Telling the Story of Torah

Come for the rare chance to see a Torah scroll up close. Handwritten Hebrew letters flow in a continuous, unending storyline that unrolls and rerolls with each passing year. The story ends at the end of time.

Consider the lack of headers, chapters, verse numbers, punctuation, and vowels. We will explore the extra line spaces between books, the open and closed paragraph breaks, and some distinctive scribal features in poetic sections. These notations impact a reader’s interpretation not unlike the effects of cropping a photograph. The logic of the storyline as seen through the seams traces out a metanarrative that stitches together the whole of the scriptures.

Jewish lectionary calendars will be provided so you can participate with DIU students in the epic telling of Torah’s narrative, using 54 key portion names. This weekly reading cycle, used from Jesus’ time to this day, keeps the Jewish community on the same page worldwide. October 22 is Simchat Torah, when we finish Deuteronomy, reroll the scroll, and begin Genesis anew!