The Hebrew letter Alef
Alef is the first of the 22 letters of the alef beis. It is written א in print, in ksiva it takes two strokes, and its gematria value is 1. It is silent, and carries whichever vowel is written under it. My Ksiva Workbook teaches it on page 2.
Alef is the first letter and it makes no sound of its own. What a reader hears is the vowel written beneath it, which is why a child can write alef perfectly and still have nothing to say out loud with it. In ksiva it is one of only five letters the workbook marks with two strokes: the curve first, then the shaft down its left side.
- Position 1 of 22
- Gematria 1
- Sound Silent
- Ksiva strokes 2
- Taught on page 2 of 82
How is Alef written?
The workbook teaches every letter the same four ways, so a child always knows what is being asked of them.
See both forms. The workbook opens the letter with Alef in print and in ksiva side by side, and marks the ksiva form with a numbered arrow showing where the stroke begins.
Trace it. A row of dotted outlines gives the whole shape. The child writes over the top of it, so the hand learns the movement before it has to remember the shape.
Finish it. Each box after that gives a little less of the letter than the one before, until the last box is empty and the child writes it unaided.
Use it in a word. The letter then appears in whole words to copy in script, built only from letters already taught, so the child is never asked to write a letter they have not met.
What is it confused with?
Alef and ayin are the two silent letters, and beginners go on mixing up which one a word wants long after they can write both. The shapes are no help — alef balances two arms on a diagonal, ayin sets a wide V on a stem.
How is it spelled in English?
This site uses the Ashkenazi transliteration the workbook prints, Alef. You will also see it written aleph. They are all the same letter.
Where it is taught
Alef is taught on page 2 of My Ksiva Workbook, an 82-page Hebrew handwriting workbook covering all 22 letters in both scripts. Every letterform on this page is taken from the book itself.