The Chanted Torah: Bereshit

Summary

This audiobook will never get old.

Over the centuries and across the world, Jewish communities have formed their own melodies, styles, and traditions in their recitations of the Torah. Even today, a reading in Cleveland will be different than one in London, or Toronto, Buenos Aires, Lviv, or Tel Aviv. Many of these traditions have no doubt been lost to displacement and time. Prior to the 20th century, we didn’t possess the ability to capture these traditions other than in written facsimile. But now, in 2023, we hardly have any excuses.

And although the text is set in stone, the way we interact with it is ever changing and unique to our individual experiences.

Therefore, I’ve produced this book with two specific goals in mind. First, to be as accessible to as many audiences as possible. Not only in distribution, but also in its usefulness in as many different settings as possible. I’ve taken every effort to ensure that this aural Torah is spoken with accurate pronunciations, emphasis, and trope. My hope is for this to be useful for cantors and rabbis, teachers and b’nai mitzvahs, congregations, meditations, Jews and non-Jews.

Second, to capture the sound of the American Jewish diaspora. As an American Conservative Jew, I want this to be authentic, something you would expect to hear in any conservative, reform, or reconstructionist synagogue in the US on a Saturday morning. While I believe our Jewish heritage will continue to flourish and grow for many years, a project like this will be one way to preserve our own traditions, l'dor va dor.

TheChantedTorah is a project in collaboration with the Cantors Assembly.