Take note

It’s vital for a good, successful calligrapher to have a solid understanding of each letter, its
shape and proportion. Each of these letters has it own form, personality, and identity, and
each one deserves for you to get to know it so no letters are confused, one for another.
Things to be cautious of are included below, and although mainly apply to the Skeletal Alef-
Bet, largely applies to any and all scripts and even fonts of the Hebrew letters.

Alef: An arm and a leg built on a diagonal body. Be sure that where the upper
arm grows from the body is well below where the leg grows out on the opposite
side. The correct proportion and a look of stability is achieved when the body
and the leg form a larger lower triangle than the body and the arm form on the
upper side.

Bet: A bracket with a heel. A properly pronounced heel will differentiate it from
the letter Khaf.

Gimmel: A narrow letter which must be wide enough to accommodate the

triangle-forming leg and foot strokes descending and jutting from the head. As
with all slim letters, ensure it is upright, as it’s much more obvious when these
letters lean. Be careful to leave enough white space in the lower triangle to
distinguish this letter from a Nun.

Dalet: Care must be taken to make the right ear of this letter obvious, otherwise
it could be mistaken for the letter Reysh. Similarly, make sure it is wide enough
and that the right leg is not too close to the centre of the roof, otherwise it could
be confused with a Zayin.

Heh: A non-contiguous letter. Remember that there has to be enough space

between the left leg and the roof to distinguish it from Chet, which is
contiguous. Also remember that that left leg must be parallel to the right leg,
because if it isn’t it will be very obvious.

Vav: Short head, narrow body. If its head is too wide then it will look like a
Reysh. If its body is too short it will look like a Yud. Beware!

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 Zayin: Be careful you don’t write this letter badly, because it could be
confused with Vav. Ensure that the leg meets the head either in the centre or
left of centre. The head can be made on an angle or flat/straight.

Chet: The same as Heh, but with a connected left leg - remember to be sure it
forms a bottomless square!

Tet: A combination of the straight and the curved. Be sure there is a smooth
connection between each type of stroke.

Yud: Pay attention to this letter, because it is the building block of all the
others. It must hang in the air, and be both hot and narrow. If it is too wide its
form will change into just a dash. If it is too long it will be mistaken for a Vav.
If it is both too wide and too tall, it could be confused with a Reysh.

Khaf: This is a rounded letter - both the right-hand corners must curve to
ensure it is not taken for a Bet. Be careful that both the top roof stroke and
the bottom foot stroke end in alignment.

Khaf Final: This form of the letter is the same shape and proportion as its
medial form in the top half, but instead of a foot stroke, the leg stroke just
continues down straight. It should be a total of five squares in height, with the
roof being in alignment with the other roofs and heads of the regular letters.

Lammed: This letter is at least five squares in height, but with an ascender,
rather than a descender. On the top line of any calligraphy, where there is no
lettering above it, you can write this letter with a taller ascender than that, as
often been done in the past for decorative purposes.

Mem: Be careful that the arch of your Skeletal Mem is symmetrical, and that
the left leg stroke is drawn on an angle.

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 Mem Final: Ensure the this is a full square with three right-angled corners (top
left, bottom left, bottom right) and a curved corner (top right). If you are not
careful about writing this letter that way, it could be mistaken for a Samech.

Nun: This letter must be narrow enough to not be mistaken for a Khaf. Also,
be sure to make the leg on a slight angle jutting out (much like the Gimmel). A
third feature to be careful to write is the flat foot stroke only slightly past the
head stroke.

Nun Final: Basically a descender with a head. Be careful the bottom of the
leg stroke descends two squares beyond the baseline, and a narrow enough
head so it won’t be taken for a Final Khaf. Basically an elongated Vav.

Samech: Another straight-and-curved letter, like Tet and Shin. Be sure to

make the curved stroke on the right obvious, so it won’t be mistaken for a
Final Mem.

Ayin: The bottom leg/foot stroke descends below the baseline, but not so
much as a descender. Be careful about the left leg stroke, because if you
write it too near the left edge of the base then it could look like a Tet. If that
stroke is placed too close to the right then this letter could resemble a Tzaddi.

Peh: Basically a Khaf (with a sharp bottom right corner, not rounded) with a
backwards Yud suspended from the roof of its mouth.

Peh Final: Essentially a descender like a Final Khaf but with the suspended
Yud mentioned above. It should reach two squares below the baseline, and
the Yud-part shouldn’t come down lower than when you write the regular form
of the letter.

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 Tzaddi: Remember your diagonal body stroke from writing Alef. The foot
stroke along the baseline is straightforward. Be careful to place the arm
stroke in the middle of the body stroke, so there is enough counter space
without the letter coming to look like an Ayin.

Tzaddi Final: Basically a Final Nun with a right arm stroke which should
connect to the body about 1.5 squares south of the top guideline. This letter,
like all full descenders, should reach two squares below the baseline.

Quf: Although in some Hebrew scripts the leg stroke connects with the roof
stroke, in most of them they do not. Whichever type of script you are writing,
be sure to either make a clear, strong connection, or and obvious space, as
illustrated here where it occupies one square.

Reysh: Consider making the roof stroke of this letter slightly narrower than the
full square-shape the three-graphpaper-squares letters otherwise occupy.
This is because of the very large counter of white space in this letter, which is
then better balanced. Be careful not to make the roof too narrow or this letter
will look like a Vav, and ensure the top right corner is curved so it won’t look
like a Dalet.

Shin: This letter can be written only three squares wide in the Skeletal Alef-
Bet, but in order to comfortable incorporate the middle arm when using a
broad nib, it’s often written the equivalent of 3.5 squares wide.

Tav: The foot of the left leg on this letter mustn’t jut out past the roof. Think of
writing this letter as like attaching the letters Nun and Reysh (with the roofs
unshortened) together.

Good Luck!

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