You should check the error log about why the server didn't start. It should be called yourhostname.err in your data directory. I think the problem is that you put spaces around the second equal sign. The first equal sign "set-variable = ..." can be surrounded by spaces but the second one "... default-character-set=hebrew" should not have any spaces.
[mysqld] set-variable = default-character-set=hebrew You can also try invoking this option on the command line when starting the server like this: /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --default-character-set=hebrew & with 3.23.xx I think the command is: /usr/local/mysql/bin/safe_mysqld --default-character-set=hebrew & Again, no spaces around the equal sign. But putting it in my.cnf is probably the preferred method. Hope this helps, Jeremy
