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YU seforim sale opens this Sunday

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The students of Yeshiva University will present their annual Seforim Sale, billed as North America’s largest Jewish book sale, from Feb. 5–26.

The 30th anniversary sale, is operated entirely by YU students — from ordering books to setting up the premises, marketing and all the technology the project demands. The event, open to the public, is in Belfer Hall, 2495 Amsterdam Ave .on YU’s Wilf Campus in Washington Heights.

Last year’s sale drew more than 15,000 people from the tri-state area and grossed close to $1 million. The annual event provides discounted prices on the latest of nearly 12,500 titles in rabbinic and academic literature, cookbooks and children’s books. The 2017 Seforim Sale will also offer a wide range of music and Judaica options from around the world.

The theme of this year’s sale is Technology and Torah. Programming throughout the Sale will focus on the ways technological innovations can enhance and aid Torah learning for the modern Jew.

“Technology is constantly evolving around us, and as religious Jews we sometimes struggle to find the right balance of what and how much of it to incorporate in our lives,” said Avi Sebbag, CEO of the Seforim Sale. “We wanted to showcase the many positive ways that technology can impact learning and Judasim—whether it’s a resource like Sefaria that is so helpful in putting together source sheets forshiurim (lectures) or an app that helps teach children bedtime prayers.”

Some of the speakers who will present at the sale include Barry Schwartz, CEO of RustyBrick and a designer of the children’s Kriat Shema Al-HaMitah app, as well as Dr. Jeffrey Gurock, the Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History at YU, about his new book, The Jews of Harlem: The Rise, Decline and Revival of a Jewish Community. The sale will also feature a Saturday Night Panel Series on a broad range of topics, including a discussion of chassidut in the modern world, moderated by Rav Dovid Bashevkin, director of education at NCSY; a medical ethics panel focusing on assisted suicide and its practical and halachic implications with Dr. Kenneth Prager, director of clinical ethics at Columbia University, and Dr. Rob Sidlow, head of the division of survivorship and supportive care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; as well as a presentation by YU Connects.

A complete list of dates and times, as well as an opportunity for online shopping, is at TheSeforimSale.com