Lesson #2: Where Is It? Finding the Perfect Texts on Sefaria
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BySefaria Education
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Sefaria Student Course
No doubt about it, Sefaria is a HUGE library. With Tanakh and commentaries, Mishnah, Talmud, Philosophy, Liturgy (prayers), Halakha and more, it is easy to wonder how you are going to find the texts that you need! Luckily, Sefaria has many search features to help you get to the best sources as quickly as possible.
1) If you know what you are looking for, type the name of the book or author into the search bar. You can also use the library homepage to navigate through the site.
  • See how quickly you can find a specific text. Your teacher can have text search races by calling out a text to look for and seeing how fast it takes for everyone to find it.
  • You can also challenge a friend or a group of friends to a race. One person calls out a text and everyone finds it.
https://pixy.org/6458489/ CC0 Public Domain
2) But let's say that you don't know exactly what text you are looking for. Maybe you want a text about teshuva or repentance. How would you find it?
  • Type "teshuva" or "repentance" into the search bar and see what comes up. How many texts do you find?
  • Try typing the word in Hebrew (תשובה). How many texts do you find now?
  • Think of your own concept or idea that you want to research on Sefaria. Type it into the search bar. How many texts did you find? Did anything look interesting to you?
3) Another way to find texts is to use the topics feature. Click on a topic that interests you and see what you find.
4) Activity
  • Choose a topic, idea or concept. (Write it in a comment box below)
  • Search for texts that would help you to learn about the topic. Use any of the methods mentioned above - or discover a new one on your own!
  • In the comment box, type the citation (name of book, chapter, verse - example: Bereishit 2:4) of 4 different texts, from 4 different books that you find interesting. You don't have to add the entire section of text to the source sheet.
5) Optional sneak peak into the next lesson!
Make your sheet more fun to look at by adding an image or video from the internet to go with what you have learned about your topic. Use the "Media" box and click "upload an image".
Reflection
  • When you had to find your own texts? What topics were you looking for?
  • What do you think is the most difficult part of looking for interesting and helpful texts?
  • How might Sefaria's search capabilities help you?