Listen to Sefaria
Turn any sefaria.org page into audio. Open the daf, the parashah, or the commentary in Chrome, click CastReader, and listen with paragraph-by-paragraph highlighting. Works for Daf Yomi, weekly Torah portion, Mishnah study, and English commentary alike.
Why Listen to Sefaria with CastReader?
Sefaria is the largest free digital library of Jewish texts in the world — 3,000+ books in Hebrew and translation. CastReader reads any of it, including the layers Sefaria's audio doesn't cover.
Daf Yomi Companion
Listen to Today's Daf While You Walk
The daily-page Talmud cycle is a seven-and-a-half-year commitment. CastReader reads the English translation of today's daf aloud — the Mishnah, the Gemara discussion, Rashi and Tosafot commentaries that Sefaria displays alongside. Pick the layers you want, switch the page to English-only or bilingual, and the audio reads exactly what you see.
Weekly Parashah
Friday-Night Prep, Out Loud
Sefaria's parashah pages combine the Torah text with rabbinic commentary — Rashi, Ramban, Sforno, Or HaChaim, Kli Yakar. CastReader reads the parashah verses and the commentary panels in order. Useful for D'var Torah preparation, family table reading, or simply staying with the text on a long Friday afternoon.
Bilingual View Aware
Reads the Translation Column, Not the Hebrew
Sefaria's signature view is Hebrew on one side, English (or Spanish, French, Russian) on the other. CastReader reads the translation column — the Hebrew is for your eyes, not for English-trained TTS to mangle. The paragraph alignment between the two sides means the highlighted English paragraph sits next to the Hebrew passage you're hearing about.
Clean Audio
Skips Source Sheets, Footnotes, Connections Panel
Sefaria pages are dense — the right side has a 'Connections' panel with linked sources, the bottom has source sheets and notes. CastReader reads only the primary text plus the commentary you've opened. The connections panel, the related-source links, the 'Add to Sheet' buttons — all skipped from audio.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything about listening to Sefaria with CastReader
How do I listen to a Sefaria page?
Open any text on sefaria.org in Chrome — a Tanakh chapter, a daf of Talmud, a Mishnah perek, or a commentary view. Click the CastReader icon. Audio starts at the first paragraph and plays through to the bottom of the page.
Does it read Hebrew or English?
It reads whatever language Sefaria is displaying. Sefaria defaults to bilingual view (Hebrew + English). CastReader reads the English column and uses the paragraph alignment to highlight the Hebrew side as you go. Switch to English-only and audio reads exactly the English text. Switch to Hebrew-only and audio attempts the Hebrew, but standard English-trained TTS won't pronounce it correctly — we recommend English column for most listeners.
Can it read the Talmud with Rashi and Tosafot?
Yes — CastReader reads the layers Sefaria has rendered on the page. If you've opened the Mishnah, Gemara, Rashi, and Tosafot panels, audio reads them in order. Close the panels you don't want and audio narrows accordingly.
What about Daf Yomi?
Daf Yomi works perfectly. Open today's daf on Sefaria (the homepage links to it daily), click CastReader, and the daf reads in English with paragraph highlighting. At 1.5x most Daf Yomi pages run 25–35 minutes — about a commute.
Does it skip the Connections panel and source sheets?
Yes. Sefaria's right-side Connections panel lists every related source in the corpus — useful to read, but not what you want when you're listening to the primary text. CastReader reads only the main column. To listen to a connection, click into it and CastReader reads that page.
Can I listen to commentaries (Rashi, Ramban, Or HaChaim)?
Yes. Open any commentary on Sefaria — they each have their own page — and click CastReader. The commentary reads top-to-bottom. For the parashah view that overlays commentaries on the Torah text, expand the commentary panels you want; CastReader reads them inline with the verse they comment on.
What about Hebrew names and place names?
Sefaria's English translations transliterate Hebrew names (Avraham, Sarah, Mosheh, Shabbat). CastReader's English voice handles common transliterations well. Less common names — obscure rabbis in Talmudic discussions — may sound off; that's a known limitation of English TTS on Hebrew transliteration, not specific to Sefaria.
Is it free? Any limits?
Completely free. No account needed, no page limits, no ads. CastReader is a free browser extension for Chrome and Edge.
Start Listening to Sefaria
Completely free. No signup. No page limits. Install CastReader and open any text on sefaria.org.