In every case, we defer to the contributor’s preferred style in contributing their work, whether it is an original work, or a translation or transcription of an existing work. However, we do suggest the following style as a baseline standard for all contributed works. (For understanding any possible issues concerning Copyright, libre Open Access content licenses, and the Public Domain, please consult our copyright policy page.)

Sources

• Transcribers should endeavor to transcribe the earliest textual witness of a particular textual unit, prayer, or prayer related work.
• Lacking access to a manuscript image, transcribers should use a critical text whenever available.
• If the Public Domain status of the work is in question, please consult this chart or contact us.

Transcriptions of Hebrew text

• Please vocalize all text as it appears in the work being transcribed. Leave unvocalized text, as is.
• For all unvocalized text (text without vocalization points — niqud), please provide (or solicit) a separate edition of the text that is completely vocalized.
• Provide citations for all quoted references within brackets or parentheses.
• Please avoid using circumlocutions for shemot (divine names) in new works.
• Transcribers should retain circumlocutions as they appear in earliest attested manuscripts and printings. (For example, ײ [double yod] should not replace ׯ [triple yod].)
• For all words in which a qamats qatan is indicated by grammar rules, it should be added.
• Likewise, please add a meteg where it should appear.
• Please add a maqaf in passages where it is already indicated in Masoretic text.
• There is currently only one Unicode designation for the shəva, and thus no universal standard visual means of distinguishing between a shəva na and a shəva naḥ.

Translations and Complex Terms

• Please do not translate complex terms. Transliterate them and, if necessary, provide more expansive explanations in a footnote.
• All complex terms should be romanized (transliterated with the Latin script alphabet) according to the transliteration schema set below. For example, ציצית becomes tsisit (rather than tzizit).
• If adopting an unconventional or innovative translation of a complex term, provide an explanatory note in a footnote. If it only appears once or twice, add the note inline with the first instance of its use.

Gender

Rendering Names, Divine Names and Circumlocutions, Divine Epithets and Pronouns, and Terms for generic divinities

• Please do not translate names (divine names, place names, etc.).
• If you must, then provide translations, insights, and etymological background in notes. If it only appears once or twice, add the note inline with the first instance of its use. If it appears more often, append an explanatory note before your translation.
• All names and place names should be romanized (transliterated with the Latin alphabet) according to the transliteration schema set below. For example, יעקב becomes Ya’aqov (rather than Jacob).
• Transliterate all divine names with the first letter in Uppercase. For example, אלהים becomes Elohim (rather than “God“), etc.
• For the Tetragrammaton (the Four-Letter Name) in translations, we recommend it simply being rendered as “YHVH” (rather than “LORD” or “the LORD“).^[1] Less common but worthy of note is a convention adopted by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan which we do not endorse and strongly advise against. In his translation of the Ḥumash in The Living Torah (Moznaim 1980), Rabbi Kaplan writes, “Another frequent area of difficulty involves the various names of God. The convention, following the Septuagint, is to translate the Tetragrammaton as “the Lord,” and Elohim as ‘God.’ This, however, often produces strained results, and somehow, referring to God as “the Lord” has a distinctly un-Jewish flavor. We have therefore consistently used ‘God’ as the favored name, since it is the most often used. ‘Lord’ has been used secondarily. This also reduces wordiness, since instead of ‘the Lord our God,’ we translate such a passage as ‘God our Lord.'” 
• As circumlocutions for the Tetragrammaton within sections of transliterated text intended for vocalization, Adonai or Yah is acceptable.
• Do not capitalize the first letter of divine pronouns. For example: “you” instead of “You.” Exceptions may be made for distinguishing singular “They” or THEY from plural “they.”
• Divine epithets may remain gender-inclusive or gendered, based on the translator’s preference. For example: “Melekh ha-Olam” may be translated as “Cosmic Majesty.” “Avinu Malkeinu” may be translated as “My father, My king.”
• Any indirect reference to divinity may be treated as a generic. For example יהוה אלהיך becomes “YHVH your elo’ah (rather than “YHVH your god”) and אלהי יעקב becomes “elo’ah of Ya’aqov” (rather than god of Ya’aqov”).
• Generic terms for divine entities should be identified in transliteration in lowercase. For example, אלים becomes elim.
• Circumlocutions found in contemporary works should be replaced with the divine names they signify in the manner described above.

Annotations

• Provide all comments and citation references inline rather than as footnotes or endnotes. Begin and end references with reference tags, <ref> and </ref>, respectively.

Transliteration Schema

Find below, a chart for Hebrew consonants and vowels with their corresponding letters in romanized Latin script.

אַ = a, â
אָ = a, â
אׇ = o, ō
אֵ = e, é, ei
אֶ = e
אִ = i
אְ = ‘, ə, e
אֻ = u, ū
אֹ = o, ō
בּ = b
ב = ḇ, v
ג = g
ד = d
ה = h
הּ = hh
ו = v
וּ = u, ū
וֹ = o, ō
ז = z
ח = Ḥ/ḥ (ḥaroset)
ט = t, ṭ
י = y
כּ = k (kavod)
כ = kh (ana b’khoaḥ)
ל = l
מ = m
נ = n
ס = s
ע = ’a or ‘a (as for alef, above), Ŋ/ŋ
פּ = p
פ = f
צ = ts (tsitsit, mitsvah), ẓ (yahrẓeit)
ק = Q/q, Ḳ/ḳ (ḳaddish, Qoraḥ)
ר = r
שׁ = sh
שׂ = s
תּ = t
ת = t