<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html><head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8">
<style>
  td.border:first-letter {
    color: red;
  }
  .border {
    border: solid thin gray;
    width: 20px;
  }
</style>
</head><body>
  <table>
    <tr>
      <td class="border"><span dir="ltr">a&#x05D0;!</span></td>
      <td>should look the same as</td>
      <td class="border"><span dir="ltr">a&#x05D0;!</span></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td class="border"><span dir="rtl">&#x05D0;a!</span></td>
      <td>should look the same as</td>
      <td class="border"><span dir="rtl">&#x05D0;a!</span></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</body></html>