Dot in a vav

Hebrew niqqud vowel sign

Holam or cholam (modern Hebrew: חוֹלָם‎, IPA:[χoˈlam], formerly חֹלֶם‎, ḥōlem) is a Hebrewniqqudvowel sign represented by a dot dot in a vav the upper left corner of the consonant letter. For example, here the holam appears after the letter mem⟨מ‎⟩‎: מֹ‎. In modern Hebrew, it indicates the mid back rounded vowel, [o̞], and is transliterated as an o.

The mater lectionis letter which is usually employed with holam is vav, although in a few words, the letters alef or he vav poison itunes used instead of vav. When it is used with a mater lectionis, the holam is called holam male (חוֹלָם מָלֵא‎, IPA:[χoˈlammaˈle], "full holam"), dot in a vav without it dot in a vav holam is called holam haser (חוֹלָם חָסֵר‎, IPA:[χoˈlamχaˈser], "deficient holam").

Appearance[edit]

If a holam is used without a following mater lectionis (vav, alef or he), as in פֹּה‎ (/po/, "here"), it is written as a dot dot in a vav at the upper-left corner of the letter after which it is pronounced. Letter-spacing is not supposed to dot in a vav affected by it, although some buggy computer fonts may add an unneeded space before the next letter.

If dot in a vav is used as a mater lectionis, the holam appears above the vav. If the mater lectionis is alef, as in לֹא‎ (/lo/, "no"), it is supposed dot in a vav appear above the alef's right hand, although this is not implemented in all computer fonts, and does not always dot in a vav even in professionally typeset modern books. This means a holam with alef may, in fact, appear in the same place as a regular holam haser. If the alef itself watch vavs not a mater lectionis, but a consonant, the holam appears in its regular place above the upper-left corner of the previous letter, as in תֹּאַר‎ (/ˈto.aʁ/, windguru vava u.

If a holam haser is written after vav, as in לִגְוֺעַ‎ (/liɡˈvo.a/, "to agonize"), it may appear above the vav, or slightly farther to the left; this varies between different fonts. In some fonts, a holam merges with the shin dot (which appears on the upper-right corner of its letter seat), in words such as חֹשֶׁךְ‎ (ḥṓšeḵ, [ˈχoʃeχ], 'darkness') or with the sin dot, as in שֹׂבַע‎ (/ˈsova/, 'satiation'). (These dots may or may not appear merged on your screen, as that depends on your device's Hebrew font.)

Usage[edit]

Holam male is, in general, the most common way to write the /o/ sound in modern spelling with niqqud. If a word has Holam male in spelling with niqqud, the mater lectionis letter vav is without any exception retained in spelling without niqqud, both according to the spelling rules of the Academy of the Hebrew Language and in common practice.

The use of holam haser is restricted to certain word patterns, although many common words appear in them. In most cases the Academy's spelling rules mandate that the vav will be written even when the spelling with niqqud does not have it. The normative exceptions from this rule are listed below. The Academy's standard is not followed perfectly by all speakers, and common deviations from it are sleeping alone vavo download mediafire noted below.

In Biblical Hebrew the above rules are not followed consistently, and sometimes the vav is omitted or added.^[1]

For further complications involving Kamatz katan and Hataf kamatz, see the article Kamatz.

Holam haser which is written as vav in text without niqqud[edit]

For details on the transcription of Hebrew, see Help:IPA/Hebrew and Modern Hebrew phonology.

• In words, in which the penultimate syllable has the vowel /o/ and is stressed (sometimes called segolate):
  • קֹטֶר‎ ('diameter') /ˈkoteʁ/
  • זֹהַר‎ ('radiance', Zohar), /ˈzohaʁ/
  • נֹגַהּ‎ ('brightness', Nogah), /noˈɡa/
  • דֹּאַר‎ ('mail'), /ˈdo.aʁ/ or /ˈdoʔaʁ/.

Some people tend to spell some of these words without the vav, e.g. דאר instead of דואר, although the Academy mandates דואר. The tendency is especially strong when the words can be used as personal names.

• When Kubutz is changed to holam before guttural letters in the passive binyan Pual due to tashlum dot in a vav (a vowel-change due to the inability of guttural letters to carry a dagesh):
  • מְפֹאָר‎ ('fancy'), /məfoˈʔaʁ/
  • פֹּרַשׁ‎ ('was explained'), /poˈʁaʃ/. Without niqqud: מפואר‎, פורש.
• In words which have the pattern /CaCoC/ in the singular and become /CəCuCCim/ with Kubutz in the plural, especially names of colors:
  • כָּתֹם‎ ('orange'), /kaˈtom/, pl. כְּתֻמִּים‎/kətumˈmim/
  • עָגֹל‎ ('round'), /ʕaˈɡol/, pl. עֲגֻלִּים‎ /ʕaɡulˈlim/.
• When the last letter of the root is guttural, holam haser is preserved due windguru vava u tashlum dagesh:
  • שָׁחֹר‎ ('black'), /ʃaˈχoʁ/, pl. שְׁחֹרִים‎/ʃəχoˈʁim/.

  Without niqqud: כתום‎, כתומים‎, עגול‎, עגולים‎, שחור‎, שחורים‎.

• A similar pattern, in which the last letter of the root is not doubled in declension, has holam male in the base form, which is preserved in declension:
  • sg. גָּדוֹל‎ ('big'), /ɡaˈdol/, pl. גְּדוֹלִים‎/ɡədoˈlim/.
• In three words, a holam male is changed to a shuruk in declension:
  • מָגוֹר‎ ('place of living'), /maˈɡoʁ/, pl. מְגוּרִים‎ /məɡuˈʁim/^[2]
  • מָנוֹס‎ ('escape'), /maˈnos/, pl. מְנוּסִים‎ /mənuˈsim/;^[3]
  • מָתוֹק‎ ('sweet'), /maˈtok/, pl. מְתוּקִים‎ /mətuˈkim/.^[4]
• Similar to the above is the pattern /CəCaCCoC/, with reduplication of the second and third letters of the root:
  • פְּתַלְתֹּל‎ ('crooked'), /pətalˈtol/, pl. פְּתַלְתֻּלִּים‎ /pətaltulˈlim/. Without niqqud: פתלתול‎, פתלתולים.
• In the future, infinitive and imperative forms of most verbs in binyan Qal:
  • אֶסְגֹּר‎ ('I shall close'), /ʔesˈɡoʁ/, לִסְגֹּר‎ ('to close'), /lisˈɡoʁ/, סְגֹר‎ ('close!'), /səɡoʁ/. Without niqqud: אסגור‎, לסגור‎, סגור.
• In words, dot in a vav roots' second and third letter are the same, in which case in dot in a vav the holam changes to Kubutz after which there will be a dagesh:
  • כֹּל‎all, /kol/, decl. כֻּלּהּ‎ /kulˈlah/ ('all of her'), root כ־ל־ל‎^[5]
  • רֹב‎ ('most'), /rov/, decl. רֻבּוֹ‎/rubˈbo/ ('most of him'), root ר־ב־ב‎
  • תֹּף‎ ('drum'), /tof/, pl. תֻּפִּים‎ /tupˈpim/, root ת־פ־פ‎
  • מָעֹז‎ ('stronghold'), /maˈʕoz/, pl. מָעֻזִּים‎ /maʕuzˈzim/, root ע־ז־ז‎

The standard spelling without niqqud for all of them except כָּל־‎ in construct state is with vav: כול‎, כולה‎, רוב‎, רובו‎, תוף‎, תופים‎, מעוז‎, מעוזים. Despite this, some people occasionally omit the vav in some of those words and spell רב‎, תף etc.

• Several common words are spelled with a holam haser in the Dot in a vav, but the Academy mandates that they be spelled with holam male in modern Hebrew, among them: dot in a vav ('force'), /ˈkoaχ/
• מֹחַ/מוֹחַ‎ ('brain'), /ˈmoaχ/
• יַהֲלֹם/יַהֲלוֹם‎ ('a precious stone', in modern Hebrew 'diamond'), /jahaˈlom/
• מְאֹד/מְאוֹד‎ ('very'), /məʔod/
• פִּתְאֹם/פִּתְאוֹם‎‎ ('suddenly'), /pitˈʔom/

Some people still spell them without vav, but the standard spelling is with vav.^[6]

Holam with other matres lectionis[edit]

• The most common occasion for not writing the /o/ sound as a vav in text without niqqud is when in text with niqqud the mater lectionis is Alef (א) or He (ה) instead of vav. In the Bible some words are irregularly and inconsistently spelled with ה as a mater lectionis:
  • זֹה‎‎ alongside זוֹ‎‎, e.g. בֵּיתֹה‎ alongside בֵּיתוֹ‎‎, etc.

  but the number of these irregularities was brought to minimum in modern Hebrew.

• In the future forms of several verbs whose roots' first letter is Alef:
  • תֹּאכַל‎ ('you shall eat'), /toˈχal/, root א־כ־ל‎, without niqqud תאכל.
  • The prefix of the first person singular is itself Alef and in spelling with niqqud only one Alef is written: אֹמַר‎ ('I shall say'), /ʔoˈmaʁ/, root א־מ־ר, and in spelling without niqqud a vavis added: אומר. This always happens in the roots א־ב־ד ('perish'), א־ב־י ('wish'),^[7] א־כ־ל ('eat'), א־מ־ר ('say'), אפי ('bake') and less consistently in the roots א־ה־ב ('love'), א־ח־ז ('hold'), א־ס־ף ('collect'), א־ת־י ('come').^[7] In the root א־מ־ר a holam male with vav is used in the infinitive in Mishnaic and modern Hebrew:
  • לוֹמַר‎‎/loˈmaʁ/.^[8]
• In the infinitive form of a small number of verbs whose roots' last letter is Alef^{[dubious – discuss]}: בִּמְלֹאת‎ ('upon becoming full'), /bimˈlot/, root מ־ל־א‎.^[9]
• In the following words the mater lectionis is always Alef (א‎):
  • זֹאת‎ ('this' fem.), /zot/
  • לֹא‎ ('no'), /lo/^[10]
  • מֹאזְנַיִם‎ ('scales'), /mozˈnajim/, without niqqud מאזניים‎
  • נֹאד‎ ('wineskin'), /nod/^[11]
  • צֹאן‎ ('sheep' or 'goats'), /t͡son/
  • רֹאשׁ‎ ('head'), /ʁoʃ/
  • שְׂמֹאל‎ ('left'), /səmol/^[12]
• In the following words the mater lectionis is always He (ה‎):
  • כֹּה‎ ('such'), /ko/
  • פֹּה‎ ('here'), /po/
  • אֵיפֹה‎ ('where?'), /eˈfo/^[13]
• In the absolute infinitive form of verbs which end in He: הָיֹה‎ (/haˈjo/ 'to be'). This form is common in the Bible, but in modern Hebrew it is not productive and it is preserved only in fossilized sayings. For example, a common opening for fairy tales, הָיֹה הָיָה‎ ('there once was'), /haˈjohaˈja/ is written היה היה without niqqud.

Holam without vav in personal names[edit]

Some examples of usage of holam without vav in personal names:

• The names Pharaoh (פַּרְעֹה‎, /paʁˈʕo/), Moshe (מֹשֶׁה‎‎)^[14] and Shlomo (שְׁלֹמֹה‎‎)^[15] are never written with vav. Shilo (שִׁילֹה‎) is sometimes written with vav in the Bible, but always with He in modern Hebrew. The adjectives פַּרְעוֹנִי‎‎, שִׁילוֹנִי‎ are written with vav and with a nun in the suffix.
• The name Aharon (אַהֲרֹן‎) is spelled with holam haser in the Bible. In modern Hebrew both אהרן and אהרון are used.
• The name Noah (נֹחַ‎) is spelled with holam haser in the Bible, but it is sometimes written with the vav in the Mishna^[16] and in modern Hebrew.
• Several other names of places and people are spelled with holam and Alef in the Bible include Yoshiyahu (יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ‎, Josiah), Dor (דֹּאר‎, in modern Hebrew דּוֹר‎) and No Amon (נֹא אָמוֹן‎, the Hebrew name of Thebes).
• The word כֹּהֵן‎ ('priest'), /koˈhen/ is spelled with holam haser in the Bible. It is a common Jewish last name, Cohen. The Academy mandates holam male for the noun כּוֹהֵן‎, but allows the omission of vav for spelling dot in a vav personal name.^[17]
• Some personal names, such as Ohad (אֹהַד‎), Zohar (זֹהַר‎) and Nogah (נֹגַהּ‎), are sometimes spelled without vav in modern writing without niqqud, how is is baron vav this varies from person to person.
• God's name Adonai (אֲדֹנָי‎) is written with holam haser to distinguish it from the word "Lord" (אָדוֹן‎) used for humans.^[18] When the Tetragrammaton is written with niqqud, it follows that of Adonai, so dot in a vav is written with holam haser, too. For religious reasons writing Adonai and the Tetragrammaton is avoided in modern religious texts except in direct quotes from the Bible. They rarely appear in secular modern Hebrew texts and their spelling there is inconsistent.
• The name Elohim (אֱלֹהִים‎) is written with holam haser in the Bible, although its singular form Eloah (אֱלוֹהַּ‎) is usually written with holam male. In modern Hebrew Elohim is a common word for "God" and it is usually spelled with the vav, which is also the Academy's recommendation.

Pronunciation[edit]

The following table contains the pronunciation and transliteration of the different holams in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

The letters Pe⟨פ‎⟩ and Tsade⟨צ‎⟩ are used in this table only for demonstration. Any letter can be used.

Vowel length comparison[edit]

These vowel lengths are not manifested in modern Hebrew. In addition, the short o is usually promoted to a long o in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. As well, the short o (qamatz qaṭan) and long a (qamatz) have the same niqqud. As a result, a qamatz qaṭan is usually promoted to Holam male in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.

Computer encoding[edit]

In computers there are three ways to distinguish the vowel ḥolam male and the consonant-vowel combination vav + ḥolam ḥaser. For example, in the pair מַצּוֹת‎ (/maˈt͡sot/, the plural of מַצָּה‎, matza) and מִצְוֹת‎ (/miˈt͡svot/, the plural of מִצְוָה‎ mitzva):^[19]

1. By using the zero-width non-joiner after the vav and before the holam: מִצְו‌ֹת‎
2. By using vav poison itunes Unicode character U+05BA HEBREW POINT HOLAM HASER FOR VAV: מִצְוֺת‎.
3. By the precomposed character,^[20] U+FB4B (HTML Entity (decimal) וֹ): מִצְוֹת‎

See also[edit]

References[edit]

The Letter Vav (ו) In the Hebrew Alphabet

The letter Vav is the sixth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Through the ancient Phoenician language, the letter Vav actually became the modern letter “F” used in the English and Latin alphabets. Unlike many other letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the original meaning of the letter Vav actually seems quite obvious and straightforward. The word “vav” means a “hook,” “spear,” or “tent peg” in Hebrew, therefore the name and dot in a vav of the letter are directly connected to this meaning. The Hebrew letter Vav itself has a very interesting pronunciation history and a variety of different uses and meanings.

Most scholars agree that the ancient pronunciation of the letter was more like a “W” and less like the “V” that it currently has in the Modern Hebrew language. This assertion has a lot of support if we simply look around at modern use in other Semitic languages. In Arabic, for example, only the “W” sound exists, and the “V” sound does not exist. Among certain Jewish pronunciations, the original still holds true, as Yemenite Jews to this day pronounce the Dot in a vav as a “W” in specific cases. When Hebrew is written with pronunciation markings (nikud), a Vav without any markings is pronounced like the “V” in “very,” a Vav with a dot in the middle is pronounced “oo,” as in “fool,” and a Vav with a dot on top is pronounced “o,” as in “go.”

Similar to the Hebrew letter Hei, the Vav vav poison itunes one of a handful of Hebrew letters that has its own meaning. When attached to the beginning vav poison itunes a word, the Vav has vav poison itunes meaning of “and.” For example, the word “zeh” (זה) means “this,” and if we make the word “v’zeh” (וזה) by adding a Vav to the word’s beginning, we get the word “and this.” As we see, honeywell vav dial thermostat one of the simplest letters to write, Vav has many different meanings and usages.

Read about the letter Zine ז

Learn the Hebrew Alphabet with a video

U+05BA was added to Unicode in version 5.0 (2006). It belongs to the block U+0590 to U+05FFHebrew in the U+0000 to U+FFFFBasic Multilingual Plane.

This character is a Nonspacing Mark dot in a vav is mainly used in the Hebrew script.

The glyph is not a composition. It has a Neutral East Asian Width. In bidirectional context it acts as Nonspacing Mark and is not mirrored. The glyph can, under circumstances, be confused with 1 other glyphs. In text U+05BA behaves as Combining Mark regarding line breaks. It has type Extend for sentence and Extend for word breaks. The Grapheme Cluster Break is Extend.

The Wikipedia has the following dot in a vav about this codepoint:

Holam or Cholam (modern Hebrew: חוֹלָם‎, IPA: [χoˈlam], formerly חֹלֶם‎, ḥōlem) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign represented by a dot above the upper left corner of the consonant letter. For example, here the holam appears after the letter mem ⟨מ‎⟩‎: מֹ‎. In modern Hebrew, it indicates the mid back rounded vowel, [o̞], and is transliterated as an o.

The mater lectionis letter which is usually employed with holam is vav, although in a vav poison itunes words, the letters alef or he are used instead of vav. Dot in a vav it is used with a mater lectionis, the holam is called holam male (חוֹלָם מָלֵא‎, dot in a vav maˈle], "full holam"), and without it the holam is called holam haser (חוֹלָם חָסֵר‎, IPA: [χoˈlam χaˈser], "deficient holam").

Representations

Related Characters

Confusables

Elsewhere

Complete Record

Today, we will continue with our exploration of the meaning of the letters that form the word, torah.  Today we examine the spiritual meaning of the vav.

RECAP:

Above are the 4 Hebrew consonants that create the word, torah. The modern Hebrew letters lay directly beneath the Paleo Hebrew Letters that give the impression of a halo above.

Torah is spelled with the, tav (t), vav (v), reish (r), hei (h). 

THE VAV FUNCTIONS AS A CONSONANT AND A VOWEL:

The vav represents a consonant and the sound of 2 vowels in Hebrew, the ‘o’ as in doe, and the ‘u’ as in blue. The dot in a vav in torah has the ‘o’ sound.  That little dot above the vav is our indication that the vav is pronounced with the ‘o’ sound as well.  That little dot is called a nikkud.

The 2nd letter in Torah, is the vav (V). In this instance, in the word ‘torah’, the vav carries the ‘O’ sound.

The Hebrew letter vav takes dot in a vav shape of the tent peg or hook. In it’s Ancient Vav poison itunes Hebrew form, it resembles our letter Y. Although, I believe it is more accurate to say, that our letter ‘Y’, took the form of the Ancient Hebrew Letter vav.

If you were to visually, connect the two upper stems of the Y with a straight horizontal line, you would create a very nice picture of an ancient dot in a vav peg!

Symbolic Meaning of the vav

Vav is the word, ‘AND’ in Hebrew. The vav is a symbol of connection, a nail used to join something dot in a vav. The vav means continuation; to add, to secure. The vav connects Divinity to Humanity, dot in a vav our connection to God and each other.

The vav is a symbol of conjunction, completeness and timelessness. As you learn more about each Hebrew letter, you will see that the vav unites opposing concepts, people and ideas.

The Assignment of the vav Reflected in the dot in a vav width="474" height="215" src="https://i0.wp.com/torahisteaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/word-study-adam-in-red-1-1.jpg?resize=474%2C215&ssl=1" alt="">

Take another look at the word Dot in a vav. We discussed this word in great detail in the blog entitled; The Undiscovered Adam and the Unexplained Man, Part 2.

You will recall, the Aleph, the first letter in Adam is made of a vav (the slanted bar in the center with two yod’s on either side). Dot in a vav yod’s are connected to the vav. One yod reaches upward toward the Heavens, and the vav poison itunes reaches downward towards the earth.

In the picture of the aleph, you see the work of the vav, connecting Heaven and Earth, the spiritual realm to the physical realm.

• The vav connects the upper heavens to the lower heavens, connecting Heaven to Earth. In the aleph, we can see that the vav connects the spiritual realm to the physical realm.

Vav is the seka vave letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet…

…and carries the Gematria of 6, (numerical equivalency of 6). Man’s connection to the number 6 is very important in the Hebrew. (See the list below)

• God ceased His work of creation on the 6th day
• Man was created on the 6th day.
• When the Children of Israel left Egypt, they were six hundred thousand in number (Ex 12:37)
• Christ hung on the cross for 6 hours (Mark 15:25, Luke 23:44)
• The 600 thousand letters in the torah equivalent to the 600K children of Israel leaving Egypt. A letter of torah for each person delivered out of bondage.

The above examples reveal physical completion, redemption and transformation.

Many Infallible Proofs of the Significance of vav

• The absence or presence of the vav determines the meaning of the verse. Ref Ex 18:1, Jether becomes Jethro when a vav is added at the end of his name, creating the ‘o’ sound.
• Absence of the vav can signify a lack of virtue, character faults, etc.
• The Addition of the vav can indicate pleasing character traits, indicate virtue and overcoming personal trials/tests.
• There are 5 times in scripture when Lifes a struggle lyrics vava name is spelled with an extra vav. (Lev 26:42, Jer 30:18, 33:25-26, 46:27, 51:19) In each instance, Israel/Jacob is being redeemed.
• In the Hebrew Bible (written in All Hebrew Letters) at the very center of the torah, called the belly (gachon), there is an enlarged vav. Lev 11:42. Appropriately enough, the word found in the very center of the torah is the word, gachon, (which means belly). The vav, which translates to our ‘o’ in English, is the letter in the center of the torah. Let me repeat that another way: At the belly of the torah, is the word gachon, which means belly and the ‘o’ in gachon marks the center of torah.
• i.e. the first half and the last half of the torah is connected by a vav!

tav – vav- reish – hei

Torah begins with the tav, dot in a vav. The 2nd letter, vav stands for connection.

The covenant which is connected to man by the nail. The man who bears the nail, He is the One that connects Heaven to Earth, the spiritual realm to the physical realm.

The vav is the symbol of the man that connects Heaven to Earth, whether that be Christ, by Himself… or Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!

Every believer, has the power to bring God’s Glory down into the Earth Realm. The vav is the symbol of mankind’s power to draw what we need from the Heavens and deposit it into the Earth. That’s torah.

Amen.

God Bless You,

Posts Included in This Series:

In order to access more teachings of this kind on the Hebrew Letters:

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Vav is a funny letter. Let me tell you why.

I have taught Hebrew to kids and adults for years. Whenever I introduce the letter vav, I always liken it to the profile of a very skinny person. I say, “If Mr. Vav gets hit in the head, his hand goes up and he says, ‘Oh!’ ” (A vav with a dot above it acts as a vowel with the sound of “o.”)

But, then I say, “If Mr. Vav gets hit in the stomach, he’ll double over and yell, windguru vava u – like “moo.” (A vav with a dot in its middle acts as a vowel with the sound of “oooo.”)

But wait, there’s more! Because when the vav has neither a dot above it or in the middle of it, then it will have a vowel below it that vocalizes it, thus, making the vav a consonant with the sound of “v.”

Additionally, in the text of the Torah, the vav has super powers – it actually can turn time upside down. The vav, when placed before a verb in future tense re-signifies that verb as if it were in past tense. And, when the vav is placed before a dot in a vav in past tense, it re-signifies that verb as if it were in future tense.

I dot in a vav you, the vav is a funny letter. It’s an impersonator, a clown, if you will. It is flexible but with infallible integrity. It maintains dot in a vav as a vav, even while proving dynamic enough to allow language and time to transform.

The rabbis teach that it is better to be like a reed that can bend in the wind than to be like an oak tree that, in the face of the strongest of forces, only can break. Like a reed, a vav stands tall, benighted by dots and vowels, a quiet part of the flow of the energy of the Hebrew language. It bends rather than breaks, as it accommodates the many needs it serves.

Akin to a dot in a vav, dedicated to the service of clear communication and the sanctification of time, in what better way could we be reminded to serve our fellow human beings? When they are down and out, when their souls are crushed, their spirits deflated, do we respond with a timidity of presence, questioning our worth in feeling as if we have nothing to offer? Or, do dot in a vav respond with a vav’s sense of purpose and strength? Do we straighten our spine and enter where time seems to be going by too slow or too fast? Or, do we wait our turn, politely, until there is no more time left?

Vav establishes a different order for our priorities. The most important items are forced to the front, the less important ones, when we act like a vav, have to wait their turn.

Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss is senior rabbi of Congregation Emanu El, Houston.

is another vowel we can make with .

It sounds like "oo" in igloo or the U in dot in a vav.

Dot in a vav could just remember that the DOT is UNDER the top of the Vav, and under starts with U. But has the U sound of "blue", not of "under." So let's imagine you're screwing vav box velocity blue screw under the , like this:

The blue screw! Got it? Now let's see in action!

טוּטוּ (tutu) - One of those cute frilly things that ballerinas wear, that fit the definition of dot in a vav but without all that fabric.

חוּט (chut) - Speaking of fabric, it means thread. electric heat vav box cfm per kw (booz) - Contempt vav poison itunes (doo-chai) - Amphibian -- like a frog!

We're on a roll, let's learn another vowel!