Hebrew Braille is the system of Braille

Braille

The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...

 used by Hebrew readers and speakers. The International Hebrew Braille Code in wide usage throughout the world was devised in the 1930s and completed in 1944. It is based on the standard Braille system, with additional letters devised to accommodate differences between the English

English alphabet

The modern English alphabet is a Latin alphabet consisting of 26 letters and 2 ligatures – the same letters that are found in the Basic modern Latin alphabet:...

 and Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...

s. Unlike Hebrew, but in keeping with Braille, Hebrew Braille is read from left to right.

History

Prior to the 1930s, there were several regional variations of Hebrew Braille, but no universal system. In 1936, the Jewish Braille Institute of America

JBI International

JBI International, formerly the Jewish Braille Institute, is an international non-profit organization created to assist visually impaired and reading disabled people around the world by providing access to publications in Braille, Large Print and Audio. Publications are made available in English,...

 assembled an international panel to attempt to produce a unified code. Among the greater challenges faced by the panel was the accommodation of the Hebrew vowel points. The panel completed its first iteration of the International Hebrew Braille Code in 1936, the same year in which the first Hebrew Braille book was published with sponsorship from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

: a volume of excerpts from the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

and other sources. The code underwent further refinements for the better part of a decade until its completion in 1944.

External links

• Yiddish Braille code http://www.braille.ch/yidbrl-e.htm
• Braille script (כתב ברייל)
• Hebrew Visions.org