Rebooting The Bible To A Hip Beat

The Jewish Week

When Roger Bennett offered 54 accomplished young writers and artists a chance to comment on a portion of the Torah, each of them “leaped at the opportunity, like Michelangelo painting the Sistine chapel.” It all began at a networking event for Reboot, a Jewish outreach organization Bennett co-founded in 2002.

One evening, Reboot’s networkers discussed the Binding of Isaac, a story Bennett describes as “conversational catnip” for the cutting-edge crowd. He explains, “Everyone had lots to say about a demanding God, responsible parenting and a critical choice.” But in a moment of truth, Bennett asked, “Who among us has actually read the text?” In fact, few had, a situation that called for a proactive remedy.

This conversation was the catalyst for “Unscrolled: 54 Writers and Artists Wrestle with the Torah” (Workman), a handsomely packaged, eclectic volume in which contributors each reimagine one of the 54 sections of the Torah. The larger goal is encouraging others to do the same. “Unscrolled,” sagely edited by Bennett, has an insider’s cool, while its website offers interactive activities to a wide public.

At the Sept. 24 book launch, the overflow crowd at the Tribeca Film Center lent a hip, if somewhat incongruous, buzz to a reconsideration of archetypal themes. An open bar and dance party were punctuated by a panel discussion during which Bennett acknowledged that he had been expelled from Hebrew school and turned off by the Bible early on, seeming to assume that others had analogous memories. “So then, why are we still talking about it?” Bennett prodded his trend-conscious audience. (No one ventured a reply.)

With the latest findings of the Pew Research Center sounding an alarm about the increasing non-affiliation of “Millennials” (Jews who came of age around the year 2000) Reboot’s mission — encouraging this demographic to explore “theology, ritual, culture, values, philosophy without constraints” — is timely.

“Unscrolled” is user-friendly, color-coded, pleasing to thumb through and rewarding of closer reads. Each chapter is headlined with the phrases that inspired the contributor’s interpretation, followed by an editorially balanced synopsis of the biblical text. Bennett explains that, however unorthodox, contributors are doing “what Jews have always done,” that is, “making our own links” as we “confront the text and come to our own conclusions.”

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