googlefonts / mekorot

Hebrew Rashi Typeface

Mekorot

A Hebrew typeface in the Rashi style. Originally this project was part of an attempt to create a free version of the Hebrew Talmud, as PDF files, while keeping the page layout known as Tzurat Hadaf.

This project has been adapted from a previous SourceForge archive, based on the original work by Dr. Alan Hoenig.

In 2023 this project was reengineered and redrawn by Eli Heuer for inclusion in the Google Fonts catalog. The Latin typeface included is a fork of Spectral.

Building

Fonts are built automatically by GitHub Actions - take a look in the "Actions" tab for the latest build.

If you want to build fonts manually on your own computer:

• make build will produce font files.
• make test will run FontBakery's quality assurance tests.
• make proof will generate HTML proof files.

The proof files and QA tests are also available automatically via GitHub Actions.

License

This Font Software is licensed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. This license is available with a FAQ at https://scripts.sil.org/OFL

Repository Layout

This font repository structure is inspired by Unified Font Repository v0.3, modified for the Google Fonts workflow.

Changelog

5 July 2023. Version 2.000

• Version 2.000 release

1 March 2023. Version 0.001

• Removed all Spectral related source files
• Started a clean fork of Crimson Pro for Latian coverage

12 Jan 2023. Version 0.001

• Updated repo to the new Google Fonts Project Template

mekorot's Issues

No support for U+FB4F (Hebrew Ligature Alef Lamed)

The font is missing a character historically found in various texts in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), a language where the Rashi script is used as a standard, such as Me'am Lo'ez, making it impossible to properly transcribe them.

U+FB4F (Hebrew Ligature Alef Lamed)

Screenshot

Example of a word with the character defaulting to fallback font instead when it is used:

Historical text in Rashi script (Me'am Lo'ez) with the same word (ﭏישארלו), using this ligature highlighted:

Another example of the same character from the same text, can be used as reference for the glyph, as this is how the character was historically portrayed in Rashi script (in the word ﭏמה):

Some other Rashi fonts use different shapes for this ligature, but one more close to the historical one, as above, is recommended.

צוּרָה הֶדַּף (tsurá hadáf) — «original» shape of the page?

Originally this project was part of an attempt to create a free version of the Hebrew Talmud, as PDF files, while keeping the original page's shape (known as 'Tzurat Hadaf').

I believe this in the README is a factual error. There is no reason to think that the shape of the Schottenstein Talmud (“Art Scroll Talmud”, “Rashi-style Talmud”, many other names besides) is original, however pleasing to the eye its typography may be, any more than there is reason to think the KJV1611 is the “original” presentation of the New Testament.

Certainly there were מַסֶּכְתּוֹת‎ (masekhtot) before Schottenstein, certainly even מַהֲדוּרוֹת הֶתַלמוּד (mahadurot haTalmud, Talmudic editions) as well, so this cannot be correct.

Add Google Fonts glyphsets for Vietnamese and Plus

Docs reference link: https://github.com/googlefonts/glyphsets/tree/main/GF_glyphsets/Latin

No support for U+FB1E (Hebrew Point Judeo-Spanish Varika)

The combining diacritic U+FB1E (Hebrew Point Judeo-Spanish Varika) is not supported, despite being a character very common particularly in writing Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) in the Rashi script.

The diacritic should combine at the very least with the following characters it has been traditionally used with:

U+05D1 (Hebrew Letter Bet): בﬞ
U+05D2 (Hebrew Letter Gimel): גﬞ
U+05D3 (Hebrew Letter Dalet): דﬞ
U+05D6 (Hebrew Letter Zayin): זﬞ
U+05D8 (Hebrew Letter Tet): טﬞ
U+05E4 (Hebrew Letter Pe): פﬞ
U+05DB (Hebrew Letter Kaf): כﬞ
U+05E9 (Hebrew Letter Shin): שﬞ

Screenshot

Examples of words with the diacritic defaulting to fallback font instead when it is used:

Historical text in Rashi script with some uses of the diacritic highlited: