The Hebrew letter Dalet
Dalet is the fourth of the 22 letters of the alef beis. It is written ד in print, in ksiva it is written as a single unbroken stroke, and its gematria value is 4. It sounds like d. My Ksiva Workbook teaches it on page 10.
Dalet is the fourth letter, value 4. Its print form is a roof and an upright meeting at a square corner, with a small heel projecting at the top right. That heel is the entire difference between dalet and raish, and it is the first thing to point at when a child has written one for the other.
- Position 4 of 22
- Gematria 4
- Sound d
- Ksiva strokes One
- Taught on page 10 of 82
How is Dalet 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 Dalet 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?
Dalet and raish are the classic pair. Dalet turns a sharp corner and leaves a heel projecting to the right; raish is a smooth curve with nothing projecting at all.
How is it spelled in English?
This site uses the Ashkenazi transliteration the workbook prints, Dalet. You will also see it written daled, daleth. They are all the same letter.
Where it is taught
Dalet is taught on page 10 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.