Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on February 9, 2017

Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern, authors of The Gefilte Manifesto Photo by Lauren Volo

The millennial duos mission starts with their book, The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, which was released in September.

Alpern and Yoskowitz, who were featured in Forbess 30 Under 30 list for food and wine in 2014, are drawing praise from prominent chefs. Mollie Katzen a bestselling author-illustrator of vegetarian cookbook classics such as The Moosewood Cookbook, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, and The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation said the new cookbook from Alpern and Yoskowitz beautifully manages to frame traditional Ashkenazi cuisine with perfect twists and newness.

Its no small feat to retain the character of an old, emotionally held culinary culture while imparting fresh life to the standards, Katzen said. Jeffrey and Liz nailed it, not only with outstanding recipes but also with history and stories and context, impeccably written. The passion of yet another generation carries it forward; we Jewish mothers can be collectively entranced, inspired, and proud.

The Gefilte Manifesto includes recipes for pantry staples, pickles, breads, soups, dumplings, lighter side dishes, deli sides and specialties, main courses, desserts, and beverages, as well as a chapter on choosing your own leftover adventure.

In 2011, Yoskowitz, Alpern, and Jackie Lilinshtein founded The Gefilteria, a food venture whose mission is to adapt classic Eastern European Jewish cuisine to the values and tastes of a new generation. The initiative launched a reimagined brand of gefilte fish and started hosting pop-up dining events.

For us, it all started with gefilte fish, states The Gefilterias website. We took the classic dish and reimagined it, making it colorful, gluten free and responsibly sourced (with non-GMO olive oil and the highest quality fish). And we also made sure it tasted really great.

Published five years after The Gefilterias founding, The Gefilte Manifesto is essentially the food ventures playbook.

As an undergraduate student at McGill University in Montreal, Alpern baked challah out of her home and sold it because there was no kosher bakery in her neighborhood.

I fell in love with baking and cooking big meals and Jewish holiday cooking, and after university I worked on a magazine and then got a job working for [cookbook author] Joan Nathan, Alpern said. I did recipe testing for her, and she got me a job in a pastry kitchen and on a food truck. Then I crossed paths with Jeffrey and we both were super on fire about Jewish foods.

After hitting it off, Yoskowitz and Alpern would go on to launch The Gefilteria.

Raised in New Jersey by parents who loved Ashkenazi culture, Yoskowitz attended a Jewish day school and became well-versed in traditional Jewish cuisine from a young age.

My dad took me to the Jewish delis and kinisheries and the Jewish food institutions of New York when I was a child, he said. I was always interested in food and even studied the kosher food industry for my senior thesis [at Brown University]. When I graduated I became a farm fellow and moved to Adamah Farm, a Jewish organic farm.

At Adamah, Yoskowitz became a pickle apprentice, falling in love with the art of lacto-fermentation a style of pickling and preserving that does not involve vinegar and is the classic style of making the Jewish deli pickle.

Pickling helped Yoskowitz discovered the wisdom that is inherent in Jewish cooking.

Not only does the pickle have a lot of flavor, the method of making it relies on a natural occurring bacteria acidophilus, whats in yogurt which is very good for your digestion and is probiotic, he said. Growing up eating a pastrami sandwich with a full sour pickle next to it, wow, its the best way of helping digest that fatty pastrami sandwich. Thats when I learned this tradition has a built in wisdom to it. This inspired me.

It was an awakening, where food comes from, the experience creating it, Yoskowitz added. Then I got into writing.

Now an entrepreneur, consultant, cook, and public speaker, Yoskowitzs writings have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Gastronomica.

Jewish food writer and cookbook author Leah Koenig, whose latest book is 2015s Modern Jewish Cooking, praised The Gefilte Manifesto for digging deep into our Ashkenazi ancestors recipe boxes.

It pulls out time-tested favorites and lost gems, and finds ways to make them taste at once fresh and innovative, and utterly authentic, Koenig said.

Indeed, whether it is old country sour cream, schmaltz and gribenes, summer beet borscht, beef kreplach, sweet lokshen kugel with plums, spiced herring in oil, smoked whitefish gefilte terrine, chopped liver pate, blintzes, or wine-braised brisket with butternut squash, The Gefilte Manifesto screams out with its authors passion to contemporize classic Jewish cuisine.

Gefilte is not just about your bubbe, they write. It is not about kitsch or a foodie revolution. Gefilte is about reclaiming our time-honored foods and caring how they taste and how theyre sourced. It is about serving a dish with pride, not simply out of deference to hollow convention. It is about taking food traditions seriously and reclaiming the glory of Ashkenazi food what it has been and what it can be.

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'Gefilte Manifesto' seeks to make classic Jewish food great again - thejewishchronicle.net

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Posted By richards on February 9, 2017

Israel Hayom

Thursday February 9, 2017 Israel Hayom Yair Lapid says he's reached out to former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi about joining Yesh Atid Lapid says if his party wins, he will reach out to Likud and Labor: "We need a national unity government.". and more »

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Thursday February 9, 2017 - Israel Hayom

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Posted By richards on February 9, 2017

On a brisk December night, a crowd gathered into the Center for Jewish History anticipating the launch of an exciting new book. Have I Got a Story for You translated 42 astonishing Yiddish stories into English for the first time. The touching collection of Yiddish stories intertwined the old world and the new, traditional and modern, to give a sense of what it was, and is, like to be a Jewish Ashkenazi immigrant.

As part of the conversation, the Forward asked to hear the first sentence of your Jewish story. Have You Got a Story for Us, called upon people of different ages and backgrounds to give a window into their complicated and wonderful lives.

Today, we celebrate the five winners of the sweepstakes! Each lucky winner receives a free copy of Have I Got a Story for You, and gets there story published in the Forward.

In no particular order, read the sentences of the most entrancing, intriguing, and bewildering one-line stories that were submitted to the Forward:

These sweepstakes winners tickled us, but they werent the only ones. The stories below are just as entrancing, intriguing, and bewildering, but didnt have luck on their side to win the sweepstakes. Read them and write the rest of the story - in your head, or on paper.

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Have You Got a Story for Us? Sweepstakes Winners - Forward

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Posted By richards on February 9, 2017

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on American Jewish players set to unite for Israel in the World Baseball Classic – Jerusalem Post Israel News
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Posted By admin on February 9, 2017

In potentially the biggest con ever executed, Donald Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV show celebrity, ascended to the most powerful position in the world the Presidency of the United States of America. Throughout his election campaign and since his inauguration, Trump has displayed authoritarian rhetoric and tendencies that have begged the question is the new Republican regime a form of fascism?

To determine whether a regime or politician is fascist in nature it is useful to examine Umberto Ecos essay Ur-Fascism. In it, Eco constructs a list of 14 features typical of Fascism. He states:

These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.

Trumps rhetoric and his administrations deeds so far eerily qualify under multiple categories, including fear of difference, appeal to a frustrated middle class and the practice of what George Orwell called newspeak, among others.

Since the rise of Trump there has been a spike in incidents of anti-Semitism and a sharp escalation in bomb threats aimed at Jewish community centers. In a recent case that received media attention, a Jewish family was targeted by White nationals and neo-Nazis in Whitefish, Montana, the hometown of Richard Spencer, an alt-right ideologue. Importantly, anti-Semitism is a main principal of the racial theory that guides White supremacy and the alt-right.

Trumps own racist-hued history is well-documented; his campaign received endorsements from famous White supremacists and members of the Ku Klux Klan and he has surrounded himself with the likes of Steve Bannon, the former executive chair of Breitbart news, a haven for the alt-right.

In what many see as an egregious display of anti-Semitism and even Holocaust denial, Trumps International Holocaust Remembrance Day statement failed to specifically address the suffering of Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis, even though racial struggle and the targeting of Jews as an ethnic group set for extermination (i.e. the Final Solution) were at the core of Nazi ideology.

One would logically expect the American Jewish community to unite around vocal opposition and resistance as a response to the new Republican administrations fascist tendencies and ties to White nationalists and neo-Nazis. Though some rabbis have come out in protest over Trumps Muslim travel ban, the American Jewish communitys response to the new administration has been weak and split, with one main reason Israel. Trump and his gang have capitalized on the inherent contradiction between liberal cosmopolitan Jewish values and an ethical emphasis on human rights, and the unjust nationalist policies of Israel towards indigenous Palestinians.

This contradiction was highlighted in a recent debate between Rabbi Matt Rosenberg and Richard Spencer, in which the latter justified the creation of a white ethno-state by using the example of the exclusionary Zionist ideology and practices of the state of Israel. The rabbi was left speechless. Accordingly, the term white Zionism has been used to describe alt-right ideology.

In line with widespread support for Trump in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu has been very favorable, even jovial at the prospects of the new Republican administration. With Donald Trump as their champion, the Tea Party represents tribal, misogynist and nationalistic attitudes that are championed by Jewish right-wing Zionists like Netanyahu. In fact, the very idea for the alt-right Breitbart news website was conceived in Israel and it has faithfully served asan outlet for the Tea Party, anti-Semitic and Zionist agendas. On a personal level, Trump and Netanyahu are mirror images of each other in their corruption, extravagance and talent in manipulating the press.

But this is nothing new. Zionists and anti-Semites have historically shared mutual interests. While anti-Semites have wanted to get rid of Jews, Zionists have concentrated their efforts on attracting them to Israels shores, i.e. Judaizing Israel as a means to fight the demographic threat posed by native Palestinians.

(Image: Carlos Latuff)

In order to guarantee support of the American Jewish community for Israel, which manifests in unparalleled diplomatic and financial backing by the United States government, prominent figures within the American Jewish community have whitewashed and trivialized the contradiction between American Jewish liberal values and the discriminatory policies in Israel. Anyone, but especially Jews, who vocally criticize the injustices perpetuated by Israel against Palestinians or others are marginalized and viciously attacked by Zionist organizations and their members.

Predictably, some of these same apologists are now protecting the new Trump administration. One such example is the lawyer Alan Dershowitz. For years Dershowitz carelessly used the pejorative anti-Semite to describe any critics/opponents to Zionism and the state of Israel, including Students for Justice in Palestine and the non-violent Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) organization. When referring to Steve Bannon, however, he claimed that you should not toss that phrase around casually and that it is not legitimate to call somebody an anti-Semite because you might disagree with their policies. Dershowitz, a so-called guardian of civil liberties, also came out in defense of Trump himself after the recent debacle in which the President disrespectfully called Judge James L. Robart a so-called judge on Twitter. Dershowitz remained true to his Trumpophilia stating the President shows respect for independent judiciary.

Some claim that it is impossible for Jews or for gentiles who have Jewish friends or family (as in some of my best friends are Black) to be anti-Semites. In addition, according to Dershowitz and his ilk, those who support the goals of Zionism and the Israeli government are automatically friends of the Jewish people.

This logic is employed to explain away anything reeking of anti-Semitism from Trumps administration: e.g. the presidents daughter, Ivanka Trump, is married to a Jewish man, Jared Kushner, their family are members of the orthodox politically right-wing Hassidic Chabad movement, and the President has beautiful Jewish grandchildren. Whats more, Trumps new appointee for Israeli ambassador, David Friedman, is an orthodox Jew and staunch Zionist who subscribes to the fantasy of Greater Israel. This same sort of rationale is employed by Breitbart contributor and alt-right ideologue Milo Yiannopoulos, who has Jewish heritage and is openly gay (another community persecuted by the Nazis).

These anecdotes prove that the exclusionary versions of Zionism that Israel has adopted since its inception are contradictory to an expression of Judaism as an ethical tradition unbound by race or nation state. Instead, Jewish political Zionism developed as a secular ideology, with nationalistic and messianic overtones inspired by and coming from Christian Zionism (which predates the Jewish version) and the more contemporary Jewish far-right. As such, it is directly aligned with (fascistic) racist views that promote a form of global apartheid, now championed by Trump and his new Republican administration.

Israel was inspired by the aspect of Zionist ideology that argued for the necessity of a safe refuge and homeland for the Jewish people who suffered persecution and trauma. Zionism has led to noteworthy accomplishments: Israel has served as a model for nation-building and Israelis have managed to revitalize ancient Hebrew into a modern and vibrant language. Zionism helped create an image of a new Jew one who works the land, fights in all dimensions for his/her rights, and raises his/her head tall and proud.

However, as with all settler-colonialist and exclusivist projects, the indigenous population has paid the price. As a result of political Zionism and Israeli policies, Palestinians have undergone a process of ethnic cleansing and genocide to make room for non-native Jewish settlers.

As the blooming relationship between the Trump administration and Israeli politicians and apologists shows, the ethno-centric character of Israel shares many attributes with- and has been a source of inspiration for- American White nationalism, now embodied in Trumps administration.

In order to effectively fight this new administration and protect community members against the growing tide of anti-Semitism, American Jews need to recognize these parallels, come to terms with the failure of political Zionism and renounce collaborators such as Alan Dershowitz and David Friedman.

To counter Trump it is essential that American Jews fight against all ethno-centric, exclusivist forces, including fascism, White supremacy and Zionism. The long history of trauma and persecution must guide Jews in a quest to vanquish these forces alike toward a vision of justice, freedom and equality for all.

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To oppose Trump, Jews must join the fight against fascism and Zionism - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on February 9, 2017

After weeks of hype and coverage from every angle and then some, the controversial bill legalizing outposts built unknowingly on private Palestinian land made it into law late Monday, and papers are already chomping at the bit to preview the next fights over the law Tuesday morning, as well as mop up Monday nights remaining donnybrooks.

Now to the High Court, screams a headline on the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth. Unfortunately, the paper offers little on what the court battle will entail, writing only that one assumes that Palestinians whose land is slated to be expropriated from them will petition the High Court against the law and thus will begin another battle between the Knesset and the Supreme Court.

Reporting on the actual vote, the paper also includes various high jinks, such as protesters being booted for waving black flags after the measure passed and Knesset guards trying to hunt down a weed-smoking aide as the smell of marijuana wafted through the parliaments august halls during the debate.

As high as the grass-smoker got, theres no way he could have gotten higher than Jewish Home head Naftali Bennett, who can show off the law to his voting base as a major victory.

Haaretz reports, though, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still tried to harsh his mellow Monday.

Bennett sought to address the Knesset during the deliberation on the bill, but was rebuffed by the Prime Ministers Office. Sources in the Knesset claimed that PMO officials feared that Bennett would claim credit for the bills passage in the absence of Netanyahu, on his way back to Israel after meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London, the paper reports.

But even if Netanyahu won a point against Bennett, its clear to see Bennett came away from the affair looking like a formidable foe, and the broadsheets lead editorial writes that that doesnt bode well for the prime minister.

Its quite possible that he will pay a heavy diplomatic price for being unable to withstand pressure. If Netanyahu cant stand up to Bennett, how will he represent Israels interests vis a vis its enemies? How does his flaccidity before a coalition rival make him look to leaders like US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin? And most important of all, what kind of leader is willing to work against the interests of his country just because he fears for his political life, the paper writes.

The law may be struck down, but Israel Hayoms Haim Shine doesnt see it as the stillborn child of political jockeys but rather the fruit of Israels very womb. Calling its passage a historic day, Shines column compares it to Israels conquering of the West Bank and Jerusalem in 1967.

The Knesset said with a loud voice that Israels settlers and redeemers are pioneers making the Zionist vision a reality, he writes. A clear statement on our basic right to the Land of Israel, a right that many nations have denied, including an attempt to claim we have no link to Jerusalem. The statement yesterday was made in a pure voice that will echo throughout the world. We do not apologize on our return against all odds.

One mans vision is anothers Band-aid, which is what Yoaz Hendel calls the bill in an op-ed for Yedioth, in which he accuses the government of lacking an actual plan.

In a decade, the cabinet hasnt had a single discussion of the future of the West Bank. Thats amazing when you think about the amount of time devoted to a small settlement like Amona or nine homes in Ofra. Dozens of hours of talks, but not once has the government or cabinet sat and decided what their goal is for the West Bank, he writes.

That dithering was also evident as Netanyahu met with UK counterpart Theresa May on Monday, both as he stood awkwardly outside the street of 10 Downing Street (captured on Yedioths front page) and as he met with the British leader, according to Haaretz, which reports that he refused to commit to a two-state solution.

Netanyahu told May that he shares her desire for peace in the region, but avoided voicing an explicit support of the two-state solution, the paper reports.

Israel Hayoms view of the meeting is a mirror-image of Haaretzs, with a headline proudly showcasing Netanyahus statement that the two see eye to eye on Iran.

We see eye to eye on the great danger coming from Irans strengthening and aggression and from its spread throughout the region. We had a discussion over what will happen if Irans aggression doesnt stop, the paper quotes Netanyahu saying. We also spoke about Syria, Hezbollah and the Iranian army there. We agreed that its important to halt that situation in different ways.

One subject the two apparently didnt discuss was Hamas, but the Gaza-ruling terror group made its way onto front pages anyway after a day of cross-border exchanges with the Israeli army brought on by a rocket attackfrom the Strip that was met by several waves of Israeli airstrikes.

In Yedioth, Yossi Yehoshua pulls the same tired analysis out of his back pocket saved for any time theres a flare-up, giving a roundup of possible scenarios and writing that nobody wants an escalation in hostilities, but it can happen anyway. However, he also notes that unlike past incidents in which Israel hit Gaza hard for a single rocket attack, this time it was slightly different.

This time they didnt hit quality targets as they did a few months ago, those that Israel sees in the context of risk-management as ones which they must take into account that can break the calm if they hit them, he writes. Sometimes an escalation gets out of hand even if both sides dont want it to. Thus its recommended to act with caution, even if we think we know everything.

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Outpost-Zionism - The Times of Israel

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Posted By simmons on February 9, 2017

ADL Criticizes Israel, Fails to Criticize Terror Murder of Jews FrontPage Magazine The left-wing group attacked Israel for its efforts to secure the legal rights of Jews living in Israel through the Regulation Law. The ADL offers an extensive press release with quotes from Greenblatt. Meanwhile the group's press releases don't appear ... and more »

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ADL Criticizes Israel, Fails to Criticize Terror Murder of Jews - FrontPage Magazine

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Posted By admin on February 9, 2017

Read the Winter 2017 B'Yachad

Billion Dollar Roadmap

Driven by a deep sense of purpose, JNF has undertaken an unprecedented $1 billion campaign over the next decade. Read about the transformative social impact we are having on Israeli society and on American Jews connected to Israel here.

Travel to Israel

No one knows Israel better. Come home for a visit with us today! Sign up now to experience the magic of a trip to Israel with JNF Travel & Tours. Choose from our unique array of travel options, among them a unique and unforgettable trip to Israel for women only.

JNF Blog For a behind-the-scenes look at the personal impact JNFs work is making in Israel, what trip participants are doing and saying, and all things JNF, visit our new JNF Blog.

Positively Israel Learn more about how Israel is making the world a better place. Read articles, gain an appreciation for all the innovations that Israel is contributing to the planet, and most importantly, fortify yourself with the POSITIVE facts about this small desert nation on our Positively Israel site.

JNF Has Gone Green! Click to learn more.

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Jewish National Fund: Jewish National Fund | Plant Trees ...

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Posted By admin on February 9, 2017

On the opening night of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) held its own fabulous Opening Night Soiree at Petros Restaurant. At the event, the ADL presented its second annual Stand-Up Award to Strawberry Days, a poignant film written and directed by Wiktor Ericsson about a Polish family working in the strawberry fields in Sweden where they encounter bias, bullying, and laborexploitation.

Guests strolled ADLs own red carpet and had their photos taken outside Petros, just across from the Arlington Theater where the Opening Film was shown later that evening. More than 100 guests mingled in the elegant covered courtyard and the inside dining room at Petros and dined on passed hors-doeuvres and a succulent buffet of Greek dishes. The casual, unstructured format allowed for plenty of socializing among guests who seemed like a big family, drawn together by ADLs mission of combating hatred andbigotry.

Advisory Board Chair Daniel Meisel welcomed guests and shared how ADL has been around for more than 100 years and given its mission of fighting hate and bigotry, is very busy today. He explained that much of ADLs work is with schools approaching differentness and otherness through story, with the idea that to understand a different point of view, you need to do some listening. So ADL wanted to host an award focused on how the art of storytelling can be applied to address the essence of other. The winner was selected by a panel of board members andstaff.

The ADL has 27 offices nationally and its Santa Barbara office provides a multitude of anti-bias educational programs for educators, administrators, parents, students, and law enforcement. Especially in the present divisive environment, their programs are serving a crucialneed.

Its Early Childhood Education Initiative at Santa Barbara City College each semester provides anti-bias training and resources for early childhood educators. Since children at age 3 to 5 are at a critical point where seeds of prejudice can take root, the initiative strives to encourage an appreciation of diversity at this youngage.

Its No Place for Hate Initiative provides K-12 schools with an organizing framework for combating bias, bullying, and hatred. It provides formal training to a committee of students, teachers, administrators, and parents formed at each participating school. The curriculum and approach is highly customizable. To date, 66 schools in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties haveparticipated.

On May 21, ADL is coordinating a Community Summit to discuss identity and bias. To receive updates on the work of ADL and how to get involved, text LOVE to 51555. For general information about ADL, go to santabarbara.adl.org.

Send event invites to Gail atsociety@independent.com.

By GailArnold

Board members Steve and Diane Zipperstein with board members Julianna Friedman and TomDain.

Jewish Federation Executive Director Michael Rassler, Ruth Rassler, SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling, and SuzanneRapley.

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ADL Hosts Merry Opening Night Soiree - Santa Barbara Independent

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Posted By richards on February 8, 2017

Given that its is one if not the most essential Jewish texts, the Talmud can be surprisingly hard to come by. But not anymore: The Jewish start-up Sefaria just released a free digital version into the public domain.

The William Davidson Talmud is an edition of the Babylonian Talmud with parallel translations into English and Modern Hebrew.

The interactive online version of the text is also interlinked to major commentaries, biblical citations, Midrash, Kabbalah, Halakhah, and an ever-growing library of Jewish texts.

And you can also use it beyond Sefarias website. The Talmud was published with a Creative Commons non-commercial license, which means that it is part of the public domain and everyone can use and re-use it, as long as you dont make money from it.

Sefaria

Experts weve talked to believe this is the most significant work of intellectual property ever transferred into the creative commons philanthropically, he added.

The whole project was years in the making.

Sefaria is a non profit that was started in 2011 by author, Joshua Foer, and Google alum Brett Lockspeiser, with a mission of putting the entire Jewish canon online. (The name Sefaria is a play on the Hebrew word for library, sifria.)

The two childhood friends had lost touch for many years, but reconnected over a shared frustration that the Talmud and other important Jewish texts were not accessible online.

At that point, if you were to google the English Talmud, you would find pdfs from the Soncino edition published in England, you would get an anti-Semitic website and you would get a partial 1918 translation, Foer told the Forward. That by itself was kind off pathetic.

So they quickly got to work, and have since amassed almost 1,600 Jewish texts and commentaries that are all available online.

But we always knew the linchpin of the whole project would be whether we could get an English translation of the Talmud, Foer said.

Currently, there exist only three English translations in the world. After years of negotiations Sefaria (with a grant from the William Davidson Foundation) bought the rights to one of them - from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.

Steinsaltz, a rabbi from Israel, spent 45 years of his life translating the Talmud from Ancient Aramaic to modern Hebrew and English.

Edgar Asher

Literary Discipline: Working on the Talmud has kept his writing and intellect grounded, Steinsaltz says.

He was only 27 when the project began, and finished in 2010, after releasing a new section of the translation approximately once per year.

I did it because it is necessary, Steinsaltz told Israels Army Radio in 2010. The Talmud is the spine of our culture I wanted to restore to the Jewish people their heritage.

As of now, Sefaria published 22 Talmud tractates in English (Berakhot to Bava Batra) online. The Modern Hebrew translations will start appearing online later this year, and the remaining English tractates will follow as soon as their are finished.

We think that the Talmud is not just the life blood of the Jewish people, but one of the great works of Western civilization that has basically been inaccessible to a large number of people, Foer told the Forward.

His co-founder, Brett Lockspeiser, who runs Sefarias technological operations, called the online release fantastic.

Its a real accomplishment for us, and the Jewish people in the world to now be able to access this, Lockspeiser told the Forward.

All the texts on Sefaria are not only texts, they are also interconnected data with lots of fancy features and visualization tools.

The Jewish canon is not really a collection of books on a book shelf, its like this gigantic un-ending conversation, Foer told the Forward. We wanted to return that text to the original modality of being fully interconnected and in conversation with each other.

And in doing in way, that you can take the conversation form text to text to text, from commentator to commentator to commentator, Foer said.

A team of 15 engineers works daily to create new ways to create these interconnections - for example to show the connections between Tanakh and Talmud or to highlight all the times that text is being repeated in the Jewish canon.

Users can create their own source sheets to collect and connect texts, sort of like a Torah mixtape. So far 60,000 users created sheets - many of them students.

If possible, all the texts on Sefaria have a public domain license.

For the Jewish people, our texts are our collective inheritance, said Sefaria CEO Daniel Septimus. They belong to everyone and Sefaria wants them to be available to everyone,

Lilly Maier is a news intern at the Forward. Reach her at maier@forward.com or on Twitter at @lillymmaier

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Sefaria Puts Talmud into Public Domain - News Forward.com - Forward

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