Installing MikTeX and LyX
with Hebrew on Windows

This document explains how to install an enviornment for writing Hebrew documents with MikTeX and with LyX on Windows.

Update (7 Oct 2009) - New Culmus-MikTeX installer supports MikTeX 2.8.

Install MikTeX 2.8
The Hebrew fonts installation package is intended for use with MikteX version 2.6–2.8. If you have not installed MikTeX, or if you have an older version installed, download and install MikTeX 2.8 (the "Basic MikTeX" Installer). Make sure you install MikTeX for "anyone who uses this computer".
Download and execute the Culmus-MikTeX installer.
This automated setup will install Culmus Hebrew fonts to the MikTeX directories, and configure MikTeX to use them. It will also remove older version of Culmus fonts (as the one which was available on this site).
Click for further information on the Culmus-MikTeX package.

Download and install LyX 1.6.4 for Windows.
Accept the deafult settings. Note that you may install a Hebrew dictionary for the spell checker. During the installation you will be prompted several times with MikTeX package installations; do not install any of them (press "Cancel").
Copy the LyX Hebrew bind file
Download cua_he.bind. Copy it to %APPDATA%\LyX16\bind, where %APPDATA% is the directory where Windows keeps user application data (in Windows XP this is usually C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\LyX16\bind). If you are unsure about this, or feel lazy, download and execute make_cua_he.bat
Run LyX. You may be prompted to install several MikTeX packages. Do not install any of them (press "Cancel").
Open Tools → Preferences.... Adjust the settings, as shown in these screenshots. Click "Save".
Restart LyX.

Run LyX. Press Ctrl-N to open a new document.
To write Hebrew text in an English document, press F12 and type your Hebrew text.
Note: Do not switch Windows' input to Hebrew!
Press Ctrl-D and check the output.
To create a Hebrew document, open the menu item Document → Settings. From the Document class drop-list select "article (Hebrew)". On the left pane, select Language and change the language to Hebrew. If you wish to make this the default for new docuemnts, click on "Save as Document Defaults". Click OK.
The default input should be in Hebrew. Pressing F12 switches the input language to English.

LyX can be used to input Nikud (Hebrew diacritical points). The relevant input keys are listed (and may be modified) in \Program Files\LyX16\Resources\kbd\hebrew.kmap. Apart from the 'dagesh' and 'holam', most points will be misplaced unless a special Nikud font is used. You may advise this (crude) example of Nikud in LyX. To view it properly, output should created using "PDF (ps2pdf)".

Created by Iddo Samet, August 3, 2008. Last updated October 7, 2009.