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Hebrew Fonts

Open-source Unicode Hebrew Fonts (sorted by diacritic support and style) • פונטים בעברית, יוניקוד וקוד פתוח

Click on a font name below for a download link, and to review a summary of the font’s diacritic positioning and character support. See bottom of page for a font comparison chart (PDF).

The font pack is maintained by Aharon Varady, and all the fonts can be downloaded as ZIP file from his github account here. (If you’d like to support the maintenance of this font pack, please consider becoming a patron.)

The tables below are organized according to font support for t’amim and/or niqqud. Click the table headers to sort alphabetically or by type foundry.

 



 

Fonts supporting both niqqud and t’amim

אבגדFontDiacritic SupportNotesStyleFoundryTypographerVersionLicense

————————————————————————————————————————————

Shlomo SemiStam

t’amim and niqqudmissing:
wide ligatures
Scribal
Ashkenaz
Shlomo OrbachShlomo Orbach1.0; 2010SIL OFL 1.1

Shlomo Stam

t’amim and niqqudmissing:
wide ligatures
Scribal
Ashkenaz
Shlomo OrbachShlomo Orbach1.0; 2010SIL OFL 1.1

Keter Aram Sova

(Aleppo Codex, 10th cen. CE

t’amim and niqqudSerif
Scribal
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.103ygGPL+FE

Keter YG

(based on Aleppo Codex, modernized

t’amim and niqqudSerifCulmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.103ygGPL+FE

Shofar

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors:
rafé
varika

SerifCulmus ProjectYoram Gnat1.6GPL+FE

Taamey Ashkenaz

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors:
rafé
varika

SerifCulmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.150ygGPL+FE

Taamey Frank CLM

t’amim and niqqudSerifCulmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.11GPL+FE

Frank Ruehl CLM

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors:
rafé
varika

SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

Cardo

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors:
rafé
varika

SerifFonts for ScholarsDavid J. Perry1.045SIL OFL 1.1

NotoSerifHebrew

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors:
meteg
ḥolam w/ vav

missing:
qamatz qatan
SerifGoogle Inc.Monotype Design Team2.000SIL OFL 1.1

Ezra SIL SR

t’amim and niqqudmissing:
wide ligatures
SerifSILSIL NRSI Team2.51, 2007SIL OFL 1.1

Shlomo

(based on Ezra SIL

t’amim and niqqudmissing:
wide ligatures
SerifShlomo OrbachSIL NRSI Team, adapted by Shlomo Orbach1.0; 2011SIL OFL 1.1

NotoRashiHebrew

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors:
tsere
meteg
niqqud under tsadi

missing:
varika
wide ligatures
CursiveGoogle LLCBorys Kosmynka1.001SIL OFL 1.1

Miriam Mono CLM

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors:
rafé
varika

Monospaced
Sans-serif
Culmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

Taamey David CLM

t’amim and niqqudSans-SerifCulmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.11GPL+FE

FiraGO Hebrew

t’amim and niqqudSans-SerifbBox Type GmbHNatalie Rauch1.001SIL OFL 1.1

Nachlieli CLM

t’amim and niqqud

positioning errors: meteg
rafé
varika

Sans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

Noto Sans

t’amim and niqqud

positioning error:
meteg

missing:
numbers
punctuation
Sans-SerifGoogle Inc.Monotype Design Teamn/aSIL OFL 1.1

Open Sans Hebrew

t’amim and niqqudmissing:
rafé
varika
yiddish
ligatures
Sans-SerifAscender CorporationYanek Iontef1.10Apache 2.0


 

Fonts supporting niqqud only

אבגדFontDiacritic SupportNotesStyleFoundryTypographerVersionLicense

Drugulin CLM

(formerly Mekorot Vilna)

general diacritic positioning errorsmissing:
qamats qatan
ḥolam
varika
ligatures
SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

————————————————————————————————————————————

Frank CurledLamed CLM

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé

missing:
varika
SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh, adapted by Yoram Gnat1.0GPL 2.0

Linux Libertine

niqqud onlymissing:
qamats qatan
varika
wide ligatures
SerifLibertine Open Fonts ProjektPhilipp H. Poll5.3.0GPL & SIL OFL 1.1

Frank Ruhl Libre

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé
meteg
ḥet and ayin w/ dagesh
mem sofit w/ ḥiriq

missing:
varika
backwards facing nun
SerifFontefYanek Iontef5.0.0SIL OFL 1.1

Liberation Serif

niqqud only

positioning errors:
yud w/ ḥiriq
maqaf
t’amim

missing:
wide ligatures
SerifRed Hat/Ascender Corp.Steve Matteson2.00.1SIL OFL 1.1

FreeSerif

niqqud only

positioning error:
nun with ḥolam ḥaser

missing:
qamats qatan
SerifGNU Free Font ProjectPrimož Peterlin, Steve White412.2263GPL 3.0

Tinos

niqqud only

positioning errors:
yud w/ ḥiriq
maqaf
t’amim

missing:
wide ligatures
SerifMonotype Imaging Inc.Steve Matteson1.23Apache 2.0

Hadasim CLM

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé

missing:
varika
SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL+FE

Shmulik CLM

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé

missing:
varika
SerifCulmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.12GPL+FE

BenOr Rashi

niqqud onlyCursive
Sepharadi
SefaradizoDavid ben Or1.023UFL 1.0

Mekorot Rashi

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé
segol sheva
qamats sheva
pataḥ sheva

missing:
varika
meteg
Cursive
Sepharadi
MekorotAlan Hoenig/Omega Makor
(with corrections by Yoram Gnat
0.003LPPL 1.3c

Dorian CLM (Italic)

niqqud only

positioning errors:
varika
rafé
nun w/ qubutz
mem sofit w/ ḥiriq

CursiveCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh2.1GPL 2.0

Gveret Levin AlefAlefAlef

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
meteg
yiddish
ligatures
cursive
ktav-yad
אאאShavit Yaacov1.000SIL OFL 1.1

Máshkit

(a/k/a méshit, máshet, máshket, vaybertaytsh)

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
gershayim
MashkitRefoyl FinklRaphael Finkel001.000GPL+FE

FreeMono

niqqud only

positioning errors:
varika

missing:
qamats qatan
ḥolam
Monospaced
Sans-serif
GNU Free Font ProjectPrimož Peterlin, Steve White1.215GPL+FE

Cousine

niqqud onlymissing:
wide ligatures
Monospaced
Sans-Serif
Monotype Imaging Inc.Steve Matteson1.21Apache 2.0

Aharoni CLM

misaligned niqud in sofit formsmissing:
qamats qatan
most ligatures
Sans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

David CLM

niqqud onlymissing:
wide ligatures
backwards facing nun
Sans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

David Libre

niqqud onlymissing:
wide ligatures
varika
Sans-SerifMonotypeMeir Sadan1.000SIL OFL 1.1

Arimo

niqqud onlymissing:
wide ligatures
Sans-SerifMonotype Imaging Inc.Steve Matteson1.23Apache 2.0

Heebo

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
meteg
backwards facing nun
Sans-SerifOded EzerMeir Sadan2.000SIL OFL 1.1

Varela Round

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
rafé
meteg
ligatures
yiddish
qamats qatan
ḥolam
Sans-Serifאאא (Avraham Cornfeld)Joe Prince3.000SIL OFL 1.1

Miriam CLM

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé
varika

missing:
wide ligatures
backwards facing nun
Sans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

Miriam Libre

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
rafé
meteg
ligatures
qamats qatan
Sans-SerifHagildaMichal Sahar1.000SIL OFL 1.1

Assistant

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
meteg
ligatures
yiddish
Sans-SerifThe Amirim ProjectBen Nathan2.001SIL OFL 1.1

IBMPlex SansHebrew

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé

missing:
varika
meteg
qamatz qatan
Sans-SerifIBM PlexMike Abbink, Paul van der Laan, Piter van Rosmalen, Yanek Iontef1.1SIL OFL 1.1

Simple CLM

niqqud only

positioning errors:
rafé

missing:
varika
Sans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL+FE

Alef

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
rafé
meteg
qamats qatan
yiddish
ligatures
Sans-SerifHaGildaHaGilda Tel Aviv1.001SIL OFL 1.1

Bellefair

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
rafé
meteg
yiddish
ligatures
Sans-SerifThe Bellefair ProjectNick Shinn & Liron Lavi Turkenic1.003SIL OFL 1.1

Shuneet (Square, Classic)

niqqud only

positioning errors:
varika
meteg

missing:
qamats qatan
Sans-SerifMichael Cunliffe ThompsonMichael Cunliffe Thompson2.0SIL OFL 1.1

Secular One

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
rafé
meteg
yiddish
ligatures
Sans-SerifMichal SaharHagilda1.000SIL OFL 1.1

Suez One

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
rafé
meteg
yiddish
ligatures
Sans-SerifMichal SaharHagilda1.000SIL OFL 1.1

FreeSans

niqqud only

positioning errors:
varika
meteg

missing:
qamats qatan
Sans-SerifGNU Free Font ProjectPrimož Peterlin, Steve White0412.2268GPL 3.0

Liberation Sans

niqqud only

positioning errors:
lower niqqud too close to letters
yud w/ ḥiriq

missing:
wide ligatures
Sans-SerifRed Hat/Ascender Corp.Steve Matteson2.00.1SIL OFL 1.1

Ptil (Wide and Narrow

niqqud only

positioning errors:
varika

missing:
qamats qatan
meteg
Yiddish
ligatures
ktav-yad
Sans-Serif
Amos JerbiAmos Jerbi1.000SIL OFL 1.1

Amatic SC

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
meteg
yiddish
ligatures
ktav-yad
Sans-Serif
The Amatic ProjectBen Nathan, Vernon Adams2.000SIL OFL 1.1

Dorian CLM

niqqud only

positioning errors:
meteg
varika
rafé
mem sofit w/ ḥiriq

missing:
wide ligatures
backwards facing nun
Sans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh2.1GPL 2.0

Makabi YG

(based on Qumran Isaiah Scroll, modernized

niqqud onlymissing:
varika
qamats qatan
yiddish
ligatures
ktav-yad
antiquity
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat1.03GPL+FE


 

Fonts with severely broken niqqud but otherwise useful

(please help to fix and report to font maintainers)

אבגדFontDiacritic SupportNotesStyleFoundryTypographerVersionLicense

————————————————————————————————————————————

Linux Biolinum

(Regular, Outline, Shadow, Keyboard

general diacritic positioning errorsmissing:
varika
qamats qatan
ligatures
SerifLibertine Open Fonts ProjektPhilipp H. Poll1.1.8GPL & SIL OFL 1.1

Rubik

general diacritic positioning errors

positioning errors:
rafé

missing:
varika
rafé
meteg
qamats qatan
ligatures
Sans-SerifMeir SadanHubert & Fischer2.000SIL OFL 1.1

MPlus1p

general diacritic positioning errorsmissing:
varika
qamats qatan
vav w/ ḥolam
ligatures
Sans-SerifThe M+ ProjectCoji Morishita1.061SIL OFL 1.1

Felix007

general diacritic positioning errorsmissing:
varika
alef/ pataḥ
alef w/ qamats
ḥolam
qamats qatan
ligatures
Sans-Seriffelix007Felix Wasserstein1.000SIL OFL 1.1

OSP Le Patin Helvète

general diacritic positioning errorsmissing:
ḥolam
qamats qatan
gershayim
incomplete yiddish
Sans-SerifOSP FoundryLudivine Loiseau0.9GPL+FE

FredokaOne

general positioning errorsno niqqud/t’amim

missing:
meteg
varika
Yiddish

DisplayThe Fredoka ProjectBen Nathan, Milena B. Brandão2.000OFL 1.1

Noot

general diacritic positioning errorsmissing:
varika
qamats qatan
meteg
DisplayAmos JerbiAmos Jerbi1.000SIL OFL 1.1


 

Fonts not supporting niqqud

אבגדFontDiacritic SupportNotesStyleFoundryTypographerVersionLicense

————————————————————————————————————————————

Sofer Stam Ashkenaz

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimScribal
Ashkenaz
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.110GPL+FE

Sofer Stam Sefarad

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimScribal
Sepharadi
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.110GPL+FE

Lulav CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimScribalCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.0GPL 2.0

Farissol CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimMashkitCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.102GPL 2.0

Evelyn Yehoash’s Esther

does not support most diacriticsMashkitMarnie Manningmargaritkelekh/MarnieRM001.000SIL OFL 1.1

Pfennig

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimSans-SerifDaniel JohnsonDaniel Johnson2.0SIL OFL 1.1

Carmela

does not support diacriticsmissing:
varika
meteg
rafe
qamats qatan
Sans-SerifNir YenniNir Yenni1.001SIL OFL 1.1

Carmelit

does not support diacriticsmissing:
varika
meteg
qamats qatan
ligatures
Sans-SerifAmos JerbiAmos Jerbi (based on Nir Yenni’s Carmela1.000SIL OFL 1.1

Hillel CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimSans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.0GPL 2.0

Ellinia CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimSans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

Comix No2 CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimSans-SerifCulmus ProjectRichard Schoeller, Maxim Iorsh1.0GPL 2.0

Dragon

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimSans-SerifPrinter KillerPrinter Killern/aSIL OFL 1.1

Journal CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimSans-SerifCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.105GPL 2.0

Squarish Sans CT

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayChristtrekker FontsChristtrekkern/aSIL OFL 1.1

Tnua Libre

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplay
Sans-Serif
Elad Mordechai MizrahiElad Mordechai Mizrahin/aGPL 3.0

GanCLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.01GPL 2.0

Gladia CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.02GPL 2.0

Horev CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.0GPL 2.0

Ozrad CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.02GPL 2.0

Trashim CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.0GPL 2.0

Asakim

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayPrinter KillerPrinter Killer3.0SIL OFL 1.1

Paskol

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayPrinter KillerPrinter Killer2.0SIL OFL 1.1

Migdal HaEmeq

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayElad Mordechai MizrahiElad Mordechai Mizrahi1.0SIL OFL 1.1

Retro Perspective

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayElad Mordechai MizrahiElad Mordechai Mizrahin/aSIL OFL 1.1

Stop Motion

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayElad Mordechai MizrahiElad Mordechai Mizrahin/aSIL OFL 1.1

Looks Like S’pht

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplayChristtrekker FontsChristtrekkern/aSIL OFL 1.1

Nehama

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimDisplay
ktav-yad
Printer KillerPrinter Killern/aSIL OFL 1.1

ShArpie

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimktav-yad
Sans-Serif
Baruch Sienna001.000Public Domain

Miri

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimktav-yad
Sans-Serif
Elad Mordechai MizrahiElad Mordechai Mizrahi1.0SIL OFL 1.1

Yehuda CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimktav-yad
Sans-Serif
Culmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

Amatica SC

does not support diacriticsmissing:
varika
meteg
ligatures
ktav-yad
Sans-Serif
The Amatic ProjectBen Nathan, Vernon Adams, Thomas Jockin2.000SIL OFL 1.1

Refoyl

does not support most diacriticsmissing:
varika
meteg
qubutz
ḥolam
ḥatef ḥolam
ligatures
Cursive
ktav-yad
Refoyl FinklRaphael Finkel1.001GPL+FE

Ktav-Yad CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimCursive
ktav-yad
Culmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.91GPL 2.0

Ellinia CLM (Italic)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimCursiveCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.140GPL 2.0

Anka CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimCursiveCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh1.0GPL 2.0

Solitreo

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimCursiveDocumenting Judeo-Spanish ProjectNathan Gross, Bryan Kirschen1.100SIL OFL 1.1

Nachlaot

does not support most diacriticsmissing:
sheva
qamats qatan
ḥolam
ḥatef ḥolam
varika
meteg
qubutz
ligatures
CursiveRefoyl FinklRaphael Finkeln/aGPL+FE

Hebrew Square Bet-Shearim

(Bet Shearim burial inscriptions, 3 CE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amiminscription
antiquity
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.05-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Square Ben-Kosba

(Bar Kokhba letters, 132 CE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimktav-yad
antiquity
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.05-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Square Habakkuk

(Habakkuk commentary, c.0 CE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimktav-yad
antiquity
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Square Isaiah

(Great Isaiah scroll, Qumran, 2nd cen. BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimktav-yad
antiquity
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.05-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Square Samaritan

(Samaritan Pentateuch, 14th cen. CE)

Samaritan-Hebrew niqqud onlysans-sofitCulmus ProjectYoram Gnat (edited by Uri DeYoung)0.2GPL+FE

Cryptic A

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
ancient
Haifa University Dead Sea Scroll ProjectNir Yenni1.000SIL OFL 1.1

Hebrew Paleo Qumran

(Leviticus Scroll, 2nd cen. BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

4Q416

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimancientHaifa University Dead Sea Scroll ProjectEshbal Ratson and Einat Tamir1.0SIL OFL 1.1

4Q417

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimancientHaifa University Dead Sea Scroll ProjectEinat Tamir1.0SIL OFL 1.1

4Q418

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimancientHaifa University Dead Sea Scroll ProjectEinat Tamir1.0SIL OFL 1.1

4Q503

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimancientHaifa University Dead Sea Scroll ProjectAntony Perrot1.0SIL OFL 1.1

Nesher Gadol

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimancientIsaac Gantwerk Mayer001.008SIL OFL 1.1

Nesher Katon

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimancientIsaac Gantwerk Mayer001.001SIL OFL 1.1

Aramaic Imperial Yeb

(Yeb/Elephantine Papyri, 407 BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Paleo Lakhish

(Lakhich ostraca, 587 BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Aramaic VIIBCE

(Gözne inscription, 7th cen. BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
inscription
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Paleo Siloam

(Siloam inscription, 703 BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
inscription
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Aramaic Early Bar-Raqib

(Bar Raqib inscription, 8th cen. BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
inscription
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Paleo Mesha

(Mesha Stele/Moabite Stone, 850 BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
inscription
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Hebrew Paleo Gezer

(Gezer Calendar, 10th cen. BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
inscription
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Phoenician Ahiram

(Ahiram of Gebel Sarcophagus, c.1300-1000 BCE)

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimsans-sofit
inscription
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Proto Canaanite

(Sarabit al-Kadim inscriptions, c.1700 BCE)

does not support diacriticsalternative characters with dagesh and rafésans-sofit
inscription
ancient
Culmus ProjectYoram Gnat0.06-1GPL+FE

Caladings CLM

does not support diacriticsno niqqud/t’amimSymbols & DingbatsCulmus ProjectMaxim Iorsh0.133GPL 2.0

Additional Non-Hebrew Open Source Unicode Fonts:

  • Greek &Latin, Akkadian, Egyptian (Hieroglyphs and Demotic), Cyrillic and Old Church Slavonic, Ethiopic, Arabic, and more.
  • Assorted Dingbats of all sorts!

FONT CATALOGUE

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COMPLETE FONT PACK DOWNLOAD:

ZIP (v.2024.08.04) | PDF (Open Source and Unicode Hebrew Font comparison chart. Note: contains shemot.)

Our open-source Unicode Hebrew font pack is maintained on Github by Aharon N. Varady. If you value this service, please consider becoming a patron.

INSTALLING FONTS ON WINDOWS

If you’d like to install all the fonts in the font pack at once, follow these instructions:

  1. To search and find all of the TTF files in the unzipped directory of fonts, use CTRL-F
    type *.ttf (asterisk dot ttf) as your search keyword. Repeat this step but type *.otf for searching for and installing OTF files.
  2. The search will list all of the fonts in their separate directories.
    To select all of them at once use CTRL-A. (Alternately you can click edit on the windows toolbar and select, “select all”.)
  3. Then right-click on any of the highlighted fonts and select “install font”. (Make sure to right-click rather than left-click, otherwise you won’t see the install font option and you’ll have to select them all again using CTRL-A.)

ADDING A HEBREW KEYBOARD LAYOUT

If you want to access the Hebrew letters in these fonts, you’ll need to setup your a keyboard layout for your operating system. Instructions here.)

Why did we make this font pack?

Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world’s writing systems.

The importance of sharing documents with Unicode 4.0+ compliant Hebrew fonts was underlined for us in early 2010, after the liturgy of a popular siddur was contributed to the Open Siddur Project with a public domain declaration. The format of the file shared was a PDF, and unfortunately, most of the text rendered in the PDF was encoded with old proprietary Hebrew fonts made by a commercial font foundry, Elsner+Flake. These fonts were developed prior to the standardization of Hebrew in Unicode. Efraim and I made some progress in attempting to convert the documents but so far we have not been successful. (Perhaps you can help convert them.) The contributor had no other copies of the liturgy except for what was contained in the PDF shared. The entire sad episode indicated the need for publishers of digital documents to prepare their documents in open standard formats, with text encoded with open standard fonts. (You are free to try your hand at converting the two documents (1, 2) which were shared by the Avi Chai Foundation. [Update: Since first posting this, YZahn reported some progress in converting these files to Unicode: 1, 2.)

Given the twenty year history (at least) of digital Hebrew font development, there are quite a few pre-Unicode Hebrew fonts floating around the Internet and locally, on folk’s home computers. On the Internet, they sometimes show up on font download websites with a note that they are shareware or freeware with some restriction or another. Documents prepared with non-Unicode fonts are destined to be unreadable.

Even if a Hebrew font is Unicode it might 1) not support the full range of diacritical marks (nikkud/vowels and t’amim/trope/cantillation) and 2) not be licensed in such a way that it does not conflict with free/libre and open source licenses. Currently, there are a dozen open-source licensed and Unicode compliant Hebrew fonts that support the full range of Hebrew diacritical marks (vowels and cantillation).

GP+FE (credit: Aharon Varady, 2011)

Moreover, by license these fonts are free for creative reuse (as well as free without license fee to download). SIL International’s Ezra SIL font and David Perry’s Cardo font are both shared using SIL’s Open Font License version 1.1.0. Yoram Gnat’s fonts at the Culmus Project are all shared freely with a GPL including the font exception clause. Maxim Iorsh’s fonts (for instance, Drugulin CLM) are shared with a GPL 2 but without the font exception, and so the use of Iorsh’s fonts can sometimes conflict with the licenses of other free/libre and open source projects. (A full list of acceptable open source licenses for digital fonts is available here.)

It is often a wonder how certain typefaces, designed over a hundred years ago and residing in the Public Domain, can nevertheless be restricted by software licenses. After all, even new typefaces in the United States and Canada cannot be copyrighted; only the underlying software logic in digital fonts that control the placement of letters and diacritics can be copyrighted. While the art may be in the Public Domain, the underlying logic may be considered software and thus be protected by copyright. The good news is that many digital fonts use the underlying font logic written by John Hudson which itself is freely licensed open source software (with the MIT license).

If you or your company designed a Hebrew font which you never updated to Unicode, why not share it with an open font license so that others may adopt it, update it, and create anew with it?