The Hebrew alphabet, the holy language of the Bible, is used for biblical Hebrew, Modern Hebrew, Jewish Aramaic, Yiddish, and Ladino. It consists of 22 letters, all consonants, none of which are lowercase. Each letter has its own sound and numerical value. In addition, the presence of a dagesh (a dot placed within a letter to add emphasis) can modify the sound of a letter, essentially making one letter into two; although, how one pronounces these sounds varies. Over the centuries, pronunciation has changed to the point that some communities have lost the distinction between the sounds of certain letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. The letters and the words they form are holy, with layers of meaning from the literal to the mystical. It was pronounced by G‑d when the Jews received the Torah at Sinai, and it is read from the Torah by Jews all over the world. The Hebrew letters are precise. Every letter and every vowel has a distinct pronunciation. Though some of these distinctions were lost to some communities over the years, they were preserved by other communities.