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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 |
ENA 4020.5
Recto/verso: recto
The widow of Hiyya, a well known Fustat judge active 1129-1160s, wrote this expressive Hebrew petition to the Jewish congregation of Fustat. Her father was Shelomo,”the great prince',” i.e. someone with a position in the state administration. She informs the community of her difficult financial circumstances in explicitly gendered language: "(I write to) your honor due to the pressing times and their vicissitudes (even) on the rich who know well in their wisdom how to manage their wealth so that it will not decrease and dwindle. How much more (difficult are these times) on she who is hidden in the belly of the earth and is dependent on all." She also mentions that she has instructed a certain Menahem to speak on her behalf and collect money for her. On the back of the Hebrew petition are some 14 lines in Arabic script. They are directly related to the Hebrew petition as the second Arabic line mentions ”the daughter of the rayyis Salāma” and the fourth line mentions the same Menahem from the Hebrew petition. (Information from Oded Zinger)
Library: JTS
Type: Letter
Tags:
petition
