The Hebrew script used for sofrut is called K'tav Ashurit. There are basically three types: a) Beyt Yosef, b) Beyt Ari, c) Sefardi (veilish). Most importantly there are a great deal of rules governing the formation of the letters so that their t'munah (symbol) is defined precisely and so that there is no confusion between the letters written. They should be clean and crisp and the test of validity is whether a young child who is neither especially clever - i.e. that he could work out the letter from the context or especially stupid i.e. that he doesn't recognise the letters at all. The most well established ruling is Mishnat Sofrim written by the Chafets Chayim as part of the Mishnah B'rurah on T'fillin. However there are other descriptions of letters in the Alpha Beta of Rabbeinu Lipman, Kol Sofrim (Yoseph Klein), L'David Emet (showing the Sefardi letters forms), Baruch She’amar, Da'at K’doshim, Mikdash Me'at, L’vush, Kol Haremez etc etc, all collected in an anthology called Yalkut Tsurat Ha-otiyot (anthology of the forms of the letters).

Click here or on the button below to see all the letters of the alphabet draw themselves.

Mordechai Pinchas

Image: a fairly standard table of letters often seen in the introductions to books on sofrut. It shows the three major types.