How to Use the Sefaria Library Assistant

Sefaria's Library Assistant is an AI-powered chatbot designed to help users discover and explore the texts in the Sefaria Library. You can use the Library Assistant to:

1. Locate relevant sources in response to your questions
2. Explore opportunities for further inquiry through relevant commentaries and related texts
3. Create ad-hoc translations of not-yet-translated texts in the Library

Please note: 

• To use the Library Assistant you must be logged into your Sefaria Account and be using the Sefaria Library in a computer web browser. 
• The Library Assistant is not yet available in the Sefaria Library App or on mobile web browsers.

>>> Learn more about creating a Sefaria Account

The Library Assistant is accessible on any page of the Sefaria Library while you are logged into your Sefaria Account on a computer web browser. 

• If the Library Assistant is not immediately visible, you can open it by clicking on the blue-and-white Sefaria icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. 
• If you have previously opted out of the Library Assistant, you will need to manually opt in again. To do so, open Settings and turn on Library Assistant.

To chat with the Library Assistant: 

1. Type a question or prompt in the chat interface.
2. Click the arrow icon to submit, or hit the return key (on a Mac) or Enter key (on a PC). 

Guidance on Submitting Prompts 

> The Library Assistant is built to answer questions that would benefit from a textual response — e.g., something that would help your parashah or Daf Yomi learning, preparation for a shiur, or exploration of new text categories, authors, and works. 

> You can also feel free to test the safety nets of the system with attempts to get “bad” responses from the Library Assistant. 

> Prompts can be any question you have about Jewish texts. If you’re looking for ideas, below are some examples of prompts you can try.

Prompt ideas:

1. Where does _____ appear in Jewish texts? (e.g., gratitude, envy, generosity)
2. What does Judaism say about ______? (e.g. science, raising kids, living an ethical life)
3. Help me understand this week’s parashah.
4. What’s a good text for me to start learning?
5. Explain to me in detail what constitutes an unintentional sin and what the consequences are.
6. List all examples of songs in Tanakh and add a summary for each.
7. Can you give me 5 obscure sources for Shavuot learning? 
8. Please translate the following passage of text into English: ______

How to Provide Feedback

User feedback is extremely helpful to our team’s ongoing evaluation and development of the Library Assistant. We especially value feedback about the relevance, accuracy, and sensitivity of the Assistant’s specific responses. So that we can understand what is working or not working well for you, please provide us with detailed feedback in these ways:

• Feedback about specific responses: Click on the thumbs up or thumbs down icons to indicate your satisfaction.
• General feedback, questions, or comments for the team: Click on the three-dot menu at the top of the Library Assistant, then select ‘Give Feedback’ to open our contact/feedback form.

Please note: The Library Assistant is an experimental product based on the latest large-language model (LLM) technology. As with all conversational AI, it may not behave as expected. We encourage you to use the feedback tools to help us make this a truly useful resource for Jewish learning.