About the Exhibition
It begins with parchment, ink, a hand-sharpened feather quill, and a scribe who states out loud the intention to write a Torah scroll, the most holy and important object in Judaism. One year, 62 sheets, 248 columns, 10,416 lines, and finally 304,805 letters later, it is written.
The Contemporary Jewish Museum presents As It Is Written: Project 304,805, an exhibition centered around a soferet (a professionally trained female scribe) who will write out the entire text of the Torah, at the Museum, over the course of a full year. She will be one of the few known women to complete an entire Torah scroll, an accomplishment traditionally exclusive to men.
Conversations, writing, tours
As the soferet writes in the gallery, she will actively engage in Conversations during a scheduled time each day, in which she'll answer questions, and share the mysteries and tools of her trade. There will also be expanded Exhibtion Tours, and Behind-the-scenes talks with members of the Museum's staff.
In this groundbreaking, living exhibition, the Museum will be the first public institution to reveal this traditionally private process unchanged by time for thousands of years. Visitors will have an unprecedented opportunity to learn about one of the world’s foundational religious texts and the spiritual and ritual essence of an enduring scribal art.
Installation: People's Torah
People's Torah is an interactive, three-dimensional rendering of the Five Books of Moses, "written” collectively, letter by letter, by you, and over 300,000 other participants online and in the Museum.
Also on View
The Museum presents a series of displays that explore the Torah in its many facets: as historical artifact, ritual object, scribal tradition, and contemporary muse. On view will be new works responding to sections of the Torah created by local and national contemporary artists, commissioned by the Museum. There will also be a historical display that includes a historical Torah, as well as examples of the ornamentation associated with the storage and reading of the scrolls and other Jewish scribal arts.
Video
As It Is Written: Opening Talk
Interview with the Scribe, Julie Seltzer
Supporters
This exhibition is organized by the Contemporary Jewish Museum. The exhibition has been made possible by the generous lead support of the Jim Joseph Foundation. Major support has been provided by Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund with additional individual support from by Arlene and Keith Bronstein and Mort and Amy Friedkin. The writing of the new Torah is also supported by the many individuals and families who have made contributions in memory of Max Leavitt.
People's Torah is an interactive installation and net art project by New York-based interactive studios Cabengo LLC and Studio Mobile. It was created by Hillary Leone, Mirek Nisenbaum, Fred Fauquette, and Juan Sarria
People’s Torah was commissioned by the Contemporary Jewish Museum as part of As it is Written: Project 304, 805, an exhibition currently on view through fall 2010 that explores the Torah as a historical artifact, ritual object, scribal tradition, and contemporary muse. For funding information for As It Is Written, visit thecjm.org.
The Koret and Taube Foundations are the lead supporters of the 2009/2010 exhibition season.
