cleveref with Hebrew

Question

The following LaTeX code is saved in the file ~\test.tex:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
%\usepackage{polyglossia}
%\setmainlanguage{hebrew}
\usepackage{cleveref}
\begin{document}
\begin{theorem}\label{mythm}
A house is not a home.
\begin{equation}\label{myeq}
    x+y=z
\end{equation}
\end{theorem}
Consider~\cref{mythm}, and compare it with~\cref{myeq}.
\end{document}

When the following commands are executed in the Terminal:

cd ~
xelatex test

a PDF file is generated at the path ~\test.pdf. When opened in a PDF viewer, the file displays as follows:

If now the two commented lines are uncommented, and the xelatex test command is rerun, the execution fails.

Is there a way to get the cleveref package to work with Hebrew, with eitherpolyglossia or babel as the language package? If not, is there another, similar package that works with Hebrew? If not, is there a simple way to emulate the cleveref package?

Answer 1

The cleveref package comes with several language modules. Unfortunately, hebrew isn't one of the package's supported languages. A workaround: load cleveref with an explicit language option -- say, english -- and then use the \addtocaptions{hebrew}{...} device to provide various \crefname directives suitable for hebrew. I'm afraid I don't speak or read Hebrew, so I can't be very specific.

% !TEX TS-program = xelatex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainfont{Arial}
\setmainlanguage{hebrew}
\usepackage[english]{cleveref} % set an explicit language option
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\appto{\captionshebrew}{%
   \crefname{theorem}{משפט}{משפט}% 3rd arg should be plural form of 2nd arg
   % \crefname{equation}{...}{...}% 3rd arg should be plural form of 2nd arg
}
\begin{document}
\begin{theorem}\label{mythm}
A house is not a home.
\end{theorem}
Consider~\cref{mythm}.
\end{document}