Note: This database is re-populated every day at midnight, Eastern Standard Time. Information in this database may become unavalable for approximately 10 minutes while this process completes.
Regular expressions
The Princeton Geniza Project database allows for search expressions containing certain 'regular expressions'. Regular expressions are codes that can be inserted in search queries to match patterns of text.
| ^string | Matches the text at the beginning of the string |
| string$ | Matches the text at the end of the string |
| . | Matches any single character (including special characters) |
| a* | Matches the sequence of zero or more of the specified character |
| a+ | Matches the sequence of one or more of the specified character |
| a? | Matches zero or one occurrence of the specified character |
| abc|def | Matches either one of the specified strings |
| [abc] | Matches any one of the specified characters |
Boolean Search
The Princeton Geniza Project database uses a boolean full-text search. This type of search allows users to combine keywords with operators to refine searches. Possible operators and examples of their use:
| מולאנא מולאי | Search for rows that contain either of two words by simply typing them consecutively. In this case, the search will find documents that contain either מולאי or מולאנא. |
| כתאבי +מולאי+ | Use a + sign before word to search for rows that contain all of them (in this case the words כתאבי and מולאי) |
| כתאבי AND מולאי כתאבי OR מולאי | The keyword AND indicates that both search terms must be present in the results. OR matches either search term. |
| כתאב –כתאבה | Use a - sign to exclude a term from your results (in this case, the search will include כתאב but exclude כתאבה) |
| *כתאב ?כתאב |
Use an asterisk or a question mark as a wildcard. An asterix matches any number of characters. A question mark matches any single character |
Join: T-S 13K2.3 + Bodl. MS Heb. d 74/29
T-S 13K2.3
Recto/verso: recto and verso
Section:
Letter 2 of 4 of Letters Miscellany, a collection of letters representing both sides of the calendar controversy. Letter 2, of which only one folio is preserved, is a pro-Babylonian response to a Palestinian polemic on the calendar of 921/2 and on the Four Gates.
The folio begins with the end of the end of the refutation of the Palestinians’ second argument. The Palestinians were arguing that the Four Gates are incomplete because they only account for four days of the week (the days on which the New Year is allowed to fall). Our letter responds that the Four Gates actually covers the full week because every period of time ends where the next one begins (fol.4r:1-5).
The third argument concerns the rule of 641-642 parts. Our author misinterprets the rule as applying equally to Nisan and to Tishri, which enables him to refute it easily (fol.4r:5-14). Interjected here is a misplaced element of text that actually belongs to before the beginning of our folio. After the end of the misplaced text, the text resumes with the third argument (fol.4v:19-21).
Ed. and trans. Sacha Stern, "The Jewish Calendar Controversy of 921/2 CE," in The Book of the Calendar Controversy: Diplomatic Editions, 1st ed. (2019).
Type: Letter
Tags:
calendar controversy
