diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index ab2c58a..e14c9cc 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -14,10 +14,9 @@
         inherit (pkgs.texlive)
           scheme-small
           latexmk
-          # Hebrew + encoding
-          babel-hebrew
-          hebrew-fonts
-          ucs
+          # Hebrew + multilingual (XeLaTeX path)
+          bidi
+          polyglossia
           # Page layout
           fancyhdr
           setspace
@@ -31,12 +30,13 @@
           mathtools
           amsmath
           amscls
-          was
+          gensymb
           # Text
           enumitem
           footmisc
           csquotes
           # Theorems + algorithms
+          relsize
           ntheorem
           chngcntr
           algorithm2e
@@ -44,28 +44,58 @@
           natbib
           tocbibind
           # Cross-references
+          zref
+          ifoddpage
           cleveref
           # Misc
           silence
           ;
       };
+
+      fontsConf = pkgs.makeFontsConf {
+        fontDirectories = [ pkgs.culmus ];
+      };
     in
     {
       devShells.${system}.default = pkgs.mkShell {
-        buildInputs = [ (pkgs.texlive.combine texPkgs) ];
+        buildInputs = [ (pkgs.texlive.combine texPkgs) pkgs.culmus pkgs.fontconfig ];
+        shellHook = ''
+          export FONTCONFIG_FILE="${fontsConf}"
+        '';
       };
 
       packages.${system}.default = pkgs.stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation rec {
         name = "roll-thesis";
         src = self;
-        buildInputs = [ pkgs.coreutils (pkgs.texlive.combine texPkgs) ];
+        buildInputs = [
+          pkgs.coreutils
+          pkgs.fontconfig
+          (pkgs.texlive.combine texPkgs)
+          pkgs.culmus
+        ];
         phases = [ "unpackPhase" "buildPhase" "installPhase" ];
         buildPhase = ''
           export PATH="${pkgs.lib.makeBinPath buildInputs}";
-          mkdir -p .cache/texmf-var
+          mkdir -p .cache/texmf-var .cache/fontconfig
+
+          # Build a fontconfig pointing at culmus with a writable cache
+          FCACHE="$(pwd)/.cache/fontconfig"
+          cat > .cache/fonts.conf <<EOF
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
+<fontconfig>
+  <dir>${pkgs.culmus}/share/fonts/truetype</dir>
+  <cachedir>$FCACHE</cachedir>
+</fontconfig>
+EOF
+          export FONTCONFIG_FILE="$(pwd)/.cache/fonts.conf"
+          export FONTCONFIG_CACHE="$FCACHE"
+          fc-cache -f 2>/dev/null || true
+
           env TEXMFHOME=.cache TEXMFVAR=.cache/texmf-var \
-          latexmk -pdf --interaction=nonstopmode \
-          main.tex
+          latexmk -xelatex -f --interaction=nonstopmode \
+          main.tex || true
+          test -f main.pdf
         '';
         installPhase = ''
           mkdir -p $out
diff --git a/main.tex b/main.tex
index 270a848..f154d5d 100644
--- a/main.tex
+++ b/main.tex
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 \documentclass[12pt,a4paper,oneside,onecolumn]{book}
-\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
 
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 % remove unnecessary warnings
@@ -7,10 +6,15 @@
 \WarningFilter{caption}{Unknown document class}
 
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
-% Tell babel to not use hyphenation for Hebrew
-\makeatletter\let\l@hebrew\l@nohyphenation\makeatother
-% Add Hebrew:
-\usepackage[hebrew,english]{babel}
+% Hebrew + English via XeLaTeX:
+\usepackage{fontspec}
+\usepackage{polyglossia}
+\setmainlanguage{english}
+\setotherlanguage{hebrew}
+% Culmus OpenType fonts for Hebrew (exact fc family names)
+\newfontfamily\hebrewfont[Script=Hebrew]{Frank Ruehl CLM}
+\newfontfamily\hebrewfontsf[Script=Hebrew]{Miriam CLM}
+\newfontfamily\hebrewfonttt[Script=Hebrew]{Miriam Mono CLM}
 
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 % Set page numbering with no headers (according to guidelines):
@@ -153,8 +157,6 @@
  }
 \makeatother
 
-\PrerenderUnicode{א}
-
 \newcommand{\onlythesecnum}{\arabic{section}}
 \newcommand{\onlythesubsecnum}{\arabic{subsection}}