Pronunciation Traditions

Read the way you were taught — or choose to speak

Hebrew is a tapestry of living traditions, not a single monolithic dialect. Whether you learned in a Lithuanian yeshiva, grew up with Moroccan melodies, daven with Hasidic nusach, or speak contemporary Israeli Hebrew: Chavruti respects your voice.

Your Accent, Your Tradition

Read the way you actually speak.

Engineered phonetics

Hebrew is a tapestry of living traditions, not a single monolith. Whether your pronunciation follows Lithuanian Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Hasidic, Yemenite, or Modern Israeli speech, Chavruti respects your tongue. Every transliteration and reading follows your setting.

שַׁבָּתSabbath / Day of rest

shá·bbesSoft unstressed patach reduced to -es; unpointed Tav read as -s.

תּוֹרָהTorah / Teaching

tó·rohKamatz read as -o; stress on first syllable.

מִצְוָהCommandment / Good deed

mítz·vohPenultimate stress, Kamatz pronounced as deep -oh.

קַדִּישׁSanctification prayer

ká·ddishInitial syllable stress common in yeshivish prayer cadence.

Comparative Lexicon

Tradition-by-tradition reading table

Generated automatically by Chavruti's phonetic engine from the vocalized Westminster Leningrad Codex. An acute accent marks the primary stressed syllable.

Word	Israeli	Sephardi	Ashkenazi	Litvish	Hasidic	Yemenite	Academic	SBL
בְּרֵאשִׁית beginning, chief · Genesis 1:1	bereshít	bereshít	beréyshis	beréyshis	beráyshis	bareshíth	bᵉrēʾšîṯ	bereshit
בָּרָא shape, create · Genesis 1:1	bará	bará	bóro	bóro	búru	boró	bārāʾ	bara
אֱלֹהִים God; gods · Genesis 1:1	elohím	elohím	elóyhim	eléyhim	elóyhim	ʾelöhím	ʾĕlōhîm	elohim
הַשָּׁמַיִם heavens · Genesis 1:1	hashamáyim	hashamáyim	hashomáyim	hashomáyim	hashumáyim	hashomáyim	haššāmayim	hashamayim
אוֹר light · Genesis 1:3	or	or	oyr	eyr	oyr	ʾör	ʾôr	or
יוֹם day · Genesis 1:5	yom	yom	yoym	yeym	yoym	yöm	yôm	yom

The Eight Traditions

Preserving diaspora heritage & modern speech

Modern Israeli

Israel

Standard Israeli Hebrew, as taught in ulpan and heard in Israel: ח and כ as kh, ע and א silent, ת always t, vocal sheva mostly silent, stress as written (mostly on the last syllable).

Sephardi / Mizrahi

Sephardi and Mizrahi communities

Traditional Sephardi and Mizrahi liturgical reading: ḥ for ח and ʿ for ע pronounced, kamatz a, tzere e, every vocal sheva pronounced (e), ו as v, stress as in the te'amim.

Ashkenazi

Ashkenaz (Central and Eastern Europe, America)

The common American shul and yeshiva reading: kamatz o, cholam oy, tzere ey, ת without dagesh as s (Shabbos), ח and כ as ch, stress usually on the next-to-last syllable (Bóruch, Tóyroh).

Ashkenazi (Lithuanian / Litvish)

Lithuania and the Litvish yeshivos

The Lithuanian yeshiva reading: like Ashkenazi but cholam ey (Téyroh), kamatz o, tzere ey.

Ashkenazi (Hasidic / Polish-Galician-Hungarian)

Poland, Galicia, Hungary; Hasidic communities

The Polish, Galician and Hungarian reading of most Hasidim: kamatz u in an open syllable and o in a closed one, cholam oy, tzere ay, shuruk and kubutz i (Búrich), ת without dagesh as s.

Yemenite (Teimani)

Yemen

The Yemenite reading, closest to the Tiberian vowels: kamatz o, cholam ö, every begadkefat letter with two sounds (g/gh, d/dh, t/th), dagesh gimel as j, ק as g, ו as w, ח ḥ, ע ʿ, ט ṭ, צ ṣ; vocal sheva a (before a guttural it copies the next vowel, before yod i). Stress as in the te'amim.

Tiberian (academic)

Academic

Scholarly transliteration (SBL academic style) of the Tiberian Masoretic reading: ʾ ʿ ḥ ṭ ṣ q š ś, spirantized ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ, ā ē ō, vowel letters as â ê î ô û, ᵉ for vocal shewa, ă ĕ ŏ for hatefs, doubling for dagesh forte. IPA is a reconstruction of Tiberian pronunciation.

Simple (SBL general-purpose)

Academic (general purpose)

Plain English-friendly transliteration with no special marks (SBL general-purpose style): bereshit, shalom, torah; ח as h, כ without dagesh as kh, צ ts, ק q, no stress marks. Good for secular and academic readers.

The Divine Name

Your theological setting, respected everywhere

Different learners observe different practices regarding the Tetragrammaton and names of God. Chavruti allows you to choose your preference in Settings, and applies it consistently across all transliterations, translations, and assistant dialogues:

Setting	יְהוָה (Genesis 2:4) is read as
Adonai	Adonái
Hashem	Hashem
ha-Shem	ha-Shem
YHWH	Y-H-W-H (or Yahweh in the academic tradition)

In English, options include "the LORD", "Adonai", "the Eternal", "Hashem", or "YHWH". You can also choose whether "God" is rendered as "God" or "G-d", and whether Elohim is read as "Elokim" outside of formal prayer.

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