Sefaria's mission is to bring the People of the Book into the digital age, and that means exploring how new technologies can help people access, search, discover, and understand Jewish texts. Our founders had the foresight to make Jewish texts machine-readable, and that decision continues to pay off as technologies like artificial intelligence evolve.

Last month, we shared some exciting news: We released the first-ever full English-language translation of the 17th-century Torah commentary Kli Yakar. This unique addition to the Sefaria Library was made possible through human-AI collaboration: Initially generated by the AI assistant Claude 3.7, the translation was then fully reviewed and refined by Sefaria Translation and Research Specialist Francis Nataf over a six-month editing process. This is a model we're excited about: By combining the power of technology with the care of human scholarship, we can make more texts accessible to more learners.

Read more about Kli Yakar, and much more, below.

Who? Liana Wertman, Founder and Executive Director, The Torah Studio, California and NYC

How? My work at The Torah Studio helps Jews from across locations and identities connect to the vast Jewish library through fulfilling, transformative, and communal online learning experiences. I use Sefaria in so many ways: It's the first place I go to learn a text, study the weekly parashah for my newsletter, and explore commentaries and sources for class. It’s also the only way I make my source sheets (and I've made hundreds)! Without the revolutionary access to our sacred texts that Sefaria offers, work like mine would not and could not exist.

Liana’s Top Tip: Did you know you can install the Sefaria for Google Docs extension to make incredible source sheets right in your own Google Doc? Instantly add any source, pick any translation, decide the format, and even find and connect all the verses you quote. If you teach, research, or write about Torah, this tool is going to change your life!

Kli Yakar is a widely studied commentary on the Five Books of Moses, written at the turn of the 17th century by Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz. Through close readings of the text, the author (a Polish rabbi who served as chief rabbi of Prague) draws on the Talmud, Midrash, and earlier commentaries such as Rashi and Abarbanel to derive fresh meanings for his contemporary audience. Now available for the first time ever in a full English-language translation, this significant commentary is now freely accessible to educators and learners alike.

Did you know you can make a personalized Passover haggadah? You can find instructions for doing this with your students (or for your own seder) on this DIY Haggadah Sheet from the Sefaria team.

Don’t forget about Topics! Access a wide collection of thematically organized sources with Topic pages on Passover, Seder, Matzah, Freedom, and more.

Sefaria for Google Docs
Seamlessly add and format any source from the library to a Google doc with a single click. Now including verse numbers!
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Source Sheet Editor
Mix and match sources from Sefaria's library of Jewish texts, and add your comments, images, and videos.

>>> Looking for more information? You can always reach out at [email protected]. We're here for your questions.