Alphabets · Hebrew

The Hebrew alphabet

22 letters, written from right to left, and each of them also a number. Start with a letter's shape and name. Its value is what gematria adds up. Its kind — Mother, Double or Simple — is how Sefer Yetzirah divides the 22, and each card below links to the letter's path on both trees.

Five letters take another shape at the end of a word. Here, as in the gematria calculator, a final form keeps its letter's ordinary value.

Three kinds of letter

Sefer Yetzirah sorts the 22 letters by what it makes from them. The three Mothers are the elements, Air, Water and Fire. Each of the seven Doubles has a hard and a soft sound, and from them come the planets and the days of the week. From the twelve Simples come the faculties of a person, the directions of space and the constellations of the zodiac. Each of those is the book's own account, quoted below.

3 Mothers

א מ ש

In plain English The three Mothers are Air, Water and Fire. Water is silent and Fire hisses; Air, between them, holds the two opposites in balance.

The Three Mothers are Aleph, Mem and Shin, they are Air, Water and Fire Water is silent, Fire is sibilant, and Air derived from the Spirit is as the tongue of a balance standing between these contraries which are in equilibrium, reconciling and mediating between them.
Sefer Yetzirah 2:1, in Westcott's English, 1887

In plain English Every other letter is built on these three. The book pictures them as a pair of scales, with Aleph as the tongue that stands between the pans.

The Foundation of all the other sounds and letters is provided by the Three Mothers, Aleph, Mem and Shin; they resemble a Balance, on the one hand the guilty, on the other hand the purified, and Aleph the Air is like the Tongue of a Balance standing between them.
Sefer Yetzirah 3:1, in Westcott's English, 1887

7 Doubles

ב ג ד כ פ ר ת

In plain English Each of the seven has two sounds, a hard one and a soft one. The book says they are called Double because each also stands for a pair of opposites: life and death, peace and war, wisdom and folly.

The Seven double letters, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Peh, Resh, and Tau have each two sounds associated with them. They are referred to Life, Peace, Wisdom, Riches, Grace, Fertility and Power. The two sounds of each letter are the hard and the soft--the aspirated and the softened. They are called Double, because each letter presents a contrast or permutation; thus Life and Death; Peace and War; Wisdom and Folly; Riches and Poverty; Grace and Indignation; Fertility and Solitude; Power and Servitude.
Sefer Yetzirah 4:1, in Westcott's English, 1887

In plain English From the seven the book forms the planets, the days of the week and the openings through which a person perceives.

These Seven Double Letters He designed, produced, and combined, and formed with them the Planets of this World, the Days of the Week, and the Gates of the soul (the orifices of perception) in Man.
Sefer Yetzirah 4:3, in Westcott's English, 1887

In plain English Westcott's own note on the planets: the order he prints is a modern illustration, not something found in the old copies. Which planet belongs to which letter is not settled, and this page assigns none.

This is one of several modern illustrations of the allotment of the Seven Letters; it is not found in the ancient copies of the "Sepher Yetzirah."
Sefer Yetzirah 4, supplement, in Westcott's English, 1887

12 Simples

ה ו ז ח ט י ל נ ס ע צ ק

In plain English The twelve Simples are the foundations of twelve human faculties, from sight and hearing to anger, mirth, imagination and sleep, and they are also given the twelve directions of space.

The Twelve Simple Letters are Héh, Vau, Zain, Cheth, Teth, Yod, Lamed, Nun, Samech, Oin, Tzaddi and Qoph; they are the foundations of these twelve properties: Sight, Hearing, Smell, Speech, Taste, Sexual Love, Work, Movement, Anger, Mirth, Imagination, and Sleep. These Twelve are also allotted to the directions in space: North-east, South-east, the East above, the East below, the North above, the North below, the South-west, the Northwest, the West above, the West below, the South above, and the South below; these diverge to infinity, and are as the arms of the Universe.
Sefer Yetzirah 5:1, in Westcott's English, 1887

In plain English From the twelve the book forms the constellations of the zodiac. This page does not say which letter goes with which sign.

These Twelve Simple Letters He designed, and combined, and formed with them the Twelve celestial constellations of the Zodiac…
Sefer Yetzirah 5:2, in Westcott's English, 1887

The letters

In alphabetical order, which is also the order of their values. The meaning under each name is the traditional sense of the name as this study's Tree records it; no source is cited for those yet.

  1. א

    Aleph

    Ox

    Value
    1
    Class
    Mother
    Unicode
    U+05D0

    Hermetic tree, path 11 Gra arrangement, path 21 Correspondences

  2. ב

    Beth

    House

    Value
    2
    Class
    Double
    Unicode
    U+05D1

    Hermetic tree, path 12 Gra arrangement, path 13 Correspondences

  3. ג

    Gimel

    Camel

    Value
    3
    Class
    Double
    Unicode
    U+05D2

    Hermetic tree, path 13 Gra arrangement, path 17 Correspondences

  4. ד

    Daleth

    Door

    Value
    4
    Class
    Double
    Unicode
    U+05D3

    Hermetic tree, path 14 Gra arrangement, path 18 Correspondences

  5. ה

    Heh

    Window

    Value
    5
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05D4

    Hermetic tree, path 15 Gra arrangement, path 11 Correspondences

  6. ו

    Vav

    Nail, hook

    Value
    6
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05D5

    Hermetic tree, path 16 Gra arrangement, path 12 Correspondences

  7. ז

    Zayin

    Sword

    Value
    7
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05D6

    Hermetic tree, path 17 Gra arrangement, path 15 Correspondences

  8. ח

    Cheth

    Fence, enclosure

    Value
    8
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05D7

    Hermetic tree, path 18 Gra arrangement, path 16 Correspondences

  9. ט

    Teth

    Serpent

    Value
    9
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05D8

    Hermetic tree, path 19 Gra arrangement, path 19 Correspondences

  10. י

    Yod

    Hand

    Value
    10
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05D9

    Hermetic tree, path 20 Gra arrangement, path 20 Correspondences

  11. כ ך

    Kaph

    Palm of the hand

    Value
    20
    Class
    Double
    Final form
    ך
    Unicode
    U+05DB

    Hermetic tree, path 21 Gra arrangement, path 25 Correspondences

  12. ל

    Lamed

    Ox-goad

    Value
    30
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05DC

    Hermetic tree, path 22 Gra arrangement, path 23 Correspondences

  13. מ ם

    Mem

    Water

    Value
    40
    Class
    Mother
    Final form
    ם
    Unicode
    U+05DE

    Hermetic tree, path 23 Gra arrangement, path 29 Correspondences

  14. נ ן

    Nun

    Fish

    Value
    50
    Class
    Simple
    Final form
    ן
    Unicode
    U+05E0

    Hermetic tree, path 24 Gra arrangement, path 24 Correspondences

  15. ס

    Samekh

    Prop, support

    Value
    60
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05E1

    Hermetic tree, path 25 Gra arrangement, path 27 Correspondences

  16. ע

    Ayin

    Eye

    Value
    70
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05E2

    Hermetic tree, path 26 Gra arrangement, path 28 Correspondences

  17. פ ף

    Peh

    Mouth

    Value
    80
    Class
    Double
    Final form
    ף
    Unicode
    U+05E4

    Hermetic tree, path 27 Gra arrangement, path 26 Correspondences

  18. צ ץ

    Tzaddi

    Fish-hook

    Value
    90
    Class
    Simple
    Final form
    ץ
    Unicode
    U+05E6

    Hermetic tree, path 28 Gra arrangement, path 30 Correspondences

  19. ק

    Qoph

    Back of the head

    Value
    100
    Class
    Simple
    Unicode
    U+05E7

    Hermetic tree, path 29 Gra arrangement, path 31 Correspondences

  20. ר

    Resh

    Head

    Value
    200
    Class
    Double
    Unicode
    U+05E8

    Hermetic tree, path 30 Gra arrangement, path 22 Correspondences

  21. ש

    Shin

    Tooth

    Value
    300
    Class
    Mother
    Unicode
    U+05E9

    Hermetic tree, path 31 Gra arrangement, path 14 Correspondences

  22. ת

    Tav

    Cross, mark

    Value
    400
    Class
    Double
    Unicode
    U+05EA

    Hermetic tree, path 32 Gra arrangement, path 32 Correspondences

Where each fact comes from

Values
The ordinary values, from one to four hundred, as Elaine Goodfriend, “Gematria in the Hebrew Bible” gives them. The gematria calculator uses the same table, and this page refuses to load if the two ever disagree.
Classes
Sefer Yetzirah, in Westcott's 1887 translation. Every quotation above is cut out of that text by a script, never typed, and its chapter and section are read off the text as well. The plain English beside each one is this site's, and is labelled as ours.
Final forms
Worked out, not listed: a final form is the letter that shares its value in the gematria table.
Meanings
The traditional sense of each letter's name, as this study's Hermetic tree records it. No source is cited for these yet. They are shown because a letter's name is part of the letter, and they are not claims about what the letter means on the Tree.
Shapes
The characters of the Unicode Hebrew block, drawn by your browser's font. The code point under each card identifies the character exactly.