Keriyah, the calling out of the Hebrew scriptures is an ancient art form. More than just a means of preserving grammar or a memory aid, it is a musical tradition designed to bring words to life in a living language, with power,artistry and beauty. This website is dedicated to practitioners of the craft, and those who listen.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Chant and Torah

By profession, I am a country doctor. But long before I was a physician, I was a ba’al keriyah. I have been chanting Torah for fifty years, since age nine. In practicing the craft, I gradually wakened to a different sensibility about chanting the Torah and the ability of chant to make text come alive when it is done well. Magical things happen when the Song in Torah is given full expression.

In 2004 I took a three-month sabbatical from medicine to begin a book whose title I had thought of years ago: And the Cloud Covered the Tent of Meeting: Reflections of a Torah Reader. A first time writer, I had to learn to the discipline of coherent writing without including every stray thought. That was a difficult task, because by inheritance I am a tangential thinker. Fortunately the world has developed a literary form for writers of stray thoughts. With the book nearly complete, and hopefully to be published this fall, it is time to start a blog….

6 comments:

Sunny said...

Congrats on getting this up! Very exciting!

Mary said...

Tangential thinker! I suspected as much....MK Hendershot (this is the second time I've tried to leave a comment...we'll see if it works)

Pat said...

Thanks for sharing this with those of us unfamiliar with this "spiritual art." You have opened my eyes over the last 3 years to the beauty of your religious life.
Thank you.

Trey said...

Great start Josh! I can't wait to see what you have to write!

Clyde said...

Considering that I loved the draft of the book, I know I'm going to love this blog. Good luck with it. I'll be following along.

shlomo said...

This gentleman is the real McCoybergstein.
What he is bringing down is from spheres that few of us enter.
Yishar koach, Josh!