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Declined

Revised translation available for Torah/haftarot

David E. S. Stein 2 weeks ago updated by Michael J. Radwin 2 weeks ago 3

PROBLEM OBSERVED:  Currently the Torah/haftarah links to Sefaria rely upon that website's defaults for the English translation—which unfortunately are outdated. 

PROPOSED SOLUTION:  HebCal can specify the 2023 Revised JPS translation, which JPS continues to maintain on Sefaria (unlike its legacy translations from 1985 and 2006, which Sefaria uses as its defaults).

HOW-TO:  To specify an English version, insert "ven=" into your links. For example, for Genesis 1:1, it would look like this:

https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.1.1?ven=THE_JPS_TANAKH:_Gender-Sensitive_Edition&lang=bi

where "THE_JPS_TANAKH:_Gender-Sensitive_Edition" is the formal title of the 2023 revised translation.

Answer

Answer
Declined

Thank you for this feedback!


As you know, Sefaria offers multiple translations of many books in the library which gives you and your students the opportunity to choose your favorite or compare among one or more translations.

Sefaria has a couple of articles that both give instructions for picking your preferred translation and their philosophy on why they offer multiple translations.


https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/511573?lang=bi


https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/383892?lang=bi

Note that if you set your preferred translation while you are logged into Sefaria, you will continue to get that exact translation offered to you every time you return to Sefaria as a logged-in user.

We intend to continue to use the URL linking structure we already use on Hebcal.com, because it lets Sefaria display each user's preferred translation.

The approach you suggest above would force users to always see the 2023 translation, which would be an editorial decision that we do not wish to impose upon our users. We would prefer to let them see the translation of their own choosing.

Users who have visited Sefaria before and set their preferred translation will continue to see their preferred translations every time they come back to Sefaria, whether directly or via Hebcal.

Users who have never been to Sefaria before will see a notice that informs them that multiple translations are available and lets them change their translation. 

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The strategy described requires that HebCal users log into Sefaria first, before clicking on your links. How would they know that they need to do so?

Answer
Declined

Thank you for this feedback!


As you know, Sefaria offers multiple translations of many books in the library which gives you and your students the opportunity to choose your favorite or compare among one or more translations.

Sefaria has a couple of articles that both give instructions for picking your preferred translation and their philosophy on why they offer multiple translations.


https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/511573?lang=bi


https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/383892?lang=bi

Note that if you set your preferred translation while you are logged into Sefaria, you will continue to get that exact translation offered to you every time you return to Sefaria as a logged-in user.

We intend to continue to use the URL linking structure we already use on Hebcal.com, because it lets Sefaria display each user's preferred translation.

The approach you suggest above would force users to always see the 2023 translation, which would be an editorial decision that we do not wish to impose upon our users. We would prefer to let them see the translation of their own choosing.