Hebrew Paleography Album: A New Tool for the Study of Hebrew Scripts in the Digital Age

Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger will present a new digital tool HebrewPal (Hebrew Palaeography Album) developed for the study of the script of medieval Hebrew manuscripts, documents, and inscriptions. Created as a collaboration between Oxford University, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, and a research cluster SAPRAT (Savoirs et pratiques du moyen âge à l'époque contemporaine) of the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL (Paris), HebrewPal is a pioneering Hebrew script database. It follows an original palaeographical approach developed by Professor Schlanger. The analysis of the script is carried out from the global view of the script sample, through the study of individual words and letters to the details of the components of every letter. The method supports detailed description and analysis of the letters of the Hebrew alphabets and other elements of writing and decoration, as well as the ability to store and retrieve images and metadata information with ease.