The 10th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet: Yud

The 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Yud. Interestingly, Hebrew and Aramaic are both written and read from right to left, a characteristic that sets them apart from many other alphabets.

Pronunciation and Function

Yud, which appears to look like an apostrophe, is pronounced [yood] in Modern Hebrew. It also functions as the number ten. For example, the term for an "10th grade" in Hebrew is ketah yood, which is properly written '—geresh—following the letter Yud to indicate its numerical value. However, it is also used to write the name 'Yud' in Hebrew, representing the number 10.

Linguistic Representation and Spelling Variants

The 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, often referred to as Yod in English, can be spelled in two ways: Yod or Yud. The former could be pronounced with a long 'o' as in "road" or a short 'o' as in "odd." The latter, Yud, is more in line with current Israeli pronunciation, rhyming with "mood" or "rude."

According to Wikipedia, the colloquial or spoken version is yud, which rhymes with "mood."

From a linguistic standpoint, Yud is a more accurate representation of the current pronunciation of the letter, at least as used in modern Israel. However, some readers might take issue with or be offended by this spelling and pronunciation due to its potential association with the German word for "Jew," which is derived from the Hebrew word yood.

Hebrew Numerals and the Name of God

In the Hebrew Tanakh, the Hebrew alphabet is used for chapter and verse numbers. Yud represents the number ten, and it is significant in the context of the Name of God because the combination of Yud and Heh translates to the abbreviated form of God's name, "Yah." To avoid this, the letters Tet (for 9) and Vav (for 6) are used together to represent 15, meaning 9 6. This is seen in Genesis 3:15, where it refers to the promise to the woman that the Serpent's head would be crushed by the Seed of the woman.

Yud in the New Testament

The term gimel is used in the King James Version of the Bible, which translates the Greek tau into English. Iota is the smallest letter in both Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic alphabets. Jesus, speaking in Aramaic, would have used the Yud (or Yod) letter to articulate the smallest detail of the law as a promise of fulfillment. Matthew, writing in Greek, used the Greek letter phi to represent the Hebrew equivalent.

Personal Reflections

It is also worth noting that many Israeli names would disappear if the letter Yud were removed from the Hebrew alphabet. For example, Isaac (Yitschak), David (Dud), Benjamin (Bibi), and Joseph (Yosi) all derive from this letter. Yud is not only a letter but a part of the cultural and linguistic fabric of Israel.