Chapter IV. - The Letters and Crowns

Just as Hashem has separated Israel from other nations, the Shabbos from the weekdays so has he separated the torah letters from other scripts. Hebrew letters are not only the component parts of words but each letter is also a word in itself and each has a numerical value. The name of the first letter Aleph is also the word for teacher or general, signifying that the alef is the head of the letters. Just as the number one is the root of all other numbers so too is the letter aleph. Torah script is called ksav ashuris or squared letters. The Ten Commandments and the first Torah where written in this script. There are three styles of torah script. These are the Ashkinazic, Sfardic, and Hoari. In this chapter we shall discuss the Ashkinazic script.

The torah letters are formed by simple strokes combined in different ways. Very often one letter is basically a construct of a number of other simpler letters. We will attempt to describe each letter in turn. The letters as noted earlier are more or less squared. This impression of squareness is achieved by proportioning the letters, so that each letter is three pen points wide and three pen points high. Each letter has a roof, (the very top of the letter) a face, (the left hand side of the letter) generally referring to the thickness of the roof and a foot (the vertical down stroke of the letter). The back of the letter is its right side.

ALEPH The letter aleph is in essence a combination of three other letters, one "vov" and two "yudin". The central portion of the aleph is a vov, placed on a diagnol from the upper left hand corner to the lower right. The lower portion of this diagnol stroke is turned slightly upward and is connected to the middle of the diagnol. The second yud is placed roof down and leg extended upward in the lower left hand corner and is connected to the top of the vov. Each yud has a point (a thin line) extending from the corner of its roof. This point protrudes from the left corner of the upper yud and the right corner of the lower yud. Since one of the yudin of the aleph is upside down one point extends upward and the other down. One should try to align both of these points on one axis. While the width of the aleph is three pen points the length of the left side is slightly more.^top

BEIS The letter beis is a construct of the letters dalet and vov. The dalet is in a normal position while the vov is placed horizontally with its head to the right. In this position it forms the bottom portion of the letter beis. The head of the vov extends to the right of the foot of the dalet. Some soferim define the head of the vov a little more by curving upward the right side of this horizontal stroke, which in effect forms a heel at the lower right hand corner of the letter. The letter is finished off by placing two points atop the letter beis. One is placed at the upper left hand corner of the roof and the other at the right hand corner. The one at the right is a simple pointed line pointing back (i.e. toward the right). The other is a pointed line with a small head (a cane-like structure) extending directly upward from the roof of the beis.^top

GIMEL The letter Gimel is essentially a variation of the letters zayin and yud. The roof of the letter is only one pen point wide and is actually square. While the foot of the zayin is absolutely vertical the foot of the gimel is slanted to the right. This is done so that the next letter of the word can be placed next to the gimel without too much space in-between. The left leg of the gimel is a horizontal stroke, on a very slight diagnol, so that we might describe it as the roof of a yud with its face turned upward. The upper right hand corner of this "roof" is connected to the main body of the gimel by a short diagnol line drawn from the lower left to the upper right. This line is of medium thickness. In essence these two strokes form an inverted yud. The right leg of the gimel is slightly lower than the left. The roof of the gimel is then adorned with three crowns which will be described later in more detail.
The letter gimel can be viewed as a pictograph of the charitable man. The left leg of the gimel depicts the raised foot of the wealthy going to the home of the poor which is in turn symbolized by the next letter, dalet.^top

DALET The letter dalet has a horizontal stroke of three pen points which forms its roof, like that of the beis. Its leg is a vertical stroke skewed very slightly to the right. The top of this vertical does not eminate from the extreme right side of the roof, but rather is begun somewhat to the left of this extreme point. This is done to form a sort of heel on top so as to differentiate the dalet from the final chaf. It also accentuates the square charachter of the dalet, so as to set it apart from the letter raish. Because of its similarity to the final chaf, the leg of the dalet is made slightly shorter than the customary 2 pen points. The leg tapers to a point which is on a vertical axis with the right side of the roof. The dalet is completed with a small fine line extending upwad from the upper left hand corner of the roof.^top

HEY The letter hey is made up of the letters dalet and yud. The dalet is drawn basically as described above. Instead of thepointed line at the upper left hand corner of the roof it has a staff like structure as found in the letter beis. The yud in the letter dalet is inverted and then turned over and positioned at the lower left hand corner of the letter roof down and leg up. The left protion of the letter hey does not connect to the main structure. Our rabbis note the two gaps in the hey and say that they indicate that even if one falls (spiritually) through the bottom, he still has an opportunity for tshuva (repentence) - symbolized by the tiny door which remains open (the space betweren the left leg and the roof).^top

VOV The letters analysed so far were all combinations of a number of other more basic letters. The vov in construct is of a single unit. The roof is only one pen point in length so that it does not resemble the letter reish. The upper right hand corner of the roof is also rounded. The foot of the vov descends vertically from the extreme right side of the roof. This vertical stroke narrows as it descends and somes to a point at the bottom of the letter. The foot is two pen points in length. When drawn in this fashion the vov is cleasrly differentiated from the letter yud and the final nun. The finished letter resembles a hook which in indicated by the name given it in Hebrew, vov (hook).^top

ZAYIN The roof of the letter zayin is like the vov, one pen point wide. This roof is however, perfectly squared. The foot is a vertical stroke which tapers to a point. It descends from the center of the roof and is two pen points in length. Some scribes have this last vertical stroke wider somewhat at its center and then narrow again toward the bottom of the letter forming a sort of diamond shape. Finally, the letter is crowned with three tagin (crowns). The letter zayin is so named because it resembles a sword (the word for armaments in Hebrew is "klai zayin").^top

CHES The letter ches is formed by drawing two zaynin one next to the other. A space of one pen point is left between the roof of one zayin and the other. A thin diagnol line is extended from the upper left hand corner of the first zayin to a point above and midway between the two roofs. A similar line is drawn in the opposite direction from the upper right hand corner of the roof of the second zayin. These two lines meet and form a sort of pitched roof over the space of the two zaynin. The upper left hand corner of the roof of the ches (the first zayin) is rounded. The entire roof is three pen points long, thus giving the letter a squared appearance.^top

TES The letter "tes" is basically a construct of a modified chaf and a standard zayin. The "chaf" which forms the right side of the letter and is drawn first is modified slightly. The left hand side of the roof is slightly depressed and so when viewed in conjunction with the usual rounded right side of the roof of the chaf we find that the roof we have drawn is in essence rounded. The foot of the chaf and its base are drawn in their usual manner. A zayin is now drawn next to this chaf and forms the lower leg of teh letter tes. Its leg joins the base of teh chaf to form the lower left hand corner of teh letter. It should be noted that the roof of the chaf is not only bent or slightly curved but is curved to the that it projects somewhat into teh center of the letter. In this it is somewhat similar to the letter "pey". The left hand roof of the tes (the zayin in the tes) is crowned with three tagin.^top

YUD The yud like the vov is a single unit unto itself. It consists of a roof one pen point wide and a foot descending from the extreme right of teh roof. In all this it is like the vov (the right hand corner of the roof is rounded) except that the foot is only one pen point in length. The Talmud mentions that the letter yud has a "point" fundamentally. There are three options as to where this point is. Since without this point the letter in invalid we are careful to include all three opinions in our construction of the yud. Thus in addition to teh foot of teh letter which some consider to be the point mentioned in the talmud, we also draw a small vertical pointing downward from the lower left hand corner of the roof and a single tag projecting upward from the upper left hand corner of the letter. To further diffentiate the yud from the vov the letter is skewed somewhat to the left.^top

CHAF The letter chaf is very similar in structure to the letter beis. It is closed on three sides. These sides are a roof a foot at the extreme right of the letter and a base which is parallel to the roof and which also joins with the foot. The corners formed at these junctions are rounded. The letter is formed with two strokes of the pen. The roof and the first part of the foot are formed by the first stroke (a horizontal stroke from the left to right which is brought downward). A second such stroke, brought upward forms the base and the second half of the foot to complete the letter.^top

FINAL CHAF There are a number of letters which when placed at the end of a word are modified in their form. The first such letter is a chaf. The final chaf is also called an extended chaf (in contrast to the "bent over" chaf). In form the roof is identical to that of a regular chaf. Some scribes make the foot twice the size of the roof.^top

LAMED The letter lamed is a construct of two letters previously discussed, the letter chaf and vov. The chaf is first drawn in the usual manner, although it should be noted that some authorities do modify this portion of the lamed slightly by cutting the length of the base of this chaf to 2 pen points. A letter vov is then drawn above this chaf and so positioned that the bottom of the vov meets the upper left hand corner of the roof of the chaf. This vov is pitched slightly forward (i.e. to the left). Two points are placed atop this vov. One larger one to the right and a smaller one to the left. Together these form the lamed.^top

MEM Like the letter lamed the letter mem is constructed of a chaf and vov. Needless to say they are positioned differently. We first draw the letter chaf modifying it slightly by squaring the lower right hand corner of the letter. Next to this chaf we draw a vov leaning somewhat to the right. This is done so that the foot of the vov will not touch the base of the chaf. The chaf and vov are connected with a thin line between the lower right hand corner of the roof of the vov and the lower left hand corner of the roof of the chaf. Together these form the "open" chaf.^top

FINAL MEM The letter mem also has a variant form when found at the end of a word. It is called the closed mem and its name indicates that it is closed on all four sides. It is formed with 2 pen strokes. The first, like the first stroke used in the chaf to form the roof and the right leg. The roof is 4 pen points wide. The second stroke begins as a vertical line descending from the left side of the roof from a point one pen point in the extreme left side of the roof. At the bottom of this line the pen is then brought from left to right to form the base of the letter. It joins the right leg by forming a right angle.^top

NUN The letter nun is fashioned after the letter "zayin". The roof of the letter is a squared horizontal stroke like that of the zayin, however the foot of the zayin is skewed to the right. This foot meets the base of the letter which is a horizontal stroke parallel to the roof. It is slightly longer than the roof extending further to the left than the roof does. The right face of the base (where the foot of the letter joins it) is rounded. Both of these last requirements are designed to differentiate the nun from the beis. The letter is crowned with three crowns.^top

FINAL NUN The last letter described was the bent nun. Like the chaf, there is a final letter form, which is in essence is the same letter unfolded or extended. The extended nun is exactly the same as the letter zayin, different only in the length of the foot. In the final nun the foot is 3 pen points long and so it extends below the line.^top

SAMECH The letter samech is formed exactly as the final mem with two strokes. It differs from the closed mem only in that the two lower corners of the letter are rounded, while on the mem they are squared.^top

AYIN The component parts of the letter ayin are the zayin and the vov. First we draw a standard zayin. To the right of this zayin we draw a vov leaning slightly toward the right so that the face of the vov is facing upward to a small degree. The foot of this vov is skewed further to the left and thickened near the bottom to form a sort of base which passes under the zayin and continues somewhat to the left. This thickened diagnol is made by a third pen stroke drawn from the left to right. This diagnol base extends below the line. The head of the zayin is crowned with three tagin.^top

PEY The framework of the letter pey is a combination of the letters vov, beis and chaf. The roof of the letter is a horizontal stroke as in the beis. The foot is a thick vertical line sloping ever so slightly to the right. The inner side of this thick line is squared resembling the base while the outer portion gives a slight impression of the chaf. This vertical line in 2 pen points in length. Next the base of the letter is formed by a horizontal stroke from left to right. The extreme end is curved like a chaf while the shape of a small "white beis" can be discerned inside the pey. The letter is completed with a vov which forms the left side of the pey. It is inverted and turned over on itself so that its foot points upward and its face points toward the right. The vov is so positioned, that its foot passes the roof of the pey and its roof extends into the hollow of the letter.^top

FINAL PEY The final form of the letter pey is basically an unfolded pey. As in the regular pey the leg is drawn slightly to the right and is 4 1/2 pen points in length. This stroke is the usual thin verticle line.^top

TZADI The letter tzadi is a simple combination of the letters nun and yud. First we draw the letter nun. To its right we draw a yud with its face upward. The leg of the yud is pulled to the left to join the middle of the leg of the nun. The nun is crowned with three tagin and the yud with a point in the usual fashion.^top

FINAL TZADI The final tzadi is a combination of the final nun and a yud positioned as described above.^top

KUF The letter kuf is a combination of the letters chaf and final nun. The chaf is somewhat modified and is drawn exactly as it is when constructing the letter lamed. The final nun forms the left side of the letter. The roof of this nun is parallel to the roof of the chaf and is underneath thelatter with a space of 1/2 pen point. The entire length of the final nun is 3 1/2 pen points so that the left leg of the kuf is 2 pen points below the line. It is skewed slightly to the right of the letter. The letter is crowned with a single tag on the left hand side of the roof.^top

REISH The letter reish is a simple one stroke affair, similar to the letter vov. The roof is three pen points in length and the leg 1 1/2 pen points long. The upper right hand corner is rounded. The reish is free of any adornment.^top

SHIN The letter shin is formed by combining the three letters zayin, yud and vov (ziv), from left to right. First the normal zayin is drawn. To its left we draw a yud tilting upward. Its leg is skewed to the left so that it meets the base of the zayin. To the right of this yud we draw a vov, also face tilting upwards and leg skewed to the left to meet the other two. These three form a point at the base of the shin (at the lower left of the letter). The zayin of the shin receives the usual three pen points in length and approximately 4 pen points in width, since we must allow for the three roof sections and the spaces between them. When drawn in this manner the central branch of the shin may resemble a vov even more than a yud. To remedy this the lower part of the vov is thickened, in effect, shortening the leg of the center branch, making it more like a yud.^top

TOV The letter tov is a simple combination of the letters dalet and vov. First we draw a standard dalet. Then we form the left leg of the letter by drawing an inverted vov. The foot of the vov is joined to teh roof of the tov one pen point inward. The tov is typically squared three pen points by three pen points.^top
 

THE CROWNS