sefer

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Pronunciations

sefer (SEH-fehr) listen
sefer (SEY-fehr) listen

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Definitions

  • n. A religious book, especially one written in Hebrew or Aramaic.

  • n. A literary composition about the Torah.

  • adj. ('in sefer') Indicates that a particular comment is from the author and not from other sources.

  • n. (capitalized) A Torah scroll.

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Example Sentences

  • "What sefer are you learning?"

  • "That pshat is Reb Chaim in sefer." (Weiser)

  • "a tissue can also be put in the back of your Tallis bag, its miyus when they are left on the table or worse under a siddur or sefer that someone else will use later." (source)

  • "Would you like a second copy of a Sefer to keep at home instead of shlepping it to and from school daily?" (source)

  • "An incident with a Sefer Torah falling at the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak caused a great shock across the Torah world and led the roshei yeshiva to issue a detailed letter to the talmidim." (source)

  • "So what should we give him for his Bar Mitzvah, money or a sefer?" (Glinert)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • TH ספר séfer 'book' > Y ספֿר séyfer 'holy book'

      • Who Uses This

      • Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)
      • Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

      Regions

      • North America
      • Australia / New Zealand
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa

      Dictionaries

      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
      • Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
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      Alternative Spellings

      seyfer, seifer

Notes

  • Also used as a proper noun in conjunction with Biblical and Rabbinic texts such as Sefer Dvarim, 'The Book of Deuteronomy'.

    plural: 'sfarim' or 'sforim'

    See also Sefer Torah.

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