Sefaria: Jewish Texts Library Reviews

by Shoe Lacious

Love Sefaria and website, and recommend it often. But the new (March 2023) mobile UI is *awful*. What was once clean & clear is now a wall of text with a ton of scrolling and no visual markers for where you are. Please bring the old look back! I didn’t even mind all the typos (in the Fox chumash) and display problems (cutting off end of Talmud paragraphs in portrait view) as long as it was easy to navigate. | Edit: Also, the “See all” link under Learning Schedules crashes the mobile app (tested on iPad and iPhone). Please fix soon!

by Gaycrepes

My this app app hasn’t worked in about a month and it’s making me very unhappy. This is one of my main sources of Torah when on the go and it hasn’t been working in a long while. It just shows the blue this app opening screen and never anything else. It’s been stuck like that for a while now and I really need it to come back as I am chronically ill and mentally ill and Torah is one of the only thing that helps. Of course I have a paper version (JPS Tanakh) but I admittedly don’t bring it everywhere with me so I would be extremely grateful if this could be resolved. I have updated it countless times, restarted my phone, pretty much everything. Please help.

by Play_box456

Don’t get me wrong this is a good app, it is helping me start my conversion and helping me get started on living a life of reading the Torah, and knowing all the daily prayers in the siddur, I wish though that there was transliterated words for everything as I am interested in it, I just don’t know how to read Hebrew yet. So if maybe those can be added in, it will help not only me but those to come looking for ways to immerse yourself in the religious aspect of Judaism.

by Meir Bargeron

As a rabbinical student, I use this app just about every day. It is a fantastic resource that just keeps getting better. Since the rollout of iOS 11, the iPad app has a new bug. After using Sefaria for a few minutes, the screen will often “flicker” when I return to Sefaria from another app. The only to stop this flicker effect is to quit Sefaria and start again....and then it happens again. This is definitely a hit to my productivity. PLEASE INVESTIGATE THIS BUG AND FIX IT! Thanks for offering us a wonderful service.

by Yapishkahilt

A great resource to be sure, but it doesn’t appear to have any way for a reader to add notes for one’s own use. (If there is, it’s certainly not accessible in a usable way.) This is the only critical feedback I have, although it’s actually a usability deal breaker for me.

by LionDog963

I don’t want to sound ungrateful, because I am grateful for the wonderful app; but could you please add English translation to the entirety of texts outside the Tanakh. It’s really disappointing when you read the first few chapters only to discover that the rest of a text isn’t translated. I wish my Hebrew were better, and I’m working on it, but I don’t think I’ll be able to read Hebrew that well anytime soon…
Et me know if I’m wrong and need to reinstall Sefaria .

by Agingerwithasoul

This is an excellent app that contains many of the texts a person would want to read and learn.

One of the best tools is the highlight and define feature. HOWEVER, it does not always work. A Vav (and) could throw off the reading and no definition will be provided. It would be helpful if when we highlight and there is no definition, we could edit it to remove the vav or any prefix etc. so that the system would be able to define the word.

by Micshot

Sefaria is very well thought out and very inclusive and deep. I love the translations, as my Hebrew level is still very low, but the access to materials in English, and for free, is amazing!

Pro User Request:
I do a lot of note taking and app switching and iOS 11 has had the ability for over a year that it can split screen and even have an app in the tinier window attached to the side of the screen, having these features in Sefaria would be so helpful.

by Cheesecakelvrrr

I cannot overstate how much I love having the this app app on my phone. I used to always just use the website but I’m glad I finally took the plunge and got it on my phone too - I had no idea how handy it would be! I can look things up so easily. Plus having all the texts available without cell service or internet is a game-changer. Highly recommend for anyone interested in Jewish texts.

by Mikmeister

And totally free! The interface is beautiful and the text in English and Hebrew is clear and legible. They could improve the search feature. It finds whatever term ask but here's the problem: when you tap on the selection it opens in a page where there is a ton of Hebrew and then you scroll and scroll and scroll. When you get to the translation your search term is not highlighted anywhere. You basically have to look for it. Like a needle in a haystack....but it's in there somewhere.

by BluesQueen

No matter if my app setting is English or Bilingual, the built-in up to date iOS iPhone 7 page reader speaks it to me in Japanese. That is not, nor ever has been a setting on my iPhone, and I have ‘read’ hundreds of books/articles/pages in the English voiceover. Any idea why? I have checked my system Accessibility settings, even changed from male to female English voice. No change. Thank you for any help.

by LookLearnLove

First of all, you should know that I never write reviews for apps but decided to make an exception because of how much I love it. I have a bookcase filled with real books on the Bible but I rarely use it anymore because it’s all available on my phone!! I literally use it every day for my daily Talmud class, to study the Torah portion, or to source commentaries or new ideas. Anytime, anywhere. Thank you this app for making the Torah so accessible and intuitive to use, and for bringing God’s word including ancient Jewish wisdom to a modern, technological world. God bless you!!

by Ikilimnik

Baruch HaShem for your guys monumental work on all the Jewish scriptures translation and digitizing. I am a daily user of this app app. Big thanks for the William Davidson Talmud. (I am Koren’s Talmud admirer).

this app app is a VERY serious ArtScroll’s competition. In many aspects this app app delivers better features and higher quality of design and performance. It is unbelievable what you guys did and continuing to do! Beazrat HaShem you will never stop! Sefaria is simply great! Super fast indexing and search and a wonderful UX.

A feature request: is there is anyway to have a setting for the G-d name. Many people may prefer to see HaShem instead of the Lord. I understand it is the Open Source text, nevertheless do you have it anywhere on the road map? :)

Thank you once again and keep it coming this app Team!

by Boomsky7

I personally recommend Sefaria to anyone who will listen. The size of the library is tremendous and is constantly growing. Combining that with the fact that it’s completely free makes this one of the most wonderful Torah resources I’ve ever seen. I think it is the very tool K’lal Yisroel needs in the digital age and it’s executed beautifully. Everything from the development infrastructure (I’ve looked at the GitHub repo multiple times and as a developer I’m very impressed) to the design, is of outstanding & modern quality.
I would like to personally say thank you to everyone at this app.

by Blakebrownie35

The UI is such an incredible upgrade from when Sefaria first started out!!! Of course, there’s so much more room for modernizing and improving the user interface further; however, I want to commend the this app team on their advancements of Sefaria as a whole and of course their tremendous array of texts that are provided to anyone and everyone for FREE! G-d bless you.

by Bavansm

Can I say, this is a person and friend best friend, it continues with all text from Torah and informs on every aspect on the way. Unfortunately there’s some bugs and errors but in time it’ll be #1. Unfortunately there’s no audio and would be a good idea to install, especially if you would like too read along.

by MarquisDeParadox

I am so grateful for the depth and breadth of this library, and the ease of use and access to so many sources through Sefaria . It has helped increase the level of meaning in my life.

My only concern is I am unable to open Sefaria since upgrading to an iPhone 14 pro with iOS 16.5.1. Unfortunately it crashes before opening.

by Touchedbybluefierylight

Sefaria is absolutely wonderful. I find that it is helping to greatly increase my knowledge and understanding of many aspects of the Way. Spanning the earliest scriptural and liturgical writings through the Rabbinical Commentaries and thoughts, through the mystical texts, to current and contemporaneous scholarly works.

May the Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, Yehovah, Bless and Protect the memory of the Man to whom this this app is dedicated; his loving and righteous family; the Children of Israel, Levy, and Cohen; all those who love and fear and adore Yehovah; Righteous of the Nations who are with Israel and the Hebrew People. May Yehovah Bless and Protect all those who read and study this great work, the this app. May Yehovah Bless and protect and protect the State of Israel, its leadership, and the Israelis; and the United States of America, friend of Israel; the President and leadership of the United States, and the righteous of the American people. Amen.
Shema Israel: Yehovah Eloheynu, Yehovah Echad. Amen

אלוהים, מלך היקום, יהוה, יברך ויגן על זכרו של האדם שאליו מוקדש ספר זה. ואלוהים יברך את משפחתו האוהבת והצודקת. יהוה יברך את ישראל, לוי וכהן. יברך את כל מי שאוהב את יהוה. יהוה יברך את כל מי שקורא ומלמד את היצירה הגדולה של הספרייה. יהוה יברך ויגן על מדינת ישראל, על הנהגתה ועל קדושת ישראל. יהוה יברך את ארצות הברית של אמריקה, ידידת ישראל הגדולה ביותר, את נשיא ארצות הברית ואת מנהיגיה ואת העם האמריקני.
שמע ישראל, ה 'אלוהינו הוא יהוה אחד. אָמֵן

by Λάκων

Sefaria is a pure, no-foolin’ miracle: a treasure, a wonder, a beautiful thing done by beautiful, beautiful people. The bona-fide lamed-vavniks involved in the making of it have my deepest respect and admiration for making free, to even the most clueless of us gentiles, the wisdom of the ancients. Ready access, for example, to the Onkelos targum is a source of great help, especially where the more difficult passages of the Torah (e.g. Gen 4:7) are concerned.

My only suggestion (and in my eagerness to write this I haven’t spent much time with the settings, so perhaps I’m just a fool) is that one be able to read side-by-side, e.g., the Hebrew and Aramaic (that is, the Torah on one side, targum on other).

Thanks again to the developers, programmers, linguists, compilers, and all the rest! יהי שׁם יהוה מברך

by Yø-c

Still can’t believe Sefaria is free… unbelievable resource!
Just a request - it would be super convenient if there would be an option for keeping multiple tabs open in different sefarim, for those who have multiple limudim and want to switch between them easily.

by SoldinSeattle

Sefaria didn’t open on my iPhone ; after posting my original review, the developer reached out and suggested that I delete and reinstall it, which I did, solving the problem. 5 stars for both the amazing resources through Sefaria as well as the responsiveness and helpfulness of the developer!

by Joseph0566

I’ve been using Sefaria for about a week or so and I will say this is amazing, I never would’ve thought I could have the Jewish canon on my phone for free! My only issue is that there needs to be more English translations, especially in the Kabbalah and in the Mishneh Torah and the Shulchan Arukh. That would be my only little gripe.

by Jawnvaljawn

ETA: this problem was resolved per developer response (uninstalling and reinstalling Sefaria ). thank you!

I’m on an iphone 13 pro max and I can’t use Sefaria. I just have a perpetual loading screen. app support doesn’t work either, since it’s in Sefaria . please fix this

by Catscats55555

i enjoy using Sefaria very much, i love the ability to read talmud and commentary as you read through tanakh. i understand why many texts aren’t available in english, as i can only imagine how hard it is to translate so many texts. however, i think a feature that prioritized english texts when clicking on a verse would be useful. i find myself sometimes s rolling through many hebrew passages looking for an english one to supplement. a feature that prioritized hebrew or english would be helpful for searching and reading after clicking a verse for more information.

by Jwkskkwkkmsme

The best you can use it is free and it has everything on it with English translation and it’s organized very properly and when ever you click on a sentence it will show the rashi’s and every person that comments on it and a lot more stuff it just such an amazing app to use.

by Star Wars Back

The UI is such an incredible upgrade from when Sefaria first started out!!! Of course, there’s so much more room for modernizing and improving the user interface further; however, I want to commend the this app team on their advancements of Sefaria as a whole and of course their tremendous array of texts that are provided to anyone and everyone for FREE! G-d bless you.