mishnah-text-tweaks

name	mishnah-text-tweaks
description	Add or modify punctuation and text replacement rules in the Mishnah Hebrew or English text processing functions. Use when the user wants to tweak how Mishnah text is displayed — changing commas to colons, periods to question marks, replacing transliterations, etc.

Mishnah Text Tweaks

File

All rules live in client/src/lib/text-processing.ts:

• Hebrew rules: processMishnahHebrewText() (~line 126)
• English rules: processMishnahEnglishText() (~line 174)

How the Hebrew Processing Map Works

The function removes nikud first, then applies a chain of .replace() calls that transform punctuation. Rules are grouped by type:

Comma → Colon (speech/attribution markers)

Patterns like אומר, → אומר: and אמר רבי X, → אמר רבי X:. Used when a comma incorrectly separates a speaker from their statement.

Comma/Period → Question Mark (interrogative phrases)

Patterns like (איזהו X), → (איזהו X)? and (כיצד X). → (כיצד X)?. Used when a question phrase is incorrectly terminated with a comma or period instead of a question mark.

Comma → Colon (structural markers)

Patterns like זה הכלל, → זה הכלל:. Used when a structural phrase introduces a rule or list.

How the English Processing Map Works

The function strips HTML, then applies replacements in three phases:

1. Term replacements — transliteration corrections (e.g., Joshua → Yehoshua, Beth Hillel → Beit Hillel)
2. Punctuation corrections — e.g., said, → said:
3. Line splitting — splits on sentence-ending punctuation for line-by-line display (abbreviations like i.e., e.g., R' are protected from splitting)

Adding a New Rule

Step 1: Identify the pattern type

The user will typically provide:

• The Hebrew/English phrase
• The current (wrong) punctuation
• The desired (correct) punctuation
• An example URL like https://chavrutai.com/mishnah/Tractate/Chapter#Mishnah

Step 2: Choose the regex pattern

Fixed phrase (no variable words):

.replace(/זה הכלל,/g, 'זה הכלל:')

Phrase + variable trailing words (one or more words follow the phrase before the punctuation):

// Comma variant — exclude comma and newline from capture
.replace(/(איזהו\s+[^,\n]+),/g, '$1?')

// Period variant — exclude period and newline from capture
.replace(/(מאימתי\s+[^.\n]+)\./g, '$1?')

Phrase + named element (e.g., rabbi name):

.replace(/אמר רבי ([^,\n]+),/g, 'אמר רבי $1:')

Step 3: Place the rule in the correct group

• Comma → colon rules go with the other attribution/structural colon rules
• Comma/Period → question mark rules go with the other interrogative rules
• If a phrase needs both comma and period variants, add both (comma variant first, period variant after)

Step 4: Watch for ordering

• More specific patterns must come before more general ones (e.g., אמר לו רבי X, before אמר לו, before אמר,)
• If a phrase already has a comma variant and you're adding a period variant, place the period variant after the comma one

Existing Hebrew Rules Reference

Comma → Colon

Pattern	Example
אומרים,	speakers say:
אומר,	he says:
אמרו לו,	they said to him:
(אמרו להם X),	they said to them X:
אמרו להם,	they said to them:
אמר להם,	he said to them:
אמר לו רבי X,	Rabbi X said to him:
אמר רבי X,	Rabbi X said:
אמר לו,	he said to him:
(אמר X),	X said:
אמר,	he said:
ואלו הן,	and these are:
(אלו X).	these X:
שני לו,	the second to him:
שלישי לו,	the third to him:
זה הכלל,	this is the rule:

Comma/Period → Question Mark

Pattern	Example
(איזהו X),	which is X?
(איזהו X).	which is X?
(ואיזו היא X),	and which is X?
(מה בין X).	what is between X?
(כיצד X)[,.]	how does X?
כיצד. / כיצד,	how?
במה דברים אמורים,	in what case?
אימתי,	when?
(באיזה X),	in which X?
(באיזה X).	in which X?
(מאימתי X).	from when X?

Existing English Rules Reference

Term Replacements

Joshua→Yehoshua, Judah→Yehuda, Yose→Yosei, Ishmael→Yishmael, Akiba→Akiva, Zadok→Tzadok, Eleazar→Elazar, Beth Hillel→Beit Hillel, Beth Shammai→Beit Shammai, R.→R', thyself→yourself, thy→your, Mt.→Mount

Punctuation

said, → said:

Testing

After adding a rule, visit the specific Mishnah URL the user provided to confirm the change renders correctly. The app hot-reloads on save.