The Hebrew letter Samech
Samech is the fifteenth of the 22 letters of the alef beis. It is written ס in print, in ksiva it is written as a single unbroken stroke, and its gematria value is 60. It sounds like s. My Ksiva Workbook teaches it on page 47.
Samech is value 60 and one of only two letters in the alef beis that close completely, the other being final mem. In ksiva it stays a closed loop, which makes it one of the few letters where knowing the print form is of any use at all in writing the other.
- Position 15 of 22
- Gematria 60
- Sound s
- Ksiva strokes One
- Taught on page 47 of 82
How is Samech 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 Samech 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?
Samech and final mem are the two closed letters and are mistaken for each other constantly. Samech is round; final mem is square at the corners.
How is it spelled in English?
This site uses the Ashkenazi transliteration the workbook prints, Samech. You will also see it written samekh, samach. They are all the same letter.
Where it is taught
Samech is taught on page 47 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.