established in 1932, a strict boarding school in Jerusalem that taught oralism. Two other oralist schools were established in Tel Aviv in 1941 and Haifa in 1949. The emphasis on oralism began to change in the 1970s, when Izchak Schlesinger began to research ISL, and with Israel hosting the Fourth International Conference on Deafness in 1973. Manual alphabet The manual alphabet is quite similar to that of American Sign Language. The correspondences are as follows: א as ASL 'A', but with thumb extended ב b as ASL 'B' ג g as ASL 'G' ד d as ASL 'D', but with fingers 3, 4, 5 flat and tips touching tip of thumb ה h as ASL 'H' ו v as ASL '1' ז z as ASL 'Z' ח ch as ASL '8', but with only index and pinkie extended ט t as ASL 'F' י j as ASL 'I' כ k as ASL 'C' ל l as ASL 'L' מ m as ASL 'M' נ n as ASL 'N' ס s as ASL 'S' ע as bent ASL 'V' (like 'X', but with two bent fingers) פ p as ASL 'P' צ ts as ASL '3' ק q as ASL 'K' ר r as ASL 'R' ש sh as ASL 'W' ת t as ASL 'T' Unexpected correspondences are ASL 'F' for Hebrew ט tet (analogous to Greek theta becoming Cyrillic fita), '1' rather than 'U' or 'V' for ו vav, old-fashioned 'C' and 'K' rather than 'K' and 'Q' for כ kaf and ק qof (both are pronounced like an English 'k' or hard 'c'), '3' for צ tsade, and 'W' for ש shin (reflecting its shape). If needed, one may indicate the final forms of letters, ך ם ן ף ץ, by moving the hand downward. To specify שׂ sin, the hand is turned to face the signer (showing the back of the hand). See also Moshe Shem Tov The Institute for the Advancement of Deaf Persons in Israel References Further reading Meir, Irit & Sandler, Wendy. (2007) A Language in Space: The Story of Israel Sign Language. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. External links Israeli Sign Language Dictionary, Institute for the Advancement of Deaf Persons in Israel Israeli Sign Language, Sign Language Research Laboratory Languages of Israel German Sign Language family Sign languages of Israel