Preparing for the New Semester

Jewish educators are working harder than ever, and Sefaria's team is inspired by all of your successes as the pandemic continues to impact our learning communities. Check out the many resources available on Sefaria to support your work and inspire learners of all ages.

Independent learning materials
Boosting students' independent learning skills is an important goal, especially at a time when it may be harder to work hands-on with our learners. Sefaria's Learning Department wants to spark your students' curiosity and develop their skills by providing you with materials that are self-guided, Zoom-friendly, and adaptable:

Introducing Your Chanukiya – An activity in which students explore and compare texts about lighting the Chanukiya. Where are You, Parasha? – An introduction to the structure of the Tanakh and the cycle of Torah and Haftarah readings. Meeting the Mishnah – A scavenger hunt exploring the structure and characteristics of the Mishnah. Decoding the Daf – An exercise in navigating the interconnected and multi-layered Talmud page using Sefaria’s tools. Scavenger Hunt Template – A template for students and teachers making their own new scavenger hunts. Sefaria Student Course – Three lessons and a teacher's guide introducing students to the Sefaria library and sheet creation.

Sefaria's team plans to build more resources that allow your students to harness the power of Sefaria to foster independent learning. If you would like to inspire future materials, we welcome your suggestions for more skills or topics to cover.

Inspire Your Students with New Torah Creations
The results are in! Sefaria's first-ever Powered by Sefaria contest was a huge success. We received 50 submissions from participants as young as 11 years old and awarded two grand prizes. While some entries are serious and others are lots of fun, all can inspire learners to use the building blocks of Torah to spark creative innovation.

Mizmor Shir – Winner of the youth division prize. Translate the Torah's Hebrew text into musical notes using the Kabbalistic tradition of gematria and “reading” a specific chapter as music. Goof – Created by an 11 year old! Explore texts of Tefillah through the lens of the body. Pick a body part and see texts that relate to it. Daf Yomi Crossword – Automatically generate a crossword puzzle based on any page of Talmud.

Sign Up to Receive our New Educator Course
It has been over two years since we launched our first online educator course, in which almost 600 educators from around the world have participated. As we continue to innovate at Sefaria, we are developing a new educator course which will be available soon. Sign up to be the first to receive the newly designed course. We'll send it to you as soon as the course begins. Can't wait? Click here to sign up for the original course, or check out our menu of educator workshops.