Downloading Hebrew Bible audio files to your iOS device

My Hebrew Bible iOS app streams Hebrew audio of the Bible books from the Mechon Mamre web site; however, people can sometimes have issues accessing the audio files if they have no Internet connectivity or the Mechon Mamre site is unavailable for some reason (the audio files are located here: https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/ptmp3prq.htm#mp3). Therefore, you may want to download the audio to your device instead of accessing it from the Mechon Mamre web site as a backup measure (it's also nice to have the audio files locally as this means that you're not dependent on having Internet access to listen to the audio). In order to download the audio files onto a Mac device, simply right-click with your mouse and select "Save Link As..." to download the audio file to your Mac (don't change the name of the audio file). Then, attach your iphone (or other iOS device) to your Mac, open 2 Finder windows and copy the audio file from the Downloads directory on your Mac to the HebrewBible directory on your iOS device. This will give you a "local" copy of the audio so that it will not be necessary to have your iOS device connected to the Internet in order to play the audio. The screenshot below shows an example of this with the first 3 audio chapters of Genesis downloaded in the left Finder window (t0101.mp3 - t0103.mp3) and these have been "dragged over" into the HebrewBible directory on my Zeev iPhone XS in the right Finder window.

The Internationale in Yiddish

The Internationale is a left-wing anthem written by the anarchist Eugène Pottier. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since the late 19th century. I've created a web page (click here) with the words for the first couple of verses in Yiddish. The page has links to play either the Yiddish version of the Internationale or just the music (if you want to sing along yourself!). Also, if you hover the mouse cursor over any Yiddish word on the page, it will display the English translation of the word.

Note: For an English version of The Internationale, here's a version by Billy Bragg: The Internationale

Problem accessing Hebrew definitions in Hebrew Bible app

A number of people have reported an issue with my HebrewBible app with the word lookup functionality (e.g. - when you touch a Hebrew word, the English definition should pop up). They are seeing something similar to the following:

ze2651.htm
Database error.  Error was could not execute statement (11 database disk image is malformed) (Code 1)

I'm not sure what the cause is; however, for those who have encountered this problem, it has been fixed by deleting the Hebrew Bible app from their device and reinstalling the app on their device. I assume that Apple has made some changes to where app-specific local files are stored when an app is installed on a device and this is probably the cause of the problem; however, I haven't been able to confirm that. So, if you experience this issue, deleting & re-installing the app should fix the problem for you.

Setting Default Hebrew Bible Version

A number of people have installed my Hebrew Bible iPhone/iPad app and have said that, when they open the app, they just see a blank screen. This doesn't seem to be happening to everyone; however, if you do experience this issue, it is easily resolved by simply selecting a Bible "version". To do this, you do the following:

1. Open the app and select the "settings" icon (the box with the arrow coming out of it):
   
2. Click on the "Change Settings" link:
   
3. Select the "Default Version" setting:
   
4. Choose the Bible version that you want to have displayed:
   
5. Then, when you return to the main screen, the default Bible version that you selected will be displayed (this setting will be "remembered" by the app):
   

Test of Hebrew-ZC iOS keyboard

Using the Safari app on your iPhone/iPad, touch this link.

Yiddish Language Immersion Classes

There are a number of different Yiddish language immersion options for people who have the time/money and who want to improve their Yiddish-language skills in a relatively short time-frame:

1. Yiddish Book Center program in Florida (January 2016: 1 week)
2. Yiddish Book Center program in Amherst (March 2016: 1 week)
3. Yiddish Book Center Summer Program (Summer 2016: 7 weeks)
4. YIVO Uriel Weinreich Summer Program (Summer 2016: ~1 month)
5. Tel Aviv University Summer Program (Summer 2016: ~1 month)
6. Vilnius Yiddish Institute Summer Program (Summer 2016: ~1 month)

There are also summer programs at some of the universities, local classes at Jewish community centres and synagogues, as well as the classroom/online courses provided by the Workmen's Circle; however, the above 6 are the only Yiddish language immersion-like courses that I know about that are happening in the next 10 months. Anyone know of other programs that aren't mentioned here?

Hebrew/Yiddish Matrix-like Screensaver

The movie The Matrix is one of my favourite sci-fi movies. The Matrix digital rain represents the activity of the virtual reality environment of the Matrix on screen. Quite a few screen savers have been created by people who liked the effect. I decided to create my own version which used Hebrew/Yiddish characters:

To see the effect, you can just click on the html file that you download in step#1 below and you'll see it in your browser. To install it as your own screen saver on a Mac (sorry, I haven't done Windows/Unix versions), just do the following:

1. Download Hebrew/Yiddish Matrix HTML file (titled: Hebrew-Matrix.html). Then, move the file to wherever you want it to be (or just leave it where it was downloaded).
2. Open the Mac System Preferences app and click on the "Desktop & Screen Saver" icon.
3. In the screen saver configuration app, scroll down the left side to the bottom and select the "WebSaver" screen saver.
4. On the right-hand side of the screen saver configuration app, click on the "Screen Saver Options..." button and select the file that you downloaded in step#1. You should then see the Matrix display shown in the box above the "Screen Saver Options..." button. You can click on the "Preview" button there or just wait until the screen saver starts up.

Ideal Yiddish Keyboard for iPhone/iPad and Android

Im my last post (Ideal Yiddish Keyboard), I talked about the Yiddish Pasekh Keyman keyboard layout and how it represented (to my thinking, at least) the ideal keyboard layout for typing Yiddish. Also, since it was supported on Windows, Internet browsers, Linux, iPhone/iPad, Android, and Mac platforms, it was available everywhere. Unfortunately, the iPhone/iPad version of the keyboard had one major limitation: since it was a direct port of the desktop keyboard layout, the keys were a bit small and crowded on the smaller iPhone/iPad devices as the keyboard added a 4th row of keys for the numbers and it attempted to squeeze 52 keys (as is the case on Desktop keyboards) instead of the usual ~33 keys on iOS keyboards. So, in order to make a better Yiddish keyboard for iOS, I created my own Yiddish-ZC layout for iOS devices. The Yiddish-ZC layout retains most of the nice layout choices of the Yiddish Pasekh keyboard but it is optimized for use on small phone/tablet devices.

 As a comparison, here is the Yiddish Pasekh layout:

And, here is my new Yiddish-ZC layout:

One nice additional enhancement is that I've implemented "long-press" functionality so that you can access more keys without switching from the unshifted to the shifted layouts. Any key with a "dot" in the upper-right corner of the key has "long-press" capabilities (e.g. - if you press and hold the key, a popup will appear with alternative keys that you can select):

For the keys on the default (unshifted) layout, most of the "long-press" keys are variations on the base key. So, for example, a long-press on the Yiddish tsadek (צ) character will show the final-form lange tsadek (ץ) character:

Or, pressing the period (.) character will show many of the commonly-used punctuation characters:

This makes typing much faster because you don't have to be switching so frequently between the unshifted and the shifted keyboard layouts. However, the long-press is a "convenience" technique and you can always switch to the other shifted (which contains many of the keys that are available via "long-press" on the unshifted layout) and numeric layouts as well (even though all of the keys you'll need to type Yiddish text will be available to you on the default (unshifted) layout, numbers and some special characters are only on the shifted/numeric layouts):

If you would like to try out my new Yiddish-ZC layout, installation is fairly simple:

1. Install the Keyman app for iPhone/iPad from the Apple App Store (you can choose either the Free or the Pro version but the Pro version is needed if you want to be able to use the Yiddish-ZC keyboard as a system keyboard which will be available in any other app).
2. Using the Safari app on your iPhone/iPad, touch this link. That will automatically open the Keyman app that you downloaded in step #1 and ask if you want to install the Yiddish-ZC keyboard. Just touch the Install button and the keyboard will be installed.

If you downloaded the Free version of the Keyman app in step #1, then you will be able to use the Yiddish-ZC keyboard only within the Keyman text editing app. If you downloaded the Pro version of the Keyman app is step #1, then you will be able to use the Yiddish-ZC keyboard in any app.

I would be very interested in getting feedback on the layout and usability of this keyboard. You can send me a twitter direct message (@beresheit) or an email to beresheit@gmail.com

Update-25-Jul-2015: I was told by someone with an Android device that my Yiddish-ZC keyboard works well on Android devices as well! I have no way to test it (I don't use Android devices); however, the above 2 installation steps should work fine with one change - download the Keyman App for Android in step #1. Also, in step #2, you should use the Google Chrome browser (some of the Android browsers won't work with the link but the Google Chrome browser does).

Update-3-Sep-2015: The keyboard has now been updated to automatically fill in Yiddish "final form" characters where appropriate. This will automatically convert any of the following characters: "כנפֿצ" to their final form equivalents: "ךןףץ" if the character is not followed by another Yiddish character. In order to use this functionality you must re-download the keyboard as well as install the latest version of the Keyman app. You will also need to power down and restart your device after re-installing the app.

Update-4-Nov-2015: When any of the following 5 vowels/vowel-combinations appear at the beginning of a word, they need to be preceded by a "א" (shtumer alef): י ,ו ,יי ,ײַ ,וי 
This has been implemented as a "long-press" on the "אַ" key:

Update-7-Nov-2015: In order to ensure that users of this keyboard could enter all of the keys defined in the standard Yiddish Orthography, the following additional keys have been added to the "Shift" layer of the keyboard layout: "פ", "בּ", "דזש", "זש", "טש", "וֹ". In addition, they can be accessed through "long-press" on keys in the "Normal" layer. See this revised layout for the "Shift" layer:

Ideal Yiddish Keyboard

In my Hebrew Keyboard Bookmarklets post, I talked about how to setup Internet browser bookmarklets for a number of different keyboard layouts for typing in Hebrew or Yiddish. However, since then, I've come across a different keyboard layout that is the best one I've seen for typing Yiddish (for Hebrew, I prefer my own Hebrew-ZC layout). The reasons I consider it ideal are:

1. I am a fast English touch-typist and therefore I prefer a QWERTY-Phonetic layout that attempts to match Yiddish letters to English phonetic equivalents. This lets me reuse my "finger muscle memory" when typing Yiddish. I also want the Yiddish layout to be fairly similar/consistent with my own Hebrew-ZC layout as I will still be using that for Hebrew. I don't want to learn a completely new keyboard layout that I will only use for the occasions that I type in Yiddish.
2. I want to keep punctuation, special characters, and numbers on the same keys (as much as possible). Most other Hebrew/Yiddish keyboard layouts move special characters and punctuation characters around and this drives me crazy!
3. I want to be able to use the same keyboard layout everywhere: Mac, Windows, Linux, Internet browsers, iPhone/iPad, Android. (Mac, Internet, & iPhone are the main requirements for me but I do need occasional Yiddish keyboard access on the others as well)
4. Ideally, there should be a "visual" representation of the keyboard so that people who only use it occasionally can see the "mappings".

Previously, my own Hebrew-ZC layout fit most of these requirements for both Hebrew and Yiddish. However, I recently came across an even better layout for Yiddish - the Yiddish Pasekh keyboard layout. And, the layout is now available for all of the platforms I listed above (I've personally tried the Mac, Windows, browser, and iPhone/iPad versions):

• Windows: Download the Keyman utility and Yiddish keyboard layout here.
• Internet Browsers: If you're a developer creating a web page, you can easily add the Yiddish keyboard to your web page using KeymanWeb. If you want to use the Yiddish keyboard to type text in a text field on any web page, you can create a Keyman Bookmarklet that will let you do this. The Yiddish Pasekh bookmarklet is here: YiddishKeyboard (just drag it to your browsers Favourites bar and click it whenever you're on a web page with a text box that you want to type Yiddish into).
• Linux: There's a KMFL utility that aims to be source compatible with keyboards developed for Keyman. I rarely use Linux now so I haven't tried using the utility on Linux; however, it looks like it should work.
• iPhone/iPad: The Keyman iOS app includes the Yiddish Pasekh keyboard layout. The Pro version lets you use the keyboard as a "system" keyboard (e.g. - a keyboard in any other app).
• Android: The Keyman Android app includes the Yiddish Pasekh keyboard layout. The Pro version lets you use the keyboard as a "system" keyboard (e.g. - a keyboard in any other app).
• Mac: There wasn't a Keyman solution available for the Mac so I used the Ukulele keyboard layout editor to re-create the Yiddish Pasekh keyboard as a Mac keyboard layout. To use it on your Mac, do the following steps:
  1. Download the YiddishPasekh.keylayout and YiddishPasekh.icns keyboard layout files to some temporary location (like the desktop).
  2. Move the 2 keyboard layout files to /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ or ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/ (Note: keyboard layouts in ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/ can't be selected in password dialogs or on the login window).
  3. Restart the computer. Logging out and back in is not enough.
  4. Enable the new keyboard layout from System Preferences. (if you don't know how to do this, follow these instructions)
  The keyboard layout is illustrated below:
  Non-Shifted:
  
  Shifted:
  
  There are a number of minor differences from the original Keyman Yiddish Pasekh layouts that were added so that all YIVO-specified Yiddish characters were covered by the keyboard layout. The reason this needed to be done was because the Keyman utility allows for "rules" to be created to automatically put in certain characters based on context. The Mac Ukulele utility doesn't provide this capability so the characters have to be manually entered.:
  • יִ (khirik yud): This has been added on the i key.
  • וּ (melupm vov): This has been added on Shift+u.
  • ךןףץ Final Forms: The lange khof, lange nun, lange fey, & lange tsadek final form characters used at the end of a word need to be manually entered. They are on the shifted keys of the "normal" characters. (Note: the final-form characters are also present on the Keyman keyboard layout but there were rules setup to automatically convert regular characters to final-form characters in the Keyman layout so the final form characters didn't usually need to be explicitly typed. On the Mac keyboard layout however they do need to be explicitly typed.)

Lorde's "Team" song in Yiddish

A recent Jewniverse article on the Yiddish version of Lorde's song "Team" was interesting. The translation of the English Lorde lyrics of "Team" to Yiddish was done by Saul Noam Zaritt and Yael Levi and sung by The Technicalities. The Yiddish translation is very nice and I think The Technicalities have done a great job performing it. Although the Yiddish is mostly a fairly close translation of the English lyrics, there are various subtleties (some were mentioned in the Jewniverse artice). In my opinion, the Yiddish version has a "power" that the English version doesn't. In order to allow an easier comparison of the differences, I created the following side-by-side comparison of the English and Yiddish lyrics. The Yiddish words have been run through Refoyl Finkel's Yiddish Glosser utility so that one can see the individual Yiddish word definitions in English. Rest your mouse on a Yiddish word in the lyrics to see the English gloss. A few minor corrections have also been made. Words with a yellow background have had their spelling and/or nekudes adjusted from what was in the Technicalities lyrics. Words with an orange background had their definitions and/or spelling provided from the Medem dictionary. Words with a cyan background are hyperlinks to a web page.

To play the English lyrics, click here to go to Youtube site.
To play the Yiddish lyrics:

---

Team	באַנדע
Wait 'til you're announced	װאַרט‪wait ביז‪until, at the time (in future) when מע‪well then: expression of dismissal, one (indefinite subject) רופֿט‪call דיך‪thigh, you אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see
We've not yet lost all our graces	זײַנען‪be מיר‪me, we נאָך‪after; yet, still; even; more (in positive constructions only) חנעװדיק‪graceful; cute, attractive; charming
The hounds will stay in chains	די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) הינט‪dog ליגן‪lie, falsehood אין‪in קײטן‪chain
Look upon Your Greatness and she'll send the call out	זע‪see דאָך‪of course; yet, still דײַן‪your גרױסקײט‪greatness און‪and זי‪she שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Call all the ladies out	רופֿט‪call די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) מײדלעך‪girl אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see
They're in their finery	זײ‪they, sow (seed) זײַנען‪be אױסגעפּוצט‪doll up, make fancy
A hundred jewels on throats, A hundred jewels between teeth	צירונגען‪jewelry אױפֿן‪on, on the האַלדז‪neck, embrace (with "zikh") צירונגען‪jewelry צװישן‪between צײנער‪tooth
Now bring my boys in	איצט‪now רופֿט‪call די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) ייִנגעלעך‪boy, fellow, lad אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see
Their skin in craters like the moon	די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) פּנים‪face מיט‪exert, with, middle לבֿנה‪moon-טאָלן‪valley
The moon we love like a brother,	װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) מיר‪me, we ליבן‪love, dear װי‪how; as אַ‪a (article), the letter A ברודער‪brother
while he glows through the room	בעת‪while; during זי‪she שײַנט‪gleam אומעטום‪everywhere
Dancin' around the lies we tell	טאַנצן‪dance אַרום‪around די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) ליגן‪lie, falsehood דאָ‪here
Dancin' around big eyes as well	טאַנצן‪dance אַרום‪around די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) אױגן‪eye (body part) דאָרט‪there ( אַ‪a (article), the letter A-אַ‪a (article), the letter A)
Even the comatose they don't dance and tell	אַפֿילו‪even, only די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) שיכּורים‪drunk (intoxicated) - זײ‪they, sow (seed) טאַנצן‪dance אַלזאָ‪therefore, consequently
We live in cities you'll never see on screen	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in שטעטלעך‪town װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) האָבן‪have; give birth ניט‪not קײן‪to, not any גלי‪glow; heat to glowing
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things	אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see שום‪in no way קײן‪to, not any שײנקײט‪beauty אָבער‪but גרױסע‪large מאַכערס‪big shot; fixer זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in חורבֿות‪ruin פֿון‪from; of דעם‪the, this פּאַלאַץ‪palace פֿון‪from; of קוזמיר
And you know, we're on each other's team	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know, אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there	ס‪it׳איז‪be מיר‪me, we נימאס‪end up boring/tiring (s.o.); rev. be fed up (with), have had enough (of) װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) זײ‪they, sow (seed) הײסן‪order, tell, be called, be named, hot זאָלן‪should זײ‪they, sow (seed) זײַן‪be, his, its מײַן‪my בעל‪master-הבית‪house; tefillin box - נו‪well then װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun)
So all the cups got broke shards beneath our feet but it wasn't my fault	נו‪well then אַלץ‪everything, all the more אױף‪on שטיקלעך‪piece (of substance), small amount of, piece (in a performance), foreskin discarded after circumcision גײט‪go; plan to (with infinitive)
And everyone's competing for a love they won't receive	שערבלעך‪shard אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see אַ‪a (article), the letter A שיעור‪limit, boundary; Talmud lesson
	אָבער‪but גאָרנישט‪nothing געטאָן‪do
	און‪and קאָנקורענטן‪rival אַלע‪all
	פֿאַר‪for; before; in the time of אַ‪a (article), the letter A ליב‪love, dear װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) קומט‪come זײ‪they, sow (seed) נישט‪not
'Cause what this palace wants is release	װײַל‪during, as long as; because, stay; enjoy oneself (with "zikh") װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) װיל‪want פּאַלאַץ‪palace? אַן‪a (article), foresee, predict, anticipate אָפּלאָז‪release
We live in cities you'll never see on screen	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in שטעטלעך‪town װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) האָבן‪have; give birth ניט‪not קײן‪to, not any גלי‪glow; heat to glowing
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things	אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see שום‪in no way קײן‪to, not any שײנקײט‪beauty אָבער‪but גרױסע‪large מאַכערס‪big shot; fixer זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in חורבֿות‪ruin פֿון‪from; of דעם‪the, this פּאַלאַץ‪palace פֿון‪from; of קוזמיר
And you know, we're on each other's team	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know, אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, So there	ס‪it׳איז‪be מיר‪me, we נימאס‪end up boring/tiring (s.o.); rev. be fed up (with), have had enough (of) װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) זײ‪they, sow (seed) הײסן‪order, tell, be called, be named, hot זאָלן‪should זײ‪they, sow (seed) זײַן‪be, his, its מײַן‪my בעל‪master-הבית‪house; tefillin box - נו‪well then װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun)
I'm kinda older than I was when I revelled without a care, So there	איך‪I בין‪bee (insect), be דאָך‪of course; yet, still עלטער‪old, stale, age (with "zikh") פֿון‪from; of די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) טעג‪day פֿון‪from; of אױס‪out; because of פֿאַרברעגנן‪spend/pass (time); amuse oneself; have a good time נאָך‪after; yet, still; even; more (in positive constructions only) חצות‪midnight; midnight prayers - נו‪well then װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun)
We live in cities you'll never see on screen	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in שטעטלעך‪town װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) האָבן‪have; give birth ניט‪not קײן‪to, not any גלי‪glow; heat to glowing
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things	אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see שום‪in no way קײן‪to, not any שײנקײט‪beauty אָבער‪but גרױסע‪large מאַכערס‪big shot; fixer זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in חורבֿות‪ruin פֿון‪from; of דעם‪the, this פּאַלאַץ‪palace פֿון‪from; of קוזמיר
And you know, we're on each other's team	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know, אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
We're on each other's team, and you know	אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we, און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know
We're on each other's team	אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
We're on each other's team, and you know	אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we, און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know
And you know	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know
And you know	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know

Hebrew Keyboard Bookmarklets

Introduction

Dan Sieradski's "31 days, 31 ideas" posts included his Hebrew Input Widget post. In it, Dan complains about the hassles he has when he has to setup a computer for Hebrew input or when he wants to enter Hebrew text in a browser when he's on a public computer (e.g. - when traveling or when using someone else's machine). This post attempts to provide a solution for that problem by providing a set of browser bookmarklets that can be easily used to enable/disable Hebrew input. Simply bookmark this post in Delicious (or some other online bookmark service), and you're set - just follow the instructions below whenever you're in a browser and you need to enter Hebrew or Yiddish text in a text area!

Text Areas (for testing purposes)

Text area#1:

Text area#2:

Instructions:

1. Hebrew Bookmarklets: Drag one of the following 4 bookmarklets to your Bookmark Bar (depending on which Hebrew keyboard layout you're most comfortable with):
   Hebrew-SIL (using the SIL Hebrew keyboard layout - this is probably the better format to use if you're more accustomed to typing in English than Biblical Hebrew)
   Hebrew-Tiro (using the Tiro Hebrew keyboard layout - this is the better format to use if you are accustomed to using an Israeli Hebrew keyboard)
   Hebrew-QWERTY (using the Mac Hebrew QWERTY keyboard layout - this is the better format to use if you are used to this keyboard layout on the Mac and don't need all of the Biblical Hebrew characters)
   Hebrew-ZC (using my own Hebrew-ZC custom keyboard layout - this format combines (IMHO) the best qualities of the Hebrew-QWERTY and Tiro keyboard layouts, supports Biblical Hebrew characters, and is a very efficient layout for someone who is a fast touch typist on US English keyboards)
2. Assistive Bookmarklets: Drag the following 2 bookmarklets to your Bookmark Bar:
   No Hebrew
   RTL/LTR
3. Click the "Hebrew" bookmarklet (whichever one you selected above) to enable Hebrew input in any textarea on the current HTML page that you are on (this works on any HTML page, not just this one but I've added two textarea's to this post so that you can experiment here). Type in Hebrew (the Hebrew that appears will correspond to the keyboard layout that you selected in step #1 above. If you're not familiar with the keyboard layout you selected, you will need to print out the keyboard layout from the documentation page specified next to the keyboard in step #1).
4. Click the "No Hebrew" bookmarklet to revert back to standard keyboard input in all textareas (e.g. - when you want to resume typing in English or whatever language was the default before you clicked the Hebrew bookmarklet).
5. Click the "RTL/LTR" bookmarklet to toggle the text direction in all textareas (if you're mixing Hebrew and English, you may prefer right-to-left or left-to-right rather than the default for the textarea).