Hebrew Calligraphy

Hebrew calligraphy has a long history and has changed little in that time. Before getting into Hebrew calligraphy, it's important to know something about the Hebrew language. The Hebrew alphabet, or alefbet after its first two letters, is very different from the English alphabet and its writing has many different rules.

For one thing, Hebrew is written and read right to left instead of left to right. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet with five letters having a different sofit, or form, when they end a word. There are over 150 laws concerning how the Hebrew alphabet must be written by sofers, or Jewish scribes. Luckily there are not as many rules concerning simple Hebrew calligraphy.

Like most early Semitic writing systems, the alefbet has no vowels and those fluent in Hebrew easily write and speak the language without their use. However, as Hebrew literacy declined Rabbis developed a vowel system to aid in pronunciation. These dots and dashes called nikkudim are found in and around certain letters to indicate vowels and to help with pronunciation. This writing is called "pointed writing."

There are about three distinct styles of Hebrew writing and calligraphy. For holy writings like STA"M, Sifrei Torah, Tefillin, and Mezuzos, there are three (and a rare fourth) ksavs or styles of writing. For an in depth description of these and a great site on Judaism visit the Temple Emanu-El website and click on the "About Judaism" section.

Along with the ksavs used for STA"M there are a few other styles of Hebrew writing and calligraphy. For example, Rashi is a style used mainly to write commentaries on texts. Another, everyday, Hebrew style is Hebrew cursive script. This is arguably easier to learn and write than traditional Hebrew.

Today Hebrew calligraphy is still used not only by sofers for STA"M. The many other uses for modern Hebrew calligraphy are Ketubot (wedding certificates), Bar and Bot Mitzvah invitations, wedding invitations, and many other events. There are many Hebrew calligraphy artists available through the internet or maybe even in your city. A good site to check out is Elaine Adler's custom Hebrew calligraphy. For a list of Hebrew calligraphers visit the Cynscribe Directory.

There's lots of information on the Hebrew language, alefbet, and calligraphy in print form and on the net. Try your local library for some more information or visit Omniglot for more information on the Hebrew language.