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  • From: Peter Bekins <pbekins AT fuse.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] PDF file of biblical Hebrew text wanted.
  • Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 19:55:46 -0500


On Feb 4, 2008, at 1:30 AM, b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

I've generated biblical Hebrew text with the SBL Hebrew font from Open Office on Windows 2000 and exported it in both PDF (Thanks, Karl) and ODF formats to Mac OS X 10.5.1. Neither format has satisfactory rendering on Mac OS X.

The result is comparable to Firefox 3.0b2's HTML rendering.

To get high quality rendering of biblical Hebrew text on Mac OS X 10.5.1, simply buy VMware Fusion ($100) and the Microsoft operating system of your choice ($200++), and operate virtually!

Chris Kimball
Redding, CT


I responded to Chris Kimball off-list, but he suggested that I also send a response to the list in case anyone is interested.

The issue with rendering the biblical Hebrew text with Masoretic pointing on Mac OS X is only indirectly related to the operating system, it is more specifically an issue with the fonts. Fonts such as SBL Hebrew and Ezra SIL were designed using Microsoft's OpenType format for the "typesetting" rules. Apple has its own "typesetting" format called ATSUI (Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging).

These rules allow a font designer to specify where exactly the points should be placed for all the possible combinations. When you use a Unicode text in a native Mac application with one of these OpenType fonts the program can render the base forms of the letters and points, but it does not understand any of the rules of where to place the points in different contexts. Thus, holem will not be centered over a waw, shewa always occurs in the center of the glyph rather than under the "stem" of dalet or resh, accents will will be drawn on top of vowels if their default positions are the same, etc.

There are two solutions for Mac users. The first is to implement OpenType within a Mac application, which is what the creators of Mellel have done for us. The second is for someone to develop an ATSUI font similar to SBL Hebrew. There are a few fonts that ship with the Mac, such as Lucida Grande and Raanana, that seem to have some logic for placing the points, but neither are comprehensive nor do they look sufficiently elegant (IMHO) for rendering the biblical text.

As for pdf's, if the application that is creating the pdf is OpenType aware (which I believe Adobe products should be), SBL Hebrew should render correctly and appear correctly whether the file is opened on a PC or Mac. However, if you are creating the pdf from a file using a script or some other program that is not OpenType aware then the pointing will not be done correctly.

This is also an issue with Syriac and Arabic since these scripts use contextual characters based on where they occur within the word and what the surrounding letters are. The only Unicode font for Syriac that I am aware of, Estrangelo, uses the OpenType format and therefore doesn't render correctly on Mac unless you are using Mellel. Arabic is used widely enough to have an Apple font.

Peter Bekins
Grad Student - Hebrew Bible and Comparative Semitics
Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, OH
From greifer AT hotmail.com Tue Feb 5 09:36:43 2008
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Subject: [b-hebrew] Daniel 10:2
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Does Daniel 10:2 say "In those days, I, Daniel, was a mourner" or "In those=
days, I, Daniel, was mourning"?
=20
Kenneth Greifer
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