Search/Browse Help - Searching in Hebrew

About Searching in Hebrew Script Languages

Records in the LC Catalog use the Unicode standard for MARC 21 for search and display. This ISO standard is based on Unicode opens in a new window (UTF-8 encoding). LC Catalog records in Hebrew script languages (e.g, Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic) may contain a mix of non-Latin characters and transliterated data or transliterated data only. Library of Congress transliteration follows the ALA-LC Romanization Tables.

There are two ways to search for records in Hebrew script languages:

• Using romanized terms (which may be faster and more efficient).
• Using Hebrew characters. You may want to search first with Hebrew script characters if you are unsure of the proper romanization of a name or title.

Search results displayed in Titles Lists contain only Latin characters in the brief entries for each item. Titles Lists are ordered by relevancy or sorted by transliterated author/creator and title metadata. If records contain both transliterated data and Hebrew characters, both will be displayed in the full record.

Tips for Searching Hebrew Script Languages

• The Library of Congress began to include Hebrew script characters in LC Catalog records in 1987. However, not all records for items in Hebrew script languages contain Hebrew characters. Therefore, romanized searches produce the most comprehensive results.
• Hebrew script characters can be searched in names, titles, series, notes, and many subjects. All topical subject headings, however, use English-language terms.
• Wildcards may be especially helpful if you are unsure of the correct MARC 21 Unicode values. Use a percent sign (%) as a single character wildcard and a question mark (?) for truncation or to substitute for multiple characters.
• Most marks of punctuation in your search query are converted to spaces. Some punctuation and diacritic marks are removed: apostrophes, alifs, ayns, middle dots, primes and double primes. A few special characters, however, are retained in searches: ampersands (&), plus signs (+), at signs (@), number signs (#), and musical flat (♭) and natural (♮) signs (musical sharps are converted to spaces). Special characters are generally converted to their nearest alphabetic equivalent (for example: an æ diagraph to ae or a þ thorn to th).
• In pre-2005 Hebrew script records, non-Latin fields containing numerals, brackets, parentheses, and other marks of punctuation may not display correctly because of problems in intersystem data transfer. These incorrect displays are being corrected to the extent possible as they are encountered in cataloging.

Searching Hebrew Script Languages in Transliteration

Library of Congress romanization systems for Hebrew and Yiddish are described in the Hebrew ALA Romanization Tables at: https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/hebrew.pdf. For more details, see Paul Maher's Hebraica Cataloging (Washington, D.C.: Cataloging Distribution Service, 1987, p. 8-34).

Please follow these rules when entering your search:

• Ignore diacritical marks:
  • Enter hevrah instead of hevrah for חברה
  • Enter sason instead of śaśon for ששון
• Disregard sheva na' when not pronounced in Israeli Hebrew:
  • Enter shomrim instead of shomerim for שומרים
  • But enter ketivah instead of ktivah for כתיבה
• Disregard consonants:
  • Enter medaber instead of medabber
• Use a hyphen to separate prefixed particles (e.g., the definite article ha-, the conjunctions ṿe- or ṿa-, prepositions like le-, and combinations of these particles) from the word to which they are prefixed:
  • Enter ha-bayit instead of habayit for הבית
  • Enter ve-hayu instead of vehayu for והיו
  • Enter vela-moreh instead of velamoreh or ve-lamoreh for ולמורה
• Numbers and dates expressed in Hebrew letters are romanized as Arabic numerals:
  • Enter helek 12 instead of helek y"b for חלק י"ב
  • Enter 708 instead of tashah for תש"ח
• Hyphens are treated as spaces:
  • Enter Tel Aviv or Tel-Aviv to retrieve תל-אביב

Searching Hebrew Characters

• To enter Hebrew script characters,characters, set the input method editor (IME) on your device to Hebrew.
• To find the records you are looking for:
  • Search both full (ketiv male) and incomplete (ketiv ̣ḥaser) spellings:
    • To find liḳut search both ליקוט and לקוט
    • To find ḳodesh search both קודש and קדש
  • Note that the LC Catalog differentiates between searching the letter itself (כ נ מ פ צ) and searching its ending (sofit) form (ך ן ם ף ץ). This is especially relevant when searching for works that use Soviet Yiddish orthography, in which the sofit form is not used.
    • Searching for שכנ does not retrieve שכן
    • Single and double quotation marks (' and ") in the Microsoft Hebrew IME are not equivalent to the Hebrew geresh and gershayim in Library of Congress Hebrew script records. Searches using the Microsoft quotation marks will not retrieve appropriate results. Words or strings containing these quotation marks should be searched in romanization. Note that if you copy the geresh or gershayim character directly from a Hebrew script Catalog record and paste it into your Hebrew script search, you will retrieve correct results. For example, see https://lccn.loc.gov/99461387.
    • Searches for רמב"ם, תש"ח or פאלג'י retrieve no records; substitute 708, rambam, palag'i (or palagi) in your search query.
  • Remember that truncation in Browse searches is automatic. Truncation is not automatic, however, for Keyword Search and Advanced Search. Without using truncation options in keyword searches, only exact keyword search queries retrieve appropriate results.
    • Searching for בית does not retrieve הבית. Make sure to exclude the leading article (ה) from Titles Beginning With searches.
    • Searching for יכתב does not retrieve יכתבו
    • Searching for שכנ does not retrieve either שכנים or שכן
  • Replace hyphens with spaces and omit commas:
    • Enter תל אביב instead of תל-אביב
    • Search עז ארי שלמה instead of עז-ארי, שלמה
  • To delete a preceding Hebrew script character, use the backspace key (or the left arrow key followed by the delete key).
  • Use the left arrow to move the cursor to the right; use the right arrow to move the cursor to the left.

Searching Yiddish

Substitute יי (yod-yod) and וו (ṿaṿ-ṿaṿ ) for the Yiddish characters ײ (tsṿey yudn) and װ (tsṿey ṿoṿn).

For vowels and consonants with diacritics (such as א (with a line under) or פ (with a line over), use the Hebrew character without a diacritic. For example: searching פיין retrieves both fayn and payn.