The Hebrew letter Fai
Fai is the seventeenth of the 22 letters of the alef beis. It is written פ in print, in ksiva it is written as a single unbroken stroke, and its gematria value is 80. It says p with a dagesh and f without one. My Ksiva Workbook teaches it on page 53.
Fai is value 80. With a dagesh it says p; without it, f. Its print form curls inward at the top, so the letter has a mouth — and that curl is the one detail keeping it from being read as a samech. At the end of a word it opens out into fai sofis and drops below the line.
- Position 17 of 22
- Gematria 80
- Sound p / f
- Ksiva strokes One
- Final form ף — Fai sofis
- Taught on page 53 of 82
How is Fai 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 Fai 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?
Take fai’s inward curl away and what is left is a closed round shape, which is samech. Final fai and koof both drop below the line and are told apart at the top: koof’s head is a raish, final fai keeps its curl.
The final form
At the end of a word, Fai is written ף — Fai sofis. The workbook gives it its own page, on page 55.
How is it spelled in English?
The workbook banners this letter Pai-Fai, naming both of its forms on one page. You will also see it written pe, peh, fe, pay. They are all the same letter.
Where it is taught
Fai is taught on page 53 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.