Sefaria Jewish Library

You can run the Sefaria Jewish Library MCP Server to access Jewish texts from the Sefaria library via a standardized Model Context Protocol interface. This server lets you retrieve texts by reference, fetch commentaries, search the library, and obtain daily or weekly learning schedules for inclusive study planning. It is designed to be used by MCP-enabled clients and language models to reference Jewish sources efficiently.

How to use

You will connect to the MCP server from an MCP client or an application that supports the Model Context Protocol. Use the available tools to fetch exact texts by reference, retrieve commentaries on a given text, perform search queries across the library, and obtain the daily or weekly learning schedule.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installation are Python 3.10 or higher.

Step 1: Clone the MCP server repository and navigate into the project directory.

git clone https://github.com/sivan22/mcp-sefaria-server.git
cd mcp-sefaria-server

Step 2: Run the server directly using the runtime command shown. This starts the MCP server with the specified directory and the server name sefaria_jewish_library.

uv --directory path/to/directory run sefaria_jewish_library

Step 3: If you are configuring an MCP client like Claude Desktop, use the following configuration snippet. This defines how to start the local server process from the client.

{
  "mcpServers": {        
      "sefaria_jewish_library": {
          "command": "uv",
          "args": [
              "--directory",
              "absolute/path/to/mcp-sefaria-server",
              "run",
              "sefaria_jewish_library"
          ],
          "env": {
            "PYTHONIOENCODING": "utf-8" 
          }
      }
  }
}

Advanced installation through Smithery

If you want to install the Sefaria Jewish Library MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically, use the Smithery installer to set up the MCP server client integration.

npx -y @smithery/cli install mcp-sefaria-server --client claude

Available tools

get_text

Retrieves a specific Jewish text by its reference, such as Torah portions, Hebrew texts, or Mishnah fragments.

get_commentaries

Fetches commentaries for a given text reference to provide context and interpretations.

search_texts

Performs a search across the Sefaria library using a query, returning matching texts and references.

get_daily_learnings

Obtains the daily or weekly learning schedule from Sefaria's calendar API, including Torah portions, Haftarah, and related programs.