The Alef Bet
Hebrew uses a different alphabet than English. Hebrew is written from right to left, rather than left to right as in English, so Alef is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and Tav is the last. The Hebrew alphabet is often called the "alef-bet," because of its first two letters.
as Hebrew literacy declined, particularly after the Romans expelled the Jews from Israel, the Rabbis realized the need for aids to pronunciation, so they developed a system of dots and dashes known as nikkudim (points). These dots and dashes are written above or below the letter, in ways that do not alter the spacing of the line. Text containing these markings is referred to as "pointed" text.
Most nikkudim are used to indicate vowels. Each letter in the alefbet has a numerical value. These values can be used to write numbers, as the Romans used some of their letters (I, V, X, L, C, M) to represent numbers. Alef through Yod have the values 1 through 10. Yod through Qof have the values 10 through 100, counting by 10s. Qof through Tav have the values 100 through 400, counting by 100s. Final letters have the same value as their non-final counterparts.
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There are different styles of writing also, from Block Print, to Script, to Rashi. Click on the songs to learn the Alef Bet!
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Adapted from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-hebrew-alphabet-aleph-bet
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