| |
Vision & Mission
|| Past || Present
|| Future
|| Year End Report 2009
 In
the fall of 1997, Amichai Lau-Lavie, an Israeli born teacher of Judaic literature,
was invited to serve as Scholar In Residence at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
in New York. As a teacher of Torah for secular adults in Israel, he had
developed several successful programs that made the study of ancient Judaic
texts "user friendly" and attractive. Amichai adapted these programs to
create a series of study workshops, teacher training courses and community
events for an American audience.
Over the course of his residency, Amichai realized that despite the many
successful innovations that the congregation had embraced, one element
of the vastly popular worship service remained staid and mostly uninspiring:
the Reading of Torah. This ritual remains a shared challenge throughout
the modern Jewish world. Seeking to uncover why the Reading of Torah has
become so unfulfilling, Amichai began to research its history. This research
yielded a number of ideas stemming from the discovery of a lost tradition
culled from 3000 years of history. Most significant among the findings
was the institution known as M'turgeman - the "translator".
Simultaneous translation of the Torah service into the local vernacular
accompanied traditional synagogue services throughout the world until
the early Middle Ages. The translator's duty was not only to convey the
original Hebrew text of the Torah to the non-Hebrew-speaking audience,
but also to dramatically adapt the meaning of the narrative to the viewpoint
of the congregation. Scholars debate the reasons for the disappearance
of this once-vital role in the Jewish community. Some conclude that the
function served by the translators was eventually replaced by rabbinical
sermons. Although still practiced in some traditional Yemenite communities,
the translator and his intricate art have for the most part vanished.
|
|
On a Saturday morning in November of 1998, in collaboration with local
musicians and cantors, Amichai presented "Saturday Morning Live,"
a "translated" Torah Reading held at B'nai Jeshurun's sanctuary.
The performance featured original Hebrew chanting in Moroccan trope, lively
English translation, and was accompanied by audience participation and
music. The reactions were overwhelmingly supportive and led to six more
translation experiments at BJ over the next few months.
Storahtelling was formed in 1999 as a collaboration between Amichai and
several other musicians and artists on the cutting-edge of Jewish music
and performance art. In 2000, Storahtelling was chosen as a resident project
of Bikkurim: UJC/JESNA's Incubator for New Jewish Ideas, where the
vision developed into a thriving non profit organization.
Vision & Mission
|| Past || Present
|| Future
|| Message from
Storahtelling Board
|
|
