Satyatarot
Nonono, I intended to mean that the Alef is a consonant in hebrew, even though (Within that system of transliteration) it is represented by an A. I am not saying that A is the same sound as in hebrew. I know that it is silent ("alef is the breath which decides between them") I haven't heard of that transliteration scheme, but it makes more sense. I'm not a native hebrew speaker, but I was led to believe by a sephardic rabbi I know who is a native hebrew speaker that ayin actually shapes the vowels differently than aleph, which is entirely silent. I don't actually know, but I found that interesting.