Online Talmud Library Seeks To Make Sages Accessible to All
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
NEW YORK (JTA) — For centuries, studying a page of the Talmud has come with a bevy of barriers to entry.
Written mostly in Aramaic, the Talmud in its most commonly printed form also lacks punctuation or vowels, let alone translation.
And that’s not to mention the Talmud’s size and cost: 37 full volumes, called tractates, that can take up an entire shelf of a library.
Helping students and readers crack these barriers and access what amounts to a library of Jewish law, ritual, folklore and moral guidance has been an ongoing endeavor. .
Sefaria, a website founded in 2012 that aims to put the seemingly infinite Jewish canon online for free, has published an acclaimed translation of the Talmud in English.
The Steinsaltz edition of the Talmud has been in print for decades, in both modern Hebrew and English translation, and parts of it already exist on the internet. But this is the first time it’s being put online in its entirety for free.
“Ninety percent of the world’s Jews speak Hebrew and English,” said Daniel Septimus, Sefaria’s executive director. “From an accessibility point of view, it’s a game changer.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
