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.

NOTICE: If you have installed the Culmus package prior to 14/10/2014, your package will likely become broken after installing recent babel updates for MikTeX. The main symptom for this is an error mentioning the jerus10 font. If this happens, simply download and install the current Culmus-MikTeX package over the existing one (no need to update LyX).

Installation

MikTeX with Hebrew Culmus fonts

Install MikTeX 2.9
The Hebrew fonts installation package is intended for use with MikteX version 2.6–2.9. If you have not installed MikTeX, or if you have an older version installed, download and install MikTeX 2.9 (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.

LyX with Hebrew

Download and install LyX Windows Installer (not the Bundle).
Accept the deafult settings. Note that you may install a Hebrew dictionary for the spell checker. During the installation you may be prompted several times with MikTeX package installations; do not install any of them (press "Cancel").
Copy the LyX Hebrew bind file
Download and execute make_cua_he.bat.
This batch file creates the file cua_ha.bind in %APPDATA%\LyX2.0\bind, where %APPDATA% is the directory where Windows keeps user application data (in Windows 7 this is usually C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\LyX2.0\bind). You can download cua_he.bind manually, and place it in this location.
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.

Creating a Hebrew LyX document

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-R and check the output.
To create a Hebrew document, open the menu item Document → Settings. From the Document class drop-list select "Hebrew Article". On the left pane, select Language and change the language to Hebrew. If you wish to make this the default for new documents, click on "Save as Document Defaults". Click OK.
The default input should be in Hebrew. Pressing F12 switches the input language to English.

Notes

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)".

Links and Info

Created by Iddo Samet, August 3, 2008. Last updated October 14, 2014.

Installing MikTeX and LyX with Hebrew on Windows