Editing Torah database (section)

===The Bar-Ilan Responsa Project===
The very first such database was the [[Bar Ilan Responsa Project]], which began in 1963 at the [[Weizmann Institute]] in Israel, migrated to [[Bar-Ilan University]] soon thereafter, and was up and running by 1967.  It became available in time-sharing mode from university terminals in 1979, was transferred to [[CD-ROM]] in 1990 and in the mid 2000s to [[flash drive]], and version 1.0 was offered for sale to the public in 1992.  The current version is number 32 or 32+ (the "plus" version contains an important secondary reference called the [[Encyclopedia Talmudit]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/jh/Responsa/history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526203414/http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Responsa/history.htm |archive-date=2006-05-26 |title=Judaic Responsa - Bar-Ilan University Responsa Global Jewish Database}}</ref>

The Responsa Project tries to base its electronic texts on the most accurate printed editions (though it seems that it is sometimes prevented from doing so because of copyright considerations), and it has a reputation for relatively error-free electronic texts based upon those editions.  It also features approximately 360,000 hypertext links between the various collections within the database, as well as a topical halakhic index for the [[Shulchan Aruch]] and selected responsa.  Since its early years it has employed a sophisticated search-engine specifically designed for Hebrew language texts.

In recent years (at least since version 10 in 2002), the Responsa Project has made updates available once a year, usually between the [[Passover]] and [[Shavuot]] holidays, although this varies considerably.  Sometimes they release an update after the holiday of [[Chanukah]] or after the holiday of [[Purim]]. It depends on how much they have completed.

In January, 2007, the responsa project became available in an online edition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.responsa.co.il/|title=Online Responsa Project - vast Jewish sources|website=www.responsa.co.il}}</ref>

In April, 2007 the Responsa Project won the [[Israel Prize]] for Jewish studies.

Currently (as of 2024, version 32+) according to their list the number of seforim listed <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.responsa.co.il/books/books.en-US.html|title = List of Databases}}</ref> is over 1,000 (excluding the Chazon Ish which is only available for searching).  The Kabbalah section includes only the Zohar, and a few works listed under Otzar HaMidrashim.  However, the other sections contain many essential and important seforim.