Category: Judaism

Bet (ב)

Ancient Language, Hebrew, Jewish Mysticism, Judaism, Literature

The numerical value of bet is two, representing duality. Since it is the beginning of the word berachah (“blessing”) through which every food and drink is reconnected to its heavenly root, bet is also a link between the material world and the spiritual world of unity, reinforcing the truth that God is One.

Blessings open up our awareness of the bounty we receive and thereby open us up for receiving even more. As we stated earlier, the word ברכה – berachah (“blessing”) also means ברכה – bereichah (“large receptacle”). The more we bless God for the good we have received, the larger is the space we make that only He can fill.

Although we experience duality in this world—light and darkness, Yin and Yang, feminine and masculine, etc.—our spiritual work is to reach beyond the duality and reveal the source of Oneness hiding behind all duality. For example, our ultimate capacity for balancing Yin and Yang requires us to tap into pure essence, the deepest place in our souls that is beyond all time, space, and categories. As we shift our identity to pure essence, we may heal from all imbalances and fragmentation.

While Abraham is associated with the energy of alef, which unifies plurality, Isaac, in contrast, evokes the theme of bet, the perception of the deceptive plurality of creation and the need to overcome this deception. Although God’s creation is made of infinite variety and diversity, everything is endowed with His Spirit. Every event and situation is a manifestation of His will, even those which are most enigmatic.

Sources: Secrets of the Hebrew Alphabet

Alef (א)

Ancient Language, Hebrew, Jewish Mysticism, Judaism

The letter alef, besides being the first letter of the alphabet, also represents the number one, echad (אחד) in Hebrew. The numerical value of echad is thirteen, which is the numerical value of ahavah (אהבה), “love.” The letter alef represents both the oneness of God and His love for His creatures (the attribute of chesed, “goodness”).

Alef represents absolute unity within the plurality of Creation and is therefore the major symbol of Divinity. Many of the names of God begin with this letter: א-ל – El, אלוקים – Elokim, and אדנ-י – Ad-nai. In addition, there are many epithets used to describe God, such as אדיר – Adir (“glorious”) and אדון – Adon (“master”). The Zohar relates that before Creation, each letter of the alphabet came before God, requesting to be chosen to begin the process of creation. The letters presented themselves in reverse order: first was ת – tav, the last letter of the alphabet; next was ש – shin, the second-to-last letter of the alphabet; then ר – resh, and so on, up to ב – bet, second letter of the alphabet, which begins the word ברכה – berachah, “blessing”. Bet pleaded, “Let the world be created with me, so that all beings shall use me to bless God”. And God assented.

Then God asked the א – alef, the first letter of the alphabet, who had not yet uttered a word, why it was silent. The alef replied that in a world of plurality there was no place for her, since the numerical value of alef is one. God reassured alef, saying that even if the world would be created with Bet, alef would still be the queen of the alphabet. He said, “Have no fear, alef, you are one, and I am One. I want to create the world to have my spirit of oneness dwell there through the study of the Torah and the performance of mitzvot (the commandments). The first of the Ten Commandments will begin with alef, the first letter in the word אנכי – Anochi (“I”)—“I am the Lord your God.”

The perception of God’s oneness that alef represents is further suggested by the Hebrew word פלא (“wonder”), a permutation of the word alef: Discovering God as He is disguised in each detail of creation generates feelings of wonder and awe.

Sources: The Secrets of the Hebrew Alphabet

Jewish Warsaw Before World War II

Art, History, Judaism, Literature, Poland

The Jewish community in Warsaw has a rich history. It is undoubtedly the story of one of the largest, most interesting and varied communities in the history of the Jewish people.

There has been a Jewish presence in Warsaw since the time it became the capitol of the small province in the Mazovia Principality. There was a Jewish settlement on the northwest outskirts of the Old Town, between Dunai and Piekarska Streets. There was a synagogue there and a cemetery further away, near the site of the Bristol Hotel today. The Jews were exiled from Warsaw towards the end of the 14th century by one of the Mazovian princes and the edict prohibiting Jews from residing in Warsaw remained in effect until the 19th century. In spite of that, as Warsaw became an important political-cultural center, more Jews were allowed to settle on its periphery, since the nobility recognized that the Jews represented a significant commercial force. The nobles exploited their right to rule over autonomous territories, and brought Jews to live under their protection. Legally, this system was called Juridica. Thus, the Potocki family, in the 18th century, created the neighborhood Nowy Potok, today the area of the Hotel Sobieski. The Sulkowski family established New Jerusalem – the street leading to the area is still called Aleje Jerozolimskie [Jerusalem Blvd].

In the beginning of the 19th century, the Leczczynski family founded a neighborhood, and hence the name of Leszno Street. A Venetian architect designed the Muranow neighborhood, and named it after the city of his birth, Merrano. Jews in increasingly large numbers also settled in the Praga district. One of the neighborhoods still carries the name Szmulowizna, in honor of the Jewish merchant Shmuel Zbytkower, who also received permission to build Jewish cemeteries, first in the Praga district, and later, on the western bank of the Vistula.
With the Prussian regime came the partition of Poland. During the period of the Napoleonic principality of Warsaw, and later Congress Poland, (named for the Congress of Vienna in 1815, which transferred control of Warsaw and the surrounding area from Prussia to Russia, and hence the name of all the territory annexed by Czarist Russia), more and more Jews settled in Warsaw. After the removal of all special tax restrictions on the rights of Jews in the city in 1862, Jews settled in all sections of Warsaw. Most of them, for economic, cultural and religious reasons, continued to reside in those areas where Jews were the majority.

The Jewish population of Warsaw grew significantly – from about 10,000 at the beginning of the 19th century to approximately 350,000 by the end of World War 1. It was the largest Jewish community in Europe at that time. Like all of European Jewry in the 19th century, the Jews of Warsaw vacillated between assimilation and attempts to preserve a distinctive Jewish character in their lives. The relationship between the Poles and the Jews changed frequently: there were periods of cooperation, active inclusion of Jews in Polish struggles for independence, and the protection and advancement of Jewish culture, followed by periods of crises, often with the “help” of the Russian powers, who practiced a policy of “divide and conquer”.

During the 19th century, two distinct approaches to the relationship with the Jews developed among the Poles. One approach – the romantic, liberal, democratic and later socialistic one – called for the inclusion of the Jews and other minorities in Polish civic life. Others took a different approach – the nationalistic, religious one. This group viewed the Jews and the German minority as eternal enemies and developed a politically motivated anti-Semitism, especially towards the end of the century. This modern antisemitism served to compound ancient antisemitism already prevalent in Polish society, especially in religious circles and among those who controlled financial competition. The PPS, The Polish Socialist Party, headed by Jozef Pilsudski, was founded in the 1890’s. In opposition to the Socialists, the ND, the National Democratic Party, called the Endeks, headed by Roman Dmowski, was established. A third political force was the Farmers’ Party, led by Wincenty Witos, which served as a balance.

Jewish figures like Berek Joselewicz [Yoselevich], Rabbi Meisels, Michael Landy and Henryk Wohl – are remembered for taking active roles in the history of the shared homeland. On the other hand, antisemitism, economic struggles and even riots -usually instigated by the Cossacks – were also prevalent. During the 19th century, the growing and developing Warsaw became a magnet for Jews, who streamed into the city for economic reasons, but also in order to obtain an education and participate in the building of a modern city.

Several Jewish families became influential in the financial, cultural and municipal life of the city. Scions of many families (Kronenberg, Nathanson, Berenson, Wawelberg, Bloch, Toeplitz and others) converted under pressure and are buried in cemeteries belonging to the different faiths. These families were major contributors to the development of education and trade in Warsaw. Yet thousands of Jews continued to live in poverty, with no electricity or running water.
Leopold Kronenberg (1812-1878). Banker, Industrialist and major philanthropist. He built the railway lines connecting Warsaw to St. Petersburg, Minsk, and Brest, and other places. He and his family assimilated and converted.

Warsaw became the center of Jewish activity. The Gur Rabbi temporarily established his court there while some progressive rabbis such as Kramsztyk and Jastrow preached a different approach. Zionism was an important force. At the same time a rabbinical school was established – a school which preached involvement in the life of the city, but produced not a single rabbi. Jewish schools were established and contributed to Jewish creativity in the Polish language. A Hebrew and Yiddish cultural center was also established.

While Polish society with its many different political parties became more united, all the conflicting Jewish ideologies flourished. At the same time, new ideas were burgeoning in the Jewish world. In independent Poland, Jews had been equal citizens by law since 1918 yet many began to feel more and more like strangers. In the streets of Warsaw, every fourth person was a Jew. Among them you could find rabbis from Agudat Israel, Zionists, leaders of the Bund and classic Polish intellectuals of Jewish background. Youth movements were active in the city, representing the entire range of political parties, educational trends, and community institutions. And all of these were constantly meeting and debating issues, fighting and arguing in a never-ending stream of Jewish creativity. Ten daily newspapers and several monthlies were published. Jews boxed, rode bikes and participated in many organized sports. Meir Balaban, Moshe Shorr, Yitzhak Shiper and the young Emanuel Ringelblum laid down the foundation of Jewish historiography and Shimon Ashkenazi and Marceli Handelsman joined forces with them. Jewish culture thrived – theatre, cabaret satirical performances, movies and literature. The most outstanding 20th century Polish authors and poets met in Cafe Ziminski – the Jewish writers, Julian Tuwim, Slonimski, Lesmian and Schulz. The Singer brothers, Sholem Asch, I.L. Peretz and others, sat somewhere in Krochmalna Street or in the Yiddish Authors House on Tlomacka Street.

Antisemitism: The Definitions

Anti-Semitism, Civil Rights, Judaism

“An antisemite is one who hates Jews more than absolutely necessary”.

In many cultures antisemitism is a given. This is exemplified by the above statement, believed to have originated in Hungary.

The fact of antisemitism may be a constant. Its form, however, morphs and adapts from age to age and culture to culture.

By most accounts, the term anti-Semitism was first coined by German journalist Wilhelm Marr in 1879 as a functional equivalent to Judenhass – Jew hatred. While the term is modern, the hatred itself dates back more than 3000 years.

The spelling antisemitism is to be preferred to anti-Semitism for at least two reasons:

1. there is no such thing as Semitism, except in linguistics.

2. to dull the impact of those who engage in the etymological fallacy by insisting that Arabs cannot be anti-Semites because they too are Semites

Hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group is the definition provided by Merriam-Webster.

International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition begins as follows:

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

The non-binding definition is significantly strengthened by an accompanying set of examples considered to form part of the definition.

Antisemitism has proven to be remarkable in its persistence, pervasion, and versatility. It will reinvent itself as the need arises.

Sources: International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

Zyklon B

Anti-Semitism, Camps, Judaism, The Holocaust

2 October 1942 | The Auschwitz camp administration issued an order of departure for a 5-tons truck with a trailer to Dessau for “materials for Jewish resettlement”. In Dessau there was a factory that produced Zyklon B, a pesticide used to kill people in gas chambers.

The decision to use Zyklon B to murder people in Auschwitz was first linked with the deportations of Soviet POWs to the camp. This method of killing was later used in the program of extermination of Jews.

Sobibór Extermination Camp

Camps, Genocide, Judaism, Resistance, The Holocaust

Sobibór extermination camp was built in a marshy forest area by 80 Jewish forced laborers who were murdered immediately following the completion of their work. During the construction process, the German’s put into practice lessons learned in Bełżec. The infrastructure of the murder facilities was improved, particularly the sealing of the gas chamber doors. Transporting Jews to the facility was better organized, based on meticulous planning for the regional population. It was also decided to create a permanent core of Jewish prisoners as “skilled” staff, in order to make camp maintenance and the extermination process more efficient.

The camp at Sobibór occupied an area of 400 600 meters. Here, some 250,000 Jews were killed. The camp at Sobibór was in operation for 18 months — much longer than its two sister camps Bełżec (which operated for eight months) and Treblinka (which operated for 13 months). The extermination camps in the Lublin District were initially intended to exterminate Polish Jewry alone, while the more sophisticated gas chambers at Birkenau, which began operating in the late summer of 1942, were meant primarily for the extermination of Jews from the other countries of Europe.

Beginning in the early spring of 1943, in accordance with regional planning, dozens of long trains moved back and forth across Poland, picking up human cargo, transporting it to the death camps, and making additional runs. The camp at Bełżec was closed after it completed its task of murdering the Jews of the Lublin District and Galicia. Treblinka began operating as the extermination camp for the Warsaw ghetto, which had a Jewish population that outnumbered that of most of the occupied countries. When the number of transports dwindled toward mid-summer 1943, it appeared increasingly possible that the camp would soon be closed.

At Sobibór, located at the heart of the regional network of forced labor camps, labor selections for the various camps took place regularly, in contrast to Bełżec and Treblinka. For this reason, and despite its relatively long period of operation, far fewer people were murdered at Sobibór than at the two other camps. On July 5, 1943, after Bełżec had already been closed and when Treblinka was about to be closed, Himmler ordered the conversion of Sobibór into a concentration camp. Prisoners in the camp, who were of course unaware of this changed function, feared that the construction of the new wing, the mining of the area (aimed at defending the future concentration camp from partisan attacks), and the less frequent transports reflected an intention on the part of the Germans to close the camp and murder the hundreds of Jews it still held.

Evidence of this fear can be found in the notes in the clothes of the final 300 prisoners who arrived from Bełżec and were murdered at Sobibór in the early summer of 1943, after the camp was dismantled. The moment the sealed car doors were opened in Sobibór, the prisoners sprang from the cars and ran in all directions. All of them were shot and killed before they were able to leave the ramp. The notes found in their clothing reveal that they had made a firm decision not to enter the gas chambers.

This is the general background for the crystallization of a Jewish underground in Sobibór. Prisoners tried to escape throughout its entire period of operation, and some attempts were successful. However, most escapees were caught, and in reprisal the Germans carried out public executions of dozens of Jewish prisoners. In this context, the Jewish underground resolved to organize a rebellion during which all the prisoners would escape, making it impossible to inflict collective punishment on prisoners who remained in the camp.

Most of the plans considered were rejected by the underground due to their lack of military expertise. But in September 1943, the transports of Jews from Vilna, Lida, and Minsk included Jewish prisoners of war from the Red Army who supplied the underground with the operational knowledge they lacked. Eventually, the underground produced a daring plan for an uprising that would involve killing the SS soldiers, securing weapons, and breaching the camp fence in battle in an area that was not mined, to enable all the prisoners to escape. Although the plan encountered serious difficulties as a result of unanticipated developments, the uprising was carried out, resulting in the death of 11 SS soldiers and a few Ukrainians. Some 600 camp prisoners began to escape, but approximately half were killed in the minefields or by German fire. Some of the prisoners did not even try to escape, in some cases due to physical exhaustion and in other cases — mostly non-Poles — because they were unfamiliar with the surrounding area and did not know the language.

Prisoners who worked in the camp’s extermination area did not participate in the uprising because the other Jews in the camp had no way of contacting them, and they knew nothing about the plan. Despite the problems encountered, approximately 300 prisoners succeeded in reaching the woods, though most were subsequently killed during the chase. The few who survived were killed after the war in pogroms that took place in Poland. Of all the prisoners of Sobibór, only 50 survived. After the uprising, it was decided to close the camp. The last Jews to work dismantling the camp — particularly those who worked in the extermination area and covering the traces of the extermination process — were shot when their work was completed.

By July 1944, the Germans were using the facilities in the proximity of the ramp and huts that remained standing as a construction services camp. Between 1945 and 1947, the ramp served as a major railway junction for the transport of Poles from the east in preparation for their resettlement in western Poland, and the transport of Ukrainians from Poland for “resettlement” in the Ukraine. At times, large masses of displaced persons had to stay at Sobibór for a few days, and the camp’s remaining huts provided them with wood to burn for heating and cooking. The forester’s watchtower and the kommandant’s building were eventually returned to their rightful owners. The train station in Sobibór operated regularly until 1999.

80th Anniversary of the Murder of the Jews at Babi Yar

Anti-Semitism, European History, Judaism, Memorials and Museums, The Holocaust

Marking 80 years to the Murder of the Jews at Babi Yar:

On 29-30 September 1941, approximately 33,771 Jewish men, women and children from Kiev and the surrounding areas were murdered at Babi Yar by Einsatzgruppe soldiers (mobile killing units) with the assistance of local collaborators. Jews who managed to escape the massacre in September but were discovered in the ensuing months, were also brought to Babi Yar and murdered.

Yad Vashem (Israel Holocaust Museum & Memorial) has 80 photos and stories of the Jews murdered at Babi Yar and now an online special exhibit on their website.

The photos were submitted to Yad Vashem together with Pages of Testimony containing the names and brief biographical information of the victims. Each Page is a mute testament to the persecution of an entire Jewish community: Rabbis, teachers and pupils, traders and artisans, philosophers and scientists- and in many cases entire families.

In this moving exhibit we can see the faces and explore the stories of 80 of the Jewish men, women and children who were murdered 80 years ago at a ravine called Babi Yar.

Sources: Yad Vashem

Treblinka Extermination Camp

Anti-Semitism, Camps, Judaism, Memorials and Museums, The Holocaust

Treblinka was one of the three death camps that were part of “Operation Reinhard”. It was built as the place of execution for the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto and its surroundings. It was located near Malkinia, about 80 kilometers north-east of Warsaw. Malkinia was a station on the main Warsaw-Bialystok railroad line in a densely populated area and hidden among deep woods. Jewish and Polish prisoners worked in a punishment camp called Treblinka 1 built as early as 1941. When the extermination camp was built in 1942, the railroad line was extended into it.

“Operation Reinhard” was the code name for “the final solution to the Jewish question” (the extermination of all the Jews) in the areas in Poland under the jurisdiction of the General Gouvernment in the Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka camps. Several months after work began, the name was suggested in memory of Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SD (The Security Police of the SS) and one of the architects of the “final solution to the Jewish question”, who was shot to death by Czech Underground fighters in May of 1942.

The camp was built in the shape of a polygon, 400 x 600 meters. It had a double barbed wire fence. The inner fence was entwined with branches designed to hide the camp and what was happening there. There were 8 meter high guard towers in each corner and all along the fences.

The living quarters, which included those of the staff (Germans and Ukrainians), offices, the infirmary, storage buildings and workshops. A separate fenced-in area housed the Jewish prisoners’ barracks, sewing shops, a shoemaker and a carpentry shop.

The reception area included the train platform and tracks for shipments, two huts in a fenced-in area where the victims were ordered to undress, and two buildings where the victims’ possessions were kept and sorted. The extermination area was small, only 200 x 250 meters, with a white building which held three gas chambers. There was a diesel motor housed in a building nearby. The victims were executed by carbon monoxide gas that was forced into the chambers through a pipe connected to the roof and into regular shower heads, in order to sustain the illusion of a real shower. One hundred and fifty yards away to the east, were large pits for burying the victims. Between the “reception area” and the “extermination area” there was a narrow path surrounded by wire and intertwined with branches, called “the Pipe,” or “The Way to Heaven”, used by the staff and prisoners (“Himmelfahrtstrasse”). The naked victims were led along here from the undressing huts into the gas chambers.

There were 20-30 SS guards in positions of command and organization and about 90-120 Ukrainians. These were Soviet prisoners of war who volunteered to serve the Germans. They acted as guards and assisted in operating the gas chambers. The 700-1,000 Jewish prisoners did all the work in the camp. They were divided into work groups or “Kommandos”. The uniforms of each Kommando unit had a stripe of a designated color which distinguished them from one another. The exterminations began on July 23, 1942 and continued until April 1943.

From the spring of 1943 only a few transports arrived and then began the burning of the bodies that had been buried in mass graves. Hundreds tried to escape from the trains, most of whom were murdered by the guards. In the early years, before stringent guarding arrangements were established, a few Jews managed to escape from the camp. From time to time there were incidents of Jewish uprisings and from early 1943, an underground existed comprised of prisoners from all parts of the camp.

Uprising:

There was an uprising on August 2,1943, when the last of the bodies had been burned and the camp destroyed, indicating that soon the remaining prisoners would be executed. During the uprising most of the camp burned. The remaining prisoners were ordered to take the buildings and fences apart and try to erase signs of the crimes committed there. When the work was done, everyone was shot. The camp was plowed over, and trees were planted. A farm was established and Ukrainians settled there. About 70 of those who managed to escape from the camp during the uprising survived until the end of the war. 800,000 people were murdered at Treblinka; 2000 of them were Gypsies and most of the rest were Jews. The Jews came from Warsaw, Bialystok, Grodno, Radom, Czenstochowa and even Lublin. Jews from Theresienstadt were also executed there. As the Red Army approached, even the farm that had been established on the camp site was plowed over.

Memorial:

In 1964 the Polish authorities established a stone memorial site, built on the camp ground. A stone pathway leads up to a stone gate on the spot where it is believed that the entrance to the camp stood. The story of the camp is told in several languages on stone plaques. A series of flat stones indicate the railway line that led into the camp and stone pillars mark the camp boundaries. A stone monument at the left of the path which leads to the center of the monument shows the victims last walk – “the Pipe”, the “Shlauch” – of the Jews to the gas chambers. To the right of the path, memorialized in stone, are the names of the places from which the Jews arrived in the transports.

At the heart of the memorial site stands an enormous stone gate that resembles a raised sarcophagus. On one side, the martyrs’ story is told and on the other side there is a menorah, symbol of the Jewish people. Black granite stones symbolize the pits where the victims’ bodies were burned. Six million Jews died in the Holocaust, obliterating the Jewish way of life that had existed for hundreds of years in Europe. Seventeen thousand stones are strewn around the area to symbolize the final resting place of the Jewish world that perished.

Hebrew Alphabet

Hebrew, Israel, Judaism

Hebrew uses a different alphabet than English. The picture above illustrates the Hebrew alphabet, in Hebrew alphabetical order. Note that Hebrew is written from right to left, rather than left to right as in English, so Alef is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and Tav is the last. The Hebrew alphabet is often called the “alef-bet,” because of its first two letters.

There are two versions of some letters. Kaf, Mem, Nun, Peh and Tzadeh all are written differently when they appear at the end of a word than when they appear in the beginning or middle of the word. The version used at the end of a word is referred to as Final Kaf, Final Mem, etc. The version of the letter on the left is the final version. In all cases except Final Mem, the final version has a long tail.

א Aleph

Aleph is one of two letters in the Hebrew alphabet that are silent. When pronounced, it takes the sound of whatever vowel its accompanied by. 

בּ Bet

Bet is pronounced “b”, just like the letter B in English. 

ב Vet

Vet is just bet without the dot inside, which is called a dagesh. Vet is pronounced “v” like the letter V in English.

ג Gimmel

Gimmel makes a hard G sound, as in “goat”. It may have a dagesh inside like this גּ but it makes the same sound with or without the dagesh.

ד Dalet

Dalet is pronounced “d”, like the letter D in English. It can also carry a dagesh, which doesn’t change its sound like this דּ.

ה Hay

Hay is pronounced “h” like the letter H in English. When it appears at the end of a word, it’s silent. It sometimes has a dot inside of it (הּ), called a mappiq instead of a dagesh that appears in other letters. It indicates that the hay should be pronounced as a consonant, even though it may appear in a place in a word where it would normally be silent.

ו Vav

Vav makes the “v” sound, exactly like the letter vet above. The thing that makes vav interesting is that it can also function as two different vowel sounds as well. When it appears as וֹ (called holem vav), it’s pronounced “oh”, like the sound at the end of “mow” and when you see וּ (called shurek), you’d pronounce it “ooo” like the sound at the end of “blue”.

ז Zayin

Zayin is pronounced “zzz” like the letter Z in English. It can carry a dagesh (זּ), which doesn’t change the pronunciation. 

ח Chet

Chet is one of the guttural letters in Hebrew and, as I said above, is pronounced in the back of your throat and sounds like the “ch” in the name “Bach”.

ט Tet

Tet is pronounced “t” like the letter T in English. It will sometimes appear with a dagesh (טּ), which doesn’t change its pronunciation. 

י Yod

The tiny letter yod sounds like the English letter “y”, as in “yellow”. Like others, it can carry a dagesh (יּ), which doesn’t change its pronunciation. 

כּ Kaf

Kaf is pronounced “k” like the English letter K. It’s always pronounced this way when the dot (dagesh) is present. Without the dagesh, it makes the sound of the next letter on this list, Chaf.

כ Chaf

The “ch” in the name of the letter chaf is pronounced as a guttural, similar to the “ch” in “Bach” like the letter chet above. It makes the same sound as chet also, the “ch” sound. When this letter has a dagesh, it makes the sound “k”, as described above. 

What’s unique about Chaf that I haven’t discussed yet is that it looks different when it appears at the end of a word. Five Hebrew letters do this and this end form of a letter is called the final (or sofit) form. When at the end of a word, chaf will look like this: ך.

ל Lamed

Lamed makes the same “l” sound as the letter L in English. Lamed may have a dagesh and look like this (לּ) but is pronounced the same. 

מ Mem

Mem is pronounced “mmm” like the letter M in English. When it appears with a dagesh (מּ), its sound is not changed. Mem also has a final form, ם, which is almost always found only when a mem is at the end of a word.

נ Nun

Nun (Pronounced both noon and nun), is pronounced “n” like the English letter N. It can have a dagesh, which would look like this (נּ) but the pronunciation remains the same. Nun has a final form for when it’s found at the end of a word, which looks like this: ן.

ס Samech

Samech is pronounced like the English letter S and is pronounced “s”. It can also have a dagesh (סּ) and is pronounced the same if it does.

ע Ayin

Like aleph, ayin is a silent letter. It only makes the sound of the vowel that accompanies it.

פּ Pey

Pey is pronounced “p” like the letter P in the English alphabet. If it has a dagesh, it’s pronounced “p” and if it doesn’t, it’s pronounced “f”, further explained below.

פ Fey

Fey is, like the English letter F, pronounced “f”. This is only when it doesn’t have a dagesh because if it does, it’s pronounced “p”. Fey also has a final form, ף, for when it appears at the end of a word.

צ Tsade

This letter’s name is pronounced tsa-dee, with the “ts” being a consonant blend sound like the sound at the end of the word “nuts”. This is also the way the letter is pronounced. It’s said the same when it contains a dagesh and has a final form (ץ) when it’s at the end of a word.

ק Qof

Qof makes the “q” sound like the English letter Q. It can also appear with a dagesh and it’s pronounced the same then.

ר Resh

Resh is pronounced “rrr” like the English letter R. It’s a guttural so it’s said from the back of your throat and is also rolled like a letter R in Spanish.

שׁ Shin 

Shin is pronounced “sh” like the commonly-used consonant blend in English. It sounds the same when it has a dagesh. Which side the dot on top is on indicates whether it’s pronounced “sh” or “s”.

שׂ Sin 

The name of this letter is pronounced sin or seen. It makes the same sound as the letter S in English, “sss”. This is the same sound as the letter samech and sin makes the same sound when it has a dagesh. Pay careful attention to which side the dot is on, as this is what differentiates between shin and sin. 

ת Tav

Tav, the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, is pronounced “t” just like the English letter T. It sounds the same when it has a dagesh in it, like this: תּ.