[texhax] adjusting the space between characters

[Bryan Bibb]

I have been searching everywhere for transliteration characters to use
for the Hebrew characters aleph and ayin.  When I had given up hope, I
found acceptable glyphs in the txfonts package (txmi font, labelled
lhook and rhook, IIRC).  I have to put the (math) character into
superscript because it must be in the upper part of the register.

My problem is that when I put the transliterated word into emphasis, all
of the characters except for the hook slant to the right.  This makes
the hook appear too close to the previous character and too far from the
next one.

How might I tweak it so that the hook is still centered when the word
is in italic?  Is there a better way to raise the hook than with
superscript?  Can I nudge the character to the right just a bit?

Any pointers will be greatly appreciated.

Bryan