Sefaria

Sefaria
Available inEnglish, Hebrew
Founder(s)Brett Lockspeiser, Joshua Foer
CEODaniel Septimus
URLwww.sefaria.org
CommercialNo
Launched2011
Current statusActive

Sefaria is an online open source,[1] free content, digital library of Jewish texts. It was founded in 2011 by former Google project manager Brett Lockspeiser and journalist-author Joshua Foer.[2][3][4] Promoted as a "living library of Jewish texts", Sefaria relies partially upon volunteers to add texts and translations.[5][6] The site provides cross-references and interconnections between various texts.[3] Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic texts are provided under a free license in the original and in translation. The website also provides a tool for creating source sheets.[7]

Sefaria is maintained by an eponymous non-profit organization[8][9] which employs 18 engineers.[10] According to their chief data officer Lev Israel in 2019, the service received 250,000 unique visitors monthly.[11]

  1. ^ Yudelson, Larry (April 26, 2018). "Beyond the book". The Jewish Standard. The Times of Israel. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  2. ^ Maier, Lilly (February 8, 2017). "You Can Now Read The Whole Talmud Online - For Free". The Forward. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b Solomon, Zachary (September 8, 2014). "A New, Digital Wonderland of Jewish Text". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  4. ^ Arbesman, Samuel (July 10, 2014). "The Network Structure of Jewish Texts". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  5. ^ Borschei-Dan, Amanda (November 13, 2014). "Old-school educators go hi-tech to promote Torah accessibility". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  6. ^ Henze, Matthias; Werline, Rodney A. (2020-11-29). Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters. Society of Biblical Literature. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-88414-482-3.
  7. ^ Schifrin, Dan (11 July 2014). "Locally fueled Sefaria project has radical ambitions for traditional Jewish texts". J. The Jewish News of Northern California.
  8. ^ Chabin, Michele (February 10, 2017). "Nonprofit offers online English-language translation of the Talmud for free". Religion News Service. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  9. ^ Smith, Noah (September 18, 2018). "The quest to put the Talmud online". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  10. ^ "How Can Secular Jews Create the Future of Torah?". Oshman Family JCC. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
  11. ^ Spiro, Amy (May 2, 2019). "Sefaria turns a female page". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 15, 2021.