Rashi Script, Block Capitals and Display Type

This page has a narrow goal: recognition. When you open a מקראות גדולות, a traditional Talmud edition or an edition that preserves classical page design, you should be able to identify the commentary letters and turn them back into familiar square Hebrew. You do not need to write Rashi script by hand.

The name is misleading. Rashi script is not Rashi's handwriting. Rashi died centuries before the first Hebrew printed books. The type is based on a Sephardic semi-cursive manuscript hand and was adopted by early printers in the fifteenth century. On a page containing both a primary text and commentary, square type marked the text while the contrasting semi-cursive type marked commentary. Rashi's works became its most famous occupant, and his name stuck to the type.

The complete print-to-Rashi map

The right-hand letter in each pair is ordinary square print; the Rashi column is rendered in a real Rashi face. The sound and spelling do not change — only the visual form does.

The forms to overlearn are א ב ד ה ט ס ע פ צ ק ש and the finals ך ם ן ף ץ. A square-print reader is especially likely to substitute a familiar letter for one of these before checking the whole word. The cure is not a verbal sketch of each stroke; it is repeated comparison in a single consistent typeface, followed by real lines of text.

Decode an authentic commentary line

The following sentence is the opening of Rashi's first comment on Genesis 1:1, with modern full spelling and punctuation added for readability. Read the Rashi line before revealing the square transcription:

This sequence matters. The comment begins אמר רבי יצחק and asks why the Torah opens with Creation rather than with the first commandment addressed to Israel. Only after that opening discussion does the next gloss take up בראשית ברא. Calling בראשית ברא the first words of Rashi's commentary confuses the biblical lemma with the sequence of his comments.

Try a shorter chunk in the same type:

The language here is not pointed, and traditional pages use abbreviations, compact spacing and editorial conventions unfamiliar from a newspaper. Script recognition removes one obstacle; it does not turn Rabbinic Hebrew or Talmudic Aramaic into modern conversation.

Rashi type is not everyday cursive

Rashi type and modern handwriting both descend from cursive traditions, but they are not interchangeable alphabets. A note from a friend belongs in כתב; a printed commentary may use Rashi type. Compare the same word:

The full everyday handwritten system is taught on print versus cursive. Do not practise Rashi type as a replacement for it.

כתב אשורי and STA״M

The calligraphic square writing in a Torah scroll, mezuzah or tefillin belongs to כתב אשורי, and the specialised scribal practice is commonly called כתב סת״ם. The abbreviation סת״ם refers to ספרי תורה, תפילין and מזוזות. This is neither everyday handwriting nor Rashi type.

A trained scribe follows prescribed construction rules: strokes must have recognisable forms, letters must remain distinct and must not improperly touch, and certain letters receive תגים, small crown-like strokes. A Torah scroll is written as a sacred object under halakhic rules, not typeset by choosing a decorative “Torah font.” Digital fonts can imitate the surface appearance, but they cannot reproduce the act or legal status of scribal writing.

Modern body type and display type

Modern Hebrew typography has familiar body-text traditions. Frank-Rühl became a dominant book and newspaper face, while David is another influential text family. Headlines, posters, packaging and app interfaces use a much wider range of designs, sometimes pushing a letter far from the body-text model. Before deciding that a headline contains an unknown letter, compare its neighbours and the likely word.

Hebrew has no uppercase alphabet and no separate native italic alphabet comparable to Roman italics. A design may mechanically slope letters, but typographic hierarchy usually comes from weight, size, spacing (ריווח), colour and quotation marks. The grammatical consequences of having no case system are covered on Hebrew without capitals.

Common Mistakes

1. Substituting a square-letter guess too early. In אמר, the first glyph is Rashi א. Reading it as ע produces the wrong transcription before the sentence has even begun.

2. Losing the ד/ר distinction inside a word. Compare Rashi דבר with square דבר. Check both the opening letter and the word as a whole.

3. Normalising a final letter back to its medial form. Rashi ארץ ends in ץ. The script changes the glyph, not the rule governing its position.

4. Treating every unfamiliar traditional face as “Rashi.” The three visual systems below serve different functions: square כתב, handwriting כתב, and Rashi כתב. A STA״M hand is a fourth, regulated scribal practice.

Key Takeaways

• Rashi script is a printed commentary face based on a Sephardic semi-cursive hand, not Rashi's personal handwriting.
• Learn the complete mapping, then overlearn the high-risk forms א ב ד ה ט ס ע פ צ ק ש ך ם ן ף ץ in whole words.
• Rashi's first Genesis comment begins אמר רבי יצחק; the later בראשית ברא is a following lemma, not the opening words of the commentary.
• Rashi type, everyday cursive and כתב אשורי/סת״ם are separate systems with separate functions.
• Traditional pages combine a script barrier with unpointed spelling, abbreviations and older language. Decoding the letters removes only the typographic barrier.
• Modern Hebrew substitutes weight, size, spacing, colour and quotation marks for the capital/italic contrast familiar from English.