RFC 1555 (rfc1555) - Page 1 of 5


Hebrew Character Encoding for Internet Messages



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



Network Working Group                                      H. Nussbacher
Request for Comments: 1555                      Israeli Inter-University
Category: Informational                                  Computer Center
                                                             Y. Bourvine
                                                       Hebrew University
                                                           December 1993


            Hebrew Character Encoding for Internet Messages

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This document describes the encoding used in electronic mail [RFC 822]
   for transferring Hebrew.  The standard devised makes use of MIME
   [RFC 1521] and ISO-8859-8.

Description

   All Hebrew text when transferred via e-mail must first be translated
   into ISO-8859-8, and then encoded using either Quoted-Printable
   (preferable) or Base64, as defined in MIME.

   The following table provides the four most common Hebrew encodings:

                       PC    IBM     PC     ISO
           Hebrew                           8859-8
           letter     8-bit         7-bit   8-bit
                      Ascii  EBCDIC Ascii   Ascii
           ---------- -----  ------ -----   ------
           alef        128     41    96     224
           bet         129     42    97     225
           gimel       130     43    98     226
           dalet       131     44    99     227
           he          132     45   100     228
           vav         133     46   101     229
           zayin       134     47   102     230
           het         135     48   103     231
           tet         136     49   104     232
           yod         137     51   105     233
           kaf sofit   138     52   106     234
           kaf         139     53   107     235
           lamed       140     54   108     236



Nussbacher & Bourvine