Over the past 22 months, Cantor Alane Katzew, director of Music Programming for the Union, has headed a project to digitally record every line of the Torah. Using the same cantillation and tone throughout the entire project of the 5,845 verses, Cantor Katzew and her 22 expert chanters completed the project the Friday before Shavuot.
Cantor Penny Kessler, one of the chanters, is pictured (right) in the "Cantor-in-a-box" recording studio at the Union's offices in New York.
Press play to hear a digital recording about the digitization of the Torah.
On the other hand, I'm dismayed by the idea that there is standardizing that needs to be done. It's one thing to record the Torah so that people can learn a way of chanting Torah, but to claim that standardization is necessary is one step to far. I took a class on religious music last semester and we listened to a variety of different versions of the trope such as ashekenazi, sefardi as well as a yemenite version. The diversity is compelling and, I think, desirable.
Sandra Goldmeer said:
I don't think that they are pushing for standardization... but for many new Leaners, being able to listen to a consistent Trope is VERY helpful. I appreciate all the hard work these wonderful Chazzanim (and Chazzanot) have done!
I, too, appreciate and enjoy listening to a variety of trope... but know how valuable the work these men and women have done will be to the craft of Torah Reading.
David A.M. Wilensky said:
Sandra- I don't mean to discount the work that these Chazanim are doing. I only mean to caution against diction like standardization. At one point in the clip, the notion came up of "standardized Reform trope," which I think would lead down a dangerous path of homogenization.
Cantor Gabrielle Clissold said:
This is amazing and I am so thrilled to have this tool for students and my congregation!
l'shalom, Gabrielle Clissold
Cantor Ilene Keys said:
This is so exciting and long overdue. I am thrilled to have such a great tool for future B'nei Mitzvah students. Yasher Koach! Ilene
David said:
This was indeed an imposing task and the participants are certainly to be congratulated for this wonderful service. I look forward to being able to download a verse here or a parsha there, free of charge from the Web, and thank the Union. in advance, for making the work available.
I am a bit puzzled, however, by the implication that the systematic recording of the chanting of each verse of the Torah, and delivery on the Web in MP3 format is something brand new. I have been downloading and linking to such MP3s from a CD and Website maintainted by ORT for many years. The site is simply bible.ort.org.
M. B. said:
Reform Jews used to read and study the Torah in our own language. It was a thought provoking, educational, motovational activity with a real impact on people's lives. If instead, there is just a chant in a language that almost no American Reform Jews understand, we must ask "Does this have any religious value? Are we sacrificing the message of the Torah by substituting an old world style chant that conveys nothing more that la, la, la to the listener?"
Pat Myers said:
To M.B.'s comment that people will be missing out on the meaning of the Torah if we concentrate on chanting it in Hebrew:
In my congregation, along with the Hebrew reading of the parashot, I also use the same trope to chant an English translation! It's a bit of challenge to come up with wording to fit the tropes as they're sung, but I've been able to do it without distorting the meaning of the words.
Our congregation has really enjoyed hearing the biblical words enhanced by the emotion of music as they heard a story they could understand -- exactly the purpose of the chanting in the first place. An Israeli woman in our congregation loves it -- she said, "Now the other people can hear the Torah as a sung story, just as I have always heard it in Hebrew."
guy schwartz said:
Please send me the link to hear the Torah chanted.
Thank you,
Guy
Alane Katzew said:
We are working on it! The recordings are completed, but the website for downloading the MP3's is still under construction. We are hoping that it will be ready in early 2009.
Cantor Alane S. Katzew
Joel Shertok said:
Hello --
Are the mp3 files ready for downloading yet?
As a technical aside, what torah trope style do you use? From what I have heard in The Art of Torah Cantillation, it sounds like Rosowsky. I have used Trope Trainer, but the synthetic voice loses something subtle.
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That's pretty amazing!
On the other hand, I'm dismayed by the idea that there is standardizing that needs to be done. It's one thing to record the Torah so that people can learn a way of chanting Torah, but to claim that standardization is necessary is one step to far. I took a class on religious music last semester and we listened to a variety of different versions of the trope such as ashekenazi, sefardi as well as a yemenite version. The diversity is compelling and, I think, desirable.