The Hebrew letter Lamed
Lamed is the twelfth of the 22 letters of the alef beis. It is written ל in print, in ksiva it is written as a single unbroken stroke, and its gematria value is 30. It sounds like l. My Ksiva Workbook teaches it on page 35.
Lamed is the tallest letter in the alef beis — the only one that rises above the line the others sit on. In ksiva it is a single unbroken stroke: a loop at the bottom and a tall shaft carried up past its neighbours. Children who have been writing inside ruled boxes meet their first letter that will not fit in one.
- Position 12 of 22
- Gematria 30
- Sound l
- Ksiva strokes One
- Taught on page 35 of 82
How is Lamed 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 Lamed 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?
In print, lamed is the only letter with an ascender, so it is hard to mistake for anything else. In ksiva the loop is what identifies it.
How is it spelled in English?
This site uses the Ashkenazi transliteration the workbook prints, Lamed. You will also see it written lamedh. They are all the same letter.
Where it is taught
Lamed is taught on page 35 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.