s name. While they note that many Siddurim and Mishnayos have a list which alphabetizes the Mishnayos by ...
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What's the significance of בי״ה שמ״ו סימן, espcially on Dt. 31:28?
In most sifre Tora (Torah scrolls), 240 columns of text each start with the letter vav (ו), and five do not. The first of those five exceptional columns, of course, is the first column of the Torah, ...
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Why is the Aleph diminished in size in Vayikra 1:1?
Vayikra 1:1 "And He called to Moshe and spoke..."
In some Torah scrolls the Aleph in the first word is diminished in size. What is the significance of this anomaly? (The very next word — to Moshe — ...
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How to pronounce the name of the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet?
I have heard mixed answers as to how to pronounce the letter תּ
Is it taf or tav?
(I'm referring to the halachic pronunciation not the common street way.)
Is there a difference between Ashkenazi or ...
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Why is one permutation of the name of God backwards?
If you spell out each letter that makes up the name of God, then add up the gematria (numerical value) of each letter of each fully spelled out letter you get various values. The value depends on how ...
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Who were the original users of Ktav Ashuri?
According to one opinion found in the Talmud Sanhedrin 22a ktav ashuri was brought up from the first exile, assumedly adopted from Babylonian sources.
Who exactly was using this alphabet? Do we have ...
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תעבנו, תעינו, תעתענו Why three things that begin with a ת?
The Vidui that is said during the days of Selichos, and on Yom Kippur, and by Nusach Sefard on days that Tachanun is recited, starts with Ashamnu and goes letter by letter through the Aleph Bais. At ...
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Are the letters on a dreidel supposed to be in any particular order?
This is a little silly, but...
Should the letters on a dreidel be in order? Like, if you turned it right to left, should it go nun - gimel - hey - shin, because of "nes gadol haya sham"? Or are there ...
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Resources for learning Hebrew from scratch?
I was raised as a Jewish identifying secular child, and it's only in my adolescence/adulthood I've really become at all observant. One of the problems is, of course, I've never had a Hebrew class! I'...
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Why are Chazal asking if words are spelled with א or ע?
In Shabbos 77a-77b, Chazal ask about the spelling of a series of words, questioning whether the words are spelled with an alef - as in גראינין - or with an ayin - as in גרעינין. Wasn't ayin vocalized ...
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How do I pronounce "yod" when there is a dot inside of it?
I'm trying to brush up on my Hebrew. As an American Jew, it is still important to me to be able to recite my prayers from the siddur in their original Hebrew.
How do I pronounce "yod" when there is a ...
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Tagin on letter Tet
Shalom!
I recently read that in Genesis 1:4, the word Tov is used for the first time and when written in Hebrew, the Tet is crowned with 4 tagin instead of the usual 3. I have been searching for ...
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Psalm 145: Which Person?
Psalm 145 makes up the bulk of the oft recited prayer known as Ashrei. It is an alphabetic acrostic (missing the letter nun) about the greatness of God.
The verses beginning with Alef, Bet, Dalet, Heh,...
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Why are there 7 inverted letter nuns in Tehillim 107?
In the Masoretic text of Tehillim 107 there are 7 pesukim which contain an inverted letter nun (similar to those in Sefer Bamidbar). In my standard edition Mikraot Gedolot none of the commentaries ...
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Are shin and cin considered different letters?
Halachically is ש a single letter with two pronunciations or are there 2 different letters in the Hebrew alphabet (shin and cin) which happen to be draw the same in the torah, have the same gematria ...
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Learning the shapes of the letters as a Baal Koreh
I would have thought that the shapes of the letters would be a good thing for Baal Koreh to know, but I was told that since Sefrie Torah are not invalidated until they are declared as such, this would ...
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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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Spouses in Tanach whose names start with the same letter? [closed]
This is one of those parsha sheet trivia questions: There are six couples in Tanach where the names of the spouses start with the same letter. Who are they?
I've got five of them, but I can't think ...
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Ktav Ivri in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance did religious Jews know about Ktav Ivri? Are there examples of traditional texts they would have been exposed to written in Ktav Ivri?
Would highly ...
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Is there a chart available displaying all Hebrew letters and vowels?
I'm looking for a nice chart that will give me the following things, so I can print it out and keep it handy:
Picture of each letter in traditional "book" font =
Picture of each letter in ...
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Interchangeable usage of Hebrew letters (such as Beis and Vav, etc.)
I don't know if there is another post about this issue, but forgive me if there is.
Here is my question. I recently read somewhere that there are letters that can be interchanged for various reasons....
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Is a Torah that does NOT have the (rabbati) large and small letters (keti'ah) still kosher?
I have a Torah in my shul that does not have any large or small letters where required (e.g. - the 1st letter in the Torah, "Breishit", is written larger than the rest.) Is this Torah still considered ...
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Why is it "Beiz"?
I understand the Ashkenazi pronunciation of Hebrew is that the letter 'ת' with no דגש is an 's' sound.
So why do (many) Ashkenazim pronounce the name of the letter 'ב', which is normally spelled ב-י-...
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