Cursive Hebrew (Hebrew:כתב עברי רהוטktav ivri rahut, "flowing Hebrew writing", orכתב יד עבריktav yad 'ivri, "Hebrew handwriting", often called simplyכתבktav, "writing") is a collective designation for several styles ofhandwriting theHebrew alphabet.Modern Hebrew, especially in informal use inIsrael, is handwritten with theAshkenazicursive script that had developed inCentral Europe by the 13th century.^[1] This is also a mainstay of handwrittenYiddish.^[2][3] It was preceded by aSephardi cursive script, known asSolitreo, that is still used forLadino.^[4]

As with all handwriting, cursive Hebrew displays considerable individual variation. The forms in the table below are representative of those in present-day use.^[5] The names appearing with the individual letters are taken from theUnicode standard and may differ from their designations in the various languages using them—seeHebrew alphabet § Pronunciation for variation in letter names. (Table is organized right-to-left reflecting Hebrew's lexicographic mode.)

Alefא‎	Betב‎	Gimelג‎	Daledד‎	Heה‎	Vavו‎	Zayinז‎	Hetח‎	Tetט‎	Yodי‎	Kafכ / ך‎
										/
Lamedל‎	Memמ / ם‎	Nunנ / ן‎	Samekhס‎	Ayinע‎	Peפ / ף‎	Tsadiצ / ץ‎	Qofק‎	Reshר‎	Shinש‎	Tavת‎
	/	/			/	/

Note: Final forms are to the left of the initial/medial forms.

This table shows the development of cursive Hebrew from the 7th through the 19th centuries. This is discussed in the following section, which makes reference to the columns in the table, numbered (at foot) 1 through 14.

Figure 3: "Cursive Writing"(Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901–1906).

Column:

1. Incantation uponBabylonian dish.^[6]
2. Egyptian, 12th century.
3. Constantinople, 1506.
4. 10th century.
5. Spanish, dated 1480.
6. Spanish, 10th century.
7. Provençal, 10th century.
8. Italian, 10th century.
9. Greek, dated 1375.
10. Italian, dated 1451.
11. Italian, 10th century.
12. German, 10th century.
13. Eleazer of Worms, copied atRome in 1515 byElias Levita.^[7]
14. Ashkenazi, 19th century.

The brief inscriptions daubed in red ink upon the walls of thecatacombs of Venosa are probably the oldest examples of cursive script. Still longer texts in a cursive alphabet are furnished by the clay bowls found inBabylonia and bearingexorcisms against magical influences and evil spirits. These bowls date from the 7th or 8th century, and some of the letters are written in a form that is very antiquated(Figure 3, column 1). Somewhat less of a cursive nature is the manuscript, which dates from the 8th century.^[8]Columns 2–14 exhibit cursive scripts of various countries and centuries. The differences visible in the square alphabets are much more apparent. For instance, the Sephardi rounds off still more, and, as inArabic, there is a tendency to run the lower lines to the left, whereas the Ashkenazi script appears cramped and disjointed. Instead of the little ornaments at the upper ends of the stems, in the letters^{[clarification needed]} a more or less weak flourish of the line appears. For the rest the cursive of the Codices remains fairly true to the square text.

Documents of a private nature were certainly written in a much more running hand, as the sample from one of the oldest Arabic letters written with Hebrew letters (possibly the 10th century) clearly shows in the papyrus, in "Führer durch die Ausstellung", Table XIX., Vienna, 1894,(compare Figure 3, column 4). However, since the preservation of such letters were not held to be of importance, material of this nature from the earlier times is very scarce, and as a consequence the development of the script is very hard to follow. The last two columns ofFigure 3 exhibit the Ashkenazi cursive script of a later date. The next to the last is taken from a manuscript ofElias Levita. The accompanying specimen presents Sephardi script. In this flowing cursive alphabet the ligatures appear more often. They occur especially in letters which have a sharp turn to the left (ג‎,ז‎,כ‎,נ‎,צ‎,ח‎), and above all inנ‎, whose great open bow offers ample space for another letter(see Figure 2).

The following are the successive stages in the development of each letter:

• Alef is separated into two parts, the first being written as, and theperpendicular stroke placed at the left. By the turn of the 20th century, Ashkenazi cursive had these two elements separated, thus ׀c, and theacute angle was rounded. It received also an abbreviated form connected with the favorite old ligature, and it is to this ligature of Alef andLamed that the contractedOriental Aleph owes its origin(Figure 3, column 7).
• In writingBet, the lower part necessitated an interruption, and to overcome this obstacle it was made, and, with the total omission of the whole lower line,.
• InGimel, the left-hand stroke is lengthened more and more.
• Dalet had its stroke put on obliquely to distinguish it fromResh; however, since in rapid writing it easily assumed a form similar in appearance toResh,Dalet in analogy withב‎ was later changed to.
• A transformation very similar to this took place in the cases of finalKaf and ofQof(see columns 2, 5, 11, 14), except that Kaf opened out a trifle more than Qof.
• The lower part ofZayin was bent sharply to the right and received a little hook at the bottom.
• The left-hand stroke ofṬet was lengthened.
• Lamed gradually lost itssemicircle until (as in bothNabataean andSyriac) by the turn of the 20th century, it became a simple stroke, which was bent sharply toward the right. In the modern script today the Lamed has regained its semicircle.
• FinalMem branches out at the bottom, and in its latest stage is drawn out either to the left or straight down.
• InSamekh the same development also took place, but it afterward became again a simple circle.
• To write 'Ayin without removing the pen from the surface, its two strokes were joined with a curl.
• The two forms of the letterPe spread out in a marked flourish.
• ForTsadi the right-hand head is made longer, at first only to a small degree, but later on to a considerable extent.
• In the beginningShin develops similarly to the same letter in Nabataean, but afterward the central stroke is lengthened upward, like the right arm of Tsadi, and finally it is joined with the left stroke, and the first stroke is left off altogether.
• The lettersה‎,ד‎,ח‎,ן‎,נ‎,ר‎,ת‎, have undergone little modification: they have been rounded out and simplified by the omission of the heads.

TheSamaritans are an ethnic group descended from the Israelites and are a sister people to the Jews. Whereas the Israelites and laterHebrews suffered a number of exoduses and deportations over the course of history, Samaritans for the most part remained inIsrael since ancient times. As a result, theHebrew language of the Samaritans is written in a uniqueabjad, distinct from that of Hebrew; this abjad is called theSamaritan alphabet. Thanks to the Samaritans' sedentary residence in Israel, the script of Samaritan Hebrew is a direct descendant of thePaleo-Hebrew alphabet, the script which the Jews abandoned in favor of theKtav Ashuri script in the 4th centuryBCE. Like standard Hebrew, Samaritan Hebrew has its own cursive script.^{[citation needed]}

A'lafࠀ‎	Bitࠁ‎	Ga'manࠂ‎	Da'latࠃ‎	Iyࠄ‎	Baࠅ‎	Zenࠆ‎	Itࠇ‎	Titࠈ‎	Yutࠉ‎	Kafࠊ‎
La'batࠋ‎	Mimࠌ‎	Nunࠍ‎	Sin'gatࠎ‎	Inࠏ‎	Fiࠐ‎	Sa'diyࠑ‎	Qufࠒ‎	Rishࠓ‎	Shanࠔ‎	Tafࠕ‎

• Cursive
• Handwriting
• Judeo-Arabic languages
• Ruqʿah script

• Cursive Hebrew fonts for download atwww.oketz.com
• LadinoType - System for Solitreo and Rashi
• Cursive Hebrew in the 1901–1906Jewish Encyclopedia This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.

• Hebrew alphabet
• Handwriting script

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