Ashuri became in use for the Jewish people. The reference of the script as beautiful and straight is a subjective understanding of the Rabbi, in the Talmud itself it is only asked why the Ashuri in the Tractate Megillah is referred to as Ashuri, to which the baraita continues because it was authorized for writing, ascending from Ashur. There are many rules concerning the proper formation of letters if the written text is to be valid for religious purposes. Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Yemenite Jews each have their own calligraphic tradition regarding certain details of how each letter is formed, although
Ashkenazi Hebrew from Spain in 1492 (or before) the Sephardic pronunciation of the vowels became standard in all these countries, ironing out any differences that previously existed. This makes it harder to adjudicate between the different theories on the relationship between today's pronunciation systems and those of ancient times. Leopold Zunz believed that the Ashkenazi pronunciation was derived from that of Palestine in Geonic times (7th–11th centuries CE), while the Sephardi pronunciation was derived from that of Babylonia. This theory was supported by the fact that, in some respects, Ashkenazi Hebrew resembles the western dialect of Syriac while Sephardi Hebrew resembles the