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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: ENA 4020.46 + ENA 2806.12
ENA 4020.46
Recto/verso:
Section:
Letter by Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Damascus (חדרך), to Yeshuʿa b. Moshe, in Egypt. In Hebrew. Dating: ca. 1145/46 CE. Regarding the will of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. The addressee is not known from other sources. Ḥalfon is currently in the circle of Avraham b. Mazhir, the head of the Palestinian Yeshiva in Damascus, who was likely an in-law of Maṣliaḥ. Ḥalfon asks the addressee to look for the will of Maṣliaḥ Gaon among the two witnesses who wrote and signed in (R. Natan ha-Dayyan ha-Ḥaver ha-Meʿulle and R. Natan b. Shemuel) or other witnesses. If he cannot find it, he should try to reconstruct its text from the witnesses and to send it by land through the desert to Damascus. This letter itself was sent by land. Ḥalfon has praised Yeshuʿa to the yeshiva in Damascus. (Information from India Book 4; Hebrew description below.)
Ed. S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Akiva Friedman, Ḥalfon the Traveling Merchant Scholar : Cairo Geniza Documents (in Hebrew) (2013), vol. 4.
Type: Letter
