Hebrew Lettering

In my imagination, my Hebrew lettering looks like this beautiful calligraphy by Cara Buchalter. In reality, it looks like chicken scratch. I am more a typesetter than a calligrapher, so if you’re here to learn the secrets of perfect penmanship, be forewarned. This is a case of the blind leading the blind.

When I was in art school, I optimistically bought a calligraphy kit, thinking I would soon be making beautiful letterforms with ease. Mostly, I made a mess. So I was excited when my friend Jolie introduced me to the Pilot Parallel Pen, which makes it so much easier for a newbie to give hand lettering a try.

I jumped right in and wrote one of the words from the last sentence in the introductory text here: ”מתאחדים” (transliteration: “mitachdim” / translation: “unite”). I tried to think about drawing the letters, rather than just writing them–above are 3 of the iterations I made. These attempts are not very polished, admittedly, but I started getting more comfortable as I practiced.

I looked around for a good book about Hebrew calligraphy, but had some trouble finding a simple guide. Instead, I was inspired by the lettering in Lawrence Kushner’s book, The Book of Letters, a beautiful meditation on the Alef Bet. And I also pored over this amazing set of found Hebrew letterforms.

But in the end, I decided I wouldn’t try to emulate any particular style. I tried to work with the natural flow of my hand. My philosophy is to play to your strengths, rather than forcing your hand to do something it doesn’t want to do.

Let’s be real: I’m not going to be a soferet anytime soon. And I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to get schooled by a master of Hebrew lettering. But with a bit more practice, I’ll be able to do something uniquely mine. And you’ll be able to do something that’s yours.