Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Deborah Millier <deborahmillier AT yahoo.com>]

Dear list members,

Six months ago, I purchased in Jerusalem some "cheapy"
books of Psalms--one for myself, one for a friend in
the States.  Recently she showed me something I had
noticed but never pondered: in several places the text
combines the ALEF and the LAMED to make what appears
to be a single symbol for the two letters.  I
speculated that because the print quality was
obviously sub-par, it probably was a way to save
money...or something.  Then a couple of days ago, this
same friend brings over a book of Jewish art,
inscriptions, etc. and HINNEH!, there on a memorial
inscription from the 1700s was this phenomena again.

Does anybody know anything about the practice of
combining ALEF and LAMED?  Any info to take back to my
friend would be appreciated.  Plus, now I'm kind of
interested to know.

B'RAKHOT,
-- Michael Millier

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