Storahtelling This Saturday

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.

About David Fellows

I've been writing things since grammar school, and served as a writer, photographer and/or an editor on my junior high and high school newspapers; the Daily Trojan at USC (where I earned my journalism degree); the student newspaper at the Anderson School at UCLA (where I earned my MBA); and written and edited countless business documents and presentations in the ensuing twenty years. I've been involved Jewishly since my bris and in Boulder since 1995. I'm married to my Executive Director Cheryl, and we have two children, Lauren and Ethan.

Check Also

Keep At It, a Poem

A new poem from Todd Greenberg.

A Compilation of Jewish and Israel Resources and Links for These Troubling Times

The BJN is gathering links to programs, resources and sources that you might find helpful and/or interesting during this latest Israel crisis.

One comment

  1. 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.

%d