Live from Boulder, it’s Storahtelling. Featuring the Mile High Mavens in “Strings Attached.”

Can a surprise visitor help the Children of Israel grab the rope tethered to the Promised Land? Join Storahtelling Colorado Mavens Charna Rosenholtz and Bruce Shaffer on Shabbat morning, August 20, at Congregation Bonai Shalom for “Strings Attached,” a bold and participatory interpretation of Parashat Eikev. All ages encouraged.

Storahtelling’s main focus is the restructuring and transformation of Judaism’s oldest form of sacred storytelling, the Torah Service, into a central and compelling educational event.  Storahtelling’s primary method for restructuring the Torah Service is the restoration of the “Maven,” an all but forgotten Jewish communal professional. For over 1,500 years, the Maven was a central feature of the Torah Service and of Judaic life, serving as local orator, storyteller and translator. The Maven appeared along with the Torah Service 2,500 years ago, but was phased-out from communal life a thousand years ago due to shifting cultural and religious paradigms. Now, Storahtelling is redefining and restoring this profession to modern needs and structural formats, as a key provider of access to Judaic literacy.

Storahteller Bruce Shaffer had this to say about this Saturday’s service:

Storahtelling revives an ancient technique of line-by-line translation of the weekly Torah portion (parasha) from Hebrew into a contemporary context. Our Strings Attached interpretation of two sections of parashat Eikev is our first experiment, locally, in embedding this technique in a traditional seven section Torah reading. We’re hoping we can enhance the impact of the portion while fitting in the flow of the Torah service. Should be interesting.”

Find out more about Storahtelling in a previous BJN article as well as at the Storahtelling website.   Congregation Bonai Shalom is located at 1527 Cherryvale Rd., Boulder, Colorado, and Shabbat services will begin at 9:30 am.