About
The Shabbaton Hackathon is a Shabbaton experience followed by a hackathon hosted at Johns Hopkins University Hillel, March 6-8.
At the Shabbaton, students will have the full Shabbat experience at Johns Hopkins Hillel, where meals, services, and learning opportunities will be provided. Participants will be hosted overnight by Johns Hopkins students, and the Smokler Center of Jewish Life will be available throughout the hackathon.
For the Hackathon, teams of up to 4 will compete against each other to design a contribution to Sefaria around a project that will be announced Saturday night. During the Hackathon, students will have the opportunity to speak with Hopkins professors and other tech professionals. By 4:30 PM, all submissions will be collected, and the event will conclude at 6:30 PM.
We're looking forward to seeing you there!
Shabbat & Hackathon Schedule
Times are approximate and may be adjusted.
Friday
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM: Check-In
Check-in starts at the Hopkins Hillel's Smokler Center for Jewish Life at 3109 N Charles St, Baltimore.
5:30 - 6:30 PM: Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat
Davening and programming for the rest of the night continues at Hillel.
Candle lighting is at 5:46 PM.
6:30 PM: Dinner
8:00 PM: Icebreakers and Tisch
Shabbat Day
9:30 AM: Services
11:45 AM: Kiddush
12:30 PM: Lunch
1:45 PM: Mincha
2:00 - 4:30 PM: Free Time
An opportunity to explore campus, and an open Beit Midrash and board games are available at Hillel.
4:30 PM: Shiur with Rabbi Moshe Moskowitz
5:40 PM: Seudat Shelishit
6:45 PM: Maariv with Musical Havdalah
Motzei Shabbat
7:45 PM: Start of the Hackathon
Project categories will be announced at Hillel. Feel free to familiarize yourself with the Sefaria API to get a head start!
9:30 PM: Melavah Malkah
Pizza dinner and snacks.
Hillel will remain open for teams to use throughout the night.
Sunday
7:10 AM: Neitz Minyan (Vatikin)
If sufficient interest
8:30 AM: Shacharit
After Minyanim: Continental Breakfast
12:30 - 1:30 PM: Lunch
12:30 - 2:30 PM: Additional Activities
Networking opportunities and/or additional coding challenges; details to be announced.
4:30 PM: Hackathon Close
Submissions are due, and we'll watch the presentations of your final products.
4:45 PM: Mincha
5:15 PM: Dinner and Awards
6:30 PM: Event Conclusion
Laila Tov!
Sign-up Form
Registrations are currently closed. Stay tuned for updates on future hackathons!
FAQs
When is the Shabbaton Hackathon being held?
The event will be the weekend of start with check-in from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM on March 6 and will end at 6:30 PM on March 8.
What is the cost of the Hackathon?
Free! Housing and food will be provided, but participants must provide their own transportation to/from Hopkins.
Will this be an Shomer Shabbat event?
The Shabbaton and Hackathon will be ran according to Orthodox Jewish practices. All food will be Kosher, and participants are expected to observe the Shabbat according to traditional Halachic practice. With that being said, we are happy to have participants from all denominations, and believe it will be a fun and meaningful experience for all participants!
Can graduate students participate in the hackathon?
Priority will be given to undergraduate students, and we only have limited space available.
Do I need to come with a team that's already formed?
You do not need to come with a team that is already formed.
When will the project be announced?
The project will be announced at the start of the hackathon on Saturday night. However, participants looking to get a head start are welcome to familiarize themselves with the Sefaria API.
Is there a minimum skill level required for me to participate?
While completing the projects will require some coding experience, there is no minimum skill level for participation. Consider acquainting yourself with the Sefaria API in advance.
I have dietary restrictions: do I need to bring my own food?
We will make our best effort to work with your dietary restriction. Please email us with any questions.
I have some another question not answered here.
Feel free to ask through our contact form.
Resources
-
Learn more about Yavneh on Campus.
-
Get a head start on the hackathon by familiarizing yourself with the Sefaria API.
-
Check out these hackathon tips, but feel free to disregard the advice that your team must include a frontend and backend developer. This won't necessarily be required in this hackathon.
Primary Sponsor
The Shabbaton Hackathon is generously supported by a Yavneh Shtark Tank grant.
Supporting Sponsors
Shabbaton Organizers
- Moe Frumkin
- Ezra Greenberg
- Leah Hersh
- Dahlia Krebs
- Sarah Papernik
Feel free to reach out with any questions!
Competition Project
Pirkei Avot 3 teaches that someone who forgets their learning is like someone guilty of capital punishment! Design a tool that either
- Will help people learning on Sefaria remember and internalize their learning
- Will help people navigating Sefaria more easily find sources that they are having trouble remembering
Projects will be judged primarily by how successfully they achieve the goals of these prompts. The elegance of the code, while considered, is a secondary factor in scoring.
Your submission is due at this link at 4:30 PM March 8. Sharp!
Presentations will begin at 4:40. Each group will have a total of 8 minutes to present their project. At most 6 minutes can be used to present, while the last two minutes are solely for questions from the judges (if you finish your presentation early, you can answer questions for a longer period of time).
Your judges are
Michael Kellman
Sefaria Chief Product Officer
Elliot Adler
Director, Data & Enterprise Services at Atlas-SP
Elijah Magerman
Quantitative Research Analyst at Citadel Securities
To see other tools people have made with Sefaria, feel free to look at some of their visualizations or some of the projects on the Powered by Sefaria Page (note: we are aware that these are projects that likely took well over 24 hours to make).
AI Policy
The use of ChatGPT and other generative AI is acceptable with the following restrictions:
- Only free versions of AI tools should be used
- No coding agents
- We want you to come up with the original idea for the tool. While AI can help with ideation for additional features, the initial concept should be from your natural intelligence :)