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.

It is said that every one of the 304,805 letters in the Torah corresponds to a soul. CJM visitors both to the Museum and online, can explore this concept in the People’s Torah, an interactive, multi-media art installation that is part of the exhibition As It Is Written: Project 304,805. In this three-dimensional rendering of the Five Books of Moses, the Torah will be “written” collectively, letter by letter, by online participants in collaboration with visitors to the Museum. To create the People’s Torah, participants will virtually “join hands”, working together to create each of the 304,805 letters of the Torah.

Participate in the People’s Torah

At the Museum

At the hand-scanning station in the gallery, you can contribute an image of your hand and become a digital scribe. This is the first step in becoming a letter in the People’s Torah. Your hand will then be sent to the Connection Table where other visitors can use the touch screen to initiate the transformation of your hand to the next letter of the Torah.

“Write” a Letter
When a museum visitor touches a hand-image on at the Connection Table, the next letter is written – a link is made and the hand is transformed into the next available letter in the People’s Torah. The person who contributed the hand will then receive an email detailing when their connection was made and which letter in the Torah they represent.

Anywhere in the World

Add Your Hand
Visit peoplestorah.org then click PARTICIPATE follow the easy steps to upload an image of your hand. Once you submit your hand, Museum visitors can use the touch screen at the Connection Table to initiate the transformation of your hand to the next letter of the Torah. You will then be notified by email which letter your hand represents in the People’s Torah. Anyone can participate – invite your friends and family members to contribute an image of their hand online.

View the Map, Navigate the Verses
See the completed verses as they are written online – explore the individual letters, and discover the hands that created each letter. As you move through the digital Torah, the visual effects of your mouse movements will be visible to other online visitors. View the world map (by clicking “Hands”) to see where each hand comes from and to which letter it is connected.

“Every letter represents a discrete connection between virtual and physical worlds,” said Hillary Leone, one of the artists behind the People’s Torah. “It is a visual meditation on immanence and transcendence, autonomy and community, figure and ground. It is a communal Torah for the 21st century.”