There are books – and then there are books. In Judaism we have Sifrei Kodesh, ספרי קודש, Holy books. (*)
Sifrei Kodesh are works written by religious Jews, for Jewish readers, to inspire Jewish knowledge and spirituality. There are thousands of books considered Sifrei Kodesh, from writers such as Bahya ibn Paquda, Judah Loew, David Weiss Halivni, Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Abraham Isaac Kook, Aharon Lichtenstein, Ovadia Yosef, Aryeh Kaplan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Nechama Leibowitz, etc.
Seforim inspire Jewish readers with teachings on ideas like
Talmud Torah תלמוד תורה – making time in one’s daily life for the study of Torah
Torah Lishmah – תורה לשמה – studying Torah for its own sake
b’Tzelem Elokim – בצלם אלקים – seeing all people as being made in God’s image
Kabbalat malkhut shamayim מלכות שמים – accepting the yoke of the kingdom of heaven
Yirat Shamayim – יִּרְאַת שָׁמַיִם – Having awe/reverance of God
Avodat Hashem עבודת השם – A life of spirituality in which we serve God
Ahavat Yisrael – אהבת ישראל Loving all our fellow Jews, כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael
Rabbi Michah Berger speaks about what makes a book a seifer –
“If you are following and continuing the stream of conversation of the Torah she’be’al peh, you are engaging in Talmud Torah and your work is a ‘seifer’. Whereas if you take a step outside, to look at the conversation objectively rather than as a participant, you are engaging in Chokhmat Yisrael יִשְׂרָאֵל חָכְמַת (‘Judaic studies.’). An important study, but not Talmud Torah.
(*) In the Ashkenazi Jewish community such books are called sefarim ספרים. Yes, that word technically means ‘books’ in general, but one gathers from context when one is speaking about religious books.
What kinds of books aren’t Sifrei Kodesh?
There are many books written by Jews, even on religious topics, yet not from within a religious Jewish perspective. Books that are secular, academic, or for a non-Jewish readership aren’t considered sifrei kodesh. They don’t focus on imparting religious/spiritual content to the reader.
For example, there are commentaries on Torah and Tanakh written by Jews in the Anchor Bible series. These books use historical, literary, and archaeological information to elucidate the text but they aren’t religious.
Consider the many translations of the Mishnah and Talmud by Jacob Neusner and his doctoral students. They are published by secular university presses, intended to be read by secular or non-Jewish readers.
We may also consider books that use Torah ideas for secular topics. ArtScroll and other Orthodox publishers have many books by Jewish authors who use rabbinic and Hasidic sources in their discussion of non-religious ideas, e.g. self-help books, advice on substance abuse, etc. These are of course important subjects, but the primary message isn’t Torah.
Of course, there is no clear-cut line between academic and religious in Judaism’s tradition of text debate and commentary. There are always liminal cases.
Consider “The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary” by Robert Alter. Alter isn’t religious and his book isn’t intended to further spirituality. Yet many readers see it as being in the same tradition of classic Jewish Bible commentary, like that of Saadya Gaon or Abraham Ibn Ezra. Some see this book as Sifrei Kodesh, while others place it in the non-religious, academic category.
Rabbi Berger writes
“There are works that are on both sides of the line. For example, when legal theorists (e.g. R. Prof Broyde, Prof Chaim Saiman, Prof. Shlomo Pill) takes what they know from secular study of law and brings it into the conversation. Or R. Joshua Berman engaging with Biblical Critical sources to use archeological findings to add detail to traditional in-the-mesorah sources.”
Are these books academic, or holy and religious? There’s no clear-cut line; different people will see them as they wish.
Do Sifrei Kodesh need to be written in Hebrew?
Historically, sifrei kodesh were written in the classical Jewish languages – Hebrew, Judeo-Aramaic, or Arabic. In more recent years, thousands of titles in other languages, most notably Yiddish and English, were published.
Some readers prefer to restrict the use of this term to those works in classical Jewish languages, while others hold that Yiddish and English books should be accepted as such.
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